The Life of Samuel Johnson

by James Boswell

  b By the then course of the post, my long letter of the 14th had not yet reached him.

  c History of Philip the Second.

  a Johnson is the most common English formation of the Sirname from John; Johnston the Scotch. My illustrious friend observed that many North Britons pronounced his name in their own way.

  b On account of their differing from him as to religion and politicks.

  a Pr. and Med. p. 155.

  a [Johnson’s moderation in demanding so small a sum is extraordinary. Had he asked one thousand, or even fifteen hundred guineas, the booksellers, who knew the value of his name, would doubtless have readily given it. They have probably got five thousand guineas by this work in the course of twenty-five years.]

  b Mr. Joseph Cooper Walker, of the Treasury, Dublin, who obligingly communicated to me this and a former letter from Dr. Johnson to the same gentleman (for which see p. 172), writes to me as follows: – ‘Perhaps it would gratify you to have some account of Mr. O’Connor. He is an amiable, learned, venerable old gentleman, of an independent fortune, who lives at Belanagar, in the county of Roscommon; he is an admired writer, and Member of the Irish Academy. – The above Letter is alluded to in the Preface to the 2nd edit. of his Dissert. p. 3.’ – Mr. O’Connor afterwards died at the age of eighty-two. See a well-drawn character of him in the Gent. Mag. for August 1791.

  a [It was not at Drury-lane, but at Covent Garden theatre, that it was acted.]

  a Part First, Chap. 4.

  b Life of Richard Savage, by Dr. Johnson.

  a See ante, p. 534.

  b [Formerly Sub-preceptor to his present Majesty, and afterwards a Commissioner of Excise.]

  c [Dr. Johnson was not the editor of this Collection of The English Poets; he merely furnished the biographical prefaces.]

  d Dr. Johnson had himself talked of our seeing Carlisle together. High was a favourite word of his to denote a person of rank. He said to me, ‘Sir, I believe we may meet at the house of a Roman Catholick lady in Cumberland; a high lady, Sir.’ I afterwards discovered that he meant Mrs. Strickland, sister of Charles Townley, Esq., whose very noble collection of statues and pictures is not more to be admired, than his extraordinary and polite readiness in shewing it, which I and several of my friends have agreeably experienced. They who are possessed of valuable stores of gratification to persons of taste, should exercise their benevolence in imparting the pleasure. Grateful acknowledgments are due to Welbore Ellis Agar, Esq., for the liberal access which he is pleased to allow to his exquisite collection of pictures.

  a Since they have been so much honoured by Dr. Johnson I shall here insert them: –

  ‘To MR. SAMUEL JOHNSON.

  ‘MY EVER DEAR AND MUCH-RESPECTED SIR, – You know my solemn enthusiasm of mind. You love me for it, and I respect myself for it, because in so far I resemble Mr. Johnson. You will be agreeably surprized when you learn the reason of my writing this letter. I am at Wittemberg in Saxony. I am in the old church where the Reformation was first preached, and where some of the reformers lie interred. I cannot resist the serious pleasure of writing to Mr. Johnson from the Tomb of Melancthon. My paper rests upon the gravestone of that great and good man, who was undoubtedly the worthiest of all the reformers. He wished to reform abuses which had been introduced into the Church; but had no private resentment to gratify. So mild was he, that when his aged mother consulted him with anxiety on the perplexing disputes of the times, he advised her “to keep to the old religion.” At this tomb, then, my ever dear and respected friend! I vow to thee an eternal attachment. It shall be my study to do what I can to render your life happy; and, if you die before me, I shall endeavour to do honour to your memory; and, elevated by the remembrance of you, persist in noble piety. May God, the Father of all beings, ever bless you! and may you continue to love, your most affectionate friend, and devoted servant,

  ‘Sunday, Sept. 30, 1764.’ ‘JAMES BOSWELL.’

  ‘To DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON.

  ‘MY DEAR SIR, ‘Wilton-house, April 22, 1775.

  ‘Every scene of my life confirms the truth of what you have told me, “there is no certain happiness in this state of being.” – I am here, amidst all that you know is at Lord Pembroke’s; and yet I am weary and gloomy. I am just setting out for the house of an old friend in Devonshire, and shall not get back to London for a week yet. You said to me last Good-Friday, with a cordiality that warmed my heart, that if I came to settle in London, we should have a day fixed every week, to meet by ourselves and talk freely. To be thought worthy of such a privilege cannot but exalt me. During my present absence from you, while, notwithstanding the gaiety which you allow me to possess, I am darkened by temporary clouds, I beg to have a few lines from you; a few lines merely of kindness, as a viaticum680 till I see you again. In your Vanity of Human Wishes, and in Parnell’s Contentment, I find the only sure means of enjoying happiness; or, at least, the hopes of happiness. I ever am, with reverence and affection, most faithfully yours,

  ‘JAMES BOSWELL.’

  a William Seward, Esq., F.R.S., editor of Anecdotes of some distinguished persons, etc., in four volumes, 8vo., well known to a numerous and valuable acquaintance for his literature, love of the fine arts, and social virtues. I am indebted to him for several communications concerning Johnson.

  a The preceding letter.

  a This very just remark I hope will be constantly held in remembrance by parents, who are in general too apt to indulge their own fond feelings for their children at the expence of their friends. The common custom of introducing them after dinner is highly injudicious. It is agreeable enough that they should appear at any other time; but they should not be suffered to poison the moments of festivity by attracting the attention of the company, and in a manner compelling them from politeness to say what they do not think.

  a It appears that Johnson, now in his sixty-eighth year, was seriously inclined to realise the project of our going up the Baltick, which I had started when we were in the Isle of Sky; for he thus writes to Mrs. Thrale; Letters, vol. i. p. 366: –

  ‘Ashbourne, Sept. 13, 1777. ‘Boswell, I believe, is coming. He talks of being here to day. I shall be glad to see him. But he shrinks from the Baltick expedition, which I think is the best scheme in our power. What we shall substitute I know not. He wants to see Wales; but, except the woods of Bachycraigh, what is there in Wales, that can fill the hunger of ignorance, or quench the thirst of curiosity? We may, perhaps, form some scheme or other; but, in the phrase of Hockley in the Hole,687 it is a pity he has not a better bottom.’688 Such an ardour of mind, and vigour of enterprise, is admirable at any age: but more particularly so at the advanced period at which Johnson was then arrived. I am sorry now that I did not insist on our executing that scheme. Besides the other objects of curiosity and observation, to have seen my illustrious friend received, as he probably would have been, by a Prince so eminently distinguished for his variety of talents and acquisitions as the late King of Sweden; and by the Empress of Russia, whose extraordinary abilities, information, and magnanimity, astonish the world, would have afforded a noble subject for contemplation and record. This reflection may possibly be thought too visionary by the more sedate and cold-blooded part of my readers; yet I own, I frequently indulge it with an earnest, unavailing regret.

  a It so happened. The letter was forwarded to my house at Edinburgh.

  a Having unexpectedly, by the favour of Mr. Stone, of London Field, Hackney, seen the original in Johnson’s hand-writing, of ‘The Petition of the City of London to his Majesty, in favour of Dr. Dodd,’ I now present it to my readers, with such passages as were omitted inclosed in crotchets, and the additions or variations marked in Italicks.

  ‘That William Dodd, Doctor of Laws, now lying under sentence of death in your Majesty’s gaol of Newgate, for the crime of forgery, has for a great part of his life set a useful and laudable example of diligence in his calling, [and as we have reason to believe, has exercised his ministry with great fidelity
and efficacy,] which, in many instances, has produced the most happy effect.

  ‘That he has been the first institutor, [or] and a very earnest and active promoter of several modes of useful charity, and [that] therefore [he] may be considered as having been on many occasions a benefactor to the publick.

  ‘[That when they consider his past life, they are willing to suppose his late crime to have been not the consequence of habitual depravity, but the suggestion of some sudden and violent temptation.]

  ‘[That] Your Petitioners therefore considering his case as in some of its circumstances unprecedented and peculiar, and encouraged by your Majesty’s known clemency, [they] most humbly recommend the said William Dodd to [his] your Majesty’s most gracious consideration, in hopes that he will be found not altogether [unfit] unworthy to stand an example of Royal Mercy.’

  b His Speech at the Old Bailey, when found guilty.

  a Dr. Gisborne, Physician to his Majesty’s Household, has obligingly communicated to me a fuller account of this story than had reached Dr. JOHNSON. The affected Gentleman was the late John Gilbert Cooper, Esq., author of a Life of Socrates, and of some poems in Dodsley’s Collection. Mr. Fitzherbert found him one morning, apparently, in such violent agitation, on account of the indisposition of his son, as to seem beyond the power of comfort. At length, however, he exclaimed, ‘I’ll write an Elegy.’ Mr. Fitzherbert being satisfied, by this, of the sincerity of his emotions, slyly said, ‘Had not you better take a post-chaise and go and see him?’ It was the shrewdness of the insinuation which made the story be circulated.

  a Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. 3rd edit. p. 240 {22 Sept.}.

  b Dr. Taylor was very ready to make this admission, because the party with which he was connected was not in power. There was then some truth in it, owing to the pertinacity of factious clamour. Had he lived till now, it would have been impossible for him to deny that his Majesty possesses the warmest affection of his people.

  a As some of my readers may be gratified by reading the progress of this little composition, I shall insert it from my notes. ‘When Dr. Johnson and I were sitting tete-ä-tete at the Mitre tavern, May 9, 1778, he said “Where is bliss,” would be better. He then added a ludicrous stanza, but would not repeat it, lest I should take it down. It was somewhat as follows; the last line I am sure I remember:

  “While I thus cried,

  seer, The hoary reply’d,

  Come, my lad, and drink some beer.”

  ‘In spring, 1779, when in better humour, he made the second stanza, as in the text. There was only one variation afterwards made on my suggestion, which was changing hoary in the third line to smiling, both to avoid a sameness with the epithet in the first line, and to describe the hermit in his pleasantry. He was then very well pleased that I should preserve it.’

  a When I mentioned Dr. Johnson’s remark to a lady of admirable good sense and quickness of understanding, she observed, ‘It is true, all this excludes only one evil; but how much good does it let in?’ – To this observation much praise has been justly given. Let me then now do myself the honour to mention that the lady who made it was the late Margaret Montgomerie, my very valuable wife, and the very affectionate mother of my children, who, if they inherit her good qualities, will have no reason to complain of their lot. Dos magna parentum virtus.696

  a I am now happy to understand, that Mr. John Home, who was himself gallantly in the field for the reigning family, in that interesting warfare, but is generous enough to do justice to the other side, is preparing an account of it for the press.

  a See Hutton’s History of Derby, a book which is deservedly esteemed for its information, accuracy, and good narrative. Indeed the age in which we live is eminently distinguished by topographical excellence.

  b Young.

  a This regimen was, however, practised by Bishop Ken, of whom Hawkins (not Sir John) in his life of that venerable Prelate, p. 4, tells us; ‘And that neither his study might be the aggressor on his hours of instruction, or what he judged his duty prevent his improvements; or both, his closet addresses to his God; he strictly accustomed himself to but one sleep, which often obliged him to rise at one or two of the clock in the morning, and sometimes sooner; and grew so habitual, that it continued with him almost till his last illness. And so lively and chearful was his temper, that he would be very facetious and entertaining to his friends in the evening, even when it was perceived that with difficulty he kept his eyes open; and then seemed to go to rest with no other purpose than the refreshing and enabling him with more vigour and chearfulness to sing his morning hymn, as he then used to do to his lute before he put on his cloaths.’

  a When Dr. Blair published his Lectures, he was invidiously attacked for having omitted his censure on Johnson’s style, and, on the contrary, praising it highly. But before that time Johnson’s Lives of the Poets had appeared, in which his style was considerably easier than when he wrote The Rambler. It would, therefore, have been uncandid in Blair, even supposing his criticism to have been just, to have preserved it.

  b See p. 980.

  c ‘We were now treading that illustrious island, which was once the luminary of the Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge, and the blessings of religion. To abstract the mind from all local emotion would be impossible if it were endeavoured, and would be foolish if it were possible. Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses, whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future, predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings. Far from me, and from my friends, be such frigid philosophy, as may conduct us, indifferent and unmoved, over any ground which has been dignified by wisdom, bravery, or virtue. The man is little to be envied, whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona. Had our Tour produced nothing else but this sublime passage, the world must have acknowledged that it was not made in vain. Sir Joseph Banks, the present respectable President of the Royal Society, told me, he was so much struck on reading it, that he clasped his hands together, and remained for some time in an attitude of silent admiration.’

  a In this censure which has been carelessly uttered, I carelessly joined. But in justice to Dr. Kippis, who with that manly candid good temper which marks his character, set me right, I now with pleasure retract it; and I desire it may be particularly observed, as pointed out by him to me, that ‘The new lives of dissenting Divines, in the first four volumes of the second edition of the Biographia Britannica are those of John Aber-nethy, Thomas Amory, George Benson, Hugh Broughton, the learned Puritan, Simon Browne, Joseph Boyse of Dublin, Thomas Cartwright the learned Puritan, and Samuel Chandler. The only doubt I have ever heard suggested is, whether there should have been an article of Dr. Amory. But I was convinced, and am still convinced, that he was entitled to one, from the reality of his learning, and the excellent and candid nature of his practical writings.

  ‘The new lives of clergymen of the Church of England, in the same four volumes, are as follows: John Balguy, Edward Bentham, George Berkley Bishop of Cloyne, William Berriman, Thomas Birch, William Borlase, Thomas Bott, James Bradley, Thomas Broughton, John Brown, John Burton, Joseph Butler Bishop of Durham, Thomas Carte, Edmund Castell, Edmund Chishull, Charles Churchill, William Clarke, Robert Clayton Bishop of Clogher, John Conybeare Bishop of Bristol, George Costard, and Samuel Croxhall. – “I am not conscious (says Dr. Kippis,) of any partiality in conducting the work. I would not willingly insert a Dissenting Minister that does not justly deserve to be noticed, or omit an established Clergyman that does. At the same time, I shall not be deterred from introducing Dissenters into the Biographia, when I am satisfied that they are entitled to that distinction, from their writings, learning, and merit.”’

  Let me add that the expression ‘A friend to the constitution in Church and State,’ was not meant by me, as any reflection upon this reverend gentleman, as if he were an enemy to t
he political constitution of his country, as established at the revolution, but, from my steady and avowed predilection for a Tory, was quoted from Johnson’s Dictionary, where that distinction is so defined.

  a Observations on Insanity, by Thomas Arnold, M.D., London, 1782.

  b We read in the Gospels,708 that those unfortunate persons who were possessed with evil spirits (which, after all, I think is the most probable cause of madness, as was first suggested to me by my respectable friend Sir John Pringle), had recourse to pain, tearing themselves, and jumping sometimes into the fire, sometimes into the water. Mr. Seward has furnished me with a remarkable anecdote in confirmation of Dr. Johnson’s observation. A tradesman, who had acquired a large fortune in London, retired from business, and went to live at Worcester. His mind, being without its usual occupation, and having nothing else to supply its place, preyed upon itself, so that existence was a torment to him. At last he was seized with the stone; and a friend who found him in one of its severest fits, having expressed his concern, ‘No, no, Sir, (said he,) don’t pity me: what I now feel is ease compared with that torture of mind from which it relieves me.’

  a Now, at the distance of fifteen years since this conversation passed, the observation which I have had an opportunity of making in Westminster Hall has convinced me, that, however true the opinion of Dr. Johnson’s legal friend may have been some time ago, the same certainty of success cannot now be promised to the same display of merit. The reasons, however, of the rapid rise of some, and the disappointment of others equally respectable, are such as it might seem invidious to mention, and would require a longer detail than would be proper for this work.

  a Ecclesiasticus. ch. xxxviii, verse 25. The whole chapter may be read as an admirable illustration of the superiority of cultivated minds over the gross and illiterate.

  a 2nd edit. p. 53.

  b Page 89.

  c See Plott’s History of Staffordshire, p. 88, and the authorities referred to by him.