Life of Johnson Volume V Part 66

[1075] See _ante_, i. 458.

[1076] 'We now observe that the Methodists, where they scatter their opinions, represent themselves as preaching the Gospel to unconverted nations; and enthusiasts of all kinds have been inclined to disguise their particular tenets with pompous appellations, and to imagine themselves the great instruments of salvation.' Johnson's _Works_, vi. 417.

[1077]

Through various hazards and events we move.

Dryden, [_Aeneid_, I. 204]. BOSWELL.

[1078]

Long labours both by sea and land he bore.

Dryden, [_Aeneid_, I. 3]. BOSWELL.

[1079] The Jesuits, headed by Francis Xavier, made their appearance in j.a.pan in 1549. The first persecution was in 1587; it was followed by others in 1590, 1597, 1637, 1638. _Encyclo. Brit_. 8th edit. xii. 697.

[1080] 'They congratulate our return as if we had been with Phipps or Banks; I am ashamed of their salutations.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 203.

Phipps had gone this year to the Arctic Ocean (_ante_, p. 236), and Banks had accompanied Captain Cook in 1768-1771. Johnson says however (_Works_, ix. 84), that 'to the southern inhabitants of Scotland the state of the mountains and the islands is equally unknown with that of Borneo or Sumatra.' See _ante_, p. 283, note 1, where Scott says that 'the whole expedition was highly perilous.' Smollett, in _Humphry Clinker_ (Letter of July 18), says of Scotland in general:--'The people at the other end of the island know as little of Scotland as of j.a.pan.'

[1081] In sailing from Sky to Col. _Ante_, p. 280.

[1082] Johnson, four years later, suggested to Boswell that he should write this history. _Ante_, iii. 162, 414.

[1083] Voltaire was born in 1694; his _Louis XIV._ was published in 1751 or 1752.

[1084] A society for debate in Edinburgh, consisting of the most eminent men. BOSWELL. It was founded in 1754 by Allan Ramsay the painter, aided by Robertson, Hume, and Smith. Dugald Stewart (_Life of Robertson_, ed.

1802, p. 5) says that 'it subsisted in vigour for six or seven years'

and produced debates, such as have not often been heard in modern a.s.semblies.' See also Dr. A. Carlyle's _Auto_. p. 297.

[1085] 'As for Maclaurin's imitation of a _made dish_, it was a wretched attempt.' _Ante,_ i. 469.

[1086] It was of Lord Elibank's French cook 'that he exclaimed with vehemence, "I'd throw such a rascal into the river."'_Ib._

[1087] 'He praised _Gordon's palates_ with a warmth of expression which might have done honour to more important subjects.' _Ib._

[1088] For the alarm he gave to Mrs. Boswell before this supper, see _ib._

[1089] On Dr. Boswell's death, in 1780, Boswell wrote of him:--'He was a very good scholar, knew a great many things, had an elegant taste, and was very affectionate; but he had no conduct. His money was all gone.

And do you know he was not confined to one woman. He had a strange kind of religion; but I flatter myself he will be ere long, if he is not already, in Heaven.' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 258.

[1090] Johnson had written the _Life_ of 'the great Boerhaave,' as he called him. _Works_, vi. 292.

[1091] 'At Edinburgh,' he wrote, 'I pa.s.sed some days with men of learning, whose names want no advancement from my commemoration, or with women of elegance, which, perhaps, disclaims a pedant's praise.'

Johnson's _Works_, ix. 159.

[1092] See _ante_, iv. 178.

[1093] 'My acquaintance,' wrote Richardson (_Corres_. iv. 317), 'lies chiefly among the ladies; I care not who knows it.' Mrs. Piozzi, in a marginal note on her own copy of the _Piozzi Letters_, says:--'Dr.

Johnson said, that if Mr. Richardson had lived till _I_ came out, my praises would have added two or three years to his life. "For," says Dr.

Johnson, "that fellow died merely from want of change among his flatterers: he perished for want of _more_, like a man obliged to breathe the same air till it is exhausted."' Hayward's _Piozzi_, i. 311.

In her _Journey_, i. 265, she says:--'Richardson had seen little, and Johnson has often told me that he had read little.' See _ante_, iv. 28.

[1094] He may live like a gentleman, but he must not 'call himself _Farmer_, and go about with a little round hat.' _Ante_, p. 111.

[1095] Boswell italicises this word, I think, because Johnson objected to the misuse of it. '"Sir," said Mr. Edwards, "I remember you would not let us say _prodigious_ at college."' _Ante_, iii. 303.

[1096] As I have been scrupulously exact in relating anecdotes concerning other persons, I shall not withhold any part of this story, however ludicrous.--I was so successful in this boyish frolick, that the universal cry of the galleries was, '_Encore_ the cow! _Encore_ the cow!' In the pride of my heart, I attempted imitations of some other animals, but with very inferior effect. My reverend friend, anxious for my _fame_, with an air of the utmost gravity and earnestness, addressed me thus: 'My dear sir, I would _confine_ myself to the _cow_.' BOSWELL.

Blair's advice was expressed more emphatically, and with a peculiar _burr_--'_Stick to the cow_, mon.' WALTER SCOTT. Boswell's record, which moreover is far more humorous, is much more trustworthy than Scott's tradition.

[1097] Mme. de Sevigne in describing a death wrote:--'Cela nous fit voir qu'on joue long-temps la comedie, et qu'a la mort on dit la verite.'

Letter of June 24, 1672. Addison says:--'The end of a man's life is often compared to the winding up of a well-written play, where the princ.i.p.al persons still act in character, whatever the fate is which they undergo.... That innocent mirth which had been so conspicuous in Sir Thomas More's life did not forsake him to the last. His death was of a piece with his life. There was nothing in it new, forced, or affected.' _The Spectator_, No. 349. Young also thought, or at least, wrote differently.

'A death-bed's a detector of the heart.

Here tired dissimulation drops her mask.'

_Night Thoughts, ii._

'"Mirabeau dramatized his death" was the happy expression of the Bishop of Autun (Talleyrand).' Dumont's _Mirabeau_, p. 251. See _ante_, iii. 154.

[1098] See _ante_, i. 408, 447; and ii. 219, 329.

[1099] Dr. A. Carlyle (_Auto_. p. 291) says of Blair's conversation that 'it was so infantine that many people thought it impossible, at first sight, that he could be a man of sense or genius. He was as eager about a new paper to his wife's drawing-room, or his own new wig, as about a new tragedy or a new epic poem.' He adds, that he was 'capable of the most profound conversation, when circ.u.mstances led to it. He had not the least desire to shine, but was delighted beyond measure to shew other people in their best guise to his friends. "Did not I shew you the lion well to-day?" used he to say after the exhibition of a remarkable stranger.' He had no wit, and for humour hardly a relish. Robertson's reputation for wisdom may have been easily won. Dr. A. Carlyle says (_ib_. p. 287):--'Robertson's translations and paraphrases on other people's thoughts were so beautiful and so harmless that I never saw anybody lay claim to their own.' He may have flattered Johnson by dexterously echoing his sentiments.

[1100] In the _Marmor Norfolciense (ante_, i. 141) Johnson says:--'I know that the knowledge of the alphabet is so disreputable among these gentlemen [of the army], that those who have by ill-fortune formerly been taught it have partly forgot it by disuse, and partly concealed it from the world, to avoid the railleries and insults to which their education might make them liable.' Johnson's _Works,_ vi. III. See _ante_, iii. 265.

[1101] 'One of the young ladies had her slate before her, on which I wrote a question consisting of three figures to be multiplied by two figures. She looked upon it, and quivering her fingers in a manner which I thought very pretty, but of which I knew not whether it was art or play, multiplied the sum regularly in two lines, observing the decimal place; but did not add the two lines together, probably disdaining so easy an operation.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 161.

[1102]

'Words gigantic.'

FRANCIS. Horace, _Ars Poet._. 1. 97.

[1103] One of the best criticks of our age 'does not wish to prevent the admirers of the incorrect and nerveless style which generally prevailed for a century before Dr. Johnson's energetick writings were known, from enjoying the laugh that this story may produce, in which he is very ready to join them.' He, however, requests me to observe, that 'my friend very properly chose a _long_ word on this occasion, not, it is believed, from any predilection for polysyllables, (though he certainly had a due respect for them,) but in order to put Mr. Braidwood's skill to the strictest test, and to try the efficacy of his instruction by the most difficult exertion of the organs of his pupils.' BOSWELL. 'One of the best critics of our age' is, I believe, Malone. See _ante_, p.

78, note 5.

[1104] It was here that Lord Auchinleck called him _Ursa Major. Ante_, p. 384.

[1105] See _ante_, iii. 266, and v. 20, where 'Mr. Crosbie said that the English are better animals than the Scots.'

[1106] Johnson himself had laughed at them (_ante_, ii. 210) and accused them of foppery (_ante_, ii. 237).

[1107] Johnson said, 'I never think I have hit hard, unless it rebounds (_ante_, ii. 335), and, 'I would rather be attacked than unnoticed'

(_ante_, iii. 375). When he was told of a caricature 'of the nine muses flogging him round Parna.s.sus,' he said, 'Sir, I am very glad to hear this. I hope the day will never arrive when I shall neither be the object of calumny or ridicule, for then I shall be neglected and forgotten.' Croker's _Boswell_, p. 837. See _ante_, ii. 61, and pp. 174, 273. 'There was much laughter when M. de Lesseps mentioned that on his first visit to England the publisher who brought out the report of his meeting charged, as the first item of his bill, "50 for attacking the book in order to make it succeed." "Since then," observed M. de Lesseps, "I have been attacked gratuitously, and have got on without paying."'

The Times, Feb. 19, 1884.

[1108]