attachment. No man is thought the worse of here, whose brother was hanged.' In uncommercial countries, many of the branches of a family must depend on the stock; so, in order to make the head of the family take care of them, they are represented as connected with his reputation, that, self-love being interested, he may exert himself to promote their interest. You have, first, large circles, or clans; as commerce increases, the connection is confined to families; by degrees, that too goes off, as having become unnecessary, and there being few opportunities of intercourse. One brother is a merchant in the city, and another is an officer in the guards: how little intercourse can these two have!" I argued warmly for the old feudal system. Sir Alexander opposed it, and talked of the pleasure of seeing all men free and independent. JOHNSON, "I agree with Mr. Boswell, that there must be high satisfaction in being a feudal lord; but we are to consider, that we ought not to wish to have a number of men unhappy for the satisfaction of one." I maintained that numbers, namely, the vassals or followers, were not unhappy; for that there was a reciprocal satisfaction between the lord and them, he being kind in his authority over them, they being respectful and faithful to him. On Thursday, April 9., I called on him to beg he would go and dine with me at the Mitre tavern. He had resolved not to dine at all this day. I know not for what reason; and I was so unwilling to be deprived of his company, that I was content to submit to suffer a want, which was at first somewhat painful; but he soon made me forget it: and a man is always pleased with himself when he finds his intellectual inclinations predo minate. He observed, that to reason philosophi cally on the nature of prayer, was very unprofitable. Talking of ghosts, he said, he knew one friend, who was an honest man and a sensible man, who told him he had seen a ghost; old Mr. Edward Cave, the printer at St. John's Gate. He said, Mr. Cave did not like to talk of it, and seemed to be in great horror whenever it was mentioned. BoswELL. "Pray, Sir, what did he say was the appearance ? JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, something of a shadowy being." 1 It is scarcely worth remarking, that Johnson would assuredly not have volunteered this allusion if there had been any colour for Miss Seward's calumny, antè, p. 4. n. 3.— CROKER. * See this curious question treated by him with most acute ability, post, Aug. 16. 1773.- BOSWELL. 3 The passage to which Johnson alluded is to be found (as I conjecture) in the "Phænissæ," 1. 1120. Καὶ πρῶτα μὲν προσήγε, κ. τ. λ. Ο τῆς κυνηγοῦ Παρθενοπαιος ἔκγονος, The meaning is, that "Parthenopæus had, in the centre of his shield, the domestic sign - Aialanta killing the Etolian I mentioned witches, and asked him what they properly meant. JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, they properly mean those who make use of the aid of evil spirits." Boswell. "There is no doubt, Sir, a general report and belief of their having existed." JOHNSON. "You have not only the general report and belief, but you have many voluntary solemn fessions." He did not affirm any thing positively upon a subject which it is the fashion of the times to laugh at as a matter of absurd credulity. He only seemed willing, as a candid inquirer after truth, however strange and inexplicable, to show that he understood what might be urged for it. con Prince Eugene. Gold -"In Armorial Bearings. - Duelling. Sense of Touch in the Blind. — Theory of Sounds. Taste in the Arts. · Francis Osborne's Works. -Country Gentlemen. - Long Stories. - Beattie Advice to Authors. - Climate. On Friday, April 10., I dined with him at General Oglethorpe's, where we found Dr. Goldsmith. Armorial bearings having been mentioned, Johnson said, they were as ancient as the siege of Thebes, which he proved by a passage in one of the tragedies of Euripides. I started the question, whether duelling was consistent with moral duty. The brave old general fired at this, and said, with a lofty air, Undoubtedly a man has a right to defend his honour." GOLDSMITH (turning to me). "I ask you first, Sir, what would you do if you were affronted? I answered, I should think it necessary to fight. "Why then," replied Goldsmith, "that solves the boar:"but this, admitting that the story of Atalanta was the "armorial bearing" of Parthenopaus, would only prove them to be as ancient as Euripides, who flourished (422 A.C.) 800 years after the siege of Thebes (1225 A. C.). Homer, whom the chronologists place 500 years before Euripides, describes a sculptured shield; and there can be little doubt that very soon after ingenuity had made a shield, taste would begin to decorate it. The words "domestic sign" are certainly very curious, yet probably mean no more than that he bore on his shield the representation of a family story. The better opinion seems to be, that it was not till the visor concealed the face of the warrior, that the ornaments of the shields and crests became distinctive of individuals and families in that peculiar manner which we understand by the terms "armorial bearings." - CROKER. question." JOHNSON. "No, Sir, it does not solve the question. It does not follow, that what a man would do is therefore right." I said, I wished to have it settled, whether duelling was contrary to the laws of Christianity. Johnson immediately entered on the subject, and treated it in a masterly manner; and, so far as I have been able to recollect, his thoughts were these: "Sir, as men become in a high degree refined, various causes of offence arise; which are considered to be of such importance, that life must be staked to atone for them, though in reality they are not so. A body that has received a very fine polish may be easily hurt. Before men arrive at this artificial refinement, if one tells his neighbour - he lies, his neighbour tells him-he lies; if one gives his neighbour a blow, his neighbour gives him a blow; but in a state of highly polished society, an affront is held to be a serious injury. It must, therefore, be resented, or rather a duel must be fought upon it; as men have agreed to banish from society one who puts up with an affront without fighting a duel. Now, Sir, it is never unlawful to fight in self-defence. He, then, who fights a duel, does not fight from passion against his antagonist, but out of self-defence; to avert the stigma of the world, and to prevent himself from being driven out of society. I could wish there was not that superfluity of refinement; but while such notions prevail, no doubt a man may lawfully fight a duel." "Let it be remembered, that this justification is applicable only to the person who receives an affront. All mankind must condemn the aggressor. 99 1 The General told us, that, when he was a very young man, I think only fifteen, serving under Prince Eugene of Savoy, he was sitting in a company at table with a prince of Wirtemberg. The prince took up a glass of wine, and, by a fillip, made some of it fly in Oglethorpe's face. Here was a nice dilemma. To have challenged him instantly, might have fixed a quarrelsome character upon the young soldier: to have taken no notice of it, might 1 The frequent disquisitions on this subject bring painfully to recollection the death of Mr. Boswell's eldest son, Sir Alexander, who was killed in a duel, arising from a political dispute, on the 26th of March, 1822, by Mr. Stuart, of Dunearn. See post, 24th Oct. 1775.- CROKER. This conversation on duelling was quoted on Mr. Stuart's trial by his counsel. LOCKHART. 2 By the Turks, in 1739. - CROKER. 3 Of which Mr. Burke was a zealous member. -CROKER. 4 Mr. Malone and Mr. James Boswell, junior, both consider Boswell's statement as obscure, and endeavour severally to explain the allusion to Sappho. Malone thinks it refers to the expression, "omnique à parte placebam." Ovid. Epist. Sapp. ad Phaonem, f. 51. Boswell junior rather conjectures that the passage was 1. 45. ; — "Si, nisi quæ facie poterit te digna videri, and adds, "The lines which I have quoted are thus expanded in Pope's Paraphrase;" which, to say the truth, I suspect was at this moment more in Johnson's recollection than the original: have been considered as cowardice. Oglethorpe, therefore, keeping his eye upon the prince, and smiling all the time, as if he took what his highness had done in jest, said "Mon Prince, (I forget the French words he used; the purport however was) "That's a good joke; but we do it much better in England; and threw a whole glass of wine in the prince's face. An old general, who sat by, said, "I a bien fait, mon prince, vous l'avez commencé :" and thus all ended in good humour." 912 66 Dr. Johnson said, "Pray, General, give us an account of the siege of Belgrade." Upon which the general, pouring a little wine upon the table, described every thing with a wet finger: "Here we were; here were the Turks," &c. &c. Johnson listened with the closest attention. A question was started, how far people who disagree in a capital point can live in friendship together. Johnson said they might. Goldsmith said they could not, as they had not the idem velle atque idem nolle―the same likings and the same aversions. JOHNSON. Why, Sir, you must shun the subject as to which you disagree. For instance, I can live very well with Burke: I love his knowledge, his genius, his diffusion, and affluence of conversation; but I would not talk to him of the Rockingham party."3 GOLDSMITH. "But, Sir, when people live together who have something as to which they disagree, and which they want to shun, they will be in the situation mentioned in the story of Bluebeard: You may look into all the chambers but one.' But we should have the greatest inclination to look into that chamber, to talk of that subject." JOHNSON (with a loud voice). "Sir, I am not saying that you could live in friendship with a man from whom you differ as to some point; I am only saying that I could do it. You put me in mind of Sappho in Ovid." Goldsmith told us, that he was now busy in writing a Natural History 5; and, that he might have full leisure for it, he had taken lodgings at a farmer's house, near to the six mile-stone, on the Edgeware-road, and had carried down his books in two returned post "If to no charms thou wilt thy heart resign I cannot, however, see how either of these quotations, nor indeed any thing else in the epistle to Phaon, would explain the allusion. Boswell's would at best liken Goldsmith to Phaon, not to Sappho; and would be a compliment, not a rebuff. Perhaps the meaning may be, "You are as unreasonable as Sappho, whom nothing could please while one object was wanting." chaises. He said, he believed the farmer's family thought him an odd character, similar to that in which the Spectator appeared to his landlady and her children: he was The Gentleman. Mr. Mickle, the translator of "The Lusiad," and I, went to visit him at this place a few days afterwards. He was not at home; but, having a curiosity to see his apartment, we went in, and found curious scraps of descriptions of animals, scrawled upon the wall with a black-lead pencil. The subject of ghosts being introduced, Johnson repeated what he had told me of a friend of his [Cave], an honest man, and a man of sense, having asserted to him that he had seen an apparition. Goldsmith told us, he was assured by his brother, the Reverend Mr. Goldsmith, that he also had seen one. General Oglethorpe told us, that Prendergast, an officer in the Duke of Marlborough's army, had mentioned to many of his friends, that he should die on a particular day; that upon that day a battle took place with the French; that after it was over, and Prendergast was still alive, his brother officers, while they were yet in the field, jestingly asked him, where was his prophecy now? Prendergast gravely answered, "I shall die, notwithstanding what you see.' Soon afterwards, there came a shot from a French battery, to which the orders for a cessation of arms had not yet reached, and he was killed upon the spot. Colonel Cecil, who took possession of his effects, found in his pocket-book the following solemn entry:[Here the date.] "Dreamt -or 2 Sir John Friend meets me: (here the very day on which he was killed was mentioned.) Prendergast had been connected with Sir John Friend, who was executed for high treason. General Oglethorpe said, he was with Colonel Cecil, when Pope came and inquired into the truth of this story, which made a great noise at the time, and was then confirmed by the colonel. On Saturday, April 11., he appointed me to come to him in the evening, when he should be at leisure to give me some assistance for the defence of Hastie, the schoolmaster of Campbelltown, for whom I was to appear in the House of Lords. When I came, I found him unwilling to exert himself. Í pressed him to write down his thoughts upon the subject. He said, "There's no occasion for my writing: I'll talk to you." He was, however, at last prevailed on to dictate to me, while I wrote. "This, Sir," said he, "you are to turn in your mind, and make the best use of it you can in your speech." Of our friend Goldsmith he said, "Sir, he is so much afraid of being unnoticed, that he often talks merely lest you should forget that he is in the company." BosWELL. "Yes, he stands forward." JOHNSON. "True, Sir; but if a man is to stand forward, he should wish to do it, not in an awkward posture, not in rags, not so as that he shall only be exposed to ridicule." BOSWELL. "For my part, I like very well to hear honest Goldsmith talk away carelessly." JOHNSON. "Why, yes, Sir; but he should not like to hear himself." On Tuesday, April 14., the decree of the court of sessions in the Schoolmaster's cause was reversed in the House of Lords, after a very eloquent speech by Lord Mansfield, who showed himself an adept in school discipline, but I thought was too rigorous towards my client. On the evening of the next day I supped with Dr. Johnson, at the Crown and Anchor tavern, in the Strand, in company with Mr. Langton and his brotherin-law, Lord Binning. I repeated a sentence of Lord Mansfield's speech, of which, by the aid of Mr. Longlands, the solicitor on the other side, who obligingly allowed me to compare his note with my own, I have a full copy:- My Lords, severity is not the way to govern either boys or men.' Nay,” said Johnson, "it is the way to govern them. I know not whether it be the way to mend them." 66 66 I talked of the recent 5 expulsion of six students from the University of Oxford, who were methodists, and would not desist from publicly praying and exhorting. JOHNSON. "Sir, that expulsion was extremely just and proper. What have they to do at an uni 1 William Julius Mickle, the son of a Scotch clergyman, was born at Langholm, Dumfriesshire, in 1734. He lived the life that poets lived in those days; that is, in difficulties and distress, till 1779, when, being appointed secretary to Commodore Johnson, he realised by prize agencies a moderate competence. He retired to Forest Hill, near Oxford, where he died in 1788. His translation of the Lusiad is still in some repute and his ballad of "Cumnor Hall" suggested "Kenilworth" to Scott; but his other works are almost all forgotten. Croker. Here was a blank, which may be filled up thus: -"was told by an apparition;" the writer being probably uncertain whether he was asleep or awake, when his mind was impressed with the solemn presentiment with which the fact afterwards happened so wonderfully to correspond. - Bos WELL. Lord Hardinge, when Secretary at War, informed me, that it appears that Colonel Sir Thomas Prendergast, of the twenty-second foot, was killed at Malplaquet, August 31. 1709; but no trace can be found of any Colonel Cecil in the army at that period. The well-known Jacobite, Colonel William Cecil, who was sent to the Tower in 1744, could hardly have been, in 1709, of the age, rank, and station which Oglethorpe's anecdote seems to imply. Is it not very strange, if this story made so great a noise, we should read of it no where else? and, as so much curiosity was excited, that the paper should not have been preserved, or, at least, so generally shown as to be mentioned by some other witness? CROKER. 3 This, and some similar law arguments, which would very much interrupt the narrative, will be found collected in the Appendix.- CROKER. 4 Charles, Lord Binning, afterwards eighth Earl of Haddington, was the son of Mary Holt, who, by a first marriage with Mr. Lloyd, was the mother of Lady Rothes, Mr. Lang. ton's wife. Lord Haddington died in 1828. CROKER. 5 Not very recent, if he alluded to six members of St. Edmund Hall, who were expelled, May 1768. See Gent. Mag., vol. xxxviii. p. 225. But probably Boswell, writing, or at least publishing, at an interval of twenty years, thought that 1768 was, in 1772, recent. — CROKER. R 66 versity, who are not willing to be taught, but will presume to teach? Where is religion to be learnt but at an university? Sir, they were examined, and found to be mighty ignorant fellows." BOSWELL. But, was it not hard, Sir, to expel them; for I am told they were good beings?" JOHNSON. "I believe they might be good beings; but they were not fit to be in the University of Oxford. A cow is a very good animal in the field; but we turn her out of a garden." Lord Elibank used to repeat this as an illustration uncommonly happy. Desirous of calling Johnson forth to talk, and exercise his wit, though I should myself be the object of it, I resolutely ventured to undertake the defence of convivial indulgence in wine, though he was not to-night in the most genial humour. After urging the common plausible topics, I at last had recourse to the maxim, in vino veritas, a man who is well warmed with wine will speak truth. JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, that may be an argument for drinking if you suppose men in general to be liars. But, Sir, I would not keep company with a fellow who lies as long as he is sober, and whom you must make drunk before you can get a word of truth out of him." ! 66 Mr. Langton told us he was about to establish a school upon his estate; but it had been suggested to him, that it might have a tendency to make the people less industrious. JOHNSON. No, Sir; while learning to read and write is a distinction, the few who have that distinction may be the less inclined to work; but when every body learns to read and write, it is no longer a distinction. A man who has a laced waistcoat is too fine a man to work; but if every body had laced waistcoats, we should have people working in laced waistcoasts. There are no people whatever more industrious, none who work more, than our manufacturers; yet they have all learnt to read and write. Sir, you must not neglect doing a thing immediately good, from fear of remote evil; from fear of its being abused. A man who has candles may sit up too late, which he would not do if he had not candles; but no- | body will deny that the art of making candles, by which light is continued to us beyond the time that the sun gives us light, is a valuable art, and ought to be preserved." BOSWELL. "But, Sir, would it not be better to follow nature, and go to bed and rise just as nature gives us light or withholds it?" JOHNSON. "No, Sir; for then we should have no kind of 1 Mrs. Piozzi, in her "Anecdotes," p. 261., has given an erroneous account of this incident, as of many others. She pretends to relate it from recollection, as if she herself had been present: when the fact is, that it was communicated to her by me. She has represented it as a personality, and the true point has escaped her. - BOSWELL. He misrepresents the lady more than she the anecdote; it is either way but a trife, and only worth notice as marking Boswell's jealousy of Mrs. Piozzi's book. — CROKER. equality in the partition of our time between sleeping and waking. It would be very different in different seasons and in different places. In some of the northern parts of Scotland how little light is there in the depth of winter!" We talked of Tacitus, and I hazarded an opinion that, with all his merit for penetration, shrewdness of judgment, and terseness of expression, he was too compact, too much broken into hints, as it were, and, therefore, too difficult to be understood. To my great satisfaction, Dr. Johnson sanctioned this opinion. "Tacitus, Sir, seems to me rather to have made notes for an historical work, than to have written a history."" At this time, it appears, from his "Prayers and Meditations," that he had been more than commonly diligent in religious duties, particularly in reading the Holy Scriptures. It was Passion Week, that solemn season which the Christian world has appropriated to the commemoration of the mysteries of our redemption, and during which, whatever embers of religion are in our breasts, will be kindled into pious warmth. I paid him short visits both on Friday and Saturday; and, seeing his large folio Greek Testament before him, beheld him with a reverential awe, and would not intrude upon his time. While he was thus employed to such good purpose, and while his friends in their intercourse with him constantly found a vigorous intellect and a lively imagination, it is melancholy to read in his private register, "My mind is unsettled and my memory confused. I have of late turned my thoughts with a very useless earnestness upon past incidents. have yet got no command over my thoughts: an unpleasing incident is almost certain to hinder my rest." [p. 111.] What philosophic heroism was it in him to appear with such manly fortitude to the world, while he was inwardly so distressed! We may surely believe that the mysterious principle of being "made perfect through suffering," was to be strongly exemplified in him. 3 I On Sunday, April 19., being Easter-day, General Paoli and I paid him a visit before dinner. We talked of the notion that blind persons can distinguish colours by the touch. Johnson said, that Professor Saunderson mentions his having attempted to do it, but that he found he was aiming at an impossibility; that, to be sure, a difference in the surface makes the difference of colours; but that difference is so fine, that it is not sensible to the 2 It is remarkable that Lord Monboddo, whom, on account of his resembling Dr. Johnson in some particulars, Foote called an Elzevir edition of him, has, by coincidence, made the very same remark. Origin and Progress of Language, vol. iii. 2d edit. p. 219.- BOSWELL. See post, Aug. 21. 1773.-C. 3 Nicholas Saunderson, Professor of Mathematics in the University of Cambridge, died April 19. 1739. He had lost his sight by the small-pox when two years old. — WRIGHT. touch. The General mentioned jugglers and fraudulent gamesters, who could know cards by the touch. Dr. Johnson said, "The cards used by such persons must be less polished than ours commonly are." We talked of sounds. The General said, there was no beauty in a simple sound, but only in an harmonious composition of sounds. I presumed to differ from this opinion, and mentioned the soft and sweet sound of a fine woman's voice. JOHNSON. "No, Sir, if a serpent or a toad uttered it, you would think it ugly." Boswell. "So you would think, Sir, were a beautiful tune to be uttered by one of those animals." JOHNSON. "No, Sir, it would be admired. We have seen fine fiddlers whom we liked as little as toads" (laughing). Talking on the subject of taste in the arts, he said, that difference of taste was, in truth, difference of skill. BosWELL. "But, Sir, is there not a quality called taste, which consists merely in perception or in liking? for instance, we find people differ much as to what is the best style of English composition. Some think Swift's the best; others prefer a fuller and grander way of writing." JOHNSON. "Sir, you must first define what you mean by style, before you can judge who has a good taste in style, and who has a bad. The two classes of persons whom you have mentioned, don't differ as to good and bad. They both agree that Swift has a good neat style; but one loves a neat style, another loves a style of more splendour. In like manner, one loves a plain coat, another loves a laced coat; but neither will deny that each is good in its kind."1 While I remained in London this spring, I was with him at several other times, both by himself and in company. I dined with him one day at the Crown and Anchor tavern, in the Strand, with Lord Elibank, Mr. Langton, and Dr. Vansittart, of Oxford.2 Without specifying each particular day, I have preserved the following memorable things. I regretted the reflection, in his preface to Shakspeare, against Garrick, to whom we cannot but apply the following passage : — "I 1 The following meditations, made about this period, are very interesting sketches of his feelings:. "April 26. was some way hindered from continuing this contemplation in the usual manner, and therefore try, at the distance of a week, to review the last [Easter] Sunday. "I went to church early, having first, I think, used my prayer. When I was there, I had very little perturbation of mind. During the usual time of meditation, I considered the Christian duties under the three principles of soberness, righteousness, and godliness; and purposed to forward godliness by the annual perusal of the Bible; righteousness by settling something for charity, and soberness by early hours. I commended, as usual, with preface of permission, and, I think, mentioned Bathurst. I came home, and found Paoli and Boswell waiting for me. What devotions I used after my return home, I do not distinctly remember. I went to prayers in the evening; and, I think, entered late. On Good Friday, I paid Peyton, without requiring work. It is a comfort to me, that, at last, in my sixty-third year, I have attained to know, even thus hastily, confusedly, and imperfectly, what my Bible contains. Having missed church in the morning (April 26.). I went this evening, and afterwards sat with Southwell." Pr. and Med. pp. 115. 117, 118.- CROKER. collated such copies as I could procure, and wished for more, but have not found the collectors of these rarities very communicative." I told him, that Garrick had complained to me of it, and had vindicated himself by assuring me, that Johnson was made welcome to the full use of his collection, and that he left the key of it with a servant, with orders to have a fire and every convenience for him. I found Johnson's notion was, that Garrick wanted to be courted for them, and that, on the contrary, Garrick should have courted him, and sent him the plays of his own accord. But, indeed, considering the slovenly and careless manner in which books were treated by Johnson, it could not be expected that scarce and valuable editions should have been lent to him." A gentleman having, to some of the usual arguments for drinking, added this:- "You know, Sir, drinking drives away care, and makes us forget whatever is disagreeable. Would not you allow a man to drink for that reason?" JOHNSON. "Yes, Sir, if he sat next you." I expressed a liking for Mr. Francis Osborne's works, and asked him what he thought of that writer. He answered, “A conceited fellow. Were a man to write so now, the boys would throw stones at him." He, however, did not alter my opinion of a favourite author, to whom I was first directed by his being quoted in "The Spectator," and in whom I have found much shrewd and lively sense, expressed, indeed, in a style somewhat quaint; which, however, I do not dislike. His book has an air of originality. We figure to ourselves an ancient gentleman talking to us. When one of his friends endeavoured to maintain that a country gentleman might contrive to pass his life very agreeably, "Sir," said he, "you cannot give me an instance of any man who is permitted to lay out his own time, contriving not to have tedious hours." This observation, however, is equally applicable to gentlemen who live in cities, and are of no profession. He said, "There is no permanent national 2 Robert Vansittart, LL.D. See p. 117. n. 4.- CROKER. 3 Cooke in his Life of Foote records an instance of Johnson's treating Garrick's library very roughly-opening the books so wide as to crack the backs, and throwing them on the floor, to poor Garrick's very natural displeasure. No portion of Johnson's character is so painful to a general admirer as his treatment of Garrick.-CROKER. 4 I believe Boswell himself. - CROker. Of the family of the Osbornes of Chicksands, in Bedfordshire. The work by which he is now best known is his "Historical Memoirs of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and King James," written in a very acrimonious spirit. He had attached himself to the Pembroke family; and, like Earl Philip, whom Walpole designates by the too gentle appellation of memorable simpleton, joined the Parliamentarians. He died in 1659. CROKER. 6 No. 150. Osborne advises his son to appear, in his habit, rather above than below his fortune; and tells him that he will find a handsome suit of clothes always procures some additional respect. — Wright. 7 Not quite: men who live in cities have theatres, clubs, and all the variety of public and private society within easier reach. CROKER. |