Life of Johnson Volume III Part 57

[462] 'I have enlarged my notions,' recorded Johnson in his _Journal of a Tour into Wales_ (Aug. 3, 1774), after he had seen some iron-works.

[463] Young. BOSWELL.

'Think nought a trifle, though it small appear.'

Small sands the mountain, moments make the year, And trifles life.'

_Love of Fame_, Satire vi.

[464] 'Pray, Sir, don't leave us;' said Johnson to an upholder of Berkeley's philosophy, 'for we may perhaps forget to think of you, and then you will cease to exist.' _Post_, 1780, in Langton's _Collection_.

See also _ante_, i. 471.

[465] Perhaps Boswell is thinking of Gray's lines at the close of the _Progress of Poesy_:--

'Yet shall he mount, and keep his distant way Beyond the limits of a vulgar fate.'

[466] Goldsmith wrote:--'In all Pope's letters, as well as in those of Swift, there runs a strain of pride, as if the world talked of nothing but themselves. "Alas," says he in one of them, "the day after I am dead the sun will shine as bright as the day before, and the world will be as merry as usual." Very strange, that neither an eclipse nor an earthquake should follow the loss of a poet!' Cunningham's _Goldsmith's Works_, iv. 85. Goldsmith refers, I suppose, to Pope's letter to Steele of July 15, 1712, where he writes:--'The morning after my exit the sun will rise as bright as ever, the flowers smell as sweet, the plants spring as green, the world will proceed in its old course, people will laugh as heartily, and marry as fast as they were used to do.' Elwin's Pope's _Works_, vi. 392. Gray's friend, Richard West, in some lines suggested by this letter, gives a pretty turn to Pope's thoughts where he says:--

'For me, whene'er all-conquering Death shall spread His wings around my unrepining head, I care not; tho' this face be seen no more, The world will pa.s.s as cheerful as before; Bright as before the day-star will appear, The fields as verdant, and the skies as clear.'

Mason's _Gray_, ed. 1807, i. 152.

[467] See _post_, April 12, 1778.

[468] A brother of Dodd's wife told Hawkins that 'Dodd's manner of living was ever such as his visible income would no way account for.

He said that he was the most importunate suitor for preferment ever known; and that himself had been the bearer of letters to great men, soliciting promotion to livings, and had hardly escaped kicking down stairs.' Hawkins's _Johnson_, p. 435.

[469] Hawkins (_Life_, p. 523) says that a Mr. Selwin, who just missed being elected Chamberlain of the City, went by request to see a man under sentence of death in Newgate, 'who informed him that he was in daily expectation of the arrival of the warrant for his execution; "but," said he, "I have 200, and you are a man of character, and had the court-interest when you stood for Chamberlain; I should therefore hope it is in your power to get me off." Mr. Selwin was struck with so strange a notion, and asked, if there were any alleviating circ.u.mstances in his case. The man peevishly answered "No;" but that he had enquired into the history of the place where he was, and could not find that any one who had 200 was ever hanged. Mr. Selwin told him it was out of his power to help him, and bade him farewell--"which," added he, "he did; for he found means to escape punishment."'

[470] Dodd, in his Dedication of this Sermon to Mr. Villette, the Ordinary of Newgate, says:--'The following address owes its present public appearance to you. You heard it delivered, and are pleased to think that its publication will be useful. To a poor and abject worm like myself this is a sufficient inducement to that publication.'

[471] See _ante_, p. 97. 'They have,' says Lowndes (_Bibl. Man_.), 'pa.s.sed through innumerable editions.' To how many the book-stalls testify, where they are offered second-hand for a few pence.

[472] Goldsmith was thirty when he published _An Enquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning in Europe_; thirty-six when he published The _Traveller_; thirty-seven when he published _The Vicar of Wakefield_, and thirty-nine when he brought out _The Good-Natured Man_.

In flowering late he was like Swift. 'Swift was not one of those minds which amaze the world with early pregnancy; his first work, except his few poetical Essays, was the _Dissentions in Athens and Rome_, published in his thirty-fourth year.' Johnson's _Works_, viii. 197. See _post_, April 9, 1778.

[473] Burke, I think, is meant.

[474] This walking about his room naked was, perhaps, part of Lord Monboddo's system that was founded 'on the superiority of the savage life.' _Ante_, ii. 147.

[475] This regimen was, however, practised by Bishop Ken, of whom Hawkins (_not Sir John_) in his life of that venerable Prelate, p. 4, tells us: 'And that neither his study might be the aggressor on his hours of instruction, or what he judged his duty prevent his improvements; or both, his closet addresses to his G.o.d; he strictly accustomed himself to but one sleep, which often obliged him to rise at one or two of the clock in the morning, and sometimes sooner; and grew so habitual, that it continued with him almost till his last illness.

And so lively and chearful was his temper, that he would be very facetious and entertaining to his friends in the evening, even when it was perceived that with difficulty he kept his eyes open; and then seemed to go to rest with no other purpose than the refreshing and enabling him with more vigour and chearfulness to sing his morning hymn, as he then used to do to his lute before he put on his cloaths.'

BOSWELL.

[476] See _ante_, under Dec. 17, 1775.

[477] Boswell shortened his life by drinking, if, indeed, he did not die of it. Less than a year before his death he wrote to Temple:--'I thank you sincerely for your friendly admonition on my frailty in indulging so much in wine. I _do_ resolve _anew_ to be upon my guard, as I am sensible how very pernicious as well as disreputable such a habit is! How miserably have I yielded to it in various years!' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 353. In 1776 Paoli had taken his word of honour that he would not taste fermented liquor for a year, that he might recover sobriety. _Ib_. p. 233. For a short time also in 1778 Boswell was a water-drinker, _Post_, April 28, 1778.

[478] Sir James Mackintosh told Mr. Croker that he believed Lord Errol was meant here as well as _post_, April 28, 1778. See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 24, 1773.

[479] 'Must give us pause.' _Hamlet_, act iii. sc. 1.

[480] 'He was the first,' writes Dr. T. Campbell (_Survey of the South of Ireland_, p. 373), 'who gave histories of the weather, seasons, and diseases of Dublin.' Wesley records (_Journal_, iv. 40):--'April 6, 1775. I visited that venerable man, Dr. Rutty, just tottering over the grave; but still clear in his understanding, full of faith and love, and patiently waiting till his change should come.'

[481] Cowper wrote of Johnson's _Diary_:--'It is certain that the publisher of it is neither much a friend to the cause of religion nor to the author's memory; for, by the specimen of it that has reached us, it seems to contain only such stuff as has a direct tendency to expose both to ridicule.' Southey's _Cowper_, v. 152.

[482] Huet, Bishop of Avranches, born 1630, died 1721, published in 1718 _Commentarius de rebus ad eum pertinentibus. Nouv. Biog. Gene_.

xxv. 380.

[483] When Dr. Blair published his Lectures, he was invidiously attacked for having omitted his censure on Johnson's style, and, on the contrary, praising it highly. But before that time Johnson's _Lives of the Poets_ had appeared, in which his style was considerably easier than when he wrote _The Rambler_. It would, therefore, have been uncandid in Blair, even supposing his criticism to have been just, to have preserved it.

BOSWELL.

[484] Johnson refers no doubt to the essay _On Romances, An Imitation_, by A. L. Aikin (Mrs. Barbauld); in _Miscellaneous Pieces in Prose_, by J. and A. L. Aikin (1773), p. 39. He would be an acute critic who could distinguish this _Imitation_ from a number of _The Rambler_.

[485] See _post_, under Dec. 6, 1784.

[486] _Id est, The Literary Scourge_.

[487] See _ante_, ii. 236, where Johnson attacks 'the _verbiage_ of Robertson.'

[488] 'We were now treading that ill.u.s.trious island, which was once the luminary of the Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge, and the blessings of religion. To abstract the mind from all local emotion would be impossible if it were endeavoured, and would be foolish if it were possible. Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses, whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future, predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings. Far from me, and from my friends, be such rigid philosophy, as may conduct us, indifferent and unmoved, over any ground which has been dignified by wisdom, bravery or virtue. The [That] man is little to be envied, whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona.' Had our Tour produced nothing else but this sublime pa.s.sage, the world must have acknowledged that it was not made in vain. Sir Joseph Banks, the present respectable President of the Royal Society, told me, he was so much struck on reading it, that he clasped his hands together, and remained for some time in an att.i.tude of silent admiration. BOSWELL. See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 19, 1773, and Johnson's _Works_, ix. 145.

[489] 'He that thinks with more extent than another will want words of larger meaning.' _Ante_, i. 218.

[490] In the original _island_.

[491] See _ante_, ii. 203, note 3.

[492] In this censure which has been carelessly uttered, I carelessly joined. But in justice to Dr. Kippis, who with that manly candid good temper which marks his character, set me right, I now with pleasure retract it; and I desire it may be particularly observed, as pointed out by him to me, that 'The new lives of dissenting Divines in the first four volumes of the second edition of the _Biographia Brittanica_, are those of John Abernethy, Thomas Amory, George Benson, Hugh Broughton the learned Puritan, Simon Browne, Joseph Boyse of Dublin, Thomas Cartwright the learned Puritan, and Samuel Chandler. The only doubt I have ever heard suggested is, whether there should have been an article of Dr. Amory. But I was convinced, and am still convinced, that he was ent.i.tled to one, from the reality of his learning, and the excellent and candid nature of his practical writings.

'The new lives of clergymen of the Church of England, in the same four volumes, are as follows: John Balguy, Edward Bentham, George Berkley Bishop of Cloyne, William Berriman, Thomas Birch, William Borlase, Thomas Bott, James Bradley, Thomas Broughton, John Brown, John Burton, Joseph Butler Bishop of Durham, Thomas Carte, Edmund Castell, Edmund Chishull, Charles Churchill, William Clarke, Robert Clayton Bishop of Clogher, John Conybeare Bishop of Bristol, George Costard, and Samuel Croxall.--"I am not conscious (says Dr. Kippis) of any partiality in conducting the work. I would not willingly insert a Dissenting Minister that does not justly deserve to be noticed, or omit an established Clergyman that does. At the same time, I shall not be deterred from introducing Dissenters into the _Biographia_, when I am satisfied that they are ent.i.tled to that distinction, from their writings, learning, and merit."'

Let me add that the expression 'A friend to the Const.i.tution in Church and State,' was not meant by me, as any reflection upon this reverend gentleman, as if he were an enemy to the political const.i.tution of his country, as established at the revolution, but, from my steady and avowed predilection for a _Tory_, was quoted from Johnson's _Dictionary_, where that distinction is so defined. BOSWELL. In his _Dictionary_ a _Tory_ is defined as 'one who adheres to the ancient const.i.tution of the state and the apostolical hierarchy of the Church of England.' It was on the _Biographia Britannica_ that Cowper wrote the lines that end:--

'So when a child, as playful children use, Has burnt to tinder a stale last year's news, The flame extinct he views the roving fire, There goes my lady, and there goes the squire, There goes the parson, oh! ill.u.s.trious spark, And there, scarce less ill.u.s.trious, goes the clerk.'

Cowper's Works, viii. 320.

Horace Walpole said that the '_Biographia Britannica_ ought rather to be called _Vindicatio Britannica_, for that it was a general panegyric upon everybody.' Prior's _Malone_, p. 115.

[493] See _ante_, p. 99.

[494]

'Great wits are sure to madness near allied, And thin part.i.tions do their bounds divide.'

Dryden's _Absalom and Achitophel_, 1, 163.

[495] _Observations on Insanity_, by Thomas Arnold, M.D., London, 1782.

BOSWELL.