Brett, and other eminent divines of that persuasion; and did not recollect that the seven bishops, so justly celebrated for their magnanimous resistance of arbitrary power, were yet nonjurors to the new Government. The nonjuring clergy of Scotland, indeed, who, excepting a few, have lately, by a sudden stroke, cut off all ties of allegiance to the house of Stuart, and resolved to pray for our present lawful Sovereign by name, may be thought to have confirmed this remark; as it may be said, that the divine indefeasible hereditary right which they professed to believe, if ever true, must be equally true still. Many of my readers will be surprised, when I mention that Johnson assured me he had never in his life been in a nonjuring meeting-house. Next morning, at breakfast, he pointed out a passage in Savage's Wanderer, saying, 'These are fine verses.'-'If,' said he, 'I had written with hostility of Warburton in my Shakspeare, I should have quoted this couplet : "Here Learning, blinded first, and then beguiled, Looks dark as Ignorance, as Frenzy wild." You see they'd have fitted him to a T'' (smiling). DR. ADAMS: 'But you did not write against Warburton.' JOHNSON: 'No, sir, I treated him with great respect both in my preface and in my notes.' Mrs. Kennicot spoke of her brother, the Rev. Mr. Chamberlayne, who had given up great prospects in the Church of England on his conversion to the Roman Catholic faith. Johnson, who warmly admired every man who acted from a conscientious regard to principle, erroneous or not, exclaimed fervently, 'GOD bless him.' Mrs. Kennicot, in confirmation of Dr. Johnson's opinion, that the present was not worse than former ages, mentioned that her brother assured her there was now less infidelity on the Continent than there had been; Voltaire and Rousseau were less read. I asserted, from good authority, that Hume's infidelity was certainly less read. JOHNSON: 'All infidel writers drop into oblivion, when personal connections and the floridness of novelty are gone; though now and then a foolish fellow, who thinks he can be witty upon them, may bring them again into notice. There will sometimes start up a college joker, who does not consider that what is a joke in a college will not do in the world. To such defenders of religion I would apply a stanza of a poem which I remember to have seen in some old collection: "Henceforth be quiet and agree, Each kiss his empty brother; But dreads a friend like t'other." The point is well, though the expression is not correct; one, and not thee, should be opposed to father." I I have inserted the stanza as Johnson repeated it from memory; but I have since found the poem itself, On the Roman Catholic religion he said, 'If you join the Papists externally, they will not interrogate you strictly as to your belief in their tenets. No reasoning Papist believes every article of their faith. There is one side on which a good man might be persuaded to embrace it. A good man of a timorous disposition, in great doubt of his acceptance with GOD, and pretty credulous, may be glad to be of a church where there are so many helps to get to Heaven. I would be a Papist if I could. I have fear enough; but an obstinate rationality prevents me. I shall never be a Papist, unless on the near approach of death, of which I have great terror. I wonder that women are not all Papists.' BOSWELL: 'They are not more afraid of death than men are.' JOHNSON: 'Because they are less wicked.' DR. ADAMS: "They are more pious.' JOHNSON: 'No, hang 'em, they are not more pious. A wicked fellow is the most pious when he takes to it. He'll beat you all at piety.' He argued in defence of some of the peculiar tenets of the Church of Rome. As to the giving the bread only to the laity, he said, 'They may think, that in what is merely ritual, deviations from the primitive mode may be admitted on the ground of convenience; and I think they are as well warranted to make this alteration, as we are to substitute sprinkling in the room of the ancient baptism.' As to the invocation of saints, he said, 'Though I do not think it authorized, it appears to me that the communion of saints in the Creed means the communion with the saints in Heaven, as connected with "the holy Catholic Church."'1 He admitted the influence of evil spirits upon our minds, and said, 'Nobody who believes the New Testament can deny it.' I brought a volume of Dr. Hurd the Bishop of Worcester's Sermons, and read to the company some passages from one of them, upon this text, Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.'James iv. 7. I was happy to produce so judi in The Foundling Hospital for Wit, printed at London, 1749. It is as follows: 'EPIGRAM, occasioned by a religious dispute at Bath. 'On Reason, Faith, and Mystery high, Two wits harangue the table; 'Peace, coxcombs, peace, and both agree; And dreads a friend like t'other.'-BOSWELL. 1 Walker, in his Divine Poesie, Canto first, has thre same thought finely expressed :- 'The Church triumphant, and the Church below, In songs of praise their present union show: Their joys are full, our expectation long; In life we differ, but we join in song; Angels and we, assisted by this art, May sing together, though we dwell apart.' -BOSWELL cious and elegant a supporter of a doctrine which, I know not why, should, in this world of imperfect knowledge, and therefore of wonder and mystery in a thousand instances, be contested by some with an unthinking assurance and flippancy. After dinner, when one of us talked of there| being a great enmity between Whig and ToryJOHNSON: Why, not so much, I think, unless when they come into competition with each other. There is none when they are only common acquaintance, none when they are of different sexes. A Tory will marry into a Whig family, and a Whig into a Tory family, without any reluctance. But, indeed, in a matter of much more concern than political tenets, and that is religion, men and women do not concern themselves much about difference of opinion; and ladies set no value on the moral character of men who pay their addresses to them: the greatest profligate will be as well received as the man of the greatest virtue, and this by a very good woman, by a woman who says her prayers three times a day.' Our ladies endeavoured to defend their sex from this charge; but he roared them down! No, no! a lady will take Jonathan Wild as readily as St. Austin, if he has threepence more; and, what is worse, her parents will give her to him. Women have a perpetual envy of our vices; they are less vicious than we, not from choice, but because we restrict them; they are the slaves of order and fashion; their virtue is of more consequence to us than our own, so far as concerns this world.' Miss Adams mentioned a gentleman of licentious character, and said, 'Suppose I had a mind to marry that gentleman, would my parents consent?' JOHNSON: 'Yes, they'd consent, and you'd go. You'd go, though they did not consent.' MISS ADAMS: 'Perhaps their opposing might make me go.' JOHNSON: 'Oh, very well; you'd take one whom you think a bad man, to have the pleasure of vexing your parents. You put me in mind of Dr. Barrowby, the physician, who was very fond of swine's flesh. One day, when he was eating it, he said, "I wish I was a Jew."-"Why so?" said somebody; "the Jews are not allowed to eat your favourite meat."— "Because," said he, "I should then have the gust of eating it, with the pleasure of sinning." Johnson then proceeded in his declamation. Miss Adams soon afterwards made an observation that I do not recollect, which pleased him much; he said, with a good-humoured smile, 'That there should be so much excellence united with so much depravity is strange.' Indeed, this lady's good qualities, merit, and accomplishments, and her constant attention to Dr. Johnson, were not lost upon him. She happened to tell him that a little coffeepot, in which she had made him coffee, was the only thing she could call her own. He turned to her with a complacent gallantry, 'Don't say so, my dear; I hope you don't reckon my heart as nothing.' I asked him if it was true, as reported, that he had said lately, 'I am for the King against Fox; but I am for Fox against Pitt.' JOHNSON: 'Yes, sir; the King is my master; but I do not know Pitt; and Fox is my friend.' 'Fox,' added he, 'is a most extraordinary man. Here is a man,' describing him in strong terms of objection in some respects, according as he apprehended, but which exalted his abilities the more, 'who has divided the kingdom with Cæsar; so that it was a doubt whether the nation should be ruled by the sceptre of George III. or the tongue of Fox.' us. Dr. Wall, physician at Oxford, drank tea with Johnson had in general a peculiar pleasure in the company of physicians, which was certainly not abated by the conversation of this learned, ingenious, and pleasing gentleman. Johnson said, 'It is wonderful how little good Radcliffe's travelling fellowships have done. I know nothing that has been imported by them; yet many additions to our medical knowledge might be got in foreign countries. Inoculation, for instance, has saved more lives than war destroyed; and the cures performed by the Peruvian bark are innumerable. But it is in vain to send our travelling physicians to France, and Italy, and Germany; for all that is known there is known here: I'd send them out of Christendom; I'd send them among barbarous nations.' On Friday, June 11, we talked at breakfast of forms of prayer. JOHNSON: 'I know of no good prayers but those in the Book of Common Prayer.' DR. ADAMS (in a very earnest manner): 'I wish, sir, you would compose some family prayers.' JOHNSON: 'I will not compose prayers for you, sir, because you can do it for yourself. But I have thought of getting together all the books of prayers which I could, selecting those which should appear to me the best, putting out some, inserting others, adding some prayers of my own, and prefixing a discourse on prayer.' We all now gathered about him, and two or three of us at a time joined in pressing him to execute this plan. He seemed to be a little displeased at the manner of our importunity, and in great agitation called out, 'Do not talk thus of what is so awful. I know not what time GOD will allow me in this world. There are many things which I wish to do.' Some of us persisted, and Dr. Adams said, 'I never was more serious about anything in my life.' JOHNSON: Let me alone, let me alone; I am overpowered.' And then he put his hands before his face, and reclined for some time upon the table. I mentioned Jeremy Taylor's using, in his forms of prayer, 'I am the chief of sinners,' and other such self-condemning expressions. 'Now,' said I, 'this cannot be said with truth by every man, and therefore is improper for a general printed form. I myself cannot say that I am the worst of men; I will not say so.' JOHNSON: 'A man may know, that physically, that is, in the real state of things, he is not the worst man; but that morally he may be so. Law observes, that "every man knows something worse of himself, than he is sure of in others." You may not have committed such crimes as some men have done, but you do not know against what degree of light they have sinned. Besides, sir, "the chief of sinners" is a mode of expression for "I am a great sinner." So St. Paul, speaking of our Saviour's having died to save sinners, says, "of whom I am the chief: " yet he certainly did not think himself so bad as Judas Iscariot.' BOSWELL: 'But, sir, Taylor means it literally, for he founds a conceit upon it. When praying for the conversion of sinners, and of himself in particular, he says, "Lord, thou wilt not leave thy chief work undone."' JOHNSON: 'I do not approve of figurative expressions in addressing the Supreme Being; and I never use them. Taylor gives a very good advice: "Never lie in your prayers; never confess more than you really believe; never promise more than you mean to perform."" I recollected this precept in his Golden Grove; but his example for prayer contradicts his precept. Dr. Johnson and I went in Dr. Adams's coach to dine with Dr. Nowell, principal of St. Mary Hall, at his beautiful villa at Iffley, on the banks of the Isis, about two miles from Oxford. While we were upon the road, I had the resolution to ask Johnson whether he thought that the rough ness of his manner had been an advantage or not, and if he would not have done more good if he had been more gentle. I proceeded to answer myself thus: "Perhaps it has been of advantage, as it has given weight to what you said you could not, perhaps, have talked with such authority without it.' JOHNSON: 'No, sir; I have done more good as I am. Obscenity and impiety have always been repressed in my company.' BOSWELL: "True, sir; and that is more than can be said of every bishop. Greater liberties have been taken in the presence of a bishop, though a very good man, from his being milder, and therefore not commanding such awe. Yet, sir, many people who might have been benefited by your conversation, have been frightened away. A worthy friend of ours has told me, that he has often been afraid to talk to you.' JOHNSON: 'Sir, he need not have been afraid, if he had anything rational to say. If he had not, it was better he did not talk.' Dr. Nowell is celebrated for having preached 1 The words of Erasmus, as my learned friend Dr. Kearney observes to me, may be applied to Johnson: 'Qui ingenium, sensuin, dictionem hominis noverant, multis non offenduntur, quibus graviter erant offendendi, qui hæc ignorarunt.'-MALONE. a sermon before the House of Commons, on the 30th of January 1772, full of high Tory sentiments, for which he was thanked as usual, and printed it at their request; but, in the midst of that turbulence and faction which disgraced a part of the present reign, the thanks were afterwards ordered to be expunged. This strange conduct sufficiently exposes itself; and Dr. Nowell will ever have the honour which is due to a lofty friend of our monarchical Constitution. Dr. Johnson said to me, 'Sir, the Court will be very much to blame if he is not promoted.' I told this to Dr. Nowell; and asserting my humbler, though not less zealous, exertions in the same cause, I suggested, that whatever return we might receive, we should still have the consolation of being like Butler's steady and generous Royalist, "True as the dial to the sun, Although it be not shone upon.' We were well entertained and very happy at Dr. Nowell's, where was a very agreeable com pany; and we drank 'Church and King' after dinner, with true Tory cordiality. We talked of a certain clergyman of extraordinary character, who, by exerting his talents in writing on temporary topics, and displaying uncommon intrepidity, had raised himself to affluence. I maintained that we ought not to be indignant at his success; for merit of every sort was entitled to reward. JOHNSON: 'Sir, I will not allow this man to have merit. No, sir; what he has is rather the contrary; I will, indeed, allow him courage, and on this account we so far give him credit. We have more rethan for a fellow who jumps out of a ditch, and spect for a man who robs boldly on the highway, knocks you down behind your back. Courage is a quality so necessary for maintaining virtue, that it is always respected, even when it is associated with vice.' I censured the coarse invectives which were become fashionable in the House of Commons, and said, that if members of Parliament must debate, it should be done more genteelly. JOHNattack each other personally in the heat of SON: 'No, sir; that would be much worse. vehicle of wit or delicacy, no subtle conveyance. Abuse is not so dangerous when there is no The difference between coarse and refined abuse is as the difference between being bruised by a club and wounded by a poisoned arrow.' I have since observed his position eloquently expressed by Dr. Young: 'As the soft plume gives swiftness to the dart, Good breeding sends the satire to the heart.' On Saturday, June 12, there drank tea with us, at Dr. Adams's, Mr. John Henderson, student of Pembroke College, celebrated for his wonderful acquirements in alchemy, judicial astrology, and other abstruse and curious learning; and the Reverend Herbert Croft, who, I am afraid, was somewhat mortified by Dr. Johnson's not being highly pleased with some Family Discourses which he had printed; they were in too familiar a style to be approved of by so manly a mind. I have no note of this eyening's conversation, except a single fragment. When I mentioned Thomas Lord Lyttelton's vision, the prediction of the time of his death, and its exact fulfilment-JOHNSON: 'It is the most extraordinary thing that has happened in my day. I heard it with my own ears, from his uncle, Lord Westcote.' I am so glad to have every evidence of the spiritual world, that I am willing to believe it.' DR. ADAMS: 'You have evidence enough; good evidence which needs not such support.' JOHNSON: 'I like to have more.' Mr. Henderson, with whom I had sauntered in the venerable walks of Merton College, and found him a very learned and pious man, supped with us. Dr. Johnson surprised him not a little, by acknowledging, with a look of horror, that he was much oppressed by the fear of death. The amiable Dr. Adams suggested that GOD was infinitely good. JOHNSON: That He is infinitely good, as far as the perfection of His nature will allow, I certainly believe; but it is necessary for good upon the whole, that individuals should be punished. As to an individual, therefore, He is not infinitely good; and as I cannot be sure that I have fulfilled the conditions on which salvation is granted, I am afraid I may be one of those who shall be damned.' (Looking dismally.) DR. ADAMS: 'What do you mean by damned?' JOHNSON (passionately and loudly): Sent to hell, sir, and punished everlastingly.' DR. ADAMS: 'I don't believe that doctrine.' JOHNSON: 'Hold, sir; do you believe that some will be punished at all?' DR. ADAMS: 'Being excluded from heaven will be a punishment; yet there may be no great positive suffering.' JOHNSON: 'Well, sir, but if you admit any degree of punishment, there is an end of your argument for infinite goodness simply considered; for infinite goodness would inflict no punishment whatever. There is no infinite goodness physically considered; morally there is.' BOSWELL: But may not a man attain to such a degree of hope as not to be uneasy from the fear of death?' JOHNSON: 'A man may have such a degree of hope as to keep him quiet. You see I am not quiet, from the vehemence with which I talk; but I do not despair.' MRS. ADAMS: 'You seem, sir, to forget the merits of our Redeemer.' JOHNSON: 'Madam, I do not forget the merits of my Redeemer; but my Redeemer has said that he will set some on His right hand and some on His left.'-He was in gloomy agitation, and said, 1 A correct account of Lord Lyttelton's supposed vision may be found in Nash's History of Worcestershire. -MALONE. 'I'll have no more on't.'-If what has now been stated should be urged by the enemies of Christianity, as if its influence on the mind were not benignant, let it be remembered that Johnson's temperament was melancholy, of which such direful apprehensions of futurity are often a common effect. We shall presently see, that when he approached nearer to his awful change, his mind became tranquil, and he exhibited as much fortitude as becomes a thinking man in that situation. From the subject of death we passed to discourse of life, whether it was upon the whole more happy or miserable. Johnson was decidedly for the balance of misery: in confirmation of which I maintained, that no man would choose to lead over again the life which he had experienced. Johnson acceded to that opinion in the strongest terms. This is an inquiry often made; and its being a subject of disquisition is a proof that much misery presses upon human feelings; for those who are conscious of a felicity of existence, would never hesitate to accept of a repetition of it. I have met with very few who would. I have heard Mr. Burke make use of a very ingenious and plausible argument on this subject: 'Every man,' said he, 'would lead his life over again: for every man is willing to go on and take an addition to his life, which, as he grows older, he has no reason to think will be better, or even so good, as what has preceded.' I imagine, however, the truth is, that there is a deceitful hope that the next part of life will be free from the pains, and anxieties, and sorrows, which we have already felt. We are, for wise purposes, 'condemned to hope's delusive mine,' as Johnson finely says; and I may also quote the celebrated lines of Dryden, equally philosophical and poetical: 'When I consider life, 'tis all a cheat; Yet fool'd with hope, men favour the deceit, It was observed to Dr. Johnson that it seemed strange that he, who has so often delighted his company by his lively and brilliant conversation, should say he was miserable. JOHNSON: Alas! it is all outside; I may be cracking my joke, and cursing the sun: Sun, how I hate thy beams!' I knew not well what to think of this declaration; whether to hold it as a genuine picture of his mind, or as the effect of his persuading himself contrary to the fact, that the position which he had assumed as to human unhappiness was true. We may apply to him a 1 Aurengzebe, Act iv. Sc. 1.-BOSWELL |