Mrs. Piozzi's "Anecdotes."

ON Sunday, 13th June, our philosopher was calm at breakfast. There was something exceedingly pleasing in our leading a college life, without restraint and with superior elegance, in consequence of our living in the master's house, and having the company of ladies. Mrs. Kennicott related, in his presence, a lively saying of Dr. Johnson to Miss Hannah More, who had expressed a wonder that the poet who had written "Paradise Lost," should write such poor sonnets: "Milton, Madam, was a genius that could cut a Colossus from a rock, but could not carve heads upon cherry-stones." We talked of the casuistical question, "Whether it was allowable at any time to depart from truth?" JOHNSON. "The general rule is, that truth should never be violated, because it is of the utmost importance to the comfort of life that we should have a full security by mutual faith; and occasional inconveniences should be willingly suffered, that we may preserve it. There must, however, be some exceptions. If, for instance, a murderer should ask you which way a man is gone, you may tell him what is not true, because you are under a previous obligation not to betray a man to a murderer." BoSWELL. Supposing the person who wrote Junius were asked whether he was the author, might he deny it?" JOHNSON. "I don't know what to say to this. If you were sure that he wrote Junius, would you, if he denied it, think as well of him afterwards? Yet it may be urged that what a man has no right to ask, you may refuse to communicate; and there is no other effectual mode of preserving a secret, and an important secret, the discovery of which may be very hurtful to you, but a flat denial; for if you are silent, or hesitate, or evade, it will be held equivalent to a confession. But stay, Sir, here is another case. Supposing the author had told me confidentially that he had written Junius, and I were asked if he had, I should hold myself at liberty

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1 See on this point, Sir Henry Halford's Essays, p. 79., and Archbishop Secker's Sermons, vol. v. 153. MARKLAND.

2 The annotator calls them "amiable verses."- BOSWELL. The annotator was Pope himself. - CROKER.

3 Lewis's verses addressed to Pope (as Mr. Bindley suggests to me) were first published in a collection of Pieces in verse and prose on occasion of "The Dunciad," 8vo. 1729. They are there called an Epigram. In that miscellany the beau

served.

In the notes to the "Dunciad," we find the following verses addressed to Pope 2:

"While malice, Pope, denies thy page

Its own celestial fire;

While critics, and while bards in rage,
Admiring, won't admire:

"While wayward pens thy worth assail,

And envious tongues decry;

These times, though many a friend bewail,
These times bewail not I.

"But when the world's loud praise is thine,
And spleen no more shall blame;
When with thy Homer thou shalt shine
In one establish'd fame-

"When none shall rail, and every lay

Devote a wreath to thee;
That day (for come it will) that day
Shall I lament to see."

It is surely not a little remarkable that they Miss Seward, should appear without a name. knowing Dr. Johnson's almost universal and minute literary information, signified a desire that I should ask him who was the author. He was prompt with his answer:-" Why, Sir, they were written by one Lewis, who was either under-master or an usher of Westminster-school and published a Miscellany, in which 'Grongar Hill' first came out."3 John

tiful poem "Away, let nought to love displeasing," (reprinted in Percy's Reliques, i. iii. 14.) first appeared; and is there said to be a translation from the Ancient British. Lewis was author of " Philip of Macedon," a tragedy, published in 1727, and dedicated to Pope: and in 1730 he published a second volume of miscellaneous poems. As Dr. Johnson settled in London not long after the verses addressed to Pope first appeared, he probably then obtained some information concern

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son praised them highly, and repeated them with a noble animation. In the twelfth line, instead of one established fame," he repeated "one unclouded flame," which he thought was the reading in former editions; but I believe was a flash of his own genius. It is much more poetical than the other.

On Monday, 14th June, and Tuesday, 15th, Dr. Johnson and I dined, on one of them, I forget which, with Mr. Mickle, translator of the "Lusiad," at Wheatley, a very pretty country place a few miles from Oxford; and on the other with Dr. Wetherell, Master of University College. From Dr. Wetherell's he went to visit Mr. Sackville Parker, the bookseller; and when he returned to us gave the following account of his visit, saying, "I have been to see my old friend, Sack. Parker; I find he has married his maid; he has done right. She had lived with him many years in great confidence, and they had mingled minds; I do not think he could have found any wife that would have made him so happy. The woman was very attentive and civil to me; she pressed me to fix a day for dining with them, and to say what I liked, and she would be sure to get it for me. Poor Sack! he is very ill indeed.' We parted as never to meet again. It has quite broken me down." This pathetic narrative was strangely diversified with the grave and earnest defence of a man's having married his maid. I could not but feel it as in some degree ludicrous.

In the morning of Tuesday, 15th of June, while we sat at Dr. Adams's, we talked of a printed letter from the Reverend Herbert Croft, to a young gentleman who had been his pupil, in which he advised him to read to the end of whatever books he should begin to read. JOHNSON. “This is surely a strange advice; you may as well resolve that whatever men you happen to get acquainted with, you are to keep to them for life. A book may be good for nothing; or there may be only one thing in it worth knowing; are we to read it all through? These Voyages, (pointing to the three large volumes of Voyages to the South Sea' which were just come out) who will read them through? A man had better work his way before the mast than read them through; they will be eaten by rats and mice, before they are read through. There can be little entertainment in such books; one set of savages is like another." BosWELL. "I do not think the people of Otaheite can be reckoned savages."

ing their author, David Lewis, whom he has described as an usher of Westminster-school; yet the Dean of Westminster, who has been pleased to make some inquiry on this subject, has not found any vestige of his having ever been employed in this situation. A late writer ("Environs of London," iv. 171.) supposed that the following inscription in the churchyard of the church of Low Leyton, in Essex, was intended to conmemorate this poet: "Sacred to the memory of David Lewis, Esq., who died the 8th day of April, 1760, aged 77 years; a great favourite of the Muses, as his many excellent picces in poetry sufficiently testify.

• Inspired verse may on this marble live,
But can no honour to thy ashes give.”—

JOHNSON. "Don't cant in defence of savages," BOSWELL. "They have the art of navigation" JOHNSON. "A dog or cat can swim." BosWELL. They carve very ingeniously." JOHN SON. "A cat can scratch, and a child with a nail can scratch." I perceived this was none of the mollia tempora fandi; so desisted.

Upon his mentioning that when he came to college he wrote his first exercise twice over, but never did so afterwards:-Miss ADAMS.¦ "I suppose, Sir, you could not make them | better?" JOHNSON. "Yes, Madam, to be sure, I could make them better. Thought is better than no thought." Miss ADAMS. “Do you think, Sir, you could make your Ramblers JOHNSON. better?" Certainly I could." BOSWELL. "I'll lay a bet, Sir, you cannot." JOHNSON. "But I will, Sir, if I choose. I shall make the best of them you shall pik out, better." BOSWELL. "But you may add to them. I will not allow of that." JouxSON. "Nay, Sir, there are three ways d making them better; putting out, adding, or correcting."

During our visit at Oxford, the following conversation passed between him and me on the subject of my trying my fortune at the English bar. Having asked whether a very extensive acquaintance in London, which was very valuable, and of great advantage to a man at large, might not be prejudicial to a lawyer, by preventing him from giving sufficient attention to his business? JoHNSON

Sir, you will attend to business as business lays hold of you. When not actually employed you may see your friends as much as you do now. You may dine at a club every day, and sup with one of the members every night; and you may be as much at public places as one who has seen them all would wish to be. But you must take care to attend constantly in Westminster Hall; both to mind your business, as it is almost all learnt there (for nobody reads now), and to show that you want to have business. And you must not be too often seen at public places, that competitors may not have it to say, 'He is always at the playhouse or at Ranelagh, and never to be found at his chambers.' And, Sir, there must be a kind of solemnity in the manner of a professional man. I have nothing particular to say to you on the subject. All this I should say to any one; I should have said it to Lord Thurlow twenty, years ago."

The profession may probably think this re

But it appears to me improbable that this monument w erected for the author of the verses to Pope, and of the tragedy already mentioned: the language both of the dedication pri fixed to that piece, and of the dedication addressed to the Earl of Shaftesbury, and prefixed to the Miscellacies, 173, I denoting a person who moved in a lower sphere thar this Essex squire seems to have done. MALONE. The addition of Esquire in this inscription is surely no evidence that Lewis was what is called a country Squire. — CROKER, 186

1 Parker, however, survived Johnson twelve years, dying at Oxford in his eighty-ninth year, Dec. 10. 1796, — MALONE. 2 Cook's Voyages. — CROKER.

presentation of what is required in a barrister who would hope for success, to be much too indulgent; but certain it is, that as

"The wits of Charles found easier ways to fame," some of the lawyers of this age who have risen high have by no means thought it absolutely necessary to submit to that long and painful course of study which a Plowden, a Coke, and a Hale considered as requisite. My respected friend, Mr. Langton, has shown me, in the handwriting of his grandfather, a curious account of a conversation which he had with Lord Chief Justice Hale', in which that great man tells him, "That for two years after he came to the inn of court, he studied sixteen hours a day; however, his lordship added, that by this intense application he almost brought himself to his grave, though he were of a very strong constitution, and after reduced himself to eight hours; but that he would not advise any body to so much; that he thought six hours a day, with attention and constancy, was sufficient; that a man must use his body as he would his horse, and his stomach; not tire him at once, but rise with an appetite."

On Wednesday, June 16., Dr. Johnson and I returned to London: he was not well to-day, and said very little, employing himself chiefly in reading Euripides. He expressed some displeasure at me for not observing sufficiently the various objects upon the road. "If I had your eyes, Sir," said he, “I should count the passengers." It was wonderful how accurate his observation of visual objects was, notwithstanding his imperfect eyesight, owing to a habit of attention. That he was much satisfied

with the respect paid to him at Dr. Adams's is thus attested by himself: "I returned last night from Oxford, after a fortnight's abode with Dr. Adams, who treated me as well as I could expect or wish; and he that contents a sick man, a man whom it is impossible to please, has surely done his part well." 2

After his return to London from this excursion, I saw him frequently, but have few memorandums; I shall therefore here insert some particulars which I collected at various times.

The Reverend Mr. Astle, of Ashbourne, in Derbyshire, brother to the learned and ingenious Thomas Astle, Esq., was from his early years known to Dr. Johnson, who obligingly advised him as to his studies, and recommended to him the following books, of which a list which he has been pleased to communicate lies before me, in Johnson's own handwriting:

"Universal History (ancient)-Rollin's Ancient History-Puffendorf's Introduction to History

1 This interesting conversation is given at length, in Seward's" Anecdotes of distinguished Persons," vol. iv. p. 489. MARKLAND.

Vertot's History of Knights of Malta-Vertot's
Revolution of Portugal-Vertot's Revolution of
Sweden-Carte's History of England-Present
deaux's Connexion-Nelson's Feasts and Fasts-
State of England-Geographical Grammar-Pri-
Duty of Man-Gentleman's Religion-Clarendon's
History - Watts's Improvement of the Mind-
Watts's Logic.
English Grammar-Blackwall on the Classics
Nature Displayed - Lowth's
Sherlock's Sermons-Burnet's Life of Hale-
Dupin's History of the Church-Shuckford's Con-
nexions-Law's Serious Call-Walton's Complete
Angler-Sandys's Travels-Sprat's History of the
Royal Society-England's Gazetteer-Goldsmith's
Roman History-Some Commentaries on the
Bible."

It having been mentioned to Dr. Johnson that a gentleman who had a son whom he imagined to have an extreme degree of timidity, resolved to send him to a public school, that he might acquire confidence: "Sir," said Johnson, "this is a preposterous expedient for removing his infirmity; such a disposition should be cultivated in the shade. Placing him at a public school is forcing an owl upon day."

Speaking of a gentleman whose house was much frequented by low company: Rags, Sir," said he, " will always make their appearance where they have a right to do it."

Of the same gentleman's mode of living, he said, "Sir, the servants, instead of doing what they are bid, stand round the table in idle clusters, gaping upon the guests; and seem as unfit to attend a company, as to steer a man

of war."

Johnson was present when a tragedy was read, in which there occurred this line:

"Who rules o'er freemen should himself be free."

The company having admired it much, "I cannot agree with you," said Johnson: "it might as well be said,

"Who drives fat oxen should himself be fat."

He was pleased with the kindness of Mr. Cator, who was joined with him in Mr. Thrale's important trust, and thus describes him: "There is much good in his character, and much usefulness in his knowledge." He found a cordial solace at that gentleman's seat at Beckenham, in Kent, which is indeed one of the finest places at which I ever was a guest; and

2 He adds, "I went in the common vehicle, with very little fatigue, and came back, I think, with less."- CROKER.

where I find more and more a hospitable wel

come.

Johnson seldom encouraged general censure of any profession; but he was willing to allow a due share of merit to the various departments necessary in civilised life. In a splenetic, sarcastical, or jocular frame of mind, however, he would sometimes utter a pointed saying of that nature. One instance has been mentioned [p. 219.], where he gave a sudden satirical stroke to the character of an attorney. The too indiscriminate admission to that em

ployment, which requires both abilities and integrity, has given rise to injurious reflections, which are totally inapplicable to many very respectable men who exercise it with reputation and honour.

Johnson having argued for some time with a pertinacious gentleman; his opponent, who had talked in a very puzzling manner, happened to say, "I don't understand you, Sir;" upon which Johnson observed, "Sir, I have found you an argument; but I am not obliged to find you an understanding."

Talking to me of Horry Walpole (as Horace, now Earl of Orford, was often called), Johnson allowed that he got together a great many curious little things, and told them in an elegant manner. Mr. Walpole thought Johnson a more amiable character after reading his Letters to Mrs. Thrale: but never was one of the true admirers of that great man. We may suppose a prejudice conceived, if he ever heard Johnson's account to Sir George Staunton, that when he made speeches in parliament for the Gentleman's Magazine, "he always took care to put Sir Robert Walpole in the wrong, and to say every thing he could against the electorate of Hanover.' The celebrated Heroic Epistle, in which Johnson is satirically introduced, has been ascribed both to Mr. Walpole and Mr. Mason. One day at Mr. Courtenay's, when a gentleman expressed his opinion that there was more energy in that poem than could be expected from Mr. Walpole; Mr. Warton, the late laureate, observed,

1 In his Posthumous Works he has spoken of Johnson in the most contemptuous manner!- MALONE. In a letter to Mr. Cole, published since Mr. Malone's death, Walpole says, "I have no thirst to know the rest of my contemporaries, from the absurd bombast of Dr. Johnson down to the silly Dr. Goldsmith. Though the latter changeling has had bright gleams of parts, and the former had sense till he changed it for words and sold it for a pension."-27th April, 1773. The expression is smart and epigrammatic, but has, as relates to Johnson, little meaning. Johnson's sense and verbosity were contemporaneous. Indeed, his later works have fewer hard words than his first publications; so that at least he did not "change sense for words." As to the pension, it has been shown that Johnson did not sell his principles for it: but, at all events, he did not "sell his sense" in the meaning of parting with it. And the Quarterly Review on Walpole's Memoirs (March, 1822) proves that though he talked and wrote in strains of high disinterestedness, he was the last man who ought to have charged another with any venal change either of principles or language. As to Goldsmith, Walpole had before happily characterised him as an "inspired idiot." In his recently published Memoirs of George III., in which he, according to his wont, abuses every body, he took occasion, on the subject of the pamphlet on the Falkland Islands, to draw the following caricature of John

son:

"It may have been written by Walpole, and buckram'd by Mason."

He disapproved of Lord Hailes, for having modernised the language of the ever memorable John Hales of Eton 3, in an edition which his lordship published of that writer's works. "An author's language, Sir," said he, “is a characteristical part of his composition, and is also characteristical of the age in which he writes. Besides, Sir, when the language is changed, we are not sure that the sense is the same. No, Sir: I am sorry Lord Hailes has done this."

Here it may be observed, that his frequent use of the expression, No, Sir, was not always to intimate contradiction: for he would say so when he was about to enforce an affirmative proposition which had not been denied, as in the instance last mentioned. I used to consider it as a kind of flag of defiance; as if he had said, " Any argument you may offer against this is not just. No, Sir, it is not.” It was like Falstaff's "I deny your major."

Sir Joshua Reynolds having said that he took the altitude of a man's taste by his stories and his wit, and of his understanding by the remarks which he repeated; being always sure that he must be a weak man who quotes common things with an emphasis as if they were oracles;-Johnson agreed with him; and Sir Joshua having also observed that the real character of a man was found out by his amusements, Johnson added, "Yes, Sir; no man is a hypocrite in his pleasures."

I have mentioned Johnson's general aversion to a pun. He once, however, endured one of mine. When we were talking of a numerous company in which he had distinguished himself highly, I said, "Sir, you were a cod surrounded by smelts. Is not this enough for you? at a time too when you were not fishing for a compli ment?" He laughed at this with a complacent approbation. Old Mr. Sheridan observed, upon my mentioning it to him," He liked your com pliment so well, he was willing to take it with pun sauce." For my own part, I think no in

"With a lumber of learning and some strong parts, Johnson was an odious and mean character. By principle a Jarobila, arrogant, self-sufficient, and overbearing by nature; Dgrateful through pride, and of feminine bigotry; he had prostituted his pen to party even in a dictionary, and had afterwards, for a pension, contradicted his own definitors. His manners were sordid, supercilious, and brutal; his style ridiculously bombastic and vicious; and, in one word. with all the pedantry he had all the gigantic littleness of a country schoolmaster."- Memoirs, iv. 297. — CROKER.

2 I have already said, ante, p. 325. n. 4, that my opinion is rather that Walpole supplied the points, and Mason the poetry. - CROKER.

3 John Hales, fellow of Eton, was an eminent scholar and divine, and a suffering loyalist under the Commonwealth; but I think he owes the title of ever memorable, by which he is distinguished, to his being, by the partiality of a friendly editor, Bishop Pearson, so styled in the title-page to his Golden Remains, published in 1659.— CROKER.

4 Sir James Mackintosh remembers that while spending the Christmas of 1793 at Beaconsfield, Mr. Burke said to him, "Johnson showed more powers of mind in company than in his writings; but he argued only for victory; and when be had neither a paradox to defend, nor an antagonist to crash, he would preface his assent with Why, no, Sir."- CRORER.