Life of Johnson Volume II Part 52

[271] Bouhours, 1628-1702. Voltaire, writing of Bouhours' _Maniere de bien penser sur les ouvrages d'esprit_, says that he teaches young people 'a eviter l'enflure, l'obscurite, le recherche, et le faux.'

_Ib_, p. 54. Johnson, perhaps, knew him, through _The Spectator_, No.

62, where it is said that he has shown 'that it is impossible for any thought to be beautiful which is not just, ... that the basis of all wit is truth.'

[272] _Macbeth_, act iii. sc. 2.

[273] In _The False Alarm_, that was published less than three months after this conversation, Johnson describes how pet.i.tions were got. 'The progress of a pet.i.tion is well known. An ejected placeman goes down to his county or his borough, tells his friends of his inability to serve them, and his const.i.tuents of the corruption of the Government. His friends readily understand that he who can get nothing will have nothing to give. They agree to proclaim a meeting; meat and drink are plentifully provided, a crowd is easily brought together, and those who think that they know the reason of their meeting, undertake to tell those who know it not; ale and clamour unite their powers.... The pet.i.tion is read, and universally approved. Those who are sober enough to write, add their names, and the rest would sign it if they could.'

_Works_, vi. 172. Yet, when the pet.i.tions for Dr. Dodd's life were rejected, Johnson said:--'Surely the voice of the public when it calls so loudly, and calls only for mercy, ought to be heard.' _Post_, June 28, 1777. Horace Walpole, writing of the numerous pet.i.tions presented to the King this year (1769), blames 'an example so inconsistent with the principles of liberty, as appealing to the Crown against the House of Commons.' Some of them prayed for a dissolution of Parliament. _Memoirs of the Reign of George III_, iii. 382, 390. Two years earlier Lord Shelburne, when Secretary of State, had found among the subscribers to a pet.i.tion for his impeachment, a friend of his, a London alderman. 'Oh!

aye,' said the alderman when asked for an explanation, 'I did sign a pet.i.tion at the Royal Exchange, which they told me was for the impeachment of a Minister; I always sign a pet.i.tion to impeach a Minister, and I recollect that as soon as I had subscribed it, twenty more put their names to it.' _Parl. Hist_., x.x.xv. 167.

[274] See _post_, under March 24, 1776.

[275] Mr. Robert Chambers says that the author of the ballad was Elizabeth Halket, wife of Sir Henry Wardlaw. She died about 1727. 'The ballad of Hardyknute was the first poem I ever read, and it will be the last I shall forget.' SIR WALTER SCOTT. Croker's _Boswell_, p. 205.

[276] John Ray published, in 1674, _A Collection of English Words_, &c., and _A Collection of English Proverbs_. In 1768 the two were published in one volume.

[277] See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Sept. 23, 1773.

[278]

'Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage.'

_Macbeth_, Act v. se. 5.

[279] In the _Garrick Corres_., i. 385, there is a letter from Mrs.

Montagu to Garrick, which shows the ridiculous way in which Shakespeare was often patronised last century, and 'brought into notice.' She says:--'Mrs. Montagu is a little jealous for poor Shakespeare, for if Mr. Garrick often acts Kitely, Ben Jonson will eclipse his fame.'

[280] 'Familiar comedy is often more powerful on the theatre than in the page; imperial tragedy is always less.' Johnson's _Works_, v. 122. See also Boswell's _Hebrides_, August 15 and 16, 1773, where Johnson 'displayed another of his heterodox opinions--a contempt of tragick acting.' Murphy (_Life_, p. 145) thus writes of Johnson's slighting Garrick and the stage:--'The fact was, Johnson could not see the pa.s.sions as they rose and chased one another in the varied features of that expressive face; and by his own manner of reciting verses, which was wonderfully impressive, he plainly showed that he thought there was too much of artificial tone and measured cadence in the declamation of the theatre.' Reynolds said of Johnson's recitation, that 'it had no more tone than it should the have.' Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 26, 1773.

See _post_, April 3, 1773.

[281] See _post_, April 6, 1775, where Johnson, speaking of Cibber's 'talents of conversation,' said:--'He had but half to furnish; for one half of what he said was oaths.'

[282] See _ante_, June 13, 1763.

[283] See _post_, Sept. 21, 1777.

[284] On Oct. 18, one day, not two days before, four men were hanged at Tyburn for robbery on the highway, one for stealing money and linen, and one for forgery. _Gent. Mag_., x.x.xix. 508. Boswell, in _The Hypochondriack_, No. 68 (_London Mag_. for 1783, p. 203), republishes a letter which he had written on April 25, 1768, to the _Public Advertiser_, after he had witnessed the execution of an attorney named Gibbon, and a youthful highwayman. He says:--'I must confess that I myself am never absent from a public execution.... When I first attended them, I was shocked to the greatest degree. I was in a manner convulsed with pity and terror, and for several days, but especially nights after, I was in a very dismal situation. Still, however, I persisted in attending them, and by degrees my sensibility abated, so that I can now see one with great composure. I can account for this curiosity in a philosophical manner, when I consider that death is the most awful object before every man, whoever directs his thoughts seriously towards futurity. Therefore it is that I feel an irresistible impulse to be present at every execution, as I there behold the various effects of the near approach of death.' He maintains 'that the curiosity which impels people to be present at such affecting scenes, is certainly a proof of sensibility, not of callousness. For, it is observed, that the greatest proportion of the spectators is composed of women.' See _post_, June 23, 1784.

[285] Of Johnson, perhaps, might almost be said what he said of Swift (_Works_, viii. 207):--'The thoughts of death rushed upon him at this time with such incessant importunity that they took possession of his mind, when he first waked, for many hours together.' Writing to Mrs.

Thrale from Lichfield on Oct. 27, 1781, he says:--'All here is gloomy; a faint struggle with the tediousness of time, a doleful confession of present misery, and the approach seen and felt of what is most dreaded and most shunned. But such is the lot of man.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 209.

[286] Johnson, during a serious illness, thus wrote to Mrs.

Thrale:--'When any man finds himself disposed to complain with how little care he is regarded, let him reflect how little he contributed to the happiness of others, and how little, for the most part, he suffers from their pain. It is perhaps not to be lamented that those solicitudes are not long nor frequent which must commonly be vain; nor can we wonder that, in a state in which all have so much to feel of their own evils, very few have leisure for those of another.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 14.

See _post_, Sept. 14, 1777.

[287] 'I was shocked to find a letter from Dr. Holland, to the effect that poor Harry Hallam is dying at Sienna [Vienna]. What a trial for my dear old friend! I feel for the lad himself, too. Much distressed. I dined, however. We dine, unless the blow comes very, very near the heart indeed.' Macaulay's _Life_, ii. 287. See also _ante_, i. 355.

[288] See _post_, Feb. 24, 1773, for 'a furious quarrel' between Davies and Baretti.

[289] Foote, two or three years before this, had lost one leg through an accident in hunting. Forster's _Essays_, ii. 398. See _post_, under Feb. 7, 1775.

[290] When Mr. Foote was at Edinburgh, he thought fit to entertain a numerous Scotch company, with a great deal of coa.r.s.e jocularity, at the expense of Dr. Johnson, imagining it would be acceptable. I felt this as not civil to me; but sat very patiently till he had exhausted his merriment on that subject; and then observed, that surely Johnson must be allowed to have some sterling wit, and that I had heard him say a very good thing of Mr. Foote himself. 'Ah, my old friend Sam (cried Foote), no man says better things; do let us have it.' Upon which I told the above story, which produced a very loud laugh from the company. But I never saw Foote so disconcerted. He looked grave and angry, and entered into a serious refutation of the justice of the remark. 'What, Sir, (said he), talk thus of a man of liberal education;--a man who for years was at the University of Oxford;--a man who has added sixteen new characters to the English drama of his country!' BOSWELL.

Foote was at Worcester College, but he left without taking his degree.

He was constantly in sc.r.a.pes. When the Provost, Dr. Gower, who was a pedant, sent for him to reprimand him, 'Foote would present himself with great apparent gravity and submission, but with a large dictionary under his arm; when, on the doctor beginning in his usual pompous manner with a surprisingly long word, he would immediately interrupt him, and, after begging pardon with great formality, would produce his dictionary, and pretending to find the meaning of the word, would say, "Very well, Sir; now please to go on."' Forster's _Essays_, ii. 307. Dr. Gower is mentioned by Dr. King (_Anec_., p. 174) as one of the three persons he had known 'who spoke English with that elegance and propriety, that if all they said had been immediately committed to writing, any judge of the language would have p.r.o.nounced it an excellent and very beautiful style.' The other two were Bishop Atterbury and Dr. Johnson.

[291] _Cento_. A composition formed by joining sc.r.a.pes from other authours.' Johnson's _Dictionary_.

[292] See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Sept. 30, 1773.

[293] For the position of these chaplains see _The Tatler_, No. 255, and _The Guardian_, No. 163.

[294] 'He had been a.s.sailed in the grossest manner possible by a woman of the town, and, driving her off with a blow, was set upon by three bullies. He thereupon ran away in great fear, for he was a timid man, and being pursued, had stabbed two of the men with a small knife he carried in his pocket.' Garrick and Beauclerk testified that every one abroad carried such a knife, for in foreign inns only forks were provided. 'When you travel abroad do you carry such knives as this?'

Garrick was asked. 'Yes,' he answered, 'or we should have no victuals.'

_Dr. Johnson: His Friends and His Critics_, p. 288. I have extracted from the _Sessional Reports_ for 1769, p. 431, the following evidence as to Baretti's character:--'SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. I have known Mr. Baretti fifteen or sixteen years. He is a man of great humanity, and very active in endeavouring to help his friends. He is a gentleman of a good temper; I never knew him quarrelsome in my life; he is of a sober disposition.... This affair was on a club night of the Royal Academicians. We expected him there, and were inquiring about him before we heard of this accident. He is secretary for foreign correspondence.'

'DR. JOHNSON. I believe I began to be acquainted with Mr. Baretti about the year '53 or '54. I have been intimate with him. He is a man of literature, a very studious man, a man of great diligence. He gets his living by study. I have no reason to think he was ever disordered with liquor in his life. A man that I never knew to be otherwise than peaceable, and a man that I take to be rather timorous.' Qu. 'Was he addicted to pick up women in the street?' 'Dr. J. I never knew that he was.' Qu. 'How is he as to his eye-sight?' 'Dr. J. He does not see me now, nor I do not [sic] see him. I do not believe he could be capable of a.s.saulting anybody in the street without great provocation.' 'EDMUND BURKE, ESQ. I have known him between three and four years; he is an ingenious man, a man of remarkable humanity--a thorough good-natured man.' 'DAVID GARRICK, ESQ. I never knew a man of a more active benevolence.... He is a man of great probity and morals.' 'DR.

GOLDSMITH. I have had the honour of Mr. Baretti's company at my chambers in the Temple. He is a most humane, benevolent, peaceable man.... He is a man of as great humanity as any in the world.' Mr. Fitzherbert and Dr.

Hallifax also gave evidence. 'There were divers other gentlemen in court to speak for his character, but the Court thought it needless to call them.' It is curious that Boswell pa.s.ses over Reynolds and Goldsmith among the witnesses. Baretti's bail before Lord Mansfield were Burke, Garrick, Reynolds, and Fitzherbert. Mrs. Piozzi tells the following anecdotes of Baretti:--'When Johnson and Burke went to see him in Newgate, they had small comfort to give him, and bid him not hope too strongly. "Why, what can _he_ fear," says Baretti, placing himself between them, "that holds two such hands as I do?" An Italian came one day to Baretti, when he was in Newgate, to desire a letter of recommendation for the teaching his scholars, when he (Baretti) should be hanged. "You rascal," replies Baretti in a rage, "if I were not _in my own apartment_, I would kick you down stairs directly."' Hayward's _Piazzi_, ii. 348. Dr. T. Campbell, in his _Diary_ (p. 52), wrote on April 1, 1775:--'Boswell and Baretti, as I learned, are mortal foes; so much so that Murphy and Mrs. Thrale agreed that Boswell expressed a desire that Baretti should be hanged upon that unfortunate affair of his killing, &c.'

[295] Lord Auchinleck, we may a.s.sume. Johnson said of Pope, that 'he was one of those few whose labor is their pleasure.' _Works_, viii. 321.

[296] I have since had reason to think that I was mistaken; for I have been informed by a lady, who was long intimate with her, and likely to be a more accurate observer of such matters, that she had acquired such a niceness of touch, as to know, by the feeling on the outside of the cup, how near it was to being full. BOSWELL. Baretti, in a MS. note on _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 84, says:--'I dined with Dr. Johnson as seldom as I could, though often scolded for it; but I hated to see the victuals pawed by poor Mrs. Williams, that would often carve, though stone blind.'

[297] See _ante_, July 1 and Aug. 2, 1763.

[298] See _ante_, i. 232.

[299] An Italian quack who in 1765 established medicated baths in Cheney Walk, Chelsea. CROKER.

[300] The same saying is recorded _post_, May 15, 1784, and in Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 5, 1773. 'Cooke reports another saying of Goldsmith's to the same effect:--"There's no chance for you in arguing with Johnson.

Like the Tartar horse, if he does not conquer you in front, his kick from behind is sure to be fatal."' Forster's _Goldsmith_, ii. 167. 'In arguing,' wrote Sir Joshua Reynolds, 'Johnson did not trouble himself with much circ.u.mlocution, but opposed directly and abruptly his antagonist. He fought with all sorts of weapons--ludicrous comparisons and similies; if all failed, with rudeness and overbearing. He thought it necessary never to be worsted in argument. He had one virtue which I hold one of the most difficult to practise. After the heat of contest was over, if he had been informed that his antagonist resented his rudeness, he was the first to seek after a reconciliation.... That he was not thus strenuous for victory with his intimates in tete-a-tete conversations when there were no witnesses, may be easily believed.

Indeed, had his conduct been to them the same as he exhibited to the public, his friends could never have entertained that love and affection for him which they all feel and profess for his memory.' Taylor's _Reynolds_, ii. 457, 462.

[301] He had written the _Introduction_ to it. _Ante_, p. 317.

[302] See _post_, beginning of 1770.

[303] He accompanied Boswell on his tour to the Hebrides. Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 18, 1773.

[304] While he was in Scotland he never entered one of the churches. 'I will not give a sanction,' he said, 'by my presence, to a Presbyterian a.s.sembly.' _Ib_ Aug. 27, 1773. When he was in France he went to a Roman Catholic service; _post_, Oct. 29, 1775.

[305] See _post_, March 21, 1772.

[306] See _ante_, ii. 82.

[307] See _post_, March 27, 1772.

[308] See _post_, May 7, 1773, Oct. 10, 1779, and June 9, 1784.

[309] _St. James_, v. 16.