Life of Johnson Volume II Part 47

[95] The particulars of this conversation I have been at great pains to collect with the utmost authenticity from Dr. Johnson's own detail to myself; from Mr. Langton who was present when he gave an account of it to Dr. Joseph Warton, and several other friends, at Sir Joshua Reynolds's; from Mr. Barnard; from the copy of a letter written by the late Mr. Strahan the printer, to Bishop Warburton; and from a minute, the original of which is among the papers of the late Sir James Caldwell, and a copy of which was most obligingly obtained for me from his son Sir John Caldwell, by Sir Francis Lumm. To all these gentlemen I beg leave to make my grateful acknowledgements, and particularly to Sir Francis Lumm, who was pleased to take a great deal of trouble, and even had the minute laid before the King by Lord Caermarthen, now Duke of Leeds, then one of his Majesty's Princ.i.p.al Secretaries of State, who announced to Sir Francis the Royal pleasure concerning it by a letter, in these words: 'I have the King's commands to a.s.sure you, Sir, how sensible his Majesty is of your attention in communicating the minute of the conversation previous to its publication. As there appears no objection to your complying with Mr. Boswell's wishes on the subject, you are at full liberty to deliver it to that gentleman, to make such use of in his _Life of Dr. Johnson_, as he may think proper.' BOSWELL.

In 1790, Boswell published in a quarto sheet of eight pages _A conversation between His Most Sacred Majesty George III. and Samuel Johnson, LLD. Ill.u.s.trated with Observations. By James Boswell, Esq.

London. Printed by Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly in the Poultry.

MDCCXC. Price Half-a-Guinea. Entered in the Hall-Book of the Company of Stationers_. It is of the same impression as the first edition of _the Life of Johnson_.

[96] After Michaelmas, 1766. See _ante_, ii. 25.

[97] See _post_, May, 31, 1769, note.

[98] Writing to Langton, on May 10, of the year before he had said, 'I read more than I did. I hope something will yet come on it.' _Ante_, ii. 20.

[99] Boswell and Goldsmith had in like manner urged him 'to continue his labours.' See _ante_, i. 398, and ii. 15.

[100] Johnson had written to Lord Chesterfield in the _Plan of his Dictionary_ (_Works_, v. 19), 'Ausonius thought that modesty forbade him to plead inability for a task to which Caesar had judged him equal:--_Cur me posse negem posse quod ille pufat_?' We may compare also a pa.s.sage in Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_ (ii. 377):--'THE KING. "I believe there is no constraint to be put upon real genius; nothing but inclination can set it to work. Miss Burney, however, knows best." And then hastily returning to me he cried; "What? what?" "No, sir, I--I--believe not, certainly," quoth I, very awkwardly, for I seemed taking a violent compliment only as my due; but I knew not how to put him off as I would another person.'

[101] In one part of the character of Pope (_Works_, viii. 319), Johnson seems to be describing himself:--'He certainly was in his early life a man of great literary curiosity; and when he wrote his _Essay on Criticism_ had for his age a very wide acquaintance with books. When he entered into the living world, it seems to have happened to him as to many others, that he was less attentive to dead masters; he studied in the academy of Paracelsus, and made the universe his favourite volume.... His frequent references to history, his allusions to various kinds of knowledge, and his images selected from art and nature, with his observations on the operations of the mind and the modes of life, show an intelligence perpetually on the wing, excursive, vigorous, and diligent, eager to pursue knowledge, and attentive to retain it.' See _ante_, i. 57.

[102] Johnson thus describes Warburton (_Works_, viii. 288):--'About this time [1732] Warburton began to make his appearance in the first ranks of learning. He was a man of vigorous faculties, a mind fervid and vehement, supplied by incessant and unlimited enquiry, with wonderful extent and variety of knowledge.' Cradock (_Memoirs_, i. 188) says that 'Bishop Kurd always wondered where it was possible for Warburton to meet with certain anecdotes with which not only his conversation, but likewise his writings, abounded. "I could have readily informed him,"

said Mrs. Warburton, "for, when we pa.s.sed our winters in London, he would often, after his long and severe studies, send out for a whole basketful of books from the circulating libraries; and at times I have gone into his study, and found him laughing, though alone."' Lord Macaulay was, in this respect, the Warburton of our age.

[103] The Rev. Mr. Strahan clearly recollects having been told by Johnson, that the King observed that Pope made Warburton a Bishop.

'True, Sir, (said Johnson,) but Warburton did more for Pope; he made him a Christian:' alluding, no doubt, to his ingenious Comments on the _Essay on Man_. BOSWELL. The statements both of the King and Johnson are supported by two pa.s.sages in Johnson's _Life of Pope_, (_Works_, viii.

289, 290). He says of Warburton's Comments:--'Pope, who probably began to doubt the tendency of his own work, was glad that the positions, of which he perceived himself not to know the full meaning, could by any mode of interpretation be made to mean well.... From this time Pope lived in the closest intimacy with his commentator, and amply rewarded his kindness and his zeal; for he introduced him to Mr. Murray, by whose interest he became preacher at Lincoln's Inn; and to Mr. Allen, who gave him his niece and his estate, and by consequence a bishop.r.i.c.k.' See also the account given by Johnson, in Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 21, 1773.

Bishop Law in his Revised Preface to Archbishop King's _Origin of Evil_ (1781), p. xvii, writes:--'I had now the satisfaction of seeing that those very principles which had been maintained by Archbishop King were adopted by Mr. Pope in his Essay on Man; this I used to recollect, and sometimes relate, with pleasure, conceiving that such an account did no less honour to the poet than to our philosopher; but was soon made to understand that anything of that kind was taken highly amiss by one [Warburton] who had once held the doctrine of that same Essay to be rank atheism, but afterwards turned a warm advocate for it, and thought proper to deny the account above-mentioned, with heavy menaces against those who presumed to insinuate that Pope borrowed anything from any man whatsoever.' See _post_, Oct. 10, 1779.

[104] In Gibbon's _Memoirs_, a fine pa.s.sage is quoted from Lowth's Defence of the University of Oxford, against Warburton's reproaches. 'I transcribe with pleasure this eloquent pa.s.sage,' writes Gibbon, 'without inquiring whether in this angry controversy the spirit of Lowth himself is purified from the intolerant zeal which Warburton had ascribed to the genius of the place.' Gibbon's _Misc. Works_, i. 47. See BOSWELL'S _Hebrides_, Aug. 28, 1773.

[105] See _post_, April 15, 1773, where Johnson says that Lyttelton 'in his _History_ wrote the most vulgar Whiggism,' and April 10, 1776.

Gibbon, who had reviewed it this year, says in his _Memoirs_ (_Misc.

Works_, i. 207): 'The public has ratified my judgment of that voluminous work, in which sense and learning are not illuminated by a ray of genius.'

[106] Hawkins says of him (_Life_, p. 211):--'He obtained from one of those universities which would scarce refuse a degree to an apothecary's horse a diploma for that of doctor of physic.' He became a great compiler and in one year earned 1500. In the end he turned quack-doctor. He was knighted by the King of Sweden 'in return for a present to that monarch of his _Vegetable System_.' He at least thrice attacked Garrick (Murphy's _Garrick_, pp. 136, 189, 212), who replied with three epigrams, of which the last is well-known:--

'For Farces and Physic his equal there scarce is; His Farces are Physic, his Physic a Farce is.'

Horace Walpole (_Letters_ iii. 372), writing on Jan. 3, 1761, said:--'Would you believe, what I know is fact, that Dr. Hill earned fifteen guineas a week by working for wholesale dealers? He was at once employed on six voluminous works of Botany, Husbandry, &c., published weekly.' Churchill in the Rescind thus writes of him:--

'Who could so n.o.bly grace the motley list, Actor, Inspector, Doctor, Botanist?

Knows any one so well--sure no one knows-- At once to play, prescribe, compound, compose?'

Churchill's _Poems_, i. 6. In the _Gent. Mag_. xxii. 568, it is stated that he had acted pantomime, tragedy and comedy, and had been d.a.m.ned in all.

[107] Mr. Croker quotes Bishop Elrington, who says, 'Dr. Johnson was unjust to Hill, and showed that _he_ did not understand the subject.'

Croker's _Boswell_, p. 186.

[108] D'Israeli (_Curiosities of Literature_, ed. 1834, i. 201) says that 'Hill, once when he fell sick, owned to a friend that he had over-fatigued himself with writing seven works at once, one of which was on architecture and another on cookery.' D'Israeli adds that Hill contracted to translate a Dutch work on insects for fifty guineas. As he was ignorant of the language, he bargained with another translator for twenty-five guineas. This man, who was equally ignorant, rebargained with a third, who perfectly understood his original, for twelve guineas.

[109] Gibbon (_Misc. Works_, v. 442), writing on Dec. 20, 1763, of the _Journal des Savans_, says:--'I can hardly express how much I am delighted with this journal; its characteristics are erudition, precision, and taste.... The father of all the rest, it is still their superior.... There is nothing to be wished for in it but a little more boldness and philosophy; but it is published under the Chancellor's eye.'

[110] Goldsmith, in his _Present State of Polite Learning_ (ch. xi.), published in 1759, says;--'We have two literary reviews in London, with critical newspapers and magazines without number. The compilers of these resemble the commoners of Rome, they are all for levelling property, not by increasing their own, but by diminis.h.i.+ng that of others.... The most diminutive son of fame or of famine has his _we_ and his _us_, his _firstlys_ and his _secondlys_, as methodical as if bound in cow-hide and closed with clasps of bra.s.s. Were these Monthly Reviews and Magazines frothy, pert, or absurd, they might find some pardon, but to be dull and dronish is an encroachment on the prerogative of a folio.'

[111] See _post_, April 10, 1766.

[112] Mr. White, the Librarian of the Royal Society, has, at my request, kindly examined the records of the Royal Society, but has not been able to discover what the 'circ.u.mstance' was. Neither is any light thrown on it by Johnson's reviews of Birch's _History of the Royal Society_ and _Philosophical Transactions_, vol. xlix. (_ante_, i. 309), which I have examined.

[113] 'Were you to converse with a King, you ought to be as easy and unembarra.s.sed as with your own valet-de-chambre; but yet every look, word, and action should imply the utmost respect. What would be proper and well-bred with others much your superior, would be absurd and ill-bred with one so very much so.' Chesterfield's _Letters_, iii. 203.

[114] Imlac thus described to Ra.s.selas his interview with the Great Mogul:--'The emperor asked me many questions concerning my country and my travels; and though I cannot now recollect anything that he uttered above the power of a common man, he dismissed me astonished at his wisdom, and enamoured of his goodness.' _Ra.s.selas_, chap. ix. Wraxall (_Memoirs_, edit. of 1884, i. 283) says that Johnson was no judge of a fine gentleman. 'George III,' he adds, 'was altogether dest.i.tute of these ornamental and advent.i.tious endowments.' He mentions 'the oscillations of his body, the precipitation of his questions, none of which, it was said, would wait for an answer, and the hurry of his articulation.' Mr. Wheatley, in a note on this pa.s.sage, quotes the opinion of 'Adams, the American Envoy, who said, the "King is, I really think, the most accomplished courtier in his dominions."'

[115] 'Dr. Warton made me a most obsequious bow.... He is what Dr.

Johnson calls a rapturist, and I saw plainly he meant to pour forth much civility into my ears. He is a very communicative, gay, and pleasant converser, and enlivened the whole day by his readiness upon all subjects.' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, ii. 236. It is very likely that he is 'the ingenious writer' mentioned _post_, 1780, in Mr. Langton's 'Collection,' of whom Johnson said, 'Sir, he is an enthusiast by rule.'

Mr. Windham records that Johnson, speaking of Warton's admiration of fine pa.s.sages, said:--'His taste is amazement' (misprinted _amus.e.m.e.nt_).

Windham's _Diary_, p. 20. In her _Memoirs of Dr. Burney_ (ii. 82), Mme.

D'Arblay says that Johnson 'at times, when in gay spirits, would take off Dr. Warton with the strongest humour; describing, almost convulsively, the ecstasy with which he would seize upon the person nearest to him, to hug in his arms, lest his grasp should be eluded, while he displayed some picture or some prospect.' In that humourous piece, _Probationary Odes for the Laureates.h.i.+p_ (p. xliii), Dr. Joseph is made to hug his brother in his arms, when he sees him descend safely from the balloon in which he had composed his _Ode_. Thomas Warton is described in the same piece (p. 116) as 'a little, thick, squat, red-faced man.' There was for some time a coolness between Johnson and Dr. Warton. Warton, writing on Jan. 22, 1766, says:--'I only dined with Johnson, who seemed cold and indifferent, and scarce said anything to me; perhaps he has heard what I said of his _Shakespeare_, or rather was offended at what I wrote to him--as he pleases.' Wooll's _Warton_, p.

312. Wooll says that a dispute took place between the two men at Reynolds's house. 'One of the company overheard the following conclusion of the dispute. JOHNSON. "Sir, I am not used to be contradicted."

WARTON. "Better for yourself and friends, Sir, if you were; our admiration could not be increased, but our love might."' _Ib_ p. 98.

[116] _The Good-Natured Man_, _post_ p. 45.

[117] 'It has been said that the King only sought one interview with Dr.

Johnson. There was nothing to complain of; it was a compliment paid by rank to letters, and once was enough. The King was more afraid of this interview than Dr. Johnson was; and went to it as a schoolboy to his task. But he did not want to have the trial repeated every day, nor was it necessary. The very jealousy of his self-love marked his respect; and if he thought the less of Dr. Johnson, he would have been more willing to risk the encounter.' Hazlitt's _Conversations of Northcote_, p. 45.

It should seem that Johnson had a second interview with the King thirteen years later. In 1780, Hannah More records (_Memoirs_, i.

174):--'Johnson told me he had been with the King that morning, who enjoined him to add Spenser to his _Lives of the Poets_.' It is strange that, so far as I know, this interview is not mentioned by any one else.

It is perhaps alluded to, _post_, Dec., 1784, when Mr. Nichols told Johnson that he wished 'he would gratify his sovereign by a _Life of Spenser_.'

[118] It is proper here to mention, that when I speak of his correspondence, I consider it independent of the voluminous collection of letters which, in the course of many years, he wrote to Mrs. Thrale, which forms a separate part of his works; and as a proof of the high estimation set on any thing which came from his pen, was sold by that lady for the sum of five hundred pounds. BOSWELL.

[119] He was away from the London 'near six months.' See _ante_, ii. 30.

[120] On August 17 he recorded:--'I have communicated with Kitty, and kissed her. I was for some time distracted, but at last more composed. I commended my friends, and Kitty, Lucy, and I were much affected. Kitty is, I think, going to heaven.' _Pr. and Med., p. 75_.

[121] _Pr. and Med_., pp. 77 and 78. BOSWELL.

[122] _Pr. and Med_., p. 73. BOSWELL. On Aug. 17, he recorded:--'By abstinence from wine and suppers I obtained sudden and great relief, and had freedom of mind restored to me, which I have wanted for all this year, without being able to find any means of obtaining it.' _Ib_ p. 74.

[123] Hawkins, in his second edition (p. 347) a.s.signs it to Campbell, 'who,' he says, 'as well for the malignancy of his heart as his terrific countenance, was called horrible Campbell.'

[124] See _ante_, i. 218.

[125] The book is as dull as it is indecent. The 'drollery' is of the following kind. Johnson is represented as saying:--'Without dubiety you misapprehend this dazzling scintillation of conceit in totality, and had you had that constant recurrence to my oraculous dictionary which was inc.u.mbent upon you from the vehemence of my monitory injunctions,'

&c. p. 2.

[126] _Pr. and Med_., p. 81. BOSWELL. 'This day,' he wrote on his birthday, 'has been pa.s.sed in great perturbation; I was distracted at church in an uncommon degree, and my distress has had very little intermission.... This day it came into my mind to write the history of my melancholy. On this I purpose to deliberate; I know not whether it may not too much disturb me.' See _post_, April 8, 1780.

[127] It is strange that Boswell nowhere quotes the lines in _The Good-Natured Man_, in which Paoli is mentioned. 'That's from Paoli of Corsica,' said Lofty. Act v. sc. i.

[128] In the original, 'Pressed _by_.' Boswell, in thus changing the preposition, forgot what Johnson says in his _Plan of an English Dictionary_ (_Works_, v. 12):--'We say, according to the present modes of speech, The soldier died _of_ his wounds, and the sailor perished _with_ hunger; and every man acquainted with our language would be offended with a change of these particles, which yet seem originally a.s.signed by chance.'

[129] Boswell, writing to Temple on March 24, says:--'My book has amazing celebrity; Lord Lyttelton, Mr. Walpole, Mrs. Macaulay, and Mr.

Garrick have all written me n.o.ble letters about it. There are two Dutch translations going forward.' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 145. It met with a rapid sale. A third edition was called for within a year. Dilly, the publisher, must have done very well by it, as he purchased the copyright for one hundred guineas. _Ib_, p. 103. 'Pray read the new account of Corsica,' wrote Horace Walpole to Gray on Feb. 18, 1768 (_Letters_, v.