been retorted upon him by the men who were prosecuted for burning his
house. 'I cannot, (says he,) as a _necessarian_, [meaning
_necessitarian_] hate _any man_; because I consider him as _being_, in
all respects, just what GOD has _made him to be_; and also as _doing
with respect to me_, nothing but what he was _expressly designed_ and
_appointed_ to do; GOD being the _only cause_, and men nothing more than
the _instruments_ in his hands to _execute all his pleasure_.'--
_Illustrations of Philosophical Necessity_, p. 111.
The Reverend Dr. Parr, in a late tract, appears to suppose that _'Dr.
Johnson not only endured, but almost solicited, an interview with Dr.
Priestley_. In justice to Dr. Johnson, I declare my firm belief that he
never did. My illustrious friend was particularly resolute in not giving
countenance to men whose writings he considered as pernicious to
society. I was present at Oxford when Dr. Price, even before he had
rendered himself so generally obnoxious by his zeal for the French
Revolution, came into a company where Johnson was, who instantly left
the room. Much more would he have reprobated Dr. Priestley. Whoever
wishes to see a perfect delineation of this _Literary Jack of all
Trades_, may find it in an ingenious tract, entitled, 'A SMALL
WHOLE-LENGTH OF DR. PRIESTLEY,' printed for Rivingtons, in St. Paul's
Church-Yard. BOSWELL. See Appendix B.
[740] Burke said, 'I have learnt to think _better_ of mankind.' _Ante_,
iii.236.
[741] He wrote to his servant Frank from Heale on Sept. l6:--'As
Thursday [the 18th] is my birthday I would have a little dinner got, and
would have you invite Mrs. Desmoulins, Mrs. Davis that was about Mrs.
Williams, and Mr. Allen, and Mrs. Gardiner.' Croker's _Boswell_, p.739.
See _ante_, iii.157, note 3.
[742] Dr. Burney had just lost Mr. Bewley, 'the Broom Gentleman'
(_ante_, p. 134), and Mr. Crisp. Dr. Burney's _Memoirs_, ii.323, 352.
For Mr. Crisp, see Macaulay's _Review_ of Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary.
Essays_, ed. 1874, iv.104.
[743] He wrote of her to Mrs. Montagu:--'Her curiosity was universal,
her knowledge was very extensive, and she sustained forty years of
misery with steady fortitude. Thirty years and more she had been my
companion, and her death has left me very desolate.' Croker's _Boswell_,
p. 739. This letter brought to a close his quarrel with Mrs. Montagu
(_ante_, p. 64).
[744] On Sept. 22 he wrote to Mrs. Thrale:--'If excision should be
delayed, there is danger of a gangrene. You would not have me for fear
of pain perish in putrescence. I shall, I hope, with trust in eternal
mercy, lay hold of the possibility of life which yet remains.' _Piozzi
Letters_, ii.312.
[745] Rather more than seven years ago. _Ante_, ii.82, note 2.
[746] Mrs. Anna Williams. BOSWELL.
[747] See _ante_, p. 163, and Boswell's _Hebrides_, Nov 2.
[748] Dated Oct. 27. _Piozzi Letters_, ii.321.
[749] According to Mrs. Piozzi (_Letters_, ii.387), he said to Mrs.
Siddons:--'You see, Madam, wherever you go there are no seats to be
got.' Sir Joshua also paid her a fine compliment. 'He never marked his
own name [on a picture],' says Northcote, 'except in the instance of
Mrs. Siddons's portrait as the Tragic Muse, when he wrote his name upon
the hem of her garment. "I could not lose," he said, "the honour this
opportunity offered to me for my name going down to posterity on the hem
of your garment."' Northcote's _Reynolds_, i. 246. In Johnson's _Works_,
ed. 1787, xi. 207, we read that 'he said of Mrs. Siddons that she
appeared to him to be one of the few persons that the two great
corrupters of mankind, money and reputation, had not spoiled.'
[750] 'Indeed, Dr. Johnson,' said Miss Monckton, 'you _must_ see Mrs.
Siddons.' 'Well, Madam, if you desire it, I will go. See her I shall
not, nor hear her; but I'll go, and that will do.' Mme. D'Arblay's
_Diary_, ii. 198.
[751] 'Mrs. Porter, the tragedian, was so much the favourite of her
time, that she was welcomed on the stage when she trod it by the help of
a stick.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 319.
[752] He said:--'Mrs. Clive was the best player I ever saw.' Boswell's
_Hebrides, post_, v. 126. See _ante_, p. 7. She was for many years the
neighbour and friend of Horace Walpole.
[753] She acted the heroine in _Irene. Ante_, i. 197. 'It is wonderful
how little mind she had,' he once said. _Ante_, ii. 348. See Boswell's
_Hebrides, post_, v. 126.
[754] See _ante_, iii. 183.
[755] See ante, iii. 184.
[756] 'Garrick's great distinction is his universality,' Johnson said.
'He can represent all modes of life, but that of an easy, fine-bred
gentleman.' Boswell's _Hebrides, post_, v. 126. See _ante_, iii. 35.
Horace Walpole wrote of Garrick in 1765 (_Letters_, iv. 335):--'Several
actors have pleased me more, though I allow not in so many parts. Quin
in Falstaff was as excellent as Garrick in _Lear_. Old Johnson far more
natural in everything he attempted; Mrs. Porter surpassed him in
passionate tragedy. Cibber and O'Brien were what Garrick could never
reach, coxcombs and men of fashion. Mrs. Clive is at least as perfect in
low comedy.'
[757] See _ante_, ii. 465.
[758] Mr. Kemble told Mr. Croker that 'Mrs. Siddons's pathos in the last
scene of _The Stranger_ quite overcame him, but he always endeavoured to
restrain any impulses which might interfere with his previous study of
his part.' Croker's _Boswell_, p. 742. Diderot, writing of the
qualifications of a great actor, says:--'Je lui veux beaucoup de
jugement; je le veux spectateur froid et tranquille de la nature
humaine; qu'il ait par consequent beaucoup de finesse, mais nulle
sensibilite, ou, ce qui est la meme chose, l'art de tout imiter, et une
egale aptitude a toutes sortes de caracteres et de roles; s'il etait
sensible, il lui serait impossible de jouer dix fois de suite le meme
role avec la meme chaleur et le meme succes; tres chaud a la premiere
representation, il serait epuise et froid comme le marble a la
troisieme,' &c. Diderot's _Works_ (ed. 1821), iii. 274. See Boswell's
_Hebrides, post_, v. 46.
[759] My worthy friend, Mr. John Nichols, was present when Mr.
Henderson, the actor, paid a visit to Dr. Johnson; and was received in a
very courteous manner. See _Gent. Mag_. June, 1791.
I found among Dr. Johnson's papers, the following letter to him, from
the celebrated Mrs. Bellamy [_ante_, i. 326]:--
'To DR. JOHNSON.
'SIR,
'The flattering remembrance of the partiality you honoured me with, some
years ago, as well as the humanity you are known to possess, has
encouraged me to solicit your patronage at my Benefit.
'By a long Chancery suit, and a complicated train of unfortunate events,
I am reduced to the greatest distress; which obliges me, once more, to
request the indulgence of the publick.
'Give me leave to solicit the honour of your company, and to assure you,
if you grant my request, the gratification I shall feel, from being
patronized by Dr. Johnson, will be infinitely superiour to any advantage
that may arise from the Benefit; as I am, with the profoundest
respect, Sir,
'Your most obedient, humble servant, G. A. BELLAMY. No. 10 Duke-street,
St. James's, May 11, 1783.'
I am happy in recording these particulars, which prove that my
illustrious friend lived to think much more favourably of Players than
he appears to have done in the early part of his life. BOSWELL. Mr.
Nichols, describing Henderson's visit to Johnson, says:--'The
conversation turning on the merits of a certain dramatic writer, Johnson
said: "I never did the man an injury; but he would persist in reading
his tragedy to me."' _Gent. Mag_: 1791, p. 500.
[760] _Piozzi Letters_, vol. ii. p. 328. BOSWELL.
[761] _Piozzi Letters_, vol. ii. p. 342. BOSWELL. The letter to Miss
Thrale was dated Nov. 18. Johnson wrote on Dec. l3:--'You must all guess
again at my friend. It was not till Dec. 31 that he told the name.
[762] Miss Burney, who visited him on this day, records:--'He was, if
possible, more instructive, entertaining, good-humoured, and exquisitely
fertile than ever.' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, ii. 284. The day before he
wrote to one of Mrs. Thrale's little daughters:--'I live here by my own
self, and have had of late very bad nights; but then I have had a pig to
dinner which Mr. Perkins gave me. Thus life is chequered.' _Piozzi
Letters_, ii. 327.
[763] See _ante_, i. 242.
[764] See _ante_, i. 242.
[765] Nos. 26 and 29.
[766] _Piozzi Letters_, i. 334. See _ante_, p. 75.
[767] He strongly opposed the war with America, and was one of Dr.
Franklin's friends. Franklin's _Memoirs_, ed. 1818, iii. 108.
[768] It was of this tragedy that the following story is told in
Rogers's _Table-Talk_, p. 177:--'Lord Shelburne could say the most
provoking things, and yet appear quite unconscious of their being so. In
one of his speeches, alluding to Lord Carlisle, he said:--"The noble
Lord has written a comedy." "No, a tragedy." "Oh, I beg pardon; I
thought it was a comedy."' See _ante_, p. 113. Pope, writing to Mr.
Cromwell on Aug. 19, 1709, says:--'One might ask the same question of a
modern life, that Rich did of a modern play: "Pray do me the favour,
Sir, to inform me is this your tragedy or your comedy?"' Pope's _Works_,
ed. 1812, vi. 81.
[769] Mrs. Chapone, when she was Miss Mulso, had written 'four billets
in _The Rambler_, No. 10.' _Ante_, i. 203. She was one of the literary
ladies who sat at Richardson's feet. Wraxall (_Memoirs_, ed. 1815, i.
155) says that 'under one of the most repulsive exteriors that any woman
ever possessed she concealed very superior attainments and extensive
knowledge.' Just as Mrs. Carter was often called 'the learned Mrs.
Carter,' so Mrs. Chapone was known as 'the admirable Mrs. Chapone.'
[770] See _ante_, iii. 373.
[771] A few copies only of this tragedy have been printed, and given to
the authour's friends. BOSWELL.
[772] Dr. Johnson having been very ill when the tragedy was first sent
to him, had declined the consideration of it. BOSWELL.
[773] Johnson refers, I suppose, to a passage in Dryden which he quotes
in his _Dictionary_ under _mechanick_:--'Many a fair precept in poetry
is like a seeming demonstration in mathematicks, very specious in the
diagram, but failing in the mechanick operation.'
[774]
'I could have borne my woes; that stranger Joy
Wounds while it smiles:--The long imprison'd wretch,
Emerging from the night of his damp cell,
Shrinks from the sun's bright beams; and that which flings
Gladness o'er all, to him is agony.' BOSWELL.
[775] Lord Cockburn (_Life of Lord Jeffrey_, i. 74) describing the
representation of Scotland towards the close of last century, and in
fact till the Reform Bill of 1832, says:--'There were probably not above
1500 or 2000 county electors in all Scotland; a body not too large to be
held, hope included, in Government's hand. The election of either the
town or the county member was a matter of such utter indifference to the
people, that they often only knew of it by the ringing of a bell, or by
seeing it mentioned next day in a newspaper.'
[776] Six years later, when he was _Praeses_ of the Quarter-Sessions, he
carried up to London an address to be presented to the Prince of Wales.
'This,' he wrote, 'will add something to my _conspicuousness_. Will that
word do?' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 295.
[777] This part of this letter was written, as Johnson goes on to say, a
considerable time before the conclusion. The Coalition Ministry, which
was suddenly dismissed by the King on Dec. 19, was therefore still in
power. Among Boswell's 'friends' was Burke. See _ante_, p. 223.
[778] On Nov. 22 he wrote to Dr. Taylor:-'I feel the weight of solitude
very pressing; after a night of broken and uncomfortable slumber I rise
to a solitary breakfast, and sit down in the evening with no companion.
Sometimes, however, I try to read more and more.' _Notes and Queries_,
6th S. v. 482. On Dec. 27 he wrote to Mrs. Thrale:--'You have more than
once wondered at my complaint of solitude, when you hear that I am
crowded with visits. _Inopem me copia fecit_. Visitors are no proper
companions in the chamber of sickness. They come when I could sleep or
read, they stay till I am weary.... The amusements and consolations of
langour and depression are conferred by familiar and domestick
companions, which can be visited or called at will.... Such society I
had with Levett and Williams; such I had where I am never likely to have
it more.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 341.
[779] The confusion arising from the sudden dismissal of a Ministry
which commanded a large majority in the House of Commons had been
increased by the resignation, on Dec. 22, of Earl Temple, three days
after his appointment as Secretary of State. _Parl. Hist_. xxiv. 238.
[780] 'News I know none,' wrote Horace Walpole on Dec. 30, 1783
(_Letters_, viii. 447), 'but that they are crying Peerages about the
streets in barrows, and can get none off.' Thirty-three peerages were
made in the next three years. (_Whitaker's Almanac_, 1886, p. 463.)
Macaulay tells how this December 'a troop of Lords of the Bedchamber, of
Bishops who wished to be translated, and of Scotch peers who wished to
be reelected made haste to change sides.' Macaulay's _Writings and
Speeches_, ed. 1871, p. 407.
[781] See _ante_, ii. 182. He died Oct. 28, 1788.
[782]'Prince Henry was the first encourager of remote navigation. What
mankind has lost and gained by the genius and designs of this prince it
would be long to compare, and very difficult to estimate. Much knowledge
has been acquired, and much cruelty been committed; the belief of
religion has been very little propagated, and its laws have been
outrageously and enormously violated. The Europeans have scarcely
visited any coast but to gratify avarice, and extend corruption; to
arrogate dominion without right, and practise cruelty without incentive.
Happy had it then been for the oppressed, if the designs of Henry had
slept in his bosom, and surely more happy for the oppressors.' Johnson's
_Works_, v. 219. See _ante_, ii. 478.
[783] 'The author himself,' wrote Gibbon (_Misc. Works_, i. 220), 'is
the best judge of his own performance; no one has so deeply meditated on
the subject; no one is so sincerely interested in the event.'
[784] Mickle, speaking in the third person as the Translator, says:--
'He is happy to be enabled to add Dr. Johnson to the number of those
whose kindness for the man, and good wishes for the Translation, call
for his sincerest gratitude.' Mickle's _Lusiad_, p. ccxxv.
[785] A brief record, it should seem, is given, _ante_, iii. 37.
[786] See _ante_, iii. 106, 214.
[787] The author of _Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Dr, Johnson_
says (p. 153) that it was Johnson who determined Shaw to undertake this
work. 'Sir,' he said, 'if you give the world a vocabulary of that
language, while the island of Great Britain stands in the Atlantic Ocean
your name will be mentioned.' On p. 156 is a letter by Johnson
introducing Shaw to a friend.
[788] 'Why is not the original deposited in some publick library?' he
asked. Boswell's _Hebrides_, Nov. 10.
[789] See ante, i. 190.
[790] See Appendix C.
[791] 'Dec. 27, 1873. The wearisome solitude of the long evenings did
indeed suggest to me the convenience of a club in my neighbourhood, but
I have been hindered from attending it by want of breath.' _Piozzi
Letters_, ii. 340. 'Dec. 31. I have much need of entertainment;
spiritless, infirm, sleepless, and solitary, looking back with sorrow
and forward with terrour.' _Ib_, p. 343.
[792] '"I think," said Mr. Cambridge, "it sounds more like some club
that one reads of in _The Spectator_ than like a real club in these
times; for the forfeits of a whole year will not amount to those of a
single night in other clubs."' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, ii. 290. Mr.
Cambridge was thinking of the Two-penny Club. _Spectator_, No. ix.
[793] I was in Scotland when this Club was founded, and during all the
winter. Johnson, however, declared I should be a member, and invented a
word upon the occasion: 'Boswell (said he) is a very _clubable_ man.'
When I came to town I was proposed by Mr. Barrington, and chosen. I
believe there are few societies where there is better conversation or
more decorum. Several of us resolved to continue it after our great
founder was removed by death. Other members were added; and now, above
eight years since that loss, we go on happily. BOSWELL. Mr. Croker says
'Johnson had already invented _unclubable_ for Sir J. Hawkins,' and
refers to a note by Dr. Burney (_ante_, i. 480, note I), in which
Johnson is represented as saying of Hawkins, while he was still a member
of the Literary Club:--'Sir John, Sir, is a very unclubable man.' But,
as Mr. Croker points out (Croker's _Boswell_, p. 164), 'Hawkins was not
knighted till long after he had left the club.' The anecdote, being
proved to be inaccurate in one point, may be inaccurate in another, and
may therefore belong to a much later date.
[794] See Appendix D.
[795] Ben Jonson wrote _Leges Convivales_ that were 'engraven in marble
over the chimney in the Apollo of the Old Devil Tavern, Temple Bar; that
being his Club Room.' Jonson's _Works_, ed. 1756, vii. 291.
[796] RULES.
'To-day deep thoughts with me resolve to drench
In mirth, which after no repenting draws.'--MILTON.
['To-day deep thoughts _resolve with me_ to drench
In mirth _that_, &c.' _Sonnets_, xxi.]
'The Club shall consist of four-and-twenty.
'The meetings shall be on the Monday, Thursday, and Saturday of every
week; but in the week before Easter there shall be no meeting.
'Every member is at liberty to introduce a friend once a week, but not
oftener.
'Two members shall oblige themselves to attend in their turn every night
from eight to ten, or to procure two to attend in their room.
'Every member present at the Club shall spend at least sixpence; and
every member who stays away shall forfeit three-pence.
'The master of the house shall keep an account of the absent members;
and deliver to the President of the night a list of the
forfeits incurred.
'When any member returns after absence, he shall immediately lay down
his forfeits; which if he omits to do, the President shall require.
'There shall be no general reckoning, but every man shall adjust his own
expences.
'The night of indispensable attendance will come to every member once a
month. Whoever shall for three months together omit to attend himself,
or by substitution, nor shall make any apology in the fourth month,
shall be considered as having abdicated the Club.
'When a vacancy is to be filled, the name of the candidate, and of the
member recommending him, shall stand in the Club-room three nights. On
the fourth he may be chosen by ballot; six members at least being
present, and two-thirds of the ballot being in his favour; or the
majority, should the numbers not be divisible by three.
'The master of the house shall give notice, six days before, to each of
those members whose turn of necessary attendance is come.
'The notice may be in these words:--"Sir, On ---- the ---- of ---- --
will be your turn of presiding at the Essex-Head. Your company is
therefore earnestly requested."
'One penny shall be left by each member for the waiter.'
Johnson's definition of a Club in this sense, in his _Dictionary_, is,
'An assembly of good fellows, meeting under certain conditions.' BOSWELL.
[797] She had left him in the summer (_ante_, p. 233), but perhaps she
