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held very sacred; or to take a licence, which a learned divine told me, he once seemed, in a conversation, jocularly to allow to historians. 'There are (said he) inexcusable lies, and consecrated lies. For instance, we are told, that, on the arrival of the news of the unfortunate battle of Fontenoy, every heart beat, and every eye was in tears. Now we know, that no man ate his dinner the worse; but there should have been all this concern; and to say there was, (smiling) may be reckoned a conse crated lie.'"

He told Boswell, that he went up to his library without mentioning it to his servant, when he wanted to study secure from interruption; for he would not allow his servant to say he was not at home, when he really was. "A servant's strict regard for truth (said he) must be weakened by such a practice. A philosopher may know, that it is merely a form of denial; but few servants are such nice distinguishers. If I accustom a servant to lie for me, have I not reason to apprehend that he will tell many lies for himself?"

He said, "Human experience, which is constantly contradicting theory, is the great test of truth. A system, built upon the discoveries of a great many minds, is always of more strength than what is produced by the mere workings of any one mind, which, of itself, can do little. There is not so poor a book in the world, that would not be a prodigious effort, were it wrought out entirely by a single mind, without the aid of prior investigators. The French writers are superficial, because they are not scholars, and so proceed upon the

mere power of their own minds; and we see how very little power they have."

The importance of strict aud scrupulous veracity cannot be too often inculcated. Johnson was known to be so rigidly attentive to it, that even in his common conversation the slightest circumstance was mentioned with exact precision. The know❤ ledge of his having such a principle and habit made his friends have a perfect reliance on the truth of every thing that he told, however it might have been doubted, if told by many others. "As an in stance of this," says Boswell, "I may mention an odd incident which he related as having happened to him one night in Fleet-street. A gentlewoman (said he) begged I would give her my arm to assist her in crossing the street, which I accordingly did; upon which she offered me a shilling, supposing me to be the watchman. I perceived that she was somewhat in liquor.' This, if told by most people, would have been thought an invention; when told by Johnson, it was believed by his friends as much as if they had seen what had passed."

Boswell saying it was a pity that truth was not so firm as to bid defiance to all attacks, so that it might be shot at as much as people chose to attempt, and yet remain unhurt. JOHNSON. "Then, sir, it would not be shot at. Nobody attempts to dispute that two and two make four: but with contests concerning moral truth, human passions are generally mixed; and therefore it must ever be liable to assault and misrepresentation."

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The same gentleman stated to him this case :Suppose a man has a daughter, who he knows

has been seduced, but her misfortune is concealed from the world; should he keep her in his house? Would he not, by doing so, be accessary to imposition? And, perhaps, a worthy, unsuspecting man might come and marry this woman, unless the father inform him of the truth." JOHNSON. "Sir, he is accessary to no imposition. His daughter is in his house; and if a man courts her, he takes his chance. If a friend, or, indeed, if any man asks his opinion whether he should marry her, he ought to advise him against it, without telling why; because his real opinion is then required. Or, if he has other daughters who know of her frailty, he ought not to keep her in his house. You are to consider the state of life is this: we are to judge of one another's characters as well as we can; and a man is not bound, in honesty or honour, to tell us the faults of his daughter or of himself. A man who has debauched his friend's daughter, is not obliged to say to every body- Take care of me; don't let me into your house without suspicion. I once debauched a friend's daughter: I may debauch yours.

At Mr. Thrale's, one evening, Johnson had de ́fended the propriety of recording in biography the weaknesses of human nature. Next morning, while at breakfast, he gave a very earnest recommendation of what he himself practised with the utmost conscientiousness-a strict attention to truth, even in the most minute particulars. "Accustom your children (said he) constantly to this; if a thing happened at one window, and they, when relating it, say that it happened at another, do not let it pass, but instantly check them; you do not know where

deviation from truth will end." BOSWELL, "It may come to the door; and when once an account is at all varied in one circumstance, it may by degrees be varied so as to be totally different from what really happened." Their lively hostess, whose fancy was impatient of the rein, fidgeted at this, and ventured to say, 66 Nay, this is too much. If Mr. Johnson should forbid me to drink tea, I would comply, as I should feel the restraint only twice a day; but little variations in narrative must happen a thousand times a day, if one is not perpetually watching." JOHNSON." Well, madam, aud you ought to be perpetually watching. It is more from carelessness about truth, than from intentional lying, that there is so much falsehood in the world."

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Boswell adds, "In his review of Dr. Warton's Essay on the Writings and Genius of Pope, John son has given the following salutary caution upon this subject: Nothing but experience could evince the frequency of false information, or enable any man to conceive, that so many groundless reports should be propagated, as every man of eminence may hear of himself. Some men relate what they think, as what they know; some men, of confused memories, and habitual inaccuracy, ascribe to one man what belongs to another; and some talk on, without thought or care. A few men are sufficient to broach falsehoods, which are afterwards innocently diffused by successive relaters. Had he lived to read what sir John Hawkins and Mrs. Piozzi have related concerning himself, how much would he have found his observation illustrated!

Literary Magazine, 1756, p. 37.

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He was indeed so much impressed with the prevalence of falsehood, voluntary or unintentional, that I never knew any person, who, upon hearing an extraordinary circumstance told, discovered more of the incredulus odi. He would say, with a significant look and decisive tone, It is not so. Do not tell this again.' He inculcated upon all his friends the importance of perpetual vigilance against the slightest degrees of falsehood; the effect of which, as sir Joshua Reynolds observed to me, has been, that all who were of his school are distinguished for a love of truth and accuracy, which they would not have possessed in the same degree, if they had not been acquainted with Johnson."

He said, "I have been reading Lord Kames's Sketches of the History of Man. In treating of severity of pubishment, he mentions that of Madame Lapouchin, in Russia, but he does not give it fairly; for I have looked at Chappe D' Auteroche, from whom he has taken it: he stops where it is said, that the spectators thought her innocent; and leaves out what follows-that she nevertheless was guilty. Now this is being as culpable as one can conceive-to misrepresent fact in a book; and for what motive? It is like one of those lies, which people tell, one cannot see why. The woman's life was spared and no punishment was too great for the favourite of an empress, who had conspired to dethrone her mistress." BoSWELL" He was only giving a picture of the lady in her sufferings." JOHNSON. "Nay, don't endeavour to palliate this. Guilt is a principal feature in the picture."

He thus defined the difference between physical and moral truth; "Physical truth is, when you tell

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