because he supposes himself disgraced by the doctorship, or supposes the doctorship disgraced by himself. To be disgraced by a title which he shares in common with every illustrious name of his profession, with Boerhaave, with Arbuthnot, and with Cullen, can surely diminish no man's reputation. It is, I suppose, to the doctorate, from which he shrinks, that he owes his right of practising physic. A doctor of medicine is a physician under the protection of the laws, and by the stamp of authority. The physician who is not a doctor usurps a profession, and is authorised only by himself to decide upon health and sickness, and life and death. That this gentleman is a doctor, his diploma makes evident; a diploma not obtruded upon him, but obtained by solicitation, and for which fees were paid. With what countenance any man can refuse the title which he has either begged or bought, is not easily discovered. “All verbal injury must comprise in it either some false position, or some unnecessary declaration of defamatory truth. That in calling him doctor, a false appellation was given him, he himself will not pretend, who at the same time that he complains of the title would be offended if we supposed him to be not a doctor. If the title of doctor be a defamatory truth, it is time to dissolve our colleges; for why should the public give salaries to men whose approbation is reproach? It may likewise deserve the notice of the public to consider what help can be given to the professors of physic, who all share with this unhappy gentleman the ignominious appellation, and of whom the very boys in the street are not afraid to say, There goes the doctor. "What is implied by the term doctor is well known. It distinguishes him to whom it is granted, as a man who has attained such knowledge of his profession as qualifies him to instruct others. A doctor of law is a man who can form lawyers by his precepts. A doctor of medicine is a man who can teach the art of curing diseases. This is an old axiom which no man has yet thought fit to deny. Nil dat quod non habet. Upon this principle to be doctor implies skill, for nemo docet quod non didicit. In England, whoever practises physic, not being a doctor, must practise by a licence; but the doctorate conveys a licence in itself. "By what accident it happened that he and the other physicians were mentioned in different terms, where the terms themselves were equivalent, or where in effect that which was applied to him was the most honourable, perhaps they who wrote the paper cannot now remember. Had they expected a lawsuit to have been the consequence of such petty variation, I hope they would have avoided it. But, probably, as they meant no ill, they suspected In justice to Dr. Memis, though I was against him as an advocate, I must mention, that he objected to the variation very earnestly, before the translation was printed off. BOSWELL. "To * Old Bedlam was one of the sights of London, like the Abbey and the Tower. (See Tatler, No. 70.) The public were admitted for a small fee to perambulate long galleries into which the cells opened (these Boswell calls the mansions), and even to converse with the maniacs. gratify the curiosity of a country friend, I accompanied him a few weeks ago to Bedlam. It was in the Easter week, when, to my great surprise, I found a hundred people at least, who, having paid their twopence apiece, were suffered, unattended, to run rioting up and down the wards, making sport and diversion of the miserable inhabitants," &c.- The World, no danger, and, therefore, consulted only what appeared to them propriety or convenience." A few days afterwards, I consulted him upon a cause, Paterson and others against Alexander und others, which had been decided by a casting vote in the Court of Session, determining that the corporation of Stirling was corrupt, and setting aside the election of some of their officers, because it was proved that three of had entered into an unjustifiable compact, of the leading men who influenced the majority which, however, the majority were ignorant. He dictated to me after a little consideration, the following sentences upon the subject. "There is a difference between majority and superiority: majority is applied to number, and superiority to power; and power, like many other things, is to be estimated non numero sed pondere. Now though the greater number is not corrupt, the greater weight is corrupt, so that corruption predominates in the borough, taken collectively, though, perhaps, taken numerically, the greater part may be uncorrupt. That borough, which is so constituted as to act corruptly, is in the eye of reason corrupt, whether it be by the uncontrollable power of a few, or by an accidental pravity of the multitude. The objection, in which is urged the injustice of making the innocent suffer with the guilty, is an objection not only against society, but against the possibility of society. All societies, great and small, subsist upon this condition; that as the individuals derive advantages from union, they may likewise suffer inconveniences; that as those who do nothing, and sometimes those who do ill, will have the honours and emoluments of general virtue and general prosperity, so those likewise who do nothing, or perhaps do well, must be involved in the consequences of predominant corruption." This, in my opinion, was a very nice case; but the decision was affirmed in the House of Lords. On Monday, May 8., we went together and visited the mansions of Bedlam. I had been informed that he had once been there before borough), Mr. Murphy, and Mr. Foote; and with Mr. Wedderburne (now Lord LoughI had heard Foote give a very entertaining account of Johnson's happening to have his attention arrested by a man who was very furious, and who, while beating his straw, supposed it was William, Duke of Cumberland, whom he was punishing for his cruelties in Scotland, in 1746.3 There was nothing pecu No. 23. June 7. 1753. See also Plate 8. of Hogarth's Rake's Progress, where two lady visitors seem to have been admitted into the cell of the maniacs.- CROKER, 1846. 3 My very honourable friend, General Sir George Howard, who served in the Duke of Cumberland's army, has assured me that the cruelties were not imputable to his Royal Highness. BOSWELL. On the morning of the battle of Culloden, Lord George Murray, the chief of the Pretender's staff, issued an order to give no quarter to the royal forces. The Jacobites affected to say that this was the act of the individual and not of the Prince or his party; but it is undeniable that such a general order was given, and that it became the excuse, though certainly not a justification, of the severities which followed the battle on the part of the conquerors. -CROKER. liarly remarkable this day; but the general contemplation of insanity was very affecting. I accompanied him home, and dined and drank tea with him. | I have prefixed by Mr. Mason to his poems. On Saturday, May 13., I breakfasted with Talking of an acquaintance of ours', distinguished for knowing an uncommon variety of miscellaneous articles both in antiquities and polite literature, he observed, "You know, Sir, he runs about with little weight upon his mind." And talking of another very ingenious gentleman2, who, from the warmth of his temper, was at variance with many of his acquaintance, and wished to avoid them, he said, "Sir, he lives the life of an outlaw." On Friday, May 12., as he had been so good as to assign me a room in his house, where I might sleep occasionally, when I happened to sit with him to a late hour, I took possession of it this night, found every thing in excellent order, and was attended by honest Francis with a most civil assiduity. I asked Johnson whether I might go to a consultation with another lawyer upon Sunday, as that appeared to me to be doing work as much in my way, as if an artisan should work on the day appropriated for religious rest. JouNSON." Why, Sir, when you are of consequence enough to oppose the practice of consulting upon Sunday you should do it; but you may go now. It is not criminal, though it is not what one should do, who is anxious for the preservation and increase of piety, to which a peculiar observance of Sunday is a great help. The dis-see, Sir, that it is reasonable for a man to be tinction is clear between what is of moral and angry at another whom a woman has preferred to him; but angry he is, no doubt; and he is what is of ritual obligation." loth to be angry at himself." [JOHNSON TO MRS. THRALE. (Extract.) "12th May, 1775.—I wish I could say or send any thing to divert you; but I have done nothing, and seen nothing. I dined one day with Paoli, and yesterday with Mrs. Southwell's3, and called on Congreve. Mr. Twiss is going to Ireland, and I have given him letters to Dr. Leland and Mr. Falkner. 4 "Boswell has made me promise not to go to Oxford till he leaves London; I had no great reason for haste, and therefore might as well gratify a friend. I am always proud and pleased to have my company desired. Boswell would have thought my absence a loss, and I know not who else would have considered my presence as a profit. He has entered himself at the Temple, and I joined in his bond. He is to plead before the Lords, and hopes very nearly to gain the cost of his journey. He lives much with his friend Paoli, who says, a man must see Wales to enjoy England. "The book which is now most read, but which as far as I have gone, is but dull, is Gray's Letters 1 Probably Dr. Percy. - CROKER. 2 No doubt Mr. George Steevens.- CROKER. 3 See antè, p. 246. n. 2. — C. 4 See post, 22d March, 1776. — C. 5 George Faulkner, the celebrated printer. Mr. Twiss published his tour in Ireland, which gave more offence to the It being asked whether it was reasonable for had preferred to him;-JOHNSON. "I do not a man to be angry at another whom a woman Before setting out for Scotland on the 23d, I was frequently in his company at different places, but during this period have recorded only two remarks; one concerning Garrick: "He has not Latin enough. He finds out the Latin by the meaning, rather than the meaning by the Latin." And another concerning writers of travels, who, he observed, "were more defective than any other writers." I passed many hours with him on the 17th, of which I find all my memorial is, "much laughing." It should seem he had that day been in a humour for jocularity and merriment, and upon such occasions I never knew a man laugh more heartily. We may suppose that the high relish of a state so different from his habitual gloom produced more than ordinary exertions of that distinguishing faculty of man, which has puzzled philosophers so much to explain. Johnson's laugh was as remarkable as any circumstance in his manner. It was a kind of good-humoured growl. Tom Davies described it drolly enough: "He laughs like a rhinoceros." Irish than even Johnson's Journey had done to the Scotch. 6 Nothing but a strong prejudice could have made Johnson thus speak of those very entertaining letters. See post, 504.- CROKER. "London, May 22. 1775.- Boswell went away at two this morning. Langton] I suppose goes this week. B[oswell] got two and forty guineas in fees while he was here. He has, by his wife's persuasion and mine, taken down a present for his mother-in-law. "I am not sorry that you read Boswell's journal. Is it not a merry piece? There is much in it about poor me. "Do not buy C[handler]'s travels, they are duller than T[wiss] 's. W [raxall] is too fond of words, but you may read him. I shall take care that Adair's account of America may be sent you, for I shall have it of my own. "Beattie has called once to see me. He lives grand at the archbishop's." JOHNSON TO BOSWELL. 66 May 27. 1775. "DEAR SIR, I make no doubt but you are now safely lodged in your own habitation, and have told all your adventures to Mrs. Boswell and Miss Veronica. Pray teach Veronica to love me. Bid her not mind mamma. "Mrs. Thrale has taken cold, and been very much disordered, but I hope is grown well. Mr. Langton went yesterday to Lincolnshire, and has invited Nicolaida to follow him. Beauclerk talks of going to Bath. I am to set out on Monday; so there is nothing but dispersion. 6 "I promised Mrs. Macaulay that I would try to serve her son at Oxford. I have not forgotten it, nor am unwilling to perform it. If they desire to give him an English education, it should be considered whether they cannot send him for a year or two to an English school. If he comes immediately from Scotland, he can make no figure in our Universities. The schools in the north, I believe, are cheap; and when I was a young man, were eminently good. He had written to Mrs. Thrale the day before: "Peyton and Macbean are both starving, and I cannot keep them.", Letters.- CROKER. 2 Travels in Asia Minor.- CROKER. 3" Cursory Remarks made in a Tour through some of the Northern Parts of Europe."- CROKER. 4 Beattie was on a visit to his friend, Dr. Porteus, who had apartments in Lambeth Palace, as chaplain to Archbishop Secker. CROKER, 1846. 5 A learned Greek.- BosWELL. Mr. Langton was an enthusiast about Greek. CROKER. 6 Wife of the Rev. Kenneth Macaulay, author of "The History of St. Kilda.". BOSWELL. See antè, p. 303. — C. "There are two little books published by the Foulis, Telemachus and Collins's Poems, each a shilling; I would be glad to have them. "Make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell, though You see what perverse she does not love me. things ladies are, and how little fit to be trusted with feudal estates. When she mends and loves me, there may be more hope of her daughters. "I will not send compliments to my friends by name, because I would be loth to leave any out in the enumeration. Tell them, as you see them, how well I speak of Scotch politeness, and Scotch hospitality, and Scotch beauty, and of every thing Scotch, but Scotch oat-cakes and Scotch prejudices. decision relating to Sir Allan. Let me know the answer of Rasuy', and the Sir, with great affection, &c., I am, my dearest SAM. JOHNSON." 66 "Oxford, June 1. 1775. 10-I did not make the epitaph" before last night, and this morning I have found it too long; I send it to you as it is, to pacify you, and will make it shorter * Don't suppose that I live here as we live at Streatham. I went this morning to the chapel at six, and if I were to stay would try to conform to all wholesome rules *. Mr. Coulson 12 is well, and still willing to keep me, but I delight not in being long here. Mr. Smollett, of LochLomond 's and his lady have been here -we were glad to meet." "June 6.- Such is the uncertainty of all human things, that Mr. [Coulson] has quarrelled 7 Boswell has not given us Rasay's answer. See antè p. 169. I suppose it was not quite satisfactory - CROKER. 8 A lawsuit carried on by Sir Allan Maclean, chief of his clan, to recover certain parts of his family estates from the Duke of Argyle. - BOSWELL. The very learned minister in the Isle of Sky, whom both Dr. Johnson and I have mentioned with regard.- BOSWELL. See ante, p. 316. — C. 10 In the latter end of May he set out on what he called "his annual ramble into the middle counties," of which his letters to Mrs. Thrale afford a kind of journal. CROKER. 11 On Mrs Salusbury.. -CROKER. 12 Of University College. - CHOKER, 13 See antè, p. 392. — C. with me.' He says I raise the laugh upon him, and he is an independent man, and all he has is his own, and he is not used to such things. And so I shall have no more good of C[oulson], of whom I never had any good but flattery, which my dear mistress knows I can have at home. "June 7. Coulson] and I am pretty well again, I grudge the cost of going to Lichfield Frank and I-in a post-chaise- yet I think of thundering away to-morrow. So you will write your next dear letter to Lichfield." "Lichfield, June 10. - On Thursday I took a post-chaise, and intended to have passed a day or two at Birmingham, but Hector had company in his house, and I went on to Lichfield, where I know not how long I shall stay." "June 11. I go every day to Stowhill: both the sisters are now at home. Every body remembers you all. You left a good impression behind you. I hope you will do the same at [Lewes]. Do not make them speeches. Unusual compliments, to which there is no stated and prescriptive answer, embarrass the feeble, who do not know what to say, and disgust the wise, who, knowing them to be false, suspect them to be hypocritical. You never told me, and I omitted to inquire, how you were entertained by Boswell's Journal.' One would think the man had been hired to be a spy upon me he was very diligent, and caught opportunities of writing from time to time. You may now conceive yourself tolerably well acquainted with the expedition. Folks want me to go to Italy, but I say you are not for it." "June 13. cause of his misbehaviour I am afraid he has learned part of me. I hope to set him hereafter a better example." "21st July. You and [Baretti] are friends again. My dear mistress has the quality of being easily reconciled, and not easily offended. Kindness is a good thing in itself; and there are few things that are worthy of anger, and still fewer that can justify malignity. "In the mean time, however, life is gliding away, and another state is hastening forwards. You were but five-and-twenty when I knew you first. What I shall be next September [67], I confess I have lacheté enough to turn aside from thinking. "I am glad you read Boswell's Journal. are now sufficiently informed of the whole transaction, and need not regret that you did not make the tour of the Hebrides." You Lichfield, July [27]. "I have passed one day at Birmingham with my old friend Hector- there's a name! and his sister, an old love. My mistress is grown much older than my friend. 'O quid habes illius, illius JOHNSON TO BOSWELL. "London, Aug. 27. 1775.5 DEAR SIR,- I am returned from the annual ramble into the middle counties. Having seen nothing I had not seen before, I have nothing to Mr. Green has got a cast of Shak-relate. Time has left that part of the island few speare, which he holds to be a very exact resem- antiquities; and commerce has left the people no blance. singularities. I was glad to go abroad, and, perhaps, glad to come home; which is, in other words, I was, I am afraid, weary of being at home, and weary of being abroad. Is not this the state of life? But if we confess this weariness, let us not lament it; for all the wise and all the good say, that we may cure it. “There is great lamentation here for the death of Col. Lucy is of opinion that he was wonderfully handsome. "Boswell is a favourite, but he has lost ground since I told them that he is married, and all hope is over." 1 My venerable and amiable friend, Dr. Fisher, formerly Master of the Charter House, told me, in 1833 (he being then in his eighty-fourth year, in the full possession of his clear mind and happy temper), that he was present at this quarrel. Coulson was going out on a country living, and talking of it with the same pomp, as to Lord Stowell (ante, p. 425.). Johnson chose to imagine his becoming an archdeacon, and made himself merry Dr. Fisher thought too merry at Coulson's expense; at last they got to warm words, and Johnson concl ded the debate by exclaiming emphatically" Sir, having meant you no offence, I will make you no apology."- CROKER, 1846. 2 Mrs. Gastrell and Miss (now Mrs.) Aston.- CROKER. 3 My Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides," which that lady read in the original manuscript.- BoswELL. "For the black fumes which rise in your mind, I can prescribe nothing but that you disperse them by honest business or innocent pleasure, and by reading, sometimes easy and sometimes serious. Change of place is useful; and I hope that your residence at Auchinleck will have many good effects. That I should have given pain "Johnson's Court, 26th June, 1775, "MADAM, Often have I heard of generosity, benevolence, and compassion, but never have I known or experienced the reality of those virtues, till this joyful morning, when I received the honour of your most tender and affectionate letter with its most welcome contents. Madam, 1 may with truth say, I have not words to express my gratitude as I ought to a lady, whose bounty has, by an act of benevolence, doubled my income, and whose tender, compassionate assurance has removed the future anxiety of trusting to chance, the terror of which only could have prompted me to stand a publick candidate for Mr. Hetherington's bounty. May my sincere and grateful thanks be accepted by you, and may the Author of all good bless and long continue a life, whose shining virtues are so conspicuous and exemplary, is the most ardent prayer of her who is, with the greatest respect, Madam, your most devoted, truly obliged, and obedient humble servant, ANNA WILLIAMS." -Mont. MSS. to Rasay, I am sincerely sorry; and am therefore very much pleased that he is no longer uneasy. He still thinks that I have represented him as personally giving up the chieftainship. I meant only that it was no longer contested between the two houses, and supposed it settled, perhaps, by the cession of some remote generation, in the house of Dunvegan. I am sorry the advertisement was not continued for three or four times in the paper. "That Lord Monboddo and Mr. Macqueen should controvert a position contrary to the imaginary interest of literary or national prejudice, might be easily imagined; but of a standing fact there ought to be no controversy: if there are men with tails, catch a homo caudatus; if there was writing of old in the Highlands or Hebrides, in the Erse language, produce the manuscripts. Where men write they will write to one another, and some of their letters, in families studious of their ancestry, will be kept. In Wales there are many manuscripts. : "I have now three parcels of Lord Hailes's history, which I purpose to return all the next week that his respect for my little observations should keep his work in suspense, makes one of the evils of my journey. It is in our language, I think, a new mode of history which tells all that is wanted, and, I suppose, all that is known, without laboured splendour of language, or affected subtilty of conjecture. The exactness of his dates raises my wonder. He seems to have the closeness of Henault without his constraint. "Mrs. Thrale was so entertained with your 'Journal,' that she almost read herself blind. She has a great regard for you. "Of Mrs. Boswell, though she knows in her heart that she does not love me, I am always glad to hear any good, and hope that she and the little dear ladies will have neither sickness nor any other affliction. But she knows that she does not care what becomes of me, and for that she may be sure that I think her very much to blame. "Never, my dear Sir, do you take it into your head to think that I do not love you; you may settle yourself in full confidence both of my love and esteem: I love you as a kind man, I value you as a worthy man, and hope in time to reverence you as a man of exemplary piety. I hold you, as Hamlet has it, in my heart of hearts,' and therefore, it is little to say, that I am, Sir, your affectionate humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON." your glasses. I have written this post to the ladies at Stowehill, and you may, the day after you have this, or at any other time, send Mrs. Gastrell's books. “Be pleased to make my compliments to all my good friends. I hope the poor dear hand is recovered, and you are now able to write, which, however, you need not do, for I am going to Brighthelmstone, and when I come back will take care to tell you. In the mean time take great care of your health, and drink as much as you can. dearest love, your most humble servant, Pearson MSS. I am, "SAM. JOHNSON."] JOHNSON TO BOSWELL. "Sept. 14. 1775. MY DEAR SIR, I now write to you, lest in some of your freaks and humours you should Such fancies I must fancy yourself neglected. entreat you never to admit, at least never to indulge; for my regard for you is so radicated and fixed, that it is become part of my mind, and cannot be effaced but by some cause uncommonly violent; therefore, whether I write or not, set your thoughts at rest. I now write to tell you that I shall not very soon write again, for I am to set out to-morrow on another journey. Your friends are all well at Streatham, and in Leicester Fields. Make my compliments to Mrs. I am, Boswell, if she is in good humour with me. Sir, &c., Luxembourg. Friar Wilkes. St. Denis. Chantilly. Compeigne. — Cambray. — State of Society in France. Madame de Boufflers. Voltaire. - Dr. Burney's Collectanea. Letters to Mrs. Montagu, &c. - WHAT he mentions in such light terms as, “I am to set out to-morrow on another journey,' I soon afterwards discovered was no less than a tour to France with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale. This was the only time in his life that he went upon the Continent. JOHNSON TO LEVETT. "Calais, Sept. 18. 1775. "DEAR SIR, We are here in France, after a very pleasing passage of no more than six hours, I know not when I shall write again, and there. fore I write now, though you cannot suppose that 2 Where Sir Joshua Reynolds lived. — BoswELL. |