Life of Samuel Johnson, Vol. I — Part 15

[Page 202: The Rambler.

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1750. ] 1750: ÆTAT.

41. --In 1750 he came forth in the character for which he was eminently qualified, a majestick teacher of moral and religious wisdom.

The vehicle which he chose was that of a periodical paper, which he knew had been, upon former occasions, employed with great success.

The _Tatler, Spectator_, and _Guardian_, were the last of the kind published in England, which had stood the test of a long trial[597]; and such an interval had now elapsed since their publication, as made him justly think that, to many of his readers, this form of instruction would, in some degree, have the advantage of novelty.

A few days before the first of his _Essays_ came out, there started another competitor for fame in the same form, under the title of _The _Tatler Revived_[598], which I believe was 'born but to die[599].'

Johnson was, I think, not very happy in the choice of his title, _The Rambler_, which certainly is not suited to a series of grave and moral discourses; which the Italians have literally, but ludicrously translated by _Il Vagabondo_[600]; and which has been lately assumed as the denomination of a vehicle of licentious tales, _The Rambler's Magazine_.

He gave Sir Joshua Reynolds the following account of its getting this name: 'What _must_ be done, Sir, _will_ be done.

When I was to begin publishing that paper, I was at a loss how to name it.

I sat down at night upon my bedside, and resolved that I would not go to sleep till I had fixed its title.

_The Rambler_ seemed the best that occurred, and I took it[601].'

With what devout and conscientious sentiments this paper was undertaken, is evidenced by the following prayer, which he composed and offered up on the occasion: 'Almighty GOD, the giver of all good things, without whose help all labour is ineffectual, and without whose grace all wisdom is folly; grant, I beseech Thee, that in this undertaking[602] thy Holy Spirit may not be with-held from me, but that I may promote thy glory, and the salvation of myself and others: grant this, O LORD, for the sake of thy son JESUS CHRIST.

Amen[603].'

[Page 203: Revision of The Rambler.

Ætat 41. ] The first paper of the _Rambler_ was published on Tuesday the 20th of March, 1750; and its authour was enabled to continue it, without interruption, every Tuesday and Friday, till Saturday the 17th of March, 1752[604], on which day it closed.

This is a strong confirmation of the truth of a remark of his, which I have had occasion to quote elsewhere[605], that 'a man may write at any time, if he will set himself doggedly to it[606];' for, notwithstanding his constitutional indolence, his depression of spirits, and his labour in carrying on his _Dictionary_, he answered the stated calls of the press twice a week from the stores of his mind, during all that time; having received no assistance, except four billets in No. 10, by Miss Mulso, now Mrs. Chapone[607]; No. 30, by Mrs. Catharine Talbot[608]; No. 97, by Mr. Samuel Richardson, whom he describes in an introductory note as 'An author who has enlarged the knowledge of human nature, and taught the passions to move at the command of virtue;' and Nos.

44 and 100 by Mrs. Elizabeth Carter.

[Page 204: Johnson's rapid composition.

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1750. ] Posterity will be astonished when they are told, upon the authority of Johnson himself, that many of these discourses, which we should suppose had been laboured with all the slow attention of literary leisure, were written in haste as the moment pressed, without even being read over by him before they were printed[609].

It can be accounted for only in this way; that by reading and meditation, and a very close inspection of life, he had accumulated a great fund of miscellaneous knowledge, which, by a peculiar promptitude of mind, was ever ready at his call, and which he had constantly accustomed himself to clothe in the most apt and energetick expression.

Sir Joshua Reynolds once asked him by what means he had attained his extraordinary accuracy and flow of language.

He told him, that he had early laid it down as a fixed rule to do his best on every occasion, and in every company; to impart whatever he knew in the most forcible language he could put it in; and that by constant practice, and never suffering any careless expressions to escape him, or attempting to deliver his thoughts without arranging them in the clearest manner, it became habitual to him[610].

[Page 205: Hints for the Rambler.

Ætat 42. ] Yet he was not altogether unprepared as a periodical writer; for I have in my possession a small duodecimo volume, in which he has written, in the form of Mr. Locke's _Common-Place Book_, a variety of hints for essays on different subjects.

He has marked upon the first blank leaf of it, 'To the 128th page, collections for the _Rambler_;' and in another place, 'In fifty-two there were seventeen provided; in 97-21; in 190-25.' At a subsequent period (probably after the work was finished) he added, 'In all, taken of provided materials, 30[611].'

Sir John Hawkins, who is unlucky upon all occasions, tells us, that 'this method of accumulating intelligence had been practised by Mr. Addison, and is humourously described in one of the _Spectators_[612], wherein he feigns to have dropped his paper of _notanda_, consisting of a diverting medley of broken sentences and loose hints, which he tells us he had collected, and meant to make use of.

Much of the same kind is Johnson's _Adversaria_[613]'.

But the truth is, that there is no resemblance at all between them.

Addison's note was a fiction, in which unconnected fragments of his lucubrations were purposely jumbled together, in as odd a manner as he could, in order to produce a laughable effect.

Whereas Johnson's abbreviations are all distinct, and applicable to each subject of which the head is mentioned.

For instance, there is the following specimen: _Youth's Entry, &c_.

'Baxter's account of things in which he had changed his mind as he grew up.

Voluminous.

--No wonder.

--If every man was to tell, or mark, on how many subjects he has changed, it would make vols.

but the changes not always observed by man's self.

--From pleasure to bus.

[business] to quiet; from thoughtfulness to reflect.

to piety; from dissipation to domestic.

by impercept.

gradat.

but the change is certain.

Dial[614] _non progredi, progress.

esse conspicimus_.

Look back, consider what was thought at some dist.

period.

'_Hope predom.

in youth.

Mind not willingly indulges unpleasing thoughts_.

The world lies all enameled before him, as a distant prospect sun-gilt[615]; inequalities only found by coming to it.

_Love is to be all joy--children excellent_--Fame to be constant--caresses of the great--applauses of the learned--smiles of Beauty.

'_Fear of disgrace--bashfulness_--Finds things of less importance.

Miscarriages forgot like excellencies;--if remembered, of no import.

Danger of sinking into negligence of reputation.

Lest the fear of disgrace destroy activity.

[Page 206: Hints for The Rambler.

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1750. ] '_Confidence in himself_.

Long tract of life before him.

--No thought of sickness.

--Embarrassment of affairs.

--Distraction of family.

Publick calamities.

--No sense of the prevalence of bad habits.

--Negligent of time--ready to undertake--careless to pursue--all changed by time.

'_Confident of others_--unsuspecting as unexperienced--imagining himself secure against neglect, never imagines they will venture to treat him ill.

Ready to trust; expecting to be trusted.

Convinced by time of the selfishness, the meanness, the cowardice, the treachery of men.

'Youth ambitious, as thinking honours easy to be had.

'Different kinds of praise pursued at different periods.

Of the gay in youth, dang.

hurt, &c. despised.

'Of the fancy in manhood.

Ambit.

--stocks--bargains.

--Of the wise and sober in old age--seriousness--formality--maxims, but general--only of the rich, otherwise age is happy--but at last every thing referred to riches--no having fame, honour, influence, without subjection to caprice.

'Horace[616].

'Hard it would be if men entered life with the same views with which they leave it, or left as they enter it.

--No hope--no undertaking--no regard to benevolence--no fear of disgrace, &c. 'Youth to be taught the piety of age--age to retain the honour of youth.'

This, it will be observed, is the sketch of Number 196 of the _Rambler_.

I shall gratify my readers with another specimen: '_Confederacies difficult; why_.

[Page 207: Hints for The Rambler.

Ætat 41. ] 'Seldom in war a match for single persons--nor in peace; therefore kings make themselves absolute.

Confederacies in learning--every great work the work of one.

_Bruy_.

Scholar's friendship like ladies.

Scribebamus, &c. Mart.

[617] the apple of discord--the laurel of discord--the poverty of criticism.

Swift's opinion of the power of six geniuses united[618].

That union scarce possible.

His remarks just; man a social, not steady nature.

Drawn to man by words, repelled by passions.

Orb drawn by attraction rep. [_repelled_] by centrifugal.

'Common danger unites by crushing other passions--but they return.

Equality hinders compliance.

Superiority produces insolence and envy.

Too much regard in each to private interest--too little.

'The mischiefs of private and exclusive societies--the fitness of social attraction diffused through the whole.

The mischiefs of too partial love of our country.

Contraction of moral duties--[Greek: oi philoi on philos][619].

'Every man moves upon his own center, and therefore repels others from too near a contact, though he may comply with some general laws.

'Of confederacy with superiours, every one knows the inconvenience.

With equals, no authority;--every man his own opinion--his own interest.

'Man and wife hardly united;--scarce ever without children.

Computation, if two to one against two, how many against five?

If confederacies were easy--useless;--many oppresses many.

--If possible only to some, dangerous.

_Principum amicitias_[620]'.

Here we see the embryo of Number 45 of the _Adventurer_; and it is a confirmation of what I shall presently have occasion to mention[621], that the papers in that collection marked T. were written by Johnson.

[Page 208: The Rambler's slow sale.

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1750. ] This scanty preparation of materials will not, however, much diminish our wonder at the extraordinary fertility of his mind; for the proportion which they bear to the number of essays which he wrote, is very small; and it is remarkable, that those for which he had made no preparation, are as rich and as highly finished as those for which the hints were lying by him.

It is also to be observed, that the papers formed from his hints are worked up with such strength and elegance, that we almost lose sight of the hints, which become like 'drops in the bucket.'

Indeed, in several instances, he has made a very slender use of them, so that many of them remain still unapplied[622].

As the _Rambler_ was entirely the work of one man, there was, of course, such a uniformity in its texture, as very much to exclude the charm of variety[623]; and the grave and often solemn cast of thinking, which distinguished it from other periodical papers, made it, for some time, not generally liked.

So slowly did this excellent work, of which twelve editions have now issued from the press, gain upon the world at large, that even in the closing number the authour says, 'I have never been much a favourite of the publick[624].'

[Page 209: George II.

not an Augustus.

Ætat 41. ] Yet, very soon after its commencement, there were who felt and acknowledged its uncommon excellence.

Verses in its praise appeared in the newspapers; and the editor of the _Gentleman's Magazine_ mentions, in October, his having received several letters to the same purpose from the learned[625].

_The Student, or Oxford and Cambridge Miscellany_, in which Mr. Bonnell Thornton and Mr. Colman were the principal writers, describes it as 'a work that exceeds anything of the kind ever published in this kingdom, some of the _Spectators_ excepted--if indeed they may be excepted.'

And afterwards, 'May the publick favours crown his merits, and may not the English, under the auspicious reign of GEORGE the Second, neglect a man, who, had he lived in the first century, would have been one of the greatest favourites of Augustus.'

This flattery of the monarch had no effect.

It is too well known, that the second George never was an Augustus to learning or genius[626].

[Page 210: Mrs. Johnson's praise of The Rambler.

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1750. ] Johnson told me, with an amiable fondness, a little pleasing circumstance relative to this work.

Mrs. Johnson, in whose judgement and taste he had great confidence, said to him, after a few numbers of the _Rambler_ had come out, 'I thought very well of you before; but I did not imagine you could have written any thing equal to this[627].'

Distant praise, from whatever quarter, is not so delightful as that of a wife whom a man loves and esteems.

Her approbation may be said to 'come home to his _bosom_;' and being so near, its effect is most sensible and permanent.

Mr. James Elphinston[628], who has since published various works, and who was ever esteemed by Johnson as a worthy man, happened to be in Scotland while the _Rambler_ was coming out in single papers at London.

With a laudable zeal at once for the improvement of his countrymen, and the reputation of his friend, he suggested and took the charge of an edition of those Essays at Edinburgh, which followed progressively the London publication[629].

The following letter written at this time, though not dated, will show how much pleased Johnson was with this publication, and what kindness and regard he had for Mr. Elphinston.

[Page 211: Letters to Mr. Elphinston.

Ætat 41. ] 'To MR. JAMES ELPHINSTON.

[No date.

] 'DEAR SIR,

'I cannot but confess the failures of my correspondence, but hope the same regard which you express for me on every other occasion, will incline you to forgive me.

I am often, very often, ill; and, when I am well, am obliged to work: and, indeed, have never much used myself to punctuality.

You are, however, not to make unkind inferences, when I forbear to reply to your kindness; for be assured, I never receive a letter from you without great pleasure, and a very warm sense of your generosity and friendship, which I heartily blame myself for not cultivating with more care.

In this, as in many other cases, I go wrong, in opposition to conviction; for I think scarce any temporal good equally to be desired with the regard and familiarity of worthy men.

I

hope we shall be some time nearer to each other, and have a more ready way of pouring out our hearts.

'I am glad that you still find encouragement to proceed in your publication, and shall beg the favour of six more volumes to add to my former six, when you can, with any convenience, send them me.

Please to present a set, in my name, to Mr. Ruddiman[630], of whom, I hear, that his learning is not his highest excellence.

I have transcribed the mottos, and returned them, I hope not too late, of which I think many very happily performed.

Mr. Cave has put the last in the magazine[631], in which I think he did well.

I beg of you to write soon, and to write often, and to write long letters, which I hope in time to repay you; but you must be a patient creditor.

I have, however, this of gratitude, that I think of you with regard, when I do not, perhaps, give the proofs which I ought, of being, Sir, 'Your most obliged and 'Most humble servant.

SAM.

JOHNSON.'

This year he wrote to the same gentleman another letter, upon a mournful occasion, [Page 212: The death of a mother.

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1750. ] 'To Mr. JAMES ELPHINSTON.

September 25, 1750. 'DEAR SIR, 'You have, as I find by every kind of evidence, lost an excellent mother; and I hope you will not think me incapable of partaking of your grief.

I have a mother, now eighty-two years of age, whom, therefore, I must soon lose[632], unless it please GOD that she rather should mourn for me.

I read the letters in which you relate your mother's death to Mrs. Strahan[633], and think I do myself honour, when I tell you that I read them with tears; but tears are neither to _you_ nor to _me_ of any further use, when once the tribute of nature has been paid.

The business of life summons us away from useless grief, and calls us to the exercise of those virtues of which we are lamenting our deprivation.

The greatest benefit which one friend can confer upon another, is to guard, and excite, and elevate his virtues.

This your mother will still perform, if you diligently preserve the memory of her life, and of her death: a life, so far as I can learn, useful, wise, and innocent; and a death resigned, peaceful, and holy.

I cannot forbear to mention, that neither reason nor revelation denies you to hope, that you may increase her happiness by obeying her precepts; and that she may, in her present state, look with pleasure upon every act of virtue to which her instructions or example have contributed.

Whether this be more than a pleasing dream, or a just opinion of separate spirits, is, indeed, of no great importance to us, when we consider ourselves as acting under the eye of GOD: yet, surely, there is something pleasing in the belief, that our separation from those whom we love is merely corporeal; and it may be a great incitement to virtuous friendship, if it can be made probable, that that union that has received the divine approbation shall continue to eternity.

'There is one expedient by which you may, in some degree, continue her presence.

If you write down minutely what you remember of her from your earliest years, you will read it with great pleasure, and receive from it many hints of soothing recollection, when time shall remove her yet farther from you, and your grief shall be matured to veneration.

To this, however painful for the present, I cannot but advise you, as to a source of comfort and satisfaction in the time to come; for all comfort and all satisfaction is sincerely wished you by, dear Sir, 'Your most obliged, most obedient, 'And most humble servant, 'SAM.

JOHNSON.'

[Page 213: Goldsmith's debt to Johnson.

Ætat 41. ] The _Rambler_ has increased in fame as in age.

Soon after its first folio edition was concluded, it was published in six duodecimo volumes[634]; and its authour lived to see ten numerous editions of it in London, beside those of Ireland and Scotland[635].

I profess myself to have ever entertained a profound veneration for the astonishing force and vivacity of mind which the _Rambler_ exhibits.

That Johnson had penetration enough to see, and seeing would not disguise the general misery of man in this state of being, may have given rise to the superficial notion of his being too stern a philosopher.

But men of reflection will be sensible that he has given a true representation of human existence, and that he has, at the same time, with a generous benevolence displayed every consolation which our state affords us; not only those arising from the hopes of futurity, but such as may be attained in the immediate progress through life.

He has not depressed the soul to despondency and indifference.

He has every where inculcated study, labour, and exertion.

Nay, he has shewn, in a very odious light, a man whose practice is to go about darkening the views of others, by perpetual complaints of evil, and awakening those considerations of danger and distress, which are, for the most part, lulled into a quiet oblivion.

This he has done very strongly in his character of Suspirius[636], from which Goldsmith took that of Croaker, in his comedy of _The Good-Natured Man_[637], as Johnson told me he acknowledged to him, and which is, indeed, very obvious[638].

[Page 214: The Beauties of Dr. Johnson.

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1750. ] To point out the numerous subjects which the _Rambler_ treats, with a dignity and perspicuity which are there united in a manner which we shall in vain look for any where else, would take up too large a portion of my book, and would, I trust, be superfluous, considering how universally those volumes are now disseminated.

Even the most condensed and brilliant sentences which they contain, and which have very properly been selected under the name of _Beauties_[639], are of considerable bulk.

But I may shortly observe, that the _Rambler_ furnishes such an assemblage of discourses on practical religion and moral duty, of critical investigations, and allegorical and oriental tales, that no mind can be thought very deficient that has, by constant study and meditation, assimilated to itself all that may be found there.

No. 7, written in Passion-week on abstraction and self-examination[640], and No. 110, on penitence and the placability of the Divine Nature, cannot be too often read.

No. 54, on the effect which the death of a friend should have upon us, though rather too dispiriting, may be occasionally very medicinal to the mind.

Every one must suppose the writer to have been deeply impressed by a real scene; but he told me that was not the case;

which shews how well his fancy could conduct him to the 'house of mourning[641].'

Some of these more solemn papers, I doubt not, particularly attracted the notice of Dr. Young, the authour of _The Night Thoughts_, of whom my estimation is such, as to reckon his applause an honour even to Johnson.

I have seen some volumes of Dr. Young's copy of the _Rambler_, in which he has marked the passages which he thought particularly excellent, by folding down a corner of the page;

and such as he rated in a super-eminent degree, are marked by double folds.

I am sorry that some of the volumes are lost.

Johnson was pleased when told of the minute attention with which Young had signified his approbation of his Essays.

[Page 215: A Club in Essex.

Ætat 41. ] I will venture to say, that in no writings whatever can be found _more bark and steel for the mind_, if I may use the expression; more that can brace and invigorate every manly and noble sentiment.

No. 32 on patience, even under extreme misery, is wonderfully lofty, and as much above the rant of stoicism, as the Sun of Revelation is brighter than the twilight of Pagan philosophy.

I never read the following sentence without feeling my frame thrill: 'I think there is some reason for questioning whether the body and mind are not so proportioned, that the one can bear all which can be inflicted on the other; whether virtue cannot stand its ground as long as life, and whether a soul well principled, will not be sooner separated than subdued[642].'

[Page 216: The character of Prospero.

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1750. ] [Page 217: The Style of The Rambler.

Ætat 41. ] Though instruction be the predominant purpose of the _Rambler_, yet it is enlivened with a considerable portion of amusement.

Nothing can be more erroneous than the notion which some persons have entertained, that Johnson was then a retired authour, ignorant of the world; and, of consequence, that he wrote only from his imagination when he described characters and manners.

He said to me, that before he wrote that work, he had been 'running about the world,' as he expressed it, more than almost any body; and I have heard him relate, with much satisfaction, that several of the characters in the _Rambler_ were drawn so naturally, that when it first circulated in numbers, a club in one of the towns in Essex imagined themselves to be severally exhibited in it, and were much incensed against a person who, they suspected, had thus made them objects of publick notice; nor were they quieted till authentick assurance was given them, that the _Rambler_ was written by a person who had never heard of any one of them[643].

Some of the characters are believed to have been actually drawn from the life, particularly that of Prospero from Garrick[644], who never entirely forgave its pointed satire[645].

For instances of fertility of fancy, and accurate description of real life, I appeal to No. 19, a man who wanders from one profession to another, with most plausible reasons for every change.

No. 34, female fastidiousness and timorous refinement.

No. 82, a Virtuoso who has collected curiosities.

No. 88[646], petty modes of entertaining a company, and conciliating kindness.

No. 182, fortune-hunting.

No. 194-195, a tutor's account of the follies of his pupil.

No. 197-198, legacy-hunting.

He has given a specimen of his nice observation of the mere external appearances of life, in the following passage in No. 179, against affectation, that frequent and most disgusting quality: 'He that stands to contemplate the crouds that fill the streets of a populous city, will see many passengers whose air and motion it will be difficult to behold without contempt and laughter; but if he examine what are the appearances that thus powerfully excite his risibility, he will find among them neither poverty nor disease, nor any involuntary or painful defect.

The disposition to derision and insult, is awakened by the softness of foppery, the swell of insolence, the liveliness of levity, or the solemnity of grandeur; by the sprightly trip, the stately stalk, the formal strut, and the lofty mien; by gestures intended to catch the eye, and by looks elaborately formed as evidences of importance.'

Every page of the _Rambler_ shews a mind teeming with classical allusion and poetical imagery: illustrations from other writers are, upon all occasions, so ready, and mingle so easily in his periods, that the whole appears of one uniform vivid texture.

[Page 218: Johnson's masters in style.

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1750. ] [Page 219: A Great Personage.

Ætat 41. ] The style of this work has been censured by some shallow criticks as involved and turgid, and abounding with antiquated and hard words.

So ill-founded is the first part of this objection, that I will challenge all who may honour this book with a perusal, to point out any English writer whose language conveys his meaning with equal force and perspicuity.

It must, indeed, be allowed, that the structure of his sentences is expanded, and often has somewhat of the inversion of Latin;

and that he delighted to express familiar thoughts in philosophical language; being in this the reverse of Socrates, who, it was said, reduced philosophy to the simplicity of common life.

But let us attend to what he himself says in his concluding paper: 'When common words were less pleasing to the ear, or less distinct in their signification, I have familiarised the terms of philosophy, by applying them to popular ideas[647].'

And, as to the second part of this objection, upon a late careful revision of the work, I can with confidence say, that it is amazing how few of those words, for which it has been unjustly characterised, are actually to be found in it; I am sure, not the proportion of one to each paper.

This idle charge has been echoed from one babbler to another, who have confounded Johnson's Essays with Johnson's _Dictionary_; and because he thought it right in a Lexicon of our language to collect many words which had fallen into disuse, but were supported by great authorities, it has been imagined that all of these have been interwoven into his own compositions.

That some of them have been adopted by him unnecessarily, may, perhaps, be allowed; but, in general they are evidently an advantage, for without them his stately ideas would be confined and cramped.

'He that thinks with more extent than another, will want words of larger meaning[648].'

He once told me, that he had formed his style upon that of Sir William Temple[649], and upon Chambers's Proposal for his _Dictionary_[650].

He certainly was mistaken; or if he imagined at first that he was imitating Temple, he was very unsuccessful; for nothing can be more unlike than the simplicity of Temple, and the richness of Johnson.

Their styles differ as plain cloth and brocade.

Temple, indeed, seems equally erroneous in supposing that he himself had formed his style upon Sandys's _View of the State of Religion in the Western parts of the World_.