1

stopping. He said, 'If a man begins to read in the middle of a book, and feels an inclination to go on, let him not quit it, to go to the beginning. He may, perhaps, not feel again the inclination.'

Sir Joshua mentioned Mr. Cumberland's Odes, which were just published. JOHNSON: 'Why, sir, they would have been thought as good as odes commonly are, if Cumberland had not put his name to them; but a name immediately draws censure, unless it be a name that bears down everything before it. Nay, Cumberland has made his Odes subsidiary to the fame of another man. They might have run well enough by themselves; but he has not only loaded them with a name, but has made them carry double.'

We talked of the Reviews, and Dr. Johnson spoke of them as he did at Thrale's. Sir Joshua said, what I have often thought, that he wondered to find so much good writing employed in them, when the authors were to remain unknown, and so could not have the motive of fame. JOHNSON: Nay, sir, those who write in them write well in order to be paid well.'

Soon after this day, he went to Bath with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale. I had never seen that beautiful city, and wished to take the opportunity of visiting it while Johnson was there. Having written to him,

I received the following answer:

TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

'DEAR SIR,-Why do you talk of neglect? When did I neglect you? If you will come to Bath we shall all be glad to see you. Come, therefore, as soon as you can.

1 We have here an involuntary testimony to the excellence of this admirable writer, to whom we have seen that Dr. Johnson directly allowed so little merit.

2 Mr. Romney, the painter, who has now deservedly established a high reputation.

'But I have a little business for you at London. Bid Francis look in the paper drawer of the chest of drawers in my bed-chamber, for two cases; one for the Attorney-General, and one for the Solicitor-General. They lie, I think, at the top of my papers; otherwise they are somewhere else, and will give me more trouble.

'Please to write to me immediately if they can be found. Make my compliments to all our friends round the world, and te Mrs. Williams at home.-I am, sir, your, etc.,

'SAM. JOHNSON.

'Search for the papers as soon as you can, that if it is necessary, I may write to you again before you come down.'

On the 26th of April, I went to Bath; and on my arrival at the Pelican inn, found lying for me an obliging invitation from Mr. and Mrs. Thrale, by whom I was agreeably entertained almost constantly during my stay. They were gone to the rooms; but there was a kind note from Dr. Johnson, that he should sit at home all the evening. I went to him directly, and before Mr. and Mrs. Thrale returned, we had, by ourselves, some hours of tea-drinking and talk.

I shall group together such of his sayings as I preserved during the few days that I was at Bath.

Of a person who differed from him in politics,' he said, 'In private life he is a very honest gentleman ; but I will not allow him to be so in public life. People may be honest, though they are doing wrong: that is, between their Maker and them. But we, who are suffering by their pernicious conduct, are to destroy them. We are sure that acts from interest. We know what his genuine principles were. They who allow their passions to confound the distinctions 1 [Probably Burke.-A. B.]

between right and wrong, are criminal. They may be convinced; but they have not come honestly by their conviction.'

It having been mentioned, I know not with what truth, that a certain female political writer, whose doctrines he disliked, had of late become very fond of dress, sat hours together at her toilet, and even put on rouge. JOHNSON: 'She is better employed at her toilet than using her pen. It is better she should be reddening her own cheeks, than blackening other people's characters.’

He told us that 'Addison wrote Budgell's papers in the Spectator, at least mended them so much, that he made them almost his own; and that Draper, Tonson's partner, assured Mrs. Johnson, that the much admired Epilogue to the Distressed Mother, which came out in Budgell's name, was in reality written by Addison.'

'The mode of government by one may be ill adapted to a small society, but is best for a great nation. The characteristic of our own government at present is imbecility. The magistrates dare not call the guards for fear of being hanged. The guards will not come for fear of being given up to the blind rage of popular juries.'

Of the father of one of our friends, he observed, 'He never clarified his notions, by filtrating them through other minds. He had a canal upon his estate, where at one place the bank was too low. "I dug the canal deeper," said he.'

1 [Mrs. Macaulay.-A. B.]

2 [The Gordon Riots in 1780 and the Bristol Riots in 1831 justify this observation. See Penney, State Trials, No. iii. p. 13.-A. B.]

I

He told me that 'so long ago as 1748 he had read The Grave, a poem, but did not like it much.' differed from him; for though it is not equal throughout, and is seldom elegantly correct, it abounds in solemn thought, and poetical imagery beyond the common reach. The world has differed from him; for the poem has passed through many editions, and is still much read by people of a serious cast of mind.

A literary lady' of large fortune was mentioned, as one who did good to many, but by no means 'by stealth,' and instead of 'blushing to find it fame,' acted evidently from vanity. JOHNSON: 'I have seen no beings who do as much good from benevolence as she does from whatever motive. If there are such under the earth, or in the clouds, I wish they would. come up, or come down. What Soame Jenyns says upon this subject is not to be minded-he is a wit. No, sir; to act from pure benevolence is not possible for finite beings. Human benevolence is mingled with vanity, interest, or some other motive.'

He would not allow me to praise a lady then at Bath; observing, 'She does not gain upon me, sir; I think her empty-headed.' 3 He was, indeed, a stern critic upon characters and manners. Even Mrs.

1 I am sorry that there are no memoirs of the Reverend Robert Blair, the author of this poem. He was the representative of the ancient family of Blair, of Blair, in Ayrshire, but the estate had descended to a female, and afterwards passed to the son of her husband by another marriage. He was minister of the parish of Athelstaneford, where Mr. John Home was his successor; so that it may truly be called classic ground. His son, who is of the same name, and a man eminent for talents and learning, is now, with universal approbation, SolicitorGeneral of Scotland.

2 [Mrs. Montague.-A. B.]

[Probably Miss Hannah More.-A. B.]

manner.

Thrale did not escape his friendly animadversion at times. When he and I were one day endeavouring to ascertain, article by article, how one of our friends could possibly spend as much money in his family as he told us he did, she interrupted us by a lively, extravagant sally, on the expense of clothing his children, describing it in a very ludicrous and fanciful Johnson looked a little angry, and said, 'Nay, madam, when you are declaiming, declaim; and when you are calculating, calculate.' At another time, when she said, perhaps affectedly, 'I don't like to fly.' JOHNSON: With your wings, madam, you must fly: but have a care, there are clippers abroad.' How very well was this said, and how fully has experience proved the truth of it! But have they not clipped rather rudely, and gone a great deal closer than was necessary?

A gentleman expressed a wish to go and live three years at Otaheite, or New Zealand, in order to obtain a full acquaintance with people so totally different from all that we have ever known, and be satisfied what pure nature can do for man. JOHNSON: What could you learn, sir? What can savages tell but what they themselves have seen? Of the past, or the invisible, they can tell nothing. The inhabitants of Otaheite and New Zealand are not in a state of pure nature; for it is plain they broke off from some other people. Had they grown out of the ground, you might have judged of a state of pure nature. Fanciful people may talk of a mythology being amongst them; but it must be invention. They have once had religion, which has been gradually debased. And what account of their religion can you suppose to be learned from savages? Only