66

Russia being mentioned as likely to become a great empire, by the rapid increase of population:- JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, I see no prospect of their propagating more. They can have no more children than they can get. I know of no way to make them breed more than they do. It is not from reason and prudence that people marry, but from inclination. A man is poor: he thinks, I cannot be worse, and so I'll e'en take Peggy."" BOSWELL. "But have not nations been more populous at one period than another?" JOHNSON. "Yes, Sir; but that has been owing to the people being less thinned at one period than another, whether by emigrations, war, or pestilence, not by their being more or less prolific. Births at all times bear the same proportion to the same number of people." BOSWELL. "But, to consider the state of our own country; · does not throwing a number of farms into one hand hurt population?" JOHNSON. Why no, Sir; the same quantity of food being produced, will be consumed by the same number of mouths, though the people may be disposed of in different ways. We see, if corn be dear, and butchers' meat cheap, the farmers all apply themselves to the raising of corn, till it becomes plentiful and cheap, and then butchers' meat becomes dear; so that an equality is always preserved. No, Sir, let fanciful men do as they will, depend upon it, it is difficult to disturb the system of life." BOSWELL. "But, Sir, is it not a very bad thing for landlords to oppress their tenants, by raising their rents? JOHNSON. "Very bad. But, Sir, it never can have any general influence; it may distress some individuals. For, consider this: landlords cannot do without tenants. Now tenants will not give more for land, than land is worth. If they can make more of their money by keeping a shop, or any other way, they'll do it, and so oblige landlords to let land come back to a reasonable rent, in order that they may get tenants. Land, in England, is an article of commerce. A tenant who pays his landlord his rent, thinks himself no more obliged to him, than you think your self obliged to a man in whose shop you buy a piece of goods. He knows the landlord does not let him have his land for less than he can get from others, in the same manner as the shopkeeper sells his goods. No shopkeeper sells a yard of riband for sixpence when sevenpence is the current price." BoSWELL. "But, Sir, is it not better that tenants should be dependent on landlords ?" JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, as there are many more tenants than landlords, perhaps, strictly speaking, we should

wish not. But, if you please, you may let your lands cheap, and so get the value, part in money and part in homage. I should agree with you in that." BosWELL. "So, Sir, you laugh at schemes of political improvement." JOHNSON. Why, Sir, most schemes of political improvement are very laughable things."

66

He observed, "Providence has wisely ordered that the more numerous men are, the more difficult it is for them to agree in any thing, and so they are governed. There is no doubt, that if the poor should reason, 'We'll be the poor no longer, we'll make the rich take their turn,' they could easily do it, were it not that they can't agree. So the common soldiers, though so much more numerous than their officers, are governed by them for the same reason."

He said, "Mankind have a strong attachment to the habitations to which they have been accustomed. You see the inhabitants of Norway do not with one consent quit it, and go to some part of America, where there is a mild climate, and where they may have the same produce from land, with the tenth part of the labour. No, Sir; their affection for their old dwellings, and the terror of a general change, keep them at home. Thus, we see many of the finest spots in the world thinly inhabited, and many rugged spots well inhabited."

"The London Chronicle," which was the only newspaper he constantly took in, being brought, the office of reading it aloud was assigned to me. I was diverted by his impatience. He made me pass over so many parts of it, that my task was very easy. He would not suffer one of the petitions to the King about the Middlesex election to be read.

66

I had hired a Bohemian as my servant while I remained in London; and being much pleased with him, I asked Dr. Johnson whether his being a Roman Catholic should prevent my taking him with me to Scotland. JOHNSON. "Why no, Sir. If he has no objection, you can have none." BOSWELL. So, Sir, you are no great enemy to the Roman Catholic religion.' JOHNSON. "No more, Sir, than to the Presbyterian religion." BOSWELL. "You are joking." JOHNSON. "No, Sir, I really think so. Nay, Sir, of the two, I prefer the Popish." BOSWELL. "How so, Sir?" JOHNsON. Why, Sir, the Presbyterians have no church, no apostolical ordination." BOSWELL. "And do you think that absolutely essential, Sir?" JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, as it was an apostolical institution, I think it is dangerous to be without it. And, Sir, the Presbyterians have no public worship: they have no form of prayer in which they know they are to join. They go to hear a man pray, and are to judge whether they will join with him." BOSWELL. "But, Sir, their doctrine is the same with that

66

1 See antè, p. 76. n. 1.- C.

P

of the Church of England. Their confession of faith, and the thirty-nine articles, contain the same points, even the doctrine of predestination." JOHNSON. "Why yes, Sir; predestination was a part of the clamour of the times, so it is mentioned in our articles, but with as little positiveness as could be." BosWELL. "Is it necessary, Sir, to believe all the thirty-nine articles?" JOHNSON. " Why, Sir, that is a question which has been much agitated. Some have thought it necessary that they should all be believed; others have considered them to be only articles of peace', that 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 abridgment of an attribute usually ascribed to the Divinity, however irreconcileable in its full extent with the grand system of moral government. His supposed orthodoxy here cramped the vigorous powers of his understanding. He was confined by a chain which early imagination and strong habit made him think massy and strong, but which, had he ventured to try, he could at once have snapt asunder.2

66

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."

1 Dr. Simon Patrick (afterwards Bishop of Ely) thus expresses himself on this subject, in a letter to the learned Dr. John Mapletoft, dated Feb. 8. 1682-3:

"I always took the Articles' to be only articles of communion; and so Bishop Bramhall expressly maintains against the Bishop of Chalcedon; and I remember well, that Bishop Sanderson, when the King was first restored, received the subscription of an acquaintance of mine, which he declared was not to them as articles of faith but peace. I think you need make no scruple of the matter, because all that I know so understand the meaning of subscription, and upon other terms would not subscribe."- MALONE.

2 The solution is to be found in what Boswell states as the difficulty. All eternity is present to the Deity, and his prescience foresees what man will have chosen, though man

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 Ι prayers. 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.3 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 how the Council of Trent admitted it." BosWELL. "Confession?" JOHNSON. "Why, I don't know but that is a good thing. The Scripture says, 'Confess your faults one to another,' and the priests confess as well as the laity. Then it must be considered that their absolution is only upon repentance, and often upon penance also. You think your sins may be forgiven without penance, upon repentance alone."

I thus ventured to mention all the common objections against the Roman Catholic church, that I might hear so great a man upon them. What he said is here accurately recorded. But it is not improbable that, if one had taken the other side, he might have reasoned dilferently.

I must however mention, that he had a respect for "the old religion," as the mil Melancthon called that of the Roman Catholi church, even while he was exerting himsel for its reformation in some particulars. Si William Scott informs me, that he hear Johnson say, "A man who is converted from Protestantism to Popery, may be sincere: parts with nothing: he is only superadding what he already had. But a convert fro Popery to Protestantism gives up so much what he has held as sacred as any thing th he retains there is so much laceration mind in such a conversion that it c hardly be sincere and lasting.” ↑ of this reflection may be confirmed by ma

The tru

feels that he is free to choose. What Cowley says of Hea is equally true of this world, in the eye of Providence: "Nothing there is to come, and nothing past; But an eternal Now doth always last !" This is one of the mysteries which, though abore hu reason, is in no degree contrary to it. CROKER, 1846.

3 They are sometimes rather ridiculous than idolat I have now before me a Roman Catholic Prayer-1 printed at Ghent so lately as 1823, in which there is a p to the Virgin, addressing her as "Ma divine Princesse, another to St. Joseph, as " Mon aimable patron. Car 4 Bishop Elrington expressed his surprise, that Jo should have forgotten Latimer, Ridley, Hooper, and al of all nations who have renounced popery.— CROKER.

and eminent instances, some of which will occur to most of my readers.'

66

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 this 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.2 Hold a pistol to Foote's breast, or to Hume's breast, 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 do not understand this allusion. I am not aware of maay and eminent instances" of persons converted from pery to protestantism relapsing either into superstition or delity. I suspect that Mr. Boswell, who often alludes to Mr. Gibbon's vacillation, really meant him in this passage, though his conversion from Protestantism to Popery and back son, which had ended in infidelity, does not exactly fit the I ove put by Johnson.-CROKER.

1 Foote's statement did not merit so flat a contradiction: ti confirmed by those who have had the best means of peaking to the fact. Sir Henry Halford felt surprised that of the great number he has attended," so few have appeared hartant to die," adding, "many, we may easily suppose, be manifested this willingness to die, from an impatience sexfering or from that passive indifference, which is somethe result of debility and extreme bodily pain." Essays, 1-MARKLAND. There is a distinction, which neither

nor Mr. Markland seem to have made, between a it and premature death, always terrible; and one coming gratully in the course of nature, under which the exhausted frame and weary spirit sink without reluctance.-CROKER,

1 George Steevens, Esq., who, in the next year, became

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 [27th October], 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.5

I defended Blackmore's supposed lines, which have been ridiculed as absolute non

sense:

"A painted vest Prince Vortiger had on,

Which from a naked Pict his grandsire won.""

associated with Johnson in the edition of Shakespeare, which goes by their joint names. Mr. Steevens was born in 1736, and died at Hampstead in 1800. A cynical disposition and a strong turn for literary deceptions, more ingenious than candid or creditable, rendered him unpopular with his acquaintance, as we shall have occasion to notice in the sequel. - CROKER.

4 For an account of "Tom Tyers," as Johnson always called him, see post, April 17. 1778.

5 Johnson himself has vindicated Blackmore upon this very point. See the Lives of the Poets, vol. iii. p. 75. 8vo., 1791. J. BoSWELL, jun.

6 A correspondent of the European Magazine, April, 1792, has completely exposed the mistake of ascribing these lines to Blackmore, notwithstanding that Sir Richard Steele, in "The Spectator," [No. 43.] mentions them as written by the author of "The British Princes," the Hon. Edward Howard. The correspondent above-mentioned, shows this mistake to be so inveterate, that not only I defenaed the lines as Blackmore's, in the presence of Dr. Johnson, without any contradiction or doubt of their authenticity, but that the Rev. Mr. Whitaker has asserted in print, that he understands they were suppressed in the late editions of

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:

JOHNSON TO BOSWELL.

"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, has formed the couplet as it now circulates. - BOSWELL.

1 Mr. Chalmers supposed that this was Dr. Hill, who used to play such tricks, not only anonymously, but under false names, such as Dr. Crine, Dr. Uvedale, and many others. Smollett has also been surmised; and as Boswell had certainly no tenderness for Hill's character (see antè, p. 186.), the suppression of the name has been thought to favour this latter

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.

little epigrammatic song of mine 3, on matriI was volatile enough to repeat to him a mony, which Mr. Garrick had, a few days before, procured to be set to music by the very ingenious Mr. Dibdin.

66

A Matrimonial Thought.

In the blithe days of honey-moon,
With Kate's allurements smitten,
I loved her late, I loved her soon,
And called her dearest kitten.
"But now my kitten's grown a cat,
And cross like other wives;
Oh! by my soul, my honest Mat,
I fear she has nine lives."

My illustrious friend said, "It is very well,
Sir; but you should not swear." Upon which
I altered "Oh! by my soul,” to “ Alas, alas!”

He was so good as to accompany me to London, and see me into the post-chaise which was to carry me on my road to Scotland. And sure I am, that however inconsiderable many of the particulars recorded at this time may appear to some, they will be esteemed by the best part of my readers as genuine traits of his character, contributing together to give a full, fair, and distinct view of it.

opinion. I, however, doubt both guesses, but can make no better. CROKER.

2 It may be suspected that Mr. Boswell, in transcribing for the press, at the interval of twenty-five years, his original note, may have misrepresented Dr. Johnson's opinion. There are, no doubt, marriages of convenience, but such often turn out to be very happy marriages -- nay, Johnson himself thought they might be the happiest (March 22. 1777). Moreover, one would ask, how is the marriage ceremony too refined? It seems more open to a contrary criticism. Nor, finally, can I believe that Johnson agreed in Boswell's Scottish views of a secular ceremony, and above all for the absurd reason stated for it is not "commanded in Scripture," that any ceremony should be performed by a regular clergyman; and, again; if there were two services, who would ever consent to be married by that which implied some degree of degradation, or at least of inferiority ?-CROKER. 3 Mr. Boswell used (as did also his eldest son, Sir Alexander) to sing in convivial society songs of his own composition. CROKER.

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 argument failed of effect; and the House of Commons 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 government 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, he takes a fair opportunity to pay a grateful compliment to the King, who had rewarded his merit:"These low-born rulers 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 signalise 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." 2

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 Rev. Mr. Stockdale 3, 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 I cannot omit it:

himself that he can keep his resolutions, nor is he June 1. 1770. Every man naturally persuades 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 external power. He who may live as he will, seldom lives long in the observation of his own rules. I never yet saw a regular family, unless it were that of Mrs. Harriot's, nor a regular man, except Mr. ———, whose exactness I know only by his own report, and Psalmanazer, whose life was, I think, uniform." [Pr. and Med. p. 100.]

Of this year I have obtained the following letters:

JOHNSON TO DR. FARMER.

"Johnson's Court, 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 the translations which Shakspeare might have seen of King's College, has collected an account of all and used. He wishes his catalogue to be perfect, and therefore entreats 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.

"The False Alarm" was published by T. Cadell, in the Strand, Jan. 16. 1770; a second edition appeared Feb. 6., and a third, March 13. WRIGHT.

1. This," says Mrs. Piozzi, "his first and favourite pamphlet, was written at our house, between eight o'clock Wednesday night and twelve o'clock on Thursday night : we read it to Mr. Thrale, when he came very late home from the House of Commons." Boswell, it must be remembered, was a Wilkite. — CROKER

3 The Rev. Percival Stockdale, whose strange and rambling" Autobiography" was published in 1808: he was the author of several bad poems, and died in 1810, at the age of 75. He was Johnson's neighbour for some years, both in Johnson's Court and Bolt Court. - CROKER.

4 The name in the original manuscript is, as Dr. Hall informed me, Campbell. The Scotch non juring Bishop Campbell was probably the person meant. See an account of this gentleman, post, Oct. 28. 1773.- CROKER.