his accuracy, wish he would consider the dates, CHAPTER XLIII.—1779-1780. My readers will not be displeased at being told every slight circumstance of the manner in which Dr. Johnson contrived to amuse his solitary hours. He sometimes employed himself in chemistry, sometimes in watering and pruning a vine, sometimes in small experiments, at which those who may smile should recollect that there are moments which admit of being soothed only by trifles.* On the 20th of September, I defended myself against his suspicion of me, which I did not deserve; and added, "Pray, let us write frequently. A whim strikes me, that we should send off a sheet once a week, like a stage-coach, whether it be full or not; nay, though it should be empty. The very sight of your handwriting would comfort me; and were a sheet to be thus sent regularly, we should much oftener convey something, were it only a few kind words." before he was up. He sent for me to his bed-side, and expressed his satisfaction at this incidental meeting, with as much vivacity as if he had been in the gaiety of youth. He called briskly, "Frank, go and get coffee, and let us breakfast in splendour." During this visit to London I had several interviews with him, which it is unnecessary to distinguish particularly. I consulted him as to the appointment of guardians to my children in case of my death. Sir," said he, "do not appoint a Lumber of guardians. When there are many, they trust one to another, and the business is neglected. I would advise you to choose only one; let him be a man of respectable character, who, for his own credit, will do what is right; let him be a rich man, so that he may be under no temptation to take advantage; and let him be a man of business, who is used to conduct affairs with ability and expertness, to whom, therefore, the execution of the trust would not be burdensome." On Sunday, October 10, we dined together at Mr. Strahan's. The conversation having turned on the prevailing practice of going to the East Indies in quest of wealth;-JOHNSON: "A man had better have 10,000l. at the end of ten years passed in England, than 20,000l. at the end of ten years passed in India, because you must compute what you give for money; and a man who has lived ten years in India, has given up ten years of social comfort, and all those advantages which arise from living in England. The ingenious Mr. Brown, distinguished by the name of Capability Brown,' told me that he was once at the seat of Lord Clive, who had returned from India with great wealth; and that he showed him at the door of his bed-chamber a large chest, which he said he had once had full of gold; upon which Brown observed, 'I am glad you can bear it so near your bed-chamber."" My friend, Colonel James Stuart, second son of the Earl of Bute, who had distinguished himself as a good officer of the Bedfordshire militia, had taken a public-spirited resolution to serve his country in its difficulties, by raising a regular regiment, and taking the command of it himself. We talked of the state of the poor in London. This, in the heir of the immense property of-JOHNSON: "Saunders Welch, the Justice, who Wortley, was highly honourable. Having been in Scotland recruiting, he obligingly asked me to accompany him to Leeds, then the head-quarters of his corps; from thence to London for a short time, and afterwards to other places to which the regiment might be ordered. Such an offer, at a time of the year when I had full leisure, was very pleasing; especially as I was to accompany a man of sterling good sense, information, discernment, and conviviality; and was to have a second crop in one year of London and Johnson. Of this I informed my illustrious friend, in characteristical warm terms, in a letter dated the 30th of September, from Leeds. On Monday, October 4, I called at his house In one of his manuscript Diaries, there is the follow ing entry, which marks his curious minute attention:July 26, 1768. I shaved my nail by accident in whetting the knife about an eighth of an inch from the bottom, and about a fourth from the top. This I measure that I may know the growth of nails; the whole is about five-eighths of an inch. Another of the same kind appears :-"Aug. 7, 1779. Partem brachii dextri carpo proximam et cutem pectoris circa mamillam dextram rasi, ut notum fieret quanto temporis pili renovarentur." 1783. I cut from the vine 41 leaves, which weighed And, "Aug. 15, five oz. and a-half and eight scruples. I lay them upon my bookcase, to see what weight they will lose by dry. ing."-BOSWELL. was once high-constable of Holborn, and had the said he intended to go to evening prayers. As tions and indolence, which many of us have too often experienced. I went home with him, and we had a long, quiet conversation. I read him a letter from Dr. Hugh Blair concerning Pope (in writing whose life he was now employed), which I shall insert as a literary curiosity. "TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. "Broughton Park, Sept. 21, 1779. "DEAR SIR, "In the year 1763, being at London, I was carried by Dr. John Blair, Prebendary of Westminster, to dine at old Lord Bathurst's; where we found the late Mr. Mallet, Sir James Porter, who had been Ambassador at Constantinople, the late Dr. Macaulay, and two or three more. The conversation turning on Mr. Pope, Lord Bathurst told us, that 'The Essay on Man' was originally composed by Lord Bolingbroke in prose, and that Mr. Pope did no more than put it into verse: that he had read Lord Bolingbroke's manuscript in his own handwriting, and remembered well, that he was at a loss whether most to admire the elegance of Lord Bolingbroke's prose, or the beauty of Mr. Pope's verses. When Lord Bathurst told this, Mr. Mallet bade me attend, and remember this remarkable piece of information; as, by the course of nature, I might survive his Lordship, and be a witness of his having said so. The conversation was indeed too remarkable to be forgotten. A few days after, meeting with you, who were then also at London, you will remember that I mentioned to you what had passed on this subject, as I was much struck with this anecdote. But what ascertains my recollection of it beyond doubt is, that being accustomed to keep a journal of what passed when I was at London, which I wrote out every evening, I find the particulars of the above information, just as I have now given them, distinctly marked; and am thence enabled to fix this conversation to have passed on Friday, the 22nd of April, 1763. "I remember also distinctly, (though I have not for this the authority of my Journal,) that in the conversation going on concerning Mr. Pope, I took notice of a report which had been some times propagated that he did not understand Greek. Lord Bathurst said to me that he knew that to be false; for the part of the Iliad' was translated by Mr. Pope in his house in the The Rev. Dr. Law, Bishop of Carlisle, in the Preface .o his valuable edition of Archbishop King's "Essay on the Origin of Evil," mentions that the principles maintained in it had been adopted by Pope in his "Essay on Man;" and adds, "The fact, notwithstanding such denial (Bishop Warburton's), might have been strictly verified by an unexceptionable testimony, viz., that of the late Lord Bathurst, who saw the very same system of the Tò Béario (taken from the Archbishop) in Lord Bolingbroke's own hand, lying before Mr. Pope, while he was composing his Essay." This is respectable evidence; but that of Dr. Blair is more direct from the fountain. head, as well as more full. Let me add to it that of Dr. Joseph Warton:-"The late Lord Bathurst repeatedly assured me that he had read the whole scheme of 'The Essay on Man,' in the handwriting of Bolingbroke, and drawn up in a series of propositions, which Pope was to versify and illustrate."-Essays on the Genius and Writings of Pope, vol. ii. p. 62.-BOSWELL. country; and that in the morning when they assembled at breakfast, Mr. Pope used frequently to repeat, with great rapture, the Greek lines which he had been translating, and then to give them his version of them, and to compare them together. If these circumstances can be of any use to Dr. Johnson, you have my full liberty to give them to him. I beg you will, at the same time, present to him my most respectful compliments, with best wishes for his success and fame in all his literary undertakings. I am, with great respect, my dearest Sir, "Your most affectionate, JOHNSON: "Depend upon it, Sir, this is too strongly stated. Pope may have had from Bolingand admitting this to be true, Lord Bathurst did broke the philosophic stamina of his Essay; not intentionally falsify. But the thing is not true in the latitude that Blair seems to imagine; makes a great part of the poem, was Pope's own. we are sure that the poetical imagery, which It is amazing, Sir, what deviations there are from precise truth, in the account which is given of almost everything. I told Mrs. Thrale, 'You have so little anxiety about truth, that you never tax your memory with the exact thing. Now, what is the use of the memory to truth, if one is careless of exactness? Lord Hailes's 'Annals of dry particulars. Scotland' are very exact; but they contain mere They are to be considered as a Dictionary. You know such things are there; and may be looked at when you please. Roberthe does not know the people whom he paints; ș son paints; but the misfortune is, you are sure you cannot suppose a likeness. Characters should never be given by an historian, unless he knew the people whom he describes, or copies from those who knew them." BOSWELL: "Why, Sir, do people play this trick which I observe now, when I look at your grate, putting the shovel against it to make the fire burn?" JOHNSON: "They play the trick, but it does not make the fire burn.* There is a better: setting the poker perpendicularly up at right angles with the grate. In the days of superstition they thought as it made a cross with the bars, it would drive away the witch." BOSWELL: "By associating with you, Sir, I am always getting an accession of wisdom. But perhaps a man, after knowing his own character -the limited strength of his own mind-should not be desirous of having too much wisdom, considering-quid valeant humeri-how little he can let a man be altis lætus, sapiens sibi: "Sir, be as wise as you can; JOHNSON: carry. "Though pleased to see the dolphins play, You may be wise in your study in the morning, It certainly does make the fire burn. By repelling the air, it throws a blast on the fire, and so performs the part, in some degree, of a blower or bellows.-KEARNEY "The Spleen," a poem.-BOSWELL. Every man is to take care of his own wisdom and his own virtue, without minding too much what others think." He said, "Dodsley first mentioned to me the scheme of an English Dictionary; but I had long thought of it." BOSWELL: "You did not know what you were undertaking." JOHNSON: "Yes, Sir, I knew very well what I was undertaking,and very well how to do it,-and have done it very well." BOSWELL: "An excellent climax! and it has availed you. In your Preface you say, 'What would it avail me in this gloom of solitude?' You have been agreeably mistaken.' In his life of Milton, he observes, "I cannot but remark a kind of respect, perhaps unconsciously, paid to this great man by his biographers: every house in which he resided is historically mentioned, as if it were an injury to neglect naming any place that he honoured by his presence.' I had, before I read this observation, been desirous of showing that respect to Johnson by various inquiries. Finding him this evening in a very good humour, I prevailed on him to give me an exact list of his places of residence, since he entered the metropolis as an author, which I subjoin in a note.* I mentioned to him a dispute between a friend of mine and his lady, concerning conjugal infidelity, which my friend had maintained was by no means so bad in the husband as in the wife. JOHNSON: "Your friend was in the right, Sir. Between a man and his Maker it is a different question: but between a man and his wife, a husband's infidelity is nothing. They are connected by children, by fortune, by serious considerations of community. Wise married women don't trouble themselves about infidelity in their husbands." BOSWELL: "To be sure there is a great difference between the offence of infidelity in a man and that of his wife." JOHNSON: "The difference is boundless. The man imposes no bastards upon his wife." Here it may be questioned, whether Johnson was entirely in the right. I suppose it will not be controverted, that the difference in the degree of criminality is very great, on account of consequences; but still it may be maintained, that, independent of moral obligation, infidelity is by no means a light offence in a husband; because it must hurt a delicate attachment, in which a mutual constancy is implied, with such refined sentiments as Massinger has exhibited in his play of "The Picture." Johnson probably at another time would have admitted this opinion. And let it be kept in remembrance, that he was very careful not to give any encouragement to irregular conduct. A gentleman's not adverting to the distinction made by him upon this subject, supposed a case of singular perverseness in a wife, and heedlessly said, That then he thought a husband might do as he pleased with a safe conscience." JOHNSON: "Nay, Sir, this is wild indeed (smiling); you must consider that fornication is a crime in a single man; and you cannot have more liberty by being married." He this evening expressed himself strongly against the Roman Catholics; observing, "In everything in which they differ from us they are wrong." He was even against the invocation of saints; in short, he was in the humour of opposition. Having regretted to him that I had learnt little Greek, as is too generally the case in Scotland; that I had for a long time hardly applied at all to the study of that noble language, and that I was desirous of being told by him what method to follow; he recommended to me as easy helps, Sylvanus's "First Book of the Iliad;" Dawson's "Lexicon to the Greek New Testament;" and "Hesiod," with Pasori's Lexicon at the end of it. On Tuesday, October 12, I dined with him at Mr. Ramsay's, with Lord Newhaven, and some other company, none of whom I recollect, but a beautiful Miss Graham,* a relation of his Lordship's, who asked Dr. Johnson to hob or nob with her. He was flattered by such pleasing attention, and politely told her he never drank wine: but if she would drink a glass of water, he was much at her service. She accepted. Oh, Sir," said Lord Newhaven, "you are caught." JOHNSON: "Nay, I do not see how I am caught; but if I am caught, I don't want to get free again. If I am caught I hope to be kept." Then when the two glasses of water were brought, smiling placidly to the young lady, he said, "Madam, let us reciprocate." Lord Newhaven and Johnson carried on an argument for some time, concerning the Middlesex election. Johnson said, "Parliament may be considered as bound by law, as a man is bound where there is nobody to tie the knot. As it is clear that the House of Commons may expel, and expel again and again, why not allow of the power to incapacitate for that Parliament, rather than have a perpetual contest kept up between Parliament and the people." Lord Newhaven took the opposite side; but respectfully said, "I speak with great deference to you, Dr. Johnson; I speak to be instructed." This had its full effect on my friend. He bowed his head almost as low as the table to a complimenting nobleman, and called out, "My Lord, my Lord, I do not desire all this ceremony; let us tell our minds to one another quietly." After the debate was over, he said, "I have got lights on the subject to-day, which I had not before." This was a great deal from him, especially as he had written a pamphlet upon it. He observed, "The House of Commons was Now the lady of Sir Henry Dashwood. Bart.BOSWELL. originally not a privilege of the people, but a check for the Crown on the House of Lords. I remember Henry VIII. wanted them to do something; they hesitated in the morning, but did it in the afternoon. He told them, 'It is well you did, or half your heads should have been upon Temple-bar.' But the House of Commons is now no longer under the power of the Crown, and therefore must be bribed." He added, "I have no delight in talking of public affairs." Of his fellow-collegian, the celebrated Mr. George Whitefield, he said, "Whitefield never drew as much attention as a mountebank does; he did not draw attention by doing better than others, but by doing what was strange. Were Astley to preach a sermon standing upon his head on a horse's back, he would collect a multitude to hear him; but no wise man would say he made a better sermon for that. I never treated Whitefield's ministry with contempt: I believe he did good. He had devoted himself to the lower classes of mankind, and among them he was of use. But when familiarity and noise claim the praise due to knowledge, art, and elegance, we must beat down such pretensions.' What I have preserved of his conversation during the remainder of my stay in London at this time, is only what follows:-I told him that when I objected to keeping company with a notorious infidel, a celebrated friend of ours said to me, "I do not think that men who live laxly in the world, as you and I do, can with propriety assume such an authority: Dr. Johnson may, who is uniformly exemplary in his conduct. But it is not very consistent to shun an infidel to-day, and get drunk to-morrow." JOHNSON: "Nay, Sir, this is sad reasoning. Because a man cannot be right in all things, is he to be right in nothing? Because a man sometimes gets drunk, is he therefore to steal? This doctrine would very soon bring a man to the gallows." After all, however, it is a difficult question how far sincere Christians should associate with the avowed enemies of religion; for, in the first place, almost every man's mind may be more or less 'corrupted by evil communications; secondly, the world may very naturally suppose that they are not really in earnest in religion, who can easily bear its opponents; and, thirdly, if the profane find themselves quite well received by the pious, one of the checks upon an open declaration of their infidelity, and one of the probable chances of obliging them seriously to reflect, which their being shunned would do, is removed. He, I know not why, showed upon all occasions an aversion to go to Ireland, where I proposed to him that we should make a tour. JOHNSON: "It is the last place where I should wish to travel." BOSWELL:"Should you not like to see Dublin, Sir?" JOHNSON: "No, Sir; Dublin is only a worse capital." BOSWELL: "Is not the Giant's Causeway worth seeing?" JOHNSON: "Worth seeing? Yes; but not worth going to see." Yet he had a kindness for the Irish nation, and thus generously expressed himself to a gentleman from that country, on the subject of an union which artful politicians have often had in view, "Do not make an union with us, Sir; we should unite with you, only to rob you. We should have robbed the Scotch, if they had had any thing of which we could haye robbed them." Of an acquaintance of ours, whose manners and everything about him, though expensive, were coarse, he said, "Sir, you see in him vulgar prosperity." A foreign minister of no very high talents, who had been in his company for a considerable time quite overlooked, happened luckily to mention that he had read some of his "Rambler" in Italian, and admired it much. This pleased him greatly. He observed that the title had been translated, "Il Genio Errante," though I have been told it was rendered more ludicrously, "Il Vagabondo;" and finding that this minister gave such a proof of his taste, he was all attention to him, and on the first remark which he made, however simple, exclaimed, "The Ambassador says well. His Excellency observes-." then he expanded and enriched the little that had been said, in so strong a manner, that it appeared something of consequence. This was exceedingly entertaining to the company who were present, and many a time afterwards it furnished a pleasant topic of merriment: "The Ambassador says well," became a laughable term of applause, when no mighty matter had been expressed. And I left London on Monday, October 18, and accompanied Colonel Stuart to Chester, where his regiment was to lie for some time. MR. BOSWELL TO DR. JOHNSON. "MY DEAR SIR, Chester, Oct. 22, 1779. "It was not till one o'clock on Monday morning, that Colonel Stuart and I left London; for we chose to bid a cordial adieu to Lord Mountstuart, who was to set out on that day on his embassy to Turin. We drove on excellently, and reached Lichfield in good time enough that night. The Colonel had heard so preferable a character of the George, that he would not put up at the Three Crowns, so that I did not see our host, Wilkins. We found at the George as good accommodation as we could wish to have, and I fully enjoyed the comfortable thought that I was in Lichfield again. Next morning it rained very hard; and as I had much to do in a little time, I ordered a post-chaise, and between eight and nine, sallied forth to make a round of visits. I first went to Mr. Green, hoping to have had him to accompany me to all my other friends, but he was engaged to attend the Bishop of Sodor and Man, who was then lying at Lichfield very ill of the gout. Having taken a hasty glance at the additions to Green's museum, from which it was not so easy to break away, I next went to the Friary, where I at first occasioned some tumult in the ladies, who were not prepared to receive company so early: but my name, which has by wonderful felicity come to be closely associated with yours, soon made all easy; and Mrs. Cobb and Miss Adey re-assumed their seats at the breakfast table, which they had quitted with some precipitation. They received me with the kindness of an old acquaintance; and after we had joined in a cordial chorus to your praise, Mrs. Cobb gave me the high satisfaction of hearing that you said, 'Boswell is a man who, I believe, never left a house without leaving a wish for his return.' And she afterwards added, that she bid you tell me, that if ever I came to Lichfield, she hoped I would take a bed at the Friary. From thence I drove to Peter Garrick's, where I also found a very flattering welcome. He appeared to me to enjoy his usual cheerfulness; and he very kindly asked me to come when I could, and pass a week with him. From Mr. Garrick's, I went to the Palace to wait on Mr. Seward. I was first entertained by his lady and daughter, he himself being in bed with a cold, according to his valetudinary custom. But he desired to see me; and I found him dressed in his black gown, with a white flannel night-gown above it; so that he looked like a Dominican, friar. He was goodhumoured and polite; and under his roof too my reception was very pleasing. I then proceeded to Stowhill, and first paid my respects to Mrs. Gastrell, whose conversation I was not willing to quit. But my sand-glass was now beginning to run low, as I could not trespass too long on the Colonel's kindness, who obligingly waited for me; so I hastened to Mrs. Aston's, whom I found much better than I feared I should; and there I met a brother-in-law of these ladies, who talked much of you, and very well too, as it appeared to me. It then only remained to visit Mrs, Lucy Porter, which I did, I really believe, with sincere satisfaction on both sides. I am sure I was glad to see her again; and, as I take her to be very honest, I trust she was glad to see me again; for she expressed herself so that I could not doubt of her being in earnest. What a great keystone of kindness, my dear Sir, were you that morning; for we were all held together by our common attachment to you. I cannot say that I ever passed two hours with more self-complacency than I did those two at Lichfield. Let me not entertain any suspicion that this is idle vanity. Will not you confirm me in my persuasion, that he who finds himself so regarded has just reason to be happy? I have come to Chester, Madam, I cannot tell how; and far less can I tell how I am to get away from it. Do not think me too juvenile. I beg it of you, my dear Sir, to favour me with a letter while I am here, and add to the happiness of a happy friend, who is ever, with affectionate veneration, most sincerely yours, 'JAMES BOSWELL.” "If you do not write directly, so as to catch me here, I shall be disappointed. Two lines from you will keep my lamp burning bright." "TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. "DEAR SIR, London, October 27, 1779. "Why should you importune me so earnestly to write? Of what importance can it be to hear of distant friends, to a man who finds himself welcome wherever he goes, and makes new friends faster than he can want them? If, to the delight of such universal kindness of reception, anything can be added by knowing that you retain my good-will, you may indulge your self in the full enjoyment of that small addition. "I am glad that you made the round of Lichfield with so much success: the oftener you are seen the more you are liked. It was pleasing to me to read that Mrs. Aston was so well, and that Lucy Porter was so glad to see you. "In the place where you now are, there is much to be observed: and you will easily procure yourself skilful directors. But what will you do to keep away the black dog that worries you at home? If you would, in compliance with your father's advice, inquire into the old tenures and old characters of Scotland, you would certainly open to yourself many striking scenes of the in a country half-barbarous, is naturally producmanners of the middle ages. The feudal system, tive of great anomalies in civil life. The knowledge of past times is naturally growing less in all Scotland is so unlike the present, that it is already cases not of public record; and the past time of difficult for a Scotchman to image the economy of his grandfather. Do not be tardy nor negligent; but gather up eagerly what can yet be found.* "We got to Chester_about midnight on Tuesday; and here again I am in a state of much enjoyment. Colonel Stuart and his officers treat me with all the civility I could wish; and I play my part admirably. Lætus aliis, sapiens sibi, the classical sentence which you, I imagine, invented the other day, is exemplified in my present existence. The Bishop to whom I had the honour to be known several years ago, shows me "We have, I think, once talked of another much attention; and I am edified by his conver-project-a History of the late insurrection in sation. I must not omit to tell you, that his Scotland, with all its incidents. Many falsehoods Lordship admires, very highly, your Prefaces to are passing into uncontradicted history. Voltaire, the Poets. I am daily obtaining an extension of who loved a striking story, has told what he could agreeable acquaintance: so that I am kept in not find to be true. animated variety; and the study of the place itself, by the assistance of books, and of the Bishop, is sufficient occupation. Chester pleases my fancy more than any town I ever saw. I will not enter upon it at all in this letter. But "How long I shall stay here I cannot yet say. I told a very pleasing young lady,t niece to one of the Prebendaries, at whose house I saw her, • A maiden sister of Johnson's favourite, Molly Aston, who married Captain Brodie, of the Navy.-MALONE. + Miss Letitia Branston.-BOSWELL. "You may make collections for either of these projects, or for both, as opportunities occur, and digest your materials at leisure. The great direc tion which Burton has left to men disordered like you, is this-Be not solitary; be not idle: which with some additions and illustrations of my own, I intend I have a valuable collection made by my father, which, to publish. I have some hereditary claim to be an antiby the mother's side, from the able and learned Sir John quary, not only from my father, but as being descended, Skene, whose merit bids defiance to all the attempts which have been made to lessen his fame.-BOSWELL. |
