his grief, by taking an active part in the composition of _The
Adventurer_, in which he began to write April 10[742], marking his essays
with the signature T[743], by which most of his papers in that collection
are distinguished: those, however, which have that signature and also
that of _Mysargyrus_, were not written by him, but, as I suppose, by Dr.
Bathurst. Indeed Johnson's energy of thought and richness of language,
are still more decisive marks than any signature. As a proof of this, my
readers, I imagine, will not doubt that Number 39, on sleep, is his; for
it not only has the general texture and colour of his style, but the
authours with whom he was peculiarly conversant are readily introduced
in it in cursory allusion. The translation of a passage in Statius[744]
quoted in that paper, and marked C. B. has been erroneously ascribed to
Dr. Bathurst, whose Christian name was Richard. How much this amiable
man actually contributed to _The Adventurer_, cannot be known. Let me
add, that Hawkesworth's imitations of Johnson are sometimes so happy,
that it is extremely difficult to distinguish them, with certainty, from
the compositions of his great archetype. Hawkesworth was his closest
imitator, a circumstance of which that writer would once have been proud
to be told; though, when he had become elated by having risen into some
degree of consequence, he, in a conversation with me, had the provoking
effrontery to say he was not sensible of it[745].
[Page 253: A letter to Dr. Warton. Ætat 44.]
Johnson was truly zealous for the success of _The Adventurer_; and very
soon after his engaging in it, he wrote the following letter:
'TO THE REVEREND DR. JOSEPH WARTON.
'DEAR SIR,
'I ought to have written to you before now, but I ought to do many
things which I do not; nor can I, indeed, claim any merit from this
letter; for being desired by the authours and proprietor of _The
Adventurer_ to look out for another hand, my thoughts necessarily fixed
upon you, whose fund of literature will enable you to assist them, with
very little interruption of your studies.
'They desire you to engage to furnish one paper a month, at two guineas
a paper, which you may very readily perform. We have considered that a
paper should consist of pieces of imagination, pictures of life, and
disquisitions of literature. The part which depends on the imagination
is very well supplied, as you will find when you read the paper; for
descriptions of life, there is now a treaty almost made with an authour
and an authouress; and the province of criticism and literature they are
very desirous to assign to the commentator on Virgil.
'I hope this proposal will not be rejected, and that the next post will
bring us your compliance. I speak as one of the fraternity, though I
have no part in the paper, beyond now and then a motto; but two of the
writers are my particular friends, and I hope the pleasure of seeing a
third united to them, will not be denied to, dear Sir,
'Your most obedient,
'And most humble servant,
'SAM. JOHNSON.'
'March 8, 1753.'
The consequence of this letter was, Dr. Warton's enriching the
collection with several admirable essays.
[Page 254: Bathurst's papers in the Adventurer. A.D. 1753.]
Johnson's saying 'I have no part in the paper beyond now and then a
motto,' may seem inconsistent with his being the authour of the papers
marked T. But he had, at this time, written only one number[746]; and
besides, even at any after period, he might have used the same
expression, considering it as a point of honour not to own them; for
Mrs. Williams told me that, 'as he had _given_ those Essays to Dr.
Bathurst, who sold them at two guineas each, he never would own them;
nay, he used to say he did not _write_ them: but the fact was, that he
_dictated_ them, while Bathurst wrote.' I read to him Mrs. Williams's
account; he smiled, and said nothing[747].
[Page 255: Mrs. Lennox. Ætat 45.]
I am not quite satisfied with the casuistry by which the productions of
one person are thus passed upon the world for the productions of
another. I allow that not only knowledge, but powers and qualities of
mind may be communicated; but the actual effect of individual exertion
never can be transferred, with truth, to any other than its own original
cause. One person's child may be made the child of another person by
adoption, as among the Romans, or by the ancient Jewish mode of a wife
having children born to her upon her knees, by her handmaid. But these
were children in a different sense from that of nature. It was clearly
understood that they were not of the blood of their nominal parents. So
in literary children, an authour may give the profits and fame of his
composition to another man, but cannot make that other the real authour.
A Highland gentleman, a younger branch of a family, once consulted me if
he could not validly purchase the Chieftainship of his family, from the
Chief who was willing to sell it. I told him it was impossible for him
to acquire, by purchase, a right to be a different person from what he
really was; for that the right of Chieftainship attached to the blood of
primogeniture, and, therefore, was incapable of being transferred. I
added, that though Esau sold his birth-right, or the advantages
belonging to it, he still remained the first-born of his parents; and
that whatever agreement a Chief might make with any of the clan, the
Herald's Office could not admit of the metamorphosis, or with any
decency attest that the younger was the elder; but I did not convince
the worthy gentleman.
Johnson's papers in _The Adventurer_ are very similar to those of _The
Rambler_; but being rather more varied in their subjects, and being
mixed with essays by other writers, upon topicks more generally
attractive than even the most elegant ethical discourses, the sale of
the work, at first, was more extensive. Without meaning, however, to
depreciate _The Adventurer_, I must observe that as the value of _The
Rambler_ came, in the progress of time, to be better known, it grew upon
the publick estimation, and that its sale has far exceeded that of any
other periodical papers since the reign of Queen Anne.
In one of the books of his diary I find the following entry:
'Apr. 3, 1753. I began the second vol. of my Dictionary, room being left
in the first for Preface, Grammar, and History, none of them yet begun.
'O GOD, who hast hitherto supported me, enable me to proceed in this
labour, and in the whole task of my present state; that when I shall
render up, at the last day, an account of the talent committed to me, I
may receive pardon, for the sake of JESUS CHRIST. Amen.'
He this year favoured Mrs. Lennox[748] with a Dedication[*] to the Earl of
Orrery, of her _Shakspeare Illustrated_.
[Page 256: The Life of Edward Cave. A.D. 1754.]
1754: ÆTAT. 45.--IN 1754 I can trace nothing published by him, except
his numbers of _The Adventurer_, and 'The Life of Edward Cave,'[*] in
the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for February. In biography there can be no
question that he excelled, beyond all who have attempted that species of
composition; upon which, indeed, he set the highest value. To the minute
selection of characteristical circumstances, for which the ancients were
remarkable, he added a philosophical research, and the most perspicuous
and energetick language. Cave was certainly a man of estimable
qualities, and was eminently diligent and successful in his own
business[749], which, doubtless, entitled him to respect. But he was
peculiarly fortunate in being recorded by Johnson, who, of the narrow
life of a printer and publisher, without any digressions or adventitious
circumstances, has made an interesting and agreeable narrative[750].
The _Dictionary_, we may believe, afforded Johnson full occupation this
year. As it approached to its conclusion, he probably worked with
redoubled vigour, as seamen increase their exertion and alacrity when
they have a near prospect of their haven.
[Page 257: Lord Chesterfield's neglect.]
[Page 258: Lord Chesterfield's flattery. A.D. 1754.]
Lord Chesterfield, to whom Johnson had paid the high compliment of
addressing to his Lordship the _Plan_ of his _Dictionary_, had behaved
to him in such a manner as to excite his contempt and indignation. The
world has been for many years amused with a story confidently told, and
as confidently repeated with additional circumstances[751], that a sudden
disgust was taken by Johnson upon occasion of his having been one day
kept long in waiting in his Lordship's antechamber, for which the reason
assigned was, that he had company with him; and that at last, when the
door opened, out walked Colley Gibber; and that Johnson was so violently
provoked when he found for whom he had been so long excluded, that he
went away in a passion, and never would return. I remember having
mentioned this story to George Lord Lyttelton, who told me, he was very
intimate with Lord Chesterfield; and holding it as a well-known truth,
defended Lord Chesterfield, by saying, that 'Gibber, who had been
introduced, familiarly by the back-stairs, had probably not been there
above ten minutes.' It may seem strange even to entertain a doubt
concerning a story so long and so widely current, and thus implicitly
adopted, if not sanctioned, by the authority which I have mentioned; but
Johnson himself assured me, that there was not the least foundation for
it. He told me, that there never was any particular incident which
produced a quarrel between Lord Chesterfield and him; but that his
Lordship's continued neglect was the reason why he resolved to have no
connection with him[752]. When the _Dictionary_ was upon the eve of
publication, Lord Chesterfield, who, it is said, had flattered himself
with expectations that Johnson would dedicate the work to him[753],
attempted, in a courtly manner, to sooth, and insinuate himself with the
Sage, conscious, as it should seem, of the cold indifference with which
he had treated its learned authour; and further attempted to conciliate
him, by writing two papers in _The World_[754], in recommendation of the
work; and it must be confessed, that they contain some studied
compliments, so finely turned, that if there had been no previous
offence, it is probable that Johnson would have been highly
delighted[755]. Praise, in general, was pleasing to him; but by praise
from a man of rank and elegant accomplishments, he was peculiarly
gratified.
His Lordship says,
'I think the publick in general, and the republick of letters in
particular, are greatly obliged to Mr. Johnson, for having undertaken,
and executed, so great and desirable a work. Perfection is not to be
expected from man; but if we are to judge by the various works of
Johnson[756] already published, we have good reason to believe, that he
will bring this as near to perfection as any man could do. The _Plan_ of
it, which he published some years ago, seems to me to be a proof of it.
Nothing can be more rationally imagined, or more accurately and
elegantly expressed. I therefore recommend the previous perusal of it to
all those who intend to buy the _Dictionary,_ and who, I suppose, are
all those who can afford it.'
* * * * *
'It must be owned, that our language is, at present, in a state of
anarchy, and hitherto, perhaps, it may not have been the worse for it.
During our free and open trade, many words and expressions have been
imported, adopted, and naturalized from other languages, which have
greatly enriched our own. Let it still preserve what real strength and
beauty it may have borrowed from others; but let it not, like the
Tarpeian maid, be overwhelmed and crushed by unnecessary ornaments[757].
The time for discrimination seems to be now come.
[Page 259: Lord Chesterfield's flattery. Ætat 45.]
'Toleration, adoption, and naturalization have run their lengths. Good
order and authority are now necessary. But where shall we find them,
and, at the same time, the obedience due to them? We must have recourse
to the old Roman expedient in times of confusion, and chuse a dictator.
Upon this principle, I give my vote for Mr. Johnson to fill that great
and arduous post. And I hereby declare, that I make a total surrender of
all my rights and privileges in the English language, as a free-born
British subject, to the said Mr. Johnson, during the term of his
dictatorship. Nay more, I will not only obey him, like an old Roman, as
my dictator, but, like a modern Roman, I will implicitly believe in him
as my Pope, and hold him to be infallible while in the chair, but no
longer. More than this he cannot well require; for, I presume, that
obedience can never be expected, when there is neither terrour to
enforce, nor interest to invite it.'
* * * * *
'But a Grammar, a Dictionary, and a History of our Language through its
several stages, were still wanting at home, and importunately called for
from abroad. Mr. Johnson's labours will now, I dare say[758], very fully
supply that want, and greatly contribute to the farther spreading of our
language in other countries. Learners were discouraged, by finding no
standard to resort to; and, consequently, thought it incapable of any.
They will now be undeceived and encouraged.'
This courtly device failed of its effect[759]. Johnson, who thought that
'all was false and hollow[760],' despised the honeyed words, and was even
indignant that Lord Chesterfield should, for a moment, imagine that he
could be the dupe of such an artifice. His expression to me concerning
Lord Chesterfield, upon this occasion, was, 'Sir, after making great
professions[761], he had, for many years, taken no notice of me; but when
my _Dictionary_ was coming out, he fell a scribbling in _The World_
about it. Upon which, I wrote him a letter expressed in civil terms, but
such as might shew him that I did not mind what he said or wrote, and
that I had done with him[762].'
[Page 260: Johnson's spelling. A.D. 1754.]
This is that celebrated letter of which so much has been said, and about
which curiosity has been so long excited, without being gratified. I for
many years solicited Johnson to favour me with a copy of it[763], that so
excellent a composition might not be lost to posterity. He delayed from
time to time to give it me[764]; till at last in 1781, when we were on a
visit at Mr. Dilly's, at Southill in Bedfordshire, he was pleased to
dictate it to me from memory[765]. He afterwards found among his papers a
copy of it, which he had dictated to Mr. Baretti, with its title and
corrections, in his own handwriting. This he gave to Mr. Langton; adding
that if it were to come into print, he wished it to be from that copy.
By Mr. Langton's kindness, I am enabled to enrich my work with a perfect
transcript[766] of what the world has so eagerly desired to see.
[Page 261: Johnson's letter to Lord Chesterfield. Ætat 45.]
'TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF CHESTERFIELD.
'February 7, 1755.
'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_[767];--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 had 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[768], 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[769]; 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.
[Page 263: His high opinion of Warburton. Ætat 45.]
'Having carried on my work thus far with so little obligation to any
favourer of learning[770], 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[771].'
'While this was the talk of the town, (says Dr. Adams, in a letter to
me) I happened to visit Dr. Warburton, who finding that I was acquainted
with Johnson, desired me earnestly to carry his compliments to him, and
to tell him, that he honoured him for his manly behaviour in rejecting
these condescensions of Lord Chesterfield, and for resenting the
treatment he had received from him, with a proper spirit. Johnson was
visibly pleased with this compliment, for he had always a high opinion
of Warburton[772]. Indeed, the force of mind which appeared in this
letter, was congenial with that which Warburton himself amply
possessed[773].'
[Page 264: For 'garret' read 'patron.' A.D. 1754.]
There is a curious minute circumstance which struck me, in comparing the
various editions of Johnson's imitations of Juvenal. In the tenth
Satire, one of the couplets upon the vanity of wishes even for literary
distinction stood thus:
'Yet think[774] what ills the scholar's life assail,
'Pride[775], envy, want, the _garret_, and the jail.'
But after experiencing the uneasiness which Lord Chesterfield's
fallacious patronage made him feel, he dismissed the word _garret_ from
the sad group, and in all the subsequent editions the line stands
'Pride, envy, want, the _Patron_[776], and the jail.'
[Page 265: Defensive pride. Ætat 45.]
That Lord Chesterfield must have been mortified by the lofty contempt,
and polite, yet keen satire with which Johnson exhibited him to himself
in this letter, it is impossible to doubt. He, however, with that glossy
duplicity which was his constant study, affected to be quite
unconcerned. Dr. Adams mentioned to Mr. Robert Dodsley that he was sorry
Johnson had written his letter to Lord Chesterfield. Dodsley, with the
true feelings of trade, said 'he was very sorry too; for that he had a
property in the _Dictionary_, to which his Lordship's patronage might
have been of consequence.' He then told Dr. Adams, that Lord
Chesterfield had shewn him the letter. 'I should have imagined (replied
Dr. Adams) that Lord Chesterfield would have concealed it.' 'Poh! (said
Dodsley) do you think a letter from Johnson could hurt Lord
Chesterfield? Not at all, Sir. It lay upon his table, where any body
might see it. He read it to me; said, "this man has great powers,"
pointed out the severest passages, and observed how well they were
expressed.' This air of indifference, which imposed upon the worthy
Dodsley, was certainly nothing but a specimen of that dissimulation
which Lord Chesterfield inculcated as one of the most essential lessons
for the conduct of life[777]. His Lordship endeavoured to justify himself
to Dodsley from the charges brought against him by Johnson; but we may
judge of the flimsiness of his defence, from his having excused his
neglect of Johnson, by saying that 'he had heard he had changed his
lodgings, and did not know where he lived;' as if there could have been
the smallest difficulty to inform himself of that circumstance, by
inquiring in the literary circle with which his Lordship was well
acquainted, and was, indeed, himself one of its ornaments.
Dr. Adams expostulated with Johnson, and suggested, that his not being
admitted when he called on him, was, probably, not to be imputed to Lord
Chesterfield; for his Lordship had declared to Dodsley, that 'he would
have turned off the best servant he ever had, if he had known that he
denied him to a man who would have been always more than welcome;' and,
in confirmation of this, he insisted on Lord Chesterfield's general
affability and easiness of access, especially to literary men. 'Sir,
(said Johnson) that is not Lord Chesterfield; he is the proudest man
this day existing[778].' 'No, (said Dr. Adams) there is one person, at
least, as proud; I think, by your own account, you are the prouder man
of the two.' 'But mine (replied Johnson, instantly) was defensive
pride.' This, as Dr. Adams well observed, was one of those happy turns
for which he was so remarkably ready.
[Page 266: A wit among Lords. A.D. 1754.]
Johnson having now explicitly avowed his opinion of Lord Chesterfield,
did not refrain from expressing himself concerning that nobleman with
pointed freedom: 'This man (said he) I thought had been a Lord among
wits; but, I find, he is only a wit among Lords![779]' And when his
_Letters_ to his natural son were published, he observed, that 'they
teach the morals of a whore, and the manners of a dancing master.[780]'
[Page 267: Chesterfield's Respectable Hottentot. Ætat 45.]
The character of 'a respectable Hottentot,' in Lord Chesterfield's
letters[781], has been generally understood to be meant for Johnson, and I
have no doubt that it was. But I remember when the _Literary Property_
of those letters was contested in the Court of Session in Scotland, and
Mr. Henry Dundas[782], one of the counsel for the proprietors, read this
character as an exhibition of Johnson, Sir David Dalrymple, Lord Hailes,
one of the Judges, maintained, with some warmth, that it was not
intended as a portrait of Johnson, but of a late noble Lord,
distinguished for abstruse science[783]. I have heard Johnson himself talk
of the character, and say that it was meant for George Lord Lyttelton,
in which I could by no means agree; for his Lordship had nothing of that
violence which is a conspicuous feature in the composition. Finding that
my illustrious friend could bear to have it supposed that it might be
meant for him, I said, laughingly, that there was one trait which
unquestionably did not belong to him; 'he throws his meat any where but
down his throat.' 'Sir, (said he,) Lord Chesterfield never saw me eat in
his life[784].'
[Page 268: A beggarly Scotchman. A.D. 1754.]
On the 6th of March came out Lord Bolingbroke's works, published by Mr.
David Mallet[785]. The wild and pernicious ravings, under the name of
_Philosophy_, which were thus ushered into the world, gave great offence
to all well-principled men. Johnson, hearing of their tendency[786], which
nobody disputed, was roused with a just indignation, and pronounced this
memorable sentence upon the noble authour and his editor. 'Sir, he was a
scoundrel, and a coward[787]: a scoundrel, for charging a blunderbuss
against religion and morality; a coward, because he had not resolution
to fire it off himself, but left half a crown to a beggarly Scotchman,
to draw the trigger after his death[788]!' Garrick, who I can attest from
my own knowledge, had his mind seasoned with pious reverence, and
sincerely disapproved of the infidel writings of several, whom, in the
course of his almost universal gay intercourse with men of eminence, he
treated with external civility, distinguished himself upon this
occasion. Mr. Pelham having died on the very day on which Lord
Bolingbroke's works came out, he wrote an elegant Ode on his death,
beginning
'Let others hail the rising sun,
I bow to that whose course is run;'
in which is the following stanza:
'The same sad morn, to Church and State
(So for our sins 'twas fix'd by fate,)
A double stroke was given;
Black as the whirlwinds of the North,
St. John's fell genius issued forth,
And Pelham fled to heaven[789].'
[Page 270: Thomas Warton. A.D. 1754.]