Of an acquaintance of ours, whose manners and every thing about him, though expensive, were coarse, he said, "Sir, you see in him vulgar prosperity." preach a sermon standing upon his head on a horse's back, he would collect a multitude to hear him; but no wise man would say he had made a better sermon for that. I never treated Whitefield's ministry with A foreign minister of no very high talents, contempt; I believe he did good. He had who had been in his company for a considdevoted himself to the lower classes of man- erable time quite overlooked, happened luckkind, and among them he was of use. But ily to mention that he had read some of his when familiarity and noise claim the praise" Rambler" in Italian, and admired it much. due to knowledge, art, and elegance, we must beat down such pretensions." This pleased him greatly; he observed that the title had been translated Il Genio What I have preserved of his conversa- errante, though I have been told it was tion during the remainder of my stay in rendered more ludicrously Il Vagabondo; London at this time is only, what follows: and finding that this minister gave such a I told him that when I objected to keeping proof of his taste, he was all attention to company with a notorious infidel, a cele- him, and on the first remark which he made, brated friend of ours said to me, "I do not however simple, exclaimed, "The ambassathink that men who live laxly in the world, dour says well; His excellency observes—;" as you and I do, can with propriety assume and then he expanded and enriched the such an authority: Dr. Johnson may, who little that had been said in so strong a is uniformly exemplary in his conduct. But manner, that it appeared something of conit is not very consistent to shun an infidel sequence. This was exceedingly entertainto-day, and get drunk to-morrow." JOHN-ing to the company who were present, and SON. "Nay, sir, this is sad reasoning. many a time afterwards it furnished a pleasBecause a man cannot be right in all things, ant topick of merriment. "The ambassais he to be right in nothing? Because a dour says well" became a laughable term man sometimes gets drunk, is he therefore of applause when no mighty matter had to steal? This doctrine would very soon been expressed. bring a man to the gallows." After all, however, it is a difficult question how far sincere christians should associate with the avowed enemies of religion; for in the first place, almost every man's mind may be more or less corrupted by evil communications; " secondly, the world may very naturally suppose that they are not really in earnest in religion, who can easily bear its opponents; and thirdly, if the profane find themselves quite well received by the pious, one of the checks upon an open declaration of their infidelity, and one of the probable chances of obliging them seriously to reflect, which their being shunned would do, is removed. He, I know not why, showed upon all occasions an aversion to go to Ireland, where I proposed to him that we should make a tour. JOHNSON. "It is the last place that I should wish to travel." BosWELL. "Should you not like to see Dublin, sir?" JOHNSON. "No, sir; Dublin is only a worse capital." BoswELL. "Is not the Giant's-causeway worth seeing?" JOHNSON. "Worth seeing? yes; but not worth going to see." THrale. "16th October, 1779. Letters, vol. ii. p. 65. ["TO MRS. "My foot gives me very little trouble; but it is not yet well. I have dined, since you saw me, not so often as once in two days. But I am told how well I look; and I really think I get more mobility. I dined on Tuesday with Ramsay, and on Thursday with Paoli, who talked of coming to see you, till I told him of your migration. "Mrs. Williams is not yet returned; but discord and discontent reign in my humble habitation as in the palaces of monarchs. Mr. Levet and Mrs. Desmoulins have vowed eternal hate. Levet is the more insidious, and wants me to turn her out. Poor Williams writes word that she is no better, and has left off her physick. Mr. Levet has seen Dr. Lewis, who declares himself hopeless of doing her any good. Lawrence desponded some time ago. "I thought I had a little fever some time, but it seems to be starved away. Bozzy says, he never saw me so well."] ["DR. JOHNSON TO MISS REYnolds. "19th October, 1779. Reyn. Yet he had a kindness for the Irish nation; and thus generously expressed himself to a gentleman from that country, on "DEAREST MADAM,-You are exthe subject of an Union which artful politi-tremely kind in taking so much MSS. cians have often had in view: "Do not trouble. My foot is almost well; ̧ make an union with us, sir. We should and one of my first visits will certainly be unite with you only to rob you. We should to Dover-street 1. have robbed the Scotch, if they had had any thing of which we could have robbed them." "You will do me a great favour if you ' [Where Miss Reynolds lived.-ED.] will buy for me the prints of Mr. Burke, I wish for his return.' And she afterwards Mr. Dyer, and Dr. Goldsmith, as you know good impressions. "If any of your own pictures are engraved, buy them for me. I am fitting up a little room with prints. I am, dear madam, your most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON."] I left London on Monday, October 18, and accompanied Colone! Stuart to Chester, where his regiment was to lie for some time. 66 MR. BOSWELL TO DR. JOHNSON. "Chester, 22d October, 1779. "MY DEAR SIR,-It was not till one o'clock on Monday morning that Colonel Stuart and I left London; for we chose to bid a cordial adieu to Lord Mountstuart, who was to set out on that day on his embassy to Turin. We drove on excellently, and reached Lichfield in good time enough that night. The colonel had heard so preferable a character of the George, that he would not put up at the Three Crowns, so that I did not see our host, Wilkins. We found at the George as good accommodation as we could wish to have, and I fully enjoyed the comfortable thought that I was in Lichfield again. Next morning it rained very hard; and as I had much to do in a little time, I ordered a post-chaise, and between eight and nine sallied forth to make a round of visits. I first went to Mr. Green, hoping to have had him to accompany me to all my other friends; but he was engaged to attend the Bishop of Sodor and Man, who was then lying at Lichfield very ill of the gout. Having taken a hasty glance at the additions to Green's museum 1, from which it was not easy to break away, I next went to the Friary, where I at first occasioned some tumult in the ladies, who were not prepared to receive company so early; but my name, which has by wonderful felicity come to be closely associated with yours, soon made all easy; and Mrs. Cobb2 and Miss Adey re-assumed their seats at the breakfast-table, which they had quitted with some precipitation. They received me with the kindness of an old acquaintance; and, after we had joined in a cordial chorus to your praise, Mrs. Cobb gave me the high satisfaction of hearing that you said, Boswell is a man who I believe never left a house without leaving a 1 [See ante, p. 44.-ED.] added, that she bid you tell me, that if ever I came to Lichfield, she hoped I would take. a bed at the Friary. From thence I drove to Peter Garrick's 3, where I also found a very flattering welcome. He appeared to me to enjoy his usual cheerfulness; and he very kindly asked me to come when I could, and pass a week with him. From Mr. Garrick's I went to the Palace to wait on Mr. Seward. I was first entertained by his lady and daughter, he himself being in bed with a cold, according to his valetudinary custom. But he desired to see me: and I found him dressed in his black gown, with a white flannel night-gown above it; so that he looked like a Dominican friar. He was good-humoured and polite; and under his roof' too my reception was very pleasing. I then proceeded to Stowhill, and first paid my respects to Mrs. Gastrell, whose conversation I was not willing to quit. But my sand-glass was now beginning to run low, as I could not trespass too long on the colonel's kindness, who obligingly waited for me; so I hastened to Mrs. Aston's, whom I found much better than I feared I should; and there I met a brother-in-law of these ladies, who talked much of you, and very well too, as it appeared to me. It then only remained to visit Mrs. Lucy Porter, which I did, I really believe, with sincere satisfaction on both sides. I am sure I was glad to see her again; and as I take her to be very honest, I trust she was glad to see me again, for she expressed herself so that I could not doubt of her being in earnest. What a great keystone of kindness, my dear sir, were you that morning; for we were all held together by our common attachment to you! I cannot say that I ever passed two hours with more self-complacency than I did those two at Lichfield. Let me not entertain any suspicion that this is idle vanity. Will not you confirm me in my persuasion, that he who finds himself so regarded has just reason to be happy? "We got to Chester about midnight on Tuesday; and here again I am in a state of much enjoyment. Colonel Stuart and his officers treat me with all the civility I could wish; and I play my part admirably. Latus aliis, sapiens sibi, the classical sentence which you, I imagine, invented the other day, is exemplified in my present existence. The bishop, to whom I had the honour to be known several years ago, shows me much attention; and I am edified by his converhis lordship admires, very highly, your sation. I must not omit to tell you, that prefaces to the Poets. I am daily obtain 2 [Mrs. Cobb was the daughter of Mr. Hammond, an apothecary (ante, v. i. p. 13), and the widow of a mercer, who had retired from business, and resided at the Friary. Miss Adey was her niece, daughter of the town-clerk of Lichfield: she married William Sneyd, Esq. of Belmont-ing an extension of agreeable acquaintance, house, near Cheadle, and died 1829, æt. 87.HARWOOD.] 3 [See vol. i. p. 479. n. and ante, p. 43.-ED.] tion any thing can be added by knowing that you retain my good-will, you may indulge yourself in the full enjoyment of that small addition. so that I am kept in animated variety; and the study of the place itself, by the assistance of books and of the bishop, is sufficient occupation. Chester pleases my fancy more than any town I ever saw. But I will not "I am glad that you made the round of enter upon it at all in this letter. Lichfield with so much success. The oft"How long I shall stay here I cannot yetener you are seen, the more you will be say. I told a very pleasing young lady 1, liked. It was pleasing to me to read that niece to one of the prebendaries, at whose Mrs. Aston was so well, and that Lucy house I saw her, I have come to Chester, Porter was so glad to see you. madam, I cannot tell how; and far less can I tell how I am to get away from it.' Do not think me too juvenile. I beg it of you, my dear sir, to favour me with a letter while I am here, and add to the happiness of a happy friend, who is ever, with affectionate veneration, most sincerely yours, "JAMES BOSWELL. "Publick affairs do not seem to promise much amendment, and the nation is now full of distress. What will be the event of things none can tell. We may still hope for better times. "My health, which I began to recover when I was in the country, continues still in a good state: it costs me, indeed, some physick, and something of abstinence, but it pays the cost. I wish, dear madam, I could hear a little of your improvements. "Here is no news. The talk of the invasion seems to be over. But a very turbulent session of parliament is expected; though turbulence is not likely to do any good. Those are happiest who are out of the noise and tumult. There will be no, great violence of faction at Stowhill; and that it may be free from that and all other inconvenience and disturbance is the sincere wish of all your friends. I am, dear madam, your most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON."] 66 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. "In the place where you now are, there is much to be observed; and you will easily procure yourself skilful directors. But what will you do to keep away the black dog 2 that worries you at home? If you would, in compliance with your father's advice, inquire into the old tenures and old charters of Scotland, you would certainly open to yourself many striking scenes of the manners of the middle ages. The feudal system, in a country half-barbarous, is naturally productive of great anomalies in civil life. The knowledge of past times is naturally growing less in all cases not of publick record; and the past time of Scotland is so unlike the present, that it is already difficult for a Scotchman to image the economy of his grandfather. Do not be tardy nor negligent; but gather up eagerly what can yet be found 3. "We have, I think, once talked of another project, a history of the late insurrection in Scotland, with all its incidents. Many falsehoods are passing into uncontradicted history. Voltaire, who loved a striking story, has told what he could not find to be true. "You may make collections for either of these projects, or for both, as opportunities occur, and digest your materials at leisure. The great direction which Burton has left to men disordered like you is this, Be not solitary, be not idle; which I would thus modify:-If you are idle, be not solitary; if you are solitary, be not idle. There is a letter for you, from your humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." [This was a phrase in the familiar society at Streatham to express hypochondriacal anxieties of mind. between Johnson and Mrs. Thrale, and is equivaIt is frequently used in the correspondence " of Madame de Sévigné. dragons lent to the " “Dear sir,—Why should you importune me so earnestly to write? Of what importance can it be to hear of distant friends, to a man who finds himself welcome wherever he goes, and makes new friends 3 I have a valuable collection made by my faster than he can want them? If to the father, which, with some additions and illustradelight of such universal kindness of receptions of my own, I intend to publish. I have 1 Miss Letitia Barnston.-BOSWELL. some hereditary claim to be an antiquary; not only from my father, but as being descended, by than he expected, I will not forbear to tell you how much I was delighted with the news. May your health increase and in crease till you are as well as you can wish yourself, or I can wish you! My friends tell me that my health improves too. It is certain that I use both physick and abstinence; and my endeavours have been blessed with more success than at my age I could reasonably hope. I please myself with the thoughts of visiting you next year in so robust a state, that I shall not be afraid of the hill between Mrs. Gastrell's house and yours, nor think it necessary to rest myself between Stowhill and Lucy Porter's. "Of publick affairs I can give you no very comfortable account. The invasion has vanished for the present, as I expected. I never believed that any invasion was intended. "But whatever we have escaped, we have done nothing, nor are likely to do better another year. We, however, who have no part of the nation's welfare intrusted to our management, have nothing to do but to serve God, and leave the world submissively in his hands. "All trade is dead, and pleasure is scarce alive. Nothing almost is purchased but such things as the buyer cannot do without, so that a general sluggishness and general discontent are spread over the town. All the trades of luxury and elegance are nearly at a stand. What the parliament, when it meets, will do, and indeed what it ought to do, is very difficult to say. "Pray set Mrs. Gastrell, who is a dear good lady, to write to me from time to time; for I have great delight in hearing from you, especially when I hear any good news of your health. I am, dear madam, your most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON."] TO DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. "MY DEAR SIR,-That I should importune you to write to me at Chester is not wonderful, when you consider what an avidity I have for delight; and that the amor of pleasure, like the amor nummi, increases in proportion, with the quantity which we possess of it. Your letter, so full of polite kindness and masterly counsel, came like a large treasure upon me, while already glittering with riches. I was quite enchanted at Chester, so that I could with difficulty quit it, But the enchantment was the reverse of that of Circé; for so far the mother's side, from the able and learned Sir John Skene, whose merit bids defiance to all the attempts which have been made to lessen his fame.-BosWELL. was there from being any thing sensual in it, that I was all mind I do not mean al reason only; for my fancy was kept finely in play. And why not? If you please, I will send you a copy or an abridgement of my Chester journal, which is truly a log book of felicity. "The bishop treated me with a kindness which was very flattering. I told him that you regretted you had seen so little of Chester. His lordship bade me tell you, that he should be glad to show you more of it. I am proud to find the friendship with which you honour me is known in so many places. "I arrived here late last night. Our friend the dean 2 has been gone from hence some months; but I am told at my inn, that he is very populous (popular). However, I found Mr. Law, the archdeacon, son to the bishop 3, and with him I have breakfasted and dined very agreeably. I got acquainted with him at the assizes here, about a year and a half ago. He is a man of great variety of knowledge, uncommon genius, and, I believe, sincere religion. I received the holy sacrament in the cathedral in the morning, this being the first Sunday in the month; and was at prayers there in the morning. It is divinely cheering to me to think that there is a cathedral so near Auchinleck; and I now leave Old England in such a state of mind as I am thankful to God for granting me. "The black dog 4 that worries me at home I cannot but dread; yet as I have been for some time past in a military train, I trust I shall repulse him. To hear from you will animate me like the sound of a trumpet; I therefore hope, that soon after my return to the northern field, I shall receive a few lines from you. "Colonel Stuart did me the honour to escort me in his carriage to show me Liverpool, and from thence back again to Warrington, where we parted 5. In justice to my valuable wife, I must inform you she wrote to me, that as I was so happy, she would not be so selfish as to wish me to return sooner than business absolutely required my presence. She made my clerk write to me a post or two after to the same [Doctor Porteus, afterwards Bishop of London,-in which see he died.—ED.] 2 [Dr. Percy.-ED.] 3 [Dr. Edmond Law, master of St. Peter's College, Cambridge, Bishop of Carlisle, in which sec he died in 1787.-ED.] [See ante, p. 223.-ED.] His regiment was afterwards ordered to Ja maica, where he accompanied it, and almost lost his life by the climate. This impartial order I should think a sufficient refutation of the idle rumour that "there was still something behind the throne greater than the throne itself."-BOSWELL. "DEAR SIR,-Your last letter was not only kind but fond. But I wish you to get rid of all intellectual excesses, and neither to exalt your pleasures, nor aggravate your vexations, beyond their real and natural state. Why should you not be as happy at Edinburgh as at Chester? In culpa est animus, qui se non effugit usquam. Please yourself with your wife and children, and studies, and practice. 1 "I have sent a petition from Lucy Porter, with which I leave it to your discretion whether it is proper to comply. Return me her letter, which I have sent, that you may know the whole case, and not be seduced to any thing that you may afterwards repent. Miss Doxy perhaps you know to be Mr. Garrick's niece. "If Dean Percy can be popular at Carlisle, he may be very happy. He has in his disposal two livings, each equal or almost equal in value to the deanery; he may take one himself, and give the other to his son. "How near is the cathedral to Auchinleck, that you are so much delighted with it? It is, I suppose, at least an hundred and fifty miles off. However, if you are pleased, it is so far well. "Let me know what reception you have from your father, and the state of his health. Please him as much as you can, and add no pain to his last years. "Of our friends here I can recollect nothing to tell you. I have neither seen nor heard of Langton. Beauclerk is just returned from Brighthelmstone, I am told, much better. Mr. Thrale and his family are still there; and his health is said to be visibly improved. He has not bathed, but hunted. "At Bolt-court there is much malignity, but of late little open hostility 2. I have had a cold, but it is gone. "Make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell, &c. I am, sir, your humble servant, very favourable report of the family of Miss Doxy's lover; that after a good deal of inquiry I had discovered the sister of Mr. Francis Stewart, one of his amanuenses when writing his Dictionary;-that I had, as desired by him, paid her a guinea for an old pocket-book of her brother's, which he had retained; and that the good woman, who was in very moderate circumstances, but contented and placid, wondered at his scrupulous and liberal honesty, and received the guinea as if sent her by Providence;that I had repeatedly begged of him to keep his promise to send me his letter to Lord Chesterfield; and that this memento, like Delenda est Carthago, must be in every letter that I should write to him, till I had obtained my object. [TO MRS. THRALE. "London, 25th Oct. 1779. vol. ii. p. 70. "On Saturday I walked to Do- Letters, ver-street and back. Yesterday I dined with Sir Joshua. There was Mr. Elliot 3 of Cornwall, who inquired after my master. At night I was bespoken by Lady Lucan; but she was taken ill, and the assembly was put off. I am to dine with Renny to-morrow. "Some old gentlewomen at the next door are in very great distress. Their little annuity comes from Jamaica, and is therefore uncertain; and one of them has had a fall, and both are very helpless; and the poor have you to help them. Persuade my master to let me give them something for him. It will be bestowed upon real want."] In 1780, the world was kept in impatience for the completion of his "Lives of the Poets," upon which he was employed so far as his indolence allowed him to labour. I wrote to him on January 1 and March 13, sending him my notes of Lord Marchmont's information concerning Pope;complaining that I had not heard from him for almost four months, though he was two letters in my debt; that I had suffered again from melancholy;-hoping that he had been in so much better company (the Poets), that he had not time to think of his distant friends; for if that were the case, I should have some recompense for my uneasiness, that the state of my affairs did not admit of my coming to London this year; and begging he would return me Goldsmith's two poems, with his lines marked. His friend Dr. Lawrence having now suffered the greatest affliction to which a man is liable, and which Johnson himself had felt in the most severe manner, Johnson 3 [First Lord Elliot. See post, sub 30th March, 1781.-ED.] |