had returned.
[798] He received many acts of kindness from outside friends. On Dec. 31
he wrote:--'I have now in the house pheasant, venison, turkey, and ham,
all unbought. Attention and respect give pleasure, however late or
however useless. But they are not useless when they are late; it is
reasonable to rejoice, as the day declines, to find that it has been
spent with the approbation of mankind.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 343.
[799] 'Dec. 16, 1783. I spent the afternoon with Dr. Johnson, who indeed
is very ill, and whom I could hardly tell how to leave. He was very,
very kind. Oh! what a cruel, heavy loss will he be! Dec. 30. I went to
Dr. Johnson, and spent the evening with him. He was very indifferent
indeed. There were some very disagreeable people with him; and he once
affected me very much by turning suddenly to me, and grasping my hand
and saying:--"The blister I have tried for my breath has betrayed some
very bad tokens; but I will not terrify myself by talking of them. Ah!
_priez Dieu pour moi_."' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, ii. 293, 5. 'I
snatch,' he wrote a few weeks later, 'every lucid interval, and animate
myself with such amusements as the time offers.' _Piozzi Letters_,
ii. 349.
[800] He had written to her on Nov. 10. See Croker's _Boswell_, p. 742.
[801] Hawkins (_Life_, 562) says that this November Johnson said to
him:--'What a man am I, who have got the better of three diseases, the
palsy, the gout, and the asthma, and can now enjoy the conversation of
my friends, without the interruptions of weakness or pain.'
[802] 'The street [on London Bridge], which, before the houses fell to
decay, consisted of handsome lofty edifices, pretty regularly built, was
20 feet broad, and the houses on each side generally 26-1/2 feet deep.'
After 1746 no more leases were granted, and the houses were allowed to
run to ruin. In 1756-7 they were all taken down. Dodsley's _London and
its Environs_, ed. 1761, iv. 136-143.
[803] In Lowndes's _Bibl. Man_. i. 328 is given a list of nearly fifty
of these books. Some of them were reprinted by Stace in 1810-13 in 6
vols. quarto. Dr. Franklin, writing of the books that he bought in his
boyhood says:--'My first acquisition was Bunyan's works in separate
little volumes. I afterwards sold them to enable me to buy R. Burton's
_Historical Collections_; they were small chapmen's books, and cheap.
Forty volumes in all.' Franklin's _Memoirs_, i. 17.
[804] He wrote to Mrs. Thrale this same day:--'Alas, I had no sleep last
night, and sit now panting over my paper. _Dabit Deus his quoque finem.'
['This too the Gods shall end.' MORRIS, Virgil, _Aeneids_, 1.199.]
_Piozzi Letters_, ii. 347.
[805] Boswell's purpose in this _Letter_ was to recommend the Scotch to
address the King to express their satisfaction that the East India
Company Bill had been rejected by the House of Lords. _Ib_. p. 39. 'Let
us,' he writes, 'upon this awful occasion think only of _property_ and
_constitution_;' p. 42. 'Let me add,' he says in concluding, 'that a
dismission of the Portland Administration will probably disappoint an
object which I have most ardently at heart;' p. 42. He was thinking no
doubt of his 'expectations from the interest of an eminent person then
in power' (ante, p. 223.)
[806] On p. 4 Boswell condemns the claim of Parliament to tax the
American colonies as 'unjust and inexpedient.' 'This claim,' he says,
'was almost universally approved of in Scotland, where due consideration
was had of the advantage of raising regiments.' He continues:--'When
pleading at the bar of the House of Commons in a question concerning
taxation, I avowed that opinion, declaring that the man in the world for
whom I have the highest respect (Dr. Johnson) had not been able to
convince me that _Taxation was no Tyranny_.'
[807] Boswell wrote to Reynolds on Feb. 6:--'I intend to be in London
next month, chiefly to attend upon Dr. Johnson with respectful
affection.' Croker's _Boswell_, p. 748.
[808] 'I have really hope from spring,' he wrote on Jan. 21, 'and am
ready, like Almanzor, to bid the sun _fly swiftly_, and _leave weeks and
months behind him_. The sun has looked for six thousand years upon the
world to little purpose, if he does not know that a sick man is almost
as impatient as a lover.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 347. Almanzor's speech
is at the end of Dryden's _Conquest of Granada_:--
'Move swiftly, Sun, and fly a lover's pace;
Leave weeks and months behind thee in thy race.'
See _ante_, i. 332, where Johnson said, 'This distinction of seasons is
produced only by imagination operating on luxury. To temperance every
day is bright,' and _post_, Aug. 2, 1784.
[809] He died in the following August at Dover, on his way home.
Walpole's _Letters_, viii. 494. See _ante_, iii. 250, 336, and _post_,
Aug. 19, 1784.
[810] On the last day of the old year he wrote:--'To any man who extends
his thoughts to national consideration, the times are dismal and gloomy.
But to a sick man, what is the publick?' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 344.
The original of the following note is in the admirable collection of
autographs belonging to my friend, Mr. M. M. Holloway:--
'TO THE REV. DR. TAYLOR,
'in Ashbourne,
'Derbyshire.
'DEAR SIR,
'I am still confined to the house, and one of my amusements is to write
letters to my friends, though they, being busy in the common scenes of
life, are not equally diligent in writing to me. Dr. Heberden was with
me two or three days ago, and told me that nothing ailed me, which I was
glad to hear, though I knew it not to be true. My nights are restless,
my breath is difficult, and my lower parts continue tumid.
'The struggle, you see, still continues between the two sets of
ministers: those that are _out_ and _in_ one can scarce call them, for
who is _out_ or _in_ is perhaps four times a day a new question. The
tumult in government is, I believe, excessive, and the efforts of each
party outrageously violent, with very little thought on any national
interest, at a time when we have all the world for our enemies, when the
King and parliament have lost even the titular dominion of America, and
the real power of Government every where else. Thus Empires are broken
down when the profits of administration are so great, that ambition is
satisfied with obtaining them, and he that aspires to greatness needs do
nothing more than talk himself into importance. He has then all the
power which danger and conquest used formerly to give; he can raise a
family and reward his followers.
'Mr. Burke has just sent me his Speech upon the affairs of India, a
volume of above a hundred pages closely printed. I will look into it;
but my thoughts seldom now travel to great distances.
'I would gladly know when you think to come hither, and whether this
year you will come or no. If my life be continued, I know not well how I
shall bestow myself.
'I am, Sir,
'Your affectionate &c.,
'SAM. JOHNSON.'
'London, Jan. 24, 1784.'
[811] See _post_, v. 48.
[812] See _post_, p. 271.
[813] I sent it to Mr. Pitt, with a letter, in which I thus expressed
myself:--'My principles may appear to you too monarchical: but I know
and am persuaded, they are not inconsistent with the true principles of
liberty. Be this as it may, you, Sir, are now the Prime Minister, called
by the Sovereign to maintain the rights of the Crown, as well as those
of the people, against a violent faction. As such, you are entitled to
the warmest support of every good subject in every department.' He
answered:--'I am extremely obliged to you for the sentiments you do me
the honour to express, and have observed with great pleasure the
_zealous and able support_ given to the CAUSE OF THE PUBLICK in the work
you were so good to transmit to me.' BOSWELL. Five years later, and two
years before _The Life of Johnson_ was published, Boswell wrote to
Temple:--'As to Pitt, he is an insolent fellow, but so able, that upon
the whole I must support him against the _Coalition_; but I will _work_
him, for he has behaved very ill to me. Can he wonder at my wishing for
preferment, when men of the first family and fortune in England struggle
for it?' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 295. Warburton said of Helvetius, whom
he disliked, that, if he had met him, 'he would have _worked_ him.'
Walpole's _Letters_, iv. 217.
[814] Out of this offer, and one of a like nature made in 1779 (_ante_,
iii. 418), Mr. Croker weaves a vast web of ridiculous suspicions.
[815] From his garden at Prestonfield, where he cultivated that plant
with such success, that he was presented with a gold medal by the
Society of London for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and
Commerce. BOSWELL.
[816] In the original _effusion_. Johnson's _Works_, vii. 402.
[817] Who had written him a very kind letter. BOSWELL.
[818] On Jan. 12 the Ministry had been in a minority of 39 in a House of
425; on March 8 the minority was reduced to one in a House of 381.
Parliament was dissolved on the 25th. In the first division in the new
Parliament the Ministry were in a majority of 97 in a House of 369.
_Parl. Hist._ xxiv. 299, 744, 829.
[819] See _ante_, p. 241.
[820] 'In old Aberdeen stands the King's College, of which the first
president was Hector Boece, or Boethius, who may be justly reverenced as
one of the revivers of elegant learning.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 11.
[821] See _ante_, iii. 104.
[822] In his dining-room, no doubt, among 'the very respectable people'
whose portraits hung there. _Ante_, p. 203, note.
[823] Horace Walpole (_Letters_, viii. 466) wrote on March 30:--'The
nation is intoxicated, and has poured in Addresses of Thanks to the
Crown for exerting the prerogative _against_ the palladium of
the people.'
[824] The election lasted from April 1 to May 16. Fox was returned
second on the poll. _Ann. Reg._ xxvii. 190.
[825] He was returned also for Kirkwall, for which place he sat for
nearly a year, while the scrutiny of the Westminster election was
dragging on. _Parl. Hist_. xxiv. 799.
[826] Hannah More wrote on March 8 (_Memoirs_, i. 310):--'I am sure you
will honour Mr. Langton, when I tell you he is come on purpose to stay
with Dr. Johnson, and that during his illness. He has taken a little
lodging in Fleet-street in order to be near, to devote himself to him.
He has as much goodness as learning, and that is saying a bold thing of
one of the first Greek scholars we have.'
[827] Floyer was the Lichfield physician on whose advice Johnson was
'_touched_' by Queen Anne. _Ante_, i. 42, 91, and _post_, July 20, 1784.
[828] To which Johnson returned this answer:--
'TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EARL OF PORTMORE.
'Dr. Johnson acknowledges with great respect the honour of Lord
Portmore's notice. He is better than he was; and will, as his Lordship
directs, write to Mr. Langton.
'Bolt-court, Fleet-street,
April 13, 1784.'
BOSWELL. Johnson here assumes his title of Doctor, which Boswell says
(_ante_, ii. 332, note 1), so far as he knew, he never did. Perhaps the
letter has been wrongly copied, or perhaps Johnson thought that, in
writing to a man of title, he ought to assume such title as he
himself had.
[829] The eminent painter, representative of the ancient family of
Homfrey (now Humphry) in the west of England; who, as appears from their
arms which they have invariably used, have been, (as I have seen
authenticated by the best authority,) one of those among the Knights and
Esquires of honour who are represented by Holinshed as having issued
from the Tower of London on coursers apparelled for the justes,
accompanied by ladies of honour, leading every one a Knight, with a
chain of gold, passing through the streets of London into Smithfield, on
Sunday, at three o'clock in the afternoon, being the first Sunday after
Michaelmas, in the fourteenth year of King Richard the Second. This
family once enjoyed large possessions, but, like others, have lost them
in the progress of ages. Their blood, however, remains to them well
ascertained; and they may hope in the revolution of events, to recover
that rank in society for which, in modern times, fortune seems to be an
indispensable requisite. BOSWELL.
[830] Son of Mr. Samuel Paterson. BOSWELL. In the first two editions
after 'Paterson' is added 'eminent for his knowledge of books.' See
_ante_, iii. 90.
[831] Humphry, on his first coming to London, poor and unfriended, was
helped by Reynolds. Northcote's _Reynolds_, ii. 174.
[832] On April 21 he wrote:--'After a confinement of 129 days, more than
the third part of a year, and no inconsiderable part of human life, I
this day returned thanks to God in St. Clement's Church for my
recovery.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 365.
[833] On April 26 he wrote:--'On Saturday I showed myself again to the
living world at the Exhibition; much and splendid was the company, but
like the Doge of Genoa at Paris [Versailles, Voltaire, _Siecle de Louis
XIV_, chap, xiv.], I admired nothing but myself. I went up the stairs to
the pictures without stopping to rest or to breathe,
"In all the madness of superfluous health."
[Pope's _Essay on Man_, iii. 3.] The Prince of Wales had promised to be
there; but when we had waited an hour and a half, sent us word that he
could not come.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 367. 'The first Gentleman in
Europe' was twenty-one years old when he treated men like Johnson and
Reynolds with this insolence. Mr. Forster (_Life of Goldsmith_, ii. 244)
says that it was at this very dinner that 'Johnson left his seat by
desire of the Prince of Wales, and went to the head of the table to be
introduced.' He does not give his authority for the statement.
[834] Mr. Croker wrote in 1847 that he had 'seen it very lately framed
and glazed, in possession of the lady to whom it was addressed.'
Croker's _Boswell_, p. 753.
[835] Shortly before he begged one of Mrs. Thrale's daughters 'never to
think that she had arithmetic enough.' _Ante_, p. 171, note 3. See
_ante_, iii. 207, note 3.
[836] Cowper wrote on May 10 to the Rev. John Newton:--'We rejoice in
the account you give us of Dr. Johnson. His conversion will indeed be a
singular proof of the omnipotence of Grace; and the more singular, the
more decided.' Southey's _Cowper_, xv. 150. Johnson, in a prayer that he
wrote on April 11, said:--'Enable me, O Lord, to glorify Thee for that
knowledge of my corruption, and that sense of Thy wrath, which my
disease and weakness and danger awakened in my mind.' _Pr. and Med._
p. 217.
[837] Mr. Croker suggests _immediate_.
[838] 'The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.'
_St. James_, v. 16.
[839] Upon this subject there is a very fair and judicious remark in the
life of Dr. Abernethy, in the first edition of the _Biographia
Britannica_, which I should have been glad to see in his life which has
been written for the second edition of that valuable work. 'To deny the
exercise of a particular providence in the Deity's government of the
world is certainly impious: yet nothing serves the cause of the scorner
more than an incautious forward zeal in determining the particular
instances of it.'
In confirmation of my sentiments, I am also happy to quote that sensible
and elegant writer Mr. _Melmoth_ [see _ante_, iii. 422], in Letter VIII.
of his collection, published under the name of _Fitzosborne_. 'We may
safely assert, that the belief of a particular Providence is founded
upon such probable reasons as may well justify our assent. It would
scarce, therefore, be wise to renounce an opinion which affords so firm
a support to the soul, in those seasons wherein she stands in most need
of assistance, merely because it is not possible, in questions of this
kind, to solve every difficulty which attends them.' BOSWELL.
[840] I was sorry to observe Lord Monboddo avoid any communication with
Dr. Johnson. I flattered myself that I had made them very good friends
(see _Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides_, third edit. p. 67, _post_, v.
80), but unhappily his Lordship had resumed and cherished a violent
prejudice against my illustrious friend, to whom I must do the justice
to say, there was on his part not the least anger, but a good-humoured
sportiveness. Nay, though he knew of his Lordship's indisposition
towards him, he was even kindly; as appeared from his inquiring of me
after him, by an abbreviation of his name, 'Well, how does _Monny_?'
BOSWELL. Boswell (_Hebrides, post_, v. 74) says:--'I knew Lord Monboddo
and Dr. Johnson did not love each other; yet I was unwilling not to
visit his lordship, and was also curious to see them together.'
Accordingly, he brought about a meeting. Four years later, in 1777
(_ante_, iii. 102), Monboddo received from Johnson a copy of his Journey
to the Hebrides. They met again in London in 1780 (Piozzi Letters, ii.
III), and perhaps then quarrelled afresh. Dr. Seattle wrote on Feb. 28,
1785:-'Lord Monboddo's hatred of Johnson was singular; he would not
allow him to know anything but Latin grammar, "and that," says he, "I
know as well as he does." I never heard Johnson say anything severe of
him, though when he mentioned his name, he generally "grinned horribly a
ghastly smile,"' ['Grinned horrible,' &c. _Paradise Lost_, ii. 846.]
Forbes's _Beattie_, p. 333. The use of the abbreviation _Monny_ on
Johnson's part scarcely seems a proof of kindliness. See _ante_, i. 453,
where he said:--'Why, Sir, _Sherry_ is dull, naturally dull,' &c.; and
iii. 84, note 2, where he said:--'I should have thought _Mund_ Burke
would have had more sense;' see also Rogers's _Boswelliana_, p. 216,
where he said:--'_Derry_ [Derrick] may do very well while he can outrun
his character; but the moment that his character gets up with him he
is gone.'
[841] On May 13 he wrote:--' Now I am broken loose, my friends seem
willing enough to see me. ... But I do not now drive the world about;
the world drives or draws me. I am very weak.' _Piozzi Letters_,
ii. 369.
[842] See _ante,_ iii, 443.
[843] See _ante,_ p. 197.
[844] Boswell himself, likely enough.
[845] Verses on the death of Mr. Levett. BOSWELL. _Ante,_ p. 138
[846] If it was Boswell to whom this advice was given, it is not
unlikely that he needed it. The meagreness of his record of Johnson's
talk at this season may have been due, as seems to have happened before,
to too much drinking. _Ante,_ p.88, note 1.
[847] _Ante,_ ii. 100.
[848] George Steevens. See _ante,_ iii. 281.
[849] Forty-six years earlier Johnson wrote of this lady:-'I have
composed a Greek epigram to Eliza, and think she ought to be celebrated
in as many different languages as Lewis le Grand.' _Ante_, i. 122. Miss
Burney described her in 1780 as 'really a noble-looking woman; I never
saw age so graceful in the female sex yet; her whole face seems to beam
with goodness, piety, and philanthropy.' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_,
i. 373.
[850] 'Mrs. Thrale says that though Mrs. Lennox's books are generally
approved, nobody likes her.' _Ib._ p. 91. See _ante_, i. 255, and
iv. 10.
[851] 'Sept. 1778. MRS. THRALE. "Mrs. Montagu is the first woman for
literary knowledge in England, and if in England, I hope I may say in
the world." DR. JOHNSON. "I believe you may, Madam. She diffuses more
knowledge in her conversation than any woman I know, or, indeed, almost
any man." MRS. THRALE. "I declare I know no man equal to her, take away
yourself and Burke, for that art."' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, i. 118. It
is curious that Mrs. Thrale and Boswell should both thus instance Burke.
Miss Burney writes of her in much more moderate terms:--'Allowing a
little for parade and ostentation, which her power in wealth and rank in
literature offer some excuse for, her conversation is very agreeable;
she is always reasonable and sensible, and sometimes instructive and
entertaining.' _Ib._ p. 325. See _ante_, ii. 88, note 3. These five
ladies all lived to a great age. Mrs. Montagu was 80 when she died; Mrs.
Lennox, 83; Miss Burney (Mme. D'Arblay), 87; Miss More and Mrs. (Miss)
Carter, 88. Their hostess, Mrs. Garrick, was 97 or 98.
