JOHNSON TO BOSWELL. May 10. 1774. "DEAR SIR, - The lady who delivers this has a law-suit, in which she desires to make use of your skill and eloquence, and she seems to think that she shall have something more of both for a recommendation from me; which, though I know how little you want any external incitement to your duty, I could not refuse her, because I know that at least it will not hurt her, to tell you that I wish her well. I am, Sir, your most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." " BOSWELL TO JOHNSON. "Edinburgh, May 12. 1774. 'Lord Hailes has begged of me to offer you his best respects, and to transmit to you specimens of 'Annals of Scotland, from the Accession of Malcolm Kenmore to the death of James V.,' in drawing up which his lordship has been engaged for some time. His lordship writes to me thus: — " I could procure Dr. Johnson's criticisms, they would be of great use to me in the prosecution of my work, as they would be judicious and true. I have no right to ask that favour of him. If you could, it would highly oblige me.' .If "Dr. Blair requests you may be assured that he did not write to London what you said to him, and that neither by word nor letter has he made the least complaint of you; but, on the contrary, has a high respect for you, and loves you much more since he saw you in Scotland. It would both divert and please you to see his eagerness about this "It will be proper to make some presents in Scotland. You shall tell me to whom I shall give; and I have stipulated twenty-five for you to give in your own name. Some will take the present better from me, others better from you. In this, you who are to live in the place ought to direct. Consider it. Whatever you can get for my purpose send me; and make my compliments to your lady and both the young ones. - I am, Sir, your, &c., "SAM. JOHNSON." BOSWELL TO JOHNSON. Edinburgh, June 24. 1774. "You do not acknowledge the receipt of the various packets which I have sent to you. Neither ean I prevail with you to answer my letters, though you honour me with returns. You have said nothing to me about poor Goldsmith', nothing about Langton. "I have received for you, from the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge in Scotland, the 1 Dr. Goldsmith died April 4. this year.- BOSWELL. 2 These books Dr. Johnson presented to the Bodleian Library. BoSWELL. 3 On the cover enclosing them Dr. Johnson wrote, "If "I should be very sorry if I appeared to treat such a character as Lord Hailes otherwise than with high respect. I return the sheets, to which I have done what mischief I could; and finding it so little, thought not much of sending them. narrative is clear, lively, and short. The "I have done worse to Lord Hailes than by neglecting his sheets: I have run him in debt. Dr. Horne, the president of Magdalen College in Oxford, wrote to me about three months ago, that he purposed to reprint Walton's Lives, and desired me to contribute to the work: my answer was, that Lord Hailes intended the same publication; and Dr. Horne has resigned it to him. His lordship must now think seriously about it. "Of poor dear Dr. Goldsmith there is little to be told, more than the papers have made public. He died of a fever, I am afraid, more violent by uneasiness of mind. His debts began to be heavy, and all his resources were exhausted. Sir Joshua is of opinion that he owed not less than two thousand pounds. Was ever poet so trusted before? "You may, if you please, put the inscription thus: "Maria Scotorum Regina nata 15—, a suis in exilium acta 15—, ab hospitâ neci data 15—.' must find the years. "Of your second daughter you certainly gave the account yourself, though you have forgotten it. While Mrs. Boswell is well, never doubt of a boy. Mrs. Thrale brought, I think, five girls running, but while I was with you she had a boy. I am obliged to you for all your pamphlets, and of the last I hope to make some use. I made some of the former. I am, dear Sir, your most affectionate servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." much further. He died of a fever, exasperated, as I believe, by the fear of distress. He had raised money and squandered it, by every artifice of acquisition and folly of expense. But let not his frailties be remembered; he was a very great man. "I have just begun to print my Journey to the Hebrides, and am leaving the press to take another journey into Wales, whither Mr. Thrale is going, to take possession of, at least, five hundred a year, fallen to his lady. All at Streatham, that are alive, are well. "I have never recovered from the last dreadful illness', but flatter myself that I grow gradually better; much, however, yet remains to mend. Κύριε ἐλέησον. "If you have the Latin version of Busy, curious, thirsty fly,' be so kind as to transcribe and send it; but you need not be in haste, for I shall be I know not where, for at least five weeks. I wrote the following tetrastick on poor Goldsmith : — Τὸν τάφον εἰσοράᾳς τὸν Ὀλιθάροιο· κονίην "Please to make my most respectful compliments to all the ladies, and remember me to young George and his sisters. I reckon George begins to show a pair of heels. Do not be sullen now, but let me find a letter when I come back. I am, dear Sir, your affectionate, humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." BOSWELL TO JOHNSON. "Edinburgh, Aug. 30. 1774. "You have given me an inscription for a portrait of Mary Queen of Scots, in which you, in a short and striking manner, point out her hard fate. But you will be pleased to keep in mind, that my picture is a representation of a particular scene in her history; her being forced to resign her crown, while she was imprisoned in the castle of Lochlevin. I must, therefore, beg that you will be kind enough to give me an inscription suited to that particular scene; or determine which of the two formerly transmitted to you is the best; and at any rate, favour me with an English translation. It will be doubly kind if you comply with my request speedily. "Your critical notes on the specimen of Lord Hailes's Annals of Scotland' are excellent. agreed with you on every one of them. He himself objected only to the alteration of free to brave, in the passage where he says that Edward departed with the glory due to the conqueror of a free people.' He says, to call the Scots brave would only add to the glory of their conqueror. You will make allowance for the national zeal of our annalist. I now send a few more leaves of the Annals, which I hope you will peruse, and return with observations, as you did upon the former occasion. Lord Hailes writes to me thus: I Mr. 1 Although his Letters and his Prayers and Meditations speak of his late illness as merely a cold and cough," it would seem by this use of the word "dreadful," that it had, at some time, taken a more serious character. We have no trace of any illness since that of 1766, which could be called dreadful,-CROKER. 2 The Greek for "Lord have mercy upon us." - CROKER. 3 As this has never been to my knowledge translated, I have attempted it. Boswell will be pleased to express the grateful sense which Sir David Dalrymple has of Dr. Johnson's attention to his little specimen. The further specimen will show that Even in an Edward he can see desert.' "It gives me much pleasure to hear that a republication of Isaac Walton's Lives is intended. You have been in a mistake in thinking that Lord Hailes had it in view. I remember one morning, while he sat with you in my house, he said, that there should be a new edition of Walton's Lives; and you said that 'they should be benoted a little.' This was all that passed on that subject. You must, therefore, inform Dr. Horne, that he may resume his plan. I enclose a note concerning it; and if Dr. Horne will write to me, all the attention that I can give shall be cheerfully bestowed upon what I think a pious work, the preservation and elucidation of Walton, by whose writings I have been most pleasingly edified." BOSWELL TO JOHNSON. "Edinburgh, Sept. 16. 1774. "Wales has probably detained you longer than I supposed. You will have become quite a mountaineer, by visiting Scotland one year and Wales another. You must next go to Switzerland. Cambria will complain, if you do not honour her also with some remarks. And I find concessere columna, the booksellers expect another book. I am impatient to see your Tour to Scotland and the Hebrides.' Might you not send me a copy by the post as soon as it is printed off"?" JOHNSON TO BOSWELL. London, Oct. 1. 1774. "DEAR SIR, Yesterday I returned from my Welsh journey. I was sorry to leave my book suspended so long; but having an opportunity of seeing, with so much convenience, a new part of the island, I could not reject it. I have been in five of the six counties of North Wales; and have seen St. Asaph and Bangor, the two seats of their bishops; have been upon Penmanmaur and Snowdon, and passed over into Anglesea. But Wales is so little different from England, that it offers nothing to the speculation of the traveller. "When I came home, I found several of your papers, with some pages of Lord Hailes's Annals, which I will consider. I am in haste to give you some account of myself, lest you should suspect me of negligence in the pressing business which I find recommended to my care, and which I knew nothing of till now, when all care is vain. "In the distribution of my books I purpose to follow your advice, adding such as shall occur to me. I am not pleased with your notes of remembrance added to your names, for I hope I shall not easily forget them. This tour to Wales, which was made in company with Mr., Mrs. [and Miss] Thrale, though it no doubt contributed to his health and amusement, did not give an occasion to such a discursive exercise of his mind as our tour to the Hebrides. I do not find that he kept any journal or notes of what he saw there. All that I heard him say of it was, that "instead of bleak and barren mountains, there were green and fertile ones; and that one of the castles in Wales would contain all the castles that he had seen in Scotland." 1 1 Mr. Boswell was mistaken in supposing that Johnson kept no journal of his Welsh tour: on the contrary, he kept a minute diary of the same kind as that which Mr. Boswell published of his subsequent visit to Paris, and as ample probably as that on which he founded his "Journey to the Hebrides." It was preserved by his servant, Barber, and how it escaped Mr. Boswell's research is not known; but it was first published in 1816, by Mr. Duppa, and with his permission republished by me, for the purpose" of filling up (to use Mr. Duppa's words) "that chasm in the Life of Johnson, which Mr. Boswell was unable to supply." I have added a selection of Mr. Duppa's own notes, and some others communicated to him by Mrs. Piozzi, in MS., too late for his use. The whole affords a chapter in Johnson's life, and many incidental notices of manners, if not very important, at least too curious to be omitted. A collation of the original MS., kindly entrusted to Mr. Murray, for Mr. Wright's edition, by its present proprietor, the Rev. Archdeacon Butler, of Shrewsbury, has supplied many corrections, and some omissions, in Mr. Duppa's text. - CROKER, 1835. Mr. Richard Green was an apothecary, and related to Dr. Johnson. He had a considerable collection of antiquities, natural curiosities, and ingenious works of art. DUPPA. Dr. Erasmus Darwin: at this time he lived at Lichfield, where he had practised as a physician from the year 1756. Miss Seward says, that Johnson and Darwin had only one or two interviews. Mutual and strong dislike subsisted between A. M. Tuesday, July 5. - We left Streatham 11 - Price of four horses two shillings a mile. Barnet 1 40′ P. M. — - On the road I read Tully's Epistles-At night at Dunstable. Wednesday, July 6.-To Lichfield, eightythree miles. To the Swan. Thursday, July 7.- - To Mrs. Porter's - To the cathedral - To Mrs. Aston's To Mr. Green's 2 Mr. Green's museum was much admired, and Mr. Newton's china. Friday, July 8. -To Mr. Newton's - To Mrs. Cobb's Dr. Darwin's 3- I went again to Mrs. Aston's. She was sorry to part. Saturday, July 9.- Breakfasted at Mr. Garrick's Visited Miss Vyse-Miss Seward read a little on the road in Tully's Epistles Went to Dr. Taylor's [at Ashbourn] - I and Martial-Mart. 8th, 44., lino Company at dinner. Sunday, July 10. Morning, at church. pro limo. Monday, July 11.- At Ilam At Oakover I was less pleased with Ilam than when I saw it first; but my friends were much delighted. Tuesday, July 12. At Chatsworth. The water willow 8 The cascade shot out from many spouts The fountains The water tree-The smooth floors in the highest rooms 9 - Atlas fifteen hands inch and half 10 — River running through the park - The porticoes on the sides support two galleries for the first floor- My friends were not struck with the house-It fell below my ideas of the furniture - The staircase is in the corner of the house -The hall in the corner the grandest room, though only a room of passage-On the groundfloor, only the chapel and breakfast-room, and a small library; the rest, servants' rooms and offices - A bad inn. Wednesday, July 13. Thursday, July 14. At Matlock. - At dinner at Oakover; too deaf to hear, or much converseMrs. Gell The chapel at Oakover - The them. Dr. Darwin died April 18. 1802, in his sixty-ninth year. DUPPA. 4" Peter Garrick, the elder brother of David. I think he was an attorney, but he seemed to lead an independent life, and talked all about fishing. Dr. Johnson advised him to read Walton's Angler, repeating some verses from it."Piozzi MS. CROKER. 5 Daughter of Archdeacon Vyse, wife afterwards of Madan, Bishop of Peterborough. - CROKER. 6 Dr. Johnson would not suffer me to speak to Miss Seward." Piozzi MS. So early was the coolness between them.CROKER. 7 In the edition of Martial, which he was reading, the last word of the line "Defluat, et lento splendescat turbida limo," was, no doubt, misprinted lino. - CROKER. 8"There was a water-work at Chatsworth with a concealed spring, which, upon touching, spouted out streams from every bough of a willow tree. I remember Lady Kuth (Miss Thrale), then ten years old, was the most amused by it of any of the party." Piozzi MS.-CROKER. 9 Old oak floors polished by rubbing. Johnson. I suppose, wondered that they should take such pains with the garrets. -Piozzi MS.-CROKER. 10 This was a race-horse, which was very handsome and very gentle, and attracted so much of Dr. Johnson's attention, that he said, "of all the Duke's possessions, I like Atlas best."-DUPPA. Friday, July 15. At Ashbourn - Mrs. Dyott and her daughters came in the morning – Mr. Dyott1 dined with us — -We visited Mr. Flint. « Τὸ πρῶτον Μῶρος, τὸ δὲ δεύτερον εἷλεν Ἐρασμός, Τὸ τριτὸν ἐκ Μουσῶν στέμμα Μίκυλλος ἔχει.” Saturday, July 16. — At Dovedale, with Mr. Langley and Mr. Flint. It is a place that deserves a visit; but did not answer my expectation. The river is small, the rocks are grand. Reynard's Hall is a cave very high in the rock; it goes backward several yards, perhaps eight. To the left is a small opening, through which I crept, and found another cavern, perhaps four yards square; at the back was a breach yet smaller, which I could not easily have entered, and, wanting light, did not inspect. I was in a cave yet higher, called Reynard's Kitchen. There is a rock called the Church, in which I saw no resemblance that could justify the name. Dovedale is about two miles long. We walked towards the head of the Dove, which is said to rise about five miles above two caves called the Dog-holes, at the end of Dovedale. In one place, where the rocks approached, I proposed, to build an arch from rock to rock over the stream, with a summerhouse upon it. The water murmured pleasantly among the stones. I thought that the heat and exercise mended my hearing. I bore the fatigue of the walk, which was very laborious, without inconvenience.-There were with us Gilpin and Parker. Having heard of this place before, I had formed some imperfect idea, to which it did not answer. Brown says he was disappointed. I certainly expected a larger river where I found only a clear quick brook. I believe I had imaged a valley enclosed by rocks, and terminated by a broad expanse of water. He that has seen Dovedale has no need to visit the Highlands. In the afternoon we 4 6 visited old Mrs. Dale." July 17. Sunday morning, at church Κάθ [αρσις] 8 - Afternoon at Mr. Dyott's. Monday, July 18.. - Dined at Mr. Gell's.9 Tuesday, July 19. We went to Kedleston to see Lord Scardale's new house, which is very costly, but ill contrived The hall is very 1 The Dyotts are a respectable and wealthy family, still residing near Lichfield. The royalist who shot Lord Brooke when assaulting St. Chad's Cathedral, in Lichfield, on St. Chad's day, is said to have been a Mr. Dyott. - CROKER. 2" More bore away the first crown of the Muses, Erasmus the second, and Micyllus has the third." Micyllus's real name was Moltzer; see his article in Bayle. His best work was De re Metrica."- CROKER. 3 The Rev. Mr. Langley was master of the grammarschool at Ashbourn; a near neighbour of Dr. Taylor's, but not always on friendly terms with him; which used to perplex their common friend Johnson. - CROKER. 4 Mr. Gilpin was an accomplished youth, at this time an under-graduate at Oxford. His father was an old silversmith near Lincoln's Inn Fields. Piozzi MS. CROKER. 5 John Parker, of Brownsholme, in Lancashire, Esq.DUPPA. stately, lighted by three skylights; it has two rows of marble pillars, dug, as I hear, from Langley, in a quarry of Northamptonshire; the pillars are very large and massy, and take up too much room: they were better away. Behind the hall is a circular saloon, useless, and therefore ill contrived The corridors that join the wings to the body are mere passages through segments of circles - The state bedchamber was very richly furnished The dining parlour was more splendid with gilt plate than any that I have seen — - There were many pictures - The grandeur was all below The bedchambers were small, low, dark, and fitter for a prison than a house of splendourThe kitchen has an opening into the gallery, by which its heat and its fumes are dispersed over the house There seemed in the whole more cost than judgment. We went then to the silk mill at Derby, where I remarked a particular manner of propagating motion from a horizontal to a vertical wheel - We were desired to leave the men only two shillings Mr. Thrale's bill at the inn for dinner was eighteen shillings and tenpence. At night I went to Mr. Langley's, Mrs. Wood's, Captain Astle, &c. Wednesday, July 20.-We left Ashbourn 10 and went to Buxton-Thence to Pool's Hole, which is narrow at first, but then rises into a high arch; but is so obstructed with crags, that it is difficult to walk in it-There are two ways to the end, which is, they say, six hundred and fifty yards from the mouthThey take passengers up the higher way, and bring them back the lower-The higher way was so difficult and dangerous, that, having tried it, I desisted-I found no level part.— At night we came to Macclesfield, a very large town in Cheshire, little known-It has a silk mill: it has a handsome church, which, however, is but a chapel, for the town belongs to some parish of another name [Prestbury], as Stourbridge lately did to Old SwinfordMacclesfield has a town-hall, and is, I suppose, a corporate town. Thursday, July 21.-We came to Congleton, where there is likewise a silk mill-Then to Middlewich, a mean old town, without any manufacture, but, I think, a corporationThence we proceeded to Namptwich, an old town: from the inn, I saw scarcely any but | 6 Mrs. Piozzi" rather thought" that this was Capability Browne, whose opinion on a point of landscape, probably gathered from Gilpin or Parker, Johnson thought worth 7 Mrs. Dale was at this time 93. — Duppa. recording. CROKER. 8 Throughout this diary he veils his notices of his health | in the learned languages. - DUPPA. In one of his letters, excusing himself to Mrs. Thrale for narrating some details of his infirmities, he says, that Dr. Lawrence used to say that medical treatises should be always in Latin.” – CROKER. 9 Mr. Gell, of Hopton Hall, the father of Sir William Gell, well known for his Topography of Troy. - Duppa. 10 It would seem, that from the 9th to the 20th, the headquarter of the party were at Ashbourn, whence they had made the several excursions noted. - CROKER. 1 black timber houses- I tasted the brine water, which contains much more salt than the sea water-By slow evaporation, they make large crystals of salt; by quick boiling, small granulations-It seemed to have no other preparation. At evening we came to Combermere', so called from a wide lake. Friday, July 22.-We went upon the mere -I pulled a bulrush of about ten feet - I saw no convenient boats upon the mere. Saturday, July 23.-We visited Lord Kilmorey's house-It is large and convenient, with many rooms, none of which are magnificently spacious-The furniture was not splendid―The bed-curtains were guarded 3Lord Kilmorey✦ showed the place with too much exultation-He has no park, and little water. Sunday, July 24.-We went to a chapel, built by Sir Lynch Cotton for his tenants-It is consecrated, and therefore, I suppose, endowed—It is neat and plain-The communion plate is handsome-It has iron pales and gates of great elegance, brought from Lleweney, "for Robert has laid all open." --- [Monday, July 25.] - We saw Hawkestone, the seat of Sir Rowland Hill, and were conducted by Miss Hill over a large tract of rocks and woods; a region abounding with striking scenes and terrific grandeur. We were always on the brink of a precipice, or at the foot of a lofty rock; but the steeps were seldom naked: in many places, oaks of uncommon magnitude shot up from the crannies of stone; and where there were not tall trees, there were underwoods and bushes. Round the rocks is a narrow patch cut upon the stone, which is very frequently hewn into steps; but art has proceeded no further than to make the succession of wonders safely accessible. The whole circuit is somewhat laborious; it is terminated by a grotto cut in a rock to a great extent, with many windings, and supported by pillars, not hewn into regularity, but such as imitate the sports of nature, by asperities and protuberances. The place is without any dampness, and would afford an habitation not uncomfortable. There were from space to space seats in the rock. Though it wants water, it excels Dovedale by the extent of its prospects, the awfulness of its shades, the horrors of its precipices, the verdure of its hollows, and the loftiness of its rocks: the ideas which it forces upon the mind are the sublime, the dreadful, and the vast. Above is inaccessible altitude, below is horrible profundity; but it excels the garden of Ilam only in extent. Ilam has grandeur, tempered with softness; the walker congratulates his own arrival at the place, and is grieved to think that he must ever leave it. As he looks up to the rocks, his thoughts are elevated; as he turns his eyes on the valleys, he is composed and soothed. He that mounts the precipices at Hawkestone wonders how he came thither, and doubts how he shall return. His walk is an adventure, and his departure an escape. He has not the tranquillity, but the horror, of solitude; a kind of turbulent pleasure, between fright and admiration. Ilam is the fit abode of pastoral virtue, and might properly diffuse its shades over nymphs and swains. Hawkestone can have no fitter inhabitants than giants of mighty bone and bold emprise; men of lawless courage and heroic violence. Hawkestone should be described by Milton, and Ilam by Parnell.-Miss Hill showed the whole succession of wonders with great civility. The house was magnificent, compared with the rank of the owner.6 - Tuesday, July 26.· - We left Combermere, where we have been treated with great civility Sir L. is gross, the lady weak and ignorant The house is spacious, but not magnificent; built at different times, with different materials; part is of timber, part of stone or brick, plastered and painted to look like timber - It is the best house that ever I saw of that kind The mere, or lake, is large, with a small island, on which there is a summer-house, shaded with great trees; some were hollow, and have seats in their trunks. - In the afternoon we came to West-Chester; (my father went to the fair when I had the small-pox.) We walked round the walls, which are complete, and contain one mile three quarters, and one hundred and one yards; within them are many gardens: they are very high, and two may walk very commodiously side by side - On the inside is a rail — There are towers from space to space, not very frequent, and I think not all complete. Wednesday, July 27. — We staid at Chester and saw the cathedral, which is not of the first 1 At this time the seat of Sir Lynch Salusbury Cotton, now of Lord Combermere, his grandson, from which place be takes his title. It stands on the site of an old abbey of Benedictine monks. The lake, or mere, is about three quarters of a mile long, but of no great width. - DUPPA. * Shavington Hall, in Shropshire. - DUPPA. 3 Probably guarded from wear or accident by being covered with some inferior material; or, perhaps, as Mr. Lockhart suggests, trimmed with lace-an old meaning of the word guarded.- CROKER. 4 John Needham, tenth Viscount Kilmorey. - CROKER. • Robert was the eldest son of Sir Lynch Salusbury Cotton, and lived at Lleweney at this time. - DUPPA. All the seats in England were, a hundred years ago, enclosed with walls, through which there were generally iron pales and gates." Mr. Cotton had, no doubt, "laid all open by prostrating the walls; and the pales and gates, thus become useless, had been transferred to the church. - CROKER. 6 The whole of this passage is so inflated and pompous, that it looks more like a burlesque of Johnson's style than his own travelling notes. CROKER 7 It would seem that a quarrel between Johnson and Mrs. Thrale took place at Chester, for she writes to Mr. Duppa "Of those ill-fated walls Dr. Johnson might have learned the extent from any one. He has since put me fairly out of countenance by saying, I have known my mistress fifteen years, and never saw her fairly out of humour but on Chester wall it was because he would keep Miss Thrale beyond her hour of going to bed to walk on the wall, where, from the want of light, I apprehended some accident to herperhaps to him."— Piozzi MS. — CROker. EE - |