in quest of literary employment. Davies perceiving this, privately
explained to him that Boswell was the son of a Scottish judge and heir
to a good estate. “A few days afterwards,” writes Boswell, “I called on
Davies, and asked him if he thought I might take the liberty of waiting
on Mr. Johnson at his chambers in the Temple. He said I certainly
might, and that _Mr. Johnson would take it as a compliment_. So upon
Tuesday, the 24th of May, after having been enlivened by the witty
sallies of Messieurs Thornton, Wilkes, Churchill, and Lloyd, with whom
I had passed the morning, I boldly repaired to Johnson. His chambers
were on the first floor of No. 1, Inner Temple Lane, and I entered
them with an impression given me by the Rev. Dr. Blair, of Edinburgh,
who had been introduced to me not long before and described his having
‘found the giant in his den,’ an expression which, when I came to be
pretty well acquainted with Johnson, I repeated to him, and he was
diverted at this picturesque account of himself. * * * He received
me very courteously; but it must be confessed that his apartment and
furniture and morning dress were sufficiently uncouth. His brown
suit of clothes looked very rusty; he had on a little old shrivelled
unpowdered wig, which was too small for his head; his shirt-neck and
knees of his breeches were loose; his black worsted stockings ill drawn
up, and he had a pair of unbuckled shoes by way of slippers. But all
these slovenly particularities were forgotten the moment that he began
to talk. Some gentlemen, whom I do not recollect, were sitting with
him; and when they went away I also rose, but he said to me, ‘Nay,
don’t go.’ ‘Sir,’ said I, ‘I am afraid that I intrude upon you. It is
benevolent to allow me to sit and hear you.’ He seemed pleased with
this compliment, which I sincerely paid him, and answered, ‘Sir, I am
obliged to any man who visits me.’ * * * Before we parted he was so
good as to promise to favour me with his company one evening at my
lodgings; and as I took my leave, shook me cordially by the hand. It
is almost needless to add that I felt no little elation at having now
so happily established an acquaintance of which I had been so long
ambitious.”
The evident sincerity of Boswell’s respect pleased and flattered Dr.
Johnson. He listened to details of literary life in Edinburgh, and was
gratified to learn that certain Scotsmen appreciated his learning. He
visited Boswell in his chambers, and invited him to the Mitre Tavern,
where afterwards they frequently supped, and drank port till long after
midnight. At one of these festive meetings Boswell related the story of
the post-chaise, and expatiated on the merits of Sir David Dalrymple
with the ardour of a hero worshipper. Dr. Johnson toasted Sir David
in a bumper as “a man of worth, a scholar, and a wit.” He added, “I
have, however, never heard of him except from you; but let him know my
opinion of him, for as he does not show himself much in the world, he
should know the praise of the few who hear of him.” On the 2nd of July,
Boswell communicated with Sir David Dalrymple in these terms:[20]—
“I am now upon a very good footing with Mr. Johnson. His conversation
is instructive and entertaining. He has a most extensive fund of
knowledge, a very clear expression, and much strong humour. I am often
with him. Some nights ago we supped by ourselves at the Mitre Tavern,
and sat over a sober bottle till between one and two in the morning.
We talked a good deal of you. We drank your health, and he desired me
to tell you so. When I am in his company I am rationally happy, I
am attentive and eager to learn, and I would hope that I may receive
advantage from such society.”
To Boswell’s letter, in its allusion to Dr. Johnson, Sir David
Dalrymple made the following answer:—[21]
“It gives me pleasure to think that you have obtained the friendship
of Mr. Samuel Johnson. He is one of the best moral writers which
England has produced. At the same time I envy you the free and
undisguised converse with such a man. May I beg you to present my best
respects to him, and to assure him of the veneration which I entertain
for the author of the ‘Rambler’ and of ‘Rasselas.’”
On the 15th July Boswell thus communicated with Mr. Temple:—
“I had the honour of supping _tête-à-tête_ with Mr. Johnson last
night; by-the-bye, I need not have used a French phrase. We sat till
between two and three. He took me by the hand cordially, and said, ‘My
dear Boswell, I love you very much.’ Now, Temple, can I help indulging
vanity?”
After quoting a portion of Sir David Dalrymple’s letter, he proceeds:—
“Mr. Johnson was in vast good humour, and we had much conversation.
I mentioned Fresnoy to him, but he advised me not to follow a plan,
and he declared that he himself never followed one above two days.
He advised me to read just as inclination prompted me, which alone,
he said, would do me any good; for I had better go into company than
read a set task. Let us study ever so much, we must still be ignorant
of a good deal. Therefore the question is, what parts of science do
we want to know? He said, too, that idleness was a distemper which I
ought to combat against, and that I should prescribe to myself five
hours a day, and in these hours gratify whatever literary desires may
spring up. He is to give me his advice as to what books I should take
with me from England. I told him that the _Rambler_ shall accompany
me round Europe, and so be a Rambler indeed. He gave me a smile of
complacency.”
The _tête-à-tête_ with Dr. Johnson on the 14th of July, so described to
Mr. Temple, also forms the subject of a letter to Sir David Dalrymple.
That letter proceeds thus:—[22]
“On Wednesday evening, Mr. Johnson and I had another _tête-à-tête_ at
the ‘Mitre.’ Would you believe that we sat from half an hour after
eight till between two and three! He took me cordially by the hand
and said, ‘My dear Boswell! I love you very much.’ Can I help being
somewhat vain? * * * He advises me to combat idleness as a distemper,
to read five hours every day, but to let inclination direct me what
to read. He is a great enemy to a stated plan of study. He advises
me when abroad to go to places where there is most to be seen and
learnt. He is not very fond of the notion of spending a whole winter
in a Dutch town. He thinks I may do much more by private study than
by attending lectures. He would have me to perambulate (a word in his
own style) Spain. He says a man might see a good deal by visiting
their inland towns and universities. He also advises me to visit the
northern kingdoms, where more that is new is to be seen than in France
and Italy, but he is not against my seeing these warmer regions.”
These allusions to foreign travel refer to a proposal by Lord
Auchinleck that his son should study civil law at Utrecht, and in which
Boswell was disposed to acquiesce, believing that in thus gratifying
his father’s wishes he might be permitted before returning home to
visit the principal countries of the Continent.
On Wednesday, the 21st July, Johnson supped at Boswell’s chambers,
when were also present Mr. George Dempster, M.P., and the host’s
paternal uncle, Dr. John Boswell, from Edinburgh. The occasion was one
of the most memorable in the course of Boswell’s intercourse with
his illustrious associate. Dr. Boswell entertained loose notions of
religion, and Mr. Dempster was a disciple of David Hume. Dempster made
a violent attack on Christianity, repeating the arguments of Rousseau,
and quoting approvingly the sentiments of Hume and Gibbon. Dr. Boswell
preserved a general silence, but was disposed to smile approvingly at
Dempster’s sallies. In the society of his new acquaintance, Dr. Johnson
was appalled to find a bold upholder of infidel sentiments, and his
indignation was proportionate. He assailed Dempster with much severity,
exposing the sophistry of his school. Boswell took notes of the
conversation, doubtless intending to utilize what he had written. Next
morning he hastened to Dr. Johnson’s chambers to express disapproval of
Dempster’s sentiments. Dr. Johnson answered, “I have not met with any
man for a long time who has given me such general displeasure. He is
totally unfixed in his principles, and wants to puzzle other people.”
This utterance is presented by Boswell in Dr. Johnson’s memoirs with
the prefatory remark, “Of a gentleman who was mentioned he said,” &c.
Boswell became very intimate with Mr. Dempster, and so erased from
his journal all memorials of the evening’s conversation. Not very
creditably he affirms, in Johnson’s Life, that the evening was wholly
occupied “in the discussion of social and political questions.” But the
truth, which Boswell sought to suppress, reaches us in his own words
from two different channels. To Mr. Temple, on the 23rd of July, he
wrote thus:—
“On Wednesday evening, Mr. Johnson, Dempster, and my uncle Dr.
Boswell, supped with me at my chambers. I had prodigious satisfaction
to find Dempster’s sophistry (which he has learned from Hume and
Rousseau) vanquished by the solid sense and vigorous reasoning of
Johnson. It was a very fertile evening, and _my journal is stored
with its fruits_. Dempster was as happy as a vanquished argumentator
could he; and the honest Doctor was cheerful and conversible and
highly entertained.”
On the same day Boswell communicated with Sir David Dalrymple in these
words:—
“Mr. Johnson did me the honour to sup with me at my chambers some
nights ago. _Entre nous_, he said that Dempster, who was also with me,
gave him more general displeasure than any man he has met with of a
long time. He saw a pupil of Hume and of Rousseau totally unsettled as
to principles, and endeavouring to puzzle and shake other people with
childish sophistry. I had infinite satisfaction in hearing solid truth
confuting vain subtilty. * * * I thank God that I have got acquainted
with Mr. Johnson. He has done me infinite service. He has assisted
me to obtain peace of mind; he has assisted me to become a rational
Christian; I hope I shall ever remain so.”[23]
In referring to his having become a rational Christian, Boswell desired
to satisfy his Scottish Mæcenas that he had personally abandoned the
superstitions of Romish worship. Mr. Dempster’s religious views,
together with his personal history and his acquaintance with Boswell,
may be finally disposed of. Grandson of George Dempster, merchant
and banker at Dundee, he succeeded to several important estates,
which his ancestor had acquired by granting extensive loans on
mortgages to the former proprietors. Born in 1735, he studied at the
University of Edinburgh, and in that city formed the intimacy of Dr.
William Robertson, Alexander Carlyle, John Home, and other eminent
clergymen. Under their auspices he sat as a lay member in the General
Assembly; and in that court he opposed his friends by seconding the
injunction of the House passed in 1757, forbidding the clergy to
countenance theatricals.[24] Becoming acquainted with David Hume, he
renounced Presbyterianism, and embraced infidelity. He abandoned the
Scottish Bar to which he had been called, and became candidate for
the parliamentary representation of the Fife and Forfar burghs. By a
narrow majority he secured his seat, but he was convicted of bribery
and the election was annulled. To accomplish his end he had sold two
fine estates, and expended nearly £15,000. On presenting himself to the
constituents the second time he was returned under less exceptionable
circumstances. He retained his seat from 1762 till 1790. He would join
no political party, probably owing to an uncertainty of judgment,
which was partly an inheritance; two of his ancestors being deposed
and afterwards restored to the ministry for certain changes in their
civil and ecclesiastical opinions. According to Boswell he early
cherished republican sentiments; latterly he resisted the revolutionary
ferment created by the French Directory. By the general public he was
esteemed a patriot, and was provincially known as “Honest George.”
The poet Burns held that he should have been ennobled. He supported
some liberal measures, and certain important services are associated
with his name. He denounced the conflict with the American colonies,
opposed the sovereignty exercised by the East India Company, sought to
remove all restraints from the national commerce, and advocated the
abolition of sinecures. On retiring from Parliament, he devoted himself
to the promotion of agriculture and manufactures in North Britain. He
established an agricultural society on his estate.[25] He improved
the condition of the Scottish fisheries, and discovered a method
of preserving salmon for the London market. He was much respected
on his estate, was benevolent to the poor, and exercised a generous
hospitality. He did not attend church on the plea of feeble health,
but he associated with the clergy of his neighbourhood, and to his
household spoke reverently of religion. In some twenty of his letters,
written at intervals during a period of twenty-five years preceding his
decease, the writer has on a close examination been unable to detect
any remark savouring of scepticism. Yet it is nearly certain that he
cherished to the close of a long life the blighting infidelity of David
Hume. To the Right Hon. John Wilson Croker was communicated by Sir
Walter Scott the following metrical epitaph, which it was alleged Mr.
Dempster composed upon himself:—
“Pray for the soul of deceased George Dempster,
In his youth a great fool, in his old age a gamester;
What you’re to know, on this tomb you shall see,
Life’s thread he let go when just ninety-three.
So sound was his bottom, his acquaintance all wonder’d
How old Nick had got him till he lived out the hundred.
To his money concerns he paid little attention,
First selling his land, then pawning his pension;[26]
But his precious time he much better did manage,
To the end of his life from his earliest nonage,
He divided his hours into two equal parts,
And spent one half in sleeping, the other at _cartes_.”[27]
Mr. Dempster died on his estate of Dunnichen, Forfarshire, on the 13th
February, 1818, at the age of eighty-four.
In May, 1763, two months before the period reached in the preceding
narrative, Boswell asked Sir David Dalrymple to interpose with
his father, who was threatening to disinherit him on account of
his unsettled habits. He concludes a letter to Sir David in these
words,—“Tell him to have patience with me for a year or two, and I may
be what he pleases.” In June he informs Sir David that his father’s
proposal that he should proceed to Utrecht, there to study civil law
under the celebrated M. Trotz had met with his acceptance, and that his
father was “much pleased to find in him so prudent a disposition.”[28]
He adds,—
“My great object is to attain a proper conduct in life. How sad will
it be if I turn no better than I am! I have much vivacity, which leads
me to dissipation and folly. This I think I can restrain. But I will
be moderate, and not aim at a stiff sageness and buckram correctness.
I must, however, own to you that I have at bottom a melancholy cast,
which dissipation relieves by making me thoughtless, and therefore an
easier though a more contemptible animal. I dread a return of this
malady. I am always apprehensive of it.”
About the Utrecht scheme he writes to Mr. Temple on the 15th July,
“I have had a long letter from my father, full of affection and good
counsel. Honest man, he is now very happy: it is amazing to think how
much he has had at heart my pursuing the road of civil life; he is
anxious for fear I should fall off from my prudent system, and return
to my dissipated, unsettled way of thinking; and in order to make him
easy, he insists on having my solemn promise that I will persist in the
scheme on which he is so earnestly bent: he knows my fidelity, and he
concludes that my promise will fix me. Indeed he is much in the right;
the only question is, how much I am to promise. I think I may promise
this much,—that I shall from this time study propriety of conduct, and
to be a man of knowledge and prudence, as far as I can; that I shall
make as much improvement as possible while I am abroad, and when I
return shall put on the gown as a member of the Faculty of Advocates,
and be upon the footing of a gentleman of business, with a view to my
getting into Parliament.”
For the use of Mr. Temple’s chambers Boswell paid his proportion of
rent, but his occupancy was burdened with the condition that his
friend’s brother, a youth of seventeen, might as occasion suited share
the accommodation. This young gentleman, Mr. Robert Temple, held a
commission in the line, but was not very ardent in his military duties.
Boswell’s early intercourse with him was abundantly characteristic.
To his brother he reported of him on the 15th July, that “his genius
and application consisted in washing his face and brushing his hat,
which he will execute in a few hours;” adding, “I find it somewhat
inconvenient to have anybody in chambers with me.... I have allowed
him to be too free with me; and I own it hurts me when I find my folly
bringing me into the situation of being upon an equality with if not
below the young man.” On the 23rd of July he in these doggerel verses
celebrated the youth on his returning from a visit to Salisbury:—
“Bob Temple has at Sarum been,
And all the pretty girls has seen;
But he came back in the machine
Because he was the barber!
“From Mother Bowles he got good wine;
He licked his lips and called it fine;
But now the dog at Cliff’s must dine,
And is not that the barber?”
In a few days afterwards, Master Robert having begun to borrow one
guinea after another, is described as “selfish,” of a “heedless
disposition,” and having “no great powers either of understanding or
imagination.” Boswell sums up; “I am glad he goes down to Cambridge.”
In his letter to Sir David Dalrymple of the 23rd July, Boswell enters
into some details respecting the Utrecht scheme, and expresses a
determination thoroughly to acquaint himself with the law of nations.
He has resolved to transcribe the whole of Erskine’s Institutes,[29]
that the details might be impressed in his memory.
The progress of the Utrecht arrangement is reported in the following
letter to Mr. Temple, dated 20th July:—
“I have this night received a large packet from my father, with my
letter of credit, and several letters of recommendation to different
people in Holland. The letters have been sent open for me to seal,
so I have been amused to see the different modes of treating that
favourite subject myself. Sir David Dalrymple has written to Count
Nassau; his letter is in French and is exceedingly genteel. He
recommends Mr. Boswell as _un jeune homme de famille et de mérite_,
and hopes he will find in the Count _le guide et le protecteur de
sa jeunesse_. My father writes to Mynheer Abrahamus Gronovius, an
old _literatus_ at Leyden. It is an excellent letter, and recalls
their old ideas with more liveliness than you would imagine. I have
several other letters, so that I can be at no loss where I am going,
especially as I have got some relations of the first fashion at the
Hague. My father has allowed me £60 a quarter—£240 a year; that is
not a great allowance, but with economy I may live very well upon
it, for Holland is a cheap country. However, I am determined not to
be straitened, nor to encourage the least narrowness of disposition
as to saving money, but will draw upon my father for any sums I find
necessary. My affairs being thus far settled, I must set out soon.
I can have no excuse for indulging myself in a much longer stay in
London; and yet I must own to you, my dear friend, that I feel a good
deal of uneasiness at the thoughts of quitting the place where my
affection is truly centred, for there I enjoy most happiness; however,
I am determined to go next week. I hope I shall not be feeble-minded,
but pluck up manly resolution, and consider that I am leaving London
in order to see the world, store my mind with more ideas, establish a
proper character, and then return to the metropolis much happier, and
more qualified for a solid relish of its advantages.”
After the lapse of three days Boswell wrote to Mr. Temple as follows:—
“_Inner Temple,_
_28th July, 1763._
MY DEAR TEMPLE,
I have now fixed to-morrow se’nnight, Friday, the 5th of August, for
the day of my departure; and on Saturday, the 6th, I shall be upon
the Channel. Alas, my friend! let me disclose my weakness to you. My
departure fills me with a kind of gloom that quite overshadows my
mind. I could almost weep to think of leaving dear London and the
calm retirement of the Inner Temple. I am now launching into the wide
world, and am to be long at a distance from my dear Temple, whose kind
and amiable counsel never failed to soothe my dejected mind. You may
see I am somewhat melancholy; pray comfort me. This is very effeminate
and very young, but I cannot help it. My time is fixed, and I will
go; I have taken my resolution, and you shall see that I can keep to
it. I enclose you a friendly dissertation, which you may read at your
leisure; it will show how much stronger my mind was last night only. I
am just going to meet Mr. Johnson at the ‘Turk’s Head.’”
The meeting with Johnson in the “Turk’s Head” coffee-house is duly
chronicled in the “Life.” Boswell expressed himself as resolved on
proceeding to Utrecht, and asked for advice.
“Come,” said Johnson, “let us make a day of it; let us go down to
Greenwich and dine, and talk of it fully, so that I shall say,—
‘On Thames’s bank in silent thought we stood,
Where Greenwich smiles upon the silver flood.’”[30]
The friends proceeded to Greenwich on Saturday, the 30th. They
inspected the hospital, walked in the park, and returning to London
by the river, closed the day’s excursion by supping together at the
“Turk’s Head.” During the evening Boswell entertained his Mentor by
expatiating on the history of his House, and the extent and importance
of the family estate. By Johnson no allusion was made to the ostensible
purpose of the meeting; it was enough that on a day of the week when
Boswell was likely to meet with bad counsellors, he and his purse were
protected from their embrace. The friends met on Sunday. On Tuesday
they were both morning and evening together. On Wednesday evening they
supped at the “Turk’s Head,” when Johnson renewed his promise to start
with his friend for Harwich early on Friday morning.
As Boswell was for a considerable period to be left to his own control,
Sir David Dalrymple sent him a letter of advice, along with some
commissions to be executed in course of his tour. To Sir David’s letter
Boswell on the 2nd August made the following answer:—
“My scepticism was not owing to thinking wrong, but to not thinking
at all. It is a matter of great moment to keep a sense of religion
constantly impressed upon our minds. If that divine guest does not
occupy part of the space, vain intruders will; and when once they have
got in it is difficult to get them out again. I shall remember your
commission about the Greek Lyrics. I shall hear what the librarian
says, and I shall make diligent search myself. As to the MSS. of
Anacreon, Mr. Johnson says he doubts much if there be such a thing at
Leyden.”
Of no settled convictions, Boswell was, under his protestations of
orthodoxy, considerably tinged with Dempster’s scepticism. Sir David
Dalrymple, who had formerly sought to rescue him from the Scylla of
credulity, was now attempting his deliverance from the Charybdis of
doubt. Boswell on the 3rd August communicated with Mr. Temple:—
“To-morrow morning, at five o’clock, I set out upon my travels. I am
much hurried with putting all my things in order. I have left some
parcels in one of the drawers, which I beg you will keep for me till I
return. I have been a great deal with Mr. Johnson of late, and (would
you believe it?) his friendship for me is so great that he insists
on seeing me sail, and has actually taken a place in the coach to
accompany me to Harwich.”
In the “Life of Johnson” the narrative is continued:—
“On Friday, August 5, we set out early in the morning in the Harwich
stage-coach. A fat elderly gentlewoman and a young Dutchman seemed the
most inclined among us to conversation. At the inn where we dined, the
gentlewoman said that she had done her best to educate her children;
and particularly that she had never suffered them to be a moment idle.
_Johnson_: ‘I wish madam, you would educate me too; for I have been
an idle fellow all my life.’ ‘I am sure, sir,’ said she, ‘you have
not been idle.’ _Johnson_: ‘Nay, madam, it is very true; and that
gentleman there,’ pointing to me, ‘has been idle. He was idle at
Edinburgh. His father sent him to Glasgow, where he continued to be
idle. He then came to London, where he has been very idle; and now he
is going to Utrecht, where he will be as idle as ever.’ I asked him
privately how he could expose me so. _Johnson_: ‘Pooh! pooh!’ said he;
‘they know nothing about you, and will think of it no more.’ ... Next
day we got to Harwich to dinner; and my passage in the packet-boat
to Helvoetsluys being secured, and my baggage put on board, we dined
at an inn by ourselves.... We went and looked at the church, and
having gone into it, and walked up to the altar, Johnson, whose piety
was constant and fervent, sent me to my knees, saying, ‘Now that
you are going to leave your native country, recommend yourself to
the protection of your Creator and Redeemer.’ ... My revered friend
walked down with me to the beach, where we embraced and parted with
tenderness, and engaged to correspond by letters. I said, ‘I hope,
sir, you will not forget me in my absence.’ _Johnson_: ‘Nay, sir, it
is more likely that you should forget me than that I should forget
you.’ As the vessel put out to sea I kept my eyes upon him for a
considerable time, while he remained rolling his majestic frame in his
usual manner; and at last I perceived him walk back into the town, and
he disappeared.”
On the 8th December Dr. Johnson addressed to Boswell his first letter.
He entreated him to study civil law as his father had advised, and the
ancient languages, as he had personally resolved upon. He then proceeds
to depict his friend’s weaknesses in these forcible terms:—