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vise her to note the impression which the first sight of any thing new and wonderful made upon her mind. Let her now set her thoughts down as she can recollect them; for faint as they may already be, they will grow every day fainter."

One day dining at an excellent inn, he expatiated on the felicity of England in its taverns and inns, and triumphed over the French for not having, in any perfection, the tavern life.-"There is no private house (said he) in which people can enjoy themselves so well, as at a capital tavern. Let there be ever so great plenty of good things, ever so much grandeur, ever so much elegance, ever so much desire that every body should be easy; in the nature of things it cannot be there must always be some degree of care and anxiety. The master of the house is anxious to entertain his guests; the guests are anxious to be agreeable to him: and no man, but a very impudent dog indeed, can as freely command what is in another man's house, as if it were his own. Whereas, at a tavern, there is a general freedom from anxiety. You are sure you are welcome; and the more noise you make, the more trouble you give, the more good things you call for, the welcomer you are. No servants will attend you with the alacrity which waiters do, who are incited by the prospect of an immediate reward in proportion as they please. No,

Sir; there is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn *". He then repeated, with great emotion, Shenstone's lines:

"Whoe'er has travell❜d life's dull round,
"Where'er his stages may have been,
"May sigh to think he still has found
"The warmest welcome at an inn."

* Sir John Hawkins (says Mr. B.) has preserved very few Memorabilia of Johnson. There is, however, to be found, in his bulky tome, a very excellent one upon this subject. In contradiction to those who, having a wife and children, prefer domestic enjoyment to those which a tavern affords, I have heard him assert, that a tavern chair was the throne of human felicity. As soon (said he) as I enter the door of a tavern, I experience an oblivion of care, and a freedom from solicitude; when I am seated, I find the master courteous, and the servants obsequious to my call; anxious to know and ready to supply my wants: wine there exhilarates my spirits, and prompts me to free conversation and an interchange of discourse with those whom I most love: I dogmatise and am contradicted, and in this conflict of opinions and sentiments I find delight.'"

183

POLITICS.

JOHNSON arraigned the modern politics of this country, as entirely devoid of all principle of whatever kind." Politics (said he) are now nothing more than means of rising in the world. With this sole view do men engage in polities, and their whole conduct proceeds upon it. How different in that respect is the state of the nation now from what it was in the time of Charles the First, during the Usurpation, and after the Restoration, in the time of Charles the Second. Hudibras affords a strong proof how much hold political principles had then upon the minds of men. There is in Hudibras a great deal of bullion which will always last. But to be sure the brightest strokes of his wit owed their force to the impression of the characters which was upon men's minds at the time; to their knowing them, at table and in the street: in short, being familiar with them: and above all, to his satire being directed against those whom a little while before they had hated and feared. The nation in general has ever been loyal, has been at all times attached to the monarch, though a few daring rebels have been wonderfully powerful for a time. The murder of Charles the First was undoubtedly not committed with the

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approbation or consent of the people. Had that been the case, Parliament would not have ventured to consign the regicides to their deserved punishment. And we know what exuberance of joy there was when Charles the Second was restored. If Charles the Second had bent all his mind to it, had made it his sole object, he might have been as absolute as Louis the Fourteenth." A gentleman observed he would have done no harm if he had.-JOHNSON., " Why, Sir, absolute princes seldom do any harm, But they who are governed by them are governed by chance. There is no security for good government." Mr. Cambridge said, "There have been many sad victims to absolute government."-J. " Sir, have there been to popular factions."-B. "The question is, which is worst, one wild beast or many?"

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Talking of different governments, Johnson said, The more contracted a power is, the more easily it is destroyed. A country governed by a despot is an inverted cone. Government there cannot be so firm as when it rests upon a broad basis gradually contracted, as the Government of Great Britain, which is founded on the parliament, then is in the privy-council, then in the king."-BoSWELL. "Power when contracted into the person of a despot may be easily destroyed, as the prince may be cut off. So Caligula wished that the people of Rome had but

one neck, that he might cut them off at a blow." -GENERAL OGLETHORPE. "It was of the Senate he wished that. The Senate by its usurpation controuled both the emperor and the people."

At another time Johnson said, "The mode of government by one may be ill adapted to a small society, but is best for a great nation.-The characteristic of our own government at present is imbecility. The magistrate dare not call the guards for fear of being hanged. The guards will not come, for fear of being given up to the blind rage of popular juries *."

Patriotism having become one of the topics, Johnson suddenly uttered, in a strong determined tone, an apophthegm, at which many will start :

"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” But let it be considered, that he did not mean a real and generous love of our country, but that pretended patriotism which so many, in all ages and countries, have made a cloak for self-interest. "I maintained (says Mr. B.) that certainly all patriots were not scoundrels. Being urged (not by Johnson) to name one exception, I mentioned an eminent person, whom we all greatly admired.”

*This was a just observation before the riots in 1780. Since that time the advantage of a vigorous government has been universally acknowledged.

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