already too long; and we must close it. We would fain
part in good humour from the hero, from the biographer,
and even from the editor, who, ill as he has performed his 15
task, has at least this claim to our gratitude, that he has
induced us to read Boswell's book again. As we close it, the
club-room is before us, and the table on which stands the
omelet for Nugent, and the lemons for Johnson. There are
assembled those heads which live for ever on the canvass of 20
Reynolds. There are the spectacles of Burke and the tall
thin form of Langton, the courtly sneer of Beauclerk, and the
beaming smile of Garrick, Gibbon tapping his snuff-box, and
Sir Joshua with his trumpet in his ear. In the foreground is
that strange figure which is as familiar to us as the figures of 25
those among whom we have been brought up, the gigantic
body, the huge massy face, seamed with the scars of disease,
the brown coat, the black worsted stockings, the grey wig
with the scorched foretop, the dirty hands, the nails bitten
and pared to the quick. We see the eyes and mouth moving 30
with convulsive twitches; we see the heavy form rolling; we
hear it puffing; and then comes the "Why, sir!" and the
"What then, sir?" and the "No, sir!" and the "You don't
see your way through the question, sir!"
39. What a singular destiny has been that of this remarkable
man! To be regarded in his own age as a classic, and 5
in ours as a companion. To receive from his contemporaries
that full homage which men of genius have in general received
only from posterity! To be more intimately known to posterity
than other men are known to their contemporaries!
That kind of fame which is commonly the most transient is, 10
in his case, the most durable. The reputation of those writings,
which he probably expected to be immortal, is every day
fading; while those peculiarities of manner and that careless
table-talk, the memory of which, he probably thought, would
die with him, are likely to be remembered as long as the 15
English language is spoken in any quarter of the globe.
NOTES
=PAGE 1.= LINE 4. =Lichfield.= Observe how near Lichfield comes to
being in the exact center of England.
=1= 4-5. =the midland counties.= As you run your eye over the map, what
counties should you naturally include under this head? In what county
is Lichfield?
=1= 9. =oracle.= "Johnson, the Lichfield 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."--From a letter written by Rev. George Plaxton, quoted
by Boswell.
=1= 10-11. =a strong religious and political sympathy.= Macaulay's use
of the article would lead us to think that the two kinds of sympathy
were very closely connected. Michael Johnson was a member of the
Established Church of England, and at heart a believer in the "divine
right" kings. The student who is not familiar with the history of
this period will do well to look up _Jacobite_ in Brewer's _Historic
Note-book_ and then to read in some brief history an account of the
_sovereigns in possession_ who followed James II,--William and Mary
(1689-1702) and Anne (1702-1714). Boswell says, "He no doubt had an
early attachment to the House of Stuart; but his zeal had cooled as his
reason strengthened."
=1= 16. =In the child.= Pause to take the glimpse ahead which this
sentence gives. The construction helps one to remember the three kinds
of peculiarities and the order in which they are mentioned.
=2= 26. =Augustan delicacy of taste.= You may read in Harper's
_Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities_, in the article
on Augustus Cæsar, how "the court of Augustus thus became a school of
culture, where men of genius acquired that delicacy of taste, elevation
of sentiment, and purity of expression which characterize the writers
of the age."
=2= 32. =Petrarch.= Does Macaulay imply that Petrarch is one of "the
great restorers of learning"? See _Renaissance_ in _The Century
Dictionary_ and Harper's _Dictionary of Classical Literature and
Antiquities_. Note that Petrarch "may be said to have rediscovered
Greek, which for some six centuries had been lost to the western
world." Keep in mind, too, that his friend and disciple, Boccaccio,
translated Homer into Latin.
=3= 11. =Pembroke College.= The University of Oxford consists of
twenty-one colleges which together form a corporate body. The colleges
are "endowed by their founders and others with estates and benefices;
out of the revenue arising from the estates, as well as other
resources, the Heads and Senior and Junior Members _on the foundation_
receive an income, and the expenses of the colleges are defrayed.
Members _not on the foundation_, called 'independent members,' reside
entirely at their own expense." Among the members _on the foundation_
are the Heads, Fellows, and Scholars.
=3= 17-18. =Macrobius.= A Roman grammarian who probably lived at the
beginning of the fifth century.
=3= 20. =about three years.= Apparently Johnson remained at Oxford
only fourteen months. See Dr. Hill's _Dr. Johnson, His Friends and His
Critics_.
=4= 1-2. "It was bitterness which they mistook for frolic. 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."--Johnson, quoted
by Boswell. Although aware of what he considered the defects of his
college, Johnson loved Pembroke as long as he lived. He delighted in
boasting of its eminent graduates and would have left to it his house
at Lichfield had not wiser friends induced him to bequeath it to some
poor relatives.
=4= 15-16. =his father died.= "I now therefore see that I must make my
own fortune. Meanwhile let me take care that the powers of my mind be
not debilitated by poverty, and that indigence do not force me into any
criminal act."--Johnson, quoted by Boswell.
=5= 32. =Walmesley.= "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."--Johnson, quoted by
Boswell.
=6= 13. =Politian.= Another of "the great restorers of learning" (see
=2= 31). His beginning of a translation of the _Iliad_ into Latin
attracted the attention of Lorenzo de' Medici, under whose patronage he
became one of the first scholars of Italy.
=6= 17. =fell in love.= Boswell says that Johnson's early attachments
to the fair sex were "very transient," and considers it but natural
that when the passion of love once seized him it should be exceedingly
strong, concentrated as it was in one object.
=6= 22. =Queensberrys and Lepels.= Families of high rank in England.
=7= 3-4. =half ludicrous.= Carlyle says it is no matter for ridicule
that the man "whose look all men both laughed at and shuddered at,
should find any brave female heart, to acknowledge, at first sight
and hearing of him, 'This is the most sensible man I ever met with';
and then, with generous courage, to take him to itself, and say Be
thou mine!... Johnson's deathless affection for his Tetty was always
venerable and noble."
=7= 6-7. At Edial. Although this enterprise did not prosper, the man,
as Carlyle says, "was to become a Teacher of grown gentlemen, in the
most surprising way; a man of Letters, and Ruler of the British Nation
for some time,--not of their bodies merely, but of their minds; not
over them, but _in_ them."
=7= 13. =David Garrick.= The mere fact that this celebrated actor and
successful manager brought out twenty-four of Shakspere's plays is
reason enough why we should look him up. A slight knowledge of his
career enables one to enjoy all the more the frequent references to
him in Boswell's _Life of Johnson_. After reading the sketch in the
_Encyclopædia Britannica_ it would be a good plan to read Boswell's
references consecutively by means of the index.
=8= 9. =Fielding.= For an enjoyable short sketch of the first great
English novelist, see Thackeray's _English Humourists_.
=8= 10. =The Beggar's Opera=, by John Gay, appeared in 1728.
=8= 19. =knot.= See _The Century Dictionary_.
=8= 34. =Drury Lane.= A street in the heart of the city, near the
Strand,--one of the chief thoroughfares. It was beginning to lose its
old-time respectability.
=9= 9. =the sight of food.= Once when Boswell was giving a dinner and
one of the company was late, Boswell proposed to order dinner to be
served, adding, "'Ought six people to be kept waiting for one?' 'Why,
yes,' answered Johnson, with a delicate humanity, 'if the one will
suffer more by your sitting down than the six will do by waiting.'" Is
it probable that Macaulay exaggerates?
=9= 27. =Harleian Library.= The library collected by Robert Harley,
First Earl of Oxford. Osborne afterwards bought it and Johnson did some
of the cataloguing for him. As to Osborne's punishment, Boswell says:
"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.'"
=10= 6. =Blefuscu, Mildendo.= If Blefuscu and Mildendo look unfamiliar,
go to Lilliput for them. (See _Gulliver's Travels_.)
=10= 9. "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 accessory to the propagation of
falsehood.'"--Boswell.
=10= 15. Cf. _The Traveller_. Do you suppose that either Johnson or
Goldsmith really believed that one form of government is as good as
another?
=10= 17. =Montagues.= See Shakspere's _Romeo and Juliet_.
_10_ 18. =Greens.= In Roman chariot races there was the bitterest
rivalry between the different colors of the factions, and the betting
often led to scenes of riot and bloodshed. Once in Justinian's reign,
in the great circus at Constantinople, the tumult was not suppressed
till about thirty thousand of the rioters had been killed. See Gibbon,
_Decline and Fall_, Chapter XL.
=10= 22. =Sacheverell.= What do you gather from the context about this
preacher? Was he high church? Did he preach resistance to the king?
=10= 31. =Tom Tempest.= See Johnson's _Idler_, No. 10.
=10= 32. =Laud.= Read in Gardiner's _Student's History of England_ the
account of this archbishop who tried to enforce uniformity of worship.
=11= 2-4. =Hampden, Falkland, Clarendon.= In the case of these three
statesmen, as well as in the case of Laud, the context shows which of
them were supporters of Charles I and which resisted him. Does Macaulay
imply that Johnson would have been excusable if he had sympathized with
Hampden's refusal to pay "ship money"?
=11= 5. =Roundheads.= If you do not know why they were so called, see
_The Century Dictionary_.
=11= 20-21. =Great Rebellion.= If in doubt as to which rebellion
Macaulay refers, see _The Century Dictionary_ or Brewer's _Dictionary
of Phrase and Fable_.
=12= 2, 8, 10. =Juvenal.= Dryden has translated five of the poems of
this great Roman satirist. It is worth while to compare Johnson's
_London_, a free imitation of the Third Satire, with Dryden's version.
Johnson's poem may be found in Hales's _Longer English Poems_.
=12= 19. Boswell, too, asks us to remember Pope's candor and liberal
conduct on this occasion. Let us not forget it.
=13= 8. =Psalmanazar.= Pretending to be a Japanese, this Frenchman
wrote what he called a _History of Formosa_. Although fabulous, it
deceived the learned world.
=13= 14-15. =blue ribands.= Worn by members of the Order of the Garter.
=13= 16. =Newgate.= The notorious London prison.
=13= 26. =Piazza= here has its first meaning,--"an open square in a
town surrounded by buildings or colonnades, a plaza." This space was
once the "convent" garden of the monks of Westminster. For a brief
sketch of it down to the time its "coffee houses and taverns became the
fashionable lounging-places for the authors, wits, and noted men of the
kingdom," see _The Century Dictionary_.
=14= 11-12. =Grub Street.= "Originally the name of a street in
Moorfields in London, much inhabited by writers of small histories,
dictionaries, and temporary poems; whence any mean production is called
_grubstreet_.
'I'd sooner ballads write, and _grubstreet_ lays.' Gay."
--Johnson's _Dictionary_, edition of 1773.
=14= 23. =Warburton.= Bishop Warburton thus praised Johnson in the
Preface to his own edition of _Shakspere_, and Johnson showed his
appreciation by saying to Boswell, "He praised me at a time when
praise was of value to me." On another occasion, when asked whether he
considered Warburton a superior critic to Theobald, he replied, "He'd
make two-and-fifty Theobalds, cut into slices!" Johnson's sketch of
him, in the _Life of Pope_, Boswell calls "the tribute due to him when
he was no longer in 'high place,' but numbered with the dead."
=14= 28-31. He employed six amanuenses, not a large number of
assistants for a task of such magnitude. Nor was the sum of fifteen
hundred guineas a generous one from which to pay these assistants.
=14= 33. =Chesterfield.= Every young man should read an abridged
edition of Chesterfield's _Letters to his Son_; for example, the volume
in the Knickerbocker Nugget Series. It contains much that is worth
remembering, and the style is entertaining.
=15= 17. It is hard to realize what a stupendous task Johnson undertook
when he began his Dictionary. Other dictionaries, notably Bailey's,
were in existence, but they were mere beginnings of what he had in
mind. As lists of words, with explanations of the meanings, they were
useful, but none of them could reasonably be considered a standard. A
standard Johnson's certainly was. Although no etymologist, in general
he not only gave full and clear definitions, but he chose remarkably
happy illustrations of the meanings of words. By taking care, also, to
select passages which were interesting and profitable reading as well
as elegant English, he succeeded in making probably the most readable
dictionary that has ever appeared.
=15= 23. For the _Vanity of Human Wishes_, see Hales's _Longer English
Poems_ or Syle's _From Milton to Tennyson_. As in the case of _London_,
the student will wish to compare Dryden's translation.
=16= 8-9. And this was eleven years after the _London_ had appeared; as
Boswell says, his fame was already established.
=16= 13. =Goodman's Fields.= Garrick made this theater successful.
=16= 15. =Drury Lane Theatre.= Near Drury Lane. (See note to =8= 34.)
Other prominent actors in this famous old theatre were Kean, the
Kembles, and Mrs. Siddons.
=17= 13. See page 7. The story on which _Irene_ is based is as
follows:--
Mahomet the Great, first emperor of the Turks, in the year 1453
laid siege to the city of Constantinople, then possessed by the
Greeks, and, after an obstinate resistance, took and sacked it.
Among the many young women whom the commanders thought fit to
lay hands on and present to him was one named Irene, a Greek,
of incomparable beauty and such rare perfection of body and
mind, that the emperor, becoming enamored of her, neglected
the care of his government and empire for two whole years,
and thereby so exasperated the Janizaries, that they mutinied
and threatened to dethrone him. To prevent this mischief,
Mustapha Bassa, a person of great credit with him, undertook
to represent to him the great danger to which he lay exposed
by the indulgence of his passion: he called to his remembrance
the character, actions, and achievements of his predecessors,
and the state of his government; and, in short, so roused
him from his lethargy, that he took a horrible resolution
to silence the clamors of his people by the sacrifice of
this admirable creature. Accordingly, he commanded her to be
dressed and adorned in the richest manner that she and her
attendants could devise, and against a certain hour issued
orders for the nobility and leaders of his army to attend him
in the great hall of his palace. When they were all assembled,
himself appeared with great pomp and magnificence, leading his
captive by the hand, unconscious of guilt and ignorant of his
design. With a furious and menacing look, he gave the beholders
to understand that he meant to remove the cause of their
discontent; but bade them first view that lady, whom he held
with his left hand, and say whether any of them, possessed of a
jewel so rare and precious, would for any cause forego her; to
which they answered that he had great reason for his affection
toward her. To this the emperor replied that he would convince
them that he was yet master of himself. And having so said,
presently, with one of his hands catching the fair Greek by
the hair of the head, and drawing his falchion with the other,
he, at one blow, struck off her head, to the great terror of
them all; and having so done, he said unto them, "Now by this
judge whether your emperor is able to bridle his affections or
not."--Hawkins's _Life of Johnson_.
=17= 20-21. =Tatler, Spectator.= It is to be hoped that the reader
needs no introduction to these papers or to the account of them in
Macaulay's essay on Addison.
=17= 30. =Rambler.= A suitable title for a series of moral discourses?
At the time of the undertaking he composed a prayer to the effect
that he might in this way promote the glory of Almighty God and the
salvation both of himself and others.--_Prayers and Meditations_, p. 9,
quoted by Boswell.
=17= 31-32. Boswell considers it a strong confirmation of the truth
of Johnson's remark that "a man may write at any time if he will set
himself doggedly to it," that "notwithstanding his constitutional
indolence, his depression of spirits, and his labour in carrying on his
Dictionary, he answered the stated calls of the press twice a week from
the stores of his mind during all that time."
=17= 34. =Richardson.= Samuel Richardson. When he was a boy, the girls
employed him to write love letters for them; and his novels, written in
after life, also took the form of letters. He wrote _Pamela, or Virtue
Rewarded_; _Clarissa Harlowe, or the History of a Young Lady_; and _The
History of Sir Charles Grandison_ (about 1750). Johnson called him "an
author who has enlarged the knowledge of human nature and taught the
passions to move at the command of virtue."
=18= 2. =Young.= Johnson held a high opinion of Edward Young's
most famous work, _Night Thoughts_, and Boswell writes, "No book
whatever can be recommended to young persons, with better hopes of
seasoning their minds with _vital religion_, than Young's _Night
Thoughts_."--=Hartley.= David Hartley, prominent as a psychologist, and
as a physician benevolent and studious. For intimate friends he chose
such men as Warburton and Young.
=18= 3. =Dodington.= A member of Parliament who patronized men of
letters and was complimented by Young and Fielding.
=18= 7. =Frederic.= When Frederick, Prince of Wales, became the
center of the opposition to Walpole, in 1737, among the leaders of
his political friends, called "the Leicester House Party,"--at that
time Leicester House was the residence of the Prince of Wales,--were
Chesterfield, William Pitt, and Bubb Dodington.
=18= 25. In regard to the use of antiquated and hard words, for which
Johnson was censured, he says in _Idler_ No. 90, "He that thinks with
more extent than another, will want words of larger meaning."
=18= 30-32. =brilliancy ... eloquence ... humour.= Johnson wrote many
of these discourses so hastily, says Boswell, that he did not even read
them over before they were printed. Boswell continues: "Sir Joshua
Reynolds once asked him by what means he had attained his extraordinary
accuracy and flow of language. He told him, that he had early laid it
down as a fixed rule to do his best on every occasion, and in every
company: to impart whatever he knew in the most forcible language he
could put it in; and that by constant practice, and never suffering
any careless expressions to escape him, or attempting to deliver his
thoughts without arranging them in the clearest manner, it became
habitual to him." One man who knew Johnson intimately observed "that he
always talked as if he was talking upon oath."
=18= 32-=19= 10. Cf. Johnson's comment: "Whoever wishes to attain
an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not
ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of
Addison."--Boswell, 1750.
=19= 1-2. =Sir Roger=, etc. These two sets of allusions offer a good
excuse for handling complete editions of the _Spectator_ and the
_Rambler_.
=19= 21. =the Gunnings.= "The beautiful Misses Gunning," two
sisters, were born in Ireland. They went to London in 1751, were
continually followed by crowds, and were called "the handsomest women
alive."--=Lady Mary.= Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Let one of the
encyclopædias introduce you to this relative of Fielding who laughed
at Pope when he made love to her, and whose wit had full play in the
brilliant letters from Constantinople which added greatly to her
reputation as an independent thinker.
=19= 23-24. =the Monthly Review.= This Whig periodical would not
appeal to Johnson as did its rival, the _Critical Review_. It was the
_Monthly_ that Goldsmith did hack work for. Smollett wrote for the
other. See Irving's _Life of Goldsmith_, Chapter VII.
=19= 31. It was published in 1755, price £4 10_s._, bound.
=20= 17. The letter, which needs no comment, is as follows:
February 7, 1755.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF CHESTERFIELD.
My Lord,
I have been lately informed, by the proprietor of the World,
that two papers, in which my Dictionary is recommended to the
publick, were written by your Lordship. To be so distinguished,
is an honour, which, being very little accustomed to favours
from the great, I know not well how to receive, or in what
terms to acknowledge.
When, upon some slight encouragement, I first visited your
Lordship, I was overpowered, like the rest of mankind, by
the enchantment of your address; and could not forbear to
wish that I might boast myself _Le vainqueur du vainqueur de
la terre_;--that I might obtain that regard for which I saw
the world contending; but I found my attendance so little
encouraged that neither pride nor modesty would suffer me
to continue it. When I had once addressed your Lordship in
publick, I had exhausted all the art of pleasing which a
retired and uncourtly scholar can possess. I have done all that
I could; and no man is well pleased to have his all neglected,
be it ever so little.
Seven years, my Lord, have now past, since I waited in your
outward rooms or was repulsed from your door; during which time
I have been pushing on my work through difficulties, of which
it is useless to complain, and have brought it, at last, to the
verge of publication, without one act of assistance, one word
of encouragement, or one smile of favour. Such treatment I did
not expect, for I never had a Patron before.
The shepherd in Virgil grew at last acquainted with Love, and
found him a native of the rocks.
Is not a Patron, my Lord, one who looks with unconcern on a
man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached
ground, encumbers him with help? The notice which you have
been pleased to take of my labours, had it been early, had
been kind; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and
cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot impart it; till
I am known, and do not want it. I hope it is no very cynical
asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been
received, or to be unwilling that the Publick should consider
me as owing that to a Patron, which Providence has enabled me
to do for myself.
Having carried on my work thus far with so little obligation to
any favourer of learning, I shall not be disappointed though
I should conclude it, if less be possible, with less; for I
have been long wakened from that dream of hope, in which I once
boasted myself with so much exultation,
My Lord,
Your Lordship's most humble,
Most obedient servant,
SAM. JOHNSON.
=20= 24. =Horne Tooke.= A name assumed by John Horne, a politician
and philologist whose career is briefly outlined in _The Century
Dictionary_. The passage which so moved him follows.