Monday was the day for our great party; and the doctor came home, at Mrs. Thrale’s request, to meet them. . . .
Lady Ladd; I ought to have begun with her. I beg her ladyship a thousand pardons —— though if she knew my offence, I am sure I should not obtain one. She is own sister to Mr. Thrale. She is a tall and stout woman, has an air mingled with dignity and haughtiness, both of which wear off in conversation. She dresses very youthfully and gaily, and attends to her person with no little complacency. She appears to me uncultivated in knowledge, though an adept in the manners of the world, and all that. She chooses to be much more lively than her brother; but liveliness sits as awkwardly upon her as her pink ribbons. In talking her over with Mrs. Thrale, who has a very proper regard for her, but who, I am sure, cannot be blind to her faults, she gave me another proof to those I have already had, of the uncontrolled freedom of speech which Dr. Johnson exercises to everybody, and which everybody receives quietly from him. Lady Ladd has been very handsome, but is now, I think, quite ugly —— at least she has a sort of face I like not. Well, she was a little while ago dressed in so showy a manner as to attract the doctor’s notice, and when he had looked at her some time he broke out aloud into this quotation:
“With patches, paint, and jewels on,
Sure Phillis is not twenty-one!
But if at night you Phillis see,
The dame at least is forty-three!” I don’t recollect the verses exactly, but such was their purport.
“However,” said Mrs. Thrale, “Lady Ladd took it very good-naturedly, and only said,
““I know enough of that forty-three —— I don’t desire to hear any more about it!”“ . . .
In the evening the company divided pretty much into parties, and almost everybody walked upon the gravel-walk before the windows. I was going to have joined some of them, when Dr. Johnson stopped me, and asked how I did.
“I was afraid, sir,” cried I, “you did not intend to know me again, for you have not spoken to me before since your return from town.”
“My dear,” cried he, taking both my hands, “I was not sure of you, I am so near-sighted, and I apprehended making some mistake.
Then drawing me very unexpectedly towards him, he actually kissed me!
To be sure, I was a little surprised, having no idea of such facetiousness from him. However, I was glad nobody was in the room but Mrs. Thrale, who stood close to us, and Mr. Embry, who was lounging on a sofa at the farthest end of the room, Mrs. Thrale laughed heartily, and said she hoped I was contented with his amends for not knowing me sooner.
A little after she said she would go and walk with the rest if she did not fear for my reputation in being left with the doctor.
“However, as Mr. Embry is yonder, I think he”ll take some care of you, she added.
“Ay, madam,” said the doctor, “we shall do very well; but I assure you I shan’t part with Miss Burney!”
And he held me by both hands; and when Mrs. Thrale went, he drew me a chair himself facing the window, close to his own; and thus tete-a-tete we continued almost all the evening. I say tete-a-tete, because Mr. Embry kept at an humble distance, and offered us no interruption. And though Mr. Seward soon after came in, he also seated himself in a distant corner, not presuming, he said, to break in upon us! Everybody, he added, gave way to the doctor.
Our conversation chiefly was upon the Hebrides, for he always talks to me of Scotland, out of sport;, and he wished I had been of that tour —— quite gravely, as I assure you!
Tuesday morning our breakfast was delightful. We had Mr. Seward, Mr. Embry, and Lady Ladd added to our usual party, and Dr. Johnson was quite in a sportive humour. But I can only write some few speeches, wanting time to be prolix, not inclination.
“Sir,” said Mrs. Thrale to Dr. Johnson, “why did you not sooner leave your wine yesterday, and come to us? we had a Miss who sung and played like anything!”
“Ay, had you?” said he drolly; “and why did you not call me to the rapturous entertainment?”
“Why, I was afraid you would not have praised her, for I sat thinking all the time myself whether it were better to sing and play as she sang and played, or to do nothing. And at first I thought she had the best of it, for we were but stupid before she began; but afterwards she made it so long, that I thought nothing had all the advantage. But, sir, Lady Ladd has had the same misfortune you had, for she has fallen down and hurt herself woefully., “How did that happen, madam?”
“Why, sir, the heel of her shoe caught in something.”
“Heel?” replied he; “nay, then, if her ladyship, who walks six foot high” (N.B. this is a fact), “will wear a high heel, I think she almost deserves a fall.”
“Nay, sir, my heel was not so high!” cried Lady Ladd.
,”But, madam, why should you wear any? That for which there is no occasion, had always better be dispensed with. However, a fall to your ladyship is nothing,” continued he, laughing; “you, who are light and little, can soon recover; but I who am a gross man, might suffer severely; with your ladyship the case is different, for
“Airy substance soon unites again.”
Poor Lady Ladd, who is quite a strapper, made no answer, but she was not offended. Mrs. Thrale and I afterwards settled, that not knowing his allusion from the Rape of the Lock, she only thought he had made a stupid sort of speech, and did not trouble herself to find a meaning to it.
“However,” continued he, “if my fall does confine me, I win make my confinement pleasant, for Miss Burney shall nurse me —— positively!” (and he slapped his hand on the table), “and then, she shall sing to me, and soothe my cares.” When public news was started, Mr. Thrale desired the subject might be waived till my father came, and could let us know what part of the late accounts were true.
Mr. Thrale then offered to carry Mr. Seward, who was obliged to go to town, in the coach with him, —— and Mr. Embry also left us. But Dr. Johnson sat with Mrs. Thrale and Lady Ladd, and me for an hour or two.
The subject was given by Lady Ladd; it was the respect due from the lower class of the people.
“I know my place,” said she, “and I always take it: and I”ve no notion of not taking it. But Mrs. Thrale lets all sort of people do just as they”ve a mind by her.”
“Ay,” said Mrs. Thrale, “why should I torment and worry myself about all the paltry marks of respect that consist in bows and courtesies? —— I have no idea of troubling myself about the manners of all the people I mix with.”
“No,” said Lady Ladd, “so they will take all sorts of liberties with you. I remember, when you were at my house, how the hair-dresser flung down the comb as soon as you were dressed, and went out of the room without making a bow.”
“Well, all the better,” said Mrs. Thrale; “for if he had made me one, ten thousand to one if I had seen it. I was in as great haste to have done with him, as he could be to have done with me. I was glad enough to get him out of the room; I did not want him to stand bowing and cringing.” “If any man had behaved so insolently to me,” answered she, “I would never again have suffered him in my house.”
“Well,” said Mrs. Thrale, “your ladyship has a great deal more dignity than I have! —— Dr. Johnson, we are talking of the respect due from inferiors; —— and Lady Ladd is of the same side you are.”,
“Why, madam,” said he, subordination is always necessary to the preservation of order and decorum.”
“I protest,” said Lady Ladd, “I have no notion of submitting to any kind of impertinence: and I never will bear either to have any person nod to me, or enter a room, where I am, without bowing.”
“But, madam,” said Dr. Johnson, “what if they will nod, and what if they won’t bow? —— how then?”
“Why, I always tell them of it,” said she.
“Oh, commend me to that!” cried Mrs. Thrale;, “I’d sooner never see another bow in my life, than turn dancing-master to hair-dressers.”
The doctor laughed his approbation, but
said that every man had a right to a certain degree of respect, and no man liked to be defrauded of that right.
“Well, sir,” said Mrs. Thrale, “I hope you meet with respect enough!”
Yes, madam,” answered he, “I am very well contented.”
“Nay, if you an’t, I don’t know who should be; for I believe there is no man in the world so greatly respected.”, Soon after he went, I went, and shut myself up in a sweet cool summer-house, to read Irene.: —— which, indeed, though not a good play, is a beautiful poem.
As my dear father spent the rest of the day here, I will not further particularize, but leave accounts to his better communication. He probably told you that the P —— family came in to tea; and, as he knows Mrs. P —— , pray tell him what Dr. Johnson says of her. When they were gone Mrs. Thrale complained that she was quite worn out with that tiresome silly woman, who had talked of her family and affairs till she was sick to death of hearing her.
“Madam,” said he, “why do you blame the woman for the only sensible thing she can do —— talking of her family and her affairs? For how should a woman who is as empty as a drum, talk upon any other subject? —— If you speak to her of the sun, she does not know it rises in the east; —— if you speak to her of the moon, she does not know it changes at the full; if you speak to her of the queen, she does not know she is the king’s wife; —— how, then, can you blame her for talking of her family and affairs?”
On Friday, I had a visit from Dr. Johnson! he came on purpose to reason with me about this pamphlet, which he had heard from my father had so greatly disturbed me.
Shall I not love him more than ever? However, Miss Young was just arrived, and Mr. Bremner spent the evening here, and therefore he had the delicacy and goodness to forbear coming to the point. Yet he said several things that I understood, though they were unintelligible to all others; and he was more kind, more good-humoured, more flattering to me than ever. Indeed, my uneasiness upon this subject has met with more indulgence from him than from anybody. He repeatedly charged me not to fret; and bid me not repine at my success, but think of Moretta, in the Fairy Tale, who found sweetness and consolation in her wit sufficient to counter- balance her scoffers and libellers! Indeed he was all good humour and kindness, and seemed quite bent on giving me comfort as well as flattery.
I shall now skip to the Thursday following, when I accompanied my father to Streatham. We had a delightful ride, though the day was horrible.
In two minutes we were joined by Mr. Seward, and in four, by Dr. Johnson. Mr. Seward, though a reserved, and cold young man, has a heart open to friendship, and very capable of good-nature and goodwill, though I believe it abounds not with them to all indiscriminately: but he really loves my father, and his reserve once, is always, conquered. He seemed heartily glad to see us both: and the dear Dr. Johnson was more kind, more pleased, and more delightful than ever. Our several meetings in town seem to have quite established me in his favour, and I flatter myself that if he were now accused of loving me, he would not deny it, nor, as before, insist on waiting longer ere he went so far.
“I hope, Dr. Burney,” cried Mr. Seward, “you are now come to stay?
“No!” cried my father, shaking his head, “that is utterly out of my power at present.”
“Well, but this fair lady” —— (N.B. —— Fair and brown are synonymous terms in conversation, however opposite in looks) “I hope will stay?”
“No, no, no!” was the response, and he came to me and pressed the invitation very warmly; but Dr. Johnson, going to the window, called me from him.
“Well, my dear,” cried he, in a low voice, “and how are you now? have you done fretting? have you got over your troubles?”
Ah, sir,” quoth I, “I am sorry they told you of my folly; yet I am very much obliged to you for bearing to hear of it with so much indulgence, for I had feared it would have made you hold me cheap ever after.”
“No, my dear, no! What should I hold you cheap for? It did not surprise me at all; I thought it very natural; but you must think no more of it.”
F. B. —— Why, sir, to say the truth, I don’t know, after all, whether I do not owe the affair in part to you! Dr. J. —— To me? how so?
F. B. —— Why, the appellation of “little Burney,” I think, must have come from you, for I know of no body else that calls me so.
This is a fact, Susy, and the “dear little Burney,” makes it still more suspicious, for I am sure Sir Joshua Reynolds would never speak of me so facetiously after only one meeting.
Dr. Johnson seemed almost shocked, and warmly denied having been any way accessory.
“Why, sir,” cried I, “they say the pamphlet was written by a Mr. Huddisford. Now I never saw, never heard of him before; how, therefore, should he know whether I am little or tall? he could not call me little by inspiration; I might be a Patagonian for anything he could tell.”
Dr. J. —— Pho! fiddle-faddle; do you suppose your book is so much talked of and not yourself? Do you think your readers will not ask questions, and inform themselves whether you are short or tall, young or old? Why should you put it on me?
After this he made me follow him into the library, that we might continue our confab without interruption; and just as we were seated, entered Mrs. Thrale. I flew to her, and she received me with the sweetest cordiality. They placed me between them, and we had a most delicious trio.
We talked over the visit at Sir Joshua’s; and Dr. Johnson told me that Mrs. Cholmondeley was the first person who publicly praised and recommended Evelina among the wits. Mrs. Thrale told me that at Tunbridge and Brightelmstone it was the universal topic; and that Mrs. Montagu had pronounced the dedication to be so well written, that she could not but suppose it must be the doctor’s.
“She is very kind,” quoth I, “because she likes one part better than another, to take it from me!”,
“You must not mind that,” said Dr. Johnson, “for such things are always said where books are successful. There are three distinct kind of judges upon all new authors or productions; the first are those who know no rules, but pronounce entirely from their natural taste and feelings; the second are those who know and judge by rules; and the third are those who know, but are above the rules. These last are those you should wish to satisfy. Next to them rate the natural judges; but ever despise those opinions that are formed by the rules.”
Mrs. Thrale wanted me much to stay all night, but it could not be.
Last week I called on Mrs. Williams, and Dr. Johnson, who had just returned from Streatham, came down stairs to me, and was so kind! I quite doat on him; and I really believe that, take away Mr. Crisp, there is no man out of this house who has so real and affectionate a regard for me; and I am sure, take away the same person, I can with the utmost truth say the same thing in return.
I asked after the Streathamites.
“Why;” said he, “we now only want you —— we have Miss Streatfield, Miss Brown, Murphy, and Seward —— we only want you! Has Mrs. Thrale called on you lately?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Ah,” said he, “you are such a darling!”
Mrs. Williams added a violent compliment to this, but concluded with saying,
“My only fear is lest she should put me in a book!”
,”Sir Joshua Reynolds,” answered Dr. Johnson, ‘says, that if he were conscious to himself of any trick, or any affectation, there is nobody he should so much fear as this little Burney!”
This speech he told me once before, so that I find it has struck him much.
Place: Streatham, February. ——
I have been here so long, my dearest Susan, without writing a word, that now I hardly know where or how to begin. But I will try to draw up a concise account of what has passed for this last fortnight, and then endeavour to be more minute.
Mrs. Thrale and Dr. Johnson vied with each other in the kindness of their reception of me. Mr. Thrale was, as usual at first, cold and quiet, but soon, as usua
l also, warmed into sociality.
The next day Sir Philip Jennings Clerke came. He is not at all a man of letters, but extremely well- bred, nay, elegant, in his manners, and sensible and agreeable in his conversation. He is a professed minority man, and very active and zealous in the opposition. He had, when I came, a bill in agitation concerning contractors — too long a matter to explain upon paper — but which was levelled against bribery and corruption in the ministry, and which he was to make a motion upon in the House of Commons the next week.
Men of such different principles as Dr. Johnson and Sir Philip, you may imagine, cannot have much sympathy or cordiality in their political debates; however, the very superior abilities of the former, and the remarkable good breeding of the latter, have kept both upon good terms; though they have had several arguments, in which each has exerted his utmost force for conquest.
The heads of one of their debates I must try to remember, because I should be sorry to forget. Sir Philip explained his bill; Dr. Johnson at first scoffed it; Mr. Thrale betted a guinea the motion would not pass, and Sir Philip, that he should divide a hundred and fifty upon it.
I am afraid, my dear Susan, you already tremble at this political commencement, but I will soon have done, for I know your taste too well to enlarge upon this theme.
Sir Philip, addressing himself to Mrs. Thrale, hoped she would not suffer the Tories to warp her judgment, and told me he hoped my father had not tainted my principles; and then he further explained his bill, and indeed made it appear so equitable, that Mrs. Thrale gave in to it, and wished her husband to vote for it. He still hung back; but, to our general surprise, Dr. Johnson, having made more particular inquiries into its merits, first softened towards it, and then declared it a very rational and fair bill, and joined with Mrs. Thrale in soliciting Mr. Thrale’s vote.
Sir Philip was, and with very good reason, quite delighted. He opened upon politics more amply, and freely declared his opinions, which were so strongly against the Government, and so much bordering upon the republican principles, that Dr. Johnson suddenly took fire; he called back his recantation, begged Mr. Thrale not to vote for Sir Philip’s bill, and grew very animated against his antagonist.
Complete Works of Frances Burney Page 683