Life of Johnson Volume V Part 63

[958] He was the grandson of the first Marquis, who was beheaded by Charles II in 1661, and nephew of the ninth Earl, who was beheaded by James II in 1685. Burke's _Peerage_. He died on June 15, 1744, according to the _Gent. Mag._ xiv. 339; where he is described as 'the consecrated Archbishop of St. Andrews.' See _ante_, ii. 216.

[959] George Hickes, 1642-1715. A non-juror, consecrated in 1693 suffragan bishop of Thetford by three of the deprived non-juror bishops.

Chalmers's _Biog. Dict._ xvii. 450. Burnet (_Hist. of his own Time_, iv.

303) describes him as 'an ill-tempered man, who was now [1712] at the head of the Jacobite party, and who had in several books promoted a notion, that there was a proper sacrifice made in the Eucharist.'

Boswell mentions him, _ante_, iv. 287.

[960] See _ante_, ii. 458.

[961] This must be a mistake for _He died_.

[962] 'It is generally supposed that life is longer in places where there are few opportunities of luxury; but I found no instance here of extraordinary longevity. A cottager grows old over his oaten cakes like a citizen at a turtle feast. He is, indeed, seldom incommoded by corpulence, Poverty preserves him from sinking under the burden of himself, but he escapes no other injury of time.' Johnson's Works, ix. 81.

[963] Lady Lucy Graham, daughter of the second Duke of Montrose, and wife of Mr. Douglas, the successful claimant: she died in 1780, whence Boswell calls her '_poor_ Lady Lucy.' CROKER

[964] Her first husband was the sixth Duke of Hamilton and Brandon. On his death she refused the Duke of Bridgewater. She was the mother of four dukes--two of Hamilton and two of Argyle. Her sister married the Earl of Coventry. Walpole's _Letters_, ii. 259, note. Walpole, writing on Oct. 9, 1791, says that their story was amazing. 'The two beautiful sisters were going on the stage, when they were at once exalted almost as high as they could be, were Countessed and double-d.u.c.h.essed.' _Ib_.

ix. 358. Their maiden name was Gunning. The d.u.c.h.ess of Argyle was alive when Boswell published his _Journal_.

[965] See _ante_, iv. 397, and v. 210. It was Lord Macaulay's grandfather who was thus reprimanded. Mr. Trevelyan remarks (_Life of Macaulay_, i. 7), 'When we think what well-known ground this [subject]

was to Lord Macaulay, it is impossible to suppress a wish that the great talker had been at hand to avenge his grandfather.' The result might well have been, however, that the great talker would have been reduced to silence--one of those brilliant flashes of silence for which Sydney Smith longed, but longed in vain.

[966] See _ante_, ii. 264, note 2.

[967] See _ante_, iv. 8, for his use of 'O brave!'

[968] Having mentioned, more than once, that my _Journal_ was perused by Dr. Johnson, I think it proper to inform my readers that this is the last paragraph which he read. BOSWELL. He began to read it on August 18 (_ante_, p. 58, note 2).

[969] See _ante_, ii. 320.

[970] Act i. sc. 1. The best known pa.s.sage in _Douglas_ is the speech beginning 'My name is Norval.' Act ii. The play affords a few quotations more or less known, as:--

'I found myself As women wish to be who love their lords.'

Act i.

'He seldom errs Who thinks the worse he can of womankind.'

Act iii.

'Honour, sole judge and umpire of itself.'

Act iv.

'Unknown I die; no tongue shall speak of me.

Some n.o.ble spirits, judging by themselves, May yet conjecture what I might have proved, And think life only wanting to my fame.'

Act v.

'An honest guardian, arbitrator just Be thou; thy station deem a sacred trust.

With thy good sword maintain thy country's cause; In every action venerate its laws: The lie suborn'd if falsely urg'd to swear, Though torture wait thee, torture firmly bear; To forfeit honour, think the highest shame, And life too dearly bought by loss of fame; Nor to preserve it, with thy virtue give That for which only man should wish to live.'

[_Satires_, viii. 79.]

For this and the other translations to which no signature is affixed, I am indebted to the friend whose observations are mentioned in the notes, pp. 78 and 399. BOSWELL. Sir Walter Scott says, 'probably Dr. Hugh Blair.' I have little doubt that it was Malone. 'One of the best criticks of our age,' Boswell calls this friend in the other two pa.s.sages. This was a compliment Boswell was likely to pay to Malone, to whom he dedicated this book. Malone was a versifier. See Prior's _Malone_, p. 463.

[971] I am sorry that I was unlucky in my quotation. But notwithstanding the acuteness of Dr. Johnson's criticism, and the power of his ridicule, _The Tragedy of Douglas_ sill continues to be generally and deservedly admired. BOSWELL. Johnson's scorn was no doubt returned, for Dr. A.

Carlyle (_Auto._ p. 295) says of Home:--'as John all his life had a thorough contempt for such as neglected his poetry, he treated all who approved of his works with a partiality which more than approached to flattery.' Carlyle tells (pp. 301-305) how Home started for London with his tragedy in one pocket of his great coat and his clean s.h.i.+rt and night-cap in the other, escorted on setting out by six or seven Merse ministers. 'Garrick, after reading his play, returned it as totally unfit for the stage.' It was brought out first in Edinburgh, and in the year 1757 in Covent Garden, where it had great success. 'This tragedy,'

wrote Carlyle forty-five years later, 'still maintains its ground, has been more frequently acted, and is more popular than any tragedy in the English language.' _Ib._ p. 325. Hannah More recorded in 1786 (_Memoirs_, ii. 22), 'I had a quarrel with Lord Monboddo one night lately. He said _Douglas_ was a better play than Shakespeare could have written. He was angry and I was pert. Lord Mulgrave sat spiriting me up, but kept out of the sc.r.a.pe himself, and Lord Stormont seemed to enjoy the debate, but was shabby enough not to help me out.'

[972] See _ante_, ii. 230, note 1.

[973] See _ante_, p. 318.

[974] See _ante_, iii. 54

[975] See _ante_, p. 356.

[976] See _ante_, iii. 241, note 2.

[977] As a remarkable instance of his negligence, I remember some years ago to have found lying loose in his study, and without the cover, which contained the address, a letter to him from Lord Thurlow, to whom he had made an application as Chancellor, in behalf of a poor literary friend.

It was expressed in such terms of respect for Dr. Johnson, that, in my zeal for his reputation, I remonstrated warmly with him on his strange inattention, and obtained his permission to take a copy of it; by which probably it has been preserved, as the original I have reason to suppose is lost. BOSWELL. See _ante_, iii. 441.

[978] 'The islets, which court the gazer at a distance, disgust him at his approach, when he finds, instead of soft lawns and shady thickets, nothing more than uncultivated ruggedness.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 156.

[979] See _ante_, i. 200, and iv. 179.

[980] In these arguments he says:--'Reason and truth will prevail at last. The most learned of the Scottish doctors would now gladly admit a form of prayer, if the people would endure it. The zeal or rage of congregations has its different degrees. In some parishes the Lord's Prayer is suffered: in others it is still rejected as a form; and he that should make it part of his supplication would be suspected of heretical pravity.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 102. See _ante_, p. 121.

[981] 'A very little above the source of the Leven, on the lake, stands the house of Cameron, belonging to Mr. Smollett, so embosomed in an oak wood that we did not see it till we were within fifty yards of the door.' _Humphry Clinker_, Letter of Aug. 28.

[982] Boswell himself was at times one of 'those absurd visionaries.'

_Ante_, ii. 73.

[983] See _ante_, p. 117.

[984] Lord Kames wrote one, which is published in Chambers's _Traditions of Edinburgh_, ed. 1825, i. 280. In it he bids the traveller to 'indulge the hope of a Monumental Pillar.'

[985] See _ante_, iii. 85; and v. 154.

[986] This address does not offend against the rule that Johnson lays down in his _Essay on Epitaphs_ (_Works_, v. 263), where he says:--'It is improper to address the epitaph to the pa.s.senger.' The impropriety consists in such an address in a church. He however did break through his rule in his epitaph in Streatham Church on Mr. Thrale, where he says:--'Abi viator.' _Ib._ i. 154.

[987] In _Humphry Clinker_ (Letter of Aug. 28), which was published a few months before Smollett's death, is his _Ode on Leven-Water_.

[988] The epitaph which has been inscribed on the pillar erected on the banks of the Leven, in honour of Dr. Smollett, is as follows. The part which was written by Dr. Johnson, it appears, has been altered; whether for the better, the reader will judge. The alterations are distinguished by Italicks.

Siste viator!

Si lepores ingeniique venam benignam, Si morum callidissimum pictorem, Unquam es miratus, Immorare paululum memoriae TOBIAE SMOLLET, M.D.

Viri virtutibus _hisce_ Quas in homine et cive Et laudes et imiteris, Haud mediocriter ornati: Qui in literis variis versatus, Postquam felicitate _sibi propria_ Sese posteris commendaverat, Morte acerba raptus Anno aetatis 51, Eheu: quam procul a patria!

Prope Liburni portum in Italia, Jacet sepultres.

Tali tantoque viro, patrueli suo, Cui in decursu lampada Se potius tradidisse decuit, Hanc Columnam, Amoris, eheu! inane monumentum In ipsis Leviniae ripis, Quas _versiculis sub exitu vitae ill.u.s.tratas_ Primis infans vagitibus personuit, Ponendam curavit JACOBUS SMOLLET de Bonhill. Abi et reminiscere, Hoc quidem honore, Non modo defuncti memoriae, Verum etiam exemplo, prospectum esse; Aliis enim, si modo digni sint, Idem erit virtutis praemium!

BOSWELL.