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

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[1114] At one of these seats Dr. Amyat, Physician in London, told me he
happened to meet him. In order to amuse him till dinner should be ready,
he was taken out to walk in the garden. The master of the house,
thinking it proper to introduce something scientifick into the
conversation, addressed him thus: 'Are you a botanist, Dr. Johnson:'
'No, Sir, (answered Johnson,) I am not a botanist; and, (alluding no
doubt, to his near sightedness) should I wish to become a botanist, I
must first turn myself into a reptile.' BOSWELL.

[1115] Mrs. Piozzi (_Anec_. 285) says:--'The roughness of the language
used on board a man of war, where he passed a week on a visit to Captain
Knight, disgusted him terribly. He asked an officer what some place was
called, and received for answer that it was where the loplolly man kept
his loplolly; a reply he considered as disrespectful, gross and
ignorant.' Mr. Croker says that Captain Knight of the _Belleisle_ lay
for a couple of months in 1762 in Plymouth Sound. Croker's _Boswell_, p.
480. It seems unlikely that Johnson passed a whole week on ship-board.
_Loplolly_, or _Loblolly_, is explained in _Roderick Random_, chap.
xxvii. Roderick, when acting as the surgeon's assistant on a man of war,
'suffered,' he says, 'from the rude insults of the sailors and petty
officers, among whom I was known by the name of _Lobolly Boy_.'

[1116] He was the father of Colonel William Mudge, distinguished by his
trigonometrical survey of England and Wales. WRIGHT.

[1117] 'I have myself heard Reynolds declare, that the elder Mr. Mudge
was, in his opinion, the wisest man he had ever met with in his life. He
has always told me that he owed his first disposition to generalise, and
to view things in the abstract, to him.' Northcote's _Reynolds_, i.
112, 115.

[1118] See _post_, under March 20, 1781.

[1119] See _ante_, p. 293. BOSWELL.

[1120] The present Devonport.

[1121] A friend of mine once heard him, during this visit, exclaim with
the utmost vehemence 'I _hate_ a Docker.' BLAKEWAY. Northcote (Life of
Reynolds, i. 118) says that Reynolds took Johnson to dine at a house
where 'he devoured so large a quantity of new honey and of clouted
cream, besides drinking large potations of new cyder, that the
entertainer found himself much embarrassed between his anxious regard
for the Doctor's health and his fear of breaking through the rules of
politeness, by giving him a hint on the subject. The strength of
Johnson's constitution, however, saved him from any unpleasant
consequences.' 'Sir Joshua informed a friend that he had never seen Dr.
Johnson intoxicated by hard drinking but once, and that happened at the
time that they were together in Devonshire, when one night after supper
Johnson drank three bottles of wine, which affected his speech so much
that he was unable to articulate a hard word, which occurred in the
course of his conversation. He attempted it three times but failed; yet
at last accomplished it, and then said, "Well, Sir Joshua, I think it is
now time to go to bed."' _Ib_. ii. 161. One part of this story however
is wanting in accuracy, and therefore all may be untrue. Reynolds at
this time was not knighted. Johnson said (_post_, April 7, 1778): 'I did
not leave off wine because I could not bear it; I have drunk three
bottles of port without being the worse for it. University College has
witnessed this.' See however _post_, April 24, 1779, where he said:--'I
used to slink home when I had drunk too much;' also _ante_, p. 103, and
_post_, April 28, 1783.

[1122] George Selwyn wrote:--'Topham Beauclerk is arrived. I hear he
lost L10,000 to a thief at Venice, which thief, in the course of the
year, will be at Cashiobury.' (The reference to this quotation I
have mislaid.)

[1123] Two years later he repeated this thought in the lines that he
added to Goldsmith's _Traveller_. _Post_, under Feb. 1766.

[1124] We may compare with this what 'old Bentley' said:--'Depend upon
it, no man was ever written down but by himself.' Boswell's _Hebrides_,
Oct. 1, 1773.

[1125] The preliminaries of peace between England and France had been
signed on Nov. 3 of this year. _Ann Reg_. v. 246.

[1126] Of Baretti's _Travels through Spain, &c_., Johnson wrote to Mrs.
Thrale:--'That Baretti's book would please you all I made no doubt. I
know not whether the world has ever seen such _Travels_ before. Those
whose lot it is to ramble can seldom write, and those who know how to
write very seldom ramble.' _Piozzi_ Letters, i. 32.

[1127] See _ante_, p. 370.

[1128] See _ante_, p. 242, note 1.

[1129] Huggins had quarrelled with Johnson and Baretti (Croker's
_Boswell_, 129, note). See also _post_, 1780, in Mr. Langton's
_Collection_.

[1130] See _ante_, p. 370.

[1131] Cowper, writing in 1784 about Collins, says:--'Of whom I did not
know that he existed till I found him there'--in the _Lives of the
Poets_, that is to say. Southey's _Cowper_, v. II.

[1132] To this passage Johnson, nearly twenty years later, added the
following (_Works_, viii. 403):--'Such was the fate of Collins, with
whom I once delighted to converse, and whom I yet remember with
tenderness.'

[1133] 'MADAM. To approach the high and the illustrious has been in all
ages the privilege of Poets; and though translators cannot justly claim
the same honour, yet they naturally follow their authours as attendants;
and I hope that in return for having enabled TASSO to diffuse his fame
through the British dominions, I may be introduced by him to the
presence of YOUR MAJESTY.

TASSO has a peculiar claim to YOUR MAJESTY'S favour, as follower and
panegyrist of the House of _Este_, which has one common ancestor with
the House of HANOVER; and in reviewing his life it is not easy to
forbear a wish that he had lived in a happier time, when he might, among
the descendants of that illustrious family, have found a more liberal
and potent patronage.

I cannot but observe, MADAM, how unequally reward is proportioned to
merit, when I reflect that the happiness which was withheld from TASSO
is reserved for me; and that the poem which once hardly procured to its
authour the countenance of the Princess of Ferrara, has attracted to its
translator the favourable notice of a BRITISH QUEEN.

Had this been the fate of TASSO, he would have been able to have
celebrated the condescension of YOUR MAJESTY in nobler language, but
could not have felt it with more ardent gratitude, than MADAM, Your
MAJESTY'S Most faithful and devoted servant.'--BOSWELL.

[1134] Young though Boswell was, he had already tried his hand at more
than one kind of writing. In 1761 he had published anonymously an _Elegy
on the Death of an Amiable Young Lady_, with an _Epistle from Menalcas
to Lycidas_. (Edinburgh, Donaldson.) The Elegy is full of such errors as
'Thou liv'd,' 'Thou led,' but is recommended by a puffing preface and
three letters--one of which is signed J--B. About the same time he
brought out a piece that was even more impudent. It was _An Ode to
Tragedy_. By a gentleman of Scotland. (Edinburgh, Donaldson, 1761. Price
sixpence.) In the 'Dedication to James Boswell, Esq.,' he says:--'I have
no intention to pay you compliments--To entertain agreeable notions of
one's own character is a great incentive to act with propriety and
spirit. But I should be sorry to contribute in any degree to your
acquiring an excess of self-sufficiency ... I own indeed that when ...
to display my extensive erudition, I have quoted Greek, Latin and French
sentences one after another with astonishing celerity; or have got into
my _Old-hock humour_ and fallen a-raving about princes and lords,
knights and geniuses, ladies of quality and harpsichords; you, with a
peculiar comic smile, have gently reminded me of the _importance of a
man to himself_, and slily left the room with the witty Dean lying open
at--P.P. _clerk of this parish_. [Swift's _Works_, ed. 1803, xxiii.
142.] I, Sir, who enjoy the pleasure of your intimate acquaintance, know
that many of your hours of retirement are devoted to thought.' The _Ode_
is serious. He describes himself as having

'A soul by nature formed to feel Grief sharper than the tyrant's steel,
And bosom big with swelling thought From ancient lore's
remembrance brought.'

In the winter of 1761-2 he had helped as a contributor and part-editor
in bringing out a _Collection of Original Poems_. (_Boswell and
Erskine's Letters_, p. 27.) His next publication, also anonymous, was
_The Club at Newmarket_, written, as the Preface says, 'in the Newmarket
Coffee Room, in which the author, being elected a member of the Jockey
Club, had the happiness of passing several sprightly good-humoured
evenings.' It is very poor stuff. In the winter of 1762-3 he joined in
writing the _Critical Strictures_, mentioned _post_, June 25, 1763. Just
about the time that he first met Johnson he and his friend the Hon.
Andrew Erskine had published in their own names a very impudent little
volume of the correspondence that had passed between them. Of this I
published an edition with notes in 1879, together with Boswell's
_Journal of a Tour to Corsica_. (Messrs. Thos. De La Rue & Co.).

[1135] Boswell, in 1768, in the preface to the third edition of his
_Corsica_ described 'the warmth of affection and the dignity of
veneration' with which he never ceased to think of Mr. Johnson.

[1136] In the _Garrick Carres_, (ii. 83) there is a confused letter from
this unfortunate man, asking Garrick for the loan of five guineas. He
had a scheme for delivering dramatic lectures at Eton and Oxford; 'but,'
he added, 'my externals have so unfavourable an appearance that I cannot
produce myself with any comfort or hope of success.' Garrick sent him
five guineas. He had been a Major in the army, an actor, and dramatic
author. 'For the last seven years of his life he struggled under
sickness and want to a degree of uncommon misery.' _Gent. Mag_. for
1784, p. 959.

[1137] As great men of antiquity such as Scipio _Africanus_ had an
epithet added to their names, in consequence of some celebrated action,
so my illustrious friend was often called _DICTIONARY JOHNSON_, from
that wonderful atchievement of genius and labour, his _Dictionary of the
English Language_; the merit of which I contemplate with more and more
admiration. BOSWELL. In like manner we have 'Hermes Harris,' 'Pliny
Melmoth,' 'Demosthenes Taylor,' 'Persian Jones,' 'Abyssinian Bruce,'
'Microscope Baker,' 'Leonidas Glover,' 'Hesiod Cooke,' and
'Corsica Boswell.'

[1138] See _ante_, p. 124. He introduced Boswell to Davies, who was 'the
immediate introducer.' _Post_, under June 18, 1783, note.

[1139] On March 2, 1754 (not 1753), the audience called for a repetition
of some lines which they applied against the government. 'Diggs, the
actor, refused by order of Sheridan, the manager, to repeat them;
Sheridan would not even appear on the stage to justify the prohibition.
In an instant the audience demolished the inside of the house, and
reduced it to a shell.' Walpole's _Reign of George II_, i. 389, and
_Gent. Mag_. xxiv. 141. Sheridan's friend, Mr. S. Whyte, says
(_Miscellanea Nova, p. 16):--'In the year 1762 Sheridan's scheme for an
_English Dictionary_ was published. That memorable year he was nominated
for a pension.' He quotes (p. 111) a letter from Mrs. Sheridan, dated
Nov. 29, 1762, in which she says:--'I suppose you must have heard that
the King has granted him a pension of 200L. a year, merely as an
encouragement to his undertaking.'

[1140] See _post_, March 28, 1776.

[1141] Horace Walpole describes Lord Bute as 'a man that had passed his
life in solitude, and was too haughty to admit to his familiarity but
half a dozen silly authors and flatterers. Sir Henry Erskine, a military
poet, Home, a tragedy-writing parson,' &c. _Mem. of the Reign of George
III_, i. 37.

[1142] See _post_, March 28, 1776.

[1143] 'Native wood-_notes_ wild.' Milton's _L'Allegro_, l. 134

[1144]

'In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas
Corpora. Di coeptis (nam vos mutastis et illas)
Adspirate meis.'
'Of bodies changed to various forms I sing:--
Ye Gods from whence these miracles did spring
Inspired, &c.'--DRYDEN, Ov. _Met_. i.i.

See _post_ under March 30, 1783, for Lord Loughborough.

[1145] See _post_, May 17, 1783, and June 24, 1784. Sheridan was not of
a forgiving nature. For some years he would not speak to his famous son:
yet he went with his daughters to the theatre to see one of his pieces
performed. 'The son took up his station by one of the side scenes,
opposite to the box where they sat, and there continued, unobserved, to
look at them during the greater part of the night. On his return home he
burst into tears, and owned how deeply it had gone to his heart, "to
think that _there_ sat his father and his sisters before him, and yet
that he alone was not permitted to go near them."' Moore's
_Sheridan_, i. 167.

[1146] As Johnson himself said:--'Men hate more steadily than they love;
and if I have said something to hurt a man once, I shall not get the
better of this by saying many things to please him.' _Post_, Sept.
15, 1777.

[1147] P. 447. BOSWELL. 'There is another writer, at present of gigantic
fame in these days of little men, who has pretended to scratch out a
life of Swift, but so miserably executed as only to reflect back on
himself that disgrace which he meant to throw upon the character of the
Dean.' _The Life of Doctor Swift_, Swift's _Works_, ed. 1803, ii. 200.
There is a passage in the _Lives of the Poets_ (_Works_, viii. 43) in
which Johnson might be supposed playfully to have anticipated this
attack. He is giving an account of Blackmore's imaginary _Literary Club
of Lay Monks_, of which the hero was 'one Mr. Johnson.' 'The rest of the
_Lay Monks_,' he writes, 'seem to be but feeble mortals, in comparison
with the gigantick Johnson.' See also _post_, Oct. 16, 1769. Horace
Walpole (_Letters_, v. 458) spoke no less scornfully than Sheridan of
Johnson and his contemporaries. On April 27, 1773, after saying that he
should like to be intimate with Anstey (the author of the _New Bath
Guide_), or with the author of the _Heroic Epistle_, he continues:--'I
have no thirst to know the rest of my contemporaries, from the absurd
bombast of Dr. Johnson down to the silly Dr. Goldsmith; though the
latter changeling has had bright gleams of parts, and the former had
sense, till he changed it for words, and sold it for a pension. Don't
think me scornful. Recollect that I have seen Pope and lived with Gray.'

[1148] Johnson is thus mentioned by Mrs. Sheridan in a letter dated,
Blois, Nov. 16, 1743, according to the _Garrick Corres_, i. 17, but the
date is wrongly given, as the Sheridans went to Blois in 1764: 'I have
heard Johnson decry some of the prettiest pieces of writing we have in
English; yet Johnson is an honourable man--that is to say, he is a good
critic, and in other respects a man of enormous talents.'

[1149] My position has been very well illustrated by Mr. Belsham of
Bedford, in his _Essay on Dramatic Poetry_. 'The fashionable doctrine
(says he) both of moralists and criticks in these times is, that virtue
and happiness are constant concomitants; and it is regarded as a kind of
dramatick impiety to maintain that virtue should not be rewarded, nor
vice punished in the last scene of the last act of every tragedy. This
conduct in our modern poets is, however, in my opinion, extremely
injudicious; for, it labours in vain to inculcate a doctrine in theory,
which every one knows to be false in fact, _viz_. that virtue in real
life is always productive of happiness; and vice of misery. Thus
Congreve concludes the Tragedy of _The Mourning Bride_ with the
following foolish couplet:--

'For blessings ever wait on virtuous deeds,
And though a late, a sure reward succeeds.'

'When a man eminently virtuous, a Brutus, a Cato, or a Socrates, finally
sink under the pressure of accumulated misfortune, we are not only led
to entertain a more indignant hatred of vice than if he rose from his
distress, but we are inevitably induced to cherish the sublime idea that
a day of future retribution will arrive when he shall receive not merely
poetical, but real and substantial justice.' _Essays Philosophical,
Historical, and Literary_, London, 1791, vol. II. 8vo. p. 317.

This is well reasoned and well expressed. I wish, indeed, that the
ingenious authour had not thought it necessary to introduce any
_instance_ of 'a man eminently virtuous;' as he would then have avoided
mentioning such a ruffian as Brutus under that description. Mr. Belsham
discovers in his _Essays_ so much reading and thinking, and good
composition, that I regret his not having been fortunate enough to be
educated a member of our excellent national establishment. Had he not
been nursed in nonconformity, he probably would not have been tainted
with those heresies (as I sincerely, and on no slight investigation,
think them) both in religion and politicks, which, while I read, I am
sure, with candour, I cannot read without offence. BOSWELL. Boswell's
'position has been illustrated' with far greater force by Johnson. 'It
has been the boast of some swelling moralists, that every man's fortune
was in his own power, that prudence supplied the place of all other
divinities, and that happiness is the unfailing consequence of virtue.
But surely the quiver of Omnipotence is stored with arrows against which
the shield of human virtue, however adamantine it has been boasted, is
held up in vain; we do not always suffer by our crimes; we are not
always protected by our innocence.' _The Adventurer_, No. 120. See also
_Rasselas_, chap. 27.

[1150] 'Charles Fox said that Mrs. Sheridan's _Sydney Biddulph_ was the
best of all modern novels. By the by [R. B.] Sheridan used to declare
that _he_ had never read it.' Rogers's _Table-Talk_, p. 90. The editor
says, in a note on this passage:--'The incident in _The School for
Scandal_ of Sir Oliver's presenting himself to his relations in disguise
is manifestly taken by Sheridan from his mother's novel.'

[1151] No. 8.--The very place where I was fortunate enough to be
introduced to the illustrious subject of this work, deserves to be
particularly marked. I never pass by it without feeling reverence and
regret. BOSWELL.

[1152] Johnson said:--'Sir, Davies has learning enough to give credit to
a clergyman.' _Post_, 1780, in Mr. Langton's _Collection_. The spiteful
Steevens thus wrote about Davies:--'His concern ought to be with the
outside of books; but Dr. Johnson, Dr. Percy, and some others have made
such a coxcomb of him, that he is now hardy enough to open volumes, turn
over their leaves, and give his opinions of their contents. Did I ever
tell you an anecdote of him? About ten years ago I wanted the Oxford
_Homer_, and called at Davies's to ask for it, as I had seen one thrown
about his shop. Will you believe me, when I assure you he told me "he
had but one, and that he kept for _his own reading_?"' _Garrick
Corres_. i. 608.

[1153] Johnson, writing to Beattie, _post_, Aug 21, 1780, says:--'Mr.
Davies has got great success as an author, generated by the corruption
of a bookseller.' His principal works are _Memoirs of Garrick_, 1780,
and _Dramatic Miscellanies_, 1784.

[1154] Churchill, in the _Rosciad_, thus celebrated his wife and mocked
his recitation:--

'With him came mighty Davies. On my life
That Davies hath a very pretty wife:--
Statesman all over!--In plots famous grown!--
He mouths a sentence, as curs mouth a bone.'

Churchill's _Poems_, i. 16.

See _post_, under April 20, 1764, and March 20, 1778. Charles Lamb in a
note to his _Essay on the Tragedies of Shakespeare_ says of Davies, that
he 'is recorded to have recited the _Paradise Lost_ better than any man
in England in his day (though I cannot help thinking there must be some
mistake in this tradition).' Lamb's _Works_, ed. 1840, p. 517.

[1155] See Johnson's letter to Davies, _post_, June 18, 1783.

[1156] Mr. Murphy, in his _Essay on the Life and Genius of Dr. Johnson_,
[p. 106], has given an account of this meeting considerably different
from mine, I am persuaded without any consciousness of errour. His
memory, at the end of near thirty years, has undoubtedly deceived him,
and he supposes himself to have been present at a scene, which he has
probably heard inaccurately described by others. In my note _taken on
the very day_, in which I am confident I marked every thing material
that passed, no mention is made of this gentleman; and I am sure, that I
should not have omitted one so well known in the literary world. It may
easily be imagined that this, my first interview with Dr. Johnson, with
all its circumstances, made a strong impression on my mind, and would be
registered with peculiar attention. BOSWELL.

[1157] See _post_, April 8, 1775.

[1158] That this was a momentary sally against Garrick there can be no
doubt; for at Johnson's desire he had, some years before, given a
benefit-night at his theatre to this very person, by which she had got
two hundred pounds. Johnson, indeed, upon all other occasions, when I
was in his company, praised the very liberal charity of Garrick. I once
mentioned to him, 'It is observed, Sir, that you attack Garrick
yourself, but will suffer nobody else to do it.' JOHNSON, (smiling)
'Why, Sir, that is true.' BOSWELL. See _post_, May 15, 1776, and
April 17, 1778.

[1159] By Henry Home, Lord Kames, 3 vols. Edinburgh, 1762. See _post_,
Oct. 16, 1769. 'Johnson laughed much at Lord Kames's opinion that war
was a good thing occasionally, as so much valour and virtue were
exhibited in it. "A fire," says Johnson, "might as well be thought a
good thing; there is the bravery and address of the firemen employed in
extinguishing it; there is much humanity exerted in saving the lives and
properties of the poor sufferers; yet after all this, who can say a fire
is a good thing?"' Johnson's _Works_, (1787) xi. 209.

[1160] No. 45 of the _North Briton_ had been published on April 23.
Wilkes was arrested under a general warrant on April 30. On May 6 he was
discharged from custody by the Court of Common Pleas, before which he
had been brought by a writ of _Habeas Corpus_. A few days later he was
served with a subpoena upon an information exhibited against him by the
Attorney-General in the Court of King's Bench. He did not enter an
appearance, holding, as he said, the serving him with the subpoena as a
violation of the privilege of parliament. _Parl. Hist_. xv. 1360.

[1161] Mr. Sheridan was then reading lectures upon Oratory at Bath,
where Derrick was Master of the Ceremonies; or, as the phrase is, KING.
BOSWELL. Dr. Parr, who knew Sheridan well, describes him 'as a
wrong-headed, whimsical man.' 'I remember,' he continues, 'hearing one
of his daughters, in the house where I lodged, triumphantly repeat
Dryden's _Ode upon St. Cecilia's Day_, according to the instruction
given to her by her father. Take a sample:--

"_None_ but the brave
None but the _brave_.
None _but_ the brave deserve the fair."

Naughty Richard [R. B. Sheridan], like Gallio, seemed to care nought for
these things.' Moore's _Sheridan_, i. 9, 11. Sheridan writing from
Dublin on Dec. 7, 1771, says:--'Never was party violence carried to such
a height as in this session; the House [the Irish House of Parliament]
seldom breaking up till eleven or twelve at night. From these contests
the desire of improving in the article of elocution is become very
general. There are no less than five persons of rank and fortune now
waiting my leisure to become my pupils.' _Ib_. p. 60. See _post_,
July 28, 1763.

[1162] Bonnell Thornton. See _post_ July 1, 1763.

[1163] Lloyd was one of a remarkable group of Westminster boys. He was a
school-fellow not only of Churchill, the elder Colman, and Cumberland,
buy also of Cowper and Warren Hastings. Bonnell Thornton was a few years
their senior. Not many weeks after this meeting with Boswell, Lloyd was
in the Fleet prison. Churchill in _Indepence_(_Poems_ ii 310) thus
addresses the Patrons of the age:--

'Hence, ye vain boasters, to the Fleet repair
And ask, with blushes ask if Lloyd is there.'

Of the four men who thus enlivened Boswell, two were dead before the end
of the following year. Churchill went first. When Lloyd heard of his
death, '"I shall follow poor Charles," was all he said, as he went to
the bed from which he never rose again.' Thornton lived three or four
years longer, Forster's _Essays_, ii 217, 270, 289. See also his _Life
of Goldsmith_ i. 264, for an account how 'Lloyd invited Goldsmith to sup
with some friends of Grub Street, and left him to pay the reckoning.'
Thornton, Lloyd, Colman, Cowper, and Joseph Hill, to whom Cowper's
famous _Epistle_ was addressed, had at one time been members of the
Nonsense Club. Southey's _Cowper_, i. 37.

[1164] The author of the well-known sermons, see _post_, under Dec. 21,
1776.

[1165] See _post_, under Dec. 9, 1784.

[1166] See _post_, Feb. 7, 1775, under Dec. 24, 1783, and Boswell's
_Hebrides_, Nov. 10, 1773.