RECONCILIATION. 361 time to consider whether he should give his wrath full swing. At length his will decided, and in the affirmative. There were present a young lord and a distinguished traveller, two men of the world with whom he had never dined before; and he must not allow himself to be lowered in their eyes-" he would not appear a coward" before men like these. So he lay in wait, ready to spring upon poor Beauclerk whenever opportunity offered. And he had not long to watch. The conversation soon turned upon Hackman's violence of temper. JOHNSON: "It was his business to command his temper, as my friend Mr. Beauclerk should have done some time ago."-BEAUCLERK : I should learn of you, Sir."-JOHNSON: "Sir, you have given me opportunities enough of learning, when I have been in your company. No man loves to be treated with contempt."BEAUCLERK (with a polite inclination toward Johnson): "Sir, you have known me twenty years, and however I may have treated others, you may be sure I could never treat you with contempt."-JOHNSON: "Sir, you have said more than was necessary." And with this friendly embrace the quarrel-scene terminated. Johnson dined with Beauclerk on Saturday week, and in the breaking of bread all enmity was cast away. Yet, at the close of a chapter which has begun and ended with an explosion of temper endangering two of the best friendships Johnson ever knew, we cannot help remarking, that if we had undertaken to prove our good Doctor a perfect man, such as, in some people's judgment, all ought to be who are worthy of having their lives written, we should certainly have broken down long ere now under the pressure of such a heavy promise: unless, indeed, we had chosen to get over the difficulty thus-by shaping our notion of perfection to suit the size of our man. But this would have been a very dishonest way of dealing with a very honest soul. It is better to let Samuel Johnson speak for himself: speak through strength and weakness, sincerity and prejudice, love and bad temper, and all the other supposed incompatibles which nevertheless seem to get on very well together, side by side, in the same character. As, through all his scrofulous scars a good eye could discern a well-formed face, so, through all the Doctor's 362 PLEA FOR IMPERFECT MEN. morbid melancholy we ought to see clearly a thoroughly healthy mind, through all his stubborn prejudices a rooted love of the truth, through all his narrow orthodoxy a deeply religious nature, and through all his objectionable outbursts a heart which was kindliness its very self: a man whose faults could do little harm because they were none of them disguised, and whose virtues could not fail to do good because they were all so pronounced; a man who made the forces of his nature tell upon his age, and who, though dead, yet speaketh-and to some purpose. "The blessed work of helping the world forward, happily does not wait to be done by perfect men: and it is more than probable that neither Luther nor John Bunyan, for example, would have satisfied the modern demand for an ideal hero, who believes nothing but what is true, feels nothing but what is exalted, and does nothing but what is graceful." "I am in great pain with an inflamed foot, and obliged to keep my bed, so am prevented from having the pleasure to dine at Mr. Ramsay's to-day, which is very hard; and my spirits are sadly sunk. Will you be so friendly as to come and sit an hour with me in the evening? I am ever your most faithful “And affectionate humble servant, "Mr. Johnson laments the absence of Mr. Boswell, and will come to him." He went, and took Sir Joshua Reynolds with him; and poor Bozzy almost forgot that he had a foot at all, not to say an inflamed one, while they sat and discoursed by his bedside. On Monday evening, May 2nd, Boswell set out for Scotland. 66 TO MRS. LUCY PORTER, IN LICHField. "DEAR MADAM, "May 4, 1779. "Mr. Green has informed me that you are much better; I hope I need not tell you that I am glad of it. I cannot boast of being much better; my old nocturnal complaint still pursues me, and my respiration is difficult, though much easier than when I left you the summer before last. Mr. and Mrs. Thrale are well; Miss has been a little indisposed; but she is got well again. They have, since the loss of their boy, had two daughters; but they seem likely to want a son. "I hope you had some books which I sent you. I was sorry for poor Mrs. Adey's death, and am afraid you will be sometimes solitary; but endeavour, whether alone or in company, to keep yourself cheerful. My friends likewise die very fast; but such is "What can possibly have happened, that keeps us two such strangers to each other? I expected to have heard from you when you came home; I expected afterwards. I went into the country and returned, and yet there is no letter from Mr. Boswell. No ill, I hope, has happened; and if ill should happen, why should it be concealed from him who loves you? Is it a fit of humour, that has disposed you to try who can hold out longest wirhout writing? If it be, you have the victory. But I am afraid of something bad; set me free from my suspicions. "My thoughts are at present employed in guessing the reason of your silence you must not expect that I should tell you any thing, if I had any thing to tell. Write, pray write to me, and let me know what is, or what has been the cause of this long interruption. "I am, dear Sir, "Your most affectionate humble servant, "What may be justly denominated a supine indolence of mind has been my state of existence since I last returned to Scotland. In a livelier state I had often suffered severely from long intervals of silence on your part; and I had even been chid by you for expressing my uneasiness. I was willing to take advantage of my insensibility, and, while I could bear the experiment, to try whether your affection for me would, after an unusual silence on my part, make you write first. This afternoon I have had very high satisfaction by receiving your kind letter of inquiry, for which I most gratefully thank you. I am doubtful if it was right to make the experiment; though I have gained by it. I was beginning to grow tender, and to upbraid myself, especially after having dreamt two nights ago that I was with you. I and my wife, and my four children, are all well. I would not delay one post to answer your letter; but as it is late, I have not time to do more. You shall soon hear from me, upon many and various particulars; and I shall never again put you to any test. I am, with veneration, my dear Sir, "Are you playing the same trick again, and trying who can keep silence longest? Remember that all tricks are either knavish or childish and that it is as foolish to make experiments upon the constancy of a friend as upon the chastity of a wife. "What can be the cause of this second fit of silence I cannot conjecture; but after one trick I will not be cheated by another, nor will I harass my thoughts with conjectures about the motives of a man who, probably, acts only by caprice. I therefore suppose you are well, and that Mrs. Boswell is well too: and that the fine |