|
_BOSWELL'S_
_LIFE OF JOHNSON_
_INCLUDING BOSWELL'S JOURNAL OF A TOUR TO THE HEBRIDES
AND JOHNSON'S DIARY OF A JOURNEY INTO NORTH WALES_
EDITED BY
GEORGE BIRKBECK HILL, D.C.L.
PEMBROKE COLLEGE, OXFORD
IN SIX VOLUMES
VOLUME I.--LIFE (1709-1765)
M DCCC LXXXVII
THE
LIFE
OF
SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D.
COMPREHENDING
AN ACCOUNT OF HIS STUDIES
AND NUMEROUS WORKS,
IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER;
A SERIES OF HIS EPISTOLARY CORRESPONDENCE
AND CONVERSATIONS WITH MANY EMINENT PERSONS;
AND
VARIOUS ORIGINAL PIECES OF HIS COMPOSITION,
NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED:
THE WHOLE EXHIBITING A VIEW OF LITERATURE AND
LITERARY MEN IN GREAT-BRITAIN, FOR NEAR
HALF A CENTURY, DURING WHICH
HE FLOURISHED.
_BY JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ._
--_Quo fit ut_ OMNIS
_Votiva pateat veluti descripta tabella_
VITA SENIS.--
HORAT.
THE THIRD EDITION, REVISED AND AUGMENTED,
IN FOUR VOLUMES.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY H. BALDWIN AND SON,
FOR CHARLES DILLY, IN THE POULTRY.
* * * * *
M DCC XCIX.
TO
THE REVEREND BENJAMIN JOWETT, M.A.,
MASTER OF BALLIOL COLLEGE
REGIUS PROFESSOR OF GREEK IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
HONORARY LL.D. OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
HONORARY D.D. OF THE UNIVERSITY OF LEYDEN
WHO IS NOT ONLY
'AN ACUTE AND KNOWING CRITIC'
BUT ALSO
'JOHNSONIANISSIMUS'
IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT
OF THE
KINDLY INTEREST THAT HE HAS THROUGHOUT TAKEN
IN THE PROGRESS OF THIS WORK
This Edition
OF
BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON
Is Dedicated
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
PAGE
DEDICATION TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE FIRST EDITION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE THIRD EDITION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
CHRONOLOGICAL CATALOGUE OF THE PROSE WORKS OF
SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON (SEPT. 18, 1709-OCTOBER 1765) . . . . 1-500
APPENDICES
A. JOHNSON'S DEBATES IN PARLIAMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
B. JOHNSON'S LETTERS TO HIS MOTHER AND MISS PORTER
IN 1759 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512
C. JOHNSON AT CAMBRIDGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
D. JOHNSON'S LETTER TO DR. LELAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
E. JOHNSON'S 'ENGAGING IN POLITICKS WITH H----N'. . . . . . 518
F. JOHNSON'S FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE THRALES
AND HIS SERIOUS ILLNESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, &c.
1. SAMUEL JOHNSON, after the Picture by Sir Joshua Reynolds in the
National Gallery
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ to VOL. I.
2. FACSIMILE OF JOHNSON'S HANDWRITING IN HIS 20TH YEAR
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VOL. I, p. 60.
3. FACSIMILE OF A LETTER OF JOHNSON relating to _Rasselas_
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VOL. I, p. 340.
4. SAMUEL JOHNSON, from the Portrait painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds,
1756
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VOL. I, p. 392.
5. SAMUEL JOHNSON, after the Bust by Nollekens
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ to VOL. II.
6. FACSIMILE OF JOHNSON'S HANDWRITING IN HIS 54TH YEAR
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VOL. II, _to follow Frontispiece_.
7. SAMUEL JOHNSON, after the Painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1770
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece to_ VOL. III.
8. FACSIMILE OF THE ROUND ROBIN ADDRESSED TO DR. JOHNSON
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VOL. III, p. 82.
9. OPIE'S PORTRAIT OF JOHNSON, from the Engraving in the Common
Room of University College
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VOL. III, _to face_ p. 245.
10. FACSIMILE OF DR. JOHNSON'S HANDWRITING A MONTH BEFORE
HIS DEATH
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VOL. IV, _to face_ p. 377.
11. JAMES BOSWELL OF AUCHINLECK, Esq., from the painting by Sir
Joshua Reynolds
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece to_ VOL. V.
12. FACSIMILE OF BOSWELL'S HANDWRITING, 1792, from a Letter in the
Bodleian Library
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VOL. V, _to follow Frontispiece_.
13. MAP OF JOHNSON AND BOSWELL'S TOUR THROUGH SCOTLAND AND
THE HEBRIDES
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VOL. V, _to face_ p. 5.
14. CHART OF JOHNSON'S CONTEMPORARIES
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece to VOL. VI.
PREFACE.
Fielding, it is said, drank confusion to the man who invented the fifth
act of a play. He who has edited an extensive work, and has concluded
his labours by the preparation of a copious index, might well be
pardoned, if he omitted to include the inventor of the Preface among the
benefactors of mankind. The long and arduous task that years before he
had set himself to do is done, and the last thing that he desires is to
talk about it. Liberty is what he asks for, liberty to range for a time
wherever he pleases in the wide and fair fields of literature. Yet with
this longing for freedom comes a touch of regret and a doubt lest the
'fresh woods and pastures new' may never wear the friendly and familiar
face of the plot of ground within whose narrower confines he has so long
been labouring, and whose every corner he knows so well. May-be he finds
hope in the thought that should his new world seem strange to him and
uncomfortable, ere long he may be called back to his old task, and in
the preparation of a second edition find the quiet and the peace of mind
that are often found alone in 'old use and wont.'
With me the preparation of these volumes has, indeed, been the work of
many years. Boswell's _Life of Johnson_ I read for the first time in my
boyhood, when I was too young for it to lay any hold on me. When I
entered Pembroke College, Oxford, though I loved to think that Johnson
had been there before me, yet I cannot call to mind that I ever opened
the pages of Boswell. By a happy chance I was turned to the study of the
literature of the eighteenth century. Every week we were required by the
rules of the College to turn into Latin, or what we called Latin, a
passage from _The Spectator_. Many a happy minute slipped by while, in
forgetfulness of my task, I read on and on in its enchanting pages. It
was always with a sigh that at last I tore myself away, and sat
resolutely down to write bad Latin instead of reading good English. From
Addison in the course of time I passed on to the other great writers of
his and the succeeding age, finding in their exquisitely clear style,
their admirable common sense and their freedom from all the tricks of
affectation, a delightful contrast to so many of the eminent authors of
our own time. Those troublesome doubts, doubts of all kinds, which since
the great upheaval of the French Revolution have harassed mankind, had
scarcely begun to ruffle the waters of their life. Even Johnson's
troubled mind enjoyed vast levels of repose. The unknown world alone was
wrapped in stormy gloom; of this world 'all the complaints which were
made were unjust[1].' Though I was now familiar with many of the great
writers, yet Boswell I had scarcely opened since my boyhood. A happy day
came just eighteen years ago when in an old book-shop, almost under the
shadow of a great cathedral, I bought a second-hand copy of a somewhat
early edition of the _Life_ in five well-bound volumes. Of all my books
none I cherish more than thesc. In looking at them I have known what it
is to feel Bishop Percy's 'uneasiness at the thoughts of leaving his
books in death[2].' They became my almost inseparable companions. Before
long I began to note the parallel passages and allusions not only in
their pages, but in the various authors whom I studied. Yet in these
early days I never dreamt of preparing a new edition. It fell to my lot
as time went on to criticise in some of our leading publications works
that bore both on Boswell and Johnson. Such was my love for the subject
that on one occasion, when I was called upon to write a review that
should fall two columns of a weekly newspaper, I read a new edition of
the _Life_ from beginning to end without, I believe, missing a single
line of the text or a single note. At length, 'towering in the
confidence'[3] of one who as yet has but set his foot on the threshold
of some stately mansion in which he hopes to find for himself a home, I
was rash enough more than twelve years ago to offer myself as editor of
a new edition of Boswell's _Life of Johnson_. Fortunately for me another
writer had been already engaged by the publisher to whom I applied, and
my offer was civilly declined. From that time on I never lost sight of
my purpose but when in the troubles of life I well-nigh lost sight of
every kind of hope. Everything in my reading that bore on my favourite
author was carefully noted, till at length I felt that the materials
which I had gathered from all sides were sufficient to shield me from a
charge of rashness if I now began to raise the building. Much of the
work of preparation had been done at a grievous disadvantage. My health
more than once seemed almost hopelessly broken down. Nevertheless even
then the time was not wholly lost. In the sleepless hours of many a
winter night I almost forgot my miseries in the delightful pages of
Horace Walpole's Letters, and with pencil in hand and some little hope
still in heart, managed to get a few notes taken. Three winters I had to
spend on the shores of the Mediterranean. During two of them my malady
and my distress allowed of no rival, and my work made scarcely any
advance. The third my strength was returning, and in the six months that
I spent three years ago in San Remo I wrote out very many of the notes
which I am now submitting to my readers.
An interval of some years of comparative health that I enjoyed between
my two severest illnesses allowed me to try my strength as a critic and
an editor. In _Dr. Johnson: His Friends and his Critics_, which I
published in the year 1878, I reviewed the judgments passed on Johnson
and Boswell by Lord Macaulay and Mr. Carlyle, I described Oxford as it
was known to Johnson, and I threw light on more than one important
passage in the _Life_. The following year I edited Boswell's _Journal of
a Tour to Corsica_ and his curious correspondence with the Hon. Andrew
Erskine. The somewhat rare little volume in which are contained the
lively but impudent letters that passed between these two friends I had
found one happy day in an old book-stall underneath the town hall of
Keswick. I hoped that among the almost countless readers of Boswell
there would be many who would care to study in one of the earliest
attempts of his joyous youth the man whose ripened genius was to place
him at the very head of all the biographers of whom the world can boast.
My hopes were increased by the elegance and the accuracy of the
typography with which my publishers, Messrs. De La Rue & Co., adorned
this reprint. I was disappointed in my expectations. These curious
Letters met with a neglect which they did not deserve. Twice, moreover,
I was drawn away from the task that I had set before me by other works.
By the death of my uncle, Sir Rowland Hill, I was called upon to edit
his _History of the Penny Postage_, and to write his _Life_. Later on
General Gordon's correspondence during the first six years of his
government of the Soudan was entrusted to me to prepare for the press.
In my _Colonel Gordon in Central Africa_ I attempted to do justice to
the rare genius, to the wise and pure enthusiasm, and to the exalted
beneficence of that great man. The labour that I gave to these works
was, as regards my main purpose, by no means wholly thrown away. I was
trained by it in the duties of an editor, and by studying the character
of two such men, who, though wide as the poles asunder in many things,
were as devoted to truth and accuracy as they were patient in their
pursuit, I was strengthened in my hatred of carelessness and error.
With all these interruptions the summer of 1885 was upon me before I was
ready for the compositors to make a beginning with my work. In revising
my proofs very rarely indeed have I contented myself in verifying my
quotations with comparing them merely with my own manuscript. In almost
all instances I have once more examined the originals. 'Diligence and
accuracy,' writes Gibbon, 'are the only merits which an historical
writer may ascribe to himself; if any merit indeed can be assumed from
the performance of an indispensable duty[4].' By diligence and accuracy
I have striven to win for myself a place in Johnson's _school_--'a
school distinguished,' as Sir Joshua Reynolds said, 'for a love of truth
and accuracy[5].' I have steadily set before myself Boswell's example
where he says:--'Let me only observe, as a specimen of my trouble, that
I have sometimes been obliged to run half over London, in order to fix a
date correctly; which, when I had accomplished, I well knew would obtain
me no praise, though a failure would have been to my discredit[6].' When
the variety and the number of my notes are considered, when it is known
that a great many of the authors I do not myself possess, but that they
could only be examined in the Bodleian or the British Museum, it will be
seen that the labour of revising the proofs was, indeed, unusually
severe. In the course of the eighteen months during which they have been
passing through the press, fresh reading has given fresh information,
and caused many an addition, and not a few corrections moreover to be
made, in passages which I had previously presumed to think already
complete. Had it been merely the biography of a great man of letters
that I was illustrating, such anxious care would scarcely have been
needful. But Boswell's _Life of Johnson_, as its author with just pride
boasts on its title-page, 'exhibits a view of literature and literary
men in Great Britain, for near half a century during which Johnson
flourished.' Wide, indeed, is the gulf by which this half-century is
separated from us. The reaction against the thought and style of the age
over which Pope ruled in its prime, and Johnson in its decline,--this
reaction, wise as it was in many ways and extravagant as it was perhaps
in more, is very far from having spent its force. Young men are still
far too often found in our Universities who think that one proof of
their originality is a contempt of authors whose writings they have
never read. Books which were in the hands of almost every reader of the
_Life_ when it first appeared are now read only by the curious.
Allusions and quotations which once fell upon a familiar and a friendly
ear now fall dead. Men whose names were known to every one, now often
have not even a line in a Dictionary of Biography. Over manners too a
change has come, and as Johnson justly observes, 'all works which
describe manners require notes in sixty or seventy years, or less[7].'
But it is not only Boswell's narrative that needs illustration. Johnson
in his talk ranges over a vast number of subjects. In his capacious
memory were stored up the fruits of an almost boundless curiosity, and a
wide and varied reading. I have sought to follow him wherever a remark
of his required illustration, and have read through many a book that I
might trace to its source a reference or an allusion. I have examined,
moreover, all the minor writings which are attributed to him by Boswell,
but which are not for the most part included in his collected works. In
some cases I have ventured to set my judgment against Boswell's, and
have refused to admit that Johnson was the author of the feeble pieces
which were fathered on him. Once or twice in the course of my reading I
have come upon essays which had escaped the notice of his biographer,
but which bear the marks of his workmanship. To these I have given a
reference. While the minute examination that I have so often had to make
of Boswell's narrative has done nothing but strengthen my trust in his
statements and my admiration of his laborious truthfulness, yet in one
respect I have not found him so accurate as I had expected. 'I have,' he
says, 'been extremely careful as to the exactness of my quotations[8].'
Though in preparing his manuscript he referred in each case 'to the
originals,' yet he did not, I conjecture, examine them once more in
revising his proof-sheets. At all events he has allowed errors to slip
in. These I have pointed out in my notes, for in every case where I
could I have, I believe, verified his quotations.
I have not thought that it was my duty as an editor to attempt to refute
or even to criticise Johnson's arguments. The story is told that when
Peter the Great was on his travels and far from his country, some
members of the Russian Council of State in St. Petersburgh ventured to
withstand what was known to be his wish. His walking-stick was laid upon
the table, and silence at once fell upon all. In like manner, before
that editor who should trouble himself and his readers with attempting
to refute Johnson's arguments, paradoxical as they often were, should be
placed Reynolds's portrait of that 'labouring working mind[9].' It might
make him reflect that if the mighty reasoner could rise up and meet him
face to face, he would be sure, on which ever side the right might be,
even if at first his pistol missed fire to knock him down with the
butt-end of it[10]. I have attempted therefore not to criticise but to
illustrate Johnson's statements. I have compared them with the opinions
of the more eminent men among his contemporaries, and with his own as
they are contained in other parts of his _Life_, and in his writings. It
is in his written works that his real opinion can be most surely found.
'He owned he sometimes talked for victory; he was too conscientious to
make error permanent and pernicious by deliberately writing it[11].' My
numerous extracts from the eleven volumes of his collected works will, I
trust, not only give a truer insight into the nature of the man, but
also will show the greatness of the author to a generation of readers
who have wandered into widely different paths.
In my attempts to trace the quotations of which both Johnson and Boswell
were somewhat lavish, I have not in every case been successful, though I
have received liberal assistance from more than one friend. In one case
my long search was rewarded by the discovery that Boswell was quoting
himself. That I have lighted upon the beautiful lines which Johnson
quoted when he saw the Highland girl singing at her wheel[12], and have
found out who was 'one Giffard,' or rather Gifford, 'a parson,' is to me
a source of just triumph. I have not known many happier hours than the
one in which in the Library of the British Museum my patient
investigation was rewarded and I perused _Contemplation_.
Fifteen hitherto unpublished letters of Johnson[13]; his college
composition in Latin prose[14]; a long extract from his manuscript
diary[15]; a suppressed passage in his _Journey to the Western
Islands_[16]; Boswell's letters of acceptance of the office of Secretary
for Foreign Correspondence to the Royal Academy[17]; the proposal for
the publication of a _Geographical Dictionary_ issued by Johnson's
beloved friend, Dr. Bathurst[18]; and Mr. Recorder Longley's record of
his conversation with Johnson on Greek metres[19], will, I trust, throw
some lustre on this edition.
In many notes I have been able to clear up statements in the text which
were not fully understood even by the author, or were left intentionally
dark by him, or have become obscure through lapse of time. I would
particularly refer to the light that I have thrown on Johnson's engaging
in politics with William Gerard Hamilton[20], and on Burke's 'talk of
retiring[21].' In many other notes I have established Boswell's accuracy
against attacks which had been made on it apparently with success. It
was with much pleasure that I discovered that the story told of
Johnson's listening to Dr. Sacheverel's sermon is not in any way
improbable[22], and that Johnson's 'censure' of Lord Kames was quite
just[23]. The ardent advocates of total abstinence will not, I fear, be
pleased at finding at the end of my long note on Johnson's wine-drinking
that I have been obliged to show that he thought that the gout from
which he suffered was due to his temperance. 'I hope you persevere in
drinking,' he wrote to his friend, Dr. Taylor. 'My opinion is that I
have drunk too little[24].'
In the Appendices I have generally treated of subjects which demanded
more space than could be given them in the narrow limits of a foot-note.
In the twelve pages of the essay on Johnson's _Debates in
Parliament_[25] I have compressed the result of the reading of many
weeks. In examining the character of George Psalmanazar[26] I have
complied with the request of an unknown correspondent who was naturally
interested in the history of that strange man, 'after whom Johnson
sought the most[27].' In my essay on Johnson's Travels and Love of
Travelling[28] I have, in opposition to Lord Macaulay's wild and wanton
rhetoric, shown how ardent and how elevated was the curiosity with which
Johnson's mind was possessed. In another essay I have explained, I do
not say justified, his strong feelings towards the founders of the
United States[29]; and in a fifth I have examined the election of the
Lord Mayors of London, at a time when the City was torn by political
strife[30]. To the other Appendices it is not needful particularly to
refer.
In my Index, which has cost me many months' heavy work, 'while I bore
burdens with dull patience and beat the track of the alphabet with
sluggish resolution[31],' I have, I hope, shown that I am not unmindful
of all that I owe to men of letters. To the dead we cannot pay the debt
of gratitude that is their due. Some relief is obtained from its
burthen, if we in our turn make the men of our own generation debtors to
us. The plan on which my Index is made will, I trust, be found
convenient. By the alphabetical arrangement in the separate entries of
each article the reader, I venture to think, will be greatly facilitated
in his researches. Certain subjects I have thought it best to form into
groups. Under America, France Ireland, London, Oxford, Paris, and
Scotland, are gathered together almost all the references to those
subjects. The provincial towns of France, however, by some mistake I did
not include in the general article. One important but intentional
omission I must justify. In the case of the quotations in which my notes
abound I have not thought it needful in the Index to refer to the book
unless the eminence of the author required a separate and a second
entry. My labour would have been increased beyond all endurance and my
Index have been swollen almost into a monstrosity had I always referred
to the book as well as to the matter which was contained in the passage
that I extracted. Though in such a variety of subjects there must be
many omissions, yet I shall be greatly disappointed if actual errors are
discovered. Every entry I have made myself, and every entry I have
verified in the proof-sheets, not by comparing it with my manuscript,
but by turning to the reference in the printed volumes. Some indulgence
nevertheless may well be claimed and granted. If Homer at times nods, an
index-maker may be pardoned, should he in the fourth or fifth month of
his task at the end of a day of eight hours' work grow drowsy. May I
fondly hope that to the maker of so large an Index will be extended the
gratitude which Lord Bolingbroke says was once shown to lexicographers?
'I approve,' writes his Lordship, 'the devotion of a studious man at
Christ Church, who was overheard in his oratory entering into a detail
with God, and acknowledging the divine goodness in furnishing the world
with makers of dictionaries[32].'
In the list that I give in the beginning of the sixth volume of the
books which I quote, the reader will find stated in full the titles
which in the notes, through regard to space, I was forced to compress.
The Concordance of Johnson's sayings which follows the Index[33] will be
found convenient by the literary man who desires to make use of his
strong and pointed utterances. Next to Shakespeare he is, I believe,
quoted and misquoted the most frequently of all our writers. 'It is not
every man that can _carry_ a _bon-mot_[34].' Bons-mots that are
miscarried of all kinds of good things suffer the most. In this
Concordance the general reader, moreover, may find much to delight him.
Johnson's trade was wit and wisdom[35], and some of his best wares are
here set out in a small space. It was, I must confess, with no little
pleasure that in revising my proof-sheets I found that the last line in
my Concordance and the last line in my six long volumes is Johnson's
quotation of Goldsmith's fine saying; 'I do not love a man who is
zealous for nothing.'
In the 'forward' references in the notes to other passages in the book,
the reader may be surprised at finding that while often I only give the
date under which the reference will be found, frequently I am able to
quote the page and volume. The explanation is a simple one: two sets of
compositors were generally at work, and two volumes were passing through
the press simultaneously.
In the selection of the text which I should adopt I hesitated for some
time. In ordinary cases the edition which received the author's final
revision is the one which all future editors should follow. The second
edition, which was the last that was brought out in Boswell's life-time,
could not, I became convinced, be conveniently reproduced. As it was
passing through the press he obtained many additional anecdotes and
letters. These he somewhat awkwardly inserted in an Introduction and an
Appendix. He was engaged on his third edition when he died. 'He had
pointed out where some of these materials should be inserted,' and 'in
the margin of the copy which he had in part revised he had written
notes[36].' His interrupted labours were completed by Edmond Malone, to
whom he had read aloud almost the whole of his original manuscript, and
who had helped him in the revision of the first half of the book when it
was in type[37]. 'These notes,' says Malone, 'are faithfully preserved.'
He adds that 'every new remark, not written by the author, for the sake
of distinction has been enclosed within crotchets[38].' In the third
edition therefore we have the work in the condition in which it would
have most approved itself to Boswell's own judgment. In one point only,
and that a trifling one, had Malone to exercise his judgment. But so
skilful an editor was very unlikely to go wrong in those few cases in
which he was called upon to insert in their proper places the additional
material which the author had already published in his second edition.
Malone did not, however, correct the proof-sheets. I thought it my duty,
therefore, in revising my work to have the text of Boswell's second
edition read aloud to me throughout. Some typographical errors might, I
feared, have crept in. In a few unimportant cases early in the book I
adopted the reading of the second edition, but as I read on I became
convinced that almost all the verbal alterations were Boswell's own.
Slight errors, often of the nature of Scotticisms, had been corrected,
and greater accuracy often given. Some of the corrections and additions
in the third edition that were undoubtedly from his hand were of
considerable importance.
I have retained Boswell's spelling in accordance with the wish that he
expressed in the preface to his _Account of Corsica_. 'If this work,' he
writes, 'should at any future period be reprinted, I hope that care will
be taken of my orthography[39].' The punctuation too has been preserved.
I should be wanting in justice were I not to acknowledge that I owe much
to the labours of Mr. Croker. No one can know better than I do his great
failings as an editor. His remarks and criticisms far too often deserve
the contempt that Macaulay so liberally poured on them. Without being
deeply versed in books, he was shallow in himself. Johnson's strong
character was never known to him. Its breadth and length, and depth and
height were far beyond his measure. With his writings even he shows few
signs of being familiar. Boswell's genius, a genius which even to Lord
Macaulay was foolishness, was altogether hidden from his dull eye. No
one surely but a 'blockhead,' a 'barren rascal[40],' could with scissors
and paste-pot have mangled the biography which of all others is the
delight and the boast of the English-speaking world. He is careless in
small matters, and his blunders are numerous. These I have only noticed
in the more important cases, remembering what Johnson somewhere points
out, that the triumphs of one critic over another only fatigue and
disgust the reader. Yet he has added considerably to our knowledge of
Johnson. He knew men who had intimately known both the hero and his
biographer, and he gathered much that but for his care would have been
lost for ever. He was diligent and successful in his search after
Johnson's letters, of so many of which Boswell with all his persevering
and pushing diligence had not been able to get a sight. The editor of
Mr. Croker's _Correspondence and Diaries_[41] goes, however, much too
far when, in writing of Macaulay's criticism, he says: 'The attack
defeated itself by its very violence, and therefore it did the book no
harm whatever. Between forty and fifty thousand copies have been sold,
although Macaulay boasted with great glee that he had smashed it.' The
book that Macaulay attacked was withdrawn. That monstrous medley reached
no second edition. In its new form all the worst excrescences had been
cleared away, and though what was left was not Boswell, still less was
it unchastened Croker. His repentance, however, was not thorough. He
never restored the text to its old state; wanton transpositions of
passages still remain, and numerous insertions break the narrative. It
was my good fortune to become a sound Boswellian before I even looked at
his edition. It was not indeed till I came to write out my notes for the
press that I examined his with any thoroughness.
'Notes,' says Johnson, 'are often necessary, but they are necessary
evils[42].' To the young reader who for the first time turns over
Boswell's delightful pages I would venture to give the advice Johnson
gives about Shakespeare:--
'Let him that is yet unacquainted with the powers of Shakespeare, and
who desires to feel the highest pleasure that the drama can give, read
every play from the first scene to the last with utter negligence of all
his commentators. When his fancy is once on the wing, let it not stoop
at correction or explanation. When his attention is strongly engaged let
it disdain alike to turn aside to the name of Theobald and of Pope. Let
him read on through brightness and obscurity, through integrity and
corruption; let him preserve his comprehension of the dialogue and his
interest in the fable. And when the pleasures of novelty have ceased let
him attempt exactness and read the commentators[43].'
So too let him who reads the _Life of Johnson_ for the first time read
it in one of the _Pre-Crokerian_ editions. They are numerous and good.
With his attention undiverted by notes he will rapidly pass through one
of the most charming narratives that the world has ever seen, and if his
taste is uncorrupted by modern extravagances, will recognise the genius
of an author who, in addition to other great qualities, has an admirable
eye for the just proportions of an extensive work, and who is the master
of a style that is as easy as it is inimitable.
Johnson, I fondly believe, would have been pleased, perhaps would even
have been proud, could he have foreseen this edition. Few distinctions
he valued more highly than those which he received from his own great
University. The honorary degrees that it conferred on him, the gown that
it entitled him to wear, by him were highly esteemed. In the Clarendon
Press he took a great interest[44]. The efforts which that famous
establishment has made in the excellence of the typography, the quality
of the paper, and the admirably-executed illustrations and facsimiles to
do honour to his memory and to the genius of his biographer would have
highly delighted him. To his own college he was so deeply attached that
he would not have been displeased to learn that his editor had been
nursed in that once famous 'nest of singing birds.' Of Boswell's
pleasure I cannot doubt. How much he valued any tribute of respect from
Oxford is shown by the absurd importance that he gave to a sermon which
was preached before the University by an insignificant clergyman more
than a year and a half after Johnson's death[45]. When Edmund Burke
witnessed the long and solemn procession entering the Cathedral of St.
Paul's, as it followed Sir Joshua Reynolds to his grave, he wrote:
'Everything, I think, was just as our deceased friend would, if living,
have wished it to be; for he was, as you know, not altogether
indifferent to this kind of observances[46].' It would, indeed, be
presumptuous in me to flatter myself that in this edition everything is
as Johnson and Boswell would, if living, have wished it. Yet to this
kind of observances, the observances that can be shown by patient and
long labour, and by the famous press of a great University, neither man
was altogether indifferent.
Should my work find favour with the world of readers, I hope again to
labour in the same fields. I had indeed at one time intended to enlarge
this edition by essays on Boswell, Johnson, Mrs. Thrale, and perhaps on
other subjects. Their composition would, however, have delayed
publication more than seemed advisable, and their length might have
rendered the volumes bulky beyond all reason. A more favourable
opportunity may come. I have in hand a _Selection of the Wit and Wisdom
of Dr. Johnson_. I purpose, moreover, to collect and edit all of his
letters that are not in the _Life_. Some hundreds of these were
published by Mrs. Piozzi; many more are contained in Mr. Croker's
edition; while others have already appeared in _Notes and Queries_[47].
Not a few, doubtless, are still lurking in the desks of the collectors
of autographs. As a letter-writer Johnson stands very high. While the
correspondence of David Garrick has been given to the world in two large
volumes, it is not right that the letters of his far greater friend
should be left scattered and almost neglected. 'He that sees before him
to his third dinner,' says Johnson, 'has a long prospect[48].' My
prospect is still longer; for, if health be spared, and a fair degree of
public favour shown, I see before me to my third book. When I have
published my _Letters_, I hope to enter upon a still more arduous task
in editing the _Lives of the Poets_.
In my work I have received much kind assistance, not only from friends,
but also from strangers to whom I had applied in cases where special
knowledge could alone throw light on some obscure point. My
acknowledgments I have in most instances made in my notes. In some
cases, either through want of opportunity or forgetfulness, this has not
been done. I gladly avail myself of the present opportunity to remedy
this deficiency. The Earl of Crawford and Balcarres I have to thank for
so liberally allowing the original of the famous Round Robin, which is
in his Lordship's possession, to be reproduced by a photographic process
for this edition. It is by the kindness of Mr. J.L.G. Mowat, M.A.,
Fellow and Bursar of Pembroke College, Oxford, that I have been able to
make a careful examination of the Johnsonian manuscripts in which our
college is so rich. If the vigilance with which he keeps guard over
these treasures while they are being inspected is continued by his
successors in office, the college will never have to mourn over the loss
of a single leaf. To the Rev. W.D. Macray, M.A., of the manuscript
department of the Bodleian, to Mr. Falconer Madan, M.A., Sub-Librarian
of the same Library, and to Mr. George Parker, one of the Assistants, I
am indebted for the kindness with which they have helped me in my
inquiries. To Mr. W.H. Allnutt, another of the Assistants, I owe still
more. When I was abroad, I too frequently, I fear, troubled him with
questions which no one could have answered who was not well versed in
bibliographical lore. It was not often that his acuteness was baffled,
while his kindness was never exhausted. My old friend Mr. E.J. Payne,
M.A., Fellow of University College, Oxford, the learned editor of the
_Select Works of Burke_ published by the Clarendon Press, has allowed
me, whenever I pleased, to draw on his extensive knowledge of the
history and the literature of the eighteenth century. Mr. C.G. Crump,
B.A., of Balliol College, Oxford, has traced for me not a few of the
quotations which had baffled my search. To Mr. G.K. Fortescue,
Superintendent of the Reading Room of the British Museum, my most
grateful acknowledgments are due. His accurate and extensive knowledge
of books and his unfailing courtesy and kindness have lightened many a
day's heavy work in the spacious room over which he so worthily
presides. But most of all am I indebted to Mr. C.E. Doble, M.A., of the
Clarendon Press. He has read all my proof-sheets, and by his almost
unrivalled knowledge of the men of letters of the close of the
seventeenth and of the beginning of the eighteenth centuries, he has
saved my notes from some blunders and has enriched them with much
valuable information. In my absence abroad he has in more instances than
I care to think of consulted for me the Bodleian Library. It is some
relief to my conscience to know that the task was rendered lighter to
him by his intimate familiarity with its treasures, and by the deep love
for literature with which he is inspired.
There are other thanks due which I cannot here fittingly express. 'An
author partakes of the common condition of humanity; he is born and
married like another man; he has hopes and fears, expectations and
disappointments, griefs and joys like a courtier or a statesman[49].' In
the hopes and fears, in the expectations and disappointments, in the
griefs and joys--nay, in the very labours of his literary life, if his
hearth is not a solitary one, he has those who largely share.
I have now come to the end of my long labours. 'There are few things not
purely evil,' wrote Johnson, 'of which we can say without some emotion
of uneasiness, _this is the last_[50].' From this emotion I cannot feign
that I am free. My book has been my companion in many a sad and many a
happy hour. I take leave of it with a pang of regret, but I am cheered
by the hope that it may take its place, if a lowly one, among the works
of men who have laboured patiently but not unsuccessfully in the great
and shining fields of English literature.
G. B. H.
CLARENS, SWITZERLAND:
_March_ 16, 1887.
[Footnote 1: _Post_, iv. 172.]
[Footnote 2: _Post_, iii. 312.]
[Footnote 3: _Post_, i. 324.]
[Footnote 4: _History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, ed.
1807, vol. i. p. xi.]
[Footnote 5: _Post_, iii. 230.]
[Footnote 6: _Post_, i. 7.]
[Footnote 7: _Post_, ii. 212.]
[Footnote 8: _Post_, i. 7.]
[Footnote 9: _Post_, iv. 444.]
[Footnote 10: _Post_, ii. 100.]
[Footnote 11: _Post_, iv. 429; v. 17.]
[Footnote 12: _Post_, v. 117.]
[Footnote 13: _Post_, i. 472, n. 4; iv. 260, n. 2; v. 405, n. 1, 454, n.
2; vi. i-xxxvii.]
[Footnote 14: _Post_, i. 60, n. 7.]
[Footnote 15: _Post_, ii. 476.]
[Footnote 16: _Post_, vi. xxxiv.]
[Footnote 17: _Post_, iii. 462.]
[Footnote 18: _Post_, vi. xxii.]
[Footnote 19: _Post_, iv. 8, n. 3.]
[Footnote 20: _Post_, i. 489, 518.]
[Footnote 21: _Post_, iv. 223, n. 3.]
[Footnote 22: _Post_, i. 39, n. 1.]
[Footnote 23: _Post_, iii. 340, n. 2.]
[Footnote 24: _Post_, i. 103, n. 3.]
[Footnote 25: _Post_, i. 501.]
[Footnote 26: _Post_, iii. 443.]
[Footnote 27: _Post_, iii. 314.]
[Footnote 28: _Post_, iii. 449.]
[Footnote 29: _Post_, iii. 478.]
[Footnote 30: _Post_, iii. 459.]
[Footnote 31: _Post_, i. 189. n. 2.]
[Footnote 32: i. 296, n. 3.]
[Footnote 33: _Post_, vi. 289.]
[Footnote 34: _Post_, ii. 350.]
[Footnote 35: _Post_, iii. 137, n. 1; 389.]
[Footnote 36: _Post_, i. 14]
[Footnote 37: _Post_, i. 7-8]
[Footnote 38: _Post_, i. 14-15.]
[Footnote 39: _Post_, iv. 31, n. 3]
[Footnote 40: ii. 173-4.]
[Footnote 41: vol. ii. p. 47.]
[Footnote 42: Johnson's _Works_, ed. 1825, vol. v. p. 152.]
[Footnote 43: Johnson's _Works_, ed. 1825, vol. v. p. 152.]
[Footnote 44: See _Post_, ii. 35, 424-6, 441.]
[Footnote 45: See _Post_, iv. 422.]
[Footnote 46: _Correspondence of Edmund Burke_, ii. 425.]
[Footnote 47: To this interesting and accurate publication I am indebted
for many valuable notes.]
[Footnote 48: _Post_, iii. 51, n. 3.]
[Footnote 49: Johnson's _Works_, ed. 1825, vol. iv. p. 446.]
[Footnote 50: _Post_, i. 331, _n._ 7.]
ERRATA.
Vol. I, page 140, _n._ 5, l. 2, _read 'of.'_
" " 176, _n._ 2, l. 22, _for_ 1774 _read_ 1747.
" " 262, _n._ 3 of p. 261, l. 3, _for_ guineas _read_ pounds.
" " 480, l. 20, _for_ language, _read_ language.'
Vol. II, page 34, _n._ 1, l. 40, _for_ proper. _read_ proper.'
" " 445, l. 8, _for_ Masters _read_ Master
Vol. III, page 18, l. 13, _read_ accessary.
" " 81, _n._ 1, l. 2, _for_ 1784, _read_ 1784.
" " 312, _n._ 1, l. 1, _for_ Mrs. Burney _read_ Miss Burney
Vol. IV, page 323, _n._ 1, l. 21, _for_ Wharton _read_ Warton
" " 379, l. 19, _read_ after
Vol. V, page 49, _n._ 4, l. 2, _for 'Boswell' read 'Johnson.'_
Vol. VI. " 74, col. 2, _insert_ Eccles, Rev. W., i. 360.
DEDICATION.
_TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS_.
MY DEAR SIR,
Every liberal motive that can actuate an Authour in the dedication of
his labours, concurs in directing me to you, as the person to whom the
following Work should be inscribed.
If there be a pleasure in celebrating the distinguished merit of a
contemporary, mixed with a certain degree of vanity not altogether
inexcusable, in appearing fully sensible of it, where can I find one, in
complimenting whom I can with more general approbation gratify those
feelings? Your excellence not only in the Art over which you have long
presided with unrivalled fame, but also in Philosophy and elegant
Literature, is well known to the present, and will continue to be the
admiration of future ages. Your equal and placid temper[1], your variety
of conversation, your true politeness, by which you are so amiable in
private society, and that enlarged hospitality which has long made your
house a common centre of union for the great, the accomplished, the
learned, and the ingenious; all these qualities I can, in perfect
confidence of not being accused of flattery, ascribe to you.
[Footnote 1: Johnson said of him:--'Sir Joshua Reynolds is the same all
the year round;' _post_, March 28, 1776. Boswell elsewhere describes him
as 'he who used to be looked upon as perhaps the most happy man in the
world.' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 344.]
If a man may indulge an honest pride, in having it known to the world,
that he has been thought worthy of particular attention by a person of
the first eminence in the age in which he lived, whose company has been
universally courted, I am justified in availing myself of the usual
privilege of a Dedication, when I mention that there has been a long and
uninterrupted friendship between us.
[Page 2: Dedication.]
If gratitude should be acknowledged for favours received, I have this
opportunity, my dear Sir, most sincerely to thank you for the many happy
hours which I owe to your kindness,--for the cordiality with which you
have at all times been pleased to welcome me,--for the number of
valuable acquaintances to whom you have introduced me,--for the _noctes
coenaeque Deum_[1], which I have enjoyed under your roof[2].
[Footnote 1: 'O noctes coenaeque Deum!' 'O joyous nights! delicious
feasts! At which the gods might be my guests. _Francis_. Horace, _Sat_,
ii. 6. 65.]
[Footnote 2: Six years before this Dedication Sir Joshua had conferred
on him another favour. 'I have a proposal to make to you,' Boswell had
written to him, 'I am for certain to be called to the English bar next
February. Will you now do my picture? and the price shall be paid out of
the first fees which I receive as a barrister in Westminster Hall. Or if
that fund should fail, it shall be paid at any rate five years hence by
myself or my representatives.' Boswell told him at the same time that
the debts which he had contracted in his father's lifetime would not be
cleared off for some years. The letter was endorsed by Sir Joshua:--'I
agree to the above conditions;' and the portrait was painted. Taylor's
_Reynolds_, ii. 477.]
If a work should be inscribed to one who is master of the subject of it,
and whose approbation, therefore, must ensure it credit and success, the
_Life of Dr. Johnson_ is, with the greatest propriety, dedicated to Sir
Joshua Reynolds, who was the intimate and beloved friend of that great
man; the friend, whom he declared to be 'the most invulnerable man he
knew; whom, if he should quarrel with him, he should find the most
difficulty how to abuse[1].' You, my dear Sir, studied him, and knew him
well: you venerated and admired him. Yet, luminous as he was upon the
whole, you perceived all the shades which mingled in the grand
composition; all the little peculiarities and slight blemishes which
marked the literary Colossus. Your very warm commendation of the
specimen which I gave in my _Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides_, of my
being able to preserve his conversation in an authentick and lively
manner, which opinion the Publick has confirmed, was the best
encouragement for me to persevere in my purpose of producing the whole
of my stores[2].
[Footnote 1: See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 24, 1773.]
[Footnote 2: 'I surely have the art of writing agreeably. The Lord
Chancellor [Thurlow] told me he had read every word of my _Hebridian
Journal_;' he could not help it; adding, 'could you give a rule how to
write a book that a man _must_ read? I believe Longinus could not.'
_Letters of Boswell_, p. 322.]
In one respect, this Work will, in some passages, be different from the
former. In my _Tour_, I was almost unboundedly open in my
communications, and from my eagerness to display the wonderful fertility
and readiness of Johnson's wit, freely shewed to the world its
dexterity, even when I was myself the object of it. I trusted that I
should be liberally understood, as knowing very well what I was about,
and by no means as simply unconscious of the pointed effects of the
satire. I own, indeed, that I was arrogant enough to suppose that the
tenour of the rest of the book would sufficiently guard me against such
a strange imputation. But it seems I judged too well of the world; for,
though I could scarcely believe it, I have been undoubtedly informed,
that many persons, especially in distant quarters, not penetrating
enough into Johnson's character, so as to understand his mode of
treating his friends, have arraigned my judgement, instead of seeing
that I was sensible of all that they could observe.
It is related of the great Dr. Clarke[1], that when in one of his
leisure hours he was unbending himself with a few friends in the most
playful and frolicksome manner, he observed Beau Nash approaching; upon
which he suddenly stopped:--'My boys, (said he,) let us be grave: here
comes a fool.' The world, my friend, I have found to be a great fool, as
to that particular, on which it has become necessary to speak very
plainly. I have, therefore, in this Work been more reserved[2]; and
though I tell nothing but the truth, I have still kept in my mind that
the whole truth is not always to be exposed. This, however, I have
managed so as to occasion no diminution of the pleasure which my book
should afford; though malignity may sometimes be disappointed of its
gratifications.
[Footnote 1: Boswell perhaps quotes from memory the following passage in
Goldsmith's _Life of Nash_:--'The doctor was one day conversing with
Locke and two or three more of his learned and intimate companions, with
that freedom, gaiety, and cheerfulness, which is ever the result of
innocence. In the midst of their mirth and laughter, the doctor, looking
from the window, saw Nash's chariot stop at the door. "Boys, boys,"
cried the philosopher, "let us now be wise, for here is a fool coming."'
Cunningham's Goldsmith's _Works_, iv. 96. Dr. Warton in his criticism on
Pope's line
'Unthought of frailties cheat us
in the wise,'
(_Moral Essays_, i. 69) says:--'For who could imagine that Dr. Clarke
valued himself for his agility, and frequently amused himself in a
private room of his house in leaping over the tables and chairs.'
Warton's _Essay on Pope_, ii. 125. 'It is a good remark of Montaigne's,'
wrote Goldsmith, 'that the wisest men often have friends with whom they
do not care how much they play the fool.' Forster's _Goldsmith_, i. 166.
Mr. Seward says in his _Anecdotes_, ii. 320, that 'in the opinion of Dr.
Johnson' Dr. Clarke was the most complete literary character that
England ever produced.' For Dr. Clarke's sermons see _post_, April 7,
1778.]
[Footnote 2: See _post_, Oct. 16, 1769, note.]
[Page 4: Dedication.]
I am,
My dear Sir,
Your much obliged friend,
And faithful humble servant,
JAMES BOSWELL.
London,
April 20, 1791.
ADVERTISEMENT
TO THE
FIRST EDITION.
I at last deliver to the world a Work which I have long promised, and of
which, I am afraid, too high expectations have been raised[1]. The delay
of its publication must be imputed, in a considerable degree, to the
extraordinary zeal which has been shewn by distinguished persons in all
quarters to supply me with additional information concerning its
illustrious subject; resembling in this the grateful tribes of ancient
nations, of which every individual was eager to throw a stone upon the
grave of a departed Hero, and thus to share in the pious office of
erecting an honourable monument to his memory[2].
[Footnote 1: How much delighted would Boswell have been, had he been
shewn the following passage, recorded by Miss Burney, in an account she
gives of a conversation with the Queen:--
THE QUEEN:--'Miss Burney, have you heard that Boswell is going to
publish a life of your friend Dr. Johnson?' 'No, ma'am!' 'I tell you as
I heard, I don't know for the truth of it, and I can't tell what he will
do. He is so extraordinary a man that perhaps he will devise something
extraordinary.' _Mme. D'Artlay's Diary_, ii. 400. 'Dr. Johnson's
history,' wrote Horace Walpole, on June 20, 1785, 'though he is going to
have as many lives as a cat, might be reduced to four lines; but I shall
wait to extract the quintessence till Sir John Hawkins, Madame Piozzi,
and Mr. Boswell have produced their quartos.' Horace Walpole's
_Letters_, viii. 557.]
[Footnote 2: The delay was in part due to Boswell's dissipation and
place-hunting, as is shewn by the following passages in his _Letters_ to
Temple:--'Feb. 24, 1788, I have been wretchedly dissipated, so that I
have not written a line for a fortnight.' p. 266. 'Nov. 28, 1789,
Malone's hospitality, and my other invitations, and particularly my
attendance at Lord Lonsdale's, have lost us many evenings.' _Ib_. p.
311. 'June 21, 1790, How unfortunate to be obliged to interrupt my work!
Never was a poor ambitious projector more mortified. I am suffering
without any prospect of reward, and only from my own folly.' _Ib_. p.
326.]
[Page 6: Advertisement to the First Edition.]
The labour and anxious attention with which I have collected and
arranged the materials of which these volumes are composed, will hardly
be conceived by those who read them with careless facility[1]. The
stretch of mind and prompt assiduity by which so many conversations were
preserved[2], I myself, at some distance of time, contemplate with
wonder; and I must be allowed to suggest, that the nature of the work,
in other respects, as it consists of innumerable detached particulars,
all which, even the most minute, I have spared no pains to ascertain
with a scrupulous authenticity, has occasioned a degree of trouble far
beyond that of any other species of composition. Were I to detail the
books which I have consulted, and the inquiries which I have found it
necessary to make by various channels, I should probably be thought
ridiculously ostentatious. Let me only observe, as a specimen of my
trouble, that I have sometimes been obliged to run half over London, in
order to fix a date correctly; which, when I had accomplished, I well
knew would obtain me no praise, though a failure would have been to my
discredit. And after all, perhaps, hard as it may be, I shall not be
surprized if omissions or mistakes be pointed out with invidious
severity. I have also been extremely careful as to the exactness of my
quotations; holding that there is a respect due to the publick which
should oblige every Authour to attend to this, and never to presume to
introduce them with,--'_I think I have read_;'--or,--'_If I remember
right_;'--when the originals may be examined[3].
[Footnote 1: 'You cannot imagine what labour, what perplexity, what
vexation I have endured in arranging a prodigious multiplicity of
materials, in supplying omissions, in searching for papers, buried in
different masses, and all this besides the exertion of composing and
polishing; many a time have I thought of giving it up.' _Letters of
Boswell_, p. 311.]
[Footnote 2: Boswell writing to Temple in 1775, says:--'I try to keep a
journal, and shall shew you that I have done tolerably; but it is hardly
credible what ground I go over, and what a variety of men and manners I
contemplate in a day; and all the time I myself am _pars magna_, for my
exuberant spirits will not let me listen enough.' _Ib_. p. 188. Mr.
Barclay said that 'he had seen Boswell lay down his knife and fork, and
take out his tablets, in order to register a good anecdote.' Croker's
_Boswell_, p. 837. The account given by Paoli to Miss Burney, shows that
very early in life Boswell took out his tablets:--'He came to my
country, and he fetched me some letter of recommending him; but I was of
the belief he might be an impostor, and I supposed in my minde he was an
espy; for I look away from him, and in a moment I look to him again, and
I behold his tablets. Oh! he was to the work of writing down all I say.
Indeed I was angry. But soon I discover he was no impostor and no espy;
and I only find I was myself the monster he had come to discern. Oh! he
is a very good man; I love him indeed; so cheerful, so gay, so pleasant!
but at the first, oh! I was indeed angry.' _Mme. D'Arblay's Diary_, ii.
155. Boswell not only recorded the conversations, he often stimulated
them. On one occasion 'he assumed,' he said, 'an air of ignorance to
incite Dr. Johnson to talk, for which it was often necessary to employ
some address.' See _post_, April 12, 1776. 'Tom Tyers,' said Johnson,
'described me the best. He once said to me, "Sir, you are like a ghost:
you never speak till you are spoken to."' Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 20,
1773. Boswell writing of this Tour said:--'I also may be allowed to
claim some merit in leading the conversation; I do not mean leading, as
in an orchestra, by playing the first fiddle; but leading as one does in
examining a witness--starting topics, and making him pursue them.' _Ib_.
Sept. 28. One day he recorded:--'I did not exert myself to get Dr.
Johnson to talk, that I might not have the labour of writing down his
conversation.' _Ib_. Sept. 7. His industry grew much less towards the
close of Johnson's life. Under May 8, 1781, he records:--'Of his
conversation on that and other occasions during this period, I neglected
to keep any regular record.' On May 15, 1783:--'I have no minute of any
interview with Johnson [from May 1] till May 15. 'May 15, 1784:--'Of
these days and others on which I saw him I have no memorials.']
[Footnote 3: It is an interesting question how far Boswell derived his
love of truth from himself, and how far from Johnson's training. He was
one of Johnson's _school_. He himself quotes Reynolds's observation,
'that all who were of his _school_ are distinguished for a love of truth
and accuracy, which they would not have possessed in the same degree if
they had not been acquainted with Johnson' (_post_, under March 30,
1778). Writing to Temple in 1789, he said:--'Johnson taught me to
cross-question in common life.' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 280. His
quotations, nevertheless, are not unfrequently inaccurate. Yet to him
might fairly be applied the words that Gibbon used of Tillemont:--'His
inimitable accuracy almost assumes the character of genius.' Gibbon's
_Misc. Words_, i. 213.]
I beg leave to express my warmest thanks to those who have been pleased
to favour me with communications and advice in the conduct of my Work.
But I cannot sufficiently acknowledge my obligations to my friend Mr.
_Malone_, who was so good as to allow me to read to him almost the whole
of my manuscript, and make such remarks as were greatly for the
advantage of the Work[1]; though it is but fair to him to mention, that
upon many occasions I differed from him, and followed my own judgement.
[Footnote 1: 'The revision of my _Life of Johnson_, by so acute and
knowing a critic as Mr. Malone, is of most essential consequence,
especially as he is _Johnsonianissimum_.' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 310.
A few weeks earlier he had written:--'Yesterday afternoon Malone and I
made ready for the press thirty pages of Johnson's _Life_; he is much
pleased with it; but I feel a sad indifference [he had lately lost his
wife], and he says, "I have not the use of my faculties."' _Ib_. p.
308.]
I regret exceedingly that I was deprived of the benefit of his revision,
when not more than one half of the book had passed through the press;
but after having completed his very laborious and admirable edition of
_Shakspeare_, for which he generously would accept of no other reward
but that fame which he has so deservedly obtained, he fulfilled his
promise of a long-wished-for visit to his relations in Ireland; from
whence his safe return _finibus Atticis_ is desired by his friends here,
with all the classical ardour of _Sic te Diva potens Cypri_[1]; for
there is no man in whom more elegant and worthy qualities are united;
and whose society, therefore, is more valued by those who know him.
[Footnote 1: Horace, _Odes_, i. 3. 1. ]
It is painful to me to think, that while I was carrying on this Work,
several of those to whom it would have been most interesting have died.
Such melancholy disappointments we know to be incident to humanity; but
we do not feel them the less. Let me particularly lament the Reverend
_Thomas Warton_, and the Reverend Dr. _Adams_. Mr. _Warton_, amidst his
variety of genius and learning, was an excellent Biographer. His
contributions to my Collection are highly estimable; and as he had a
true relish of my _Tour to the Hebrides_, I trust I should now have been
gratified with a larger share of his kind approbation. Dr. _Adams_,
eminent as the Head of a College, as a writer[1], and as a most amiable
man, had known _Johnson_ from his early years, and was his friend
through life. What reason I had to hope for the countenance of that
venerable Gentleman to this Work, will appear from what he wrote to me
upon a former occasion from Oxford, November 17, 1785:--'Dear Sir, I
hazard this letter, not knowing where it will find you, to thank you for
your very agreeable _Tour_, which I found here on my return from the
country, and in which you have depicted our friend so perfectly to my
fancy, in every attitude, every scene and situation, that I have thought
myself in the company, and of the party almost throughout. It has given
very general satisfaction; and those who have found most fault with a
passage here and there, have agreed that they could not help going
through, and being entertained with the whole. I wish, indeed, some few
gross expressions had been softened, and a few of our hero's foibles had
been a little more shaded; but it is useful to see the weaknesses
incident to great minds; and you have given us Dr. Johnson's authority
that in history all ought to be told[2].'
[Footnote 1: He had published an answer to Hume's _Essay on Miracles_.
See _post_, March 20, 1776.]
[Footnote 2: Macleod asked if it was not wrong in Orrery to expose the
defects of a man [Swift] with whom he lived in intimacy, Johnson, 'Why
no, Sir, after the man is dead; for then it is done historically.'
Boswell's _Hebrides_, Sept. 22, 1773. See also _post_, Sept 17, 1777.]
Such a sanction to my faculty of giving a just representation of Dr.
_Johnson_ I could not conceal. Nor will I suppress my satisfaction in
the consciousness, that by recording so considerable a portion of the
wisdom and wit of '_the brightest ornament of the eighteenth
century_[1].' I have largely provided for the instruction and
entertainment of mankind.
London, April 20, 1791[2].
[Footnote 1: See Mr. Malone's Preface to his edition of Shakspeare.
BOSWELL.]
[Footnote 2:
'April 6, 1791.
'My _Life of Johnson_ is at last drawing to a closc.... I really hope to
publish it on the 25th current.... I am at present in such bad spirits
that I have every fear concerning it--that I may get no profit, nay, may
lose--that the Public may be disappointed, and think that I have done it
poorly--that I may make many enemies, and even have quarrels. Yet
perhaps the very reverse of all this may happen.' _Letters of Boswell_,
p. 335.
'August 22, 1791.
'My _magnum opus_ sells wonderfully; twelve hundred are now gone, and we
hope the whole seventeen hundred may be gone before Christmas.' _Ib_. p.
342.
Malone in his Preface to the fourth edition, dated June 20, 1804, says
that 'near four thousand copies have been dispersed.' The first edition
was in 2 vols., quarto; the second (1793) in 3 vols., octavo; the third
(1799), the fourth (1804), the fifth (1807), and the sixth (1811), were
each in 4 vols., octavo. The last four were edited by Malone, Boswell
having died while he was preparing notes for the third edition.]
ADVERTISMENT
TO THE
SECOND EDITION.
That I was anxious for the success of a Work which had employed much of
my time and labour, I do not wish to conceal: but whatever doubts I at
any time entertained, have been entirely removed by the very favourable
reception with which it has been honoured[1]. That reception has excited
my best exertions to render my Book more perfect; and in this endeavour
I have had the assistance not only of some of my particular friends, but
of many other learned and ingenious men, by which I have been enabled to
rectify some mistakes, and to enrich the Work with many valuable
additions. These I have ordered to be printed separately in quarto, for
the accommodation of the purchasers of the first edition[2]. May I be
permitted to say that the typography of both editions does honour to the
press of Mr. _Henry Baldwin_, now Master of the Worshipful Company of
Stationers, whom I have long known as a worthy man and an obliging
friend.
[Footnote 1: 'Burke affirmed that Boswell's _Life_ was a greater
monument to Johnson's fame than all his writings put together.' _Life of
Mackintosh_, i. 92.]
[Footnote 2: It is a pamphlet of forty-two pages, under the title of
_The Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition of Mr.
Boswell's Life Of Johnson_. Price two shillings and sixpence.]
In the strangely mixed scenes of human existence, our feelings are often
at once pleasing and painful. Of this truth, the progress of the present
Work furnishes a striking instance. It was highly gratifying to me that
my friend, Sir _Joshua Reynolds_, to whom it is inscribed, lived to
peruse it, and to give the strongest testimony to its fidelity; but
before a second edition, which he contributed to improve, could be
finished, the world has been deprived of that most valuable man[1]; a
loss of which the regret will be deep, and lasting, and extensive,
proportionate to the felicity which he diffused through a wide circle of
admirers and friends[2].
[Footnote 1: Reynolds died on Feb. 23, 1792.]
[Footnote 2: Sir Joshua in his will left L200 to Mr. Boswell 'to be
expended, if he thought proper, in the purchase of a picture at the sale
of his paintings, to be kept for his sake.' Taylor's _Reynolds_, ii.
636.]
[Page 11: Advertisement to the Second Edition.]
In reflecting that the illustrious subject of this Work, by being more
extensively and intimately known, however elevated before, has risen in
the veneration and love of mankind, I feel a satisfaction beyond what
fame can afford. We cannot, indeed, too much or too often admire his
wonderful powers of mind, when we consider that the principal store of
wit and wisdom which this Work contains, was not a particular selection
from his general conversation, but was merely his occasional talk at
such times as I had the good fortune to be in his company[1]; and,
without doubt, if his discourse at other periods had been collected with
the same attention, the whole tenor of what he uttered would have been
found equally excellent.
[Footnote 1: Of the seventy-five years that Johnson lived, he and
Boswell did not spend two years and two months in the same
neighbourhood. Excluding the time they were together on their tour to
the Hebrides, they were dwelling within reach of each other a few weeks
less than two years. Moreover, when they were apart, there were great
gaps in their correspondence. Between Dec. 8, 1763, and Jan. 14, 1766,
and again between Nov. 10, 1769 and June 20, 1771, during which periods
they did not meet, Boswell did not receive a single letter from Johnson.
The following table shows the times they were in the same neighbourhood.
1763, May 16 to Aug. 6, London.
1766, a few days in February "
1768, " " March, Oxford.
1768, a few days in May, London.
1769, end of Sept. to Nov. 10, "
1772, March 21 to about May 10, "
1773, April 3 to May 10, "
" Aug. 14 to Nov. 22, Scotland.
1775, March 21 to April 18, London.
May 2 to May 23, "
1776, March 15 to May 16, London, Oxford, Birmingham,
with an interval of Lichfield,
about a fortnight, Ashbourne,
when Johnson was at and
Bath and Boswell at Bath.
London,
1777, Sept. 14 to Sept. 24, Ashbourne.
1778, March 18 to May 19, London.
1779, March 15 to May 3, "
" Oct. 4 to Oct. 18, "
1781, March 19 to June 5, London
and Southill.
1783, March 21 to May 30, London.
1784, May 5 to June 30, London
and Oxford.
]
His strong, clear, and animated enforcement of religion, morality,
loyalty, and subordination, while it delights and improves the wise and
the good, will, I trust, prove an effectual antidote to that detestable
sophistry which has been lately imported from France, under the false
name of _Philosophy_, and with a malignant industry has been employed
against the peace, good order, and happiness of society, in our free and
prosperous country; but thanks be to _GOD_, without producing the
pernicious effects which were hoped for by its propagators.
It seems to me, in my moments of self-complacency, that this extensive
biographical work, however inferior in its nature, may in one respect be
assimilated to the _ODYSSEY_. Amidst a thousand entertaining and
instructive episodes the _HERO_ is never long out of sight; for they are
all in some degree connected with him; and _HE_, in the whole course of
the History, is exhibited by the Authour for the best advantage of his
readers.
'--Quid virtus et quid sapientia possit,
Utile proposuit nobis exemplar Ulyssen[1].'
[Footnote 1:
'To shew what wisdom and what sense can do,
The poet sets Ulysses in our view.'
_Francis_. Horace, _Ep._ i. 2. 17.]
Should there be any cold-blooded and morose mortals who really dislike
this Book, I will give them a story to apply. When the great _Duke of
Marlborough_, accompanied by _Lord Cadogan_, was one day reconnoitering
the army in Flanders, a heavy rain came on, and they both called for
their cloaks. _Lord Cadogan's_ servant, a good humoured alert lad,
brought his Lordship's in a minute. The Dukes servant, a lazy sulky dog,
was so sluggish, that his Grace being wet to the skin, reproved him, and
had for answer with a grunt, 'I came as fast as I could,' upon which the
Duke calmly said, '_Cadogan_, I would not for a thousand pounds have
that fellow's temper!'
There are some men, I believe, who have, or think they have, a very
small share of vanity. Such may speak of their literary fame in a
decorous style of diffidence. But I confess, that I am so formed by
nature and by habit, that to restrain the effusion of delight, on having
obtained such fame, to me would be truly painful. Why then should I
suppress it? Why 'out of the abundance of the heart' should I not
speak[1]? Let me then mention with a warm, but no insolent exultation,
that I have been regaled with spontaneous praise of my work by many and
various persons eminent for their rank, learning, talents and
accomplishments; much of which praise I have under their hands to be
reposited in my archives at _Auchinleck_[2]. An honourable and reverend
friend speaking of the favourable reception of my volumes, even in the
circles of fashion and elegance, said to me, 'you have made them all
talk Johnson.'--Yes, I may add, I have _Johnsonised_ the land; and I
trust they will not only _talk_, but _think_, Johnson.
[Footnote 1: In his _Letter to the People of Scotland, p. 92, he
wrote:--'Allow me, my friends and countrymen, while I with honest zeal
maintain _your_ cause--allow me to indulge a little more my _own
egotism_ and _vanity_. They are the indigenous plants of my mind; they
distinguish it. I may prune their luxuriancy; but I must not entirely
clear it of them; for then I should be no longer "as I am;" and perhaps
there might be something not so good.']
[Footnote 2: See _post_, April 17, 1778, note.]
To enumerate those to whom I have been thus indebted, would be tediously
ostentatious. I cannot however but name one whose praise is truly
valuable, not only on account of his knowledge and abilities, but on
account of the magnificent, yet dangerous embassy, in which he is now
employed[1], which makes every thing that relates to him peculiarly
interesting. Lord MACARTNEY favoured me with his own copy of my book,
with a number of notes, of which I have availed myself. On the first
leaf I found in his Lordship's hand-writing, an inscription of stick
high commendation, that even I, vain as I am, cannot prevail on myself
to publish it.
[Footnote 1: Lord Macartney was the first English ambassador to the
Court of Pekin. He left England in 1792 and returned in 1794.]
July 1, 1793[1].
[Footnote 1: Boswell writing to Temple ten days earlier had
said:--'Behold my _hand_! the robbery is only of a few shillings; but
the cut on my head and bruises on my arms were sad things, and confined
me to bed, in pain, and fever, and helplessness, as a child, many
days.... This shall be a crisis in my life: I trust I shall henceforth
be a sober regular man. Indeed, my indulgence in wine has, of late years
especially, been excessive.' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 346.]
ADVERTISEMENT
TO THE
THIRD EDITION.
Several valuable letters, and other curious matter, having been
communicated to the Author too late to be arranged in that chronological
order which he had endeavoured uniformly to observe in his work, he was
obliged to introduce them in his Second Edition, by way of _ADDENDA_, as
commodiously as he could. In the present edition these have been
distributed in their proper places. In revising his volumes for a new
edition, he had pointed out where some of these materials should be
inserted; but unfortunately in the midst of his labours, he was seized
with a fever, of which, to the great regret of all his friends, he died
on the 19th of May, 1795[1]. All the Notes that he had written in the
margin of the copy which he had in part revised, are here faithfully
preserved; and a few new Notes have been added, principally by some of
those friends to whom the Author in the former editions acknowledged his
obligations. Those subscribed with the letter _B_ were communicated by
Dr. _Burney_: those to which the letters _J B_ are annexed, by the Rev.
_J. Blakeway_, of Shrewsbury, to whom Mr. _Boswell_ acknowledged himself
indebted for some judicious remarks on the first edition of his work:
and the letters _J B-O_. are annexed to some remarks furnished by the
Author's second son, a Student of Brazen-Nose College in Oxford. Some
valuable observations were communicated by _James Bindley_, Esq., First
Commissioner in the Stamp-Office, which have been acknowledged in their
proper places. For all those without any signature, Mr. _Malone_ is
answerable.--Every new remark, not written by the Author, for the sake
of distinction has been enclosed within crotchets: in one instance,
however, the printer by mistake has affixed this mark to a note relative
to the Rev. _Thomas Fysche Palmer_, which was written by Mr. Boswell.
and therefore ought not to have been thus distinguished.
[Footnote 1: On this day his brother wrote to Mr. Temple: 'I have now
the painful task of informing you that my dear brother expired this
morning at two o'clock; we have both lost a kind, affectionate friend,
and I shall never have such another.' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 357. What
was probably Boswell's last letter is as follows:--
'My Dear Temple,
'I would fain write to you in my own hand, but really cannot. [These
words, which are hardly legible, and probably the last poor Boswell ever
wrote, afford the clearest evidence of his utter physical prostration.]
Alas, my friend, what a state is this! My son James is to write for me
what remains of this letter, and I am to dictate. The pain which
continued for so many weeks was very severe indeed, and when it went off
I thought myself quite well; but I soon felt a conviction that I was by
no means as I should be--so exceedingly weak, as my miserable attempt to
write to you afforded a full proof. All then that can be said is, that I
must wait with patience. But, O my friend! how strange is it that, at
this very time of my illness, you and Miss Temple should have been in
such a dangerous state. Much occasion for thankfulness is there that it
has not been worse with you. Pray write, or make somebody write
frequently. I feel myself a good deal stronger to-day, not withstanding
the scrawl. God bless you, my dear Temple! I ever am your old and
affectionate friend, here and I trust hereafter,
'JAMES BOSWELL.' _Ib_. p. 353.]
[Page 15: Advertisement to the Third Edition.]
I have only to add, that the proof-sheets of the present edition not
having passed through my hands, I am not answerable for any
typographical errours that may be found in it. Having, however, been
printed at the very accurate press of Mr. _Baldwin_, I make no doubt it
will be found not less perfect than the former edition; the greatest
care having been taken, by correctness and elegance to do justice to one
of the most instructive and entertaining works in the English language.
_EDMOND MALONE_[1].
April 8, 1799.
[Footnote 1: Malone died on May 25, 1812.]
A
CHRONOLOGICAL CATALOGUE
OF THE
_PROSE WORKS[1] OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D._
[Footnote 1: I do not here include his Poetical Works; for, excepting
his Latin Translation of Pope's _Messiah_, his _London_, and his _Vanity
of Human Wishes_ imitated from _Juvenal_; his Prologue on the opening of
Drury-Lane Theatre by Mr. Garrick, and his _Irene_, a Tragedy, they are
very numerous, and in general short; and I have promised a complete
edition of them, in which I shall with the utmost care ascertain their
authenticity, and illustrate them with notes and various readings.
BOSWELL. Boswell's meaning, though not well expressed, is clear enough.
Mr. Croker needlessly suggests that he wrote 'they are _not_ very
numerous.' Boswell a second time (_post_, under Aug. 12, 1784, note)
mentions his intention to edit Johnson's poems. He died without doing
it. See also _post_, 1750, Boswell's note on Addison's style.]
[N.B. To those which he himself acknowledged is added _acknowl._ To
those which may be fully believed to be his from internal evidence, is
added _intern. evid._]
1735. Abridgement and translation of Lobo's Voyage to Abyssinia,
_acknowl._
1738. Part of a translation of Father Paul Sarpi's History of the
Council of Trent. _acknowl._
[N.B. As this work after some sheets were printed, suddenly stopped, I
know not whether any part of it is now to be found.]
_For the Gentleman's Magazine_.
Preface. _intern. evid._
Life of Father Paul. _acknowl._
1739. A complete vindication of the Licenser of the Stage from the
malicious and scandalous aspersions of Mr. Brooke, authour of Gustavus
Vasa. _acknowl._
_Marmor Norfolciense_: or, an Essay on an ancient prophetical
inscription in monkish rhyme, lately discovered near Lynne in Norfolk;
by PROBUS BRITANNICUS. _acknowl._
[Page 17: A Chronological Catalogue of Prose Works]
_For the Gentleman's Magazine._
Life of Boerhaave. _acknowl._
Address to the Reader. _intern. evid._
Appeal to the Publick in behalf of the Editor. _intern. evid._
Considerations on the case of Dr. Trapp's Sermons; a plausible attempt
to prove that an authour's work may be abridged without injuring his
property. _acknowl._
1740. _For the Gentleman's Magazine._
Preface. _intern. evid._
Life of Admiral Drake. _acknowl._
Life of Admiral Blake. _acknowl._
Life of Philip Barretier. _acknowl._
Essay on Epitaphs. _acknowl._
1741. _For the Gentleman's Magazine._
Preface. _intern. evid._
A free translation of the Jests of Hierocles, with an introduction.
_intern. evid._
Debate on the _Humble Petition and Advice_ of the Rump Parliament to
Cromwell in 1657, to assume the Title of King; abridged, methodized and
digested. _intern. evid._
Translation of Abbe Guyon's Dissertation on the Amazons. _intern. evid._
Translation of Fontenelle's Panegyrick on Dr. Morin. _intern. evid._
1742. _For the Gentleman's Magazine._
Preface. _intern. evid._
Essay on the Account of the Conduct of the Duchess of Marlborough.
_acknowl_.
An Account of the Life of Peter Burman. _acknowl._
The Life of Sydenham, afterwards prefixed to Dr. Swan's Edition of his
Works. _acknowl._
Proposals for printing Bibliotheca Harleiana, or a Catalogue of the
Library of the Earl of Oxford, afterwards prefixed to the first Volume
of that Catalogue, in which the Latin Accounts of the Books were written
by him. _acknowl._
Abridgement intitled, Foreign History. _intern. evid._
Essay on the Description of China, from the French of Du Halde. _intern.
evid._
1743. Dedication to Dr. Mead of Dr. James's Medicinal Dictionary.
_intern. evid._
_For the Gentleman's Magazine_.
Preface, _intern. evid._
Parliamentary Debates under the Name of Debates in the Senate of
Lilliput, from Nov. 19, 1740, to Feb. 23, 1742-3, inclusive. _acknowl._
Considerations on the Dispute between Crousaz and Warburton on Pope's
Essay on Man. _intern. evid._
A Letter announcing that the Life of Mr. Savage was speedily to be
published by a person who was favoured with his Confidence. _intern.
evid._
Advertisement for Osborne concerning the Harleian Catalogue. _intern.
evid._
1744. Life of Richard Savage. _acknowl._
Preface to the Harleian Miscellany. _acknowl._
_For the Gentleman's Magazine_.
Preface. _intern. evid._
1745. Miscellaneous Observations on the Tragedy of Macbeth, with remarks
on Sir T.H.'s (Sir Thomas Hanmer's) Edition of Shakspeare, and proposals
for a new Edition of that Poet. _acknowl._
1747. Plan for a Dictionary of the ENGLISH LANGUAGE, addressed to Philip
Dormer, Earl of Chesterfield. _acknowl._
_For the Gentleman's Magazine_.
1748. Life of Roscommon. _acknowl._
Foreign History, November. _intern. evid._
_For Dodsley's_ PRECEPTOR.
Preface. _acknowl._
Vision of Theodore the Hermit. _acknowl._
1750. The RAMBLER, the first Paper of which was published 20th of March
this year, and the last 17th of March 1752, the day on which Mrs.
Johnson died. _acknowl._
Letter in the General Advertiser to excite the attention of the Publick
to the Performance of Comus, which was next day to be acted at
Drury-Lane Playhouse for the Benefit of Milton's Grandaughter.
_acknowl._
Preface and Postscript to Lauder's Pamphlet intitled, 'An Essay on
Milton's Use and Imitation of the Moderns in his Paradise Lost.'
_acknowl._
1751. Life of Cheynel in the Miscellany called 'The Student.' _acknowl._
Letter for Lauder, addressed to the Reverend Dr. John Douglas,
acknowledging his Fraud concerning Milton in Terms of suitable
Contrition. _acknowl._
Dedication to the Earl of Middlesex of Mrs. Charlotte Lennox's 'Female
Quixotte.' _intern. evid._[1]
[Footnote 1: The _Female Quixote_ was published in 1752. See _post_,
1762, note]
1753. Dedication to John Earl of Orrery, of Shakspeare Illustrated, by
Mrs. Charlotte Lennox. _acknowl._
During this and the following year he wrote and gave to his much loved
friend Dr. Bathurst the Papers in the Adventurer, signed T. _acknowl._
1754. Life of Edw. Cave in the Gentleman's Magazine. _acknowl._
1755. A DICTIONARY, with a Grammar and History, of the ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
_acknowl._
An Account of an Attempt to ascertain the Longitude at Sea, by an exact
Theory of the Variations of the Magnetical Needle, with a Table of the
Variations at the most remarkable Cities in Europe from the year 1660 to
1860. _acknowl._ This he wrote for Mr. Zachariah Williams, an ingenious
ancient Welch Gentleman, father of Mrs. Anna Williams whom he for many
years kindly lodged in his Housc. It was published with a Translation
into Italian by Signor Baretti. In a Copy of it which he presented to
the Bodleian Library at Oxford, is pasted a Character of the late Mr.
Zachariah Williams, plainly written by Johnson. _intern. evid._
1756. An Abridgement of his Dictionary. _acknowl._
Several Essays in the Universal Visitor, which there is some difficulty
in ascertaining. All that are marked with two Asterisks have been
ascribed to him, although I am confident from internal Evidence, that we
should except from these 'The Life of Chaucer,' 'Reflections on the
State of Portugal,' and 'An Essay on Architecture:' And from the same
Evidence I am confident that he wrote 'Further Thoughts on Agriculture,'
and 'A Dissertation on the State of Literature and Authours.' The
Dissertation on the Epitaphs written by Pope he afterwards acknowledged,
and added to his 'Idler.'
Life of Sir Thomas Browne prefixed to a new Edition of his Christian
Morals. _acknowl._
_In the Literary Magazine; or, Universal Review_, which began in January
1756.
His _Original Essays_ are
Preliminary Address, _intern. evid._.
An introduction to the Political State of Great Britain, _intern.
evid._.
Remarks on the Militia Bill, _intern. evid._.
Observations on his Britannick Majesty's Treaties with the Empress of
Russia and the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel. _intern. evid._.
Observations on the Present State of Affairs. _intern. evid._.
Memoirs of Frederick III. King of Prussia. _intern. evid._.
In the same Magazine his Reviews_ are of the following Books:
'Birch's History of the Royal Society.'--'Browne's Christian
Morals.'--'Warton's Essay on the Writings and Genius of Pope, Vol.
I.'--'Hampton's Translation of Polybius.'--'Sir Isaac Newton's Arguments
in Proof of a Deity.'--'Borlase's History of the Isles of
Scilly.'--'Home's Experiments on Bleaching.'--'Browne's History of
Jamaica.'--'Hales on Distilling Sea Waters, Ventilators in Ships, and
curing an ill Taste in Milk.'--'Lucas's Essay on Waters.'--'Keith's
Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops.'--'Philosophical Transactions, Vol.
XLIX.'--'Miscellanies by Elizabeth Harrison.'--'Evans's Map and Account
of the Middle Colonies in America.'--'The Cadet, a Military
Treatisc.'--'The Conduct of the Ministry relating to the present War
impartially examined.' _intern. evid._.
'Mrs. Lennox's Translation of Sully's Memoirs.'--'Letter on the Case of
Admiral Byng.'--'Appeal to the People concerning Admiral
Byng.'--'Hanway's Eight Days' Journey, and Essay on Tea.'--'Some further
Particulars in Relation to the Case of Admiral Byng, by a Gentleman of
Oxford.' _acknowl._
Mr. Jonas Hanway having written an angry Answer to the Review of his
Essay on Tea, Johnson in the same Collection made a Reply to it.
_acknowl._ This is the only Instance, it is believed, when he
condescended to take Notice of any Thing that had been written against
him; and here his chief Intention seems to have been to make Sport.
Dedication to the Earl of Rochford of, and Preface to, Mr. Payne's
Introduction to the Game of Draughts, _acknowl._
Introduction to the London Chronicle, an Evening Paper which still
subsists with deserved credit. _acknowl._
1757. Speech on the Subject of an Address to the Throne after the
Expedition to Rochefort; delivered by one of his Friends in some publick
Meeting: it is printed in the Gentleman's Magazine for October 1785.
_intern. evid._
The first two Paragraphs of the Preface to Sir William Chambers's
Designs of Chinese Buildings, &c. _acknowl._
1758. THE IDLER, which began April 5, in this year, and was continued
till April 5, 1760. _acknowl._
An Essay on the Bravery of the English Common Soldiers was added to it
when published in Volumes. _acknowl._
1759. Rasselas Prince of Abyssinia, a Tale. _acknowl._
Advertisement for the Proprietors of the Idler against certain Persons
who pirated those Papers as they came out singly in a Newspaper called
the Universal Chronicle or Weekly Gazette. _intern. evid._
For Mrs. Charlotte Lennox's English Version of Brumoy,--'A Dissertation
on the Greek Comedy,' and the General Conclusion of the Book. _intern.
evid._
Introduction to the World Displayed, a Collection of Voyages and
Travels. _acknowl._
Three Letters in the Gazetteer, concerning the best plan for Blackfriars
Bridge. _acknowl._
1760. Address of the Painters to George III. on his Accession to the
Throne. _intern. evid._
Dedication of Baretti's Italian and English Dictionary to the Marquis of
Abreu, then Envoy-Extraordinary from Spain at the Court of
Great-Britain. _intern. evid._
Review in the Gentleman's Magazine of Mr. Tytler's acute and able
Vindication of Mary Queen of Scots. _acknowl._
Introduction to the Proceedings of the Committee for Cloathing the
French Prisoners. _acknowl._
1761. Preface to Rolfs Dictionary of Trade and Commerce. _acknowl._
Corrections and Improvements for Mr. Gwyn the Architect's Pamphlet,
intitled 'Thoughts on the Coronation of George III.' _acknowl._
1762. Dedication to the King of the Reverend Dr. Kennedy's Complete
System of Astronomical Chronology, unfolding the Scriptures, Quarto
Edition. _acknowl._
Concluding Paragraph of that Work. _intern. evid._
Preface to the Catalogue of the Artists' Exhibition. _intern. evid._
1763.
Character of Collins in the Poetical Calendar, published by Fawkes and
Woty. _acknowl._
Dedication to the Earl of Shaftesbury of the Edition of Roger Ascham's
English Works, published by the Reverend Mr. Bennet. _acknowl._
The Life of Ascham, also prefixed to that edition. _acknowl._
Review of Telemachus, a Masque, by the Reverend George Graham of Eton
College, in the Critical Review. _acknowl._
Dedication to the Queen of Mr. Hoole's Translation of Tasso. _acknowl._
Account of the Detection of the Imposture of the Cock-Lane Ghost,
published in the Newspapers and Gentleman's Magazine. _acknowl._
1764.
Part of a Review of Grainger's 'Sugar Cane, a Poem,' in the London
Chronicle. _acknowl._
Review of Goldsmith's Traveller, a Poem, in the Critical Review.
_acknowl._
1765.
The Plays of William Shakspeare, in eight volumes, 8vo. with Notes.
_acknowl._
1766.
The Fountains, a Fairy Tale, in Mrs. Williams's Miscellanies. _acknowl._
1767.
Dedication to the King of Mr. Adams's Treatise on the Globes. _acknowl._
1769.
Character of the Reverend Mr. Zachariah Mudge, in the London Chronicle.
_acknowl._
1770.
The False Alarm. _acknowl._
1771.
Thoughts on the late Transactions respecting Falkland's Islands.
_acknowl._
1772.
Defence of a Schoolmaster; dictated to me for the House of Lords.
_acknowl._
Argument in Support of the Law of _Vicious Intromission_; dictated to me
for the Court of Session in Scotland. _acknowl._
1773.
Preface to Macbean's 'Dictionary of Ancient Geography.' _acknowl._
Argument in Favour of the Rights of Lay Patrons; dictated to me for the
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. _acknowl._
1774.
The Patriot. _acknowl._
1775.
A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. _acknowl._
Proposals for publishing the Works of Mrs. Charlotte Lennox, in Three
Volumes Quarto. _acknowl._
Preface to Baretti's Easy Lessons in Italian and English. _intern.
evid._
Taxation no Tyranny; an Answer to the Resolutions and Address of the
American Congress. _acknowl._
Argument on the Case of Dr. Memis; dictated to me for the Court of
Session in Scotland. _acknowl._
Argument to prove that the Corporation of Stirling was corrupt; dictated
to me for the House of Lords. _acknowl._
1776.
Argument in Support of the Right of immediate, and personal reprehension
from the Pulpit; dictated to me. _acknowl._
Proposals for publishing an Analysis of the Scotch Celtick Language, by
the Reverend William Shaw. _acknowl._
1777.
Dedication to the King of the Posthumous Works of Dr. Pearce, Bishop of
Rochester. _acknowl._
Additions to the Life and Character of that Prelate; prefixed to those
Works. _acknowl._
Various Papers and Letters in Favour of the Reverend Dr. Dodd.
_acknowl._
1780.
Advertisement for his Friend Mr. Thrale to the Worthy Electors of the
Borough of Southwark. _acknowl._
The first Paragraph of Mr. Thomas Davies's Life of Garrick, _acknowl._
1781.
Prefaces Biographical and Critical to the Works of the most eminent
English Poets; afterwards published with the Title of Lives of the
English Poets[1]. _acknowl._
[Footnote 1: The first four volumes of the _Lives_ were published in
1779, the last six in 1781.]
Argument on the Importance of the Registration of Deeds; dictated to me
for an Election Committee of the House of Commons. _acknowl._
On the Distinction between TORY and WHIG; dictated to me. _acknowl._
On Vicarious Punishments, and the great Propitiation for the Sins of the
World, by JESUS CHRIST; dictated to me. _acknowl._
Argument in favour of Joseph Knight, an African Negro, who claimed his
Liberty in the Court of Session in Scotland, and obtained it; dictated
to me. _acknowl._
Defence of Mr. Robertson, Printer of the Caledonian Mercury, against the
Society of Procurators in Edinburgh, for having inserted in his Paper a
ludicrous Paragraph against them; demonstrating that it was not an
injurious Libel; dictated to me. _acknowl._
1782.
The greatest part, if not the whole, of a Reply, by the Reverend Mr.
Shaw, to a Person at Edinburgh, of the Name of Clark, refuting his
arguments for the authenticity of the Poems published by Mr. James
Macpherson as Translations from Ossian. _intern. evid._
1784. List of the Authours of the Universal History, deposited in the
British Museum, and printed in the Gentleman's Magazine for December,
this year, _acknowl._
_Various Years_.
Letters to Mrs. Thrale. _acknowl._
Prayers and Meditations, which he delivered to the Rev. Mr. Strahan,
enjoining him to publish them, _acknowl._
Sermons _left for Publication_ by John Taylor, LL.D. Prebendary of
Westminster, and given to the World by the Reverend Samuel Hayes, A.M.
_intern. evid._
Such was the number and variety of the Prose Works of this extraordinary
man, which I have been able to discover, and am at liberty to mention;
but we ought to keep in mind, that there must undoubtedly have been many
more which are yet concealed; and we may add to the account, the
numerous Letters which he wrote, of which a considerable part are yet
unpublished. It is hoped that those persons in whose possession they
are, will favour the world with them.
_JAMES BOSWELL_.
* * * * *
'After my death I wish no other herald,
No other speaker of my living actions,
To keep mine honour from corruption,
But such an honest chronicler as Griffith[1].'
SHAKSPEARE, _Henry VIII. [Act IV. Sc. 2_.]
[Footnote 1: See Dr. Johnson's letter to Mrs. Thrale, dated Ostick in
Skie, September 30, 1773:--'Boswell writes a regular Journal of our
travels, which I think contains as much of what I say and do, as of all
other occurrences together; "_for such a faithful chronicler_ is
_Griffith_."' BOSWELL. See _Piozzi Letters_, i. 159, where however we
read '_as_ Griffith.']
THE LIFE OF
SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D.
To write the Life of him who excelled all mankind in writing the lives
of others, and who, whether we consider his extraordinary endowments, or
his various works, has been equalled by few in any age, is an arduous,
and may be reckoned in me a presumptuous task.
Had Dr. Johnson written his own life, in conformity with the opinion
which he has given[1], that every man's life may be best written by
himself; had he employed in the preservation of his own history, that
clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has embalmed
so many eminent persons, the world would probably have had the most
perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited. But although he at
different times, in a desultory manner, committed to writing many
particulars of the progress of his mind and fortunes, he never had
persevering diligence enough to form them into a regular composition[2].
Of these memorials a few have been preserved; but the greater part was
consigned by him to the flames, a few days before his death.
[Footnote 1: _Idler_, No. 84. BOSWELL.--In this paper he says: 'Those
relations are commonly of most value in which the writer tells his own
story. He that recounts the life of another ... lessens the familiarity
of his tale to increase its dignity ... and endeavours to hide the man
that he may produce a hero.']
[Footnote 2: 'It very seldom happens to man that his business is his
pleasure. What is done from necessity is so often to be done when
against the present inclination, and so often fills the mind with
anxiety, that an habitual dislike steals upon us, and we shrink
involuntarily from the remembrance of our task.... From this
unwillingness to perform more than is required of that which is commonly
performed with reluctance it proceeds that few authors write their own
lives.' _Idler_, No. 102. See also _post_, May 1, 1783.]
[Page 26: The Author's qualifications.]
As I had the honour and happiness of enjoying his friendship for upwards
of twenty years; as I had the scheme of writing his life constantly in
view; as he was well apprised of this circumstance[1], and from time to
time obligingly satisfied my inquiries, by communicating to me the
incidents of his early years; as I acquired a facility in recollecting,
and was very assiduous in recording, his conversation, of which the
extraordinary vigour and vivacity constituted one of the first features
of his character; and as I have spared no pains in obtaining materials
concerning him, from every quarter where I could discover that they were
to be found, and have been favoured with the most liberal communications
by his friends; I flatter myself that few biographers have entered upon
such a work as this, with more advantages; independent of literary
abilities, in which I am not vain enough to compare myself with some
great names who have gone before me in this kind of writing.
[Footnote 1: Mrs. Piozzi records the following conversation with
Johnson, which, she says, took place on July 18, 1773. 'And who will be
my biographer,' said he, 'do you think?' 'Goldsmith, no doubt,' replied
I; 'and he will do it the best among us.' 'The dog would write it best
to be sure,' replied he; 'but his particular malice towards me, and
general disregard for truth, would make the book useless to all, and
injurious to my character.' 'Oh! as to that,' said I, 'we should all
fasten upon him, and force him to do you justice; but the worst is, the
Doctor does not _know_ your life; nor can I tell indeed who does, except
Dr. Taylor of Ashbourne.' 'Why Taylor,' said he, 'is better acquainted
with my _heart_ than any man or woman now alive; and the history of my
Oxford exploits lies all between him and Adams; but Dr. James knows my
very early days better than he. After my coming to London to drive the
world about a little, you must all go to Jack Hawkesworth for anecdotes:
I lived in great familiarity with him (though I think there was not much
affection) from the year 1753 till the time Mr. Thrale and you took me
up. I intend, however, to disappoint the rogues, and either make you
write the life, with Taylor's intelligence; or, which is better, do it
myself after outliving you all. I am now,' added he, 'keeping a diary,
in hopes of using it for that purpose sometime.' Piozzi's _Anec_. p. 31.
How much of this is true cannot be known. Boswell some time before this
conversation had told Johnson that he intended to write his Life, and
Johnson had given him many particulars (see _post_, March 31, 1772, and
April 11, 1773). He read moreover in manuscript most of Boswell's _Tour
to the Hebrides_, and from it learnt of his intention. 'It is no small
satisfaction to me to reflect,' Boswell wrote, 'that Dr. Johnson, after
being apprised of my intentions, communicated to me, at subsequent
periods, many particulars of his life.' Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 14,
1773.]
[Page 27: The Life by Sir J. Hawkins.]
Since my work was announced, several Lives and Memoirs of Dr. Johnson
have been published[1], the most voluminous of which is one compiled for
the booksellers of London, by Sir John Hawkins, Knight[2], a man, whom,
during my long intimacy with Dr. Johnson, I never saw in his company, I
think but once, and I am sure not above twice. Johnson might have
esteemed him for his decent, religious demeanour, and his knowledge of
books and literary history; but from the rigid formality of his manners,
it is evident that they never could have lived together with
companionable ease and familiarity[3]; nor had Sir John Hawkins that
nice perception which was necessary to mark the finer and less obvious
parts of Johnson's character. His being appointed one of his executors,
gave him an opportunity of taking possession of such fragments of a
diary and other papers as were left; of which, before delivering them up
to the residuary legatee, whose property they were, he endeavoured to
extract the substance. In this he has not been very successful, as I
have found upon a perusal of those papers, which have been since
transferred to me. Sir John Hawkins's ponderous labours, I must
acknowledge, exhibit a _farrago_, of which a considerable portion is not
devoid of entertainment to the lovers of literary gossiping; but besides
its being swelled out with long unnecessary extracts from various works
(even one of several leaves from Osborne's Harleian Catalogue, and those
not compiled by Johnson, but by Oldys), a very small part of it relates
to the person who is the subject of the book; and, in that, there is
such an inaccuracy in the statement of facts, as in so solemn an authour
is hardly excusable, and certainly makes his narrative very
unsatisfactory. But what is still worse, there is throughout the whole
of it a dark uncharitable cast, by which the most unfavourable
construction is put upon almost every circumstance in the character and
conduct of my illustrious friend[4]; who, I trust, will, by a true and
fair delineation, be vindicated both from the injurious
misrepresentations of this authour, and from the slighter aspersions of
a lady who once lived in great intimacy with him[5].
[Footnote 1: 'It may be said the death of Dr. Johnson kept the public
mind in agitation beyond all former example. No literary character ever
excited so much attention.' Murphy's _Johnson_, p. 3.]
[Footnote 2: The greatest part of this book was written while Sir John
Hawkins was alive; and I avow, that one object of my strictures was to
make him feel some compunction for his illiberal treatment of Dr.
Johnson. Since his decease, I have suppressed several of my remarks upon
his work. But though I would not 'war with the dead' _offensively_, I
think it necessary to be strenuous in _defence_ of my illustrious
friend, which I cannot be without strong animadversions upon a writer
who has greatly injured him. Let me add, that though I doubt I should
not have been very prompt to gratify Sir John Hawkins with any
compliment in his life-time, I do now frankly acknowledge, that, in my
opinion, his volume, however inadequate and improper as a life of Dr.
Johnson, and however discredited by unpardonable inaccuracies in other
respects, contains a collection of curious anecdotes and observations,
which few men but its author could have brought together. BOSWELL.]
[Footnote 3: 'The next name that was started was that of Sir John
Hawkins; and Mrs. Thrale said, "Why now, Dr. Johnson, he is another of
those whom you suffer nobody to abuse but yourself: Garrick is one too;
for, if any other person speaks against him, you brow-beat him in a
minute." "Why madam," answered he, "they don't know when to abuse him,
and when to praise him; I will allow no man to speak ill of David that
he does not deserve; and as to Sir John, why really I believe him to be
an honest man at the bottom; but to be sure he is penurious, and he is
mean, and it must be owned he has a degree of brutality, and a tendency
to savageness, that cannot easily be defended.... He said that Sir John
and he once belonged to the same club, but that as he eat no supper,
after, the first night of his admission he desired to be excused paying
his share." "And was he excused?" "O yes; for no man is angry at another
for being inferior to himself. We all scorned him, and admitted his
plea. For my part, I was such a fool as to pay my share for wine, though
I never tasted any. But Sir John was a most _unclubable man_."' Madame
D'Arblay's _Diary_, i. 65.]
[Footnote 4: 'In censuring Mr. [_sic_] J. Hawkins's book I say: "There
is throughout the whole of it a dark, uncharitable cast, which puts the
most unfavourable construction on my illustrious friend's conduct."
Malone maintains _cast_ will not do; he will have "malignancy." Is that
not too strong? How would "disposition" do?.... Hawkins is no doubt very
malevolent. _Observe how he talks of me as quite unknown.' Letters of
Boswell_, p. 281. Malone wrote of Hawkins as follows: 'The bishop
[Bishop Percy of Dromore] concurred with every other person I have heard
speak of Hawkins, in saying that he was a most detestable fellow. He was
the son of a carpenter, and set out in life in the very lowest line of
the law. Dyer knew him well at one time, and the Bishop heard him give a
character of Hawkins once that painted him in the blackest colours;
though Dyer was by no means apt to deal in such portraits. Dyer said he
was a man of the most mischievous, uncharitable, and malignant
disposition. Sir Joshua Reynolds observed to me that Hawkins, though he
assumed great outward sanctity, was not only mean and grovelling in
dispostion, but absolutely dishonest. He never lived in any real
intimacy with Dr. Johnson, who never opened his heart to him, or had in
fact any accurate knowledge of his character.' Prior's _Malone_, pp.
425-7. See _post_, Feb. 1764, note.]
[Footnote 5: Mrs. Piozzi. See _post_, under June 30, 1784.]
[Page 28: Warburton's view of biography.]
[Page 29: The author's mode of procedure.]
There is, in the British Museum, a letter from Bishop Warburton to Dr.
Birch, on the subject of biography; which, though I am aware it may
expose me to a charge of artfully raising the value of my own work, by
contrasting it with that of which I have spoken, is so well conceived
and expressed, that I cannot refrain from here inserting it:--
'I shall endeavor, (says Dr. Warburton,) to give you what satisfaction I
can in any thing you want to be satisfied in any subject of Milton, and
am extremely glad you intend to write his life. Almost all the
life-writers we have had before Toland and Desmaiseaux[1], are indeed
strange insipid creatures; and yet I had rather read the worst of them,
than be obliged to go through with this of Milton's, or the other's life
of Boileau, where there is such a dull, heavy succession of long
quotations of disinteresting passages, that it makes their method quite
nauseous. But the verbose, tasteless Frenchman seems to lay it down as a
principle, that every life must be a book, and what's worse, it proves a
book without a life; for what do we know of Boileau, after all his
tedious stuff? You are the only one, (and I speak it without a
compliment) that by the vigour of your stile and sentiments, and the
real importance of your materials, have the art, (which one would
imagine no one could have missed,) of adding agreements to the most
agreeable subject in the world, which is literary history[2].'
'Nov. 24, 1737.'
[Footnote 1: Voltaire in his account of Bayle says: 'Des Maizeaux a
ecrit sa vie en un gros volume; elle ne devait pas contenir six pages.'
Voltaire's _Works_, edition of 1819, xvii. 47.]
[Footnote 2: Brit. Mus. 4320, Ayscough's Catal., Sloane MSS.
BOSWELL.--Horace Walpole describes Birch as 'a worthy, good-natured
soul, full of industry and activity, and running about like a young
setting-dog in quest of anything, new or old, and with no parts, taste,
or judgment.' Walpole's _Letters_, vii. 326. See _post_, Sept. 1743.]
[Page 30: Not a panegyrick, but a Life.]
Instead of melting down my materials into one mass, and constantly
speaking in my own person, by which I might have appeared to have more
merit in the execution of the work, I have resolved to adopt and enlarge
upon the excellent plan of Mr. Mason, in his Memoirs of Gray[1].
Wherever narrative is necessary to explain, connect, and supply, I
furnish it to the best of my abilities; but in the chronological series
of Johnson's life, which I trace as distinctly as I can, year by year, I
produce, wherever it is in my power, his own minutes, letters, or
conversation, being convinced that this mode is more lively, and will
make my readers better acquainted with him, than even most of those were
who actually knew him, but could know him only partially; whereas there
is here an accumulation of intelligence from various points, by which
his character is more fully understood and illustrated[2].
[Footnote 1: 'You have fixed the method of biography, and whoever will
write a life well must imitate you.' Horace Walpole to Mason; Walpole's
_Letters_, vi. 211.]
[Footnote 2: 'I am absolutely certain that my mode of biography, which
gives not only a _History_ of Johnson's _visible_ progress through the
world, and of his publications, but a _view_ of his mind in his letters
and conversations, is the most perfect that can be conceived, and will
be more of a Life than any work that has ever yet appeared.' _Letters of
Boswell_, p. 265.]
Indeed I cannot conceive a more perfect mode of writing any man's life,
than not only relating all the most important events of it in their
order, but interweaving what he privately wrote, and said, and thought;
by which mankind are enabled as it were to see him live, and to 'live
o'er each scene[1]' with him, as he actually advanced through the
several stages of his life. Had his other friends been as diligent and
ardent as I was, he might have been almost entirely preserved. As it is,
I will venture to say that he will be seen in this work more completely
than any man who has ever yet lived[2].
[Footnote 1: Pope's Prologue to Addison's _Cato_, 1. 4.]
[Footnote 2: 'Boswell is the first of biographers. He has distanced all
his competitors so decidedly that it is not worth while to place them.
Eclipse is first, and the rest nowhere.' Macaulay's _Essays_, i. 374.]
And he will be seen as he really was; for I profess to write, not his
panegyrick, which must be all praise, but his Life; which, great and
good as he was, must not be supposed to be entirely perfect. To be as he
was, is indeed subject of panegyrick enough to any man in this state of
being; but in every picture there should be shade as well as light, and
when I delineate him without reserve, I do what he himself recommended,
both by his precept and his example[4].
[Footnote 1: See _post_, Sept. 17, 1777, and Malone's note of March 15,
1781, and Boswell's _Hebrides_, Sept. 22, 1773. Hannah More met Boswell
when he was carrying through the press his _Journal of a Tour to the
Hebrides_. 'Boswell tells me,' she writes, 'he is printing anecdotes of
Johnson, not his _Life_, but, as he has the vanity to call it, his
_pyramid_. I besought his tenderness for our virtuous and most revered
departed friend, and begged he would mitigate some of his asperities. He
said roughly: "He would not cut off his claws, nor make a tiger a cat,
to please anybody." It will, I doubt not, be a very amusing book, but, I
hope, not an indiscreet one; he has great enthusiasm and some fire.'
H. More's _Memoirs_, i. 403.]
[Page 31: Conversation best displays character.]
'If the biographer writes from personal knowledge, and makes haste to
gratify the publick curiosity, there is danger lest his interest, his
fear, his gratitude, or his tenderness overpower his fidelity, and tempt
him to conceal, if not to invent. There are many who think it an act of
piety to hide the faults or failings of their friends, even when they
can no longer suffer by their detection; we therefore see whole ranks of
characters adorned with uniform panegyrick, and not to be known from one
another but by extrinsick and casual circumstances. "Let me remember,
(says Hale,) when I find myself inclined to pity a criminal, that there
is likewise a pity due to the country." If we owe regard to the memory
of the dead, there is yet more respect to be paid to knowledge, to
virtue and to truth[1].'
[Footnote 1: Rambler, No. 60. BOSWELL.]
What I consider as the peculiar value of the following work, is, the
quantity it contains of Johnson's conversation; which is universally
acknowledged to have been eminently instructive and entertaining; and of
which the specimens that I have given upon a former occasion[1], have
been received with so much approbation, that I have good grounds for
supposing that the world will not be indifferent to more ample
communications of a similar nature.
[Footnote 1: In the _Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides_.]
That the conversation of a celebrated man, if his talents have been
exerted in conversation, will best display his character, is, I trust,
too well established in the judgment of mankind, to be at all shaken by
a sneering observation of Mr. Mason, in his _Memoirs of Mr. William
Whitehead_, in which there is literally no _Life_, but a mere dry
narrative of facts[1]. I do not think it was quite necessary to attempt
a depreciation of what is universally esteemed, because it was not to be
found in the immediate object of the ingenious writer's pen; for in
truth, from a man so still and so tame, as to be contented to pass many
years as the domestick companion of a superannuated lord and lady[2],
conversation could no more be expected, than from a Chinese mandarin on
a chimney-piece, or the fantastick figures on a gilt leather skreen.
[Footnote 1: 'Mason's _Life of Gray_ is excellent, because it is
interspersed with letters which show us the _man_. His _Life of
Whitehead_ is not a life at all, for there is neither a letter nor a
saying from first to last.' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 265.]
[Footnote 2: The Earl and Countess of Jersey, WRIGHT.]
[Page 32: Dr. Johnson on biography.]
If authority be required, let us appeal to Plutarch, the prince of
ancient biographers. [Greek: Oute tais epiphanestatais praxesi pantos
enesti daelosis aretaes ae kakias, alla pragma brachu pollakis, kai
raema, kai paidia tis emphasin aethous epoiaesen mallon ae machai
murionekroi, kai parataxeis ai megistai, kai poliorkiai poleon.] Nor is
it always in the most distinguished atchievements that men's virtues or
vices may be best discerned; but very often an action of small note, a
short saying, or a jest, shall distinguish a person's real character
more than the greatest sieges, or the most important battles[1].'
[Footnote 1: Plutarch's _Life of Alexander_, Langhorne's Translation.
BOSWELL.]
To this may be added the sentiments of the very man whose life I am
about to exhibit.
'The business of the biographer is often to pass slightly over those
performances and incidents which produce vulgar greatness, to lead the
thoughts into domestick privacies, and display the minute details of
daily life, where exteriour appendages are cast aside, and men excel
each other only by prudence and by virtue. The account of Thuanus is
with great propriety said by its authour to have been written, that it
might lay open to posterity the private and familiar character of that
man, _cujus ingenium et candorem ex ipsius scriptis sunt olim semper
miraturi_, whose candour and genius will to the end of time be by his
writings preserved in admiration.
'There are many invisible circumstances, which whether we read as
enquirers after natural or moral knowledge, whether we intend to enlarge
our science, or increase our virtue, are more important than publick
occurrences. Thus Sallust, the great master of nature, has not forgot in
his account of Catiline to remark, that his walk was now quick, and
again slow, as an indication of a mind revolving[1] with violent
commotion. Thus the story of Melanchthon affords a striking lecture on
the value of time, by informing us, that when he had made an
appointment, he expected not only the hour, but the minute to be fixed,
that the day might not run out in the idleness of suspence; and all the
plans and enterprises of De Witt are now of less importance to the world
than that part of his personal character, which represents him as
careful of his health, and negligent of his life.
[Footnote 1: In the original, _revolving something_.]
'But biography has often been allotted to writers, who seem very little
acquainted with the nature of their task, or very negligent about the
performance. They rarely afford any other account than might be
collected from publick papers, but imagine themselves writing a life,
when they exhibit a chronological series of actions or preferments;[1]
and have so little regard to the manners[1] or behaviour of their
heroes, that more knowledge may be gained of a man's real character, by
a short conversation with one of his servants, than from a formal and
studied narrative, begun with his pedigree, and ended with his funeral.
[Footnote 1: In the original, _and so little regard the manners_.]
[Page 33: Reply to possible objections.]
'There are indeed, some natural reasons why these narratives are often
written by such as were not likely to give much instruction or delight,
and why most accounts of particular persons are barren and useless. If a
life be delayed till interest and envy are at an end, we may hope for
impartiality, but must expect little intelligence; for the incidents
which give excellence to biography are of a volatile and evanescent
kind, such as soon escape the memory, and are transmitted[1] by
tradition. We know how few can pourtray a living acquaintance, except by
his most prominent and observable particularities, and the grosser
features of his mind; and it may be easily imagined how much of this
little knowledge may be lost in imparting it, and how soon a succession
of copies will lose all resemblance of the original[2].'
[Footnote 1: In the original, _and are rarely transmitted_.]
[Footnote 2: _Rambler_, No. 60. BOSWELL.]
I am fully aware of the objections which may be made to the minuteness
on some occasions of my detail of Johnson's conversation, and how
happily it is adapted for the petty exercise of ridicule, by men of
superficial understanding and ludicrous fancy; but I remain firm and
confident in my opinion, that minute particulars are frequently
characteristick, and always amusing, when they relate to a distinguished
man. I am therefore exceedingly unwilling that any thing, however
slight, which my illustrious friend thought it worth his while to
express, with any degree of point, should perish. For this almost
superstitious reverence, I have found very old and venerable authority,
quoted by our great modern prelate, Secker, in whose tenth sermon there
is the following passage:
'_Rabbi David Kimchi_, a noted Jewish Commentator, who lived about five
hundred years ago, explains that passage in the first Psalm, _His leaf
also shall not wither_, from Rabbins yet older than himself, thus: That
_even the idle talk_, so he expresses it, _of a good man ought to be
regarded_; the most superfluous things he saith are always of some
value. And other ancient authours have the same phrase, nearly in the
same sensc.'
[Page 34: Johnson's birth and baptism. A.D. 1709.]
Of one thing I am certain, that considering how highly the small portion
which we have of the table-talk and other anecdotes of our celebrated
writers is valued, and how earnestly it is regretted that we have not
more, I am justified in preserving rather too many of Johnson's sayings,
than too few; especially as from the diversity of dispositions it cannot
be known with certainty beforehand, whether what may seem trifling to
some and perhaps to the collector himself, may not be most agreeable to
many; and the greater number that an authour can please in any degree,
the more pleasure does there arise to a benevolent mind.
To those who are weak enough to think this a degrading task, and the
time and labour which have been devoted to it misemployed, I shall
content myself with opposing the authority of the greatest man of any
age, JULIUS CAESAR, of whom Bacon observes, that 'in his book of
Apothegms which he collected, we see that he esteemed it more honour to
make himself but a pair of tables, to take the wise and pithy words of
others, than to have every word of his own to be made an apothegm or an
oracle[1].'
[Footnote 1: Bacon's _Advancement of Learning_, Book I. BOSWELL.]
Having said thus much by way of introduction, I commit the following
pages to the candour of the Publick.
* * * * *
SAMUEL[1] JOHNSON was born at Lichfield, in Staffordshire, on the 18th
of September, N.S., 1709; and his initiation into the Christian Church
was not delayed; for his baptism is recorded, in the register of St.
Mary's parish in that city, to have been performed on the day of his
birth. His father is there stiled _Gentleman_, a circumstance of which
an ignorant panegyrist has praised him for not being proud; when the
truth is, that the appellation of Gentleman, though now lost in the
indiscriminate assumption of _Esquire_[2], was commonly taken by those
who could not boast of gentility. His father was Michael Johnson, a
native of Derbyshire, of obscure extraction[3], who settled in Lichfield
as a bookseller and stationer[4].
[Footnote 1: Johnson's godfather, Dr. Samuel Swinfen, according to the
author of _Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Dr. Johnson_, 1785, p.
10, was at the time of his birth lodging with Michael Johnson. Johnson
had uncles on the mother's side, named Samuel and Nathanael (see _Notes
and Queries_, 5th S. v. 13), after whom he and his brother may have been
named. It seems more likely that it was his godfather who gave him his
name.]
[Footnote 2: So early as 1709 _The Tatler_ complains of this
'indiscriminate assumption.' 'I'll undertake that if you read the
superscriptions to all the offices in the kingdom, you will not find
three letters directed to any but Esquires.... In a word it is now
_Populus Armigerorum_, a people of Esquires, And I don't know but by the
late act of naturalisation, foreigners will assume that title as part of
the immunity of being Englishmen.' _The Tatler_, No. 19.]
[Footnote 3: 'I can hardly tell who was my grandfather,' said Johnson.
See _post_, May 9, 1773.]
[Footnote 4: Michael Johnson was born in 1656. He must have been engaged
in the book-trade as early as 1681; for in the _Life of Dryden_ his son
says, 'The sale of Absalom and Achitophel was so large, that my father,
an old bookseller, told me, he had not known it equalled but by
Sacheverell's Trial.' Johnson's _Works_, vii. 276. In the _Life of
Sprat_ he is described by his son as 'an old man who had been no
careless observer of the passages of those times.' Ib. 392.]
[Page 35: His parentage. A.D. 1709]
His mother was Sarah Ford, descended of an ancient race of substantial
yeomanry in Warwickshire [1]. They were well advanced in years when they
married, and never had more than two children, both sons; Samuel, their
first born, who lived to be the illustrious character whose various
excellence I am to endeavour to record, and Nathanael, who died in his
twenty-fifth year.
[Footnote 1: Her epitaph says that she was born at Kingsnorton.
Kingsnorton is in Worcestershire, and not, as the epitaph says, 'in agro
Varvicensi.' When Johnson a few days before his death burnt his papers,
some fragments of his _Annals_ escaped the flames. One of these was
never seen by Boswell; it was published in 1805 under the title of _An
Account of the Life of Dr. Samuel Johnson, from his Birth to his
Eleventh Year, written by himself_. In this he says (p. 14), 'My mother
had no value for my father's relations; those indeed whom we knew of
were much lower than hers.' Writing to Mrs. Thrale on his way to
Scotland he said: 'We changed our horses at Darlington, where Mr.
Cornelius Harrison, a cousin-german of mine, was perpetual curate. He
was the only one of my relations who ever rose in fortune above penury,
or in character above neglect.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 105. His uncle
Harrison he described as 'a very mean and vulgar man, drunk every night,
but drunk with little drink, very peevish, very proud, very
ostentatious, but luckily not rich.' _Annals_, p. 28. In _Notes and
Queries_, 6th S. x. 465, is given the following extract of the marriage
of Johnson's parents from the Register of Packwood in Warwickshire:--
'1706. Mickell Johnsones of lichfield and Sara ford maried June the
9th.']
[Page 36: Character of Michael Johnson. A.D. 1709]
Mr. Michael Johnson was a man of a large and robust body, and of a
strong and active mind; yet, as in the most solid rocks veins of unsound
substance are often discovered, there was in him a mixture of that
disease, the nature of which eludes the most minute enquiry, though the
effects are well known to be a weariness of life, an unconcern about
those things which agitate the greater part of mankind, and a general
sensation of gloomy wretchedness[1]. From him then his son inherited,
with some other qualities, 'a vile melancholy,' which in his too strong
expression of any disturbance of the mind, 'made him mad all his life,
at least not sober[2].' Michael was, however, forced by the narrowness
of his circumstances to be very diligent in business, not only in his
shop[3], but by occasionally resorting to several towns in the
neighbourhood[4], some of which were at a considerable distance from
Lichfield[5]. At that time booksellers' shops in the provincial towns of
England were very rare, so that there was not one even in Birmingham, in
which town old Mr. Johnson used to open a shop every market-day. He was
a pretty good Latin scholar, and a citizen so creditable as to be made
one of the magistrates of Lichfield[6]; and, being a man of good sense,
and skill in his trade, he acquired a reasonable share of wealth, of
which however he afterwards lost the greatest part, by engaging
unsuccessfully in a manufacture of parchment[7]. He was a zealous
high-church man and royalist, and retained his attachment to the
unfortunate house of Stuart, though he reconciled himself, by
casuistical arguments of expediency and necessity, to take the oaths
imposed by the prevailing power[8].
[Footnote 1: Mrs. Piozzi (_Anec._ p. 3) records that Johnson told her
that 'his father was wrong-headed, positive, and afflicted with
melancholy.']
[Footnote 2: _Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides_, 3rd edit. p. 213
[Sept. 16]. BOSWELL.]
[Footnote 3: Stockdale in his _Memoirs_, ii. 102, records an anecdote
told him by Johnson of 'the generosity of one of the customers of his
father. "This man was purchasing a book, and pressed my father to let
him have it at a far less price than it was worth. When his other topics
of persuasion failed, he had recourse to one argument which, he thought,
would infallibly prevail:--You know, Mr. Johnson, that I buy an almanac
of you every year."']
[Footnote 4: Extract of a letter, dated 'Trentham, St. Peter's day,
1716,' written by the Rev. George Plaxton, Chaplain at that time to Lord
Gower, which may serve to show the high estimation in which the Father
of our great Moralist was held: 'Johnson, the Litchfield Librarian, is
now here; he propagates learning all over this diocese, and advanceth
knowledge to its just height; all the Clergy here are his Pupils, and
suck all they have from him; Allen cannot make a warrant without his
precedent, nor our quondam John Evans draw a recognizance _sine
directione Michaelis_.' _Gentleman's Magazine_, October, 1791. BOSWELL.]
[Footnote 5: In _Notes and Queries_, 3rd S. v. 33, is given the
following title-page of one of his books: '[Greek: Pharmako-Basauos]:
_or the Touchstone of Medicines, etc._ By Sir John Floyer of the City of
Litchfield, Kt., M.D., of Queen's College, Oxford. London: Printed for
Michael Johnson, Bookseller, and are to be sold at his shops at
Litchfield and Uttoxiter, in Staffordshire; and Ashby-de-la-Zouch, in
Leicestershire, 1687.']
[Footnote 6: Johnson writing of his birth says: 'My father being that
year sheriff of Lichfield, and to ride the circuit of the county [Mr.
Croker suggests city, not being aware that 'the City of Lichfield was a
county in itself.' See Harwood's _Lichfield_, p. 1. In like manner, in
the Militia Bill of 1756 (_post_ 1756) we find entered, 'Devonshire with
Exeter City and County,' 'Lincolnshire with Lincoln City and County']
next day, which was a ceremony then performed with great pomp, he was
asked by my mother whom he would invite to the Riding; and answered,
"all the town now." He feasted the citizens with uncommon magnificence,
and was the last but one that maintained the splendour of the Riding.'
_Annals_, p. 10. He served the office of churchwarden in 1688; of
sheriff in 1709; of junior bailiff in 1718; and senior bailiff in 1725.'
Harwood's _Lichfield_, p. 449.]
[Footnote 7: 'My father and mother had not much happiness from each
other. They seldom conversed; for my father could not bear to talk of
his affairs, and my mother being unacquainted with books cared not to
talk of anything else. Had my mother been more literate, they had been
better companions. She might have sometimes introduced her unwelcome
topic with more success, if she could have diversified her conversation.
Of business she had no distinct conception; and therefore her discourse
was composed only of complaint, fear, and suspicion. Neither of them
ever tried to calculate the profits of trade, or the expenses of living.
My mother concluded that we were poor, because we lost by some of our
trades; but the truth was, that my father, having in the early part of
his life contracted debts, never had trade sufficient to enable him to
pay them and maintain his family; he got something, but not enough.'
_Annals_, p. 14. Mr. Croker noticing the violence of Johnson's language
against the Excise, with great acuteness suspected 'some cause of
_personal animosity_;' this mention of the trade in parchment (an
_exciseable_ article) afforded a clue, which has led to the confirmation
of that suspicion. In the records of the Excise Board is to be found the
following letter, addressed to the supervisor of excise at Lichfield:
'July 27, 1725. The Commissioners received yours of the 22nd instant,
and since the justices would not give judgment against Mr. Michael
Johnson, _the tanner_, notwithstanding the facts were fairly against
him, the Board direct that the next time he offends, you do not lay an
information against him, but send an affidavit of the fact, that he may
be prosecuted in the Exchequer.']
[Footnote 8: See _post_, March 27, 1775.]
[Page 37: An incident in his life. A.D. 1709]
There is a circumstance in his life somewhat romantick, but so well
authenticated, that I shall not omit it. A young woman of Leek, in
Staffordshire, while he served his apprenticeship there, conceived a
violent passion for him; and though it met with no favourable return,
followed him to Lichfield, where she took lodgings opposite to the house
in which he lived, and indulged her hopeless flame. When he was informed
that it so preyed upon her mind that her life was in danger, he with a
generous humanity went to her and offered to marry her, but it was then
too late: her vital power was exhausted; and she actually exhibited one
of the very rare instances of dying for love. She was buried in the
cathedral of Lichfield; and he, with a tender regard, placed a stone
over her grave with this inscription:
Here lies the body of
Mrs. ELIZABETH BLANEY, a stranger.
She departed this life
20 of September, 1694.
[Page 38: Sarah Johnson. A.D. 1712.]
Johnson's mother was a woman of distinguished understanding. I asked his
old school-fellow, Mr. Hector, surgeon of Birmingham, if she was not
vain of her son. He said, 'she had too much good sense to be vain, but
she knew her son's value.' Her piety was not inferiour to her
understanding; and to her must be ascribed those early impressions of
religion upon the mind of her son, from which the world afterwards
derived so much benefit. He told me, that he remembered distinctly
having had the first notice of Heaven, 'a place to which good people
went,' and hell, 'a place to which bad people went,' communicated to him
by her, when a little child in bed with her[1]; and that it might be the
better fixed in his memory, she sent him to repeat it to Thomas Jackson,
their man-servant; he not being in the way, this was not done; but there
was no occasion for any artificial aid for its preservation.
[Footnote 1: 'I remember, that being in bed with my mother one morning,
I was told by her of the two places to which the inhabitants of this
world were received after death: one a fine place filled with happiness,
called Heaven; the other, a sad place, called Hell. That this account
much affected my imagination I do not remember.' _Annals_, p. 19.]
In following so very eminent a man from his cradle to his grave, every
minute particular, which can throw light on the progress of his mind, is
interesting. That he was remarkable, even in his earliest years, may
easily be supposed; for to use his own words in his Life of Sydenham,
'That the strength of his understanding, the accuracy of his
discernment, and ardour of his curiosity, might have been remarked from
his infancy, by a diligent observer, there is no reason to doubt. For,
there is no instance of any man, whose history has been minutely
related, that did not in every part of life discover the same proportion
of intellectual vigour[1].'
[Footnote 1: Johnson's _Works_, vi. 406.]
In all such investigations it is certainly unwise to pay too much
attention to incidents which the credulous relate with eager
satisfaction, and the more scrupulous or witty enquirer considers only
as topicks of ridicule: Yet there is a traditional story of the infant
Hercules of toryism, so curiously characteristick, that I shall not
withhold it. It was communicated to me in a letter from Miss Mary Adye,
of Lichfield:
[Page 39: Anecdotes of Johnson's childhood.]
'When Dr. Sacheverel was at Lichfield, Johnson was not quite three years
old. My grandfather Hammond observed him at the cathedral perched upon
his father's shoulders, listening and gaping at the much celebrated
preacher. Mr. Hammond asked Mr. Johnson how he could possibly think of
bringing such an infant to church, and in the midst of so great a croud.
He answered, because it was impossible to keep him at home; for, young
as he was, he believed he had caught the publick spirit and zeal for
Sacheverel, and would have staid for ever in the church, satisfied with
beholding him[1].'
[Footnote 1: Mr. Croker disbelieves the story altogether. 'Sacheverel,'
he says, 'by his sentence pronounced in Feb. 1710, was interdicted for
three years from preaching; so that he could not have preached at
Lichfield while Johnson was under three years of age. Sacheverel,
indeed, made a triumphal progress through the midland counties in 1710;
and it appears by the books of the corporation of Lichfield that he was
received in that town, and complimented by the attendance of the
corporation, "and a present of three dozen of wine," on June 16, 1710;
but then "the _infant Hercules of Toryism_" was just _nine months_ old.'
It is quite possible that the story is in the main correct. Sacheverel
was received in Lichfield in 1710 on his way down to Shropshire to take
possession of a living. At the end of the suspension in March 1713 he
preached a sermon in London, for which, as he told Swift, 'a book-seller
gave him L100, intending to print 30,000' (Swift's _Journal to Stella_,
April 2, 1713). It is likely enough that either on his way up to town or
on his return journey he preached at Lichfield. In the spring of 1713
Johnson was three years old.]
Nor can I omit a little instance of that jealous independence of spirit,
and impetuosity of temper, which never forsook him. The fact was
acknowledged to me by himself, upon the authority of his mother. One
day, when the servant who used to be sent to school to conduct him home,
had not come in time, he set out by himself, though he was then so
near-sighted, that he was obliged to stoop down on his hands and knees
to take a view of the kennel before he ventured to step over it. His
school-mistress, afraid that he might miss his way, or fall into the
kennel, or be run over by a cart, followed him at some distance. He
happened to turn about and perceive her. Feeling her careful attention
as an insult to his manliness, he ran back to her in a rage, and beat
her, as well as his strength would permit.
Of the power of his memory, for which he was all his life eminent to a
degree almost incredible[1], the following early instance was told me in
his presence at Lichfield, in 1776, by his step-daughter, Mrs. Lucy
Porter, as related to her by his mother.
[Footnote 1: See _post_, p. 48, and April 25,1778 note; and Boswell's
_Hebrides_, Oct. 28, 1773.]
[Page 40: Johnson's infant precocity. A.D. 1712.]
When he was a child in petticoats, and had learnt to read, Mrs. Johnson
one morning put the common prayer-book into his hands, pointed to the
collect for the day, and said, 'Sam, you must get this by heart.' She
went up stairs, leaving him to study it: But by the time she had reached
the second floor, she heard him following her. 'What's the matter?' said
she. 'I can say it,' he replied; and repeated it distinctly, though he
could not have read it more than twice.
But there has been another story of his infant precocity generally
circulated, and generally believed, the truth of which I am to refute
upon his own authority. It is told[1], that, when a child of three years
old, he chanced to tread upon a duckling, the eleventh of a brood, and
killed it; upon which, it is said, he dictated to his mother the
following epitaph:
'Here lies good master duck,
Whom Samuel Johnson trod on;
If it had liv'd, it had been _good luck_,
For then we'd had an _odd one_.'
There is surely internal evidence that this little composition combines
in it, what no child of three years old could produce, without an
extension of its faculties by immediate inspiration; yet Mrs. Lucy
Porter, Dr. Johnson's step-daughter, positively maintained to me, in his
presence, that there could be no doubt of the truth of this anecdote,
for she had heard it from his mother. So difficult is it to obtain an
authentick relation of facts, and such authority may there be for
errour; for he assured me, that his father made the verses, and wished
to pass them for his child's. He added, 'my father was a foolish old
man[2]; that is to say, foolish in talking of his children[3].'
[Footnote 1: _Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson_, by Hester Lynch Piozzi, p. 11.
_Life of Dr. Johnson_, by Sir John Hawkins, p. 6. BOSWELL.]
[Footnote 2: 'My father had much vanity which his adversity hindered
from being fully exerted.' _Annals_, p. 14.]
[Footnote 3: This anecdote of the duck, though disproved by internal and
external evidence, has nevertheless, upon supposition of its truth, been
made the foundation of the following ingenious and fanciful reflections
of Miss Seward, amongst the communications concerning Dr. Johnson with
which she has been pleased to favour me: 'These infant numbers contain
the seeds of those propensities which through his life so strongly
marked his character, of that poetick talent which afterwards bore such
rich and plentiful fruits; for, excepting his orthographick works, every
thing which Dr. Johnson wrote was Poetry, whose essence consists not in
numbers, or in jingle, but in the strength and glow of a fancy, to which
all the stores of nature and of art stand in prompt administration; and
in an eloquence which conveys their blended illustrations in a language
"more tuneable than needs or rhyme or verse to add more harmony."
'The above little verses also shew that superstitious bias which "grew
with his growth, and strengthened with his strength," and, of late years
particularly, injured his happiness, by presenting to him the gloomy
side of religion, rather than that bright and cheering one which gilds
the period of closing life with the light of pious hope.'
This is so beautifully imagined, that I would not suppress it. But like
many other theories, it is deduced from a supposed fact, which is,
indeed, a fiction. BOSWELL.]
[Page 41: His eyesight.]
[Page 42: The king's evil.]
Young Johnson had the misfortune to be much afflicted with the
scrophula, or king's evil, which disfigured a countenance naturally well
formed, and hurt his visual nerves so much, that he did not see at all
with one of his eyes, though its appearance was little different from
that of the other. There is amongst his prayers, one inscribed '_When
my_ EYE _was restored to its use_[1],' which ascertains a defect that
many of his friends knew he had, though I never perceived it[2]. I
supposed him to be only near-sighted; and indeed I must observe, that in
no other respect could I discern any defect in his vision; on the
contrary, the force of his attention and perceptive quickness made him
see and distinguish all manner of objects, whether of nature or of art,
with a nicety that is rarely to be found. When he and I were travelling
in the Highlands of Scotland, and I pointed out to him a mountain which
I observed resembled a cone, he corrected my inaccuracy, by shewing me,
that it was indeed pointed at the top, but that one side of it was
larger than the other[3]. And the ladies with whom he was acquainted
agree, that no man was more nicely and minutely critical in the elegance
of female dress[4]. When I found that he saw the romantick beauties of
Islam, in Derbyshire, much better than I did, I told him that he
resembled an able performer upon a bad instrument[5]. How false and
contemptible then are all the remarks which have been made to the
prejudice either of his candour or of his philosophy, founded upon a
supposition that he was almost blind. It has been said, that he
contracted this grievous malady from his nurse[6]. His mother yielding
to the superstitious notion, which, it is wonderful to think, prevailed
so long in this country, as to the virtue of the regal touch; a notion,
which our kings encouraged, and to which a man of such inquiry and such
judgement as Carte[7] could give credit; carried him to London, where he
was actually touched by Queen Anne. Mrs. Johnson indeed, as Mr. Hector
informed me, acted by the advice of the celebrated Sir John Floyer[8],
then a physician in Lichfield. Johnson used to talk of this very
frankly; and Mrs. Piozzi has preserved his very picturesque description
of the scene, as it remained upon his fancy. Being asked if he could
remember Queen Anne, 'He had (he said) a confused, but somehow a sort of
solemn recollection of a lady in diamonds, and a long black hood[9].'
This touch, however, was without any effect. I ventured to say to him,
in allusion to the political principles in which he was educated, and of
which he ever retained some odour, that 'his mother had not carried him
far enough; she should have taken him to ROME.'
[Footnote 1: _Prayers and Meditations_, p. 27. BOSWELL.]
[Footnote 2: Speaking himself of the imperfection of one of his eyes, he
said to Dr. Burney, 'the dog was never good for much.' MALONE.]
[Footnote 3: Boswell's _Hebrides_, Sept. 1, 1773.]
[Footnote 4: 'No accidental position of a riband,' wrote Mrs. Piozzi,
'escaped him, so nice was his observation, and so rigorous his demands
of propriety.' Piozzi's _Anec._ p. 287. Miss Burney
says:--'Notwithstanding Johnson is sometimes so absent and always so
near-sighted, he scrutinizes into every part of almost everybody's
appearance [at Streatham].' And again she writes:--'his blindness is as
much the effect of absence [of mind] as of infirmity, for he sees
wonderfully at times. He can see the colour of a lady's top-knot, for he
very often finds fault with it.' Mme. D'Arblays _Diary_, i. 85, ii. 174.
'He could, when well, distinguish the hour on Lichfield town-clock.'
_Post_, p. 64.]
[Footnote 5: See _post_, Sept. 22, 1777.]
[Footnote 6: This was Dr. Swinfen's opinion, who seems also to have
attributed Johnson's short-sightedness to the same cause. 'My mother,'
he says, 'thought my diseases derived from her family.' _Annals_, p. 12.
When he was put out at nurse, 'She visited me,' he says, 'every day, and
used to go different ways, that her assiduity might not expose her to
ridicule.']
[Footnote 7: In 1738 Carte published a masterly 'Account of Materials,
etc., for a History of England with the method of his undertaking.'
(_Gent. Mag_. viii. 227.) He proposed to do much of what has been since
done under the direction of the Master of the Rolls. He asked for
subscriptions to carry on his great undertaking, for in its researches
it was to be very great. In 1744 the City of London resolved to
subscribe L50 for seven years (ib. xiv: 393). In vol. i. of his history,
which only came down to the reign of John (published in 1748), he went
out of his way to assert that the cure by the king's touch was not due
to the 'regal _unction_'; for he had known a man cured who had gone over
to France, and had been there 'touched by the eldest lineal descendant
of a race of kings who had not at that time been crowned or _anointed_.'
(ib. xviii. 13.) Thereupon the Court of Common Council by a unanimous
vote withdrew its subscription, (ib. 185.) The old Jacobites maintained
that the power did not descend to Mary, William, or Anne. It was for
this reason that Boswell said that Johnson should have been taken to
Rome; though indeed it was not till some years after he was 'touched' by
Queen Anne that the Pretender dwelt there. The Hanoverian kings never
'touched.' The service for the ceremony was printed in the _Book of
Common Prayer_ as late as 1719. (_Penny Cyclo_. xxi. 113.) 'It appears
by the newspapers of the time,' says Mr. Wright, quoted by Croker, 'that
on March 30, 1712, two hundred persons were touched by Queen Anne.'
Macaulay says that 'Charles the Second, in the course of his reign,
touched near a hundred thousand persons.... The expense of the ceremony
was little less than ten thousand pounds a year.' Macaulay's _England_,
ch. xiv.]
[Footnote 8: See _post_, p. 91, note.]
[Footnote 9: _Anecdotes_, p. 10. BOSWELL.]
[Page 43: Johnson at a dame's school.]
He was first taught to read English by Dame Oliver[1], a widow, who kept
a school for young children in Lichfield. He told me she could read the
black letter, and asked him to borrow for her, from his father, a bible
in that character. When he was going to Oxford, she came to take leave
of him, brought him, in the simplicity of her kindness, a present of
gingerbread, and said, he was the best scholar she ever had. He
delighted in mentioning this early compliment: adding, with a smile,
that 'this was as high a proof of his merit as he could conceive.' His
next instructor in English was a master, whom, when he spoke of him to
me, he familiarly called Tom Brown, who, said he, 'published a
spelling-book, and dedicated it to the UNIVERSE; but, I fear, no copy of
it can now be had[2].'
[Footnote 1: Johnson, writing of Addison's schoolmasters, says:--'Not to
name the school or the masters of men illustrious for literature is a
kind of historical fraud, by which honest fame is injuriously
diminished. I would therefore trace him through the whole process of his
education.' Johnson's _Works_, vii. 418.]
[Footnote 2: Neither the British Museum nor the Bodleian Library has a
copy.]
[Page 44: Lichfield School.]
He began to learn Latin[1] with Mr. Hawkins, usher, or under-master of
Lichfield school, 'a man (said he) very skilful in his little way.' With
him he continued two years[2], and then rose to be under the care of Mr.
Hunter, the head-master, who, according to his account, 'was very
severe, and wrong-headedly severe. He used (said he) to beat us
unmercifully; and he did not distinguish between ignorance and
negligence; for he would beat a boy equally for not knowing a thing, as
for neglecting to know it. He would ask a boy a question; and if he did
not answer it, he would beat him, without considering whether he had an
opportunity of knowing how to answer it. For instance, he would call up
a boy and ask him Latin for a candlestick, which the boy could not
expect to be asked. Now, Sir, if a boy could answer every question,
there would be no need of a master to teach him.'
[Footnote 1: 'When we learned _Propria qua maribus_, we were examined in
the Accidence; particularly we formed verbs, that is, went through the
same person in all the moods and tenses. This was very difficult to me,
and I was once very anxious about the next day, when this exercise was
to be performed in which I had failed till I was discouraged. My mother
encouraged me, and I proceeded better. When I told her of my good
escape, "We often," said she, dear mother! "come off best when we are
most afraid." She told me that, once when she asked me about forming
verbs I said, "I did not form them in an ugly shape." "You could not,"
said she "speak plain; and I was proud that I had a boy who was forming
verbs" These little memorials soothe my mind.' _Annals_, p. 22.]
[Footnote 2: 'This was the course of the school which I remember with
pleasure; for I was indulged and caressed by my master; and, I think,
really excelled the rest.' _Annals_, p. 23.]
[Page 45: Johnson's school-fellows.]
It is, however, but justice to the memory of Mr. Hunter to mention, that
though he might err in being too severe, the school of Lichfield was
very respectable in his time[1]. The late Dr. Taylor, Prebendary of
Westminster, who was educated under him, told me, that 'he was an
excellent master, and that his ushers were most of them men of eminence;
that Holbrook, one of the most ingenious men, best scholars, and best
preachers of his age, was usher during the greatest part of the time
that Johnson was at school[2]. Then came Hague, of whom as much might be
said, with the addition that he was an elegant poet. Hague was succeeded
by Green, afterwards Bishop of Lincoln, whose character in the learned
world is well known[3]. In the same form with Johnson was Congreve[4],
who afterwards became chaplain to Archbishop Boulter, and by that
connection obtained good preferment in Ireland. He was a younger son of
the ancient family of Congreve, in Staffordshire, of which the poet was
a branch. His brother sold the estate. There was also Lowe, afterwards
Canon of Windsor[5].'
[Footnote 1: Johnson said of Hunter:--'Abating his brutality, he was a
very good master;' _post._ March 21, 1772. Steele in the _Spectator_,
No. 157, two years after Johnson's birth, describes these savage tyrants
of the grammar-schools. 'The boasted liberty we talk of,' he writes, 'is
but a mean reward for the long servitude, the many heartaches and
terrors to which our childhood is exposed in going through a grammar
school.... No one who has gone through what they call a great school but
must remember to have seen children of excellent and ingenuous natures
(as has afterwards appeared in their manhood); I say no man has passed
through this way of education but must have seen an ingenuous creature
expiring with shame, with pale looks, beseeching sorrow and silent
tears, throw up its honest eyes and kneel or its tender kneeds to an
inexorable blockhead to be forgiven the false quantity of a word in
making a Latin verse.' Likely enough Johnson's roughness was in part due
to this brutal treatment; for Steele goes on to say:--'It is wholly to
this dreadful practise that we may attribute a certain hardiness and
ferocity which some men, though liberally educated, carry about them in
all their behaviour. To be bred like a gentleman, and punished like a
malefactor, must, as we see it does, produce that illiberal sauciness
which we see sometimes in men of letters.']
[Footnote 2: Johnson described him as 'a peevish and ill-tempered man,'
and not so good a scholar or teacher as Taylor made out. Once the boys
perceived that he did not understand a part of the Latin lesson; another
time, when sent up to the upper-master to be punished, they had to
complain that when they 'could not get the passage,' the assistant would
not help them. _Annals_, pp. 26, 32.]
[Footnote 3: One of the contributors to the _Athenian Letters_. See
_Gent. Mag._ liv. 276.]
[Footnote 4: Johnson, _post_, March 22, 1776, describes him as one 'who
does not get drunk, for he is a very pious man, but he is always
muddy.']
[Footnote 5: A tradition had reached Johnson through his school-fellow
Andrew Corbet that Addison had been at the school and had been the
leader in a barring out. (Johnson's _Works_, vii. 419.) Garrick entered
the school about two years after Johnson left. According to Garrick's
biographer, Tom Davies (p. 3), 'Hunter was an odd mixture of the pedant
and the sportsman. Happy was the boy who could slily inform his offended
master where a covey of partridges was to be found; this notice was a
certain pledge of his pardon.' Lord Campbell in his _Lives of the Chief
Justices_, ii. 279, says:--'Hunter is celebrated for having flogged
seven boys who afterwards sat as judges in the superior courts at
Westminster at the same time. Among these were Chief Justice Wilmot,
Lord Chancellor Northington, Sir T. Clarke, Master of the Rolls, Chief
Justice Willes, and Chief Baron Parker. It is remarkable that, although
Johnson and Wilmot were several years class-fellows at Lichfield, there
never seems to have been the slightest intercourse between them in after
life; but the Chief Justice used frequently to mention the Lexicographer
as "a long, lank, lounging boy, whom he distinctly remembered to have
been punished by Hunter for idleness." Lord Campbell blunders here.
Northington and Clarke were from Westminster School (Campbell's
_Chancellors_, v. 176). The schoolhouse, famous though it was, was
allowed to fall into decay. A writer in the _Gent. Mag._ in 1794 (p.
413) says that 'it is now in a state of dilapidation, and unfit for the
use of either the master or boys.']
[Page 46: Mr. Hunter.]
Indeed Johnson was very sensible how much he owed to Mr. Hunter. Mr.
Langton one day asked him how he had acquired so accurate a knowledge of
Latin, in which, I believe, he was exceeded by no man of his time; he
said, 'My master whipt me very well. Without that, Sir, I should have
done nothing.' He told Mr. Langton, that while Hunter was flogging his
boys unmercifully, he used to say, 'And this I do to save you from the
gallows.' Johnson, upon all occasions, expressed his approbation of
enforcing instruction by means of the rod[1]. 'I would rather (said he)
have the rod to be the general terrour to all, to make them learn, than
tell a child, if you do thus, or thus, you will be more esteemed than
your brothers or sisters. The rod produces an effect which terminates in
itself. A child is afraid of being whipped, and gets his task, and
there's an end on't; whereas, by exciting emulation and comparisons of
superiority, you lay the foundation of lasting mischief; you make
brothers and sisters hate each other[2].'
[Footnote 1: Johnson's observation to Dr. Rose, on this subject,
deserves to be recorded. Rose was praising the mild treatment of
children at school, at a time when flogging began to be less practised
than formerly: 'But then, (said Johnson,) they get nothing else: and
what they gain at one end, they lose at the other.' BURNEY. See _post_,
under Dec. 17, 1775.]
[Footnote 2: This passage is quoted from Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 24,
1773. Mr. Boyd had told Johnson that Lady Errol did not use force or
fear in educating her children; whereupon he replied, 'Sir, she is
wrong,' and continued in the words of the text.
Gibbon in his _Autobiography_ says:--'The domestic discipline of our
ancestors has been relaxed by the philosophy and softness of the age:
and if my father remembered that he had trembled before a stern parent,
it was only to adopt with his son an opposite mode of behaviour.'
Gibbon's _Works_, i. 112. Lord Chesterfield writing to a friend on Oct.
18, 1752, says:--'Pray let my godson never know what a blow or a
whipping is, unless for those things for which, were he a man, he would
deserve them; such as lying, cheating, making mischief, and meditated
malice.' Chesterfield's _Misc. Works_, iv. 130.]
When Johnson saw some young ladies in Lincolnshire who were remarkably
well behaved, owing to their mother's strict discipline and severe
correction[1], he exclaimed, in one of Shakspeare's lines a little
varied,
'_Rod_, I will honour thee for this thy duty[2].'
[Footnote 1: Johnson, however, hated anything that came near to tyranny
in the management of children. Writing to Mrs. Thrale, who had told him
that she had on one occasion gone against the wish of her nurses, he
said:--'That the nurses fretted will supply me during life with an
additional motive to keep every child, as far as is possible, out of a
nurse's power. A nurse made of common mould will have a pride in
overcoming a child's reluctance. There are few minds to which tyranny is
not delightful; power is nothing but as it is felt, and the delight of
superiority is proportionate to the resistance overcome.' _Piozzi
Letters_, ii. 67.]
[Footnote 2: 'Sword, I will hallow thee for this thy deed.' 2 Henry VI,
act iv. sc. 10. John Wesley's mother, writing of the way she had brought
up her children, boys and girls alike, says:--'When turned a year old
(and some before) they were taught to fear the rod, and to cry softly;
by which means they escaped abundance of correction they might otherwise
have had.' Wesley's _Journal_, i. 370.]
[Page 47: Johnson a King of men.]
That superiority over his fellows, which he maintained with so much
dignity in his march through life, was not assumed from vanity and
ostentation, but was the natural and constant effect of those
extraordinary powers of mind, of which he could not but be conscious by
comparison; the intellectual difference, which in other cases of
comparison of characters, is often a matter of undecided contest, being
as clear in his case as the superiority of stature in some men above
others. Johnson did not strut or stand on tip-toe: He only did not
stoop. From his earliest years his superiority was perceived and
acknowledged[1]. He was from the beginning [Greek: anax andron], a king
of men. His schoolfellow, Mr. Hector, has obligingly furnished me with
many particulars of his boyish days[2]: and assured me that he never
knew him corrected at school, but for talking and diverting other boys
from their business. He seemed to learn by intuition; for though
indolence and procrastination were inherent in his constitution,
whenever he made an exertion he did more than any one else. In short, he
is a memorable instance of what has been often observed, that the boy is
the man in miniature: and that the distinguishing characteristicks of
each individual are the same, through the whole course of life. His
favourites used to receive very liberal assistance from him; and such
was the submission and deference with which he was treated, such the
desire to obtain his regard, that three of the boys, of whom Mr. Hector
was sometimes one, used to come in the morning as his humble attendants,
and carry him to school. One in the middle stooped, while he sat upon
his back, and one on each side supported him; and thus he was borne
triumphant. Such a proof of the early predominance of intellectual
vigour is very remarkable, and does honour to human nature. Talking to
me once himself of his being much distinguished at school, he told me,
'they never thought to raise me by comparing me to any one; they never
said, Johnson is as good a scholar as such a one; but such a one is as
good a scholar as Johnson; and this was said but of one, but of Lowe;
and I do not think he was as good a scholar.'
[Footnote 1: 'There dwelt at Lichfield a gentleman of the name of Butt,
to whose house on holidays he was ever welcome. The children in the
family, perhaps offended with the rudeness of his behaviour, would
frequently call him the great boy, which the father once overhearing
said:--'You call him the great boy, but take my word for it, he will one
day prove a great man.' Hawkins's _Johnson_, p. 6.]
[Footnote 2: See _post_, March 22, 1776 and Johnson's visit to Birmingham
in Nov. 1784.]
[Page 48: Johnson's tenacious memory.]
He discovered a great ambition to excel, which roused him to counteract
his indolence. He was uncommonly inquisitive; and his memory was so
tenacious, that he never forgot any thing that he either heard or read.
Mr. Hector remembers having recited to him eighteen verses, which, after
a little pause, he repeated _verbatim_, varying only one epithet, by
which he improved the line.
He never joined with the other boys in their ordinary diversions: his
only amusement was in winter, when he took a pleasure in being drawn
upon the ice by a boy barefooted, who pulled him along by a garter fixed
round him; no very easy operation, as his size was remarkably large. His
defective sight, indeed, prevented him from enjoying the common sports;
and he once pleasantly remarked to me, 'how wonderfully well he had
contrived to be idle without them.' Lord Chesterfield, however, has
justly observed in one of his letters, when earnestly cautioning a
friend against the pernicious effects of idleness, that active sports
are not to be reckoned idleness in young people; and that the listless
torpor of doing nothing, alone deserves that name[1]. Of this dismal
inertness of disposition, Johnson had all his life too great a share.
Mr. Hector relates, that 'he could not oblige him more than by
sauntering away the hours of vacation in the fields, during which he was
more engaged in talking to himself than to his companion.'
[Footnote 1: 'You should never suffer your son to be idle one minute. I
do not call play, of which he ought to have a good share, idleness; but
I mean sitting still in a chair in total inaction; it makes boys lazy
and indolent.' Chesterfield's _Misc. Works_, iv. 248.]
[Page 49: His fondness for romances.]
Dr. Percy[1], the Bishop of Dromore, who was long intimately acquainted
with him, and has preserved a few anecdotes concerning him, regretting
that he was not a more diligent collector, informs me, that 'when a boy
he was immoderately fond of reading romances of chivalry, and he
retained his fondness for them through life; so that (adds his Lordship)
spending part of a summer[2] at my parsonage-house in the country, he
chose for his regular reading the old Spanish romance of _Felixmarte of
Hircania_, in folio, which he read quite through[3]. Yet I have heard
him attribute to these extravagant fictions that unsettled turn of mind
which prevented his ever fixing in any profession.'
[Footnote 1: The author of the _Reliques_.]
[Footnote 2: The summer of 1764.]
[Footnote 3: Johnson, writing of _Paradise Lost_, book ii. l. 879,
says:--'In the history of _Don Bellianis_, when one of the knights
approaches, as I remember, the castle of Brandezar, the gates are said
to open, _grating harsh thunder upon their brazen hinges_.' Johnson's
_Works_, v. 76. See _post_, March 27, 1776, where 'he had with him upon
a jaunt Il Palmerino d'Inghilterra.' Prior says of Burke that 'a very
favourite study, as he once confessed in the House of Commons, was the
old romances, _Palmerin of England_ and _Don Belianis of Greece_, upon
which he had wasted much valuable time.' Prior's _Burke_, p. 9.]
[Page 50: Stourbridge School.]
1725: AETAT. 16.--After having resided for some time at the house of his
uncle, Cornelius Ford[1], Johnson was, at the age of fifteen, removed to
the school of Stourbridge, in Worcestershire, of which Mr. Wentworth was
then master. This step was taken by the advice of his cousin, the
Reverend Mr. Ford, a man in whom both talents and good dispositions were
disgraced by licentiousness[2], but who was a very able judge of what
was right.
[Footnote 1: Hawkins (_Life_, p. 2) says that the uncle was Dr. Joseph
Ford 'a physician of great eminence.' The son, Parson Ford, was
Cornelius. In Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 15, 1773, Johnson mentions an
uncle who very likely was Dr. Ford. In _Notes and Queries_, 5th S. v.
13, it is shown that by the will of the widow of Dr. Ford the Johnsons
received L200 in 1722. On the same page the Ford pedigree is given,
where it is seen that Johnson had an uncle Cornelius. It has been stated
that 'Johnson was brought up by his uncle till his fifteenth year.' I
understand Boswell to say that Johnson, after leaving Lichfield School,
resided for some time with his uncle before going to Stourbridge.]
[Footnote 2: He is said to be the original of the parson in Hogarth's
_Modern Midnight Conversation_. BOSWELL.
In the _Life of Fenton_ Johnson describes Ford as 'a clergyman at that
time too well known, whose abilities, instead of furnishing convivial
merriment to the voluptuous and dissolute, might have enabled him to
excel among the virtuous and the wisc.' Johnson's _Works_, viii. 57.
Writing to Mrs. Thrale on July 8, 1771, he says, 'I would have been glad
to go to Hagley [close to Stourbridge] for I should have had the
opportunity of recollecting past times, and wandering _per montes notos
et flumina nota_, of recalling the images of sixteen, and reviewing my
conversations with poor Ford.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 42. See also _post_,
May 12, 1778.]
At this school he did not receive so much benefit as was expected. It
has been said, that he acted in the capacity of an assistant to Mr.
Wentworth, in teaching the younger boys. 'Mr. Wentworth (he told me) was
a very able man, but an idle man, and to me very severe; but I cannot
blame him much. I was then a big boy; he saw I did not reverence him;
and that he should get no honour by me. I had brought enough with me, to
carry me through; and all I should get at his school would be ascribed
to my own labour, or to my former master. Yet he taught me a great
deal.'
He thus discriminated, to Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore, his progress at
his two grammar-schools. 'At one, I learnt much in the school, but
little from the master; in the other, I learnt much from the master, but
little in the school.'
The Bishop also informs me, that 'Dr. Johnson's father, before he was
received at Stourbridge, applied to have him admitted as a scholar and
assistant to the Reverend Samuel Lea, M.A., head master of Newport
school, in Shropshire (a very diligent, good teacher, at that time in
high reputation, under whom Mr. Hollis[1] is said, in the Memoirs of his
Life, to have been also educated[2]). This application to Mr. Lea was
not successful; but Johnson had afterwards the gratification to hear
that the old gentleman, who lived to a very advanced age, mentioned it
as one of the most memorable events of his life, that 'he was very near
having that great man for his scholar.'
[Footnote 1: See _post_, April 20, 1781.]
[Footnote 2: As was likewise the Bishop of Dromore many years
afterwards. BOSWELL.]
He remained at Stourbridge little more than a year, and then returned
home, where he may be said to have loitered, for two years, in a state
very unworthy his uncommon abilities. He had already given several
proofs of his poetical genius, both in his school-exercises and in other
occasional compositions. Of these I have obtained a considerable
collection, by the favour of Mr. Wentworth, son of one of his masters,
and of Mr. Hector, his school-fellow and friend; from which I select the
following specimens:
[Page 51: Johnson's youthful compositions.]
_Translation of_ VIRGIL. Pastoral I.
MELIBOEUS.
Now, Tityrus, you, supine and careless laid,
Play on your pipe beneath this beechen shade;
While wretched we about the world must roam,
And leave our pleasing fields and native home,
Here at your ease you sing your amorous flame,
And the wood rings with Amarillis' name.
TITYRUS.
Those blessings, friend, a deity bestow'd,
For I shall never think him less than God;
Oft on his altar shall my firstlings lie,
Their blood the consecrated stones shall dye:
He gave my flocks to graze the flowery meads,
And me to tune at ease th' unequal reeds.
MELIBOEUS.
My admiration only I exprest,
(No spark of envy harbours in my breast)
That, when confusion o'er the country reigns,
To you alone this happy state remains.
Here I, though faint myself, must drive my goats,
Far from their ancient fields and humble cots.
This scarce I lead, who left on yonder rock
Two tender kids, the hopes of all the flock.
Had we not been perverse and careless grown,
This dire event by omens was foreshown;
Our trees were blasted by the thunder stroke, )
And left-hand crows, from an old hollow oak, )
Foretold the coming evil by their dismal croak. )
_Translation of_ HORACE. Book I. Ode xxii.
The man, my friend, whose conscious heart
With virtue's sacred ardour glows,
Nor taints with death the envenom'd dart,
Nor needs the guard of Moorish bows:
Though Scythia's icy cliffs he treads,
Or horrid Africk's faithless sands;
Or where the fam'd Hydaspes spreads
His liquid wealth o'er barbarous lands.
For while by Chloe's image charm'd,
Too far in Sabine woods I stray'd;
Me singing, careless and unarm'd,
A grizly wolf surprised, and fled.
No savage more portentous stain'd
Apulia's spacious wilds with gore;
No fiercer Juba's thirsty land,
Dire nurse of raging lions, bore.
Place me where no soft summer gale
Among the quivering branches sighs;
Where clouds condens'd for ever veil
With horrid gloom the frowning skies:
Place me beneath the burning line,
A clime deny'd to human race;
I'll sing of Chloe's charms divine,
Her heav'nly voice, and beauteous face.
_Translation of_ HORACE. Book II. Ode ix.
Clouds do not always veil the skies,
Nor showers immerse the verdant plain;
Nor do the billows always rise,
Or storms afflict the ruffled main.
Nor, Valgius, on th' Armenian shores
Do the chain'd waters always freeze;
Not always furious Boreas roars,
Or bends with violent force the trees.
But you are ever drown'd in tears,
For Mystes dead you ever mourn;
No setting Sol can ease your care,
But finds you sad at his return.
The wise experienc'd Grecian sage
Mourn'd not Antilochus so long;
Nor did King Priam's hoary age
So much lament his slaughter'd son.
Leave off, at length, these woman's sighs,
Augustus' numerous trophies sing;
Repeat that prince's victories,
To whom all nations tribute bring.
Niphates rolls an humbler wave,
At length the undaunted Scythian yields,
Content to live the Roman's slave,
And scarce forsakes his native fields.
_Translation of part of the Dialogue between_ HECTOR _and_
ANDROMACHE;
_from the Sixth Book of_ HOMER'S ILIAD.
She ceas'd: then godlike Hector answer'd kind,
(His various plumage sporting in the wind)
That post, and all the rest, shall be my care;
But shall I, then, forsake the unfinished war?
How would the Trojans brand great Hector's name!
And one base action sully all my fame,
Acquired by wounds and battles bravely fought!
Oh! how my soul abhors so mean a thought.
Long since I learn'd to slight this fleeting breath,
And view with cheerful eyes approaching death
The inexorable sisters have decreed
That Priam's house, and Priam's self shall bleed:
The day will come, in which proud Troy shall yield,
And spread its smoking ruins o'er the field.
Yet Hecuba's, nor Priam's hoary age,
Whose blood shall quench some Grecian's thirsty rage,
Nor my brave brothers, that have bit the ground,
Their souls dismiss'd through many a ghastly wound,
Can in my bosom half that grief create,
As the sad thought of your impending fate:
When some proud Grecian dame shall tasks impose,
Mimick your tears, and ridicule your woes;
Beneath Hyperia's waters shall you sweat,
And, fainting, scarce support the liquid weight:
Then shall some Argive loud insulting cry,
Behold the wife of Hector, guard of Troy!
Tears, at my name, shall drown those beauteous eyes,
And that fair bosom heave with rising sighs!
Before that day, by some brave hero's hand
May I lie slain, and spurn the bloody sand.
_To a_ YOUNG LADY _on her_ BIRTH-DAY[1].
[Footnote 1: Mr. Hector informs me, that this was made almost
_impromptu_, in his presence. BOSWELL.]
This tributary verse receive my fair,
Warm with an ardent lover's fondest pray'r.
May this returning day for ever find
Thy form more lovely, more adorn'd thy mind;
All pains, all cares, may favouring heav'n remove,
All but the sweet solicitudes of love!
May powerful nature join with grateful art,
To point each glance, and force it to the heart!
O then, when conquered crouds confess thy sway,
When ev'n proud wealth and prouder wit obey,
My fair, be mindful of the mighty trust,
Alas! 'tis hard for beauty to be just.
Those sovereign charms with strictest care employ;
Nor give the generous pain, the worthless joy:
With his own form acquaint the forward fool,
Shewn in the faithful glass of ridicule;
Teach mimick censure her own faults to find, )
No more let coquettes to themselves be blind, )
So shall Belinda's charms improve mankind. )
THE YOUNG AUTHOUR[1].
[Footnote 1: This he inserted, with many alterations, in the
_Gentleman's Magazine_, 1743 [p. 378]. BOSWELL. The alterations are not
always for the better. Thus he alters
'And the long honours of a lasting name'
into
'And fir'd with pleasing hope of endless fame.'
]
When first the peasant, long inclin'd to roam,
Forsakes his rural sports and peaceful home,
Pleas'd with the scene the smiling ocean yields,
He scorns the verdant meads and flow'ry fields:
Then dances jocund o'er the watery way,
While the breeze whispers, and the streamers play:
Unbounded prospects in his bosom roll,
And future millions lift his rising soul;
In blissful dreams he digs the golden mine,
And raptur'd sees the new-found ruby shine.
Joys insincere! thick clouds invade the skies,
Loud roar the billows, high the waves arise;
Sick'ning with fear, he longs to view the shore,
And vows to trust the faithless deep no more.
So the young Authour, panting after fame,
And the long honours of a lasting name,
Entrusts his happiness to human kind,
More false, more cruel, than the seas or wind.
'Toil on, dull croud, in extacies he cries,
For wealth or title, perishable prize;
While I those transitory blessings scorn,
Secure of praise from ages yet unborn.'
This thought once form'd, all council comes too late,
He flies to press, and hurries on his fate;
Swiftly he sees the imagin'd laurels spread,
And feels the unfading wreath surround his head.
Warn'd by another's fate, vain youth be wise,
Those dreams were Settle's[1] once, and Ogilby's[2]:
The pamphlet spreads, incessant hisses rise,
To some retreat the baffled writer flies;
Where no sour criticks snarl, no sneers molest,
Safe from the tart lampoon, and stinging jest;
There begs of heaven a less distinguish'd lot,
Glad to be hid, and proud to be forgot.
[Footnote 1: Settle was the last of the city-poets; _post_, May 15,
1776. ]
[Footnote 2: 'Here swells the shelf with Ogilby the great.' Dunciad, i.
141.]
EPILOGUE, _intended to have been spoken by a_ LADY _who was to personate
the Ghost of_ HERMIONE[1].
[Footnote 1: Some young ladies at Lichfield having proposed to act _The
Distressed Mother_, Johnson wrote this, and gave it to Mr. Hector to
convey it privately to them. BOSWELL. See _post_, 1747, for _The
Distressed Mother_.]
Ye blooming train, who give despair or joy,
Bless with a smile, or with a frown destroy;
In whose fair cheeks destructive Cupids wait,
And with unerring shafts distribute fate;
Whose snowy breasts, whose animated eyes,
Each youth admires, though each admirer dies;
Whilst you deride their pangs in barb'rous play, }
Unpitying see them weep, and hear them pray, }
And unrelenting sport ten thousand lives away; }
For you, ye fair, I quit the gloomy plains;
Where sable night in all her horrour reigns;
No fragrant bowers, no delightful glades,
Receive the unhappy ghosts of scornful maids.
For kind, for tender nymphs the myrtle blooms,
And weaves her bending boughs in pleasing glooms:
Perennial roses deck each purple vale,
And scents ambrosial breathe in every gale:
Far hence are banish'd vapours, spleen, and tears,
Tea, scandal, ivory teeth, and languid airs:
No pug, nor favourite Cupid there enjoys
The balmy kiss, for which poor Thyrsis dies;
Form'd to delight, they use no foreign arms,
Nor torturing whalebones pinch them into charms;
No conscious blushes there their cheeks inflame,
For those who feel no guilt can know no shame;
Unfaded still their former charms they shew,
Around them pleasures wait, and joys for ever new.
But cruel virgins meet severer fates;
Expell'd and exil'd from the blissful seats,
To dismal realms, and regions void of peace,
Where furies ever howl, and serpents hiss.
O'er the sad plains perpetual tempests sigh,
And pois'nous vapours, black'ning all the sky,
With livid hue the fairest face o'ercast,
And every beauty withers at the blast:
Where e'er they fly their lover's ghosts pursue,
Inflicting all those ills which once they knew;
Vexation, Fury, Jealousy, Despair,
Vex ev'ry eye, and every bosom tear;
Their foul deformities by all descry'd,
No maid to flatter, and no paint to hide.
Then melt, ye fair, while crouds around you sigh,
Nor let disdain sit lowring in your eye;
With pity soften every awful grace,
And beauty smile auspicious in each face;
To ease their pains exert your milder power,
So shall you guiltless reign, and all mankind adore.'
[Page 57: His wide reading. AETAT. 19.]
The two years which he spent at home, after his return from Stourbridge,
he passed in what he thought idleness[1], and was scolded by his father
for his want of steady application[2]. He had no settled plan of life,
nor looked forward at all, but merely lived from day to day. Yet he read
a great deal in a desultory manner, without any scheme of study, as
chance threw books in his way, and inclination directed him through
them. He used to mention one curious instance of his casual reading,
when but a boy. Having imagined that his brother had hid some apples
behind a large folio upon an upper shelf in his father's shop, he
climbed up to search for them. There were no apples; but the large folio
proved to be Petrarch, whom he had seen mentioned in some preface, as
one of the restorers of learning. His curiosity having been thus
excited, he sat down with avidity, and read a great part of the book.
What he read during these two years he told me, was not works of mere
amusement, 'not voyages and travels, but all literature, Sir, all
ancient writers, all manly: though but little Greek, only some of
Anacreon and Hesiod; but in this irregular manner (added he) I had
looked into a great many books, which were not commonly known at the
Universities, where they seldom read any books but what are put into
their hands by their tutors; so that when I came to Oxford, Dr. Adams,
now master of Pembroke College, told me I was the best qualified for the
University that he had ever known come there[3].'
[Footnote 1: Yet he said to Boswell:--'Sir, in my early years I read
very hard. It is a sad reflection, but a true one, that I knew almost as
much at eighteen as I do now' (_post_, July 21, 1763). He told Mr.
Langton, that 'his great period of study was from the age of twelve to
that of eighteen' (Ib. note). He told the King that his reading had
later on been hindered by ill-health (_post_, Feb. 1767).]
[Footnote 2: Hawkins (_Life_, p. 9) says that his father took him home,
probably with a view to bring him up to his own trade; for I have heard
Johnson say that he himself was able to bind a book. 'It were better
bind books again,' wrote Mrs. Thrale to him on Sept. 18, 1777, 'as you
did one year in our thatched summer-house.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 375. It
was most likely at this time that he refused to attend his father to
Uttoxeter market, for which fault he made atonement in his old age
(_post_, November, 1784).]
[Footnote 3: Perhaps Johnson had his own early reading in mind when he
thus describes Pope's reading at about the same age. 'During this period
of his life he was indefatigably diligent and insatiably curious;
wanting health for violent, and money for expensive pleasures, and
having excited in himself very strong desires of intellectual eminence,
he spent much of his time over his books; but he read only to store his
mind with facts and images, seizing all that his authors presented with
undistinguishing voracity, and with an appetite for knowledge too eager
to be nice.' Johnson's _Works_, viii. 239.]
In estimating the progress of his mind during these two years, as well
as in future periods of his life, we must not regard his own hasty
confession of idleness; for we see, when he explains himself, that he
was acquiring various stores; and, indeed he himself concluded the
account with saying, 'I would not have you think I was doing nothing
then.' He might, perhaps, have studied more assiduously; but it may be
doubted whether such a mind as his was not more enriched by roaming at
large in the fields of literature than if it had been confined to any
single spot. The analogy between body and mind is very general, and the
parallel will hold as to their food, as well as any other particular.
The flesh of animals who feed excursively, is allowed to have a higher
flavour than that of those who are cooped up. May there not be the same
difference between men who read as their taste prompts and men who are
confined in cells and colleges to stated tasks?
[Page 58: Johnson enters Oxford. A.D. 1728.]
That a man in Mr. Michael Johnson's circumstances should think of
sending his son to the expensive University of Oxford, at his own
charge, seems very improbable. The subject was too delicate to question
Johnson upon. But I have been assured by Dr. Taylor that the scheme
never would have taken place had not a gentleman of Shropshire, one of
his schoolfellows, spontaneously undertaken to support him at Oxford, in
the character of his companion; though, in fact, he never received any
assistance whatever from that gentleman[1].
[Footnote 1: Andrew Corbet, according to Hawkins. Corbet had entered
Pembroke College in 1727. Dr. Swinfen, Johnson's god-father, was a
member of the College. I find the name of a Swinfen on the books in
1728.]
He, however, went to Oxford, and was entered a Commoner of Pembroke
College on the 31st of October, 1728[1], being then in his nineteenth
year[2].
[Footnote 1: In the Caution Book of Pembroke College are found the two
following entries:--
'Oct. 31, 1728. Recd. then of Mr. Samuel Johnson Commr. of Pem. Coll. ye
summ of seven Pounds for his Caution, which is to remain in ye Hands of
ye Bursars till ye said Mr. Johnson shall depart ye said College leaving
ye same fully discharg'd.
Recd. by me, John Ratcliff, Bursar.'
'March 26, 1740. At a convention of the Master and Fellows to settle the
accounts of the Caution it appear'd that the Persons Accounts
underwritten stood thus at their leaving the College:
Caution not Repay'd
Mr. Johnson L7 0 0
Battells not discharg'd
Mr. Johnson L7 0 0
Mr. Carlyle is in error in describing Johnson as a servitor. He was a
commoner as the above entry shows. Though he entered on Oct. 31, he did
not matriculate till Dec. 16. It was on Palm Sunday of this same year
that Rousseau left Geneva, and so entered upon his eventful career.
Goldsmith was born eleven days after Johnson entered (Nov. 10, 1728).
Reynolds was five years old. Burke was born before Johnson left Oxford.]
[Footnote 2: He was in his twentieth year. He was born on Sept. 18,
1709, and was therefore nineteen. He was somewhat late in entering. In
his _Life of Ascham_ he says, 'Ascham took his bachelor's degree in
1534, in the eighteenth year of his age; a time of life at which it is
more common now to enter the universities than to take degrees.'
Johnson's _Works_, vi. 505. It was just after Johnson's entrance that
the two Wesleys began to hold small devotional meetings at Oxford.]
[Page 59: His first tutor. AETAT. 19.]
The Reverend Dr. Adams, who afterwards presided over Pembroke College
with universal esteem, told me he was present, and gave me some account
of what passed on the night of Johnson's arrival at Oxford[1]. On that
evening, his father, who had anxiously accompanied him, found means to
have him introduced to Mr. Jorden, who was to be his tutor. His being
put under any tutor reminds us of what Wood says of Robert Burton,
authour of the 'Anatomy of Melancholy,' when elected student of Christ
Church: 'for form's sake, _though he wanted not a tutor_, he was put
under the tuition of Dr. John Bancroft, afterwards Bishop of Oxon[2].'
[Footnote 1: Builders were at work in the college during all his
residence. 'July 16, 1728. About a quarter of a year since they began to
build a new chapel for Pembroke Coll. next to Slaughter Lane.' Hearne's
_Remains_, iii. 9.]
[Footnote 2: _Athen. Oxon._ edit. 1721, i. 627. BOSWELL.]
His father seemed very full of the merits of his son, and told the
company he was a good scholar, and a poet, and wrote Latin verses. His
figure and manner appeared strange to them; but he behaved modestly, and
sat silent, till upon something which occurred in the course of
conversation, he suddenly struck in and quoted Macrobius; and thus he
gave the first impression of that more extensive reading in which he had
indulged himself.
His tutor, Mr. Jorden, fellow of Pembroke, was not, it seems, a man of
such abilities as we should conceive requisite for the instructor of
Samuel Johnson, who gave me the following account of him. 'He was a very
worthy man, but a heavy man, and I did not profit much by his
instructions. Indeed, I did not attend him much[1]. The first day after
I came to college I waited upon him, and then staid away four. On the
sixth, Mr. Jorden asked me why I had not attended. I answered I had been
sliding in Christ-Church meadow[2]. And this I said with as much
nonchalance as I am now[3] talking to you. I had no notion that I was
wrong or irreverent to my tutor[4]. BOSWELL: 'That, Sir, was great
fortitude of mind.' JOHNSON: 'No, Sir; stark insensibility[5].'
[Footnote 1: Johnson would oftener risk the payment of a small fine than
attend his lectures.... Upon occasion of one such imposition he said to
Jorden:--"Sir, you have sconced [fined] me two pence for non-attendance
at a lecture not worth a penny." Hawkins's _Johnson_, p. 9. A passage in
Whitefield's _Diary_ shows that the sconce was often greater. He once
neglected to give in the weekly theme which every Saturday had to be
given to the tutor in the Hall 'when the bell rang.' He was fined
half-a-crown. Tyerman's _Whitefield_, i. 22. In my time (1855-8) at
Pembroke College every Saturday when the bell rang we gave in our piece
of Latin prose--themes were things of the past.]
[Footnote 2: This was on Nov. 6, O.S., or Nov. 17, N.S.--a very early
time for ice to bear. The first mention of frost that I find in the
newspapers of that winter is in the _Weekly Journal_ for Nov. 30, O.S.;
where it is stated that 'the passage by land and water [i.e. the Thames]
is now become very dangerous by the snow, frost, and ice.' The record of
meteorological observations began a few years later.]
[Footnote 3: Oxford, 20th March, 1776. BOSWELL.]
[Footnote 4: Mr. Croker discovers a great difference between this
account and that which Johnson gave to Mr. Warton (_post_, under July
16, 1754). There is no need to have recourse, with Mr. Croker, 'to an
ear spoiled by flattery.' A very simple explanation may be found. The
accounts refer to different hours of the same day. Johnson's 'stark
insensibility' belonged to the morning, and his 'beating heart' to the
afternoon. He had been impertinent before dinner, and when he was sent
for after dinner 'he expected a sharp rebuke.']
[Footnote 5: It ought to be remembered that Dr. Johnson was apt, in his
literary as well as moral exercises, to overcharge his defects. Dr.
Adams informed me, that he attended his tutors lectures, and also the
lectures in the College Hall, very regularly. BOSWELL.]
[Page 60: The fifth of November. A.D. 1728.]
The fifth of November[1] was at that time kept with great solemnity at
Pembroke College, and exercises upon the subject of the day were
required[2]. Johnson neglected to perform his, which is much to be
regretted; for his vivacity of imagination, and force of language, would
probably have produced something sublime upon the gunpowder plot[3]. To
apologise for his neglect, he gave in a short copy of verses, entitled
Somnium, containing a common thought; 'that the Muse had come to him in
his sleep, and whispered, that it did not become him to write on such
subjects as politicks; he should confine himself to humbler themes:' but
the versification was truly Virgilian[4].
[Footnote 1: Early in every November was kept 'a great gaudy [feast] in
the college, when the Master dined in publick, and the juniors (by an
ancient custom they were obliged to comply with) went round the fire in
the hall.' Philipps's _Diary, Notes and Queries_, 2nd S., x. 443. We can
picture to ourselves among the juniors in November 1728, Samuel Johnson,
going round the fire with the others. Here he heard day after day the
Latin grace which Camden had composed for the society. 'I believe I can
repeat it,' Johnson said at St. Andrew's, 'which he did.' Boswell's
_Hebrides_, Aug. 19, 1773.]
[Footnote 2: Seven years before Johnson's time, on Nov. 5, 'Mr. Peyne,
Bachelor of Arts, made an oration in the hall suitable to the day.'
Philipps's _Diary_.]
[Footnote 3: Boswell forgot Johnson's criticism on Milton's exercises on
this day. 'Some of the exercises on Gunpowder Treason might have been
spared.' Johnson's _Works_, vii. 119.]
[Footnote 4: It has not been preserved. There are in the college library
four of his compositions, two of verse and two of prosc. One of the
copies of verse I give _post_, under July 16, 1754. Both have been often
printed. As his prose compositions have never been published I will give
one:--
'Mea nec Falernae
Temperant Vites, neque Formiani Pocula Colles.'
'Quaedam minus attente spectata absurda videntur, quae tamen penitus
perspecta rationi sunt consentanea. Non enim semper facta per se, verum
ratio occasioque faciendi sunt cogitanda. Deteriora ei offerre cui
meliorum ingens copia est, cui non ridiculum videtur? Quis sanus hirtam
agrestemque vestem Lucullo obtulisset, cujus omnia fere Serum opificia,
omnia Parmae vellera, omnes Tyri colores latuerunt? Hoc tamen fecisse
Horatium non puduit, quo nullus urbanior, nullus procerum convictui
magis assuetus. Maecenatem scilicet norat non quaesiturum an meliora
vina domi posset bibere, verum an inter domesticos quenquam propensiori
in se animo posset invenire. Amorem, non lucrum, optavit patronus ille
munifentissimus (_sic_). Pocula licet vino minus puro implerentur, satis
habuit, si hospitis vultus laetitia perfusus sinceram puramque amicitiam
testaretur. Ut ubi poetam carmine celebramus, non fastidit, quod ipse
melius posset scribere, verum poema licet non magni facit (_sic_), amorem
scriptoris libenter amplectitur, sic amici munuscula animum gratum
testantia licet parvi sint, non nisi a superbo et moroso contemnentur.
Deos thuris fumis indigere nemo certe unquam credidit, quos tamen iis
gratos putarunt, quia homines se non beneficiorum immemores his
testimoniis ostenderunt.'
JOHNSON.]
[Page 61: Johnson's version of Pope's Messiah. AETAT. 19.]
He had a love and respect for Jorden, not for his literature, but for
his worth. 'Whenever (said he) a young man becomes Jorden's pupil, he
becomes his son.'
Having given such a specimen of his poetical powers, he was asked by Mr.
Jorden, to translate Pope's Messiah into Latin verse, as a Christmas
exercisc. He performed it with uncommon rapidity, and in so masterly a
manner, that he obtained great applause from it, which ever after kept
him high in the estimation of his College, and, indeed, of all the
University[1].
[Footnote 1: 'The accidental perusal of some Latin verses gained Addison
the patronage of Dr. Lancaster, afterwards Provost of Queen's College,
by whose recommendation he was elected into Magdalen College as a Demy'
[a scholar]. Johnson's _Works_, vii. 420. Johnson's verses gained him
nothing but 'estimation.']
It is said, that Mr. Pope expressed himself concerning it in terms of
strong approbation[1]. Dr. Taylor told me, that it was first printed for
old Mr. Johnson, without the knowledge of his son, who was very angry
when he heard of it. A Miscellany of Poems collected by a person of the
name of Husbands, was published at Oxford in 1731[2]. In that Miscellany
Johnson's Translation of the Messiah appeared, with this modest motto
from Scaliger's Poeticks. _Ex alieno ingenio Poeta, ex suo tantum
versificator._
[Footnote 1: He is reported to have said:--'The writer of this poem will
leave it a question for posterity, whether his or mine be the original.'
Hawkins, p. 13.]
[Footnote 2: 'A Miscellany of Poems by several hands. Published by J.
Husbands, A.M., Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxon., Oxford. Printed by
Leon. Lichfield, near the East-Gate, In the year MDCCXXXI.' Among the
subscribers I notice the name of Richard Savage, Esq., for twenty
copies. It is very doubtful whether he paid for one. Pope did not
subscribe. Johnson's poem is thus mentioned in the preface:--'The
translation of Mr. Pope's Messiah was deliver'd to his Tutor as a
College Exercise by Mr. Johnson, a commoner of Pembroke College in
Oxford, and 'tis hoped will be no discredit to the excellent original.']
[Page 62: Mr. Courtenays eulogy. A.D. 1728.]
I am not ignorant that critical objections have been made to this and
other specimens of Johnson's Latin Poetry[1]. I acknowledge myself not
competent to decide on a question of such extreme nicety. But I am
satisfied with the just and discriminative eulogy pronounced upon it by
my friend Mr, Courtenay.
'And with like ease his vivid lines assume
The garb and dignity of ancient Rome.--
Let college _verse-men_ trite conceits express,
Trick'd out in splendid shreds of Virgil's dress;
From playful Ovid cull the tinsel phrase,
And vapid notions hitch in pilfer'd lays:
Then with mosaick art the piece combine,
And boast the glitter of each dulcet line:
Johnson adventur'd boldly to transfuse
His vigorous sense into the Latian muse;
Aspir'd to shine by unreflected light,
And with a Roman's ardour _think_ and write.
He felt the tuneful Nine his breast inspire,
And, like a master, wak'd the soothing lyre:
Horatian strains a grateful heart proclaim,
While Sky's wild rocks resound his Thralia's name[2].
Hesperia's plant, in some less skilful hands,
To bloom a while, factitious heat demands:
Though glowing Maro a faint warmth supplies,
The sickly blossom in the hot-house dies:
By Johnson's genial culture, art, and toil,
Its root strikes deep, and owns the fost'ring soil;
Imbibes our sun through all its swelling veins,
And grows a native of Britannia's plains[3].'
[Footnote 1: See _post_, under July 16, 1754.]
[Footnote 2: See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Sept. 6, 1773.]
[Footnote 3: _Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral Character of Dr.
Johnson,_ by John Courtenay, Esq., M.P. BOSWELL.]
[Page 63: Johnson's 'morbid melancholy'. AEtat 19.]
The 'morbid melancholy,' which was lurking in his constitution, and to
which we may ascribe those particularities, and that aversion to regular
life, which, at a very early period, marked his character, gathered such
strength in his twentieth year, as to afflict him in a dreadful manner.
While he was at Lichfield, in the college vacation of the year 1729[1],
he felt himself overwhelmed with an horrible hypochondria, with
perpetual irritation, fretfulness, and impatience; and with a dejection,
gloom, and despair, which made existence misery[2]. From this dismal
malady he never afterwards was perfectly relieved; and all his labours,
and all his enjoyments, were but temporary interruptions of its baleful
influence[3]. How wonderful, how unsearchable are the ways of GOD!
Johnson, who was blest with all the powers of genius and understanding
in a degree far above the ordinary state of human nature, was at the
same time visited with a disorder so afflictive, that they who know it
by dire experience, will not envy his exalted endowments. That it was,
in some degree, occasioned by a defect in his nervous system, that
inexplicable part of our frame, appears highly probable. He told Mr.
Paradise[4] that he was sometimes so languid and inefficient, that he
could not distinguish the hour upon the town-clock.
[Footnote 1: Hector, in his account of Johnson's early life,
says:--'After a long absence from Lichfield, when he returned, I was
apprehensive of something wrong in his constitution which might either
impair his intellect or endanger his life; but, thanks to Almighty God,
my fears have proved falsc.' Hawkins, p. 8. The college books show that
Johnson was absent but one week in the Long Vacation of 1729. It is by
no means unlikely that he went to Lichfield in that week to consult Dr.
Swinfen about his health. In that case his first attack, when he tried
to overcome the malady by frequently walking to Birmingham, must have
been at an earlier date. In his time students often passed the vacation
at the University. The following table shows the number of graduates and
undergraduates in residence in Pembroke College at the end of each
fourth week, from June to December 1729:--
Members in residence.
June 20, 1729 . . . 54
July 18, " . . . 34
Aug. 15, " . . . 25
Sept. 12, " . . . 16
Oct. 10, " . . . 30
Nov. 7, " . . . 52
Dec. 5, " . . . 49
At Christmas there were still sixteen men left in the college. That
under a zealous tutor the vacation was by no means a time of idleness is
shown by a passage in Wesley's _Journal_, in which he compares the
Scotch Universities with the English. 'In Scotland,' he writes, 'the
students all come to their several colleges in November, and return home
in May. So they _may_ study five months in the year, and lounge all the
rest! O where was the common sense of those who instituted such
colleges? In the English colleges everyone _may_ reside all the year, as
all my pupils did; and I should have thought myself little better than a
highwayman if I had not lectured them every day in the year but
Sundays.' Wesley's _Journal_, iv. 75. Johnson lived to see Oxford empty
in the Long Vacation. Writing on Aug. 1, 1775, he said:--'The place is
now a sullen solitude.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 294.]
[Footnote 2: Johnson, perhaps, was thinking of himself when he thus
criticised the character of Sir Roger de Coverley. 'The variable weather
of the mind, the flying vapours of incipient madness, which from time to
time cloud reason without eclipsing it, it requires so much nicety to
exhibit that Addison seems to have been deterred from prosecuting his
own design.' Johnson's _Works_, vii. 431.
[Footnote 3: Writing in his old age to Hector, he said,--'My health has
been from my twentieth year such as has seldom afforded me a single day
of ease' (_post_, under March 21, 1782). Hawkins writes, that he once
told him 'that he knew not what it was to be totally free from pain.'
Hawkins, p.396.]
[Footnote 4: See _post_, Oct. 27, 1784, note.]
[Page 64: Johnson consults Dr. Swinfen. A.D. 1729.]
Johnson, upon the first violent attack of this disorder, strove to
overcome it by forcible exertions[1]. He frequently walked to Birmingham
and back again[2], and tried many other expedients, but all in vain. His
expression concerning it to me was 'I did not then know how to manage
it.' His distress became so intolerable, that he applied to Dr. Swinfen,
physician in Lichfield, his god-father, and put into his hands a state
of his case, written in Latin. Dr. Swinfen was so much struck with the
extraordinary acuteness, research, and eloquence of this paper, that in
his zeal for his godson he shewed it to several people. His daughter,
Mrs. Desmoulins, who was many years humanely supported in Dr. Johnson's
house in London, told me, that upon his discovering that Dr. Swinfen had
communicated his case, he was so much offended, that he was never
afterwards fully reconciled to him. He indeed had good reason to be
offended; for though Dr. Swinfen's motive was good, he inconsiderately
betrayed a matter deeply interesting and of great delicacy, which had
been entrusted to him in confidence; and exposed a complaint of his
young friend and patient, which, in the superficial opinion of the
generality of mankind, is attended with contempt and disgrace[3].
[Footnote 1: In the _Rambler_, No. 85, he pointed out 'how much
happiness is gained, and how much misery escaped, by frequent and
violent agitation of the body.' See _post_, July 21, 1763, for his
remedies against melancholy.]
[Footnote 2: Thirty-two miles in all. Southey mentions that in 1728, the
Wesleys, to save the more money for the poor, began to perform their
journeys on foot. He adds,--'It was so little the custom in that age for
men in their rank of life to walk any distance, as to make them think it
a discovery that four or five-and-twenty miles are an easy and safe
day's journey.' Southey's _Wesley_, i. 52.]
[Footnote 3: Boswell himself suffered from hypochondria. He seems at
times to boast of it, as Dogberry boasted of his losses; so that Johnson
had some reason for writing to him with seventy, as if he were
'affecting it from a desire of distinction.' _Post_, July 2, 1776]
[Page 65: Johnson an hypochondriack. AETAT. 20.]
But let not little men triumph upon knowing that Johnson was an
HYPOCHONDRIACK, was subject to what the learned, philosophical, and
pious Dr. Cheyne has so well treated under the title of 'The English
Malady[1].' Though he suffered severely from it, he was not therefore
degraded. The powers of his great mind might be troubled, and their full
exercise suspended at times; but the mind itself was ever entire. As a
proof of this, it is only necessary to consider, that, when he was at
the very worst, he composed that state of his own case, which shewed an
uncommon vigour, not only of fancy and taste, but of judgement. I am
aware that he himself was too ready to call such a complaint by the name
of _madness_[2]; in conformity with which notion, he has traced its
gradations, with exquisite nicety, in one of the chapters of his
RASSELAS[3]. But there is surely a clear distinction between a disorder
which affects only the imagination and spirits, while the judgement is
sound, and a disorder by which the judgement itself is impaired. This
distinction was made to me by the late Professor Gaubius of Leyden,
physician to the Prince of Orange, in a conversation which I had with
him several years ago, and he expanded it thus: 'If (said he) a man
tells me that he is grievously disturbed, for that he _imagines_ he sees
a ruffian coming against him with a drawn sword, though at the same time
he is _conscious_ it is a delusion, I pronounce him to have a disordered
imagination; but if a man tells me that he sees this, and in
consternation calls to me to look at it, I pronounce him to be _mad_.'
[Footnote 1: Johnson on April 7, 1776, recommended Boswell to read this
book, and again on July 2 of the same year.]
[Footnote 2: On Dec. 24, 1754, writing of the poet Collins, who was
either mad or close upon it, he said,--'Poor dear Collins! I have often
been near his state.' Wooll's _Warton_, p. 229. 'I inherited,' Johnson
said, 'a vile melancholy from my father, which has made me mad all my
life, at least not sober.' Boswell's _Hebrides_, Sept. 16, 1773. 'When I
survey my past life,' he wrote in 1777, 'I discover nothing but a barren
waste of time, with some disorders of body and disturbances of the mind
very near to madness.' _Pr. and Med_. p. 155. Reynolds recorded that
'what Dr. Johnson said a few days before his death of his disposition to
insanity was no new discovery to those who were intimate with him.'
Taylor's _Reynolds_, ii. 455. See also _post_ Sept. 20, 1777.]
[Footnote 3: Ch. 44]
[Page 66: Johnson's dread of insanity. A.D. 1729.]
It is a common effect of low spirits or melancholy, to make those who
are afflicted with it imagine that they are actually suffering those
evils which happen to be most strongly presented to their minds. Some
have fancied themselves to be deprived of the use of their limbs, some
to labour under acute diseases, others to be in extreme poverty; when,
in truth, there was not the least reality in any of the suppositions; so
that when the vapours were dispelled, they were convinced of the
delusion. To Johnson, whose supreme enjoyment was the exercise of his
reason, the disturbance or obscuration of that faculty was the evil most
to be dreaded. Insanity, therefore, was the object of his most dismal
apprehension[1]; and he fancied himself seized by it, or approaching to
it, at the very time when he was giving proofs of a more than ordinary
soundness and vigour of judgement. That his own diseased imagination
should have so far deceived him, is strange; but it is stranger still
that some of his friends should have given credit to his groundless
opinion, when they had such undoubted proofs that it was totally
fallacious; though it is by no means surprising that those who wish to
depreciate him, should, since his death, have laid hold of this
circumstance, and insisted upon it with very unfair aggravation[2].
[Footnote 1: 'Of the uncertainties of our present state, the most
dreadful and alarming is the uncertain continuance of reason.'
_Rasselas_, ch. 43.]
[Footnote 2: Boswell refers to Mrs. Piozzi (_Anec_., pp. 77, 127), and
Hawkins (_Life_, pp. 287-8).]
Amidst the oppression and distraction of a disease which very few have
felt in its full extent, but many have experienced in a slighter degree,
Johnson, in his writings, and in his conversation, never failed to
display all the varieties of intellectual excellence. In his march
through this world to a better, his mind still appeared grand and
brilliant, and impressed all around him with the truth of Virgil's noble
sentiment--
'_Igneus est ollis vigor et coelestis origo_.'[1]
[Footnote 1: 'Quick in these seeds is might of fire and birth of
heavenly place.' Morris, _Aeneids_, vi. 730.]
[Page 67: His reluctance to go to church. AEtat 20.]
The history of his mind as to religion is an important article. I have
mentioned the early impressions made upon his tender imagination by his
mother, who continued her pious care with assiduity, but, in his
opinion, not with judgement. 'Sunday (said he) was a heavy day to me
when I was a boy. My mother confined me on that day, and made me read
"The Whole Duty of Man," from a great part of which I could derive no
instruction. When, for instance, I had read the chapter on theft, which
from my infancy I had been taught was wrong, I was no more convinced
that theft was wrong than before; so there was no accession of
knowledge. A boy should be introduced to such books, by having his
attention directed to the arrangement, to the style, and other
excellencies of composition; that the mind being thus engaged by an
amusing variety of objects, may not grow weary.'
[Page 68: Law's Serious Call. A.D. 1729.]
[Page 69: Johnson grounded in religion. AEtat 20.]
He communicated to me the following particulars upon the subject of his
religious progress. 'I fell into an inattention to religion, or an
indifference about it, in my ninth year. The church at Lichfield, in
which we had a seat, wanted reparation[1], so I was to go and find a
seat in other churches; and having bad eyes, and being awkward about
this, I used to go and read in the fields on Sunday. This habit
continued till my fourteenth year; and still I find a great reluctance
to go to church[2]. I then became a sort of lax _talker_ against
religion, for I did not much _think_ against it; and this lasted till I
went to Oxford, where it would not be _suffered_[3]. When at Oxford, I
took up 'Law's _Serious Call to a Holy Life_,'[4] 'expecting to find it
a dull book (as such books generally are), and perhaps to laugh at it.
But I found Law quite an overmatch for me; and this was the first
occasion of my thinking in earnest of religion, after I became capable
of rational inquiry[5].' From this time forward religion was the
predominant object of his thoughts[6]; though, with the just sentiments
of a conscientious Christian, he lamented that his practice of its
duties fell far short of what it ought to be.
[Footnote 1: On Easter Sunday 1716 during service some pieces of stone
from the spire of St. Mary's fell on the roof of the church. The
congregation, thinking that the steeple was coming down, in their alarm
broke through the windows. Johnson, we may well believe, witnessed the
scene. The church was pulled down, and the new one was opened in Dec.
1721. Harwood's _Lichfield_, p. 460.]
[Footnote 2: 'Sept. 23, 1771. I have gone voluntarily to church on the
week day but few times in my life. I think to mend. April 9, 1773. I
hope in time to take pleasure in public worship. April 6, 1777. I have
this year omitted church on most Sundays, intending to supply the
deficience in the week. So that I owe twelve attendances on worship. I
will make no more such superstitious stipulations, which entangle the
mind with unbidden obligations.' _Pr. and Med._ pp. 108, 121, 161. In
the following passage in the _Life of Milton_, Johnson, no doubt, is
thinking of himself:--'In the distribution of his hours there was no
hour of prayer, either solitary or with his household; omitting public
prayers he omitted all.... That he lived without prayer can hardly be
affirmed; his studies and meditations were an habitual prayer. The
neglect of it in his family was probably a fault for which he condemned
himself, and which he intended to correct, but that death as too often
happens, intercepted his reformation.' Johnson's _Works_, vii. 115. See
_post_, Oct. 10, 1779.]
[Footnote 3: We may compare with this a passage in Verecundulus's letter
in _The Rambler_, No. 157:--'Though many among my fellow students [at
the university] took the opportunity of a more remiss discipline to
gratify their passions, yet virtue preserved her natural superiority,
and those who ventured to neglect were not suffered to insult her.'
Oxford at this date was somewhat wayward in her love for religion.
Whitefield records:--'I had no sooner received the sacrament publicly on
a week-day at St. Mary's, but I was set up as a mark for all the polite
students that knew me to shoot at. By this they knew that I was
commenced Methodist, for though there is a sacrament at the beginning of
every term, at which all, especially the seniors, are by statute obliged
to be present, yet so dreadfully has that once faithful city played the
harlot, that very few masters, and no undergraduates but the Methodists
attended upon it. I daily underwent some contempt at college. Some have
thrown dirt at me; others by degrees took away their pay from me.'
Tyerman's _Whitefield_, i. 19. Story, the Quaker, visiting Oxford in
1731, says, 'Of all places wherever I have been the scholars of Oxford
were the rudest, most giddy, and unruly rabble, and most mischievous.'
Story's _Journal_, p. 675.]
[Footnote 4: John Wesley, who was also at Oxford, writing of about this
same year, says:--'Meeting now with Mr. Law's _Christian Perfection_ and
_Serious Call_ the light flowed in so mightily upon my soul that
everything appeared in a new view.' Wesley's _Journal_, i. 94.
Whitefield writes:--'Before I went to the University, I met with Mr.
Law's _Serious Call_, but had not then money to purchase it. Soon after
my coming up to the University, seeing a small edition of it in a
friend's hand I soon procured it. God worked powerfully upon my soul by
that and his other excellent treatise upon Christian perfection.'
Tyerman's _Whitefield_, i. 16. Johnson called the _Serious Call_ 'the
finest piece of hortatory theology in any language;' _post_, 1770. A few
months before his death he said:--'William Law wrote the best piece of
parenetic divinity; but William Law was no reasoner;' _post_, June 9,
1784. Law was the tutor of Gibbon's father, and he died in the house of
the historian's aunt. In describing the _Serious Call_ Gibbon
says:--'His precepts are rigid, but they are founded on the gospel; his
satire is sharp, but it is drawn from the knowledge of human life; and
many of his portraits are not unworthy of the pen of La Bruyere. If he
finds a spark of piety in his reader's mind he will soon kindle it to a
flame.' Gibbon's _Misc. Works_, i. 21.]
[Footnote 5: Mrs. Piozzi has given a strange fantastical account of the
original of Dr. Johnson's belief in our most holy religion. 'At the age
of ten years his mind was disturbed by scruples of infidelity, which
preyed upon his spirits, and made him very uneasy, the more so, as he
revealed his uneasiness to none, being naturally (as he said) of a
sullen temper, and reserved disposition. He searched, however,
diligently, but fruitlessly, for evidences of the truth of revelation;
and, at length, _recollecting_ a book he had once seen [_I suppose at
five years old_] in his father's shop, intitled _De veritate
Religionis_, etc., he began to think himself _highly culpable_ for
neglecting such a means of information, and took himself severely to
task for this sin, adding many acts of voluntary, and, to others,
unknown _penance_. The first opportunity which offered, of course, he
seized the book with avidity; but, on examination, _not finding himself
scholar enough to peruse its contents_, set his heart at rest; and not
thinking to enquire whether there were any English books written on the
subject, followed his usual amusements and _considered his conscience as
lightened of a crime_. He redoubled his diligence to learn the language
that contained the information he most wished for; but from the pain
which _guilt [namely having omitted to read what he did not
understand_,] had given him, he now began to deduce the soul's
immortality [_a sensation of pain in this world being an unquestionable
proof of existence in another_], which was the point that belief first
stopped at; _and from that moment resolving to be a Christian_, became
one of the most zealous and pious ones our nation ever produced.'
_Anecdotes_, p. 17.
This is one of the numerous misrepresentations of this lively lady,
which it is worth while to correct; for if credit should be given to
such a childish, irrational, and ridiculous statement of the foundation
of Dr. Johnson's faith in Christianity, how little credit would be due
to it. Mrs. Piozzi seems to wish, that the world should think Dr.
Johnson also under the influence of that easy logick, _Stet pro ratione
voluntas_. BOSWELL. On April 28, 1783, Johnson said:--'Religion had
dropped out of my mind. It was at an early part of my life. Sickness
brought it back, and I hope I have never lost it since.' Most likely it
was the sickness in the long vacation of 1729 mentioned _ante_, p. 63.]
[Footnote 6: In his _Life of Milton_, writing of _Paradise Lost_, he
says:--'But these truths are too important to be new; they have been
taught to our infancy; they have mingled with our solitary thoughts and
familiar conversations, and are habitually interwoven with the whole
texture of life.' Johnson's _Works_, vii. 134.]
This instance of a mind such as that of Johnson being first disposed, by
an unexpected incident, to think with anxiety of the momentous concerns
of eternity, and of 'what he should do to be saved[1],' may for ever be
produced in opposition to the superficial and sometimes profane contempt
that has been thrown upon, those occasional impressions which it is
certain many Christians have experienced; though it must be acknowledged
that weak minds, from an erroneous supposition that no man is in a state
of grace who has not felt a particular conversion, have, in some cases,
brought a degree of ridicule upon them; a ridicule of which it is
inconsiderate or unfair to make a general application.
[Footnote 1: Acts xvi. 30.]
[Page 70: Johnson's studies at Oxford. A.D. 1729.]
How seriously Johnson was impressed with a sense of religion, even in
the vigour of his youth, appears from the following passage in his
minutes kept by way of diary: Sept. 7[1], 1736. I have this day entered
upon my twenty-eighth year. 'Mayest thou, O God, enable me, for JESUS
CHRIST'S sake, to spend this in such a manner that I may receive comfort
from it at the hour of death, and in the day of judgement! Amen.'
[Footnote 1: Sept. 7, Old Style, or Sept. 18, New Style.]
[Page 71: His rapid reading and composition. AEtat 20.]
The particular course of his reading while at Oxford, and during the
time of vacation which he passed at home, cannot be traced. Enough has
been said of his irregular mode of study. He told me that from his
earliest years he loved to read poetry, but hardly ever read any poem to
an end; that he read Shakspeare at a period so early, that the speech of
the ghost in Hamlet terrified him when he was alone[1]; that Horace's
Odes were the compositions in which he took most delight, and it was
long before he liked his Epistles and Satires. He told me what he read
_solidly_ at Oxford was Greek; not the Grecian historians, but Homer[2]
and Euripides, and now and then a little Epigram; that the study of
which he was the most fond was Metaphysicks, but he had not read much,
even in that way. I always thought that he did himself injustice in his
account of what he had read, and that he must have been speaking with
reference to the vast portion of study which is possible, and to which a
few scholars in the whole history of literature have attained; for when
I once asked him whether a person, whose name I have now forgotten,
studied hard, he answered 'No, Sir; I do not believe he studied hard. I
never knew a man who studied hard. I conclude, indeed, from the effects,
that some men have studied hard, as Bentley and Clarke.' Trying him by
that criterion upon which he formed his judgement of others, we may be
absolutely certain, both from his writings and his conversation, that
his reading was very extensive. Dr. Adam Smith, than whom few were
better judges on this subject, once observed to me that 'Johnson knew
more books than any man alive.' He had a peculiar facility in seizing at
once what was valuable in any book, without submitting to the labour of
perusing it from beginning to end[3]. He had, from the irritability of
his constitution, at all times, an impatience and hurry when he either
read or wrote. A certain apprehension, arising from novelty, made him
write his first exercise at College twice over[4]; but he never took
that trouble with any other composition; and we shall see that his most
excellent works were struck off at a heat, with rapid exertion[5].
[Footnote 1: 'He that peruses Shakespeare looks round alarmed, and
starts to find himself alone.' Johnson's _Works_, v. 71. 'I was many
years ago so shocked by Cordelia's death, that I know not whether I ever
endured to read again the last scenes of the play till I undertook to
revise them as an editor.' Ib. p. 175.]
[Footnote 2: He told Mr. Windham that he had never read through the
Odyssey completely. Windham's _Diary_, p. 17. At college, he said, he
had been 'very idle and neglectful of his studies.' Ib.]
[Footnote 3: 'It may be questioned whether, except his Bible, he ever
read a book entirely through. Late in life, if any man praised a book in
his presence, he was sure to ask, 'Did you read it through?' If the
answer was in the affirmative, he did not seem willing to believe it.'
Murphy's _Johnson_, p. 12. It would be easy to show that Johnson read
many books right through, though, according to Mrs. Piozzi, he 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?' Piozzi's Anec., p. 281. Nevertheless in Murphy's statement
there is some truth. See what has been just stated by Boswell, that 'he
hardly ever read any poem to an end,' and _post_, April 19, 1773 and
June 15, 1784. To him might be applied his own description of
Barretier:--'He had a quickness of apprehension and firmness of memory
which enabled him to read with incredible rapidity, and at the same time
to retain what he read, so as to be able to recollect and apply it. He
turned over volumes in an instant, and selected what was useful for his
purpose.' Johnson's _Works_, vi. 390.]
[Footnote 4: See _post_, June 15, 1784. Mr. Windham (_Diary_, p. 17)
records the following 'anecdote of Johnson's first declamation at
college; having neglected to write it till the morning of his being
(sic) to repeat it, and having only one copy, he got part of it by heart
while he was walking into the hall, and the rest he supplied as well as
he could extempore.' Mrs. Piozzi, recording the same ancedote, says that
'having given the copy into the hand of the tutor who stood to receive
it as he passed, he was obliged to begin by chance, and continue on how
he could.... "A prodigious risk, however," said some one. "Not at all,"
exclaims Johnson, "no man, I suppose, leaps at once into deep water who
does not know how to swim."' Piozzi's _Anec_. p. 30.]
[Footnote 5: He told Dr. Burney that he never wrote any of his works
that were printed, twice over. Dr. Burney's wonder at seeing several
pages of his _Lives of the Poets_, in Manuscript, with scarce a blot or
erasure, drew this observation from him. MALONE. 'He wrote forty-eight
of the printed octavo pages of the _Life of Savage_ at a sitting'
(_post_, Feb. 1744), and a hundred lines of the _Vanity of Human Wishes_
in a day (_post_, under Feb. 15, 1766). The _Ramblers_ were written in
haste as the moment pressed, without even being read over by him before
they were printed (_post_, beginning of 1750). In the second edition,
however, he made corrections. 'He composed _Rasselas_ in the evenings of
one week' (_post_, under January, 1759). '_The False Alarm_ was written
between eight o'clock on Wednesday night and twelve o'clock on Thursday
night.' Piozzi's _Anec._, p. 41. '_The Patriot_' he says, 'was called
for on Friday, was written on Saturday' (_post_, Nov. 26, 1774).]
[Page 72: Johnson's rooms in College. A.D. 1729.]
Yet he appears, from his early notes or memorandums in my possession, to
have at various times attempted, or at least planned, a methodical
course of study, according to computation, of which he was all his life
fond, as it fixed his attention steadily upon something without, and
prevented his mind from preying upon itself[1]. Thus I find in his
hand-writing the number of lines in each of two of Euripides' Tragedies,
of the Georgicks of Virgil, of the first six books of the AEneid, of
Horace's Art of Poetry, of three of the books of Ovid's Metamorphosis,
of some parts of Theocritus, and of the tenth Satire of Juvenal; and a
table, shewing at the rate of various numbers a day (I suppose verses to
be read), what would be, in each case, the total amount in a week,
month, and year[2].
[Footnote 1: 'When Mr. Johnson felt his fancy, or fancied he felt it,
disordered, his constant recurrence was to the study of arithmetic.'
Piozzi's _Anec._ p. 77. 'Ethics, or figures, or metaphysical reasoning,
was the sort of talk he most delighted in;' ib. p. 80. See _post_, Sept.
24, 1777.]
[Footnote 2: 'Sept. 18, 1764, I resolve to study the Scriptures; I hope
in the original languages. 640 verses every Sunday will nearly comprise
the Scriptures in a year.' _Pr. and Med._ p. 58. '1770, 1st Sunday after
Easter. The plan which I formed for reading the Scriptures was to read
600 verses in the Old Testament, and 200 in the New, every week;' ib. p.
100.]
No man had a more ardent love of literature, or a higher respect for it
than Johnson. His apartment in Pembroke College was that upon the second
floor, over the gateway. The enthusiasts of learning will ever
contemplate it with veneration. One day, while he was sitting in it
quite alone, Dr. Panting[1], then master of the College, whom he called
'a fine Jacobite fellow,' overheard[2] him uttering this soliloquy in
his strong, emphatick voice: 'Well, I have a mind to see what is done in
other places of learning. I'll go and visit the Universities abroad.
I'll go to France and Italy. I'll go to Padua[3].--And I'll mind my
business. For an _Athenian_ blockhead is the worst of all
blockheads[4].'
[Footnote 1: 'August 1, 1715. This being the day on which the late Queen
Anne died, and on which George, Duke and Elector of Brunswick, usurped
the English throne, there was very little rejoicing in Oxford.... There
was a sermon at St. Marie's by Dr. Panting, Master of Pembroke.... He is
an honest gent. His sermon took no notice, at most very little, of the
Duke of Brunswick.' Hearne's _Remains_, ii. 6.]
[Footnote 2: The outside wall of the gateway-tower forms an angle with
the wall of the Master's house, so that any one sitting by the open
window and speaking in a strong emphatic voice might have easily been
overheard.]
[Footnote 3: Goldsmith did go to Padua, and stayed there some months.
Forster's _Goldsmith_, i. 71.]
[Footnote 4: I had this anecdote from Dr. Adams, and Dr. Johnson
confirmed it. Bramston, in his _Man of Taste_, has the same thought:
'Sure, of all blockheads, scholars are the worst.' BOSWELL. Johnson's
meaning, however, is, that a scholar who is a blockhead must be the
worst of all blockheads, because he is without excusc. But Bramston, in
the assumed character of an ignorant coxcomb, maintains that _all_
scholars are blockheads on account of their scholarship. J. BOSWELL,
JUN. There is, I believe, a Spanish proverb to the effect that, 'to be
an utter fool a man must know Latin.' A writer in _Notes and Queries_
(5th S. xii. 285) suggests that Johnson had in mind Acts xvii. 21.]
[Page 73: Johnson a frolicksome fellow. AEtat 20.]
Dr. Adams told me that Johnson, while he was at Pembroke College, 'was
caressed and loved by all about him, was a gay and frolicksome[1]
fellow, and passed there the happiest part of his life.' But this is a
striking proof of the fallacy of appearances, and how little any of us
know of the real internal state even of those whom we see most
frequently; for the truth is, that he was then depressed by poverty, and
irritated by diseasc. When I mentioned to him this account as given me
by Dr. Adams, he said, 'Ah, Sir, I was mad and violent. It was
bitterness which they mistook for frolick[2]. I was miserably poor, and
I thought to fight my way by my literature and my wit; so I disregarded
all power and all authority[3].'
[Footnote 1: It was the practice in his time for a servitor, by order of
the Master, to go round to the rooms of the young men, and knocking at
the door to enquire if they were within; and if no answer was returned
to report them absent. Johnson could not endure this intrusion, and
would frequently be silent, when the utterance of a word would have
ensured him from censure, and would join with others of the young men in
the college in hunting, as they called it, the servitor who was thus
diligent in his duty, and this they did with the noise of pots and
candlesticks, singing to the tune of Chevy Chase the words in the old
ballad,--
'To drive the deer with hound and horn!' _Hawkins_, p. 12. Whitefield,
writing of a few years later, says:--'At this time Satan used to terrify
me much, and threatened to punish me if I discovered his wiles. It being
my duty, as servitor, in my turn to knock at the gentlemen's rooms by
ten at night, to see who were in their rooms, I thought the devil would
appear to me every stair I went up.' Tyerman's _Whitefield_, i. 20.]
[Footnote 2: See _post_, June 12, 1784.]
[Footnote 3: Perhaps his disregard of all authority was in part due to
his genius, still in its youth. In his _Life of Lyttelton_ he
says:--'The letters [Lyttelton's _Persian Letters_] have something of
that indistinct and headstrong ardour for liberty which a man of genius
always catches when he enters the world, and always suffers to cool as
he passes forward.' Johnson's _Works_, viii. 488.]
[Page 74: Dr. Adams. A.D. 1730.]
The Bishop of Dromore observes in a letter to me,
'The pleasure he took in vexing the tutors and fellows has been often
mentioned. But I have heard him say, what ought to be recorded to the
honour of the present venerable master of that College, the Reverend
William Adams, D.D., who was then very young, and one of the junior
fellows; that the mild but judicious expostulations of this worthy man,
whose virtue awed him, and whose learning he revered, made him really
ashamed of himself, "though I fear (said he) I was too proud to own it."
'I have heard from some of his cotemporaries that he was generally seen
lounging at the College gate, with a circle of young students round him,
whom he was entertaining with wit, and keeping from their studies, if
not spiriting them up to rebellion against the College discipline, which
in his maturer years he so much extolled.'
He very early began to attempt keeping notes or memorandums, by way of a
diary of his life. I find, in a parcel of loose leaves, the following
spirited resolution to contend against his natural indolence:
'_Oct. 1729. Desidiae valedixi; syrenis istius cantibus surdam posthac
aurem obversurus_.--I bid farewell to Sloth, being resolved henceforth
not to listen to her syren strains.'
I have also in my possession a few leaves of another _Libellus_, or
little book, entitled ANNALES, in which some of the early particulars of
his history are registered in Latin.
[Page 75: A nest of singing-birds. AEtat 21.]
I do not find that he formed any close intimacies with his
fellow-collegians. But Dr. Adams told me that he contracted a love and
regard for Pembroke College, which he retained to the last. A short time
before his death he sent to that College a present of all his works, to
be deposited in their library[1]; and he had thoughts of leaving to it
his house at Lichfield; but his friends who were about him very properly
dissuaded him from it, and he bequeathed it to some poor relations[2].
He took a pleasure in boasting of the many eminent men who had been
educated at Pembroke. In this list are found the names of Mr. Hawkins
the Poetry Professor[3], Mr. Shenstone, Sir William Blackstone, and
others[4]; not forgetting the celebrated popular preacher, Mr. George
Whitefield, of whom, though Dr. Johnson did not think very highly[5], it
must be acknowledged that his eloquence was powerful, his views pious
and charitable, his assiduity almost incredible; and, that since his
death, the integrity of his character has been fully vindicated. Being
himself a poet, Johnson was peculiarly happy in mentioning how many of
the sons of Pembroke were poets; adding, with a smile of sportive
triumph, 'Sir, we are a nest of singing birds[6].'
[Footnote 1: Dr. Hall [formerly Master of the College] says, 'Certainly
not all.' CROKER.]
[Footnote 2: 'I would leave the interest of the fortune I bequeathed to
a college to my relations or my friends for their lives. It is the same
thing to a college, which is a permanent society, whether it gets the
money now or twenty years hence; and I would wish to make my relations
or friends feel the benefit of it;' _post_, April 17, 1778. Hawkins
(_Life_, p. 582,) says that 'he meditated a devise of his house to the
corporation of that city for a charitable use, but, it being freehold he
said, "I cannot live a twelvemonth, and the last statute of Mortmain
stands in my way."' The same statute, no doubt, would have hindered the
bequest to the College.]
[Footnote 3: Garrick refused to act one of Hawkins's plays. The poet
towards the end of a long letter which he signed,--'Your much
dissatisfied humble servant,' said:--'After all, Sir, I do not desire to
come to an open rupture with you. I wish not to exasperate, but to
convince; and I tender you once more my friendship and my play.'
_Garrick Corres._ ii. 8. See _post_, April 9, 1778.]
[Footnote 4: See Nash's _History of Worcestershire_, vol. i. p. 529.
BOSWELL. To the list should be added, Francis Beaumont, the dramatic
writer; Sir Thomas Browne, whose life Johnson wrote; Sir James Dyer,
Chief Justice of the King's Bench, Lord Chancellor Harcourt, John Pym,
Francis Rous, the Speaker of Cromwell's parliament, and Bishop Bonner.
WRIGHT. Some of these men belonged to the ancient foundation of
Broadgates Hall, which in 1624 was converted into Pembroke College. It
is strange that Boswell should have passed over Sir Thomas Browne's
name. Johnson in his life of Browne says that he was 'the first man of
eminence graduated from the new college, to which the zeal or gratitude
of those that love it most can wish little better than that it may long
proceed as it began.' Johnson's _Works_, vi. 476. To this list Nash adds
the name of the Revd. Richard Graves, author of _The Spiritual Quixote_,
who took his degree of B.A. on the same day as Whitefield, whom he
ridiculed in that romance.]
[Footnote 5: See _post_, Oct. 6, 1769, and Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug.
15, 1773.]
[Footnote 6: In his _Life of Shenstone_ he writes:--'From school
Shenstone was sent to Pembroke College in Oxford, a society which for
half a century has been eminent for English poetry and elegant
literature. Here it appears that he found delight and advantage; for he
continued his name in the book ten years, though he took no degree.'
Johnson's _Works_, viii. 408. Johnson's name would seem to have been in
like manner continued for more than eleven years, and perhaps for the
same reasons. (_Ante_, p. 58 note.) Hannah More was at Oxford in June
1782, during one of Johnson's visits to Dr. Adams. 'You cannot imagine,'
she writes, 'with what delight Dr. Johnson showed me every part of his
own college.... After dinner he begged to conduct me to see the college;
he would let no one show it me but himself. "This was my room; this
Shenstone's." Then, after pointing out all the rooms of the poets who
had been of his college, "In short," said he, "we were a nest of
singing-birds. Here we walked, there we played at cricket." [It may be
doubted whether he ever played.] He ran over with pleasure the history
of the juvenile days he passed there. When we came into the Common Room,
we spied a fine large print of Johnson, framed and hung up that very
morning, with this motto: "And is not Johnson ours, himself a host;"
under which stared you in the face, "From Miss More's _Sensibility_"'
Hannah More's _Memoirs_, i. 261. At the end of 'the ludicrous analysis
of Pocockius' quoted by Johnson in the _Life of Edmund Smith_ are the
following lines:--'Subito ad Batavos proficiscor, lauro ab illis
donandus. Prius vero Pembrochienses voco ad certamen poeticum.' Smith
was at Christ Church. He seems to be mocking the neighbouring 'nest of
singing-birds.' Johnson's _Works_, vii. 381.]
[Page 76: Dr. Taylor at Christ Church. A.D. 1730.]
[Page 77: Johnson's worn-out shoes. AEtat 21.]
He was not, however, blind to what he thought the defects of his own
College; and I have, from the information of Dr. Taylor, a very strong
instance of that rigid honesty which he ever inflexibly preserved.
Taylor had obtained his father's consent to be entered of Pembroke, that
he might be with his schoolfellow Johnson, with whom, though some years
older than himself, he was very intimate. This would have been a great
comfort to Johnson. But he fairly told Taylor that he could not, in
conscience, suffer him to enter where he knew he could not have an able
tutor. He then made inquiry all round the University, and having found
that Mr. Bateman, of Christ Church, was the tutor of highest reputation,
Taylor was entered of that College[1]. Mr. Bateman's lectures were so
excellent, that Johnson used to come and get them at second-hand from
Taylor, till his poverty being so extreme that his shoes were worn out,
and his feet appeared through them, he saw that this humiliating
circumstance was perceived by the Christ Church men, and he came no
more[2]. He was too proud to accept of money, and somebody having set a
pair of new shoes at his door, he threw them away with indignation[3].
How must we feel when we read such an anecdote of Samuel Johnson!
[Footnote 1: Taylor matriculated on Feb. 24, 1729. Mr. Croker in his
note has confounded him with another John Taylor who matriculated more
than a year later. Richard West, writing of Christ Church in 1735,
says:--'Consider me very seriously here in a strange country, inhabited
by things that call themselves Doctors and Masters of Arts; a country
flowing with syllogisms and ale, where Horace and Virgil are equally
unknown.' Gray's _Letters_, ii. I.]
[Footnote 2:
'Si toga sordidula est et rupta
calceus alter
Pelle patet.'
'Or if the shoe be ript, or patches
put.'
Dryden, _Juvenal_, iii. 149.
Johnson in his _London_, in describing 'the blockhead's insults,' while
he mentions 'the tattered cloak,' passes over the ript shoe. Perhaps the
wound had gone too deep to his generous heart for him to bear even to
think on it.]
[Footnote 3: 'Yet some have refused my bounties, more offended with my
quickness to detect their wants than pleased with my readiness to
succour them.' _Rasselas_, ch. 25. 'His [Savage's] distresses, however
afflictive, never dejected him; in his lowest state he wanted not spirit
to assert the natural dignity of wit, and was always ready to repress
that insolence which the superiority of fortune incited; ... he never
admitted any gross familiarities, or submitted to be treated otherwise
than as an equal.... His clothes were worn out; and he received notice
that at a coffee-house some clothes and linen were left for him.... But
though the offer was so far generous, it was made with some neglect of
ceremonies, which Mr. Savage so much resented that he refused the
present, and declined to enter the house till the clothes that had been
designed for him were taken away.' Johnson's _Works_, viii. 161 and
169.]
His spirited refusal of an eleemosynary supply of shoes, arose, no
doubt, from a proper pride. But, considering his ascetick disposition at
times, as acknowledged by himself in his 'Meditations,' and the
exaggeration with which some have treated the peculiarities of his
character, I should not wonder to hear it ascribed to a principle of
superstitious mortification; as we are told by Tursellinus, in his Life
of St. Ignatius Loyola, that this intrepid founder of the order of
Jesuits, when he arrived at Goa, after having made a severe pilgrimage
through the Eastern deserts persisted in wearing his miserable shattered
shoes, and when new ones were offered him rejected them as an unsuitable
indulgence.
[Page 78: Johnson leaves Oxford. A.D. 1731.]
The _res angusta domi_[1] prevented him from having the advantage of a
complete academical education[2]. The friend to whom he had trusted for
support had deceived him. His debts in College, though not great, were
increasing[3]; and his scanty remittances from Lichfield, which had all
along been made with great difficulty, could be supplied no longer, his
father having fallen into a state of insolvency. Compelled, therefore,
by irresistible necessity, he left the College in autumn, 1731, without
a degree, having been a member of it little more than three years[4].
[Footnote 1:
'Haud facile emergunt quorum
virtutibus obstat
Res angusta domi.'
Juvenal, _Sat_. iii. 164.
Paraphrased by Johnson in his _London_, 'Slow rises worth by poverty
depressed.']
[Footnote 2: Cambridge thirty-six years later neglected Parr as Oxford
neglected Johnson. Both these men had to leave the University through
poverty. There were no open scholarships in those days.]
[Footnote 3: Yet his college bills came to only some eight shillings a
week. As this was about the average amount of an undergraduate's bill it
is clear that, so far as food went, he lived, in spite of Mr. Carlyle's
assertion, as well as his fellow-students.]
[Footnote 4: Mr. Croker states that 'an examination of the college books
proves that Johnson, who entered on the 31st October, 1728, remained
there, even during the vacations, to the 12th December, 1729, when he
personally left the college, and never returned--though his _name_
remained on the books till 8th October, 1731.' I have gone into this
question at great length in my _Dr. Johnson: His Friends and His
Critics_, p. 329. I am of opinion that Mr. Croker's general conclusion
is right. The proof of residence is established, and alone established,
by the entries in the buttery books. Now these entries show that
Johnson, with the exception of the week in October 1729 ending on the
24th, was in residence till December 12, 1729. He seems to have returned
for a week in March 1730, and again for a week in the following
September. On three other weeks there is a charge against him of
fivepence in the books. Mr. Croker has made that darker which was
already dark enough by confounding, as I have shewn, two John Taylors
who both matriculated at Christ Church. Boswell's statement no doubt is
precise, but in this he followed perhaps the account given by Hawkins.
He would have been less likely to discover Hawkins's error from the fact
that, as Johnson's name was for about three years on the College books,
he was so long, in name at least, a member of the College. Had Boswell
seen Johnson's letter to Mr. Hickman, quoted by Mr. Croker (Croker's
_Boswell_, p. 20), he would at once have seen that Johnson could not
have remained at college for a little more than three years. For within
three years all but a day of his entrance at Pembroke, he writes to Mr.
Hickman from Lichfield, '_As I am yet unemployed_, I hope you will, if
anything should offer, remember and recommend, Sir, your humble servant,
Sam. Johnson.'
In Boswell's _Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides_ (Aug. 15, 1773) there
is a very perplexing passage bearing on Johnson's residence at College.
'We talked of Whitefield. He said he was at the same college with him,
and knew him before he began to be better than other people.' Now
Johnson, as Boswell tells us, read this journal in manuscript. The
statement therefore seems to be well-established indeed. Yet Whitefield
did not matriculate till Nov. 7, 1732, a full year after Johnson,
according to Boswell, had left Oxford. We are told that, when Johnson
was living at Birmingham, he borrowed Lobo's _Abyssinia_ from the
library of Pembroke College. It is probable enough that a man who
frequently walked from Lichfield to Birmingham and back would have
trudged all the way to Oxford to fetch the book. In that case he might
have seen Whitefield. But Thomas Warton says that 'the first time of his
being at Oxford after quitting the University was in 1754' (_post_,
under July 16, 1754).]
[Page 79: His destitute state. AEtat 22.]
Dr. Adams, the worthy and respectable master of Pembroke College, has
generally had the reputation of being Johnson's tutor. The fact,
however, is, that in 1731 Mr. Jorden quitted the College, and his pupils
were transferred to Dr. Adams; so that had Johnson returned, Dr. Adams
_would have been his tutor_. It is to be wished, that this connection
had taken place. His equal temper, mild disposition, and politeness of
manners, might have insensibly softened the harshness of Johnson, and
infused into him those more delicate charities, those _petites morales_,
in which, it must be confessed, our great moralist was more deficient
than his best friends could fully justify. Dr. Adams paid Johnson this
high compliment. He said to me at Oxford, in 1776, 'I was his nominal
tutor[1]; but he was above my mark.' When I repeated it to Johnson, his
eyes flashed with grateful satisfaction, and he exclaimed, 'That was
liberal and noble.'
[Footnote 1: 'March 16, 1728-9. Yesterday in a Convocation Mr. Wm.
Jorden of Pembroke Coll. was elected the Univ. of Oxford rector of
Astocke in com. Wilts (which belongs to a Roman Catholic family).'
Hearne's _Remains_, iii. 17. His fellowship was filled up on Dec. 23,
1730. Boswell's statement therefore is inaccurate. If Johnson remained
at college till Nov. 1731, he would have really been for at least ten
months Adams's pupil. We may assume that as his name remained on the
books after Jorden left so he was _nominally_ transferred to Adams. It
is worthy of notice that Thomas Warton, in the account that he gives of
Johnson's visit to Oxford in 1754, says:--'He much regretted that his
_first_ tutor was dead.']
[Page 80: Michael Johnson's death. A.D. 1731.]
And now (I had almost said _poor_) Samuel Johnson returned to his native
city, destitute, and not knowing how he should gain even a decent
livelihood. His father's misfortunes in trade rendered him unable to
support his son[1]; and for some time there appeared no means by which
he could maintain himself. In the December of this year his father died.
[Footnote 1: According to Hawkins (_Life_, pp. 17, 582 and _post_, Dec.
9, 1784) Johnson's father was at one time a bankrupt. Johnson, in the
epitaph that he wrote for him (_post_, Dec. 2, 1784) describes him as
'bibliopola admodum peritus,' but 'rebus adversis diu conflictatus.' He
certainly did not die a bankrupt, as is shown by his leaving property to
his widow and son, and also by the following MS. letter, that is
preserved with two others of the same kind in Pembroke College.
Ashby, April 19, 1736.
Good Sr.,
I must truble you again, my sister who desiurs her survis to you, & begs
you will be so good if you can to pravale with Mr. Wumsley to paye you
the little money due to her you may have an opertunity to speak to him &
it will be a great truble for me to have a jerney for it when if he
pleasd he might paye it you, it is a poore case she had but little left
by Mr. Johnson but his books (not but he left her all he had) & those
sold at a poore reat, and be kept out of so small a sume by a gentleman
so well able to paye, if you will doe yr best for the widow will be
varey good in you, which will oblige yr reall freund JAMES BATE.
To Mr. John Newton
a Sider Seller at Litchfield.
Pd. L5 to Mr. Newton.
In another hand is written,
To Gilbert Walmesley Esq.
at Lichfield.
And in a third hand,
Pd. L5 to Mr. Newton.
The exact amount claimed, as is Shewn by the letter, dated Jan. 31,
1735, was L5 6s. 4d. There is a yet earlier letter demanding payment of
L5 6s. 4d. as 'due to me' for books, signed D. Johnson, dated
Swarkstone, Aug. 21, 1733. It must be the same account. Perhaps D.
Johnson was the executor. He writes from Ashby, where Michael Johnson
had a branch business. But I know of no other mention of him or of James
Bate. John Newton was the father of the Bishop of Bristol. _Post_, June
3,1784, and Bishop Newton's _Works_, i. I.]
The state of poverty in which he died, appears from a note in one of
Johnson's little diaries of the following year, which strongly displays
his spirit and virtuous dignity of mind.
'1732, _Julii_ 15. _Undecim aureos deposui, quo die quicquid ante matris
funus (quod serum sit precor) de paternis bonis sperari licet, viginti
scilicet libras, accepi. Usque adeo mihi fortuna fingenda est. Interea,
ne paupertate vires animi languescant, nee in flagilia egestas abigat,
cavendum_.--I layed by eleven guineas on this day, when I received
twenty pounds, being all that I have reason to hope for out of my
father's effects, previous to the death of my mother; an event which I
pray GOD may be very remote. I now therefore see that I must make my own
fortune. Meanwhile, let me take care that the powers of my mind may not
be debilitated by poverty, and that indigence do not force me into any
criminal act.'
Johnson was so far fortunate, that the respectable character of his
parents, and his own merit, had, from his earliest years, secured him a
kind reception in the best families at Lichfield. Among these I can
mention Mr. Howard[1], Dr. Swinfen, Mr. Simpson, Mr. Levett[2], Captain
Garrick, father of the great ornament of the British stage; but above
all, Mr. Gilbert Walmsley[3], Register of the Prerogative Court of
Lichfield, whose character, long after his decease, Dr. Johnson has, in
his Life of Edmund Smith[4], thus drawn in the glowing colours of
gratitude:
[Footnote 1: Johnson, in a letter to Dr. Taylor, dated Aug. 18, 1763,
advised him, in some trouble that he had with his wife, 'to consult our
old friend Mr. Howard. His profession has acquainted him with
matrimonial law, and he is in himself a cool and wise man.' _Notes and
Queries_, 6th S. v. 342. See _post_, March 20, 1778, for mention of his
son.]
[Footnote 2: See _post_, Dec. 1, 1743, note. Robert Levett, made famous
by Johnson's lines (_post_, Jan. 20, 1782), was not of this family.]
[Footnote 3: Mr. Warton informs me, 'that this early friend of Johnson
was entered a Commoner of Trinity College, Oxford, aged seventeen, in
1698; and is the authour of many Latin verse translations in the _Gent.
Mag_. (vol. xv. 102). One of them is a translation of:
'My time, O ye Muses, was happily
spent.' &c.
He died Aug, 3, 1751, and a monument to his memory has been erected in
the Cathedral of Lichfield, with an inscription written by Mr. Seward,
one of the Prebendaries. BOSWELL.]
[Footnote 4: Johnson's _Works_, vii. 380.]
[Page 81: Gilbert Walmsley. AEtat 22.]
'Of Gilbert Walmsley[1], thus presented to my mind, let me indulge
myself in the remembrance. I knew him very early; he was one of the
first friends that literature procured me, and I hope that, at least, my
gratitude made me worthy of his notice.
[Footnote 1: See _post_, 1780, note at end of Mr. Langton's
'Collection.']
'He was of an advanced age, and I was only not a boy, yet he never
received my notions with contempt. He was a whig, with all the virulence
and malevolence of his party; yet difference of opinion did not keep us
apart. I honoured him and he endured me.
'He had mingled with the gay world without exemption from its vices or
its follies; but had never neglected the cultivation of his mind. His
belief of revelation was unshaken; his learning preserved his
principles; he grew first regular, and then pious.
'His studies had been so various, that I am not able to name a man of
equal knowledge. His acquaintance with books was great, and what he did
not immediately know, he could, at least, tell where to find. Such was
his amplitude of learning, and such his copiousness of communication,
that it may be doubted whether a day now passes, in which I have not
some advantage from his friendship.
'At this man's table I enjoyed many cheerful and instructive hours, with
companions, such as are not often found--with one who has lengthened,
and one who has gladdened life; with Dr. James[1], whose skill in
physick will be long remembered; and with David Garrick, whom I hoped to
have gratified with this character of our common friend. But what are
the hopes of man! I am disappointed by that stroke of death, which has
eclipsed the gaiety of nations, and impoverished the publick stock of
harmless pleasure[2].'
[Footnote 1: See _post_, 1743.]
[Footnote 2: See _post_ April 24, 1779.]
[Page 82: Lichfield society. A.D. 1732.]
In these families he passed much time in his early years. In most of
them, he was in the company of ladies, particularly at Mr. Walmsley's,
whose wife and sisters-in-law, of the name of Aston, and daughters of a
Baronet, were remarkable for good breeding; so that the notion which has
been industriously circulated and believed, that he never was in good
company till late in life, and, consequently had been confirmed in
coarse and ferocious manners by long habits, is wholly without
foundation. Some of the ladies have assured me, they recollected him
well when a young man, as distinguished for his complaisance.
And that this politeness was not merely occasional and temporary, or
confined to the circles of Lichfield, is ascertained by the testimony of
a lady, who, in a paper with which I have been favoured by a daughter of
his intimate friend and physician, Dr. Lawrence, thus describes Dr.
Johnson some years afterwards:
'As the particulars of the former part of Dr. Johnson's life do not seem
to be very accurately known, a lady hopes that the following information
may not be unacceptable.
[Page 83: Molly Aston. AEtat 23.]
'She remembers Dr. Johnson on a visit to Dr. Taylor, at Ashbourn, some
time between the end of the year 37, and the middle of the year 40; she
rather thinks it to have been after he and his wife were removed to
London[1]. During his stay at Ashbourn, he made frequent visits to Mr.
Meynell[2], at Bradley, where his company was much desired by the ladies
of the family, who were, perhaps, in point of elegance and
accomplishments, inferiour to few of those with whom he was afterwards
acquainted. Mr. Meynell's eldest daughter was afterwards married to Mr.
Fitzherbert[3], father to Mr. Alleyne Fitzherbert, lately minister to
the court of Russia. Of her, Dr. Johnson said, in Dr. Lawrence's study,
that she had the best understanding he ever met with in any human
being[4]. At Mr. Meynell's he also commenced that friendship with Mrs.
Hill Boothby[5], sister to the present Sir Brook Boothby, which
continued till her death. _The young woman whom he used to call Molly
Aston_[6], was sister to Sir Thomas Aston, and daughter to a Baronet;
she was also sister to the wife of his friend Mr. Gilbert Walmsley[7].
Besides his intimacy with the above-mentioned persons, who were surely
people of rank and education, while he was yet at Lichfield he used to
be frequently at the house of Dr. Swinfen, a gentleman of a very ancient
family in Staffordshire, from which, after the death of his elder
brother, he inherited a good estate. He was, besides, a physician of
very extensive practice; but for want of due attention to the management
of his domestick concerns, left a very large family in indigence. One of
his daughters, Mrs. Desmoulins, afterwards found an asylum in the house
of her old friend, whose doors were always open to the unfortunate, and
who well observed the precept of the Gospel, for he "was kind to the
unthankful and to the evil[8]."'
[Footnote 1: Hawkins (_Life_, p. 61) says that in August, 1738 (? 1739),
Johnson went to Appleby, in Leicestershire, to apply for the mastership
of Appleby School. This was after he and his wife had removed to London.
It is likely that he visited Ashbourne.]
[Footnote 2: 'Old Meynell' is mentioned, _post_, 1780, in Mr. Langton's
'Collection,' as the author of 'the observation, "For anything I see,
foreigners are fools;"' and 'Mr. Meynell,' _post_, April 1, 1779, as
saying that 'The chief advantage of London is, that a man is always _so
near his burrow_.']
[Footnote 3: See _post_, under March 16, 1759, note, and April 21, 1773.
Mr. Alleyne Fitzherbert was created Lord St. Helens.]
[Footnote 4: See _post_, 1780, end of Mr. Langton's 'Collection.']
[Footnote 5: Johnson, writing to Dr. Taylor on July 31, 1756, said, 'I
find myself very unwilling to take up a pen, only to tell my friends
that I am well, and indeed I never did exchange letters regularly but
with dear Miss Boothby.' _Notes and Queries_, 6th S. v. 304. At the end
of the _Piozzi Letters_ are given some of his letters to her. They were
republished together with her letters to him in _An Account of the Life
of Dr. Samuel Johnson_, 1805.]
[Footnote 6: The words of Sir John Hawkins, P. 316. BOSWELL. 'When Mr.
Thrale once asked Johnson which had been the happiest period of his past
life, he replied, "it was that year in which he spent one whole evening
with Molly Aston. That, indeed," said he, "was not happiness, it was
rapture; but the thoughts of it sweetened the whole year." I must add
that the evening alluded to was not passed tete-a-tete, but in a select
company of which the present Lord Kilmorey was one. "Molly," says Dr.
Johnson, "was a beauty and a scholar, and a wit and a whig; and she
talked all in praise of liberty; and so I made this epigram upon
her--She was the loveliest creature I ever saw--
'Liber ut esse velim suasisti
pulchra Maria;
Ut maneam liber--pulchra Maria
vale.'
'Will it do this way in English, Sir,' said I:--
Persuasions to freedom fall oddly
from you;
If freedom we seek--fair Maria,
adieu!'
'It will do well enough,' replied he; 'but it is translated by a lady,
and the ladies never loved Molly Aston.' Piozzi's _Anec._, p. 157. See
_post_, May 8, 1778.]
[Footnote 7: Sir Thomas Aston, Bart., who died in January, 1724-5, left
one son, named Thomas also, and eight daughters. Of the daughters,
Catherine married Johnson's friend, the Hon. Henry Hervey [_post, 1737];
Margaret, Gilbert Walmsley. Another of these ladies married the Rev. Mr.
Gastrell [the man who cut down Shakspeare's mulberry tree, _post_, March
25, 1776]; Mary, or _Molly_ Aston, as she was usually called, became the
wife of Captain Brodie of the navy. MALONE.]
[Footnote 8: Luke vi. 35.]
[Page 84: Johnson an usher. A.D. 1732.]
In the forlorn state of his circumstances, he accepted of an offer to be
employed as usher in the school of Market-Bosworth, in Leicestershire,
to which it appears, from one of his little fragments of a diary, that
he went on foot, on the 16th of July.--'_Julii 16. Bosvortiam pedes
petii_[1].' But it is not true, as has been erroneously related, that he
was assistant to the famous Anthony Blackwall, whose merit has been
honoured by the testimony of Bishop Hurd[2], who was his scholar; for
Mr. Blackwall died on the 8th of April, 1730[3], more than a year before
Johnson left the University[4].
[Footnote 1: If this was in 1732 it was on the morrow of the day on
which he received his share of his father's property, _ante_, p. 80. A
letter published in _Notes and Queries_, 6th S. x. 421, shews that for a
short time he was tutor to the son of Mr. Whitby of Heywood.]
[Footnote 2: Bishop Hurd does not praise Blackwall, but the Rev. Mr.
Budworth, headmaster of the grammar school at Brewood, who had himself
been bred under Blackwall. MALONE. Mr. Nichols relates (_post_, Dec.
1784) that Johnson applied for the post of assistant to Mr. Budworth.]
[Footnote 3: See _Gent. Mag_. Dec. 1784, p. 957. BOSWELL.]
[Footnote 4: See _ante_, p. 78.]
This employment was very irksome to him in every respect, and he
complained grievously of it in his letters to his friend Mr. Hector, who
was now settled as a surgeon at Birmingham. The letters are lost; but
Mr. Hector recollects his writing 'that the poet had described the dull
sameness of his existence in these words, "_Vitam continet una dies_"
(one day contains the whole of my life); that it was unvaried as the
note of the cuckow; and that he did not know whether it was more
disagreeable for him to teach, or the boys to learn, the grammar rules.'
His general aversion to this painful drudgery was greatly enhanced by a
disagreement between him and Sir Wolstan Dixey, the patron of the
school, in whose house, I have been told, he officiated as a kind of
domestick chaplain, so far, at least, as to say grace at table, but was
treated with what he represented as intolerable harshness[1]; and, after
suffering for a few months such complicated misery[2], he relinquished a
situation which all his life afterwards he recollected with the
strongest aversion, and even a degree of horrour[3]. But it is probable
that at this period, whatever uneasiness he may have endured, he laid
the foundation of much future eminence by application to his studies.
[Footnote 1: The patron's manners were those of the neighbourhood.
Hutton, writing of this town in 1770, says,--'The inhabitants set their
dogs at me merely because I was a stranger. Surrounded with impassable
roads, no intercourse with man to humanize the mind, no commerce to
smooth their rugged manners, they continue the boors of nature.' _Life,
of W. Hutton_, p. 45.]
[Footnote 2: It appears from a letter of Johnson's to a friend, dated
Lichfield, July 27, 1732, that he had left Sir Wolstan Dixie's house
recently, before that letter was written. MALONE.]
[Footnote 3: 'The despicable wretchedness of teaching,' wrote Carlyle,
in his twenty-fourth year, when he was himself a teacher, 'can be known
only to those who have tried it, and to Him who made the heart and knows
it all. One meets with few spectacles more afflicting than that of a
young man with a free spirit, with impetuous though honourable feelings,
condemned to waste the flower of his life in such a calling; to fade in
it by slow and sure corrosion of discontent; and at last obscurely and
unprofitably to leave, with an indignant joy, the miseries of a world
which his talents might have illustrated and his virtues adorned. Such
things have been and will be. But surely in that better life which good
men dream of, the spirit of a Kepler or a Milton will find a more
propitious destiny.' Conway's _Carlyle_, p. 176.]
[Page 85: His life in Birmingham. AEtat 23.]
Being now again totally unoccupied, he was invited by Mr. Hector to pass
some time with him at Birmingham, as his guest, at the house of Mr.
Warren, with whom Mr. Hector lodged and boarded. Mr. Warren was the
first established bookseller in Birmingham, and was very attentive to
Johnson, who he soon found could be of much service to him in his trade,
by his knowledge of literature; and he even obtained the assistance of
his pen in furnishing some numbers of a periodical Essay printed in the
news-paper, of which Warren was proprietor[1]. After very diligent
inquiry, I have not been able to recover those early specimens of that
particular mode of writing by which Johnson afterwards so greatly
distinguished himself.
[Footnote 1: This newspaper was the _Birmingham Journal_. In the office
of the _Birmingham Daily Post_ is preserved the number (No. 28) for May
21, 1733. It is believed to be the only copy in existence. Warren is
described by W. Hutton (_Life_, p. 77) as one of the 'three eminent
booksellers' in Birmingham in 1750. 'His house was "over against the
Swan Tavern," in High Street; doubtless in one of the old half-timbered
houses pulled down in 1838 [1850].' Timmins's _Dr. Johnson in
Birmingham_, p. 4.]
[Page 86: Lobo's Voyage to Abyssinia. A.D. 1733.]
He continued to live as Mr. Hector's guest for about six months, and
then hired lodgings in another part of the town[1], finding himself as
well situated at Birmingham[2] as he supposed he could be any where,
while he had no settled plan of life, and very scanty means of
subsistence. He made some valuable acquaintances there, amongst whom
were Mr. Porter, a mercer, whose widow he afterwards married, and Mr.
Taylor[3], who by his ingenuity in mechanical inventions, and his
success in trade, acquired an immense fortune. But the comfort of being
near Mr. Hector, his old school-fellow and intimate friend, was
Johnson's chief inducement to continue here.
[Footnote 1: 'In the month of June 1733, I find him resident in the
house of a person named Jarvis, at Birmingham.' Hawkins, p. 21. His
wife's maiden name was Jarvis or Jervis.]
[Footnote 2: In 1741, Hutton, a runaway apprentice, arrived at
Birmingham. He says,--'I had never seen more than five towns,
Nottingham, Derby, Burton, Lichfield and Walsall. The outskirts of these
were composed of wretched dwellings, visibly stamped with dirt and
poverty. But the buildings in the exterior of Birmingham rose in a style
of elegance. Thatch, so plentiful in other places, was not to be met
with in this. The people possessed a vivacity I had never beheld. I had
been among dreamers, but now I saw men awake. Their very step along the
street showed alacrity. Every man seemed to know what he was about. The
faces of other men seemed tinctured with an idle gloom; but here with a
pleasing alertness. Their appearance was strongly marked with the modes
of civil life.' _Life of W. Hutton_, p. 41.]
[Footnote 3: Hutton, in his account of the Birmingham riots of 1791,
describing the destruction of a Mr. Taylor's house, says,--'The sons of
plunder forgot that the prosperity of Birmingham was owing to a
Dissenter, father to the man whose property they were destroying;' ib.
p. 181.]
In what manner he employed his pen at this period, or whether he derived
from it any pecuniary advantage, I have not been able to ascertain. He
probably got a little money from Mr. Warren; and we are certain, that he
executed here one piece of literary labour, of which Mr. Hector has
favoured me with a minute account. Having mentioned that he had read at
Pembroke College a Voyage to Abyssinia, by Lobo, a Portuguese Jesuit,
and that he thought an abridgment and translation of it from the French
into English might be an useful and profitable publication, Mr. Warren
and Mr. Hector joined in urging him to undertake it. He accordingly
agreed; and the book not being to be found in Birmingham, he borrowed it
of Pembroke College. A part of the work being very soon done, one
Osborn, who was Mr. Warren's printer, was set to work with what was
ready, and Johnson engaged to supply the press with copy as it should be
wanted; but his constitutional indolence soon prevailed, and the work
was at a stand. Mr. Hector, who knew that a motive of humanity would be
the most prevailing argument with his friend, went to Johnson, and
represented to him, that the printer could have no other employment till
this undertaking was finished, and that the poor man and his family were
suffering. Johnson upon this exerted the powers of his mind, though his
body was relaxed. He lay in bed with the book, which was a quarto,
before him, and dictated while Hector wrote. Mr. Hector carried the
sheets to the press, and corrected almost all the proof sheets, very few
of which were even seen by Johnson. In this manner, with the aid of Mr.
Hector's active friendship, the book was completed, and was published in
1735, with LONDON upon the title-page, though it was in reality printed
at Birmingham, a device too common with provincial publishers. For this
work he had from Mr. Warren only the sum of five guineas[1].
[Footnote 1: Johnson, it should seem, did not think himself ill-used by
Warren; for writing to Hector on April 15, 1755, he says,--'What news of
poor Warren? I have not lost all my kindness for him.' _Notes and
Queries_, 6th S. iii. 301.]
This being the first prose work of Johnson, it is a curious object of
inquiry how much may be traced in it of that style which marks his
subsequent writings with such peculiar excellence; with so happy an
union of force, vivacity, and perspicuity. I have perused the book with
this view, and have found that here, as I believe in every other
translation, there is in the work itself no vestige of the translator's
own style; for the language of translation being adapted to the thoughts
of another person, insensibly follows their cast, and, as it were, runs
into a mould that is ready prepared[1].
[Footnote 1: That it is by no means an exact translation Johnson's
_Preface_ shows. He says that in the dissertations alone an exact
translation has been attempted. The rest of the work he describes as an
epitome.]
Thus, for instance, taking the first sentence that occurs at the opening
of the book, p. 4.
'I lived here above a year, and completed my studies in divinity; in
which time some letters were received from the fathers of Ethiopia, with
an account that Sultan Segned[1], Emperour of Abyssinia, was converted
to the church of Rome; that many of his subjects had followed his
example, and that there was a great want of missionaries to improve
these prosperous beginnings. Every body was very desirous of seconding
the zeal of our fathers, and of sending them the assistance they
requested; to which we were the more encouraged, because the Emperour's
letter informed our Provincial, that we might easily enter his dominions
by the way of Dancala; but, unhappily, the secretary wrote Geila[2] for
Dancala, which cost two of our fathers their lives.'
[Footnote 1: In the original, _Segued_.]
[Footnote 2: In the original, _Zeila_.]
Every one acquainted with Johnson's manner will be sensible that there
is nothing of it here; but that this sentence might have been composed
by any other man.
But, in the Preface, the Johnsonian style begins to appear; and though
use had not yet taught his wing a permanent and equable flight, there
are parts of it which exhibit his best manner in full vigour. I had once
the pleasure of examining it with Mr. Edmund Burke, who confirmed me in
this opinion, by his superiour critical sagacity, and was, I remember,
much delighted with the following specimen:
'The Portuguese traveller, contrary to the general vein of his
countrymen, has amused his reader with no romantick absurdity, or
incredible fictions; whatever he relates, whether true or not, is at
least probable; and he who tells nothing exceeding the bounds of
probability, has a right to demand that they should believe him who
cannot contradict him.
'He appears, by his modest and unaffected narration, to have described
things as he saw them, to have copied nature from the life, and to have
consulted his senses, not his imagination. He meets with no basilisks
that destroy with their eyes, his crocodiles devour their prey without
tears, and his cataracts fall from the rocks without deafening the
neighbouring inhabitants[1].
[Footnote 1: Lobo, in describing a waterfall on the Nile, had
said:--'The fall of this mighty stream from so great a height makes a
noise that may be heard to a considerable distance; but I could not
observe that the neighbouring inhabitants were at all deaf. I conversed
with several, and was as easily heard by them as I heard them,' p. 101.]
'The reader will here find no regions cursed with irremediable
barrenness, or blessed with spontaneous fecundity; no perpetual gloom,
or unceasing sunshine; nor are the nations here described either devoid
of all sense of humanity, or consummate in all private or social
virtues. Here are no Hottentots without religious polity or articulate
language[1]; no Chinese perfectly polite, and completely skilled in all
sciences; he will discover, what will always be discovered by a diligent
and impartial enquirer, that wherever human nature is to be found, there
is a mixture of vice and virtue, a contest of passion and reason; and
that the Creator doth not appear partial in his distributions, but has
balanced, in most countries, their particular inconveniencies by
particular favours.'
[Footnote 1: In the original, _without religion, polity, or articulate
language_.]
Here we have an early example of that brilliant and energetick
expression, which, upon innumerable occasions in his subsequent life,
justly impressed the world with the highest admiration.
Nor can any one, conversant with the writings of Johnson, fail to
discern his hand in this passage of the Dedication to John Warren, Esq.
of Pembrokeshire, though it is ascribed to Warren the bookseller:
'A generous and elevated mind is distinguished by nothing more certainly
than an eminent degree of curiosity[1]; nor is that curiosity ever more
agreeably or usefully employed, than in examining the laws and customs
of foreign nations. I hope, therefore, the present I now presume to
make, will not be thought improper; which, however, it is not my
business as a dedicator to commend, nor as a bookseller to depreciate.'
[Footnote 1: See _Rambler_, No. 103. BOSWELL. Johnson in other passages
insisted on the high value of curiosity. In this same _Rambler_ he
says:--'Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of
a vigorous intellect.' In the allegory in _Rambler_, No. 105, he calls
curiosity his 'long-loved protectress,' who is known by truth 'among the
most faithful of her followers.' In No. 150 he writes:--'Curiosity is in
great and generous minds the first passion and the last; and perhaps
always predominates in proportion to the strength of the contemplative
faculties.' In No. 5 he assert that 'he that enlarges his curiosity
after the works of nature demonstrably multiplies the inlets to
happiness.']
It is reasonable to suppose, that his having been thus accidentally led
to a particular study of the history and manners of Abyssinia, was the
remote occasion of his writing, many years afterwards, his admirable
philosophical tale[1], the principal scene of which is laid in that
country.
[Footnote 1: Rasselas, _post_, 1759.]
[Page 90: Proposals to print Politian. A.D. 1734.]
Johnson returned to Lichfield early in 1734, and in August[1] that year
he made an attempt to procure some little subsistence by his pen; for he
published proposals for printing by subscription the Latin Poems of
Politian[2]: '_Angeli Politiani Poemata Latina, quibus, Notas cum
historia Latinae poeseos, a Petrarchae aevo ad Politiani tempora deducta,
et vita Politiani fusius quam antehac enarrata, addidit_ SAM.
JOHNSON[3].'
[Footnote 1: Hawkins (p.163) gives the following extract from Johnson's
_Annales_:--'Friday, August 27 (1734), 10 at night. This day I have
trifled away, except that I have attended the school in the morning, I
read to-night in Roger's sermoms. To-night I began the breakfast law
(sic) anew.']
[Footnote 2: May we not trace a fanciful similarity between Politian and
Johnson? Huetius, speaking of Paulus Pelissonius Fontanerius, says, '...
in quo Natura, ut olim in Angelo Politiano, deformitarem oris
excellentis ingenii praestantia compensavit.' _Comment, de reb. ad eum
pertin_. Edit. Amstel. 1718, p. 200. BOSWELL. In Paulus Pelissonius
Fontanerius we have difficulty in detecting Mme. de Sevigne's friend,
Pelisson, of whom M. de Guilleragues used the phrase, 'qu'il abusait de
la permission qu'ont les hommes d'etre laids.' See _Mme. de Sevigne's
Letter_, 5 Jan., 1674. CROKER.]
[Footnote 3: The book was to contain more than thirty sheets, the price
to be two shillings and sixpence at the time of subscribing, and two
shillings and sixpence at the delivery of a perfect book in quires.
BOSWELL. 'Among the books in his library, at the time of his decease, I
found a very old and curious edition of the works of Politian, which
appeared to belong to Pembroke College, Oxford.' HAWKINS, p. 445. See
_post_, Nov., 1784. In his last work he shews his fondness for modern
Latin poetry. He says:--'Pope had sought for images and sentiments in a
region not known to have been explored by many other of the English
writers; he had consulted the modern writers of Latin poetry, a class of
authors whom Boileau endeavoured to bring into contempt, and who are too
generally neglected.' Johnson's _Works_, viii. 299.]
It appears that his brother Nathanael[1] had taken up his father's
trade; for it is mentioned that 'subscriptions are taken in by the
Editor, or N. Johnson, bookseller, of Lichfield.' Notwithstanding the
merit of Johnson, and the cheap price at which this book was offered,
there were not subscribers enough to insure a sufficient sale; so the
work never appeared, and probably, never was executed.
[Footnote 1: A writer in _Notes and Queries_, 1st S. xii. 266, says
'that he has a letter written by Nathanael, in which he makes mention of
his brother "scarcely using him with common civility," and says, "I
believe I shall go to Georgia in about a fortnight!"' Nathanael died in
Lichfield in 1737; see _post_, Dec. 2, 1784, for his epitaph. Among the
MSS. in Pembroke College Library are bills for books receipted by Nath.
Johnson and by Sarah Johnson (his mother). She writes like a person of
little education.]
[Page 91: First letter to Edward Cave. AEtat 25.]
We find him again this year at Birmingham, and there is preserved the
following letter from him to Mr. Edward Cave[1], the original compiler
and editor of the _Gentleman's Magazine_:
[Footnote 1: Miss Cave, the grand-niece of Mr. Edward Cave, has
obligingly shewn me the originals of this and the other letters of Dr.
Johnson, to him, which were first published in the _Gent. Mag_. [lv. 3],
with notes by Mr. John Nichols, the worthy and indefatigable editor of
that valuable miscellany, signed N.; some of which I shall occasionally
transcribe in the course of this work. BOSWELL. I was able to examine
some of these letters while they were still in the possession of one of
Cave's collateral descendants, and I have in one or two places corrected
errors of transcription.]
TO MR. CAVE.
_Nov_. 25, 1734.
'Sir,
'As you appear no less sensible than your readers of the defects of your
poetical article, you will not be displeased, if, in order to the
improvement of it, I communicate to you the sentiments of a person, who
will undertake, on reasonable terms, sometimes to fill a column.
'His opinion is, that the publick would not give you a bad reception,
if, beside the current wit of the month, which a critical examination
would generally reduce to a narrow compass, you admitted not only poems,
inscriptions, &c. never printed before, which he will sometimes supply
you with; but likewise short literary dissertations in Latin or English,
critical remarks on authours ancient or modern, forgotten poems that
deserve revival, or loose pieces, like Floyer's[1], worth preserving. By
this method, your literary article, for so it might be called, will, he
thinks, be better recommended to the publick than by low jests, awkward
buffoonery, or the dull scurrilities of either party.
[Footnote 1: Sir John Floyer's Treatise on Cold Baths. _Gent. Mag_.
1734, p. 197. BOSWELL. This letter shews how uncommon a thing a cold
bath was. Floyer, after recommending 'a general method of bleeding and
purging' before the patient uses cold bathing, continues, 'I have
commonly cured the rickets by dipping children of a year old in the bath
every morning; and this wonderful effect has encouraged me to dip four
boys at Lichfield in the font at their baptism, and none have suffered
any inconvenience by it.' (For mention of Floyer, see _ante_, p. 42, and
_post_, March 27 and July 20, 1784.) Locke, in his _Treatise on
Education_, had recommended cold bathing for children. Johnson, in his
review of Lucas's _Essay on Waters_ (_post_, 1756), thus attacks cold
bathing:--'It is incident to physicians, I am afraid, beyond all other
men, to mistake subsequence for consequence. "The old gentleman," says
Dr. Lucas, "that uses the cold bath, enjoys in return an uninterrupted
state of health." This instance does not prove that the cold bath
produces health, but only that it will not always destroy it. He is well
with the bath, he would have been well without it.' _Literary Magazine_,
p. 229.]
'If such a correspondence will be agreeable to you, be pleased to inform
me in two posts, what the conditions are on which you shall expect it.
Your late offer[1] gives me no reason to distrust your generosity. If
you engage in any literary projects besides this paper, I have other
designs to impart, if I could be secure from having others reap the
advantage of what I should hint.
[Footnote 1: A prize of fifty pounds for the best poem on 'Life, Death,
Judgement, Heaven, and Hell.' See _Gent. Mag_. vol. iv. p. 560. N.
BOSWELL. 'Cave sometimes offered subjects for poems, and proposed prizes
for the best performers. The first prize was fifty pounds, for which,
being but newly acquainted with wealth, and thinking the influence of
fifty pounds extremely great, he expected the first authors of the
kingdom to appear as competitors; and offered the allotment of the prize
to the universities. But when the time came, no name was seen among the
writers that had ever been seen before; the universities and several
private men rejected the province of assigning the prize.' Johnson's
_Works_, vi. 432.]
[Page 92: Verses on a sprig of myrtle. A.D. 1734.]
'Your letter by being directed to _S. Smith_, to be left at the Castle
in[1] Birmingham, Warwickshire, will reach
'Your humble servant.'
[Footnote 1: I suspect that Johnson wrote 'the Castle _Inn_,
Birmingham.']
Mr. Cave has put a note on this letter, 'Answered Dec. 2.' But whether
any thing was done in consequence of it we are not informed.
Johnson had, from his early youth, been sensible to the influence of
female charms. When at Stourbridge school, he was much enamoured of
Olivia Lloyd, a young quaker, to whom he wrote a copy of verses, which I
have not been able to recover; but with what facility and elegance he
could warble the amorous lay, will appear from the following lines which
he wrote for his friend Mr. Edmund Hector.
[Page 93: Boswell's controversy with Miss Seward. AEtat 25.]
VERSES _to a_ LADY, _on receiving from her a_ SPRIG of MYRTLE.
'What hopes, what terrours does thy gift create,
Ambiguous emblem of uncertain fate:
The myrtle, ensign of supreme command,
Consign'd by Venus to Melissa's hand;
Not less capricious than a reigning fair,
Now grants, and now rejects a lover's prayer.
In myrtle shades oft sings the happy swain,
In myrtle shades despairing ghosts complain;
The myrtle crowns the happy lovers' heads,
The unhappy lovers' grave the myrtle spreads:
O then the meaning of thy gift impart,
And ease the throbbings of an anxious heart!
Soon must this bough, as you shall fix his doom,
Adorn Philander's head, or grace his tomb[1].'
[Footnote 1: Mrs. Piozzi gives the following account of this little
composition from Dr. Johnson's own relation to her, on her inquiring
whether it was rightly attributed to him:--'I think it is now just forty
years ago, that a young fellow had a sprig of myrtle given him by a girl
he courted, and asked me to write him some verses that he might present
her in return. I promised, but forgot; and when he called for his lines
at the time agreed on--Sit still a moment, (says I) dear Mund' [see
_post_, May 7, 1773, for Johnson's 'way of contracting the names of his
friends'], 'and I'll fetch them thee--So stepped aside for five minutes,
and wrote the nonsense you now keep such a stir about.' _Anec_. p. 34.
In my first edition I was induced to doubt the authenticity of this
account, by the following circumstantial statement in a letter to me
from Miss Seward, of Lichfield:--'_I know_ those verses were addressed
to Lucy Porter, when he was enamoured of her in his boyish days, two or
three years before he had seen her mother, his future wife. He wrote
them at my grandfather's, and gave them to Lucy in the presence of my
mother, to whom he showed them on the instant. She used to repeat them
to me, when I asked her for _the Verses Dr. Johnson gave her on a Sprig
of Myrtle, which he had stolen or begged from her bosom_. We all know
honest Lucy Porter to have been incapable of the mean vanity of applying
to herself a compliment not _intended_ for her.' Such was this lady's
statement, which I make no doubt she supposed to be correct; but it
shews how dangerous it is to trust too implicitly to traditional
testimony and ingenious inference; for Mr. Hector has lately assured me
that Mrs. Piozzi's account is in this instance accurate, and that he was
the person for whom Johnson wrote those verses, which have been
erroneously ascribed to Mr. Hammond.
I am obliged in so many instances to notice Mrs. Piozzi's incorrectness
of relation, that I gladly seize this opportunity of acknowledging, that
however often, she is not always inaccurate.
The author having been drawn into a controversy with Miss Anna Seward,
in consequence of the preceding statement, (which may be found in the
_Gent. Mag._ vol. liii. and liv.) received the following letter from Mr.
Edmund Hector, on the subject:
'DEAR SIR,
'I am sorry to see you are engaged in altercation with a Lady, who seems
unwilling to be convinced of her errors. Surely it would be more
ingenuous to acknowledge, than to persevere.
'Lately, in looking over some papers I meant to burn, I found the
original manuscript of the _Myrtle_, with the date on it, 1731, which I
have inclosed.
'The true history (which I could swear to) is as follows: Mr. Morgan
Graves, the elder brother of a worthy Clergyman near Bath, with whom I
was acquainted, waited upon a lady in this neighbourhood, who at parting
presented him the branch. He shewed it me, and wished much to return the
compliment in verse. I applied to Johnson, who was with me, and in about
half an hour dictated the verses which I sent to my friend.
'I most solemnly declare, at that time Johnson was an entire stranger to
the Porter family; and it was almost two years after that I introduced
him to the acquaintance of Porter, whom I bought my cloaths of.
'If you intend to convince this obstinate woman, and to exhibit to the
publick the truth of your narrative, you are at liberty to make what use
you please of this statement.
'I hope you will pardon me for taking up so much of your time. Wishing
you _multos et felices annos_, I shall subscribe myself,
'Your obliged humble servant,
'E. HECTOR.'
_Birmingham_,
Jan. 9th, 1794.
BOSWELL. For a further account of Boswell's controversy with Miss
Seward, see _post_, June 25, 1784.]
[Page 94: Johnson's personal appearance. A.D. 1734.]
His juvenile attachments to the fair sex were, however, very transient;
and it is certain that he formed no criminal connection whatsoever. Mr.
Hector, who lived with him in his younger days in the utmost intimacy
and social freedom, has assured me, that even at that ardent season his
conduct was strictly virtuous in that respect[1]; and that though he
loved to exhilarate himself with wine, he never knew him intoxicated but
once[2].
[Footnote 1: See _post_, beginning of 1744, April 28, 1783, and under
Dec. 2, 1784.]
[Footnote 2: See _post_, near end of 1762, note.]
[Page 95: Mrs. Porter. AEtat 25.]
In a man whom religious education has secured from licentious
indulgences, the passion of love, when once it has seized him, is
exceedingly strong; being unimpaired by dissipation, and totally
concentrated in one object. This was experienced by Johnson, when he
became the fervent admirer of Mrs. Porter, after her first husband's
death[1]. Miss Porter told me, that when he was first introduced to her
mother, his appearance was very forbidding: he was then lean and lank,
so that his immense structure of bones was hideously striking to the
eye, and the scars of the scrophula were deeply visible[2]. He also wore
his hair[3], which was straight and stiff, and separated behind: and he
often had, seemingly, convulsive starts and odd gesticulations, which
tended to excite at once surprize and ridicule[4]. Mrs. Porter was so
much engaged by his conversation that she overlooked all these external
disadvantages, and said to her daughter, 'this is the most sensible man
that I ever saw in my life.'
[Footnote 1: In the registry of St. Martin's Church, Birmingham, are the
following entries:--'Baptisms, Nov. 8, 1715, Lucy, daughter of Henry
Porter. Jan. 29, 1717 [O. S.], Jarvis Henry, son of Henry Porter.
Burials, Aug. 3, 1734, Henry Porter of Edgbaston.' There were two sons;
one, Captain Porter, who died in 1763 (Croker's _Boswell_, p. 130), the
other who died in 1783 (_post_, Nov. 29, 1783).]
[Footnote 2: According to Malone, Reynolds said that 'he had paid
attention to Johnson's limbs; and far from being unsightly, he deemed
them well formed.' Prior's _Malone_, p. 175. Mrs. Piozzi says:--'His
stature was remarkably high, and his limbs exceedingly large; his
features were strongly marked, and his countenance particularly rugged;
though the original complexion had certainly been fair, a circumstance
somewhat unusual; his sight was near, and otherwise imperfect; yet his
eyes, though of a light-grey colour, were so wild, so piercing, and at
times so fierce, that fear was, I believe, the first emotion in the
hearts of all his beholders.' Piozzi's _Anec_. p. 297. See _post_, end
of the book, and Boswell's _Hebrides_, near the beginning.]
[Footnote 3: If Johnson wore his own hair at Oxford, it must have
exposed him to ridicule. Graves, the author of _The Spiritual Quixote_,
tells us that Shenstone had the courage to wear his own hair, though 'it
often exposed him to the ill-natured remarks of people who had not half
his sensc. After I was elected at All Souls, where there was often a
party of loungers in the gateway, on my expostulating with Mr. Shenstone
for not visiting me so often as usual, he said, "he was ashamed to face
his enemies in the gate."']
[Footnote 4: See _post_, 1739.]
Though Mrs. Porter was double the age of Johnson[1], and her person and
manner, as described to me by the late Mr. Garrick, were by no means
pleasing to others, she must have had a superiority of understanding and
talents, as she certainly inspired him with a more than ordinary
passion; and she having signified her willingness to accept of his hand,
he went to Lichfield to ask his mother's consent to the marriage, which
he could not but be conscious was a very imprudent scheme, both on
account of their disparity of years, and her want of fortune[2]. But
Mrs. Johnson knew too well the ardour of her son's temper, and was too
tender a parent to oppose his inclinations.
[Footnote 1: Mrs. Johnson was born on Feb. 4, 1688-9. MALONE. She was
married on July 9, 1735, in St. Werburgh's Church, Derby, as is shewn by
the following copy of the marriage register: '1735, July 9, Mar'd Sam'll
Johnson of ye parish of St Mary's in Litchfield, and Eliz'th Porter of
ye parish of St Phillip in Burmingham.' _Notes and Queries_, 4th S. vi.
44. At the time of their marriage, therefore, she was forty-six, and
Johnson only two months short of twenty-six.]
[Footnote 2: The author of the _Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Dr.
Johnson_, 1785, p. 25, says:--'Mrs. Porter's husband died insolvent, but
her settlement was secured. She brought her second husband about seven
or eight hundred pounds, a great part of which was expended in fitting
up a house for a boarding-school.' That she had some money can be almost
inferred from what we are told by Boswell and Hawkins. How other-wise
was Johnson able to hire and furnish a large house for his school?
Boswell says that he had but three pupils. Hawkins gives him a few more.
'His number,' he writes (p. 36) 'at no time exceeded eight, and of those
not all were boarders.' After nearly twenty months of married life, when
he went to London, 'he had,' Boswell says, 'a little money.' It was not
till a year later still that he began to write for the _Gent. Mag_. If
Mrs. Johnson had not money, how did she and her husband live from July
1735 to the spring of 1738? It could scarcely have been on the profits
made from their school. Inference, however, is no longer needful, as
there is positive evidence. Mr. Timmins in his _Dr. Johnson in
Birmingham_ (p. 4) writes:--'My friend, Mr. Joseph Hill, says, A copy of
an old deed which has recently come into my hands, shews that a hundred
pounds of Mrs. Johnson's fortune was left in the hands of a Birmingham
attorney named Thomas Perks, who died insolvent; and in 1745, a bulky
deed gave his creditors 7_s_. 4_d_. in the pound. Among the creditors
for L100 were "Samuel Johnson, gent., and Elizabeth his wife, executors
of the last will and testament of Harry Porter, late of Birmingham
aforesaid, woollen draper, deceased." Johnson and his wife were almost
the only creditors who did not sign the deed, their seals being left
void. It is doubtful, therefore, whether they ever obtained the amount
of the composition L36 13_s_. 4_d_.']
[Page 96: Johnson's marriage. A.D. 1736.]
I know not for what reason the marriage ceremony was not performed at
Birmingham; but a resolution was taken that it should be at Derby, for
which place the bride and bridegroom set out on horseback, I suppose in
very good humour. But though Mr. Topham Beauclerk used archly to mention
Johnson's having told him, with much gravity, 'Sir, it was a love
marriage on both sides,' I have had from my illustrious friend the
following curious account of their journey to church upon the nuptial
morn:
9th July:--'Sir, she had read the old romances, and had got into her
head the fantastical notion that a woman of spirit should use her lover
like a dog. So, Sir, at first she told me that I rode too fast, and she
could not keep up with me; and, when I rode a little slower, she passed
me, and complained that I lagged behind. I was not to be made the slave
of caprice; and I resolved to begin as I meant to end. I therefore
pushed on briskly, till I was fairly out of her sight. The road lay
between two hedges, so I was sure she could not miss it; and I contrived
that she should soon come up with me. When she did, I observed her to be
in tears.'
This, it must be allowed, was a singular beginning of connubial
felicity; but there is no doubt that Johnson, though he thus shewed a
manly firmness, proved a most affectionate and indulgent husband to the
last moment of Mrs. Johnson's life: and in his _Prayers and
Meditations_, we find very remarkable evidence that his regard and
fondness for her never ceased, even after her death.
[Page 97: His School at Edial. AEtat 27.]
He now set up a private academy[1], for which purpose he hired a large
house, well situated near his native city. In the _Gentleman's Magazine_
for 1736, there is the following advertisement:
[Footnote 1: Sir Walter Scott has recorded Lord Auchinleck's 'sneer of
most sovereign contempt,' while he described Johnson as 'a dominie,
monan auld dominie; he keeped a schule, and cau'd it an acaadamy.'
Croker's _Boswell_, p. 397, note.]
'At Edial, near Lichfield[1], in Staffordshire, young gentlemen are
boarded and taught the Latin and Greek languages, by SAMUEL JOHNSON.'
[Footnote 1: 'Edial is two miles west of Lichfield.' Harwood's
_Lichfield_, p. 564.]
But the only pupils that were put under his care were the celebrated
David Garrick and his brother George, and a Mr. Offely, a young
gentleman of good fortune who died early. As yet, his name had nothing
of that celebrity which afterwards commanded the highest attention and
respect of mankind. Had such an advertisement appeared after the
publication of his _London_, or his _Rambler_, or his _Dictionary_, how
would it have burst upon the world! with what eagerness would the great
and the wealthy have embraced an opportunity of putting their sons under
the learned tuition of SAMUEL JOHNSON. The truth, however, is, that he
was not so well qualified for being a teacher of elements, and a
conductor in learning by regular gradations, as men of inferiour powers
of mind. His own acquisitions had been made by fits and starts, by
violent irruptions into the regions of knowledge; and it could not be
expected that his impatience would be subdued, and his impetuosity
restrained, so as to fit him for a quiet guide to novices. The art of
communicating instruction, of whatever kind, is much to be valued; and I
have ever thought that those who devote themselves to this employment,
and do their duty with diligence and success, are entitled to very high
respect from the community, as Johnson himself often maintained[1]. Yet
I am of opinion that the greatest abilities are not only not required
for this office, but render a man less fit for it.
[Footnote 1: Johnson in more than one passage in his writings seems to
have in mind his own days as a schoolmaster. Thus in the _Life of
Milton_ he says:--'This is the period of his life from which all his
biographers seem inclined to shrink. They are unwilling that Milton
should be degraded to a schoolmaster; but, since it cannot be denied
that he taught boys, one finds out that he taught for nothing, and
another that his motive was only zeal for the propagation of learning
and virtue; and all tell what they do not know to be true, only to
excuse an act which no wise man will consider as in itself disgraceful.
His father was alive; his allowance was not ample; and he supplied its
deficiencies by an honest and useful employment.' Johnson's _Works_,
vii. 75. In the _Life of Blackmore_ he says:--'In some part of his life,
it is not known when, his indigence compelled him to teach a school, an
humiliation with which, though it certainly lasted but a little while,
his enemies did not forget to reproach him, when he became conspicuous
enough to excite malevolence; and let it be remembered for his honour,
that to have been once a school-master is the only reproach which all
the perspicacity of malice, animated by wit, has ever fixed upon his
private life.' Johnson's _Works_, viii. 36.]
[Page 98: Garrick Johnson's pupil. A.D. 1736.]
While we acknowledge the justness of Thomson's beautiful remark,
'Delightful task! to rear the tender thought,
And teach[1] the young idea how to shoot!'
we must consider that this delight is perceptible only by 'a mind at
ease,' a mind at once calm and clear; but that a mind gloomy and
impetuous like that of Johnson, cannot be fixed for any length of time
in minute attention, and must be so frequently irritated by unavoidable
slowness and errour in the advances of scholars, as to perform the duty,
with little pleasure to the teacher, and no great advantage to the
pupils[2]. Good temper is a most essential requisite in a Preceptor.
Horace paints the character as _bland_:
'... _Ut pueris olim dant crustula blandi
Doctores, elementa velint ut discere_[3].'
[Footnote 1: In the original _To teach. Seasons, Spring_, l. 1149,
Thomson is speaking, not of masters, but of parents.]
[Footnote 2: In the _Life of Milton_, Johnson records his own
experience. 'Every man that has ever undertaken to instruct others can
tell what slow advances he has been able to make, and how much patience
it requires to recall vagrant inattention, to stimulate sluggish
indifference, and to rectify absurd misapprehension.' Johnson's _Works_,
vii. 76.]
[Footnote 3:
'As masters fondly soothe their
boys to read
With cakes and sweetmeats.'
_Francis_, Hor. i. _Sat_. I. 25.]
[Page 99: Mrs. Johnson. AEtat 27.]
Johnson was not more satisfied with his situation as the master of an
academy, than with that of the usher of a school; we need not wonder,
therefore, that he did not keep his academy above a year and a half.
From Mr. Garrick's account he did not appear to have been profoundly
reverenced by his pupils. His oddities of manner, and uncouth
gesticulations, could not but be the subject of merriment to them; and,
in particular, the young rogues used to listen at the door of his
bed-chamber, and peep through the key-hole, that they might turn into
ridicule his tumultuous and awkward fondness for Mrs. Johnson, whom he
used to name by the familiar appellation of _Tetty_ or _Tetsey_, which,
like _Betty_ or _Betsey_, is provincially used as a contraction for
_Elisabeth_, her Christian name, but which to us seems ludicrous, when
applied to a woman of her age and appearance. Mr. Garrick described her
to me as very fat, with a bosom of more than ordinary protuberance, with
swelled cheeks of a florid red, produced by thick painting, and
increased by the liberal use of cordials; flaring and fantastick in her
dress, and affected both in her speech and her general behaviour. I have
seen Garrick exhibit her, by his exquisite talent of mimickry, so as to
excite the heartiest bursts of laughter; but he, probably, as is the
case in all such representations, considerably aggravated the
picture[1].
[Footnote 1: As Johnson kept Garrick much in awe when present, David,
when his back was turned, repaid the restraint with ridicule of him and
his dulcinea, which should be read with great abatement. PERCY. He was
not consistent in his account, for 'he told Mrs. Thrale that she was a
_little painted puppet_ of no value at all.' 'He made out,' Mrs. Piozzi
continues, 'some comical scenes, by mimicking her in a dialogue he
pretended to have overheard. I do not know whether he meant such stuff
to be believed or no, it was so comical. The picture I found of her at
Lichfield was very pretty, and her daughter said it was like. Mr.
Johnson has told me that her hair was eminently beautiful, quite
_blonde_ like that of a baby.' Piozzi's _Anec_. p. 148.]
That Johnson well knew the most proper course to be pursued in the
instruction of youth, is authentically ascertained by the following
paper[1] in his own hand-writing, given about this period to a relation,
and now in the possession of Mr. John Nichols:
[Footnote 1: Mr. Croker points out that in this paper 'there are two
separate schemes, the first for a school--the second for the individual
studies of some young friend.']
'SCHEME _for the_ CLASSES _of a_ GRAMMAR SCHOOL.
'When the introduction, or formation of nouns and verbs, is perfectly
mastered, let them learn:
'Corderius by Mr. Clarke, beginning at the same time to translate out of
the introduction, that by this means they may learn the syntax. Then let
them proceed to:
'Erasmus, with an English translation, by the same authour.
'Class II. Learns Eutropius and Cornelius Nepos, or Justin, with the
translation.
'N.B. The first class gets for their part every morning the rules which
they have learned before, and in the afternoon learns the Latin rules of
the nouns and verbs.
[Page 100: A scheme of study. A.D. 1736.]
'They are examined in the rules which they have learned every Thursday
and Saturday.
'The second class does the same whilst they are in Eutropius; afterwards
their part is in the irregular nouns and verbs, and in the rules for
making and scanning verses. They are examined as the first.
'Class III. Ovid's Metamorphoses in the morning, and Caesar's
Commentaries in the afternoon.
'Practise in the Latin rules till they are perfect in them; afterwards
in Mr. Leeds's Greek Grammar. Examined as before.
'Afterwards they proceed to Virgil, beginning at the same time to write
themes and verses, and to learn Greek; from thence passing on to Horace,
&c. as shall seem most proper.
'I know not well what books to direct you to, because you have not
informed me what study you will apply yourself to. I believe it will be
most for your advantage to apply yourself wholly to the languages, till
you go to the University. The Greek authours I think it best for you to
read are these:
'Cebes.
'AElian. }
'Lucian by Leeds. } Attick.
'Xenophon. }
'Homer. Ionick.
'Theocritus. Dorick.
'Euripides. Attick and Dorick.
'Thus you will be tolerably skilled in all the dialects, beginning with
the Attick, to which the rest must be referred.
'In the study of Latin, it is proper not to read the latter authours,
till you are well versed in those of the purest ages; as Terence, Tully,
Caesar, Sallust, Nepos, Velleius Paterculus, Virgil, Horace, Phaedrus.
'The greatest and most necessary task still remains, to attain a habit
of expression, without which knowledge is of little usc. This is
necessary in Latin, and more necessary in English; and can only be
acquired by a daily imitation of the best and correctest authours.
'SAM. JOHNSON.'
While Johnson kept his academy, there can be no doubt that he was
insensibly furnishing his mind with various knowledge; but I have not
discovered that he wrote any thing except a great part of his tragedy of
_Irene_. Mr. Peter Garrick, the elder brother of David, told me that he
remembered Johnson's borrowing the _Turkish History_[1] of him, in order
to form his play from it. When he had finished some part of it, he read
what he had done to Mr. Walmsley, who objected to his having already
brought his heroine into great distress, and asked him, 'how can you
possibly contrive to plunge her into deeper calamity?' Johnson, in sly
allusion to the supposed oppressive proceedings of the court of which
Mr. Walmsley was register, replied, 'Sir, I can put her into the
Spiritual Court!'
[Footnote 1: In the _Rambler_, No. 122, Johnson, after stating that 'it
is observed that our nation has been hitherto remarkably barren of
historical genius,' praises Knolles, who, he says, 'in his _History of
the Turks_, has displayed all the excellencies that narration can
admit.']
[Page 101: Johnson tries his fortune in London. AEtat 27.]
Mr. Walmsley, however, was well pleased with this proof of Johnson's
abilities as a dramatick writer, and advised him to finish the tragedy,
and produce it on the stage.
Johnson now thought of trying his fortune in London, the great field of
genius and exertion, where talents of every kind have the fullest scope,
and the highest encouragement. It is a memorable circumstance that his
pupil David Garrick went thither at the same time[1], with intention to
complete his education, and follow the profession of the law, from which
he was soon diverted by his decided preference for the stage.
[Footnote 1: Both of them used to talk pleasantly of this their first
journey to London. Garrick, evidently meaning to embellish a little,
said one day in my hearing, 'we rode and tied.' And the Bishop of
Killaloe informed me, that at another time, when Johnson and Garrick
were dining together in a pretty large company, Johnson humorously
ascertaining the chronology of something, expressed himself thus: 'that
was the year when I came to London with two-pence half-penny in my
pocket.' Garrick overhearing him, exclaimed, 'eh? what do you say? with
two-pence half-penny in your pocket?'--JOHNSON, 'Why yes; when I came
with two-pence half-penny in _my_ pocket, and thou, Davy, with three
half-pence in thine.' BOSWELL.]
This joint expedition of those two eminent men to the metropolis, was
many years afterwards noticed in an allegorical poem on Shakspeare's
Mulberry Tree, by Mr. Lovibond, the ingenious authour of _The Tears of
Old-May-day_[1].
[Footnote 1: See _Gent. Mag_., xxiv. 333.]
They were recommended to Mr. Colson[1], an eminent mathematician and
master of an academy, by the following letter from Mr. Walmsley:
[Footnote 1: Mr. Colson was First Master of the Free School at
Rochester. In 1739 he was appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at
Cambridge. MALONE. Mrs. Piozzi (_Anec_. p. 49) says that 'by Gelidus the
philosopher (_Rambler_, No. 24), Johnson meant to represent Colson.']
[Page 102: Mr. Walmsley's Letter. A.D. 1737.]
'To THE REVEREND MR. COLSON.
'Lichfield, March 2, 1737.
'DEAR SIR,
'I had the favour of yours, and am extremely obliged to you; but I
cannot say I had a greater affection for you upon it than I had before,
being long since so much endeared to you, as well by an early
friendship, as by your many excellent and valuable qualifications; and,
had I a son of my own, it would be my ambition, instead of sending him
to the University, to dispose of him as this young gentleman is.
'He, and another neighbour of mine, one Mr. Samuel Johnson, set out this
morning for London together. Davy Garrick is to be with you early the
next week, and Mr. Johnson to try his fate with a tragedy, and to see to
get himself employed in some translation, either from the Latin or the
French. Johnson is a very good scholar and poet, and I have great hopes
will turn out a fine tragedy-writer. If it should any way lie in your
way, doubt[1] not but you would be ready to recommend and assist your
countryman.
'G. WALMSLEY.'
[Footnote 1: This letter is printed in the _Garrick Corres_. i. 2. There
we read _I doubt not_.]
[Page 103: Like in London. AEtat 28.]
How he employed himself upon his first coming to London is not
particularly known[1]. I never heard that he found any protection or
encouragement by the means of Mr. Colson, to whose academy David Garrick
went. Mrs. Lucy Porter told me, that Mr. Walmsley gave him a letter of
introduction to Lintot[2] his bookseller, and that Johnson wrote some
things for him; but I imagine this to be a mistake, for I have
discovered no trace of it, and I am pretty sure he told me that Mr. Cave
was the first publisher by whom his pen was engaged in London.
[Footnote 1: One curious anecdote was communicated by himself to Mr.
John Nichols. Mr. Wilcox, the bookseller, on being informed by him that
his intention was to get his livelihood as an authour, eyed his robust
frame attentively, and with a significant look, said, 'You had better
buy a porter's knot.' He however added, 'Wilcox was one of my best
friends.' BOSWELL. Hawkins (_Life_, p. 43) states that Johnson and
Garrick had soon exhausted their small stock of money in London, and
that on Garrick's suggestion they applied for a loan to Wilcox, of whom
he had a slight knowledge. 'Representing themselves to him, as they
really were, two young men, friends and travellers from the same place,
and just arrived with a view to settle here, he was so moved with their
artless tale, that on their joint note he advanced them all that their
modesty would permit them to ask (five pounds), which was soon after
punctually repaid.' Perhaps Johnson was thinking of himself when he
recorded the advice given by Cibber to Fenton, 'When the tragedy of
Mariamne was shewn to Cibber, it was rejected by him, with the
additional insolence of advising Fenton to engage himself in some
employment of honest labour, by which he might obtain that support which
he could never hope from his poetry. The play was acted at the other
theatre; and the brutal petulance of Cibber was confuted, though perhaps
not shamed, by general applausc.' Johnson's _Works_, viii. 56. Adam
Smith in the _Wealth of Nations_ (Book i. ch. 2) says that 'the
difference between the most dissimilar characters, between a philosopher
and a common street-porter, for example, seems to arise not so much from
nature, as from habit, custom, and education.' Wilcox's shop was in
Little Britain. Benjamin Franklin, in 1725, lodged next door to him. 'He
had,' says Franklin (_Memoirs_, i. 64), 'an immense collection of
second-hand books. Circulating libraries were not then in use; but we
agreed that on certain reasonable terms I might read any of his books.']
[Footnote 2: Bernard Lintot (_post_, July 19, 1763) died Feb. 3, 1736.
_Gent. Mag_. vi. 110. This, no doubt, was his son.]
He had a little money when he came to town, and he knew how he could
live in the cheapest manner. His first lodgings were at the house of Mr.
Norris, a staymaker, in Exeter-street, adjoining Catharine-street, in
the Strand. 'I dined (said he) very well for eight-pence, with very good
company, at the Pine Apple in New-street, just by. Several of them had
travelled. They expected to meet every day; but did not know one
another's names. It used to cost the rest a shilling, for they drank
wine; but I had a cut of meat for six-pence, and bread for a penny, and
gave the waiter a penny; so that I was quite well served, nay, better
than the rest, for they gave the waiter nothing[1].'
[Footnote 1: Dr. A. Carlyle (_Auto_. p. 195) says that being in London
in 1746 he dined frequently with a club of officers, where they had an
excellent dinner at ten-pence. From what he adds it is clear that the
tavern-keeper made his profit on the wine. At Edinburgh, four years
earlier, he and his fellow-students used to get 'at four-pence a-head a
very good dinner of broth and beef, and a roast and potatoes every day,
with fish three or four times a-week, and all the small beer that was
called for till the cloth was removed' (_ib_. p. 63). W. Hutton, who in
1750 opened a very small book-shop in Birmingham, for which he paid rent
at a shilling a week, says (_Life of Hutton_, p. 84): 'Five shillings a
week covered every expense; as food, rent, washing, lodging, &c.' He
knew how to live wretchedly.]
[Page 104: Abstinence from wine. A.D. 1737.]
He at this time, I believe, abstained entirely from fermented liquors: a
practice to which he rigidly conformed for many years together, at
different periods of his life[1].
[Footnote 1: On April 17, 1778, Johnson said: 'Early in life I drank
wine; for many years I drank none. I then for some years drank a great
deal. I then had a severe illness, and left it off, and I have never
begun it again.' Somewhat the same account is given in Boswell's
_Hebrides_, Sept. 16, 1773. Roughly speaking, he seems to have been an
abstainer from about 1736 to at least as late as 1757, and from about
1765 to the end of his life. In 1751 Hawkins (_Life_, p. 286) describes
him as drinking only lemonade 'in a whole night spent in festivity' at
the Ivy Lane Club. In 1757 he described himself 'as a hardened and
shameless tea-drinker, who has for twenty years diluted his meals with
only tea' (Johnson's _Works_, vi. 21). It was, I believe, in his visit
to Oxford in 1759 that 'University College witnessed his drinking three
bottles of port without being the worse for it' (_post_, April 7, 1778).
When he was living in the Temple (between 1760-65) he had the frisk with
Langton and Beauclerk when they made a bowl of _Bishop_ (_post_, 1753).
On his birthday in 1760, he 'resolved to drink less strong liquors'
(_Pr. and Med._ p. 42). In 1762 on his visit to Devonshire he drank
three bottles of wine after supper. This was the only time Reynolds had
seen him intoxicated. (Northcote's _Reynolds_, ii. 161). In 1763 he
affected Boswell's nerves by keeping him up late to drink port with him
(_post_, July 14, 1763). On April 21, 1764, he records: 'From the
beginning of this year I have in some measure forborne excess of strong
drink' (_Pr. and Med._ p. 51). On Easter Sunday he records: 'Avoided
wine' (_id._ p. 55). On March 1, 1765, he is described at Cambridge as
'giving Mrs. Macaulay for his toast, and drinking her in two bumpers.'
It was about this time that he had the severe illness (_post_, under
Oct. 17, 1765, note). In Feb. 1766, Boswell found him no longer drinking
wine. He shortly returned to it again; for on Aug. 2, 1767, he records,
'I have for some days forborne wine;' and on Aug. 17, 'By abstinence
from wine and suppers I obtained sudden and great relief' (_Pr. and
Med._ pp. 73, 4). According to Hawkins, Johnson said:--'After a ten
years' forbearance of every fluid except tea and sherbet, I drank one
glass of wine to the health of Sir Joshua Reynolds on the evening of the
day on which he was knighted' (Hawkins's _Johnson's Works_ (1787), xi.
215). As Reynolds was knighted on April 21, 1769 (Taylor's _Reynolds_,
i. 321), Hawkins's report is grossly inaccurate. In Boswell's
_Hebrides_, Sept. 16, 1773, and _post_, March 16, 1776, we find him
abstaining. In 1778 he persuaded Boswell to be 'a water-drinker upon
trial' (_post_, April 28, 1778). On April 7, 1779, 'he was persuaded to
drink one glass of claret that he might judge of it, not from
recollection.' On March 20, 1781, Boswell found that Johnson had lately
returned to wine. 'I drink it now sometimes,' he said, 'but not
socially.' He seems to have generally abstained however. On April 20,
1781, he would not join in drinking Lichfield ale. On March 17, 1782, he
made some punch for himself, by which in the night he thought 'both his
breast and imagination disordered' (_Pr. and Med._ p. 205). In the
spring of this year Hannah More urged him to take a little wine. 'I
can't drink a _little_, child,' he answered; 'therefore I never touch
it' (H. More's _Memoirs_, i. 251). On July 1, 1784, Beattie, who met him
at dinner, says, 'he cannot be prevailed on to drink wine' (Beattie's
_Life_, p. 316). On his death-bed he refused any 'inebriating
sustenance' (_post_, Dec. 1784). It is remarkable that writing to Dr.
Taylor on Aug. 5, 1773, he said:--'Drink a great deal, and sleep
heartily;' and that on June 23, 1776, he again wrote to him:--'I hope
you presever in drinking. My opinion is that I have drunk too little,
and therefore have the gout, for it is of my own acquisition, as neither
my father had it nor my mother' (_Notes and Queries_, 6th S. v. pp. 422,
3). On Sept. 19, 1777 (_post_), he even 'owned that in his opinion a
free use of wine did not shorten life.' Johnson disapproved of fermented
liquors only in the case of those who, like himself and Boswell, could
not keep from excess.]
[Page 105: An Irish Ofellus. AEtat 28.]
His Ofellus in the _Art of Living in London_, I have heard him relate,
was an Irish painter, whom he knew at Birmingham, and who had practised
his own precepts of oeconomy for several years in the British
capital[1]. He assured Johnson, who, I suppose, was then meditating to
try his fortune in London, but was apprehensive of the expence, 'that
thirty pounds a year was enough to enable a man to live there without
being contemptible. He allowed ten pounds for clothes and linen. He said
a man might live in a garret at eighteen-pence a week; few people would
inquire where he lodged; and if they did, it was easy to say, 'Sir, I am
to be found at such a place.' By spending three-pence in a coffee-house,
he might be for some hours every day in very good company; he might dine
for six-pence, breakfast on bread and milk for a penny, and do without
supper. On _clean-shirt-day_ he went abroad, and paid visits.' I have
heard him more than once talk of this frugal friend, whom he recollected
with esteem and kindness, and did not like to have one smile at the
recital. 'This man (said he, gravely) was a very sensible man, who
perfectly understood common affairs: a man of a great deal of knowledge
of the world, fresh from life, not strained through books[2]. He
borrowed a horse and ten pounds at Birmingham. Finding himself master of
so much money, he set off for West Chester[3], in order to get to
Ireland. He returned the horse, and probably the ten pounds too, after
he got home.'
[Footnote 1: Ofellus, or rather Ofella, is the 'rusticus, abnormis
sapiens, crassaque Minerva' of Horace's _Satire_, ii. 2. 3. What he
teaches is briefly expressed in Pope's Imitation, ii. 2. 1:
'What, and how great, the virtue and the art
To live on little with a cheerful heart
(A doctrine sage, but truly none of mine);
Let's talk, my friends, but talk before we dine.'
In 1769 was published a worthless poem called _The Art of Living in
London_; in which 'instructions were given to persons who live in a
garret, and spend their evenings in an ale-house.' _Gent. Mag._ xxxix.
45. To this Boswell refers.]
[Footnote 2: 'Johnson this day, when we were by ourselves, observed how
common it was for people to talk from books; to retail the sentiments of
others, and not their own; in short, to converse without any originality
of thinking. He was pleased to say, "You and I do not talk from books."'
Boswell's _Hebrides_, Nov. 3, 1773.]
[Footnote 3: The passage to Ireland was commonly made from Chester.]
[Page 106: Mr. Henry Hervey. A.D. 1737.]
Considering Johnson's narrow circumstances in the early part of his
life, and particularly at the interesting aera of his launching into the
ocean of London, it is not to be wondered at, that an actual instance,
proved by experience of the possibility of enjoying the intellectual
luxury of social life, upon a very small income, should deeply engage
his attention, and be ever recollected by him as a circumstance of much
importance. He amused himself, I remember, by computing how much more
expence was absolutely necessary to live upon the same scale with that
which his friend described, when the value of money was diminished by
the progress of commerce. It maybe estimated that double the money might
now with difficulty be sufficient.
Amidst this cold obscurity, there was one brilliant circumstance to
cheer him; he was well acquainted with Mr. Henry Hervey[1], one of the
branches of the noble family of that name, who had been quartered at
Lichfield as an officer of the army, and had at this time a house in
London, where Johnson was frequently entertained, and had an opportunity
of meeting genteel company. Not very long before his death, he mentioned
this, among other particulars of his life, which he was kindly
communicating to me; and he described this early friend, 'Harry Hervey,'
thus: 'He was a vicious man, but very kind to me. If you call a dog
HERVEY, I shall love him.'
[Footnote 1: The honourable Henry Hervey, third son of the first Earl of
Bristol, quitted the army and took orders. He married a sister of Sir
Thomas Aston, by whom he got the Aston Estate, and assumed the name and
arms of that family. Vide Collins's _Peerage_. BOSWELL.]
He told me he had now written only three acts of his _Irene_, and that
he retired for some time to lodgings at Greenwich, where he proceeded in
it somewhat further, and used to compose, walking in the Park[1]; but
did not stay long enough at that place to finish it.
[Footnote 1: The following brief mention of Greenwich Park in 1750 is
found in one of Miss Talbot's Letters. 'Then when I come to talk of
Greenwich--Did you ever see it? It was quite a new world to me, and a
very charming one. Only on the top of a most inaccessible hill in the
park, just as we were arrived at a view that we had long been aiming at,
a violent clap of thunder burst over our heads.'--_Carter and Talbot
Corres_, i. 345.]
At this period we find the following letter from him to Mr. Edward Cave,
which, as a link in the chain of his literary history, it is proper to
insert:
[Page 107: Johnson returns to Lichfield. AEtat 28.]
'To MR. CAVE.
'Greenwich, next door to the Golden Heart,
'Church-street, July 12, 1737.
'SIR,
'Having observed in your papers very uncommon offers of encouragement to
men of letters, I have chosen, being a stranger in London, to
communicate to you the following design, which, I hope, if you join in
it, will be of advantage to both of us.
'The History of the Council of Trent having been lately translated into
French, and published with large Notes by Dr. Le Courayer[1], the
reputation of that book is so much revived in England, that, it is
presumed, a new translation of it from the Italian, together with Le
Courayer's Notes from the French, could not fail of a favourable
reception.
[Footnote 1: At the Oxford Commemoration of 1733 Courayer returned
thanks in his robes to the University for the honour it had done him two
years before in presenting him with his degree. _Dr. Johnson: His
Friends and his Critics_, p. 94.]
'If it be answered, that the History is already in English, it must be
remembered, that there was the same objection against Le Courayer's
undertaking, with this disadvantage, that the French had a version by
one of their best translators, whereas you cannot read three pages of
the English History without discovering that the style is capable of
great improvements; but whether those improvements are to be expected
from the attempt, you must judge from the specimen, which, if you
approve the proposal, I shall submit to your examination.
'Suppose the merit of the versions equal, we may hope that the addition
of the Notes will turn the balance in our favour, considering the
reputation of the Annotator.
'Be pleased to favour me with a speedy answer, if you are not willing to
engage in this scheme; and appoint me a day to wait upon you, if you
are.
'I am, Sir,
'Your humble servant,
'SAM. JOHNSON.'
It should seem from this letter, though subscribed with his own name,
that he had not yet been introduced to Mr. Cave. We shall presently see
what was done in consequence of the proposal which it contains.
[Page 108: Irene. A.D. 1737.]
In the course of the summer he returned to Lichfield, where he had left
Mrs. Johnson, and there he at last finished his tragedy, which was not
executed with his rapidity of composition upon other occasions, but was
slowly and painfully elaborated. A few days before his death, while
burning a great mass of papers, he picked out from among them the
original unformed sketch of this tragedy, in his own hand-writing, and
gave it to Mr. Langton, by whose favour a copy of it is now in my
possession. It contains fragments of the intended plot, and speeches for
the different persons of the drama, partly in the raw materials of
prose, partly worked up into verse; as also a variety of hints for
illustration, borrowed from the Greek, Roman, and modern writers. The
hand-writing is very difficult to be read, even by those who were best
acquainted with Johnson's mode of penmanship, which at all times was
very particular. The King having graciously accepted of this manuscript
as a literary curiosity, Mr. Langton made a fair and distinct copy of
it, which he ordered to be bound up with the original and the printed
tragedy; and the volume is deposited in the King's library[1]. His
Majesty was pleased to permit Mr. Langton to take a copy of it for
himself.
[Footnote 1: This library was given by George IV to the British Museum.
CROKER.]
The whole of it is rich in thought and imagery, and happy expressions;
and of the _disjecta membra_[1] scattered throughout, and as yet
unarranged, a good dramatick poet might avail himself with considerable
advantage. I shall give my readers some specimens of different kinds,
distinguishing them by the Italick character.
[Footnote 1: Ovid, Meta. iii. 724.]
'Nor think to say, here will I stop,
Here will I fix the limits of transgression,
Nor farther tempt the avenging rage of heaven.
When guilt like this once harbours in the breast,
Those holy beings, whose unseen direction
Guides through the maze of life the steps of man,
Fly the detested mansions of impiety,
And quit their charge to horrour and to ruin.'
A small part only of this interesting admonition is preserved in the
play, and is varied, I think, not to advantage:
'The soul once tainted with so foul a crime,
No more shall glow with friendship's hallow'd ardour,
Those holy beings whose superior care
Guides erring mortals to the paths of virtue,
Affrighted at impiety like thine,
Resign their charge to baseness and to ruin[1].'
'_I feel the soft infection
Flush in my cheek, and wander in my veins.
Teach me the Grecian arts of soft persuasion.'
[Footnote 1: Act iii. sc. 8.]
'Sure this is love, which heretofore I conceived the dream of idle
maids, and wanton poets.'
'Though no comets or prodigies foretold the ruin of Greece, signs which
heaven must by another miracle enable us to understand, yet might it be
foreshewn, by tokens no less certain, by the vices which always bring it
on_.'
This last passage is worked up in the tragedy itself, as follows:
LEONTIUS.
'----That power that kindly spreads
The clouds, a signal of impending showers,
To warn the wand'ring linnet to the shade,
Beheld, without concern, expiring Greece,
And not one prodigy foretold our fate.
DEMETRIUS.
'A thousand horrid prodigies foretold it;
A feeble government, eluded laws,
A factious populace, luxurious nobles,
And all the maladies of sinking States.
When publick villainy, too strong for justice,
Shows his bold front, the harbinger of ruin,
Can brave Leontius call for airy wonders,
Which cheats interpret, and which fools regard?
When some neglected fabrick nods beneath
The weight of years, and totters to the tempest,
Must heaven despatch the messengers of light,
Or wake the dead, to warn us of its fall[1]?'
[Footnote 1: Act i. sc. 1.]
MAHOMET (to IRENE). 'I have tried thee, and joy to find that thou
deservest to be loved by Mahomet,--with a mind great as his own. Sure,
thou art an errour of nature, and an exception to the rest of thy sex,
and art immortal; for sentiments like thine were never to sink into
nothing. I thought all the thoughts of the fair had been to select the
graces of the day, dispose the colours of the flaunting (flowing) robe,
tune the voice and roll the eye, place the gem, choose the dress, and
add new roses to the fading cheek, but--sparkling.'
[Page 110: Johnson settles in London. A.D. 1737.]
Thus in the tragedy:
'Illustrious maid, new wonders fix me thine;
Thy soul completes the triumphs of thy face:
I thought, forgive my fair, the noblest aim,
The strongest effort of a female soul
Was but to choose the graces of the day,
To tune the tongue, to teach the eyes to roll,
Dispose the colours of the flowing robe,
And add new roses to the faded cheek[1].'
[Footnote 1: Act ii. sc. 7.]
I shall select one other passage, on account of the doctrine which it
illustrates. IRENE observes,
'That the Supreme Being will accept of virtue, whatever outward
circumstances it may be accompanied with, and may be delighted with
varieties of worship: _but is answered_, that variety cannot affect that
Being, who, infinitely happy in his own perfections, wants no external
gratifications; nor can infinite truth be delighted with falsehood; that
though he may guide or pity those he leaves in darkness, he abandons
those who shut their eyes against the beams of day.'
Johnson's residence at Lichfield, on his return to it at this time, was
only for three months; and as he had as yet seen but a small part of the
wonders of the Metropolis, he had little to tell his townsmen. He
related to me the following minute anecdote of this period: 'In the last
age, when my mother lived in London, there were two sets of people,
those who gave the wall, and those who took it; the peaceable and the
quarrelsome. When I returned to Lichfield, after having been in London,
my mother asked me, whether I was one of those who gave the wall, or
those who took it. _Now_ it is fixed that every man keeps to the right;
or, if one is taking the wall, another yields it; and it is never a
dispute[1].'
[Footnote 1: _Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides_, 3rd edit. p. 232
[Sept. 20, 1773]. BOSWELL.]
He now removed to London with Mrs. Johnson; but her daughter, who had
lived with them at Edial, was left with her relations in the country[1].
His lodgings were for some time in Woodstock-street, near
Hanover-square, and afterwards in Castle-street, near Cavendish-square.
As there is something pleasingly interesting, to many, in tracing so
great a man through all his different habitations, I shall, before this
work is concluded, present my readers with an exact list of his lodgings
and houses, in order of time, which, in placid condescension to my
respectful curiosity, he one evening dictated to me[2], but without
specifying how long he lived at each. In the progress of his life I
shall have occasion to mention some of them as connected with particular
incidents, or with the writing of particular parts of his works. To
some, this minute attention may appear trifling; but when we consider
the punctilious exactness with which the different houses in which
Milton resided have been traced by the writers of his life, a similar
enthusiasm may be pardoned in the biographer of Johnson.
[Footnote 1: Johnson's letter to her of Feb. 6, 1759, shows that she
was, at that time, living in his house at Lichfield. Miss Seward
(_Letters_, i. 116) says that 'she boarded in Lichfield with his
mother.' Some passages in other of his letters (Croker's _Boswell_, pp.
144, 145, 173) lead me to think that she stayed on in this house till
1766, when she had built herself a house with money left her by her
brother.]
[Footnote 2: See _post_, Oct. 10, 1779.]
[Page 111: The Gentleman's Magazine. AEtat 28.]
His tragedy being by this time, as he thought, completely finished and
fit for the stage, he was very desirous that it should be brought
forward. Mr. Peter Garrick told me, that Johnson and he went together to
the Fountain tavern, and read it over, and that he afterwards solicited
Mr. Fleetwood, the patentee of Drury-lane theatre, to have it acted at
his house; but Mr. Fleetwood would not accept it, probably because it
was not patronized by some man of high rank[1]; and it was not acted
till 1749, when his friend David Garrick was manager of that theatre.
[Footnote 1: He could scarcely have solicited a worse manager. Horace
Walpole writing in 1744 (_Letters_, i. 332) says: 'The town has been
trying all this winter to beat pantomimes off the stage very
boisterously. Fleetwood, the master of Drury-Lane, has omitted nothing
to support them as they supported his house. About ten days ago, he let
into the pit great numbers of Bear-garden _bruisers_ (that is the term)
to knock down everybody that hissed. The pit rallied their forces and
drove them out.']
_The Gentleman's Magazine_, begun and carried on by Mr. Edward Cave,
under the name of SYLVANUS URBAN[1], had attracted the notice and esteem
of Johnson, in an eminent degree, before he came to London as an
adventurer in literature. He told me, that when he first saw St. John's
Gate, the place where that deservedly popular miscellany[2] was
originally printed, he 'beheld it with reverence[3].' I suppose, indeed,
that every young authour has had the same kind of feeling for the
magazine or periodical publication which has first entertained him, and
in which he has first had an opportunity to see himself in print,
without the risk of exposing his name. I myself recollect such
impressions from '_The Scots Magazine_,' which was begun at Edinburgh in
the year 1739, and has been ever conducted with judgement, accuracy, and
propriety. I yet cannot help thinking of it with an affectionate regard.
Johnson has dignified the _Gentleman's Magazine_, by the importance with
which he invests the life of Cave; but he has given it still greater
lustre by the various admirable Essays which he wrote for it.
[Footnote 1: It was not till volume v. that Cave's name was given on the
title-page. In volumes viii. and ix., and volumes xii. to xvii. the name
is Edward Cave, Jun. Cave in his examination before the House of Lords
on April 30, 1747, said:--'That he was concerned in the _Gentleman's
Magazine_ at first with his nephew; and since the death of his nephew he
has done it entirely himself.' _Parl. Hist._ xiv. 59.]
[Footnote 2: Its sale, according to Johnson, was ten thousand copies.
_Post_, April 25, 1778. So popular was it that before it had completed
its ninth year the fifth edition of some of the earliest numbers was
printed. Johnson's _Works_, v. 349. In the _Life of Cave_ Johnson
describes it as 'a periodical pamphlet, of which the scheme is known
wherever the English language is spoken.' _Ib_. vi. 431.]
[Footnote 3: Yet the early numbers contained verses as grossly indecent
as they were dull. Cave moreover advertised indecent books for sale at
St. John's Gate, and in one instance, at least, the advertisement was in
very gross language.]
[Page 112: A list of Johnson's writings. A.D. 1738.]
Though Johnson was often solicited by his friends to make a complete
list of his writings, and talked of doing it, I believe with a serious
intention that they should all be collected on his own account, he put
it off from year to year, and at last died without having done it
perfectly. I have one in his own handwriting, which contains a certain
number[1]; I indeed doubt if he could have remembered every one of them,
as they were so numerous, so various, and scattered in such a
multiplicity of unconnected publications; nay, several of them published
under the names of other persons, to whom he liberally contributed from
the abundance of his mind. We must, therefore, be content to discover
them, partly from occasional information given by him to his friends,
and partly from internal evidence[2].
[Footnote 1: See _post_, April 25, 1778.]
[Footnote 2: While in the course of my narrative I enumerate his
writings, I shall take care that my readers shall not be left to waver
in doubt, between certainty and conjecture, with regard to their
authenticity; and, for that purpose, shall mark with an _asterisk_ (*)
those which he acknowledged to his friends, and with a _dagger_ (dagger)
those which are ascertained to be his by internal evidence. When any
other pieces are ascribed to him, I shall give my reasons. BOSWELL.]
[Page 113: Edward Cave. AEtat 29.]
His first performance in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, which for many
years was his principal source for employment and support, was a copy of
Latin verses, in March 1738, addressed to the editor in so happy a style
of compliment, that Cave must have been destitute both of taste and
sensibility had he not felt himself highly gratified[1].
[Footnote 1: Hawkins says that 'Cave had few of those qualities that
constitute the character of urbanity. Upon the first approach of a
stranger his practice was to continue sitting, and for a few minutes to
continue silent. If at any time he was inclined to begin the discourse,
it was generally by putting a leaf of the _Magazine_ then in the press
into the hand of his visitor and asking his opinion of it. He was so
incompetent a judge of Johnson's abilities that, meaning at one time to
dazzle him with the splendour of some of those luminaries in literature
who favoured him with their correspondence, he told him that, if he
would in the evening be at a certain alehouse in the neighbourhood of
Clerkenwell, he might have a chance of seeing Mr. Browne and another or
two of the persons mentioned in the preceding note. [The note contained
the names of some of Cave's regular writers.] Johnson accepted the
invitation; and being introduced by Cave, dressed in a loose horseman's
coat, and such a great bushy uncombed wig as he constantly wore, to the
sight of Mr. Browne, whom he found sitting at the upper end of a long
table, in a cloud of tobacco-smoke, had his curiosity gratified.' [Mr.
Carlyle writes of 'bushy-wigged Cave;' but it was Johnson whose wig is
described, and not Cave's. On p. 327 Hawkins again mentions his 'great
bushy wig,' and says that 'it was ever nearly as impenetrable by a comb
as a quickset hedge.'] Hawkins's _Johnson_, pp. 45-50. Johnson, after
mentioning Cave's slowness, says: 'The same chillness of mind was
observable in his conversation; he was watching the minutest accent of
those whom he disgusted by seeming inattention; and his visitant was
surprised, when he came a second time, by preparations to execute the
scheme which he supposed never to have been heard.' Johnson's _Works_,
vi. 434.]
[Page 114: 'Ad Urbanum.' A.D. 1738.]
'_Ad_ URBANUM'.
URBANE[1], _nullis fesse laboribus_,
URBANE, _nullis victe calumniis_[2],
Cui fronte sertum in erudita
Perpetuo viret et virebit;
Quid moliatur gens imilantium,
Quid et minetur, solicitus parum,
Vacare solis perge Musis,
Juxta animo studiisque felix.
Linguae procacis plumbea spicula,
Fidens, superbo frange silentio;
Victrix per obstantes catervas
Sedulitas animosa tendet.
Intende nervos, fortis, inanibus
Risurus olim nisibus aemuli;
Intende jam nervos, habebis
Participes operae Camoenas.
Non ulla Musis pagina gratior,
Quam quae severis ludicra jungere
Novit, fatigatamque nugis
Utilibus recreare mentem.
Texente Nymphis serta Lycoride,
Rosae ruborem sic viola adjuvat
Immista, sic Iris refulget
AEthereis variata fucis[3].'
S.J.
[Footnote 1: 'The first lines put one in mind of Casimir's Ode to Pope
Urban:--
"Urbane, regum maxime, maxime
Urbane vatum."
The Polish poet was probably at that time in the hands of a man who had
meditated the history of the Latin poets.' Murphy's _Johnson_, p. 42.]
[Footnote 2: Cave had been grossly attacked by rival booksellers; see
_Gent. Mag._, viii. 156. Hawkins says (_Life_, p. 92), 'With that
sagacity which we frequently observe, but wonder at, in men of slow
parts, he seemed to anticipate the advice contained in Johnson's ode,
and forbore a reply, though not his revenge.' This he gratified by
reprinting in his own Magazine one of the most scurrilous and foolish
attacks.]
[Footnote 3: A translation of this Ode, by an unknown correspondent,
appeared in the _Magazine_ for the month of May following:
'Hail, URBAN! indefatigable man,
Unwearied yet by all thy useful toil!
Whom num'rous slanderers assault in vain;
Whom no base calumny can put to foil.
But still the laurel on thy learned brow
Flourishes fair, and shall for ever grow.
'What mean the servile imitating crew,
What their vain blust'ring, and their empty noise,
Ne'er seek: but still thy noble ends pursue,
Unconquer'd by the rabble's venal voice.
Still to the Muse thy studious mind apply,
Happy in temper as in industry.
'The senseless sneerings of an haughty tongue,
Unworthy thy attention to engage,
Unheeded pass: and tho' they mean thee wrong,
By manly silence disappoint their rage.
Assiduous diligence confounds its foes,
Resistless, tho' malicious crouds opposc.
'Exert thy powers, nor slacken in the course,
Thy spotless fame shall quash all false reports:
Exert thy powers, nor fear a rival's force,
But thou shalt smile at all his vain efforts;
Thy labours shall be crown'd with large success;
The Muse's aid thy Magazine shall bless.
'No page more grateful to th' harmonious nine
Than that wherein thy labours we survey;
Where solemn themes in fuller splendour shine,
(Delightful mixture,) blended with the gay,
Where in improving, various joys we find,
A welcome respite to the wearied mind.
'Thus when the nymphs in some fair verdant mead,
Of various flowr's a beauteous wreath compose,
The lovely violet's azure-painted head
Adds lustre to the crimson-blushing rosc.
Thus splendid Iris, with her varied dye,
Shines in the aether, and adorns the sky. BRITON.'
BOSWELL.]
[Page 115: Reports of the Debates. AEtat 29.]
[Page 116: Libels in the press. A.D. 1738.]
It appears that he was now enlisted by Mr. Cave as a regular coadjutor
in his magazine, by which he probably obtained a tolerable livelihood.
At what time, or by what means, he had acquired a competent knowledge
both of French[1] and Italian[2], I do not know; but he was so well
skilled in them, as to be sufficiently qualified for a translator. That
part of his labour which consisted in emendation and improvement of the
productions of other contributors, like that employed in levelling
ground, can be perceived only by those who had an opportunity of
comparing the original with the altered copy. What we certainly know to
have been done by him in this way, was the Debates in both houses of
Parliament, under the name of 'The Senate of Lilliput,' sometimes with
feigned denominations of the several speakers, sometimes with
denominations formed of the letters of their real names, in the manner
of what is called anagram, so that they might easily be decyphered.
Parliament then kept the press in a kind of mysterious awe, which made
it necessary to have recourse to such devices. In our time it has
acquired an unrestrained freedom, so that the people in all parts of the
kingdom have a fair, open, and exact report of the actual proceedings of
their representatives and legislators, which in our constitution is
highly to be valued; though, unquestionably, there has of late been too
much reason to complain of the petulance with which obscure scribblers
have presumed to treat men of the most respectable character and
situation[3].
[Footnote 1: 'I have some reason to think that at his first coming to
town he frequented Slaughter's coffee-house with a view to acquire a
habit of speaking French, but he never could attain to it. Lockman used
the same method and succeeded, as Johnson himself once told me.'
Hawkins's _Johnson_, p. 516. Lockman is _l'ilustre Lockman_ mentioned
_post_, 1780, in Mr. Langton's _Collection_. It was at 'Old Slaughter's
Coffee-house, when a number of foreigners were talking loud about little
matters, that Johnson one evening said, "Does not this confirm old
Meynell's observation, _For anything I see, foreigners are fools_"?'
_post_, ib.]
[Footnote 2: He had read Petrarch 'when but a boy;' _ante_, p. 57.]
[Footnote 3: Horace Walpole, writing of the year 1770, about libels,
says: 'Their excess was shocking, and in nothing more condemnable than
in the dangers they brought on the liberty of the press.' This evil was
chiefly due to 'the spirit of the Court, which aimed at despotism, and
the daring attempts of Lord Mansfield to stifle the liberty of the
press. His innovations had given such an alarm that scarce a jury would
find the rankest satire libellous.' _Memoirs of the Reign of George
III_, iv. 167. Smollett in _Humphrey Clinker_ (published in 1771) makes
Mr. Bramble write, in his letter of June 2: 'The public papers are
become the infamous vehicles of the most cruel and perfidious
defamation; every rancorous knave--every desperate incendiary, that can
afford to spend half-a-crown or three shillings, may skulk behind the
press of a newsmonger, and have a stab at the first character in the
kingdom, without running the least hazard of detection or punishment.'
The scribblers who had of late shewn their petulance were not always
obscure. Such scurrilous but humorous pieces as _Probationary Odes for
the Laureateship_, _The Rolliad_, and _Royal Recollections_, which were
all published while Boswell was writing _The Life of Johnson_, were
written, there can be little doubt, by men of position. In the first of
the three (p. 27) Boswell is ridiculed. He is made to say:--'I know
Mulgrave is a bit of a poet as well as myself; for I dined in company
once where he dined that very day twelve-month.' This evil of libelling
had extended to America. Benjamin Franklin (_Memoirs_, i. 148), writing
in 1784, says that 'libelling and personal abuse have of late years
become so disgraceful to our country. Many of our printers make no
scruple of gratifying the malice of individuals by false accusations of
the fairest characters.']
[Page 117: William Guthrie. AEtat 29.]
This important article of the _Gentleman's Magazine_ was, for several
years, executed by Mr. William Guthrie, a man who deserves to be
respectably recorded in the literary annals of this country. He was
descended of an ancient family in Scotland; but having a small
patrimony, and being an adherent of the unfortunate house of Stuart, he
could not accept of any office in the state; he therefore came to
London, and employed his talents and learning as an 'Authour by
profession[1].' His writings in history, criticism, and politicks, had
considerable merit[2]. He was the first English historian who had
recourse to that authentick source of information, the Parliamentary
Journals; and such was the power of his political pen, that, at an early
period, Government thought it worth their while to keep it quiet by a
pension, which he enjoyed till his death. Johnson esteemed him enough to
wish that his life should be written[3]. The debates in Parliament,
which were brought home and digested by Guthrie, whose memory, though
surpassed by others who have since followed him in the same department,
was yet very quick and tenacious, were sent by Cave to Johnson for his
revision[4]; and, after some time, when Guthrie had attained to greater
variety of employment, and the speeches were more and more enriched by
the accession of Johnson's genius, it was resolved that he should do the
whole himself, from the scanty notes furnished by persons employed to
attend in both houses of Parliament. Sometimes, however, as he himself
told me, he had nothing more communicated to him than the names of the
several speakers, and the part which they had taken in the debate[5].
[Footnote 1: Boswell perhaps refers to a book published in 1758, called
_The Case of Authors by Profession. Gent. Mag._ xxviii. 130. Guthrie
applies the term to himself in the letter below.]
[Footnote 2: How much poetry he wrote, I know not: but he informed me,
that he was the authour of the beautiful little piece, _The Eagle and
Robin Redbreast_, in the collection of poems entitled _The Union_,
though it is there said to be written by Archibald Scott, before the
year 1600. BOSWELL. Mr. P. Cunningham has seen a letter of Jos. Warton's
which states that this poem was written by his brother Tom, who edited
the volume. CROKER.]
[Footnote 3: Dr. A. Carlyle in his _Autobiography_ (p. 191) describes a
curious scene that he witnessed in the British Coffee-house. A Captain
Cheap 'was employed by Lord Anson to look out for a proper person to
write his voyage. Cheap had a predilection for his countrymen, and
having heard of Guthrie, he had come down to the coffee-house to inquire
about him. Not long after Cheap had sat down, Guthrie arrived, dressed
in laced clothes, and talking loud to everybody, and soon fell
awrangling with a gentleman about tragedy and comedy and the unities,
&c., and laid down the law of the drama in a peremptory manner,
supporting his arguments with cursing and swearing. I saw Cheap was
astonished, when, going to the bar, he asked who this was, and finding
it was Guthrie he paid his coffee and slunk off in silence.' Guthrie's
meanness is shown by the following letter in D'Israeli's _Calamities of
Authors_, i. 5:--
'June 3, 1762.
'My Lord,
'In the year 1745-6 Mr. Pelham, then First Lord of the Treasury,
acquainted me that it was his Majesty's pleasure I should receive till
better provided for, which never has happened, 200L. a year, to be paid
by him and his successors in the Treasury. I was satisfied with the
august name made use of, and the appointment has been regularly and
quarterly paid me ever since. I have been equally punctual in doing the
Government all the services that fell within my abilities or sphere of
life, especially in those critical situations that call for unanimity in
the service of the Crown.
'Your Lordship may possibly now suspect that I am an Author by
profession; you are not deceived; and will be less so, if you believe
that I am disposed to serve his Majesty under your Lordship's future
patronage and protection with greater zeal, if possible, than ever.
'I have the honour to be
'My Lord &c.
'WILLIAM GUTHRIE.'
The lord's name is not given. See _post_, spring of 1768, and 1780 in
Mr. Langton's _Collection_ for further mention of Guthrie.]
[Footnote 4: Perhaps there were Scotticisms for Johnson to correct; for
Churchill in _The Author_, writing of Guthrie, asks:--
'With rude unnatural jargon to support
Half _Scotch_, half _English_, a declining Court
* * * * *
Is there not Guthrie?'
_Churchill's Poems_, ii. 39.]
[Footnote 5: See Appendix A.]
[Page 118: London, a Poem. A.D. 1738.]
Thus was Johnson employed during some of the best years of his life, as
a mere literary labourer 'for gain, not glory[1],' solely to obtain an
honest support. He however indulged himself in occasional little
sallies, which the French so happily express by the term _jeux
d'esprit_, and which will be noticed in their order, in the progress of
this work.
[Footnote 1: Pope, _Imitations of Horace_, ii. l. 71]
[Page 119: Oldham and Johnson compared. AEtat 29.]
But what first displayed his transcendent powers, and 'gave the world
assurance of the MAN[1],' was his _London, a Poem, in Imitation of the
Third Satire of Juvenal_: which came out in May this year, and burst
forth with a splendour, the rays of which will for ever encircle his
name. Boileau had imitated the same satire with great success, applying
it to Paris; but an attentive comparison will satisfy every reader, that
he is much excelled by the English Juvenal. Oldham had also imitated it,
and applied it to London; all which performances concur to prove, that
great cities, in every age, and in every country, will furnish similar
topicks of satire[2]. Whether Johnson had previously read Oldham's
imitation, I do not know; but it is not a little remarkable, that there
is scarcely any coincidence found between the two performances, though
upon the very same subject. The only instances are, in describing London
as the _sink_ of foreign worthlessness:
[Footnote 1: 'To give the world assurance of a man.' _Hamlet_, Act iii.
sc. 4.]
[Footnote 2: In his _Life of Pope_ Johnson says: 'This mode of imitation
... was first practised in the reign of Charles II. by Oldham and
Rochester; at least I remember no instances more ancient. It is a kind
of middle composition between translation and original design, which
pleases when the thoughts are unexpectedly applicable and the parallels
lucky. It seems to have been Pope's favourite amusement, for he has
carried it farther than any former poet.' Johnson's _Works_, viii. 295.]
'----the _common shore_,
Where France does all her filth and ordure pour.'
OLDHAM.
'The _common shore_ of Paris and of Rome.'
JOHNSON.
and,
'No calling or profession comes amiss,
A _needy monsieur_ can be what he please.'
OLDHAM.
'All sciences a _fasting monsieur_ knows.'
JOHNSON.
The particulars which Oldham has collected, both as exhibiting the
horrours of London, and of the times, contrasted with better days, are
different from those of Johnson, and in general well chosen, and well
exprest[1].
[Footnote 1: I own it pleased me to find amongst them one trait of the
manners of the age in London, in the last century, to shield from the
sneer of English ridicule, which was some time ago too common a practice
in my native city of Edinburgh:--
'If what I've said can't from the town affright,
Consider other _dangers of the night_;
When brickbats are from upper stories thrown,
And _emptied chamberpots come pouring down
From garret windows_.'
BOSWELL.
See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 14, 1773, where Johnson, on taking his
first walk in Edinburgh, 'grumbled in Boswell's ear, "I smell you in the
dark."' I once spent a night in a town of Corsica, on the great road
between Ajaccio and Bastia, where, I was told, this Edinburgh practice
was universal. It certainly was the practice of the hotel.]
There are, in Oldham's imitation, many prosaick verses and bad rhymes,
and his poem sets out with a strange inadvertent blunder:
'Tho' much concern'd to _leave_ my dear old friend,
I must, however, _his_ design commend
Of fixing in the country--.'
[Page 120: The publication of London. A.D. 1738.]
It is plain he was not going to leave his _friend_; his friend was going
to leave _him_. A young lady at once corrected this with good critical
sagacity, to
'Tho' much concern'd to _lose_ my dear old friend.'
There is one passage in the original, better transfused by Oldham than
by Johnson:
'Nil habet infelix paupertas durius in se,
Quam quod ridiculos homines facit;'
which is an exquisite remark on the galling meanness and contempt
annexed to poverty: JOHNSON'S imitation is,
'Of all the griefs that harass the distrest,
Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest.'
OLDHAM'S, though less elegant, is more just:
'Nothing in poverty so ill is borne,
As its exposing men to grinning scorn.'
Where, or in what manner this poem was composed, I am sorry that I
neglected to ascertain with precision, from Johnson's own authority. He
has marked upon his corrected copy of the first edition of it, 'Written
in 1738;' and, as it was published in the month of May in that year, it
is evident that much time was not employed in preparing it for the
press. The history of its publication I am enabled to give in a very
satisfactory manner; and judging from myself, and many of my friends, I
trust that it will not be uninteresting to my readers.
[Page 121: Johnson's letters to Cave. AEtat 29.]
We may be certain, though it is not expressly named in the following
letters to Mr. Cave, in 1738, that they all relate to it:
'To MR. CAVE.
'Castle-street, Wednesday Morning.
[_No date_. 1738.]
'SIR,
'When I took the liberty of writing to you a few days ago, I did not
expect a repetition of the same pleasure so soon; for a pleasure I shall
always think it, to converse in any manner with an ingenious and candid
man; but having the inclosed poem in my hands to dispose of for the
benefit of the authour, (of whose abilities I shall say nothing, since I
send you his performance,) I believed I could not procure more
advantageous terms from any person than from you, who have so much
distinguished yourself by your generous encouragement of poetry; and
whose judgment of that art nothing but your commendation of my trifle[1]
can give me any occasion to call in question. I do not doubt but you
will look over this poem with another eye, and reward it in a different
manner, from a mercenary bookseller, who counts the lines he is to
purchase[2], and considers nothing but the bulk. I cannot help taking
notice, that, besides what the authour may hope for on account of his
abilities, he has likewise another claim to your regard, as he lies at
present under very disadvantageous circumstances of fortune. I beg,
therefore, that you will favour me with a letter to-morrow, that I may
know what you can afford to allow him, that he may either part with it
to you, or find out, (which I do not expect,) some other way more to his
satisfaction.
[Footnote 1: His Ode _Ad Urbanum_ probably. NICHOLS. BOSWELL.]
[Footnote 2: Johnson, on his death-bed, had to own that 'Cave was a
penurious paymaster; he would contract for lines by the hundred, and
expect the long hundred.' See _post_, Dec. 1784.]
'I have only to add, that as I am sensible I have transcribed it very
coarsely, which, after having altered it, I was obliged to do, I will,
if you please to transmit the sheets from the press, correct it for you;
and take the trouble of altering any stroke of satire which you may
dislike.
'By exerting on this occasion your usual generosity, you will not only
encourage learning, and relieve distress, but (though it be in
comparison of the other motives of very small account) oblige in a very
sensible manner, Sir,
'Your very humble servant,
'SAM. JOHNSON.'
'To MR. CAVE.
'Monday, No. 6, Castle-street.
SIR,
'I am to return you thanks for the present you were so kind as to send
by me[1], and to intreat that you will be pleased to inform me by the
penny-post[2], whether you resolve to print the poem. If you please to
send it me by the post, with a note to Dodsley, I will go and read the
lines to him, that we may have his consent to put his name in the
title-page. As to the printing, if it can be set immediately about, I
will be so much the authour's friend, as not to content myself with mere
solicitations in his favour. I propose, if my calculation be near the
truth, to engage for the reimbursement of all that you shall lose by an
impression of 500; provided, as you very generously propose, that the
profit, if any, be set aside for the authour's use, excepting the
present you made, which, if he be a gainer, it is fit he should repay. I
beg that you will let one of your servants write an exact account of the
expense of such an impression, and send it with the poem, that I may
know what I engage for. I am very sensible, from your generosity on this
occasion, of your regard to learning, even in its unhappiest state; and
cannot but think such a temper deserving of the gratitude of those who
suffer so often from a contrary disposition. I am, Sir,
'Your most humble servant,
'SAM. JOHNSON[3].'
[Footnote 1: Cave sent the present by Johnson to the unknown author.]
[Footnote 2: See _post_, p. 151, note 5.]
[Footnote 3: The original letter has the following additional
paragraph:--'I beg that you will not delay your answer.']
[Page 122: Mrs. Carter. A.D. 1738.]
'To MR. CAVE.
[No date[1].]
'SIR,
'I waited on you to take the copy to Dodsley's: as I remember the number
of lines which it contains, it will be no longer than _Eugenio_[2], with
the quotations, which must be subjoined at the bottom of the page; part
of the beauty of the performance (if any beauty be allowed it)
consisting in adapting Juvenal's sentiments to modern facts and persons.
It will, with those additions, very conveniently make five sheets. And
since the expense will be no more, I shall contentedly insure it, as I
mentioned in my last. If it be not therefore gone to Dodsley's, I beg it
may be sent me by the penny-post, that I may have it in the evening. I
have composed a Greek epigram to Eliza[3], and think she ought to be
celebrated in as many different languages as Lewis le Grand[4]. Pray
send me word when you will begin upon the poem, for it is a long way to
walk. I would leave my Epigram, but have not daylight to transcribe
it[5]. I am, Sir,
'Your's, &c.,
'SAM. JOHNSON[6].'
[Footnote 1: In later life Johnson strongly insisted on the importance
of fully dating all letters. After giving the date in a letter to Mrs.
Thrale, he would add,--'Now there is a date, look at it' (_Piozzi
Letters_, ii. 109); or, 'Mark that--you did not put the year to your
last' (_Ib_. p. 112); or, 'Look at this and learn' (_Ib_. p. 138). She
never did learn. The arrangement of the letters in the _Piozzi Letters_
is often very faulty. For an omission of the date by Johnson in late
life see _post_, under March 5, 1774.]
[Footnote 2: A poem, published in 1737, of which see an account under
April 30, 1773--BOSWELL.]
[Footnote 3: The learned Mrs. Elizabeth Carter. BOSWELL. She was born
Dec. 1717, and died Feb. 19, 1806. She never married. Her father gave
her a learned education. Dr. Johnson, speaking of some celebrated
scholar [perhaps Langton], said, 'that he understood Greek better than
any one whom he he had ever known, except Elizabeth Carter.'
Pennington's _Carter_, i. 13. Writing to her in 1756 he said, 'Poor dear
Cave! I owed him much; for to him I owe that I have known you' (_Ib_. p.
40). Her father wrote to her on June 25, 1738:--'You mention Johnson;
but that is a name with which I am utterly unacquainted, Neither his
scholastic, critical, or poetical character ever reached my ears. I a
little suspect his judgement, if he is very fond of Martial' (_Ib_. p.
39). Since 1734 she had written verses for the _Gent. Mag_. under the
name of Eliza (_Ib_. p. 37)! They are very poor. Her _Ode to Melancholy_
her biographer calls her best. How bad it is three lines will show:--
'Here, cold to pleasure's airy forms,
Consociate with my sister worms,
And mingle with the dead.'
_Gent. Mag_. ix. 599.
Hawkins records that Johnson, upon hearing a lady commended for her
learning, said:--'A man is in general better pleased when he has a good
dinner upon his table than when his wife talks Greek. My old friend,
Mrs. Carter, could make a pudding as well as translate Epictetus.'
Johnson's _Works_ (1787), xi. 205. Johnson, joining her with Hannah More
and Fanny Burney, said:--'Three such women are not to be found.'
_Post_, May 15, 1784.]
[Footnote 4: See Voltaire's _Siecle de Louis XIV_, ch. xxv..]
[Footnote 5: At the end of his letter to Cave, quoted _post_, 1742, he
says:--'The boy found me writing this almost in the dark, when I could
not quite easily read yours.' A man who at times was forced to walk the
streets, for want of money to pay for a lodging, was likely also at
times to be condemned to idleness for want of a light.]
[Footnote 6: At the back of this letter is written: 'Sir, Please to
publish the enclosed in your paper of first, and place to acc't of Mr.
Edward Cave. For whom I am, Sir, your hum. ser't J. Bland. St. John's
Gate, April 6, 1738.' _London_ therefore was written before April 6.]
[Page 123: Negotiations with Dodsley. AEtat 29.]
'TO MR. CAVE.
[No date.]
'SIR,
'I am extremely obliged by your kind letter, and will not fail to attend
you to-morrow with _Irene_, who looks upon you as one of her best
friends.
'I was to day with Mr. Dodsley, who declares very warmly in favour of
the paper you sent him, which he desires to have a share in, it being,
as he says, _a creditable thing to be concerned in_. I knew not what
answer to make till I had consulted you, nor what to demand on the
authour's part, but am very willing that, if you please, he should have
a part in it, as he will undoubtedly be more diligent to disperse and
promote it. If you can send me word to-morrow what I shall say to him, I
will settle matters, and bring the poem with me for the press, which, as
the town empties, we cannot be too quick with. I am, Sir,
'Your's, &c.,
'SAM. JOHNSON.'
[Page 124: Payment for London. A.D. 1738.]
To us who have long known the manly force, bold spirit, and masterly
versification of this poem, it is a matter of curiosity to observe the
diffidence with which its authour brought it forward into publick
notice, while he is so cautious as not to avow it to be his own
production; and with what humility he offers to allow the printer to
'alter any stroke of satire which he might dislike[1].' That any such
alteration was made, we do not know. If we did, we could not but feel an
indignant regret; but how painful is it to see that a writer of such
vigorous powers of mind was actually in such distress, that the small
profit which so short a poem, however excellent, could yield, was
courted as a 'relief.'
[Footnote 1: Boswell misread the letter. Johnson does not offer to allow
the printer to make alterations. He says:--'I will take the trouble of
altering any stroke of satire which you may dislike.' The law against
libel was as unjust as it was severe, and printers ran a great risk.]
It has been generally said, I know not with what truth, that Johnson
offered his _London_ to several booksellers, none of whom would purchase
it. To this circumstance Mr. Derrick alludes in the following lines of
his _Fortune, a Rhapsody_:
'Will no kind patron JOHNSON own?
Shall JOHNSON friendless range the town?
And every publisher refuse
The offspring of his happy Muse[1]?'
[Footnote 1: Derrick was not merely a poet, but also Master of the
Ceremonies at Bath; _post_, May 16, 1763. For Johnson's opinion of _his_
'Muse' see _post_ under March 30, 1783. _Fortune, a Rhapsody_, was
published in Nov. 1751. _Gent. Mag_. xxi. 527. He is described in
_Humphrey Clinker_ in the letters of April 6 and May 6.]
But we have seen that the worthy, modest, and ingenious Mr. Robert
Dodsley[1] had taste enough to perceive its uncommon merit, and thought
it creditable to have a share in it. The fact is, that, at a future
conference, he bargained for the whole property of it, for which he gave
Johnson ten guineas[2]; who told me, 'I might, perhaps, have accepted of
less; but that Paul Whitehead had a little before got ten guineas for a
poem and I would not take less than Paul Whitehead.'
[Footnote 1: See _post_, March 20, 1776.]
[Footnote 2: Six years later Johnson thus wrote of Savage's
_Wanderer_:--'From a poem so diligently laboured, and so successfully
finished, it might be reasonably expected that he should have gained
considerable advantage; nor can it without some degree of indignation
and concern be told, that he sold the copy for ten guineas.' Johnson's
_Works_, viii. 131. Mrs. Piozzi sold in 1788 the copyright of her
collection of Johnson's Letters for L500; _post_, Feb. 1767.]
[Page 125: Paul Whitehead. AEtat 29.]
I may here observe, that Johnson appeared to me to undervalue Paul
Whitehead upon every occasion when he was mentioned, and, in my opinion,
did not do him justice; but when it is considered that Paul Whitehead
was a member of a riotous and profane club[1], we may account for
Johnson's having a prejudice against him. Paul Whitehead was, indeed,
unfortunate in being not only slighted by Johnson, but violently
attacked by Churchill, who utters the following imprecation:
'May I (can worse disgrace on manhood fall?)
Be born a Whitehead, and baptiz'd a Paul[2]!'
yet I shall never be persuaded to think meanly of the authour of so
brilliant and pointed a satire as _Manners_[3].
[Footnote 1: The Monks of Medmenham Abbey. See Almon's _Life of Wilkes_,
iii. 60, for Wilkes's account of this club. Horace Walpole (_Letters_,
i. 92) calls Whitehead 'an infamous, but not despicable poet.']
[Footnote 2: From _The Conference_, Churchill's _Poems_, ii. 15.]
[Footnote 3: In the _Life of Pope_ Johnson writes:--'Paul Whitehead, a
small poet, was summoned before the Lords for a poem called _Manners_,
together with Dodsley his publisher. Whitehead, who hung loose upon
society, sculked and escaped; but Dodsley's shop and family made his
appearance necessary.' Johnson's _Works_, viii. 297. _Manners_ was
published in 1739. Dodsley was kept in custody for a week. _Gent. Mag_.
ix. 104. 'The whole process was supposed to be intended rather to
intimidate Pope [who in his _Seventeen Hundred and Thirty-Eight_ had
given offence] than to punish Whitehead, and it answered that purpose.'
CHALMERS, quoted in _Parl. Hist_. x. 1325]
[Page 126: Was Richard Savage Thales? A.D. 1738.]
Johnson's _London_ was published in May, 1738[1]; and it is remarkable,
that it came out on the same morning with Pope's satire, entitled
'1738[2];' so that England had at once its Juvenal and Horace[3] as
poetical monitors. The Reverend Dr. Douglas, now Bishop of Salisbury, to
whom I am indebted for some obliging communications, was then a student
at Oxford, and remembers well the effect which _London_ produced. Every
body was delighted with it; and there being no name to it, the first buz
of the literary circles was 'here is an unknown poet, greater even than
Pope.' And it is recorded in the _Gentleman s Magazine_ of that year[4],
that it 'got to the second edition in the course of a week.'
[Footnote 1: Sir John Hawkins, p. 86, tells us:--'The event is
_antedated_, in the poem of _London_; but in every particular, except
the difference of a year, what is there said of the departure of Thales,
must be understood of Savage, and looked upon as _true history_.' This
conjecture is, I believe, entirely groundless. I have been assured, that
Johnson said he was not so much as acquainted with Savage when he wrote
his _London_. If the departure mentioned in it was the departure of
Savage, the event was not _antedated_ but _foreseen_; for _London_ was
published in May, 1738, and Savage did not set out for Wales till July,
1739. However well Johnson could defend the credibility of _second
sight_ [see _post_, Feb. 1766], he did not pretend that he himself was
possessed of that faculty. BOSWELL. I am not sure that Hawkins is
altogether wrong in his account. Boswell does not state _of his own
knowledge_ that Johnson was not acquainted with Savage when he wrote
_London_. The death of Queen Caroline in Nov. 1737 deprived Savage of
her yearly bounty, and 'abandoned him again to fortune' (Johnson's
_Works_, viii. 166). The elegy on her that he composed on her birth-day
(March 1) brought him no reward. He was 'for some time in suspense,' but
nothing was done. 'He was in a short time reduced to the lowest degree
of distress, and often wanted both lodging and food' (_Ib_. p. 169). His
friends formed a scheme that 'he should retire into Wales.' 'While this
scheme was ripening' he lodged 'in the liberties of the Fleet, that he
might be secure from his creditors' (_Ib_. p. 170). After many delays a
subscription was at length raised to provide him with a small pension,
and he left London in July 1739 (_Ib_. p 173). _London_, as I have
shewn, was written before April 6, 1738. That it was written with great
rapidity we might infer from the fact that a hundred lines of _The
Vanity of Human Wishes_ were written in a day. At this rate _London_
might have been the work of three days. That it was written in a very
short time seems to be shown by a passage in the first of these letters
to Cave. Johnson says:--'When I took the liberty of writing to you a few
days ago, I did not expect a repetition of the same pleasure so soon;
... but having the enclosed poem, &c.' It is probable that in these few
days the poem was written. If we can assume that Savage's elegy was sent
to the Court not later than March 1--it may have been sent earlier--and
that Johnson's poem was written in the last ten days of March, we have
three weeks for the intervening events. They are certainly not more than
sufficient, if indeed they are sufficient. The coincidence is certainly
very striking between Thales's retirement to 'Cambria's solitary shore'
and Savage's retirement to Wales. There are besides lines in the
poem--additions to Juvenal and not translations--which curiously
correspond with what Johnson wrote of Savage in his _Life_. Thus he says
that Savage 'imagined that he should be transported to scenes of flowery
felicity; ... he could not bear ... to lose the opportunity of
listening, without intermission, to the melody of the nightingale, which
he believed was to be heard from every bramble, and which he did not
fail to mention as a very important part of the happiness of a country
life' (_Ib_. p. 170). In like manner Thales prays to find:--
'Some pleasing bank where verdant osiers play,
Some peaceful vale, with nature's paintings gay.
* * * * *
There every bush with nature's musick rings;
There every breeze bears health upon its wings.'
Mr. Croker objects that 'if Thales had been Savage, Johnson could never
have admitted into his poem two lines that point so forcibly at the
drunken fray, in which Savage stabbed a Mr. Sinclair, for which he was
convicted of _murder_:--
"Some frolic _drunkard_, reeling from a feast,
_Provokes_ a broil, and _stabs_ you in a jest."'
But here Johnson is following Juvenal. Mr. Croker forgets that, if
Savage was convicted of murder, 'he was soon after admitted to bail, and
pleaded the King's pardon.' 'Persons of distinction' testified that he
was 'a modest inoffensive man, not inclined to broils or to insolence;'
the witnesses against him were of the lowest character, and his judge
had shewn himself as ignorant as he was brutal. Sinclair had been
drinking in a brothel, and Savage asserted that he had stabbed him 'by
the necessity of self defence' (_Ib_. p. 117). It is, however, not
unlikely that Wales was suggested to Johnson as Thales's retreat by
Swift's lines on Steele, in _Miscellanies in Prose and Verse_ (v. 181),
published only three years before _London_:--
'Thus Steele who owned what others writ,
And flourished by imputed wit,
From perils of a hundred jails
Withdrew to starve and die in Wales.']
[Footnote 2: The first dialogue was registered at Stationers' Hall, 12th
May, 1738, under the title _One Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirty
Eight_. The second dialogue was registered 17th July, 1738, as _One
Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirty Eight, Dialogue_ 2. Elwin's _Pope_,
iii. 455.
David Hume was in London this spring, finding a publisher for his first
work, _A Treatise of Human Nature_. J. H. Burton's _Hume_, i. 66.]
[Footnote 3: Pope had published _Imitations of Horace_.]
[Footnote 4: P. 269. BOSWELL. 'Short extracts from _London, a Poem_,
become remarkable for having got to the second edition in the space of a
week.' _Gent. Mag_. viii. 269. The price of the poem was one shilling.
Pope's satire, though sold at the same price, was longer in reaching its
second edition (_Ib_. p. 280).]
[Page 127: General Oglethorpe. AEtat 29.]
One of the warmest patrons of this poem on its first appearance was
General Oglethorpe, whose 'strong benevolence of soul[1],' was unabated
during the course of a very long life[2]; though it is painful to think,
that he had but too much reason to become cold and callous, and
discontented with the world, from the neglect which he experienced of
his publick and private worth, by those in whose power it was to gratify
so gallant a veteran with marks of distinction. This extraordinary
person was as remarkable for his learning and taste, as for his other
eminent qualities; and no man was more prompt, active, and generous, in
encouraging merit. I have heard Johnson gratefully acknowledge, in his
presence, the kind and effectual support which he gave to his _London_,
though unacquainted with its authour.
[Footnote 1:
'One driven by strong benevolence of soul
Shall fly, like Oglethorpe, from pole to pole.'
Pope's _Imitations of Horace_, ii. 2. 276.
'General Oglethorpe, died 1785, earned commemoration in Pope's gallery
of worthies by his Jacobite politics. He was, however, a remarkable man.
He first directed attention to the abuses of the London jails. His
relinquishment of all the attractions of English life and fortune for
the settlement of the colony of Georgia is as romantic a story at that
of Bishop Berkeley' (Pattison's _Pope_, p. 152). It is very likely that
Johnson's regard for Oglethorpe was greatly increased by the stand that
he and his brother-trustees in the settlement of Georgia made against
slavery (see _post_, Sept. 23, 1777). 'The first principle which they
laid down in their laws was that no slave should be employed. This was
regarded at the time as their great and fundamental error; it was
afterwards repealed' (Southey's _Wesley_, i. 75). In spite, however, of
Oglethorpe's 'strong benevolence of soul' he at one time treated Charles
Wesley, who was serving as a missionary in Georgia, with great brutality
(_Ib_. p. 88). According to Benjamin Franklin (_Memoirs_, i. 162)
Georgia was settled with little forethought. 'Instead of being made with
hardy industrious husbandmen, it was with families of broken
shop-keepers, and other insolvent debtors; many of idle habits, taken
out of the jails, who being set down in the woods, unqualified for
clearing land, and unable to endure the hardships of a new settlement,
perished in numbers, leaving many helpless children unprovided for.'
Johnson wished to write Oglethorpe's life; _post_, April 10, 1775.]
[Footnote 2: Horace Walpole (_Letters_, viii. 548), writing of him 47
years after _London_ was published, when he was 87 years old,
says:--'His eyes, ears, articulation, limbs, and memory would suit a
boy, if a boy could recollect a century backwards. His teeth are gone;
he is a shadow, and a wrinkled one; but his spirits and his spirit are
in full bloom: two years and a-half ago he challenged a neighbouring
gentleman for trespassing on his manor.']
[Page 128: Pope admires _London_. A.D. 1738.]
Pope, who then filled the poetical throne without a rival, it may
reasonably be presumed, must have been particularly struck by the sudden
appearance of such a poet; and, to his credit, let it be remembered,
that his feelings and conduct on the occasion were candid and liberal.
He requested Mr. Richardson, son of the painter[1], to endeavour to find
out who this new authour was. Mr. Richardson, after some inquiry, having
informed him that he had discovered only that his name was Johnson, and
that he was some obscure man, Pope said, 'he will soon be _deterre_[2].'
We shall presently see, from a note written by Pope, that he was himself
afterwards more successful in his inquiries than his friend.
[Footnote 1: Once Johnson being at dinner at Sir Joshua's in company
with many painters, in the course of conversation Richardson's _Treatise
on Painting_ happened to be mentioned, 'Ah!' said Johnson, 'I remember,
when I was at college, I by chance found that book on my stairs. I took
it up with me to my chamber, and read it through, and truly I did not
think it possible to say so much upon the art.' Sir Joshua desired of
one of the company to be informed what Johnson had said; and it being
repeated to him so loud that Johnson heard it, the Doctor seemed hurt,
and added, 'But I did not wish, Sir, that Sir Joshua should have been
told what I then said.' Northcote's _Reynolds_, i. 236. Jonathan
Richardson the painter had published several works on painting before
Johnson went to college. He and his son, Jonathan Richardson, junior,
brought out together _Explanatory Notes on Paradise Lost_.]
[Footnote 2: Sir Joshua Reynolds, from the information of the younger
Richardson. BOSWELL. See _post_, Oct. 16, 1769, where Johnson himself
relates this anecdote. According to Murphy, 'Pope said, "The author,
whoever he is, will not be long concealed;" alluding to the passage in
Terence [_Eun_. ii. 3, 4], _Ubi, ubi est, diu celari non potest_.'
Murphy's _Johnson_, p. 35.]
[Page 129: Johnson a 'true-born Englishman.' AEtat 29.]
That in this justly-celebrated poem may be found a few rhymes[1] which
the critical precision of English prosody at this day would disallow,
cannot be denied; but with this small imperfection, which in the general
blaze of its excellence is not perceived, till the mind has subsided
into cool attention, it is, undoubtedly, one of the noblest productions
in our language, both for sentiment and expression. The nation was then
in that ferment against the court and the ministry, which some years
after ended in the downfall of Sir Robert Walpole; and as it has been
said, that Tories are Whigs when out of place, and Whigs, Tories when in
place; so, as a Whig administration ruled with what force it could, a
Tory opposition had all the animation and all the eloquence of
resistance to power, aided by the common topicks of patriotism, liberty,
and independence! Accordingly, we find in Johnson's _London_ the most
spirited invectives against tyranny and oppression, the warmest
predilection for his own country, and the purest love of virtue;
interspersed with traits of his own particular character and situation,
not omitting his prejudices as a 'true-born Englishman[2],' not only
against foreign countries, but against Ireland and Scotland[3]. On some
of these topicks I shall quote a few passages:
[Footnote 1: Such as _far_ and _air_, which comes twice; _vain_ and
_man_, _despair_ and _bar_.]
[Footnote 2: It is, however, remarkable, that he uses the epithet, which
undoubtedly, since the union between England and Scotland, ought to
denominate the natives of both parts of our island:--
'Was early taught a BRITON'S rights to prize.'
BOSWELL.
Swift, in his _Journal to Stella_ (Nov. 23, 1711), having to mention
England, continues:--'I never will call it _Britain_, pray don't call it
Britain.' In a letter written on Aug. 8, 1738, again mentioning England,
he adds,--'Pox on the modern phrase Great Britain, which is only to
distinguish it from Little Britain, where old clothes and old books are
to be bought and sold' (Swift's _Works_, 1803, xx. 185). George III
'gloried in being born a Briton;' _post_, 1760. Boswell thrice more at
least describes Johnson as 'a true-born Englishman;' _post_, under Feb.
7, 1775, under March 30, 1783, and Boswell's _Hebrides_ under Aug. 11,
1773. The quotation is from _Richard II_, Act i. sc. 3.]
[Footnote 3:
'For who would leave, unbrib'd, Hibernia's land,
Or change the rocks of Scotland for the Strand?
There none are swept by sudden fate away,
But all, whom hunger spares, with age decay.'
_London_, 1. 9-12.]
[Page 130: Passages from LONDON. A.D. 1738.]
'The cheated nation's happy fav'rites see;
Mark whom the great caress, who frown on me.'
'Has heaven reserv'd in pity to the poor,
No pathless waste, or undiscover'd shore?
No secret island in the boundless main?
No peaceful desert yet unclaim'd by Spain?
Quick let us rise, the happy seats explore,
And bear Oppression's insolence no more[1].'
'How, when competitors like these contend,
Can _surly Virtue_ hope to fix a friend?'
'This mournful truth is every where confess'd,
SLOW RISES WORTH, BY POVERTY DEPRESS'D[2]!'
[Footnote 1: In the _Life of Savage_, Johnson, criticising the
settlement of colonies, as it is considered by the poet and the
politician, seems to be criticising himself. 'The politician, when he
considers men driven into other countries for shelter, and obliged to
retire to forests and deserts, and pass their lives, and fix their
posterity, in the remotest corners of the world, to avoid those
hardships which they suffer or fear in their native place, may very
properly enquire, why the legislature does not provide a remedy for
these miseries, rather than encourage an escape from them. He may
conclude that the flight of every honest man is a loss to the
community.... The poet guides the unhappy fugitive from want and
persecution to plenty, quiet, and security, and seats him in scenes of
peaceful solitude, and undisturbed repose.' Johnson's _Works_, viii.
156.]
[Footnote 2: Three years later Johnson wrote:--'Mere unassisted merit
advances slowly, if, what is not very common, it advances at all.' _Ib_.
vi. 393.]
We may easily conceive with what feeling a great mind like his, cramped
and galled by narrow circumstances, uttered this last line, which he
marked by capitals. The whole of the poem is eminently excellent, and
there are in it such proofs of a knowledge of the world, and of a mature
acquaintance with life, as cannot be contemplated without wonder, when
we consider that he was then only in his twenty-ninth year, and had yet
been so little in the 'busy haunts of men[1].'
[Footnote 1: 'The busy _hum_ of men.' Milton's _L'Allegro_, 1. 118.]
[Page 131: Sir Robert Walpole. AEtat 29.]
Yet, while we admire the poetical excellence of this poem, candour
obliges us to allow, that the flame of patriotism and zeal for popular
resistance with which it is fraught, had no just cause. There was, in
truth, no 'oppression;' the 'nation' was not 'cheated.' Sir Robert
Walpole was a wise and a benevolent minister, who thought that the
happiness and prosperity of a commercial country like ours, would be
best promoted by peace, which he accordingly maintained, with credit,
during a very long period. Johnson himself afterwards honestly
acknowledged the merit of Walpole, whom he called 'a fixed star;' while
he characterised his opponent, Pitt, as 'a meteor[1].' But Johnson's
juvenile poem was naturally impregnated with the fire of opposition, and
upon every account was universally admired.
[Footnote 1: See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 21, 1773, and _post_, March
21, 1775, for Johnson's attack on Lord Chatham. In the _Life of Thomson_
Johnson wrote:--'At this time a long course of opposition to Sir Robert
Walpole had filled the nation with clamours for liberty, of which no man
felt the want, and with care for liberty, which was not in danger.'
Johnson's _Works_, viii. 370. Hawkins says (_Life_, p. 514);--'Of
Walpole he had a high opinion. He said of him that he was a fine fellow,
and that his very enemies deemed him so before his death. He honoured
his memory for having kept this country in peace many years, as also for
the goodness and placability of his temper.' Horace Walpole (_Letters_,
v. 509), says:--'My father alone was capable of acting on one great plan
of honesty from the beginning of his life to the end. He could for ever
wage war with knaves and malice, and preserve his temper; could know
men, and yet feel for them; could smile when opposed, and be gentle
after triumph.']
[Page 132: Appleby School. A.D. 1738.]
Though thus elevated into fame, and conscious of uncommon powers, he had
not that bustling confidence, or, I may rather say, that animated
ambition, which one might have supposed would have urged him to
endeavour at rising in life. But such was his inflexible dignity of
character, that he could not stoop to court the great; without which,
hardly any man has made his way to a high station[1]. He could not
expect to produce many such works as his _London_, and he felt the
hardships of writing for bread; he was, therefore, willing to resume the
office of a schoolmaster, so as to have a sure, though moderate income
for his life; and an offer being made to him of the mastership of a
school[2], provided he could obtain the degree of Master of Arts, Dr.
Adams was applied to, by a common friend, to know whether that could be
granted him as a favour from the University of Oxford. But though he had
made such a figure in the literary world, it was then thought too great
a favour to be asked.
[Footnote 1: Johnson in the _Life of Milton_ describes himself:--'Milton
was naturally a thinker for himself, confident of his own abilities, and
disdainful of help or hindrance. From his contemporaries he neither
courted nor received support; there is in his writings nothing by which
the pride of other authors might be gratified, or favour gained; no
exchange of praise, nor solicitation of support.' Johnson's _Works_,
vii. 142. See _post_ Feb. 1766, for Johnson's opinion on 'courting great
men.']
[Footnote 2: In a billet written by Mr. Pope in the following year, this
school is said to have been in _Shropshire_; but as it appears from a
letter from Earl Gower, that the trustees of it were 'some worthy
gentlemen in Johnson's neighbourhood,' I in my first edition suggested
that Pope must have, by mistake, written Shropshire, instead of
Staffordshire. But I have since been obliged to Mr. Spearing,
attorney-at-law, for the following information:--'William Adams,
formerly citizen and haberdasher of London, founded a school at Newport,
in the county of Salop, by deed dated 27th November, 1656, by which he
granted "the yearly sum of _sixty pounds_ to such able and learned
schoolmaster, from time to time, being of godly life and conversation,
who should have been educated at one of the Universities of Oxford or
Cambridge, and had taken the degree of _Master of Arts_, and was well
read in the Greek and Latin tongues, as should be nominated from time to
time by the said William Adams, during his life, and after the decease
of the said William Adams, by the Governours (namely, the Master and
Wardens of the Haberdashers' Company of the City of London) and their
successors." The manour and lands out of which the revenues for the
maintenance of the school were to issue are situate _at Knighton and
Adbaston, in the county of Stafford_.' From the foregoing account of
this foundation, particularly the circumstances of the salary being
sixty pounds, and the degree of Master of Arts being a requisite
qualification in the teacher, it seemed probable that this was the
school in contemplation; and that Lord Gower erroneously supposed that
the gentlemen who possessed the lands, out of which the revenues issued,
were trustees of the charity.
Such was probable conjecture. But in the _Gent. Mag._ for May, 1793,
there is a letter from Mr. Henn, one of the masters of the school of
Appleby, in Leicestershire, in which he writes as follows:--
'I compared time and circumstance together, in order to discover whether
the school in question might not be this of Appleby. Some of the
trustees at that period were "worthy gentlemen of the neighbourhood of
Litchfield." Appleby itself is not far from the neighbourhood of
Litchfield. The salary, the degree requisite, together with the _time of
election_, all agreeing with the statutes of Appleby. The election, as
said in the letter, "could not be delayed longer than the 11th of next
month," which was the 11th of September, just three months after the
annual audit-day of Appleby school, which is always on the 11th of June;
and the statutes enjoin _ne ullius praeceptorum electio diutius tribus
mensibus moraretur, etc_.
'These I thought to be convincing proofs that my conjecture was not
ill-founded, and that, in a future edition of that book, the
circumstance might be recorded as fact.
'But what banishes every shadow of doubt is the _Minute-book_ of the
school, which declares the headmastership to be _at that time_ VACANT.'
I cannot omit returning thanks to this learned gentleman for the very
handsome manner in which he has in that letter been so good as to speak
of this work. BOSWELL.
Hawkins (_Life_, p. 61) says that 'Johnson went to Appleby in Aug. 1738,
and offered himself as a candidate for the mastership.' The date of 1738
seems to be Hawkins's inference. If Johnson went at all, it was in 1739.
Pope, the friend of Swift, would not of course have sought Lord Gower's
influence with Swift. He applied to his lordship, no doubt, as a great
midland-county landowner, likely to have influence with the trustees.
Why, when the difficulty about the degree of M.A. was discovered, Pope
was not asked to solicit Swift cannot be known. See _post_, beginning of
1780 in BOSWELL'S account of the _Life of Swift_.]
[Page 133: Pope's letter of recommendation.]
Pope, without any knowledge of him but from his _London_, recommended
him to Earl Gower, who endeavoured to procure for him a degree from
Dublin, by the following letter to a friend of Dean Swift:
'SIR,
'Mr. Samuel Johnson (authour of _London_, a satire, and some other
poetical pieces) is a native of this country, and much respected by some
worthy gentlemen in his neighbourhood, who are trustees of a charity
school now vacant; the certain salary is sixty pounds a year, of which
they are desirous to make him master; but, unfortunately, he is not
capable of receiving their bounty, which _would make him happy for
life_, by not being a _Master of Arts_; which, by the statutes of this
school, the master of it must be.
'Now these gentlemen do me the honour to think that I have interest
enough in you, to prevail upon you to write to Dean Swift, to persuade
the University of Dublin to send a diploma to me, constituting this poor
man Master of Arts in their University. They highly extol the man's
learning and probity; and will not be persuaded, that the University
will make any difficulty of conferring such a favour upon a stranger, if
he is recommended by the Dean. They say he is not afraid of the
strictest examination, though he is of so long a journey; and will
venture it, if the Dean thinks it necessary; choosing rather to die upon
the road, _than be starved to death in translating for booksellers_;
which has been his only subsistence for some time past.
'I fear there is more difficulty in this affair, than those good-natured
gentlemen apprehend; especially as their election cannot be delayed
longer than the 11th of next month. If you see this matter in the same
light that it appears to me, I hope you will burn this, and pardon me
for giving you so much trouble about an impracticable thing; but, if you
think there is a probability of obtaining the favour asked, I am sure
your humanity, and propensity to relieve merit in distress, will incline
you to serve the poor man, without my adding any more to the trouble I
have already given you, than assuring you that I am, with great truth,
Sir,
'Your faithful servant,
'GOWER.
'Trentham, Aug. 1, 1739.'
[Page 134: Johnson's wish to practise law. A.D. 1738.]
It was, perhaps, no small disappointment to Johnson that this
respectable application had not the desired effect; yet how much reason
has there been, both for himself and his country, to rejoice that it did
not succeed, as he might probably have wasted in obscurity those hours
in which he afterwards produced his incomparable works.
About this time he made one other effort to emancipate himself from the
drudgery of authourship. He applied to Dr. Adams, to consult Dr.
Smalbroke of the Commons, whether a person might be permitted to
practice as an advocate there, without a doctor's degree in Civil Law.
'I am (said he) a total stranger to these studies; but whatever is a
profession, and maintains numbers, must be within the reach of common
abilities, and some degree of industry.' Dr. Adams was much pleased with
Johnson's design to employ his talents in that manner, being confident
he would have attained to great eminence. And, indeed, I cannot conceive
a man better qualified to make a distinguished figure as a lawyer; for,
he would have brought to his profession a rich store of various
knowledge, an uncommon acuteness, and a command of language, in which
few could have equalled, and none have surpassed him[1]. He who could
display eloquence and wit in defence of the decision of the House of
Commons upon Mr. Wilkes's election for Middlesex[2], and of the
unconstitutional taxation of our fellow-subjects in America[3], must
have been a powerful advocate in any cause. But here, also, the want of
a degree was an insurmountable bar.
[Footnote 1: 'What a pity it is, Sir,' said to him Sir William Scott,
afterwards Lord Stowell, 'that you did not follow the profession of the
law! You might have been Lord Chancellor of Great Britain' _Post_, April
17, 1778.]
[Footnote 2: See _post_, beginning of 1770.]
[Footnote 3: See _post_, March 21, 1775.]
[Page 135: Paul Sarpi's History. AEtat 29.]
He was, therefore, under the necessity of persevering in that course,
into which he had been forced; and we find, that his proposal from
Greenwich to Mr. Cave, for a translation of Father Paul Sarpi's History,
was accepted[1].
[Footnote 1: In the _Weekly Miscellany_, October 21, 1738, there
appeared the following advertisement:--'Just published, Proposals for
printing the _History of the Council of Trent_, translated from the
Italian of Father Paul Sarpi; with the Authour's Life, and Notes
theological, historical, and critical, from the French edition of Dr. Le
Courayer. To which are added, Observations on the History, and Notes and
Illustrations from various Authours, both printed and manuscript. By S.
Johnson. 1. The work will consist of two hundred sheets, and be two
volumes in quarto, printed on good paper and letter. 2. The price will
be 18_s_. each volume, to be paid, half-a-guinea at the delivery of the
first volume, and the rest at the delivery of the second volume in
sheets. 3. Two-pence to be abated for every sheet less than two hundred.
It may be had on a large paper, in three volumes, at the price of three
guineas; one to be paid at the time of subscribing, another at the
delivery of the first, and the rest at the delivery of the other
volumes. The work is now in the press, and will be diligently
prosecuted. Subscriptions are taken in by Mr. Dodsley in Pall-Mall, Mr.
Rivington in St. Paul's Church-yard, by E. Cave at St. John's Gate, and
the Translator, at No. 6, in Castle-street by Cavendish-square.'
BOSWELL]
Some sheets of this translation were printed off, but the design was
dropt; for it happened, oddly enough, that another person of the name of
Samuel Johnson, Librarian of St. Martin's in the Fields, and Curate of
that parish, engaged in the same undertaking, and was patronised by the
Clergy, particularly by Dr. Pearce, afterwards Bishop of Rochester.
Several light skirmishes passed between the rival translators, in the
newspapers of the day; and the consequence was, that they destroyed each
other, for neither of them went on with the work. It is much to be
regretted, that the able performance of that celebrated genius FRA
PAOLO, lost the advantage of being incorporated into British literature
by the masterly hand of Johnson.
[Page 136: Mr. Cave's insinuation. A.D. 1738.]
I have in my possession, by the favour of Mr. John Nichols, a paper in
Johnson's hand-writing, entitled 'Account between Mr. Edward Cave and
Sam. Johnson, in relation to a version of Father Paul, &c. begun August
the 2d, 1738; 'by which it appears, that from that day to the 21st of
April, 1739, Johnson received for this work, L49 7_s_. in sums of one,
two, three, and sometimes four guineas at a time, most frequently two.
And it is curious to observe the minute and scrupulous accuracy with
which Johnson has pasted upon it a slip of paper, which he has entitled
Small Account,' and which contains one article, 'Sept. 9th, Mr. Cave
laid down 2s. 6d.' There is subjoined to this account, a list of some
subscribers to the work, partly in Johnson's handwriting, partly in that
of another person; and there follows a leaf or two on which are written
a number of characters which have the appearance of a short hand, which,
perhaps, Johnson was then trying to learn.
'To MR. CAVE.
'Wednesday.
'SIR,
'I did not care to detain your servant while I wrote an answer to your
letter, in which you seem to insinuate that I had promised more than I
am ready to perform. If I have raised your expectations by any thing
that may have escaped my memory, I am sorry; and if you remind me of it,
shall thank you for the favour. If I made fewer alterations than usual
in the Debates, it was only because there appeared, and still appears to
be, less need of alteration. The verses to Lady Firebrace[1] may be had
when you please, for you know that such a subject neither deserves much
thought, nor requires it.
[Footnote 1: They afterwards appeared in the _Gent. Mag_. [viii. 486]
with this title--'_Verses to Lady Firebrace, at Bury Assizes_.'
BOSWELL.]
'The Chinese Stories[1] may be had folded down when you please to send,
in which I do not recollect that you desired any alterations to be made.
[Footnote 1: Du Halde's Description of China was then publishing by Mr.
Cave in weekly numbers, whence Johnson was to select pieces for the
embellishment of the _Magazine._ NICHOLS. BOSWELL.]
'An answer to another query I am very willing to write, and had
consulted with you about it last night if there had been time; for I
think it the most proper way of inviting such a correspondence as may be
an advantage to the paper, not a load upon it.
'As to the Prize Verses, a backwardness to determine their degrees of
merit is not peculiar to me. You may, if you please, still have what I
can say; but I shall engage with little spirit in an affair, which I
shall _hardly_ end to my own satisfaction, and _certainly_ not to the
satisfaction of the parties concerned[1].
[Footnote 1: The premium of forty pounds proposed for the best poem on
the Divine Attributes is here alluded to. NICHOLS. BOSWELL.]
'As to Father Paul, I have not yet been just to my proposal, but have
met with impediments, which, I hope, are now at an end; and if you find
the progress hereafter not such as you have a right to expect, you can
easily stimulate a negligent translator.
'If any or all of these have contributed to your discontent, I will
endeavour to remove it; and desire you to propose the question to which
you wish for an answer.
'I am, Sir,
'Your humble servant,
'SAM. JOHNSON.'
[Page 137: Impransus. AEtat 29.]
'To MR. CAVE.
[No date.]
'SIR,
'I am pretty much of your opinion, that the Commentary cannot be
prosecuted with any appearance of success; for as the names of the
authours concerned are of more weight in the performance than its own
intrinsick merit, the publick will be soon satisfied with it. And I
think the Examen should be pushed forward with the utmost expedition.
Thus, "This day, &c., An Examen of Mr. Pope's Essay, &c., containing a
succinct Account of the Philosophy of Mr. Leibnitz on the System of the
Fatalists, with a Confutation of their Opinions, and an Illustration of
the Doctrine of Free-will;" [with what else you think proper.]
'It will, above all, be necessary to take notice, that it is a thing
distinct from the Commentary.
'I was so far from imagining they stood still[1], that I conceived them
to have a good deal before-hand, and therefore was less anxious in
providing them more. But if ever they stand still on my account, it must
doubtless be charged to me; and whatever else shall be reasonable, I
shall not oppose; but beg a suspense of judgment till morning, when I
must entreat you to send me a dozen proposals, and you shall then have
copy to spare.
[Footnote 1: The Compositors in Mr. Cave's printing-office, who appear
by this letter to have then waited for copy. NICHOLS. BOSWELL.]
'I am, Sir,
'Your's, _impransus_[1],
'SAM. JOHNSON.
[Footnote 1: Twenty years later, when he was lodging in the Temple, he
had fasted for two days at a time; 'he had drunk tea, but eaten no
bread; this was no intentional fasting, but happened just in the course
of a literary life.' Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 4, 1773. See _post_,
Aug. 5, 1763.]
'Pray muster up the Proposals if you can, or let the boy recall them
from the booksellers.'
[Page 138: Mr. Macbean. A.D. 1738.]
But although he corresponded with Mr. Cave concerning a translation of
Crousaz's _Examen_ of Pope's _Essay on Man_, and gave advice as one
anxious for its success, I was long ago convinced by a perusal of the
Preface, that this translation was erroneously ascribed to him; and I
have found this point ascertained, beyond all doubt, by the following
article in Dr. Birch's _Manuscripts in the British Museum_:
'ELISAE CARTERAE. S. P. D. THOMAS BIRCH.
'Versionem tuam Examinis Crousasiani jam perlegi. Summam styli et
elegantiam, et in re difficillima proprietatem, admiratus.
'_Dabam Novemb_. 27 deg. 1738[1].'
[Footnote 1: Birch MSS. Brit. Mus. 4323. BOSWELL]
Indeed Mrs. Carter has lately acknowledged to Mr. Seward, that she was
the translator of the _Examen_.
It is remarkable, that Johnson's last quoted letter to Mr. Cave
concludes with a fair confession that he had not a dinner; and it is no
less remarkable, that, though in this state of want himself, his
benevolent heart was not insensible to the necessities of an humble
labourer in literature, as appears from the very next letter:
'To MR. CAVE.
[No date.]
'DEAR SIR,
'You may remember I have formerly talked with you about a Military
Dictionary. The eldest Mr. Macbean[1], who was with Mr. Chambers[2], has
very good materials for such a work, which I have seen, and will do it
at a very low rate[3]. I think the terms of War and Navigation might be
comprised, with good explanations, in one 8vo. Pica, which he is willing
to do for twelve shillings a sheet, to be made up a guinea at the second
impression. If you think on it, I will wait on you with him.
[Footnote 1: See _post_, under Dec. 30, 1747, and Oct. 24, 1780.]
[Footnote 2: See _post_, 1750.]
[Footnote 3: This book was published. BOSWELL. I have not been able to
find it.]
'I am, Sir,
'Your humble servant,
'SAM. JOHNSON.
'Pray lend me Topsel on Animals[1].'
[Footnote 1: _The Historie of four-footed beasts and serpents_. By
Edward Topsell. London, 1607. Isaac Walton, in the _Complete Angler_,
more than once quotes Topsel. See p. 99 in the reprint of the first
edition, where he says:--'As our Topsel hath with great diligence
observed.']
[Page 139: Boethius De Consolatione. AEtat 29.]
I must not omit to mention, that this Mr. Macbean was a native of
Scotland.
In the _Gentleman's Magazine_ of this year, Johnson gave a Life of
Father Paul; and he wrote the Preface to the Volume[1],[dagger] which,
though prefixed to it when bound, is always published with the Appendix,
and is therefore the last composition belonging to it. The ability and
nice adaptation with which he could draw up a prefatory address, was one
of his peculiar excellencies.
[Footnote 1: In this preface he describes some pieces as 'deserving no
other fate than to be hissed, torn, and forgotten. Johnson's _Works_, v.
346.]
It appears too, that he paid a friendly attention to Mrs. Elizabeth
Carter; for in a letter from Mr. Cave to Dr. Birch, November 28, this
year, I find 'Mr. Johnson advises Miss C. to undertake a translation of
_Boethius de Cons_, because there is prose and verse, and to put her
name to it when published.' This advice was not followed; probably from
an apprehension that the work was not sufficiently popular for an
extensive sale. How well Johnson himself could have executed a
translation of this philosophical poet, we may judge from the following
specimen which he has given in the _Rambler_: (_Motto to No. 7._)
'O qui perpetua mundum ratione gubernas,
Terrarum caelique sator!
Disjice terrenae nebulas et pondera molis,
Atque tuo splendore mica! Tu namque serenum,
Tu requies tranquilla piis. Te cernere finis,
Principium, vector, dux, semita, terminus, idem.'
'O thou whose power o'er moving worlds presides,
Whose voice created, and whose wisdom guides,
On darkling man in pure effulgence shine,
And cheer the clouded mind with light divine.
'Tis thine alone to calm the pious breast,
With silent confidence and holy rest;
From thee, great God! we spring, to thee we tend,
Path, motive, guide, original, and end!'
[Page 140: Abridgments. A.D. 1739.]
[Page 141: Marmor Norfolciensc. AEtat 30.]
In 1739, beside the assistance which he gave to the Parliamentary
Debates, his writings in the _Gentleman's Magazine_[1] were, 'The Life
of Boerhaave,'[*] in which it is to be observed, that he discovers that
love of chymistry[2] which never forsook him; 'An Appeal to the publick
in behalf of the Editor;'[dagger] 'An Address to the Reader;'[dagger]
'An Epigram both in Greek and Latin to Eliza[3],'[*] and also English
verses to her[4];[*] and, 'A Greek Epigram to Dr. Birch[5].'[*] It has
been erroneously supposed, that an Essay published in that Magazine this
year, entitled 'The Apotheosis of Milton,' was written by Johnson; and
on that supposition it has been improperly inserted in the edition of
his works by the Booksellers, after his deceasc. Were there no positive
testimony as to this point, the style of the performance, and the name
of Shakspeare not being mentioned in an Essay professedly reviewing the
principal English poets, would ascertain it not to be the production of
Johnson. But there is here no occasion to resort to internal evidence;
for my Lord Bishop of Salisbury (Dr. Douglas) has assured me, that it
was written by Guthrie. His separate publications were[6], 'A Complete
Vindication of the Licensers of the Stage, from the malicious and
scandalous Aspersions of Mr. Brooke, Authour of Gustavus Vasa,'[*] being
an ironical Attack upon them for their Suppression of that Tragedy[7];
and, 'Marmor Norfolciense; or an Essay on an ancient prophetical
Inscription in monkish Rhyme, lately discovered near Lynne in Norfolk,
by PROBUS BRITANNICUS.'[*] In this performance, he, in a feigned
inscription, supposed to have been found in Norfolk, the county of Sir
Robert Walpole, then the obnoxious prime minister of this country,
inveighs against the Brunswick succession, and the measures of
government consequent upon it[8]. To this supposed prophecy he added a
Commentary, making each expression apply to the times, with warm
Anti-Hanoverian zeal.
[Footnote 1: The letter to Mr. Urban in the January number of this year
(p. 3) is, I believe, by Johnson.]
[Footnote 2: 'Yet did Boerhaave not suffer one branch of science to
withdraw his attention from others; anatomy did not withhold him from
chymistry, nor chymistry, enchanting as it is, from the study of
botany.' Johnson's _Works_, vi. 276. See _post_, under Sept. 9, 1779.]
[Footnote 3: _Gent. Mag_. viii. 210, and Johnson's _Works_, i. 170.]
[Footnote 4: What these verses are is not clear. On p. 372 there is an
epigram _Ad Elisam Popi Horto Lauras carpentem_, of which on p. 429
there are three translations. That by Urbanus may be Johnson's.]
[Footnote 5: _Ib_. p. 654, and Johnson's _Works_, i. 170. On p. 211 of
this volume of the _Gent. Mag_. is given the epigram 'To a lady who
spoke in defence of liberty.' This was 'Molly Aston' mentioned _ante_,
p. 83.]
[Footnote 6: To the year 1739 belongs _Considerations on the Case of Dr.
T[rapp]s Sermons. Abridged by Mr. Cave, 1739_; first published in the
_Gent. Mag._ of July 1787. (See _post_ under Nov. 5, 1784, note.) Cave
had begun to publish in the _Gent. Mag._ an abridgment of four sermons
preached by Trapp against Whitefield. He stopped short in the
publication, deterred perhaps by the threat of a prosecution for an
infringement of copy-right. 'On all difficult occasions,' writes the
Editor in 1787, 'Johnson was Cave's oracle; and the paper now before us
was certainly written on that occasion.' Johnson argues that abridgments
are not only legal but also justifiable. 'The design of an abridgment is
to benefit mankind by facilitating the attainment of knowledge ... for
as an incorrect book is lawfully criticised, and false assertions justly
confuted ... so a tedious volume may no less lawfully be abridged,
because it is better that the proprietors should suffer some damage,
than that the acquisition of knowledge should be obstructed with
unnecessary difficulties, and the valuable hours of thousands thrown
away.' Johnson's _Works_, v. 465. Whether we have here Johnson's own
opinion cannot be known. He was writing as Cave's advocate. See also
Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 20, 1773.]
[Footnote 7: In his _Life of Thomson_ Johnson writes:--'About this time
the act was passed for licensing plays, of which the first operation was
the prohibition of _Gustavus Vasa_, a tragedy of Mr. Brooke, whom the
public recompensed by a very liberal subscription; the next was the
refusal of _Edward and Eleonora_, offered by Thomson. It is hard to
discover why either play should have been obstructed.' Johnson's Works,
viii. 373.]
[Footnote 8: The Inscription and the Translation of it are preserved in
the _London Magazine_ for the year 1739, p. 244. BOSWELL. See Johnson's
_Works_, vi. 89.]
This anonymous pamphlet, I believe, did not make so much noise as was
expected, and, therefore, had not a very extensive circulation[1]. Sir
John Hawkins relates[2], that, 'warrants were issued, and messengers
employed to apprehend the authour; who, though he had forborne to
subscribe his name to the pamphlet, the vigilance of those in pursuit of
him had discovered;' and we are informed, that he lay concealed in
Lambeth-marsh till the scent after him grew cold. This, however, is
altogether without foundation; for Mr. Steele, one of the Secretaries of
the Treasury, who amidst a variety of important business, politely
obliged me with his attention to my inquiry, informed me, that 'he
directed every possible search to be made in the records of the Treasury
and Secretary of State's Office, but could find no trace whatever of any
warrant having been issued to apprehend the authour of this pamphlet.'
[Footnote 1: It is a little heavy in its humour, and does not compare
well with the like writings of Swift and the earlier wits.]
[Footnote 2: Hawkins's _Johnson_, p. 72.]
[Page 142: Reprint of Marmor Norfolciensc. A.D. 1739.]
_Marmor Norfolciense_ became exceedingly scarce, so that I, for many
years, endeavoured in vain to procure a copy of it. At last I was
indebted to the malice of one of Johnson's numerous petty adversaries,
who, in 1775, published a new edition of it, 'with Notes and a
Dedication to SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. by TRIBUNUS;' in which some puny
scribbler invidiously attempted to found upon it a charge of
inconsistency against its authour, because he had accepted of a pension
from his present Majesty, and had written in support of the measures of
government. As a mortification to such impotent malice, of which there
are so many instances towards men of eminence, I am happy to relate,
that this _telum imbelle_[1] did not reach its exalted object, till
about a year after it thus appeared, when I mentioned it to him,
supposing that he knew of the re-publication. To my surprize, he had not
yet heard of it. He requested me to go directly and get it for him,
which I did. He looked at it and laughed, and seemed to be much diverted
with the feeble efforts of his unknown adversary, who, I hope, is alive
to read this account. 'Now (said he) here is somebody who thinks he has
vexed me sadly; yet, if it had not been for you, you rogue, I should
probably never have seen it.'
[Footnote 1: 'Sic fatus senior, telumque imbelle sine ictu Conjecit.'
'So spake the elder, and cast forth a toothless spear and vain.' Morris,
_AEneids_, ii. 544.]
[Page 143: 'Paper-sparing Pope.' AEtat 30.]
As Mr. Pope's note concerning Johnson, alluded to in a former page,
refers both to his _London_, and his _Marmor Norfolciense_, I have
deferred inserting it till now. I am indebted for it to Dr. Percy, the
Bishop of Dromore, who permitted me to copy it from the original in his
possession. It was presented to his Lordship by Sir Joshua Reynolds, to
whom it was given by the son of Mr. Richardson the painter, the person
to whom it is addressed. I have transcribed it with minute exactness,
that the peculiar mode of writing, and imperfect spelling of that
celebrated poet, may be exhibited to the curious in literature. It
justifies Swift's epithet of 'paper-sparing Pope[1]' for it is written
on a slip no larger than a common message-card, and was sent to Mr.
Richardson, along with the _Imitation of Juvenal_.
[Footnote 1:
'Get all your verses printed fair,
Then let them well be dried;
And Curll must have a special care
To leave the margin wide.
Lend these to paper-sparing Pope;
And when he sits to write,
No letter with an envelope
Could give him more delight.'
_Advice to the Grub Street Verse-Writers_. (Swift's _Works_, 1803, xi
32.) Nichols, in a note on this passage, says:--'The original copy of
Pope's _Homer_ is almost entirely written on the covers of letters, and
sometimes between the lines of the letters themselves.' Johnson, in his
_Life of Pope_, writes:--'Of Pope's domestic character frugality was a
part eminently remarkable.... This general care must be universally
approved; but it sometimes appeared in petty artifices of parsimony,
such as the practice of writing his compositions on the back of letters,
as may be seen in the remaining copy of the _Iliad_, by which perhaps in
five years five shillings were saved.' Johnson's _Works_, viii. 312.]
'This is imitated by one Johnson who put in for a Publick-school in
Shropshire,[1] but was disappointed. He has an infirmity of the
convulsive kind, that attacks him sometimes, so as to make him a sad
Spectacle. Mr. P. from the Merit of this Work which was all the
knowledge he had of him endeavour'd to serve him without his own
application; & wrote to my Ld gore, but he did not succeed. Mr. Johnson
published afterwds another Poem in Latin with Notes the whole very
Humerous call'd the Norfolk Prophecy.[2]'
[Footnote 1: See note, p. 132. BOSWELL.]
[Footnote 2: The _Marmor Norfolciense_, price one shilling, is
advertised in the _Gent. Mag_. for 1739 (p. 220) among the books for
April.]
'P.'
Johnson had been told of this note; and Sir Joshua Reynolds informed him
of the compliment which it contained, but, from delicacy, avoided
shewing him the paper itself. When Sir Joshua observed to Johnson that
he seemed very desirous to see Pope's note, he answered, 'Who would not
be proud to have such a man as Pope so solicitous in inquiring about
him?'
[Page 144: Johnson's tricks of body. A.D. 1739.]
The infirmity to which Mr. Pope alludes, appeared to me also, as I have
elsewhere[1] observed, to be of the convulsive kind, and of the nature
of that distemper called St. Vitus's dance; and in this opinion I am
confirmed by the description which Sydenham gives of that diseasc. 'This
disorder is a kind of convulsion. It manifests itself by halting or
unsteadiness of one of the legs, which the patient draws after him like
an ideot. If the hand of the same side be applied to the breast, or any
other part of the body, he cannot keep it a moment in the same posture,
but it will be drawn into a different one by a convulsion,
notwithstanding all his efforts to the contrary.' Sir Joshua Reynolds,
however, was of a different opinion, and favoured me with the following
paper.
[Footnote 1: _Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides_, 3rd edit. p. 8.
BOSWELL.]
[Page 145: His dread of solitude. AEtat 30.]
'Those motions or tricks of Dr. Johnson are improper'y called
convulsions[1]. He could sit motionless, when he was told so to do, as
well as any other man; my opinion is that it proceeded from a habit
which he had indulged himself in, of accompanying his thoughts with
certain untoward actions, and those actions always appeared to me as if
they were meant to reprobate some part of his past conduct. Whenever he
was not engaged in conversation, such thoughts were sure to rush into
his mind; and, for this reason, any company, any employment whatever, he
preferred to being alone[2]. The great business of his life (he said)
was to escape from himself; this disposition he considered as the
disease of his mind, which nothing cured but company.
[Footnote 1: According to Sir Joshua Reynolds, 'Every person who knew
Dr. Johnson must have observed that the moment he was left out of the
conversation, whether from his deafness or from whatever cause, but a
few minutes without speaking or listening, his mind appeared to be
preparing itself. He fell into a reverie accompanied with strange antic
gestures; but this he never did when his mind was engaged by the
conversation. These were therefore improperly called convulsions, which
imply involuntary contortions; whereas, a word addressed to him, his
attention was recovered. Sometimes, indeed, it would be near a minute
before he would give an answer, looking as if he laboured to bring his
mind to bear on the question' (Taylor's _Reynolds_, ii. 456). 'I still,
however, think,' wrote Boswell, 'that these gestures were involuntary;
for surely had not that been the case, he would have restrained them in
the public streets' (Boswell's _Hebrides_, under date of Aug. 11, 1773,
note). Dr. T. Campbell, in his _Diary of a Visit to England_, p. 33,
writing of Johnson on March 16, 1775, says:--'He has the aspect of an
idiot, without the faintest ray of sense gleaming from any one
feature--with the most awkward garb, and unpowdered grey wig, on one
side only of his head--he is for ever dancing the devil's jig, and
sometimes he makes the most driveling effort to whistle some thought in
his absent paroxysms.' Miss Burney thus describes him when she first saw
him in 1778:--'Soon after we were seated this great man entered. I have
so true a veneration for him that the very sight of him inspires me with
delight and reverence, notwithstanding the cruel infirmities to which he
is subject; for he has almost perpetual convulsive movements, either of
his hands, lips, feet, or knees, and sometimes of all together.' Mme.
D'Arblay's _Diary_, i. 63. See _post_, under March 30, 1783, Boswell's
note on Johnson's peculiarities.]
[Footnote 2: 'Solitude,' wrote Reynolds, 'to him was horror; nor would
he ever trust himself alone but when employed in writing or reading. He
has often begged me to go home with him to prevent his being alone in
the coach. Any company was better than none; by which he connected
himself with many mean persons whose presence he could command.'
Taylor's _Reynolds_, ii. 455. Johnson writing to Mrs. Thrale, said:--'If
the world be worth winning, let us enjoy it; if it is to be despised,
let us despise it by conviction. But the world is not to be despised but
as it is compared with something better. Company is in itself better
than solitude, and pleasure better than indolence.' _Piozzi Letters_, i.
242. In _The Idler_, No. 32, he wrote:--'Others are afraid to be alone,
and amuse themselves by a perpetual succession of companions; but the
difference is not great; in solitude we have our dreams to ourselves,
and in company we agree to dream in concert. The end sought in both is
forgetfulness of ourselves.' In _The Rambler_, No. 5, he wrote:--'It may
be laid down as a position which will seldom deceive, that when a man
cannot bear his own company, there is something wrong. He must fly from
himself, either because he feels a tediousness in life from the
equipoise of an empty mind ... or he must be afraid of the intrusion of
some unpleasing ideas, and, perhaps, is struggling to escape from the
remembrance of a loss, the fear of a calamity, or some other thought of
greater horror.'
Cowper, whose temperament was in some respects not unlike Johnson's,
wrote:--'A vacant hour is my abhorrence; because, when I am not
occupied, I suffer under the whole influence of my unhappy temperament.'
Southey's _Cowper_, vi. 146.]
'One instance of his absence and particularity, as it is characteristick
of the man, may be worth relating. When he and I took a journey together
into the West, we visited the late Mr. Banks, of Dorsetshire; the
conversation turning upon pictures, which Johnson could not well see, he
retired to a corner of the room, stretching out his right leg as far as
he could reach before him, then bringing up his left leg, and stretching
his right still further on. The old gentleman observing him, went up to
him, and in a very courteous manner assured him, that though it was not
a new house, the flooring was perfectly safe. The Doctor started from
his reverie, like a person waked out of his sleep, but spoke not a
word.'
While we are on this subject, my readers may not be displeased with
another anecdote, communicated to me by the same friend, from the
relation of Mr. Hogarth.
[Page 146: Hogarth meets Johnson. A.D. 1739.]
[Page 147: George the Second's cruelty. AEtat 30.]
Johnson used to be a pretty frequent visitor at the house of Mr.
Richardson, authour of _Clarissa_, and other novels of extensive
reputation. Mr. Hogarth came one day to see Richardson, soon after the
execution of Dr. Cameron, for having taken arms for the house of Stuart
in 1745-6; and being a warm partisan of George the Second, he observed
to Richardson[1], that certainly there must have been some very
unfavourable circumstances lately discovered in this particular case,
which had induced the King to approve of an execution for rebellion so
long after the time when it was committed, as this had the appearance of
putting a man to death in cold blood[2], and was very unlike his
Majesty's usual clemency. While he was talking, he perceived a person
standing at a window in the room, shaking his head, and rolling himself
about in a strange ridiculous manner. He concluded that he was an ideot,
whom his relations had put under the care of Mr. Richardson, as a very
good man. To his great surprize, however, this figure stalked forwards
to where he and Mr. Richardson were sitting, and all at once took up the
argument, and burst out into an invective against George the Second, as
one, who, upon all occasions, was unrelenting and barbarous[3];
mentioning many instances, particularly, that when an officer of high
rank had been acquitted by a Court Martial, George the Second had with
his own hand, struck his name off the list. In short, he displayed such
a power of eloquence, that Hogarth looked at him with astonishment, and
actually imagined that this ideot had been at the moment inspired.
Neither Hogarth nor Johnson were made known to each other at this
interview[4].
[Footnote 1: Richardson was of the same way of thinking as Hogarth.
Writing of a speech made at the Oxford Commemoration of 1754 by the
Jacobite Dr. King (see _post_, Feb. 1755), he said:--'There cannot be a
greater instance of the lenity of the government he abuses than his
pestilent harangues so publicly made with impunity furnishes (_sic_) all
his readers with.'--_Rich. Corresp_. ii. 197.]
[Footnote 2: Impartial posterity may, perhaps, be as little inclined as
Dr. Johnson was to justify the uncommon rigour exercised in the case of
Dr. Archibald Cameron. He was an amiable and truly honest man; and his
offence was owing to a generous, though mistaken principle of duty.
Being obliged, after 1746, to give up his profession as a physician, and
to go into foreign parts, he was honoured with the rank of Colonel, both
in the French and Spanish service. He was a son of the ancient and
respectable family of Cameron, of Lochiel; and his brother, who was the
Chief of that brave clan, distinguished himself by moderation and
humanity, while the Highland army marched victorious through Scotland.
It is remarkable of this Chief, that though he had earnestly
remonstrated against the attempt as hopeless, he was of too heroick a
spirit not to venture his life and fortune in the cause, when personally
asked by him whom he thought his prince. BOSWELL.
Sir Walter Scott states, in his Introduction to _Redgauntlet_, that the
government of George II were in possession of sufficient evidence that
Dr. Cameron had returned to the Highlands, _not_, as he alleged on his
trial, for family affairs merely, but as the secret agent of the
Pretender in a new scheme of rebellion: the ministers, however,
preferred trying this indefatigable partisan on the ground of his
undeniable share in the insurrection of 1745, rather than rescuing
themselves and their master from the charge of harshness, at the expense
of making it universally known, that a fresh rebellion had been in
agitation so late as 1752. LOCKHART. He was executed on June 7, 1753.
_Gent. Mag._ xxiii. 292. Lord Campbell (_Lives of the Chancellors_, v.
109) says:--'I regard his execution as a wanton atrocity.' Horace
Walpole, however, inclined to the belief that Cameron was engaged in a
new scheme of rebellion. Walpole's _Memoirs of George II_, i. 333.]
[Footnote 3: Horace Walpole says that towards convicts under sentence of
death 'George II's disposition in general was merciful, if the offence
was not murder.' He mentions, however, a dreadful exception, when the
King sent to the gallows at Oxford a young man who had been 'guilty of a
most trifling forgery,' though he had been recommended to mercy by the
Judge, who 'had assured him his pardon.' Mercy was refused, merely
because the Judge, Willes, 'was attached to the Prince of Wales.' It is
very likely that this was one of Johnson's 'instances,' as it had
happened about four years earlier, and as an account of the young man
had been published by an Oxonian. Walpole's _Memoirs of the Reign of
George II_, i. 175.]
[Footnote 4: It is strange that when Johnson had been sixteen years in
London he should not be known to Hogarth by sight. 'Mr. Hogarth,' writes
Mrs. Piozzi, 'was used to be very earnest that I should obtain the
acquaintance, and if possible, the friendship of Dr. Johnson, "whose
conversation was to the talk of other men, like Titian's painting
compared to Hudson's," he said.... Of Dr. Johnson, when my father and he
were talking together about him one day, "That man," says Hogarth, "is
not contented with believing the Bible, but he fairly resolves, I think,
to believe nothing _but_ the Bible."' Piozzi's _Anec_. p. 136.]
[1740[1]: AETAT. 3l.]--In 1740 he wrote for the _Gentleman's Magazine_ the
'Preface[2],'[dagger] 'Life of Sir Francis Drake,'[*] and the first
parts of those of 'Admiral Blake[3],'[*] and of 'Philip Baretier[4],'
both which he finished the following year. He also wrote an 'Essay on
Epitaphs[5],' and an 'Epitaph on Philips, a Musician,'[6] which was
afterwards published with some other pieces of his, in Mrs. Williams's
_Miscellanies_. This Epitaph is so exquisitely beautiful, that I
remember even Lord Kames, strangely prejudiced as he was against Dr.
Johnson, was compelled to allow it very high praisc. It has been
ascribed to Mr. Garrick, from its appearing at first with the signature
G; but I have heard Mr. Garrick declare, that it was written by Dr.
Johnson, and give the following account of the manner in which it was
composed. Johnson and he were sitting together; when, amongst other
things, Garrick repeated an Epitaph upon this Philips by a Dr. Wilkes,
in these words:
[Footnote 1: On October 29 of this year James Boswell was born.]
[Footnote 2: In this preface is found the following lively
passage:--'The Roman Gazetteers are defective in several material
ornaments of style. They never end an article with the mystical hint,
_this occasions great speculation_. They seem to have been ignorant of
such engaging introductions as, _we hear it is strongly reported_; and
of that ingenious, but thread-bare excuse for a downright lie, _it wants
confirmation_.']
[Footnote 3: The _Lives_ of Blake and Drake were certainly written with
a political aim. The war with Spain was going on, and the Tory party was
doing its utmost to rouse the country against the Spaniards. It was 'a
time,' according to Johnson, 'when the nation was engaged in a war with
an enemy, whose insults, ravages, and barbarities have long called for
vengeance.' Johnson's _Works_, vi. 293.]
[Footnote 4: Barretier's childhood surpassed even that of J. S. Mill. At
the age of nine he was master of five languages, Greek and Hebrew being
two of them. 'In his twelfth year he applied more particularly to the
study of the fathers.' At the age of fourteen he published
_Anti-Artemonius; sive initium evangelii S. Joannis adversus Artemonium
vindicatum_. The same year the University of Halle offered him the
degree of doctor in philosophy. 'His theses, or philosophical positions,
which he printed, ran through several editions in a few weeks.' He was
a deep student of mathematics, and astronomy was his favourite subject.
His health broke down under his studies, and he died in 1740 in the
twentieth year of his age. Johnson's _Works_, vi. 376.]
[Footnote 5: He wrote also in 1756 _A Dissertation on the Epitaphs
written by Pope_.]
[Footnote 6: See _post_, Oct. 16, 1769.]
[Page 148: Epitaph on Philips. A.D. 1740.]
'Exalted soul! whose harmony could please
The love-sick virgin, and the gouty ease;
Could jarring discord, like Amphion, move
To beauteous order and harmonious love;
Rest here in peace, till angels bid thee rise,
And meet thy blessed Saviour in the skies.'
Johnson shook his head at these common-place funereal lines, and said to
Garrick, 'I think, Davy, I can make a better.' Then, stirring about his
tea for a little while, in a state of meditation, he almost extempore
produced the following verses:
[Page 149: Epigram on Cibber. AEtat 31.]
'Philips, whose touch harmonious could remove
The pangs of guilty power or[1] hapless love;
Rest here, distress'd by poverty no more,
Here find that calm thou gav'st so oft before;
Sleep, undisturb'd, within this peaceful shrine,
Till angels wake thee with a note like thine[2]!'
[Footnote 1: In the original _and_. _Gent. Mag._ x. 464. The title of
this poem as there given is:--'An epitaph upon the celebrated Claudy
Philips, Musician, who died very poor.']
[Footnote: 2 The epitaph of Phillips is in the porch of Wolverhampton
Church. The prose part of it is curious:--
'Near this place lies
Charles Claudius Phillips,
Whose absolute contempt of riches
and inimitable performances upon the
violin
made him the admiration of all that
knew him.
He was born in Wales,
made the tour of Europe,
and, after the experience of both
kinds of fortune,
Died in 1732.'
Mr. Garrick appears not to have recited the verses correctly, the
original being as follows:--
'Exalted soul, _thy various sounds_ could please
The love-sick virgin and the gouty ease;
Could jarring _crowds_, like old Amphion, move
To beauteous order and harmonious love;
Rest here in peace, till Angels bid thee rise,
And meet thy Saviour's _consort_ in the skies.' BLAKEWAY.
_Consort_ is defined in Johnson's _Dictionary_ as _a number of
instruments playing together_.]
At the same time that Mr. Garrick favoured me with this anecdote, he
repeated a very pointed Epigram by Johnson, on George the Second and
Colley Cibber, which has never yet appeared, and of which I know not the
exact date[1]. Dr. Johnson afterwards gave it to me himself[2]:
'Augustus still survives in Maro's strain,
And Spenser's verse prolongs Eliza's reign;
Great George's acts let tuneful Cibber sing;
For Nature form'd the Poet for the King.'
[Footnote 1: I have no doubt that it was written in 1741; for the second
line is clearly a parody of a line in the chorus of Cibber's _Birthday
Ode_ for that year. The chorus is as follows:
'While thou our Master of the Main
Revives Eliza's glorious reign,
The great Plantagenets look down,
And see _your_ race adorn your crown.'
_Gent. Mag_. xi. 549.
In the _Life of Barretier_ Johnson had also this fling at George
II:--'Princes are commonly the last by whom merit is distinguished.'
Johnson's _Works_, vi. 381.]
[Footnote 2: See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 23 and Nov. 21, 1773.]
[Page 150: One of Cromwell's speeches. A.D. 1741.]
In 1741[1][*] he wrote for the _Gentleman's Magazine_ 'the Preface,'[*]
'Conclusion of his lives of Drake and Baretier,'[dagger] 'A free
translation of the Jests of Hierocles[2], with an Introduction;'[dagger]
and, I think, the following pieces: 'Debate on the Proposal of
Parliament to Cromwell, to assume the Title of King, abridged, modified,
and digested[3];'[dagger] 'Translation of Abbe Guyon's Dissertation on
the Amazons;'[dagger] 'Translation of Fontenelle's Panegyrick on Dr.
Morin.'[dagger] Two notes upon this appear to me undoubtedly his. He
this year, and the two following, wrote the _Parliamentary Debates_. He
told me himself, that he was the sole composer of them for those three
years only. He was not, however, precisely exact in his statement, which
he mentioned from hasty recollection; for it is sufficiently evident,
that his composition of them began November 19, 1740, and ended February
23, 1742-3[4].
[Footnote 1: Hester Lynch Salusbury, afterwards Mrs. Thrale, and later
on Mrs. Piozzi, was born on Jan. 27, 1741.]
[Footnote 2: This piece is certainly not by Johnson. It contains more
than one ungrammatical passage. It is impossible to believe that he
wrote such a sentence as the following:--'Another having a cask of wine
sealed up at the top, but his servant boring a hole at the bottom stole
the greatest part of it away; sometime after, having called a friend to
taste his wine, he found the vessel almost empty,' &c.]
[Footnote 3: Mr. Carlyle, by the use of the term 'Imaginary Editors'
(_Cromwell's Letters and Speeches_, iii. 229), seems to imply that he
does not hold with Boswell in assigning this piece to Johnson. I am
inclined to think, nevertheless, that Boswell is right. If it is
Johnson's it is doubly interesting as showing the method which he often
followed in writing the Parliamentary Debates. When notes were given
him, while for the most part he kept to the speaker's train of thoughts,
he dealt with the language much as it pleased him. In the _Gent. Mag._
Cromwell speaks as if he were wearing a flowing wig and were addressing
a Parliament of the days of George II. He is thus made to conclude
Speech xi:--'For my part, could I multiply my person or dilate my power,
I should dedicate myself wholly to this great end, in the prosecution of
which I shall implore the blessing of God upon your counsels and
endeavours.' _Gent. Mag._ xi. 100. The following are the words which
correspond to this in the original:--'If I could help you to many, and
multiply myself into many, that would be to serve you in regard to
settlement.... But I shall pray to God Almighty that He would direct you
to do what is according to His will. And this is that poor account I am
able to give of myself in this thing.' Carlyle's _Cromwell_, iii. 255.]
[Footnote 4: See Appendix A.]
It appears from some of Cave's letters to Dr. Birch, that Cave had
better assistance for that branch of his Magazine, than has been
generally supposed; and that he was indefatigable in getting it made as
perfect as he could.
[Page 151: Cave's Parliamentary Debates. AEtat 32.]
Thus, 21st July, 1735. 'I trouble you with the inclosed, because you
said you could easily correct what is here given for Lord C----ld's[1]
speech. I beg you will do so as soon as you can for me, because the
month is far advanced.'
[Footnote 1: Lord Chesterfield.]
And 15th July, 1737. 'As you remember the debates so far as to perceive
the speeches already printed are not exact, I beg the favour that you
will peruse the inclosed, and, in the best manner your memory will
serve, correct the mistaken passages, or add any thing that is omitted.
I should be very glad to have something of the Duke of N--le's[1]
speech, which would be particularly of service.
[Footnote 1: Duke of Newcastle.]
'A gentleman has Lord Bathurst's speech to add something to.'
And July 3, 1744. 'You will see what stupid, low, abominable stuff is
put[1] upon your noble and learned friend's[2] character, such as I
should quite reject, and endeavour to do something better towards doing
justice to the character. But as I cannot expect to attain my desires in
that respect, it would be a great satisfaction, as well as an honour to
our work to have the favour of the genuine speech. It is a method that
several have been pleased to take, as I could show, but I think myself
under a restraint. I shall say so far, that I have had some by a third
hand, which I understood well enough to come from the first; others by
penny-post[3], and others by the speakers themselves, who have been
pleased to visit St. John's Gate, and show particular marks of their
being pleased[4].'
[Footnote 1: I suppose in another compilation of the same kind.
BOSWELL.]
[Footnote 2: Doubtless, Lord Hardwick. BOSWELL.]
[Footnote 3: The delivery of letters by the penny-post 'was originally
confined to the cities of London and Westminster, the borough of
Southwark and the respective suburbs thereof.' In 1801 the postage was
raised to twopence. The term 'suburbs' must have had a very limited
signification, for it was not till 1831 that the limits of this delivery
were extended to all places within three miles of the General Post
Office. _Ninth Report of the Commissioners of the Post Office_, 1837, p.
4.]
[Footnote 4: Birch's _MSS. in the British Museum_, 4302. BOSWELL.]
[Page 152: Johnson's Parliamentary Debates. A.D. 1741.]
There is no reason, I believe, to doubt the veracity of Cave. It is,
however, remarkable, that none of these letters are in the years during
which Johnson alone furnished the Debates, and one of them is in the
very year after he ceased from that labour. Johnson told me that as soon
as he found that the speeches were thought genuine, he determined that
he would write no more of them; for 'he would not be accessary to the
propagation of falsehood.' And such was the tenderness of his
conscience, that a short time before his death he expressed his regret
for his having been the authour of fictions, which had passed for
realities[1].
[Footnote 1: See _post_, Dec. 1784, in Nichols's _Anecdotes_. If we may
trust Hawkins, it is likely that Johnson's 'tenderness of conscience'
cost Cave a good deal; for he writes that, while Johnson composed the
_Debates_, the sale of the _Magazine_ increased from ten to fifteen
thousand copies a month. 'Cave manifested his good fortune by buying an
old coach and a pair of older horses.' Hawkins's _Johnson_, P. 123.]
He nevertheless agreed with me in thinking, that the debates which he
had framed were to be valued as orations upon questions of publick
importance. They have accordingly been collected in volumes, properly
arranged, and recommended to the notice of parliamentary speakers by a
preface, written by no inferior hand[1]. I must, however, observe, that
although there is in those debates a wonderful store of political
information, and very powerful eloquence, I cannot agree that they
exhibit the manner of each particular speaker, as Sir John Hawkins seems
to think. But, indeed, what opinion can we have of his judgement, and
taste in publick speaking, who presumes to give, as the characteristicks
of two celebrated orators, 'the deep-mouthed rancour of Pulteney[2], and
the yelping pertinacity of Pitt[3].'
[Footnote 1: I am assured that the editor is Mr. George Chalmers, whose
commercial works are well known and esteemed. BOSWELL.]
[Footnote 2: The characteristic of Pulteney's oratory is thus given in
Hazlitts _Northcole's Conversations_ (p. 288):--'Old Mr. Tolcher used to
say of the famous Pulteney--"My Lord Bath always speaks in blank
verse."']
[Footnote 3: Hawkins's _Life of Johnson_, p. 100. BOSWELL.]
This year I find that his tragedy of _Irene_ had been for some time
ready for the stage, and that his necessities made him desirous of
getting as much as he could for it, without delay; for there is the
following letter from Mr. Cave to Dr. Birch, in the same volume of
manuscripts in the British Museum, from which I copied those above
quoted. They were most obligingly pointed out to me by Sir William
Musgrave, one of the Curators of that noble repository.
[Page 153: Bibliotheca Harleiana. AEtat 32.]
'Sept. 9, 1741.
'I have put Mr. Johnson's play into Mr. Gray's[1] hands, in order to
sell it to him, if he is inclined to buy it; but I doubt whether he will
or not. He would dispose of the copy, and whatever advantage may be made
by acting it. Would your society[2], or any gentleman, or body of men
that you know, take such a bargain? He and I are very unfit to deal with
theatrical persons. Fleetwood was to have acted it last season, but
Johnson's diffidence or ----[3] prevented it.'
[Footnote 1: A bookseller of London. BOSWELL]
[Footnote 2: Not the Royal Society; but the Society for the
encouragement of learning, of which Dr. Birch was a leading member.
Their object was to assist authors in printing expensive works. It
existed from about 1735 to 1746, when having incurred a considerable
debt, it was dissolved. BOSWELL.]
[Footnote 3: There is no erasure here, but a mere blank; to fill up
which may be an exercise for ingenious conjecture. BOSWELL.]
I have already mentioned that _Irene_ was not brought into publick
notice till Garrick was manager of Drury-lane theatre.
[Page 154: Osborne the bookseller. A.D. 1742.]
1742: AETAT. 33.--In 1742[1] he wrote for the _Gentleman's Magazine_
the 'Preface,[dagger] the 'Parliamentary Debates,'[*] 'Essay on the
Account of the conduct of the Duchess of Marlborough,'[*] then the
popular topick of conversation. This 'Essay' is a short but masterly
performance. We find him in No. 13 of his _Rambler_, censuring a
profligate sentiment in that 'Account[2];' and again insisting upon it
strenuously in conversation[3]. 'An account of the Life of Peter
Burman,'[*] I believe chiefly taken from a foreign publication; as,
indeed, he could not himself know much about Burman; 'Additions to his
Life of Baretier;'[*] 'The Life of Sydenham,'[*] afterwards prefixed to
Dr. Swan's edition of his works; 'Proposals for Printing Bibliotheca
Harleiana, or a Catalogue of the Library of the Earl of Oxford[4].'[*]
His account of that celebrated collection of books, in which he displays
the importance to literature of what the French call a _catalogue
raisonne_, when the subjects of it are extensive and various, and it is
executed with ability, cannot fail to impress all his readers with
admiration of his philological attainments. It was afterwards prefixed
to the first volume of the Catalogue, in which the Latin accounts of
books were written by him. He was employed in this business by Mr.
Thomas Osborne the bookseller, who purchased the library for 13,000L., a
sum which Mr. Oldys[5] says, in one of his manuscripts, was not more
than the binding of the books had cost; yet, as Dr. Johnson assured me,
the slowness of the sale was such, that there was not much gained by it.
It has been confidently related, with many embellishments, that Johnson
one day knocked Osborne down in his shop, with a folio, and put his foot
upon his neck. The simple truth I had from Johnson himself. 'Sir, he was
impertinent to me, and I beat him. But it was not in his shop: it was in
my own chamber[6].'
[Footnote 1: Johnson, writing to Dr. Taylor on June 10, 1742, says:--'I
propose to get _Charles of Sweden_ ready for this winter, and shall
therefore, as I imagine, be much engaged for some months with the
dramatic writers into whom I have scarcely looked for many years. Keep
_Irene_ close, you may send it back at your leisure.' _Notes and
Queries_, 6th S., v. 303. _Charles of Sweden_ must have been a play
which he projected.]
[Footnote 2: The profligate sentiment was, that 'to tell a secret to a
friend is no breach of fidelity, because the number of persons trusted
is not multiplied, a man and his friend being virtually the same.'
_Rambler_, No. 13.]
[Footnote 3: _Journal of a tour to the Hebrides_, 3rd edit. p. 167.
[Sept. 10, 1773.] BOSWELL.]
[Footnote 4: This piece contains a passage in honour of some great
critic. 'May the shade, at least, of one great English critick rest
without disturbance; and may no man presume to insult his memory, who
wants his learning, his reason, or his wit.' Johnson's _Works_, v. 182.
Bentley had died on July 14 of this year, and there can be little
question that Bentley is meant.]
[Footnote 5: See _post_, end of 1744.]
[Footnote 6: 'There is nothing to tell, dearest lady, but that he was
insolent and I beat him, and that he was a blockhead and told of it,
which I should never have done.... I have beat many a fellow, but the
rest had the wit to hold their tongues.' Piozzi's _Anec_. p. 233. In the
_Life of Pope_ Johnson thus mentions Osborne:--'Pope was ignorant enough
of his own interest to make another change, and introduced Osborne
contending for the prize among the booksellers [_Dunciad_, ii. 167].
Osborne was a man entirely destitute of shame, without sense of any
disgrace but that of poverty.... The shafts of satire were directed
equally in vain against Cibber and Osborne; being repelled by the
impenetrable impudence of one, and deadened by the impassive dulness of
the other.' Johnson's _Works_, viii. 302.]
[Page 155: A projected parliamentary history. AEtat 33.]
A very diligent observer may trace him where we should not easily
suppose him to be found. I have no doubt that he wrote the little
abridgement entitled 'Foreign History,' in the _Magazine_ for December.
To prove it, I shall quote the Introduction. 'As this is that season of
the year in which Nature may be said to command a suspension of
hostilities, and which seems intended, by putting a short stop to
violence and slaughter, to afford time for malice to relent, and
animosity to subside; we can scarce expect any other accounts than of
plans, negotiations and treaties, of proposals for peace, and
preparations for war.' As also this passage: 'Let those who despise the
capacity of the Swiss, tell us by what wonderful policy, or by what
happy conciliation of interests, it is brought to pass, that in a body
made up of different communities and different religions, there should
be no civil commotions[1], though the people are so warlike, that to
nominate and raise an army is the same.'
[Footnote 1: In the original _contentions_.]
I am obliged to Mr. Astle[1] for his ready permission to copy the two
following letters, of which the originals are in his possession. Their
contents shew that they were written about this time, and that Johnson
was now engaged in preparing an historical account of the British
Parliament.
[Footnote 1: 'Dec. 21, 1775. In the Paper Office there is a wight,
called Thomas Astle, who lives like moths on old parchments.' Walpole's
_Letters_, vi. 299.]
'To MR. CAVE.
[_No date_]
'Sir,
'I believe I am going to write a long letter, and have therefore taken a
whole sheet of paper. The first thing to be written about is our
historical design.
'You mentioned the proposal of printing in numbers, as an alteration in
the scheme, but I believe you mistook, some way or other, my meaning; I
had no other view than that you might rather print too many of five
sheets, than of five and thirty.
'With regard to what I shall say on the manner of proceeding, I would
have it understood as wholly indifferent to me, and my opinion only, not
my resolution. _Emptoris sit eligere_.
'I think the insertion of the exact dates of the most important events
in the margin, or of so many events as may enable the reader to regulate
the order of facts with sufficient exactness, the proper medium between
a journal, which has regard only to time, and a history which ranges
facts according to their dependence on each other, and postpones or
anticipates according to the convenience of narration. I think the work
ought to partake of the spirit of history, which is contrary to minute
exactness, and of the regularity of a journal, which is inconsistent
with spirit. For this reason, I neither admit numbers or dates, nor
reject them.
[Page 156: Payment for work. A.D. 1742.]
'I am of your opinion with regard to placing most of the resolutions
&c., in the margin, and think we shall give the most complete account of
Parliamentary proceedings that can be contrived. The naked papers,
without an historical treatise interwoven, require some other book to
make them understood. I will date the succeeding facts with some
exactness, but I think in the margin. You told me on Saturday that I had
received money on this work, and found set down 13L. 2s. 6d., reckoning
the half guinea of last Saturday. As you hinted to me that you had many
calls for money, I would not press you too hard, and therefore shall
desire only, as I send it in, two guineas for a sheet of copy; the rest
you may pay me when it may be more convenient; and even by this
sheet-payment I shall, for some time, be very expensive.
'The _Life of Savage_[1] I am ready to go upon; and in Great Primer, and
Pica notes, I reckon on sending in half a sheet a day; but the money for
that shall likewise lye by in your hands till it is done. With the
debates, shall not I have business enough? if I had but good pens.
[Footnote 1: Savage died on Aug. 1, 1743, so that this letter is
misplaced.]
'Towards Mr. Savage's _Life_ what more have you got? I would willingly
have his trial, &c., and know whether his defence be at Bristol, and
would have his collection of poems, on account of the Preface.--_The
Plain Dealer_[1],--all the magazines that have anything of his, or
relating to him.
[Footnote 1: The Plain Dealer was published in 1724, and contained some
account of Savage. BOSWELL.]
'I thought my letter would be long, but it is now ended; and I am, Sir,
'Yours, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.'
'The boy found me writing this almost in the dark, when I could not
quite easily read yours.
'I have read the Italian--nothing in it is well.
'I had no notion of having any thing for the Inscription[1]. I hope you
don't think I kept it to extort a price. I could think of nothing, till
to day. If you could spare me another guinea for the history, I should
take it very kindly, to night; but if you do not I shall not think it an
injury.--I am almost well again.'
[Footnote 1: In the _Gent. Mag._ for Sept. 1743 (p. 490) there is an
epitaph on R----d S----e, Esq., which may perhaps be this inscription.
'His life was want,' this epitaph declares. It is certainly not the
Runick Inscription in the number for March 1742, as Malone suggests; for
the earliest possible date of this letter is seventeen months later.]
'To MR. CAVE.
'SIR,
'You did not tell me your determination about the 'Soldier's Letter[1],'
which I am confident was never printed. I think it will not do by
itself, or in any other place, so well as the _Mag. Extraordinary_[2].
If you will have it at all, I believe you do not think I set it high,
and I will be glad if what you give, you will give quickly.
[Footnote 1: I have not discovered what this was. BOSWELL.]
[Footnote 2: The _Mag.-Extraordinary_ is perhaps the Supplement to the
December number of each year.]
[Page 157: _Ad Lauram pariluram Epigramma_. AEtat 33.]
'You need not be in care about something to print, for I have got the
State Trials, and shall extract Layer, Atterbury, and Macclesfield from
them, and shall bring them to you in a fortnight; after which I will try
to get the South Sea Report.'
[_No date, nor signature_]
I would also ascribe to him an 'Essay on the Description of China, from
the French of Du Halde[1].[dagger]
[Footnote 1: This essay contains one sentiment eminently Johnsonian. The
writer had shown how patiently Confucius endured extreme indigence. He
adds:--'This constancy cannot raise our admiration after his former
conquest of himself; for how easily may he support pain who has been
able to resist pleasure.' _Gent. Mag._ xii. 355.]
His writings in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ in 1743, are, the
'Preface[1],'[dagger] the 'Parliamentary Debates,'[dagger]
'Considerations on the Dispute between Crousaz[2] and Warburton, on
Pope's Essay on Man;'[dagger] in which, while he defends Crousaz, he
shews an admirable metaphysical acuteness and temperance in
controversy[3]; 'Ad Lauram parituram Epigramma[4];'[*] and, 'A Latin
Translation of Pope's Verses on his Grotto[5];'[*] and, as he could
employ his pen with equal success upon a small matter as a great, I
suppose him to be the authour of an advertisement for Osborne,
concerning the great Harlcian Catalogue[6].
[Footnote 1: In this Preface there is a complaint that has been often
repeated--'All kinds of learning have given way to politicks.']
[Footnote 2: In the _Life of Pope_ (Johnson's _Works_, viii. 287)
Johnson says that Crousaz, 'however little known or regarded here, was
no mean antagonist']
[Footnote 3: It is not easy to believe that Boswell had read this essay,
for there is nothing metaphysical in what Johnson wrote. Two-thirds of
the paper are a translation from Crousaz. Boswell does not seem to have
distinguished between Crousaz's writings and Johnson's. We have here a
striking instance of the way in which Cave sometimes treated his
readers. One-third of this essay is given in the number for March, the
rest in the number for November.]
[Footnote 4:
Angliacas inter pulcherrima Laura puellas,
Mox uteri pondus depositura grave,
Adsit, Laura, tibi facilis Lucina dolenti,
Neve tibi noceat praenituisse Deae.
Mr. Hector was present when this Epigram was made _impromptu_. The first
line was proposed by Dr. James, and Johnson was called upon by the
company to finish it, which he instantly did. BOSWELL. Macaulay
(_Essays_, i. 364) criticises Mr. Croker's criticism of this epigram.]
[Footnote 5: The lines with which this poem is introduced seem to show
that it cannot be Johnson's. He was not the man to allow that haste of
performance was any plea for indulgence. They are as follows:--'Though
several translations of Mr. Pope's verses on his Grotto have already
appeared, we hope that the following attempt, which, we are assure |
