The Life of Samuel Johnson

by James Boswell

  d I am inclined to think that he was misinformed as to this circumstance. I own I am jealous for my worthy friend Dr. John Campbell. For though Milton could without remorse absent himself from publick worship I cannot. On the contrary, I have the same habitual impressions upon my mind, with those of a truly venerable Judge, who said to Mr. Langton, ‘Friend Langton, if I have not been at church on Sunday, I do not feel myself easy.’ Dr. Campbell was a sincerely religious man. Lord Macartney, who is eminent for his variety of knowledge, and attention to men of talents, and knew him well, told me, that when he called on him in a morning, he found him reading a chapter in the Greek New Testament, which he informed his Lordship was his constant practice. The quantity of Dr. Campbell’s composition is almost incredible, and his labours brought him large profits. Dr. Joseph Warton told me that Johnson said of him, ‘He is the richest authour that ever grazed the common of literature.’

  a The northern bard mentioned page 223. When I asked Dr. Johnson’s permission to introduce him, he obligingly agreed; adding, however, with a sly pleasantry, ‘but he must give us none of his poetry.’ It is remarkable that Johnson and Churchill, however much they differed in other points, agreed on this subject. See Churchill’s Journey. It is, however, but justice to Dr. Ogilvie to observe, that his Day of Judgement has no inconsiderable share of merit.

  a When I mentioned the same idle clamour to him several years afterwards, he said, with a smile, ‘I wish my pension were twice as large, that they might make twice as much noise.’

  a Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd edit. p. 402 {10 Nov.}.

  b He used to tell, with great humour, from my relation to him, the following little story of my early years, which was literally true: ‘Boswell, in the year 1745, was a fine boy, wore a white cockade, and prayed for King James, till one of his uncles (General Cochran) gave him a shilling on condition that he should pray for King George, which he accordingly did. So you see (says Boswell) that Whigs of all ages are made the same way.’

  c Letter to Rutland on Travel, i6mo. 1569.

  a This one Mrs. Macaulay was the same personage who afterwards made herself so much known as ‘the celebrated female historian.’

  a This opinion was given by him more at large at a subsequent period. See Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd edit. p. 32 {16 Aug.}.

  a I fully intended to have followed advice of such weight; but having staid much longer both in Germany and Italy than I proposed to do, and having also visited Corsica, I found that I had exceeded the time allowed me by my father, and hastened to France in my way homewards.

  b Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd edit. p. 104 {27 Aug.}.

  c Ibid. p. 142 {p. 242, 22 Sept.}.

  a He published a biographical work, containing an account of eminent writers, in three vols. 8vo.

  a All who are acquainted with the history of religion, (the most important, surely, that concerns the human mind,) know that the appellation of Methodists was first given to a society of students in the University of Oxford, who about the year 1730 were distinguished by an earnest and methodical attention to devout exercises. This disposition of mind is not a novelty, or peculiar to any sect, but has been, and still may be found, in many Christians of every denomination. Johnson himself was, in a dignified manner, a Methodist. In his Rambler, No. 110, he mentions with respect ‘the whole discipline of regulated piety;’ and in his Prayers and Meditations, many instances occur of his anxious examination into his spiritual state. That this religious earnestness, and in particular an observation of the influence of the Holy Spirit, has sometimes degenerated into folly, and sometimes been counterfeited for base purposes, cannot be denied. But it is not, therefore, fair to decry it when genuine. The principal argument in reason and good sense against methodism is, that it tends to debase human nature, and prevent the generous exertions of goodness, by an unworthy supposition that God will pay no regard to them; although it is positively said in the Scriptures that He ‘will reward every man according to his works.’ But I am happy to have it {in} my power to do justice to those whom it is the fashion to ridicule, without any knowledge of their tenets; and this I can do by quoting a passage from one of their best apologists, Mr. Milner, who thus expresses their doctrine upon this subject. ‘Justified by faith, renewed in his faculties, and constrained by the love of Christ, their believer moves in the sphere of love and gratitude, and all his duties flow more or less from this principle. And though they are accumulating for him in heaven a treasure of bliss proportioned to his faithfulness and activity, and it is by no means inconsistent with his principles to feel the force of this consideration, yet love itself sweetens every duty to his mind; and he thinks there is no absurdity in his feeling the love of God as the grand commanding principle of his life.’ Essays on several Religious Subjects, &c., by Joseph Milner, A.M., Master of the Grammar School of Kingston-upon-Hull, 1789, p. 11.

  a [Epigram, Lib. ii. ‘In Elizabeth. Angliae Reg.’]

  a My friend Sir Michael Le Fleming. This gentleman, with all his experience of sprightly and elegant life, inherits, with the beautiful family Domain, no inconsiderable share of that love of literature, which distinguished his venerable grandfather, the Bishop of Carlisle. He one day observed to me, of Dr. Johnson, in a felicity of phrase, ‘There is a blunt dignity about him on every occasion.’

  a [The second edition is here spoken of.]

  b Life of Johnson, p. 425.

  c From Sir Joshua Reynolds.

  d Life of Johnson, p. 425.

  a Letters to and from Dr. Johnson. Vol. ii. p. 278 {p. 387}.

  b Pr. and Med. p. 50.

  c Ibid. p. 51.

  d Ibid. p. 58.

  a Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd edit. p. 316.

  a Sir Joshua’s sister, for whom Johnson had a particular affection, and to whom he wrote many letters which I have seen, and which I am sorry her too nice delicacy will not permit to be published.

  a Pr. and Med. p. 61.

  a Pr. and Med. p. 66.

  b Pr. and Med. p. 67.

  a Mrs. Burney informs me that she heard Dr. Johnson say, ‘An English Merchant is a new species of Gentleman.’ He, perhaps, had in his mind the following ingenious passage in The Conscious Lovers,218 act iv. scene ii, where Mr. Sealand thus addresses Sir John Bevil: ‘Give me leave to say, that we merchants are a species of gentry that have grown into the world this last century, and are as honourable, and almost as useful as you landed-folks, that have always thought yourselves so much above us; for your trading forsooth is extended no farther than a load of hay, or a fat ox. – You are pleasant people indeed! because you are generally bred up to be lazy, therefore, I warrant you, industry is dishonourable.’

  a Mrs. Piozzi’s Anecdotes, p. 279.

  a He was probably proposing to himself the model of this excellent person, who for his piety was named the Seraphic Doctor.

  a It is remarkable, that Mr. Gray has employed somewhat the same image to characterise Dryden. He, indeed, furnishes his car with but two horses, but they are of ‘ethereal race’:

  ‘Behold where Dryden’s less presumptuous car,

  Wide o’er the fields of glory bear

  Two coursers of ethereal race,

  With necks in thunder cloath’d, and long resounding pace.’

  Ode on the Progress of Poesy.

  a Mr. Langton’s uncle.

  b The place of residence of Mr. Peregrine Langton.

  c Mr. Langton did not disregard this counsel, but wrote the following account, which he has been pleased to communicate to me:

  ‘The circumstances of Mr. Peregrine Langton were these. He had an annuity for life of two hundred pounds per annum. He resided in a village in Lincolnshire; the rent of his house, with two or three small fields, was twenty-eight pounds; the county he lived in was not more than moderately cheap; his family consisted of a sister, who paid him eighteen pounds annually for her board, and a niece. The servants were two maids, and two men in livery.
His common way of living, at his table, was three or four dishes; the appurtenances to his table were neat and handsome; he frequently entertained company at dinner, and then his table was well served with as many dishes as were usual at the tables of the other gentlemen in the neighbourhood. His own appearance, as to clothes, was genteelly neat and plain. He had always a post-chaise, and kept three horses.

  ‘Such, with the resources I have mentioned, was his way of living, which he did not suffer to employ his whole income: for he had always a sum of money lying by him for any extraordinary expences that might arise. Some money he put into the stocks; at his death, the sum he had there amounted to one hundred and fifty pounds. He purchased out of his income his household furniture and linen, of which latter he had a very ample store; and, as I am assured by those that had very good means of knowing, not less than the tenth part of his income was set apart for charity: at the time of his death, the sum of twenty-five pounds was found, with a direction to be employed in such uses.

  ‘He had laid down a plan of living proportioned to his income, and did not practise any extraordinary degree of parsimony, but endeavoured that in his family there should be plenty without waste; as an instance that this was his endeavour, it may be worth while to mention a method he took in regulating a proper allowance of malt liquor to be drunk in his family, that there might not be a deficiency, or any intemperate profusion: On a complaint made that his allowance of a hogshead in a month, was not enough for his own family, he ordered the quantity of a hogshead to be put into bottles, had it locked up from the servants, and distributed out, every day, eight quarts, which is the quantity each day at one hogshead in a month; and told his servants, that if that did not suffice, he would allow them more; but, by this method, it appeared at once that the allowance was much more than sufficient for his small family; and this proved a clear conviction, that could not be answered, and saved all future dispute. He was, in general, very diligently and punctually attended and obeyed by his servants; he was very considerate as to the injunctions he gave, and explained them distinctly; and, at their first coming to his service, steadily exacted a close compliance with them, without any remission; and the servants finding this to be the case, soon grew habitually accustomed to the practice of their business, and then very little further attention was necessary. On extraordinary instances of good behaviour, or diligent service, he was not wanting in particular encouragements and presents above their wages; it is remarkable that he would permit their relations to visit them, and stay at his house two or three days at a time.

  ‘The wonder, with most that hear an account of his Æconomy, will be, how he was able, with such an income, to do so much, especially when it is considered that he paid for everything he had; he had no land, except the two or three small fields which I have said he rented; and, instead of gaining any thing by their produce, I have reason to think he lost by them; however, they furnished him with no further assistance towards his housekeeping, than grass for his horses, (not hay, for that I know he bought,) and for two cows. Every Monday morning he settled his family accounts, and so kept up a constant attention to the confining his expences within his income; and to do it more exactly, compared those expences with a computation he had made, how much that income would afford him every week and day of the year. One of his Æconomical practices was, as soon as any repair was wanting in or about his house, to have it immediately performed. When he had money to spare, he chose to lay in a provision of linen or clothes, or any other necessaries; as then, he said, he could afford it, which he might not be so well able to do when the actual want came; in consequence of which method, he had a considerable supply of necessary articles lying by him, beside what was in use.

  ‘But the main particular that seems to have enabled him to do so much with his income, was, that he paid for every thing as soon as he had it, except, alone, what were current accounts, such as rent for his house and servants’ wages; and these he paid at the stated times with the utmost exactness. He gave notice to the tradesmen of the neighbouring market-towns that they should no longer have his custom, if they let any of his servants have anything without their paying for it. Thus he put it out of his power to commit those imprudences to which those are liable that defer their payments by using their money some other way than where it ought to go. And whatever money he had by him, he knew that it was not demanded elsewhere, but that he might safely employ it as he pleased.

  ‘His example was confined, by the sequestered place of his abode, to the observation of few, though his prudence and virtue would have made it valuable to all who could have known it. – These few particulars, which I knew myself, or have obtained from those who lived with him, may afford instruction, and be an incentive to that wise art of living, which he so successfully practised.’

  a Of his being in the chair of The Literary Club, which at this time met once a week in the evening.

  a The passage omitted alluded to a private transaction.226

  b This censure of my Latin relates to the Dedication, which was as follows:

  VIRO NOBILISSIMO, ORNATISSIMO,

  JOANNI,

  VICECOMITI MOUNTSTUART,

  ATAVIS EDITO REGIBUS

  EXCELS,! FAMILIE DE BUTE SPEI ALTERS;

  LABENTE SECULO,

  QUUM HOMINES NULLIUS ORIGINIS

  GENUS SQUARE OPIBUS AGGREDIUNTUR,

  SANGUINIS ANTIQUI ET ILLUSTRIS

  SEMPER MEMORI,

  NATALIUM SPLENDOREM VIRTUTIBUS AUGENTI:

  AD PUBLICA POPULI COMITIA

  JAM LEGATO;

  IN OPTIMATIUM VERO MAGNi BRITANNIA SENATU,

  JURE FSREDITARIO,

  OLIM CONSESSURO:

  VIM INSITAM VARIA DOCTRINA PROMOVENTE,

  NEC TAMEN SE VENDITANTE,

  PR^DITO:

  PRISCA FIDE, ANIMO LIBERRIMO,

  ET MORUM ELEGANTIA

  INSIGNI:

  IN ITALIC VISITAND^ ITINERE,

  SOCIO SUO HONORATISSIMO,

  HASCE JURISPRUDENTS PRIMITIAS

  DEVINCTISSIM^ AMICITS ET OBSERVANTS

  MONUMENTUM,

  D. D. C. Q.

  JACOBUS BOSWELL.227

  c This alludes to the first sentence of the Vrocemium of my Thesis: ‘Jurisprudents studio nullum uberius, nullum generosius: in legibus enim agitandis, populorum mores, variasque fortunes vices ex quibus leges oriuntur, contemplari simul solemus.’228

  a The passage omitted explained the transaction to which the preceding letter had alluded.

  a The Rev. Mr. John Campbell, Minister of the Parish of Kippen, near Stirling, who has lately favoured me with a long, intelligent, and very obliging letter upon this work, makes the following remark: – ‘Dr. Johnson has alluded to the worthy man employed in the translation of the New Testament. Might not this have afforded you an opportunity of paying a proper tribute of respect to the memory of the Rev. Mr. James Stuart, late Minister of Killin, distinguished by his eminent Piety, Learning and Taste? The amiable simplicity of his life, his warm benevolence, his indefatigable and successful exertions for civilizing and improving the Parish of which he was Minister for upwards of fifty years, entitle him to the gratitude of his country, and the veneration of all good men. It certainly would be a pity, if such a character should be permitted to sink into oblivion.’

  a This paragraph shews Johnson’s real estimation of the character and abilities of the celebrated Scottish Historian, however lightly, in a moment of caprice, he may have spoken of his works.

  b This is the person concerning whom Sir John Hawkins has thrown out very unwarrantable reflections both against Dr. Johnson and Mr. Francis Barber.

  a See an account of him in the European Magazine, Jan. 1786.

  b [The Hon. Thomas Hervey, whose Letter to Sir Thomas Hanmer in 1742 was much read at that time. He was the second son of John, first Earl of Bristol, and one of the brothers of Johnson’s early friend, Henry Hervey. He died Jan. 20, 1775.]

  a Dr. Johnson had the hono
ur of contributing his assistance towards the formation of this library; for I have read a long letter from him to Mr. Barnard, giving the most masterly instructions on the subject. I wished much to have gratified my readers with the perusal of this letter, and have reason to think that his Majesty would have been graciously pleased to permit its publication; but Mr. Barnard, to whom I applied, declined it ‘on his own account.’

  a The particulars of this conversation I have been at great pains to collect with the utmost authenticity from Dr. Johnson’s own detail to myself; from Mr. Langton who was present when he gave an account of it to Dr. Joseph Warton, and several other friends, at Sir Joshua Reynolds’s; from Mr. Barnard; from the copy of a letter written by the late Mr. Strahan the printer, to Bishop Warburton; and from a minute, the original of which is among the papers of the late Sir James Caldwell, and a copy of which was most obligingly obtained for me from his son Sir John Caldwell, by Sir Francis Lumm. To all these gentlemen I beg leave to make my grateful acknowledgements, and particularly to Sir Francis Lumm, who was pleased to take a great deal of trouble, and even had the minute laid before the King by Lord Caermarthen, now Duke of Leeds, then one of his Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, who announced to Sir Francis the Royal pleasure concerning it by a letter, in these words: ‘I have the King’s commands to assure you, Sir, how sensible his Majesty is of your attention in communicating the minute of the conversation previous to its publication. As there appears no objection to your complying with Mr. Boswell’s wishes on the subject, you are at full liberty to deliver it to that gentleman, to make such use of in his Life of Dr. Johnson, as he may think proper.’