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Hervey in consideration of his having written for him a pamphlet against Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, who, Mr. Hervey imagined, was the author of an attack upon him; but that it was afterwards discovered to be the work of a garreteer', who wrote "The Fool;" the pamphlet therefore against Sir Charles was not printed.

In February, 1767, there happened one of the most remarkable incidents of Johnson's life, which gratified his monarchical enthusiasm, and which he loved to relate with all its circumstances, when requested by his friends. This was his being honoured by a private conversation with his Majesty, in the library at the Queen's house. He had frequently visited those splendid rooms and noble collection of books, which he used to say was more numerous and curious than he supposed any person could have made in the time which the King had employed. Mr. Barnard, the librarian, took care that he should have every accommodation that could contribute to his ease and convenience, while indulging his literary taste in that place; so that he had here a very agreeable resource at leisure hours.

His Majesty having been informed of his

occasional visits, was pleased to signify a desire that he should be told when Dr. Johnson came next to the library. Accordingly, the next time that Johnson did come, as soon as he was fairly engaged with a book, on which, while he sat by the fire, he seemed quite intent, Mr. Barnard stole round to the apartment where the King was, and, in obedience to his Majesty's commands, mentioned that Dr. Johnson was then in the library. His Majesty said he was at leisure, and would go to him; upon which Mr. Barnard took one of the candles that stood on the King's table, and lighted his Majesty through a suite of rooms, till they came to a private door into the library, of which his Majesty had the key. Being entered, Mr. Barnard stepped forward hastily to Dr. Johnson, who was still in a profound study, and whispered him, "Sir, here is the King." Johnson started up, and stood still. His Majesty approached him, and at once was courteously easy.+

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His Majesty began by observing, that he understood he came sometimes to the library; and then mentioning his having heard that the Doctor had been lately at Oxford, asked him if he was not fond of going thither. To which

(1741), it is believed, of the many appeals which Mr. Hervey made to the public, relative to his private concerns. The subject is astonishing. Lady Hanmer eloped from her husband with Mr. Hervey, and made, it seems, a will, in his favour, of certain estates, of which Sir Thomas had a life possession. Hervey's letter avows the adultery, and assigns very strange reasons for the lady's leaving her husband, and then goes on to complain, that Sir Thomas was cutting timber on the estate which had belonged to "our wife," so he calls her, and of which the reversion was Hervey's, and begging that, if Hanmer did sell any more timber, he would give him, Hervey, the refusal of it. All this is garnished and set off by extravagant flights of fine writing, the most cutting sarcasms, the most indecent details, and the most serious expressions of the writer's conviction, that his conduct was natural and delicate, and such as every body must approve; and that, finally, in Heaven, Lady Hanmer, in the distribution of wives (suam cuique), would be considered as his. Twenty years did not cool his brain. Just at the close of the reign he addressed a letter to King George the Second, which still more clearly explains the state of his intellect. He talks, amidst a great deal of scandalous extravagance, of "the hideous subject of his mental excruciation," and complains that his doctor mistook his case, by calling that a nervous disorder which was clearly inflammatory, and, in consequence of that fatal error, Hervey "passed eleven years without any more account of time, or other notice of things, than a person asleep, under the influence of some horrid dream," and so on. It is this letter which Horace Walpole thus characterises: "Have you seen Tom Hervey's letter to the king? full of absurdity and madness, but with here and there gleams of genius and happy expressions that are wonderfully fine."-Letter to Conway, Dec. 1766. His quarrel with his second wife, in 1767, referred to in the text, he, according to his custom, blazoned to the public by the following advertisement: "Whereas Mrs. Hervey has been three times from home last year, and at least as many the year before, without my leave or privity, and hath encouraged her son to persist in the like rebellious practices, I hereby declare, that Ineither am nor will be accountable for any future debts of hers whatsoever. She is now keeping forcible possession of my house, to which I never did invite or thought of inviting her in all my life. - Thomas Hervey. He afterwards proceeded further, and commenced a suit against his lady for jactitation of marriage, which finally ended in his discomfiture. Johnson, as we shall see hereafter (6th April, 1775), characterised his friend, Tom Hervey, as he had already done (ante, p. 29.), his brother Henry, as very vicious. Alas! it is but too probable, that both were disordered in mind, and that what was called vice was, in truth, disease, and required a madhouse rather than a prison. - CROKER.

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Some curiosity would naturally be felt as to who the garreteer was, who wrote a pamphlet, which was attributed

to Sir C. H. Williams, the most celebrated wit of the day, and to answer which, the wild and sarcastic genius of Hervey required the assistance of Dr. Johnson. His name was William Horsley, but his acknowledged works are poor productions. CROKER.

2 Buckingham House in St. James's Park, built in 1703, for Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, bought in 1761, by George III. for 21,000., and settled on Queen Charlotte in lieu of Somerset House. All their children (George IV. excepted) were born in this house. The present Buckingham Palace occupies the site.-P. CUNNINGHAM.

3 Dr. Johnson had the honour of contributing his assistance towards the formation of this library; for I have read a long letter from him to Mr. Barnard, giving the most masterly instructions on the subject. I wished much to have gratified my readers with the perusal of this letter, and have reason to think that his Majesty would have been graciously pleased to permit its publication; but Mr. Barnard, to whom

applied, declined it "on his own account."- BOSWELL. I was more fortunate, and this letter will be found under its proper date, May 28. 1768., p. 196. CROKER.

4 The particulars of this conversation I have been at great pains to collect with the utmost authenticity, from Dr. Johnson's own detail to myself; from Mr. Langton, who was present when he gave an account of it to Dr. Joseph Warton and several other friends at Sir Joshua Reynolds's; from Mr. Barnard; from the copy of a letter written by the late Mr. Strahan the printer, to Bishop Warburton; and from a minute, the original of which is among the papers of the late Sir James Caldwell, and a copy of which was most obligingly obtained for me from his son Sir John Caldwell, by Sir Francis Lumm. To all these gentlemen I beg leave to make my grateful acknowledgments, and particularly to Sir Francis Lumm, who was pleased to take a great deal of trouble, and even had the minute laid before the King by Lord Caermarthen, now Duke of Leeds, then one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, who announced to Sir Francis the royal pleasure concerning it by a letter, in these words: "I have the King's commands to assure you, Sir, how sensible his Majesty is of your attention in communicating the minute of the conversation previous to its publication. As there appears no objection to your complying with Mr. Boswell's wishes on the subject, you are at full liberty to deliver it to that gentleman, to make such use of in his Life of Dr. Johnson, as he may think proper."BOSWELL.

Boswell was so jealous of the copyright of his work, that he had this conversation, as well as Johnson's letter to Lord Chesterfield, printed separately, and entered at Stationers' Hall, to prevent his rivals making use of it. This is alluded to in Mr. Alexander Chalmers's excellent pleasantry, "Lessons in Biography," in the Appendix.-CROKER.

Johnson answered, that he was indeed fond of going to Oxford sometimes, but was likewise glad to come back again. The King then asked him what they were doing at Oxford. Johnson answered, he could not much commend their diligence, but that in some respects they were mended, for they had put their press under better regulations, and were at that time printing Polybius. He was then asked whether there were better libraries at Oxford or Cambridge. He answered, he believed the Bodleian was larger than any they had at Cambridge; at the same time adding, "I hope, whether we have more books or not than they have at Cambridge, we shall make as good use of them as they do." Being asked whether All-Souls or Christ-Church library was the largest, he answered, "All-Souls library is the largest we have, except the Bodleian." "Ay," said the King, "that is the public library."

His Majesty inquired if he was then writing any thing. He answered, he was not, for he had pretty well told the world what he knew, and must now read to acquire more knowledge. The King, as it should seem with a view to urge him to rely on his own stores as an original writer, and to continue his labours, then said, "I do not think you borrow much from any body." Johnson said, he thought he had already done his part as a writer. "I should have thought so too," said the King, "if you had not written so well." Johnson observed to me, upon this, that "No man could have paid a handsomer compliment1; and it was fit for a King to pay. It was decisive." When asked by another friend, at Sir Joshua Reynolds's, whether he made any reply to this high compliment, he answered, "No, Sir. When the King had said it, it was to be so. It was not for me to bandy civilities with my Sovereign." Perhaps no man who had spent his whole life in courts could have shown a more nice and dignified sense of true politeness, than Johnson did in this instance.

His Majesty having observed to him that he supposed he must have read a great deal; Johnson answered, that he thought more than

1 Johnson himself imitated it to Paoli (see post, Oct. 10. 1769); and it has indeed become one of the common-places of compliment-regis ad exemplar. Hawkins has preserved a compliment of the same kind by George II., which, of a prince not celebrated for such things, seems worth repeating. Mr. Thornton of Yorkshire raised, at his own expense, a regiment of horse, and though newly married to a beautiful young lady, marched at the head of it with the King's army. After the rebellion, he and his wife went to court, when the king, who had noticed Mrs. Thornton, said to him, "Mr. Thornton, I have been told of your services to your country, and your attachment to my family, and have held myself obliged to you for both; but I was never able to appreciate the degree of the obligation till I had seen the lady you left behind you." - CHOKER.

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he read; that he had read a great deal in the early part of his life, but having fallen into ill health, he had not been able to read much, compared with others: for instance, he said he had not read much, compared with Dr. Warburton. Upon which the King said, that he heard Dr. Warburton was a man of such general knowledge, that you could scarce talk with him on any subject on which he was not qualified to speak; and that his learning resembled Garrick's acting, in its universality.2 His Majesty then talked of the controversy between Warburton and Lowth, which he seemed to have read, and asked Johnson what he thought of it. Johnson answered, "Warburton has most general, most scholastic learning; Lowth is the more correct scholar. I do not know which of them calls names best." The King was pleased to say he was of the same opinion; adding, "You do not think then, Dr. Johnson, that there was much argument in the case.' Johnson said, he did not think there was. 'Why truly," said the King, "when once it comes to calling names, argument is pretty well at an end."

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His Majesty then asked him what he thought of Lord Lyttelton's History, which was then just published. Johnson said, he thought his style pretty good, but that he had blamed Henry the Second rather too much. "Why," said the King, "they seldom do these things by halves."-"No, Sir," answered Johnson, "not to Kings." But fearing to be misunderstood, he proceeded to explain himself; and immediately subjoined, "That for those who spoke worse of Kings than they deserved, he could find no excuse; but that he could more easily conceive how some might speak better of them than they deserved, without any ill intention; for, as Kings had much in their power to give, those who were favoured by them would frequently, from gratitude, exaggerate their praises: and as this proceeded from a good motive, it was certainly excusable, as far as error could be excusable."

The King then asked him what he thought of Dr. Hill. Johnson answered, that he was an ingenious man, but had no veracity; and

had published the Divine Legation, and was chaplain to the prince of Wales before he knew Pope; his acquaintance with that poet, but of four years' continuance, was ended by Pope's death in 1744. It was ten years after, that he became a King's chaplain, and, in 1755, he had a prebend in the cathedral of Durham. In 1757, he was made dean of Bristol; and, in 1760, sirteen years after Pope's death, he became bishop of Gloucester. If it be alleged, that Mr. Strahan's report refers to the supposition, that his commentary on Pope's "Essay on Man" tended to create that character which finally raised him to the bench; it may be observed, that he published, before and after that commentary, a multitude of works on polemical and religious subjects, much more important and remarkable than the Commentary on the " Essay on Man." The truth is, Warburton was made a bishop by his numerous works, and his high literary character, to which his commentary on Pope contributed a very inconsiderable part. See post, 20th Aug. 1773. CROKER.

3 See the article Lowth, in Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary, vol. xx. p. 438.-WRIght.

4 John Hill, M.D., who assumed latterly the title of Sir John, on receiving a Swedish order of Knighthood. This

immediately mentioned, as an instance of it, an assertion of that writer, that he had seen objects magnified to a much greater degree by using three or four microscopes at a time than by using one. "Now," added Johnson, "every one acquainted with microscopes knows, that the more of them he looks through, the less the object will appear."—"Why," replied the King, "this is not only telling an untruth, but telling it clumsily; for, if that be the case, every one who can look through a microscope I will be able to detect him." 1

"I now," said Johnson to his friends, when relating what had passed, "began to consider that I was depreciating this man in the estimation of his Sovereign, and thought it was time for me to say something that might be more favourable." He added, therefore, that Dr. Hill was, notwithstanding, a very curious observer; and if he would have been contented to tell the world no more than he knew, he might have been a very considerable man, and needed not to have recourse to such mean expedients to raise his reputation.

The King then talked of literary journals, mentioned particularly the Journal des Savans, and asked Johnson if it was well done. Johnson said, it was formerly very well done, and gave some account of the persons who began it, and carried it on for some years: enlarging, at the same time, on the nature and use of such works. The King asked him if it was well done now. Johnson answered, he had no reason to think that it was.2 The King then asked him if there were any other literary journals published in this kingdom, except the Monthly and Critical Reviews; and on being answered there was no other, his Majesty asked which of them was the best: Johnson answered, that the Monthly Review was done with most care, the Critical upon the best principles; adding, that the authors of the Monthly Review were enemies to the Church. This the King said he was sorry to hear.

The conversation next turned on the Philosophical Transactions, when Johnson observed that they had now a better method of arranging their materials than formerly. "Ay," said the King, "they are obliged to Dr. Johnson for that!" for his Majesty had heard and remembered the circumstance, which Johnson himself had forgot.

literary and medical quack died in 1775. Garrick's Epigram is well known :

"For physic and farces, his equal there scarce is;

His farces are physic, his physic a farce is."- LOCKHART. 1 Here, Bishop Elrington observed, Dr. Johnson was unjust to Hill, and showed that he did not understand the subject. Hill does not talk of magnifying objects by two or more microscopes, but by applying two object glasses to one microscope; and the advantage of diminished spherical errors by this contrivance is well known. Hill's account of the experiment is obscurely and inaccurately expressed in one or two particulars; but there can be no doubt that he is substantially right, and that Dr. Johnson's statement was altogether unfounded. CROKER.

2 Mr. Gibbon, however, about the same time (1763) gave a different judgment: I can hardly express how much I

His Majesty expressed a desire to have the literary biography of this country ably executed, and proposed to Dr. Johnson to undertake it. Johnson signified his readiness to comply with his Majesty's wishes.

During the whole of this interview, Johnson talked to his Majesty with profound respect, but still in his firm manly manner, with a sonorous voice, and never in that subdued tone which is commonly used at the levee and in the drawing-room. After the King withdrew, Johnson showed himself highly pleased with his Majesty's conversation, and gracious behaviour. He said to Mr. Barnard, "Sir, they may talk of the King as they will; but he is the finest gentleman I have ever seen. And he afterwards observed to Mr. Langton, "Sir, his manners are those of as fine a gentleman as we may suppose Lewis the Fourteenth or Charles the Second."4

At Sir Joshua Reynolds's, where a circle of Johnson's friends was collected round him to hear his account of this memorable conversation, Dr. Joseph Warton, in his frank and lively manner, was very active in pressing him to mention the particulars. "Come now, Sir, this is an interesting matter; do favour us with it." Johnson, with great good-humour, complied.

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He told them, "I found his Majesty wished I should talk, and I made it my business to talk. I find it does a man good to be talked to by his Sovereign. In the first place, a man cannot be in a passion Here some question interrupted him, which is to be regretted, as he certainly would have pointed out and illustrated many circumstances of advantage, from being in a situation where the powers of the mind are at once excited to vigorous exertion, and tempered by reverential awe.

During all the time in which Dr. Johnson was employed in relating to the circle at Sir Joshua Reynolds's the particulars of what passed between the King and him, Dr. Goldsmith remained unmoved upon a sofa at some distance, affecting not to join in the least in the eager curiosity of the company. He assigned as a reason for his gloom and seeming inattention, that he apprehended Johnson had relinquished his purpose of furnishing him with a Prologue to his play, with the hopes of

am delighted with the Journal des Savans; its characteristics are erudition, precision, and taste; but what I most admire is that impartiality and candour which distinguish the beauties and defects of a work, giving to the former due and hearty praise, and calmly and tenderly pointing out the latter.' Misc. Works, vol. v. p. 442. —LOCKHART.

3 This perhaps may have given Dr. Johnson the idea of the most popular and entertaining of all his works, The Lives of the Poets.' He himself says in his advertisement, that he was persuaded to furnish the booksellers with prefaces," but that is not inconsistent with his having been predisposed by the royal wish. - CROKER.

4 This reminds us of Madame de Sevigne's charming naïveté, when, after giving an account of Louis XIV. having danced with her, she adds, "Ah! c'est le plus grand roi du monde !"- CROKER.

which he had been flattered; but it was strongly suspected that he was fretting with chagrin and envy at the singular honour Dr. Johnson had lately enjoyed. At length, the frankness and simplicity of his natural character prevailed. He sprung from the sofa, advanced to Johnson, and in a kind of flutter, from imagining himself in the situation which he had just been hearing described, exclaimed, "Well, you acquitted yourself in this conversation better than I should have done; for I should have bowed and stammered through

the whole of it."1

I received no letter from Johnson this year; nor have I discovered any of the correspondence he had, except the two letters to Mr. Drummond, which have been inserted for the sake of connection with that to the same gentleman in 1766. His diary affords no light as to his employment at this time. He passed three months at Lichfield3: and I cannot omit an affecting and solemn scene there, as related by himself:

"Sunday, Oct. 18. 1767. Yesterday, Oct. 17., at about ten in the morning, I took my leave for ever of my dear old friend, Catherine Chambers, who came to live with my mother about 1724, and has been but little parted from us since. She buried my father, my brother, and my mother. She is now fifty-eight years old.

"I desired all to withdraw, then told her that we were to part for ever; that as Christians, we should part with prayer; and that I would, if she was willing, say a short prayer beside her. She expressed great desire to hear me; and held up her poor hands, as she lay in bed, with great fervour, while I prayed, kneeling by her, nearly in the following words:

"Almighty and most merciful Father, whose loving kindness is over all thy works, behold, visit, and relieve this thy servant, who is grieved with sickness. Grant that the sense of her weakness may add strength to her faith, and seriousness to her repentance. And grant that by the help of thy Holy Spirit, after the pains and labours of this short life, we may all obtain everlasting happiness, through

JESUS CHRIST Our Lord, for whose sake hear our prayers. Amen. Our Father, &c.

"I then kissed her. She told me, that to part was the greatest pain that she had ever felt, and that she hoped we should meet again in a better place. I expressed, with swelled eyes, and great and parted. I humbly hope to meet again, and to emotion of tenderness, the same hopes. We kissed, part no more."5

Johnson as a man of a harsh and stern chaBy those who have been taught to look upon racter, let this tender and affectionate scene whether more warmth of heart, and grateful be candidly read; and let them then judge kindness, is often found in human nature.

We have the following notice in his devotional record:

"August 2. 1767. I have been disturbed and unsettled for a long time, and have been without resolution to apply to study or to business, being hindered by sudden snatches.

"I have for some days forborne wine and suppers. Abstinence is not easily practised in another's house; but I think it fit to try.

have had this day more ease than I expected. D[eo] "I was extremely perturbed in the night, but gr [atia]. Perhaps this may be such a sudden relief as I once had by a good night's rest in Fetter Lane.

"From that time, by abstinence, I have had more ease. I have read five books of Homer, and hope to end the sixth to-night. I have given Mrs. Desinoulins a guinea.

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By abstinence from wine and suppers, I obmind restored to me; which I have wanted for all tained sudden and great relief, and had freedom of this year, without being able to find any means of obtaining it."

He, however, furnished Mr. Adams with a Dedication * to the King of that ingenious gentleman's "Treatise on the Globes," conceived and expressed in such a manner as could not fail to be very grateful to a monarch, distinguished for his love of the sciences.

This year was published a ridicule of his

1 It is remarkable that Johnson should have seen four, if not five, of our sovereigns, and been in the actual presence of three if not four of them. Queen Aune touched him; George the First he probably never saw; but George the Second he must frequently have seen, though only in public. George the Third he conversed with on this occasion; and he once told Sir John Hawkins, that, in a visit to Mrs. Percy, ❘ who had the care of one of the young princes, at the Queen's house, the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV., being a child, came into the room, and began to play about; when Johnson, with his usual curiosity, took an opportunity of asking him what books he was reading, and, in particular, inquired as to his knowledge of the Scriptures; the Prince, in his answers, gave him great satisfaction. It is possible, also, that at that visit he might have seen Prince William Henry (William IV.), who was, I think, as well as the Duke of Kent, under Mrs. Percy's care. -CROKER.

2 It is proper here to mention, that when I speak of his correspondence, I consider it independent of the voluminous collection of letters which, in the course of many years, he wrote to Mrs. Thrale, which forms a separate part of his works; and, as a proof of the high estimation set on any thing which came from his pen, was sold by that lady for the sum of five hundred pounds. BOSWELL. In my former edition I had extracted largely from those letters to fill up

the lacunæ (such as this) in Mr. Boswell's narrative, but the restricted plan of this edition obliges me to limit myself to such extracts as are essential to carry on the Life of Johnson. CROKER.

3 In his letter to Mr. Drummond, dated Oct. 24. 1767, he mentions that he had arrived in London, after an absence of nearly six months in the country. Probably part of that time was spent at Oxford. - MALONE. He appears to have been more than" three months" in Lichfield. Writing to Mr. Thrale, 20th July, 1767, he says that he had already been away "much longer than he proposed or expected." And it appears that he remained there till the 18th October. It is probable that he was on a visit to Miss Porter, for he adds, Miss Lucy is more kind and civil than I expected, and has raised my esteem by many excellencies very noble and resplendent, though a little discoloured by hoary virginity." -CROKER.

4 The greater part of this prayer is, as Bishop Elrington observed to me, in the Visitation of the Sick in our Liturgy, where, indeed, the best helps to prayer for all occasions may be found. CROKER.

3 Catherine Chambers, as Dr. Harwood informed me, died in a few days after this interview, and was buried in St. Chad's, Lichfield, on the 7th of Nov. 1767.-CROKER.

style, under the title of "Lexiphanes." Sir John Hawkins ascribes it to Dr. Kenrick; but its author was one Campbell, a Scotch purser in the navy. The ridicule consisted in applying Johnson's "words of large meaning" to insignificant matters, as if one should put the armour of Goliath upon a dwarf. The contrast might be laughable; but the dignity of

the armour must remain the same in all considerate minds. This malicious drollery, therefore, it may easily be supposed, could do no harm to its illustrious object.

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"Nov. 17. 1767.

"MADAM, - If you impute it to disrespect or inattention, that I took no leave when I left Lichfield, you will do me great injustice. I know you too well not to value your friendship.

"When I came to Oxford I inquired after the product of our walnut-tree, but it had, like other trees this year, but very few nuts, and for those few I came too late. The tree, as I told you, Madam, we cannot find to be more than thirty years old, and, upon measuring it, I found it, at about one foot from the ground, seven feet in circumference, and at the height of about seven feet, the circumference is five feet and a half; it would have been, I believe, still bigger, but that it has been lopped. The nuts are small, such as they call single nuts; whether this nut is of quicker growth than better I have not yet inquired; such as they are, I hope to send them next year.

1 It may have been malicious, but it certainly is not droll. It is so overcharged, as to have neither resemblance nor pleasantry. Hawkins, in his second edition, (published long before Boswell) had corrected his error, and attributed it to Campbell. CROKER. Archibald Campbell, son of Professor Archibald Campbell, of St. Andrew's, was also author of "The Sale of Authors; a Dialogue, in imitation of Lucian." ANDERSON.

2 We have just seen that he was detained till the 18th. -CROKER.

3 Elizabeth, one of the younger daughters of Sir Thomas Aston: see antè, p. 20. n. 4. Some letters of Johnson to Mrs. Aston, communicated to me after that note was first printed, are in a uniform spirit of tenderness and respect, and, even if of no other value, afford an additional proof of the inaccuracy of Miss Seward. A bundle of her letters were destroyed by Johnson just before his death, with a strong expression of regard and regret for the writer.- CROKER.

4It appears that he visited, with the Thrales, (though Mr. Boswell never mentions it,) Mr. Brooke of Town-malling, of whose primitive house and manners we find some account in the Letters.

Some

"You know, dear Madam, the liberty I took of hinting, that I did not think your present mode of life very pregnant with happiness. Reflection has not yet changed my opinion. Solitude excludes pleasure, and does not always secure peace. communication of sentiments is commonly necessary to give vent to the imagination, and discharge the mind of its own flatulencies. might be found, in whose conversation you might Some lady surely delight, and in whose fidelity you might repose. The World, says Locke, has people of all sorts. You will forgive me this obtrusion of my opinion; I am sure I wish you well.

"Poor Kitty has done what we have all to do, and Lucy has the world to begin anew: I hope she will find some way to more content than I left her possessing.

"Be pleased to make my compliments to Mrs. Hinckley and Miss Turton. I am, Madam, your most obliged and most humble servant,

-Parker MSS.

"SAM. JOHNSON."]

CHAPTER XXI.

1768.

State of Johnson's Mind. Visit to Town-Malling. Prologue to Goldsmith's "Good-natured Man." ·Boswell's " Account of Corsica." Practice of the Law. Novels and Comedies. The Douglas

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Reading MSS. St. Kilda. Guthrie. Hume.

Robertson.

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Choice of a Wife.

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Kenrick. Lord Eglintoune.

Baretti's Italy. Liberty. son.- Monsey. Swift. · Letter on the Formation of a Library. — Boswell at the Stratford Jubilee. Johnson's Opinion of his "Corsica."

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"Dr. Johnson to Mrs. Thrale, 23d August, 1777.-" It was very well done by Mr. Brooke to send for you. His house is one of my favourite places. His water is very commodious, and the whole place has the true old appearance of a little country town."

"Mrs. Thrale to Dr. Johnson, 13th September, 1777."Come, here is news of Town-Malling, the quiet oldfashioned place in Kent, that you liked so, because it was agreeable to your own notions of a rural life. I believe we were the first people, except the master of it, who had, for many years, taken delight in the old coach without springs, the two roasted ducks in one dish, the fortified flower. garden, and fir-trees cut in figures. A spirit of innovation has however reached even there at last. The roads are mended; no more narrow shaded lanes, but clear open turnpike trotting. A yew hedge, or an eugh hedge if you will, newly cut down too by his nephew's desire. Ah! those nephews. And a wall pulled away, which bore incomparable fruit- to call in the country is the phrase. Mr. Thrale is wicked enough to urge on these rough reformers: how it will end I know not. For your comfort, the square canals still drop into one another, and the chocolate is still made in the

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