Etat. 71.

no longer the same reason; heretofore the poorer 1780. people were more numerous, and from want of commerce, their means of getting a livelihood more difficult; therefore the supporting them was an act of great benevolence; now that the poor can find maintenance for themselves, and their labour is wanted, a general undiscerning hospitality tends to ill, by withdrawing them from their work to idleness and drunkenness. Then, formerly rents were received in kind, so that there was a great abundance of provisions in possession of the owners of the lands, which since the plenty of money afforded by commerce, is no longer the case."

ઃઃ

Hospitality to strangers and foreigners in our country is now almost at an end; since, from the increase of them that come to us; there have been a sufficient number of people that have found an interest in providing inns and proper accommodations, which is in general a more expedient method for the entertainment of travellers. Where the travellers and strangers are few, more of that hospitality subsists, as it has not been worth while to provide places of accommodation. In Ireland, there is still hospitality to strangers, in some degree; in Hungary and Poland, probably more."

Colman, in a note on his translation of Terence, talking of Shakspeare's learning, asks, What says Farmer to this? What says Johnson?' Upon this he observed, "Sir, let Farmer answer for himself: I never engaged in this controversy. I always said, Shakspeare had Latin enough to grammaticise his English."

"A clergyman, whom he characterised as one who loved to say little oddities, was affecting one C

VOL. IV.

6

1780. day, at a Bishop's table, a sort of slyness and freedom Etat. 71. not in character, and repeated, as if part of The Old Man's Wish,' a song by Dr. Walter Pope, a verse bordering on licentiousness. Johnson rebuked him in the finest manner, by first shewing him that he did not know the passage he was aiming at, and thus humbling him: Sir, that is not the song: it is thus. And he gave it right. Then looking stedfastly on him, Sir, there is a part of that song which I should wish to exemplify in my own life:

6

.

'May I govern my passions with absolute sway!"

66

Being asked if Barnes knew a good deal of Greek, he answered,' I doubt, Sir, he was unoculus inter cæcos." 3

"He used frequently to observe, that men might be very eminent in a profession, without our perceiving any particular power of mind in them in conversation. It seems strange (said he) that a man should see so far to the right, who sees so short a way to the left. Burke is the only man whose common conversation corresponds with the general fame which he has in the world. Take up whatever topick you please, he is ready to meet you.' "A gentleman, by no means deficient in literature, having discovered less acquaintance with one of

3 [Johnson, in his Life of Milton, after mentioning that great poet's extraordinary fancy that the world was in its decay, and that his book was to be written in an age too late for heroick poesy, thus concludes: "However inferiour to the heroes who were born in better ages, he might still be great among his contemporaries, with the hope of growing every day greater in the dwindle of posterity; he might still be a giant among the pigmies, the one-eyed monarch of the blind." J. BoswELL.]

the Classicks than Johnson expected, when the gen- 1780. tleman left the room, he observed, You see, now, Atat. 71. how little any body reads.' Mr. Langton happening

to mention his having read a good deal in Clenardus's Greek Grammar, Why, Sir, (said he,) who is there in this town who knows any thing of Clenardus but you and I?' And upon Mr. Langton's mentioning that he had taken the pains to learn by heart the Epistle of St. Basil, which is given in that Grammar as a praxis, Sir, (said he,) I never made such an effort to attain Greek."

6

"Of Dodsley's Publick Virtue, a Poem,' he said, 'It was fine blank; (meaning to express his usual contempt for blank verse :) however, this miserable poem did not sell, and my poor friend Doddy said, Publick Virtue was not a subject to interest the age.

"Mr. Langton, when a very young man, read Dodsley's Cleone, a Tragedy,' to him, not aware of his extreme impatience to be read to. As it went on he turned his face to the back of his chair, and put himself into various attitudes, which marked his uneasiness. At the end of an act, however, he said, 'Come, let's have some more, let's go into the slaughter-house again, Lanky. But I am afraid there is

4 [Nicholas Clenard, who was born in Brabant, and died at Grenada in 1542, was a great traveller and linguist. Beside his Greek Grammar, (of which an improved edition was published by Vossius, at Amsterdam in 1626,) he wrote a Hebrew grammar, and an account of his travels in various countries, in Latin, (EPISTOLARUM LIBRI DUO, 8vo. 1556,) a very rare work, of which there is a copy in the Bodleian Library. His Latin (says the authour of NOUVEAU DICTIONNAIRE HISTORIQUE, 1789,) would have been more pure, if he had not known so many languages. MALONE.]

Etat. 71.

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1780. more blood than brains.' Yet he afterwards said, When I heard you read it, I thought higher of its power of language: when I read it myself, I was more sensible of its pathetick effect;' and then he paid it a compliment which many will think very extravagant. Sir, (said he,) if Otway had written this play, no other of his pieces would have been remembered.' Dodsley himself, upon this being repeated to him, said, 'It was too much :' it must be remembered, that Johnson always appeared not to be sufficiently sensible of the merit of Otway."

4

"Snatches of reading (said he) will not make a Bentley or a Clarke. They are, however, in a certain degree advantageous. I would put a child into a library (where no unfit books are) and let him read at his choice. A child should not be discouraged from reading any thing that he takes a liking to, from a notion that it is above his reach. If that be the case, the child will soon find it out and desist; if not, he of course gains the instruction; which is so much the more likely to come, from the inclination with which he takes up the study."

66

Though he used to censure carelessness with great vehemence, he owned, that he once, to avoid the trouble of locking up five guineas, hid them, he forgot where, so that he could not find them."

"A gentleman who introduced his brother to Dr. Johnson, was earnest to recommend him to the Doctor's notice, which he did by saying, When we have sat together some time, you'll find

my

brother

4 [This assertion concerning Johnson's insensibility to the pa

thetick powers of Otway, is too round.

I once asked him, whe

ther he did not think Otway frequently tender: when he answered, "Sir, he is all tenderness." BURNEY.]

grów very entertaining.'-Sir, (said Johnson,) I can 1780. wait."

"When the rumour was strong that we should have a war, because the French would assist the Americans, he rebuked a friend with some asperity for supposing it, saying, No, Sir, national faith is not yet sunk so low."

"In the latter part of his life, in order to satisfy himself whether his mental faculties were impaired, he resolved that he would try to learn a new language, and fixed upon the Low Dutch, for that purpose, and this he continued till he had read about one half of • Thomas à Kempis;' and finding that there appeared no abatement of his power of acquisition, he then desisted, as thinking the experiment had been duly tried. Mr. Burke justly observed, that this was not the most vigorous trial, Low Dutch being a language so near to our own; had it been one of the languages entirely different, he might have been very soon satisfied."

"Mr. Langton and he having gone to see a Freemason's funeral procession, when they were at Rochester, and some solemn musick being played on French-horns, he said, This is the first time that I have ever been affected by musical sounds;' adding, 'that the impression made upon him was of a melancholy kind.' Mr. Langton saying, that this effect was a fine one.-JOHNSON. Yes, if it softens the mind so as to prepare it for the reception of salutary feelings, it may be good: but inasmuch as it is melancholy per se, it is bad."

s [The French-horn, however, is so far from being melancholy per se, that when the strain is light, and in the field, there is no¬

Ætat. 71.