in his life which he would wish to repeat, were an angel to make the proposal to him.

'He was of opinion that the English nation cultivated both their soil and their reason better than any other people; but admitted that the French, though not the highest perhaps in any department of literature, yet in every department were very high. Intellectual pre-eminence, he observed, was the highest superiority; and that every nation derived their highest reputation from the splendour and dignity of their writers. Voltaire, he said, was a good narrator, and that his principal merit consisted in a happy selection and arrangement of circumstances.

'Speaking of the French novels compared with Richardson's, he said they might be pretty baubles, but a wren was not an eagle.

'In a Latin conversation with the Père Boscovitch at the house of Mrs. Cholmondeley, I heard him maintain the superiority of Sir Isaac Newton over all foreign philosophers,1 with a dignity and eloquence that surprised that learned foreigner. It being observed to him that a rage for every thing English prevailed much in France after Lord Chatham's glorious war, he said he did not wonder at it, for that we had drubbed those fellows into a proper reverence for us, and that their national petulance required periodical chastisement.

'Lord Lyttelton's Dialogues he deemed a nugatory performance. "That man," said he, "sat down to write a book to tell the world what the world had all his life been telling him."

'Somebody observing that the Scotch Highlanders, in the year 1745, had made surprising efforts, considering their numerous wants and disadvantages: "Yes, sir," said he, "their wants were numerous; but you have not men tioned the greatest of them all the want of law."

'Speaking of the inward light to which some Methodists pretended, he said it was a principle utterly incompatible with social or civil security. "If a man," said he, "pretends to a principle of action of which I can know nothing, nay, not so much as that he has it, but only that he pretends to it; how can I tell what that person may be prompted to do? When a person professes to be governed by a written ascertained law, I can then know where to find him."

'The poem of Fingal, he said, was a mere unconnected rhapsody, a tiresome repetition of the same images. "In vain shall we look for the lucidus ordo, where there is neither end

1 In a discourse by Sir William Jones, addressed to the Asiatic Society, Feb. 24, 1785, is the following passage :

'One of the most sagacious men of this age, who continues I hope to improve and adorn it, Samuel Johnson, remarked in my hearing, that if Newton had Sourished in ancient Greece, he would have been worshipped as a Divinity.'-MALONE.

nor object, design or moral, nec certa recurrit imago."

'Being asked by a young nobleman what was become of the gallantry and military spirit of the old English nobility, he replied, "Why, my lord, I'll tell you what is become of it: it is gone into the city to look for a fortune."

'Speaking of a dull tiresome fellow whom he chanced to meet, he said, "That fellow seems to me to possess but one idea, and that is a wrong one."

'Much inquiry having been made concerning a gentleman who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained, at last Johnson observed, that "he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney."

'He spoke with much contempt of the notice taken of Woodhouse, the poetical shoemaker. He said it was all vanity and childishness; and that such objects were, to those who patronized them, mere mirrors of their own superiority. "They had better," said he, "furnish the man with good implements for his trade, than raise subscriptions for his poems. He may make an excellent shoemaker, but can never make a good poet. A schoolboy's exercise may be a pretty thing for a schoolboy; but it is no treat for a man."

'Speaking of Boetius, who was the favourite writer of the middle ages, he said it was very surprising that upon such a subject, and in such a situation, he should be magis philosophus quam Christianus.

'Speaking of Arthur Murphy, whom he very much loved, "I don't know," said he, "that Arthur can be classed with the very first dramatic writers; yet at present, I doubt much whether we have anything superior to Arthur."

'Speaking of the national debt, he said, "It was an idle dream to suppose that the country could sink under it. Let the public creditors be ever so clamorous, the interest of millions must ever prevail over that of thousands."

'Of Dr. Kennicott's Collations he observed, that "though the text should not be much mended thereby, yet it was no small advantage to know that we had as good a text as the most consummate industry and diligence could procure."

'Johnson observed, "that so many objections might be made to everything, that nothing could overcome them but the necessity of doing something. No man would be of any profession, as simply opposed to not being of it; but every one must do something."

'He remarked that a London parish was a very comfortless thing, for the clergyman seldom knew the face of one out of ten of his parishioners.

'Of the late Mr. Mallet he spoke with no great respect: said he was ready for any dirty job; that he had wrote against Byng at the instigation of the ministry, and was equally ready to write for him, provided he found his account in it.

'A gentleman who had been very unhappy in marriage, married immediately after his wife died: Johnson said, it was the triumph of hope over experience.

'He observed that a man of sense and education should meet a suitable companion in a wife. It was a miserable thing when the conversation could only be such as, whether the mutton should be boiled or roasted, and probably a dispute about that.

'He did not approve of late marriages, observing that more was lost in point of time than compensated for by any possible advantages. Even ill-assorted marriages were preferable to cheerless celibacy.

'Of old Sheridan he remarked that he neither wanted parts nor literature, but that his vanity and Quixotism obscured his merits.

'He said foppery was never cured; it was the bad stamina of the mind, which, like those of the body, were never rectified: once a coxcomb, and always a coxcomb.

'Being told that Gilbert Cooper called him the Caliban of literature, "Well," said he, "I must dub him the Punchinello."

'Speaking of the old Earl of Cork and Orrery, he said, "That man spent his life in catching at an object (literary eminence) which he had not power to grasp."

'To find a substitution for violated morality, he said, was the leading feature in all perver sions of religion.

'He often used to quote, with great pathos, those fine lines of Virgil :

"Optima quæque dies miseris mortalibus ævi Prima fugit; subeunt morbi, tristisque senectus, Et labor, et duræ rapit inclementia mortis."

'Speaking of Homer, whom he venerated as the prince of poets, Johnson remarked that the advice given to Diomed1 by his father, when he sent him to the Trojan war, was the noblest exhortation that could be instanced in any heathen writer, and comprised in a single line:

Αἰὲν ἀριστεύειν, καὶ ὑπείροχον ἔμμεναι ἄλλων, which, if I recollect well, is translated by Dr. Clarke thus: Semper appetere præstantissima, et omnibus aliis antecellere.

'He observed, "It was a most mortifying reflection for any man to consider what he had done, compared with what he might have done."

'He said few people had intellectual resources sufficient to forego the pleasures of wine. They

Dr. Maxwell's memory has deceived him. Glaucus is the person who received this counsel; and Clarke's translation of the passage (Il. lib. x. 1. 208) is as follows:

Ut semper fortissime rem gererem, et superior virtute essem aliis. '-J. BoSWELL, jun.

could not otherwise contrive how to fill the interval between dinner and supper.

'He went with me one Sunday to hear my old master Gregory Sharpe preach at the Temple. - In the prefatory prayer, Sharpe ranted about liberty, as a blessing most fervently to be implored, and its continuance prayed for. Johnson observed, that our liberty was in no sort of danger: he would have done much better to pray against our licentiousness.

'One evening, at Mrs. Montagu's, where a splendid company was assembled, consisting of the most eminent literary characters, I thought he seemed highly pleased with the respect and attention that were shown him, and asked him, on our return home, if he was not highly gratified by his visit: "No, sir," said he, "not highly gratified; yet I do not recollect to have passed many evenings with fewer objections."

'Though of no high extraction himself, he had much respect for birth and family, especially among ladies. He said, "adventitious accomplishments may be possessed by all ranks, but one may easily distinguish the born gentlewoman."

'He said, the poor in England were better provided for than in any other country of the same extent: he did not mean little cantons or petty republics. "Where a great proportion of the people," said he, "are suffered to languish in helpless misery, that country must be ill policed and wretchedly governed: a decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilisation. Gentlemen of education," he observed,

were pretty much the same in all countries: the condition of the lower orders, the poor especially, was the true mark of national discrimination."

'When the corn laws were in agitation in Ireland, by which that country has been enabled not only to feed itself, but to export corn to a large amount, Sir Thomas Robinson observed that those laws might be prejudicial to the corn-trade of England. "Sir Thomas," said he, "you talk the language of a savage: what, sir, would you prevent any people from feeding themselves, if by any honest means they can do it?"

'It being mentioned that Garrick assisted Dr. Browne, the author of The Estimate, in some dramatic composition, "No, sir," said Johnson, "he would no more suffer Garrick to write a line in his play, than he would suffer him to mount his pulpit."

'Speaking of Burke, he said, "It was commonly observed he spoke too often in Parliament; but nobody could say he did not speak well, though too frequently and too familiarly."

'Speaking of economy, he remarked it was hardly worth while to save anxiously twenty pounds a year. If a man could save to that degree, so as to enable him to assume a diffe rent rank in society, then indeed it might answer some purpose.

'He observed, a principal source of erroneous judgment was viewing things partially and only on one side: as, for instance, fortune-hunters, when they contemplated the fortunes singly and separately, it was a dazzling and tempting object; but when they came to possess the wives and their fortunes together, they began to suspect they had not made quite so good a bargain.

'Speaking of the late Duke of Northumberland living very magnificently when Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, somebody remarked it would be difficult to find a suitable successor to him: "Then," exclaimed Johnson, "he is only fit to succeed himself."

'He advised me, if possible, to have a good orchard. He knew, he said, a clergyman of small income who brought up a family very reputably, which he chiefly fed with apple dumplings.

'He said he had known several good scholars among the Irish gentlemen, but scarcely any of them correct in quantity. He extended the same observation to Scotland.

'Speaking of a certain prelate who exerted himself very laudably in building churches and parsonage-houses; "However," said he, "I do not find that he is esteemed a man of much professional learning, or a liberal patron of it; yet it is well where a man possesses any strong positive excellence. Few have all kinds of merit belonging to their character. We must not examine matters too deeply. No, sir, a fallible being will fail somewhere."

'Talking of the Irish clergy, he said, "Swift was a man of great parts, and the instrument of much good to his country. Berkeley was a profound scholar as well as a man of fine imagination; but Usher," he said, was the great luminary of the Irish Church; and a greater," he added, "no church could boast of, at least in modern times."

'We dined tête-à-tête at the Mitre, as I was preparing to return to Ireland after an absence of many years. I regretted much leaving London, where I had formed many agreeable connections. "Sir," said he, "I don't wonder at it; no man fond of letters leaves London with out regret. But remember, sir, you have seen and enjoyed a great deal; you have seen life in its highest decorations, and the world has nothing new to exhibit. No man is so well qualified to leave public life as he who has long tried it and known it well. We are always hankering after untried situations, and imagining greater felicity from them than they can afford. No, sir, knowledge and virtue may be acquired in all countries, and your local consequence will make you some amends for the intellectual gratifications you relinquish." Then he quoted the following lines with great pathos:

"He who has early known the pomps of state

(For things unknown 'tis ignorance to condema); And, after having view'd the gaudy bait, Can boldly say, The trifle I contemn; With such a one contented could I live, Contented could I die." 1

1 Being desirous to trace these verses to the fountainhead, after having in vain turned over several of our elder poets with the hope of lighting on them, I applied to Dr. Maxwell, now resident at Bath, for the purpose of ascertaining their author; but that gentleman could furnish no aid on this occasion. At length the lines have been discovered by the author's second son, Mr. James Boswell, in the London Magazine for July 1732, where they form part of a poem on 'Retirement,' there published anonymously, but in fact (as he afterwards found) copied, with some slight variations, from one of Walsh's smaller poems, entitled The Retirement; and they exhibit another proof of what has been elsewhere observed by the author of the work before us, that Johnson retained in his memory fragments of obscure or neglected poetry. In quoting verses of that description, he appears by a slight variation to have sometimes given them a moral turn, and to have dexterously adapted them to his own sentiments, where the original had a very different tendency. Thus, in the present instance (as Mr. J. Boswell observes to me), 'the author of the poem above mentioned exhibits himself as having retired to the country, to avoid the vain follies of a town life,ambition, avarice, and the pursuit of pleasure, contrasted with the enjoyments of the country, and the delightful conversation that the brooks, etc., furnish; which he holds to be infinitely more pleasing and instructive than any which towns afford. He is then led to consider the weakness of the human mind; and after lamenting that he (the writer), who is neither enslaved by avarice, ambition, nor pleasure, has yet made himself a slave to love, he thus proceeds:

"If this dire passion never will be done,

If beauty always must my heart enthral,
O, rather let me be enslaved by one,

Than madly thus become a slave to all: "One who has early known the pomp of state

(For things unknown 'tis ignorance to condemn); And, after having view'd the gaudy bait,

Can coldly say, The trifle I contemn;
"In her blest arms contented could I live,
Contented could I die. But O, my mind,
Imaginary scenes of bliss deceive

With hopes of joys impossible to find.""

Another instance of Johnson's retaining in his memory verses by obscure authors, is given in Mr. Boswell's Journal of a Tour in the Hebrides; where, in consequence of hearing a girl spinning in a chamber over that in which he was sitting, he repeated these

lines, which he said were written by one Giffard, a

clergyman; but the poem in which they are introduced has hitherto been undiscovered:

Verse sweetens toil, however rude the sound:
All at her work the village maiden sings:
Nor, while she turns the giddy wheel around,
Revolves the sad vicissitude of things.'

In the autumn of 1782, when he was at Brighthelmstone, he frequently accompanied Mr. Philip Metcalfe in his chaise to take the air; and the conversation in one of their excursions happening to turn on a celebrated historian, since deceased, he repeated, with great precision, some verses as very characteristic of that gentleman. These furnish another proof of what

'He then took a most affecting leave of me; said he knew it was a point of duty that called me away. "We shall all be sorry to lose you," said he: "laudo tamen.""

CHAPTER XXIII.

1771.

IN 1771 Johnson published another political pamphlet, entitled Thoughts on the late Transactions respecting Falkland's Islands, in which, upon materials furnished to him by the ministry, and upon general topics, expanded in his rich style, he successfully endeavoured to per

suade the nation that it was wise and laudable

to suffer the question of right to remain undecided, rather than involve our country in another war. It has been suggested by some, with what truth I shall not take upon me to decide, that he rated the consequence of those islands to Great Britain too low. But however this may be, every humane mind must surely applaud the earnestness with which he averted the calamity of war: a calamity so dreadful, that it is astonishing how civilised, nay, Christian nations can deliberately continue to renew it. His description of its miseries in this pamphlet is one of the finest pieces of eloquence in the English language. Upon this occasion, too, we find Johnson lashing the party in opposition with unbounded severity, and making, the fullest use of what he ever reckoned a most effectual argumentative instrument-contempt.

His character of their very able mysterious champion, Junius, is executed with all the force of his genius, and finished with the highest care. He seems to have exulted in sallying forth to single combat against the boasted and formid able hero, who bade defiance to 'principalities and powers, and the rulers of this world.'

This pamphlet, it is observable, was softened in one particular after the first edition; for the

has been above observed; for they are found in a very
obscure quarter, among some anonymous poems ap-
pended to the second volume of a collection frequently
printed by Lintot, under the title of Pope's Miscellanies:
'See how the wand'ring Danube flows,
Realms and religions parting:
A friend to all true Christian foes,
To Peter, Jack, and Martin.
Now Protestant, and Papist now,
Not constant long to either;
At length an infidel does grow,
And ends his journey neither.

Thus many a youth I've known set out,
Half Protestant, half Papist,

And rambling long the world about,
Turn infidel or atheist.'

In reciting these verses I have no doubt that John■on substituted some word for infidel in the second stanza, to avoid the disagreeable repetition of the same sxpression.-MALONE,

conclusion of Mr. George Grenville's character stood thus: 'Let him not, however, be depreciated in his grave. He had powers not universally possessed: could he have enforced payment of the Manilla ransom, he could have counted it;' which, instead of retaining its sly sharp point, was reduced to a mere flat unmeaning expression, or, if I may use the word, truism: 'He had powers not universally possessed: and if he sometimes erred, he was likewise sometimes right.'

'TO BENNET LANGTON, ESQ. 'March 20, 1771. 'DEAR SIR, -After much lingering of my own, and much of the ministry, I have at length got out my paper.1 But delay is not yet at an end: not many had been dispersed before Lord North ordered the sale to stop. His reasons I do not distinctly know. You may try to find them in the perusal. Before his order a sufficient number were dispersed to do all the mischief, though perhaps not to make all the sport that might be expected from it.

'Soon after your departure I had the pleasure of finding all the danger past with which your navigation was threatened. I hope nothing happens at home to abate your satisfaction; but that Lady Rothes and Mrs. Langton, and the young ladies, are all well.

'I was last night at THE CLUB. Dr. Percy has written a long ballad in many fits; it is pretty enough. He has printed, and will soon publish it. Goldsmith is at Bath with Lord Clare. At Mr. Thrale's, where I am now writing, all are well. - I am, dear sir, your most humble servant,

'SAM. JOHNSON.'

Mr. Strahan, the printer, who had been long in intimacy with Johnson in the course of his literary labours, who was at once his friendly agent in receiving his pension for him, and his banker in supplying him with money when he wanted it; who was himself now a member of Parliament, and who loved much to be employed in political negotiation; thought he should do eminent service, both to Government and Johnson, if he could be the means of his getting a seat in the House of Commons. With this view he wrote a letter to one of the Secretaries of the Treasury, of which he gave me a copy in his own handwriting, which is as follows :

'NEW STREET, March 30, 1771. 'SIB, You will easily recollect, when I had the honour of waiting upon you some time ago,

1 Thoughts on the late Transactions respecting Falk land's Islands.

2 By comparing the first with the subsequent editions, this curious circumstance of ministerial authorship may be discovered.

It can only be discovered (as Mr. Bindley observes to me) by him who possesses a copy of the first edition, issued out before the sale was stopped. -MALONE

I took the liberty to observe to you that Dr. Johnson would make an excellent figure in the House of Commons, and heartily wished he had a seat there. My reasons are briefly these :

'I know his perfect good affection to his Majesty and his government, which I am certain he wishes to support by every means in his power. 'He possesses a great share of manly, nervous, and ready eloquence; is quick in discerning the strength and weakness of an argument; can express himself with clearness and precision, and fears the face of no man alive.

'His known character, as a man of extraordinary sense and unimpeached virtue, would secure him the attention of the House, and could not fail to give him a proper weight there.

'He is capable of the greatest application, and can undergo any degree of labour where he sees it necessary, and where his heart and affections are strongly engaged. His Majesty's ministers might therefore securely depend on his doing, upon every proper occasion, the utmost that could be expected from him. They would find him ready to vindicate such measures as tended to promote the stability of government, and resolute and steady in carrying them into execution. Nor is anything to be apprehended from the supposed impetuosity of his temper. To the friends of the King you will find him a lamb, to his enemies a lion.

'For these reasons I humbly apprehend that he would be a very able and useful member. And I will venture to say, the employment would not be disagreeable to him; and knowing, as I do, his strong affection to the King, his ability to serve him in that capacity, and the extreme ardour with which I am convinced he would engage in that service, I must repeat that I wish most heartily to see him in the House.

'If you think this worthy of attention, you will be pleased to take a convenient opportunity of mentioning it to Lord North. If his lordship should happily approve of it, I shall have the satisfaction of having been, in some degree, the humble instrument of doing my country, in my opinion, a very essential service. I know your good nature, and your zeal for the public wel fare, will plead my excuse for giving you this trouble. I am, with the greatest respect, sir your most obedient and humble servant,

'WILLIAM STRAHAN.'

This recommendation, we know, was not effectual; but how, or for what reason, can only be conjectured. It is not to be believed that Mr. Strahan would have applied unless Johnson had approved of it. I never heard him mention the subject; but at a later period of his life, when Sir Joshua Reynolds told him that Mr. Edmund Burke had said that, if he had come early into Parliament, he certainly would have been the greatest speaker that ever was there, Johnson exclaimed, 'I should like to try my hand now.'

It has been much agitated among his friends and others whether he would have been a power ful speaker in Parliament had he been brought in when advanced in life. I am inclined to think that his extensive knowledge, his quickness and force of mind, his vivacity and richness of expression, his wit and humour, and above all, his poignancy of sarcasm, would have had great effect in a popular assembly; and that the magnitude of his figure, and striking peculiarity of his manner, would have aided the effect. But I remember it was observed by Mr. Flood, that Johnson, having been long used to sententious brevity and the short flights of conversation, might have failed in that continued and expanded kind of argument which is requisite in stating complicated matters in public speaking; and as a proof of this, he mentioned the supposed speeches in Parliament written by him for the magazine, none of which, in his opinion, were at all like real debates. The opinion of one who was himself so eminent an orator, must be allowed to have great weight. It was confirmed by Sir William Scott (Lord Stowell), who mentioned that Johnson had told him that he had several times tried to speak in the Society of Arts and Sciences, but 'had found he could not get on.'1 From Mr. William Gerard Hamilton I have heard that Johnson, when observing to him that it was prudent for a man who had not been accustomed to speak in public to begin his speech in as simple a manner as possible, acknowledged that he rose in that society to deliver a speech which he had prepared; 'but,' said he, 'all my flowers of oratory forsook me.' I, however, cannot help wishing that he had tried his hand in Parliament;' and I wonder that the ministry did not make the experiment.

I at length renewed a correspondence which had been too long discontinued :

'TO DR. JOHNSON.

'EDINBURGH, April 18, 1771.

'MY DEAR SIR, -I can now fully understand those intervals of silence in your correspondence with me which have often given me anxiety and uneasiness; for although I am conscious that my veneration and love for Mr. Johnson have never in the least abated, yet I have deferred for almost a year and a half to write to him.'

In the subsequent part of this letter, I gave him an account of my comfortable life as a married man and a lawyer in practice at the Scotch bar; invited him to Scotland, and promised to attend him to the Highlands and Hebrides.

1 Dr. Kippis, however (Biograph. Britan. article 'J. Gilbert Cooper, p. 266, n. new edit.), says that he 'once heard Dr. Johnson speak in the Society of Arts and Manufactures, upon a subject relative to mechanics, with a propriety, perspicuity, and energy which excited general admiration. '-MALONE.