44

The writers in the REVIEWS.

[A.D. 1776.

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 authours 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.

'DEAR SIR,

'TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

'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.

'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 SolicitorGeneral3. 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 to Mrs. Williams at home. 'I am, Sir, your, &c.

'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.'

Taylor has begged of Dr. Johnson to come to London, to assist him in some interesting business, and Johnson loves much to be so consulted and so comes up.' Letters of Boswell, p. 234. On the 14th Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale:-' Mr. Wedderburne has given his opinion today directly against us. He thinks of the claim much as I think.' Piozzi Letters, i. 323. In Notes and Queries, 6th S., v. 423, in a letter from Johnson to Taylor, this business is mentioned.

On

Aetat. 67.]

A visit to Bath.

45

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 person3 who differed from him in politicks, he said, 'In private life he is a very honest gentleman; but I will not allow him to be so in publick 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 between right and

Goldsmith wrote in 1762'Upon a stranger's arrival at Bath he is welcomed by a peal of the Abbey bells, and in the next place by the voice and music of the city waits.' Cunningham's Goldsmith's Works, iv. 57. In Humphry Clinker (published in 1771), in the Letter of April 24, we read that there was 'a peal of the Abbey bells for the honour of Mr. Bullock, an eminent cow-keeper of Tottenham, who had just arrived at Bath to drink the waters for indigestion.' town waits are also mentioned. The season was not far from its close when Boswell arrived. Melford, in Humphry Clinker, wrote from Bath on May 17:-'The music and entertainments of Bath are over for this season; and all our gay birds of passage have taken their flight to Bristol-well [Clifton], Tunbridge, [Clifton], Tunbridge, Brighthelmstone, Scarborough, Harrowgate, &c. Not a soul is seen in this place, but a few broken-winded

The

parsons, waddling like so many crows along the North Parade.' Boswell had soon to return to London to eat commons in the Inner Temple.' Delighted with Bath, and apparently pleasing himself with the thought of a brilliant career at the Bar, he wrote to Temple, 'Quin said, "Bath was the cradle of age, and a fine slope to the grave." Were I a Baron of the Exchequer and you a Dean, how well could we pass some time there!' Letters of Boswell, pp. 231, 234.

2 To the rooms! and their only son dead three days over one month!

"That it should come to this! But two months dead: nay, not so much, not two.'

Hamlet, act i. sc. 2.

3 No doubt Mr. Burke. See ante, April 15, 1773, and under Oct. 1, 1774, note, and Boswell's Hebrides, Aug. 15.

wrong,

46

Imbecility of the government.

[A.D. 1776.

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 Addison3.'

'The mode of government by one may be ill adapted to a small society, but is best for a great nation. The characteristick of our own government at present is imbecility. The magistrate 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".

[Ib. p. 257]. It was known in Tonson's family, and told to Garrick, that Addison was himself the author of it, and that, when it had been at first printed with his name, he came early in the morning, before the copies were distributed, and ordered it to be given to Budgel, that it might add weight to the solicitation which he was then making for a place.' Johnson's Works, viii. 389. See ante, i. 181.

See post, Jan. 20, 1782.

5 On May 10, 1768, on which day the new parliament met, a great body of people gathered round the King's Bench prison in St. George's Fields in expectation that Wilkes would go thence to the House of Commons. Some kind of a riot arose, a proclamation was made in the terms of the Riot-Act, and the soldiers firing by Of

Blair's GRAVE.

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'.

He told me that 'so long ago as 17482 he had read "The Grave, a Poem3," but did not like it much.' I differed from

48

Pure benevolence.

[A.D. 1776.

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 motive3.'

He would not allow me to praise a lady then at Bath; observing, 'She does not gain upon me, Sir; I think her emptyheaded.' He was, indeed, a stern critick upon characters and manners. Even Mrs. 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

female, and afterwards passed to the son of her husband by another marriage. He was minister of the parish of Athelstanford, where Mr. John Home was his successor; so that it may truely be called classick ground. His son, who is of the same name, and a man eminent for talents and learning, is now, with universal approbation, Solicitor-General of Scotland. BOSWELL. Dr. A. Carlyle (Auto. p. 94) describes Blair 'as so austere, and void of urbanity as to make him quite disagreeable to young people.'

Mme.

sation is very agreeable.' D'Arblay's Diary, i. 325. See post, April 7, 1778, note.

3

2 Let humble Allen, with an awkward shame,

Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.'

Pope, Sat. Ep. i. 135. Johnson refers to Jenyns's View of the Internal Evidence of the Christian Religion, published this spring. See post, April 15, 1778. Jenyns had changed his view, for in his Origin of Evil he said, in a passage quoted with applause by Johnson (Works, vi. 69), that 'it is observable that he who best knows our formation has trusted no one thing of importance to our reason or virtue; he trusts to our vanity or compassion for our bounty to others.'

Mr. Langton is certainly meant. possibly