yaw 
 
 IRENE, E 
 
 ANDREWS
 
 NATIONAL ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY 
 
 TENTH THOUSAND.
 
 From Boswell's Life of Johnson 
 
 Vol. U 
 
 Edited with notes by Arnold Glover 
 (Dent}. 
 
 DR. JOHNSON'S Housi 
 No. 8. BOLT COURT.
 
 " Seven years, my lord, have now passed, since I waited in your outward rooms, or was repulsed 
 from your door." JOHNSON'S Letter to Lord ChntrrJIrld, p. 177
 
 BOSWELL'S 
 
 ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 (TENTH THOUSAND.) 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY, 
 198, STRAND.
 
 THE LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL. D. 
 
 COMPREHENDING 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF HIS STUDIES AND NUMEROUS WORKS, 
 IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER; 
 
 A. SERIES OF HIS EPISTOLARY CORRESPONDENCE AND 
 
 CONVERSATIONS WITH MANY EMINENT PERSONS; AND VARIOUS 
 
 ORIGINAL PIECES OF HIS COMPOSITION, 
 
 NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED: 
 
 THE WHOLE EXHIBITING A VIEW OF LITERATURE AND LITERARY MEN IN" GREAT 
 
 BRITAIN, FOR NEARLY HALF A CENTURY DURING WHICH 
 
 HE FLOURISHED. 
 
 BY JAMES BO SWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Votiva pateat veluti descripta tabella 
 VITA SENIS HORAT. 
 
 A NEW EDITION, 
 
 ELUCIDATED BY COPIOUS NOTES, 
 
 AND 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS PORTRAITS, VIEWS, AND 
 CHARACTERISTIC DESIGNS, ENGRAVED FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES. 
 
 IN FOUE VOLUMES.-VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY, 
 198 STRAND.
 
 " After my death I wish no other herald, 
 No other speaker of iny living actions, 
 To keep mine honour from corruption, 
 But such an honest chronicler as Griffith." 1 
 
 SHAKSPEAEE, Henry VIII. 
 
 1 See Dr. Johnson's letter to Mrs. Thrale, dated Ostick in Skie, September 30, 1773 : 
 " Boswell writes a regular Journal of our travels, which I think contains as much of what 
 I say and do, as of all other occurrences together; "for such a faithful chronicler is 
 Griffith." Bos w ELL.
 
 STACK ANNEX 
 
 PR 
 3533 
 BBS' 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 A WORK so well known as " BOSWELL'S LIFE OK JOHNSON," needs 
 no eulogy to those who have read it. Hitherto, however, the 
 book has hardly been brought within reach of the great mass 
 of the lovers of literature ; and it may interest those who make 
 acquaintance for the first time with this masterpiece of Biography, 
 to know that the most eminent of critics who have written upon the 
 subjeot since the book appeared are unanimous in their opinion, 
 that as a life-like portraiture, not only of the personal appearance 
 and singular habits of a distinguished man, but of his strong pre- 
 judices, his vigorous eloquence, his homely common sense, and his 
 ready wit, so strikingly shown in the series of conversations which 
 the industry of Bos well has preserved to us this book stands 
 unrivalled in the literature of our own or any other nation. It is 
 to be hoped that the present edition will recommend itself, both 
 by its cheapness and by the more sterling qualities of careful an- 
 notation and copious and judicious illustration which it will be 
 found to possess, to many thousands who have not hitherto had 
 an opportunity of becoming familiar with the work. 
 
 Many supplementary notes have been appended to this edition 
 with the view of elucidating any apparent obscurities, without over- 
 burdening the text. The numerous engravings with which the 
 
 2040300
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 work is illustrated, comprise portraits of most of Johnson's dis- 
 tinguished contemporaries, and of all his intimate associates, 
 which have been engraved from the best available authorities. The 
 scenes too, amid which his life was passed, are represented from 
 contemporary sources, or occasionally from recent sketches made 
 especially for this edition, while the illustrations of the more 
 picturesque incidents of his career have been designed with a 
 due regard to general accuracy. 
 
 These few explanations cannot be more appropriately closed 
 than by the expression of the acknowledgments which we owe to 
 Lewis Pocock, Esq., George James Squibb, Esq., and George Daniel, 
 Esq., for the kindness and courtesy which they have severally 
 shown in allowing us the freest access to their invaluable collections 
 of Prints, Paintings, and other relics illustrative of the life and 
 times of Samuel Johnson. 
 
 London, March, 1851.
 
 CONTEXTS OF VOLUME I. 
 
 Preface '* 
 
 Contents xi 
 
 List of Illustrations xiv 
 
 Dedication to Sir Joshua Reynolds xvi 
 
 Mr. Boswell's Advertisements xix 
 
 Mr. Malone's Advertisements xxiii 
 
 Introduction xxvii 
 
 CHAPTER I. 1709 1731. 
 
 Birth and Infancy of Johnson Account of his Parents Anecdotes of his Child- 
 hood Taken to London to receive the Royal Touch for Scrofula School 
 Days at Lichfield His Uncle Cornelius Ford, and Cousin the Rev.'Dr. Ford, 
 Sent to School at Stourbridge Translations and original Compositions while 
 at this Place Return Home Arrival at Pembroke College, Oxford His 
 Tutor Latin Translation of Pope's " Messiah" Attack of Hypochondria 
 Religious Impressions Course of Reading Love of Literature Apparent 
 Recklessness Real State of Mind Struggles with Poverty Leaves the 
 University 33 
 
 CHAPTER II. 1731 1736. 
 
 Death of Johnson's Father Intercourse with Society in Lichfield, Gilbert 
 Walmesley, Dr. Swinfen, &c. Tribute to Walmesley's Memory Becomes 
 Usher at Market Bosworth School Removal to Birmingham ; Mr. Hector, 
 Mr. Porter, &c. Translation of Labo's Voyage to Abyssinia Specimen of 
 Early Style Return to Lichfield Birmingham again First Letter to Cave, 
 Proprietor of" Gentleman's Magazine" Youthful Amatory Verses Marriage 
 with Mrs. Porter Her Family, and Incidents of the Wedding Opens a pri- 
 vate Academy at Edial Garrick becomes his Pupil School unsuccessful 
 Great part of Tragedy of " Irene" written 62 
 
 CHAPTER III. 1737 1738. 
 
 Johnson arrives in London, accompanied by Garrick Letter relating to them from 
 Walmesley to the Rev. Mr. Colson First Residence and Mode of Life in the 
 Metropolis Retires to Greenwich Progress of " Irene" Projected transla- 
 tion of '* Father Paul's History of Council of Trent " Going back to Lich- 
 field Original MS. of " Irene " Extracts Return to London with Mrs. 
 Johnson First Contribution to " Gentleman's Magazine " Reports Debates 
 in Parliament Publishes Poem of London Pope admires it Remarks and 
 Extracts Conditional Offer of Mastership of a Country School Pope's Re- 
 commendation of Johnson to Lord Gower 79
 
 XH CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV.- 1738 1743. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Johnson's intended Application to Civil Law Letters to Cave Writings in " Gent. 
 Mag." Separate Publications " Marmor Norfolciense," &c. Note from Pope 
 relating to Johnson Anecdotes of Johnson by Reynolds and Hogarth 
 Miscellaneous Writings Debates in Parliament Encounter with Osborne, 
 the Bookseller Letters to Cave on Literary Projects Ode on Friendship 
 Embarrassed Circumstances Takes on him a Debt of his Mother .... 98 
 
 CHAPTER V. 1744 1748. 
 
 Johnson publishes the Life of Savage Merits of this Biography Discussion as to 
 Savage's parentage Preface to Harleian Miscellany " Miscellaneous Ob- 
 servations of the Tragedy of Macbeth" Garrick, Manager of Drury-laue 
 Theatre Johnson's " Prologue" on its Opening " Plan" of the Dictionary 
 addressed to Lord Chesterfield Residence in Gough Square Institution of 
 the Club in Ivy Lane Writes Life of Roscommon Contributions to 
 Dodsley's " Preceptor" 116 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 1749 1750. 
 
 Publication of "The Vanity of Human Wishes" Tragedy of "Irene," performed 
 at Drury-lane Theatre Commencement of " The Rambler" Republished 
 in Edinburgh General Estimate of the Merits of the Work Prologue to 
 " Comus," when performed for the benefit of Milton's Grand-daughter, and 
 Letter in favour of the undertaking 134 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 1751 1754. 
 
 Progress of the " Dictionary" and " Rambler " Lauder's Forgeries Account of 
 Miss Williams Close of the " Rambler" Commencement of Hawkesworth's 
 "Adventurer" Death of Mrs. Johnson Account of Robert Levett 
 Johnsons Friendship with Reynolds Langton Beauclerk Writings in 
 the " Adventurer" Extract from Diary Mrs. Lenox's " Shakspeare Illus- 
 trated" 158 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 1754 1755. 
 
 Johnson writes the "Life of Cave" Lord Chesterfield's Papers in the "World," 
 recommending the " Dictionary" Letter in answer to his Lordship Excur- 
 sion to Oxford Receives his Degree of M.A. Projected " Bibliotheque " 
 Letters, Remarks, &c., relating to the Dictionary Garrick's Panegyric 
 Johnson's Pamphlet on the Longitude Scheme of Life for Sundays ... 174 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 1756 1768. 
 
 Johnson's favourable Judgment of Booksellers Writes in " Universal Visiter " 
 and " Literary Magazine " Defence of Tea, against Jonas Hanway 
 Defence of Admiral Byng Answer to Soame Jenyns Issue of Proposals 
 for Edition of Shakspeare Declines offer of Preferment in the Church 
 Letters to Warton, Langton, &c. Burney's Interview with Johnson in 
 Gough Square 203
 
 CONTENTS. Mil 
 
 CHAPTER X. 1758 1759. 
 
 I'AliK 
 
 Johnson commences " The Idler" Remarks on the Work Letters to T. Wai ton 
 and Langton Death of Johnson's Mother Letters to her and Miss Porret 
 Publication of" Rasselas" Various Writings Excursion to Oxford Ac- 
 count of Francis Barber, Johnson's Black Servant Letter from Smollett to 
 W r ilkes Blarkfriars Bridge Johnson engages in the Controversy respecting 
 its Erection 217 
 
 CHAPTER XL 1760 1763. 
 
 Accession of George III. Johnson writes the Address of the Painters on that 
 Occasion Various Writings Projected History of the War Murphy's 
 " Poetical Epislle" to Johnson Account of their Acquaintance Letters to 
 Langton, Baretti, &c. Grant of Pension by George III. to Johnson 
 Visit to Plymouth with Reynolds Letters to Lord Bute and Baretti 
 Contributes to the " Poetical Calendar," a Character of CoKins the Poet . . '232 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 1763. 
 
 First Interview of Boswell with Johnson, at the House of Davies, the Bookseller 
 Record of Conversation Boswell's Visit to his Chambers in the Temple 
 Description of Johnson Meeting at "The Mitre" Tavern Record of his 
 Opinions of Gray, Goldsmith, &c. Advice to Boswell 250 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 1763. 
 
 Account of Goldsmith Johnson's Relation of their Interview, when Goldsmith 
 was arrested by his Landlady Boswell sups with them at the Mitre 
 Record of Conversation Nightly Tea with Miss Williams Boswell not yet 
 admitted to this Privilege Subsequent Interviews with Johnson, and Record 
 of Conversations on these Occasions 2C8 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 1763 1765. 
 
 Johnson accompanies Boswell to Harwich, on his intended Foreign Tour Fellow 
 Passengers and Conversation on the Road Boswell embarks Writes to 
 Johnson His Answer, containing Advice for Study Visit to the Langtcn 
 Family, in Lincolnshire Institution of the Literary Club Miscellaneous 
 Writings Various Peculiarities of Johnson Visit to Cambridge Diploma 
 of LL.D. from Trin. Coll. Dublin Engagement with Gerard Hamilton In- 
 troduction to the Thrales Publication of Edition of Shakspeare .... 300
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS. 
 
 Frontispiece, Johnson at Lord Chesterfield's. 
 
 Title-page, Portrait of Johnson, from a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
 
 1756. 
 
 Portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds, from a painting by himself .... 16 
 
 Portrait of James Boswell, from a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds . . 19 
 
 Portrait of Edmund Malone, from a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds . 23 
 
 Birthplace of Dr. Johnson, from an old print 33 
 
 Portrait of Michael Johnson, from an original drawing 34 
 
 Johnson listening to Sacheverel preaching, from the monument at Lichfield 36 
 Parlour in the house where Dr. Johnson was born, from an original 
 
 sketch, 1851 37 
 
 Lichfield School, from an engraving in the " Gentleman's Magazine" . 40 
 
 Johnson borne by his schoolfellows, from the monument at Lichfield . 42 
 
 Portrait of Parson Ford, from a picture by Hogarth 43 
 
 Christ-church Meadow, from an original sketch, 1845 51 
 
 Pembroke College Gateway, from a print 58 
 
 View of Lichfield, 1730, from an old print 62 
 
 Market-Bosworth School, from an old print 65 
 
 View of Birmingham, 1 730, from an old print 66 
 
 Portrait of Edward Cave, from a drawing by F. Kyte 70 
 
 Portrait of Mrs. Johnson, from a scarce print 73 
 
 Edial House, from an engraving by Pye 75 
 
 St. John's Gateway, from an etching by Carter 79 
 
 Portrait of Rev. John Colson, from an original drawing 80 
 
 Portrait of Robert Dodsley, from a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds . 93 
 
 Johnson, Richardson, and Hogarth 98 
 
 Portrait of Dr. Birch, from a painting by J. Wills ....... 114 
 
 Portrait of Lord Chesterfield, from a painting by 0. Humphry .... 116 
 
 Portrait of Lord Lovat, from a painting by W. Hogarth 127 
 
 Dr. Johnson's Residence in Gough Square, from an original sketch, 1851 131 
 
 Tunbridge Wells, 1748, from a contemporary drawing 132
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XV 
 
 PAOE 
 
 Portrait of David Garrick, from a contemporary print lu-t 
 
 The Green-room of Drury-lane Theatre, from a painting by Zoff'any . HO 
 
 Johnson, Beauclerk, and Langton, at Covent Garden 158 
 
 Portrait of Bennet Langton, from a drawing by A. Wivell 1G7 
 
 Portrait of Topham Beauclerk, from a print 168 
 
 Chesterfield House, from a drawing by S. Wale 174 
 
 Portrait of Rev. Thomas Warton, from a print 181 
 
 Kettel Hall, from a sketch 1S2 
 
 Residence of Mr. Wise, at Ellsfield, from an engraving by C. T. Smith 183 
 
 Oseney Abbey, from an old print 184 
 
 Rewley Abbey, from a drawing in the Bodleian Library ,, 
 
 Portrait of Samuel Richardson, from a drawing by Chamberlen . . . 203 
 
 Portrait of Dr. Burney.from a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds . . . 216 
 Dr. Johnson and Francis Barber, from a contemporary drawing by 
 
 C. Tomkins . 217 
 
 Blackfriars Bridge, from a print 231 
 
 Portrait of Joseph Baretti, from a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds . . 232 
 
 Portrait of Lord Bute, from a drawing by Ramsay 243 
 
 Plymouth Garrison, from a print 245 
 
 Boswell's first interview with Johnson 250 
 
 Portrait of Thomas Sheridan, from a painting by Stewart 251 
 
 No. 8, Russell Street, Covent Garden, from a sketch 25* 
 
 Portrait of Thomas Davies, from a drawing by Hickey 255 
 
 Johnson and Bos well at the Mitre 261 
 
 Portrait of Colley Gibber, from a painting by Vanloo 262 
 
 Scene of the Cock-lane Ghost's exploits, from a private etching . . . 265 
 
 Johnson reading the Vicar of Wakefield . . 268 
 
 Dr. Johnson's chair, from an original drawing by Miss Reynolds . . . 282 
 
 Portrait of Joseph Warton, D.D., from a painting by Sir J. Reynolds . 288 
 
 The Temple Stairs, from an old print . -. 293 
 
 Greenwich Park, from an old print 296 
 
 Mrs. Ann Williams, from an original drawing 298 
 
 Mr. Thrale's House, at Streatham, from an engraving by Ellis . . . 300 
 
 Dr. Percy, from a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds 312 
 
 Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Thrale, from an engraving ...... 317
 
 SIR JOSHUA RKVN'OI.nS, P U.A. 
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 EVERY liberal motive that can actuate an Author in the 
 dedication of his labours, concurs in directing me to you, as the person 
 to whom the following Work should be inscribed. , 
 
 If there be a pleasure in celebrating the distinguished merit of a 
 contemporary, mixed with a certain degree of vanity not altogether inex- 
 cusable, in appearing fully sensible of it, where can I find one, in com- 
 plimenting whom I can with more general approbation gratify those 
 feelings ? Your excellence, not only in the Art over which you have long 
 presided with unrivalled fame, but also in Philosophy and elegant Litera- 
 ture, is well known to the present, and will continue to he the admiration 
 of future ages. Your equal and placid temper, your variety of conversa- 
 tion, your true politeness, by which you are so amiable in private society, 
 and that enlarged hospitality which has long made your house a common 
 centre of union for the great, the accomplished, the learned, and the
 
 DEDICATION. XV11 
 
 ingenious ; ell these qualities I can, in perfect confidence of not being 
 accused of flattery, ascribe to you. 
 
 If a man may indulge an honest pride in having it known to the 
 world that he has been thought worthy of particular attention by a 
 person of the first eminence in the age in which he lived, whose com- 
 pany has been universally courted, I am justified in availing myself of 
 the usual privilege of a Dedication, when I mention that there has been 
 a long and uninterrupted friendship between us. 
 
 If gratitude should be acknowledged for favours received, I have 
 this opportunity, my dear Sir, most sincerely to thank you for the 
 many happy hours which I owe to your kindness, for the cordiality 
 with which you have at all times been pleased to welcome me, for the 
 number of valuable acquaintances to whom you have introduced me, 
 for the noctes ccenteqite Deum, which I have enjoyed under your roof. 
 
 If a work should be inscribed to one who is master of the subject ot 
 it, and whose approbation, therefore, must ensure it credit and success, 
 the Life of Dr. Johnson is, with the greatest propriety, dedicated to Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds, who was the intimate and beloved friend of that great 
 man; the friend whom he declared to be "the most invulnerable man 
 he knew ; whom, if he should quarrel with him, he should find the most 
 difficulty how to abuse." You, my dear Sir, studied him, and knew him 
 well : you venerated and admired him. Yet, luminous as he was upon 
 the whole, you perceived all the shades which mingled in the grand 
 composition ; all the little peculiarities and slight blemishes which 
 marked the literary Colossus. Your very warm commendation of the 
 specimen which I gave in my " Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides," of 
 my being able to preserve his conversation in an authentic and lively 
 manner, which opinion the Public has confirmed, was the best encou- 
 ragement for me to persevere in my purpose of producing the whole of 
 my stores. 
 
 In one respect, this work will, in some passages, be different from 
 the former. In my " Tour," I was almost unboundedly open in my 
 communications, and from my eagerness to display the wonderful fer- 
 tility and readiness of Johnson's wit, freely showed to the world its 
 dexterity, even when I was myself the object of it. I trusted that I 
 should be liberally understood, as knowing very well what I was about, 
 and by no means as simply unconscious of the pointed eflects of the
 
 XVlll DEDICATION. 
 
 satire. I own, indeed, that I was arrogant enough to suppose that the 
 tenour of the rest of the book would sufficiently guard me against such 
 a strange imputation. But it seems I judged too well of the world ; for, 
 though I could scarcely believe it, I have been undoubtedly informed, 
 that many persons, especially in distant quarters, not penetrating 
 enough into Johnson's character, so as to understand his mode of 
 treating his friends, have arraigned my judgment, instead of seeing 
 that I was sensible of all that they could observe. 
 
 It is related of the great Dr. Clarke, that when in one of his leisure 
 hours he was unbending himself with a few friends in the most playful 
 and frolicsome manner, he observed Beau Nash approaching ; upon 
 which he suddenly stopped: " My boys," said he, "let us be grave: 
 here comes a fool." The world, my friend, I have found to be a great 
 fool, as to that particular on which it has become necessary to speak 
 very plainly. I have, therefore, in this work been more reserved ; and 
 though I tell nothing but the truth, I have still kept in my mind that 
 the whole truth is not always to be exposed. This, however, I have 
 managed so as to occasion no diminution of the pleasure which my 
 book should afford ; though malignity may sometimes be disappointed 
 of its gratifications. 
 
 I am, my dear Sir, 
 
 Your much obliged friend, 
 
 And faithful humble servant, 
 
 JAMES BOSWEI/L. 
 
 London, April 20, 1791.
 
 JAMES BOSWELL. 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 I AT last deliver to the world a work which I have long promised, arid of 
 which, I am afraid, too high expectations have been raised. The delay of its 
 publication must be imputed, in a considerable degree, to the extraordinary 
 zeal which has been shown by distinguished persons in all quarters to supply me 
 with additional information concerning its illustrious subject ; resembling in 
 this the grateful tribes of ancient nations, of which every individual was eager to 
 throw a stone upon the grave of a departed Hero, and thus to share in the pious 
 office of erecting an honourable monument to his memory. 
 
 The labour and anxious attention with which I have collected and arranged 
 the materials of which these volumes are composed, will hardly be conceived by 
 those who read them with careless facility. The stretch of mind and prompt 
 assiduity by which so many conversations were preserved, I myself, at some 
 distance of time, contemplate with wonder ; and I must be allowed to suggest 
 that the nature of the work in other respects, as it consists of innumerable 
 detached particulars, all which, even the most minute, I have spared no pains 
 to ascertain with a scrupulous authenticity, has occasioned a degree of trouble 
 far beyond that of any other species of composition. Were I to detail the books 
 which I have consulted, and the inquiries which I have iound it necessary to 
 make by various channels, I should probably be thought ridiculously ostenta- 
 tious. Let me only observe, as a specimen of my trouble, that I have sometimes 
 been obliged to run half over London, in order to fix a date correctly; which, 
 when I had accomplished, I well knew would obtain me no praise, though a 
 failure would have been to my discredit. And after all, perhaps, hard as it may 
 be, I shall not be surprised if omissions or mistakes be pointed out with invidious 
 severity. I have also been extremely careful as to the exactness of my quotations ; 
 holding that there is a respect (iue to the public, which should oblige every 
 author to attend to this, and never to presume to introduce them with, "I think 
 I have read," or, "If I remember right," when the originals may be examined 
 
 A 2
 
 XX MR. BOSWELL 8 ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 I beg leave to express my warmest thanks to those who have been pleased to 
 favour me with communications and advice in the conduct of my work. But I 
 cannot sufficiently acknowledge my obligations to my friend Mr. Malone, who 
 was so good as to allow me to read to him almost the whole of my manuscript, 
 and make such remarks as were greatly for the advantage of the work ; though 
 it is but fair to him to mention, that upon many occasions I differed from him, 
 and followed my own judgment. I regret exceedingly that I was deprived of 
 the benefit of his revision, when not more than one half of the book had passed 
 through the press ; but after having completed his very laliorious and admirable 
 edition of Shakspeare, for which he generously would accept of no other reward 
 but that fame which he had so deservedly obtained, he fulfilled his promise of a 
 long wished-for visit to his relations in Ireland ; from whence his safe return 
 finibus Alt ids is desired by his friends here, with all the classical ardour of Sic te 
 Diva potent Cypri ; for there is no man in whom more elegant and worthy qualities 
 are united ; and whose society, therefore, is more valued by those who know him. 
 
 It is painful to me to think, that while I was carrying on this work, several 
 of those to whom it would have been most interesting have died. Such 
 melancholy disappointments we know to be incident to humanity ; but we do 
 not feel them the less. Let me particularly lament the Reverend Thomas Warton, 
 and the Reverend Dr. Adams. Mr. Warton, amidst his variety of genius and 
 learning, was an excellent biographer. His contributions to my collection are 
 highly estimable ; and as he had a true relish of my "Tour to the Hebrides," 
 I trust I should now have been gratified with a larger share of his kind appro- 
 bation. Dr. Adams, eminent as the head of a college, as a writer, and as a 
 most amiable man, had known Johnson from his early years, and was his friend 
 through life. What reason I had to hope for the countenance of that venerable 
 gentleman to this work, will appear from what he wrote to me upon a former 
 occasion from Oxford, November 1Y, 1785 : " Dear Sir, I hazard this letter 
 not knowing where it will find you, to thank you for your very agreeable ' Tour,' 
 which I found here on my return from the country, and in which you have 
 depicted our friend so perfectly to my fancy, in every attitude, every scene and 
 situation, that I have thought myself in the company, and of the party almost 
 throughout. It has given very general satisfaction ; and those who have found 
 most fault with a passage here and there, have agreed that they could not help 
 going through, and being entertained with the whole. I wish, indeed, some few 
 gross expressions had been softened, and a few of our hero's foibles had been a 
 little more shaded ; but it is useful to see the weaknesses incident to great minds ; 
 and you have given us Dr. Johnson's authority that in history all ought to be told." 
 
 Such a sanction to my faculty of giving a just representation of Dr. 
 Johnson I could not conceal. Nor will I suppress my satisfaction in the 
 consciousness, that by recording so considerable a portion of the wisdom and 
 wit of "the brightest ornament of the eighteenth century," 1 I have largely 
 provided for the instruction and entertainment of mankind. 
 
 London, April 20, 1791. J. BOSWELL. 
 
 1 See Mr. Malone's Pic/ace to his edition of Shakspeare.
 
 MR. BOSWELL S ADVERTISEMENTS. XXI 
 
 ADVEETISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 THAT I was anxious for the success of a work which had employed much of 
 my time and labour, 1 do not wish to conceal ; but whatever doubts I at any 
 time entertained, have been entirely removed by the very favourable reception 
 with which it has been honoured. That reception has excited my best exertions 
 to render my book more perfect ; and in this endeavour I have had the assist- 
 ance not only of some of my particular friends, but of many other learned and 
 ingenious men, by which I have been enabled to rectify some mistakes, and to 
 enrich the work with many valuable additions. These I have ordered to be 
 printed separately in quarto, for the accommodation of the purchasers of the 
 first edition. May I be permitted to say that the typography of both editions 
 does honour to the press of Mr. Henry Baldwin, now Master of the Worshipful 
 Company of Stationers, whom 1 have long known a worthy man and an obliging 
 friend. 
 
 In the strangely mixed scenes of human existence, our feelings are often at 
 once pleasing and painful. Of this truth, the progress of the present work 
 furnishes a striking instance. It was highly gratifying to me that my friend, 
 Sir Joshua Eeynolds, to whom it is inscribed, lived to peruse it, and to give the 
 strongest testimony to its fidelity ; but before a second edition, which he contri- 
 buted to improve, could be finished, the world has been deprived of that most 
 valuable man ; a loss of which the regret will be deep, and lasting, and exten- 
 sive, proportionate to the felicity which he diffused through a wide circle of 
 admirers and friends. 
 
 In reflecting that the illustrious subject of this work, by being more exten- 
 sively and intimately known, however elevated before, has risen in the veneration 
 and love of mankind, I feel a satisfaction beyond what fame can afford. We 
 cannot, indeed, too much or too often admire his wonderful powers of mind, 
 when we consider that the principal store of wit and wisdom which this work 
 contains was not a particular selection from his general conversation, but was 
 merely his occasional talk at such times as I had the good fortune to be in his 
 company ; and, without doubt, if his discourse at other periods had been col- 
 lected with the same attention, the whole tenour of what he uttered would have 
 been found equally excellent. 
 
 His strong, clear, and animated enforcement of religion, morality, loyalty, 
 and subordination, while it delights and improves the wise and the good, will, I 
 trust, prove an effectual antidote to that detestable sophistry which has been 
 lately imported from France, under the false name of Philosophy, and with a 
 malignant industry has been employed against the peace, good order, and 
 happiness of society, in our free and prosperous country ; but, thanks be to 
 God, without producing the pernicious effects which were hoped for by its 
 propagators. 
 
 It seems to me, in my moments of self-complacency, that this extensive bio- 
 graphical work, however inferior in its nature, may in one respect be assimilated
 
 XXII MR. BOSWELL S ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 to the "Odyssey." Amidst a thousand entertaining and instmctive episodes 
 the hero is never long out of sight ; for they are all in some degree connected 
 with him; and he, in the whole course of the history, is exhibited by the Author 
 for the best advantage of his readers : 
 
 Quid virtus et quid saptentia possit, 
 Utile proposuit nobis exemplar Ulyssen. 
 
 Should there be any cold-blooded and morose mortals who really dislike this 
 book, I will give them a story to apply. When the great Duke of Marlborough, 
 accompanied by Lord Cadogan, was one day reconnoitring the army in Flanders, 
 a heavy rain came on, and they both called for their cloaks. Lord Cadogan' s 
 servant, a good-humoured alert lad, brought his lordship's in a minute. The 
 Duke's servant, a lazy sulky dog, was so sluggish, that his Grace, being wet to 
 the skin, reproved him, and had for answer with a grunt, " I came as fast as I 
 could;" upon which the Duke calmly said, "Cadogan, I would not for a 
 thousand pounds have that fellow's temper." 
 
 There are some men, I believe, who have, or think they have, a very small 
 share of vanity. Such may speak of their literary fame in a decorous style of 
 diffidence. But I confess, that T am so formed by nature and by habit, that to 
 restrain the effusion of delight, on having obtained such fame, to me would be 
 truly painful. Why then should I suppress it ? Why " out of the abundance 
 of the heart " should I not speak ? Let me then mention with a warm, but no 
 insolent exultation, that I have heen regaled with spontaneous praise of my 
 work by many and various persons eminent for their rank, learning, talents, 
 and accomplishments ; much of which praise I have under their hands to be 
 reposited in my archives at Auchinleck. An honourable and reverend friend 
 speaking of the favourable reception of my volumes, even in the circles of fashion 
 and elegance, said to me, "You have made them all talk Johnson. " Yes, I 
 may add, I have Johnsonised the land ; and I trust they will not only talk, 
 but think, Johnson. 
 
 To enumerate those to whom I have been thus indebted would be tediously 
 ostentatious. I cannot, however, but name one whose praise is truly valuable, 
 not only on account of his knowledge and abilities, but on account of the mag- 
 nificent, yet dangerous embassy, in which he is now employed, which makes 
 every thing that relates to him peculiarly interesting. Lord Macartney favoured 
 me with his own copy of my book, with a number of notes, of which I have 
 availed myself. On the first leaf I found, in his lordship's handwriting, an 
 inscription of such high commendation, that even I, vain as I am, cannot 
 prevail on myself to publish it. 
 
 July 1, 1793. J. BOSWELL.
 
 MR. MALONE S ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 EDMUND MALONE. 
 
 ADVEETISEMENT TO THE THIRD EDITION. 
 
 SEVERAL valuable letters, and other curious matter, having been communicated 
 to the author too late to be arranged in that chronological order which he had 
 endeavoured uniformly to observe in his work, he was obliged to introduce them 
 in his second edition, bj way of Addenda, as commodiously as he could. In the 
 present edition they have been distributed in their proper places. In revising 
 his volumes for a new edition he had pointed out where some of these materials 
 should be inserted ; but unfortunately, in the midst of his labours, he was seized 
 with a fever, of which, to the great regret of all his friends, he died on the 19th 
 of May, 1795. All the Notes that he had written in the margin of the copy 
 which he had in part revised, are here faithfully preserved ; and a few new Notes 
 have been added, principally by some of those friends to whom the author in the 
 former editions acknowledged his obligations. Those subscribed with the letter 
 B. were communicated by Dr. Burney ; those to which the letters J. B. are 
 annexed, by the Rev. J. B. Blakeway, of Shrewsbury, to whom Mr. Boswell 
 acknowledged himself indebted for some judicious remarks on the first edition 
 of his work ; and the letters J. B. 0. are annexed to some remarks furnished 
 by the author's second son, a student of Brazen-Nose College, in Oxford. Some 
 valuable observations were communicated by James Bindley, Esq., First Com- 
 missioner in the Stamp Office, which have been acknowledged in their proper 
 places. For all those without any signature Mr. Malone is answerable. 
 Every new remark, not written by the author, for the sake of distinction has 
 been enclosed within crotchets ; in one instance, however, the printer, by mistake, 
 has affixed this mark to a note relative to the Rev. Thomas Fysche Palmer (see 
 vol. iv. p. 129), which was written by Mr. Boswell, and therefore ought not to 
 have been thus distinguished.
 
 MR. MALONE S ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 I have only to add, that the proof-sheets of the present edition not having 
 passed through my hands, I am not answerable for any typographical errors 
 that may be found in it. Having, however, been printed at the very accurate 
 press of Mr. Baldwin, I make no doubt it will be found not less perfect than 
 the former edition ; the greatest care having been taken, by correctness and 
 elegance, to do justice to one of the most instructive and entertaining works in 
 the English language. EDM. MALONE. 
 
 April 8, 1799. 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT TO THE FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 IN this edition are inserted some new letters of which the greater part has 
 been obligingly communicated by the Reverend Doctor Vyse, Rector of Lambeth . 
 Those written by Dr. Johnson concerning his mother in her last illness, furnish 
 a new proof of his great piety and tenderness of heart, and therefore cannot 
 but be acceptable to the readers of this very popular work. Some new Notes 
 also have been added, which, as well as the observations inserted in the third 
 edition, and the letters now introduced, are carefully included within crotchets, 
 that the author may not be answerable for any thing which had not the sanction 
 of his approbation. The remarks of his friends are distinguished as formerly, 
 except those of Mr. Malone, to which the letter M. is now subjoined. Those 
 to which the letter K. is affixed were communicated by my learned friend, the 
 Reverend Doctor Kearney, formerly Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, 
 and now beneficed in the diocese of Raphoe in Ireland, of which he is Arch- 
 deacon. 
 
 Of a work which has been before the public for thirteen years with increasing 
 approbation, and of which near four thousand copies have been dispersed, it is 
 not necessary to say more ; yet I cannot refrain from adding, that, highly as it 
 is now estimated, it will, I am confident, be still more valued by posterity 
 a century hence, when all the actors in the scene shall be numbered with the 
 dead ; when the excellent and extraordinary man, whose wit and wisdom are 
 here recorded, shall be viewed at a still greater distance ; and the instruction 
 and entertainment they afford will at once produce reverential gratitude, 
 admiration, and delight E. M. 
 
 June 20, 1804. 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT TO THE FIFTH EDITION. 
 
 IN this fifth edition some errors of the press, which had crept into the text 
 and notes, in consequence of repeated impressions, have been corrected. Two 
 letters written by Dr. Johnson, and several new notes, have been added ; by 
 which, it is hoped, this valuable work is still further improved. E. M. 
 
 January 1, 1807.
 
 MR. M ALONE S ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SIXTH EDITION. 
 
 GREAT pains have been taken to make this sixth edition accurate, in point of 
 typography. With this view the entire work has been read over by the author's 
 second son, James Boswell, of the Inner Temple, Esq. ; by which means many 
 errors of the press, occasioned by repeated impressions, have been discovered. 
 All these have been carefully amended. Several new notes and some letters 
 have been added ; and in the Index, a very useful appendage to a book con- 
 taining so much miscellaneous and unconnected matter, many new articles 
 have been inserted. 
 
 By these improvements, the present impression has been rendered the 
 amplest, and it is hoped, will be found the most correct edition of this valuable 
 work, which has yet appeared. E. M. 
 
 May 2, 1811. 
 
 %* This edition (the 6th) is the last that was published under the superintendence of 
 the accurate and judicious Malone. He was in the author's confidence (as will be seen 
 on reference to the first advertisement) in the original preparation of the work. After 
 Boswell's death, Malone brought out the third and subsequent editions, up to the sixth 
 inclusive, receiving in the course of his labours that various and valuable assistance to 
 which he adverts in the notices prefixed to his successive publications. 
 
 Malone's last edition is dated May, 1811 (about twenty years after the first appearance 
 of the work) ; and he died in the same month of the following year. This edition we 
 propose to follow as fairly settling the text of the work, adding such notes only to those 
 sanctioned by Boswell and his legitimate successor as may be deemed essential to an eluci- 
 dation of the main subject. 
 
 Boswell himself justly remarks (Introduction, p. xxx), " What I consider as the pecu- 
 liar value of the following work is the quantity it contains of Johnson's Conversation, 
 which is universally acknowledged to have been eminently instructive and entertaining." 
 Such is undoubtedly the case ; heavy notation, therefore, in addition to what Boswell 
 considered necessary, we would advisedly eschew, as tending, unprofitably, to call the 
 reader's attention from the author's lively stream of narrative, or his interesting record 
 of the " logic, and the wisdom, and the wit" (not omitting the weaknesses and the pecu- 
 liarities) of Johnson and his eminent contemporaries. ED. 
 
 March, 1851.
 
 This edition of " BoswelPs Life of Johnson " has been divided into chapters 
 for the reader's convenience, in the perusal of so great a body of matter. 
 
 The names of previous annotators are given in full ; the additional notes to 
 which " ED." is appended are by the present Editor. 
 
 The Chronological List of the works of Dr. Johnson prepared by Boswell, 
 will be found at the end of the Biography.
 
 SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 To write the Life of him who excelled all mankind in writing the lives 
 of others, and who, whether we consider his extraordinary endowments, 
 or his various works, has been equalled hy few in any age, is an arduous, 
 and may be reckoned in me a presumptuous task. 
 
 Had Dr. Johnson written his own Life, in conformity with the 
 opinion which he has given, 1 that every man's life may be best written 
 by himself ; had he employed in the preservation of his own history, 
 that clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has 
 embalmed so many eminent persons, the world would probably have 
 had the most perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited. 
 But although he at different times, in a desultory manner, committed 
 to writing many particulars of the progress of his mind and fortunes, 
 he never had persevering diligence enough to form them into a regular 
 composition. Of these memorials a few have been preserved ; but the 
 greater part was consigned by him to the flames, a few days before his 
 death. 
 
 As I had the honour and happiness of enjoying his friendship for 
 upwards of twenty years ; as I had the scheme of writing his life con- 
 stantly in view ; as he was well apprised of this circumstance, and 
 from time to time obligingly satisfied my inquiries, by communicating 
 to me the incidents of his early years ; as I acquired a facility in 
 recollecting, and was very assiduous in recording, his conversation, 
 of which the extraordinary vigour and vivacity constituted one of 
 the first features of his character ; and as I have spared no pains in 
 
 1 Idler, No. 84 : " Those relations are commonly of most value, in which the writer 
 tells his own story." BOSWKLL.
 
 XXVlil INTRODUCTION. 
 
 obtaining materials concerning him, from every quarter where I could 
 discover that they were to be found, and have been favoured with the 
 most liberal communications by his friends ; I flatter myself that few 
 biographers have entered upon such a work as this with more advan- 
 tages, independent of literary abilities, in which 1 am not vain enough 
 to compare myself with some great names who have gone before me in 
 this kind of writing. 
 
 Since my work was announced, several Lives and Memoirs of Dr. 
 Johnson have been published, the most voluminous of which is one 
 compiled for the booksellers of London, by Sir John Hawkins, Knight, 1 
 a man whom, during my long intimacy with Dr. Johnson, I never saw 
 in his company, I think, but once, and I am sure not above twice. 
 Johnson might have esteemed him for his descent, religious demeanour, 
 and his knowledge of books and literary history ; but from the rigid 
 formality of his manners, it is evident that they never could have lived 
 together with companionable ease and familiarity : nor had Sir John 
 Hawkins that nice perception which was necessary to mark the finer 
 and less obvious parts of Johnson's character. His being appointed 
 one of his executors, gave him an opportunity of taking possession of 
 such fragments of a diary and other papers as were left ; of which, 
 before delivering them up to the residuary legatee, whose property they 
 were, he endeavoured to extract the substance. In this he has not been 
 very successful, as I have found upon a perusal of those papers, which 
 have been since transferred to me. Sir John Hawkins's ponderous 
 labours, I must acknowledge, exhibit & farrago, of which a considerable 
 portion is not devoid of entertainment to the lovers of literary gossiping; 
 but besides its being swelled out with long unnecessary extracts from 
 various works (even one of several leaves from Osborne's Harleian 
 Catalogue, and those not compiled by Johnson, but by Oldys), a very 
 small part of it relates to the person who is the subject of the book ; 
 and, in that, there is such an inaccuracy in the statement of facts, as in 
 so solemn an author is hardly excusable, and certainly makes his narra- 
 
 1 The greatest part of this book was written while Sir John Hawkins was alive ; and 
 I avow, that one object of my strictures was to make him feel some compunction for his 
 illiberal treatment of Dr. Johnson. Since his decease I have suppressed several of my 
 remarks upon his work. But though I would not " war with the dead" offensively, 
 I think it necessary to be strenuous in defence of my illustrious friend, which I cannot be 
 without strong animadversions upon a writer who has greatly injured him. Let me add, 
 that though I doubt I should not have been very prompt to gratify Sir John Hawkins 
 with any compliment in his lifetime, I do now frankly acknowledge, that, in my opinion, 
 his volume, however inadequate and improper as a life of Dr. Johnson, and however 
 discredited by unpardonable inaccuracies in other respects, contains a collection of 
 curious anecdotes and observations, which few men but its author could have brought 
 together. Bos w K LL. 
 
 Sir John Hawkins was born in London, in 1719. He was by profession a solicitor, 
 but is better known by his " History of Music," his edition of " Walton's Angler," and 
 his " Life of Dr. Samuel Johnson." He was a member of the Literary Club, and 
 mention of him will be found in subsequent parts of the present work. ED. __
 
 INTRODUCTION. XXIX 
 
 tive very unsatisfactory. But what is still worse, there is throughout 
 the whole of it a dark uncharitable cast, by which the most unfavour- 
 able construction is put upon almost every circumstance in the character 
 and conduct of my illustrious friend ; who, I trust, will, by a true and 
 fair delineation, be vindicated both from the injurious misrepresentations 
 of this author, and from the slighter aspersions of a lady who once lived 
 in great intimacy with him. 
 
 There is, in the British Museum, a letter from Bishop Warburton to 
 Dr. Birch, on the subject of biography ; which, though I am aware it 
 may expose me to a charge of artfully raising the value of my own 
 work, by contrasting it with that of which I have spoken, is so well 
 conceived and expressed, that I cannot refrain from here inserting it : 
 
 " I shall endeavour," says Dr. Warburton, " to give you what satisfaction I 
 can in any thing you want to be satisfied in any subject of Milton, and am 
 extremely glad you intend to write his life. Almost all the life-writers we have 
 had before Toland and Desmaiseaux are indeed strange insipid creatures ; and 
 yet I had rather read the worst of them, than be obliged to go through with 
 this of Milton's, or the other's life of Boileau, where there is such a dull, heavy 
 succession of long quotations of disinteresting passages, that it makes their 
 method quite nauseous. But the verbose, tasteless Frenchman seems to lay 
 it down as a principle that every life must be a book, and what's worse, it 
 proves a book without a life ; for what do we know of Boileau, after all his 
 tedious stuff? You are the only one (and I speak it without a compliment), 
 that by the vigour of your style and sentiments, and the real importance 
 of your materials, have the art (which one would imagine no one could have 
 missed), of adding agreements to the most agreeable subject in the world, 
 which is literary history." 1 [Nov. 24, 1737.] 
 
 Instead of melting down my materials into one mass, and constantly 
 speaking in my own person, by which I might have appeared to have 
 more merit in the execution of the work, I have resolved to adopt and 
 enlarge upon the excellent plan of Mr. Mason, in his Memoirs of Gray. 
 Wherever narrative is necessary to explain, connect, and supply, I fur- 
 nish it to the best of my abilities ; but in the chronological series of 
 Johnson's life, which I trace as distinctly as I can, year by year, I 
 produce, wherever it is in my power, his own minutes, letters, or con- 
 versation, being convinced that this mode is more lively, and will make 
 my readers better acquainted with him, than even most of those were 
 who actually knew him, but could know him only partially ; whereas 
 there is here an accumulation of intelligence from various points, by 
 which his character is more fully understood and illustrated. 
 
 Indeed, I cannot conceive a more perfect mode of writing any 
 man's life, than not only relating all the most important events of it in 
 their order, but interweaving what he privately wrote, and said, and 
 
 1 Brit. Mus. 4320, Ayscuugh's Cata). Sloaiie MSS. BOSWBLL.
 
 XXX INTRODUCTION. 
 
 thought ; by which mankind are enabled as it were to see him live, and 
 to "live o'er each scene" with him, as he actually advanced through 
 the several stages of his life. Had his other friends been as diligent and 
 ardent as I was, he might have been almost entirely preserved. As it is, 
 I will venture to say, that he will be seen in this work more completely 
 than any man who has ever yet lived. 
 
 And he will be seen as he really was ; for I profess to write, not his 
 panegyric, which must be all praise, but his Life ; which, great and 
 good as he was, must not be supposed to be entirely perfect. To be as 
 he was, is indeed subject of panegyric enough to any man in this state 
 of being ; but in every picture there should be shade as well as light, 
 and when I delineate him without reserve, I do what he himself recom- 
 mended, both by his precept and his example. 
 
 " If the biographer writes from personal knowledge, and makes haste to 
 gratify the public curiosity, there is danger lest his interest, his fear, his 
 gratitude, or his tenderness, overpower his fidelity, and tempt him to conceal, if 
 not to invent. There are many who think it an act of piety to hide the faults or 
 failings of their friends, even when they can no longer suffer by their detection ; 
 we therefore see whole ranks of characters adorned with uniform panegyric, and 
 not to be known from one another but by extrinsic and casual circumstances. 
 ' Let me remember,' says Hale, ' when I find myself inclined to pity a criminal, 
 that there is likewise a pity due to the country." If \ve owe regard to the 
 memory of the dead, there is yet more respect to be paid to knowledge, to 
 virtue, and to truth." [Rambler, No. 60.] 
 
 What I consider as the peculiar value of the following work, is, the 
 quantity it contains of Johnson's conversation, which is universally 
 acknowledged to have been eminently instructive and entertaining ; and 
 of which the specimens that I have given upon a former occasion 1 have 
 been received with so much approbation that I have good grounds for 
 supposing that the world will not be indifferent to more ample commu- 
 nications of a similar nature. 
 
 That the conversation of a celebrated man, if his talents have been 
 exerted in conversation, will best display his character, is, I trust, too 
 well established in the judgment of mankind to be at all shaken by a 
 sneering observation of Mr. Mason, in his " Memoirs of Mr. William 
 Whitehead," in which there is literally no Life, but a mere dry narrative 
 of facts. I do not think it was quite necessary to attempt a depreciation 
 of what is universally esteemed, because it was not to be found in the 
 immediate object of the ingenious writer's pen; for in truth, from a man 
 so still and so tame, as to be contented to pass many years as the 
 domestic companion of a superannuated lord and lady, conversation 
 could no more be expected than from a Chinese mandarin on a chimney 
 piece, or the fantastic figures on a gilt leather screen. 
 
 1 Boswell alludes to the " Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides." ED.
 
 INTRODUCTION. XXXI 
 
 If authority be required, let us appeal to Plutarch, the prince of 
 
 ancient biographers. Otfre raic, eirKpaveffrdraig Trpd^eai Trdurcag eSecrri 8rjA.co<n 
 ctperije ^ KOKi'ac a\\a irpajfua. Ppaxv TroAAaKtg /cai pri^a, real iraiSid TIC ^(patnv 
 ijOovs firoir)fffi> /j.a\\ov ^ A^X at pvpityfitpot, irapard^eig al pfytarat, Kal iroAiopKia 
 
 v6\ewv. " Nor is it always in the most distinguished achievements that 
 men's virtues or vices may be best discerned ; but very often an action of 
 small note, a short saying, or a jest, shall distinguish a person's real 
 character more than the greatest sieges, or the most important battles." 1 
 To this may be added the sentiments of the very man whose life I am 
 about to exhibit. 
 
 " The business of the biographer is often to pass slightly over those per- 
 formances and incidents which produce vulgar greatness to lead the thoughts 
 into domestic privacies, and display the minute details of daily life, where 
 exterior appendages are cast aside, and men excel each other only by prudence 
 and by virtue. The account of Thuanus is with great propriety said by its author 
 to have been written, that it might lay open to posterity the private and 
 familiar character of that man, cujus ingenium et candorem ex ipsius scriptis sunt 
 olim semper miraturi, whose candour and genius will to the end of time be by 
 his writings preserved in admiration. 
 
 " There are many invisible circumstances, which, whether we read as 
 inquirers after natural or moral knowledge, whether we intend to enlarge our 
 science or increase our virtue, are more important than public occurrences. 
 Thus Sallust, the great master of nature, has not forgot in his account of 
 Cataline to remark, that his walk was now quick, and again slow, as an indication 
 of a mind revolving with violent commotion. Thus the story of Melancthon 
 affords a striking lecture on the value of time, by informing us, that when he 
 had made an appointment, he expected not only the hour but the minute to be 
 fixed, that the day might not run out in the idleness of suspense ; and all the 
 plans and enterprises of De Witt are now of less importance to the world than 
 that part of his personal character, which represents him as careful of his health, 
 and negligent of his life. 
 
 " But biography has often been allotted to writers, who seem very little 
 acquainted with the nature of their task, or very negligent about the per- 
 formance. They rarely afford any other account than might be collected from 
 public papers, but imagine themselves writing a life, when they exhibit a 
 chronological series of actions or preferments ; and have so little regard to the 
 manners or behaviour of their heroes, that more knowledge may be gained of a 
 man's real character, by a short conversation with one of his servants, than from a 
 formal and studied narrative, begun with his pedigree, and ended with his funeral. 
 
 " There are, indeed, some natural reasons why these narratives are often 
 written by such as were not likely to give much instruction or delight, and why 
 most accounts of particular persons are barren and useless. If a life be delayed 
 till interest and envy are at an end, we may hope for impartiality, but must 
 expect little intelligence; for the incidents which give excellence to biogrnphy 
 
 1 Plutarch's Life of Alexander; Langhorne's translation. BOSWELL.
 
 XXXU INTRODUCTION. 
 
 are of a volatile and evanescent kind, such as soon escape the memory, and are 
 rarely transmitted by tradition. We know how few can portray a living 
 acquaintance, except by his most prominent and observable particularities, and 
 the grosser features of his mind ; and it may be easily imagined how much of 
 this little knowledge may be lost in imparting it, and how soon a succession of 
 copies will lose all resemblance of the original." [Rambler, No. 60.] 
 
 I am fully aware of the objections which may be made to the mi- 
 nuteness on some occasions of my detail of Johnson's conversation, and 
 how happily it is adapted for the petty exercise of ridicule, by men of 
 superficial understanding and ludicrous fancy : but I remain firm and 
 confident in my opinion, that minute particulars are frequently charac- 
 teristic, and always amusing, when they relate to a distinguished man. 
 I am therefore exceedingly unwilling that any thing, however slight, 
 which my illustrious friend thought it worth his while to express, with 
 any degree of point, should perish. For this almost superstitious 
 reverence I have found very old and venerable authority, quoted by 
 our great modern prelate, Seeker, in whose tenth sermon there is the 
 following passage : 
 
 " Rabbi David Kimchi, 1 a noted Jewish commentator, who lived about five 
 hundred years ago, explains that passage in the first Psalm, ' His leaf also shall 
 not wither, ' from Rabbins yet older than himself, thus : That ' even the idle 
 talk, ' so he expresses it, ' of a good man ought to be regarded ; ' the most 
 superfluous things he saith are always of some value. And other ancient authors 
 have the same phrase, nearly in the same sense." 
 
 Of one thing I am certain, that considering how highly the small 
 portion which we have of the table-talk and other anecdotes of our 
 celebrated writers is valued, and how earnestly it is regretted that we 
 have not more, I am justified in preserving rather too many of Johnson's 
 sayings, than too few ; especially a*s from the diversity of dispositions 
 it cannot be known with certainty beforehand, whether what may seem 
 trifling to some, and perhaps to the collector himself, may not be most 
 agreeable to many ; and the greater number that an author can please 
 in any degree, the more pleasure does there arise to a benevolent mind. 
 
 To those who are weak enough to think this a degrading task, and 
 the time and labour which have been devoted to it misemployed, I shall 
 content myself with opposing the authority of the greatest man of any 
 age, JULIUS C^SAB, of whom Bacon observes, that 
 
 " In his book of Apophthegms which he collected, we see that he esteemed 
 it more honour to make himself but a pair of tables, to take the wise and pithy 
 words of others, than to have every word of his own to be made an apophthegm 
 or an oracle." [Advancement of Learning, Book I.] 
 
 Having said thus much by way of introduction, I commit the 
 following pages to the candour of the public. 
 
 1 A Spanish Rabbi, considered the best grammarian of his nation. He died in 1240. ED.
 
 CHAPTER L 1709 1731. 
 
 BIRTH AND INFANCY ov JOHNSON ACCOUNT OF HIS PARENTS ANECDOTES OF 
 HIS CHILDHOOD TAKEN TO LONDON TO RECEIVE THE ROYAL TOUCH FOR 
 SCROFULA SCHOOL DAYS AT LICHFIELD His UNCLF, CORNELIUS FORD, AND 
 COUSIN THE REV. DR. FORD SENT TO SCHOOL AT STOURBRIDOE TRANSLATIONS 
 AND ORIGINAL COMPOSITIONS WHILE AT THIS PLACE RETURN HOME ARRIVAL 
 AT PEMBROKE COLLEGE, OXFORD His TUTOR LATIN TRANSLATION OF POPK'S 
 "MESSIAH" ATTACK OF HYPOCHONDRIA RELIGIOUS IMPRESSIONS COURSE OF 
 READING LOVE OF LITERATURE APPARENT RECKLESSNESS REAL STATE OF 
 MIND STRUGGLES WITH POVERTY LEAVES THE UNIVERSITY. 
 
 AMUEL JOHNSON was born at Lichfield in 
 Staffordshire, on the 18th of September, N.S. 
 1709 ; and his initiation into the Christian church 
 was not delayed ; for his baptism is recorded, in 
 the register (if St. Mary's parish in that city, to 
 have been performed on the day of his birth : his 
 father is there styled Gentleman, a circumstance of 
 which an ignorant panegyrist has praised him for 
 not being proud ; when the truth is, that the 
 appellation of Gentleman, though now lost in the indiscriminate as- 
 sumption of Esquire, was commonly taken by those who could not
 
 U BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1709. 
 
 boast of gentility. His father was Michael Johnson, a native of 
 Derbyshire, of obscure extraction, who settled in Lichfield as a book- 
 seller and stationer. His mother was Sarah Ford, descended of an 
 ancient race of substantial yeomanry in Warwickshire. They were 
 well advanced in years when they married, and never had more than 
 two children, both sons ; Samuel, their first-born, who lived to be the 
 illustrious character whose various excellence I am to endeavour to 
 record, and Nathanael, who died in his twenty-fifth year. 1 
 
 Mr. Michael Johnson was a man 
 of a large and robust body, and of a 
 strong and active mind ; yet, as in 
 the most solid rocks veins of unsound 
 substance are often discovered, there 
 was in him a mixture of that disease, 
 the nature of which eludes the most 
 minute inquiry, though the effects 
 are well knosvn to be a weariness of 
 life, an unconcern about those things 
 which agitate the greater part of 
 mankind, and a general sensation of 
 gloomy wretchedness. From him 
 then his son inherited, with some 
 other qualities, " a vile melancholy," 
 which in his too strong expression of 
 
 any disturbance of the mind, "made him mad all his life, at least not 
 sober." 2 Michael was, however, forced by the narrowness of his 
 circumstances to be very diligent in business, not only in his shop, but 
 by occasionally resorting to several towns in the neighbourhood, 8 some 
 of which were at a considerable distance from Lichfield. At that time 
 booksellers' shops, in the provincial towns of England, were very rare : 
 so that there was not one even in Birmingham, in which town old Mr. 
 Johnson used to open a shop every market-day. He was a pretty good 
 Latin scholar, and a citizen so creditable as to be made one of the 
 
 1 Nathanael was born in 1712, and died in 1737. Their father, Michael Johnson, 
 was born at (?ubley in Derbyshire, in 1666, and died at Lichfield in 1731, at the age of 
 seventy-six. Sarah Ford, his wife, was born atKing's-Norton, in the county of Warwick, 
 in 1669, and died at Lichfield, in January 1759, in her ninetieth year. MALONE. 
 
 King's Norton i here stated to be in Warwickshire, on the authority of Dr. Johnson 
 (see his Inscription for kis mother's tomb) ; but it is in Worcestershire, probably on the 
 confines of the county of Warwick. ED. 
 
 2 Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd edit. p. 213. BOSWBI.I,. 
 
 8 Extract of a letter dated " Trentham, St. Peter's day, 1716," written by the Rev. 
 George Plaxton, Chaplain at that time to Lord Gower, which may serve to show the high 
 estimation in which the father of our great moralist was held : " Johnson, the Lichfield 
 librarian, is now here ; he propagates learning all over this diocese, and advanceth know- 
 ledge to its just height ; all the clergy here are his pupils, and suck all they have from him; 
 Allen cannot make a warrant without his precedent, nor our quondam John Evans draw 
 zrecngnizance sine directions Michaelif." Gentleman's Mag., October, 1791. BOSWELL.
 
 AGE 4] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 35 
 
 magistrates of Lichfield ; and being a man of good sense, and skill in 
 his trade, he acquired a reasonable share of wealth, of which, however, 
 he afterwards lost the greatest part, by engaging unsuccessfully in a 
 manufacture of parchment. He was a zealous high- churchman and 
 royalist, and retained his attachment to the unfortunate house of Stuart, 
 though he reconciled himself, by casuistical arguments of expediency 
 and necessity, to take the oaths imposed by the prevailing power. 
 
 There is a circumstance in his life somewhat romantic, but so well 
 authenticated, 1 that I shall not omit it. A young woman of Leek, in 
 Staffordshire, while he served his apprenticeship there, conceived a 
 violent passion for him ; and though it met with no favourable return, 
 followed him to Lichfield, where she took lodgings opposite to the house 
 in which he lived, and indulged her hopeless flame. When he was 
 informed that it so preyed upon her mind that her life was in danger, he 
 with a generous humanity went to her and offered to marry her, but it 
 was then too late : her vital power was exhausted ; and she actually 
 exhibited one of the very rare instances of dying for love. She was buried 
 in the cathedral of Lichfield ; and he, with a tender regard, placed 
 a stone over her grave with this inscription : 
 
 Here lies the Body of 
 Mrs. ELIZABETH BLANEY, a Stranger : 
 
 She departed this Life 
 20th of September, 1694. 
 
 Johnson's mother was a woman of distinguished understanding. 2 I 
 asked his old schoolfellow, Mr. Hector, surgeon, of Birmingham, if she 
 was not vain of her son. He said, " she had too much good sense to be 
 vain, but she knew her son's value." Her piety was not inferior to her 
 understanding ; and to her must be ascribed those early impressions of 
 religion upon the mind of her son, from which the world afterwards 
 derived so much benefit. He told me, that he remembered distinctly 
 having had the first notice of Heaven, " a place to which good people 
 
 1 The authenticity of this romantic incident rests solely in an assertion made, upon 
 the dubious authority of Miss Seward, in the "Gentleman's Mag." vol. lv., p. 100. ED. 
 
 2 It was not, however, much cultivated, as we may collect from Dr. Johnson's own 
 account of his early years, published by R. Phillips, 8vo. 1805, a work undoubtedly au- 
 thentic, and which, though short, is curious, and well worthy of perusal. " My father 
 and mother," says Johnson, " had not much happiness from each other. They seldom con- 
 versed; for my father could not bear to talk of his affairs ; arid my mother, being 
 unacquainted with books, cared nofc to talk of anything else. Had my mother been more 
 literate, they had been better companions. She might have sometimes introduced her 
 unwelcome topic with more success, if she could have diversified her conversation. Of 
 business she had no distinct conception ; and therefore her discourse was composed only 
 of complaint, fear, and suspicion. Neither of them ever tried to calculate the profits of 
 trade or the expenses of living. My mother concluded that we were poor, because we 
 lost by some of our trades ; but the truth was, that my father, having in the early part of 
 his life contracted debts, never had trade sufficient to enable him to pay them, and to 
 maintain his family; he got something, but not enough. It was not till about 1768, that 
 I thought to calculate the returns of my father's trade, and by that estimate, his probable 
 profits. This, I believe, my parents never did." MALONK.
 
 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 [1712. 
 
 went," ami Hell, " a place to which bad people went," communicated 
 to him by her, when a little child in bed with her ; and that it might be 
 the better fixed in his memory, she sent him to repeat it to Thomas 
 Jackson, their man-servant ; he not being in the way, this was not 
 done; but there was no occasion for any artificial aid for its preservation. 
 
 In following so very eminent a man from his cradle to his grave, 
 every minute particular, which can throw light on the progress of his 
 mind, is interesting. That he was remarkable, even in his earliest 
 years, may easily be supposed ; for to use his own words in his " Life 
 of Sydenham," " That the strength of his understanding, the accuracy 
 of his discernment, and the ardour of his curiosity, might have been 
 remarked from his infancy, by a diligent observer, there is no reason to 
 doubt ; for there is no instance of any man, whose history has been 
 minutely related, that did not in every part of life discover the same 
 proportion of intellectual vigour." 
 
 In all such investigations it is certainly unwise to pay too much 
 attention to incidents which the credulous relate with eager satisfaction, 
 and the more scrupulous or witty inquirer considers only as topics 
 of ridicule : yet there is a traditional story of the infant Hercules of 
 toryism, so curiously characteristic, that I shall not withhold it. It 
 was communicated to me in a letter from Miss Mary Adye, of Lichfield. 
 
 "When Dr. Sacheverel was at Lichfield, 
 Johnson was not quite three years old. My 
 grandfather Hammond observed him at the 
 cathedral perched upon his father's shoulders, 
 listening and gaping at the much celebrated 
 preacher. Mr. Hammond asked Mr. Johnson 
 how he could possibly think of bringing such 
 an infant to church, and in the midst of so 
 great a crowd. He answered, because it was 
 impossible to keep him at home ; for, young 
 as he was, he believed he had caught the 
 public spirit and zeal for Sacheverel, and 
 would have stayed for ever in the church, 
 satisfied with beholding him." * 
 
 Nor can I omit a little instance of 
 that jealous independence of spirit, and 
 impetuosity of temper, which never for- 
 sook him. The fact was acknowledged 
 to me by himself, upon the authority of his mother. One day when 
 the servant who used to be sent to school to conduct him home, had 
 not come in time, he set out by himself, though he was then so near- 
 sighted, that he was obliged to stoop down on his hands and knees 
 
 1 It appear* by the books of the corporation that Sacheverel visited Lichfield in June, 
 1710, at which time Johnson was only nine months old. ED.
 
 AGE 10.] 
 
 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON 1 . 
 
 3? 
 
 to take a view of the kennel, before he ventured to step over it. His 
 schoolmistress, afraid that he might miss his way, or fall into the 
 kennel, or he run over by a cart, followed him at some distance, lie 
 happened to turn about and perceive her. Feeling her careful attention 
 as an insult to his manliness, he ran back to her in a rage, and beat 
 her, as well as his strength would permit. 
 
 rARLOOK IN THE 
 
 Of the power of his memory, for which he was all his life eminent to 
 a degree almost incredible, the following early instance was told me in 
 his presence at Lichfield, in 1776, by his step-daughter, Mrs. Lucy 
 Porter, as related to her by his mother. When he was a child in petti- 
 coats, and had learned to read, Mrs. Johnson one morning put the 
 Common Prayer Book into his hands, pointed to the collect for the 
 day, and said, " Sam, you must get this by heart. " She went up stairs, 
 leaving him to study it ; but by the time she had reached the second 
 floor, she heard him following her. " What's the matter ?" said she. 
 "I can say it," he replied ; and repeated it distinctly, though he could 
 not have read it more than twice. 
 
 But there has been another story of his infant precocity generally 
 circulated, and generally believed, the truth of which I am to refute 
 upon his own authority. It is told, 2 that, when a child of three years 
 old, he chanced to tread upon a duckling, the eleventh of a brood, and 
 
 1 This is the only room of the house which remains in the same state as when occupied 
 by the Doctor's father. ED. 
 
 2 Piozzi's Anecdotes and Sir John Hawkins's Life. BOSWELL.
 
 88 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHXSOS. 11/12. 
 
 killed it ; upon which, it is said, he dictated to his mother the following 
 epitaph : 
 
 " Here lies good master duck, 
 
 Whom Samuel Johnson trod on ; 
 
 If it had lived, it had been good luck, 
 
 For then we'd had an odd one." 
 
 There is surely internal evidence, that this little composition combines 
 in it what no child of three years old could produce, without an extension 
 of its faculties by immediate inspiration ; yet Mrs. Lucy Porter, Dr. 
 Johnson's step-daughter, positively maintained to me, in his presence, 
 that there could be no doubt of the truth of this anecdote, for she had 
 heard it from his mother. So difficult is it to obtain an authentic 
 relation of facts, and such authority may there be for error ; for he 
 assured me that his father made the verses, and wished to pass them for 
 his child's. He added, " My father was a foolish old man ; that is to 
 say, foolish in talking of his children." 1 
 
 Young Johnson had the misfortune to be much afflicted with the 
 scrofula, or king's evil, which disfigured a countenance naturally well 
 formed, and hurt his visual nerves so much, that he did not see at all 
 with one of his eyes, though its appearence was little different from that 
 of the other. There is amongst his prayers one inscribed " When my 
 EYE was restored to its use," 2 which ascertains a defect that many of his 
 friends knew he had, though I never perceived it. 3 I supposed him to 
 be only near-sighted : and indeed I must observe, that in no otlier respect 
 could I discern any defect in his vision ; on the contrary, the force of his 
 attention and perceptive quickness made him see and distinguish all 
 manner of objects, whether of nature or of art, with a nicety that is rarely 
 to be found. When he and I were travelling in the Highlands of Scotland, 
 and I pointed out to him a mountain which I observed resembled a cone, 
 
 1 This anecdote of the duck, though disproved by internal and external evidence, has 
 nevertheless upon supposition of its truth, been made the foundation of the following in- 
 genious and fanciful reflections of Miss Se ward, amongst the communications concerning 
 Dr. Johnson with which she has been pleased to favour me : 
 
 "These infant numbers contain the seeds of those propensities which through his life 
 so strongly marked his character, of that poetic talent which afterwards bore siu-h rich and 
 plentiful fruits; for, excepting his orthographic works, everything which Dr. Johnson 
 wrote was poetry, whose essence consists, not in numbers, or in jingle, but in the strength 
 and glow of a fancy, to which all the stores of nature and of art stand in prompt adminis- 
 tration ; and in an eloquence which conveys their blended illustrations in a language ' more 
 tuneable than needs or rhyme or verse to add more harmony.' 
 
 " The above little verses also show that superstitious bias which ' grew with his growth 
 and strengthened with his strength,' and of late years particularly injured his happiness 
 by presenting to him the gloomy side of religion, rather than that bright and cheering one 
 which gilds the period of closing life with the light of pious hope." 
 
 This is so beautifully imagined, that I would not suppress it. But, like many other 
 theories, it is deduced from a supposed fact, which is, indeed, a fiction. BOSWELI.. 
 
 2 Johnson's" Prayers and Meditations," p. 27. BOSWKLL. 
 
 8 Speaking himself of the imperfection of one of his eyes, he said, "The dog was 
 never good for much." BuKKEr.
 
 AaK 10.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 30 
 
 he corrected in rny inaccuracy, by showing me, that it was indeed pointed 
 at the top, but that one side of it was larger than the other. And the 
 ladies with whom he was acquainted agree, that no man was more 
 nicely and minutely critical in the elegance of female dress. When I 
 found that he saw the romantic beauties of Islam, in Derbyshire, much 
 better than I did, I told him that he resembled an able performer upon 
 a bad instrument. How false and contemptible then are all the remarks 
 which have been made to the prejudice either of his candour or of his 
 philosophy, founded upon a supposition that he was almost blind. It 
 has been said, that he contracted this grievous malady from his nurse. 1 
 His mother yielding to the superstitious notion, which, it is wonderful 
 to think, prevailed so long in this country, as to the virtue of the regal 
 touch ; a notion which our kings encouraged, and to which a man of 
 such inquiry and such judgment as Carte could give credit ; carried him 
 to London, where he was actually touched by Queen Anne. 2 Mrs. 
 Johnson indeed, as Mr. Hector informed me, acted by the advice of the 
 celebrated Sir John F'loyer, then a physician in Lichfield. Johnson 
 used to talk of this very frankly ; and Mrs. Piozzi has preserved his 
 very picturesque description of the scene as it remained upon his fancy. 
 Being asked if he could remember Queen Anne, " He had, " he said, " a 
 confused, but somehow a sort of solemn recollection of a lady in diamonds, 
 and a long black hood." 3 This touch, however, was without any effect. 
 I ventured to say to him, in allusion to the political principles in which 
 he was educated, and of which he ever retained some odour, that " his 
 mother had not carried him far enough, she should have taken him to 
 ROME."* 
 
 He was first taught to read English by Dame Oliver, a widow, who 
 kept a school for young children in Lichfield. He told me she could 
 read the black letter, and asked him to borrow for her, from his father, 
 a Bible in that character. When he was going to Oxford, she came to 
 take leave of him, brought him, in the simplicity of her kindness, a 
 present of gingerbread, and said he was the best scholar she ever had. 
 He delighted in mentioning this early compliment : adding, with a smile, 
 that " this was as high a proof of his merit as he could conceive." His 
 
 1 Such was the opinion of Dr. Swinfen. Johnson's eyes were very soon discovered 
 to be bad, and to relieve them, an issue was cut in his left arm. At the end of ten weeks 
 from his birth, he was taken home from his nurse, "a poor diseased infant, almost blind." 
 See a work, already quoted, entitled "An Account of the Life of Dr. Samuel Johnson 
 from his birth to his eleventh year; written by himself," 8vo. 1805. MA LONE. 
 
 3 He was only thirty months old, when he was taken to London to be touched for 
 the evil. During this visit, be tells us, his mother purchased for him a small silver cup 
 nd spoon. " The cup," he affectingly adds, " was one of the last pieces of plate whicli 
 dear Tetty sold in her distress. I have now the spoon. She bought at the same time 
 two teaspoons, and till my manhood, she had no more." MALONE. 
 
 8 Mrs. Piozzi's Anecdotes, p. 10. BOSWELL. 
 
 * Meaning to the Pretender, to whose cause Johnson's father was attached. See 
 page 35. ED.
 
 40 
 
 EOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 [1719. 
 
 next instructor in English was a master, whom, when he spoke of him 
 to me, he familiarly called Tom Brown, who, said he, " published a 
 spelling-hook, and dedicated it to the UNIVERSE ; but 1 fear no copy of 
 it can now be had." 
 
 [1719. Age 10.] He began to learn Latin with Mr. Hawkins, 
 usher, or under-master, of Lichfield school, "a man," said he, "very 
 skilful in his little way." With him he continued two years, and then 
 rose to be under the care of Mr. Hunter, the head master, who, according 
 to his account, " was very severe, and wrongheadedly severe. He used," 
 said he, " to beat us unmercifully ; and he did not distinguish between 
 ignorance and negligence ; for he would beat a boy equally for not 
 knowing a thing, as for neglecting to know it. He would ask a boy a 
 question, and if he did not answer it, he would beat him, without 
 considering whether he had an opportunity of knowing how to answer 
 it. For instance, he would call up a boy and ask him Latin for a 
 candlestick, which the boy could not expect to be asked. Now, Sir, if 
 a boy could answer every question, there would be no need of a master 
 to teach him." 
 
 It is, however, but justice to the memory of Mr. Hunter to mention, 
 that though he might err in being too severe, the school of Lichfield 
 was very respectable in his time. The late Dr. Taylor, Prebendary of 
 Westminster, who was educated under him, told me, that "he was an 
 excellent master, and that his ushers were most of them men of 
 eminence ; that Holbrook, 1 one of the most ingenious men, best scholars, 
 
 1 Eihvard HollmxVk, A.M., who was appointed by the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield 
 to the Vicurage of St. Mary's in 1744. He died 1772. ED.
 
 AGK 10.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 41 
 
 and best preachers of his age, was usher during the greatest part of 
 the time that Johnson was at school. Then came Hague, of whom as 
 much might be said, with the addition that he was an elegant poet. 
 Hague was succeeded by Green, afterwards Bishop of Lincoln, whose 
 character in the learned world is well known. In the same form with 
 Johnson was Congreve, who afterwards became Chaplain to Archbishop 
 Boulter, and by that connection obtained good preferment in Ireland. 
 He was a younger son of the ancient family of Congreve, in Stafford- 
 shire, of which the poet was a branch. His brother sold the estate. 
 There was also Lowe, afterwards Canon of Windsor." 
 
 Indeed, Johnson was very sensible ho\v much he owed to Mr. Hunter. 
 Mr. Langton one day asked him how he had acquired so accurate a 
 knowledge of Latin, in which, I believe, he was exceeded by no man of 
 his time ; he said, " My master whipt me very well. Without that, 
 Sir, I should have done nothing." He told Mr. Langton, that while 
 Hunter was flogging his boys unmercifully, he used to say, " And this 
 I do to save you from the gallows." Johnson, upon all occasions, 
 expressed his approbation of enforcing instruction by means of the 
 rod. 1 " I would rather," said he, " have the rod to be the general terror 
 to all, to make them learn, than tell a child, if you do thus, or thus, 
 you will be more esteemed than your brothers or sisters. The rod pro- 
 duces an effect which terminates in itself. A child is afraid of being 
 whipped, and gets his task, and there's an end on't : whereas, by ex- 
 citing emulation and comparisons of superiority, you lay the foundation 
 of lasting mischief; you make brothers and sisters hate each other." 
 
 When Johnson saw some young ladies in Lincolnshire who were 
 remarkably well behaved, owing to their mother's strict discipline and 
 severe correction, he exclaimed, in one of Shakspeare's lines a little 
 varied, 2 
 
 "Rod, I will honour thee for this thy duty." 
 
 That superiority over his fellows, which he maintained with so much 
 dignity in his march through life, was not assumed from vanity and 
 obstentation, but was the natural and constant effect of those extraordi- 
 nary powers of mind, of which he could not but be conscious by com- 
 parison ; the intellectual difference, which in other cases of comparison 
 of characters, is often a matter of undecided contest, being as clear in 
 his case as the superiority of stature in some men above others. John- 
 son did not strut or stand on tiptoe ; he only did not stoop. From his 
 earliest years, his superiority was perceived and acknowledged. He 
 was from the beginning &pa avSpwv a king of men. His schoolfellow, 
 Mr. Hector, has obligingly furnished me with many particulars of his 
 
 1 Johnson's observations to Dr. Burney, on this subject, may be found in a subsequent 
 part of this work. See vol. ii. near the end of the year 1775. BURNEY. 
 
 2 More than a little. The line is in King Henry VI., Part ii. Act iv. Scene last: 
 
 " Sword, I will hallow thee for this thy deed." MAI-ONE.
 
 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 [1724. 
 
 boyish days ; and assured me that he never knew him corrected at 
 school, but for talking and diverting other boys from their business. 
 He seemed to learn by intuition ; for though indolence and procrastination 
 
 were inherent in his constitution, when- 
 ever he made an exertion he did more 
 than any one else. In short, he is a 
 memorable instance of what has been 
 often observed, that the boy is the man 
 in miniature; and that the distinguishing 
 characteristics of each individual are the 
 same through the whole course of life. 
 His favourites used to receive very 
 liberal assistance from him ; and such 
 was the submission and deference with 
 which he was treated, such the desire 
 to obtain his regard, that three of the 
 boys, of whom Mr. Hector was some- 
 times one, used to come in the morning 
 as his humble attendants, and carry 
 him to school. One in the middle 
 stooped, while he sat upon his back, 
 and one on each side supported him, and thus he was borne triumphant. 
 Such a proof of the early predominance of intellectual vigour is very 
 remarkable, and does honour to human nature. 1 Talking to me once 
 himself of his being much distinguished at school, he told me, " They 
 never thought to raise me by comparing me to any one ; they never said 
 Johnson is as good a scholar as such a one ; but such a one is as good 
 a scholar as Johnson ; and this was said but of one, but of Lowe : and 
 I do not think he was as good a scholar." 
 
 He discovered a great ambition to excel, which roused him to coun- 
 teract his indolence. He was uncommonly inquisitive ; and his memory 
 was so tenacious, that he never forgot anything that he either heard or 
 read. Mr. Hector remembers having recited to him eighteen ver?e.s, 
 which, after a little pause, he repeated verbatim, varying only one 
 epithet, by which he improved the line. 
 
 He never joined with the other boys in their ordinary diversions : 
 his only amusement was in winter, when he took a pleasure in being 
 drawn upon the ice by a boy barefooted, who pulled him along by 
 a garter fixed round him ; no very easy operation, as his size was 
 remarkably large. His defective sight, indeed, prevented him from 
 enjoying the common sports ; and he once pleasantly remarked to me, 
 " how wonderfully well he had contrived to be idle without them." Lord 
 Chesterfield, however, has justly observed in one of his letters, when 
 
 1 One of Johnson's biographers suggests that this boyish mastery was more probably 
 obtained by corporeal than intellectual vigour. ED.
 
 AGE 15,] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 43 
 
 earnestly cautioning a friend against the pernicious effects of idleness, 
 that active sports are not to be reckoned idleness in young people ; and 
 that the listless torpor of doing nothing, alone deserves that name. 
 Of this dismal inertness of disposition, Johnson had all his life too 
 great a share. Mr. Hector relates, that " he could not oblige him more 
 than by sauntering away the hours of vacation in the fields, during 
 which he was more engaged in talking to himself than to his com- 
 panion." 
 
 Dr. Percy, the Bishop of Dromore, who was long intimately ac- 
 quainted with him, and has preserved a few anecdotes concerning him, 
 regretting that he was not a more diligent collector, informs me, that 
 " when a boy he was immoderately fond of reading romances of chivalry, 
 and he retained his fondness for them through life ; so that," adds his 
 lordship, " spending part of a summer at my parsonage-house in the 
 country, he chose for his regular reading the old Spanish romance of 
 ' Felixmarte of Hircania,' in folio, which he read quite through. Yet 
 I have heard him attribute to these extravagant fictions that unsettled 
 turn of mind which prevented his ever fixing in any profession." 
 
 [1724. Aged 15.] After having 
 resided for some time at the house of 
 his uncle, Cornelius Ford, 1 Johnson 
 was, at the age of fifteen, removed to 
 the school of Stourbridge, in Wor- 
 cestershire, of which Mr. Wentworth 
 was then master. This step was 
 taken by the advice of his cousin, the 
 Rev. Mr. Ford, a man in whom both 
 talents and good dispositions were 
 disgraced by licentiousness, 2 but who 
 was a very able judge of what was 
 right. At this school he did not re- 
 ceive so much benefit as wasexpec ted. 
 It has been said, that he acted in the capacity of an assistant to Mr. 
 Wentworth, in teaching the younger boys. " Mr. Wentworth," he told 
 
 1 Cornelius Ford, according to Sir John Hawkins, was his cousin german, being the 
 son of Dr. Ford, an eminent physician, who was brother to Johnson's mother. MALONE. 
 
 2 He is said to be the original of the parson in Hogarth's Modem Midnight Con- 
 versation. BOSWBI.T.. 
 
 Johnson, in his " Life of Fenton," writes thus of his relative : " Ford, a clergyman 
 of that time too well known, whose abilities, instead of furnishing convivial merriment to 
 the voluptuous and dissolute, might have enabled him to excel among the virtuous and the 
 wise ;" and iu the Rtchardsonia, p. 225, the following passage occurs : " When Parson 
 Ford, an infamous fellow, but of much off' hand conversation and wit, besought Lord 
 Chesterfield to carry him over with him as his chaplain when he went ambassador to 
 Holland, he said to him, ' I would certainly take you, if you had one vice more than you 
 already have.' ' My Lord,' said Ford, ' I thought 1 should never be reproached for my 
 deficiency that way.' ' True,' replied the Earl ; 'but if you had still one more, almost 
 worse than all the rest put together, it would hinder these from giving scandal.' " ED. 
 
 PARSON FOHD, FROM HOGARTH'S PICTURE.
 
 44 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1727. 
 
 me, "was a very able man, but an idle man, and to me very severe ; but I 
 cannot blame him much. 1 was then a big boy ; he saw I did not rever- 
 ence him, and that he should get no honour by me. I had brought 
 enough with me to carry me through ; and all I should get at his 
 school would be ascribed to my own labour, or to my former master. 
 Yet he taught me a great deal." 
 
 He thus discriminated to Dr. Percy, 1 Bishop of Dromore, his progress 
 at his two grammar schools. "At one, I learned much in the school, but 
 little from the master ; in the other, I learned much from the master, 
 but little in the school." 
 
 The bishop also informs 'me, that Dr. Johnson's father, before he 
 was received at Stourbridge, applied to have him admitted as a scholar 
 and assistant to the Rev. Samuel Lea, M. A., head master of Newport 
 school in Shropshire, (a very diligent good teacher, at that time in high 
 reputation, under whom Mr. Hollis is said, in the Memoirs of his Life, 
 to have been also educated.) 2 This application to Mr, Lea was not suc- 
 cessful ; but Johnson had afterwards the gratification to hear that the 
 old gentleman, who lived to a very advanced age, mentioned it as one of 
 the most memorable events of his life, that " he was very near having 
 that great man for his scholar. 
 
 He remained at Stourbridge little more than a year, 3 and then he 
 returned home, where he may be said to have loitered, for two years, in 
 a state very unworthy his uncommon abilities. He had already given 
 several proofs of his poetical genius, both in his school exercises and in 
 other occasional compositions. Of these I have obtained a considerable 
 collection, by the favour of Mr. Wentworth, son of one of his masters, 
 and of Mr. Hector, 4 his schoolfellow and friend ; from which I select 
 the following specimens : 
 
 Translation of VlRGlL. Pastoral I. 
 
 MELIBCEUS. 
 
 Now, Tityrus, you, supine and cureless laid, 
 Play on your pipe beneath this beechen shade ; 
 While wretched we about the world must roam, 
 And leave our pleasing fields and native home, 
 Here at your ease you sing your amorous flame, 
 And the wood rings with Amarillis' name. 
 
 1 The Editor of the " Percy Reliques." ED. 
 
 2 As was likewise the Bishop of Dromore many years afterwards. BOSWRLL. 
 
 8 Yet here his genius was so distinguished, that although little better than a school- 
 boy, he was admitted into the best company of the place, and had no common attention 
 paid to him ; of which remarkable instances were long remembered there. PKBCY. 
 
 4 Mr. Hector, to whom we are indebted for so many reminiscences of Johnson's early 
 life, was a native of Lichfield, and became an eminent surgeon in Birmingham, where 
 he died September 2, 1794, aged 85. He resided for very many years at a bouse in the 
 Old-square, where he was visited by Johnson in 1781, and again in 1784. This house, 
 " much modernized," is now occupied by W. Scholeneld, Esq., M P. for Birmingham. ED.
 
 AUK 18. BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 45 
 
 Tiirnus. 
 
 Those blessings, friend, a deity bestow'd, 
 For I shall never think him less than god : 
 Oft on his altar shall my firstlings lie, 
 Their blood the consecrated stones shall dye : 
 He gave my flocks to graze the flowery meads, 
 And me to tune at ease th' unequal reeds. 
 
 MELIBCEUS. 
 
 My admiration only I exprest 
 (No spark of envy harbours in my breast), 
 That, when confusion o'er the country reigns, 
 To you alone this happy state remains. 
 Here I, though faint myself, must drive my goats, 
 Far from their ancient fields and humble cots. 
 This scarce I lead, who left on yonder rock 
 Two tender kids, the hopes of all the flock. 
 Had we not been perverse and careless grown, 
 This dire event by omens was foreshown ; 
 Our trees were blasted by the thunder stroke, 
 And left-hand crows, from an old hollow oak, 
 Foretold the coming evil by their dismal croak. 
 
 Translation of HORACE. Book I. Ode xxii. 
 
 THE man, my friend, whose conscious heart 
 With virtue's sacred ardour glows, 
 
 Nor taints with death the en venom' d dart, 
 Nor needs the guard of Moorish bows : 
 
 Though Scythia's icy cliff's he treads, 
 Or horrid Afric's faithless sands ; 
 
 Or where the famed Hydaspes spreads 
 His liquid wealth o'er barbarous lands. 
 
 For while by Chloe's image charm' d, 
 Too far in Sabine woods I stray'd ; 
 
 Me singing, careless and unarm'd, 
 A grizzly wolf surprised, and fled. 
 
 No savage more portentous stain' d 
 Apulia's spacious wilds with gore ; 
 
 No fiercer Juba's thirsty land, 
 
 Dire nurse of raging lions, bore. 
 
 Place me where no soft summer gale 
 Among the quivering branches sighs ; 
 
 Where clouds condensed for ever veil 
 
 With horrid gloom the frowning skies :
 
 46 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 11727. 
 
 Place me beneath the burning line, 
 
 A clime denied to human race ; 
 I'll sing of Chloe's charms divine, 
 
 Her heavenly voice, and beauteous face. 
 
 Translation o/" HORACE. Book II. Ode ix. 
 CLOUDS do not always veil the skies, 
 
 Nor showers immerse the verdant plain ; 
 Nor do the billows always rise, 
 
 Or storms afflict the ruffled main : 
 
 Nor, Valgius, on th' Armenian shores 
 Do the chain'd waters always freeze ; 
 
 Not always furious Boreas roars, 
 
 Or bends with violent force the trees. 
 
 But you are ever drown'd in tears, 
 For Mystes dead you ever mourn ; 
 
 No setting Sol can ease your care, 
 But finds you sad at his return. 
 
 The wise experienced Grecian sage 
 ^lourn'd not Antilochus so long ; 
 
 Nor did King Priam's hoary age 
 
 So much lament his slaughter'd son. 
 
 Leave off, at length, these woman's sighs, 
 Augustus' numerous trophies sing; 
 
 Eepeat that prince's victories, 
 
 To whom all nations tribute bring. 
 
 Niphates rolls an humbler wave, 
 
 At length the undaunted Scythian yields, 
 Content to live the Roman's slave, 
 
 And scarce forsakes his native fields. 
 
 Translation of part of the Dialogue between HECTOR and ANDROMACHE ; 
 from the Sixth .Boofro/HoMER'S ILIAD. 
 
 SHE ceased ; then god-like Hector answer'd kind 
 (His various plumage sporting in the wind), 
 That post, and all the rest, shall be my care ; 
 But shall I, then, forsake the unfinish'd war? 
 How would the Trojans brand great Hector's name ! 
 And one base action sully all my fame, 
 Acquired by wounds and battles bravely fought ! 
 0, how my soul abhors so mean a thought ! 
 Long since I learn'd to slight this fleeting breath, 
 And view with cheerful eyes approaching death. 
 The inexorable sisters have decreed 
 That Priam's house, and Priam's self shall bleed :
 
 AGE 18.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 47 
 
 The day will come, in which proud Troy shall yield, 
 
 And spread its smoking ruins o'er the field. 
 
 Yet Hecuba's, nor Priam's hoary age, 
 
 Whose blood shall quench some Grecian's thirsty rage, 
 
 Kor my brave brothers, that have bit the ground, 
 
 Their souls dismiss' d through many a ghastly wound, 
 
 Can in my bosom half that grief create, 
 
 As the sad thought of your impending fate : 
 
 When some proud Grecian dame shall tasks impose, 
 
 Mimic your tears, and ridicule your woes ; 
 
 Beneath Hyperia's waters shall you sweat, 
 
 And, fainting, scarce support the liquid weight : 
 
 Then shall some Argive loud insulting cry, 
 
 Behold the wife of Hector, guard of Troy ! 
 
 Tears, at my name, shall drown those beauteous eyes, 
 
 And that fair bosom heave with rising sighs I 
 
 Before that day, by some brave hero's hand 
 
 May I lie slain, and spurn the bloody sand. 
 
 To a YOUNG LADY on her BIRTHDAY. 1 
 THIS tributary verse receive, my fair, 
 Warm with an ardent lover's fondest prayer. 
 May this returning day for ever find 
 Thy form more lovely, more adorn' d thy mind ; 
 All pains, all cares, may favouring Heaven remove, 
 All but the sweet solicitudes of love ! 
 May powerful nature join with grateful art, 
 To point each glance, and force it to the heart ! 
 then, when conquer 'd crowds confess thy sway, 
 When ev'n proud wealth and prouder wit obey 
 My fair, be mindful of the mighty trust : 
 Alas ! 'tis hard for beauty to be just. 
 Those sovereign charms with strictest caie employ; 
 Nor give the generous pain, the worthless joy : 
 With his own form acquaint the forward fool, 
 Shown in the faithful glass of ridicule ; 
 Teach mimic censure her own faults to find, 
 No more let coquettes to themselves be blind, 
 So shall Belinda's charms improve mankind. 
 
 THE YOUNG AuiHOR. 8 
 WHEN first the peasant, long inclin'd to roam, 
 Forsakes his rural sports and peaceful home, 
 
 1 Mr. Hector informs me, that this was made almost impromptu, in his presence. 
 
 BOSWELL. 
 
 2 This he inserted with many alterations, in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1743 
 
 BOSWELL. 
 
 He, however, did not add his name. MALONE.
 
 48 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHXSON. [1727. 
 
 Pleas'd with the scene the smiling ocean yields, 
 He scorns the verdant meads and flow'ry fields ; 
 Then dances jocund o'er the watery way, 
 While the breeze whispers, and the streamers play : 
 Unbounded pros]>ects in his bosom roll, 
 And future millions lift his rising soul ; 
 In blissful dreams he digs the golden mine, 
 And raptur'd sees the new-found ruby shine. 
 Joys insincere ! thick clouds invade the skies, 
 Loud roar the billows, hi^h the waves arise ; 
 Sick'ning with fear, he longs to view the shore, 
 And vows to trust the faithless deep no more. 
 
 So the young Author, panting after fame, 
 And the long honours of a lasting name, 
 Intrusts his happiness to human kind, 
 More false, more cruel, than the seas or wind. 
 " Toil on, dull crowd," in ecstasies he cries, 
 "For wealth or title, perishable prize; 
 " While I those transitory blessings scorn, 
 " Secure of praise from ages yet unborn." 
 This thought once form'd, all counsel comes too late, 
 He flies to press, and hurries on his fate ; 
 Swiftly he sees the imagin'd laurels spread, 
 And feels the unfading wreath surround his head. 
 Warn'd by another's fate, vain youth, be wise ; 
 Those dreams were Settle's once, and Ogilby's : 
 
 The pamphlet spreads, incessant hisses rise, 
 To some retreat the baffled writer flies ; 
 Where no sour critics snarl, no sneers molest, 
 Safe from the tart lampoon, and stinging jest : 
 There begs of Heaven a less distinguished lot, 
 Glad to be hid, and proud to be forgot. 
 
 EPILOGUE, intended to have been spoken by a LADY who was to personate 
 the Ghost 
 
 YE blooming train, who give despair or joy, 
 Bless with a smile, or with a frown destroy j 
 In whose fair cheeks destructive Cupids wait, 
 And with unerring shafts distribute fate ; 
 Whose snowy breasts, whose animated eyes, 
 Each youth admires, though each admirer dies ; 
 Whilst you deride their pangs in barb'rous play "\ 
 Unpitying see them weep, and hear them pray,' > 
 And unrelenting sport ten thousand lives away j 
 
 l Some young ladies at Lichfield having proposed to act " The Distressed Mother," 
 Johnson wrote this, and gave it to Mr. Hector to convey it privately to them. BOSWELL.
 
 AUK is.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. -l'.) 
 
 For you, ye fair, I quit the gloomy plains, 
 
 Where sable night in all her horror reigns ; 
 
 No fragrant bowers, no delightful glades, 
 
 Eeceive the unhappy ghosts of scornful maids. 
 
 For kind, for tender nymphs, the myrtle blooms, 
 
 And weaves her bending boughs in pleasing glooms ; 
 
 Perennial roses deck each purple vale, 
 
 And scents ambrosial breathe in every gale : 
 
 Far hence are banish'd vapours, spleen, and tears, 
 
 Tea, scandal, ivory teeth, and languid airs : 
 
 No pug, nor favourite Cupid, there enjoys 
 
 The balmy kiss, for which poor Thyrsis dies ; 
 
 Form'd to delight, they use no foreign arms, 
 
 Nor torturing whalebones pinch them into charms ; 
 
 No conscious blushes there their cheeks inflame, 
 
 For those who feel no guilt can know no shame ; 
 
 Unfaded still their former charms they shew, 
 
 Around them pleasures wait, and joys for ever nuw. 
 
 But cruel virgins meet severer fates ; 
 
 Expell'd and exiled from the blissful seats, 
 
 To dismal realms, and regions void of peace, 
 
 Where furies ever howl, and serpents hiss. 
 
 O'er the sad plains perpetual tempests sigh, 
 
 And pois'nous vapours, black' ning all the sky, 
 
 With livid hue the fairest face o'ercast, 
 
 And every beauty withers at the blast : 
 
 Where'er they fly their lovers' ghosts pursue, 
 
 Inflicting all those ills which once they knew ; 
 
 Vexation, Fury, Jealousy, Despair, 
 
 Vex ev'ry eye, and every bosom tear ; 
 
 Their foul deformities by all descried, 
 
 No maid to flatter, and no paint to hide. 
 
 Then melt, ye fair, while crowds around you sigh, 
 
 Nor let disdain sit louring in your eye ; 
 
 With pity soften every awful grace, 
 
 And beauty smile auspicious in each face ; 
 
 To ease their pains exert your milder power, 
 
 So shall you guiltless reign, and all mankind adore. 
 
 [1728. Age 19.] The two years which he spent at home, after his 
 return from Stourbridge, he passed in what he thought idleness, and 
 was scolded by his father for his want of steady application. He had 
 no settled plan of life, nor looked forward at all, but merely lived from 
 day to day. Yet he read a great deal in a desultory manner, without 
 any scheme of study ; as chance threw books in his way, and inclina- 
 tion directed him through them. He used to mention one curious instance 
 of his casual reading when but a hoy. Having imagined that his brother 
 had hid some apples hehind a large folio upon an upper shelf in his
 
 50 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [17-28. 
 
 father's shop, he climbed up to search for them. There were no apples ; 
 but the large folio proved to be Petrarch, whom he had seen mentioned, 
 in some preface, as one of the restorers of learning. His curiosity having 
 been thus excited, he sat down with avidity, and read a great part of 
 the book. What he read during these two years, he told me, was not 
 works of mere amusement, " not voyages and travels, but all literature, 
 Sir, all ancient writers, all manly : though but little Greek, only some 
 of Anacreon and Hesiod ; but in this irregular manner," added he, " I 
 had looked into a great many books, which were not commonly known 
 at the Universities, where they seldom read any books but what are put 
 into their hands by their tutors ; so that when I came to Oxford, 
 Dr. Adams, now master of Pembroke College, told me I was the best 
 qualified for the University that he had ever known come there." 
 
 In estimating the progress of his mind during these two years, as 
 well as in future periods of his life, we must not regard his own hasty 
 confession of idleness ; for we see, when he explains himself, that he was 
 acquiring various stores ; and indeed he himself concluded the account, 
 with saying, " I would not have you think I was doing nothing then." 
 He might, perhaps, have studied more assiduously ; but it may be 
 doubted whether such a mind as his was not more enriched by roaming 
 at large in the fields of literature than if it had been confined to any 
 single spot. The analogy between body and mind is very general, and 
 the parallel will hold as to their food, as well as any other particular. 
 The flesh of animals who feed excursively is allowed to have a higher 
 flavour than that of those who are cooped up. May there not be the 
 same difference between men who read as their taste prompts, and men 
 who are confined in cells and colleges to stated tasks ? 
 
 That a man in Mr. Michael Johnson's circumstances should think 
 of sending his son to the expensive University of Oxford, at his own 
 charge, seems very improbable. The subject was too delicate to ques- 
 tion Johnson upon ; but I have been assured by Dr. Taylor, that the 
 scheme never would have taken place, had not a gentleman of Shrop- 
 shire, one of his schoolfellows, spontaneously undertaken to support 
 him at Oxford, in the character of his companion ; though, in fact, he 
 never received any assistance whatever from that gentleman. 1 
 
 He, however, went to Oxford, and was entered a commoner of Pembroke 
 College, on the 31st of October, 1728, being then in hid nineteenth year. 
 
 The Reverend Dr. Adams, who afterwards presided over Pembroke 
 College with universal esteem, told me he was present, and gave me 
 some account of what passed on the night of Johnson's arrival at Oxford. 
 On that evening, his father, who had anxiously accompanied him, found 
 
 1 In a small anonymous volume, published 1785, and entitled " Memoirs of tbe Lite 
 and Wntings of Dr. Johnson," it is stated, upon reasonable grounds, that his godfather, 
 Dr. Swinfen, and some other gentlemen of the neighbourhood, i-omribulcd towards his 
 support at the University. This appears probable, I'or lie was sent to the College (Pem- 
 broke) where his godfather had obtained his degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1712. ED.
 
 AGE 19.J 
 
 BOSWULL'S LIFE OK JOHNSON. 
 
 51 
 
 means to have him introduced to Mr. Jorden, who was to be his tutor. 
 His being put under any tutor, remind^ us of what Wood says of Robert 
 Burton, autlior of the " Anatomy of Melancholy,'' when elected student 
 of Christ-church; " for form's sake, though fie wanted not a tutor, he was 
 put under the tuition of Dr. John Bancroft, afterwards Bishop of Oxon.'' 1 
 
 His father seemed very full of the merits of his sou, and told the 
 company he was a good scholar and a poet, and wrote Latin verses. 
 His figure and manner appeared strange to them ; but he behaved 
 modestly, and sat silent, till upon something which occurred in the 
 course of conversation, he suddenly struck in and quoted Macrobius ; 
 and thus he gave the first impression of that more extensive reading in 
 which he had indulged himself. 
 
 His tutor, Mr. Jorden, fellow of Pembroke, was not, it seems, a man 
 of such abilities as we should conceive requisite for the instructor of 
 Samuel Johnson, who gave me the following account of him : " Tie 
 was a very worthy man, but a V-eaw man, and I did not profit much by 
 
 CHRIST-CUB 
 
 his instructions. Indeed, I did not attend him much. The first day 
 after I came to college, I waited upon him, and then btajed away f'oui. 
 Oil the sixth, Mr. Jorden asked me why I had not attended. I 
 answered, 1 had been sliding in Christ-church meadow : and this i said 
 1 Athen. Oxon. edit. 1721, i. H27. Boswir.u
 
 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1728. 
 
 with as much nonchalance as I am now 1 talking to you. I had no 
 notion that I was wrong or irreverent to my tutor." BOSWELL : " That, 
 Sir, was great fortitude of mind." JoHNSOH : " No, Sir ; stark 
 insensibility." 2 
 
 The fifth of November was at that time kept with great solemnity 
 at Pembroke College, and exercises upon the subject of the day were 
 required. Johnson neglected to perform his, which is much to be 
 regretted ; for his vivacity of imagination, and force of language, would 
 probably have produced something sublime upon the gunpowder-plot. 
 To apologize for his neglect, he gave in a short copy of verses, entitled 
 Somnium, containing a common thought ; " that the Muse had come to 
 him in his sleep, and whispered, that it did not become him to write on 
 such subjects as politics ; he should confine himself to humbler themes :" 
 but the versification was truly Virgilian. 
 
 He had a love and respect for Jorden, not for his literature, 3 but for his 
 worth. " Whenever," said he, '' a young man becomes Jorden 's pupil, 
 he becomes his son." 
 
 Having given such a specimen of his poetical powers, he was asked 
 by Mr. Jorden to translate Pope's " Messiah'* into Latin verse, as a 
 Christmas exercise. He performed it with uncommon rapidity, and in 
 so masUrly a manner, that he obtained great applauie from it, which 
 ever after kept him high in the estimation of his college, and, indeed, 
 of all the University. 
 
 It is said, that Mr. Pope expressed himself concerning it in terms of 
 strong approbation. Dr. Taylor told me, that it was first Dinted for 
 old Mr. Johnson, without the knowledge of his son, who was very angry 
 when he heard of it. A Miscellany of Poems, collected by a person of 
 the name of Husbands, was published at Oxford in 1731. In that 
 Miscellany Johnson's translation of the " Messiah" a] .peared, with this 
 modest motto from Scaliger's Poetics : " Ex alieno ingenio poeta, ex 
 suo tantum leisificator." 
 
 I am not ignorant that critical objections have been made to this and 
 other specimens of Johnson's Latin poetry. I acknowledge myself not 
 competent to decide on a question of such extreme nicety. But I am 
 satisfied with the just and discriminative eulogy pronounced upon it by 
 my friend Mr. Courtenay. 
 
 " And with like ease his vivid lines assume 
 The garb and dignity of ancient Rome. 
 Let college verse-men trite conceits express, 
 Trick' d out in splendid shreds of Virgil's dress ; 
 
 1 Oxford, 20th March, 1776. BOSWELL. 
 
 2 It ought to be remembered, that Dr. Johnson was apt, in his literary as well as moral 
 exercises, to overcharge his defects. Dr. Adams informed me, that be attended his tutor's 
 lectures, and also the lectures in the College Hall, very regularly. BOSWELL. 
 
 3 Johnson used to say of Jorden, that " he scarcely knew a noun Irom an adverb." 
 NICHOLS.
 
 AGE 19.] BOSVVELL'S LIKE OF JOHNSON. f>a 
 
 From playful Ovid cull the tinsel phrase, 
 
 And vapid notions hitch in pilfer'd lays ; 
 
 Then with mosaic art the piece combine, 
 
 .And boast the glitter of each dulcet line : 
 
 Johnson adventured boldly to transfuse 
 
 IT is vigorous sense into the Latin muse ; 
 
 Aspired to shine by unreflected light, 
 
 And with a Roman's ardour think and write. 
 
 He felt the tuneful Nine his breast inspire, 
 
 And, like a master, waked the soothing lyre : 
 
 Horatian strains a grateful heart proclaim, 
 
 While Sky's wild rocks resound his Thralia's name. 
 
 Hesperia's plant, in some less skilful hands, 
 
 To bloom a while, factitious heat demands : 
 
 Though glowing Maro a faint warmth supplies, 
 
 The sickly blossom in the hot-house dies : 
 
 By Johnson's genial culture, art, and toil, 
 
 Its root strikes deep, and owns the fost'ring soil ; 
 
 Imbibes onr sun through all its swelling veins, 
 
 And grows a native of Britannia's plains." 1 
 
 [1729. Age 20.] The " morbid melancholy," which was lurking in his 
 constitution, and to which we may ascribe those particularities, and that 
 aversion to regular life, which at a very early period marked his character, 
 gathered such strength in his twentieth year, as to afflict him in a 
 dreadful manner. While he was at Lichfield, in the college vacation of 
 the year 1729, he felt himself overwhelmed with a horrible hypochondria, 
 with perpetual irritation, fretfulness, and impatience ; and with a dejec- 
 tion, gloom, and despair, which made existence misery. From this 
 dismal malady he never afterwards was perfectly relieved ; and all his 
 labours, and all his enjoyments, were but temporary interruptions of its 
 baleful influence. How wonderful, how unsearchable are the ways of 
 God ! Johnson, who was blest with all the powers of genius and under- 
 standing, in a degree far above the ordinary state of human nature, 
 was at the same time visited with a disorder so afflictive, that they who 
 know it by dire experience will not envy his exalted endowments. That 
 it was, in some degree, occasioned by a defect in his nervous system, 
 that inexplicable part of our frame, appears highly probable. He told 
 Mr. Paradise 2 that he was sometimes so languid and inefficient, that he 
 could not distinguish the hour upon the town clock. 
 
 Johnson, upon the first violent attack of this disorder, strove to 
 overcome it by forcible exertions. He frequently walked to Birmingham 
 
 1 " Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral Character of Dr. Johnson," by John 
 Coartenay, Esq. M.P. BOSWRLL. 
 
 2 John Paradise, Esq., D.C.L., is said by Mr. Croker to have been of Greek extrac- 
 tion ; he. however, passed the greater part of his life in England, w;:s well known in 
 literary society, and died 12th December, 1795. ED. .
 
 54 nosWF.I.I/S LIFE rp JOHNSON [ 1729. 
 
 and back again, and tried many other expedients ; but all in vain, liis 
 expression concerning it to me was, " J did not then know how to 
 manage it." His distress became so intolerable, that be applied to 1'r. 
 Swinfen, physician in Lichfield, his godfather, and put into his hands a 
 stnte of his case, written in Latin. Dr. Swinfen was so much struck 
 with the extraordinary acuteness, research, and eloquence of this paptr, 
 that, in his zeal for his godson, he showed it to several people. His 
 daughter, Mrs. Desmoulins, who was many years humanely supported 
 in Dr. Johnson's house in London, told me, that upon bis discovering 
 that Dr. Swinfen had communicated his case, he was so much offended, 
 that he was never afterwards fully reconciled to him. He indeed bad good 
 reason to be offended ; for though Dr. Swinfen' s motive was good," he 
 inconsiderately betrayed a matter deeply interesting and of great 
 delicacy, which had been entrusted to him in confidence : and exposed a 
 eomplaint of his young friend and patient, which, in the superficial 
 opinion of the generality of mankind, is attended with contempt and 
 disgrace. 
 
 But let not little men triumph upon knowing that Johnson was 
 an HYPOCHONDRIAC, was subject to what the learned, philosophical, 
 and pious Dr. Cheyne has so well treated under the title of " The 
 English Malady." Though he suffered severely from it he was not 
 therefore degraded. The powers of his great mind might be troubled, 
 and their full exercise suspended at times ; but the mind itself was ever 
 entire. As a proof of this, it is only necessary to consider that, when 
 he was at the very worst, he composed that state of his own case, which 
 showed an uncommon vigour, not only of fancy and taste, but of judg- 
 ment. I am aware that he himself was too ready to call such a 
 complaint by the name of madness ; in conformity with which notion, he 
 has traced its gradation-*, with exquisite nic<-ty, in one of the chapters of 
 his " Rasselas." But there is surely a clear distinction between a disorder 
 which affects only the imagination and spirits, while the judgment is 
 sound, and a disorder by which the judgment itself is impaired. This 
 distinction was made to me by the late Professor Gaubius, of Leyden, 
 physician to the Prince of Orange, in a conversation which I had with 
 him several years ago ; and he expounded it thus : " If," said he, " a man 
 tells me that he is grievously disturbed, for that he imagines he sees a 
 ruffian coming against him with a drawn sword, though at the same 
 time he is conscious it is a delusion, I pronounce him to have a disordered 
 imagination ; but if a man tells me that he sees this, and in consterna- 
 tion calls to me to look at it, I pronounce him to be mad." 
 
 It is a common effect of low spirits or melancholy, to make those who 
 are .afflicted with it imagine that they are actually suffering those evils 
 which happen to be most strongly presented to their minds. Some have 
 fancied, themselves to be deprived of the use of their limbs, some to labour 
 under acute diseases, others to be in extreme poverty ; when, in truth,
 
 ABK 20.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 55 
 
 tliere was not the least reality in any of the suppositions ; so that when 
 the vapours were dispelled they were convinced of the delusion. To 
 Johnson, whose supreme enjoyment was the exercise of his reason, the 
 disturbance or.obscuration of that faculty was the evil most to be dreaded. 
 Insanity, therefore, was the object of his most dismal apprehension ; and 
 he fancied himself seized by it, or approaching to it, at the very time 
 when he was giving proofs of a more than ordinary soundness and vigour 
 of judgment. That his own diseased imagination should have so far 
 deceived him is strange ; but it is stranger still that some of his friends 
 should have given credit to his groundless opinion, when they had such 
 undoubted proofs that it was totally fallacious; though it is by no means 
 surprising that those who wish to depreciate him, should, since his death, 
 have laid hold of this circumstance, and insisted upon it with very unfair 
 aggravation. 
 
 Amidst the oppression and distraction of a disease, which very few 
 have felt in its full extent, but many have experienced in a slighter 
 degree, Johnson, in his writings, and in his conversation, never failed to 
 display all the varieties of intellectual excellence. In his march through 
 this world to a better, his mind still appeared grand and brilliant, and 
 impressed all around him with the truth of Virgil's noble sentiment 
 
 " Igneus est ollis vigor et coelestis origo." JEn. \\. 730. 
 
 The history of his mind as to religion is an important article. I have 
 mentioned the early impressions made upon his tender imagination by 
 his mother, who continued her pious cares with assiduity, but, in his 
 opinion, not with judgment. " Sunday," said he, "was a heavy day to 
 me when I was a boy. My mother confined me on that day, and made 
 me read ' The Whole Duty of Man,' from a great part of which I could 
 derive no instruction. When, for instance, I had read the chapter on 
 theft, which, from my infancy I had been taught was wrong, 1 was 
 no more convinced that theft was wrong than before ; so tin re was no 
 accession of knowledge. A boy should be introduced to such books, by 
 having his attention directed to the arrangement, to the style, and other 
 excellencies of composition ; that the mind being thus engaged by an 
 amusing variety of objects may not grow weary." 
 
 He communicated to me the following particulars upon the subject of 
 his religious progress : " I fell into an inattention to religion, or an in- 
 difference about it, in my ninth year. The church at Lichfield, in which 
 we had a seat, wanted reparation, so I was to go and find a seat in other 
 churches ; and having bad eyes, and being awkward about this, I used 
 to go and read in the fields on Sunday. This habit continued till my 
 fourteenth year ; and still I find a great reluctance to go to church. I 
 then became a sort of lax talker against religion, for I did not much think 
 against it ; and this lasted till I went to Oxford, where it would not be 
 suffered. When at Oxford, I took up ' Law's Serious Call to a Holy
 
 56 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1729. 
 
 Life,' expecting to find it a dull book (as such books generally are), and 
 perhaps to laugh at it. But I found Law quite an overmatch for me ; 
 and this was the first occasion of my thinking in earnest of religion, after 
 I became capable of rational inquiry." 1 
 
 From this time forward religion was the predominant object of his 
 thoughts; though, with the just sentiments of a conscientious Christian, he 
 lamented that his practice of its duties fell far short of what it ought to be. 
 
 This instance of a mind such as that of Johnson being first disposed, 
 \>y an unexpected incident, to think with anxiety of the momentous 
 concerns of eternity, and of " what he should do to be saved," may lor 
 ever be produced in opposition to the superficial and sometimes profane 
 contempt that has been thrown upon those occasional impressions, which 
 it is certain many Christians have experienced ; though it must be ac- 
 knowledged that weak minds, from an erroneous supposition that no man 
 is in a state of grace who has not felt a particular conversion, have, in 
 some cases, brought a degree of ridicule upon them ; a ridicule of which 
 it is inconsiderate or unfair to make a general application. 
 
 How seriously Johnson was impressed with a sense of religion, even 
 in the vigour of his youth, appears from the following passage in his 
 minutes, kept by way of diary: "Sept. 7, 1736. I have this day 
 enttred upon my 28th year. Mayestthou, God, enable me, for Je?us 
 Christ's sake, to spend this in such a manner, that I may receive comfort 
 from it at the hour of death, and in the day of judgment ! Amen." 
 
 The particular course of his reading while at Oxford, and during the 
 time of vacation which he passed at home, cannot be traced. Enough 
 has been said of his irregular mode of study. He told me, that from his 
 
 3 Mrs. Piozzi has given a strange fantastical account of the original of Dr. Johnson's 
 belief in our most holy religion. "At the age of ten years his mind was disturbed by 
 scruples of infidelity, which preyed upon his spirits, and made him very uneasy ; the more 
 so, as he revealed his uneasiness to none, being naturally (as he said) of a sullen temper, 
 and reserved disposition. He searched, however, diligently but fruitlessly, for evidences 
 of the truth of revelation ; and, at length, recollecting a book he had once seen, [I suppose 
 at Jive years old'] in his father's shop, entitled De veritale Religionis, &c. he began to 
 think himself highly culpable for neglecting such a means of information, and took him- 
 self severely to task for this sin, adding many acts of voluntary, and, to others, unknown 
 penance. The first opportunity which offered, of course, he seized the book with avidity ; 
 but, on examination, not finding himself scholar enough to peruse its contents, set his 
 heart at rest; and nut thinking to inquire whether there were any English books written 
 on the subject, followed his usual amusements, and considered his conscience as lightmtd 
 of a crime. He redoubled his diligence to learn the language that contained the inlor- 
 nuition he most wished lor ; but Iron the pain which guilt [namely, having oniitled to read 
 what he did not understand] had given him, he now began to deduce the soul's inimor- 
 taii'y [o sensation of pain in thix world, being an unquestionable proof of existence in 
 (mother], which was the point lhat belief first stopped at; and from that moment resolving 
 to be a Christian, became one of the most zealous and pious ones our nation ever pro- 
 duced." Anecdotes, p. 17. 
 
 This is one of the numerous misrepresentations of this lively lady, which it is worth 
 vhile to correct ; for if credit should be given to such a childish, irrational, and ridiculous 
 statement of the foundation of Dr. Johnson's faith in Christianity, how little credit would 
 be due to it. Mrs. Pioyzi seems to wis>h that tl.e world sl;ci:lil tl ir.k ]/r. Jolii M;II also 
 under the influence of that easy logic, Stel pro ratione roluniat. HUSWKLL.
 
 AK20J BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 57 
 
 earliest years lie loved to read poetry, but hardly ever read any poem to 
 an end ; that he read Shakspeare at a period so early, that the speech of 
 the Ghost in Hamlet terrified him when he was alone ; that Horace's Odes 
 were the compositions in which he took most delight, and it was long 
 before he liked his Epistles and Satires. He told me what he read solidly 
 at Oxford was Greek ; not the Grecian historians, but Homer and Euri- 
 pides, and now and then a little Epigram ; that the study of which he was 
 the most fond was Metaphysics, but he had not read much, even in that 
 way. I always thought that he did himself injustice in his account of 
 what he had read, and that he must have been speaking with reference 
 to the vast portion of study which is possible, and to which few scholars 
 in the whole history of literature have attained ; for when I once asked 
 him whether a person, whose name I have now forgotten, studied hard, 
 he answered, " No, Sir ; I do not believe he studied hard. I never knew 
 a man who studied hard. I conclude, indeed, from the effects, that some 
 man have studied hard, as Bentley and Clarke." Trying him by that 
 criterion upon which he formed his judgment of others, we may be ab- 
 solutely certain, both from his writings and his conversation, that his 
 reading was very extensive. Dr. Adam Smith, than whom few were 
 better judges on this subject, once observed to me, that " Johnson knew 
 more books than any man alive." He had a peculiar facility in seizing 
 at once what was valuable in any book, without submitting to the labour 
 of perusing it from beginning to end. He had, from the irritability of 
 his constitution, at all times an impatience and hurry when he either 
 read or wrote. A certain apprehension arising from novelty made him 
 write his first exercise at College twice over ; but he never took that 
 trouble with any other composition ; and we shall see that his most ex- 
 cellent works were struck off at a heat, with rapid exertion. 1 
 
 Yet he appears, from his early notes or memorandums in my posses- 
 sion, to have at various times attempted, or at least planned, a methodical 
 course of study, according to computation, of which he was all his life 
 fond, as it fixed his attention steadily upon something without, and pre- 
 vented his mind from preying upon itself. Thus I find in his hand- 
 writing the number of lines in each of two of Euripides's Tragedies, of 
 the Georgics of Virgil, of the first six books of the ^Eneid, of Horace's 
 Art of Poetry, of three of the books of Ovid's Metamorphoses, of 
 some parts ot Theocritus, and of the tenth Satire of Juvenal ; and 
 a table showing at the rate of various numbers a day (I suppose verses 
 to be read), what would be, in each case, the total amount in a week* 
 month, and year. 
 
 No man had a more ardent love of literature, or a higher respect for 
 it, than Johnson. His apartment in Pembroke College was that upon 
 
 1 He told Dr. Burney that he never wrote any of his works that were printed, twice 
 over. Dr. Burney's wonder at seeing several pages of his "Lives of the Poets," in manu- 
 script, with scarce a blot or erasure, drew this observation from him. M ALONE
 
 58 
 
 BOSWELLS L1FK OF JOHNsOV. 
 
 [1729 
 
 the second floor over the gateway. 1 The enthusiast of learning will ever 
 contemplate it with veneration. One day, while he was sitting in it quite 
 alone, Dr. Panting, then master of the college, whom he called " a fine 
 Jacobite fellow," overheard him uttering this soliloquy in his strong 
 emphatic voice : " Well, I have a mind to see what is done in other 
 places of learning. I'll go and visit the universities abroad. I'll go to 
 France and Italy. I'll go to Padua. And I'll mind my business. For 
 an Athenian blockhead is the worst of all blockheads." 2 
 
 1 The illustration represents the gateway of Pembroke College as it appeared in Dr. 
 Johnson's time. Subsequently to that period, both the gateway and the interior of the 
 apartment have undergone such extensive alterations as to preserve no resemblance to 
 their original appearance. Ei>. 
 
 2 I had this anecdote from Dr. Adams, and Dr. Johnson confirmed it. Bramston, in 
 his " Man of Taste," has the same thought: 
 
 " Sure, of all blockheads, scholars are the worst." BOSWELL. 
 
 Johnson's meaning, however, is, that a scholar who is a blockhead, must be the worst 
 of all blockheads, because he is without excuse. But Bramston, in the assumed character 
 of an ignorant coxcomb, maintains, that all scholars are blockheads on account of their 
 scholarship. J. BOSWEI.L, Jun. 
 
 Johnson may also have alluded to the University of which he was a member, and 
 whose classical pre-eminence he so strenuously asserted. His full meaning probably was, 
 that if he travelled, it behoved him, in justice to his renowned literary parent, not to 
 betray ignorance or incapacity, "for an Athenian (Oxford) blockhead is the worst of all
 
 ARK 20.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOIIXSON. 59 
 
 Dr. Adams told me that Johnson, while he was at Pemhroke College, 
 " was caressed and loved by all about him, was a gay and frolicsome 
 fellow, and passed there the happiest part of his life." But this is a 
 striking proof of the fallacy of appearances, and how little any of us 
 know of the real internal state even of those whom we see mo*t frequently; 
 for the truth is, that he was then depressed by poverty, and irritated by 
 disease. When I mentioned to him this account as given me by Dr. 
 Ad ms, he said, "Ah, Sir, I was mad and violent. It was bitterness 
 which they mistook for frolic. I was miserably poor, and I thought to 
 fight my way by my literature and my wit; so I disregarded all power 
 and all authority." 
 
 The Bishop of Dromore observes in a letter to me, " The pleasure 
 he took in vexing the tutors and fellows has been often mentioned. But 
 I have heard him say, what ought to be recorded to the honour of the 
 present venerable master of that college, the Reverend William Adams, 
 D.D., who was then very young, and one of the junior fellows ; that the 
 mild but judicious expostulations of this worthy man, whose virtue 
 awed him, and whose learning he revered, made him really ashamed of 
 himself, ' though I fear,' said he, ' I was too proud to own it.' 
 
 " I have heard from some of his contemporaries that he was generally 
 seen lounging at the college gate, with a circle of young students round 
 him, whom he was entertaining with wit, and keeping from their studies, 
 if not spiriting them up to rebellion against the college discipline, which 
 in his maturer years he so much extolled." 
 
 He very early began to attempt keeping notes or memorandum*, 
 by way of a diary of his life. I find, in a parcel of loose leaves, the 
 following spirited resolution to contend against his natural indolence 
 " October, 1729. Desidia valediri ; syrenis istius, cantibus surdam post- 
 IMC aurem obversurus. I bid farewell to sloth, being resolved hence- 
 forth not to listen to her syren strains." I have also in my possession a 
 few leaves of another Libellus, or little book, entitled "Annales," in 
 which some of the early particulars of his history are registered in 
 Latin. 
 
 I do not find that he formed any close intimacies with his fellow- 
 collegians. But Dr. Adams told me, that he contracted a love and 
 regard for Pembroke College, which he retained to the last. A short 
 time before his death he sent to that college a present of all his works, 
 to be deposited in their library ; and he had thoughts of leaving to it his 
 
 blockheads." Pryden (who had studied at Cambridge) says, in one of his Prologues, 
 complimenting the rival University, 
 
 " Oxford to him a dearer name shall be 
 
 Than his own mother University ; 
 
 Thebes did his green unknowing youth engage, 
 
 He chooses Athens in his riper age." 
 
 It is possible that these lines may have impressed themselves on the mind of so zealous an 
 Oxonian as Johnson, and suggested the phrase in question. ED.
 
 60 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. LI "29. 
 
 house at Lichfield ; but his friends who were about him very properly 
 dissuaded him from it, and he bequeathed it to some poor relations. He 
 took a pleasure in boasting of the many eminent men who had been 
 educated at Pembroke. In this list are found the names of Mr. Haw- 
 kins, the Poetry Professor, Mr. Shenstone, Sir William Blackstone, 
 and others ; ] not forgetting the celebrated popular preacher. Mr. George 
 Whitefield, of whom, though Dr. Johnson did not think very highly, it 
 must be acknowledged that his eloquence was powerful, his views pious 
 and charitable, his assiduity almost incredible ; and that, since his 
 death, the integrity of his character has been fully vindicated. Being 
 himself a poet, Johnson was peculiarly happy in mentioning how many 
 of the sons of Pembroke were poets ; adding, with a smile of sportive^ 
 triumph, " Sir, we are a nest of singing birds." 
 
 He was not, however, blind to what he thought the defects of his 
 own college : and I have, from the information of Dr. Taylor, a very 
 strong instance of that rigid honesty which he ever inflexibly preserved. 
 Taylor had obtained his father's consent to be entered of Pembroke, 
 that he might be with his schoolfellow Johnson, with whom, though 
 some years older than himself, he was very intimate. This would have 
 been a great comfort to Johnson. But he fairly told Taylor that he 
 could not, in conscience, suffer him to enter where he knew he could not 
 have an able tutor. He then made inquiry all round the University, 
 and having found that Mr. Bateman, of Christ-church, was the tutor of 
 highest reputation, Taylor was entered of that college. Mr. Bateman 's 
 lectures were so excellent, that Johnson used to come and get them at 
 second-hand from Taylor, till his poverty being so extreme, that his 
 shoes were worn out, and his feet appeared through them, he saw that 
 this humiliating circumstance was perceived by the Christ- church men, 
 and he came no more. He was too proud to accept of money, and 
 somebody having set a pair of new shoes at his door, he threw them 
 away with indignation. How must we feel when we read such an anec- 
 dote of Samuel Johnson ! 
 
 His spirited refusal of an eleemosynary supply of shoes arose, 
 no doubt, from a proper pride. But, considering his ascetic disposition 
 at times, as acknowledged by himself in his " Meditations," and the 
 exaggeration with which some have treated the peculiarities of his 
 character, I should not wonder to hear it ascribed to a principle of 
 superstitious mortification ; as we are told by Tursellinus, in his " Life 
 of St. Ignatius Loyola," that this intrepid founder of the order of 
 Jes.uits, when he arrived at Goa, after having made a severe pilgrimage 
 through the eastern deserts, persisted in wearing his miserable shattered 
 shoes, and when new ones were offered him, rejected them as an unsuit- 
 able indulgence. 
 
 1 SeeNash's History of Worcestershire, vol. i. p. 520. BOSWELL.
 
 AGE 20. ] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 61 
 
 The res angusta domi prevented him from having the advantage of a 
 complete academical education. The friend to whom he had trusted for 
 support had deceived him. His debts in college, though not great, were 
 increasing ; and his scanty remittances from Lichfield, which had all 
 along been made with great difficulty, could be supplied no longer, his 
 father having fallen into a state of insolvency. Compelled, therefore, 
 by irresistible necessity, he left the college in autumn, 1731, without a 
 degree, having been a member of it little more than three years. 
 
 Dr. Adams, the worthy and respectable master of Pembroke College, 
 has generally had the reputation of being Johnson's tutor. The fact, 
 however, is, that in 1731 Mr. Jorden quitted the college, and his pupils 
 were transferred to Dr. Adams ; so that, had Johnson returned, Dr. 
 Adams would have been his tutor. It is to be wished that this connec- 
 tion had taken place. His equal temper, mild disposition, and polite- 
 ness of manners, might have insensibly softened the harshness of John- 
 son, and infused, into him those more delicate charities, those petites 
 morales, in which, it must be confessed, our great moralist was more 
 deficient than his best friends could fully justify. Dr. Adams paid 
 Johnson this high compliment. He said to me at Oxford, in 1776, " I 
 was his nominal tutor ; but he was above my mark. ' ' When I repeated 
 it to Johnson, his eyes flashed with grateful satisfaction, and he ex- 
 claimed, " That was liberal and noble."
 
 LICHIIEUU. l~M. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 1731-1736. 
 
 DEATH OF JOHNSON'S FATHER INTERCOURSE WITH SOCIETY IN LICHFIEI.D; 
 GILBERT WALMESLEY, Da. SWINFEN, &c. TKIBOTE TO WALMESLEY'S MEMORY 
 JOHNSON BECOMES USHER AT MARKET-BOSWORTH SCHOOL REMOVAL TO BIR- 
 MINGHAM; MR. HECTOR, MR. PORTER, &c. TRANSLATION OF LOBO'S VOYAGE TO 
 ABYSSINIA SPECIMEN OF EARLY STYI.K RETURN TO LICHFIELD BIRMINGHAM 
 AGAIN FIRST LETTER TO CAVE, PROPRIETOR OF GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE 
 YOUTHFUL AMATORY VERSES MARRIAGE WITH MRS. PORTER HKR FAMILY, AND 
 INCIDENTS OF THE WEDDING OPENS A PRIVATE ACADEMY AT EDIAL GARRICK 
 BECOMES HIS PUHL SCHOOL UNSUCCESSFUL GREAT PART OF TRAGEDY OF ''IRENE" 
 
 WRITTEN. 
 
 AN D now (I had almost said poor) Samuel Johnson returned to his 
 native city, destitute, and not knowing how he should gain even a 
 decent livelihood. His father's misfortunes in trade rendered him 
 unable to support his son ; and for some time there appeared no means 
 by which he could maintain himself. In the December of this year his 
 father died. 
 
 The state of poverty in which he died, appears from a note in one of 
 Johnson's little diaries of the following year, which strongly displays 
 his spirit and virtuous dignity of mind. "1732, Julii 15. Undccitn 
 aureos deposui, quo die quiiquid ante matrix funus (quod serum *it 
 precor) de paternis boms siieraii licet, viyinti scilicet libras, accejd. 
 (Jsque adeo mihi fortuna Jimjmda est. Jnterea, ne pauj.ertate vins 
 animi languescant, nee in fiayilia eyextus abi'jat, cacendum. I laycd by
 
 AOB 22. ] 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 63 
 
 eleven guineas on this day, when I received twenty pounds, being all 
 that I have reason to hope for out of my father's effects, previous to 
 the death of my mother ; an event which I pray GOD may be very 
 remote. I now therefore see that I must make my own fortune. Mean- 
 while, let me take care that the powers of my mind be not debilitated by 
 poverty, and that indigence do not force me into any criminal act. '' 
 
 Johnson was so far fortunate, that the respectable character of his 
 parents, and his own merit, had, from his earliest years, secured him a 
 kind reception in the best families at Lichfield. Among these I can 
 mention Mr. Howard, Dr. Swinfcn, Mr. Simpson, Mr. Levett, Captain 
 Garrick, father of the great ornament of the British stage ; but above all, 
 Mr. Gilbert Walmesley, 1 Registrar of the Ecclesiastical Court of Lichtield, 
 whose character, long after his decease, Dr. Johnson has, in his life of 
 Edmund Smith, thus drawn in the glowing colours of gratitude : 
 
 " Of Gilbert Walmesley, thus presented to my mind, let me indulge myself in 
 the remembrance. I knew him very early ; he was one of the first friends that 
 literature procured me, and I hope, that at least my gratitude made me worthy 
 of his notice. 
 
 " He was of an advanced age, and I was only not a boy, yet he never 
 received my notions with contempt. He was a whig, with all the virulence and 
 malevolence of his party ; yet difference of opinion did not k^ep us apart. I 
 honoured him and he endured me. 
 
 " He had mingled with the gay world without exemption from its vices or its 
 follies; but had never neglected the cultivation of his mind. His belief of 
 revelation was unshaken; his learning preserved his principles; he grew first 
 regular, and then pious. 
 
 " His studies had been so various, that I am not able to name a man of equal 
 knowledge. His acquaintance with books was great, and what he did not 
 immediately know, he could, at least, tell where to find. Such was his amplitude 
 of learning, and such his copiousness of communication, that it may be doubted 
 whether a day now passes, in which I have not some advantage from his 
 friendship. 
 
 " At this man's table I enjoyed many cheerful and instructive hours, with 
 companions such as are not often found with one who has lengthened, and one 
 who has gladdened life; with Dr. James, whose skill in physic will be long 
 remembered ; and with David Garrick, whom I hoped to have gratified with this 
 character of our common friend. But what are the hopes of man ? I am dis- 
 appointed by that stroke of death, which has eclipsed the gaiety of nations, and 
 impoverished the public stock of harmless pleasure." 
 
 1 Mr. Warton informs me, "that this early friend of Johnson was entered a Com- 
 moner of Trinity College, Oxford, a<<ed 17, in 1698; and is the author of many Latin 
 Terse translations in the "Gentleman's Magazine." One of them is u translation of 
 
 " My time, ye Muses, was happily spent," &c. 
 
 He died August 3, 1751, and a monument to his memory has been erected in the 
 Cathedral of Lichfield, with an iuscriptionjWriueu by Mr. Seward, one of the Prebendaries. 
 BOSWKLL. 
 
 His translation of " My time, O ye Muses," &c. may be found in tie "Gentleman's 
 Magazine" for 1745, vol. xv. p. 102. It is there subscribed with his name. .UALONK.
 
 64 BOSWELL'S LIFE OK JOHNSON. HTM. 
 
 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. Walmes- 
 ley's, whose wife and &isters-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 btlieved, that he never was 
 in good company till late in life, and consequently had been continued 
 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 for his complaisance. 
 
 And that his politeness was not merely occasional and temporary, or 
 confined to the circles of Lichn'eld, is ascertained by the testimony of a 
 lady, who, in a paper with which I have been favoured by a daughter of 
 his intimate friend and physician, Dr. Lawrence, thus describes Dr. 
 Johnson some years afterwards : 
 
 "As the particulars of the former part of Dr. Johnson's life do not seem to 
 be very accurately known, a lady hopes that the following information may not 
 be unacceptable. 
 
 " She remembers Dr. Johnson on a visit to Dr. Taylor, at Ashbourne, some 
 time between the end of the year 37, and the middle of the year 40 ; she rather 
 thinks it to have been after he and his wife were removed to London. During 
 his stay at Ashbourne, he made frequent visits to Mr. Meynell, at Bradley, where 
 his company was much desired by the ladies of the family, who were, perhaps, 
 in point of elegance and accomplishments, inferior to few of those with whom he 
 was afterwards acquainted. Mr. Mevnell's eldest daughter was afterwards 
 married to Mr. i'itzherbert, father to Mr. Allejne Fitzherbert, lately minister to 
 the court of Russia. Of her, Dr. Johnson said in Dr. Lawrence's study, that 
 she had the best unJertanding he ever met with in any human being. At Mr. 
 Meyuell's he also commenced that friendship with Mrs. Hill Boothby, sister to 
 the present Sir Brook Boothby, which continued till her death. 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 
 Walmesley.2 Besides his intimacy with the above-mentioned persons, who were 
 surely people of rank and education, while he was yet at Lichfield he used to be 
 frequently at the house of Dr. Swinfen, a gentleman of very ancient family in 
 Staffordshire, from which, after the death of his elder brother, he inherited a 
 good estate. He was, besides, a physician of very extensive practice ; but for 
 want of due attention to the management of his domestic concerns, left, a very 
 large family in indigence. One of his daughters, Mrs. Desmoulins, afterwards 
 found an asylum 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 evil." 
 
 1 The words of Sir John Hawkins, p. 316. BOSWKI.L. 
 
 * Sir Thomas Aston, Bart, who died in January 1724-5, left one son, named 
 Thomas also, and eight daughters. Of the daughters, Catherine married Johnson's 
 friend, the Hon. Henry Hervey; Margaret, Gilbert Walmesley. Another of these ladies 
 married the Rev. Mr. Gastrell. Mary, or Molly Aston, as she was usually called, 
 became the wife of Captain Brodie, of the Navy. Another sister, who was unmarried, 
 was living at Lichfield in 1776. MALONK.
 
 AGE 23.| 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 (55 
 
 In the forlorn state of his circumstances, he accepted of an offer to 
 be employed as usher in the school of Market-Bosworth, in Leicester- 
 shire, to which it appears, from one of his little fragments of a diary, 
 
 1IARKET-BOSWOR1H SCHOIJL. 
 
 that he went on foot, on the 16th of July. " Julii 16. Bosvortiam 
 pedes petii. " But it is not true, as has been erroneously related, that 
 he was assistant to the famous Anthony Blackwall, whose merit has 
 been honoured by the testimony of Bishop Hurd, 1 who was his scholar ; 
 for Mr. Blackwall died on the 8th of April, 1730, 2 more than a year 
 before Johnson left the University. 
 
 This employment was very irksome to him in every respect, and he 
 complained grievously of it in his letters to his friend, Mr. Hector, who 
 was now settled as a surgeon at Birmingham. The letters are lost ; but 
 Mr. Hector recollects his writing " that the poet had described the dull 
 sameness of his existence in these words, ' Vitam continet una dies 1 
 (one day contains the whole of my life) ; that it was unvaried as the 
 note of the cuckoo ; 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 enhanced by a 
 disagreement between him and Sir Wolstan Dixie, the patron of the 
 
 1 There is here (as Mr. James Boswell observes to me) a slight inaccuracy. 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 atBrewood.in Staffordshire, who had himself been bred under Blackwull. 
 See vol. iv. near the end, where, from the information of Mr. John Nichols, Johnson is 
 said to have applied in 1736 to Mr. Budworth, to be received by him as an assistant in 
 bis school in Staffordshire. MA LONE. 
 
 2 See " Gentleman's Magazine," December, 1784, p. 957. BOSWELL.
 
 66 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHXSOX. 
 
 [1733. 
 
 school, in whose house, I have heen told, he officiated as a kind of 
 omestic chaplain, so far, at least, as to say grace at table, but was 
 treated with what he represented as intolerable harshness ; and, after 
 suffering for a few months such complicated misery, 1 he relinquished a 
 situation which all his life afterwards he recollected with the strongest 
 aversion, and even a degree of horror. But it is probable that at this 
 l>eriod, whatever uneasiness he may have endured, he laid the foundation 
 of much future eminence by application to his studies. 
 
 Being now again totally unoccupied, he was invited by Mr. Hector 
 to pass some time with him at Birmingham, as his guest, at the house 
 
 B1KMIMUHAM. 1130 
 
 of Mr. Warren, with whom Mr. Hector lodged and boarded. Mr. 
 Warren was the first established bookseller in Birmingham, and was 
 very attentive to Johnson, who he soon found could be of much service 
 to him in his trade, by his knowledge of literature ; and he even obtained 
 the assistance of his pen in furnishing some numbers of a periodical 
 Essay printed in the newspa{>er of which Warren was proprietor. 
 After very diligent inquiry, I have not been able to recover those early 
 specimens of that particular mode of writing by which Johnson after- 
 wards so greatly distinguished himself. 
 
 He continued to live as Mr. Hector's guest for about six months, 
 
 1 It appears from a letter of Johnson's to a friend, which I have read, dated Lich- 
 field, July 27, 1782, that he had left Sir Wolstan Dixie's hou>e, recently before that letter 
 was written. He then had hopes of succeeding either as master or usher, in the school of 
 MALOME.
 
 AGE 24.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOIINSOX. 67 
 
 and then hired lodgings in another part of the town, 1 finding himself 
 as well situated at Birmingham as he supposed he could be any where, 
 while he had no settled plan of life, and very scanty means of subsis- 
 tence. He made some valuable acquaintances there, amongst whom 
 were Mr. Porter, a mercer, whose widow he afterwards married, and 
 Mr. Taylor, 2 who by his ingenuity in mechanical inventions, and his 
 success in trade, acquired an immense fortune. But the comfort of 
 being near Mr. Hector, his old schoolfellow and intimate friend, was 
 Johnson's chief inducement to continue here. 
 
 In what manner he employed his pen at this period, or whether 
 he derived from it any pecuniary advantage, I have not been able to 
 ascertain. He probably got a little money from Mr. Warren ; and we 
 are certain, that he executed here one piece of literary labour, of 
 which Mr. Hector has favoured me with a minute account. Having 
 mentioned that he had read at Pembroke College a " Voyage to 
 Abyssinia," by Lobo, 3 a Portuguese Jesuit, and that he thought an 
 abridgment and translation of it from the French into English might 
 be an useful and profitable publication, Mr. Warren and Mr. Hector 
 joined in urging him to undertake it. He accordingly agreed ; and the 
 book not being to be found in Birmingham, he borrowed it of Pembroke 
 College. A part of the work being very soon done, one Osborn, who 
 was Mr. Warren's printer, was set to work with what was ready, and 
 Johnson engaged to supply the press with copy as it should be wanted; 
 but his constitutional indolence soon prevailed, and the work was at 
 a stand. Mr. Hector, who knew that a motive of humanity would be 
 the most prevailing argument with his friend, went to Johnson, and 
 represented to him, that the printer could have no other employment till 
 this undertaking was finished, and that the poor man and his family 
 were suffering. Johnson, upon this, exerted the powers of his mind, 
 though his body was relaxed. He lay in bed with the book, which was a 
 quarto, before him, and dictated while Hector wrote. Mr. Hector carried 
 the sheets to the press, and corrected almost all the proof sheets, very few 
 of which were even seen by Johnson. In this manner, with the aid of 
 Mr. Hector's active friendship, the book was completed, and was published 
 in 1735, with London upon the title page, though it was in reality printed 
 at Birmingham, a device too common with provincial publishers. For 
 this work, he had from Mr. Warren only the sum of five guineas. 
 
 This being the first prose work of Johnson, it is a curious object of 
 inquiry how much may be traced in it of that style which marks his 
 subsequent writings with such peculiar excellence ; with so happy an 
 
 1 Sir John Hawkins states, from one of Johnson's diaries, that in June, 1733, he 
 lodged in Birmingham at the house of a person named Jarvis, probably a relation of 
 Mrs. Porter, whom he afterwards married. MALOMK. 
 
 2 Grandfather of the present Mr. Taylor, the Banker of Birmingham. ED. 
 
 8 Jerome Lobo was born at Lisbon, 1693, and died at the College of Coimbra, 
 1678 ED. 
 
 Bl
 
 08 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHSSOX. [1733. 
 
 union offeree, vivacity, and perspicuity. I have perused the book with this 
 view, and have found that here, as I believe in every other translation, there 
 is in the work itself no vestige of the translator's own style; for the language 
 of translation being adapted to the thoughts of another person, insensibly 
 follows their cast, and as it were runs into a mould that is ready prepared. 
 Thus, for instance, taking the first sentence that occurs at the open- 
 ing of the book, p. 4: 
 
 " I lived here above a year, and completed my studies in divinity ; in which 
 time some letters were received from the fathers of Ethiopia, with an account 
 that Sultan Segned, Emperor of Abyssinia, was converted to the church of 
 Rome ; that many of his subjects had followed his example, and that there was a 
 great want of missionaries to improve these prosperous beginnings. Every body 
 was very desirous of seconding the zeal of our fathers, and of sending them the 
 assistance they requested ; to which we were the more encouraged, because the 
 Emperor's letter informed our Provincial that we might easily enter his dc 
 minions by the way of Dancala ; but, unhappily, the secretary wrote Geila for 
 Dancala, which cost two of our fathers their lives." 
 
 Every one acquainted with Johnson's manner will be sensible that there 
 is nothing of it here; but that this sentence might have been composed 
 by any other man. 
 
 But, in the Preface, the Johnsonian style begins to appear ; and 
 though use had not yet taught his wing a permanent and equable flight, 
 there are parts of it which exhibit his best manner in full vigour. I had 
 once the pleasure of examining it with Mr. Edmund Burke, who con- 
 firmed me in this opinion, by his superior critical sagacity, and was, I 
 remember, much delighted with the following specimen : 
 
 ' ' The Portuguese traveller, contrary to the general vein of his countrymen, 
 has amused his reader with no romantic absurdity, or incredible fictions ; 
 whatever he relates, whether true or not, is at least probable ; and he who tells 
 nothing exceeding the bounds of probability, has a right to demand that they 
 should believe him who cannot contradict him. 
 
 " He appears by his modest and unaffected narration, to have described 
 things as he saw them, to have copied nature from the life, and to have consulted 
 his senses, not his imagination. He meets with no basilisks that destroy with 
 their eyes, his crocodiles devour their prey without tears, and his cataracts fall 
 from the rocks without deafening the neighbouring inhabitants. 
 
 " The reader will here find no regions cursed with irremediable barrenness, or 
 blest with spontaneous fecundity ; no perpetual gloom, or unceasing sunshine; 
 nor are the nations here described, either devoid of all sense of humanity, or 
 consummate in all private or social virtues. Here are no Hottentots without 
 religious policy or articulate language ; no Chinese perfectly polite, and com- 
 pletely skilled in all sciences ; he will discover, what will always be discovered 
 by a diligent and impartial inquirer, that wherever human nature is to be found, 
 there is a mixture of vice and virtue, a contest of passion and reason ; and that 
 the Creator doth not appear partial in his distributions, but has balanced, hi 
 most countries, their particular inconveniences by particular favours."
 
 AGE 24 J BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 69 
 
 Here we have an early example of that brilliant and energetic 
 expression, which, upon innumerable occasions in his subsequent life, 
 justly impressed the world with the highest admiration. 
 
 Nor can any one, conversant with the writings of Johnson, fail to 
 discern his hand in this passage of the Dedication to John Warren, Esq., 
 of Pembrokeshire, though it is ascribed to Warren the bookseller. 
 
 " A generous and elevated mind is distinguished by nothing more certainly 
 than an eminent degree of curiosity ; l nor is that curiosity ever more agreeably 
 or usefully employed, than in examining the laws and customs of foreign nations. 
 I hope, therefore, the present I now presume to make will not be thought 
 improper, which, however, it is not my business as a dedicator to commend, nor 
 as a bookseller to depreciate." 
 
 It is reasonable to suppose, that his having been thus accidentally 
 led to a particular study of the history and manners of Abyssinia, was 
 the remote occasion of his writing, many years afterwards, his admir- 
 able philosophical tale, the principal scene of which is laid in that 
 country. 2 
 
 Johnson returned to Li oilfield early in 1734, and in August that year 
 he made an attempt to procure some little subsistence by his pen ; for 
 he published proposals for printing by subscription the Latin Poems 
 of "Politian;" 3 Angeli Politiani Poemata Latina, quibus, Notas 
 cum historid Latina poeseos a Petrarcha cevo ad Politiani tempora 
 deductd, et vita Politiani fusius quam antehac enarratd, addidit 
 SAM. JOHNSON. " 4 
 
 It appears that his brother Nathaniel had taken up his father's 
 trade ; for it is mentioned that " subscriptions are taken in by the 
 Editor, or N. Johnson, bookseller, of Lichfield." Notwithstanding 
 the merit of Johnson, and the cheap price at which this book was 
 offered, there were not subscribers enough to ensure a sufficient sale ; 
 so the work never appeared, and probably, never was executed. 
 
 We find him again this year at Birmingham, and there is preserved 
 the following letter from him to Mr. Edward Cave, 5 the original compiler 
 and editor of the " Gentleman's Magazine :" 
 
 1 See Rambler, No. 103, " Curiosity is the thirst of the Soul," &c. BOSWELL. 
 
 2 Rasselas. 
 
 8 May we not trace a fanciful similarity between Politian and Johnson ? Huetius, 
 speaking of Paulus Peiissonius Fontanerius, says, " in quo Natura, ut olim in Angelo 
 Politiano, deformitatem oris excellentis ingenii prastantia compensavit." Comment, de 
 reb. ad euni pertin. Edit. Amstel. 1718, p. 200. BOSWELL. 
 
 4 The book was to contain more than thirty sheets, the price to be two shillings and 
 sixpence at the time of subscribing, and two shillings and sixpence at the delivery of a 
 perfect book in quires. BOSWELL. 
 
 5 Miss Cave, the grand-niece of Mr. Edward Cave, has obligingly shown me the ori- 
 ginals of this and the other letters of Dr. Johnson. to him, which were tirsl published in the 
 " Gentleman's Magazine," with notes by Mr. John Nichols, the worthy and indefatigable 
 editor ol that valuable miscellany, signed N. ; some of which I shall occasionally transcribe 
 in the course of this work. BOSWKLL.
 
 70 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 [1734. 
 
 IDWiHD CiVl. 
 
 "TO MR. CAVE. 
 
 <gl R " Nov. 25, 1731. 
 
 " AH you' appear no less sensible than jour readers of the defects of your 
 poetical article, you will not be displeased, if, in order to the improvement of it, 
 
 I communicate to you the sentiments of 
 a person, who will undertake, on reasonable 
 terms, sometimes to fill a column. 
 
 " His opinion is, that the public 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 before, which he will sometimes 
 supply you with, but likewise short- 
 literary dissertations in Latin or English, 
 critical remarks on authors, ancient or 
 modern, forgotten poems, that deserve 
 revival, or loose pieces, like Floyer's 1 worth 
 preserving. By this method, your literary 
 article, for so it might be called, will, he 
 thinks, be better recommended to the public 
 than by low jests, awkward buffoonery, or the dull scurrilities of either party. 
 
 " If such a correspondence will be agreeable to you, be pleased to inform me 
 in two posts, what the conditions are on which you shall expect it. Your late 
 offer 2 gives me no reason to distrust your generosity. If you engage in any 
 literary projects besides this paper, I have other designs 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 
 Birmingham, Warwickshire, will reach " Your humble servant." 
 
 Mr. Cave has put a note on this letter, " Answered, Dec. 2." But 
 whether anything was done in consequence of it we are not informed. 
 
 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 quaker, to whom he wrote a copy of verses, 
 which I have not been able to recover ; s but with what facility and 
 
 1 Sir John Floyer's Treatise on Cold Baths. "Gent. Mag." 1734, p. 197. BOSWELL. 
 
 2 A prize of fifty pounds lor the best poem " on Life, Death, Judgment, Heaven, and 
 Hell." See " Gentleman's Magazine," vol. iv. p. 660. NICHOLS. 
 
 8 He also wrote some amatory verses, before he left Staffordshire, which our author 
 appears not to have seen. They were addressed " To Miss Hicktnan, playing on the Spinet." 
 At the back of this early poetical effusion, of which the origina copy, in Johnson's hand- 
 writing, was obligingly communicated to me 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. Tiirton.the physician, the writer of this certificate, who died in April, 1806, in his 
 71st year, was born in 1735. The verses in question therefore, which have been printed 
 in some late editions of Johnson's poems, must have been written before that year. Miss 
 Hickman, it is believed, was a lady of Staffordshire.
 
 AGE 25.] BOSWELL's LIFE OF JOIIXSOX. 71 
 
 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 lier a SrRIC of MYRTLE. 
 
 ' ' What hopes, what terrors does thy gift create, 
 Ambiguous emblem of uncertain fate ! 
 The myrtle, ensign of supreme command, 
 Consign'd by Venus to Melissa's band; 
 Not less 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 : 
 Oh then the meaning of thy gift impart, 
 Ami ease the throbbings of an anxious heart ! 
 Soon must this bough, as you shall fix his doom, 
 Adorn Philander's head, or grace his tomb." l 
 
 The concluding lines of this early copy of verses have much of the vigour of Johnson's 
 poetry in his maturer years: 
 
 "When old Timotheus struck the vocal "tring, 
 
 Ambitious fury fir'd the Grecian king : 
 
 Unbounded projects lab' ring in his mind, 
 
 He pants for room, in one poor world co:ifin'd. 
 
 Thus wak'd to rage by music's dreadful power, 
 
 He bids the sword destroy, the flame devour. 
 
 Had Stella's gentle touches mov'd the lyre, 
 
 Soon had the monarch felt a nobler fire ; 
 
 No more delighted with disastrous war, 
 
 Ambitious only now to please the fair, 
 
 Resign'd his thirst of empire to her charms, 
 
 And found a thousand worlds in Stella's arms." 
 
 MA LONE. 
 
 1 Mrs. Piozzi gives the following account of ihis little composition from Dr. Johnson's 
 own relation to her, on her inquiring whether it was rghtly attributed to him. " I think 
 it is now just forty 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 present her in 
 return. I promised, but forgot ; and when he called for his lines at the time agreed on 
 ' Sit 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. 31. 
 In my first edition I was induced to doubt the authenticity of this account, by tho 
 following circumstantial statement in a letter to me from Miss Seward, of Lichtield: " I 
 know those verses were addressed to Lucy Porter, when he was enamoured 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, and gave them to Lucy 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 he had stolen or begged from 
 her bosom. We all know honest Lucy Porter to have been incapable of the mean vanity 
 of applying to herself 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 dangerous it is to 
 trust too implicitly to traditional testimony and ingenious inference : for Mr. Hector has 
 lately assured me that Mrs. Piozzi's account is in this instance accurate, and that he was
 
 72 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [i/si. 
 
 His juvenile attachments to the fair sex were, however, very transient; 
 and it is certain, that he formed no criminal connection whatsoever. 
 Mr. Hector, who lived with him iti his younger days in the utmost 
 intimacy and social freedom, has assured me, that even at that ardent 
 season his conduct was strictly virtuous in that respect ; and that though 
 he loved to exhilarate himself with wine, he never knew him intoxicated 
 but once. 
 
 In a man whom religious education has secured from licentious in- 
 dulgences, the passion of love, when once it has seized him, is exceedingly 
 strong ; being unimpaired by dissipation and totally concentrated in one 
 object. This was experienced by Johnson, when he became the fervent 
 admirer of Mrs. Porter, after her first husband's death. 1 Miss Porter 
 told me, that when he was first introduced to her mother, his appearance 
 was very forbidding ; he was then lean and lank, so that his immense 
 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, seemingly, convulsive 
 starts and odd gesticulations, which tended to excite at once surprise and 
 ridicule. Mrs. Porter was so 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 my life." 
 
 the person 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 gladly seize this opportunity of acknowledging, that however often, she is not 
 always inaccurate. 
 
 The author having been drawn into a controversy with Miss Anna Seward, in con- 
 sequence of the preceding statement (which may be found in the "Gentleman's Magazine," 
 Tols. Ixiii. & Ixiv.), received the following letter from Mr. Edmund Hector, on the subject : 
 " DEAR SIB, 
 
 " I am sorry to see you are engaged in altercation with a lady, who seems unwilling 
 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 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 neighbourhood, 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 friend. 
 
 ' I most solemnly declare, at that time, Johnson was an entire stranger to the Porter 
 family ; and it was almost two years after that I introduced him to the acquaintance of 
 Porter, whom I bought my clothes of. 
 
 " If you intend to convince this obstinate woman, and to exhibit to the public 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 
 multot eifelicet annot, I shall subscribe myself 
 
 " Your obliged humble servant, 
 "E. HECTOR, Birmingham, Jan. 9, 1794." BOSWELL. 
 
 1 It appears, from Mr. Hector's letter, that Johnson became acquainted with her three 
 years before he married her. M ALONE.
 
 AGE 25. J 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 73 
 
 MRS. JOHNSON. 
 
 Though Mrs. Porter was double the age of Johnson, 1 and her person 
 and manner, as described to me by the late Mr. Garrick, were by no 
 means pleasing to others, 2 she must 
 have had a superiority of under- 
 standing and talents, 3 as she cer- 
 tainly inspired him with a more than 
 ordinary passion ; and she having 
 signified her willingness to accept 
 
 1 Mrs. Johnson's maiden name was 
 Jervis. Though there was a great disparity 
 of years between her and Dr. Johnson, she 
 was not quite so old as she is here repre- 
 sented, having only completed her forty- 
 eiglith year in the month of February 
 preceding her marriage, as appears by the 
 following extract from the parish register of 
 Great Peatling in Leicestershire, which was 
 obligingly made at my request by the Hon. 
 and Rev. Mr. Ryder, Rector of Lutterworth, 
 in that county : 
 
 " Anno Dam. 1688-0. Elizabeth, the 
 daughter of William Jervis, Esq., and 
 Mrs. Anne his wife, born the fourth day of 
 February and mane, baptized 16th day of 
 the same month by Mr. Smith, Curate of 
 Little Peatling. "John Allen, Vicar." 
 
 The family of Jervis, Mr. Ryder informs me, once possessed nearly the whole lordship 
 of Great Peatling (about 2,000 acres), and there are many monuments of them in the 
 Church ; but the estate is now much reduced. The present representative of this ancient 
 family is Mr. Charles Jervis, of Hinckley, Attorney-at-Law. MALONE. 
 
 2 That in Johnson's eyes she was handsome, appears from the epitaph which he caused 
 to be inscribed on her tombstone not long before his own death, and which may be found 
 in a subsequent page, under the year 1752. MALONE. 
 
 8 The following account of Mrs. Johnson, and her family, is copied from a paper 
 (chiefly relating to Mrs. Anna Williams) written by Lady Knight, at Rome, and trans- 
 mitted by her to the late John Hoole, Esq., the translator of " Metastasio," &c., by whom 
 it was inserted in the " European Magazine" for October, J799 : 
 
 " Mrs. Williams' s account of Mrs. Johnson was, that she had a good understanding, 
 and great sensibility, but inclined to be satirical. Her first husband died insolvent ; her 
 sons were much disgusted with her for her second marriage, perhaps because they, being 
 struggling to get advanced in life, were mortified to think she had allied herself to a 
 man who had not any visible means of being useful to them ; however, she always retained 
 her affection for them. While they [Dr. and Mrs. Johnson] resided in Gough Square, 
 her son, the officer, knocked at the door, and asked the maid, if her mistress was at home. 
 She answered,' Yes, Sir; but she is sick in bed.' ' Oh,' says he, ' if it's so, tell her that her 
 son Jervis, called to know how she did ;' and was going away. The maid begged 
 she might run up to tell her mistress, and, without attending his answer, left him. Mrs. 
 Johnson, enraptured to hear her son was below, desired the maid to tell him she longed to 
 embrace him. When the maid descended, the gentleman was gone, and poor Mrs. John- 
 son was much agitated by the adventure : it was the only time he ever made an effort to 
 see her. Dr. Johnson did all he could to console his wife, but told Mrs. Williams, ' Her 
 son is uniformly undutiful ; so I conclude, like many other sober men, he might, once in 
 his life, be drunk, and in that fit nature got the better of his pride.' " 
 
 The following anecdotes of Dr. Johnson are recorded by the same lady : 
 
 " Oue day that he came to my house to meet many others, we told him that we had
 
 74 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOIIXSON*. 
 
 of his hand, he went to Lichfield to ask his mother's consent to tli 
 marriage, which he could not hut 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 inclinations. 
 
 I know not for what reason the marriage ceremony was not per- 
 formed at Birmingham ; but a resolution was taken that 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 Beauclerk 
 used archly to mention Johnson's having told him with much gravity, 
 " Sir, it was a love marriage on both sides," I have had from my 
 illustrious friend the following curious 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 spirii 
 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 behind, I was 
 not to be made the slave of caprice ; and I resolved to begin as 1 meant 
 to end. I therefore pushed on briskly, till I was fairly out of her sight. 
 The road lay between two hedges, so 1 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 after her death. 
 
 He now set up a private academy, for which purpose hi hired a 
 large house, well situated near his native city. In the " Gentleman's 
 Magazine" for 1736, there is the following advertisement : 
 
 " At EDIAL, near Lichfir.ld, in Staffordshire, young gentlemen are boarded and 
 taught the Latin and Greek languages, by SAMUEL JOHNSON." 
 
 But the only pupils that were put under his care were the celebrated 
 David Garrick and his brother George, and a Mr. OfFely, a young gentleman 
 
 arranged our party to go to Westminster Abbey : would not he go with us ? ' No,' he 
 replied, ' not while I can keep out.' 
 
 " Upon our saying that the friends of a lady had been in great fear lest she should 
 make a certain match, he said, ' We that are hit friends have had great fears for him.' 
 
 " Dr. Johnson's political principles 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 sure of his 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 ostentatious pomp of church ceremonies 
 attracts the imagination ; 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 net 
 the words, I have kept up to the express mcauing." MALONK.
 
 A ( JE 27.] 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 of good fortune who died early. As yet his name had nothing of that 
 celebrity which afterwards commanded the highest attention and respect 
 of mankind. Had such an advertisement appeared after the publication 
 of his "London," or his " Rambler," or his " Dictionary," how would it 
 have hurst upon the world ! with what eagerness would 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 being a teacher of elements, and a con- 
 ductor in learning by regular gradations, as men of inferior powers of 
 
 EDIAL HOUSE. 
 
 mind. His own acquisitions 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 com- 
 municating 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 Johnson 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.
 
 76 BOSWELL'S -LIFE OF JOHNSOX. [1736. 
 
 Wliile 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 perceptible only by "a mind at 
 ease," a mind at once calm and clear ; but that a mind gloomy and im- 
 petuous 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 error in the advances of scholars, as to perform the duty, 
 with little pleasure to the teacher, and no great advantage to the pupils. 
 Good temper is a most essential requisite in a preceptor. Horace paints 
 the character as bland : 
 
 Ut pueris olim dant crustula blandi 
 
 Doctores, 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 have been profoundly 
 reverenced by his pupils. His oddities of manner and uncouth gesticu- 
 lations, could not but be the subject of merriment to them ; and in par- 
 ticular, the young rogues used to listen at the door of his bed-chamber, 
 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 Teity or Tetst-y, which, like Betty or 
 Betsey, is provincially used as a contraction for Elizabeth, her Christian 
 name, but which to us seems ludicrous, when applied to a woman of her 
 age and appearance. Mr. Garrick described her to me as very fat, with 
 a bosom of more than ordinary protuberance, with swelled cheeks, of a 
 florid red, produced by thick painting, and increased by the liberal use 
 of cordials ; flaring and fantastic in her dress, and affected both in her 
 speech and her general behaviour. I have seen Garrick exhibit her, by 
 his exquisite talent of mimicry, so as to excite the heartiest bursts 
 of laughter ; but he, probably, as is the case in all such representations, 
 considerably aggravated the picture. 
 
 That Johnson well knew the most proper course to be pursued in the 
 instruction of youth, is authentically ascertained by the following paper 
 in his own handwriting, given about this period to a relation, and now in 
 the possession of Mr. John Nichols : 
 
 SCHEME FOR THE CLASSES OF A GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 
 
 " When the introduction, or formation of nouns and verbs, is perfectly mas- 
 tered, let them learn 
 
 " Corderius by Mr. Clarke, beginning at the same time to translate out of 
 the introduction, that by this means they may learn the syntax. Then let them 
 proceed to
 
 AGE 27] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 77 
 
 "Erasmus, with an English translation, by the same author. 
 
 "Class II. Learns Eutropius and Cornelius 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 Saturday. 
 
 " The second class does the same whilst they are in Eutropius; afterwards 
 their part is in 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 Cesar's Commen- 
 taries in the afternoon. 
 
 " Practise in the Latin rules till they are perfect in them ; afterwards in 
 Mr. Leeds' s Greek Grammar. Examined as before. 
 
 "Afterwards they proceed to Virgil, beginning 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. 
 
 " 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 authors I think it best for you to read are these : 
 
 Cebes. 
 
 ^Elian. "I 
 
 Lucian by Leeds. f Attic. 
 
 Xenophon. ) 
 
 Homer. Ionic. 
 
 Theocritus. Doric. 
 
 Euripedes. Attic and Doric. 
 
 "Thus you will be tolerably skilled in all the dialects, ^beginning with the 
 Attic, to which the rest must be referred. 
 
 " In the study of Latin, it is proper not to read the latter authors, till you 
 are well versed with those of the purest ages; as Terence, Tully, Caesar, 
 Sallust, Nepos, Velleius Paterculus, Virgil, Horace, Phaedrus. 
 
 ' ' The greatest and most necessary task still remains, to attain a habit of 
 expression, without which knowledge is of little use. This is necessary in 
 Latin, and more necessary in English ; and can only be acquired by a daily 
 imitation of the best and correctest authors. 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 While Johnson kept his academy, there can be no doubt that he was 
 insensibly furnishing 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 brother of David,
 
 78 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1736. 
 
 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. Walmesley, who objected to 
 his having already brought his heroine into great distress, and asked 
 him, " How can you contrive to plunge her into deeper calamity? " 
 ohnson, in sly allusion to the supposed oppressive proceedings of the 
 court of which Mr. Walmesley was registrar, replied, " Sir, I can put 
 her into the Spiritual Court ! " 
 
 Mr. Walmesley, however, was well pleased with this proof of John- 
 son's abilities as a dramatic writer, and advised him to finish the 
 tragedy, and produce it on the stage.
 
 CHAPTER III. 1737 1738. 
 
 JOHNSON ARRIVES IN LONDON, ACCOMPANIED BY GAKBICK LETTER RK LATINO TO 
 THKM FROM WALMESLEY TO THE REV. MR. COLSON FIRST RESIDENCE AND MODE 
 OF LIFE IN THE METROPOLIS RETIRES TO GREENWICH PROGRESSOP "IRENE" 
 PROJECTED TRANSLATION OF " FATHER PAUL'S HISTORY OF COUNCIL OF TRENT" 
 GOES BACK TO LlCHFIELD ORIGINAL MS. OF "IflKNE" EXTRACTS RETURNS TO 
 LONDON WITH MRS. JOHNSON FIRST CONTRIBUTION TO "GENTLEMAN'S MAGA- 
 ZINE" REPORTS DEBATES IN PARLIAMENT PUBLISHES POEM OF "LONDON" POPE 
 ADMIRF.S IT REMARKS AND EXTRACTS CONDITIONAL OFFER OF MASTERSHIP OF A 
 COUNTRY SCHOOL POPE'S RECOMMENDATION OF JOHNSON TO LORD GOWER. 
 
 TOHNSON now thought of trying his fortune in London, the great 
 U field of genius and exertion, where talents of every kind have the 
 fullest scope, and the highest encouragement. It is a memorable cir- 
 cumstance that his pupil David Garrick went thither at the same 
 time, 1 with intent to complete his education, and follow the profession 
 
 1 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 Killaloe (Dr. Barnard) informed me, that at another 
 time, when Johnson and Garrick were dining together in a pretty large company, 
 Johnson 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 overhearing him, exclaimed, 'Eh? what do you say? with twopence halfpenny 
 in your pocket?" Johnson: "Why, yes; when I came with twopence halfpenny in my 
 pocket, and thou, Davy, with three halfpence in thine." BOSWKLL.
 
 80 
 
 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHXSON. 
 
 [1737. 
 
 of the law, from which he was soon diverted by his decided preference 
 
 for the stage. 
 
 This joint expedition of those two eminent men to the metropolis, 
 
 was many years afterwards noticed in an allegorical poem on 
 
 Sliakspeare's Mulberry-tree, by Mr. 
 Lovibond, the ingenious author of 
 " The Tears of Old May-day." 
 
 They were recommended to Mr. 
 Colson, 1 an eminent mathematician 
 and master of an academy, by the 
 following letter to Mr. Walmesley : 
 
 JOHN COLSON. 
 
 "TO THE REVEREND MR. COLSON. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, " Lichfield, March 2, 1737. 
 " I had the favour of yours, and am e\- 
 tremely obliged to you ; but I cannot say I 
 had a greater affection for you upon it than 
 I had before, being long since so much en- 
 deared to you, as well by an early friend- 
 ship, as by your many excellent and valu- 
 able 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 morning for London together. Davy Garricfe is to be with you early the 
 next week, and Mr. Johnson to try his fate with a tragedy, and to see to get 
 himself employed in some translation, 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 ready to recommend and assist your countryman. 
 
 " G. WALMESLEY." 
 
 How he employed himself upon his first coming to London is not 
 particularly known. 2 I never heard that he found any protection or 
 
 1 The Reverend John Colson was bred at Emmanuel College, in Cambridge, and in 
 1728, when George the Second visited the University, was created Mas>ter of Arts. 
 About that time he became First Master of the Free School at Rochester, founded by Sir 
 Joseph Williamson. In 1739, he was appointed Luctisian Professor of Mathematics in 
 the University of Cambridge, on the death of Professor Sanderson, and held that office 
 till 1759, when he died. He published Lectures on Experimental Philosophy, translated 
 from the French of 1'Abbe Nodet, 8vo. 1732, and some other tracts. Our author, it is 
 believed, was mistaken in stating him to have been Master of an Academy. Garrk-k, 
 probably, during his short residence at Rochester, lived in his house as a private pupil. 
 BOSWELL. 
 
 The character of Gelidus, the philosopher, in the " Rambler" (No. 24), was meant to 
 represent this gentleman. See Mrs. Piozzi's Anecdotes, &c., p. 49. MAI.ONE. 
 
 2 One curious anecdote was communicated by himself to Mr. John N ichols. Mr. 
 Wilcox, the bookseller, on being informed by him that his intention was to get his liveli- 
 hood as an author, eyed his robust frame attentively, and with a significant look, said 
 " You had better buy a porter's knot." He however added, " Wilcox was oiie of my best 
 friends." Bos w E L L.
 
 AGE 28.] BOSWELLS LIFE OF JOHNSON. 81 
 
 encouragement by the means of Mr. Colson, to whose academy David 
 Garrick went. Mrs. Lucy Porter told me, that Mr. Walmesley gave 
 him a letter of introduction to Lintot, his bookseller, and that Johnson 
 wrote some things for him ; but I imagine this to be a mistake, for I 
 have discovered no trace of it, and I am pretty sure he told me, that Mr. 
 Cave was the first publisher by whom his pen was engaged in London. 
 
 He had a little money when he came to town, and he knew how he 
 could live in the cheapest manner. His first lodgings were at the house 
 of Mr. Norris, a staymaker, in Exeter-street, adjoining Catherine- 
 street, in the Strand. "I dined," said he, "very well for eightpence, 
 with very good company, at the Pine-Apple, in New-street, just by. 
 Several of them had travelled. They expected to meet every day ; but 
 did not know one another's names. It used to cost the rest a shilling, 
 for they drank wine ; but I had a cut of meat for sixpence, and bread 
 for a penny, and gave the waiter a penny ; so that I was quite well 
 served, nay, better than the rest, for they gave the waiter nothing." 
 
 He at this time, I believe, abstained entirely from fermented liquors : 
 a practice to which he rigidly conformed for many years together, at 
 different periods of his life. 
 
 His Ofellus, 1 in the " Art of Living in London," I have heard him 
 relate, was an Irish painter, whom he knew at Birmingham, and who 
 had practised his own precepts of economy for several years in the 
 British capital. He assured Johnson, who, I suppose, was then 
 meditating to try his fortune in London, but was apprehensive of the 
 expense, ".that thirty pounds a year was enough to enable a man to live 
 there without being contemptible. He allowed ten pounds for clothes 
 and linen. He said a man might live in a garret at eighteenpence a 
 week ; few people would inquire where he lodged ; and if they did, it 
 was easy to say, ' Sir, I am to be found at such a place.' " By spending 
 threepence in a coffee-house, he might be for some hours every day in 
 very good company ; he might dine for sixpence, breakfast on bread and 
 milk for a penny, and do without supper. On clean-shirt-day he went 
 abroad and paid visits." I have heard him more than once talk of his 
 frugal friend, whom he recollected with esteem and kindness, and did 
 not like to have one smile at the recital. " This man,' ' said he, gravely, 
 " was a very sensible man, who perfectly understood common affairs ; a 
 man of a great deal of knowledge of the world, fresh from life, not 
 strained through books. He borrowed a horse and ten pounds at 
 Birmingham. Finding himself master of so much money, he set off foi 
 West Chester, in order to get to Ireland. He returned the horse, and 
 probably the ten pounds too, after he got home." 
 
 Considering Johnson's narrow circumstances in the early part of his 
 life, and particularly at the interesting era of his launching into the 
 
 i Oftllus was a philosophic countryman, commemorated by Horace, Sat. ii. lib. 2. 
 ED.
 
 82 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHXSOX. [1737. 
 
 ocean of London, it is not to be wondered at, that an actual instance, 
 proved by experience, of the possibility of enjoying the intellectual 
 luxury of social life upon a very small income, should deeply engage his 
 attention, and be ever recollected by him as a circumstance of much 
 importance. He amused himself, I remember, by computing how much 
 more expense was absolutely necessary to live upon the same scale with 
 that which his friend described, when the value of money was diminished 
 by the progress of commerce. It may be estimated that double the 
 money might now with difficulty be sufficient. 
 
 Amidst this cold obscurity, there was one brilliant circumstance to 
 cheer him ; he was well acquainted with Mr. Henry Hervey, 1 one of the 
 branches of the noble family of that name, who had been quartered at 
 Lichfield as an officer of the army, and had at this time a house in 
 London, where Johnson was frequently entertained, and had an oppor- 
 tunity of meeting genteel company. Not very long before his death, lie 
 mentioned this, among other particulars of his life, which he was kindly 
 communicating to me ; and he described this early friend " Harry 
 Hervey," thus : "He was a vicious man, but very kind to me. If you 
 call a dog Hervey, I shall love him." 
 
 He told me he had now written only three acts of his " Irene," and 
 that he retired for some time to lodgings at Greenwich, where he pro- 
 ceeded in it somewhat further, and used to compose walking in the 
 park ; but did not stay long enough at that place to finish it. 
 
 At this period we find the following letter from him to Mr. Edward 
 Cave, which, as a link in the chain of his literary history, it is proper to 
 insert : 
 
 "TO MR. CAVE. 
 
 " Greenwich, nest door to the Golden Heart, Church-street, 
 "SIR, July 12, 1737. 
 
 "Having observed in your papers very uncommon offers of encouragement 
 to men of letters, I have chosen, being a stranger in London, to communicate 
 to you the following design, which, I hope, if you join in it, will be of advantage 
 to both of us. 
 
 " The History of the Council of Trent having been lately translated into 
 French, and published with large Notes by Dr. Le Courayer, the reputation of 
 that book is fo much revived in England, that, it is presumed, a new translation 
 of it from the Italian, together with Le Courayer' s Notes from the French, 
 could not fail of a favourable reception. 
 
 1 The [Honourable Henry Hervey, third son of the first Earl of Bristol, quitted the 
 army and took orders. He married a sister of Sir Thomas Aston, by whom he got the 
 Aston Estate, and assumed the name and arms of that family. Bos WELL. 
 
 The Honourable Henry Hervey was nearly of the same age with Johnson, having 
 been born about nine months before him, in the year 1709. He married Catherine, the 
 sister of Sir Thomas Aston, in 1739; and as that lady had seven sisters, she probably 
 succeeded to the Aston Estate on the death of her brother under his will. Mr. Hervey 
 took th'e degree of Master of Arts at Cambridge at the late age of thirty-five, in 1774; 
 about which time, it is believed, he entered into holy orders. M ALONE.
 
 AQE 28.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 83 
 
 "If it be answered, that the history is already in English, it must be 
 remembered, that there was the same objection against Le Courayer's under- 
 taking, with this disadvantage, that the French had a version by one of their 
 best translators, whereas you cannot read three pages of the English history 
 without discovering that the style is capable of great improvements ; but 
 whether those improvements are to be expected from this attempt, you must 
 judge from the specimen, which, if you approve the proposal, I shall submit to 
 your examination. 
 
 " Suppose the merit of the- versions equal, we may hope that the edition of 
 the notes will turn the balance in our favour, considering the reputation of the 
 annotator. 
 
 "Be pleased to favour me with a speedy answer, if you are not willing to 
 engage in this scheme ; and appoint me a day to wait upon you, if you are. 
 
 ' ' I am, Sir, 
 
 "Your humble servant, 
 
 "SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 It should seem from this letter, though subscribed with his own name, 
 that he had not yet heen introduced to Mr. Cave. We shall presently 
 see what was done in consequence of the proposal which it contains. 
 
 In the course of the summer he returned to Lichfield, where he had 
 left Mrs. Johnson, and there he at last finished his tragedy, which was not 
 executed with his rapidity of composition upon other occasions, hut was 
 slowly and painfully elaborated. A few days hefore his death, while 
 burning a great mass of papers, he picked out from among them the 
 original unformed sketch of this tragedy, in his own handwriting, and 
 gave it to Mr. Langton, by whose favour a copy of it is now in my 
 possession. It contains fragments of the intended plot, and speeches for 
 the different persons of the drama, partly in the raw materials of prose, 
 partly worked up into verse ; as also a variety of hints for illustration, 
 borrowed from the Greek, Roman, and modern writers. The handwriting 
 is very difficult to be read, even by those who were best acquainted 
 with Johnson's mode of penmanship, which at all times was very parti- 
 cular. The King having graciously accepted of this manuscript as a 
 literary curiosity, Mr. Langton made a fair and distinct copy of it, which 
 he ordered to be bound up with the original and the printed tragedy ; 
 and the volume is deposited in the King's library. 1 His Majesty was 
 pleased to permit Mr. Langton to take a copy of it fur himself. 
 
 The whole of it is rich in thought and imagery, and happy expressions; 
 and of the disjecta membra scattered throughout, and as yet unarranged, 
 a good dramatic poet might avail himself with considerable advantage. 
 I shall give my readers some specimens of different kinds, distinguishing 
 them by the asterisk!*). 
 
 1 The " King's library" (that of George III.) was given by his son and successor 
 George IV., to the British Museum. ED. 
 
 It has recently trampired that the government of the day bought the library of Gen. 
 IV., just as he was on the eve of concluding a sale of it to the Emperor of Russia. ED. 
 
 K 2
 
 84 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1737. 
 
 "Nor think to say here will I stop, 
 
 Here will I fix the limits of transgression, 
 Nor farther tempt the avenging rage of heaven. 
 When guilt like this once harbours in the breast, 
 Those holy beings, whose unseen direction 
 Guides through the maze of life the steps of man, 
 Fly the detested mansions of impiety, 
 And quit their charge to horror and to ruin." 
 
 A small part only of this interesting admonition is preserved in the 
 play, and is varied, I think, not to advantage : 
 
 "The soul once tainted with so foul a crime, 
 No more shall glow with friendship's hallow'd ardour, 
 Those holy beings whose superior care 
 
 Guides erring mortals to the paths of virtue, fc _ 
 
 Affrighted at impiety like thine, 
 Resign their charge to baseness and to ruin." 
 
 * " I feel the soft infection 
 Flush in my cheek, and wander in my veins. 
 Teah me the Grecian arts of soft persuasion." 
 
 * " Sure this is love, which heretofore I conceived the dream of idle maids, 
 and wanton poets." 
 
 * "Though no comets or prodigies foretold the ruin of Greece, signs which 
 heaven must by another miracle enable us to understand, yet might it be fore- 
 shown, by tokens no less certain, by the vices which always bring it on." 
 
 This last passage is worked up iu the tragedy itself, as follows : 
 
 LEONTIUS. 
 
 " That power that kindly spreads 
 
 The clouds, a signal of impending showers, 
 To warn the wand'ring linnet to the shade 
 Beheld, without concern, expiring Greece, 
 And not one prodigy foretold our fate. 
 
 DEMETRIUS. 
 
 A thousand horrid prodigies foretold it ; 
 A feeble government, eluded laws, 
 A factious populace, luxurious nobles, 
 And all the maladies of sinking states. 
 When public villany, too strong for justice, 
 Shows his bold front, the harbinger of ruin, 
 Can brave Leontius call for airy wonders, 
 Which cheats interpret, and which fools regard ; 
 When some neglected fabric nods beneath 
 The weight of years, and totters to the tempest, 
 Must heaven despatch the messengers of light, 
 Or wake the dead, to warn us of its fall?"
 
 AGE 28.] BOSWETX's LIFE OF JOHNSON. 85 
 
 * MAHOMET (to IRENE). "I have tried thee, and joy to find that thou 
 deservest to be loved by Mahomet, with a mind great as his own. Sure, thou 
 art an error of nature, and an exception to the rest of thy sex, and art immortal ; 
 for sentiments like thine were never to sink into nothing 1 . I thought all the 
 thoughts of the fair had been to select the graces of the day, dispose the colours 
 of the flaunting (flowing) robe, tune the voice and roll the eye, place the gem, 
 choose the dress, and add new roses to the fading cheek, but sparkling." 
 
 Thus in the tragedy : 
 
 " Illustrious maid, new wonders fix me thine ; 
 
 Thy soul completes the triumphs of thy face ; 
 
 I thought, forgive my fair, the noblest aim, 
 
 The strongest effort of a female soul 
 
 Was but to choose the graces of the day, 
 
 To tune the tongue, to teach the eyes to roll, 
 
 Dispose the colours of the flowing robe, 
 
 And add new roses to the faded cheek." 
 
 I shall select one other passage, on account of the doctrine which it 
 illustrates. IRENE observes, 
 
 * "That the Supreme Being will accept of virtue, whatever outward circum- 
 stances it may be accompanied with, and may be delighted with varieties of 
 worship:" but is answered, "That variety cannot affect that Being, who, in- 
 finitely happy in his own perfections, wants no external gratifications ; nor can in- 
 finite truth be delighted with falsehood ; that though he may guide or pity those he 
 leaves in darkness, he abandons those who shut their eyes against the beams of day.' ' 
 
 Johnson's residence at Lichfield, on his return to it at this time, was 
 only for three months ; and as he had as yet seen but a small part of 
 the wonders of the metropolis, he had little to tell his townsmen. He 
 related to me the following minute anecdote of this period : "In the 
 last age, when my mother lived in London, there were two sets of people, 
 those who gave the wall, and those who took it ; the peaceable and the 
 quarrelsome. When I returned to Lichfield, after having been in London, 
 my mother asked me, whether I was one of those who gave the wall, or 
 those who took it. Now it is fixed that every man keeps to the right : 
 or, if one is taking the wall, another yields it ; and it is never a dispute." 1 
 
 He now removed to London with Mrs. Johnson ; but her daughter, 
 who had lived with them at Edial, was left with her relations in the 
 country. His lodgings were for some time in Woodstock-street, near 
 Hanover-square, and afterwards in Castle-street, near Cavendish-square. 
 As something pleasingly interesting, to many, in tracing so great a man. 
 through all his different habitations, I shall, before this work is concluded, 
 present my readers with an exact list of his lodgings and houses, in order 
 of time, which, in placid condescension to my respectful curiosity, he one 
 evening dictated to me, but without specifying how long he lived at each. 
 In the progress of his life I shall have occasion to mention some of them 
 
 1 Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. Bos WELL.
 
 80 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1738. 
 
 as connected with particular incidents, or with the writing of particular 
 parts of his works. To some, this minute attention may appear trifling ; 
 but when we consider the punctilious exactness with which the different 
 houses in which Milton resided have been traced by the writers of his 
 life, a similar enthusiasm may be pardoned in the biographer of Johnson. 
 
 His tragedy being by this time, as he thought, completely finished 
 and fit for the stage, he was very desirous that it should be brought for- 
 ward. Mr. Peter Garrick told me, that Johnson and he went together 
 to the Fountain tavern, and read it over, and that he afterwards solicited 
 Mr. Fleetwood, the patentee of Drury-lane theatre, to have it acted at 
 his house ; but Mr. Fleetwood would not accept it, probably because it 
 was not patronized by some man of high rank ; and it was not acted 
 till 1749, when his friend David Garrick was manager of that theatre. 
 
 " The Gentleman's Magazine," begun and carried on by Mr. Edward- 
 Cave, under the name of Sylvanus Urban, had attracted the notice and 
 esteem of Johnson, in an eminent degree, before he came to London as 
 an adventurer in literature. He told me that when he first saw St. John's 
 Gate, the place where that deservedly popular miscellany was originally 
 printed, he "beheld it with reverence." I suppose, indeed, that every 
 young author has had the same kind of feeling for the magazine or 
 periodical publication which has first entertained him, and in which he 
 has first had an opportunity to see himself in print, without the risk of 
 exposing his name. I myself recollect such impressions from " The Scots 
 Magazine," which was begun at Edinburgh in the year 1739, and has 
 been ever conducted with judgment, accuracy, and propriety. I yet 
 cannot help thinking of it with an affectionate regard. Johnson has 
 dignified " The Gentleman's Magazine," by the importance with which 
 he invests the life of Cave ; but he has given it still greater lustre by the 
 various admirable Essays which he wrote for it. 
 
 Though Johnson was often solicited by his friends to make a complete 
 list of his writings, and talked of doing it, I believe with a serious inten- 
 tion that they should all be collected on his own account, he put it off 
 from year to year, and at last died without having done it perfectly. I 
 have one in his own handwriting, which contains a certain number ; I 
 indeed doubt if he could have remembered every one of them, as they were 
 so numerous, so various, and scattered in such a multiplicity of unconnected 
 publications; nay, several of them published under the names of other per- 
 sons, to whom he liberally contributed from the abundance of his mind. 
 We must, therefore, be content to discover them, partly from occasional 
 information given by him to his friends, and partly from internal evidence. 1 
 
 1 While in the course of my narrative I enumerate his writings, I shall take care that 
 my readers shall not be left to waver in doubt between certainty and conjecture, with 
 regard to their authenticity ; and, for that purpose, shall mark with an atlerisk (*) those 
 which he acknowledged to his friends, and with a dagger (+) those which are ascertained 
 to be his by internal evidence. When any other pieces are ascribed to him, I shall give 
 my reasons. Bos WELL.
 
 AGE 29.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 87 
 
 His first performance in " The Gentleman's Magazine," which for 
 many years was his principal source for employment and support, was a 
 copy of Latin verses, in March, 1738, addressed to the editor in so happy 
 a style of compliment, that Cave must have been destitute both of taste 
 and sensibility, had he not felt himself highly gratified. 
 
 Ad URBANUM.* 
 
 URBA> T E, nullis fesse laboribus, 
 URBANE, nullis victe calumniis, 
 Cui fronte sertum in erudita 
 Perpetud viret et virebit ; 
 
 Quid moliatur gens imitantium, 
 Quid et minetur, solicitus parum, 
 Vacare solis perge Musis, 
 Juxta animo studiisque felix. 
 
 Linguae procacis plumbea spicula, 
 Fidens, superbo frange silentio ; 
 Victrix per obstantes catervas 
 Sedulitas animosa tendet. 
 
 Intende nervos, fortis, inanibus 
 Eisurus olim nisibus semuli ; 
 Intende jam nervos, habebis 
 Participes operas Camcenas. 
 
 Non ulla Musis pagina gratior, 
 Quam quse severis ludicra jungere 
 Novit, fatigatamque nugis 
 Utilibus recreare mentem. 
 
 Texente Nymphis serte Lycoride, 
 Bosse ruborem sic viola adjuvat 
 Immista, sic Iris refulget 
 -ffitliereis variata fucis. 1 S. J. 
 
 1 A translation of this Ode, by an unknown correspondent, appeared in the Magazine 
 for the month of May following : 
 
 " Hail, URBAN ! indefatigable man, 
 
 Unwearied yet by all thy useful toil ! 
 Whom num'rous slanderers assault in vain ; 
 
 Whom no base calumny can put to foil. 
 But still the laurel on thy learned brow 
 Flourishes fair, and shall for ever grow. 
 
 What mean the servile imitating crew, 
 
 What their vain blust'ring, and their empty noise. 
 
 Ne'er seek : but still thy noble ends pursue, 
 Unconquer'd by the rabble's venal voice, 
 
 Still to the Muse thy studious mind apply, 
 
 Happy in temper as in industry.
 
 88 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1738. 
 
 It appears that he was now enlisted by Mr. Cave as a regular coad- 
 jutor in his magazine, by which he probably obtained a tolerable liveli- 
 hood. At what time, or by what means, he had acquired a competent 
 knowledge both of French and Italian, I do not know ; but he was so 
 well skilled in them as to be sufficiently qualified for a translator. That 
 part of his labour which consisted in emendation and improvement of 
 the productions of other contributors, like that employed in levelling 
 ground, can be perceived only by those who had an opportunity of com- 
 paring the original with the altered copy. What we certainly know to 
 have been done by him in this way, was the Debates in both houses of 
 Parliament, under the name of " The Senate of Lilliput," sometimes 
 with feigned denominations of the several speakers, sometimes with de- 
 nominations formed of the letters of their real names, in the manner of 
 what is called anagram, so that they may easily be deciphered. Parlia.- 
 ment then kept the press in a kind of mysterious awe, which made it 
 necessary to have recourse to such devices. In our time it has acquired 
 an unrestrained freedom, so that the people in all parts of the kingdom 
 have a fair, open, and exact report of the actual proceedings of their 
 representatives and legislators, which in our constitution is highly to be 
 valued ; though, unquestionably, there has of late been too much reason 
 to complain of the petulance with which obscure scribblers have pre- 
 sumed to treat men of the most respectable character and situation. 
 
 This important article of " The Gentleman's Magazine" was, for several 
 years, executed by Mr. William Guthrie, a man who deserves to be re- 
 
 The senseless sneerings of an haughty tongue, 
 
 Unworthy thy attention to engage, 
 Unheeded pass : and tho' they mean thee wrong, 
 
 By manly silence disappoint their rage. 
 Assiduous diligence confounds its foes. 
 Resistless, tho' malicious crowds oppose. 
 
 Exert thy powers, nor slacken in thy course, 
 Thy spotless fame shall quash all false reports : 
 
 Exert thy powers, nor fear a rival's force, 
 Then thou shall smile at all his vain efforts ; 
 
 Thy labours shall be crown'd with large success ; 
 
 The Muse's aid thy Magazine shall bless. 
 
 No page more grateful to th' harmonious nine 
 
 Than that wherein thy labours we survey ; 
 Where solemn themes in fuller splendour shine, 
 
 (Delightful mixture,) blended with the gay, 
 Where in improving, various joys we find, 
 A welcome respite to the wearied mind. 
 
 Thus when the nymphs in some fair verdant mean 
 Of various flow'rs a beauteous wreath compose, 
 
 The lovely violet's azure-painted head 
 Adds lustre to the crimson-blushing rose. 
 
 Thus splendid Iris, with her varied dye, 
 
 Shines in the aether, and adorns the sky." 
 
 BBITON.
 
 AGE 29.J BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 89 
 
 corded in the literary annals of this country. He was descended of an 
 ancient family in Scotland ; but having a small patrimony, and heing an 
 adherent of the unfortunate house of Stuart, he could not accept of any 
 office in the state ; he therefore came to London, and employed his 
 talents and learning as an "author by profession. " His writings in 
 history, criticism, and politics, had considerable merit. 1 He was the 
 first English historian who had recourse to that authentic source of in- 
 formation, the Parliamentary Journals ; and such was the power of his 
 political pen, that, at an early period, Government thought it worth 
 their while to keep it quiet by a pension, which he enjoyed till his 
 death. Johnson esteemed him enough to wish that his life should be 
 written. The debates in Parliament, which Avere brought home and 
 digested by Guthrie, whose memory, though surpassed by others who 
 have since followed him in the same department, was yet very quick and 
 tenacious, were sent by Cave to Johnson for his revision ; and, after 
 some time, when Guthrie had attained to greater variety of employment, 
 and the speeches were more and more enriched by the accession of 
 Johnson's genius, it was resolved that he should do the whole himself, 
 from the scanty notes furnished by persons employed to attend in both 
 houses of Parliament. Sometimes, however, as he himself told me, he 
 had nothing more communicated to him than the names of the several 
 speakers, and the part which they had taken in the debate. 
 
 Thus was Johnson employed during some of the best years of his 
 life, as a mere literary labourer "for gain, not glory," solely to obtain 
 an honest support. He however indulged himself in occasional little 
 sallies, which the French so happily express by the term jeux d' esprit, 
 and which will be noticed in their order, in the progress of this work. 
 
 But what first displayed his transcendent powers, and " gave the 
 world assurance of the man," was his " London, a Poem, in Imitation 
 of the third Satire of Juvenal;" which came out in May this year, 
 and burst forth with a splendour, the rays of which will for ever encircle 
 his name. Boileau had imitated the same satire with great success, 
 applying it to Paris ; but an attentive comparison will satisfy every 
 reader, that he is much excelled by the English Juvenal. Oldham had 
 also imitated it, and applied it to London : all which performances 
 concur to prove, that great cities, in every age, and in every country, 
 will furnish similar topics of satire. Whether Johnson had previously 
 'read Oldham 's imitation, I do not know ; but it is not a little remark- 
 able, that there is scarcely any coincidence found between the two 
 performances, though upon the very same subject. The only instances 
 are, in describing London as the sink of foreign worthlessness : 
 
 1 How 'much poetry he wrote, I know not ; but he informed me that he was the 
 author of the beautiful little piece, " The Eagle and Robin Redbreast," in the collection 
 of poems entitled " The Union," though it is there said to be written by Archibald 
 Scott, before the year 1600. BOSWELL.
 
 90 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1738. 
 
 " 1 the common shore, 
 
 Where France does all her filth and ordure pour ;" 
 
 OLDHAM. 
 "The common shore of Paris and of Rome." 
 
 JOHNSON. 
 
 And, 
 
 " No calling or profession comes amiss, 
 A needy monsieur can be what he pleases." 
 
 OLDHAM. 
 
 "All sciences a. fasting monsieur knows." 
 
 JOHNSON. 
 
 The particulars which Oldham has collected, both as exhibiting the 
 horrors of London, and of the times, contrasted with better days, are 
 different from those of Johnson, and in general well chosen, and well 
 expressed. 1 
 
 There are, in Oldham's imitation, many prosaic verses and bad 
 rhymes, and his poem sets out with a strange inadvertent blunder : 
 
 ' ' Tho' much concern'd to leave my dear old friend, 
 I must, however, his design commend 
 Of fixing in the country." 
 
 It is plain he was not going to leave Mis friend : his friend was'going 
 to leave him. A young lady at once corrected this with good critical 
 sagacity, to 
 
 " Tho' much concern'd to lose my old dear friend." 
 
 There is one passage in the original, better transfused by Oldham 
 than by Johnson : 
 
 " Nil habet infelix paupertas durius in se, 
 Quam quod ridiculos homines facit " 
 
 which is an exquisite remark on the galling meanness and contempt 
 annexed to poverty : Johnson's imitation is, 
 
 " Of all the griefs that harass the distrest, 
 Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest." 
 
 Oldham's, though less elegant, is more just ; 
 
 " Nothing in poverty so ill is borne, 
 As its exposing men to grinning scorn." 
 
 1 I own it pleased me to find amongst them one trait of the manners of the age in 
 London, in the last century, to shield from the sneer of English ridicule, what was some 
 time ago too common a practice in my native city of Edinburgh! 
 " If what I've said can't from the town affright, 
 Consider other danger* oftfie night ; 
 When brickbats are from upper stories thrown, 
 And emptied chamberpots come pouring down 
 From garret windows," BOSWELL.
 
 AGE 29. J BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 'Jl 
 
 Where, or in what manner this poem was composed, I am sorry 
 that I neglected to ascertain with precision, from Johnson's own. 
 authority. He has marked upon his corrected copy of the first edition 
 of it, " Written in 1738 ;" and, as it was published in the month of 
 May in that year, it is evident that much time was not employed in 
 preparing it for the press. The history of its publication I am enabled 
 to give in a very satisfactory manner ; and judging from myself, and 
 many of my friends, I trust that it will not be uninteresting to my 
 readers. 
 
 We may be certain, though it is not expressly named in the follow- 
 ing letters to Mr. Cave, in 1738, that they all relate to it : 
 
 "TO MR. CAVE. 
 
 " Castle-street, Wednesday morning. 
 "SIR, [March, ] 738.] 
 
 " When I took the liberty of writing to you a few days ago, I did not expect 
 a repetition of the same pleasure so soon ; for a pleasure I shall always think it, 
 to converse in any manner with an ingenious and candid man ; but having the 
 enclosed poem in my hands to dispose of for the benefit of the author (of whose 
 abilities I shall say nothing, since I send you his performance), I believe 1 could 
 not procure more advantageous terms from any person than from you, who have 
 so much distinguished yourself by your generous encouragement of poetry ; and 
 whose judgment of that art nothing but your commendation of my trifle 1 can 
 give me any occasion to call in question. I do not doubt but you will look over 
 this poem with another eye, and reward it in a different manner from a mercenary 
 bookseller, who counts the lines he is to purchase, and considers nothing but the 
 bulk. I cannot help taking notice, that besides what the author may hope for 
 on account of his abilities, he has likewise another claim to your regard, as he 
 lies at present under very disadvantageous circumstances of fortune. I beg, 
 therefore, that you will favour me with a letter to-morrow, that I may know 
 what you can afford to allow him, that he may either part with it to you, or find 
 out (which I do not expect), some other way more to his satisfaction. 
 
 " I have only to add, that as I am sensible I have transcribed it very 
 coarsely, which, after having altered it, I was obliged to do, I will, if you please 
 to transmit the sheets from the press, correct it for you ; and take the trouble of 
 altering any stroke of satire which you may dislike. 
 
 " By exerting on this occasion your usual generosity, you will not only en- 
 courage learning, and relieve distress, but (though it be in comparison of the 
 other motives of very small account) oblige in a very sensible manner, Sir, 
 
 " Your very humble servant, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 " TO MR. CAVE. 
 " SIR, " Monday, No. 6 Castle-street. 
 
 " I am to return you thanks for the present you were so kind as to send by 
 me, and to entreat that you will be pleased to inform me by the penny-post, 
 
 His Ode " Ad Urbanum," probably, NICHOLS.
 
 92 BOSWELLS LIEF, OF JOHNSON [1738. 
 
 whether you resolve to print the poem [f you please to send it me by the post, 
 with a note to Dodsley, I will go and read the lines to him, that we may have 
 his consent to put his name in the title-page. As to the printing, if it can be 
 set immediately about, I will be so much the author's friend, as not to content 
 myself with mere solicitations in his favour. I propose, if my calculation be 
 near the truth, to engage for the reimbursement of all that you shall lose by an 
 impression of 500 ; provided, as you very generously propose, that the profit, if 
 any, be set aside for the author's use, excepting the present you made, which, if 
 he be a gainer, it is fit he should repay. I beg that you will let one of your 
 servants write an exact account of the expense of such an impression, and send 
 it with the poem, that I may know what I engage for. I am very sensible, from 
 your generosity on this occasion, of your regard to learning, even in its un- 
 happiest state ; and cannot but think such a temper deserving of the gratitude 
 of those who suffer so often from a contrary disposition. I am, Sir, 
 
 " Your most humble servant, " SAM. JOHNSON.''^ . 
 
 " TO MR. CAVE. 
 
 "SiR, [2Vo date.] 
 
 " I waited on you to take the|copy to Dodsley's ; as I remember the number 
 of lines which it contains, it will be no longer than ' Eugenio,' 1 with the quo- 
 tations, which must be subjoined at the bottom of the page ; part of the beauty 
 of the performance (if any beauty be allowed it) consisting in adapting 
 Juvenal's sentiments to modern facts and persons. It will, with those additions, 
 very conveniently make five sheets. And since the expense will be no more, I 
 shall contentedly insure it, as I mentioned in my last. If it be not, therefore, 
 gone to Dodsley's, I beg it may be sent me by the penny-post, that I may have 
 it in the evening. I have composed a Greek Epigram to Eliza, 2 and think she 
 ought to be celebrated in as many different languages as Lewis le Grand. Pray 
 send me word when you will begin upon the poem, for it is a long way to walk. 
 I would leave my Epigram, but have not daylight to transcribe it. I am, Sir, 
 
 "Yours, &c. " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 " TO MR. CAVE. 
 
 " SIR, [No date.] 
 
 " I am extremely obliged by your kind letter, and will not ail to attend you 
 to-morrow with ' Irene,' who looks upon you as one of her best friends. 
 
 " I was to-day with Mr. Dodsley, who declares very warmly in favour of the 
 paper you sent him, which he desires to have a share in, it being, as he says, a 
 creditable thing to be concerned in. I knew not what answer to make till I had 
 consulted you, nor what to demand on the author's part, but am very willing 
 that, if you please, he should have a part in it, as he will undoubtedly be more 
 diligent to disperse and promote it. If you can send me word to-morrow what 
 I shall say to him, I will settle matters, and bring the poem with me for the 
 press, which, as the town empties, we cannot be too quick with. I am, Sir, 
 
 " Yours, &c, " SAM. JOHNSON. 
 
 ' A poem, published in 1737, of which see an account in vol. ii. under April 30, 1773. 
 BODWBLL. 
 
 2 The learned Mrs. Elizabeth Carter. This lady, of whom frequent mention will 
 be found iu these Memoirs, was daughter of Nicholas Carter, D.D. She died in Clarges- 
 street, Feb. 19, 1806, in her eighty-ninth year. MA LONE.
 
 AGE 29.] 
 
 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 To us who have long known the manly force, bold spirit, and 
 masterly versification of this poem, it is a matter of curiosity to observe 
 the diffidence with which its author brought it forward into public 
 notice, while he is so cautious as not to avow it to be his own produc- 
 tion ; and with what humility he offers to allow the printer to "alter 
 any stroke of satire which he might dislike." That any such alteration 
 was made, we do not know. If we did, AVC could not but feel an indig- 
 nant regret ; but how painful is it to see that a writer of such vigorous 
 powers of mind was actually in such distress, that the small profit which 
 so short a poem, however excellent, could yield, was courted as a 
 '"relief." 
 
 It has been generally said, I know not with what truth, that Johnson 
 offered his "London" to several booksellers, none of whom would 
 purchase it. To this circumstance Mr. Derrick alludes in the following 
 lines of his "Fortune, a Rhapsody :" 
 
 " Will no kind patron Johnson own ? 
 Shall Johnson friendless range the town ? 
 And every publisher refuse 
 The offspring of his happy Muse?" 
 
 But we have seen that the worthy, modest, and ingenious Mr. Robert 
 Dodsley, had taste enough to perceive its uncommon merit, and thought 
 it creditable to have a share in it. 
 The fact is, that, at a future confer- 
 ence, he bargained for the whole 
 property of it, for which he gave 
 Johnson ten guineas ; who told me, 
 "I might perhaps have accepted of 
 less ; but that Paul Whitehead had 
 a little before got ten guineas for a 
 poem: and I would not take less than 
 Paul Whitehead." 
 
 I may here observe, that John- 
 son appeared to me to undervalue 
 Paul Whitehead upon every occa- 
 sion when he was mentioned, and, in 
 my opinion, did not do him justice ; 
 but when it is considered that Paul 
 Whitehead was a member of a riotous 
 
 and profane club, we may account for Johnson's having a prejudice 
 against him. Paul Whitehead was, indeed, unfortunate in being not 
 only slighted by Johnson, but violently attacked by Churchill, who 
 utters the following imprecation : 
 
 "May I (can worse, disgrace on manhood fall?) 
 Be born a Whitehead, and baptized a Paul !"
 
 94 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [i~38. 
 
 yet I shall never be persuaded to think meanly of the author of so 
 brilliant and pointed a satire as "Manners." 
 
 Johnson's "London" was published in May, 1738 j 1 and it is 
 remarkable, that it came out on the same morning with Pope's satire, 
 entitled " 1738 ;" so that England had at once its Juvenal and 
 Horace as poetical monitors. The Reverend Dr. Douglas, now Bishop 
 of Salisbury, to whom I am indebted for some obliging communications, 
 was then a student at Oxford, and remembers well the effect which 
 "London" produced. Every body was delighted with it; and there 
 being no name to it, the first buzz of the literary circles was, " Here is 
 an unknown poet, greater even than Pope." And it is recorded in the 
 "Gentleman's Magazine" of that year, 2 that it "got to the second 
 edition in the course of a week." 
 
 One of the warmest patrons of this poem on its first appearance waa 
 General Oglethorpe, whose " strong benevolence of soul" was unabated 
 during the course of a very long life ; though it is painful to think, that 
 he had but too much reason to become cold and callous, and discontented 
 with the world, from the neglect which he experienced of his public and 
 private worth by those in whose power it was to gratify so gallant a 
 veteran with marks of distinction. This extraordinary person was as 
 remarkable for his learning and taste, as for his other eminent qualities ; 
 and no man was more prompt, active, and generous, in encouraging 
 merit. I have heard Johnson gratefully acknowledge, in his presence, 
 the kind and effectual support which he gave to his " London," though 
 unacquainted with its author. 
 
 Pope, who then tilled the poetical throne without a rival, it may 
 reasonably be presumed, must have been particularly struck by the 
 sudden appearance of such a poet ; and, to his credit, let it be remembered, 
 that his feelings and conduct on the occasion were candid and liberal. 
 He requested Mr. Richardson, son of the painter, to endeavour to find out 
 who this new author was. Mr. Richardson, after some inquiry, having 
 informed him that he had discovered only that his name was Johnson, 
 and that he was some obscure man, Pope said, ' ' He will soon be deterre. ' ' 3 
 
 1 Sir John Hawkins, p. 86, tells us, " The event is antedattd, in the poem of 
 ' London ;' but in every particular, except the difference of a year, what is there said of 
 the departure of Thales, must be understood of Savage, and looked upon as true history." 
 This conjecture is, I believe, entirely groundless. 1 have been assured that Johnson said 
 he was not so much as acquainted with Savage, when he wrote his " London." If the 
 departure mentioned in it was the departure of Savage, the event was not antedated but 
 foreteen; for "London" was published in May, 1738, and Savage did not set out for 
 Wales till July, 1739. However well Johnson could defend the credibility of second 
 sight, he did not pretend that he himself was possessed of that faculty. 
 
 The assertion that Johnson was not even acquainted with Savage, when he published 
 his " London," may be doubtful. Johnson took leave of Savage when he went to Wales 
 in 1739, and must have been acquainted with him before that period. See his "Life 
 of Savage." A. CHALMERS. 
 
 2 Page 1269. 
 
 8 Sir Joshua Reynolds, from the information of the younger Richardson. BOSWELL.
 
 AGE 29.] BOSWELL's LIFE OF JOHNSON. 95 
 
 We shall presently see, from a note written by Pope, 1 that he was him- 
 self afterwards more successful in his inquiries than his friend. 
 
 That in this justly celebrated poem may be found a few rhymes which 
 thecritical precision of English prosody at this day would disallow, cannot 
 be denied ; but with this small imperfection, which in the general blaze 
 of its excellence is not perceived, till the mind has subsided into cool 
 attention, it is, undoubtedly, one of the noblest productions in our lan- 
 guage, both for sentiment and expression. The nation was then in that 
 ferment against the court and the ministry, which some years after ended 
 in the downfall of Sir Robert Walpole ; and as it has been said, that Tories 
 are Whigs when out of place, and Whigs Tories when in place ; so, as a 
 Whig Administration ruled with what force it could, a Tory Opposition 
 had all the animation and all the eloquence of resistance to power, aided 
 by the common topics of patriotism, liberty, and independence ! Accord- 
 ingly, we find in Johnson's " London" the most spirited invectives 
 against tyranny and oppression, the warmest predilection for his own 
 country, and the purest love of virtue ; interspersed with traits of his 
 own particular character and situation, not omitting his prejudices, as 
 a "true-born Englishman," 2 not only against foreign countries, but 
 against Ireland and Scotland. On some of these topics I shall quote a 
 few passages : 
 
 "The cheated nation's happy fav'rites see ; 
 Mark whom the great caress, who frown on me.'' 
 
 "Has heaven reserved, in pity to the poor, 
 No pathless waste, or undiscover'd shore ? 
 No secret island in the boundless main ? 
 No peaceful desert yet unclaim'd by Spain? 
 Quick let us rise, the happy seats explore, 
 And bear Oppression's insolence no more." 
 
 " How, when competitors like these contend, 
 
 Can surly Virtue hope to find a friend?" 
 " This mournful truth is every where confess'd, 
 
 SLOW RISES WORTH, BY POVERTY DEPRESS 1 !) !" 
 
 We may easily conceive with what feeling a 'great mind like his, 
 cramped and galled by narrow circumstances, uttered this last line, 
 which he marked by capitals. The whole of the poem is eminently 
 excellent, and there are m it such proofs of ^a knowledge of the world, 
 and of a mature acquaintance with life, as cannot be contemplated 
 without wonder, when w e consider that he was then only in his twenty- 
 ninth year, and had yet been so little in the " busy haunts of men." 
 
 1 See p. 104. MALONE. 
 
 2 It is, however, remarkable, that he uses the epithet, which undoubtedly , since the 
 union between England and Scotland, ought to denominate the natives of both parts of 
 our island: 
 
 " Was early taught a Briton's rights to prize." Bos WELL.
 
 06 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1738. 
 
 Yet, while we admire the poetical excellence of this poem, candour 
 obliges us to allow, that the flame of patriotism and zeal for popular 
 resistance with which it is fraught, had no just cause. There was, in 
 truth, no " oppression ;" the " nation" was not " cheated." Sir Robert 
 Walpole was a wise and a benevolent minister, who thought that the 
 happiness and prosperity of a commercial country like ours would be 
 best promoted by peace, which he accordingly maintained with credit, 
 during a very long period. Johnson himself afterwards [October 21, 
 1773,] honestly acknowledged the merit of Walpole, whom he called " a 
 fixed star ;" while he characterized his opponent, Pitt, as a " meteor.'' 
 But Johnson's juvenile poem was naturally impregnated with the fire of 
 opposition, and upon every account was universally admired. 
 
 Though thus elevated into fame, and conscious of uncommon powers, 
 he had not that bustling confidence, or, I may rather say, that animated 
 ambition, which one might have supposed would have urged him to 
 endeavour at rising in life. But such was his inflexible dignity of 
 character, that he could not stoop to court the great ; without which, 
 hardly any man has made his way to a high station. He could not 
 expect to produce many such works as his "London," and he felt the 
 hardships of writing for bread ; he was therefore willing to resume the 
 office of a schoolmaster, so as to have a sure though moderate income 
 for his life ; and an offer being made to him of the mastership of a 
 school, 1 provided he could obtain the degree of Master of Arts, Dr. 
 
 * In a billet written by Mr. Pope in the following year, this school is said to have 
 been in Shropshire ; but as it appears from a letter from Earl Gower, that the trustees of 
 it were " some worthy gentlemen in Johnson's neighbourhood," I in my first edition 
 suggested that Pope must have, by mistake, written Shropshire, instead of Staffordshire. 
 But I have since been obliged to Mr. Spearing, attorney-at-law, for the following; infor- 
 mation : " William Adams, formerly citizen and haberdasher of London, founded a 
 school at Newport, in the county of Salop, by deed dated 27th November, 1656, by which 
 he granted the ' yearly sum of tixly pounds to such able and learned schoolmaster, from 
 time to time, being of godly life and conversation, who should have been educated atone 
 of the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge, and had taken the degree of Master of Artt, 
 and was well read in the Greek and Latin tongues, as should be nominated from time to 
 time by the said William Adams, during his life, and after the decease of the said William 
 Adams by the governors (namely, the Master and Wardens of the Haberdashers' Company 
 of the City of London) and their successors.' The manor and lands out of which the 
 revenues for the maintenance of the school were to issue, are situate at Knighton and 
 Adbattan, in the county of Stafford." From the foregoing account of this foundation, 
 particularly the circumstances of the salary being sixty pounds, and the degree of Master 
 of Arts being a requisite qualification in the teacher, it seemed probable that this was the 
 school in contemplation ; and that Lord Gower erroneously supposed that the gentlemen 
 who possessed the lands, out of which the revenues issued, were trustees of the charity. 
 
 Such was the probable conjecture. But in the " Gentleman's Magazine'' for May, 1793, 
 there is a letter from Mr. Henn, one of the masters of the school of Appleby, in Leicester- 
 shire, in which he writes as follows : 
 
 " I compared time and circumstances together, in order to discover whether the school 
 in question might not be this of Appleby. Some of the trustees at that period were 
 'worthy gentlemen of the neighbourhood of Lichfield.' Appleby itself is not far from the 
 neighl>ourhood of Lichfield : the salary, the degrte requisite, together with the time of 
 election, all agreeing with the statutes of Appleby. The election, as said in the letter
 
 AGE 29.] BOSWELL's LIFE OF JOHN'SON. 97 
 
 Adams was applied to, by a common friend, to know whether that 
 could be granted him as a favour from the University of Oxford. But 
 though he had made such a figure in the literary world, it was then 
 thought too great a favour to be asked. 
 
 Pope, without any knowledge of him but from his " London," re- 
 commended him to Earl Govver, who endeavoured to procure for him a 
 degree from Dublin, by the following letter to a friend of Dean Swift : 
 
 " SIR, "Trentham, August 1, 1739. 
 
 " Mr. Samuel Johnson (author of London, a satire, and some other poetical 
 pieces) is a native of this country, and much respected by some worthy gentle- 
 men in his neighbourhood, who are trustees of a charity-school now vacant ; the 
 certain salary is sixty pounds a year, of which they are desirous to make him 
 master ; but, unfortunately, he is not capable of receiving their bounty, which 
 ' would make him happy for life,' by not being ' a Master of Arts ;' which, by the 
 statutes of tins school, the master of it must be. 
 
 " Now these gentlemen do me the honour to think that I have interest enough 
 in you, to prevail upon you to write to Dean Swift, to persuade the University 
 of Dublin to send a diploma to me, constituting this poor man Master of Arts in 
 their University. They highly extol the man's learning and probity ; and will 
 not be persuaded, that the University will make any difficulty of coni'erring such 
 a favour upon a stranger, if he is recommended by the Dean. They say, he is 
 not afraid of the strictest examination, though he is of so long a journey ; and 
 will venture it, if the Dean thinks it necessary ; choosing rather to die upon the 
 road, 'than be starved to death in translating for booksellers ;' which has been 
 his only subsistence for some time past. 
 
 " 1 fear there is more difficulty in this affair, than those good natured gentle- 
 men apprehend ; especially as their election cannot be delayed longer than the 
 llth of next month. If you see tins matter in the same light that it appears to 
 me, I hope you will burn this, and pardon me for giving you so much trouble 
 about an impracticable thing ; but, if you think there is a probabiliiy of obtain- 
 ing the favour asked, I am sure your humanity, and propensity to relieve merit 
 in distress, will incline you to serve the poor man, without my adding any more 
 to the trouble I have already given you, than assuring you that I um, with great 
 truth, Sir, " Your faithful servant, GOWER." 
 
 It was, perhaps, no small disappointment to Johnson that this re- 
 spectable application had not the desired effect ; yet how much reason 
 has there been, both for himself and his country, to rejoice that it did 
 not succeed, as he might probably have wasted in obscurity those hours 
 in which he afterwards produced his incomparable works. 
 
 ' could not be delayed longer than the llth of next month,' which was the llth of 
 September, just three months after the annual audit-day of Appleby sclioul, which is 
 always on the llth of June; and the statutes enjoin ne ullius praceptorum tlectio diutiut 
 tribu* mensibus moraretur, SfC. 
 
 " These 1 thought to be convincing proofs that my conjecture was not ill-founded, 
 and that, in a future edition of that book, the circumstance might be recorded as fjct. 
 
 " But what banishes every shadow of doubt is the Minute-book of the school, which 
 declares the head-mastership to be at thai time VACANT." 
 
 I cannot omit returning thanks to this learned gentleman for the very handsome 
 manner in which he has iu that letter been so good as to speak of this work. BOSWRLL.
 
 .-(I'age 105.) 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 1738 1743. 
 
 JOHNSON'S INTENDED APPLICATION TO CIVIL LAW LETTERS TO CAVE 
 WRITINGS IN GENT. MAG. SEPARATE PUBLICATIONS; " MARMOK NORFOLCIENSE," 
 jjc. NOTE FROM POPE RELATING TO JOHNSON ANECDOTES or JOHNSON BY 
 REYNOLDS AND HOGARTH MISCELLANEOUS WHITINGS DEBATES IN PARLIAMENT 
 
 ENCODNTEK WITH OSBOKNE THK BOOKSELLER LETTERS TO CAVE ON 
 
 LITERARY PROJECTS ODE ON FRIENDSHIP EMBARRASSED CIRCUMSTANCES 
 TAKES ON HIM A DEBT OF HIS MOTHER. 
 
 ABOUT this time he made one other effort to emancipate himself 
 from the drudgery of authorship. He applied to Dr. Adams, 
 to consult Dr. Smalbroke of the Commons, whether a person might 
 bu permitted to practise as an advocate there, without a doctor's degree 
 in Civil Law. "I am," said he, "a total stranger to these studies ; 
 but whatever is a profession, and maintains numbers, must be within 
 the reach of common abilities, and some degree of industry." Dr. 
 Adams was much pleased with Johnson's design to employ his talents 
 in that manner, being confident he would have attained to great emi- 
 nence. And, indeed, I cannot conceive a man better qualified to make 
 a distinguished figure as a lawyer ; for, he would have brought to his 
 profession a rich store of various knowledge, an uncommon acuteness, 
 and a command of language, in which few could have equal led, and none 
 have surpassed him. He who could display eloquence and wit in defence
 
 AGE 29.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 99 
 
 of the decision of the House of Commons upon Mr. Wilkes's election 
 for Middlesex, and of the unconstitutional taxation of our fellow-sub- 
 jects in America, must have been a powerful advocate in any cause. 
 But here, also, the want of a degree was an insurmountable bar. 
 
 He was, therefore, under the necessity of persevering in that course, 
 into which he had been forced ; and we find, that his proposal from 
 Greenwich to Mr. Cave, fora translation of Father Paul Sarpi's History, 
 was accepted. 1 
 
 Some sheets of this translation were printed off, but the design was 
 dropped ; for it happened, oddly enough, that another person of the 
 name of Samuel Johnson, Librarian of St. Martin 's-in-the-Fields, and 
 curate of that parish, engaged in the same undertaking, and was patron- 
 ised by the clergy, particularly by Dr. Pearce, afterwards Bishop of 
 Rochester. Several light skirmishes passed between the rival trans- 
 lators, in the newspapers of the day ; and the consequence was, that they 
 destroyed each other, for neither of them went on with the work. It is 
 much to be regretted, that the able performance of that celebrated genius, 
 Fra Paolo, lost the advantage of being incorporated into British litera- 
 ture by the masterly hand of Johnson. 
 
 I have, in my possession, by the favour of Mr. John Nichols, a paper 
 in Johnson's hand writing, entitled " Account between Mr. Edward Cave 
 and Sam. Johnson, in relation to a version of Father Paul, &c., begun 
 August the 2nd, 1738 ; " by which it appears, that from that day to 
 the 21st of April, 1739, Johnson received for this work 49Z. 7*. in sums 
 of one, two, three, and sometimes four guineas at a time, most frequently 
 two. And it is curious to observe the minute and scrupulous accuracy 
 with which Johnson had pasted upon it a slip of paper, which he has 
 entitled " Small Account," and which contains one article, "Sept. 9th, 
 Mr. Cave laid down 2s. did." There is subjoined to this account, a list 
 of some subscribers to the work, partly in Johnson's handwriting, partly 
 in that of another person ; and there follows a leaf or two, on which are 
 written a number ot characters which have the appearance of a short- 
 hand, which, perhaps, Johnson was then trying to learn. 
 
 1 In the "Weekly Miscellany," October 21, 1738, there appeared the following 
 advertisement: "Just published, proposals for printing the History of the Council of 
 Trent, translated from the Italian of Father Paul Sarpi ; with the Author's life, and 
 Notes, Theological, Historical, and Critical, from the French edition of Dr. Le Courayer. 
 To which are added, Observations on the History, and Notes and Illustrations from 
 various Authors, both printed and Manuscript. By S. Johnson. 1. The work will con- 
 sist of two hundred sheets, and be two volumes in quarto, printed on good paper and 
 letter. 2. The price will be 18. each volume, to be paid, half a guinea at the delivery of 
 the first volume, and the rest at the delivery of the second volume in sheets. 3. Two- 
 pence to be abated for every sheet less than two hundred. It may be had on a large 
 paper, in three volumes, at the price of three guineas ; one to be paid at the time of sub- 
 scribing, another at the delivery of the first, and the |rest at the delivery of the other 
 volumes. The work is now in the press, and will be diligently prosecuted. Subscriptions 
 are taken in by Mr. Dodsley, in Pall Mall, Mr. Rivington, in St. Paul's Churchyard, by 
 E. Cave, at St. John's Gate, and the Translator, at No. 6, in Castle-street, by Cavendish- 
 square." BOSWELL. 
 
 F a
 
 100 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1733. 
 
 "TO MR. CAVE. 
 
 "SiR, "Wednesday. 
 
 " I did not care to detain your servant while I wrote an answer to your 
 letter, in which you seem to insinuate that I had promised more than I am ready 
 to perform. If I have raised your expectations by any thing that may have 
 escaped my memory, I am sorry ; and if you remind me of it, shall thank you 
 for the favour. If I made fewer alterations than usual in the debates, it was only 
 because there appeared, and still appears to be, less need of alteration. The 
 verses to Lady Firebrace 1 may be had when you please, for you know that such 
 a subject neither deserves much thought, nor requires it. 
 
 "The Chinese Stories* may be had folded down when you please to send, in 
 which I do not recollect that you desired any alterations to be made. 
 
 "An answer to another query I am very willing to write, and had consulted 
 with you about it last night, if there had been time ; for I think it the most 
 proper way of inviting such a correspondence as may be an advantage to the 
 paper, not a load upon it 
 
 " As to the Prize Verses, a backwardness to determine their degrees of merit 
 is not peculiar to me. You may, if you please, still have what I can say ; but I 
 shall engage with little spirit in an affair, which I shall hardly end to my own 
 satisfaction, and certainly not to the satisfaction of the parties concerned. 8 
 
 " As to Father Paul, I have not yet been just to my proposal, but have met 
 with impediments, which, I hope, are now a.t an end ; and if you find the pro- 
 gress hereafter not such as you have a right to expect, you can easily stimulate a 
 negligent translator. 
 
 " If any or all of these have contributed to your discontent, I will endeavour 
 to remove it ; and desire you to propose the question to which you wish for an 
 answer. "I am, Sir, your htfmble servant, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 "TO MR. CAVE. 
 
 "SiR, lNodate.1 
 
 " 1 am pretty much of your opinion, that the Commentary cannot be pro- 
 secuted with any appearance of success ; for, as the names of the authors con- 
 cerned are of more weight in the performance than its own intrinsic merit, the 
 public will be soon satisfied with it. And I think the Examen should be pushed 
 forward with the utmost expedition. Thus, ' This day, &c. An Examen of 
 Mr. Pope's Essay, &c., containing a succinct Account of the Philosophy of Mr. 
 Leibnitz on the System of the Fatalists, with a Confutation ol their Opinions, and 
 an illustration of the Doctrine of Free-will ;' (with what else you think proper. ) 
 " It will, above all, be necessary to take notice, that it is a thing distinct 
 from the Commentary. 
 
 ' ' I was so far from imagining they stood still,* that I conceived them to have a 
 
 1 They afterwards appeared in the " Gentleman's Magazine," with this title 
 " Veines to Lady Firebrace, at Bury Assizes." Bos WELL. 
 
 * Du Ualde's " Description of China " was then publishing by Mr. Cave in weekly 
 numbers, whence Johnson was to select pieces for the embellishment of the Magazine. 
 NICHOLS. 
 
 The premium of forty pounds proposed for the best poem on the Divine Attributes is 
 here alluded to. NICHOLS. 
 
 < The compositors in Mr. Cave's printing office, who appear by this letter to have 
 theu waited for copy. NICHOLS.
 
 AGE 29.] BOSWELL's LIFE OF JOHNSON. 101 
 
 good deal beforehand, and therefore was less anxious in providing them more. 
 But if ever they stand still on my account, it must doubtless be charged to me ; 
 and whatever else shall be reasonable, I shall not oppose ; but beg a suspense of 
 judgment till morning, when I must entreat you to send me a dozen proposals, 
 and you shall then have copy to spare. " I am, Sir, yours, impransus, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 " Pray muster up the proposals if you can, or let the boy recal them from 
 the booksellers." 
 
 But although he corresponded with Mr. Cave concerning a transla- 
 tion of Crousaz's Examen of Pope's Essay on Man, and gave advice 
 as one anxious for its success, I was long ago convinced by a perusal of 
 the preface that this translation was erroneously ascribed to him ; and 
 I have found this point ascertained beyond all doubt by the following 
 article in Dr. Birch's manuscripts in the British Museum : 
 
 "ELIS/E CARTERS, s. p. D. THOMAS BIRCH. 
 
 " Versionem tunm Examinis Crousaziani jam perlegi. Summam styli et ele- 
 gantiam, et in re difficillimd proprietatem, admiratus. 
 " Dabam Novemb. 27, 1738." 1 
 
 Indeed Mrs. Carter has lately acknowledged to Mr. Seward that she 
 was the translator of the " Examen." 
 
 It is remarkable, that Johnson's last quoted letter to Mr. Cave con- 
 cludes with a fair confession that he had not a dinner ; and it is no less 
 remarkable, that though in this state of want himself, his benevolent 
 heart was not insensible to the necessities of an humble labourer in 
 literature, as appears from the very next letter : 
 
 "TO MR. CAVE. 
 
 "DEAR SIR, [No date.] 
 
 " You may remember I have formerly talked with you about a Military 
 Dictionary. The eldest Mr. Macbean, who was with Mr. Chambers, has very 
 good materials for such a work, which I have seen, and will do it at a very low 
 rate. 2 I think the terms of war and navigation might be comprised, with good 
 explanations, in one 8vo. pica, which he is willing to do for twelve shillings a 
 sheet, to be made up a guinea at the second impression. If you think on it I 
 will wait on you with him. 
 
 " I am, Sir, your humble servant, 
 " Pray lend me Topsel on Animals." " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 I must not omit to mention that this Mr. Macbean was a native of 
 Scotland. 
 
 In the " Gentleman's Magazine" of this year Johnson gave a life of 
 Father Paul ;* and he wrote the preface to the volume,! which, though 
 prefixed to it when bound, is always published with the appendix, and 
 is, therefore, the last composition belonging to it. The ability and nice 
 
 1 Birch MSS. Brit Mus. 4323. BOSWELL. 2 This book was published. BOSWELL.
 
 102 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSOK. [1729. 
 
 adaptation with which he could draw up a prefatory address, was one 
 of his peculiar excellencies. 
 
 It appears, too, that he paid a friendly attention to Mrs. Elizabeth 
 Carter ; for, in a letter from Mr. Cave to Dr. Birch, November 28th, 
 this year, I find " Mr. Johnson advises Miss C. to undertake a transla- 
 tion of Soethius de Cons., because there is prose and verse, and to put 
 her name to it when published." This advice was not followed ; proba- 
 bly from an apprehension that the work was not sufficiently popular for 
 an extensive sale. How well Johnson himself could have executed a 
 translation of this philosophical poet we may judge from the following 
 specimen which he has given in the *' Rambler" (Motto to No. 7) : 
 
 " qui perpetua raundura ratione gubernas, 
 
 Terrarum ccelique sator ! 
 
 Disjice terrense nebulas et ponduera molis, 
 Atque tuo splendore mica ! Tu namque serenum, 
 Tu requies tranquilla piis. Te cernere finis, 
 Principium, vector, dux, semita, terminus, idem." 
 
 " Thou whose power o'er moving worlds presides, 
 Whose voice created, and whose wisdom guides, 
 On darkling man in pure effulgence shine, 
 And cheer the clouded mind with light divine. 
 'Tis thine alone to calm the pious breast, 
 With silent confidence and holy rest ; 
 From thee, great God! we spring, to thee we tend, 
 Path, motive, guide, original, and end!" 
 
 In 1739, besides the assistance which he gave to the " Parliamentary 
 Debates, "his writings in the " Gentleman's Magazine" were, " The Life 
 of Boerhaave,"* in which it is to be observed, that he discovers that love 
 of chemistry which never forsook him ; " An appeal to the Public in 
 behalf of the Editor ;"f " An Address to the Reader ;''f " An Epigram 
 both in Greek and Latin to Eliza ;"* and also English verses to her ;* 
 and " A Greek Epigram to Dr. Birch."* It has been erroneously sup- 
 posed that an essay, published in that Magazine this year, entitled 
 " The Apotheosis of Milton," was written by Johnson; and on that 
 supposition it has been improperly inserted in the edition of his works 
 by the booksellers after his decease. Were there no positive testimony as 
 to this point, the style of the performance, and the name of Shakspeare 
 not being mentioned in an essay professedly reviewing the principal 
 English poets, would ascertain it not to be the production of Johnson. 
 But there is here no occasion to resort to internal evidence ; for my Lord 
 Bishop of Salisbury (Dr. Douglas) has assured me that it was written 
 by Guthrie. His separate publications were, " A Complete Vindication 
 of the Licensers of the Stage, from the malicious and scandalous Asper- 
 sions of Mr. Brooke, author of 'Gustavus Vasa,' "* being an ironical 
 attack upon them for their suppression of that tragedy ; and " Marmor
 
 AGE 30.] BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHN'SOX. 103 
 
 Norfolciense ; or, an Essay on an Ancient Prophetical Inscription, in 
 Monkish Rhyme, lately discovered near Lynne, in Norfolk, by Probus 
 Britannicus."* In this performance he, in a feigned inscription, sup- 
 posed to have been found in Norfolk, the county of Sir Robert Walpole, 
 then the obnoxious prime minister of this country, inveighs against the 
 Brunswick succession, and the measures of government consequent upon 
 it. 1 To this supposed prophecy he added a Commentary, making each 
 expression apply to the times, with warm anti- Hanoverian zeal. 
 
 This anonymous pamphlet, 1 believe, did not make so much noise as 
 was expected, and, therefore, had not a very extensive circulation. Sir 
 John Hawkins relates, that " warrants were issued and messengers 
 employed to apprehend the author ; who, though he had forborne to 
 subscribe his name to the pamphlet, the vigilance of those in pursuit of 
 him bad discovered;" and we are informed that he lay concealed in 
 Lambeth-marsh till the scent after him grew cold. This, however, is 
 altogether without foundation ; for Mr. Steele, one of the Secretaries of 
 the Treasury, who, amidst a variety of important business, politely 
 obliged me with his attention to my inquiry, informed me that " he 
 directed every possible search to be made in the records of the Treasury 
 and Secretary of State's Office, but could find no trace whatever of any 
 warrant having been issued to apprehend the author of this pamphlet." 
 
 " Marmor Norfolciense" became exceedingly scarce, so that I, for many 
 years, endeavoured in vain to procure a copy of it. At last I was indebted 
 to the malice of one of Johnson's numerous petty adversaries, who in 
 1775, published a new edition of it, " with Notes and a Dedication to 
 Samuel Johnson, LL.D., by Tribunus ; " in which some puny scribbler 
 invidiously attempted to found upon it a charge of inconsistency against 
 its author, because he had accepted of a pension from his present 
 Majesty, and had written in support of the measures of government. 
 As a mortification to such impotent malice, of which there are so many 
 instances towards men of eminence, I am happy to relate that this telwm 
 imbelle did not reach its exalted object till about a year after it thus 
 appeared, when I mentioned it to him, supposing that he knew of the 
 republication. To my surprise he had not yet heard of it. He requested 
 me to go directly and get it for him, which I did. He looked at it and 
 laughed, and seemed to be much diverted with the feeble efforts of his 
 unknown adversary, who, I hope, is alive to read this account. "Now," 
 said he, " here is somebody who thinks he has vexed me sadly ; yet if it 
 had not been for you, you rogue, I should probably never have seen it." 
 
 As Mr. Pope's note concerning Johnson, alluded to in a former page, 
 refers both to his " London," and his " Marmor Norfolciense," I have 
 deferred inserting it till now. I am indebted for it to Dr. Percy, the 
 Bishop of Dromore, who permitted me to copy it from the original in 
 
 1 The Inscription and the Translation of it are preserved in the " London Magazine " 
 for the year 1739, p. 244. BOSWELL.
 
 104 BOSWELL' s LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1739. 
 
 his possession. It was presented to his Lordship by Sir Joshua Rey- 
 nolds, to whom it was given by the sou of Mr. Richardson the painter, 
 the person to whom it is addressed. I have transcribed it with mi- 
 nute exactness, that the peculiar mode of writing, and imperfect spelling 
 of that celebrated poet, may be exhibited to the curious in literature. It 
 justifies Swift's epithet of "paper-sparing Pope," for it is written on 
 a slip no larger than a common message-card, and was sent to Mr. 
 Richardson, along with the imitation of Juvenal. 
 
 "This is imitated by one Johnson who put in for a Public-school in Shrop- 
 shire,! but was disappointed. He has an infirmity of the convulsive kind, that 
 attacks him sometimes so as to make Him a sad Spectacle. Mr. P. from the 
 Merit of This Work which was all the knowledge he had of him, endeavour'd to 
 serve Him without his own application ; & wrote to my Ld. gore, but he did not 
 succeed. Air. Johnson published afterwds. another Poem in Latin with Notes 
 the whole very Huraerous call'd the Norfolk Prophecy. 
 
 "P." 
 
 Johnson had been told of this note : and Sir Joshua Reynolds informed 
 him of the compliment which it contained, but, from delicacy, avoided 
 showing him the paper itself. When Sir Joshua observed to Johnson 
 that he seemed very desirous to see Pope's note, he answered, " Who 
 would not be proud to have such a man as Pope so solicitous in inquiring 
 about him ? " 
 
 The infirmity to which Mr. Pope alludes, appeared to me also, as I have 
 elsewhere 2 observed, to be of the convulsive kind, and of the nature 
 of that distemper called St. Vitus's dance ; and in this opinion I am 
 confirmed by the description which Sydenham gives of that disease : 
 " This disorder is a kind of convulsion. It manifests itself by halting, 
 or unsteadiness of one of the legs, which the patient draws after him 
 like an idiot. If the hand of the same side be applied to the breast, or 
 any other part of the body, he cannot keep it a moment in the same 
 posture, but it will be drawn into a different one by a convulsion, not- 
 withstanding all his efforts to the contrary." Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
 however, was of a different opinion, and favoured me with the following 
 paper : 
 
 "Those notions or tricks of Dr. Johnson are improperly called convulsions. 
 He could sit motionless when he was told so to do, as well as any other man. 
 My opinion is, that it proceeded from a habits which he had indulged himself in, 
 of 'accompany ing his thoughts with certain untoward actions, and those actions 
 always appeared to me as if they were meant to reprobate some part of his past 
 conduct. Whenever he was not engaged in conversation, such thoughts were 
 
 * See note, p. 96. BOSWELL. 
 
 * Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd edit p. 8. BOSWELL. 
 
 * Sir Joshua Reynolds's notion on this subject is confirmed by what Johnson himself 
 said to a young lady, the niece of his friend Christopher Smart. See a note by Mr. 
 Boswell on some particulars communicated by Reynolds,^ u nder March 30, 1 783. 
 MALONB.
 
 AGE 30.J BOSWKLL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 sure to rush into his mind ; and, for this reason, any company, any employment 
 whatever, he preferred to being alone. The great business of his life, he said, 
 was to escape from himself; this disposition he considered as the disease of his 
 mind, which nothing cured but company. 
 
 " One instance ot'his absence of mind and particularity, as it is characteristic of 
 the man, may be worth relating. When he and I took a journey together into 
 the West, we visited the late Mr. Banks, of Dorsetshire; the conversation turning 
 upon pictures, which Johnson could not well see, he retired to a corner of the 
 room, stretching out his right leg as far as he could reach before him, then 
 bringing up his left leg, and stretching his right still further on. The old 
 gentleman observing him, went up to him, and in a very courteous manner 
 assured him, though it was not a new house, the flooring was perfectly safe. 
 The Doctor started from his reverie, like a person waked out of his sleep, but 
 spoke not a word. ' ' 
 
 While we are on this subject, my readers may not he displeased with 
 another anecdote, communicated to me hy the same friend, from the 
 relation of Mr. Hogarth. 
 
 Johnson used to be a pretty frequent visitor at the house of Mr. Rich- 
 ardson, author of " Clarissa," and 'other novels of extensive reputation. 
 Mr. Hogarth came one day to see Richardson, soon after the execution 
 of Dr. Cameron, for having taken arms for the house of Stuart in 
 1745-6 ; and being a warm partisan of George the Second, he observed 
 to Richardson, that certainly there must have been some very unfa- 
 vourable circumstances lately discovered in this particular case, which 
 had induced the King to approve of an execution for rebellion so long 
 after the time when it was committed, as this had the appearance of 
 putting a man to death in cold blood, 1 and was very unlike his Majesty's 
 usual clemency. While he was talking, he perceived a person standing 
 at a window in the room, shaking his head, and rolling himself about in 
 a strange ridiculous manner. He concluded that he was an idiot, whom 
 his relations had put under the care of Mr. Richardson, as a very good 
 man. To his great surprise, however, this figure stalked forwards 
 to where he and Mr. Richardson were sitting, and all at once took up the 
 argument, and burst out into an invective against George the Second, 
 as one, who, upon all occasions, was unrelenting and barbarous ; men- 
 tioning many instances ; particularly, that when an officer of high rank 
 
 1 Impartial posterity may, perhaps, be as little inclined as Dr. Johnson was, to justify 
 the uncommon rigour exercised in the case of Dr. Archibald Cameron. He was an 
 amiable and truly honest man ; and his offence was owing to a generous, though mis- 
 taken principle of duty. Being obliged, after 1746, to give up his profession as a physi- 
 cian, and to go into foreign parts, he was honoured with the rank of Colonel, both in the 
 French and Spanish service. He was a son of the ancient and respectable family of 
 Cameron of Lochiel ; and his brother, whoVas the Chief of that brave clan, distinguished 
 himself hy moderation and humanity, while the Highland army marched victorious 
 through Scotland. It is remarkable of this Chief, that though he had earnestly remon- 
 strated against the attempt as hopeless, he was of too heroic a spirit not to venture his 
 life and fortune in the cause, when personally asked by him whom he thought his 
 Prince. Bos w ELL.
 
 106 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [mo. 
 
 had been acquitted by a court martial, George the Second had with his 
 own hand struck his name off the list. In short, he displayed such a power 
 of eloquence, that Hogarth looked at him with astonishment, and actually 
 imagined that this idiot had been at the moment inspired. Neither 
 Hogarth nor Johnson were made known to each other at this interview. 
 In 1740 he wrote for the Gentleman's Magazine the " Preface,"f 
 the " Life of Admiral Blake,"* and the first parts of those of " Sir 
 Francis Drake,"* and "Philip Barretier,"* 1 both which he finished 
 the following year. He also wrote an " Essay on Epitaphs,"* and an 
 " Epitaph on Phillips, a Musician,"* which was afterwards published 
 with some other pieces of his, in Mrs. Williams's Miscellanies. This 
 Epitaph is so exquisitely beautiful, that I remember even Lord Kames, 
 strangely prejudiced as he was against Dr. Johnson, was compelled to 
 allow it very high praise. It has been ascribed to Mr. Garrick, from its 
 appearing at first with the signature G. ; but I have heard Mr. Garriclr 
 declare, that it was written by Dr. Johnson, and give the following 
 account of the manner in which it was composed. Johnson and he 
 were sitting together ; when, amongst other things, Garrick repeated an 
 Epitaph upon this Phillips by a Dr. Wilkes, in these words : 
 " Exalted soul ! whose harmony could please 
 
 The love-sick virgin, and the gouty ease ; 
 
 Could jarring discord, like Amphion, move 
 
 To beauteous order and harmonious love ; 
 
 Rest here in peace, till angels bid thee rise, 
 
 And meet thy blessed Saviour in the skies." | 
 
 Johnson shook his head at these common-place funereal lines, and 
 said to Garrick, " I think, Davy, I can make a better." Then, stirring 
 about his tea for a little while, in a state of meditation, he almost 
 extempore produced the following verses : 
 
 "Phillips, whose touch harmonious could remove 
 
 The pangs of guilty power or hapless love; 
 
 Rest here, distress'd by poverty no more, 
 
 Here find that calm thou gav'st so oft before ; 
 
 Sleep, undisturb'd, within this peaceful shrine, 
 
 Till angels wake thee with a note like thine !" 
 
 1 To which in 1742 he made very large additions, which have never yet been incor- 
 porated in any edition of Barretier's Life. A. CHALMERS. 
 
 2 The epitaph of Phillips is in the porch of Wolverhampton Church. The prose 
 part of it is curious : ..... ,. , ,. 
 
 " Near this place lies 
 
 CHARLES CLAUDIUS PHILLIPS, 
 
 Whose absolute contempt of riches 
 
 and inimitable performances upon the violin, 
 
 made him the admiration of all that knew him. 
 
 He was born in Wales, 
 
 made the tour of Europe, 
 
 and, after the experience of both kinds of fortune, 
 
 Died in 1732." 
 Mr. Garrick appears not to have recited the verses correctly, the original being as
 
 AGK 31. J BOSSVELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 107 
 
 In 1741 he wrote for the Gentleman's Magazine the " Preface, "f 
 " Conclusion of his Lives of Drake and Barretier,"* " A free Transla- 
 tion of the Jests of Hierocles, with an Introduction ;" and, I think, the 
 following pieces : " Debate on the Proposal of Parliament to Crom- 
 well, to assume the Title of King, abridged, modified, and digested ;"t 
 "Translation of Abbe Guyon's Dissertation on the Amazons ;"f 
 "Translation of Fontenelle's Panegyric on Dr. Morin."t Two notes 
 upon this appear to me undoubtedly his. He this year, and the two 
 following, wrote the " Parliamentary Debates. " He told me himself that 
 he was the sole composer of them for those three years only. He was 
 not, however, precisely exact in his statement, which he mentioned from 
 hasty recollection ; for it is sufficiently evident, that his composition of 
 them began November 19, 1740, and ended February 23, 1742-43. 
 
 It appears from some of Cave's letters to Dr. Birch, that Cave had 
 better assistance for that branch of his Magazine, than has been generally 
 supposed ; and that he was indefatigable in getting it made as perfect 
 as he could. 
 
 Thus, 21st July, 1735, 
 
 "I trouble you with the enclosed, because you said you could easily correct 
 what is here given for Lord Chesterfield's speech. I beg you will do so as soon 
 as you can for me, because the month is far advanced." 
 
 And 15th July, 1737, 
 
 " As you remember the debates so far as to perceive the speeches already 
 printed are not exact, I beg the favour that you will peruse the enclosed, and, in 
 the best manner your memory will serve, correct the mistaken passages, or 
 any thing that is omitted. I should be very glad to have something of the Duke 
 of Newcastle's speech, which would be particularly of service. 
 
 " A gentleman has Lord Bathurst's speech to add something to." 
 
 And July 3, 1744, 
 
 "You will see what stupid, low, abominable stuff is put 1 upon your noble 
 and learned friend' 52 character, such as I should quite reject, and endeavour to 
 
 follows. One of the various readings is remarkable, as it is the germ of Johnson's con- 
 cluding line : 
 
 " Exalted soul, thy various sounds could please 
 
 The love-sick virgin, and the gouty ease; 
 
 Could jarring crowds, like old Amphion, move 
 
 To beauteous order and harmonious love ; 
 
 Rest here in peace, till angels bid thee rise, 
 
 And meet thy SAVIOUB'S consort in the skies." 
 
 Dr. Wilkes, the author of these lines, was a Fellow of Trinity College in Oxford, and 
 Rector of Pitchford, in Shropshire : he collected materials for a history of that county, and 
 is spoken of by Brown Willis, in his " History of Mitred Abbies," vol. ii. p. 189. But he 
 was a native of Staffordshire ; and to the antiquities of that county was his attention 
 chiefly confined. Mr. Shaw has had the use of his papers. J. BI.AKEWAY. 
 
 1 I suppose in another compilation of the same kind. BOSWKLL. 
 
 2 Doubtless, Lord Hardwicke. BOSWKLL.
 
 108 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1741 
 
 do something better towards doing .justice to the character. But ns I cannot 
 expect to attain my desire in that respect, it would be a great satisfaction, af 
 well as an honour to our work, to have the favour of the genuine speech, ft i& 
 a method that several have been pleased to take, as I could show, hut I think 
 myself under a restraint. I shall say so far, that I have had some by a third 
 hand, which I understood well enough to come from the first ; others by penny- 
 post, and others by the speakers themselves, who have been pleased to visit St. 
 John's Gate, and show particular marks of their being pleased." 1 
 
 There is no reason, I believe, to doubt the veracity of Cave. It is, 
 however, remarkable that none of these letters are in the years during 
 which Johnson alone furnished the debates, and one of them is in the 
 very year after he ceased from that labour. Johnson told me, that as 
 soon as he found that the speeches were thought genuine, he determined 
 that he would write no more of them ; "for he would not be accessory 
 to the propagation of falsehood." And such was the tenderness of his 
 conscience, that a short time before his death he expressed his regret for 
 his having been the author of fictions which had passed for realities. 
 
 He nevertheless agreed with me in thinking, that the debates which 
 he had framed were to be valued as orations upon questions of public 
 importance. They have accordingly been collected in volumes, properly 
 arranged, and recommended to the notice of parliamentary speakers by 
 a preface written by no inferior hand. 2 I must, however, observe, that 
 although there is in those debates a wonderful store of political informa- 
 tion and very powerful eloquence, I cannot agree that they exhibit the 
 manner of each particular speaker, as Sir John Hawkins seems to think. 
 But, indeed, what opinion can we have of his judgment and taste in 
 public speaking, who presumes to give as the characteristics of two 
 celebrated orators, "the deep-mouthed rancour of Pulteney, and the 
 yelping pertinacity of Pitt." 8 
 
 This year I find that his tragedy of " Irene " had been for some 
 time ready for the stage, and that his necessities made him desirous of 
 getting as much as he could for it without delay ; for there is the fol- 
 lowing letter from Mr. Cave to Dr. Birch in the same volume of manu- 
 scripts in the British Museum, from which I copied those above quoted. 
 They were most obligingly pointed out to me by Sir William Musgrave, 
 one of the Curators of that noble repository. 
 
 " Sept. 9, 1741. 
 
 " I have put Mr. Johnson's play into Mr. Gray's* hands, in order to sell it to 
 him, if he is inclined to buy it ; but I doubt whether he will or not. He would 
 dispose of the copy, and whatever advantage may be made by acting it Would 
 
 1 Birch's MSS. in the British Museum, 4302. BOSWELL. 
 
 2 I am assured that the editor is Mr. George Chalmers, whose commercial works arc 
 well known and esteemed. BOSWELL. 
 
 s Sir G. Hawkins's Life of Johnson, pp. 94 132. 100. Bos WELL. 
 * A London bookseller of the time. BOSWKLL.
 
 AOK 32. J BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 109 
 
 your society,! or any gentleman, or body of men that you know, take such a bar- 
 gain ? He and I are very unfit to deal with theatrical persons. Fleetwood was 
 to have acted in it last season, but Johnson's diffidence or 2 prevented it." 
 
 I have already mentioned that " Irene," was not brought into public 
 notice till Garrick was manager of Drury-lane Theatre. 
 
 In 1742 s he wrote for the Gentleman's Magazine the " Pre- 
 face,"f the " Parliamentary Debates,"* " Essay on the Account of the 
 Conduct of the Duchess of Marlborough,"* then the popular topic of 
 conversation. This essay is a short but masterly performance. We 
 find him in No. 13 of his " Rambler," censuring a profligate sentiment 
 in that " Account ;" 4 and again insisting upon it strenuously in con- 
 versation. 6 "An Account of the Life of Peter Burruan,"* I believe 
 chiefly taken from a foreign publication ; as, indeed, he could not him- 
 self know much about Burman ; " Additions to his Life of Barretier ;"* 
 " The Life of Sydenham,"* afterwards prefixed to Dr. Swan's edition 
 of his works ; " Proposals for printing the Bibliotheca llarleiana, or a 
 Catalogue of the Library of the Earl of Oxford."* His account of 
 that celebrated collection of books, in which he displays the importance 
 to literature, of what the French call a catalogue raisonne, when the 
 subjects of it are extensive and various, and it is executed with ability, 
 cannot fail to impress all his readers with admiration of his philological 
 attainments. It was afterwards prefixed to the first volume of the 
 Catalogue, in which the Latin accounts of books were written by him. 
 He was employed in this business by Mr. Thomas Osborne the bookseller, 
 who purchased the library for 13,OOOZ., a sum which Mr. Oldyssays, in 
 one of his manuscripts, was not more than the binding of the books had 
 cost ; yet, as Dr. Johnson assured me, the slowness of the sale was such, 
 that there was not much gained by it. It has been confidently related, 
 with many embellishments, that Johnson one day knocked Osborne down 
 iu his shop, with a folio, and put his foot upon his neck. The simple truth 
 1 had from Johnson himself. " Sir, he was impertinent to me, and 
 I beat him. But it was not in his shop ; it was in my own chamber." 
 
 1 Not the Royal Society ; but the Society for the encouragement of learning, of which 
 Dr. Birch was a leading member. Their object was, to assist authors in printing expen- 
 sive works. It existed from about 1735 to 1746, when, having incurred a considerable 
 debt, it was dissolved. BOSWF.LL. 
 
 2 There is no erasure here, but a mere blank ; to fill up which may be an exercise for 
 ingenious conjecture. BOSWKLL. 
 
 8 From one of his letters to a friend, written in June 1742, it should seem that he 
 then proposed to write a play on the subject of Charles the Twelfth, of Sweden, and to 
 have it ready lor the ensuing winter. The passage alluded to, however, is somewhat 
 ambiguous ; and the work which he then had iu contemplation may have been a history 
 of that monarch. MA LONE. 
 
 4 The passage alluded to runs as follows : " A late female minister of state has 
 been shameless enough to inform the world that she used, when_she wanted to extract 
 'any thing from her sovereign, to remind her of Montaigne's reasoning who has deter- 
 mined that to tfll a secret to a friend is no breach of fidelity, because the number of per- 
 sons is not multiplied ; a man aud his friend being virtually the same." WEIGHT. 
 Jt Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd edit. p. 167. BOSWKIX.
 
 HO BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHXSON*. [1742. 
 
 A very diligent observer may trace him where we should not easily 
 suppose him to be found. I have no doubt that he wrote the little 
 abridgment entitled " Foreign History," in the Magazine for December. 
 
 To prove it, I shall quote the introduction : 
 
 "As this is that season of the year in which Nature may be said to command 
 a suspension of hostilities, and which seems intended, by putting a short stop to 
 violence and slaughter, to afford time for malice to relent, and animosity to sub- 
 side ; we can scarce expect any other account than of plans, negotiations and 
 treaties, of proposals for peace, and preparations for war." 
 
 As also this passage : 
 
 " Let those who despise the capacity of the Swiss, tell us by what wonderful 
 policy, or by what happy conciliation of interests, it is brought to pass, that in a 
 body made up of different communities and different religions, there should be 
 no civil commotions, though the people are so warlike, that to nominate and 
 raise an army is the same." 
 
 I am obliged to Mr. Astle 1 for his ready permission to copy the two 
 following letters, of which the originals are in his possession. Their 
 contents show that they were written about this time, and that Johnson 
 was now engaged in preparing an historical account of the British 
 Parliament. 
 
 " TO MR. CAVE. 
 " SIR, [No date.'] 
 
 "I believe I am going to write a long letter, and have therefore taken a 
 whole sheet of paper. The first thing to be written about is our historical 
 design. 
 
 " You mentioned the proposal of printing in numbers, as an alteration in the 
 scheme, but I believe you mistook, some way or other, my meaning ; I had no 
 other view than that you might rather print too many of five sheets, than of 
 five-and-thirty. 
 
 "With regard to what I shall say on the manner of proceeding, I would 
 have it understood as wholly indifferent to me, and my opinion only, not my 
 resolution. Emptoris sit eligere, 
 
 " I think the insertion of the exact dates of the most important events in the 
 margin, or of so many events as may enable the reader to regulate the order of 
 facts with sufficient exactness, the proper medium between a journal, which has 
 regard only to time, and a history which ranges facts according to their depend- 
 ance on each other, and postpones or anticipates according to the convenience of 
 narration. I think the work ought to partake of the spirit of history, which is 
 contrary to minute exactness, and of the regularity of a journal, which is incon- 
 sistent with spirit For this reason I neither admit numbers or dates, nor reject 
 them. 
 
 " I am of your opinion with regard to placing most of the resolutions, &c., 
 in the margin, and think we shall give the most complete account of parliamen- 
 tary proceedings that can be contrived. The naked papers, without an historical 
 
 1 Mr. A.sile was keeper of the Records of the Tower, and otherwise well known in 
 the literary world. ED.
 
 AOR 33.1 BOS WELL'S LIFE OP JOHNSON, 111 
 
 treatise interwoven, require some other book to make them understood. I will 
 date the succeeding facts with some exactness, but I think in the margin. You 
 told me on Saturday that I had received money on this work, and found set 
 down 13/. 2s. Qd., reckoning the half guinea of last Saturday. As you hinted 
 to me that you had many calls for money, I would not press you too hard, and 
 therefore shall desire only, as I send it in, two guineas for a sheet of copy ; the 
 rest you may pay me when it may be more convenient ; and even by this sheet- 
 payment I shall, for some time, be very expensive. 
 
 "The Life of Savage I am ready to go upon; and in great primer and 
 pica notes, I reckon on sending in half a sheet a day ; but the money for that 
 shall likewise He by in your hands till it is done. With the debates, shall not I 
 have business enough ? if I had but good pens. 
 
 "Towards Mr. Savage's Life what more have you got? I would willingly 
 have his trial, &c., and know whether his defence be at Bristol, and would have 
 his collection of poems, on account of the Preface; "The Plain Dealer," * 
 all the magazines that have any thing of his or relating to him. 
 
 " I thought my letter would be long, but now it is ended ; and, 
 
 " I am, Sir, yours, &c., 
 
 "SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 "The boy found me writing this almost in the dark, when I could not 
 quite easily read yours. 
 
 "I have read the Italian : nothing in it is well. 
 
 ' ' I had no notion of having any thing for the inscription. 2 I hope you don't 
 think I kept it to extort a price. I could think of nothing, till to-day. If you 
 could spare me another guinea for the history, I should take it very kindly, 
 to-night ; but if you do not, I shall not think it an injury. 
 
 "I am almost well again." 
 
 " TO MR. CAVE. 
 "SIR, 
 
 "You did not tell me your determination about the Soldier's Letter, & which 
 I am confident was never printed. I think it will not do by itself, or in any 
 other place so well as the Mag. Extraordinary. If you will have it all, I believe 
 you do not think I set it high, and I will be glad if what you give, you will give 
 quickly. 
 
 " You need not be in care about something to print, for I have got the State 
 Trials, and shall extract Layer, Atterbury, and Macclesfield from them, and 
 shall bring them to you in a fortnight ; after which I will try to get the South 
 Sea Report." [iVo date, nor signature,] 
 
 I would also ascribe to him an "Essay on the Description of China, 
 from the French of Du Halde." t 
 
 His writings in the "Gentleman's Magazine," in 1743, are, the 
 " Preface, "f the "Parliamentary Debates,"! "Considerations on the 
 
 "The Plain Dealer" was published in 1724, and Contained some account of 
 Savage. BOSWKLL. 
 
 ' Perhaps the Runic Inscription ; " Gent. Mug." vol. xii. p. 132. MA LONE. 
 3 I have not discovered what this was. BOSWELL.
 
 112 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1743. 
 
 Dispute between Crousaz and Warburton, on Pope's Essay on Man ;"t 
 in which, while he defends Crousaz, he shows an admirable metaphysical 
 acuteness and temperance in controversy ; "Ad Lauram parituram 
 Epigramma ; J * and, "A Latin Translation of Pope's Verses on his 
 Grotto ;" and, as he could employ hia pen with equal success upon a 
 small matter as a great, I suppose him to be the author of an advertise- 
 ment for Osborne, concerning the great Harleian Catalogue. 
 
 But I should think myself much wanting, both to my illustrious 
 friend and my readers, did I not introduce here, with more than ordinary 
 respect, an exquisitely beautiful Ode, which has not been inserted in any 
 of the collections of Johnson's poetry, written by him at a very early 
 
 1 " Angliacas inter pulcherritna Laura puellas, 
 
 Mox uteri pondus depositura grave, 
 
 Adsit, Laura, tibi facilis Lucina dolenti, 
 
 Neve tibi uoceat preenituisse Dese." 
 
 Mr. Hector was present wlien this Epigram was made impromptu. The first line was 
 proposed by Dr. James, and Johnson was called upon by the company to finish it, which 
 he instantly did. BOSWKLL. 
 
 The following elegant Latin Ode, which appeared in the "Gentleman's Magazine" 
 for 1748 (vol. xiii. p. 648), was many years ago pointed out to James Bindley, Esq., as 
 written by Johnson, and may safely be attributed to him : 
 
 AD ORNATISSIMAM PUELLAM. 
 Vanae sit arti, sit studio modus, 
 
 Formosa *irgo ! sit speculo quies, 
 Curamque quserendi decoris 
 
 Mitte, supervacuosque cultus. 
 
 Ut fortnitis verna coloribus 
 Depicta vulgo rura magis placent, 
 Nee invident horto niteuti 
 Divitias operosiores : 
 
 Lenique fons cum murmure pulcrior 
 Obliquat ultro preecipitem fugam 
 Inter reluctantcs lapillos, et 
 Ducit aquas temere sequentes : 
 
 Utque inter undas, inter et arbores, 
 Jam vere primo dulce slrepunt aves, 
 Et arte nulla gratiores 
 
 Ingeminant sine lege cantus : 
 
 Nativa sic te gratia, te nitor 
 Simplex decebit, te Veneres tuse ; 
 Nudus Cupido suspicatur 
 Artifices iiimis apparatus. 
 
 Ergo fluentem tu, male sedula, 
 Ne steva inuras semper acu comam; 
 Nee sparsa odorato imei.tes 
 Pulvere dedecores capillos; 
 
 Quales nee olim Ptolemaeia 
 Juctubat uxor, sHereo in chore 
 Utcunque devotte rei'ulger, 
 Veriicis exuvite decori ;
 
 AOE St.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHXSON. 113 
 
 period, as Mr. Hector informs me, and inserted in "The Gentleman's 
 Magazine " of this year. 
 
 FRIENDSHIP, AX ODE.* 
 
 Friendship, peculiar Loon of heaven, 
 
 The noble mind's delight and pride, 
 To men and angels only given, 
 
 To all the lower world denied. 
 
 While love unknown among the blest, 
 
 Parent of thousand wild desires, 
 The savage and the human breast 
 Torments alike with raging fires : 
 
 With bright, but oft destructive, gleam, 
 
 Alike o'er all his lightnings fly ; 
 Thy lambent glories only beam 
 
 Around the fav' rites of the sky. 
 
 Thy gentle flows of guiltless joys 
 
 On fools and villains ne'er descend : 
 In vain for thee the tyrant sighs, 
 
 And hugs a flatterer for a friend. 
 
 Directress of the brave and just, 
 
 guide us through life's darksome way ! 
 
 And let the tortures of mistrust 
 On selfish bosoms only prey. 
 
 Nor shall ihine ardour cense to glow, 
 When souls to blissful climes remove : 
 
 What rais'd our virtue here below, 
 Shall aid our happiness above. 
 
 Johnson had now an opportunity of obliging his schoolfellow, 
 Dr. James, of whom he once observed, " No man brings more mind to 
 his profession." James published this year his " Medicinal Dictionary,'' 
 in three volumes folio. Johnson, as I understood from him, had written, 
 or assisted in writing, the proposals for this work ; and being very fond 
 of the study of physic, in which James was his master, he furnished 
 some of the articles. He, however, certainly wrote for it the Dedication 
 
 Nee diva mater, cum similem ture 
 Mentita formam, et pulcrior adspici, 
 Pennisit incomtas protervis 
 Fusa comas agitare ventis. 
 
 In vol. xiv. p. 46, of the same work, an elegant Epigram was inserted, in answer to the 
 foregoing Ode, which was written by Dr. Inyon of Norfolk, a physician, and an excellent 
 classical scholar : 
 
 " Ad Authorem Car minis AD ORNATISSIMAM PUELLAM. 
 " cui non potuit, quia culta, placere puella, 
 Qui speras Musain posse placere tuam ! " MA LONE. 
 a
 
 114 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JGIIXSOX. 
 
 [1743. 
 
 to Dr. Mead,f which is conceived with great address, to conciliate the 
 patronage of that very eminent man. 1 
 
 It has been circulated, I know not with what authenticity, that 
 Johnson considered Dr. Birch as a dull writer, and said of him, " Tom 
 Birch is as brisk as a bee in conversation, but no sooner does he take a 
 pen in his hand, than it becomes a torpedo to him, and benumbs all his 
 
 1>B. B1KCH. 
 
 faculties." That the literature of this country is much indebted to Birch's 
 activity and diligence must certainly be acknowledged. We have seen 
 that Johnson honoured him with a Greek Epigram ; and his corre- 
 spondence with him, during many years, proves that he had no mean 
 opinion of him. 
 
 " TO DR. BIRCH. 
 
 " SIR, " Thursday, Sept. 29, 1743. 
 
 " I hope you will excuse me for troubling you on an occasion on which I 
 know not whom else I can apply to ; I am at a loss for the Lives and Characters 
 of Earl Stanhope, the two Craggs, and the minister Sunderland ; and beg that 
 you will inform [me] where I may find them, and send any pamphlets, &c. 
 relating to them to Mr. Cave to be perused for a few days by, Sir, 
 
 " Your most humble servant, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 1 "TO DR. MEAD. 
 
 "SlB, 
 
 "That the ' Medicinal Dictionary ' is dedicated to you, is to be imputed only to your 
 'reputation for superior skill in those sciences which I have endeavoured to explain and 
 facilitate : and you are, therefore, to consider this address, if it be agreeable to you, as 
 one of the rewards of merit; and if otherwise, as one of the inconveniences of eminence. 
 " However you shall receive it, my design cannot be disappointed, because this 
 public appeal to your judgment will show that I do not found my hopes of approbation 
 upon the ignorance of my readers, and that I fear his censure least, whose knowledge is 
 most exteuiive. I am, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 "R. JAMES." BOSWBLL.
 
 AGE 34.1 BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 115 
 
 His circumstances were at this time embarrassed ; yet his affection 
 for his mother was so warm, and so liberal, that he took upon himself 
 a debt of hers, which, though small in itself, was then considerable to 
 him. This appears from the following letter which he wrote to Mr. 
 Levett, of Lichfield, the original of which lies now before me : 
 
 ''TO MR. LEVETT, IN LICHFIELD. 
 
 " SIR, " December 1, 1743. 
 
 " I am extremely sorry that we have encroached so much upon your for- 
 bearance with respect to the interest, which a great perplexity of affairs 
 hindered me from thinking of with that attention that I ought, and which I am 
 not immediately able to remit to you, but will pay it (I think twelve pounds) in 
 two months. I look upon this, and on the future interest of that mortgage, as 
 my own debt ; and beg that you will be pleased to give me directions how to 
 pay it, and not mention it to my dear mother. If it be necessary to pay this in 
 less time, I believe I can do it ; but I take two months for certainty, and beg an 
 answer whether you can allow me so much time. I think myself very much 
 obliged to your forbearance, and shall esteem it a great happiness to be able to 
 serve you. I have great opportunities of dispersing any thing that you may 
 think it proper to make public. I will give a note for the money, payable at the 
 time mentioned, to any one here that you shall appoint. I am, Sir, 
 
 "Your most obedient and most humble servant, 
 
 " SAM, JOHNSON. 
 At jf r Osborne's, bookseller, in Gray's Inn."
 
 LOKD CHE8TE 
 
 CHAPTER V. 1744 1748. 
 
 JOHNSON PUBLISHES THB LIFE OF SAVAGF. MERITS OF THIS BIOGEAPHT Dis- 
 cussios AS TO SAVAGE'S PARENTAGE PREFACB TO HARLEIAN MISCELLANY 
 "MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS OF THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH" GARRICK 
 MANAGER OF DRURY-LANF. THKATRE JOHNSON'S " PROLOGUE " ON ITS OPKNINO 
 " PLAN" OF THE DICTIONARY, ADDRESSED TO LORD CHESTERFIELD RESIDENCE 
 IN GOUGH SQUARE INSTITUTION OP THE CLUB is IVY LANE WRITES LIFE OF 
 ROSCOMMOX CONTRIBUTIONS TO DODSLEY'S " PKECEPTOR." 
 
 IT does not appear that Johnson wrote any thing in 1744 for the 
 " Gentleman's Magazine," but the Preface, t His " Life of Barretier" 
 was now republished in a pamphlet by itself. But he produced one 
 work this year, fully sufficient to maintain the high reputation which he 
 had acquired. This was " The Life of Richard Savage ;"* a man, of 
 whom it is difficult to speak impartially, without wondering that he was 
 for some time the intimate companion of Johnson ; for his character 1 
 was marked by profligacy, insolence, and ingratitude : yet, as he un- 
 doubtedly had a warm and vigorous, though unregulated mind, had seen 
 life in all its varieties, and been much in the company of the states- 
 
 1 As a specimen of his temper, I iusert the following letter from him to a uoble Lord 
 ["Tyrconnelj to whom he was under great obligations, but who, on account of his bad 
 conduct, was obliged to discard him. The original was in the hands of the late Francis 
 Cockayne Cugt, Esq., one of his Majesty's Counsel, learned in the law : 
 " Right Honourable BRUTE and BOOBY, 
 
 " I find you want (as Mr. is pleased to hint) to swear away my life, that is, 
 
 the life of your creditor, because he asks you for a debt. The public shall soon be ac- 
 quainted with this, to judge whether you are not fitter to be an Irish evidence, than to 
 be an Irish Peer. I defy and despise you. I am, 
 
 " Your determined adversary, 
 
 " R. S." BOSWELL.
 
 AQB 35.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 11? 
 
 men and wits of his time, he could communicate to Johnson an abundant 
 supply of such materials as his philosophical curiosity most eagerly 
 desired ; and as Savage's misfortunes and misconduct had reduced him 
 to the lowest state of wretchedness as a writer for his bread, his visit 
 to St. John's Gate naturally brought Johnson and him together. 1 
 
 It is melancholy to reflect, that Johnson and Savage were sometimes 
 in such extreme indigence, 2 that they could not pay for a lodging ; so 
 that they have wandered together whole nights in the streets. 3 Yet in 
 these almost incredible scenes of distress, we may suppose that Savage 
 mentioned many of the anecdotes with which Johnson afterwards 
 enriched the life of his unhappy companion, and those of other poets. 
 
 He told Sir Joshua Reynolds, that one night in particular, when 
 Savage and he walked round St. James's-square for want of a lodging, 
 they were not at all depressed by their situation, but in high spirits, and 
 
 1 Sir John Hawkins gives the world to understand, that Johnson, " being an admirer 
 of genteel manners, was captivated by the address and demeanour of Savage, who, as to 
 his exterior, was to a remarkable degree accomplished." Hawkins's Life, p. 52. But 
 Sir John's notions of gentility must appear somewhat ludicrous, from his stating the fol- 
 lowing circumstance as presumptive evidence that Savage was a good swordsman : " That 
 he understood the exercise of a gentleman's weapon, may be inferred from the use made 
 of it in that rash encounter which is related in his life." The dexterity here alluded to 
 was, that Savage, in a nocturnal fit of drunkenness, slabbed a man at a coffee-house, and 
 killed him: for which he was tried at the Old Bailey, and found guilty of murder. 
 
 Johnson, indeed, describes him as having " a grave and manly deportment, a solemn 
 dignity of mien; but which, upon a nearer acquaintance, softened into an engaging 
 easiness of manners." How highly Johnson admired him for that knowledge which he 
 himself so much cultivated, and what kindness he entertained for him, appears from the 
 following lines in the " Gentleman's Magazine " for April, 1738, which I am assured were 
 written by Johnson : 
 
 " ^4<i RICARDUM SAVAGE. 
 " Humani stadium generis cui peclore fervet 
 O colat humanum te foveatque genus." BOSWELL. 
 
 2 The following striking proof of Johnson's extreme indigence, when he published the 
 Life of Savage, was communicated to Mr. Boswell, by Mr. Richard Stowe, of Aspley, 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 
 occasionally 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 shabbily, that he did not choose to appear; but on hearing 
 the conversation, he was highly delighted with the encomiums on his book." MALONE. 
 
 3 As Johnson was married before he settled in London, and must have always had a 
 habitation for his wife, some readers have wondered how he ever could have been driven 
 to stroll about with Savage, all night, for want of a lodging. But it should be remem- 
 bered, that Johnson, at different periods, had lodgings in the vicinity of London ; and his 
 finances certainly would not admit of a double establishment. When, therefore, he 
 spent a convivial day in London, and found it too late to return to any country residence 
 he may occasionally have had, having no lodging in town, he was obliged to pass the 
 night in the manner described above ; for, though at that period, it was not uncommon 
 for 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 commenced before April, 1738. 
 MALONE.
 
 118 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [mi. 
 
 brimful of patriotism, traversed the square for several hours, inveighed 
 against the minister, and " resolved they would stand ly their country." 
 
 I am afraid, however, that hy associating with Savage, who was 
 habituated to the dissipation and licentiousness of the town, Johnson, 
 though his good principles remained steady, did not entirely preserve 
 that conduct, for which, in days of greater simplicity, he was remarked 
 by his friend Mr. Hector, but was imperceptibly led into some indul- 
 gences which occasioned much distress to his virtuous mind. 
 
 That Johnson was anxious that an authentic and favourable account 
 of his extraordinary friend should first get possession of the public 
 attention, is evident from a letter which he wrote in the " Gentleman'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. 
 Savage, I doubt not but you have so much regard to his memory, as to encou- 
 rage any design that may have a tendency to the preservation of it from insults 
 or calumnies, and therefore with some degree of assurance, entreat you to inform 
 the public, that his life will speedily be published by a person who was favoured 
 with his confidence, and received from himself an account of most of the trans- 
 actions which he proposes to mention, to the time of his retirement to Swansea, 
 in Wales. 
 
 "From that period, to his death in the prison of Bristol, the account will be 
 continued from materials still less liable to objection : 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 supply from invention the want of intelligence ; and that under the 
 title of 'The Life of Savage,' they will publish only a novel, filled with romantic 
 adventures, and imaginary 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." 
 
 [No signature.] 
 
 In February, 1744, it accordingly came forth from the shop of 
 Roberts, between whom and Johnson I have not traced any connection, 
 except the casual one of this publication. 1 In Johnson's " Life of 
 Savage," although it must be allowed that its moral is the reverse of 
 " Resjiicere exemplar vita 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 clear and animated 
 a manner, and illuminated throughout with so much philosophy, that 
 it is one of the most interesting narratives in the English language. Sir 
 
 1 Cave purchased the copyright of the "Life of Savage." The sum Johnson received 
 for it was fifteen guineas. ED.
 
 AGK 3o.] BOSWELL's LIFE OF JOHNSON. 119 
 
 Joshua Reynolds told me, that upon his return from Italy he met with it 
 in Devonshire, knowing nothing of its author, and began to read it 
 while he was standing with his arm leaning against a chimney-piece. 
 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 rapidity with which this work was composed, 
 is a wonderful circumstance. Johnson has been heard to say, " 1 wrote 
 forty- eight of the printed octavo pages of the ' Life of Savage' at a 
 sitting ; but then I sat up all night." 1 
 
 He exhibits the genius of Savage to the best advantage, in the speci- 
 mens of his poetry which he has selected, some of which are of uncom- 
 mon merit. We, indeed, occasionally find such vigour and such point, 
 as might make us suppose that the generous aid of 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 
 line in which the fancied superiority of one " stamped in Nature's mint 
 with extasy," is contrasted with a regular lawful descendant of some 
 
 J ' O 
 
 great and ancient family : 
 
 " No tenth transmitter of a foolish face." 
 
 But the fact is, that this poem was published some years before Johnson 
 and Savage were acquainted. 
 
 It is remarkable, that in this biographical disquisition there appears 
 a very strong symptom of Johnson's prejudice against players ; a prejudice 
 which may be attributed to the following causes : first, the imperfection 
 of his organs, which were so defective that he was not susceptible of the 
 fine impressions which theatrical excellence produces upon the generality 
 of mankind ; secondly, the cold rejection 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 him, not in a much more prosperous 
 state than himself, and whose talents he undoubtedly rated low, com- 
 pared 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 that whatever might be Garrick' s merits in his 
 art, the reward was too great when compared with what the most suc- 
 cessful efforts of literary labour could attain. At all periods of his life, 
 Johnson used to talk contemptuously of players ; but in this woi'k he 
 speaks of them with peculiar acrimony ; for which, perhaps, there was 
 formerly too much reason from the licentious and dissolute manners of 
 those engaged 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 
 
 1 Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd edit. p. 35. Bos WELL.
 
 120 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1744. 
 
 great actor had played some little time at Goodmau's-fields, Johnson 
 and Taylor went to see him perform, and afterwards passed the evening 
 at a tavern with him and old Giti'ard. 1 Johnson, who was ever depre- 
 ciating 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 oifended at this sarcasm, and endeavoured to refute it ; upon which 
 Johnson rejoined, " Well, now, I'll give you something to speak, with 
 which you are little acquainted, and then we shall see how just rny 
 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 upon not and false witness? 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, in " The Champion," a periodical paper : 
 
 " This pamphlet is, without flattery to its author, 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 recommendation. As to the history 
 of the unfortunate person whose memoirs compose this work, it is certainly 
 penned with equal accuracy and spirit, of which I am so much the better judge, 
 as I know many of the facts mentioned to be strictly true, and very fairly related. 
 Besides, it is not only the story of Mr. Savage, but innumerable incidents relating 
 to other persons, and other affairs, which renders this a very amusing, and, 
 withal, a very instructive and valuable performance. The author's observations 
 are short, significant, and just, as his narrative is remarkably smooth, and well- 
 disposed. His reflections open to all the recesses of the human heart; and in a 
 word, a more just or pleasant, a more engaging or a more improving treatise, 
 on all the excellencies and defects of human nature, is scarce to be found in our 
 own, -or, perhaps, any other language." 8 
 
 Johnson's partiality for Savage made him entertain no doubt of his 
 story, however extraordinary and improbable. It never occurred to him 
 to question his being the son of the Countess of 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. Johnson was certainly well warranted in publishing his nar- 
 
 1 Garrick's first appearance at Goodman's-tields took place October 19, 1741; the 
 character was Richard III. " Old Giffurd" was then manager of the theatre. ED. 
 
 I suspect Dr. Taylor was inaccurate in his statement. The emphasis should be 
 equally upon shalt and not, as both concur to form the negative injunction; and false 
 witness, like the other arts prohibited in the Decalogue, should not 'be marked by auy 
 peculiar emphasis, but only be distinctly enunciated. BOSWELL. 
 
 A moderate emphasis should be placed on false. KEARNEY. 
 
 8 This character of the "Life of Savage" was not written by Fielding, as has been 
 supposed, but most probably by Ralph, who, as appears from the minutes of the partners 
 of " The Champic n" in the possession of Mr. Reed, of Staple-inn, succeeded Fielding in 
 his share of the puper, before the date of that eulogium. BOSWELL.
 
 Ann 35.] BOSWELL's LIFE OF JOHNSON. 121 
 
 rative, however offensive it might be to the lady and her relations, 
 because her alleged unnatural and cruel conduct to her son, and shame- 
 ful avowal of guilt, were stated in a " Life of Savage" now lying before 
 me, which came out so early as 17^7, and no attempt had been made to 
 confute it, or to punish the author or printer as a libeller : but for the 
 honour of human nature, we should be glad to find the shocking tale 
 not true ; and from a respectable gentleman 1 connected with the lady's 
 family, I have received such information and remarks, as, joined to my 
 own inquiries, will, I think, render it at least somewhat doubtful, espe- 
 cially when we consider that it must have originated from the person 
 himself who went by the name of Richard Savage. 
 
 If the ms\x\m, Jalsum in uno, falsum in omnibus, were to be received 
 without qualification, 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. 
 
 i. In order to induce a belief that the Earl Rivers on account of a 
 criminal connection with whom. Lady Macclesfield is said to have been 
 divorced from her husband, by Act of Parliament [1G97J had a peculiar 
 anxiety about the child which she bore 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, Holborn. I have carefully inspected that register, but 
 no such entry is to be found. 2 
 
 1 The late Francis Cockayne Gust, Esq., one of his Majesty's (George III.) Counsel. 
 
 BOSWELL. 
 
 2 Mr. Gust's reasoning, with respect to the filiation of Richard Savage, always ap- 
 peared to me extremely unsatisfactory, and is entirely overturned by the following decisive 
 observations, for which the reader is indebted to the unwearied researches of Mr. Bindley. 
 The story on which Mr. Gust so much relies, that Savage was a supposititious child, not 
 the son of Lord Rivers and Lady Macclesfield, but the offspring of a shoemaker, intro- 
 duced in consequence of her real son's death, was, without doubt, grounded on the cir- 
 cumstance of Lady Macclesfield's having, in 1696, previously to the birth of Savage, had 
 a daughter by the Earl Rivers, who died in her infancy ; a fact which, as the same gen- 
 tleman observes to me, was proved in the course of the proceedings on Lord Macclesfield's 
 Bill of Divorce. Most fictions of this kind have some admixture of truth in them. MALONB. 
 
 From " the Earl of Macclesfield's Case," which, in 1697-8, was presented to the 
 Lords, in order to procure an act ol divorce, it appears that " Anne, Countess of Mac- 
 clesfield, under the name of Madam Smith, was delivered of a male child in Fox-court, 
 near Bro'tk-street, Holborn, by Mrs. Wright, a midwife, on Saturday, the 16th of 
 January, 1696-7, at six o'clock in the morning, who was baptized on the Monday follow- 
 ing, and registered by the name of Richard, the son of John Smith, by Mr. Burbridge, 
 assistant to Dr. Manningham's curate for St. Andrew's, Holborn ; that the child was chris- 
 tened on Monday, the 18th of January, in Fox-court; and, from the privacy, was supposed 
 by Mr. Burbridge to be ' a by-blow, or bastard.' " It also appears, that during her delivery 
 the lady wore a mask ; and that Mary Pegler, on the next day after the baptism (Tuesday) 
 took a male child, whose mother was called Madam Smith, from the house of Mrs. 
 Pheasant, in Fox-court (running from Brook-street into Gray's-inn-lane), who went by 
 the name of Mrs. Lee. 
 
 Conformable to this statement is the entry in the register of St. Andrew's, Holborn, 
 which is as follows, and which unquestionably records the baptism of Kichard Savage, to 
 whom Lord Rivers gave his own Christian name, prefixed to the assumed surname of his 
 mother : Jan. 1696-7. " Richard, son of John Smith and Mary, in Fox-court, in Gray's- 
 irin-lane, baptized the 18th." BINDLEY.
 
 122 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1744. 
 
 2. It is stated, that " Lady Macclesficld having lived for some time 
 upon very uneasy terms with her husband, thought a public confession of 
 adultery the most obvious and expeditious method of obtaining herlibcrty;" 
 and Johnson, assuming this to be true, stigmatizes her with indignation, 
 as "the wretch who had, without scruple, proclaimed herself an adultress. >n 
 ButI haveperused the Journals of both houses of Parliament at the period 
 of her divorce, and there find it authentically ascertained, that so far 
 from voluntarily submitting to the ignominious charge of adultery, she 
 made a strenuous defence by her counsel ; the bill having been first 
 moved the 15th of January, 1697-8, in the House of Lords, and pro- 
 ceeded on (with various applications for time to bring up witnesses at a 
 distance, <kc.) at intervals, till the 3rd 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, llth, 14th, and l?th, on which day, 
 after a full examination of witnesses on both sides, and hearing of coun- 
 sel, it was reported without amendments, passed, and carried to the 
 Lords. That Lady Macclesfield was convicted of the crime of which 
 she was accused, cannot be denied ; but the question now is, whether 
 the person calling himself Richard Savage was her son. 
 
 It has been said, 2 that when Earl Rivers was dying, and anxious to 
 provide for all his natural children, he was informed by Lady Maccles- 
 field that her son by him was dead. Whether, then, shall we believe 
 that this was a malignant lie, invented by a mother to prevent her own 
 child from receiving the bounty of his father, which was accordingly 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 Savage was an impostor, being in reality the son of the 
 shoemaker, under whose wife's care 8 Lady Macclesfield's child was 
 placed; that after the death of the real Richard Savage he attempted 
 to personate him ; and that the fraud being known to Lady Macclesfield, 
 he was therefore repulsed by 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 Macclesfield'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 obtain 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 Maccles- 
 field's child before its godmother, the legacy became lapsed, and therefore 
 that Johnson's Richard Savage was an impostor. 
 
 1 No divorce can be obtained in the Courts on confession of the party. There must 
 be proofs. KEARNEY. 
 
 2 By Johnson, in his "Life of Savage." MALONE. 
 
 8 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 this nurse. See Johnson's "Life of Savage." " Lives of the Poets," 
 vol.iii.p. 131, edit 1782. BOSWBLL.
 
 AGE 35.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON'. 123 
 
 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 given. 
 
 The talents of Savage, and the mingled fire, rudeness, pride, mean- 
 ness, and ferocity of his character, 1 concur in making it credible that he 
 was fit to plan and carry on an ambitious and daring scheme of impos- 
 ture, similar instances of which have not been wanting in higher spheres 
 in the history of different countries, and have had a considerable degree 
 of success. 
 
 Yet, on the other hand, to the companion of Johnson (who, through 
 whatever medium he was conveyed into this world, be it ever so doubt- 
 ful "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 status or parentage, though illicit ; and supposing 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 family. 2 Lastly, it must ever appear very suspicious, that three 
 different accounts of the life of Richard Savage, one published in " The 
 Plain Dealer," in 1724, another in 1727, and another by the powerful 
 pen of Johnson, in 1744, and all of them while Lady Macclesfield was 
 alive, should, notwithstanding the severe attacks upon her, have been 
 suffered to pass without any public and effectual contradiction. 
 
 1 have thus endeavoured to sum up the evidence upon the case as 
 fairly as I can, and the result seerns 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 censured, as it relates to a matter 
 
 1, Johnson's companion appears to have persuaded 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 respectable 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 he requests him, in the humblest 
 manner, to represent his case to the Viscount BOSWELL. 
 
 2 Trusting to Savage's' information, Johnson represents this unhappy man's being 
 received as a companion by Lord Tyrconnel, and pensioned by his lordship, as posterior 
 to Savage's conviction and pardon. But I'am assured that Savage had received the volun- 
 tary 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 Savage'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 exposing the cruelty of his 
 mother," the great biographer has forgotten that he himself has mentioned that Savage's 
 story had been told several years before in "The Plain Dealer," from which he quotes this 
 strong saying of the generous Sir Richard Steele, that the "inhumanity of his mother had 
 given him a right to find every good man his father." At the same time it must be ac- 
 knowledged that Lady Macclesfield and her relations might still wish thather story should 
 not be brought into more conspicuous notice by the satirical pen of Savage. BOSWELL.
 
 124 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1746. 
 
 exceedingly curious, and very intimately connected with Johnson, both 
 as a man and an author. 1 
 
 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, 2 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 dramatic poet have of late been 
 so signally illustrated. 
 
 In 1745 he published a pamphlet entitled, " Miscellaneous Observa- 
 tions on the Tragedy of Macbeth, with Remarks on Sir T. H.'s (Sir 
 Thomas Hanmer's) Edition of Shakspeare."* To which he affixed 
 proposals for a new edition of that poet. 
 
 As we do not trace any thing else published by him during the course 
 of this year, we may conjecture that he was occupied entirely with that 
 work. But the little encouragement which was given by the public to 
 his anonymous proposals for the execution of a task which Warburton 
 was known to have undertaken, probably damped his ardour. His 
 pamphlet, however, was highly esteemed, and was fortunate enough to 
 obtain the approbation even of the supercilious Warburton himself, who, 
 in the Preface to his Shakspeare, published two years afterwards, thus 
 mentioned it : " As to all those things which have been published under 
 the titles of Essays, Remarks, Observations, ike., on Shakspeare, if you 
 except some Critical Notes on Macbeth, given as a specimen of a pro- 
 jected edition, and written, as appears, by a man of parts and genius, 
 the rest are absolutely below a serious notice." 
 
 Of this flattering distinction shown to him by Warburton, a very 
 grateful remembrance was ever entertained by Johnson, \\\\o 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 perhaps he laid aside for a time, on account of the high expecta- 
 tions which were formed of Warburton 's edition of that great poet. It 
 is somewhat curious, that his literary career appears to have been 
 almost totally suspended in the years 1745 and 1746, those years which 
 
 1 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. Co'.ley 
 Cibber, I am informed, 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 her maid both fast asleep in two chairs. She tied a white hand- 
 kerchief round her husband's neck, which was a sufficient proof that she had discovered 
 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. 
 Bos WELL. 
 
 2 A natural son of Dr. Oldys, born in 1696 ; he became librarian to Lord Oxford, was 
 employed in the selection of the "Harleian Miscellany," and published "The British 
 Librarian ; an Abstract of our most scarce and valuable Books." He also wrote a " Life 
 of Sir Walter Raleigh," and contributed several articles to the " Biographia Britannica," 
 and the " General Dictionary." ED.
 
 AGE 37.] BOSWEU/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 125 
 
 were marked by a civil war in Great Britain, when a rash attempt was 
 made to restore the House of Stuart to the throne. That he had a ten- 
 derness for that unfortunate House, is well known ; and some may fan- 
 cifully imagine, that a sympathetic anxiety impeded the exertion of his 
 intellectual powers ; but I am inclined to think, that he was, during 
 this time, sketching the outlines of his great philological work. 
 
 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 enter- 
 tainment to see how he then expressed himself to his private friends 
 concerning state affairs. Dr. Adams informs me, that "at this time 
 a favourite object which he had in contemplation was ' The Life of 
 Alfred ;' 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 him- 
 self, rather than on any other subject." 
 
 In 1747 it is supposed that the "Gentleman's Magazine" for May 
 was enriched by him with five short poetical pieces, distinguished by 
 three asterisks. 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 probably 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 Macbeth," 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 Preface 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 author a gold and silk net- 
 work Purse of her own weaving ;" " Stella in Mourning ;" " The Win- 
 ter's Walk ;" "An Ode;" and, "To Lyce, an elderly Lady." I am 
 not positive that all these were his productions j 1 but as " The Winter's 
 Walk" has never been controverted to be his, and all of them have the 
 same, mark, it is reasonable to conclude that they are all written by 
 the same hand. Yet to the Ode, in which we find a passage very 
 characteristic of him, being a learned description of the gout, 
 
 "Unhappy, whom to beds of pain 
 Arthritic tyranny consigns, " 
 
 there is the following note, "The author being 511 of the gout;" 
 but Johnson was not attacked with that distemper till a very late period 
 
 1 In the " Universal Visiter," to which Johnson contributed, the mark which is affixed 
 to some pieces unquestionably his, is also found subjoined to others, of which he cer- 
 tainly was not the author. The mark therefore will not ascertain the poems in question 
 to have been written by him. Some of them were probably the productions of Hawkes- 
 worth, who, it is believed, was afflicted with the gout. The verses on a Purse were 
 inserted afterwards in Mrs. Williams's Miscellanies, and are, unquestionably, Johnson's. 
 MA LONE.
 
 126 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1747. 
 
 of bis life. May not this, however, be a poetical fiction ? Why may 
 not a poet suppose himself to have the gout, as well as suppose himself 
 to be in love, of which we have innumerable instances, and which has 
 been admirably ridiculed ^by Johnson in his "Life of Cowley ?" I 
 have also some difficulty to believe that he could produce 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 shy, in such stanzas as this : 
 
 "Her teeth the night with darkness dies, 
 
 She's starr' 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 namfyy- 
 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 editions, after praying Stella to "snatch him 
 to her arms," he says, 
 
 " And shield me from the ills of life." 
 Whereas, in the first edition it is 
 
 "And hide me from the sight of life." 
 
 A horror at life in general is more consonant with Johnson's habitual 
 gloomy cast of thought. 
 
 I have heard him repeat with great energy the following verses, 
 which appeared in the " Gentleman's Magazine" for April this year ; but 
 I have no authority to say they were his own. Indeed one of the best 
 critics of our age suggests to me, that " the word indifferently being 
 used in the sense of without concern, and being also very unpoetical, 
 renders it improbable that they should have been his composition.' 
 
 " ON LORD LOVAT'S EXECUTION. 
 
 "Pitied by gentle minds KlLMARNOCK died ; 
 The brave, BALMERINO, were on thy side ; 
 EADCLIFFE, unhappy in his crimes of youth, 
 Steady in what he still mistook for truth, 
 Beheld his 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 rain he has done ; 
 No child laments the tyrant of his son;
 
 AGE 38.1 BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOIIX30N. 127 
 
 No tory pities, thinking what he was ; 
 No whig compassions, for le left the cause ; 
 The brave regret not, for he was not brave ? 
 The honest mourn not, knowing him a knave !"i 
 
 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 dramatic 
 criticism on the whole range of the English stage, as well as for 
 poetical excellence, 8 is unrivalled. 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 are so well recollected by all the lovers of the drama 
 and of poetry, that it would be superfluous to point them out. In the 
 " Gentleman's Magazine" for December this year he inserted an " Ode 
 on Winter," which is, I think, an admirable specimen of his genius for 
 lyric poetry. 
 
 But the year 1747 is distinguished as the epoch when Johnson's 
 arduous and important work, his " DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LAN- 
 GUAGE,'' was announced to the world, by the publication of its plan or 
 prospectus. 
 
 How long this immense undertaking had been the object of his con- 
 templation I do not know. I once asked him by what means he had 
 attained to that astonishing knowledge of our 
 language, by which he was enabled to realize 
 a design of such extent and accumulated diffi- 
 
 1 These verses are somewhat too severe on the extra- 
 ordinary 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 Mr. 
 Murray, now Earl of Mansfield, authentically given) was 
 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 with perfect composure at 
 
 his execution, and called out ' Dulce et decorum est pro LOKD LOViT 
 
 patrid mori." BOSWELL. 
 
 2 My friend Mr. Courtuay, whose eulogy on Johnson's Latin Poetry has been 
 inserted in this work, is no less happy in praising his English Poetry. 
 
 But hark, he sings ! the strain even Pope admires ; 
 
 Indignant virtue her own bard inspires, 
 
 Sublime as Juvenal he pours his lays, 
 
 And with the Roman shares congenial praise ; 
 
 la .lowing numbers now he fires the age, 
 
 And .'. hakspeare's sun relumes the clouded stage. BOSWELL.
 
 128 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1747 
 
 culty. He told me, that " it was not the effect of particular study, but that 
 it had grown up in his mind insensibly." I have been informed by Air. 
 James Dodsley, that several years before this period, when Johnson was 
 one day sitting in his brother Robert's shop, he heard his brother sug- 
 gest to him that a dictionary of the English language would be a work 
 that would be well received by the public ; that Johnson seemed at first 
 to catch at the proposition, but, after a pause, said, in his abrupt decisive 
 manner, "I believe I shall not undertake it." That he, however, had 
 bestowed much thought upon the subject before he published his " Plan," 
 is evident from the enlarged, clear, and accurate 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 furnished, 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 consi- 
 deration in a former reign. 
 
 The booksellers who contracted with Johnson, single and unaided, 
 for the execution of a work, which in other countries has not been 
 effected but by the co-operating exertions of many, were Mr. Robert 
 Dodsley, Mr. Charles Hitch, Mr. Andrew Millar, the two Messieurs 
 Longman, and the two Messieurs Knapton. The price stipulated 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 everything of any consequence, a 
 secret history which it would be amusing to know, could we have it 
 authentically communicated. Johnson told me, 1 " Sir, the way in which 
 the plan of my Dictionary came to be inscribed to Lord Chesterfield 
 was this : I had neglected to write it by the time appointed. Dodsley 
 suggested a desire to have it addressed 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 addressing to Lord Chesterfield, it will be ascribed 
 to deep policy, when, in fact, it was only a casual excuse for laziness.' " 
 
 It is worthy of observation that the " Plan" has not only the sub- 
 stantial merit of comprehension, perspicuity, and precision, but that 
 the language of it is unexceptionably excellent ; it being altogether free 
 from that inflation of style, and those uncommon but apt and energetic 
 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. 
 
 l September 22, 1777, going from Ashbourne in Derbyshire to see Ham. BOSWELL.
 
 AGE 38.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 129 
 
 " 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 the proposition of 
 the question, and the display of the suffrages on each side ; but I have been 
 since determined, by your lordship's opinion, to interpose my own judgment, 
 and shall therefore endeavour to support what appears to me most consonant 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 ille putat ?' 
 
 And I may hope, my lord, that since you, whose authority in our language is so 
 generally acknowledged, have commissioned me to declare 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 be readily allowed 
 me as the delegate of your lordship." 
 
 This passage proves that Johnson's addressing his " Plan " to Lord 
 Chesterfield was not merely in consequence of the result of a report by 
 means of Dodsley that the earl favoured the design, but that there had 
 been a particular communication with his lordship concerning it. Dr. 
 Taylor told me that Johnson sent his " Plan" to him in manuscript for 
 his perusal ; 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 Chesterfield. 
 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 any body." 
 
 The opinion conceived of it by another noble author appears from 
 the following extract of a letter from the Earl of Orrery 1 to Dr. Birch : 
 
 " Caledon, Dec. 30, 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 speci- 
 men is one of the best that I have ever read. Most specimens disgust rather 
 than prejudice us in favour of the work to follow ; but the language of Mr. 
 Johnson's is good, and the arguments are properly and modestly expressed. 
 However, some expressions may be cavilled at, but they are trifles. I'll mention 
 one : the barren laurel. The laurel is not barren, in any sense whatever ; it 
 bears fruits and flowers. Sed hen sunt nugce, and I have great expectations from 
 the performance." [Birch MSS. Brit. Mus. 4303.] 
 
 That he was fully aware of the arduous nature of the undertaking 
 he acknowledges, and shows himself perfectly sensible of it in the con- 
 clusion of his " Plan;" but he had a noble consciousness of his own 
 abilities, which enabled him to go on with undaunted spirit. 
 
 1 Author of the " Life of Swift." ED. 
 
 B
 
 130 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1748. 
 
 Dr. Adams found him one day busy at his Dictionary, when the 
 following dialogue ensued: " ADAMS: This is a great work, Sir. 
 How are you to get all the etymologies ? 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 compile 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 proportion 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 public has had, from another pen, 1 a long detail of what had 
 been done in this country by prior Lexicographers ; 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 
 display of definition, and the rich collection of authorities, were reserved 
 for the superior mind of our great philologist. For the mechanical 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 country. There were two 
 Messieurs Macbean ; Mr. Shiels, who, we shall hereafter see, partly 
 wrote the " Lives of the Poets," to which the name of Gibber is affixed; 2 
 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 elementary tracts. 
 
 To all these painful labourers Johnson showed a never-ceasing kind- 
 ness, so far as they stood in need of it. The elder Mr. Macbean had 
 afterwards the honour of being librarian to Archibald, Duke of Argyle, 
 for many years, but was left without a shilling. Johnson wrote for 
 him a Prelace to, "A System of Ancient Geography;" and, by the 
 favour of Lord Thurlow, got him admitted a poor brother of the Char- 
 terhouse. For Shiels, who died of a consumption, he had much ten- 
 derness ; and it has been thought that some choice sentences in the 
 " Lives of the Poets " were supplied by him. Peyton, when reduced 
 to penury, had frequent aid from the bounty of Johnson, who at last 
 was at the expense of burying him and his wife. 
 
 While the Dictionary was going forward, 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 
 
 1 See Sir John Hawkins's " Life of Johnson." BOSWKLL. 
 
 Sir John Hawkins's list of former English Dictionaries is, however, by no means 
 complete. M ALONE. 
 
 2 See vol. iii. under April 10, 1776. BOSWELU
 
 AE 39.] 
 
 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 131 
 
 SSOS'S BESIUENIE IN OOVOH SUV.Ul 
 
 gave to the copyists their several tasks. The words, partly taken from 
 other dictionaries, and partly supplied by himself, having been first 
 written down with spaces left between them, he delivered in writing 
 their etymologies, definitions, and various significations. The authori- 
 ties were copied from the books themselves, in which he had marked the 
 passages with a black-lead pencil, the traces of which could easily be 
 effaced. I have seen several of them, in which that trouble had not 
 been taken, so that they were just as when used by the copyists. It is 
 remarkable, that he was so attentive in the choice of the passasres in 
 which words were authorised, that one may read page after page of his 
 Dictionary with improvement and pleasure ; and it should not pass 
 unobserved, that he has quoted no author whose writings had a tendency 
 to hurt sound religion and morality. 
 
 The necessary expense of preparing a work of such magnitude for 
 the press must have been a considerable deduction from the price stipu- 
 lated to be paid for the copyright. I understand that nothing was 
 
 H 2

 
 1748.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON*. 133 
 
 allowed by the booksellers on that account ; and 1 remember his telling 
 me that a large portion of it having, by mistake, been written 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 continued course of occupation, sufficient to employ all his 
 time for some years, and which was the best preventive of that consti- 
 tutional 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 employment, and the pleasure of animated 
 relaxation. 1 lie therefore not only exerted his talents in occasional com- 
 position, very different from Lexicography, but formed a club in Ivy- 
 lane, Paternoster-row, with a view to enjoy literary discussion, and 
 amuse his evening hours. The members associated with him in this 
 little society were, his beloved friend Dr. Richard Bathurst, Mr. 
 Hawkesworth, afterwards well known by his writings ; Mr. John 
 Hawkins, an attorney, 2 and a few others of different professions. 
 
 In the " Gentleman's Magazine" for May of this year he wrote a 
 " Life of Roscommon,"* with Notes, which he afterwards much im- 
 proved (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 fur- 
 nished " The Preface,"* containing a general sketch of the book, with 
 a short and perspicuous recommendation of each article ; as 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 heard Dr. Johnson say that he 
 thought this was the best thing he ever wrote. 
 
 1 For the sake of relaxation from his literary labours, and 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. Here he met Mr. Gibber, Mr. Garrick, Mr. Samuel Richard- 
 son, Mr. Winston, Mr. Onslow (the Speaker), Mr. Pitt, Mr. Lyttelton, and several other 
 distinguished persons. In a print, representing some of " the remarkable characters" 
 who were at Tunbridge Wells in 1748, and copied from a drawing of the same size (see 
 " Richardson's Correspondence"), Dr. Johnson stands the first figure. MALONE, 
 
 2 He was afterwards for several years Chairman of the Middlesex Justices ; and upon 
 occasion of presenting an address to the king, accepted the usual offer of Knighthood. 
 He is author of " A History of Music," in rive volumes in quarto. By assiduous at- 
 tendance upon Johnson in his last illness, he obtained the office of one of his executors ; 
 in consequence of which the booksellers of London employed him to publish an edition 
 of Dr. Johnson's works, and to write his Life. BOSWELL.
 
 DAT1D OARftlCK. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 1749 1750. 
 
 PUBLICATION OF "THE VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES" TRAGEDY OF " IRENE," 
 
 PERFORMED AT DRUBY-LANE THBATRB COMMENCEMENT OF " THE RAMBLER*' 
 
 RBPUBLISHED IN EDINBURGH GENERAL ESTIMATE OF THE MERITS OF THIS 
 
 WohK PROLOGUE TO " COMUS," WHKN PKRFORMBD FOR THE BENEFIT OF MILTON'S 
 GRAND-DAUGHTER, AND LETTER IN FAVOUR or THE UNDERTAKING. 
 
 IN January, 1749, he published " The Vanity of Human Wishes, 
 being the Tenth Satire of Juvenal imitated."* He, I believe, 
 composed it the preceding year. 1 Mrs. Johnson, for the sake of country 
 air, had lodgings at Ilampstead, 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 him say that he composed seventy lines of it in one day, 
 without putting one of them upon paper till they were finished. I re- 
 member when I once regretted to him that he hud not given us more of 
 " Juvenal's Satires," he said he probably should give more, for he had 
 them all in his head: by which I understood that he had the originals 
 and correspondent allusions floating in his mind, which he could, when 
 
 1 Sir John Hawkins, with solemn inaccuracy, represents this poem as a consequence 
 of the indifferent reception of his tragedy. But the fact is, that the poem was published 
 on the 9th of January, and the tragedy was not acted till the 6th of the February following. 
 BO.SWKLL.
 
 AGE 40.] BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 135 
 
 he pleased, embody and render permanent without much labour. Some 
 of them, however, he observed, were too gross for imitation. 
 
 The profits of a single poem, however excellent, appear to have been 
 very small in the last reign, compared with what a publication of the 
 same size has since been known to yield. I have mentioned, upon 
 Johnson's own authority, that for his " London" 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 
 authentic document in my possession. 1 
 
 It will be observed that he reserves to himself the right of printing 
 one edition of this satire, which was his practice upon occasion of the 
 sale of all his writings ; it being his fixed intention to publish at some 
 period, for his own profit, a complete collection of his works. 
 
 His "Vanity of Human Wishes" has less of common life, but more 
 of a philosophic 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 Human Wishes." Garrick, 
 for instance, observed 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." 2 
 
 But " The Vanity of Human Wishes " is, in the opinion of the 
 best judges, as high an effort of ethic poetry as any language can show. 
 The instances of variety of disappointment are chosen so judiciously, 
 and painted so strongly, that, the moment they are read, they bring 
 conviction to every thinking mind. That of the scholar must have 
 depressed the too sanguine expectations of many an ambitious student. 3 
 
 1 " Nov. 25, 1748, I received of Mr. Dodsley fifteen guineas, for which I assign to 
 him the right of copy of au ' Imitation of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal," written by me, 
 reserving to myself the right of printing one edition. SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 " London, 29 June, 1786. A true copy, from the original in Dr. Johnson's hand- 
 writing. JAS. DODSLHY." BOSWEI.L. 
 
 2 From Mr. Langton. BOSWELL. 
 
 3 In this poem one of the instances mentioned of unfortunate men is Lydiat : 
 
 " Hear Lydiat's life, and Galileo's end." 
 
 The History of Lydiat being little known, the following account of him may be accept- 
 able to many of my readers. 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 cceli, fye.' in which he attacked 
 the sentiments of Scaliger and Aristotle, not bearing to hear it urged, that some things are 
 true in philosophy, and false in divinity. 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
 
 136 BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1749. 
 
 That of the warrior, Charles of Sweden, is, I think, as highly finished a 
 picture as can possibly be conceived. 
 
 Were all the other excellencies of this poem annihilated, it must ever 
 have our grateful reverence from its noble conclusion ; in which we are 
 consoled with the assurance that happiness may be attained, if we 
 " apply our hearts" to piety : 
 
 " Where, then, shall hope and fear their objects find? 
 Shall dull suspense corrupt the stagnant mind ? 
 Must helpless man, in ignorance sedate, 
 Eoll 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 Heaven 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 prayer ; 
 Implore his aid, in his decisions rest, 
 Secure, whate'er 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 resign' d ; 
 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 find." * 
 
 Boswell, 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 afterwards had not a shirt to shift him in three months, without he 
 borrowed it, and died very poor in 1646." BOSWELL. 
 
 1 lu this poem, a line in which the danger attending on female beauty is mentioned, 
 has very generally, I believe, been misunderstood : 
 
 " Yet Vane could tell what ills from beauty spring, 
 And Sedley curs'd the form that pleas'd a king." 
 
 The lady mentioned in the first of these verses, was not the celebrated Lady Vane, 
 whose memoirs were given to the public by Dr. Smollett, but Anne Vane, who was mistress 
 to Frederick, Prince of Wales, and died in 1786, not long before Johnson settled in 
 London. Some account of this lady was published, under the title of " The Secret History 
 of Vanella," 8vo. 1732. See also"" Vanella in the Straw," 4to. 1732. In Mr. Boswell's 
 " Tour to the Hebrides " (p. 37, 4th edit.), we find some observations respecting the lines 
 in question :
 
 AGE 40.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 137 
 
 Garrick being now vested with theatrical power by being manager of 
 Drury-lane Theatre, he kindly and generously made use of it to bring out 
 Johnson's tragedy, which had been long kept back for want of encourage- 
 ment. But in this benevolent purpose he met with no small difficulty 
 from the temper ot 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 altera- 
 tions it would not be fit for the stage. A violent dispute having ensued 
 between them, Garrick applied to the Reverend Dr. Taylor to interpose. 
 Johnson was at first very obstinate. " 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 curtain drew up, there 
 were catcalls whistling, which alarmed Johnson's friends. The Pro- 
 logue, which was written by himself in a manly strain, soothed the 
 audience, 2 and the play went off tolerably, till it came to the conclusion, 
 when Mrs. Pritchard, the Heroine of the piece, was to be strangled upon 
 
 " In Dr. Johnson's ' Vanity of Human Wishes,' there is the following passage : 
 " The teeming mother anxious for her race, 
 Begs for each birth the fortune of a face: 
 Yet Vane," &c. 
 
 " Lord Hailes told him [Johnson] 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 therefore thought, that the lines should rather have run thus : 
 
 Yet Shore could tell 
 
 And Valiere curs'd 
 
 " Our friend (he added in a subsequent note, addressed to Mr. Boswell on this subject) 
 chose Vane, who was far from being well-look'd, and Sedley, who was so ugly that 
 Charles II. said his brother had her by way of penance." MALONE. 
 
 1 Mahomet was in fact played by Mr. Barry, and Demetrius by Mr. Garrick: but 
 probably at this time the parts were not yet cast. BOSWEI.L. 
 
 2 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 this at least his praise, be this his pride, 
 To force applause no modem arts are tried : 
 Should partial catcalls all his hopes confound, 
 He bids no trumpet quell the fatal sound ; 
 Should welcome sleep relieve the weary wit, 
 He rolls no thunders o'er the drowsy pit ; 
 No snares to captivate the judgment spreads, 
 Nor bribes your eyes, to prejudice your heads. 
 Unmov'd, though witlings sneer and rivals rail, 
 Studious to please, yet not ashamed to fail, 
 He scorns the meek address, the suppliant strain, 
 With merit needless, and without it vain ; 
 In Reason, Nature, Truth, he dares to trust ; 
 Ye fops be silent, and ye wits be just ! "
 
 138 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1749. 
 
 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 afterwards struck out, and she 
 was carried off to be put to death behind the scenes, as the play now 
 has it. The Epilogue, as Johnson informed me, was written by Sir 
 William Yonge. I know not how his play came to be thus graced by 
 the pen of a person so eminent in the political world. 
 
 Notwithstanding all the support of such performers as Garrick, 
 Barry, Mrs. Gibber, Mrs. Pritchard, and every advantage of dress and 
 decoration, the tragedy of Irene did not please the public. 2 Mr. Garrick 's 
 zeal carried it through for nine nights, so that the author had his three 
 nights' profits ; and from a receipt signed by him, now in the hands of 
 Mr. James Dodsley, it appears that his friend, Mr. Robert Dodsley, 
 
 1 This shows, how ready modern audiences are to condemn in a new play what they 
 have frequently endured very quietly in an old one. Howe has made Moneses in 
 " Tamerlane " die by the bow-string, without offence. MALOXE. 
 
 2 I know not what Sir John Hawkins means by the cold reception of " Irene." [See 
 note, p. 134]. I was at the first representation, and most of the subsequent. It was 
 much applauded 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 could not bear, though a dramatic poet may stab or 
 slay by hundreds. The bow-string was not a Christian nor an ancient Greek or Roman 
 death. But 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 author's being observed 
 at the representation to be dissatisfied with some of the speeches and conduct of the play, 
 himself; and, like La Fontaine, expressing his disapprobation aloud. BURNEY. 
 
 Mr. Murphy, in his " Life of Johnson," p. 53, says, " The amount of the three benefit 
 nights for the tragedy of ' Irene,' it is to be feared, were not very considerable, as th 
 profit, that stimulating motive, never invited the author to another dramatic attempt." 
 
 On the word " profit," the late Mr. Isaac Reed in his copy of that Life, which I pur- 
 chased at the sale of his library, has added a manuscript note, containing the following 
 receipts on Johnson's three benefit nights: 
 
 " 3rd night's receipt j177 1 6 
 
 6th 106 4 
 
 9th 10111 6 
 
 384 17 
 Charges of the House 189 
 
 Profit 19517 
 
 He also received for the Copy 100 
 
 In all 295 17 0" 
 
 In a preceding page (52) Mr. Murphy says, " ' Irene" was acted at Drury-lane on 
 
 Monday, Feb. 6, and from that time, without interruption, to Monday, February the 
 
 20th, being in all thirteen nights." 
 
 On this Mr. Reed somewhat indignantly has written "This is false; it was acted 
 
 only nine nights, and never repeated afterwards. Mr. Murphy, in making the above 
 
 calculation, includes both the Sundays and Lentrdays." 
 
 The blunder, however, is that of the Monthly Reviewer, from whom Murphy took 
 
 without acknowledgment, the greater part of bis Essay. M. R. vol. Ixxvii. p. J35. 
 
 A. CHALMERS.
 
 AGE 40.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 139 
 
 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 superior 
 excellence. Analysed into parts, it will furnish a rich store of noble 
 sentiments, fine imagery, and beautiful language ; but it is deficient in 
 pathos, in that delicate power of touching the human feelings, which is 
 the principal end of the drama. 1 Indeed Garrick has complained tome 
 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. Walmesley'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 success of his tragedy, he 
 replied, " Like the Monument ;" meaning that he continued firm and 
 unmoved as that column. And let it be remembered, as an admonition 
 to the genus irritabile of dramatic writers, that this great man, instead of 
 peevishly complaining of the had taste of the town, submitted to its 
 decision without a murmur. 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 the rest of mankind ; he sup- 
 poses that he can instruct or amuse them, and the public to whom he 
 .appeals must, after all, be the judges of his pretensions." 
 
 Qn^ccasion of this play being brought upon the stage, Johnson had a 
 fancy, that as a dramatic author, 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 scarlet waistcoat, with rich gold lace, 
 and a gold laced 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." Dress indeed, we must allow, has more 
 effect even upon strong minds than one should suppose, without having 
 had the experience of 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 expressed 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 considerable time used to frequent the Green Room, and 
 seemed to take delight in dissipating his gloom, by mixing in the 
 sprightly chit-chat of the motley circle then to be found there. Mr. David 
 Hume related to me from Mr. Garrick, that Johnson at last denied 
 
 1 Aaron Hill (vol. ii. p. 355), in a letter to Mr. Mallet, gives the following account of 
 "Irene," after having seen it: " I was at the anomalous Mr. Johnson's benefit, and 
 found the play his proper representative; strong sense ungraced by sweetness or 
 decorum. " BOSWELL.
 
 140 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 [1750. 
 
 THE OREH< ROOM OF DRJ- K.Y LANE THHTI1K. 
 
 Mr. Beard. Mr. Baddeley. Mr. Woodward. Gentleman Aickin. Gentleman Smith. 
 Mrs. Garrick. Unknown. Mr. Macklin. Mrs. Yates. Mrs. Abingdon. Mr. O'Biien. 
 
 Mr. Hogarth. David Garrick. P. Garrick. 
 
 himself this amusement, from considerations of rigid virtue, saying, 
 "I'll come no more behind your scenes, David ; for the silk stockings 
 and white bosoms of your actresses excite my amorous propensities." 
 
 In 1750 he came forth in the character for which he was eminently 
 qualified, a majestic 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, employed with great success. The " Tatler," 
 " Spectator," 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, under 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 grave and moral discourses, which the Italians have literally, 
 but ludicrously, translated by II Vagabondo, and which has been lately 
 assumed as the denomination of a vehicle of licentious tales, " The 
 Rambler's Magazine." He gave Sir Joshua Reynolds the following 
 account of its getting this name : " What must be done, Sir, icill be 
 done. When I was to begin publishing that paper, I was at a loss how
 
 AGE 40.] BOSWELL S LIFE OP JOHNSON. 14] 
 
 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 ' Rambler' seemed 
 the best that occurred, and I took it." 1 
 
 With what devout and conscientious sentiments this paper was 
 undertaken, is evidenced by the following prayer, which he composed 
 and offered up on the occasion : 
 
 " Almighty God, 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 
 1 may promote thy glory, and the salvation of myself and others : grant this, 
 Lord, for the sake of thy Son, Jesus Christ. Amen." [Pr. & Med. p. 9.] 
 
 The first paper of the "Rambler" was published on Tuesday the 
 20th of March, 1749-50 ; and its author was enabled to continue it, 
 without interruption, every Tuesday and Saturday, till Saturday the 
 17th of March, 2 1752, on which day it closed. This is a strong confir- 
 mation of the truth of a remark of his, which I have had occasion to 
 quote elsewhere, 3 that " a man may write at any time, if he will set 
 himself doggedly to it ;" for, notwithstanding his constitutional indo- 
 lence, his depression of spirits, and his labour in carrying on his Dic- 
 tionary, he answered 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 Mulso, now Mrs. Chapone ; 
 No. 30, by Mrs. Catherine Talbot ; No. 97, by Mr. Samuel Richardson, 
 whom he describes in an introductory note as " An author who has en- 
 larged the knowledge of human nature, and taught the passions to move 
 at the command of virtue ;" and Numbers 44 and 100, by Mrs. Eliza- 
 beth Carter. 
 
 Posterity will be astonished when they are told, upon the authority 
 of Johnson himself, that many of these discourses, which we should sup- 
 pose had been laboured with all the slow attention of literary leisure, 
 were written in haste as the moment pressed, without even being read 
 over by him before they were printed. It can be accounted for only in 
 this way : that by reading and meditation, and a very close inspection 
 
 1 I have heard Dr. Warton mention, that he was at Mr. Robert Dodsley's with the 
 late Mr. Moore, and several of his 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: 
 
 " Our Garrick's a salad, for in him we see 
 Oil, vinegar, sugar, and saltness agree ! " 
 
 At last, the company having separated, without any thing of which they approved having 
 been offered, Dodsley himself thought of " The World." BOSWELL. 
 
 2 This is a mistake, into which the author was very pardonably led by the inaccuracy 
 of the original folio edition of the " Rambler," in which the concluding paper of that work 
 is dated on " Saturday, March 17." But Saturday was in fact \hefotirteenth of March. 
 This circumstance, though it may at first appear of very little importance, is yet worth 
 notice ; for Mrs. Johnson died on the seventeenth of March. MALONE. 
 
 s Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd edit. p. 28. BOSWELL.
 
 142 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSOX. [1750. 
 
 of life he had accumulated a great fund of miscellaneous knowledge, 
 which, by a peculiar promptitude of mind, was ever ready at his call, 
 and which he had constantly accustomed himself to clothe in the most 
 apt and energetic expression. Sir Joshua Reynolds once asked him by 
 what means he had attained his extraordinary accuracy and flow of lan- 
 guage. He told him, that he had early laid it down as a fixed rule to 
 do his best on every occasion, and in every company, to impart what- 
 ever 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. 1 
 
 Yet he .was not altogether unprepared as a periodical writer ; for I 
 have in my possession 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 marked 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, 30." 
 
 Sir John Hawkins, who is unlucky upon all occasions, tells us, that 
 " this method of accumulating intelligence had been practised by Mr. 
 Addison, and is humorously described in one of the Spectators [No. 46], 
 wherein he feigns to have dropped his paper of notanda, consisting of a 
 diverting medley of broken sentences and loose hints, which he tells us 
 he had collected and meant to make use of. Much of the same kind is 
 Johnson's ' Adversaria. ' " 2 But the truth is, that there is no resemblance 
 at all between them. Addison 's note was a fiction, in which uncon- 
 nected fragments of his lucubrations were purposely 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 
 subject of which the head is mentioned. 
 
 For instance, there is the following specimen : 
 
 Youth's Entry, fyc. 
 
 " Baxter's account of things in which he had changed his mind as he grew 
 up. Voluminous. 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 byman's self. From pleasure to bus. [business'] to quiet ; from thought- 
 fulness to reflect, to piety ; from dissipation to domestic, by impercept gradat, 
 but the change is certain. Dial non progredi progress, esse conspicimu*. Look 
 back, consider what was thought at some dist. period. 
 
 1 The rule which Dr. Johnson observed is sanctioned by the authority of two great 
 writers of antiquity: '-Ne id quidera tacendum est, quod eidem Ciceroni placet, nullnm 
 nostrum usquam negligentem esse serraonem : quicqtiid loquemur, ubicunqut, sit pro *a 
 scilicet portione perfection." Quinclil. x. 7. MALONB. 
 
 * Hawkins's Life of Johnson, p. 268. BOSWELL.
 
 AGK 41.] BOSWELL's LIFE OF JOHNSON. 143 
 
 "Hope predom. in youth. Mind not willingly indulges unpleasing thoughts. 
 The world lies all enamelled before him, as a distant prospect sun-gilt ;i ine- 
 qualities only found by coming to it. Love is to be all joy children excellent 
 Fame to be constant caresses of the great applauses of the learned smiles 
 of beauty. 
 
 "Fear of disgrace Bashfulness Finds things of less importance. Miscar- 
 riages forgot like excellencies ; if remembered of no import. Danger of sinking 
 into negligence of reputation ; lest the fear of disgrace destroy activity. 
 
 " Confidence in himself. Long tract of life before him. No thought of sick- 
 ness. Embarrassment of affairs. Distraction of Family. Public calamities. 
 No sense of the prevalence of bad habits. Negligent of time ready to under- 
 take careless to pursue all changed by time. 
 
 " Confident of others unsuspecting as unexperienced 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 cowardice, the treachery of men. 
 
 " Youth ambitious, as thinking honours easy to be had. 
 
 " Different kinds of praise pursued at different periods. Of the gay in youth, 
 dang, hurt, &c. despised. 
 
 "Of the fancy in manhood. Ambit. stocks bargains. Of the wise and 
 sober in old age seriousness formality maxims, but general only of the rich, 
 otherwise 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 No. 196 of the " Rambler." 
 I shall gratify my readers with another specimen : 
 " Confederacies difficult ; why. 
 
 " Seldom in war a match for single persons nor in peace ; therefore kings 
 make themselves absolute. Confederacies in learning every great work the 
 work of one. Bruy. Scholars' friendship like ladies. Scribebamus, &c., Mart. 2 
 The apple of discord 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 centrifugal. 
 
 " 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. Contraction of moral duties. "O* <j>t\oi, ov <pj\os. 
 
 1 This most beautiful image of the enchanting delusion of youthful prospect has not 
 been used in any of Johnson's essays. BOSWKIL. 
 
 3 Lib. xii. 06. "In Tuccam (emulum omnium suorum studiorum." MALONE,
 
 144 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1750. 
 
 " Every man moves upon his own centre, 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. Prin- 
 cipum amicitias." 
 
 Here we see the embryo of No. 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 dimi- 
 nish our wonder at the extraordinary fertility of his mind ; for the pro- 
 portion 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 pre- 
 paration, are as rich and as hig lily-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 " drops in the bucket." 
 Indeed, in several instances, he has made a very slender use of them, so 
 that many of them remain still unapplied. 1 
 
 As the " Rambler" 2 was entirely the work of one man, there was, of 
 
 1 Sir John Hawkins has selected from this little 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 fate any mansion ;" whereas 
 the original is " Sailor's life my aversion." He has also transcribed the unappropriated 
 hints on Wriiers for bread, in which he deciphers these notable passages, one in Latin, 
 fatui nonfanue, instead of /ami non fames ; Johnson having in his mind what Thuanus 
 says of the learned German antiquary and linguist, Xylander, who, he tells us, lived in 
 such poverty, that he was supposed fami nun famte scribere ; and another in French, 
 Degente defate et affame d'argent, instead of Degoute de fame (an old word for renomme) 
 et affame 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. BOSWE LL. 
 
 2 The " Ramblers " certainly were little noticed at first. Smart, the poet, first mentioned 
 them to me as excellent papers, before I had heard any one else speak of them. When 
 I went into Norfolk, in the autumn of 1751, 1 found but one person (the Rev. Mr. Squires, 
 a man of learning, and a general purchaser of new books), who knew any thing of them. 
 But he had been misinformed concerning the true author, for he had been told they were 
 written by a Mr. Johnson of Canterbury, the son of a clergyman who had had a contro- 
 versy with Bentley; and who had changed the readings of the old ballad entitled -'Norton 
 Falgate," in Bentley's bold style (meo perlculo), till not a single word of the original song 
 was left. Before 1 left Norfolk in the year 1760, the " Ramblers" were in high favour 
 among persons of learning and good taste. Others there were, devoid of both, who said 
 that the hard words in the " Rambler " were used by the author to render his Dictionary 
 indispensably necessary. BURNKY. 
 
 It may not be improper to correct a slight error in the preceding note, though it does 
 not at all affect the principal object of Dr. Buruey's remark. The clergyman above 
 alluded to, was Mr. Richard Johnson, schoolmaster at Nottingham, who in 1717 pub- 
 lished an octavo volume in Latin, against Bentley's edition of Horace, entitled " Aris- 
 tarchus Anti-Bentleiunus." In the middle of this Latin work (as Mr. Bindley observes to 
 me) he has introduced four pages of English criticism, in which he ludicrously corrects,
 
 AGE 41.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON*. 145 
 
 course, such a uniformity in its texture, as very much to exclude 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 author says, " I have never 
 been much a favourite of the public." 
 
 Yet, very soon after its commencement, there were who felt and ac- 
 knowledged its uncommon excellence. Verses in its praise appeared in 
 the newspapers; and the editor of the " Gentleman's Magazine" men- 
 tions, in October, his having received several letters to the same purpose 
 from the learned. " The Student of Oxford and Cambridge Miscellany," 
 in which Mr. Bonnel Thornton and Mr. Colman were the principal 
 writers, describes it as " a work that exceeds any thing of the kind ever 
 published in this kingdom, some of the ' Spectators' excepted if, in- 
 deed, they may be excep ted." And after wards, "May the public 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 greatest 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. 
 
 Johnson told me, with an amiable fondness, a little pleasing circum- 
 stance relative to this work. Mrs. Johnson, in whose judgment and taste 
 he had great confidence, said to him, after a few numbers of the " Ram- 
 bler" had come out, " I thought very well of you before ; but I did not 
 imagine you could have written any thing equal to this. " Distant praise, 
 from whatever quarter, is not so delightful as that of a wife whom a man 
 loves and esteems. Her approbation may be said to " come home to his 
 bosom;" and being so near, its effect is most sensible and permanent. 
 
 Mr. James Elphinston, who has since published various works, and 
 who was ever esteemed by Johnson as a worthy man, happened to be in 
 Scotland while the " Rambler" was coming out in single papers at London. 
 With a laudable zeal at once for the improvement of his countrymen and 
 the reputation of his friend, he suggested and took the charge of an 
 edition of those essays at Edinburgh, which followed progressively the 
 London publication.- 
 
 in Bentley's manner, one stanza, not of the ballad the hero of which lived in Norton 
 Falgate, but of a ballad celebrating the achievements of Tom Bostock ; who in a sea- 
 fight performed prodigies of valour. The stanza on which this ingenious writer has exer- 
 cised his wit, is as follows : 
 
 " Then old Tom Bostock be fell to the work, 
 He pray'd like a Christian, but fought like a Turk, 
 And cut" em off all in a jerk, 
 Which nobody can deny," &c. MALONB. 
 
 1 It was executed in the printing-office of Sands, Murray, and Cochran, with un- 
 common elegance, upon writing-paper, of a duodecimo size, and with the greatest correct- 
 ness ; and Mr. Elphinston enriched it with translations of the mottos. When completed 
 
 I
 
 146 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSOX. [1750. 
 
 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. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, iNo date."] 
 
 " I cannot but confess the failures of my correspondence, but hope the same 
 regard which you express for me on every other occasion, will incline you to for- 
 give 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 conviction ; 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 encouragement 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. Ruddirnan,i 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 have, 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, 
 
 A " Your most obliged and most humble servant, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 This year he wrote to the same gentleman another letter upon a 
 mournful occasion. 
 
 " TO MR. JAMES ELPHINSTON. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, " September 25, 1750. 
 
 " You have, as I find by every kind of evidence, lost an excellent mother ; 
 and I hope you will not think me incapable of partaking of your grief. I have 
 
 it made eight handsome volumes. It is, unquestionably, the most accurate and beautiful 
 edition of this work ; and there being but a small impression, it is now become scarce, 
 and sells at a very high price. BOSWKLL. 
 
 With respect to the correctness of this edition, the author probably derived his infor- 
 mation from some other person, and appears to have been misinformed ; for it was not 
 accurately printed, as we learn from Mr. A. Chalmers. J. BOSWELL. 
 
 not render him less estimable in Dr. Johnson's eye. BOSWELL. 
 
 * If the Magazine here referred to be that for October, 1752 tsee ueni. ;via 
 xxii. p. 468) then this letter belongs to a later period. If it relates to the Maga; 
 Sept. 1750 (see " Gent. Mag." vol. xs. p. 406), then it may be ascribed to the rn 
 October hi that year, and should have followed the subsequent letter. MALONE.
 
 AGB 41.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON*. 147 
 
 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 relate your mother's death to Mrs. Strahan, and think I do myself honour, 
 when I tell you that I read them with tears ; but ttars are neither to you nor to 
 me of any further use, when once the 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 greatest 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 
 memory of her life, and of her death : a life, so far as I can learn, useful, wise, 
 and innocent ; and a death resigned, peaceful and holy. I cannot forbear to 
 mention, that neither reason nor revelation denies yon to hope, that you may 
 increase her happiness by obeying her precepts ; and that she may, in her pre- 
 sent state, look with pleasure upon every act of virtue to which her instructions 
 or example have contributed. 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 consider ourselves as acting under the eye of God : yet, surely, there is 
 something pleasing in the belief, that our separation from those whom we love is 
 merely corporeal ; and it may be a great incitement to virtuous 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 you may, in some degree, continue her 
 presence. If you write down minutely what you remember of her from your 
 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 veneration. 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 satisfaction 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 numerous editions of it in 
 London, beside those of Ireland and Scotland. 
 
 1 profess myself to have ever entertained a profound veneration for 
 the astonishing force and vivacity of mind, which the " Rambler" 
 exhibits. That Johnson had penetration enough to see, and seeing 
 
 1 Thisis not quite accurate. In the " Gentleman's Magazine" for November, 1751, 
 while the work was yet proceeding, is an advertisement, announcing that four volumes of 
 the "Rambler" would speedily be published; and it is believed that they were pub- 
 lished in the next month. The fifth and sixth volumes, with tables of contents and transla- 
 tions of the mottos, were published in July, 1752, by Payne (the original publisher), three 
 months after the close of the work. 
 
 When the " Rambler" was collected into volumes, Johnson revised and corrected it 
 throughout. Mr. Boswell was not aware of this circumstance, which has lately been 
 discovered and accurately stated by Mr. Alexander Chalmers in a new edition of these 
 and various other periodical essays, under the title of " The British Essayists !" 
 MALOME.
 
 148 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1750. 
 
 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 philo- 
 sopher. But men of reflection will be sensible that he has given a true 
 representation 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 attained in the immediate progress through life. He has not 
 depressed the soul to despondency and indifference. He has every where 
 inculcated study, labour, and exertion. 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 character 
 of Suspirius [No. 55], from which Goldsmith took that of Croaker, in 
 his comedy of " The Good-natured Man," as Johnson 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 perspicuity which are there united in a manner which 
 we shall in vain look for any where else, would take up too large a portion 
 of my book, and would, I trust, be superfluous, considering how univer- 
 sally those volumes are now desseminated. Even the most condensed 
 and brilliant sentences which they contain, and which have very pro- 
 perly been selected under the name of "Beauties," 1 are of considerable 
 bulk. But I may shortly observe, that the " Rambler" furnishes such 
 an assemblage of discourses on practical religion and moral duty, of 
 critical investigations, and allegorical and oriental tales, that no mind 
 can be thought very deficient that has, by constant study and medita- 
 tion, assimilated to itself all that may be found there. No. 7, written 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 medi- 
 cinal to the mind. Every one must suppose the writer to have been 
 deeply impressed by a real scene ; but he told me that was not the case; 
 which shows how well his fancy could conduct him to the " house of 
 mourning." Some of these more solemn papers, I doubt not, particu- 
 larly attracted the notice of Dr. Young, the author of the " Night 
 Thoughts," of whom my estimation is such, as to reckon his applause 
 an honour even to Johnson. I have seen volumes of Dr. Young's copy 
 of the " Rambler," in which he has marked the -passages which he 
 
 1 Dr. Johnson was gratified bj seeing this selection, and wrote to Mr. Kearsley, 
 bookseller in Fleet-street, the following note : 
 
 " Mr. Johnson sends compliments to Mr. Kearsley, 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 honoured with the name of 'Beauties.' May 20, 1782." BOSWELL.
 
 AGE 41.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 149 
 
 thought particularly excellent, by 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 attention with which Young had sig- 
 nified his approbation of his Essays. 
 
 I will venture to say, that in no writings whatever can be found more 
 lark and steel for the mind, if 1 may use the expression ; more that can 
 brace and invigorate every manly and noble sentiment. No. 32, on 
 patience, even under extreme misery, is wonderfully lofty, and as much 
 above the rant of stoicism, as the Sun of Revelation is brighter than 
 the twilight of Pagan philosophy. I never read the following sentence 
 without feeling my frame thrill: "I think there is some reason for 
 questioning whether the body and mind are not so proportioned, that 
 the one can bear all which can be inflicted on the other ; whether virtue 
 cannot stand its ground as long as life, and whether a soul well prin- 
 cipled will not be sooner separated than subdued." 
 
 Though instruction be the predominant purpose of the " Rambler," 
 yet it is enlivened with a considerable portion of amusement. Nothing 
 can be more erroneous than the notion which some persons have enter- 
 tained, that Johnson was then a retired author, 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 almost 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 Essex imagined themselves to be severely exhibited 
 in it, and were much incensed against a person who, they suspected, had 
 thus made them objects of public notice ; nor were they quieted, till 
 authentic assurance was given them, that the "Rambler" was written 
 by a person who had never heard of any one of them. Some of the 
 characters are believed to have been actually drawn from the life, parti- 
 cularly that of Prospero from Garrick, 1 who never entirely forgave its 
 pointed satire. For instances of fertility of fancy, and accurate descrip- 
 tion of real life, I appeal to No. 19, a man who wanders from one pro- 
 fession to another, with most plausible reasons for <every change : No. 
 84, female fastidiousness and timorous refinement : No. 82, a virtuoso 
 who has collected curiosities : No. 88, petty modes of entertaining a 
 company, and conciliating kindness: No. 182, fortune-hunting : No. 
 194, 195, a tutor's account of the follies of his pupil: No. 197, 198, 
 
 1 That of Gelidue, in No. 24, from Professor Coulson (see p. 80 of this vol.), and that 
 of Euphues in the same paper, which, with many others, was doubtless drawn from the 
 life. Euphues, 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 homeliness of his person, and the 
 finery of his dress, was the person meant under that character. MALONR.
 
 150 BOSWELI/a LIFE OF JOHNSOJf. [1730. 
 
 legacy -hunting. He has given 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 neither poverty nor disease, nor any involuntary 
 or painful defect. The disposition to derision and insult, is awakened 
 by the softness of foppery, the swell of insolence, the liveliness of levity, 
 or the solemnity of grandeur ; by the sprightly trip, the stately stalk, 
 the formal strut, and the lofty mien ; by gestures intended to catch the 
 eye, and by looks elaborately formed as evidences of importance. " 
 
 Every page of the " Rambler" shows a mind teeming with classical 
 allusion and poetical imagery: illustrations from other writers are, upon 
 all occasions, so ready, and mingle 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 critics 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 language conveys his meaning with equal force and perspi- 
 cuity. It must, indeed, be allowed, 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 Socrates, who, it is said, reduced philosophy 
 to the simplicity of common life. But let us attend to what he himself 
 says in his concluding paper : " When common words were less pleas- 
 ing to the ear, or less distinct in their signification, I have familiarised 
 the terms of philosophy, by applying them to popular ideas." 1 And 
 as to the second part of 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 actually to be 
 found in it ; I am sure, not the proportion of one to each paper. This 
 idle charge has been echoed from one babbler to another, who have con- 
 founded Johnson'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 unneces- 
 sarily, may, perhaps, be allowed ; but, in general they are evidently an 
 advantage, for without them his stately ideas would be confined and 
 cramped. *' He that thinks with more extent than another, will want 
 
 1 Yet his style did not escape the harmless shafts of pleasant humour ; for the inge- 
 nious Bonnel Thornton published a mock Rambler in the " Drury -lane Journal." BOSWE LL .
 
 AGE 41.] BOSWELL'S IIFE OF JOHNSON*. 151 
 
 words of larger meaning. " 1 He once told me, that he had formed his 
 style upon that of Sir William Temple, and upon Chambers 's Proposal 
 for his Dictionary. 2 He certainly was mistaken ; or if he imagined at 
 first that lie was imitating Temple, he was very unsuccessful; 8 for nothing 
 can be more unlike than the simplicity of Temple, and the richness of 
 Johnson. 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, Sanderson, Hake- 
 well and others ; those " Giants," as they were well characterised by A 
 GREAT PERSONAGE, 4 whose authority, were I to name him, would stamp 
 a reverence on the opinion. 
 
 We may, with the utmost propriety, apply to his learned style that 
 passage of Horace, a part of which he has taken as the motto to his 
 Dictionary : 
 
 " Cum tabulis animum censoris sumet honesti ; 
 Audebit queecumque parixm splendoris habebunt 
 Et sine pondere erunt, et honore indigna ferentur, 
 Verba movere loco, quamvis invita recedant, 
 Et versentur adhuc intra penetralia Vestse. 
 Obscurata diu populo bonus eruet, atque 
 Proferet in lucem speciosa vocabula rerum, 
 Quae prisois 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 Latiumque beabit divite lingua." 5 
 
 1 Idler, No. 70. BOSWKLL. 
 
 2 The paper here alluded to was, I believe, Chambers's Proposal for a second and 
 improved edition of his Dictionary, which, I think, appeared in 1738. This Proposal 
 was probably in circulation in 1737, when Johnson first came to London. MALONE. 
 
 3 The author appears to me to have misunderstood 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 model, with a view to form a style that should resemble 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 most worthy of imitation. See this matter further 
 explained in vol. iii. under April 9, 1778; where, in a conversation at Sir Joshua Rey- 
 nolds's, Johnson himself 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. MALONE. 
 
 * Geo. III. was probably the " Great Personage" here alluded to. ED. 
 6 1 Jorut. E (list. lib. ii. ep. 2. The following is Pope's imitation of the above passage: 
 " But how severely with themselves proceed 
 
 The men who wrote such verse as we can read ! 
 
 Their own strict judges, not a word they spare 
 
 That wants or force, or light, or weight, or care. 
 
 Howe'er unwillingly it quits its place, 
 
 (Nay though at Court perhaps it may find grace),
 
 152 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1750. 
 
 To so great a master of thinking, to one of such vast and various 
 knowledge as Johnson, might have been allowed a liberal indulgence of 
 that licence which Horace claims in another place : 
 
 " Si forte necesse est 
 Indiciis monstrare recentibus abdita rerum, 
 Fingere cinctutis non exaudita Cethegis 
 Continget ; dabiturque licentia sumpta pudenter r 
 Et nova fictaque nuper habebunt verba fidem, si 
 Graeco fonte cadant, parce detorta. Quid autem 
 Csecilio Plautoque dabit Romanus, ademptum 
 Virgilio Varioque ? Ego cur, acquirers pauca 
 Si possum, invideor ; cum lingua Catonis et Eiini 
 Sermonem patrium ditaverit, et nova rerum 
 Nomina protulerit ? Licuit, semperque licebit 
 Signatum prsesente nota producere nomen." 1 
 
 Yet Johnson assured me, that he had not taken upon him to add 
 more than four or five words to the English language, of his own forma- 
 tion ; and he was very much offended at the general licence by no means 
 " modestly taken " in his time, not only to coin new words, but to use 
 
 Such they'll degrade, and sometimes in its stead 
 
 In downright charity revive the dead ; 
 
 Mark where a bold expressive phrase appears, 
 
 Bright through the rubbish of some hundred years; 
 
 Command old words that long have slept to wake. 
 
 Words that wise Bacon or brave Raleigh spake ; 
 
 Or bid the new be English ages hence 
 
 (For use will father what's begot by sense); 
 
 Pour the full tide of eloquence along, 
 
 Serenely pure and yet divinely strong, 
 
 Rich with the treasures of each foreign tongue. ED.- 
 
 l Horat. De Arte Poetica. Thus translated by Roscommon : 
 
 " Words must be chosen and be placed with. skill : 
 You gain your point when, by the noble art. 
 Of good connection, an unusual word 
 Is made at first familiar to the ear: 
 But if you write of things abstruse or new, 
 Some of your own inventing may be used ; 
 So it be seldom and discreetly done. 
 But he that hopes to have new words allow'*!, 
 Must so derive them from the Grecian spring 
 As they may seem to flow without constraint. 
 Can an impartial reader discommend 
 In Varius or in Virgil what he likes 
 In Plautus or Crecilius ? Why should I 
 Be envied for the little I invent. 
 When Ennins and Cato's copious style 
 Have so enrich'd and so adorn'd our tongue ? 
 Men ever had, and ever will have, leave 
 To coin new words well suited to the age." Ea t
 
 AGE 41.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 158 
 
 many words in senses quite different from their established meaning, and 
 those frequently very fantastical. 
 
 Sir Thomas Brown, whose Life Johnson wrote, was remarkably 
 fond of Anglo-Latin diction ; and to his example we are to ascribe 
 Johnson's sometimes indulging himself in this kind of phraseology. 1 
 Johnson's comprehension of mind was the mould for 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 language of his country, for many of 
 our best writers have approached very near to him ; and, from the in- 
 fluence which he has had upon our composition, scarcely anything is 
 written now that is not better expressed than was usual before he ap- 
 peared to lead the national taste. 
 
 This circumstance, the truth of which must strike every critical 
 reader, has been so happily enforced by Mr. Courtenay, in his " Moral 
 and Literary Character of Dr. Johnson," that I cannot prevail on rny- 
 self to withhold it, notwithstanding his, perhaps, too great partiality for 
 one of his friends : 
 
 "By nature's gifts ordain'd mankind to rule, 
 He, like a Titian, form'd his brilliant school ; 
 And taught congenial spirits to excel, 
 While from his lips impressive wisdom fell. 
 Our boasted GOLDSMITH felt the sovereign sway; 
 From him deriv'd the sweet, yet nervous lay. 
 To Fame's proud cliff he bade our Eaffaelle rise ; " 
 Hence KEYNOLDS' pen with BEYNOLDS' pencil vies. 
 With Johnson's flame melodious BURNEY glows, 
 While the grand strain in smoother cadence flows. 
 And you, MALONE, to critic learning dear, 
 Correct and elegant, refin'd though clear, 
 By studying him, acquir'd that classic taste, 
 Which high in Shakspeare's fane thy statue plac'd. 
 Near Johnson STEEVENS stands, on scenic ground, 
 Acute, laborious, fertile, and profound. 
 Ingenious HAWKESWORTH 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 rhymes : 
 Harmonious JONES ! who in his splendid strains 
 Sings Camdeo's sports on Agra's flowery plains. 
 In Hindu fictions while we fondly trace 
 Love and the Muses, deck'd with Attic grace. 
 
 1 The observation of his having imitated Sir Thomas Brown has been made by many 
 people; and lately it has been insisted on, and illustrated by a variety of quotations from 
 Brown, in one of the popular Essays written by the Reverend Mr. Knox, master of Tun- 
 bridge-school, whom I have set down in my list of those who have sometimes not unsuc- 
 cessfully imitated Dr. Johnson's style. Bos WELL.
 
 154 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1750. 
 
 Amid these names can BOSWELL be forgot, 
 
 Scarce by North Britons now esteem'd a Scot ? 1 
 
 Who to the sage devoted from his youth, 
 
 Imbib'd from him the sacred love of truth ; 
 
 The keen research, the exercise of mind, 
 
 And that best art, the art to know mankind. 
 
 Nor was his energy confin'd alone 
 
 To friends around his philosophic throne ; 
 
 Its influence wide improv'd our letter'd isle, 
 
 And lucid vigour mark'd the general style : 
 
 As Nile's proud waves, swoln from their oozy bed, 
 
 First o'er the neighbouring meads majestic spread ; 
 
 Till gathering force, they more and more expand, 
 
 And with new virtue fertilise the land." 
 
 Johnson's language, however, must he 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, Rho- 
 doclia. 
 
 It has of late been the fashion to compare the style of Addison and 
 Johnson, and to depreciate, I think, very unjustly, the style of Addison 
 as nerveless and feeble, because it has not the strength and energy of 
 that of Johnson. Their prose may be balanced like the poetry of Dry- 
 den and Pope. Both are excellent though in different ways. Addison 
 writes with the ease of a gentleman. 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 
 academical chair. They attend with awe and admiration ; and his pre- 
 cepts are impressed upon them by his commanding eloquence. Addison 's 
 style, like a light wine, pleases every body from the first. Johnson'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 inconsiderable, 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 instruc- 
 tion and entertainment. Though comparatively weak, opposed to John- 
 
 1 The following observation in Mr. Boswell's " Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides," 
 may sufficiently account for that gentleman's being "now scarcely esteemed a Scot " by 
 many of his countrymen : "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 proportion of their real merit; and because he could 
 not but see in them that nationality which, I believe, no liberal-minded Scotchman will 
 deny." Mr. Boswell, indeed, is so free from national prejudices, that he might with equal 
 propriety have been described as 
 
 " Scarce by South Britons now esteem'd a Scot." COURTENAY.
 
 AGE 41.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 155 
 
 son'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 performed ; he is never feeble, and he did not 
 wish to be energetic ; he is never rapid, and he never stagnates. His 
 sentences have neither studied amplitude, nor affected brevity ; his periods, 
 though not diligently rounded, are voluble and easy. 1 Whoever wishes 
 to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not 
 ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison." 2 
 Though the "Rambler" was not concluded till the year 1752, I 
 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 
 acknowledges to have received " elegant translations" 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. Malone : " Sir, he lived in London, and hung 
 loose upon society." 3 The concluding paper of his "Rambler" is at 
 once dignified and pathetic. I cannot, however, but wish, that he had 
 not ended it with an unnecessary Greek verse, translated 4 also into an 
 English couplet. It is too much like the conceit of those dramatic 
 poets, who used to conclude each act with a rhyme ; and the expression 
 in the first line of his couplet, " Celestial powers," though proper in 
 Pagan poetry, is ill suited to Christianity, with "a conformity" 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 learning obtain in any other cause, if I can be numbered 
 
 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, Addison 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 full 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 foreigners, he allowed the discrimination to be 
 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 elegant, to an Englishman, as to 
 give the intellect no trouble, yet he would find the transfusion into another language 
 extremely difficult, if not impossible. But a " Rambler," " Adventurer," or " Idler," of 
 Johnson, would fall into any classical or European language, as easily as if it had been 
 originally conceived in it. BCRNEV. 
 
 2 I shall probably, in another work, maintain the merit of Addison's poetry, which 
 has been very unjustly depreciated. BOSWELL. 
 
 3 In the " Gentleman's Magazine " for October, 1752, p. 468, he is styled " the Rev. 
 Francis Lewis, of Chiswick." The late Lord Macartney, while he resided at Chiswick, 
 at my request, 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 Edin- 
 burgh edition of the " Rambler," and in some instances were revised and improved, pro- 
 bably by Johnson, before they were inserted in the London octavo edition. The trans- 
 lations of the mottos affixed to the first thirty numbers of the " Rambler," were published 
 from the Edinburgh edition, in the " Gentleman's Magazine " for September 1760, before 
 the work was collected into volumes. MALONE. 
 
 * Not in the original edition, in folio. MALONE.
 
 156 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1750. 
 
 among the writers who have given ardour to virtue, and confidence to 
 truth." 
 
 His friend, Dr. Birch, heing now engaged in preparing an edition of 
 Ralegh's smaller pieces, Dr. Johnson wrote the following letter to that 
 gentleman : 
 
 " TO DR. BIRCH. 
 
 " SIR, " Gough-square, May 12, 1750. 
 
 " Knowing that you are now preparing to favour the public with a new 
 edition of Ralegh's miscellaneous pieces, I have taken the liberty to send you a 
 Manuscript, which fell by chance within my notice. I perceive no proofs of 
 forgery in my examination of it ; and the owner tells me, that as he has heard, 
 the handwriting is Sir Walter's. If you should find reason to conclude it 
 genuine, it will be a kindness to the owner, a blind person, 1 to recommend it to 
 the booksellers. I am, Sir, 
 
 " Your most humble servant, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 His just abhorrence of Milton's political notions was ever strong. 
 But this did not prevent his warm admiration of Milton's great poetical 
 merit, to which he has done illustrious justice, beyond all who have 
 written upon the subject. And this year he not only wrote a Prologue, 
 which was spoken by Mr. Garrick, before the acting of " Comus," at 
 Drury-lane Theatre, for the benefit of Milton's grand-daughter, but took a 
 very zealous interest in the success of the charity. On the day preceding 
 the performance, he published the following letter in the " General 
 Advertiser," addressed to the printer of that paper : 
 
 " SIR, 
 
 " That a certain degree of reputation is acquired merely by approving the 
 works of genius, and testifying a regard for the memory of authors, is a truth 
 too evident to be denied ; and therefore to ensure a participation of fame with 
 a celebrated poet, many, who would, perhaps, have contributed to starve him 
 when alive, have heaped expensive pageants upon his grave. 2 
 
 " It must, indeed, be confessed, that this method of becoming known to pos- 
 terity 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 paying 
 a just regard to the illustrious dead, united with the pleasure of doing good 
 to the living. To assist industrious indigence, struggling with distress and 
 debilitated by age, is a display of virtue, and an acquisition of happiness and 
 honour. 
 
 " Whoever, then, would be thought capable of pleasure in reading the works 
 of our incomparable Milton, and not so destitute of gratitude as to refuse to lay 
 out a trifle in rational and elegant entertainment, for the benefit of his living 
 
 1 Mrs. Williams is probably the person meant. BOSWELL. 
 
 2 Alluding probably to Mr. Auditor Benson. See the " Dunciad," b. iv. MALOKR. 
 On erecting a monument to Milton in Westminster Abbey, " Auditor Benson" in- 
 scribed his own name on it as well as that of the poet. ED.
 
 AGE 41.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON, 157 
 
 remains, for the exercise of their own virtue, the increase of their reputation, and 
 the pleasing consciousness 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 author, 1 and the only surviving branch 
 of his family. 
 
 "N.B. There will be a new prologue on the occasion, written by the 
 author of ' Irene,' and spoken by Mr. Garrick ; and, by particular desire, 
 there will be added to the masque a dramatic satire, called ' Lethe, ' in which 
 Mr. Garrick will perform." 
 
 i Mrs. Elizabeth Foster died May 9, 175-1. A. CHALMERS.
 
 JOHX8ON, BEAUCLERK, AND LiNUTON. (Page 169.) 
 
 CHAPTER V1L 1751 1754. 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE "DICTIONARY" AND "RAMBLER" LAUDEK'S FORGERIES 
 ACCOUNT OP Miss WILLIAMS CLOSE OF THE "RAMBLER" COMMENCEMENT OF 
 HAWKESWORTH'S " ADVENTURER" DEATH OF MRS. JOHNSON ACCOUNT OF ROBERT 
 LEVETT JOHNSON'S FRIENDSHIP WITH REYNOLDS LANGTON BEAUCLBRK 
 WRITINGS IN THE " ADVENTURER" EXTRACT FROM DIAR^ MRS. LENOX'S 
 " SHAKSPEARB ILLUSTRATED." 
 
 IN 1751 we are to consider him as carrying on both his " Dictionary" 
 and " Rambler." But he also wrote " The Life of Cheynel," * in the 
 miscellany called " The Student ;" and the Rev. Dr. Douglas having 
 with uncommon acuteness clearly detected a gross forgery and imposition 
 upon the public by William Lauder, a Scotch schoolmaster, who had, 
 with equal impudence and ingenuity, 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. 1 
 
 1 Lest there should be any person, at any future period, absurd enough to suspect that 
 Johnson was a partaker in Lauder'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
 
 AGE 42. J BOSWELL's LIFE OF JOHNSON. 159 
 
 This extraordinary attempt of Lauder was no sudden effort. He 
 had brooded over it for many years: and to this hour it is uncertain what 
 his principal motive was, unless it were a vain notion of his superiority, 
 in being able, by whatever means, to deceive 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, alleging 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 17&0, ventured 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 persuasive terms, a subscription for the relief of a 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 from their alliance to whose genius they claim some kind of 
 superiority to every other nation of the earth ; that poet, whose works may 
 possibly be read when every other monument of British greatness shall be obli- 
 terated ; to reward him, not with pictures or with medals, which, if he sees, he 
 sees with contempt, but with tokens of gratitude, whicli he, perhaps, may even 
 now consider as not unworthy the regard of an immortal spirit." 
 
 Surely this is inconsistent with " enmity towards Milton," which 
 Sir John Hawkins imputes to Johnson upon this occasion, adding, 
 
 " I could all along observe that Johnson seemed to approve, not only of the 
 design, but of the argument ; and seemed to exult in a persuasion, that the 
 reputation of Milton was likely to suffer by this discovery. That he was not 
 privy to the imposture, I am well persuaded ; that he wished well to the argu- 
 ment, may be inferred from the Preface, which indubitably was written by 
 ohnson." 
 
 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 hit 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," 2nd edit. p. 78. And his Lordship has 
 been pleased now to authorize me to say, in the strongest manner, that there is no ground 
 whatever for any unfavourable reflection against Dr. Johnson, who expressed the strongest 
 indignation against Lauder. 
 
 Lauder renewed his attempts on Milton's character in 1754, in a pamphlet entitled 
 " The Grand Impostor Detected, or Milton convicted of Forgery against King Charles I. ;" 
 which w<is reviewed, probably by Johnson, in the " Gent Mag." 1754, page 97. 
 A. CHALMERS. 
 
 Lauder afterwards went to Barbadoes, where he died very miserably about the year 
 1771. MALONK.
 
 160 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON'. [1751. 
 
 Is it possible for any man of clear judgment to suppose that Johnson, 
 who so nobly praised 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 reputation was likely to suffer 
 by it ? This is an inconsistency of which Johnson was incapable ; nor 
 can any thing more be fairly inferred from the Preface, than that John- 
 son, who was alike distinguished for ardent curiosity and love of truth, 
 was pleased with an investigation by which both were gratified. That 
 he was actuated by these motives, and certainly by no unworthy desire 
 to depreciate our great epic poet, is evident from his own words ; for, 
 after mentioning the general zeal of men of genius and literature, "to 
 advance the honour, and distinguish the beauties of ' Paradise Lost,' " 
 he says, 
 
 " Among the inquiries to which this ardour of criticism has naturally given 
 occasion, none is more obscure in itself, or more worthy of rational curiosity, than 
 a retrospect of the progress of this mighty genius in the construction of his 
 work ; a view of the fabric 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 projected, whence the scheme was taken, how it was 
 improved, by what assistance it was executed, and from what stores the 
 materials were collected, whether its founder dug them from the quarries of 
 Nature, or demolished other buildings to embellish his own." 1 
 
 Is this the language of one who wished to blast the laurels of 
 Milton ? 
 
 Though Johnson's circumstances were at this time far from being 
 easy, his humane and charitable disposition was constantly exerting 
 itself. Mrs. Anna Williams, daughter of a very ingenious Welsh phy- 
 sician, and a woman of more than ordinary talents in 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 Mrs. Johnson lived ; and, after her 
 death, having come under his roof in order to have an operation upon 
 her eyes performed with more comfort to her than in lodgings, she had 
 an apartment from him during the rest of her life, at all times when he 
 had a house. 
 
 In 1752 he was almost entirely occupied with his Dictionary. The 
 last paper of his " Rambler" was published March 2, 2 this year ; after 
 
 1 " Proposals [written evidently by Johnson] for printing the ' Adamus Exul' of 
 Grotius, with a Translation and Notes by WEB. Lauder, A.M." " Gent. Mag." 1747, vol. 
 xvii. p. 404. MALONB. 
 
 2 Here the author's memory failed him, for, according to the account given in a former 
 page (see p, 141), we should here read March 17; but, 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
 
 ACIK 12. j BOSWELL'S LIFE OP JOHNSON. 10 1 
 
 which, there was a cessation for some time of any exertion of his talents 
 as an essayist. But in the same year, Dr. Ha wkes worth, who was his 
 warm admirer, and a studious imitator of his style, and then lived in 
 great intimacy with him, began a periodical paper, entitled, " The 
 Adventurer," in connection with other gentlemen, 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. 
 
 That there should be a suspension of his literary labours during a 
 part of the year 1752, will not seem strange, when it is considered that 
 soon after closing his "Rambler," he suffered a loss which, there 
 can be no doubt, affected him with the deepest distress. For on the 
 17th of March, O.S., his wife died. Why Sir John Hawkins should 
 unwarrantably take upon him even to suppose that Johnson's fondness 
 for her was dissembled (meaning simulated or assumed), and to assert, 
 that if it was not the case, " it was a lesson he had learned by rote," I 
 cannot conceive, unless it proceeded from a want of similar feelings in 
 his 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. Every man feels for himself, and knows how he is affected by parti- 
 cular qualities in the person he admires, the impressions of which are too 
 minute and delicate to be substantiated in language. 
 
 The following very solemn and affecting prayer was found after Dr. 
 Johnson's decease, by his servant, Mr. Francis Barber, who delivered it 
 to my worthy friend, the Rev. 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 present it to the world as an 
 undoubted proof of a circumstance in the character of my illustrious 
 friend, which, though some, whose hard minds I never shall envy, may 
 attack as superstitious, will, I am sure, endear him more to numbers of 
 good men. 1 have an additional, and that a personal motive for pre- 
 senting it, because it sanctions what I myself have always maintained, 
 and am fond to indulge : 
 
 "April 26th, 1752, being after 12 at Night of the 25th. 
 
 ' ' Lord ! Governor 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 govern- 
 
 been still more extraordinary than it is, considering the extreme grief into which the 
 author was plunged by that event. The melancholy cast of that concluding essay is 
 sufficiently accounted tor by the situation of Mrs. Johnson at the time it was written; and 
 her death three days afterwards put an end to the Paper. MA LONE.
 
 162 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1732. 
 
 ment. Forgive my presumption, 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 pltased God to 
 afQict in a similar manner to that which occasioned it, have certain 
 experience of benignant communication by dreams. 1 
 
 That his love for his wife was of the most ardent kind, and, during 
 the long period of fifty years, was unimpaired by the lapse of time, is 
 evident from various passages in the series of his " Prayers and Medita- 
 tions," published by the Rev. Mr. Strahan, as well as from other 
 memorials, two of which I select, as strongly marking the tenderness 
 and sensibility of his mind. 
 
 "Marr-h 28, 1753. I kept this day as the anniversary of my Tetty's death, 
 with prayers and tears in the morning. In the evening I prayed for her condi- 
 tionally, if it were lawful." 
 
 " April 23, 1753. I know not whether 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 happy interview, and 
 that in the mean time I am incited by it to piety. I will, however, not deviate 
 too much from common and received methods of devotion." 
 
 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.! 
 
 Eliz. Johnson, 
 
 Nupta Jul 9" 1 736. 
 
 Mortua, eheu ! 
 MprJ. 17 1 ; 762," 
 
 After his death, Mr. Francis Barber, his faithful servant and 
 residuary legatee, offered this, memorial of tenderness to Mrs. Lucy 
 Porter, Mrs. Johnson's daughter ; but she having declined to accept of 
 it, he had it enamelled as a mourning ring for his old master, and pre- 
 sented 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 Ipvea, had been in his contemplation many 
 years before. In his " Irene," we find the following fervent and tender 
 speech of Demetrius, addressed to his Aspasia : 
 "From those bright regions of eternal day, 
 AYhere now thou shin'st amongst thy fellow saints, 
 Arrayed in purer light, look down on me ! 
 In pleasing visions and assuasive dreams, 
 ! soothe my soul, and teach me how to lose thpe." 
 
 i Mrs Boswell died in June, 1790; about ten months before the first edition oj thii 
 work was published. ED.
 
 AGE 43.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 188 
 
 I have, indeed, been (old by Mrs. Desmoulins, who, before her mar- 
 riage, lived for some time with Mrs. Johnson at Hampstead, 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. But all this is perfectly compatible Avith his fondness 
 for her, 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 continued by 
 habit, had not been effaced, though she herself was doubtless much 
 altered for the worse. The dreadful shock of separation took place in 
 the night, and he immediately despatched a letter to his friend, the Rev. 
 Pr-. 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. 1 The letter was brought to Dr. Taylor, at his house in 
 the Cloisters, Westminster, about three in the morning ; and as it sig- 
 nified 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 agitation. 
 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 piety 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 REVEREND DB. TAYLOR. 
 
 "DEAR SlK, " Maroh 18, 1702. 
 
 '" Let me have your company and instruction.. Do not- live away/ from ma, 
 My di8tresfi ie great. 
 
 " Pray desire Mrs. Taylor to inform me what moiirnirg I should buy for my 
 mother and Miss Porter, and bring a note in writing with yom 
 " Kemember me in your prayers, for vain is the help of man. 
 
 "1 am, dear Sir, &<". 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 That his sufferings upon the death of his wife were severe, beyond 
 what are commonly endured, I have no doubt, from the information of 
 many who were then about him, to none of whom 1 givemore, credit than 
 to Mr. Francis Barber, his faithful negro servant, 2 who came into his 
 
 1 In "The Gentleman's Magazine" for February, 1794 (p, 100), was printed; a letter 
 pretending to be that written by Johnson on the death of his wile. But it is merely 
 a transcript of the 41st number of the "The Idler,"' on the death of a friend. A fictitious 
 date, March 17, 1761, O S. was added by some person, previously, to this paper's being 
 fcent to the publisher of that miscellany, to give a colour-to this deceptions M'ALONK. 
 
 2 Francis Barber was born in Jamaica, and- was brought- to England in 1750 by 
 Colonel Bathurst, father of Johnson's very intimate friend, Dr. Bathuret. He was sent, 
 for some time, to the Rev. Mr. Jackson's school, at Barton-, in Yorkshire. The 
 Colonel by his will' left him his freedom, and Dr. Bathurst' was willing- that- he. should 
 enter into Johnson's service, in which he continued from 1762 till Johnson': death, with
 
 Ifi4 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1752. 
 
 family about a fortnight after the dismal event. These sufferings 
 were aggravated hy the melancholy inherent in his constitution ; and 
 although he probably was not oftener in the wrong than she was, in the 
 little disagreements 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, 
 tenderly disposed to charge himself with slight omissions and offences, 
 be the sense of which would give him much uneasiness. 1 Accordingly we 
 find, about a year after her decease, that he thus addressed the Supreme 
 Being : 
 
 " Lord, who givest the grace of repentance, and hearest the prayers of 
 the penitent, grant that by true contrition 1 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." [Pr. and Med. p. 19.] 
 
 The kindness of his heart, notwithstanding the impetuosity of his 
 temper, is well known to his friends ; and I 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 terrific kind, and hardly afforded him a hope that she was in a 
 state of happiness," 2 That he, in conformity with the opinion of many 
 of the most able, learned, and pious Christians in all nges, supposed that 
 there was a middle state after death, previous to the time at which 
 departed souls are finally received to eternal felicity, appears, I think, 
 unquestionably from his devotions : 3 "And, Lord, &o far as it may be 
 lawful in me, I commend to thy fatherly goodness the soul of my departed 
 wife ; beseeching thee to grant her whatever is best in her present state, 
 and finally to receive her to eternal happiness.''' [Pr. and Med. p. 20.] 
 But this state has not been looked upon with horror, but only as less 
 gracious. 
 
 He deposited the remains of Mrs. Johnson 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 published since his death, is a performance of uncommon ex- 
 
 the exception of two intervals ; in one of which, upon some difference with his master, he 
 went and served an apothecary in Cheapside, but still visited Dr. Johnson occasionally ; 
 in another, he took a fancy to go to sea. Part of the time, indeed, he was, by the kind- 
 ness of his master, at a school in Northamptonshire, that he might have the advantage of 
 some learning. So early, and so lasting a connection was there between Dr. Johnson 
 and this humble friend. BOSWBLI,. 
 
 1 See his beautiful and affecting " Rambler," No. 54. MALONE. 
 
 2 Hawkins's Life of Johnson, p. 31(5. 
 
 3 It does not appear that Johnson was fully persuaded that there was a middle state: 
 his prayers being only conditional, i.e. if such a state existed. MALONE. 
 
 * A few months before his death, Johnson honoured her memory by the following
 
 AGK 43.J BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 165 
 
 ccllence, 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 with- 
 out wonder. 
 
 From Mr. Francis Barber I have had the following authentic and 
 artless account 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 Gougli-square. lie was busy with the Dictionary. Mr. Shit-Is, 
 and some others of the gentlemen who had formerly written for him, used to 
 come about him. He had then little for himself, but frequently sent money to 
 Mr. Shiels when in distress. The friends who visited him at that time, were 
 chiefly Dr. Bathurst, 1 and Mr. Diamond, an apothecary in Cork-street, Bur- 
 lington-gardens, with whom he and Mrs. Williams generally dined every Sunday. 
 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. 
 Kyland, merchant on Tower-hill, Mrs. Masters, the poetess, who lived with 
 Mr. Cave, Mrs. Carter, and sometimes Mrs. Macaulay ; 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. Miller, Mr. Dodsley, Mr. 
 Bouquet, Mr. Payne, of Paternoster-row, bookseller ; Mr. Strahan, the printer; 
 the Earl of Orrery, Lord Southwell, Mr. Garrick." 
 
 Many are, no doubt, omitted in this catalogue of his friends, and in 
 particular his humble friend Mr. Robert Levett, an obscure practiser in 
 physic amongst the lower people, his fees being sometimes very small 
 sums, sometimes whatever provisions his patients could afford him ; but 
 of such extensive practice in that way, that Mrs. Williams has told me his 
 walk was from Hounsditch to Marylebone. It appears from Jonhson's 
 diary, that their acquaintance commenced about the year 1746 ; and 
 
 epitaph, which was inscribed on her tombstone, in the church of Bromley: 
 
 " Hie condunlur reliquiae 
 
 ELIZABETHS 
 
 Antiqua Jarvisiorum gente, 
 
 Featlingee, apud Leieestrienses, ortffi; 
 
 Formosa?, cults, ingeniosae, pise ; 
 Uxoris, primis nuptiis, HKNRICI PORTER, 
 
 Secundis, SAMUELIS JOHNSON : 
 Qui inultum amatam, diuque defletam 
 
 Hoc lapide contexit. 
 Obiit Londini, Mense Mart. 
 
 A.D. MDCCLII." MALONE, 
 
 1 Dr. Bathurst, though a physician of no inconsiderable merit, had not the good 
 fortune to get much practice in London. 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 Havannah. Mr. Langton recollects the following 
 passage in a letter from Dr. Johnson to Mr. Beauclerk : "The Havannah is taken a 
 conquest too dearly obtained ; for, Bathurst died before it. 
 
 " Vix Priamus tanti totaque Trojafuit." BOSWELI..
 
 166 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOIINSOX. [1752 
 
 such was Johnson's predilection for him, and fanciful estimation of hia 
 moderate abilities, that I have heard him say he should not be satisfied, 
 though attended by all the College of Physicians, unless he had Mr. 
 Levett with him. Ever since I was acquainted with Dr. Johnson, and 
 many years before, as I have been assured by those who knew him 
 earlier, Mr. Levett had an apartment in his house or his chambers, 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 com- 
 pany was present. 1 
 
 The circle of his friends, indeed, at this time was extensive and 
 various, far beyond what has been generally imagined. To trace his 
 acquaintance with each particular person, if it could be done, would be 
 a task, of which the labour would not be repaid 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 du'ce decus, and with whom 
 he maintained an uninterrupted intimacy to the last hour of his life. 
 When Johnson lived in Castle-street, Cavendish-square, he used fre- 
 quently to visit two ladiea who lived opposite to him, Miss Cotterells, 
 daughters of Admiral Cotterell. Reynolds used also to visit there, and 
 thus they met. Mr. Reynolds, as I have observed 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 delighted 
 him ; and he cultivated his acquaintance with the laudable zeal of one 
 who was ambitious of general improvement. Sir Joshua, indeed, was 
 lucky enough, at their very first meeting, to make a remark, which was 
 o much above the common- place style of conversation, 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 comfort of being relieved from a burthen of gratitude." They were 
 shocked a little at this alleviating suggestion, as too selfish ; but John- 
 son defended it in his clear and forcible manner, and was much pleased 
 with the mind, the fair view of human nature, 2 which it exhibited, like 
 some of the reflections of Rochefaucault. The consequence was, that 
 he went home with Reynolds, and supped with him. 
 
 Sir Joshua told me a pleasant characteristical anecdote of Johnson, 
 about the time of their first acquaintance. When they were one evening 
 together at the Miss Cotterells,' the then Duchess of Argyle and another 
 
 1 A more particular account of this person may be found in " The Gentleman's Maga- 
 zine" for February, 1784. It originally appeared in " The St. James's Chronicle," and, I 
 believe, was written by the late George Steevens, Esq. MALONE. 
 
 2 Johnson himself has a sentiment somewhat similar in his 87th " Rambler :" 
 " There are minds so impatient of inferiority, that their gratitude is a speoies of revenge, 
 and they return benefits, not because recompence is a pleasure, but because obligation is 
 a pain." J. BOSWELL, jun.
 
 AGK 43 J 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 167 
 
 lady of high rank came in. Johnson thinking that the Miss Cotterells 
 were too much engrossed by them, and that he and his friend were 
 "neglected, as low company of whom they were somewhat ashamed, grew 
 angry ; 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 mechanics. 
 
 His acquaintance with Bennet Langton, Esq., of Langton, in Lin- 
 colnshire, another much valued friend, commenced soon after the con- 
 clusion of his "Rambler;" which that 
 gentleman, then a youth, 1 had read with 
 so much admiration, that he came to 
 London chiefly with a view of endeavouring 
 to be introduced to its author. By a for- 
 tunate chance, he happened to take lodgings 
 in a house where Mr. Levett frequently 
 visited ; and having mentioned his wish to 
 his landlady, she introduced him to Mr. 
 Levett, who readily obtained Johnson's per- 
 mission to bring Mr. Langton to him ; as, 
 indeed, Johnson, during the whole course of 
 his life, had no shyness, real or affected, but 
 was easy of access to all who were properly 
 recommended, and even wished to see num- 
 bers at his levfo, as his morning circle of company might, with strict pro- 
 priety, be called. Mr. Langtoh was exceedingly surprised when the sage 
 first appeared. He had not received the smallest intimation of his figure, 
 dress, or manner. From perasing his writings, he fancied he should see 
 a decent, well-dressed, in short, a remarkably decorous philosopher. 
 Instead of which, down from his bedchamber, about noon, came, as 
 newly risen, a huge uncouth figure, with a little dark wig which scarcely 
 covered his head, and his clothes hanging loo?e about him. But his 
 conversation was so rich, so animated, and so forcible, and his religious 
 and political notions so congenial with those in which Langton had been 
 educated, that he conceived for him that 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 ; for I have heard him 
 say, with pleasure, " Langton^ Sir, has a grant of free- warren from 
 Henry the Second ; and Cardinal Stephen Langton, in King John's 
 reign, Was of this family." 
 
 Mr. Langton afterwards went to pursue his studies at Trinity 
 College, Oxford, where he formed an acquaintance with iiis fellow- 
 
 
 1 Bonnet Langton was bora about 1737, and died in 1801. ED.
 
 ]fi8 
 
 BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHSSOX. 
 
 [17o2. 
 
 student, Mr. Topliam Beauclerk ; who though their opinions and 
 modes of 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 ex- 
 cellent qualities of Mr. Langton, a 
 gentleman eminent not only for worth 
 and learning, hut for an inexhaustible 
 fund of entertaining conversation, 
 that they became intimate friends. 
 
 Johnson, soon after this acquaint- 
 ance began, passed a considerable time 
 at Oxford. He at first thought it 
 strange that Langton should associate 
 so much with one who had the cha- 
 racter of being loose, both in his 
 principles and practice ; but, by 
 degrees, he himself was fascinated. 
 Mr. Beauclerk 's being of the St. 
 A 1 ban's family, 1 and having, in some 
 particulars, a resemblance to Charles II., contributed, in Johnson's 
 imagination, to throw a lustre upon his other qualities ; and in a short 
 time, the moral, pious Johnson, and the gay, dissipated Beauclerk, were 
 companions. "What a 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 testimony that it was a very agreeable association. Beauclerk 
 vvas too polite, and valued learning and wit too much, to offend Johnson 
 by sallies of infidelity or licentiousness ; and Johnson delighted in the 
 good qualities of Beauclerk, and hoped to correct the 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, Beauclerk was not spared by 
 his respectable companion, when reproof was proper. Beauclerk had 
 such a propensity to satire, that at one time Johnson said to him, " You 
 never open your mouth but with the intention to give pain ; and you have 
 uften given me pain, not from the power of what you said, but from see- 
 ing your intention." At another time applying to him, with a slight 
 alteration, a line of Pope, he said, 
 
 " Thy love of folly, and thy scorn of fools. 
 
 I 7 ! very thing thou dost shows the one, and every thing thou say'st, the 
 (ther." At another time he said to him, " Thy body is all vice, and 
 thy mind all virtue. " Beauclerk not seeming to relish the compliment, 
 
 1 Topham Beauclerk was the son of Lord Sidney Beauclerk, and grandson of U> 
 Cuke of St. Alb m's. ED.
 
 AOE 43. j BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOIINSOV. 169 
 
 Johnson said, "Nay, Sir, Alexander the Great, marching in triumph 
 into Babylon, could not have desired to have had more said to him." 
 
 Johnson was some time with Beauclerk at his house at Windsor, 
 where he was entertained with experiments in natural philosophy. One 
 Sunday, wh^n the weather was very fine, Beauclerk enticed him, insen- 
 sibly, to saunter about all the morning. They went into a churchyard, 
 in the time of divine service, and J ohnson laid himself down at his ease 
 upon one of the tombstones. "Now, Sir," said Beauclerk, "you are 
 like Hogarth's Idle Apprentice." When Johnson got his pension, Beau- 
 clerk said to him, in the humorous phrase of Falstaif, "I hope you'll 
 now purgv 1 , and live cleanly, like a gentleman. " 
 
 One night when Beauclerk and Langton had supped at a tavern in 
 London, and sat till about three in the morning, it came into their heads 
 to go and knock up Johnson, and see if they could prevail on him to join 
 them in a ramble. They rapped violently at the door of his chambers 
 in the Temple, till at last he appeared in his shirt, with his little black 
 wig on the top of his head, instead of a nightcap, and a poker in his 
 hand, imagining, probably, that some ruffians were coming to attack 
 him. When he discovered who they were, and was told their errand, he 
 smiled, and with great good humour agreed to their proposal : " What, 
 is it you, you dogs ! I'll have a frisk with you." 1 He was soon dressed 
 and they sallied forth together into Covent-garden, where the green- 
 grocers and fruiterers were beginning to arrange their hampers, just 
 come in from the country. Johnson made some attempts to help them ; 
 but the honest gardeners stared so at his figure and manner, and odd 
 interference, that he soon saw his services were not relished. They then 
 repaired to one of the neighbouring taverns, and made a bowl of that 
 liquor called Bishop, which Johnson had always liked ; while, in joyous 
 contempt of sle?p, from which he had been roused, he repeated tue 
 festive lines, 
 
 "Short, short, then be thy reign, 
 And give us to the world again !"2 
 
 They did not stay long, but walked down to the Thames, took a 
 boat, and rowed to Billingsgate. Beauclerk and Johnson were so well 
 pleased with their amusement, that they resolved to persevere in 
 dissipation for the rest of the day : but Langton deserted them, being 
 engaged to breakfast with some young ladies. Johnson scolded him for 
 " leaving his social friends, to go and sit with a set of wretched un-idea d 
 
 1 Johnson, as Mr. Kemble observes to me, might here have had in his thoughts the 
 words of Sir John Brute (a character which doubtless he had seen represented by Gar- 
 rick), who uses nearly the same expression in "The Provoked wife," Act iii. sc. i. 
 MAIONE. 
 
 * Mr. Langton recollected, or Dr. Johnson repeated, the passage wrong. The lines 
 are in Lord Lansdowne's Drinking Song to Sleep, and run thus: 
 " Short, very short, be then thy reign, 
 For I'm in haste to laugh and drink again." BOSWKI.L.
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [17,58. 
 
 Garrick being told of this ramble, said to him smartly, " I 
 heard of your frulic t'other night. You'll be in the ' Chronicle.'" Upon 
 which Johnson afterwards observed, "He durst not do such a thing. 
 His wife would not let him !'' 
 
 He entered upon this year, 1753, with his usual piety, as appears from 
 the following prayer, which I transcribed from that part of his diary 
 which he burned a few days before his death : 
 
 "Jan. 1, 1753, N.S., which I shall use for the future. 
 
 " Almighty God, who hast continued my life to this day, grant that, by th 
 assistance of thy Holy Spirit, I may improve the time which thou shalt grant 
 me, to my eternal salvation. Make me to remember, to thy glory, thy judg^ 
 ments and thy mercies. Make me so to consider the loss of my wife, whom thou 
 hast taken from me, that it may dispose me, by thy grace, to lead the residua 
 of my life in thy fear. Grant this, Lord, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen." 
 
 He now relieved the drudgery of his Dictionary, and the melancholy 
 of his grief, by taking an active part in the composition of " The Adven- 
 turer," in which he began to write, April 10, marking his essays with 
 the signature T., by which most of his papers in that collection are dis- 
 tinguished : those, however, which have that signature, and also that oi 
 Mysargyrus, were not written by him, but, as I suppose, by Dr. Bathurst. 
 Indeed, Johnson's energy of thought and richness of language are still 
 more decisive marks than any signature. As a proof of this, my reader.*, 
 I imagine, will not doubt that No. 39, on Sleep, is his ; for it not 
 only has the general texture and colour of his style, but the authors with 
 whom he was peculiarly conversant are readily introduced in it in cursory 
 allusion. The translation of a passage in Statius, 1 quoted in that paper, 
 and marked C. B., has been erroneously ascribed to Dr. Bathurst, whose 
 Christian name was Richard. How much this amiable man actually 
 contributed to " The Adventurer," cannot be known. Let me add, that 
 Hawkesworth's imitations of Johnson are sometimes so happy, that it 
 is extremely difficult to distinguish them, with certainty, from the com- 
 positions of his great archetype. Hawkesworth was his closest imitator, 
 a circumstance of which that writer would once have been proud to be 
 told ; though when he had become elated by having men into some 
 degree of consequence, he, in a conversation with me, had the provoking 
 effrontery to say he was not sensible of it. 
 
 Johnson was truly zealous for the success of " The Adventurer ;" 
 and very soon after his engaging in it, he wrote the following letter : 
 
 "TO THE REVEREND DR. JOSEPH WARTON. 
 
 "DEAR SIR, "March 8, 1753. 
 
 " I ought to have written to you before now, but I ought to do many things 
 which I do not ; nor can I, indeed, claim any merit from this letter ; for being 
 
 1 This is a slight inaccuracy. The Latin Sapphirs translated by C. B. in that paper 
 were written by Cowley, and are in his fourth book on Plants. MALONK.
 
 AOB 41.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 171 
 
 desired by the authors and proprietor of " The Adventurer," to look out for 
 another hand, my thoughts necessarily fixed upon you, whose fund of literature 
 will enable you to assist them, with very little interruption of your studies. 
 
 ' ' They desire you to engage to furnish one paper a month, at two guineas a 
 paper, which you may very readily perform. We have considered that a paper 
 should consist of pieces of imagination, pictures of life, and disquisitions of 
 literature. The part which depends on the imagination is very well supplied, as 
 you will find when you read the paper ; for descriptions of life, there is now a 
 treaty almost made with an author and an authoress ; l and the province of 
 criticism and literature they are very desirous to assign to the commentator on 
 Virgil. 
 
 " I hope this proposal will not he rejected, and that the next post will brin<j 
 us your compliance. I speak as one of the fraternity, though I have no part in 
 'the paper, 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, 
 t " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 The consequence of this letter was, Dr. Warton's enriching the 
 collection with several admirable essays. 
 
 Johnson's saying " I have no part in the paper, beyond now and 
 then a motto," may seem inconsistent with his being the author of the 
 papers marked T. But he had at this time written only one number ; 2 
 
 1 It is not improbable, that the " author and authoress, with whom a treaty was 
 almost made, for descriptions of life," and who are mentioned in a manner that seems 
 to indicate some connection between them, were Henry, and his sister Sally, Fielding, as 
 she was then popularly called. Fielding had previously been a periodical essayist, and 
 certainly was well acquainted with life in all its varieties, more especially within the pre- 
 cincts of London ; and his sister was a lively and ingenious writer. To this notion it 
 perhaps may be objected, that no papers in " The Adventurer" are known to be their pro- 
 ductions. But it should be remembered, that of several of the essays in that work, the 
 authors are unknown ; and some of these may have been written by the persons here 
 supposed to be alluded to. Nor would the objection be decisive, even if it were ascertained 
 that neither of them contributed anything to " The Adventurer ;" for the treaty above 
 mentioned might afterwards have been broken off. The negotiator, doubtless, was 
 Hawkesworth, and not Johnson. Fielding was at this time in the highest reputation; 
 having, in 1751, produced his Amelia, of which the whole impression was sold off on tha 
 day of its publication. MALONE. 
 
 2 The author, I conceive, is here in an error. 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 papers published previously 
 with the signature T., and subscribed MYSARGYRUS (Nos. 34 and 41), were written, I 
 believe, by Bonnel Thornton, who contributed also all the papers signed A. This infor- 
 mation I received several years ago ; but do not precisely remember from whom I derived 
 it. I believe, however, my informer was Dr. Warton. 
 
 With respect to No. 39, on Sleep, which our author has ascribed to Johnson (see 
 p. 1701, 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 gentleman. 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. Bathurst, and 
 perhaps touched in a few places by Johnson. Mr. Boswell has observed that, " this paper 
 not only has the general textare and colour of his style, but the authors with whom he was 
 peculiarly conversant are readily introduced in it in cursory allusion." Now the authors 
 mentioned in that paper are, Fontonelle, Milton, Ramazzini, Madlle. de Scuderi, Swift,
 
 172 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSOX. [1753. 
 
 and besides, even at any after period he might have used the same 
 expression, considering it as a point of honour not to own them ; for 
 Mrs. Williams told me that, " as he had given those essays to Dr. 
 Bathurst, who sold them at two guineas each, he never would own 
 them ; nay, he used to say 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 casuistry by which the productions 
 of one person 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 actual effect of individual exertion 
 never can be transferred, with truth, to any other than its own original 
 cause. One person's 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 to her upon 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 nominal 
 parents. So in literary children, an author may give the profits and 
 fame of his composition to another man, but cannot make that other the 
 real author. A Highland gentleman, a younger branch of a family, 
 once consulted me if he could not validly purchase the Chieftainship of 
 his family from the Chief, who was willing to sell it. I told him it was 
 impossible for him to acquire, 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 remained the first-born of his 
 parents ; and that whatever agreement a chief might make with any of 
 the clan, the Herald's office could not admit of the metamorphosis, or 
 with any decency attest that the younger was the elder : but I did not 
 convince the worthy gentleman. 
 
 Johnson's papers in "the Adventurer" are very similar to those of 
 "The Rambler;" but being rather more varied in their subjects, 1 and 
 
 Homer, Barretier, Statins, Cowley, and Sir Thomas Browne. With many of these, 
 doubtless, Johnson was particularly conversant"; but I doubt whether he would have cha- 
 ractized the expression quoted from Swift as elegant; and with the works of Ramazzini 
 it is very improbable that he should have been arquainted. Ramazzini was a celebrated 
 physician, who died at Padua, in 1714, at the age of 81 ; with whose writings Dr. Bathurst 
 may be supposed to have been conversant. So also with respect to Cowley: Johnson, 
 without doubt, had read his Latin poem at Plants, but Bathurst's profession probably led 
 him to read it with more attention than his friend had given to it ; and Cowlev's eulogy on 
 the Poppy would more readily occur to the naturalist and the physician 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 MAI.O.M:. 
 
 1 Dr. Johnson lowered 'and somewhat disguised his style in writing the Adventurers, 
 in order that his papers might pass for those of Dr. Bathurst, to whom he consigned the 
 profits. This was Hawkesworth's opinion. BURNKY.
 
 AOE 44.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 173 
 
 being mixed with essays by other writers, upon topics more generally 
 attractive than even the most elegant ethical discourses, the sale of the 
 work, at first, was more extensive. Without meaning, however, 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 public estimation, and that its sale far has exceeded that of 
 any other periodical papers since the reign of Queen Anne. 
 
 In one of the 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. 
 
 " God, who hast hitherto supported me, enable me to proceed in this 
 labour, and in the whole task of my present state ; that 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." 
 
 He this year favoured Mrs. Lenox 1 with a Dedication* to the Earl 
 of Orrery, of her " Shakspeare Illustrated." 2 
 
 1 Mrs. Lenox was authoress of " The Female Quixote" and various other works that 
 will be found mentioned in the common biographies. In her " Shakspeare Illustrated" 
 she gives an account of the source whence the poet derived the plots of his plays. ED. 
 
 2 Two of Johnson's letters addressed to Samuel Richardson, author of " Clarissa," &c., 
 the former dated March 9, 1750-1, the other, September 26, 1753, are preserved in 
 " Richardson's Correspondence," 8vo. 1804, vol. v. pp. 281 284. In the latter of these 
 letters Johnson suggested to Richardson the propriety of making an index to his three 
 works: " but while I am writing," he adds, " 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 benefit mankind, I hope never to injure them." Richardson, however, adopted 
 the hint; for in 1755 he published in octavo, "A Collection of the Moral and Instructive 
 Sentiments, Maxims, Cautions, and Reflections, contained in the Histories of ' Pamela," 
 ' Clarissa,' and ' Sir Charles Grandison,' digested under proper Heads." 
 
 It is remarkable, 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.
 
 CHESTEhFIELD 110USE. 
 
 CHAPTER VIH. 17-84 1759. 
 
 JOHNSON WMTB* " THB LIFE OP GAVE" LORD CHESTERFIEID'S- PAPERS IN 
 
 " THR WOKLD," RECOMMBNDI-NO THE DlCTIONARV-^LBTTBR IN AN8W.ER TO HIS 
 
 LORDSHIP EXCURSION TO OXFORD RKCBIVBS HIS DEGREE OF M.A. PKOJECTF.D 
 " BLBLIOTHKQUE " LETTERS, REMARKS, &c., RELATING TO THE DICTIONARY 
 GARRICK'S PANEGYRIC JOHNSON'S PAMPHLET ON THE LONGITDDE SCHEME OF 
 LIFE FOR SUNDAYS. 
 
 IN 1T54 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 he excelled, beyond all who have attempted that species 
 of composition ; upon which, indeed, he set the highest value. To the 
 minute selection of charaeteristical circumstances, for which the ancients 
 were remarkable, he added a philosophical research, and the most per- 
 spicuous and energetic language. 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 pecu- 
 liarly fortunate in being recorded by Johnson ; who, of the narrow life 
 of a printer and publisher, without any digressions or adventitious cir- 
 cumstances, has made an interesting and agreeable narrative. 
 
 The Dictionary, we may believe, afforded Johnson full occupation
 
 AOE 45. j BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 175 
 
 this year. As it approached to its conclusion, he probably worked with 
 redoubled vigour, as seamen increase their exertion 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 excite 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 dis- 
 gust was taken by Johnson .upon occasion of his having been one day 
 kept long in waiting in his lordship's antechamber, for which the reason 
 assigned was, that he had company with him ; and that at last^ when the 
 door opened, out walked Colley Gibber; and that Johnson was so violently 
 provoked when he found for whom he had been so long excluded, that 
 he went away in a passion, and never would return. I remember having 
 mentioned this story to George Lord Lyttelton, who told me he was very 
 intimate with Lord Chesterfield ; and holding it as a well-known truth, 
 defended Lord Chesterfield by saying, that " Cibber, who had been in- 
 troduced familiarly by the back-stairs, had probably not been there 
 above ten minutes." It may seem strange even to entertain a doubt 
 concerning a story so long and so widely current, and thus implicitly 
 adopted, if not sanctioned, by the authority which I have mentioned ; 
 but Johnson himself assured me, that there was not the least foundation 
 for it. He told me, that there never was any particular incident which 
 produced a quarrel between Lord Chesterfield and him ; but that his 
 lordship's continued neglect was the reason why he resolved to have no 
 connection with him. 
 
 When the Dictionary was upon the eve of publication, Lord Chester- 
 field, wlio, it is said, had flattered himself with expectations that John- 
 son 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 
 author ; and further attempted to conciliate him., by writing two papers 
 in " The World," in recommendation of the work ; and it must be con.- 
 fessed, that they contain some studied compliments, 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 by praise from a man of rank and elegant accomplish^ 
 meats, he was peculiarly gratified. His lordship sa,ya,- 
 
 ' ' I think the public in general, and the republic of letters in particular, are 
 greatly obliged to Mr. Johnson, for having undertaken and executed so great 
 and, desirable a work. Perfection is not to be expected from man ; but if we are 
 to judge by the various works-of Johnson already published, w have good reason to 
 believe, that he will bring this as near to perfection aaany, man could do, The plan 
 qf, if, which be published, some year& ago, seems to me to.be a.proof of it. Nothing 
 GOQ be mote rationally imagined, or more accurately, and elegantly
 
 176 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHSSOX. [1/54. 
 
 therefore recommend the previous perusal of it to all those who intend to buy the 
 Dictionary, 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 op-, j n 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 borrowed from 
 others ; but let it not, like the Tarpeian maid, be overwhelmed and crushed 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 prin- 
 ciple, I give my vote for Mr. Johnson, to fill that great and arduous post, and 
 hereby declare, that I make a total surrender of all my rights and privileges in 
 the English language, as a free-born British subject, to the said Mr. Johnson, 
 during the term of his dictatorship. Nay, more I will not only obey him like 
 an old 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 obe- 
 dience can never be expected, when there is neither terror to enforce, nor interest 
 to invite it." : 
 
 " But a Grammar, a Dictionary, and a History of our Language, through 
 its several 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 contribute to the farther spreading of our language in other 
 countries. Learners were discouraged, 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 Chesterfield should, for a moment, imagine that he 
 could be the dupe of such an artifice. His expression to me concerning 
 Lord Chesterfield, upon this occasion, was, " Sir, after making great 
 professions, he had, for many years, taken no notice of me ; but when 
 my Dictionary was coming out, he fell a scribbling in ' The 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 with him." 
 
 This is that celebrated letter of which so much has been said, and 
 about which curiosity has been so long excited, without being gratified, 
 I for many years solicited Johnson 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 me ; 1 till at last, in 1781, when we were on a 
 
 1 Dr. Johnson appeared to have had a remarkable delicacy with respect to the ciren- 
 lation of this letter ; for Dr. Douglas, Bishop of Salisbary, informs me that, having many 
 years ago pressed him to be allowed to read it to the second Lord Hardwicke, who was
 
 AGE 45.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 177 
 
 visit at Mr. Billy's, at Southill 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 handwriting. 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. 
 Langton's kindness, I am enabled to enrich my work with a perfect 
 transcript of what the world has so eagerly desired to see. 
 
 " TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF CHESTERFIELD. 
 
 " MY LORD, " February 7, 1775. 
 
 " I have been lately informed by the proprietor of " The World," that two 
 papers, in which my Dictionary is recommended to the public, were written by 
 your lordship. To be so distinguished, is an honour, which, being very little 
 accustomed to favours from the great, I^know not well how to receive, or in what 
 terms to acknowledge. 
 
 "When, upon some slight encouragement, I first visited your lordship, I 
 was overpowered, like the rest of mankind, by the enchantment of your address, 
 and could not forbear to wish that I might boast myself Le vainqueur du vainqueur 
 de la terre ; that I might obtain that regard for which I saw the world con- 
 tending ; but I found my attendance so little encouraged, that neither pride nor 
 modesty would suffer me to continue it. When I had once addressed your lord- 
 ship in public, I had exhausted all the art of pleasing which a retired and un- 
 courtly scholar can possess. I had done all that I could ; and no man is well 
 pleased to have his all neglected, be it ever so little. 
 
 " Seven years, my lord, have now passed, since I waited in your outward 
 rooms, or was repulsed from your door; during which time I have been pushing 
 on my work through difficulties, of which it is useless to complain, and have 
 brought it, at last, to the verge of publication, without one act of assistance,! 
 one word of encouragement, or one smile of favour. Such treatment I did not 
 expect, for I never had a patron before. 
 
 " The shepherd in ' Virgil ' grew at last acquainted with Love, and found 
 him a native of the rocks. 
 
 "Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man strug- 
 gling for life in the water, and wht n he has reached ground, emcumbers him 
 with help ? The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labours, had 
 it been early, had been kind ; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and 
 cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot impart it;2 till 1 am known, and 
 
 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 a 
 respectable character; but after pausing some time, declined to comply with the request, 
 saying, with a smile, " No, Sir; I have hurt the dog too much already ;" or words to 
 that purpose. Bos WELL. 
 
 1 The lollowing note is subjoined by Mr. Langton : " Dr. Johnson, when he gave 
 me this copy of his letter, desired that I would annex to it his information to me, that 
 whereas it is said in the letter that ' no assistance has been received,' he did OIK e receive 
 from Lord Chesterfield the &utn of ten pounds ; but as that was so inconsiderable a sum, 
 he thought the mention of it could not properly find a place in a letter of the kind that 
 this was." BOSWELL. 
 
 2 In this passage Dr. Johnson evidently alludes to the loss of his wife. We find the 
 same tender recollection recmring to his mind upon innumerable occasions : and, perhaps,
 
 178 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1754. 
 
 do not want it. I hope it is no very cynical asperity, not to confess obligations 
 where no benefit has been received, or to be unwilling that the public should 
 consider me as owing that to a patron, which Providence has enabled me to do for 
 myself. 
 
 ' ' Having carried on my work thus far with so little obligation to any favourer 
 of learning, I shall not be disappointed though I should conclude it, if less be pos- 
 sible, with less ; for I have been long wakened from that dream of hope, in which 
 I once boasted myself with so much exultation. 
 
 " My Lord, your lordship's most humble, 
 
 " Most obedient servant, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON."! 
 
 " While this was the talk of the town," says Dr. Adams, in a letter 
 to me, " I happened to visit Dr. Warburton, who, finding that I was 
 acquainted with Johnson, desired me earnestly to carry his compliments 
 to him, and to tell him, that he honoured him for his manly behaviour 
 in rejecting these condescensions of Lord Chesterfield, and for resenting 
 the treatment he had received from him with a proper spirit. Johnson 
 was visibly pleased with this compliment, for he had always a high 
 opinion ot Warburton.' >2 Indeed, the force of mind which appeared in this 
 letter, was congenial with that which Warburton himself amply possessed. 
 
 There is a curious minute circumstance which struck me, in com- 
 paring the various editions of " Johnson's Imitations of Juvenal." Jn 
 the tenth Satire one of the couplets upon the vanity of wishes even for 
 literary distinction stood thus : 
 
 " Yet think what ills the scholar's life assail, 
 Toil, envy, want, the garret, and the jail." 
 
 But after experiencing the uneasiness which Lord Chesterfield's falla- 
 cious patronage made him feel, he dismissed the word garret from the 
 sad group, and in all the subsequent editions the line stands, 
 " Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail." 
 
 no man ever more forcibly felt the truth of the sentiment so elegantly expressed by my 
 friend Mr. Malone, in bis Prologue to Mr. Jephson's tragedy of "Julia :" 
 " Vain wealth, and fame, and fortune's fostering care, 
 If no fond breast the i-plendid ble;-sings share ; 
 And, each day's bustling pageantry once past, 
 There, only there, our biiss is found at last." BOSWKLL. 
 
 i Upon comparing this copy with that which Dr. Johnson dictated to me from recol- 
 lection, the variations are found to be so slight, that this must be added to the many 
 other proofs which he gave of the wonderful extent and accuracy of his memory. To 
 gratify the curious in composition, I have deposited both the copies in the British Mu- 
 seum. BOSWELL. 
 
 2 Soon after Edwards's " Canons of Criticism" came out, Johnson was dining at Tonson 
 the Bookseller's, with Hay man the Painter and some more company. Hayman related 
 to Sir Joshua Reynolds, ihat the conversation having turned upon Edwards's book, the 
 gentlemen praised it much, and Johnson allowed its merit. But when they went further, 
 and appeared to put that author upon a level with Warburton, " Nay," said Johnson, "he 
 has given him some smart hits to be sure ; but there is no proportion between the two 
 men ; they must not be named together. A fly, Sir, may sting a stately horse, and make 
 him wince; but one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still." BOSWELL.
 
 AGR 45.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 179 
 
 That Lord Chesterfield must have been mortified by the lofty con- 
 tempt, and polite, yet keen, satire with which Johnson exhibited him to 
 himself in this letter, it is impossible to doubt. He, however, with that 
 glossy duplicity which was his constant study, affected to be quite un- 
 concerned. Dr. Adams mentioned to Mr. Robert Dodsley that he was 
 sorry Johnson had written his letter to Lord Chesterfield. Dodsley, 
 with the true feelings of trade, said, " he was very sorry too ; for that 
 he had a property in the Dictionary, to which his lordship's patronage 
 might have been of consequence." He then told Dr. Adams, that Lord 
 Chesterfield had shown him the letter. " I should have imagined,' 
 replied Dr. Adams, "that Lord Chesterfield would have concealed it." 
 " Poh!" said Dodsley, "do you think a letter from Johnson could 
 hurt Lord Chesterfield ? Not at all, Sir. It lay upon his table, 
 where any body might see it. He read it to me ; said, ' This man 
 has great powers,' pointed out the severest passages, and observed how 
 well they were expressed." This air of indifference, which imposed 
 upon the worthy Dodsley, was certainly nothing but a specimen of that 
 dissimulation which Lord Chesterfield inculcated as one of the most 
 essential lessons for the conduct of life. His lordship endeavoured to 
 justify himself to Dodsley from the charges brought against him by 
 Johnson ; but we may judge of the flimsiness of his defence, from his 
 having excused his neglect of Johnson, by saying, that " he had heard 
 he had changed his lodgings, and did not know where he lived ;" as if 
 there could have been the smallest difficulty to inform himself of that 
 circumstance, by inquiring in the literary circle with which his lordship 
 was well acquainted, and was, indeed, himself, one of its ornaments. 
 
 Dr. Adams expostulated with Johnson, and suggested, that his not 
 being admitted when he called on him, was probably not to be imputed 
 to Lord Chesterfield ; for his lordship had declared to Dodsley, that " he 
 would have turned off the best servant he ever had, if he had known that 
 he denied him to a man who would have been always more than wel- 
 come ;" and in confirmation of this, he insisted on Lord Chesterfield's 
 general affability and easiness of access, especially to literary men. 
 " Sir," Johnson, "that is not Lord Chesterfield ; he is the proudest 
 man this day existing." " No," said Dr. Adams, " there is one person, 
 at least, as proud ; I think, by your own account, you are the prouder 
 man of the two." " But mine, 1 ' replied Johnson instantly, " was defen- 
 sive pride." This, as Dr. Adams well observed, was one of those happy 
 turns, for which he was so remarkably ready. 
 
 Johnson having now explicitly avowed his opinion of Lord Chester- 
 field, did not refrain from expressing himself concerning that nobleman 
 with pointed freedom : " This man," said he, " I thought had been a 
 lord among wits, but I find, he is only a wit among lords I 1 ' 1 And 
 
 1 Johnson's character of Chesterfield seems to be imitated from inter dodos nobilisti- 
 mui, inter nobilet docliisimiti, i?iter utroique optimut ; (ex Apuleio. v. Erasm. Dedica- 
 te 2
 
 ISO BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1754. 
 
 when his Letters to his natural son were published, he observed, that 
 " they teach the morals of a whore, and the manners of a dancing 
 master." 1 
 
 The character of a " respectable Hottentot," in Lord Chesterfield's 
 Letters, has been generally understood to be meant for Johnson, and I 
 have no doubt that it was. But I remember when the Literary Property 
 of those letters was contested in the Court of Session in Scotland, and 
 Mr. Henry Dundas, 2 one of the counsel for the proprietors, read this 
 character as an exhibition of Johnson, Sir David Dalrymple, Lord 
 Hailes, one of the judges, maintained with some warmth, that it was 
 not intended as a portrait of Johnson, but of a late noble lord, distin- 
 guished for abstruse science. I have heard Johnson himself talk of the 
 character, and say that it was meant for George Lord Lyttelton, in 
 which I could by no means agree ; for his lordship had nothing of that 
 violence which is a conspicuous feature in the composition. Finding 
 that my illustrious friend could bear to have it supposed that it might 
 be meant for him, I said, laughingly, that there was one trait which un- 
 questionably did not belong to him ; " he throws his meat anywhere but 
 down his throat." " Sir," said he, " Lord Chesterfield never saw me 
 eat in his life." 
 
 On the 6th of March came out Lord Bolingbroke's works, published 
 by Mr. David Mallet. The wild and pernicious ravings, under the name 
 of " Philosophy," which were thus ushered into the world, gave great 
 offence to all well-principled men. Johnson, hearing of their tendency, 
 which nobody disputed, was roused with a just indignation, and pro- 
 nounced this memorable sentence upon the noble author and his editor : 
 " Sir, he was a scoundrel, and a coward ; a scoundrel, for charging a 
 blunderbuss against religion and morality ; a coward, because he had 
 
 tion of Adagies to Lord Mountjoy ;) and from 5iTijs tv <]>iho(TV<f>ois, <pt\oso<f>os ev 
 iSioraij. Proclus de Critia. KEARNEY. 
 
 1 That collection of letters cannot be vindicated from the serious charge of encouraging, 
 in some passages, one of the vices most destructive to the good order and comfort 
 of society, which his lordship represents as mere fashionable gallantry ; and, in others, 
 of inculcating the base practice of dissimulation, and recommending, with disproportionate 
 anxiety, a perpetual attention to external elegance ol manners. But it must, at the same 
 time, be allowed, that they contain many good precepts of conduct, and much genuine 
 information upon life and manners, very happily expressed, and that there was consider- 
 able merit in paying so much attention to the improvement of one who was dependant 
 upon his lordship's protection ; it has, probably, been exceeded in no instance by 
 the most exemplary parent ; and though I can by no means approve of confounding the 
 distinction between lawful and illicit offspring, which is, in effect, insulting the civil 
 establishment of our country, to look no higher ; I cannot help thinking it laudable to be 
 kindly attentive to those, of whose existence we have, in any way, been the cause. Mr. 
 Stanhope's character has been unjustly represented as diametrically opposite to what 
 Lord Chesterfield wished him to be. He has been called dull, gross, and awkward ; but 
 I knew him at Dresden, when he was Envoy to that Court, and though he could not 
 boast of the graces, he was, in truth, a sensible, civil, well-behaved man. BOSWKLI,. 
 
 2 Now [1792] one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State. Bos WELL. Mr. 
 Dundas was subsequently created Viscount Melville. ED.
 
 AGE 45.] 
 
 BOSWELLS LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 181 
 
 not resolution to fire it off himself, but left half-a-crown to a beggarly 
 Scotchman, to draw the trigger after his death ! " Garrick, who, I can 
 attest from my own knowledge, had his mind seasoned with pious 
 reverence, and sincerely disapproved of the infidel writings of several, 
 whom, in the course of his almost universal gay intercourse with men of 
 eminence, he treated with external civility, distinguished himself upon 
 this occasion. Mr. Pelham having died on the very day on which Lord 
 Bolingbroke's works came out, he wrote an elegant Ode on his death, 
 beginning 
 
 " Let others hail the rising sun, 
 
 I bow to that whose course is run ;" 
 in which is the following stanza : 
 
 " The same sad morn, to Church and State 
 (So for our sins 'twas fix'd by fate) 
 
 A double stroke was given ; 
 Black as the whirlwinds of the North, 
 St. John's fell genius issued forth, 
 And Pelham' s fled to heaven." 
 
 Johnson this year found an interval of leisure to make an excur- 
 sion to Oxford, for the purpose of consulting the libraries there. Of 
 this, and of many interesting circumstances concerning him, during a 
 part of his life when he conversed but little with the world, I am enabled 
 to give a particular account, by the liberal communications of the Rev. 
 Mr. Thomas Warton, who obligingly furnished me with several of our 
 common friend's letters, which he illustrated with notes. These I shall 
 insert in their proper places. 
 
 " TO THE REVEREND MR. THOMAS WARTON. 
 
 " SIR, " [London,] July 16, 1754. 
 
 " It is but an ill return for the book with 
 which you were pleased to favour me, 1 to 
 have delayed my thanks for it till now. I 
 am too apt to be negligent ; but I can 
 never deliberately show my disrespect to a 
 man of your character : and I now pay you 
 a very honest acknowledgment, for the ad- 
 vancement of the literature of our native 
 country. You have shown to all, who shall 
 hereafter attempt the study of our ancient 
 authors, the way to success; by directing 
 them to the perusal of the books which 
 those authors had read. Of this method, 
 Hughes, 2 and men much greater than 
 
 1 Observations on Spenser's " Fairy Queen," the first edition of which was now pub- 
 lished. BOSWELL. 
 
 2 Hughes published an edition of Spenser. WARTON. The best known production 
 of Hughes, is his tragedy qf the " Siege of Damascus." ED. 
 
 EV. THOMAS WARTON.
 
 182 
 
 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 [1754. 
 
 Hughes, seem never to have thought. The reason why the authors, which are 
 jet read, of the sixteenth century, are so little understood, is, that they are 
 read alone ; and no help is borrowed from those who lived with them, or before 
 them. Some part of this ignorance I hope to remove by my book [his Dictionary], 
 which now draws towards its end ; but which I cannot finish to my mind, without 
 visiting the libraries of Oxford, which I therefore hope to see in a fortnight. 1 
 I know not how long I shall stay, or where I shall lodge ; but shall be sure to 
 look for you at my arrival, and we shall easily settle the rest. 
 
 " I am, dear Sir, your most obedient, &c., 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 Of his conversation while at Oxford at this time, Mr. Warton pre- 
 served and communicated to me the following memorial, which, though 
 not written with all the care and attention which that learned and elegant 
 writer bestowed on those compositions which he intended for the public 
 eye, is so happily expressed in an easy style, that I should injure it by 
 any alteration : 
 
 " When Johnson came to Oxford in 1754, the long vacation was beginning, 
 and most people were leaving the place. This was the first time of his being 
 there after quitting the University. The next morning after his arrival, he 
 wished to see his old college, Pembroke. I went with him. He was highly 
 pleased to find all the college-servants which he had left there still remaining, 
 particularly a very old butler ; and expressed great satisfaction at being recog- 
 nised by them, and conversed with them familiarly. He waited on the master, 
 Dr. Radcliffe, who received him very coldly. Johnson at least expected, that 
 the master would order a copy of his Dictionary, now near publication ; but the 
 
 XITTEL BILL. 
 
 1 He came to Oxford within a fortnight, and stayed about five weeks. He lodged at 
 a house called Kettel Hall, near Trinity College. But during this visit at Oxford, he 
 collected nothing in the libraries for his Dictionary. MALOWB.
 
 AGE 45.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 183 
 
 master did not choose to talk on the subject, never asked Johnson to dine, nor 
 even to visit him, while he stayed at Oxford. After we had left the lodgings, 
 Johnson said to me, ' There lives a man, who lives by the revenues of literature, 
 and will not move a finger to support it. If I come to live at Oxford, I shall 
 take up my abode at Trinity." We then called on the Reverend Mr. Meeke, one 
 of the fellows, and of Johnson's standing. Here was a most cordial greeting 
 on both sides. On leaving him, Johnson said, ' I used to think Meeke had 
 excellent parts, when we were boys together at the college ; but, alas ! 
 
 ' Lost in a convent's solitary gloom !' 
 
 I remember, at the classical lecture in the Hall, I could not bear Meeke' s superiority, 
 and I tried to sit as far from him as I could, that I might not hear him construe.' 
 
 "As we were leaving the college, he said, ' Here I translated Pope's ' Mes- 
 siah.' Which do you think is the best line in it? My own favourite is, 
 
 ' Vallis aromaticas fundlt Saronica nubes.' 
 
 I told him, I thought it a very sonorous hexameter. I did not tell him, it was 
 not in the Virgilian style. He much regretted that his first tutor was dead ; for 
 whom he seemed to retain the greatest regard. He said, ' I once had been a 
 whole morning sliding in Christ-Church meadows, and missed his lecture in 
 logic. After dinner he sent for me to his room. I expected a sharp rebuke for 
 my idleness, and went with a beating heart. When we were seated, he told me 
 he had sent for me to drink a glass of wine with him, and to tell me, he was not 
 angry with me for missing his lecture. This was, in fact, a most severe repri- 
 mand. Some more of the boys were then sent for, and we spent a very pleasant 
 afternoon.' Besides Mr. Meeke, there was only one other fellow of Pembroke 
 now resident : from both of whom Johnson received the greatest civilities during 
 this visit, and they pressed him very much to have a room in the college. 
 
 "In the course of this visit (1754), Johnson and I walked three or four 
 times to Ellsfield, a village beautifully situated about three miles from Oxford, 
 
 or MIL WISE.
 
 184 
 
 BOSWELLS LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 [1754. 
 
 
 to see Mr. Wise, Radclivian librarian, with whom Johnson was much pleased. 
 At this place, Mr. Wise had fitted up a house and gardens, in a singular manner, 
 but with great taste. Here was an excellent library, particularly a valuable col- 
 lection of books in Northern literature, with which Johnson was often very busy. 
 One day Mr. Wise read to us a dissertation which he was preparing for the press, 
 
 entitled, ' A History and Chronology 
 of the Fabulous Ages.' Some old 
 divinities of Thrace, related to the 
 Titans, and called the Cabiri, made 
 a very important part of the theory 
 of this piece ; and in conversation 
 afterwards, Mr. Wise talked much of 
 his Cabiri. As we returned to 
 Oxford in the evening, I outwalked 
 Johnson, and he cried out Sufflamina, 
 a Latin word, which came from his 
 mouth with peculiar grace, and was 
 as much as to say, Put on your drag 
 chain. Before we got home, I again 
 walked too fast for him ; and he new 
 cried out, ' Why, you walk as if you 
 were pursued by all the Cabiri in 
 a body.' In an evening we frequently 
 took long walks from Oxford into the 
 country, returning to supper. Once, 
 OSESET ABBEY. m our wav home, we viewed theruina 
 
 of the abbeys of Oseney and Rewley, 
 
 near Oxford. After at least half an hour's silence, Johnson said, ' I viewed 
 them with indignation !' We had then a long conversation on Gothic buildings ; 
 and in talking of the form of old halls, he said, ' In these halls, the fire-place 
 
 KEWLET ABBEI
 
 AGE 45.] BOSWEIX'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 185 
 
 was anciently always in the middle of the room, till the Whigs removed it on one 
 side.' About this time there had been an execution of two or three criminals at 
 Oxford, on a Monday. Soon afterwards, one day at dinner, I was saying that 
 Mr. Swinton, the chaplain of the gaol, and also a frequent preacher before the 
 University, a learned man, but often thoughtless and absent, preached the con- 
 demnation sermon on repentance, before the convicts, on the preceding day, 
 Sunday ; and that in the close he told his audience, that he should give them the 
 remainder of what he had to say on the subject, the next Lord's day. Upon 
 which, one of our company, a Doctor of Divinity, and a plain matter-of-fact man, 
 by way of offering an apology for Mr. Swinton, gravely remarked, that he had 
 probably preached the same sermon before the University: 'Yes, Sir,' says 
 Johnson, ' but the University were not to be hanged the next morning. ' 
 
 " I forgot to observe before, that when he left Mr. Meeke (as I have told 
 above), he added, ' About the same time of life, Meeke was left behind at Oxford 
 to feed on a Fellowship, and I went to London to get my living : now, Sir, see 
 the difference of our literary characters !' " 
 
 The following letter was written by Dr. Johnson to Mr. Chambers, 
 of Lincoln College, afterwards Sir Robert Chambers, one of the judges 
 in India : J 
 
 " TO MR. CHAMBERS, OF LINCOLN COLLEGE. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, " Nov. 21, 1754. 
 
 " The commission which I delayed to trouble you with at your departure, I 
 am now obliged to send you ; and beg that you will be so kind as to carry it to 
 Mr. Warton, of Trinity, to whom I should have written immediately, but that 
 I know not if he be yet come back to Oxford. 
 
 " In the Catalogue of MSS. of Gr. Brit, see vol. i. page 18, MSS. Bodl. 
 MARTYRIUM xv. martyrum sub Juliana, auctore Theophylacto. 
 
 "It is desired that Mr. Warton will inquire, and send word, what will be 
 the cost of transcribing this manuscript. 
 
 " Vol. ii. p. 32. Num. 1022. 58. COLL. Nov. Commentaria in Acta Apos- 
 tol. Comment, in Srptem. Epistolas Catholicas. 
 
 " He is desired to tell what is the age of each of these manuscripts : and what 
 it will cost to have a transcript of the two first pages of each. 
 
 " If Mr. Warton be not in Oxford, you may try if you can get it done by any 
 body else ; or stay till he comes, according to your own convenience. It is for 
 an Italian literato. 
 
 " The answer is to be directed to his Excellency Mr. Zon, Venetian Eesident, 
 Soho-square. 
 
 " I hope, dear Sir, that you do not regret the change of London for Oxford. 
 Mr. Baretti is well, and Miss Williams ; 2 and we shall all be glad to hear from you, 
 whenever you shall be so kind as to write to, Sir, 
 
 " Your most humble servant, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 1 Communicated by the Rev. Mr. Thomas Warton, who had the original. BOSWKLL. 
 
 2 I presume she was a relation of Mr. Zachariah Williams, who died in his eighty- 
 third year, July 12, 1755. When Dr. Johnson was with me at Oxford, in 1765, he gave 
 .to the Bodleian Library a thin quarto of twenty-one pages, a work in Italian, with an
 
 186 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1754. 
 
 The degree of Master of Arts, which, it has been observed, could 
 not be obtained for him at an early period of his life, was now considered 
 as an honour of considerable importance, in order to grace the title-page 
 of his Dictionary ; and his character in the literary world being by this 
 time deservedly high, his friends thought that, if proper exertions were 
 made, the University of Oxford would pay him the compliment. 
 
 "TO THE REVEREND MR. THOMAS WARTON. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, " [London] Nov. 28, 1754. 
 
 " I am extremely obliged to you and to Mr. Wise, for the uncommon care 
 which you have taken of my interest j 1 if you can accomplish your kind design, 
 I shall certainly take me a little habitation among you. 
 
 " The books which I promised to Mr. Wise, 2 I have not been able to pro- 
 cure : but I shall send him a Finnick Dictionary, the only copy, perhaps, in 
 England, which was presented me by a learned Swede : but I keep it back, that 
 it may make a set of my own books of the new edition, with which I shall accom- 
 pany it, more welcoma You will assure him of my gratitude. 
 
 " Poor dear Collins !s Would a letter give him any pleasure? I have a 
 mind to write. 
 
 English translation on the opposite page. The English title-page is this : " An Account 
 of an Attempt to ascertain the Longitude at Sea, by an exact Variation of the Magnetical 
 Needle, &c. By Zachariah Williams. London, printed for Dodsley, 1755." The English 
 translation, from the strongest internal marks, is unquestionably the work of Johnson. 
 In a blank leaf, Johnson has written the age, and time of death, of the author Z. Williams, 
 as I have said above. On another blank leaf, is pasted a paragraph from a newspaper, 
 of the death and character of Williams, which is plainly written by Johnson. He was 
 very anxious about placing this book in the Bodleian: and, for fear of any omission or 
 mistake, he entered, in the great Catalogue, the title-page of it with his own hand. 
 WARTON. 
 
 In this statement there is a slight mistake. The English account, which was written 
 by Johnson, was the original; the Italian was a trantlation, done by Baretti. See p. 
 201. MALONK. 
 
 1 In procuring him the degree of Master of Arts by diploma at Oxford. WARTON. 
 
 2 Lately Fellow of Trinity College, and at this time Radclivian librarian, at Oxford. 
 He was a man of very considerable learning, and eminently skilled in Roman and Anglo 
 Saxon antiquities. He died in 1767. WARTON. 
 
 8 Collins, the poet, was at this time at Oxford, on a visit to Mr. Warton ; but labour- 
 ing under the most deplorable languor of body, and dejection of mind. WARTON. 
 
 In a letter to Dr. Josefft Warton, written some months before (March 8, 1754), Dr. 
 Johnson thus speaks of Collins : 
 
 " But how little can we venture to exult in any intellectual powers or literary attain- 
 ments, when we consider the condition of poor Collins ! I knew him a few years ago full 
 of hopes, and full of projects, versed in many languages, high in fancy, and strong in 
 retention. This busy and forcible mind is now under the government of those, who lately 
 could not have been able to comprehend the least and most narrow of his designs. What 
 do you hear of him? are there hopes of his recovery? or is he to pass the remainder 
 of his life in misery and degradation? perhaps, with complete consciousness of his 
 calamity." 
 
 In a subsequent letter to the same gentleman (Dec. 24, 1754), he thus feelingly alludes 
 to their unfortunate friend : 
 
 " Poor dear Collins ! Let me know whether you think it would give him pleasure if I 
 should write to him. I have often been near his state, and therefore have it in great 
 commiseration." 
 
 Again, April 9, 1756: 
 
 " What becomes of poor dear Collins ? I wrote him a letter which he never answered.
 
 AGE 45.1 BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 187 
 
 " I am glad of your hindrance in your Spenserian design, 1 yet I would not 
 have it delayed. Three hours a day stolen from sleep and amusement will pro- 
 duce it. Let a Servitors transcribe the quotations, and interleave them with 
 references, to save time. This will shorten the work, and lessen the fatigue. 
 
 "Can I do any thing to promoting the diploma? I would not be wanting 
 to co-operate with your kindness ; of which, whatever be the effect, I shall be, 
 dear Sir, " Your most obliged, &c. 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 TO THE SAME. 
 " DEAR SIR, [London] Dec. 21, 1754. 
 
 "I am extremely sensible of the favour done me, both by Mr. Wise and 
 yourself. The book [his Dictionary] cannot, I think, be printed in less than 
 six weeks, nor probably so soon ; and I will keep back the title-page, for such 
 an insertion as you seem to promise me. Be pleased to let me know what money 
 I shall send you for bearing the expense of the affair ; and I will take care that 
 you may have it ready at your hand. 
 
 "I had lately the favour of a letter from your brother, with some account of 
 poor Collins, for whom I am much concerned. I have a notion, that by very 
 great temperance, or more properly abstinence, he may yet recover. 
 
 "There is an old English and Latin book of poems by Barclay, called "The 
 Ship of Fools : " at the end of which are a number of Eglogues, so he writes it, 
 from Egloga, which are probably the first in our language. If you cannot find 
 the book, T will get Mr. Dodsley to send it you. 
 
 " I shall be extremely glad to hear from you again, to know if the affair 
 proceeds. 3 I have mentioned it to none of my friends, for fear of being laughed 
 at for my disappointment. 
 
 ' ' You know poor Mr. Dodsley has lost his wife ; I believe he is much affected. 
 I hope he will not suffer so much as I yet suffer for the loss of mine. 
 
 Oljuot- TJ 5' otp.oi ; Ovririi y&p irf-n6vQaiJLev. i 
 
 I have ever since seemed to myself broken off from mankind : a kind of solitary 
 wanderer in the wild of life, without any direction, or fixed point of view : a 
 gloomy gazer on the world to which I have little relation. Yet I would en- 
 deavour, by the help of you and your brother, to supply the want of closer union, 
 by friendship ; and hope to have long the pleasure of being, dear Sir, 
 
 " Most affectionately yours, SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 I suppose writing is very troublesome to him. That man is no common [loss. The 
 moralists all talk of the uncertainty of fortune, and the transitoriness of beauty; but it 
 is yet more dreadful to consider that the powers of the mind are equally liable to change, 
 that understanding may make its appearance and depart, that it may blaze and expire." 
 
 See Biographical Memoirs of the late Eeverend Dr. Joseph Warton, by the Keverend 
 John Wool, A.M., 4to., 1806. 
 
 Mr. Collins, who was the son of a hatter at Chichester, was born December 25, 1720, 
 and was released from the dismal state here so pathetically described, in 1756. MALONK. 
 
 1 Of publishing a volume of observations on the best of Spenser's works. It was 
 hindered by my taking pupils in this college. WARTON. 
 
 a Young students of the lowest lank at Oxford are so called. WARTON. 
 
 8 Of the degree at Oxford. WARTON. 
 
 * This verse is taken from the long lost " Bellerophon," a tragedy by Euripides. It 
 is preserved by Suidas in his Lexicon, Voc. OZ/xot II. p. 666 ; where the reading is, 
 TOI veTt6v&ati.(t>. RKV. C. BURNEY.
 
 188 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1755. 
 
 In 1755 we behold him to great advantage ; his degree of Master of 
 Arts conferred upon him, his Dictionary published, his correspondence 
 animated, his benevolence exercised. 
 
 "TO THE REVEREND MR. THOMAS WARTOX. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, " [London] Feb. 4, 1755. 
 
 "I wrote to you some weeks ago, but believe did not direct accurately, and 
 therefore know not whether you had my letter. I would, likewise, write to your 
 brother, but know not where to find him. I now begin to see land, after having 
 wandered, according to Mr. Warburton's phrase, in this vast sea of words. What 
 reception I shall meet with on the shore I know not ; whether the sound of bells, and 
 acclamations of the people, which Ariosto talks of in his last Canto, or a general 
 murmur of dislike, I know not : whether I shall find upon the coast a Calypso that 
 will court, or a Polypheme that will resist. But if Polypheme comes, have at his 
 eye. I hope, however, the critics will let me be at peace ; for though I do not 
 much fear their skill and strength, I am a little afraid of myself, and would not 
 willingly feel so much ill-will in my bosom as literary quarrels are apt to excite. 
 "Mr. Baretti is about a work, for which he is in great want of Crescimbeni, 
 which you may have again when you please. 
 
 " There is nothing considerable done or doing among us here. We are not, 
 perhaps, as innocent as villagers, but most of us seem to be as idle. I hope, 
 however, you are busy, and should be glad to know what you are doing. 
 
 " I am, dearest Sir, 
 
 " Your humble servant, 
 
 "SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 "DEAR SIR, "[London] Feb. 4, 1755. 
 
 " I received your letter this day, with great sense of the favour that has been 
 done me ;i for which I return my most sincere thanks, and entreat you to pay 
 to Mr. Wise such returns as I ought to make for so much kindness so little 
 deserved. 
 
 " I sent Mr. Wise the Lexicon, and afterwards wrote to him ; but know not 
 whether he had either the book or letter. Be so good as to contrive to inquire- 
 "But why does my dear Mr. Warton tell me nothing of himself? Where 
 hangs the new volume ? 2 Can I help ? Let not the past labour be lost for want 
 of a little more : but snatch what time you can from the Hall, and the pupils, 
 and the coffee-house, and the parks, and complete your design. 
 
 " I am, dear Sir, &c. SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, [London] Feb. 13, 1755. 
 
 "I had a letter last week from Mr. Wise, but have yet heard nothing from 
 you, nor know in what state my affair 8 stands ; oi which I beg you to inform 
 me, if you can, to-morrow, by the return of the post. 
 
 1 His degree had now past, according to the usual form, the suffrages of the heads of 
 colleges; but was not yet finally granted by the University, it was carried without a 
 single dissentient voice. WABTON. 
 
 2 On Spenser. WABTON. 8 Of the degree. WAKTON.
 
 ACK 46.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 189 
 
 " Mr. Wise sends me word that he has not had the Finnick Lexicon yet, 
 which I sent some time ago ; and if he has it not, you must inquire after it. 
 However, do not let your letter stay for that. 
 
 " Your brother, who is a better correspondent than you, and not much 
 better, sends me word that your pupils keep you in college ; but do they keep 
 you from writing too ? Let them, at least, give you time to write to, dear Sir, 
 
 ' ' Your most affectionate, &c. 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, " [London] Feb. 1755. 
 
 " Dr. King 1 was with me a few minutes before your letter; this, however, 
 is the first instance in which your kind intentions to me have ever been frus- 
 trated. 2 I have now the full effect of your care and benevolence ; and am far 
 from thinking it a slight honour, or a small advantage ; since it will put the 
 enjoyment of your conversation more frequently in the power of, dear Sir, 
 
 ' ' Your most obliged and affectionate, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 " P.S. I have enclosed a letter to the Vice-Chancellor, 3 which you will read; 
 and, if you like it, seal and give him." 
 
 As the public will doubtless be pleased to see the whole progress of 
 this well-earned academical honour, 1 shall insert the Chancellor of 
 Oxford's letter to the University, 4 the diploma, and Johnson's letter of 
 thanks to the Vice-Chancellor. 
 
 " TO THE REV. DR. HUDDESFORD, 
 
 Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford ; to be communicated to the Heads of 
 Houses, and proposed in Convocation. 
 
 " Grosvenor-street, Feb. 4, J755- 
 " MR. VICE-CHANCELLOR AND GENTLEMEN, 
 
 " Mr. Samuel Johnson, who was formerly of Pembroke College, having very 
 eminently distinguished himself by the publication of a series of essays, excel- 
 lently calculated to form the manners of the people, and in which the cause 
 of religion and morality is every where maintained by the strongest powers 
 of argument and language ; and who shortly intends to publish a Dictionary of 
 the English Tongue, formed on a new plan, and executed with the greatest 
 labour and judgment ; I persuade myself that 1 shall act agreeable to the senti- 
 ments of the whole University, in desiring that it may be proposed in convocation 
 to confer on him the degree of Master of Arts by diploma, to which I readily 
 give my consent, and am, Mr. Vice-Chancellor and Gentlemen, 
 
 " Your affectionate friend and servant, 
 
 " ARRAN." 
 
 1 Principal of Saint Mary Hall, at Oxford. He brought with him the diploma from 
 Oxford. WABTON. 
 
 2 1 suppose Johnson means that my kind intention of being the first to give him the 
 good news of the degree being granted was frustrated, because Dr. King brought it before 
 my intelligence arrived. WABTON. 
 
 8 Dr. Huddesford, President of Trinity College. WARTON. 
 
 * Extracted from the Convocation Kegister, Oxford, BOSWKLL.
 
 190 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1755. 
 
 Term. S** 1 - 
 
 Hilarii. " DIPLOMA HAGISTRI JOHNSON. 
 
 1755. 
 
 " CANCELLARIUS, Magistri et ScMares Unwersitatis Oxoniensi$ omnibus 
 ad quos hoc presens scriptum pervenerit, salutem in Domino sempiternam. 
 
 " Cum eum in Jinem gradus academwi a majoribus nostris instituti fuerint, ut 
 viri ingenio et doctrind prcestantes titulis quoque prater cceteros insignirentur ; 
 ciimque vir doctissimus Samuel Johnson e Collegia Pembrochiensi, scriptis suis 
 popularium mores informantibus dudum liter ato orbi innotuerit ; quin et lingua 
 patrue turn ornandte turn stabiliend<e {Lexicon scilicet Anglicanum summo studio, 
 summo a sejudicio congestum propediem editurus) etiamnunc utilissimam impendat 
 operam; Nos igitur Cancellarius, Magistri, et Scholares antedicti, ne virum de 
 literis humanioribus optime meritum diutius inhonoratum pratereamus, in soknni 
 Convocatione Doctorum, Magistrorum, Regentium, et non Regentium, decimo die 
 Mensis Februarii Anno Domini Millesimo Septingentesimo Quinquagesimo quinto 
 habitd, prafatum virum Samuelem Johnson (conspirantibus omnium suffragiis) 
 Magistrum in Artibus renunciavimw et constituimus ; eumqtte, virtute prcesentis 
 diplomatic, singulis juribus privilegiis et honoribus ad istum gradum quiiqua 
 pertinentibus frui et gauderejussimtts. 
 
 " In cuj'tts rei testimonium sigillum Unwersitatis Oxoniensis prcesentibus apponi 
 fecimus. 
 
 "Datum in Domo nostrce Convocationis die 20 
 Mensis Feb. Anno Dom. prcedicto. 
 
 11 Diploma supra scriptum per Eegistrarium lectum erat, et ex decreto venera- 
 bilis Domus eommuni JJniversitatis sigitto munitum." 1 
 
 "Londini, Mo Cal. Mart. 1755. 
 "VIRO KEVERENDO HUDDESFORD, S. T. P. 
 " Universitatis Oxoniensis Vice-Cancellario Dignissimo, S. P. D. 
 "SAM. JOHN soN. 2 
 
 " INORATUS plane et tibi et mihi videar, nisi quanta me gaudio affecerint, 
 quos nuper mihi honor es (te, credo, auctore,) decrevit Senatus Academicus, liter a- 
 rum, quo tamen nihil levius, officio, significem; ingratus etiam, nisi comitatem, 
 qud vir eximius 3 mihi vestri testimonium amoris in manus tradidit, agnoscam et 
 laudem. Si quid est, unde rei tarn grata accedat gratia, hoc ipso magis mihi 
 placet, quod eo tempore in ordines Academicos denub cooptatus sim, quo tuam 
 imminuere auctoritatem, famamque Oxonii leedere, omnibus modis conantur homines 
 vafri, nee tamen acuti: quibus ego, prout viro umbratico licuit, semper restiti, 
 semper restiturus. Qui enim, inter has rerum procettas, vel tibi vel Academic 
 defuerit, ilium virtuti et literis, sibique et posteris, defuturum existimo. Vale." 
 
 "TO THE REVEREND MR. THOMAS WARTON. 
 
 ' ' DEAR SIR, [London] March 20, 1755. 
 
 " After I received my diploma, I wrote you a letter of thanks, with a letter 
 to the Vice-Chancellor, and sent another to Mr. Wise ; hut have heard from 
 
 1 The original is in my possession. BOS-WELL. 
 
 2 The superscription of this letter was not quite correct in the early editions of this 
 work. It is here given from Dr. Johnson's original letter, now before me. MALONE. 
 
 s We may conceive what a high gratification it must haveheento Johnson to receive 
 his diploma from the hands of the great Dr. King, whose principles were so congenial 
 with his own. BOSWELL.
 
 AOK 46.] BOSWELL'S I-IFE OF JOHNSON. 191 
 
 nobody since, and begin to tbink myself forgotten. It is true, I sent you a 
 double letter, and you may fear an expensive correspondent ; but I would have 
 taken it kindly, if you had returned it treble : and what is a double letter to a 
 petty king, that, having fellowship and fines, can sleep without a Modus in his 
 head 
 
 "Dear Mr. Warton, let me hear from you, and tell me something, I care not 
 what, so I hear it but from you. Something I will 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 uninvited, or stay here where nobody perhaps would miss me if I went ? 
 A hard choice ! But such is the world to, dear Sir, 
 
 "Yours, &c. 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, " [London] March 25, 1755. 
 
 "Though not to write, when a man can write so well, is an offence suffi- 
 ciently heinous, yet I shall pass it by. I am very glad that the Vice-Chancellor 
 was pleased with my note. 1 shall impatiently expect you at London, that we 
 may consider what to do next. I intend in the winter to open a Bibliothvque, 
 and remember, that you are to subscribe a sheet a year : let us try, likewise, if 
 we cannot persuade your brother to subscribe another. My book is now coming 
 in luminis oras. 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 vulgar 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 compliments to all my friends ; and be so 
 kind, at every idle hour, as to remember, dear Sir, 
 
 " Yours, &c. 
 
 "SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 Dr. Adams told me, that this scheme of a Bibliotheque was a serious 
 one : for upon his visiting him one day, he found his parlour floor 
 covered with parcels of foreign and English literary journals, and he 
 told Dr. Adams he meant to undertake a Review. " How, Sir," said 
 Dr. Adams, " can you think of doing it alone? All branches of know- 
 ledge must be considered in it. Do you know Mathematics ? 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 1 shall have, in a 
 good measure, the choice of my subject, for I shall select such books as 
 I best understand." Dr. Adams suggested, that as Dr. Maty had just 
 then finished his Bibliotheque Britannique, which was a well-executed 
 work, giving foreigners an account of British publications, he might, 
 with great advantage, assume him as an assistant. " He" said 
 
 1 The words in italics are allusions to passages in Mr. Warton's poem, called " The 
 Progress of Discontent," now lately published. WABTON.
 
 192 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1755. 
 
 Johnson, " the little black dog ! I 'd throw him into the Thames. MI 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 Annals of Literature, 
 foreign as well as domestic. Imitate Le Clerc Bayle Barbeyrac. In- 
 felicity of Journals in England. 'Works of the learned.' We cannot 
 take in all. Sometimes copy from foreign Journalists. Always tell." 
 
 "TO DR. BIRCH. 
 
 "SIR, "March 29, 1765. 
 
 " I have sent some parts of my Dictionary, such as were at hand, for your 
 inspection. The favour which I beg is, that if you do not like them, you will 
 say nothing. I am, Sir, 
 
 " Your most affectionate humble servant, 
 
 " SAM JOHNSON." 
 "TO MR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. 
 
 "SIR, " Norfolk-street, April 23, 1755. 
 
 " The part of your Dictionary which you have favoured me with the sight of 
 has given me such an idea of the whole, that 1 most sincerely congratulate the 
 public upon the acquisition of a work long wanted, and now executed with an 
 industry, accuracy, and judgment, equal to the importance of the subject. You 
 might, perhaps, have chosen one in which your genius would have appeared to 
 more advantage, 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 pos- 
 terity. I am glad that your health has supported the application necessary to 
 the performance of so vast a task ; and can undertake to promise you as one 
 V though perhaps the only) reward 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 affectionate humble servant, 
 
 "Tno. BIRCH." 
 
 Mr. Charles Burney, who has since distinguished himself so much in 
 the science of music, 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 Norfolk. 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. Johnson, begging to be informed when and in what manner 
 his Dictionary would be published ; entreating if it should be by sub- 
 scription, or he should have any books at his own disposal, to be favoured 
 with six copies for himself and friends. 
 
 In answer to this application, Dr. Johnson wrote the following letter, 
 of which (to use Dr. Burney's own words) " it it be remembered that it 
 
 1 Dr. Maty was a native of Holland, born in 1718: in 1740 he settled in England, 
 and became Secretary of the Royal Society and principal Librarian of the British Museum. 
 His critical abilities are praised by Gibbon. ED.
 
 AGE 46.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSOX. 193 
 
 was written to an obscure young man, who at this time had not much 
 distinguished himself even in his own profession, but whose name could 
 never have reached the author of the ' Rambler,' the politeness and 
 urbanity may be opposed to some of the stories which have been lately 
 .circulated of Dr. Johnson's' natural rudeness and ferocity." 
 
 " TO MR. BURNEY, IN LYNNE REGIS, NORFOLK. 
 
 " SIR, Gough-square, Fleet-street, April 8, 1755. 
 
 " If you imagine that by delaying my answer I intended to show any neglect 
 of the notice with which you have favoured me, yon will neither think justly of 
 yourself nor of me. Your civilities were offered with too much elegance not to 
 engage attention ; and I have too much pleasure in pleasing men like you, not 
 to feel very sensibly the distinction which you have bestowed upon me. 
 
 " Few consequences of my endeavours to please or to benefit mankind have 
 delighted me more than your friendship thus voluntarily offered, which now I 
 have it I hope to keep, because I hope to continue to deserve 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, 1 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 
 
 " And most humble servant, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 Mr. Andrew Millar, bookseller in the Strand, took the principal 
 charge of conducting the publication of "Johnson's Dictionary;" and 
 as the patience of the proprietors 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 author 
 was often goaded to despatch, 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." 1 It is remarkable, that those with whom Johnson 
 chiefly contracted for his literary labours were Scotchmen, Mr. Millar 
 and Mr. Strahan. Millar, 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 copyright; the consequence 
 of which was his acquiring a very large fortune, with great liberality. 
 
 1 Sir John Hawkins, p. 341, inserts two notes as having passed formally 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. BOWKLL.
 
 194 BOSWELI/8 LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1755. 
 
 Johnson said of him, " I respect Millar, Sir; he has raised the price of 
 literature." The same praise may be justly given to Panckoucke, the 
 eminent bookseller of Paris. Mr. Strahan's liberality, judgment, and 
 success, are well known. 
 
 "TO BENNET LANGTON, ESQ., AT LAHGTOH, NEAR SFILSBY, LINCOLNSHIRE. 
 " SIR, " Ma 7 6 . 1755 > 
 
 " It has been long observed that men do not suspect faults which they do not 
 commit ; your own elegance of manners, and punctuality of complaisance, did not 
 suffer you to impute to me that negligence of which I was guilty, and [for] which 
 I hare not since atoned. I received both your letters, and received them with 
 pleasure proportioned to the esteem which so short an acquaintance strongly im- 
 pressed, and which I hope to confirm by nearer knowledge, though I am afraid 
 that gratification will be for a time withheld. 
 
 " I have, indeed, published my book [his Dictionary], of which I beg to know 
 your father's judgment, and yours ; and 1 have now staid long enough to watch its 
 progress in the world. It has, you see, no patrons, and, I think, has yet had no 
 opponents, except the critics of the coffee-house, whose outcries are soon dispersed 
 into the air, and are thought on no more ; from this, therefore, I am at liberty, 
 and think of taking the opportunity of this interval to make an excursion, and 
 why not then into Lincolnshire ? or, to mention a stronger attraction, why not 
 to dear Mr. Langton ? I will give the true reason, which I know you will ap- 
 prove : I have a mother more than eighty years old, who has counted the days 
 to the publication of my book, in hopes of seeing me ; and to her, if I can dis- 
 engage myself here, I resolve to go. 
 
 " As I know, dear Sir, that to delay my visit for a reason like this, will not 
 deprive me of your esteem, I beg it may not lessen your kindness. I have very 
 seldom received an offer of friendship which I so earnestly desire to cultivate and 
 mature. I shall rejoice to hear from you, till I can see you, and will see you as 
 soon as I can ; for when the duty that calls me to Lichfield is discharged, my 
 inclination will carry me to Langton. I shall delight to hear the ocean roar, or 
 see the stars twinkle, in the company of men to whom Nature does not spread 
 her volumes or utter her voice in vain. 
 
 " Do not, dear Sir, make the slowness of this letter a precedent for delay, or 
 imagine that I approve the incivility that I have committed ; for I have knowu 
 you enough to love you, and sincerely to wish a further knowledge ; and I assure 
 you once more, that to live in a house that contains such a father, and such a 
 bon, will be accounted a very uncommon degree of pleasure, by, dear Sir, 
 " Your most obliged, 
 
 "And most humble servant, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 " TO THE REVEREND MR. THOMAS WARTON. 
 
 " DEAR Sl, . " [London] May 13, 1755. 
 
 " I am grieved that you should think me capable of neglecting yours letters; 
 and beg you will neveradmit any such suspicion again. I purpose to come down 
 next week, if you shall be there; or any other week that shall be more agree- 
 able to you. Therefore let me know. I can stay this visit but a week, but
 
 AGE 46.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 195 
 
 intend to make preparations for a longer stay next time, being resolved not to 
 lose sight of the University. How goes Apollonius ?* Don't let him be forgotten. 
 Some things of this kind must be done, to keep us up. Pay my compliments to 
 Mr. Wise, and all my other friends. I think to come to Kettel Hall. 2 
 
 " I am, Sir, 
 " Your most affectionate, &c. 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, " [London] June 10, 1755. 
 
 " It is strange how many things will happen to intercept every pleasure, 
 though it [be] only that of two friends meeting together. I have promised my- 
 self every day to inform you when you might expect me at Oxford, and have not 
 been able to fix a time. The time, however, is, I think, at last come, and I 
 promise myself to repose in Kettel Hall, one of the first nights of the next week. 
 I am afraid my stay with you cannot be long ; but what is the inference ? We 
 must endeavour to make it cheerful. I wish your brother could meet us, that 
 we might go and drink tea with Mr. Wise in a body. I hope he will be at 
 Oxford, or at his nest of British and Saxon antiquities. 3 I shall expect to see 
 Spenser finished, and many other things begun. Dodsley is gone to visit the 
 Dutch. The Dictionary sells well. The rest of the world goes on as it did. 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 " Your most affectionate, &c. 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, " [London] June 24, 1755. 
 
 " To talk of coming to you, and not yet to come, has an air of trifling which 
 I would not willingly have among you ; and which, I believe, you will not 
 willingly impute to me, when I have told you, that since my promise, two of our 
 partners* are dead, and that I was solicited to suspend my excursion till we could 
 recover from our confusion. 
 
 " I have not laid aside my purpose ; for every day makes me more impatient 
 of staying from you. But death, you know, hears not supplications, nor pays 
 any regard to the convenience of mortals. I hope now to see you next week ; 
 but next week is but another name for to-morrow, which has been noted for pro- 
 mising and deceiving. 
 
 " I am, &c. 
 
 "SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 1 A translation of Apollonius Rhodius was now intended by Mr. Warton. 
 WABTON. 
 
 2 Kettel Hall is an ancient tenement, adjoining to Trinity College, built about the year 
 1615, by Dr. Ralph Kettel, then President, for the accommodation of commoners of that 
 society. lu this ancient hottel, then in a very ruinous state, about forty years after 
 Johnson had lodged there, Mr. Windham and the present wiiter were accommodated with 
 two chambers, of primitive simplicity, during the installation of the Duke of Portland, as 
 Chancellor of the University of Oxford, in 1793. It has since been converted into a 
 commodious private house. MA LONE. 
 
 8 At Ellsfield, a village three miles from Oxford. WARTON. 
 * Booksellers concerned in his Dictionary. WAKTON. 
 
 L 2
 
 196 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON*. 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, " [London] Aug. 7, 1755. 
 
 " I told you that among the manuscripts are some tilings of Sir Thomas 
 More. I beg you to pass an hour in looking on them, and procure a transcript 
 of the ten or twenty first lines of each, to he compared with what I have ; that 
 I may know whether they are yet published: The manuscripts are these : 
 
 '.' Catalogue of Bodl" MS. pag. 122. F. 3. Sir Thomas More. 1. Fall of 
 angels. 2. Creation and fall of mankind. 3. .Determination of the Trinity for 
 the rescue of mankind. 4. Five lectures of our Saviour's passion. 5. Of the 
 institution of the Sacrament, three lectures. 6. How to receive the hlessed body 
 of our Lord sacramentally. 7. Neomenia, the new moon. 8. De tristitia, 
 tetdin, pavore, et oratione "Christi ante captionem ejus. 
 
 " Catalogue, page 154. Life of Sir Thomas More. Q. Whether Roper's? 
 Page 363. De resignation Magni Sigilli in manus Regis per D. Thomam Morum. 
 Page 364. Mori Dffensio Moritc. 
 
 " If you procure the young gentleman in the library to write out what you 
 think fit to be written, I will send to Mr. Prince the bookseller to pay him what 
 you shall think proper. 
 
 " Be pleased to make my compliments to Mr. Wise, and all my friends. 
 
 ' ' I am, Sir, 
 ' ' Your affectionate, &c. 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 The Dictionary, with a Grammar and History of the English Lan- 
 guage, being now at length published, in two volumes folio, the world 
 contemplated with wonder so stupendous a work achieved by one man, 
 while other countries had thought such undertakings fit only for whole 
 academies. Vast as his powers were, I cannot but think that his ima- 
 gination deceived him, when he supposed that by constant application 
 he might have performed the task in three years. Let the Preface be 
 attentively perused, in which is given, in a clear, strong, and glowing 
 style, a comprehensive, yet particular view of what he had done ; and 
 it will be evident, that the time he employed upon it was comparatively 
 short. I am unwilling to swell my book with long quotations from 
 what is in everybody's hands, and I believe there are few prose composi- 
 tions in the English language that are read with more delight, or are 
 more impressed upon the memory, than that preliminary discourse. One 
 of its excellencies has always struck me with peculiar admiration ; I 
 mean the perspicuity with which he has expressed abstract scientific 
 notions. As an instance of this, I shall quote the following sentence: 
 
 " When the radical idea branches out into parallel ramifications, how 
 can a consecutive series be formed of senses in their own nature colla- 
 teral ?" We have here an example of what has been often said, and I 
 believe with justice, that there is for every thought a certain nice adap- 
 tation of words which none other could equal, and which, when a man 
 has been so fortunate as to hit, he has attained, in that particular case, 
 the perfection of language.
 
 AGE 46.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 197 
 
 The extensive reading which was absolutely necessary for the accu- 
 mulation of authorities, and which alone may account for Johnson's 
 retentive mind being enriched with a very large and various store of 
 knowledge and imagery, must have occupied several years. The Preface 
 furnishes an eminent instance of a double talent, of which Johnson was 
 fully conscious. Sir Joshua Reynolds heard him say, " There arc two 
 things which I am confident I can do very well : one is an introduction 
 to any literary work, stating what it is to contain, and how it should be 
 executed in the most perfect manner : the other is a conclusion, showing, 
 from various causes, why the execution has not been equal to what the 
 author promised to himself and to the public." 
 
 How should puny scribblers be abashed and disappointed, when they 
 find him displaying a perfect theory of lexicographical excellence, yet at 
 the same time candidly and modestly allowing that he "had not satis- 
 fied his own expectations." Here was a fair occasion for the exercise of 
 Johnson's modesty, when he was called upon to compare his own 
 arduous performance, not with those of other individuals, (in which case 
 his inflexible regard to truth would have been violated had he affected 
 diffidence,) but with speculative perfection ; as he, who can outstrip all 
 his competitors in the race, may yet be sensible of his deficiency when 
 he runs against time. Well might he say, that " the English Dictionary 
 was written with little assistance of the learned ;" for he told me, that 
 the only aid which he received was a paper containing twenty etymolo- 
 gies, sent to him by a person then unknown, who, he was afterwards 
 informed, was Dr. Pearce, Bishop of Rochester. The etymologies, 
 though they exhibit learning and judgment, are not, I think, entitled to 
 the first praise amongst the various parts of this immense work. The 
 definitions have always appeared to me such astonishing proofs of acute- 
 ness of intellect and precision of language, as indicate a genius of 
 the highest rank. This it is which marks the superior excellence of 
 Johnson's Dictionary over others equally, or even more voluminous, 
 and must have made it a work of much greater mental labour than mere 
 Lexicons, or Word-Books, as the Dutch call them. They, who will 
 make the experiment of trying how they can define a few words of what- 
 (ver nature, will soon be satisfied of the unquestionable justice of this 
 observation, which. I can assure my readers is founded upon much study, 
 and upon communication with more minds than my own. 
 
 A few of his definitions must be admitted to be erroneous. Thus, 
 Windward and Leewaid, though directly of opposite meaning, are 
 defined identically the same way ;* as to which inconsiderable specks it 
 is enough to observe, that his Preface announces that he was aware 
 there might be many such in so immense a work ; nor was he at all 
 
 1 He owns in his Preface the deficiency of the technical part of his work ; and ho 
 said, he should be much obliged to me for definitions of musical terms for his next 
 edition, which he did not live to superintend. BUHNEV.
 
 198 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHXSON. [1755. 
 
 disconcerted when an instance was pointed out to him. A lady once 
 asked him how he came to define Pastern the knee of a horse ; instead 
 of making an elaborate defence, as she expected, he at once answered, 
 " Ignorance, Madam, pure ignorance." His definition of Network 
 has been often quoted with sportive malignity, as obscuring a thing in 
 itself very plain. But to these frivolous censures no other answer is 
 necessary than that with which we are furnished by his own Preface : 
 
 "To explain, requires the use of terms less abstruse than that which is to 
 be explained, and such terms cannot always be found ; for as nothing can be 
 proved but by supposing something intuitively known, and evident without proo 
 so nothing can be defined but by the use of words too plain to admit of definition. 
 Sometimes easier words are changed into harder ; as, burial, into sepulture or 
 interment; dry, into d esiccative ; dryness, into siccity or aridity ; fit, into paroxysm: 
 for, the easiest word, whatever it be, can never be translated into one more easy." 
 
 His introducing his own opinions, and even prejudices, under general 
 definitions of words, while at the same time the original meaning of the 
 words is not explained, as his Tory, WJiig, Pension, Oats, Excise, 1 and 
 a few more, cannot be fully defended, and must be placed to the account 
 of capricious and humorous indulgence. Talking to me upon this 
 subject when we were at Ashbourne in 1777, he mentioned a still stronger 
 instance of the predominance of his private feelings in the composition 
 of this work, than any now to be found in it. " You know, Sir, Lord 
 Gower forsook the old Jacobite interest. When I came to the word 
 renegado, after telling that it meant ' one who deserts to the enemy, a 
 revolter,' 1 added, Sometimes we say a Go WEB. Thus it went to the 
 press ; but the printer had more wit than I, and struck it out." 
 
 1 He thus defines Excise : " A hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not 
 by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom Excise is paid." 
 The Commissioners of Excise being offended by this severe reflection, consulted Mr. 
 Murray, then Attorney- General, to know whether redress could be legally obtained. I 
 wished to have procured for my readers a copy of the opinion which he gave, and which 
 may now be justly considered as history ; but the mysterious secrecy of office, it seems, 
 would not permit it. I am, however, informed, by very good authority, that its import 
 was, that the passage might be considered as actionable ; but that it would be more prudent 
 in the board not to prosecute. Johnson never made the smallest alteration in ihis passage. 
 We find he still retained his early prejudice against Excise; for in "The Idler," No. 65, 
 there is the following very extraordinary paragraph : " The authenticity of Clarendon ' 
 history, though printed with the sanction of one of the first Universities of the world, had 
 not an unexpected manuscript been happily discovered, would, with the help of factious 
 credulity, have been brought into question, by the two lowest of all human beings, a scribbler 
 for a party, and a commissioner of Excise." The persons to whom he alludes were Mr. 
 John Oldmixon, and George Ducket, Esq. BOSWELL. 
 
 The opinion of Mr. Murray (afterwards Lord Mansfield) has since been obtained from 
 the Excise Office, by Mr. Croker. It is in substance as stated in Boswell's Note. Mr. 
 Murray says, " I am of opinion that it is a libel ; but under all the circumstances, I 
 hould think it better to give him an opportunity of altering his definition ; and in case 
 he do not, to threaten him with an information. 29 Nov. 1756." Whether such a threat 
 was held out to Johnson is not known. Mr. Croker states, " Probably not ; but Johnson 
 in his own octavo abridgment of his Dictionary, had the good sense to omit the more 
 offensive parts of the definition of both Excise and Pension." ED.
 
 Acs. 46.] BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 199 
 
 Let it, however, be remembered, that this indulgence does not display 
 itself only in sarcasm towards others, but sometimes in playful allusion 
 to the notions commonly entertained of his own laborious task. Thus : 
 " Grub-street, the name of a street in London, much inhabited by writers 
 of small histories, dictionaries, and temporary poems ; whence any mear 
 production -is called O rub-street." ''Lexicographer, a writer of dic- 
 tionaries, a harmless drudge." 
 
 At the time when he was concluding his very eloquent Preface, 
 Johnson's mind appears to have been in such a state of depression, that 
 we cannot contemplate without wonder the vigorous and splendid thoughts 
 which so highly distinguish that performance. "I," says he, "may 
 surely be contented without the praise of perfection, which if I could 
 obtain in this gloom of solitude, what would it avail me ? I have pro- 
 tracted my work till most of those whom I wished to please have sunk 
 into the grave ; and success and miscarriage are empty sounds. I there- 
 fore dismiss it with frigid tranquillity, having little to fear or hope from 
 censure or from praise." That this indifference was rather a temporary 
 than an habitual feeling, appears, I think, from his letters to Mr. 
 Warton ; and however he may have been affected for the moment, certain 
 it is that the honours which his great work procured him, both at home 
 and abroad, were very grateful to him. His -friend, the Earl of Cork 
 and Orrery, being at Florence, presented it totlneAcademiardella Crusca. 
 That Academy sent Johnson their Vocabulorio, and the French Academy 
 sent him their Dictionnaire, which Mr. Langton had the pleasure to 
 convey to him. 
 
 It must undoubtedly seem strange, that the conclusion of his Preface 
 should be expressed in terms so desponding, when it is considered that 
 the author was then only in his forty-sixth year. But we must ascribe 
 its gloom to that miserable dejection of spirits to which he was con- 
 stitutionally subject, and which was aggravated by the death of his wife 
 two years before. I have heard it ingeniously observed by a lady of 
 rank and elegance, that " his melancholy was then at its meridian." It 
 pleased God to grant him almost thirty years of life after this time ; and 
 once, when he was in a placid frame of mind, he was obliged to own to 
 me that he had enjoyed happier days, and had many more friends, since 
 that gloomy hour, than before. 
 
 It is a sad saying, that " most of those whom he wished to please 
 had sunk into the grave ;" and his case at forty-five was singularly un- 
 happy, unless the circle of his friends was very narrow. I have often 
 thought, that as longevity is generally desired, and I believe, generally 
 expected, it would be wise to be continually adding to the number of 
 our friends, that the loss of some may be supplied by others. Friendship, 
 " the wine of life," should, like a well-stocked cellar, be thus continually 
 renewed ; and it is consolatory to think, that although we can seldom 
 add what will equal the generous first growths of our youth, yet friend-
 
 200 B.OSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [i/os. 
 
 ship becomes insensibly old in much less time than is commonly ima- 
 gined, and not many years are required to make it very mellow and 
 pleasant. Warmth will, no doubt, make a considerable difference. Mui 
 of affectionate temper and bright fancy will coalesce a great deal sooner 
 than those who are cold and dull. 
 
 The proposition which I have now endeavoured to illustrate was, at a 
 subsequent period of his life, the opinion of Johnson himself. He said 
 to Sir Joshua Reynolds, " If a man does not make new acquaintance as 
 he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, 
 Sir, should keep his friendship in constant repair." 
 
 The celebrated Mr. Wilkes, whose notions and habits of life were 
 very opposite to his, but who was ever eminent for literature and viva 
 city, sallied forth with a little jeu d' esprit upon the following passage 
 in his Grammar of the English Tongue, prefixed to the Dictionary : 
 " H seldom, perhaps never, begins any but the first syllable." In an 
 essay printed in the " Public Advertiser," this lively writer enumerated 
 many instances in opposition to this remark : for example, " The author 
 of this observation must be a man of quick uppre-hension, and of a most 
 compre-hensive genius. " The position is undoubtedly expressed with too 
 much latitude. 
 
 This light sally, we may suppose, made no great impression on our 
 lexicographer ; for we find that he did not alter the passage till many 
 years afterwards. 1 
 
 He had the pleasure of being treated in a very different manner by 
 his old pupil Mr. Garrick, in the following complimentary epigram : f 
 
 " ON JOHNSON'S DICTIONARY. 
 
 " Talk of war with a Briton, he'll boldly advance, 
 That one English soldier will beat ten of France ; 
 Would we alter the boast from the sword to the pen, 
 Our odds are still greater, still greater our men ; 
 In the deep mines of science though Frenchmen may toil, 
 Can their strength be compar'd to Locke, Newton, and Boyle ? 
 Let them rally their heroes, send forth all their pow'rs, 
 Their verse-men and prose-men, then match them with ours ! 
 First Shakspeare and Milton, like Gods in the fight, 
 Have put their whole drama and epic to flight ; 
 In satires, epistles, and odes, would they cope, 
 Their numbers retreat before Dryden and Pope ; 
 And Johnson, well-arm'd, like a hero of yore, 
 Has beat forty French^ and will beat forty more ! " 
 
 1 In the third edition, published in 1773, he left out the words perhapt never, anil 
 added the following paragraph : 
 
 " It sometimes begins middle or final syllables in words compounded, as block-head, 
 or derived from the Latin, as compre-keticled." BOSWKLL 
 
 2 The number of the French Academy employed in settling their language. BOSWELL.
 
 AGE 46.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 201 
 
 Johnson this year gave at once a proof of his benevolence, quickness 
 of apprehension, and admirable art of composition, in the assistance 
 which he gave to Mr. Zachariah Williams, father of the blind lady whom 
 he had humanely received under his roof. Mr. Williams had followed the 
 profession of physic in Wales ; but having a very strong propensity to the 
 study of natural philosophy, had made many ingenious advances towards 
 a discovery of the longitude, and repaired to London in hopes of obtain- 
 ing the great parliamentary reward. He failed of success ; but Johnson 
 having made himself master of his principles and experiments, wrote 
 for him a pamphlet, published in quarto, with the following title : " An 
 Account of an Attempt to ascertain the Longitude at Sea, by an exact 
 Theory of the Variation of the Magnetical Needle ; with a Table of the 
 Variations at the most remarkable Cities in Europe, from the year 1K60 
 to 1800."f To diffuse it more extensively, it was accompanied with an 
 Italian translation on the opposite page, which it is supposed was the 
 work of Signor Baretti, 1 an Italian of considerable literature, who having 
 come to England a few years before, had been employed in the capacity 
 both of a language master and an author, and formed an intimacy with 
 Dr. Johnson. This pamphlet Johnson presented to the Bodleian Library. 2 
 On a blank leaf of it is pasted a paragraph cut out of a newspaper, 
 containing an account of the death and character of Williams, plainly 
 written by Johnson. 3 
 
 In July this year he had formed some scheme of mental improve- 
 ment, the particular purpose of which does not appear. But we find in 
 his " Prayers and Meditations," p. 25, a prayer entitled, " On the Study 
 of Philosophy, as an instrument of living ;" and after it follows a note, 
 " This study was not pursued." 
 
 On the 13th of the same month he wrote in his Journal the following 
 scheme of life, for Sunday : " Having lived," as he with tenderness of 
 conscience expresses himself, "not without an habitual reverence for the 
 Sabbath, yet without that attention to its religious duties which Chris- 
 tianity requires ;" 
 
 "1. To rise early, and in order to it, to go to sleep early on Saturday. 
 
 1 This ingenious foreigner, who was a native of Piedmont, came to England about the 
 year 1753, and (lied in London, May 5, 1789. A very candid and judicious account of 
 him and his works, beginning with the words '' So much asperity," and written, it is 
 believed, by a distinguished dignitary in the Church, may be found in the "Gentleman's 
 Magazine," for that year, p. 469. MA LONE. 
 
 2 See note by Mr. Warton, pp. 185, 186, from which it appears that " 12th" in the next 
 note means the 12th of July, 1755. MALONE. 
 
 8 " On Saturday the 12th about twelve at night, died Mr. Zachariah Williams, in his 
 eighty -third year, after an illness of eight months, in full possession of his mental facul- 
 ties. He has been long known to philosophers and seamen for his skill in magnetism, 
 and ;his proposal to ascertain the longitude by a peculiar system of the variation of the 
 compass. He was a man of industry indefatigable, of conversation inoffensive, patient 
 of adversity and disease, eminently sober, temperate, and pious; and worthy to have 
 ended life with better fortune." BOSWKLL.
 
 202 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [nsa. 
 
 " 2. To use some extraordinary devotion in the morning. 
 "3. To examine the tenor of my life, and particularly the last week ; and to 
 mark my advances in religion, or recession from it. 
 
 "4. To read the Scripture methodically with such helps as are at hand. 
 
 "5. To go to church twice. 
 
 " 6. To read books of Divinity, either speculative or practical. 
 
 "7. To instruct my family. 
 
 "3. To wear off by meditation any worldly soil contracted in the week."
 
 CHAPTER IX. 1756 1758. 
 
 JOHNSON'S FAVOURABLE JUDGMENT OF BOOKSELLERS WRITES IN "UNIVERSAL 
 VISITEK" AND " LITERARY MAGAZINE" DEFENCE OF TEA, AGAINST JONA& 
 HANWAY DEFENCE OF ADMIRAL BYNG ANSWER TO SOAME JENYNS ISSUE OF 
 PROPOSALS FOR EDITION OF SHAKSPKARE DECLINES OFFKR OF PREFERMENT IN 
 THE CHURCH LETTERS TO WARTON, LANGTON, &c. BURNEY'S INTERVIEW 
 WITH JOHNSON IN GOUGH SQUARE. 
 
 IN 1756 Johnson found that the great fame of his Dictionary had not 
 set him above the necessity of " making provision for the day that 
 was passing over him" 1 No royal or noble patron extended a muni- 
 ficent hand to give independence to the man who had conferred stability 
 on the language of his country. We may feel indignant that there should 
 have been such unworthy neglect ; but we must, at the same time, con- 
 gratulate ourselves, when we consider, that to this very neglect, operating 
 to rouse the natural indolence of his constitution, we owe many valuable 
 productions, which otherwise, perhaps, might never have appeared. 
 
 He had spent, during the progress of the work, the money for which 
 he had contracted to write his Dictionary. We have seen that the 
 
 1 He was so far from being " set above the necessity of making provision for the day 
 that was pa.s>ing over him," that he appears to have been in this year in great pecuniary 
 distress, having been arrested for debt; on which occasion his friend, Samuel Richardson, 
 became his surety See a letter from Johnson to him, on that subject, dated Feb. 19, 
 1756. Richardson's " Correspondence," vol. v. p. 283. MALONE.
 
 204 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHSSON. [1756. 
 
 reward of his labour was only fifteen hundred and seventy-five pounds ; 
 and when the expense of amanuenses and paper, and other articles, are 
 deducted, his clear profit was very inconsiderable. I once said to him, 
 " I am sorry, Sir, you did not get more for your Dictionary." His 
 answer was, " I am sorry too. But it was very well. The booksellers 
 are generous liberal-minded men." He, upon all occasions, did ample 
 justice to their character in this respect. He considered them as the 
 patrons of literature ; and, indeed, although they have eventually been 
 considerable gainers by his Dictionary, it is to them that we owe its 
 having been undertaken and carried through at the risk of great expense, 
 for they were not absolutely sure of being indemnified. 
 
 On the first day of this year 1 we find from his private devotions, 
 that he had then recovered from sickness [Pr. and Med.], and in 
 February, that his eye was restored to its use [Pr. and Med. p. 27]. The 
 pious gratitude with which he acknowledges mercies upon every occa- 
 sion is very edifying ; as is the humble submission which he breathes, 
 when it is the will of his heavenly Father to try him with afflictions. 
 As such dispositions become the state of man here, and are the true 
 effects of religious discipline we cannot but venerate in Johnson one of 
 the most exercised minds that our holy religion hath ever formed. If 
 there be any thoughtless enough to suppose such exercise the weakness 
 of a great understanding, let thorn look up to Johnson, and be convinced 
 that what he so earnestly practised must have a rational foundation. 
 
 His works this year were, an abstract or epitome, in octavo, of his 
 folio Dictionary, and a few essays in a monthly publication, entitled 
 "The Universal Visitor. " Christopher Smart, with whose uirmppy 
 vacillation of mind he sincerely sympathised, was one of the stated 
 undertakers of this miscellany ; and it was to assist him that Johnson 
 sometimes employed his pen. All the essays marked with two asterisks 
 have been ascribed to him ; but I am confident, from internal evidence, 
 that of these, neither " The Life of Chaucer," " Reflections on the 
 State of Portugal," nor an " Essay on Architecture," were written by 
 him. I am equally confident, upon the same evidence, that he wrote, 
 " Further Thoughts on Agriculture ;"f being the sequel of a very inferior 
 essay on the same subject, and which, though carried on as if by the 
 same hand, is both in thinking and expression so far above it, and so 
 strikingly peculiar, as to leave no doubt of its true parent ; and that he 
 also wrote "A Dissertation on the State of Literature and Authors, "f 
 and "A Dissertation on the Epitaphs written by Pope."* The last of 
 
 1 In April in this year, Johnson wrote a letter to Dr. Joseph Warton, in consequence 
 of having read a few pages of that gentleman's newly published " Essay on the Genius 
 and Writings of Pope." The only paragraph in it that respects Johnson's personal history 
 is this : " For my part, I have not lately done much. I have been ill in the winter, and 
 my eye has been inflamed ; but I please myself with the hopes of doing many things, 
 with which I have long pleased and deceived myself!" Memoirs of Dr. J. Warton, &c. 
 4to. 1806. MALONK.
 
 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 205 
 
 these, indeed, he afterwards added to his " Idler." "Why the essays 
 truly written by him are marked in the same manner with some which 
 he did not write, I cannot explain ; but with deference to those who 
 have ascribed to him the three essays Avhich I have rejected, they want 
 all the characteristical marks of Johnsonian composition. 
 
 He engaged also to superintend and contribute largely to another 
 monthly publication, entitled " The Literary Magazine, or Universal 
 Review ;"* the first number of which came out in May this year. What 
 were his emoluments from this undertaking, and what other writers were 
 employed in it, I have not discovered. He continued to write in it, with 
 intermissions, till the fifteenth number ; and I think that he never gave 
 better proofs of the force, acuteness, and vivacity of his mind, than in 
 this miscellany, whether we consider his original essays, or his reviews 
 ol the works of others. The "Preliminary Address"f to the public, is 
 a proof how this great man could embellish, with the graces of superior 
 composition, even so trite a thing as the plan of a magazine. 
 
 His original essays are, " An Introduction to the Political State of 
 Great Britain ;"f " Remarks on the Militia Bill ;"f " Observations on 
 his Britannic Majesty's Treaties with the Empress of Russia and the 
 Landgrave of Hesse Cassel ;"f " Observations on the Present State of 
 Affairs ;'"f and, "Memoirs of Frederick III., King of Prussia. ' : f In 
 all these he displays extensive political knowledge and sagacity, 
 expressed with uncommon energy and perspicuity ; without any of those 
 words which he sometimes took a pleasure in adopting, in imitation of 
 Sir Thomas Brown ; of whose " Christian Morals" he this year gave an 
 edition, with his " Life"* prefixed to it, which is one of Johnson's best 
 biographical performances. In one instance only in these essays has he 
 indulged his Brownism. Dr. Robertson, the historian, mentioned it to 
 me, as having at once convinced him that Johnson was the author 
 of the " Memoirs of the King of Prussia." Speaking of the pride 
 which the old king, the father of his hero, took in being master of the 
 tallest regiment in Europe, he says, " To review this towering regiment 
 was his daily pleasure ; and to perpetuate it was so much his care, that 
 when he met a tall woman he immediately commanded one of his Tita- 
 nian retinue to marry her, that they might propagate procerity." For 
 this Anglo-Latian word procerity, Johnson had, however, the authority 
 of Addison. 
 
 His reviews are of the following books : " Birch's History of the 
 Royal Society;"! "Murphy's Gray's-Inn Journal ;"f "Warton's 
 Essay on the Writings and Genius of Pope," vol. i. ;t "Hampton's 
 Translation of Polybius ; "f " Blackwell's Memoirs of the Court of 
 Augustus ; "f " Russell's Natural History of Aleppo ; "f " Sir Isaac 
 Newton's Arguments in Proof of a Deity ;"f "Borlase's History of the 
 Isles of Scilly ; "f " Holme's Experiments on Bleaching ; "f " Browne's 
 Christian Morals ; "f " Hales on Distilling Sea-Water, Ventilators in
 
 206 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON*. [nso. 
 
 Ships, and curing an ill Taste in Milk;"t "Lucas's Essay on 
 Waters ;"t " Keith's Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops ;"f " Browne's 
 History of Jamaica;"! "Philosophical Transactions," vol. xlix. ;f 
 " Mrs. Lennox's Translation of Sully 's Memoirs ;' * " Miscellanies, hy 
 Elizabeth Harrison ;"t "Evans's Map and Account of the Middle 
 Colonies in America ;"f "Letter on the Case of Admiral Byng ;"* 
 "Appeal to the People concerning Admiral Byng;"* " Han way's 
 Eight Days' Journey, and Essay on Tea ;"* " The Cadet, a Military 
 Treatise ;"f "Some further Particulars in Relation to the Case of 
 Admiral Byng, by a Gentleman of Oxford ;"* " The Conduct of the 
 Ministry relating to the present War impartially examined ;"f " A Free 
 Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Evil."* All these, from internal 
 evidence, were written by Johnson : some of them I know he avowed, 
 and have marked them with an asterisk accordingly. Mr. Thomas 
 Davies, indeed, ascribed to him the Review of Mr. Burke' s " Inquiry 
 into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful ;" and Sir 
 John Hawkins, with equal discernment, has inserted it in his collection 
 of Johnson's works : whereas it has no resemblance to Johnson's com- 
 position, and is well known, to have been written by Mr. Murphy, who 
 has acknowledged it to me and many others. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, in justice to Johnson's political character, 
 which has been misrepresented as abjectly submissive to power, that his 
 " Observations on the present State of Affairs," glow with as animated 
 a spirit of constitutional liberty as can be found any where. Thus he 
 begins : " The time is now come, in which every Englishman expects to 
 be informed of the national affairs ; and in which he has a right to have 
 that expectation gratified. For, whatever may be urged by Ministers, 
 or those whom vanity or interest make the followers of ministers, con- 
 cerning the necessity of confidence in our governors, and the presump- 
 tion of prying with profane eyes into the recesses of policy, it is evident 
 that this reverence can be claimed only by counsels jet unexecuted, and 
 projects suspended in deliberation. But when a design has ended in mis- 
 carriage or success, when every eye and every ear is witness to general 
 discontent, or general satisfaction, it is then a proper time to disentangle 
 confusion and illustrate obscurity ; to show by what causes every event 
 was produced, and in what effects it is likely to terminate ; to lay down 
 with distinct particularity what rumour always huddles in general excla- 
 mation, or perplexes by indigested narratives ; to show whence hap- 
 piness or calamity is derived, and whence it may be expected ; and 
 honestly to lay before the people what inquiry can gather of the past, 
 and conjecture can estimate of the future." 
 
 Here we have it assumed as an incontrovertible principle, that in this 
 country the people are the superintendents of the conduct and measures 
 of those by whom Government is administered ; of the beneficial effect of 
 which the present reign afforded an illustrious example, when addresses
 
 AOE 47.j BOSWEI.L'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 207 
 
 from all parts of the kingdom controlled an audacious attempt to intro- 
 duce a new power subversive of the crown. 1 
 
 A still stronger proof of his patriotic spirit appears in his review of 
 an "Essay on Waters, by Dr. Lucas," 8 of whom, after describing him 
 as a man well known to the world for his daring detiance of power, when 
 he thought it exerted on the side of wrong, he thus speaka : 
 
 ' ' The Irish ministers drove him from his native country by a proclamation, 
 in which they charge him with crimes of which they never intended to be called 
 to the proof, and oppressed him by methods equally irresistible by guilt and inno- 
 cence. Let the man thus driven into exile for having been the friend of his 
 country, be received in every other place as a confessor of liberty ; and let the 
 tools of power be taught in time, that they may rob but cannot impoverish." 
 
 Some of his reviews in this Magazine are very short accounts of the 
 pieces noticed, and I mention them only that Dr. Johnson's opinion of 
 the works may be known ; but many of them are examples of elaborate 
 criticism in the most masterly style. In his review of the " Memoirs 
 of the Court of Augustus," he has the resolution to think and speak 
 from his own mind, regardless of the cant transmitted from age to age, 
 in praise of the ancient Romans. Thus : "I know not why any one 
 but a schoolboy in his declamation should whine over the Common- 
 wealth of Rome, which grew great only by the misery of the rest ol 
 mankind. The Romans, like others, as soon as they grew rich, grew 
 corrupt ; and in their corruption sold the lives and freedoms of them- 
 selves, and of one another." Again "A people who, while they were 
 poor, robbed mankind; and as soon they became rich, robbed one 
 another." In his review of the Miscellanies in prose and verse published 
 by Elizabeth Harrison, but written by many hands, he gives an eminent 
 proof at once of his orthodoxy and candour : 
 
 " The authors of the essays in prose seem generally to have imitated, or 
 tried to imitate, the copiousness and luxuriance of Mrs. liowe. This, however, ia 
 tou all their praise ; they have laboured to add to her brightness of imagery, her 
 purity of sentiments. The poets have had Dr. Watts before their eyes ; a writer 
 who, if he stood not in the first class of genius, compensated that defect by a 
 ready application of his powers to the promotion of piety. The attempt to em- 
 ploy the ornaments of romance in the decoration of religion, was, I think, first 
 made by Mr. Boyle's 'Martyrdom of Theodora; ' but Boyle's philosophical stu- 
 dies did not allow him time for the cultivation of style ; and the completion of 
 the great design was reserved for Mrs. Kowe. Dr. Watts was one of the first 
 who taught the Dissenters to write and speak like other men, by showing them 
 that elegance might consist with piety. They would have both done honour to a 
 better society, for they had that charity which might well make their failings be 
 forgotten, and with which the whole Christian world wish for communion. They 
 were pure from all the heresies of an age, to which every opinion is become a 
 
 iThe allusion here is to Mr. Fox's India Bill. ED. 
 
 2 Dr. Lucas was a medical man, resident in Dublin, who became popular by writing 
 and speaking against the Government, ED.
 
 208 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [17.56. 
 
 favourite, that the universal church has hitherto detested ! This praise the 
 general interest of mankind requirea to be given to writers who please and do 
 not corrupt, who instruct and do not weary. But to them all human eulogies 
 are vain, whom I believe applauded by angels, and numbered with the just." 
 
 His defence of tea against Mr. Jonas Han way's violent attack upon 
 that elegant and popular beverage, shows how very well a man of genius 
 can write upon the slightest subject, when he writes, as the Italians say, 
 con amore ; I suppose no person ever enjoyed with more relish the infu- 
 sion of that fragrant leaf than Johnson. The quantities which he drank 
 of it at all hours were so great that his nerves must have been uncom- 
 monly strong, not to have been extremely relaxed by such an intemperate 
 use of it. He assured me that he never felt the least inconvenience from 
 it, which is a proof that the fault of his constitution was rather a too 
 great tension of fibres, than the contrary. Mr. Hanway wrote an angry 
 answer to Johnson's review of his "Essay on Tea," and Johnson, after 
 a full and deliberate pause, made a reply to it ; the only instance, I be- 
 lieve, in the whole course of his life, when he condescended to oppose any 
 thing that was written against him. I suppose when he thought of any 
 of his little antagonists, he was ever justly aware of the high sentiment 
 of Ajax in Ovid : 
 
 " Jste ttilit prethim jam mine certaminis hujus, 
 Qui, cum rictus erit, mecum certasse feretur." 1 
 
 But, indeed, the good Mr. Hanway laid himself so open to ridicule, that 
 J ohnson's animadversions upon his attack were chiefly to make sport. 
 
 The generosity with which he pleads the cause of Admiral Byng, is 
 highly to the honour of his heart and spirit. Though Voltaire affects 
 to be witty upon the fate of that unfortunate officer, observing that he 
 was shot "pour encourager les autres," the nation has long been satis- 
 fied that his life was sacrificed to the political fervour of the times. In 
 the vault belonging to the Torrington family, in the church of Southill, 
 in Bedfordshire, there is the following Epitaph upon his monument, 
 which I have transcribed : 
 
 "TO THE PERPETUAL DISGRACE 
 
 OF PUBLIC JUSTICE, 
 THE HONOURABLE JOHN BYNG, ESQ. 
 
 ADMIRAL OF THE BLUE, 
 FELL A MARTYR TO POLITICAL 
 
 PERSECUTION, 
 MARCH 14, IN THE YEAR 1757; 
 
 WHEN BRAVERY AND LOYALTY 
 
 WERE INSUFFICIENT SECURITIES 
 
 FOR THE LIFE AND HONOUR OF 
 
 A NAVAL OFFICER." 
 
 1 Losing, he wins, because his name will be 
 Ennobled by defeat, who durst contend with me. DBYDKX.
 
 AGE 47 ] B03WELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 209 
 
 Johnson's most exquisite critical essay in the " Literary Magazine," 
 and indeed any where, is his review of Soame Jenyns's "Inquiry into the 
 Origin of Evil." Jenyns was possessed of lively talents, and a style 
 eminently pure and easy, and could very happily play with a light 
 subject, either in prose or verse ; but when he speculated on that most 
 difficult and excruciating question, the Origin of Evil, he "ventured far 
 beyond his depth," and, accordingly, was exposed by Johnson, both 
 with acute argument and brilliant wit. I remember when the late Mr. 
 Bicknell's humorous performance, entitled "The Musical Travels of 
 Joel Collyer" in which a slight attempt is made to ridicule Johnson, 
 was ascribed to Soame Jenyns, " Ha ! " said Johnson, "I thought I had 
 given him enough of it." 
 
 His triumph over Jenyns is thus described by my friend Mr. Cour- 
 tenay in his "Poetical Review of the literary and moral character of 
 Dr. Johnson ;" a performance of such merit, that had I not been 
 honoured with a very kind and partial notice in it, I should echo the 
 sentiments of men of the first taste loudly in its praise : 
 
 " When specious sophists with presumption scan 
 The source of evil hidden still from man ; 
 Revive Arabian tales, and vainly hope 
 To rival St. John, and his scholar Pope : 
 Though metaphysics spread the gloom of night, 
 By reason's star he guides our aching sight ; 
 The bounds of knowledge marks, and points the way 
 To pathless wastes, where wilder'd sages stray ; 
 Where, like a farthing link-hoy, Jenyns stands, 
 And the dim torch drops from his feeble hands." * 
 
 1 Some time after Dr. Johnson's death, there appeared in the newspapers and maga- 
 zines an illiberal :md petulant attack upon him, in the form of an Epitaph, under the 
 name of Mr. Soam-i Fenyiis, very unworthy of that gentleman, who had quietly submitted 
 to the critical lash *liile Johnson lived. It assumed, as characteristics of him, all the 
 vulgar circumstances ot abuse which had circulated amongst the ignorant. It was an 
 unbecoming indulgence of puny resentment, at a time when he himself was at a very 
 advanced age, and had a near prospect of descending to the grave. I was truly sorry 
 for it, for he was then become an avowed, and (as my Lord Bishop of London, who had 
 a serious conversation with him on the subject, assures me) a sincere Christian. He 
 could not expect that Johnson's numerous friends would patiently bear to have the 
 memory of their master stigmatized by no mean pen, but that, at least, one would be 
 found to retort. Accordingly, this unjust and sarcastic Epitaph was met in the same 
 public field by an answer, in terms by no means soft, and such as wanton provocation 
 only could justify:- -EPITAPH, 
 
 " Prepared for a creature not quite dead yet. 
 "Here lies a little, ugly, nauseous elf, 
 
 Who.judging only from its wretched self, 
 
 Feebly attempted, petulant and vain, 
 
 The 'Origin of Evil' to explain. 
 
 A mighty Genius at this elf displeas'd, 
 
 With a strong critic grasp the urchin squeez'd. 
 
 For thirty years its coward spleen it kept, 
 
 Till in the dust the mighty Genius slept: 
 
 Then stunk and fretted iu expiring snuff, 
 
 And blink' d at JOHNSON with its last poor puff" BOSWBLL.
 
 210 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHXSON. [mo. 
 
 This year Air. William Payne, brother of the respectable bookseller 
 of that name, published "An Introduction to the Game of Draughts," 
 to which Johnson contributed a Dedication to the Earl of Rochford,* 
 and a Preface,* both of which are admirably adapted to the treatise to 
 which they are prefixed. Johnson, I believe, did not play at draughts 
 after leaving College, by which he suffered ; for it would have afforded 
 him an innocent, soothing relief from the melancholy which distressed 
 him so often. I have heard him regret that he had not learned to play 
 at cards ; and the game of draughts we know is peculiarly calculated 
 to fix the attention without straining it. There is a composure and 
 gravity in draughts which insensibly "tranquillises the mind ; and, ac- 
 cordingly, the Dutch are fond of it, as they are of smoking, of the 
 sedative influence of which, though he himself never smoked, he had a 
 high opinion. 1 Besides, there is in draughts some exercise of the facul- 
 ties; and, accordingly, Johnson wishing to dignify the subject in his 
 Dedication with what is most estimable in it, observes, " Triflers may 
 find or make anything a trifle ; but since it is the great characteristic 
 of a wise man to see events in their causes, to obviate consequences, and 
 ascertain contingencies, your lordship will think nothing a trifle by which 
 the mind is inured to caution, foresight, and circumspection." 
 
 As one of the little occasional advantages which he did not disdain 
 to take by his pen, as a man whose profession was literature, he this 
 year accepted of a guinea from Mr. Robert Dodsley, for writing the 
 introduction to "The London Chronicle," an evening newspaper; and 
 even in so slight a performance exhibited peculiar talents. This Chronicle 
 still subsists, and from what I observed, when I was abroad, has a more 
 extensive circulation upon the continent than any of the English news- 
 papers. It was constantly read by Johnson himself ; and it is but just 
 to observe, that it has all along been distinguished for good sense, accu- 
 racy, moderation, and delicacy. 
 
 Another instance of the same nature has been communicated to me 
 by the Reverend Dr. Thomas Campbell, who has done himself con- 
 siderable credit by his own writings. " Sitting with Dr. Johnson one 
 morning alone, he asked me if I had known Dr. Madden, who was 
 author of the premium-scheme 2 in Ireland. On my answering in the 
 
 1 Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd edit p. 48. 
 
 B In the. College of Dublin, four quarterly Examinations of the students are held in 
 each year, in various prescribed branches of literature and science ; and premiums, ron- 
 eisting of books impressed with the College Arms, are adjudged by examiners (composed 
 generally of the Junior Fellows), to those who have most distinguished themselves in the 
 several classes, after a very rigid trial, which lasts two days. This regulation, which has 
 subsisted about seventy years, has been attended with the most beneficial effects. 
 
 Dr. Samuel Madden was the first proposer of premiums in that University. They 
 were instituted about the year 1734. He was also one of the founders of the Dublin 
 Society for the encouragement of arts and agriculture. In addition to the premiums 
 which were and are still annually given by that society for this purpose, Dr. Madden 
 gave others from his own fund. Hence he was usually called " Premium Madden." 
 MA LONE.
 
 AGE 47.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 211 
 
 affirmative, and also that I had for some years lived in his neighbour- 
 hood, <fcc., he begged of me that when I returned to Ireland, 1 would 
 endeavour to procure for him a poem of Dr. Madden's, called ' Boulter's 
 Monument.' 1 ' 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 worse. 2 However, the Doctor was 
 very thankful, and very generous, for he gave me ten guineas, which teas 
 to me at that time a great sum. ' ' ' 
 
 He this year resumed his scheme of giving an edition of Shakspeare 
 with notes. He issued Proposals of considerable length, 3 in which he 
 showed that he perfectly well knew what a variety of research such an 
 undertaking required ; but his indolence prevented him from pursuing it 
 with that diligence which alone can collect those scattered facts, that 
 genius, however acute, penetrating, and luminous, cannot discover by its 
 own force. It is remarkable, that at this time his fancied activity was 
 for the moment so vigorous, that he promised his work should be pub- 
 lished 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 Cjesarian operation was 
 performed by the knife of Churchill, whoso upbraiding satire, I dare say, 
 made Johnson's friends urge him to despatch. 
 
 "He for subscribers baits his hook, 
 And takes your cash ; but where 's the book? 
 No matter where ? wise fear, you know, 
 Forbids the robbing of a foe ; 
 But what, to serve our private ends, 
 Forbids the cheating of our friends?" 
 
 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 gift 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 himself an 
 exile in any other place, particularly if residing in the country. Whoever 
 
 l Dr. Hugh Boulter, Archbishop of Armagh, and Primate of Ireland. He died 
 Sept. 27, 1742, at which time he was, for the thirteenth time, one of the Lords Justices 
 of that kingdom. Johnson speaks of him in high terms of commendation, in his " Life 
 of Ambrose Philips." BOSWELL. 
 
 8 Dr. Madden wrote very bad verses. V. those prefixed to Leland's " Life of Philip 
 of Macedon," 4to. 1758. KEARNEV. 
 
 8 They have been reprinted by Mr. Malone, in the Preface to his edition nf 
 Shakspeare. BOSWELL. 
 
 M 2
 
 212 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF jonxsox. [1/57. 
 
 would wish to see his thoughts upon that subject displayed in their full 
 force, may peruse the " Adventurer," Number li!6. 
 
 la 1757 it does not appear that he published any thing, except some 
 of those articles in the " Literary Magazine," which have been men- 
 tioned. That magazine, after Johnson ceased to write in it, gradually 
 declined, though the popular epithet of Antigallican was added to it ; 
 and in July, 1 758, it expired. He probably prepared a part of his Shak- 
 speare this year, and he dictated a speech on the subject of an address 
 to the Throne, after the expedition to Rochfort, which was delivered by 
 one of his friends, I know not in what public meeting. It is printed in 
 the "Gentleman's Magazine" for October, 17b5, as his, and bears suf- 
 ficient 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 author of " Dissertations on the History of Ireland :" 
 
 " TO CHARLES O'CONNOR, ESQ.' 
 
 " SIR, "London, April 9, 1757. 
 
 " I have lately, by the favour of Mr. Faulkner, seen your account of Ireland, 
 and cannot forbear to solicit a prosecution of your design. Sir William Temple 
 complains that Ireland is less known than any other country, as to its ancient 
 state. The natives have had little leisure and little encouragement for in- 
 quiry ; and strangers, not knowing the language, have had no ability. 
 
 " I have long wished that the Irish literature were cultivated. 2 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 either in the original of 
 nations, or the affinities 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, deserves inquiry. Of these provin- 
 cial and unextended tongues, it seldom happens that more than one are under- 
 stood by any one man ; and, therefore, it seldom happens that a fair comparison 
 can be made. I hope you will continue to cultivate this kind of learning, 
 
 1 Of this gentleman, who died at his seat at Ballinegare, in the county of Roscommon, 
 in Ireland, July 1, 1791, in his 82nd year, some account may be found in the " Gentle* 
 man's Magazine" of that date. Of the work here alluded to by Dr. Johnson " Disser- 
 tations on the History of Ireland" a second and much improved edition was published 
 by the author in 17C6. M ALONE. 
 
 2 The celebrated orator, Mr. 'Flood, has shown himself to be of Dr. Johnson's 
 opinion ; having by his will bequeathed his estate, after the death of his wife, Lady 
 Frances, to the University 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 Erse or Irish language, and the other for the study of Irish antiquities and 
 Irish history, and for the study of any other European language illustrative of, or auxiliary 
 to, the study of Irish antiquities or Irish history; and that they shall give yearly two 
 liberal premiums for two compositions one in verse, and the other in prose, in the Irish 
 language." BOSWELI. 
 
 Since the above was written, Mr. Flood's will has been set aside, after a trial at bar, 
 in the Courtof Exchequer in Ireland. MALOKE.
 
 AGE 48.J BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 213 
 
 which has too long lain neglected, and which, if it be suffered to remain in 
 oblivion for another century, may, perhaps, never be 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 REVEREND MR. THOMAS WARTON. 
 " DEAR SlR, " London, June 21, 1757. 
 
 " 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. Huddesford.i and hhall be 
 glad if you will introduce him, and show him any thing in Oxford. 
 
 " I am printing my new edition of Shakspeare. 
 
 " I long to see you all, but cannot conveniently come yet. You might write 
 to me now and then, if you were good for any thing. But 2 konorea mutant 
 mores. Professors forget their friends. I shall certainly complain to Miss 
 Jones. 8 I am, yours, &c., SAM. JOHNSON. 
 
 " Please to make my compliments to Mr. Wise." 
 
 Mr. Burney having enclosed to him an extract from the review of 
 his Dictionary in the JBibliotheque des Savans, 4 and a list of subscribers 
 to his Shakspeare, which Mr. Burney had procured in Norfolk, lie 
 wrote the following answer : 
 
 " TO MR. BURNEY, IN LYNNE, NORFOLK. 
 
 " SlR, " Gough-square, Dec. 24, 1757. 
 
 " That I may show myself sensible 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 proposals 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, but that I remember 
 with great pleasure your commendation of my Dictionary. Your 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 surprised when I tell you, that 
 among all my acquaintance there were only two, who upon the publication of my 
 book did not endeavour to depress me with threats of censure from the public, 
 or with objections learned from those who had learned them from my own pre- 
 
 1 Now, or late, Vice-Chancellor. WARTON. 
 
 2 Mr. Warton was elected Professor of Poetry at Oxford in the preceding year. 
 WARTON. 
 
 8 Miss Jones lived at Oxford, and was often of our parties. She was a very ingenious 
 poetess, and published a volume of poems ; and, on the whole, was a most sensible, agree- 
 able, and amiable woman. She was sister to the Rev. River Jones, Chanter of Clirist- 
 church Cathedral, Oxford, and Johnson used to call her the Chantress. I have heard 
 him often address her in this passage from " II Penseroso :" 
 
 " Thee, Chantress, oft the woods among 
 
 I woo," &c. 
 
 She died unmarried. WARTON. 
 * Tom. iii. p. 482. BOSWELL.
 
 214 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1758. 
 
 face. Yours is the only letter of good-will that I have received ; though, indeed, 
 I am promised something of that sort from Sweden. 
 
 " How my new edition [of Shakspeare] will be received I know not ; the 
 subscription has not been very successful. I shall publish about March. 
 
 " If you can direct me how to send proposals, I should wish that they were 
 in such hands. 
 
 "I remember, Sir, in some of the first letters with which you favoured me, 
 you mentioned your lady. May I inquire after her ? In return for the favours 
 which you have shown me, it is not much to tell you, that I wish you and her 
 all that can conduce to your happiness. I am, Sir, 
 
 ' ' Your most obliged, and most humble servant, 
 
 "SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 In 1758 we find him, it should seem, in as easy and pleasant a state 
 of existence as constitutional unhappiness ever permitted him to enjoy. 
 
 "TO BENNET LANGTON, ESQ., AT LANGTON, LINCOLNSHIRE. 
 
 "DEAREST SIR, "Jan. 9, 1758. 
 
 ' ' 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 omission 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 you are now, towering in confidence of twenty-one, little did I suspect that I 
 should be at forty-nine, what I now am. 
 
 " But yon do not seem to need my admonition. You are busy in acquiring 
 and in communicating knowledge, and while you are studying, enjoy the end of 
 study, by making others wiser and happier. I was much pleased with the tale 
 that you told me of being tutor 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 friends ; and cannot see, without wonder, how rarely that native union 
 is afterwards regarded. It sometimes, indeed, happens, that some supervenient 
 cause of discord may overpower this original amity ; but it seems to me more fre- 
 quently thrown away with levity, or lost by negligence, than destroyed by injury 
 or violence. We tell the ladies that good 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 retire- 
 ment to Cumse : I know that your absence is best, though it be not best for me. 
 
 ' Quamvis digressu veteris confusus amici, 
 Laudo tamen vacuis quod sedem figere Cumis 
 Destinet, atque unum civem donare Sibyllse.' 
 
 " Langton is a good Cumse, but who must be Sibylla? Mrs. Langton is as 
 wise as Sibyl, and as good ; and will live, if my wishes can prolong life, till she 
 shall in time be as 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. 
 
 1 ' The two Wartons just looked into the town, and were taken to see ' ' Cleone," 
 where David [Garrick] says, they were starved for want of company to keep
 
 AGE 49.] > BOSWELL *S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 215 
 
 them warm. David and Doddy 1 have had a new quarrel, and, I think, cannot 
 conveniently quarrel any more. "Cleone" was well acted by all the characters, but 
 Bellamy left nothing to be desired. I went the first night, and supported it as 
 well as I might ; for Doddy, you know, is ray patron, and I would not desert 
 him. The play was very well received. Doddy, after the danger was over," 
 went every night to the stage-side, and cried at the distress of poor Cleone. 
 
 " I have left off housekeeping, and therefore made presents of the game 
 which you were pleased to send me. The pheasant I gave to Mr. Richardson, 2 
 the bustard to Dr. Lawrence, and the pot I placed with Miss Williams, to be 
 eaten by myself. She desires that her compliments and good wishes may be 
 accepted by the family ; and I make the same request for myself. 
 
 " Mr. Reynolds has within these few days raised his price to twenty guineas 
 a head, and Misss is much employed in miniatures. I know not any body [else] 
 whose prosperity has increased since you left them. 
 
 " Murphy is to have his "Orphan of China" acted next month; and is 
 therefore, I suppose, happy. I wish I could tell you of any great good to which 
 I was approaching, but at present my prospects do not much delight me ; how- 
 ever, I am always pleased when I find that you, dear Sir, remember, 
 
 " Your affectionate, humble servant, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 " TO MR. BURNEY, AT LYNNE, NORFOLK. 
 " SIR, " London, March 8, 1758. 
 
 " Your kindness is so great, and my claim to any particular regard from 
 you so little, that I am at a loss how to express my sense of your favours ; 4 but 
 I am, indeed, much pleased to be thus distinguished by you. 
 
 " I am ashamed to tell you that my Shakspeare will not be out so soon as I 
 promised my subscribers ; but I did not promise them more than I promised 
 myself. It will, however, be published before summer. 
 
 " I have sent you a bundle of proposals, which, I think, do not profess more 
 than I have hitherto performed. I have printed many of the plays, and have 
 hitherto left very few passages unexplained ; where I am quite at loss, I confess 
 my ignorance, which is seldom done by commentators. 
 
 " I have, likewise, enclosed receipts; not that I mean to impose upon you 
 the trouble of pushing them with more importunity than may seem proper, 
 but that you may rather have more than fewer than you shall want. The pro- 
 posals you will disseminate as there shall be an opportunity. I once printed 
 them at length in the ' Chronicle, ' and some of my friends (I believe Mr. Murphy, 
 who formerly wrote the 'Gray's- Inn Journal' introduced them with a splendid 
 encomium. 
 
 " Since the ' Life of Browne,' I have been a little engaged, from time to 
 time, in the ' Literary Magazine, ' but not very lately. I have not the collec- 
 tion by me, and therefore cannot draw out a catalogue of my own parts, but will 
 
 1 Mr. Dodsley, the author of " Cleone." BOSWELL. 
 
 2 Mr. Samuel Richardson, author of " Clarissa. BOSWELL. 
 8 Miss Reynolds, Sir Joshua's sister. ED. 
 
 4 This letter was an answer to one, in which was enclosed a draft for the payment 
 of some subscriptions to his Shakspeare. BOSWELL.
 
 216 
 
 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 [1758. 
 
 do it, and send it. Do not buy them, for I will gather all those that have any 
 thing of mine in them, and send them to Mrs. Burney, as a small token of 
 gratitude for the regard which she is pleased to bestow upon me. 
 
 " I am, Sir, your most obliged and most humble servant, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 Dr. Burney has kindly favoured me with the following memorandum, 
 which I take the liberty to insert in his own genuine easy style. I love 
 to exhibit sketches of my illustrious friend by various eminent hands. 
 
 " Soon after this, Mr. Burney, 
 during a visit to the capital, had an 
 interview with him in Gough-square, 
 where he dined and drank tea with 
 him, and was introduced to the ac- 
 quaintance of Mrs. Williams. After 
 dinner, Mr. Johnson proposed to Mr. 
 Burney to go up with him into his 
 garret, which being accepted, he there 
 found about five or six Greek folios, a 
 deal writing-desk, and a chair and a 
 half. Johnson giving to his guest the 
 entire seat, tottered himself on one with 
 only three legs and one arm. Here 
 he gave Mr. Burney Mis. Williams's 
 history, and showed him some volumes 
 of Shakspeare already printed, to 
 Upon Mr. Burney 's opening the first 
 
 volume, at the ' Merchant of Venice' he observed to him, that he seemed 
 to be more severe on Warburton than Theobald. ' poor Tib !' said 
 Johnson,' 'he was ready knocked down to my hands; Warburton 
 stands between me and him." ' But, Sir,' said Mr. Burney, 'you'll have 
 Warburton upon your bones, wont you ? ' No, Sir ; he'll not come 
 out : he'll only growl in his den.' ' But you think, Sir, that Warbur- 
 ton is a superior critic to Theobald ?' ' 0, Sir, he'd make two-and-fifty 
 Theobalds, cut into slices ! The worst of Warburton is, that he has a 
 rage for saying something, when there's nothing to be said.' Mr. 
 Burney then asked him whether he had seen the letter which Warburton 
 had written in answer to a pamphlet, addressed, ' To the most impudent 
 Man alive.' He answered in the negative. Mr. Burney told him it was 
 supposed to be written by Mallet. The controversy now raged between 
 the friends of Pope and Bolingbroke ; and W T arburton and Mallet were 
 the leaders of the several parties Mr. Burney asked him then if he had 
 seen Warburton's book against Bolingbroke's Philosophy ? ' No, Sir ; I 
 have never read Bolingbroke's impiety, and therefore am not interested 
 about its confutation.' " 
 
 DR. r.VKNEY. 
 
 prove that he was in earnest.
 
 ON AND J-RANCIS BARBER. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 1758 1759. 
 
 JOHNSON COMMENCES "THE IDLER" REMARKS ON THE WORK LETTERS TO 
 T. WARTON AND LANGTON DEATH OF JOHNSON'S MOTHER LETTERS TO HEK 
 AND Miss PORTER PUBLICATION OF "RASSELAS" VARIOUS WRITINGS EXCUR- 
 SION TO OXFORD ACCOUNT OF FRANCIS BARBER, JOHNSON'S BLACK SERVANT 
 LETTER FROM SMOLLET TO WILKES BLACKFRIARS BRIDGE JOHNSON ENGAGES 
 IN THE CoNTROVKBSY RESPECTING ITS ERECTION. 
 
 ON the 15th of April, 1758, he began a new periodical paper, entitled 
 "The Idler,"* which came out every Saturday in a weekly news- 
 paper, called " The Universal Chronicle, or Weekly Gazette," published 
 by Newberry. 1 These essays were continued till April 5, 1760. Of one 
 hundred and three, their total number, twelve were contributed by his 
 friends ; of which, Nos. 33, 93, and 96, were written by Mr. Thomas 
 Warton ; No. 07 by Mr. Langton ; and Nos. 76, 69, and 82, by Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds ;* the concluding words of No. 82, "and pollute his 
 canvas with deformity," being added by Johnson; as Sir Joshua 
 informed me. 
 
 The " Idler" is evidently the work of the same mind which produced 
 the " Rambler," but has less body and more spirit. It has more variety 
 of real life, and greater facility of language. He describes the miseries 
 of idleness with the lively sensations of one who has felt them ; and in 
 
 1 This is a slight mistake. The first number of the " Idler" appeared on the 15th of 
 April, 1758, in No. 2 of the " Universal Chronicle," &c., which was published by 
 J. Payne, for whom, also, the " Rambler" had been printed. On the 29th of April this 
 newspaper assumed the title of "Payne's Universal Chronicle," &c. MALONE.
 
 218 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1758. 
 
 his private memorandums while engaged in it, we find, "This year I 
 hope to learn diligence." 1 Many of these excellent essays were written 
 as hastily as an ordinary letter. Mr. Langton remembers Johnson, 
 when on a visit at Oxford, asking him one evening how long it was till 
 the post went out ; and on being told about half-an-hour, he exclaimed, 
 "Then we shall do very well." He, upon this, instantly sat down and 
 finished an "Idler," which it was necessary should be in London the 
 next day. Mr. Langton having signified a wish to read it, "Sir," said 
 he, "you shall do no more than I have done myself." He then folded 
 it up, and sent it off. 
 
 Yet there are in the "Idler" several papers which show as much 
 profundity of thought and labour of language as any of this great man's 
 writings. No. 14, "Robbery of time ;" No. 24, " Thinking ;" No. 41, 
 " Death of a friend ;" No. 43, " Flight of time ;" No. 51, " Domestic 
 greatness unattainable ;" No. 52, " Self-denial ;" No. 58, " Actual, how 
 short of fancied, excellence ;" No. 89, " Physical evil moral good ;" and 
 his concluding paper on " The horror of the last," will prove this as- 
 sertion. I know not why a motto, the usual trapping of periodical 
 papers, is prefixed to very few of the " Idlers," as I have heard Johnson 
 commend the custom ; and he never could be at a loss for one, his 
 memory being stored with innumerable passages of the classics. In 
 this series of essays he exhibits admirable instances of grave humour, of 
 which he had an uncommon share. Nor on some occasions has he 
 repressed that power of sophistry which he possessed in so eminent a 
 degree. In No. 11, he treats with the utmost contempt the opinion 
 that our mental faculties depend, in some degree, upon the weather ; an 
 opinion, which they who have never experienced its truths are not to be 
 envied, and of which he himself could not but be sensible, as the effects 
 of weather upon him were very visible. Yet thus he declaims : 
 
 ' ' Surely, nothing is more reproachful to a being endowed with reason than 
 to resign its powers to the influence of the air, and live in dependence on the 
 weather and the wind for the only blessings which nature has put into our power, 
 tranquillity and benevolence. This distinction of seasons is produced only by 
 imagination operating on luxury. To temperance, every day is bright ; and 
 every hour is propitious to diligence. He that shall resolutely excite his facul- 
 ties or exert his virtues will soon make himself superior to the seasons, and may 
 set at defiance the morning mist and the evening damp, the blasts of the east, 
 and the clouds of the south." 
 
 Alas ! it is too certain that where the frame has delicate fibres, and 
 there is a fine sensibility, such influences of the air are irresistible. 
 He might as well have bid defiance to the ague, the palsy, and other 
 bodily disorders. Such boasting of the mind is false elevation. 
 
 " I think the Komans call it Stoicism." 
 
 But in this number of his " Idler" his spirits seem to run riot ; for in 
 l Prayers and Meditations, p. 30. BOSWKLL.
 
 AGE 49.] BOSWELL's LIFE OF JOHNSON. 219 
 
 the wantonness of his disquisition he forgets, for a moment, even the 
 reverence for that which he held in high respect, and describes, " the 
 attendant on a Court," as one " whose business is to watch the looks of 
 a being, weak and foolish as himself." 
 
 His unqualified ridicule of rhetorical gesture or action is not, surely, 
 a test of truth ; yet we cannot help admiring how well it is adapted to 
 produce the effect which he wished : 
 
 " Neither the' judges of our laws, nor the representatives of our people, 
 would he much affected by laboured gesticulations, or believe any man the more 
 because he rolled his eyes, or puffed bis cheeks, or spread abroad his arms, or 
 stamped the ground, or thumped bis breast ; or turned his eyes sometimes to 
 the ceiling, and sometimes to the floor." 
 
 A casual coincidence with other writers, or an adoption of a senti- 
 ment or image which has been found in the writings of another, and 
 afterwards appears in the mind as one's own, is not unfrequent. The 
 richness of Johnson's fancy, which could supply his page abundantly 
 on all occasions, and the strength of his memory, which at once 
 detected the real owner of any thought, made him less liable to the 
 imputation of plagiarism than, perhaps, any of our writers. In the 
 " Idler," however, there is a paper in which conversation is assimilated 
 to a bowl of punch, where there is the same train of comparison as in a 
 poem of Blacklock, in his collection published in 1756, in which a 
 parallel is ingeniously drawn between human life and that liquor. 
 It ends, 
 
 " Say, then, physicians of each kind, 
 
 AVho cure the body or the mind, 
 
 What harm in drinking can there be, 
 
 Since punch and life so well agree ? " 
 
 To the " Idler," when collected in volumes, he added, beside the 
 Essay on Epitaphs, and the Dissertation on those of Pope, an Essay on 
 the Bravery of the English common Soldiers. He, however, omitted 
 one of the original papers, which in the folio copy, is No. 22. 1 
 
 " TO THE REV. MR. THOMAS WARTON. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, " London, April 14, 1758. 
 
 " Your notes upon my poet were very acceptable. I beg that you will be 
 so kind as to continue your searches. It will be reputable to my work, and 
 suitable to your professorship, to have something of yours in the notes. As you 
 have given no directions about your name, I shall therefore put it. I wish your 
 brother would take the same trouble. A commentary must arise from the for- 
 tuitous discoveries of many men in devious walks of literature. Some of your 
 remarks are on plays already printed : but I purpose to add an Appendix 
 of Notes, so that nothing comes too late. 
 
 1 This paper may be found in Stockdale's supplemental volume of Johnson's Miscel- 
 laneous Pieces. Bos WELL.
 
 220 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSOX. [1758. 
 
 * ' You give yourself too much uneasiness, dear Sir, about the loss of the 
 papers.* The loss is nothing, if nobody has found them ; nor even then, perhaps, 
 if the numbers be known. You are not the only friend that has had the same 
 mischance. You may repair your want out of a stock, which is deposited with 
 Mr. Allen, of Magdalen Hall, or out of a parcel which I have just sent to Mr. 
 Chambers.s for the use of any body that will be so kind as to want them. 
 Mr. Langtons are well ; and Miss Roberts, whom I have at last brought to speak, 
 upon the information which you gave me, that she had something to saj'. 
 
 ' ' I am, &c'. 
 
 "SAM. JOHNSON." 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, " London, June 1, 1758. 
 
 "You will receive this by Mr. Baretti. a gentleman particularly entitled to 
 the notice and kindness of the Professor of poesy. He has time but for a short 
 stay, and will be glad to have it filled up with as much as he can hear and see. 
 
 "In recommending another to your favour, I ought not to omit thanks for 
 the kindness which you have shown to myself. Have you any more notes 
 on Shakspeare ? I shall be glad of them. 
 
 "I see your pupil sometimes ; s his mind is as exalted as his stature. I am 
 half afraid of him ; but he is no less amiable than formidable. He will, if the 
 forwardness of his spring be not blasted, be a credit to you and to the University. 
 He brings some of my plays 4 with him, which he has my permission to show you, 
 on condition you will hide them from every body else. 
 
 "I am, dear Sir, &c. 
 
 "SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 "TO BENNET LANGTON, ESQ., OF TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD. 
 "DEAR SIR, "June 28, 1758. 
 
 " Though I might have expected to hear from you, upon your entrance into 
 a new state of life at a new place, yet recollecting (not without some degree of 
 shame) that I owe you a letter upon an old account, I think it my part to write 
 first. This, indeed, I do not only from complaisance, but from interest ; for 
 living on in the old way, I am very glad of a correspondent so capable as your- 
 self, to diversify the hours. You have, at present, too many novelties about you 
 to need any help from me to drive along your time. 
 
 " I know not any thing more pleasant, or more instructive, than to compare 
 experience with expectation, or to register from time to time the difference 
 between idea and reality. It is by this kind of observation that we grow daily 
 less liable to be disappointed. You, who are very capable of anticipating 
 fiiturity, and raising phantoms before your own eyes, must often have imagined 
 to yourself an academical life, and have conceived what would be the manners, 
 the views, and the conversation, of men devoted to letters ; how they would 
 choose their companions, how they would direct their studies, and how they 
 
 1 Receipts for Shakspeare. WARTON. 
 
 2 Then of Lincoln College. Now Sir Robert Chambers, one of the Judges in 
 India. WABTON. 
 
 8 Mr. Langton. WABTON. 
 
 1 Part of the impression of the Shakspeare, which Dr. Johnson conducted alone, and 
 published by subscription. This edition came out in 1765. WAKTON.
 
 AGE 49.] BOSWELL's LIFE OF JOHNSON. 221 
 
 would regulate their lives. Let me know what you expected, and what you 
 have found. At least record it to yourself before custom has reconciled you to 
 the scenes before you, and the disparity of your discoveries to your hopes has 
 vanished from your mind. It is a rule never to be forgotten, that whatever 
 strikes strongly, should be described while the first impression remains fresh 
 upon the mind. 
 
 "I love, dear Sir, to think on you, and therefore, should willingly write 
 more to you, but thu tthe post will not now give me leave to do more than send 
 my compliments to Mr. Warton, and tell you that I am, dear Sir, most 
 affectionately, 
 
 " Your very humble servant, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 "TO BENNET LANGTON, ESQ., AT LANGTON, NEAR SPILSBY, LINCOLNSHIRE. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, " Sept. 21, 1758. 
 
 " I should be sorry to think that what engrosses the attention of my friend 
 should have no part of mine. Your mind is now full of the fate of Dury ; l but 
 his fate is past, and nothing remains but to try what reflection will suggest to 
 mitigate the terrors of a violent death, which is more formidable at the first 
 glance, than on a nearer and more steady view- A violent death is never very 
 painful ; the only danger is, lest it should be unprovided. But if a man can be 
 supposed to make no provision for death in war, what can be the state that would 
 have awakened him to the care of futurity? When would that man have 
 prepared himself to die, who went to seek death without preparation ? What 
 then can be the reason why we lament more, him that dies of a wound, than him 
 that dies of a fever ? A man that languishes with disease, ends his life with more 
 pain, hut with less virtue : he leaves no example to his friends, nor bequeaths 
 any honour to his descendants. The only reason why we lament a soldier's 
 death, is, that we think he might have lived longer ; yet this cause of grief is 
 common to many other kinds of death, which are not so passionately bewailed. 
 The truth is, that every death is violent which is the effect of accident ; every 
 death, which is not gradually brought on by the miseries of age ; or when life is 
 extinguished for any other reason than that it is burnt out. He that dies before 
 sixty, of a cold or consumption, dies, in reality, by a violent death ; yet his death 
 is borne with patience, only because the cause of his untimely end is silent and 
 invisible. Let us endeavour to see things as they are, and then inquire whether 
 we ought to complain. Whether to see life as it is, will give us much consolation, 
 I know not ; but the consolation which is drawn from truth, if any there be, is 
 solid and durable : that which may be derived from error, must be, like its 
 original, fallacious and fugitive. 
 
 ' ' I am, dear Sir, 
 
 ' ' Your most humble servant, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 1 Major-General Alexander Dury, of the first regiment of foot-guards, who fell in 
 the galhint discharge of his duty, near St Gas, in the well-known unfortunate expedition 
 against France, in '1758. His lad}' and Mr. Langton's mother were sisters. He left 
 an only son, Lieutenant-Colonel Dury, who has a company in the same regiment. 
 BOSWKLL.
 
 222 BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHSSON. [1759. 
 
 In 1759, in the month of January, his mother died at the great age 
 of ninety, an event which deeply affected him; not that "his mind had 
 acquired no firmness by the contemplation of mortality j 1 but that his 
 reverential affection for her was not abated by years, as indeed he re- 
 tained all his tender feelings even to the latest period of his life. I have 
 been told, that he regretted much his not having gone to visit his mother 
 for several years previous to her death. But he was constantly engaged 
 in literary labours, which confined him to London ; and though he had 
 not the comfort of seeing his aged parent, he contributed liberally to 
 her support. 
 
 "TO MRS. JOHNSON, IN LICHFIELD.2 
 
 " HONOURED MADAM, " Jan. 13, 1768.3 
 
 "The account which Miss [Porter] gives me of your health, pierces my 
 heart God comfort, and preserve you, and save you, for the sake of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 " I would have Miss read to you from time to time the Passion of our 
 Saviour, and sometimes the sentences in the Communion Service Come unto me 
 all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 
 
 " I have just now read a physical book, which inclines me to think that a 
 strong infusion of the bark would do you good. Do, dear mother, try it. 
 
 " Pray, send me your blessing, and forgive all'that I have done amiss to you. 
 And whatever you would have done, and what debts you would have paid first, 
 or any thing else that you would direct, let Miss put it down ; I shall endeavour 
 to obey you. 
 
 I have got twelve guineas * to send you, but unhappily am at a loss how to 
 send it to-night If I cannot send it to-night, it will come by the next post 
 
 " Pray, do not omit any thing mentioned in this letter. God bless you for 
 ever and ever. I am, 
 
 "Your dutiful son, 
 
 "SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 "TO MISS PORTER, AT MRS. JOHNSON'S, IN LICHFIELD. 
 " MY DEAR Miss, "Jan. 16, 1759. 
 
 " I think myself obliged to you beyond all expression of gratitude for your 
 care of my dear mother. God grant it may not be without success. Tell 
 
 1 Hawkins's " Life of Johnson," p. 895. BOSWELL. 
 
 2 Since the publication of the third edition of this work, the following letters of 
 Dr. Johnson, occasioned by the last illness of his mother, were obligingly communicated 
 to Mr. Malone by the Rev. Dr. Vyse. They are placed here agreeably to the chronolo- 
 gical order almost uniformly observed by the author; and so strongly evince Dr. John- 
 son's piety and tenderness of heart, that every reader must be gratified by their insertion. 
 MALONK. 
 
 8 Written by mistake for 1759, as the subsequent letters show. In the next letter, he 
 had inadvertently fallen into the same error, but corrected it. On the outside of the 
 letter of the 13th was written by another hand, " Pray acknowledge the receipt of this 
 by return of the post, without fail." MALONE. 
 
 * Six of these twelve guineas Johnson appears to have borrowed from Mr. Alien, the 
 printer. See Hawkins's " Life of Johnson," p. 866 n. MALOSE.
 
 AGE 50.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSOX. 223 
 
 Kitty, i that I shall never forget her tenderness for her mistress. Whatever you 
 can do, continue to do. My heart is very full. 
 
 ' ' 1 hope you received twelve guineas on Monday. I found a way of sendino- 
 them by moans of the Postmaster, after I had written my letter, and hope they 
 came safe. I will send you more in a few days. God bless you all. 
 
 " I am, my dear, 
 "Your most obliged and most humble sen-ant, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 * "Over the leaf is a letter to my mother." 
 
 "DEAR HONOURED MOTHER, "Jan. 16, 1759. 
 
 "Your weakness afflicts me beyond what I am willing to communicate to 
 you. I do not think you unfit to face death, but I know not how to bear the 
 thought of losing you. Endeavour to do all you [can] for yourself. Eat as 
 much as you can. 
 
 " I pray often for you ; do you pray for me. I have nothing to add to my 
 last letter. I am, dear, dear Mother, 
 
 "Your dutiful son, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 " TO MRS. JOHNSON, IN LICHF1ELD. 
 
 "DEAR HONOURED MOTHER, "Jan. 18, 1759. 
 
 " I fear you are too ill for long letters ; therefore I will only tell you, you 
 have from me all the regard that can possibly subsist in the heart. I pray God 
 to bless you for evermore, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. 
 
 "Let Miss write to me every post, however short. I am, dear Mother, 
 
 "Your dutiful son, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 "TO MISS PORTER, AT MRS. JOHNSON'S, IN LICHFIELD. 
 "DEAR Miss, " Jan. 20, 1759. 
 
 " I will, if it be possible, come down to you. God grant I may yet [find] 
 my dear mother breathing and sensible. Do not tell her, lest I disappoint her. 
 If I miss to write next post, I am on the road. I am, my dearest Miss, 
 
 " Your most humble servant, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 " On the other side. 
 
 " DEAR HONOURED MOTHERS "Jan. 20, 1759. 
 
 " Neither your condition nor your character make it fit for me to say much. 
 You have been the best mother, and I believe the best woman in the world I 
 thank you for your indulgence to me, and beg forgiveness of all that I have done 
 
 1 Catherine Chambers, Mrs. Johnson's maid-servant. She died in October, 1767. 
 See Dr. Johnson's " Prayers and Meditations," p. 71 : " Sunday, Oct. 18, 1767. Yester- 
 day, Oct. 17, I took my leave for ever of my dear old friend, Catherine Chambers, who 
 came to live with my mother about 1724, and has been but little parted from us since. 
 She buried my father, my brother, and my mother. She is now fifty-eight years old. 
 MA LONE. 
 
 2 This letter was written on the second leaf of the preceding, addressed to Miss Porter.
 
 224 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1759. 
 
 ill, and all that I have omitted to do well. 1 God grant you his Holy Spirit, and 
 receive you to everlasting happiness, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. Lord 
 Jesus receive your spirit. Amen. I am, dear, dear Mother, 
 
 " Your dutiful son, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 "TO MISS PORTER, IN LICHFIELD. 
 
 "Jan. 23,1759.2 
 
 " You will conceive my sorrow for the loss of my mother, of the best mother. 
 If she were to live again, surely I should behave better to her. But she is happy, 
 and what is past is nothing to her ; and for me, since I cannot repair my faults 
 to her, I hope repentance will efface them. I return you and all those that have 
 been good to her my sincerest thanks, and pray God to repay you all with infinite 
 advantage. Write to me, and comfort me, dear child. I shall be glad likewise, 
 if Kitty will write to me. I shall send a bill of twenty pounds in a few days 
 which I thought to have brought to my mother ; but God suffered it not. I have 
 not power or composure to say much more. God bless you, and bless us all. 
 
 " I am, dear Miss, 
 " Your affectionate humble servant. 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 Soon after this event, he wrote his "Rasselas, Prince ot Abyssinia;"* 
 concerning the publication of which Sir John Hawkins guesses vaguely 
 and idly, instead of having taken the trouble to inform himself with 
 authentic precision. Not to trouble my readers with a repetition of the 
 Knight's reveries. I have to mention, that the late Mr. Strahan the 
 printer told me, that Johnson wrote it, that with the profits he might 
 defray the expense of his mother's funeral, and pay some little debts 
 which she had left. He told Sir Joshua Reynolds, that he composed it 
 in the evenings of one week, 3 sent it to the press in portions as it was 
 written, and had never since read it over. 4 Mr. Strahan, Mr. Johnston, 
 and Mr. Dodsley, purchased it for a hundred pounds, but afterwards 
 paid him twenty-five pounds more, when it came to a second edition. 
 
 Considering the large sums which have been received for compilations, 
 and works requiring not much more genius than compilations, we cannot 
 but wonder at the very low price which he was content to receive for 
 this admirable performance ; which, though he had written nothing else, 
 would have rendered his name immortal in the world of literature. None 
 of his writings has been so extensively diffused over Europe ; for it has 
 
 1 So, in the Prayer which he composed on this occasion: " Almighty God. merciful 
 Father, in whose hands are life and death, sanctify unto me the sorrow which I now feel. 
 Forgive me whatever I have done unkindly to my Mother, and whatever I have omitted 
 to do kindly. Make me to remember her good precepts and good example, and to reform 
 my life according to thy holy word," &c. " Prayers and Meditations," p. 31. MALONE. 
 
 2 Mrs. Johnson probably died on the 20th or 21st of January, and was buried on the 
 day this letter was written. MALONE. 
 
 8 ' Rasselas" was published in March or April, 1759. BOSWELL. 
 
 4 See vol. iv. under June 2, 1781. Finding it then accidentally in a chaise with 
 Mr. Boswell, he read it eagerly. This was doubtless long after his declaration to Sir 
 Jushua Reynolds. MALONK.
 
 AGK 50.] BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 225 
 
 been translated into most, if not all, of the modern languages. This 
 tale, with all the charms of oriental imagery, and all the force and 
 beauty of which the English language is capable, leads us through the 
 most important scenes of human life, and shows us that this stage of 
 our being is full of " vanity and vexation of spirit." To those who 
 look no further than the present life, or who maintain that human nature 
 has not fallen from the state in which it was created, the instruction of 
 this sublime story will be of no avail. But they who think justly, and 
 feel with strong sensibility, will listen with eagerness and admiration to 
 its truth and wisdom. Voltaire's " Candide," written to refute the system 
 of Optimism, which it has accomplished with brilliant success, is 
 wonderfully similar in its plan and conduct to Johnson's " Rasselas ;" 
 insomuch, that I have heard Johnson say, that if they had not been 
 published so closely one after the other that there was not time for 
 imitation, it would have been in vain to deny that the scheme of that 
 which came latest was taken from the other. Though the proposition 
 illustrated by both these works was the same, namely, that in our pre- 
 sent state there is more evil than good, the intention of the writers was 
 very different. Voltaire, I am afraid, meant only by wanton profaneness 
 to obtain a sportive victory over religion, and to discredit the belief of a 
 superintending Providence: Johnson meant, by showing the unsatis- 
 factory nature of things temporal, to direct the hopes of man to things 
 eternal. Rasselas, as was observed to me by a very accomplished lady, 
 may be considered as a more enlarged and more deeply philosophical 
 discourse in prose, upon the interesting truth, which in his " Vanity of 
 Human Wishes" he had so successfully enforced in verse. 
 
 The fund of thinking which this work contains is such, that almost 
 every sentence of it may furnish a subject of long meditation. I am not 
 satisfied if a year passes without my having read it through ; and at 
 every perusal, my admiration of the mind which produced it is so highly 
 raised, that 1 can scarcely believe that I had the honour of enjoying the 
 intimacy of such a man. 
 
 I restrain myself from quoting passages from this excellent work, or 
 even referring to them, because I should not know what to select, or, 
 rather, what to omit. I shall, however, transcribe one, as it shows how 
 well he could state the arguments of those who believe in the appearance 
 of departed spirits ; a doctrine which it is a mistake to suppose that he 
 himself ever positively held : 
 
 "If all your fear be of apparitions," said the Prince, " I will promise you 
 safety : there is no danger from the dead ; he that is once buried will be seen no 
 more. 
 
 "That the dead are seen no more," said Imlac, ".I will not undertake to 
 maintain, against the concurrent and unvaried testimony of all ages, and of all 
 nations. There is no people, rude or learned, among whom apparitions of the 
 dead are not related and believed. This opinion, which prevails as far as human
 
 226 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1/59. 
 
 nature is diffused, could become universal only by its truth ; those that never heard 
 of one another, would not have agreed in a tale which nothing but experience can 
 make credible. That it is doubted by single cavillers, can very little weaken the 
 general evidence ; and some who deny it with their tongues, confess it by their fears.' ' 
 
 Notwithstanding my high admiration of " Rasselas," I will not main- 
 tain that the " morbid melancholy" in Johnson's constitution may not, 
 perhaps, have made life appear to him more insipid and unhappy than 
 it generally is: for I am sure that he had less enjoyment from it than I 
 have. Yet, whatever additional shade his own particular sensations 
 may have thrown on his representation of life, attentive observation and 
 close inquiry hare convinced me, that there is too much reality in the 
 gloomy picture. The truth, however, is, that we judge of the happiness 
 and misery of life differently at different times, according to the state of 
 our changeable frame. I always remember a remark made to me by a 
 Turkish lady, educated in France: "Ma foi, Monsieur, notre bonheur 
 depend de lafa$on que notre sang circule." This have I learnt from a 
 pretty hard course of experience, and would, from sincere benevolence, 
 impress upon all who honour this book with a perusal, that until a 
 steady conviction is obtained, that the present life is an imperfect state, 
 and only a passage to a better, if we comply with the divine scheme 
 of progressive improvement ; and also that it is a part of the mysterious 
 plan of Providence, that intellectual beings must " be made perfect 
 through suffering;" there will be a continual recurrence of disappoint- 
 ment and uneasiness. But if we walk with hope in " the mid-day sun" 
 of revelation, our temper and disposition will be such, that the comforts 
 and enjoyments in our way will be relished, while we patiently support 
 the inconveniences and pains. After much speculation and various 
 reasonings, I acknowledge myself convinced of the truth of Voltaire's 
 conclusion, " Apres tout, c'est un monde passable." But we must not 
 think too deeply: 
 
 " where ignorance is bliss, 
 
 "Pis folly to be wise," 
 
 is, in many respects, more than poetically just. Let us cultivate, under 
 the command of good principles, " la iheorie, des sensations ag r cables /" 
 and, as Mr. Burke once admirably counselled a grave and anxious gen- 
 tleman, "live pleasant." 
 
 The effect of "Rasselas," and of Johnson's other moral tales, is 
 thus beautifully illustrated by Mr. Courtenay : 
 
 " Impressive truth, in splendid fiction drest, 
 Checks the vain wish, and calms the troubled breast ; 
 O'er the dark mind a light celestial throws, 
 And soothes the angry passions to repose ; 
 As oil efius'd illumes and smooths the deep, 
 When round the bark the foaming surges sweep." 1 
 1 Lit&fary and Moral Character of Johnson. BOSWELL.
 
 AOE 50] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 227 
 
 It will be recollected that during all this year he carried on his 
 " Idler," 1 and, no doubt, was proceeding, though slowly, in his edition 
 of Shakspeare. He, however, from that liberality which never failed, 
 when called upon to assist other labourers in literature, found time 
 to translate for Mrs. Lenox's English version of Brumoy, " A Disser- 
 tation on the Greek Comedy,"f and " The General Conclusion of the 
 Book."f 
 
 An inquiry into the state of foreign countries Avas an object that 
 seems at all times to have interested Johnson. Hence Mr. IS'ewbery 
 found no great difficulty in persuading him to write the Introduction* 
 to a collection of voyages and travels published by him under the title of 
 " The World Displayed," the first volume of which appeared this year, 
 and the remaining volumes in subsequent years. 
 
 I would ascribe to this year the following letter to a son of one of his 
 early friends at Lichfield, Mr. Joseph Simpson, Barrister, and author 
 of a tract entitled " Reflections on the Study of the Law." 
 
 " TO JOSEPH SIMPSON, ESQ. 
 " DEAR SIR, 
 
 " Your father's inexorability not only grieves but amazes me : he is your 
 ather ; he was always accounted a wise man ; nor do I remember any thing to 
 the disadvantage of his good nature ; but in his refusal to assist you there is 
 neither good nature, fatherhood, nor wisdom. It is the practice of good nature 
 to overlook faults which have already, by the consequences, punished the delin- 
 
 1 This paper was in such high estimation before it was collected into volumes, that it 
 was seized on with avidity by various publishers of newspapers and magazines, to enrich 
 their publications. Johnson, to put a stop to this unfair proceeding, wrote for the " Uni- 
 versal Chronicle" the following advertisement; in which there is, perhaps, more pomp 
 of words than the occasion demanded : 
 
 " London, Jan. 5, 1759. ADVERTISEMENT. The proprietors of the paper entitled 
 ' The Idler,' having found that those essays are inserted in the newspapers and maga- 
 zines with so little regard to justice or decency, that the ' Universal Chronicle,' in 
 which they first appear, is not always mentioned, think it necessary to declare to the 
 publishers of those collections, that however patiently they have hitherto endured these in- 
 juries, made yet more injurious by contempt, they have now determined to endure them 
 no longer. They have already seen essays, for which a very large price is paid, trans- 
 ferred with the most shameless rapacity, into the weekly or monthly compilations, and 
 their right, at least for the present, alienated from them, before they could themselves be 
 said to enjoy it. But they would not willingly be thought to want tenderness, even for 
 men by whom no tenderness hath been shown. The past is without remedy, and shall 
 be without resentment. But those who have been thus busy with their sickles in the 
 fields of their neighbours, are henceforward to take notice, that the time of impunity is at 
 an end. Whoever shall, without our leave, lay the hand of rapine upon our papers, is to 
 expect that we shall vindicate our due, by the means which justice prescribes, and which 
 are warranted by the immemorial prescriptions of honourable trade. We shall lay hold 
 in our turn, on their copies, degrade them from the pomp of wide margin and diffuse 
 typography, contract them into a narrow space, and sell them at on humble price ; yet 
 not with a view of growing rich by confiscations, for we think not much better of 
 money got by punishment than by crimes. We shall therefore, when our losses are 
 repaid, give what profit shall remain to the Mai/dalent ; for we know not who can be 
 more properly taxed for the support of penitent prostitutes, than prostitutes in whom there 
 yet appears neither penitence nor shame." BOSWKLL. 
 
 N
 
 228 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHXSOX. [1759. 
 
 quent. It is natural for a father to think more favourably than others of his 
 children ; and it is always wise to give assistance, while a little help will prevent 
 the necessity of greater. 
 
 " If you married imprudently, you miscarried at your own hazard, at an age 
 when you had a right of choice. It would be hard if the man might not choose 
 his own wife, who has a right to plead before the judges of his country. 
 
 " If your imprudence has ended in difficulties and inconveniences, you are 
 yourself to support them ; and, with the help of a little better health, you would 
 support them and conquer them. Surely, that want which accident and sickness 
 produces, is to be supported in every region of humanity, though there were 
 neither friends nor fathers in the world. You have certainly from your father 
 the highest claim of charity, though none of right ; and therefore I would counsel 
 you to omit no decent nor manly degree of importunity. Your debts in the 
 whole are not large, and of the whole but a small part is troublesome. Small 
 debts are like small shot ; they are rattling on every side, and can scarcely be 
 escaped without a wound : great debts are like cannon ; of loud noise, but little 
 danger. You must, therefore, be enabled to discharge petty debts, that you 
 may have leisure with security, to struggle with the rest. Neither the great nor 
 little debts disgrace you. I am sure you have my esteem for the courage with 
 which you contracted them, and the spirit with which you endure them. I wish 
 my esteem could be of more use. I have been invited, or have invited myself, to 
 several parts of the kingdom ; and will not incommode my dear Lucy by coming 
 to Lichneld, while her present lodging is of any use to her. I hope, in a few 
 days, to be at leisure and to make visits. Whither I shall fly is matter of no 
 importance, A man unconnected is at home every where ; unless he may be said 
 to be at home no where. I am sorry, dear Sir, that where you have parents, a 
 man of your merits should not have a home. I wish I could give it you. 
 " I am, my dear Sir, affectionately yours, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 He now refreshed himself hy an excursion to Oxford, of which the 
 following short characteristical notice, in his own words, is preserved : 
 
 " is now making tea for me. I have been in my gown ever 
 
 since I came here. It was at my first coming quite new and handsome. I have 
 swum thrice, which I had disused for many years. I have proposed to Van- 
 sittart 1 climbing over the wall, but he has refused me. And I have clapped my 
 hands till they are sore, at Dr. King's speech." 2 
 
 His negro servant, Francis Barber, having left him, and been some 
 time at sea, not pressed as has been supposed, but with his own con- 
 sent, it appears from a letter to JohnWilkes, Esq., from Dr. Smollett, 
 that his master kindly interested himself in procuring his release from a 
 state of life of which Johnson always expressed the utmost abhorrence. 
 
 1 Dr. Robert Vansittart, of the ancient and respectable family of that name in Berk- 
 shire. He was eminent for learning and worth, and much esteemed by Dr. Johnson. 
 
 BOSWBLL. 
 
 2 Gentleman s Magazine, April, 1785. BOSWELL. 
 
 Dr. King's speech was delivered on the installation of the Earl of Westmorland as 
 Chancelhi of the University, July 7, 1759. ED.
 
 AGE 50.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 22'.) 
 
 He said, " No man will be a sailor who lias contrivance enough to get 
 himself into a jail ; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance 
 of being drowned." 1 And at another time, " A man in a jail has more 
 room, better food, and commonly better company." 2 The letter was as 
 follows : 
 
 " DEAR SIR, " Chelsea, March 16, 1759. 
 
 "I am again your petitioner, in behalf of that great CHAM 3 of literature, 
 Samuel Johnson. His black servant, whose name is Francis Barber, has been 
 pressed on board the Stag frigate, Captain Angel, and our lexicographer is 
 in great distress. He says, the boy is a sickly lad, of a delicate frame, and 
 particularly subject to a malady in his throat, which renders him very unfit for 
 his Majesty's service. You know what matter of animosity the said Johnson 
 has against you : and I dare say you desire no other opportunity of resenting it, 
 than that of laying him under an obligation. He was humble enough to desire 
 my assistance on this occasion, though he and I were never cater-cousins; and I 
 gave him to understand that I would make application to my friend Mr. Wilkes, 
 who, perhaps, by his interest with Dr. Hay and Mr. Elliot, might be able to procure 
 the discharge of his lacquey. It would be superfluous to say more on the sub- 
 ject, which I leave to your own consideration ; but I cannot let slip this oppor- 
 tunity of declaring that I am, with the most inviolable esteem and attachment, 
 dear Sir, " Your affectionate, obliged, humble servant, 
 
 " T. SMOLLETT." 
 
 Mr. Wilkes, who upon all occasions has acted as a private gentle- 
 man, with most polite liberality, applied to his friend Sir George Hay, 
 then one of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty ; and Francis 
 Barber was discharged, as he has told me, without any wish of his own. 
 He found his old master in chambers in the Inner Temple, and returned 
 to his service. 
 
 What particular new scheme of life Johnson had in view this year, I 
 have not discovered ; but that he meditated one of some sort, is clear 
 from his private devotions, in which we find [Pr. and Med. pp. 30 and 
 40], "the change of outward things which I am now to make ;" and 
 
 1 Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd edit. p. 126. BOSWELL. 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 251. BOSWELL. 
 
 3 In my first edition this word was printed Chum, as it appears in one of Mr. Wilkes' s 
 Miscellanies, and I animadverted on Dr. Smollett's ignorance; for which let me pro- 
 pitiate the manes of that ingenious and benevolent gentleman. CHUM was certainly a 
 mistaken reading for CHAM, the title of the Sovereign of Tartary, which is well applied 
 to Johnson, the Monarch of Literature: and was an epithet familiar to Smollett. See 
 " Roderick Random," chap. 56. For this correction I am indebted to Lord Palmerston, 
 whose talents and literary acquirements accord well with his respectable pedigree of 
 Temple. Bosw ELL. 
 
 After the publication of the second edition of this work, the author was furnished by 
 Mr. Abercrombie of Philadelphia, with a copy of a letter written by Dr. John Armstrong, the 
 poet, to Dr. Smollett, at Leghorn, containing the following paragraph : 
 
 " As to the King's Bench patriot, it is hard to say from what motive he published a 
 letter of yours asking some trifling favour of him in behalf of somebody for whom the great 
 CHAM of literature, Mr. Johnson, hud interested himself." M ALONE.
 
 230 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHXSON. n'59. 
 
 " Grant me the grace of thy Holy Spirit, that the course which I am 
 now beginning may proceed according to thy laws, and end in the enjoy- 
 ment of thy favour." But he did not, in fact, make any external or 
 visible change. 1 
 
 At this time there being a competition among the architects of 
 London to be employed in the building of Blackfriars-bridge, a question 
 was very warmly agitated whether semicircular or elliptical arches 
 were preferable. In the design offered by Mr. Mylne the elliptical form 
 was adopted, and therefore it was the great object of his rivals to attack 
 it. Johnson's regard for his friend Mr. Gwyn induced him to engage in 
 this controversy against Mr. Mylne; 2 and after being at considerable 
 
 1 It seems, from a note of his to Miss Porter, that Johnson, on the 23rd of March, of 
 this year (1759), left his house in Gough-square, and went to reside in Staple Inn; Miss 
 Williams took separate lodgings. It will appear from the list of Johnson's residences, 
 subsequently given, that he removed from Staple Inn to Gray's Inn. ED. 
 
 2 Sir John Hawkins has given a long detail of it, in that manner vulgarly, but signi- 
 ficantly, called rigmarole ; in which, amidst an ostentatious exhibition of arts and artists 
 he talks of "proportions of a column being taken from that of the human figure, and 
 adjusted by nature masculine and feminine in a man, sesquioctai'e of the head, and 
 in a woman sesquinonal ;" nor has he failed to introduce a jargon of musical terms, which 
 do not seem much to correspond with the subject, but serve to make up the heterogeneous 
 mass. To follow the knight through all this, would be an useless fatigue to myself, and 
 not a little disgusting to my readers. I shall, therefore, only make a few remarks upon 
 his statement. He seems to exult in having detected Johnson in procuring "from a 
 person eminently skilled in mathematics and the principles of architecture, answers to a 
 string of questions drawn up by himself, touching the comparative strength of semicircular 
 and elliptical arches." Now I cannot conceive how Johnson could have acted more 
 wisely. Sir John complains that the opinion of that excellent mathematician, Mr. Thomas 
 Simpson, did not preponderate in favour of the semicircular arch. But he should have 
 known, that however eminent Mr. Simpson was in the higher parts of abstract mathe- 
 ma'kal science, he was little versed in mixed and practical mechanics. Mr. Muller, of 
 Woolwich Academy, the scholastic father of all the great engineers which this country 
 has employed lor forty years, decided the question by declaring clearly in favour of the 
 elliptical arch. 
 
 It is ungraciously suggested, that Johnson's motive for opposing Mr. Mylne's scheme 
 may have been his prejudice against him as a native of North Britain ; when, iti truth, as 
 has been stated, he gave the aid of his able pen to a friend, who was one of the candi- 
 dates ; and so far was he from having any illiberal antipathy to Mr. Mylne, that he 
 afterwards lived with that gentleman upon very agreeable terms of acquaintance, and 
 dined with him at his house. Sir John Hawkins, indeed, gives full vent to his own 
 prejudice in abusing Blackfriars-bridge, calling it "an edifice, in which beauty and 
 symmetry are in vain sought for; by which the citizens of London have perpetuated their 
 own disgrace, and subjected a whole nation to the reproach of foreigners." Whoever has 
 contemplated, placido lumine, this stately, elegant, and airy structure, which has so fine 
 an effect, especially on approaching the capital on that quarter, must wonder at such 
 unjust and ill tempered censure ; and I appeal to all foreigners of good taste, whether 
 this bridge be not one of the most distinguished ornaments of London. As to the stability 
 of the fabric, it is certain that the City of London took every precaution to have the best 
 Portland stone for it; but as this is to be found in the quarries belonging to the public, 
 under the direction of the Lords of the Treasury, it so happened that parliamentary inte- 
 rest, which is often the bane of fair pursuits, thwarted their endeavours. Notwithstanding 
 this disadvantage, it is well known that not only has Blackfriars-bridge never sunk either 
 in its foundation or in its arches, which were so much the subject of contest, but any 
 injuries which it has suffered from the effects of severe frosts have been already, in some 
 measure, repaired with sounder stone, and every necessary renewal can be completed at a 
 moderate expense. BOSWBLL.
 
 AGK 50.] 
 
 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 231 
 
 pains to study the subject, he wrote three several letters in the 
 " Gazetteer," in opposition to his plan. 
 
 If it should he remarked that this was a controversy which lay quite 
 out of Johnson's way, let it be remembered, that after all, his employing 
 his powers of reasoning and eloquence upon a subject which he had 
 studied on the moment, is not more strange than what we often observe 
 in lawyers, who, as Quicquid agunt homines is the matter of lawsuits, are 
 sometimes obliged to pick up a temporary knowledge of an art or 
 science of which they understood nothing till their brief was delivered , 
 and appear to be much masters of it. In like manner, members of the 
 legislature frequently introduce and expatiate upon subjects of which 
 they have informed themselves for the occasion. 
 
 BUCK; l.IAKS BRIDGE.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 1760 1763. 
 
 ACCESSION OP GEORGE III. JOHNSON' WRITES THE ADDRESS OF THE PAINTERS 
 ON THAT OCCASION VARIOUS WRITINGS PROJECTED HISTORY OF THE WAB 
 MURPHY'S " POETICAL EPISTLE" TO JOHNSON ACCOUNT OF THEIR FIRST ACQUAINT- 
 ANCE LETTERS TO LANGTON, BARETTI, &c. GRANT OF PENSION BY GKORGE III. 
 TO JOHNSON VISIT TO PLYMOUTH WITH REYNOLDS LETTERS TO LORD BUTE 
 AND BARKTTI CONTRIBUTES TO THE "POETICAL CALENDAR," A CHARACTER OF 
 COLLINS THB POET. 
 
 IN 1760 he wrote " An Address of the Painters to George TIL on his 
 Accession to the Throne of these Kingdoms,"! which no monarch 
 ever ascended with more sincere congratulations from his people. Two 
 generations of foreign princes had prepared their minds to rejoice in 
 having again a king, who gloried in being " born a Briton." He also wrote 
 for Mr. Baretti the Dedication! of his Italian and English Dictionary, 
 to the Marquis of Abreu, then Envoy-Extraordinary from Spain at the 
 Court of Great Britain. 
 
 Johnson was now either very idle or very busy with his Shakspeare ; 
 for I can find no other public composition by him except an Introduction 
 to the Proceedings of the Committee for clothing the French Prisoners :* 
 one of the many proofs that he was ever awake to the calls of humanity ; 
 and an account which he gave in the " Gentleman's Magazine" of Mr. 
 Tytler's acute and able vindication of Mary Queen of Scots.* The 
 generosity of Johnson's feelings shines forth in the following sentence: 
 
 " It has now been fashionable for near half a century to defame and vilify 
 the house of Stuart and to exalt and magnify the reign of Elizabeth. The 
 Stuarts have found few apologists, for the dead cannot pay for praise ; and who
 
 AGE 51. J BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 233 
 
 will, without reward, oppose the tide of popularity? Yet there remains still 
 among us, not wholly extinguished, a zeal for truth, a desire of establishing 
 right in opposition to fashion." 
 
 In this year I have not discovered a single private letter written by 
 him to any of his friends. It should seem, however, that he had at 
 this period a floating intention of writing a history of the recent and 
 wonderful successes of the British arms in all quarters of the globe; for 
 among his resolutions or memorandums, September 18, there is, " Send 
 for books for Hist, of War." 1 How much is it to be regretted that this 
 intention was not fulfilled ! His majestic expression would have carried 
 down to the latest posterity the glorious achievements of his country, 
 with the same fervent glow which they produced on the mind at the time. 
 He would have been under no temptation to deviate in any degree from 
 truth, which he held very sacred, or to take a licence, which a learned 
 divine told me he once seemed, in a conversation, jocularly to allow to 
 historians. 
 
 " There are," said he, "inexcusable lies and consecrated lies. For instance, 
 we are told that on the arrival of the news of the unfortunate battle of Fontenoy, 
 every heart beat, and every eye was in tears. Now we know that no man ate 
 his dinner the worse, but there should have been all this concern ; and to say 
 there was (smiling), may be reckoned a consecrated lie." 
 
 This year Mr. Murphy, having thought himself ill-treated by the 
 Rev. Dr. Francklin, who was one of the writers of the " Critical 
 Review," published an indignant vindication in " A Poetical Epistle to 
 Samuel Johnson, A.M.," in which he compliments Johnson in a just 
 and elegant manner: 
 
 "Transcendent Genius ! whose prolific vein 
 
 Ne'er knew the frigid poet's toil and pain ; 
 
 To whom APOLLO opens all his store, 
 
 And every Muse presents her sacred lore ; 
 
 Say, pow'rful JOHNSON, whence thy verse is fraught 
 
 "With so much grace, such energy of thought ; 
 
 "Whether thy JUVENAL instructs the age 
 
 In chaster numbers, and new-points his rage ; 
 
 Or fair IRENE sees, alas ! too late 
 
 Her innocence exchanged for guilty state ; 
 
 Whate'er you write, in every golden line 
 
 Sublimity and elegance combine ; 
 
 Thy nervous phrase impresses every soul, 
 
 While harmony gives rapture to the whole." 
 
 Again, towards the conclusion : 
 
 " Thou then, my friend, who see'st the dang-'rous strife 
 In which some demon bids me plunge my life, 
 
 l Prayers and Meditations, p. 42. BOSWBI.L.
 
 234 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1760. 
 
 To the Aonian fount direct my feet, 
 
 Buy, where the Nine thy lonely musings meet ? 
 
 Where warbles to thy ear the sacred throng, 
 
 Thy moral sense, thy dignity of song ? 
 
 Tell, for you can, by what unerring art 
 
 You wake to finer feelings every heart ; 
 
 In each bright page some truth important give, 
 
 And bid to future times thy RAMBLER live." 
 
 I take this opportunity to relate the manner in which an acquaint- 
 ance first commenced between Dr. Johnson and Mr. Murphy. During 
 the publication of the " Gray's-Inn Journal, "a periodical paper, which 
 was successfully carried on by Mr. Murphy alone, when a very young 
 man, he happened to be in the country with Mr. Foote; and having 
 mentioned that he was obliged to go to London in order to get ready for 
 the press one of the numbers of that Journal, Foote said to him, " You 
 need not go on that account. Here is a French magazine, in which you 
 will find a very pretty oriental tale ; translate that, and send it to your 
 printer." Mr. Murphy having read the tale, was highly pleased with 
 it, and followed Foote's advice. When he returned to town, this tale 
 was pointed out to him in the "Rambler," from whence it had been 
 translated into the French magazine. Mr. Murphy then waited upon 
 Johnson, to explain this curious incident. His talents, literature, and 
 gentleman-like manners, were soon perceived by Johnson, and a friend- 
 ship was formed which was never broken. 1 
 
 1 When Mr. Murphy first became acquainted with Dr. Johnson, he was about thirty- 
 one years old. He died at Knightsbridge, June 18, 1805, it is believed in his eighty- 
 second year. 
 
 In an account of this gentleman, published recently after his death, he is reported to 
 have said, that "he was but twenty-one," when he had the impudence to write a periodical 
 paper, during the time that Johnson was publishing the " Rambler." In a subsequent 
 page, in which Mr. Boswell gives an account of his first introduction to Johnson, will be 
 found a striking instance of the incorrectness of Mr. Murphy's memory ; and the asser- 
 tion above mentioned, if indeed he made it, which is by no means improbable, furnishes 
 an additional proof of his inaccuracy ; for both the facts asserted are unfounded. He 
 appears to have been eight years older than twenty -one, when he began the " Gray's-Inn 
 Journal ;" and that paper, instead of running a race with Johnson's production, did not 
 appear till after the closing of the " Rambler," which ended March 14, 1752. The first 
 number of the" Gray's-Inn Journal" made its appearance about seven months afterwards, 
 in a newspaper of the time, called " The Craftsman," October 21, 1752 ; and in that form 
 the first forty-nine numbers were given to the public. On Saturday, Sept. 29, 1753, it 
 assumed a new form, and was published as a distinct periodical paper ; and in that shape 
 it continued to be published till the 21st of Sept 1754, when it finally closed; forming 
 in the whole one hundred and one Essays, in the folio copy. The extraordinary paper 
 mentioned in the text, is No. 38 of the second series, published on June 15, 1754; which 
 is a retranslation from the French version of Johnson's "Rambler," No. 190. It was 
 omitted in the republication of these Essays in two volumes 12mo. in which one hun- 
 dred and four are found, and in which the papers are not always dated on the days when 
 they really appeared ; so that the motto prefixed to this Anglo-G'allic Eastern tale, obscuris 
 vera involvent, might very properly have been prefixed to this work when republished. 
 Mr. Murphy did not, I believe, wait on Johnson recently after the publication of this 
 adumbration of one of his " Ramblers," as seems to be stated in the text ; for, in his 
 concluding Essay, Sept. 21, 1754, we find the following paragraph :
 
 AOK 51.] BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSOX. 235 
 
 " TO BENNET LANGTON, ESQ. AT LANGTON, NEAR SPILSBY, LINCOLNSHIRE. 
 
 'DEAR SIR, "Oct. 18,1760. 
 
 " You that travel about the world, have more materials for letters, than I 
 who stay at home ; and should, therefore, write with frequency equal to your 
 opportunities. I should be glad to have all England surveyed by you, if you 
 would impart your observations in narratives as agreeable as your last. Know- 
 ledge is always to be wished to those who can communicate it well. While you 
 have been riding and running, and seeing the tombs of the learned, and the 
 camps of the valiant, I have only stayed at home, and intended to do great things, 
 which I have not done. Beau 1 went away to Cheshire, and has not yet found 
 his way back. Chambers passed the vacation at Oxford. 
 
 " I am very sincerely solicitous for the preservation or curing of Mr. Langton' s 
 sight, and am glad that the chirurgeon at Coventry gives him so much hope. 
 Mr. Sharpe is of opinion that the tedious maturation of the cataract is a vulgar 
 error, and that it may be removed as soon as it is formed- This notion deserves 
 to be considered ; I doubt whether it be universally true ; but if it be true in 
 some cases, and those cases can be distinguished, it may save a long and uncom- 
 fortable delay. 
 
 ' ' Of dear Mrs. Langton you give me no account ; which is the less friendly, 
 as you know how highly I think of her, and how much I interest myself in her 
 health. I suppose you told her of my opinion, and likewise suppose it was not 
 followed ; however, I still believe it to be right. 
 
 ' ' Let me hear from you again, wherever you are, or whatever you are doing ; 
 whether you wander or sit still, plant trees or make Rustics,^ play with your 
 sisters or muse alone ; and in return I will tell you the success of Sheridan, who 
 at this instant is playing Cuto, and has already played Richard twice. He 
 had more company the second than the first night, and will make, I believe, 
 a good figure on the whole, though his faults seem to be very many ; some of 
 natural deficience, and some of laborious affectation. He has, I think, no power 
 of assuming either that dignity or elegance which some men, who have little of 
 either in common life, can exhibit on the stage. His voice when strained is un- 
 pleasing, and when low is not always heard. He seems to think too much on the 
 audience, and turns his face too often to the galleries. 
 
 " However, I wish him well, and among other reasons, because I like his wife. 3 
 
 ' ' Make haste to write to, dear Sir, 
 
 " Your most affectionate servant, SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 " Besides, why may not a person rather choose an air of bold negligence, than the 
 obscure diligence of pedants and writers of affected phraseology. For my part, I 
 have always thought an easy style more eligible than a pompous diction, lifted 'tip by 
 metaphor, amplified by epithet, and dignified by too frequent insertions of the Latin 
 idiom." It is probable that the " Rambler " was here intended to be censured, and that 
 the author, when he wrote it, was not acquainted with Johnson, whom, from his first intro- 
 duction, he endeavoured to conciliate. Their acquaintance, therefore, it may be presumed, 
 did not commence till towards the end of this year, 1754. Murphy, however, had highly 
 praised Johnson intheprecedingyear.No. 14 of the second series, Dec. 22, 1753. MALONB. 
 
 The " Rambler," No. 190, which Murphy retranslated, is the " History of Abouzaid, 
 the son of Morad." ED. 
 
 1 Topham Beauclerk, Esq. BOSWELL. 
 
 2 Essays with that title, written about this time by Mr. Langton, but not published. 
 
 3 Mrs. Sheridan was author of " Memoirs of Miss Sydney Biddulph," a novel of 
 great merit, and of some other pieces. See her character, p. 246. BOSWELL.
 
 236 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [i/ci. 
 
 In 1 761 Johnson appears to have done little. lie was still, no doubt, 
 proceeding in his edition of Shakspeare ; but what advances he made in 
 it cannot be ascertained. He certainly was at this time not active ; for, 
 in his scrupulous examination of himself on Easter eve, he laments, in 
 his too rigorous mode of censuring his own conduct, that his life, since 
 the communion of the preceding Easter, had been "dissipated and 
 useless." 1 He, however, contributed this year the Preface* to " Rolt's 
 Dictionary of Trade and Commerce," in which he displays such a clear 
 and comprehensive knowledge of the subject, as might lead the reader 
 to think that its author had devoted all his life to it. I asked him, 
 whether he knew much of Rolt, and of his work. " Sir," said he, " I 
 never saw the man, and never read the book. The booksellers wanted a 
 Preface to a Dictionary of Trade and Commerce. I knew very well what 
 such a Dictionary should be, and I wrote a Preface accordingly." Rolt, 
 who wrote a great deal for the booksellers, was, as Johnson told me, a 
 singular character. Though not in the least acquainted with him, he 
 used to say, " I am just come from Sam. Johnson." This was a suffi- 
 cient specimen of his vanity and impudence. But he gave a more 
 eminent proof of it in our sister kingdom, as Dr. Johnson informed me. 
 When Akenside's " Pleasures of the Imagination" first came out, he did 
 not put his name to the poem. Rolt went over to Dublin, published an 
 edition of it, and put his own name to it. Upon the fame of this 
 he lived for several months, being entertained at the best tables as " the 
 ingenious Mr. Rolt." 2 His conversation, indeed, did not discover much of 
 the fire of a poet ; but it was recollected, that both Addison and Thomson 
 were equally dull till excited by wine. Akenside having been informed of 
 this imposition, vindicated his right by publishing the poem with its real 
 author's name. Several instances of such literary fraud have been de- 
 tected. The Reverend Dr. Campbell, of St. Andrew's, wrote "An 
 Enquiry into the original of Moral Virtue," the manuscript of which he 
 sent to Mr. Innes, a clergyman in England, who was his countryman 
 and acquaintance. Innes published it with his own name to it ; and 
 before the imposition was discovered, obtained considerable promotion, as 
 a reward of his merit. 3 The celebrated Dr. Hugh Blair, and his cousin 
 Mr. George Bannatine, when students in divinity, wrote a poem, entitled 
 " The Resurrection," copies of which were handed about in manuscript. 
 They were, at length, very much surprised to see a pompous edition of it in 
 folio, dedicated to the Princess Dowager of Wales, by a Dr. Douglas, as 
 
 1 Prayers and Meditations, p. 44. BOSWE r.t. 
 
 2 I have had inquiry made in Ireland as to this story, but do not find it recollected 
 there. I give it on the authority of Dr. Johnson, to which may be added, that of the 
 "Biographical Dictionary," and " Biographia Dramatica;" in both of which it has stood 
 many years. Mr. Malone observes, that the truth probably is, not that an edition was 
 published with Rolt's name in the title-page, but that the poem being then anonymous, 
 Rolt acquiesced in its being attributed to him in conversation. BOSWKLL. 
 
 8 I have both the books. Innes was the clergyman who brought Psalmanazar to 
 England, and was an accomplice in his extraordinary ficiion. BOSWELL.
 
 AGE 52. J BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 237 
 
 his own. Some years ago a little novel, entitled " The Man of Feel- 
 ing," was assumed by Mr. Eccles, a young Irish clergyman, who was 
 afterwards drowned near Bath. lie had been at the pains to transcribe 
 the whole book, with blottings, interlineations, and corrections, that it 
 might be shown to several people as an original. It was, in truth, the 
 production of Mr. Henry Mackenzie, an attorney in the Exchequer at 
 Edinburgh, who is the author of several other ingenious pieces ; but the 
 belief with regard to Mr. Eccles became so general, that it was thought 
 necessaryfor Messrs. Strahan and Cadell to publish an advertisement 
 in the newspapers, contradicting the report, and mentioning that they 
 purchased the copyright of Mr. Mackenzie. I can conceive this kind of 
 fraud to be very easily practised with successful effrontery. The filia- 
 ' tion of a literary performance is difficult of proof ; seldom is there any 
 witness present at its birth. A man, either in confidence or by improper 
 means, obtains possession of a copy of it in manuscript, and boldly 
 publishes it as his own. The true author, in many cases, may not be 
 able to make his title clear. Johnson, indeed, from the peculiar features 
 of his literary offspring, might bid defiance to any attempt to appro- 
 priate them to others : 
 
 " But Shakspcare's magic could not copied be ; 
 Within that circle none durst walk but lie." 
 
 He this year lent his friendly assistance to correct and improve a 
 pamphlet written by Mr. Gwyn, the architect, entitled " Thoughts on 
 the Coronation of George III."* 
 
 Johnson had now for some years admitted Mr. Baretti to his inti- 
 macy ; nor did their friendship cease upon their being separated by 
 Baretti's revisiting his native country, as appears from Johnson's letters 
 to him. 
 
 " TO MR. JOSEPH BARETTI, AT MILAN. 1 
 
 " [London] June 10, 1761. 
 
 "You reproach me very often with parsimony of writing; but you may 
 discover by the extent of my paper that I design to recompense rarity by length. 
 A short letter to a distant friend is, in my opinion, an insult, like that of a 
 slight bow or cursory salutation ; a proof of unwillingness to do much, even 
 where there is a necessity of doing something. Yet it must be remembered, 
 that he who continues the same course of life in the same place, will have little 
 to tell. One week and one year are very like one another. The silent changes 
 made by time are not always perceived ; and if they are not perceived, cannot 
 be recounted. I have risen and lain down, talked and mused, while you have 
 roved over a considerable part of Europe ; yet I have not envied my Baretti any 
 of his pleasures, though, perhaps, I have envied others his company : and I am 
 glad to have other nations made acquainted with the character of the English 
 
 1 The originals of Dr. Johnson's three letters to Mr. Baretti, which are among the 
 very best he ever wrote, were communicated to the proprietors of that instructive and 
 elegant monthly miscellany, the " European Magazine," in which they first appeared. 
 BOSWKLL.
 
 238 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [iroi. 
 
 by a traveller who has so nicely inspected our manners, and so successfully 
 studied our literature. I received your kind letter from Falmouth, in which you 
 gave me notice of your departure for Lisbon : and another from Lisbon, in 
 which you told me, that you were to leave Portugal in a few days. To either of 
 these how could any answer be returned ? I have had a third from Turin, com- 
 plaining that I have not answered the former. Your English style still continues 
 in its purity and vigour. With vigour your genius will supply it : but its purity 
 must be continued by close attention. To use two languages familiarly, and 
 without contaminating one by the other, is very difficult ; and to use more than 
 two, is hardly to be hoped. The praises which some have received for their 
 multiplicity of languages, may be sufficient to excite industry, but can hardly 
 generate confidence. 
 
 " I know not whether I can heartily rejoice at the kind reception which you 
 have found, or at the popularity to which you are exalted. I am willing that 
 your merit should be distinguished ; but cannot wish that your affections may be 
 gained. I would have you happy wherever you are ; yet I would have you wish 
 to return to England. If ever you visit us again, you will find the kindness of 
 your friends undiminished. To tell you how many inquiries are made after you, 
 would be tedious, or if not tedious, would be vain ; because you may be told in a 
 very few words, that all who knew you wish you well ; and that all that you em- 
 braced at your departure, will caress you at your return : therefore do not let 
 Italian academicians nor Italian ladies drive us from your thoughts. You may 
 find among us what you will leave behind, soft smiles and easy sonnets. Yet I 
 shall not wonder if all our invitations shoijld be rejected : for there is a pleasure 
 in being considerable at home, which is not easily resisted. 
 
 "By conducting Mr. Southwell to Venice, you fulfilled, I know, the original 
 contract : yet I would wish you not wholly to lose him from your notice, but to 
 recommend him to such acquaintance as may best secure him from suffering by 
 his own follies, and to take such general care both of his safety and his interest 
 as may come within your power. His relations will thank you for any such gra- 
 tuitous attention : at least they will not blame you for any evil that may happen, 
 whether they thank you or not for any good. 
 
 "You know that we have a new king and a new parliament. Of the new 
 parliament Fitzherbert is a member. We were so weary of our old king, that 
 we are much pleased with his successor ; of whom we are so much inclined to 
 hope great things, that most of us begin already to believe them. The young 
 man is hitherto blameless ; but it would be unreasonable to expect much from 
 the immaturity of juvenile years, and the ignorance of princely education. He 
 has been long in the hands of the Scots, and has already favoured them more 
 than the English will contentedly endure. But, perhaps, he scarcely knows 
 whom he has distinguished, or whom he has disgusted. 
 
 "The Artists have instituted a yearly Exhibition of pictures and statues, in 
 imitation, as I am told, of foreign academies. This year was the second exhi- 
 bition. They please themselves much with the multitude of spectators, and ima- 
 gine that the English School will rise in reputation. .Reynolds is without a rival, 
 and continues to add thousands to thousands, which he deserves, among other 
 excellencies, by retaining his kindness for Baretti. This Exhibition has filled 
 the heads of the artists and lovers of art Surely life, if it be not long, is
 
 AQB 52.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 239 
 
 tedious, since we are forced to call in the assistance of so many trifles to rid us 
 of our time, of that time which never can return. 
 
 " I know my Baretti will not be satisfied with a letter in which I give him no 
 account of myself: yet what account shall I give him? I have not, since the day 
 of our separation, suffered or done any thing considerable. The only change in 
 my way of life is, that I have frequented the theatre more than in former seasons. 
 But I have gone thither only to escape from myself. We have had man ynew 
 farces, and the comedy called ' The Jealous Wife,' which, though not written 
 with much genius, was yet so well adapted to the stage, and so well exhibited by 
 the actors, that it was crowded for near twenty nights. I am digressing from 
 myself to the playhouse ; but a barren plan must be filled with episodes. Of 
 myself I have nothing to say, but that I have hitherto lived without the concur- 
 rence of my own judgment ; yet I continue to flatter myself, that, when you 
 return, you will find me mended. I do not wonder that, where the monastic life 
 is permitted, every order finds votaries, and every monastery inhabitants. Men 
 will submit to any rule, by which they may be exempted irom the tyranny of 
 caprice and of chance. They are glad to supply by external authority their own 
 want of constancy and resolution, and court the government of others, when 
 long experience has convinced them of their own inability to govern themselves. 
 If I were to visit Italy, my curiosity would be more attracted by convents than 
 by palaces ; though I am afraid that I should find expectation in both places 
 equally disappointed, and life in both places supported with impatience and 
 quitted with reluctance. That it must be so soon quitted, is a powerful remedy 
 against impatience ; but what shall free us from reluctance? Those who have 
 endeavoured to teach us to die well, have taught few to die willingly : yet I cannot 
 but hope that a good life might end at last in a contented death. 
 
 " You see to what a train of thought I arn drawn by the mention of myself. 
 Let me now turn my attention upon you. I hope you take care to keep an exact 
 journal, and to register all occurrences and observations ; for your friends here 
 expect such a book of travels as has not been often seen. You have given us 
 good specimens in your letters from Lisbon. I wish you had stayed longer in 
 Spain, for no country is less known to the rest of Europe ; but the quickness of 
 your discernment must make amends for the celerity of your motions. He that 
 knows which way to direct his view, sees much in a little time. 
 
 " Write to me very often, and I will not neglect to write to you; and I m;<y, 
 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." 
 
 In 1762 he wrote for the Reverend Dr. Kennedy, Rector of Bradley 
 in Derbyshire, in a strain of very courtly elegance, a Dedication to the 
 King* of that gentleman's work entitled " A complete System of Astro- 
 nomical Chronology, unfolding the Scriptures," He had certainly 
 looked at this work before it was printed ; for the concluding paragraph 
 is undoubtedly of his composition, of which let my readers judge : 
 
 " Thus have I endeavoured to free Religion and History from the darkness 
 of a disputed and uncertain chronology, from difficulties which have hitherto
 
 240 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1762. 
 
 appeared insuperable, 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 inte- 
 rest can pervert. I have shown that the universe bears witness to the inspiration 
 of its historian, by the revolution of its orbs and the succession of its seasons ; 
 that the stars in their courses fight against incredulity, that the works of God give 
 hourly confirmation to the law, the prophets, and the gospel, of which one day 
 telleth another, and one night certifieth another ; and that the validity of the 
 sacred writings never can be denied, while the moon shall increase and wane, and 
 the sun shall know his going down." 
 
 He this year wrote also the Dedication! to the Earl of Middlesex of 
 Mrs. Lenox's " Female Quixote," and the Preface to the " Catalogue 
 of the Artists' Exhibition.''! 
 
 The following letter, which, on account of its intrinsic merit, it would 
 have been unjust both to Johnson and the public to have withheld, was 
 obtained for me by the solicitation of my friend Mr. Seward : 
 
 "TO DR. STAUNTON (NOW SIR GEORGE STAUNTON, BAKONtTJ. i 
 
 "DEAR SIR, "June 1,1762. 
 
 1 ' 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 establishment 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 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 dispen- 
 sation not less happy 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 them- 
 selves, would, perhaps, spend their time in laudable pursuits ; but the greater 
 part would prey upon the 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 find 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 acquainted. 1 hope you will furnish yourself 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, perhaps, to medicine. Wild 
 nations trust to simples ; and, perhaps, the Peruvian bark is not the only specific 
 which those extensive regions may aflbrd us. 
 
 "Wherever you are, and whatever be your fortune, be certain, dear Sir, 
 
 1 Sir G. Staunton was originally a physician ; he went as Secretary to Lord Macartney's 
 embassy to China, and wrote the well-kuown account of it. ED.
 
 AGK 53.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 241 
 
 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 happy will give pleasure 
 to, Sir, "Your most affectionate humble servant, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 A lady having at this time solicited him to obtain the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury's patronage to have her son sent to the University, one of 
 those solicitations which are too frequent, 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, Cambridge. 
 
 "MADAM, "June 8,1762. " 
 
 " I hope you will believe that my delay in answering your letter could pro- 
 ceed only from my unwillingness to destroy any hope that you had formed. Hope 
 is itself a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world 
 affords : but, like all other pleasures immoderately enjoyed, the excesses of hope 
 must be expiated by pain ; and expectations improperly indulged, must end in 
 disappointment. If it be asked, what is the improper expectation which it is 
 dangerous to indulge, 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 expectation 
 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 knowing 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 particular 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 remote from usual methods, that I 
 cannot comply with it, but at the risk of such answer and suspicions as I believe 
 you do not wish me to undergo. 
 
 " I have seen your son this morning; he seems a 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 humble servant, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 "TO MR. JOSEPH BARETTI, AT MILAN. 
 " SIR, "London, July 20, 1762. 
 
 " However justly you may accuse me for want of punctuality in correspond- 
 ence, I am not so far lost in negligence as to omit t)ie opportunity of writing to 
 you, which Mr. Beauclerk's passage through Milan affords me.
 
 242 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1762. 
 
 ' ' I suppose you received the ' Idlers,' and I intend that you shall soon 
 receive Shakspeare, that you may explain his works to the ladies of Italy, and 
 tell them the story of the editor, among the other strange narratives 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 Cotterel 
 still continues to cling to Mrs. Porter, and Charlotte is now big of the fourth child. 
 Mr. Reynolds gets six thousands a year. Levett 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 1 
 is dead of an apoplexy, and his second daughter has married a merchant. 
 
 " My vanity, or my kindness, makes me flatter myself, that you would rather 
 hear of me tlian of those whom I have mentioned ; 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 
 playfellows were grown old, and forced me to suspect that I was no longer young. 
 My only remaining friend 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 gained much of the wisdom of age. I wandered about 
 for five days, and took the first convenient opportunity of returning to a place, 
 where, if there is not much happiness, 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 result of your return to your own 
 country : whether time has made any alteration for the better, and whether, 
 when the first raptures of salutation were over, you did not find your thoughts 
 confessed their disappointment. 
 
 " Moral sentences appear ostentatious and tumid, when they have no greater 
 occasions 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 common 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 borrow all our happiness from hope, which at last 
 is to end in disappointment. 
 
 " I beg that you will show Mr. Beauclerk all the civilities which you have in 
 your power ; for he has always been kind to me. 
 
 " I have lately seen Mr. Stratico, Professor of Padua, who has told me of 
 your quarrel with an Abbot of the Celestine order ; 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. JOHNSON." 
 
 1 Samuel Richardson, the author of " Clarissa," " Sir Charles Grandisoii," &c. He 
 died July 4, 1781, aged 72. MALONE.
 
 ACK 53.] 
 
 BOSWELI, 3 LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 243 
 
 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 reign. Uis 
 present Majesty's education in this country, as well as his taste and 
 beneficence, prompted him to be the patron of science and the arts ; and 
 early this year Johnson having been 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 hun- 
 dred pounds a year. The Earl of Bute, 
 who was then Prime Minister, had the 
 honour to announce this instance of 
 his Sovereign's bounty, concerning 
 which, many and various stories, all 
 equally erroneous, have been propa- 
 gated ; maliciously representing it as a 
 political bribe to Johnson, to desert 
 his avowed principles, and become the 
 tool of a government which he held 
 to be founded in usurpation. I have 
 taken care to have it in my power to 
 refute them from the most authentic 
 information. Lord Bute told me, that 
 Mr. Wedderburne, now Lord Lough- 
 borough, 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 understanding 
 that he should write for the administration. Tl is lordship added, that he 
 was confident the. political tracts which Johnson afterwards did write, 
 as they were entirely consonant with his own opinions, Avould have been 
 written by him, though no pension had been granted to him. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Sheridan and Mr. Murphy, who then lived a good deal 
 both with him and Mr. Wedderburne, told me, that they previously 
 talked with Johnson upon this matter, and that it was perfectly under- 
 stood by all parties that the pension was merely honorary. Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds told me, that Johnson called on him after his Majesty's inten- 
 tion 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 he had given in his Dictionary of pension and pen- 
 sioners. He said he should not have Sir Joshua's answer till next day, 
 when he would call again, and desired he might think of it. Sir Joshua 
 answered that he was clear to give his opinion then, that there could be 
 no objection to his receiving from the King a reward for literary merit ; 
 and that certainly the definitions in his Dictionary were not applicable 
 to him. Johnson, it should seem, was satisfied, for he did not call again 
 
 o2 
 
 LORD BUTE.
 
 244 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1/62. 
 
 till he had accepted the pension, and had waited on Lord Bute to thank 
 him. He then told Sir Joshua that Lord Bute said to him expressly, 
 " It is not given you for any thing you are to do, but for what you have 
 done." 1 His lordship, he said, behaved in the handsomest manner. He 
 repeated the words twice, that he might be sure Johnson heard them, 
 and thus set his mind perfectly at ease. This nobleman, who has been 
 so virulently abused, acted with great honour in this instance, and dis- 
 played a mind truly 1 iberal . A minister of a more narrow and selfish dispo- 
 sition would have availed himself of such an opportunity to fix an implied 
 obligation on a man of Johnson's powerful talents to give him his support. 
 
 Mr. Murphy and the late Mr. Sheridan severally contended for the 
 distinction of having been the first who mentioned to Mr. Wedderburne 
 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 business, 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 occa- 
 sion. I must have recourse to the French. 1 ampenetre with his Majesty's 
 goodness. " When I repeated this to Dr. Johnson, he did not contradict it. 
 
 His definitions of pension and pensioner, partly founded on the sati- 
 rical verses of Pope, which he quotes, may be generally true ; and yet 
 every body must allow, that there may be, and have 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 a pension so unconditionally and so honourably 
 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 father, which does great honour both to the writer, and to the 
 noble person to whom it is addressed : 
 
 " TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARl, OF BUTE. 
 
 " MY LORD, " j u i y 20, 1762. 
 
 " When the bills 2 were yesterday delivered to me by Mr. Wedderburne, I was 
 informed by him of the future favours which his Majesty has, by your Lordship's 
 recommendation, been induced to intend for me. 
 
 1 This was said by Lord Bute, as Dr. Burney was informed by Johnson himself, in 
 answer to a question which he put, previously to his acceptance of the intended bounty : 
 "Pray, my Lord, what am I expected to do J'or this pension?" MALONE. 
 
 2 What these "bills" were, appears to be altogether uncertain; Boswell gives no 
 xplanation on the subject. En.
 
 AGE o3.J 
 
 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 "Bounty always receives part of its value from the manner in which it is 
 bestowed ; your Lordship's kindness includes every circumstance that can gratify 
 delicacy, or enforce obligation. You have conferred your favours on a man who 
 has neither alliance nor interest, who has not merited them by services, nor 
 courted them by officiousness ; you have spared him the shame of solicitation, 
 and the anxiety of suspense. 
 
 " What has been thus elegantly given, will, I hope, not be reproachfully en- 
 joyed ; I shall endeavour to give your Lordship the only recompence which gene- 
 rosity desires, the gratification of finding that your benefits are not improperly 
 bestowed. I am, my Lord, 
 
 "Your Lordship's most obliged, 
 " Most obedient, and most humble servant, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 This year his friend, Sir Joshua Reynolds, paid a visit of some 
 weeks to his native country, Devonshire, in which he was accompanied 
 by Johnson, who was much pleased with this jaunt, and declared he had 
 derived from it a great accession of new ideas. He was entertained at 
 the seats of several noblemen and gentlemen in the west of England ; 1 
 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. The Commissioner of 
 the Dock-yard paid him the compliment of ordering the yacht to convey 
 
 1 At one of these seats Dr. Arnyat, physician in London, told me he happened to 
 meet him. In order to amuse him till dinner should be ready, he was taken out to walk 
 in the garden. The master of the house thinking it proper to introduce something 
 scientific into the conversation, addressed him thus : " Are you a botanist, Dr. Johnson?" 
 " No, Sir," answered Johnson, "I am not a botanist ; and (alluding no doubt to his near- 
 sightedness), should I wish to become a botanist; I must first turn myself into a reptile." 
 
 BOSWULL.
 
 246 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1762. 
 
 him and his friend to the Eddystone, to which they accordingly sailed. 
 But the weather was so tempestuous that they could not land. 
 
 Reynolds and he were at this time the guests of Dr. Mudge, the cele- 
 brated surgeon, 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 father, that very eminent divine, the Reverend Zachariah 
 Mudge, Prebendary of Exeter, who was idolised in the west, both for 
 his excellence as a preacher and the uniform perfect propriety of his 
 private conduct. 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 sparing of his very enter- 
 taining conversation. It was here that he made that frank and truly 
 original confession, that " ignorance, pure ignorance," was the cause of 
 a wrong definition in his Dictionary of the word pastern, 1 to the no small 
 surprise of the lady who put the question to him ; who having the most 
 profound reverence for his character, so as almost to suppose him endowed 
 with infallibility, expected to hear an explanation (of what, to be sure, 
 seemed strange to a common 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 characteristical anecdote of 
 Johnson while at Plymouth. Having observed, that 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 observation of human 
 nature, that it is certain if a man hates at all, he will hate his next 
 neighbour ; he concluded that this new and 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 side 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 entered warmly into its in- 
 terests, and upon every occasion talked of the dockers, as the inhabitants 
 of the new town were called, 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 New-town, being totally destitute of water, petitioned Plymouth 
 that a small portion of the conduit might be permitted to go to them, 
 and this was now under consideration. Johnson, 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 ! " 2 
 
 1 Seep. 198. BOSWELL. 
 
 2 A friend of "mine once heard him, during this visit, exclaim with the utmost vehe- 
 mence, "I HATE a Docker." BLAKEWAY.
 
 AGE 53.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 247 
 
 Lord Macartney obligingly favoured me with a copy of the foil owing 
 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 HONOURABLE THE EARL OF BUTE. 
 
 " MY LORD, " Temple-lane, Nov. 3, 1762. 
 
 " 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 
 nnd 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, I believe, his friendship will make him think it no trouble 
 to convey to me. 
 
 " To interrupt your Lordship, at a time like this, with such petty difficulties, 
 is improper and unseasonable ; but your knowledge of the world has long since 
 taught you that every man's affairs, however little, are important to himself. 
 Every man hopes that he shall escape neglect ; and, with reason, may every 
 man, whose vices do not preclude his claim, expect favour from that beneficence 
 which has been extended to, my Lord, 
 
 " Your Lordship's most obliged, 
 
 " And most humble servant, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 " TO MR. JOSEPH BARETTI, AT MILAN. 
 " SIR, " London, Dec. 21, 1762. 
 
 " 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. Langton is with him. 
 
 " I will not trouble you with speculations about peace and war. The good 
 or ill success of battles and embassies extends itself to a very small part of 
 domestic life : we all have good and evil, which we feel more sensibly than our 
 petty part of public miscarriage or prosperity. I am sorry for your disappoint- 
 ment, with which you seem more touched than 1 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 con- 
 temptuous, and that in courts life is often lavished away in ungratified expecta- 
 tion ; but he that approaches greatness, or glitters in a court, imagines that 
 destiny has at last exempted him from the common lot. 
 
 " Do not let such evils overwhelm you 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 Provi- 
 dence, a man of genius has been seldom ruined but by himself. Your patron's
 
 248 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [i/es. 
 
 weakness or insensibility 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 essence, 
 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 deserve pursuit. But love and 
 marriage are different states. Those who are to suffer the evils together, 1 and 
 to suffer often for the sake of one another, soon lose that tenderness of look and 
 that benevolence of mind which arose from the participation of unmingled 
 pleasure and successive amusement. A woman, we are sure, will not be always 
 fair we are not sure she will always be virtuous ; and a man cannot retain 
 through life that respect and assiduity by which he pleases for a day or for a 
 month. I do not, however, 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 litera- 
 ture 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 reputation and in riches. Miss 
 Williams, who 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. Levett has married a street- walker. But the gazette of my nar- 
 ration must now arrive to tell you, that Bathurst went physician to the army, 
 and died at the Havannah. 
 
 " I know not whether I have not sent you word that Huggins 2 and Richard- 
 son are both dead. When we see our enemies and friends gliding 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 affectionate, humble servant, 
 
 " Write soon." " SAM. JOHNSON. 
 
 In 1763 he furnished to the " Poetical Calendar," published by 
 Fawkes and Woty, a character of Collins,* which he afterwards 
 ingrafted into his entire life of that admirable poet, in the collection of 
 lives which he wrote for the body of English poetry, formed and pub- 
 lished by the booksellers of London. His account of the melancholy 
 depression 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 writings. He also favoured Mr. 
 
 1 Johnson probably wrote " the evils of life together." The words in italics, however, 
 are not found in Baretti's original edition of this letter, but they may have been omitted 
 inadvertently either in his transcript or at the press. MALONE. 
 
 2 Huggins translated " Ariosto." A strong feud had existed between him and 
 Baretti. ED.
 
 AGE 54.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 249 
 
 Hoole with the Dedication of his translations of Tasso to the Queen,* 
 which is so happily conceived and elegantly expressed, that I cannot 
 but point it out to the peculiar notice of my readers. 1 
 
 1 " MADAM, 
 
 " To approach the high and illustrious has been in all ages the privilege of poets; 
 and though translators cannot justly claim the same honour, yet they naturally follow 
 their authors as attendants ; and I hope that in return for having enabled Tasso to diffuse 
 his fame through the British dominions, I may be introduced by him to the presence of 
 your Majesty. 
 
 " 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 is not easy to forbear a wish that he had lived in a happier time, 
 when he might among the descendants of that illustrious family have found a more liberal 
 and potent patronage. 
 
 " I cannot but observe, Madam, how unequally reward is proportioned to merit, when 
 I reflect that the happiness which was withheld from Tasso is reserved for me ; and that 
 the poem which once hardly procured to its author the countenance 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 
 condescension 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, 
 
 BOSWKLL. "JOHN HoOLK."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 1763. 
 
 FIRST INTERVIEW OF BOSWKLL WITH JOHNSON, AT THE HOUSE OF DAVIES THE 
 BOOKSELLER RECORD OF CONVERSATION BOSWELL'S VISIT TO HIS CHAMBERS IN 
 THE TEMPLE DESCRIPTION OF JOHNSON MEETING AT "THE MITRE" TAVERN 
 RECORD OF HIS OPINIONS OF GRAY, GOLDSMITH, &c. ADVICE TO BOSWELL. 
 
 THIS [1763] is to me a memorable year ; for in it I had the happi- 
 ness to obtain the acquaintance of that extraordinary man whose 
 memoirs 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 for several years read his works with delight and 
 instruction, and had the highest reverence for their author, which had 
 grown up in my fancy into a kind of mysterious veneration, by figuring 
 to myself a state of solemn elevated abstraction in which I supposed him 
 to live in the immense metropolis of London. Mr. Gentleman, a native 
 of Ireland, who passed some years in Scotland as a player, and as an 
 instructor in the English language, a man whose talents and worth 
 were depressed by misfortunes, had given me a representation of the 
 figure and manner of DICTIONARY JOHNSON ! as he was then generally 
 called; 1 and during my first visit to London, which was for three 
 
 1 As great men of antiquity such as Scipio Africanun had an epithet added to their 
 uames in consequence of some celebrated action, so my illustrious friend was often called
 
 AGK 54.] 
 
 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 251 
 
 months in 1760, Mr. Derrick the poet, 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 years afterwards told 
 me, " Derrick, Sir, might very well have introduced you. I had a 
 kindness for Derrick, and am sorry he is dead." 
 
 In the summer of 1761 Mr. Thomas Sheridan 1 was at Edinburgh, 
 and delivered lectures upon the English language and public speaking 
 to large and respectable audiences. 
 I was often in his company, and heard 
 him frequently expatiate upon John- 
 son's extraordinary knowledge, ta- 
 lents, 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 as- 
 sured me I should not be disappointed. 
 
 When I returned to London in the 
 end of 1762, to my surprise and 
 regret I found an irreconcilable dif- 
 ference had taken place between John- IHUMAS BHBBID**. 
 son and Sheridan. A pension of two hundred pounds a year had 
 been given to Sheridan. Johnson, who, as has been already mentioned, 
 thought slightingly of Sheridan's art, upon hearing that he was also 
 pensioned, exclaimed, " What ! have they given him a pension ? Then 
 it is time for me to give up mine." Whether this proceeded from a 
 momentary indignation, as if it were an affront to his exalted merit that 
 a player should be rewarded in the same manner with him, or was the 
 sudden eifect of a fit of peevishness, it was unluckily said, and, indeed, 
 cannot be justified. Mr. Sheridan's pension was granted to him not as 
 a player, but as a sufferer 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 be allowed that he was a man of literature, 
 and had considerably improved the arts of reading and speaking with 
 distinctness and propriety. 
 
 Besides, Johnson should have recollected that Mr. Sheridan taught 
 pronunciation to Mr. Alexander Wedderburne, whose sister was married 
 
 DICTIONARY JOHNSON, from that wonderful achievement of genius and labour, his 
 " Dictionary of the English Language;" the merit of which I contemplate with more and 
 more admiration. BOSWELL. 
 
 1 Thomas Sheridan was the son of Swift's friend, Dr. Sheridan, and father of the 
 celebrated Richard Brinsley Sheridan, the dramatist and statesman. ED.
 
 252 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1763. 
 
 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 
 connection. Mr. Macklin, indeed, shared with Mr. Sheridan the 
 honour of instructing Mr. Wedderburne ; and though it was too late in 
 life for a Caledonian to acquire the genuine English cadence, yet so 
 successful were Mr. Wedderburne 's instructors, 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 despise 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 English- 
 men 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 in much higher spheres. When I look back on this 
 noble person at Edinburgh, in situations so unworthy of his brilliant 
 powers, and behold Lord Loughborough at London, the change seems 
 almost like one of the metamorphoses in Ovid ; and as his two pre- 
 ceptors, by refining his utterance, gave currency to his talents, we may 
 say in the words of that poet, " Nam vos mutastis." 
 
 I have dwelt the longer upon this remarkable instance of successful 
 parts and assiduity, because it affords animating encouragement to 
 other gentlemen of North Britain to try their fortunes in the southern 
 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 disliked him repeated his sar- 
 casm to Mr. Sheridan, 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 for- 
 give this hasty contemptuous expression. It rankled in his mind ; and 
 though I informed him of all that Johnson said, and that he would be 
 very glad to meet him amicably, he positively 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 Dr. Johnson was to be 
 there. I have no sympathetic feeling with such persevering resentment. 
 It is painful when there is a breach between those who have lived toge- 
 ther socially 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 injured vanity. I
 
 AGE 54.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 253 
 
 could not but smile, at the same time that I was offended, to observe 
 Sheridan, in " The Life of Swift," which he afterwards published, 
 attempting, in the writhings of his resentment, to depreciate Johnson, 
 by characterising him as " a writer of gigantic fame, in these days of 
 little men ;" that very Johnson whom he once so highly admired and 
 venerated. 
 
 This rupture with Sheridan deprived Johnson of one of his most 
 agreeable resources for amusement in his lonely evenings ; for Sheridan's 
 well-informed, animated and bustling mind never suffered conversation 
 to stagnate ; and Mrs. Sheridan was a most agreeable companion to an 
 intellectual man. She was sensible, ingenious, unassuming, yet com- 
 municative. I recollect, with satisfaction, many pleasing hours which 
 I passed with her under the hospitable roof of her husband, who was to 
 me a very kind friend. Her novel, entitled " Memoirs of Miss Sydney 
 Biddulph," contains an excellent moral, while it inculcates a future 
 state of retribution ;* and 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 resigned, and full of 
 hope of " heaven's mercy." Johnson paid her this high compliment 
 upon it : "I know not, Madam, that you have a right, upon moral 
 principles, to make your readers suffer so much." 
 
 Mr. Thomas Davies, the actor, who then kept a bookseller's shop in 
 Russell-street, Covent-garden, 2 told me that Johnson was very much his 
 
 1 My position has been very well illustrated by Mr. Belsham of Bedford, in his 
 " Essay on Dramatic Poetry." " The fashionable doctrine," 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 dramatic impiety to maintain that virtue should not be rewarded, 
 nor vice punished in the last scene ot the last act of every tragedy. This conduct 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 
 virtue in real life is always productive of happiness ; and vice of misery. Thus Con- 
 greve concludes the tragedy of ' The Mourning Bride ' with the following foolish couplet : 
 
 ' For blessings ever wait on virtuous deeds, 
 And, though a late, a sure reward succeeds.' 
 
 "When a man eminently virtuous, a Brutus, a Cato, or a Socrates, finally sinks under 
 the pressure 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 inevitably induced to cherish 
 the sublime idea that a day of i'uture retribution will arrive when he shall receive not 
 merely poetical, but real and substantial justice." Essays Philosophical, Historical, and 
 Literary, London, 1791, vol. ii. 8vo. p. 317. 
 
 This is well reasoned and well expressed. I wish, indeed, that the ingenious author, 
 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 descrip- 
 tion. Mr. Belsham discovers in his Essays so much reading, and thinking, and good 
 composition, that 1 regret his 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 
 investigation, think them) both in religion and politics, which, while I read, I am sure 
 with candour, I cannot read without offence. BOSWELL. 
 
 2 No. 8. The very place where I was fortunate enough to be introduced to the 
 illustrious subject of this work, deserves to be particularly marked. 1 never pass by it 
 without feeling reverence and regret, BOSWELL.
 
 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHXSOX. 
 
 [17(33. 
 
 friend, and came frequently to his house, where he more than once in- 
 vited me to meet him ; but by some unlucky accident or other he was 
 prevented from coming to us. 
 
 NO. 8, K 
 
 Mr. Thomas Davies was a man of good understanding and talents, 
 with the advantage of a liberal education. Though somewhat 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 celebrated for her beauty), 
 though upon the stage for many years, maintained an uniform decency 
 ot 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 imitators of his voice and manner, while relating them. 
 ,He increased my impatience more and more to see the extraordinary 
 man whose works I highly valued, and whose conversation was reported 
 to be so peculiarly excellent. 
 
 At last, on Monday the 16th of May, when I was sitting in Mr. 
 Davies 's back-parlour, after having drunk tea with him and Mrs. Davies,
 
 AOE .it.] 
 
 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 255 
 
 THOMAS D 
 
 Johnson unexpectedly came into the shop ;* and Mr. Davies having per- 
 ceived him, through the glass-door in the room in which we were sitting, 
 advancing towards us, he announced his awful approach to me, some- 
 what in the manner of an actor in the 
 part of Horatio, when he addresses 
 Hamlet on the appearance of his 
 father's ghost, " Look, my Lord, it 
 comes !" I found that I had a very 
 perfect idea of Johnson's figure, 
 from the portrait of him painted by 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds soon after he 
 had published his Dictionary, in the 
 attitude of sitting in his easy chair 
 in deep meditation ; which was the 
 first picture his friend did for him, 
 which Sir Joshua very kindly pre- 
 sented to me, and from which an 
 engraving has been made for this 
 work. 2 Mr. Davies mentioned my 
 name, and respectfully introduced me 
 to him. I was much agitated ; and recollecting his prejudice against the 
 Scotch, of which I had heard much, I said to Davies, " Don't tell where I 
 come from." " From Scotland, "cried Davies, roguishly. " Mr. John- 
 son," said I, " I do indeed come from Scotland, but I cannot help it." I am 
 willing to flatter myself that I meant this as light pleasantry to soothe and 
 conciliate him, and not as an humiliating abasement at the expense of 
 my country. But however that might be, this speech was somewhat un- 
 lucky ; for with that quickness of wit for which he was so remarkable, 
 he seized the expression "come from Scotland," which I used in the 
 sense of being of that country ; and, as if I had said that I had come 
 away from it, or left it, retorted, " That, Sir, I find, is what a very 
 great many of your countrymen cannot help." This stroke stunned me 
 a good deal ; and when we had sat down, I felt myself not a little 
 embarrassed, and apprehensive of what might come next. He then 
 
 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 error. His memory, at the end of near thirty years, has undoubtedly 
 deceived him, and he supposes himself to have been present at a scene, which he has 
 probably heard inaccurately described by others. In my note taken on 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 BOSWELL. 
 
 It is remarkable, that in the editions of Murphy's" Life of Johnson," published subse- 
 quently to the appearance of this note, in 1791, he never corrected the mis-statement here 
 mentioned. MA LONE. 
 
 2 The portrait referred to above is given on tie title-page of the present volume. ED.
 
 256 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1763 
 
 addressed himself to Davies : " What do you think ot 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 would be worth three shillings." 
 Eager to take any opening to get into conversation with him, I ventured 
 to say, "0 Sir, I cannot think Mr. Garrick would grudge such a trifle 
 to you." "Sir," said he, with a stern look, "I have known David 
 Garrick longer than you have done ; and I know no right you have to 
 talk to me on the subject." 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. 1 
 I now felt myself much mortified, and began to think that the hope 
 which I had long indulged of obtaining his acquaintance was blasted. 
 And, in truth, had not my ardour been uncommonly strong, and my reso- 
 lution uncommonly persevering, so rough a reception might have deterred 
 me for ever from making any further attempts. Fortunately, however, 
 I remained upon the field not wholly discomfited ; and was soon rewarded 
 by hearing some of his conversation, of which I preserved the following 
 short minute, without marking the questions and observations by which 
 it was produced. 
 
 T" People," he remarked, "may be taken in once, who imagine that 
 an author is greater in private life than other men. Uncommon parts 
 require uncommon opportunities for their exertion. 
 
 In barbarous society, superiority of parts is of real consequence. 
 Great strength or great wisdom is of much value to an individual. But 
 in more polished times there are people to do every thing for money ; 
 and then there are a number of other superiorities, such as those of birth 
 and fortune, and rank, that dissipate men's attention, and leave no extra- 
 ordinary share of respect for personal and intellectual superiority. This 
 is wisely ordered by Providence, to preserve some equality among man- 
 kind." 
 
 " Sir, this book (' The Elements, of Criticism,' 2 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 one 3 who with more than ordinary boldness attacked 
 public 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." 
 
 1 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 his theatre to this very 
 person, by which she had got two hundred pounds. Johnson, indeed, upon all other occa- 
 sions, when I was in his company, praised the very liberal charity of Garrick. I once 
 mentioned to him, " It is observed, Sir, that you attack Garrick yourself, but will suffer 
 nobody else to do it." Johnson (smiling)," Why, Sir, that is true." 
 
 2 This work was written by Lord Kaimes (Henry Home), one of the Scotch judges, 
 and was published in 1762. ED. 
 
 Probably Wilkes. ED.
 
 ARK 51.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHXSOX. 25? 
 
 " The notion of liberty amuses the people of England, and helps to 
 keep off the ttedium vitce. When a butcher tells you that Ids 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 before him, and, I doubt, Derrick is his enemy." 1 
 
 " Derrick may do very well, as long as he can outrun his character 
 but the moment 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 of this sarcasm, he said, " Well, but Derrick has now 
 got a character that he need not run away from." 
 
 1 was highly pleased with the extraordinary vigour of his conversa- 
 tion, and regretted that I was drawn away from it by an engagement at 
 another place. I had, for a part ot the evening, been left alone with 
 him, and had ventured to make an observation now and then, which he 
 received very civilly ; so that I was satisfied that though there was a 
 roughness in his manner, there was no ill-nature in his disposition. 
 Davies 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 the 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 been 
 enlivened by the witty sallies of Messieurs Thornton, Wilkes, Churchill, 
 and Lloyd, with whom I had passed the morning, I boldly repaired to 
 Johnson. His chambers were on the first floor of No. 1, Inner Temple- 
 lane, and I entered them with an impression given me by the Reverend 
 Dr. Blair, of Edinburgh, who had been introduced to him not long 
 before, and described his having "found the Giant in his den; "an 
 expression, which, when I came to be pretty well acquainted with 
 Johnson, I repeated to him, and he was diverted at this picturesque 
 account of himself. Dr. Blair had been presented to him by Dr. James 
 Fordyce. At this time the controversy concerning the pieces published 
 by Mr. James Macpherson, as translations of Ossian, was at its height. 
 Johnson had all along denied their authenticity ; and, what was still 
 more provoking to their admirers, maintained that they had no merit. 
 The subject having been introduced by Dr. Fordyce, Dr. Blair, relying 
 on the internal evidence of their antiquity, asked Dr. Johnson whether 
 he thought any man of a modern age could have written such poems ? 
 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 
 
 1 Mr. Sheridan was then reading lectures upon oratory at Bath, where Derrick was 
 Master of the Ceremonies; or, as the phrase is, KING. BobWEi.L.
 
 258 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1703. 
 
 seriously ranking them with the poems of Homer and Virgil ; and when 
 he was afterwards informed of this circumstance, he expressed some 
 displeasure at Dr. Fordyce's having suggested the topic, and said, " I 
 am not sorry that they got thus much for their pains. Sir, it was like 
 leading one totalkof a hook, when theauthor isconcealed behind the door." 
 He received me very courteously ; but, it must be confessed, that his 
 apartment, and furniture, and morning dress, were sufficiently uncouth. 
 His brown suit of clothes looked very rusty ; he had on a little old 
 shrivelled unpowdered wig, which was too small for his head ; his 
 shirt-neck and knees of his breeches were loose ; his black worsted 
 stockings ill drawn up ; and he had a pair of unbuckled shoes by way of 
 slippers. But all these slovenly particularities were forgotten the mo- 
 ment 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 to me, "Nay, don't go." " Sir," said I, " I am afraid that I in- 
 trude upon you. It is benevolent to allow me to sit and hear you. " He 
 seemed pleased with this compliment, which I sincerely paid him, and 
 answered, " Sir, I am obliged to any man who visits me." I have pre- 
 served the following short minute of what passed this day. 
 
 " Madness frequently discovers itself 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 unusual place. Now, although, 
 rationally speaking, 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 understanding is not called in question." 
 
 Concerning this unfortunate poet, Christopher Smart, who was con- 
 fined in a madhouse, he had, at another time, the following conversation 
 with Dr. Burney. BURNEY : " 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 ; from he grows fat upon it." BURNEY : "Per- 
 haps, 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 carried back again. I did not think he ought 
 to be shut up. His infirmities were not noxious to society. He insisted 
 on people praying with him ; and I'd as lief pray with Kit 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 
 labour ; but even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, 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
 
 A(;E 51.] BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 259 
 
 head, and he picks it up and buys victuals with it, the physical effect is 
 good ; hut, with respect to me, the action is very wrong. Sc religious 
 exercises, if not performed with an intention to please G<x} avail us 
 nothing. As our Saviour says of those who perform then", /rom other 
 motives, ' Verily they have their reward.' 
 
 " The Christian religion has very strong evidences. It, indeed, 
 appears in some degree strange to reason ; hut in History we have un- 
 doubted facto, against which, in reasoning a priori, we have more argu- 
 ments than we have 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 conversation." 
 
 When I rose a second time, he again pressed me to stay, which I did. 
 
 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 habit. 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 established an acquaintance of 
 which I had been so long ambitious. 
 
 My readers will, I trust, excuse me for being thus minutely circum- 
 stantial, when it is considered that the acquaintance of Dr. Johnson was 
 to me a most valuable acquisition, and laid the foundation of whatever 
 instruction and entertainment they may receive from my collections con- 
 cerning 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 recol- 
 lect no part of his conversation, except, that when I told him I had been 
 to see Johnson 1 ride upon three horses, he said, " Such a man, Sir, should 
 be encouraged ; for his performances show the extent of the human 
 powers in one instance, and thus tend to raise our opinion of the facul- 
 ties of man. He shows what may be attained by persevering application ; 
 so that every man may hope, that by giving as much application, 
 although perhaps 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 parting, and asked me why I did 
 not come oftener to him. Trusting that 1 was now in his good graces, 
 
 1 This Johnson was an Irishman, and much celebrated as a horseman ; he appears to 
 have been the Ducrowof his day. ED.
 
 260 BOSWELI/S LIFE Of JOHNSON. [170;}. 
 
 1 answered, that he had not given me much encouragement, and 
 reminded him of the check I had received from him at our first inter- 
 view. " Poll, j>oh ! " said he, with a complacent smile, " never mind 
 these things. Come to me as often as you can. I shall be glad to see 
 you." 
 
 I had learnt that his place of frequent resort was the Mitre tavern in 
 Fleet-street, where he loved to sit up late, and I begged 1 might be 
 allowed to pass an evening with him there soon, which he promised 
 I should. A few days afterwards, I met him near Temple-bar about 
 one o'clock in the morning, and asked if he would then go to the Mitre. 
 " Sir," said he, "it is too late, they won't let us in. But I'll go with 
 you another night with all my heart." 
 
 A revolution of some importance in my plan of life had just taken 
 place ; for instead of procuring a commission in the foot-guards, which 
 was my own inclination, I had, in compliance with my father's wishes, 
 agreed to study the law, and was soon to set out for Utrecht, to hear the 
 lectures of an excellent civilian in that University, and then to proceed 
 on my travels. Though very desirous of obtaining Dr. Johnson's advice 
 and instructions on the mode of pursuing my studies, I was at this time 
 so occupied, shall I call it ? or so dissipated by the amusements of 
 London, that our next meeting was not till Saturday, June 25, when 
 happening to dine at Clifton's eating-house, in Butcher-row, 1 was sur- 
 prised to perceive Johnson <?ome 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 intercourse with any one. A liberal and full- 
 minded man, however, who loves to talk, will break through this churlish 
 and unsocial restraint. Johnson and an Irish gentleman got into a dis- 
 pute concerning the cause of some part of mankind being black. " Why, 
 Sir," said Johnson, " it has been accounted for in three ways : either 
 by supposing that they are the posterity of Ham, who was cursed, or 
 that God at first created two kinds of men, one black, and another 
 white, or, that by the heat of the sun the skin is 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 rememher 
 that he became very warm and intemperate in his expressions : upon 
 which Johnson rose, and quietly walked away. When he had retired, 
 his antagonist 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 had not observed that I was in the room. I followed him, 
 however, and he agreed to meet me in the evening at the Mitre. I culled 
 on him, and we went thither at nine. We had a good supper, and port
 
 AGE 51 J 
 
 1JOSWEU, S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 201 
 
 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 extraordinary power and precision of his conversa- 
 tion, and the pride arising from finding myself admitted as his 
 companion, produced a variety of sensations, and a pleasing elevation of 
 mind beyond what I had ever before experienced. 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 
 record ; and it will be curious in this view, as showing how habitual to 
 his mind were some opinions which appear in his works. 
 
 " Colley Gibber, Sir, was by no means a blockhead, but, by arro- 
 gating to himself too much, he was in danger of losing that degree of 
 estimation to which he was entitled. 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 before he 
 died he showed me one of them, with great solicitude to render it as per- 
 fect 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 and himself : 
 
 ' Perch'd on the eagle's soaring wing, 
 The lowly linnet loves to sing.'
 
 262 
 
 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 Sir, lie had heard something of the fabulous tale of the wren sitting upon 
 the eagle's wing, and he hud applied it to a linnet. Gibber s 1'amiliar 
 
 style, however, was better than 
 that which Whitehead 1 has as- 
 sumed. Grand nonsense is in- 
 supportable. Whitehead is but 
 a little man to inscribe verses to 
 players." 
 
 I did not presume to contro- 
 vert this censure, which was tinc- 
 tured with his prejudice against 
 players, but I could not help think- 
 ing that a dramatic poet might 
 with propriety pay a compliment 
 to an eminent performer, as White- 
 head has very happily done in his 
 verses to Mr. Garrick. 
 
 "Sir, I do not think Gray 
 a first-rate poet. 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 images, 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 ; 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 in all Scotland, 
 
 From the highest estate to the lowest degree, ' &c. 
 And then, Sir, 
 
 ' Yes, there is a man in Westmorland, 
 
 And Johnny Armstrong they do him call." 
 
 There, now. you plunge at once into the subject. You have no pre- 
 vious narration to lead you to it. The two next lines in that Ode are, 
 I think, very good : 
 
 ' Though fann'd by Conquest's crimson wing, 
 
 They mock the air with idle state. ' " 2 
 Here let it be observed, that although his opinion of Gray's poetry 
 
 1 This was William Whitehead, who succeeded Gibber as Poet Laureate ; Paul 
 Whitehead was a different person. ED, 
 
 2 My friend Mr. Malone, in his valuable comments on Shakspeare, has traced in that 
 great poet the disjecta membra of these lines. BOSWELL.
 
 AOK si.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHXSOX. 263 
 
 was widely different from mine, and I believe from that of most men of 
 taste, by whom it is with justice 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 actuated by 
 envy. Alas! ye little short-sighted critics, could Johnson be envious 
 of the talents of any of his contemporaries? That his opinion on this 
 subject was what in private and in public he uniformly expressed, re- 
 gardless 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. 
 
 Finding him in a placid humour, and wishing to avail himself 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 intellectual 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 some time 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 every point considered to be orthodox. Being at all times 
 a curious examiner of the human mind, and pleased with an undisguised 
 display of what had passed in it, he called to me with warmth, " Give 
 me your hand, I have taken a liking to you." He then began 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 period been guilty 
 of a temporary neglect of religion, but that it was not the result of 
 argument, 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 sentiment, which 
 has the additional value of obviating an objection to our holy religion, 
 founded upon the discordant tenets of Christians themselves: " For my 
 part, Sir, I think all Christians, whether Papists or Protestants, 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 imagi- 
 nation, and what imagination cannot possibly produce. Thus, suppose 
 I should think that I saw a form, and heard a voice cry, ' Johnson, you 
 are a very wicked fellow, and unless you repent you will certainly be 
 punished ;' my own unworthiness is so deeply impressed upon my mind, 
 that I might imagine I thus saw and heard, and therefore I should not 
 believe that an external communication had been made to me. But if a
 
 264 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [i/os. 
 
 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." 
 
 Here it is proper, once for all, to give a true and fair statement of 
 Johnson's way of thinking upon the question, whether departed spirits 
 are ever permitted to appear in this world, or in any way to operate 
 upon human life. He has been ignorantly misrepresented as weakly 
 credulous upon that subject ; and, therefore, though I feel an inclination 
 to disdain and treat with silent contempt so foolish a notion concerning 
 my illustrious 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 philoso- 
 phical mind, and such a rational respect for testimony, as to make him 
 submit his understanding to what was authentically proved, though he 
 could not comprehend why it was so. Being thus disposed, he was 
 willing to inquire into the truth of any relation of supernatural agency, 
 a general belief of which has prevailed in all nations and ages. But so 
 far was he from being the dupe of implicit faith, that he examined the 
 matter with a jealous attention, and no man was more ready to refute 
 its falsehood v when he had discovered it. Churchill, in his poem en- 
 titled " The Ghost," availed himself of the absurd credulity imputed to 
 Johnson, and drew a caricature of him under the name of " Pomposo," 
 representing him as one of the believers of the story of a ghost in Cock- 
 lane, which in the year 1762, bad-gained very general credit in London. 
 Many of my readers, I am convinced, are to this hour under an im- 
 pression that Johnson was thus foolishly deceived. It will therefore 
 surprise them a good deal when they are informed upon undoubted 
 authority, 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 Reverend 
 Dr. Douglas, now Bishop of Salisbury, the great detector of impostures ; 
 who informs me that after the gentlemen who went and examined into 
 the evidence were satisfied of its falsity, Johnson wrote in their presence 
 an account of it, which was published in the newspapers and " Gen- 
 tleman's Magazine," and undeceived the world. 1 
 
 1 The account was as follows : " On the night of the 1st of February, many gentle- 
 men eminent for their rank and character, were, by the invitation of the Reverend Mr. 
 Aldrich, of Clerkenwell, assembled at his house, for the examination of the noises sup- 
 posed 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 disturbed 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 publicly promised, by an affirmative knock, that it
 
 AGK 54.] 
 
 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 265 
 
 Our conversation proceeded. "Sir," said he, "I am a friend to 
 subordination as most conducive to the happiness of society. There is a 
 reciprocal pleasure in governing and being governed." 
 
 would attend one of the gentlemen into the vault under the church of St. John, Clerken- 
 well, where the hody is deposited, and give a token of her presence there, by a knock 
 upon her coffin; it was therefore determined to make this trial of ihe existence or veracily 
 of the supposed spirit. 
 
 " While they were inquiring and deliberating, they were summoned into the girl's 
 chamber by some ladies who were ne;ir her bed, and who had heard knocks and scratches. 
 When the gentlemen entered, the girl declared that she felt the spirit like a mouse upon 
 her back, and was required to hold her hands out of bed. From that time though the 
 spirit was very solemnly required to manifest its existence by appearance, by impression 
 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 perform 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 
 confession from her. Between two and three she desired and was permitted to go home 
 with her father. 
 
 " It is, therefore, the opinion of the whole assembly, that the child has some art of 
 making or counterfeiting a particular noise, and that there is no agency of any higher 
 cause." BOSWBLL.
 
 266 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSOX. [i/ea. 
 
 " Dr. Goldsmith is one of the first men we now have as an author, 
 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 " Elvira," which had been acted the 
 preceding winter at Drury-lane, and that the Honourable Andrew Ers- 
 kine, 1 Mr. Dempster, and myself, had joined in writing a pamphlet, 
 entitled, "Critical Strictures," against it. 2 That the mildness of 
 Dempster's disposition had, however, relented; and he had candidly said, 
 " We have hardly a right to abuse this tragedy ; for, bad as it is, how 
 vain should either of us be to write one not near so good ! " JOHNSON : 
 " Why, no, Sir ; this is not just reasoning. You may abuse a tragedy, 
 though you cannot write one. You may scold a carpenter who has 
 made you 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 estate 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 dependent 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 thousand pounds, is nothing ; an 
 English Duke, with an immense fortune, is nothing ; he has no tenants 
 who consider themselves as under his patriarchal care, and who will 
 follow him to the field upon an emergency." 
 
 His notion 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 Low- 
 land landlord has been so curtailed in his feudal authority, that he has 
 little more influence over his tenants than an English landlord ; and of 
 late years most of the Highland chiefs have destroyed, by means too 
 well known, the princely power which they once enjoyed. 3 
 
 He proceeded: "Your going abroad, Sir, and breaking off idle 
 habits, may be of great importance to you. I would go where there are 
 courts and learned men. There is a good deal of Spain that has not 
 been perambulated. I would have you go thither. 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 of writing 
 an account of my travels that would deserve to be read, elated me not a 
 little. 
 
 I appeal to every impartial reader whether this faithful detail ot 
 his frankness, complacency, and kindness to a young man, a stranger 
 
 1 The Honourable Andrew Erskine was a son of the Earl of Kellie ; Mr. Dempster 
 was long M.P. for Fife, and is favourably mentioned by Burns. ED. 
 
 2 The "Critical Review,"1n which Mallet himself sometimes wrote, characterised this 
 pamphlet as " the crude efforts of envy, petulance, and self-conceit." There being thus 
 three epithets, we the three authors had a humorous contention bow each should be 
 appropriated. BOSWK LL. 
 
 8 The allusion here is probably to the introduction of sheep-farming, and the increase 
 of rents. ED.
 
 AGE 61.] BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 267 
 
 and a Scotchman, does not refute the unjust opinion of the harshness of 
 his general demeanour. His occasional reproofs of folly, impudence, or 
 impiety, and even the sudden sallies of his constitutional irritability of 
 temper, which have been preserved for the poignancy of their wit, have 
 produced that opinion among those who have not considered that such 
 instances, though collected by Mrs. Piozzi into a small volume, and read 
 over in a few hours, were, in fact, scattered through a long series ot 
 years ; years, 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, 
 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 years ago that I should pass an 
 evening with the author of the ' Rambler,' how should I have exulted !" 
 What I then expressed was sincerely 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, together." We 
 finished a couple of bottles of port, and sat till between one and two in 
 the morning. 
 
 He wrote this year in the " Critical Review " the account of " Tele- 
 machus, a Mask," by the Reverend George Graham, of Eton College. 
 The subject of this beautiful poem was particularly interesting to 
 Johnson, who had much experience of " the conflict of opposite prin- 
 ciples," which he describes as " the contention between pleasure and 
 virtue, a struggle which will always be continued while the present 
 system of nature shall subsist ; nor can history or poetry exhibit more 
 than pleasure triumphing over virtue, and virtue subjugating pleasure."
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 1763. 
 
 ACCOUNT op GOLDSMITH JOHNSON'S RELATION OF THEIR INTERVIEW, WHEN 
 GOLDSMITH WAS ARRESTED BY HIS LANDLADY BOSWELL SUPS WITH THEM AT 
 THK MITHE RECORD OF CONVERSATION NIGHTLY TEA WITH Miss WILLIAMS 
 BOSWELL KOT YET ADMITTED TO THIS PRIVILEGE SUBSEQUENT INTERVIEWS 
 WITH JOHNSON, AND RECORD OF CONVERSATIONS ON THESE OCCASIONS. 
 
 AS Dr. Oliver Goldsmith will frequently appear in this narrative, I 
 shall endeavour to make my readers in some degree acquainted 
 with his singular character. He was a native of Ireland, and a con- 
 temporary with Mr. Burke, at Trinity College, Dublin, but did not then 
 give much promise of future celebrity. 1 He, however, observed to Mr. 
 Malone, that "though he made no great figure in mathematics, which 
 was a study in much repute there, he could turn an Ode of Horace into 
 
 1 Goldsmith got a premium at a Christmas examination in Trinity College, Dublin, 
 which I have seen. KEABNF.Y. 
 
 A premium obtained at the Christmas examination is generally more honourable than 
 any other, because it ascertains the person who receives it to be the first in literary merit. 
 At the other examinations, the person thus distinguished may be only the second in merit; 
 he who has previously obtained the same honorary reward, sometimes receiving 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 p. 210. MALONE.
 
 AGK 51.] BOSWELI/3 LIFE OF JOHNSON. 269 
 
 English better than any of them." He afterwards studied phvsic 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 entitled to the premium of a crown, when luckily 
 for him his challenge was not accepted ; so that, as 1 once observed to 
 Dr. Johnson, he disputed his passage through Europe. He then came 
 to England, and was employed successively in the capacities of an usher 
 to an academy, a corrector of the press, a reviewer, and a writer for 
 a newspaper. He had sagacity enough to cultivate assiduously the 
 acquaintance of Johnson, and his faculties were gradually enlarged by 
 the contemplation of such a model. To me and many others it appeared 
 that he studiously 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 author of 
 "An Inquiry into the present State of Polite Learning in Europe," and 
 of " The Citizen of the World, " a series of letters supposed to be written 
 from London by a Chinese. 1 No man had the art of displaying with 
 more advantage as a writer, whatever literary acquisitions he made. 
 " Nihil quod tetigit non ornavt.' Jii His mind resembled a fertile but 
 thin soil. There was a quick, but not a strong vegetation, 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 conversation ; 3 but, in 
 truth, this has been greatly exaggerated. He had, 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 conspicuous wherever he 
 was, he frequently talked carelessly without knowledge of the subject, 
 or even without thought. His person was short, his countenance coarse 
 
 1 He had also published in 1759, "The Bee; being Essays on the most interesting 
 Subjects." MALONE. 
 
 2 See his Epitaph in Westminster Abbey, written by Dr. Johnson. BOSWELL. 
 
 3 In allusion to this, Mr. Horace Walpole, who admired his writings, said he was 
 " an inspired idiot;" and Garrick described him as one 
 
 " for shortness call'd Noll, 
 
 Who wrote like an angel, and talk'd like poor Poll." 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds mentioned to me that he frequently heard Goldsmith talk warmly of 
 tlie pleasure of being liktd, 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 therefore Sir Joshua was convinced that he was intentionally 
 more absurd, in order to lessen himself in social intercourse, trusting that his character 
 would be sufficiently supported by his work. If it indeed was his intention to appear 
 absurd in company, he was often very successful. But with due deference to Sir Joshua's 
 ingenuity, I think the conjecture too refined. BOSWKLI,.
 
 270 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSOX. [176. 
 
 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 excess, that the instances of it are hardly 
 credible. When accompanying two beautiful young ladies 1 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 Fan- 
 toccini 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." 2 
 
 He, I am afraid, had no settled system of any sort, so that his conduct 
 must not be strictly scrutinised ; but his affections were social and gene- 
 rous, and when he had money he gave it away very liberally. His desire 
 of imaginary consequence predominated over his attention to truth. 
 When he began to rise into notice, he said he had a brother who was 
 Dean of Durham, 3 a fiction 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 commanding money, which I 
 believe was true in a certain degree, though in the instance he gave he 
 was by no means correct. He told me that he had sold a novel for four 
 hundred pounds. This was his "Vicar of Wakefield." But Johnson 
 informed me, that he had made the bargain for Goldsmith, and the price 
 was sixty pounds. " And, Sir," said he, " a sufficient price too, when 
 it was sold ; for then the fame of Goldsmith had not been elevated, as it 
 afterwards 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 ' Traveller ' had appeared. 
 Then, to be sure, it was accidentally worth more money." 
 
 Mrs. Piozzi 4 and Sir John Hawkins 5 have strangely mis-stated the 
 history of Goldsmith's situation and Johnson's friendly interference, when 
 this novel was sold. I shall give it authentically from Johnson's own 
 exact narration : 
 
 " I received one morning a message from poor Goldsmith that he was 
 in great distress, and, as it was not in his power to come to me, begging 
 that I would come to him as soon as possible. I sent him a guinea, 
 and promised to come to him directly. I accordingly went as soon as I 
 was dressed, and found that his landlady had arrested him for his rent, 
 
 1 Miss Horaecks, one of whom is now married to Henry Bunbury, Esq., and the other 
 to Colonel Gwyn. BOSWELL. 
 
 2 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. 
 
 Bo SWELL. 
 
 3 I am willing to hope that there may have been some mistake us to this anecdote, 
 though I had it irom a dignitary of the church. Dr. Isaac Goldsmith, his near relation, 
 was Dean of Cloyne, in 1747. BOSWKLL. 
 
 * Anecdotes of Johnson, p. 119. BOSWBLL, 
 
 * Life of Johnson, p. 420. BOSWELL.
 
 AGE 54. J BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 271 
 
 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 pro- 
 duced to me. I looked into it, and saw its merit ; told the landlady I 
 should soon return, and having gone to a bookseller, sold it for sixty 
 pounds. I brought Goldsmith the money, and he discharged his rent, 
 not without rating his landlady in a high tone for having used him so 
 ill." 1 
 
 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 Johnson was then at its height ; for his own literary repu- 
 tation had not yet distinguished 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. Levett, whom he enter- 
 tained under his roof, " He is poor and honest, which is recommendation 
 enough to Johnson ;" and when I wondered 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 attempting this evening to maintain, I suppose from an 
 affectation of paradox, " that knowledge was not desirable on its own 
 account, for it often was a source of unhappiness :" JOHNSON : " Why, 
 Sir, that knowledge may in some cases produce unhappiness, I allow. 
 But, upon the whole, knowledge, per se, is certainly an object which 
 every man would wish to attain, although, perhaps, he may not take the 
 trouble necessary for attaining it." 
 
 Dr. John Campbell, the celebrated political and biographical writer, 
 being mentioned, Johnson said, " Campbell is a man of much know- 
 ledge, and has a good share of imagination. His 'Hermippus Redi- 
 vivus ' is very entertaining, as an account of the Hermetic philosophy, 
 and as furnishing a curious history of the extravagancies of the human 
 
 1 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 related, 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 called abruptly 
 from our houte after dinner, and returning in about three hours, said he had been with an 
 euraged author, whose landlady pressed him for payment within doors, uhile the builiffs 
 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 done fur distraction, nor cou'.d he step out of doors to offer it for sale. Mr. John-on, 
 therefore, sent away the bottle, and went tu the bookseller, recommending the performance, 
 and dexiring some immediate relief; which when he brought back to the writer, he culled 
 the woman of the haunt: directly to partake of punch, and pum their time in merrinunt." 
 Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson, p. 119. BOSWELL.
 
 272 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1763. 
 
 mind. If it were merely imaginary, it would be nothing at all. 
 Campbell is not always rigidly careful of truth in his conversation ; but 
 1 do not believe there is any thing of this carelessness in his books. 
 Campbell is a good man, a pious man. I am afraid he has not been in 
 the inside of a church for many years j 1 but he never passes a church 
 without pulling off his hat. This shows that he has good principles. 
 I used to go pretty often to Campbell's on a Sunday evening till I began 
 to consider that the shoals of Scotchmen who flocked about him might 
 probably say, when any thing of mine was well done, ' Ay, ay, he has 
 learnt this of Cawmell ! " 
 
 He talked very contemptuously of Churchill's poetry, observing, 
 that, "it had a temporary currency, only from its audacity of abuse, 
 and being filled with living names, aftd 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 violently till he found I did not like his poetry; 
 and his attack on me shall not prevent me from continuing to say what 
 I think of him, from an apprehension that it may be ascribed to resent- 
 ment. No, Sir, I called the fellow a blockhead at first, and I will call 
 him a blockhead still. However, I will acknowledge that I have a better 
 opinion of him now, than I once had ; for he has shown more fertility 
 than I expected. To be sure, he is a tree that cannot produce good 
 fruit : he only bears crabs. But, Sir, a tree that produces a great many 
 crabs, is better than a tree which produces only a few." 
 
 In 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 topics of the 
 day, on which account, as it brought him great fame and profit at the 
 time, it must proportionably slide out of the public attention as other 
 occasional objects succeed. But Churchill had extraordinary vigour, 
 both of thought and expression. His portraits of the players will ever 
 be valuable to the true lovers of the drama ; and his strong caricatures 
 of several eminent men of his age, will not be forgotten by the curious. 
 Let me add, that there is in his works many passages which are of 
 a general nature ; and his " Prophecy of Famine," is a poem of no or- 
 dinary merit. It is, indeed, falsely injurious to Scotland ; but therefore 
 may be allowed a greater share of invention. 
 
 1 I am inclined to think that he was misinformed as to this circumstance. I own I am 
 jealous ior my worthy friend Dr. John Campbell. For though Milton could without remorse 
 absent himself from public worship, I cannot. On the contrary, I have the same habitual 
 impressions upon my mind, with those of a truly venerable judge, who said to Mr. Langton, 
 " Friend Langton, if 1 have not been at church on Sunday, I do not feel myself easy." 
 Dr. Campbell was a sincerely religious man. Lord Macartney, who is eminent 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 composition is almost incredible, and his labours brought him large profits. 
 Dr. Joseph Warton told me that Johnson said of him, "He is the richest author that ever 
 grazed the common of literature." UOSWKLL.
 
 AGE 54.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOIINSOX. 273 
 
 Bonnell Thornton had just published a burlesque " Ode on St. 
 Cecilia's day," adapted to the ancient British music, viz. the salt-box, 
 the Jew's-harp, the marrow-bones and cleaver, the hum-strum or hurdy- 
 gurdy, <fcc. Johnson praised its humour, and seemed much diverted 
 \vith 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 rebounds." 1 
 
 I mentioned the periodical paper called "The Connoisseur." He 
 said it wanted matter. No doubt it had not the deep thinking of John- 
 son's writings. But surely 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 Connossieur." 
 
 Let me here apologise 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 
 extraordinary colloquial talents, and so little accustomed to his peculiar 
 mode of expression, that I found it extremely difficult to recollect and 
 record his conversation with its genuine vigour and vivacity. In pro- 
 gress of time, when my mind was, as it were, strongly impregnated trith 
 the Johnsonian tether, 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 Miss Williams, 2 as she was then called, though she did 
 not reside with him in the Temple under his roof, but had lodgings 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 her, but of his own unwillingness to 
 go into solitude, before that unseasonable hour at which he had habituated 
 himself to expect the oblivion of repose. Dr. Goldsmith, being a privi- 
 leged man, went with him this night, strutting away, and calling to me 
 with an air of superiority, like that of an esoteric over an exoteric dis- 
 
 1 In 1769 I set for Smart and Newbeny, Thornton's burlesque " Ode on St. Cecilia's 
 day." It was performed at Ranelagh in masks, to avery crowded audience, as I was told, 
 for I then resided in Norfolk. Beard sung the salUbox song, which was admirably 
 accompanied on that instrument by Brent, the fencing master, and faiher of Miss Brent, 
 the celebrated singer ; Skeggs on the broomstick, as bassoon; and a remarkable performer 
 on the Jew's-harp, " Buzzing twangs the iron lyre." Cleavers were cast in bell-metal for 
 this entertainment. All the performers of the old woman's oratory, employed by Foote, 
 were, I believe, employed at Ranelagh, on this occasion. BURNEY. 
 
 2 See p. 160. This lady resided in Dr. Johnson's house in Gough-square from about 
 1753 to 1758 ; and in that year, on his removing to Gray's Inn, she went into lodgings. 
 At a subsequent period, she again became an inmate with Johnson, in Johnson' s-court. 
 MALONE.
 
 274 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1763 
 
 cijile of a sage of antiquity, " I go to Miss Williams." I confess, I then 
 envied him this mighty privilege, 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. lie told me 
 he had looked into the poems of a pretty voluminous writer, Mr. (now 
 Dr.) John Ogilvie, one of the Presbyterian ministers of Scotland, which 
 had lately come out, but could find no thinking in them. BOSWELL : 
 " Is there not imagination in them, Sir ? " JOHNSON : " Why, Sir, there 
 is in them what u-as imagination, but it is no more imagination in him, 
 than sound is sound in the echo. And his diction too is not his own. 
 We have long 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 satisfied with 
 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 immensity of London consists." I have often 
 amused myself with thinking how different a place 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 
 politician thinks of it merely as the seat of government in its different 
 departments ; a grazier, as a vast market for cattle ; a mercantile man, 
 as a place where a prodigious deal of business is done upon 'Change ; a 
 dramatic enthusiast, as the grand scene of theatrical entertainments ; a 
 man of pleasure as an assemblage of taverns, and the great emporium for 
 ladies of easy virtue. But the intellectual man is struck with it, as 
 comprehending the whole of human life in all its variety, the contem- 
 plation of which is inexhaustible. 
 
 On Wednesday, July 6, he was engaged to sup with me at my 
 lodgings in Downing-street, Westminster. But on the preceding night 
 my landlord having behaved very rudely to me and some company who 
 were with me, I had resolved not to remain another night in his house. 
 I was exceedingly uneasy 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 talked 
 of it as of a serious distress. He laughed, and said, " Consider, Sir, 
 how insignificant 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 pain- 
 ful 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
 
 AGE 54.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHXSON. 275 
 
 that though I had taken my lodgings for a year, I might, upon proof 
 of his had behaviour, quit them when I pleased, without being 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 
 matter as this. " Why, Sir," said he, " I suppose 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 n't. So, Sir, you may quarter 
 two life-guardsmen upon him ; or you may send the greatest scoundrel 
 you can find into your apartments ; or you may say that you want to 
 make some experiments in natural philosophy, and may burn a large 
 quantity of assafoetida in his house." 
 
 I had as my guests this evening at the Mitre tavern, Dr. Johnson, 
 Dr. Goldsmith, Mr. Thomas Davies, Mr. Eccles, an Irish gentleman, 
 for whose agreeable company I was obliged to Mr. Davies, and the Rev. 
 Mr. John Ogilvie, 1 who was desirous of being in company with my illus- 
 trious friend, while I, in my turn, was proud to have the honour of 
 showing one of my countrymen upon what easy terms Johnson per- 
 mitted me to live with him. 
 
 Goldsmith, as usual, endeavoured with too much eagerness to shine, 
 and disputed very warmly with Johnson against the well-known maxim 
 of the British constitution, " the king can do no wrong ;" affirming, 
 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 principles, the king is the 
 head, he is supreme ; he is above every thing, and there is no power by 
 which he can be tried. Therefore, 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 oppression by punishing the immediate agents. 
 The king, though he should command, cannot force a judge to condemn 
 a man unjustly ; therefore it is the judge whom we prosecute and punish. 
 Political institutions are formed upon the consideration of what will 
 most frequently tend to the good of the whole, although now and then 
 exceptions 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 consideration, that if the abuse be enormous, 
 nature will rise up, and claiming her original rights, overturn a corrupt 
 
 1 The northeru bard mentioned p. 274. When I asked Dr. Johnson's permission to 
 introduce him, he obligingly agreed ; adding, however, with a sly pleasantly, " 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 Churchill's " Journey." It is, 
 however, but justice to Dr. Ogilvie to observe, that his " Day of Judgment" has no incon- 
 siderable share of merit. BOSWBLL. 
 
 Q2
 
 276 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1763. 
 
 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 heart, though he was charged with slavish tenets by 
 superficial observers, because he was at all times indignant against that 
 false patriotism, that pretended love of freedom, that unruly restlessness 
 which is inconsistent with the stable authority of any good government. 
 
 This generous sentiment, which he uttered with great fervour, struck 
 me exceedingly, 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 requisite for an historian ; for 
 in historical composition all the greatest powers of the 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 penetration, 
 accuracy, and colouring, will fit a man for the task, if he can give the 
 application which is necessary," 
 
 " ' Bayle's Dictionary' is a rery useful work for those to consult who 
 love the biographical 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 excellent 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. Ogilvie was unlucky enough to choose for the topic of his con- 
 versation the praises of his native country. He began with saying, that 
 there was very rich land around Edinburgh. Goldsmith, who had studied 
 physic there, contradicted this, very untruly, with a sneering laugh. 
 Disconcerted a little by this, Mr. Ogilvie then took a new ground, where, 
 I suppose, he thought himself perfectly safe ; for he observed, that 
 Scotland had a great many noble wild prospects. JOHNSON : " I believe, 
 Sir, you have a great many. Norway, too, has noble 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. 
 
 'On Saturday, July 9, I found Johnson surrounded with a numerous 
 levee, but have not preserved any part of his conversation. On the 14th 
 we had another evening by ourselves at the Mitre. It happened to be a 
 very rainy night, I made some commonplace observations on the relax- 
 ation of nerves and depression of spirits which such weather occasioned; 1 
 
 1 Johnson -would suffer none of his friends to fill up chasms in conversation with 
 remarks on the weather : " Let us not talk of the weather." BURNBV.
 
 AGE 54.] BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 277 
 
 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, answered, with a smile of ridi- 
 cule, " Why, yes, Sir, it is good for vegetables, and for the animals who 
 eat those vegetables, and for the animals who eat those animals." This 
 observation of his aptly enough introduced a good supper, and I soon 
 forgot, in Johnson's company, the influence of a moist atmosphere. 
 
 " Feeling myself now quite at ease as his companion, though I had 
 all possible reverence for him, I expressed a regret that I could not be 
 so easy with my father, though he was not much older than Johnson, 
 and certainly, however respectable, had not more 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 p ( art of the island, and all his notions are taken 
 from the old world. Besides, Sir, there must always be a struggle 
 between a father and 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, ' One man may lead a horse to the water, but twenty cannot 
 make him drink.' He maybe displeased that you are not what he 
 wishes you to be ; but that displeasure will not go far. If he insists only 
 on your having as much law as is necessary for a man of property, and 
 then endeavours 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 composition, when I studied under him in 
 the College of Glasgow, had maintained the same opinion strenuously, 
 and I repeated some of his arguments. JOHNSON: " Sir, I was once 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 table, you could not reduce him to an absurdity. 
 Come, let us try this a little further. I deny that Canada is taken, and 
 I can support 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 formality 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 deceiving
 
 278 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1763. 
 
 us. They don't want that you should think the Frem-h have heat 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 yourself; 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 stronger are the evidences of the 
 Christian religion?" 
 
 " Idleness is a disease which must be combated ; but I would not 
 advise a rigid adherence to a particular plan of study. I myself have 
 never persisted in any plan for two days together. A man ought to 
 readjust 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." 
 
 To a man of vigorous intellect and ardent curiosity like his own, 
 reading without a regular plan may be beneficial ; though even such a 
 man must submit to it, if he would attain a full understanding of any 
 of the sciences. 
 
 To such a degree of unrestrained frankness had he now accustomed 
 me, that in the course of this evening I talked of the numerous reflec- 
 tions which had been thrown out against him on account of his having 
 accepted a pension from his present Majesty. " Why, Sir," said he, 
 with a hearty laugh, " it is a mighty foolish noise that they make. 1 1 
 have accepted of a pension as a reward which has been thought due to 
 my literary merit; and now that I have this pension, I am the same 
 man in every respect that I have ever been ; I retain the same principles. 
 It is true, that I cannot now curse (smiling) the house of Hanover ; nor 
 would it be decent for me to drink King James's health in the wine 
 that King George gives me money to pay for. But, Sir, I think that 
 the pleasure of cursing the house of Hanover, and drinking King James's 
 health, are amply overbalanced by three hundred pounds a year." 
 
 There was here, most certainly, an affectation 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 disaffection 
 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 right hand would have secured 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 fearful was he of the consequences of another revolution on the throne 
 of Great Britain ; and Mr. Topham Beauclerk assured me, he had heard 
 
 1 When I mentioned the same idle clamour to him several years afterwards, he said, 
 -vith a smile, " I wish my pension were twice as large, that they might make twice as 
 much noise." Bos WELL.
 
 AGK 54.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 279 
 
 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 question fully." He, however, also said to the 
 same gentleman, talking of King James the Second, " It was become 
 impossible for him to reign any longer in this country." He no doubt 
 bad 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 contend with 
 great eagerness, he felt his Toryism much abated." 1 1 suppose he 
 meant Mr. Wahnesley. 
 
 Yet there is no doubt that at earlier periods he was wont often to 
 exercise both his pleasantry and ingenuity in talking Jacobitism. My 
 much respected friend, Dr. Douglas, now Bishop of Salisbury, has 
 favoured me with the following admirable instance from his lordship's 
 own recollection: One day when dining at old Mr. Langton 's, where 
 Miss Roberts, his niece, was one of the company, Johnson, with his 
 usual complacent attention to the fair sex, took her by the hand and 
 said, " My dear, I hope you are a Jacobite." Old Mr. Langton, who, 
 though a high and steady Tory, was attached to the present royal family, 
 seemed offended, and asked Johnson, with great warmth, what he could 
 mean by putting such a question to his niece? " Why, Sir," said 
 Johnson, " I meant no offence to your niece, I meant her a great com- 
 pliment. A Jacobite, Sir, believes in the divine right of kings. He 
 that believes 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 Christian re- 
 ligion. Therefore, Sir, a Jacobite is neither an Atheist nor a Deist. That 
 cannot be said of a Whig ; for Whiggism is a negation of all principle. ' ' 2 
 
 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 con. 
 versation I might expect the best accounts of every thing in whatever 
 country I should be, with the additional advantage of keeping my learn- 
 ing alive. 
 
 It will be observed, that when giving me advice as to my travels, 
 Dr. Johnson did not dwell upon cities, and palaces, and pictures, and 
 shows, and Arcadian scenes. He was of Lord Essex's opinion, who 
 advises 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 town." 3 
 
 1 Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd edit. p. 420. BOSWELL. 
 
 2 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 lor 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 you see,' says Boswell, ' that Whigs of all ages are made the same 
 way.' " BOSWELL. 
 
 Letter to Rutland on Travel, 16mo. 1696. BOSWELL.
 
 280 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON.' [ires. 
 
 I described to him an impudent fellow from Scotland, who affected 
 to be a savage, and railed at all established systems. JOHNSON : " There 
 is nothing surprising in this, Sir. He wants to make himself con- 
 spicuous. He would tumble in a hogstye, as Jong 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 distinc- 
 tion between virtue 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 character 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 judges of Scotland by the title 
 of Lord Hailes, had contributed much to increase my high opinion of 
 Johnson, on account of his writings, 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 up a very frequent correspondence with 
 Sir David ; and I read to Dr. Johnson to-night the following 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 writers which England has pro- 
 duced. At the same time, I envy you the free and undisguised converse with 
 such a man. May I beg you to present my best respects to him, and to assure 
 him of the veneration which I entertain for the author of the ' Kambler ' and of 
 ' Easselas ? ' Let me recommend this last work to you ; with the ' Eambler ' 
 you certainly are acquainted. In ' Easselas ' you will see a tender-hearted ope- 
 rator, who probes the wound only to heal it. Swift, on the contrary, mangles 
 human nature. He cuts and slashes, as if he took pleasure in the operation, 
 like the tyrant who said, Itaferi ut se sentiat emori." 
 
 Johnson seemed to be much gratified by this just and well-turned 
 compliment. 
 
 He recommended to me to keep a journal of my life, full and unre- 
 served. He said it would be a very good exercise, and would yield me 
 great satisfaction when the particulars were faded from my remembrance. 
 I was uncommonly fortunate in having had a previous 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 enabled to give the world so many 
 anecdotes, which would otherwise have been lost to posterity. I men- 
 tioned that I was afraid I put into my journal too many little incidents. 
 JOHNSON : " There is nothing, Sir, too little for so little a creature as
 
 AGE 54.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 281 
 
 man. It is by studying little things that we attain the great art ot 
 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 him of 
 Dr. Johnson's conversation, that to his honour be it recorded, when I 
 complained of 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 1 sitting 
 with Johnson. Sir Thomas said, that the King of Prussia valued 
 himself upon three things ; upon being a hero, a musician, and an 
 author. JOHNSON : " Pretty well, Sir, for one man. As to his being 
 an author, I have not looked at his poetry ; but his prose is poor stuff. 
 He writes just as you may suppose Voltaire's footboy to do, who has 
 been his amanuensis. He has such parts as the valet might have, and 
 about as much of the colouring of the style as might be got by transcrib- 
 ing 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 super- 
 stitious 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 Brandenburgh" are written as well as many works of that 
 kind. His poetry, for the style of which he himself makes a frank 
 apology, "jargonnant un Francois barbare," though fraught with per- 
 nicious ravings of infidelity, has, in many places, great animation, and 
 in some a pathetic tenderness. 
 
 Upon this contemptuous animadversion on the King of Prussia, I 
 observed to Johnson, " It would seem then, Sir, that much less parts 
 are necessary to make a king, than to make an author : for the King of 
 Prussia is confessedly the greatest king now in Europe, yet you think 
 he makes a very poor figure as an author." 
 
 Mr. Levett this day showed me Dr. Johnson'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 of "Rasselas." I ob- 
 served an apparatus for chemical experiments, of which Johnson was 
 all his life very fond. The place seemed to be very favourable for 
 retirement and meditation. Johnson told me, that he went up thither 
 
 1 This gentleman was called tall Sir Thomas, to distinguish him from the other Sir 
 Thomas Robinson, who was created Lord Grantham. E D.
 
 282 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 [17G3. 
 
 ~ 
 
 DR. JOHNSON'S CHAIR. 
 
 without mentioning it to his servant when he wanted to study, secure 
 from interruption ; for he would not allow his servant to say he was 
 
 not at home when he really was. " A 
 servant's strict regard for truth," said 
 he, " must he weakened by such a 
 practice. A philosopher may know 
 that it is merely a form of denial ; but 
 few servants are such nicedistinguishers. 
 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 ser- 
 vant, of any degree of intelligence, un- 
 derstands saying his master is not at 
 home, not at all as the affirmation of 
 a fact, but as customary words, inti- 
 mating that his master wishes not to 
 be seen ; so that there can be no bad 
 effect from it. 
 
 Mr. Temple, now vicar of St. Gluvias, Cornwall, who had been my 
 intimate friend for many years, had at this time chambers in Farrar's- 
 buildings, at the bottom of Inner Temple-lane, which he kindly lent me 
 upon my quitting my lodgings, he being to return to Trinity Hall, Cam- 
 bridge. 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. Boswell, who happened to be now in London, supped with me at 
 these chambers. JOHNSON : " Pity is not natural to man. Children 
 are always cruel. Savages are always cruel. Pity is acquired and 
 improved by the cultivation of reason. We may have uneasy 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 
 animals 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 London, and sold his cheap editions of the most 
 popular English books, in defiance of the supposed common-law right of 
 Literary Property. Johnson, though he concurred in the opinion which 
 was afterwards sanctioned by a judgment of the House of Lords, that 
 there was no such right, was at this time very angry that the booksellers 
 of London, for whom he uniformly professed much regard, should suffer 
 from an invasion of what they had ever considered to be secure ; and he 
 was loud and violent against Mr. Donaldson. " He is a fellow who
 
 AGE 54.J BOSWELL's LIFE OF JOHNSON. 283 
 
 takes advantage of the law to injure his brethren ; for, notwithstanding 
 that the statute secures only fourteen years of exclusive right, it has 
 always been understood by the trade, that he who buys the copyright 
 of a book from the author obtains a perpetual property ; and upon that 
 belief, numberless bargains are made to transfer that property after the 
 expiration of the statutory term. Now Donaldson, I say, takes advan- 
 tage 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, so that poor students may buy them." 
 JOHNSON (laughing) : " Well, Sir, allowing that to be his motive, he is 
 no better than Robin Hood, who robbed the rich in order to give to the 
 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 exertions of Mr. Donaldson, 
 Dr. Johnson was zealous against a perpetuity ; but he thought that the 
 term of the exclusive right of authors should be considerably enlarged. 
 He was then for granting 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 struc- 
 ture 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 ; 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 topic. It gave rise to an observation by Mr. Dempster, that 
 the advantages of fortune and rank were nothing to a wise man, who 
 ought to value only merit. JOHNSON : " If man were a savage, living 
 in the woods by himself, this might be true ; but in civilised society we 
 all depend upon each other, and our happiness is very much owing to 
 the good opinion of mankind. Now, Sir, in civilised society, external 
 advantages make us more respected. A man with a good coat upon his 
 back meets with a better 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 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 
 civilised society personal merit will not serve you so much as money 
 will. Sir, you may make the experiment. Go into the street and give
 
 284 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1763. 
 
 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 till 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, if six hundred pounds a year pro- 
 cure a man more consequence, and, of course, more happiness than six 
 pounds a year, the same proportion will hold as to six thousand, and so 
 on, as far as opulence can be carried. Perhaps 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 having the large fortune : for, 
 cdteris paribus, he who is rich in a civilised 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 advantages. 
 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 desire of novelty. 1 When I was a boy I used always to choose 
 the wrong side of a debate, because most ingenious things, that is to 
 say, most new things, could be said upon it. Sir, there is nothing for 
 which you may not muster up more plausible arguments than those 
 which are urged against wealth and other external advantages. Why, 
 now, there is stealing ; why should it be thought a crime? When we 
 consider by what unjust methods property has been often acquired, and 
 that what was 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 allowable practice. Yet, Sir, the experience of mankind has 
 discovered stealing to be so very bad a thing that they make no scruple 
 to hang a man for it. When I was running about this town a very 
 poor fellow, I was a great arguer tor the advantages of poverty ; but I 
 was, at the same time, very sorry to be poor. Sir, all the arguments 
 which are brought to represent poverty as no evil, show it to be evi- 
 dently a great evil. You never find people labouring to convince you 
 that you may live very happily upon a plentiful fortune. So you hear 
 people talking how miserable a king must be, and yet they all wish to 
 be in his place." 
 
 It was suggested that kings must be unhappy, because they are 
 deprived of the greatest of all satisfactions, easy and unreserved society. 
 
 1 Johnson told Dr. Burney that Goldsmith said, when he first began to write he 
 determined to commit to paper nothing but what was new ; but he afterwards found that 
 what was new was generally false, and from that time was no longer solicitous about 
 novelty BUKNBY.
 
 AGE 54.] BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 285 
 
 JOHNSON : " This 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 Edwards were all social." 
 
 Mr. Dempster having endeavoured to maintain that intrinsic merit 
 ought to make the only distinction among mankind. JOHNSON : " Why, 
 Sir, mankind have found that this cannot be. How shall we determine 
 the proportion of intrinsic merit? Were that to be the only distinction 
 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 
 for superiority very dangerous, mankind, that is to say, all civilised 
 nations, have settled it upon a plain invariable principle. A man is 
 born to hereditary rank ; or his being appointed to certain offices gives 
 him a certain rank. Subordination tends greatly to human happiness. 
 Were we all upon an equality, we should have no other enjoyment than 
 mere animal pleasure. 
 
 I said, I considered distinction or rank to be of so much importance 
 in civilised 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 opinion of 
 you for having dined with a duke ; and 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 principles of reverence for rank and respect for wealth were 
 at all owing to mean or interested motives ; for he asserted his own 
 independence as a literary man. " No man," said he, " who ever lived 
 by literature, has lived more independently than I have done." He 
 said he had taken longer time than he needed to have done in composing 
 his Dictionary. He received our compliments upon that great work 
 with complacency, and' told us that the Academy delta Crusca 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 gentleman 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 puzzle other people." I said his principles had been poisoned 
 by a noted infidel writer, but that he was, nevertheless, a benevolent 
 good man. JOHNSON: " We can have no dependence upon that
 
 286 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1763. 
 
 instinctive, that 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 tempted to deviate from what is right ; and as every 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 in 
 need of money, I should not like to trust him : 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 will not afford sufficient food to 
 their vanity ; so they have betaken themselves to error. 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 partial objections ought i>ot 
 to shake it. The human mind is so limited, that it cannot take in all 
 the parts of a subject, so that there may be objections raised against 
 any thing. There are objections against a plenum, and objections 
 against a vacuum ; yet one of them must certainly be true." 
 
 I mentioned Hume's argument against the belief of miracles, that it 
 is more probable that the witnesses to the truth of them are mistaken, 
 or speak falsely, than that the miracles should be true. JOHNSON : 
 " Why, Sir, the great difficulty of proving miracles should make us 
 very cautious in believing them. But let us consider ; although God has 
 made Nature to operate by certain fixed laws, yet it is not unreasonable 
 to think that he may suspend those laws, in order to establish a system 
 highly advantageous to mankind. Now the Christian religion is a 
 most beneficial system, as it gives us light and certainty where we were 
 before in darkness and doubt. The miracles which prove it are attested 
 by men who had no interest in deceiving us ; but who, on the contrary, 
 were told that they should suffer persecution, and did actually lay down 
 their lives in confirmation of the truth of the facts which they asserted. 
 Indeed, for some centuries the heathens did not pretend to deny the 
 miracles ; but said they were performed by the aid of evil spirits. This 
 is a circumstance of great weight. Then, Sir, when we take the proofs 
 derived from prophecies which have been so exactly fulfilled, we have 
 most satisfactory evidence. Supposing a miracle possible, as to which, 
 in my opinion, there can be no doubt, we have as strong evidence for 
 the miracles in support of Christianity as the nature of the thing 
 admits." 
 
 At night, Mr. Johnson and I supped in a private room at the Turk's 
 Head coffee-house, in the Strand. " I encourage this house," said he, " for 
 the mistress of it is a good civil woman, and has not much business."
 
 AGE 54.] BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 287 
 
 " Sir, I love the acquaintance of young people; because, in the first 
 place, I don't like to think myself growing old. In the next place, 
 young acquaintances must last 'longest, if they do last; and then, Sir, 
 young men have more virtue than old men ; they have more generous 
 sentiments in every respect. I love the young dogs of this age, they 
 have more wit and humour and knowledge of life than we had ; but 
 then the dogs are not so good scholars. Sir, in my early years I read 
 very hard. It is a sad reflection, but a true one, that I knew almost as 
 much at eighteen as I do now. 1 My judgment, to be sure, was not so 
 good ; but I had all the facts. I remember very well, when I was at 
 Oxford, an old gentleman said to me, " Young man, ply your book 
 diligently now, and acquire a stock of knowledge ; for when years come 
 upon you, you will find that poring upon books will be but an irksome task." 
 
 This account of his reading, given by himself in plain words, suffi- 
 ciently confirms what I have already advanced upon the disputed ques- 
 tion as to his application. It reconciles any seeming inconsistency in 
 his way of talking upon it at different times ; and shows that idleness 
 and reading hard were with him relative terms, the import of which, as 
 used by him, must be gathered from a comparison with what scholars 
 of different degrees of ardour and assiduity have been known to do. 
 And let it be remembered that he was now talking spontaneously, and 
 expressing his genuine sentiments ; whereas at other times he might be 
 induced from his spirit of contradiction, or more properly from his love 
 of argumentative contest, to speak lightly of his own application to 
 study. It is pleasing to consider that the old gentleman's gloomy 
 prophecy as to the irksomeness of books to men of an advanced age, 
 which is too often fulfilled, was so far from being verified in Johnson, 
 that his ardour for literature never failed, and his last writings had more 
 ease and vivacity than any of his earlier productions. 
 
 He mentioned to me now, for the first time, that he had been distressed 
 by melancholy, and for that reason had been obliged to fly from study 
 and meditation, to the dissipating variety of life. Against melancholy 
 he recommended constant occupation of mind, a great deal of exercise, 
 moderation in eating and drinking, and especially to shun drinking at 
 night. He said melancholy people were apt to fly to intemperance for 
 relief, but that it sunk them much deeper in misery. He observed, that 
 labouring men who work hard, and live sparingly, are seldom or never 
 troubled with low spirits. 
 
 He again insisted on the duty of maintaining subordination of 
 rank. " Sir, I would no more deprive a nobleman of his respect, than of 
 his money. I consider myself as acting a part in the great system of 
 society, and 1 do to others as I would have them to do to me. I would 
 behave to a nobleman as I should expect he would behave to me, were 1 
 
 1 His great period of study was from the age of twelve to that of eighteen ; as he told 
 Mr. Langton. who gave me this information. MALONK.
 
 288 
 
 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 [1763 
 
 a nobleman, and he Sam.- Johnson. Sir, there is one Mrs. Macaulay, 1 
 in this town, a great republican. One day when I was at her house, 1 
 put on a very grave countenance, and said to her, " Madam, I am now 
 become a convert to your way of thinking. I am convinced that all 
 mankind are upon an equal footing ; and to give you an unquestionable 
 proof, Madam, that I am in earnest, here is a very sensible, civil, well- 
 behaved fellow-citizen, your footman ; I desire that he may be allowed 
 to sit down and dine with us." I thus, Sir, showed her the absurdity 
 of the levelling doctrine. She has never liked me since. Sir, your 
 levellers wish to level down as far as themselves ; but they cannot bear 
 levelling up to themselves. They would all have some people under 
 them ; why not then have some people above them ? " 
 
 I mentioned a certain author who disgusted me by his forwardness, 
 and by showing no deference to noblemen into whose company he 
 was admitted. JOHNSON : " Suppose a shoemaker should claim an 
 equality with him, as he does with a lord : how he would stare. ' Why 
 Sir, do you stare ? ' says the shoemaker, ' I do great service to society. 
 Tis true, I am paid for doing it ; hut so are you, Sir ; and I am sorry 
 to say it, better paid than I am, for doing something not so necessary. 
 For mankind could do better without your books than without my 
 shoes.' Thus, Sir, there would be a perpetual struggle for precedence, 
 were there no fixed invariable rules for the distinction of rank, which 
 creates no jealousy, as it is allowed to be accidental." 
 
 He said, Dr. Joseph Warton was 
 a very agreeable man, and his 
 " Essay on the Genius and Writings 
 of Pope," a very pleasing book. I 
 wondered that he delayed so long to 
 give us the continuation of it. 
 JOHNSON. " Why, Sir, I suppose he 
 finds himself a little disappointed, in 
 not having been able to persuade the 
 world to be of his opinion as to Pope." 
 We have now been favoured with 
 the concluding volume, in which, to 
 use a parliamentary expression, he 
 has explained, so as not to appear 
 quite so adverse to the opinion of the 
 world, concerning Pope, as was at 
 first thought; and we must all agree, 
 that his work is a most valuable accession to English literature. 
 
 A writer of deserved eminence being mentioned, Johnson said, 
 " Why, Sir, he is a man of good parts, but being originally poor, he 
 
 1 This one Mrs. Macaulay was the same personage who afterwards made herself so 
 much known as " the celebrated female historian." Bos WELL. 
 
 JOIZPH WABTON.
 
 AGK 54.] BOS WELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 289 
 
 has got a love of mean company and low jocularity ; a very bad thing, 
 Sir. To laugh is good, and to talk is good. But you ought no more 
 to think it enough if you laugh, than you are to think it enough if you 
 talk. You may laugh in as many ways as you talk ; and surely every 
 way of talking that is practised cannot be esteemed." 
 
 I spoke of Sir James Macdonald as a young man of most distin- 
 guished merit, who united the highest reputation at Eton and Oxford, 
 with the patriarchal spirit of a great Highland chieftain. I mentioned 
 that Sir James had said to me, that he had never seen Mr. Johnson, but 
 he had a great respect for him, though at the same time it was mixed 
 with some degree of terror. JOHNSON : " Sir, if he were to be ac- 
 quainted with me, it might lessen both." 
 
 The mention of this gentleman led us to talk of the Western Islands 
 of Scotland, to visit which he expressed a wish that then appeared to 
 me a very romantic fancy, which I little thought would be afterwards 
 realised. He told me, that his father had put Martin's account of those 
 islands into his hands when he was very young, and that he was highly 
 pleased with it; that he was particularly struck with the St.Kilda man's 
 notion that the high church of Glasgow had been hollowed out of a rock; 
 a circumstance to which old Mr. Johnson had directed his attention. 
 He said he would go to the Hebrides with me when 1 returned from my 
 travels, unless some very good companion should offer when I was 
 absent, which he did not think probable ; adding, " There are few people 
 whom I take so much to as you." And when 1 talked of my leaving 
 England, he said with a very affectionate air, " My dear Boswell, I 
 should be very unhappy at parting, did 1 think we were not to meet 
 again." I cannot too often remind my readers, that although such in- 
 stances of his kindness are doubtless very flattering to me, yet 1 hope 
 my recording them will be ascribed to a better motive than to vanity ; 
 for they afford unquestionable evidence of his tenderness and compla- 
 cency, which some, while they are forced to acknowledge his great 
 powers, have been so strenuous to deny. 
 
 He maintained that a boy at school was the happiest of human 
 beings. I supported a different opinion, from which I have never yet 
 varied, that a man is happier : and I enlarged upon the anxiety and 
 sufferings which are endured at school. JOHNSON : " Ah, Sir, a boy's 
 being flogged is not so severe as a man's having the hiss of the world 
 against him. Men have a solicitude about fame ; and the greater share 
 they have of it, the more afraid they are of losing it." I silently asked 
 myself, " Is it possible that the great SAMUEL JOHNSON really entertains 
 any such apprehension, and is not confident that his exalted fame is 
 established upon a foundation never to be shaken ? " 
 
 He this evening drank a bumper to Sir David Dalrymple, " as a 
 man of worth, a scholar, and a wit." " I have," said he, " never heard 
 of him, except from you ; but let him know my opinion of him : for as
 
 290 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON*. [1703. 
 
 he does not show himself much in the world, he should have the praise 
 of the few who hear of him." 
 
 On Tuesday, July 20, I found Mr. Johnson alone. It was a very 
 wet day, and I again complained of the disagreeable effects of such 
 weather. JOHNSON : " Sir, this is all imagination, which physicians 
 encourage ; for man lives in air as a fish lives in water ; so that if the 
 atmosphere press heavy from above, there is an equal resistance from 
 below. To be sure, bad weather is hard upon people who are obliged to 
 be abroad ; and men cannot labour so well in the open air in bad weather 
 as in good : but, Sir, a smith, or a tailor, whose work is within doors, will 
 surely do as much in rainy weather as in fair. Some very delicate frames, 
 indeed, maybe affected by wet weather ; but not common constitutions." 
 
 We talked of the education of children ; and I asked him what he 
 thought was best to teach them first. JOHNSON : " Sir, it is no 
 matter what 3 r ou teach them first, any more than what leg you shall put 
 into your breeches first. Sir, you may stand disputing which is best to 
 put in first, but in the mean time your breech id bare. Sir, while you 
 are considering which of two things you should teach your child first, 
 another boy has learnt them both." 
 
 On Thursday, July 28, we again supped in private at the Turk's 
 Head coffee-house. JOHNSON : " Swift has a higher reputation than he 
 deserves. His excellence is strong sense ; for his humour, though very 
 well, is not remarkably good. I doubt whether the ' Tale of a Tub' be 
 his ; for he never owned it, and it is much above his usual manner." 1 
 
 " Thomson, I think, had as much of the poet about him as most 
 writers. Every thing appeared to him through the medium of his 
 favourite pursuit, lie could not have viewed those two jcandles burning 
 but with a poetical eye. " 
 
 " Has not 2 a great deal of wit, Sir ? " JOHNSON : " I do not 
 
 think so, Sir. He is, indeed, continually attempting wit, but he fails. And 
 I have no more pleasure in hearing a man attempting wit and failing, 
 than in seeing a man trying to leap over a ditch and tumbling into it." 
 
 He laughed heartily when 1 mentioned to him a saying of his con- 
 cerning Mr. Thomas Sheridan, which Foote took a wicked pleasure to 
 circulate. " Why, Sir, Sherry is dull, naturally dull ; but it must have 
 taken him a great deal of pains to become what we now see him. Such 
 an excess of stupidity, Sir, is not in .Nature." "So," said he, "I 
 allowed him all his own merit." 
 
 He now added, " Sheridan cannot bear me. I bring his declamation 
 to a point. 1 ask him a plain question, ' What do you mean to teach ?' 
 Besides, Sir, what influence can Mr. Sheridan have upon the language 
 
 1 This opinion was given by him more at large at a subsequent period. See " Journal 
 of a Tour to the Hebrides," 3rd edit. p. 32. -BOSWELL. 
 
 2 It is supposed that Mr. Burke ia the person here alluded to. Johnson on several 
 occasions denied his possession of this particular intellectual quality. ED.
 
 AGE 51.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 21>i 
 
 of this great country, by his narrow exertions ? Sir, it is burning a 
 farthing candle at Dover, to show light at Calais." 
 
 Talking of a young man 1 who was uneasy from thinking that he was 
 very deficient in learning and knowledge, he said, " A man has no 
 reason to complain who holds a middle place, and has many below him; 
 and perhaps he has not six of his years above him ; perhaps not one. 
 Though he may not 2 know anything perfectly, the general mass of know- 
 ledge that he has acquired is considerable. Time will do for him all that 
 is wanting." 
 
 The conversation then took a philosophical turn. JOHNSON: " Human 
 experience, which is constantly contradicting theory, is the great test of 
 truth. A system, built upon the discoveries of a great many minds, is 
 always of more strength, than what is produced by the mere workings 
 of any one mind, which, of itself, can do little. There is not so poor a 
 book in the world that would not be a prodigious effort were it wrought 
 out entirely by a single mind, without the aid of prior investigators. 
 The French writers are superficial, because they are not scholars, and 
 BO proceed upon the mere power of their own minds ; and we see how 
 very little power they have." 
 
 " As to the Christian religion, Sir, besides the strong evidence 
 which we have for it, there is a balance in its favour from the number of 
 great men who have been convinced of its truth, after a serious con- 
 sideration of the question. Grotius was an acute man, a lawyer, a man 
 accustomed to examine evidence, and he was convinced. Grotius was 
 not a recluse, but a man of the world, who certainly had no bias to the 
 side of religion. Sir Isaac Newton set out an infidel, and came to be a 
 very firm believer." 
 
 He this evening again recommended to me to perambulate Spain, 3 
 I said it would amuse him to get a letter from me dated at Salamanca. 
 JOHNSON : " I love the University of Salamanca ; for when the 
 Spaniards were in doubt as to the lawfulness of their conquering America, 
 the University of Salamanca gave it as their opinion that it was not 
 lawful." He spoke this with great emotion, and with that generous 
 warmth which dictated the lines in his "London," against Spanish 
 encroachment. 
 
 I expressed my opinion of my friend Derrick as but a poor writer. 
 JOHNSON : " To be sure, Sir, he is ; but you are to consider that his 
 
 1 This was probably Boswell himself. In his Dedication to Sir J. Reynolds, he speaks 
 of having been " almost unboundedly open" in his Journal of the " Tour," at his own 
 expense ; and that finding his motive was misunderstood, he has therefore, in the 
 present work, been more reserved. ED. 
 
 2 The context here evidently requires the word not, but we find it omitted in all the 
 editions we have previously seen. ED. 
 
 8 I fully intended to have followed advice of such weight ; but having staid much 
 longer both in Germany and Italy than I proposed to do, and having alto visited Corsica, 
 I found that I had exceeded the time allowed me by my lather, and hastened to France 
 in my way homewards. BOSWELL. 
 
 R 2
 
 292 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1/03. 
 
 being a literary man has got for him all that he has. It has made him 
 
 king of Bath. Sir, he has nothing to say for himself but that he is 
 
 ' a writer. Had he not been a writer, he must have been sweeping the 
 
 crossings in the streets, and asking halfpence from every body that passed." 
 
 * Injustice, however, to the memory of Mr. Derrick, who was my first 
 tutor in the ways of London, and showed me the town in all its variety 
 of departments, both literary and sportive, the particulars of which Dr. 
 Johnson advised me to put in writing, it is proper to mention what 
 Johnson, at a subsequent period, said of him both as a writer and an 
 editor : " Sir, I have often said, that if Derrick's letters had been written 
 by one of a more established name, they would have been thought very 
 pretty letters." 1 And, " I sent Derrick to Dryden's relations to gather 
 materials for his life ; and I believe he got all that I myself should have 
 got." 2 
 
 Poor Derrick! I remember him with kindness. Yet I cannot with- 
 hold from my readers a pleasant humorous sally which could not have 
 hurt him had he been alive, and now is perfectly harmless. In his col- 
 lection of poems there is one upon entering the harbour of Dublin, his 
 native city, after a long absence. It begins thus : 
 
 " Eblana ! much loved city, hail ! 
 Where first I saw the light of day. ' ' 
 
 And after a solemn reflection on his being " numbered with forgotten 
 dead," there is the following stanza : 
 
 "Unless my lines protract my fame, 
 
 And those, who chance to read them, cry, 
 I knew him ! Derrick was his name, 
 In yonder tomb his ashes lie." 
 
 which was thus happily parodied by Mr. John Home, to whom we owe 
 the beautiful and pathetic tragedy of " Douglas "; 
 " Unless my deeds protract my fame, 
 
 And he who passes sadly sings, 
 I knew him ! Derrick was his name, 
 On yonder tree his carcase swings !' ' 
 
 I doubt much whether the amiable and ingenious author of these 
 burlesque lines will recollect them ; for they were produced extempore 
 one evening while he and I were walking together in the dining-room 
 at Eglintoune Castle, in 1760, and I have never mentioned them to 
 him since. 
 
 Johnson said once to me, " Sir, I honour Derrick for his presence of 
 mind. One night, when Floyd, 3 another poor author, was wandering 
 
 1 Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 2nd edit. p. 104. BOSWKLL. 
 
 * Ibid. p. 142. BOSWELT.. 
 
 5 He published a biographical work, containing an account of eminent writers, in 
 3 vols. 8vo. BOSWELL.
 
 AGE 54.] 
 
 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 about the streets in the night, he found Derrick fast asleep upon a bulk ; 
 upon being suddenly waked, Derrick started up, ' My dear Floyd, I am 
 sorry to see you in this destitute state ; will you come home with me to 
 my lodijimjs ?' " 
 
 I again begged his advice as to my method of study at Utrecht. 
 " Come," said he, " let us make a day of it. Let us go down to Green- 
 wich and dine, and talk of it there." The following Saturday was fixed 
 for this excursion. 
 
 As we walked along the Strand to-night, arm in arm, a Avoman of 
 the town accosted us, in the usual enticing manner. " No, no, my 
 girl," said Johnson, "it won't do." He, however, did not treat her 
 with harshness ; and we talked of the wretched life of such women, and 
 agreed that much more misery than happiness, upon the whole, is pro- 
 duced by illicit commerce between the sexes. 
 
 On Saturday, July 30, Dr. Johnson and I took a sculler at the 
 Temple- stairs, and set out for Greenwich. I asked him if he really 
 
 thought a knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages an essential 
 requisite to a good education. JOHNSON : " Most certainly, Sir ; for 
 those who know them have a very great advantage over those who do 
 not. Nay, Sir, it is wonderful what a difference learning makes upon 
 people even in the common intercourse of life, which does not appear to 
 be much connected with it." " And yet," said I, " people go through 
 the world very well and carry on the business of life to good advantage 
 without learning." JOHNSON: "Why, Sir, that may be true in 
 cases where learning cannot possibly be of any use ; for instance, this 
 boy rows us as well without learning, as if he could sing the song of 
 Orpheus to the Argonauts, who were the first sailors." He then called
 
 294 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [ires. 
 
 to the boy, " What would you give, ray lad, to know about the Argo- 
 nauts?" " Sir," said the boy, " I would give what I have." Johnson 
 was much pleased with his answer, and we gave him a double fare. Dr. 
 Johnson then turning to me, " Sir," said he, "a desire of knowledge 
 is the natural feeling of mankind ; and every human being whose mind 
 is not debauched, will be willing to give all that he has to get know- 
 ledge." 
 
 We landed at the Old Swan, and walked to Billingsgate, 1 where we 
 took oars and moved smoothly along the silver Thames. It was a very 
 fine day. We were entertained with the immense number and variety 
 of ships that were lying at anchor, and with the beautiful country on 
 each side of the river. 
 
 I talked of preaching, and of the great success which those called 
 methodists 2 have. JOHNSON : " Sir, it is owing to their expressing 
 themselves in a plain and familiar manner, which is the only way to do 
 good to the common people, and which clergymen of genius and learning 
 ought to do from a principle of duty, when it is suited to their congre- 
 gations ; a practice, for which they will be praised by men of sense. 
 To insist against drunkenness as a crime, because it debases reason, 
 the noblest faculty of man, would be of no service to the common people: 
 but to tell them that they may die in a fit of drunkenness and show 
 
 1 During the existence of old London-bridge, it was dangerous for wherries to pass 
 through it (technically called " shooting the bridge") in certain states of the tide, It was 
 customary, therefore, for passengers to land before coming to the bridge, and walk to the 
 other side of it 
 
 2 All who are acquainted with the history of religion, (the most important, surely, 
 that concerns the human mind,) know that the appellation of Methodists was first given 
 to a society of students in the University of Oxford, who about the year 1730, were dis- 
 tinguished by an earnest and methodical attention to devout exercises. This disposition of 
 mind is not a novelty, or peculiar to any sect, but has been, and still may be found, in 
 many Christians of every denomination. Johnson himself was, in a dignified manner, a 
 methodist. In his ''Rambler," No. 1 10, he mentions with respect " the whole discipline of re- 
 gulated piety ;" and in his " Prayers and Meditations," many instances occur of his anxious 
 examination into his spiritual state. That this religious earnestness, and in particular an 
 observation of the influence of the Holy Spirit, has sometimes degenerated into folly, and 
 sometimes been counterfeited for base purposes, cannot be denied. But it is not, therefore, 
 fair to decry it when genuine. The principal argument in reason and good sense against 
 metbodism is, that it tends to debase human nature, and prevent the generous exertions of 
 goodness, by an unworthy supposition that God will pay no regard to them ; although it 
 is positively said in the scriptures, that he " will reward every man according to his 
 works." But I am happy to have it in my power to do justice to tho^e whom it is the 
 fashion to ridicule, without any knowledge of their tenets ; and this I can do by quoting 
 a passage from one of their best apologists, Mr. Milner, who thus expresses their doctrine 
 upon this subject: "Justified by faith, renewed in his faculties, and constrained by the 
 love of Christ, their believer moves in the sphere of love and gratitude, and all his duties 
 flow more or less from this principle. And though they are accumulating for him in 
 heaven a treasure of bliss proportioned to his faithfulness and activity, and it is by no 
 meant inconsistent with his principles to feel the force of this consideration, yet love itself 
 sweetens every duty to his mind ; and he thinks there is no absurdity in his feeling the 
 love of God as the grand commanding principle of his life." Essays on several religious 
 Subjects, Sfc., by Joseph Milner, A.M., Muster of the Grammar School of Kingtton- 
 ttpon-HuU,1789,p. 11.
 
 A(iK 51. J BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 295 
 
 them how dreadful that would he, cannot fail to make a deep impression. 
 Sir, when your Scotch clergy give up their homely manner, religion 
 will soon decay in that country." Let this observation, as Johnson 
 meant it, be ever remembered, 
 
 I was much pleased to find myself with Johnson at Greenwich, 
 which be celebrates in his " London" as a favourite scene. I had the 
 poem in my pocket, and read the lines aloud with enthusiasm : 
 
 " On Thames' s brinks in silent thought we stood, 
 Where Greenwich smiles upon the silver flood : 
 Pleased with the seat which gave ELIZA birth, 
 We kneel, and kiss the consecrated earth." 
 
 He remarked that the structure of Greenwich hospital was too mag- 
 nificent for a place of charity, and that its parts were too much detached, 
 to make one great whole. 
 
 Buchanan, he said, was a very fine poet ; and observed, that he was 
 the first who complimented a lady, by ascribing to her the different per- 
 fections of the heathen goddesses ; : but that Johnstone 2 improved upon 
 this, by making his lady, at the same time, free from their defects. 
 
 He dwelt upon Buchanan's elegant verses to Mary Queen of Scots, 
 Nympha Caledonia, <fcc., and spoke with enthusiasm of the beauty of 
 Latin verse. "All the modern languages," said he, "cannot furnish 
 so melodious a line as 
 
 ' Formosam resonare doces Amarillida silvas.' " 
 
 Afterwards he entered upon the business 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 intellectual power in me to the highest pitch, but must 
 have dazzled me so much that my memory could not preserve the sub- 
 stance of his discourse ; for the note which I find of it is no more than 
 this : " He ran over the grand scale of human knowledge; advised me 
 to select some particular branch to excel in, but to acquire a little of 
 every kind." The defect of my minutes will be fully supplied by a long 
 letter upon the subject, which he favoured me with after I had been 
 some time at Utrecht, and which my readers will have the pleasure to 
 peruse in its proper place. 
 
 We walked in the evening in Greenwich Park. He asked me, I sup- 
 pose, by way of trying my disposition, "Is not this very fine?" 
 Having no exquisite relish of the beauties of nature, and being more 
 delighted with " the busy hum of men," I answered, " Yes, Sir, but not 
 equal to Fleet-street." JOHNSON : " You are right, Sir." 
 
 1 Epigram, Lib. II. "In Elizabeth. Angliee Reg." I suspect that the author's me- 
 mory here deceived him, and that Johnson said, " the first modern poet ;" for there is a 
 well-known epigram in the "Anthologia" containing this kind of eulogy. MA LONK. 
 
 2 Johnstone was a Scottish poet, who wrote in elegant Latin. He died in 1641. E D.
 
 290 
 
 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 GREENWICH PARK. 
 
 I am aware that many of my readers may censure my want of taste. 
 Let me, however, shelter myself under the authority of a very fashionable 
 baronet 1 in the brilliant world, who, on his attention being called to the 
 fragrance of a May evening in the country, observed, " This may be very 
 well ; but for my part, I prefer the smell of a flambeau at the play- 
 house." 
 
 We staid so long at Greenwich, that our sail up the river, in our 
 return to London, was by no means so pleasant as in the morning ; for 
 the night air was so cold that it made me shiver. I was the more sen- 
 sible of it from having sat up all the night before recollecting and writing 
 in my journal what I thought worthy of preservation ; an exertion which 
 during the first part of my acquaintance with Johnson, I frequently 
 made. I remember having sat up four nights in one week, without being 
 much incommoded in the day-time. 
 
 Johnson, whose robust frame was not in the least affected by the 
 cold, scolded me as if my shivering had been a paltry effeminacy, saying, 
 " Why do you shiver ? " Sir William Scott 2 of the Commons, told me 
 that when he complained of a headache in the post-chaise, as they were 
 
 1 My friend Sir Michael Le Fleming. This gentleman with all bis experience of 
 ipngltly and elegant life, inherits, with the beautiful family domain, no inconsiderable 
 share of that love of literature, which distinguished his" venerable grandfather, the 
 Bishop of Carlisle. He one day observed to me, of Dr. Johnson, in a felicity of phrase, 
 
 There is a blunt dignily about him on every occasion." BOSWELL. 
 _ Sir Michael Le Fleming died of an apoplectic fit, while conversing at the Admiralty 
 with Lord Howick, now Earl Grey, May 19, 1806. MALONK. 
 
 2 Afterwards Lord Stowell. ED.
 
 AGK 51.] BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 207 
 
 travelling together to Scotland, Johnson treated him in the same manner : 
 "At your age, Sir, I had no headache." It is not easy to make allow- 
 ance 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 sympathise 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 1 gave him of my 
 family, and of its hereditary estate, as to the extent and population 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 placed by Providence. IJe took delight in hearing my 
 description of the romantic 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 remaining, we will build one." I was highly nattered, but could 
 scarcely indulge a hope that Auchinleck would indeed be honoured by 
 his presence, and celebrated by a description, as it afterwards was, in 
 his "Journey 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 express what I felt upon this unexpected and 
 very great mark of his affectionate regard. 
 
 Next day, Sunday, July 31, I told him T had been that morning at a 
 meeting of the people called Quakers, where I had heard a woman preach. 
 JOHNSON : " Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind 
 legs. It is not done well ; but you are surprised to find it done at all." 
 
 On Tuesday, August 2, (the day of my departure from London 
 having been fixed for the 5th,) Dr. Johnson did me the honour to pass 
 a part of the morning with me at my chambers. He said, " that he 
 always felt an inclination to do nothing." I observed, that it was 
 strange to think that the most indolent man in Britain had written the 
 most laborious work, " The English Dictionary." 
 
 I mentioned an imprudent publication by a certain friend of his, at 
 an 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 election. 1 
 
 I had now made good my title to be a privileged man, and was car- 
 ried by him in the evening to drink tea with Miss Williams, 2 whom, 
 
 1 Burke's " Vindication of Natural Society," written in imitation of Bolingbroke's 
 style and sentiments, is supposed to be here alluded to. Burke meant it for irony, but 
 it was very generally supposed to be a serious production, till the author, in an edition he 
 published in 1765, stated its true character. ED. 
 
 2 In a paper already referred to (see p. 73), a lady who appears to have been well 
 acquainted with Mrs. Williams, thus speaks of her:
 
 298 
 
 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 ri/r.3. 
 
 though under the misfortune of having lost her sight, I found to be 
 agreeable in conversation, for she had a variety of literature, and 
 expressed herself well ; but her peculiar value was the intimacy in 
 which she had lon<r lived with Johnson, by 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 considerable time, and I complained to him that 
 my love of London and of his company 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 
 
 "Mrs. Williams was a person extremely 
 interesting. She had an uncommon firm- 
 ness of mind, a boundless curiosity, 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 social, 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 his 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 
 acquainted with Dr. Johnson. She had many 
 resources, 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, I 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 JENNY'S WHIM,' the name of a 
 well-known tavern near Chelsea, in former days. 
 
 " Lady Phillips made her a small annual allowance, and some other Welsh ladies, to 
 all of whom she was related. Mrs. Montague, on the death of Mr. Montague, settled 
 upon her (by deed), ten pounds per annum. As near as I can calculate, Mrs. Williams 
 had about thirty -five or forty pounds a year. The furniture she used in her apartment in 
 Dr. Johnson' s house was her own ; her expenses were small, tea and bread and butter 
 being at least half of her nourishment. Sometimes she had a servant or charwoman to 
 do the ruder offices' of the house ; but she was herself active and industrious. I have 
 frequently seen her at work. Upon remarking one day her facility in moving about 
 the house, searching into drawers, and finding books without the help of sight, ' Be- 
 lieve me,' said she, ' persons who cannot do those common offices without sight, did but 
 little while they enjoyed that blessing.' Scanty circumstances, bad health, and blindness 
 are surely a sufficient apology for her being sometimes impatient : her natural disposition 
 was good, friendly, and humane." MA LONE. 
 
 1 This was probably the court running off from the eastern corner of Gough-square, 
 towards Shoe-lane. There are still two trees to be seen in the line, and there were 
 probably many more at the time Boswell speaks of. ED.
 
 AI;E 61 ] B03WELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 290 
 
 conversation. He advised me, when settled in any place abroad, to 
 study with an eagerness 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 3, we had our last social evening at the 
 Turk's Head coffee-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, Sir, 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." Little did I apprehend that lie had 
 actually said this : but I was soon convinced of my error ; 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 Convocation ?" 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 leading 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,"f and the Dedication to the Earl of Shaftesbury,f prefixed to 
 the edition of that writer's English works, published by Mr. Bennet.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 1763-1765. 
 
 JOHNSON ACCOMPANIES BOSWELLTO HAR- 
 WICH, ON HIS INTENDED FOREIGN ToUH 
 
 FELLOW PASSENGERS, AND CONVERSATION 
 ON THE ROAD BOSWELL EMBARKS 
 
 WRITES TO JOHNSON His ANSWER, CONTAINING ADVICE FOR STUDY VISIT TO 
 THK LANGTON FAMILY, IN LINCOLNSHIRE INSTITUTION OF THE LITERARY CLUB 
 MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS VARIOUS PECULIARITIES OF JOHNSON VISIT TO 
 CAMBRIDGE DIPLOMA OF LL.D. FROM TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN ENGAGEMENT 
 WITH GERARD HAMILTON INTRODUCTION TO THE THRALES PUBLICATION OF 
 EDITION op SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 ON Friday, August 5, we set out early in the morning in the Harwich 
 stage-coach. A fat elderly gentlewoman, and a young Dutchman, 
 seemed the most inclined among us to conversation. At the inn where 
 we dined, the gentlewoman said that she had done her best to educate 
 her children ; and, particularly, that she had never suffered them to be 
 a moment idle. JOHNSON : " I wish, Madam, you would educate me 
 too; for I have been an idle fellow all my life." "I am sure, Sir," 
 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
 
 AGE 51.; BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 301 
 
 idle ; and now lie is going to Utrecht, where he will be as idle as ever." 
 I asked him privately how he could expose me so. JOHNSON : " Poh, 
 poll!" said he, " they knew nothing about you, and will think of it no 
 more." 
 
 In the afternoon the gentlewoman talked violently against the Roman 
 Catholics, and of the horrors of the Inquisition. To the utter astonish- 
 ment of all the passengers but myself, who knew that he could talk upon 
 any side of a question, lie defended the Inquisition, and maintained that 
 " false doctrine should be checked on its first appearance ; that the civil 
 power should unite with the church in punishing those who dare to 
 attack the established religion, and that such only were punished by 
 the Inquisition." 
 
 He had in his pocket "Pomponius Mela de Situ Orbis," in which he 
 read occasionally, and seemed very intent upon ancient geography. 
 
 Though by no means niggardly, his attention 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 1 had done would make the coachman dissatisfied with 
 all the rest of the passengers, who gave him no more than his due. This 
 was a just reprimand ; for in whatever way a man may indulge his 
 generosity or his vanity in spending his money, for the sake of others he 
 ought not to raise the price of any article for which there is a constant 
 demand. 
 
 He talked of Mr. Blacklock's poetry, so far as it was descriptive of 
 visible objects ; and observed, that " as its author had the misfortune to 
 be blind, we may be absolutely 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 philosophically how 
 Blacklock may have done, by means of his own faculties, what it is im- 
 possible he should do. The solution, as I have given it, is plain. Sup- 
 pose, 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 1 left 
 him ; shall I puzzle myself with idle conjectures, 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. 
 
 Having stopped a night at Colchester, Johnson talked of that town 
 with veneration, for having stood a siege for Charles the First. The 
 Dutchman alone now remained 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, 1 find, under- 
 stand the law of your own country. To torture in Holland is considered
 
 302 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1763. 
 
 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 con- 
 viction in England. An accused person among you, therefore, has one 
 chance more to escape punishment than those who are tried among us." 
 At supper this night he talked of good eating with uncommon satis- 
 faction. " 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 studiously and very carefully ; for I look upon it, that he 
 who does not mind his belly will hardly mind anything else." He now 
 appeared to me Jean Bull philosophe, and he was for the moment not 
 only serious, but vehement. Yet I have heard him, upon other occa- 
 sions, talk with great contempt of people who were anxious to gratify 
 their palates ; and the 200th number of his " Rambler" 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 intenseness, that while in the act of 
 eating, the veins of his forehead swelled, and generally a strong perspi- 
 ration was visible. To those whose sensations were delicate, this could 
 not but be disgusting ; and it was doubtless 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 abste- 
 mious, was not a temperate man either in eating or drinking. He could 
 refrain, but he could not use moderately. He told me that he had fasted 
 two days without inconvenience, and that he had never been hungry but 
 once. They who beheld with wonder how much he ate upon all occa- 
 sions, when his dinner was to his taste, could not easily conceive what 
 he must have meant by hunger ; and not only was he remarkable for the 
 extraordinary quantity which he ate, but he was, or affected to be, a n.an 
 of very nice discernment in the science of cookery. He used to descant 
 critically on the dishes which had been at table where he had dined or 
 supped, and to recollect very minutely what he had liked. I remember 
 when he was in Scotland, his praising " Gordon's palates " (a dish of 
 palates at the Honourable Alexander Gordon's) with a warmth of ex- 
 pression which might have done honour to more important subjects. 
 " As for Maclauriu's imitation of a made dish, it was a wretched at- 
 tempt." He about the same time was so much displeased with the 
 performances of a nobleman's French cook, that he exclaimed with ve- 
 hemence, "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 following 
 manifesto of his skill : I, Madam, .who live at a variety of good
 
 AGK 54.] BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 303 
 
 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 judge." 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 askm man to." On the other hand, he was wont to ex- 
 press, with great glee, his satisfaction when he had been entertained 
 quite to his mind. One day when he had dined with his neighbour and 
 landlord, in Bolt-court, Mr. Allen, the printer, Avhose old housekeeper 
 had studied his taste in every thing, he pronounced this eulogy : " Sir, 
 we could not have had a better dinner, had there been a, Synod of Cooks." 
 
 While we were left by ourselves, after the Dutchman had gone to 
 bed, Dr. Johnson talked of that studied behaviour which many have 
 recommended and practised. He disapproved of it; and said, " I never 
 considered whether I should be a grave man, or a merry man, but just 
 let inclination, for the time, have its course." 
 
 He flattered me with some hopes that he would, in the course of the 
 following summer, come over to Holland, and accompany me in a tour 
 through the Netherlands. 
 
 I teased him with fanciful apprehensions of unhappiness. A moth 
 having fluttered round the candle, and burnt itself, he laid hold of this 
 little incident 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 BOSWELL." 
 
 Next day we got to Harwich, to dinner ; and my passage in the 
 packet-boat to Helvoetsluys being secured, and my baggage put on 
 board, we dined at our inn by ourselves. I happened to say, it would 
 be terrible if he should not find a speedy opportunity of returning to 
 London, and be confined in so dull a place. JOHNSON : " Don't, Sir, 
 accustom yourself to use big words for little matters. It would not be 
 terrible, though I were to be detained some time here." The practice of 
 using words of disproportionate magnitude, is, no doubt, too frequent 
 everywhere ; but, I think, most remarkable among the French, of 
 which, all who have travelled in France must have been struck with 
 innumerable instances. 
 
 We went and looked at the church, and having gone into it, and 
 walked up to the altar, Johnson, whose piety was constant and fervent, 
 sent me to my knees, saying, " Now that you are going to leave your 
 native country, recommend yourself to the protection of your Creator 
 and Redeemer." 
 
 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.
 
 304 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1703. 
 
 observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is 
 impossible to refute 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." 1 This was a stout 
 exemplification of the first truths of Pere Bouffier, or the original prin- 
 ciples of Reid and of Beattie ; without admitting which, we can no more 
 argue in metaphysics, than we can argue in mathematics without axioms. 
 To me rt is not conceivable how Berkeley can be answered by pure rea- 
 soning ; but I know that the nice and difficult task was to have been 
 undertaken by one of the most luminous minds of the present age, 2 had 
 not politics "turned him from calm philosophy aside." What an 
 admirable display of subtilty, united with brilliance, might his contend- 
 ing with Berkeley have afforded us ! How must we, when we reflect on 
 the loss of such an intellectual feast, regret that he should be characterised 
 as the man, 
 
 " Who, born for the universe, narrow' d his mind, 
 And to party gave up what was meant for mankind " ! s 
 
 My revered friend walked down with me to the beach, where we 
 embraced and parted with tenderness, and engaged to correspond by 
 letters. I said, " I hope, Sir, you will not forget me in my absence." 
 JOHNSON : " 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 majestic 
 frame in his usual manner ; and at last I perceived him walk back into 
 the town, and he disappeared. 
 
 Utrecht 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 desponding letter, to which he paid no regard. After- 
 wards, 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 M. M. BOSWELL, A LA COUR DE I/EMPEREUR, UTRECHT. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, "London, Dec. 8, 1763. 
 
 ' ' You are not to think yourself forgotten, or criminally neglected, that you 
 
 have had yet no letter from me. I love to see my friends, to hear from thorn, to 
 
 talk to them, and to talk of them ; but it is not without a considerable effort of 
 
 resolution that I prevail upon myself to write. I would not, however, gratify 
 
 1 Dr. Johnson seems to have been imperfectly acquainted with Berkeley's doctrine : 
 as his experiment only proves that we have the sensation of solidity, which Berkeley did 
 not deny. He admitted that we had sensations or ideas that are usually called sensible 
 qualities, one of which is solidity : he only denied the existence of mailer, i. e. an inert 
 senseless substance, in which they are supposed to subsist. Johnson's exempli tkalion 
 concurs with the vulgar notion, that solidity is matter. KEARNKV. 
 
 2 Alluding to Mr. Burke. ED. 
 
 8 Goldsmith's " Retaliation." ED.
 
 A'iE 54.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOtlN'SON. 305 
 
 i'iy own indolence, by the omission of any important duty, or any office of real 
 kindness. 
 
 " To tell you that I am or am not well, that I have or have not been in the 
 country, 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, 
 topics with which those letters are commonly tilled which are written only for 
 the sake of writing, I seldom shall think worth communicating; but if 1 can 
 have it in my power to calm any harassing disquiet, to excite any virtuous desire, 
 to rectify an)' important opinion, or fortify any generous resolution, you need 
 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 easily arrive at an exact punctuality of correspondence, I cannot 
 tell. I shall, at present, expect that you will receive this in return 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 studies, as may evince the continu- 
 ance 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 determined 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 suspended between different motives, ard changing its 
 direction as any motive gains or loses strength. If you can but kindle in your 
 mind any strong desire, if you can but keep predominant any wish for some 
 particular excellence or attainment, the gusts of imagination will break away, 
 without 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 peculiar to himself. This vanity makes one mind nurse aversion, 
 and another actuate desires, till they rise by art much above their original state 
 of power ; and as affectation in time improves to habit, they at last tyrannize 
 over him who at first encouraged 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 gentleman, who, when he first 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 be the most 
 agreeable concomitants of youth, and the strongest indication of an airy temper 
 and a quick apprehension. Vacant to every object, and sensible of every 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 tumult of diversion, that knowledge and those
 
 306 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1763. 
 
 accomplishments which mortals of the common fabric obtain only by mute 
 abstraction and solitary drudgery. He tried this scheme ot life awhile, was 
 made weary of it by his sense and his virtue ; he then wished to return to his 
 studies ; 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 irregularity into an unalterable decree of 
 destiny, and concluded that Nature had originally formed him incapable of 
 rational employment. 1 
 
 "Let all such fancies, illusive and destructive, be banished henceforward 
 from your thoughts for ever. 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 diligence will sometimes be interrupted ; but let no 
 accidental surprise or deviation, whether short or long, dispose you to despondency. 
 Consider these failings as incident to all mankind. Begin again where you left 
 off, and endeavour to avoid the seducements that prevailed over you before. 
 
 " This, my dear Boswell, is advice which, perhaps, has been often given you, 
 and given you without effect. But this advice, if you will not take from others, 
 you must take from your own reflections, if you propose to do the duties of the 
 station to which the bounty of Providence has called you. 
 
 ' ' Let me have a long letter from you as soon as you can. I hope you continue 
 
 your journal, and enrich it with many observations 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 inquire how the poor are maintained in the Seven Provinces. 
 
 , " I am, dear Sir, your most affectionate servant, 
 
 "SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 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 lind any 
 information how the poor are maintained in the Seven Provinces. But 
 I shall extract frora 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 
 van die Heerlykheid van Friesland ;' and his ' Historia Frisica. ' I have not yet 
 been able to find these books. Professor Trotz, who formerly was of the Uni- 
 versity of Vranyken in Friesland, and is at present preparing an edition of all the 
 Frisick laws, gave me this information. Of the modern Frisick, or what is 
 spoken by the boors of this day, I have procured a specimen. It is Gisbert 
 Japix's ' Rymeler ie, ' which is the only book that they have. 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 J apix by the first convenient opportunity. I doubt not to pick up Schotanus. 
 ilynheer Trotz has promised me his assistance." 
 
 1 This description was evidently intended for Boswell himself. En.
 
 AGE 54.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 307 
 
 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 Bennet Langton, it will not be doubted, 
 did every thing in his power to make the place agreeable to so illustrious 
 a guest ; and the elder Mr. Langton and his lady, being fully capable 
 of understanding his value, were not wanting in attention. He, how- 
 ever, 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 discussion he sometimes mentioned 
 what might be said in favour of the peculiar tenets of the Romish church, 
 he went to his grave believing him to be of that communion. 
 
 Johnson, during his stay at Langton, had the advantage of a 
 good library, and saw several gentlemen of the neighbourhood. I 
 have .obtained from Mr. Langton the following 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 Lincoln- 
 shire, he observed, " This man, Sir, fills up the duties of his life well. 
 I approve of him, but could not imitate him." 
 
 To a lady who endeavoured to vindicate herself from blame for ne- 
 glecting social attention to worthy neighbours, by saying, " I would go 
 to them if it would do them any good;" he said, " What good, Madam, 
 do you 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 driving 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 being sensible how strange the 
 appearance must be, observed that a countryman whom they saw in a 
 field would probably be thinking, " 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, 1 to which 
 Johnson acceded; and the original members were, Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
 Dr. Johnson, Mr. Edmund Burke, Dr. Nugent, Mr. Beauclerk, Mr. 
 Langton, Dr. Goldsmith, Mr. Chamier, and Sir John Hawkins. They 
 met at the Turk's Head, in Gerrard-street, Soho, one evening in every 
 week, at seven, and generally continued their conversation till a pretty 
 late hour. This club has been gradually increased to its present number, 
 thirty-five. After about ten years, instead of supping weekly, it was 
 resolved to dine together once a fortnight during the meeting of Parlia- 
 
 1 Mrs. Piozzi states that Johnson called Sir Joshua the Rumulut of the club. ED. 
 
 s2
 
 808 BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1764. 
 
 nient. Their original tavern having been converted 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-street. Between 
 the time of its formation, and the time at which this work is passing 
 through the press (June, 1792), 1 the following persons, now dead, were 
 men i hers of it : Mr. Dunning (afterwards Lord Ashburton), Mr. Samuel 
 Dyer, Mr. Garrick, Dr. Shipley (Bishop of St. Asaph), Mr. Vesey, 
 Mr. Thomas \Varton, and Dr. Adam Smith. The present members are, 
 Mr. Burke, Mr. Langton, Lord Charlemont, Sir Robert Chambers, 
 Dr. Percy (Bishop of Dromore), Dr. Barnard (Bishop of Killaloe), 
 Dr. Marlay (Bishop of Clonfeit), Mr. Fox, Dr. George Fordyce, Sir 
 William Scott, Sir Joseph Banks, Sir Charles Bunbury, Mr. Windham 
 of Norfolk, Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Gibbon, Sir William Jones, Mr. Colman, 
 Mr. Steevens, Dr. Burney, Dr. Joseph Warton, Mr. Malone, Lord 
 Ossory, Lord Spencer, Lord Lucan, Lord Palmerston, Lord Eliot, Lord 
 Macartney, Mr. Richard Burke, junior, Sir William Hamilton, Dr. 
 W T arren, Mr. Couitenay, Dr. Hinchliffe (Bishop of Peterborough), the 
 Duke of Leeds, Dr. Douglas (Bishop of Salisbury), and the writer of 
 this account. 2 
 
 Sir John Hawkins 3 represents himself as a " secedtr " from this 
 society, and assigns as the reason of his "withdrawing " himself from 
 it, that its late hours were inconsistent with his domestic arrangements. 
 In this he is not accurate; for the fact was that he one evening attacked 
 Mr. Burke in so rude a manner that all the company testified their 
 
 1 The second edition is here spoken of. MALONE. 
 
 2 The Literary Club has since been deprived, by death, of Dr. Hinchlifle (Bishop of 
 Peterborough), Mr. Gibbon, Sir William Jones, Mr. Richard Burke, Mr. Colman, Mr. 
 Boswell (the author of this work), the Marquis of Bath, Dr. Warren, Mr. Burke, the 
 Rev. Dr. Fanner, the Duke of Leeds, the Earl of Luean, James Earl of Charlemont, 
 Mr. Steevens, Dr. Warton, Mr. Langton, Lord Palmersion, Dr. Fordyce, Dr. Marlay 
 (Bishop of Waterford), Sir William Hamilton, Sir Robert Chambers, Lord Eliot, Lord 
 Macartney, Dr. Barnard (Bishop of Limerick), Mr. Fox, Dr. Horsley (Bishop of St. 
 Asaph), Dr. Douglas (Bishop of Salisbury), and Dr. French Lawrence. Its latest and its 
 irreparable loss was that of the Right Hon. William Windham, the delight and admira- 
 tion of this society, and of every other with whom he ever associated. Of the persons 
 above mentioned some were chosen members of it, after the preceding account was 
 written. It has since that time acquired Sir Charles Blugden, Major Rennell, the Hon. 
 Frederick North, the Right Hon. George Canning, Mr. Marsden, the Right Hon. J. H. 
 Frere, the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville, the Reverend Dr. Vincent, Dean of West- 
 minster, Mr. William Lock, jun., Mr. George Ellis, Lord Minto, the Right Hon. Sir 
 William Grant (Master of the Rolls), Sir George Stuunton, Bart., Mr. Charles Wilkins, 
 the Right Hon. Sir William Drummond, Sir Henry Halford, M.D., Sir Henry Englefield, 
 Bart., Henry Lord Holland, J t ohn Earl of Aberdeen, Mr. Charles Hatchett, Mr. Charles 
 Vaughan, Mr. Humphrey Davy, and the Rev. Dr. Burney. The club, some years after 
 Mr. Boswell's death, removed (in 1799) from Parsloe's to the Thatched House, in St. 
 James' s-street, where they still continue to meet 
 
 The total number of those who have been members of this club, from its foundation 
 to the present time (October, 1810), is seventy-six, of whom fifty-five have, been authors. 
 Of the seventy-six members above mentioned, forty-three are dead ; thirty-three living. 
 MALONK. The Literary Club still exists (1850) ED. 
 
 8 Life of Johnson, p. 425. BOSWKLL.
 
 AGE 51.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHXSOX. 309 
 
 displeasure, and at their next meeting his reception was such that he 
 never come again. 1 
 
 lie is equally inaccurate with respect to Mr. Garrick, of whom he 
 says, " he trusted that the least intimation of a desire to come among 
 us would procure him a ready admission ;" but in this he was mis- 
 taken. Johnson consulted me upon it, and when I could find no objec- 
 tion to receiving him, exclaimed, " He will disturb us by his buffoonery ;" 
 and afterwards so managed matters that he was never formally proposed, 
 and, by consequence, never admitted. 2 
 
 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 I shall be of you." 
 When Sir Joshua mentioned this to Dr. Johnson, he was much displeased 
 with the actor's conceit. " Ife'llbeofus," 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 momentary 
 offence at his arrogance, warmly and kindly supported him, and he was 
 accordingly elected, 3 was a most agreeable member, and continued to 
 attend our meetings to the time of his death. 
 
 Mrs. Piozzi 4 has also given a similar misrepresentation of Johnson's 
 treatment of Garrick in this particular, as if he had used these contemp- 
 tuous expressions : " If Garrick does apply, I'll black-ball him. 
 Surely, one ought to sit in a society like ours, 
 
 ' Unelbow'd by a gamester, pimp, or player.' " 
 
 I am happy to be enabled by such unquestionable authority as that 
 of Sir Joshua Reynolds, as well as from my own knowledge, 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 Grainger's " Sugar Cane," a poem, in the " London Chronicle." He 
 told me, that Dr. Percy wrote the greatest part of this review ; but, I 
 imagine, he did not recollect it distinctly, for it appears to be mostly, if 
 not altogether, his own. He also wrote in the " Critical Review," an 
 accountf of Goldsmith's excellent poem, " The Traveller." 
 
 The ease and independence to which he had at last attained by 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 
 
 1 From Sir Joshua Reynolds. BOSWELL. The knight having refused to pay his 
 portion of the reckoning for supper, because he usually eat no supper at home, Johnson 
 observed, " Sir John, Sir, is a very unelubabk man." BURNEY. 
 
 2 Life of Johnson, p. 425. BOSWELL. 
 
 8 Mr. Garrick was elected in March, 1773. MALONB. 
 
 * Letters to and from Dr. Johnson, vol. ii. p. 278. BOSWELL.
 
 310 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [i"6t. 
 
 more addicted to wine and meat." 1 And next morning he thus feelingly 
 complains : " My indolence, since my last reception of the sacrament, has 
 sunk into grosser sluggishness, and my dissipation spread into 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 drinks, 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;" 2 
 and he earnestly resolves an amendment. 
 
 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 Friday, Easter- 
 day, and his own birthday. He this year says, " I have now spent 
 fifty-five years in resolving : having, from the earliest time almost that I 
 can remember, been forming schemes of a better life. I have done 
 nothing. The need of doing, therefore, is pressing, since the time of 
 doing is short. God, grant me to resolve aright, and to keep my 
 resolutions, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen." 8 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 spiritual 
 improvement, to treat this pious anxiety of Johnson with contempt. 
 
 About this time he was afflicted with a very severe return of the 
 hypochondriac disorder, which was ever lurking about him. He was 
 so ill, as, notwithstanding his remarkable 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, 
 and restlessly walking from room to room. He then used this empha- 
 tical expression of the misery which he felt : "I would consent to have 
 a limb amputated to recover my spirits." 
 
 Talking to himself was, indeed, one of his singularities ever since I 
 knew him. 1 was certain that he was frequently uttering pious ejacula- 
 tions ; for fragments of the Lord's Prayer have been distinctly over- 
 heard. 4 His friend, Mr. Thomas Davies, of whom Churchill says, 
 
 "That Davies hath a very pretty wife, " 
 
 when Dr. 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." 
 
 1 Prayers and Meditations, p. 53. BOSWELL. 2 Ibid. p. 61. S Jbid. p. 584. 
 
 * It used lo be imagined at Mr. Thrale's, when 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 ; but this was not always the case, for I was once, per- 
 haps unperceived by him, writing at a table, so near the place of his retreat, that I heard
 
 AGE 5-5.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. oil 
 
 He had another particularity, of which none of his friends ever ven- 
 tured to ask an explanation. It appeared to me some superstitious 
 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, hy a certain number of steps from 
 a certain point, or at least so as that either his right or his left foot (I 
 am not certain which), should constantly make the first actual move- 
 ment when he came close to the door or passage. Thus I conjecture ; 
 for I have, upon innumerable occasions, observed him suddenly stop, 
 and then seem to count his steps with a deep earnestness ; and when 
 he had neglected, or gone wrong in this sort of magical movement, I 
 have seen him go back again, put himself in a proper posture to be<rin 
 the ceremony, and, having gone through it, break from his abstraction, 
 walk briskly on, and join his companion. A strange instance of some 
 thing of this nature, even when on horseback, happened when he was 
 in the Isle of Sky. 1 Sir Joshua Reynolds has observed him to go a 
 good way about, rather than cross a particular alley in Leicester-fields ; 
 but this Sir Joshua imputed to his having had some disagreeable recol- 
 lection 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 direc- 
 tion, with the palm of his hand. In the intervals of articulating, he 
 made various sounds with his mouth ; sometimes as if ruminating, or 
 what is called chewing the cud, sometimes giving a half whistle, some- 
 times making his tongue play backwards from the roof of his mouth, 
 as if chuckling 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 sometimes with a thoughtful look, but more 
 frequently with a smile. Generally when he had concluded a period, in 
 the course of a dispute, by which time he was a good deal exhausted by 
 violence and 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 
 
 him repeating some lines in an ode of Horace, over and over again, as if by iteration to 
 exercise the organs of speech, and fix the ode in his memory : 
 Audiet cives accuisse ferrum, 
 Quo graves Persse melius perirent, 
 Audiet pugnas .... 
 
 " Our sons shall hear, shall hear to latest times, 
 Of Roman arms with civil gore imbued, 
 Which better had the Persian foe subdued." FRANCIS. 
 It was during the American war. BUKNEY. 
 
 i Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd edit. p. 316. BOSWELL.
 
 312 
 
 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 '[17B4. 
 
 contemptuous mode of expression, as if he had made the arguments of 
 
 his opponent fly like chaff before the wind. 
 
 I am fully aware how very ob- 
 vious an occasion I here give for the 
 sneering jocularity of such as have 
 no relish of an exact 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. 
 
 He was for some time in the sum- 
 mer at Easton Maudit, Northamp- 
 tonshire, on a visit to the Reverend 
 Dr. Percy, now Bishop of Dromore. 
 Whatever dissatisfaction he felt at 
 what he considered a slow progress 
 in intellectual improvement, we find 
 that his heart was tender, and his 
 
 affections warm, as appears from the following very kind letter : 
 
 "XO JOSHUA REYNOLDS, ESQ. IN LEICESTER-FIELDS, LONDON. 
 
 " At the Rev. Mr. Perly's, at Easton Maudit. Northamptonshire, 
 
 (by Castle Ashby), Aug. 19, 1764. 
 "DEAR SlR, 
 
 "I did not hear of your sickness till I heard likewise of your recovery, 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 company can exhilarate the 
 languor of a slow recovery, I will not delay a day to come to you ; for I know 
 not how I can so effectually 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 lose 
 almost the only man whom I call a friend. 
 
 " Pray let me hear of you from yourself, or from dear Miss Eeynolds.1 
 Make my compliments to Mr. Mudge. I am, dear Sir, 
 
 " Your most affectionate and most humble servant, 
 
 " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 Early in the year 1765 he paid a short visit to the University of 
 Cambridge, with his friend Mr. Beauclerk. There is a lively 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 
 
 1 Sir Joshua's sister, for whom Johnson had a particular affection, and to whom he 
 wrote many letters which I have seen, and which 1 am sorry her too nice delicacy will 
 not permit to be published. BOSWKLL.
 
 ACE 56.] BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 31. '5 
 
 Sharp. The two following sentences are very characteristical : " He 
 drank his large potations of tea with me, interrupted by many an 
 indignant contradiction, and many a noble sentiment." " 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 this year : 
 
 ' ' I purpose again to partake of the blessed sacrament ; yet when I consider 
 how vainly I have hitherto resolved at this annual commemoration of my Saviour's 
 death, to regulate my life by his laws, I am almost afraid to renew my resolu- 
 tions." 
 
 The concluding words are very remarkable, and show that he laboured 
 under a severe depression of spirits : 
 
 "Since the last Easter I have reformed no evil habit ; my time has been 
 unprofitably spent, and seems as a dream that has left nothing behind. My 
 memory grows confused, and I know not how the days pass over me. Good Lord, 
 deliver me ! " 1 
 
 No man was more gratefully sensible of any kindness done to him 
 than Johnson. There is a little circumstance in his diary this year, 
 which shows him in a very amiable light : 
 
 ' ' July 2. I paid Mr. Simpson ten guineas, which he had formerly lent me in 
 my necessity, and for which Tetty expressed her gratitude." 
 " July 8. I lent Mr. Simpson ten guineas more." 
 
 Here he had the pleasing opportunity of doing the same kindness to 
 an old friend, which he had formerly received from him. Indeed his 
 liberality as to money was very remarkable. The next article in his 
 diary is, " July 16th, I received seventy-five pounds. Lent Mr. Davies 
 twenty -five." 
 
 Trinity College, Dublin, at this time surprised Johnson with a spon- 
 taneous compliment of the highest academical honours, by creating him 
 Doctor of Laws. The diploma, which is in my possession, is as 
 follows : 
 
 " OMNIBUS ad quos prasentes litera pervenerint, salutem. Nos Prcepositus 
 et Socii Seniores Collegii sacrosanct^ et individuce Trinitatis Regime Elizabeths 
 juxta Dublin, testamur, Samueli Johnson, Armigero, ob egregiam scriptorum 
 elegantiam et utilitatem, gratiam concessam fuisse pro gradu Doctorates in utroqne 
 Jure, octavo die Julii, Anno Domini millesimo sept ing entesimo sexagesimo-quinto. 
 In cujus rei testimonimn singulorum manus et sigillum quo in hisce utimur appo- 
 mimtts ; vicesimo tertio die Julii, Anno Domini millesimo septing entesimo sexa- 
 gesimo-quinto. 
 
 GUL. CLEMENT. FRAN. ANDREWS. R. MURRAY. 
 
 THO. WILSON. Prap'. RoB tus LAW. 
 
 Tuo. LELAND. MICH. KEARNEY." 
 
 1 Prayers and Meditations, p. 61. BOSWBLL.
 
 314 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [i/Co. 
 
 This unsolicited mark of distinction, conferred on so great a literary 
 character, did much honour to the judgment and liberal spirit of that 
 learned body. Johnson acknowledged the favour in a letter to Dr. 
 Leland, one of their number ; but I have not been able to obtain a 
 copy of it. 1 
 
 He appears this year to have been seized with a temporary fit of 
 ambition, for he had thoughts both of studying law, and of engaging in 
 politics. His " Prayer before the Study of Law," is truly admirable : 
 
 " Sep. 26, 1765. 
 
 " Almighty God, the giver of wisdom, without whose help resolutions are 
 vain, without whose blessing study is ineffectual ; enable me, if it be thy will, to 
 attain such knowledge as may qualify me to direct the doubtful, and instruct the 
 ignorant ; to prevent wrongs and terminate contentions ; and grant that I may 
 use that knowledge which I shall attain, to thy glory and my own salvation, for 
 Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. "2 
 
 His prayer in the view of becoming a politician is entitled, " Engag- 
 ing in Politics with H n, " no doubt, his friend, the Right Honourable 
 
 William Gerard Hamilton, for Avhom, during a long acquaintance, he 
 had a great esteem, and to whose conversation he once paid this high 
 compliment : " I am 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 the 
 street-door." In what particular department he intended to engage, 8 
 
 1 Since the publication of the edition in 1804, a copy of this letter has been obligingly 
 communicated to me by John Leland, Esq., son to the learned Historian, to whom it is 
 addressed : 
 
 "TO THE KEV. DR. I.KI.AM). 
 "SlH, 
 
 "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 knowledge but 
 those of Dr. Andrews and yourself. 
 
 " Men can be estimated by those who know them not, only as they are represented by 
 those who know them ; and therefore I flatter myself that I owe much of the pleasure 
 which this distinction gives me, to your concurrence with Dr. Andrews in recommending 
 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 servant, 
 
 " Johnson' s-court, Fleet-street, " SAM. JOHNSON." 
 
 London, Oct. 17, 1765. 
 
 1 have not been able to recover the letter which Johnson wrote to Dr. Andrews on 
 this occasion. MALONE. 
 
 2 Prayers and Meditations, p. 66. BOSWELL. 
 
 8 In the Preface to a late Collection of Mr. Hamilton's Pieces, il has been observed, 
 that our author was, by the generality of Johnson's words, " led to suppose that he was 
 seized with a temporary fit of ambition, and that hence he was induced to apply his 
 thoughts to law and politics. But Mr. Boswell was certainly mistaken in this respect ; 
 and these words merely allude to Johnson's having at that time entered into some engage- 
 ment with Mr. Hamilton occasionally to furnish him with his sentiments on the great 
 political topics which should be considered in Parliament." In consequence of this
 
 AGE 56. J BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 315 
 
 does not appear, nor can Mr. Hamilton explain. His prayer is iu 
 general terms : 
 
 " Enlighten my understanding with knowledge 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" x 
 
 There is nothing upon the subject in his diary. 
 
 This year was distinguished by his being introduced into the family 
 of Air. Thrale, one of the most eminent brewers in England, and member 
 of parliament for the borough 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 considerable consequence. 
 In this great commercial country it is natural that a situation which 
 produces much wealth should be considered as very respectable ; and, no 
 doubt, honest industry is entitled to esteem. But, perhaps, the too rapid 
 advances of men of low extraction tends to lessen the value of that dis- 
 tinction 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 proprietor of it 2 had an only daughter, who was married to a 
 nobleman. It 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 
 purchaser for so large a property was a difficult matter ; and, after some 
 time, it was suggested, that it would be advisable to treat with Thrale, a 
 sensible, active, honest man, who had been employed in the house, and 
 to transfer the whole to him for thirty thousand pounds, security being 
 taken upon the property. This was accordingly settled. In eleven 
 years Thrale paid the purchase money. He acquired a large fortune, 
 and lived to be a member of parliament for Southwark. 3 But what was 
 most remarkable was the liberality with which he used his riches. He 
 gave his son and daughters the best education. The esteem which his 
 
 engagement, Johnson, in November, 1766, wrote a very valuable tract, entitled, " Con- 
 siderations on Corn," which is printed as an Appendix to the works of Mr. Hamilton, 
 published by T. Payne, in 18C8. MAI.ONE. 
 
 1 Prayers and Meditations, p. 67. BOSWELL. 
 
 2 The predecessor of old Thrale was Edmund Halsey, Esq., the nobleman who married 
 his daughter, was Lord Cobham, great uncle of the Marquis of Buckingham. But 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. Halsey. It is at least certain that the family of Thrale was of some con- 
 sideration in that town : in the abbey church is 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, between 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, couped at the neck : Crest on a ducal 
 coronet, a tree, vert. BLAKE WAY. 
 
 8 In 1733 he served the office of High Sheriff for Surrey; and died April 9, 1758. 
 A. CHALMERS.
 
 316 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1765. 
 
 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 after 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 extraordinary instance 
 of generosity. He used to say, ' If this young dog does not find so 
 much after I am gone as he expects, let him remember that he has had 
 a great deal in my own time.' " 
 
 The son, though in affluent circumstances, had good sense enough to 
 carry on his father's trade, which was of such extent, that I remember 
 he once told me he would not quit it for an annuity of ten thousand 
 a year ; " Not," said he, " that I get ten thousand 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 fair trade in a 
 long period of time. 
 
 There may be some who think that a new system of gentility 1 might 
 be established upon principles totally different from what have hitherto 
 prevailed. Our present heraldry, it may be said, is suited to the barba- 
 rous times in which it had its origin. It is chiefly founded upon feroci- 
 ous 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 allowed 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 assiduity, 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 
 captivated ? 
 
 Such are the specious, but false, arguments for a proposition which 
 always will find numerous 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 irresistible force, " Un 
 yentilhomme est toujours gentilltomme." 
 
 Mr. Thrale had married Miss Hestber Lynch Salisbury, of good 
 Welch extraction, a lady of lively talents, improved by education. 
 That Johnson's introduction into Mr. Thrale 's family, which contributed 
 
 1 Mrs. Burney informs me that she heard Dr. Johnson say, " An English Merchant 
 is a new species of Gentleman." He, perhaps, had in his 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 your 
 trading forsooth is extended no farther than a load of hay, or a fat ox. You are pleasant 
 people indeed ! because you are generally bred up to be lazy, therefore, I warrant you, 
 industry is dishonourable." BOSWKLL.
 
 AGE 56.] 
 
 BOSWELLS LIFE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 317 
 
 so much to the happiness of his life, was owing to her desire for his 
 conversation, is a very probable and the general supposition : 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 invi- 
 tation 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 South wark, and in their villa at Streatham. 
 
 Johnson had a very sincere esteem for Mr. Thrale, as a man of 
 excellent principles, 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. As this family will frequently be 
 mentioned in the .course of the following pages, and as a false notion 
 has prevailed that Mr. Thrale was inferior, and in some degree insignifi- 
 cant, 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 school-boy in one ot the lower 
 forms." My readers may naturally wish for some representation of the 
 figures of this couple. Mr. Thrale was tall, well proportioned, and 
 stately. As for Madam, or my Mistress, by which epithets Johnson 
 used to mention Mrs. Thrale, she was short, plump, and brisk. She 
 has herself given us a lively view of the idea which Johnson had of her 
 person, on her appearing before him in a dark-coloured gown : " You
 
 818 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHXSON. [1765. 
 
 little creatures should never wear those sort of clothes, however ; they 
 are unsuitable in every way. What ! have not all insects gay colours?" 1 
 Mr. Thrale gave his wife a liberal indulgence, both in the choice of their 
 company, and in the mode of entertaining them. He understood and 
 valued Johnson, without remission, from their first acquaintance to the 
 day of his death. Mrs. Thrale was enchanted with Johnson's conversa- 
 tion for its own sake, and had also a very allowable vanity in appearing 
 to be honoured with the attention of so celebrated a man. 
 
 Nothing could be more fortunate for Johnson than this connection. 
 He had at Mr. Thrale's all the comforts and even luxuries of life : his 
 melancholy was diverted, and his irregular habits lessened by association 
 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 con- 
 stant succession of what gave him the highest enjoyment the society 
 of the learned, the witty, and the eminent in every way, who were as- 
 sembled in numerous companies called forth his wonderful powers, and 
 gratified him with admiration, to which no man could be insensible. 
 
 In the October of this year 2 he at length gave to the world his edition 
 of Shakspeare, which, if it had no other merit but that of producing 
 his Preface, in which the excellencies and defects 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 ridicule of foreigners. Johnson, by 
 candidly admitting the faults of his poet, had the more credit in bestow- 
 ing on him deserved and indisputable praise ; and doubtless none of 
 all bis panegyrists have done him half so much honour. Their praise 
 was like that of a counsel, upon his own side of the cause ; Johnson's 
 was like the grave, well considered, and impartial opinion of the judge, 
 which falls from his lips with weight, and is received with reverence. 
 What he 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 certainly know from the labours of other 
 able and ingenious critics who have followed him. He has enriched 
 his edition with a concise account of each play, and of its characteristic 
 
 1 Mrs. Piozzi's Anecdotes, p. 279. BOSWKLL. 
 
 2 From a letter written by Dr. Johnson to Dr. Joseph Warton, the day after the pub- 
 lication of his Shakspeare, Oct. 9, 1765, (see Wooll's Memoirs of Dr. Warton, 4to. 1806) 
 it appears that Johnson spent some time with that gentleman at Winchester in this year. 
 In a letter written by Dr. Warton, to Mr. Thomas Warton, not long afterwards (January 
 28, 1766) is a paragraph, which may throw some light un various passages in Dr. Warton's 
 edition of Pope, relative to Johnson : " I only dined with Johnson, who seemed cold and 
 indifferent, and scarce said anything to me : perhaps he has heard what I said of hig 
 Shakspeare, or rather was offended at what I wrote to him : as he pleases." The letter 
 here alluded to, it is believed, has not been preserved: at least, it does not appear in the 
 collection above referred to. MA LONE.
 
 AGE /)6.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSOX. 319 
 
 excellence. Many of his notes have illustrated obscurities in the text, 
 and placed passages eminent for beauty in a more conspicuous light ; 
 and he has, in general, exhibited such a mode of annotation, as may be 
 beneficial to all subsequent editors. 
 
 His Shakspeare was virulently attacked by Mr. William Kenrick, 
 who obtained the degree of LL.D. from a Scotch University, and wrote 
 for the booksellers in a great variety of branches. Though he certainly 
 was not without considerable merit, he wrote with so little regard to 
 decency, and principles, and decorum, and in so hasty a manner, that 
 his reputation was neither extensive nor lasting. I remember one even- 
 ing, when some of his works were mentioned, Dr. Goldsmith said, he 
 had never heard of them ; upon which Dr. Johnson observed, " Sir, 
 he is one of the many who have made themselves public, without making 
 themselves known." 
 
 A young student of Oxford, of the name of Barclay, wrote an answer 
 to Kenrick 's review of 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 con- 
 temptuously, observing, upon some of his remarks, " These are the 
 petty cavils of petty minds. ' ' Voltaire, in revenge, made an attack upon 
 Johnson, in one of his numerous literary sallies which I remember to 
 have read ; but there being no general index to his voluminous works, 
 have searched in vain, and therefore cannot quote it. 1 
 
 Voltaire was an antagonist with whom I thought Johnson should 
 not disdain to contend. I pressed him to answer. He said, he perhaps 
 might ; but he never did. 
 
 Mr. Burney having occasion to write to Johnson for some receipts 
 for subscriptions to his Shakspeare, which Johnson had omitted to de- 
 liver 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 excellent of his writings. To this letter Johnson returned the fol- 
 lowing answer : 
 
 "TO CHARLES BURNEY, ESQ. IN POLAND-STREET. 
 " 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 re- 
 ceive from your approbation. I defend my criticism in the same manner with 
 
 1 It is in the " Dictionnaire Philosophique," under the head "Art Dramatique." Vol- 
 taire accuses Johnson of considering buffoonery and drunkenness among the beauties of 
 that tragic drama. ED,
 
 320 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHXSOX. [1/63. 
 
 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 another, the honours 
 of perfection, will surely injure the reputation which he designs to assist. 
 ' ' Be pleased to make my compliments to your family. I am, Sir, 
 "Your most obliged 
 
 "And most humble servant, 
 "Oct. 16, 1765. "S.\M. JOHNSON." 
 
 From one of his Journals I transcribed what follows : 
 
 " At church, Oct. 65. 
 
 " To avoid all singularity ; Bonaventura. 1 
 
 " To come in before service, and compose my mind by meditation, or 
 by reading some portions of scripture. Tetty. 
 
 " If I can hear the sermon, to attend it, unless attention be more 
 troublesome than useful. 
 
 " To consider the act of prayer as a reposal of myself upon God, 
 and a resignation of all into his holy hand." 
 
 1 He was probably proposing to himself the model of this excellent person, who for 
 his piety was named the Seraphic Doctor. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
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 [Specimen Page.'] 
 
 246 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1763 
 
 advanced towards us, he announced his awful approach to me, somewhat 
 in the manner of an actor in the part of Horatio, when he addresses 
 Hamlet on the appearance of his father's ghost, " Look my Lord, it comes." 
 I found that I had a very perfect idea of Johnson's figure, from the 
 portrait of him painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds soon after he had pub- 
 lished his Dictionary, in the attitude 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 respect- 
 
 fully introduced me to him. I was much agitated ; and recollecting his 
 prejudice against the Scotch, of which 1 had heard much, I said to 
 Davies, "Don't tell where I come from." "From Scotland," cried 
 Davies, roguishly. " Mr. Johnson (said 1), 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 a 
 humiliating abasement at the expense of my country. But however that 
 might be, this speech was somewhat unlucky; for with that quickness of 
 wit for which he was so remarkable, he seized the expression "come 
 from Scotland," which I used in the sense of being of that country ; and, 
 as if I had said that 1 had come away from it, or left it, retorted "That, 
 Sir, I find, is what a very great many of your countrymen cannot help."
 
 [Specimen Page] 
 TITE BOOK OF ENGLISH SONGS. 
 
 35 
 
 f 
 
 "'"''ffZ^ 
 
 /, AKEN lords and ladies gay, 
 On the mountain dawns the day ; 
 All the jolly chase is here, 
 With hawk, and horse, and hunting spear. 
 Hounds are in their couples yelling, 
 Hawks are whistling, horns are knelling ; 
 Merrily, merrily, mingle they, 
 " Waken lords and ladies gay." 
 
 Waken lords and ladies gay, 
 
 The mist has left the mountain grey, 
 
 Springlets in the dawn are streaming, 
 
 Diamonds in the brake are gleaming, 
 
 And foresters have busy been, 
 
 To trace the Buck in thicket green ; 
 
 Now we come to chaunt our lay, 
 
 " Waken lords and ladies gay."
 
 308 
 
 [Specimen Paje.] 
 RESEARCHES IX NINEVEH. 
 
 XOCND OF KHOR8ABAD. 
 
 Far away a thousand miles from 
 the highways of modern commerce, and 
 the tracks of ordinary travel lay a sand- 
 enshrouded city deeply buried in a half- 
 desert Turkish Province, with no certain trace of its place of 
 sepulchre. Vague tradition said that it was hidden somewhere near 
 the river Tigris ; but for full two thousand years its known existence in 
 the world was as a mere name ; a word. That name suggested the idea 
 of an ancient capital of fabulous splendour and magnitude ; a congrega- 
 tion of palaces and other dwellings encompassed by Avails and ramparts, 
 vast but scarcely real. 
 
 Old writers men who lived a thousand years before our times, yet a 
 thousand years after many of the things they tell about spoke of the 
 buried city as one in their days known only by tradition, and as one whose 
 fate had long been sealed blotted out of the world it had once helped
 
 OPINIONS OF MACAULAY AND CARLYLE ON 
 "BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON." 
 
 That the uninitiated may form some idea of the entertaining character of 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON, critical opinions of the work from the pens of 
 two of our greatest living writers, viz., Macaulay and Carlyle, are subjoined : 
 Mr. Macaulay thus expresses himself 
 
 "The Life of Johnson is assuredly a great, a very great work. Homer is not more 
 decidedly the first of Dramatists, Demosthenes is not more decidedly the first of orators, 
 than Boswell is the first of Biographers. He has no second. He has distanced all his 
 competitors so decidedly that it is not worth while to place them. Eclipse is first, and the 
 rest nowhere. 
 
 " We are not sure that there is in the whole history of the human intellect so strange a 
 phenomenon as this book. Many of the greatest men that ever lived have written 
 biography. Boswell was one of the smallest men that ever lived, and he has beaten them 
 all. * * * He was a slave, proud of his servitude, a Paul Pry, convinced that his own 
 curiosity and garrulity were virtues, an unsafe companion who never scrupled to repay the 
 most liberal hospitality by the basest violation of confidence, a man without delicacy, with- 
 out shame, without sense enough to know when he was hurting the feelings of others or 
 when he was exposing himself to derision; and because he was all .this, he has in an 
 important department of literature, immeasurably surpassed such writers as Tacitus, 
 Clarendon, Alfieri, and his own idol Johnson. * * * 
 
 "Johnson grown old, Johnson in the fulness of his fame and in the enjoyment of a com- 
 petent fortune, is better known to us than any other man in history. Every thing about 
 him, his coat, his wig, his figure, his face, his scrofula, his St. Vitus's dance, his rolling 
 walk, his blinking eye, the outward signs which too clearly marked his approbation of his 
 dinner, his insatiable appetite for fish-sauce and veal-pie with plums, his inextinguishable 
 thirst for tea, his trick of touching the posts as he walked, his mysterious practice of 
 treasuring up scraps of orange-peel, his morning slumbers, his midnight disputations, his 
 contortions, his mutterings, his gruutings, his puffings, his vigorous, acute, and ready 
 eloquence, his sarcastic wit, his vehemence, his insolence, his fits of tempestuous rage, his 
 queer inmates, old Mr. Levett and blind Mrs. Williams, the cat Hodge, and the negro 
 Frank, all are familiar to us as the objects by which we have been surrounded from 
 childhood." 
 
 Speaking of BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON Mr. Carlyle says 
 
 " That loose-flowing, careless-looking work of his, is as a picture by one of Nature's own 
 Artists ; the best possible resemblance of a Reality ; like the very image thereof in a clear 
 mirror. Which indeed it was- let but the mirror be clear, this is the great point; the 
 picture must and will be genuine. How the babbling Bozzy, inspired only by love, and 
 the recognition and vision which love can lend, epitomises nightly the words of Wisdom, 
 the deeds and aspects of Wisdom, and so, by little and little, unconsciously works together 
 for us a whole Johnsoniad ; a more free, perfect, sunlit and spirit-speaking likeness, than 
 for many centuries had been dra^n by man of man ! Scarcely since the days of Homer 
 has the feat been equalled ; indeed in many senses, this also is a kind of Heroic Poem. 
 The fit Odyssey of our unheroic age was to be written, not sung ; of a Thinker, not of a 
 Fighter ; and (for want of a Homer) by the first open soul that might offer, looked such 
 even through the organs of a Boswell. * 
 
 "As for the BOOK itself, questionless the universal favour entertained for it is well 
 merited. In worth as a Book we have rated it beyond any other product of the eighteenth 
 century. * * Which of us but remembers, as one of the sunny spots in his existence, 
 the day when he opened these airy volumes, fascinating him by a true natural magic. It 
 was as if the curtains of the Past were drawn aside, and we looked mysteriously into a 
 kindred Country, where dwelt our Fathers; inexpressibly dear to us, but which had seemed 
 for ever hidden from our eyes."
 
 ftkjtdi ititm to Stififtrttt 
 
 TUB 
 
 FIRST VOLUME OF " BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON." 
 
 Frontispiece Dr. Johnson at Lord Chester- 
 field's. 
 
 Title. Portrait of Dr. Johnson after 
 Reynolds. 
 
 Portrait and Autograph of James Boswell, 
 Esq. 
 
 Portrait of Edmund Malone. 
 
 Birth-place of Dr. Johnson, at Lichfield. 
 
 Liclifield Grammar School, 1725. 
 
 Portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds. 
 
 Initial Letter. St. Mary's, Lichfield. 
 
 Portrait of Michael Johnson. 
 
 Parlour at Johnson's Birth-place. 
 
 Dr. Sachevcrel Preaching. 
 
 Portrait of Mr. Hector. 
 
 Cornelius Ford, from Hogarth's " Modern 
 Midnight Conversation." 
 
 Stourbridge School, Worcestershire. 
 
 The Hall of Pembroke College, Oxford. 
 
 Christ Church, Meadow. 
 
 Portrait of Mr. Jorden. 
 
 Dr. Johnson's Room in Pembroke College. 
 
 General View of Lichfield. 
 
 Monument to Gilbert Walmesley in Lich- 
 field Cathedral. 
 
 Dr. Johnson's Residence at Birmingham. 
 
 Portrait of Edward Cave, projector of the 
 "Gentleman's Magazine." 
 
 Portrait of Mrs. Johnson. 
 
 View of Ediall House, Dr. Johnson's 
 Academy, near Lichrield. 
 
 Portrait of the Rev. Mr. Colson. 
 
 Dr. Johnson's Lodgings in Exeter Street, 
 Strand. 
 
 View in Greenwich Park, 1737. 
 
 Dr. Johnson's Lodging, nest to the Golden 
 Hart, Church Street, Greenwich. 
 
 Fac simile of part of the original MSS. of 
 
 "IKENE." 
 
 Saint John's Gate, Clerkenwell, 1737. 
 Dr. Johnson's Lodging in Castle Street. 
 Portraits of Dodsley the Publisher, and 
 
 Richardson the Novelist. 
 Portrait of W. Hogarth. 
 Portrait of IXr. Birch. 
 Portrait of Richard Savage. 
 Portrait of Lady Mt.cclesfield. . 
 
 Portrait of Lord LovaL 
 Portrait of Lord Chesterfield. 
 
 Dr. Johnson's Residence in Gough Square. 
 Interior of Drury Lane Theatre, 1749. 
 Portraits of Garrick, Barry, Mrs. Cibber, 
 
 and Mrs. Pritchard, the principal Actors 
 
 in the Tragedy of " IRENE." 
 The Green Room of Drury Lane Theatre. 
 Portraits of Mrs Ann Williams. 
 Portrait of Mr. Francis Barber. 
 Monument to Elizabeth, Wife of Dr. Johnson, 
 
 at Bromley Church, Kent. 
 Portrait of Bennet Langton. 
 Portrait of Topham Beauclerk. 
 Portrait of Dr. Joseph Walton. 
 Portrait of ColU-y Ciuber. 
 Portrait of Rev. Thomas W T arton. 
 View of Ellsndd, near Oxford. 
 Ruins of the Abbeys of Oseney and Rewley, 
 
 near Oxford 
 
 Portrait of Collins the Poet. 
 Portrait of Millar the Bookseller. 
 Portrait of Dr. Burney. 
 Portrait of Mr. Slruchan. 
 View of Blackfriar's Bridge. 
 Portrait of Mr. Joseph Biiretti. 
 Portrait of Lord Bute. 
 View of the Garrison at Plymouth. 
 Portrait of Thomas Sheridan, 
 Portrait of Thomas Davies, the Actor and 
 
 Bookseller. 
 Dr. Johnson's Chambers, Inner Temple 
 
 Lane. 
 
 The Mitre Tavern. Fleet Street. 
 Interior View of the Mitre. 
 Scene of the Cock Lane Ghost's Exploits. 
 Portrait of Oliver Goldsmith. 
 The Temple Stairs. 
 
 View of Greenwich Hospital, the Park, &c. 
 View of the Pool and the Isle of Dogs. 
 Fleet Street in, 1768. 
 Interior of Harwich Church. 
 View of Langton Hall, Lincolnshire. 
 The Turk's Head, Gerrard Street, Soho. 
 Portrait of Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore. 
 Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Thrale. 
 Town residence of Mr. and Mrs. Thrale in 
 
 Southwark. 
 Country House ol Mr. and Mrs. Thrale at 
 
 Streatham.
 
 
 ,**i
 
 A 000139085 5 
 
 3 
 
 /om Boswell's Life of 
 
 k Samuel Johnson 
 1-sfts. (Bayntun). 
 W!^ 
 flfflBHmBBI 
 
 THE HOUSE IN COCK LANE. 
 
 From a drawing by A. L. Collins. 
 (Identified with the famous ghost 
 incident in which Johnson interested