Talking of some of the modern plays, he said, "False Delicacy" was totally void of character. He praised Goldsmith's "Goodnatured Man;" said it was the best comedy that had appeared since "The Provoked Husband," and that there had not been of late any such character exhibited on the stage as that of Croaker. I observed it was the Suspirius of his Rambler [No. 59.]. He said, Goldsmith had owned he had borrowed it from thence. "Sir," continued he, "there is all the difference in the world between characters of nature and characters of manners; and there is the difference between the characters of Fielding and those of Richardson. Characters of manners are very entertaining; but they are to be understood, by a more superficial observer than characters of nature, where a man must dive into the recesses of the human heart."

It always appeared to me, that he estimated the compositions of Richardson too highly, and that he had an unreasonable prejudice against Fielding. In comparing those two writers, he used this expression; "that there was as great a difference between them, as between a man who knew how a watch was made, and a man who could tell the hour by looking on the dial-plate." This was a short and figurative state of his distinction between drawing characters of nature and characters only of manners. But I cannot help being of opinion, that the neat watches of Fielding are as well constructed as the large clocks of Richardson, and that his dial-plates are brighter. Fielding's characters, though they do not expand themselves so widely in dissertation, are as just pictures of human nature, and I will venture to say, have more striking features, and nicer touches of the pencil; and, though Johnson used to quote with approbation a saying of Richardson's, "that the virtues of Fielding's heroes were the vices of a truly good man," I will venture to add, that the moral tendency of Fielding's writings, though it does not encourage a strained and rarely possible virtue, is ever favourable to honour and honesty, and cherishes the benevolent and generous affections. He who is as good as

Fielding would make him, is an amiable member of society, and may be led on by more regulated instructors, to a higher state of ethical perfection.3

Johnson proceeded: "Even Sir Francis Wronghead is a character of manners, though drawn with great humour." He then repeated, very happily, all Sir Francis's credulous account to Manly of his being with "the great man," and securing a place. I asked him, if "The Suspicious Husband" 5 did not furnish a well-drawn character, that of Ranger. JOHNsoN. "No, Sir; Ranger is just a rake, a mere rane, and a lively young fellow, but no character.

The great Douglas Cause was at this time a very general subject of discussion. I found he had not studied it with much attention 6, but had only heard parts of it occasionally. He, however, talked of it, and said, "I am of opinion that positive proof of fraud should not be required of the plaintiff, but that the Judges should decide according as probability shall appear to preponderate, granting to the defendant the presumption of filiation to be strong in his favour. And I think too, that a good deal of weight should be allowed to the dying declarations, because they were spontaneous. There is a great difference between what is said without our being urged to it, and what is said from a kind of compulsion. If I praise a man's book without being asked my opinion of it, that is honest praise, to which one may trust. But if an author asks me if I like his book, and I give him something like praise, it must not be taken as my real opinion."

"I have not been troubled for a long time with authors desiring my opinion of their works. I used once to be sadly plagued with a man who wrote verses, but who literally had no other notion of a verse, but that it consisted of ten syllables. Lay your knife and your fork across your plate, was to him a verse:

Lay your knife and your fōrk acrōss your plāte.' As he wrote a great number of verses, he sometimes by chance made good ones, though he did not know it.""

He renewed his promise of coming to Seot

caused the murder of Mr. Thynne) having been found in her apartment.-CROKER.

6 Boswell, who was counsel on the side of Mr. Douglas, had published, in 1766, a pamphlet entitled the "Essence of the Douglas Cause," but which, it will be seen, post, April 27. 1773, he could not induce Johnson even to read.LOCKHART.

7" Dr. Johnson did not like that his friends should bring their manuscripts for him to read, and he liked still less to read them when they were brought sometimes, however, when he could not refuse, he would take the play or poem, or whatever it was, and give the people his opinion from some one page that he had peeped into. A gentleman carried him his tragedy, which, because he loved the author, Johnson took, and it lay about our rooms at Streatham some time. What answer did you give your friend, Sir?' asked I, after the book had been called for. I told him,' replied he, that there was too much Tig and Terry in it.' Seeing me laugh most violently, Why, what wouldst have, child? said he; I looked at nothing but the dramatis person, and

land, and going with me to the Hebrides, but said he would now content himself with seeing one or two of the most curious of them. He said, " Macaulay, who writes the account of St. Kilda, set out with a prejudice against prejudice, and wanted to be a smart modern thinker; and yet he affirms for a truth, that when a ship arrives there all the inhabitants are seized with a cold."

Dr. John Campbell, the celebrated writer', took a great deal of pains to ascertain this fact, and attempted to account for it on physical principles, from the effect of effluvia from human bodies. Johnson, at another time [March 21. 1772], praised Macaulay for his magnanimity," in asserting this wonderful story, because it was well attested. A lady of Norfolk, by a letter [Oct. 2. 1773], to my friend Dr. Burney, has favoured me with the following solution:

66

“Now for the explication of this seeming mystery, which is so very obvious as, for that reason, to have escaped the penetration of Dr. Johnson and his friend, as well as that of the author. Reading the book with my ingenious friend, the late Rev. Mr. Christian of Docking — after ruminating a little, The cause,' says he, is a natural one. The situation of St. Kilda renders a north-east wind indispensably necessary before a stranger can land. The wind, not the stranger, occasions an epidemic cold. If I am not mistaken, Mr. Macaulay is dead; if living, this solution might please him, as I hope it will Mr. Boswell, in return for the many

agreeable hours his works have afforded us.'

Johnson expatiated on the advantages of Oxford for learning. "There is here, Sir," said he," such a progressive emulation. The students are anxious to appear well to their tutors; the tutors are anxious to have their pupils appear well in the college; the colleges are anxious to have their students appear well in the university; and there are excellent rules of discipline in every college. That the rules are sometimes ill observed may be true, but is nothing against the system. The members of an university may, for a season, be unmindful of their duty. I am arguing for the excellency of the institution."

Of Guthrie, he said, "Sir, he is a man of parts. He has no great regular fund of knowledge; but by reading so long, and writing so long, he no doubt has picked up a good deal."

He said he had lately been a long while at

Lichfield, but had grown very weary before he left it. BOSWELL. "I wonder at that, Sir; it is your native place." JOHNSON. "Why so is Scotland your native place."

His prejudice against Scotland appeared remarkably strong at this time. When I talked of our advancement in literature, "Sir," said he, "you have learnt a little from us, and you think yourselves very great men. Hume would never have written history, had not Voltaire written it before him. He is an echo of Voltaire." BosWELL. "But, Sir, we have lord Kames." JOHNSON. "You have lord Kames. Keep him; ha, ha, ha! We don't envy you him. Do you ever see Dr. RobertBOSWELL. "Yes, Sir." JOHNSON. "Does the dog talk of me?" BOSWELL. Indeed, Sir, he does, and loves you." Thinking that I now had him in a corner, and being solicitous for the literary fame of my country, Dr. Robertson's History of Scotland. But to I pressed him for his opinion on the merit of my surprise, he escaped.-"Sir, I love Robertson, and I won't talk of his book."

son ?

It is but justice both to him and Dr. Robertson to add, that though he indulged himself in this sally of wit, he had too good taste not to be fully sensible of the merits of that admirable work. 3

An essay, written by Mr. Dean, a divine of the Church of England, maintaining the future life of brutes, by an explication of certain parts of the Scriptures, was mentioned, and the doctrine insisted on by a gentleman who seemed fond of curious speculation; Johnson, who did not like to hear of any thing concerning a future state which was not authorised by the regular canons of orthodoxy, discouraged this talk; and being offended at its continuation, he watched an opportunity to give the gentleman a blow of reprehension. So, when the poor speculatist, with a serious metaphysical pensive face, addressed him, " But really, Sir, when we see a very sensible dog, we don't know what to think of him;" Johnson, rolling with joy at the thought which beamed in his eye, turned quickly round, and replied, "True, Sir: and when we see a very foolish fellow, we don't know what to think of him." He then rose up, strided to the fire, and stood for some time laughing and exulting.

I told him that I had several times, when in Italy, seen the experiment of placing a scorpion within a circle of burning coals; that it ran

sisted in repeating these assertions. Dr. Johnson, on every occasion, seems to have expressed a great contempt for Dr. Robertson's works- very unjustly indeed; but, however Mr. Boswell might lament Johnson's prejudice, he was not justified in thus repeatedly misstating the fact. See antè,

p. 179., post, sub 19th April, 1772, where Boswell suppresses, and 30th April, 1773, where he again misrepresents Johnson's opinions of Dr. Robertson. - CROKER.

4"An Essay on the Future Life of Brute Creatures, by Richard Dean, curate of Middleton." This work is reviewed in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1768, p. 177., in a style very like Johnson's; and a story of "a very sensible dog" is noticed with censure. So that it may probably have been Johnson's. ROKER.

round and round in extreme pain; and finding no way to escape, retired to the centre, and, like a true Stoic philosopher, darted its sting into its head, and thus at once freed itself from its woes. "This must end 'em." I said, this was a curious fact, as it showed deliberate suicide in a reptile. Johnson would not admit the fact. He said, Maupertuis was of opinion that it does not kill itself, but dies of the heat; that it gets to the centre of the circle, as the coolest place; that its turning its tail in upon its head is merely a convulsion, and that it does not sting itself. He said he would be satisfied if the great anatomist Morgagni, after dissecting a scorpion on which the experiment had been tried, should certify that its sting had penetrated into its head.

He seemed pleased to talk of natural philosophy.2 "That woodcocks," said he, "fly over the northern countries is proved, because they have been observed at sea. Swallows certainly sleep all the winter. A number of them conglobulate together, by flying round and round, and then all in a heap throw themselves under water, and lie in the bed of a river."3 He told us, one of his first essays was a Latin poem upon the glow-worm; I am sorry I did not ask where it was to be found.

Talking of the Russians and the Chinese, he advised me to read Bell's Travels. I asked him whether I should read Du Halde's Account of China. "Why yes," said he, "as one reads such a book; that is to say, consult it."

He talked of the heinousness of the crime of adultery, by which the peace of families was destroyed. He said, "Confusion of progeny constitutes the essence of the crime; and therefore a woman who breaks her marriage vows is much more criminal than a man who does it. A man, to be sure, is criminal in the sight of God; but he does not do his wife a very material injury, if he does not insult her; if, for instance, from mere wantonness of appetite, he steals privately to her chambermaid. Sir, a wife ought not greatly to resent this. I would not receive home a daughter who had run away from her husband on that account. A wife should study to reclaim her husband by more attention to please him. Sir,

a man will not, once in a hundred instances, leave his wife and go to a harlot, if his wife has not been negligent of pleasing."

Here he discovered that acute discrimination, that solid judgment, and that knowledge of human nature, for which he was upon all occasions remarkable. Taking care to keep in view the moral and religious duty, as understood in our nation, he showed clearly, from reason and good sense, the greater degree of culpability in the one sex deviating from it than the other; and, at the same time, inculcated a very useful lesson as to the way to keep him.

I asked him if it was not hard that one deviation from chastity should so absolutely ruin a young woman. JOHNSON. "Why no, Sir; it is the great principle which she is taught. When she has given up that principle, she has given up every notion of female honour and virtue, which are all included in chastity."

5

A gentleman talked to him of a lady whom he greatly admired and wished to marry, but was afraid of her superiority of talents. "Sir," said he, "you need not be afraid; marry her. Before a year goes about, you'll find that reason much weaker, and that wit not so bright." Yet the gentleman may be justified in his apprehension by one of Dr. Johnson's admirable sentences in his Life of Waller : "He doubtless praised many whom he would have been afraid to marry; and, perhaps, married one whom he would have been ashamed to praise. Many qualities contribute to domestic happiness, upon which poetry has no colours to bestow; and many airs and sallies may delight imagination, which he who flatters them never can approve."

He praised Signor Baretti. "His account of Italy is a very entertaining book; and, Sir, I know no man who carries his head higher in conversation than Baretti. There are strong powers in his mind. He has not, indeed, many hooks; but with what hooks he has, he grapples very forcibly."

At this time I observed upon the dial-plate of his watch a short Greek 'inscription, taken from the New Testament, Nu yap epXETα®, being the first words of our Saviour's solemn

1 I should think it impossible not to wonder at the variety of Johnson's reading, however desultory it might have been. Who could have imagined that the High Church of Englandman would be so prompt in quoting Maupertuis, who, I am sorry to think, stands in the list of those unfortunate mistaken men, who call themselves esprits forts. I have, however, a high respect for that philosopher, whom the great Frederic of Prussia loved and honoured, and addressed pathetically in one of his poems,

"Maupertuis, cher Maupertuis,
Que notre vie est peu de chose."

Mr. Boswell seems to contemplate the possibility of a post mortem conversion to Christianity.. CROKER. 2 Natural history. CROKER.

This story has been entirely exploded. LOCKHART. 4 John Bell, of Antermony, who published at Glasgow, in 1763, Travels from St. Petersburgh, in Russia, to divers Parts of Asia. - CROKER.

5 Probably Boswell himself. — CROKER.

6 John ix. 4. I know not why Boswell calls them the first words: on the contrary, they are expletive of the former part of the admonition. Hawkins says that this watch (made for Johnson by Mudge and Dutton in 1768) was the first he ever possessed; but he adds that the Greek inscription was made unintelligible by the mistake of inscribing for yu. This Mr. Steevens denied; and he certainly bequeathed to his niece a watch bearing, as I am informed, the correct inscription: but from the evidence of Hawkins, one of Johnson's executors, and from the known propensity of Steevens to what is leniently called mystification, I conclude that

admonition to the improvement of that time which is allowed us to prepare for eternity; "the night cometh when no man can work." He some time afterwards laid aside this dialplate; and when I asked him the reason, he said, "It might do very well upon a clock which a man keeps in his closet; but to have it upon his watch, which he carries about with him, and which is often looked at by others, might be censured as ostentatious." Mr. Steevens is now possessed of the dial-plate inscribed as above.

He remained at Oxford a considerable time.' I was obliged to go to London, where I received this letter, which had been returned from Scotland.

JOHNSON TO BOSWELL.

"Oxford, March 23. 1768. "MY DEAR BOSWELL, I have omitted a long time to write to you, without knowing very well why. I could now tell why I should not write; for who would write to men who publish the letters of their friends, without their leave? Yet I write to you in spite of my caution, to tell you that I shall be glad to see you, and that I wish you would empty your head of Corsica, which I think has filled it rather too long. But, at all events, I shall be glad, very glad, to see you. I am, Sir, yours affectionately,

I answered thus:

SAM. JOHNSON."

BOSWELL TO JOHNSON.

"London, April 26. 1768.

"MY DEAR SIR,- I have received your last letter, which, though very short, and by no means complimentary, yet gave me real pleasure, because it contains these words, I shall be glad, very glad, to see you.'- Surely you have no reason to complain of my publishing a single paragraph of one of your letters; the temptation to it was so strong. An irrevocable grant of your friendship, and your signifying my desire of visiting Corsica with the epithet of a wise and noble curiosity,' are to me more valuable than many of the grants of kings. "But how can you bid me empty my head of Corsica?' My noble-minded friend, do you not feel for an oppressed nation bravely struggling to be free? Consider fairly what is the case. The Corsicans never received any kindness from the Genoese. They never agreed to be subject to them. They owe them nothing, and when reduced to an abject state of slavery, by force, shall they not rise in the great cause of liberty, and break the galling yoke? And shall not every liberal soul be warm

his was not the original dial. However that may be, the dial was laid aside by Johnson, as being, Boswell says. "too ostentatious," and Hawkins, "too pedantic." But Johnson may have had a better reason, even if u were not mis. spelled. Giving the inscription, no doubt from memory, he had altered the divine phrase, which is simply extras vuğ, and Johnson, when he perceived the variance, probably removed the dial. Boswell in his first edition had given the text correctly; he afterwards adopted the mistake of adding ya.-CROKER. Sir Walter Scott put the same Greek words on a sun-dial in his garden at Abbotsford.-LOCKHART.

1 Where, it appears, from the Letters, 1. 14., that he was

for them? Empty my head of Corsica! Empty it of honour, empty it of humanity, empty it of friendship, empty it of piety. No! while I live, Corsica, and the cause of the brave islanders, shall ever employ much of my attention, shall ever interest me in the sincerest manner. I am, &c., "JAMES BOSWELL."

[JOHNSON TO MISS PORTER.

"Oxford, April 18. 1768.

"MY DEAR, DEAR LOVE, You have had a very great loss. To lose an old friend, is to be cut off from a great part of the little pleasure that this life allows. But such is the condition of our nature, that as we live on we must see those whom we love drop successively, and find our circle of relations grow less and less, till we are almost unconnected with the world; and then it must soon be our turn to drop into the grave. always this consolation, that we have one Protector who can never be lost but by our own fault, and every new experience of the uncertainty of all other comforts should determine us to fix our hearts where true joys are to be found. with the inhabitants of earth must in time be broken; and all the hopes that terminate here, must on [one] part or other end in disappointment.

There is

All union

Upon his arrival in London in May, he surprised me one morning with a visit at my lodging in Halfmoon Street, was quite satisfied with my explanation, and was in the kindest and most agreeable frame of mind. As he had objected to a part of one of his letters being published, I thought it right to take this opportunity of asking him explicitly whether it would be improper to publish his letters after his death. His answer was, "Nay, Sir, when I am dead, you may do as you will."

for some time confined to Mr. Chambers's apartments in New Inn Hall by a fit of illness, and took a strong interest in the triumphant election of high church candidates for the University. "The virtue of Oxford," he says, "once more prevailed over the slaves of power and the soliciters of favour." - CROKER

2 Mr. Boswell, in his " Journal of a Tour in Corsica," had printed the second and third paragraphs of Johnson's letter to him of January 14. 1766. — CROKER.

3 The death of her aunt, Mrs. Hunter, widow of Johnson's schoolmaster. — CROKER.