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

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[466] _Ante_, p. 140.

[467] In 1761 Mr. John Levett was returned for Lichfield, but on
petition was declared to be not duly elected (_Parl. Hist_. xv. 1088).
Perhaps he was already aiming at public life.

[468] One explanation may be found of Johnson's intimacy with Savage and
with other men of loose character. 'He was,' writes Hawkins, 'one of the
most quick-sighted men I ever knew in discovering the good and amiable
qualities of others' (Hawkins's _Johnson_, p. 50). 'He was,' says
Boswell (_post_, April 13, 1778), 'willing to take men as they are,
imperfect, and with a mixture of good and bad qualities.' How intimate
the two men were is shown by the following passage in Johnson's _Life of
Savage_:--'Savage left London in July, 1739, having taken leave with
great tenderness of his friends, and parted from the author of this
narrative with tears in his eyes.' Johnson's _Works_, viii. 173.

[469] As a specimen of his temper, I insert the following letter from
him to a noble Lord, to whom he was under great obligations, but who, on
account of his bad conduct, was obliged to discard him. The original was
in the hands of the late Francis Cockayne Cust, Esq., one of His
Majesty's Counsel learned in the law:

'_Right Honourable_ BRUTE, _and_ BOOBY,

'I find you want (as Mr. ---- is pleased to hint,) to swear away my
life, that is, the life of your creditor, because he asks you for a
debt.--The publick shall soon be acquainted with this, to judge whether
you are not fitter to be an Irish Evidence, than to be an Irish Peer.--I
defy and despise you.

'I am,

'Your determined adversary,

'R. S.'

BOSWELL. The noble Lord was no doubt Lord Tyrconnel. See Johnson's
_Works_, viii. 140. Mr. Cust is mentioned _post_, p. 170.

[470] 'Savage took all opportunities of conversing familiarly with those
who were most conspicuous at that time for their power or their
influence; he watched their looser moments, and examined their domestic
behaviour with that acuteness which nature had given him, and which the
uncommon variety of his life had contributed to increase, and that
inquisitiveness which must always be produced in a vigorous mind by an
absolute freedom from all pressing or domestic engagements.' Johnson's
_Works_, viii. 135.

[471] 'Thus he spent his time in mean expedients and tormenting
suspense, living for the greatest part in the fear of prosecutions from
his creditors, and consequently skulking in obscure parts of the town,
of which he was no stranger to the remotest corners.' _Ib_. p. 165.

[472] Sir John Hawkins gives the world to understand, that Johnson,
'being an admirer of genteel manners, was captivated by the address and
demeanour of Savage, who, as to his exterior, was, to a remarkable
degree, accomplished.' Hawkins's _Life_, p. 52. But Sir John's notions
of gentility must appear somewhat ludicrous, from his stating the
following circumstance as presumptive evidence that Savage was a good
swordsman: 'That he understood the exercise of a gentleman's weapon, may
be inferred from the use made of it in that rash encounter which is
related in his life.' The dexterity here alluded to was, that Savage, in
a nocturnal fit of drunkenness, stabbed a man at a coffee-house, and
killed him; for which he was tried at the Old-Bailey, and found guilty
of murder.

Johnson, indeed, describes him as having 'a grave and manly deportment,
a solemn dignity of mien; but which, upon a nearer acquaintance,
softened into an engaging easiness of manners.' [Johnson's _Works_,
viii. 187.] How highly Johnson admired him for that knowledge which he
himself so much cultivated, and what kindness he entertained for him,
appears from the following lines in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for
April, 1738, which I am assured were written by Johnson:

_'Ad_ RICARDUM SAVAGE.

'Humani studium generis cui pectore
fervet
O colat humanum te foveatque
genus.'

BOSWELL. The epigram is inscribed Ad Ricardum Savage, Arm. Humani
Generis Amatorem. _Gent. Mag_. viii. 210.

[473] The following striking proof of Johnson's extreme indigence, when
he published the _Life of Savage_, was communicated to the author, by
Mr. Richard Stow, of Apsley, in Bedfordshire, from the information of
Mr. Walter Harte, author of the _Life of Gustavus Adolphus_:

'Soon after Savage's _Life_ was published, Mr. Harte dined with Edward
Cave, and occasionally praised it. Soon after, meeting him, Cave said,
'You made a man very happy t'other day.'--'How could that be,' says
Harte; 'nobody was there but ourselves.' Cave answered, by reminding him
that a plate of victuals was sent behind a screen, which was to Johnson,
dressed so shabbily, that he did not choose to appear; but on hearing
the conversation, was highly delighted with the encomiums on his book.'
MALONE. 'He desired much to be alone, yet he always loved good talk, and
often would get behind the screen to hear it.' Great-Heart's account of
Fearing; _Pilgrim's Progress_, Part II. Harte was tutor to Lord
Chesterfield's son. See _post_, 1770, in Dr. Maxwell's _Collectanea_,
and March 30, 1781.

[474] 'Johnson has told me that whole nights have been spent by him and
Savage in a perambulation round the squares of Westminster, St. James's
in particular, when all the money they could both raise was less than
sufficient to purchase for them the shelter and sordid comforts of a
night's cellar.' Hawkins's _Johnson_, P. 53. Where was Mrs. Johnson
living at this time? This perhaps was the time of which Johnson wrote,
when, after telling of a silver cup which his mother had bought him, and
marked SAM. I., he says:--'The cup was one of the last pieces of plate
which dear Tetty sold in our distress.' _Account of Johnson's Early
Life_, p. 18. Yet it is not easy to understand how, if there was a
lodging for her, there was not one for him. She might have been living
with friends. We have a statement by Hawkins (p. 89) that there was 'a
temporary separation of Johnson from his wife.' He adds that, 'while he
was in a lodging in Fleet Street, she was harboured by a friend near the
Tower.' This separation, he insinuates, rose by an estrangement caused
by Johnson's 'indifference in the discharge of the domestic virtues.' It
is far more likely that it rose from destitution.

Shenstone, in a letter written in 1743, gives a curious account of the
streets of London through which Johnson wandered. He says;--'London is
really dangerous at this time; the pickpockets, formerly content with
mere filching, make no scruple to knock people down with bludgeons in
Fleet Street and the Strand, and that at no later hour than eight
o'clock at night; but in the Piazzas, Covent Garden, they come in large
bodies, armed with _couteaus_, and attack whole parties, so that the
danger of coming out of the play-houses is of some weight in the
opposite scale, when I am disposed to go to them oftener than I ought.'
Shenstone's _Works_ (edit.), iii. 73.

[475] 'Savage lodged as much by accident as he dined, and passed the
night sometimes in mean houses, ... and sometimes, when he had not money
to support even the expenses of these receptacles, walked about the
streets till he was weary, and lay down in the summer upon a bulk, or in
the winter, with his associates in poverty, among the ashes of a
glass-house. In this manner were passed those days and those nights
which nature had enabled him to have employed in elevated speculations,
useful studies, or pleasing conversation.' Johnson's _Works_, viii. 159.

[476] See _ante_, p. 94.

[477] Cave was the purchaser of the copyright, and the following is a
copy of Johnson's receipt for the money:--'The 14th day of December,
received of Mr. Ed. Cave the sum of fifteen guineas, in full, for
compiling and writing _The Life of Richard Savage, Esq_., deceased; and
in full for all materials thereto applied, and not found by the said
Edward Cave. I say, received by me, SAM. JOHNSON. Dec. 14, 1743.'
WRIGHT. The title-page is as follows:--'An account of the Life of Mr.
Richard Savage, son of the Earl Rivers. London. Printed for J. Roberts,
in Warwick-Lane. MDCCXLIV. It reached a second edition in 1748, a third
in 1767, and a fourth in 1769. A French translation was published
in 1771.

[478] Roberts published in 1745 Johnson's _Observations on Macbeth_. See
_Gent. Mag_. xv. 112, 224.

[479] Horace, _Ars Poetica_ l. 317.

[480] In the autumn of 1752. Northcote's _Reynolds_ i. 52

[481] _Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides_, 3rd ed. p. 35 [p. 55. Aug.
19, 1773]. BOSWELL.

[482] 'mint _of_ ecstasy:' Savage's _Works_ (1777), ii. 91.

[483] 'He lives to build, not boast a generous race: No tenth
transmitter of a foolish face.' _Ib_.

[484] '_The Bastard_: A poem, inscribed with all due reverence to Mrs.
Bret, once Countess of Macclesfield. By Richard Savage, son of the late
Earl Rivers. London, printed for T. Worrall, 1728.' Fol. first edition.
P. CUNNINGHAM. Between Savage's character, as drawn by Johnson, and
Johnson himself there are many points of likeness. Each 'always
preserved a steady confidence in his own capacity,' and of each it might
be said:--'Whatever faults may be imputed to him, the virtue of
suffering well cannot be denied him.' Each 'excelled in the arts of
conversation and therefore willingly practised them.' In Savage's
refusal to enter a house till some clothes had been taken away that had
been left for him 'with some neglect of ceremonies,' we have the
counterpart of Johnson's throwing away the new pair of shoes that had
been set at his door. Of Johnson the following lines are as true as of
Savage:--'His distresses, however afflictive, never dejected him; in his
lowest state he wanted not spirit to assert the natural dignity of wit,
and was always ready to repress that insolence which the superiority of
fortune incited; ... he never admitted any gross familiarities, or
submitted to be treated otherwise than as an equal.' Of both men it
might be said that 'it was in no time of his life any part of his
character to be the first of the company that desired to separate.' Each
'would prolong his conversation till midnight, without considering that
business might require his friend's application in the morning;' and
each could plead the same excuse that, 'when he left his company, he was
abandoned to gloomy reflections.' Each had the same 'accurate judgment,'
the same 'quick apprehension,' the same 'tenacious memory.' In reading
such lines as the following who does not think, not of the man whose
biography was written, but of the biographer himself?--'He had the
peculiar felicity that his attention never deserted him; he was present
to every object, and regardful of the most trifling occurrences ... To
this quality is to be imputed the extent of his knowledge, compared with
the small time which he spent in visible endeavours to acquire it. He
mingled in cursory conversation with the same steadiness of attention as
others apply to a lecture.... His judgment was eminently exact both with
regard to writings and to men. The knowledge of life was indeed his
chief attainment.' Of Johnson's _London_, as of Savage's _The Wanderer_,
it might equally well be said:--'Nor can it without some degree of
indignation and concern be told that he sold the copy for ten guineas.'

[485] 'Savage was now again abandoned to fortune without any other
friend than Mr. Wilks; a man who, whatever were his abilities or skill
as an actor, deserves at least to be remembered for his virtues, which
are not often to be found in the world, and perhaps less often in his
profession than in others. To be humane, generous, and candid is a very
high degree of merit in any case, but those qualities deserve still
greater praise when they are found in that condition which makes almost
every other man, for whatever reason, contemptuous, insolent, petulant,
selfish, and brutal.' _Johnson's Works_, viii. 107.

[486] In his old age he wrote as he had written in the vigour of his
manhood:--'To the censure of Collier ... he [Dryden] makes little reply;
being at the age of sixty-eight attentive to better things than the
claps of a play-house.' Johnson's _Works_ vii. 295. See _post_, April
29, 1773, and Sept. 21, 1777.

[487] Johnson, writing of the latter half of the seventeenth century,
says:--'The playhouse was abhorred by the Puritans, and avoided by those
who desired the character of seriousness or decency. A grave lawyer
would have debased his dignity, and a young trader would have impaired
his credit, by appearing in those mansions of dissolute licentiousness.'
Johnson's _Works_, vii. 270. The following lines in Churchill's
_Apology_ (_Poems_, i. 65), published in 1761, shew how strong, even at
that time, was the feeling against strolling players:--

'The strolling tribe, a despicable race,
Like wand'ring Arabs shift from place to place.
Vagrants by law, to Justice open laid,
They tremble, of the beadle's lash afraid,
And fawning cringe, for wretched means of life,
To Madam May'ress, or his Worship's Wife.'

[488] Johnson himself recognises the change in the public
estimation:--'In Dryden's time,' he writes, 'the drama was very far from
that universal approbation which it has now obtained.' _Works_,
vii. 270.

[489] Giffard was the manager of the theatre in Goodman's Fields, where
Garrick, on Oct. 19, 1741, made his first appearance before a London
audience. Murphy's _Garrick_, pp. 13, 16.

[490] 'Colonel Pennington said, Garrick sometimes failed in emphasis;
as, for instance, in Hamlet,

"I will speak _daggers_ to her; but use _none_;"

instead of

"I will _speak_ daggers to her; but _use_ none."'

Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 28, 1773.

[491] I suspect Dr. Taylor was inaccurate in this statement. The
emphasis should be equally upon _shalt_ and _not_, as both concur to
form the negative injunction; and _false witness_, like the other acts
prohibited in the Decalogue, should not be marked by any peculiar
emphasis, but only be distinctly enunciated. BOSWELL.

[492] This character of the _Life of Savage_ was not written by Fielding
as has been supposed, but most probably by Ralph, who, as appears from
the minutes of the partners of _The Champion_, in the possession of Mr.
Reed of Staple Inn, succeeded Fielding in his share of the paper, before
the date of that eulogium. BOSWELL. Ralph is mentioned in _The Dunciad_,
iii. 165. A curious account of him is given in Benjamin Franklin's
_Memoirs_, i. 54-87 and 245.

[493] The late Francis Cockayne Cust, Esq., one of his Majesty's
Counsel. BOSWELL.

[494] Savage's veracity was questioned, but with little reason; his
accounts, though not indeed always the same, were generally consistent.
'When he loved any man, he suppressed all his faults: and, when he had
been offended by him, concealed all his virtues: but his characters were
generally true so far as he proceeded; though it cannot be denied that
his partiality might have sometimes the effect of falsehood.' Johnson's
_Works_, viii. 190.

[495] 1697. BOSWELL.

[496] Johnson's _Works_, viii. 98.

[497] The story on which Mr. Cust so much relies, that Savage was a
supposititious child, not the son of Lord Rivers and Lady Macclesfield,
but the offspring of a shoemaker, introduced in consequence of her real
son's death, was, without doubt, grounded on the circumstance of Lady
Macclesfield having, in 1696, previously to the birth of Savage, had a
daughter by the Earl Rivers, who died in her infancy; a fact which was
proved in the course of the proceedings on Lord Macclesfield's Bill of
Divorce. Most fictions of this kind have some admixture of truth in
them. MALONE. From _The Earl of Macclesfield's Case_, it appears that
'Anne, Countess of Macclesfield, under the name of Madam Smith, in Fox
Court, near Brook Street, Holborn, was delivered of a male child on the
16th of January, 1696-7, who was baptized on the Monday following, the
18th, and registered by the name of Richard, the son of John Smith, by
Mr. Burbridge; and, from the privacy, was supposed by Mr. Burbridge to
be "a by-blow or bastard."' It also appears, that during her delivery,
the lady wore a mask; and that Mary Pegler, on the next day after the
baptism, took a male child, whose mother was called Madam Smith, from
the house of Mrs. Pheasant, in Fox Court [running from Brook Street in
Gray's Inn Lane], who went by the name of Mrs. Lee.

Conformable to this statement is the entry in the register of St.
Andrew's, Holborn, which is as follows, and which unquestionably records
the baptism of Richard Savage, to whom Lord Rivers gave his own
Christian name, prefixed to the assumed surname of his mother:--'Jan.
1696-7. Richard, son of John Smith and Mary, in Fox Court, in Gray's Inn
Lane, baptized the 18th.' BINDLEY. According to Johnson's account Savage
did not learn who his parents were till the death of his nurse, who had
always treated him as her son. Among her papers he found some letters
written by Lady Macclesfield's mother proving his origin. Johnson's
_Works_, viii. 102. Why these letters were not laid before the public is
not stated. Johnson was one of the least credulous of men, and he was
convinced by Savage's story. Horace Walpole, too, does not seem to have
doubted it. Walpole's _Letters_, i. cv.

[498] Johnson's _Works_, viii. 97.

[499] _Ib_. p. 142.

[500] Johnson's _Works_, p. 101.

[501] According to Johnson's account (Johnson's _Works_, viii. 102), the
shoemaker under whom Savage was placed on trial as an apprentice was not
the husband of his nursc.

[502] He was in his tenth year when she died. 'He had none to prosecute
his claim, to shelter him from oppression, or call in law to the
assistance of justice.' _Ib_. p. 99.

[503] Johnson's companion appears to have persuaded that lofty-minded
man, that he resembled him in having a noble pride; for Johnson, after
painting in strong colours the quarrel between Lord Tyrconnel and
Savage, asserts that 'the spirit of Mr. Savage, indeed, never suffered
him to solicit a reconciliation: he returned reproach for reproach, and
insult for insult.' [_Ib_. p. 141.] But the respectable gentleman to
whom I have alluded, has in his possession a letter, from Savage, after
Lord Tyrconnel had discarded him, addressed to the Reverend Mr. Gilbert,
his Lordship's Chaplain, in which he requests him, in the humblest
manner, to represent his case to the Viscount. BOSWELL.

[504] 'How loved, how honoured once avails thee not, To whom related, or
by whom begot.'

POPE'S _Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady_.

[505] Trusting to Savage's information, Johnson represents this unhappy
man's being received as a companion by Lord Tyrconnel, and pensioned by
his Lordship, as if posteriour to Savage's conviction and pardon. But I
am assured, that Savage had received the voluntary bounty of Lord
Tyrconnel, and had been dismissed by him, long before the murder was
committed, and that his Lordship was very instrumental in procuring
Savage's pardon, by his intercession with the Queen, through Lady
Hertford. If, therefore, he had been desirous of preventing the
publication by Savage, he would have left him to his fate. Indeed I must
observe, that although Johnson mentions that Lord Tyrconnel's patronage
of Savage was 'upon his promise to lay aside his design of exposing the
cruelty of his mother,' [Johnson's _Works_, viii. 124], the great
biographer has forgotten that he himself has mentioned, that Savage's
story had been told several years before in _The Plain Dealer_; from
which he quotes this strong saying of the generous Sir Richard Steele,
that 'the inhumanity of his mother had given him a right to find every
good man his father.' [_Ib_. p. 104.] At the same time it must be
acknowledged, that Lady Macclesfield and her relations might still wish
that her story should not be brought into more conspicuous notice by the
satirical pen of Savage. BOSWELL.

[506] According to Johnson, she was at Bath when Savage's poem of _The
Bastard_ was published. 'She could not,' he wrote, 'enter the
assembly-rooms or cross the walks without being saluted with some lines
from _The Bastard_. This was perhaps the first time that she ever
discovered a sense of shame, and on this occasion the power of wit was
very conspicuous; the wretch who had without scruple proclaimed herself
an adulteress, and who had first endeavoured to starve her son, then to
transport him, and afterwards to hang him, was not able to bear the
representation of her own conduct; but fled from reproach, though she
felt no pain from guilt, and left Bath with the utmost haste to shelter
herself among the crowds of London.' Johnson's _Works_, viii. 141.

[507] Miss Mason, after having forfeited the title of Lady Macclesfield
by divorce, was married to Colonel Brett, and, it is said, was well
known in all the polite circles. Colley Cibber, I am informed, had so
high an opinion of her taste and judgement as to genteel life, and
manners, that he submitted every scene of his _Careless Husband_ to Mrs.
Brett's revisal and correction. Colonel Brett was reported to be too
free in his gallantry with his Lady's maid. Mrs. Brett came into a room
one day in her own house, and found the Colonel and her maid both fast
asleep in two chairs. She tied a white handkerchief round her husband's
neck, which was a sufficient proof that she had discovered his intrigue;
but she never at any time took notice of it to him. This incident, as I
am told, gave occasion to the well-wrought scene of Sir Charles and Lady
Easy and Edging. BOSWELL. Lady Macclesfield died 1753, aged above 80.
Her eldest daughter, by Col. Brett, was, for the few last months of his
life, the mistress of George I, (Walpole's _Reminiscences_, cv.) Her
marriage ten years after her royal lover's death is thus announced in
the _Gent. Mag_., 1737:--'Sept. 17. Sir W. Leman, of Northall, Bart., to
Miss Brett [Britt] of Bond Street, an heiress;' and again next
month--'Oct. 8. Sir William Leman, of Northall, Baronet, to Miss Brett,
half sister to Mr. Savage, son to the late Earl Rivers;' for the
difference of date I know not how to account; but the second insertion
was, no doubt, made by Savage to countenance his own pretensions. CROKER.

[508] 'Among the names of subscribers to the _Harleian Miscellany_ there
occurs that of "Sarah Johnson, bookseller in Lichfield."'
_Johnsoniana_, p. 466.

[509] A brief account of Oldys is given in the _Gent. Mag_. liv. 161,
260. Like so many of his fellows he was thrown into the Fleet. 'After
poor Oldys's release, such was his affection for the place that he
constantly spent his evenings there.'

[510] In the Feb. number of the _Gent. Mag_. for this year (p. 112) is
the following advertisement:--'Speedily will be published (price 1s.)
_Miscellaneous Observations on the Tragedy of Macbeth_, with remarks on
Sir T.H.'s edition of _Shakespear_; to which is affix'd proposals for a
new edition of _Shakespear_, with a specimen. Printed for J. Roberts in
Warwick Lane.' In the March number (p. 114), under the date of March 31,
it is announced that it will be published on April 6. In spite of the
two advertisements, and the title-page which agrees with the
advertisements, I believe that the Proposals were not published till
eleven years later (see _post_, end of 1756). I cannot hear of any copy
of the _Miscellaneous Observations_ which contains them. The
advertisement is a third time repeated in the April number of the _Gent.
Mag_. for 1745 (p. 224), but the Proposals are not this time mentioned.
Tom Davies the bookseller gives 1756 as the date of their publication
(_Misc. and Fugitive Pieces_, ii. 87). Perhaps Johnson or the
booksellers were discouraged by Hanmer's _Shakespeare_ as well as by
Warburton's. Johnson at the end of the _Miscellaneous Observations_
says:--'After the foregoing pages were printed, the late edition of
_Shakespeare_ ascribed to Sir T. H. fell into my hands.'

[511] 'The excellence of the edition proved to be by no means
proportionate to the arrogance of the editor.' _Cambridge
Shakespeare_, i. xxxiv.

[512] 'When you see Mr. Johnson pray [give] my compliments, and tell him
I esteem him as a great genius--quite lost both to himself and the
world.' _Gilbert Walmesley to Garrick_, Nov. 3, 1746. _Garrick
Correspondence_, i. 45. Mr. Walmesley's letter does not shew that
Johnson was idle. The old man had expected great things from him. 'I
have great hopes,' he had written in 1737 (see _ante_, p. 102), 'that he
will turn out a fine tragedy writer.' In the nine years in which Johnson
had been in town he had done, no doubt, much admirable work; but by his
poem of _London_ only was he known to the public. His _Life of Savage_
did not bear his name. His _Observations on Macbeth_ were published in
April, 1745; his _Plan of the Dictionary_ in 1747 [Transcriber's note:
Originally 1774, corrected in Errata.]. What was Johnson doing
meanwhile? Boswell conjectures that he was engaged on his _Shakespeare_
and his _Dictionary_. That he went on working at his _Shakespeare_ when
the prospect of publishing was so remote that he could not issue his
proposals is very unlikely. That he had been for some time engaged on
his _Dictionary_ before he addressed Lord Chesterfield is shewn by the
opening sentences of the _Plan_. Mr. Croker's conjecture that he was
absent or concealed on account of some difficulties which had arisen
through the rebellion of 1745 is absurd. At no time of his life had he
been an ardent Jacobite. 'I have heard him declare,' writes Boswell,
'that if holding up his right hand would have secured victory at
Culloden to Prince Charles's army, he was not sure he would have held it
up;' _post_, July 14, 1763. 'He had never in his life been in a
nonjuring meeting-house;' _post_, June 9, 1784.