[1079] The Jesuits, headed by Francis Xavier, made their appearance in
Japan in 1549. The first persecution was in 1587; it was followed by
others in 1590, 1597, 1637, 1638. _Encyclo. Brit_. 8th edit. xii. 697.
[1080] 'They congratulate our return as if we had been with Phipps or
Banks; I am ashamed of their salutations.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 203.
Phipps had gone this year to the Arctic Ocean (_ante_, p. 236), and
Banks had accompanied Captain Cook in 1768-1771. Johnson says however
(_Works_, ix. 84), that 'to the southern inhabitants of Scotland the
state of the mountains and the islands is equally unknown with that of
Borneo or Sumatra.' See _ante_, p. 283, note 1, where Scott says that
'the whole expedition was highly perilous.' Smollett, in _Humphry
Clinker_ (Letter of July 18), says of Scotland in general:--'The people
at the other end of the island know as little of Scotland as of Japan.'
[1081] In sailing from Sky to Col. _Ante_, p. 280.
[1082] Johnson, four years later, suggested to Boswell that he should
write this history. _Ante_, iii. 162, 414.
[1083] Voltaire was born in 1694; his _Louis XIV._ was published in 1751
or 1752.
[1084] A society for debate in Edinburgh, consisting of the most eminent
men. BOSWELL. It was founded in 1754 by Allan Ramsay the painter, aided
by Robertson, Hume, and Smith. Dugald Stewart (_Life of Robertson_, ed.
1802, p. 5) says that 'it subsisted in vigour for six or seven years'
and produced debates, such as have not often been heard in modern
assemblies.' See also Dr. A. Carlyle's _Auto_. p. 297.
[1085] 'As for Maclaurin's imitation of a _made dish_, it was a wretched
attempt.' _Ante,_ i. 469.
[1086] It was of Lord Elibank's French cook 'that he exclaimed with
vehemence, "I'd throw such a rascal into the river."'_Ib._
[1087] 'He praised _Gordon's palates_ with a warmth of expression which
might have done honour to more important subjects.' _Ib._
[1088] For the alarm he gave to Mrs. Boswell before this supper, see
_ib._
[1089] On Dr. Boswell's death, in 1780, Boswell wrote of him:--'He was a
very good scholar, knew a great many things, had an elegant taste, and
was very affectionate; but he had no conduct. His money was all gone.
And do you know he was not confined to one woman. He had a strange kind
of religion; but I flatter myself he will be ere long, if he is not
already, in Heaven.' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 258.
[1090] Johnson had written the _Life_ of 'the great Boerhaave,' as he
called him. _Works_, vi. 292.
[1091] 'At Edinburgh,' he wrote, 'I passed some days with men of
learning, whose names want no advancement from my commemoration, or with
women of elegance, which, perhaps, disclaims a pedant's praise.'
Johnson's _Works_, ix. 159.
[1092] See _ante_, iv. 178.
[1093] 'My acquaintance,' wrote Richardson (_Corres_. iv. 317), 'lies
chiefly among the ladies; I care not who knows it.' Mrs. Piozzi, in a
marginal note on her own copy of the _Piozzi Letters_, says:--'Dr.
Johnson said, that if Mr. Richardson had lived till _I_ came out, my
praises would have added two or three years to his life. "For," says Dr.
Johnson, "that fellow died merely from want of change among his
flatterers: he perished for want of _more_, like a man obliged to
breathe the same air till it is exhausted."' Hayward's _Piozzi_, i. 311.
In her _Journey_, i. 265, she says:--'Richardson had seen little, and
Johnson has often told me that he had read little.' See _ante_, iv. 28.
[1094] He may live like a gentleman, but he must not 'call himself
_Farmer_, and go about with a little round hat.' _Ante_, p. 111.
[1095] Boswell italicises this word, I think, because Johnson objected
to the misuse of it. '"Sir," said Mr. Edwards, "I remember you would not
let us say _prodigious_ at college."' _Ante_, iii. 303.
[1096] As I have been scrupulously exact in relating anecdotes
concerning other persons, I shall not withhold any part of this story,
however ludicrous.--I was so successful in this boyish frolick, that the
universal cry of the galleries was, '_Encore_ the cow! _Encore_ the
cow!' In the pride of my heart, I attempted imitations of some other
animals, but with very inferior effect. My reverend friend, anxious for
my _fame_, with an air of the utmost gravity and earnestness, addressed
me thus: 'My dear sir, I would _confine_ myself to the _cow_.' BOSWELL.
Blair's advice was expressed more emphatically, and with a peculiar
_burr_--'_Stick to the cow_, mon.' WALTER SCOTT. Boswell's record, which
moreover is far more humorous, is much more trustworthy than Scott's
tradition.
[1097] Mme. de Sevigne in describing a death wrote:--'Cela nous fit voir
qu'on joue long-temps la comedie, et qu'a la mort on dit la verite.'
Letter of June 24, 1672. Addison says:--'The end of a man's life is
often compared to the winding up of a well-written play, where the
principal persons still act in character, whatever the fate is which
they undergo.... That innocent mirth which had been so conspicuous in
Sir Thomas More's life did not forsake him to the last. His death was of
a piece with his life. There was nothing in it new, forced, or
affected.' _The Spectator_, No. 349. Young also thought, or at least,
wrote differently.
'A death-bed's a detector of the heart.
Here tired dissimulation drops her mask.'
_Night Thoughts, ii._
'"Mirabeau dramatized his death" was the happy expression of the Bishop
of Autun (Talleyrand).' Dumont's _Mirabeau_, p. 251. See _ante_,
iii. 154.
[1098] See _ante_, i. 408, 447; and ii. 219, 329.
[1099] Dr. A. Carlyle (_Auto_. p. 291) says of Blair's conversation that
'it was so infantine that many people thought it impossible, at first
sight, that he could be a man of sense or genius. He was as eager about
a new paper to his wife's drawing-room, or his own new wig, as about a
new tragedy or a new epic poem.' He adds, that he was 'capable of the
most profound conversation, when circumstances led to it. He had not the
least desire to shine, but was delighted beyond measure to shew other
people in their best guise to his friends. "Did not I shew you the lion
well to-day?" used he to say after the exhibition of a remarkable
stranger.' He had no wit, and for humour hardly a relish. Robertson's
reputation for wisdom may have been easily won. Dr. A. Carlyle says
(_ib_. p. 287):--'Robertson's translations and paraphrases on other
people's thoughts were so beautiful and so harmless that I never saw
anybody lay claim to their own.' He may have flattered Johnson by
dexterously echoing his sentiments.
[1100] In the _Marmor Norfolciense (ante_, i. 141) Johnson says:--'I
know that the knowledge of the alphabet is so disreputable among these
gentlemen [of the army], that those who have by ill-fortune formerly
been taught it have partly forgot it by disuse, and partly concealed it
from the world, to avoid the railleries and insults to which their
education might make them liable.' Johnson's _Works,_ vi. III. See
_ante_, iii. 265.
[1101] 'One of the young ladies had her slate before her, on which I
wrote a question consisting of three figures to be multiplied by two
figures. She looked upon it, and quivering her fingers in a manner which
I thought very pretty, but of which I knew not whether it was art or
play, multiplied the sum regularly in two lines, observing the decimal
place; but did not add the two lines together, probably disdaining so
easy an operation.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 161.
[1102]
'Words gigantic.'
FRANCIS. Horace, _Ars Poet._. 1. 97.
[1103] One of the best criticks of our age 'does not wish to prevent the
admirers of the incorrect and nerveless style which generally prevailed
for a century before Dr. Johnson's energetick writings were known, from
enjoying the laugh that this story may produce, in which he is very
ready to join them.' He, however, requests me to observe, that 'my
friend very properly chose a _long_ word on this occasion, not, it is
believed, from any predilection for polysyllables, (though he certainly
had a due respect for them,) but in order to put Mr. Braidwood's skill
to the strictest test, and to try the efficacy of his instruction by the
most difficult exertion of the organs of his pupils.' BOSWELL. 'One of
the best critics of our age' is, I believe, Malone. See _ante_, p.
78, note 5.
[1104] It was here that Lord Auchinleck called him _Ursa Major. Ante_,
p. 384.
[1105] See _ante_, iii. 266, and v. 20, where 'Mr. Crosbie said that the
English are better animals than the Scots.'
[1106] Johnson himself had laughed at them (_ante_, ii. 210) and accused
them of foppery (_ante_, ii. 237).
[1107] Johnson said, 'I never think I have hit hard, unless it rebounds
(_ante_, ii. 335), and, 'I would rather be attacked than unnoticed'
(_ante_, iii. 375). When he was told of a caricature 'of the nine muses
flogging him round Parnassus,' he said, 'Sir, I am very glad to hear
this. I hope the day will never arrive when I shall neither be the
object of calumny or ridicule, for then I shall be neglected and
forgotten.' Croker's _Boswell_, p. 837. See _ante_, ii. 61, and pp. 174,
273. 'There was much laughter when M. de Lesseps mentioned that on his
first visit to England the publisher who brought out the report of his
meeting charged, as the first item of his bill, "L50 for attacking the
book in order to make it succeed." "Since then," observed M. de Lesseps,
"I have been attacked gratuitously, and have got on without paying."'
The Times, Feb. 19, 1884.
[1108]
'To wing my flight to fame.'
DRYDEN. Virgil, _Georgics_, iii. 9.
[1109] On Nov. 12 he wrote to Mrs. Thrale:--'We came hither (to
Edinburgh) on the ninth of this month. I long to come under your care,
but for some days cannot decently get away.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 202.
[1110] He would have been astonished had he known that a few miles from
Edinburgh he had passed through two villages of serfs. The coal-hewers
and salt-makers of Tranent and Preston-Pans were still sold with the
soil. 'In Scotland domestic slavery is unknown, except so far as regards
the coal-hewers and salt-makers, whose condition, it must be confessed,
bears some resemblance to slavery; because all who have once acted in
either of the capacities are compellable to serve, and fixed to their
respective places of employment during life.' Hargrave's _Argument in
the case of James Sommersett_, 1772. Had Johnson known this he might
have given as his toast when in company with some very grave men at
_Edinburgh_:--'Here's to the next insurrection of the slaves in
_Scotland_.' _Ante_, iii. 200.
[1111] The year following in the House of Commons he railed at the
London booksellers, 'who, he positively asserted, entirely governed the
newspapers.' 'For his part,' he added, 'he had ordered that no English
newspaper should come within his doors for three months.' _Parl. Hist_.
xvii. 1090.
[1112] See _ante_, iii. 373.
[1113] 'At the latter end of 1630 Ben Jonson went on foot into Scotland,
on purpose to visit Drummond. His adventures in this journey he wrought
into a poem; but that copy, with many other pieces, was accidentally
burned.' Whalley's _Ben Jonson_, Preface, p. xlvi.
[1114] Perhaps the same woman showed the chapel who was there 29 years
later, when Scott visited it. One of his friends 'hoped that they might,
as habitual visitors, escape hearing the usual endless story of the
silly old woman that showed the ruins'; but Scott answered, 'There is a
pleasure in the song which none but the songstress knows, and by telling
her we know it all ready we should make the poor devil unhappy.'
Lockharts _Scott_, ed. 1839, ii. 106.
[1115] _ O rare Ben Jonson_ is on Jonson's tomb in Westminster Abbey.
[1116] See _ante_, ii. 365.
[1117] 'Essex was at that time confined to the same chamber of the Tower
from which his father Lord Capel had been led to death, and in which his
wife's grandfather had inflicted a voluntary death upon himself. When he
saw his friend carried to what he reckoned certain fate, their common
enemies enjoying the spectacle, and reflected that it was he who had
forced Lord Howard upon the confidence of Russel, he retired, and, by a
_Roman death_, put an end to his misery.' Dalrymple's _Memoirs of Great
Britain and Ireland_, vol. i. p. 36. BOSWELL. In the original after 'his
wife's grandfather,' is added 'Lord Northumberland.' It was his wife's
great-grandfather, the eighth Earl of Northumberland. He killed himself
in 1585. Burke's _Peerage_.
[1118] Dr. A. Carlyle (_Auto_. p. 293) says of Robertson and
Blair:--'Having been bred at a time when the common people thought to
play with cards or dice was a sin, and everybody thought it an indecorum
in clergymen, they could neither of them play at golf or bowls, and far
less at cards or backgammon, and on that account were very unhappy when
from home in friends' houses in the country in rainy weather. As I had
set the first example of playing at cards at home with unlocked door
[Carlyle was a minister], and so relieved the clergy from ridicule on
that side, they both learned to play at whist after they were sixty.'
See _ante_, iii. 23.
[1119] See _ante_, i. 149, and v. 350.
[1120] See _ante_, iv. 54.
[1121] He wrote to Boswell on Nov. 16, 1776 (_ante_, iii. 93):--'The
expedition to the Hebrides was the most pleasant journey that I ever
made.' In his _Diary_ he recorded on Jan. 9, 1774:--'In the autumn I
took a journey to the Hebrides, but my mind was not free from
perturbation.' _Pr. and Med._ p. 136. The following letter to Dr. Taylor
I have copied from the original in the possession of my friend Mr. M. M.
Holloway:--
'DEAR SIR,
'When I was at Edinburgh I had a letter from you, telling me that in
answer to some enquiry you were informed that I was in the Sky. I was
then I suppose in the western islands of Scotland; I set out on the
northern expedition August 6, and came back to Fleet-street, November
26. I have seen a new region.
'I have been upon seven of the islands, and probably should have visited
many more, had we not begun our journey so late in the year, that the
stormy weather came upon us, and the storms have I believe for about
five months hardly any intermission.
'Your Letter told me that you were better. When you write do not forget
to confirm that account. I had very little ill health while I was on the
journey, and bore rain and wind tolerably well. I had a cold and
deafness only for a few days, and those days I passed at a good house. I
have traversed the east coast of Scotland from south to north from
Edinburgh to Inverness, and the west coast from north to south, from the
Highlands to Glasgow, and am come back as I went,
'Sir,
'Your affectionate humble servant,
'SAM. JOHNSON.'
'Jan. 15, 1774.
'To the Reverend Dr. Taylor,
'in Ashbourn,
'Derbyshire.'
[1122] Johnson speaking of this tour on April 10, 1783, said:--'I got an
acquisition of more ideas by it than by anything that I remember.'
_Ante_, iv. 199.
[1123] See _ante_, p. 48.
[1124] See _ante_, i. 408, 443, note 2, and ii. 303.
[1125] 'It may be doubted whether before the Union any man between
Edinburgh and England had ever set a tree.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 8.
[1126] See _ante_, p. 69.
[1127] Lord Balmerino's estate was forfeited to the Crown on his
conviction for high treason in 1746 (_ante_, i. 180).
[1128] 'I know not that I ever heard the wind so loud in any other
place; and Mr. Boswell observed that its noise was all its own, for
there were no trees to increase it.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 122. See
_ante_, p. 304.
[1129] See _ante_, ii. 300.
[1130] 'Strong reasons for incredulity will readily occur. This faculty
of seeing things out of sight is local and commonly useless. It is a
breach of the common order of things, without any visible reason or
perceptible benefit.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 106.
[1131] 'To the confidence of these objections it may be replied... that
second sight is only wonderful because it is rare, for, considered in
itself, it involves no more difficulty than dreams.' _Ib._
[1132] The fossilist of last century is the geologist of this. Neither
term is in Johnson's _Dictionary_, but Johnson in his _Journey (Works_,
ix. 43) speaks of 'Mr. Janes the fossilist.'
[1133] _Ib_. p. 157.
[1134] _Ib_. p. 6. I do not see anything silly in the story. It is
however better told in a letter to Mrs. Thrale. _Piozzi Letters_,
i. 112.
[1135] Mr. Orme, one of the ablest historians of this age, is of the
same opinion. He said to me, 'There are in that book thoughts, which, by
long revolution in the great mind of Johnson, have been formed and
polished--like pebbles rolled in the ocean.' BOSWELL. See _ante_, ii.
300, and iii. 284.
[1136] See _ante_, iii. 301.
[1137] Johnson (_Works_, ix. 158) mentions 'a national combination so
invidious that their friends cannot defend it.' See _ante_, ii.
307, 311.
[1138] See _ante_, p. 269, note 1.
[1139] Every reader will, I am sure, join with me in warm admiration of
the truly patriotic writer of this letter. I know not which most to
applaud--that good sense and liberality of mind, which could see and
admit the defects of his native country, to which no man is a more
zealous friend:--or that candour, which induced him to give just praise
to the minister whom he honestly and strenuously opposed. BOSWELL.
[1140] The original MS. is now in my possession. BOSWELL.
[1141] The passage that gave offence was as follows:--'Mr. Macleod is
the proprietor of the islands of Raasay, Rona, and Fladda, and possesses
an extensive district in Sky. The estate has not during four hundred
years gained or lost a single acre. He acknowledges Macleod of Dunvegan
as his chief, though his ancestors have formerly disputed the
pre-eminence.' First edition, p. 132. The second edition was not
published till the year after Johnson's death. In it the passage remains
unchanged. To it the following note was prefixed: 'Strand, Oct. 26,
1785. Since this work was printed off, the publisher, having been
informed that the author some years ago had promised the Laird of Raasay
to correct in a future edition a passage concerning him, thinks it a
justice due to that gentleman to insert here the advertisement relative
to this matter, which was published by Dr. Johnson's desire in the
Edinburgh newspapers in the year 1775, and which has been lately
reprinted in Mr. Boswell's _Tour to the Hebrides_.' (It is not unlikely
that the publication of Boswell's _Tour_ occasioned a fresh demand for
Johnson's _Journey_.) In later editions all the words after 'a single
acre' are silently struck out. Johnson's _Works_, ix. 55. See
_ante_, ii. 382.
[1142] Rasay was highly gratified, and afterwards visited and dined with
Dr. Johnson at his house in London. BOSWELL. Johnson wrote on May 12,
1775:--'I have offended; and what is stranger, have justly offended, the
nation of Rasay. If they could come hither, they would be as fierce as
the Americans. _Rasay_ has written to Boswell an account of the injury
done him by representing his house as subordinate to that of Dunvegan.
Boswell has his letter, and, I believe, copied my answer. I have
appeased him, if a degraded chief can possibly be appeased: but it will
be thirteen days--days of resentment and discontent--before my
recantation can reach him. Many a dirk will imagination, during that
