Complete Works of Samuel Johnson

by Samuel Johnson

  * * * * *

  ‘TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

  ‘DEAR SIR,

  ‘Yesterday I returned from my Welch journey, I was sorry to leave my book suspended so long; but having an opportunity of seeing, with so much convenience, a new part of the island, I could not reject it. I have been in five of the six counties of North Wales; and have seen St. Asaph and Bangor, the two seats of their Bishops; have been upon Penmanmaur and Snowden, and passed over into Anglesea. But Wales is so little different from England, that it offers nothing to the speculation of the traveller.

  ‘When I came home, I found several of your papers, with some pages of Lord Hailes’s Annals, which I will consider. I am in haste to give you some account of myself, lest you should suspect me of negligence in the pressing business which I find recommended to my care, and which I knew nothing of till now, when all care is vain.

  ‘In the distribution of my books I purpose to follow your advice, adding such as shall occur to me. I am not pleased with your notes of remembrance added to your names, for I hope I shall not easily forget them.

  ‘I have received four Erse books, without any direction, and suspect that they are intended for the Oxford library. If that is the intention, I think it will be proper to add the metrical psalms, and whatever else is printed in Erse, that the present may be complete. The donor’s name should be told.

  ‘I wish you could have read the book before it was printed, but our distance does not easily permit it.

  ‘I am sorry Lord Hailes does not intend to publish Walton; I am afraid it will not be done so well, if it be done at all.

  ‘I purpose now to drive the book forward. Make my compliments to Mrs.

  Boswell, and let me hear often from you.

  ‘I am, dear Sir,

  ‘Your affectionate humble servant,

  ‘SAM. JOHNSON.’

  ‘London, Octob. 1, 1774.’

  This tour to Wales, which was made in company with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale, though it no doubt contributed to his health and amusement, did not give an occasion to such a discursive exercise of his mind as our tour to the Hebrides. I do not find that he kept any journal or notes of what he saw there. All that I heard him say of it was, that ‘instead of bleak and barren mountains, there were green and fertile ones; and that one of the castles in Wales would contain all the castles that he had seen in Scotland.’

  Parliament having been dissolved, and his friend Mr. Thrale, who was a steady supporter of government, having again to encounter the storm of a contested election, he wrote a short political pamphlet, entitled The Patriot, addressed to the electors of Great-Britain; a title which, to factious men, who consider a patriot only as an opposer of the measures of government, will appear strangely misapplied. It was, however, written with energetick vivacity; and, except those passages in which it endeavours to vindicate the glaring outrage of the House of Commons in the case of the Middlesex election, and to justify the attempt to reduce our fellow-subjects in America to unconditional submission, it contained an admirable display of the properties of a real patriot, in the original and genuine sense; — a sincere, steady, rational, and unbiassed friend to the interests and prosperity of his King and country. It must be acknowledged, however, that both in this and his two former pamphlets, there was, amidst many powerful arguments, not only a considerable portion of sophistry, but a contemptuous ridicule of his opponents, which was very provoking.

  ‘To MR. PERKINS.

  ‘SIR,

  ‘You may do me a very great favour. Mrs. Williams, a gentlewoman whom

  you may have seen at Mr. Thrale’s, is a petitioner for Mr.

  Hetherington’s charity: petitions are this day issued at Christ’s

  Hospital.

  ‘I am a bad manager of business in a crowd; and if I should send a mean man, he may be put away without his errand. I must therefore intreat that you will go, and ask for a petition for Anna Williams, whose paper of enquiries was delivered with answers at the counting-house of the hospital on Thursday the 20th. My servant will attend you thither, and bring the petition home when you have it.

  ‘The petition, which they are to give us, is a form which they deliver to every petitioner, and which the petitioner is afterwards to fill up, and return to them again. This we must have, or we cannot proceed according to their directions. You need, I believe, only ask for a petition; if they enquire for whom you ask, you can tell them.

  ‘I beg pardon for giving you this trouble; but it is a matter of great importance.

  ‘I am, Sir,

  ‘Your most humble servant,

  ‘SAM JOHNSON.’

  ‘October 25, 1774.’

  ‘To JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

  ‘DEAR SIR,

  ‘There has appeared lately in the papers an account of a boat overset between Mull and Ulva, in which many passengers were lost, and among them Maclean of Col. We, you know, were once drowned; I hope, therefore, that the story is either wantonly or erroneously told. Pray satisfy me by the next post.

  ‘I have printed two hundred and forty pages. I am able to do nothing much worth doing to dear Lord Hailes’s book. I will, however, send back the sheets; and hope, by degrees, to answer all your reasonable expectations.

  ‘Mr. Thrale has happily surmounted a very violent and acrimonious opposition; but all joys have their abatement: Mrs. Thrale has fallen from her horse, and hurt herself very much. The rest of our friends, I believe, are well. My compliments to Mrs. Boswell.

  ‘I am, Sir,

  Your most affectionate servant,

  ‘SAM. JOHNSON.’

  ‘London, October. 27, 1774.’

  This letter, which shows his tender concern for an amiable young gentleman to whom he had been very much obliged in the Hebrides, I have inserted according to its date, though before receiving it I had informed him of the melancholy event that the young Laird of Col was unfortunately drowned.

  ‘To JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

  ‘DEAR SIR,

  ‘Last night I corrected the last page of our Journey to the Hebrides. The printer has detained it all this time, for I had, before I went into Wales, written all except two sheets. The Patriot was called for by my political friends on Friday, was written on Saturday, and I have heard little of it. So vague are conjectures at a distance. As soon as I can, I will take care that copies be sent to you, for I would wish that they might be given before they are bought; but I am afraid that Mr. Strahan will send to you and to the booksellers at the same time. Trade is as diligent as courtesy. I have mentioned all that you recommended. Pray make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell and the younglings. The club has, I think, not yet met.

  ‘Tell me, and tell me honestly, what you think and what others say of our travels. Shall we touch the continent?

  ‘I am, dear Sir,

  ‘Your most humble servant,

  ‘SAM. JOHNSON.’

  ‘Nov. 26, 1774.’

  In his manuscript diary of this year, there is the following entry: —

  ‘Nov. 27. Advent Sunday. I considered that this day, being the beginning

  of the ecclesiastical year, was a proper time for a new course of life.

  I began to read the Greek Testament regularly at 160 verses every

  Sunday. This day I began the Acts.

  ‘In this week I read Virgil’s Pastorals. I learned to repeat the Pollio and Gallus. I read carelessly the first Georgick.’

  Such evidences of his unceasing ardour, both for ‘divine and human lore,’ when advanced into his sixty-fifth year, and notwithstanding his many disturbances from disease, must make us at once honour his spirit, and lament that it should be so grievously clogged by its material tegument. It is remarkable, that he was very fond of the precision which calculation produces. Thus we find in one of his manuscript diaries, ‘12 pages in 4to. Gr. Test, and 30 pages in Beza’s folio, comprize the whole in 40 days.’

  ‘DR. JOHNSON TO JOHN HOOLE, Esq.

  ‘DEAR SIR,

  �
��I have returned your play, which you will find underscored with red, where there was a word which I did not like. The red will be washed off with a little water.

  ‘The plot is so well framed, the intricacy so artful, and the disentanglement so easy, the suspense so affecting, and the passionate parts so properly interposed, that I have no doubt of its success.

  ‘I am, Sir,

  ‘Your most humble servant,

  ‘SAM. JOHNSON.’

  ‘December 19, 1774.’

  1775: AETAT. 66. — The first effort of his pen in 1775 was, ‘Proposals for publishing the Works of Mrs. Charlotte Lennox,’[Dagger] in three volumes quarto. In his diary, January 2, I find this entry: ‘Wrote Charlotte’s Proposals.’ But, indeed, the internal evidence would have been quite sufficient. Her claim to the favour of the public was thus enforced: —

  ‘Most of the pieces, as they appeared singly, have been read with approbation, perhaps above their merits, but of no great advantage to the writer. She hopes, therefore, that she shall not be considered as too indulgent to vanity, or too studious of interest, if, from that labour which has hitherto been chiefly gainful to others, she endeavours to obtain at last some profit for herself and her children. She cannot decently enforce her claim by the praise of her own performances; nor can she suppose, that, by the most artful and laboured address, any additional notice could be procured to a publication, of which Her MAJESTY has condescended to be the PATRONESS.’

  He this year also wrote the Preface to Baretti’s Easy Lessons in

  Italian and English.

  ‘To JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

  ‘DEAR SIR,

  ‘You never did ask for a book by the post till now, and I did not think on it. You see now it is done. I sent one to the King, and I hear he likes it.

  ‘I shall send a parcel into Scotland for presents, and intend to give to many of my friends. In your catalogue you left out Lord Auchinleck.

  ‘Let me know, as fast as you read it, how you like it; and let me know if any mistake is committed, or any thing important left out. I wish you could have seen the sheets. My compliments to Mrs. Boswell, and to Veronica, and to all my friends.

  ‘I am, Sir,

  ‘Your most humble servant,

  ‘SAM. JOHNSON.’

  ‘January 14, 1775.

  ‘MR. BOSWELL TO DR. JOHNSON.

  ‘Edinburgh, Jan. 19, 1775.

  ‘Be pleased to accept of my best thanks for your Journey to the Hebrides, which came to me by last night’s post. I did really ask the favour twice; but you have been even with me by granting it so speedily. Bis dat qui cito dat. Though ill of a bad cold, you kept me up the greatest part of the last night; for I did not stop till I had read every word of your book. I looked back to our first talking of a visit a visit to the Hebrides, which was many years ago, when sitting by ourselves in the Mitre tavern, in London, I think about witching time o’ night; and then exulted in contemplating our scheme fulfilled, and a monumentum perenne of it erected by your superiour abilities. I shall only say, that your book has afforded me a high gratification. I shall afterwards give you my thoughts on particular passages. In the mean time, I hasten to tell you of your having mistaken two names, which you will correct in London, as I shall do here, that the gentlemen who deserve the valuable compliments which you have paid them, may enjoy their honours. In page 106, for Gordon read Murchison; and in page 357, for Maclean read Macleod.

  * * * * *

  ‘But I am now to apply to you for immediate aid in my profession, which you have never refused to grant when I requested it. I enclose you a petition for Dr. Memis, a physician at Aberdeen, in which Sir John Dalrymple has exerted his talents, and which I am to answer as Counsel for the managers of the Royal Infirmary in that city. Mr. Jopp, the Provost, who delivered to you your freedom, is one of my clients, and, as a citizen of Aberdeen, you will support him.

  ‘The fact is shortly this. In a translation of the charter of the Infirmary from Latin into English, made under the authority of the managers, the same phrase in the original is in one place rendered Physician, but when applied to Dr. Memis is rendered Doctor of Medicine. Dr. Memis complained of this before the translation was printed, but was not indulged with having it altered; and he has brought an action for damages, on account of a supposed injury, as if the designation given to him was an inferiour one, tending to make it be supposed he is not a Physician, and, consequently, to hurt his practice. My father has dismissed the action as groundless, and now he has appealed to the whole Court.’

  ‘TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

  ‘DEAR SIR,

  ‘I long to hear how you like the book; it is, I think, much liked here.

  But Macpherson is very furious; can you give me any more intelligence

  about him, or his Fingal? Do what you can and do it quickly. Is Lord

  Hailes on our side?

  ‘Pray let me know what I owed you when I left you, that I may send it to you.

  ‘I am going to write about the Americans. If you have picked up any hints among your lawyers, who are great masters of the law of nations, or if your own mind suggests any thing, let me know. But mum, it is a secret.

  ‘I will send your parcel of books as soon as I can; but I cannot do as I wish. However, you find every thing mentioned in the book which you recommended.

  ‘Langton is here; we are all that ever we were. He is a worthy fellow, without malice, though not without resentment.

  ‘Poor Beauclerk is so ill, that his life is thought to be in danger.

  Lady Di nurses him with very great assiduity.

  ‘Reynolds has taken too much to strong liquor, and seems to delight in his new character.

  ‘This is all the news that I have; but as you love verses, I will send you a few which I made upon Inchkenneth; but remember the condition, you shall not show them, except to Lord Hailes, whom I love better than any man whom I know so little. If he asks you to transcribe them for him, you may do it, but I think he must promise not to let them be copied again, nor to show them as mine.

  ‘I have at last sent back Lord Hailes’s sheets. I never think about returning them, because I alter nothing. You will see that I might as well have kept them. However, I am ashamed of my delay; and if I have the honour of receiving any more, promise punctually to return them by the next post. Make my compliments to dear Mrs. Boswell, and to Miss Veronica.

  ‘I am, dear Sir,

  ‘Yours most faithfully,

  ‘SAM. JOHNSON.’

  ‘Jan. 21, 1775.

  ‘MR, BOSWELL TO DR. JOHNSON.

  ‘Edinburgh, Jan. 27, 1775.

  * * * * *

  ‘You rate our lawyers here too high, when you call them great masters of the law of nations.

  * * * * *

  ‘As for myself, I am ashamed to say I have read little and thought little on the subject of America. I will be much obliged to you, if you will direct me where I shall find the best information of what is to be said on both sides. It is a subject vast in its present extent and future consequences. The imperfect hints which now float in my mind, tend rather to the formation of an opinion that our government has been precipitant and severe in the resolutions taken against the Bostonians. Well do you know that I have no kindness for that race. But nations, or bodies of men, should, as well as individuals, have a fair trial, and not be condemned on character alone. Have we not express contracts with our colonies, which afford a more certain foundation of judgement, than general political speculations on the mutual rights of States and their provinces or colonies? Pray let me know immediately what to read, and I shall diligently endeavour to gather for you any thing that I can find. Is Burke’s speech on American taxation published by himself? Is it authentick? I remember to have heard you say, that you had never considered East-Indian affairs; though, surely, they are of much importance to Great-Britain. Under the recollection of this, I shelter myself from the reproach of ignorance about the Americans. If you write upon the subject I sha
ll certainly understand it. But, since you seem to expect that I should know something of it, without your instruction, and that my own mind should suggest something, I trust you will put me in the way.

  * * * * *

  ‘What does Becket mean by the Originals of Fingal and other poems of Ossian, which he advertises to have lain in his shop?’

  * * * * *

  ‘TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

  ‘DEAR SIR,

  ‘You sent me a case to consider, in which I have no facts but what are against us, nor any principles on which to reason. It is vain to try to write thus without materials. The fact seems to be against you; at least I cannot know nor say any thing to the contrary. I am glad that you like the book so well. I hear no more of Macpherson. I shall long to know what Lord Hailes says of it. Lend it him privately. I shall send the parcel as soon as I can. Make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell.

  ‘I am, Sir, &c.,

  ‘SAM. JOHNSON.’

  ‘Jan. 28, 1775.’

  ‘MR. BOSWELL TO DR. JOHNSON.

  ‘Edinburgh, Feb. 2, 1775

  * * * * *

  ‘As to Macpherson, I am anxious to have from yourself a full and pointed account of what has passed between you and him. It is confidently told here, that before your book came out he sent to you, to let you know that he understood you meant to deny the authenticity of Ossian’s poems; that the originals were in his possession; that you might have inspection of them, and might take the evidence of people skilled in the Erse language; and that he hoped, after this fair offer, you would not be so uncandid as to assert that he had refused reasonable proof. That you paid no regard to his message, but published your strong attack upon him; and then he wrote a letter to you, in such terms as he thought suited to one who had not acted as a man of veracity. You may believe it gives me pain to hear your conduct represented as unfavourable, while I can only deny what is said, on the ground that your character refutes it, without having any information to oppose. Let me, I beg it of you, be furnished with a sufficient answer to any calumny upon this occasion.

  ‘Lord Hailes writes to me, (for we correspond more than we talk together,) “As to Fingal, I see a controversy arising, and purpose to keep out of its way. There is no doubt that I might mention some circumstances; but I do not choose to commit them to paper.” What his opinion is, I do not know. He says, “I am singularly obliged to Dr. Johnson for his accurate and useful criticisms. Had he given some strictures on the general plan of the work, it would have added much to his favours.” He is charmed with your verses on Inchkenneth, says they are very elegant, but bids me tell you he doubts whether be according to the rubrick; but that is your concern; for, you know, he is a Presbyterian.’