the public should consider me as owing that to a patron which Providence has enabled me to do for myself. "Having carried on my work thus far with so little obligation to any favorer of learning, I shall not be disappointed though I shall conclude it, if less be possible, with less; for I have been long wakened from that dream of hope, in which I once boasted myself with so much exultation, "My lord, your lordship's most humble, SAM. JOHNSON." -Boswell. EXPRESSIONS OF GOOD-WILL AND APPROBATION. I ASSURED him that in the extensive and various range of his acquaintance there never had been any one who had a more sincere respect and affection for him than I had. He said, "I believe it, sir. Were I in distress, there is no man to whom I should sooner come than to you. I should like to come and have a cottage in your park, toddle about, live mostly on milk, and be taken care of by Mrs. Boswell. She and I are good friends now-are we not ?"—Boswell. I said to him, "My dear sir, we must meet every year, if you don't quarrel with me." Johnson: "Nay, sir, you are more likely to quarrel with me than I with you. My regard for you is greater almost than I have words to express; but I do not choose to be always repeating it; write it down on the first leaf of your pocket-book, and never doubt of it again."-Boswell. Never, my dear sir, do you take it into your head to think that I do not love you; you may settle yourself in full confidence both of my love and my esteem; I love you as a kind man, I value you as a worthy man, and hope in time. to reverence you as a man of exemplary piety. I hold you, as Hamlet has it, "in my heart of hearts," and therefore it is little to say, that I am, sir, Your affectionate humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON. You always seem to call for tenderness. Know, then, that in the first month of the present year I very highly esteem and very cordially love you. I hope to tell you this at the beginning of every year as long as we live; and why should we trouble ourselves to tell or hear it oftener? SAM. JOHNSON. -Extracts from letters to Boswell. We talked of Mr. Langton. Johnson, with a warm vehemence of affectionate regard, exclaimed, "The earth does not bear a worthier man than Bennet Langton."—Boswell. I shall never forget the exalted character he drew of his friend Mr. Langton, nor with what energy, what fond delight he expatiated in his praise, giving him every excellence that nature could bestow, and every perfection humanity could acquire. On the praises of Mrs. Thrale he used to dwell with a peculiar delight, a paternal fondness.— Miss Reynolds (abridged). He said, "I know not who will go to Heaven if Langton does not. Sir, I could almost say, 'Sit anima mea cum Langtono."-Boswell. Dr. Farmer, of Cambridge, had written a most excellent and convincing pamphlet to prove that Shakspeare knew little or nothing of the ancients but by translations. Being in company with Dr. Johnson, he received from him the following compliment upon the work: "Dr. Farmer, you have done that which never was done before; that is, you have completely finished a controversy beyond all further doubt." "I thank you," answered Dr. Farmer, "for your flattering opinion of my work, but still think there are some critics who will adhere to their old opinions-certain persons that I could name." "Ah," said Johnson, "that may be true; for the limbs will quiver and move after the soul is gone."— Northcote. I then slyly introduced Mr. Garrick's fame, and his assuming the airs of a great man. Johnson: "Sir, it is wonderful how little Garrick assumes. No, sir, Garrick fortunam reverenter habet. Consider, sir-celebrated men, such as you have mentioned, have had their applause at a distance; but Garrick had it dashed in his face, sounded in his ears, and went home every night with the plaudits of a thousand in his cranium. Then, sir, Garrick did not find, but made his way to the tables, the levees, and almost the bedchambers of the great. Then, sir, Garrick had under him a numerous body of people; who, from fear of his power and hopes of his favor, and admiration of his talents, were constantly submissive to him. And here is a man who has advanced the dignity of his profession. Garrick has made a player a higher character." Scott: "And he is a very sprightly writer too." Johnson: "Yes, sir; and all this supported by great wealth of his own acquisition. If all this had happened to me, I should have had a couple of fellows with long poles walking before me, to knock down everybody that stood in the way. Consider, if all this had happened to Cibber or Quin, they'd have jumped over the moon. Yet Garrick speaks to us" (smiling). Boswell : "And Garrick is a very good man, a charitable man." Johnson: "Sir, a liberal man. He has given away more money than any man in England. There may be a little vanity mixed; but he has shown that money is not his first object." -Boswell. I knew that Johnson would let nobody attack Garrick but himself, as Garrick said to me, and I had heard him praise his liberality; so, to bring out his commendation of his celebrated pupil, I said, loudly, "I have heard Garrick is liberal." Johnson: "Yes, sir, I know that Garrick has given away more money than any man in England that I am acquainted with, and that not from ostentatious views. Garrick was very poor when he began life; so, when he came to have money, he probably was very unskilful in giving away, and saved when he should not. But Garrick began to be liberal as soon as he could; and I am of opinion the reputation of avarice, which he has had, has been very lucky for him, and prevented his having many enemies. You despise a man for avarice, but you do not hate him. Garrick might have been much better attacked for living with more splendor than is suitable to a player; if they had had the wit to have assaulted him in that quarter, they might have galled him more. But they have kept clamoring about his avarice, which has rescued him from much obloquy and envy."-Boswell. When Dr. Johnson and I were talking of Garrick, I observed that he was a very moderate, fair, and pleasing companion; when we considered what a constant influx had flowed upon him, both of fortune and fame, to throw him off his bias of moral and social self-government. "Sir," replied Johnson, in his usual emphatical and glowing manner, "you are very right in your remark; Garrick has undoubtedly the merit of a temperate and unassuming behavior in society; for more pains have been taken to spoil that fellow than if he had been heir-apparent to the empire of India.” When Garrick was one day mentioning to me Dr. Johnson's illiberal treatment of him on different occasions, “I question," said he, "whether, in his calmest and most dispassionate moments, he would allow me the high theatrical merit which the public have been so generous as to attribute to me." I told him that I would take an early opportunity to make the trial, and that I would not fail to inform him of the result of my experiment. As I had rather an active curiosity to put Johnson's disinterested generosity fairly to the test on this apposite subject, I took an early opportunity of waiting on him, to hear his verdict on Garrick's pretensions to his great and universal fame. I found him in very good and social humor; and I began a conversation which naturally led to the mention of Garrick. I said something particular on his excellence as an actor; and I added, “But pray, Dr. Johnson, do you really think that he deserves that illustrious theatrical character and that prodigious fame which he has acquired ?" "Oh, sir," said he, "he deserves everything that he has acquired, for having seized the very soul of Shakspeare; for having embodied it in himself; and for having extended its glory over the world." I was not slow in communicating to Garrick the answer of the Delphic Oracle. The tear started in his eye-"Oh! Stockdale," said he, "such a praise from such a man! this atones for all that has passed!"-Percival Stockdale. On Wednesday Johnson came to see us, and made us a long visit. On Mrs. Garrick's telling him she was always more at her ease with persons who had suffered the same loss as herself,* he said that was a comfort she could seldom have, considering the superiority of her husband's merit and the cordiality of their union.-Hannah More. Dr. Johnson's high opinion of Sir Joshua Reynolds was formed at a very early period of their intimacy, and increased, instead of diminishing, through life. Once, at Mr. Thrale's, when Sir Joshua left the room, Johnson observed, "There goes a man not to be spoiled by prosperity."Northcote. Dr. Johnson is very gay and sociable and comfortable, and quite as kind to me as ever; and he says the Bodleian librarian has but done his duty, and that when he goes to Oxford, he will write my name in the books, and my age when I writ them, and sign the whole with his own; "and then," he says, "the world may know that we This was after Garrick's death. In giving Miss Burney's "Evelina" a place in the Bodleian Library. |