Bos how the Council of Trent admitted it.' I thus ventured to mention all the common is to say, you are not to preach against them.' BOSWELL: 'It appears to me, sir, that predestination, or what is equivalent to it, cannot be avoided, if we hold an universal prescience in the Deity.' JOHNSON: Why, sir, does not GOD every day see things going on without preventing them?' BOSWELL: "True, sir; but if a thing be certainly foreseen, it must be fixed and cannot happen otherwise; and if we apply | this consideration to the human mind, there is no free will, nor do I see how prayer can be of any avail.' He mentioned Dr. Clarke and Bishop Bramhall on Liberty and Necessity, and bid me read South's Sermons on Prayer, but avoided the question which has excruciated philosophers and divines beyond any other. I did not press it further when I perceived that he was displeased, and shrunk from any abridg-thon called that of the Roman Catholic Church, ment of an attribute usually ascribed to the Divinity, however irreconcilable in its full extent with the grand system of moral government. He supposed orthodoxy here cramped the vigorous powers of his understanding. He was confined by a chain which early imagination and long habit made him think massy and strong, but which, had he ventured to try, he could at once have snapt asunder. I proceeded: What do you think, sir, of purgatory, as believed by the Roman Catholics?' JOHNSON: Why, sir, it is a very harmless doctrine. They are of opinion that the generality of mankind are neither so obstinately wicked as to deserve everlasting punishment, nor so good as to merit being admitted into the society of blessed spirits; and therefore that GOD is graciously pleased to allow of a middle state where they may be purified by certain degrees of suffering. You see, sir, there is nothing unreasonable in this.' BOSWELL: But then, sir, their masses for the dead?' JOHNSON: Why, sir, if it be once established that there are souls in purgatory, it is as proper to pray for them, as for our brethren of mankind who are yet in this life.' BOSWELL: "The idolatry of the mass?' JOHNSON: Sir, there is no idolatry in the mass. They believe God to be there, and they adore him.' BOSWELL: The worship of saints?' JOHNSON: Sir, they do not worship saints; they invoke them: they only ask their prayers. I am talking all this time of the doctrines of the Church of Rome. I grant you that, in practice, purgatory is made a lucrative imposition, and that the people do become idolatrous as they recommend themselves to the tutelary protection of particular saints. I think their giving the sacrament only in one kind is criminal, because it is contrary to the express institution of CHRIST, and I wonder other terms would not subscribe.'-The above was printed some years ago in the European Magazine, from the original, now in the hands of Mr. Mapletoft, surgeon at Chertsey, grandson to Dr. John Mapletoft. -MALONE. even while he was exerting himself for its When we were alone, I introduced the subject of death, and endeavoured to maintain that the fear of it might be got over. I told him that David Hume said to me, he was no more uneasy to think he should not be after his life, than that he had not been before he began to exist. JOHNSON: Sir, if he really thinks so, his perceptions are disturbed; he is mad. If he does not think so, he lies. He may tell you he holds his finger in the flame of a candle, without feeling pain; would you believe him? When he dies, he at least gives up all he has.' BOSWELL: 'Foote, sir, told me that when he was very ill he was not afraid to die.' JOHNSON: 'It is not true, sir. Hold a pistol to Foote's breast, or to Hume's, and threaten to kill them, and you'll see how they behave.' BOSWELL: 'But may we not fortify our minds for the approach of death?' -Here I am sensible I was in the wrong, to bring before his view what he ever looked upon with horror: for although, when in a celestial frame of mind in his Vanity of Human Wishes, he has supposed death to be 'kind Nature's signal for retreat' from this state of being to 'a happier seat,' his thoughts upon this awful change were in general full of dismal apprehensions. His mind resembled the vast amphitheatre, the Coliseum at Rome. In the centre stood his judgment, which, like a mighty gladiator, combated those apprehensions that, like the wild beasts of the Arena, were all around in cells, ready to be let out upon him. After a conflict, he drives them back into their dens; but not killing them, they were still assailing him. To my question, whether we might not fortify our minds for the approach of death, he answered in a passion, 'No, sir, let it alone. It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time.' He added (with an earnest look), 'A man knows it must be so, and submits. It will do him no good to whine.' I attempted to continue the conversation. He was so provoked that he said, 'Give us no more of this:' and was thrown into such a state of agitation, that he expressed himself in a way that alarmed and distressed me; showed an impatience that I should leave him; and when I was going away, called to me sternly, 'Don't let us meet to-morrow.' I went home exceedingly uneasy. All the harsh observations which I had ever heard made upon his character crowded into my mind; and I seemed to myself like the man who had put his head into the lion's mouth a great many times with perfect safety, but at last had it bit off. Next morning I sent him a note, stating that I might have been in the wrong, but it was not intentionally: he was therefore, I could not help thinking, too severe upon me; that, notwithstanding our agreement not to meet that day, I would call on him in my way to the city, and stay five minutes by my watch. You are,' said I, in my mind, since last night, surrounded with cloud and storm. Let me have a glimpse of sunshine, and go about my affairs in serenity and cheerfulness.' Upon entering his study, I was glad that he was not alone, which would have made our meeting more awkward. There were with him Mr. Steevens and Mr. Tyers, both of whom I now saw for the first time. My note had, on his own reflection, softened him, for he received me very complacently; so that I unexpectedly found myself at ease, and joined in the conversation. He said the critics had done too much honour to Sir Richard Blackmore, by writing so much against him; that in his Creation he had been helped by various wits,- -a line by Phillips, and a line by Tickell; so that by their aid and that of others the poem had been made out.1 I defended Blackmore's supposed lines, which have been ridiculed as absolute nonsense : 'A painted vest Prince Vortiger had on, Which from a naked Pict his grandsire won.'2 1 Johnson himself has vindicated Blackmore upon this very point. See the Lives of the Poets, vol. iii. p. 75, 8vo, 1791.-J. BOSWELL, Jun. 2 An acute correspondent of the European Magazine, April 1792, has completely exposed a mistake which has been unaccountably frequent in ascribing these lines to Blackmore, notwithstanding that Sir Richard Steele, in that very popular work the Spectator, mentions them as written by the author of The British I maintained it to be a poetical conceit. A Pict being painted, if he is slain in battle, and a vest is made of his skin, it is a painted vest won from him, though he was naked. Johnson spoke unfavourably of a certain pretty voluminous author, saying, 'He used to write anonymous books, and then other books commending those books, in which there was something of rascality.' I whispered him, 'Well, sir, you are now in good humour.' JOHNSON: 'Yes, sir.' I was | going to leave him, and had got as far as the staircase. He stopped me, and smiling, said, Get you gone in a curious mode of inviting me to stay, which I accordingly did for some time longer. This little incidental quarrel and reconciliation, which perhaps I may be thought to have detailed too minutely, must be esteemed as one of many proofs which his friends had, that though he might be charged with bad humour at times, he was always a good-natured man; and I have heard Sir Joshua Reynolds, a nice and delicate observer of manners, particularly remark, that when upon any occasion Johnson had been rough to any person in company, he took the first opportunity of reconciliation, by drinking to him, or addressing his discourse to him; but if he found his dignified indirect overtures sullenly neglected, he was quite indifferent, and considered himself as having done all that he ought to do, and the other as now in the wrong. Being to set out for Scotland on the 10th of November, I wrote to him at Streatham, begging that he would meet me in town on the 9th; but if this should be very inconvenient to him, I would go thither. His answer was as follows: 'TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 'Nov. 9, 1769. 'DEAR SIR,-Upon balancing the inconveniences of both parties, I find it will less incommode you to spend your night here, than me Princes, the Hon. Edward Howard. The correspondent above mentioned shows this mistake to be so inveterate, that not only I defended the lines as Blackmore's in the presence of Dr. Johnson, without any contradiction or doubt of their authenticity, but that the Reverend Mr. Whitaker has asserted in print, that he understands they were suppressed in the late edition or editions of Blackmore. 'After all,' says this intelligent writer, it is not unworthy of particular observation that these lines so often quoted do not exist either in Blackmore or Howard.' In The British Princes, Svo, 1669, now before me, p. 96, they stand thus: 'A vest as admired Vortiger had on, Which from this Island's foes his grandsire won, Whose artful colour pass'd the Tyrian dye, Obliged to triumph in this legacy.' It is probable, I think, that some wag, in order to make Howard still more ridiculous than he really was, formed the couplet as it now circulates.-Boswell. to come to town. I wish to see you, and am ordered by the lady of this house to invite you hither. Whether you can come or not, I shall not have any occasion of writing to you again before your marriage, and therefore tell you now, that with great sincerity I wish you happiness. I am, dear sir, your most affectionate humble servant, 'SAM. JOHNSON.' I was detained in town till it was too late on the 9th, so went to him early in the morning of the 10th of November. Now,' said he, 'that you are going to marry, do not expect more from life than life will afford. You may often find yourself out of humour, and you may often think your wife not studious enough to please you and yet you may have reason to consider yourself as upon the whole very happily married.' ( Talking of marriage in general, he observed, 'Our marriage service is too refined. It is calculated only for the best kind of marriages; whereas we should have a form for matches of convenience, of which there are many.' He agreed with me that there was no absolute necessity for having the marriage ceremony performed by a regular clergyman, for this was not commanded in Scripture. I was volatile enough to repeat to him a little epigrammatic song of mine, on matrimony, which Mr. Garrick had, a few days before, procured to be set to music by the very ingenious Mr. Dibdin : 'A MATRIMONIAL THOUGHT. With Kate's allurements smitten, 'But now my kitten's grown a cat, My illustrious friend said, 'It is very well, sir; In 1770 he published a political pamphlet, entitled The False Alarm, intended to justify the conduct of the Ministry and their majority in the House of Commons, for having virtually assumed it as an axiom, that the expulsion of a member of Parliament was equivalent to exclusion, and thus having declared Colonel Luttrell to be duly elected for the county of Middlesex, notwithstanding Mr. Wilkes had a great majority of votes. This being justly considered as a gross violation of the right of election, an alarm for the constitution extended itself all over the kingdom. To prove this alarm to be false was the purpose of Johnson's pamphlet; but even his vast powers were inadequate to cope with constitutional truth and reason, and his argu ment failed of effect; and the House of Com mons have since expunged the offensive resolution from their Journals. That the House of Commons might have expelled Mr. Wilkes repeatedly, and as often as he should be re-chosen, was not denied; but incapacitation cannot be but by an act of the whole Legislature. It was wonderful to see how a prejudice in favour of goverment in general, and an aversion to popular clamour, could blind and contract such an understanding as Johnson's in this particular case; yet the wit, the sarcasm, the eloquent vivacity which this pamphlet displayed, made it be read with great avidity at the time, and it will ever be read with pleasure, for the sake of its composition. That it endeavoured to infuse a narcotic indifference, as to public concerns, into the minds of the people, and that it broke out sometimes into an extreme coarseness of contemptuous abuse, is but too evident. It must not, however, be omitted, that when the storm of his violence subsides, be takes a fair opportunity to pay a grateful compliment to the King, who had rewarded his merit : "These low-born railers have endeavoured, surely without effect, to alienate the affections of the people from the only King who, for almost a century, has much appeared to desire, or much endeavoured to deserve them.' And, 'Every honest man must lament that the faction has been regarded with frigid neutrality by the Tories, who, being long accustomed to signalize their principles by opposition to the Court, do not yet consider that they have at last a King who knows not the name of party, and who wishes to be the common father of all his people.' To this pamphlet, which was at once discovered to be Johnson's, several answers came out, in which care was taken to remind the public of his former attacks upon government, and of his now being a pensioner, without allowing for the honourable terms upon which Johnson's pension was granted and accepted, or the change of system which the British Court had undergone upon the accession of his present Majesty. He was, however, soothed in the highest strain of panegyric, in a poem called The Remonstrance, by the Reverend Mr. Stockdale, to whom he was upon many occasions a kind protector. The following admirable minute made by him, describes so well his own state and that of numbers to whom self-examination is habitual, that himself that he can keep his resolutions, nor is he convinced of his imbecility but by length of time and frequency of experiment. This opinion of our own constancy is so prevalent, that we always despise him who suffers his general and settled purpose to be overpowered by an occasional desire. They, therefore, whom frequent failures have made desperate, cease to form resolutions; and they who are become cunning do not tell them. Those who do not make them are very few, but of their effect little is perceived; for scarcely any man persists in a course of life planned by choice, but as he is restrained from deviation by some exteinal power. He who may live as he will, seldom lives long in the observation of his own rules.'1 Of this year I have obtained the following letters : TO THE REVEREND DR. FARMER, CAMBRIDGE. 'JOHNSON'S COURT, FLEET STREET, March 21, 1770. 'SIR,-As no man ought to keep wholly to himself any possession that may be useful to the public, I hope you will not think me unreasonably intrusive if I have recourse to you for such information as you are more able to give me than any other man. 'In support of an opinion which you have already placed above the need of any more support, Mr. Steevens, a very ingenious gentleman, lately of King's College, has collected an account of all the translations which Shakspeare might have seen and used. He wishes his catalogue to be perfect, and therefore intreats that you will favour him by the insertion of such additions as the accuracy of your inquiries has enabled you to make. To this request I take the liberty of adding my own solicitation. 'We have no immediate use for this catalogue, and therefore do not desire that it should interrupt or hinder your more important employments. But it will be kind to let us know that you receive it.—I am, sir, etc., 'SAM. JOHNSON.' 'TO THE REVEREND MR. THOMAS WARTON. 'DEAR SIR,-The readiness with which you were pleased to promise me some notes on Shakspeare was a new instance of your friendship. I shall not hurry you; but am desired by Mr. Steevens, who helps me in this edition, to let you know that we shall print the tragedies first, and shall therefore want first the notes which belong to them. We think not to incommode the readers with a supplement; and, therefore, what we cannot put into its proper place will do us no good. We shall not begin 1 Prayers and Meditations, p. 95.-BOSWELL. to print before the end of six weeks, perhaps not so soon.-I am, etc., 'SAM. JOHNSON.' 'TO THE REVEREND DR. JOSEPH WARTON. 'Sept. 27, 1770. 'DEAR SIR,-I am revising my edition of Shakspeare, and remember that I formerly misrepresented your opinion of Lear. Be pleased to write the paragraph as you would have it, and send it. If you have any remarks of your own upon that or any other play, I shall gladly receive them. 'Make my compliments to Mrs. Warton. I sometimes think of wandering for a few days to Winchester, but am apt to delay. I am, sir, your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.’ 'TO MR. FRANCIS BARBER, AT MRS. CLAPP'S, BISHOP-STORTFORD, HERTFORDSHIRE. 'LONDON, Sept. 25, 1770, 'DEAR FRANCIS,-I am at last sat down to write to you, and should very much blame myself for having neglected you so long, if I did not impute that and many other failings to want of health. I hope not to be so long silent again. I am very well satisfied with your progress, if you can really perform the exercises which you are set; and I hope Mr. Ellis does not suffer you to impose on him or on yourself. 'Make my compliments to Mr. Ellis, and to Mrs. Clapp and Mr. Smith. 'Let me know what English books you read You can never be for your entertainment. wise unless you love reading. 'Do not imagine that I shall forget or forsake you; for if, when I examine you, I find that you have not lost your time, you shall want no encouragement from, yours affectionately, 'SAM. JOHNSON.' TO THE SAME. 'December 7, 1770. 'DEAR FRANCIS,-I hope you mind your business. I design you shall stay with Mrs. Clapp these holidays. If you are invited out you may go, if Mr. Ellis gives leave. I have ordered you some clothes, which you will receive, I believe, next week. My compliments to Mrs. Clapp, and to Mr. Ellis and Mr. Smith, etc.-I am, your affectionate, 'SAM. JOHNSON.' CHAPTER XXII, 1770. DURING this year there was a total cessation of all correspondence between Dr. Johnson and me, without any coldness on either side, but merely from procrastination, continued from day to day; and as I was not in London, I had no opportunity of enjoying his company and re 'My acquaintance with that great and venerable character commenced in the year 1754. I was introduced to him by Mr. Grierson,' his Majesty's printer at Dublin,- -a gentleman of uncommon learning, and great wit and vivacity. Mr. Grierson died in Germany, at the age of twenty-seven. Dr. Johnson highly respected his abilities, and often observed, that he possessed more extensive knowledge than any man of his years he had ever known. His industry was equal to his talents; and he particularly excelled in every species of philological learning, and was perhaps the best critic of the age he lived in. 'I must always remember with gratitude my obligation to Mr. Grierson, for the honour and happiness of Dr. Johnson's acquaintance and friendship, which continued uninterrupted and undiminished to his death: a connection that was at once the pride and happiness of my life. 'What pity it is, that so much wit and good sense as he continually exhibited in conversation, should perish unrecorded! Few persons quitted his company without perceiving themselves wiser and better than they were before. On serious subjects he flashed the most interesting conviction upon his auditors; and upon lighter topics, you might have supposed Albano musas de monte locutas. "Though I can hope to add but little to the celebrity of so exalted a character by any communications I can furnish, yet out of pure respect to his memory I will venture to transmit to you some anecdotes concerning him which fell under my own observation. The very minutia of such a character must be interesting, and may be compared to the filings of diamonds. 'In politics he was deemed a Tory, but certainly was not so in the obnoxious or party sense of the term; for while he asserted the legal and salutary prerogatives of the crown, he no less respected the constitutional liberties of the people. Whiggism, at the time of the Revolution, he said, was accompanied with certain 1 Son of the learned Mrs. Grierson, who was patronized by the late Lord Granville, and was the editor of several of the classics.-BOSWELL. Her edition of Tacitus, with the notes of Rychius, in three volumes Svo, 1730, was dedicated in very elegant Latin to John Lord Carteret (afterwards Earl Granville), by whom she was patronized during his residence in Ireland as Lord-Lieutenant between 1724 and 1730.-MALONE, principles; but latterly, as a mere party distinction under Walpole and the Pelhams, was no better than the politics of stock-jobbers and the religion of infidels. 'He detested the idea of governing by parliamentary corruption, and asserted most strenuously that a prince steadily and conspicuously pursuing the interests of his people could not fail of parliamentary concurrence. A prince of ability, he contended, might and should be the directing soul and spirit of his own administration; in short, his own minister, and not the mere head of a party; and then, and not till then, would the royal dignity be sincerely respected. 'Johnson seemed to think that a certain degree of crown influence over the Houses of Parliament (not meaning a corrupt and shameful dependence) was very salutary, nay, even necessary in our mixed government. "For," said he, "if the members were under no crown influence, and disqualified from receiving any gratification from court, and resembled, as they possibly might, Pym and Haslerig, and other stubborn and sturdy members of the Long Parliament, the wheels of government would be totally obstructed. Such men would oppose, merely to show their power, from envy, jealousy, and perversity of disposition; and not gaining themselves, would hate and oppose all who did. Not loving the person of the prince, and conceiving they owed him little gratitude, from the mere spirit of insolence and contradiction, they would oppose and thwart him on all occasions." 'The inseparable imperfection annexed to all human governments consisted, he said, in not being able to create a sufficient fund of virtue and principle to carry the laws into due and effectual execution. Wisdom might plan, but virtue alone could execute. And where could sufficient virtue be found? A variety of delegated and often discretionary powers must be entrusted somewhere; which, if not governed by integrity and conscience, would necessarily be abused, till at last the constable would sell his for a shilling. "This excellent person was sometimes charged with abetting slavish and arbitrary principles of government. Nothing in my opinion could be a grosser calumny and misrepresentation; for how can it be rationally supposed that he should adopt such pernicious and absurd opinions, who supported his philosophical character with so much dignity, was extremely jealous of his personal liberty and independence, and could not brook the smallest appearance of neglect or insult, even from the highest personages? 'But let us view him in some instances of more familiar life. 'His general mode of life, during my acquaintance, seemed to be pretty uniform. About twelve o'clock I commonly visited him, and fre quently found him in bed or declaiming over |