Murphy met with a very joyful reception; and Mr. Thrale, for the first
time in his life, said he was "a good fellow;" for he makes it a sort of
rule to salute him with the title of "scoundrel," or "rascal." They are
very old friends; and I question if Mr. Thrale loves any man so well.'
Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, i. 210.
[1442] From the _Garrick Corres_, i. 116, it seems that Murphy
introduced Garrick to the Thrales. He wrote to him on May 13,
1760:--'You stand engaged to Mr. Thrale for Wednesday night. You need
not apprehend drinking; it is a very easy house.'
[1443] Murphy (_Life_, p. 98) says that Johnson's introduction to the
Thrales 'contributed more than anything else to exempt him from the
solicitudes of life.' He continues that 'he looks back to the share he
had in that business with self congratulation, since he knows the
tenderness which from that time soothed Johnson's cares at Streatham,
and prolonged a valuable life.' Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale from
Lichfield on July 20, 1767:--'I have found nothing that withdraws my
affections from the friends whom I left behind, or which makes me less
desirous of reposing at that place which your kindness and Mr. Thrale's
allows me to call my _home_.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 4. From Mull, on Oct.
15, 1773, he wrote:--'Having for many weeks had no letter, my longings
are very great to be informed how all things are at home, as you and
mistress allow me to call it.' _Ib_. p. 166. Miss Burney in 1778 wrote
that 'though Dr. Johnson lives almost wholly at Streatham, he always
keeps his apartments in town.' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, i. 58. Johnson
(_Works_, viii. 381) tells how, in the house of Sir Thomas Abney, 'Dr.
Watts, with a constancy of friendship and uniformity of conduct not
often to be found, was treated for thirty-six years with all the
kindness that friendship could prompt, and all the attention that
respect could dictate.' He continues:--'A coalition like this, a state
in which the notions of patronage and dependence were overpowered by the
perception of reciprocal benefits, deserves a particular memorial.' It
was such a coalition which he formed with the Thrales--a coalition in
which, though the benefits which he received were great, yet those which
he conferred were still greater.
[1444] On this Mrs. Piozzi notes:--'No, no! Mr. Thrale's manners
presented the character of a gay man of the town; like Millamant, in
Congreve's comedy, he abhorred the country and everything in it.'
Hayward's _Piozzi_, i. 10. Mrs. Millamant, in _The Way of the World_,
act iv. sc. iv., says:--'I loathe the country and everything that
relates to it.'
[1445] 'It is but justice to Mr. Thrale to say, that a more ingenuous
frame of mind no man possessed. His education at Oxford gave him the
habits of a gentleman; his amiable temper recommended his conversation,
and the goodness of his heart made him a sincere friend.' Murphy's
_Johnson_, p. 99. Johnson wrote of him to Mrs. Thrale:--'He must keep
well, for he is the pillar of the house; and you must get well, or the
house will hardly be worth propping.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 340. See
_post_, April 18, 1778. Mme. D'Arblay (_Memoirs of Dr. Burney_, ii. 104)
gives one reason for Thrale's fondness for Johnson's society. 'Though
entirely a man of peace, and a gentleman in his character, he had a
singular amusement in hearing, instigating, and provoking a war of
words, alternating triumph and overthrow, between clever and ambitious
colloquial combatants, where there was nothing that could inflict
disgrace upon defeat.'
[1446] In like manner he called Mr. Thrale _Master_ or _My master_. 'I
hope Master's walk will be finished when I come back.' _Piozzi Letters_,
i. 355. 'My master may plant and dig till his pond is an ocean.' _Ib_.
p. 357. See _post_, July 9, 1777.
[1447] Miss Burney thus described her in 1776:--'She is extremely lively
and chatty; and showed none of the supercilious or pedantic airs so
scoffingly attributed to women of learning or celebrity; on the
contrary, she is full of sport, remarkably gay, and excessively
agreeable. I liked her in everything except her entrance into the room,
which was rather florid and flourishing, as who should say, "It is
I!--No less a person than Mrs. Thrale!" However, all that ostentation
wore out in the course of the visit, which lasted the whole morning; and
you could not have helped liking her, she is so very entertaining--
though not simple enough, I believe, for quite winning your heart.'
_Memoirs of Dr. Burney_, ii. 88.
[1448] _Mrs. Piozzi's Anecdotes_, p. 279. BOSWELL.
[1449] Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale on Oct. 13, 1777:--'I cannot but
think on your kindness and my master's. Life has upon the whole fallen
short, very short, of my early expectation; but the acquisition of such
a friendship, at an age when new friendships are seldom acquired, is
something better than the general course of things gives man a right to
expect. I think on it with great delight; I am not very apt to be
delighted.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 7. Johnson's friends suffered from
this connection. See _post_, March 20, 1778, where it is said that 'at
Streatham he was in a great measure absorbed from the society of his
old friends.'
[1450] Yet one year he recorded:--'March 3, I have never, I thank God,
since new year's day deviated from the practice of rising. In this
practice I persisted till I went to Mr. Thrale's sometime before
Midsummer; the irregularity of that family broke my habit of rising. I
was there till after Michaelmas.' Hawkins's _Johnson_, p. 458, note.
Hawkins places this in 1765; but Johnson states (_Pr. and Med_. p. 71),
'I returned from Streatham, Oct. 1, --66, having lived there more than
three months.'
[1451] Boswell wrote to Temple in 1775:--'I am at present in a
_tourbillon_ of conversations; but how come you to throw in the Thrales
among the Reynoldses and the Beauclerks? Mr. Thrale is a worthy,
sensible man, and has the wits much about his house; but he is not one
himself. Perhaps you mean Mrs. Thrale.' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 192.
Murphy (_Life_, p. 141) says:--'It was late in life before Johnson had
the habit of mixing, otherwise than occasionally, with polite company.
At Mr. Thrale's he saw a constant succession of well-accomplished
visitors. In that society he began to wear off the rugged points of his
own character. The time was then expected when he was to cease being
what George Garrick, brother to the celebrated actor, called him the
first time he heard him converse. "A TREMENDOUS COMPANION"'
[1452] Johnson wrote to Dr. Warton on Oct. 9:--'Mrs. Warton uses me
hardly in supposing that I could forget so much kindness and civility as
she showed me at Winchester.' Wooll's _Warton_, p. 309. Malone on this
remarks:--'It appears that Johnson spent some time with that gentleman
at Winchester in this year.' I believe that Johnson is speaking of the
year 1762, when, on his way to Devonshire, he passed two nights in that
town. See Taylor's _Reynolds_, i. 214.
[1453] It was in 1745 that he published his _Observations on Macbeth_,
as a specimen of his projected edition (_ante_, p. 175). In 1756 he
issued _Proposals_ undertaking that his work should be published before
Christmas, 1757 (p. 318). On June 21, 1757, he writes:--'I am printing
my new edition of _Shakspeare_' (p. 322). On Dec. 24 of the same year he
says, 'I shall publish about March' (p. 323). On March 8, 1758, he
writes:--'It will be published before summer.... I have printed many of
the plays' (p. 327). In June of the same year Langton took some of the
plays to Oxford (p. 336). Churchill's _Ghost_ (Parts 1 and 2) was
published in the spring of 1762 (p. 319). On July 20, 1762, Johnson
wrote to Baretti, 'I intend that you shall soon receive Shakspeare' (p.
369). In October 1765 it was published.
[1454] According to Mr. Seward (_Anec_. ii. 464), 'Adam Smith styled it
the most manly piece of criticism that was ever published in
any country.'
[1455] George III, at all events, did not share in this blind
admiration. 'Was there ever,' cried he, 'such stuff as great part of
Shakespeare? only one must not say so. But what think you? What? Is
there not sad stuff? What? What?' 'Yes, indeed, I think so, Sir, though
mixed with such excellencies that--' 'O!' cried he, laughing
good-humouredly, 'I know it is not to be said! but it's true. Only it's
Shakespeare, and nobody dare abuse him.' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_,
ii, 398.
[1456] That Johnson did not slur his work, as has been often said, we
have the best of all evidence--his own word. 'I have, indeed,' he writes
(_Works_, v. 152), 'disappointed no opinion more than my own; yet I have
endeavoured to perform my task with no slight solicitude. Not a single
passage in the whole work has appeared to me corrupt which I have not
attempted to restore; or obscure which I have not attempted to
illustrate.'
[1457] Steevens wrote to Garrick:--'To say the truth, the errors of
Warburton and Johnson are often more meritorious than such corrections
of them as the obscure industry of Mr. Farmer and myself can furnish.
Disdaining crutches, they have sometimes had a fall; but it is my duty
to remember, that I, for my part, could not have kept on my legs at all
without them.' _Garrick Corres_. ii, 130. 'Johnson's preface and notes
are distinguished by clearness of thought and diction, and by masterly
common sense.' _Cambridge Shakespeare_, i. xxxvi.
[1458] Kenrick later on was the gross libeller of Goldsmith, and the far
grosser libeller of Garrick. 'When proceedings were commenced against
him in the Court of King's Bench [for the libel on Garrick], he made at
once the most abject submission and retractation.' Prior's _Goldsmith_,
i. 294. In the _Garrick Carres_, (ii. 341) is a letter addressed to
Kenrick, in which Garrick says:--'I could have honoured you by giving
the satisfaction of a gentleman, _if you could_ (as Shakespeare says)
_have screwed your courage to the sticking place_, to have taken it.' It
is endorsed:--'This was not sent to the scoundrel Dr. Kenrick.... It was
judged best not to answer any more of Dr. Kenrick's notes, he had
behaved so unworthily.'
[1459] Ephraim Chambers, in the epitaph that he made for himself
(_ante_, p. 219), had described himself as _multis pervulgatus paucis
notus_.' _Gent. Mag_. x. 262.
[1460] See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 1, 1773.
[1461] Johnson had joined Voltaire with Dennis and Rymer. 'Dennis and
Rymer think Shakespeare's Romans not sufficiently Roman; and Voltaire
censures his kings as not completely royal. Dennis is offended that
Menenius, a senator of Rome, should play the buffoon; and Voltaire,
perhaps, thinks decency violated when the Danish usurper is represented
as a drunkard. But Shakespeare always makes nature predominate over
accident.... His story requires Romans or kings, but he thinks only on
men. He knew that Rome, like every other city, had men of all
dispositions; and wanting a buffoon, he went into the senate-house for
that which the senate-house would certainly have afforded him. He was
inclined to show an usurper and a murderer, not only odious, but
despicable; he therefore added drunkenness to his other qualities,
knowing that kings love wine like other men, and that wine exerts its
natural power upon kings. These are the petty cavils of petty _minds_; a
poet overlooks the casual distinction of country and condition, as a
painter, satisfied with the figure, neglects the drapery.' Johnson's
_Works_, v. 109. Johnson had previously attacked Voltaire, in his
_Memoirs of Frederick the Great_. (_Ante_, i. 435, note 2.) In these
_Memoirs_ he writes:--'Voltaire has asserted that a large sum was raised
for her [the Queen of Hungary's] succour by voluntary subscriptions of
the English ladies. It is the great failing of a strong imagination to
catch greedily at wonders. He was misinformed, and was perhaps unwilling
to learn, by a second enquiry, a truth less splendid and amusing.' _Ib_.
vi. 455. See _post_, Oct. 27, 1779.
[1462] 'Voltaire replied in the _Dictionnaire Philosophique_. (_Works_,
xxxiii. 566.) 'J'ai jeté les yeux sur une édition de Shakespeare, donnée
par le sieur Samuel Johnson. J'y ai vu qu'on y traite de _petits
esprits_ les étrangers qui sont étonnés que dans les pièces de ce grand
Shakespeare _un sénateur romain fasse le bouffon; et gu'un roi paraisse
sur le théâtre en ivrogne_. Je ne veux point soupçonner le sieur Johnson
d'ètre un mauvais plaisant, et d'aimer trop le vin; mais je trouve un
peu extraordinaire qu'il compte la bouffonnerie et l'ivrognerie parmi
les beautes du théatre tragique; la raison qu'il en donne n'est pas
moins singulière. _Le poète_, dit-il, _dédaigne ces distinctions
accidentelles de conditions et de pays, comme un peintre qui, content
d'avoir peint la figure, néglige la draperie_. La comparaison serait
plus juste, s'il parlait d'un peintre qui, dans un sujet noble,
introduirait des grotesques ridicules, peindrait dans la bataille
d'Arbelles Alexandre-le Grand monte sur un âne, et la femme de Darius
buvant avec des goujats dans un cabaret.' Johnson, perhaps, had this
attack in mind when, in his _Life of Pope_ (_Works_, viii. 275), he thus
wrote of Voltaire:--'He had been entertained by Pope at his table, when
he talked with so much grossness, that Mrs. Pope was driven from the
room. Pope discovered by a trick that he was a spy for the court, and
never considered him as a man worthy of confidence.'
[1463] See _post_, under May 8, 1781.
[1464] See _post_, ii. 74.
[1465] He was probably proposing to himself the model of this excellent
person, who for his piety was named _the Seraphic Doctor_. BOSWELL.
[1466]
'E'en in a bishop I can spy desert,
Secker is decent, Rundel has a heart.'
Pope. _Epil, Sat_. II. 70.
[1467] So Smollett calls him in his _History of England_, iii. 16.
[1468] Six of these twelve guineas Johnson appears to have borrowed from
Mr. Allen, the printer. See Hawkins's _Life of Johnson_, p. 366
n. MALONE.
[1469] Written by mistake for 1759. On the _outside_ of the letter of
the 13th was written by another hand--'Pray acknowledge the receipt of
this by return of post, without fail.' MALONE.
[1470] Catherine Chambers, Mrs. Johnson's maid-servant. She died in
October, 1767. MALONE. See _post_, ii. 43.
[1471] This letter was written on the second leaf of the preceding,
addressed to Miss Porter. MALONE.
[1472] Mrs. Johnson probably died on the 20th or 21st January, and was
buried on the day this letter was written. MALONE. On the day on which
his mother was buried Johnson composed a prayer, as being 'now about to
return to the common comforts and business of the world.' _Pr. and Med_.
p. 38. After his wife''s death he had allowed forty days to pass before
his 'return to life.' See _ante_, p. 234, note 2.
[1473] See _ante_, p. 80.
[1474] Barnaby Greene had just published _The Laureat, a Poem_, in which
Johnson is abused. It is in the February list of books in the _Gent.
Mag_. for 1765.
[1475] Sir Cloudesly Shovel's monument is thus mentioned by Addison in
_The Spectator_, No. 26:--'It has very often given me great offence;
instead of the brave rough English Admiral, which was the distinguishing
character of that plain gallant man, he is represented on his tomb by
the figure of a beau, dressed in a long periwig, and reposing himself
upon velvet cushions under a canopy of state.'
[1476]
'That live-long wig, which Gorgon's self might own,
Eternal buckle takes in Parian stone.'
Pope's _Moral Essays_, iii. 295.
[1477] Milton's Epigram is in his _Sylvarum Liber_, and is entitled _In
Effigiei ejus Sculptorem_.
[1478] Johnson's acquaintance, Bishop Newton (_post_, June 3, 1784),
published an edition of _Milton_.
[1479] It was no doubt by the Master of Emanuel College, his friend
Dr. Farmer (_ante_, p. 368), that Johnson was promised 'an habitation'
there.
THE END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.