Battologiam ab iteratione, recte distinguit Erasmus. Mod. Orandi Deum, p. 56, 1446. Southwell's Thoughts of his own Death?. tables were filled with company, not inele- | Robert Wisedome, 1618. Barker's Bigant-After dinner, the talk was of preserv-ble. ing the Welsh language-I offered them a scheme-Poor Evan Evans was mentioned, as incorrigibly addicted to strong drink-Washington was commended1Myddleton is the only man who, in Wales, has talked to me of literature-I wish he were truly zealous-I recommended the republication of David ap Rhees's Welsh grammar-Two sheets of Hebrides came to me for correction to-day, F. G. 2 Saturday, 6th August.-Z.3 p.--I corrected the two sheets-My sleep last night was disturbed-Washing at Chester and here, 5s. 1d.-I did not read-I saw to-day more of the outhouses at Lleweney --It is, in the whole, a very spacious house. Sunday, 7th August.-I was at church at Bodfari. There was a service used for a sick woman, not canonically, but such as I have heard, I think, formerly at Lichfield, taken out of the visitation.-K. μerpics. The church is mean, but has a square tower for the bells, rather too stately for the church. Observations.-Dixit injustus, Ps. 36, has no relation to the English 4. Preserve us, Lord 5, has the name of though he said that he only valued the sauce, and that every body eat the first as a vehicle for the second. When he poured oyster sauce over plum pudding, and the melted butter flowing from the toast into his chocolate, one might surely say that he was nothing less than delicate." -Piozzi MS.-ED.] [The editor suspects that " Washington" is printed by mistake for " Worthington." General Washington was yet hardly known, and Dr. Worthington, a literary friend of Dr. Johnson's, was resident in a Welsh living not distant, and which the party afterwards visited. See post, 8th Sept.-ED.] 2 [F. G. are the printer's signatures, by which it appears that at this time five sheets had already been printed. The MS. was sent to press 11th June.-DUPPA.] Monday, 8th August.—The bishop and much company dined at Lleweney-Talk of Greek and the army-The Duke of Marlborough's officers useless 10-Read Pho the British Museum, has found among the Hymns which follow the old version of the singing psalms, at the end of Barker's Bible of 1639. It begins, "Preserve us, Lord, by thy dear word, From Turk and Pope, defend us, Lord! Which both would thrust out of his throne Our Lord Jesus Christ, thy deare son."—ED.] 6 [In allusion to our Saviour's censure of vain repetition in prayer (battologia-Matt. c. vi. v. 7). Erasmus, in the passage cited, defends the words" My God! my God!" as an expression of justifiable earnestness.-ED.] 7 [This alludes to Southwell's stanzas “Upon the Image of Death," in his Maonia, a collection of spiritual poems. "Before my face the picture hangs, Do think thereon that I must die," &c. Robert Southwell was an English jesuit, who was imprisoned, tortured, and finally, in Feb. 1598, tried in the King's Bench, convicted, and next day executed, for teaching the Roman Catholic tenets in England.-ED.] 8 [This work, which Johnson was now reading, was, most probably, a little book, entitled Baudi Epistole, as, in his Life of Milton, he has made a quotation from it. Speaking of Milton's religious opinions, when he is supposed to have vacillated between Calvinism and Arminianism, he observes, "What Baudius says of Erasmus seems applicable to him, magis habuit quod fugeret quam quod sequeretur."-DUPPA.] 9 [During Johnson's stay at this place, Mrs. Thrale gives this trait of his character: "When we went into Wales together, and spent some time at Mr. Cotton's at Lleweny, one day at din3 [Sic, no doubt an error for Ka-Kadagoner, I meant to please Mr. Johnson particularly Sgasin.-See ante, 17th July.-Ed.] with a dish of very young peas. Are not they * [Dr. Johnson meant, that the words of the charming?' said I to him, while he was eating Latin version," dixit injustus," prefixed to the them. Perhaps they would be so-to a pig.' 36th Psalm (one of those appointed for the day), This is given only as an instance of the peculiar had no relation to the English version in the Lit-ity of his manner, and which had in it no inurgy: "My heart showeth me the wickedness of tention to offend.-DUPPA. This last observathe ungodly." The biblical version, however, tion was suggested by Mrs. Piozzi to Mr. Duppa, has some accordance with the Latin, "The trans- and was by her intended as a kind of apology gression of the wicked saith within my heart; "against Boswell's complaint, that she told this and Bishop Lowth renders it "The wicked man, kind of stories with the malevolent intention of according to the wickedness of his heart, saith." depreciating Johnson.-ED.] The biblical version of the Psalms was made by the translators of the whole Bible, under James I., from the original Hebrew, and is closer than the version used in the Liturgy, which was made in the reign of Henry VIII. from the Greek.—ED.] [This alludes to "a Prayer by R. W." (evidently Robert Wisedoin), which Mr. Ellis, of 10 [Dr. Shipley had been a chaplain with the Duke of Cumberland, and probably now entertained Dr. Johnson with some anecdotes collected from his military acquaintance, by which Johnson was led to conclude that the Duke of Marlborough's officers were useless;" that is, that the duke saw and did everything himself; a fact cylidis, distinguished the paragraphs-I looked in Leland: an unpleasant book of mere hints 2-Lichfield school ten pounds, and five pounds from the hospital 3. "TO MR. ROBERT LEVETT. "Lleweney, in Denbighshire, 16th Aug. 1774. "I have made nothing of the ipecacuanha, Wednesday, 10th August.-At Lloyd's, of Maesmynnan; a good house, and a very large walled garden-I read Windus's Account of his Journey to Mequinez, and of Stewart's Embassy 4-I had read in the morning Wasse's Greek Trochaics to Bent- "Wales, so far as I have yet seen of it, ley; they appear inelegant, and made with is a very beautiful and rich country, all difficulty-The Latin elegy contains only enclosed and planted. Denbigh is not a common-place, hastily expressed, so far as mean town. Make my compliments to all I have read, for it is long-They seem to my friends, and tell Frank I hope he rebe the verses of a scholar, who has no prac-members my advice. When his money is tice of writing-The Greek I did not al- out, let him have more. I am, sir, your ways fully understand-I am in doubt about humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." the sixth and last paragraphs; perhaps they are not printed right, for TOXOV perhaps SOTTO. q-The following days [11th, 12th, and 13th], I read here and thereThe Bibliotheca Literaria was so little supplied with papers that could interest curiosity, that it could not hope for long continuance Wasse, the chief contributor, was an unpolished scholar, who, with much literature, had no art or elegance of diction, at least in English. [Thursday, 18th August.-We left Lleweney 8, and went forwards on our journey -We came to Abergeley, a mean town, in which little but Welsh is spoken, and divine service is seldom performed in EnglishOur way then lay to the seaside, at the foot of a mountain, called Penmaen RhôsHere the way was so steep, that we walked on the lower edge of the hill, to meet the coach, that went upon a road higher on Sunday, 14th August.-At Bodfari I the hill-Our walk was not long, nor unheard the second lesson read, and the ser- pleasant: the longer I walk, the less I feel mon preached in Welsh. The text was its inconvenience-As I grow warm, my pronounced both in Welsh and English-breath mends, and I think my limbs grow The sound of the Welsh, in a continued discourse, is not unpleasant-Bas xx a. 6-The letter of Chrysostom, against transubstantiation-Erasmus to the Nuns full of mystic notions and allegories. Monday, 15th August.—Ka.—Imbecillitas genuum non sine aliquantulo doloris inter ambulandum, quem a prandio magis sensi 7. Tuesday, 16th August.—[On this day he wrote to Mr. Levett.] which, it is presumed, may be told of all great captains-ED.] [The title of the poem is Пcinja veteriner.— DUPPA.] [Leland's Itinerary, published by Thoma. Hearne, in nine very thin octavo volumes, 1710. -DUPPA.] [An extract from Leland.-Ed.] This book is entitled "A Journey to Mequinez, the Residence of the present Emperor of Fez and Morocco, on the Occasion of Commodore Stewart's Embassy thither, for the Redemption of the British Captives, in the year 1721." 8vo. DUPPA.] [The Bibliotheca Literaria was published in London, 1722-4, in quarto numbers, but only extended to ten numbers-DUPPA.] [Sic, probably for goss aporns. See ante, 17th July, and 6th August.-ED.] ["A weakness of the knees, not without some pain in walking, which I feel increased after I have dined."-DUPPA.] pliable. We then came to Conway Ferry, and The poor [In Mr. Duppa's edition, the departure from Lleweny is erroneously (as appears from what follows) dated the 16th.-ED.] דיד Our coach was at last brought, and we | set out with some anxiety, but we came to Penmaen Mawr by daylight; and found a way, lately made, very easy, and very safe! -It was cut smooth, and enclosed between parallel walls; the outer of which secures the passenger from the precipice, which is deep and dreadful-This wall is here and there broken by mischievous wantonnessThe inner wall preserves the road from the loose stones, which the shattered steep above it would pour down-That side of the mountain seems to have a surface of loose stones, which every accident may crumble -The old road was higher, and must have been very formidable-The sea beats at the bottom of the way. At evening the moon shone eminently bright; and our thoughts of danger being now past, the rest of our journey was very pleasant. At an hour somewhat late, we came to Bangor, where we found a very mean inn, and had some difficulty to obtain lodging-I lay in a room, where the other bed had two men. Friday, 19th August.-We obtained boats to convey us to Anglesey, and saw Lord Bulkeley's house, and Beaumaris Castle. There is likewise a chapel entire, built upon an arch, as I suppose, and beautifully arched with a stone roof, which is yet unbroken-The entrance into the chapel is about eight or nine feet high, and was, I suppose, higher, when there was no rubbish in the area-This castle corresponds with all the representations of romancing narratives-Here is not wanting the private passage, the dark cavity, the deep dungeon, or the lofty tower-We did not discover the well-This is the most complete view that I have yet had of an old castle-It had a moat-The towers-We went to Bangor. Saturday, 20th August.-We went by water from Bangor to Caernarvon, where we met Paoli and Sir Thomas Wynne-Meeting by chance with one Troughton 4, an intelligent and loquacious wanderer, Mr. Thrale invited him to dinner-He attended us to the castle, an edifice of stu pendous magnitude and strength; it has in it all that we observed at Beaumaris, and much greater dimensions: many of the smaller rooms floored with stone are entire; of the larger rooms, the beams and planks are all left: this is the state of all buildings left to time-We mounted the eagle tower by one hundred and sixty-nine steps, each of ten inches-We did not find the well; nor did I trace the moat; but moats there were, I believe, to all castles on the plain, which not only hindered access, but prevented mines-We saw but a very small part of this mighty ruin, and in all these old buildings, the subterraneous works are concealed by the rubbish-To survey this place would take much time: I did not think there had been such buildings; it surpassed my ideas. I was accosted by Mr. Lloyd, the schoolmaster of Beaumaris, who had seen me at University College; and he, with Mr. Roberts, the register of Bangor, whose boat we borrowed, accompanied us. Lord Bulkeley's house is very mean, but his garden is spacious and shady, with large trees and smaller interspersed-The walks are straight, and cross each other, with no variety of plan; but they have a pleasing coolness and solemn gloom, and extend to a great length 2. The castle is a mighty pile; the outward wall has fifteen round towers, besides square towers at the angles-There is then a void space between the wall and the castle, which has an area enclosed with a wall, which again has towers, larger-The town has by degrees, I suppose, than those of the outer wall-The towers of the inner castle are, I think, eight sea. [Penmaen Mawr is a huge rocky promontory, rising nearly 1550 feet perpendicular above the Along a shelf of this precipice is formed an excellent road, well guarded, toward the sea, by a strong wall, supported in many parts by arches turned underneath it. Before this wall was built, travellers sometimes fell down the precipices.DUPPA.] 2 [Baron Hill is the name of Lord Bulkeley's house, which is situated just above the town of Beaumaris, at the distance of three quarters of a mile, commanding so fine a view of the sea, and the coast of Caernarvon, that it has been sometimes compared to Mount Edgecombe, in Devonshire. Lord Lyttelton, speaking of the house and gardens, says, "The house is a bad one, but the gardens are made in a very fine taste."-DUPPA.] Sunday, 21st August.-[at Caernarvon]. -We were at church; the service in the town is always English; at the parishchurch at a small distance, always Welsh been brought nearer to the sea-side-We received an invitation to Dr. Worthington -We then went to dinner at Sir Thomas Wynne's, the dinner mean, Sir Thomas civil, his lady nothing 5-Paoli civil-We 3 [Sir Thomas Wynne, created Lord Newborough, July 14th, 1776. Died October 12th, 1807.-DUPPA.] ["Lieutenant Troughton I do recollect, loquacious and intelligent he was. He wore a uniform, and belonged, I think, to a man of war." -Piozzi MS. He was made a lieutenant in 1762, and died in 1786, in that rank; he was on half-pay, and did not belong to any ship when he met Dr. Johnson in 1774. It seems then that, even so late as this, half-pay officers wore their uniforms in the ordinary course of life.-ED.] 5 [Lady Catharine Perceval, daughter of the second Earl of Egmont: this was, it appears, the supped with Colonel Wynne's lady, who lives in one of the towers of the castle-I have not been very well. Monday, 22d August.-We went to visit Bodville, the place where Mrs. Thrale was born, and the churches called Tydweilliog and Llangwinodyl, which she holds by impropriation-We had an invitation to the house of Mr. Griffiths of Bryn o dol, where we found a small neat new-built house, with square rooms: the walls are of unhewn stone, and therefore thick; for the stones not fitting with exactness, are not strong without great thickness-He had planted a great deal of young wood in walks -Fruit trees do not thrive; but having grown a few years, reach some barren stratum and wither-We found Mr. Griffiths not at home; but the provisions were good. [Tuesday, 23d August.]-Mr. Griffiths came home the next day-He married a lady who has a house and estate at [Llanver, over against Anglesea, and near Caernarvon, where she is more delighted, as it seems, to reside than at Bryn o dol-I read Lloyd's account of Mona, which he proves to be Anglesea-In our way to Bryn o dol, we saw at Llanerk a church built crosswise, very spacious and magnificent for this country-We could not see the parson, and could get no intelligence about it. have no rails-One of them has a breach in the roof-On the desk, I think, of each lay a folio Welsh Lible of the black letter, which the curate cannot easily read-Mr. Thrale purposes to beautify the churches, and if he prospers, will probably restore the tithesThe two parishes are, Llangwinodyl and Tydweilliog 3-The methodists are here very prevalent-A better church will impress the people with more reverence of public worship-Mrs. Thrale visited a house where she had been used to drink milk, which was left, with an estate of two hundred pounds a year, by one Lloyd 4, to a married woman who lived with him-We went to Pwllheli, a mean old town, at the extremity of the country-Here we bought something, to remember the place. Thursday, 25th August.-We returned to Caernarvon, where we ate with Mrs. Wynne. Friday, 26th August.-We visited, with Mrs.5 Wynne, Llyn Badarn and Llyn Beris, two lakes, joined by a narrow straitThey are formed by the waters which fall from Snowdon, and the opposite mountains -On the side of Snowdon are the remains of a large fort, to which we climbed with great labour-I was breathless and harassed -The lakes have no great breadth, so that the boat is always near one bank or the other.-Note. Queeny's goats, one hundred and forty-nine, I think 7. Wednesday, 24th August.-We went to see Bodville-Mrs. Thrale remembered the rooms, and wandered over them with recol3 [These two parishes are perpetual curacies, lection of her childhood-This species of endowed with the small tithes, which, in 1809, pleasure is always melancholy-The walk amounted to six pounds sixteen shillings and sixwas cut down, and the pond was dryed by Queen Anne's bounty; and, in 1809, the pence in each parish; but these sums are increasNothing was better. We surveyed the whole income for Llangwinodyl, including surplice churches, which are mean, and neglected to fees, amounted to forty-six pounds two shillings a degree scarcely imaginable-They have and twopence, and for Tydweilliog, forty-three no pavement, and the earth is full of holes pounds nineteen shillings and tenpence; so that it -The seats are rude benches; the altars does not appear that Mr. Thrale carried into effect his good intention.-DUPPA.] Lady of whom Mrs. Piozzi relates, that "for a lady of quality, since dead, who received us at ber husband's seat in Wales with less attention than he had long been accustomed to, he had a rougher denunciation: That woman,' cried JohnBon, is like sour small beer, the beverage of her table, and produce of the wretched country she lives in like that, she could never have been a good thing, and even that bad thing is spoiled.'' And it is probably of her too that another anecdote is told: "We had been visiting at a lady's bouse, whom, as we returned, some of the company ridiculed for her ignorance: She is not ignorant,' said he, I believe, of any thing she has been taught, or of any thing she is desirous to know; and I suppose if one wanted a little run tez, she might be a proper person enough to apply to." " Mrs. Piozzi says, in her MS. Letters, that Lady Catherine comes off well in the diary. He said many severe things of her, which he did not commit to paper." She died in 1782.-ED.] [Situated among the mountains of Caernarvonshire."-Piozzi MS.] * [Piozzi MS.] 62 [Mr. Lloyd was a very good-natured man ; and when Mrs. Thrale was a little child, he was used to treat her with sweetmeats and milk; but what was now remarkable was, that she should recollect the house, which she had not seen since she was five years old.-DUPPA. ["Miss Thrale was amused with our rowing on Lake Llyn Beris, and Mrs. Glynn Wynne, wife of Lord Newburgh's brother, who accompanied us and acted as our guide, sang Welsh songs to the harp."-Piozzi MS.] 6 ["Dolbadarne was the name of the fort."Piozzi MS.] 7 [Mr. Thrale was near-sighted, and could not see the goats browsing on Snowdon, and he promised his daughter, who was a child of ten years old, a penny for every goat she would show him, and Dr. Johnson kept the account; so that it appears her father was in debt to her one hundred and forty-nine pence. Queeny was an epithet, which had its origin in the nursery, by which [in allusion to Queen Esther], Miss Thrale (whose name was Esther) was always distinguished by Johnson.-DUPPA.] Saturday, 27th August.-We returned | We came to the house of Mr. Myddelton to Bangor, where Mr. Thrale was lodged at Mr. Roberts's, the register. Sunday, 28th August.-We went to worship at the cathedral-The quire is mean; the service was not well read. Monday, 29th August.-We came to Mr. Myddelton's, of Gwaynynog, to the first place, as my Mistress observed, where we have been welcome 1. (Note. On the day when we visited Bodville [Monday, 22d August], we turned to the house of Mr. Griffiths, of Kefnamwycllh, a gentleman of large fortune, remarkable for having made great and sudden improvements in his seat and estate He has enclosed a large garden with a brick wall-He is considered as a man of great accomplishments-He was educated in literature at the university, and served some time in the army, then quitted his commission, and retired to his lands. He is accounted a good man, and endeavours to bring the people to church.) (on Monday), where we staid to September 6, and were very kindly entertained-How we spent our time, I am not very able to tell 2-We saw the wood, which is diversified and romantic. Sunday, 4th September.-We dined with Mr. Myddelton3, the clergyman, at Denbigh, where I saw the harvest men very decently dressed, after the afternoon service, standing to be hired-On other days, they stand at about four in the morning-They are hired from day to day. Monday, 5th September.-We lay at Wrexham; a busy, extensive, and well built town-It has a very large and magnificent church. It has a famous fair1. * [However this may have been, he was both happy and amused, during his stay at Gwayny. nog, and Mr. Myddelton was flattered by the tion of it, he (to use Mr. Boswell's words) erected honour of his visit. To perpetuate the recollecan urn on the banks of a rivulet, in the park, where Johnson delighted to stand and recite verses; on which is this inscription: This spot was often dignified by the presence of Gave ardour to Virtue, and confidence to Truth. In 1777, it would appear from a letter by JohnMr. Myddelton meditated this honour, which son to Mrs. Thrale, that he was informed that seemed to be but little to his taste: "Mr. Myddelton's erection of an urn looks like an intention to bury me alive: I would as willingly see my friend, however benevolent and hospitable, quietly inurned. Let him think, for the present, of some more acceptable memorial."-DUPPA.} In our way from Bangor to Conway, we passed again the new road upon the edge of Penmaen Mawr, which would be very tremendous, but that the wall shuts out the idea of danger-In the wall are several breaches, made, as Mr. Thrale very reasonably conjectures, by fragments of rocks which roll down the mountain, broken perhaps by frost, or worn through by rain. We then viewed Conway-To spare the horrors at Penmaen Rhôs between Conway and St. Asaph, we sent the coach over the road cross the mountain with Mrs. Thrale, who had been tired with a walk some time before; and I, with Mr. Thrale and Miss, 3 ["Rector of Denbigh, was second brother to walked along the edge, where the path is the owner of Gwaynynog. He had, I suppose, very narrow, and much encumbered by lit-been in the army, for we used to call him coltle loose stones, which had fallen down, as onel."-Piozzi MS.] we thought, upon the way since we passed it before. At Conway we took a short survey of the castle, which afforded us nothing new-It is larger than that of Beaumaris, and less than that of Caernarvon-It is built upon a rock so high and steep, that it is even now very difficult of access-We found a round pit, which was called the Well; it is now almost filled, and therefore dry-We found the Well in no other castle-There are some remains of leaden pipes at Caernarvon, which, I suppose, only conveyed water from one part of the building to another-Had the garrison had no other supply, the Welsh, who must know where the pipes were laid, could easily have cut them. 1 ["It is very likely I did say so. My relations were not quite as forward as I thought they might have been to welcome a long distant kinswoman. The Myddeltons were more cordial. The old colonel had been a fellow collegian with Mr. Thrale and Lord Sandys, of Ombersley."Piozzi MS.] 4 [It was probably on the 6th Sept. in the way from Wrexham to Chirk, that they passed through Ruabon, where the following occurrence took place: "A Welsh parson of mean abilities, though a good heart, struck with reverence at the sight of Dr. Johnson, whom he had heard of as the greatest man living, could not find any words to answer his inquiries concerning a motto round somebody's arms which adorned a tombstone in Ruabon churchyard. If I remember right, the words were, Heb Dw, Heb Dym, And though of no very difficult construction, the [It is the Myddelton motto, and means, God is all-sufficient!-Piozzi MS. p. 184.] |