"Henceforth be quiet and agree,
Each kiss his empty brother;
Religion scorns a foe like thee,
But dreads a friend like t'other."
The point is well, though the expression is not correct; _one_, and not
_thee, should be opposed to _t'other_[891].'
On the Roman Catholick religion he said, 'If you join the Papists
externally, they will not interrogate you strictly as to your belief in
their tenets. No reasoning Papist believes every article of their faith.
There is one side on which a good man might be persuaded to embrace it.
A good man of a timorous disposition, in great doubt of his acceptance
with GOD, and pretty credulous, might be glad to be of a church where
there, are so many helps to get to Heaven. I would be a Papist if I
could. I have fear enough; but an obstinate rationality prevents me. I
shall never be a Papist, unless on the near approach of death, of which
I have a very great terrour. I wonder that women are not all Papists.'
BOSWELL. 'They are not more afraid of death than men are.' JOHNSON.
'Because they are less wicked.' DR. ADAMS. 'They are more pious.'
JOHNSON. 'No, hang 'em, they are not more pious. A wicked fellow is the
most pious when he takes to it. He'll beat you all at piety.'
He argued in defence of some of the peculiar tenets of the Church of
Rome. As to the giving the bread only to the laity, he said, 'They may
think, that in what is merely ritual, deviations from the primitive mode
may be admitted on the ground of convenience, and I think they are as
well warranted to make this alteration, as we are to substitute
sprinkling in the room of the ancient baptism.' As to the invocation of
saints[892], he said, 'Though I do not think it authorised, it appears
to me, that "the communion of saints" in the Creed means the communion
with the saints in Heaven, as connected with "The holy Catholick
Church[893]."' He admitted the influence of evil spirits[894] upon our
minds, and said, 'Nobody who believes the New Testament can deny it.'
I brought a volume of Dr. Hurd the Bishop of Worcester's _Sermons_, and
read to the company some passages from one of them, upon this text,
'_Resist the Devil, and he will fly[895] from you.' James_, iv. 7. I was
happy to produce so judicious and elegant a supporter[896] of a
doctrine, which, I know not why, should, in this world of imperfect
knowledge, and, therefore, of wonder and mystery in a thousand
instances, be contested by some with an unthinking assurance and
flippancy.
After dinner, when one of us talked of there being a great enmity
between Whig and Tory;--JOHNSON. 'Why not so much, I think, unless when
they come into competition with each other. There is none when they are
only common acquaintance, none when they are of different sexes. A Tory
will marry into a Whig family, and a Whig into a Tory family, without
any reluctance. But indeed, in a matter of much more concern than
political tenets, and that is religion, men and women do not concern
themselves much about difference of opinion; and ladies set no value on
the moral character of men who pay their addresses to them; the greatest
profligate will be as well received as the man of the greatest virtue,
and this by a very good woman, by a woman who says her prayers three
times a day.' Our ladies endeavoured to defend their sex from this
charge; but he roared them down! 'No, no, a lady will take Jonathan Wild
as readily as St. Austin, if he has three-pence more; and, what is
worse, her parents will give her to him. Women have a perpetual envy of
our vices; they are less vicious than we, not from choice, but because
we restrict them; they are the slaves of order and fashion; their virtue
is of more consequence to us than our own, so far as concerns
this world.'
Miss Adams mentioned a gentleman of licentious character, and said,
'Suppose I had a mind to marry that gentleman, would my parents
consent?' JOHNSON. 'Yes, they'd consent, and you'd go. You'd go though
they did not consent.' MISS ADAMS. 'Perhaps their opposing might make me
go.' JOHNSON. 'O, very well; you'd take one whom you think a bad man, to
have the pleasure of vexing your parents. You put me in mind of Dr.
Barrowby[897], the physician, who was very fond of swine's flesh. One
day, when he was eating it, he said, 'I wish I was a Jew.' 'Why so?
(said somebody); the Jews are not allowed to eat your favourite meat.'
'Because, (said he,) I should then have the gust of eating it, with the
pleasure of sinning.' Johnson then proceeded in his declamation.
Miss Adams soon afterwards made an observation that I do not recollect,
which pleased him much: he said with a good-humoured smile, 'That there
should be so much excellence united with so much _depravity_,
is strange.'
Indeed, this lady's good qualities, merit, and accomplishments, and her
constant attention to Dr. Johnson, were not lost upon him. She happened
to tell him that a little coffee-pot, in which she had made his coffee,
was the only thing she could call her own. He turned to her with a
complacent gallantry, 'Don't say so, my dear; I hope you don't reckon my
heart as nothing.'
I asked him if it was true as reported, that he had said lately, 'I am
for the King against Fox; but I am for Fox against Pitt.' JOHNSON. 'Yes,
Sir; the King is my master; but I do not know Pitt; and Fox is my
friend[898].'
'Fox, (added he,) is a most extraordinary man; here is a man (describing
him in strong terms of objection in some respects according as he
apprehended, but which exalted his abilities the more) who has divided
the Kingdom with Caesar[899]; so that it, was a doubt whether the nation
should be ruled by the sceptre of George the Third, or the tongue
of Fox.'
Dr. Wall, physician at Oxford, drank tea with us. Johnson had in
general a peculiar pleasure in the company of physicians, which was
certainly not abated by the conversation of this learned, ingenious, and
pleasing gentleman. Johnson said, 'It is wonderful how little good
Radcliffe's travelling fellowships[900] have done. I know nothing that
has been imported by them; yet many additions to our medical knowledge
might be got in foreign countries. Inoculation, for instance, has saved
more lives than war destroys[901]: and the cures performed by the
Peruvian-bark are innumerable. But it is in vain to send our travelling
physicians to France, and Italy, and Germany, for all that is known
there is known here; I'd send them out of Christendom; I'd send them
among barbarous nations.'
On Friday, June 11, we talked at breakfast, of forms of prayer. JOHNSON.
'I know of no good prayers but those in the _Book of Common Prayer_.'
DR. ADAMS, (in a very earnest manner): 'I wish, Sir, you would compose
some family prayers.' JOHNSON. 'I will not compose prayers for you, Sir,
because you can do it for yourself. But I have thought of getting
together all the books of prayers which I could, selecting those which
should appear to me the best, putting out some, inserting others, adding
some prayers of my own, and prefixing a discourse on prayer.' We all now
gathered about him, and two or three of us at a time joined in pressing
him to execute this plan. He seemed to be a little displeased at the
manner of our importunity, and in great agitation called out, 'Do not
talk thus of what is so aweful. I know not what time GOD will allow me
in this world. There are many things which I wish to do.' Some of us
persisted, and Dr. Adams said, 'I never was more serious about any thing
in my life.' JOHNSON. 'Let me alone, let me alone; I am overpowered.'
And then he put his hands before his face, and reclined for some time
upon the table[902].
I mentioned Jeremy Taylor's using, in his forms of prayer, 'I am the
chief of sinners,' and other such self-condemning expressions[903].
'Now, (said I) this cannot be said with truth by every man, and
therefore is improper for a general printed form. I myself cannot say
that I am the worst of men; I _will_ not say so.' JOHNSON. 'A man may
know, that physically, that is, in the real state of things, he is not
the worst man; but that morally he may be so. Law observes that "Every
man knows something worse of himself, than he is sure of in
others[904]." You may not have committed such crimes as some men have
done; but you do not know against what degree of light they have sinned.
Besides, Sir, "the chief of sinners" is a mode of expression for "I am a
great sinner." So St. Paul, speaking of our SAVIOUR'S having died to
save sinners, says, "of whom I am the chief[905];" yet he certainly did
not think himself so bad as Judas Iscariot.' BOSWELL. 'But, Sir, Taylor
means it literally, for he founds a conceit upon it. When praying for
the conversion of sinners, and of himself in particular, he says, "LORD,
thou wilt not leave thy _chief_ work undone." JOHNSON. 'I do not approve
of figurative expressions in addressing the Supreme Being; and I never
use them[906]. Taylor gives a very good advice: "Never lie in your
prayers; never confess more than you really believe; never promise more
than you mean to perform[907]." I recollected this precept in his
_Golden Grove_; but his _example_ for prayer contradicts his _precept_.'
Dr. Johnson and I went in Dr. Adams's coach to dine with Dr. Nowell,
Principal of St. Mary Hall, at his beautiful villa at Iffley, on the
banks of the Isis, about two miles from Oxford. While we were upon the
road, I had the resolution to ask Johnson whether he thought that the
roughness of his manner had been an advantage or not, and if he would
not have done more good if he had been more gentle. I proceeded to
answer myself thus: 'Perhaps it has been of advantage, as it has given
weight to what you said: you could not, perhaps, have talked with such
authority without it.' JOHNSON. 'No, Sir; I have done more good as I am.
Obscenity and Impiety have always been repressed in my company[908].'
BOSWELL. 'True, Sir; and that is more than can be said of every Bishop.
Greater liberties have been taken in the presence of a Bishop, though a
very good man, from his being milder, and therefore not commanding such
awe. Yet, Sir, many people who might have been benefited by your
conversation, have been frightened away. A worthy friend of ours[909]
has told me, that he has often been afraid to talk to you.' JOHNSON.
'Sir, he need not have been afraid, if he had any thing rational to say.
If he had not, it was better he did not talk[910].
Dr. Nowell is celebrated for having preached a sermon before the House
of Commons, on the 3Oth of January, 1773, full of high Tory sentiments,
for which he was thanked as usual, and printed it at their request; but,
in the midst of that turbulence and faction which disgraced a part of
the present reign, the thanks were afterwards ordered to be
expunged[911]. This strange conduct sufficiently exposes itself; and Dr.
Nowell will ever have the honour which is due to a lofty friend of our
monarchical constitution. Dr. Johnson said to me, 'Sir, the Court will
be very much to blame, if he is not promoted.' I told this to Dr.
Nowell, and asserting my humbler, though not less zealous exertions in
the same cause, I suggested that whatever return we might receive, we
should still have the consolation of being like Butler's steady and
generous Royalist,
'True as the dial to the sun,
Although it be not shone upon[912].'
We were well entertained and very happy at Dr. Nowell's, where was a
very agreeable company, and we drank 'Church and King' after dinner,
with true Tory cordiality.
We talked of a certain clergyman[913] of extraordinary character, who
by exerting his talents in writing on temporary topicks, and displaying
uncommon intrepidity, had raised himself to affluence. I maintained that
we ought not to be indignant at his success; for merit of every sort was
entitled to reward. JOHNSON. 'Sir, I will not allow this man to have
merit. No, Sir; what he has is rather the contrary; I will, indeed,
allow him courage, and on this account we so far give him credit. We
have more respect for a man who robs boldly on the highway, than for a
fellow who jumps out of a ditch, and knocks you down behind your back.
Courage is a quality so necessary for maintaining virtue, that it is
always respected, even when it is associated with vice[914].
I censured the coarse invectives which were become fashionable in the
House of Commons[915], and said that if members of parliament must
attack each other personally in the heat of debate, it should be done
more genteely. JOHNSON. 'No, Sir; that would be much worse. Abuse is not
so dangerous when there is no vehicle of wit or delicacy, no subtle
conveyance. The difference between coarse and refined abuse is as the
difference between being bruised by a club, and wounded by a poisoned
arrow.' I have since observed his position elegantly expressed by
Dr. Young:--
'As the soft plume gives swiftness to the dart,
Good breeding sends the satire to the heart[916].'
On Saturday, June 12, there drank tea with us at Dr. Adams's, Mr. John
Henderson, student of Pembroke-College, celebrated for his wonderful
acquirements in Alchymy, Judicial Astrology, and other abstruse and
curious learning[917]; and the Reverend Herbert Croft, who, I am afraid,
was somewhat mortified by Dr. Johnson's not being highly pleased with
some _Family Discourses_, which he had printed; they were in too
familiar a style to be approved of by so manly a mind. I have no note of
this evening's conversation, except a single fragment. When I mentioned
Thomas Lord Lyttelton's vision[918], the prediction of the time of his
death, and its exact fulfilment;--JOHNSON. 'It is the most extraordinary
thing that has happened in my day. I heard it with my own ears, from his
uncle, Lord Westcote. I am so glad to have every evidence of the
spiritual world, that I am willing to believe it.' DR. ADAMS. 'You have
evidence enough; good evidence, which needs not such support.' JOHNSON.
'I like to have more[919].'
Mr. Henderson, with whom I had sauntered in the venerable walks of
Merton-College, and found him a very learned and pious man, supped with
us. Dr. Johnson surprised him not a little, by acknowledging with a look
of horrour, that he was much oppressed by the fear of death[920]. The
amiable Dr. Adams suggested that GOD was infinitely good. JOHNSON. 'That
he is infinitely good, as far as the perfection of his nature will
allow, I certainly believe; but it is necessary for good upon the whole,
that individuals should be punished. As to an _individual_, therefore,
he is not infinitely good; and as I cannot be _sure_ that I have
fulfilled the conditions on which salvation is granted, I am afraid I
may be one of those who shall be damned.' (looking dismally.) DR. ADAMS.
'What do you mean by damned?' JOHNSON. (passionately and loudly) 'Sent
to Hell, Sir, and punished everlastingly[921].' DR. ADAMS. 'I don't
believe that doctrine.' JOHNSON. 'Hold, Sir, do you believe that some
will be punished at all?' DR. ADAMS. 'Being excluded from Heaven will be
a punishment; yet there may be no great positive suffering.' JOHNSON.
'Well, Sir; but, if you admit any degree of punishment, there is an end
of your argument for infinite goodness simply considered; for, infinite
goodness would inflict no punishment whatever. There is not infinite
goodness physically considered; morally there is.' BOSWELL. 'But may not
a man attain to such a degree of hope as not to be uneasy from the fear
of death?' JOHNSON. 'A man may have such a degree of hope as to keep him
quiet. You see I am not quiet, from the vehemence with which I talk;
but I do not despair.' MRS. ADAMS. 'You seem, Sir, to forget the merits
of our Redeemer.' JOHNSON. 'Madam, I do not forget the merits of my
Redeemer; but my Redeemer has said that he will set some on his right
hand and some on his left.' He was in gloomy agitation, and said, 'I'll
have no more on't[922].' If what has now been stated should be urged by
the enemies of Christianity, as if its influence on the mind were not
benignant, let it be remembered, that Johnson's temperament was
melancholy, of which such direful apprehensions of futurity are often a
common effect. We shall presently see that when he approached nearer to
his aweful change, his mind became tranquil, and he exhibited as much
fortitude as becomes a thinking man in that situation.
From the subject of death we passed to discourse of life, whether it was
upon the whole more happy or miserable. Johnson was decidedly for the
balance of misery[923]: in confirmation of which I maintained, that no
man would choose to lead over again the life which he had experienced.
Johnson acceded to that opinion in the strongest terms[924]. This is an
inquiry often made; and its being a subject of disquisition is a proof
that much misery presses upon human feelings; for those who are
conscious of a felicity of existence, would never hesitate to accept of
a repetition of it. I have met with very few who would. I have heard Mr.
Burke make use of a very ingenious and plausible argument on this
subject;--'Every man (said he) would lead his life over again; for,
every man is willing to go on and take an addition to his life, which,
as he grows older, he has no reason to think will be better, or even so
good as what has preceded.' I imagine, however, the truth is, that there
is a deceitful hope that the next part of life will be free from the
pains, and anxieties, and sorrows, which we have already felt[925]. We
are for wise purposes 'Condemn'd to Hope's delusive mine;' as Johnson
finely says[926]; and I may also quote the celebrated lines of Dryden,
equally philosophical and poetical:--
'When I consider life, 'tis all a cheat,
Yet fool'd with hope, men favour the deceit:
Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay;
To-morrow's falser than the former day;
Lies worse; and while it says we shall be blest
With some new joys, cuts off what we possest.
Strange cozenage! none would live past years again;
Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain;
And from the dregs of life think to receive,
What the first sprightly running could not give[927].'
It was observed to Dr. Johnson, that it seemed strange that he, who has
so often delighted his company by his lively and brilliant conversation,
should say he was miserable. JOHNSON. 'Alas! it is all outside; I may be
cracking my joke[928], and cursing the sun. _Sun, how I hate thy
beams_[929]!' I knew not well what to think of this declaration; whether
to hold it as a genuine picture of his mind[930], or as the effect of
his persuading himself contrary to fact, that the position which he had
assumed as to human unhappiness, was true. We may apply to him a
sentence in Mr. Greville's[931] _Maxims, Characters, and
Reflections_[932]; a book which is entitled to much more praise than it
has received: 'ARISTARCHUS is charming: how full of knowledge, of sense,
of sentiment. You get him with difficulty to your supper; and after
having delighted every body and himself for a few hours, he is obliged
to return home;--he is finishing his treatise, to prove that unhappiness
is the portion of man[933].'
On Sunday, June 13, our philosopher was calm at breakfast. There was
something exceedingly pleasing in our leading a College life, without
restraint, and with superiour elegance, in consequence of our living in
the Master's house, and having the company of ladies. Mrs. Kennicot
related, in his presence, a lively saying of Dr. Johnson to Miss Hannah
More, who had expressed a wonder that the poet who had written _Paradise
Lost_ should write such poor Sonnets:--' Milton, Madam, was a genius
that could cut a Colossus from a rock; but could not carve heads upon
cherry-stones[934].'
We talked of the casuistical question, Whether it was allowable at any
time to depart from _Truth_? JOHNSON. 'The general rule is, that Truth
should never be violated, because it is of the utmost importance to the
comfort of life, that we should have a full security by mutual faith;
and occasional inconveniences should be willingly suffered that we may
preserve it. There must, however, be some exceptions. If, for instance,
a murderer should ask you which way a man is gone, you may tell him what
is not true, because you are under a previous obligation not to betray a
man to a murderer[935].' BOSWELL. 'Supposing the person who wrote
_Junius_ were asked whether he was the authour, might he deny it?'
JOHNSON. 'I don't know what to say to this. If you were _sure_ that he
wrote _Junius_, would you, if he denied it, think as well of him
afterwards? Yet it may be urged, that what a man has no right to ask,
you may refuse to communicate[936]; and there is no other effectual mode
of preserving a secret and an important secret, the discovery of which
may be very hurtful to you, but a flat denial; for if you are silent, or
hesitate, or evade, it will be held equivalent to a confession. But
stay, Sir; here is another case. Supposing the authour had told me
confidentially that he had written _Junius_, and I were asked if he had,
I should hold myself at liberty to deny it, as being under a previous
promise, express or implied, to conceal it. Now what I ought to do for
the authour, may I not do for myself? But I deny the lawfulness of
telling a lie to a sick man for fear of alarming him. You have no
business with consequences; you are to tell the truth. Besides, you are
not sure what effect your telling him that he is in danger may have. It
may bring his distemper to a crisis, and that may cure him. Of all
lying, I have the greatest abhorrence of this, because I believe it has
been frequently practised on myself.'
I cannot help thinking that there is much weight in the opinion of those
who have held, that Truth, as an eternal and immutable principle, ought,
upon no account whatever, to be violated, from supposed previous or
superiour obligations, of which every man being to judge for himself,
there is great danger that we too often, from partial motives, persuade
ourselves that they exist; and probably whatever extraordinary instances
may sometimes occur, where some evil may be prevented by violating this
noble principle, it would be found that human happiness would, upon the
whole, be more perfect were Truth universally preserved.
In the notes to the _Dunciad_[937], we find the following verses,
addressed to Pope[938]:--
'While malice, Pope, denies thy page
Its own celestial fire;
While criticks, and while bards in rage
Admiring, won't admire:
While wayward pens thy worth assail,
And envious tongues decry;
These times, though many a friend bewail,
These times bewail not I.
But when the world's loud praise is thine,
And spleen no more shall blame;
When with thy Homer thou shalt shine
In one establish'd fame!
When none shall rail, and every lay
Devote a wreath to thee:
That day (for come it will) that day
Shall I lament to see.'
It is surely not a little remarkable, that they should appear without a
name. Miss Seward[939], knowing Dr. Johnson's almost universal and
minute literary information, signified a desire that I should ask him
who was the authour. He was prompt with his answer: 'Why, Sir, they were
written by one Lewis, who was either under-master or an usher of
Westminster-school, and published a Miscellany, in which _Grongar
Hill_[940] first came out[941].' Johnson praised them highly, and
repeated them with a noble animation. In the twelfth line, instead of
'one establish'd fame,' he repeated 'one unclouded flame,' which he
thought was the reading in former editions: but I believe was a flash of
