[1138] Seeante, p. 124. He introduced Boswell to Davies, who was 'the immediate introducer.'Post, under June 18, 1783, note.
[1139] On March 2, 1754 (not 1753), the audience called for a repetition of some lines which they applied against the government. 'Diggs, the actor, refused by order of Sheridan, the manager, to repeat them; Sheridan would not even appear on the stage to justify the prohibition. In an instant the audience demolished the inside of the house, and reduced it to a shell.' Walpole'sReign of George II, i. 389, andGent. Mag. xxiv. 141. Sheridan's friend, Mr. S. Whyte, says (_Miscellanea Nova, p. 16):—'In the year 1762 Sheridan's scheme for anEnglish Dictionarywas published. That memorable year he was nominated for a pension.' He quotes (p. 111) a letter from Mrs. Sheridan, dated Nov. 29, 1762, in which she says:—'I suppose you must have heard that the King has granted him a pension of 200£. a year, merely as an encouragement to his undertaking.'
[1140] Seepost, March 28, 1776.
[1141] Horace Walpole describes Lord Bute as 'a man that had passed his life in solitude, and was too haughty to admit to his familiarity but half a dozen silly authors and flatterers. Sir Henry Erskine, a military poet, Home, a tragedy-writing parson,' &c.Mem. of the Reign of George III, i. 37.
[1142] Seepost, March 28, 1776.
[1143] 'Native wood-noteswild.' Milton'sL'Allegro, l. 134
[1144]
'In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formasCorpora. Di coeptis (nam vos mutastis et illas)Adspirate meis.''Of bodies changed to various forms I sing:—Ye Gods from whence these miracles did springInspired, &c.'—DRYDEN, Ov.Met. i.i.
Seepostunder March 30, 1783, for Lord Loughborough.
[1145] Seepost, May 17, 1783, and June 24, 1784. Sheridan was not of a forgiving nature. For some years he would not speak to his famous son: yet he went with his daughters to the theatre to see one of his pieces performed. 'The son took up his station by one of the side scenes, opposite to the box where they sat, and there continued, unobserved, to look at them during the greater part of the night. On his return home he burst into tears, and owned how deeply it had gone to his heart, "to think thattheresat his father and his sisters before him, and yet that he alone was not permitted to go near them."' Moore'sSheridan, i. 167.
[1146] As Johnson himself said:—'Men hate more steadily than they love; and if I have said something to hurt a man once, I shall not get the better of this by saying many things to please him.'Post, Sept. 15, 1777.
[1147] P. 447. BOSWELL. 'There is another writer, at present of gigantic fame in these days of little men, who has pretended to scratch out a life of Swift, but so miserably executed as only to reflect back on himself that disgrace which he meant to throw upon the character of the Dean.'The Life of Doctor Swift, Swift'sWorks, ed. 1803, ii. 200. There is a passage in theLives of the Poets(Works, viii. 43) in which Johnson might be supposed playfully to have anticipated this attack. He is giving an account of Blackmore's imaginaryLiterary Club of Lay Monks, of which the hero was 'one Mr. Johnson.' 'The rest of theLay Monks,' he writes, 'seem to be but feeble mortals, in comparison with the gigantick Johnson.' See alsopost, Oct. 16, 1769. Horace Walpole (Letters, v. 458) spoke no less scornfully than Sheridan of Johnson and his contemporaries. On April 27, 1773, after saying that he should like to be intimate with Anstey (the author of theNew Bath Guide), or with the author of theHeroic Epistle, he continues:—'I have no thirst to know the rest of my contemporaries, from the absurd bombast of Dr. Johnson down to the silly Dr. Goldsmith; though the latter changeling has had bright gleams of parts, and the former had sense, till he changed it for words, and sold it for a pension. Don't think me scornful. Recollect that I have seen Pope and lived with Gray.'
[1148] Johnson is thus mentioned by Mrs. Sheridan in a letter dated, Blois, Nov. 16, 1743, according to theGarrick Corres, i. 17, but the date is wrongly given, as the Sheridans went to Blois in 1764: 'I have heard Johnson decry some of the prettiest pieces of writing we have in English; yet Johnson is an honourable man—that is to say, he is a good critic, and in other respects a man of enormous talents.'
[1149] My position has been very well illustrated by Mr. Belsham of Bedford, in hisEssay on Dramatic Poetry. 'The fashionable doctrine (says he) both of moralists and criticks in these times is, that virtue and happiness are constant concomitants; and it is regarded as a kind of dramatick impiety to maintain that virtue should not be rewarded, nor vice punished in the last scene of the last act of every tragedy. This conduct in our modern poets is, however, in my opinion, extremely injudicious; for, it labours in vain to inculcate a doctrine in theory, which every one knows to be false in fact,viz. that virtue in real life is always productive of happiness; and vice of misery. Thus Congreve concludes the Tragedy ofThe Mourning Bridewith the following foolish couplet:—
'For blessings ever wait on virtuous deeds,And though a late, a sure reward succeeds.'
'When a man eminently virtuous, a Brutus, a Cato, or a Socrates, finally sink under the pressure of accumulated misfortune, we are not only led to entertain a more indignant hatred of vice than if he rose from his distress, but we are inevitably induced to cherish the sublime idea that a day of future retribution will arrive when he shall receive not merely poetical, but real and substantial justice.'Essays Philosophical, Historical, and Literary, London, 1791, vol. II. 8vo. p. 317.
This is well reasoned and well expressed. I wish, indeed, that the ingenious authour had not thought it necessary to introduce anyinstanceof 'a man eminently virtuous;' as he would then have avoided mentioning such a ruffian as Brutus under that description. Mr. Belsham discovers in hisEssaysso much reading and thinking, and good composition, that I regret his not having been fortunate enough to be educated a member of our excellent national establishment. Had he not been nursed in nonconformity, he probably would not have been tainted with those heresies (as I sincerely, and on no slight investigation, think them) both in religion and politicks, which, while I read, I am sure, with candour, I cannot read without offence. BOSWELL. Boswell's 'position has been illustrated' with far greater force by Johnson. 'It has been the boast of some swelling moralists, that every man's fortune was in his own power, that prudence supplied the place of all other divinities, and that happiness is the unfailing consequence of virtue. But surely the quiver of Omnipotence is stored with arrows against which the shield of human virtue, however adamantine it has been boasted, is held up in vain; we do not always suffer by our crimes; we are not always protected by our innocence.'The Adventurer, No. 120. See alsoRasselas, chap. 27.
[1150] 'Charles Fox said that Mrs. Sheridan'sSydney Biddulphwas the best of all modern novels. By the by [R. B.] Sheridan used to declare thathehad never read it.' Rogers'sTable-Talk, p. 90. The editor says, in a note on this passage:—'The incident inThe School for Scandalof Sir Oliver's presenting himself to his relations in disguise is manifestly taken by Sheridan from his mother's novel.'
[1151] No. 8.—The very place where I was fortunate enough to be introduced to the illustrious subject of this work, deserves to be particularly marked. I never pass by it without feeling reverence and regret. BOSWELL.
[1152] Johnson said:—'Sir, Davies has learning enough to give credit to a clergyman.'Post, 1780, in Mr. Langton'sCollection. The spiteful Steevens thus wrote about Davies:—'His concern ought to be with the outside of books; but Dr. Johnson, Dr. Percy, and some others have made such a coxcomb of him, that he is now hardy enough to open volumes, turn over their leaves, and give his opinions of their contents. Did I ever tell you an anecdote of him? About ten years ago I wanted the OxfordHomer, and called at Davies's to ask for it, as I had seen one thrown about his shop. Will you believe me, when I assure you he told me "he had but one, and that he kept forhis own reading?"'Garrick Corres. i. 608.
[1153] Johnson, writing to Beattie,post, Aug 21, 1780, says:—'Mr. Davies has got great success as an author, generated by the corruption of a bookseller.' His principal works areMemoirs of Garrick, 1780, andDramatic Miscellanies, 1784.
[1154] Churchill, in theRosciad, thus celebrated his wife and mocked his recitation:—
'With him came mighty Davies. On my lifeThat Davies hath a very pretty wife:—Statesman all over!—In plots famous grown!—He mouths a sentence, as curs mouth a bone.'
Churchill'sPoems, i. 16.
Seepost, under April 20, 1764, and March 20, 1778. Charles Lamb in a note to hisEssay on the Tragedies of Shakespearesays of Davies, that he 'is recorded to have recited theParadise Lostbetter than any man in England in his day (though I cannot help thinking there must be some mistake in this tradition).' Lamb'sWorks, ed. 1840, p. 517.
[1155] See Johnson's letter to Davies,post, June 18, 1783.
[1156] Mr. Murphy, in hisEssay on the Life and Genius of Dr. Johnson, [p. 106], has given an account of this meeting considerably different from mine, I am persuaded without any consciousness of errour. His memory, at the end of near thirty years, has undoubtedly deceived him, and he supposes himself to have been present at a scene, which he has probably heard inaccurately described by others. In my notetaken on the very day, in which I am confident I marked every thing material that passed, no mention is made of this gentleman; and I am sure, that I should not have omitted one so well known in the literary world. It may easily be imagined that this, my first interview with Dr. Johnson, with all its circumstances, made a strong impression on my mind, and would be registered with peculiar attention. BOSWELL.
[1157] Seepost, April 8, 1775.
[1158] That this was a momentary sally against Garrick there can be no doubt; for at Johnson's desire he had, some years before, given a benefit-night at his theatre to this very person, by which she had got two hundred pounds. Johnson, indeed, upon all other occasions, when I was in his company, praised the very liberal charity of Garrick. I once mentioned to him, 'It is observed, Sir, that you attack Garrick yourself, but will suffer nobody else to do it.' JOHNSON, (smiling) 'Why, Sir, that is true.' BOSWELL. Seepost, May 15, 1776, and April 17, 1778.
[1159] By Henry Home, Lord Kames, 3 vols. Edinburgh, 1762. Seepost, Oct. 16, 1769. 'Johnson laughed much at Lord Kames's opinion that war was a good thing occasionally, as so much valour and virtue were exhibited in it. "A fire," says Johnson, "might as well be thought a good thing; there is the bravery and address of the firemen employed in extinguishing it; there is much humanity exerted in saving the lives and properties of the poor sufferers; yet after all this, who can say a fire is a good thing?"' Johnson'sWorks, (1787) xi. 209.
[1160] No. 45 of theNorth Britonhad been published on April 23. Wilkes was arrested under a general warrant on April 30. On May 6 he was discharged from custody by the Court of Common Pleas, before which he had been brought by a writ ofHabeas Corpus. A few days later he was served with a subpoena upon an information exhibited against him by the Attorney-General in the Court of King's Bench. He did not enter an appearance, holding, as he said, the serving him with the subpoena as a violation of the privilege of parliament.Parl. Hist. xv. 1360.
[1161] Mr. Sheridan was then reading lectures upon Oratory at Bath, where Derrick was Master of the Ceremonies; or, as the phrase is, KING. BOSWELL. Dr. Parr, who knew Sheridan well, describes him 'as a wrong-headed, whimsical man.' 'I remember,' he continues, 'hearing one of his daughters, in the house where I lodged, triumphantly repeat Dryden'sOde upon St. Cecilia's Day, according to the instruction given to her by her father. Take a sample:—
"Nonebut the brave None but thebrave. Nonebutthe brave deserve the fair."
Naughty Richard [R. B. Sheridan], like Gallio, seemed to care nought for these things.' Moore'sSheridan, i. 9, 11. Sheridan writing from Dublin on Dec. 7, 1771, says:—'Never was party violence carried to such a height as in this session; the House [the Irish House of Parliament] seldom breaking up till eleven or twelve at night. From these contests the desire of improving in the article of elocution is become very general. There are no less than five persons of rank and fortune now waiting my leisure to become my pupils.'Ib. p. 60. Seepost, July 28, 1763.
[1162] Bonnell Thornton. SeepostJuly 1, 1763.
[1163] Lloyd was one of a remarkable group of Westminster boys. He was a school-fellow not only of Churchill, the elder Colman, and Cumberland, buy also of Cowper and Warren Hastings. Bonnell Thornton was a few years their senior. Not many weeks after this meeting with Boswell, Lloyd was in the Fleet prison. Churchill inIndepence(Poemsii 310) thus addresses the Patrons of the age:—
'Hence, ye vain boasters, to the Fleet repairAnd ask, with blushes ask if Lloyd is there.'
Of the four men who thus enlivened Boswell, two were dead before the end of the following year. Churchill went first. When Lloyd heard of his death, '"I shall follow poor Charles," was all he said, as he went to the bed from which he never rose again.' Thornton lived three or four years longer, Forster'sEssays, ii 217, 270, 289. See also hisLife of Goldsmithi. 264, for an account how 'Lloyd invited Goldsmith to sup with some friends of Grub Street, and left him to pay the reckoning.' Thornton, Lloyd, Colman, Cowper, and Joseph Hill, to whom Cowper's famousEpistlewas addressed, had at one time been members of the Nonsense Club. Southey'sCowper, i. 37.
[1164] The author of the well-known sermons, seepost, under Dec. 21, 1776.
[1165] Seepost, under Dec. 9, 1784.
[1166] Seepost, Feb. 7, 1775, under Dec. 24, 1783, and Boswell'sHebrides, Nov. 10, 1773.
[1167] 'Sir,' he said to Reynolds, 'a man might write such stuff for ever, if he wouldabandonhis mind to it;'post, under March 30, 1783.
[1168] 'Or behind the screen' some one might have added,ante, i. 163.
[1169] Wesley was told that a whole waggon-load of Methodists had been lately brought before a Justice of the Peace. When he asked what they were charged with, one replied, 'Why they pretended to be better than other people, and besides they prayed from morning to night.' Wesley'sJournal, i. 361. See alsopost, 1780, near the end of Mr. Langton'sCollection.
[1170] 'The progress which the understanding makes through a book has' he said, 'more pain than pleasure in it;'post, May 1, 1783.
[1171]Matthew, vi. 16.
[1172] Boswell, it is clear, in the early days of his acquaintance with Johnson often led the talk to this subject. Seepost, June 25, July 14, 21, and 28, 1763.
[1173] Seepost, April 7, 1778.
[1174] He finished his day, 'however late it might be,' by taking tea at Miss Williams's lodgings;post, July 1, 1763.
[1175] Seepost, under Feb. 15, 1766, Feb. 1767, March 20, 1776, and Boswell'sHebrides, Sept. 20, 1773, where Johnson says:—'I have been trying to cure my laziness all my life, and could not do it.' It was this kind of life that caused so much of the remorse which is seen in hisPrayers and Meditations.
[1176] Horace Walpole writing on June 12, 1759 (Letters, iii. 231), says:—'A war that reaches from Muscovy to Alsace, and from Madras to California, don't produce an article half so long as Mr. Johnson's riding three horses at once.' I have a curious copper-plate showing Johnson standing on one, or two, and leading a third horse in full speed.' It bears the date of November 1758. Seepost, April 3, 1778.
[1177] In the impudentCorrespondence(pp. 63, 65) which Boswell and Andrew Erskine published this year, Boswell shows why he wished to enter the Guards. 'My fondness for the Guards,' he writes, 'must appear very strange to you, who have a rooted antipathy at the glare of scarlet. But I must inform you, that there is a city called London, for which I have as violent an affection as the most romantic lover ever had for his mistress…. I am thinking of the brilliant scenes of happiness, which I shall enjoy as an officer of the guards. How I shall be acquainted with all the grandeur of a court, and all the elegance of dress and diversions; become a favourite of ministers of state, and the adoration of ladies of quality, beauty, and fortune! How many parties of pleasure shall I have in town! How many fine jaunts to the noble seats of dukes, lords, and members of parliament in the country! I am thinking of the perfect knowledge which I shall acquire of men and manners, of the intimacies which I shall have the honour to form with the learned and ingenious in every science, and of the many amusing literary anecdotes which I shall pick up,' etc. Boswell, in hisHebrides(Aug. 18, 1773), says of himself:—'His inclination was to be a soldier; but his father, a respectable Judge, had pressed him into the profession of the law.'
[1178] A row of tenements in the Strand, between Wych Street and Temple Bar, and 'so called from the butchers' shambles on the south side.' (Strype, B. iv. p. 118.) Butcher Row was pulled down in 1813, and the present Pickett Street erected in its stead. P. CUNNINGHAM. InHumphry Clinker, in the letter of June 10, one of the poor authors is described as having been 'reduced to a woollen night-cap and living upon sheep's-trotters, up three pair of stairs backward in Butcher Row.'
[1179] Cibber was poet-laureate from 1730 to 1757. Horace Walpole describes him as 'that good humoured and honest veteran, so unworthily aspersed by Pope, whoseMemoirs, with one or two of his comedies, will secure his fame, in spite of all the abuse of his contemporaries.' His successor Whitehead, Walpole calls 'a man of a placid genius.'Reign of George II, iii. 81. Seeante, pp. 149, 185, andpost, Oct. 19, 1769, May 15, 1776, and Sept. 21, 1777.
[1180] The following quotations show the difference of style in the two poets:—
'When her pride, fierce in arms,Would to Europe give law;At her cost let her come,To our cheer of huzza!Not lightning with thunder more terrible darts,Than the burst of huzza from our boldBritishhearts.'
Gent. Mag. xxv. 515.
'Ye guardian powers, to whose command,At Nature's birth, th' Almighty mindThe delegated task assign'dTo watch o'er Albion's favour'd land,What time your hosts with choral lay,Emerging from its kindred deep,Applausive hail'd each verdant steep,And white rock, glitt'ring to the new-born day!'
Ib. xxix. 32.
[1181] Seeante, p. 167.
[1182] 'Whitehead was for some while Garrick's "reader" of new plays for Drury-lane.' Forster'sGoldsmith, ii. 41. Seepost, April 25, 1778, note. The verses to Garrick are given in Chalmers'sEnglish Poets, xvii. 222.
[1183] 'In 1757 Gray publishedThe Progress of PoetryandThe Bard, two compositions at which the readers of poetry were at first content to gaze in mute amazement. Some that tried them confessed their inability to understand them…. Garrick wrote a few lines in their praise. Some hardy champions undertook to rescue them from neglect; and in a short time many were content to be shown beauties which they could not see.' Johnson'sWorks, viii. 478. Seepost, March 28, and April 2, 1775, and 1780 in Mr. Langton'sCollection. Goldsmith, no doubt, attacked Gray among 'the misguided innovators,' of whom he said in hisLife of Parnell:—'They have adopted a language of their own, and call upon mankind for admiration. All those who do not understand them are silent, and those who make out their meaning are willing to praise to show they understand.' Goldsmith'sMisc. Works, iv. 22.
[1184] Johnson, perhaps, refers to the anonymous critic quoted by Mason in his notes on this Ode, who says:—'This abrupt execration plunges the reader into that sudden fearful perplexity which is designed to predominate through the whole.' Mason'sGray, ed. 1807, i. 96.
[1185] 'Of the first stanza [ofThe Bard] the abrupt beginning has been celebrated; but technical beauties can give praise only to the inventor. It is in the power of any man to rush abruptly upon his subject that has read the ballad ofJohnny Armstrong.' Johnson'sWorks, viii. 485.
[1186] My friend Mr. Malone, in his valuable comments on Shakspeare, has traced in that great poet thedisjecta membraof these lines. BOSWELL. Gray, in the edition ofThe Bardof the year 1768, in a note on these lines had quoted fromKing John, act v. sc. 1:—'Mocking the air with colours idly spread.' Gosse'sGray, i. 41. But Malone quotes also fromMacbeth, act i. sc. 2:—
'Where the Norweyan banners flout the skyAnd fan our people cold.'
'Out of these passages,' he said, 'Mr. Gray seems to have framed the first stanza of his celebratedOde.' Malone'sShakespeare, xv. 344.
[1187] Cradock records (Memoirs, 1.230) that Goldsmith said to him:—'You are so attached to Kurd, Gray, and Mason, that you think nothing good can proceed but out of that formal school;—now, I'll mend Gray'sElegyby leaving out an idle word in every line.
"The curfew tolls the knell of day,The lowing herd winds o'er the leaThe ploughman homeward plods his wayAnd—-"
Enough, enough, I have no ear for more.'
[1188] So, less than two years later, Boswell opened his mind to Paoli. 'My time passed here in the most agreeable manner. I enjoyed a sort of luxury of noble sentiment. Paoli became more affable with me. I made myself known to him.' Boswell'sCorsica, p. 167.
[1189] Seeante, p. 67.
[1190] Seepost, Sept. 22, 1777.
[1191] Seepost, March 30, 1778, where in speaking of the appearance of spirits after death he says:—'All argument is against it; but all belief is for it.' See alsoante, p. 343, andpost, April 15, 1778, under May 4, 1779, April 15, 1781, and June 12, 1784.
[1192] The caricature begins:—
'Pomposo, insolent and loudVain idol of ascribblingcrowd,Whose very name inspires an aweWhose ev'ry word is Sense and Law.'
Churchill'sPoems, i. 216.
[1193] The chief impostor, a man of the name of Parsons, had, it should seem, set his daughter to play the part of the ghost in order to pay out a grudge against a man who had sued him for a debt. The ghost was made to accuse this man of poisoning his sister-in-law, and to declare that she should only be at ease in her mind if he were hanged. 'When Parsons stood on the Pillory at the end of Cock Lane, instead of being pelted, he had money given him.'Gent. Mag. xxxii. 43, 82, and xxxiii. 144.
[1194] Horace Walpole, writing on Feb. 2, 1762 (Letters, iii. 481), says:—'I could send you volumes on the Ghost, and I believe, if I were to stay a little, I might send itslife, dedicated to my Lord Dartmouth, by the Ordinary of Newgate, its two great patrons. A drunken parish clerk set it on foot out of revenge, the Methodists have adopted it, and the whole town of London think of nothing else…. I went to hear it, for it is not anapparition, but anaudition, … the Duke of York, Lady Northumberland, Lady Mary Coke, Lord Hertford, and I, all in one Hackney-coach: it rained torrents; yet the lane was full of mob, and the house so full we could not get in.' Seepost, April 10, 1778.
[1195] Described by Goldsmith inRetaliationas 'The scourge of impostors, the terror of quacks.' Seeante, p. 229.
[1196] The account was as follows:—'On the night of the 1st of February [1762] many gentlemen eminent for their rank and character were, by the invitation of the Reverend Mr. Aldrich, of Clerkenwell, assembled at his house, for the examination of the noises supposed to be made by a departed spirit, for the detection of some enormous crime.
'About ten at night the gentlemen met in the chamber in which the girl, supposed to be disturbed by a spirit, had, with proper caution, been put to bed by several ladies. They sat rather more than an hour, and hearing nothing, went down stairs, when they interrogated the father of the girl, who denied, in the strongest terms, any knowledge or belief of fraud.
'The supposed spirit had before publickly promised, by an affirmative knock, that it would attend one of the gentlemen into the vault under the Church of St. John, Clerkenwell, where the body is deposited, and give a token of her presence there, by a knock upon her coffin; it was therefore determined to make this trial of the existence or veracity of the supposed spirit.
'While they were enquiring and deliberating, they were summoned into the girl's chamber by some ladies who were near her bed, and who had heard knocks and scratches. When the gentlemen entered, the girl declared that she felt the spirit like a mouse upon her back, and was required to hold her hands out of bed. From that time, though the spirit was very solemnly required to manifest its existence by appearance, by impression on the hand or body of any present, by scratches, knocks, or any other agency, no evidence of any preter-natural power was exhibited.
'The spirit was then very seriously advertised that the person to whom the promise was made of striking the coffin, was then about to visit the vault, and that the performance of the promise was then claimed. The company at one o'clock went into the church, and the gentleman to whom the promise was made, went with another into the vault. The spirit was solemnly required to perform its promise, but nothing more than silence ensued: the person supposed to be accused by the spirit, then went down with several others, but no effect was perceived. Upon their return they examined the girl, but could draw no confession from her. Between two and three she desired and was permitted to go home with her father.
'It is, therefore, the opinion of the whole assembly, that the child has some art of making or counterfeiting a particular noise, and that there is no agency of any higher cause.' BOSWELL.Gent. Mag. xxxii. 81. The following MS. letter is in the British Museum:—
The appointment for the examination stands as it did when I saw you last, viz., between 8 and 9 this evening. Mr. Johnson was applied to by a friend of mine soon after you left him, and promised to be with us. Should be glad, if convenient, you'd show him the way hither. Mrs. Oakes, of Dr. Macauley's recommendation, I should be glad to have here on the occasion; and think it would do honour to the list of examiners to have Dr. Macauley with us.
I am, Dear Sir, your most obedient servant, STE. ALDRICH.
If Dr Macauley can conveniently attend, should be glad you'd acquaint Lord Dartmouth with it, who seemed to be at loss to recommend a gentleman of the faculty at his end of the town.
St. John's Square. Monday noon.
To the Revd. Dr. Douglas.'
Endorsed 'Mr. Aldrich, Feb. 1762, about the Cock Lane ghost.—Examination at his house.'
[1197] Boswell was with Paoli when news came that a Corsican under sentence of death 'had consented to accept of his life, upon condition of becoming hangman. This made a great noise among the Corsicans, who were enraged at the creature, and said their nation was now disgraced. Paoli did not think so. He said to me:—"I am glad of this. It will be of service. It will contribute to form us to a just subordination. As we must have Corsican tailours, and Corsican shoemakers, we must also have a Corsican hangman."' Boswell'sCorsica, p. 201. Seepost, July 20 and 21, 1763, April 13, 1773, and March 28, 1775.
[1198] 'Mallet's Dramas had their day, a short day, and are forgotten.' Johnson'sWorks, viii. 468.
[1199] Seeante, p. 384, note.
[1200] 'A man had heard that Dempster was very clever, and therefore expected that he could say nothing but good things. Being brought acquainted, Mr. Dempster said to him with much politeness, "I hope, Sir, your lady and family are well." "Ay, ay, man," said he, "pray where is the great wit in that speech?"'Boswelliana, p. 307. Mr. Dempster is mentioned by Burns inThe Author's Earnest Cry and Prayer to the Scotch Representatives in the House of Commons:—'Dempster, a true-blue Scot I'se warran.' In 1769 he was elected member for the Forfar Boroughs.Parl. Hist. xvi. 453.
[1201]The Critical Review, in which Mallet himself sometimes wrote, characterised this pamphlet as 'the crude efforts of envy, petulance and self conceit.' There being thus three epithets, we, the three authours, had a humourous contention how each should be appropriated. BOSWELL.
[1202] Johnson (Works, ix. 86) talks of the chiefs 'gradually degenerating from patriarchal rulers to rapacious landlords.' In Boswell'sHebrides, the subject is often examined.
[1203] Seeante, i. 365.
[1204] 'Dr. Burney spoke with great warmth of affection of Dr. Johnson; said he was the kindest creature in the world when he thought he was loved and respected by others. He would play the fool among friends, but he required deference. It was necessary to ask questions and make no assertion. If you said two and two make four, he would say, "How will you prove that, Sir?" Dr. Burney seemed amiably sensitive to every unfavourable remark on his old friend.' H. C. Robinson'sDiary, iii. 485.
[1205] Seepost, April 24, 1777, note, and Oct. l0, 1779, where he consults Johnson about the study of Greek. He formed wishes, scarcely plans of study but never studied.
[1206] Seepost, Feb. 18, 1777. It was Graham who so insulted Goldsmith by saying:—''Tis not you I mean, Dr.Minor; 'tis Dr.Majorthere.' Boswell'sHebrides, Aug. 24, 1773.
[1207] Seepost, Sept. 19, 1777.
[1208] Of Mathematics Goldsmith wrote:—'This seems a science to which the meanest intellects are equal.' Seepost, March 15, 1776, note.
[1209] In hisPresent State of Polite Learning, ch. 13 (Misc. Works, i. 266), Goldsmith writes:—'A man who is whirled through Europe in a post-chaise, and the pilgrim who walks the grand tour on foot, will form very different conclusions.Haud inexpertus loquor.' The last three words are omitted in the second edition.
[1210] George Primrose in theVicar of Wakefield(ch. 20), after describing these disputations, says:—'In this manner I fought my way towards England.'
[1211] Dr. Warton wrote to his brother on Jan. 22, 1766:—'Of all solemn coxcombs Goldsmith is the first; yet sensible—but affects to use Johnson's hard words in conversation.' Wooll'sWarton, p. 312.
[1212] It was long believed that the author of one of Goldsmith's early works was Lord Lyttelton. '"Whenever I write anything," said Goldsmith, "I think the publicmake a pointto know nothing about it." So the present book was issued as aHistory of England in a series of Letters from a Nobleman to his Son. The persuasion at last became general that the author was Lord Lyttelton, and the name of that grave good lord is occasionally still seen affixed to it on the bookstalls.' Forster'sGoldsmith, i. 301. TheTravellerwas the first of his works to which he put his name. It was published in 1764. 16. p. 364.
[1213] Published in 1759.
[1214] Published in 1760-1.
[1215] See his Epitaph in Westminster Abbey, written by Dr. Johnson. BOSWELL.
'Qui nullum fere scribendi genusNon tetigit,Nullum quod tetigit non ornavit.'
Post, under June 22, 1776.
[1216] In allusion to this, Mr. Horace Walpole, who admired his writings, said he was 'an inspired ideot;' and Garrick described him as one
'——for shortness call'd Noll, Who wrote like an angel, and talk'd like poor Poll.'
Sir Joshua Reynolds mentioned to me that he frequently heard Goldsmith talk warmly of the pleasure of being liked, and observe how hard it would be if literary excellence should preclude a man from that satisfaction, which he perceived it often did, from the envy which attended it; and therefore Sir Joshua was convinced that he was intentionally more absurd, in order to lessen himself in social intercourse, trusting that his character would be sufficiently supported by his works. If it indeed was his intention to appear absurd in company, he was often very successful. But with due deference to Sir Joshua's ingenuity, I think the conjecture too refined. BOSWELL.
Horace Walpole's saying of the 'inspired ideot' is recorded in Davies'sGarrick, ii. 151. Walpole, in hisLetters, describes Goldsmith as 'a changeling that has had bright gleams of parts,' (v. 458); 'a fool, the more wearing for having some sense,' (vi. 29); 'a poor soul that had sometimes parts, though never common sense,' (ib. p. 73); and 'an idiot, with once or twice a fit of parts,' (ib. p. 379). Garrick's lines—
'Here lies Nolly Goldsmith, for shortness called Noll,Who wrote like an angel, but talked like poor Poll,'
are his imaginary epitaph on Goldsmith, which, with the others, gave rise toRetaliation. Forster'sGoldsmith, ii. 405.
[1217] Rousseau accounting for the habit he has 'de balbutier promptement des paroles sans idées,' continues, 'je crois que voilà de quoi faire assez comprendre comment n'étant pas un sot, j'ai cependant souvent passé pour l'être, même chez des gens en état de bien juger…. Le parti que j'ai pris d'écrire et de me cacher est précisément celui qui me convenait. Moi présent on n'aurait jamais su ce que je valois, on ne l'aurait pas soupconné même.'Les Confessions, Livre iii. Seepost, April 27, 1773, where Boswell admits that 'Goldsmith was often very fortunate in his witty contests, even when he entered the lists with Johnson himself:' and April 30, 1773, where Reynolds says of him: 'There is no man whose company is more liked.'
[1218] Northcote, a few weeks before his death, said to Mr. Prior:—'When Goldsmith entered a room, Sir, people who did not know him became for a moment silent from awe of his literary reputation; when he came out again, they were riding upon his back.' Prior'sGoldsmith, i. 440. According to Dr. Percy:—'His face was marked with strong lines of thinking. His first appearance was not captivating; but when he grew easy and cheerful in company, he relaxed into such a display of good humour as soon removed every unfavourable impression.' Goldsmith'sMisc. Works, i. 117.
[1219] 'Dr. Goldsmith told me, he himself envied Shakespeare.' Walpole'sLetters, vi. 379. Boswell, later on (post, May 9, 1773), says:—'In my opinion Goldsmith had not more of it [an envious disposition] than other people have, but only talked of it freely.' See alsopost, April 12, 1778. According to Northcote, 'Sir Joshua said that Goldsmith considered public notoriety or fame as one great parcel, to the whole of which he laid claim, and whoever partook of any part of it, whether dancer, singer, slight of hand man, or tumbler, deprived him of his right.' Northcote'sReynolds, i. 248. Seepost, April 7, 1778, where Johnson said that 'Goldsmith was not an agreeable companion, for he talked always for fame;' and April 9, 1778.
[1220] Miss Hornecks, one of whom is now married to Henry Bunbury, Esq., and the other to Colonel Gwyn. BOSWELL.
[1221] 'Standing at the window of their hotel [in Lisle] to see a company of soldiers in the Square, the beauty of the sisters Horneck drew such marked admiration, that Goldsmith, heightening his drollery with that air of solemnity so generally a point in his humour and so often more solemnly misinterpreted, turned off from the window with the remark that elsewherehetoo could have his admirers. The Jessamy Bride, Mrs. Gwyn, was asked about the occurrence not many years ago; remembered it as a playful jest; and said how shocked she had subsequently been "to see it adduced in print as a proof of his envious disposition."' Forster'sGoldsmith, ii. 217.
[1222] Puppets.
[1223] He went home with Mr. Burke to supper; and broke his shin by attempting to exhibit to the company how much better he could jump over a stick than the puppets. BOSWELL. Mr. Hoole was one day in a coach with Johnson, when 'Johnson, who delighted in rapidity of pace, and had been speaking of Goldsmith, put his head out of one of the windows to see they were going right, and rubbing his hands with an air of satisfaction exclaimed:—"This man drives fast and well; were Goldsmith here now he would tell us he could do better."' Prior'sGoldsmith, ii. 127.
[1224] Seepost, April 9, 1773; also April 9, 1778, where Johnson says, 'Goldsmith had no settled notions upon any subject.'
[1225] I am willing to hope that there may have been some mistake as to this anecdote, though I had it from a Dignitary of the Church. Dr. Isaac Goldsmith, his near relation, was Dean of Cloyne, in 1747. BOSWELL. This note first appears in the second edition.
[1226] Mr. Welsh, inA Bookseller of the Last Century, p. 58, quotes the following entry from an account-book of B. Collins of Salisbury, the printer of the first edition of theVicar:—'Vicar of Wakefield, 2 vols. 12mo., 1/3rd. B. Collins, Salisbury, bought of Dr. Goldsmith, the author, October 28, 1762, £21.' Goldsmith, it should seem from this, as Collins's third share was worth twenty guineas, was paid not sixty pounds, but sixty guineas. Collins shared in many of the ventures of Newbery, Goldsmith's publisher. Mr. Welsh says (ib. p. 61) that Collins's accounts show 'that the first three editions resulted in a loss.' If this was so, the booksellers must have been great bunglers, for the book ran through three editions in six or seven months. Forster'sGoldsmith, i. 425.
[1227] The Traveller (price one shilling and sixpence) was published in December 1764, andThe Vicar of Wakefieldin March 1766. In August 1765 the fourth edition ofThe Travellerappeared, and the ninth in the year Goldsmith died. He received for it £21. Forster'sGoldsmith, i. 364, 374, 409. Seeante, p. 193, note i.
[1228] '"Miss Burney," said Mrs. Thrale [to Dr. Johnson], "is fond ofThe Vicar of Wakefield, and so am I. Don't you like it, Sir?" "No, madam, it is very faulty; there is nothing of real life in it, and very little of nature. It is a mere fanciful performance."' Mme. D'Arblay'sDiary, i. 83. 'There are a hundred faults in this Thing,' said Goldsmith in the preface, 'and a hundred things might be said to prove them beauties. But it is needless. A book may be amusing with numerous errors, or it may be very dull without a single absurdity.' Seepost, April 25, 1778.
[1229]Anecdotes of Johnson, p. 119. BOSWELL.
[1230]Life of Johnson, p. 420. BOSWELL.
[1231] In his imprudence he was like Savage, of whom Johnson says (Works, viii. 161):—'To supply him with money was a hopeless attempt; for no sooner did he see himself master of a sum sufficient to set him free from care for a day, than he became profuse and luxurious.' When Savage was 'lodging in the liberties of the Fleet, his friends sent him every Monday a guinea, which he commonly spent before the next morning, and trusted, after his usual manner, the remaining part of the week to the bounty of fortune.'Ib. p. 170.
[1232] It may not be improper to annex here Mrs. Piozzi's account of this transaction, in her own words, as a specimen of the extreme inaccuracy with which all her anecdotes of Dr. Johnson are related, or rather discoloured and distorted:—'I have forgotten the year, but it could scarcely, I think, be later than 1765 or 1766 that he wascalled abruptly from our house after dinner, and returningin about three hours, said he had been with an enraged authour, whose landlady pressed him for payment within doors, while the bailiffs beset him without; that he wasdrinking himself drunkwith Madeira, to drown care, and fretting over a novel, which, whenfinished, was to be hiswhole fortune, buthe could not get it done for distraction, nor could he step out of doors to offer it for sale. Mr. Johnson, therefore, sent away the bottle, and went to the bookseller, recommending the performance, anddesiring some immediate relief; which when he brought back to the writer,he called the 'woman of the house directly to partake of punch, and pass their time in merriment.' Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson, p. 119. BOSWELL. The whole transaction took place in 1762, as is shown,ante, p. 415, note 1; Johnson did not know the Thrales till 1764.
[1233] Through Goldsmith Boswell became acquainted with Reynolds. In hisLetter to the People of Scotland(p. 99), he says:—'I exhort you, my friends and countrymen, in the words of my departedGoldsmith, who gave me many nodesAtticae, and gave me a jewel of the finest water—the acquaintance of Sir Joshua Reynolds.'
[1234] Seepost, July 30, 1763.
[1235] Seepost, March 20, 1776, and Boswell'sHebrides, Oct. 17, 1773.
[1236] Seepost, March 15, 1776.
[1237] 'Dr. Campbell was an entertaining story-teller, which [sic] sometimes he rather embellished; so that the writer of this once heard Dr. Johnson say:—"Campbell will lie, but he never lies on paper."'Gent. Mag. for 1785, p. 969.
[1238] I am inclined to think that he was misinformed as to this circumstance. I own I am jealous for my worthy friend Dr. John Campbell. For though Milton could without remorse absent himself from publick worship [Johnson'sWorks, vii. 115] I cannot. On the contrary, I have the same habitual impressions upon my mind, with those of a truely venerable Judge, who said to Mr. Langton, 'Friend Langton, if I have not been at church on Sunday, I do not feel myself easy.' Dr. Campbell was a sincerely religious man. Lord Macartney, who is eminent for his variety of knowledge, and attention to men of talents, and knew him well, told me, that when he called on him in a morning, he found him reading a chapter in the Greek New Testament, which he informed his Lordship was his constant practice. The quantity of Dr. Campbell's composition is almost incredible, and his labours brought him large profits. Dr. Joseph Warton told me that Johnson said of him, 'He is the richest authour that ever grazed the common of literature.' BOSWELL.
[1239] Seepost, April 7, 1778. Campbell complied with one of theMonita Padagogicaof Erasmus. 'Si quem praeteribis natu grandem, magistratum, sacerdotem, doctorem…. memento aperire caput…. Itidem facito quum praeteribis asdem sacram.' Erasmus'sColloquies, ed. 1867, i. 36.
[1240] Reynolds said of Johnson:—'He was not easily imposed upon by professions to honesty and candour; but he appeared to have little suspicion of hypocrisy in religion.' Taylor'sReynolds, ii. 459. Boswell, in one of his penitent letters, wrote to Temple on July 21, 1790:—'I am even almost inclined to think with you, that my great oracle Johnson did allow too much credit to good principles, without good practice.'Letters of Boswell, p. 327.
[1241] Campbell lived in 'the large new-built house at the north-west-corner of Queen Square, Bloomsbury, whither, particularly on a Sunday evening, great numbers of persons of the first eminence for science and literature resorted for the enjoyment of conversation.' Hawkins'sJohnson, p. 210.
[1242] Churchill, in his first poem,The Rosciad(Poems, i. 4), mentions Johnson without any disrespect among those who were thought of as judge.
'For Johnson some, but Johnson, it was feared,Would be too grave; and Sterne too gay appeared.'
In The Author (ib. ii. 36), if I mistake not, he grossly alludes to the convulsive disorder to which Johnson was subject. Attacking the pensioners he says—the italics are his own:—
'Others,half-palsiedonly, mutes become,And what makes Smollett write makes Johnson dumb.'
[1243] Seepost, April 6, 1772, where Johnson called Fielding a blockhead.
[1244] Churchill published his first poem,The Rosciad, in March or April 1761 (Gent. Mag. xxxi. 190);The Apologyin May or June (Ib. p. 286);Nightin Jan. 1762 (Ib. xxxii. 47); The First and Second Parts of The Ghost in March (ib. p. 147); The Third Part in the autumn (ib. p. 449); _The Prophecy of Famine _in Jan. 1763 (ib. xxxiii. 47), andThe Epistle to Hogarthin this month of July (ib. p. 363). He wrote the fourth part ofThe Ghost, and nine more poems, and died on Nov. 4, 1764, aged thirty-two or thirty-three.
[1245] 'Cowper had a higher opinion of Churchill than of any other contemporary writer. "It is a great thing," he said, "to be indeed a poet, and does not happen to more than one man in a century; but Churchill, the great Churchill, deserved that name." He made him, more than any other writer, his model.' Southey'sCowper, i. 87, 8.
[1246] Mr. Forster says that 'Churchill asked five guineas for the manuscript ofThe Rosciad(according to Southey, but Mr. Tooke says he asked twenty pounds).' Finding no purchaser he brought the poem out at his own risk. Mr. Forster continues:—'The pulpit had starved him on forty pounds a year; the public had given him a thousand pounds in two months.' Forster'sEssays, ii. 226, 240. As _The Rosciad _was sold at one shilling a copy, it seems incredible that such a gain could have been made, even with the profits ofThe Apologyincluded. 'Blotting and correcting was so much Churchill's abhorrence that I have heard from his publisher he once energetically expressed himself, that it was like cutting away one's own flesh.' D'Israeli'sCuriosities of Literature, ed. 1834, iii. 129. D'Israeli 'had heard that after a successful work he usually precipitated the publication of another, relying on its crudeness being passed over by the public curiosity excited by its better brother. He called this getting double pay, for thus he secured the sale of a hurried work.'
[1247] In the opening lines ofGotham,Bk. iii, there is a passage of great beauty and tenderness.
[1248] In 1769 I set Thornton's burlesqueOde. It was performed at Ranelagh in masks, to a very crowded audience, as I was told; for I then resided in Norfolk. BURNEY. Dr. Burney's note cannot be correct. He came to reside in London in 1760 (Memoirs of Dr. Burney, i. 133) The Ode is in the list of 'new books, published' in theGent. Mag. for June 1763, and is described as having been performed at Ranelagh.
[1249]The Connoisseurwas started by Thornton and Colman in 1754. Cowper and Lloyd were contributors. Southey'sCowper, i. 46, 49, 65.
[1250] Seeante, p. 350, note.
[1251] Seepost, Aug. 2, 1763, and Oct. 26, 1769.
[1252] Seepost. Sept. 20, 1777, note.
[1253] The northern bard mentioned page 421. When I asked Dr. Johnson's permission to introduce him, he obligingly agreed; adding, however, with a sly pleasantry, 'but he must give us none of his poetry.' It is remarkable that Johnson and Churchill, however much they differed in other points, agreed on this subject. See Churchill'sJourney.
['Under dark Allegory's flimsy veilLet Them with Ogilvie spin out a taleOf rueful length,'Churchill'sPoems, ii. 329.]
It is, however, but justice to Dr. Ogilvie to observe, that hisDay ofJudgementhas no inconsiderable share of merit. BOSWELL.
[1254] 'Johnson said:—"Goldsmith should not be for ever attempting toshinein conversation."'Post, April 27, 1773. See alsopost, May 7, 1773.
[1255] Fifteen years later Lord George Germaine, Secretary of State, asserted in a debate 'that the King "was his own Minister," which Charles Fox took up admirably, lamenting that His Majesty "was his ownunadvisedMinister."' Walpole'sJournal of the Reign of George III, ii. 314.
[1256] 'The general story of mankind will evince that lawful and settled authority is very seldom resisted when it is well employed…. Men are easily kept obedient to those who have temporal dominion in their hands, till their veneration is dissipated by such wickedness and folly as can neither be defended nor concealed.'The Rambler, No. 50. Seepost, March 31, 1772.
[1257] 'It is natural to believe … that no writer has a more easy task than the historian. The philosopher has the works of omniscience to examine…. The poet trusts to his invention…. But the happy historian has no other labour than of gathering what tradition pours down before him, or records treasure for his use.'The Rambler, No. 122.
[1258] See Boswell'sHebrides, Aug. 21, 1773.
[1259] 'Arbuthnot was a man of great comprehension, skilful in his profession, versed in the sciences, acquainted with ancient literature, and able to animate his mass of knowledge by a bright and active imagination; a scholar with great brilliancy of wit; a wit, who in the crowd of life retained and discovered a noble ardour of religious zeal.' Johnson'sWorks, viii. 296.
[1260] Goldsmith wrote from Edinburgh in 1753:—'Shall I tire you with a description of this unfruitful country, where I must lead you over their hills all brown with heath, or their vallies scarce able to feed a rabbit? Man alone seems to be the only creature who has arrived to the natural size in this poor soil. Every part of the country presents the same dismal landscape.' Forster'sGoldsmith, i. 433.
[1261] See Boswell'sHebrides, Nov. 10, 1773.
[1262] Johnson would suffer none of his friends to fill up chasms in conversation with remarks on the weather: 'Let us not talk of the weather.' BURNEY.
[1263] Seeante, p. 332.
[1264] Boswell wrote to Temple on Sept. 9, 1767:—'How unaccountable is it that my father and I should be so ill together! He is a man of sense and a man of worth; but from some unhappy turn in his disposition he is much dissatisfied with a son whom you know. I write to him with warmth, with an honest pride, wishing that he should think of me as I am; but my letters shock him, and every expression in them is interpreted unfavourably. To give you an instance, I send you a letter I had from him a few days ago. How galling is it to the friend of Paoli to be treated so! I have answered him in my own style; I will be myself.'Letters of Boswell, p. 110. In the following passage in one of hisHypochondriackshe certainly describes his father. 'I knew a father who was a violent Whig, and used to attack his son for being a Tory, upbraiding him with being deficient in "noble sentiments of liberty," while at the same time he made this son live under his roof in such bondage, that he was not only afraid to stir from home without leave, like a child, but durst scarcely open his mouth in his father's presence. This was sad living. Yet I would rather see such an excess of awe than a degree of familiarity between father and son by which all reverence is destroyed.'London Mag. 1781, p. 253.
[1265] Boswell, the day after this talk, wrote:—'I have had a long letter from my father, full of affection and good counsel. Honest man! he is now very happy: it is amazing to think how much he has had at heart, my pursuing the road of civil life.'Letters of Boswell, p. 25.
[1266] Gray, says Nicholls, 'disliked all poetry in blank verse, except Milton.' Gray'sWorks, ed. 1858, v. 36. Goldsmith, in hisPresent State of Polite Learning(ch. xi.), wrote in 1759:—'From a desire in the critic of grafting the spirit of ancient languages upon the English have proceeded of late several disagreeable instances of pedantry. Among the number, I think, we may reckon blank verse. Nothing but the greatest sublimity of subject can render such a measure pleasing; however, we now see it used upon the most trivial occasions.' On the same page he speaks of 'the tuneless flow of our blank verse.' Seepost, 1770, in Dr. Maxwell'sCollectaneaand the beginning of 1781, underThe Life of Milton, for Johnson's opinion of blank verse.
[1267] 'Johnson told me, that one day in London, when Dr. Adam Smith was boasting of Glasgow, he turned to him and said, "Pray, Sir, have you ever seen Brentford?'" Boswell'sHebrides, Oct. 29, 1773. Seepost, April 29, 1778.
[1268] 'He advised me to read just as inclination prompted me, which alone, he said, would do me any good; for I had better go into company than read a set task. He said, too, that I should prescribe to myself five hours a day, and in these hours gratify whatever literary desires may spring up.'Letters of Boswell, p. 28. The Editor of theseLetterscompares Tranio's advice:—
'No profit grows where is no pleasure ta'en:In brief, Sir, study what you most affect.'
Taming of the Shrew, act i. sc. I.
'Johnson used to say that no man read long together with a folio on his table. "Books," said he, "that you may carry to the fire, and hold readily in your hand, are the most useful after all."' Johnson'sWorks(1787), xi. 197. See alsoThe Idler, No. 67, andpost, April 12, 1776, and under Sept. 22, 1777.
[1269] Wilkes, among others, had attacked him in Aug. 1762 inThe North Briton, Nos. xi. and xii.
[1270] When I mentioned the same idle clamour to him several years afterwards, he said, with a smile, 'I wish my pension were twice as large, that they might make twice as much noise.' BOSWELL.
[1271] In one thing at least he was changed. He could now indulge in the full bent, to use his own words (Works, viii. l36), 'that inquisitiveness which must always be produced in a vigorous mind, by an absolute freedom from all pressing or domestick engagements.'
[1272] Seepost, April 13, 1773, Sept. 17 and 19, 1777, March 21, 1783, and June 9, 1784. Lord Shelburne says:—'After the Revolution the Tory and Jacobite parties had become almost identified by their together opposing the Court for so many years, and still more by the persecution which they suffered in common, for it was the policy of Sir Robert Walpole to confound them as much as possible, so as to throw the Jacobite odium upon every man who opposed government.' Fitzmaurice'sShelburne, i. 35. Lord Bolingbroke (Works, iii. 28) complains that the writers on the side of the ministry 'frequently throw out that every man is a friend to the Pretender who is not a friend of Walpole.'
[1273] Seepost, April 6, 1775
[1274]Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd edit. p. 402 [Nov. 10]. BOSWELL.
[1275] Mr. Walmsley died in 1751 (ante, p. 81). Johnson left Lichfield in 1737. Unless Mr. Walmsley after 1737 visited London from time to time, he can scarcely be meant.
[1276] Seeante, p. 336.
[1277] He used to tell, with great humour, from my relation to him, the following little story of my early years, which was literally true: 'Boswell, in the year 1745, was a fine boy, wore a white cockade, and prayed for King James, till one of his uncles (General Cochran) gave him a shilling on condition that he should pray for King George, which he accordingly did. So you see (says Boswell) thatWhigs of all ages are made the same way.' BOSWELL. Johnson, in hisDictionaryunderWhiggism, gives only one quotation, namely, from Swift: 'I could quote passages from fifty pamphlets, wholly made up of whiggism and atheism.' Seepost, April 28, 1778, where he said: 'I have always said, the firstWhigwas the Devil;' and Boswell'sHebrides, Oct. 21 and Nov. 8, 1773. To Johnson's sayings might be opposed one of Lord Chatham's in the House of Lords: 'There are some distinctions which are inherent in the nature of things. There is a distinction between right and wrong—between Whig and Tory.'Parl. Hist. xvi. 1107.
[1278]Letter to Rutland on Travel, 16mo. 1569. BOSWELL. This letter is contained in a little volume entitled,Profitable Instructions; describing what special observations are to be taken by travellers in all nations, states and countries; pleasant and profitable. By the three much admired, Robert, late Earl of Essex, Sir Philip Sidney, and Secretary Davison. London. Printed for Benjamin Fisher, at the Sign of the Talbot, without Aldersgate. 1633. (Lowndes gives the date of 1613, but the earliest edition seems to be this of 1633.) The letter from which Boswell quotes is entitled,The late E. of E. his advice to the E. of R. in his Travels. It is dated Greenwich, Jan. 4, 1596. Mr. Spedding (Bacon'sWorks, ix. 4) suggests that 'it may have been (wholly or in part) written by Bacon.'
[1279] Boswell (Boswelliana, p. 210) says that this 'impudent fellow' was Macpherson.
[1280] Boswell repeated this saying and some others to Paoli. 'I felt an elation of mind to see Paoli delighted with the sayings of Mr. Johnson, and to hear him translate them with Italian energy to the Corsican heroes.' Here Boswell describes the person as 'a certain authour.' Boswell'sCorsica, p. 199
[1281] Boswell thus takes him off in his comic poemThe Court of Session Garland:—
'"This cause," cries Hailes, "to judge I can't pretend, Forjustice, I percieve, wants aneat the end."'
Mr. R. Chambers, in a note on this, says:—'A story is told of Lord Hailes once making a serious objection to a law-paper, an in consequence to the whole suit, on account of the wordjusticebeing thus spelt.Traditions of Edinburgh, ii. 161. Burke says that he 'found him to be a clever man, and generally knowing.' Burke'sCorres. iii. 301. Seeantep. 267, andpostMay 12, 1774 and Boswell'sHebrides, Aug. 17, 1773.
[1282] 'Ita feri ut se mori sentiat.' Suetonius,Caligula, chap. xxx.
[1283] Johnson himself was constantly purposing to keep a journal. On April 11, 1773, he told Boswell 'that he had twelve or fourteen times attempted to keep a journal of his life,'post, April 11, 1773. The day before he had recorded:—'I hope from this time to keep a journal.'Pr. and Med. p. 124. Like records follow, as:—'Sept. 24, 1773. My hope is, for resolution I dare no longer call it, to divide my time regularly, and to keep such a journal of my time, as may give me comfort in reviewing it.'Ib. p. 132. 'April 6, 1777. My purpose once more is To keep a journal.'Ib. p. 161. 'Jan. 2, 1781. My hope is To keep a journal.'Ib. p. 188. See alsopost, April 14, 1775, and April 10, 1778.
[1284] Boswell, when he was only eighteen, going with his father to the [Scotch] Northern Circuit, 'kept,' he writes, 'an exact journal.'Letters of Boswell, p. 8. In the autumn of 1762 he also kept a journal which he sent to Temple to read.Ib. p. 19.
[1285] 'It has been well observed, that the misery of man proceeds not from any single crush of overwhelming evil, but from small vexations continually repeated.' Johnson'sWorks, viii. 333. 'The main of life is indeed composed of small incidents and petty occurrences.'Ib. ii. 322. Dr. Franklin (Memoirs, i. 199) says:—'Human felicity is produced not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen as by little advantages that occur every day.'
[1286] Boswell wrote the next day:—'We sat till between two and three. He took me by the hand cordially, and said, "My dear Boswell, I love you very much." Now Temple, can I help indulging vanity?'Letters of Boswell, p. 27. Fourteen years later Boswell was afraid that he kept Johnson too late up. 'No, Sir,' said he, 'I don't care though I sit all night with you.'Post, Sept. 23, 1777. See alsopost, April 7, 1779, where Johnson, speaking of these early days, said to Boswell, 'it was not thewinethat made your head ache, but the sense that I put into it.'
[1287] Tuesday was the 19th.
[1288] 'The elder brother of the first Lord Rokeby, called long Sir Thomas Robinson, on account of his height, and to distinguish him from Sir Thomas Robinson, first Lord Grantham. It was on his request for an epigram that Lord Chesterfield made the distich:—
"Unlike my subject will I make my song,It shall be witty, and it shan't be long,"
and to whom he said in his last illness, "Ah, Sir Thomas, it will be sooner over with me than it would be with you, for I am dying by inches." Lord Chesterfield was very short.' CROKER. Southey, writing of Rokeby Hall, which belonged to Robinson, says that 'Long Sir Thomas found a portrait of Richardson in the house; thinking Mr. Richardson a very unfit personage to be suspended in effigy among lords, ladies, and baronets, he ordered the painter to put him on the star and blue riband, and then christened the picture Sir Robert Walpole.' Southey'sLife, iii. 346. See alsoante, p. 259 note 2, andpost, 1770, near the end of Dr. Maxwell'sCollectanea.
[1289] Johnson (Works, vi. 440) had written of Frederick the Great in 1756:—'His skill in poetry and in the French language has been loudly praised by Voltaire, a judge without exception if his honesty were equal to his knowledge.' Boswell, in hisHypochondriacks, records a conversation that he had with Voltaire on memory:—'I asked him if he could give me any notion of the situation of our ideas which we have totally forgotten at the time, yet shall afterwards recollect. He paused, meditated a little, and acknowledged his ignorance in the spirit of a philosophical poet by repeating as a very happy allusion a passage in Thomson'sSeasons—"Aye," said he, "Where sleep the winds when it is calm?"'London Mag. 1783, p. 157. The passage is in Thomson'sWinter, l. 116:—
'In what far-distant region of the sky,Hush'd in deep silence, sleep ye when 'tis calm?'
[1290] Seepost, ii. 54, note 3.
[1291] Bernard Lintot, the father, published Pope'sIliadandOdyssey. Over the sale of theOdysseya quarrel arose between the two men. Johnson'sWorks, viii. 251, 274. Lintot is attacked in theDunciad, i. 40 and ii. 53; He was High-Sheriff for Sussex in 1736—the year of his death.Gent. Mag. vi. 110. The son is mentioned in Johnson'sWorks, viii. 282.
[1292] 'July 19, 1763. I was with Mr. Johnson to-day. I was in his garret up four pair of stairs; it is very airy, commands a view of St. Paul's and many a brick roof. He has many good books, but they are all lying in confusion and dust.'Letters of Boswell, p. 30. On Good Friday, 1764, Johnson made the following entry:—'I hope to put my rooms in order: Disorder I have found one great cause of idleness.' On his birth-day in the same year he wrote:—'To-morrow I purpose to regulate my room.'Pr. and Med. pp. 50, 60.
[1293] Seeante, p. 140, andpost, under Sept. 9, 1779.
[1294] Afterwards Rector of Mamhead, Devonshire. He is the grandfather of the present Bishop of London. He and Boswell had been fellow-students at the University of Edinburgh, and seemed in youth to have had an equal amount of conceit. 'Recollect,' wrote Boswell, 'how you and I flattered ourselves that we were to be the greatest men of our age.'Letters of Boswell, p. 159. They began to correspond at least as early as 1758. The last letter was one from Boswell on his death-bed. Johnson thus mentions Temple (Works, viii. 480):—'Gray's character I am willing to adopt, as Mr. Mason has done, from a letter written to my friend Mr. Boswell by the Revd. Mr. Temple, Rector of St. Gluvias in Cornwall; and am as willing as his warmest well-wisher to believe it true.'
[1295] Johnson (Works, vii. 240) quotes the following by Edmund Smith, and written some time after 1708:—'It will sound oddly to posterity, that, in a polite nation, in an enlightened age, under the direction of the most literary property in 1710, whether by wise, most learned, and most generous encouragers of knowledge in the world, the property of a mechanick should be better secured than that of a scholar! that the poorest manual operations should be more valued than the noblest products of the brain! that it should be felony to rob a cobbler of a pair of shoes, and no crime to deprive the best authour of his whole subsistence! that nothing should make a man a sure title to his own writings but the stupidity of them!' Seepost, May 8, 1773, and Feb.7, 1774; and Boswell'sHebrides, Aug. 17 and 20, 1773.
[1296] The question arose, after the passing of the first statute respecting literary property in 1710, whether by certain of its provisions this perpetual copyright at common law was extinguished for the future. The question was solemnly argued before the Court of King's Bench, when Lord Mansfield presided, in 1769. The result was a decision in favour of the common-law right as unaltered by the statute, with the disapproval however of Mr. Justice Yates. In 1774 the same point was brought before the House of Lords, and the decision of the court below reversed by a majority of six judges in eleven, as Lord Mansfield, who adhered to the opinion of the minority, declined to interfere; it being very unusual, from motives of delicacy, for a peer to support his own judgment on appeal to the House of Lords.Penny Cylco. viii. I. Seepost, Feb. 7, 1774. Lord Shelburne, on Feb 27, 1774, humourously describes the scene in the Lords to the Earl of Chatham:—'Lord Mansfield showed himself the merest Captain Bobadil that, I suppose, ever existed in real life. You can, perhaps, imagine to yourself the Bishop of Carlyle, an old metaphysical head of a college, reading a paper, not a speech, out of an old sermon book, with very bad sight leaning on the table, Lord Mansfield sitting at it, with eyes of fixed melancholy looking at him, knowing that the bishop's were the only eyes in the House who could not meet his; the judges behind him, full of rage at being drawn into so absurd an opinion, and abandoned in it by their chief; the Bishops waking, as your Lordship knows they do, just before they vote, and staring on finding something the matter; while Lord Townshend was close to the bar, getting Mr. Dunning to put up his glass to look at the head of criminal justice.'Chatham Corres. iv. 327.
[1297] SeepostApril 15 1778, note.
[1298] Dr. Franklin (Memoirsiii. 178), complaining of the high prices of English books, describes 'the excessive artifices made use of to puff up a paper of verses into a pamphlet, a pamphlet into an octavo, and an octavo into a quarto with white-lines, exorbitant margins, &c., to such a degree that the selling of paper seems now the object, and printing on it only the pretence.'
[1299] Boswell was on friendly terms with him. He wrote to Erskine on Dec. 2, 1761:—'I am just now returned from eating a most excellent pig with the most magnificent Donaldson.'Boswell and Erskine Correspondence, p. 20.