Complete Works of Samuel Johnson

by Samuel Johnson

  His Majesty having been informed of his occasional visits, was pleased to signify a desire that he should be told when Dr. Johnson came next to the library. Accordingly, the next time that Johnson did come, as soon as he was fairly engaged with a book, on which, while he sat by the fire, he seemed quite intent, Mr. Barnard stole round to the apartment where the King was, and, in obedience to his Majesty’s commands, mentioned that Dr. Johnson was then in the library. His Majesty said he was at leisure, and would go to him; upon which Mr. Barnard took one of the candles that stood on the King’s table, and lighted his Majesty through a suite of rooms, till they came to a private door into the library, of which his Majesty had the key. Being entered, Mr. Barnard stepped forward hastily to Dr. Johnson, who was still in a profound study, and whispered him, “Sir, here is the King.” Johnson started up, and stood still. His Majesty approached him, and at once was courteously easy.

  His Majesty began by observing, that he understood he came sometimes to the library; and then mentioning his having heard that the Doctor had been lately at Oxford, asked him if he was not fond of going thither. To which Johnson answered, that he was indeed fond of going to Oxford sometimes, but was likewise glad to come back again. The King then asked him what they were doing at Oxford. Johnson answered, he could not much commend their diligence, but that in some respects they were mended, for they had put their press under better regulations, and were at that time printing Polybius. He was then asked whether there were better libraries at Oxford or Cambridge. He answered, he believed the Bodleian was larger than any they had at Cam|bridge; at the same time adding, “I hope, whether we have more books or not than they have at Cambridge, we shall make as good use of them as they do.” Being asked whether All-Souls or Christ-Church library was the largest, he answered, “All-Souls library is the largest we have, except the Bodleian.” “Aye, (said the King,) that is the publick library.”

  His Majesty enquired if he was then writing any thing. He answered, he was not, for he had pretty well told the world what he knew, and must now read to acquire more knowledge. The King, as it should seem with a view to urge him to rely on his own stores as an original writer, and to continue his labours, then said, “I do not think you borrow much from any body.” Johnson said, he thought he had already done his part as a writer. “I should have thought so too, (said the King,) if you had not written so well.” — Johnson observed to me, upon this, that “No man could have paid a hand|somer compliment; and it was fit for a King to pay. It was decisive.” When asked by another friend, at Sir Joshua Reynolds’s, whether he made any reply to this high compliment, he answered, “No, Sir. When the King had said it, it was to be so. It was not for me to bandy civilities with my sovereign.” Perhaps no man who had spent his whole life in courts could have shewn a more nice and dignified sense of true politeness, than Johnson did in this instance.

  His Majesty having observed to him that he supposed he must have read a great deal; Johnson answered, that he thought more than he read; that he had read a great deal in the early part of his life, but having fallen into ill health, he had not been able to read much, compared with others: for instance, he said he had not read much compared with Dr. Warburton. Upon which the King said, that he heard Dr. Warburton was a man of such general knowledge, that you could scarce talk with him on any subject on which he was not qualified to speak; and that his learning resembled Garrick’s acting, in its universality. His Majesty then talked of the controversy between Warburton and Lowth, which he seemed to have read, and asked Johnson what he thought of it. Johnson answered, “Warburton has most general, most scholastick learning; Lowth is the more correct scholar. I do not know which of them calls names best.” The King was pleased to say he was of the same opinion; adding, “You do not think then, Dr. Johnson, that there was much argument in the case.” Johnson said, he did not think there was. “Why truly, (said the King,) when once it comes to calling names, argu|ment is pretty well at an end.”

  His Majesty then asked him what he thought of Lord Lyttelton’s history, which was then just published. Johnson said, he thought his style pretty good, but that he had blamed Henry the Second rather too much. “Why, (said the King,) they seldom do these things by halves.” “No, Sir, (answered Johnson,) not to Kings.” But fearing to be misunderstood, he proceeded to explain himself; and immediately subjoined, “That for those who spoke worse of Kings than they deserved, he could find no excuse, but that he could more easily conceive how some might speak better of them than they deserved, without any ill intention; for, as Kings had much in their power to give, those who were favoured by them would frequently, from gratitude, exagge|rate their praises; and as this proceeded from a good motive, it was certainly excuseable, as far as errour could be excuseable.”

  The King then asked him what he thought of Dr. Hill. Johnson answered, that he was an ingenious man, but had no veracity; and immediately mentioned, as an instance of it, an assertion of that writer, that he had seen objects magnified to a much greater degree by using three or four micro|scopes at a time, than by using one. “Now, (added Johnson,) every one acquainted with microscopes knows, that the more of them he looks through, the less the object will appear.” “Why, (replied the King,) this is not only telling an untruth, but telling it clumsily; for, if that be the case, every one who can look through a microscope will be able to detect him.”

  “I now, (said Johnson to his friends, when relating what had passed,) began to consider that I was depreciating this man in the estimation of his sovereign, and thought it was time for me to say something that might be more favourable.” He added, therefore, that Dr. Hill was, notwithstanding, a very curious observer; and if he would have been contented to tell the world no more than he knew, he might have been a very considerable man, and needed not to have recourse to such mean expedients to raise his reputation.

  The King then talked of literary journals, mentioned particularly the Journal des Savans, and asked Johnson if it was well done. Johnson said, it was formerly very well done, and gave some account of the persons who began it, and carried it on for some years; enlarging at the same time, on the nature and use of such works. The King asked him if it was well done now. Johnson answered, he had no reason to think that it was. The King then asked him if there were any other literary journals published in this kingdom, except the Monthly and Critical Reviews; and on being answered there were no other, his Majesty asked which of them was the best: Johnson answered, that the Monthly Review was done with most care, the Critical upon the best principles; adding, that the authours of the Monthly Review were enemies to the Church. This the King said he was sorry to hear.

  The conversation next turned on the Philosophical Transactions, when Johnson observed, that they had now a better method of arranging their materials than formerly. “Aye, (said the King,) they are obliged to Dr. Johnson for that;” for his Majesty had heard and remembered the circum|stance, which Johnson himself had forgot.

  His Majesty expressed a desire to have the literary biography of this country ably executed, and proposed to Dr. Johnson to undertake it. Johnson signified his readiness to comply with his Majesty’s wishes.

  During the whole of this interview, Johnson talked to his Majesty with profound respect, but still in his firm manly manner, with a sonorous voice, and never in that subdued tone which is commonly used at the levee and in the drawing-room. After the King withdrew, Johnson shewed himself highly pleased with his Majesty’s conversation and gracious behaviour. He said to Mr. Barnard, “Sir, they may talk of the King as they will; but he is the finest gentleman I have ever seen.” And he afterwards observed to Mr. Langton, “Sir, his manners are those of as fine a gentleman as we may suppose Lewis the Fourteenth or Charles the Second.”

  At Sir Joshua Reynolds’s, where a circle of Johnson’s friends was collected round him to hear his account of this memorable conversation, Dr. Joseph Warton, in his frank and lively manner, was very active in pressing him to mention the particulars. “C
ome now, Sir, this is an interesting matter; do favour us with it.” Johnson, with great good humour, complied.

  He told them, “I found his Majesty wished I should talk, and I made it my business to talk. I find it does a man good to be talked to by his sovereign. In the first place, a man cannot be in a passion— “ Here some question interrupted him, which is to be regretted, as he certainly would have pointed out and illustrated many circumstances of advantage, from being in a situation, where the powers of the mind are at once excited to vigorous exertion, and tempered by reverential awe.

  During all the time in which Dr. Johnson was employed in relating to the circle at Sir Joshua Reynolds’s the particulars of what passed between the King and him, Dr. Goldsmith remained unmoved upon a sopha at some distance, affecting not to join in the least in the eager curiosity of the com|pany. He assigned as a reason for his gloom and seeming inattention, that he apprehended Johnson had relinquished his purpose of furnishing him with a Prologue to his play, with the hopes of which he had been flattered; but it was strongly suspected that he was fretting with chagrin and envy at the singular honour Dr. Johnson had lately enjoyed. At length, the frankness and simplicity of his natural character prevailed. He sprung from the sopha, advanced to Johnson, and in a kind of flutter, from imagining himself in the situation which he had just been hearing described, exclaimed, “Well, you acquitted yourself in this conversation better than I should have done; for I should have bowed and stammered through the whole of it.”

  MISCELLANEOUS PAMPHLETS, REVIEWS AND ESSAYS

  CONTENTS

  ADVERTISEMENT TO THE FOURTH EDITION OF THE ENGLISH DICTIONARY.

  PREFACE TO THE OCTAVO EDITION OF THE ENGLISH DICTIONARY.

  A GRAMMAR OF THE ENGLISH TONGUE

  AN ACCOUNT OF THE HARLEIAN LIBRARY.

  AN ESSAY ON THE ORIGIN AND IMPORTANCE OF SMALL TRACTS AND FUGITIVE PIECES. WRITTEN FOR THE INTRODUCTION TO THE HARLEIAN MISCELLANY.

  PREFACE TO THE CATALOGUE OF THE HARLEIAN LIBRARY, VOL. III.

  A VIEW OF THE CONTROVERSY BETWEEN MONS. CROUSAZ AND MR. WARBURTON, ON THE SUBJECT OF MR. POPE’S ESSAY ON MAN

  PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE TO THE LONDON CHRONICLE, JANUARY 1, 1757.

  INTRODUCTION TO THE WORLD DISPLAYED.

  THE PREFACE TO THE PRECEPTOR, CONTAINING A GENERAL PLAN OF EDUCATION

  PREFACE TO ROLT’S DICTIONARY.

  PREFACE TO THE TRANSLATION OF FATHER LOBO’S VOYAGE TO ABYSSINIA.

  AN ESSAY ON EPITAPHS. FROM THE GENTLEMAN’S MAGAZINE.

  PREFACE TO AN ESSAY ON MILTON’S USE AND IMITATION OF THE MODERNS IN HIS PARADISE LOST.

  A LETTER TO THE REVEREND MR. DOUGLAS, OCCASIONED BY HIS VINDICATION OF MILTON.

  AN ACCOUNT OF AN ATTEMPT TO ASCERTAIN THE LONGITUDE.

  CONSIDERATIONS ON THE PLANS OFFERED FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF BLACKFRIARS BRIDGE.

  SOME THOUGHTS ON AGRICULTURE, BOTH ANCIENT AND MODERN, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE HONOUR DUE TO AN ENGLISH FARMER.

  FURTHER THOUGHTS ON AGRICULTURE. FROM THE VISITER FOR MARCH, 1756, P. 111.

  CONSIDERATION ON THE CORN LAWS.

  PREFACE TO THE GENTLEMAN’S MAGAZINE, 1738.

  AN APPEAL TO THE PUBLICK. FROM THE GENTLEMAN’S MAGAZINE, MARCH, 1739.

  LETTER ON FIREWORKS.

  PROPOSALS FOR PRINTING, BY SUBSCRIPTION, ESSAYS IN VERSE AND PROSE.

  A PROJECT FOR THE EMPLOYMENT OF AUTHORS.

  PREFACE TO THE LITERARY MAGAZINE, 1756.

  A DISSERTATION UPON THE GREEK COMEDY, TRANSLATED FROM BRUMOY.

  GENERAL CONCLUSION TO BRUMOY’S GREEK THEATRE.

  DEDICATIONS. DR. JAMES’S MEDICINAL DICTIONARY, 3 VOLS. FOLIO. 1743.

  PREFACE TO NEW TABLES OF INTEREST

  THOUGHTS ON THE CORONATION OF HIS PRESENT MAJESTY, KING GEORGE THE THIRD.

  PREFACE TO THE ARTISTS’ CATALOGUE, FOR 1762.

  OPINIONS ON QUESTIONS OF LAW.

  CONSIDERATIONS ON THE CASE OF DR. T[RAPP]’S SERMONS.

  ON SCHOOL CHASTISEMENT.

  VITIOUS INTROMISSION.

  ON LAY PATRONAGE IN THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.

  ON PULPIT CENSURE.

  REVIEWS.

  LETTER ON DU HALDE’S HISTORY OF CHINA, 1738.

  REVIEW OF THE ACCOUNT OF THE CONDUCT OF THE DUTCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH .

  REVIEW OF MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF AUGUSTUS;

  REVIEW OF FOUR LETTERS FROM SIR ISAAC NEWTON TO DR BENTLEY.

  REVIEW OF A JOURNAL OF EIGHT DAYS’ JOURNEY,

  REPLY TO A PAPER IN THE GAZETTEER OF MAY 26, 1757 .

  REVIEW OF AN ESSAY ON THE WRITINGS AND GENIUS OF POPE.

  REVIEW OF A FREE ENQUIRY INTO THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF EVIL .

  REVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON, FOR IMPROVING OF NATURAL KNOWLEDGE, FROM ITS FIRST RISE.

  REVIEW OF THE GENERAL HISTORY OP POLYBIUS, IN FIVE BOOKS, TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK, BY MR. HAMPTON.

  REVIEW OF MISCELLANIES ON MORAL AND RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS, IN PROSE AND VERSE; BY ELIZABETH HARRISON.

  ACCOUNT OF A BOOK ENTITLED AN HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL ENQUIRY

  OBSERVATIONS ON THE STATE OF AFFAIRS IN 1756 .

  AN INTRODUCTION TO THE POLITICAL STATE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

  OBSERVATIONS ON THE TREATY

  INTRODUCTION TO THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE, APPOINTED TO MANAGE THE CONTRIBUTIONS BEGUN AT LONDON, DECEMBER 18, 1758, FOR CLOTHING FRENCH PRISONERS OF WAR.

  ON THE BRAVERY OF THE ENGLISH COMMON SOLDIERS

  ADVERTISEMENT TO THE FOURTH EDITION OF THE ENGLISH DICTIONARY.

  Many are the works of human industry, which to begin and finish are hardly granted to the same man. He that undertakes to compile a dictionary, undertakes that, which, if it comprehends the full extent of his design, he knows himself unable to perform. Yet his labours, though deficient, may be useful, and with the hope of this inferiour praise, he must incite his activity, and solace his weariness.

  Perfection is unattainable, but nearer and nearer approaches may be made; and, finding my Dictionary about to be reprinted, I have endeavoured, by a revisal, to make it less reprehensible. I will not deny that I found many parts requiring emendation, and many more capable of improvement. Many faults I have corrected, some superfluities I have taken away, and some deficiencies I have supplied. I have methodised some parts that were disordered, and illuminated some that were obscure. Yet the changes or additions bear a very small proportion to the whole. The critick will now have less to object, but the student who has bought any of the former copies needs not repent; he will not, without nice collation, perceive how they differ; and usefulness seldom depends upon little things.

  For negligence or deficience, I have, perhaps, not need of more apology than the nature of the work will furnish: I have left that inaccurate which never was made exact, and that imperfect which never was completed.

  PREFACE TO THE OCTAVO EDITION OF THE ENGLISH DICTIONARY.

  Having been long employed in the study and cultivation of the English language, I lately published a dictionary, like those compiled by the academies of Italy and France, for the use of such as aspire to exactness of criticism or elegance of style.

  But it has been since considered that works of that kind are by no means necessary to the greater number of readers, who, seldom intending to write or presuming to judge, turn over books only to amuse their leisure, and to gain degrees of knowledge suitable to lower characters, or necessary to the common business of life: these know not any other use of a dictionary than that of adjusting orthography, or explaining terms of science, or words of infrequent occurrence or remote derivation.

  For these purposes many dictionaries have been written by different authors, and with different degrees of skill; but none of them have yet fallen into my hands by which even the lowest expectations could be satisfied. Some of their authors wanted industry, and others literature: some knew not their own defects, and others were too idle to supply them.

  For this reason a small dictionary appeared yet to be wanting to c
ommon readers; and, as I may without arrogance claim to myself a longer acquaintance with the lexicography of our language than any other writer has had, I shall hope to be considered as having more experience at least than most of my predecessors, and as more likely to accommodate the nation with a vocabulary of daily use. I, therefore, offer to the publick an abstract or epitome of my former work.

  In comparing this with other dictionaries of the same kind, it will be found to have several advantages.

  1. It contains many words not to be found in any other.

  2. Many barbarous terms and phrases, by which other dictionaries may vitiate the style, are rejected from this.

  3. The words are more correctly spelled, partly by attention to their etymology, and partly by observation of the practice of the best authors.

  4. The etymologies and derivations, whether from foreign languages or from native roots, are more diligently traced, and more distinctly noted.

  5. The senses of each word are more copiously enumerated, and more clearly explained.

  6. Many words occurring in the elder authors, such as Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton, which had been hitherto omitted, are here carefully inserted; so that this book may serve as a glossary or expository index to the poetical writers.

  7. To the words, and to the different senses of each word, are subjoined from the large dictionary the names of those writers by whom they have been used; so that the reader who knows the different periods of the language, and the time of its authors, may judge of the elegance or prevalence of any word, or meaning of a word; and without recurring to other books, may know what are antiquated, what are unusual, and what are recommended by the best authority.