Chapter 28

'Words gigantic.'

FRANCIS. Horace,Ars Poet.. 1. 97.

[1103]One of the best criticks of our age 'does not wish to prevent the admirers of the incorrect and nerveless style which generally prevailed for a century before Dr. Johnson's energetick writings were known, from enjoying the laugh that this story may produce, in which he is very ready to join them.' He, however, requests me to observe, that 'my friend very properly chose alongword on this occasion, not, it is believed, from any predilection for polysyllables, (though he certainly had a due respect for them,) but in order to put Mr. Braidwood's skill to the strictest test, and to try the efficacy of his instruction by the most difficult exertion of the organs of his pupils.' BOSWELL. 'One of the best critics of our age' is, I believe, Malone. Seeante, p. 78, note 5.

[1104]It was here that Lord Auchinleck called himUrsa Major. Ante, p. 384.

[1105]Seeante, iii. 266, and v. 20, where 'Mr. Crosbie said that the English are better animals than the Scots.'

[1106]Johnson himself had laughed at them (ante, ii. 210) and accused them of foppery (ante, ii. 237).

[1107]Johnson said, 'I never think I have hit hard, unless it rebounds (ante, ii. 335), and, 'I would rather be attacked than unnoticed' (ante, iii. 375). When he was told of a caricature 'of the nine muses flogging him round Parnassus,' he said, 'Sir, I am very glad to hear this. I hope the day will never arrive when I shall neither be the object of calumny or ridicule, for then I shall be neglected and forgotten.' Croker'sBoswell, p. 837. Seeante, ii. 61, and pp. 174, 273. 'There was much laughter when M. de Lesseps mentioned that on his first visit to England the publisher who brought out the report of his meeting charged, as the first item of his bill, "£50 for attacking the book in order to make it succeed." "Since then," observed M. de Lesseps, "I have been attacked gratuitously, and have got on without paying."' The Times, Feb. 19, 1884.

[1108]

'To wing my flight to fame.'

DRYDEN. Virgil,Georgics, iii. 9.

[1109]On Nov. 12 he wrote to Mrs. Thrale:—'We came hither (to Edinburgh) on the ninth of this month. I long to come under your care, but for some days cannot decently get away.'Piozzi Letters, i. 202.

[1110]He would have been astonished had he known that a few miles from Edinburgh he had passed through two villages of serfs. The coal-hewers and salt-makers of Tranent and Preston-Pans were still sold with the soil. 'In Scotland domestic slavery is unknown, except so far as regards the coal-hewers and salt-makers, whose condition, it must be confessed, bears some resemblance to slavery; because all who have once acted in either of the capacities are compellable to serve, and fixed to their respective places of employment during life.' Hargrave'sArgument in the case of James Sommersett, 1772. Had Johnson known this he might have given as his toast when in company with some very grave men atEdinburgh:—'Here's to the next insurrection of the slaves inScotland.'Ante, iii. 200.

[1111]The year following in the House of Commons he railed at the London booksellers, 'who, he positively asserted, entirely governed the newspapers.' 'For his part,' he added, 'he had ordered that no English newspaper should come within his doors for three months.'Parl. Hist. xvii. 1090.

[1112]Seeante, iii. 373.

[1113]'At the latter end of 1630 Ben Jonson went on foot into Scotland, on purpose to visit Drummond. His adventures in this journey he wrought into a poem; but that copy, with many other pieces, was accidentally burned.' Whalley'sBen Jonson, Preface, p. xlvi.

[1114]Perhaps the same woman showed the chapel who was there 29 years later, when Scott visited it. One of his friends 'hoped that they might, as habitual visitors, escape hearing the usual endless story of the silly old woman that showed the ruins'; but Scott answered, 'There is a pleasure in the song which none but the songstress knows, and by telling her we know it all ready we should make the poor devil unhappy.' LockhartsScott, ed. 1839, ii. 106.

[1115]O rare Ben Jonsonis on Jonson's tomb in Westminster Abbey.

[1116]Seeante, ii. 365.

[1117]'Essex was at that time confined to the same chamber of the Tower from which his father Lord Capel had been led to death, and in which his wife's grandfather had inflicted a voluntary death upon himself. When he saw his friend carried to what he reckoned certain fate, their common enemies enjoying the spectacle, and reflected that it was he who had forced Lord Howard upon the confidence of Russel, he retired, and, by aRoman death, put an end to his misery.' Dalrymple'sMemoirs of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. i. p. 36. BOSWELL. In the original after 'his wife's grandfather,' is added 'Lord Northumberland.' It was his wife's great-grandfather, the eighth Earl of Northumberland. He killed himself in 1585. Burke'sPeerage.

[1118]Dr. A. Carlyle (Auto. p. 293) says of Robertson and Blair:—'Having been bred at a time when the common people thought to play with cards or dice was a sin, and everybody thought it an indecorum in clergymen, they could neither of them play at golf or bowls, and far less at cards or backgammon, and on that account were very unhappy when from home in friends' houses in the country in rainy weather. As I had set the first example of playing at cards at home with unlocked door [Carlyle was a minister], and so relieved the clergy from ridicule on that side, they both learned to play at whist after they were sixty.' Seeante, iii. 23.

[1119]Seeante, i. 149, and v. 350.

[1120]Seeante, iv. 54.

[1121]He wrote to Boswell on Nov. 16, 1776 (ante, iii. 93):—'The expedition to the Hebrides was the most pleasant journey that I ever made.' In hisDiaryhe recorded on Jan. 9, 1774:—'In the autumn I took a journey to the Hebrides, but my mind was not free from perturbation.'Pr. and Med.p. 136. The following letter to Dr. Taylor I have copied from the original in the possession of my friend Mr. M. M. Holloway:—

'DEAR SIR,

'When I was at Edinburgh I had a letter from you, telling me that in answer to some enquiry you were informed that I was in the Sky. I was then I suppose in the western islands of Scotland; I set out on the northern expedition August 6, and came back to Fleet-street, November 26. I have seen a new region.

'I have been upon seven of the islands, and probably should have visited many more, had we not begun our journey so late in the year, that the stormy weather came upon us, and the storms have I believe for about five months hardly any intermission.

'Your Letter told me that you were better. When you write do not forget to confirm that account. I had very little ill health while I was on the journey, and bore rain and wind tolerably well. I had a cold and deafness only for a few days, and those days I passed at a good house. I have traversed the east coast of Scotland from south to north from Edinburgh to Inverness, and the west coast from north to south, from the Highlands to Glasgow, and am come back as I went,

'Sir,

'Your affectionate humble servant,

'SAM. JOHNSON.'

'Jan. 15, 1774.

'To the Reverend Dr. Taylor,

'in Ashbourn,

'Derbyshire.'

[1122]Johnson speaking of this tour on April 10, 1783, said:—'I got an acquisition of more ideas by it than by anything that I remember.'Ante, iv. 199.

[1123]Seeante, p. 48.

[1124]Seeante, i. 408, 443, note 2, and ii. 303.

[1125]'It may be doubted whether before the Union any man between Edinburgh and England had ever set a tree.' Johnson'sWorks, ix. 8.

[1126]Seeante, p. 69.

[1127]Lord Balmerino's estate was forfeited to the Crown on his conviction for high treason in 1746 (ante, i. 180).

[1128]'I know not that I ever heard the wind so loud in any other place; and Mr. Boswell observed that its noise was all its own, for there were no trees to increase it.' Johnson'sWorks, ix. 122. Seeante, p. 304.

[1129]Seeante, ii. 300.

[1130]'Strong reasons for incredulity will readily occur. This faculty of seeing things out of sight is local and commonly useless. It is a breach of the common order of things, without any visible reason or perceptible benefit.' Johnson'sWorks, ix. 106.

[1131]'To the confidence of these objections it may be replied... that second sight is only wonderful because it is rare, for, considered in itself, it involves no more difficulty than dreams.'Ib.

[1132]The fossilist of last century is the geologist of this. Neither term is in Johnson'sDictionary, but Johnson in hisJourney (Works, ix. 43) speaks of 'Mr. Janes the fossilist.'

[1133]Ib. p. 157.

[1134]Ib. p. 6. I do not see anything silly in the story. It is however better told in a letter to Mrs. Thrale.Piozzi Letters, i. 112.

[1135]Mr. Orme, one of the ablest historians of this age, is of the same opinion. He said to me, 'There are in that book thoughts, which, by long revolution in the great mind of Johnson, have been formed and polished—like pebbles rolled in the ocean.' BOSWELL. Seeante, ii. 300, and iii. 284.

[1136]Seeante, iii. 301.

[1137]Johnson (Works, ix. 158) mentions 'a national combination so invidious that their friends cannot defend it.' Seeante, ii. 307, 311.

[1138]Seeante, p. 269, note 1.

[1139]Every reader will, I am sure, join with me in warm admiration of the truly patriotic writer of this letter. I know not which most to applaud—that good sense and liberality of mind, which could see and admit the defects of his native country, to which no man is a more zealous friend:—or that candour, which induced him to give just praise to the minister whom he honestly and strenuously opposed. BOSWELL.

[1140]The original MS. is now in my possession. BOSWELL.

[1141]The passage that gave offence was as follows:—'Mr. Macleod is the proprietor of the islands of Raasay, Rona, and Fladda, and possesses an extensive district in Sky. The estate has not during four hundred years gained or lost a single acre. He acknowledges Macleod of Dunvegan as his chief, though his ancestors have formerly disputed the pre-eminence.' First edition, p. 132. The second edition was not published till the year after Johnson's death. In it the passage remains unchanged. To it the following note was prefixed: 'Strand, Oct. 26, 1785. Since this work was printed off, the publisher, having been informed that the author some years ago had promised the Laird of Raasay to correct in a future edition a passage concerning him, thinks it a justice due to that gentleman to insert here the advertisement relative to this matter, which was published by Dr. Johnson's desire in the Edinburgh newspapers in the year 1775, and which has been lately reprinted in Mr. Boswell'sTour to the Hebrides.' (It is not unlikely that the publication of Boswell'sTouroccasioned a fresh demand for Johnson'sJourney.) In later editions all the words after 'a single acre' are silently struck out. Johnson'sWorks, ix. 55. Seeante, ii. 382.

[1142]Rasay was highly gratified, and afterwards visited and dined with Dr. Johnson at his house in London. BOSWELL. Johnson wrote on May 12, 1775:—'I have offended; and what is stranger, have justly offended, the nation of Rasay. If they could come hither, they would be as fierce as the Americans.Rasayhas written to Boswell an account of the injury done him by representing his house as subordinate to that of Dunvegan. Boswell has his letter, and, I believe, copied my answer. I have appeased him, if a degraded chief can possibly be appeased: but it will be thirteen days—days of resentment and discontent—before my recantation can reach him. Many a dirk will imagination, during that interval, fix in my heart. I really question if at this time my life would not be in danger, if distance did not secure it. Boswell will find his way to Streatham before he goes, and will detail this great affair.'Piozzi Letters, i. 216.

[1143]In like manner he communicated to Sir William Forbes part of his journal from which he made theLife of Johnson.Ante, iii. 208.

[1144]In justice both to Sir William Forbes, and myself, it is proper to mention, that the papers which were submitted to his perusal contained only an account of our Tour from the time that Dr. Johnson and I set out from Edinburgh (p. 58), and consequently did not contain the elogium on Sir William Forbes, (p. 24), which he never saw till this book appeared in print; nor did he even know, when he wrote the above letter, that thisJournalwas to be published. BOSWELL. This note is not in the first edition.

[1145]Hamlet, act iii. sc. 1.

[1146]BothNonpareilandBon Chretienare in Johnson'sDictionary;Nonpareil, is defined asa kind of apple, andBon Chretienasa species of pear.

[1147]Seeante, p. 311.

[1148]Seeante, iv. 9.

[1149]'Dryden's contemporaries, however they reverenced his genius, left his life unwritten; and nothing therefore can be known beyond what casual mention and uncertain tradition have supplied.' Johnson'sWorks, vii. 245. Seeante, iii. 71.

[1150]

'Before great Agamemnon reign'dReign'd kings as great as he, and braveWhose huge ambition's now contain'dIn the small compass of a grave;In endless night they sleep, unwept, unknown,No bard had they to make all time their own.'

FRANCIS. Horace,Odes, iv. 9. 25.

[1151]Having found, on a revision of the first edition of this work, that, notwithstanding my best care, a few observations had escaped me, which arose from the instant impression, the publication of which might perhaps be considered as passing the bounds of a strict decorum, I immediately ordered that they should be omitted in the subsequent editions. I was pleased to find that they did not amount in the whole to a page. If any of the same kind are yet left, it is owing to inadvertence alone, no man being more unwilling to give pain to others than I am.

A contemptible scribbler, of whom I have learned no more than that, after having disgraced and deserted the clerical character, he picks up in London a scanty livelihood by scurrilous lampoons under a feigned name, has impudently and falsely asserted that the passages omitted weredefamatory, and that the omission was not voluntary, but compulsory. The last insinuation I took the trouble publickly to disprove; yet, like one of Pope's dunces, he persevered in 'the lie o'erthrown.' [Prologue to the Satires, l. 350.] As to the charge of defamation, there is an obvious and certain mode of refuting it. Any person who thinks it worth while to compare one edition with the other, will find that the passages omitted were not in the least degree of that nature, but exactly such as I have represented them in the former part of this note, the hasty effusion of momentary feelings, which the delicacy of politeness should have suppressed. BOSWELL. In the second edition this note ended at the first paragraph, the latter part being added in the third. For the 'few observations omitted' seeante, pp. 148, 381, 388.

The 'contemptible scribbler' was, I believe, John Wolcot, better known by his assumed name of Peter Pindar. He had been a clergyman. In hisEpistle to Boswell (Works, i. 219), he says in reference to the passages about Sir A. Macdonald (afterwards Lord Macdonald):—'A letter of severe remonstrance was sent to Mr. B., who, in consequence, omitted in the second edition of hisJournalwhat is so generally pleasing to the public, viz., the scandalous passages relative to that nobleman.' It was in a letter to theGent. Mag.1786, p. 285, that Boswell 'publickly disproved the insinuation' made 'in a late scurrilous publication' that these passages 'were omitted in consequence of a letter from his Lordship. Nor was any application,' he continues, 'made to me by the nobleman alluded to at any time to make any alteration in myJournal.'

[1152]

'Nothing extenuateNor set down aught in malice.'

Othello, act v. sc. 2.

[1153]Seeante, i. 189, note 2, 296, 297; and Johnson'sWorks, v. 23.

[1154]Of his two imitations Boswell meansThe Vanity of Human Wishes, of which one hundred lines were written in a day.Ante, i. 192, and ii. 15.

[1155]Johnson, it should seem, did not allow that there was any pleasure in writing poetry. 'It has been said there is pleasure in writing, particularly in writing verses. I allow you may have pleasure from writing after it is over, if you have written well; but you don't go willingly to it again.'Ante, iv. 219. What Johnson always sought was to sufficiently occupy the mind. So long as that was done, that labour would, I believe, seem to him the pleasanter which required the less thought.

[1156]Nathan Bailey published hisEnglish Dictionaryin 1721.

[1157]

'Woolston, the scourge of scripture, mark with awe!And mighty Jacob, blunderbuss of law.'

The Dunciad, first ed., bk. iii. l. 149. Giles Jacob published aLaw Dictionaryin 1729.

[1158]Ante, p. 393.

[1159]A writer in theGent. Mag.1786, p. 388, with some reason says:—'I heartily wish Mr. Boswell would get this Latin poem translated.'

[1160]Boswell, briefly mentioning the tour which Johnson made to Wales in the year 1774 with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale, says:—'I do not find that he kept any journal or notes of what he saw there' (ante, ii. 285). A journal had been kept however, which in 1816 was edited and published by Mr. Duppa. Mrs. Piozzi, writing in October of that year, says that three years earlier she had been shewn the MS. by a Mr. White, and that it was genuine. 'The gentleman who possessed it seemed shy of letting me read the whole, and did not, as it appeared, like being asked how it came into his hands.' Hayward'sPiozzi, ii. 177. According to Mr. Croker (Croker'sBoswell, p. 415) 'it was preserved by Johnson's servant, Barber. How it escaped Boswell's research is not known.' A fragment of Johnson'sAnnals, also preserved by Barber, had in like manner never been seen by Boswell;ante, i. 35, note 1. The editor of theseAnnalssays (Preface, p. v):—'Francis Barber, unwilling that all the MSS. of his illustrious master should be utterly lost, preserved these relicks from the flames. By purchase from Barber's widow they came into the possession of the editor.' It seems likely that Barber was afraid to own what he had done; though as he was the residuary legatee he was safe from all consequences, unless the executors of the will who were to hold the residue of the estate in trust for him had chosen to proceed against him. Mr. Duppa in editing this Journal received assistance from Mrs. Piozzi, 'who,' he says (Preface, p. xi), 'explained many facts which could not otherwise have been understood.' A passage in one of her letters dated Bath, Oct. 11, 1816, shows how unfriendly were the relations between her and her eldest daughter, Johnson's Queeny, who had married Admiral Lord Keith. 'I am sadly afraid,' she writes, 'of Lady K.'s being displeased, and fancying I promoted this publication. Could I have caught her for a quarter-of-an-hour, I should have proved my innocence, and might have shown her Duppa's letter; but she left neither note, card, nor message, and when my servant ran to all the inns in chase of her, he learned that she had left the White Hart at twelve o'clock. Vexatious! but it can't be helped. I hope the pretty little girl my people saw with her will pay her more tender attention.' Three days later she wrote:—'Johnson'sDiaryis selling rapidly, though the contents arebien maigre, I must confess. Mr. Duppa has politely suppressed some sarcastic expressions about my family, the Cottons, whom we visited at Combermere, and at Lleweney.' Hayward'sPiozzi, ii. 176-9. Mr. Croker in 1835 was able to make 'a collation of the original MS., which has supplied many corrections and some omissions in Mr. Duppa's text.' Mr. Croker's text I have generally followed.

[1161]'When I went with Johnson to Lichfield, and came down to breakfast at the inn, my dress did not please him, and he made me alter it entirely before he would stir a step with us about the town, saying most satirical things concerning the appearance I made in a riding-habit; and adding, "'Tis very strange that such eyes as yours cannot discern propriety of dress; if I had a sight only half as good, I think I should see to the centre."' Piozzi'sAnec. p. 288.

[1162]For Mrs. (Miss) Porter, Mrs. (Miss) Aston, Mr. Green, Mrs. Cobb, Mr. (Peter) Garrick, Miss Seward, and Dr. Taylor, seeante, ii. 462-473.

[1163]Dr. Erasmus Darwin, the physiologist and poet, grandfather of Charles Darwin. Mrs. Piozzi when at Florence wrote:—'I have no roses equal to those at Lichfield, where on one tree I recollect counting eighty-four within my own reach; it grew against the house of Dr. Darwin.' Piozzi'sJourney, i. 278.

[1164]Seeante, iii. 124, for mention of her father and brother.

[1165]The verse inMartialis:—

'Defluat, et lento splendescat turbida limo.'

In the common editions it has the number 45, and not 44. DUPPA.

[1166]Seeante, iii. 187.

[1167]Johnson wrote on Nov. 27, 1772, 'I was yesterday at Chatsworth. They complimented me with playing the fountain and opening the cascade. But I am of my friend's opinion, that when one has seen the ocean cascades are but little things.'Piozzi Letters, i.69.

[1168]'A water-work with a concealed spring, which, upon touching, spouted out streams from every bough of a willow-tree.'PiozziMS. CROKER.

[1169]A race-horse, which attracted so much of Dr. Johnson's attention, that he said, 'of all the Duke's possessions, I like Atlas best.' DUPPA.

[1170]For Johnson's last visit to Chatsworth, seeante, iv. 357, 367.

[1171]'From the Muses, Sir Thomas More bore away the first crown, Erasmus the second, and Micyllus has the third.' In the MS. Johnson has introduced [Greek: aeren] by the side of [Greek: eilen], DUPPA. 'Jacques Moltzer, en Latin Micyllus. Ce surnom lui fut donné le jour où il remplissait avec le plus grand succès le rôle de Micyllus dansLe Songede Lucien qui, arrange en drame, fut représenté au collège de Francfort. Né en 1503, mort en 1558.'Nouv. Biog. Gén.xxxv. 922.

[1172]Seeante, ii. 324, note I, and iii. 138.

[1173]Mr. Gilpin was an undergraduate at Oxford. DUPPA.

[1174]John Parker, of Brownsholme, in Lancashire [Browsholme, in Yorkshire], Esq. DUPPA.

[1175]Mrs. Piozzi 'rather thought' that this wasCapability Brown[ante, iii. 400]. CROKER.

[1176]Mr. Gell, of Hopton Hall, father of Sir William Gell, well known for his topography of Troy. DUPPA.

[1177]Seeante, iii. 160, for a visit paid by Johnson and Boswell to Kedleston in 1777.

[1178]Seeante, iii. 164.

[1179]The parish of Prestbury. DUPPA.

[1180]At this time the seat of Sir Lynch Salusbury Cotton [Mrs. Thrale's relation], now, of Lord Combermere, his grandson, from which place he takes his title. DUPPA.

[1181]Shavington Hall, in Shropshire. DUPPA.

[1182]'To guard. To adorn with lists, laces or ornamental borders. Obsolete.' Johnson'sDictionary.

[1183]Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale on Nov. 13, 1783:—'You seem to mention Lord Kilmurrey(sic)as a stranger. We were at his house in Cheshire [Shropshire].... Do not you remember how he rejoiced in havingnopark? He could not disoblige his neighbours by sending themnovenison.'Piozzi Letters,ii. 326.

[1184]This remark has reference to family conversation. Robert was the eldest son of Sir L.S. Cotton, and lived at Lleweney. DUPPA.

[1185]Paradise Lost,book xi. v. 642. DUPPA.

[1186]See Mrs. Piozzi'sSynonymy, i. 323, for an anecdote of this walk.

[1187]Lleweney Hall was the residence of Robert Cotton, Esq., Mrs. Thrale's cousin german. Here Mr. and Mrs. Thrale and Dr. Johnson staid three weeks. DUPPA. Mrs. Piozzi wrote in 1817:—'Poor old Lleweney Hall! pulled down after standing 1000 years in possession of the Salusburys.' Hayward'sPiozzi, ii. 206.

[1188]Johnson's name for Mrs. Thrale.Ante,i. 494.

[1189]Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale on Sept. 13, 1777:—'Boswell wants to see Wales; but except the woods of Bachycraigh, what is there in Wales? What that can fill the hunger of ignorance, or quench the thirst of curiosity?'Piozzi Letters,i. 367.Ante,iii. 134, note 1.

[1190]Pennant gives a description of this house, in a tour he made into North Wales in 1780:—'Not far from Dymerchion, lies half buried in woods the singular house of Bâch y Graig. It consists of a mansion of three sides, enclosing a square court. The first consists of a vast hall and parlour: the rest of it rises into six wonderful stories, including the cupola; and forms from the second floor the figure of a pyramid: the rooms are small and inconvenient. The bricks are admirable, and appear to have been made in Holland; and the model of the house was probably brought from Flanders, where this kind of building is not unfrequent. It was built by Sir Richard Clough, an eminent merchant, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The initials of his name are in iron on the front, with the date 1567, and on the gateway 1569.' DUPPA.

[1191]Bishop Shipley, whom Johnson described as'knowing and convertible' Ante,iv. 246. Johnson, in hisDictionary, says that'conversableis sometimes writtenconversible, but improperly.'

[1192]William Lloyd, Bishop of St. Asaph and afterwards of Worcester. He was one of the seven Bishops who were sent to the Tower in 1688. His character is drawn by Burnet,History of His Own Time, ed. 1818, i. 210. It was he of whom Bishop Wilkins said that 'Lloyd had the most learning in ready cash of any he ever knew.'Ante, ii. 256, note 3.

[1193]A curious account of Dodwell and 'the paradoxes after which he seemed to hunt' is given in Burnet, iv. 303. He was Camden Professor of Ancient History in the University of Oxford. 'It was about him that William III uttered those memorable words: "He has set his heart on being a martyr; and I have set mine on disappointing him."' Macaulay'sEngland, ed. 1874, iv. 226. See Hearne in Leland'sItin., 3rd ed. v. 136.

[1194]By Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, in 1579. DUPPA.

[1195]Seeante, iii. 357, and v. 42.

[1196]Perhaps Johnson wrotemere.

[1197]Humphry Llwyd was a native of Denbigh, and practised there as a physician, and also represented the town in Parliament. He died 1568, aged 41. DUPPA.

[1198]Mrs. Thrale's father. DUPPA.

[1199]Cowper wrote a few years later in the first book ofThe Task, in his description of the grounds at Weston Underwood:—

'Not distant far a length of colonnadeInvites us. Monument of ancient taste,Now scorned, but worthy of a better fate.Our fathers knew the value of a screenFrom sultry suns, and in their shaded walksAnd long-protracted bowers enjoyed at noonThe gloom and coolness of declining day.We bear our shades about us: self-deprivedOf other screen, the thin umbrella spread,And range an Indian waste without a tree.Thanks to Benevolus [A]—he spares me yetThese chestnuts ranged in corresponding lines,And though himself so polished still reprievesThe obsolete prolixity of shade.'

[1200]Such a passage as this shews that Johnson was not so insensible to nature as is often asserted. Mrs. Piozzi (Anec.p. 99) says:—'Mr. Thrale loved prospects, and was mortified that his friend could not enjoy the sight of those different dispositions of wood and water, hill and valley, that travelling through England and France affords a man. But when he wished to point them out to his companion: "Never heed such nonsense," would he reply; "a blade of grass is always a blade of grass, whether in one country or another. Let us, if wedotalk, talk about something; men and women are my subjects of enquiry; let us see how these differ from those we have left behind."' She adds (p. 265):— 'Walking in a wood when it rained was, I think, the only rural image he pleased his fancy with; "for," says he, "after one has gathered the apples in an orchard, one wishes them well baked, and removed to a London eating-house for enjoyment."' Seeante, pp. 132, note 1, 141, note 2, 333, note i, and 346, note i, for Johnson's descriptions of scenery. Passages in his letters shew that he had some enjoyment of country life. Thus he writes:—'I hope to see standing corn in some part of the earth this summer, but I shall hardly smell hay or suck clover flowers.'Piozzi Letters, ii. 140. 'What I shall do next I know not; all my schemes of rural pleasure have been some way or other disappointed.'Ib.p. 372. 'I hope Mrs. ——— when she came to her favourite place found her house dry, and her woods growing, and the breeze whistling, and the birds singing, and her own heart dancing.'Ib.p. 401. In this very trip to Wales, after describing the high bank of a river 'shaded by gradual rows of trees,' he writes:—'The gloom, the stream, and the silence generate thoughtfulness.'Post,p. 454.

[A] Mr. Throckmorton the owner.

[1201]In the MS. in Dr. Johnson's handwriting, he has first entered in his diary, 'The old Clerk had great appearance of joy at seeing his Mistress, and foolishly said that he was now willing to die:' he afterwards wrote in a separate column, on the same leaf, under the head ofnotes and omissions,'He had a crown;' and then he appears to have read over his diary at a future time, and interlined the paragraph with the words 'only'—'given him by my Mistress,' which is written in ink of a different colour. DUPPA. 'If Mr. Duppa,' wrote Mrs. Piozzi, 'does not send me a copy of Johnson'sDiary,he is as shabby as it seems our Doctor thought me, when I gave but a crown to the old clerk. The poor clerk had probably never seen a crown in his possession before. Things were very distant A.D. 1774 from what they are 1816.' Hayward'sPiozzi,ii. 178. Mrs. Piozzi writes as if Johnson's censure had been passed in 1816 and not in 1774.

[1202]Mrs. Piozzi has the following MS. note on this:—'He said I flattered the people to whose houses we went. I was saucy, and said I was obliged to be civil for two, meaning himself and me. He replied nobody would thank me for compliments they did not understand. At Gwaynynoghewas flattered, and was happy of course.' Hayward'sPiozzi,i. 75. Sept. 21, 1778.Mrs. Thrale.'I remember, Sir, when we were travelling in Wales, how you called me to account for my civility to the people. "Madam," you said, "let me have no more of this idle commendation of nothing. Why is it that whatever you see, and whoever you see, you are to be so indiscriminately lavish of praise?" "Why I'll tell you, Sir," said I, "when I am with you, and Mr. Thrale, and Queeny [Miss Thrale], I am obliged to be civil for four."' Mme. D'Arblay'sDiary,i. 132. On June 11, 1775, he wrote to Mrs. Thrale from Lichfield:—'Everybody remembers you all: you left a good impression behind you. I hope you will do the same at———. Do not make them speeches. Unusual compliments, to which there is no stated and prescriptive answer, embarrass the feeble, who know not what to say, and disgust the wise, who knowing them to be false suspect them to be hypocritical.'Piozzi Letters,i. 232. She records that he once said to her:—'You think I love flattery, and so I do, but a little too much always disgusts me. That fellow Richardson [the novelist] on the contrary could not be contented to sail quietly down the stream of reputation, without longing to taste the froth from every stroke of the oar.' Piozzi'sAnec.p. 184. Seeante, iii. 293, for Johnson's rebuke of Hannah More's flattery.

[1203]Johnson, in his Dictionary, definescalamineorlapis calaminarisasa kind of fossile bituminous earth, which being mixed with copper changes it into brass.It is native siliceous oxide of zinc.The Imperial Dictionary.

[1204]Seeante,iii. 164.

[1205]'No' or 'little' is here probably omitted. CROKER.

[1206]The name of this house is Bodryddan; formerly the residence of the Stapyltons, the parents of five co-heiresses, of whom Mrs. Cotton, afterwards Lady Salusbury Cotton, was one. DUPPA.

[1207]'Dr. Johnson, whose ideas of anything not positively large were ever mingled with contempt, asked of one of our sharp currents in North Wales, "Has thisbrooke'er a name?" and received for answer, "Why, dear Sir, this is theRiverUstrad." "Let us," said he, turning to his friend, "jump over it directly, and shew them how an Englishman should treat a Welsh river."' Piozzi'sSynonymy,i. 82.

[1208]Seeante, i. 313, note 4.

[1209]On Aug. 16 he wrote to Mr. Levett:—'I have made nothing of the Ipecacuanha.'Ante, ii. 282. Mr. Croker suggests thatupis omitted after 'I gave.'

[1210]Seepost, p. 453.

[1211]F.G. are the printer's signatures, by which it appears that at this time four sheets (B, C, D, E), or 64 pages had already been printed. The MS. was 'put to the press' on June 20.Ante, ii. 278.

[1212]The English version Psalm 36 begins,—'My heart sheweth me the wickedness of the ungodly,' which has no relation to 'Dixit injustus.'

[1213]This alludes to 'A prayer by R.W., (evidently Robert Wisedom) which Sir Henry Ellis, of the British Museum, has found among the Hymns which follow the old version of the singing Psalms, at the end of Barker'sBibleof 1639. It begins,

'Preserve us, Lord, by thy deare word,From Turk and Pope, defend us Lord,Which both would thrust out of his throneOur Lord Jesus Christ, thy deare son.'CROKER.

[1214]'Proinde quum dominus Matth. 6 docet discipulos suos ne in orando multiloqui sint, nihil aliud docet quam ne credant deum inani verborum strepitu flecti rem eandem subinde flagitantium. Nam Graecis est [Greek: battologaesate]. [Greek: Battologein] autem illis dicitur qui voces easdem frequenter iterant sine causa, vel loquacitatis, vel naturae, vel consuetudinis vitio. Alioqui juxta precepta rhetorum nonnunquam laudis est iterare verba, quemadmodum et Christus in cruce clamitat. Deus meus, deus meus: non erat illa [Greek: battologia], sed ardens ac vehemens affectus orantis.' Erasmus'sWorks, ed. 1540, v. 927.

[1215]This alludes to Southwell's stanzas 'Upon the Image of Death,' in hisMaeonia, [Maeoniae] a collection of spiritual poems:—

'Before my face the picture hangs,That daily should put me in mindOf those cold names and bitter pangsThat shortly I am like to find:But, yet, alas! full little IDo thinke hereon that I must die.' &c.

Robert Southwell was an English Jesuit, who was imprisoned, tortured, and finally, in Feb. 1598[1595]executed for teaching the Roman Catholic tenets in England. CROKER.

[1216]This work, which Johnson was now reading, was, most probably, a little book, entitledBaudi Epistolae. In hisLife of Milton[Works, vii. 115], he has made a quotation from it. DUPPA.

[1217]Bishop Shipley had been an Army Chaplain.Ante, iii. 251.

[1218]The title of the poem is [Greek: Poiaema nouthetikon]. DUPPA.

[1219]This entry refers to the following passage in Leland'sItinerary, published by Thomas Hearne, ed. 1744, iv. 112. 'B.Smithin K.H.7. dayes, and last Bishop ofLincolne, beganne a new Foundation at this place settinge up a Mr. there with 2. Preistes, and 10. poore Men in an Hospitall. He sett there alsoe a Schoole-Mr. to teach Grammer that hath 10.l. by the yeare, and an Under-Schoole-Mr. that hath 5.l. by the yeare. King H.7. was a great Benefactour to this new Foundation, and gave to it an ould Hospitall called Denhall in Wirhall in Cheshire.'

[1220]A Journey to Meqwinez, the Residence of the present Emperor of Fez and Morocco, on the Occasion of Commodore Stewart's Embassy thither, for the Redemption of the British captives, in the Year 1721. DUPPA.

[1221]TheBibliotheca Literariawas published in London, 1722-4, in 4to numbers, but only extended to ten numbers. DUPPA.

[1222]By this expression it would seem, that on this day Johnson ate sparingly. DUPPA.

[1223]'A weakness of the knees, not without some pain in walking, which I feel increased after I have dined.' DUPPA.

[1224]Penmaen Mawr is a huge rock, rising nearly 1550 feet perpendicular above the sea. Along a shelf of this precipice, is formed an excellent road, well guarded, toward the sea, by a strong wall, supported in many parts by arches turned underneath it. Before this wall was built, travellers sometimes fell down the precipices. DUPPA.

[1225]Seepost, p. 453.

[1226]'Johnson said that one of the castles in Wales would contain all the castles that he had seen in Scotland.'Ante, ii. 285.

[1227]This gentleman was a lieutenant in the Navy. DUPPA.

[1228]Lady Catharine Percival, daughter of the second Earl of Egmont: this was, it appears, the lady of whom Mrs. Piozzi relates, that 'For a lady of quality, since dead, who received us at her husband's seat in Wales with less attention than he had long been accustomed to, he had a rougher denunciation:—"That woman," cried Johnson, "is like sour small beer, the beverage of her table, and produce of the wretched country she lives in: like that, she could never have been a good thing, and even that bad thing is spoiled."' [Anec. p. 171.] And it is probably of her, too, that another anecdote is told:—'We had been visiting at a lady's house, whom, as we returned, some of the company ridiculed for her ignorance:—"She is not ignorant," said he, "I believe, of any thing she has been taught, or of any thing she is desirous to know; and I suppose if one wanted a littlerun tea, she might be a proper person enough to apply to.'" [Ib. p. 219.] Mrs. Piozzi says, in her MS. letters, 'that Lady Catharine comes off well in thediary. Hesaidmany severe things of her, which he did not commit to paper.' She died in 1782. CROKER.

[1229]Johnson described in 1762 his disappointment on his return to Lichfield.Ante, i. 370.

[1230]'It was impossible not to laugh at the patience Doctor Johnson shewed, when a Welsh parson of mean abilities, though a good heart, struck with reverence at the sight of Dr. Johnson, whom he had heard of as the greatest man living, could not find any words to answer his inquiries concerning a motto round somebody's arms which adorned a tomb-stone in Ruabon church-yard. If I remember right, the words were,

Back to Index Next