teor," i. 91; a minister given by the people to the King, ii. 187; Boswell sends him his letter to the people of Scotland, iv. 188.
Pity, not natural to man, but
acquired and improved by the cultivation of reason, i. 348. Place-hunters, Boswell and John- son on, iii. 252.
Plan or Prospectus of the Dic- tionary, addressed to the Earl of Chesterfield, i. 135-6. Players,
Johnson's prejudice against, i. 123, iii. 208; John- son's contempt for, ii. 220, 366. Pleasantry, different notions of, iii. 128 n.
Pleasures, no man is a hypocrite in his, iv. 232. Plutarch, quoted, i. 6, Plymouth, Johnson at, i. 301. Pococke, Edward, Smith's Latin
verses on, iii. 278 n.; the story of his being called "no Latiner," iv. 126.
Poetry. "What is poetry?" iii.
85; "amendments seldom made in without some token of a rent," iv. 4; unsuited for religious sub- jects, 5; superiority of rhyme to blank verse, 8.
Poets, Johnson's Lives of, com- pleted, iv. 1; the first idea of, ex- panded and enriched, 2; honora- rium for, 2 n.; the manuscript of, presented to Boswell, 33; John- son writes to Nichols, the printer, on various matters connected with his work on, 3; curious anecdote respecting, 25; outcry against, 26; Johnson, on a hint that the present would be accep- table, makes Wilkes a present of a set of, 60; Johnson says he is engaged to write little Lives, and little Prefaces to a little edition of the English Poets, iii. 143; price bargained for, 145; metaphysical, disserta- tion on the, iv. 4.
Polemomiddinia, The, of Drum- mond, iii. 292.
Polite, Johnson thinks himself very,
Politian, Johnson proposes to pub- lish the Latin poems of, i. 54. Political principles, Johnson's, ii. 119, iv. 5.
tracts, collected, ii. 292. improvement, schemes for, mostly laughable, ii. 104. Politics, Johnson on, iv. 40; mo-
dern, devoid of principle, ii. 335. Pomposo, the, name under which Johnson was caricatured in the poem of The Ghost, i. 322. Poor, The, Johnson's curiosity to know how the poor are main- tained in the Seven Provinces, i. 378; Johnson's genial kindness to the poor, i. 299; state of the, in London, iii. 390.
Pope, Alexander, his Messiah translated into Latin by John- son, i. 33; his appreciation of Johnson's London, i. 89; he re- commends Johnson to Earl Gower, 93; his letter about London and Marmor Norfol- ciense, 103; paper-sparing Pope," 103; conversation on, ii. 89; compared with Dryden, 90; his Dying Christian to his Soul, partly borrowed, iii. 79; verses to, by Lewis, quoted, iv. 224; his great popularity during life, iii. 332; Ruffhead's Life of, ii. 163; War- ton's Essay on, 163; Johnson calls on Lord Marchmont for in- formation concerning, iii. 382; Johnson's Life of, iv. 10; hints for, in D'Israeli's Literary Curio- sities, 10 n.; his extraordinary power of versification, 11; did not excel in conversation, 13; his friends, 14; Lord Somer- ville's account of, 14; various readings in the Life of, 15; said to have had a sketch by Bolingbroke as the foundation of his Essay on Man, iii. 391;
Boswell says Homer plays the bassoon, Pope the flageolet, iii. 270; his characters of men better than those of women, ii. 90; his early appreciation of Johnson, 90; his emotion in repeating the last lines of the Dunciad, 90 n. ; and Dryden, distinguished by Voltaire, ii. 23. Population, discussion on, ii. 103. Porridge, Athol, a mixture of whisky and honey, iv. 39. Porter, Johnson desires to send a cask of, to his friends in the Hebrides, ii. 256. Porter, Mrs., afterwards Mrs. Johnson, i. 59, 60.
Miss Lucy, i. 14, 15, 54; Johnson's letters to, after his mother's death, i. 395-7; John- son's new year's gift to, ii. 376; Johnson's letter of condolence with, 379; described, iii. 44; Boswell visits, at Lichfield, iii. 400; inquires concerning the family of Miss Doxy's lover, 414; Johnson's letters to, giving a sad account of his own health, and the state of his household, iv. 91; desiring her prayers, 301.
Captain George, Lucy Porter's brother, death of, i. 400. Johnson and the, iv. 32. Porteus, Dr. Beilby, Bishop of Chester, iii. 400.
Portmore, Lord, writes to inquire after Johnson, iv. 194. Portrait, the first one of Johnson painted by Reynolds, soon after the Dictionary was published, and given by Reynolds to Bos- well, i. 311; the second by Sir Joshua Reynolds, ii. 139; Beau- clerk inscribes on his portrait of Johnson a motto from Horace, iv. 123; and on that of Garrick, lines from Shakespeare, iv. 51.
painting, Johnson thinks im- proper for a woman, ii. 329. Post-chaise, Johnson's delight in travelling in, iii. 37, 190.
Pott, Archdeacon, his sermons re- commended by Johnson, iii. 42; attends Johnson in his last ill- ress, iv. 169.
"Potted stories," a certain author, "who lived upon," iii. 87. Poverty, Johnson's, i. 44-7, 119, 238; and wealth discussed, i. 350; "The first approach to riches is security from poverty," iv. 260; the misery of, to be avoided by all virtuous means, iv. 100; makes some virtues impracticable, and others ex- tremely difficult, a great enemy to human happiness, 105. Praise, exaggerated, most preju- dicial, iv. 41, 42; Johnson's dis- like of, iii. 243. Prayer, Johnson's, on his wife's death, i. 179; before the study of law, ii. 12; on engaging in politics, 13; forms of, discussed, iv. 216; Johnson is asked to compose some for family use, iv.
Prayers for the dead, ii. 160. Preaching, not generally plain
enough, ii. 122; cause of success in, i. 363, 364; a woman preach- ing, like a dog walking on its hind legs, 367.
Prefaces by Johnson, to Lobo's Abyssinia, i. 52; to the Life of Father Paul, 99; to the Gent's Magazine, 106, 107; to the Har- leian Miscellany, 129; to a sys- tem of Ancient Geography, 139; to Mr. Dodsley's Preceptor, 141; to the Dictionary, 229, 230; to Mrs. Williams's Miscellanies, ii. 41; to Rolt's Dictionary of Trade and Commerce, i. 284; to Baretti's Lessons on Italian and English, ii. 269.
Pringle, Sir John, President of the Royal Society, iii. 62; Boswell vainly desires to bring him and Johnson together, 107. Printer's devil, an author marries a, iv. 53.
Printing in Scotland, the history of, ii. 395; and the diffusion of knowledge, iii. 84.
Prints, Johnson fits up a room with, iii. 467. Prior, instances of his borrowing, furnished by Lord Hailes, iii. 386; abused by Johnson and defended by Mrs. Thrale, ii. 86.
Sir James, his Life of Ma- lone quoted, iii. 82. Prison," Every island is a prison," line of a song, iii. 278. "Profession de Foi du Vicaire Savoyard," by Rousseau, Bos- well's admiration for, ii. 28. Professor in Antient Literature, Johnson appointed, ii. 77. Professorship, Anglo-Saxon. found- ed at Oxford, by Dr. Richard Rawlinson, iv. 108. Profit, uncertainty of, in literary undertakings, iv. 71. Project, The, a poem by Richard Tickell, iii. 320. Pronunciation, Sheridan teaches Wedderburn to correct his, i. 307; Johnson's, iii. 219; good, to be attained, ii. 156; discus- sion about, 158. Property, literary, discussion on,
Propitiation, the peculiar doctrine of Christianity, iv. 75. Proposals, Johnson's, for an edition of Shakespeare with notes, i.
Protestants or Papists, all Chris- tians agree in essential articles, i. 321.
Proverb, a Spanish, about travel- ling, iii, 306.
Prussia, Frederick II., King of, valued himself on three things, i. 345; his Memoirs of the House of Brandenburgh, and his poetry,
346. Psalmanazar, George, account of, iii. 317 n., iv. 128.
Psalms, the Scotch version of, the best, iii. 61.
Public amusements, Johnson ap- proves of, ii. 165.
schools, the excellence of our English, iii. 66; Mr. Canning on, 65 n.
speaking discussed, ii. 310. Virtue, a poem, by Dodsley, Johnson called it "fine Blank," iii. 441.
Puffendorf maintained the right of a schoolmaster to beat his scholars, ii. 155.
Punch, conversation likened to a bowl of, i. 260; Blacklock's poem on, 260.
Punctuation, Lord Lyttelton's dif- fidence about, iii. 81; Byron "a sad hand at," 81 n.
Puns, Johnson's aversion to, iv.
bility of those who provoke them, iii. 210. Quantulumcunque, concerning mo- ney, by Sir William Petty, i. 350.
Queen Anne's reign, eminent
writers in, i. 338. Queen's Arms Club, the members not to be "patriots," iv. 44. Queensbury, Duke of, the patron of Gay, ii. 334.
Duchess of, presents the Clarendon MSS. to Oxford, iii.
Thrale's eldest daughter so-called, iii. 409. Questions, not the mode of con- versation among gentlemen, iii. 54; Johnson's dislike of, iii. 278. Quin, the actor, ii. 334.
Quintilian, quoted, on composition, iv. 2.
Quotation, censured by Wilkes as pedantry, iv. 56; defended by Johnson, 56.
Radcliffe, Dr., the Master of Pem-
broke, i. 210; his travelling fellowships, iv. 216. "Rags will always make their ap- pearance where they have a right to do it," iv. 230.
Ralph, Mr. James, the story of his having certain papers written by the Prince of Wales, ii. 409.
Rambler, The, commenced, i. 149;
how the name was chosen, 149; many papers in it very hastily written, 151; collections for, 151-4; Hawkins's misstatement concerning, 152; reception of, 155; Mrs. Johnson's praise of, 157; Edinburgh edition of, 157; date of the last, i. 178 n.; a paper in the, translated into French, retranslated into Eng- lish, and inserted by Murphy in the Gray's Inn Journal, i. 281, 282; Johnson's mode of writing for, iii. 89; Johnson
hears that the Empress of Russia will have it translated into Rus- sian, iv. 201. Ramsay, Allan, his Gentle Shep- herd, ii. 208; account of, iii. 264 n.; Johnson dines with, iii. 382 n.; his death, iv. 277. Ranelagh, promenade at, ii. 165 n. Rank, Johnson's reverence for, i. 352-5.
Rann, John (Sixteen-String Jack), highwayman, iii. 85.
Rapidity in writing, Johnson's, ii.
Rasay, Johnson's pleasant remem- brance of, iii. 161.
Rasselas, written by Johnson in a week, to pay his mother's funeral expenses, i. 269; Johnson finds, twenty years afterwards, in a chaise, and reads eagerly, 269 n., iv. 69; compared with Voltaire's Candide, i. 270 n., iii. 353; suc- cess of, i. 270; quotation from, 271; Johnson calls it "a little story book," i. 397; American edition of, ii. 198. Rawlinson, Dr. Richard, account. of, iv. 108 n.
Ray, his collection of North Country words, ii. 95 n. Reading, Johnson's, at Oxford, i. 40; should be from inclination, not as a task, i. 341, iii. 216-89; "What is read without pleasure is not often recollected or in- fixed by conversation, and there- fore drops from the memory," 387; the foundation of know- ledge must be gained by, ii. 328; snatches of, will not make a Bentley or a Clarke, iii. 441; "A man is a poor beast who can read no more than he can utter," iii. 450; "Strange there should be so little, in the world, and so much writing," iv. 153. Reasons of the Christian Religion,
Baxter's, Johnson thought the best collection of evidences, iv. 168.
66 Reciprocate, Madam, let us," says Johnson, iii. 396. Recommendation, "it is such a re- commendation, as if I should throw you out of a two pair of stairs window and recommend you to fall soft," iv. 237. Reconciliation after a quarrel, Johnson always eager to seek, ii. 110. Recovery, Johnson's quick, after the paralytic stroke, iv. 164. Reed, Mr. Isaac, supplies Johnson with anecdotes and quotations, iv. 3; his wonderful knowledge of literary history, iv. 4. "Refinement, life will not bear; you must do as other people do," iii. 196.
Registers, curious passage in one of Johnson's, iv. 96. Rehearsal, the comedy of the, "has not wit enough to keep it sweet," iv. 235.
Reindeer introduced into North- umberland, ii. 164 n. Religion, Goldsmith said, he takes from the priests, as he takes shoes from the shoemaker, or coats from a tailor, ii. 202; few people can tell anything about their own, iii. 94. Religious feeling, Johnson's early, i. 37-9.
Remember, to, and to recollect, are
different things, iv. 76. Remonstrance, The, a poem by Mr. Stockdale, ii. 113. Reserve, English, "Sir, we do not enough understand the common rights of humanity," iv. 131. Residence, Johnson's places of, iii. 394.
Respublicæ, or Accounts of the
Principal States of Europe, iii. 96. Resurrection of the dead, discussed by Johnson with Mrs. Hall, iv. 49; on the sure and certain hope of a blessed, iv. 148. Retaliation, Goldsmith's, quoted, i.
Retirement, The, a small poem by Walsh in the London Magazine, quoted many years afterwards by Johnson, ii. 131.
Retort, Johnson's dexterity in, iv. 126, 127.
Reviews, by Johnson, in the Literary Magazine, i. 241; and reviewers of the day discussed, iii. 80, iv. 149, 150. Reynolds, Sir Joshua, meets John- son at the Misses Cotterell's, i. 187; his reported income in 1762, 292; visits Devonshire, accom- panied by Johnson, 299; raises his price to twenty guineas a head, 265; account of his prices, 265; "without a rival," 288; the first proposer of the club, ii. 2; the party at his house when John- son described his conversation with the King, 56; dines with Boswell, to meet Johnson, 89; explains Johnson's free speaking of his friends, 284; lends his coach to Johnson and Boswell to go to Twickenham, 329; "When R. tells me something, I consider myself possessed of an idea the more," iii. 22; "the same all the year round," 61; Johnson and Boswell dine with, when Allan Ramsay related his observations on Horace's villa, 264; Johnson and Boswell dine with, and quarrel, 337; his discourses to the Royal Aca- demy, iii. 365; for which the Empress of Russia presents him with a gold snuff-box, 365; Johnson dines with, 373; John- son says he knows no one who has passed through life with more observation than, 430; communicates certain particulars to Boswell, iv. 124, et seq.; Johnson invites him to join a new club at the Essex Head, 182; his Discourses much ad- mired by Johnson, 235; enter- tains Johnson, Boswell, Lord
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