Talking of the success of the Scotch in London, he imputed it In a
considerable degree to their spirit of nationality. 'You know, Sir,
(said he,) that no Scotchman publishes a book, or has a play brought
upon the stage, but there are five hundred people ready to applaud
him.[583]'
He gave much praise to his friend, Dr. Burney's elegant and entertaining
travels[584], and told Mr. Seward that he had them in his eye, when
writing his _Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland_.
Such was his sensibility, and so much was he affected by pathetick
poetry, that, when he was reading Dr. Beattie's _Hermit_ in my presence,
it brought tears into his eyes[585].
He disapproved much of mingling real facts with fiction. On this
account he censured a book entitled _Love and Madness_[586].
Mr. Hoole told him, he was born in Moorfields, and had received part of
his early instruction in Grub-street. 'Sir, (said Johnson, smiling) you
have been _regularly_ educated.' Having asked who was his instructor,
and Mr. Hoole having answered, 'My uncle, Sir, who was a taylor;'
Johnson, recollecting himself, said, 'Sir, I knew him; we called him the
_metaphysical taylor_. He was of a club in Old-street, with me and
George Psalmanazar, and some others[587]: but pray, Sir, was he a good
taylor?' Mr. Hoole having answered that he believed he was too
mathematical, and used to draw squares and triangles on his shop-board,
so that he did not excel in the cut of a coat;--'I am sorry for it (said
Johnson,) for I would have every man to be master of his own business.'
In pleasant reference to himself and Mr. Hoole, as brother authours, he
often said, 'Let you and I, Sir, go together, and eat a beef-steak in
Grub-street[588].'
Sir William Chambers, that great Architect[589], whose works shew a
sublimity of genius, and who is esteemed by all who know him for his
social, hospitable, and generous qualities, submitted the manuscript of
his _Chinese Architecture_ to Dr. Johnson's perusal. Johnson was much
pleased with it, and said, 'It wants no addition nor correction, but a
few lines of introduction;' which he furnished, and Sir William
adopted[590].
He said to Sir William Scott, 'The age is running mad after innovation;
all the business of the world is to be done in a new way; men are to be
hanged in a new way; Tyburn itself is not safe from the fury of
innovation[591].' It having been argued that this was an
improvement,--'No, Sir, (said he, eagerly,) it is _not_ an improvement:
they object that the old method drew together a number of spectators.
Sir, executions are intended to draw spectators. If they do not draw
spectators they don't answer their purpose. The old method was most
satisfactory to all parties; the publick was gratified by a
procession[592]; the criminal was supported by it. Why is all this to
be swept away?' I perfectly agree with Dr. Johnson upon this head, and
am persuaded that executions now, the solemn procession being
discontinued, have not nearly the effect which they formerly had[593].
Magistrates both in London, and elsewhere, have, I am afraid, in this
had too much regard to their own ease[594].
Of Dr. Hurd, Bishop of Worcester, Johnson said to a friend, 'Hurd, Sir,
is one of a set of men who account for every thing systematically; for
instance, it has been a fashion to wear scarlet breeches; these men
would tell you, that according to causes and effects, no other wear
could at that time have been chosen.' He, however, said of him at
another time to the same gentleman, 'Hurd, Sir, is a man whose
acquaintance is a valuable acquisition.'
That learned and ingenious Prelate[595] it is well known published at
one period of his life _Moral and Political Dialogues_, with a woefully
whiggish cast. Afterwards, his Lordship having thought better, came to
see his errour, and republished the work with a more constitutional
spirit. Johnson, however, was unwilling to allow him full credit for his
political conversion. I remember when his Lordship declined the honour
of being Archbishop of Canterbury, Johnson said, 'I am glad he did not
go to Lambeth; for, after all, I fear he is a Whig in his heart.'
Johnson's attention to precision and clearness in expression was very
remarkable. He disapproved of parentheses; and I believe in all his
voluminous writings, not half a dozen of them will be found. He never
used the phrases _the former_ and _the latter_, having observed, that
they often occasioned obscurity; he therefore contrived to construct his
sentences so as not to have occasion for them, and would even rather
repeat the same words, in order to avoid them[596]. Nothing is more
common than to mistake surnames when we hear them carelessly uttered for
the first time. To prevent this, he used not only to pronounce them
slowly and distinctly, but to take the trouble of spelling them; a
practice which I have often followed; and which I wish were general.
Such was the heat and irritability of his blood, that not only did he
pare his nails to the quick; but scraped the joints of his fingers with
a pen-knife, till they seemed quite red and raw.
The heterogeneous composition of human nature was remarkably
exemplified in Johnson. His liberality in giving his money to persons in
distress was extraordinary. Yet there lurked about him a propensity to
paultry saving. One day I owned to him that 'I was occasionally troubled
with a fit of _narrowness_.' 'Why, Sir, (said he,) so am I. _But I do
not tell it_.' He has now and then borrowed a shilling of me; and when I
asked for it again, seemed to be rather out of humour. A droll little
circumstance once occurred: as if he meant to reprimand my minute
exactness as a creditor, he thus addressed me;--'Boswell, _lend_ me
sixpence--_not to be repaid_[597].'
This great man's attention to small things was very remarkable. As an
instance of it, he one day said to me, 'Sir, when you get silver in
change for a guinea, look carefully at it; you may find some curious
piece of coin.'
Though a stern _true-born Englishman_[598], and fully prejudiced against
all other nations, he had discernment enough to see, and candour enough
to censure, the cold reserve too common among Englishmen towards
strangers: 'Sir, (said he,) two men of any other nation who are shewn
into a room together, at a house where they are both visitors, will
immediately find some conversation. But two Englishmen will probably go
each to a different window, and remain in obstinate silence. Sir, we as
yet do not enough understand the common rights of humanity[599].'
Johnson was at a certain period of his life a good deal with the Earl of
Shelburne[600], now Marquis of Lansdown, as he doubtless could not but
have a due value for that nobleman's activity of mind, and uncommon
acquisitions of important knowledge, however much he might disapprove of
other parts of his Lordship's character, which were widely different
from his own.
Maurice Morgann, Esq., authour of the very ingenious _Essay on the
character of Falstaff_[601], being a particular friend of his Lordship,
had once an opportunity of entertaining Johnson for a day or two at
Wickham, when its Lord was absent, and by him I have been favoured with
two anecdotes.
One is not a little to the credit of Johnson's candour. Mr. Morgann and
he had a dispute pretty late at night, in which Johnson would not give
up, though he had the wrong side, and in short, both kept the field.
Next morning, when they met in the breakfasting-room, Dr. Johnson
accosted Mr. Morgann thus:--'Sir, I have been thinking on our dispute
last night--_You were in the right_[602].'
The other was as follows:--Johnson, for sport perhaps, or from the
spirit of contradiction, eagerly maintained that Derrick[603] had merit
as a writer. Mr. Morgann argued with him directly, in vain. At length he
had recourse to this device. 'Pray, Sir, (said he,) whether do you
reckon Derrick or Smart[604] the best poet?' Johnson at once felt
himself roused; and answered, 'Sir, there is no settling the point of
precedency between a louse and a flea.'
Once, when checking my boasting too frequently of myself in company, he
said to me, 'Boswell, you often vaunt so much, as to provoke ridicule.
You put me in mind of a man who was standing in the kitchen of an inn
with his back to the fire, and thus accosted the person next him, "Do
you know, Sir, who I am?" "No, Sir, (said the other,) I have not that
advantage." "Sir, (said he,) I am the _great_ TWALMLEY, who invented the
New Floodgate Iron[605]."' The Bishop of Killaloe, on my repeating the
story to him, defended Twalmley, by observing, that he was entitled to
the epithet of _great_; for Virgil in his groupe of worthies in the
Elysian fields--
_Hic manus ob patriam pugnando vulnera passi_, &c.
mentions
_Inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes_[606].
He was pleased to say to me one morning when we were left alone in his
study, 'Boswell, I think I am easier with you than with almost
any body.'
He would not allow Mr. David Hume any credit for his political
principles, though similar to his own; saying of him, 'Sir, he was a
Tory by chance[607].'
His acute observation of human life made him remark, 'Sir, there is
nothing by which a man exasperates most people more, than by displaying
a superiour ability or brilliancy in conversation. They seem pleased at
the time; but their envy makes them curse him at their hearts[608].'
My readers will probably be surprised to hear that the great Dr. Johnson
could amuse himself with so slight and playful a species of composition
as a _Charade_. I have recovered one which he made on Dr. _Barnard_, now
Lord Bishop of Killaloe; who has been pleased for many years to treat me
with so much intimacy and social ease, that I may presume to call him
not only my Right Reverend, but my very dear Friend. I therefore with
peculiar pleasure give to the world a just and elegant compliment thus
paid to his Lordship by Johnson[609].
CHARADE.
'My _first_[610] shuts out thieves from your house or your room,
My _second_[611] expresses a Syrian perfume.
My _whole_[612] is a man in whose converse is shar'd,
The strength of a Bar and the sweetness of Nard.'
Johnson asked Richard Owen Cambridge, Esq., if he had read the Spanish
translation of _Sallust_, said to be written by a Prince of Spain[613],
with the assistance of his tutor, who is professedly the authour of a
treatise annexed, on the Phoenician language.
Mr. Cambridge commended the work, particularly as he thought the
Translator understood his authour better than is commonly the case with
Translators: but said, he was disappointed in the purpose for which he
borrowed the book; to see whether a Spaniard could be better furnished
with inscriptions from monuments, coins, or other antiquities which he
might more probably find on a coast, so immediately opposite to
Carthage, than the Antiquaries of any other countries. JOHNSON. 'I am
very sorry you was[614] not gratified in your expectations.' CAMBRIDGE.
'The language would have been of little use, as there is no history
existing in that tongue to balance the partial accounts which the Roman
writers have left us.' JOHNSON. 'No, Sir. They have not been _partial_,
they have told their own story, without shame or regard to equitable
treatment of their injured enemy; they had no compunction, no feeling
for a Carthaginian. Why, Sir, they would never have borne Virgil's
description of Aeneas's treatment of Dido, if she had not been a
Carthaginian[615].'
I gratefully acknowledge this and other communications from Mr.
Cambridge, whom, if a beautiful villa on the banks of the Thames, a few
miles distant from London, a numerous and excellent library, which he
accurately knows and reads, a choice collection of pictures, which he
understands and relishes, an easy fortune, an amiable family, an
extensive circle of friends and acquaintance, distinguished by rank,
fashion and genius, a literary fame, various, elegant and still
increasing, colloquial talents rarely to be found[616], and with all
these means of happiness, enjoying, when well advanced in years, health
and vigour of body, serenity and animation of mind, do not entitle to be
addressed _fortunate senex!_[617] I know not to whom, in any age, that
expression could with propriety have been used. Long may he live to hear
and to feel it!
Johnson's love of little children, which he discovered upon all
occasions, calling them 'pretty dears,' and giving them sweetmeats, was
an undoubted proof of the real humanity and gentleness of his
disposition[618].
His uncommon kindness to his servants, and serious concern, not only for
their comfort in this world, but their happiness in the next, was
another unquestionable evidence of what all, who were intimately
acquainted with him, knew to be true.
Nor would it be just, under this head, to omit the fondness which he
shewed for animals which he had taken under his protection. I never
shall forget the indulgence with which he treated Hodge, his cat: for
whom he himself used to go out and buy oysters, lest the servants having
that trouble should take a dislike to the poor creature. I am,
unluckily, one of those who have an antipathy to a cat, so that I am
uneasy when in the room with one; and I own, I frequently suffered a
good deal from the presence of this same Hodge. I recollect him one day
scrambling up Dr. Johnson's breast, apparently with much satisfaction,
while my friend smiling and half-whistling, rubbed down his back, and
pulled him by the tail; and when I observed he was a fine cat, saying,
'Why yes, Sir, but I have had cats whom I liked better than this;' and
then as if perceiving Hodge to be out of countenance, adding, 'but he is
a very fine cat, a very fine cat indeed.'
This reminds me of the ludicrous account which he gave Mr. Langton, of
the despicable state of a young Gentleman of good family. 'Sir, when I
heard of him last, he was running about town shooting cats.' And then in
a sort of kindly reverie, he bethought himself of his own favourite cat,
and said, 'But Hodge shan't be shot; no, no, Hodge shall not be shot.'
He thought Mr. Beauclerk made a shrewd and judicious' remark to Mr.
Langton, who, after having been for the first time in company with a
well-known wit about town, was warmly admiring and praising him, 'See
him again,' said Beauclerk.
His respect for the Hierarchy, and particularly the Dignitaries of the
Church, has been more than once exhibited in the course of this
work[619]. Mr. Seward saw him presented to the Archbishop of York[620],
and described his _Bow to an ARCH-BISHOP_, as such a studied elaboration
of homage, such an extension of limb, such a flexion of body, as have
seldom or ever been equalled.
I cannot help mentioning with much regret, that by my own negligence I
lost an opportunity of having the history of my family from its founder
Thomas Boswell, in 1504, recorded and illustrated by Johnson's pen. Such
was his goodness to me, that when I presumed to solicit him for so great
a favour, he was pleased to say, 'Let me have all the materials you can
collect, and I will do it both in Latin and English; then let it be
printed and copies of it be deposited in various places for security and
preservation.' I can now only do the best I can to make up for this
loss, keeping my great Master steadily in view. Family histories, like
the _imagines majorum_ of the Ancients, excite to virtue; and I wish
that they who really have blood, would be more careful to trace and
ascertain its course. Some have affected to laugh at the history of the
house of Yvery[621]: it would be well if many others would transmit
their pedigrees to posterity, with the same accuracy and generous zeal
with which the Noble Lord who compiled that work has honoured and
perpetuated his ancestry.
On Thursday, April 10[622], I introduced to him, at his house in
Bolt-court, the Honourable and Reverend William Stuart, son of the Earl
of Bute; a gentleman truly worthy of being known to Johnson; being, with
all the advantages of high birth, learning, travel, and elegant manners,
an exemplary parish priest in every respect.
After some compliments on both sides, the tour which Johnson and I had
made to the Hebrides was mentioned. JOHNSON. 'I got an acquisition of
more ideas by it than by any thing that I remember. I saw quite a
different system of life[623].' BOSWELL. 'You would not like to make the
same journey again?' JOHNSON. 'Why no, Sir; not the same: it is a tale
told. Gravina, an Italian critick, observes, that every man desires to
see that of which he has read; but no man desires to read an account of
what he has seen: so much does description fall short of reality.
Description only excites curiosity: seeing satisfies it. Other people
may go and see the Hebrides.' BOSWELL. 'I should wish to go and see some
country totally different from what I have been used to; such as Turkey,
where religion and every thing else are different.' JOHNSON. 'Yes, Sir;
there are two objects of curiosity,--the Christian world, and the
Mahometan world. All the rest may be considered as barbarous.' BOSWELL.
'Pray, Sir, is the _Turkish Spy_[624] a genuine book?' JOHNSON. 'No,
Sir. Mrs. Manley, in her _Life_, says that her father wrote the first
two volumes[625]: and in another book, _Dunton's Life and Errours_, we
find that the rest was written by one _Sault_, at two guineas a sheet,
under the direction of Dr. Midgeley[626].
BOSWELL. 'This has been a very factious reign, owing to the too great
indulgence of Government.' JOHNSON. 'I think so, Sir. What at first was
lenity, grew timidity[627]. Yet this is reasoning _a posteriori_, and
may not be just. Supposing a few had at first been punished, I believe
faction would have been crushed; but it might have been said, that it
was a sanguinary reign. A man cannot tell _a priori_ what will be best
for Government to do. This reign has been very unfortunate. We have had
an unsuccessful war; but that does not prove that we have been ill
governed. One side or other must prevail in war, as one or other must
win at play. When we beat Louis we were not better governed; nor were
the French better governed when Louis beat us.'
On Saturday, April 12, I visited him, in company with Mr. Windham, of
Norfolk, whom, though a Whig, he highly valued. One of the best things
he ever said was to this gentleman; who, before he set out for Ireland
as Secretary to Lord Northington, when Lord Lieutenant, expressed to the
Sage some modest and virtuous doubts, whether he could bring himself to
practise those arts which it is supposed a person in that situation has
occasion to employ. 'Don't be afraid, Sir, (said Johnson, with a
pleasant smile,) you will soon make a very pretty rascal[628].
He talked to-day a good deal of the wonderful extent and variety of
London, and observed, that men of curious enquiry might see in it such
modes of life as very few could even imagine. He in particular
recommended to us to _explore Wapping_, which we resolved to do[629].
Mr. Lowe, the painter, who was with him, was very much distressed that a
large picture which he had painted was refused to be received into the
Exhibition of the Royal Academy. Mrs. Thrale knew Johnson's character so
superficially, as to represent him as unwilling to do small acts of
benevolence; and mentions in particular, that he would hardly take the
trouble to write a letter in favour of his friends[630]. The truth,
however, is, that he was remarkable, in an extraordinary degree, for
what she denies to him; and, above all, for this very sort of kindness,
writing letters for those to whom his solicitations might be of service.
He now gave Mr. Lowe the following, of which I was diligent enough, with
his permission, to take copies at the next coffee-house, while Mr.
Windham was so good as to stay by me.
TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.
'SIR,
'Mr. Lowe considers himself as cut off from all credit and all hope, by
the rejection of his picture from the Exhibition. Upon this work he has
exhausted all his powers, and suspended all his expectations: and,
certainly, to be refused an opportunity of taking the opinion of the
publick, is in itself a very great hardship. It is to be condemned
without a trial.
If you could procure the revocation of this incapacitating edict, you
would deliver an unhappy man from great affliction. The Council has
sometimes reversed its own determination; and I hope, that by your
interposition this luckless picture may be got admitted. I am, &c.
SAM. JOHNSON.
April 12, 1783.
To MR. BARRY.
SIR,
Mr. Lowe's exclusion from the exhibition gives him more trouble than you
and the other gentlemen of the Council could imagine or intend. He
considers disgrace and ruin as the inevitable consequence of your
determination.
He says, that some pictures have been received after rejection; and if
there be any such precedent, I earnestly entreat that you will use your
interest in his favour. Of his work I can say nothing; I pretend not to
judge of painting; and this picture I never saw: but I conceive it
extremely hard to shut out any man from the possibility of success; and
therefore I repeat my request that you will propose the re-consideration
of Mr. Lowe's case; and if there be any among the Council with whom my
name can have any weight, be pleased to communicate to them the desire
of, Sir, Your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON. April 12, 1783.
Such intercession was too powerful to be resisted; and Mr. Lowe's
performance was admitted at Somerset Place[631]. The subject, as I
recollect, was the Deluge, at that point of time when the water was
verging to the top of the last uncovered mountain. Near to the spot was
seen the last of the antediluvian race, exclusive of those who were
saved in the ark of Noah. This was one of those giants, then the
inhabitants of the earth, who had still strength to swim, and with one
of his hands held aloft his infant child. Upon the small remaining dry
spot appeared a famished lion, ready to spring at the child and devour
it. Mr. Lowe told me that Johnson said to him, 'Sir, your picture is
noble and probable.' 'A compliment, indeed, (said Mr. Lowe,) from a man
