1752]

MR. TOPHAM BEAUCLERK

49

political notions so congenial with those in which Langton had been educated, that he conceived for him that veneration and attachment which he ever preserved. Johnson was not the less ready to love Mr. Langton for his being of a very ancient family; for I have heard him say, with pleasure, "Langton, sir, has a grant of free warren* from Henry the Second; and Cardinal Stephen Langton, in King John's reign, was of this family."

1

Mr. Langton afterwards went to pursue his studies at Trinity College, Oxford, where he formed an acquaintance with his fellow student, Mr. Topham Beauclerk, who, though their opinions and modes of life were so different that it seemed utterly improbable that they should at all agree, had so ardent a love of literature, so acute an understanding, such elegance of manners, and so well discerned the excellent qualities of Mr. Langton, that they became intimate friends.

Johnson, soon after this acquaintance began, passed a considerable time at Oxford. He at first thought it strange that Langton should associate so much with one who had the character of being loose, both in his principles and practice; but by degrees he himself was fascinated. Mr. Beauclerk's being of the St. Alban's family, and, having, in some particulars, a resemblance to Charles the Second, contributed, in Johnson's imagination, to throw a luster upon his other qualities; and in a short time the moral, pious Johnson and the gay, dissipated Beauclerk were companions. Beauclerk could take more liberty with him than anybody with whom I ever saw him; but, on the other hand, Beauclerk was not spared by his respectable companion when reproof was proper. Beauclerk had such a propensity to satire that at one time Johnson said to him,

1. Beauclerk. Four years Langton's junior. He was great-grandson of the witty, profligate Charles II and the brazen orange girl, Nell Gwynne. Their eldest son was created Duke of St. Albans. "He was eccentric; often querulous; entertaining a contempt for the generality of the world, which the politeness of his manners could not always conceal; but to those whom he liked, most generous and friendly." Lord Charlemont. "Topham Beauclerk (wicked and profligate as he wished to be accounted) was yet a man of very strict veracity. O Lord! how I did hate that horrid Beauclerk." Mrs. Piozzi.

"You never open your mouth but with intention to give pain; and you have often given me pain, not from the power of what you said, but from seeing your intention." At another time applying to him, with a slight alteration, a line of Pope, he said,

Thy love of folly, and thy scorn of fools

"Everything thou dost shows the one, and everything thou say'st, the other." At another time he said to him, "Thy body is all vice, and thy mind all virtue.” Beauclerk not seeming to relish the compliment, Johnson said, "Nay, sir, Alexander the Great, marching in triumph into Babylon, could not have desired to have had more said to him.”

Johnson was some time with Beauclerk at his house at Windsor, where he was entertained with experiments in natural* philosophy. One Sunday, when the weather was very fine, Beauclerk enticed him, insensibly, to saunter about all the morning. They went into a churchyard, in the time of divine service, and Johnson laid himself down at his ease upon one of the tombstones. "Now, sir," said Beauclerk, "you are like Hogarth's 'Idle Apprentice."" When Johnson got his pension, Beauclerk said to him in the humorous phrase of Falstaff, "I hope you'll now purge and live cleanly, like a gentleman.”

One night, when Beauclerk and Langton had supped at a tavern in London, and sat till about three in the morning, it came into their heads to go and knock up Johnson, and see if they could prevail on him to join them in a ramble. They rapped violently at the door of his chambers in the Temple,1 till at last he appeared in his shirt, with his little black wig on the top of his head, instead of a nightcap, and a poker in his hand, imagining, probably, that some ruffians were coming to attack him. When he discovered who they were, and was told their errand, he smiled, and with great good humor agreed to their proposal: "What, is it you, you dogs! I'll have a

1. The Temple. A quiet garden, or small park, together with the law buildings and old church which were attached to it. On one side it was open to the River Thames. On the opposite side, it was accessible to busy Fleet Street through a lane and archway.

1752]

AN ALL-NIGHT FROLIC

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frisk with you.' He was soon dressed, and they sallied forth together into Covent Garden,' where the greengrocers and fruiterers were beginning to arrange their hampers, just come in from the country. Johnson made some attempts to help them; but the honest gardeners stared so at his figure and manner, and odd interference, that he soon saw his services were not relished. They then repaired to one of the neighboring taverns, and made a bowl of that liquor called "Bishop," which Johnson had always liked; while in joyous contempt of sleep, from which he had been roused, he repeated the festive lines,

They did not stay long, but walked down to the Thames, took a boat, and rowed to Billingsgate. Beauclerk and Johnson were so well pleased with their amusement that they resolved to persevere in dissipation for the rest of the day; but Langton deserted them, being engaged to breakfast with some young ladies. Johnson scolded him for "leaving his social friends to go and sit with a set of wretched un-ideaed girls.' Garrick, being told of this ramble, said to him smartly, "I heard of your frolic3 t'other night. You'll be in the Chronicle." Upon which Johnson afterwards observed, "He durst not do such a thing. His wife would not let him!"

1.

Covent Garden. "The two great national theaters on one side, a churchyard full of moldy but undying celebrities on the other; a fringe of houses studded in every part with anecdote and history; a place where the very latest suppers and the earliest breakfasts jostle each other on the footways—such is Covent Garden Market, with some of its surrounding features." William Makepeace Thackeray.

2. Billingsgate. "Billingsgate is at this present a large water-gate, port, or harborough, for ships and boats commonly arriving there with fish, both fresh and salt, shellfishes, oranges, onions, and other fruits and roots, wheat, rye, and grain of divers sorts." John Stow: A Survey of London, 1598.

3. Frolic. Of another frolic of Johnson's-this time on a country walk-Langton is quoted as saying: "Taking out of his lesser pockets whatever might be in them-keys, pencil, purse, or penknife, and laying himself parallel with the edge of the hill, he actually descended, turning himself over and over till he came to the bottom."

[1754]. Lord Chesterfield,' to whom Johnson had paid the compliment of addressing to his Lordship the "Plan" of his Dictionary, had behaved to him in such a manner as to excite his contempt and indignation. The world has been for many years amused with a story confidently told, and as confidently repeated with additional circumstances, that a sudden disgust was taken by Johnson upon his having been one day kept long in waiting in his Lordship's antechamber; that at last, when the door opened, out walked Colley Cibber; and that

1. Lord Chesterfield. A retired diplomatist and statesman, fifteen years older than Johnson. He devoted himself without let or scruple to being diplomatic, cultivating equally a vice or a virtue in order to gain his ends. As Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, he conducted the affairs of that kingdom without friction by means of his pleasant wit and air of good nature. As a member of the House of Peers, he advocated liberal measures, for he believed in preparing as gracefully as possible for the coming days of more popular rule. He had no real respect for energetic feelings which must express themselves honestly at all costs; what he liked was graceful, temperate art and literature. But his suavity he carried so far that it made him ridiculous in some sophisticated quarters and an object of fear or suspicion in those less practiced. "There are many avenues to every man, and when you cannot get at him through the great one, try the serpentine ones and you will arrive at last." Chesterfield: Letters to His Son.

2. Addressing to his Lordship.

In the eighteenth century men who wrote for a living were growing more and more to depend on what they could get from their rather hard taskmasters, the booksellers, but it was still not unusual for an author to dedicate a volume to some man of wealth and position whom he wanted for his "patron." From this patron he hoped for a private pension, an easy berth in his household, a snug political appointment, or at least a generous sum of money in the lump. Dr. Johnson was persuaded to dedicate the "Plan," or "Prospectus," of his Dictionary to Lord Chesterfield against his own natural inclinations. He was, therefore, probably all the more angry that his effort brought no real attention and only a sum of money so small (£10) as to be a mark of contempt. In the Dictionary itself he defined patron as "Commonly, a wretch who supports with insolence and is paid with flattery.'

3. Cibber. Colley Cibber (1671-1757), comedian, dramatist, and theater-manager, thirty-eight years Johnson's senior. "That goodhumored and honest veteran so unworthily aspersed by Pope." Horace Walpole. "That old irreclaimable sinner of 79 Vice in youth Lady Bradshaigh,

is not excusable, but in old age it is unpardonable."

1754]

DISGUST WITH CHESTERFIELD

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Johnson was so violently provoked when he found for whom he had been so long excluded that he went away in a passion, and never would return. I remember having mentioned this story to George Lord Lyttelton, who told me he was very intimate with Lord Chesterfield; and, holding it as a wellknown truth, defended Lord Chesterfield by saying that "Cibber, who had been introduced familiarly by the backstairs, had probably not been there above ten minutes." It may seem strange even to entertain a doubt concerning a story so long and so widely current; but Johnson himself assured me that there was not the least foundation for it. He told me that there never was any particular incident which produced a quarrel between Lord Chesterfield and him; but that his Lordship's continued neglect was the reason why he resolved to have no connection with him. When the Dictionary was upon the eve of publication, Lord Chesterfield attempted, in a courtly manner, to soothe and insinuate himself with the Sage, conscious, as it should seem, of the cold indifference with which he had treated its learned author; and further attempted to conciliate him by writing two papers in The World,1 in recommendation of the work; and it must be confessed that they contain some studied compliments, so finely turned that if there had been no previous offense, it is probable that Johnson would have been highly delighted.

His Lordship says, "I think the public in general, and the republic of letters in particular, are greatly obliged to Mr. Johnson for having undertaken and executed so great and desirable a work. Perfection is not to be expected from man; but if we are to judge by the various works of Johnson already published, we have good reason to believe that he will bring this as near to perfection as any man could do. The plan of it, which he published some years ago, seems to me to be a

1. Two papers in The World. In one of them Chesterfield describes how an intrigue had been spoiled because a "lady" had blundered in spelling the address on a letter and he advises all such persons "to conform to Mr. Johnson's rules of true orthography" if they wish to succeed in their purposes.. The coarseness and indignity of this jest made no impression on Boswell.