150. ∗∗∗: perhaps ‘Van’ – i.e. Robert Vansittart.
151. manes: In Roman religion, the deified soul of the dead.
152. cater-cousins: Good friends (OED).
153. Blackfriars-bridge: Seen. 11.
154. sesquioctave… sesquinonal: Ratios of respectively one and a half to eight, and one and a half to nine.
155. placido lumine: ‘With kindly glance’ – Horace, Odes, IV.iii.2
156. Quicquid agunt homines: Whatever men do.
157. the French Prisoners: See n. 12.
158. a learned divine: Dr Archibald Maclaine.
159. the unfortunate battle of Fontenoy: A battle fought on 11 May 1745 between French forces under the Count de Saxe, and allied forces drawn from England, Hanover, Holland and Austria under the Duke of Cumberland. It resulted in a famous victory for the French, who went on to conquer Flanders.
160. Apollo: In Greek mythology Apollo was the son of Zeus and Leto, and was the god of medicine, music, archery, prophecy and the sun.
161. the Aonian fount: The seat of the nine Muses (see n. 28).
162. But Shakspeare’s magick… but he: John Dryden, ‘Prologue’ to The Tempest: or, The Enchanted Island (1670), ll. 19–20.
163. The Jealous Wife: George Colman the elder, The Jealous Wife (1761).
164. the Peruvian bark: Quinine, used medicinally to reduce fever, as a tonic and to prevent the periodic recurrence of diseases or symptoms.
165. Charlotte: Charlotte Cotterell, married to Dean Lewis.
166. pensioners: Johnson defined ‘pensioner’ as ‘One who is supported by an allowance paid at the will of another; a dependant’.
167. The Commissioner of the Dock-yard: Sir Frederick Rogers.
168. native wood-note wild: John Milton, ‘L’Allegro’ (composed? i63i, first published 1645), l. 134.
169. Nam vos mutastis: ‘For you have wrought the change’ – Ovid, Metamorphoses, i.2.
170. a man who disliked him: James Macpherson.
171. The Elements of Criticism: Henry Home, Lord Kames, The Elements of Criticism (1762).
172. one who… family: John Wilkes.
173. tcedium vitce: The irksomeness of life.
174. Verily… reward: Matthew 6:2, 5 and 16.
175. reasoning à priori: Reasoning or arguing from causes to effects, from abstract notions to their conditions or consequences, from propositions or assumed axioms (and not from experience) (OED).
176. Dr. Pearson: In fact Bishop Zachary Pearce.
177. Ham, who was cursed: Ham was one of the three sons of Noah, and was cursed by Noah because he saw Noah naked when drunk – Genesis 9:20–27.
178. fabulous tale… linnet: In a classical fable a wren conceals itself on the back of an eagle, and then claims to have flown higher than the eagle.
179. Ruin seize thee… wait: Thomas Gray, ‘The Bard’ (1757), ll. 1-2.
180. a Ghost in Cock-lane. See n. 13.
181. the ‘Change of London: The Royal Exchange.
182. The subject of this beautiful poem: In Greek mythology, Telemachus was the son of Odysseus and Penelope. The conflict which Telemachus suffers in Graham’s masque (1763 and based on book seven of Fenelon’s Les Aventures de Telemaque (1699)) is that between his duty to continue searching for his father Odysseus and the erotic pleasure which surrounds him when he finds himself shipwrecked on the island of Ogygia, the home of the goddess Calypso, where Odysseus himself was detained for seven years (Homer, Odyssey, v).
183. Nihil… ornavit: ‘He touched nothing that he did not adorn.’
184. un etourdi: A scatterbrain; a distracted person.
185. Fantoccini: A drama performed by puppets.
186. a Dignitary of the Church: Probably Bishop Percy.
187. assafoetida: A concreted resinous gum, with a strong garlic and onion odour, used in medicine as an antispasmodic, and as a flavouring in made dishes (OED).
188. an impudent fellow from Scotland: James Macpherson.
189. Ita feri… emori: ‘Strike so that he can feel himself dying’ – Suetonius, Caligula, xxx.1.
190. July 18: It was in fact the 19th.
191. Jargonnant… barbare: Babbling barbaric French.
192. cceteris paribus: Other things being equal.
193. a gentleman who was mentioned: George Dempster.
194. a noted infidel writer: David Hume.
195. plenum: A space completely filled with matter (OED).
196. a certain authour: William Robertson.
197. A writer of deserved eminence: Thomas Warton the elder.
198. The Tale of a Tub: Jonathan Swift, A Tale of a Tub (1704); now securely attributed to Swift.
199. —: Edmund Burke.
200. a young man: James Boswell.
201. Eblana… light of day: ‘An Ode to Eblana, on entering the Harbour of Dublin, after a long Absence’, in Samuel Derrick, A Collection of Original Poems (1755), p. 153.
202. bulk: A part of a building jutting out (Johnson).
203. Orpheus… the Argonauts: In Greek mythology Orpheus was a legendary poet, whose playing on the lyre could hold wild beasts spellbound. He accompanied Jason and the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece, and by his song he enabled them to resist the lure of the Sirens.
204. Formosam… silvas: ‘And the woods resound with the name of Amaryllis’ – Virgil, Eclogues, i.5.
205. a certain friend of his: Possibly Edmund Burke.
206. the Convocation: The principal provincial synod or assembly of the clergy of the Church of England, constituted by statute and called together to deliberate on ecclesiastical matters. The bitter controversy which attended the repeal of the Schism Act (1714) in 1719 caused Convocation to be adjourned indefinitely, and it did not meet again until 1854: see J. P. Kenyon, Revolution Principles: The Politics of Party 1689–1720 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977), p. 196.
207. Jean Bull philosophe: John Bull the philosopher. John Bull was the embodiment of Englishness, popularized in a series of pamphlets by John Arbuthnot published in 1712 in opposition to English involvement in the War of the Spanish Succession.
208. gulosity: Gluttony, greediness, voracity (OED).
209. a nobleman’s French cook: The nobleman was possibly Lord Elibank.
210. a lady: Probably Mrs Boswell.
211. turned him… aside: A misquotation of ll. 5-6 of Alexander Pope’s The Second Satire of the Second Book of Horace Paraphrased (1734): ‘Not when a gilt Buffet’s reflected pride | Turns you from sound Philosophy aside’. The reference is to Edmund Burke.
212. Who born… mankind: Oliver Goldsmith, Retaliation: A Poem (1774), ll. 31-2.
213. the Frisick language: The language of Friesland, or the northern Netherlands.
214. Unelbow’d… player: Pope, ‘Epistle to Bathurst’, l. 242.
215. That Davies… wife: Charles Churchill, The Rosciad, 2nd edn (1761), p. 10, l. 222.
216. poor Mrs. Macaulay: Catherine Macaulay (1731–91) had begun to publish her Whiggish History of England in 1763.
217. OMNIBUS… Kearney: To all who may read this, greeting. We, the Provost and senior fellows of Queen Elizabeth’s College of the holy and undivided Trinity at Dublin, declare that Samuel Johnson, gentleman, in recognition of the outstanding elegance and usefulness of his writings, was admitted to the degree of Doctor of Laws this eighth day of July 1765. In evidence thereof we attach the following signatures and the common seal; given on the twenty-third day of July 1765. William Clement Francis Andrews R. Murray Thomas Wilson Provost Robert Law Thomas Leland Michael Kearney
218. The Conscious Lovers: Richard Steele, The Conscious Lovers (first performed 1722).
219. Un gentilhomme… gentilhomme: ‘A gentleman is always a gentleman.’
220. Damien’s bed of steel: Robert-Francois Damiens (1715–57) attempted to assassinate Louis XV on 5 January 1757, and was executed on 2 March in a protracted ceremony full of symbolic violence. It i
s described by Michel Foucault in the first chapter of Surveiller et punir: naissance de la prison (Paris, 1975; trans. as Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, 1977).
221. a foreign friend of his: Giuseppe Baretti.
222. a gay friend: John Wilkes.
223. Profession… Vicaire Savoyard: ‘A Savoyard Vicar’s Profession of Faith’, in Emile (1762).
224. multorum… urbes: ‘The cities and the customs of many men’ – Horace, Ars Poetica, l. 142.
225. a young gentleman: James Boswell.
226. The passage omitted… transaction: Boswell’s copy at Yale supplies the missing information. Johnson had asked Boswell why he had dedicated the work to Lord Mountstuart, a man for whom he had no regard.
227. V7.ro NOBiLissiMO… JACOBUS BOSWELL: ‘James Boswell dedicates the first fruits of his legal studies, as a token of devoted friendship and respect, to the honoured companion of his Italian travels, to the most noble John, Viscount Mountstuart, of kingly line, the second hope of the noble family of Bute: a man ever mindful of his ancient and illustrious blood in a degenerate age, when men of no origin strive to level birth with riches; who by his virtues enhances the splendour of his birthright; already a member of the House of Commons, but destined by hereditary right to the House of Lords; with an education that promotes his native talent, but does not display itself; of ancient faith, liberal understanding, and elegance of manners.’
228. Jurisprudentije… solemus: ‘No study is richer or more noble than jurisprudence; for in discussing laws we consider both the manners of peoples and the vicissitudes from which laws derive.’
229. Hcec sunt… age: ‘Such are the warnings I am able to give you. Go, then’ – Virgil, Aeneid, iii.461-2 (slightly misquoted).
230. modo… reliquit: ‘She dropped twin kids, hope of my flock, on the naked flint.’
231. Spemque… simul: ‘At once the hope and the flock.’
232. prcesidium: Defence or protection. Cf. Horace, Odes, I.i.2.
233. Spes tu nunc una… Te penes: ‘You are now our only hope – the honour and sovereignty of Latinus are in your hands.’
234. Excelsce familice de Bute spes prima… spes altera: The first hope of the lofty family of Bute… the second hope.
235. Et juxta… RomiS: ‘And beside him Ascanius, the second hope of great Rome.’
236. Juris Civilis Fontes: The Sources of the Civil Law.
237. Nam huic… nescio: ‘I don’t know where this other girl comes from.’
238. hoc ipsa… audivi: ‘By chance I heard her tell that on the way to the other girl.’
239. xατ’ Σoχην: ‘Par excellence.’
240. Et genus… alga est: ‘Without substance, blood and valour are less than seaweed.’
241. Et genus… donat: ‘Even birth and beauty can be bestowed by Queen Money.’
242. Nam genus… voco: ‘For birth and lineage, and whatever we ourselves have not created, can hardly be called our own.’
243. Nascetur… Ccesar: ‘A Caesar will be born from the fair line of Troy.’
244. Ille tamen… nomen: ‘And yet his name is drawn from our lineage.’
245. a garreteer: One who lives in a garret; an impecunious author or literary hack (OED) – in this case William Horsley.
246. False Delicacy: Hugh Kelly, False Delicacy (1768).
247. The Provoked Husband: Sir John Vanbrugh and Colley Cibber, The Provok’d Husband: or, A Journey to London (1728).
248. Sir Francis Wronghead: A character in The Provok’d Husband.
249. The Suspicious Husband: Benjamin Hoadly, The Suspicious Husband (1747).
250. The great Douglas Cause: A dispute over the Douglas family estates between Archibald Douglas (thought by some not to be the son of Lady Jane Douglas) and the Duke of Hamilton, who would inherit if Archibald Douglas’s claim were to be dismissed. The Judges of the Court of Session gave judgement in favour of the Duke of Hamilton on a casting vote, which was then overturned by the House of Lords.
251. a gentleman who… speculation: James Boswell.
252. esprits forts: ‘Strongminded’ persons; usually, ones who profess superiority to current prejudices, especially ‘freethinkers’ in religion (OED).
253. Maupertuis… peu de chose: ‘Maupertuis, dear Maupertuis, what a paltry thing is life!’ – ‘Ode VIII. A Maupertuis. La vie est un songe’, in Frederick II, Oeuvres du philosophe de Sans-Souci, 2 vols. (Potsdam, 1760), I, 35.
254. a gentleman… a lady: James Boswell; the woman was Isabelle de Zuylen. Boswell eventually married Margaret Montgomerie, on 25 November 1769.
255. an oppressed nation… free: A reference to the ultimately unavailing Corsican struggle for independence from Genoa and subsequently France, led by the charismatic Corsican general Pasquale Paoli, whom Boswell had visited in 1765. Boswell’s An Account of Corsica was published in 1768.
256. Wicked Will Whiston and good Mr. Ditton: The allusion is to a poem once attributed to Swift, the ‘Ode for Music, on the Longitude’, which contains the lines: ‘The longitude miss’d on | By wicked Will Whiston; | And not better hit on | By good master Ditton’. See n. 129.
257. Hunc librum… vacaret: ‘This book is the gift of Samuel Johnson, who from time to time was at leisure to study here.’
258. the question… of general warrants: John Wilkes, the author of issue No. 45 of the North Briton, which in April 1763 had denounced the King’s Speech, was arrested for libel on a general warrant (i.e. a warrant which neither named nor described the persons to be apprehended with any certainty), which Lord Chief Justice Pratt later declared to be unlawful.
259. the gentleman… night-cap: The Spectator, 576 (4 August 1714).
260. Artemisias: Artemisia was a poetic name for a learned woman or bluestocking: cf. Alexander Pope, Imitations of English Poets, ‘E. of Dorset’ (1727), ‘Artimesia’, ll. 1-6. It derived originally perhaps from the Artemisia who was queen of Halicarnassus and who fought manfully at the Battle of Salamis (Herodotus, viii.87-8).
261. a gentleman of my acquaintance: Lord Auchinleck (Boswell’s father).
262. one of our common friends: Bennet Langton.
263. vails: A vail is a gratuity given to a servant or attendant; a tip; one of those given by a visitor on his departure to the servants of the house in which he has been a guest (OED, 5).
264. foenum habet in cornu: ‘He carries hay on his horns’ – Horace, Satires, I.iv.34.
265. J’ai lu… de la campagne: ‘In the geography of Lucas de Linda I have read a paternoster written in a language completely different from Italian, and from all other languages which derive from Latin. The author calls it “the rustic language of Corsica”; perhaps it has gradually died out; but in the past it was certainly prevalent in the hills and countryside. The same author says the same thing when speaking of Sardinia: that there are two languages on the island, one urban, the other rural.’
266. lingua rustica: Country language or dialect.
267. l’homme d’epee: The man of the sword.
268. One of the company: Possibly Joshua Reynolds.
269. one of the company: James Boswell.
270. Zimri: In John Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel (1681), ll. 543–68 – a portrait of the Duke of Buckingham.
271. Pope’s character of Addison: In Alexander Pope, Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot (1735), ll. 193–214.
272. description… in the Mourning Bride: William Congreve, The Mourning Bride (1697), II.i.
273. god of his idolatry: Cf. Romeo and Juliet, II.i.156.
274. Agincourt… the tomb of her ancestors… Dover Cliff: Henry V, IV.i; Romeo and Juliet, IV.iii.14–57; King Lear, IV.vi.
275. some one: Probably James Boswell.
276. ad hominem: To the man.
277. one of our most eminent literati: Edmond Malone.
278. the authour of a modern tragedy: Robert Jephson.
279. The Scotchman: Lord Kames.
280. A wit about town: Benjamin Loveling.
281. The ballad of Hardyknute: An ancient poem collected by Thomas Percy in his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, 3 vols. (1765), II, 87–102.
282. a poor player… stage: Macbeth, V.v.23-4.
283. centos: A cento is a composition formed by joining scraps from other authors (Johnson).
284. a very laborious Judge: Lord Auchinleck.
285. e secretioribus consiliis: One of his most confidential advisers.
286. Heliconian spring: Helicon is a mountain in Boeotia, thought in Greek mythology to be the home of the Muses (see n. 28). On it were the sacred springs of Hippocrene and Aganippe, which by a natural association became poetic metonyms for artistic inspiration.
287. One of the company: James Boswell.
288. one of Cibber’s comedies… butt end of it: In Act I of Colley Cibber’s The Refusal: or, the Ladies Philosophy (1720), Witling says to Granger, ‘What, now your fire’s gone, you would knock me down with the butt-end, would you?’
289. the Middlesex election: Having stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for the City of London on 25 March 1768, Wilkes decided to stand as a candidate for Middlesex, and, after a well-organized campaign buoyed up by popular enthusiasm, he was returned to Parliament for Middlesex on 28 March. He was then expelled on the grounds that he was still outlawed. The episode was an important test of whether popular support or the favour of the Crown was of greater importance in matters of political authority, and it prompted Edmund Burke’s pamphlet on that subject, Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770).
290. Council of Trent: The nineteenth ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church (1545–63), the Council of Trent clarified Catholic teaching on a range of doctrines which had been challenged by the Protestant Churches, and launched the Counter-Reformation.
291. Albano… locutas: ‘Spoken by the Muses on the Alban hill’ – Horace, Epistles, II.i.26.
292. the long Parliament: The Parliament summoned by Charles I in November 1640, and which lasted until April 1653, when its members were ejected by Cromwell’s troops.
293. a French lady: Mme de Boufflers.
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