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

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[564] 'On January 9 was published, long wished, another satire from
Juvenal, by the author of _London.' Gent. Mag_. xviii. 598, 9.

[565] Sir John Hawkins, with solemn inaccuracy, represents this poem as
a consequence of the indifferent reception of his tragedy. But the fact
is, that the poem was published on the 9th of January, and the tragedy
was not acted till the 6th of the February following. BOSWELL. Hawkins
perhaps implies what Boswell says that he represents; but if so, he
implies it by denying it. Hawkins's _Johnson_, p. 201.

[566] 'I wrote,' he said, 'the first seventy lines in _The Vanity of
Human Wishes_ in the course of one morning in that small house beyond
the church at Hampstead.' _Works_ (1787), xi. 212.

[567] See _post_ under Feb. 15, 1766. That Johnson did not think that in
hasty composition there is any great merit, is shewn by _The Rambler_,
No. 169, entitled _Labour necessary to excellence_. There he describes
'pride and indigence as the two great hasteners of modern poems.' He
continues:--'that no other method of attaining lasting praise [than
_multa dies et multa litura_] has been yet discovered may be conjectured
from the blotted manuscripts of Milton now remaining, and from the tardy
emission of Pope's compositions.' He made many corrections for the later
editions of his poem.

[568] 'Nov. 25, 1748. I received of Mr. Dodsley fifteen guineas, for
which assign to him the right of copy of an imitation of the _Tenth
Satire of Juvenal_, written by me; reserving to myself the right of
printing one edition. SAM. JOHNSON.'

'London, 29 June, 1786. A true copy, from the original in Dr. Johnson's
handwriting. JAS. DODSLEY. BOSWELL.

_London_ was sold at a shilling a copy. Johnson was paid at the rate of
about 9-1/2_d_. a line for this poem; for _The Vanity of Human Wishes_
at the rate of about 10_d_. a line. Dryden by his engagement with Jacob
Tonson (see Johnson's _Works_, vii. 298) undertook to furnish 10,000
verses at a little over 6_d_. a verse. Goldsmith was paid for _The
Traveller_ L21, or about 11-1/2_d_. a line.

[569] He never published it. See _post_ under Dec. 9, 1784.

[570] 'Jan. 9, 1821. Read Johnson's _Vanity of Human Wishes_,--all the
examples and mode of giving them sublime, as well as the latter part,
with the exception of an occasional couplet. I do not so much admire the
opening. The first line, 'Let observation,' etc., is certainly heavy and
useless. But 'tis a grand poem--and so _true_!--true as the Tenth of
Juvenal himself. The lapse of ages changes all things--time--language--
the earth--the bounds of the sea--the stars of the sky, and everything
"about, around, and underneath" man, _except man himself_. The infinite
variety of lives conduct but to death, and the infinity of wishes lead
but to disappointment.' _Byron_, vol. v. p. 66. WRIGHT. Sir Walter Scott
said 'that he had more pleasure in reading _London_, and _The Vanity of
Human Wishes _than any other poetical composition he could mention.'
Lockhart's _Scott_, iii. 269. Mr. Lockhart adds that 'the last line of
MS. that Scott sent to the press was a quotation from _The Vanity of
Human Wishes_.' Of the first lines

'Let observation with extensive view
Survey mankind from China to Peru,'

De Quincey quotes the criticism of some writer, who 'contends with some
reason that this is saying in effect:--"Let observation with extensive
observation observe mankind extensively."' De Quincey's _Works_, x. 72.

[571] From Mr. Langton. BOSWELL.

[572] In this poem one of the instances mentioned of unfortunate learned
men is _Lydiat_:

'Hear Lydiat's life, and Galileo's end.'

The history of Lydiat being little known, the following account of him
may be acceptable to many of my readers. It appeared as a note in the
Supplement to the _Gent. Mag_. for 1748, in which some passages
extracted from Johnson's poem were inserted, and it should have been
added in the subsequent editions.--A very learned divine and
mathematician, fellow of New College, Oxon, and Rector of Okerton, near
Banbury. He wrote, among many others, a Latin treatise _De Natura call_,
etc., in which he attacked the sentiments of Scaliger and Aristotle, not
bearing to hear it urged, _that some things are true in philosophy and
false in divinity_. He made above 600 Sermons on the harmony of the
Evangelists. Being unsuccessful in publishing his works, he lay in the
prison of Bocardo at Oxford, and in the King's Bench, till Bishop Usher,
Dr. Laud, Sir William Boswell, and Dr. Pink, released him by paying his
debts. He petitioned King Charles I. to be sent into Ethiopia, etc., to
procure MSS. Having spoken in favour of Monarchy and bishops, he was
plundered by the parliament forces, and twice carried away prisoner from
his rectory; and afterwards had not a shirt to shift him in three
months, without he borrowed it, and died very poor in 1646. BOSWELL.

[573] Psalm xc. 12.

[574] In the original _Inquirer_.

[575] '... nonumque prematur in annum.' Horace, _Ars Poet_. l. 388.

[576] 'Of all authors,' wrote Johnson, 'those are the most wretched who
exhibit their productions on the theatre, and who are to propitiate
first the manager and then the public. Many an humble visitant have I
followed to the doors of these lords of the drama, seen him touch the
knocker with a shaking hand, and after long deliberation adventure to
solicit entrance by a single knock.' _Works_, v. 360.

[577] Mahomet was, in fact, played by Mr. Barry, and Demetrius by Mr.
Garrick: but probably at this time the parts were not yet cast. BOSWELL.

[578] The expression used by Dr. Adams was 'soothed.' I should rather
think the audience was _awed_ by the extraordinary spirit and dignity of
the following lines:

'Be this at least his praise, be this his pride,
To force applause no modern arts are tried:
Should partial catcalls all his hopes confound,
He bids no trumpet quell the fatal sound;
Should welcome sleep relieve the weary wit,
He rolls no thunders o'er the drowsy pit;
No snares to captivate the judgement spreads,
Nor bribes your eyes to prejudice your heads.
Unmov'd, though witlings sneer and rivals rail,
Studious to please, yet not asham'd to fail,
He scorns the meek address, the suppliant strain,
With merit needless, and without it vain;
In Reason, Nature, Truth, he dares to trust;
Ye fops be silent, and ye wits be just!'

BOSWELL.

[579] Johnson said of Mrs. Pritchard's playing in general that 'it was
quite mechanical;' _post_, April 7, 1775. See also _post_ under
Sept. 30, 1783.

[580] 'The strangling of Irene in the view of the audience was suggested
by Mr. Garrick.' Davies's _Garrick_, i. 128. Dryden in his _Essay of
Dramatick Poesie_ (edit. 1701, i. 13), says:--'I have observed that in
all our tragedies the audience cannot forbear laughing when the actors
are to die; 'tis the most comick part of the whole play.' 'Suppose your
Piece admitted, acted; one single ill-natured jest from the pit is
sufficient to cancel all your labours.' Goldsmith's _Present State of
Polite Learning_, chap. x.

[581] In her last speech two of the seven lines are very bad:--

'Guilt and despair, pale spectres! grin around me,
And stun me with the yellings of damnation!'

Act v. sc. 9.

[582] Murphy referring to Boswell's statement says:--'The Epilogue, we
are told in a late publication, was written by Sir William Young. This
is a new discovery, but by no means probable. When the appendages to a
Dramatic Performance are not assigned to a friend, or an unknown hand,
or a person of fashion, they are always supposed to be written by the
author of the Play.' Murphy's _Johnson_, p. 154. He overlooks altogether
the statement in the _Gent. Mag_. (xix. 85) that the Epilogue is 'by
another hand.' Mr. Croker points out that the words 'as Johnson informed
me' first appear in the second edition. The wonder is that Johnson
accepted this Epilogue, which is a little coarse and a little profane.
Yonge was Secretary at War in Walpole's ministry. Walpole said of him
'that nothing but Yonge's character could keep down his parts, and
nothing but his parts support his character.' Horace Walpole's
_Letters_, i. 98, note.

[583] I know not what Sir John Hawkins means by the _cold reception_ of
_Irene_. (See note, p. 192.) I was at the first representation, and most
of the subsequent. It was much applauded the first night, particularly
the speech on _to-morrow_ [Act iii. sc. 2]. It ran nine nights at least.
It did not indeed become a stock-play, but there was not the least
opposition during the representation, except the first night in the last
act, where Irene was to be strangled on the stage, which _John_ could
not bear, though a dramatick poet may stab or slay by hundreds. The
bow-string was not a Christian nor an ancient Greek or Roman death. But
this offence was removed after the first night, and Irene went off the
stage to be strangled.--BURNEY.

[584] According to the _Gent. Mag_. (xix. 76) 'it was acted from Monday,
Feb. 6, to Monday, Feb. 20, inclusive.' A letter in the _Garrick
Corres_, (i. 32), dated April 3, 1745, seems to shew that so long a run
was uncommon. The writer addressing Garrick says:--'You have now
performed it [_Tancred_] for nine nights; consider the part, and whether
nature can well support the frequent repetition of such shocks. Permit
me to advise you to resolve not to act upon any account above three
times a week.' Yet against this may be set the following passage in the
_Rambler_, No. l23:--'At last a malignant author, whose performance I
had persecuted through the nine nights, wrote an epigram upon Tape the
critic, which drove me from the pit for ever.' Murphy writing in 1792
said that _Irene_ had not been exhbited on any stage since its first
representation. Murphy's _Johnson_, p. 52.

[585] Mr. Croker says that 'it appears by a MS. note in Isaac Reed's
copy of Murphy's Life, that the receipts of the third, sixth, and ninth
nights, after deducting sixty guineas a night for the expenses of the
house, amounted to L195 17s.: Johnson cleared therefore, with the
copyright, very nearly L300.' _Irene_ was sold at the price of 1s. 6d. a
copy (_Gent. Mag_. xix. 96); so that Dodsley must have looked for a very
large sale.

[586] See _post_, 1780, in Mr. Langton's _Collection_ for Johnson's
estimate of _Irene_ in later life.

[587] Aaron Hill (vol. ii. p. 355), in a letter to Mr. Mallett, gives
the following account of _Irene_ after having seen it: 'I was at the
anomalous Mr. Johnson's benefit, and found the play his proper
representative; strong sense ungraced by sweetness or decorum.' BOSWELL.

[588] See _ante_, p. 102

[589] Murphy (_Life_, p. 53) says that some years afterwards, when he
knew Johnson to be in distress, he asked Garrick why he did not produce
another tragedy for his Lichfield friend? Garrick's answer was
remarkable: "When Johnson writes tragedy, declamation roars, and passion
sleeps: when Shakespeare wrote; he dipped his pen in his own heart."
Johnson was perhaps aware of the causes of his failure as a
tragedy-writer. In his criticism of Addison's _Cato_ he says: 'Of _Cato_
it has been not unjustly determined that it is rather a poem in dialogue
than a drama, rather a succession of just sentiments in elegant language
than a representation of natural affections, or any state probable or
possible in human life ... The events are expected without solicitude,
and are remembered without joy or sorrow.... Its success has introduced
or confirmed among us the use of dialogue too declamatory, of
unaffecting elegance and chill philosophy.' _Works_, vii. 456. 'Johnson
thought: _Cato_ the best model of tragedy we had; yet he used to say, of
all things the most ridiculous would be to see a girl cry at the
representation of it.' Johnson's _Works_ (1787), xi. 207. _Cato_, if
neglected, has added at least eight 'habitual quotations' to the
language (see Thackeray's _English Humourists_, p. 98). _Irene_ has
perhaps not added a single one. It has neverthingless some quotable
lines, such as--

'Crowds that hide a monarch from
himself.' Act i. sc. 4.
'To cant ... of reason to a lover.'
Act iii. sc. 1.
'When e'en as love was breaking
off from wonder,
And tender accents quiver'd on my
lips.' Ib.
'And fate lies crowded in a narrow
space.' Act iii. sc. 6.
'Reflect that life and death, affecting
sounds,
Are only varied modes of endless
being.' Act ii. sc. 8.
'Directs the planets with a careless
nod.' Ib.
'Far as futurity's untravell'd waste.'
Act iv. sc. 1.
'And wake from ignorance the
western world.' Act iv. sc. 2.
'Through hissing ages a proverbial
coward,
The tale of women, and the scorn
of fools.' Act iv. sc. 3.
'No records but the records of the
sky.' Ib.
'... thou art sunk beneath reproach.'
Act v. sc. 2.
'Oh hide me from myself.'
Act v. sc. 3.

[590] Johnson wrote of Milton:--'I cannot but conceive him calm and
confident, little disappointed, not at all dejected, relying on his own
merit with steady consciousness, and waiting without impatience the
vicissitudes of opinion, and the impartiality of a future generation.'
Johnson's _Works_, vii. 108.

[591]

'Genus irritabile vatum.'
'The fretful tribe of rival poets.'

Francis, _Horace_, Ep. ii. 2. 102.

[592] This deference he enforces in many passages in his writings; as
for instance:--'Dryden might have observed, that what is good only
because it pleases, cannot be pronounced good till it has been found to
please.' Johnson's _Works_, vii. 252. 'The authority of Addison is
great; yet the voice of the people, when to please the people is the
purpose, deserves regard.' _Ib_. 376. 'About things on which the public
thinks long, it commonly attains to think right.' _Ib_. 456. 'These
apologies are always useless: "de gustibus non est disputandum;" men may
be convinced, but they cannot be pleased against their will.' _Ib_.
viii. 26. 'Of things that terminate in human life, the world is the
proper judge; to despise its sentence, if it were possible, is not just;
and if it were just, is not possible.' _Ib_. viii. 316. Lord
Chesterfield in writing to his son about his first appearance in the
world said, 'You will be tried and judged there, not as a boy, but as a
man; and from that moment _there is no appeal for character_.' Lord
Chesterfield's _Letters_, iii. 324. Addison in the _Guardian_, No. 98,
had said that 'men of the best sense are always diffident of their
private judgment, till it receives a sanction from the public. _Provoco
ad populum_, I appeal to the people, was the usual saying of a very
excellent dramatic poet, when he had any disputes with particular
persons about the justness and regularity of his productions.' See
_post_, March 23, 1783.

[593] 'Were I,' he said, 'to wear a laced or embroidered waistcoat, it
should be very rich. I had once a very rich laced waistcoat, which I
wore the first night of my tragedy.' Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct.
27, 1773.

[594] 'Topham Beauclerc used to give a pleasant description of this
greenroom finery, as related by the author himself: 'But,' said Johnson,
with great gravity, 'I soon laid aside my gold-laced hat, lest it should
make me proud.' Murphy's _Johnson_, p. 52. In _The Idler_ (No. 62) we
have an account of a man who had longed to 'issue forth in all the
splendour of embroidery.' When his fine clothes were brought, 'I felt
myself obstructed,' he wrote, 'in the common intercourse of civility by
an uneasy consciousness of my new appearance; as I thought myself more
observed, I was more anxious about my mien and behaviour; and the mien
which if formed by care is commonly ridiculous.'

[595] See _ante_, p. 167.

[596] See _post_, 1780, in Mr. Langton's _Collection_.

[597] _The Tatler_ came to an end on Jan 2, 1710-1; the first series of
_The Spectator_ on Dec 6, 1712; and the second series of _The Spectator_
on December 20, 1714.

[598] 'Two new designs have appeared about the middle of this month
[March, 1750], one entitled, _The Tatler Revived; or The Christian
Philosopher and Politician_, half a sheet, price 2_d_. (stamped); the
other, _The Rambler_, three half sheets (un-stamped); price 2_d_.'
_Gent. Mag_. xx. 126.

[599] Pope's _Essay on Man_, ii. 10.

[600] See _post_, under Oct. 12, 1779.

[601] I have heard Dr. Warton mention, that he was at Mr. Robert
Dodsley's with the late Mr. Moore, and several of his friends,
considering what should be the name of the periodical paper which Moore
had undertaken. Garrick proposed _The Sallad_, which, by a curious
coincidence, was afterwards applied to himself by Goldsmith:

'Our Garrick's a sallad, for in him we see
Oil, vinegar, sugar, and saltness agree!'

[_Retaliation_, line II.]

At last, the company having separated, without any thing of which they
approved having been offered, Dodsley himself thought of _The
World_. BOSWELL.

[602] In the original MS. 'in this _my_ undertaking,' and below, 'the
salvation _both_ of myself and others.'

[603] Prayers and Meditations, p. 9. BOSWELL.

[604] In the original folio edition of the _Rambler_ the concluding
paper is dated Saturday, March 17. But Saturday was in fact March 14.
This circumstance is worth notice, for Mrs. Johnson died on the
17th. MALONE.

[605] _Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides_, 3d edit. p. 28. [Aug. 16,
1773]. BOSWELL.

[606] 'Gray had a notion not very peculiar, that he could not write but
at certain times, or at happy moments; a fantastic foppery, to which my
kindness for a man of learning and virtue wishes him to have been
superior.' Johnson's _Works_, viii. 482. See _post_, under April
15, 1758.

[607] Her correspondence with Richardson and Mrs. Carter was published
in 1807.

[608] The correspondence between her and Mrs. Carter was published in
1808.

[609] Dr. Birch says:--'The proprietor of the _Rambler_, Cave, told me
that copy was seldom sent to the press till late in the night before the
day of publication,' Croker's _Boswell_, p. 121, note. See _post_, April
12, 1776, and beginning of 1781.

Johnson carefully revised the _Ramblers_ for the collected edition. The
editor of the Oxford edition of Johnson's _Works_ states (ii. x), that
'the alterations exceeded six thousand.' The following passage from the
last number affords a good instance of this revision.

_First edition_.

'I have never complied with temporary curiosity, nor furnished my
readers with abilities to discuss the topic of the day; I have seldom
exemplified my assertions by living characters; from my papers therefore
no man could hope either censures of his enemies or praises of himself,
and they only could be expected to peruse them, whose passions left them
leisure for the contemplation of abstracted truth, and whom virtue could
please by her native dignity without the assistance of modish
ornaments.' _Gent. Mag_. xxii. 117.

_Revised edition_.

'I have never complied with temporary curiosity, nor enabled my readers
to discuss the topic of the day; I have rarely exemplified my assertions
by living characters; in my papers no man could look for censures of his
enemies, or praises of himself; and they only were expected to peruse
them, whose passions left them leisure for abstracted truth, and whom
virtue could please by its naked dignity.' Johnson's _Works_, iii. 462.

[610] 'Such relicks [Milton's early manuscripts] shew how excellence is
acquired; what we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do
with diligence.' Johnson's _Works_, vii. 119.

[611] Of the first 52 _Ramblers_ 49 were wholly by Johnson; of the last
156, 154. He seems to say that in the first 49, 17 were written from
notes, and in the last 154 only 13.

[612] No. 46.

[613] Hawkins's _Life of Johnson_, p. 268 [p. 265]. BOSWELL.

[614] 'The sly shadow steals away upon the dial, and the quickest eye
can distinguish no more than that it is gone.' Glanville, quoted in
Johnson's _Dictionary_.

[615] This most beautiful image of the enchanting delusion of youthful
prospect has not been used in any of Johnson's essays. BOSWELL.

[616] From Horace (_Ars Poet_. 1. 175) he takes his motto for the
number:--

'Multa ferunt anni venientes commoda secum,
Multa recedentes adimunt.'
The blessings flowing in with life's full tide
Down with our ebb of life decreasing glide.'

FRANCIS.

[617] Lib. xii. 96 [95]. 'In Tuccam aemulum omnium suorum studiorum.'
MALONE.

[618] 'There never appear,' says Swift, 'more than five or six men of
genius in an age; but if they were united, the world could not stand
before them.' Johnson's _Works_, iv. 18.

[619] In the first edition this is printed [Greek: o philoi on philos];
in the second, [Greek: o philoi on philos]; in the 'Corrections' to the
second, we find 'for [Greek: o] read [Greek: oi];' in the third it is
printed as above. In three editions we have therefore five readings of
the first word. See _post_, April 15, 1778, where Johnson says:

'An old Greek said, "He that has friends has no friend,"' and April 24,
1779, where he says: 'Garrick had friends but no friend.'

[620]

'gravesque
Principum amicitias.'
'And fatal friendships of the guilty
great.'

FRANCIS, Horace, _Odes_, ii. 1. 4.

[621] 3 _Post_, under Jan. 1, 1753.

[622] Sir John Hawkins has selected from this little collection of
materials, what he calls the 'Rudiments of two of the papers of the
_Rambler_.' But he has not been able to read the manuscript distinctly.
Thus he writes, p. 266, 'Sailor's fate any mansion;' whereas the
original is 'Sailor's life my aversion.' He has also transcribed the
unappropriated hints on _Writers for bread_, in which he decyphers these
notable passages, one in Latin, _fatui non famae_, instead of _fami non
famae_; Johnson having in his mind what Thuanus says of the learned
German antiquary and linguist, Xylander, who, he tells us, lived in such
poverty, that he was supposed _fami non famae scribere_; and another in
French, _Degente de fate [fatu] et affame a'argent_, instead of _Degoute
de fame_, (an old word for _renommee_) _et affame d'argent_. The
manuscript being written in an exceedingly small hand, is indeed very
hard to read; but it would have been better to have left blanks than to
write nonsensc. BOSWELL.

[623] When we know that of the 208 _Ramblers_ all but five were written
by Johnson, it is amusing to read a passage in one of Miss Talbot's
letters to Mrs. Carter, dated Oct. 20, 1750:--'Mr. Johnson would, I
fear, be mortified to hear that people know a paper of his own by the
sure mark of somewhat a little excessive, a little exaggerated in the
expression.' _Carter Corres_. i. 357.

[624] The _Ramblers_ certainly were little noticed at first. Smart, the
poet, first mentioned them to me as excellent papers, before I had heard
any one else speak of them. When I went into Norfolk, in the autumn of
1751, I found but one person, (the Rev. Mr. Squires, a man of learning,
and a general purchaser of new books,) who knew anything of them. Before
I left Norfolk in the year 1760, the _Ramblers_ were in high favour
among persons of learning and good taste. Others there were, devoid of
both, who said that the _hard words_ in the _Rambler_ were used by the
authour to render his _Dictionary_ indispensably necessary. BURNEY. We
have notices of the _Rambler_ in the _Carter Corres_:--'May 28, 1750.
The author ought to be cautioned not to use over many hard words. In
yesterday's paper (a very pretty one indeed) we had _equiponderant, and
another so hard I cannot remember it [adscititious], both in one
sentence.' 'Dec. 17, 1750:--Mr. Cave complains of him for not admitting
correspondents; this does mischief. In the main I think he is to be
applauded for it. But why then does he not write now and then on the
living manners of the times?' In writing on April 22, 1752, just after
the _Rambler_ had come to an end, Miss Talbot says:--'Indeed 'tis a sad
thing that such a paper should have met with discouragement from wise
and learned and good people too. Many are the disputes it has cost me,
and not once did I come off triumphant.' Mrs. Carter replied:--'Many a
battle have I too fought for him in the country, out with little
success.' Murphy says:--'of this excellent production the number sold on
each day did not amount to five hundred; of course the bookseller, who
paid the author four guineas a week, did not carry on a successful
trade.' Murphy's _Johnson_, p. 59.

[625] Richardson wrote to Cave on Aug. 9, 1750, after forty-one numbers
had appeared:--'I hope the world tastes them; for its own sake I hope
the world tastes them. The author I can only guess at. There is but one
man, I think, that could write them.' _Rich. Corres_, i. 165. Cave
replied:--'Mr. Johnson is the _Great Rambler_, being, as you observe,
the only man who can furnish two such papers in a week, besides his
other great business.' He mentioned the recommendation it received from
high quarters, and continued:--'Notwithstanding, whether the price of
two-pence, or the unfavourable season of their first publication hinders
the demand, no boast can be made of it.' Johnson had not wished his name
to be known. Cave says that 'Mr. Carrick and others, who knew the
author's powers and style from the first, unadvisedly asserting their
suspicions, overturned the scheme of secrecy.' _Ib_. pp. 168-170.