interval, fix in my heart. I really question if at this time my life
would not be in danger, if distance did not secure it. Boswell will find
his way to Streatham before he goes, and will detail this great affair.'
_Piozzi Letters_, i. 216.
[1143] In like manner he communicated to Sir William Forbes part of his
journal from which he made the _Life of Johnson_. _Ante_, iii. 208.
[1144] In justice both to Sir William Forbes, and myself, it is proper
to mention, that the papers which were submitted to his perusal
contained only an account of our Tour from the time that Dr. Johnson and
I set out from Edinburgh (p. 58), and consequently did not contain the
elogium on Sir William Forbes, (p. 24), which he never saw till this
book appeared in print; nor did he even know, when he wrote the above
letter, that this _Journal_ was to be published. BOSWELL. This note is
not in the first edition.
[1145] _Hamlet_, act iii. sc. 1.
[1146] Both _Nonpareil_ and _Bon Chretien_ are in Johnson's
_Dictionary_; _Nonpareil_, is defined as _a kind of apple_, and _Bon
Chretien_ as _a species of pear_.
[1147] See _ante_, p. 311.
[1148] See _ante_, iv. 9.
[1149] 'Dryden's contemporaries, however they reverenced his genius,
left his life unwritten; and nothing therefore can be known beyond what
casual mention and uncertain tradition have supplied.' Johnson's
_Works_, vii. 245. See _ante_, iii. 71.
[1150]
'Before great Agamemnon reign'd
Reign'd kings as great as he, and brave
Whose huge ambition's now contain'd
In the small compass of a grave;
In endless night they sleep, unwept, unknown,
No bard had they to make all time their own.'
FRANCIS. Horace, _Odes_, iv. 9. 25.
[1151] Having found, on a revision of the first edition of this work,
that, notwithstanding my best care, a few observations had escaped me,
which arose from the instant impression, the publication of which might
perhaps be considered as passing the bounds of a strict decorum, I
immediately ordered that they should be omitted in the subsequent
editions. I was pleased to find that they did not amount in the whole to
a page. If any of the same kind are yet left, it is owing to
inadvertence alone, no man being more unwilling to give pain to others
than I am.
A contemptible scribbler, of whom I have learned no more than that,
after having disgraced and deserted the clerical character, he picks up
in London a scanty livelihood by scurrilous lampoons under a feigned
name, has impudently and falsely asserted that the passages omitted were
_defamatory_, and that the omission was not voluntary, but compulsory.
The last insinuation I took the trouble publickly to disprove; yet, like
one of Pope's dunces, he persevered in 'the lie o'erthrown.' [_Prologue
to the Satires_, l. 350.] As to the charge of defamation, there is an
obvious and certain mode of refuting it. Any person who thinks it worth
while to compare one edition with the other, will find that the passages
omitted were not in the least degree of that nature, but exactly such as
I have represented them in the former part of this note, the hasty
effusion of momentary feelings, which the delicacy of politeness should
have suppressed. BOSWELL. In the second edition this note ended at the
first paragraph, the latter part being added in the third. For the 'few
observations omitted' see _ante_, pp. 148, 381, 388.
The 'contemptible scribbler' was, I believe, John Wolcot, better known
by his assumed name of Peter Pindar. He had been a clergyman. In his
_Epistle to Boswell (Works_, i. 219), he says in reference to the
passages about Sir A. Macdonald (afterwards Lord Macdonald):--'A letter
of severe remonstrance was sent to Mr. B., who, in consequence, omitted
in the second edition of his _Journal_ what is so generally pleasing to
the public, viz., the scandalous passages relative to that nobleman.' It
was in a letter to the _Gent. Mag._ 1786, p. 285, that Boswell
'publickly disproved the insinuation' made 'in a late scurrilous
publication' that these passages 'were omitted in consequence of a
letter from his Lordship. Nor was any application,' he continues, 'made
to me by the nobleman alluded to at any time to make any alteration in
my _Journal_.'
[1152]
'Nothing extenuate
Nor set down aught in malice.'
_Othello_, act v. sc. 2.
[1153] See _ante_, i. 189, note 2, 296, 297; and Johnson's _Works_, v.
23.
[1154] Of his two imitations Boswell means _The Vanity of Human Wishes_,
of which one hundred lines were written in a day. _Ante_, i. 192,
and ii. 15.
[1155] Johnson, it should seem, did not allow that there was any
pleasure in writing poetry. 'It has been said there is pleasure in
writing, particularly in writing verses. I allow you may have pleasure
from writing after it is over, if you have written well; but you don't
go willingly to it again.' _Ante_, iv. 219. What Johnson always sought
was to sufficiently occupy the mind. So long as that was done, that
labour would, I believe, seem to him the pleasanter which required the
less thought.
[1156] Nathan Bailey published his _English Dictionary_ in 1721.
[1157]
'Woolston, the scourge of scripture, mark with awe!
And mighty Jacob, blunderbuss of law.'
_The Dunciad_, first ed., bk. iii. l. 149. Giles Jacob published a _Law
Dictionary_ in 1729.
[1158] _Ante_, p. 393.
[1159] A writer in the _Gent. Mag._ 1786, p. 388, with some reason
says:--'I heartily wish Mr. Boswell would get this Latin poem translated.'
[1160] Boswell, briefly mentioning the tour which Johnson made to Wales
in the year 1774 with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale, says:--'I do not find that
he kept any journal or notes of what he saw there' (_ante_, ii. 285). A
journal had been kept however, which in 1816 was edited and published by
Mr. Duppa. Mrs. Piozzi, writing in October of that year, says that three
years earlier she had been shewn the MS. by a Mr. White, and that it was
genuine. 'The gentleman who possessed it seemed shy of letting me read
the whole, and did not, as it appeared, like being asked how it came
into his hands.' Hayward's _Piozzi_, ii. 177. According to Mr. Croker
(Croker's _Boswell_, p. 415) 'it was preserved by Johnson's servant,
Barber. How it escaped Boswell's research is not known.' A fragment of
Johnson's _Annals_, also preserved by Barber, had in like manner never
been seen by Boswell; _ante_, i. 35, note 1. The editor of these
_Annals_ says (Preface, p. v):--'Francis Barber, unwilling that all the
MSS. of his illustrious master should be utterly lost, preserved these
relicks from the flames. By purchase from Barber's widow they came into
the possession of the editor.' It seems likely that Barber was afraid to
own what he had done; though as he was the residuary legatee he was safe
from all consequences, unless the executors of the will who were to hold
the residue of the estate in trust for him had chosen to proceed against
him. Mr. Duppa in editing this Journal received assistance from Mrs.
Piozzi, 'who,' he says (Preface, p. xi), 'explained many facts which
could not otherwise have been understood.' A passage in one of her
letters dated Bath, Oct. 11, 1816, shows how unfriendly were the
relations between her and her eldest daughter, Johnson's Queeny, who had
married Admiral Lord Keith. 'I am sadly afraid,' she writes, 'of Lady
K.'s being displeased, and fancying I promoted this publication. Could I
have caught her for a quarter-of-an-hour, I should have proved my
innocence, and might have shown her Duppa's letter; but she left neither
note, card, nor message, and when my servant ran to all the inns in
chase of her, he learned that she had left the White Hart at twelve
o'clock. Vexatious! but it can't be helped. I hope the pretty little
girl my people saw with her will pay her more tender attention.' Three
days later she wrote:--'Johnson's _Diary_ is selling rapidly, though the
contents are _bien maigre_, I must confess. Mr. Duppa has politely
suppressed some sarcastic expressions about my family, the Cottons, whom
we visited at Combermere, and at Lleweney.' Hayward's _Piozzi_, ii.
176-9. Mr. Croker in 1835 was able to make 'a collation of the original
MS., which has supplied many corrections and some omissions in Mr.
Duppa's text.' Mr. Croker's text I have generally followed.
[1161] 'When I went with Johnson to Lichfield, and came down to
breakfast at the inn, my dress did not please him, and he made me alter
it entirely before he would stir a step with us about the town, saying
most satirical things concerning the appearance I made in a
riding-habit; and adding, "'Tis very strange that such eyes as yours
cannot discern propriety of dress; if I had a sight only half as good, I
think I should see to the centre."' Piozzi's _Anec_. p. 288.
[1162] For Mrs. (Miss) Porter, Mrs. (Miss) Aston, Mr. Green, Mrs. Cobb,
Mr. (Peter) Garrick, Miss Seward, and Dr. Taylor, see _ante_,
ii. 462-473.
[1163] Dr. Erasmus Darwin, the physiologist and poet, grandfather of
Charles Darwin. Mrs. Piozzi when at Florence wrote:--'I have no roses
equal to those at Lichfield, where on one tree I recollect counting
eighty-four within my own reach; it grew against the house of Dr.
Darwin.' Piozzi's _Journey_, i. 278.
[1164] See _ante_, iii. 124, for mention of her father and brother.
[1165] The verse in _Martial_ is:--
'Defluat, et lento splendescat turbida limo.'
In the common editions it has the number 45, and not 44. DUPPA.
[1166] See _ante_, iii. 187.
[1167] Johnson wrote on Nov. 27, 1772, 'I was yesterday at Chatsworth.
They complimented me with playing the fountain and opening the cascade.
But I am of my friend's opinion, that when one has seen the ocean
cascades are but little things.' _Piozzi Letters_, i.69.
[1168] 'A water-work with a concealed spring, which, upon touching,
spouted out streams from every bough of a willow-tree.' _Piozzi
MS_. CROKER.
[1169] A race-horse, which attracted so much of Dr. Johnson's attention,
that he said, 'of all the Duke's possessions, I like Atlas best.' DUPPA.
[1170] For Johnson's last visit to Chatsworth, see _ante_, iv. 357, 367.
[1171] 'From the Muses, Sir Thomas More bore away the first crown,
Erasmus the second, and Micyllus has the third.' In the MS. Johnson has
introduced [Greek: aeren] by the side of [Greek: eilen], DUPPA. 'Jacques
Moltzer, en Latin Micyllus. Ce surnom lui fut donne le jour ou il
remplissait avec le plus grand succes le role de Micyllus dans _Le
Songe_ de Lucien qui, arrange en drame, fut represente au college de
Francfort. Ne en 1503, mort en 1558.' _Nouv. Biog. Gen._ xxxv. 922.
[1172] See _ante_, ii. 324, note I, and iii. 138.
[1173] Mr. Gilpin was an undergraduate at Oxford. DUPPA.
[1174] John Parker, of Brownsholme, in Lancashire [Browsholme, in
Yorkshire], Esq. DUPPA.
[1175] Mrs. Piozzi 'rather thought' that this was _Capability Brown_
[_ante_, iii. 400]. CROKER.
[1176] Mr. Gell, of Hopton Hall, father of Sir William Gell, well known
for his topography of Troy. DUPPA.
[1177] See _ante_, iii. 160, for a visit paid by Johnson and Boswell to
Kedleston in 1777.
[1178] See _ante_, iii. 164.
[1179] The parish of Prestbury. DUPPA.
[1180] At this time the seat of Sir Lynch Salusbury Cotton [Mrs.
Thrale's relation], now, of Lord Combermere, his grandson, from which
place he takes his title. DUPPA.
[1181] Shavington Hall, in Shropshire. DUPPA.
[1182] 'To guard. To adorn with lists, laces or ornamental borders.
Obsolete.' Johnson's _Dictionary._
[1183] Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale on Nov. 13, 1783:--'You seem to
mention Lord Kilmurrey _(sic)_ as a stranger. We were at his house in
Cheshire [Shropshire].... Do not you remember how he rejoiced in having
_no_ park? He could not disoblige his neighbours by sending them _no_
venison.' _Piozzi Letters,_ ii. 326.
[1184] This remark has reference to family conversation. Robert was the
eldest son of Sir L.S. Cotton, and lived at Lleweney. DUPPA.
[1185] _Paradise Lost,_ book xi. v. 642. DUPPA.
[1186] See Mrs. Piozzi's _Synonymy_, i. 323, for an anecdote of this
walk.
[1187] Lleweney Hall was the residence of Robert Cotton, Esq., Mrs.
Thrale's cousin german. Here Mr. and Mrs. Thrale and Dr. Johnson staid
three weeks. DUPPA. Mrs. Piozzi wrote in 1817:--'Poor old Lleweney Hall!
pulled down after standing 1000 years in possession of the Salusburys.'
Hayward's _Piozzi_, ii. 206.
[1188] Johnson's name for Mrs. Thrale. _Ante,_ i. 494.
[1189] Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale on Sept. 13, 1777:--'Boswell wants
to see Wales; but except the woods of Bachycraigh, what is there in
Wales? What that can fill the hunger of ignorance, or quench the thirst
of curiosity?' _Piozzi Letters,_ i. 367. _Ante,_ iii. 134, note 1.
[1190] Pennant gives a description of this house, in a tour he made into
North Wales in 1780:--'Not far from Dymerchion, lies half buried in
woods the singular house of Bach y Graig. It consists of a mansion of
three sides, enclosing a square court. The first consists of a vast hall
and parlour: the rest of it rises into six wonderful stories, including
the cupola; and forms from the second floor the figure of a pyramid: the
rooms are small and inconvenient. The bricks are admirable, and appear
to have been made in Holland; and the model of the house was probably
brought from Flanders, where this kind of building is not unfrequent. It
was built by Sir Richard Clough, an eminent merchant, in the reign of
Queen Elizabeth. The initials of his name are in iron on the front, with
the date 1567, and on the gateway 1569.' DUPPA.
[1191] Bishop Shipley, whom Johnson described as _'knowing and
convertible' Ante,_ iv. 246. Johnson, in his _Dictionary_, says that
_'conversable_ is sometimes written _conversible_, but improperly.'
[1192] William Lloyd, Bishop of St. Asaph and afterwards of Worcester.
He was one of the seven Bishops who were sent to the Tower in 1688. His
character is drawn by Burnet, _History of His Own Time_, ed. 1818, i.
210. It was he of whom Bishop Wilkins said that 'Lloyd had the most
learning in ready cash of any he ever knew.' _Ante_, ii. 256, note 3.
[1193] A curious account of Dodwell and 'the paradoxes after which he
seemed to hunt' is given in Burnet, iv. 303. He was Camden Professor of
Ancient History in the University of Oxford. 'It was about him that
William III uttered those memorable words: "He has set his heart on
being a martyr; and I have set mine on disappointing him."' Macaulay's
_England_, ed. 1874, iv. 226. See Hearne in Leland's _Itin._, 3rd ed.
v. 136.
[1194] By Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, in 1579. DUPPA.
[1195] See _ante_, iii. 357, and v. 42.
[1196] Perhaps Johnson wrote _mere_.
[1197] Humphry Llwyd was a native of Denbigh, and practised there as a
physician, and also represented the town in Parliament. He died 1568,
aged 41. DUPPA.
[1198] Mrs. Thrale's father. DUPPA.
[1199] Cowper wrote a few years later in the first book of _The Task_,
in his description of the grounds at Weston Underwood:--
'Not distant far a length of colonnade
Invites us. Monument of ancient taste,
Now scorned, but worthy of a better fate.
Our fathers knew the value of a screen
From sultry suns, and in their shaded walks
And long-protracted bowers enjoyed at noon
The gloom and coolness of declining day.
We bear our shades about us: self-deprived
Of other screen, the thin umbrella spread,
And range an Indian waste without a tree.
Thanks to Benevolus [A]--he spares me yet
These chestnuts ranged in corresponding lines,
And though himself so polished still reprieves
The obsolete prolixity of shade.'
[1200] Such a passage as this shews that Johnson was not so insensible
to nature as is often asserted. Mrs. Piozzi (_Anec._ p. 99) says:--'Mr.
Thrale loved prospects, and was mortified that his friend could not
enjoy the sight of those different dispositions of wood and water, hill
and valley, that travelling through England and France affords a man.
But when he wished to point them out to his companion: "Never heed such
nonsense," would he reply; "a blade of grass is always a blade of grass,
whether in one country or another. Let us, if we _do_ talk, talk about
something; men and women are my subjects of enquiry; let us see how
these differ from those we have left behind."' She adds (p. 265):--
'Walking in a wood when it rained was, I think, the only rural image he
pleased his fancy with; "for," says he, "after one has gathered the
apples in an orchard, one wishes them well baked, and removed to a
London eating-house for enjoyment."' See _ante_, pp. 132, note 1, 141,
note 2, 333, note i, and 346, note i, for Johnson's descriptions of
scenery. Passages in his letters shew that he had some enjoyment of
country life. Thus he writes:--'I hope to see standing corn in some part
of the earth this summer, but I shall hardly smell hay or suck clover
flowers.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 140. 'What I shall do next I know not;
all my schemes of rural pleasure have been some way or other
disappointed.' _Ib._ p. 372. 'I hope Mrs. ------ when she came to her
favourite place found her house dry, and her woods growing, and the
breeze whistling, and the birds singing, and her own heart dancing.'
_Ib._ p. 401. In this very trip to Wales, after describing the high bank
of a river 'shaded by gradual rows of trees,' he writes:--'The gloom,
the stream, and the silence generate thoughtfulness.' _Post,_ p. 454.
[A] Mr. Throckmorton the owner.
[1201] In the MS. in Dr. Johnson's handwriting, he has first entered in
his diary, 'The old Clerk had great appearance of joy at seeing his
Mistress, and foolishly said that he was now willing to die:' he
afterwards wrote in a separate column, on the same leaf, under the head
of _notes and omissions,_ 'He had a crown;' and then he appears to have
read over his diary at a future time, and interlined the paragraph with
the words 'only'--'given him by my Mistress,' which is written in ink of
a different colour. DUPPA. 'If Mr. Duppa,' wrote Mrs. Piozzi, 'does not
send me a copy of Johnson's _Diary,_ he is as shabby as it seems our
Doctor thought me, when I gave but a crown to the old clerk. The poor
clerk had probably never seen a crown in his possession before. Things
were very distant A.D. 1774 from what they are 1816.' Hayward's
_Piozzi,_ ii. 178. Mrs. Piozzi writes as if Johnson's censure had been
passed in 1816 and not in 1774.
[1202] Mrs. Piozzi has the following MS. note on this:--'He said I
flattered the people to whose houses we went. I was saucy, and said I
was obliged to be civil for two, meaning himself and me. He replied
nobody would thank me for compliments they did not understand. At
Gwaynynog _he_ was flattered, and was happy of course.' Hayward's
_Piozzi,_ i. 75. Sept. 21, 1778. _Mrs. Thrale._ 'I remember, Sir, when
we were travelling in Wales, how you called me to account for my
civility to the people. "Madam," you said, "let me have no more of this
idle commendation of nothing. Why is it that whatever you see, and
whoever you see, you are to be so indiscriminately lavish of praise?"
"Why I'll tell you, Sir," said I, "when I am with you, and Mr. Thrale,
and Queeny [Miss Thrale], I am obliged to be civil for four."' Mme.
D'Arblay's _Diary,_ i. 132. On June 11, 1775, he wrote to Mrs. Thrale
from Lichfield:--'Everybody remembers you all: you left a good
impression behind you. I hope you will do the same at------. Do not make
them speeches. Unusual compliments, to which there is no stated and
prescriptive answer, embarrass the feeble, who know not what to say, and
disgust the wise, who knowing them to be false suspect them to be
hypocritical.' _Piozzi Letters,_ i. 232. She records that he once said
to her:--'You think I love flattery, and so I do, but a little too much
always disgusts me. That fellow Richardson [the novelist] on the
contrary could not be contented to sail quietly down the stream of
reputation, without longing to taste the froth from every stroke of the
oar.' Piozzi's _Anec._ p. 184. See _ante_, iii. 293, for Johnson's
