''Tis so like _truth_, 'twill serve _our_ turn as well.'
[714] In his _Dictionary_, he defines _punster as a low wit, who
endeavours at reputation by double meaning_. See _post_, April 28, 1778.
[715] I formerly thought that I had perhaps mistaken the word, and
imagined it to be _Corps_, from its similarity of sound to the real one.
For an accurate and shrewd unknown gentleman, to whom I am indebted for
some remarks on my work, observes on this passage--'Q. if not on the
word _Fort_? A vociferous French preacher said of Bourdaloue, "Il preche
_fort bien, et_ moi _bien fort_."'--Menagiana. See also Anecdotes
Litteraires, Article Bourdaloue. But my ingenious and obliging
correspondent, Mr. Abercrombie of Philadelphia, has pointed out to me
the following passage in _Menagiana_; which renders the preceding
conjecture unnecessary, and confirms my original statement:
'Madme de Bourdonne, Chanoinesse de Remiremont, venoit d'entendre un
discours plein de feu et d'esprit, mais fort peu solide, et
tresirregulier. Une de ses amies, qui y prenoit interet pour l'orateur,
lui dit en sortant, "Eh bien, Madme que vous semble-t-il de ce que vous
venez d'entendre?--Qu'il ya d'esprit?"--"Il y a tant, repondit Madme de
Bourdonne, que je n'y ai pas vu de _corps_"'--Menagiana, tome ii. p. 64.
Amsterd. 1713. BOSWELL. _Menagiana, ou les bans mots et remarques
critiques, historiqites, morales et derudition de M. Menage, recueillies
par ses amis_, published in 1693. Gilles Menage was born 1613,
died 1692.
[716] That Johnson only relished the conversation, and did not join in
it, is more unlikely. In his _charge_ to Boswell, he very likely pointed
out that what was said within was not to be reported without. Boswell
gives only brief reports of the talk at the Club, and these not openly.
See _post_, April 7, 1775, note.
[717] See _post_, the passage before Feb. 18, 1775.
[718] By the Rev. Henry Wharton, published in 1692.
[719] See _ante_, ii. 126, for what Johnson said of the _inward light_.
[720] Lady Diana Beauclerk. In 1768 Beauclerk married the eldest
daughter of the second Duke of Marlborough, two days after her divorce
from her first husband, Viscount Bolingbroke, the nephew of the famous
Lord Bolingbroke. She was living when her story, so slightly veiled as
it is, was thus published by Boswell. The marriage was not a happy one.
Two years after Beauclerk's death, Mr. Burke, looking at his widow's
house, said in Miss Burney's presence:--'I am extremely glad to see her
at last so well housed; poor woman! the bowl has long rolled in misery;
I rejoice that it has now found its balance. I never myself so much
enjoyed the sight of happiness in another, as in that woman when I first
saw her after the death of her husband.' He then drew Beauclerk's
character 'in strong and marked expressions, describing the misery he
gave his wife, his singular ill-treatment of her, and the necessary
relief the death of such a man must give.' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_,
ii. 147.
[721] Old Mr. Langton. CROKER. See _post_, April 26, 1776.
[722] See _post_, Sept. 22, 1777.
[723] See _post_, May 15, 1776.
[724] The writer of hymns.
[725] Malone says that 'Hawkesworth was introduced by Garrick to Lord
Sandwich, who, thinking to put a few hundred pounds into his pocket,
appointed him to revise and publish _Cook's Voyages_. He scarcely did
anything to the MSS., yet sold it to Cadell and Strahan for AL6000.'
Prior's _Malone_, p. 441. Thurlow, in his speech on copy-right on March
24, 1774, said 'that Hawkesworth's book, which was a mere composition of
trash, sold for three guineas by the booksellers' monopolizing.' _Parl.
Hist_. xvii. 1086. See _ante_, i. 253, note 1, and Boswell's
_Hebrides_, Oct. 3.
[726] Gilbert White held 'that, though most of the swallow kind may
migrate, yet that some do stay behind, and bide with us during the
winter.' White's _Selborne_, Letter xii. See _ante_, ii. 55.
[727] See _ante_, ii. 73.
[728] No. 41. 'The sparrow that was hatched last spring makes her first
nest the ensuing season of the same materials, and with the same art as
in any following year; and the hen conducts and shelters her first brood
of chickens with all the prudence that she ever attains.'
[729] See _post_, April 3, 1776, April 3, 1779, and April 28, 1783.
[730] Rousseau went further than Johnson in this. About eleven years
earlier he had, in his _Contract Social_, iv. 8, laid down certain
'simple dogmas,' such as the belief in a God and a future state, and
said:--'Sans pouvoir obliger personne A les croire, il [le Souverain]
peut bannir de l'Etat quiconque ne les croit pas: ... Que si quelquiun,
aprA"s avoir reconne publiquement ces mA¬mes dogmes, se conduit comme ne
les croyant pas, qu'il soit puni de mort; il a commis le plus grand des
crimes, il a menti devant les lois.'
[731] See _post_, 1780, in Mr. Langton's _Collection_.
[732] Boswell calls Elwal Johnson's countryman, because they both came
from the same county. See _ante_, ii.
[733] Baretti, in a MS. note on _Piozzi Letters_, i. 219,
says:--'Johnson would have made an excellent Spanish inquisitor. To his
shame be it said, he always was tooth and nail against toleration.'
[734] Dr. Mayo's calm temper and steady perseverance, rendered him an
admirable subject for the exercise of Dr. Johnson's powerful abilities.
He never flinched; but, after reiterated blows, remained seemingly
unmoved as at the first. The scintillations of Johnson's genius flashed
every time he was struck, without his receiving any injury. Hence he
obtained the epithet of The Literary Anvil. BOSWELL. See _post_, April
15, 1778, for an account of another dinner at Mr. Dilly's, where Johnson
and Mayo met.
[735] The Young Pretender, Charles Edward.
[736] Mr. Croker, quoting Johnson's letter of May 20, 1775 (_Piozzi
Letters_, i. 219), where he says, 'I dined in a large company at a
dissenting bookseller's yesterday, and disputed against toleration with
one Doctor Meyer,' continues:--'This must have been the dinner noted in
the text; but I cannot reconcile the date, and the mention of the death
of the Queen of Denmark, which happened on May 10, 1775, ascertains that
the date of the _letter_ is correct. Boswell ... must, I think, have
misdated and misplaced his note of the conversation.' That the dinner
did not take place in May, 1775, is, however, quite clear. By that date
Goldsmith had been dead more than a year, and Goldsmith bore a large
part in the talk at the Dilly's table. On the other hand, there can be
no question about the correctness of the date of the letter. Wesley, in
his _Journal_ for 1757 (ii. 349), mentions 'Mr. Meier, chaplain to one
of the Hanoverian regiments.' Perhaps he is the man whom Johnson met
in 1775.
[737] See _ante_, i. 423, note 2.
[738] 'It is very possible he had to call at Covent-garden on his way,
and that for this, and not for Boswell's reason, he had taken his hat
early. The actor who so assisted him in Young Marlow was taking his
benefit this seventh of May; and for an additional attraction Goldsmith
had written him an epilogue.' Forster's _Goldsmith_, ii. 376.
[739] Johnson was not given to interrupting a speaker. Hawkins (_Life_,
p. 164), describing his conversation, says:--'For the pleasure he
communicated to his hearers he expected not the tribute of silence; on
the contrary, he encouraged others, particularly young men, to speak,
and paid a due attention to what they said.' See _post_, under April 29,
1776, note.
[740] That this was Langton can be seen from Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug.
22, 1773, and from Johnson's letters of July 5, 1773, July 5, 1774, and
Jan. 21, 1775.
[741] See _post_, April 28, 1783.
[742] _Pr. and Med_. p. 40. Boswell.
[743] See _ante_, i. 489.
[744] 'In England,' wrote Burke, 'the Roman Catholics are a sect; in
Ireland they are a nation.' Burke's _Corres_. iv. 89.
[745] 'The celebrated number of _ten_ persecutions has been determined
by the ecclesiastical writers of the fifth century, who possessed a more
distinct view of the prosperous or adverse fortunes of the church, from
the age of Nero to that of Diocletian. The ingenious parallels of the
_ten_ plagues of Egypt, and of the _ten_ horns of the Apocalypse, first
suggested this calculation to their minds.' Gibbon's _Decline and Fall_,
ch. xvi, ed. 1807, ii. 370.
[746] See _ante_, ii. 121, 130.
[747] See _ante_, ii. 105.
[748] Reynolds said:--'Johnson had one virtue which I hold one of the
most difficult to practise. After the heat of contest was over, if he
had been informed that his antagonist resented his rudeness, he was the
first to seek after a reconciliation.' Taylor's _Reynolds_, ii. 457. He
wrote to Dr. Taylor in 1756:--'When I am musing alone, I feel a pang for
every moment that any human being has by my peevishness or obstinacy
spent in uneasiness.' _Notes and Queries_, 6th S., v. 324. More than
twenty years later he said in Miss Burney's hearing:--'I am always sorry
when I make bitter speeches, and I never do it but when I am
insufferably vexed.' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, i. 131. 'When the fray was
over,' writes Murphy (_Life_, p. 140), 'he generally softened into
repentance, and, by conciliating measures, took care that no animosity
should be left rankling in the breast of the antagonist.' See
_ante_, ii. 109.
[749] Johnson had offended Langton as well as Goldsmith this day, yet of
Goldsmith only did he ask pardon. Perhaps this fact increased Langton's
resentment, which lasted certainly more than a year. See _post_, July 5,
1774, and Jan. 21, 1775.
[750] 'Addison, speaking of his own deficiency in conversation, used to
say of himself, that with respect to intellectual wealth he could draw
bills for a thousand pounds, though he had not a guinea in his pocket.'
Johnson's _Works_, vii. 446. Somewhat the same thought may be found in
_The Tatler_, No. 30, where it is said that 'a man endowed with great
perfections without good-breeding, is like one who has his pockets full
of gold, but always wants change for his ordinary occasions.' I have
traced it still earlier, for Burnet in his _History of his own Times_,
i. 210, says, that 'Bishop Wilkins used to say Lloyd had the most
learning in ready cash of any he ever knew.' Later authors have used the
same image. Lord Chesterfield (_Letters_, ii. 291) in 1749 wrote of Lord
Bolingbroke:--'He has an infinite fund of various and almost universal
knowledge, which, from the clearest and quickest conception and happiest
memory that ever man was blessed with, he always carries about him. It
is his pocket-money, and he never has occasion to draw upon a book for
any sum.' Southey wrote in 1816 (_Life and Corres_. iv. 206):--'I wish
to avoid a conference which will only sink me in Lord Liverpool's
judgment; what there may be in me is not payable at sight; give me
leisure and I feel my strength.' Rousseau was in want of readiness like
Addison:--'Je fais d'excellens impromptus A loisir; mais sur le temps je
n'ai jamais rien fait ni dit qui vaille. Je ferais une fort jolie
conversation par la poste, comme on dit que les Espagnols jouent aux
A(C)checs. Quand je lus le trait d'un Duc de Savoye qui se retourna,
faisant route, pour crier; _A votre gorge, marchand de Paris_, je dis,
me voilA .' _Les Confessions_, Livre iii. See also _post_, May 8, 1778.
[751] 'Among the many inconsistencies which folly produces, or infirmity
suffers in the human mind, there has often been observed a manifest and
striking contrariety between the life of an author and his writings; and
Milton, in a letter to a learned stranger, by whom he had been visited,
with great reason congratulates himself upon the consciousness of being
found equal to his own character, and having preserved in a private and
familiar interview that reputation which his works had procured him.'
_The Rambler_, No. 14.
[752] Prior (_Life of Goldsmith_, ii. 459) says that it was not a German
who interrupted Goldsmith but a Swiss, Mr. Moser, the keeper of the
Royal Academy (_post_, June 2, 1783). He adds that at a Royal Academy
dinner Moser interrupted another person in the same way, when Johnson
seemed preparing to speak, whereupon Goldsmith said, 'Are you sure that
_you_ can comprehend what he says?'
[753] Edmund Burke he called Mund; Dodsley, Doddy; Derrick, Derry;
Cumberland, Cumbey; Monboddo, Monny; Stockdale, Stockey. Mrs. Piozzi
represents him in his youth as calling Edmund Hector 'dear Mund.'
_Ante_, i. 93, note. Sheridan's father had been known as Sherry among
Swift and his friends. Swift's _Works_, ed. 1803, x. 256.
[754] Mr. Forster (_Life of Goldsmith_, ii. 103) on this remarks:--'It
was a courteous way of saying, "I wish _you_ [Davies] wouldn't call me
Goldy, whatever Mr. Johnson does."' That he is wrong in this is shown by
Boswell, in his letter to Johnson of Feb. 14, 1777, where he says:--'You
remember poor Goldsmith, when he grew important, and wished to appear
_Doctor Major_, could not bear your calling him _Goldy_.' See also
Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 14, 1773.
[755] The Reverend Thomas Bagshaw, M.A., who died on November 20, 1787,
in the seventy-seventh year of his age, Chaplain of Bromley College, in
Kent, and Rector of Southfleet. He had resigned the cure of Bromley
Parish some time before his death. For this, and another letter from Dr.
Johnson in 1784, to the same truely respectable man, I am indebted to
Dr. John Loveday, of the Commons [_ante_, i. 462, note 1], a son of the
late learned and pious John Loveday, Esq., of Caversham in Berkshire,
who obligingly transcribed them for me from the originals in his
possession. This worthy gentleman, having retired from business, now
lives in Warwickshire. The world has been lately obliged to him as the
Editor of the late Rev. Dr. Townson's excellent work, modestly entitled,
_A Discourse on the Evangelical History, from the Interment to the
Ascension of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ_; to which is prefixed, a
truly interesting and pleasing account of the authour, by the Reverend
Mr. Ralph Churton. BOSWELL.
[756] Sunday was May 9.
[757] As Langton was found to deeply resent Johnson's hasty expression
at the dinner on the 7th, we must assume that he had invited Johnson to
dine with him before the offence had been given.
[758] In the _Dictionary_ Johnson, as the second definition of
_metaphysical_, says: 'In Shakespeare it means _supernatural_ or
_preternatural_.' 'Creation' being beyond the nature of man, the right
derived from it is preternatural or metaphysical.
[759] See _ante_, i. 437.
[760] Hume, on Feb. 24 of this year, mentioned to Adam Smith as a late
publication Lord Monboddo's _Origin and Progress of Language_:--'It
contains all the absurdity and malignity which I suspected; but is writ
with more ingenuity and in a better style than I looked for.' J. H.
Burton's _Hume_, ii. 466. See _ante_, ii. 74.
[761] Monday was May 10.
[762] See _ante_, i. 413. Percy wrote of Goldsmith's envy:--'Whatever
appeared of this kind was a mere momentary sensation, which he knew not
how, like other men, to conceal.' Goldsmith's _Misc. Works_, i. 117.
[763] He might have applied to himself his own version of Ovid's lines,
_Genus et proavos_, &c., the motto to _The Rambler_, No. 46:--
'Nought from my birth or ancestors I claim; All is my own, my honor and
my shame.'
See _ante_, ii. 153.
[764] That Langton is meant is shewn by Johnson's letter of July 5
(_post_, p. 265). The man who is there described as leaving the town in
deep dudgeon was certainly Langton. 'Where is now my legacy?' writes
Johnson. He is referring, I believe, to the last part of his playful and
boisterous speech, where he says:--'I hope he has left me a legacy.' Mr.
Croker, who is great at suspicions, ridiculously takes the mention of a
legacy seriously, and suspects 'some personal disappointment at the
bottom of this strange obstreperous and sour merriment.' He might as
well accuse Falstaff of sourness in his mirth.
[765] See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Sept. 23, 1773, where Boswell makes the
same remark.
[766]
'Et quorum pars magna fui.'
'Yea, and was no small part thereof.'
Morris, Aćneids, ii. 6.
[767] Johnson, as drawn by Boswell, is too 'awful, melancholy, and
venerable.' Such 'admirable fooling' as he describes here is but rarely
shown in his pages. Yet he must often have seen equally 'ludicrous
exhibitions.' Hawkins (_Life_, p. 258) says, that 'in the talent of
humour there hardly ever was Johnson's equal, except perhaps among the
old comedians.' Murphy writes (Life, p. 139):--'Johnson was surprised to
be told, but it is certainly true, that with great powers of mind, wit
and humour were his shining talents.' Mrs. Piozzi confirms this. 'Mr.
Murphy,' she writes (_Anec_. p. 205), 'always said he was incomparable
at buffoonery.' She adds (p. 298):--'He would laugh at a stroke of
genuine humour, or sudden sally of odd absurdity, as heartily and freely
as I ever yet saw any man; and though the jest was often such as few
felt besides himself, yet his laugh was irresistible, and was observed
immediately to produce that of the company, not merely from the notion
that it was proper to laugh when he did, but purely out of want of power
to forbear it.' Miss Burney records:--'Dr. Johnson has more fun, and
comical humour, and love of nonsense about him than almost anybody I
ever saw.' Mine. D'Arblay's _Diary_, i. 204. See Boswell's own account,
_post_, end of vol. iv.
[768] _Pr. and Med_. p. 129. BOSWELL. See _post_, 1780, in Mr. Langton's
_Collection_ for Johnson's study of Low Dutch.
[769] 'Those that laugh at the portentous glare of a comet, and hear a
crow with equal tranquillity from the right or left, will yet talk of
times and situations proper for intellectual performances,' &c. _The
Idler_, No. xi. See _ante_, i. 332.
[770] 'He did not see at all with one of his eyes' (_ante_, i. 41).
[771] Not six months before his death, he wished me to teach him the
Scale of Musick:--'Dr. Burney, teach me at least the alphabet of your
language.' BURNEY.
[772] Accurata Burdonum [i.e. Scaligerorum] FabulA| Confutatio (auctore
I. R). Lugduni Batavorum. Apud Ludovicum Elzevirium MDCXVII. BRIT. MUS.
CATALOGUE.
[773] Mrs. Piozzi's _Anecdotes of Johnson_, p. 131. BOSWELL. Mrs. Piozzi
(_Anec_. p. 129) describes her mother and Johnson as 'excellent, far
beyond the excellence of any other man and woman I ever yet saw. As her
conduct extorted his truest esteem, her cruel illness excited all his
tenderness. He acknowledged himself improved by her piety, and over her
bed with the affection of a parent, and the reverence of a son.'
Baretti, in a MS. note on _Piozzi Letters_, i. 81, says that 'Johnson
could not much near Mrs. Salusbury, nor Mrs. Salusbury him, when they
first knew each other. But her cancer moved his compassion, and made
them friends.' Johnson, recording her death, says:--'Yesterday, as I
touched her hand and kissed it, she pressed my hand between her two
hands, which she probably intended as the parting caress ... This
morning being called about nine to feel her pulse, I said at parting,
"God bless you; for Jesus Christ's sake." She smiled as pleased.' _Pr.
and Med_. p. 128.
[774] Johnson wrote to Dr. Taylor July 22, 1782:--'Sir Robert Chambers
slipped this session through the fingers of revocation, but I am in
doubt of his continuance. Shelburne seems to be his enemy. Mrs. Thrale
says they will do him no harm. She perhaps thinks there is no harm
without hanging. The mere act of recall strips him of eight thousand a
year.' _Notes and Queries_, 6th S., v. 462.
[775] Beattie was Professor of Moral Philosophy. For some years his
'English friends had tried to procure for him a permanent provision
beyond the very moderate emoluments arising from his office.' Just
before Johnson wrote, Beattie had been privately informed that he was to
have a pension of AL200 a year. Forbes's _Beattie_, ed. 1824, pp. 145,
151. When Johnson heard of this 'he clapped his hands, and cried, "O
brave we!"' Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 26.
[776] Langton. See _ante_, p. 254, note 2.
[777] Langton--his native village.
[778] See _ante_, p. 261, note 2.
[779] That he set out on this day is shewn by his letter to Mrs. Thrale.
_Piozzi Letters_, ii. 103. The following anecdote in the _Memoir of
Goldsmith_, prefixed to his _Misc. Works_ (i. 110), is therefore
inaccurate:--'I was dining at Sir Joshua Reynolds's, August 7, 1773,
where were the Archbishop of Tuam and Mr. (now Lord) Eliot, when the
latter making use of some sarcastical reflections on Goldsmith, Johnson
broke out warmly in his defence, and in the course of a spirited
eulogium said, "Is there a man, Sir, now who can pen an essay with such
ease and elegance as Goldsmith?"' Johnson did in August, 1783, dine at
Reynolds's, and meet there the Archbishop of Tuam, 'a man coarse of
voice and inelegant of language' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 300.
[780] It was on Saturday the 14th of August that he arrived.
[781] From Aug. 14 to Nov. 22 is one hundred days.
[782] It is strange that not one of the four conferred on him an
honorary degree. This same year Beattie had been thus honoured at
Oxford. Gray, who visited Aberdeen eight years before Johnson, was
offered the degree of doctor of laws, 'which, having omitted to take it
at Cambridge, he thought it decent to refuse.' Johnson's _Works_,
viii. 479.
[783] He was long remembered amongst the lower order of Hebrideans by
the title of _Sassenach More_, the _big Englishman_. WALTER SCOTT.
[784] The first edition was published in September, 1785. In the
following August, in his preface to the third edition, Boswell speaks of
the first two editions 'as large impressions.'
[785] The authour was not a small gainer by this extraordinary Journey;
for Dr. Johnson thus writes to Mrs. Thrale, Nov. 3, 1773:--'Boswell will
praise my resolution and perseverance, and I shall in return celebrate
his good humour and perpetual cheerfulness. He has better faculties than
I had imagined; more justness of discernment, and more fecundity of
images. It is very convenient to travel with him; for there is no house
where he is not received with kindness and respect.' Let. 90, to Mrs.
Thrale. [_Piozzi Letters_, i. 198.] MALONE.
[786] 'The celebrated Flora Macdonald. See Boswell's _Tour_' COURTENAY.
[787] Lord Eldon (at that time Mr. John Scott) has the following
reminiscences of this visit:--'I had a walk in New Inn Hall Garden with
Dr. Johnson and Sir Robert Chambers [Principal of the Hall]. Sir Robert
was gathering snails, and throwing them over the wall into his
neighbours garden. The Doctor repreached him very roughly, and stated to
him that this was unmannerly and unneighbourly. "Sir," said Sir Robert,
"my neighbour is a Dissenter." "Oh!" said the Doctor, "if so, Chambers,
toss away, toss away, as hard as you can." He was very absent. I have
seen him standing for a very long time, without moving, with a foot on
each side the kennel which was then in the middle of the High Street,
with his eyes fixed on the water running in it. In the common-room of
University College he was dilating upon some subject, and the then head
of Lincoln College, Dr. Mortimer, occasionally interrupted him, saying,
"I deny that." This was often repeated, and observed upon by Johnson, in
terms expressive of increasing displeasure and anger. At length upon the
Doctor's repeating the words, "I deny that," "Sir, Sir," said Johnson,
"you must have forgot that an author has said: _Plus negabit tinus
asinus in una hora quam centum philosophi probaverint in centum
annis_."' [Dr. Fisher, who related this story to Mr. Croker, described
Dr. Mortimer as 'a Mr. Mortimer, a shallow under-bred man, who had no
sense of Johnson's superiority. He flatly contradicted some assertion
which Johnson had pronounced to be as clear as that two and two make
four.' Croker's _Boswell_, p. 483.] 'Mrs. John Scott used to relate that
she had herself helped Dr. Johnson one evening to fifteen cups of tea.'
Twiss's _Eldon_, i. 87.
[788] In this he shewed a very acute penetration. My wife paid him the
most assiduous and respectful attention, while he was our guest; so that
I wonder how he discovered her wishing for his departure. The truth is,
that his irregular hours and uncouth habits, such as turning the candles
with their heads downwards, when they did not burn bright enough, and
letting the wax drop upon the carpet, could not but be disagreeable to a
lady. Besides, she had not that high admiration of him which was felt by
most of those who knew him; and what was very natural to a female mind,
she thought he had too much influence over her husband. She once in a
little warmth, made, with more point than justice, this remark upon that
subject: 'I have seen many a bear led by a man; but I never before saw a
man led by a bear.' BOSWELL. See _ante_, ii. 66.
[789] Sir Alexander Gordon, one of the Professors at Aberdeen. BOSWELL.
[790] This was a box containing a number of curious things which he had
picked up in Scotland, particularly some horn spoons. BOSWELL.
[791] The Rev. Dr. Alexander Webster, one of the ministers of Edinburgh,
a man of distinguished abilities, who had promised him information
concerning the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. BOSWELL.
[792] The Macdonalds always laid claim to be placed on the right of the
whole clans, and those of that tribe assign the breach of this order at
Culloden as one cause of the loss of the day. The Macdonalds, placed on
the left wing, refused to charge, and positively left the field
unassailed and unbroken. Lord George Murray in vain endeavoured to urge
them on by saying, that their behaviour would make the left the right,
and that he himself would take the name of Macdonald. WALTER SCOTT.
[793] The whole of the first volume is Johnson's and three-quarters of
the second. A second edition was published the following year, with a
third volume added, which also contained pieces by Johnson, but no
apology from Davies.
[794] 'When Davies printed the _Fugitive Pieces_ without his knowledge
or consent; "How," said I, "would Pope have raved had he been served
so?" "We should never," replied he, "have heard the last on't, to be
sure; but then Pope was a narrow man: I will however," added he, "storm
and bluster _myself_ a little this time;"--so went to London in all the
wrath he could muster up. At his return I asked how the affair ended:
'"Why," said he, "I was a fierce fellow, and pretended to be very angry,
and Thomas was a good-natured fellow, and pretended to be very sorry; so
_there_ the matter ended: I believe the dog loves me dearly. Mr. Thrale"
(turning to my husband), "What shall you and I do that is good for Tom
Davies? We will do something for him to be sure."' Piozzi's _Anec_.
p. 55.
[795] _Prayers and Meditations_, BOSWELL.
[796] The ancient Burgh of Prestick, in Ayrshire. BOSWELL.
[797] Perhaps Johnson imperfectly remembered, '_novae rediere in
pristina vires_.' _AEneid_, xii. 424.
[798] See _ante_, i. 437. The decision was given on Feb. 22 against the
perpetual right. 'By the above decision near 200,000AL. worth of what was
honestly purchased at public sale, and which was yesterday thought
property, is now reduced to nothing.... The English booksellers have now
no other security in future for any literary purchase they may make but
the statute of the 8th of Queen Anne, which secures to the authors
assigns an exclusive property for 14 years, to revert again to the
author, and vest in him for 14 years more.' _Ann. Reg_. 1774, i. 95.
[799] Murphy was a barrister as well as author.
[800] Mr. Croker quotes a note by Malone to show that in the catalogue
of Steevens's Library this book is described as a quarto, _corio turcico
foliis deauratis_.
[801] A manuscript account drawn by Dr. Webster of all the parishes in
Scotland, ascertaining their length, breadth, number of inhabitants, and
distinguishing Protestants and Roman Catholicks. This book had been
transmitted to government, and Dr. Johnson saw a copy of it in Dr.
Webster's possession. BOSWELL.
[802] Beauclerk, three weeks earlier, had written to Lord
Charlemont:--'Our club has dwindled away to nothing. Nobody attends but
Mr. Chambers, and he is going to the East Indies. Sir Joshua and
Goldsmith have got into such a round of pleasures that they have no
time.' Charlemont's _Life_, i. 350. Johnson, no doubt, had been kept
away by illness (_ante_, p. 272).
[803] Mr. Fox, as Sir James Mackintosh informed me, was brought in by
Burke. CROKER.
[804] Sir C. Bunbury was the brother of Mr. H. W. Bunbury, the
caricaturist, who married Goldsmith's friend, the elder Miss
Horneck--'Little Comedy' as she was called. Forster's _Goldsmith_,
ii. 147.
[805] Rogers (_Table-Talk_, p. 23) tells how Dr. Fordyce, who sometimes
drank a good deal, was summoned to a lady patient when he was conscious
that he had had too much wine. 'Feeling her pulse, and finding himself
unable to count its beats, he muttered, "Drunk by G--." Next morning a
letter from her was put into his hand. "She too well knew," she wrote,
"that he had discovered the unfortunate condition in which she had been,
and she entreated him to keep the matter secret in consideration of the
enclosed (a hundred-pound bank-note)."'
[806] Steevens wrote to Garrick on March 6:--'Mr. C. Fox pays you but a
bad compliment; as he appears, like the late Mr. Secretary Morris, to
enter the society at a time when he has _nothing else to do_. If the
_bon ton_ should prove a contagious disorder among us, it will be
curious to trace its progress. I have already seen it breaking out in
Dr. G----[Goldsmith] under the form of many a waistcoat, but I believe
Dr. G---- will be the last man in whom the symptoms of it will be
detected.' _Garrick Corres_. i. 613. In less than a month poor Goldsmith
was dead. Fox, just before his election to the club, had received
through one of the doorkeepers of the House of Commons the following
note:--'SIR,--His Majesty has thought proper to order a new commission
of the Treasury to be made out, in which I do not perceive your
name. NORTH.'
[807] See Boswell's answer, _post_, May 12.
[808] See _post_, April 16, 1775.
[809] See _ante_, i. 122, note 2.
[810] Iona.
[811] 'I was induced,' he says, 'to undertake the journey by finding in
Mr. Boswell a companion, whose acuteness would help my inquiry, and
whose gaiety of conversation and civility of manners are sufficient to
counteract the inconveniences of travel in countries less hospitable
than we have passed.' Quoted by Boswell in his _Hebrides_, Aug.
18, 1773.
[812] See _post_, Nov. 16, 1776.
[813] Boswell wrote to Temple on May 8, 1779:--'I think Dr. Johnson
never answered but three of my letters, though I have had numerous
returns from him.' _Letters of Boswell_. See _post_, Sept. 29, 1777.
[814] Dr. Goldsmith died April 4, this year. BOSWELL. Boswell wrote to
Garrick on April 11, 1774:--'Dr. Goldsmith's death would affect all the
club much. I have not been so much affected with any event that has
happened of a long time. I wish you would give me, who am at a distance,
some particulars with regard to his last appearance.' _Garrick
Corres_. i. 622.
[815] See _ante_, p. 265.
[816] See _ante_, ii. 27, and Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 29, 1773.
[817] These books Dr. Johnson presented to the Bodleian Library,
BOSWELL.
[818] On the cover enclosing them, Dr. Johnson wrote, 'If my delay has
given any reason for supposing that I have not a very deep sense of the
honour done me by asking my judgement, I am very sorry.' BOSWELL.
[819] See _post_, March 20, 1776.
[820] 'Sir Joshua was much affected by the death of Goldsmith, to whom
he had been a very sincere friend. He did not touch the pencil for that
day, a circumstance most extraordinary for him who passed _no day
without a line_. Northcote's _Reynolds_, i. 325.
[821] He owed his tailor AL79, though he had paid him AL110 in 1773. In
this payment was included AL35 for his nephew's clothes. We find such
entries in his own bills as--'To Tyrian bloom satin grain and, garter
blue silk beeches 8AL 2s. 7d. To Queen's-blue dress suit 11AL 17s. 0d. To
your blue velvet suit 21AL 10s. 9d.' (See _ante_, ii. 83.) Filby's son
said to Mr. Prior:--'My father attributed no blame to Goldsmith; he had
been a good customer, and had he lived would have paid every farthing.'
Prior's _Goldsmith_, ii. 232.
[822] 'Soon after Goldsmith's death certain persons dining with Sir
Joshua commented rather freely on some part of his works, which, in
their opinion, neither discovered talent nor originality. To this Dr.
Johnson listened in his usual growling manner; when, at length, his
patience being exhausted, he rose with great dignity, looked them full
in the face, and exclaimed, "If nobody was suffered to abuse poor Goldy,
but those who could write as well, he would have few censors."'
Northcote's _Reynolds_, i. 327. To Goldsmith might be applied the words
that Johnson wrote of Savage (_Works_, viii. 191):--'Vanity may surely
be readily pardoned in him to whom life afforded no other comforts than
barren praises, and the consciousness of deserving them. Those are no
proper judges of his conduct who have slumbered away their time on the
down of plenty; nor will any wise man presume to say, "Had I been in
Savage's condition, I should have lived or written better than Savage."'
[823] Mrs. Thrale's mother died the summer before (_ante_, p. 263). Most
of her children died early. By 1777 she had lost seven out of eleven.
_Post_, May 3, 1777.
[824] Johnson had not seen Langton since early in the summer of 1773. He
was then suffering from a fever and an inflammation in the eye, for
which he was twice copiously bled. (_Pr. and Med_. 130.) The following
winter he was distressed by a cough. (_Ib_ p. 135.) Neither of these
illnesses was severe enough to be called dreadful. In the spring of 1770
he was very ill. (_Ib_ p. 93.) On Sept. 18, 1771, he records:--'For the
last year I have been slowly recovering from the violence of my last
illness.' (_Ib_ p. 104.) On April 18, 1772, in reviewing the last year,
he writes:--'An unpleasing incident is almost certain to hinder my rest;
this is the remainder of my last illness.' (_Ib_ p. iii.) In the winter
of 1772-3, he suffered from a cough. (_Ib_ p. 121.) I think that he must
mean the illness of 1770, though it is to be noticed that he wrote to
Boswell on July 5, 1773:--'Except this eye [the inflamed eye] I am very
well.' (_Ante_, p. 264.)
[825] 'Lord have mercy upon us.'
[826] See Johnson's _Works_, i. 172, for his Latin version. D'Israeli
(_Curiosities of Literature_, ed. 1834, vi. 368) says 'that Oldys
[_ante_, i. 175] always asserted that he was the author of this song,
and as he was a rigid lover of truth I doubt not that he wrote it. I
have traced it through a dozen of collections since the year 1740, the
first in which I find it.'
[827] Mr. Seward (_Anec_, ii. 466) gives the following version of these
lines:
'Whoe'er thou art with reverence tread
Where Goldsmith's letter'd dust is laid.
If nature and the historic page,
If the sweet muse thy care engage.
Lament him dead whose powerful mind
Their various energies combined.'
[828] See _ante_, p. 265.
[829] At Lleweney, the house of Mrs. Thrale's cousin, Mr. Cotton, Dr.
Johnson stayed nearly three weeks. Johnson's _Journey into North Wales_,
July 28, 1774. Mr. Fitzmaurice, Lord Shelburne's brother, had a house
there in 1780; for Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale on May 7 of that
year:--'He has almost made me promise to pass part of the summer at
Llewenny.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 113.
[830] Lord Hailes was Sir David Dalrymple. See _ante_, i. 267. He is not
to be confounded with Sir John Dalrymple, mentioned _ante_, ii. 210.
[831]
E'en in a bishop I can spy desert;
Seeker is decent, Rundel has a heart.'
Pope's _Epilogue to the Satires_, ii. 70.
[832] In the first two editions _forenoon_. Boswell, in three other
passages, made the same change in the third edition. _Forenoon_ perhaps
he considered a Scotticism. The correction above being made in one of
his letters, renders it likely that he corrected them before
publication.
[833] Horace, _Ars Poet_. l. 373.
[834] 'Do not you long to hear the roarings of the old lion over the
bleak mountains of the North?' wrote Steevens to Garrick. _Garrick
Corres_, ii. 122.
[835] 'Aug. 16. We came to Penmanmaur by daylight, and found a way,
lately made, very easy and very safe. It was cut smooth and enclosed
between parallel walls; the outer of which secures the passenger from
the precipice, which is deep and dreadful.... The sea beats at the
bottom of the way. At evening the moon shone eminently bright: and our
thoughts of danger being now past, the rest of our journey was very
pleasant. At an hour somewhat late we came to Bangor, where we found a
very mean inn, and had some difficulty to obtain lodging. I lay in a
room where the other bed had two men.' Johnson's _Journey into
North Wales_.
[836] He did not go to the top of Snowdon. He says:--'On the side of
Snowdon are the remains of a large fort, to which we climbed with great
labour. I was breathless and harassed,' _Ib_ Aug. 26.
[837] I had written to him, to request his interposition in behalf of a
convict, who I thought was very unjustly condemned. BOSWELL.
[838] He had kept a journal which was edited by Mr. Duppa in 1816. It
will be found _post_, in vol. v.
[839] 'When the general election broke up the delightful society in
which we had spent some time at Beconsfield, Dr. Johnson shook the
hospitable master of the house [Burke] kindly by the hand, and said,
"Farewell my dear Sir, and remember that I wish you all the success
which ought to be wished you, which can possibly be wished you
indeed--_by an honest man_."' Piozzi's _Anec_. p. 242. The dissolution
was on Sept. 30. Johnson, with the Thrales, as his _Journal_ shows, had
arrived at Beconsfield on the 24th. See _ante_, ii. 222, for Johnson's
opinion of Burke's honesty.
[840] Mr. Perkins was for a number of years the worthy superintendant of
Mr. Thrale's great brewery, and after his death became one of the
proprietors of it; and now resides in Mr. Thrale's house in Southwark,
which was the scene of so many literary meetings, and in which he
continues the liberal hospitality for which it was eminent. Dr. Johnson
esteemed him much. He hung up in the counting-house a fine proof of the
admirable mizzotinto of Dr. Johnson, by Doughty; and when Mrs. Thrale
asked him somewhat flippantly, 'Why do you put him up in the
counting-house?' he answered, 'Because, Madam, I wish to have one wise
man there.' 'Sir,' (said Johnson,) 'I thank you. It is a very handsome
compliment, and I believe you speak sincerely.' BOSWELL.
[841] In the news-papers. BOSWELL.
[842] 'Oct. 16, 1774. In Southwark there has been outrageous rioting;
but I neither know the candidates, their connections, nor success.'
Horace Walpole's _Letters_, vi. 134. Of one Southwark election Mrs.
Piozzi writes (_Anec_. p. 214):--'A Borough election once showed me Mr.
Johnson's toleration of boisterous mirth. A rough fellow, a hatter by
trade, seeing his beaver in a state of decay seized it suddenly with one
hand, and clapping him on the back with the other. "Ah, Master Johnson,"
says he, "this is no time to be thinking about _hats_." "No, no, Sir,"
replies our doctor in a cheerful tone, "hats are of no use now, as you
say, except to throw up in the air and huzza with," accompanying his
words with the true election halloo.'
[843] See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 19, 1773. Johnson thus mentions him
(_Works_, ix. 142):--'Here we had the last embrace of this amiable man,
who, while these pages were preparing to attest his virtues, perished in
the passage between Ulva and Inch Kenneth.'
[844] Alluding to a passage in a letter of mine, where speaking of his
_Journey to the Hebrides_, I say, 'But has not _The Patriot_ been an
interruption, by the time taken to write it, and the time luxuriously
spent in listening to its applauses?' BOSWELL.
[845] We had projected a voyage together up the Baltic, and talked of
visiting some of the more northern regions. BOSWELL. See Boswell's
_Hebrides_, Sept. 16.
[846] See _ante_, i. 72.
[847] John Hoole, the son of a London watchmaker, was born in Dec. 1727,
and died on Aug. 2, 1803. At the age of seventeen he was placed as a
clerk in the East-India House; but, like his successors, James and John
Stuart Mill, he was an author as well as a clerk. See _ante_, i. 383.
[848] _Cleonice_. BOSWELL. Nichols (_Lit. Anec_. ii. 407) says that as
_Cleonice_ was a failure on the stage 'Mr. Hoole returned a considerable
part of the money which he had received for the copy-right, alleging
that, as the piece was not successful on the stage, it could not be very
profitable to the bookseller, and ought not to be a loss.'
[849] See _ante_, i. 255.
[850] See _post_, March 20, 1776.
[851] 'The King,' wrote Horace Walpole on Jan. 21, 1775 (_Letters_, vi.
179), 'sent for the book in MS., and then wondering said, "I protest,
Johnson seems to be a Papist and a Jacobite--so he did not know why he
had been made to give him a pension."'
[852] Boswell's little daughter. Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug, 15, 1773.
[853] 'Bis dat qui cito dat, minimi gratia tarda pretii est.' Alciat's
_Emblems_, Alciati _Opera_ 1538, p. 821.
[854] It was at the Turk's Head coffee-house in the Strand. See _ante_,
i. 450.
[855] _Hamlet_, act iii. sc. 2.
[856] 'Exegi monumentum A|re perennius.' Horace, _Odes_, iii. 30. I.
[857] The second edition was not brought out till the year after
Johnson's death. These mistakes remain uncorrected. Johnson's _Works_,
ix. 44. 150.
[858] See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 23.
[859] In the Court of Session of Scotland an action is first tried by
one of the Judges, who is called the Lord Ordinary; and if either party
is dissatisfied, he may appeal to the whole Court, consisting of
fifteen, the Lord President and fourteen other Judges, who have both in
and out of Court the title of Lords, from the name of their estates; as,
Lord Auchinleck, Lord Monboddo, &c. BOSWELL. See _ante_, ii. 201,
note 1.
[860] Johnson had thus written of him (_Works_, ix. 115):--'I suppose my
opinion of the poems of Ossian is already discovered. I believe they
never existed in any other form than that which we have seen. The
editor, or author, never could show the original; nor can it be shown by
any other. To revenge reasonable incredulity by refusing evidence is a
degree of insolence with which the world is not yet acquainted; and
stubborn audacity is the last refuge of guilt.' See _ante_, ii. 126.
[861] _Taxation no Tyranny_. See _post_, under March 21, 1775.
[862] See _ante_, p. 265.
[863] In Tickell's _Epistle from the Hon. Charles Fox to the Hon. John
Townshend_ (1779) are the following lines (p. 11):--
'Soon as to Brooks's thence thy footsteps bend,
What gratulations thy approach attend!
See Beauclerk's cheek a tinge of red surprise,
And friendship give what cruel health denies.'
[864] It should be recollected, that this fanciful description of his
friend was given by Johnson after he himself had become a water-drinker.
BOSWELL. Johnson, _post_, April 18, 1775, describes one of his friends
as _muddy_. On April 12, 1776, in a discussion about wine, when Reynolds
said to him, 'You have sat by, quite sober, and felt an envy of the
happiness of those who were drinking,' he replied, 'Perhaps, contempt.'
On April 28, 1778, he said to Reynolds: 'I won't argue any more with
you, Sir. You are too far gone.' See also _ante_, i. 313, note 3, where
he said to him: 'Sir, I did not count your glasses of wine, why should
you number up my cups of tea?'
[865] See them in _Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides_, 3rd edit. p. 337
[Oct. 17]. BOSWELL.
[866] He now sent me a Latin inscription for my historical picture of
Mary Queen of Scots, and afterwards favoured me with an English
translation. Mr. Alderman Boydell, that eminent Patron of the Arts, has
subjoined them to the engraving from my picture.
'Maria Scotorum Regina
Homimun seditiosorum
Contumeliis lassata,
Minis territa, clamoribus victa
Libello, per quem
Regno cedit,
Lacrimans trepidansque
Nomen apponit?'
'Mary Queen of Scots,
Harassed, terrified, and overpowered
By the insults, menaces,
And clamours
Of her rebellious subjects,
Sets her hand,
With tears and confusion,
To a resignation of the kingdom.'