"TO THE REV. DR. FOTHERGILL, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, to be communicated to the heads of houses, and proposed in convocation.

"Downing Street, March 3. 1775. "MR. VICE-CHANCELLOR AND GENTLEMEN, The honour of the degree of M. A. by diploma, formerly conferred upon Mr. Samuel Johnson, in consequence of his having eminently distinguished himself by the publication of a series of essays, excellently calculated to form the manners of the people, and in which the cause of religion and morality has been maintained and recommended by the strongest powers of argument and elegance of language, reflected an equal degree of lustre upon the University itself.

"The many learned labours which have since that time employed the attention and displayed the abilities of that great man, so much to the advancement of literature and the benefit of the community, render him worthy of more distinguished honours in the republic of letters; and I persuade myself that I shall act agreeably to the sentiments of the whole University, in desiring that it may be proposed in convocation to confer on him the degree of Doctor in Civil Law by diploma, to which I readily give my consent; and am, Mr. ViceChancellor and Gentlemen, your affectionate friend and servant, "NORTH."1

"DIPLOMA.

"Cancellarius, magistri, et scholares Universitatis Oxoniensis omnibus ad quos presentes literæ pervenerint, salutem in Domino sempiternam.

"Sciatis, virum illustrem, Samuelem Johnson, in orani humaniorum literarum genere eruditum, omniumque scientiarum comprehensione felicissimum, scriptis suis, ad popularium mores formandos summá verborum elegantiâ ac sententiarum gravitate compositis, ita olim inclaruisse, ut dignus videretur cui ab academiâ suâ eximia quædam laudis præmia deferentur, quique venerabilem Magistrorum ordinem summâ

cum dignitate co-optaretur :

“Cùm verò eundem clarissimum virum tot posted tantique labores, in patriâ præsertim linguâ ornandâ et stabiliendâ feliciter impensi, ita insigniverint, ut in literarum republicâ princeps jam et primarius jure habeatur; nos, cancellarius, magistri, et scholares Universitatis Oxoniensis, quò talis viri merita pari honoris remuneratione exæquentur, et perpetuum suæ

1 Extracted from the Convocation Register, Oxford. BosWELL.

The original is in my possession. He showed me the iploma, and allowed me to read it, but would not consent to y taking a copy of it, fearing perhaps that I should blaze it abroad in his lifetime. His objection to this appears from e letter to Mrs. Thrale, in which he scolds her for the grossness of her flattery of him. It is remarkable that he ver, so far as I know, assumed his title of Doctor, but alled himself Mr. Johnson, as appears from many of his ands or notes to myself, and I have seen many from him to ther persons, in which he uniformly takes that designation. Inace observed on his table a letter directed to him with the tition of Esquire, and objected to it as being a designation ferior to that of doctor; but he checked me, and seemed cased with it, because, as I conjectured, he liked to be ometimes taken out of the class of literary men, and to be erely genteel-un gentilhomme comme un autre.-BosWELL. ne antè p. 168. n. 5., as to the use of the Doctoral title; t I suspect that another reason why Johnson was a little curved about this Oxford degree was, that he did not much lish the appearance of owing literary distinction to Lord

side, Oxonienses nomen meum posteris commendârunt, "Multis non est opus, ut testimonium quo, te præquali animo acceperim compertum faciam. Nemo sibi placens non lætatur; nemo sibi non placet, qui vobis, literarum arbitris, placere potuit. Hoc tamen habet incommodi tantum beneficium, quod mihi nunquam posthac sine vestræ famæ detrimento vel labi liceat vel cessare; semperque sit timendum ne quod mihi tam eximia laudi est, vobis aliquando fiat opprobrio. Vale. 7. Id. Apr. 1775."

He revised some sheets of Lord Hailes's "Annals of Scotland," and wrote a few notes on the margin with red ink, which he bade me tell his lordship did not sink into the paper, and might be wiped off with a wet sponge, so that it did not spoil his manuscript. I observed to him that there were very few of his friends so accurate as that I could venture to put down in writing what they told me as his sayings. JOHNSON. "Why should you write down my sayings?" BoswELL. "I write them when they are good." JOHNSON. "Nay, you may as well write down the sayings of any one else that are good." But where, I might with great propriety have added, can I find such?

I visited him by appointment in the evening, and we drank tea with Mrs. Williams. He told me that he had been in the company of a gentleman whose extraordinary travels had been much the subject of conversation. But I found he had not listened to him with that

3

North, with whom he was personally dissatisfied; and because the degree, at that particular moment, might look like a reward for his political pamphlets.

The following is an extract from the letter to Mrs. Thrale, which Boswell alludes to :

"The other Oxford news is, that they have sent me a degree of Doctor of Laws, with such praises in the diploma as, perhaps, ought to make me ashamed; they are very like your praises. I wonder whether I shall ever show them to you.' He adds, "To-day [Saturday, 1st April] I dine with Hamilton; to-morrow with Hoole; on Monday with Paradise on Tuesday with master and mistress; on Wednesday with Dilly; but come back to the tower."- Letters.

The tower, says Mrs. Piozzi, was a separate room at Streatham, where Dr. Johnson slept. He was afterwards promoted to a large bow-windowed bed-room in front of the house, in which, under the name of "Dr. Johnson's room," I slept many years after, and was pleased to find that his writing table was carefully preserved, and that even the blots of his ink had not been cleaned away. - CROKER.

3 Bruce, the Abyssinian traveller, with whom he had dined that day at Mr. Gerard Hamilton's.- CROKER.

full confidence, without which there is little satisfaction in the society of travellers. I was curious to hear what opinion so able a judge as Johnson had formed of his abilities, and I asked if he was not a man of sense. JOHNSON. Why, Sir, he is not a distinct relater; and I should say, he is neither abounding nor deficient in sense. I did not perceive any superiority of understanding." Boswell. "But will you not allow him a nobleness of resolution, in penetrating into distant regions? JOHNSON."That, Sir, is not to the present purpose; we are talking of sense. A fighting cock has a nobleness of resolution."

Next day, Sunday, 2d April, I dined with him at Mr. Hoole's. We talked of Pope. JOHNSON. "He wrote his 'Dunciad' for fame. That was his primary motive. Had it not been for that, the dunces might have railed against him till they were weary, without his troubling himself about them. He delighted to vex them, no doubt; but he had more delight in seeing how well he could vex them."

The "Odes to Obscurity and Oblivion," in ridicule of "cool Mason and warm Gray," being mentioned, Johnson said, "They are Colman's best things." Upon its being observed that it was believed these Odes were made by Colman and Lloyd jointly;-JOHNSON. "Nay, Sir, how can two people make an ode? Perhaps one made one of them, and one the other." I observed that two people had made a play, and quoted the anecdote of Beaumont and Fletcher, who were brought under suspicion of treason, because while concerting the plan of a tragedy when sitting together at a tavern, one of them was overheard saying to the other, "I'll kill the king." JOHNSON. "The first of these Odes is the best; but they are both good. They exposed a very bad kind of writing." BOSWELL. "Surely, Sir, Mr. Mason's 'Elfrida' is a fine poem: at least you will allow there are some good passages in it." JOHNSON. "There are now and then some good imitations of Milton's bad manner." 2

I often wondered at his low estimation of the writings of Gray and Mason. Of Gray's poetry I have, in a former part of this work, expressed my high opinion; and for that of

1 Gray's Odes are still on every table and in every mouth, and there are not, I believe, a dozen libraries in England which could produce these "best things," written by two professed wits in ridicule of them.-CROKER.

2 Mrs. Piozzi says, that Johnson used to turn Caractacus into ridicule, but called Elfrida "exquisitely pretty." I believe but the first half of this report. — CROKER.

3 Mrs. Macaulay (see ante, p. 78. n. 3.), to whom there is a very slight allusion in Taxation no Tyranny, as “a female patriot." - CROKER. In Wilkes's letters to his daughter there are many particulars of and allusions to this eccentric woman. MARKLAND.

4 The following extract, from one of Horace Walpole's letters, will explain the proceedings and personages of this farce:" You must know, that near Bath is erected a new Parnassus, composed of three laurels, a myrtle tree, a weeping willow, and a view of the Avon, which has been now christened Helicon. Ten years ago there lived a Madam [Riggs], an old rough humourist, who passed for a wit; her daughter, who passed for nothing, married to a Captain [Miller], full of good-natured othciousness. These good folks were friends of Miss Rich [daughter of Sir Robert

Mr. Mason I have ever entertained a warm admiration. His "Elfrida" is exquisite, both in poetical description and moral sentiment; and his "Caractacus" is a noble drama. Nor can I omit paying my tribute of praise to some of his smaller poems, which I have read with pleasure, and which no criticism shall persuade me not to like. If I wondered at Johnson's not tasting the works of Mason and Gray, still more have I wondered at their not tasting of his works that they should be insensible to his energy of diction, to his splendour of images, and comprehension of thought. Tastes may differ as to the violin, the flute, the hautboy; in short all the lesser instruments; but who can be insensible to the powerful impressions of the majestic organ?

His "Taxation no Tyranny" being mentioned, he said, "I think I have not been attacked enough for it. Attack is the re-action; I never think I have hit hard, unless it rebounds." BOSWELL. "I don't know, Sir, what you would be at. Five or six shots of small arms in every newspaper, and repeated cannonading in pamphlets, might, I think. satisfy you. But, Sir, you'll never make out this match, of which we have talked, with a certain political lady 3, since you are so severe against her principles." JOHNSON. "Nay, Sir, I have the better chance for that. St is like the Amazons of old; she must be courted by the sword. But I have not beer severe upon her." BOSWELL. "Yes, Sir, you have made her ridiculous." JOHNSON. That was already done, Sir. To endeavour to mak her ridiculous, is like blacking the chimney."

I put him in mind that the landlord Ellon in Scotland said, that he heard he wa the greatest man in England, next to Ler Mansfield. "Ay, Sir," said he, "the exceptier defined the idea. A Scotchman could go be farther:

The force of Nature could no farther go.**

Lady Miller's collection of verses by fashir able people, which were put into her Vase al Bath-Easton villa+, near Bath, in competitor for honorary prizes, being mentioned, he be them very cheap; "Bouts-rimés," said be, “is

Rich, and sister to the second Lady Lyttelton), who can al me to dine with them at Bath-Easton Low Pindus Tor caught a little of what was then called taste. Let planted, and begot children, till the whole caravan *** forced to go abroad to retrieve. Alas! Mrs Mu turned a beauty, a genius, a Sappho, a tenth me as " mantic as Mademoiselle Scuderi, and as sophisteel an Mrs. V[esey]. The captain's figers are i cameos, his tongue runs over with erti; and that bas may contribute to the improvement of their own countr they have introduced bouts rimés as a new discovery hold a Parnassus-fair every Thursday, give us thimi and themes, and all the flux of quality at Bath cetɗnt ** the prizes. A Roman vase, dressed with pirk ribar a ale myrtles, receives the poetry, which is dagwat ge festival: six judges of these Olympic games retire und sehr, the brightest composition, which the respective #activat acknowledge, kneel to Mrs. Calliope [Miller ̧, kosa bey 'n hand, and are crowned by it with myrtle, with – 1 &# know what. You may think this a betion, at exaggerica Be dumb, unbelievers! The collection is printed, petitalen -yes, on my faith: there are bouts-rimés on a batatu

a mere conceit, and an old conceit now; I wonder how people were persuaded to write in that manner for this lady." I named a gentleman' of his acquaintance who wrote for the Vase. JOHNSON. "He was a blockhead for his pains." BoSWELL. "The Duchess of Northumberland wrote." 12 JOHNSON. "Sir, the Duchess of Northumberland may do what she pleases: nobody will say any thing to a lady of her high rank. But I should be apt to throw ******'s verses in his face."

I talked of the cheerfulness of Fleet Street, owing to the constant quick succession of people which we perceive passing through it. JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, Fleet Street has a very animated appearance; but I think the full tide of human existence is at Charing Cross." He made the common remark on the unhappiness which men who have led a busy life experience, when they retire in expectation of enjoying themselves at ease, and that they generally languish for want of their habitual occupation, and wish to return to it. He mentioned as strong an instance of this as can well be imagined. "An eminent tallowchandler in London, who had acquired a considerable fortune, gave up the trade in favour of his foreman, and went to live at a country-house near town. He soon grew weary, and paid frequent visits to his old shop, where he desired they might let him know their meltingdays, and he would come and assist them; which he accordingly did. Here, Sir, was a man to whom the most disgusting circumstances in the business to which he had been used was a relief from idleness."

muffin, by her Grace the Duchess of Northumberland; reripts to make them by Corydon the venerable, alias others very pretty by Lord Palmerston]; some by Lord Carmarthen]; many by Mrs. [Miller] herself, that have no fault but wanting metre; and immortality promised to her without end or measure. In short, since folly, which never ripens to madness but in this hot climate, ran distracted, there never was any thing so entertaining, or so dull-for you cannot read so long as I have been telling."- Works, vol. v. p. 185. Lady Miller died in 1781, æt. 41.-CROKER. Probably the Kev. Richard Graves, who was for some years tutor in the house of Johnson's friend, Mr. Fitzherbert, and who contributed to the Bath-Easton Vase. He was Rector of Claverton, near Bath, where he died in 1804. CROKER.

Messieurs Dilly's, with Mr. John Scott of Amwell, the Quaker, Mr. Langton, Mr. Miller (now Sir John), and Dr. Thomas Campbell*, an Irish clergyman, whom I took the liberty of inviting to Mr. Dilly's table, having seen him at Mr. Thrale's, and been told that he had come to England chiefly with a view to see Dr. Johnson, for whom he entertained the highest veneration. He has since published "A Philosophical Survey of the South of Ireland," a very entertaining book, which has, however, one fault- - that it assumes the fictitious character of an Englishman. We talked of public speaking. JOHNSON. "We must not estimate a man's powers by his being able or not able to deliver his sentiments in public. Isaac Hawkins Browne, one of the first wits of this country, got into parliament, and never opened his mouth. For my own part, I think it is more disgraceful never to try to speak, than to try it and fail; as it is more disgraceful not to fight, than to fight and be beaten." This argument appeared to me fallacious; for if a man has not spoken, it may be said that he would have done very well if he had tried; whereas, if he has tried and failed, there is nothing to be said for him. "Why, then," I asked, "is it thought disgraceful for a man not to fight, and not disgraceful not to speak in public? JOHNSON. "Because there may be other reasons for a man's not speaking in public than want of resolution: he may have nothing to say (laughing). Whereas, Sir, you know courage is reckoned the greatest of all virtues; because, unless a man has that virtue, he has no security for preserving any other."

He observed, that "the statutes against bribery were intended to prevent upstarts with money from getting into parliament:" adding, that if he were a gentleman of landed property, he would turn out all his tenants who did not vote for the candidate whom he supported." LANGTON. "Would not that, Sir, be checking the freedom of election?" JOHNSON. "Sir, the law does not mean that the privilege of voting should be independent of old family interest, of the permanent property of the country."

On Thursday, 6th April, I dined with him at Mr. Thomas Davies's, with Mr. Hickey 5, the painter, and my old acquaintance Mr. Moody, the player.

Dr. Johnson, as usual, spoke contemptuously of Colley Cibber. "It is wonderful that a

66

man, who for forty years had lived with the great and the witty, should have acquired so ill the talents of conversation: and he had but half to furnish; for one half of what he said was oaths." He, however, allowed considerable merit to some of his comedies, and said there was no reason to believe that the Careless Husband" was not written by himself. Davies said, he was the first dramatic writer who introduced genteel ladies upon the stage. Johnson refuted his observation by instancing several such characters in comedies before his time. DAVIES (trying to defend himself from a charge of ignorance). "I mean genteel moral characters." "I think," said Hickey, "gentility and morality are inseparable." BOSWELL. "By no means, Sir. The genteelest characters are often the most immoral. Does not Lord Chesterfield give precepts for uniting wickedness and the graces? A man, indeed, is not genteel when he gets drunk; but most vices may be committed very genteelly: a man may debauch his friend's wife genteelly: he may cheat at cards genteelly." HICKEY. "I do not think that is genteel." BOSWELL. "Sir, it may not be like a gentleman, but it may be genteel." JOHNSON. "You are meaning two different things. One means exterior grace; the other honour. It is certain that a man may be very immoral with exterior grace. Lovelace, in 'Clarissa,' is a very genteel and a very wicked character. Tom Hervey, who died t'other day, though a vicious man, was one of the genteelest men that ever lived." Tom Davies instanced Charles the Second. JOHNSON (taking fire at an attack upon that Prince, for whom he had an extraordinary partiality). "Charles the Second was licentious in his practice; but he always had a reverence for what was good. Charles the Second knew his people, and rewarded merit. The church was at no time better filled than in his reign. He was the best king we have had from his time till the reign of our present Majesty, except James the Second, who was a very good king, but unhappily believed that it was necessary

1 See antè, p. 183. n. 4. C.

2 All this seems so contrary to historical truth and common sense, that I cannot account for it. We are not now likely to discover how Johnson should have continued to 1775 so ardent a Jacobite.- CROKER.

3 He was always," says Mrs. Piozzi, "vehement against King William. A gentleman who dined at a nobleman's table in his company and that of Mr. Thrale, to whom I was obliged for the anecdote, was willing to enter the lists in defence of King William's character, and, having opposed and contradicted Johnson two or three times petulantly enough, the master of the house began to feel uneasy, and expect disagreeable consequences; to avoid which he said, loud enough for the Doctor to hear, "Our friend here has no meaning now in all this, except just to relate at club tomorrow how he teased Johnson at dinner to-day- this is all to do himself honour." "No, upon my word," replied the other," I see no honour in it, whatever you may do." "Well, Sir," returned Dr. Johnson sternly, "if you do not see the honour, I am sure I feel the disgrace."- Anecdotes.- CROKER,

4 George the Second. The story of the will is told by Horace Walpole, in his amusing (but often inaccurate) Reminiscences: "At the first council held by the new Sovereign, Dr. Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury, produced the will of the late king, and delivered it to the successor, expecting it would be opened and read in council. On the

for the salvation of his subjects that they should be Roman Catholics. He had the merit of endeavouring to do what he thought was for the | salvation of the souls of his subjects, till he lost a great empire. We, who thought that we should not be saved if we were Roman Catholics, had the merit of maintaining our religion, at the expense of submitting ourselves to the government of King William, (for it could not be done otherwise) to the government of one of the most worthless scoundrels that ever existed. No, Charles the Second was not such a man as 4 (naming another king). He did not destroy his father's will. He took money, indeed, from France: but he did not betray those over whom he ruled: he did not let the French fleet pass ours. George the First knew nothing, and desired to know nothing; did nothing, and desired to do nothing; and the only good thing that is told of him is, that he wished to restore the crown to its hereditary successor." He roared with prodigious violence against George the Second. When he ceased, Moody interjected, in an Irish tone, and with a comic look, "Ah! poor George the Second."

I mentioned that Dr. Thomas Campbell had come from Ireland to London, principally to see Dr. Johnson. He seemed angry at this observation. DAVIES. "Why, you know, Sir, there came a man from Spain to see Livy'; and Corelli came to England to see Purcell, and when he heard he was dead, went directly back again to Italy." JOHNSON. "I should not have wished to be dead to disappoint Campbell, had he been so foolish as you repre sent him; but I should have wished to have been a hundred miles off." This was apparently perverse; and I do believe it was not his real way of thinking: he could not but like a man who came so far to see him. He laughed with some complacency, when I told him Campbell's odd expression to me concerning him: "That having seen such a man, was a thing to talk of a century hence," — as if he could live so long."

My

7 Mrs. Thrale gives, in her lively style, a sketch of da gentleman: "We have a flashy friend here [at Bath) airead who is much your adorer. I wonder how you will fike a= ? An Irishman he is; very handsome, very hot-heated, izat and lively, and sure to be a favourite with you, he teča us. for" he can live with a man of ever so odd a temper. master laughs, but likes him, and it diverts me to think what you will do when he professes that he would clean, shoes for you; that he would shed his blood for you; with twenty more extravagant flights; and you say / Batter! Upon my honour, Sir, and indeed now, as Dr. Campbell's phrase in am but a twitter to him."- Letters, May 16, 1776-Ch.22 It is of no importance- but I cannot reconcile Mrs Tarala talking, in May 1776, of Dr. Campbell as wholly unknown to Johnson, with Boswell's statement that they bad dinet together at her own and at Mr. Dilly's table the parenting year. CROKER, 1846.

We got into an argument whether the judges who went to India might with propriety engage in trade. Johnson warmly maintained that they might; "For why," he urged, "should not judges get riches, as well as those who deserve them less?" I said, they should have sufficient salaries, and have nothing to take off their attention from the affairs of the public. JOHNSON. "No judge, Sir, can give his whole attention to his office; and it is very proper that he should employ what time he has to himself to his own advantage, in the most profitable manner." "Then, Sir," said Davies, who enlivened the dispute by making it somewhat dramatic," he may become an insurer; and when he is going to the bench, he may be stopped, -Your Lordship cannot go yet; here is a bunch of invoices; several ships are about to sail.' JOHNSON. "Sir, you may as well say a judge should not have a house; for they may come and tell him, 'Your Lordship's house is on fire; and so, instead of minding the business of his court, he is to be occupied in getting the engines with the greatest speed. There is no end of this. Every judge who has land trades to a certain extent in corn or in cattle, and in the land itself; undoubtedly his steward acts for him, and so do clerks for a great merchant. A judge may be a farmer, but he is not to feed his own pigs. A judge may play a little at cards for his amusement; but he is not to play at marbles, or chuck farthings in the Piazza. No, Sir, there is no profession to which a man gives a very great proportion of his time. It is wonderful, when a calculation is made, how little the mind is actually employed in the discharge of any profession. No man would be a judge, upon the condition of being totally a judge. The best employed lawyer has his mind at work but for a small proportion of his time; a great deal of his occupation is merely mechanical. I once wrote for a magazine: I made a calculation, that if I should write but a page a day, at the same rate, I should, in ten years, write nine volumes in folio, of an ordinary size and print." BOSWELL. "Such as Carte's History? JOHNSON. "Yes, Sir; when a man writes from his own mind, he writes very rapidly. The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in

reading, in order to write; a man will turn over half a library, to make one book.

I argued warmly against the judges trading, and mentioned Hale as an instance of a perfect judge, who devoted himself entirely to his office. JOHNSON. "Hale, Sir, attended to other things besides law; he left a great estate." BosWELL. "That was because what he got accumulated without any exertion and anxiety on his part."

While the dispute went on, Moody once tried to say something on our side. Tom Davies clapped him on the back, to encourage him. Beauclerk, to whom I mentioned this circumstance, said, "that he could not conceive a more humiliating situation than to be clapped on the back by Tom Davies."

We spoke of Rolt, to whose 'Dictionary of Commerce' Dr. Johnson wrote the preface. JOHNSON. "Old Gardener, the bookseller, employed Rolt and Smart to write a monthly miscellany, called The Universal Visitor. There was a formal written contract, which Allen the printer saw. Gardener thought as you do of the judge. They were bound to write nothing else; they were to have, I think, a third of the profits of his sixpenny pamphlet; and the contract was for ninety-nine years. I wish I had thought of giving this to Thurlow, in the cause about literary property. What an excellent instance would it have been of the oppression of booksellers towards poor authors!" smiling.3 Davies, zealous for the honour of the trade, said Gardener was not properly a bookseller. JOHNSON. "Nay, Sir; he certainly was a bookseller. He had served his time regularly, was a member of the Stationers' Company, kept a shop in the face of mankind, purchased copyright, and was a bibliopole, Sir, in every sense. I wrote for some months in The Universal Visitor for poor Smart, while he was mad, not then knowing the terms on which he was engaged to write, and thinking I was doing him good. I hoped his wits would soon return to him. Mine returned to me, and I wrote in 'The Universal Visitor' no longer."

Friday, 7th April, I dined with him at a tavern, with a numerous company. JOHNSON. "I have been reading 'Twiss's Travels in

Yet see antè, p. 299., how he censured a judge because he wore a round hat in the country, and farmed his own demesne.CROKER, 1846.

2 Johnson certainly did, who had a mind stored with knowledge, and teeming with imagery; but the observation is not applicable to writers in general. BoSWELL.

There has probably been some mistake as to the terms of this supposed extraordinary contract, the recital of which from hearsay afforded Johnson so much play for his sportive aruteness. Or if it was worded as he supposed, it is so strange that I should conclude it was a joke. Mr. Gardener, I am assured, was a worthy and liberal man. - BOSWELL.

At the Club, where, as Mr. Hatchett, from the records of the club, informed me, there were present Mr. Charles Fox (president), Sir J. Reynolds, Drs. Johnson and Percy, Messrs. Beauclerk. Boswell, Chamier, Gibbon, Langton, and Steevens. It may be observed how very rarely Boswell records the conversation at the Club. One motive of this silence, probably, was, that most of the members were still

living when he published, and might not have approved such a breach of social confidence; and except in one instance (post, April 3. 1778) he confines his report to what Johnson or himself may have said: he is also careful to avoid any thing that could give offence, except, I think, to Mr. Gibbon, whom on one or two occasions he seems to treat with less reserve than the others. Whether there was any reason for this beyond Boswell's dislike of Gibbon's scepticism, I know not. But in fact Boswell and Johnson met very rarely at the Club. Boswell's visits to London were not more than biennial and for short periods, and even then he was not a regular attendant at the Club, nor indeed was Johnson after Boswell's admission; and it appears by the records which Mr. Milman has been so good as to re-examine at my request, that they never met there above seven or eight times in their whole lives. The Club had the honour of Johnson's name, but, after the first few years, very little of his company. CROKER, 1846.