Chapter 26

Just in the gate, and in the jaws of hell,Revengeful cares, and sullen sorrows dwell;And pale diseases, and repining age;Want, fear, and famine's unresisted rage;Here toils and death, and death's half-brother, sleep,Forms terrible to view their sentry keep.

Dryden,Aeneid, vi. 273. BOSWELL. Voltaire, in his EssaySur les inconvéniens attachés à la Littérature(Works, xliii. 173), says:—'Enfin, après un an de refus et de négociations, votre ouvrage s'imprime; c'est alors qu'il faut ou assoupir lesCerbèresde la littérature ou les faire aboyer en votre faveur.' He therefore carries on the resemblance one step further,—

'Cerberus haec ingens latratu regna trifauci Personat.'Aeneid, vi. 417.

[845]It was in 1763 that Boswell made Johnson's acquaintance.Ante, i. 391.

[846]It is no small satisfaction to me to reflect, that Dr. Johnson read this, and, after being apprized of my intention, communicated to me, at subsequent periods, many particulars of his life, which probably could not otherwise have been preserved. BOSWELL. Seeante, i. 26.

[847]Though Mull is, as Johnson says, the third island of the Hebrides in extent, there was no post there.Piozzi Letters, i. 170.

[848]This observation is very just. The time for the Hebrides was too late by a month or six weeks. I have heard those who remembered their tour express surprise they were not drowned. WALTER SCOTT.

[849]The Charmer, a Collection of Songs Scotch and English.Edinburgh, 1749.

[850]By Thomas Willis, M.D. It was published in 1672. 'In this work he maintains that the soul of brutes is like the vital principle in man, that it is corporeal in its nature and perishes with the body. Although the book was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury, his orthodoxy, a matter that Willis regarded much, was called in question.' Knight'sEng. Cyclo. vi. 741. Burnet speaks of him as 'Willis, the great physician.'History of his Own Time, ed. 1818, i. 254. SeeWood's Athenae, iii. 1048.

[851]Seeante, ii. 409 and iii. 242, where he said:—'Had I learnt to fiddle, I should have done nothing else.'

[852]Ante, p. 277.

[853]Ante, p. 181.

[854]Mr. Langton thinks this must have been the hasty expression of a splenetick moment, as he has heard Dr. Johnson speak of Mr. Spence's judgment in criticism with so high a degree of respect, as to shew that this was not his settled opinion of him. Let me add that, in the preface to thePreceptor, he recommends Spence'sEssay on Papers Odyssey, and that his admirableLives of the English Poetsare much enriched by Spence's Anecdotes of Pope. BOSWELL. For thePreceptorseeante, i. 192, and Johnson'sWorks, v. 240. Johnson, in hisLife of Pope (ib. viii. 274), speaks of Spence as 'a man whose learning was not very great, and whose mind was not very powerful. His criticism, however, was commonly just; what he thought he thought rightly; and his remarks were recommended by his coolness and candour.' Seeante, iv. 9, 63.

[855]'She was the only interpreter of Erse poetry that I could ever find.' Johnson'sWorks, ix. 134. Seeante, p. 241.

[856]'After a journey difficult and tedious, over rocks naked and valleys untracked, through a country of barrenness and solitude, we came, almost in the dark, to the sea-side, weary and dejected, having met with nothing but waters falling from the mountains that could raise any image of delight.'Piozzi Letters, i. 170. 'It is natural, in traversing this gloom of desolation, to inquire, whether something may not be done to give nature a more cheerful face.' Johnson'sWorks, ix. 136.

[857]Ante, p. 19.

[858]Seeante, i. 521.

[859]Seeante, p. 212.

[860]Sir William Blackstone says, in hisCommentaries, that 'he cannot find that ever this custom prevailed in England;' and therefore he is of opinion that it could not have given rise toBorough-English. BOSWELL. 'I cannot learn that ever this custom prevailed in England, though it certainly did in Scotland (under the name ofmercketaormarcheta), till abolished by Malcolm III.'Commentaries, ed. 1778, ii. 83. Sir H. Maine, in hisEarly History of Institutions, p. 222, writes:—'Other authors, as Blackstone tells us, explained it ["Borough English"] by a supposed right of the Seigneur or lord, now very generally regarded as apocryphal, which raised a presumption of the eldest son's illegitimacy.'

[861]'Macquarry was used to demand a sheep, for which he now takes a crown, by that inattention to the uncertain proportion between the value and the denomination of money, which has brought much disorder into Europe. A sheep has always the same power of supplying human wants, but a crown will bring, at one time more, at another less'. Johnson'sWorks, ix. 139.

[862]'The house and the furniture are not always nicely suited. We were driven once, by missing a passage, to the hut of a gentleman, where, after a very liberal supper, when I was conducted to my chamber, I found an elegant bed of Indian cotton, spread with fine sheets. The accommodation was flattering; I undressed myself, and felt my feet in the mire. The bed stood upon the bare earth, which a long course of rain had softened to a puddle.'Works, ix. 98.

[863]Inchkenneth is a most beautiful little islet, of the most verdant green, while all the neighbouring shore of Greban, as well as the large islands of Colinsay and Ulva, are as black as heath and moss can make them. But Ulva has a good anchorage, and Inchkenneth is surrounded by shoals. It is now uninhabited. The ruins of the huts, in which Dr. Johnson was received by Sir Allan M'Lean, were still to be seen, and some tatters of the paper hangings were to be seen on the walls. Sir G. O. Paul was at Inchkenneth with the same party of which I was a member. [See Lockhart'sScott, ed. 1839, iii. 285.] He seemed to suspect many of the Highland tales which he heard, but he showed most incredulity on the subject of Johnson's having been entertained in the wretched huts of which we saw the ruins. He took me aside, and conjured me to tell him the truth of the matter. 'This Sir Allan,' said he, 'was he aregular baronet, or was his title such a traditional one as you find in Ireland?' I assured my excellent acquaintance that, 'for my own part, I would have paid more respect to a knight of Kerry, or knight of Glynn; yet Sir Allan M'Lean was aregular baronetby patent;' and, having giving him this information, I took the liberty of asking him, in return, whether he would not in conscience prefer the worst cell in the jail at Gloucester (which he had been very active in overlooking while the building was going on) to those exposed hovels where Johnson had been entertained by rank and beauty. He looked round the little islet, and allowed Sir Allan had some advantage in exercising ground; but in other respects he thought the compulsory tenants of Gloucester had greatly the advantage. Such was his opinion of a place, concerning which Johnson has recorded that 'it wanted little which palaces could afford.' WALTER SCOTT.

[864]'Sir Allan's affairs are in disorder by the fault of his ancestors, and while he forms some scheme for retrieving them he has retreated hither.'Piozzi Lettersi. 172.

[865]By Francis Gastrell, Bishop of Chester, published in 1707.

[866]Travels through different cities of Germany, &c.,, by Alexander Drummond. Horace Walpole, on April 24, 1754 (Letters, ii. 381), mentions 'a very foolish vulgar book of travels, lately published by one Drummond, consul at Aleppo.'

[867]Physico-Theology; or a Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God from his Works of Creation.By William Derham, D.D., 1713. Voltaire, inMicromégas,ch. I, speaking of 'l'illustre vicaire Derham' says:—'Malheureusement, lui et ses imitateurs se trompent souvent dans l'exposition de ces merveilles; ils s'extasient sur la sagesse qui se montre dans l'ordre d'un phénomène et on découvre que ce phénomène est tout différent de ce qu'ils ont supposé; alors c'est ce nouvel ordre qui leur paraît un chef d'oeuvre de sagesse.'

[868]This work was published in 1774. Johnson said on March 20, 1776 (ante, ii. 447), 'that he believed Campbell's disappointment on account of the bad success of that work had killed him.'

[869]Johnson said of Campbell:—'I am afraid he has not been in the inside of a church for many years; but he never passes a church without pulling off his hat. This shows that he has good principles.'Ante, i. 418.

[870]New horse-shoeing Husbandry, by Jethro Tull, 1733.

[871]'He owned he sometimes talked for victory.'Ante, iv. 111, and v. 17.

[872]'They said that a great family had abardand asenachi, who were the poet and historian of the house; and an old gentleman told me that he remembered one of each. Here was a dawn of intelligence.... Another conversation informed me that the same man was both bard and senachi. This variation discouraged me.... Soon after I was told by a gentleman, who is generally acknowledged the greatest master of Hebridian antiquities, that there had, indeed, once been both bards and senachies; and thatsenachisignifiedthe man of talk, or of conversation; but that neither bard nor senachi had existed for some centuries.' Johnson'sWorks, ix. 109.

[873]Seeante, iii. 41, 327

[874]'Towards evening Sir Allan told us that Sunday never passed over him like another day. One of the ladies read, and read very well, the evening service;—"and Paradise was opened in the wild."'Piozzi Letters, i. 173. The quotation is from Pope'sEloisa to Abelard, l. 134:—

'You raised these hallowed walls; the desert smil'd,And Paradise was open'd in the wild.'

[875]He sent these verses to Boswell in 1775.Anteii. 293.

[876]Boswell wrote to Johnson on Feb. 2, 1775, (ante, ii. 295):—'Lord Hailes bids me tell you he doubts whether—

"Legitimas faciunt pectora pura preces,"

be according to the rubrick, but that is your concern; for you know, he is a Presbyterian.'

[877]In Johnson'sWorks, i. 167, these lines are given with amendments and additions, mostly made by Johnson, but some, Mr. Croker believes, by Mr. Langton. In the following copy the variations are marked in italics.

INSULA KENNETHI, INTER HEBRIDAS.Parva quidem regio sed religione priorumClaraCaledonias panditur inter aquas.Voce ubi Cennethus populos domuisse ferocesDicitur, et vanos dedocuisse deos.Huc ego delatus placido per caerula cursu,Scirelocusvolui quid daretistenovi.Illic Leniades humili regnabat in aula,Leniades, magnis nobilitatus avis.Una duascepitcasa cum genitore puellas,Quas Amor undarumcrederetesse deas.Nectamen inculti gelidis latuere sub antris,Accola Danubii qualia saevus habet.Mollia nondesuntvacuae solatia vitaeSive libros poscant otia, sive lyram.Fulseratilla dies, legisquadocta supernaeSpes hominumetcurasgensprocul esse jubet.Ut precibus justas avertat numinis iras,Et summi accendat pectus amore boni.Ponti inter strepitusnon sacrimunera cultusCessarunt, pietas hic quoque cura fuit.Nil opus est oeris sacra de turre sonantisAdmonitu, ipsa suas nunciat hora vices.Quid, quod sacrifici versavit foemina libros?Sint pro legitimis pura labella sacris.Quo vagor ulterius? quod ubique requiritur hic est,Hic secura quies, hic et honestus amor.

Mr. Croker says of the third line from the end, that in a copy of these verses in Johnson's own hand which he had seen, 'Johnson had first written

Sunt pro legitimis pectora pura sacris.

He then wrote

Legitimas faciunt pura labella preces.

That line was erased, and the line as it stands in theWorksis substituted in Mr. Langton's hand, as is also an alteration in the 16th line,velitintojubet.'Jubethowever is in the copy as printed by Boswell. Mr. Langton edited some, if not all, of Johnson's Latin poems. (Ante, iv. 384.)

[878]'Boswell, who is very pious, went into the chapel at night to perform his devotions, but came back in haste for fear of spectres.'Piozzi Letters, i. 173.

[879]Antep. 169.

[880]John Gerves, or John the Giant, of whom Dr. Johnson relates a curious story;Worksix. 119.

[881]Lord Chatham in the House of Lords, on Nov. 22, 1770, speaking of 'the honest, industrious tradesman, who holds the middle rank, and has given repeated proofs that he prefers law and liberty to gold,' had said:—'I love that class of men. Much less would I be thought to reflect upon the fair merchant, whose liberal commerce is the prime source of national wealth. I esteem his occupation, and respect his character.'Parl. Hist.xvi. 1107.

[882]Seeante, iii. 382.

[883]He was born in Nordland in Sweden, in 1736. In 1768 he and Mr. Banks accompanied Captain Cook in his first voyage round the world. He died in 1782. Knight'sEng. Cyclo.v. 578. Miss Burney wrote of him in 1780:—'My father has very exactly named him, in calling him a philosophical gossip.' Mme. D'Arblay'sDiary, i. 305. Horace Walpole the same year, just after the Gordon Riots, wrote (Letters, vii. 403):—'Who is secure against Jack Straw and a whirlwind? How I abominate Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, who routed the poor Otaheitans out of the centre of the ocean, and carried our abominable passions amongst them! not even that poor little speck could escape European restlessness.' Seeanteii. 148.

[884]Boswell tells this story again,ante, ii. 299. Mrs. Piozzi's account (Anec. p. 114) is evidently so inaccurate that it does not deserve attention; she herself admits that Beauclerk was truthful. In a marginal note on Wraxall'sMemoirs, she says:—'Topham Beauclerk (wicked and profligate as he wished to be accounted), was yet a man of very strict veracity. Oh Lord! how I did hate that horrid Beauclerk!' Hayward'sPiozzi, i. 348. Johnson testified to 'the correctness of Beauclerk's memory and the fidelity of his narrative.'Ante, ii. 405.

[885]'Mr. Maclean of Col, having a very numerous family, has for some time past resided at Aberdeen, that he may superintend their education, and leaves the young gentleman, our friend, to govern his dominions with the full power of a Highland chief.'Johnson's Works, ix. 117.

[886]This is not spoken of hare-coursing, where the game is taken or lost before the dog gets out of wind; but in chasing deer with the great Highland greyhound, Col's exploit is feasible enough. WALTER SCOTT.

[887]Seeante, pp. 45, III, for Monboddo's notion.

[888]Mme. Riccoboni in 1767 wrote to Garrick of the French:—'Un mensonge grossier les révolte. Si on voulait leur persuader que les Anglais vivent de grenouilles, meurent de faim, que leurs femmes sont barbouillées, et jurent par toutes les lettres de l'alphabet, ils leveraient les épaules, et s'écriraient,quel sot ose écrire ces misères-là?mais à Londres, diantre cela prend!'Garrick Corres. ii. 524.

[889]Just opposite to M'Quarrie's house the boat was swamped by the intoxication of the sailors, who had partaken too largely of M'Quarrie's wonted hospitality. WALTER SCOTT. Johnson wrote from Lichfield on June 13, 1775;—'There is great lamentation here for the death of Col. Lucy [Miss Porter] is of opinion that he was wonderfully handsome.'Piozzi Letters, i. 235. See ante, ii. 287.

[890]Iona.

[891]Seeante, p. 237.

[892]Seeante, 111. 229.

[893]Sir James Mackintosh says (Life, ii. 257):—'Dr. Johnson visited Iona without looking at Staffa, which lay in sight, with that indifference to natural objects, either of taste or scientific curiosity, which characterised him.' This is a fair enough sample of much of the criticism under which Johnson's reputation has suffered.

[894]Smollett inHumphry Clinker(Letter of Sept. 3) describes a Highland funeral. 'Our entertainer seemed to think it a disparagement to his family that not above a hundred gallons of whisky had been drunk upon such a solemn occasion.

[895]'We then entered the boat again; the night came upon us; the wind rose; the sea swelled; and Boswell desired to be set on dry ground: we, however, pursued our navigation, and passed by several little islands in the silent solemnity of faint moon-shine, seeing little, and hearing only the wind and water.'Piozzi Letters, i. 176.

[896]CiceroDe Finibus, ii. 32.

[897]I have lately observed that this thought has been elegantly expressed by Cowley:—

'Things which offend when present, and affright,In memory, well painted, move delight.'BOSWELL.

The lines are found in theOde upon His Majesty's Restoration and Return, stanza 12. They may have been suggested by Virgil's lines—

'Revocate animos, maestumque timoremMittite; forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit.'

Aeneid, i. 202.

[898]Had our Tour produced nothing else but this sublime passage, the world must have acknowledged that it was not made in vain. The present respectable President of the Royal Society was so much struck on reading it, that he clasped his hands together, and remained for some time in an attitude of silent admiration, BOSWELL. Boswell again quotes this passage (which is found in Johnson'sWorks, ix. 145),ante, iii. 173. The President was Sir Joseph Banks, Johnson says inRasselas, ch. xi:—'That the supreme being may be more easily propitiated in one place than in another is the dream of idle superstition; but that some places may operate upon our own minds in an uncommon manner is an opinion which hourly experience will justify. He who supposes that his vices may be more successfully combated in Palestine will, perhaps, find himself mistaken, yet he may go thither without folly; he who thinks they will be more freely pardoned dishonours at once his reason and religion.'

[899]'Sir Allan went to the headman of the island, whom fame, but fame delights in amplifying, represents as worth no less than fifty pounds. He was, perhaps, proud enough of his guests, but ill prepared for our entertainment; however he soon produced more provision than men not luxurious require.' Johnson'sWorks, ix. 146.

[900]An Account of the Isle of Man. With a voyage to I-Columb-Kill. By W. Sacheverell, Esq., late Governour of Man. 1702.

[901]'He that surveys it [the church-yard] attended by an insular antiquary may be told where the kings of many nations are buried, and if he loves to soothe his imagination with the thoughts that naturally rise in places where the great and the powerful lie mingled with the dust, let him listen in submissive silence; for if he asks any questions his delight is at an end.' Johnson'sWorks, ix. 148.

[902]On quitting the island Johnson wrote: 'We now left those illustrious ruins, by which Mr. Boswell was much affected, nor would I willingly be thought to have looked upon them without some emotion.'Ib. p. 150.

[903]Psalm xc. 4.

[904]Boswell wrote on Nov. 9, 1767:—'I am always for fixing some period for my perfection as far as possible. Let it be when my account of Corsica is published; I shall then have a character which I must support.'Letters of Boswell, p. 122. Five weeks later he wrote:—'I have been as wild as ever;' and then comes a passage which the Editor has thought it needful to suppress.Ib.p.128.

[905]Boswell here speaks as an Englishman. He should have written 'aM'Ginnis.' Seeante, p. 135, note 3.

[906]'The fruitfulness of Iona is now its whole prosperity. The inhabitants are remarkably gross, and remarkably neglected; I know not if they are visited by any minister. The island, which was once the metropolis of learning and piety, has now no school for education, nor temple for worship, only two inhabitants that can speak English, and not one that can write or read.' Johnson'sWorks, ix. 149. Scott, who visited it in 1810, writes:—'There are many monuments of singular curiosity, forming a strange contrast to the squalid and dejected poverty of the present inhabitants.' Lockhart'sScott, ed. 1839, iii. 285. In 1814, on a second visit, he writes:—'Iona, the last time I saw it, seemed to me to contain the most wretched people I had anywhere seen. But either they have got better since I was here, or my eyes, familiarized with the wretchedness of Zetland and the Harris, are less shocked with that of Iona.' He found a schoolmaster there.Ib. iv. 324.

[907]Johnson's Jacobite friend, Dr. King (ante, i. 279), says of Pulteney, on his being made Earl of Bath:—'He deserted the cause of his country; he betrayed his friends and adherents; he ruined his character, and from a most glorious eminence sunk down to a degree of contempt. The first time Sir Robert (who was now Earl of Orford) met him in the House of Lords, he threw out this reproach:—"My Lord Bath, you and I are now two as insignificant men as any in England." In which he spoke the truth of my Lord Bath, but not of himself. For my Lord Orford was consulted by the ministers to the last day of his life.' King'sAnec. p. 43.

[908]Seeante, i. 431, and iii. 326.

[909]'Sir Robert Walpole detested war. This made Dr. Johnson say of him, "He was the best minister this country ever had, as, ifwewould have let him (he speaks of his own violent faction), he would have kept the country in perpetual peace."' Seward'sBiographiana, p. 554. Seeante, i. 131.

[910]Seeante, iii. Appendix C.

[911]I think it incumbent on me to make some observation on this strong satirical sally on my classical companion, Mr. Wilkes. Reporting it lately from memory, in his presence, I expressed it thus:—'They knew he would rob their shops,if he durst;they knew he would debauch their daughters,if he could;' which, according to the French phrase, may be saidrenchériron Dr. Johnson; but on looking into my Journal, I found it as above, and would by no means make any addition. Mr. Wilkes received both readings with a good humour that I cannot enough admire. Indeed both he and I (as, with respect to myself, the reader has more than once had occasion to observe in the course of this Journal,) are too fond of abon mot, not to relish it, though we should be ourselves the object of it.

Let me add, in justice to the gentleman here mentioned, that at a subsequent period, hewaselected chief magistrate of London [in 1774], and discharged the duties of that high office with great honour to himself, and advantage to the city. Some years before Dr. Johnson died, I was fortunate enough to bring him and Mr. Wilkes together; the consequence of which was, that they were ever afterwards on easy and not unfriendly terms. The particulars I shall have great pleasure in relating at large in myLife of Dr. Johnson. BOSWELL. In the copy of Boswell'sLetter to the People of Scotlandin the British Museum is entered in Boswell's own hand—

'Comes jucundus in via pro vehiculo est.

To John Wilkes, Esq.: as pleasant a companion as ever lived. From the Author.

—will my Wilkes retreat,And see, once seen before, that ancient seat, etc.'

Seeante, iii. 64, 183; iv. 101, 224, note 2.

[912]Seeante, iv. 199.

[913]Our afternoon journey was through a country of such gloomy desolation that Mr. Boswell thought no part of the Highlands equally terrifick.' Johnson'sWorks, ix. 150.

[914]Johnson describes Lochbuy as 'a true Highland laird, rough and haughty, and tenacious of his dignity: who, hearing my name, inquired whether I was of the Johnstons of Glencoe (sic) or of Ardnamurchan.'Ib.

[915]Boswell totally misapprehendedLochbuy'smeaning. There are two septs of the powerful clan of M'Donaid, who are called Mac-Ian, that isJohn's-son; and as Highlanders often translate their names when they go to the Lowlands,—as Gregor-son for Mac-Gregor, Farquhar-son for Mac-Farquhar,—Lochbuysupposed that Dr. Johnson might be one of the Mac-Ians of Ardnamurchan, or of Glencro. Boswell's explanation was nothing to the purpose. TheJohnstonsare a clan distinguished in Scottishborderhistory, and as brave as anyHighlandclan that ever wore brogues; but they lay entirely out ofLochbuy'sknowledge—nor was he thinking ofthem. WALTER SCOTT.

[916]This maxim, however, has been controverted. See Blackstone'sCommentaries, vol. ii. p. 291; and the authorities there quoted. BOSWELL. 'Blackstone says:—From these loose authorities, which Fitzherbert does not hesitate to reject as being contrary to reason, the maxim that a man shall not stultify himself hath been handed down as settled law; though later opinions, feeling the inconvenience of the rule, have in many points endeavoured to restrain it.'Ib. p. 292.

[917]Begging pardon of the Doctor and his conductor, I have often seen and partaken of cold sheep's head at as good breakfast-tables as ever they sat at. This protest is something in the manner of the late Culrossie, who fought a duel for the honour of Aberdeen butter. I have passed over all the Doctor's other reproaches upon Scotland, but the sheep's head I will defendtotis viribus. Dr. Johnson himself must have forgiven my zeal on this occasion; for if, as he says,dinnerbe the thing of which a man thinksoftenest during the day, breakfastmust be that of which he thinksfirst in the morning. WALTER SCOTT. I do not know where Johnson says this. Perhaps Scott was thinking of a passage in Mrs. Piozzi'sAnec. p. 149, where she writes that he said: 'A man seldom thinks with more earnestness of any thing than he does of his dinner.'

[918]A horrible place it was. Johnson describes it (Works, ix. 152) as 'a deep subterraneous cavity, walled on the sides, and arched on the top, into which the descent is through a narrow door, by a ladder or a rope.'

[919]Seeante, p. 177.

[920]Sir Allan M'Lean, like many Highland chiefs, was embarrassed in his private affairs, and exposed to unpleasant solicitations from attorneys, called, in Scotland,writers(which indeed was the chief motive of his retiring to Inchkenneth). Upon one occasion he made a visit to a friend, then residing at Carron lodge, on the banks of the Carron, where the banks of that river are studded with pretty villas: Sir Allan, admiring the landscape, asked his friend, whom that handsome seat belonged to. 'M—-, the writer to the signet,' was the reply. 'Umph!' said Sir Allan, but not with an accent of assent, 'I mean that other house.' 'Oh ! that belongs to a very honest fellow Jamie—-, also a writer to the signet.' 'Umph!' said the Highland chief of M'Lean with more emphasis than before, 'And yon smaller house?' 'That belongs to a Stirling man; I forget his name, but I am sure he is a writer too; for—-.' Sir Allan who had recoiled a quarter of a circle backward at every response, now wheeled the circle entire and turned his back on the landscape, saying, 'My good friend, I must own you have a pretty situation here; but d—n your neighbourhood.' WALTER SCOTT.

[921]Loch Awe.

[922]'Pope's talent lay remarkably in what one may naturally enough term the condensation of thoughts. I think no other English poet ever brought so much sense into the same number of lines with equal smoothness, ease, and poetical beauty. Let him who doubts of this peruse hisEssay on Manwith attention.' Shenstone'sEssays on Men and Manners. [Works, 4th edit. ii. 159.] 'He [Gray] approved an observation of Shenstone, that "Pope had the art of condensing a thought."' Nicholls'Reminiscences of Gray, p. 37. And Swift [in hisLines on the death of Dr. Swift], himself a great condenser, says—

'In Pope I cannot read a lineBut with a sigh I wish it mine;When he can in one couplet fixMore sense than I can do in six.'P. CUNNINGHAM.

[923]He is described by Walpole in hisLetters, viii. 5.

[924]'The night came on while we had yet a great part of the way to go, though not so dark but that we could discern the cataracts which poured down the hills on one side, and fell into one general channel, that ran with great violence on the other. The wind was loud, the rain was heavy, and the whistling of the blast, the fall of the shower, the rush of the cataracts, and the roar of the torrent, made a nobler chorus of the rough musick of nature than it had ever been my chance to hear before.' Johnson'sWorks, ix. 155. He wrote to Mrs. Thrale:—'All the rougher powers of nature except thunder were in motion, but there was no danger. I should have been sorry to have missed any of the inconveniencies, to have had more light or less rain, for their co-operation crowded the scene and filled the mind.'Piozzi Letters, i. 177.

[925]I never tasted whiskey except once for experiment at the inn in Inverary, when I thought it preferable to any English malt brandy. It was strong, but not pungent, and was free from the empyreumatick taste or smell. What was the process I had no opportunity of inquiring, nor do I wish to improve the art of making poison pleasant.' Johnson'sWorks, ix. 52. Smollett, medical man though he was, looked upon whisky as anything but poison. 'I am told that it is given with great success to infants, as a cordial in the confluent small-pox.'Humphry Clinker. Letter of Sept. 3.

[926]Regalein this sense is not in Johnson'sDictionary. It was, however, a favourite word at this time. Thus, Mrs. Piozzi, in herJourney through France, ii. 297, says:—'A large dish of hot chocolate thickened with bread and cream is a common afternoon's regale here.' Miss Burney often uses the word.

[927]Boswell, in answering Garrick's letter seven months later, improved on this comparison. 'It was,' he writes, 'a pine-apple of the finest flavour, which had a high zest indeed among the heath-covered mountains of Scotia.'Garrick Corres. i. 621.

[928]Seeante, p. 115.

[929]Seeante, i. 97.

[930]'Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane.'Macbeth, act v. sc. 8.

[931]

'From his first entrance to the closing sceneLet him one equal character maintain.'FRANCIS. Horace,Ars Poet.l. 126.

[932]I took the liberty of giving this familiar appellation to my celebrated friend, to bring in a more lively manner to his remembrance the period when he was Dr. Johnson's pupil. BOSWELL.

[933]Seeante, p. 129.

[934]Boswell is here quoting the Preface to the third edition of hisCorsica:—'Whatever clouds may overcast my days, I can now walk here among the rocks and woods of my ancestors, with an agreeable consciousness that I have done something worthy.'

[935]Seeante, i. 148, andpost, Nov. 21.

[936]I have suppressed my friend's name from an apprehension of wounding his sensibility; but I would not withhold from my readers a passage which shews Mr. Garrick's mode of writing as the Manager of a Theatre, and contains a pleasing trait of his domestick life. His judgment of dramatick pieces, so far as concerns their exhibition on the stage, must be allowed to have considerable weight. But from the effect which a perusal of the tragedy here condemned had upon myself, and from the opinions of some eminent criticks, I venture to pronounce that it has much poetical merit; and its authour has distinguished himself by several performances which shew that the epithetpoetasterwas, in the present instance, much misapplied. BOSWELL. Johnson mentioned this quarrel between Garrick and the poet on March 25, 1773 (Piozzi Letters, i. 80). 'M—— is preparing a whole pamphlet against G——, and G—— is, I suppose, collecting materials to confute M——.' M—— was Mickle, the translator of theLusiadand author of theBallad of Cumnor Hall(ante, ii. 182). Had it not been for this 'poetaster,'Kenilworthmight never have been written. Scott, in the preface, tells how 'the first stanza ofCunmor Hallhad a peculiar species of enchantment for his youthful ear, the force of which is not even now entirely spent.' The play that was refused was theSiege of Marseilles. Ever since the success of Hughes'sSiege of Damascus'a siege had become a popular title' (ante, iii. 259, note 1).

[937]She could only have been away for the day; for in 1776 Garrick wrote:—'As I have not left Mrs. Garrick one day since we were married, near twenty-eight years, I cannot now leave her.'Garrick Corres. ii. 150.

[938]Dr. Morell once entered the school-room at Winchester College, 'in which some junior boys were writing their exercises, one of whom, struck no less with his air and manner than with the questions he put to them, whispered to his school-fellows, "Is he not a fine old Grecian?" The Doctor, overhearing this, turned hastily round and exclaimed, "I am indeed an old Grecian, my little man. Did you never see my head before my Thesaurus?"' The Praepostors, learning the dignity of their visitor, in a most respectful manner showed him the College. Wooll'sLife of Dr. Warton, p. 329. Mason writing to Horace Walpole about some odes, says:—'They are so lopped and mangled, that they are worse now than the productions of Handel's poet, Dr. Morell.' Walpole'sLetters, v. 420. Morell compiled the words for Handel'sOratorios.

[939]Ante, i. 148.

[940]I doubt whether any other instance can be found oflovebeing sent to Johnson.

[941]The passage begins:—'Aservantor two from a revering distance cast many a wishful look, and condole their honoured master in the language of sighs.' Hervey'sMeditations, ed. 1748, i. 40.

[942]Ib. ii. 84.

[943]TheMeditationwas perhaps partly suggested by Swift'sMeditation upon a Broomstick. Swift'sWorks(1803), iii. 275.

[944]Thomas Burnet of the Charterhouse, in hisSacred Theory of the Earth, ed. 1722, i. 85.

[945]Seeante, i. 476, and ii. 73.

[946]Elizabeth Gunning, celebrated (like her sister, Lady Coventry) for her personal charms, had been previously Duchess of Hamilton, and was mother of Douglas, Duke of Hamilton, the competitor for the Douglas property with the late Lord Douglas: she was, of course, prejudiced against Boswell, who had shewn all the bustling importance of his character in the Douglas cause, and it was said, I know not on what authority, that he headed the mob which broke the windows of some of the judges, and of Lord Auchinleck, his father, in particular. WALTER SCOTT. Seeante, ii. 50.

[947]Seeante, i. 408, and ii. 329.

[948]She married the Earl of Derby, and was the great-grandmother of the present Earl. Burke'sPeerage.

[949]Seeante, iv. 248.

[950]Lord Macaulay's grandfather, Trevelyan'sMacaulay, i. 6.

[951]Seeante, p. 118.

[952]On reflection, at the distance of several years, I wonder that my venerable fellow-traveller should have read this passage without censuring my levity. BOSWELL.

[953]Ante, p. 151.

[954]Seeante, i. 240.

[955]As this book is now become very scarce, I shall subjoin the title, which is curious:—The Doctrines of a Middle State between Death and the Resurrection: Of Prayers for the Dead: And the Necessity of Purification; plainly proved from the holy Scriptures, and the Writings of the Fathers of the Primitive Church: and acknowledged by several learned Fathers and Great Divines of the Church of England and others since the Reformation. To which is added, an Appendix concerning the Descent of the Soul of Christ into Hell, while his Body lay in the Grave. Together with the Judgment of the Reverend Dr. Hickes concerning this Book, so far as relates to a Middle State, particular Judgment, and Prayers for the Dead as it appeared in the first Edition. 'And a Manuscript of the Right Reverend Bishop Overall upon the Subject of a Middle State, and never before printed. Also, a Preservative against several of the Errors of the Roman Church, in six small Treatises. By the Honourable Archibald Campbell. Folio, 1721. BOSWELL.

[956]The release gained for him by Lord Townshend must have been from his last imprisonment after the accession of George I; for, as Mr. Croker points out, Townshend was not Secretary of State till 1714.

[957]Seeante, iv. 286.

[958]He was the grandson of the first Marquis, who was beheaded by Charles II in 1661, and nephew of the ninth Earl, who was beheaded by James II in 1685. Burke'sPeerage. He died on June 15, 1744, according to theGent. Mag.xiv. 339; where he is described as 'the consecrated Archbishop of St. Andrews.' Seeante, ii. 216.

[959]George Hickes, 1642-1715. A non-juror, consecrated in 1693 suffragan bishop of Thetford by three of the deprived non-juror bishops. Chalmers'sBiog. Dict.xvii. 450. Burnet (Hist. of his own Time, iv. 303) describes him as 'an ill-tempered man, who was now[1712]at the head of the Jacobite party, and who had in several books promoted a notion, that there was a proper sacrifice made in the Eucharist.' Boswell mentions him,ante, iv. 287.

[960]Seeante, ii. 458.

[961]This must be a mistake forHe died.

[962]'It is generally supposed that life is longer in places where there are few opportunities of luxury; but I found no instance here of extraordinary longevity. A cottager grows old over his oaten cakes like a citizen at a turtle feast. He is, indeed, seldom incommoded by corpulence, Poverty preserves him from sinking under the burden of himself, but he escapes no other injury of time.' Johnson's Works, ix. 81.

[963]Lady Lucy Graham, daughter of the second Duke of Montrose, and wife of Mr. Douglas, the successful claimant: she died in 1780, whence Boswell calls her 'poorLady Lucy.' CROKER

[964]Her first husband was the sixth Duke of Hamilton and Brandon. On his death she refused the Duke of Bridgewater. She was the mother of four dukes—two of Hamilton and two of Argyle. Her sister married the Earl of Coventry. Walpole'sLetters, ii. 259, note. Walpole, writing on Oct. 9, 1791, says that their story was amazing. 'The two beautiful sisters were going on the stage, when they were at once exalted almost as high as they could be, were Countessed and double-Duchessed.'Ib. ix. 358. Their maiden name was Gunning. The Duchess of Argyle was alive when Boswell published hisJournal.

[965]Seeante, iv. 397, and v. 210. It was Lord Macaulay's grandfather who was thus reprimanded. Mr. Trevelyan remarks (Life of Macaulay, i. 7), 'When we think what well-known ground this [subject] was to Lord Macaulay, it is impossible to suppress a wish that the great talker had been at hand to avenge his grandfather.' The result might well have been, however, that the great talker would have been reduced to silence—one of those brilliant flashes of silence for which Sydney Smith longed, but longed in vain.

[966]Seeante, ii. 264, note 2.

[967]Seeante, iv. 8, for his use of 'O brave!'

[968]Having mentioned, more than once, that myJournalwas perused by Dr. Johnson, I think it proper to inform my readers that this is the last paragraph which he read. BOSWELL. He began to read it on August 18 (ante, p. 58, note 2).

[969]Seeante, ii. 320.

[970]Act i. sc. 1. The best known passage inDouglasis the speech beginning 'My name is Norval.' Act ii. The play affords a few quotations more or less known, as:—

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