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of opinion: "but he's the best traveller I ever read; he observes more things than any one

else does."

I could not help thinking that this was too high praise of a writer who traversed a wide extent of country in such haste, that he could put together only curt frittered fragments of his own, and afterwards procured supplemental intelligence from parochial ministers, and others not the best qualified or most partial narrators, whose ungenerous prejudice against the house of Stuart glares in misrepresentation; a writer, who at best treats merely of superficial objects, and shows no philosophical investigation of character and manners, such as Johnson has exhibited in his masterly "Journey" over part of the same ground; and who, it should seem from a desire of ingratiating himself with the Scotch, has flattered the people of North Britain so inordinately and with so little discrimination, that the judicious and candid amongst them must be disgusted, while they value more the plain, just, yet kindly report of Johnson.

gay.

We had a calm after the storm, staid the evening and supped, and were pleasant and But Dr. Percy told me he was very uneasy at what had passed, for there was a gentleman there who was acquainted with the Northumberland family, to whom he hoped to have appeared more respectable, by showing how intimate he was with Dr. Johnson, and who might now, on the contrary, go away with an opinion to his disadvantage. He begged I would mention this to Dr. Johnson, which I afterwards did. His observation upon it was, "This comes of stratagem; had he told me that he wished to appear to advantage before that gentleman, he should have been at the top of the house all the time." He spoke of Dr. Percy in the handsomest manner. “Then, Sir," said I, "may I be allowed to suggest a mode by which you may effectually counteract any unfavourable report of what passed? I will write a letter to you upon the subject of the unlucky contest of that day, and you will be kind enough to put in writing, as an answer to that letter, what you have now said, and as Lord Percy is to dine with us at General Paoli's soon, I will take an opportunity to read the correspondence in his lordship's presence." This friendly scheme was accordingly carried into execution without Dr. Percy's knowledge. Johnson's letter placed Dr. Percy's unquestionable merit in the fairest point of view; and I contrived that Lord Percy should hear the correspondence, by introducing it at General Paoli's as an instance of Dr. Johnson's kind disposition towards one in whom his lordship was interested. Thus every unfavourable impression was obviated that could possibly have been made on those by whom he wished most to be regarded. I breakfasted the day after with him, and informed him of my scheme, and its happy completion, for which he thanked me in the warmest terms, and was highly delighted with Dr. Johnson's letter in his praise, of which I gave him a copy. He said, "I would rather have this than degrees from all the universities in Europe. It will be for me, and my children, and grandchildren." Dr. Johnson having afterwards asked me if I had given him a copy of it, and being told I had, was offended, and insisted that I should get it back, which I did. As, however, he did not Con amore he also said of me, The dog is a Whig.' desire me to destroy either the original or the I admired the virtues of Lord Russell, and pitied copy, or forbid me to let it be seen, I think his fall. I should have been a Whig at the Revo-myself at liberty to apply to it his general lution. There have been periods since in which I should have been, what I now am, a moderate Tory, a supporter, as far as my little influence extends, of a well-poised balance between the crown and the people; but should the scale preponderate against the salus populi, that moment may it be said, The dog's a Whig!'"

Having impartially censured Mr. Pennant, as a traveller in Scotland, let me allow him, from authorities much better than mine, his deserved praise as an able zoologist; and let me also, from my own understanding and feelings, acknowledge the merit of his "London," which, though said to be not quite accurate in some particulars, is one of the most pleasing topographical performances that ever appeared in any language. Mr. Pennant, like his countrymen in general, has the true spirit of a gentleman. As a proof of it, I shall quote from his "London" the passage in which he speaks of my illustrious friend."

"I must by no means omit Bolt Court, the long residence of Dr. Samuel Johnson, a man of the strongest natural abilities, great learning, a most retentive memory, of the deepest and most unaffected piety and morality, mingled with those numerous weaknesses and prejudices, which his friends have kindly taken care to draw from their dread abode.' I brought on myself his transient anger, by observing that in his tour in Scotland, he once had long and woful experience of oats being the food of men in Scotland, as they were of horses in England. It was a national reflection unworthy of him, and I

shot my bolt. In turn he gave me a tender hug.

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This is the common cant against faithful biography. Does the worthy gentleman mean that I, who was taught discrimination of character by Johnson, should have omitted his frailties, and, in short, have bedaubed him, as the worthy gentleman has bedaubed Scotland? - BOSWELL.

declaration to me concerning his own letters,

That he did not choose they should be published in his life-time; but had no objection to their appearing after his death." I shall therefore insert this kindly correspondence, having faithfully narrated the circumstances accompanying it.

See Dr. Johnsons's " Journey to the Western Islands," p. 296. see his Dictionary, article Oats; and my " Voyage to the Hebrides," first edition. PENNANT.

3 See Mr. Boswell's Journal [antè, p. 314.]. - PENNANT.

BOSWELL TO JOHNSON.

-

parison. Lord Hailes is somewhat like him: but Lord Hailes does not, perhaps, go beyond him in research; and I do not know that he equals him in elegance. Percy's attention to poetry has given grace and splendour to his studies of antiquity. A mere antiquarian is a rugged being.

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Upon the whole, you see that what I might say in sport or petulance to him, is very consistent with full conviction of his merit. I am, dear Sir, your most, &c., SAM. JOHNSON."

"MY DEAR SIR, I beg leave to address you in behalf of our friend Dr. Percy, who was much hurt by what you said to him that day we dined at his house (Sunday, April 12.); when, in the course of the dispute as to Pennant's merit as a traveller, you told Percy that he had the resentment of a narrow mind against Pennant, because he did not find every thing in Northumberland.' Percy is sensible that you did not mean to injure him; but he is vexed to think that your behaviour to him on that occasion may be interpreted as a proof that he is despised by you, which I know is not the case. I "South Audley Street, April 25. have told him, that the charge of being narrow- DEAR SIR, I wrote to Dr. Johnson on the subminded was only as to the particular point in ques-ject of the Pennantian controversy; and have retion; and that he had the merit of being a martyr to his noble family.

"Earl Percy is to dine with General Paoli next Friday; and I should be sincerely glad to have it in my power to satisfy his lordship how well you think of Dr. Percy, who, I find, apprehends that your good opinion of him may be of very essential consequence; and who assures me that he has the highest respect and the warmest affection for you.

"I have only to add, that my suggesting this occasion for the exercise of your candour and generosity is altogether unknown to Dr. Percy, and proceeds from my good-will towards him, and my persuasion that you will be happy to do him an essential kindness. I am, more and more, my dear Sir, your most faithful and affectionate humble JAMES BOSWELL."

servant,

JOHNSON TO BOSWELL.

"April 23. 1778. "SIR,The debate between Dr. Percy and me is one of those foolish controversies which begin upon a question of which neither party cares how it is decided, and which is, nevertheless, continued to acrimony, by the vanity with which every man resists confutation. Dr. Percy's warmth proceeded from a cause which, perhaps, does him more honour than he could have derived from juster criticism. His abhorrence of Pennant proceeded from his opinion that Pennant had wantonly and indecently censured his patron. His anger made him resolve, that, for having been once wrong, he never should be right. Pennant has much in his notions that I do not like; but still I think him a very intelligent traveller. If Percy is really offended, I am sorry; for he is a man whom I never knew to offend any one. He is a man very willing to learn, and very able to teach; a man, out of whose company I never go without having learned something. afraid it is by making me feel my own ignorance. So much extension of mind, and so much minute accuracy of inquiry, if you survey your whole circle of acquaintance, you will find so scarce, if you find it at all, that you will value Percy by com

It is sure that he vexes me sometimes, but I am

1 Though the Bishop of Dromore kindly answered the letters which I wrote to him, relative to Dr. Johnson's early history; yet, in justice to him, I think it proper to add, that the account of the foregoing conversation, and the subse quent transaction, as well as of some other conversations in which he is mentioned, has been given to the public without previous communication with his lordship. -BOSWELL

Boswell manages with more art than candour to give his reserve towards Percy the turn of a compliment: he knew very well that the Bishop would have naturally and justly

BOSWELL TO DR. PERCY.

ceived from him an answer which will delight you. I read it yesterday to Dr. Robertson, at the Exhibition; and at dinner to Lord Percy, General Oglethorpe, &c., who dined with us at General Paoli's; who was also a witness to the high testimony to your honour.

"General Paoli desires the favour of your company next Tuesday to dinner, to meet Dr. Johnson. If I can, I will call on you to-day. I am, with sincere regard, your most obedient humble servant, "JAMES Boswell."

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ON Monday, April 13., I dined with Johnson at Mr. Langton's, where were Dr. Porteus, then Bishop of Chester, afterwards of London, and Dr. Stinton. 2 He was at first in a very but "Pretty baby," to one of the children. silent mood. Before dinner he said nothing Langton said very well to me afterwards, that he could repeat Dr. Johnson's conversation before dinner, as Johnson had said that he could repeat a complete chapter of "The Natural History of Iceland," from the Danish

objected to the revival and promulgation of this disagreeable affair, and therefore Boswell never consulted him. Several anecdotes, related by Mr. Cradock, show that the amicable relations which had subsisted between Johnson and Percy were more seriously changed than Boswell is willing to confess.-Cradock's Memoirs, p. 241. CROKER.

2 Dr. Stinton had been Dr. Porteus's fellow chaplain to Archbishop Secker, and was his colleague in the publication of their patron's works. CROKER,

of Horrebow, the whole of which was exactly with others: but a man must write a great thus:

"Chap. LXXII. — Concerning Snakes. "There are no snakes to be met with throughout the whole island."

At dinner we talked of another mode in the newspapers of giving modern characters in sentences from the classics, and of the passage

"Parcus deorum cultor et infrequens,
Insanientis dum sapientiæ

Consultus erro, nunc retrorsùm
Vela dare, atque iterare cursus
Cogor relictos," "

being well applied to Soame Jenyns; who, after having wandered in the wilds of infidelity, had returned to the Christian faith. Mr. Langton asked Johnson as to the propriety of sapientiæ consultus. JOHNSON. "Though consultus was primarily an adjective, like amicus it, came to be used as a substantive. So we have juris consultus, a consult in law."

We talked of the styles of different painters, and how certainly a connoisseur could distinguish them. I asked if there was as clear a difference of styles in language as in painting, or even as in handwriting, so that the composition of every individual may be distinguished? JOHNSON. "Yes. Those who have a style of eminent excellence, such as Dryden and Milton, can always be distinguished." I had no doubt of this; but what I wanted to know was, whether there was really a peculiar style to every man whatever, as there is certainly a peculiar handwriting, a peculiar countenance, not widely different in many, yet always enough

to be distinctive:

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2

"A fugitive from heaven and prayer,

I mock'd at all religious fear,

Deep scienc'd in the mazy lore

Of mad philosophy; but now

Hoist sail, and back my voyage plow

To that blest harbour which I left before."
Horace, Od. i. 39.-Francis.-C.

Not the same countenance in all,
Yet not unlike. Ovid, Met. ii. 13.-C.

3 Miss Reynolds and Sir J. Hawkins doubted whether Johnson had ever been in Dodd's company; but Johnson told Boswell (antè, p. 541.) that he had once been." I have now before me a letter, dated in 1750, from Dr. Dodd to his friend the Rev. Mr. Parkhurst, the lexicographer, mentioning this meeting; and his account, at that day, of the man with whom he was afterward to have so painful a correspondence, is interesting and curious:

"I spent yesterday afternoon with Johnson, the celebrated author of The Rambler, who is of all others the oddest and most peculiar fellow I ever saw. He is six feet high, has a

deal to make his style obviously discernible. As logicians say, this appropriation of style is infinite in potestate, limited in actu.”

Mr. Topham Beauclerk came in the evening, and he and Dr. Johnson and I staid to supper. It was mentioned that Dr. Dodds had once

wished to be a member of the LITERARY CLUB. Club were hanged. I will not say but some of JOHNSON. "I should be sorry if any of our them deserve it." BEAUCLERK (supposing this to be aimed at persons for whom he had at that time a wonderful fancy, which, however, did not last long) was irritated, and eagerly said, "You, Sir, have a friend 5 (naming him) who deserves to be hanged; for he speaks behind their backs against those with whom he lives on the best terms, and attacks them in the newspapers. He certainly ought to be kicked.” JOHNSON. "Sir, we all do this in some degree: "Veniam petimusque damusque vicissim.' To be sure it may be done so much, that a man may deserve to be kicked." BEAUCLERK. "He is very malignant." JOHNSON. "No, Sir, he is not malignant. He is mischievous, if you will. He would do no man an essential injury; he may, indeed, love to make sport of people by vexing their vanity. I, however, once knew an old gentleman who was absolutely malignant. He really wished evil to others, and rejoiced at it." BoSWELL. "The gentleman, Mr. Beauclerk, against whom you are so violent, is, I know, a man of good principles." BEAUCLERK. "Then he does not wear them out in practice."

Dr. Johnson, who, as I have observed before, delighted in discrimination of character, and having a masterly knowledge of human nature, was willing to take men as they are, imperfect, and with a mixture of good and bad qualities, I suppose thought he had said enough in defence of his friend, of whose merits, notwithstanding his exceptionable points, he had a just value: and added no more on the subject.

On Tuesday, April 14., I dined with him at General Oglethorpe's, with General Paoli and Mr. Langton. General Oglethorpe declaimed against luxury. JOHNSON. "Depend upon it, Sir, every state of society is as luxurious as it

violent convulsion in his head, and his eyes are distorted. He speaks roughly and loud, listens to no man's opinions, thoroughly pertinacious of his own. Good sense flows from him in all he utters, and he seems possessed of a prodigious fund of knowledge, which he is not at all reserved in communicating, but in a manner so obstinate, ungenteel, and boorish, as renders it disagreeable and dissatisfactory. In short, it is impossible for words to describe him. He seems often inattentive to what passes in company, and then looks like a person possessed by some superior spirit. I have been reflecting on him ever since I saw him. He is a man of most universal and surprising genius, but in himself particular beyond expression."- ČROKER.

4 Mr. Fox, Lord Spencer, Mr. Burke, and some other Whigs, the violence of whose opposition at this time seemed to Johnson little short of abetting rebellion, for which they "deserved to be hanged.". CROKER.

5 No doubt George Steevens (now Johnson's colleague in editing Shakespeare), to whom such practices were imputed. and particularly as against Garrick and Murphy, Miss Hawk. Mem. i. 39.- CROKER.

can be. Men always take the best they can get." OGLETHORPE. "But the best depends much upon ourselves; and if we can be as well satisfied with plain things, we are in the wrong to accustom our palates to what is high seasoned and expensive. What says Addison in his 'Cato,' speaking of the Numidian?

⚫ Coarse are his meals, the fortune of the chase;
Amid the running stream he slakes his thirst,
Toils all the day, and at the approach of night,
On the first friendly bank he throws him down,
Or rests his head upon a rock till morn;
And if the following day he chance to find
A new repast, or an untasted spring,
Blesses his stars, and thinks it luxury.'

Let us have that kind of luxury, Sir, if you will." JOHNSON. "But hold, Sir; to be merely satisfied is not enough. It is in refinement and elegance that the civilised man differs from the savage. A great part of our industry, and all our ingenuity, is exercised in procuring pleasure; and, Sir, a hungry man has not the same pleasure in eating a plain dinner, that a hungry man has in eating a luxurious dinner. You see I put the case fairly. A hungry man may have as much, nay, more pleasure in eating a plain dinner, than a man grown fastidious has in eating a luxurious dinner. But I suppose the man who decides between the two dinners to be equally a hungry man."

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Talking of the different governments, JOHNSON. "The more contracted power is, the more easily it is destroyed. A country governed by a despot is an inverted cone. Government there cannot be so firm as when it rests upon a broad basis gradually contracted, as the government of Great Britain, which is founded on the parliament, then is in the privy council, then in the king." BosWELL. "Power, when contracted into the person of a despot, may be easily destroyed, as the prince may be cut off. So Caligula wished that the people of Rome had but one neck, that he might cut them off at a blow." OGLETHORPE. "It was of the senate he wished that. The senate by its usurpation controlled both the emperor and the people. And don't you think that we see too much of that in our own parliament?

Dr. Johnson endeavoured to trace the etymology of Maccaronic verses, which he thought were of Italian invention, from Maccaroni; but on being informed that this would infer that they were the most common and easy verses, maccaroni being the most ordinary and simple food, he was at a loss; for he said, "He

1 Boswell was right, and Oglethorpe wrong; the excla. mation in Suetonius is, "Utinam populus Romanus unam cervicem haberet." Calig. XXX. —ĈROKER.

2 Dr. Johnson was right in supposing that this kind of poetry derived its name from maccherone. "Ars ista poetica (says Merlin Coccaie, whose true name was Theophilo Folengo) nuncupatur ars macaronica, a macaronibus derivata ; qui macarones sunt quoddam pulmentum, farina, caseo,

rather should have supposed it to import in its primitive signification, a composition of several things 2; for Maccaronic verses are verses made out of a mixture of different languages, that is, of one language with the termination of another." I suppose we scarcely know of a language in any country, where there is any learning, in which that motley ludicrous species of composition may not be found. It is particularly droll in Low Dutch. The "Polemomiddinia" of Drummond of Hawthornden, in which there is a jumble of many languages moulded, as if it were all in Latin, is well known. Mr. Langton made us laugh heartily at one in the Grecian mould, by Joshua Barnes, in which are to be found such comical Anglohellenisms as λvéboioi ebavxdev: they were banged with clubs.

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On Wednesday, April 15., I dined with Dr. Johnson at Mr. Dilly's, and was high in spirits, for I had been a good part of the morning with Mr. Orme, the able and eloquent historian of Hindostan, who expressed a great admiration of Johnson. "I do not care," said he, on what subject Johnson talks; but I love better to hear him talk than any body. He either gives you new thoughts, or a new colouring. It is a shame to the nation that he has not been more liberally rewarded. Had I been George the Third, and thought as he did about America, I would have given Johnson three hundred a year for his Taxation no Tyranny,' alone." I repeated this, and Johnson was much pleased with such praise from such a man as Örme.

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At Mr. Dilly's to-day were Mrs. Knowles, the ingenious quaker lady, Miss Seward, the poetess of Lichfield, the Reverend Dr. Mayo, and the Rev. Mr. Beresford, tutor to the Duke of Bedford. Before dinner Dr. Johnson seized upon Mr. Charles Sheridan's "Account of the late Revolution in Sweden," and seemed to read it ravenously, as if he devoured it, which was to all appearance his method of studying. "He knows how to read better than any one," says Mrs. Knowles; "he gets at the substance of a book directly; he tears out the heart of it." He kept it wrapt up in the tablecloth in his lap during the time of dinner, from an avidity to have one entertainment in readiness, when he should have finished another; resembling (if I may use so coarse a simile) a dog who holds a bone in his paws in reserve, while he eats something else which has been thrown to him.

The subject of cookery having been very naturally introduced at a table where Johnson, who boasted of the niceness of his palate,

butyro compaginatum, grossum, rude, et rusticanun. Ideo macaronica nil nisi grossedinem, ruditatem, et vocabulazzos debet in se continere.' Warton's Hist of Eng. Poet. ii. 357. Folengo's assumed name was taken up in consequence of his having been instructed in his youth by Virago Coccaio. He died in 1544. - MALONE

The elder brother of Mr. Richard Brinsley Sheridan. He died in 1806.- MALONE.

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owned that "he always found a good dinner," he said, "I could write a better book of cookery than has ever yet been written; it should be a book upon philosophical principles. Pharmacy is now made much more simple. Cookery may be made so too. A prescription which is now compounded of five ingredients, had formerly fifty in it. So in cookery, if the nature of the ingredients be well known, much fewer will do. Then, as you cannot make bad meat good, I would tell what is the best butcher's meat, the best beef, the best pieces; how to choose fowls; the young proper seasons of different vegetables; and then how to roast and boil and compound. DILLY. "Mrs. Glasse's 'Cookery,' which is the best, was written by Dr. Hill. Half the trade' know this." JOHNSON. "Well, Sir, this shows how much better the subject of cookery may be treated by a philosopher. I doubt if the book be written by Dr. Hill; for, in Mrs. Glasse's 'Cookery,' which I have looked into, saltpetre and salprunella are spoken of as different substances, whereas sal-prunella is only saltpetre burnt on charcoal; and Hill could not be ignorant of this. However, as the greatest part of such a book is made by transcription, this mistake may have been carelessly adopted. But you shall see what a book of cookery I shall make I shall agree with Mr. Dilly for the copyright." MISS SEWARD. "That would be Hercules with the distaff indeed." JOHNSON. "No, Madam. Women can spin very well; but they cannot make a good book of cookery."

·

JOHNSON. "O! Mr. Dilly-you must know that an English Benedictine monk at Paris has translated The Duke of Berwick's Memoirs,' from the original French, and has sent them to me to sell. I offered them to Strahan, who sent them back with this answer;-That the first book he had published was the Duke of Berwick's Life, by which he had lost: and he hated the name.' Now I honestly tell you that Strahan has refused them; but I also honestly tell you that he did it upon no principle, for he never looked into them." DILLY "Are they well translated, Sir?" JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, very well; in a style very current and clear. I have written to the Benedictine to give me an answer upon two points. What evidence is there that the letters are authentic? (for if they are not authentic, they are nothing.) And how long will it be before the original French is published? For if the French edition is not to appear for a considerable time, the translation will be almost as valuable as an original book. They will make two volumes in octavo; and I have undertaken to correct every sheet as it comes from the

As physicians are called the faculty, and counsellors at law the profession, the booksellers of London are denominated the trade. Johnson disapproved of these denominations. BoSWELL.

The Abbé Hook. They were published, in 1779, by Cadell. Mackintosh. The Memoires du Maréchal de Berwick" (written in the third person) had been published by the Abbé de Margon, in 1737: those mentioned in the

press." Mr. Dilly desired to see them, and said he would send for them. He asked Dr. Johnson if he would write a preface to them. JOHNSON. "No, Sir. The Benedictines were very kind to me, and I'll do what I undertook to do; but I will not mingle my name with them. I am to gain nothing by them. I'll turn them loose upon the world, and let them take their chance." DR. MAYO. " 'Pray, Sir, are Ganganelli's letters authentic?" JOHNSON. "No, Sir. Voltaire put the same question to the editor of them that I did to Macpherson - Where are the originals?" 3

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Mrs. Knowles affected to complain that men had much more liberty allowed them than women. JOHNSON. Why, Madam, women have all the liberty they should wish to have. We have all the labour and the danger, and the women all the advantage. We go to sea, we build houses, we do every thing, in short, to pay our court to the women." MRS. KNOWLES. "The Doctor reasons very wittily, but not very convincingly. Now, take the instance of building: the mason's wife, if she is ever seen in liquor, is ruined: the mason may get himself drunk as often as he pleases, with little loss of character; nay, may let his wife and children starve." JOHNSON." Madam, you must consider, if the mason does get himself drunk, and let his wife and children starve, the parish will oblige him to find security for their maintenance. We have different modes of restraining evil. Stocks for the men, a ducking-stool for women, and a pound for beasts. If we require more perfection from women than from ourselves, it is doing them honour. And women have not the same temptations that we have; they may always live in virtuous company; men must mix in the world indiscriminately. If a woman has no inclination to do what is wrong, being secured from it is no restraint to her. I am at liberty to walk into the Thames; but if I were to try it, my friends would restrain me in Bedlam, and I should be obliged to them." MRS. KNOWLES. "Still, Doctor, I cannot help thinking it a hardship that more indulgence is allowed to men than to women. It gives a superiority to men, to which I do not see how they are entitled." JOHNSON. "It is plain, Madam, one or other must have the superiority. As Shakspeare says, 'If two men ride on a horse, one must ride behind." DILLY. "I suppose, Sir, Mrs. Knowles would have them ride in panniers, one on each side JOHNSON. "Then, Sir, the horse would throw them both." MRS. KNOWLES. "Well, I hope that in another world the sexes will be equal." BosWELL. "That is being too ambitious,

text are written in the first person, as by Berwick himself, but were revised by the Abbe Hook, and published in Paris by Berwick's grandson, the Duc de Fitzjames, 1778-80. — CROKER, 1831-47.

3 These pretended letters of Pope Clement XIV , Ganga. nelli, were written and published by the Marquis Caracioli, first in French, in 1775, and afterwards in Italian, in 1777. CROKER, 1847.

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