 Section 23 of The Life of Samuel Johnson, Volume 1. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, visit LibriVox.org. Read by Michael Yorshaw. The Life of Samuel Johnson, Volume 1 by James Boswell, Section 23. A casual coincidence with other writers or an adoption of a sentiment or image which has been found in the writings of another and afterwards appears in the mind as one's own is not infrequent. The richness of Johnson's fancy which could supply his page abundantly on all occasions and the strength of his memory which at once detected the real owner of any thought made him less liable to the imputation of plagiarism than perhaps any of our writers. In The Euler, however, there is a paper in which conversation is assimilated to a bowl of punch where there is the same train of comparison as in a poem by Blacklock in his collection published in 1756 in which a parallel is ingeniously drawn between human life and that liquor. It ends, say then, physicians of each kind who cure the body or the mind. What harm in drinking can there be since punch and life so well agree? To the idler, when collected in volumes, he added beside the essay on epitaphs and the dissertation on those of Pope an essay on the bravery of the English common soldiers. He, however, omitted one of the original papers which in the folio copy is number 22. To the Reverend Mr. Thomas Wharton. Dear sir, your notes upon my poet were very acceptable. I beg that you will be so kind as to continue your searches. It will be reputable to my work and suitable to your professorship to have something of yours in the notes. As you have given no directions about your name, I shall therefore put it. I wish your brother would take the same trouble. The commentary must arise from the fortuitous discoveries of many men in devious walks of literature. Some of your remarks are on plays already printed, but I propose to add an appendix of notes so that nothing comes too late. You give yourself too much uneasiness, dear sir, about the loss of the papers. The loss is nothing if nobody has found them, nor even then perhaps if the numbers be none. You are not the only friend that has had the same mischance. You may repair your want out of a stock which is deposited with Mr. Allen of Magland Hall, or out of a parcel which I have just sent to Mr. Chambers for the use of anybody that will be so kind as to want them. Mr. Langston's are well, and Ms. Roberts, whom I have at last brought to speak, upon the information which you gave me that she had something to say. I am, et cetera, Sam Johnson, London, April 14, 1758. Do the same. Dear sir, you will receive this by Mr. Beretti, a gentleman particularly entitled to the notice and kindness of the professor of poetry. He has time but for a short stay, and will be glad to have it filled up with as much as he can hear and see. In recommending another to your favor, I ought not to omit thanks for the kindness which you have shown to myself. Have you any more notes on Shakespeare? I shall be glad of them. I see your pupil sometimes. His mind is as exalted as his stature. I am half afraid of him, but he is no less amiable than formidable. He will, if the forwardness of his spring be not blasted, be a credit to you and to the university. He brings some of my plays with him, which he has my permission to show you on condition you will hide them from everybody else. I am, dear sir, et cetera, Sam Johnson, London, June 1, 1758. To Bennett Langdon Esquire of Trinity College, Oxford. Dear sir, though I might have expected to hear from you upon your entrance into a new state of life at a new place, yet recollecting, not without some degree of shame, that I owe you a letter upon an old account, I think it my part to write first. This indeed I do not only from complaisance, but from interest. For living on in the old way, I am very glad of a correspondent so capable as yourself to diversify the hours. You have at present too many novelties about you to need any help from me to drive along your time. I know not anything more pleasant or more instructive than to compare experience with expectation, or to register from time to time the difference between idea and reality. It is by this kind of observation that we grow daily less liable to be disappointed. You, who are very capable of anticipating futurity and raising phantoms before your own eyes, must often have imagined to yourself an academic life and have conceived what would be the manners, the views, and the conversation of men devoted to letters, how they would choose their companions, how they would direct their studies, and how they would regulate their lives. Let me know what you expected and what you have found. At least record it to yourself before custom has reconciled you to the scenes before you and the disparity of your discoveries to your hopes has vanished from your mind. It is a rule never to be forgotten that whatever strikes strongly should be described while the first impression remains fresh upon the mind. I love, dear sir, to think on you and therefore should willingly write more to you, but that the post will not now give me leave to do more than send my compliments to Mr. Wharton and tell you that I am, dear sir, most affectionately your very humble servant, Sam Johnson. June 28, 1757. To Bennett Langton, Esquire at Langton, near Spillsby, Lincolnshire. Dear sir, I should be sorry to think that what engrosses the attention of my friend should have no part of mine. Your mind is now full of the fate of Dury, but his fate is past and nothing remains but to try what reflection will suggest to mitigate the terrors of a violent death, which is more formidable at the first glance than on a nearer and more steady view. The violent death is never very painful. The only danger is lest it should be unprovided. But if a man can be supposed to make no provision for death in war, what can be the state that would have awakened him to the care of futurity? When would that man have prepared himself to die who went to seek death without preparation? What then can be the reason why we lament more him that dies of a wound than him that dies of a fever? A man that languishes with disease ends his life with more pain but with less virtue. He leaves no example to his friends, nor bequeats any honor to his descendants. The only reason why we lament a soldier's death is that we think he might have lived longer. Yet this cause of grief is common to many other kinds of death which are not so passionately bewailed. The truth is that every death is violent, which is the effect of accident. Every death which is not gradually brought on by the miseries of age, or when life is extinguished for any other reason than that it is burnt out. He that dies before sixty, of a cold or consumption, dies in reality by a violent death. Yet his death is born with patience only because the cause of his untimely end is silent and invisible. Let us endeavor to see things as they are and then inquire whether we ought to complain. Whether to see life as it is will give us much consolation, I know not. But the consolation which is drawn from truth, if any there be, is solid and durable. That which may be derived from error must be, like its original, fallacious and fugitive. I am, dear, dear sir, your most humble servant, Sam Johnson, September 21, 1758. 1759, 8.50. In 1759, in the month of January, his mother died at the great age of ninety, an event which deeply affected him. Not that his mind had acquired no firmness by the contemplation of mortality, but that his reverential affection for her was not abated by years, as indeed he retained all his tender feelings even to the latest period of his life. I have been told that he regretted much as not having gone to visit his mother for several years previous to her death, but he was constantly engaged in literary labors which confined him to London. And though he had not the comfort of seeing his aged parent, he contributed liberally to her support. Soon after this event he wrote his Rassilis, Prince of Abyssinia, concerning the publication of which Sir John Hawkins guesses vaguely and idly, instead of having taken the trouble to inform himself with authentic precision. Not to trouble my readers with a repetition of the knight's reveries, I have to mention that the late Mr. Strahan the printer told me that Johnson wrote it that with the prophets he might defray the expense of his mother's funeral and pay some little debts which she had left. He told Sir Joshua Reynolds that he composed it in the evenings of one week, sent it to the press in portions as it was written, and had never since read it over. Mr. Strahan, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Dotsley purchased it for a hundred pounds, but afterwards paid him twenty-five pounds more when it came to a second edition. Considering the large sums which have been received for compilations and works requiring not much more genius than compilations, we cannot but wonder at the very low price which he was content to receive for this admirable performance, which, though he had written nothing else, would have rendered his name immortal in the world of literature. None of his writings has been so extensively diffused over Europe, for it has been translated into most if not all of the modern languages. This tale with all the charms of Oriental imagery and the force and beauty of which the English language is capable leads us through the most important scenes of human life and shows us that this stage of our being is full of vanity and vexation of spirit. To those who look no further than the present life or who maintain that human nature has not fallen from the state in which it was created, the instruction of this sublime story will be of no avail. But they who think justly and feel with strong sensibility will listen with eagerness and admiration to its truth and wisdom. Voltaire's Candide, written to refute the system of optimism, which it has accomplished with brilliant success, is wonderfully similar in its plan and conduct to Johnson's Rassilis. In so much that I have heard Johnson say that if they had not been published so closely one after the other that there was not time for imitation, it would have been in vain to deny that the scheme of that which came latest was taken from the other. Though the proposition illustrated by both of these works was the same, namely that in our present state there is more evil than good, the intention of the writers was very different. Voltaire, I am afraid, meant only by wanton profaneness to obtain a sportive victory over religion and to discredit the belief of a superintending providence. Johnson meant by showing the unsatisfactory nature of things temporal to direct the hopes of man to things eternal. Rassilis, as was observed to me by a very accomplished lady, may be considered as a more enlarged and more deeply philosophical discourse in prose upon the interesting truth which in his vanity of human wishes he had so successfully enforced in verse. The fund of thinking which this work contains is such that almost every sentence of it may furnish a subject of long meditation. I am not satisfied if a year passes without my having read it through and at every perusal my admiration of the mind which produced it is so highly raised that I can scarcely believe that I had the honor of enjoying the intimacy of such a man. I restrain myself from quoting passages from this excellent work or even referring to them because I should not know what to select or rather what to omit. I shall, however, transcribe one as it shows how well he could state the arguments of those who believe in the appearance of departed spirits, a doctrine which it is a mistake to suppose that he himself ever positively held. If all your fear be of apparitions, said the Prince, I will promise you safety. There is no danger from the dead. He that is once buried will be seen no more. That the dead are seen no more, said Imlak. I will not undertake to maintain against the concurrent and unvaried testimony of all ages and of all nations. There is no people rude or learned among whom apparitions of the dead are not related and believed. This opinion which prevails as far as human nature is diffused could become universal only by its truth. Those that never heard of one another would not have agreed in a tale which nothing but experience can make credible, that it is doubted by single cavaliers can very little weaken the general evidence and some who deny it with their tongues confess it by their fears. Notwithstanding my high admiration of Rassilis, I will not maintain that the morbid melancholy in Johnson's constitution may not perhaps have made life appear to him more insipid and unhappy than it generally is, for I am sure that he had less enjoyment from it than I have. Yet, whatever additional shade his own particular sensations may have thrown on his representation of life, attentive observation and close inquiry have convinced me that there is too much of reality in the gloomy picture. The truth, however, is that we judge of the happiness and misery of life differently at different times according to the state of our changeable frame. I always remember a remark made to me by a Turkish lady educated in France. This I have learnt from a pretty hard course of experience and would from sincere benevolence impress upon all who honour this book with a perusal that until a steady conviction is obtained that the present life is an imperfect state and only a passage to a better if we comply with the divine scheme of progressive improvement and also that it is a part of the mysterious plan of providence that intellectual beings must be made perfect through suffering. There will be a continual recurrence of disappointment and uneasiness. But if we walk with hope in the midday sun of Revelation our temper and disposition will be such that the comforts and enjoyments in our way will be relished while we patiently support the inconveniences and pains. After much speculation and various reasonings I acknowledge myself convinced of the truth of Voltaire's conclusion operae tu se un mon pasable but we must not think too deeply. Where ignorance is bliss, tis folly to be wise is in many respects more than poetically just. Let us cultivate under the command of good principles la théorie des sassions agréable and as Mr. Burke once admirably counseled a grave and anxious gentleman live pleasant. The effect of Rassilis and of Johnson's other moral tales is thus beautifully illustrated by Mr. Courtney. Impressive truth in splendid fiction dressed checks the vain wish and calms the troubled breast or the dark mind a light celestial throws and soothes the angry passions to repose as oil effues the looms and smooths the deep when round the bark the swelling surges sweep. It will be recollected that during all this year he carried on his idler and no doubt was proceeding though slowly in his edition of Shakespeare. He however from that liberality which never failed when called upon to assist other laborers in literature found time to translate for Mrs. Lennox's English version of Brumoy a dissertation on the Greek comedy and the general conclusion of the book. Note this paper was in such high estimation before it was collected into volumes that it was seized on with avidity by various publishers of newspapers and magazines to enrich their publications. Johnson to put a stop to this unfair proceeding wrote for the universal chronicle the following advertisement in which there is perhaps more pomp of words than the occasion demanded. London January 5 1759 advertisement the proprietors of the paper entitled the idler having found that those essays are inserted in the newspapers and magazines with so little regard to justice or decency that the universal chronicle in which they first appear is not always mentioned think it necessary to declare to the publishers of those collections that however patiently they have hitherto endured these injuries made yet more injurious by contempt they have now determined to endure them no longer. They have already seen essays for which a very large price is paid transferred with the most shameless capacity into the weekly or monthly compilations and they're right at least for the present alienated from them before they could themselves be said to enjoy it but they would not willingly be thought to want tenderness even for men by whom no tenderness has been shown. The past is without remedy and shall be without resentment but those who have been thus busy with their sickles in the fields of their neighbors are hence forward to take notice that the time of impunity is at an end. Whoever shall, without our leave, lay the hand of rapine upon our papers is to expect that we shall vindicate our due by the means which justice prescribes and which are warranted by the immemorial prescriptions of honorable trade. We shall lay hold in our turn on their copies degrade them from the pomp of wide margin and diffuse typography contract them into a narrow space and sell them at an humble price yet not with a view of growing rich by confiscations for we think not much better of money got by punishment than by crimes. We shall therefore, when our losses are repaid give what profit shall remain to the Maddolens for we know not who can be more properly taxed for the support of penitent prostitutes than prostitutes in whom there yet appears neither penitence nor shame. End of note. An inquiry into the state of foreign countries was an object that seems at all times to have interested Johnson. Hence Mr. Newberry found no great difficulty in persuading him to write the introduction to a collection of voyages and travels published by him under the title of The World Displayed. The first volume of which appeared this year and the remaining volumes in subsequent years. I would ascribe to this year the following letter to a son of one of his early friends at Litchfield Mr. Joseph Simpson Barrister and author of a tract entitled Reflections on the Study of Law. If you married imprudently you miscarried at your own hazard at an age when you had a right of choice. It would be hard if the man might not choose his own wife who has a right to plead before the judges of his country. If your imprudence has ended in difficulties and inconveniences you are yourself to support them with the help of a little better health you would support them and conquer them. Surely that want which accident and sickness produces is to be supported in every region of humanity though there were neither friends nor fathers in the world. You have certainly from your father the highest claim of charity though none of right and therefore I would counsel you to omit no decent nor manly degree of importunity. Your debts in the hole are not large and of the hole but a small part are awesome. Small debts are like small shot. They are rattling on every side and can scarcely be escaped without a wound. Great debts are like cannon of loud noise but little danger. You must therefore be enabled to discharge petty debts that you may have leisure with security to struggle with the rest. Neither the great nor little debts disgrace you. I am sure you have my esteem for the courage with which you contracted them and the spirit with which you endure them. I wish my esteem could be of more use. I have been invited or have invited myself to several parts of the kingdom and will not incommode my dear Lucy by coming to Lichfield while her present lodging is of any use to her. I hope in a few days to be at leisure and to make visits. Whether I shall fly is matter of no importance. A man unconnected is at home everywhere unless he may be said to be at home nowhere. I am sorry dear sir that where you have parents of your merits should not have an home. I wish I could give it to you. I am my dear sir affectionately yours, Sam Johnson. He now refreshed himself by an excursion to Oxford of which the following short characteristical notice in his own words is preserved. Blank is now making tea for me. I have been in my gown ever since I came here. It was at my first coming quite new and handsome. I have swum thrice which I had disused for many years. I have proposed to Van Sitar climbing over the wall but he has refused me and I have clapped my hands till they are sore at Dr. King's speech. His negro servant Francis Barber having left him and been some time at sea not pressed as has been supposed but with his own consent it appears from a letter to John Wilkes Esquire from Dr. Smollett that his master kindly interested himself in procuring his release from a state of life of which Johnson always expressed the utmost abhorrence. He said, no man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail for being in a ship is being in a jail with the chance of being drowned and at another time a man in a jail has more room better food and commonly better company. The letter was as follows Chelsea March 16th, 1759 Dear sir, I am again your petitioner in behalf of that great chum of literature Samuel Johnson his black servant whose name is Francis Barber has been pressed on board the stag frigate Captain Angel and our lexicographer is in great distress. He says the boy is a sickly lad of a delicate frame and particularly subject to a malady in his throat which renders him very unfit for his majesty's service. You know what manner of animosity the said Johnson has against you and I dare say you desire no other opportunity of resenting it than that of laying him under an obligation. He was humble enough to desire my assistance on this occasion though he and I were never cater cousins and I gave him to understand that I would make application to my friend Mr. Wilkes who perhaps by his interest with Dr. Hay and Mr. Elliott might be able to procure the discharge of his lackey. It would be superfluous to say more on the subject which I leave to your own consideration but I cannot let slip this opportunity of declaring that I am with the most inviolable esteem and attachment dear sir your affectionate obliged humble servant T. Smollett. Mr. Wilkes who upon all occasions has acted as a private gentleman with most polite liberality applied to his friend Sir George Hay then one of the Lord's commissioners of the Admiralty and Francis Barber was discharged as he has told me without any wish of his own. He found his old master in chambers in the inner temple and returned to his service. What particular new scheme of life Johnson had in view this year I have not discovered but that he meditated one of some sort is clear from his private devotions in which we find the change of outward things which I am now to make and grant me the grace of thy Holy Spirit that the course which I am now beginning may proceed according to thy laws and end in the enjoyment of thy favor but he did not in fact make any external or visible change. At this time there being a competition among the architects of London to be employed in the building of Blackfriars Bridge a question was very warmly agitated whether semi circular or elliptical arches were preferable. In the design offered by Mr. Milne the elliptical form was adopted and therefore it was the great object of his rivals to attack it. Johnson's regard for his friend Mr. Gwyn induced him to engage in this controversy against Mr. Milne and after being at considerable pains to study the subject he wrote three several letters in the gazetteer in opposition to his plan. If it should be remarked that this was a controversy which lay quite out of Johnson's way let it be remembered that after all is employing his powers of reasoning and eloquence upon a subject which he had studied on the moment is not more strange than what we often observe in lawyers who as quick quid Agon-Homénez is the matter of lawsuits are sometimes obliged to pick up a temporary knowledge of an art or science of which they understood nothing till their brief was delivered and appear to be much masters of it. In like manner members of the legislature frequently introduce and expaciate upon subject of which they have informed themselves for the occasion end of section 23 read by Michael Yorshaw Los Angeles California This is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The life of Samuel Johnson Volume 1 by James Boswell Section 24 1760 In 1760 he wrote an address of the painters to George III on his ascension to the throne of these kingdoms which no monarch ever ascended with more sincere congratulations from his people. Two generations of foreign princes had prepared their minds to rejoice in having again a king who gloried in being born a Britain He also wrote for Mr. Barretti the dedication of his Italian and English dictionary to the Marquis of Ebreu then envoy extraordinary from Spain at the court of Great Britain. Johnson was now neither very idle nor very busy with his Shakespeare for I can find no other public composition by him except an introduction to the proceedings by the Committee for Clothing the French Prisoners one of the many proofs that he was ever awake to the calls of humanity and an account which he gave in the gentleman's magazine of Mr. Titler's acute and able vindication of Mary, Queen of Scots The generosity of Johnson's feelings shines forth in the following sentence It has now been fashionable for near half a century to defame and vilify most of Stuart and to exult and magnify the reign of Elizabeth The Stuart's have found few apologists for the dead cannot pay for praise and who will without reward oppose the tide of popularity Yet there remains among us not wholly extinguished a zeal for truth a desire of establishing right in opposition to fashion In this year I have not discovered a single private letter written by him to any of his friends It should seem, however, that he had at this period a floating intention of writing a history of the recent and wonderful successes of the British arms in all quarters of the globe for among his resolutions or memorandums September 18th quote send for books for his of war unquote How much is it to be regretted that he was not fulfilled His majestic expression would have carried down to the latest posterity the glorious achievements of his country with the same fervent glow which they produced on the mind of the time He would have been under no temptation to deviate in any degree from truth which he held very sacred or to take a license which a learned divine told me he once seemed in a conversation jocularly to allow to historians quote there are, said he inexcusable lies and consecrated lies for instance, we are told that on the arrival of the news of the unfortunate battle of Fontenoy every heart beat and every eye was in tears now we know that no man eat his dinner the worse but there should have been all this concern and to say there was smiling here may be reckoned a consecrated lie unquote this year Mr. Murphy having thought himself ill-treated by the Reverend Dr. Franklin who was one of the writers of the critical review published an indignant vindication in a poetical epistle to Samuel Johnson AM in which he compliments Johnson in a just and elegant manner quote prolific vein near new the frigid poet's toil and pain to whom Apollo opens all his store and every muse presents her sacred lore say, powerful Johnson once thy verses fraught with so much grace and such energy of thought whether thy juvenile instructs the age in chaser numbers and new points his rage or fair Irene sees alas too late her innocence exchanged for guilty state whatever you write in every golden line sublimity and elegance combine thy nervous phrase impresses every soul while harmony gives rapture to the whole end quote again toward the conclusion quote thou then my friend who sees the dangerous strife in which some demon bids me plunge to the aeonian fount direct my feet say where the nine thy lonely musings meet where warbles to thy ear the sacred throng thy moral sense thy dignity of song tell for you can by what unerring art you wake to finer feelings every heart in each bright page some truth important give and bid to future times thy rambler live end quote I take this opportunity to relate the manner in which an acquaintance first commenced between Dr. Johnson and Mr. Murphy during the publication of The Grey's Inn Journal a periodical paper which was successfully carried on by Mr. Murphy alone when a very young man he happened to be in the country with Mr. Foot and having mentioned that he was obliged to go to London in order to get ready for the press in one of the numbers that journal Foot said to him quote you need not to go on that account here's a French magazine in which you will find a very pretty oriental tale translate that and send it to your printer end quote Mr. Murphy having read the tale was highly pleased with it and followed Foot's advice when he returned to town this tale was pointed out to him in the rambler from once it had been translated into the French magazine Mr. Murphy then waited upon Johnson to explain this curious incident his talents, literature and gentlemen-like manners were soon perceived by Johnson and a friendship was formed which was never broken quote dear sir you that travel about the world have more materials for letters than I who stay at home and should therefore write with frequency equal to your opportunities I should be glad to have all England surveyed by you if you would impart your observations and narratives as agreeable as your last knowledge is always to be wished to those who can communicate it well while you have been riding and running and seeing the tombs of the learned and the camps of the valiant I have only stayed at home and intended to do great things which I have not done Bo went away to Cheshire and has not yet found his way back chambers past the vacation at Oxford I am very sincerely solicitous for the preservation or curing of Mr. Langton's sight and I am glad that the surgeon at Coventry gives him so much hope Mr. Sharp is of opinion that the tedious maturation of the cataract is a vulgar error and that it may be removed as soon as it is formed this notion deserves to be considered I doubt whether it be universally true but if it be true in some cases and those cases can be distinguished it may save a long and uncomfortable delay of dear Mrs. Langton you give me no account which is less friendly as you know how highly I think of her and how much I interest myself in her health I suppose you told her of my opinion and likewise it was not followed however I still believe it to be right let me hear from you again wherever you are or whatever you are doing whether you wander or sit still plant trees or make rustics play with your sisters or mews alone and in return I will tell you the successes of Sheridan who at this instant is playing Kato and has already played Richard twice he had more company the second than the first tonight and will make I believe a good figure in the whole though his faults seem to be very many some of natural deficience and some of laborious affectation he has I think no power of assuming either that dignity or elegance which some men who have little of either in common life can exhibit on the stage his voice when strained is unpleasing and when low is not always heard he seems to think too much on the audience and turns his face too often to the galleries however I wish him well and among other reasons because I like his wife make haste to write to dear sir your most affectionate servant Sam Johnson October 18th 1760 end quote in 1761 Johnson appears to have done little he was still no doubt proceeding in his edition of Shakespeare but what advances he made in it cannot be ascertained he certainly was at this time not active for in his scrupulous examination of himself on Easter Eve he laments in his too rigorous mode of censuring his own conduct that his life since the communion of the preceding Easter had been quote dissipated and useless unquote he however contributed this year the preface to Roth's dictionary of trade and commerce in which he displays such a clear and comprehensive knowledge of the subject as might lead the reader to think that its author had devoted all his life to it I asked him whether he knew much of Rolt and of his work quote sir said he I never saw the man and never read the book the booksellers wanted to preface to a dictionary of trade and commerce I knew very well what such a dictionary should be and I wrote to preface accordingly end quote who wrote a great deal for the booksellers was as Johnson told me a singular character though not in the least acquainted with him he used to say quote I am just come from Sam Johnson end quote this was a sufficient specimen of his vanity and impudence but he gave a more eminent proof of it in our sister kingdom as Dr. Johnson informed me when besides pleasures of the imagination first came out he did not put his name to the poem Rolt went over to Dublin published an edition of it and put his own name to it upon the fame of this he lived for several months being entertained at the best tables as quote the ingenious Mr. Rolt end quote his conversation indeed did not discover much of the fire of a poet but it was recollected that both Addison and Thompson were equally dull till excited by wine Atkinside having been informed of this imposition vindicated his right by publishing the poem with its real author's name several instances of such literary fraud have been detected the Reverend Dr. Campbell of St. Andrews wrote an inquiry into the original moral virtue the manuscript of which he sent to Mr. Ines a clergyman in England who was his countryman and acquaintance Ines published it with his own name to it and before the imposition was discovered obtained a considerable promotion as reward of his merit note I have had inquiry made in Ireland as to the story but do not find it recollected there I give it on the authority of Dr. Johnson to which may be added that of the biographical dictionary and biographia dramatica in both of which it has stowed for many years Mr. Malone observes that the truth probably is not that in addition was published with Rolt's name in the title page but that the poem being then anonymous Rolt acquiesced in its being attributed to him in conversation end of note the celebrated Dr. Hugh Blair and his cousin Mr. George Banatine one students in divinity wrote a poem entitled the resurrection copies of which were handed about in manuscript they were at length very much surprised to see a pompous edition of it in folio dedicated to the Princess Dowager of Wales by a Dr. Douglas as his own some years ago a little novel entitled the man of feeling was assumed by Mr. Eccles a young Irish clergyman who was afterwards drowned near Bath he had been at the pains to transcribe the whole book with blottings interlinations and corrections that it might be shown to several people as an original it was in truth the production of Mr. Henry Mackenzie an attorney in the X Checker at Edinburgh who is the author of several other ingenious pieces but the belief with regard to Mr. Eccles became so general that it was thought necessary for Messieurs Strahan and Cadel to publish an advertisement in the newspapers contradicting the report and mentioning that they purchased the copyright of Mr. Mackenzie I can conceive this kind of fraud to be very easily practiced with successful effrontery the affiliation of a literary performance is difficult of proof seldom is there any witness present at its birth a man either in confidence or by improper means obtains possession of a copy of it in manuscript and boldly publishes it as his own the true author in many cases may not be able to make his title clear Johnson indeed from the peculiar features of his literary offspring might bid defiance to any attempt to appropriate them to others quote but Shakespeare's magic could not copied be within that circle none derst walk but he end quote he this year lent his friendly to correct and improve a pamphlet written by Mr. Gwyn the architect entitled thoughts on the coronation of George the third Johnson had now for some years admitted Mr. Beretti to his intimacy nor did their friendship cease upon their being separated by Mr. Beretti's revisiting his native country as appears from Johnson's letters to him quote you Mr. Joseph Beretti at Milan you reproach me very often with parsimony of writing but you may discover by the extent of my paper that I designed to recompense rarity by length a short letter to a distant friend is in my opinion an insult like that of a slight bow or cursory salutation a proof of unwillingness to do much even where there is a necessity of doing something yet it must be remembered that he who continues the same course of life in the same place will have little to tell one week and one year are very much like one another the silent changes made by time are not always perceived and if they are not perceived cannot be recounted I have risen and lain down talked and mused while you have roved over a considerable part of Europe yet I have not envied my Beretti any of his pleasures though perhaps I have envied others his company and I am glad to have other nations made acquainted with the character of the English by a traveler who has so nicely inspected our manners and so successfully studied our literature I received your kind letter from Falmouth in which you gave me notice of your departure for Lisbon and another from Lisbon in which you told me that you were to leave Portugal in a few days to either of these how could any answer be returned I have had a third from Turin complaining that I have not answered the former your English style still continues in its purity and vigor with vigor your genius will supply it but its purity must be continued by close attention to use two languages familiarly and without contaminating one by the other is very difficult and to use more than two is hardly to be hoped the praises which some have received for their multiplicity of languages may be sufficient to excite industry but can hardly generate confidence I know not whether I can heartily rejoice at the kind reception which you have found or at the popularity to which you are exalted I am willing that your merit should be distinguished but cannot wish that your affections may be gained I would have you happy wherever you are yet I would have you wish to return to England if ever you visit us again you will find the kindness of your friends undiminished to tell you how many inquiries are made after you would be tedious or if not tedious would be vain because you may be told in a very few words that all who knew you wish you well and that all you embraced at your departure will caress you at your return therefore do not let Italian academicians nor Italian ladies drive us from your thoughts you may find among us what you will leave behind soft smiles and easy sonnets yet I shall not wonder if all our invitations should be rejected for there is a pleasure in being considerable at home which is not easily resisted by conducting Mr. Southwell to Venice you fulfilled I know the original contract yet I would wish you not wholly to lose him from your notice but to recommend him to such acquaintance as may best secure him from suffering by his own follies and to take such general care of both his safety and his interest as may come within your power his relations will thank you for any such gratuitous attention at least they will not blame you for any evil that may happen whether they thank you or not for any good you know that we have a new king and a new parliament of the new parliament Fitz Herbert is a member we were so weary of our old king that we are very much pleased with his successor of whom we are so much inclined to hope great things that most of us begin already to believe them the young man is hitherto blameless but it would be unreasonable to expect much from the immaturity of juvenile years and the ignorance of princely education he has been long in the hands of the Scots and has already favoured them more than the English will contentedly endure but perhaps he scarcely knows whom he has distinguished or whom he has disgusted the artists have instituted a yearly exhibition of pictures and statues in imitation as I am told by foreign academies this year was the second exhibition they pleased themselves much with the multitude of spectators and imagine that the English school will rise in reputation Reynolds is without a rival and continues to add thousands to thousands which he deserves among other excellencies by retaining his kindness for Barretti again has filled the heads of the artists and lovers of art surely life if it be not long is tedious since we are forced to call in the assistance of so many trifles to rid us of our time of that time which never can return I know my Barretti will not be satisfied with a letter in which I give him no account of myself what account shall I give him I have not since the day of our separation suffered or done anything considerable the only change in my way of life is that I have frequented the theatre more than in former seasons but I have gone thither only to escape from myself we have had many new farces and the comedy called the jealous wife which though not written with much genius was yet so well adapted to the stage and so well exhibited by the actors that it was crowded for near twenty nights I am digressing from myself to the playhouse but a barren plan must be filled with episodes of myself I have nothing to say but that I have hitherto lived without the concurrence of my own judgment yet I continue to flatter myself when you return you will find me mended I do not wonder that where the monastic life is permitted every order finds votaries and every monastery inhabitants men will submit to any rule by which they may be exempted from the tyranny of priests and of chants they are glad supply by external authority their own want of constancy and resolution and court the government of others when long experience has convinced them of their own inability to govern themselves if I were to visit Italy my curiosity would be more attracted by convents than by palaces though I am afraid that I should find expectation in both places equally disappointed and life in both places supported with impatience and quitted with reluctance that it must so soon be quitted with powerful remedy against impatience but what shall free us from reluctance those who have endeavored to teach us to die well have taught few to die willingly yet I cannot but hope that a good life might end at last in a contented death you see to what a train of thought I am drawn by the mention of myself let me now turn my attention upon you I hope that you take care to keep an exact journal and to register all occurrences and observations for your friends here expect such a book of travels as has not been often seen you have given us good specimens in your letters from Lisbon I wish you had stayed longer in Spain for no country is less known to the rest of Europe but the quickness of your discernment must make amends for the celerity of your motions he that knows which way to direct his view sees much right to me very often and I will not neglect to write to you and I may perhaps in time get something to write at least you will know by my letters whatever else they may have or want that I continue to be your most affectionate friend Sam Johnson London June 10th 1761 end quote end of section 24 you have been listening to the life of Samuel Johnson volume 1 by James Boswell section 25 of the life of Samuel Johnson volume 1 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer visit LibriVox.org read by Janice in Georgia the life of Samuel Johnson volume 1 by James Boswell section 25 1762 a tat 53 in 1762 he wrote for the Reverend Dr. Kennedy rector of Bradley and Darby Shear in a strain of very courtly elegance a dedication to the king of that gentleman's work entitled a complete system of astronomical chronology unfolding the scriptures he had certainly looked at this work before it was printed for the concluding paragraph is undoubtedly of his composition of which let my readers judge thus have I endeavored to free religion and history from the darkness of a disputed and uncertain chronology from difficulties which have hitherto appeared insuperable and darkness which no luminary of learning has hitherto been able to dissipate I have established the truth of the mosaic account by evidence which no transcription can corrupt no negligence can lose and no interest can pervert I have shown that the universe bears witness to the inspiration of its historian of its orbs and the succession of its seasons that the stars in their courses fight against incredulity that the works of God give hourly confirmation to the law, the prophets and the gospel of which one day telleth another and one night certifyeth another and that the validity of the sacred writings can never be denied while the moon shall increase in wane and the sun shall know his going down he this year wrote also the dedication to the Earl of Middlesex of Mrs. Linux's female Quixote and the preface to the catalogue of the artist's exhibition the following letter which on account of its intrinsic merit it would have been unjust both to Johnson and the public to have withheld was obtained for me by the solicitation of my friend Mr. Seward to Dr. Staunton now Sir George Staunton Baronet Dear Sir I make haste to answer your kind letter in hope of hearing again from you before you leave us I cannot but regret that a man of your qualification should find it necessary to seek an establishment which if a piece should restore to the French I shall think it some alleviation of the loss that it must restore likewise Dr. Staunton to the English it is a melancholy consideration that so much of our time is necessarily to be spent upon the care of the living and that we can seldom obtain ease in one respect but by resigning it in another yet I suppose we are by this dispensation not less happy in the whole than if the spontaneous bounty of nature poured all that we want into our hands a few if they were thus left to themselves would perhaps spend their time in laudable pursuits but the greater part would prey upon the quiet of each other or in the want of other objects would prey upon themselves this however is our condition which we must improve and solace as we can and though we cannot choose always our place of residence we may in every place find rational amusements and possess in every place the comforts of piety and a pure conscience in America there is little to be observed except curiosities the new world must have many vegetables and animals with which philosophers are but little acquainted I hope you will furnish yourself with some books of natural history and some glasses and other instruments of observation trust as little as you can to report examine all you can by your own senses I do not doubt but you will be able to add much to knowledge and perhaps to medicine wild nations trust to symbols and perhaps the Peruvian bark is not the only specific which those extensive regions may afford us wherever you are and whatever be your fortune be certain dear sir that you carry with you my kind wishes and that whether you return hither to hear that you are happy will give pleasure to sir your most affectionate humble servant Samuel Johnson June 1st 1762 a lady having at this time solicited him to obtain the Archbishop of Canterbury's patronage to have her son sent to the university one of those solicitations which are too frequent where people anxious for a particular object do not consider propriety or the opportunity which the persons whom they solicit have to assist them he wrote to her the following answer with a copy of which I am favored by the Reverend Dr. Farmer master of Immanuel College Cambridge Madam, I hope you will believe that my delay in answering your letter could proceed only from my unwillingness to destroy any hope that you had formed. Hope is itself a species of happiness and perhaps the chief happiness which this world affords but like all other pleasures immoderately enjoyed the excesses of hope must be expiated by pain and expectations improperly indulged must end in disappointment if it be asked proper expectation which it is dangerous to indulge experience will quickly answer that it is such expectation as is dictated not by reason but by desire expectation raised not by the common occurrences of life but by the wants of the expectant an expectation that requires the common course of things to be changed and the general rules of action to be broken. When you made your request to me you should have considered Madam what you were asking you ask me to solicit a great man to whom I never spoke for a young person whom I had never seen upon a supposition which I had no means of knowing to be true there is no reason why amongst all the great I should choose to supplicate the archbishop nor why among all the possible objects of his bounty the archbishop should choose your son. I know Madam how unwillingly conviction is admitted when interest opposes it but surely Madam you must allow that there is no reason why that should be done by me which every other man may do with equal reason properly without some very particular relation both to the archbishop and to you if I could help you in this exigence by any proper means it would give me pleasure but this proposal is so very remote from all usual methods that I cannot comply with it but at the risk of such answer and suspicions as I believe you do not wish me to undergo I have seen your son this morning he seems a pretty youth and will perhaps find some better friend than I can procure him but though he should at last miss the university he may still be wise useful and happy I am Madam your most humble servant Samuel Johnson June 8, 1762 2. Mr. Joseph Barretti at Milan London July 20, 1762 Sir however justly you may accuse me for want of punctuality and correspondence I am not so far lost in negligence as to omit the opportunity of writing to you which Mr. Bochler passage through Milan affords me I suppose you receive the idlers and I intend that you shall soon receive Shakespeare that you may explain his works to the ladies of Italy and tell them the story of the editor among the other strange narratives with which your long residence in this unknown region has supplied you as you have now been long away I suppose your curiosity may pant for some news of your old friends Miss Williams and I live much as we did Miss Cotterill continues to cling to Mrs. Porter and Charlotte is now big of the fourth child Mr. Reynolds gets six thousands a year Levitt is lately married not without much suspicion that he has been wretchedly cheated in his match Mr. Chambers is gone this day for the first time Mr. Rogers Mr. Richardson is dead of an apoplexy and his second daughter has married a merchant my vanity or my kindness makes me flatter myself that you would rather hear of me than of those whom I have mentioned but of myself I have very little which I care to tell last winter I went down to my native town to the border than I thought I had left them inhabited by a new race of people to whom I was very little known my playfellows were grown old and forced me to suspect that I was no longer young my only remaining friend has changed his principles and was become the tool of the predominant faction my daughter-in-law from whom I expected most met with sincere benevolence has lost the beauty and gaiety of youth without having gained much of the wisdom of age I wandered about for five days and took the first convenient opportunity of returning to a place where if there is not much happiness there is at least such a diversity of good and evil that slight vexations do not fix upon the heart I think in a few weeks to try another excursion though to what end let me know, my Barretti what has been the result of your return to your own country whether time has made any alteration for the better and whether when the first raptures of salutation were over you did not find your thoughts confess their disappointment moral sentences appeared ostentatious and tumored when they have no greater occasion than the journey of a witt to his own town yet such pleasures and such pains make up the general mass of life and as nothing is little to him that feels it with great sensibility a mind able to see common incidents in their real state is disposed by very common incidents to some very serious contemplations let us trust that a time will come when the present moment shall be no longer irksome when we shall not borrow all our happiness from hope which at last is to end in disappointment I beg that you will show Mr. Bochlerk all the civilities which you have in your power for he has always been kind to me I have lately seen Mr. Bico, professor of Padua who has told me of your quarrel with an abbot of the Celestine order but had not the particulars very ready in his memory when you write to Mr. Marcele let him know that I remember him with kindness may you, my Barretti be very happy in Milan or some other place nearer to sir, your most affectionate humble servant Samuel Johnson the accession of George III to the throne of these kingdoms opened a new and brighter prospect to men of literary merit who had been honored with no mark of royal favor in the preceding reign His present Majesty's education in this country as well as his taste and beneficence prompted him to be the patron of science and the arts and early this year Johnson having been represented to him as a very learned and good man without any certain provision his Majesty was pleased to grant him a pension of 300 pounds a year the Earl of Butte who was then prime minister had the honor to announce this instance of his sovereign's bounty concerning which many and various stories all equally erroneous have been propagated representing it as a political bribe to Johnson to desert his avowed principles and become the tool of government which he held to be founded in usurpation I have taken care to have it in my power to refute them from the most authentic information Lord Butte told me that Mr. Wetterburn now Lord Lauburro was the person who first mentioned this subject to him Lord Lauburro told me that the pension was granted to Johnson solely as the reward of his literary merit without any stipulation whatever or even tacit understanding that he should write for administration his lordship added that he was confident the political tracts which Johnson afterwards did write as they were entirely consonant with his own opinions would have been written by him no pension had been granted to him Mr. Thomas Sheridan and Mr. Murphy who then lived a good deal both with him and Mr. Wetterburn told me that they previously talked with Johnson upon this matter and that it was perfectly understood by all parties that the pension was merely honorary Sir Joshua Reynolds told me that Johnson called on him after his majesty's intention had been notified to him and said he wished to consult his friends as to the propriety of his accepting this mark of the royal favor after the definitions which he had given in his dictionary of pension and pensioners he said he would not have Sir Joshua's answer till next day when he would call again and desired he might think of it Sir Joshua answered that it was clear to give his opinion then that there could be no objection to his receiving from the king a reward for literary merit and that certainly the definitions in his dictionary were not applicable to him Johnson it should seem was satisfied for he did not call again till he had accepted the pension and had waited on Lord Butte to thank him he then told Sir Joshua that Lord Butte said to him expressly it is not given you for anything you are to do but for what you have done his lordship he said behaved in the handsomest manner he repeated the words twice that he might be sure Johnson heard them and thus set his mind perfectly at ease this nobleman who had been so virulently abused acted with great honour in this instance and displayed a mind truly liberal a minister of a more narrow and selfish disposition would have availed himself of such an opportunity to fix an implied obligation on a man of Johnson's powerful talents to give him his support Mr. Murphy and the late Mr. Sheridan several went for the distinction of having been the first to mention to Mr. Wetterburn that Johnson ought to have a pension when I spoke of this to Lord Laoboro wishing to know if he recollected the prime mover in the business he said all his friends assisted and when I told him that Mr. Sheridan strenuously asserted his claim to it his lordship said he rang the bell but just to add that Mr. Sheridan told me that when he communicated to Dr. Johnson that a pension was to be granted him he replied in a fervor of gratitude the English language does not afford me terms adequate to my feelings on this occasion I must have recourse to the French I am penetré with his majesty's goodness when I repeated this to Dr. Johnson he did not contradict it his definitions of pension and pensioner partly founded on the satirical verses of Pope which he quotes may be generally true and yet everybody must allow that there may be and have been instances of pensions given and received upon liberal and honourable terms thus then it is clear there was nothing inconsistent or humiliating in Johnson's accepting of a pension so unconditionally and so honourably offered to him but I shall not detain my readers longer by any words of my own on a subject on which I am happily enabled by the favour of the Earl of Butte to present them with what Johnson himself wrote his lordship having been pleased to me a copy of the following letter to his late father which does great honour both to the writer and to the noble person to whom it is addressed to the right honourable the Earl of Butte my lord when the bills were yesterday delivered to me by Mr. Wetterburn I was informed by him of the future favours which his majesty has your lordship's recommendation been induced to intend for me Bounty always receives part of its value from the manner in which it is bestowed your lordship's kindness includes every circumstance that can gratify delicacy or enforce obligation you have conferred your favours on a man who has neither alliance nor interest who has not courted them by services nor courted them by officiousness you have spared him the shame of solicitation and the anxiety of suspense what has been thus elegantly given will I hope not be reproachfully enjoyed I shall endeavour to give your lordship the only recompense which generosity desires the gratification of finding benefits are not improperly bestowed I am my lord your lordship's most oblige most obedient and most humble servant Samuel Johnson July 20, 1762 this year his friend Sir Joshua Reynolds paid a visit of some weeks to his native country Devonshire in which he was accompanied by Johnson who was much pleased with this jaunt and declared he had derived from it a great accession of new ideas he was entertained at the seats of several noblemen and gentlemen in the west of England but the greatest part of the time was past at Plymouth where the magnificence of the navy the ship building in all its circumstances afforded him a grand contemplation the commissioner of the dockyard paid him the compliment of ordering the yacht to convey him and his friend to the Eddystone to which they accordingly sailed but the weather was so tempestuous that they could not land note at one of these seats Dr. Amiat physician in London told me he happened to meet him in order to amuse him till dinner and be ready he was taken out to walk in the garden the master of the house thinking it proper to introduce something scientific into the conversation addressed him thus are you a botanist Dr. Johnson no sir Mr. 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 end of note Reynolds and he were at this time the guests of Dr. Mudge the celebrated surgeon and now physician of that place not more distinguished for quickness of parts and variety of knowledge than loved and esteemed for his amiable manners and here Johnson formed an acquaintance with Dr. Mudge's father that very divine the Reverend Zachariah Mudge of Exeter who was idolized in the west both for his excellence as a preacher and the uniform perfect propriety of his private conduct he preached a sermon purposely that Johnson might hear him and we shall see afterwards that Johnson honored his memory by drawing his character while Johnson was at Plymouth he saw a great many of its inhabitants and was not sparing of his very entertaining conversation it was here that he made the Frank in truly original confession that ignorance pure ignorance was the cause of a wrong definition in his dictionary of the word pasturn to the no small surprise of the lady who put the question to him who having the most profound reverence for his character so as almost to suppose him endowed with infallibility expected to hear an explanation of what to be sure seems strange to a common reader drawn from some deep learned source of which she was unacquainted. Sir Joshua Reynolds to whom I was obliged for my information concerning this excursion mentions a very characteristic anecdote of Johnson while at Plymouth having observed that in consequence of the dockyard a new town had arisen about two miles off as a rival to the old and knowing from his sagacity and just observation of human nature that it is certain that if a man hates at all he will hate his next neighbor he concluded that this new and rising town could not but excite the envy and jealousy of the old in which conjecture he was very soon confirmed he therefore set himself resolutely on the side of the old town the established town in which his lot was cast considering it as a kind of duty to stand by it he accordingly entered warmly into its interests and upon every occasion talked of the dockers as the inhabitants of the new town were called as upstarts and aliens Plymouth is very plentifully supplied with water by a river brought into it from a great distance which is so abundant that it runs to waste in the town the dock or new town being totally destitute of water petition Plymouth that a small portion of the conduit might be permitted by him and this was now under consideration Johnson affecting to entertain the passions of the place was violent in opposition and half laughing at himself for his pretended zeal where he had no concern exclaimed no no I am against the dockers I am a Plymouth man rogues let them die of thirst they shall not have a drop Lord McCartney obligingly favored me with a copy of the following letter in his own handwriting from the original which was found by the present Earl of Butte among his father's papers to the right honorable the Earl of Butte my lord that generosity by which I was recommended to the favor of his majesty will not be offended at a solicitation necessary to make that favor permanent and effectual the pension appointed to be paid me at Mikkelmus I have not received and I know not where or from whom I am to ask it I beg therefore that your lordship will be pleased to supply Mr. Wetterburn with such directions as may be necessary which I believe his friendship will make him think trouble to convey to me to interrupt your lordship at a time like this with such petty difficulties is improper and unseasonable but your knowledge of the world has long since taught you that every man's affairs however little are important to himself every man hopes that he shall escape neglect and with reason may every man and devices do not preclude his claim expect favor from that beneficence which has been extended to my lord your lordship's most obliged and most humble servant Samuel Johnson Temple Lane November 3 1762 to Mr. Joseph Beretti at Milan London December 21 1762 Sir you are not to suppose with all your conviction of my idleness that I have passed all this time without writing to my Beretti I gave a letter to Mr. Bochler who in my opinion and in his own was hastening to Naples for the recovery of his health but he has stopped at Paris and I know not when he will proceed Langton is with him I will not trouble you with speculations about peace and war the good or ill success of battles and embassies extends itself to a very small part of domestic life we all have good and evil which we feel more sensibly than our petty part of public miscarriage or prosperity I am sorry for your disappointment with which you seemed more touched than I should expect a man of your resolution and experience to have been did I not know that general truths are seldom applied to particular occasions and that the fallacy of our self-love extends itself as wide as our interest or affections every man believes that mistresses are unfaithful and patrons capricious but he accepts his own mistress and his own patron we have all learned that greatness is negligent and contemptuous and that in courts life is often languished away in ungratified expectation but he that approaches greatness or glitters in a court imagines that destiny has at last exempted him from the common lot do not let such evils overwhelm you as thousands have suffered thousands have surmounted but turn your thoughts with vigor to some other plan of life and keep always in your mind that with due submission to providence a man of genius has been seldom ruined but by himself your patrons weakness or insensibility will finally do you little hurt if he is not assisted by your own passions of your love I know not the propriety nor can estimate the power but in love as in every other passion of which hope is the essence we ought always to remember the uncertainty of events there is indeed nothing that so much seduces reason from vigilance as the thought of passing life with an amiable woman and if all would happen that a lover can't cease I know not what other terrestrial happiness would deserve pursuit but love and marriage are different states those who are to suffer the evils together and to suffer often for the sake of one another soon lose that tenderness of look and that benevolence of mine which arose from the participation of unmingled pleasure and successive amusement a woman we are sure will not be always fair we are not sure she will always be virtuous and man cannot retain through life that respect and assiduity by which he pleases for a day or for a month I do not however pretend to have discovered that life has anything more to be desired than a prudent marriage therefore know not what counsel to give you if you can quit your imagination of love and greatness and leave your hopes of preferment and bridal raptures to try once more the fortune of literature and industry the way through France is now open we flatter ourselves that we shall cultivate with great diligence the arts of peace man will be welcome among us who can teach us anything we do not know for your part you will find all your old friends willing to receive you Reynolds still continues to increase in reputation and enriches Miss Williams who very much loves you goes on in the old way Miss Cotterill is still with Mrs. Porter Miss Charlotte is married to three children Mr. Levitt has married a street walker but the gazette of my narration must now arrive to tell you that Bathurst went physician to the army and died at the Havana I know not whether I have sent you word that Huggins and Richardson are both dead when we see our enemies and our friends gliding away before us let us not forget we are subject to the general law of mortality and shall soon be where our doom will be fixed forever I pray God to bless you and am sir your most affectionate humble servant Samuel Johnson right soon end of section 25 section 26 of the life of Samuel Johnson volume 1 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer visit LibriVox.org read by Janice in Georgia the life of Samuel Johnson volume 1 by James Boswell section 26 1763 a tat 54 in 1763 he furnished to the poetical calendar published by Fox and Wotie a character of Collins which he afterwards ingrafted into his entire life of that admirable poet in the collection of lives which he wrote for the body of English poetry formed and published by the booksellers of London the count of the melancholy depression with which Collins was severely afflicted and which brought him to his grave is I think one of the most tender and interesting passages in the whole series of his writings he also favored Mr. Hool with the dedication of his translation of Tasso to the Queen which is so happily conceived and elegantly expressed that I cannot but pointed out the peculiar notice of my readers this is to me a memorable year for in it I had the happiness to obtain the acquaintance of that extraordinary man whose memoirs I am now writing an acquaintance which I shall ever esteem as one of the most fortunate circumstances in my life though then but two and twenty I had for several years read his works with delight and instruction and had the highest reverence for their author which had grown up in my fancy into a kind of mysterious veneration by figuring to myself a state of solemn elevated abstraction in which I supposed him to live in the immense metropolis of London Mr. Gentlemen, a native of Ireland who passed some years in Scotland as a player and as an instructor in the English language a man whose talents and worth were depressed by misfortunes had given me a representation of the figure and manner of dictionary Johnson as he was then generally called and during my first visit to London which was for three months in seventeen sixty Mr. Derek the poet who was gentlemen's friend and countryman flattered me with hopes that he would introduce me to Johnson an honour of which I am ambitious but he never found an opportunity which made me doubt that he had promised to do what was not in his power till Johnson some years afterwards told me Derek sir might very well have introduced you I had a kindness for Derek and I am sorry he is dead in the summer of seventeen sixty one Mr. Thomas Sheridan was at Edinburgh lectures upon the English language in public speaking to large and respectable audiences I was often in his company and heard him frequently expatiate upon Johnson's extraordinary knowledge talents and virtues repeat his pointed sayings describe his particularities and boast of his being his guest sometimes till two or three in the morning at his house I hoped to have many opportunities of seeing the sage as Mr. Sheridan obligingly assured me I should not be disappointed when I returned to London at the end of seventeen sixty two to my surprise and regret I found an irreconcilable difference had taken place between Johnson and Sheridan a pension of two hundred pounds a year had been given to Sheridan Johnson who as has been already mentioned thought slidingly of Sheridan's art upon hearing that he was also pinched exclaimed what have they given him a pension then it is time for me to give up mine whether this proceeded from a momentary indignation as if it were in affront to his exalted merit that a player should be rewarded in the same manner or was the sudden effect of a fit of peevishness it was unluckily sad and indeed cannot be justified Mr. Sheridan's pension was granted to him not as a player but as a sufferer in the cause of government when he was manager of the theatre royal in Ireland when parties ran high in seventeen fifty three and it must be allowed that he was a man of literature and had considerably improved the arts of reading and speaking with distinctness and propriety besides Johnson should have recollected that Mr. Sheridan taught pronunciation to Mr. Alexander Wetterburn whose sister was married to Sir Harry Erskine an intimate friend of Lord Butte who was the favourite of the king and surely the most outrageous swig will not maintain that whatever ought to be the principal disposal of offices a pension ought never to be granted from any bias of court connection Mr. Macklin indeed shared with Mr. Sheridan the honour of instructing Mr. Wetterburn and though it was too late in life for a Caledonian to acquire the genuine English cadence yet so successful were Mr. Wetterburn's instructors and his own unabating endeavours that he got rid of the coarse part of his Scotch accent retaining only as much of the native woodnote wild as to mark his country which if any Scotchman should affect to forget I should heartily despise him notwithstanding the difficulties which are to be encountered by those who have not had the advantage of an English education he by degrees formed a mode of speaking to which Englishmen do not deny the praise of elegance hence his distinguished oratory which he exerted in his own country as an advocate in the court of session and a ruling elder of the Kirk has had its fame and ample reward in much higher spheres when I look back on this noble person at Edinburgh in situations so unworthy of his brilliant powers and behold Lord Loughborough the change seems almost like one of his metamorphoses in Ovid and as his two preceptors by refining his utterance gave currency to his talents we may say in the words of that poet I have dwelt the longer upon this remarkable instance of successful parts in aciduity because it affords animating encouragement to other gentlemen of North Britain to try their fortunes in the southern part of the island where they may hope to gratify their utmost ambition and now that we are one people by the union it would surely be illiberal to maintain that they have not an equal title with the natives of any other part of his Majesty's dominions Johnson complained that a man who disliked him repeated his sarcasm to Mr. Sheridan without telling him what followed which was that after a pause he added however I am glad that Mr. Sheridan has a pension for he is a very good man Sheridan could never forgive this hasty contemptuous expression it rankled in his mind and though I informed him of all that Johnson said and that he would be very glad to meet him amicably he positively declined repeated offers which I made and once went off abruptly from a house where he and I were engaged to dine because he was told that Dr. Johnson was to be there I have no sympathetic feeling with such persevering resentment it is painful when there is a breach between those who have lived together socially and cordially and I wonder that there is not in all such cases a mutual wish that it should be healed I could perceive that Mr. Sheridan was by no means satisfied with Johnson's acknowledging him to be a good man that could not soothe his injured vanity I could not but smile at the same time that I was offended to observe Sheridan in the life of Swift which he afterwards published attempting in the writhings of his resentment to depreciate Johnson by characterizing him as a writer of gigantic fame in these days of little men that very Johnson whom he once so highly admired and venerated this rupture with Sheridan deprived Johnson of one of his most agreeable resources for amusement in his lonely evenings for Sheridan's well-informed animated and bustling mind never suffered conversation stagnate and Mrs. Sheridan was a most agreeable companion to an intellectual man she was sensible ingenious unassuming yet communicative I recollect with satisfaction many pleasing hours which I passed with her under the hospitable roof of her husband who was to me a very kind friend her novel entitled memoirs of Miss Sydney Biddle contains an excellent moral while it inculcates a future state of retribution and what it teaches is impressed upon the mind by a series of as deep distress as can affect humanity in the amiable and pious heroine who goes to her grave unreleaved but resigned and full of hope of heaven's mercy Johnson paid her this high compliment upon it I know not, madam, that you have a right upon moral principles to make your readers suffer so much Mr. Thomas Davies, the actor who then kept a bookseller's shop in Russell Street Covent Garden told me that Johnson was very much his friend and came frequently to his house where he more than once invited me to meet him but by some unlucky accident or other he was prevented from coming to his house Mr. Thomas Davies was a man of good understanding and talents with the advantage of a liberal education though somewhat pompous he was an entertaining companion and his literary performances have no inconsiderable share of merit he was a friendly and very hospitable man both he and his wife who has been celebrated maintained and uniform decency of character and Johnson esteemed them and lived in as easy and intimacy with them as with any family which he used to visit Mr. Davies recollected several of Johnson's remarkable sayings and was one of the best of the many imitators of his voice and manner while relating them he increased my patience more and more to see the ordinary man whose works I highly valued and whose conversation was reported to be so peculiarly excellent at last on Monday the 16th of May when I was sitting in Mr. Davies back parlor after having drunk tea with him and Mrs. Davies Johnson unexpectedly came into the shop and Mr. Davies having perceived him through the glass door in the room in which we were sitting towards us he announced his awful approach to me somewhat in the manner of an actor in the part of Horatio when he addresses Hamlet on the appearance of his father's ghost look my lord it comes I found that I had a very perfect idea of Johnson's figure from the portrait of him painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds soon after he had published his dictionary in the attitude there in deep meditation which was the first picture his friend did for him which Sir Joshua very kindly presented to me and from which an engraving has been made for this work Mr. Davies mentioned my name and respectfully introduced me to him I was much agitated and recollecting his prejudice against the scotch of which I had heard much Mr. Davies, don't tell where I came from from Scotland cried Davies roguishly Mr. Johnson said I I do indeed come from Scotland but I cannot help it I am willing to flatter myself that I meant this as light pleasantry to soothe and conciliate him and not as an humiliating abasement at the expense of my country but however that might be this speech was somewhat unlucky for with that quickness of wit for which he was so remarkable he seized the expression come from Scotland which I had used in the sense of being of that country and as if I had said that I had come away from it or left it retorted that sir I find is what a very great many of your countrymen cannot help this stroke stunned me a good deal and when we had sat down I felt myself not a little embarrassed and apprehensive of what might come next he then addressed himself to Davies what do you think of Garrett he has refused me an order for the play for Miss Williams because he knows the house will be full and that an order would be worth three shillings eager to take any opportunity to get into conversation with him I ventured to say oh sir I cannot think Mr. Garrett would grudge such a trifle to you sir said he with a stern look I have known David Garrick longer than you have done and I know no right you have to talk to me on the subject perhaps I deserve this check for it was rather presumptuous in me an entire stranger to express any doubt of the justice of his animate version upon his old acquaintance and pupil I now felt myself much mortified and began to think that the hope which I had long indulged of obtaining his acquaintance was blasted and in truth had not my order been uncommonly strong and my resolution uncommonly persevering so rough a reception might have deterred me forever from making further attempts fortunately however I remained upon the field not wholly discomfited and was soon rewarded by hearing some of his conversation of which I preserved the following short minute without marking the questions and observations by which it was produced note Mr. Murphy in his essay on the life and genius of Dr. Johnson page 106 has given an account of this meeting considerably different from mine I am persuaded without any consciousness of error his memory at the end of near 30 years has undoubtedly deceived him and he supposes himself to have been present at a scene probably heard inaccurately described by others in my note taken on the very day in which I am confident I marked everything 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 imagine 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 end of note people, he remarked may be taken in once who imagine that an author is greater in private life than other men uncommon parts require uncommon opportunities for their exertion in barbarous society superiority of parts is of real consequence great strength or great wisdom is of much value to an individual but in more polished times there are people who do everything for money and then there are a number of other superiorities such as those of birth and fortune and rank that dissipate men's attention and leave no extraordinary share of respect for personal and intellectual superiority this is wisely ordered by providence to preserve some equality among mankind sir, this book the elements of criticism which he had taken up is a pretty essay and deserves to be held in some estimation though much of it is chimerical speaking of one who with more than ordinary boldness attacked public measures in his family he said I think he is safe from the law but he is an abusive scoundrel and instead of applying to my lord chief justice to punish him I would send half a dozen footmen and have him well ducked the notion of liberty amuses the people of England and helps to keep off tedium vitae when a butcher tells you that he leads for his country he has in fact no uneasy feeling Sheridan will not succeed at bath with his oratory ridicule has gone down before him and I doubt Derek is his enemy Derek may do very well as long as he can outrun his character but the moment his character gets up with him it is all over it is however I must to record that some years afterwards when I reminded him of this sarcasm he said well but Derek has now got a character that he need not run away from I was highly pleased with the extraordinary vigor of his conversation and regretted that I was drawn away from it by an engagement at another place I had for a part of the evening been left alone with him and had ventured into the celebration now and then which he received very civilly so that I was satisfied that though there was a roughness in his matter there was no ill nature in his disposition Davies followed me to the door and when I complained to him a little of the hard blows which the great man had given me he kindly took upon him to console me by saying don't be uneasy very well a few days afterwards I called on Davies and asked him if he thought I might take the liberty of waiting on Mr. Johnson at his chambers in the temple he said I certainly might and that Mr. Johnson would take it as a compliment so upon Tuesday the 24th of May after having been enlivened by the witty sallies of M. Thornton Wilkes, Church Hill and Lloyd with whom I had passed the morning I boldly repaired to Johnson his chambers were on the first floor of number one Inner Temple Lane and I entered them with an impression given me by the Reverend Dr. Blair of Edinburgh who had been introduced to him not long before and described his having found the giant in his den an expression which when I came to be pretty well acquainted with Johnson I repeated to him and he was diverted at this picturesque account of himself Dr. Blair had been presented to him by Dr. James Fordeis at this time the controversy concerning the pieces published by Mr. James McPherson as translations of Ossian was at its height Johnson had all along denied their authenticity and what was still more provoking to their admirers maintained that they had no merit the subject having been introduced by Dr. Fordeis Dr. Blair relying on the internal evidence of their antiquity asked Dr. Johnson whether he thought any man of a modern age could have written such poems Johnson replied yes sir many men many women and many children Johnson at this time did not know that Dr. Blair had just published a dissertation not only defending their authenticity but seriously ranking them with the poems of Homer and Virgil and when he was afterwards informed of this circumstance he expressed some displeasure at Dr. Fordeis's having suggested the topic and said I am not sorry that they got thus much for their pains sir it was like leading one to talk of a book when the author is concealed behind the door he received me very courteously but it must be confessed that his apartment and furniture and morning dress were sufficiently uncouth his brown suit of clothes looked very rusty he had on a little old shriveled unpowdered wig which was too small for his head his shirt neck and knees of his britches were loosed his black worsted stockings ill drawn up and he had a pair of unbuckled shoes by way of slippers but all these slovenly particularities were forgotten the moment that he began to talk some gentlemen whom I do not recollect were sitting with him and when they went away I also rose but he said to me nay don't go sir said I I am afraid that I intrude upon you it is benevolent to allow me to sit and hear you he seemed pleased with this compliment which I sincerely paid him and answered sir I am obliged to any man who visits me I have preserved the following short minute of what passed this day madness frequently discovers itself merely by unnecessary deviation from the usual modes of the world my poor friend smart showed the disturbance of his mind by falling upon his knees and saying his prayers in the street or in any other unusual place now although rationally speaking it is greater madness not to pray at all than to pray as smart did I am afraid that there are so who do not pray that their understanding is not called in question concerning this unfortunate poet Christopher smart who was confined in a madhouse he had at another time the following conversation with Dr. Bernie how does poor smart do sir is he likely to recover Johnson it seems as if his mind had ceased to struggle with disease for he grows fat upon it Bernie perhaps sir that may be from want of exercise Johnson no sir he has partly as much exercise as he used to have for he digs in the garden indeed before his confinement he used for exercise to walk to the ale house but he was carried back again I did not think he ought to be shut up his infirmities were not noxious to society he insisted on people praying with him and I'd as leaf pray with kit smart as anyone else another charge was that he did not love clean linen and I have no passion for it Johnson continued mankind have a greater version to intellectual labor but even supposing knowledge easily attainable more people would be content to be ignorant then would take even a little trouble to acquire it the morality of an action depends upon the motive from which we act if I fling half a crown to a beggar with intention to break his head and he picks it up and vise vitals with it the physical effect is good but with respect to me the action is very wrong sir religious exercises if not performed with an intention to please God avail us nothing as our savior says of those who perform them from other motives verily they have their reward the Christian religion has very strong evidences it indeed appears in some degree strange to reason but in history we have undoubted facts against which meaning a priori we have more arguments than we have for them but then testimony has great weight and casts the balance I would recommend to every man whose fate is yet unsettled grotes Dr. Pearson and Dr. Clark talking of Garrett he said he is the first man in the world for a sprightly conversation when I rose a second time he again pressed me to stay which I did he told me that he generally went abroad at four in the afternoon and seldom came home till two in the morning I took the liberty to ask if he did not think it wrong to live thus and not make more use of his great talents he owned it was a bad habit on reviewing at the distance of many years my journal of this period I wonder how at my first visit I ventured to talk to him so freely and that he bore it with so much indulgence before we parted he was so good as to promise to favour me with his company one evening at my lodgings and as I took my leave shook me cordially by the hand it is almost needless to add that I felt no little elation at having now so happily established an acquaintance of which I had been so long ambitious my readers will I trust excuse me for being thus minutely circumstantial when it is considered that the acquaintance of Dr. Johnson was to me a most valuable acquisition and laid the foundation of whatever instruction and entertainment they may receive from my collections concerning the great subject of the work which they are now perusing I did not visit him again till Monday, June 13th at which time I recollect no part of his conversation except that when I told him I had been to see Johnson ride upon three horses he said such a man, sir, should be encouraged for his performances show the extent of human powers in one instance and thus tend to raise our opinions of the faculties of man he shows what may be attained by persevering application so that every man may hope that by giving as much application although perhaps he may never ride three horses at a time or dance upon a wire yet he may be equally expert in whatever profession he has chosen to pursue he again shook me by the handed party and asked me why I did not offer her to him trusting that I was now in his good graces I answered that he had not given me much encouragement and reminded him of the check I had received from him at our first interview poo-poo said he with a complacent smile never mind these things come to me as often as you can I shall be glad to see you I had learnt that his place frequent resort was the mitre tavern in Tleet Street where he loved to sit up late and I begged I might be allowed to pass an evening with him there soon which he promised I should a few days afterwards I met him near Temple Bar about one o'clock in the morning and asked if he would then go to the mitre sir said he it is too late they won't let us in a revolution of some importance in my plan of life had just taken place for instead of procuring a commission in the foot guards which was my own inclination I had in compliance with my father's wishes agreed to study the law and was soon to set out for Utrecht to hear the lectures of an excellent civilian in that university and then to proceed on my travels though very desirous of obtaining Dr. Johnson's advice and instructions on the mode of pursuing my studies I was at this time so occupied shall I call it or so dissipated by the amusements of London that our next meeting was not till Saturday June 25th when happening to Dinah Clifton's eating-house in Butcher Rowe I was surprised to perceive Johnson come in and take his other table. The mode of dining or rather being fed at such houses in London is well known to many to be particularly unsocial as there is no ordinary or united company but each person has his own mess and is under no obligation to hold any intercourse with anyone. A liberal and full-minded man however who loves to talk will break through this distraint. Johnson and an Irish gentleman got into a dispute concerning the cause of some part of mankind being black. Why, sir, said Johnson, it has been accounted for in three ways either by supposing that they are the posterity of Ham who was cursed or that God at first created two kinds of men, one black and another white or the heat of the sun the skin is scorched and so acquires a city hue. This matter has been much canvassed among naturalists but has never been brought to any certain issue. What the Irishman said is totally obliterated from my mind but I remember that he became very warm and intemperate in his expressions upon which Johnson rose and quietly the antagonist took his revenge as he thought by saying he has a most ungainly figure and an affectation of pomposity unworthy of a man of genius. End of section 26