B( >s\y F.I.I > I , I F K O F JOHNSON Ml KKKI.I. \oi.. I ( <>Ns TAMI.K u I > I \II\STKK THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES titi LIBRARY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON (<;//< BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON EDITED BY AUGUSTINE BIRRELL IN SIX VOLUMES VOL. I ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND CO 1896 INTRODUCTION MORE than sixty years ago, Carlyle, writing in Prater's Magazine, observed in that manner of his which has now become part of our incorporate existence, that the new edition of Boswell, then lately undertaken by Mr. Croker, was a praiseworthy but no miraculous procedure in no way an event in universal history, and indeed in very truth one of the most insignificant of things. If that were true in 1832 of so pretentious an edition of Boswell's Johnson as Mr. Croker's, the insignificance of the present publication is almost startling. Boswell's immortal biography has been re- printed many times since the date of Carlyle's famous article, and in our own immediate hour we have had the advantage of re-reading it in the careful and interesting edition of the late Mr. Napier, as well as in the splendid volumes of my revered friend, Dr. Birkbeck Hill, whose eager and unresting toil and minute diligence has left scarce anything behind him for even the most humble-minded of gleaners in the Johnsonian fields. When you know you must be beaten, the wisest course is to decline competition. viii LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON The merit of these volumes is all or nearly all Boswell's and the printers', a race of men whose services in the cause of letters Dr. Johnson, who knew ' The Trade ' from top to bottom, never forgot Who does not remember the famous occasion when he apologised to a compositor ? ' Mr. Compositor, I ask your pardon. Mr. Compositor, I ask your pardon, again and again.' Any merit that is not Boswell's or the printers' belongs to Mr. Edmund Malone, whose Life, by Sir James Prior, is well worth the two or three shillings which is all the second-hand booksellers are in the habit of asking for it. The biography itself first appeared in two com- fortable quartos in 1791, no less than four years after the authorised biography by Johnson's literary executor, Sir John Hawkins. The second edition followed in 1793. Boswell died in 1795. The third edition was intrusted to Malone, and bears date 1799. Malone died in 1812, having lived to see the sixth (1811) edition through the press. The notes in the present edition are for the most part to be found in Malone's editions : my own notes are few and far between. I made many notes, but on reflection I have struck most of them out, feeling myself convinced not of their worthlessness but of their unimportance. The unsigned and unbracketed notes are Boswell's. The notes signed M. are Malone's. Those signed A. B. are mine. The other notes bear the names of their makers. The English-speaking race is only just beginning to INTRODUCTION ix enter into its huge and glorious inheritance of litera- ture. The number of persons who have never read Boswell's Life of Johnson, and who yet are capable of enjoying it to the tips of their fingers, is enormous, and yearly increases. To get hold of these people, to thrust Boswell into their hands, to obtrude him upon their notice, and thus to capture their intelligence and engage their interest, is the work of the missionary of letters, who does not need to encumber himself with the commentators, but only to do all that he can to circulate the original text in the most convenient and attractive form. It is not laziness or indifference which prompts me to say this, but holy zeal and the most absolute conviction. After all, the book is the thing. Literature was meant to give pleasure, to excite interest, to banish solitude, to make the fireside more attractive than the tavern, to give joy to those who are still capable of joy, and why should we not admit it? to drug sorrow and divert thought. There is a pestilent notion abroad, at least so it seems to me, that all our best books, our classics, were written either for children or for learned or half- learned editors and teachers, or it may be even for lecturers ; and yet Dr. Swift did not originally intend Gulliver's Travels for the nursery, nor did Sir Walter Scott, when he published most of the Waverley novels in three volumes octavo at the price of thirty-one shillings and sixpence, think he was competing with good Mr. Newbery's successor in St. Paul's Churchyard. VOL. i. 6 x LIFE OF DR, JOHNSON Children are all very well, and the sooner they are introduced to Shakespeare and Scott the better ; hut it is men and women who bear the burden of life and the heat of the day, and it was for them that literature was intended. As for the learned editors who load the page of their author with notes and references and cross- references, personally I delight in their labours and reverence their devotion ; but in the first instance, at all events (I repeat), the book is the thing. Leave Boswell alone to tell his own tale, to make his own impression. This once done, the commentators will march in through the breach Boswell has made. But for teachers and examiners, I hold the whole tribe in abhorrence. I hate to see them annexing fresh domains to their gloomy empire. ' Examiners ! hands off ! ' is surely a natural exclamation as their spears blacken the horizon. Our lives do not terminate in the torture-chambers of the examiner, and we shall sorely need the solace of books like Boswell's long after we have bidden class-room and senate- house an eternal farewell. I never could bring myself to take any pleasure in Calverley's- famous Imaginary Examination Paper on Pickwick. It made me uneasy, since it showed dull fools how the thing might be done in deadly earnest. There is perhaps no book in the whole range of English literature so richly endowed with those qualities of interest, charm, humour, and life which go to make up enjoyment, as Boswell's Life of Johnson. To begin INTRODUCTION xi with, it is a big book. It is all well enough in sundry moods to love to be confined within a scanty plot of ground and who can be otherwise than alive to the fascination of such a short story as La Grande Breteche, or of such a short autobiography as Gibbon's? but amidst the ups and downs of life, for all the days of the week and the years of one's days, there is nothing so'attractive, so provocative of affection, as a big book that is, a long book, a crowded gallery, a busy thorough- fare, with all its fleeting figures, its chance references, its waifs and strays of character. Nothing else so stirs our sluggish imagination or so penetrates us with the 'stir of existence,' with the sweet, sad music of humanity. No writer I know of has brought out the fascination of these large canvases with more moving effect than the man whose name I have already mentioned with the respect due to the greatest author the century has seen, Thomas Carlyle. With what a devouring eye had he read his Clarendon and his Boswell ! his own pages are rich with their recollections. 'We ourselves can remember reading in Lord Clarendon with feelings perhaps somehow accidentally opened to it certainly with a depth of impression strange to us then and now that insignificant-looking passage where Charles, after the battle of Worcester, glides down with Squire Careless from the Royal Oak at nightfall, "being hungry ; how, making a shift to get over hedges and ditches, after walking at least eight or nine miles, which were the more grievous to the xii LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON king by the weight of his boots, before morning they came to a poor cottage, the owner whereof being a Roman Catholic was known to Careless. How this poor drudge, being knocked up from his snoring, carried them into a little barn full of hay, wh ; ch was a better lodging than he had for himself, and by-and-by, not without difficulty, brought his Majesty "a piece of bread and a great pot of butter-milk," saying candidly that " he himself lived by his daily labour, and that what he had brought him was the fare he and his wife had," on which nourishing diet his Majesty, "staying upon the hay mow," feeds thankfully for two days, and then departs under new guidance, having first changed clothes, down to the very shirt and old pair of shoes, with his landlord, and BO, as worthy Bunyan has it, "goes on his way and sees him no more." Singular enough, if we will think of it ! This, then, was a genuine flesh-and-blood rustic of the year 1651 ; he did actually swallow bread and butter-milk (not having ale and bacon) and do field labour ; with these hob- nailed shoes has sprawled through mud roads in winter, and, jocund or not, driven his team afield in summer ; he made bargains, had chafferings and hagglings, now a sore heart, now a glad one, was born, was a son, was a father, toiled in many ways, being forced to it, till the strength was all worn out of him, and then lay down " to rest his galled back," and sleep there till the long-distant morning ! How comes it, that he alone of all the British rustics who tilled and lived along with him, on whom the blessed INTRODUCTION xfii gun on that same " fifth day of September " was shining, should have chanced to rise on us, that this poor pair of clouted shoes, out of the million million hides that have been tanned and cut and worn, should still subsist and hang visibly together ? We see him but for a moment ; for one moment the blanket of the night is rent asunder, so that we behold and see, and then closes over him for ever.' Carlyle was at heart a sentimentalist, and there may be some stern critics who think this particular piece of sentimentalism of his a little rank ; but be that as it may, it is only from big books and from large canvases that pleasure of the kind I am referring to can be obtained, and Boswell's Johnson is full of such pleasure-giving, such fancy-stirring passages, reveal- ing to us the actual life of man. Though it would be ridiculous to profess to enumerate one by one the delights of a biography it has become impertinent to praise, yet next to its generous scale, one may harmlessly refer to the per- fection of its method. This was no happy chance, no mere bit of good fortune, but the result of a real genius for portraiture, coupled with that infinite capacity for taking pains which is found allied to genius so often that it has sometimes been mistaken for it. That Boswell loved Johnson is plain enough, but that he loved himself still better, and was endlessly ambitious of literary fame, is at least equally certain. His genius prompted him what he could do, and told him that in the famous Doctor he had a subject made for xiv LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON his hand. Like Fred Bayham he felt he was in for a good thing, and he meant to make the very most of it. He saw his way to write a great book, to do something which, despite the sneers of Gibbon and the patronage of Burke, no other member of the club could do one half or one-quarter as well. He was to prove himself a greater portrait painter than Sir Joshua himself. The careful reader of the dedication and of the first pages of the biography cannot fail to see with what confidence, as well as with what determination, Boswell approached his great task. Boswell's oddities and absurdities need not interfere with the frankness of our recognition of his super- lative talent. The pains he took to collect material exposed him to ridicule. In that strange book, which ought at least to be in the usually small library of every owner of racehorses, the Memoirs of Thomas Holcroft, the author records how Mr. Lowe (who will be found mentioned in the biography) told him the following story : ' Lowe had requested Johnson to write him a letter, which Johnson did, and Boswell came in while it was writing ; his attention was immediately fixed. Lowe took the letter, retired, and was followed by Boswell. " Nothing," said Lowe, " could surprise me more. Till that moment he had so entirely overlooked me that I did not imagine he knew there was such a creature in existence, and he now accosted me with the most overstrained and in- sinuating compliments possible. ' How do you do, Mr. Lowe ? I hope you are well, Mr. Lowe ? Pardon INTRODUCTION xv my freedom, Mr. Lowe, but I think I saw my dear friend Dr. Johnson writing a letter for you. ' ' Yes, sir.' 'I hope you will not think me rude, but if it would not be too great a favour, you would infinitely oblige me if you would just let me have a sight of it ; everything from that hand, you know, is so inestim- able.' ( Sir, it is on my own private affairs, but * 'I would not pry into a person's affairs, my dear Mr. Lowe, by any means. I am sure you would not accuse me of such a thing, only, if it were no particular secret -' ' Sir, you are welcome to read the letter.' e l thank you, my dear Mr. Lowe, you are very obliging. I take it exceedingly kind.' (Having read. ) ' It is nothing I believe, Mr. Lowe, that you would be ashamed of ' ' Certainly not.' ' Why, then, my dear sir, if you would do me another favour you would make the obligation eternal. If you would but step to Peele's coffee-house with me and just suffer me to take a copy of it I would do anything in my power to oblige you.' I was so overcome," said Lowe, ' l by this sudden familiarity and condescension, accompanied with bows and grimaces, I had no power to refuse. We went to the coffee-house. My letter was presently transcribed, and as soon as he had put his document in his pocket Mr. Boswell walked away as erect and as proud as half an hour before. I ever after was unnoticed. Nay, I am not certain," added he sarcastically, " whether the Scotchman did not leave me, poor as he knew I was, to pay for my own dish of coffee. " ' xvi LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON How all this painstaking and drudgery contrasts with the Doctor's own sublime indifference to material if he were not in the mood for it ' Elated with the success of my spontaneous exertion to procure material and respectable aid to Johnson for his very favourite work. The Lives of the Poets, I hastened down to Mr. Thrale's at Streatham, where he now was, that I might ensure his being at home next day, and after dinner, when I thought he would receive the good news in the best humour, I announced it eagerly. " I have been at work for you to-day, sir. I have been with Lord Marchmont. He bade me tell you he has a great respect for you, and will call on you to-morrow at one o'clock, and communicate all he knows about Pope." Here I paused in full expectation that he would be pleased with this intelligence, would praise my active merit, and would be alert to embrace such an offer from a nobleman. But whether I had shown an over-exultation which provoked his spleen, or whether he was seized with a suspicion that I had obtruded him on Lord Marchmont and humbled him too much, or whether there was anything more than an unlucky fit of ill-humour, I know not, but to my surprise the result was. JOHNSON : I shall not be in town to- morrow. I don't care to know about Pope. Mr. THRALE (surprised as I was and a little angry) : I suppose, sir, Mr. Boswell thought that as you are to write Pope's life you would wish to know about him. JOHNSON : Wish ! Why, yes. If it rained knowledge I 'd hold out my hand, but I would not give myself INTRODUCTION xvii the trouble to go in quest of it. There was no arguing with him at the moment. ' Boswell is good enough to express a regret that Dr. Johnson had not written his own life, but all subse- quent generations of English readers have good cause to rejoice that he did nothing to put Boswell off the track. Johnson soon got sick of a subject,, and of no subject sooner than himself. He is indeed a splendid writer of biography, but his methods are not Boswell- ian, nor is the result by any means the same. His life, written by himself, would have been a gloomy, though majestic, fragment a few peals of thunder and a heavy torrent of rain, and then some wearied exclamations and a frigid dismissal. It is fair to remember that Boswell enjoyed to the full one enormous advantage. He had an absolutely free hand. Johnson left neither wife nor child. I do not suppose Black Frank, his servant and residuary legatee, ever read a line of the great biography. There was no daughter married to a well-to-do trades- man to put her pen through the pathetic passages relating to old Michael Johnson, who, once a week, kept an open bookstall in Birmingham. There was no grandson in holy orders to water down the witticisms that have reverberated through the world. There were no political followers, no party associates, fearful of their own paltry reputations, to buzz like flies about the ears of the biographer. None the less, Boswell is entitled to the praise of a glorious intrepidity. But what was Boswell's method ? The question is xviii LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON made difficult by the fact that Boswell's enormous success has been found to depend almost as much upon his own personality as upon Johnson's. It is the conjunction of the two that so tickles the midriff. This is well illustrated by the Lord Marchmont incident already quoted. Without Boswell's eager- ness, fussiness, snobbishness, we should never have got the sublime, ' I don't care to know about Pope.' But though Boswell's personality, delightfully obtrusive as it is and provocative of a thousand humours, is inextricably mixed up with his success, he yet had a method which he has done his best to make plain to us, both in his Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (a book every bit as valuable and almost as amusing as the biography), and in his Dedication of the Life to Sir Joshua Reynolds, and in the Advertisement to, and the first few pages of, his Magnum Opus itself. The motto on the title-page reveals the whole scheme ' Quo fit ut omnis Votiva pateat veluti descripta tabella Vita senis.' But again I ask what is the method ? In the Dedi- cation Boswell tells us that in his Tour he had been almost 'unboundedly open in his communications,' his desire being ' to display the wonderful fertility and readiness of Johnson's wit,' and he tells that in- imitable story, so full of the marrow and fatness of our life here below, how the great Dr. Clarke ceased his merriment when he saw Beau Nash approaching. INTRODUCTION six ' My boys/ said he, ' let us be grave ; here comes a fool.' The advertisement or preface to the first edition thus concludes : ' 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," I have largely provided for the instruction and entertainment of mankind.' Entertainment ! this is indeed a blessed word ! In the first eleven pages of the Life, Boswell with much clearness states his theory of biography. It is first of all based upon friendship. ' I had the honour and happiness of enjoying his friendship for upwards of twenty years.' Experts in dates have pointed out (and it was worth doing) that though Boswell knew Johnson for the last twenty years of his life, he was by no means an habitual associate of his, and that long months would go by without their ever meeting ; nor when they did meet, were they, except on very rare occasions, long together. Whether this was a drawback may be doubted. There are few duller biographies than those written by wives, secretaries, or other domesticated creatures. The point of view of these persons soon becomes intolerable. Neither the purr of the hearth-rug nor the unemancipated admira- tion of the private secretary should be allowed to dominate a biography. Boswell's admiration for Johnson was open-mouthed enough, but his attitude towards him was that of an extern. But the book is xx LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON based on intimacy. The next point Boswell proceeds to emphasise is that Johnson's conversation, its ' ex- traordinary vigour and vivacity,' constituted ' one of the first features of his character.' Accordingly he congratulates himself upon his facility in recollecting, and his assiduity in recording, Johnson's conversa- tion. Here we are upon the keystone of the bridge. ' 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 conversation, being convinced that this mode is more lively.' And again: ' I am fully aware of the objections which may be made to the minuteness 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 characteristic and always amusing.' We see in these and other kindred passages Boswell's scheme and his method. He knew Johnson, he loved him ; he especially delighted in the vigour and vivacity of his conversation, and he determined to portray him in such a manner as to be entertaining, lively, and amusing. And what is more to the purpose, he has succeeded. Undoubtedly the great feature of Boswell's book is its record of Johnson's talk. There is nothing else like it anywhere. INTRODUCTION xxi For a talker Johnson had all the necessary qualifi- cations. He possessed vast and varied information on all kinds of subjects he knew not only books, but a great deal about trades and manufactures, ways of existence, customs of business. He had been in all sorts of societies, kept every kind of company. He had fought the battle of life in a hand-to-hand en- counter, had slept in garrets, done hack-work for booksellers, been houseless at night in short, had lived on 4|d. a day. By the side of Johnson Burke's knowledge of men and things was bookish and notional. Johnson had a great range of fact. Next he had a strong mind operating upon and in love with life. Then, of course, whenever stirred by contact with his friends, and inflamed by the passion for contradiction, or justly irritated by the flimsy platitudes of fools, he had ready for immediate use the quickest wit and the most magnificent vocabulary ever placed at the dis- posal of man. Add to this an almost divine tender- ness of heart, a deep-rooted affectionateness of dis- position, and a positively brutal aversion to every kind of exaggeration, and you get a combination of qualities no one has a right to expect. Nor must this be forgotten Boswell's Johnson is the post-pension Johnson. Never before nor since did a beggarly 300 a year of public money yield (thanks mainly to Boswell) such a harvest for the public good. Not only did it keep the Doctor himself in brown suits and bob-wigs, and provide a home for Mrs. Williams, and for Mrs. Desmoulins, and for Miss xxii LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON Carmichael, and for Mr. Levett, but it has kept us all going ever since. This blessed pension gave Johnson ease and leisure ease of mind, and leisure to talk. The most noticeable characteristics of Johnson's talk seem to be good sense, brilliant wit, and a lively dialectical imagination, which enabled him joyfully and triumphantly to pursue his subject and crush his opponent with a vigour that gathered force as it pro- ceeded. No talk was ever freer from pedantry, nor can it be said that profundity is one of its notes. It is indeed full of good feeling, and a melancholy as well as an obstreperous humour. It teaches one how to live rather than what to believe. Boswell was quite right, his record of Johnson's talk is entertain- ing and lively and amusing. I will give one example of what I mean by dialectical imagination. Talking of those who denied the truth of Chris- tianity, 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 are ; and it is not likely 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 INTRODUCTION xxiii is confirmed by thousands of men who were at the taking of it. Ay, but these men have still more interest in deceiving us. They don't want that you should think the French have beat them, but that they have beat the French. Now, suppose you should go over and find that it is really 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.' This may not be very close reasoning or very con- vincing argumentation, but its crescendo is exciting and effective, and betokens a gift which on the Treasury or Front Opposition Bench would have been rewarded with enthusiastic cheers and laughter. It is sometimes said Johnson's talk as recorded by Boswell has killed Johnson's books. This is nonsense. Boswell's book is of course vastly more entertaining, lively, and amusing than Rasselas or the Rambler, and consequently far more people have read and will read Boswell than have or will read Johnson. This is inevitable. The Heart of Midlothian numbers more readers than Butler's Analogy. To wish it otherwise is to reconstruct human nature and to people the globe with another race of mortals. But to say that nobody reads Johnson is sheer non- sense. There is always somebody reading Johnson. Genius, thank Heaven, is never crowded out, and xxiv LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON Johnson (as everybody knows) was a writer of genius. His Lives of the Poets, his Preface to Shakespeare and to the English Dictionary the Dictionary itself many of the Ramblers and Idlers (especially the ' Dick Minim ' Idlers of June 1759), did they stand alone on our shelves, would be enough, with the famous portraits of Sir Joshua (so instinct are they with character, so charged with reality) to transmit from one generation of readers to another the fascinating personality of a great man. But fortunately we have much more how much more it is for the reader of the following pages to say. A. B. TO 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 inexcusable, in appearing fully sensible of it, where can I find one, in complimenting whom lean 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 literature, is well known to the present, and will continue to be the admiration of future ages. Your equal and placid temper, your variety of conversation, your true politeness, by which you are so amiable in private society, and that enlarged hospitality which has long made your house a common centre of union for the great, the accomplished, the learned, and the ingenious ; all these qualities I can, in perfect con- fidence of not being accused of flattery, ascribe to you. If a man may indulge an honest pride, in having it known to the world that he has been thought worthy of particular attention by a person of the first eminence in the age in which he lived, whose company has been univer- VOL. i. c xxvi LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON sally 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 sin- cerely 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 ccenseque Deum which I have enjoyed under your roof. If a work should be inscribed to one who is master of the subject of 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 peculi- arities and slight blemishes which marked the literary Colossus. Your very warm commendation of the speci- men 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 encouragement for me to persevere in my purpose of producing the whole of my stores. In one respect, this work will, in some passages, be different from the former. In my Tour I was almost DEDICATION xxvii unboundedly open in my communications, and from my eagerness to display the wonderful fertility and readiness of Johnson's wit, freely showed to the world its dexterity, even when I was myself the object of it. I trusted that I should be liberally understood, as knowing very well what I was about, and by no means as simply unconscious of the pointed effects of the satire. I own, indeed, that I was arrogant enough to suppose that the tenor 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 gratification. I am, my dear sir, your much obliged friend, and faithful humble servant, JAMES BOSWELL. London, April 20, 179L ADVERTISEMENT TO THE FIRST EDITION I AT last deliver to the world a Work which I have long promised, and of which, I am afraid, too high expectations have been raised. The delay of its publi- cation must be imputed, in a considerable degree, to the extraordinary zeal which has been shown by dis- tinguished persons in all quarters to supply me with additional information concerning its illustrious sub- ject ; 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, xzviii ADVERTISEMENT TO FIRST EDITION xxix 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 found it necessary to make by various channels, I should probably be thought ridiculously ostentatious. Let me only ob- serve, as a specimen of my trouble, that I have some- times been obliged to run half over London in order to fix a date correctly, which, when I had accom- plished, 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 due 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. I beg leave to express my warmest thanks to those who have been pleased to favour me with communica- tions 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 advan- tage 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 ex- ceedingly that I was deprived of the benefit of his revision, when not more than one half of the book had xxx LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON passed through the press ; but after having completed his very laborious and admirable edition of Shakespeare, for which he generously would accept of no other reward but that fame which he has so deservedly obtained, he fulfilled his promise of a long-wished-for visit to his relations in Ireland ; from whence his safe return finibus Atticis is desired by his friends here, with all the classical ardour of Sic te Diva potens 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 carry- ing on this work, several of those to whom it would have been most interesting have died. Such melan- choly 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 hL> kind approbation. Dr. Adams, eminent as the head of a college, as a writer, and as a most amiable man, had known John- son 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 17, 1785 : 'DEAR SIR, I hazard this letter, not knowing where it will find you, to thank you for your very agreeable Tour, which I found hsre on my return from the country, and in which you ADVERTISEMENT TO FIRST EDITION xxxi 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 repre- sentation 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. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION THAT I was anxious for the success of a work which had employed much of my time and labour, I do not wish to conceal : but whatever doubts I at any time entertained have been entirely removed by the very 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 assistance not only of some of my particular 1 See Mr. Malone's Preface to his edition of Shakespeare. xxxii LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 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 I 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 Reynolds, 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 contributed to improve, could be finished, the world has been deprived of that most valuable man ; a loss of which the regret will be deep, and lasting, and extensive, proportionate to the felicity which he diffused through a wide circle of admirers and friends. In reflecting that the illustrious subject of this Work, by being more extensively and intimately known, however elevated before, has risen in the veneration and love of 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 ADVERTISEMENT TO SECOND EDITION xxxiii fortune to be in his company ; and, without doubt, if his discourse at other periods had been collected with the same attention, the whole tenor 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 malig- nant 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 biographical Work, however inferior in its nature, may in one respect be assimilated to the Odyssey. Amidst a thousand entertaining and instruc- tive episodes the hero is never long out of sight ; for they all are 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 sapientia 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 Marl- borough, 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 rxxiv LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 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 I 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 been 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 Auchin- leck. 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 magnificent, yet dangerous embassy in which he is now employed, which makes everything that relates to him peculiarly interesting. ADVERTISEMENT TO SECOND EDITION xxxv 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 commenda- tion, that even I, vain as I am, cannot prevail on my- self to publish it. [July 1, 1793.] ADVERTISEMENT 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 by 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 xxxvi LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 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 judi- cious remarks on the first edition of his Work ; and the letters J. B. O. are annexed to some remarks furnished by the author's second son, a student of Brasenose College in Oxford. Some valuable obser- vations were communicated by James Bindley, Esq., First Commissioner 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.) which was written by Mr. Boswell, and therefore ought not to have been thus distinguished. I have only to add, that the proof-sheets of the present edition not having passed 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 FOURTH EDITION xxxvii 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 answer- able for anything which had not the sanction of his approbation. The remarks of his friends are distin- guished 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, for- merly Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and now beneficed in the diocese of Raphoe in Ireland, of which he is Archdeacon. 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 xxxviii LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 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. After my death I wish no other herald, 2Vo other speaker of my living actions, To keep mine honour from corruption, But such an honest chronicler as Griffith' 1 SHAKESPEARE, Henry VIII. 1 See Dr. Johnson's letter to Mrs. Thrale, dated Ostick in Skie, September 30, 1773 : ' Bpswell 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." ' THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. To write the Life of him who excelled all mankind in writing the lives of others, and who, whether we con- sider his extraordinary endowments, or his various works, has been equalled by few in any age, is an arduous, and may be reckoned in me a presumptuous task. Had Dr. Johnson written his own life, in confor- mity 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 com- position. Of these memorials a few have been pre- served ; 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 1 Idler, No. 84. VOL. I. A 2 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON scheme of writing his life constantly in view ; as he was well apprised of this circumstance, and from time to time obligingly satisfied my inquiries, by commu- nicating to me the incidents of his early years ; as I acquired a facility in recollecting, and was very assi- duous 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 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 advantages, indepen- dent of literary abilities, in which I am not vain enough to compare myself with some great names who have gone before me in this kind of writing. Since my work was announced several Lives and Memoirs of Dr. Johnson have been published, the most voluminous of which is one compiled for the booksellers of 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 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 neces- sary 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 how- ever discredited by unpardonable inaccuracies in other respects, contains a collection of curious anecdotes and observations which few men but its authcr could have brought together. LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 3 have esteemed him for his decent, religious demeanour, and his knowledge of books and literary history ; but from the rigid formality of his manners, it is evident that they never could have lived together with com- panionable 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 acknow- ledge, exhibit a 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 narrative very unsatisfactory. But what is still worse, there is throughout the whole of it a dark uncharitable cast, by which the most unfavourable 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 4 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 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 anything 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 Desmaizeaux 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 agree- able 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 neces- sary to explain, connect, and supply, I furnish it to 1 Brit. Mus. 4320, AysiougKs Catal. Sloant MSS. LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 5 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 conversation, 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 inter- weaving what he privately wrote, and said, and thought ; by which mankind are enabled as it were to see him live, and to ' live o'er each scene ' with him, as he actually advanced through the several stages of his life. Had his other friends been as dili- gent 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. 1 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 1 delineate 1 ['It is not speaking with exaggeration, but with strict measured sobriety, to say that this book of Boswell's will give us more real insight into the " History of England" during those days than twenty other books falsely entitled Histories' (CARLYLE'S Miscellanies). A. B.] 6 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 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 circum- stances. " Let me remember (says Hale), when I find myself inclined to pity a criminal, that there is likewise a pity due to the country." If we owe regard to the memory of the dead, there is yet more respect to be paid to knowledge, to virtue, and to truth.' 1 What I consider as the peculiar value of the fol- lowing 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, have been received with so much approbation, that I have good grounds for supposing that the world will not be indifferent to more ample communications 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 Rambler, No. 60. LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 7 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, a& to be contented to pass many years as the domestic companion of a superannuated lord and lady, convex sation could no more be expected than from a Chinese? mandarin on a chimney-piece, or the fantastic figures on a gilt leather screen. If authority be required, let us appeal to Plutarch, the prince of ancient biographers. Oure rats ewifpa- vecrrdrai? Trpdf(ri iravrots fveoTi 8r)\cot 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 indulgences, 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 fetch them thee" so stepped aside for five minutes, and wrote the nonsense you now keep such a stir about.' A necdotts. In my first edition I was induced to doubt the authenticity of this account by the following circumstantial statement in a letter to me from Miss Seward, of Lichfield : ' 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 heron 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 sup- posed to be correct ; but it shows how dangerous it is to trust too implicitly to traditional testimony and ingenious inference j for Mr. Hector has lately assured me that Mrs. Piozzi's account is in this instance accurate, and that he was 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 incorrect- ness 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 consequence of the preceding statement (which may be found in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. Txiii. and Ixiv.) received the following letter from Mr. Edmund Hector on the subject : ' DEAR SIR, I am sorry to see you are engaged in altercation with a lady who seems unwilling to be convinced other errors. Surely it would be more ingenuous to acknowledge than to persevere. >ET. 25] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 63 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 ap- pearance 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, 1 this is the most sensible man that I ever saw in my life.' Though Mrs. Porter was double the age of Johnson, 1 1 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 neighbour- hood, 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 1 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 multos tt felices annas, I shall subscribe myself your obliged humble servant, E. HECTOR. ' Birmingham, Jan. at&, 1794.' 1 [It appears, from Mr. Hector's letter, that Johnson became ac- quainted with her three years before he married her. M.) 8 [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 represented, being only at the time of her marriage in her forty-eighth year, as appears by the following extract from the parish-register of Great Peatling, in Leicestershire, which was 64 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1736 and her person and manner, as described to me by the late Mr. Garrick, were by no means pleasing to others, 1 she must have had a superiority of understanding and talents, 8 as she certainly inspired him with a more than ordinary passion; and she having signified her willingness to accept of his hand, he went to Lichfield to ask his mother's consent to the marriage, which he could not but be conscious was a very imprudent scheme, both on account of their disparity of years, and her want of fortune. But Mrs. Johnson knew too well the ardour of her son's temper, and was too tender a parent to oppose his inclinations. obligingly made, at my request, by the Hon. and Rev. Mr. Ryder, Rector ot Lutterworth, in that county : 'Anno Dom. i6S8[-o], Elizabeth, the daughter of William Jervis. Esq., and Mrs. Anne his wife, bom the fourth day of February and wini> baptized i6th 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 aoco acres), and there are niany 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. M.I 1 [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. M.] 3 [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 transmitted by her to the late John Hoole, Esq., the translator of Metastasio, etc., by whom it was inserted in toe European Magazine for October 1799 : ' 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." " O," 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 that her son was below, desired the maid to tell him she longed to embrace JET. 27] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 65 I know not for what reason the marriage ceremony was not performed 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 (Oth July): 'Sir, she had read the old romances, and had got into her head the fantastical notion that a woman of spirit should use her lover like a dog. So, sir, at first she told me that I rode too fast, and she could not keep up with me, and, when I rode a little slower, she passed me, and complained that I lagged behind. I was not to be made the slave of caprice ; and I resolved to begin as I meant to end. I therefore him. When the maid descended the gentleman was gone, and poor Mrs. Johnson 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, be might once in bis 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: ' One day that he came to my house to meet many others, we told him that we had arranged our party to go to Westminster Abbey : would not he go with us? " Jfo t " he replied, "not while I can keep out." ' Upon our saying that the friends of a lady had been in great fear lest he should make a certain match, he said, " We that are his 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 doc- trines of the Church of Rome ; because about three weeks before we came abroad he said to my Cornelia, " You are going where the osten- tatious 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 not the words, I have kept up to the express meaning.' M.J VOL. I. E 60 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1736 pushed on briskly, till I was fairly out of her sight. The road lay between two hedges, so I was sure she could not miss it ; and I contrived that she should soon come up with me. When she did, I observed her to be in tears.' This, it must be allowed, was a singular beginning of connubial felicity ; but there is no doubt that John- son, 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 he 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 Lichfield, in Staffordshire, young gentlemen are boarded and taught the Latin and Greek languages, by Samuel Johnson.' But the only pupils who were put under his care were the celebrated David Garrick and his brother George, and a Mr. Offely, a young gentleman 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 burst upon the world ! with what eager- ness 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 conductor in learning by regular gradations, as men of inferior powers of mind. His -aw acquisitions had been made by fits and starts, by XT. 27] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 67 violent irruptions in the regions of knowledge ; and it could not be expected that his impatience would he subdued, and his impetuosity restrained, so as to fit him for a quiet guide to novices. The art of communicating instruction, of whatever kind, is much to be valued ; and I have ever thought that those who devote themselves to this employment, and do their duty with diligence and success, are entitled to very high respect from the community, as Johnson him- self often maintained. Yet I am of opinion, that the greatest abilities are not only not required for this office, but render a man less fit for it. While we acknowledge the justness of Thomson's beautiful remark, 'Delightful task ! to rear the tender thought, And teach the young idea how to shoot 1 ' 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 impetuous, like that of Johnson, cannot be fixed for any length of time in Sninute 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 pre- ceptor. Horace paints the character as bland : ' . . . Ut pueris olim dant crustula Uandi Doctores, elements velint ut diacere primai.' Sat. i. i. 85. 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. 68 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1737 From Mr. Garrick'g account he did not appear to have been profoundly reverenced by his pupil*. Hit oddi- ties of manner, and uncouth gesticulations, 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 Tt-tty or TeUey, 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 hand- writing, 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 mastered, let them learn ' Corderius, by Mr. Clarke ; beginning at the same time to >ET. 28] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 69 translate out of the introduction, that by this means they may learn the syntax. Then let them proceed to ' Erasmus, with an English translation, by the same author. 'Class II. Learn 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 Commentaries in the afternoon. 'Practice in the Latin roles till they are perfect in them ; afterwards in Mr. Leed'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, etc., as shall seem 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. 'JSlian. ~\ 'Lucian by Leeds. - Attic. ' Xenophon. ' Homer. Ionic. ' Theocritus. Doric. ' Euripides. Attic and Doric. ' Thus you will be tolerably skilled in all the dialects, be- ginning 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 in those of the purest ages ; as Terence, Tolly, Caesar, Sallust, Nepos, Velleius Paterculus, Virgil, Horace, Phsedrus. 70 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1737 'The greatest and most necessary task still remains, to attain a habit of expression, without which knowledge it 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. SAX. Joinrsox.' 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 anything except a great part of his tragedy of Irene. Mr. Peter Garrick, the elder brother of David, told me that he remembered Johnson's bor- rowing the Turkish History of him, in order to form his play from it. When he had finished some part of it, he read what he had done to Mr. Walmsley, who objected to his having already brought his heroine into great distress, and asked him, ' How can you possibly contrive to plunge her into deeper calamity ? ' Johnson, in sly allusion to the .supposed oppressive proceedings of the court of which Mr. Walmsley was registrar, replied, ' Sir, I can put her into the Spiritual Court ! ' Mr. Walmsley, however, was well pleased with this proof of Johnson's abilities as a dramatic writer, and advised him to finish the tragedy, and produce it on the stage. Johnson now thought of trying his fortune in London, the great field of genius and exertion, where talents of every kind have the fullest scope and the highest encouragement. It is a memorable circum- stance that his pupil David Garrick went thither at the same time, 1 with intent to complete his education, ^x. 28] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 71 and follow the profession 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 Shakespeare's mulberry tree, by Mr. Lovibond, the ingenious author of The Tears of Old May-Day. They were recommended to Mr. Colson, 1 an emi- nent mathematician and master of an academy, by the following letter from Mr. Walmsley : TO THE REV. MR. COLSON Lichficld, March 12, 1737. 'DEAR SIB, I bad the favour of yours, and am extremely 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 endeared to you, as well as by an early friendship, as by your many excellent and valuable qualifications ; and, bad I a son of my own, it would be my ambition, instead of sending him to tbe university, to dispose of bim as tbis young gentleman is. 'He, and another neighbour of mine, one Mr. Samuel (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 him- self 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?' JOHN- SON : ' Why, yes ; when I came with twopence halfpenny in my pocket, and thou, Davy, with three halfpence in thine.' 1 [The Reverend John Colson was bred at Emmanuel College in Cambridge, and in 1728, when George the Second visited that Uni- versity, was created Master 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 Lucasian Professor of Mathe- matics 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 l'Abb6 Nocletj 8vo, 1^32, and some other tracts. Our author, it is be- lieved, was mistaken in stating him to have been master of an Academy. Garrick, probably, during his short residence at Rochester, lived in his house as a private pupil. The character of Gelidus, the philosopher, in the Rambler (No. 24), was meant to represent this gentleman. See Mrs. Piozzi's Antedates etc., p. 444. M.] 72 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [173? Johnson, set oat this morning for London together. Davy Garrick is to be with you early the next week, and Air. 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, I doubt not but you would be ready to recommend and assist your countryman, *O. How he employed himself upon his first coming to London is not particularly known. 1 I never heard that he found any protection or encouragement by the means of Mr. Colson, to whose academy David Garrick went Mrs. Lucy Porter told me that Mr. Walmsley 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 stay-maker, in Exeter Street, adjoining Catharine 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 1 One curious anecdote was communicated by himself to Mr. John Nichols. Mr. Wilcox, the bookseller, on being informed by him that ^T. 28] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 73 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, 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 pre- cepts of economy for several years in the British capital. He assured Johnson, who, I suppose, was then meditating to try his fortune in London, but was apprehensive of the expense, ' that thirty pounds a year was enough to enable a man to live there without being contemptible. He allowed ten pounds for clothes and linen. He said a man might live in a garret at 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 74 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1737 at Birmingham. Finding himself master of so much money, he set off for West Chester, in order to get to Ireland. He returned the horse, and probably the ten pounds too, after he got home.' Considering Johnson's narrow circumstances in the early part of his life, and particularly at the interest- ing era of his launching into the ocean of London, it is not to be wondered at, that an actual instance, proved by experience, of the possibility of enjoying the intellectual luxury of social life upon a very small income, should deeply engage his attention, and be ever recollected by 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 Lichneld as an officer of the army, and had at this time a house in London, where Johnson was frequently 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. Vide Collins's Peerage. [The Hon. Henry Hervey was nearly of the same age with Johnson, having been born about nine months before him, in the year 1709. He married Catharine, 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 the degree of Master of Arts at Cambridge, at the late age of thirty-five, in 1744 ; about which time, it is believed, he entered into holy orders. JET. 28] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 75 entertained, and had an opportunity of meeting gen- teel company. Not very long before his death, he 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 lodg- ings at Greenwich, where he proceeded in it some- what 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 : ro MR. CAVE ' Greenwich, next door to Che Golden Heart, Church Street, July 12, 1737. 'Six, 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 so 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. ' 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 undertaking, with this disadvantage, that the French bad a version by one of their best translators, whereas you cannot read three pages of the English History 76 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1737 without discovering that the style is capable of great improve- ments ; but whether those improvement* are to be expected from the attempt, you must judge from the specimen which, if you approve the proposal, I shall submit to your examina- tion. 'Suppose the merit of the versions equal, we may hope that the addition 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, 'SAX. Jomraojf.' It should seem from this letter, though subscribed with his own name, that he had not yet been introduced to Mr. Cave. We shall presently see what was done in consequence of the proposal which it contains. In the course of the summer he returned to Lich- field, 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, but was slowly and painfully elaborated. A few days before his death, while burning a great mass of papers, he picked out from among them the original unformed sketch of this tragedy, in his own 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 are best acquainted with Johnson's mode of penmanship, which at all times was very particular. The King having graciously accepted VET. 28] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 77 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. His Majesty was pleased to permit Mr. Langton to take a copy of it for himself. The whole of it is rich in thought and imagery, and happy expressions ; and of the disjecta membra scat- tered 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 Italic character. ' Nor think to say here vrill I stop, Here will I fix the limits of transgression, Nor farther tempt the avenging rage of heaven. When guttt like this once harbours in the breast, Those holy beings, whose unseen direction Ouides 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, 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. Teach me the Grecian art of soft persuasion.' 78 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1737 'Sure thit it love, which heretofore I conceived the dream of idle maids, and wanton poets.' 1 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 foreshown, by tokens no less certain, by the vices which always bring it on.' This last passage is worked up in the tragedy itself, as follows : LEONTIU8 ' 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 ? ' MAHOMET (tO IRENE) */ 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. 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.' JRT. 28] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 79 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 Sowing 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 vtili accept of virtue, whatever outward circumstances it may be accompanied with, and may be delighted with varieties of worship; but is answered, That variety cannot affect that Being, who, infinitely happy in his own perfections, wants no external gratifications; nor can infinite 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 1 Journal of a Tour to tht Hebridtt, 3rd edit., p. 232. 80 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1737 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 lodg- ings were for some time in Woodstock Street, near Hanover Square, and afterwards in Castle Street, near Cavendish Square. As there is 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 as con- nected 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, com- pletely finished and fit for the stage, he was very desirous that it should be brought forward. Mr. Peter Garrick told me that Johnson and he went 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 patronised 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 ^x. 28] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 81 by Mr. Edward Cave, under the name of Sylvanus Urban, had attracted the notice and esteem of John- son, 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 impres- sions from The Scots Magazine, which was begun at Edinburgh in the year 1739, and has been ever con- ducted 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 intention that they should all be collected on his own account, he put it off from year to year, and at last died without having done it perfectly. I have one in his own 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 persons, to whom he liberally contributed from the abundance YOU I. * 82 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1738 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. His first performance in the Gentleman'* 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 desti- tute both of taste and sensibility, had he not felt himself highly gratified. Ad Urbanum Urbane, nullis fesse laboribus. Urbane, nullia victe calumnii-, Cui fronte sertum in erudita Perpetuo viret et virebit ; Quiil moliatur gens imitantium, Quid et minetur, solicitus parum, Vacare soils perge Musis, Joxta animo studiisque felix. Linguae procasis plumbea spicula, Fidens, superbo f range silentio ; Victrix per obstantes caterras Sedulitas animosa tendet. . Intende nervos, f ortis, inanibus Risurus olim nisibus asmuli ; Intende jam nervos, habebis Participes operas Camoenas. Non ulla Musis pagina gratior, Quam quae severis ludicra jungere Novit, fatigatamque nugis Utilibus recreare mentem. X.T. 29] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 83 Tezente Nymphia serta Lycoride, Rosae rnborem sic viola adjuvat Immista, sic Iris refulget ET. 29] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 87 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 : ' Though much concern'd to leave my dear old friend, I must, however, hit design commend Of fixing in the country ' It is plain he was not going to leave his friend ; his friend was going to leave him. A young lady at once corrected this with good critical sagacity to 'Though much concern'd to lose my dear old friend.' There is one passage in the original better transfused by Oldham than by Johnson : ' Nil habet inf elix paupertas duriua in so, Quam quod ridicules homines facit.' v. 152. which is an exquisite remark on the galling meanness and contempt annexed to poverty: Johnson's imita- tion is : ' Of all the griefs that harass the distrest, Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest.' 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 1 1 If what I 've said can't from the town affright, Consider other dangers of the night ; When brickbats are from upper stories thrown, And emptied chamber-pots come pouring down From garret -windows' 88 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1738 Oldham's, though less elegant, is more just : 4 Nothing in poverty BO ill is borne, As iU exposing men to grinning acorn.' 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 his- tory 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 unin- teresting to my readers. We may be certain, though it is not expressly named in the following letters to Mr. Cave, in 1738, that they all relate to it : TO MR. CAVE ' Cattle Street, Wednesday Morning. [No date. 1738.] ' Snt, 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 believed I could not procure more advan- tageous 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 x 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 His Ode, Ad Ur&attum, probably. NICHOLS.] JET. 29] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 89 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 chum to your regard, aa 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 encourage 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, SAH. JOHNSON.' TO MR. CAVE 'Monday, No. 6 Castle Street. ' Sm, I am to return yon 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 whether you resolve to print the poem. If you please to send it me by the post, with a note to Dodsley, I will go and read the lines to him, that we 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 calcu- lation 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 90 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1738 your generosity on this occasion, of your regard to learning, even in iU unhappiest state ; and cannot but think such a temper deserving of the gratitude of those who suffer so often from a contrary disposition. I am, sir, your most humble servant, SAM. Jomraox.' TO MR. CAVE [.Vo date.] ' SIB, I waited on yon to take the copy to Dodaley's : as I remember the number of lines which it contains, it will be no longer than Eugenia, 1 with the quotations, 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 adapt- ing 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, 9 and think she ought to be celebrated in as many different languages as Lewis le Grand. Pray send me word when you 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, etc., SAX. JOHHBOH.' TO MR. CAVE [A'o date.] 1 SIB, I am extremely obliged by your kind letter, and will not fail to attend you to-morrow with Irene, who looks upon you as one of her best friends. ' I was to-day with Mr. Dodsley, who 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 con- cerned in. I knew not what answer to make till I had con- sulted 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, 1 A poem, published in 1737, of which see an account in vol. ii., under April 30, 1773. 2 [The learned Mrs. Elizabeth Carter. This lady, of whom frequent mention will be found in these Memoirs, was daughter of Nicholas Carter, D.D. She died in Clarges Street, Feb. 19, 1806, in her eighty- ninth year. M.] JET. 29] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 01 as he will undoubtedly be more diligent to disperse and pro- mote 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, aa town empties, we cannot be too quick with. I am, sir, yours, etc., SAM. 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 pro- duction ; 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, we could not but feel an indignant regret ; but how painful is it to see that a writer of such vigorous powers of mind was actually iu 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 Rhaptody : '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 credit- able to have a share in it The fact is that at a future conference he bargained for the whole property of it, 02 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1738 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 Johnson appeared to me to undervalue Paul Whitehead upon every occasion when he was mentioned, and in my opinion did not do him justice ; but when it is considered that Paul White- head was a member of a riotous and profane club, we may account for Johnson's having a prejudice against him. Paul Whitehead was, indeed, unfor- tunate in being not only slighted by Johnson, but violently attacked by Churchill, who utters the fol- lowing imprecation : ' May I (can worse disgrace on manhood fall ?) Be bom a Whitehead, and baptized a Paul ! ' yet I shall never be persuaded to think meanly of the author of so brilliant and pointed a satire as Manner t. Johnson's London was published in May 1738 ; l 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 1 Sir John Hawkins, p. 86, tells us, ' The event is antedated 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. I have been assured that Johnson said he was not so much as acquainted with Savage when he wrote his London. If the departure mentioned in it was the departure of Savage, the event was not antedated but foreseen ; for London was published in May 1738, and Savage did not set out for Wales till July 1730. 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. C.] JET. 29] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 93 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. Everybody 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 1 that it ' got to the second edition in the course of a week.' One of the warmest patrons of this poem on its first appearance was General 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 learn- ing 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 un- acquainted with its author. Pope, who then filled 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 1 Page 269. 04 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1738 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 dfttrrf.' 1 We shall presently see, from a note written by Pope, that he was himself afterwards more successful in his inquiries than his friend. That in this justly celebrated poem may be found a few rhymes which the critical precision of English prosody at this day would disallow, cannot be denied ; but with this small imperfection, which in the general blaze of its excellence is not perceived, till the mind has subsided into cool attention, it is undoubtedly one of the noblest productions in our language, 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 ! Accordingly 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 situa- tion, not omitting his prejudices as a e true-born 1 Sir Joshua Reynolds, from the information of the younger Richardson. JET. 29] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 95 Englishman,' l 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 f av'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 everywhere conf ess'd, SLOW RISKS WORTH, BY POVXRTY DXPRXtt'o ! ' We may easily conceive with what feeling a great mind like his, cramped and galled by narrow circum- stances, uttered this last line, which he marked by capitals. The whole of the poem is eminently ex- cellent, and there are in it such proofs of a knowledge of the world, and of a mature acquaintance with life, as cannot be contemplated without wonder, when we **** consider that he was then only in his twenty-ninth year, and had yet been so little in the ' busy haunts of men.' 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, 1 It is, however, remarkable, that he uses the epithet which, un- doubtedly, since the union between England and Scotland, ought to denominate the natives of both parts of our island : 4 Was early taught a BRITON'S rights to prize. IN, LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1738 in truth, no 'oppression'; the 'nation' was not 'cheated.' Sir Robert Wai pole was a wise and a benevolent Minister, who thought that the happiness and prosperity of a commercial country like ours would be best promoted by peace, which he accord- ingly maintained with credit during a very long period. Johnson himself afterwards honestly acknowledged the merit of Walpole, whom he called ' a fixed star ' ; while he characterised his opponent, Pitt, as 'a meteor.' But Johnson's juvenile poem was naturally impreg- nated 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 confid- ence, 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 would 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 school- master, 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 1 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 information : ' William Adams, formerly citizen and haber- dasher of Londoa, founded a school at Newport, in the county of Salop, by deed dated 27th of November 1656, by which he granted "the yearly sum of sixty founds to such able and learned schoolmaster, from time JET. 29] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 97 degree of Master of Arts, Dr. Adams was applied to, by a common friend, to know whether that could be granted him as a favour from the University of Oxford. But though he had made such a figure in the literary world, it was then thought too great a favour to be asked. Pope, without any knowledge of him but from his London, recommended him to Earl Gower, who endeavoured to procure for him a degree from Dublin, by the following letter to a friend of Dean Swift : to time, being of godly life and conversation, who should have been educated at one of the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge, and had taken the degree of Matter- of Arts, 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 j 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 Adbatton, in tht 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 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 Leicestershire, in which he writes as follows : ' I compared time and circumstance 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 neighbour- hood of Lichfield.' Appleby itself is not far from the neighbourhood of Lichfield : the salary, the degree requisite, together with the time of election, all agreeing with the statutes of Appleby. The election, as said in the letter, could not be delayed longer than the nth of next month," which was the nth of September, just three months after the annual audit-day of Appleby school, which is always on the nth of June : and the statutes enjoin, ne ulliut prttceptorum electio diutius tribus men- situs moraretur, etc. ' These I 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 fact. ' But what banishes every shadow of doubt is the Minute-book of the school, which declares the headmastership to be at that time VACANT.' I cannot omit returning thanks to this learned gentleman for the very handsome manner in which he has in that letter been so good as to speak of this work. VOL. I. O 98 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1738 'Sim, 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 gentlemen in his neighbour* hood, 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 Matter of Artt, which, by the statutes of this 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 conferring 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 ttarved to death in translating for bookteUert, which has been his only sub- sistence for some time past. 'I fear there is more difficulty in this affair than those good-natured gentlemen apprehend, especially as their election cannot be delayed longer than the llth of next month. If you see this matter in the same light that it appears to me, I hope you will burn this, and pardon me for giving you so much trouble about an impracticable thing ; but if you think there is a probability of obtaining the favour asked, I am sure your humanity, and propensity to relieve merit in distress, will in- cline you to serve the poor man, without my adding any more to the trouble I have already given you, than assuring you that I am, vrith great truth, sir, your faithful servant, GOWKB. ' TBKNTHAM, Aug. 1, 1739.' It was, perhaps, no small disappointment to John- son that this respectable 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 Ai. 29] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 99 obscurity those hours in which he afterwards produced his incomparable works. About this time he made one other effort to eman- cipate himself from the drudgery of authorship. He applied to Or. Adams, to consult Dr. Smallbroke ot the Commons, whether a person might be 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 eminence. And, indeed, I cannot conceive a man better qualified to make a distinguished figure as a lawyer ; for, he would have brought to his profession a rich store of various know- ledge, an uncommon acuteness, and a command of language, in which few could have equalled, and none have surpassed, him. He who could display eloquence and wit in defence of the decision of the House of Commons upon Mr. Wilkes's election for Middlesex, and of the unconstitutional taxation of our fellow- subjects in America, must have been a powerful advocate in any cause. But here, also, the want of a degree was an 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, for a translation of Father Paul Sarpi's History, was accepted. 1 1 In the Weekly Miscellany, October ax, 1738, there appeared the following advertisement : ' Just published, proposals for printing the 100 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1738 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 patronised by the clergy, particularly by Dr. Fierce, afterwards Bishop of Rochester. Several light skirmishes passed between the rival translators 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 literature by the masterly hand of Johnson. I have in my possession, by the favour of Mr. John Nichols, a paper in Johnson's handwriting, entitled, 'Account between Mr. Edward Cave and Sam. John- son, in relation to a version of Father Paul, etc., begun August the 2nd, 1738' ; by which it appears that from that day to the 21st of April 1739, Johnson received for this work 49, 7s. in sums of one, two, three, and sometimes four guineas at a time, most History of tht 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.' i. The work will consist of two hundred sheets, and be in two volumes in quarto, printed on good paper and letter, a. The price will be iSs. 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. Twopence to be abated for every sheet less than two hundred. It may be had on a large paper, in three volumes, at the price of three guineas ; one to be paid at the time of subscribing, another at the delivery of the first, and the rest at the delivery of the other volumes. The work is now in the press, and will be diligently prosecuted. Sub- scriptions 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 Trans- lator, at No. 6 in Castle Street, by Cavendish Square.' JET. 29] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 101 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. 6d.' 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 of characters which have the appearance of a short hand, which, perhaps, Johnson was then trying to learn. TO MR. CAVE Wednesday. 'Sin, I did not care to detain yonr servant while I wrote an answer to your letter, in which yon seem to insinuate that I had promised more than I am ready to perform. If I have raised your expectations by anything 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. 1 They afterwards appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine with this title, ' Verses to Lady Firebrace, at Bury Assizes.' 3 [Du Halde'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.} 102 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 117.38 * A* to the prize Tenet, a backwardness to determine their degree* of merit is not peculiar to me. Yon may. il you please, still have what I can say, but 1 shall engage with little spirit in an affair which 1 shall hardly end to my own satisfaction, and certainly not to the satisfaction of the parties concerned. 1 'As to Father Paul, I have not yet been just to my proposal, but have met with impediments, which I hope are now at an end ; and il you find the progress hereafter not such as you have a right to expect, yon can easily stimulate a negligent translator. ' I! any or all of these hare contributed to your discontent, I will endeavour to remove it, and desire you to propose the question to which you wish for an answer. 1 am, sir, your humble servant, SAM. JOHXSOH.' TO MB. CAVE (Xo daU.] 'Sin, I am pretty much of your opinion, that the Com- mentary cannot be prosecuted with any appearance of success, for as the names of the authors concerned are ot 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, etc., An Examen of Mr. Pope's Essay, etc., containing a succinct Account of the Philosophy of Mr. Leibnitz on the System of the Fatalists, with a Confutation of 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 con- ceived them to have a 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 1 [The premium of forty pounds proposed for the best poem on the Divine Attributes is here alluded to. NICHOLS.] 2 [The compositors in Mr. Cave's printing-office, who appear by this letter to have then waited for copy. NICHOLS.] JET. 29] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 103 you to send me a dozen proposals, and you shall then have copy to spare. I am, sir, yours, impransta, 'SAM. JOHNSON. ' Pray master up the proposals if you can, or let the boy recall them from the booksellers.' But although he corresponded with Mr. Cave con- cerning a translation of Crousaz's Examen of Pope's Essay on Man, and gave advice as one anxious for its success, I was long ago convinced by a perusal of the preface that this translation was erroneously ascribed to him, and I have found this point ascer- tained beyond all doubt by the following article in Dr. Birch's manuscripts in the British Museum : ' ELJSJS CARTERS, S. P. D. THOMAS BIRCH ' Vertionem. tuam Exuminis Crousaziani jam perlegi. Summam ttyli et elegantiam, et in re difficilima proprie- tatem, admiratut. 4 Dabam Novemb. 27, 1738.' * 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 concludes with a fair confession that he had not a dinner ; and it is no less remarkable that, though in this state of want himself, his benevolent heart was not insensible to the necessities of an humble labourer in literature, as appears from the very next letter : TO MR. CAVE [No date.] DEAR SIR, You may remember I have formerly talked with you about a Military Dictionary. The eldest Mr. Mac- Dean, who was with Mr. Chambers, has very good materials tor such a work, which I have seen, and will do it at a very A Birch MSS., Brit. Mus. 4373. 104 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1738 low rate. I think the term* of war and navigation might b comprised, with good explanations, in one 8vo pica, which be is willing to do for 18s. 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, air, your humble servant, ' SAM. Jomrsox. 'Pray lend me Topsel on Animals.' 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 adaptation with which he could draw up a prefatory address was one of his peculiar ex- cellencies. It appears, too, that he paid a friendly attention to Mrs. Elizabeth Carter; for in a letter from Mr. Cave to Dr. Birch, November 28 this year, I find ' Mr. Johnson advises Miss C. to undertake a trans- lation of Boethiu* de Com., because there is prose and verse, and to put her name to it when published.' This advice was not followed, probably from an appre- hension 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 Xo. 7) : ' qui perpetud, mundum ratione gubernas, Terrarum calique sator ! Disjice terrencB nebulas et pondcra molts, Atque tuo splendor -e mica I Tu namque serenum, Tu requies tranquitta pits. Te cernere finis, Principium, vector, dux, semita, terminus, idem.' ^ET. 30] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 105 ' O Thou whose power o'er moving world* presides, Whose voice created, and whose wisdom guides, On darkling man in pore 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, beside the assistance which he gave to the Parliamentary Debates, his writings in the Gentle- man't 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' ; 'An Address to the Reader ' ; ' 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 erro- neously supposed that an essay published in that Magazine this year, entitled, 'The Apotheosis of Milton,' was written by Johnson, and on that sup- position 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 Shake- speare 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 scan- dalous Aspersions of Mr. Brook, author of Gustamu Vata,' being an ironical attack upon them for the IOC LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1739 suppression of that tragedy, and Af armor Norfolcienie ; or, au Essay on an ancient prophetical Inscription, in Monkish Rhyme, lately discovered near Lynne in Norfolk, by Probui Britanmcus. In this performance IK-, in a feigned inscription, supposed to have been found in Norfolk, the county of Sir Robert Wai pole, then the obnoxious prime minister of this country, inveighs against the Brunswick succession and the measures of government consequent upon it 1 To thU supposed prophecy he added a Commentary, making each expression apply to the times, with warm Anti-Hanoverian zeaL This anonymous pamphlet, I believe, did not make so much noise as was expected, and therefore had not a very extensive circulation. Sir John Hawkins re- lates 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 had discovered,' and we are informed that he lay concealed in Lam- beth Marsh till the scent after him grew cold. This, however, is altogether without 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 Norfolcientc became exceedingly scarce, 1 The inscription and the translation of it are preserved in the London Magazine for the year 1739, p. 244. JET. 30] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 107 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 invidi- ously attempted to found upon it a charge of in- consistency against its author because he had accepted of a pension from his present Majesty and had written in support of the measures of the 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 telum 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 Norfoldense, I have deferred inserting it till now. I am indebted for it to Dr. Percy, the Bishop of Dromore, who permitted me to copy it from the original in his possession. It was presented to his Lordship by Sir Joshua Reynolds, to whom it was given by the son of Mr. Richardson the painter, the person to whom it is addressed. I have 108 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1739 transcribed it with minute exactness, that the peculiar mode of writing and imperfect spelling of that celebrated poet may be exhibited to the curious in literature. It justifies Swift's epithet of 'paper- sparing Pope,' for it is 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 pat in for a Public- school in Shropshire, but was disappointed. He has an infirmity of the convulsive kind, that attacks him sometimes, so as to make Him a sad Spectacle. Mr. P. from the Merit of This Work which was all the knowledge he had of Him endeavoured to serve Him without his own application; & wrote to my IA gore, but he did not succeed. Mr. Johnson published afterw* 1 *. another Poem in Latin with Notes the whole very numerous 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 John- son 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 l 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 1 Journal of a. Tour to the Hebrides. JET. 30] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 109 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, notwithstanding all his efforts to the contrary.' Sir Joshua Reynolds, however, was of a different opinion, and favoured me with the following paper : ' Those motions or tricks of Dr. Johnson are improperly called convulsions. He could ait motionless, when he was told so to do, as well as any other man. My opinion is that it proceeded from a habit l which he had indulged himself in, of accom- panying his thoughts with certain untoward actions, and those actions always appeared to me as if they were meant to repro- bate some part of his past conduct. Whenever he was not engaged in conversation, such thoughts were 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 of his absence 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 * 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.' 1 [Sir Joshua Reynolds 's notion on this subject is confirmed by what Johnson himself said to a young lady, the niece of his friend, Christo- pher Smart. See a note by Mr. Boswell on some particulars communU cated by Reynolds in vol. iv., under March 30, 1783. M.J 110 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1739 While we are on this subject, my readers may not be displeased with another anecdote, communicated to me by the same friend, from the relation of Mr. Hogarth. Johnson used to be a pretty frequent visitor at the house of Mr. Richardson, author of f'laritta, and other novels of extensive reputation. Mr. Hogarth came one day to see Richardson, soon after the execu- tion 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 unfavour- able 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 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 mistaken principle of duty. Being obliged, after 1746, to give up his profession as a physician, and to go into foreign parts, he was honoured with the ranlc 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, who was the chief of that brave clan, distinguished himself by moderation and humanity while the Highland army marched victorious through Scotland. It is remarkable of this chief, that though be had earnestly remonstrated against the attempt as hopeless, he was of too heroic a spirit not to venture his life and fortune in the cause when per- sonally asked by him whom he thought his Prince. JET. 31] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 111 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, mention- ing many instances, particularly, that when an officer of high rank had been acquitted by a court-martial, George the Second had, with his own hand, struck his name off the list. 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't Magazine the 'Preface,' 'The Life of Admiral Blake,' and the first part of those of ' Sir Francis Drake,' and ' Philip Barretier,' both which he finished the follow- ing 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. Garrick 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 re- peated an Epitaph upon this Phillips by a Dr. Wilkes, in these words : 112 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1740 ' Exalted soul ! whose harmony could please The love-rick virgin, and the gouty case ; Could jarring discord, like Amphion, move To beauteous order and harmonious lore ; Best here in peace, till angels bid thee rise. And meet thy blessed Saviour in the skies.' Johnson shook his head at these commonplace 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 extem- pore produced the following verses : ' Phillips, whose touch harmonious could remove The pangs of guilty power or hapless love ; Best 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 I' 1 1 [The Epitaph of Phillip* 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 hi 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 follows. One of the various readings is remarkable, as it is the germ of Johnson's concluding 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 Saviour's consort in the skies.' Dr. Colle_ collect .. Brown Willis in his History of Mitred Abbits, vol. ii. p. 189. But he JET. 32] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 113 At the game time that Mr. Garrick favoured me with this anecdote, he repeated a very pointed epigram by Johnson, on George the Second and Colley Gibber, which has never yet appeared, and of which I know not the exact date. Dr. Johnson afterwards gave it to me himself: 'Augustus still survives in Maro's strain, And Spenser's verse prolongs Eliza's reign ; Great George's acts let tuneful Gibber sing ; For Nature formed the Poet for the King.' In 1741 he wrote for the Gentleman's Magazine the ' Preface,' ' Conclusion of his Lives of Drake and Barretier,' ' A free Translation of the Jests of Hiero- cles, with an Introduction ' ; and, I think, the follow- ing pieces : ' Debate on the Proposal of Parliament to Cromwell, to assume the Title of King, abridged, modified, and digested'; l ' Translation of Abbe Guyon's Dissertation on the Amazons'; 'Translation of Fon- tenelle's Panegyric on Dr. Morin.' Two notes upon this appear to me undoubtedly his. He this year, and the two following, wrote the Parliamentary De- bates. He told me himself, that he was the sole com- poser 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 suffi- ciently evident that his composition of them began November 19, 1740, and ended February 23, 1742-3. It appears from some of Cave's letters to Dr. Birch, was a native of Staffordshire ; and to the antiquities of that counter was his attention chiefly confined. Mr. Shaw has had the use of his papers. J. BLAKEWAY.] f [It is very curious if this famous debate was really the composition of Johnson. Dr. Hill sees his band in it. A. 13.] VOL. I. 114 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1741 that Cave had better assistance for that branch of hit 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 en- closed, because you said you could easily correct what is here given for Lord C Id'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 debate* 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 add anything that is omitted. I should be very glad to have some- thing of the Duke of N le'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 l upon your noble and learned friend's ' character, such as I should quite reject, and endeavour to do something better towards doing jus- tice to the character. But as I cannot expect to attain my desire in that respect, it would be a great satis- faction, as well as an honour to our work, to have the favour of the genuine speech. It is a method that several have been pleased to take, as I could show, but I think myself under a restraint I shall say so far, that I have had some by a third hand, which I understood well enough to come from the first ; others 1 I suppose in another compilation in the same kind, a Doubtless Lord Hardwicke. JET. 32] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 115 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 acces- sory 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 parlia- mentary speakers by a preface, written by no inferior hand. 1 I must, however, observe, that although there is in these debates a wonderful store of political infor- mation, 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- 1 Birch 's MSS. in the British Museum, 4302. I am assured that the editor is Mr. George Chalmers, whose com- mercial works are well known and esteemed. 116 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1742 mouthed rancour of Pulteney, and the yelping per- tinacity of Pitt' 1 This year I find that his tragedy of Irene had been for some time ready for the stage, and that his neces- sities made him desirous of getting as much as he could for it, without delay ; for there is the following letter from Mr. Cave to Dr. Birch, in the same volume of manuscripts in the British Museum, from which I copied those above quoted. They were most oblig- ingly pointed out to me by Sir William Musgrave, one of the curators of that noble repository : 'Sept. 9, 174L ' I have put Mr. Johnson's play into Mr. Gray's * hands, in order to sell it to him, if he is inclined to buy it ; but I doubt whether he will or not He would dispose of the copy, and whatever advantage may be made by acting it Would your society,* or any gentleman, or body of men that you know, take such a bargain ? He and I are very unfit to deal with theatrical persons. Fleetwood was to have acted it last season, but Johnson's diffidence or 4 prevented it* I have already mentioned that Irene was not brought into public notice till Garrick was manager of Drury Lane theatre. In 1742 8 he wrote for the Gentleman' t Magazine 1 Hawkins's Lift of Johnson, p. xoo. ' A bookseller of London. * 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 expensive works. It existed from about 1735 to 1746, when, having incurred a considerable debt, it was dissolved. * There is no erasure here, but a mere blank, to fill up which may be an exercise for ingenious conjecture. * [From one of his letters to a friend, written in June 1742, it should Teem that he then proposed to write a play on the subject of Charles the Twelfth of Sweden, and to have it ready for the ensuing winter. The passage alluded to, however, is somewhat ambiguous ; and the work which he then had in contemplation may have been a history of that monarch. M.] ^T. 33] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 117 the ' Preface,' 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 profli- gate sentiment in that ' Account,' and again insisting upon it strenuously in conversation. 1 ' An Account of the Life of Peter Burman/ I believe chiefly taken from a foreign publication, as indeed he could not himself know much about Burman ; ' Additions to his Life of Barretier'; 'The Life of Sydenham/ afterwards pre- fixed to Dr. Swan's edition of his works ; ' Proposals for printing BibliothecaHarleiana, 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 exten- sive 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 13,000, a sum which, Mr. Oldys says 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 embellish- ments, that Johnson one day knocked Osborne down in his shop with a folio, and put his foot upon his neck. The simple truth I had from Johnson himself. 1 Journal of a Tour to tht Htbridts, 118 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1742 'Sir, he was impertinent to me, and I beat him. Hut it was not in his shop : it was in my own chamber.' A very diligent observer may trace him where we should not easily suppose him to be found. I have no doubt that he wrote the little 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 subside, 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 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 [No date.] 1 SIR, 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 JET. 33] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 119 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 pro- ceeding, I would have it understood as wholly indifferent to me, and my opinion only, not my resolution. Emptoris tit eligere. ' I think the insertion of the exact dates of the most impor- tant events in the margin, or of so many events as may enable the reader to regulate the order of facts with sufficient exact- ness, the proper medium between a journal which has regard only to time and a history which ranges facts according to their dependence on each other, and postpones or anticipates according to the convenience of narration. I think the work ought to partake of the spirit of history, which is contrary to minute exactness, and of the regularity of a journal, which is inconsistent with spirit. For this reason, I neither admit numbers or dates, nor reject them. ' I am of your opinion with regard to placing most of the resolutions, etc., in the margin, and think we shall give the most complete account of parliamentary proceedings that can be contrived. The naked papers, without an historical 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 Satur- day that I had received money on this work, and found set down 13, 2s. 6d., reckoning the half -guinea of last Saturday. As you hinted to me that you had many calls for money, I would not press you too hard, and therefore shall desire only, * a 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 lie 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, etc., and know whether his defence be at Bristol, and would have his collection of poems, 120 LIFE OP DR. JOHNSON [1743 on account of the Preface ;Tht Plain Dealer, > all the maga- zines that have anything of his or relating to him. ' I thought my letter would be long, but it ii now ended ; and I am, ir, yours, etc., SAX. JOEJTSOV.' ' 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 anything for the inscription.' 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 Mil. CAVE ' SIR, Tou did not tell me your determination about the Soldier' i 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 yon 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. ' Tou 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.' [No date, nor signature,] I would also ascribe to him an ' Essay on the De- scription of China, from the French of Du Halde. ' His writings in the Gentleman's Magazine in 1743 are the ' Preface,' the ' Parliamentary Debates,' ' Con- siderations on the Dispute between Crousaz and War- burton on Pope's Essay on Man,' in which, while he defends Crousaz, he shows an admirable metaphysical acuteness and temperance in controversy ; ' Ad Lauram 1 The Plain Dealer was published in 1724, and contained some account of Savage. 8 [Perhaps the Runic inscription. Gent. Mag. vol. xii. p. 133. M.1 I have not discovered what this was. XT. 34] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 121 parituram Epigramma'; 1 and 'A Latin Translation of Pope's Vertet on hit Grotto ' ; and, as he could employ 1 Anfliacas inter pnlckerrima Laura. ptullat, Max uttri pondus defosilura grave, Adtit, Laura, tibifacilis Lucina dolenti, A'tve tiki noctat prfrnituiat Dea. Mr. Hector was present when 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. [The following elegant Latin Ode, which appeared in the Gen(!e- man't Magatitu tot 1743 ( v l- *' P- 54^X was many years ago pointed out to James Bindley, Esq., as written by Johnson, and may safely be attributed to him : AD ORNATISSIMAM FUELLAH. VAN* sit arti, sit studio modus, Formosa virgo 1 sit speculo quies, Curamque quxrendi decons Mine, supervacuosque cultus. Ut fprtuitis verna coloribus Depicta vulgo rura magis placent, Kec in vident horto nnenti Divitias operosiores : Lenique fons cum murmure pulcnor Obliquat ultro przcipitem fugam Inter reluctantes lapillos, et Oucit aquas temere sequentes : Utque inter undas, inter et arbores, Jam vere primo dulce strepunt aves, Et arte nulla grat lores Ingeminant sine lege cantos : Nativa sic te gratia, te nitor Simplex decebit, te Veneres tuz ; Nudus Cupido suspicatur Artifices nimis apparatus. Ergo fluentem tu, male sedula, Ne sseva inuras semper acu comam ; Nee sparsa odorato nitentes Pulvere dedecores capillos ; Quales nee olim vel Ptolenueia J act a bat uxor, sidereo in choro Utcunque devotae refulgent Verucis exuviae decori ; Nee diva mater, cum similem tuac Mentita formam, et pulcnor adspici, Permisit incomtas protervis Fusa comas agitare ventis. In voL xiv. p. 46, of the same work, an elegant Epigram was inserted, 122 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1743 his pen with equal success upon a small matter as a great, I suppose him to be the author of an adver- tisement for Osborae, concerning the great Harleian Catalogue. But I should think myself much wanting, both to my illustrious friend and my readers, did I not intro- duce here, with more than ordinary respect, an ex- quisitely beautiful Ode, which has not been inserted iu any of the collections of Johnson's poetry, written by him at a very early period, as Mr. Hector informs me, and inserted in the Gentleman Magazine of this year: Friendship: an Ode. r, peculiar boon 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 favorites 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. in answer to the foregoing Ode, which was written by Dr. Inyon of Norfolk, a physician, and an excellent classical scholar : AD AUTHOREM CARMINIS AD ORNATISSIMAM PCELLAM. O cui non potuit, quia culta, placere puella, Qui speras Musam posse placere tuam 1 M.J JET. 34] LIFE OF DR, JOHNSON 123 Directress of the brave and just, O guide us through life's darksome way ! And let the tortures of mistrust On selfish bosoms only prey. Nor shall thine ardour cease to glow, When souls to blissful climes remove : What raised 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 to Dr. Mead, 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 authen- ticity, that Johnson considered Dr. Birch as a dull a writer, and said of him, ' Tom Birch is as brisk as a bee in conversation ; but no sooner does he take a pen in his hand than it becomes a torpedo to him, and benumbs all his faculties.' That the literature of this TO DR. MEAD. ' SIR, That the Medicinal Dictionary is dedicated to you is to be imputed only to your reputation for superior skill in those sciences dlllllCill,C. _ f ' 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 extensive. I am, tir, your most obedient humble servant, R JAMES. 124 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1743 country it much indebted to Birch's activity and dili- gence must certainly be acknowledged. We have seen that Johnson honoured him with a Greek Epigram ; and his correspondence with him during many yean prove* that he had no mean opinion of him. TO DR. BIRCH ' Thwtday, Sept. 29, 1743. 'SiR, 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 Ion 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, etc., relating to them to Mr. Cave, to be perused for a few days by, sir, your most humble servant, ' SAX. Jomcsoif. 1 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, Hf LICIJ FIELD ' December 1, 1743. 4 SIB, I am extremely sorry that we have encroached so much upon your forbearance 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 imme- diately 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 a 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 ^T. 34] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 125 much time. I think myself very much obliged to your for- bearance, and shall esteem it a great happiness to be able to serve you. I have great opportunities of dispersing anything 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 moat obedient and most humble servant, SAJC. JOHNSON. ' At Mr. Osborne's, bookseller, in Gray's Inn.' It does not appear that he wrote anything in 1744 for the Gentleman '* Magazine, but the * Preface.' His Life of Barretter 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 undoubtedly had a warm and vigorous, though unregulated mind, had seen life in all its varieties, and been much in the company of the states- 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 bavage's misfortunes and misconduct had reduced him to the lowest state of wretchedness as a writer for his 1 As a specimen of bis temper, I insert the following letter from him to a noble Lord, 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 Cust, Esq., one of bi 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 acquainted with this, to judge whether you are not fitter to be an Irish Evidence, than to be an Irish Peer. I defy and despise you. I am, your determined adversary, R. S.' 120 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1744 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 * that they could not pay for a lodging ; so that they hare wan- dered together whole nights iu the streets. 1 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 this unhappy companion, and those of other poeta. 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 following 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, stabbed a man at a coffee- house and killed him : for which be was tried at the Old Bailey, and found guilty of murder. Johnson, indeed, describes him as having ' a grave and manly de- Johnson admired him for that knowledge cultivated, and what kindness he entertained for him, appears from the following lines in the Gentleman t Magazine for April 1738, which I Am assured were written by Johnson : Ad RICARDUM SAVAGE. Huntani studium generis cut f>ectore feroet, O colat kumanum tefmeatque gtntu. * [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 Apsley, in Bedfordshire, from the information of Mr. Walter Harte, author of the Life ofGttstmmt Adolphtu : 'Soon after Savage' t 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.' M.] 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 *r. 35] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 127 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 brimful of patriotism, traversed the square for several hours, inveighed against the minister, and 'resolved they would stand by their country.' I am afraid, however, that by associating with Savage, who was habituated to the dissipation and licentiousness of the town, Johnson, though his 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 indulgences which occa- sioned 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* Magazine for August of the year preceding its publi- cation : ^ ' MB.UBBAN, As your collections show how often you have owed the ornaments of your poetical pages to the correspond- ence of the unfortunate and ingenious Mr. Savage, I doubt not but you have so much regard to his memory as to encourage be ever could have been driven to stroll about with Savage all night, for want of a lodging. But it should be remembered that Johnson, at different periods, had lodgings in the vicinity of London ; and his finances certainly would not admit of a 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 bad, 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. M.] 128 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1744 any design that may have a tendency to the pi equation 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 faToured with his confidence, and received from himself an account of most of the transactions which he proposes to mention, to the time of his retirement to Swansea in Wale*. From that period to his death in the prison of Bristol, th 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 ohtain 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. Ton 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. ' [&o tignatu re. ] In February 1744, it accordingly came forth from the shop of Roberta, between whom and Johnson I have not traced' any connection, except the casual one of this publication. In Johnson's Life of Savage, al- though it must be allowed that its moral is the reverse of ' Respicere exemplar vitce morumque jubebo,' a very useful lesson is inculcated, to guard men of warm passions from a too free indulgence of them ; and the various incidents are related in so 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 Joshua Rey- nolds told me, that upon his return from Italy he met with it in Devonshire, knowing nothing of its author, AT. 35] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 129 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, ' I 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 advan- tage in the specimens of his poetry which he has selected, some of which are of uncommon 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 ecstasy,' is con- trasted with a regular lawful descendant of some 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 disqui- sition there appears a very strong symptom of John- son'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 1 Journal of a Ttmr to tht Hebridts. VOL. I. I l.".o LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1744 which theatrical exrdl. -IK c produces upon the gener- ality of mankind ; secondly, the cold rejection of his tragedy; and, lastly, the brilliant guccew 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 talent* he undoubtedly r.t.-d low compared with his own. His being outstripped by his pupil in the race of immediate fame as well as of fortune probably made him feel some indignation, as thinking 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 work 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 great actor had played some little time at Goodman's Fields, Johnson and Taylor went to see him perform, and afterwards passed the evening at a tavern with him and old Giffard. Johnson, who was ever depreciating stage- players, after censuring some mistakes in emphasis which Garrick had committed in the course of that night's acting, said, 'The players, sir, have got a kind of rant, with which they run on, without any regard either to accent or emphasis.' Both Garrick ^:T. 35] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 131 and Giffard were offended at this sarcasm, and en- deavoured to refute it, upon which Johnson rejoined, ' Well, now, I '11 give you something to speak with which you are little acquainted, and then we shall see how just my observation is. That shall be the cri- terion. Let me hear you repeat the ninth command- ment, " 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 icitnets. 1 Johnson put them right, and enjoyed his victory with great glee. His Life of Savage was no sooner published than the following liberal praise was given to it in The Champion, a periodical paper : 'This pamphlet is, without flattery to its author, as just and well written a piece as of its kind I ever saw, so that at the same time that it highly deserves, it certainly stands very little hi 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 in- structive and valuable performance. The author's observations are short, significant, and just, as his narrative is remarkably smooth and well-disposed. 1 I suspect Dr. Taylor was inaccurate in this statement. The em- phasis should be equally upon shall and not, as both concur to form the negative injunction ; znd.fa.Ue witness, like the other acts prohibited in the Decalogue, should not be marked by any peculiar emphasis, but only be distinctly enunciated. [A moderate emphasis should be placed on/a!se. KEARNEY.] 132 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1744 His reflection* 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 ex- cellencies and defects of human nature is scarce to be found in our own or, perhaps, any other language.' 1 Johnson's partiality for Savage made him entertain no doubt of his story, however extraordinary and im- probable. 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 narrative, however offensive it might be to the lady and her relations, because her alleged unnatural and cruel conduct to her son and shameful avowal of guilt were stated in a Life of Savage now lying before me, which came out so early as 1727, and no attempt had been made to confute it or to punish the author or printer as a libeller, but, for the honoui of human nature, we should be glad to find the shock- ing tale not true ; and from a respectable gentleman * 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, especially when we consider that it must have ori- ginated from the person himself who went by the name of Richard Savage. 1 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 Champion, in the possession of Mr. Reed of Staple Inn, succeeded Fielding in his share of the paper before the date of that eulogium. 8 The late Francis Cocayne Cust, Esq., one of his Majesty's Counsel. ^T. 35] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 133 If the maxim, falsum in uno, falsum in omnibut, were to be received without qualification, the credit of Savage's narrative, as conveyed to us, would be anni- hilated, for it contains some assertions which, beyond a question, are not true. 1. In order to induce a belief that the Earl Rivers, on account of a criminal connection with whom Lady Macclesfield is said to have been divorced from her husband by Act of Parliament, 1 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.' 1 1607. * [Mr. Gust's reasoning, with respect to the filiation of Richard Savage, always appeared to me extremely unsatisfactory : and is en- tirely overturned by the following decisive observations, for which the reader is indebted to the unwearied researches of Mr. Bindley. The story on which Mr. Cust so much relies, that Savage was a suppositi- tious child, not the son of Lord Rivers and Lady Macclesfield, but the offspring of a shoemaker, introduced in consequence of her real son's death, was, without doubt, grounded on the circumstance of Lady Macclesfield 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 gentleman observes to me, was proved in the course of the proceedings on Lord Macclcsficld's Bill of Divorce. Most fictions of this kind have some admixture of truth in them. M. J [From ' the Earl of Macclesfield's Case,' which, in 1797-8, was pr- scnted to the Lords, in order to orocure an act of divorce, it appears that ' Anne, Countess of Macclesfield, under the name of Madam Smith, in Fox Court, near Brook Street, Holborn, was delivered of a male child by Mrs. Wright, a midwife, on Saturday the i6th of January 1696-7, at six o'clock in the morning, who was baptized on the Monday following, and registered by the name of Richard, the son of John Smith, by Mr. Burbridge, assistant to Dr. Manningham'": curate for St. Andrew's, Holborn : that the child was christened on Monday the i8th 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. 134 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1744 2. It is stated, that ' Lady Macolesfield having lived for some time upon very uneasy terms with her hus- band, thought a public confession of adultery the most obvious and expeditious method of obtaining her liberty ' ; and Johnson, assuming this to be true, stig- matises her with indignation as ' the wretch who had, without scruple, proclaimed herself an adulteress.' But I have perused the Journals of both Houses of Parliament at the period of her divorce, and there find it authentically ascertained, that so far from voluntarily submitting to the ignominious charge of adultery, she made a strenuous defence by her Counsel ; the bill having been first moved 15th of January 1G97-8, in the House of Lords, and proceeded on (with various applications for time to bring up witnesses at a dis- tance, etc.), 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 15th, on which day, after a full examination of witnesses on both sides, and hearing of Counsel, it was reported without amendments, passed, and carried to the Lords. That Lady Macclesfield was 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 that when Earl Rivers was dying, and anxious to provide for all his natural children, he was informed by Lady Macclesfield that her son by Andrew's, Holbprn, which is as follows, and which unquestionably records the baptism of Richard Savage, to whom Lord Rivers gave his own Christian name, prefixed to the assumed surname of his mother T ' Jany. 1696-7. RICHARD, son of John Smith and Mary, in Fox Court, in Gray's Inn Lane, baptized the i8th.' J. BLAKEWAY.] XT. 35] LIFE OF DR JOHNSON 135 him was dead. Whether, then, shall we beKeve 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 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 Macclesneld, 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 Macclesneld's unnatural con duct, 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 were 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 person. The just inference should be that by the death of Ludy Macclesfield's child before its godmother the legacy became lapsed, and therefore that Johnson's Richard Savage was an im- postor. 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, rude- ness, pride, meanness, and ferocity of his charac- 136 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1744 ter, 1 concur in making it credible that he was fit to plan and carry on an ambitious and daring scheme of imposture, similar instances of which have not been wanting in higher spheres, in the history of different countries, and have had a considerable degree of succeM. Yet, on the other hand, to the companion of John- son (who, through whatever medium he was conveyed into this world, be it ever so doubtful 'To whom related, or by whom begot,' was, unquestionably, a man of no common endowments), we must allow the weight of general repute as to his 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. 1 Lastly, it must 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 Lord- ship's chaplain, in which he requests him in the humblest manner to represent his case to the Viscount._ * Trusting to Savage's information, Johnson represents this unhappy man's being received as a companion by Lord Tyrconnel, and pen- sioned by his Lordship, as posterior to Savage's conviction and pardon. But I am assured that Savage had received the voluntary bounty of Lord Tyrconnel, and had been dismissed by him long before the murder was committed, and that his Lordship was very instrumental in pro- curing 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 acknowledged that the Lady Macclesfield and her relations might still wish that her story should not be brought into more conspicuous notice by the satirical pen of Savage. ^T. 35] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 137 ever appear very suspicious that three different ac- counts 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. I have thus endeavoured to sum up the evidence upon the case as fairly as I can ; and the result seems to be that the world must vibrate in a state of un- certainty as to what was the truth. This digression, I trust, will not be censured, as it relates to a matter 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, 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 dra- natic poet have of late been so signally illustrated. 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. Colley Gibber, 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 too 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 handkerchief 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. [Lady Macclesfield died, aged 80, in 1753. Her eldest daughter by Colonel Brett was the very last mistress of George the First. Ten year* after that sovereign's death she married Sir William Leman. A. B.] 138 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1746 In 1745 he published a pamphlet entitled Miscel- lancotu Observation* on the Tragedy of Macbeth, with Remarks on Sir T. H.'t (Sir Thomas Hanmer's) Edition LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1749 view to enjoy literary discussion, and amuse his even- ing 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, 1 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 improved (indenting the notes into text), and inserted amongst his Lives nfthe English Poet*. Mr. Dodsley this year brought out his Preceptor, one of the most valuable books for the improvement of young minds that has appeared in any language ; and to this meritorious work Johnson furnished 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. In January 1749 he published The Vanity of Human Withes, being the Tenth Satire of Juvenal imitated. He, I believe, composed it the preceding year. 8 Mrs. 1 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 Hittory of Music, in five volumes in quarto. By assiduous attendance 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. [This ' Mr. John Hawlcins, an attorney,' is Boswell's retort conr- teous to the only reference Hawkins thought fit to make to him in his (Hawkins's) life of Johnson : ' Mr. James Boswell, a native of Scotland.' A. B.] 3 Sir John Hawkins, with solemn inaccuracv. represents this poem as a consequence of the indifferent reception of his tragedy. But the fact is, that the poem was published on the gth of January, and the tragedy was not acted till the 6th of February following. JET. 40] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 151 Johnson, for the sake of country air, had lodgings at Hampstead, to which he resorted occasionally, and there the greatest part, if not the whole, of this imitation was written. The fervid rapidity with which it was produced is scarcely credible. I have heard him say that he composed seventy lines of it in one day, without putting one of them upon paper till they were finished. I remember when I once regretted to him that he had not given us more of Juvenal's Satires, he said he probably should give more, 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 he pleased, em- body 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, com- pared 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 v only ten guineas ; and now, after his fame was estab- lished, 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 writ- ings ; it being his fixed intention to publish at some ^ * Nov. 24, 1784, I received of Mr. Dodsley fifteen guineas, for which I assign to him the right of copy of an Imitation of the_ 7 enth 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 handwriting. J AS. DODSLEY.' 152 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1749 period, fur his own profit, a complete collection of hi* works. His Vanity of Human Wishtt has leas of common life, but more <>f a philosophic dignity than his London. More readers, tlu-rt-fore, will be delighted with the pointed spirit of London, than with the profound reflection of the Vanity of Human Winhet. Garrick, for instance, observed in his sprightly manner, with more vivacity than regard to just discrimination, as ia usual with wits, ' \Vhen 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 Wi#ht*, which is as hard as Greek. Had he gone on to imitate another satire, it would have been as hard as Hebrew.' l But the Vanity of Hitman fl'ixhe* 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. 1 That of 1 From Mr. Langton. * In this poem one of the instances mentioned of unfortunate learned 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 acceptable 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 Oker- ton, near Banbury. He wrote, among many others, a Latin Treatise, "JDe ffatura caeli, etc." in which he attacked the sentiments of Scaliger and Aristotle, not bearing to hear it urged, that torn* thing* JET. 40] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 153 the warrior Charles of Sweden is, I think, as highly finished a picture as possibly can be conceived. Were all the other excellencies of this poem anni- hilated, 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, Boll 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 jet 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 ; art true in philosophy and false lit divinity. He made _ above six hundred sermons on the harmony of the Evangelists. Being unsuc- cessful 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 Boswell, and Dr. Pink, released him by paying his debts. He petitioned Kine Charles I. to be sent into Ethiopia, etc. to procure uss. 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.' 154 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1749 These goods for man the laws of Heaven ordain, These goods he grants, who grant* the power to gain ; With these celestial wisdom calms the mind. And makes the happiness she does not find.' l Garrick being now vented 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 encouragement. But in this benevolent purpose he met with no small difficulty from the temper of John- son, 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. 1 [In 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 cursed the form that pleased 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, ana died in 1736, not long before Johnson settled in London. Some account of this lady was published under the title of The Secret Hittory of Vanella, 8vo, 1733. See also I'aneHa in ike Straw, 410, 1732. In Mr. Boswell's 'I cur to the Htbrides, we find some observa- tions respecting the lines in question : ' In Dr. Johnson's Vanity of Hitman IViihes there is the following passage: "The teeming mother anxious for her race, Begs for each birth the fortune of a face ; Yet Vane," etc. ' 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 fit that the lines should rather have run thus : Yet Short could tell And Valitre cursed 'Our friend (he adds in a subsequent note addressed to Mr. Boswell on this subject) chose Vane, who was far from being well-looked, and Sedley, who was so ugly that Charles n. said his brother had her by way of penance.' M.] JET. 40] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 155 Yet Garrick knew well that without some alterations 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. ' l 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 repre- sentation of Irene, and gave me the following account : ' Before the curtain drew up, there were cat-calls 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 the stage, and was to speak two lines with the bow-string round her neck. The audience cried out ' Murder ! 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. 8 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 bis praise, be this his pride, To force applause no modern arts are tried ; Should partial cat -calls 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._ Unmoved, 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 1 ' 166 LIFE OF Da JOHNSON [1749 Murder I ' l She several times attempted to speak, but iu 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 then so eminent in the political world. Notwithstanding all the support of such performers as Garrick, Barry, Mrs. Cibber, Mrs. Pritchard, and every advantage of dress and decoration, the tragedy of Irene did not please the public. 1 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, gave him 100 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, 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. Kowe has made Moneses in Tamerlane die by the bow-string, without offence. M.] * [I know not what Sir John Hawkins means by the cold reception of Irene. [See note, p. 164.] 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 in 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 Lafontaine, expressing his disapprobation aloud. BURNEV.] /ET. 40] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 157 in that delicate power of touching the human feelings, which is the principal end of the drama. 1 Indeed Garrick has complained to me that Johnson not only had not the faculty of producing the impressions of tragedy, but that he had not the sensibility to perceive them. His great friend Mr. Walmsley'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 genut irritabile of dramatic writers, that this great man, instead of peevishly complaining of the bad 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 supposes that he can instruct or amuse them, and the public to whom he appeals, must, after all, be the judges of his pre- tensions.' On occasion of this play being brought upon the stage, Johnson had a fancy that as a dramatic author 1 Aaron Hill (vol. ii. p. 355), in a letter to Mr. Mallet, gives the following account of Irene after having seen it : 'It was at the anomalous Mr. Johnson's benefit, and found the play his proper repre- sentative ; strong sense ungraced by sweetness or decorum.' ^A gentleman of the name of Pot is said to have expressed the opinion that Irene was the finest tragedy of modern times, but on this judgment being made known to Johnson he was heard to mutter, ' If Pot says so, Pot lies.' A. B.] !.-, LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1750 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 humor- ously observed to Mr. Langton, ' that when in that dress he could not treat people with the same ease u when in his usual plain clothes.' Dress, indeed, we must allow, has more effect even upon strong mind* than one should suppose, without having had the experience of it. His necessary attendance while hi* play was in rehearsal, and during its performance, brought him acquainted with many of the performers of both sexes, which produced a more favourable opinion of their profession than he had harshly ex- pressed in his Life of Savcgf. 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 himself this amusement, from considera- tions of rigid virtue, saying, ' I '11 come no more be- hind your scenes, David ; for the silk stockings and white bosoms of your actresses excite my amorous propensities.' 1 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 1 [This famous saying is at third hand Johnson said it to Garrick, Garrick repeated it to HumCj who told it to Boswell. John Wilkes had his own version of the saying. A. B. J JET. 41] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 159 was that of a periodical paper, win eh he knew had been, upon former occasions, employed with great success. The Taller, Spectator, and Guardian were the last of the kind published in England, which had stood the test of a long trial ; and such an interval had now elapsed since their publication as made him ju>tly 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 Toiler 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 // Vaga- bondo ; 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 its name : ' What mutt be done, sir, will be done. When I was to begin publishing that paper, I was at a loss how to name it. I sat down at night upon my bedside, and resolved that I would not go to sleep till I had fixed its title. The Rambler seemed the best that occurred, and I took it.' 1 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, con- sidering what should be the name of the periodical paper which Moore had undertaken. Garrick proposed the Sallad, which, by a curious coincidence, was afterwards applied to himself by Goldsmith : 'Our Garrick "s a sallad, for in him we see Oil, vinegar, sugar, and saltness agree 1* At last, the company having separated, without anything of which they approved having been offered, Dodsley himself thought of Tlu World. 100 LIKE OP DR. JOHNSON [1750 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, tfcat in this undertaking Thy Holy Spirit may not be withheld from me, but that I may promote Thy glory, and the salvation of myself and others ; grant this, O Lord, for the sake of Thy Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.' l 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,' 1 1752, on which day it closed. This is a strong confirmation of the truth of a remark of his, which I have had occasion to quote elsewhere, 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 carry- ing on his Dictionary, 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 1 Prayers and Meditations. 9 [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 the fourteenth of March. This cir- cumstance, though it may at first appear of very little importance, is yet worth notice; for Mrs. Johnson died on the seventeenth of March. M.J * Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. JET. 41] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 161 an introductory note as ' an author who has enlarged the knowledge of human nature and taught the passions to move at the command of virtue ' ; and Nos. 44 and 100 by Mrs. Elizabeth Carter. Posterity will be astonished when they are told upon the authority of Johnson himself, that many of these discourses, which we should suppose had been 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 read- ing and meditation, and a very close inspection 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 con- stantly accustomed himself to clothe in the most apt and energetic expression. Sir Joshua Reynolds once asked him by what means he had attained his extra- ordinary accuracy and flow of language. He told him that he had early laid it down as a fixed rule to do his best on every occasion, and in every company : to impart whatever he knew in the most forcible lan- guage 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 periodi- cal writer ; for I have in my possession a small duo- 1 [The rule which Mr. Johnson observed is sanctioned by the au- thority of two great writers of antiquity : ' Ne id quidem tacendum est, quod eidem Ciceroni placuit, nullum nostrum usquam negligentem esse sermonem : quicquid loquemur, uA/cunyue, sit pro sua scilicet portiont pirfectum.' Qutnctil. x. 7. M.] VOL. I. 1C2 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1750 decimo volume, in which he has written, in the form of Mr. Locke's Commonplace Book, a variety of hints for essays on different subjects. He has marked upon the first blank leaf of it, 'To the 128th page, collec- tions for the Rambler'; and in another place, 'In fifty-two there were seventeen provided ; in 97 21 ; in 100 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 occa- sions, tells us that ' this method of accumulating intelligence had been practised by Mr. Addison, and is humorously described in one of the Spectator*, wherein he feigns to have dropped his paper of notanda, -ting 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.' l But the truth is, that there is no resemblance at all between them. Addison's note was a fiction, in which unconnected fragments of his lucubrations were 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, etc. '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 1 Hawkins's Life of Johnson, p. 368. >ET.4i] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 163 observed by man's self. From pleasure to bus. [business] to quiet ; from thoughtf ulness to reflect, to piety ; from dissipa- tion to domestic, by impcrcept. gradat. but the change is certain. Dial non progredi, progreti. este conspicimus. Look back, consider what was Ihought at some dist. period. ' Hope prcdom. in youth. Mind not wittingly indulges un- pleasing thoughts. The world lies all enamelled before him, as a distant prospect sun-gilt ; l inequalities only found by coming to it. Love it 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 im- portance. Miscarriages forgot like excellences ; if remem- bered, of no import. Danger of sinking into negligence of reputation lest the fear of disgrace destroy activity. 4 Confidence in himself. Long tract of life before him. No thought of sickness. Embarrassment of affairs. Distraction of family. Public calamities. No sense of the prevalence of bad habits. Negligent of time ready to undertake 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. Beady to trust ; expecting to be trusted. Convinced by time of the selfishness, the mean- ness, the cowardice, the treachery of men. ' Touth ambitious, as thinking honours easy to be had. ' Different kinds of praise pursued at different periods. Of the gay in youth. dang, hurt, etc. 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 dis- grace, etc. 1 This most beautiful image of the enchanting delusi*n of youthful prospect has not been used in any of Johnson's essays. 164 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1750 '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. 1 shall gratify my readers with another specimen : ' Confederatiet difficult : vshy ' Seldom in war a match for single persons nor in peace ; therefore king* make themselves absolute. Confederacies in learning every great work the work of one. Bruy. Scholars' friendship like ladies. Scribebamus, etc. Mart. 1 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. [repclkd] 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 fit- ness of social attraction diffused through the whole. The mischiefs of too partial love of our country. Contraction of moral duties. 01 i\ol oi> i\ot. 'Every man moves upon his own centre, and therefore repels others from too near a contact, though he may comply with some general lows. ' Of confederacy with superiors every one knows the incon- venience. "With equals, no authority ; every man his own opinion his own interest. ' Man and wife hardly united ; scarce ever without children. Computation, if two to one against two, how many against five ? If confederacies were easy useless ; many oppresses many. If possible only to some, dangerous. Principum amicitias.' * [Lib. xiL 06 : 'In Tuccam aemulum omnium suorum studiorum.' -M.I A-T. 41] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 165 Here we see the embryo of No. 45 of the Adven- turer ; and it is a confirmation of what I shall presently have occasion to mention that the papers in that col- lection marked T. were written by Johnson. This scanty preparation of materials will not, how- ever, much diminish our wonder at the extraordinary fertility of his mind ; for the proportion which they bear to the number of essays which he wrote is very small ; and it is remarkable that those for which he had made no preparation are as rich and as highly finished as those for which the hints were lying by him. It is also to be observed that the papers formed from his hints are worked up with such strength and elegance that we almost lose sight of the hints, which become like 'drops in the bucket' Indeed, in several in- stances, he has made a very slender use of them, so that many of them remain still unapplied. 1 As the Rambler was entirely the work of one man, there was, of 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 distin- guished 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 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 Writert for bread, in which he deciphers these notable passages, one in Latin, /atui non ftimte, instead of /ami non/amtf ; 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 /ami nonfama tcrib -re ', and another in French, Degenti defatt et affamt d 'argent, instead of Degoutt de fame (an old word for renommte), tt affrnU eTar^ent. 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. l<;<; LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1750 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.' 1 Yet, very soon after its commencement, there were who felt and acknowledged its uncommon excellence. Verses in its praise appeared in the newspapers ; and the editor of the Gentleman'* Magazine mentions, in October, his having received several letters to the same purpose from the learned. The. Student; or, Oxford and Cambridge Miscellany, in which Mr. Bonnel Thornton and Mr. Colman were the principal writers, describes it as ' a work that exceeds anything of the kind ever published in this kingdom, some of the Spectator* excepted if indeed they may be excepted.' 1 [The Ramblrrt 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 be had been told they were written by a Mr. Johnson of Canterbury, the son of a clergyman who had had a controversy with Bentley ; and who had changed the readings of the old ballad entitled Norton Falfate, in Bentley 's bold style (MM ftric*lo\ till not a single word of the original song was left. Before I left Norfolk in the year 1760, the Ramf-lert were in high favour among persons of learning and good taste. Others there were, devoid of both, who said that the hard tvorJs in the Rambler were used by the author to render his Dictionary indispensably necessary. BURNKV.) [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. Burney's remark. The clergyman above alluded to was Mr. Richard Johnson, schoolmaster at Nottingham, who in 1717 published an octavo volume in Latin, against BenUey's edition of Horace, entitled Arittarckui Attti-Bentlcianvs. 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, 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 per- formed prodigies of valour. The stanza, on which this ingenious writer has exercised his wit, is as follows : ' Then old Tom Bostock he 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, 1 etc. M.J *T. 41] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 167 And afterwards, ' 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 circumstance relative to this work. Mrs. Johnson, in whose judgment and taste he had great confidence, said to him, after a few numbers of the Rambler had come out, ' I thought very well of you before ; but I did not imagine you could have written anything equal to this.' Distant praise, from what- ever quarter, is not so delightful as that of a wife whom a man loves and esteems. Her approbation may be said to e 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 John- son 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 im- provement 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. 1 1 It was executed in the printing office of Sands, Murray, and Cochran, with uncommon elegance, upon writing paper,_of a duodecimo size, and with the greatest correctness : and Mr. Elphinston enriched it with translations of the mottoes. When completed, it made eight handsome volumes. It is, unquestionably, the most accurate and beautiful edition of this work: and there being but a small impres- sion, it is now become scarce, and sells at a very high price. K,a LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [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 FXPHINSTOK [No date,} 4 DEAR SIR, I cannot but confess the failures of my corre- spondence, but hope the same regard which you express for me on every other occasion will incline you to forgive me. I am often, very often, ill ; and, when I am well, am obliged to work : and, indeed, have never much used myself to punctu- ality. 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 eases, 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. Buddiman, 1 of whom I hear that his learning is not his highest excellence. I have transcribed the mottoes, and re- turned them, I hope not too late, of which I think many very happily performed. Mr. Cave has put the last in the Magazine, 1 in which I think he did well. I beg of you to 1 Mr. Thomas Ruddiman, the learned grammarian of Scotland, well known for his various excellent works, and for his accurate editions of several authors. He was also a man of a most worthy private character. His zeal for the royal house of Stuart did not render him less estimable in Dr. Johnson's eye. s [If the Magazine here referred to be that for October 1752 (see Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xxii. p. 468), then this letter belongs to a later period. If it relates to the Magazine for Sept. 1750 (see Gentle- man's Magazine, voL xx. p. 406), then it may be ascribed to the month of October in that year, and should have folio wed the subsequent letter. M . ] JET. 41] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 109 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, 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. .'AMIS ELPHINSTON September 25, 1750. ' DXAB SIR, 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 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 tears are neither to you nor to me of any farther use, when once the tribute of nature has been paid. The business of life summons us away from use- less 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 you to hope, that you may increase her happiness by obeying her precepts ; and that she may, in her present state, look with pleasure upon every act of virtue to which her instructions or example have 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 170 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1750 to virtuous friendship, if it can be nude probable, that that union that has received the divine approbation shall continue to eternity. ' There U 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 yean, you will read ft with great pleasure, and receive from it many hints of sooth- ing 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, SAX. JOH.XBOX." The Rambler has increased in fame as in age. Soon after its first folio edition was concluded, it was pub- lished in six duodecimo volumes ; * and its author lived to see ten numerous editions of it in London, beside those of Ireland and Scotland. I profess myself to have ever entertained a profound veneration for the astonishing force and vivacity of mind which the Rambler exhibits. That Johnson had penetration enough to see, and seeing would not dis- guise the general misery of man in this state of being, may have given rise to the superficial notion of his being too stern a philosopher. But men of reflection will be sensible that he has given a true representation 1 [This is not quite accurate. In the Gentleman's Mafaxint for Nov. 1751, while the work was yet proceeding, is an advertisement announcing thatyiKr volumes of the Rambler would speedily be published ; and it is believed that they were published in the next month. The fifth and sixth volumes, with tables of contents and translations of the mottoes, 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. The original octavo edition not having fallen into Mr. Boswell's hands, he was not aware, of this circumstance, which has lately been pointed out by Mr. Alexander Chalmers in a new edition of these and various other periodical essays, under the title of the British Essayists. Al.] JET. 41] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 171 of human existence, and that he has, at the same time, with a generous benevolence displayed every con- solation 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 everywhere 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 considerations 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, 1 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 anywhere else, would take up too large a portion of my book, and would, I trust, be superfluous, considering how universally those volumes are now disseminated. Even the most condensed and brilliant sentences which they contain, and which have very properly been selected under the name of ' Beauties,' 2 are of considerable bulk. But I may shortly observe, l No. 55- 1 Dr. Johnson was gratified by 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 ao, 1782.' 172 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1750 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 meditation, 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. 64, on the effect which the death of a friend should have upon us, though rather too dispiriting, may be occasionally very medicinal to the mind. Every one must suppose the writer to have been deeply 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, particularly attracted the notice of Dr. Young, the author of The Xight Thought*, 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 thought particularly excellent, by folding down a corner of the page ; and such as he rated in a super-eminent 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 signified his approbation of his Essays. I will venture to say, that in no writings whatever can be found more bark and steel for the mind, if I may use the expression ; more that can brace and invigorate every manly and noble sentiment. No. 32, on patience, even under extreme misery, is wonder- /ET. 41] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 173 fully 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 principled 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 errone- ous 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 anybody; 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 them- selves to be severally 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, particularly that of Prospero from Garrick, 1 who 1 [That of Gclidus in No. 24, from Professor Colson (see p. 70 of this vol.), and that of Euphues in the same paper, which, with many 174 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1750 never entirely forgave its pointed satire. For instance* <>f fertility of fancy, and accurate description of real life, I appeal to No. 10, a man who wanders from one profession to another, with most plausible reasons for every change : No. 34, female fastidiousness and timorous refinement : No. 82, a virtuoso who has collected curiosities: No. 88, petty modes of enter- taining a company, and conciliating kindness : 182, fortune hunting: No. 194-195, a tutor's account of the follies of his pupil : No. 197-198, legacy hunt- ing. He has given a specimen of his nice observation of the mere external appearances of life, in the follow- ing passage in No. 179, against affectation, that fre- quent 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 risi- bility, 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 liveli- ness 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.' 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 Dodington, who was remarkable for the homeliness of his person and the finery of his dress, was the person meant under that character. M.] JET. 41] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 175 Every page of the Rambler shows a mind teeming with classical allusion and poetical imagery : illustra- tions 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 perspicuity. 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 philo- sophical 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 h-'mself says in his concluding paper : ' When common words were less pleasing to the ear, or less distinct in their signification, I have familiarised the terms of philo- sophy, by applying them to popular ideas.' 1 And, as to the second part of this objection, upon a late care- ful 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 confounded Johnson's Essays with Johnson's Dictionary; and because he 1 Yet his style did not escape the harmless shafts of pleasant humour ; for the ingenious Bonnell Thornton published a mock Rambler in the Drury Lane Journal. 178 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1750 thought it right in a lexicon of our language to collect many words which had fallen into disuse, but were supported by great authorities, it has been imagined that all of these have been interwoven into his own compositions. That some of them have been adopted by him unnecessarily, may, perhaps, be allowed ; but, in general, they are evidently an ad- vantage, for without them his stately ideas would be confined and cramped. 'lit- that thinks with more extent than another, will want words of larger mean- ing.' l He once told me, that he had formed his style upon that of Sir William Temple, and upon Chambers'! Proposal for his Dictionary.* He certainly was mis- taken ; or if he imagined at first that he was imitating Temple, he. was very unsuccessful ; s 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 part* of the World. The style of Johnson was, undoubtedly, much formed upon that of the great writers in the last century, 1 Idltr, No. 70. 1 [The Paper here alluded to, was, I believe, Chambers'* 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. M.] 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 be formed his style on that of Temple and others, by taking from ;vh those characteristic excellences 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 _Reynolds'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. M.] ^x.4i] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 177 Hooker, Bacon, Sanderson, Hakewell, 1 and others; those 'Giants,' as they were well characterised by a Great Personage, 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 animnm censoris gurnet honest! : Audebit quecumque parum splendoris habebnnt, Et sine pondere erunt, et honore indigna fercntur, Verbs movere loco ; quamvis invita recedant, Et versentur adhuc intra penetralia VesUe : Obscurata diu populo bonus cruet, atque Proferet in lucem speciosa vocabula rerum, Qu priscis memorata Catonibus atque Cethegis, Nunc situs informis premit et deserta vetustas : Adsciscet nova, quae genitor produxerit usus : Vehemens, et liquidus, puroque simillimus amni, Fundet opes, Latiumque beabit divite lingua. 1 * 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, Fiugere cinctutis non exaudita Cethegis Continget ; dabiturque licentia sumpta pudenter : Et nova fictaque nuper habebunt verba fidem, si Graeco fonte cadent, parce detorta. Quid autcm Caecilio Plautoque dabit Romaiius, adeuiptum Virgilio Varioque ? Ego cur, acquirere pauca [Hakewell was Rector of Exeter College, Oxford, in 164*, and onwards till his death in 1649. His reputation has disappeared. The Great Personage is of course the King. A. B.] * Horat. .f:st. Lib. iL, Epist. 2, v. NO. VOL. I. H 178 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1750 Si potnim, in vidcor ; cum lingua Catoni* ct Ennl Sermonem patrium ditavcrit, ct nova rerun Nomina protulerit ? Licuit, lemperque liccbit Signatum pnesente nota produccrc nomen.' * Yet Johnson assured me, that he had not taken upon him to add more than four or five words to the Eng- lish language, of his own information ; 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 many words in senses quite different from their established meaning, and those frequently very fantastical. Sir Thomas Browne, whose life Johnson wrote, was remarkably fond of Anglo-Latin diction ; and to his example we are to ascribe Johnson's sometimes in- dulging himself in this kind of phraseology.* John- son'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 influence which he has had upon our composition, scarcely anything is written now that is not better expressed than was usual before he appeared to lead the national taste. 1 Horat. De Arte Poetica, v. 48. a The observation of his having imitated Sir Thomas Browne has been made by many people ; and lately it has been insisted on, and illustrated by a variety of quotations from Browne in one of the popular essays written by the Reverend Mr. Knox, Master of Tunbridge School, whom I have set down in my list of those who have sometimes not unsuccessfully imitated Dr. Johnson's style. [Browne's own style has been most successfully imitated. Seethe 'Frag- ment on Mummies.' Works, Wilkins' edition, voL iv. p. 274. A. B.J *T.4i] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 179 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 myself 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 Titan, 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 derived the sweet, yet nervous lay. To Fame's proud cliff he bade our Raffaelle rise ; Hence Reynolds' pen with Reynolds' 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, refined though clear, By studying him, acquired that classic taste, Which high in Shakespeare's fane thy statue placed. 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. Amid these names can Boswell be forgot, Scarce by North Britons now esteem'd a Scot ? 1 1 The following observation in Mr. Boswell's Journal of a Tour to tkt Htbridts 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 Eng- land rather exceeded the due proportion o? their real merit ; and because he could not but see In them that nationality which, I believe, 180 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1750 Who to the sage devoted from his youth, Imbibed from him the sacred love of truth ; The keen research, the exercise of mind. And that best art, the art to know mankind. Nor was his energy confined alone To f riends around his philosophic throne ; IU influence wide improved our letter 'd itle, And lucid vigour mark'd the general ityle : As Nile's proud waves, swoln from their 00x7 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 be allowed to be too masculine for the delicate gentleness of female writing. His ladies, therefore, seem strangely formal, even to ridicule ; and are well denominated by the names which he has given them, as Misella, Zozima, Properantia, Rhodoclia. 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 Dryden 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 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 1 COUETENAT. JET. 41] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 181 an academical chair. They attend with awe and admiration ; and his precepts are impressed upon them by his commanding eloquence. Addison's style, like a light wine, pleases everybody from the first. Johnson's, like a liquor of more body, seems too strong at first, but by 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 som degree, at the same species of excellence. But let us not ungratefully under- value that beautiful style, which has pleasingly con- veyed to us much instruction and entertainment. Though comparatively weak, opposed to Johnson's Herculean vigour, let us not call it positively feeble. Let us remember the character of his style, as given by Johnson himself : ' What he attempted, he per- formed ; 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 1 [When Johnson showed me a proof-sheet of the character of Addison, in which he so highly extols bis 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 t Addison had his fty'e, 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 tree from such phraseology and modes of speech as can never be literally translated or understood by foreigners, he allowed the dis- crimination 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. BURNEY.] 182 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1750 attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison.' 1 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 mottoes by himself are admirably done. He acknow- ledges 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.' 1 The concluding paper of his Rambler is at once dignified and pathetic. I cannot, however, but wish, that he hod not ended it with an unnecessary Greek verse, translated 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 power*,' though proper in Pagan poetry, is ill suited to Christianity, with r 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 among the writers who have given ardour to virtue and confidence to truth.' 1 I shall probably, in another work, maintain the merit of Addison ' poetrv, which has been very unjustly depreciated. 2 [In the Gentleman's Magazine for October 1752, p. 468, he is styled, 'the Rev. Francis Lewis, of Chiswick.' Lord Macartney, at my request, made some inquiry concerning him at that place, but no intelligence was obtained. M.] [This chance reference to the life of Mr. Lewis powerfully affected the imagination of Carlyle. A. B.] JET. 41] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 183 His friend, Dr. Birch, being now engaged in pre- paring an edition of Ralegh's smaller pieces, Dr. Johnson wrote the following letter to that gentle- man : TO nn. BIRCH ' Cfough Square, May 19, 1750. ' SIB, 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, ad- dressed to the printer of that paper : 'Sra, That a certain degree of reputation is acquired merely by approving the works of genius, and testifying a regard to 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 contri- Mrs. Williams is probably the person meant. 184 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1751 bated to starve him when alive, have heaped pageant* on bis grave. 1 4 It must, indeed, be confessed, that this method of becoming known to posterity with honour, is peculiar to the great, or at least to the wealthy ; but an opportunity now offer* 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 to destitute of gratitude as to refuse to lay out a trifle in rational and elegant entertainment, for the benefit of his living 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 C&mut will be performed for the benefit of Mrs. Elizabeth Foster, grand-daughter to the author, 9 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. Qarrick ; and by particular desire, there will be added to the masque a dramatic satire called Lethe, in which Mr. Gar rick will per- form.' In 1751 we are to consider him as carrying on both his Dictionary and Rambler. But he also wrote The Life of Cheynci, in the miscellany called The Student ; and the Reverend Dr. Douglas having with uncommon acuteness clearly detected a gross forgery and impo- sition 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 1 [Alluding probably to Mr. Auditor Benson. See the DunciaeL, B. iv. M.] * [Mrs. Elizabeth Foster died May 9, 1754. A. CHALMERS.] ^T. 42] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 185 so far imposed upon as to furnish a Preface and Post- script to his work, now dictated a letter for Lauder, addressed to Dr. Douglas, acknowledging his fraud in terms of suitable contrition. 1 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 1750 ventured to collect them into a pamphlet, entitled An Essay on Milton's 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 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 kimtel/ttnth kitfeathert, who appeareth so little to deserve assistance; an assistance which I am persuaded would never have been communi- cated, 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, and edit., p. 78. And his Lordship has been pleased now to authorise 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 afainst Ki*g Charles I. ; which was reviewed, probably by Johnson, in the Gentleman'* Magazine, 1754, p. 97. A. CHALMERS.] [Lauder afterwards went to Barbadoes, where he died very miserably about the year 1771. M.J if','-. LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1751 UM and Imitation of tht Modern* in hit Paradise Lott. To this pamphlet Johnson wrote a Preface, in full persuasion of Lauder'n honesty, and a Postscript recommending, in the most persuasive terms, a sub- scription 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 obliterated ; to reward him, not with pictures or with medals, which, if he sees, he sees with con- tempt, but with tokens of gratitude, which 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 argument may be inferred from the Preface, which indubitably was written by Johnson.' Is it possible for any man of clear judg- ment to suppose that Johnson, who so nobly praised the poetical excellence of Milton in a Postscript to this very f 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 anything more be fairly inferred from the Preface, JCT. 42] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 187 than that Johnson, who was alike distinguished for ardent curiosity and lore 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.' l 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 dis- position was constantly exerting itself. Mrs. Anna Williams, daughter of a very ingenious Welsh physi- cian, and a woman of more than ordinary talents and literature, having come to London in hopes of being 1 ['Proposals (written evidently by Johnson) for printing the Adamus Exul of Grotius. with a Translation and Notes by Win. Lauder, A.M.' Gentleman s Magazine, 1747! vol. xvii. p. 404. M.] 188 LIFE OF DR JOHNSON [1752 cured of a cataract in both her eyes, which afterward* ended in total blindness, was kindly received as a con- stant 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 17^2 he was almost entirely occupied with his Dictionary. The last paper of his Rambler was pub- lished March 2 1 this year; after which there was a cessation for some time of any exertion of his talents as an essayist But, in the same year, Dr. Hawkes- 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 1 [Here the author's memory failed him, for, according to the account given in a former page (see p. 160), we should here read March 17 ; but in truth, as has been already observed, the Rambler closed on Saturday \\\c fourteenth of March ; at which time Mrs. Johnson was near her end, for she died on the following Tuesday, March 17. Had the concluding paper of that work been written on the day of her death, it would have been still more extraordinary than it is, consider- ing the extreme grief into which the author was plunged by that event. The melancholy cast of that concluding essay is sufficiently accounted for by the situation of Mrs. Johnson at the time it was written ; and her death three days afterwards put an end to the Paper.-M.] JET. 43] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 189 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 particular 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 Reverend Mr. Strahan, Vicar of Islington, who at my earnest request has obligingly favoured me with a copy of it, which he and I compared with the original. I 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. I have an additional, and that a personal, motive for presenting it, because it sanctions what I myself have always maintained and am fond to indulge : 190 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1752 * April 86, 175*, Icing after 12 at night * O Lord ! Governor of heaven and earth, in whoM hands are embodied and departed Spirit*, if thou bait ordained the Soul* 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 effect* of her attention and ministration, whether exercised by appearance, impulses, dreams, or in any other manner agreeable to thy Government. Forgive my presump- tion, enlighten my ignorance, and however meaner agents are employed, grant me the blessed influences of thy Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.' What actually followed upon this most interesting piece of devotion by Johnson, we are not informed ; but I, whom it has pleased God to afflict in a similar manner to that which occasioned it, have certain ex- perience of benignant communication by dreams. That his love for his wife was of the most ardent kind, and during the long period of fifty yean was unimpaired by the lapse of time, is evident from various passages in the series of his Prayers and Meditations, published by the Reverend Mr. Strahan, as well as from other memorials, two of which I select, as strongly marking the tenderness and sensi- bility of his mind : 'March 28, 1753. I kept this day as the anniversary of my Tetty's death, with prayer and tears in the morning. In the evening I prayed for her conditionally, if it were lawfuL' April 23, 1753. I know not whether I do not too much indulge the vain longings of affection ; but I hope the v in- tcnerate my heart, and that when I die like my Tetty, this affection will be acknowledged in a happy interview, and that in the meantime 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, ^T.43l LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 191 after her death, preserved by him, as long as he lived, with aii 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* 1736, Mortua, cheu I Mart, 17 1752.' 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, 1 he had it enamelled as a mourning-ring for his old master, and presented it to his wife, Mrs. Barber, who now has it. The state of mind in which a man must be upon the death of a woman whom he sincerely loves had been in his 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, Where now thou shin'st amongst thy fellow-saints, Array'd in purer light, look down on me ! In pleasing visions and assuasive dreams, O ! soothe my soul, and teach me how to lose thee.' I have, indeed, been told by Mrs. Desmoulins, who before her marriage lived for some time with Mrs. Johnson at Hampstead, that she indulged herself in 1 [She is said to have been angry because her name was not men- tioned in Johnson's will. Yet when she came to die it was noticeable that though her will was made in Johnson's lifetime, he was not mentioned in it. I have known several Lucy Porters A. B.] 102 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1752 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 with 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 imagi- nary, had originally made upon his fancy, being con- tinued by habit, had not been effaced, though she herself was doubtless much altered for the worse. The dreadful shock of separation took place in the night ; and he immediately despatched a letter to his friend, the Reverend Dr. Taylor, which, as Taylor told me, expressed grief in the strongest manner he had ever read ; so that it is much to be regretted it has not been preserved. l The letter was brought to Dr. Taylor, at his house in the Cloysters, Westminster, about three in the morning ; and as it signified an earnest desire to see him, he got up, and went to Johnson as soon as he was dressed, and found him in tears and in extreme 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 : 1 [In the Gentleman! Magatint for February 1794 (p. 100) was printed a letter pretending to be that written by Johnson on the death of his wife. But it is merely a transcript of the 4151 number of the Idler. A fictitious date, March 17, 1751, o.s., was added by some person, previously to this paper's being sent to the publisher of that miscellany, to give a colour to this deception. M.] 0.1. 43] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 193 TO THE REV. DR. TAYLOR 'DEAR SIB, Let me have your company and instruction. Do not live away from me. My distress is great. 'Pray desire Mrs. Taylor to inform me what mourning I should buy for my mother and Miss Porter, and bring a note in writing with you. 'Remember me in your prayers, for vain is the help of man. I am, dear sir, etc., SAM. JOHNSON. 'March IS, 1752.' 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 I give more credit than to Mr. Francis Barber, his faithful negro ser- vant, 1 who came into his family about a fortnight after the dismal event. These sufferings were aggravated by the melancholy inherent in his constitution ; and although he probably was not oftener iu the wrong than she was, in the little disagreements which some- times troubled his married state, during which, he owned to me, that the gloomy irritability of his exist- ' ence was more painful to him than ever, he might very naturally, after her death, be tenderly disposed to charge himself with slight omissions and offences, 1 Francis Barber was born in Jamaica, and was brought to England in 1750 by Colonel Bathurst, father of Johnson's very intimate friend, Dr. Bathurst. He was sent for some time to the Reverend Mr. Jack- son'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 1752 till Johnson's death, with the exception of two intervals, in one of which, upon some difference with his master, he went and served an apothecary in Cheap- side, 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 kindness 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. VOL. I. 194 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1752 the sense of which would give him much uneasiness.' Accordingly we find about a year after her decease that he thus addressed the Supreme Being: 'O Lord, who givest the grace of repentance, and hearest the prayers of the penitent, grant that by true con- trition I may obtain forgiveness of all the sins com- mitted, and of all duties neglected, in my union with the wife whom thou hast taken from me ; fur the neglect of joint devotion, patient exhortation, and mild instruction.' 1 The kindness of his heart, not- withstanding 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.' * That he, in conformity with the opinion of many of the most able, learned, and pious Christians in all ages, supposed that there was a middle state after death, previous to the time at which departed souk are finally received to eternal felicity, appears, I think, unquestionably from his devotions : 4 ' And, O Lord, so far as it may be lawful in me, I commend to thy fatherly goodness the soul of my departed wife', be- seeching thee to grant her whatever is best in her pre- sent state, said finally to receive her to eternal happiness. ' * 1 [See his beautiful and affecting Rambler, No. 54. M.] a Prayers and Meditations. 8 Hawkins's Life of Johnson, p. 216. * [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. M.] [The Non- Jurors held it lawful to pray for the dead, and from them Johnson acquired his practice. A. B.] 5 Prayers and Meditations* ^T. 43] LIFE OF DK JOHNSON 195 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, 1 to which he was probably led by tne 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 excellence, and full of rational and pious comfort to such as are depressed by that severe affliction which Johnson felt when he wrote it When it is considered that it was written in such an agitation of mind, and in the short interval between her death and burial, it cannot be read without wonder. 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 Gough Square. He was busy with the Dictionary. Mr. Shiels, and some others of the gentlemen who had formerly written for him, used 1 [A few months before bis death, Johnson honoured her memory by the following epitaph, which was inscribed on her tombstone in the church of Bromley : Hie conduntur reliquiae ELIZABETH.* Antiqua Jarvisiorum gente, Peatlingz, apud Leicestr Senses, prtac Formosa;, cultae, ingeniosae, pia ; Uxoris, primis nuptiis, HENKICI PORTER, Secundis, SAMUELIS JOHNSON : Qui multum amatam, diuque defletam Hoc lapide contexit. Obiit Londini. Mense Mart. A.D. MDCCLII. M.] [On the actual tombstone the date of death is wrongly stated to be I753.-A. B.] ll'i LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1752 to come about him. He had then little for himself, but frequently sent money to Mr. Shiels when in dis- tress. The friends who visited him at that time were chiefly Dr. Bathurst, 1 and Mr. Diamond, a* apothe- cary in Cork Street, Burlington 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 was also Mr. Cave, Dr. Hawkesworth, Mr. Ilyland, 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, booksellers; Mr. Strahan, the printer ; the Earl of Orrery, Lord South- well, Mr. Garrick.' Many are, no doubt, omitted in this catalogue of his friends, and, in particular, his humble friend Mr. Robert Levet, an obscure practiser in 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 Houndsditch to Marybone. It appears from Johnson's diary, that their acquaintance commenced Dr. Bathurst, though a physician of no inconsiderable merit, had not the good fortune to get much practice in London. He was, there- fore, willing to accept of employment abroad, and, to the regret of all who knew him, fell a sacrifice to the destructive climate, in the expedi- tion against the 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 totaqne Troja luit. ^T. 43] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 197 about the year 1746 ; and such was Johnson's predilec- tion for him, and fanciful estimation of his moderate abilities, that I have heard him say he should not be satisfied Chough attended by all the College of Physi- cians, unless he had Mr. Level 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. Levet 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 company was present. 1 The circle of his friends, indeed, at this time, was ex- tensive and varied, far beyond what has been generally imagined. To trace his acquaintance with each par- ticular person, if it could be done, would be a task of which the labour would not be repaid by the advan- tage. But exceptions are to be made ; one of which must be a friend so eminent as Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was truly his dulce 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 frequently to visit two ladies 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 1 [A more particular account of this person may be found in the Gentleman t Magazine for February 1785. It originally appeared in the St. James's Chronicle, and, I believe, was written by the late George Steevens, Esq. M.] I' Level, madam, is a brutal fellow, but I have a good > regard for him, for his brutality is in his manners, not in his mind.' Madame D'Arblay's Diary, i. 115. A. B.] in: LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1752 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 so much above the commonplace 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 burden of gratitude.' They were shocked a little at this alleviating suggestion, as too selfish ; but Johnson defended it in his clear and forcible manner, and was much pleased with the mind, the fair view of human nature which it exhibited, like some of the reflections of Rochefoucault The conse- quence was, that he went home with Reynolds and supped with him. Sir Joshua told me a pleasant characteristical anec- dote of Johnson about the time of their first acquaint- ance. When they were one evening together at the Miss Cotterells', the then Duchess of Argyle and another lady of high rank came in. Johnson think- ing 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 JET. 431 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 199 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 Lincolnshire, another much-valued friend, commenced soon after the conclusion of his Rambler ; which that gentleman, then a youth, had read with so much admiration, that he came to London chiefly with a view of endeavouring to be introduced to its author. By a fortunate chance he happened to take lodgings iri a house where Mr. Levet frequently visited ; and having mentioned his wish to his landlady, she intro- duced him to Mr. Levet, who readily obtained John- son's permission to bring Mr. Langton to him ; as, indeed, Johnson, during the whole course of his life, had no shyness, real or affected, but was easy of access to all who were properly recommended, and even wished to see numbers at his levee, as his morning circle of company might, with strict propriety, be called. Mr. Langton was exceedingly surprised when the sage first appeared. He had not received the smallest intimation of his figure, dress, or manner. From perusing his writings, he fancied he should see a decent, well-dressed, in short, a remarkably decor- ous philosopher. Instead of which, down from his bed-chamber about noon came, as newly risen, a huge uncouth figure, with a little dark wig which scarcely covered his head, and his clothes hanging loose about him. But his conversation was so rich, so animated, and so forcible, and his religious and political notions so congenial with those in which Langton had been educated, that he conceived for him that veneration and attachment which he ever preserved. Johnson was not the less ready to love Mr. Langton, for his 200 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1752 being of a very ancient family ; for I have heard him gay, 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 acijiiaintance with his fellow-student, Mr. Tophani Beauclerk ; who, though their opinions and modes of life were so different, that it seemed utterly improb- able that they should at all agree, had so ardent a love of literature, so acute an understanding, such elegance of manners, and so well discerned the excellent quali- ties of Mr. Langton, a gentleman eminent not only for worth and learning, but for an inexhaustible fund of entertaining conversation, that they became inti- mate friends. Johnson, soon after this acquaintance began, passed a considerable time at Oxford. He at first thought it strange that Langton should associate so much with one who had the character of being loose, both in his principles and practice : but, by degrees, he himself was fascinated. Mr. Beauclerk 's being of the St. Allian's family, and having, in some particulars, a resemblance to Charles the Second, contributed in Johnson's imagination to throw a lustre upon his other qualities ; and in a short time, the moral, pious Johnson, and the gay, dissipated Beauclerk, were companions. ' What a 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 was too polite, and valued learning and wit too much, to offend Johnson by sallies of infidelity or licentious- ^T. 43] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 201 ness ; and Johnson delighted in the good qualities of Beauclerk, and hoped to correct the evil. Innumer- able were the scenes in which Johnson was amused by these young men. Beauclerk could take more liberty with him than anybody with whom I ever saw him ; but, on the other hand, Beauclerk was not spared by his respectable companion, when reproof was proper. Beauclerk had such a propensity to satire, that at one time Johnson said to him, ' You never open your mouth but with intention to give pain ; and you have often given me pain, not from the power of what you said, but from seeing 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 " Everything thou dost shows the one, and everything thou say'st the other. ' At another time he said to him, 'Thy body is all vice, and thy mind all virtue.' Beau- clerk not seeming to relish the compliment, Johnson said, 'Nay, sir, Alexander the Great, marching in triumph into Babylon, could not have desired to have hud more said to him.' Johnson was some time with Beauclerk at his house at Windsor, where he was entertained with experi- ments in natural philosophy. One Sunday, when the weather was very fine, Beauclerk enticed him, in- sensibly, to saunter about all the morning. They went into a churchyard, in the time of divine service, and Johnson laid himself down at his ease upon one of the tombstones. 'Now, sir (said Beauclerk), you are like Hogarth's Idle Apprentice.' When Johnson got his pension, Beauclerk said to him, in the humorous 2n: LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1753 phrase of Falstaff, ' I hope you '11 now purge and live cli-anly, like a gentleman.' One night when Beauclerk and Langton had tupped at a tavern in London, and sat till about three in the morning, it came into their heads to go and knock up Johnson, and see if they could prevail on him to join them in a ramble. They rapped violently at the doors of his chambers in the Temple, till at last he appeared in his shirt, with his 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 '11 have a frisk with you.' He was soon dressed, and they sallied forth together into Covent Garden, where the green-grocers and fruiterers were beginning to arrange their hampers, just come in from the country. Johnson made some attempts to help them : but the honest gardeners stared so at his figure and manner, and odd 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 sleep, from which he had been roused, he repeated the festive lines, ' Short, O short then be thy reign. And give us to the world again.' 1 Mr. Langton has recollected, or Dr. Johnson repeated, the passage ng. The lines are in Lord Lansdowne's ' Drinking Song to Sleep,' ' Short, very short be then thy reign, For I 'm in haste to laugh and drink again.' wrong and run thus : ^T. 44] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 203 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 dissi- pation 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 girls.' Garrick being told of this ramble, said to him smartly, ' I heard of your frolic t'other night You '11 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 tran- scribed from that part of his diary which he burnt a few days before his death : 'Jan. 1, 1753, H.S., which I shall use for the future. 'Almighty God, who has continued my life to this day, grant that, by the assistance of thy Holy Spirit, I may im- prove 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 to consider the loss of my wife, whom thou hast taken from me, that it may dispose me, by thy grace, to lead the residue of my life in thy fear. Grant this, O 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 Adventurer, in which he began to write April 10, marking his essays with the signature T, by which most of his papers in that collec- tion are distinguished : those, however, which have that signature and also that ot Mysargyms, were not LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1753 written by him, but, a* I suppose, by Dr. Bathurst Indeed Johnson's energy of thought and richness of language are still more decisive marks than any signa- ture. As a proof of this, my readers, I imagine, will not doubt that Number 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 con- versant are readily introduced in it in cursory allusion. The translation of a passage in Statius, 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 contributed to the Adven- turer cannot be known. Let me add that Ilawkes- worth's imitations of Johnson are sometimes so happy, that it is extremely difficult to distinguish them with certainty, from the compositions of his great arche- type. Hawkesworth was his closest imitator, a cir- cumstance of which that writer would once have been proud to be told ; though, when he had become elated by having risen into some degree of consequence, he, in a conversation with me, had the provoking effron- tery to say he was not sensible of it. Johnson was truly zealous for the success of the Adventurer ; and very soon wfter his engaging in it he wrote the following letter : TO THE REV. DR. JOSEPH WARTON ' DEAR SIR, 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 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. JET. 44] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 205 '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 sup- plied, as you will find when you read the paper ; for descrip- tions of life, there is now a treaty almost made with an authour and an authouress; 1 and the province of criticism and literature they are very desirous to assign to the commentator on Virgil. 'I hope this proposal will not be rejected, and that the next post will bring 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, SAM. JOHNSON. 4 March 8, 1753.' 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 be- yond 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 ; 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. Wllliams's account ; he smiled, and said nothing. I am not quite satisfied with the casuistry by which 1 [It is not improbable that the 'authour and authouress' were Henry and his sister Sally Fielding. M.J 200 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1753 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 in- dividual 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 .Icui-h 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 composi- tion 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 Heralds' 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, and being mixed with essays by other ^T. 44] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 207 writers, 1 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 has far 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 the Preface, Grammar, and History, none of them yet begun. *O God, who hast hitherto supported me, enable me to pro- ceed 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 with a Dedica- tion to the Earl of Orrery, of her Shakespeare Illus- trated* 1 [Dr. Johnson lowered and somewhat disguised his style, in writing the Adventurers, in order that his papers might pass for those of Dr. ISathurst, to whom he consigned the profits. This was Hawkesworth's opinion. BURNEY.] 3 [Two of Johnson's letters, addressed to Samuel Richardson, author of Clarissa, etc., the former dated March 9, 1750-1, the other Septem- ber 26, 1753, are preserved in Richardson's Correspondence, 8vo, 1804, vol. v. pp. 281-284. la the latter of these letters Johnson suggested to Richardson the propriety of making an Index to his three works : ' but while I am writingfhe adds), an objection arises ; such an index to the three would look luce a 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 tht 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. M.] 208 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1754 In 17&4 1 can trace nothing published by him, except his numbers of the Adventurer, and 'The Life of Edward Cave/ in the Gentleman'* Magazine for Feb- ruary. 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 high- est value. To the minute selection of characteristical 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 estimable qualities, and was eminently dili- gent and successful in his own business, which, doubt- leas, entitled him to respect But he was peculiarly fortunate in being recorded by Johnson ; who, of the narrow life of a printer and publisher, without any digressions or adventitious circumstances, has made an interesting and agreeable narrative. The Dictionary, we may believe, afforded Johnson full occupation this year. As it approached to its con- clusion, 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 man- ner 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 addi- tional circumstances, that a sudden disgust was taken by Johnson upon occasion of his having been one day kept long in waiting in his lordship's antechamber, for which the reason assigned was, that he had company with him ; and that at last, when the door opened, out ^T. 45] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 209 walked Collie Gibber ; and that Johnson was so vio- lently 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 ' Gibber, who had been introduced fami- liarly by the backstairs, 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 Chesterfield, who, it is said, had flattered himself with Expectations that Johnson would dedicate the work to him, attempted, in a courtly manner, to soothe and insinuate himself with the sage, conscious as it should seem, of the cold indifference with which he had treated its learned 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 pleas- ing to him ; but by praise from a man of rank VOL. i. o 210 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1754 and elegant accomplishment*, he waj peculiarly gratified. His lordship sayi : ' 1 think the public in general, and the republic of letters in particular, are greatly obliged to Mr. Johnson for having undertaken and executed ao great and desirable a work. Per- f ection is not to be expected from man ; bat if we an to judge by the various works of Johnson already published, we have good reason to believe that he will bring this as near to perfec- tion as any man could do. The Plan of it, which he published some yean ago, seems to me to be a proof of it. Nothing can be more rationally imagined, or more accurately and elegantly expressed. I therefore recommend the previous perusal of it to all those who intend to buj 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 anarchv, and hitherto, perhaps, it may not have been the worse for it. During our free and open trade, many word* and expressions have been imported, adopted, and naturalised 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 naturalisation, 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? AVe must have recourse to the old Roman expedient in times of confusion, and choose a dictator. Upon this principle I give my vote for Mr. Johnson to fill that great and arduous post. And I hereby declare, that I make a total surrender of all my rights and privileges in the English language as a free- 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 *rr. 45] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 211 he cannot well require; for I presume that obedience can never be expected when there is neither terror to enforce, nor interest to invite it. 'But a Grammar, * Dictionary, and a History of our Lan- guage 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 further 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 1 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 ; l till at last, in 1781, when we were on a visit at I Dr. Johnson appeared to have had a remarkable delicacy with respect to the circulation of this letter : for Dr. Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury, informs me, that having many years ago pressed him to be 212 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1754 Mr. Dilly'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. Barctti, with iu title and corrections, in his own handwriting. This he gave to Mr. Lang- ton ; 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 CHI February 7, 1755. ' MY LORD, I have been lately informed, by the proprietor of the World, that two papers, in which my Dictionary is recommended to the public, were written by your Lordship. To be BO 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 rainqvrur du vainfjurur de la terre ; that I might obtain that regard for which I saw the world contending; but I found my attendance so little en- couraged that neither pride nor modesty would suffer me to continue it. When I had once addressed your Lordship in public I had exhausted all the art of pleasing which a retired and uncourtly scholar can possess. I had done all that I could ; and no man is well pleased to have his all neglected, be it ever so little. allowed to read it to the second Lord Hardwicke, who was very desirous to hear it (promising at the same time, that no copy of it should be_ taken), Johnson seemed much pleased that it had attracted the attention of a nobleman of such 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. *T. 45] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 213 * Seven yean, 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, 1 one word of encouragement, or one smile of favour. Such treat- ment I did not expect, for I never had a Patron before. ' The shepherd in Virgil grew at last acquainted with Love, and found him a native of the rocks. ' Is not a Patron, my Lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help? The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labours, had it been early, had been kind ; but it has been delayed till I am in- different, and cannot enjoy it ; till I am solitary, and cannot impart it ; * till I am known, and do not want it. I hope it is no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received, or to be unwilling that the public should consider me as owing that to a Patron, which Providence has enabled mo to do for myself. ' Having carried on my work thus far with so little obliga- tion to any favourer of learning, I shall not be disappointed though I should conclude it, if less be possible, with less ; for I have been long awakened from that dream of hope, in which I once boasted myself with so much exultation, my Lord, Your Lordship's most humble, most obedient servant, ' SAX. JOHNSON.' * 1 The following note is subjoined by Mr. Langton: ' Dr. Johnson, when be 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 once receive from Lord Chester- field the sum of 10, 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.' - In this passage Dr. Johnson evidently alludes to the loss of his wife. We find the same tender recollection recurring to his mind upon innumerable occasions ; and, perhaps, no man ever more forcibly felt the truth of the sentiment so elegantly expressed by my friend Mr. Malone, in his prologue to Mr. Jephson's tragedy of Julio. : ' Vain wealth, and fame, and fortune's fostering care, If no fond breast the splendid blessings share : And, each day's bustling pageantry once past, There, only there, our bliss is found at last.' ' Upon comparing this copy with that which Dr. Johnson dictated to me from recollection, the variations are found to be so slight, that 214 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1754 ' While this was the talk of the town (says Dr. Adams, in a letter to me), I happened to visit Dr. V.'arlmrton, who finding that I was acquainted with Johnson, desired me earnestly to cany his compli- ments to him, and to tell him, that he honoured him for his manly behaviour in rejecting these condescen- sions of Lord Chesterfield, and for resenting the treatment he had received from him with a proper spirit. Johnson was visibly pleased with this com- pliment, for he had always a high opinion of War- burton.' 1 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 comparing the various editions of Johnson's Imitation* of Juvenal. In the tenth Satire one of the couplets npon the vanity of wishes even for literary distinction stood thus : ' Yet think what ills the scholar'! life snail, Toil, envy, want, the garret, and the jail.' But after experiencing the uneasiness which Lord Chesterfield's fallacious 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 j&iL* this must be added to the many other proofs which he gave of the wonderful_e_xtent and accuracy of his memory. To gratify the curious in composition, I have deposited both the copies in the British Museum. 1 Soon after Edwards'* Canons of Criticism came out, Johnson was dining at Tonson the Bookseller's, with Hayman the Painter, and some more company. Hayman related to Sir Joshua Reynolds, that the_conyersation havine 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, 1 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. JET.45] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 215 That Lord Chesterfield must have been mortified by the lofty contempt, 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 unconcerned. Dr. Adams men- tioned 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 anybody 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 im- posed 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 endea- voured 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 Lord- 216 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1754 ship was well acquainted, and was, indeed, himself one of its ornaments. Dr. Adams expostulated with Johnson, and sug- gested that his not being admitted when he called on him was probably not to be imputed to Lord Chester- field ; for his Lordship had declared to Dodsley, that ' he would have turned off the best servant he erer had if he had known that he denied him to a man who would have been always more than welcome ' ; and in confirmation of this, he insisted on Lord Chesterfield's general affability and easiness of access, especially to literary men. ' Sir (said Johnson), that is not Lord Chesterfield ; he is the proudest man this day existing.' 'No (said Dr. Adams), there is one person, at least, as proud ; I think, by your own account, you are the prouder man of the two.' ' But mine (replied Johnson instantly) was defensive pride.' This, as Dr. Adams well observed, was one of those happy turns for which he was so remarkably ready. Johnson having now explicitly avowed his opinion of Lord Chesterfield, did not refrain from expressing himself concerning that nobleman with pointed free- dom : 'This man (said he) I thought had been a Lord among wits ; but, I find, he is only a wit among Lords.' 1 And 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.' 8 1 [Johnson's character of Chesterfield seems to be imitated from inter doctot nobilissimus, inter nobilts doctittimtu, inter utrosynt optimus (ex Apuleio. v. Erasm. Dedication of Adagies to Lord Mountjoy) ; and from i&twrr)? ct> the to prosecute^ Johnson never made the smallest ajteration in prejudice against , ry, an a Commissioner of Excise.' The persons to whom he alludes were Mr. Joan Oldnuxon, and George Ducket, Esq. 244 LIFE OF DR. JO!I.\sn\ [ I755 nd temporary poem.; whence any mean production ..called <*,,' -' Lesicoyrapker, a writer of dictionaries, a harmlctt drudge.' At the time when he wan concluding hi. rery elo- quent Preface, John.on'. mind appear, to hare been in ich a state of depre*ion, that we cannot contemplate ithout wonder the vigorou. and .plendid thought, ich so highly distinguish that performance. 'I (My. he) may surely be contented without the praiae of perfe, ti,,n, which if I could obtain in thi. gloom of ohtude, what would it avail me? I have protracted II most of those whom I wished to pleue >u.ve.unk into the grave; and .ucce* and miscarriage are empty sounds. I therefore dismis. it with frigid tranquilhty, having little to fear or hope from cen.ure or from praise.' That thi. indifference was rather a temporary than an habitual feeling, appears, I think, from h, 8 letter, to Mr. Warton ; andWever hi mi ?L n b r n affcctcd for the m ment <** * that the honour, which his great work procured h,m both at home and abroad, were very grateful to him. His friend, the Earl of Cork and Orrery '|ng at Florence, presented it to the Academia della Crusca. That Academy sent Johnson their rocabulario, 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 conclu- sion of his Preface should be expressed in terms so Desponding, when it is considered that the author was i only in his forty^bcth year. But we must ascribe its gloom to that miserable, dejection of spirits o wh,ch he was constitutionally subject, and which ^T. 46] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 245 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 unhappy, 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. Friend- ship, * the wine of life,' should, like a well-stocked cellar, be thus continually renewed ; and it is consola- tory to think that although we can seldom add what will equal the generous firtt-growtht of our youth, yet friendship becomes insensibly old in much less time than is commonly imagined, and not many years are required to make it very mellow and pleasant. \Varmtk will, no doubt, make a considerable difference. Men of affectionate temper and bright fancy will coalesce a great deal sooner than those who are cold and dull. The proposition which I have now 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 240 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1755 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 vivacity, tallied forth with a little jeu d'cxprit upon the following passage in his Grammar of the English Tongue, prefixed to the Dictionary : ' II seldom, perhaps never, begins any but the first syllable.' In an essay printed in the J'ufilic 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 appre-hen-sion, 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 : 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 compared to Locke, Newton, and Boyle? Let them rally their heroes, send forth all their powers, Their verse-men and prose-men, then match them with ours ! 1 In the third edition, published in 1773, he left out the words ptr- i:<'*s never, and added the following paragraph : ' It sometimes begins middle or final syllables in words compounded, s block-head, or derived from the Latin as cemfre-kendtd. >ET. 46] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 247 First Shakespeare and Milton, like gods in the fight, Have put their whole drama and epio to flight ; In satires, epistles, and odes, would they cope, Their numbers retreat before Dryden and Pope ; And Johnson, well ann'd like a hero of yore, lias beat forty French, 1 and will beat forty more ! ' Johnson this year gave at once a proof of his bene- volence, 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 to- wards a discovery of the longitude, and repaired to London in hopes of obtaining 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 ascer- tain the Longitude at Sea by an exact Theory of the Variation of the Magtietical Xeedle; with a Table of the Variations at the most remarkable Cities in Europe, from the year 1GCO to 1860. To diffuse it more extensively, it was accompanied with an Italian trans- lation on the opposite page, which it is supposed was the work of Signor Baretti, 5 an Italian of considerable literature, who having come to England a few years 1 The number of the French Academy employed in settling their language. * (This ingenious foreigner, who was a native of Piedmont, came to England about the year 1753, and died in London, May 5, 1789. A very candid and judicious account of him and his works, beginning with the words ' So much asperity,' and written, it is believed, by a distinguished dignitary in the Church, may be found in the Gentleman s Magazine for that year, p. 469. M. J 248 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1755 before, had been employed both in the capacity of a language-master and an author, and formed an intimacy with Dr. Johnson. This pamphlet Johnson presented to the Bodleian Library. 1 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.* In July this year he had formed some scheme of mental improvement, the particular purpose of which doe* not appear. But we find in his Prayer* 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 Christianity requires : ' 1. To rise early, and in ordur to it, to go to sleep early on Saturday. 4 9. To use some extraordinary devotion in the morning. *3. To examine the tenor of my life, and particularly the lost week ; and to mark my advances in religion, or recenioa from it. '4. To read the Scripture methodically with such helps a* are at hand. 1 See note by Mr. Warton. p. 333 [from which it appears that 'i2th' in the next note means the nth of July 1755. M.J. 2 ' On Saturday the I2th, about twelve at night, died Mr. Zachariah Williams, in his eighty-third year, after an illness of eight months, in full possession of nis mental faculties. 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 lite with better fortune.' ^T. 46] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 249 4 5. To go to church twice. ' 6. To read books of Divinity, either speculative or prac- tical 4 7. To instruct my family. 4 8. To wear off by meditation any worldly soil contracted in the week.' 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 muuifi- cent hand to give indepeadence 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, congratulate 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 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 1 [He was so far from being ' set above the necessity of making pro- vision for the day that was passing 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 hi* surety. See a letter from Johnson to him on that subject, dated teb. I9i 1756. Richardson's Corrttpoiuitnct, vol. v. p. 883. M.J 250 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1756 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, 1 and in February that his eye was restored to its use.* The pious gratitude with which he acknowledges mercies upon every occasion 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 them 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 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 Gtnitts and Writings ojffoft. The only paragraph in it that respects Johnson's personal history is this : ' For my pan 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 ff Dr. J . Ifarffn, etc., 410, 1806. M.J * Prayers and Meditations. * Ibid. JET. 47] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 251 monthly publication entitled The Universal Visitor. Christopher Smart, with whose unhappy vacillation of mind he sincerely sympathised, was one of the stated undertakers of this miscellany ; and it was to assist him that Johnson sometimes employed his pen. All the essays marked with two 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 ' Farther Thoughts on Agriculture ' ; 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,' and ' A Dis- sertation on the Epitaphs written by Pope.' The last of 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, 1 cannot explain; but with deference to those who have ascribed to him the three essays which 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 dis- covered. He continued to write in it, with interims- 252 LIKE OF DR. JOHNSON [1756 sions, till the fifteenth number ; ami I think that he never gave better proof* of the force, acuteness, and vivacity of his mind, than in this miscellany, whether we consider bin original essays, or hi* reviews of the works of others. The ' Preliminary Address ' 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 ' ; ' Remarks on the M ilitia Bill ' ; ' Observations on his Britannic Majesty's Treaties with the Empress of Russia and the Laud- grave of Hesse Cassel ' ; ' Observations on the Present State of Affairs ' ; and * Memoirs of Frederick HI. King of Prussia.' In all these he displays extensive political knowledge and sagacity, expressed with un- common energy and perspicuity, without any of those words which he sometimes took a pleasure in adopting, in imitation of Sir Thomas Browne; of whose Christian Moral* 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 Brownitm. 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 wheii he met a tall woman he immediately com- manded one of his Titanian retinue to marry her, that they might propagate procerity. ' For this Anglo- AT. 47] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 253 Latin 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; Warton's Essay on the Writings and Genius of Pope, vol. L ; Hampton's Translation of Polybius; Blackwell's Memoir* of the Court of Augustus; Russel's Natural History of Aleppo; Sir Isaac Newton's Arguments in Proof of a Deity; Borlase's History of the Isle* of Sicily ; Holme's Experi- ment* on Bleaching ; Browne's Christian Moral* ; Hales On di*tilling Sea- Water, Ventilator* in Ship*, and curing an ill Taste in Milk ; Lucas's Essay on Waters ; Keith's Catalogue of the Scottifh Bishops ; Browne's Hi*tory of Jamaica ; Philosophical Transactions, voL xlix. ; Mrs. Lenox's Translation of Bully's Memoirs ; Miscellanies by Elizabeth Harrison ; Evans's Map and Account of the Middle Colonies in America ; Letter on the Case of Admiral Byng ; Appeal to the People concerning Admiral Byng; Hanway's Eight Days' Journey, and Essay on Tea ; The Cadet, a Military Treatise ; Some farther 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; 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. 1 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 lV e omitted the asterisk as puzzling. All Johnson's avowed are included in the collected editions of his works.-A. B.] 2.14 LIFE OP DR. JOHNSON [1756 Hawkins, with equal discernment, ha* inserted it in his collection of Johnson's works : whereas it haa no resemblance to Johnson's composition, mod 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 Observation* on the present State of Affairt, 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 EngliAman expect* 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 thoce whom vanity or interest make the follower* of ministers, concerning the necessity of con- fidence in our governors, and the presumption of prying with profane eyes into the recesses of policy, it is evident that this reverence can be claimed only by counsels yet unexecuted, and projects suspended in deliberation. But when a design has ended in miscarriage or success, when every eye and every ear is witness to general discontent, or general satisfac- tion, 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 exclamation, or perplexes by indigested narratives ; to show whence happiness 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 ^T. 47] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 255 effect of which the present reign afforded an illustrious example, when addresses from all parts of the kingdom controlled an audacious attempt to introduce a new power subversive of the crown. A still stronger proof of his patriotic spirit appears in his review of an Etsay on Watert, by Dr. Lucas, of whom, after describing him as a man well known to the world for his daring defiance of power, when he thought it exerted on the side of wrong, he thus speaks : ' The Irish miniate drove him from hii native country by a proclamation, in which they charge him with Crimea of which they never intended to be called to the proof, and oppressed him by methods equally irresistible by guilt and innocence. 'Let the m*n 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 Memoir* 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 Commonwealth of Rome, which grew great only by the misery of the rest of mankind. The Romans, like others, as soon as they grew rich, grew corrupt ; and in their corruption sold the lives and freedoms of themselves, and of one another.' Again : ' A people, who while they were poor robbed man- 2v; LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1756 kind ; and as soon as they became rich, robbed one another.' In hi* review of the Mitcrllanift in prote 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. Howe. This, however, is not all their praise ; they have laboured to add to her brightness of imagery, her purity of sentiments. The poets have had Dr. Watts before their eyes ; a writer, who, if ho 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 employ the orna- ments of romance in the decoration of religion, was, I think, first made by Mr. Boyle's Martyrdom of Theodora; but Boyle's philosophical studies did not allow him time for the cultivation of style : and the completion of the great "linrifn was reserved for Mrs. Ilowo. 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 favourite that the universal church has hitherto detested ! ' This praise the general interest of mankind requires to be given to writers who please and do not corrupt, who instruct and do not weary. But to them all human eulogies are vain, whom I believe applauded by angels, and numbered with the just.' His defence of tea against Mr. Jonas Hanway*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 infusion of that fragrant leaf JET. 47] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 257 than Johnson. The quantities which he drank of it at all hours were so great, that his nerves must have been uncommonly strong not to have been extremely relaxed by such an intemperate use of 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. Hauway 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 believe, in the whole course of his life, when he condescended to oppose anything 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 : 1 late tulit pretium jam none oertaminis hujus, Qui, com victus erit, mecum oertasse feretur." Met. xiii. 19. But, indeed, the good Mr. Han way laid himself so open to ridicule, that Johnson's animadversions upon his 4 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 le autres,' the nation has long been satisfied 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 Bed- fordshire, there is the following epitaph upon his monument, which I have transcribed : VOL. L R 268 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1756 'TO ra rsBFSTOAL DUOBACB or PUBLIC jonm, TOB BOSOUBABLB JOB* BYBO, ., AI>MIKAL O* TBB BLUB, rBLL A MABTTB TO POLITICAL rEBBBCUTlO5, MABCH 14, Of TUB TBAB 1707 J WHBV BBATBBT AJTD LOTALTT WEBB DflUrriGUJfT MiuUW* FOB TBB LITB AMD BOVOCB OF A VAVAL omcra.' Johnson's most exquisite critical essay in the Liter- ary Magazine, and indeed anywhere, is his review of Soame Jenyns's Inquiry into the Origin of KvU. l 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 excruci- ating 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. BicknelTs 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 Aim enough of it. ' His triumph over Jenyns is thus described by my friend Mr. Courtenay in his Poetical Review of the literary and moral Character of Dr. Johnton ; a per- formance of such merit, that had I not been honoured with a very kind and partial notice in it, I should echo 1 [Every reader should make it in his business to turn to this Review, which will be found in all collected editions of Johnson. It is a master- piece of wit, and most characteristic. A. B.) JKI. 47] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 259 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 masks, and points the way To pathless wastes, where wilderM sage* stray : Where, like a farthing link-boy, Jenyns stands, And the dim torch drops from his feeble hands.' 1 This year Mr. William Payne, brother of the re- spectable bookseller of that name, published An Intro- duction to the Game of Draught*, to which Johnson ,- -- PPw w t ***- and magazines an illiberal and petulant attack upon him, in the !2Sv !2 Epitaph, under the name of Mr. Soame Jenyns, very un- rthy of that gentleman, who had quietly submitted to the critical lash while Johnson lived. It assumed, as characteristics of him, all the vulgar circumstances of abuse which had circulated amongst the ^, K! I?" " unbecon >> indulgence ofjpuny resentment, at a S ohSili? 1 "^ W S* 1 * ^V-dvanced age, and had a near pro- pea of descending to the grave. I was truly sorry for it ; for he was then become an avowed, and fas my Lord Bishop of London, who had aser .us conversation with him on the subject, assures me) a sincere lan. H could not expect that Johnson's numerous friends would patiently bear to hare the memory of their master stigmatised by no Bean pen, but that, at least, one would be found to retort. Accord- ujglv. this unjust and sarcastic Epitaph was met in the same public EPITAPH. Prtpartdfor 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 displeased, With a strong critic grasp the urchin squeezed. For thirty years its coward spleen it kept, ill in the dust the mighty Genius slept ; Then stunk and fretted in expiring snuff, And blink'd at Johnson with its last poor puff.' 200 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1756 Contributed a Dedication to the Earl of Koch ford, 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 Buffered ; 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 learnt 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 tranquillizes the mind ; and, accordingly, 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 faculties ; 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, fore- sight, 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 intro- duction to the London Chronicle, an evening news- paper ; and even in so slight a performance exhibited peculiar talents. This Chronicfe still subsists, and l Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd edit., p. 48. JET. 47] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 261 from what I observed, when I was abroad, has a more extensive circulation upon the Continent than any of the English newspapers. It was constantly read by Johnson himself ; and it is but just to observe, that it has all along been distinguished for good sense, accuracy, moderation, and delicacy. Another instance of the same nature has been com- municated to me by the Reverend Dr. Thomas Camp- bell, who has done himself considerable credit by his own writings. ' Sitting with Dr. Johnson one morn- ing alone, he asked me if I had known Dr. Madden, who was the author of the premium-scheme 1 in Ireland. On my answering in the affirmative, and also that I had for some years lived in his neighbourhood, etc., he begged of me that when I returned to Ireland I would endeavour to procure for him a poem of Dr. Madden 's, called Boulter'* Monument.* 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 1 [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, consisting of books impressed with the College Arms, are adjudged by examiners 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.' M.] [Dr. Ireland. thirteenth tii_ , , _ speaks of him in high terms of commendation in his Lift of Ambrose Philips.]. BOSWELL, Junior.] L;J LIKE OF DR. JOHNSON [1757 poem worse. 1 However, the Doctor was very thank- ful and very generous, for he gave me ten guinea*, u-hicli teat to me at that time a great mm.' He this year resumed his scheme of giving an edition of Shakespeare with notes. He issued Proposal* of considerable length,* 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 published before Christmas 1767. 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 Caesarean operation was performed by the knife of Churchill, whose 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 'a the book ? No matter where ; wise fear, you know. Forbids the robbing of a foe ; Bat what, to serve our private ends, Forbids the cheating of our friends ? ' About this period he was offered a living of con- siderable 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. 1 [Dr. Madden wrote very bad verses. Vide those prefixed to Leland's Life of Philip efAfacedtm, 410. 1758. KEARNEY.] a They have been reprinted by Mr. Malone in the Preface to his edition of Shakespeare. *T. 48] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 263 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 raiding in the country. Whoever would wish to see his thoughts upon that subject displayed in their full force, may peruse the Adventurer, Number 126. In 1757 it does not appear that he published any- thing, except some of those articles in the Literary Magazine, which have been mentioned. That Maga- zine, after Johnson ceased to write in it, gradually declined, though the popular epithet of Anligallican was added to it ; and in July 1768 it expired. He probably prepared a part of his Shakespeare 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 1785 as his, and bears sufficient marks of authenticity. By the favour of Mr. Joseph Cooper Walker of the Treasury, Dublin, I have obtained a copy of the following letter from Johnson to the venerable author of Dissertations on the History of Ireland : TO CHARLES O'CONNOR, ESQ. 1 ve lately, by the favour of Mr. ] of Ireland, and cannot forbear to 1 [Of this gentleman, who died at his seat at Ballinegare, in the county of Roscommon in Ireland, July i, 1791, in his eighty-second ' SIR, I have lately, by the favour of Mr. Faulkner, seen your account of Ireland, and cannot forbear to solicit a pro- 204 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1757 Mention of your design. Sir William Temple complains that Ireland u IOM known than any other country, a* to its andart xtate. The native* have bad little leisure, and little en- couragement, for inquiry ; and strangers, not knowing the language, have had no ability. 'I have long wished that the Irish literature war* culti- vated. 1 Ireland is known by tradition to bar* been once the seat of piety and learning : and surely it would be Tory accept- able to all those who are curious either in the original of nations, or the affinities of languages, to be further in- formed 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 provincial and unextended tongues it seldom happens that more than one are understood by any one man ; and, therefore, it seldom happens that a fair comparison can be made. I hope you will continue to cultivate this kind of learning, 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 the lovers of study, and how much pleasure your work has given to, sir, your most obliged, and most humble servant, 'SAX JOHKSOV. 'London, April 9, 1757.' year, some account may be found in the GtntUmattt tfagasin* of that date. M.I 1 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 illustra- tive of, or auxiliary to, the study of Irish antiquities or Irish history ; and that they shall give yearly two liberal premiums for two composi- tions, one in verse, and the other in prose, in the Irish language.' [Since the above was written, Mr. Flood's will has been set aside, after a trial at bar, in the Court of Exchequer in Ireland. M.] JET. 48] LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON 266 TO THE REV. MR. THOMAS WARTON 'DxAB SIR, Dr. Marsili of Padua, a learned gentleman, and good Latin poet, has a mind to see Oxford. I have given him a letter to Dr. Huddeaford, 1 and shall be glad if you will introduce him, and show him anything in Oxford. ' I am printing my new edition of Shakespeare. ' I long to see you all, but cannot conveniently oome yet Yon might write to me now and then if you were good for any- thing. But honoret mutant more*.* Professors forget their friends. I shall certainly complain to Miss Jones.* I am, yours, etc., SAX JOHXSOH. ' [London,] June 21, 1757. * Please to make my compliment* to Mr. Wise.' Mr. Burney having enclosed to him an extract from the review of his Dictionary in the Bibliothtque det Savant,* and a list of subscribers to his Shakespeare, which Mr. Burney had procured in Norfolk, he wrote the following answer : TO MR. BURNEY, IN LYNNE, NORFOLK ' Sn, 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 1 ' Now, or late, Vice-Chancellor.' > ' Mr. Warton was elected Professor of Poetry at Oxford in the preceding year.' ' Miss Jones lives 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, agreeable, and amiable woman. She was sister to the Reverend River Jones, Chanter of Christ Church Cathedral at Oxford, and Johnson used to call her the Chan tress. I have heard him often address her in this passage from // Penuroto : " Thee, Chantress, oft the woods among I woo," etc. She died unmarried.' * Tom. iii. p. 482. 266 LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON [1757 receipt*, I waited till I ooold find a convenient conveyance, and day WM pa tied after day, tiQ other things drove it from mj thought* ; yet not so, but thai I remember with great pleasure your commendation of my Dictionary. Your praise was welcome, not onty because I believe it was sincere, but became praise has been very Marco. A man of your candour will be surprised when I tell you that among all my acquaint- ance there were only two, who upon the publication of my book did not endeavour to depress me with tbreaU of censure from the public, or with objections learned from those who had learned them from my own preface. 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 l 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 yon 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, SAX Jomrsojr. ' Oouffh Square, Dec. 24, 1767.' l Of Shakespeare. END OF VOL. I Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty at the Edinburgh University Press