amuse him to get a letter from me dated at Salamanca. JOHNSON. "I love the university of Salamanca; for when the Span1ards were in doubt as to the lawfulness of their conquering America, the university of Salamanca gave it as their opinion that it was not lawful." He spoke this with great emotion, and with that generous warmth which dictated the lines in his "London," against Spanish encroachment.

I expressed my opinion of my friend Derrick as but a poor writer. JOHNSON. "To be sure, sir, he is: but are you to consider that his being a literary man has got for him all that he has. It has made him king of Bath. Sir, he has nothing to say for himself but that he is a writer. Had he not been a writer, he must have been sweeping the crossings in the streets, and asking halfpence from every body that passed."

In_justice, however, to the memory of Mr. Derrick, who was my first tutor in the ways of London, and showed me the town in all its variety of departments both literary and sportive, the particulars of which Dr. Johnson advised me to put in writing, it is proper to mention what Johnson, at a subsequent period, said of him 27 Aug. both as a writer and editor: "Sir, 1773. I have often said, that if Derrick's letters had been written by one of a more established name, they would have been thought very pretty letters." And, 22 Sept. I sent Derrick to Dryden's relations to gather materials for his life; and I believe he got all that I myself should have got."

1773.

Poor Derrick! I remember him with kindness. Yet I cannot withhold from my readers a pleasant humorous sally which could not have hurt him had he been alive, and now is perfectly harmless. In his collection of poems, there is one upon entering the harbour of Dublin, his native city, after a long absence. It begins thus:

"Eblana! much loved city, hail! Where first I saw the light of day." And after a solemn reflection on his being "numbered with forgotten dead," there is the following stanza:

"Unless my lines protract my fame,

"Unless my deeds protract my fame,

And he who passes sadly sings,
I knew him! Derrick was his name,

On yonder tree his carcass swings!" I doubt much whether the amiable and ingenious authour of these burlesque lines will recollect them; for they were produced extempore one evening while he and I were walking together in the dining room at Egling toune Castle, in 1760, and I have never mentioned them to him since.

Johnson said once to me, "Sir, I honour Derrick for his presence of mind. One night, when Floyd 2, another poor authour, was wandering about the streets in the night, he found Derrick fast asleep upon a bulk; upon being suddenly waked, Derrick started up: My dear Floyd, I am sorry to see you in this destitute state: will you go home with me to my lodgings 3? "

I again begged his advice as to my method of study at Utrecht. "Come," said he, "let us make a day of it. Let us go down to Greenwich and dine, and talk of of it there." The following Saturday was fixed for this excursion.

As we walked along the Strand to-night arm in arm, a woman of the town accosted us, in the usual enticing manner. "No, no, my girl," said Johnson; " it won't do." He however, did not treat her with harshness; and we talked of the wretched life of such women, and agreed, that much more misery than happiness, upon the whole, is produced by illicit commerce between the sexes.

On Saturday, July 30, Dr. Johnson and I took a sculler at the Temple-stairs, and set out for Greenwich. I asked him if he really thought a knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages an essential requisite to a good education. JOHNSON. "Most certainly, sir; for those who know them have a very great advantage over those who do not. Nay, sir, it is wonderful what a difference learning makes upon people even in the common intercourse of life, which does not appear to be much connected with it." "And yet," said I, "people go through the world very well, and carry on the business of life to good advantage, without learning." JOHNSON. "Why, sir, that may be true in cases where learning cannot possibly be of any use; for instance,

And those, who chance to read them, cry, this boy rows us as well without learning,

I knew him! Derrick was his name,
In yonder tomb his ashes lie: "

which was thus happily parodied by Mr.
John Home, to whom we owe the beauti-
ful and pathetick tragedy of Douglas:

having also visited Corsica, I found that I had exceeded the time allowed me by my father, and hastened to France in my way homewards.BOSWELL.

1[Call ye that backing your friends?-ED.]

as if he could sing the song of Orpheus to the Argonauts, who were the first sailors." He then called to the boy, "What would

2 He published a biographical work, containing an account of eminent writers, in three volumes, 8vo.

3 [No great presence of mind; for Floyd would naturally have accepted the proposal, and then Derrick would have been doubly exposed.-Ed.]

you give, my lad, to know about the Argonauts?" "Sir," said the boy, "I would give what I have." Johnson was much pleased with his answer, and we gave him a double fare. Dr. Johnson then turning to me, "Sir," said he, "a desire of knowledge is the natural feeling of mankind; and every human being whose mind is not debauched, will be willing to give all that he has to get knowledge."

We landed at the Old Swan 1, and walked to Billings-gate, where we took oars, and moved smoothly along the silver Thames. It was a very fine day. We were entertained with the immense number and variety of ships that were lying at anchor, and with the beautiful country on each side of the river.

I talked of preaching, and of the great success which those called methodists? have.

1 [The erection of a new London bridge may render it useful to observe that with the ebb-tide it is dangerous to pass through, or shoot, as it is called, the arches of the old bridge: passengers, therefore, land above the bridge, and walk to some wharf below it.- ED.]

2 All who are acquainted with the history of religion (the most important, surely, that concerns the human mind), know that the appellation of Methodists was first given to a society of students in the university of Oxford, who, about the year 1730, were distinguished by an earnest and methodical attention to devout exercises. This disposition of mind is not a novelty, or peculiar to any sect, but has been and still may be found, in many Christians of every denomination. Johnson himself was, in a dignified manner, a methodist. In his Rambler, No. 110, he mentions with respect "the whole discipline of regulated piety;" and in his "Prayers and Meditations," many in- | stances occur of his anxious examination into his spiritual state. That this religious earnestness, and in particular an observation of the influence of the Holy Spirit, has sometimes degenerated into folly, and sometimes been counterfeited for base purposes, cannot be denied. But it is not, therefore, fair to decry it when genuine. The principal argument in reason and good sense against methodism is, that it tends to debase human nature, and prevent the generous exertions of goodness, by an unworthy supposition that God will pay no regard to them; although it is positively said in the scriptures, that he " will reward every man according to his works." But I am happy to have it in my power to do justice to those whom it is the fashion to ridicule, without any knowledge of their tenets; and this I can do by quoting a passage from one of their best apologists, Mr. Milner, who thus expresses their doctrine upon this subject: "Justified by faith, renewed in his faculties, and constrained by the love of Christ, their believer moves in the sphere of love and gratitude, and all his duties flow more or less from this principle. And though they are accumulating for him in heaven a treasure of bliss proportioned to his faithfulness and activity, and it is by no means inconsistent with his

JOHNSON. "Sir, it is owing to their expressing themselves in a plain and familiar manner, which is the only way to do good to the common people, and which clergymen of genius and learning ought to do from a principle of duty, when it is suited to their congregations; a practice, for which they will be praised by men of sense. To insist against drunkenness as a crime, because it debases reason, the noblest faculty of man, would be of no service to the common people: but to tell them that they may die in a fit of drunkenness, and show them how dreadful that would be, cannot fail to make a deep impression. Sir, when your Scotch clergy give up their homely manner, religion will soon decay in that country." Let this observation, as Johnson meant it, be ever remembered.

I was much pleased to find myself with Johnson at Greenwich, which he celebrates in his " London" as a favourite scene. I had the poem in my pocket, and read the lines aloud with enthusiasm:

"On Thames's banks in silent thought we stood,
Where Greenwich smiles upon the silver flood:
Pleased with the seat which gave ELIZA birth,
We kneel, and kiss the consecrated earth."

He remarked that the structure of Green

wich hospital was too magnificent for a place of charity, and that its parts were too much detached, to make one great whole3.

Buchanan, he said, was a very fine poet1; and observed, that he was the first who complimented a lady, by ascribing to her the different perfections of the heathen goddesses 5; but that Johnstone 6 improved upon

principles to feel the force of this consideration, yet love itself sweetens every duty to his mind; and he thinks there is no absurdity in his feeling the love of God as the grand commanding principle of his life." Essays on several religious Subjects, &c. by Joseph Milner, A. M. master of the grammar school of Kingston-upon-Hull, 1789. p. 11.-BOSWELL. [Mr. Joseph Milner was brother of Dr. Isaac Milner, who died Dean of Carlisle.-ED.]

3 [A very just criticism, which, considering Johnson's defective vision, and his consequent imperfect judgment on all the fine arts, may be suspected to have been suggested to him by his friend Mr. Gwynne, the architect.-ED.]

4 [See post, sub. 30th March, 1783.-ED.] 5 Epigram, Lib. II. "In Elizabeth. Angliæ Reg."-I suspect that the authour's memory here deceived him, and that Johnson said, "the first modern poet;" for there is a well known Epigram in the ANTHOLOGIA, containing this kind of eulogy.-MALONE.

[Arthur Johnstone, born near Aberdeen in 1587, an elegant Latin poet. His principal works are a volume of epigrams, (in which is to be found that to which Dr. Johnson alludes,) and a Latin paraphrase of the Psalms. He died at Oxford in 1641.-Ed.]

this, by making his lady, at the same time, | it made me shiver. I was the more sensifree from their defects. ble of it from having sat up all the night He dwelt upon Buchanan's elegant verses before recollecting and writing in my Jourto Mary, Queen of Scots, Nympha Cale-nal what I thought worthy of preservation; doniæ, &c. and spoke with enthusiasm of the an exertion which, during the first part of beauty of Latin verse. "All the modern my acquaintance with Johnson, I frequentlanguages (said he) cannot furnish so me- ly made. I remember having sat up four lodious a line as nights in one week, without being much incommoded in the daytime.

his hind legs. It is not done well; but you | fee-house, before my setting out for foreign are surprised to find it done at all."

On Tuesday, August 2, (the day of my departure from London having been fixed for the 5th,) Dr. Johnson did me the honour to pass a part of the morning with me at my chambers. He said, that "he always felt an inclination to do nothing." I observed, that it was strange to think that the most indolent man in Britain had written the most laborious work, THE ENGLISH DICTIONARY.

I mentioned an imprudent publication, by a certain friend of his, at an early period of life, and asked him if he thought it would hurt him. JOHNSON. "No, sir, not much. It may, perhaps, be mentioned at an election."

I had now made good my title to be a privileged man, and was carried by him in the evening to drink tea with Miss Williams, whom, though under the misfortune of having lost her sight,I found to be agreeable in conversation; for she had a variety of literature, and expressed herself well; but her peculiar value was the intimacy in which she had long lived with Johnson, by which she was well acquainted with his habits, and knew how to lead him on to talk.

After tea he carried me to what he called his walk, which was a long narrow paved court in the neighbourhood, overshadowed by some trees. There we sauntered a considerable time; and I complained to him that my love of London and of his company was such, that I shrunk almost from the thought of going away even to travel, which is generally so much desired by young men. He roused me by manly and spirited conversation. He advised me, when settled in any place abroad, to study with an eagerness after knowledge, and to apply to Greek an hour every day; and when I was moving about, to read diligently the great book of mankind.

On Wednesday, August 3, we had our last social evening at the Turk's-head cof

parts. I had the misfortune, before we parted, to irritate him unintentionally. I mentioned to him how common it was in the world to tell absurd stories of him, and to ascribe to him very strange sayings. JoHNSON. "What do they make me say, sir?" BoswELL. "Why, sir, as an instance very strange indeed (laughing heartily as I spoke), David Hume told me, you said that you would stand before a battery of cannon to restore the convocation to its full powers.' Little did I apprehend that he had actually said this: but I was soon convinced of my errour; for, with a determined look, he thundered out, "And would I not, sir? Shall the presbyterian kirk of Scotland have its general assembly, and the church of England be denied its convocation2 ? " He was walking up and down the room while I told him the anecdote; but when he uttered this explosion of high-church zeal, he had come close to my chair, and his eyes flashed with indignation. I bowed to the storm, and diverted the force of it, by leading him to expatiate on the influence which religion derived from maintaining the church with great external respectability.

I must not omit to mention that he this year wrote the Life of Aschiam †, and the dedication to the Earl of Shaftsburyt, prefixed to the edition of that writer's English works, published by Mr. Bennet.

[Johnson was in fact the editor of this work, as appears from the following letter:

66 MR. T. DAVIES TO THE REV.

Harwood MSS.

EDM.

BETTESWORTH.
"Russel-Street, 3d Feb. 1763.3

"REVEREND SIR,-I take the liberty to send you Roger Ascham's works in English; he is generally esteemed one of the most eminent writers of the days of Queen Elizabeth. Though Mr. Bennet's name

it neither does nor dare do any business. It is a solemn farce. The historical inquirer sees, in the tradition of the convocation, the analogy between the British parliament and convocation and the old états généraux of France.-ED.]

2 [It must be confessed, that the existing practice relative to convocations is an absurd anomaly; the convocation is summoned to meet when par[This probably alludes to Mr. Burke's" Vin-liament does, but its meeting is a mere form, and dication of Natural Society," a work published in 1756, in a happy imitation of Lord Bolingbroke's style, and in an ironical adoption of his principles the whole was so well done that it at first passed as a genuine work of Lord Bolingbroke's, and subsequently as the serious and (as in style and imagery it certainly is) splendid exposition of the principles of one of his disciples. Lord Chesterfield and Bishop Warburton are stated to have been so deceived; and it would seem from the passage in the text, that Johnson and Boswell were in the same error. In 1765, Mr. Burke reprinted this piece, with a preface, in which he throws off altogether the mask of irony. Mr. Boswell calls him a friend of Johnson's, for he himself had not yet met Mr. Burke.-ED.]

3 [Such is the date, as Dr. Harwood originally read it, and it agrees with that of the publication of the book, but is inconsistent with the mention of Johnson by the title of Doctor, who had not even the Dublin degree till 1765. Dr. Harwood, on re-examining the MS., observes that the last figure is almost illegible, and may have been a 3, 7, or 9.-ED.]-[On farther examination of the MS., the editor is satisfied that the date is right, but that Dr. has been since substituted for Mr.ED.]

207

is in the title, the editor was in reality Dr. He talked of Mr. Blacklock's1 poetry, so Johnson, the authour of the Rambler, who far as it was descriptive of visible objects: wrote the life of the authour, and added sev- and observed that "as its authour had the eral notes, besides those of Mr. Upton. Dr. misfortune to be blind, we may be absoluteJohnson gave it to Mr. Bennet, for his ad- ly sure that such passages are combinations vantage. I charge you no more than book- of what he has remembered of the works of seller's price, 10s. 6d.; it will be advertised other writers who could see. That foolish at 12s. If not agreeable will take it again. fellow Spence has laboured to explain phiI am, reverend sir, your most obedient hum-1osophically how Blacklock may have done, ble servant, THOMAS DAVIES."] by means of his own faculties, what it is impossible he should do. The solution, as I have given it, is plain. Suppose I know a man to be so lame that he is absolutely incapable to move himself, and I find him in a different room from that in which I left him; shall I puzzle myself with idle conjectures, that, perhaps, his nerves have by some unknown change all at once become effective? No, sir, it is clear how he got into a different room; he was carried.”

Having stopped a night at Colchester, Johnson talked of that town with veneration, for having stood a siege for Charles the First. The Dutchman alone now remained with us. He spoke English tolerably well; and thinking to recommend himself to us by expatiating on the superiority of the criminal jurisprudence of this country over that of Holland, he inveighed against the barbarity of putting an accused person to the torture, in order to force a confession. But Johnson was as ready for this, as for the inquisition. find, understand the law of your own coun"Why, sir, you do not, I try. To torture in Holland is considered as a favour to an accused person; for no man is put to the torture there, unless there is as much evidence against him as would amount to conviction in England. An accused person among you, therefore, has one chance more to escape punishment than those who are tried among us 2."

On Friday, August 5, we set out early in the morning in the Harwich stagecoach. A fat elderly gentlewoman, and a young Dutchman, seemed the most inclined among us to conversation. At the inn where we dined, the gentlewoman said that she had done her best to educate her children; and particularly that she had never suffered them to be a moment idle. JOHNSON. "I wish, madam, you would educate me too; for I have been an idle fellow all my life." "I am sure, (said she), you have not been idle." JOHNSON. "Nay, madam, it is very true; and that gentleman there (pointing to me) has been idle. He was idle at Edinburgh. His father sent him to Glasgow, where he continued to be idle. | He then came to London, where he has been very idle; and now he is going to Utrecht, where he will be as idle as ever." I asked him privately how he could expose me so. JOHNSON. "Poh, poh! (said he) they know nothing about you, and will think of it no more." In the afternoon the gentlewoman talked violently against the Roman Catholicks, and of the horrours of the inquisition. To the utter astonishment of all the passengers but myself, who knew that he could talk upon any side of a question, he defended the inquisition, and maintained, that" false doctrine should be checked on its first appearance; that the civil power should unite with the church in punishing those who dare to attack the established religion, and that such only were punished by the inquisition." He had in his pocket" Pomponius Mela da Situ Orbis," in which he read occasionally, and seemed very intent upon ancient geography. Though by no means niggardly, his attention to what was generally right was so minute, that having observed at one of the stages that I ostentatiously gave a shilling to the coachman, when the custom was for each passenger to give only sixpence, he took me aside and scolded me, saying that what I had done would make the coachman dissatisfied with all the rest of the passen-lock?-ED.] gers, who gave him no more than his due. This was a just reprimand; for in whatever way a man may indulge his generosity or his vanity in spending his money, for the sake of others he ought not to raise the price of any article for which there is a constant demand.

' [Dr. Thomas Blacklock was born in 1721; he totally lost his sight by the small-pox at the age of six years, but was nevertheless a descriptive poet. He died in 1791. "We may conclude," says his biographer, "with Denina, on his Discorso della Litteratura, that Blacklock will appear to posterity a fable, as to us he is a prodigy. It will be thought a fiction, that a man blind from his infancy, besides having made himself master of various foreign languages, should be a great poet in his own, and without having hardy seen the light, should be so remarkably happy in description." Johnson, no doubt, gives the

true solution of Blacklock's power, which was who now quotes, nay, who reads a line of Blackmemory and not miracle; and, mark the result!

2 [Is it possible that Johnson can be right? If the guilt be proved, can the law of any civilized country ask more than proof, and ask it under the extreme yet most doubtful sanction of torture? If the Editor has not forgotten all he has ever read of the law of Holland, Johnson must have been mistaken. Johnson's position is to be found in