No. I.
_In justice to the ingenious_ DR. BLACKLOCK, _I publish the following
letter from him, relative to a passage in p. 47._
'TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.
'DEAR SIR,
'Having lately had the pleasure of reading your account of the journey
which you took with Dr. Samuel Johnson to the Western Isles, I take the
liberty of transmitting my ideas of the conversation which happened
between the doctor and myself concerning Lexicography and Poetry, which,
as it is a little different from the delineation exhibited in the former
edition of your _Journal_, cannot, I hope, be unacceptable; particularly
since I have been informed that a second edition of that work is now in
contemplation, if not in execution: and I am still more strongly tempted
to encourage that hope, from considering that, if every one concerned in
the conversations related, were to send you what they can recollect of
these colloquial entertainments, many curious and interesting
particulars might be recovered, which the most assiduous attention could
not observe, nor the most tenacious memory retain. A little reflection,
Sir, will convince you, that there is not an axiom in Euclid more
intuitive nor more evident than the doctor's assertion that poetry was
of much easier execution than lexicography. Any mind therefore endowed
with common sense, must have been extremely absent from itself, if it
discovered the least astonishment from hearing that a poem might be
written with much more facility than the same quantity of a dictionary.
'The real cause of my surprise was what appeared to me much more
paradoxical, that he could write a sheet of dictionary _with as much
pleasure_ as a sheet of poetry. He acknowledged, indeed, that the latter
was much easier than the former. For in the one case, books and a desk
were requisite; in the other, you might compose when lying in bed, or
walking in the fields, &c. He did not, however, descend to explain, nor
to this moment can I comprehend, how the labours of a mere Philologist,
in the most refined sense of that term, could give equal pleasure with
the exercise of a mind replete with elevated conceptions and pathetic
ideas, while taste, fancy, and intellect were deeply enamoured of
nature, and in full exertion. You may likewise, perhaps, remember, that
when I complained of the ground which Scepticism in religion and morals
was continually gaining, it did not appear to be on my own account, as
my private opinions upon these important subjects had long been
inflexibly determined. What I then deplored, and still deplore, was the
unhappy influence which that gloomy hesitation had, not only upon
particular characters, but even upon life in general; as being equally
the bane of action in our present state, and of such consolations as we
might derive from the hopes of a future.
'I have the pleasure of remaining with sincere esteem and respect,
'Dear Sir,
'Your most obedient humble servant,
'THOMAS BLACKLOCK.'
'Edinburgh, Nov. 12, 1785.'
I am very happy to find that Dr. Blacklock's apparent uneasiness on the
subject of Scepticism was not on his own account, (as I supposed) but
from a benevolent concern for the happiness of mankind. With respect,
however, to the question concerning poetry, and composing a dictionary,
I am confident that my state of Dr. Johnson's position is accurate. One
may misconceive the motive by which a person is induced to discuss a
particular topick (as in the case of Dr. Blacklock's speaking of
Scepticism); but an assertion, like that made by Dr. Johnson, cannot be
easily mistaken. And indeed it seems not very probable, that he who so
pathetically laments the _drudgery_[1153] to which the unhappy
lexicographer is doomed, and is known to have written his splendid
imitation of _Juvenal_ with astonishing rapidity[1154], should have had
'as much pleasure in writing a sheet of a dictionary as a sheet of
poetry[1155].' Nor can I concur with the ingenious writer of the
foregoing letter, in thinking it an axiom as evident as any in Euclid,
that 'poetry is of easier execution than lexicography.' I have no doubt
that Bailey[1156], and the 'mighty blunderbuss of law[1157],' Jacob,
wrote ten pages of their respective _Dictionaries_ with more ease than
they could have written five pages of poetry.
If this book should again be reprinted, I shall with the utmost
readiness correct any errours I may have committed, in stating
conversations, provided it can be clearly shewn to me that I have been
inaccurate. But I am slow to believe, (as I have elsewhere
observed[1158]) that any man's memory, at the distance of several years,
can preserve facts or sayings with such fidelity as may be done by
writing them down when they are recent: and I beg it may be remembered,
that it is not upon _memory_, but upon what was _written at the time_,
that the authenticity of my _Journal_ rests.
* * * * *
No. II.
Verses written by Sir Alexander (now Lord) Macdonald; addressed and
presented to Dr. Johnson, at Armidale in the Isle of Sky[1159].
Viator, o qui nostra per aequora
Visurus agros Skiaticos venis,
En te salutantes tributim
Undique conglomerantur oris.
Donaldiani,--quotquot in insulis
Compescit arctis limitibus mare;
Alitque jamdudum, ac alendos
Piscibus indigenas fovebit.
Ciere fluctus siste, Procelliger,
Nec tu laborans perge, precor, ratis,
Ne conjugem plangat marita,
Ne doleat soboles parentem.
Nec te vicissim poeniteat virum
Luxisse;--vestro scimus ut aestuant
In corde luctantes dolores,
Cum feriant inopina corpus.
Quidni! peremptum clade tuentibus
Plus semper illo qui moritur pati
Datur, doloris dum profundos
Pervia mens aperit recessus.
Valete luctus;--hinc lacrymabiles
Arcete visus:--ibimus, ibimus
Superbienti qua theatro
Fingaliae memorantur aulae.
Illustris hospes! mox spatiabere
Qua mens ruinae ducta meatibus
Gaudebit explorare coetus,
Buccina qua cecinit triumphos;
Audin? resurgens spirat anhelitu
Dux usitato, suscitat efficax
Poeta manes, ingruitque
Vi solitâ redivivus horror.
Ahaena quassans tela gravi manu
Sic ibat atrox Ossiani pater:
Quiescat urnâ, stet fidelis
Phersonius vigil ad favillam.
_Preparing for the Press, in one Volume Quarto_,