set his foot in the gay world, as he prepared himself to whirl in the vortex of pleasure, imagined a total indifference and universal negligence to be the most agreeable concomitants of youth, and the strongest indication of an airy temper and a quick apprehension. Vacant to every object, and sensible of every impulse, he thought that all appearance of diligence would deduct something from the reputation of genius; and hoped that he should appear to attain, amidst all the ease of carelessness, and all the tumults of diversion, that knowledge and those accomplishments which mortals of the common fabrick obtain only by mute abstraction and solitary drudgery. He tried this scheme of life awhile, was made weary of it by his sense and his virtue; he then wished to return to his studies; and finding long habits of idleness and pleasure harder to be cured than he expected, still willing to retain his claim to some extraordinary prerogatives, resolved the common consequences of irregularity into an unalterable degree of destiny, and concluded that nature had originally formed him incapable of rational employ ment. "Let all such fancies, illusive and destructive, be banished henceforward from your thoughts for ever. Resolve, and keep your resolution; choose, and pursue your choice. If you spend this day in study, you will find yourself still more able to study to-morrow; not that you are to expect that you shall at once obtain a complete victory. Depravity is not very easily overcome. Resolution will sometimes relax, and diligence will sometimes be interrupted; but Let no accidental surprise or deviation, whether short or long, dispose you to despondency. Consider these failings as incident to all mankind. Begin again where you left off, and endeavour to avoid the seducements that prevailed over you before. "This, my dear Boswell, is advice, which, perhaps, has been often given you, and given you without effect. But this advice, if you will not take from others, you must take from your own reflections, if you purpose to do the duties of the station to which the bounty of providence has called you. "Let me have a long letter from you as soon as you can. I hope you continue your journal, and enrich it with many observations upon the country in which you reside. It will be a favour if you can get me any books in the Frisick language, and can inquire how the poor are maintained in the Seven Provinces. I am, dear sir, your most affectionate servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." I am sorry to observe, that neither in my own minutes, nor in my letters to Johnson which have been preserved by him, can I find any information how the poor are maintained in the Seven Provinces. But I shall extract from one of my letters what I learnt concerning the other subject of his curiosity. "I have made all possible inquiry with respect to the Frisick language, and find that it has been less cultivated than any other of the northern dialects; a certain proof of which is their deficiency of books. Of the old Frisick there are no remains; except some ancient laws preserved by Schotanus in his Beschryvinge vandie Heerlykheid van Friesland; and his Historia Frisica.' I have not yet been able to find these books. Professor Trotz, who formerly was of the university of Vranyken in Friesland, and is at present preparing an edition of all the Frisick laws, gave me this information. Of the modern Frisick, or what is spoken by the boors of this day, I have procured a specimen. It is Gisbert Japix's Rymelerie, which is the only book that they have. It is amazing that they have no translation of the Bible, no treatises of devotion, nor even any of the ballads and story-books which are so agreeable to country people. You shall have Japix by the first convenient opportunity. I doubt not to pick up Schotanus. Mynheer Trotz has promised me his assistance." 6 Early in 1764 Johnson paid a visit to the Langton family, at their seat of Langton in Lincolnshire, where he passed some time, much to his satisfaction. His friend, Bennet Langton, it will not be doubted, did every thing in his power to make the place agreeable to so illustrious a guest; and the elder Mr. Langton and his lady, being fully capable of understanding his value, were not wanting in attention. He, however, told me, that old Mr. Langton, though a man of considerable learning, had so little allowance to make for his occasional" laxity of talk," that because in the course of discussion he sometimes mentioned what might be said in favour of the peculiar tenets of the Romish church, he went to his grave believing him to be of that communion. Johnson, during his stay at Langton, had the advantage of a good library, and saw several gentlemen of the neighbourhood. I have obtained from Mr. Langton the following particulars of this period. He was now fully convinced that he could not have been satisfied with a country living; for talking of a respectable clergyman in Lincolnshire, he observed, "This man, sir, 2 [See post, April, 1776, an anecdote that the sobrieties of life did not take place so early as does not say much for Mr. Langton's learning, or this date.-ED.] even his understanding.-ED.] fills up the duties of his life well. I approve | did every where, led the conversation, yet of him, but could not imitate him." To a lady who endeavoured to vindicate herself from blame for neglecting social attention to worthy neighbours, by saying, "I would go to them if it would do them any good;" he said, "What good, madam, do you expect to have in your power to do them? It is showing them respect, and that is doing them good." So socially accommodating was he, that once when Mr. Langton and he were driving together in a coach, and Mr. Langton complained of being sick, he insisted that they should go out, and sit on the back of it in the open air, which they did. And being sensible how strange the appearance must be, observed, that a countryman whom they saw in a field would probably be thinking, "If these two madmen should come down, what would become of me?" p. 94. Hawk. 423, 424. Soon after his return to London, which was in February, was founded that CLUB which existed long without a name, but at Mr. Garrick's funeral became distinguished by the title of THE LITERARY CLUB. Sir Joshua Reynolds had the merit of being the first proposer of it, to which Johnson [who called Sir Joshua their RomuPiozzi, us] acceded; and the original members were, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Dr. Johnson, Mr. Edmund Burke, Dr. Nugent, Mr. Beauclerk, Mr. Langton, Dr. Goldsmith, Mr. Chamier, and Sir John Hawkins. [It was Johnson's original intention, that the number of this club should not exceed nine, but Mr. Dyer, a member of that in Ivy-lane before spoken of, and who for some years had been abroad, made his appearance among them and was cordially received. The hours which Johnson spent in this society seemed to be the happiest of his life. He would often applaud his own sagacity in the selection of it, and was so constant at its meetings as never to absent himself. It is true he came late, but then he stayed late, for, as has been already said of him, he little regarded hours. The evening toast was the motto of Padre Paolo, "Esto Perpetua." A lady 1, distinguished by her beauty, and taste for literature, invited the club twice to a dinner at her house, which Hawkins alone was hindered from accepting. Curiosity was her motive, and possibly a desire of intermingling with their conversation the charms of her own, She affected to consider them as a set of literary men, and perhaps gave the first occasion for distinguishing the society by the name of the Literary Club, an appellation which it nev er assumed to itself. At these meetings, Johnson, as indeed he 1 [Probably Mrs. Montagu.-ED.] Piozzi, p. 94. was he far from arrogating to himself that Hawk. p. 425. Sir John Hawkins represents himself as a "seceder" from this society, and assigns as the reason of his "withdrawing" himself from it, that its late hours were inconsistent with his domestick arrangements. In this he is not Ibid. p. 425. accurate; for the fact was, that he one even- | ing attacked Mr. Burke in so rude a manner, that all the company testified their displeasure; and at their next meeting his reception was such that he never came again. He is equally inaccurate with respect to Mr. Garrick, of whom he says, "he trusted that the least intimation of a desire to come among us would procure him a ready admission:" but in this he was mistaken. Johnson consulted me upon it; and when I could find no objection to receiving him, exclaimed, "He will disturb us by his buffoonery;"-and afterwards so managed matters, that he was never formally proposed, and, by consequence, never admitted2. dearly, better than all or any of his flatterers do;] but, surely, one ought to sit in a society like ours, Unelbow'd by a gamester, pimp, or player.››› I am happy to be enabled by such unquestionable authority as that of Sir Joshua Reynolds3, as well as from my own knowledge, to vindicate at once the heart of Johnson and the social merit of Garrick. In this year, except what he may have done in revising Shakspeare, we do not find that he laboured much in literature. He wrote a review of Granger's "Sugar Cane," a poem, in the London Chronicle. He told me, that Dr. Percy wrote the greatest part of this review; but, I imagine, he did not recollect it distinctly, for it appears to be mostly, if not altogether, his own. He also wrote in the Critical Review an account † of Goldsmith's excellent po In justice both to Mr. Garrick and Dr. Johnson, I think it necessary to rectify this mis-statement. The truth is, that not very long after the institution of our club, Sir Joshua Reynolds was speaking of item, "The Traveller." to Garrick. "I like it much," said he; "I think I shall be of you." When Sir Joshua mentioned this to Dr. Johnson, he was much displeased with the actor's conceit. "He'll be of us," said Johnson; "how does he know we will permit him? the first duke in England has no right to hold such language." However, when Garrick was regularly proposed some time afterwards, Johnson, though he had taken a momentary offence at his arrogance, warmly and kindly supported him, and he was accordingly elected, was a most agreeable member, and continued to attend our meetings to the time of his death. The ease and independence to which he had at last attained by royal munificence increased his natural indolence. In his Meditations, he thus accuses himself: Mrs. Piozzi has also given a similar misrepresentation of Johnson's treatment of Garrick, in this particular, as if he had avowed it [to Mr. Thrale] in these contemptuous expressions: "If Garrick does apply, I'll black-ball him." [" Who, Letters, sir? Mr. Garrick? Your friend, p. 387. your companion-black-ball him!" v. 2. "Why, sir, I love my little David From Sir Joshua Reynolds.-BOSWELL. The knight having refused to pay his portion of the reckoning for supper, because he usually eat no supper at home, Johnson observed, "Sir John, sir, is a very unclubable man."-BURNEY. [Here is some mistake. Hawkins was not knighted till long after he had left the club.-ED.] while [Hawkins probably meant "never 99 he himself belonged to the Club. But surely Mr. Boswell must have been conscious that his own words-" when. Garrick was regularly proposed some time after, Johnson, though he had taken a momentary offence," &c.-do not give a fair account of the matter; for it was not till near ten years after the foundation of the Club that Garrick was admitted, and, as he died in the beginning of 1779, the Club enjoyed but for five years that agreeable society which, but for Johnson's opposition, they would probably have enjoyed for fourteen or fifteen.—ED.] "Good Friday, April 20, 1764. I have made no reformation; I have lived totally useless, more sensual in thought, and more addicted to wine and meat." And next morning he thus feelingly complains: 'My indolence, since my last reception of the sacrament, has sunk into grosser sluggishness, and my dissipation spread into wilder negligence. My thoughts have been clouded with sensuality; and, except that from the beginning of this year I have, in some measure, forborne excess of strong drink, my appetites have predominated over my reason. A kind of strange oblivion has overspread me, so that I know not what has become of the last year; and perceive that incidents and intelligence pass over me without leaving any impression." He then solemnly says, "This is not the life to which heaven is promised." And he earnestly resolves an amendment. before I went to bed, composed the forego[Easter-day, 22d April, 1764.-" Having, I tried to compose myself, but slept uning meditation, and the following prayer; quietly. I rose, took tea, and prayed for resolution and perseverance. Thought on Tetty, dear poor Tetty, with my eyes full. 3 [It does not appear how Sir Joshua Reynolds' authority can be made available in this case. The expression is stated to have been used to Mr. Thrale; and the fact, that Garrick was for near ten years excluded from the club, and the numberless occasions in which, according to Mr. Boswell's own account, Johnson spoke in the most contemptuous manner of Garrick, seem to give but too much colour to this sad story.-ED.] "I went to church; came in at the first of the Psalms, and endeavored to attend the service, which I went through without perturbation. After sermon, I recommended Tetty in a prayer by herself; and my father, mother, brother, and Bathurst, in another. I did it only once, so far as it might be lawful for me. and restlessly walking from room to room. He then used this emphatical expression of the misery which he felt: "I would consent to have a limb amputated to recover my spirits." Talking to himself was, indeed, one of his singularities ever since I knew him2. I was certain that he was frequently uttering pious ejaculations; for fragments of the Lord's prayer have been distinctly overheard3. His friend, Mr. Thomas Ďavies, of whom Churchill says, "That Davies has a very pretty wife,—” when Dr. Johnson muttered, “lead us not into temptation," used with waggish and gallant humour to whisper Mrs. Davies, "You, my dear, are the cause of this." "I then prayed for resolution and perseverance to amend my life. I received soon: the communicants were many. At the altar, it occurred to me that I ought to form some resolutions. I resolved, in the presence of God, but without a vow, to repel sinful thoughts, to study eight hours daily, and, I think, to go to church every Sunday, and read the Scriptures. I gave a shilling; and seeing a poor girl at the sacrament in a bedgown, gave her privately a crown, though I saw Hart's Hymns in her hand. I prayed earnestly for amendment, and re-explanation. It appeared to me some supeated my prayer at home. Dined with Miss [Williams]; went to prayers at church; went to -1, spent the evening not pleasantly. Avoided wine, and tempered a very few glasses with sherbet. Came home and prayed. I saw at the sacrament a man meanly dressed, whom I have always seen there at Easter." It was his custom to observe certain days with a pious abstraction: viz. New-year's day, the day of his wife's death, Good Friday, Easter-day, and his own birthday. He this year [on his birthday] says, "I have now spent fifty-five years in resolving: having, from the earliest time almost that I can remember, been forming schemes of a better life. I have done nothing. The need of doing, therefore, is pressing, since the time of doing is short. O God, grant me to resolve aright, and to keep my resolutions, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen." Such a tenderness of conscience, such a fervent desire of improvement, will rarely be found. It is, surely, not decent in those who are hardened in indifference to spiritual improvement, to treat this pious anxiety of Johnson with contempt. About this time he was afflicted with a very severe return of the hypochondriack disorder, which was ever lurking about him. He was so ill, as, notwithstanding his remarkable love of company, to be entirely averse to society, the most fatal symptom of that malady. Dr. Adams told me, that as an old friend he was admitted to visit him, and that he found him in a deplorable state, sighing, groaning, talking to himself, In the original MS., instead of this blank are the letters Davi, followed by some other letters, which are illegible. They, no doubt, meant either Davies the bookseller, or David Garrick; most likely the former.-HALL. He had another particularity, of which none of his friends ever ventured to ask an perstitious habit which he had contracted early, and from which he had never called upon his reason to disentangle him. This was his anxious care to go out or in at a door or passage, by a certain number of steps from a certain point, or at least so as that either his right or his left foot (I am not certain which), should constantly make the first actual movement when he came close to the door or passage. Thus I conjecture: for I have, upon innumerable occasions, observed him suddenly stop, and then seem to count his steps with a deep earnestness; and when he had neglected or gone wrong in this sort of magical movement, I have seen him go back again, put himself in a proper posture to begin the ceremony, and, having gone through it, break from his abstraction, walk briskly on, and join his companion, A strange instance of some2 [See post, 12th Oct. 1773.-ED.] 3 It used to be imagined at Mr. Thrale's, when Johnson retired to a window or corner of the room, murmur without audible articulation, that he was by perceiving his lips in motion, and hearing a praying; but this was not always the case, for I was once, perhaps unperceived by him, writing at a table, so near the place of his retreat, that I heard him repeating some lines in an ode of Horace, over and over again, as if by iteration to exercise the organs of speech, and fix the ode in his memory: "Andiet cives accuisse ferrum It was during the American war.-BURNEY. 4 [The following anecdote, related by Mr. Whyte, affords another curious instance of this peculiarity: "Mr. Sheridan at one time lived in Bedfordstreet, opposite Henrietta-street, which ranges with the south side of Covent-garden, so that the prospect lies open the whole way free of interruption. We were standing together at the drawing-room, expecting Johnson, who was to dine there. Mr. thing of this nature, even when on horseback, happened when he was in the Isle of Sky [12th Oct. 1773]. Sir Joshua Reynolds has observed him to go a good way about, rather than cross a particular alley in Leicester-field; but this Sir Joshua imputed to his having had some disagreeable recollection associated with it. That the most minute singularities which belonged to him, and made very observable parts of his appearance and manner, may not be omitted, it is requisite to mention, that while talking or even musing as he sat in his chair, he commonly held his head to one side towards his right shoulder, and shook it in a tremulous manner, moving his body backwards and forwards, and rubbing his left knee in the same direction with the palm of his hand. In the intervals of articulating he made various sounds with his mouth; sometimes as if ruminating, or what is called chewing the cud, sometimes giving a half whistle, sometimes making his tongue play backwards from the roof of his mouth as if clucking like a hen, and sometimes protruding it against his upper gums in front, as if pronouncing quickly under his breath, too, too, too; all this accompanied sometimes with a thoughtful look, but more frequently with a smile. Generally when he had concluded a period, in the course of a dispute, by which time he was a good deal exhausted by violence and vociferation, he used to blow out his breath like a whale. This I suppose was a relief to his lungs; and seemed in him to be a contemptuous mode of expression, as if he had made the arguments of his opponent fly like chaff before the wind. I am fully aware how very obvious an occasion I here give for the sneering jocularity of such as have no relish of an exact ་ Sheridan asked me, could I see the length of the garden? No, sir.' [Mr. Whyte was short-sighted.] Take out your opera-glass, Johnson is coming; you may know him by his gait.' I perceived him at a good distance, working along with a peculiar solemnity of deportment, and an awkward sort of measured step. At that time the broad flagging at each side the streets was not universally adopted, and stone posts were in fashion, to prevent the annoyance of carriages. Upon every post as he passed along, I could observe, he deliberately laid his hand; but missing one of them when he had got at some distance, he seemed suddenly to recollett himself, and imme diately returning back, carefully performed the accustomed ceremony, and resumed his former course, not omitting one till he gained the cross ing. This, Mr. Sheridan assured me, however odd it might appear, was his constant practice; but why or wherefore he could not inform me." Miscell. Nova. p. 49. See (ante, p. 56) his conduct at Mr. Banke's, which seems something of the same kind.—ED.] likeness; which, to render complete, he who draws it must not disdain the slightest strokes. But if witlings should be inclined to attack this account, let them have the candour to quote what I have offered in my defence. ["DR JOHNSON TO MRS. LUCY PORTER. "London 10 Jan. 1764. Pearson MSS. "MY DEAR,-I was in hopes that you would have written to me before this time, to tell me that your house was finished, and that you were happy in it. I am sure I wish you happy. "By the carrier of this week you will receive a box, in which I have put some books, most of which were your poor dear mamma's, and a diamond ring, which I hope you will wear as my new year's gift. If you receive it with as much kindness as I send it, you will not slight it; you will be very fond of it. "Pray give my service to Kitty, who, I hope, keeps pretty well. I know not now when I shall come down; I believe it will not be very soon. But I shall be glad to hear of you from time to time. "I wish you, my dearest, many happy years; take what care you can of your health. I am, my dear, your affectionate humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." He was for some time in the summer at Easton Maudit Northamptonshire, on a visit to the Reverend Dr. Percy, now Bishop of Dromore. Whatever dissatisfaction he felt at what he considered as a slow progress in intellectual improvement, we find that his heart was tender, and his affections warm, as appears from the following very kind letter: TO JOSHUA REYNOLDS, ESQ. IN LEICES- "DEAR SIR,-I did not hear of your sickness till I heard likewise of your recovery, and therefore escaped that part of your pain which every man must feel to whom you are known, as you are known to me. "Having had no particular account of your disorder, I know not in what state it has left you. If the amusement of my company can exhilarate the languor of a slow recovery, I will not delay a day to come to you; for I know not how I can so effectually promote my own pleasure as by pleasing you, or my own interest as by preserving you, in whom, if I should lose you, I should lose almost the only man whom I call a friend. "Pray let me hear of you from yourself, [This ring is now in the possession of Mrs. Pearson.-HARWOOD.] |