'George II's disposition in general was merciful, if the offence was not
murder.' He mentions, however, a dreadful exception, when the King sent
to the gallows at Oxford a young man who had been 'guilty of a most
trifling forgery,' though he had been recommended to mercy by the Judge,
who 'had assured him his pardon.' Mercy was refused, merely because the
Judge, Willes, 'was attached to the Prince of Wales.' It is very likely
that this was one of Johnson's 'instances,' as it had happened about
four years earlier, and as an account of the young man had been
published by an Oxonian. Walpole's _Memoirs of the Reign of George
II_, i. 175.
[414] It is strange that when Johnson had been sixteen years in London
he should not be known to Hogarth by sight. 'Mr. Hogarth,' writes Mrs.
Piozzi, 'was used to be very earnest that I should obtain the
acquaintance, and if possible, the friendship of Dr. Johnson, "whose
conversation was to the talk of other men, like Titian's painting
compared to Hudson's," he said.... Of Dr. Johnson, when my father and he
were talking together about him one day, "That man," says Hogarth, "is
not contented with believing the Bible, but he fairly resolves, I think,
to believe nothing _but_ the Bible."' Piozzi's _Anec_. p. 136.
[415] On October 29 of this year James Boswell was born.
[416] In this preface is found the following lively passage:--'The Roman
Gazetteers are defective in several material ornaments of style. They
never end an article with the mystical hint, _this occasions great
speculation_. They seem to have been ignorant of such engaging
introductions as, _we hear it is strongly reported_; and of that
ingenious, but thread-bare excuse for a downright lie, _it wants
confirmation_.'
[417] The _Lives_ of Blake and Drake were certainly written with a
political aim. The war with Spain was going on, and the Tory party was
doing its utmost to rouse the country against the Spaniards. It was 'a
time,' according to Johnson, 'when the nation was engaged in a war with
an enemy, whose insults, ravages, and barbarities have long called for
vengeance.' Johnson's _Works_, vi. 293.
[418] Barretier's childhood surpassed even that of J. S. Mill. At the
age of nine he was master of five languages, Greek and Hebrew being two
of them. 'In his twelfth year he applied more particularly to the study
of the fathers.' At the age of fourteen he published _Anti-Artemonius;
sive initium evangelii S. Joannis adversus Artemonium vindicatum_. The
same year the University of Halle offered him the degree of doctor in
philosophy. 'His theses, or philosophical positions, which he printed,
ran through several editions in a few weeks.' He was a deep student of
mathematics, and astronomy was his favourite subject. His health broke
down under his studies, and he died in 1740 in the twentieth year of his
age. Johnson's _Works_, vi. 376.
[419] He wrote also in 1756 _A Dissertation on the Epitaphs written by
Pope_.
[420] See _post_, Oct. 16, 1769.
[421] In the original _and_. _Gent. Mag_. x. 464. The title of this poem
as there given is:--'An epitaph upon the celebrated Claudy Philips,
Musician, who died very poor.'
[422] The epitaph of Phillips is in the porch of Wolverhampton Church.
The prose part of it is curious:--
'Near this place lies
Charles Claudius Phillips,
Whose absolute contempt of riches
and inimitable performances upon the
violin
made him the admiration of all that
knew him.
He was born in Wales,
made the tour of Europe,
and, after the experience of both
kinds of fortune,
Died in 1732.'
Mr. Garrick appears not to have recited the verses correctly, the
original being as follows:--
'Exalted soul, _thy various sounds_ could please
The love-sick virgin and the gouty ease;
Could jarring _crowds_, like old Amphion, move
To beauteous order and harmonious love;
Rest here in peace, till Angels bid thee rise,
And meet thy Saviour's _consort_ in the skies.' BLAKEWAY.
_Consort_ is defined in Johnson's _Dictionary_ as _a number of
instruments playing together_.
[423] I have no doubt that it was written in 1741; for the second line
is clearly a parody of a line in the chorus of Cibber's _Birthday Ode_
for that year. The chorus is as follows:
'While thou our Master of the Main
Revives Eliza's glorious reign,
The great Plantagenets look down,
And see _your_ race adorn your crown.'
_Gent. Mag_. xi. 549.
In the _Life of Barretier_ Johnson had also this fling at George
II:--'Princes are commonly the last by whom merit is distinguished.'
Johnson's _Works_, vi. 381.
[424] See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 23 and Nov. 21, 1773.
[425] Hester Lynch Salusbury, afterwards Mrs. Thrale, and later on Mrs.
Piozzi, was born on Jan. 27, 1741.
[426] This piece is certainly not by Johnson. It contains more than one
ungrammatical passage. It is impossible to believe that he wrote such a
sentence as the following:--'Another having a cask of wine sealed up at
the top, but his servant boring a hole at the bottom stole the greatest
part of it away; sometime after, having called a friend to taste his
wine, he found the vessel almost empty,' &c.
[427] Mr. Carlyle, by the use of the term 'Imaginary Editors'
(_Cromwell's Letters and Speeches_, iii. 229), seems to imply that he
does not hold with Boswell in assigning this piece to Johnson. I am
inclined to think, nevertheless, that Boswell is right. If it is
Johnson's it is doubly interesting as showing the method which he often
followed in writing the Parliamentary Debates. When notes were given
him, while for the most part he kept to the speaker's train of thoughts,
he dealt with the language much as it pleased him. In the _Gent. Mag_.
Cromwell speaks as if he were wearing a flowing wig and were addressing
a Parliament of the days of George II. He is thus made to conclude
Speech xi:--'For my part, could I multiply my person or dilate my power,
I should dedicate myself wholly to this great end, in the prosecution of
which I shall implore the blessing of God upon your counsels and
endeavours.' _Gent. Mag_. xi. 100. The following are the words which
correspond to this in the original:--'If I could help you to many, and
multiply myself into many, that would be to serve you in regard to
settlement.... But I shall pray to God Almighty that He would direct you
to do what is according to His will. And this is that poor account I am
able to give of myself in this thing.' Carlyle's _Cromwell_, iii. 255.
[428] See Appendix A.
[429] Lord Chesterfield.
[430] Duke of Newcastle.
[431] I suppose in another compilation of the same kind. BOSWELL.
[432] Doubtless, Lord Hardwick. BOSWELL.
[433] The delivery of letters by the penny-post 'was originally confined
to the cities of London and Westminster, the borough of Southwark and
the respective suburbs thereof.' In 1801 the postage was raised to
twopence. The term 'suburbs' must have had a very limited signification,
for it was not till 1831 that the limits of this delivery were extended
to all places within three miles of the General Post Office. _Ninth
Report of the Commissioners of the Post Office_, 1837, p. 4.
[434] Birch's _MSS. in the British Museum_, 4302. BOSWELL.
[435] See _post_, Dec. 1784, in Nichols's _Anecdotes_. If we may trust
Hawkins, it is likely that Johnson's 'tenderness of conscience' cost
Cave a good deal; for he writes that, while Johnson composed the
_Debates_, the sale of the _Magazine_ increased from ten to fifteen
thousand copies a month. 'Cave manifested his good fortune by buying an
old coach and a pair of older horses.' Hawkins's _Johnson_, P. 123.
[436] I am assured that the editor is Mr. George Chalmers, whose
commercial works are well known and esteemed. BOSWELL.
[437] The characteristic of Pulteney's oratory is thus given in Hazlitts
_Northcole's Conversations_ (p. 288):--'Old Mr. Tolcher used to say of
the famous Pulteney--"My Lord Bath always speaks in blank verse."'
[438] Hawkins's _Life of Johnson_, p. 100. BOSWELL.
[439] A bookseller of London. BOSWELL
[440] Not the Royal Society; but the Society for the encouragement of
learning, of which Dr. Birch was a leading member. Their object was to
assist authors in printing expensive works. It existed from about 1735
to 1746, when having incurred a considerable debt, it was
dissolved. BOSWELL.
[441] There is no erasure here, but a mere blank; to fill up which may
be an exercise for ingenious conjecture. BOSWELL.
[442] Johnson, writing to Dr. Taylor on June 10, 1742, says:--'I propose
to get _Charles of Sweden_ ready for this winter, and shall therefore,
as I imagine, be much engaged for some months with the dramatic writers
into whom I have scarcely looked for many years. Keep _Irene_ close, you
may send it back at your leisure.' _Notes and Queries_, 6th S., v. 303.
_Charles of Sweden_ must have been a play which he projected.
[443] The profligate sentiment was, that 'to tell a secret to a friend
is no breach of fidelity, because the number of persons trusted is not
multiplied, a man and his friend being virtually the same.'
_Rambler_, No. 13.
[444] _Journal of a tour to the Hebrides_, 3rd edit. p. 167. [Sept. 10,
1773.] BOSWELL.
[445] This piece contains a passage in honour of some great critic. 'May
the shade, at least, of one great English critick rest without
disturbance; and may no man presume to insult his memory, who wants his
learning, his reason, or his wit.' Johnson's _Works_, v. 182. Bentley
had died on July 14 of this year, and there can be little question that
Bentley is meant.
[446] See _post_, end of 1744.
[447] 'There is nothing to tell, dearest lady, but that he was insolent
and I beat him, and that he was a blockhead and told of it, which I
should never have done.... I have beat many a fellow, but the rest had
the wit to hold their tongues.' Piozzi's _Anec_. p. 233. In the _Life of
Pope_ Johnson thus mentions Osborne:--'Pope was ignorant enough of his
own interest to make another change, and introduced Osborne contending
for the prize among the booksellers [_Dunciad_, ii. 167]. Osborne was a
man entirely destitute of shame, without sense of any disgrace but that
of poverty.... The shafts of satire were directed equally in vain
against Cibber and Osborne; being repelled by the impenetrable impudence
of one, and deadened by the impassive dulness of the other.' Johnson's
_Works_, viii. 302.
[448] In the original _contentions_.
[449] 'Dec. 21, 1775. In the Paper Office there is a wight, called
Thomas Astle, who lives like moths on old parchments.' Walpole's
_Letters_, vi. 299.
[450] Savage died on Aug. 1, 1743, so that this letter is misplaced.
[451] The Plain Dealer was published in 1724, and contained some account
of Savage. BOSWELL.
[452] In the _Gent. Mag_. for Sept. 1743 (p. 490) there is an epitaph on
R----d S----e, Esq., which may perhaps be this inscription. 'His life
was want,' this epitaph declares. It is certainly not the Runick
Inscription in the number for March 1742, as Malone suggests; for the
earliest possible date of this letter is seventeen months later.
[453] I have not discovered what this was. BOSWELL.
[454] The _Mag.-Extraordinary_ is perhaps the Supplement to the December
number of each year.
[455] This essay contains one sentiment eminently Johnsonian. The writer
had shown how patiently Confucius endured extreme indigence. He
adds:--'This constancy cannot raise our admiration after his former
conquest of himself; for how easily may he support pain who has been
able to resist pleasure.' _Gent. Mag_. xii. 355.
[456] In this Preface there is a complaint that has been often
repeated--'All kinds of learning have given way to politicks.'
[457] In the _Life of Pope_ (Johnson's _Works_, viii. 287) Johnson says
that Crousaz, 'however little known or regarded here, was no mean
antagonist'
[458] It is not easy to believe that Boswell had read this essay, for
there is nothing metaphysical in what Johnson wrote. Two-thirds of the
paper are a translation from Crousaz. Boswell does not seem to have
distinguished between Crousaz's writings and Johnson's. We have here a
striking instance of the way in which Cave sometimes treated his
readers. One-third of this essay is given in the number for March, the
rest in the number for November.
[459]
Angliacas inter pulcherrima Laura puellas,
Mox uteri pondus depositura grave,
Adsit, Laura, tibi facilis Lucina dolenti,
Neve tibi noceat praenituisse Deae.
Mr. Hector was present when this Epigram was made _impromptu_. The first
line was proposed by Dr. James, and Johnson was called upon by the
company to finish it, which he instantly did. BOSWELL. Macaulay
(_Essays_, i. 364) criticises Mr. Croker's criticism of this epigram.
[460] The lines with which this poem is introduced seem to show that it
cannot be Johnson's. He was not the man to allow that haste of
performance was any plea for indulgence. They are as follows:--'Though
several translations of Mr. Pope's verses on his Grotto have already
appeared, we hope that the following attempt, which, we are assured, was
the casual amusement of half an hour during several solicitations to
proceed, will neither be unacceptable to our readers, nor (these
circumstances considered) dishonour the persons concerned by a hasty
publication.' _Gent. Mag_. xiii. 550.
[461] See _Gent. Mag_. xiii. 560. I doubt whether this advertisement be
from Johnson's hand. It is very unlikely that he should make the
advertiser in one and the same paragraph when speaking of himself use
_us_ and _mine_. Boswell does not mention the Preface to vol. iii. of
the _Harkian Catalogue_. It is included in Johnson's _Works_ (v. 198).
Its author, be he who he may, in speaking of literature, says:--'I have
idly hoped to revive a taste well-nigh extinguished.'
[462] Johnson did not speak equally well of Dr. James's morals. 'He will
not,' he wrote, 'pay for three box tickets which he took. It is a
strange fellow.' The tickets were no doubt for Miss Williams's benefit
(Croker's _Boswell_, 8vo. p. 101). See _ante_, p. 81, and _post_, March
28, 1776, end of 1780, note.
[463] See _post_, April 5, 1776.
[464] 'TO DR. MEAD.
'SIR,
'That the _Medicinal Dictionary_ is dedicated to you, is to be imputed
only to your reputation for superior skill in those sciences which I
have endeavoured to explain and facilitate: and you are, therefore, to
consider this address, if it be agreeable to you, as one of the rewards
of merit; and if, otherwise, as one of the inconveniences of eminence.
'However you shall receive it, my design cannot be disappointed; because
this publick appeal to your judgement will shew that I do not found my
hopes of approbation upon the ignorance of my readers, and that I fear
his censure least, whose knowledge is most extensive.
'I am, Sir,
'Your most obedient
'humble servant,
'R. JAMES.'
BOSWELL. See _post_, May 16, 1778, where Johnson said, 'Dr. Mead lived
more in the broad sunshine of life than almost any man.'
[465] Johnson was used to speak of him in this manner:--'Tom is a lively
rogue; he remembers a great deal, and can tell many pleasant stories;
but a pen is to Tom a torpedo, the touch of it benumbs his hand and his
brain.' Hawkins's _Johnson_, p. 209. Goldsmith in his _Life of Nash_
(Cunningham's _Goldsmith's Works_, iv. 54) says:--'Nash was not born a
writer, for whatever humour he might have in conversation, he used to
call a pen his torpedo; whenever he grasped it, it benumbed all his
faculties.' It is very likely that Nash borrowed this saying from
Johnson. In Boswell's _Hebrides_, Sept. 24, 1773, we read:--Dr. Birch
being mentioned, Dr. Johnson said he had more anecdotes than any man. I
said, Percy had a great many; that he flowed with them like one of the
brooks here. JOHNSON. "If Percy is like one of the brooks here, Birch
was like the River Thames. Birch excelled Percy in that as much as Percy
excels Goldsmith." Disraeli (_Curiosities of Literature_, iii, 425)
describes Dr. Birch as 'one to whom British history stands more indebted
than to any superior author. He has enriched the British Museum by
thousands of the most authentic documents of genuine secret history.'
[466] _Ante_, p. 140.
[467] In 1761 Mr. John Levett was returned for Lichfield, but on
petition was declared to be not duly elected (_Parl. Hist_. xv. 1088).
Perhaps he was already aiming at public life.
[468] One explanation may be found of Johnson's intimacy with Savage and
with other men of loose character. 'He was,' writes Hawkins, 'one of the
most quick-sighted men I ever knew in discovering the good and amiable
qualities of others' (Hawkins's _Johnson_, p. 50). 'He was,' says
Boswell (_post_, April 13, 1778), 'willing to take men as they are,
imperfect, and with a mixture of good and bad qualities.' How intimate
the two men were is shown by the following passage in Johnson's _Life of
Savage_:--'Savage left London in July, 1739, having taken leave with
great tenderness of his friends, and parted from the author of this
narrative with tears in his eyes.' Johnson's _Works_, viii. 173.
[469] As a specimen of his temper, I insert the following letter from
him to a noble Lord, to whom he was under great obligations, but who, on
account of his bad conduct, was obliged to discard him. The original was
in the hands of the late Francis Cockayne Cust, Esq., one of His
Majesty's Counsel learned in the law:
'_Right Honourable_ BRUTE, _and_ BOOBY,
'I find you want (as Mr. ---- is pleased to hint,) to swear away my
life, that is, the life of your creditor, because he asks you for a
debt.--The publick shall soon be acquainted with this, to judge whether
you are not fitter to be an Irish Evidence, than to be an Irish Peer.--I
defy and despise you.
'I am,
'Your determined adversary,
'R. S.'
BOSWELL. The noble Lord was no doubt Lord Tyrconnel. See Johnson's
_Works_, viii. 140. Mr. Cust is mentioned _post_, p. 170.
[470] 'Savage took all opportunities of conversing familiarly with those
who were most conspicuous at that time for their power or their
influence; he watched their looser moments, and examined their domestic
behaviour with that acuteness which nature had given him, and which the
uncommon variety of his life had contributed to increase, and that
inquisitiveness which must always be produced in a vigorous mind by an
absolute freedom from all pressing or domestic engagements.' Johnson's
_Works_, viii. 135.
[471] 'Thus he spent his time in mean expedients and tormenting
suspense, living for the greatest part in the fear of prosecutions from
his creditors, and consequently skulking in obscure parts of the town,
of which he was no stranger to the remotest corners.' _Ib_. p. 165.
[472] Sir John Hawkins gives the world to understand, that Johnson,
'being an admirer of genteel manners, was captivated by the address and
demeanour of Savage, who, as to his exterior, was, to a remarkable
degree, accomplished.' Hawkins's _Life_, p. 52. But Sir John's notions
of gentility must appear somewhat ludicrous, from his stating the
following circumstance as presumptive evidence that Savage was a good
swordsman: 'That he understood the exercise of a gentleman's weapon, may
be inferred from the use made of it in that rash encounter which is
related in his life.' The dexterity here alluded to was, that Savage, in
a nocturnal fit of drunkenness, stabbed a man at a coffee-house, and
killed him; for which he was tried at the Old-Bailey, and found guilty
of murder.
Johnson, indeed, describes him as having 'a grave and manly deportment,
a solemn dignity of mien; but which, upon a nearer acquaintance,
softened into an engaging easiness of manners.' [Johnson's _Works_,
viii. 187.] How highly Johnson admired him for that knowledge which he
himself so much cultivated, and what kindness he entertained for him,
appears from the following lines in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for
April, 1738, which I am assured were written by Johnson:
_'Ad_ RICARDUM SAVAGE.
'Humani studium generis cui pectore
fervet
O colat humanum te foveatque
genus.'
BOSWELL. The epigram is inscribed Ad Ricardum Savage, Arm. Humani
Generis Amatorem. _Gent. Mag_. viii. 210.
[473] The following striking proof of Johnson's extreme indigence, when
he published the _Life of Savage_, was communicated to the author, by
Mr. Richard Stow, of Apsley, in Bedfordshire, from the information of
Mr. Walter Harte, author of the _Life of Gustavus Adolphus_:
'Soon after Savage's _Life_ was published, Mr. Harte dined with Edward
Cave, and occasionally praised it. Soon after, meeting him, Cave said,
'You made a man very happy t'other day.'--'How could that be,' says
Harte; 'nobody was there but ourselves.' Cave answered, by reminding him
that a plate of victuals was sent behind a screen, which was to Johnson,
dressed so shabbily, that he did not choose to appear; but on hearing
the conversation, was highly delighted with the encomiums on his book.'
MALONE. 'He desired much to be alone, yet he always loved good talk, and
often would get behind the screen to hear it.' Great-Heart's account of
Fearing; _Pilgrim's Progress_, Part II. Harte was tutor to Lord
Chesterfield's son. See _post_, 1770, in Dr. Maxwell's _Collectanea_,
and March 30, 1781.
[474] 'Johnson has told me that whole nights have been spent by him and
Savage in a perambulation round the squares of Westminster, St. James's
in particular, when all the money they could both raise was less than
sufficient to purchase for them the shelter and sordid comforts of a
night's cellar.' Hawkins's _Johnson_, P. 53. Where was Mrs. Johnson
living at this time? This perhaps was the time of which Johnson wrote,
when, after telling of a silver cup which his mother had bought him, and
marked SAM. I., he says:--'The cup was one of the last pieces of plate
which dear Tetty sold in our distress.' _Account of Johnson's Early
Life_, p. 18. Yet it is not easy to understand how, if there was a
lodging for her, there was not one for him. She might have been living
with friends. We have a statement by Hawkins (p. 89) that there was 'a
temporary separation of Johnson from his wife.' He adds that, 'while he
was in a lodging in Fleet Street, she was harboured by a friend near the
Tower.' This separation, he insinuates, rose by an estrangement caused
by Johnson's 'indifference in the discharge of the domestic virtues.' It
is far more likely that it rose from destitution.
Shenstone, in a letter written in 1743, gives a curious account of the
streets of London through which Johnson wandered. He says;--'London is
really dangerous at this time; the pickpockets, formerly content with
mere filching, make no scruple to knock people down with bludgeons in
Fleet Street and the Strand, and that at no later hour than eight
o'clock at night; but in the Piazzas, Covent Garden, they come in large
bodies, armed with _couteaus_, and attack whole parties, so that the
danger of coming out of the play-houses is of some weight in the
opposite scale, when I am disposed to go to them oftener than I ought.'
Shenstone's _Works_ (edit.), iii. 73.
[475] 'Savage lodged as much by accident as he dined, and passed the
night sometimes in mean houses, ... and sometimes, when he had not money
to support even the expenses of these receptacles, walked about the
streets till he was weary, and lay down in the summer upon a bulk, or in
the winter, with his associates in poverty, among the ashes of a
glass-house. In this manner were passed those days and those nights
which nature had enabled him to have employed in elevated speculations,
useful studies, or pleasing conversation.' Johnson's _Works_, viii. 159.
[476] See _ante_, p. 94.
[477] Cave was the purchaser of the copyright, and the following is a
copy of Johnson's receipt for the money:--'The 14th day of December,
received of Mr. Ed. Cave the sum of fifteen guineas, in full, for
compiling and writing _The Life of Richard Savage, Esq_., deceased; and
in full for all materials thereto applied, and not found by the said
Edward Cave. I say, received by me, SAM. JOHNSON. Dec. 14, 1743.'
WRIGHT. The title-page is as follows:--'An account of the Life of Mr.
Richard Savage, son of the Earl Rivers. London. Printed for J. Roberts,
in Warwick-Lane. MDCCXLIV. It reached a second edition in 1748, a third
in 1767, and a fourth in 1769. A French translation was published
in 1771.
[478] Roberts published in 1745 Johnson's _Observations on Macbeth_. See
_Gent. Mag_. xv. 112, 224.
[479] Horace, _Ars Poetica_ l. 317.
[480] In the autumn of 1752. Northcote's _Reynolds_ i. 52