Life of Johnson Volume II Part 68

[858] See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 23.

[859] In the Court of Session of Scotland an action is first tried by one of the Judges, who is called the Lord Ordinary; and if either party is dissatisfied, he may appeal to the whole Court, consisting of fifteen, the Lord President and fourteen other Judges, who have both in and out of Court the t.i.tle of Lords, from the name of their estates; as, Lord Auchinleck, Lord Monboddo, &c. BOSWELL. See _ante_, ii. 201, note 1.

[860] Johnson had thus written of him (_Works_, ix. ll5):--'I suppose my opinion of the poems of Ossian is already discovered. I believe they never existed in any other form than that which we have seen. The editor, or author, never could show the original; nor can it be shown by any other. To revenge reasonable incredulity by refusing evidence is a degree of insolence with which the world is not yet acquainted; and stubborn audacity is the last refuge of guilt.' See _ante_, ii. 126.

[861] _Taxation no Tyranny_. See _post_, under March 21, 1775.

[862] See _ante_, p. 265.

[863] In Tickell's _Epistle from the Hon. Charles Fox to the Hon. John Townshend_ (1779) are the following lines (p. 11):--

'Soon as to Brooks's thence thy footsteps bend, What gratulations thy approach attend!

See Beauclerk's cheek a tinge of red surprise, And friendship give what cruel health denies.'

[864] It should be recollected, that this fanciful description of his friend was given by Johnson after he himself had become a water-drinker.

BOSWELL. Johnson, _post_, April 18, 1775, describes one of his friends as _muddy_. On April 12, 1776, in a discussion about wine, when Reynolds said to him, 'You have sat by, quite sober, and felt an envy of the happiness of those who were drinking,' he replied, 'Perhaps, contempt.'

On April 28, 1778, he said to Reynolds: 'I won't argue any more with you, Sir. You are too far gone.' See also _ante_, i. 313, note 3, where he said to him: 'Sir, I did not count your gla.s.ses of wine, why should you number up my cups of tea?'

[865] See them in _Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides_, 3rd edit. p. 337 [Oct. 17]. BOSWELL.

[866] He now sent me a Latin inscription for my historical picture of Mary Queen of Scots, and afterwards favoured me with an English translation. Mr. Alderman Boydell, that eminent Patron of the Arts, has subjoined them to the engraving from my picture.

'Maria Scotorum Regina Homimun seditiosorum Contumeliis la.s.sata, Minis territa, clamoribus victa Libello, per quem Regno cedit, Lacrimans trepidansque Nomen apponit?'

'Mary Queen of Scots, Hara.s.sed, terrified, and overpowered By the insults, menaces, And clamours Of her rebellious subjects, Sets her hand, With tears and confusion, To a resignation of the kingdom.'

BOSWELL.

Northcote (_Life of Reynolds_, ii. 234) calls Boydell 'the truest and greatest encourager of English art that England ever saw.'

[867] By the Boston Port-Bill, pa.s.sed in 1774, Boston had been closed as a port for the landing and shipping of goods. _Ann. Reg_. xvii. 64.

[868] Becket, a bookseller in the Strand, was the publisher of _Ossian_.

[869] His Lordship, notwithstanding his resolution, did commit his sentiments to paper, and in one of his notes affixed to his _Collection of Old Scottish Poetry_, he says, that 'to doubt the authenticity of those poems is a refinement in Scepticism indeed.' J. BLAKEWAY.

[870] Mr. Croker writes (Croker's _Boswell_, p. 378, note):--'The original draft of these verses in Johnson's autograph is now before me.

He had first written:--

'Sunt pro legitimis pectora pura sacris;'

he then wrote--

'Legitimas faciunt pura labella preces;'

which more nearly approaches Mr. Boswell's version, and alludes, happily I think, to the prayers having been read by the young lady.... The line as it stands in the _Works_ [Sint pro legitimis pura labella sacris, i.

167], is subst.i.tuted in Mr. Langton's hand.... As I have reason to believe that Mr. Langton a.s.sisted in editing these Latin _poemata_, I conclude that these alterations were his own.'

[871] The learned and worthy Dr. Lawrence, whom Dr. Johnson respected and loved as his physician and friend. BOSWELL. 'Dr. Lawrence was descended, as Sir Egerton Brydges informs me, from Milton's friend ['Lawrence, of virtuous father virtuous son.' Milton's _Sonnets_, xx.].

One of his sons was Sir Soulden Lawrence, one of the Judges of the King's Bench.' Croker's _Boswell_, p. 734. See _post_, March 19, 1782.

[872] My friend has, in this letter, relied upon my testimony, with a confidence, of which the ground has escaped my recollection. BOSWELL.

Lord Shelburne said: 'Like the generality of Scotch, Lord Mansfield had no regard to truth whatever.' Fitzmaurice's _Shelburne_, i. 89.

[873] Dr. Lawrence. See Johnson's letter to Warren Hastings of Dec. 20, 1774. _Post_, beginning of 1781.

[874] I have deposited it in the British Museum. BOSWELL. Mr. P.

Cunningham says:--'Of all the MSS. which Boswell says he had deposited in the British Museum, only the copy of the letter to Lord Chesterfield has been found, and that was not deposited by him, but after his death, "pursuant to the intentions of the late James Boswell, Esq."' Croker's _Boswell_, p. 430. The original letter to Macpherson was sold in Mr.

Poc.o.c.k's collection in 1875. It fetched 50, almost five times as much as Johnson was paid for his _London_. It differs from the copy, if we can trust the auctioneer's catalogue, where the following pa.s.sage is quoted:--'Mr. James Macpherson, I received your foolish and impudent note. Whatever insult is offered me, I will do my best to repel, and what I cannot do for myself the law shall do for me. I will not desist from detecting what I think a cheat from any fear of the menaces of a Ruffian.'

[875] In the _Gent. Mag_. for 1773, p. 192, is announced: '_The Iliad of Homer_. Translated by James Macpherson, Esq., 2 vols. 4to. 2 2s.

Becket.' Hume writes:--'Finding the style of his _Ossian_ admired by some, he attempts a translation of _Homer_ in the very same style. He begins and finishes in six weeks a work that was for ever to eclipse the translation of Pope, whom he does not even deign to mention in his preface; but this joke was still more unsuccessful [than his _History of Britain_].' J. H. Burton's _Hume_, i. 478. Hume says of him, that he had 'scarce ever known a man more perverse and unamiable.' _Ib_ p. 470.

[876] 'Within a few feet of Johnson lies (by one of those singular coincidences in which the Abbey abounds) his deadly enemy, James Macpherson.' Stanley's _Westminster Abbey_, p. 298.

[877] _Hamlet_, act iii. sc. I.

[878] 'Fear was indeed a sensation to which Dr. Johnson was an utter stranger, excepting when some sudden apprehensions seized him that he was going to die.' Piozzi's _Anec_. p. 277. In this respect his character might be likened to that of Fearing, in _Pilgrim's Progress_ (Part ii), as described by Great-Heart:--'When he came to the Hill Difficulty, he made no stick at that, nor did he much fear the Lions; for you must know that his troubles were not about such things as these; his fear was about his acceptance at last.'

[879] See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 18, 1773.

[880] See _ante_, i. 249, where Garrick humorously foretold the Round-house for Johnson.

[881] See _ante_, ii. 95.

[882] 'It was,' writes Hawkins (_Life_, p. 491), 'an oak-plant of a tremendous size; a plant, I say, and not a shoot or branch, for it had had a root which, being trimmed to the size of a large orange, became the head of it. Its height was upwards of six feet, and from about an inch in diameter at the lower end, increased to near three; this he kept in his bed-chamber, so near the chair in which he constantly sat as to be within reach.' Macpherson, like Johnson, was a big man. Dr. A.

Carlyle says (_Auto_. p. 398):--'He was good-looking, of a large size, with very thick legs, to hide which he generally wore boots, though not then the fashion. He appeared to me proud and reserved.'

[883] Boswell wrote to Temple on April 4:--'Mr. Johnson has allowed me to write out a supplement to his Journey.' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 186.

On May 10 he wrote:--'I have not written out another line of my remarks on the Hebrides. I found it impossible to do it in London. Besides, Dr.

Johnson does not seem very desirous that I should publish any supplement. _Between ourselves, he is not apt to encourage one to share reputation with himself_.' _Ib_ p. 192.

[884] Colonel Newcome, when a lad, 'was for ever talking of India, and the famous deeds of Clive and Lawrence. His favourite book was a history of India--the history of Orme.' Thackeray's _Newcomes_, ch. 76. See _post_, April 15, 1778.

[885] _Richard II_, act i. sc. 3. See _ante_, i. 129.

[886] A pa.s.sage in the _North Briton_, No. 34, shews how wide-spread this prejudice was. The writer gives his 'real, fair, and substantial objections to the administration of this _Scot_ [Lord Bute]. The first is, that he is a _Scot_. I am certain that reason could never believe that a _Scot_ was fit to have the management of _English_ affairs. A _Scot_ hath no more right to preferment in England than a _Hanoverian_ or a _Hottentot_.' In _Humphry Clinker_ (Letter of July 13) we read:--'From Doncaster northwards all the windows of all the inns are scrawled with doggrel rhymes in abuse of the Scotch nation.' Horace Walpole, writing of the contest between the House of Commons and the city in 1771, says of the Scotch courtiers:--'The Scotch wanted to come to blows, and _were at least not sorry to see the House of Commons so contemptible_.' _Memoirs of the Reign of George III_, iv. 301. 'What a nation is Scotland,' he wrote at the end of the Gordon Riots, 'in every reign engendering traitors to the State, and false and pernicious to the kings that favour it the most.' _Letters_, vii. 400. See _post_, March 21, 1783. Lord Shelburne, a man of a liberal mind, wrote:--'I can scarce conceive a Scotchman capable of liberality, and capable of impartiality.' After calling them 'a sad set of innate cold-hearted, impudent rogues,' he continues:--'It's a melancholy thing that there is no finding any other people that will take pains, or be amenable even to the best purposes.' Fitzmaurice's _Shelburne_, iii. 441. Hume wrote to his countryman, Gilbert Elliot, in 1764:--'I do not believe there is one Englishman in fifty, who, if he heard I had broke (sic) my neck to-night, would be sorry. Some, because I am not a Whig; some, because I am not a Christian; and all, because I am a Scotsman. Can you seriously talk of my continuing an Englishman? Am I, or are you, an Englishman?'

Elliot replies:--'Notwithstanding all you say, we are both Englishmen; that is, true British subjects, ent.i.tled to every emolument and advantage that our happy const.i.tution can bestow.' Burton's _Hume_, ii.

238, 240. Hume, in his prejudice against England, went far beyond Johnson in his prejudice against Scotland. In 1769 he wrote:--'I am delighted to see the daily and hourly progress of madness and folly and wickedness in England. The consummation of these qualities are the true ingredients for making a fine narrative in history, especially if followed by some signal and ruinous convulsion--as I hope will soon be the case with that pernicious people.' _Ib_ p. 431. In 1770 he wrote:--'Our government has become a chimera, and is too perfect, in point of liberty, for so rude a beast as an Englishman; who is a man, a bad animal too, corrupted by above a century of licentiousness.' _Ib_ p. 434.

[887] 'The love of planting,' wrote Sir Walter Scott, 'which has become almost a pa.s.sion, is much to be ascribed to Johnson's sarcasms.' Croker _Corres_. ii. 34. Lord Jeffrey wrote from Watford in 1833:--'What a country this old England is. In a circle of twenty miles from this spot (leaving out London and its suburbs), there is more old timber ... than in all Scotland.' c.o.c.kburn's _Jeffrey_, i. 348. See _post_, March 21, 1775.

[888] See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 20.

[889] Even David Hume subscribed to the fund. He wrote in 1760:--'Certain it is that these poems are in every body's mouth in the Highlands, have been handed down from father to son, and are of an age beyond all memory and tradition. Adam Smith told me that the Piper of the Argyleshire militia repeated to him all those which Mr. Macpherson had translated. We have set about a subscription of a guinea or two guineas apiece, in order to enable Mr. Macpherson to undertake a mission into the Highlands to recover this poem, and other fragments of antiquity.' Mason's _Gray_, ii. 170. Hume changed his opinion. 'On going to London,' writes Dr. A. Carlyle (_Auto_. p. 276), 'he went over to the other side, and loudly affirmed the poems to be inventions of Macpherson. I happened to say one day, when he was declaiming against Macpherson, that I had met with n.o.body of his opinion but William Caddel of c.o.c.kenzie, and President Dundas, which he took ill, and was some time of forgetting.' Gibbon, in the _Decline and Fall_ (vol. i. ch. 6), quoted Ossian, but added:--'Something of a doubtful mist still hangs over these Highland traditions; nor can it be entirely dispelled by the most ingenious researches of modern criticism.' On this Hume wrote to him on March 18, 1776:--'I see you entertain a great doubt with regard to the authenticity of the poems of Ossian.... Where a supposition is so contrary to common sense, any positive evidence of it ought never to be regarded. Men run with great avidity to give their evidence in favour of what flatters their pa.s.sions and their national prejudices. You are therefore over and above indulgent to us in speaking of the matter with hesitation.' Gibbon's _Misc. Works_, i. 225. So early as 1763 Hume had asked Dr. Blair for 'proof that these poems were not forged within these five years by James Macpherson. _These proofs must not be arguments, but testimonies_!' J. H. Burton's _Hume_, i. 466. Smollett, it should seem, believed in Ossian to the end. In Humphry Clinker, in the letter dated Sept. 3, he makes one of his characters write:--'The poems of Ossian are in every mouth. A famous antiquarian of this country, the laird of Macfarlane, at whose house we dined, can repeat them all in the original Gaelic.' See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Nov. 10.

[890] I find in his letters only Sir A. Macdonald (_ante_, ii. 157) of whom this can be said.