pamphlet, entitled "The Patriot," addressed to the electors of Great Britain; a title which, to factious men who consider a patriot only as an opposer of the measures of government, will appear strangely misapplied. It was, however, written with energetic vivacity; and, except those passages in which it endeavours to vindicate the glaring outrage of the House of Commons in the case of the Middlesex election, and to justify the attempt to reduce our fellow-subjects in America to unconditional submission, it contained an admirable display of the properties of a real patriot, in the original and genuine sense; a sincere, steady, rational, and unbiassed friend to the interests and prosperity of his King and country. It must be acknowledged, however, that both in this and his two former pamphlets, there was, amidst many powerful arguments, not only a considerable portion of sophistry, but a contemptuous ridicule of his opponents, which was very provoking. "SIR, October 25, 1774. "You may do me a very great favour. Mrs. Williams, a gentlewoman whom you may have seen at Mr. Thrale's, is a petitioner for Mr. Hetherington's charity: petitions are this day issued at Christ's Hospital. "I am a bad manager of business in a crowd; and if I should send a mean man, he may be put away without his errand. I must therefore entreat that you will go, and ask for a petition for Anna Williams, whose paper of inquiries was delivered with answers at the counting-house of the hospital on Thursday the 20th. My servant will attend you thither, and bring the petition home when you have it. "The petition which they are to give us, is a form which they deliver to every petitioner, and which the petitioner is afterwards to fill up, and return to them again. This we must have, or we cannot proceed according to their directions. You need, I believe, only ask for a petition; if they inquire for whom you ask, you can tell them. "I beg pardon for giving you this trouble; but it is a matter of great importance. "I am Sir, Your most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." "TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. "DEAR SIR, London, Oct. 27, 1774. "There has appeared lately in the papers an account of a boat overset between Mull and Ulva, • Mr. Perkins was for a number of years the worthy superintendent of Mr. Thrale's great brewery, and after his death became one of the proprietors of it; and now resides (1791) in Mr. Thrale's house in Southwark, which in which many passengers were lost, and among them Maclean of Coll. We, you know, were once drowned;* I hope, therefore, that the story is either wantonly or erroneously told. Pray satisfy me by the next post. "I have printed two hundred and forty pages. I am able to do nothing much worth doing to dear Lord Hailes's book. I will, however, send back the sheets; and hope, by degrees, to answer all your reasonable expectations. "Mr. Thrale has happily surmounted a very violent and acrimonious opposition; but all joys have their abatement-Mrs. Thrale has fallen from her horse and hurt herself very much. The rest of our friends, I believe, are well. My compliments to Mrs. Boswell. "I am, Sir, "Your most affectionate servant, This letter, which shows his tender concern for an amiable young gentleman to whom he had been very much obliged in the Hebrides, I have inserted according to its date, though before receiving it I had informed him of the melancholy event that the young Laird of Coll was unfortunately drowned. "TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. "DEAR SIR, Νου. 26, 1774"Last night I corrected the last page of our Journey to the Hebrides.' The printer has detained it all this time, for I had, before I went into Wales, written all except two sheets. 'The Patriot' was called for by my political friends on Friday, was written on Saturday, and I have heard little of it. So vague are conjectures at a distance. As soon as I can, I will take care that copies be sent to you, for I would wish that they might be given before they are bought: but I am afraid that Mr. Strahan will send to you and to the booksellers at the same time. Trade is as diligent as courtesy. I have mentioned all that you recommended. Pray make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell and the younglings. The club has, I think, not yet met. " Tell me, and tell me honestly, what you think and what others say of our travels. Shall we touch the continent? "I am, dear Sir, "Your most humble servant, In his manuscript diary of this year, there is the following entry: "Nov. 27. Advent Sunday. I considered that this day, being the beginning of the ecclesiastical year, was a proper time for a new course of life. began to read the Greek Testament regularly, In the newspapers.-BOSWELL. Alluding to a passage in a letter of mine, where speaking of his "Journey to the Hebrides," I say, "Bat has not The Patriot' been an interruption, by the time taken to write it, and the time luxuriously spent in listen. ing to its applauses?"-BOSWELL. was the scene of so many literary meetings, and in which he continues the liberal hospitality for which it was eminent. Dr. Johnson esteemed him much. He hung up in the counting-house a fine proof of the adınirable mezzotinto of Dr Johnson, by Doughty; and when Mrs. Thrale asked him, somewhat flippantly, "Why do you put him up in the counting-house? He answered, Because, Madam, I wish to have one wise man there." "Sir," said Johnson, "I thank you. It is a very hand-We had projected a voyage together up the Baltic, some compliment, and I believe you speak sincerely."- and talked of visiting some of the more northern regions. BOSWELL. -BOSWELL, at one hundred and sixty verses every Sunday. This day I began the Acts. "In this week I read Virgil's Pastorals. I learned to repeat the Pollio and Gallus. I read carelessly the first Georgic." Such evidences of his unceasing ardour, both for "divine and human lore," when advanced into his sixty-fifth year, and notwithstanding his many disturbances from disease, must make us at once honour his spirit, and lament that it should be so grievously clogged by its material tegument. It is remarkable, that he was very fond of the precision which calculation produces. Thus we find in one of his manuscript diaries, 12 pages in 4to Gr. Test, and 30 pages in Beza's folio, comprise the whole in 40 days." DR. JOHNSON TO JOHN HOOLE, ESQ. "DEAR SIR, December 19, 1774. "I have returned your play,* which you will find underscored with red, where there was a word which I did not like. The red will be washed off with a little water. "The plot is so well framed, the intricacy so artful, and the disentanglement so easy, the suspense so affecting, and the passionate parts so properly interposed, that I have no doubt of its I am, Sir, success. "Your most humble servant, 'SAM. JOHNSON." 66 CHAPTER XXIII.-1775. THE first effort of his pen in 1775 was, "Pro posals for publishing the Works of Mrs. Charlotte Lennox," in three volumes quarto. In his diary, January 2, I find this entry-"Wrote Charlotte's Proposals." But, indeed, the internal evidence would have been quite sufficient. Her claim to the favour of the public was thus enforced : "Most of the pieces, as they appear singly, have been read with approbation, perhaps above their merits, but of no great advantage to the writer. She hopes, therefore, that she shall not be considered as too indulgent to vanity, or too studious of interest, if from that labour which has hitherto been chiefly gainful to others, she endeavours to obtain at last some profit to herself and her children. She cannot decently enforce her claim by the praise of her own performances; nor can she suppose, that, by the most artful and laboured address, an additional notice could be procured to a publication, of which HER MAJESTY has condescended to be the PATRONESS.' is done. I sent one to the King, and I hear he likes it. "I shall send a parcel into Scotland for presents, and intend to give to many of my friends. In your catalogue you left out Lord Auchinleck. Let me know, as fast as you read it, how you like it; and let me know if any mistake is committed, or anything important left out. I wish you could have seen the sheets. My compliments to Mrs. Boswell, and to Veronica, and to all my friends. I am, Sir, "Your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON." 66 MR. BOSWELL TO DR. JOHNSON. Edinburgh, Jan. 19, 1775. "BE pleased to accept of my best thanks for your Journey to the Hebrides,' which came to me by last night's post. I did really ask the favour twice; but you have been even with me by granting it so speedily. Bis dat qui cito dat. Though ill of a bad cold, you kept me up the greatest part of last night; for I did not stop till I had read every word of your book. I looked back to our first talking of a visit to the Hebrides, which was many years ago, when sitting by ourselves in the Mitre tavern in London, I think about witching time & night: and then exulted in contemplating our scheme fulfilled, and a monumentum perenne of it erected by your superior abilities. I shall only say, that your book has afforded me a high gratification. I shall afterwards give you my thoughts on particular passages. In the mean time, I hasten to tell you of your having mistaken two names, which you will correct in London, as I shall do here, that the gentlemen who deserve the valuable compliments which you have paid them, may enjoy their honours. In page 106, for Gordon read Murchison; and in page 357, for Maclean read Macleod. * * * * "But I am now to apply to you for immediate aid in my profession, which you have never refused to grant when I requested it. I inclose you a petition for Dr. Memis, a physician at Aberhis talents, and which I am to answer as counsel deen, in which Sir John Dalrymple has exerted for the managers of the Royal Infirmary in that city. Mr. Jopp, the Provost, who delivered to you your freedom, is one of my clients, and as a citizen of Aberdeen, you will support him. the charter of the Infirmary from Latin into "The fact is shortly this. In a translation of English, made under the authority of the managers, the same phrase in the original is in one Dr. Memis is rendered Doctor of Medicine. Dr. place rendered Physician, but when applied to Memis complained of this before the translation was printed, but was not indulged in having it altered: and he has brought an action for damages, on account of a supposed injury, as if the designation given to him was an inferior one, tending to make it be supposed he is not a Physician, and consequently to hurt his practice. My father has dismissed the action as groundless, and now he has appealed to the whole court."* In the Court of Session of Scotland an action is first tried by one of the judges, who is called the Lord Ordi 66 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. "DEAR SIR, Jan. 1, 1775. "I long to hear how you like the book; it is, I think, much liked here. But Macpherson is very furious; can you give me any more intelligence about him, or his Fingal? Do what you can, and do it quickly. Is Lord Hailes on our side? "Pray let me know what I owed you when I left you, that I may send it to you. direct me where I shall find the best information of what is to be said on both sides. It is a subject vast in its present extent and future consequences. The imperfect hints which now float in my mind, tend rather to the formation of an opinion that our government has been precipitant and severe in the resolutions taken against the Bostonians. Well, do you know that I have no kindness for that race. But nations or bodies of men, should, as well as individuals, have a fair trial, and not be condemned on character alone. Have we not express "I am going to write about the Americans. If you have picked up any hints among your law-contracts with our colonies, which afford a more yers, who are great masters of the law of nations, or if your own mind suggest anything, let me know. But mum, it is a secret. "I will send your parcel of books as soon as I can; but I cannot do as I wish. However, you find everything mentioned in the book which you recommended. 66 This is all the news that I have; but as you love verses, I will send you a few which I made upon Inchkenneth; but remember the condition, you shall not show them, except to Lord Hailes, whom I love better than any man whom I know so little. If he asks you to transcribe them for him, you may do it, but I think he must promise not to let them be copied again, nor to show them as mine. "I have at last sent back Lord Hailes's sheets. I never think about returning them, because I alter nothing. You will see that I might as well have kept them. However I am ashamed of my delay; and if I have the honour of receiving any more, promise punctually to return them by the pext post. Make my compliments to dear Mrs. Boswell, and to Miss Veronica. "I am, dear Sir, "Yours most faithfully, SAM. JOHNSON."* "MR, BOSWELL TO DR. JOHNSON. Edinburgh Jan. 27, 1775. "You rate our lawyers here too high, when you call them great masters of the law of nations. * * * * * "As for myself, I am ashamed to say I have read little and thought little on the subject of America. I will be much obliged to you, if you nary and if either party is dissatisfied, he may appeal to the whole Court, consisting of fifteen, the Lord President and fourteen other judges, who have both in and out of court the title of Lords from the name of their estates; as, Lord Auchinleck, Lord Monboddo, &c.-BOSWELL. It should be recollected, that this fanciful description of his friend was given by Johnson after he himself had become a water-drinker.-BOSWELL † See them in "Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides," 3rd edit. p. 337.-BOSWELL. He now sent me a Latin inscription for my historical picture Mary Queen of Scots and afterwards favoured me certain foundation of judgment, than general political speculations on the mutual rights of States and their provinces or colonies? Pray let me know immediately what to read, and I shall diligently endeavour to gather for you anything that I can find. Is Burke's speech on American taxation published by himself? Is it authentic? I remember to have heard you say, that you had never considered East Indian affairs; though, surely, they are of much importance to Great Britain. Under the recollection of this, I shelter myself from the reproach of ignorance about the Americans. If you write upon the subject, I shall certainly understand it. But, since you seem to expect that I should know something of it, without your instruction, and that my own mind should suggest something, I trust you will put me in the way. Jan. 28, 1775 "DEAR SIR, "You sent me a case to consider, in which I have no facts but what are against us, nor any principles on which to reason. It is vain to write thus without materials. The fact seems to be against you; at least, I cannot know nor say anything to the contrary. I am glad that you like the book so well. I hear no more of Macpherson. I shall long to know what Lord Hailes says of it. Lend it him privately. I shall send the parcel as soon as I can. Make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell. "I am, Sir, &c., "SAM. JOHNSON." with an English translation. Mr. Alderman Boydell, that eminent Patron of the Arts, has subjoined them to the engraving from my picture. "Maria Scotorum Regina, Minis territa, clamoribus victa, Lacrimans trepidansque "Mary Queen of Scots, Harassed, terrified, and overpowered Of her rebellious subjects, With tears and confusion, To a resignation of the kingdom."—BCWELL, * "TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. "MY DEAR BOSWELL, February 7, 1775. "I am surprised that, knowing, as you do, the disposition of your countrymen to tell lies in favour of each other, you can be at all affected by any reports that circulate among them. Macpherson never in his life offered me a sight of any original or of any evidence of any kind;-but thought only of intimidating me by noise and threats, till my last answer, that I would not be deterred from detecting what I thought a cheat, by the menaces of a ruffian,-put an end to our correspondence. "As to Macpherson, I am anxious to have from yourself a full and pointed account of what has passed between you and him. It is confidently told here, that before your book came out, he sent to you, to let you know that he understood you meant to deny the authenticity of Ossian's poems; that the originals were in his possession; that you might have inspection of them, and might take the evidence of people skilled in the Erse language; and that he hoped, after this fair offer, you would not be so uncandid as to assert that he had refused reasonable proof. That you paid no regard to his message, but published your strong attack upon him; and then he wrote a letter to you, in such terms as he thought suited to one who had not acted as a man of veracity. You may believe it gives me pain to hear your conduct represented as unfavourable, while I can only deny what is said, on the ground that your cha-No man has a claim to credit upon his own word, racter refutes it, without having any information when better evidence, if he had it, may be easily to oppose. Let me, I beg it of you, be furnished produced. But so far as we can find, the Erse with a sufficient answer to any calumny upon this language was never written till very lately for the purposes of religion. A nation that cannot write, or a language that was never written, has no manuscripts. occasion. "Lord Hailes writes to me (for we correspond more than we talk together), 'As to Fingal, I see a controversy arising, and purpose to keep out of its way. There is no doubt that I might mention some circumstances, but I do not choose to commit them to paper." *What his opinion is, I do not know. He says, 'I am singularly obliged to Dr. Johnson for his accurate and useful criticisms. Had he given some strictures on the general plan of the work, it would have added much to its favours.' He is charmed with your verses on Inchkenneth, says they are very elegant, but bids me tell you he doubts whether Legitimas faciunt pectora pura preces,' "The state of the question is this. He and Dr. Blair, whom I consider as deceived, say that he copied the poem from old manuscripts. His copies, if he had them, and I believe him to have none, are nothing. Where are the manuscripts? They can be shown if they exist, but they were 'De non existentibus et non apnever shown. eadem est ratio. parentibus,' says our law, "But whatever he has he never offered to show. If old manuscripts should now be mentioned, I should, unless there were more evidence than can be easily had, suppose them another proof of Scotch conspiracy in national falsehood. "Do not censure the expression; you know it to be true. "Dr. Memis's question is so narrow as to allow no speculation; and I have no facts before me but those which his advocate has produced against you. "I consulted this morning the President of the London College of Physicians, who says, that with us, Doctor of Physic (we do not say Doctor of be according to the rubric. But that is your con- Medicine) is the highest title that a practiser of cern, for you know he is a * * Presbyterian." * physic can have; that Doctor implies not only Physician, but teacher of physic; that every Doctor is legally a Physician; but no man, not a Doctor, can practise physic but by licence particularly granted. The Doctorate is a licence of itself. It seems to us a very slender cause of prosecution. * * "I am now engaged, but in a little time I hope to do all you would have. My compliments to Madam and Veronica. "" I am, Sir, your most humble servant, What words were used by Mr. Macpherson in his letter to the venerable sage, I have never heard; but they are generally said to have been of a nature very different from the language of literary contest. Dr. Johnson's answer appeared in the newspapers of the day, and has since been frequently republished; but not with perfect accu My friend has, in this letter, relied upon my testimony, with a confidence, of which the ground has escaped my recollection.-BOSWELL, гасу. I give it as dictated to me by himself, written down in his presence, and authenticated by a note in his own handwriting," This, I think, is a true copy.”* "MR. JAMES MACPHERSON, "I received your foolish and impudent letter. Any violence offered me I shall do my best to repel; and what I cannot do for myself, the law shall do for me. I hope I shall never be deterred from detecting what I think a cheat, by the menaces of a ruffian. "What would you have me retract? I thought your book an imposture; I think it an imposture still. For this opinion I have given my reasons to the public, which I here dare you to refute. Your rage I defy. Your abilities, since your Homer, are not so formidable; and what I hear of your morals inclines me to pay regard not to what you shall say, but to what you shall prove. You may print this if you will. "SAM. JOHNSON." Mr. Macpherson little knew the character of Dr. Johnson, if he supposed that he could be easily intimidated: for no man was ever more remarkable for personal courage. He had, indeed, an awful dread of death, or rather, "of something after death;" and what rational man, who seriously thinks of quitting all that he has ever known, and going into a new and unknown state of being, can be without that dread? But his fear was from reflection; his courage natural. His fear, in that one instance, was the result of philosophical and religious consideration. He feared death, but he feared nothing else, not even what might occasion death. Many instances of his resolution may be mentioned. One day, at Mr. Beauclerk's house in the country, when two large dogs were fighting, he went up to them, and beat them till they separated; and at another time, when told of the danger there was that a gun might burst if charged with many balls, he put in six or seven and fired it off against a wall. Mr. Langton told me, that when they were swimming together near Oxford, he cautioned Dr. Johnson against a pool, which was reckoned particularly dangerous; upon which Johnson directly swam into it. He told me himself that one night he was attacked in the street by four men, to whom he would not yield, but kept them all at bay, till the watch came up, and carried both him and them to the round-house. In the playhouse at Lichfield, as Mr. Garrick informed me, Johnson having for a moment quitted a chair which was placed for him between the side scenes, a gentleman took possession of it, and when Johnson on his return civilly demanded his seat, rudely refused to give it up; upon which Johnson laid hold of it, and tossed him and the chair into the pit. Foote, who so successfully revived the old comedy, by exhibiting living characters, had resolved to imitate Johnson on the stage; expecting great profits from the ridicule of so celebrated a man. Johnson being informed of his intention, and being at dinner at Mr. Thomas Davies's, the I have deposited it in the British Museum.-BOS ELL. bookseller, from whom I had the story, he asked Mr. Davies "what was the common price of an oak stick ;" and being answered sixpence, "Why then, Sir," said he, give me leave to send your servant to purchase me a shilling one. I'll have a double quantity; for I am told Foote means to take me off, as he calls it, and I am determined the fellow shall not do it with impunity." Davies took care to acquaint Foote of this, which effectually checked the wantonness of the mimic. Mr. Macpherson's menaces made Johnson provide himself with the same implement of defence; and had he been attacked, I have no doubt that, old as he was, he would have made his corporal prowess be felt as much as his intellectual. His "Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland" [*] is a most valuable performance. It abounds in extensive philosophical views of society, and in ingenious sentiment and lively description. A considerable part of it, indeed, consists of speculations, which many years before he saw the wild regions which we visited together, probably had employed his attention, though the actual sight of those scenes undoubtedly quickened and augmented them. Mr. Orme,* the very able historian, agreed with me in this opinion, which he thus strongly expressed :-"There are in that book, thoughts, which, by long revolution in the great mind of Johnson, have been formed and polished like pebbles rolled in the ocean!" That he was to some degree of excess a trueborn Englishman, so as to have entertained an undue prejudice against both the country and the people of Scotland, must be allowed. But it was a prejudice of the head, and not of the heart. He had no ill-will to the Scotch; for, if he had been conscious of that, he would never have thrown himself into the bosom of their country, and trusted to the protection of its remote inhabitants with a fearless confidence. His remark upon the nakedness of the country, from its being denuded of trees, was made after having travelled two hundred miles along the Eastern coast, where certainly trees are not to be found near the road; and he said it was "a map of the road" which he gave. His disbelief of the authenticity of the poems ascribed to Ossian, a Highland bard, was confirmed in the course of his journey, by a very strict examination of the evidence offered for it; and although their authenticity was made too much a national point by the Scotch, there were many respectable persons in that country, who did not concur in this; so that his judgment upon the question ought not to be decided, even by those who differ from him. As to myself, I can only say, upon a subject now become very uninteresting, that when the fragments of Highland poetry first came out, I was much pleased with their wild peculiarity, and was one of those who subscribed to enable their editor, Mr. Macpherson, then a young man, to make a search in the Highlands and Hebrides for a long poem in the Erse language, which was reported to be preserved somewhere in those regions. But when there came forth an Epic Poem in six books, with all the common circumstances of former compo Robert Orme, author of "The History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Hindostan." |