his temper. To the friends of the King you will 1771. find him a lamb, to his enemies a lion. "For these reasons, I humbly apprehend that he would be a very able and useful member. And I will venture to fay, the employment would not be difagreeable to him; and knowing, as I do, his strong affection to the King, his ability to ferve him in that capacity, and the extreme ardour with which I am convinced he would engage in that fervice, I must repeat, that I wish moft heartily to fee him in the House. "If you think this worthy of attention, you will be pleased to take a convenient opportunity of mentioning it to Lord North. If his Lordship fhould happily approve of it, I fhall have the fatisfaction of having been, in some degree, the humble inftrument of doing my country, in my opinion, a very effential fervice. I know your good-nature, and your zeal for the publick welfare, will plead my excuse for giving you this trouble. I am, with the greatest respect, Sir, "Your moft obedient and humble fervant, "New-ftreet, March 30, 1771. This recommendation, we know, was not effectual; but how, or for what reafon, can only be conjectured. It is not to be believed that Mr. Strahan would have applied, unless Johnson had approved of it. I never heard him mention the fubject; but at a later period of his life, when Sir Joshua Reynolds told him that Mr. Edmund Burke had faid, that if he had come early into VOL. I. Q 9 parliament, Etat. 62. 1771. parliament, he certainly would have been the Etat. 62. greateft fpeaker that ever was there, Johnson exclaimed, "I fhould like to try my hand now." It has been much agitated among his friends and others, whether he would have been a powerful fpeaker in Parliament, had he been brought in when advanced in life. I am inclined to think, that his extensive knowledge, his quickness and force of mind, his vivacity and richness of expreffion, his wit and humour, and above all his poignancy of farcafm, would have had great effect in a popular affembly; and that the magnitude of his figure, and ftriking peculiarity of his manner, would have aided the effect. But I remember it was obferved by Mr. Flood, that Johnfon having been long used to fententious brevity and the short flights of conversation, might have failed in that continued and expanded kind of argument, which is requifite in ftating complicated matters in publick fpeaking; and as a proof of this he mentioned the fuppofed fpeeches in Parliament written by him for the magazine, none of which, in his opinion, were at all like real debates. The opinion of one who was himself fo eminent an orator, must be allowed to have great weight. It was confirmed by Sir William Scott, who mentioned, that Johnson had told him, that he had several times tried to fpeak in the Society of Arts and Sciences, but "had found he could not get on." From Mr. William Gerrard Hamilton I have heard, that Johnfon, when obferving to him that it was prudent for a man who had not been accustomed to fpeak in publick, to begin his speech in as fimple a manner 1771. manner as poffible, acknowledged that he rose in that fociety to deliver a speech which he had pre- Ætat. 62. pared; "but (faid he,) all my flowers of oratory forfook 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 correfpondence which had been too long discontinued: To Dr. JOHNSON. "MY DEAR SIR, Edinburgh, April 18, 1771, "I CAN now fully understand those intervals of filence in your correfpondence with me, which have often given me anxiety and uneafinefs; for although I am confcious that my veneration and love for Mr. Johnson have never in the leaft abated, yet I have deferred for almoft a year and a half to write to him.” In the fubfequent 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. To JAMES BOSWELL, Efq. "DEAR SIR, "IF you are now able to comprehend that I might neglect to write without diminution of affection, you have taught me, likewise, how that Q9 2 neglect 1771. Etat. 62. neglect may be uneafily felt without refentment. I wished for your letter a long time, and when it came, it amply recompenfed the delay. I never was so much pleased as now with your account of yourself; and fincerely hope, that between publick business, improving ftudies, and domestick pleasures, neither melancholy nor caprice will find any place for entrance. Whatever philofophy may determine of material nature, it is certainly true of intellectual nature, that it abbors 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 your studies, mind your bufinefs, make your lady happy, and be a good Chriftian. After this, triftitiam et metus • Trades protervis in mare Creticum "If we perform our duty, we shall be safe and fteady, Sive per,' &c. whether we climb the Highlands, or are toft among the Hebrides; and I hope the time will come when we may try our powers both with cliffs and water. I fee but little of Lord Elibank, I know not why; perhaps by my own fault. I am this day going into StaffordThire and Derbyshire for fix weeks. "I am, dear Sir, "Your most affectionate, "And most humble fervant, London, June 20, 1771. SAM. JOHNSON." T To Sir JOSHUA REYNOLDS, in Leicester-fields. "DEAR SIR, "WHEN I came to Lichfield, I found that my portrait had been much vifited, and much admired. Every man has a lurking wish to appear confiderable in his native place; and I was pleased with the dignity conferred by fuch a teftimony of your regard. "Be pleased, therefore, to accept the thanks of, Sir, "Your most obliged "THE bearer of this, Mr. Beattie, Profeffor of Moral Philofophy at Aberdeen, is defirqus of being introduced to your acquaintance. His genius and learning, and labours in the fervice of virtue and religion, render him very wor-' thy 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." In October I again wrote to him, thanking him for his laft letter, and his obliging reception of Mr. Beattie; informing him that I had been at |