"Now,' added Johnson, every one acquainted with microscopes knows, that the more of them "he looks through, the less the object will appear.

Why,' replied the King, this is not only "telling an untruth, but telling it clumsily; for, "if that be the case, every one who can look through a microscope will be able to detect him." I now,' said Johnson to his friends, when relating what had passed, began to consider that I was depreciating this man in the estimation of "his Sovereign, and thought it was time for me

6

to say something that might be more favour"able.' He added, therefore, that Dr Hill was "notwithstanding a very curious observer; and "if he would have been contented to tell the "world no more than he knew, he might have

been a very considerable man, and needed not "to have recourse to such mean expedients to

raise his reputation. The King then talked of "literary journals, mentioned particularly the "Journal des Savans, and asked Johnson if it was "well done. Johnson said it was formerly very "well done, and gave some account of the persons who first began it, and carried it on for some

years, enlarging, at the same time, on the nature "and use of such works. The King asked him "if it was well done now. Johnson said, he had "no reason to think that it was. The King then "asked him if there were any other literary jour"nals published in this kingdom, except the "Monthly and Critical Reviews; and on being "answered there were no other, his Majesty asked 4 which of them was the best. Johnson answered, that the Monthly Review was done with

most care, the Critical upon the best principles; "adding, that the authors of the Monthly Re"view were enemies to the Church. This the

King said he was sorry to hear. The conver "sation next turned on the Philosophical Trans"actions, when Johnson observed that they had now a better method of arranging their mate"rials than formerly. Ay,' said the King, "they are obliged to Dr Johnson for that; for "his Majesty had heard and remembered the cir "cumstance, which Johnson himself had forgot. "His Majesty expressed a desire to have the liter66 ary biography of this country ably executed, "and proposed to Dr Johnson to undertake it. "Johnson signified his readiness to comply with "his Majesty's wishes. During the whole of this "interview, Johnson talked to his Majesty with "profound respect, but still in his firm, manly "manner, with a sonorous voice, and never in "that subdued tone which is commonly used at "the levee, and in the drawing-room. After the

King withdrew, Johnson shewed himself highly "pleased with his Majesty's conversation and "gracious behaviour. He said to Mr Barnard, "Sir, they may talk of the King as they will, " but he is the finest gentleman I have ever seen.' "And he afterwards observed to Mr Langton, "Sir, his manners are those of as fine a gentle"man as we may suppose Lewis the Fourteenth, "or Charles the Second."

Johnson seems now for some time to have rested from his labours. As literary efforts were no longer requisite for his subsistence, he was satis fied with the enjoyment of the luxury and ease of VOL. I.

f

polished life, which he enjoyed in the house of Mr Thrale, and with associating occasionally with men of letters in London. His talents were again called into action in a few years, in a way that probably proved not very grateful to his feelings; but his temper was too proud, and his manners, when he thought fit, were so repulsive, that he was never interrogated or brought to explain himself to his friends upon the subject. Notwithstanding the liberal form in which Johnson's pension had been originally conferred, yet as it existed only during pleasure, future administrations appear to have considered him as dependent upon their bounty. After the administration of Sir Robert Walpole, he had avoided interfering with the disputes of contending factions, and would, in all probability, have accounted it more consistent with the dignity of his character to have done so for ever; but during the rude attacks which they sustained from Junius, and at the commencement of the American war, administration demanded the assistance of his pen, though in what particular form the requisition was made is not known. In 1770, on occasion of the dispute with Wilkes, who had been elected member for Middlesex, after being expelled from the House of Commons, he published a pamphlet, entitled "The False "Alarm," in defence of the ministry and their majority who voted Colonel Luttrell duly elected, although he had very few votes in the county, a vote which was afterwards ordered by the House to be expunged from their journals. In 1771, Johnson published another pamphlet, entitled, "Thoughts on the late Transactions respecting

"Falkland Islands." Here he defended the conduct of the ministry in avoiding a Spanish war after the Spaniards had attacked a British smuggling settlement at these islands, situated on the coast of South America. He attacked, in this pamphlet, with the utmost bitterness, the anonymous author of the letters bearing the signature of Junius. At this time, Mr Strahan, the King's printer, who was himself a member of the House of Commons, suggested to administration, that they might derive advantage from bringing Johnson into Parliament. Johnson himself was well inclined to the measure; but the negociation did not succeed. Lord North, who was undoubtedly a man of sense and discernment, probably suspected that the vehemence of Johnson's temper might render him an unmanageable auxiliary; and as he had not been educated to the profession of the law, his assistance could be of little value in conducting the detail of ordinary business.

In 1773 Johnson made his Tour to the Hebrides, or Western Islands of Scotland, along with Mr James Boswell; but he did not publish his account of it till 1775. This work made much noise at the time. It is undoubtedly written with great elegance, and contains many pleasing and valuable remarks; but in other respects it is of little importance. Considered as an account of the country, it is a meagre work. Johnson was indeed an unfit person for such an undertaking. Of agriculture or manufactures, of antiquities or mineralogy, he knew little or nothing. Of the beauties of nature or of art he could be no judge, because the defects of his sight disabled him from

perceiving them. He could only report with fidelity therefore the reflections of his own mind, the conversations at which he was present, or the inconveniencies of travelling in a rugged country, which, to a man who had spent his days in the midst of London, must have been very great. As an example how destitute Johnson was of that sort of general knowledge which is necessary to enable a traveller to make rational or instructive remarks on the state or general appearance of a country, it is sufficient to notice his censure of the Scots on account of the scarcity of plantations in their country, which he marvellously exaggerates. "Plantation," says he, "is the least expensive "of all methods of improvement. To drop a seed "into the ground can cost nothing, and the trou"ble is not great of protecting the young plant "till it is out of danger; though it must be allow"ed to have some difficulty in places like these, "where they have neither woods for palisades, nor "thorns for hedges."-Alas! Johnson was totally ignorant of the nature of the operation of which he talks thus easily, and of the expence and difficulties attending it. He did not consider that, in the first place, a total loss must be incur red for many years of the whole rent of the land intended to be planted. To drop a seed into the earth is not the way to rear a forest. There must be the previous apparatus of a nursery and nurserymen, to bring the plants to a state which may fit them to be planted out in the field. No palisade or paling of wood is capable of resisting the blast that sweeps along the face of a Scottish mountain. This was tried, a few years ago, at the height of