or from dear Miss Reynolds'. Make my compliments to Mr. Mudge. I am, dear sir, your most affectionate and most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON. At the Rev. Mr. Percy's, at Easton Maudit, Northamptonshire (by Castle Ashby), 19 Aug. 1764." Early in the year 1765 he paid a short visit to the university of Cambridge, with his friend Mr. Beauclerk. There is a lively picturesque account of his behaviour on this visit, in the Gentleman's Magazine for March, 1785, being an extract of a letter from the late Dr. John Sharp3. Gent. Mag. vol. 55. p. 173. "Cambridge, 1 March, 1765. ["As to Johnson, you will be surprised to hear that I have had him in the chair in which I am now writing. He has ascended my aerial citadel. He came down on a Saturday evening, with a Mr. Beauclerk, who has a friend at Trinity4 Caliban, you may be sure, was not roused from his lair before next day noon, and his breakfast probably kept him till night. I saw nothing of him, nor was he heard of by any one, till Monday afternoon, when I was sent for home to two gentlemen unknown. In conversation I made a strange faux pas about Burnaby Greene's poems, in which Johnson is drawn at full length]. He drank his large potation of tea with me, interrupted by many an indignant contradiction, and many a noble sentiment. [He had on a better wig than usual, but one whose curls were not, like Sir Cloudesley's, formed for eternal Sir Joshua's sister, for whom Johnson had a particular affection, and to whom he wrote many letters which I have seen, and which I am sorry her too nice delicacy will not permit to be published.-BOSWELL. [One will be found added by Mr. Malone, post, 21st July, 1781.-Of Miss Reynolds Johnson thought so highly, that he once said to Mrs. Piozzi, " I never knew but one mind which would bear microscopical examination, and that is dear Miss Reynolds's, and hers is very near to purity itself." Piozzi, p. 68. Several others have reached the editor since this note was written-ED.] 2 [Of this letter Mr. Boswell quotes only two short paragraphs, adding that "they are very characteristical," but surely the rest is equally so. -ED.] 3 [No doubt Dr. John Sharp, grandson of Sharp, Archbishop of York, and son of the Archdeacon of Durham, in which preferment he succeeded his father. He was a member of Trinity College, Cambridge. He died in 1792, aged 69. -ED.] 4 Mr. Lister.-BOSWELL. 5 [Edward Burnaby, who took the name of Greene, published, in 1756, an imitation of the 10th Ep. of the first book of Horace. He died in 1788.-ED.] 6 buckle 6. Our conversation was chiefly on books, you may be sure. He was much pleased with a small Milton of mine, published in the author's lifetime, and with the Greek epigram on his own effigy, of its being the picture, not of him, but of a bad painter. There are many manuscript stanzas, for aught I know, in Milton's own handwriting, and several interlined hints and fragments. We were puzzled about one of the sonnets, which we thought was not to be found in Newton's edition, and differed from all the printed ones. But Johnson cried, No! no! repeated the whole sonnet instantly, memoriter, and showed it us in Newton's book. After which he learnedly harangued on sonnet-writing, and its different numbers. He tells me he will come hither again quickly, and is promised an habitation in Emanuel college.' He went back to town next morning; but as it began to be known that he was in the university,] several persons got into his company the last evening at Trinity, where, about twelve, he began to be very great; stripped poor Mrs. Macaulay to the very skin, then gave her for his toast, and drank her in two bumpers." The strictness of his self-examination, and scrupulous Christian humility, appear in his pious meditation on Easter-day this year. "I purpose again to partake of the blessed sacrament; yet when I consider how vainly I have hitherto resolved at this annual commemoration of my Saviour's death, to regulate my life by his laws, I am almost afraid to renew my resolutions." "Since the last Easter I have reformed no evil habit; my time has been unprofitably spent, and seems as a dream that has left nothing behind. My memory grows confused, and I know not how the days pass over me. Good Lord, deliver me!" The concluding words [of the last sentence) are very remarkable, and show that he laboured under a severe depression of spirits. [He proceeds:] ["I purpose to rise at eight, because, though I shall not yet rise early, it will be much earlier than I now rise, for I often lie till two, and will gain me much time, and tend to a conquest over idleness, and give time for other duties. I hope to rise yet earlier.' "I invited home with me the man 7 whose pious behaviour I had for several years obof Methodist, full of texts, but ill-instructed. served on this day, and found him a kind I talked to him with temper, and offered him twice wine, which he refused. I suf 6" Eternal buckle take in Parian stone."POPE. 7 [See ante, p. 214.-ED.] fered him to go without the dinner which I had purposed to give him. I thought this day that there was something irregular and particular in his look and gesture; but having intended to invite him to acquaintance, and having a fit opportunity by finding him near my own seat after I had missed him, I did what I at first designed, and am sorry to have been so much disappointed. Let me not be prejudiced hereafter against the appearance of piety in mean persons, who, with indeterminate notions, and perverse or inelegant conversation, perhaps are doing all they can."] remarkable. The next article in his dairy is, "July 16th, I received seventy-five pounds 2. Lent Mr. Davies twenty-five." Trinity college, Dublin, at this time, surprised Johnson with a spontaneous compliment of the highest academical honours, by creating him doctor of laws. The diploma, which is in my possession, is as follows: "OMNIBUS ad quos præsentes literæ pervenerint, salutem. Nos Præpositus et Socii nitatis Regina Elizabetha juxta Dublin, tesSeniores Collegii sacrosanctæ et individuæ Tritamur, Samueli Johnson, Armigero, ob egre[The following letter was adgiam scriptorum elegantiam et utilitatem, dressed to the son of his friend Mr. gratiam concessam fruisse pro gradu DoctoStrahan, afterwards prebendary to Roches-ratûs in utroque Jure, octavo die Julii, Anno ter, and the Editor of Johnson's Prayers and Meditations. ED. TO MR. G. STRAHAN, UNIVER. COLL. OX. "25 May, 1765. "DEAR SIR, That I have answered neither of your letters you must not impute to any declension of good will, but merely to the want of something to say. I suppose you pursue your studies diligently, and diligence will seldom fail of success. Do not tire yourself so much with Greek one day as to be afraid of looking on it the next; but give it a certain portion of time, suppose four hours, and pass the rest of the day in Latin or English. I would have you learn French, and take in a literary journal once a month, which will accustom you to various subjects, and inform you what learning is going forward in the world. Do not omit to mingle some lighter books with those of more importance; that which is read remisso animo is often of great use, and takes great hold of the remembrance. However, take what course you will, if you be diligent you will be a scholar. I am, dear sir, yours affectionately, "SAM. JOHNSON."] Domini millesimo septingentesimo sexagesimo-quinto. In cujus rei testimonium singulorum manus et sigillum quo in hisce utimur apposuimus, vicesimo tertio die Julii, Anno Domini millesimo septingentesimo sexagesimo-quinto. FRAN. ANDREWS. Præps. TO THE REV. DR. LELAND. "Johnson's-court, Fleet-street, London, 17 Oct. 1765 4. "SIR,-Among the names subscribed to the degree which I have had the honour of receiving from the University of Dublin, I find none of which I have any personal knowledge but those of Dr. Andrews and yourself. "Men can be estimated by those who know them not, only as they are represented by those who knew them; and therefore I flatter myself that I owe much of the 2 [Probably a quarter's pension.-ED.] 3 [The same who has contributed some notes to the late editions of this work. He was the elder brother of the late Bishop of Ossory.-ED.] 4 [Hawkins and Murphy seem to think that the degree followed the publication of Shakspeare, but the former was, we see, in July (the annual Commencement), and the latter in October: Johnson's acknowledgment of the honour was perhaps postponed to the end of the academic vacation.-ED.] pleasure which this distinction gives me to | quaintance, he had a great esteem, and to your concurrence with Dr. Andrews in recommending me to the learned society. "Having desired the provost to return my general thanks to the university, I beg that you, sir, will accept my particular and immediate acknowledgments. I am, sir, your most obedient and most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON.1"] Hawk. p. 446. [His great affection for our own universities, and particularly his attachment to Oxford, prevented Johnson from receiving this honour2 as it was intended, and he never assumed the title which it conferred. He was as little pleased to be called Doctor in consequence of it, as he was with the title of domine, which a friend of his once incautiously addressed him by. He thought it alluded to his having been a schoolmaster; and though he has ably vindicated Milton from the reproach that Salmasius meant to fix on him, by saying that he was of that profession, he wished to have it forgot, that himself had ever been driven to it as the means of subsistence, and had failed in the attempt.] He appears this year to have been seized with a temporary fit of ambition, for he had thoughts both of studying law, and of engaging in politicks. His "Prayer before the Study of Law" is truly admirable: "26 Sept. 1765. "Almighty God, the giver of wisdom, without whose help resolutions are vain, without whose blessing study is ineffectual; enable me, if it be thy will, to attain such knowledge as may qualify me to direct the doubtful, and instruct the ignorant; to prevent wrongs and terminate contentions; and grant that I may use that knowledge which I shall attain, to thy glory and my own salvation, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen." His prayer in the view of becoming a politician is entitled “ Engaging in POLITICKS with H-n," no doubt, his friend, the Right Honourable William Gerard Hamilton3, for whom, during a long ac 1 I have not been able to recover the letter which Johnson wrote to Dr. Andrews on this occasion. MALONE.. 2 [This is a mistake of Hawkins, which Murphy also adopts. Mr. Boswell states, (post, 7th April, 1775, n.) that Johnson, himself, never used the title of Doctor before his name, even after his Oxford degree.-ED.] 3 [Mr. Hamilton had been secretary to Lord Halifax as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and remained a short time with his successor, Lord Northumberland, but he resigued in 1764. Though he never spoke in parliament after this, his biographer informs us (perhaps on the authority of this passage), that he meditated taking an active part in political life; he, however, did not, and his al whose conversation he once paid this high compliment: "I am very unwilling to be left alone, sir, and therefore I go with my company down the first pair of stairs, in some hopes that they may, perhaps, return again; I go with you, sir, as far as the streetdoor." In what particular department he intended to engage4 does not appear, nor can Mr. Hamilton explain. His prayer is in general terms. "Enlighten my understanding with knowledge of right, and govern my will by thy laws, that no deceit may mislead me, nor temptation corrupt me; that I may always endeavour to do good, and hinder evil.” There is nothing upon the subject in his diary. This year was distinguished by his being introduced into the family of Mr. Thrale, one of the most eminent brewers in England, and member of parliament for the borough of Southwark. Foreigners are not a little amazed, when they hear of brewers, distillers, and men in similar departments of trade, held forth as persons of considerable consequence. In this great commercial country it is natural that a situation which liance with Johnson, whatever it was intended to be, seems to have produced little or nothing, at least that we know of. Mr. Hamilton died in 1796, æt. 68.-Ed.] 4 In the preface to a late collection of Mr. Hamilton's Pieces, it has been observed, that our authour was, by the generality of Johnson's words, "led to suppose that he was seized with a temporary fit of ambition, and that hence he was induced to apply his thoughts to law and politicks. But Mr. Boswell was certainly mistaken in this respect: and these words merely allude to Johnson's having at that time entered into some engagement with Mr. Hamilton occasionally to furnish him with his sentiments on the great political topicks which should be considered in parliament." In consequence of this engagement, Johnson, in November, 1766, wrote a very valuable tract, entitled "Considerations on Corn," which is printed as an appendix to the works of Mr. Hamilton, published by T. Payne in 1808.MALONE. [It seems very improbable that so solemn a "prayer, on engaging in politics," should have had no meaning. It were perhaps vain now to inquire after what Mr. Hamilton professed not to be able to explain; but we may be sure that it was, in Johnson's opinion, no such trivial and casual assistance as is suggested in Mr. Malone's note. From a letter to Miss Porter, (post, 14th January, 1766), it may be guessed, that this engagement was in some way connected with the parliamentary session, and it may have been an alliance to write pamphlets or paragraphs in favour of a particular line of politicks. Whatever it was, it may be inferred, from the obscurity in which they have left it, that it was something which neither Hamilton nor Johnson chose to talk about.-ED.] used to say, 'If this young dog does not find so much after I am gone as he expects, let him remember that he has had a great deal in my own time."" The son, though in affluent circumstances, had good sense enough to carry on his his father's trade, which was of such extent, that I remember he once told me, he would not quit it for an annuity of ten thousand a year; "For (said he) that I get ten thousand a year by it, but it is an estate to a family." Having left daughters only, the property was sold for the immense sum of one hundred and thirty-five thousand pounds; a magnificent proof of what may be done by fair trade in a long period of time. produces much wealth should be considered as very respectable; and, no doubt, honest industry is entitled to esteem. But, perhaps, the too rapid advances of men of low extraction tends to lessen the value of that distinction by birth and gentility, which has ever been found beneficial to the grand scheme of subordination. Johnson used to give this account of the rise of Mr. Thrale's father: "He worked at six shillings a week for twenty years in the great brewery, which afterwards was his own. The proprietor of it had an only daughter, who was married to a nobleman. It was not fit that a peer should continue the business. On the old man's death, therefore, the brewery was to be sold. To find a pur- There may be some who think that a new chaser for so large a property was a difficult system of gentility3 might be established, matter; and, after some time, it was sug- upon principles totally different from what gested, that it would be advisable to treat have hitherto prevailed. Our present herwith Thrale, a sensible, active, honest man, aldy, it may be said, is suited to the barbawho had been employed in the house, and to rous times in which it had its origin. It is transfer the whole to him for thirty thousand chiefly founded upon ferocious merit, upon pounds, security being taken upon the pro- military excellence. Why, in civilized perty. This was accordingly settled. In times, we may be asked, should there not eleven years Thrale paid the purchase-mo- be rank and honours, upon principles, which, ney. He acquired a large fortune, and liv-independent of long custom, are certainly ed to be [high-sheriff of Surrey in 1733, not less worthy, and which, when once aland] member of parliament for Southwark lowed to be connected with elevation and [in 1740.] But what was most remarkable precedency, would obtain the same dignity was the liberality with which be used his in our imagination? Why should not the riches. He gave his son and daughters the knowledge, the skill, the expertness, the asbest education. The esteem which his good siduity, and the spirited hazards of trade and conduct procured him from the nobleman commerce, when crowned with success, be who had married his master's daughter made entitled to give those flattering distinctions him be treated with much attention; and his by which mankind are so universally captison,both at school and at the university of vated? Oxford, associated with young men of the first rank. His allowance from his father, after he left college, was splendid; not less than a thousand a year. This, in a man who had risen as old Thrale did, was a very extraordinary instance of generosity. He The predecessor of old Thrale was Edmund Halsey, esq.; the nobleman who married his daughter was Lord Cobham, great uncle of the Marquis of Buckingham. But, I believe, Dr. Johnson was mistaken in assigning so very low an origin to Mr. Thrale. The clerk of St. Alban's, a very aged man, told me, that he (the elder Thrale) married a sister of Mr. Halsey. It is at least certain that the family of Thrale was of some consideration in that town: in the abbey church is a handsome monument to the memory of Mr. John Thrale, late of London, merchant, who died in 1704, aged 54; Margaret, his wife, and three of their children who died young, between the years 1676 and 1690. The arms upon this monument are, paly of eight, gules and or, impaling, ermine, on a chief indented vert, three wolves' (or gryphons') heads, or, couped at the neck:-Crest on a ducal coronet, a tree, vert.— BLAKEWAY. [He died in Ap. 1758, and his wife in 1760. -Gent. Mag.-ED.] Such are the specious, but false arguments for a proposition which always will find numerous advocates in a nation where men are every day starting up from obscurity to wealth. To refute them is needless. The general sense of mankind cries out with ir 3 Mrs. Burney informs me that she heard Dr. Johnson say, "An English merchant is a new species of gentleman." He, perhaps, had in his mind the following ingenious passage in "The Conscious Lovers," Act iv. Scene ii. where Mr. Sealand thus addresses Sir John Bevil: "Give me leave to say, that we merchants are a species of gentry that have grown into the world this last century, and are as honourable, and almost as useful as you landed-folks, that have always thought yourselves so much above us; for your trading forsooth is extended no farther than a load of hay, or a fat ox. You are pleasant people indeed! because you are generally bred up to be lazy; therefore, I warrant you, industry is dishonourable,"-BOSWELL. [If indeed Johnson called merchants a new species of gentlemen, he must have forgotten not only the merchants of Tyre who were princes," and the Medici of Florence, but the Greshams, Cranfields, Osbornes, Duncombes, and so many others of England.ED.] .. resistible force, "Un gentilhomme est tou- | of this couple 2. Mr. Thrale was tall, well jours gentilhomme 1." Mr. Thrale had married Miss Hesther Lynch Salusbury, of good Welsh extraction, a lady of lively talents, improved by education. That Johnson's introduction into Mr. Thrale's family, which contributed so much to the happiness of his life, was owing to her desire for his conversation, is a very probable and the general supposition: but it is not the truth. Mr. Murphy, who was intimate with Mr. Thrale, having spoken very highly of Dr. Johnson, he was requested to make them acquainted. This being mentioned to Johnson, he accepted of an invitation to dinner at Thrale's, and was so much pleased with his reception, both by Mr. and Mrs. Thrale, and they so much pleased with him, that his invitations to their house were more and more frequent, till at last he became one of the family, and an apartment was appropriated to him, both in their house at Southwark, and in their villa at Streatham. Piozzi, p. 99. Johnson had a very sincere esteem for Mr. Thrale, as a man of excellent principles, a good scholar, well skilled in trade, of a sound understanding, and of manners such as presented the character of a plain independent English 'squire. And when, as Mrs. Piozzi tells us, with an amiable glow of gratitude, any perplexity happened to disturb Mr. Thrale's quiet, dear Dr. Johnson left him scarce a moment, and tried every artifice to amuse, as well as every argument to console him: nor is it more possible to describe than to forget his prudent, his pious attentions towards the man who had some years before certainly saved his valuable life, perhaps his reason.] As this family will frequently be mentioned in the course of the following pages, and as a false notion has prevailed that Mr. Thrale was inferior, and in some degree insignificant, compared with Mrs. Thrale, it may be proper to give a true state of the case from the authority of Johnson himself in his own words, "I know no man (said he), who is more master of his wife and family than Thrale. If he but holds up a finger, he is obeyed. It is a great mistake to suppose that she is above him in literary attainments. She is more flippant; but he has ten times her learning; he is a regular scholar; but her learning is that of a schoolboy in one of the lower forms." My readers may naturally wish for some representation of the figures [This dictum is, whatever be its value, not applicable to this case, where the question is not whether a gentleman can ever cease to be one, but whether a plebeian can ever become a gentleman.-ED.] Piozzi, p. 279. proportioned, and stately. As for madam or my mistress, by which epithets Johnson used to mention Mrs. Thrale, she was short, plump, and brisk 3. She has herself given us a lively view of the idea which Johnson had of her person, on her appearing before him in a darkcoloured gown: "You little creatures should never wear those sort of clothes, however; they are unsuitable in every way. What! have not all insects gay colours?" Mr. Thrale gave his wife a liberal indulgence, both in the choice of their company, and in the mode of entertaining them. He understood and valued Johnson, without remission, from their first acquaintance to the day of his death. Mrs. Thrale was enchanted with Johnson's conversation for its own sake, and had also a very allowable vanity in appearing to be honoured with the attention of so celebrated a man. Nothing could be more fortunate for Johnson than this connexion. He had at Mr. Thrale's all the comforts and even luxuries of life: his melancholy was diverted, and his irregular habits lessened by associa tion with an agreeable and well-ordered family. He was treated with the utmost respect and even affection. The vivacity of Mrs. Thrale's literary talk roused him to cheerfulness and exertion, even when they were alone. But this was not often the case; for he found here a constant succession of what gave him the highest enjoyment, the society of the learned, the witty, and the eminent in every way, who were assembled in numerous companies; called forth his wonderful powers, and gratified him with admiration, to which no man could be insensible. p. 8. [Johnson formed, says Mr. Tyers, at Streatham a room for a li- Tyers, brary, and increased by his recommendation the number of books. Here he was to be found (himself a library) when a friend called upon him; and by him the friend was sure to be introduced to the dinner-table, which Mrs. Thrale knew how to spread with the utmost plenty and elegance, and which was often adorned with such guests, that to dine there was epulis accumbere divum. Of Mrs. Thrale, if mentioned at all, less cannot be said, than that in one of the latest opinions of Johnson, "If she was not the wisest woman in the world, she was undoubtedly one of the wittiest." Besides a natural vivacity in conversation, she had reading enough, and 2 [The reader will not fail to observe the tone in which Mr. Boswell talks of " this couple.”— ED.] 3 [She was twenty-five years of age, when this acquaintance commenced.-ED.] |