owards you was undoubtedly not of a fond father. Kinds in our power, but fondness gligence or imprudence you fondness, he could not at will g then remained between you ness of each other's faults, and ach other's happiness. I shall nal disposition of his fortune. , have now a new station, and cares, and new employments. ems to say, ought to resemble a 1; of which one rule generally he exordium should be simple, se little. Begin your new course east show and the least expense ay at pleasure increase both, but diminish them. Do not think your while any man can call upon you 1 you cannot pay: therefore, begin arsimony. Let it be your first care - man's debt. thoughts are extended to a future nt life seems hardly worthy of all s of conduct and maxims of prudence neration of men has transmitted to upon a closer view, when it is per-uch evil is produced and how much led by embarrassment and distress, and om the expedients of poverty leave ise of virtue, it grows manifest that s importance of the next life enforces on to the interests of this. 1 d to the old servants, and secure the the agents and factors. Do not disgust perity, or unwelcome gaity, or apparent From them you must learn the real ur affairs, the characters of your tenants, lue of your lands. my compliments to Mrs. Boswell. I expectations from air and exercise are the she can form. I hope she will live long ily. get whether I told you that Rasay has We dined cheerfully together. 1 end lately a young gentleman from CorrichaI received your letters only this morning. *e. c., SAM. JOHNSON." leck. The journey thither and back is, indeed, too great for the latter part of the year; but if my health were fully recovered, I would suffer no little heat and cold, nor a wet or a rough road, to keep me from you. I am, indeed, not without hope of seeing Auchinleck again; but to make it a pleasant place I must see its lady well, and brisk, and airy. For my sake, therefore, among many greater reasons, take care, dear Madam, of your health; spare no expense, and want no attendance, that can procure ease or preserve it. Be very careful to keep your mind quiet; and do not think it too much to give an account of your recovery to, Madam, yours, &c., SAM. JOHNSON." LOWE TO LORD SOUTHWELL. "MY LORD,- The allowance which you are pleased to make me, I received on the by Mr. Puget. Of the joy which it brought your lordship cannot judge, because you cannot imagine my distress. It was long since I had known a morning without solicitude for noon, or lain down at night without foreseeing with terror the distresses of the morning. My debts were small, but many; my creditors were poor, and therefore troublesome. Of this misery your lordship's bounty has given me an intermission. May your lordship live long to do much good, and to do for many what you have done for, my Lord, your lordship's M. LOWE."] &c., MSS. JOHNSON TO BOSWELL. answer to my next letter I received one him, dissuading me from hastening to as I had proposed. What is proper for cation is the following paragraph, equally year in a succession of disorders, I went in October "London, Dec. 7. 1782. "DEAR SIR,- Having passed almost this whole and tender : One expense, however, I would not have you are: let nothing be omitted that can preserve Boswell, though it should be necessary to Asplant her for a time into a softer climate. She he prop and stay of your life. How much must Ar children suffer by losing her!" My wife was now so much convinced of his Icere friendship for me, and regard for her, t without any suggestion on my part, she ote him a very polite and grateful letter. JOHNSON TO MRS. BOSWELL. "London, Sept. 7. 1782 "DEAR LADY,-I have not often received so much pleasure as from your invitation to Auchin to Brighthelmstone, whither I came in a state of so much weakness, that I rested four times in walking between the inn and the lodging. By physic and abstinence I grew better, and am now reasonably easy, though at a great distance from health. I am afraid, however, that health begins, after seventy, and long before, to have a meaning different from that which it had at thirty. But it is culpable to murmur at the established order of the creation, as it is vain to oppose it. He that lives must grow old; and he that would rather grow old than die has God to thank for the infirmities of old age. "At your long silence I am rather angry. You 1 These two letters communicated by Mr. Markland relate to the renewal of Lowe's annuity from Lord Southwell, and show his constant zeal for his humble friend. CROKER. zz 3 do not, since now you are the head of your house, penetration was alive to her neglect or forced think it worth your while to try whether you or attention; for on the 6th of October this year your friend can live longer without writing; nor we find him making a "parting use of the lisuspect, after so many years of friendship, that when brary" at Streatham, and pronouncing a prayer I do not write to you I forget you. Put all such which he composed on leaving Mr. Thrale's useless jealousies out of your head, and disdain to to family. regulate your own practice by the practice of another, or by any other principle than the desire of doing right. "Your economy, I suppose, begins now to be settled; your expenses are adjusted to your revenue, and all your people in their proper places. Resolve not to be poor. Whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness: it certainly destroys liberty; and it makes some virtues impracticable, and others extremely difficult. "Let me know the history of your life since your accession to your estate; how many houses, how many cows, how much land in your own hand, and what bargains you make with your tenants. "Of my Lives of the Poets' they have printed a new edition in octavo, I hear, of three thousand. Did I give a set to Lord Hailes? If I did not, I will do it out of these. What did you make of all your copy? "Mrs. Thrale and the three misses are now, for the winter, in Argyll Street. Sir Joshua Reynolds has been out of order, but is well again; and I dear Sir, your, &c., am, SAM. JOHNSON." 1 Johnson, though dissatisfied with Mrs. Thrale, meant no reproach on this occasion he makes a parting use of the library makes a ralediction to the church, and pronounces a prayer on quitting a place where he had enjoyed so much comfort," not because Mrs. Thrale made him less welcome there, but because she, and he with her, were leaving it. When Boswell came to town six months later, he found his friend domiciled in Mrs. Thrale's residence in Argyll Street. CROKER. 2 He seems to have taken leave of the kitchen as well as of the church at Streatham in Latin. "Oct. 6. Die Dominica, 1782. "Pransus sum Streathami agninum crus coctum cum herbis (spinach) comminutis, farcimen farinaceum cum uvis 66 Almighty God, Father of all mercy, help me by thy grace, that I may, with humble and sincere thankfulness, remember the comforts and conveniences which I have enjoyed at this place; and that I may resign them with holy submission, equally trusting in thy protection when thou givest and when thou takest away. Have mercy upon me, O Lord! have mercy upon me! To thy fatherly protection, O Lord, I commend this family. Bless, guide, and defend them, that they may so pass through this world, as finally to enjoy in thy presence everlasting happiness, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen." (Pr. and Med., p. 214.) One cannot read this prayer without some emotions not very favourable to the lady whose conduct occasioned it.1 The next day, he made the following memorandum : "October 7. - I was called early. I packed up my bundles, and used the foregoing prayer, with my morning devotions somewhat, I think, enlarged. Being earlier than the family, I read St. Paul's farewell in the Acts, and then read fortuitously in the Gospels, which was my parting use of the library." And in one of his memorandum books I find, "Sunday, went to church at Streatham, Templo valedixi cum osculo."2 He met Mr. Philip Metcalfe often at Sir Joshua Reynolds's and other places, and was a good deal with him at Brighthelmstone this autumn, being pleased at once with his excellent table and animated conversation. Mr. Metcalfe showed him great respect, and sent him a note that he might have the use of his carriage whenever he pleased. Johnson (3d October, 1782,) returned this polite answer: "Mr. Johnson is very much obliged by the kind offer of the carriage, but he has no desire of using Mr. Metcalfe's carriage, except when he can have the pleasure of Mr. Metcalfe's company." Mr. Metcalfe could not but be highly pleased that his company was thus valued by Johnson, and he frequently attended him in airings. They also went together to Chichester, and they visited Petworth, and New passis, lumbos bovillos, et pullum gallina Turcicæ ; et post 3 Mr. Metcalfe, who signed the Round Robin, antè, p. 53: He was a friend of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and a member of three parliaments. He took a leading part in the relief of the French clergy, expelled by the Revolution, and died May 24, 1809. CHOKER, 1947. Cowdray, the venerable seat of the Lords Montacute. 1 "Sir," said Johnson, "I should like to stay here four-and-twenty hours. We see here how our ancestors lived." to him his " Archæological Dictionary," that mark of respect was thus acknowledged: JOHNSON TO THE REV. MR. WILSON, "Dec. 31. 1782. A very importunate and oppressive disorder has for That his curiosity was still unabated appears from two letters to Mr. John Nichols, of the 10th and 20th of October this year. In one he says, "I have looked into your 'Anecdotes,' and you will hardly thank a lover of literary history for telling you that he has been much informed and gratified. I wish you would add your own discoveries and intelligence to those of Dr. Rawlinson, and under-structed me in the duties of life. The esteem and take the Supplement to Wood. Think of it." In the other, "I wish, Sir, you could obtain some fuller information of Jortin3, Markland, and Thirlby. They were three contempo-ceived is a duty of which I hope never to be reraries of great eminence." 5 JOHNSON TO REYNOLDS. "Brighthelmstone, Nov. 14. 1782. "DEAR SIR, I heard yesterday of your late disorder, and should think ill of myself if I had heard of it without alarm. I heard likewise of your recovery, which I sincerely wish to be complete and permanent. Your country has been in danger of losing one of its brightest ornaments, and I of losing one of my oldest and kindest friends; but I hope you will still live long, for the honour of the nation; and that more enjoyment of your elegance, your intelligence, and your benevolence is still reserved for, dear Sir, your most affectionate, &c., SAM. JOHNSON." The Reverend Mr. Wilson 6 having dedicated 'some time debarred me from the pleasures and ob kindness of wise and good men is one of the last pleasures which I can be content to lose; and gratitude to those from whom this pleasure is re proached with the final neglect. I therefore now return you thanks for the notice which I have received from you, and which I consider as giving to my name not only more bulk, but more weight; not only as extending its superficies, but as increasing its value. Your book was evidently wanted, and will, I hope, find its way into the school; to which, however, I do not mean to confine it; for no man has so much skill in ancient rites and practices as not to want it. As I suppose myself to owe part of your kindness to my excellent friend, Dr. Patten, he has likewise a just claim to my acknowledgment, which I hope you, Sir, will transmit. There will soon appear a new edition of my Poetical Biography: if you will accept of a copy to keep me in your mind, be pleased to let me know how it may be conveniently conveyed to you. This present is small, but it is given with good-will by, reverend Sir, your most, &c., "SAM. JOHNSON." This venerable mansion has since [25th Sept. 1793] been totally destroyed by fire. -MALONE. There is a popular superstition that this inheritance is accursed, for having been part of the plunder of the church at the Dissolution; and some lamentable accidents have given countenance to the vulgar prejudice. When I visited the ruins of Cowdray some twenty years ago I was reminded (in addition to older stories) that the curse of both fire and water had fallen on Cowdray; its noble owner, Browne Viscount Montagu, the last male of his ancient race, having been drowned in the Rhine at Schaffhausen in October, 1793, a few days after the destruction of Cowdray and the good folks of the neighbourhood did not scruple to prophesy that it would turn out a fatal inheritance. At that period the present possessor, Mr. Poyntz, who had married Lord Montagu's sister and heiress, had two sons, who seemed destined to inherit Cowdray; but, on the 7th July, 1815, these young gentlemen boating off Bognor with their father, on a very fine day, the boat was unaccountably upset, and the two youths perished; and thus were once more fulfilled the forebodings of superstition. some curious observations on the subject of the fatality attending the inheritance of confiscated church property in Sir Henry Spelman's Treatise on the "History and Fall of Sacrilege."-CROKER, 1831. See Archbishop Whitgift's speech to Queen Elizabeth, as given by Walton, in his "Life of Hooker: "Curses have, and will cleave to the very stones of those buildings that have been consecrated to God, and the father's sin of sacrilege hath and will prove to be entailed on his son and family." See also the remarkable passage of Sir H. Spelman's History and Fate of Sacrilege quoted, Quarterly Review, vol. 43. p. 188.- MARKLAND, 1835. Browne and Poyntz families being extinct in the male line, Cowdray has lately passed by purchase into the possession of the Earl of Egmont let us hope melioribus fatis. CROKER, 1847. See The 2 Dr. Richard Rawlinson, an eminent antiquary, and a great benefactor to the University of Oxford. He founded the Anglo-Saxon professorship there, and bequeathed to it all his collection of MSS., medals, antiquities, and curiosities. He died in 1754, æt. 65. There had been some idea of obtaining this professorship for Johnson.-CROKER. 3 Dr. John Jortin, a voluminous and respectable writer on general subjects, as well as an eminent divine. He died in August, 1770, Archdeacon of London and Vicar of Kensington; where his piety and charity, greater even than his great learning and talents, are still remembered. His laconic epitaph in Kensington churchyard, dictated by himself, contains a new turn of that thought which must be common to all epitaphs, Johannes Jortin mortalis esse desiit, A. S. 1770, æt. 72." John Jortin ceased to be mortal, &c. — CROKER. 4 Jeremiah Markland was an eminent critic, particularly in Greek literature. He died in 1776, æt. 83. CROKER. 5 Styan Thirlby; a critic of at least as much reputation as he deserves. He studied successively divinity, medicine, and law. He seems to have been of a temper at once perverse and indolent, and to have dimmed and disgraced his talents by habits of intoxication. He complains, in a strain of selfsatisfaction, that "when a man (meaning himself) thus towers by intellectual exaltation above his contemporaries, he is represented as drunken, or lazy, or capricious." He died in 1753, æt. 61. - CROKER. 6 A concise but very just character of Mr. Wilson is given by Dr. Whittaker in the dedication of a plate, in the History of Whalley. "Viro Reverendo Thomæ Wilson S. T. B. ecclesiæ de Clitheroe, ministro sodali jucundissimo — exoday insignifelici juvenum institutori." He died in 1813, aged sixty-five; during about forty of which, he was laboriously occupied as the master of the grammar school of Clitheroe.- MARKLAND. I am delighted with your account of your activity at Auchinleck, and wish the old gentleman, whom you have so kindly removed, may live long to promote your prosperity by his prayers. You have now a new character and new duties: think on them and practise them. "Make an impartial estimate of your revenue; and whatever it is, live upon less. Resolve never to be poor. Frugality is not only the basis of quiet, but of beneficence. No man can help others that wants help himself. We must have enough, before we have to spare. "I am glad to find that Mrs. Boswell grows well; and hope that, to keep her well, no care nor caution will be omitted. May you long live happily together. When you come hither, pray bring with you Baxter's Anacreon. I cannot get that edition in London." On Friday, March 21., having arrived in London the night before, I was glad to find him at Mrs. Thrale's house, in Argyll Street, appearances of friendship between them being still kept up. I was shown into his room; and after the first salutation he said, "I am glad you are come; I am very ill." He looked pale, and was distressed with a difficulty of breathing; but after the common inquiries, he assumed his usual strong animated style of 1 Dr. Johnson should seem not to have sought diligently for Baxter's Anacreon; for there are two editions of that conversation. Seeing me now for the first time as a laird, or proprietor of land, he began thus: "Sir, the superiority of a country gentleman over the people upon his estate is very agreeable; and he who says he does not feel it to be agreeable, lies; for it must be agreeable to have a casual superiority over those who are by nature equal with us.' BOSWELL. "Yet, Sir, we see great proprietors of land who prefer living in London." JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, the pleasure of living in London, the intellectual superiority that is enjoyed there, may counterbalance the other. Besides, Sir, a man may prefer the state of the country gentleman upon the whole, and yet there may never be a moment when he is willing to make the change, to quit London for it." He said, "It is better to have five per cent. out of land than out of money, because it is more secure; but the readiness of transfer and promptness of interest make many people rather choose the funds. Nay, there is another disadvantage belonging to land, compared with money: a man is not so much afraid of being a hard creditor, as of being a hard landlord." BOSWELL. "Because there is a sort of kindly connexion between a landlord and his tenants." JOHNSON. "No, Sir; many landlords with us never see their tenants. It is because, if a landlord drives away his tenants, he may not get others; whereas the demand for money is so great, it may always be lent." He talked with regret and indignation of the factious opposition to government at this time, and imputed it in a great measure to the Revolution. "Sir," said he, in a low voice, having come nearer to me, while his old prejudices seemed to be fermenting in his mind, "this Hanoverian family is isolée here. They have no friends. Now the Stuarts had friends who stuck by them so late as 1745. When the right of the king is not reverenced, there will not be reverence for those appointed by the king." His observation, that the present royal family has no friends, has been too much justified by the very ungrateful behaviour of many who at the same time there are honourable excep were under great obligations to his majesty: tions; and the very next year after this conversation, and ever since, the king has had as extensive and generous support as ever was given to any monarch, and has had the satisfaction of knowing that he was more and more endeared to his people. He repeated to me his verses on Mr. Levett, with an emotion which gave them full effect; and then he was pleased to say, "You must be as much with me as you can. You have done me good. You cannot think how much better I am since you came in." He sent a message to acquaint Mrs. Thrale that I was arrived. I had not seen her since her husband's death. She soon appeared, and favoured me with an invitation to stay to dinner, which I accepted. There was no other company but herself and three of her daughters, Dr. Johnson, and I. She too said she was very glad I was come; for she was going to Bath, and should have been sorry to leave Dr. Johnson before I came. This seemed to be attentive and kind; and I, who had not been informed of any change, imagined all to be as well as formerly. He was little inclined to talk at dinner, and went to sleep after it; but when he joined us in the drawing-room he seemed revived, and was again himself. Talking of conversation, he said, "There must, in the first place, be knowledge there must be materials; in the second place, there must be a command of words; in the third place, there must be imagination, to place things in such views as they are not commonly seen in; and, in the fourth place, there must be presence of mind, and a resolution that is not to be overcome by failures: this last is an essential requisite; for want of it many people do not excel in conversation. Now I want it; I throw up the game upon losing a trick." I wondered to hear him talk thus of himself, and said, "I don't know, Sir, how this may be; but I am sure you beat other people's cards out of their hands." I doubt whether he heard this remark. While he went on talking triumphantly, I was fixed in admiration, and said to Mrs. Thrale, "O for short-hand to take this down!"-"You'll carry it all in your head," said she: "a long head is as good as short-hand." It has been observed and wondered at, that Mr. Charles Fox never talked with any freedom in the presence of Dr. Johnson; though it is well known, and I myself can witness, that his conversation is various, fluent, and exceedingly agreeable. Johnson's own experience, however, of that gentleman's reserve, was a sufficient reason for his going on thus: "Fox never talks in private company; not from any determination not to talk, but because he has not the first motion. A man who is used to the applause of the House of Commons has no wish for that of a private company, A man accustomed to throw for a thousand pounds, if set down to throw for sixpence, One 1 Were I to insert all the stories which have been told of contests boldly maintained with him, imaginary victories obtained over him, of reducing him to silence, and of making him own that his antagonist had the better of him in argu. ment, my volumes would swell to an immoderate size. instance, I find, has circulated both in conversation and in print; that when he would not allow the Scotch writers to have merit, the late Dr. Rose, of Chiswick, asserted, that he could name one Scotch writer whom Dr. Johnson himself would allow to have written better than any man of the age; and upon Johnson's asking who it was, answered "Lord Bute, when he signed the warrant for your pension." Upoa which Johnson, struck with the repartee, acknowledged that it was true. When I mentioned it to Johnson, "Sir," said he. if Rose said this, I never heard it."-BosWELL. 2 This reflection was very natural in a man of a good heart, who was not conscious of any ill-will to mankind, would not be at the pains to count his dice. Burke's talk is the ebullition of his mind. He does not talk from a desire of distinction, but because his mind is full." He thus curiously characterised one of our old acquaintance: [Sheridan] is a good man, Sir; but he is a vain man and a liar. He, however, only tells lies of vanity; of victories, for instance, in conversation, which never happened." This alluded to a story, which I had repeated from that gentleman, to entertain Johnson with its wild bravado. "This Johnson, Sir," said he, "whom you are all afraid of, will shrink, if you come close to him in argument, and roar as loud as he. He once maintained the paradox, that there is no beauty but in utility. Sir, said I, what say you to the peacock's tail, which is one of the most beautiful objects in nature, but would have as much utility if its feathers were all of one colour?' He felt what I thus produced, and had recourse to his usual expedient, ridicule; exclaiming, 'A peacock has a tail, and a fox has a tail;' and then he burst out into a laugh. 'Well, Sir,' said I, with a strong voice, looking him full in the face, you have unkennelled your fox; pursue him if you dare.' He had not a word to say, Sir." Johnson told me that this was fiction from beginning to end.1 6 After musing for some time, he said, "I wonder how I should have any enemies; for I do harm to nobody."2 BoSWELL. "In the first place, Sir, you will be pleased to recollect that you set out with attacking the Scotch; so you got a whole nation for your enemies." JOHNSON. Why, I own that by my definition of oats I meant to vex them." BOSWELL. " "Pray, Sir, can you trace the cause of your antipathy to the Scotch?" JOHNSON. "I cannot, Sir."3 BOSWELL. "Old Mr. Sheridan says it was because they sold Charles the First." JOHN SON. 66 66 "Then, Sir, old Mr. Sheridan has found out a very good reason." Surely the most obstinate and sulky nationality, the most determined aversion to this great and good man, must be cured, when he is seen thus playing with one of his prejudices, of which he candidly admitted that he could not tell the reason. It was, however, probably owing to his having had in his view the worst part of the Scottish nation, the needy adventurers, many of whom he thought were though the sharp sayings which were sometimes produced by his discrimination and vivacity, which he perhaps did not recollect, were, I am afraid, too often remembered with resentment. - BOSWELL. 3 When Johnson asserted so distinctly that he could not trace the cause of his antipathy to the Scotch, it may seem unjust to attribute to him any secret personal motive: but it is the essence of prejudice to be unconscious of its cause, and I am convinced that Johnson received in early life some serious injury or affront from the Scotch. See antè, p. 54. n. 2. CROKER. This can hardly have been the cause. Many of Johnson's earliest associates were indeed “needy Scotch adventurers ; " that is, they were poor scholars, indigent men of education and talent, who brought those articles to the London market, as Dr. Johnson himself had done. Such were Sheils, Stewart, Macbean, &c. But Johnson had no aversion to these men: |