Chapter XXI: Part 21

[695] 'Sir,' said Johnson, 'if Robertson's style be faulty, he owes it me; that is, having too many words, and those too big ones.' _Post_, Sept. 19, 1777. Johnson was not singular among the men of his time in condemning Robertson's _verbiage_. Wesley (_Journal_, iii. 447) wrote of vol. i. of _Charles the Fifth_:--'Here is a quarto volume of eight or ten shillings' price, containing dry, verbose dissertations on feudal government, the substance of all which might be comprised in half a sheet of paper!' Johnson again uses _verbiage_ (a word not given in his _Dictionary_), _post_, April 9, 1778.

[696] See _ante_, ii. 210.

[697] See _post_, Oct. 10, 1779.

[698] 'Vertot, nA(C) en Normandie en 1655. Historien agrA(C)able et A(C)lA(C)gant. Mort en 1735.' Voltaire, _SiA"cle de Louis XIV_.

[699] Even Hume had no higher notion of what was required in a writer of ancient history. He wrote to Robertson, who was, it seems, meditating a History of Greece:--'What can you do in most places with these (the ancient) authors but transcribe and translate them? No letters or state papers from which you could correct their errors, or authenticate their narration, or supply their defects.' J.H. Burton's _Hume_, ii. 83.

[700] See _ante_, ii. 53. Southey, asserting that Robertson had never read the Laws of Alonso the Wise, says, that 'it is one of the thousand and one omissions for which he ought to be called rogue as long as his volumes last.' Southey's _Life_, ii. 318.

[701] Ovid. de Art. Amand. i. iii. v. 13 [339]. BOSWELL. 'It may be that our name too will mingle with those.'

[702] The _Gent. Mag_. for Jan. 1766 (p. 45) records, that 'a person was observed discharging musket-balls from a steel crossbow at the two remaining heads upon Temple Bar.' They were the heads of Scotch rebels executed in 1746. Samuel Rogers, who died at the end of 1855, said, 'I well remember one of the heads of the rebels upon a pole at Temple Bar.' Rogers's _Table-Talk_, p. 2.

[703] In allusion to Dr. Johnson's supposed political principles, and perhaps his own. BOSWELL.

[704] 'Dr. Johnson one day took Bishop Percy's little daughter upon his knee, and asked her what she thought of _Pilgrim's Progress_. The child answered that she had not read it. "No!" replied the Doctor; "then I would not give one farthing for you:" and he set her down and took no further notice of her.' Croker's _Boswell_, p. 838. Mrs. Piozzi (_Anec_. p. 281) says, that Johnson once asked, 'Was there ever yet anything written by mere man that was wished longer by its readers, excepting _Don Quixote_, _Robinson Crusoe_, and The _Pilgrim's Progress_?'

[705] It was Johnson himself who was thus honoured. _Post_, under Dec. 20, 1784.

[706] Here is another instance of his high admiration of Milton as a Poet, notwithstanding his just abhorrence of that sour Republican's political principles. His candour and discrimination are equally conspicuous. Let us hear no more of his 'injustice to Milton.' BOSWELL.

[707] There was an exception to this. In his criticism of _Paradise Lost_ (_Works_, vii. 136), he says:--'The confusion of spirit and matter which pervades the whole narration of the war of Heaven fills it with incongruity; and the book in which it is related is, I believe, the favourite of children, and gradually neglected as knowledge is increased.'

[708] In the _Academy_, xxii. 348, 364, 382, Mr. C. E. Doble shews strong grounds for the belief that the author was Richard Allestree, D.D., Regius Professor of Divinity, Oxford, and Provost of Eton. Cowper spoke of it as 'that repository of self-righteousness and pharisaical lumber;' with which opinion Southey wholly disagreed. Southey's _Cowper_, i. 116.

[709] Johnson said to Boswell:--'Sir, they knew that if they refused you they'd probably never have got in another. I'd have kept them all out. Beauclerk was very earnest for you.' Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 21, 1773.

[710] Garrick and Jones had been elected this same spring. See _ante_, i. 481, note 3.

[711] Mr. Langton, in his _Collection_ (_post_, 1780), mentions an ode brought by Goldsmith to the Club, which had been recited for money.

[712] Dr. Johnson's memory here was not perfectly accurate: _Eugenio_ does not conclude thus. There are eight more lines after the last of those quoted by him; and the passage which he meant to recite is as follows:--

'Say now ye fluttering, poor assuming elves, Stark full of pride, of folly, of--yourselves; Say where's the wretch of all your impious crew Who dares confront his character to view? Behold Eugenio, view him o'er and o'er, Then sink into yourselves, and be no more.'

Mr. Reed informs me that the Author of _Eugenio_, a Wine Merchant at Wrexham in Denbighshire, soon after its publication, viz. 17th May, 1737, cut his own throat; and that it appears by Swift's _Works_ that the poem had been shewn to him, and received some of his corrections. Johnson had read _Eugenio_ on his first coming to town, for we see it mentioned in one of his letters to Mr. Cave, which has been inserted in this work; _ante_, p. 122. BOSWELL. See Swift's _Works_, ed. 1803, xix. 153, for his letter to this wine merchant, Thomas Beach by name.

[713] These lines are in the _Annus Mirabilis_ (stanza 164) in a digression in praise of the Royal Society; described by Johnson (_Works_, vii. 320) as 'an example seldom equalled of seasonable excursion and artful return.' _Ib_ p. 341, he says: 'Dryden delighted to tread upon the brink of meaning, where light and darkness begin to mingle.... This inclination sometimes produced nonsense, which he knew; and sometimes it issued in absurdities, of which perhaps he was not conscious.' He then quotes these lines, and continues: 'They have no meaning; but may we not say, in imitation of Cowley on another book--

"'Tis so like _sense_, 'twill serve the turn as well."'

Cowley's line is from his _Pindarique Ode to Mr. Hobs_:--

''Tis so like _truth_, 'twill serve _our_ turn as well.'

[714] In his _Dictionary_, he defines _punster as a low wit, who endeavours at reputation by double meaning_. See _post_, April 28, 1778.

[715] I formerly thought that I had perhaps mistaken the word, and imagined it to be _Corps_, from its similarity of sound to the real one. For an accurate and shrewd unknown gentleman, to whom I am indebted for some remarks on my work, observes on this passage--'Q. if not on the word _Fort_? A vociferous French preacher said of Bourdaloue, "Il preche _fort bien, et_ moi _bien fort_."'--Menagiana. See also Anecdotes Litteraires, Article Bourdaloue. But my ingenious and obliging correspondent, Mr. Abercrombie of Philadelphia, has pointed out to me the following passage in _Menagiana_; which renders the preceding conjecture unnecessary, and confirms my original statement:

'Madme de Bourdonne, Chanoinesse de Remiremont, venoit d'entendre un discours plein de feu et d'esprit, mais fort peu solide, et tresirregulier. Une de ses amies, qui y prenoit interet pour l'orateur, lui dit en sortant, "Eh bien, Madme que vous semble-t-il de ce que vous venez d'entendre?--Qu'il ya d'esprit?"--"Il y a tant, repondit Madme de Bourdonne, que je n'y ai pas vu de _corps_"'--Menagiana, tome ii. p. 64. Amsterd. 1713. BOSWELL. _Menagiana, ou les bans mots et remarques critiques, historiqites, morales et derudition de M. Menage, recueillies par ses amis_, published in 1693. Gilles Menage was born 1613, died 1692.

[716] That Johnson only relished the conversation, and did not join in it, is more unlikely. In his _charge_ to Boswell, he very likely pointed out that what was said within was not to be reported without. Boswell gives only brief reports of the talk at the Club, and these not openly. See _post_, April 7, 1775, note.

[717] See _post_, the passage before Feb. 18, 1775.

[718] By the Rev. Henry Wharton, published in 1692.

[719] See _ante_, ii. 126, for what Johnson said of the _inward light_.

[720] Lady Diana Beauclerk. In 1768 Beauclerk married the eldest daughter of the second Duke of Marlborough, two days after her divorce from her first husband, Viscount Bolingbroke, the nephew of the famous Lord Bolingbroke. She was living when her story, so slightly veiled as it is, was thus published by Boswell. The marriage was not a happy one. Two years after Beauclerk's death, Mr. Burke, looking at his widow's house, said in Miss Burney's presence:--'I am extremely glad to see her at last so well housed; poor woman! the bowl has long rolled in misery; I rejoice that it has now found its balance. I never myself so much enjoyed the sight of happiness in another, as in that woman when I first saw her after the death of her husband.' He then drew Beauclerk's character 'in strong and marked expressions, describing the misery he gave his wife, his singular ill-treatment of her, and the necessary relief the death of such a man must give.' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, ii. 147.

[721] Old Mr. Langton. CROKER. See _post_, April 26, 1776.

[722] See _post_, Sept. 22, 1777.

[723] See _post_, May 15, 1776.

[724] The writer of hymns.

[725] Malone says that 'Hawkesworth was introduced by Garrick to Lord Sandwich, who, thinking to put a few hundred pounds into his pocket, appointed him to revise and publish _Cook's Voyages_. He scarcely did anything to the MSS., yet sold it to Cadell and Strahan for AL6000.' Prior's _Malone_, p. 441. Thurlow, in his speech on copy-right on March 24, 1774, said 'that Hawkesworth's book, which was a mere composition of trash, sold for three guineas by the booksellers' monopolizing.' _Parl. Hist_. xvii. 1086. See _ante_, i. 253, note 1, and Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 3.

[726] Gilbert White held 'that, though most of the swallow kind may migrate, yet that some do stay behind, and bide with us during the winter.' White's _Selborne_, Letter xii. See _ante_, ii. 55.

[727] See _ante_, ii. 73.

[728] No. 41. 'The sparrow that was hatched last spring makes her first nest the ensuing season of the same materials, and with the same art as in any following year; and the hen conducts and shelters her first brood of chickens with all the prudence that she ever attains.'

[729] See _post_, April 3, 1776, April 3, 1779, and April 28, 1783.

[730] Rousseau went further than Johnson in this. About eleven years earlier he had, in his _Contract Social_, iv. 8, laid down certain 'simple dogmas,' such as the belief in a God and a future state, and said:--'Sans pouvoir obliger personne A les croire, il [le Souverain] peut bannir de l'Etat quiconque ne les croit pas: ... Que si quelquiun, aprA"s avoir reconne publiquement ces mA¬mes dogmes, se conduit comme ne les croyant pas, qu'il soit puni de mort; il a commis le plus grand des crimes, il a menti devant les lois.'

[731] See _post_, 1780, in Mr. Langton's _Collection_.

[732] Boswell calls Elwal Johnson's countryman, because they both came from the same county. See _ante_, ii.

[733] Baretti, in a MS. note on _Piozzi Letters_, i. 219, says:--'Johnson would have made an excellent Spanish inquisitor. To his shame be it said, he always was tooth and nail against toleration.'

[734] Dr. Mayo's calm temper and steady perseverance, rendered him an admirable subject for the exercise of Dr. Johnson's powerful abilities. He never flinched; but, after reiterated blows, remained seemingly unmoved as at the first. The scintillations of Johnson's genius flashed every time he was struck, without his receiving any injury. Hence he obtained the epithet of The Literary Anvil. BOSWELL. See _post_, April 15, 1778, for an account of another dinner at Mr. Dilly's, where Johnson and Mayo met.

[735] The Young Pretender, Charles Edward.

[736] Mr. Croker, quoting Johnson's letter of May 20, 1775 (_Piozzi Letters_, i. 219), where he says, 'I dined in a large company at a dissenting bookseller's yesterday, and disputed against toleration with one Doctor Meyer,' continues:--'This must have been the dinner noted in the text; but I cannot reconcile the date, and the mention of the death of the Queen of Denmark, which happened on May 10, 1775, ascertains that the date of the _letter_ is correct. Boswell ... must, I think, have misdated and misplaced his note of the conversation.' That the dinner did not take place in May, 1775, is, however, quite clear. By that date Goldsmith had been dead more than a year, and Goldsmith bore a large part in the talk at the Dilly's table. On the other hand, there can be no question about the correctness of the date of the letter. Wesley, in his _Journal_ for 1757 (ii. 349), mentions 'Mr. Meier, chaplain to one of the Hanoverian regiments.' Perhaps he is the man whom Johnson met in 1775.

[737] See _ante_, i. 423, note 2.

[738] 'It is very possible he had to call at Covent-garden on his way, and that for this, and not for Boswell's reason, he had taken his hat early. The actor who so assisted him in Young Marlow was taking his benefit this seventh of May; and for an additional attraction Goldsmith had written him an epilogue.' Forster's _Goldsmith_, ii. 376.

[739] Johnson was not given to interrupting a speaker. Hawkins (_Life_, p. 164), describing his conversation, says:--'For the pleasure he communicated to his hearers he expected not the tribute of silence; on the contrary, he encouraged others, particularly young men, to speak, and paid a due attention to what they said.' See _post_, under April 29, 1776, note.

[740] That this was Langton can be seen from Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 22, 1773, and from Johnson's letters of July 5, 1773, July 5, 1774, and Jan. 21, 1775.

[741] See _post_, April 28, 1783.

[742] _Pr. and Med_. p. 40. Boswell.

[743] See _ante_, i. 489.

[744] 'In England,' wrote Burke, 'the Roman Catholics are a sect; in Ireland they are a nation.' Burke's _Corres_. iv. 89.

[745] 'The celebrated number of _ten_ persecutions has been determined by the ecclesiastical writers of the fifth century, who possessed a more distinct view of the prosperous or adverse fortunes of the church, from the age of Nero to that of Diocletian. The ingenious parallels of the _ten_ plagues of Egypt, and of the _ten_ horns of the Apocalypse, first suggested this calculation to their minds.' Gibbon's _Decline and Fall_, ch. xvi, ed. 1807, ii. 370.

[746] See _ante_, ii. 121, 130.

[747] See _ante_, ii. 105.

[748] Reynolds said:--'Johnson had one virtue which I hold one of the most difficult to practise. After the heat of contest was over, if he had been informed that his antagonist resented his rudeness, he was the first to seek after a reconciliation.' Taylor's _Reynolds_, ii. 457. He wrote to Dr. Taylor in 1756:--'When I am musing alone, I feel a pang for every moment that any human being has by my peevishness or obstinacy spent in uneasiness.' _Notes and Queries_, 6th S., v. 324. More than twenty years later he said in Miss Burney's hearing:--'I am always sorry when I make bitter speeches, and I never do it but when I am insufferably vexed.' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, i. 131. 'When the fray was over,' writes Murphy (_Life_, p. 140), 'he generally softened into repentance, and, by conciliating measures, took care that no animosity should be left rankling in the breast of the antagonist.' See _ante_, ii. 109.

[749] Johnson had offended Langton as well as Goldsmith this day, yet of Goldsmith only did he ask pardon. Perhaps this fact increased Langton's resentment, which lasted certainly more than a year. See _post_, July 5, 1774, and Jan. 21, 1775.

[750] 'Addison, speaking of his own deficiency in conversation, used to say of himself, that with respect to intellectual wealth he could draw bills for a thousand pounds, though he had not a guinea in his pocket.' Johnson's _Works_, vii. 446. Somewhat the same thought may be found in _The Tatler_, No. 30, where it is said that 'a man endowed with great perfections without good-breeding, is like one who has his pockets full of gold, but always wants change for his ordinary occasions.' I have traced it still earlier, for Burnet in his _History of his own Times_, i. 210, says, that 'Bishop Wilkins used to say Lloyd had the most learning in ready cash of any he ever knew.' Later authors have used the same image. Lord Chesterfield (_Letters_, ii. 291) in 1749 wrote of Lord Bolingbroke:--'He has an infinite fund of various and almost universal knowledge, which, from the clearest and quickest conception and happiest memory that ever man was blessed with, he always carries about him. It is his pocket-money, and he never has occasion to draw upon a book for any sum.' Southey wrote in 1816 (_Life and Corres_. iv. 206):--'I wish to avoid a conference which will only sink me in Lord Liverpool's judgment; what there may be in me is not payable at sight; give me leisure and I feel my strength.' Rousseau was in want of readiness like Addison:--'Je fais d'excellens impromptus A loisir; mais sur le temps je n'ai jamais rien fait ni dit qui vaille. Je ferais une fort jolie conversation par la poste, comme on dit que les Espagnols jouent aux A(C)checs. Quand je lus le trait d'un Duc de Savoye qui se retourna, faisant route, pour crier; _A votre gorge, marchand de Paris_, je dis, me voilA .' _Les Confessions_, Livre iii. See also _post_, May 8, 1778.

[751] 'Among the many inconsistencies which folly produces, or infirmity suffers in the human mind, there has often been observed a manifest and striking contrariety between the life of an author and his writings; and Milton, in a letter to a learned stranger, by whom he had been visited, with great reason congratulates himself upon the consciousness of being found equal to his own character, and having preserved in a private and familiar interview that reputation which his works had procured him.' _The Rambler_, No. 14.

[752] Prior (_Life of Goldsmith_, ii. 459) says that it was not a German who interrupted Goldsmith but a Swiss, Mr. Moser, the keeper of the Royal Academy (_post_, June 2, 1783). He adds that at a Royal Academy dinner Moser interrupted another person in the same way, when Johnson seemed preparing to speak, whereupon Goldsmith said, 'Are you sure that _you_ can comprehend what he says?'

[753] Edmund Burke he called Mund; Dodsley, Doddy; Derrick, Derry; Cumberland, Cumbey; Monboddo, Monny; Stockdale, Stockey. Mrs. Piozzi represents him in his youth as calling Edmund Hector 'dear Mund.' _Ante_, i. 93, note. Sheridan's father had been known as Sherry among Swift and his friends. Swift's _Works_, ed. 1803, x. 256.

[754] Mr. Forster (_Life of Goldsmith_, ii. 103) on this remarks:--'It was a courteous way of saying, "I wish _you_ [Davies] wouldn't call me Goldy, whatever Mr. Johnson does."' That he is wrong in this is shown by Boswell, in his letter to Johnson of Feb. 14, 1777, where he says:--'You remember poor Goldsmith, when he grew important, and wished to appear _Doctor Major_, could not bear your calling him _Goldy_.' See also Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 14, 1773.

[755] The Reverend Thomas Bagshaw, M.A., who died on November 20, 1787, in the seventy-seventh year of his age, Chaplain of Bromley College, in Kent, and Rector of Southfleet. He had resigned the cure of Bromley Parish some time before his death. For this, and another letter from Dr. Johnson in 1784, to the same truely respectable man, I am indebted to Dr. John Loveday, of the Commons [_ante_, i. 462, note 1], a son of the late learned and pious John Loveday, Esq., of Caversham in Berkshire, who obligingly transcribed them for me from the originals in his possession. This worthy gentleman, having retired from business, now lives in Warwickshire. The world has been lately obliged to him as the Editor of the late Rev. Dr. Townson's excellent work, modestly entitled, _A Discourse on the Evangelical History, from the Interment to the Ascension of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ_; to which is prefixed, a truly interesting and pleasing account of the authour, by the Reverend Mr. Ralph Churton. BOSWELL.

[756] Sunday was May 9.

[757] As Langton was found to deeply resent Johnson's hasty expression at the dinner on the 7th, we must assume that he had invited Johnson to dine with him before the offence had been given.

[758] In the _Dictionary_ Johnson, as the second definition of _metaphysical_, says: 'In Shakespeare it means _supernatural_ or _preternatural_.' 'Creation' being beyond the nature of man, the right derived from it is preternatural or metaphysical.

[759] See _ante_, i. 437.

[760] Hume, on Feb. 24 of this year, mentioned to Adam Smith as a late publication Lord Monboddo's _Origin and Progress of Language_:--'It contains all the absurdity and malignity which I suspected; but is writ with more ingenuity and in a better style than I looked for.' J. H. Burton's _Hume_, ii. 466. See _ante_, ii. 74.

[761] Monday was May 10.

[762] See _ante_, i. 413. Percy wrote of Goldsmith's envy:--'Whatever appeared of this kind was a mere momentary sensation, which he knew not how, like other men, to conceal.' Goldsmith's _Misc. Works_, i. 117.

[763] He might have applied to himself his own version of Ovid's lines, _Genus et proavos_, &c., the motto to _The Rambler_, No. 46:--

'Nought from my birth or ancestors I claim; All is my own, my honor and my shame.'

See _ante_, ii. 153.

[764] That Langton is meant is shewn by Johnson's letter of July 5 (_post_, p. 265). The man who is there described as leaving the town in deep dudgeon was certainly Langton. 'Where is now my legacy?' writes Johnson. He is referring, I believe, to the last part of his playful and boisterous speech, where he says:--'I hope he has left me a legacy.' Mr. Croker, who is great at suspicions, ridiculously takes the mention of a legacy seriously, and suspects 'some personal disappointment at the bottom of this strange obstreperous and sour merriment.' He might as well accuse Falstaff of sourness in his mirth.

[765] See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Sept. 23, 1773, where Boswell makes the same remark.

[766]

'Et quorum pars magna fui.' 'Yea, and was no small part thereof.'

Morris, Aćneids, ii. 6.

[767] Johnson, as drawn by Boswell, is too 'awful, melancholy, and venerable.' Such 'admirable fooling' as he describes here is but rarely shown in his pages. Yet he must often have seen equally 'ludicrous exhibitions.' Hawkins (_Life_, p. 258) says, that 'in the talent of humour there hardly ever was Johnson's equal, except perhaps among the old comedians.' Murphy writes (Life, p. 139):--'Johnson was surprised to be told, but it is certainly true, that with great powers of mind, wit and humour were his shining talents.' Mrs. Piozzi confirms this. 'Mr. Murphy,' she writes (_Anec_. p. 205), 'always said he was incomparable at buffoonery.' She adds (p. 298):--'He would laugh at a stroke of genuine humour, or sudden sally of odd absurdity, as heartily and freely as I ever yet saw any man; and though the jest was often such as few felt besides himself, yet his laugh was irresistible, and was observed immediately to produce that of the company, not merely from the notion that it was proper to laugh when he did, but purely out of want of power to forbear it.' Miss Burney records:--'Dr. Johnson has more fun, and comical humour, and love of nonsense about him than almost anybody I ever saw.' Mine. D'Arblay's _Diary_, i. 204. See Boswell's own account, _post_, end of vol. iv.

[768] _Pr. and Med_. p. 129. BOSWELL. See _post_, 1780, in Mr. Langton's _Collection_ for Johnson's study of Low Dutch.

[769] 'Those that laugh at the portentous glare of a comet, and hear a crow with equal tranquillity from the right or left, will yet talk of times and situations proper for intellectual performances,' &c. _The Idler_, No. xi. See _ante_, i. 332.

[770] 'He did not see at all with one of his eyes' (_ante_, i. 41).

[771] Not six months before his death, he wished me to teach him the Scale of Musick:--'Dr. Burney, teach me at least the alphabet of your language.' BURNEY.

[772] Accurata Burdonum [i.e. Scaligerorum] FabulA| Confutatio (auctore I. R). Lugduni Batavorum. Apud Ludovicum Elzevirium MDCXVII. BRIT. MUS. CATALOGUE.

[773] Mrs. Piozzi's _Anecdotes of Johnson_, p. 131. BOSWELL. Mrs. Piozzi (_Anec_. p. 129) describes her mother and Johnson as 'excellent, far beyond the excellence of any other man and woman I ever yet saw. As her conduct extorted his truest esteem, her cruel illness excited all his tenderness. He acknowledged himself improved by her piety, and over her bed with the affection of a parent, and the reverence of a son.' Baretti, in a MS. note on _Piozzi Letters_, i. 81, says that 'Johnson could not much near Mrs. Salusbury, nor Mrs. Salusbury him, when they first knew each other. But her cancer moved his compassion, and made them friends.' Johnson, recording her death, says:--'Yesterday, as I touched her hand and kissed it, she pressed my hand between her two hands, which she probably intended as the parting caress ... This morning being called about nine to feel her pulse, I said at parting, "God bless you; for Jesus Christ's sake." She smiled as pleased.' _Pr. and Med_. p. 128.

[774] Johnson wrote to Dr. Taylor July 22, 1782:--'Sir Robert Chambers slipped this session through the fingers of revocation, but I am in doubt of his continuance. Shelburne seems to be his enemy. Mrs. Thrale says they will do him no harm. She perhaps thinks there is no harm without hanging. The mere act of recall strips him of eight thousand a year.' _Notes and Queries_, 6th S., v. 462.

[775] Beattie was Professor of Moral Philosophy. For some years his 'English friends had tried to procure for him a permanent provision beyond the very moderate emoluments arising from his office.' Just before Johnson wrote, Beattie had been privately informed that he was to have a pension of AL200 a year. Forbes's _Beattie_, ed. 1824, pp. 145, 151. When Johnson heard of this 'he clapped his hands, and cried, "O brave we!"' Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 26.

[776] Langton. See _ante_, p. 254, note 2.

[777] Langton--his native village.

[778] See _ante_, p. 261, note 2.

[779] That he set out on this day is shewn by his letter to Mrs. Thrale. _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 103. The following anecdote in the _Memoir of Goldsmith_, prefixed to his _Misc. Works_ (i. 110), is therefore inaccurate:--'I was dining at Sir Joshua Reynolds's, August 7, 1773, where were the Archbishop of Tuam and Mr. (now Lord) Eliot, when the latter making use of some sarcastical reflections on Goldsmith, Johnson broke out warmly in his defence, and in the course of a spirited eulogium said, "Is there a man, Sir, now who can pen an essay with such ease and elegance as Goldsmith?"' Johnson did in August, 1783, dine at Reynolds's, and meet there the Archbishop of Tuam, 'a man coarse of voice and inelegant of language' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 300.

[780] It was on Saturday the 14th of August that he arrived.

[781] From Aug. 14 to Nov. 22 is one hundred days.

[782] It is strange that not one of the four conferred on him an honorary degree. This same year Beattie had been thus honoured at Oxford. Gray, who visited Aberdeen eight years before Johnson, was offered the degree of doctor of laws, 'which, having omitted to take it at Cambridge, he thought it decent to refuse.' Johnson's _Works_, viii. 479.

[783] He was long remembered amongst the lower order of Hebrideans by the title of _Sassenach More_, the _big Englishman_. WALTER SCOTT.

[784] The first edition was published in September, 1785. In the following August, in his preface to the third edition, Boswell speaks of the first two editions 'as large impressions.'

[785] The authour was not a small gainer by this extraordinary Journey; for Dr. Johnson thus writes to Mrs. Thrale, Nov. 3, 1773:--'Boswell will praise my resolution and perseverance, and I shall in return celebrate his good humour and perpetual cheerfulness. He has better faculties than I had imagined; more justness of discernment, and more fecundity of images. It is very convenient to travel with him; for there is no house where he is not received with kindness and respect.' Let. 90, to Mrs. Thrale. [_Piozzi Letters_, i. 198.] MALONE.

[786] 'The celebrated Flora Macdonald. See Boswell's _Tour_' COURTENAY.

[787] Lord Eldon (at that time Mr. John Scott) has the following reminiscences of this visit:--'I had a walk in New Inn Hall Garden with Dr. Johnson and Sir Robert Chambers [Principal of the Hall]. Sir Robert was gathering snails, and throwing them over the wall into his neighbours garden. The Doctor repreached him very roughly, and stated to him that this was unmannerly and unneighbourly. "Sir," said Sir Robert, "my neighbour is a Dissenter." "Oh!" said the Doctor, "if so, Chambers, toss away, toss away, as hard as you can." He was very absent. I have seen him standing for a very long time, without moving, with a foot on each side the kennel which was then in the middle of the High Street, with his eyes fixed on the water running in it. In the common-room of University College he was dilating upon some subject, and the then head of Lincoln College, Dr. Mortimer, occasionally interrupted him, saying, "I deny that." This was often repeated, and observed upon by Johnson, in terms expressive of increasing displeasure and anger. At length upon the Doctor's repeating the words, "I deny that," "Sir, Sir," said Johnson, "you must have forgot that an author has said: _Plus negabit tinus asinus in una hora quam centum philosophi probaverint in centum annis_."' [Dr. Fisher, who related this story to Mr. Croker, described Dr. Mortimer as 'a Mr. Mortimer, a shallow under-bred man, who had no sense of Johnson's superiority. He flatly contradicted some assertion which Johnson had pronounced to be as clear as that two and two make four.' Croker's _Boswell_, p. 483.] 'Mrs. John Scott used to relate that she had herself helped Dr. Johnson one evening to fifteen cups of tea.' Twiss's _Eldon_, i. 87.

[788] In this he shewed a very acute penetration. My wife paid him the most assiduous and respectful attention, while he was our guest; so that I wonder how he discovered her wishing for his departure. The truth is, that his irregular hours and uncouth habits, such as turning the candles with their heads downwards, when they did not burn bright enough, and letting the wax drop upon the carpet, could not but be disagreeable to a lady. Besides, she had not that high admiration of him which was felt by most of those who knew him; and what was very natural to a female mind, she thought he had too much influence over her husband. She once in a little warmth, made, with more point than justice, this remark upon that subject: 'I have seen many a bear led by a man; but I never before saw a man led by a bear.' BOSWELL. See _ante_, ii. 66.

[789] Sir Alexander Gordon, one of the Professors at Aberdeen. BOSWELL.

[790] This was a box containing a number of curious things which he had picked up in Scotland, particularly some horn spoons. BOSWELL.

[791] The Rev. Dr. Alexander Webster, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, a man of distinguished abilities, who had promised him information concerning the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. BOSWELL.

[792] The Macdonalds always laid claim to be placed on the right of the whole clans, and those of that tribe assign the breach of this order at Culloden as one cause of the loss of the day. The Macdonalds, placed on the left wing, refused to charge, and positively left the field unassailed and unbroken. Lord George Murray in vain endeavoured to urge them on by saying, that their behaviour would make the left the right, and that he himself would take the name of Macdonald. WALTER SCOTT.

[793] The whole of the first volume is Johnson's and three-quarters of the second. A second edition was published the following year, with a third volume added, which also contained pieces by Johnson, but no apology from Davies.

[794] 'When Davies printed the _Fugitive Pieces_ without his knowledge or consent; "How," said I, "would Pope have raved had he been served so?" "We should never," replied he, "have heard the last on't, to be sure; but then Pope was a narrow man: I will however," added he, "storm and bluster _myself_ a little this time;"--so went to London in all the wrath he could muster up. At his return I asked how the affair ended:

'"Why," said he, "I was a fierce fellow, and pretended to be very angry, and Thomas was a good-natured fellow, and pretended to be very sorry; so _there_ the matter ended: I believe the dog loves me dearly. Mr. Thrale" (turning to my husband), "What shall you and I do that is good for Tom Davies? We will do something for him to be sure."' Piozzi's _Anec_. p. 55.

[795] _Prayers and Meditations_, BOSWELL.

[796] The ancient Burgh of Prestick, in Ayrshire. BOSWELL.

[797] Perhaps Johnson imperfectly remembered, '_novae rediere in pristina vires_.' _AEneid_, xii. 424.

[798] See _ante_, i. 437. The decision was given on Feb. 22 against the perpetual right. 'By the above decision near 200,000AL. worth of what was honestly purchased at public sale, and which was yesterday thought property, is now reduced to nothing.... The English booksellers have now no other security in future for any literary purchase they may make but the statute of the 8th of Queen Anne, which secures to the authors assigns an exclusive property for 14 years, to revert again to the author, and vest in him for 14 years more.' _Ann. Reg_. 1774, i. 95.

[799] Murphy was a barrister as well as author.

[800] Mr. Croker quotes a note by Malone to show that in the catalogue of Steevens's Library this book is described as a quarto, _corio turcico foliis deauratis_.

[801] A manuscript account drawn by Dr. Webster of all the parishes in Scotland, ascertaining their length, breadth, number of inhabitants, and distinguishing Protestants and Roman Catholicks. This book had been transmitted to government, and Dr. Johnson saw a copy of it in Dr. Webster's possession. BOSWELL.

[802] Beauclerk, three weeks earlier, had written to Lord Charlemont:--'Our club has dwindled away to nothing. Nobody attends but Mr. Chambers, and he is going to the East Indies. Sir Joshua and Goldsmith have got into such a round of pleasures that they have no time.' Charlemont's _Life_, i. 350. Johnson, no doubt, had been kept away by illness (_ante_, p. 272).

[803] Mr. Fox, as Sir James Mackintosh informed me, was brought in by Burke. CROKER.

[804] Sir C. Bunbury was the brother of Mr. H. W. Bunbury, the caricaturist, who married Goldsmith's friend, the elder Miss Horneck--'Little Comedy' as she was called. Forster's _Goldsmith_, ii. 147.

[805] Rogers (_Table-Talk_, p. 23) tells how Dr. Fordyce, who sometimes drank a good deal, was summoned to a lady patient when he was conscious that he had had too much wine. 'Feeling her pulse, and finding himself unable to count its beats, he muttered, "Drunk by G--." Next morning a letter from her was put into his hand. "She too well knew," she wrote, "that he had discovered the unfortunate condition in which she had been, and she entreated him to keep the matter secret in consideration of the enclosed (a hundred-pound bank-note)."'

[806] Steevens wrote to Garrick on March 6:--'Mr. C. Fox pays you but a bad compliment; as he appears, like the late Mr. Secretary Morris, to enter the society at a time when he has _nothing else to do_. If the _bon ton_ should prove a contagious disorder among us, it will be curious to trace its progress. I have already seen it breaking out in Dr. G----[Goldsmith] under the form of many a waistcoat, but I believe Dr. G---- will be the last man in whom the symptoms of it will be detected.' _Garrick Corres_. i. 613. In less than a month poor Goldsmith was dead. Fox, just before his election to the club, had received through one of the doorkeepers of the House of Commons the following note:--'SIR,--His Majesty has thought proper to order a new commission of the Treasury to be made out, in which I do not perceive your name. NORTH.'

[807] See Boswell's answer, _post_, May 12.

[808] See _post_, April 16, 1775.

[809] See _ante_, i. 122, note 2.

[810] Iona.

[811] 'I was induced,' he says, 'to undertake the journey by finding in Mr. Boswell a companion, whose acuteness would help my inquiry, and whose gaiety of conversation and civility of manners are sufficient to counteract the inconveniences of travel in countries less hospitable than we have passed.' Quoted by Boswell in his _Hebrides_, Aug. 18, 1773.

[812] See _post_, Nov. 16, 1776.

[813] Boswell wrote to Temple on May 8, 1779:--'I think Dr. Johnson never answered but three of my letters, though I have had numerous returns from him.' _Letters of Boswell_. See _post_, Sept. 29, 1777.

[814] Dr. Goldsmith died April 4, this year. BOSWELL. Boswell wrote to Garrick on April 11, 1774:--'Dr. Goldsmith's death would affect all the club much. I have not been so much affected with any event that has happened of a long time. I wish you would give me, who am at a distance, some particulars with regard to his last appearance.' _Garrick Corres_. i. 622.

[815] See _ante_, p. 265.

[816] See _ante_, ii. 27, and Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 29, 1773.

[817] These books Dr. Johnson presented to the Bodleian Library, BOSWELL.

[818] On the cover enclosing them, Dr. Johnson wrote, 'If my delay has given any reason for supposing that I have not a very deep sense of the honour done me by asking my judgement, I am very sorry.' BOSWELL.

[819] See _post_, March 20, 1776.

[820] 'Sir Joshua was much affected by the death of Goldsmith, to whom he had been a very sincere friend. He did not touch the pencil for that day, a circumstance most extraordinary for him who passed _no day without a line_. Northcote's _Reynolds_, i. 325.

[821] He owed his tailor AL79, though he had paid him AL110 in 1773. In this payment was included AL35 for his nephew's clothes. We find such entries in his own bills as--'To Tyrian bloom satin grain and, garter blue silk beeches 8AL 2s. 7d. To Queen's-blue dress suit 11AL 17s. 0d. To your blue velvet suit 21AL 10s. 9d.' (See _ante_, ii. 83.) Filby's son said to Mr. Prior:--'My father attributed no blame to Goldsmith; he had been a good customer, and had he lived would have paid every farthing.' Prior's _Goldsmith_, ii. 232.

[822] 'Soon after Goldsmith's death certain persons dining with Sir Joshua commented rather freely on some part of his works, which, in their opinion, neither discovered talent nor originality. To this Dr. Johnson listened in his usual growling manner; when, at length, his patience being exhausted, he rose with great dignity, looked them full in the face, and exclaimed, "If nobody was suffered to abuse poor Goldy, but those who could write as well, he would have few censors."' Northcote's _Reynolds_, i. 327. To Goldsmith might be applied the words that Johnson wrote of Savage (_Works_, viii. 191):--'Vanity may surely be readily pardoned in him to whom life afforded no other comforts than barren praises, and the consciousness of deserving them. Those are no proper judges of his conduct who have slumbered away their time on the down of plenty; nor will any wise man presume to say, "Had I been in Savage's condition, I should have lived or written better than Savage."'

[823] Mrs. Thrale's mother died the summer before (_ante_, p. 263). Most of her children died early. By 1777 she had lost seven out of eleven. _Post_, May 3, 1777.

[824] Johnson had not seen Langton since early in the summer of 1773. He was then suffering from a fever and an inflammation in the eye, for which he was twice copiously bled. (_Pr. and Med_. 130.) The following winter he was distressed by a cough. (_Ib_ p. 135.) Neither of these illnesses was severe enough to be called dreadful. In the spring of 1770 he was very ill. (_Ib_ p. 93.) On Sept. 18, 1771, he records:--'For the last year I have been slowly recovering from the violence of my last illness.' (_Ib_ p. 104.) On April 18, 1772, in reviewing the last year, he writes:--'An unpleasing incident is almost certain to hinder my rest; this is the remainder of my last illness.' (_Ib_ p. iii.) In the winter of 1772-3, he suffered from a cough. (_Ib_ p. 121.) I think that he must mean the illness of 1770, though it is to be noticed that he wrote to Boswell on July 5, 1773:--'Except this eye [the inflamed eye] I am very well.' (_Ante_, p. 264.)

[825] 'Lord have mercy upon us.'

[826] See Johnson's _Works_, i. 172, for his Latin version. D'Israeli (_Curiosities of Literature_, ed. 1834, vi. 368) says 'that Oldys [_ante_, i. 175] always asserted that he was the author of this song, and as he was a rigid lover of truth I doubt not that he wrote it. I have traced it through a dozen of collections since the year 1740, the first in which I find it.'

[827] Mr. Seward (_Anec_, ii. 466) gives the following version of these lines:

'Whoe'er thou art with reverence tread Where Goldsmith's letter'd dust is laid. If nature and the historic page, If the sweet muse thy care engage. Lament him dead whose powerful mind Their various energies combined.'

[828] See _ante_, p. 265.

[829] At Lleweney, the house of Mrs. Thrale's cousin, Mr. Cotton, Dr. Johnson stayed nearly three weeks. Johnson's _Journey into North Wales_, July 28, 1774. Mr. Fitzmaurice, Lord Shelburne's brother, had a house there in 1780; for Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale on May 7 of that year:--'He has almost made me promise to pass part of the summer at Llewenny.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 113.

[830] Lord Hailes was Sir David Dalrymple. See _ante_, i. 267. He is not to be confounded with Sir John Dalrymple, mentioned _ante_, ii. 210.

[831]

E'en in a bishop I can spy desert; Seeker is decent, Rundel has a heart.'

Pope's _Epilogue to the Satires_, ii. 70.

[832] In the first two editions _forenoon_. Boswell, in three other passages, made the same change in the third edition. _Forenoon_ perhaps he considered a Scotticism. The correction above being made in one of his letters, renders it likely that he corrected them before publication.

[833] Horace, _Ars Poet_. l. 373.

[834] 'Do not you long to hear the roarings of the old lion over the bleak mountains of the North?' wrote Steevens to Garrick. _Garrick Corres_, ii. 122.

[835] 'Aug. 16. We came to Penmanmaur by daylight, and found a way, lately made, very easy and very safe. It was cut smooth and enclosed between parallel walls; the outer of which secures the passenger from the precipice, which is deep and dreadful.... The sea beats at the bottom of the way. At evening the moon shone eminently bright: and our thoughts of danger being now past, the rest of our journey was very pleasant. At an hour somewhat late we came to Bangor, where we found a very mean inn, and had some difficulty to obtain lodging. I lay in a room where the other bed had two men.' Johnson's _Journey into North Wales_.

[836] He did not go to the top of Snowdon. He says:--'On the side of Snowdon are the remains of a large fort, to which we climbed with great labour. I was breathless and harassed,' _Ib_ Aug. 26.

[837] I had written to him, to request his interposition in behalf of a convict, who I thought was very unjustly condemned. BOSWELL.

[838] He had kept a journal which was edited by Mr. Duppa in 1816. It will be found _post_, in vol. v.

[839] 'When the general election broke up the delightful society in which we had spent some time at Beconsfield, Dr. Johnson shook the hospitable master of the house [Burke] kindly by the hand, and said, "Farewell my dear Sir, and remember that I wish you all the success which ought to be wished you, which can possibly be wished you indeed--_by an honest man_."' Piozzi's _Anec_. p. 242. The dissolution was on Sept. 30. Johnson, with the Thrales, as his _Journal_ shows, had arrived at Beconsfield on the 24th. See _ante_, ii. 222, for Johnson's opinion of Burke's honesty.

[840] Mr. Perkins was for a number of years the worthy superintendant of Mr. Thrale's great brewery, and after his death became one of the proprietors of it; and now resides in Mr. Thrale's house in Southwark, which was the scene of so many literary meetings, and in which he continues the liberal hospitality for which it was eminent. Dr. Johnson esteemed him much. He hung up in the counting-house a fine proof of the admirable mizzotinto of Dr. Johnson, by Doughty; and when Mrs. Thrale asked him somewhat flippantly, 'Why do you put him up in the counting-house?' he answered, 'Because, Madam, I wish to have one wise man there.' 'Sir,' (said Johnson,) 'I thank you. It is a very handsome compliment, and I believe you speak sincerely.' BOSWELL.

[841] In the news-papers. BOSWELL.

[842] 'Oct. 16, 1774. In Southwark there has been outrageous rioting; but I neither know the candidates, their connections, nor success.' Horace Walpole's _Letters_, vi. 134. Of one Southwark election Mrs. Piozzi writes (_Anec_. p. 214):--'A Borough election once showed me Mr. Johnson's toleration of boisterous mirth. A rough fellow, a hatter by trade, seeing his beaver in a state of decay seized it suddenly with one hand, and clapping him on the back with the other. "Ah, Master Johnson," says he, "this is no time to be thinking about _hats_." "No, no, Sir," replies our doctor in a cheerful tone, "hats are of no use now, as you say, except to throw up in the air and huzza with," accompanying his words with the true election halloo.'

[843] See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 19, 1773. Johnson thus mentions him (_Works_, ix. 142):--'Here we had the last embrace of this amiable man, who, while these pages were preparing to attest his virtues, perished in the passage between Ulva and Inch Kenneth.'

[844] Alluding to a passage in a letter of mine, where speaking of his _Journey to the Hebrides_, I say, 'But has not _The Patriot_ been an interruption, by the time taken to write it, and the time luxuriously spent in listening to its applauses?' BOSWELL.

[845] We had projected a voyage together up the Baltic, and talked of visiting some of the more northern regions. BOSWELL. See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Sept. 16.

[846] See _ante_, i. 72.

[847] John Hoole, the son of a London watchmaker, was born in Dec. 1727, and died on Aug. 2, 1803. At the age of seventeen he was placed as a clerk in the East-India House; but, like his successors, James and John Stuart Mill, he was an author as well as a clerk. See _ante_, i. 383.

[848] _Cleonice_. BOSWELL. Nichols (_Lit. Anec_. ii. 407) says that as _Cleonice_ was a failure on the stage 'Mr. Hoole returned a considerable part of the money which he had received for the copy-right, alleging that, as the piece was not successful on the stage, it could not be very profitable to the bookseller, and ought not to be a loss.'

[849] See _ante_, i. 255.

[850] See _post_, March 20, 1776.

[851] 'The King,' wrote Horace Walpole on Jan. 21, 1775 (_Letters_, vi. 179), 'sent for the book in MS., and then wondering said, "I protest, Johnson seems to be a Papist and a Jacobite--so he did not know why he had been made to give him a pension."'

[852] Boswell's little daughter. Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug, 15, 1773.

[853] 'Bis dat qui cito dat, minimi gratia tarda pretii est.' Alciat's _Emblems_, Alciati _Opera_ 1538, p. 821.

[854] It was at the Turk's Head coffee-house in the Strand. See _ante_, i. 450.

[855] _Hamlet_, act iii. sc. 2.

[856] 'Exegi monumentum A|re perennius.' Horace, _Odes_, iii. 30. I.

[857] The second edition was not brought out till the year after Johnson's death. These mistakes remain uncorrected. Johnson's _Works_, ix. 44. 150.

[858] See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 23.

[859] In the Court of Session of Scotland an action is first tried by one of the Judges, who is called the Lord Ordinary; and if either party is dissatisfied, he may appeal to the whole Court, consisting of fifteen, the Lord President and fourteen other Judges, who have both in and out of Court the title of Lords, from the name of their estates; as, Lord Auchinleck, Lord Monboddo, &c. BOSWELL. See _ante_, ii. 201, note 1.

[860] Johnson had thus written of him (_Works_, ix. 115):--'I suppose my opinion of the poems of Ossian is already discovered. I believe they never existed in any other form than that which we have seen. The editor, or author, never could show the original; nor can it be shown by any other. To revenge reasonable incredulity by refusing evidence is a degree of insolence with which the world is not yet acquainted; and stubborn audacity is the last refuge of guilt.' See _ante_, ii. 126.

[861] _Taxation no Tyranny_. See _post_, under March 21, 1775.

[862] See _ante_, p. 265.

[863] In Tickell's _Epistle from the Hon. Charles Fox to the Hon. John Townshend_ (1779) are the following lines (p. 11):--

'Soon as to Brooks's thence thy footsteps bend, What gratulations thy approach attend!

See Beauclerk's cheek a tinge of red surprise, And friendship give what cruel health denies.'

[864] It should be recollected, that this fanciful description of his friend was given by Johnson after he himself had become a water-drinker. BOSWELL. Johnson, _post_, April 18, 1775, describes one of his friends as _muddy_. On April 12, 1776, in a discussion about wine, when Reynolds said to him, 'You have sat by, quite sober, and felt an envy of the happiness of those who were drinking,' he replied, 'Perhaps, contempt.' On April 28, 1778, he said to Reynolds: 'I won't argue any more with you, Sir. You are too far gone.' See also _ante_, i. 313, note 3, where he said to him: 'Sir, I did not count your glasses of wine, why should you number up my cups of tea?'

[865] See them in _Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides_, 3rd edit. p. 337 [Oct. 17]. BOSWELL.

[866] He now sent me a Latin inscription for my historical picture of Mary Queen of Scots, and afterwards favoured me with an English translation. Mr. Alderman Boydell, that eminent Patron of the Arts, has subjoined them to the engraving from my picture.

'Maria Scotorum Regina
Homimun seditiosorum
Contumeliis lassata,
Minis territa, clamoribus victa
Libello, per quem
Regno cedit,
Lacrimans trepidansque
Nomen apponit?'

'Mary Queen of Scots,
Harassed, terrified, and overpowered
By the insults, menaces,
And clamours
Of her rebellious subjects,
Sets her hand,
With tears and confusion,
To a resignation of the kingdom.'

BOSWELL.

Northcote (_Life of Reynolds_, ii. 234) calls Boydell 'the truest and greatest encourager of English art that England ever saw.'

[867] By the Boston Port-Bill, passed in 1774, Boston had been closed as a port for the landing and shipping of goods. _Ann. Reg_. xvii. 64.

[868] Becket, a bookseller in the Strand, was the publisher of _Ossian_.

[869] His Lordship, notwithstanding his resolution, did commit his sentiments to paper, and in one of his notes affixed to his _Collection of Old Scottish Poetry_, he says, that 'to doubt the authenticity of those poems is a refinement in Scepticism indeed.' J. BLAKEWAY.

[870] Mr. Croker writes (Croker's _Boswell_, p. 378, note):--'The original draft of these verses in Johnson's autograph is now before me. He had first written:--

'Sunt pro legitimis pectora pura sacris;'

he then wrote--

'Legitimas faciunt pura labella preces;'

which more nearly approaches Mr. Boswell's version, and alludes, happily I think, to the prayers having been read by the young lady.... The line as it stands in the _Works_ [Sint pro legitimis pura labella sacris, i. 167], is substituted in Mr. Langton's hand.... As I have reason to believe that Mr. Langton assisted in editing these Latin _poemata_, I conclude that these alterations were his own.'

[871] The learned and worthy Dr. Lawrence, whom Dr. Johnson respected and loved as his physician and friend. BOSWELL. 'Dr. Lawrence was descended, as Sir Egerton Brydges informs me, from Milton's friend ['Lawrence, of virtuous father virtuous son.' Milton's _Sonnets_, xx.]. One of his sons was Sir Soulden Lawrence, one of the Judges of the King's Bench.' Croker's _Boswell_, p. 734. See _post_, March 19, 1782.

[872] My friend has, in this letter, relied upon my testimony, with a confidence, of which the ground has escaped my recollection. BOSWELL. Lord Shelburne said: 'Like the generality of Scotch, Lord Mansfield had no regard to truth whatever.' Fitzmaurice's _Shelburne_, i. 89.

[873] Dr. Lawrence. See Johnson's letter to Warren Hastings of Dec. 20, 1774. _Post_, beginning of 1781.