1770.

Etat. 61.

"But let us view him in fome inftances of more familiar life.

"His general mode of life, during my acquaintance, feemed to be pretty uniform. About twelve o'clock I commonly vifited him, and frequently found him in bed, or declaiming over his tea, which he drank very plentifully. He He generally had a levee of morning visitors, chiefly men of letters; Hawkefworth, Goldsmith, Murphy, Langton, Steevens, Beauclerk, &c. &c. and fometimes learned ladies, particularly I remember a French lady of wit and fashion doing him the honour of a vifit. He feemed to me to be confidered as a kind of publick oracle, whom every body thought they had a right to vifit and confult; and doubtless they were well rewarded. I never could discover how he found time for his compofitions. He declaimed all the morning, then went to dinner at a tavern, where he commonly ftaid late, and then drank his tea at fome friend's house, over which he loitered a great while, but seldom took fupper. I fancy he must have read and wrote chiefly in the night, for I can fcarcely recollect that he ever refufed going with me to a tavern, and he often went to Ranelagh, which he deemed a place of innocent recreation.

"He frequently gave all the filver in his pocket to the poor, who watched him, between his house and the tavern where he dined. He walked the ftreets at all hours, and faid he was never robbed, for the rogues knew he had little money, nor had the appearance of having much.

Though

"Though the most acceffible and communica

1770.

tive man alive, yet when he fufpected he was in- Etat. 61. vited to be exhibited, he constantly spurned the invitation.

"Two young women from Staffordshire vifited him when I was prefent, to confult him on the fubject of Methodism, to which they were inclined.

Come, (faid he,) you pretty fools, dine with Maxwell and me at the Mitre, and we will talk over that subject;' which they did, and after dinner he took one of them upon his knee, and fondled her for half an hour together.

"Upon a vifit to me at a country lodging near Twickenham, he asked what fort of fociety I had there. I told him, but indifferent; as they chiefly confifted of opulent traders, retired from business. He said, he never much liked that class of people; For, Sir, (faid he,) they have loft the civility of tradefmen, without acquiring the manners of gentlemen.'

Johnson was much attached to London: he obferved, that a man ftored his mind better there, than any where elfe; and that in remote fituations a man's body might be feafted, but his mind was starved, and his faculties apt to degenerate, from want of exercise and competition. No place, (he faid,) cured a man's vanity or arrogance, fo well as London; for as no man was either great or good per fe, but as compared with others not fo good or great, he was fure to find in the metropolis many his equals, and fome his fuperiours. He obferved, that a man in London was in lefs danger of falling in love indifcreetly, than any where elfe; for there Pp 2

the

1770.

the difficulty of deciding between the conflicting Atat. 61. pretenfions of a vast variety of objects, kept him fafe. He told me, that he had frequently been offered country preferment, if he would confent to take orders; but he could not leave the improved fociety of the capital, or confent to exchange the exhilarating joys and splendid decorations of publick life, for the obfcurity, infipidity, and uniformity of remote fituations.

Speaking of Mr. Harte, Canon of Windsor, and writer of The History of Gustavus Adolphus,' he much commended him as a scholar, and a man of the most companionable talents he had ever known. He faid, the defects in his hiftory proceeded not from imbecillity, but from foppery.

"He loved, he said, the old black letter books; they were rich in matter, though their style was inelegant; wonderfully fo, confidering how converfant the writers were with the best models of antiquity.

"Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy,' he said, was the only book that ever took him out of bed two hours fooner than he wished to rise.

"He frequently exhorted me to fet about writing a History of Ireland, and archly remarked, there had been some good Irish writers, and that one Irishman might at least afpire to be equal to another. He had great compaffion for the miferies and diftreffes of the Irish nation, particularly the Papifts; and severely reprobated the barbarous debilitating policy of the British government, which, he faid, was the most detestable mode of perfecution.

perfecution. To a gentleman, who hinted fuch 1770. policy might be neceffary to fupport the authority Etat. 61. of the English government, he replied by saying,

Let the authority of the English government perish, rather than be maintained by iniquity. Better would it be to restrain the turbulence of the natives by the authority of the fword, and to make them amenable to law and juftice by an effectual and vigorous police, than to grind them to powder by all manner of difabilities and incapacities. Better (faid he,) to hang or drown people at once, than by an unrelenting perfecution to beggar and ftarve them.' The moderation and humanity of the prefent times have, in fome measure, juftified the wisdom of his obfervations.

"Dr. Johnson was often accused of prejudices, nay, antipathy, with regard to the natives of Scotland. Surely, fo illiberal a prejudice never entered his mind: and it is well known, many natives of that refpectable country poffeffed a large fhare in his esteem; nor were any of them ever excluded from his good offices, as far as opportunity permitted. True it is, he confidered the Scotch, nationally, as a crafty, designing people, eagerly attentive to their own intereft, and too apt to overlook the claims and pretenfions of other people. While they confine their benevolence, in a manner, exclufively to thofe of their own country, they expect to fhare in the good offices of other people. Now (faid Johnson,) this principle is either right or wrong; if right, we should do well to imitate fuch conduct; if wrong, we cannot too much deteft it.'

1770.

Etat. 61.

Being folicited to compofe a funeral fermon for the daughter of a tradefman, he naturally enquired into the character of the deceased; and being told fhe was remarkable for her humility and condefcenfion to inferiours, he obferved, that those were very laudable qualities, but it might not be so easy to difcover who the lady's inferiours were,

"Of a certain player he remarked, that his converfation usually threatened and announced more than it performed; that he fed you with a continual renovation of hope, to end in a conftant fucceffion of difappointment,

"When exasperated by contradiction, he was apt to treat his opponents with too much acrimony; as, Sir, you don't fee your way through that queftion: Sir, you talk the language of ignorance.' On my obferving to him that a certain gentleman had remained filent the whole evening, in the midst of a very brilliant and learned society, Sir, (faid he,) the converfation overflowed, and drowned him.'

"His philofophy, though auftere and folemn, was by no means morofe and cynical, and never blunted the laudable fenfibilities of his character, or exempted him from the influence of the tender paffions. Want of tenderness, he always alledged, was want of parts, and was no lefs a proof of ftupidity than depravity.

Speaking of Mr. Hanway, who published "An Eight Day's Journey from London to Portsmouth," "Jonas, (faid he,) acquired fome reputation by travelling abroad, but loft it all by travelling at home.'