Chapter XX: Part 20

[547] Johnson wrote far otherwise of the indulgence shown to Edmund Smith, the poet. 'The indecency and licentiousness of his behaviour drew upon him, Dec. 24, 1694, while he was yet only bachelor, a publick admonition, entered upon record, in order to his expulsion. Of this reproof the effect is not known. He was probably less notorious. At Oxford, as we all know, much will be forgiven to literary merit.... Of his lampoon upon Dean Aldrich, [Smith was a Christ-Church man], I once heard a single line too gross to be repeated. But he was still a genius and a scholar, and Oxford was unwilling to lose him; he was endured with all his pranks and his vices two years longer; but on Dec. 20, 1705, at the instance of all the Canons, the sentence declared five years before was put in execution. The execution was, I believe, silent and tender.' _Works_, vii. 373-4.

[548] See post, p. 193, note i.

[549] 'Our bottle-conversation,' wrote Addison, 'is infected with party-lying.' _The Spectator_, No. 507.

[550] Mrs. Piozzi, in her _Anecdotes_, p. 261, has given an erroneous account of this incident, as of many others. She pretends to relate it from recollection, as if she herself had been present; when the fact is that it was communicated to her by me. She has represented it as a personality, and the true point has escaped her. BOSWELL. She tells the story against Boswell. 'I fancy Mr. B---- has not forgotten,' she writes.

[551] See post, April 11, 1776.

[552] Johnson, in his Dictionary, defines _manufacturer_ as a _workman; an artificer_.

[553] Johnson had no fear of popular education. In his attack on Jenyns's _Enquiry_ (ante, i. 315), he wrote (_Works_, vi. 56):--'Though it should be granted that those who are _born to poverty and drudgery_ should not be _deprived_ by an _improper education_ of the _opiate_ of _ignorance_, even this concession will not be of much use to direct our practice, unless it be determined, who are those that are _born to poverty_. To entail irreversible poverty upon generation after generation, only because the ancestor happened to be poor, is in itself cruel, if not unjust.... I am always afraid of determining on the side of envy or cruelty. The privileges of education may sometimes be improperly bestowed, but I shall always fear to withhold them, lest I should be yielding to the suggestions of pride, while I persuade myself that I am following the maxims of policy.' In _The Idler_, No. 26, he attacked those who 'hold it little less than criminal to teach poor girls to read and write,' and who say that 'they who are born to poverty are born to ignorance, and will work the harder the less they know.'

[554] Tacitus's Agricola, ch. xii, was no doubt quoted in reference to the shortness of the northern winter day.

[555] It is remarkable, that Lord Monboddo, whom, on account of his resembling Dr. Johnson in some particulars, Foote called an Elzevir edition of him, has, by coincidence, made the very same remark. _Origin and Progress of Language_, vol. iii. 2nd ed. p. 219. BOSWELL. See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 21, note.

[556] On Saturday night Johnson recorded:--'I resolved last Easter to read within the year the whole Bible, a very great part of which I had never looked upon. I read the Greek Testament without construing, and this day concluded the Apocalypse.... Easter Day. After twelve at night. The day is now begun on which I hope to begin a new course, [Greek: hosper aph husplaeggon], [as if from the starting-place.]

My hopes are from this time-- To rise early, To waste less time, To appropriate something to charity.'

A week later he recorded:--'It is a comfort to me that at last, in my sixty-third year, I have attained to know even thus hastily, confusedly, and imperfectly, what my Bible contains. I have never yet read the Apocrypha. I have sometimes looked into the Maccabees, and read a chapter containing the question, _Which is the strongest?_ I think, in Esdras' [I Esdras, ch. iii. v. 10]. _Pr. and Med_. pp. 112-118.

[557] _Pr. and Med_. p. iii. BOSWELL.

[558] 'Perfect through sufferings.' _Hebrews_, ii. 10.

[559] 'I was always so incapable of learning mathematics,' wrote Horace Walpole (_Letters_, ix. 467), 'that I could not even get by heart the multiplication table, as blind Professor Sanderson honestly told me, above three-score years ago, when I went to his lectures at Cambridge. After the first fortnight he said to me, "Young man, it would be cheating you to take your money; for you never can learn what I am trying to teach you." I was exceedingly mortified, and cried; for, being a Prime Minister's son, I had firmly believed all the flattery with which I had been assured that my parts were capable of anything.'

[560] Reynolds said:--'Out of the great number of critics in this metropolis who all pretend to knowledge in pictures, the greater part must be mere pretenders only. Taste does not come by chance; it is a long and laborious task to acquire it.' Northcote's _Reynolds_, i. 264.

[561] 'Jemmy Boswell,' wrote John Scott (afterwards Lord Eldon), 'called upon me, desiring to know what would be my definition of taste. I told him I must decline defining it, because I knew he would publish it. He continued his importunities in frequent calls, and in one complained much that I would not give him it, as he had that morning got Henry Dundas's, Sir A. Macdonald's, and J. Anstruther's definitions. "Well, then," I said, "Boswell, we must have an end of this. Taste, according to my definition, is the judgment which Dundas, Macdonald, Anstruther, and you manifested when you determined to quit Scotland and to come into the south. You may publish this if you please."' Twiss's _Eldon_, i. 303. See _post_, April 10, 1778, note for Lord Eldon.

[562] Johnson (_Works_, viii. 220) says that 'Swift's delight was in simplicity. That he has in his works no metaphor, as has been said, is not true; but his few metaphors seem to be received rather by necessity than choice. He studied purity.... His style was well suited to his thoughts.... He pays no court to the passions; he excites neither surprise nor admiration; he always understands himself, and his reader always understands him; the peruser of Swift wants little previous knowledge; it will be sufficient that he is acquainted with common words and common things; ... [his style] instructs, but it does not persuade.' Hume describes Swift's style as one which he 'can approve, but surely can never admire. It has no harmony, no eloquence, no ornament, and not much correctness, whatever the English may imagine.' J. H. Burton's _Hume_, ii. 413.

[563] Johnson's Works, v. 146.

[564] Dr. Warton wrote on Jan. 22, 1766:--'Garrick is entirely off from Johnson, and cannot, he says, forgive him his insinuating that he withheld his old editions, which always were open to him; nor, I suppose, his never mentioning him in all his works.' Wooll's _Warton_, p. 313. Beauclerk wrote to Lord Charlemont in 1773:--'If you do not come here, I will bring all the club over to Ireland to live with you, and that will drive you here in your own defence, Johnson _shall spoil your books_, Goldsmith pull your flowers, and Boswell talk to you: stay then if you can.' Charlemont's _Life_, i. 347. Yet Garrick had lent Johnson some books, for Johnson wrote to him on Oct. 10, 1766:--'I return you thanks for the present of the _Dictionary_, and will take care to return you [qu. your] other books.' _Garrick Corres_, i. 245. Steevens, who had edited Johnson's _Shakespeare_, wrote to Garrick:--'I have taken the liberty to introduce your name, because _I have found_ no reason to say that the possessors of the old quartos were not sufficiently communicative.' _Ib_ p. 501. Mme. D'Arblay describes how 'Garrick, giving a thundering stamp on some mark on the carpet that struck his eye--not with passion or displeasure, but merely as if from singularity--took off Dr. Johnson's voice in a short dialogue with himself that had passed the preceding week. "David! Will you lend me your _Petrarca_?" "Y-e-s, Sir!" "David! you sigh?" "Sir--you shall have it certainly." "Accordingly," Mr. Garrick continued, "the book, stupendously bound, I sent to him that very evening. But scarcely had he taken it in his hands, when, as Boswell tells me, he poured forth a Greek ejaculation and a couplet or two from Horace, and then in one of those fits of enthusiasm which always seem to require that he should spread his arms aloft, he suddenly pounces my poor _Petrarca_ over his head upon the floor. And then, standing for several minutes lost in abstraction, he forgot probably that he had ever seen it."' Dr. Burney's _Memoirs_, i. 352. See _post_, under Aug. 12, 1784.

[565] The gentleman most likely is Boswell (_ante_, ii. 14, note 1). I suspect that this anecdote belongs to _ante_, April 14, when 'Johnson was not in the most genial humour.' Boswell, while showing that Mrs. Piozzi misrepresented an incident of that evening 'as a personality,' would be afraid of weakening his case by letting it be seen that Johnson on that occasion was very personal. Since writing this I have noticed that Dr. T. Campbell records in his _Diary_, p. 53, that on April 1, 1775, he was dining at Mr. Thrale's with Boswell, when many of Johnson's 'bon-mots were retailed. Boswell arguing in favour of a cheerful glass, adduced the maxim _in vino veritas_. "Well," says Johnson, "and what then, unless a man has lived a lie." Boswell then urged that it made a man forget all his cares. "That to be sure," says Johnson, "might be of use, if a man sat by such a person as you."' Campbell's account confirms what Boswell asserts (_ante_, ii. 188) that Mrs. Piozzi had the anecdote from him.

[566] No. 150. The quotation is from Francis Osborne's _Advice to a Son_. Swift, in _The Tatler_, No. 230, ranks Osborne with some other authors, who 'being men of the Court, and affecting the phrases then in fashion, are often either not to be understood, or appear perfectly ridiculous.'

[567] See post, May 13, 1778, and June 30, 1784.

[568] Mrs. Piozzi, to whom I told this anecdote, has related it, as if the gentleman had given 'the _natural history of the mouse_.' _Anec_. p. 191. BOSWELL. The gentleman was very likely Dr. Vansittart, who is mentioned just before. (See _ante_, i. 348, note 1.) Mrs. Thrale, in 1773, wrote to Johnson of 'the man that saw the mouse.' Piozzi _Letters_, i. 186. From Johnson's answer (_ib_. p. 197) it seems that she meant Vansittart. Mr. Croker says 'this proves that Johnson himself sanctioned Mrs. Piozzi's version of the story--_mouse versus flea_.' Mr. Croker has an odd notion of what constitutes both a proof and a sanction.

[569] Lord Shelburne says that 'William Murray [Lord Mansfield] was sixteen years of age when he came out of Scotland, and spoke such broad Scotch that he stands entered in the University books at Oxford as born as Bath, the Vice-Chancellor mistaking _Bath for Perth_.' Fitzmaurice's _Shelburne_, i. 87.

[570] The asterisks seem to show that Beattie and Robertson are meant. This is rendered more probable from the fact that the last paragraph is about Scotchmen.

[571] See _ante_, ii. 51.

[572] Boswell's friend was very likely his brother David, who had long resided in Valencia. In that case, Johnson came round to Boswell's opinion, for he wrote, 'he will find Scotland but a sorry place after twelve years' residence in a happier climate;' _post_, April 29, 1780.

[573] See _ante_, i.443, note 2.

[574] Wilson against Smith and Armour. BOSWELL.

[575] Lord Kames, in his _Historical Law Tracts_. BOSWELL.

[576] 'Covin. A deceitful agreement between two or more to the hurt of another.' Johnson's _Dictionary_.

[577] Lord Kames (_Sketches of the History of Man_, iv. 168) says:--'The undisciplined manners of our forefathers in Scotland made a law necessary, that whoever intermeddled irregularly with the goods of a deceased person should be subjected to pay all his debts, however extensive. A due submission to legal authority has in effect abrogated that severe law, and it is now [1774] scarce ever heard of.' Scott introduces Lord Kames in _Redgauntlet_, at the end of chap. I of the _Narrative_:--'"What's the matter with the auld bitch next?" said an acute metaphysical judge, though somewhat coarse in his manners, aside to his brethren.' In Boswell's poem _The Court of Session Garland_, where the Scotch judges each give judgment, we read:--

'Alemore the judgment as illegal blames, "Tis equity, you bitch," replies my Lord Kames.'

Chambers's _Traditions of Edinburgh_, ii. 161. Mr. Chambers adds (p. 171) that when Kames retired from the Bench, 'after addressing his brethren in a solemn speech, in going out at the door of the court room, he turned about, and casting them a last look, cried, in his usual familiar tone, "Fare ye a' weel, ye bitches."'

[578] At this time there were no civil juries in Scotland. 'But this was made up for, to a certain extent, by the Supreme Court, consisting of no fewer than fifteen judges; who formed a sort of judicial jury, and were dealt with as such. The great mass of the business was carried on by writing.' Cockbarn's _Jeffery_, i. 87. See _post_, Jan. 19, 1775, note.

[579] In like manner, he had discovered the _Life of Cheynel_ to be Johnson's. Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 17, 1774.

[580] The _Essay on Truth_, published in May, 1770. Beattie wrote on Sept. 30, 1772:--'The fourth edition of my _Essay_ is now in the press.' Forbes's _Beattie_, ed. 1824, p. 134. Three translations--French, Dutch, and German--had, it seems, already appeared. _Ib_ p. 121. 'Mr. Johnson made Goldsmith a comical answer one day, when seeming to repine at the success of Beattie's _Essay on Truth_. "Here's such a stir," said he, "about a fellow that has written one book, and I have written many." "Ah, Doctor," says he, "there go two and forty sixpences you know to one guinea."' Piozzi's _Anec_. p. 179. See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct 1, 1773.

[581] See _ante_, ii. 144, 183.

[582] On the same day he wrote to Dr. Taylor:--'Your uneasiness at the misfortunes of your relations, I comprehend perhaps too well. It was an irresistible obtrusion of a disagreeable image, which you always wished away, but could not dismiss, an incessant persecution of a troublesome thought, neither to be pacified nor ejected. Such has of late been the state of my own mind. I had formerly great command of my attention, and what I did not like could forbear to think on. But of this power, which is of the highest importance to the tranquillity of life, I have been so much exhausted, that I do not go into a company towards night, in which i foresee anything disagreeable, nor enquire after anything to which I am not indifferent, lest something, which I know to be nothing, should fasten upon my imagination, and hinder me from sleep.' _Notes and Queries_, 6th S., v. 383. On Oct. 6 he wrote to Dr. Taylor:--'I am now within a few hours of being able to send the whole _Dictionary_ to the press [_ante_, ii. 155], and though I often went sluggishly to the work, I am not much delighted at the completion. My purpose is to come down to Lichfield next week.' _Ib_ p. 422. He stayed some weeks there and in Ashbourne. _Piozzi Letters_, i. 55-70.

[583] See _ante_, ii. 141, note 3.

[584] 'While of myself I yet may think, while breath my body sways.' Morris's Aeneids, iv. 336.

[585] It should seem that this dictionary work was not unpleasant to Johnson; for Stockdale records (_Memoirs_, ii. 179) that about 1774, having told him that he had declined to edit a new edition of Chambers's _Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences_, 'Johnson replied that if I would not undertake, he would. I expressed my astonishment that, in his easy circumstances, he should think of preparing a new edition of a tedious, scientific dictionary. "Sir," said he, "I like that muddling work." He allowed some time to go by, during which another editor was found--Dr. Rees. Immediately after this intelligence he called on me, and his first words were:--"It is gone, Sir."'

[586] He, however, wrote, or partly wrote, an Epitaph on Mrs. Bell, wife of his friend John Bell, Esq., brother of the Reverend Dr. Bell, Prebendary of Westminster, which is printed in his _Works_ [i. 151]. It is in English prose, and has so little of his manner, that I did not believe he had any hand in it, till I was satisfied of the fact by the authority of Mr. Bell. BOSWELL. 'The epitaph is to be seen in the parish church of Watford.' Hawkins's _Johnson_, p. 471.

[587] See _ante_, i. 187. Mme. D'Arblay (_Memoirs of Dr. Burney_, i. 271) says that this year Goldsmith projected a _Dictionary of Arts and Sciences_, in which Johnson was to take the department of ethics, and that Dr. Burney finished the article _Musician_. The scheme came to nothing.

[588] We may doubt Steevens's taste. Garrick 'produced _Hamlet_ with alterations, rescuing,' as he said, 'that noble play from all the rubbish of the fifth act' (_ante_, ii. 85, note 7.) Steevens wrote to Garrick:--'I expect great pleasure from the perusal of your altered _Hamlet_. It is a circumstance in favour of the poet which I have long been wishing for. You had better throw what remains of the piece into a farce, to appear immediately afterwards. No foreigner who should happen to be present at the exhibition, would ever believe it was formed out of the loppings and excrescences of the tragedy itself. You may entitle it _The Grave-Diggers; with the pleasant Humours of Osric, the Danish Macaroni_.' _Garrick Corres_. i. 451.

[589] A line of an epigram in the _Life of Virgil_, ascribed to Donatus.

[590] Given by a lady at Edinburgh. BOSWELL.

[591] There had been masquerades in Scotland; but not for a very long time. BOSWELL. 'Johnson,' as Mr. Croker observes, 'had no doubt seen an account of the masquerade in the _Gent. Mag_. for January,' p. 43. It is stated there that 'it was the first masquerade ever seen in Scotland.' Boswell appeared as a dumb Conjurer.

[592] Mrs. Thrale recorded in 1776, after her quarrel with Baretti:--'I had occasion to talk of him with Tom Davies, who spoke with horror of his ferocious temper; "and yet," says I, "there is great sensibility about Baretti. I have seen tears often stand in his eyes." "Indeed," replies Davies, "I should like to have seen that sight vastly, when--even butchers weep."' Hayward's _Piozzi_, ii. 340. Davies said of Goldsmith:--'He least of all mankind approved Baretti's conversation; he considered him as an insolent, overbearing foreigner.' Davies, in the same passage, speaks of Baretti as 'this unhappy Italian.' Davies's _Garrick_, ii. 168. As this was published in Baretti's life-time, the man could scarcely have been so ferocious as he was described.

[593] 'There were but a few days left before the comedy was to be acted, and no name had been found for it. "We are all in labour," says Johnson, whose labour of kindness had been untiring throughout, "for a name to Goldy's play." [See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 14, 1773.] What now stands as the second title, _The Mistakes of a Night_, was originally the only one; but it was thought undignified for a comedy. _The Old House a New Inn_ was suggested in place of it, but dismissed as awkward. Sir Joshua offered a much better name to Goldsmith, saying, "You ought to call it _The Belle's Stratagem_, and if you do not I will damn it." When Goldsmith, in whose ear perhaps a line of Dryden's lingered, hit upon _She Stoops to Conquer_.' Forster's _Goldsmith_, ii. 337, and Northcote's _Reynolds_, i. 285. Mr. Forster quotes the line of Dryden as

'But kneels to conquer, and but stoops to rise.'

In Lord Chesterfield's _Letters_, iii. 131, the line is given,

'But stoops to conquer, and but kneels to rise.'

[594] This gentleman, who now resides in America in a publick character of considerable dignity, desired that his name might not be transcribed at full length. BOSWELL.

[595] Now Doctor White, and Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Pennsylvania. During his first visit to England in 1771, as a candidate for holy orders, he was several times in company with Dr. Johnson, who expressed a wish to see the edition of his _Rasselas_, which Dr. White told him had been printed in America. Dr. White, on his return, immediately sent him a copy. BOSWELL.

[596] Horace. _Odes_, iii. I. 34.

[597] See _post_, Oct. 12, 1779.

[598] Malone had the following from Baretti: 'Baretti made a translation of _Rasselas_ into French. He never, however, could satisfy himself with the translation of the first sentence, which is uncommonly lofty. Mentioning this to Johnson, the latter said, after thinking two or three minutes, "Well, take up the pen, and if you can understand my pronunciation, I will see what I can do." He then dictated the sentence to the translator, which proved admirable, and was immediately adopted.' Prior's _Malone_, p. 161. Baretti, in a MS. note on his copy of _Piozzi Letters_, i. 225, says:--'Johnson never wrote to me French, but when he translated for me the first paragraph of his _Rasselas_.' That Johnson's French was faulty, is shown by his letters in that language. _Ante_, ii. 82, and _post_, under Nov. 12, 1775.

[599] It has been translated into Bengalee, Hungarian, Polish, Modern Greek, and Spanish, besides the languages mentioned by Johnson. Dr. J. Macaulay's _Bibliography of Rasselas_. It reached its fifth edition by 1761. _A Bookseller of the Last Century_, p. 243. In the same book (p. 19) it is mentioned that 'a sixteenth share in _The Rambler_ was sold for AL22 2s. 6d.'

[600] A motion in the House of Commons for a committee to consider of the subscription to the Thirty nine Articles had, on Feb. 23 of this year, been rejected by 159 to 67. _Parl. Hist_. xvii. 742-758. A bill for the relief of Protestant Dissenters that passed the House of Commons by 65 to 14 on March 25, was rejected in the House of Lords by 86 to 28 on April 2. _Ib_ p. 790.

[601] See _post_, April 25, 1778, where Johnson says that 'Colman [the manager] was prevailed on at last by much solicitation, nay, a kind of force, to bring it on.' Mr. Forster (_Life of Goldsmith_, ii. 334-6) writes:--'The actors and actresses had taken their tone from the manager. Gentleman Smith threw up Voting Marlow; Woodward refused Tony Lumpkin; Mrs. Abington declined Miss Hardcastle [in _The AthenA|um_, No. 3041, it is pointed out that Mrs. Abington was not one of Colman's Company]; and, in the teeth of his own misgivings, Colman could not contest with theirs. He would not suffer a new scene to be painted for the play, he refused to furnish even a new dress, and was careful to spread his forebodings as widely as he could.' The play met with the greatest success. 'There was a new play by Dr. Goldsmith last night, which succeeded prodigiously,' wrote Horace Valpole (_Letters_, v. 452). The laugh was turned against the doubting manager. Ten days after the play had been brought out, Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale:--'C----[Colman] is so distressed with abuse about his play, that he has solicited Goldsmith to _take him off the rack of the newspapers_.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 80. See _post_, just before June 22, 1784, for Mr. Steevens's account.

[602] It was anything but an apology, unless _apology_ is used in its old meaning of _defence_.

[603] Nine days after _She Stoops to Conquer_ was brought out, a vile libel, written, it is believed, by Kenrick (_ante_ i. 297), was published by Evans in _The London Packet_. The libeller dragged in one of the Miss Hornecks, 'the Jessamy Bride' of Goldsmith's verse. Goldsmith, believing Evans had written the libel, struck him with his cane. The blow was returned, for Evans was a strong man. 'He indicted Goldsmith for the assault, but consented to a compromise on his paying fifty pounds to a Welsh charity. The papers abused the poet, and steadily turned aside from the real point in issue. At last he stated it himself, in an _Address to the Public_, in the _Daily Advertiser_ of March 31.' Forster's _Goldsmith_, ii. 347-351. The libel is given in Goldsmith's _Misc. Works_ (1801), i. 103.

[604] '_Your_ paper,' I suppose, because the _Chronicle_ was taken in at Bolt Court. _Ante_, ii. 103.

[605] See Forster's _Goldsmith_, i. 265, for a possible explanation of this sarcasm.

[606] Horace Walpole is violent against Dalrymple and the King. 'What must,' he says, 'be the designs of this reign when George III. encourages a Jacobite wretch to hunt in France for materials for blackening the heroes who withstood the enemies of Protestantism and liberty.' _Journal of the Reign of George III_, i. 286.

[607] Mr. Hallam pointed out to Mr. Croker that Johnson was speaking of Dalrymple's description of the parting of Lord and Lady Russell:--'With a deep and noble silence; with a long and fixed look, in which respect and affection unmingled with passion were expressed, Lord and Lady Russell parted for ever--he great in this last act of his life, but she greater.' Dalrymple's _Memoirs_, i. 31. See _post_, April 30, 1773, for the foppery of Dalrymple; and Boswell's _Hebrides_, near the end, for Johnson's imitation of Dalrymple's style.

[608] See _ante_, i. 334.

[609] See _ante_, ii. 170.

[610] Horace Walpole says:--'It was not Chesterfield's fault if he had not wit; nothing exceeded his efforts in that point; and though they were far from producing the wit, they at least amply yielded the applause he aimed at.' _Memoirs of the Reign of George II_, i. 51.

[611] A curious account of Tyrawley is given in Walpole's _Reign of George II_, iii. 108. He had been Ambassador at Lisbon, and he 'even affected not to know where the House of Commons was.' Walpole says (_Letters_, i. 215, note) that 'Pope has mentioned his and another ambassador's seraglios in one of his _Imitations of Horace_.' He refers to the lines in the _Imitations_, i. 6. 120:--

'Go live with Chartres, in each vice outdo K----l's lewd cargo, or Ty----y's crew.'

Kinnoul and Tyrawley, says Walpole, are meant.

[612] According to Chalmers, who himself has performed this task, Dr. Percy was the first of these gentlemen, and Dr. John Calder the second. CROKER.

[613] Sir Andrew Freeport, after giving money to some importunate beggars, says:--'I ought to give to an hospital of invalids, to recover as many useful subjects as I can, but I shall bestow none of my bounties upon an almshouse of idle people; and for the same reason I should not think it a reproach to me if I had withheld my charity from those common beggars.' _The Spectator_, No. 232. This paper is not by Addison. In No. 549, which is by Addison, Sir Andrew is made to found 'an almshouse for a dozen superannuated husbandmen.' I have before (ii. 119) contrasted the opinions of Johnson and Fielding as to almsgiving. A more curious contrast is afforded by the following passage in _Tom Jones_, book i. chap. iii:--'I have told my reader that Mr. Allworthy inherited a large fortune, that he had a good heart, and no family. Hence, doubtless, it will be concluded by many that he lived like an honest man, owed no one a shilling, took nothing but what was his own, kept a good house, entertained his neighbours with a hearty welcome at his table, and was charitable to the poor, i.e. to those who had rather beg than work, by giving them the offals from it; that he died immensely rich, and built an hospital.'

[614] Boswell says (_Hebrides_, Aug. 26, 1773):--'His recitation was grand and affecting, and, as Sir Joshua Reynolds has observed to me, had no more tone than it should have.' Mrs. Piozzi (_Anec_. p. 302) writes:--'His manner of repeating deserves to be described, though at the same time it defeats all power of description; but whoever once heard him repeat an ode of Horace would be long before they could endure to hear it repeated by another.' See _ante_, ii. 92, note 4.

[615] 'Some of the old legendary stories put in verse by modern writers provoked him to caricature them thus one day at Streatham:--

"The tender infant, meek and mild, Fell down upon the stone; The nurse took up the squealing child, But still the child squeal'd on."

'A famous ballad also beginning--_Rio verde, Rio verde_, when I commended the translation of it, he said he could do it better himself, as thus:--

"Glassy water, glassy water, Down whose current clear and strong, Chiefs confused in mutual slaughter, Moor and Christian roll along."

"But, Sir," said I, "this is not ridiculous at all." "Why no," replied he, "why should I always write ridiculously?"' Piozzi's _Anec_. p. 65. See _ante_, ii. 136, note 4. Neither Boswell nor Mrs. Piozzi mentions Percy by name as the subject of Johnson's ridicule.

[616] See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 4, 1773.

[617] Rogers (_Table-Talk_, p. 88) said that 'Fox considered Burnet's style to be perfect.'

[618] Johnson (_Works_, vii. 96) quotes; 'Dalrymple's observation, who says "that whenever Burnet's narrations are examined, he appears to be mistaken."' Lord Bolingbroke (_Works_, iv. 151) wrote of party pamphlets and histories:--'Read them with suspicion, for they deserve to be suspected; pay no regard to the epithets given, nor to the judgments passed; neglect all declamation, weigh the reasoning, and advert to fact. With such precautions, even Burnet's history may be of some use.' Horace Walpole, noticing an attack on Burnet, says (_Letters_, vi. 487):--'It shows his enemies are not angry at his telling falsehoods, but the truth ... I will tell you what was said of his _History_ by one whose testimony you yourself will not dispute. That confessor said, "Damn him, he has told a great deal of truth, but where the devil did he learn it?" This was St. Atterbury's testimony.'

[619] The cross-buns were for Boswell and Levet. Johnson recorded (_Pr. and Med_. p. 121):--'On this whole day I took nothing of nourishment but one cup of tea without milk; but the fast was very inconvenient. Towards night I grew fretful and impatient, unable to fix my mind or govern my thoughts.'

[620] It is curious to compare with this Johnson's own record:--'I found the service not burdensome nor tedious, though I could not hear the lessons. I hope in time to take pleasure in public works.' _Pr. and Med_. p. 121.

[621] In the original _in_.

[622] Afterwards Charles I. BOSWELL.

[623] See _ante_, ii. 47.

[624] See _post_, April 9, 1778, where Johnson said:-'Goldsmith had no settled notions upon any subject; so he talked always at random.'

[625] The next day Johnson recorded:--'I have had some nights of that quiet and continual sleep which I had wanted till I had almost forgotten it.' _Pemb. Coll. MSS_.

[626] See _ante_, ii. 11.

[627] We have the following account of Johnson's kitchen in 1778: 'Mr. Thale.--"And pray who is clerk of your kitchen, Sir?" Dr. J.--"Why, Sir, I am afraid there is none; a general anarchy prevails in my kitchen, as I am told Mr. Levet, who says it is not now what it used to be." Mr. T.--"But how do you get your dinners drest?" Dr. J.--"Why, Desmouline has the chief management, for we have no jack." Mr. T.--"No jack? Why, how do they manage without?" Dr. J.--"Small joints, I believe, they manage with a string, and larger one done at the tavern. I have some thoughts (with a profound gravity) of buying a jack, because I think a jack is some credit to a house." Mr. T.--"Well, but you'll have a spit too?" Dr. J.--"No Sir, no; that would be superfluous; for we shall never use it; if a jack is seen, a spit will be presumed."' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, i. 115.

[628] See _ante_, i. 418.

[629] See _ante_, i. 252.

[630] 'By inscribing this slight performance to you, I do not mean so much to compliment you as myself. It may do me some honour to inform the publick, that I have lived many years in intimacy with you. It may serve the interests of mankind also to inform them, that the greatest wit may be found in a character, without impairing the most unaffected piety.' BOSWELL.

[631] See an account of this learned and respectable gentleman, and of his curious work in the _Middle State, Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides_, 3rd edition. p. 371. [Oct. 25.] BOSWELL. See _post_, June 9, 1784.

[632] See _ante_, i. 225, for Boswell's project works, and i. 211.

[633] 'When the efficiency [of men and women] is equal, but the pay unequal, the only explanation that can be given is custom.' J. S. Mill's _Political Economy_, Book ii. ch. xiv. 5.

[634] The day before he told Boswell this he had recorded:--'My general resolution, to which I humbly implore the help of God, is to methodise my life, to resist sloth. I hope from this time to keep a journal.' _Pr. and Med_. p. 124. Four times more he recorded the same resolution to keep a journal. See _ante_, i. 433, and _post_, Apr. 14,1775.

[635] See _post_, March 30, 1778, where Johnson says:--'A man loves to review his own mind. That is the use of a diary or journal.'

[636] 'He who has not made the experiment, or who is not accustomed to require rigorous accuracy from himself, will scarcely believe how much a few hours take from certainty of knowledge and distinctness of imagery ... To this dilatory notation must be imputed the false relations of travellers, where there is no imaginable motive to deceive. They trusted to memory what cannot be trusted safely but to the eye, and told by guess what a few hours before they had known with certainty.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 144.

[637] Goldsmith, in his dedication to Reynolds of the _Deserted Village_, refers no doubt to Johnson's opinion of luxury. He writes:--'I know you will object (and indeed _several of our best and wisest friends_ concur in the opinion) that the depopulation it deplores is nowhere to be seen, and the disorders it laments are only to be found in the poet's own imagination.... In regretting the depopulation of the country I inveigh against the increase of our luxuries; and here also I expect the shout of modern politicians against me. For twenty or thirty years past it has been the fashion to consider luxury as one of the greatest national advantages.' See _post_, April 15, 1778.

[638] Johnson, in his _Parl. Debates_ (_Works_, x. 418), makes General Handasyd say:--'The whole pay of a foot soldier is sixpence a day, of which he is to pay fourpence to his landlord for his diet, or, what is very nearly the same, to carry fourpence daily to the market ... Twopence a day is all that a soldier had to lay out upon cleanliness and decency, and with which he is likewise to keep his arms in order, and to supply himself with some part of his clothing. If, Sir, after these deductions he can, from twopence a day, procure himself the means of enjoying a few happy moments in the year with his companions over a cup of ale, is not his economy much more to be envied than his luxury?'

[639] The humours of Ballamagairy. BOSWELL.

[640]

'Ah me! when shall I marry me? Lovers are plenty; but fail to relieve me. He, fond youth, that could carry me, Offers to love, but means to deceive me. But I will rally and combat the ruiner: Not a look, nor a smile shall my passion discover; She that gives all to the false one pursuing her, Makes but a penitent and loses a lover.'

Boswell, in a letter published in Goldsmith's _Misc. Works_, ii. 116, with the song, says:--'The tune is a pretty Irish air, call _The Humours of Ballamagairy_, to which, he told me, he found it very difficult to adapt words; but he has succeeded very happily in these few lines. As I could sing the tune and was fond of them, he was so good as to give me them. I preserve this little relic in his own handwriting with an affectionate care.'

[641] See _ante_, i. 408, and _post_ April 7, 1776.

[642] See _ante_, ii. 74.

[643] See _ante_, i. 429.

[644] See ante, ii. 169, for Johnson's 'half-a-guinea's worth of inferiority.'

[645] Boswell (_ante_, i. 256) mentions that he knew Lyttelton. For his _History_, see _ante_, ii. 37.

[646] Johnson has an interesting paper 'on lying' in _The Adventurer_, No. 50, which thus begins:--'When Aristotle was once asked what a man could gain by uttering falsehoods, he replied, "Not to be credited when he shall tell the truth."'

[647] Johnson speaks of the past, for Sterne had been dead five years. Gray wrote on April 22, 1760:--'_Tristram Shandy_ is still a greater object of admiration, the man as well as the book. One is invited to dinner where he dines a fortnight beforehand.' Gray's _Works_, ed. 1858, iii. 241.

[648] 'I was but once,' said Johnson, 'in Sterne's company, and then his only attempt at merriment consisted in his display of a drawing too indecently gross to have delighted even in a brothel.' Johnson's _Works_ (1787), xi. 214.

[649] Townshend was not the man to make his jokes serve twice. Horace Walpole said of his _Champagne Speech_,--'It was Garrick writing and acting extempore scenes of Congreve.' _Memoirs of the Reign of George III_, iii. 25. Sir G. Colebrooke says:--'When Garrick and Foote were present he took the lead, and hardly allowed them an opportunity of shewing their talents of mimicry, because he could excel them in their own art.' _Ib_ p. 101, note. '"Perhaps," said Burke, "there never arose in this country, nor in any country, a man of a more pointed and finished wit."' Payne's _Burke_, i. 146.

[650] The 'eminent public character' is no doubt Burke, and the friend, as Mr. Croker suggests, probably Reynolds. See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 15, 1773, for a like charge made by Johnson against Burke. Boswell commonly describes Burke as 'an eminent friend of ours;' but he could not do so as yet, for he first met him fifteen days later. (_Post_, April 30.)

[651] 'Party,' Burke wrote in 1770 (_Thoughts on the Present Discontents_), 'is a body of men united for promoting by their joint endeavours the national interest upon some particular principle in which they are all agreed. For my part I find it impossible to conceive that any one believes in his own politics, or thinks them to be of any weight, who refuses to adopt the means of having them reduced into practice.' Payne's _Burke_, i. 86.

[652] On May 5, and again on Nov. 10, the play was commanded by the King and Queen. Prior's _Goldsmith_, ii. 394.

[653] _Absalom and Achitophel_, part i. l. 872.

[654] Paoli perhaps was thinking of himself. While he was still 'the successful rebel' in Corsica, he had said to Boswell:--'The arts and sciences are like dress and ornament. You cannot expect them from us for some time. But come back twenty or thirty years hence, and we'll shew you arts and sciences.' Boswell's _Corsica_, p. 172.

[655] 'The Duke of Cumberland had been forbidden the Court on his marriage with Mrs. Horton, a year before; but on the Duke of Gloucester's avowal of his marriage with Lady Waldegrave, the King's indignation found vent in the Royal Marriage Act: which was hotly opposed by the Whigs as an edict of tyranny. Goldsmith (perhaps for Burke's sake) helped to make it unpopular with the people: "We'll go to France", says Hastings to Miss Neville, "for there, even among slaves, the laws of marriage are respected." Said on the first night this had directed repeated cheering to the Duke of Gloucester, who sat in one of the boxes.' Forster's _Goldsmith_, ii. 358. See _ante_, ii. 152.

[656] _Stenography_, by John Angell, 1758.

[657] See _post_, April 10, 1778.

[658] See _ante_, ii.

[659] James Harris, father of the first Earl of Malmesbury, born 1709, died 1780. Two years later Boswell wrote to Temple: 'I am invited to a dinner at Mr. Cambridge's (for the dinner, see _post_, April 18, 1773), where are to be Reynolds, Johnson, and Hermes Harris. "_Do you think so?" said he. "Most certainly, said I_." Do you remember how I used to laugh at his style when we were in the Temple? He thinks himself an ancient Greek from these little peculiarities, as the imitators of Shakspeare, whom the _Spectator_ mentions, thought they had done wonderfully when they had produced a line similar:--

"And so, good morrow to ye, good Master Lieutenant."'

_Letters of Boswell_, p. 187. It is not in the _Spectator_, but in _Martinus Scriblerus_, ch. ix. (Swift's _Works_, 1803, xxiii, 53), that the imitators of Shakspeare are ridiculed. Harris got his name of Hermes from his _Hermes, or a Philosophical Inquiry concerning Universal Grammar_. Cradock (_Memoirs_, i, 208) says that, 'A gentleman applied to his friend to lend him some amusing book, and he recommended Harris's _Hermes_. On returning it, the other asked how he had been entertained. "Not much," he replied; "he thought that all these imitations of _Tristram Shandy_ fell far short of the original."' See _post_, April 7, 1778, and Boswell's _Hebrides_, Nov. 3, 1773.

[660] Johnson suffers, in Cowper's epitaph on him, from the same kind of praise as Goldsmith gives Harris:--

'Whose verse may claim, grave, masculine and strong,
Superior praise to the mere poet's song.'

Cowper's _Works_, v. 119.

[661] See _ante_, 210.

[662] Cave set up his coach about thirty years earlier (_ante_, i, 152, note). Dr. Franklin (_Memoirs_, iii, 172) wrote to Mr. Straham in 1784:--'I remember your observing once to me, as we sat together in the House of Commons, that no two journeymen printers within your knowledge had met with such success in the world as ourselves. You were then at the head of your profession, and soon afterwards became a member of parliament. I was an agent for a few provinces, and now act for them all.'

[663] 'Hamilton made a large fortune out of Smollett's _History_.' Forster's _Goldsmith_, i, 149. He was also the proprietor of the _Critical Review_.

[664] See _ante_, i, 71.

[665] See _ante_, ii, 179, and Boswell's _Hebrides_, Sept. 19, 1773. Horace Walpole wrote of the year 1773:--'The rage of duelling had of late much revived, especially in Ireland, and many attempts were made in print and on the stage to curb so horrid and absurd a practice.' _Journal of the Reign of George III_, i. 282.

[666] Very likely Boswell. See _Post_, April 10, 1778, where he says:--'I slily introduced Mr. Garrick's fame and his assuming the airs of a great man'.

[667] In the _Garrick's Corres_ up to this date there is no letter from Lord Mansfield which answers Boswell's descriptions. To Lord Chatham Garrick had addressed some verses from Mount Edgecumbe. Chatham, on April 3, 1772, sent verses in return, and wrote:--'You have kindly settled upon me a lasting species of property I never dreamed of in that enchanting place; a far more able conveyancer than any in Chancery-land. _Ib_ i, 459.

[668]

'Then I alone the conquest prize, When I insult a rival's eyes: If there's, &c.'

Act iii, sc. 12.

[669]

'But how did he return, this haughty brave, Who whipt the winds, and made the sea his slave? (Though Neptune took unkindly to be bound And Eurus never such hard usage found In his Aćolian prison under ground).'

Dryden, _Juvenal_, x. 180.

[670] Most likely Mr. Pepys, a Master in Chancery, whom Johnson more than once roughly attacked at Streatham. See _post_, April 1, 1781, and Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, ii. 46.

[671] See _ante_, ii. 73.

[672] 'Jan. 5, 1772. Poor Mr. Fitzherbert hanged himself on Wednesday. He went to see the convicts executed that morning; and from thence in his boots to his son, having sent his groom out of the way. At three his son said, Sir, you are to dine at Mr. Buller's; it is time for you to go home and dress. He went to his own stable and hanged himself with a bridle. They say his circumstances were in great disorder.' Horace Walpole's _Letters_, v. 362. See _ante_, i. 82, and _post_, Sept. 15, 1777.

[673] Boswell, in his _Hebrides_ (Aug. 18, 1773) says that, 'Budgel was accused of forging a will [Dr. Tindal's] and sunk himself in the Thames, before the trial of its authenticity came on.' Pope, speaking of himself, says that he--

'Let Budgel charge low Grub-street on his quill, And write whate'er he pleas'd, except his will.'

_Prologue to the Satires_, 1, 378.

Budgel drowned himself on May 4, 1737, more than two years after the publication of this Prologue. _Gent. Mag_. vii. 315. Perhaps the verse is an interpolation in a later edition. See _post_, April 26, 1776.

[674] See _post_, March 15, 1776.

[675] On the Douglas Cause. See _ante_, ii. 50, and _post_, March 26, 1776.

[676] I regretted that Dr. Johnson never took the trouble to study a question which interested nations. He would not even read a pamphlet which I wrote upon it, entitled _The Essence of the Douglas Cause_; which, I have reason to flatter myself, had considerable effect in favour of Mr. Douglas; of whose legitimate filiation I was then, and am still, firmly convinced. Let me add, that no fact can be more respectably ascertained than by the judgement of the most august tribunal in the world; a judgement, in which Lord Mansfield and Lord Camden united in 1769, and from which only five of a numerous body entered a protest. BOSWELL. Boswell, in his Hebrides, records on Oct. 26, 1773:--'Dr. Johnson roused my zeal so much that I took the liberty to tell him that he knew nothing of the [Douglas] Cause.' Lord Shelburne says: 'I conceived such a prejudice upon the sight of the present Lord Douglas's face and figure, that I could not allow myself to vote in this cause. If ever I saw a Frenchman, he is one.' Fitzmaurice's _Shelburne_, i. 10. Hume 'was struck,' he writes, 'with a very sensible indignation at the decision. The Cause, though not in the least intricate, is so complicated that it never will be reviewed by the public, who are besides perfectly pleased with the sentence; being swayed by compassion and a few popular topics. To one who understands the Cause as I do, nothing could appear more scandalous than the pleadings of the two law lords.' J. H. Burton's _Hume_, ii. 423. In Campbell's _Chancellors_, v. 494, an account is given of a duel between Stuart and Thurlow that arose out of this suit.

[677] The Fountains. _Works_, ix. 176.

[678] See _ante_, ii. 25.

[679] It has already been observed (_ante_, ii. 55), that one of his first Essays was a Latin Poem on a glow-worm; but whether it be any where extant, has not been ascertained. MALONE.

[680] 'Mallet's works are such as a writer, bustling in the world, shewing himself in publick, and emerging occasionally from time to time into notice, might keep alive by his personal influence; but which, conveying little information and giving no great pleasure, must soon give way, as the succession of things produces new topicks of conversation and other modes of amusement.' Johnson's _Works_, viii. 468.

[681] Johnson made less money, because he never 'traded' on his reputation. When he had made his name, he almost ceased to write.

[682] 'May 27, 1773. Dr. Goldsmith has written a comedy--no, it is the lowest of all farces. It is not the subject I condemn, though very vulgar, but the execution. The drift tends to no moral, no edification of any kind. The situations, however, are well imagined, and make one laugh, in spite of the grossness of the dialogue, the forced witticisms, and total improbability of the whole plan and conduct. But what disgusts me most is, that though the characters are very low, and aim at low humour, not one of them says a sentence that is natural or marks any character at all. It is set up in opposition to sentimental comedy, and is as bad as the worst of them.' Horace Walpole's _Letters_, v. 467. Northcote (_Life of Reynolds_, i. 286) says that Goldsmith gave him an order to see this comedy. 'The next time I saw him, he inquired of me what my opinion was of it. I told him that I would not presume to be a judge of its merits. He asked, "Did it make you laugh?" I answered, "Exceedingly." "Then," said the Doctor, "that is all I require."'

[683] Garrick brought out his revised version of this play by Beaumont and Fletcher in 1754-5. Murphy's _Garrick_, p. 170. The compliment is in a speech by Don Juan, act v. sc. 2: 'Ay, but when things are at the worst, they'll mend; example does everything, and the fair sex will certainly grow better, whenever the greatest is the best woman in the kingdom.'

[684] _Formular_ is not in Johnson's _Dictionary_.

[685]

'On earth, a present god, shall Caesar reign.'

FRANCIS. Horace, _Odes_, iii. 5.2.

[686] See _ante_, i. 167.

[687] Johnson refers, I believe, to Temple's Essay _Of Heroic Virtue_, where he says that 'the excellency of genius' must not only 'be cultivated by education and instruction,' but also 'must be assisted by fortune to preserve it to maturity; because the noblest spirit or genius in the world, if it falls, though never so bravely, in its first enterprises, cannot deserve enough of mankind to pretend to so great a reward as the esteem of heroic virtue.' Temple's _Works_, iii. 306.

[688] See _post_, Sept. 17, 1777.

[689] In an epitaph that Burke wrote for Garrick, he says: 'He raised the character of his profession to the rank of a liberal art.' Windham's _Diary_, p. 361.

[690] 'The allusion,' as Mr. Lockhart pointed out, 'is not to the _Tale of a Tub_, but to the _History of John Bull_' (part ii. ch 12 and 13). Jack, who hangs himself, is however the youngest of the three brothers of _The Tale of a Tub_, 'that have made such a clutter in the work' (_ib_. chap ii). Jack was unwillingly convinced by Habbakkuk's argument that to save his life he must hang himself. Sir Roger, he was promised, before the rope was well about his neck, would break in and cut him down.

[691] He wrote the following letter to Goldsmith, who filled the chair that evening. 'It is,' Mr. Forster says (_Life of Goldsmith_, ii. 367), 'the only fragment of correspondence between Johnson and Goldsmith that has been preserved.'

'April 23, 1773.

'SIR,--I beg that you will excuse my absence to the Club; I am going this evening to Oxford.

'I have another favour to beg. It is that I may be considered as proposing Mr. Boswell for a candidate of our society, and that he may be considered as regularly nominated.

'I am, sir,

'Your most humble servant,

'SAM. JOHNSON.'

If Johnson went to Oxford his stay there was brief, as on April 27 Boswell found him at home.

[692] 'There are,' says Johnson, speaking of Dryden (_Works_, vii. 292), 'men whose powers operate only at leisure and in retirement, and whose intellectual vigour deserts them in conversation.' See also _ante_, i. 413. 'No man,' he said of Goldsmith, 'was more foolish when he had not a pen in his hand, or more wise when he had;' _post_, 1780, in Mr. Langton's _Collection_. Horace Walpole (_Letters_, viii. 560), who 'knew Hume personally and well,' said, 'Mr. Hume's writings were so superior to his conversation, that I frequently said he understood nothing till he had written upon it.'

[693] The age of great English historians had not long begun. The first volume of _The Decline and Fall_ was published three years later. Addison had written in 1716 (_Freeholder_, No. 35), 'Our country, which has produced writers of the first figure in every other kind of work, has been very barren in good historians.' Johnson, in 1751, repeated this observation in _The Rambler_, No. 122. Lord Bolingbroke wrote in 1735 (_Works_, iii. 454), 'Our nation has furnished as ample and as important matter, good and bad, for history, as any nation under the sun; and yet we must yield the palm in writing history most certainly to the Italians and to the French, and I fear even to the Germans.'

[694] Gibbon, informing Robertson on March 26, 1788, of the completion of _The Decline and Fall_, said:--'The praise which has ever been the most flattering to my ear, is to find my name associated with the names of Robertson and Hume; and provided I can maintain my place in the triumvirate, I am indifferent at what distance I am ranked below my companions and masters.' Dugald Stewart's _Robertson_, p. 367.