Boswell says Homer plays the bassoon, Pope the flageolet, iii. 270; his characters of men better than those of women, ii. 90; his early appreciation of Johnson, 90; his emotion in repeating the last lines of the Dunciad, 90 n.; and Dryden, distinguished by Voltaire, ii. 23. Population, discussion on, ii. 103. Porridge, Athol, a mixture of whisky and honey, iv. 39. Porter, Johnson desires to send a cask of, to his friends in the Hebrides, ii. 256. Porter, Mrs., afterwards Mrs. Johnson, i. 59, 60.
Miss Lucy, i. 14, 15, 54; Johnson's letters to, after his mother's death, i. 395-7; John- son's new year's gift to, ii. 376; Johnson's letter of condolence with, 379; described, iii. 44; Boswell visits, at Lichfield, iii. 400; inquires concerning the family of Miss Doxy's lover, Johnson's letters to, giving a sad account of his own health, and the state of his household, iv. 91; desiring her prayers, 301.
Captain George, Lucy Porter's brother, death of, i. 400. Johnson and the, iv. 32. Porteus, Dr. Beilby, Bishop of Chester, iii. 400.
Portmore, Lord, writes to inquire after Johnson, iv. 194. Portrait, the first one of Johnson painted by Reynolds, soon after the Dictionary was published, and given by Reynolds to Bos- well, i. 311; the second by Sir Joshua Reynolds, ii. 139; Beau- clerk inscribes on his portrait of Johnson a motto from Horace, iv. 123; and on that of Garrick, lines from Shakespeare, iv. 51.
painting, Johnson thinks im- proper for a woman, ii, 329. Post-chaise, Johnson's delight in travelling in, iii. 37, 190.
"Post-day, a, has now been long a day of recreation," iv. 270. Potentiality of growing rich, Johnson describes Thrale's brewery at the sale as the, iv. 44.
Pott, Archdeacon, his sermons re- commended by Johnson, iii. 42; attends Johnson in his last ill- ness, iv. 169.
"Potted stories," a certain author, "who lived upon," iii. 87. Poverty, Johnson's, i. 44-7, 119, 238; and wealth discussed, i. 350; "The first approach to riches is security from poverty," iv. 260; the misery of, to be avoided by all virtuous means, iv. 100; makes some virtues impracticable, and others ex- tremely difficult, a great enemy to human happiness, 105. Praise, exaggerated, most preju- dicial, iv. 41, 42; Johnson's dis- like of, iii. 243. Prayer, Johnson's, on his wife's death, i. 179; before the study of law, ii. 12; on engaging in politics, 13; forms of, discussed, iv. 216; Johnson is asked to compose some for family use, iv.
Prayers for the dead, ii. 160. Preaching, not generally plain enough, ii. 122; cause of success in, i. 363, 364; a woman preach- ing, like a dog walking on its hind legs, 367.
Prefaces by Johnson, to Lobo's Abyssinia, i. 52; to the Life of Father Paul, 99; to the Gent's Magazine, 106, 107; to the Har- leian Miscellany, 129; to a sys- tem of Ancient Geography, 139; to Mr. Dodsley's Preceptor, 141; to the Dictionary, 229, 230; to Mrs. Williams's Miscellanies, ii. 41; to Rolt's Dictionary of Trade and Commerce, i. 284; to Baretti's Lessons on Italian and English, ii. 269.
Prendergast, Colonel, strange oc- currence at his death, ii. 176. Present, Johnson does not believe anyone is happy in the, ii. 320. Press, The Clarendon, Oxford, origin of, iii. 14.
Presumption, Boswell's, at his first meeting with Johnson, i. 311. Priestley, Dr., his pernicious doc- trines, iv. 168 n.
Prince of Wales, enjoys the hap- piest position in the kingdom, iv.
Pringle, Sir John, President of the Royal Society, iii. 62; Boswell vainly desires to bring him and Johnson together, 107. Printer's devil, an author marries a, iv. 53.
Printing in Scotland, the history of, ii. 395; and the diffusion of knowledge, iii. 84.
Prints, Johnson fits up a room with, iii. 467. Prior, instances of his borrowing, furnished by Lord Hailes, iii. 386; abused by Johnson and defended by Mrs. Thrale, ii. 86.
Sir James, his Life of Ma- lone quoted, iii. 82. Prison," Every island is a prison,"
line of a song, iii. 278.
Profession de Foi du Vicaire Savoyard," by Rousseau, Bos- well's admiration for, ii. 28. Professor in Antient Literature, Johnson appointed, ii. 77. Professorship, Anglo-Saxon. found- ed at Oxford, by Dr. Richard Rawlinson, iv. 108. Profit, uncertainty of, in literary undertakings, iv. 71. Project, The, a poem by Richard Tickell, iii. 320.
Pronunciation, Sheridan teaches Wedderburn to correct his, i. 307; Johnson's, iii. 219; good, to be attained, ii. 156; discus- sion about, 158. Property, literary, discussion on,
Propitiation, the peculiar doctrine of Christianity, iv. 75. Proposals, Johnson's, for an edition of Shakespeare with notes, i. 250. Protestants or Papists, all Chris- tians agree in essential articles, i. 321. Proverb, a Spanish, about travel- ling, iii, 306.
Prussia, Frederick II., King of, valued himself on three things, i. 345; his Memoirs of the House of Brandenburgh, and his poetry,
346. Psalmanazar, George, account of, iii. 317 n., iv. 128.
Psalms, the Scotch version of, the best, iii. 61.
Public amusements, Johnson ap- proves of, ii. 165.
schools, the excellence of our English, iii. 66; Mr. Canning on, 65 n.
speaking discussed, ii. 310. Virtue, a poem, by Dodsley, Johnson called it "fine Blank," iii. 441.
Puffendorf maintained the right of a schoolmaster to beat his scholars, ii. 155.
Punch, conversation likened to a bowl of, i. 260; Blacklock's poem on, 260. Punctuation, Lord Lyttelton's dif- fidence about, iii. 81; Byron "a sad hand at," 81 n.
Puns, Johnson's aversion to, iv.
Rambler, The, commenced, i. 149;
how the name was chosen, 149; many papers in it very hastily written, 151; collections for, 151-4; Hawkins's misstatement concerning, 152; reception of, 155; Mrs. Johnson's praise of, 157; Edinburgh edition of, 157; date of the last, i. 178 n.; a paper in the, translated into French, retranslated into Eng- lish, and inserted by Murphy in the Gray's Inn Journal, i. 281, 282; Johnson's mode of writing for, iii. 89; Johnson
hears that the Empress of Russia will have it translated into Rus- sian, iv. 201. Ramsay, Allan, his Gentle Shep- herd, ii. 208; account of, iii. 264 n.; Johnson dines with, iii. 382 n.; his death, iv. 277. Ranelagh, promenade at, ii. 165 n. Rank, Johnson's reverence for, i. 352-5.
Rann, John (Sixteen-String Jack), highwayman, iii. 85.
Rapidity in writing, Johnson's, ii.
Rasay, Johnson's pleasant remem- brance of, iii. 161.
Rasselas, written by Johnson in a week, to pay his mother's funeral expenses, i. 269; Johnson finds, twenty years afterwards, in a chaise, and reads eagerly, 269 n., iv. 69; compared with Voltaire's Candide, i. 270 n., iii. 353; suc- cess of, i. 270; quotation from, 271; Johnson calls it "a little story book," i. 397; American edition of, ii. 198. Rawlinson, Dr. Richard, account of, iv. 108 n.
Ray, his collection of North Country words, ii. 95 n. Reading, Johnson's, at Oxford, i. 40; should be from inclination, not as a task, i. 341, iii. 216-89; "What is read without pleasure is not often recollected or in- fixed by conversation, and there- fore drops from the memory," 387; the foundation of know- ledge must be gained by, ii. 328; snatches of, will not make a Bentley or a Clarke, iii. 441; "A man is a poor beast who can read no more than he can utter," iii. 450; "Strange there should be so little, in the world, and so much writing," iv. 153. Reasons of the Christian Religion,
Baxter's, Johnson thought the best collection of evidences, iv. 168.
Reciprocate, Madam, let us," says Johnson, iii. 396. Recommendation, "it is such a re- commendation, as if I should throw you out of a two pair of stairs window and recommend you to fall soft," iv. 237. Reconciliation after a quarrel, Johnson always eager to seek,
Recovery, Johnson's quick, after the paralytic stroke, iv. 164. Reed, Mr. Isaac, supplies Johnson with anecdotes and quotations, iv. 3; his wonderful knowledge of literary history, iv. 4. "Refinement, life will not bear; you must do as other people do," iii. 196.
Registers, curious passage in one of Johnson's, iv. 96.
Rehearsal, the comedy of the, "has not wit enough to keep it sweet," iv. 235.
Reindeer introduced into North- umberland, ii. 164 n. Religion, Goldsmith said, he takes from the priests, as he takes shoes from the shoemaker, or coats from a tailor, ii. 202; few people can tell anything about their own, iii. 94. Religious feeling, Johnson's early, i. 37-9.
Remember, to, and to recollect, are
different things, iv. 76. Remonstrance, The, a poem by Mr. Stockdale, ii. 113. Reserve, English, "Sir, we do not enough understand the common rights of humanity," iv. 131. Residence, Johnson's places of, iii.
Respublicæ, or Accounts of the
Principal States of Europe, iii. 96. Resurrection of the dead, discussed by Johnson with Mrs. Hall, iv. 49; on the sure and certain hope of a blessed, iv. 148. Retaliation, Goldsmith's, quoted, i.
Retirement, The, a small poem by Walsh in the London Magazine, quoted many years afterwards by Johnson, ii. 131.
Retort, Johnson's dexterity in, iv. 126, 127.
Reviews, by Johnson, in the Literary Magazine, i. 241; and reviewers of the day discussed, iii. 80, iv. 149, 150. Reynolds, Sir Joshua, meets John- son at the Misses Cotterell's, i. 187; his reported income in 1762, 292; visits Devonshire, accom- panied by Johnson, 299; raises his price to twenty guineas a head, 265; account of his prices, 265; "without a rival," 288; the first proposer of the club, ii. 2; the party at his house when John- son described his conversation with the King, 56; dines with Boswell, to meet Johnson, 89; explains Johnson's free speaking of his friends, 284; lends his coach to Johnson and Boswell to go to Twickenham, 329 "When R. tells me something, I consider myself possessed of an idea the more," iii. 22; "the same all the year round," 61; Johnson and Boswell dine with, when Allan Ramsay related his observations on Horace's villa, 264; Johnson and Boswell dine with, and quarrel, 337; his discourses to the Royal Aca- demy, iii. 365; for which the Empress of Russia presents him with a gold snuff-box, 365; Johnson dines with, 373; John- son says he knows no one who has passed through life with more observation than, 430; communicates certain particulars to Boswell, iv. 124, et seq.; Johnson invites him to join a new club at the Essex Head, 182; his Discourses much ad- mired by Johnson, 235; enter- tains Johnson, Boswell, Lord
Eliot, Dr. Beattie, &c., 244; Boswell dines with Johnson at R.'s for the last time, 248; Johnson's letters to, from Ash- bourne, 276-8; Johnson makes three requests to him on his death-bed, 318; Boswell's letter to, inquiring about Johnson's health, 358. Reynolds, Mrs. Frances, Johnson in his will requests her to choose a book to keep as a remembrance, 309; Johnson's letters to, on some literary work of hers, 349, 354, 360; accepting her pro- posal to dine with him, 357. Rhetorical gesture, or action, John- son ridicules, i. 260. Rheumatism, receipt for, ii. 328. Rhubarb, cultivated by Sir Alex- ander Dick, iv. 189.
Rhyme, Johnson's opinion of its superiority to blank verse, i. 340, ii. 123, iv. 8. Richardson, Jonathan, the painter, i. 89.
Jonathan, the younger, i.
Samuel, the author, i. 89, 105; Johnson's letters to, 391-4; assists Johnson out of a pecu- niary difficulty, 394; described by Johnson in the Rambler, 150; his delight with the Ram- bler, 156; and Fielding com- pared, ii. 62-3, 169; an anecdote of, iii. 447.
Riches, the proper use of, ii. 163; and poverty, "The first ap- proach to riches is security from poverty," iv. 260. Riding-school, to be established at Oxford from the profits of the Clarendon Press, iii. 14. Rights of humanity, the common, are not understood, iv. 131, 208. Ring, diamond, a new year's gift from Johnson to Lucy Porter, ii. 376.
Riots, the Gordon, described by Johnson, iii. 413-15.
Ritter, Joseph, Boswell's Bohe- mian servant, ii. 371. Robertson, Dr. William, his imita- tion of Johnson's style, iv. 296; Johnson's respect for, ii. 46, 66; his history like gold packed in wool, ii. 222; on Johnson's cha- racter, iii. 331; his first meeting with Johnson, 332.
Thomas, author of an essay on the character of Hamlet, iii. 445.
Robin Hood Society, debates at the Coachmakers' Hall, iv. 49; Boswell attends, 50. Robinson, Dr. Richard, Arch- bishop of Armagh, ii. 130.
tall Sir Thomas, i. 345. Rogers, Rev. Mr., Johnson leaves him £100 in trust for Eliz. Herne, iv. 309.
Rolt, his Dictionary of Trade and Commerce, ii. 315; to which Johnson writes an admirable pre- face, i. 284; publishes an edition of Akenside's Pleasures of the Imagination, putting his own name to it, 284.
Rome, church of, Johnson supports
her doctrines, but distinguishes them from her practice, ii. 106; Johnson rather prefers to Pres- byterianism. 105; has a respect for the "old religion," 107; differs little in essentials, 148; Johnson on, iv. 213. Romney, the painter, Cumber-
land's odes dedicated to, iii. 90. Rooper, Rev. W. H., in 1882
owner of Mrs. Thrale's un- finished portrait of Johnson, iv.
Roscommon, Life of, by Johnson, i. 141.
Rothes, Lady, Bennet Langton's wife, ii. 140, 143. Round Robin, the famous, about Goldsmith's epitaph, iii. 121,
Rousseau, J. J., his treatise on the
inequality of mankind, i. 349;
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