observing to him that it was prudent for a man who 1771. had not been accustomed to speak in publick, to begin Etat. his speech in as simple a manner as possible, acknowl- 62. edged that he rose in that society to deliver a speech which he had prepared;" but (said he,) all my flowers of oratory forsook me." I however cannot help wishing, that he had " tried his hand" in Parliament; and I wonder that ministry did not make the experiment. I at length renewed a correspondence which had been too long discontinued: 66 TO DR. JOHNSON. MY DEAR SIR, "Edinburgh, April 18, 1771. "I CAN now fully understand those intervals of silence in your correspondence with me, which have often given me anxiety and uneasiness; for although I am conscious that my veneration and love for Mr. Johnson have never in the least abated, yet I have deferred for almost a year and a half to write to him.". In the subsequent part of this letter, I gave him an account of my comfortable life as a married man, and a lawyer in practice at the Scotch bar; invited him to Scotland, and promised to attend him to the Highlands, and Hebrides. DEAR SIR, (6 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. "IF you are now able to comprehend that I might neglect to write without diminution of affection, you have taught me, likewise, how that neglect may be uneasily felt without resentment. I wished for your letter a long time, and when it came, it amply recompensed the delay. I never was so much pleased as now with your account of yourself; and sincerely hope, that between publick business, improving studies, and domestick pleasures, neither melancholy nor caprice. will find any place for entrance. Whatever philosophy may determine of material nature, it is certainly true of intellectual nature, that it abhors a vacuum: our minds cannot be empty; and evil will break in upon them, if they are not pre-occupied by good. My dear Sir, mind 1771. your studies, mind your business, make your lady hapEtat. Py, and be a good Christian. After this, 62. tristitiam et metus Trades protervis in mare Creticum "If we perform our duty, we shall be safe and steady, Sive per,' &c. whether we climb the Highlands, or are tost among the Hebrides; and I hope the time will come when we may try our powers both with cliffs and water. I see but little of Lord Elibank, I know not why; perhaps by my own fault. I am this day going into Staffordshire and Derbyshire for six weeks. "I am, dear Sir, "Your most affectionate, "And most humble servant, 66 London, June 20, 1771. "SAM. JOHNSON." 66 TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, IN LEICESTER-FIELDS. 66 DEAR SIR, "WHEN I came to Lichfield, I found that my portrait had been much visited, and much admired. Every man has a lurking wish to appear considerable in his native place; and I was pleased with the dignity conferred by such a testimony of your regard. "Be pleased, therefore, to accept the thanks of, Sir, your most obliged, "And most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." "Ashbourn in Derbyshire, July 17, 1771. 66 TO DR. JOHNSON. MY DEAR SIR, Edinburgh, July 27, 1771. "THE bearer of this, Mr. Beattie, Professor of Moral Philosophy at Aberdeen, is desirous of being introduced to your acquaintance. His genius and learning, and labours in the service of virtue and religion, render him very worthy of it; and as he has a high esteem of your character, I hope you will give him a favourable reception. I ever am, &c. "JAMES BOSWELL." TO BENNET LANGTON, ESQ. AT LANGTON, NEAR "I AM lately returned from Staffordshire and Derbyshire. The last letter mentions two others which you have written to me since you received my pamphlet. Of these two I never had but one, in which you mentioned a design of visiting Scotland, and, by consequence, put my journey to Langton out of my thoughts. My summer wanderings are now over, and I am engaging in a very great work, the revision of my Dictionary; from which I know not, at present, how to get loose. "If you have cbserved, or been told, any errours or omissions, you will do me a great favour by letting me know them. 66 Lady Rothes, I find, has disappointed you and herself. Ladies will have these tricks. The Queen and Mrs. Thrale, both ladies of experience, yet both missed their reckoning this summer. I hope, a few months will recompense your uneasiness. "Please to tell Lady Rothes how highly I value the honour of her invitation, which it is my purpose to obey as soon as I have disengaged myself. In the mean time I shall hope to hear often of her Ladyship, and every day better news and better, till I hear that you have both the happiness, which to both is very sincerely wished, by, Sir, "Your most affectionate, and 66 August 29, 1771. In October I again wrote to him, thanking him for his last letter, and his obliging reception of Mr. Beattie; informing him that I had been at Alnwick lately, and had good accounts of him from Dr. Percy. In his religious record of this year we observe that he was better than usual, both in body and mind, and better satisfied with the regularity of his conduct. But he is still trying his ways" too rigorously. He charges 1771. Etat. 62. 500 THE LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON. Etat. 1771. himself with not rising early enough; yet he tions what was surely a sufficient excuse for sap62. posing it to be a duty seriously required as he all his life appears to have thought it. "One grat nindrance is want of rest; my nocturnal compants grew less troublesome towards morning I am tempted to repair the deficiencies of the night." Alas!. how hard would it be, if this indulgence were to be imputed to a sick man as a crime. In his retrospect on the following Easter-eve, he says, "When I review the last year, I am able to recollect so little done, that shame and sorrow, though perhaps too weakly, come upon me." Had he been judging of anyone else in the same circumstances, how clear would he have been on the favourable side. How very difficult, and in my opinion almost constitutionally impossible it was for him to be raised early, even by the strongest resolutions, appears from a note in one of his little paper-books, (containing words arranged for his Dictionary,) written, I suppose, about 1753: "I do not remember that since I left Oxford, I ever rose early by mere choice, but once or twice at Edial, and two or three times for the Rambler." I think he had fair ground enough to have quieted his mind on the subject, by concluding that he was physically incapable of what is at best but a commodious regulation. 3 Prayers and Meditations, p. 101. END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. |