to particular persons qualities which are common to all mankind, as Homer has done.”

1776.

Ætat. 67

WILKES.

to work after, but every one judges of common right, according to the extent and comprehenfion of his own idea; therefore he advises to labour and refit old characters and subjects, particularly those made known and authorised by the practice of Homer and the Epick writers.

The “ Note” is,

“ Difficile est PROPRIÈ COMMUNIA DICERE." Lambin's Comment is “ Communia hoc loco appellat Horatius argumenta fabularum à nullo adhuc tractata : et ita, quæ cuivis exposita funt et ir medio quodammodo pofita, quasi vacua et à nemine occupata.” And that this is the true meaning of communia is evidently fixed by the words ignota indiētaque, which are explanatory of it; so that the sense given it in the commentary, is unquestionably the right one. Yet, notwithstanding the clearness of the case, a late critick hath this strange passage: “ Difficile quidem elle propriè communia dicere, hoc est, materiam vulgaren, notam et è medio petitam, ita immutare atque exornare, ut nova et scriptori propria videatur, ultro concedimus; et maximi procul dubio ponderis ifta eft observatio. Sed omnibus utrinque collatis, et tum difficilis, tum venusti, tam judicii quam ingenii ratione habitâ, major videtur elle gloria fabulam formare penitùs novam, quam veterem, utcunque mutatam, de novo. exhibere. (Poet. Præl. v. ii. p. 164.) Where having first put a wrong construction on the word communia, he employs it to introduce an impertinent criticism. For where does the poet prefer the glory of refitting old subjects to that of inventing new ones? The contrary is implied in what he urges about the superiour difficulty of the latter, from which he dissuades his countrymen, only in respect of their abilities and inexperience in these matters; and in order to cultivate in them, which is the main view of the Epistle, a spirit of correctness, by sending them to the old subjects, treated by the Greek writers.”

For my own part (with all deference for Dr. Hurd, who thinks the cafe clear,) I consider the passage, “ Difícile est propriè communia dicere," to be a crux for the criticks on Horace.

The explication which My Lord of Worcester treats with so much contempt, is nevertheless countenanced by authority which I find quoted by the learned Baxter, in his edition of Horace, “ Difficile est propriè communia dicere, h. e, res vulgares disertis verbis enarrare, vel humile thema cum dignitate tractare. Difficile eft communes res propriis explicare verbis. Vet. Schol.”

I was much disappointed to find that the great critick, Dr. Bentley, has no note upon this very difficult passage, as from his vigorous and illuminated mind I should have expected to receive more satisfaction than I have yet had.

Sanadon thus treats of it, " Propriè communia dicere ; c'est à dire qu'il n'est pas aisé de former à ces personnages d'imagination des caractères particuliers et cependant vraisemblables. Comme l'on a eté le maitre de les former tels qu’on a voulu, les fautes que l'on fait en cela font moins pardonnables. C'est pourquoi Horace conseille de prendre toujours des sujets connus tels que font par exemple ceux que l'on peut tirer des poèmes d'Homere."

And Dacier observes upon it, “ Apres avoir marquè les deux qualités qu'il faut donner aux personnages qu’on invente, il conseille aux Poêles tragiques, de n'user pas trop facilement de cette liberté quils ont d'en inventer, car il est très difficile de reusir dans ces nouveaux caracteres. Il eft mal aijë, dit Horace, de traiter proprement, c'est à dire convenablement, des sujets communs ; c'est à dire, des sujets inventés, et qui n'ont aucun fondement ni dans l'Histoire ni dans la Fable;. et il les appelle communs, parce qu'ils sont en disposition à tout le monde, et que tout le monde a le

1776.

Wilkes. “We have no City-Poet now; that is an office which has gone
Aitat. 67. into disuse. The last was Elkanah Settle. There is something in names

which one cannot help feeling. Now Elkanah Settle sounds so queer, who
can expect much from that name? We Thould have no hesitation to give it
for John Dryden, in preference to Elkanah Settle, from the names only,
without knowing their different merits.” Johnson. “I suppose, Sir, Settle
did as well for Aldermen in his time, as John Home could do now. Where
did Beckford and Trecothick learn Engiish?”

Mr. Arthur Lee mentioned some Scotch who had taken posestion of a
barren part of America, and wondered why they should choose it. Johnson,
“ Why, Sir, all barrenness is comparative. The Scotch would not know
it to be barren." Boswell. “Come, come, he is flattering the English.
You have now been in Scotland, Sir, and say if you did not see meat
and drink enough there." Johnson. " Why yes, Sir; meat and drink
enough to give the inhabitants sufficient strength to run away from home.”
All these quick and lively fallies were faid sportively, quite in jeft, and
with a smile, which showed that he meant only wit. Upon this topick he
and Mr. Wilkes could perfectly assimilate; here was a bond of union between
them, and I was conscious that as both of them had visited Caledonia, both
were fully satisfied of the strange narrow ignorance of those who imagine
that it is a land of famine. But they amused themselves with perfevering
in the old jokes. When I claimed a superiority for Scotland over Eng-
land in one respect, that no man can be arrested there for a debt merely
because another swears it against him; but there must first be the judge-
ment of a court of law ascertaining its justice; and that a seizure of the

« You

person before judgement is obtained can take place only, if his creditor should 1776.
swear that he is about to fly from the country, or, as it is technically Ætat. 67.
expressed, is in meditatione fugæ. WILKES. " That, I should think, may be
safely sworn of all the Scotch nation.” Johnson. (to Mr. Wilkes)
must know, Sir, I lately took my friend Boswell and shewed him genuine civilised
life in an English provincial town. I turned him loose at Lichfield, my native
city, that he might see for once real civility : for you know he lives among
savages in Scotland, and among rakes in London.” Wilkes. “Except when
he is with grave, sober, decent people like you and me.” Johnson. (smiling)

,
“ And we ashamed of him.”

They were quite frank and easy. Johnson told the story of his asking Mrs.
Macaulay to allow her footman to sit down with them, to prove the ridiculous-
ness of the argument for the equality of mankind; and he said to me afterwards,
with a nod of satisfaction, “ You saw Mr. Wilkes acquiesced.” Wilkes talked
with all imaginable freedom of the ludicrous title given to the Attorney-
General, Diabolus Regis, adding, “I have reason to know something about that
officer, for I was prosecuted for a libel.” Johnson, who many people would
have supposed must have been furiously angry at hearing this talked of so lightly,
said not a word. He was now, indeed, “a good-humoured fellow.”

After dinner we had an accession of Mrs. Knowles, the Quaker lady, well known for her various talents, and of Mr. Alderman Lee. Amidst some patriotick groans, somebody (I think the Alderman) said, “Poor Old England is lost.” Johnson. “Sir, it is not so much to be lamented that Old England is loft, as that the Scotch have found it o.” Wilkes. “ Had Lord Bute governed Scotland only, I should not have taken the trouble to write his eulogy, and dedicate · MORTIMER' to him."

Mr. Wilkes held a candle to shew a fine print of a beautiful female figure which hung in the room, and pointed out the elegant contour of the bosom with the finger of an arch connoisseur. He afterwards waggishly insisted with me, that all the time Johnson shewed visible signs of a fervent admiration of the corresponding charms of the fair Quaker.

This record, though by no mean's so perfect as I could wish, will serve to give a notion of a very curious interview, which was not only pleasing at the time, but had the agreeable and benignant effect of reconciling any

a

6

a

• It would not become me to expatiate on this strong and pointed remark, in which a very
great deal of meaning is condensed.
Vol. II.

N

animosity,

1976. animosity, and sweetening any acidity, which in the various bustle of political
Ætat. 67. contest, had been produced in the minds of two men, who though widely

different, had so many things in common-classical learning, modern litera-
ture, wit, and humour, and ready repartee—that it would have been much to
be regretted if they had been for ever at a distance from each other.

Mr. Burke gave me much credit for this successful negociation ; and
pleasantly said, that “there was nothing to equal it in the whole history of the
Corps Diplomatique.”

I attended Dr. Johnson home, and had the satisfaction to hear him tell Mrs. Williams how much he had been pleased with Mr. Wilkes's company, and what an agreeable day he had passed.

I talked a good deal to him of the celebrated Margaret Caroline Rudd, whom I had visited, induced by the fame of her talents, address, and irresistible power of fascination. To a lady who disapproved of my visiting her, he said on a former occasion, “ Nay, Madam, Boswell is in the right; I should have visited her myself, were it not that they have now a trick of putting every thing into the newspapers.” This evening he exclaimed, “I envy him his acquaintance with Mrs. Rudd.”

I mentioned a scheme which I had of making a tour to the Ine of Man, and giving a full account of it; and that Mr. Burke had playfully suggested as a motto,

“ The proper study of mankind is Man."

a

Johnson. “Sir, you will get more by the book than the jaunt will cost you ;
fo
you

will have your diversion for nothing, and add to your reputation.”
On the evening of the next day I took leave of him, being to set out for
Scotland. I thanked him with great warmth for all his kindness.“ Sir, (faid
he,) you are very welcome. Nobody repays it with more.”

How very false is the notion which has gone round the world of the rough,
and passionate, and harsh manners of this great and good man. That he had
occasional sallies of heat of temper, and that he was sometimes, perhaps, too
“ easily provoked” by absurdity and folly, and sometimes too desirous of
triumph in colloquial contest, must be allowed. The quickness both of his
perception and sensibility disposed him to fudden explosions of fatire ; to
which his extraordinary readiness of wit was a strong and almost irresistible
incitement. To adopt one of the finest images in Mr. Home's “Douglas,"

On

|

1776.

Ætat. 67.

On each glance of thought
« Decision followed, as the thunderbolt
« Pursues the flash !”

I admit that the beadle within him was often so eager to apply the lash, that
the Judge had not time to consider the case with sufficient deliberation.

That he was occasionally remarkable for violence of temper may be
granted : but let us ascertain the degree, and not let it be supposed that he
was in a perpetual rage, and never without a club in his hand, to knock
down every one who approached him. On the contrary, the truth is, that
by much the greatest part of his time he was civil, obliging, nay, polite in
the true sense of the word; so much so, that many gentlemen, who were
long acquainted with him, never received, or even heard a severe expression
from him.
It was, I think, after I had left London this year, that an Epitaph, which

I
Dr. Johnson had written for the monument of Dr. Goldfinith in West-
minster - Abbey, gave occasion to a Remonstrance to the MonARCH OF
LITERATURE, for an account of which I am indebted to Sir William Forbes,
of Pitsigo.
. That

may have the subject more fully and clearly before them,
I shall first insert the Epitaph.

.

my readers

« OLIVARII GOLDSMITH,

“ Poetæ, Physici, Historici,
Qui nullum ferè fcribendi genus

« Non tetigit,
« Nullum quod tetigit non ornavit :
“ Sive risus essent movendi,

« Sive lacrymą,
“ Affetuum potens at lenis dominator:

« Ingenio fublimis, vividus, versatilis,
« Oratione grandis, nitidus, · venuftus :
« Hoc monumento memoriam coluit

" Sodalium amor,
« Amicorum fides,
« Lectorum veneratio. .

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