Life of Johnson Volume V Part 52

[569] See _ante_, i. 353, note 1.

[570] Ovid, _Ars Amatoria_, iii. 121.

[571]

'This facile temper of the beauteous s.e.x Great Agamemnon, brave Pelides proved.'

These two lines follow the four which Boswell quotes. _Agis_, act iv.

[572] _Agis_, a tragedy, by John Home. BOSWELL.

[573] See _ante_, p. 27.

[574] A misprint, I suppose, for _designing_.

[575] 'Next in dignity to the laird is the tacksman; a large taker or leaseholder of land, of which he keeps part as a domain in his own hand, and lets part to under-tenants. The tacksman is necessarily a man capable of securing to the laird the whole rent, and is commonly a collateral relation.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 82.

[576] A _lettre de cachet_.

[577] _Ante_, p. 159.

[578] 'It is related that at Dunvegan Lady Macleod, having poured out for Dr. Johnson sixteen cups of tea, asked him if a small basin would not save him trouble, and be more agreeable. "I wonder, Madam," answered he roughly, "why all the ladies ask me such questions. It is to save yourselves trouble, Madam, and not me." The lady was silent and resumed her task.' Northcote's _Reynolds_, i. 81.

[579] 'In the garden-or rather the orchard which was formerly the garden-is a pretty cascade, divided into two branches, and called Rorie More's Nurse, because he loved to be lulled to sleep by the sound of it.' Lockhart's _Scott_, iv. 304.

[580] It has been said that she expressed considerable dissatisfaction at Dr. Johnson's rude behaviour at Dunvegan. Her grandson, the present Macleod, a.s.sures me that it was not so: 'they were all,' he says emphatically, '_delighted_ with him.' CROKER. Mr. Croker refers, I think, to a communication from Sir Walter Scott, published in the _Croker Corres_. ii. 33. Scott writes:--'When wind-bound at Dunvegan, Johnson's temper became most execrable, and beyond all endurance, save that of his guide. The Highlanders, who are very courteous in their way, held him in great contempt for his want of breeding, but had an idea at the same time there was something respectable about him, they could not tell what, and long spoke of him as the Sa.s.senach _mohr_, or large Saxon.'

[581] 'I long to be again in civilized life.' _Ante_, p. 183.

[582] See _ante_, iii. 406.

[583] Johnson refers, I think, to a pa.s.sage in _L'Esprit des Lois_, Book xvi. chap. 4, where Montesquieu says:--'J'avoue que si ce que les relations nous disent etait vrai, qu'a Bantam il y a dix femmes pour un homme, ce serait un cas bien particulier de la polygamie. Dans tout ceci je ne justifie pas les usages, mais j'en rends les raisons.'

[584] What my friend treated as so wild a supposition, has actually happened in the Western islands of Scotland, if we may believe Martin, who tells it of the islands of Col and Tyr-yi, and says that it is proved by the parish registers. BOSWELL. 'The Isle of Coll produces more boys than girls, and the Isle of Tire-iy more girls than boys; as if nature intended both these isles for mutual alliances, without being at the trouble of going to the adjacent isles or continent to be matched.

The parish-book in which the number of the baptised is to be seen, confirms this observation.' Martin's _Western Islands,_ p. 271.

[585] _A Dissertation on the Gout_, by W. Cadogan, M.D., 1771. It went through nine editions in its first year.

[586] This was a general reflection against Dr. Cadogan, when his very popular book was first published. It was said, that whatever precepts he might give to others, he himself indulged freely in the bottle. But I have since had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with him, and, if his own testimony may be believed, (and I have never heard it impeached,) his course of life has been conformable to his doctrine. BOSWELL.

[587] 'April 7, 1765. I purpose to rise at eight, because, though I shall not yet rise early, it will be much earlier than I now rise, for I often lie till two.' _Pr. and Med._ p. 62. 'Sept. 18, 1771. My nocturnal complaints grow less troublesome towards morning; and I am tempted to repair the deficiencies of the night. I think, however, to try to rise every day by eight, and to combat indolence as I shall obtain strength.'

_Ib._ p. 105. 'April 14, 1775. As my life has from my earliest years been wasted in a morning bed, my purpose is from Easter day to rise early, not later than eight.' _Ib._ p. 139.

[588] See _post_, Oct. 25.

[589] See _ante_, iv. under Dec. 2, 1784.

[590] Miss Mulso (Mrs. Chapone) wrote in 1753:--'I had the a.s.surance to dispute with Mr. Johnson on the subject of human malignity, and wondered to hear a man, who by his actions shews so much benevolence, maintain that the human heart is naturally malevolent, and that all the benevolence we see in the few who are good is acquired by reason and religion.' _ Life of Mrs. Chapone_, p.73. See _post_, p. 214.

[591] This act was pa.s.sed in 1746.

[592] _Isaiah_, ii. 4.

[593] Sir Walter Scott, after mentioning Lord Orford's (Horace Walpole) _History of His Own Time_, continues:--'The Memoirs of our Scots Sir George Mackenzie are of the same cla.s.s--both immersed in little political detail, and the struggling skirmish of party, seem to have lost sight of the great progressive movements of human affairs.'

Lockhart's _Scott_ vii. 12.

[594] 'Illum jura potius ponere quam de jure respondere dixisses; eique appropinquabant clientes tanquam judici potius quam advocato.'

Mackenzie's _Works_, ed. 1716, vol. i. part 2, p. 7.

[595] 'Opposuit ei providentia Nisbetum: qui summa doctrina consummataque eloquentia causas agebat, ut just.i.tiae scalae in aequilibrio essent; nimia tamen arte semper utens artem suam suspectam reddebat. Quoties ergo conflixerunt, penes Gilmorum gloria, penes Nisbetum palma fuit; quoniam in hoc plus artis et cultus, in illo naturae et virium.' _Ib._

[596] He often indulged himself in every species of pleasantry and wit.

BOSWELL.

[597] But like the hawk, having soared with a lofty flight to a height which the eye could not reach, he was wont to swoop upon his quarry with wonderful rapidity. BOSWELL. These two quotations are part of the same paragraph, and are not even separated by a word. _Ib._ p. 6.

[598] See _ante_, i. 453; iii. 323; iv. 276; and v. 32.

[599] Some years later he said that 'when Burke lets himself down to jocularity he is in the kennel.' _Ante_, iv. 276.

[600] Cicero and Demosthenes, no doubt, were brought in by the pa.s.sage about Nicholson. Mackenzie continues:--'Hic primus nos a Syllogismorum servitute manumisit et Aristotelem Demostheni potius quam Ciceroni forum concedere coegit.' P. 6.

[601] See _ante_ ii. 435 and iv. 149, note 3.

[602] See _ante_, i. 103.

[603] See _ante_ ii 436

[604] See _ante_, i. 65.

[605] On Sept. 13, 1777, Johnson wrote:--'Boswell shrinks from the Baltick expedition, which, I think, is the best scheme in our power.'

_Ante_, iii. 134, note 1.

[606] See _ante_, ii. 59, note 1.

[607] See _ante_, iii. 368.

[608] 'Every man wishes to be wise, and they who cannot be wise are almost always cunning ... nor is caution ever so necessary as with a.s.sociates or opponents of feeble minds.' _The Idler_, No. 92. In a letter to Dr. Taylor Johnson says:--'To help the ignorant commonly requires much patience, for the ignorant are always trying to be cunning.' _Notes and Queries_, 6th S. v. 462. Churchill, in _The Journey_ (_Poems_, ed. 1766, ii. 327), says:--

''Gainst fools be guarded; 'tis a certain rule, Wits are safe things, there's danger in a fool.'

[609] See _ante_, p. 173.

[610]

'For thee we dim the eyes, and stuff the head With all such reading as was never read; For thee explain a thing till all men doubt it, And write about it, G.o.ddess, and about it.'

_The Dunciad_, iv. 249.