 Section 7 of the Life of Samuel Johnson, Volume 2. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Ben Wilford. The Life of Samuel Johnson, Volume 2 by James Boswell, Section 7. 1771, Etat 62. In 1771, he published another political pamphlet entitled, Thoughts on the Late Transactions Respecting Falklands Islands, in which, upon materials furnished to him by ministry and upon general topics expanded in his riches style, he successfully endeavored to persuade the nation that it was wise and laudable to suffer the question of right to remain undecided, rather than involve our country and our country. It has been suggested by some, with what truth I shall not take upon me to decide, that he raided the consequent of those islands to Great Britain too low. But however this may be, every humane mind must surely applaud the earnestness with which he averted the calamity of war, a calamity so dreadful that it is astonishing how civilized, nay, Christian nations can deliberately continue to renew it. His description of his miseries in this pamphlet is one of the finest pieces of eloquence in the English language. Upon this occasion, too, we find Johnson lashing the party in opposition with unbounded severity, and making the fullest use of what he ever reckoned a most effectual argumentative instrument, contempt. His character of their very able mysterious champion, Junius, is executed with all the force of his genius, and finished with the highest care. He seems to have exalted in sallying forth to single combat against the boasted and formidable hero who Bade defines to principalities and powers and the rulers of this world. This pamphlet, it is observable, was softened in one particular. After the first edition, for the conclusion of Mr. George Greenville's character stood thus, let him not, however, be depreciated in his grave. He had powers not universally possessed. Could he have enforced payment of the Manila ransom? He could have counted it, which, instead of retaining its sly sharp point, was reduced to a mere flat unmeaning expression. Or, if I may use the word, truism. He had powers not universally possessed, and if he sometimes erred, he was likewise sometimes right. To Bennett Langston, Esquire, Dear sir, at the much lingering of my own, and much of the ministry, I have at length got out my paper. But delay is not yet at an end. Not many had been dispersed before Lord North ordered the sale to stop. His reasons I do not distinctly know. You may try to find them in the perusal. Before his order, a sufficient number were dispersed to do all the mischief, though, perhaps, not to make all the sports that might be expected from it. Soon after your departure, I had the pleasure of finding all the danger past with which your navigation was threatened. I hope nothing happens at home to abate your satisfaction. But the Lady Ross and Miss Langston, and the young ladies, are all well. I was late night at the club. Dr. Percy had written a long ballad in many fits. It is pretty enough. He has printed and will soon publish it. Goldsmith is at Booth with Lord Clare. And Mr. Thralls, where I am now writing, all are well. I am, dear sir, your most humble servant, Sam Johnson, March 20, 1771. Mr. Trayhan, the printer, who had been long in intimacy with Johnson in the course of his literary labors, who was at once his friendly agent in receiving his pension for him, and his banker in supplying him with money when he wanted it, who was himself now a member of parliament, and who loved much to be employed in political negotiations, thought he should do eminent service both to government and Johnson, if he could be the means of his getting a seat in the House of Commons. With this view, he wrote a letter to one of the Secretaries of the Treasury, of which he gave me a copy in his own handwriting, which is as follows. Sir, you will easily recollect when I had the honor of waiting upon you some time ago, I took the liberty to observe to you that Dr. Johnson would make an excellent figure in the House of Commons, and heartily wished he had a seat there. My reasons are briefly these. I know his perfect good affection to his majesty and his government, which I am certain he wishes to support by every means in his power. He possesses a great share of manly, nervous, and ready eloquence, is quick in discerning the strength and weakness of an argument, can express himself with clearness and precision, and fears the face of no man alive. His known character as a man of extraordinary sense and unimpeached virtue, would secure him the attention of the House, and could not fail to give him a proper weight there. He is capable of the greatest application, and can undergo any degree of labor where he sees it necessary, and where his heart and affections are strongly engaged. His majesty's ministers might therefore securely depend on his doing upon every proper occasion the utmost that could be expected from him. They would find him ready to vindicate such measures as tended to promote the stability of government, and resolute and steady in carrying them into execution, nor is anything to be apprehended from the supposed impetuousness of his temper. To the friends of the king you will find him a lamb to his enemies a lion. For these reasons, I humbly apprehend that he would be a very able and useful member, and I will venture to say that the employment would not be disagreeable to him, and knowing, as I do, his strong affection to the king, his ability to serve him in that capacity, and the extreme adorability with which I am convinced he would engage in that service, I must repeat that I wish most heartily to see him in the House. If you think this worthy of attention, you will be pleased to take a convenient opportunity omissioning it to the Lord North. If his lordship should happily approve of it, you will have the satisfaction of having been, in some degree, the humble instrument of doing my country, in my opinion, a very essential service. I know you're a good nature, and you're zeal for the public welfare, and will plead my excuse for giving you this trouble. I am, with the greatest respect, sir, your most obedient and humble servant, William Strahan, New Street, March 30th, 1771. This recommendation, we know, was not effectual, but how, or for what reason, can only be conjectured. It is not to be believed that Mr. Strahan would have applied unless Johnson had approved of it. I never heard him mention the subject, but at a later period of his life, when Sir Joshua Reynolds told him that Mr. Edmund Burke had said that if he had come early into Parliament, he certainly would have been the greatest speaker that ever was there. Johnson exclaimed, I shall like to try my hand now. It has been much agitated amongst his friends and others whether he would have been a powerful speaker in Parliament had he been brought in when advanced in life. I am inclined to think that his extensive knowledge, his quickness and force of mind, his vivacity and richness of expression, his wit and humor, and above all his poignancy of sarcasm would have had great effect in popular assembly and that the magnitude of his figure and the striking peculiarity of his manner would have aided the effect. But I remember it was observed by Mr. Flood that Johnson, having been long used to centenuous brevity and the short flights of conversation, might have failed in that continued and expanded kind of argument, which is requisite in stating complicated manners in public speaking. And as a proof of this, he mentioned the supposed speeches in Parliament written by him for the magazine, none of which, in his opinion, were at all like real debates. The opinion of one who was himself so imminent an orator must be allowed to have great weight. It was confirmed by Sir William Scott who mentioned that Johnson had told him that he had several times tried to speak in the Society of Arts and Sciences but had found he could not get on. From Mr. Will, Gerard Hamilton have heard that Johnson when observing to him that it was prudent for a man who had not been accustomed to speak in public to begin his speech in as simple a manner as possible acknowledged that he rose in that Society to deliver a speech which he had prepared but said he, all my flowers of oratory, forsook me. I, however, cannot have wishing that he had tried his hand in Parliament and I wonder that ministry did not make the experiment. I at length renewed a correspondence which had been too long discontinued to Dr. Johnson, Edinburgh, April 18, 1771. My dear sir, I can now fully understand those intervals of silence in your correspondence with me which have often given me anxiety and uneasiness. For although I am conscious that my veneration and love for Mr. Johnson have never in the least abated, yet I have deferred for almost a year and a half to write to him. In the subsequent part of this letter I gave him an account of my comfortable life as a married man and a lawyer in practice at the Scotch Bar invited him to Scotland and promised to attend him to the Highlands and the Hebrides to James Boswell Esquire. Dear sir, if you are now able to comprehend that I might neglect to write without diminution of affection you have taught me, likewise, how that neglect may be uneasily felt without resentment. I wish for your letter a long time and when it came it amply recompensed the delay. I never was so much pleased as now with your account of yourself and the sincerely hope that between public business, improving studies, and domed stick pleasures neither melancholy nor caprice will find any place for entrance. Whatever philosophy may determine of material nature it is certainly true of intellectual nature that it adhobs a vacuum. Our minds cannot be empty and evil will break in upon them if they are not preoccupied by good. My dear sir, mind your studies, mind your business, make your lady happy and be a good Christian. After this, Tristitium et Metis Tridaeus Protivus Enmar Cretidium Proteraventus If we perform our duty we shall be safe and ready. Seveper Whether we climb the highlands or are tossed among the hebrides and I hope the time will come when we may try our powers both with cliffs and water I see but little of Lord Elibank. I know not why, perhaps by my own fault I am this day going into Stratfordshire and Derbyshire for six weeks. I am, dear sir, your most affectionate and most humble servant, Sam Johnson, London June 20th, 1771 To sir Joshua Reynolds in Leicesterfields, dear sir, when I came to Leechfield I found that my portrait had been much visited and much admired. Every man has a lurking wish to appear considerable in his native place and I was pleased with the dignity conferred by such a testimony of your regard. Be pleased, therefore, to accept the thanks of, sir, your most obliged and most humble servant, Sam Johnson, Ashbourne and Derbyshire, July 17th, 1771 Compliments to Miss Reynolds to Dr. Johnson, Edinburgh, July 27th, 1771, my dear sir. The barrier of this, Mr. Beattie, professor of moral philosophy at Aberdeen, is the desire of being introduced to your acquaintance. His genius in learning and labors in the service of virtue and religion render him very worthy of it and as he has a high esteem of your character I hope you will give him a favourable reception I ever am, James Boswell. To Bennett Langston Esquire at Langston, near Spielby, Leakinshire, dear sir, I am lately returned from Staffordshire and Derbyshire. The last letter mentioned two others which you have written to me since you received my pamphlet. Of these two I never had but one in which you mentioned a design of visiting Scotland by consequent put my journey to Langston out of my thoughts. My summer wanderings are now over and I am engaging in a very great work, the revision of my dictionary from which I know not at present how to get loose. If you have deserved or been told any errors or omissions you will do me a great favour by letting me know them. Lady Ross, I find, has disappointed you and herself. Ladies will have these tricks. The Queen and Mr. Roll, both ladies have experienced yet both missed her reckoning this summer. I hope a few months will recompense your uneasiness. Pleased to tell Lady Ross how highly I value the honour of her invitation, which it is my purpose to obey as soon as I have disengaged myself. In the meantime, I shall hope to hear often of her ladyship and every day better news and better. Tell I hear that you have both missed your reckoness, which to both is very sincerely wished by, sir, your most affectionate and most humble servant, Sam Johnson, August 29th, 1771. In October, I again wrote to him, thanking him for his last letter and his obliging reception of Mr. Beatty, informing him that I had been at on week lately and had good accounts of him from Dr. Percy. In his religious record of this year he is unusual, both in body and mind, and better satisfied with the regularity of his conduct, but he is still trying his ways too rigorously. He charges himself with not rising early enough, yet he mentions what was surely a sufficient excuse for this, supposing it to be a duty seriously required as he all his life appears to have thought it. One great hindrance is want of rest. My nocturnal complaints grow less troublesome towards morning. I am tempted to repair the deficiencies of the night. Alas, how hard would it be if this indulgent were to be imputed to a sick man as a crime? In this retrospect on the following Easter Eve he says, when I review the last year, I am able to recollect so little done that shame and sorrow, though perhaps too weekly, came up on me. Had he been judging anyone else in the same circumstances, how clear would he have been on the favorable side? How very difficult, in my opinion almost constitutionally impossible it was for him to be raised early even by the strongest resolutions. Appears from my note in one of his little paper books containing words arranged for his dictionary, written I suppose about 1753. I do not remember that since I left Oxford I never rose early by mere choice, but once or twice at Edel and two or three times for the Rambler I think he had fair ground enough to have quieted his mind on this subject, by concluding that he was physically incapable of what is at best but a commodious regulation. End of Section 7 recorded by Ben Wilford of Jackson, Tennessee. Section 8 of The Life of Samuel Johnson, Volume 2 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Philippa The Life of Samuel Johnson, Volume 2 by James Boswell Section 8 In 1772 he was altogether quiescent as an author but it will be found from the various evidences which I shall bring together that his mind was acute, lively and vigorous. To Sir Joshua Reynolds Dear Sir, be pleased to send to Mr. Banks whose place of residence I do not know this note which I have sent open that if you please you may read it. When you send, Sir, do not use your own seal. I am, Sir, your most humble servant Sam Johnson February the 27th, 1772 To Joseph Banks, Esquire Perpetua ambita histera primialactis Hac habit altrici capra secundiovis Sir, I return thanks to you and to Dr. Solander for the pleasure which I received in yesterday's conversation. I could not recollect a motto for your goat but have given her one. You, Sir, may perhaps have an epic poem from some happier pen than Sir, your most humble servant Sam Johnson. Johnson's Court, Fleet Street February the 27th, 1772 To Dr. Johnson My dear Sir, it is hard that I cannot prevail on you to write to me oftener but I am convinced that it is in vain to expect from you a private correspondent with any regularity. I must therefore look upon you as a fountain of wisdom from whence few rills are communicated at a distance, and which must be approached at its source to partake fully of its virtues. I am coming to London soon and am to appear in an appeal from the Court of Session in the House of Lords. A schoolmaster in Scotland was, by a Court of Inferior Jurisdiction deprived of his office for being somewhat severe in the chastisement of his scholars. The Court of Session, considering it to be dangerous to the interest of learning and education afraid of two indulgent parents instigated by the complaints of their children, restored him. His enemies have appealed to the House of Lords, though the salary is only twenty pounds a year. I was counsel for him here. I hope there will be little fear of a reversal, but I must beg to have your aid in my plan of supporting the decree. It is a general question and not a point of particular law. I am etc. James Boswell To James Boswell, Esquire, dear sir, that you are coming so soon to town I am very glad and still more glad that you are coming as an advocate. I think nothing more likely to make your life pass happily away than that consciousness of your own value which eminence in your profession will certainly confer. If I can give you any collateral help I hope you do not suspect that it will be wanting. My kindness for you has neither merit of singular virtue nor the reproach of singular prejudice. Whether to love you be right or wrong I have many on my side. Mrs. Thrail loves you and Mrs. Williams loves you and what would have inclined me to love you if I had been neutral before you are a great favourite of Dr. Beatty. Of Dr. Beatty I should have thought much but that his lady puts him out of my head she is a very lovely woman. The ejection in which you come hither to oppose appears very cruel, unreasonable and oppressive. I should think there could not be much doubt of your success. My health grows better yet I am not fully recovered. I believe it is held that men do not recover very fast after three school I hope yet to see Beatty's college and have not given up the western voyage but however all this may be or not let us try to make each other happy and not refer our pleasure to distant times or distant places. How comes it that you tell me nothing of your lady I hope to see her some time and till then she will be glad to hear of her. I am dear sir etc. Sam Johnson 15th of March 1772 to Bennett Langton Esquire near Spillsby Lincolnshire Dear sir I congratulate you and Lady Rothes on your little man and hope you will all be many years happy together. Poor Miss Langton can have little part in the joy of her family. She this day called her Aunt Langton to receive the sacrament with her and made me talk yesterday on such subjects as suit her condition it will probably be her viaticum. I surely need not mention again that she wishes to see her mother. I am sir your most humble servant Sam Johnson 1772 On the 21st of March I was happy to find myself again in my friend's study and was glad to see my old acquaintance Mr. Francis Barber who has now returned home. Dr. Johnson received me with a hearty welcome saying I am glad you are come and glad you are come upon such an errand alluding to the cause of the schoolmaster. Boswell I hope sir he will be in no danger it is a very difficult matter to interfere between a master and his scholars nor do I see how you can fix the degree of severity that a master may use. Johnson Why sir till you can fix the degree of obstinacy and negligence of the scholars you cannot fix the degree of severity of the master. Severity must be continued until obstinacy be subdued and negligence be cured. He mentioned the severity of Hunter and his own master. Sir said I Hunter is a Scotch name so it should seem this schoolmaster who beat you so severely was a Scotchman I can now account for your prejudice against the Scotch. Johnson Sir he was not Scotch and abating his brutality he was a very good master. We talked of his two political pamphlets The False Alarm and Thoughts Concerning Falklands Islands Johnson Well sir which of them did you think the best? Boswell I like the second best Johnson Why sir I like the first best and BT liked the first best Sir there is a subtlety of disquisition in the first that is worth all the fire of the second. Boswell Pray sir Is it true that Lord North paid you a visit and that you got two hundred a year in addition to your pension? Johnson No sir except what I had from the bookseller I did not get a farthing by them and between you and me I believe Lord North is no friend to me Boswell How so sir? Johnson Why sir you cannot account for the fancies of men Well How does Lord Ellybank and How does Lord Monbodo Boswell very well sir Lord Monbodo still maintains the superiority of the savage life Johnson What strange narrowness of mind now is that to think the things we have not known are better than the things which we have known Boswell Why sir that is a common prejudice Johnson Yes sir but a common prejudice should not be found in one whose trade is direct if I error A gentleman having come in who was to go as a mate in the ship along with Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander Dr. Johnson asked what were the names of the ships destined for the expedition the gentleman answered they were once to be called the Drake and the Raleigh but now they were to be called the Resolution and the Adventure Johnson Much better for had the Raleigh returned without going round the world it would have been ridiculous the Drake and the Raleigh was laying a trap for satire Boswell Had not you some desire to go upon this expedition sir Johnson Why yes but I soon laid it aside sir there is very little of intellectual in the course besides I see but at a small distance so it was not worth my while to go to see birds fly which I should not have seen fly and fishes swim which I should not have seen swim the gentleman being gone and Dr. Johnson having left the room for some time a debate arose between the Reverend Mr. Stockdale and Mrs. Demulon whether Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander were entitled to any share of glory from their expedition when Dr. Johnson returned to us I told him the subject of their dispute Johnson Why sir it was properly for botany that they went out and believed they thought only of culling of symbols I thanked him for showing civilities to Beattie sir said he I should thank you we all love Beattie Mrs. Thrail says if ever she has another husband she'll have Beattie he's sunk upon us that he was married else we should have shown his lady more civilities she's a very fine woman but how can you show civilities you think he'd been married nay I did not think about it in one way or other but he did not tell us of his lady till late he then spoke of St. Kilda the most remote of the Hebrides I told him I thought of buying it Johnson pray do sir we will go and pass a winter amid the blasts there we shall have fine fish and we will take some dried tongues with us and some books we'll have a strong built vessel we must build a tolerable house but we may carry with us a wooden house ready-made and requiring nothing but to be put up consider sir by buying St. Kilda you may keep the people from falling into worse hands we must give them a clergyman and he shall be one of Beattie's choosing he shall be educated at Maryshal College I'll be your Lord Chancellor or what you please Boswell are you serious sir are you advising me to buy St. Kilda for if you should advise me to go to Japan I believe I should do it Johnson, why yes sir I am serious Boswell, why then I'll see what can be done I gave them an account of the two parties in the Church of Scotland those full supporting the rights of patrons independent of the people and those against it Johnson it should be settled one way or the other I wish well to a popular election of the clergy when I consider that it occasions such animosities such unworthy courting of the people such slanders between the contending parties and other disadvantages it is enough to allow the people to remonstrate against the nomination of a minister for solid reasons I suppose he meant heresy or immorality he was engaged to Dine abroad and asked me to return to him in the evening at nine which I accordingly did we drank tea with Mrs. Williams who told us a story of Second Sight which happened in Wales where she was born he listened to it very attentively and said he should be glad to have some instances of that faculty well authenticated his elevated wish for more and more evidence for spirit in opposition to the grovelling belief of materialism led him to a love of such mysterious disquisitions he again justly observed that we could have no certainty of the truth of supernatural appearances unless something was told us which we could not know by ordinary means or something done which could not be done but by supernatural power that Pharaoh in reason and justice required such evidence from Moses nay, that our saviour said if I had not done among them the works which none other man did they had not had sin he had said in the morning that Macaulay's history of St. Kilda was very well written except some phoppery about liberty and slavery I mentioned to him that Macaulay told me he was advised to leave out of his book the wonderful story that upon the approach of a stranger all the inhabitants catch cold but that it had been so well authenticated he determined to retain it Johnson Sir, to leave things out of a book merely because people tell you what is believed is meanness Macaulay acted with more magnanimity we talked of the Roman Catholic religion and how little difference there was in essential matters between ours and it Johnson True, sir all denominations of Christians have really little difference in point of doctrine though they may differ widely in external forms there is a prodigious difference between the external form in one of your Presbyterian churches in Scotland and the Church in Italy yet the doctrine taught is essentially the same I mentioned the petition to Parliament for removing the subscription to the 39 articles Johnson it was soon thrown out, sir they talk of not making boys at the university subscribe to what they do not understand but they ought to consider that our universities were founded to bring up members for the Church of England and we must not supply our enemies with arms from our arsenal no, sir the meaning of subscribing is not that they fully understand all the articles but that they will adhere to the Church of England now take it in this way and suppose that they should only subscribe their adherence to the Church of England there would still be the same difficulty for still the young men would be subscribing to what they do not understand for if you should ask them what do you mean by the Church of England do you know in what it differs from the Presbyterian Church from the Romish Church from the Greek Church from the Coptic Church they could not tell you so, sir, it comes to the same thing Boswell but would it not be sufficient to subscribe the Bible Johnson why no, sir, for all sects will subscribe the Bible nay, the Mohammedans will subscribe the Bible the Mohammedans acknowledge Jesus Christ as well as Moses but maintain that God sent Mohammed as a still greater prophet than either I mentioned the motion which had been made in the House of Commons to abolish the fast of the 30th of January Johnson why, sir, I could have wished that it had been a temporary act perhaps to have expired within the century I am against abolishing it because that would be declaring it wrong to establish it but I should have no objection to make an act continuing it for another century and then letting it expire he disapproved of the royal marriage, Bill because, said he I would not have the people think that the validity of marriage depends on the will of man or that the right of a king depends on the will of man I should not have been against making the marriage of any of the royal family without the approbation of king and parliament highly criminal in the morning we had talked of old families and the respect due to them Johnson sir, you have a right to that kind of respect and are arguing for yourself I am for supporting the principle and I am disinterested in doing it as I have no such right was well why, sir, it is one more incitement to a man to do well Johnson yes, sir and it is a matter of opinion necessary to keep society together what is it but opinion by which we have a respect for authority that prevents us who are the rabble from rising up and pulling down you who are gentlemen from your places and saying we will be gentlemen in our turn now, sir, that respect for authority is much more easily granted to a man whose father has had it than to an upstart and so society is more easily supported Boswell perhaps, sir, it might be done by the respect belonging to the office as among the Romans where the dress the toga inspired reverence Johnson why, we know very little about the Romans but surely it is much easier to respect a man who has always had respect than to respect a man who we know was last year no better than ourselves and will be no better next year in republics there is not a respect for authority but a fear of power Boswell, at present, sir, I think riches seem to gain most respect Johnson no, sir, riches do not gain hearty respect they only procure external attention a very rich man from low beginnings may buy his election in a borough but Keteres Paribus a man of family will be preferred people will prefer a man for whose father their fathers have voted though they should get no more money or even less that shows that the respect for family is not merely fanciful but has an actual operation if gentlemen of family would allow the rich upstart to spend their money profusely which they are ready enough to do and not vie with them in expense the upstarts would soon be at an end and the gentlemen would remain but if the gentlemen will vie in expense with the upstarts which is very foolish they must be ruined I gave him an account of the excellent mimicry of a friend of mine in Scotland observing at the same time that some people thought it a very mean thing Johnson why, sir, it is making a very mean use of a man's powers but to be a good mimic requires great powers great acuteness of observation attention of what is observed and great pliancy of organs to represent what is observed I remember a lady of quality in this town, Lady Blank Blank who was a wonderful mimic and used to make me laugh immoderately I've heard she has now gone mad Boswell it is amazing how a mimic can not only give you the gestures and voice of a person whom he represents but even what a person would say in a particular subject Johnson why, sir, you are to consider that the manner and some particular phrases of a person do much to impress you with an idea of him and you are not sure that he would say what the mimic says in his character Boswell I don't think foot a good mimic, sir Johnson no, sir, his imitations are not like he gives you something different from himself but not the character which he means to assume he goes out of himself without going into other people he cannot take off any person unless he is strongly marked such as George Falkner he is like a painter who can draw the portrait of a man who has a wien upon his face and who therefore is easily known if a man hops upon one leg foot can hop upon one leg but he has not that nice discrimination which your friend seems to possess foot is, however, very entertaining with a kind of conversation between wit and buffoonery on Monday, March 23rd I found him busy preparing a fourth edition of his folio dictionary Mr. Peyton one of his original emanuencies was writing for him I put him in mind of a meaning of the word side which he had omitted of his relationship as father's side, mother's side he inserted it I asked him if humiliating was a good word he said he had seen it frequently used but he did not know it to be legitimate English he would not admit civilization but only civility with great deference to him I thought civilization from to civilize better in the sense opposed to barbarity than civility for it is better to have a distinct word for each sense than one word with two senses which civility is in his way of using it he seemed also to be intent on some sort of chemical operation I was entertained by observing how he contrived to send Mr. Peyton on an errand without seeming to degrade him Mr. Peyton Mr. Peyton, will you be so good as to take a walk to Temple Bar you will there see a chemist's shop at which you will be pleased to buy for me an ounce of oil of vitriol, not spirit of vitriol but oil of vitriol it will cost three apents Peyton immediately went and returned with it and told him it cost but a penny I then reminded him of the school master's cause and proposed to read to him the printed papers concerning it no sir said he I can read quicker than I can hear so he read them to himself after he had read for some time we were interrupted by the entrance of Mr. Christum a swede who was tutored to some young gentleman in the city he told me that there was a very good history of Sweden by Darlin having at that time an intention of writing the history of that country I asked Dr. Johnson whether one might write a history of Sweden without going with her yes sir said he one for common use we talked of languages Johnson observed that Leipniz had made some progress in a work tracing all languages up to the Hebrew why sir said he you would not imagine that the French jour des is derived from the Latin diez and yet nothing is more certain and the intermediate steps are very clear from diez comes diurnos dieu is by inaccurate ears or inaccurate pronunciation easily confounded with dieu then the Italians form a substantive of the ablative of an adjective and thenz diurno or as they make it diurno which is readily contracted into dieur or jour he observed that the bahemian language was true sclavonic the Swedes said it had some similarity Johnson why sir to be sure such parts of Slavonia as confined with Germany will borrow German words and such parts as confined with Tartary will borrow Tata words he said he never had it properly ascertained that the Scotch Highlanders and the Irish understood each other I told him that my cousin Colonel Graham of the Royal Highlanders whom I met at Joida Johnson sir, if the Highlanders understood Irish why translate the New Testament into Urse as was done lately at Edinburgh when there is an Irish translation Boswell although the Urse and Irish are both dialects of the same language there may be a good deal of diversity between them as between the different dialects in Italy the Swede went away and Mr. Johnson continued his reading of the papers I said I am afraid sir it is troublesome why sir said he I do not take much delight in it but I'll go through it we went to the mitre and dined in the room where he and I first sucked together he gave me great hopes of my cause sir said he the government of a schoolmaster is somewhat of the nature of military government that is to say it must be arbitrary it must be exercised by the will of one man according to particular circumstances you must show some learning upon this occasion you must show that a schoolmaster has a prescriptive right to beat and that an action of assault and battery cannot be admitted against him unless there is some great excess some barbarity this man has maimed none of his boys they are all left with the full exercise of their corporeal faculties in our schools in England many boys have been maimed yet I never heard of an action against a schoolmaster on that account Puffendorf I think maintained the right of a schoolmaster to beat his scholars end of section 8 section 9 of the life of Samuel Dunson volume 2 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information and to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Anna Simon the life of Samuel Johnson volume 2 by James Boswell section 9 1772 continued on Saturday, March 27 I introduced to him Sir Alexander McDonald with whom he had expressed a wish to be acquainted he received him very courageously Sir Alexander observed that the chancellors in England are chosen from views much inferior to the office being chosen from temporary political views Johnson why sir, in such a government as ours no man is appointed to an office because he is the fittest for it nor hardly in any other government because there are so many connections and dependencies to be studied a despotic prince may choose a man to an office mainly because he is the fittest for it the king of Prussia may do it Sir A I think sir almost all great lawyers such at least as have written upon law have known only law and nothing else Johnson why no sir Judge Hale was a great lawyer and wrote upon law and yet he knew a great many other things and has written upon other things seldom too Sir A very true sir and Lord Bacon but was not Lord Koch a mere lawyer Johnson why I am afraid he was but he would have taken it very ill if he had told him so he would have prosecuted you for scandal Boswell Lord Mansfield is not a mere lawyer Johnson no sir I never was in Lord Mansfield's company but Lord Mansfield was distinguished at the university when he first came to town drank champagne with the wits as prior says he was the friend of Pope Sir A barristers I believe are not so abusive now as they were formally I fancy they had less law long ago and so were obliged to take to abuse to fill up the time now they have such a number of precedents they have no occasion for abuse Johnson no sir no sir as the precedents to be sure they will increase in cause of time but the more precedents there are the less occasion is there for law that is to say the less occasion is there for investigating principles Sir A I have been correcting several Scotch accents in my friend Boswell I doubt sir if any Scotchman ever attains to perfect English pronunciation Johnson why sir few of them do because they do not persevere after acquiring a certain degree of it but sir there can be no doubt that they may attain to perfect English pronunciation if they will we find how near they come to it and certainly a man who conquers 19 parts of the Scotch accent may conquer the 20th but sir when a man has got the better of nine tenths he grows wary he relaxes his diligence finds he has corrected his accent so far as not to be disagreeable and he no longer desires his friends to tell him when he is wrong nor does he choose to be told sir when people watch me narrowly and I do not watch myself they will find me out to be of a particular county in the same manner Dunning may be found out to be a Devonshire man so most Scotchman may be found out but sir little aberrations are of no disadvantage I never catched Mallet in a Scotch accent and yet Mallet I suppose was passed five and twenty before he came to London upon another occasion I talked to him on this subject having myself taken some pains to improve my pronunciation by the aid of the late Mr. Love of Drew Lane Theatre when he was a player at Edinburgh and also of old Mr. Sheridan Johnson said to me sir your pronunciation is not offensive with this concession I was pretty well satisfied and let me give my countrymen of North Britain an advice not to aim at absolute perfection in this respect not to speak high English as we are up to call what is far removed from the Scotch but which is by no means good English and makes the fools who use it truly ridiculous good English is plain easy and smooth in the mouth of an unaffected English gentleman a studied and fictitious pronunciation which requires perpetual attention and imposes perpetual constraint is exceedingly disgusting a small intermixure of provincial peculiarities may perhaps have an agreeable effect as the notes of different birds concur in the harmony of the grove and please more than if they were all exactly alike I could name some gentleman of Ireland to whom a slight proportion of the accent and recitative of the country is an advantage the same observation will apply to the gentleman of Scotland I do not mean that we should speak as broad as a certain prosperous member of parliament from that country though it has been well observed that it has been of no small use to him as it rouses the attention of the house by its uncommonness and is equal to tropes and figures in a good English speaker I would give us an instance of what I mean to recommend to my countrymen the pronunciation of the late Sir Gilbert Elliot and may I presume to add that of the present Earl of Margement who told me with great good humour that the master of a shop in London where he was not known said to him I suppose sir you are an American why so sir said his lordship because sir replied the shopkeeper you speak neither English nor Scotch but something different from both which I conclude is the language of America Boswell it may be of use sir to have a dictionary to ascertain the pronunciation Johnson why sir my dictionary shows you the accents of words if you can but remember them Boswell but sir we want marks to ascertain the pronunciation of the vowels Sheridan I believe has finished such a work Johnson why sir consider how much easier it is to learn a language by the ear than by any marks Sheridan's dictionary may do very well but you cannot always carry it about with you and when you want the word you have not the dictionary it is like a man who has a sword that will not draw it is an admirable sword to be sure but while your enemy is cutting your throat you are unable to use it besides sir what in titles Sheridan to fix the pronunciation of English he has in the first place that is advantage of being an Irishman and if he says he will fix it after the example of the best company why they differ among themselves I remember an instance when I published the plan for my dictionary Lord Chesterfield told me that the word great should be pronounced so as to rhyme to state and so William Young sent me word that it should be pronounced so as to rhyme to seat and that none but an Irishman would pronounce it great now here are two men of the highest rank the one the best speaker in the House of Lords the other the best speaker in the House of Commons differing entirely I again visited him at night finding him in a very good humour I ventured to lead him to the subject of our situation in a future state having much curiosity to know his notions on that point Johnson why sir the happiness of an unembodied spirit will consist in a consciousness of a favour of God in the contemplation of truth and in the possession of felicitating ideas both well but sir is there any harm in our forming to ourselves conjectures as to the particulars of our happiness though the scripture has said but very little on the subject we know not what we shall be Johnson sir there is no harm what philosophy suggests to us on this topic is probable what scripture tells us is certain that Henry Moore has carried it as far as philosophy can you may buy both his theological and philosophical works in two volumes folio for about eight shillings Boswell one of the most pleasing thoughts is that we shall see our friends again Johnson yes sir but you must consider that when we are become purely rational many of our friendships will be cut off many friendships are formed by a community of central treasures all these will be cut off we form many friendships with bad man because they have agreeable qualities and they can be useful to us but after death they can no longer be of use to us we form many friendships by mistake imagining people to be different from what they really are after death we shall see everyone in a true light then sir they talk of our meeting our relations but then all relationship are solved and we shall have no regard for one person more than another but for their real value however we shall either have the satisfaction of meeting our friends or be satisfied without meeting them Boswell yet sir we see in scripture that Dives still retained an anxious concern about his brethren Johnson why sir we must either suppose that passage to be metaphorical or hold with many devines and all the purgatorians that departed souls do not all at once arrive at the utmost perfection of which they are capable Boswell I think sir that is a very rational supposition Johnson yes sir but we do not know it is a true one there is no harm in believing it but you must not compel others to make it an article of faith for it is not revealed Boswell do you think sir it is wrong in a man who holds the doctrine of purgatory to pray for the souls of his deceased friends Johnson why no sir Boswell I have been told that in the liturgy of the Episcopal Church of Scotland there was a form of prayer for the dead Johnson sir it is not in the liturgy which Lord framed for the Episcopal Church of Scotland if there is a liturgy older than that to see it Boswell as there are employments in the future state the sacred writings say little Revelation however of St John gives us many ideas and particularly mentions music Johnson why sir ideas must be given you by means of something which you know and as to music there are some philosophers and divines who have maintained that we shall not be spiritualized to such a degree that something of matter very much refined will remain in that case music may make a part of our future felicity Boswell I do not know whether there are any well attested stories of the appearance of ghosts you know there is a famous story of the appearance of Mrs. Veal prefixed to Drellancourt on death Johnson I believe sir that is given up I believe the woman declared upon our deathbed that it was a lie Boswell this objection is made against the truth of ghosts appearing that if they are in a state of happiness it would be a punishment to them to return to this world and if they are in a state of misery it would be giving them a respite Johnson why sir as the happiness or misery of embodied spirits does not depend upon plays but is intellectual we cannot say that they are less happy or less miserable by appearing on earth we went down between 12 and 1 to Mrs. Williams room and drank tea I mentioned that we were to have the remains of Mr. Gray in prose and verse published by Mr. Mason Johnson I think we have had enough of Gray I see they have published a splendid edition of Ackenside's works one bad-out may be suffered but a number of them together makes one sick Boswell Ackenside's distinguished poet is his pleasures of imagination but from my part I never could admire it so much as most people do Johnson sir I could not read it through Boswell I have read it through but I did not find any great power in it I mentioned Elwell the heretic whose trial Sir John Pringle had given me to read Johnson Sir Mr. Elwell was I think an iron runger at Wolverhampton and he had a mind to make himself famous by being the founder of a new sect which he wished much should be called Elwellians he held that everything in the Old Testament that was not typical was to be of perpetual observance and so he wore a ribbon in the plates of his coat and he also wore a beard I remember I had the honour of dining in company with Mr. Elwell there was one barter a miller who wrote against him and you had the controversy between Mr. Elwell and Mr. Barter to try to make himself distinguished he wrote a letter to King George II challenging him to dispute with him in which he said George, if you be afraid to come by yourself to dispute with a poor old man you may bring a thousand of your black guards with you and if you should still be afraid you may bring a thousand of your red guards the letter had something of that sort the letter had something of the impudence of Junius to our present king but the men of Wolverhampton were not so inflamable as the common council of London so Mr. Elwell filled in his scheme of making himself a man of great consequence on Tuesday, March 31st he and I died at General Pauli's a question was started whether the state of marriage was natural to man Johnson Sir, it is so far from being natural for a man and woman to live in a state of marriage that we find all the motives which they have for remaining in that connection and the restraints which civilised society imposes to prevent separation are hardly sufficient to keep them together the general said that in a state of nature a man and woman uniting together would form a strong and constant affection by the mutual pleasure each would receive and that the same causes of dissension would not arise between them or between husband and wife in a civilised state Johnson Sir, they would have dissentions enough though of another kind one would choose to go hunting in this wood the other in that one would choose to go fishing in this lake the other in that or perhaps one would choose to go hunting when the other would choose to go fishing and so they would part besides Sir, a savage man and a savage woman meet by chance and if he chooses him better he will leave the first we then fell into a disquisition whether there is any beauty independent futility the general maintained that was not Dr Johnson maintained that there was and he instanced to a coffee cup which he held in his hand the painting of which was of no real use as the cup would hold the coffee equally well of plain yet the painting was beautiful we talked of the strange customer the general said that all barbarous nations swore from a certain violence of temper that could not be confined to earth but was always reaching at the powers above he said too that there was greater variety of swearing in proportion as there was a greater variety of religious ceremonies Dr Johnson went home with me to my lodgings in Conwood Street and drank tea previous to our going to the pantheon which neither of us had seen before he said Goldsmith's life of Parnell is poor not that it is poorly written but that he had poor materials for nobody can write the life of a man but those who have eaten, drunk and lived in social intercourse with him I said that if it was not troublesome and presuming too much I would request him to tell me all the little circumstances of his life what schools he attended when he came to Oxford he did not disapprove of my curiosity as to these particulars but said they'll come out by degrees as we talk together he sendered Ruffat's life of Pope and said he knew nothing of Pope and nothing of poetry he praised Dr Joseph Wharton's essay on Pope but said he supposed we should have no more of it as the author had not been able to persuade the world to think of Pope as he did Boswell, why sir he sent him from continuing his work he's an ingenious counsel who has made the most of his cause he's not obliged to gain it Johnson but sir there is a difference when the cause is of a man's own making we talked of the proper use of riches Johnson if I were a man of great estate I would drive all the rascals whom I did not like out of the county at an election I asked him how far he thought wealth should be employed in hospitality Johnson you are to consider that ancient hospitality of which we hear so much was in an un-commercial country when man being idle were glad to be entertained at Richmond's tables but in a commercial country a busy country time becomes precious and therefore hospitality is not so much valued no doubt there is still room for a certain degree of it and a man had his satisfaction in seeing his friends eating and drinking around him but promiscuous hospitality is not the way to gain real influence you must help some people at table before others you must ask some people how they like their wine oftener than others you therefore offend more people than you please you're like the French statement who says when he granted the favor j'ai fait dix mé contents et un ingres besides sir being entertained ever so well at a man's table impresses no lasting regard or esteem and no sir the way to make sure of power and influence is by lending money confidentially to your neighbors at a small interest or perhaps at no interest at all and having their bonds in your possession Boswell may not a man, sir employ his riches to advantage in educating young men of merit Johnson yes sir, if they fall in your way but if it be understood that you patronize young men of merit you'll be harassed with solicitations you'll have numbers forced upon you who have no merit some will force them upon you from mistaken partiality and some from downright interested motives without scruple and you'll be disgraced where I a rich man I would propagate all kinds of trees that will grow in the open air greenhouse is childish I would introduce foreign animals into the country for instance the reindeer the conversation now turned on critical subjects Johnson Bayes in the rehearsal is a mighty silly character if it was intended to be like a particular man it could only be diverting while that man was remembered but I question whether it was meant for Dryden as has been reported for we know some of the passages said to be ridiculed were written since the rehearsal at least a passage mentioned in the preface is of a later date I maintained that it had merit as a general satire on the self-importance of dramatic authors but even in this slide he held it very cheap we then walk to the pantheon the first view of it did not strike us so much as Ranala of which he said the coup de hau was the finest thing he had ever seen the truth is Ranala is of a more beautiful form more of it or rather indeed the whole rotunda appears at once and it is better lighted however as Johnson observed we saw the pantheon in time of morning when there was a dull uniformity whereas we had seen Ranala when the view was enlivened with a gay perfusion of colors Mrs. Boswell of Gunthwaite in Yorkshire joined us and entered into conversation with us Johnson said to me afterwards Sir, this is a mighty intelligent lady I said there was not half a guineas worth of pleasure in seeing this place Johnson, but sir there is half a guineas worth of inferiority to other people in not having seen it Boswell, I doubt sir whether there are many happy people here Johnson, yes sir there are many happy people here there are many happy people here who are watching hundreds and who think hundreds are watching them Happening to meet Sir Adam Ferguson I presented him to Dr. Johnson Sir Adam expressed some apprehension that the pantheon would encourage luxury Sir, said Johnson I am a great friend to public amusements for they keep people from vice You now, addressing himself to me would have been with a wench had you not been here Oh, I forgot you were married Sir Adam suggested that luxury corrupts a people and destroys the spirit of liberty Johnson Sir, that is all visionary I would not give half a guineas to live under one form of government rather than another It is of no moment to the happiness of an individual Sir, the danger of the abuse of power is nothing to a private man What Frenchman is prevented from passing his life as he pleases Sir Adam But sir, in the British Constitution it is surely of importance to keep up a spirit in the people so as to preserve a balance against the crown Johnson Sir, I perceive you are a vile wig while all this childish jealousy of the power of the crown The crown is not power enough When I say that all governments are alike I consider that in no government power can be abused long Mankind will not bear it If a sovereign oppresses his people to a great degree they will rise and cut off his head There is a remedy in human nature against tyranny that will keep us safe under every form of government Had not the people of France thought themselves honoured as sharing in the brilliant actions of Louis Coteurs they would not have endured him and we may say the same with the king of Prussia's people Sir Adam introduced the ancient Greeks and Romans Johnson Sir, the Mars of both of them were barbarians The Mars of every people must be barbarous where there is no printing and consequently knowledge is not generally diffused knowledge is diffused among our people by the newspapers Sir Adam mentioned the orators poets and artists of Greece Johnson Sir, I am talking of the Mars of the people we see even what the boasted Athenians were the little effect which the monsterness's orations had upon them shows that they were barbarians Sir Adam was unlucky in his topics for he suggested a doubt of the propriety of bishops having seats in the house of lords Johnson How so, sir? Who is more proper for having the dignity of a pier than a bishop provided a bishop be what he ought to be and if improper bishops be made that is not the fault of the bishops but of those who make them On Sunday, April 5th at St Paul's Church I found him alone of a schoolmaster of his acquaintance a native of Scotland he said he has a great deal of good about him but it is also very defective in some respects his inner part is good but his outer part is mighty awkward you in Scotland do not attain that nice critical skill in languages which we get in our schools in England I would not put a boy to him whom I intended for a man of learning but for the sons of citizens who are to learn a little get good morals and then go to trade he may do very well I mentioned a cause in which I had appeared as council at the bar of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland where a probationer as one licensed to preach but not yet ordained is called was opposed in his application to be inducted because it was alleged that he had been guilty of fornication no Johnson why sir, if he has repented it is not a sufficient objection a man who is good enough to go to heaven is good enough to be a clergyman this was a humane and liberal sentiment but the character of a clergyman is more sacred than that of an ordinary Christian as he is to instruct with authority he should be regarded with reverence as one upon whom divine truth has had the effect to set him above such transgressions as men less exalted by spiritual habits and yet upon the whole not to be excluded from heaven have been betrayed into by the predominance of passion that clergyman may be considered a sinners in general as all men are cannot be denied but this reflection will not counteract their good precepts so much as the absolute knowledge of their having been guilty of certain specific immoral acts I told him that by the rules of Scotland in their book of discipline if a scandal as it is called is not prosecuted for five years it cannot afterwards be proceeded upon unless it be of a heinous nature or again become flagrant and that hence a question arose whether fornication was a sin of a heinous nature and that I had maintained that it did not deserve that epithet in as much as it was not one of those sins which argue very great depravity of heart in short was not an exception of mankind a heinous sin Johnson, no sir it is not a heinous sin a heinous sin is that for which a man is punished with death or banishment boswell but sir after I had argued that it was not a heinous sin an old clergyman rose up and repeating the text of scripture denouncing judgment against whoremongers asked whether considering this there could be any doubt in a heinous sin Johnson, why sir observe the word whoremonger every sin if persisted in will become heinous whoremonger is a dealer in whores as ironmonger is a dealer in iron but as you don't call a man an ironmonger for buying and selling a pen knife so you don't call a man a whoremonger for getting one wench with child I spoke of the inequality of the livings of the clergy in England and the provisions of some of the curates Johnson, why yes sir but it cannot be helped you must consider that the revenues of the clergy are not at the disposal of the state like the pay of the army different men have founded different churches and some are better and out some worse the state cannot interfere and make an equal division of what has been particularly appropriated now when a clergyman has bought a small living or even two small livings he can afford very little to occur it he said he went more frequently to church when there were prayers only than when there was also a sermon as the people required more an example for the one than the other it being much easier for them to hear a sermon and to fix their minds on prayer on Monday, April 6 I dined with him at Sir Alexander McDonald's where was a young officer in the regimentals of the Scots Royal who talked with a verbacity, fluency and precision so uncommon that he attracted particular attention he proved to be the honourable Thomas Erskine, youngest brother to the Earl of Buchan who has since risen into such brilliant reputation at the bar in Westminster Hall Fielding being mentioned Johnson exclaimed he was a blockhead and upon my expressing my astonishment at so strange an assertion he said what I mean by his being a blockhead is that he was a barren rascal Boswell will you not allow Sir that he draws very natural pictures of human life Johnson why Sir it is of very low life Richardson used to say that had he not known who Fielding was he should have believed he was an Osler Sir there is more knowledge of the heart in one letter of Richardson's than in all Tom Jones I indeed never read Joseph Andrews Erskine surely Sir Richardson is very tedious Johnson why Sir if you were to read Richardson for the story your impatience would be so much fretted that you would hang yourself but you must read him for the sentiment and consider the story as only giving occasion to the sentiment I have already given my opinion of Fielding but I cannot refrain from repeating here my wonder at Johnson's excessive and uncountable depreciation of one of the best writers that England has produced Tom Jones has took the test of public opinion with such success as to have established its great merit both for the story the sentiments and the manners and also the variety's addiction so as to leave no doubt of its having an animated truth of execution throughout a book of travels lately published in the title of Corrid Junior and written by Mr. Peterson was mentioned Johnson said this book was an imitation of Stern and not of Corrid whose name Peterson had chosen as a whimsical one Tom Corrid said he was a humorist about the court of James I he had a mixture of learning of wit and of buffoonery he first travelled through Europe and published his travels he afterwards travelled on foot through Asia and had made many remarks but he had died at Mandoa and his remarks were lost and talked of gaming and inverted on it with severity Johnson hey gentlemen that does not aggravate the matter it is not roguery to play with a man who is ignorant of the game while you are master of it and so win his money for he thinks he can play better than you as you think you can play better than he and the superior skill carries it Erskine he is a fool but you are not a rogue Johnson that's much about the truth sir it must be considered that a man who only does what every one of the society to which he belongs would do is not a dishonest man in the Republic of Sparta it was agreed that stealing was not dishonourable if not discovered I do not commend the society where there is an agreement that what would not otherwise be fair shall be fair but I maintain that an individual who practices what is allowed is not a dishonest man was well so then sir you do not think ill of a man who wins perhaps forty thousand pounds in the winter Johnson sir I do not call a gamester a dishonest man but I call him an unsocial man an unprofitable man gaming is a mode of transferring property without producing any intermediate good trade gives employment to numbers and so produces intermediate good Mr. Erskine told us that when he was in the island of Minorka he not only read prayers but preached two sermons to the regiment he seemed to object to the passage in scripture where we are told that the angel of the lord smote in one night forty thousand Assyrians sir said Johnson you should recollect that there was a supernatural interposition they were destroyed by pestilence you are not to suppose that the angel of the lord went about and stabbed each of them with a dagger or knocked them on the head man by man after Mr. Erskine was gone a discussion took place whether the present Earl of Buchan did right to refuse to go secretary of the embassy to Spain when Sir James Gray a man of inferior rank went ambassador that perhaps in point of interest he did wrong but in point of dignity he did well Sir Alexander insisted that he was wrong and said that Mr. Pitt intended it as an advantageous thing for him why sir said Johnson Mr. Pitt might think it an advantageous thing for him to make him a vintner and get him all the Portugal trade but he would have demeaned himself strangely had he accepted of such a situation sir had he gone secretary while his inferior was ambassador he would have been a traitor to his rank and family I talked with the little attachment which subsisted between the relations in London sir said Johnson in a country so commercial as ours where every man can do for himself there is not so much occasion for that attachment no man is thought the words of here whose brother was hanged in uncommercial countries many of the branches of a family must depend on the stock so in order to make the head of the family take care of them they are represented as connected with their reputation that self love being interested he may exert himself to promote their interest you have first large circles or clans as commerce increases the connection is confined to families by degrees that too goes off as having become unnecessary and there being few opportunities of intercourse one brother is a merchant in the city and another is an officer in the guards how little intercourse can these two have I argued warmly for the old feudal system sir Alexander reposted and talked to the pleasure of seeing all men free and independent Johnson I agree with Mr. Bosswell that there must be a high satisfaction in being a feudal lord but we are to consider that we are not to wish to have a number of men unhappy for the satisfaction of one I maintained that numbers namely the vassals or followers were not unhappy for that there was a reciprocal satisfaction between the lord and them he being kind in his authority over them they being respectful and faithful to him on Thursday April 9 I called on him to beg he would go and dine with me at the mitre tavern he had resolved not to dine at all this day I know not for what reason and I was so unwilling to be deprived of his company that I was content to submit the sufferer want which was at first somewhat painful but he soon made me forget it and a man is always pleased with himself when he finds his intellectual inclinations predominate he observed that the reason philosophically on the nature of prayer was very unprofitable talking of ghosts he said he knew one friend who was an honest man and a sensible man who told him he had seen a ghost old Mr. Edward Cave the printer at St. John's Gate he said Mr. Cave did not like to talk of it and seemed to be in great horror whenever it was mentioned Boswell pray sir what did he say was the appearance Johnson why sir something of a shadowy being I mentioned witches and asked him what they properly meant Johnson why sir they properly mean those who make use of the aid of evil spirits Boswell there is no doubt sir a general report and believe of their having existed Johnson you have not only the general report and believe but you have many voluntary solemn confessions he did not affirm anything positively upon a subject which it is the fashion of the times to laugh at as a matter of third credulity he only seemed willing as a candid inquirer after truth however strange and inexplicable to show that he understood what might be urged for it on Friday April 10 I dined with him at General Oglethobs where we found Dr. Goldsmith our moral bearings having been mentioned Johnson said they were as ancient as the Siege of Thebes which he proved by a passage in one of the tragedies of Euripides I started the question whether dueling was consistent with moral duty the brave old general fired at this and said little lofty air undoubtedly a man has a right to defend his honor Goldsmith turning to me I ask you first sir what would you do if you were affronted I answered I should think it necessary to fight why then replied Goldsmith that solves the question Johnson no sir it does not solve the question it does not follow that what a man would do is therefore right I said I wish to have it settled whether dueling was contrary to the laws of Christianity Johnson immediately entered on the subject and treated it in a masterly manner and so far as I've been able to recollect his thoughts were these sir as man become in a high degree refined various causes of offense arise which are considered to be of such importance that life must be staked to atone for them though in reality they are not so a body that has received a very fine polish may be easily hurt before man arrive at this artificial refinement if one tells his neighbor he lies his neighbor tells him he lies if one gives his neighbor a blow his neighbor gives him a blow but in a state of highly polished society an affront is held to be a serious injury it must therefore be resented or rather a duel must be fought upon it as men have agreed to banish from their society one who puts up with an affront without fighting a duel now sir it is never unlawful to fight in self-defense he then who fights a duel does not fight from passion against his antagonist but out of self-defense to avert the stigma of the world and to prevent himself from being driven out of society I could wish there was not that superfluity of refinement but while such notions prevail no doubt a man may lawfully fight a duel let it be remembered that this justification is applicable only to the person who receives an affront all mankind must condemn the aggressor the general told us that when he was a very young man I think only fifteen serving under prince Eugene of Savoy he was sitting in a company at table with the prince of Würzenberg the prince took up a glass of wine and by a Philip made some of it fly in Oglethorpe's face here was a nice dilemma Teff challenged him instantly might have fixed a quarrelsome character upon a young soldier who noticed of it might have been considered as cowardice Oglethorpe therefore keeping his eye upon the prince and smiling all the time as if he took what his highness had done and just said man prince I forget the French words he used the pervert however was that's a good joke but we do it much better in England and through a whole glass of wine in the prince's face an old general who said by the very end my prince you have started and thus all entered in good humor Dr. Johnson said pray general give us an account of the siege of Belgrade upon which the general purring a little wine up on the table described everything with a wet finger here we were here were the Turks etc etc Johnson listened with the closest attention a question was started people who disagree in a capital point can live in friendship together Johnson said they might Goldsmith said they could not as they had not the the same likings and the same aversions Johnson why sir you must shun the subject as to which you disagree for instance I can live very well with Berg I love his knowledge his genius his diffusion and affluence of conversation but I would not talk to him of the Rockingham party Goldsmith but sir when people live together who have something as to which they disagree and which they want to shun they will be in the situation mentioned in the story of Bluebeard you may look into all the chambers but one but we should have the greatest inclination to look into that chamber to talk of that subject Johnson with a loud voice sir I'm not saying that you could live in friendship with a man from whom you differ as to some point I'm only saying that I could do it you put me in mind of Saffa in Ovid Goldsmith told us that he was now busy in writing a natural history and that he might have full leisure for it he had taken lodgings at a farmer's house near to the Six Milestone on the Etchware Road and it carried down his books in two returned post chases he said he believed the farmer's family thought him an odd character similar to that in which the spectator appeared to his landlady and her children he was the gentleman Mr. Mikkel, the translator of the Lusiat and I went to visit him at this place a few days afterwards he was not at home but having a curiosity to see his apartment we went in and found curious craps of descriptions of animals scrolled upon the wall with a black lead pencil the subject of ghosts being introduced Johnson repeated what he had told me of a friend of his an honest man and a man of sense having asserted to him that he had seen an apparition Goldsmith told us he was assured by his brother the reverend Mr. Goldsmith that he also had seen one General Uglethorpe told us that Prendergast, an officer in the Duke of Marlborough's army had mentioned to many of his friends that he should die on a particular day that upon that day a battle took place with the French that after it was over and Prendergast was still alive his brother officers while they were yet in the field justingly asked him where was his prophecy now Prendergast gravely answered I shall die notwithstanding what you see soon afterwards there came a shot for a French battery to which the orders for a cessation of arms had not yet reached Colonel Cecil who took possession of his effects found in his pocketbook the following solemn entry hear the date dreamt or Sir John Friend meets me hear the very date on which he was killed was mentioned Prendergast had been connected with Sir John Friend who was executed for high treason General Uglethorpe said he was with Colonel Cecil when Pope came and inquired into the truth about this story which made a great noise at the time and was then confirmed by the Colonel End of Section 9