by other hands. We were instantly as cordial again as ever, and joined in hearty laugh at some ludicrous but innocent peculiarities of one of our friends. BOSWELL "Do you think, Sir, it is always culpable to laugh at a man to his face?" JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, that depends upon the man and the thing. If it is a slight man, and a slight thing, you may; for you take nothing valuable from him." He said, "I read yesterday Dr. Blair's sermon on devotion, from the text, Cornelius, a devout man.' His doctrine is the best limited, the best expressed: there is the most warmth without fanaticism, the most rational transport. There is one part of it which I disapprove, and I'd have him correct it; which is, that he who does not feel joy in religion is far from the kingdom of heaven!' There are many good men whose fear of God predominates over their love. It may discourage. It was rashly said. A noble sermon it is indeed. I wish Blair would come over to the church of England." When Mr. Langton returned to us. the "flow of talk went on." An eminent author being mentioned: JOHNSON. "He is not a pleasant man. His conversation is neither in structive nor brilliant. He does not talk as if impelled by any fulness of knowledge or vivacity of imagination. His conversation is like that of any other sensible man. He talks with no wish either to inform or to hear, but only because he thinks it does not become [Dr. Robertson] to sit in a company and say nothing." Mr. Langton having repeated the anecdote of Addison3 having distinguished between his powers in conversation and in writing, by saying, "I have only ninepence in my pocket; but I can draw for a thousand pounds; JOHNSON. "He had not that retort ready, Sir; he had prepared it beforehand." LANGTON (turning to me). “A fine surmise. Set a thief to catch a thief." Johnson called the East Indians barbarians. BOSWELL. "You will except the Chinese, Sir?" JOHNSON. "No, Sir." BOSWELL. "Have they not arts?" JOHNSON. "They have pottery." BOSWELL. "What do you say 1 The passage referred to is, "Of what nature must that man's religion be, who professes to worship God and to believe in Christ, and yet raises his thoughts towards God and his Saviour without any warmth of gratitude or love? This is not the man whom you would choose for your bosom friend, or whose heart you would expect to answer with reciprocal warmth to yours; such a person must as yet be far from the kingdom of heaven."-Blair's Sermons, vol. i. p. 261. Dr. Johnson's remark is certainly just; and it may be, moreover, observed that, from Blair's expressions, and his reference to human friendships and affections, he might be understood to mean, that unless we feel the same kind of warmth and affection towards God that we do towards the objects of human love, we are far from the kingdom of heaven a doctrine which would countenance fanaticism, and which every sober-minded Christian feels to be a mere play on words; for the love of God and the love of one's wife or friend are certainly not the same passion. - CROKER. 2 No doubt Dr. Robertson. CROKER. 3 Which Johnson repeated, with a slight variation, in bis Life of Addison. - CROKER. 4Journey into Siberia, made by order of the King of France; published in 1768." —CROKER. 66 He said, "I have been reading Lord Kames's Sketches of the History of Man.' In treating of severity of punishment, he mentions that of Madame Lapouchin, in Russia, but he does not give it fairly; for I have looked at Chappe D'Auteroche, from whom he has taken it. He stops where it is said that the spectators thought her innocent, and leaves out what follows, that she nevertheless was guilty. Now this is being as culpable as one can conceive, to misrepresent fact in a book; and for what motive? 5 It is like one of those lies which people tell, one cannot see why. The woman's life was spared; and no punishment was too great for the favourite of an empress, who had conspired to dethrone her mistress." BOSWELL. "He was only giving a picture of the lady in her sufferings." JOHNSON. Nay, don't endeavour to palliate this. Guilt is a principal feature in the picture. Kames is puzzled with a question that puzzled me when I was a very young man. Why is it that the interest of money is lower, when money is plentiful; for five pounds has the same proportion of value to a hundred pounds when money is plentiful, as when it is scarce? A lady explained it to me. It is (said she) because when money is plentiful there are so many more who have money to lend, that they bid down one another. Many have then a hundred pounds; and one says-Take mine rather than another's, and you shall have it at four per cent." BOSWELL. "Does Lord Kames decide the question?" JOHNSON. "I think he leaves it as he found it."6 BOSWELL. "This must have been an extraordinary lady who instructed you, Sir. May I ask who she was ?" JOHNSON. Molly Aston, Sir, the sister of 5 The passage is to be found in b. i. sk. 5. The suppression was very blameable, but not quite to the degree that Johnson represents it, for Lord Kames did not profess to discuss the guilt or innocence of the party, but instanced the punishment as one of unjustifiable barbarity, even if she were guilty. CROKER. 6 Here I think the censure is quite unjust: Lord Kames gives in the clearest terms the same explanation: "Many borrowers and few lenders produce high interest; many lenders and few borrowers produce a low interest." b. i. s. 3. - CROKER. 7 Johnson had an extraordinary admiration of this lady, notwithstanding she was a violent whig. In answer to her high-flown speeches for liberty, he addressed to her the following epigram, of which I presume to offer a trans lation. "Liber ut esse velim, suasisti pulchra Maria, For, who beholds thy charms, a slave must be. A correspondent of The Gentleman's Magazine, who subscribes himself SCIOLUS, to whom I am indebted for those ladies with whom you dined at Lichfield. -I shall be at home to-morrow." BOSWELL. "Then let us dine by ourselves at the Mitre, to keep up the old custom-custom of the manor, custom of the Mitre." JOHNSON. "Sir, so it shall be." On Saturday, May 9.', we fulfilled our purpose of dining by ourselves at the Mitre, according to the old custom. There was, on these occasions, a little circumstance of kind attention to Mrs. Williams, which must not be omitted. Before coming out, and leaving her to dine alone, he gave her her choice of a chicken, a sweetbread, or any other little nice thing, which was carefully sent to her from the tavern ready drest. Our conversation to-day, I know not how, turned, I think, for the only time at any length, during our long acquaintance, upon the sensual intercourse between the sexes, the delight of which he ascribed chiefly to imagination. "Were it not for imagination, Sir," said he, "a man would be as happy in the arms of a chambermaid as of a duchess. But such is the adventitious charm of fancy, that we find men who have violated the best principles of society, and ruined their fame and their fortune, that they might possess a woman of rank." It would not be proper to record the particulars of such a conversation in moments of unreserved frankness, when nobody was present on whom it could have any hurtful effect. That subject, when philosophically treated, may surely employ the mind in a curious discussion, and as innocently as anatomy; provided that those who do treat it keep clear of inflammatory incentives. "From grave to gay, from lively to severe," -we were soon engaged in very different speculation; humbly and reverently considering and wondering at the universal mystery of all things, as our imperfect faculties can now judge of them. "There are," said he, "innumerable questions to which the inquisitive mind can in this state receive no answer: Why do you and I exist? Why was this world created? Since it was to be created, why was it not created sooner ?" On Sunday, May 10., I supped with him at several excellent remarks, observes, "The turn of Dr. Johnson's lines to Miss Aston, whose whig principles he had been combating, appears to me to be taken from an ingenious epigram in the Menagiana,' vol. iii. p. 376. edit. 1716, on a young lady who appeared at a masquerade, habillée en Jesuite, during the fierce contentions of the followers of the Molinos and Jansenius concerning free-will: "On s'etonne ici que Caliste N'est-ce pas une Janseniste?"- BOSWELL. See antè, p. 40., where I have ventured to anticipate Boswell by a more literal translation of the epigram. Molly," said Dr. Johnson to Mrs. Thrale," was a beauty and a scholar, and a wit and a whig; and she talked all in praise of liberty: and so I made that epigram upon her. She was the loveliest creature I ever saw! "His wife," he added, "was a little jealous of this attachment, and happening one day, when walking in the country, Mr. Hoole's, with Sir Joshua Reynolds. I have neglected the memorial of this evening, so as to remember no more of it than two particulars: one, that he strenuously opposed an argument by Sir Joshua, that virtue was preferable to vice, considering this life only; and that a man would be virtuous were it only to preserve his character: and that he expressed much wonder at the curious formation of the bat, a mouse with wings; saying, that it was almost as strange a thing in physiology, as if the fabulous dragon could be seen. son. On Tuesday, May 12., I waited on the Earl of Marchmont, to know if his lordship would favour Dr. Johnson with information concerning Pope, whose Life he was about to write. Johnson had not flattered himself with the hopes of receiving any civility from this nobleman; for he said to me, when I mentioned Lord Marchmont as one who could tell him a great deal about Pope,-"Sir, he will tell me nothing." I had the honour of being known to his lordship, and applied to him of myself, without being commissioned by JohnHis lordship behaved in the most polite and obliging manner, promised to tell all he recollected about Pope, and was so very courteous as to say, "Tell Dr. Johnson I have a great respect for him, and am ready to show it in any way I can. I am to be in the city to-morrow, and will call at his house as I return." His lordship however asked, “Will he write the 'Lives of the Poets' impartially? He was the first that brought Whig and Tory into a dictionary. And what do you think of the definition of Excise? Do you know the history of his aversion to the word transpire?" Then taking down the folio Dictionary, he showed it with this censure on its secondary sense. To escape from secrecy to notice; a sense lately innovated from France, without necessity.' "The truth was, Lord Bolingbroke, who left the Jacobites, first used it; therefore it was to be condemned. He should have shown what word would do for it, if it was unnecessary." I afterwards put the question to Johnson: "Why, Sir," said he, " abroad." BOSWELL. "That, Sir, is using two words." JOHNSON. "Sir, there is no end to get to meet a fortune-telling gipsy, Mrs. Johnson made the wench look at his hand, but soon repented her curiosity; for, says the gipsy, "your heart is divided, Sir, between a Betty and a Molly: Betty loves you best, but you take most delight in Molly's company: when I turned about to laugh, I saw my wife was crying. Pretty charmer! she had no reason!" Anecdotes.- CROKER. 1 Johnson was under an engagement to dine with Sir Joshua on this day, but was no doubt induced to break it off to please Boswell after their quarrel, which perhaps had prevented Boswell being invited to Sir Joshua's. CROKER, 1847. 2 The figurative use of transpire seems indicated in the World of Words, a dictionary published by Philips, Milton's nephew, 100 years before. Johnson's awkward substitute of "get abroad" does not seem to express exactly the same meaning: a secret may get abroad by design, by accident, by breach of confidence; but it is said to transpire when it becomes known by small indirect circumstances by sym.ptoms- by whispers. Transpire has now got into vulgar and improper use, for happening or occurring.-CROKER. this. You may as well insist to have a word for old age." BOSWELL. "Well, Sir, senectus." JOHNSON. "Nay, Sir, to insist always that there should be one word to express a thing in English, because there is one in another language', is to change the language." I availed myself of this opportunity to hear from his lordship many particulars both of Pope and Lord Bolingbroke, which I have in writing. I proposed to Lord Marchmont, that he should revise Johnson's Life of Pope: "So," said his lordship, "you would put me in a dangerous situation. You know he knocked down Osborne, the bookseller." 2 Elated with the success of my spontaneous exertion to procure material and respectable aid to Johnson for his very favourite work, "the Lives of the Poets," I hastened down to Mr. Thrale's, at Streatham, where he now was, that I might insure his being at home next day; and after dinner, when I thought he would receive the good news in the best humour, I announced it eagerly: "I have been at work for you to-day, Sir. I have been with Lord Marchmont. He bade me tell you he has a great respect for you, and will call on you to-morrow at one o'clock, and communicate all he knows about Pope." Here I paused, in full expectation that he would be pleased with this intelligence, would praise my active merit, and would be alert to embrace such an offer from a nobleman. But whether I had shown an over exultation, which provoked his spleen; or whether he was seized with a suspicion that I had obtruded him on Lord Marchmont, and humbled him too much, or whether there was any thing more than an unlucky fit of ill humour, I know not; but to my surprise the result was, JOHNSON. "I shall not be in town to-morrow. I don't care to know about Pope." MRS. THRALE (surprised, as I was, and a little angry). "I suppose, Sir, Mr. Boswell thought, that as you are to write Pope's Life, you would wish to know about him." JOHNSON. "Wish! why yes. If it rained knowledge, I'd hold out my hand; but I would not give myself the trouble to go in quest of it." There was no arguing with him at the moment. Some time afterwards he said, "Lord Marchmont will call on me, and then I shall call on Lord Marchmont." Mrs. Thrale was uneasy at this unaccountable caprice; and told me, that if I did not take care to bring about a meeting between Lord Marchmont and him, it would never take place, which would be a great pity. I sent a card to his lordship, to be left at Johnson's 3 This is not just. Lord Marchmont and Boswell argued for having one word for one idea, and when the idea is a simple one, common to all mankind, like old age, the language - and I know no other than the English which has no single expression for it, is, so far, imperfect. -Croker, 1847. 2 See ante, p. 46. — C. 3 Not quite so unacountable as Mr. Boswell seems to think. His intervention in this affair, unsolicited and unauthorised, exhibits the bustling vanity of his own character, and John house, acquainting him, that Dr. Johnson could not be in town next day, but would do himself the honour of waiting on him at another time. I give this account fairly, as a specimen of that unhappy temper with which this great and good man had occasionally to struggle, from something morbid in his constitution. Let the most censorious of my readers suppose himself to have a violent fit of the toothache, or to have received a severe stroke on the shin-bone, and when in such a state to be asked a question; and if he has any candour, he will not be surprised at the answers which Johnson sometimes gave in moments of irritation, which, let me assure them, is exquisitely painf:l. But it must not be erroneously supposed that he was, in the smallest degree, careless concerning any work which he undertook, or that he was generally thus peevish. It will be seen that in the following year he had a very agreeable interview with Lord Marchmont at his lordship's house; and this very afternoon he soon forgot any fretfulness, and fell into conversation as usual. I mentioned a reflection having been thrown out against four peers for having presumed to rise in opposition to the opinion of the twelve judges, in a cause in the House of Lords, as if that were indecent. JOHNSON. " "Sir, there is no ground for censure. The peers are judges themselves: and supposing them really to be of a different opinion, they might from duty be in opposition to the judges who were there only to be consulted." In this observation I fully concurred with him; for, unquestionably, all the peers are vested with the highest judicial powers; and when they are confident that they understand a cause, are not obliged, nay, ought not to acquiesce in the opinion of the ordinary law judges, or even in that of those who from their studies and experience are called the law lords. I consider the peers in general as I do a jury, who ought to listen with respectful attention to the sages of the law; but if, after hearing them, they have a firm opinion of their own, are bound, as honest men, to decide accordingly. Nor is it so difficult for them to understand even law questions as is generally thought, provided they will bestow sufficient attention upon them. This observation was made by my honoured relation the late Lord Cathcart, who had spent his life in camps and courts; yet assured me, that he could form a clear opinion upon most of the causes that came before the House of Lords, as they were so well enucleated in the Cases." 66 See antè, son was unwilling to be dragged before Lord Marchmont by so headlong a master of the ceremonies. - CROKER. 4 The occasion was Mr. Horne's writ of error. p. 602. n. 3. The four peers were the Duke of Richmond, and the Earls of Effingham, Abingdon, and Harcourt.-C., 1835. There has been a more recent and important case, that of the Queen v. O'Connell, &c., Sept. 1844, in which the lay peers, as they are called, declined (I think wrongly) to vote, even though the judges were divided. - CROKER, 1847. BOSWELL. "In that stanza of Pope's, rod of fires' is certainly a bad metaphor." MRS. THRALE. "And sins of moment' is a faulty expression; for its true import is momentous, which cannot be intended." JOHNSON. "It must have been written' of moments.' Of moment, is momentous; of moments, momentary. I warrant you, however, Pope wrote this stanza, and some friend struck it out. Boileau wrote some such thing, and Arnaud struck it out, saying, Vous gagnerez deux ou trois impies, et perdrez je ne sçais combien d'honnêtes gens. These fellows want to say a daring thing, and don't know how to go about it. Mere poets know no more of fundamental principles than Here he was interrupted somehow. Mrs. Thrale mentioned Dryden. JOHNSON. "He puzzled himself about predestination. How foolish was it in Pope to give all his friendship to lords, who thought they honoured him by being with him; and to choose such lords as Burlington, and Cobham, and Bolingbroke! Bathurst was negative, a pleasing man; and I have heard no ill of Marchmont. And then always saying, 'I do not value you for being a lord;' which was a sure proof that he did. I never say I do not value Boswell more for being born to an estate, because I do not care." 1 BOSWELL. "Nor for being a Scotchman?" "Nay, Sir, I do value you more for being a Scotchman. You are a Scotchman without the faults of Scotchmen. You would not have been so valuable as you are had you not been a Scotchman." Talking of divorces, I asked if Othello's doctrine was not plausible : "He that is robb'd, not wanting what is stolen, Let him not know 't, and he's not robb'd at all." Dr. Johnson and Mrs. Thrale joined against this. JOHNSON. "Ask any man if he'd wish not to know of such an injury." BOSWELL. "Would you tell your friend to make him un 1 I, on the contrary, believe that Boswell's station in life had a greater influence with Johnson than he supposed.CROKER, 1847. 2 I fear it will be but too evident at whose expense Mr. Boswell chose to make so offensive an hypothesis.--CROKER. happy?" JOHNSON. "Perhaps, Sir, I should not; but that would be from prudence on my own account. A man would tell his father." BOSWELL. "Yes; because he would not have spurious children to get any share of the family inheritance." MRS. THRALE. "Or he would tell his brother." BOSWELL. "Certainly his elder brother. JOHNSON." You would tell your friend of a woman's infamy, to prevent his marrying a prostitute: there is the same reason to tell him of his wife's infidelity when he is married, to prevent the consequences of imposition. It is a breach of confidence not to tell a friend." BosWELL. "Would you tell Mr. ?" (naming a gentleman who assuredly was not in the least danger of such a miserable disgrace, though married to a fine woman.) JOHNSON. "No, Sir; because it would do no good: he is so sluggish, he'd never go to parliament and get through a divorce." He said of one of our friends, "He [Mr. Langton] is ruining himself without pleasure. A man who loses at play, or who runs out his fortune at court, makes his estate less, in hopes of making it bigger (I am sure of this word, which was often used by him): but it is a sad thing to pass through the quagmire of parsimony to the gulf of ruin. To pass over the flowery path of extravagance is very well." Amongst the numerous prints pasted on the walls of the dining-room at Streatham was Hogarth's "Modern Midnight Conversation.” I asked him what he knew of Parson Ford, who made a conspicuous figure in the riotous group. JOHNSON. "Sir, he was my acquaintance and relation, my mother's nephew. He had purchased a living in the country, but not simoniacally. I never saw him but in the country. I have been told he was a man of great parts; very profligate, but I never heard he was impious." BOSWELL." Was there not a story of his ghost having appeared?" JOHNSON. "Sir, it was believed. A waiter at the Hummums, in which house Ford died, had been absent for some time, and returned, not knowing that Ford was dead. Going down to the cellar, according to the story, he met him; going down again, he met him a second time. When he came up, he asked some of the people of the house what Ford could be doing there. They told him Ford was dead. The waiter took a fever, in which he lay for some time. When he recovered, he said he had a message to deliver to some women from Ford; but he was not to tell what, or to whom. He walked out; he was followed; but somewhere about St. Paul's they lost him. He came back, and said he had delivered the message, and the women claimed, Then we are all undone!' เ ex Dr. 3 The acquiescence of Johnson, on this occasion, seems to authenticate the fact, that Ford was Hogarth's riotous parson. See ante, p. 9. n. 6.- CROKER. Pellet, who was not a credulous man, inquired into the truth of this story, and he said the evidence was irresistible. My wife went to the Hummums; (it is a place where people get themselves cupped). I believe she went with intention to hear about this story of Ford. At first they were unwilling to tell her; but, after they had talked to her, she came away satisfied that it was true. To be sure, the man had a fever; and this vision may have been the beginning of it. But if the message to the women, and their behaviour upon it, were true as related, there was something supernatural. That rests upon his word 2; and there it remains." After Mrs. Thrale was gone to bed, Johnson and I sat up late. We resumed Sir Joshua Reynolds's argument on the preceding Sunday, that a man would be virtuous, though he had no other motive than to preserve his character. JOHNSON. "Sir, it is not true; for, as to this world, vice does not hurt a man's character." BOSWELL. "Yes, Sir, debauching a friend's wife will." JoHNSON. "No, Sir. Who thinks the worse of [Beauclerk, p. 260.] for it?" BOSWELL. "Lord [Bolingbroke] was not his friend." JOHNSON. "That is only a circumstance, Sir; a slight distinction. He could not get into the house but by Lord [Bolingbroke.] A man is chosen knight of the shire not the less for having debauched ladies." BOSWELL. "What, Sir, if he debauched the ladies of gentlemen in the county, will not there be a general resentment against him? JOHNSON. "No, Sir. He will lose those particular gentlemen; but the rest will not trouble their heads about it" (warmly). BOSWELL. "Well, Sir, I cannot think so.' JOHNSON. "Nay, Sir, there is no talking with a man who will dispute what every body knows (angrily). Don't you know this?" BOSWELL. "No, Sir; and I wish to think better of your country than you represent it. I knew in Scotland a gentleman obliged to leave it for debauching a lady; and in one of our counties an earl's brother lost his election because he had debauched the lady of another earl in that county, and destroyed the peace of a noble family." Still he would not yield. He proceeded: "Will you not allow, Sir, that vice does not hurt a man's character so as to obstruct his prosperity in life, when you know that [Lord Clive, p. 609.] was loaded with wealth and honours? a man who had acquired his fortune by such crimes, that his consciousness of them impelled him to cut his own throat." BosWELL. "You will recollect, Sir, that Dr. Robertson said he cut his throat because he was weary of still life; little things not being suf 1 Baths are called Hummums in the East, and thence these botels in Covent Garden where there were hot water and vapour baths, were called by that name.- CROKER, 1847. 2 Why should it? The women might have been examined. And who were they who satisfied Mrs. Johnson; and of what ficient to move his great mind." JOHNSON (very angry). Nay, Sir, what stuff is this! You had no more this opinion after Robertson said it than before. I know nothing more offensive than repeating what one knows to be foolish things, by way of continuing a dispute, to see what a man will answer, to make him your butt!" (angrier still.) BosWELL. "My dear Sir, I had no such intention as you seem to suspect; I had not indeed. Might not this nobleman have felt every thing weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable,' as Hamlet says? JOHNSON. "Nay, if you are to bring in gabble, I'll talk no more. I will not, upon my honour." My readers will decide upon this dispute. NEXT morning [13th May,] I stated to Mrs. Thrale at breakfast, before he came down, the dispute of last night as to the influence of character upon success in life. She said he was certainly wrong; and told me that a baronet lost an election in Wales because he had debauched the sister of a gentleman in the county, whom he made one of his daughters invite as her companion at his seat in the country, when his lady and his other children were in London. But she would not encounter Johnson upon the subject. I staid all this day with him at Streatham. He talked a great deal in very good humour. Looking at Messrs. Dilly's splendid edition of Lord Chesterfield's miscellaneous works, he laughed, and said, "Here are now two speeches ascribed to him, both of which were written by me: and the best of it is, they have found out that one is like Demosthenes, and the other like Cicero." [p. 45. n. 2.] was she satisfied? And be it observed, Ford died in 1731, and Mrs. Johnson did not come to London for more than seven years later, so that whatever she heard could not be very fresh in the recollection of the parties. It seems altogether a foolish story.— CROKER, 1847. |