Life Of Johnson, Vol. 1 by Boswell, Edited by Birkbeck Hill

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[Page 248: Topham Beauclerk. A.D. 1752.]

Mr. Langton afterwards went to pursue his studies at Trinity College,
Oxford, where he formed an acquaintance with his fellow student, Mr.
Topham Beauclerk[731]; who, though their opinions and modes of life were
so different, that it seemed utterly improbable that they should at all
agree, had so ardent a love of literature, so acute an understanding,
such elegance of manners, and so well discerned the excellent qualities
of Mr. Langton, a gentleman eminent not only for worth and learning, but
for an inexhaustible fund of entertaining conversation[732], that they
became intimate friends.

[Page 249: Topham Beauclerk. AEtat 43.]

Johnson, soon after this acquaintance began, passed a considerable time
at Oxford[733]. He at first thought it strange that Langton should
associate so much with one who had the character of being loose, both in
his principles and practice; but, by degrees, he himself was fascinated.
Mr. Beauclerk's being of the St. Alban's family, and having, in some
particulars, a resemblance to Charles the Second, contributed, in
Johnson's imagination, to throw a lustre upon his other qualities[734];
and, in a short time, the moral, pious Johnson, and the gay, dissipated
Beauclerk, were companions. 'What a coalition! (said Garrick, when he
heard of this;) I shall have my old friend to bail out of the
Round-house[735].' But I can bear testimony that it was a very agreeable
association. Beauclerk was too polite, and valued learning and wit too
much, to offend Johnson by sallies of infidelity or licentiousness; and
Johnson delighted in the good qualities of Beauclerk, and hoped to
correct the evil. Innumerable were the scenes in which Johnson was
amused by these young men. Beauclerk could take more liberty with him,
than any body with whom I ever saw him; but, on the other hand,
Beauclerk was not spared by his respectable companion, when reproof was
proper. Beauclerk had such a propensity to satire, that at one time
Johnson said to him, 'You never open your mouth but with intention to
give pain; and you have often given me pain, not from the power of what
you said, but from seeing your intention.' At another time applying to
him, with a slight alteration, a line of Pope, he said,

'Thy love of folly, and thy scorn of fools.[736]

'Every thing thou dost shews the one, and every thing thou say'st the
other.' At another time he said to him, 'Thy body is all vice, and thy
mind all virtue.' Beauclerk not seeming to relish the compliment,
Johnson said, 'Nay, Sir, Alexander the Great, marching in triumph into
Babylon, could not have desired to have had more said to him.'

[Page 250: Johnson the Idle Apprentice. A.D. 1752.]

Johnson was some time with Beauclerk at his house at Windsor, where he
was entertained with experiments in natural philosophy[737]. One Sunday,
when the weather was very fine, Beauclerk enticed him, insensibly, to
saunter about all the morning. They went into a church-yard, in the time
of divine service, and Johnson laid himself down at his ease upon one of
the tomb-stones. 'Now, Sir, (said Beauclerk) you are like Hogarth's Idle
Apprentice.' When Johnson got his pension, Beauclerk said to him, in the
humorous phrase of Falstaff, 'I hope you'll now purge and live cleanly
like a gentleman[738].'

[Page 251: A frisk with Beuclerk and Langton. AEtat 44.]

One night when Beauclerk and Langton had supped at a tavern in London,
and sat till about three in the morning, it came into their heads to go
and knock up Johnson, and see if they could prevail on him to join them
in a ramble. They rapped violently at the door of his chambers in the
Temple, till at last he appeared in his shirt, with his little black wig
on the top of his head, instead of a nightcap, and a poker in his hand,
imagining, probably, that some ruffians were coming to attack him. When
he discovered who they were, and was told their errand, he smiled, and
with great good humour agreed to their proposal: 'What, is it you, you
dogs! I'll have a frisk with you.' He was soon drest, and they sallied
forth together into Covent-Garden, where the greengrocers and fruiterers
were beginning to arrange their hampers, just come in from the country.
Johnson made some attempts to help them; but the honest gardeners stared
so at his figure and manner, and odd interference, that he soon saw his
services were not relished. They then repaired to one of the
neighbouring taverns, and made a bowl of that liquor called
"_Bishop_"[739], which Johnson had always liked; while in joyous contempt
of sleep, from which he had been roused, he repeated the festive lines,

'Short, O short then be thy reign,
And give us to the world again!'[740]

They did not stay long, but walked down to the Thames, took a boat, and
rowed to Billingsgate. Beauclerk and Johnson were so well pleased with
their amusement, that they resolved to persevere in dissipation for the
rest of the day: but Langton deserted them, being engaged to breakfast
with some young Ladies. Johnson scolded him for 'leaving his social
friends, to go and sit with a set of wretched _un-idea'd_ girls.'
Garrick being told of this ramble, said to him smartly, 'I heard of your
frolick t'other night. You'll be in the Chronicle.' Upon which Johnson
afterwards observed, '_He_ durst not do such a thing. His _wife_ would
not _let_ him!'

[Page 252: The Adventurer. A.D. 1753.]

1753: AETAT. 44.--He entered upon this year 1753 with his usual piety,
as appears from the following prayer, which I transcribed from that part
of his diary which he burnt a few days before his death[741]:

'Jan. 1, 1753, N. S. which I shall use for the future.

'Almighty God, who hast continued my life to this day, grant that, by
the assistance of thy Holy Spirit, I may improve the time which thou
shall grant me, to my eternal salvation. Make me to remember, to thy
glory, thy judgements and thy mercies. Make me so to consider the loss
of my wife, whom thou hast taken from me, that it may dispose me, by thy
grace, to lead the residue of my life in thy fear. Grant this, O LORD,
for JESUS CHRIST'S sake. Amen.'

He now relieved the drudgery of his _Dictionary_, and the melancholy of
his grief, by taking an active part in the composition of _The
Adventurer_, in which he began to write April 10[742], marking his essays
with the signature T[743], by which most of his papers in that collection
are distinguished: those, however, which have that signature and also
that of _Mysargyrus_, were not written by him, but, as I suppose, by Dr.
Bathurst. Indeed Johnson's energy of thought and richness of language,
are still more decisive marks than any signature. As a proof of this, my
readers, I imagine, will not doubt that Number 39, on sleep, is his; for
it not only has the general texture and colour of his style, but the
authours with whom he was peculiarly conversant are readily introduced
in it in cursory allusion. The translation of a passage in Statius[744]
quoted in that paper, and marked C. B. has been erroneously ascribed to
Dr. Bathurst, whose Christian name was Richard. How much this amiable
man actually contributed to _The Adventurer_, cannot be known. Let me
add, that Hawkesworth's imitations of Johnson are sometimes so happy,
that it is extremely difficult to distinguish them, with certainty, from
the compositions of his great archetype. Hawkesworth was his closest
imitator, a circumstance of which that writer would once have been proud
to be told; though, when he had become elated by having risen into some
degree of consequence, he, in a conversation with me, had the provoking
effrontery to say he was not sensible of it[745].

[Page 253: A letter to Dr. Warton. AEtat 44.]

Johnson was truly zealous for the success of _The Adventurer_; and very
soon after his engaging in it, he wrote the following letter:

'TO THE REVEREND DR. JOSEPH WARTON.

'DEAR SIR,

'I ought to have written to you before now, but I ought to do many
things which I do not; nor can I, indeed, claim any merit from this
letter; for being desired by the authours and proprietor of _The
Adventurer_ to look out for another hand, my thoughts necessarily fixed
upon you, whose fund of literature will enable you to assist them, with
very little interruption of your studies.

'They desire you to engage to furnish one paper a month, at two guineas
a paper, which you may very readily perform. We have considered that a
paper should consist of pieces of imagination, pictures of life, and
disquisitions of literature. The part which depends on the imagination
is very well supplied, as you will find when you read the paper; for
descriptions of life, there is now a treaty almost made with an authour
and an authouress; and the province of criticism and literature they are
very desirous to assign to the commentator on Virgil.

'I hope this proposal will not be rejected, and that the next post will
bring us your compliance. I speak as one of the fraternity, though I
have no part in the paper, beyond now and then a motto; but two of the
writers are my particular friends, and I hope the pleasure of seeing a
third united to them, will not be denied to, dear Sir,

'Your most obedient,

'And most humble servant,

'SAM. JOHNSON.'

'March 8, 1753.'

The consequence of this letter was, Dr. Warton's enriching the
collection with several admirable essays.

[Page 254: Bathurst's papers in the Adventurer. A.D. 1753.]

Johnson's saying 'I have no part in the paper beyond now and then a
motto,' may seem inconsistent with his being the authour of the papers
marked T. But he had, at this time, written only one number[746]; and
besides, even at any after period, he might have used the same
expression, considering it as a point of honour not to own them; for
Mrs. Williams told me that, 'as he had _given_ those Essays to Dr.
Bathurst, who sold them at two guineas each, he never would own them;
nay, he used to say he did not _write_ them: but the fact was, that he
_dictated_ them, while Bathurst wrote.' I read to him Mrs. Williams's
account; he smiled, and said nothing[747].

[Page 255: Mrs. Lennox. AEtat 45.]

I am not quite satisfied with the casuistry by which the productions of
one person are thus passed upon the world for the productions of
another. I allow that not only knowledge, but powers and qualities of
mind may be communicated; but the actual effect of individual exertion
never can be transferred, with truth, to any other than its own original
cause. One person's child may be made the child of another person by
adoption, as among the Romans, or by the ancient Jewish mode of a wife
having children born to her upon her knees, by her handmaid. But these
were children in a different sense from that of nature. It was clearly
understood that they were not of the blood of their nominal parents. So
in literary children, an authour may give the profits and fame of his
composition to another man, but cannot make that other the real authour.
A Highland gentleman, a younger branch of a family, once consulted me if
he could not validly purchase the Chieftainship of his family, from the
Chief who was willing to sell it. I told him it was impossible for him
to acquire, by purchase, a right to be a different person from what he
really was; for that the right of Chieftainship attached to the blood of
primogeniture, and, therefore, was incapable of being transferred. I
added, that though Esau sold his birth-right, or the advantages
belonging to it, he still remained the first-born of his parents; and
that whatever agreement a Chief might make with any of the clan, the
Herald's Office could not admit of the metamorphosis, or with any
decency attest that the younger was the elder; but I did not convince
the worthy gentleman.

Johnson's papers in _The Adventurer_ are very similar to those of _The
Rambler_; but being rather more varied in their subjects, and being
mixed with essays by other writers, upon topicks more generally
attractive than even the most elegant ethical discourses, the sale of
the work, at first, was more extensive. Without meaning, however, to
depreciate _The Adventurer_, I must observe that as the value of _The
Rambler_ came, in the progress of time, to be better known, it grew upon
the publick estimation, and that its sale has far exceeded that of any
other periodical papers since the reign of Queen Anne.

In one of the books of his diary I find the following entry:

'Apr. 3, 1753. I began the second vol. of my Dictionary, room being left
in the first for Preface, Grammar, and History, none of them yet begun.

'O GOD, who hast hitherto supported me, enable me to proceed in this
labour, and in the whole task of my present state; that when I shall
render up, at the last day, an account of the talent committed to me, I
may receive pardon, for the sake of JESUS CHRIST. Amen.'

He this year favoured Mrs. Lennox[748] with a Dedication[*] to the Earl of
Orrery, of her _Shakspeare Illustrated_.

[Page 256: The Life of Edward Cave. A.D. 1754.]

1754: AETAT. 45.--IN 1754 I can trace nothing published by him, except
his numbers of _The Adventurer_, and 'The Life of Edward Cave,'[*] in
the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for February. In biography there can be no
question that he excelled, beyond all who have attempted that species of
composition; upon which, indeed, he set the highest value. To the minute
selection of characteristical circumstances, for which the ancients were
remarkable, he added a philosophical research, and the most perspicuous
and energetick language. Cave was certainly a man of estimable
qualities, and was eminently diligent and successful in his own
business[749], which, doubtless, entitled him to respect. But he was
peculiarly fortunate in being recorded by Johnson, who, of the narrow
life of a printer and publisher, without any digressions or adventitious
circumstances, has made an interesting and agreeable narrative[750].

The _Dictionary_, we may believe, afforded Johnson full occupation this
year. As it approached to its conclusion, he probably worked with
redoubled vigour, as seamen increase their exertion and alacrity when
they have a near prospect of their haven.

[Page 257: Lord Chesterfield's neglect.]

[Page 258: Lord Chesterfield's flattery. A.D. 1754.]

Lord Chesterfield, to whom Johnson had paid the high compliment of
addressing to his Lordship the _Plan_ of his _Dictionary_, had behaved
to him in such a manner as to excite his contempt and indignation. The
world has been for many years amused with a story confidently told, and
as confidently repeated with additional circumstances[751], that a sudden
disgust was taken by Johnson upon occasion of his having been one day
kept long in waiting in his Lordship's antechamber, for which the reason
assigned was, that he had company with him; and that at last, when the
door opened, out walked Colley Gibber; and that Johnson was so violently
provoked when he found for whom he had been so long excluded, that he
went away in a passion, and never would return. I remember having
mentioned this story to George Lord Lyttelton, who told me, he was very
intimate with Lord Chesterfield; and holding it as a well-known truth,
defended Lord Chesterfield, by saying, that 'Gibber, who had been
introduced, familiarly by the back-stairs, had probably not been there
above ten minutes.' It may seem strange even to entertain a doubt
concerning a story so long and so widely current, and thus implicitly
adopted, if not sanctioned, by the authority which I have mentioned; but
Johnson himself assured me, that there was not the least foundation for
it. He told me, that there never was any particular incident which
produced a quarrel between Lord Chesterfield and him; but that his
Lordship's continued neglect was the reason why he resolved to have no
connection with him[752]. When the _Dictionary_ was upon the eve of
publication, Lord Chesterfield, who, it is said, had flattered himself
with expectations that Johnson would dedicate the work to him[753],
attempted, in a courtly manner, to sooth, and insinuate himself with the
Sage, conscious, as it should seem, of the cold indifference with which
he had treated its learned authour; and further attempted to conciliate
him, by writing two papers in _The World_[754], in recommendation of the
work; and it must be confessed, that they contain some studied
compliments, so finely turned, that if there had been no previous
offence, it is probable that Johnson would have been highly
delighted[755]. Praise, in general, was pleasing to him; but by praise
from a man of rank and elegant accomplishments, he was peculiarly
gratified.

His Lordship says,

'I think the publick in general, and the republick of letters in
particular, are greatly obliged to Mr. Johnson, for having undertaken,
and executed, so great and desirable a work. Perfection is not to be
expected from man; but if we are to judge by the various works of
Johnson[756] already published, we have good reason to believe, that he
will bring this as near to perfection as any man could do. The _Plan_ of
it, which he published some years ago, seems to me to be a proof of it.
Nothing can be more rationally imagined, or more accurately and
elegantly expressed. I therefore recommend the previous perusal of it to
all those who intend to buy the _Dictionary,_ and who, I suppose, are
all those who can afford it.'

* * * * *

'It must be owned, that our language is, at present, in a state of
anarchy, and hitherto, perhaps, it may not have been the worse for it.
During our free and open trade, many words and expressions have been
imported, adopted, and naturalized from other languages, which have
greatly enriched our own. Let it still preserve what real strength and
beauty it may have borrowed from others; but let it not, like the
Tarpeian maid, be overwhelmed and crushed by unnecessary ornaments[757].
The time for discrimination seems to be now come.

[Page 259: Lord Chesterfield's flattery. AEtat 45.]

'Toleration, adoption, and naturalization have run their lengths. Good
order and authority are now necessary. But where shall we find them,
and, at the same time, the obedience due to them? We must have recourse
to the old Roman expedient in times of confusion, and chuse a dictator.
Upon this principle, I give my vote for Mr. Johnson to fill that great
and arduous post. And I hereby declare, that I make a total surrender of
all my rights and privileges in the English language, as a free-born
British subject, to the said Mr. Johnson, during the term of his
dictatorship. Nay more, I will not only obey him, like an old Roman, as
my dictator, but, like a modern Roman, I will implicitly believe in him
as my Pope, and hold him to be infallible while in the chair, but no
longer. More than this he cannot well require; for, I presume, that
obedience can never be expected, when there is neither terrour to
enforce, nor interest to invite it.'

* * * * *

'But a Grammar, a Dictionary, and a History of our Language through its
several stages, were still wanting at home, and importunately called for
from abroad. Mr. Johnson's labours will now, I dare say[758], very fully
supply that want, and greatly contribute to the farther spreading of our
language in other countries. Learners were discouraged, by finding no
standard to resort to; and, consequently, thought it incapable of any.
They will now be undeceived and encouraged.'

This courtly device failed of its effect[759]. Johnson, who thought that
'all was false and hollow[760],' despised the honeyed words, and was even
indignant that Lord Chesterfield should, for a moment, imagine that he
could be the dupe of such an artifice. His expression to me concerning
Lord Chesterfield, upon this occasion, was, 'Sir, after making great
professions[761], he had, for many years, taken no notice of me; but when
my _Dictionary_ was coming out, he fell a scribbling in _The World_
about it. Upon which, I wrote him a letter expressed in civil terms, but
such as might shew him that I did not mind what he said or wrote, and
that I had done with him[762].'

[Page 260: Johnson's spelling. A.D. 1754.]

This is that celebrated letter of which so much has been said, and about
which curiosity has been so long excited, without being gratified. I for
many years solicited Johnson to favour me with a copy of it[763], that so
excellent a composition might not be lost to posterity. He delayed from
time to time to give it me[764]; till at last in 1781, when we were on a
visit at Mr. Dilly's, at Southill in Bedfordshire, he was pleased to
dictate it to me from memory[765]. He afterwards found among his papers a
copy of it, which he had dictated to Mr. Baretti, with its title and
corrections, in his own handwriting. This he gave to Mr. Langton; adding
that if it were to come into print, he wished it to be from that copy.
By Mr. Langton's kindness, I am enabled to enrich my work with a perfect
transcript[766] of what the world has so eagerly desired to see.

[Page 261: Johnson's letter to Lord Chesterfield. AEtat 45.]

'TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF CHESTERFIELD.

'February 7, 1755.

'MY LORD,

'I have been lately informed, by the proprietor of the World, that two
papers, in which my Dictionary is recommended to the publick, were
written by your Lordship. To be so distinguished, is an honour, which,
being very little accustomed to favours from the great, I know not well
how to receive, or in what terms to acknowledge.

'When, upon some slight encouragement, I first visited your Lordship, I
was overpowered, like the rest of mankind, by the enchantment of your
address; and could not forbear to wish that I might boast myself _Le
vainqueur du vainqueur de la terre_[767];--that I might obtain that regard
for which I saw the world contending; but I found my attendance so
little encouraged, that neither pride nor modesty would suffer me to
continue it. When I had once addressed your Lordship in publick, I had
exhausted all the art of pleasing which a retired and uncourtly scholar
can possess. I had done all that I could; and no man is well pleased to
have his all neglected, be it ever so little.

'Seven years, my Lord, have now past, since I waited in your outward
rooms, or was repulsed from your door; during which time I have been
pushing on my work through difficulties, of which it is useless to
complain, and have brought it, at last, to the verge of publication,
without one act of assistance[768], one word of encouragement, or one
smile of favour. Such treatment I did not expect, for I never had a
Patron before.

'The shepherd in Virgil grew at last acquainted with Love, and found him
a native of the rocks.

'Is not a Patron, my Lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man
struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground,
encumbers him with help? The notice which you have been pleased to take
of my labours, had it been early, had been kind; but it has been delayed
till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and
cannot impart it[769]; till I am known, and do not want it. I hope it is
no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has
been received, or to be unwilling that the Publick should consider me as
owing that to a Patron, which Providence has enabled me to do for
myself.

[Page 263: His high opinion of Warburton. AEtat 45.]

'Having carried on my work thus far with so little obligation to any
favourer of learning[770], I shall not be disappointed though I should
conclude it, if less be possible, with less; for I have been long
wakened from that dream of hope, in which I once boasted myself with so
much exultation.

'My Lord,

'Your Lordship's most humble,

'Most obedient servant,

'SAM. JOHNSON[771].'

'While this was the talk of the town, (says Dr. Adams, in a letter to
me) I happened to visit Dr. Warburton, who finding that I was acquainted
with Johnson, desired me earnestly to carry his compliments to him, and
to tell him, that he honoured him for his manly behaviour in rejecting
these condescensions of Lord Chesterfield, and for resenting the
treatment he had received from him, with a proper spirit. Johnson was
visibly pleased with this compliment, for he had always a high opinion
of Warburton[772]. Indeed, the force of mind which appeared in this
letter, was congenial with that which Warburton himself amply
possessed[773].'

[Page 264: For 'garret' read 'patron.' A.D. 1754.]

There is a curious minute circumstance which struck me, in comparing the
various editions of Johnson's imitations of Juvenal. In the tenth
Satire, one of the couplets upon the vanity of wishes even for literary
distinction stood thus:

'Yet think[774] what ills the scholar's life assail,
'Pride[775], envy, want, the _garret_, and the jail.'

But after experiencing the uneasiness which Lord Chesterfield's
fallacious patronage made him feel, he dismissed the word _garret_ from
the sad group, and in all the subsequent editions the line stands