the necessity of ceremony, and the ill effects which follow the breach of it: yet people think me rude; but Barnard did me justice."—Mrs. Piozzi.

HUMILITY.

WHEN in good-humor, he would talk of his own writings with a wonderful frankness and candor, and would even criticise them with the closest severity. One day, having read over one of his Ramblers, Mr. Langton asked him how he liked that paper; he shook his head, and answered, “Too wordy." At another time, when one was reading his tragedy of "Irene" to a company at a house in the country, he left the room; and somebody having asked him the reason of this, he replied, "Sir, I thought it had been better."Boswell.

Macleod was too late in coming to breakfast. Dr. Johnson said, laziness was worse than the toothache. Boswell: "I cannot agree with you, sir; a basin of cold water or a horsewhip will cure laziness." Johnson: "No, sir, it will only put off the fit; it will not cure the disease. I have been trying to cure my laziness all my life, and could not do it." Boswell: "But if a man does in a shorter time what might be the labor of a life, there is nothing to be said against him." Johnson (perceiving at once that I alluded to him and his Dictionary): "Suppose that flattery to be true, the consequence would be that the world would have no right to censure a man; but that will not justify him to himself."-Boswell.

In a magazine I found a saying of Dr. Johnson's something to this purpose, that the happiest part of a man's life is what he passes lying awake in bed in the morning. I read it to him. He said, "I may, perhaps, have said this;

for nobody, at times, talks more laxly than I do."-Boswell.

Poor Baretti! Do not quarrel with him; to neglect him a little will be sufficient. He means only to be frank, and manly, and independent, and perhaps, as you say, a little wise. To be frank, he thinks, is to be cynical, and, to be independent, to be rude. Forgive him, dearest lady, the rather because of his misbehavior; I am afraid he has learned part of me. I hope to set him hereafter a better example.-Johnson (from a letter to Mrs. Thrale).

About this time he had the offer of a living, of which he might have rendered himself capable by entering into holy orders. It was a rectory, in a pleasant country, and of such a yearly value as might have tempted one in better circumstances than himself to accept it; but he had scruples about the duties of the ministerial function that he could not over"I have not," said he, "the requisites for the office, and I cannot, in my conscience, shear that flock which I am unable to feed." Upon conversing with him on that inability which was his reason for declining the offer, it was found to be a suspicion of his patience to undergo the fatigue of catechising and instructing a great number of poor, ignorant persons.-Sir John Hawkins.

come.

Johnson read most of Boswell's journal of their trip to the Hebrides, and one day remarked, after reading an account of his own talk, “They call me a scholar, and yet how very little literature is there in my conversation." Once, when speaking of Burke, he said that any one meeting him, even for a few moments, would naturally say, "This is an extraordinary man;" and added, "Now you may be long enough with me, without finding anything extraordinary." -Editor.

RESPECT FOR RANK AND AUTHORITY.

A YOUNG lady, who had married a man much her inferior in rank, being mentioned, a question arose how a woman's relations should behave to her in such a situation; and, while I recapitulate the debate, and recollect what has since happened, I cannot but be struck in a manner that delicacy forbids me to express. While I contended that she ought to be treated with an inflexible steadiness of displeasure, Mrs. Thrale was all for mildness and forgiveness, and, according to the vulgar phrase, "making the best of a bad bargain." Johnson: "Madam, we must distinguish. Were I a man of rank, I would not let a daughter starve who had made a mean marriage; but, having voluntarily degraded herself from the station which she was originally entitled to hold, I would support her only in that which she herself had chosen; and would not put her on a level with my other daughters. You are to consider, madam, that it is our duty to maintain the subordination of civilized society; and when there is a gross and shameful deviation from rank, it should be punished so as to deter others from the same perversion." -Boswell.

"Mrs. Williams was angry that Thrale's family did not send regularly to her every time they heard from me while I was in the Hebrides. Little people are apt to be jealous; but they should not be jealous, for they ought to consider that superior attention will necessarily be paid to superior fortune or rank. Two persons may have equal merit, and on that account may have an equal claim to attention; but one of them may have also fortune and rank, and so may have a double claim."-Boswell.

Lord Newhaven and Johnson carried on an argument for some time concerning the Middlesex election. Johnson said, "Parliament may be considered as bound by law as a

man is bound where there is nobody to tie the knot. As it is clear that the House of Commons may expel, and expel again and again, why not allow of the power to incapacitate for that Parliament, rather than have a perpetual contest kept up between Parliament and the people?" Lord Newhaven took the opposite side, but respectfully said, "I speak with great deference to you, Dr. Johnson; I speak to be instructed." This had its full effect on my friend. He bowed his head almost as low as the table to a complimenting nobleman, and called out, "My lord, my lord, I do not desire all this ceremony; let us tell our minds to one another quietly." After the debate was over, he said, "I have got lights on the subject to-day which I had not before." This was a great deal from him, especially as he had written a pamphlet upon it.-Boswell.

As he was a zealous friend of subordination, he was at all times watchful to repress the vulgar cant against the manners of the great. "High people, sir," said he, "are the best; take a hundred ladies of quality, you'll find them better wives, better mothers, more willing to sacrifice their own pleasure to their children, than a hundred other women. Tradeswomen (I mean the wives of tradesmen) in the city, who are worth from £10,000 to £15,000, are the worst creatures upon the earth, grossly ignorant, and thinking viciousness fashionable. Farmers, I think, are often worthless fellows. Few lords will cheat; and if they do, they'll be ashamed of it. Farmers cheat, and are not ashamed of it; they have all the sensual vices, too, of the nobility, with cheating into the bargain. There is as much fornication and adultery among farmers as among noblemen." Boswell: "The notion of the world, sir, however, is that the morals of women of quality are worse than those in lower stations." Johnson: "Yes, sir, the licentiousness of one woman of quality makes more noise than that of a number of women in lower stations; then, sir, you are to consider

the malignity of women in the city against women of quality, which will make them believe anything of them-such as that they call their coachmen to bed. No, sir; so far as I have observed, the higher in rank, the richer ladies are, they are the better instructed and the more virtuous."Boswell.

We dined together with Mr. Scott (now Sir William Scott, his Majesty's Advocate-general) at his chambers in the Temple; nobody else there. The company being small, Johnson was not in such spirits as he had been the preceding day, and for a considerable time little was said. At last he burst forth: "Subordination is sadly broken down in this age. No man, now, has the same authority which his father had—except a jailer. No master has it over his servants; it is diminished in our colleges; nay, in our grammar-schools." Boswell: "What is the cause of this, sir?" Johnson: "Why, the coming in of the Scotch" (laughing sarcastically). Boswell: "That is to say, things have been. turned topsy-turvy. But your serious cause." Johnson: "Why, sir, there are many causes, the chief of which is, I think, the great increase of money. No man now depends upon the lord of a manor, when he can send to another country and fetch provisions. The shoeblack at the entry of my court does not depend on me. I can deprive him but of a penny a day, which he hopes somebody else will bring him; and that penny I must carry to another shoeblack; so the trade suffers nothing. I have explained, in my 'Journey to the Hebrides,' how gold and silver destroy feudal subordination. But, besides, there is a general relaxation of reverence. No son now depends upon his father, as in former times. Paternity used to be considered as of itself a great thing, which had a right to many claims. That is, in general, reduced to very small bounds. My hope is, that as anarchy produces tyranny, this extreme relaxation will produce freni strictio.”—Boswell.