444 another object, I am unable to ascertain; but it Almighty God, Father of all mercy, help me by thy grace, that I may, with humble and sincere thankfulness, remember the comforts and conveniences which I have enjoyed at this place; and that I may resign them with holy submission, equally trusting in thy protection when Thou givest, and when Thou takest away. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, have mercy upon me. "To thy fatherly protection, O Lord, I commend this family. Bless, guide, and defend them, that they may so pass through this world, as finally to enjoy in thy presence everlasting happiness, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen." One cannot read this prayer, without some emotions not very favourable to the lady whose conduct occasioned it. In one of his memorandum-books I find, "Sunday, went to church at Streatham. Templo valedixi cum osculo." should think ill of myself if I had heard of it The Reverend Mr. Wilson, having dedicated to him his " Archæological Dictionary," that mark of respect was thus acknowledged: "TO THE REVEREND MR. WILSON, "REVEREND SIR, "That I have long omitted to return you thanks for the honour conferred upon me by your dedication, I entreat you with great earnestness not to consider as more faulty than it is. A very importunate and oppressive disorder has for some time debarred me from the pleasures, and obstructed me in the duties, of life. The esteem and kindness of wise and good men is one of the last pleasures which I can be content to lose; and gratitude to those from whom this pleasure is received, is a duty of which I hope never to be reproached with the final neglect. I therefore now return you thanks for the notice which I have received from you, and which I consider as giving to my name not only more bulk, but more weight; not only as extending its superficies, but as increasing its value. Your book was evidently He met Mr. Philip Metcalfe often at Sir Joshua Reynolds's, and other places, and was a good deal with him at Brighthelmstone this autumn, being pleased at once with his excellent table and animated conversation. Mr. Metcalfe showed him great respect, and sent him a note that he might have the use of his carriage whenever he pleased. Johnson (3rd October, 1782) returned this polite answer:-"Mr. Johnson is very much obliged by the kind offer of the carriage, but he has no desire of using Mr. Metcalfe's carriage, except when he can have the pleasure of Mr. Metcalfe's company." Mr. Met-wanted, and will, I hope, find its way into the calfe could not but be highly pleased that his company was thus valued by Johnson, and he frequently attended him in airings. They also went together to Chichester, and they visited Petworth, and Cowdray, the venerable seat of the Lords Montacute.† Sir," said Johnson, "I should like to stay here four-and-twenty hours. We see here how our ancestors lived." That his curiosity was still unabated, appears from two letters to Mr. John Nichols, of the 10th and 20th of October this year. In one he says, "I have looked into your Anecdotes,' and you will hardly thank a lover of literary history for telling you, that he has been much informed and gratified. I wish you would add your own discoveries and intelligence to those of Dr. Rawlinson, and undertake the Supplement to Wood. Think of it." In the other, "I wish, Sir, you could obtain some fuller information of Jortin, Markland, and Thirlby. They were three contemporaries of great eminence.' "TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. "Brighthelmstone, Nov. 14, 1782. "DEAR SIR, "Prayers and Meditations," p. 214. The venerable mansion has since been totally destroyed by fire.-MALONE. school; to which, however, I do not mean to confine it; for no man has so much skill in ancient rites and practices as not to want it. As I suppose myself to owe part of your kindness to my excellent friend, Dr. Patten, he has likewise a just claim to my acknowledgment, which I hope you, Sir, will transmit. There will soon appear a new edition of my Poetical Biography; if you will accept of a copy to keep me in your mind, be pleased to let me know how it may be conveniently conveyed to you. This present is small, but it is given with good will by, Reverend Sir, your most, &c., "SAM. JOHNSON." In 1783, he was more severely afflicted than ever, as will appear in the course of his correspondence; but still the same ardour for literature, the same constant piety, the same kindness for his friends, and the same vivacity, both in conversation and writing, distinguished him. Having given Dr. Johnson a full account of what I was doing at Auchinleck, and particularly mentioned what I knew would please him,-my having brought an old man of eighty-eight from a lonely cottage to a comfortable habitation within my enclosures, where he had good neighbours near to him,-I received an answer in February, of which I extract what follows: "I am delighted with your account of your activity at Auchinleck, and wish the old gentleman, whom you have so kindly removed, may live long to promote your prosperity by his prayers. You have now a new character and new duties; think on them, and practise them. "Make an impartial estimate of your revenue; and, whatever it is, live upon less. Resolve never to be poor. Frugality is not only the basis of quiet, but of beneficence. No man can help others that wants help himself; we must have enough before we have to spare. "I am glad to find that Mrs. Boswell grows well; and hope that, to keep her well, no care nor caution will be omitted. May you long live happily together. When you come hither, pray bring with you Baxter's Anacreon. I cannot get that edition in London."* to be fomenting in his mind, "this Hanoverian family is isolée here. They have no friends. Now the Stuarts had friends who stuck by them so late as 1745. When the right of the King is not reverenced, there will not be reverence for those appointed by the King." His observation, that the present royal family has no friends, has been too much justified by the very ungrateful behaviour of many who were under great obligations to his Majesty; at the same time there are honourable exceptions: and the very next year after this conversation, and ever since, the King has had as extensive and generous support as ever was given to any monarch, and has had the satisfaction of knowing that he was more and more endeared to his people. He repeated to me his verses on Mr. Levett, with an emotion which gave them full effect; and then he was pleased to say, "You must be as much with me as you can. You have done me good. You cannot think how much better I am since you came in." He sent a message to acquaint Mrs. Thrale that I was arrived. I had not seen her since her husband's death. She soon appeared, and favoured me with an invitation to stay to dinner, which I accepted. There was no other company but herself and three of her daughters, Dr. Johnson, and I. She too said she was very glad I was come, for she was going to Bath, and should have been sorry to leave Dr. Johnson before I came. This seemed to be attentive and kind; and I whe had not been informed of any change, imagined all to be as well as formerly. He was little inclined to talk at dinner, and went to sleep after it; but when he joined us in the drawing-room, he seemed revived, and was again himself. On Friday, March 21, having arrived in London the night before, I was glad to find him at Mrs. Thrale's house, in Argyle-street; appearances of friendship between them being still kept up. I was shown into his room, and after the first salutation he said, "I am glad you are come: I am very ill." He looked pale, and was distressed with a difficulty of breathing: but after the common inquiries he assumed his usual strong animated style of conversation. Seeing me now, for the first time, as a Laird, or proprietor of land, he began thus:-" Sir, the superiority of a countrygentleman over the people upon his estate is very agreeable and he who says does not feel it to be agreeable, lies; for it must be agreeable to have a casual superiority over those who are by nature equal with us." BOSWELL: "Yet, Sir, we see great proprietors of land who prefer living in London." JOHNSON: "Why, Sir, the pleasure Talking of conversation, he said, "There must, of living in London, the intellectual superiority in the first place, be knowledge; there must be that is enjoyed there, may counterbalance the materials;-in the second place, there must be a other. Besides, Sir, a man may prefer the state command of words;-in the third place, there of the country-gentleman upon the whole, and must be imagination, to place things in such views yet there may never be a moment when he is as they are not commonly seen in:-and in the willing to make the change to quit London for fourth place, there must be presence of mind, and it.' He said, "It is better to have five per cent. a resolution that it is not to be overcome by out of land than out of money, because it is more failures; this last is an essential requisite; for secure; but the readiness of transfer, and prompt- want of it many people do not excel in conversaness of interest, make many people rather choose tion. Now I want it; I throw up the game upon the funds. Nay, there is another disadvantage losing a trick. I wondered to hear him talk belonging to land, compared with money. A thus of himself, and said, "I don't know, Sir, man is not so much afraid of being a hard creditor, how this may be; but I am sure you beat other as of being a hard landlord." BOSWELL: "Be- people's cards out of their hands." I doubt cause there is a sort of kindly connexion between whether he heard this remark. While he went a landlord and his tenants. JOHNSON: "No, on talking triumphantly, I was fixed in admiraSir; many landlords with us never see their tion, and said to Mrs. Thrale, "Oh, for shorttenants. It is because if a landlord drives away hand to take this down."-"You'll carry it all in his tenants, he may not get others; whereas the your head," said she; "a long head is as good as demand for money is so great, it may always be short-hand." lent," " He talked with regret and indignation of the factious opposition to Government at this time, and imputed it in a great measure to the revolution. Sir," said he, in a low voice, having come nearer to me, while his old prejudices seemed * Dr. Johnson should seem not to have sought diligently for Baxter's Anacreon, for there are two editions of that book, and they are frequently found in the London Sale Catalogues.-MALONE. It has been observed, and wondered at, that Mr. Charles Fox never talked with any freedom in the presence of Dr. Johnson; though it is well known, and I myself can witness, that his conversation is various, fluent, and exceedingly agreeable. Johnson's own experience, however, of that gentleman's thus:" Fox never talks in private company; not reserve, was a sufficient reason for his going on from any determination not to talk, but because he has not the first motion. A man who is used to the applause of the House of Commons, has no wish for that of a private company. A man accustomed to throw for a thousand pounds, if set down to throw for sixpence, would not be at the pains to count his dice. Burke's talk is the ebullition of his mind: he does not talk from a desire of distinction, but because his mind is full." He thus curiously characterized one of our old acquaintance:-" is a good man, Sir; but he is a vain man and a liar. He, however, only tells lies of vanity; of victories, for instance, in conversation, which never happened." This alluded to a story which I had repeated from that gentleman, to entertain Johnson with its wild bravado: "This Johnson, Sir," said he, "whom you are all afraid of, will shrink, if you come close to him in argument, and roar as loud as he, He once maintained the paradox, that there is no beauty but in utility. "Sir,' said I, 'what say you to the peacock's tail, which is one of the most beautiful objects in nature, but would have as much utility if its feathers were all of one colour?' He felt what I thus produced, and had recourse to his usual expedient, ridicule; exclaiming, A peacock has a tail, and a fox has a tail;' and then he burst out into a laugh. Well, Sir,' said I, with a strong voice, looking him full in the face, you have unkennelled your fox; pursue him if you dare.' He had not a word to say, Sir."Johnson told me, that this was fiction from beginning to end.* After musing for some time, he said, "I wonder how I should have any enemies; for I do harm to nobody."+ BoswELL: In the first place, Sir, you will be pleased to recollect, that you set out with attacking the Scotch; so you got a whole nation for your enemies." JOHNSON: Why, I own, that by my definition of oats I meant to vex them." BOSWELL: "Pray, Sir, can you trace the cause of your antipathy to the Scotch?" JOHNSON: "I cannot, Sir." BoswELL: "Old Mr. Sheridan says, it was because they sold Charles the First." JOHNSON: "Then, Sir, old Mr. Sheridan has found out a very good reason. Surely the most obstinate and sulky nationality, the most determined aversion to this great and good man, must be cured, when he is seen thus playing with one of his prejudices, of which he candidly admitted that he could not tell the * Were I to insert all the stories which have been told of contests boldly maintained with him, imaginary victories obtained over him, of reducing him to silence, and of making him own that his antagonist had the better of him in argument, my volumes would swell to an immoderate size. One instance, I find, has circulated both in conversation and in print; that when he would not allow the Scotch writers to have merit, the late Dr. Rose, of Chiswick, asserted, that he could name one Scotch writer, whom Dr. Johnson himself would allow to have written better than any man of the age; and upon Johnson's asking who it was, answered, "Lord Bute, when he signed the warrant for your pension." Upon which Johnson, struck with the repartee, acknowledged that this was true. When I mentioned it to Johnson, "Sir," said he, "if Rose said this, I never heard it."-BOSWELL. + This reflection was very natural in a man of a good heart, who was not conscious of any ill-will to mankind, though the sharp sayings which were sometimes produced by his discrimination and vivacity, which he perhaps did not recollect, were, I am afraid, too often remembered with resentment.-BOSWELL. reason. It was, however, probably owing to his having had in his view the worst part of the Scottish nation, the needy adventurers, many of whom he thought were advanced above their merits, by means which he did not approve. Had he in his early life been in Scotland, and seen the worthy, sensible, independent gentlemen, who live rationally and hospitably at home, he never could have entertained such unfavourable and unjust notions of his fellow-subjects. And accordingly we find, that when he did visit Scotland, in the latter period of his life, he was fully sensible of all that it deserved, as I have already pointed out, when speaking of his Journey to the Western Islands." Next day, Saturday, March 22, I found him still at Mrs. Thrale's; but he told me that he was to go to his own house in the afternoon. He was better, but I perceived he was an un ruly patient, for Sir Lucas Pepys, who visited him, while I was with him, said, "If you were tractable, Sir, I should prescribe for you." 1 related to him a remark which a respectable friend had made to me, upon the then state of Government, when those who had been long in opposition had attained to power, as it was supposed, against the inclination of the Sovereign. "You need not be uneasy," said this gentleman, "about the King. He laughs at them all; he plays them one against another." JOHNSON: Don't think so, Sir. The King is as much oppressed as a man can be. If he plays them one against another, he wins nothing. I had paid a visit to General Oglethorpe in the morning, and was told by him that Dr. Johnson saw company on Saturday evenings, and he would meet me at Johnson's that night. When I mentioned this to Johnson, not doubting that it would please him, as he had a great value for Oglethorpe, the fretfulness of his disease unexpectedly showed itself; his anger suddenly kindled, and he said, with vehemence, "Did not you tell him not to come? Am I to be hunted in this manner?" I satisfied him that I could not divine that the visit would not be convenient, and that I certainly could not take it upon me of my own accord to forbid the General. I found Dr. Johnson in the evening in Mrs. Williams's room, at tea and coffee with her and Mrs. Desmoulins, who were also both ill; it was a sad scene, and he was not in a very good humour. He said of a performance that had lately come out, "Sir, if you should search all the madhouses in England, you would not find men who would write so, and think it ten sense. I was glad when General Oglethorpe's arrival was announced, and we left the ladies. Dr. Johnson attended him in the parlour, and was as courteous as ever. The General said, he was busy reading the writers of the middle age. Johnson said they were very curious. OGLETHORPE : of the nation's money, and used it tyrannically. "The House of Commons has usurped the power Government is now carried on by corrupt influJOHNSON: ence, instead of the inherent right in the King.' Sir, the want of inherent right in the King occasions all this disturbance. What we did at the Revolution was necessary; but it lected. A horse that is brought to market may not be bought, though he is a very good horse: but that is from ignorance, not from intention." broke our constitution." * OGLETHORPE: "My father did not think it necessary." On Sunday, March 23, I breakfasted with Dr. Johnson, who seemed much relieved, having taken There was in this discourse much novelty, inopium the night before. He, however, protested genuity, and discrimination, such as is seldom to against it, as a remedy that should be given with be found. Yet I cannot help thinking that men of the utmost reluctance, and only in extreme neces- merit, who have no success in life, may be forgiven sity. I mentioned how commonly it was used in for lamenting, if they are not allowed to complain. Turkey, and that therefore it could not be so They may consider it as hard that their merit pernicious as he apprehended. He grew warm, should not have its suitable distinction. Though and said, "Turks take opium, and Christians take there is no intentional injustice towards them on opium; but Russel, in his account of Aleppo, tells the part of the world, their merit not having been us, that it is as disgraceful in Turkey to take too perceived, they may yet repine against fortune much opium, as it is with us to get drunk. Sir, it or fate, or by whatever name they choose to call is amazing how things are exaggerated. A gen- the supposed mythological power of Destiny. It tleman was lately telling, in a company where I has, however, occurred to me, as a consolatory was present, that in France, as soon as a man of thought, that men of merit should consider thus: fashion marries, he takes an opera girl into keep--How much harder would it be, if the same pering; and this he mentioned as a general custom. 'Pray Sir,' said I, 'how many opera girls may there be?' He answered, 'About fourscore.' 'Well then, Sir,' said I, 'you see there can be no more than fourscore men of fashion who can do this."" Mrs. Desmoulins made tea; and she and I talked before him upon a topic which he had once borne patiently from me when we were by ourselves,-his not complaining of the world, because he was not called to some great office, nor had attained to great wealth. He flew into a violent passion, I confess with some justice, and commanded us to have done. Nobody," said he, "has a right to talk in this manner, to bring before a man his own character, and the events of his life, when he does not choose it should be done. I never have sought the world: the world was not to seek me. It is rather wonderful that so much has been done for me. All the complaints which are made of the world are unjust. I never knew a man of merit neglected: it was generally by his own fault that he failed of success. A man may hide his head in a hole: he may go into the country, and publish a book now and then, which nobody reads, and then complains he is neglected. There is no reason why any person should exert himself for a man who has written a good book: he has not written it for any individual. I may as well make a present to a postman who brings me a letter. When patronage was limited, an author expected to find a Mæcenas, and complained if he did not find one. Why should he complain? This Maecenas has others as good as he, or others who have got the start of him." BOSWELL: "But surely, Sir, you will allow that there are men of merit at the bar who never get practice." JOHNSON: "Sir, you are sure that practice is got from an opinion that the person employed deserves it best; so that if a man of merit at the bar does not get practice, it is from error, not from injustice. He is not neg I have in my "Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides," fully expressed my sentiments upon this subject. The Revolution was necessary, but not a subject for glory; because it for a long time blasted the generous feelings of loyalty. And now, when by the benignant effect of time the present Royal Family are established in our affections, how unwise is it to revive by celebrations the memory of a shock, which it would surely have been better that our constitution had not required.-BOS WELL. sons had both all the merit and all the prosperity. Would not this be a miserable distribution for the poor dunces? Would men of merit exchange their intellectual superiority, and the enjoyments arising from it, for external distinction and the pleasures of wealth? If they would not, let them not envy others, who are poor where they are rich, a compensation which is made to them. Let them look inwards and be satisfied; recollecting, with conscious pride, what Virgil finely says of Corycius Senex, and which I have, in another place,* with truth and sincerity applied to Mr. Burke : "Regum æquabat opes animis." On the subject of the right employment of wealth, Johnson observed, "A man cannot make a bad use of his money, so far as regards society, if he do not hoard it; for if he either spends it or lends it out, society has the benefit. It is in general better to spend money than to give it away; for industry is more promoted by spending money than by giving it away. A man who spends his money is sure he is doing good with it: he is not sure when he gives it away. A man who spends ten thousand a year will do more good than a man who spends two thousand, and gives away eight." In the evening I came to him again. He was somewhat fretful from his illness. A gentleman asked him whether he had been abroad to-day. "Don't talk so childishly," said he. "You may as well ask if I hanged myself to-day." I mentioned politics. JOHNSON: "Sir, I'd as soon have a man to break my bones as talk to me of public affairs, internal or external. I have lived to see things all as bad as they can be." Having mentioned his friend, the second Lord Southwell, he said, "Lord Southwell was the highest bred man, without insolence, that I ever was in company with; the most qualitied I ever saw. Lord Orrery was not dignified; Lord Chesterfield was, but he was insolent. Lord is a man of coarse manners, but a man of abilities and information. I don't say he is a man I would set at the head of a nation, though perhaps he may be as good as the next Prime Minister that comes; Letter to the People of Scotland against the Attemp 66 but he is a man to be at the head of a Club;-I don't say our CLUB;-for there is no such Club." BOSWELL: 'But, Sir, was he not once a factious man?" JOHNSON: yes, Sir; as factious a fellow as could be found; one who was for sinking us all into the mob." BOSWELL: "How then, Sir, did he get into favour with the King?" JOHNSON: 'Because, Sir, I suppose he promised the King to do whatever the King pleased." He said, "Goldsmith's blundering speech to Lord Shelburne, which has been so often mentioned, and which he really did make to him, was only a blunder in emphasis:-'I wonder they should call your Lordship Malagrida, for Malagrida was a very good man;'-meant, I wonder they should use Malagrida as a term of reproach." Soon after this time I had an opportunity of seeing, by means of one of his friends, a proof that his talents, as well as his obliging service to authors, were ready as ever. He had revised "The Village," an admirable poem, by the Reverend Mr. Crabbe. Its sentiments, as to the false notions of rustic happiness and rustic virtue, were quite congenial with his own; and he had taken the trouble, not only to suggest slight corrections and variations, but to furnish some lines, when he thought he could give the writer's meaning better than in the words of the manuscript.* CHAPTER LI.-1783. ON Sunday, March 30, I found him at home in the evening, and had the pleasure to meet with Dr. Brocklesby, whose reading, and knowledge of life and good spirits, supply him with a neverfailing source of conversation. He mentioned a respectable gentleman, who became extremely penurious near the close of his life. Johnson said there must have been a degree of madness about him. Not at all, Sir," said Dr. Brocklesby, "his judgment was entire." Unluckily, however, he mentioned that, although he had a fortune of twenty-seven thousand pounds, he denied himself many comforts, from an apprehension that he could not afford them. Nay, Sir," cried Johnwhen the judgment is so disturbed that a man cannot count, that is pretty well." son, I shall give an instance, marking the original by Roman, and Johnson's substitution in Italic characters: "In fairer scenes, where peaceful pleasures spring, Tityrus, the pride of Mantuan swains, might sing; But charmed by him, or smitten with his views, Shall modern poets court the Mantuan Muse? From Truth and Nature shall we widely stray, Where Fancy leads, or Virgil led the way?" "On Mincio's banks, in Casar's bounteous reign, If Tityrus found the golden age again, Must sleepy bards the flattering dream prolong, Mechanic echoes of the Mantuan song From Truth and Nature shall we widely stray, Where Virgil, not where Fancy, leads the way!" Here we find Johnson's poetical and critical powers undiminished I must, however, observe, that the aids he gave to this poem, as to "The Traveller," and "Deserted Village," of Goldsmith, were so small as by no means to impair the distinguishing merit of the author.-BOS WELL. I shall here insert a few of Johnson's sayings, without the formality of dates, as they have no reference to any particular time or place. "The more a man extends and varies his acquaintance the better." This, however, was meant with a just restriction; for he, on another occasion, said to me, "Sir, a man may be so much of everything, that he is nothing of anything." "Raising the wages of day-labourers is wrong; for it does not make them live better, but only makes them idler; and idleness is a very bad thing for human nature. "It is a very good custom to keep a journal for a man's own use; he may write upon a card a day all that is necessary to be written, after he has had experience of life. At first there is a great deal to be written, because there is a great deal of novelty; but when once a man has settled his opinions, there is seldom much to be set down." "There is nothing wonderful in the Journal* which we see Swift kept in London; for it contains slight topics, and it might soon be written." I praised the accuracy of an account-book of a lady whom I mentioned. JOHNSON: "Keeping accounts, Sir, is of no use when a man is spending his own money, and has nobody to whom he is to account. You won't eat less beef to-day, because you have written down what it cost yesterday." I mentioned another lady who thought as he did, so that her husband could not get her to keep an account of the expense of the family, as she thought it enough that she never exceeded the sum allowed her. JOHNSON: Sir, it is fit she should keep an account, because her husband "I maintained wishes it; but I do not see its use." that keeping an account had this advantage, that it satisfies a man that his money has not been lost or stolen, which he might sometimes be apt to imagine, were there no written state of his expense; and besides, a calculation of economy, so as not to exceed one's income, cannot be made without a view of the different articles in figures, that one may see how to retrench in some particulars less necessary than others. This he did not attempt to answer. Talking of an acquaintance of ours, whose narratives, which abounded in curious and interesting topics, were unhappily found to be very fabulous, I mentioned Lord Mansfield's having said to me, Suppose we believe one half of what he tells." JOHNSON: Ay; but we don't know which half to believe. By his lying we lose not only our reverence for him, but all comfort in his conversa * In his Life of Swift, he thus speaks of this Journal:"In the midst of his power and his politics, he kept a journal of his visits, his walks, his interviews with ministers, and quarrels with his servant, and transmitted it to Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Dingley, to whom he knew that whatever befel him was interesting, and no account could be too minute. Whether these diurnal trifles were properly exposed to eyes which had never received any pleasure from the Dean, may be reasonably doubted: they have, however, some old attractions: the reader finding frequent mention of names which he has been used to consider as important, goes on in hope of informa tion; and as there is nothing to fatigue attention, if he is disappointed, he can hardly complain.' It may be added, that the reader not only hopes to find, but does find, in this very entertaining Journal, much curious information, respecting persons and things, which he will in vain seek for in other books of the same period.-MALONE. |