Life of Johnson Volume IV Part 73

Once, upon reading that line in the curious epitaph quoted in _The Spectator;_

'Born in New-England, did in London die;'

he laughed and said, 'I do not wonder at this. It would have been strange, if born in London, he had died in New-England.' BOSWELL. Mrs.

Smart was in Dublin when Johnson wrote to her. After the pa.s.sage quoted by Boswell he continued:--'I think, Madam, you may look upon your expedition as a proper preparative to the voyage which we have often talked of. Dublin, though a place much worse than London, is not so bad as Iceland.' Smart's _Poems_, i. xxi. For Iceland see _ante_, i. 242.

The epitaph, quoted in _The Spectator_, No. 518, begins--

Here Thomas Sapper lies interred. Ah why!

Born in New-England, did in London die.'

[1112] _St. Mark_, v. 34.

[1113] There is no record of this in the _Gent. Mag_. Among the 149 persons who that summer had been sentenced to death (_ante_, p. 328) who would notice these two?

[1114] See _ante_, p. 356, note 1

[1115] Johnson wrote for him a Dedication of his _Ta.s.so_ in 1763.

_Ante_, i. 383.

[1116] There was no information for which Dr. Johnson was less grateful that than for that which concerned the weather. It was in allusion to his impatience with those who were reduced to keep conversation alive by observations on the weather, that he applied the old proverb to himself.

If any one of his intimate acquaintance told him it was hot or cold, wet or dry, windy or calm, he would stop them, by saying, 'Poh! poh! you are telling us that of which none but men in a mine or a dungeon can be ignorant. Let us bear with patience, or enjoy in quiet, elementary changes, whether for the better or the worse, as they are never secrets.' BURNEY. In _The Idler_, No. II, Johnson shews that 'an Englishman's notice of the weather is the natural consequence of changeable skies and uncertain seasons... In our island every man goes to sleep unable to guess whether he shall behold in the morning a bright or cloudy atmosphere, whether his rest shall be lulled by a shower, or broken by a tempest. We therefore rejoice mutually at good weather, as at an escape from something that we feared; and mutually complain of bad, as of the loss of something that we hoped.' See _ante_, i.

332, and iv. 353.

[1117] His _Account of the Musical Performances in Commemoration of Handel_. See _ante_, p. 283.

[1118] The celebrated Miss f.a.n.n.y Burney. BOSWELL.

[1119] Dr. Burney's letter must have been franked; otherwise there would have been no frugality, for each enclosure was charged as a separate letter.

[1120] He does not know, that is to say, what people of his acquaintance were in town, privileged to receive letters post free; such as members of either House of Parliament.

[1121] _Consolation_ is clearly a blunder, Malone's conjecture _mortification_ seems absurd.

[1122] See _ante_, iii. 48, and iv. 177.

[1123] Windham visited him at Ashbourne in the end of August, after the former of these letters was written. See _ante_, p. 356.

[1124] This may refer, as Mr. Croker says, to Hamilton's generous offer, mentioned _ante_, p. 244. Yet Johnson, with his accurate mind, was not likely to a.s.sign to the spring an event of the previous November.

[1125] Johnson refers to Pope's lines on Walpole:--

'Seen him I have but in his _happier hour_ Of social pleasure, ill-exchanged for power.'

_Satires. Epilogue_, i. 29.

[1126] Son of the late Peter Paradise, Esq. his Britannick Majesty's Consul at Salonica, in Macedonia, by his lady, a native of that country.

He studied at Oxford, and has been honoured by that University with the degree of LL.D. He is distinguished not only by his learning and talents, but by an amiable disposition, gentleness of manners, and a very general acquaintance with well-informed and accomplished persons of almost all nations. BOSWELL.

[1127] Bookseller to his Majesty. BOSWELL.

[1128] Mr. Cruikshank attended him as a surgeon the year before. _Ante_, p. 239.

[1129]Allan Ramsay, Esq. painter to his Majesty, who died Aug. 10, 1784, in the 71st year of his age, much regretted by his friends. BOSWELL. See _ante_, p. 260.

[1130] Northcote (_Life of Reynolds_, ii. 187) says that Johnson 'most probably refers to Sir Joshua's becoming painter to the King. 'I know,'

he continues, 'that Sir Joshua expected the appointment would be offered to him on the death of Ramsay, and expressed his disapprobation with regard to soliciting for it; but he was informed that it was a necessary point of etiquette, with which at last he complied.' His 'furious purposes' should seem to have been his intention to resign the Presidency of the Academy, on finding that the place was not at once given him, and in the knowledge that in the Academy there was a party against him. Taylor's _Reynolds_, ii. 448.

[1131] See _ante_, p. 348.

[1132] The Chancellor had not, it should seem, asked the King. See _ante_, p. 350, note.

[1133] The Duke of Devonshire has kindly given me the following explanation of this term:--'It was formerly the custom at some (I believe several) of the large country-houses to have dinners at which any of the neighbouring gentry and clergy might present themselves as guests without invitation. The custom had been discontinued at Chatsworth before my recollection, and so far as I am aware is now only kept-up at Wentworth, Lord Fitzwilliam's house in Yorkshire, where a few public dinners are still given annually. I believe, however, that all persons intending to be present on such occasions are now expected to give notice some days previously. Public dinners were also given formerly by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and if I am not mistaken also by the Archbishop of York. I have myself been present at a public dinner at Lambeth Palace within the last fifty years or thereabouts, and I have been at one or more such dinners at Wentworth.' Since receiving this explanation I have read the following in the second part of the _Greville Memoirs_, i. 99:--'June 1, 1838. I dined yesterday at Lambeth, at the Archbishop's public dinner, the handsomest entertainment I ever saw. There were nearly a hundred people present, all full-dressed or in uniform. Nothing can be more dignified and splendid than the whole arrangement.'

[1134] Six weeks later he was willing to hear even of balloons, so long as he got a letter. 'You,' he wrote to Mr. Sastres, 'may always have something to tell: you live among the various orders of mankind, and may make a letter from the exploits, sometimes of the philosopher, and sometimes of the pickpocket. You see some balloons succeed and some miscarry, and a thousand strange and a thousand foolish things.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 412.

[1135] See _ante_, p. 349, note.

[1136] 'He alludes probably to the place of King's Painter; which, since Burke's reforming the King's household expenses, had been reduced from 200 to 50 per annum.' Northcote's _Reynolds_, ii. 188. The place was more profitable than Johnson thought. 'It was worth having from the harvest it brought in by the multiplication of the faces of King and Queen as presents for amba.s.sadors and potentates.' This is shewn by the following note in Sir Joshua's price-book:--'Nov. 28, 1789, remain in the Academy five Kings, four Queens; in the house two Kings and one Queen.' Taylor's _Reynolds_, ii. 449.

[1137] Mr. Nichols published in 1782 _Anecdotes of William Bowyer, Printer_. In 1812-15 he brought out this work, recast and enlarged, under the t.i.tle of _Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century_. See _ante_, p. 161.

[1138] In the original (which is in the British Museum) not _hints_ but _names_.

[1139] On Nov. 4, he wrote to Mr. Ryland:--'I have just received a letter in which you tell me that you love to hear from me, and I value such a declaration too much to neglect it. To have a friend, and a friend like you, may be numbered amongst the first felicities of life; at a time when weakness either of body or mind loses the pride and the confidence of self-sufficiency, and looks round for that help which perhaps human kindness cannot give, and which we yet are willing to expect from one another. I am at this time very much dejected.... I am now preparing myself for my return, and do not despair of some more monthly meetings [_post_, Appendix C]. To hear that dear Payne is better gives me great delight. I saw the draught of the stone [over Mrs.

Johnson's grave, _ante_, p. 351]. Shall I ever be able to bear the sight of this stone? In your company I hope I shall.' Mr. Morrison's _Autographs_, vol. ii.

[1140] To him as a writer might be generally applied what he said of Rochester:--'His pieces are commonly short, such as one fit of resolution would produce.' _Works_, vii. 159.

[1141] _Odes_, iv.7. _Works_, i. 137.

[1142] _Against inqitisitive and perplexing thoughts_. 'O LORD, my Maker and Protector, who hast graciously sent me into this world to work out my salvation, enable me to drive from me all such unquiet and perplexing thoughts as may mislead or hinder me in the practice of those duties which Thou hast required. When I behold the works of thy hands, and consider the course of thy providence, give me grace always to remember that thy thoughts are not my thoughts, nor thy ways my ways. And while it shall please Thee to continue me in this world, where much is to be done, and little to be known, teach me by thy Holy Spirit, to withdraw my mind from unprofitable and dangerous enquiries, from difficulties vainly curious, and doubts impossible to be solved. Let me rejoice in the light which Thou hast imparted, let me serve Thee with active zeal and humble confidence, and wait with patient expectation for the time in which the soul which Thou receivest shall be satisfied with knowledge.

Grant this, O LORD, for JESUS CHRIST'S sake. Amen.' BOSWELL. _Pr. and Med._ p. 219.

[1143] _Life of Johnson_, p. 599.

[1144] Porson with admirable humour satirised Hawkins for his attack on Barber. _Gent. Mag._ 1787, p. 752, and _Porson Tracts_, p. 358. Baretti in his _Tolondron_, p. 149, says that 'Barber from his earliest youth served Johnson with the greatest affection and disinterestedness.'

[1145] Vol. ii. p. 30. BOSWELL.

[1146] I shall add one instance only to those which I have thought it inc.u.mbent on me to point out. Talking of Mr. Garrick's having signified his willingness to let Johnson have the loan of any of his books to a.s.sist him in his edition of Shakspeare [_ante_, ii. 192]; Sir John says, (p. 444,) 'Mr. Garrick knew not what risque he ran by this offer.

Johnson had so strange a forgetfulness of obligations of this sort, that few who lent him books ever saw them again.' This surely conveys a most unfavourable insinuation, and has been so understood. Sir John mentions the single case of a curious edition of Politian [_ante_, i. 90], which he tells us, 'appeared to belong to Pembroke College, and which, probably, had been considered by Johnson as his own, for upwards of fifty years.' Would it not be fairer to consider this as an inadvertence, and draw no general inference? The truth is, that Johnson was so attentive, that in one of his ma.n.u.scripts in my possession, he has marked in two columns, books borrowed, and books lent.

In Sir John Hawkins's compilation, there are, however, some pa.s.sages concerning Johnson which have unquestionable merit. One of them I shall transcribe, in justice to a writer whom I have had too much occasion to censure, and to shew my fairness as the biographer of my ill.u.s.trious friend: 'There was wanting in his conduct and behaviour, that dignity which results from a regular and orderly course of action, and by an irresistible power commands esteem. He could not be said to be a stayed man, nor so to have adjusted in his mind the balance of reason and pa.s.sion, as to give occasion to say what may be observed of some men, that all they do is just, fit, and right.' [Hawkins's _Johnson_, p.

409.] Yet a judicious friend well suggests, 'It might, however, have been added, that such men are often merely just, and rigidly correct, while their hearts are cold and unfeeling; and that Johnson's virtues were of a much higher tone than those of the _stayed, orderly man_, here described.' BOSWELL.

[1147] 'Lich, a dead carcase; whence Lichfield, the field of the dead, a city in Staffordshire, so named from martyred Christians. _Salve magna parens.'_ It is curious that in the Abridgment of the _Dictionary_ he struck out this salutation, though he left the rest of the article.

_Salve magna parens_, (Hail, mighty parent) is from Virgil's _Georgics_, ii. 173. The Rev. T. Twining, when at Lichfield in 1797, says:--'I visited the famous large old willow-tree, which Johnson, they say, used to kiss when he came to Lichfield.' _Recreations and Studies of a Country Clergyman of the XVIII Century_, p. 227.

[1148] The following circ.u.mstance, mutually to the honour of Johnson, and the corporation of his native city, has been communicated to me by the Reverend Dr. Vyse, from the Town-Clerk:--'Mr. Simpson has now before him, a record of the respect and veneration which the Corporation of Lichfield, in the year 1767, had for the merits and learning of Dr.