Life of Samuel Johnson, Vol. II — 1774

'To JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

'DEAR SIR, 'My operations have been hindered by a cough; at least I flatter myself, that if my cough had not come, I should have been further advanced.

But I have had no intelligence from Dr. W----, [Webster,] nor from the Excise-office, nor from you.

No account of the little borough[796].

Nothing of the Erse language.

I have yet heard nothing of my box.

'You must make haste and gather me all you can, and do it quickly, or I will and shall do without it.

'Make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell, and tell her that I do not love her the less for wishing me away.

I gave her trouble enough, and shall be glad, in recompense, to give her any pleasure.

'I would send some porter into the Hebrides, if I knew which way it could be got to my kind friends there.

Enquire, and let me know.

'Make my compliments to all the Doctors of Edinburgh, and to all my friends, from one end of Scotland to the other.

'Write to me, and send me what intelligence you can: and if any thing is too bulky for the post, let me have it by the carrier.

I do not like trusting winds and waves.

'I am, dear Sir, 'Your most, &c. 'SAM.

JOHNSON.'

'Jan.

29, 1774.' To THE SAME.

'DEAR SIR, 'In a day or two after I had written the last discontented letter, I received my box, which was very welcome.

But still I must entreat you to hasten Dr. Webster, and continue to pick up what you can that may be useful.

'Mr. Oglethorpe was with me this morning, you know his errand.

He was not unwelcome.

'Tell Mrs. Boswell that my good intentions towards her still continue I should be glad to do any thing that would either benefit or please her.

'Chambers is not yet gone, but so hurried, or so negligent, or so proud, that I rarely see him.

I have, indeed, for some weeks past, been very ill of a cold and cough, and have been at Mrs. Thrale's, that I might be taken care of.

I am much better: _novae redeunt in praelia vires_[797];

but I am yet tender, and easily disordered.

How happy it was that neither of us were ill in the Hebrides.

'The question of Literary Property is this day before the Lords[798].

Murphy[799] drew up the Appellants' case, that is, the plea against the perpetual right.

I have not seen it, nor heard the decision.

I would not have the right perpetual.

'I will write to you as any thing occurs, and do you send me something about my Scottish friends.

I have very great kindness for them.

Let me know likewise how fees come in, and when we are to see you.

'I am.

Sir, Yours affectionately, SAM.

JOHNSON.

London, Feb.

7, 1774. He at this time wrote the following letters to Mr. Steevens, his able associate in editing Shakspeare: To George Steevens, Esq.

, in Hampstead.

'Sir, 'If I am asked when I have seen Mr. Steevens, you know what answer I must give; if I am asked when I shall see him, I wish you would tell me what to say.

'If you have Lesley's _History of Scotland_, or any other book about Scotland, except Boetius and Buchanan, it will be a kindness if you send them to, Sir, 'Your humble servant, 'SAM.

JOHNSON.

'Feb.

7, 1774.' To the same.

'Sir, 'We are thinking to augment our club, and I am desirous of nominating you, if you care to stand the ballot, and can attend on Friday nights at least twice in five weeks: less than this is too little, and rather more will be expected.

Be pleased to let me know before Friday.

'I am, Sir, 'Your most, &c. , 'SAM.

JOHNSON.

'Feb.

21, 1774. To the same.

'Sir, 'Last night you became a member of the club; if you call on me on Friday, I will introduce you.

A gentleman, proposed after you, was rejected.

'I thank you for _Neander_, but wish he were not so fine.

[800] I will take care of him.

'I am, Sir, 'Your humble servant, 'SAM.

JOHNSON.'

'March 5, 1774.' 'To JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

'DEAR SIR, 'Dr. Webster's informations were much less exact and much less determinate than I expected: they are, indeed, much less positive than, if he can trust his own book[801] which he laid before me, he is able to give.

But I believe it will always be found, that he who calls much for information will advance his work but slowly.

'I am, however, obliged to you, dear Sir, for your endeavours to help me, and hope, that between us something will some time be done, if not on this, on some occasion.

'Chambers is either married, or almost married, to Miss Wilton, a girl of sixteen, exquisitely beautiful, whom he has, with his lawyer's tongue, persuaded to take her chance with him in the East.

'We have added to the club[802], Charles Fox[803], Sir Charles Bunbury [804], Dr. Fordyce[805], and Mr. Steevens[806].

'Return my thanks to Dr. Webster.

Tell Dr. Robertson I have not much to reply to his censure of my negligence; and tell Dr. Blair, that since he has written hither what I said to him, we must now consider ourselves as even, forgive one another, and begin again[807].

I care not how soon, for he is a very pleasing man.

Pay my compliments to all my friends, and remind Lord Elibank of his promise to give me all his works.

'I hope Mrs. Boswell and little Miss are well.

--When shall I see them again?

She is a sweet lady, only she was so glad to see me go, that I have almost a mind to come again, that she may again have the same pleasure.

'Enquire if it be practicable to send a small present of a cask of porter to Dunvegan, Rasay, and Col. I would not wish to be thought forgetful of civilities.

'I am, Sir, 'Your humble servant, 'SAM.

JOHNSON.'

'March 5, 1774.' On the 5th of March I wrote to him, requesting his counsel whether I should this spring come to London.

I stated to him on the one hand some pecuniary embarrassments, which, together with my wife's situation at that time, made me hesitate; and, on the other, the pleasure and improvement which my annual visit to the metropolis always afforded me;

and particularly mentioned a peculiar satisfaction which I experienced in celebrating the festival of Easter in St. Paul's cathedral; that to my fancy it appeared like going up to Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover; and that the strong devotion which I felt on that occasion diffused its influence on my mind through the rest of the year[808].

'To JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

[Not dated[809], but written about the 15th of March.

] 'DEAR SIR,

'I am ashamed to think that since I received your letter I have passed so many days without answering it.

'I think there is no great difficulty in resolving your doubts.

The reasons for which you are inclined to visit London, are, I think, not of sufficient strength to answer the objections.

That you should delight to come once a year to the fountain of intelligence and pleasure, is very natural; but both information and pleasure must be regulated by propriety.

Pleasure, which cannot be obtained but by unseasonable or unsuitable expence, must always end in pain; and pleasure, which must be enjoyed at the expence of another's pain, can never be such as a worthy mind can fully delight in.

'What improvement you might gain by coming to London, you may easily supply, or easily compensate, by enjoining yourself some particular study at home, or opening some new avenue to information.

Edinburgh is not yet exhausted; and I am sure you will find no pleasure here which can deserve either that you should anticipate any part of your future fortune, or that you should condemn yourself and your lady to penurious frugality for the rest of the year.

'I need not tell you what regard you owe to Mrs. Boswell's entreaties;

or how much you ought to study the happiness of her who studies yours with so much diligence, and of whose kindness you enjoy such good effects.

Life cannot subsist in society but by reciprocal concessions.

She permitted you to ramble last year, you must permit her now to keep you at home.

'Your last reason is so serious, that I am unwilling to oppose it.

Yet you must remember, that your image of worshipping once a year in a certain place, in imitation of the Jews, is but a comparison; and _simile non est idem_; if the annual resort to Jerusalem was a duty to the Jews, it was a duty because it was commanded; and you have no such command, therefore no such duty.

It may be dangerous to receive too readily, and indulge too fondly, opinions, from which, perhaps, no pious mind is wholly disengaged, of local sanctity and local devotion.

You know what strange effects they have produced over a great part of the Christian world.

I am now writing, and you, when you read this, are reading under the Eye of Omnipresence.

'To what degree fancy is to be admitted into religious offices, it would require much deliberation to determine.

I am far from intending totally to exclude it.

Fancy is a faculty bestowed by our Creator, and it is reasonable that all His gifts should be used to His glory, that all our faculties should co-operate in His worship; but they are to co-operate according to the will of Him that gave them, according to the order which His wisdom has established.

As ceremonies prudential or convenient are less obligatory than positive ordinances, as bodily worship is only the token to others or ourselves of mental adoration, so Fancy is always to act in subordination to Reason.

We may take Fancy for a companion, but must follow Reason as our guide.

We may allow Fancy to suggest certain ideas in certain places; but Reason must always be heard, when she tells us, that those ideas and those places have no natural or necessary relation.

When we enter a church we habitually recall to mind the duty of adoration, but we must not omit adoration for want of a temple; because we know, and ought to remember, that the Universal Lord is every where present; and that, therefore, to come to Jona[810], or to Jerusalem, though it may be useful, cannot be necessary.

'Thus I have answered your letter, and have not answered it negligently.

I love you too well to be careless when you are serious.

'I think I shall be very diligent next week about our travels, which I have too long neglected.

'I am, dear Sir, 'Your most, &c. , 'SAM.

JOHNSON.'

'Compliments to Madam and Miss.' To The Same.

'DEAR SIR, 'The lady who delivers this has a lawsuit, in which she desires to make use of your skill and eloquence, and she seems to think that she shall have something more of both for a recommendation from me; which, though I know how little you want any external incitement to your duty, I could not refuse her, because I know that at least it will not hurt her, to tell you that I wish her well.

'I am, Sir, 'Your most humble servant, 'SAM.

JOHNSON.'

'May 10, 1774.' 'MR, BOSWELL TO DR. JOHNSON.

'Edinburgh, May 12, 1774. 'Lord Hailes has begged of me to offer you his best respects, and to transmit to you specimens of _Annals of Scotland, from the Accession of Malcolm Kenmore to the Death of James V_,' in drawing up which, his Lordship has been engaged for some time.

His Lordship writes to me thus: "If I could procure Dr. Johnson's criticisms, they would be of great use to me in the prosecution of my work, as they would be judicious and true.

I have no right to ask that favour of him.

If you could, it would highly oblige me."

'Dr. Blair requests you may be assured that he did not write to London what you said to him, and that neither by word nor letter has he made the least complaint of you; but, on the contrary, has a high respect for you, and loves you much more since he saw you in Scotland.

It would both divert and please you to see his eagerness about this matter.'

'To JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

'Streatham, June 21, 1774. 'DEAR SIR, 'Yesterday I put the first sheets of the _Journey to the Hebrides_ to the press.

I have endeavoured to do you some justice in the first paragraph[811].

It will be one volume in octavo, not thick.

'It will be proper to make some presents in Scotland.

You shall tell me to whom I shall give; and I have stipulated twenty-five for you to give in your own name[812].

Some will take the present better from me, others better from you.

In this, you who are to live in the place ought to direct.

Consider it.

Whatever you can get for my purpose send me; and make my compliments to your lady and both the young ones.

'I am, Sir, your, &c. , 'SAM.

JOHNSON.'

'MR. BOSWELL TO DR.

JOHNSON.

'Edinburgh, June 24, 1774. 'You do not acknowledge the receipt of the various packets which I have sent to you.

Neither can I prevail with you to _answer_ my letters, though you honour me with _returns_[813].

You have said nothing to me about poor Goldsmith[814], nothing about Langton[815].

'I have received for you, from the Society for propagating Christian Knowledge in Scotland[816], the following Erse books:--_The New Testament;

Baxter's Call; The Confession of Faith of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster; The Mother's Catechism; A Gaelick and English Vocabulary_[817].

'To JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

'DEAR SIR, 'I wish you could have looked over my book before the printer, but it could not easily be.

I suspect some mistakes; but as I deal, perhaps, more in notions than in facts, the matter is not great, and the second edition will be mended, if any such there be.

The press will go on slowly for a time, because I am going into Wales to-morrow.

'I should be very sorry if I appeared to treat such a character as Lord Hailes otherwise than with high respect.

I return the sheets[818], to which I have done what mischief I could; and finding it so little, thought not much of sending them.

The narrative is clear, lively, and short.

'I have done worse to Lord Hailes than by neglecting his sheets: I have run him in debt.

Dr. Horne, the President of Magdalen College in Oxford, wrote to me about three months ago, that he purposed to reprint _Walton's Lives_, and desired me to contribute to the work: my answer was, that Lord Hailes intended the same publication; and Dr. Home has resigned it to him[819].

His Lordship must now think seriously about it.

'Of poor dear Dr. Goldsmith there is little to be told, more than the papers have made publick.

He died of a fever, made, I am afraid, more violent by uneasiness of mind.

His debts began to be heavy, and all his resources were exhausted.

Sir Joshua[820] is of opinion that he owed not less than two thousand pounds[821].

Was ever poet so trusted before?

'You may, if you please, put the inscription thus:-- "_Maria Scotorum Regina nata_ 15--, _a suis in exilium acta_ 15--, _ab hospitAi neci data_ 15--."

You must find the years.

'Of your second daughter you certainly gave the account yourself, though you have forgotten it.

While Mrs. Boswell is well, never doubt of a boy.

Mrs. Thrale brought, I think, five girls running, but while I was with you she had a boy.

'I am obliged to you for all your pamphlets, and of the last I hope to make some use.

I made some of the former.

'I am, dear Sir, 'Your most affectionate servant, 'SAM.

JOHNSON.'

'July 4, 1774.' 'My compliments to all the three ladies.'

'TO BENNET LANGTON, ESQ.

, AT LANGTON, NEAR SPILSBY, LINCOLNSHIRE.

'DEAR SIR, 'You have reason to reproach me that I have left your last letter so long unanswered, but I had nothing particular to say.

Chambers, you find, is gone far, and poor Goldsmith is gone much further.

He died of a fever, exasperated, as I believe, by the fear of distress.

He had raised money and squandered it, by every artifice of acquisition, and folly of expence.

But let not his frailties be remembered; he was a very great man[822].

'I have just begun to print my _Journey to the Hebrides_, and am leaving the press to take another journey into Wales, whither Mr. Thrale is going, to take possession of, at least, five hundred a year, fallen to his lady.

All at Streatham, that are alive[823], are well.

'I have never recovered from the last dreadful illness[824], but flatter myself that I grow gradually better; much, however, yet remains to mend.

[Greek: Kurie eleaeson][825].

'If you have the Latin version of _Busy, curious, thirsty fly_[826], be so kind as to transcribe and send it; but you need not be in haste, for I shall be I know not where, for at least five weeks.

I wrote the following tetastrick on poor Goldsmith:-- [Greek: 'Ton taphon eisoraas ton Olibaroio koniaen Aphrosi mae semnaen, Xeine, podessi patei Oisi memaele phusis, metron charis, erga palaion, Klaiete posaetaen, istorikon, phusikon.

][827] 'Please to make my most respectful compliments to all the ladies, and remember me to young George and his sisters.

I reckon George begins to shew a pair of heels.

'Do not be sullen now[828], but let me find a letter when I come back.

'I am, dear Sir, 'Your affectionate, humble servant, 'SAM.

JOHNSON.'

'July 5, 1774.' 'To MR. ROBERT LEVET.

'Llewenny[829], in Denbighshire, Aug.

16, 1774. 'DEAR SIR,

'Mr. Thrale's affairs have kept him here a great while, nor do I know exactly when we shall come hence.

I have sent you a bill upon Mr. Strahan.

'I have made nothing of the Ipecacuanha, but have taken abundance of pills, and hope that they have done me good.

'Wales, so far as I have yet seen of it, is a very beautiful and rich country, all enclosed, and planted.

Denbigh is not a mean town.

Make my compliments to all my friends, and tell Frank I hope he remembers my advice.

When his money is out, let him have more.

'I am, Sir, 'Your humble servant, 'SAM.

JOHNSON.'

'MR. BOSWELL TO DR.

JOHNSON.

'Edinburgh, Aug.

30, 1774. 'You have given me an inscription for a portrait of Mary Queen of Scots, in which you, in a short and striking manner, point out her hard fate.

But you will be pleased to keep in mind, that my picture is a representation of a particular scene in her history; her being forced to resign her crown, while she was imprisoned in the castle of Lochlevin.

I

must, therefore, beg that you will be kind enough to give me an inscription suited to that particular scene; or determine which of the two formerly transmitted to you is the best; and, at any rate, favour me with an English translation.

It will be doubly kind if you comply with my request speedily.

'Your critical notes on the specimen of Lord Hailes's _Annals of Scotland_ are excellent, I agreed with you in every one of them.

He himself objected only to the alteration of _free to brave_, in the passage where he says that Edward "departed with the glory due to the conquerour of a free people."

He says, "to call the Scots brave would only add to the glory of their conquerour."

You will make allowance for the national zeal of our annalist.

I now send a few more leaves of the _Annals_, which I hope you will peruse, and return with observations, as you did upon the former occasion.

Lord Hailes writes to me thus:--"Mr. Boswell will be pleased to express the grateful sense which Sir David Dalrymple[830] has of Dr. Johnson's attention to his little specimen.

The further specimen will show, that "Even in an Edward he can see desert[831]."

'It gives me much pleasure to hear that a republication of _Isaac Walton's Lives_ is intended.

You have been in a mistake in thinking that Lord Hailes had it in view.

I remember one morning[832], while he sat with you in my house, he said, that there should be a new edition of _Walton's Lives_; and you said that "they should be benoted a little."

This was all that passed on that subject.

You must, therefore, inform Dr. Horne, that he may resume his plan, I enclose a note concerning it;

and if Dr. Horne will write to me, all the attention that I can give shall be cheerfully bestowed, upon what I think a pious work, the preservation and elucidation of Walton, by whose writings I have been most pleasingly edified.'

* * * * * 'MR.

BOSWELL TO DR.

JOHNSON.

'Edinburgh, Sept.

16, 1774. 'Wales has probably detained you longer than I supposed.

You will have become quite a mountaineer, by visiting Scotland one year and Wales another.

You must next go to Switzerland.

Cambria will complain, if you do not honour her also with some remarks.

And I find _concessere columnA|_[833], the booksellers expect another book.

I am impatient to see your _Tour to Scotland and the Hebrides_[834].

Might you not send me a copy by the post as soon as it is printed off?'

* * * * * 'TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

'DEAR SIR, 'Yesterday I returned from my Welch journey, I was sorry to leave my book suspended so long; but having an opportunity of seeing, with so much convenience, a new part of the island, I could not reject it.

I

have been in five of the six counties of North Wales; and have seen St. Asaph and Bangor, the two seats of their Bishops; have been upon Penmanmaur[835] and Snowden[836], and passed over into Anglesea.

But Wales is so little different from England, that it offers nothing to the speculation of the traveller.

'When I came home, I found several of your papers, with some pages of Lord Hailes's _Annals_, which I will consider.

I am in haste to give you some account of myself, lest you should suspect me of negligence in the pressing business which I find recommended to my care, and which I knew nothing of till now, when all care is vain[837].

'In the distribution of my books I purpose to follow your advice, adding such as shall occur to me.

I am not pleased with your notes of remembrance added to your names, for I hope I shall not easily forget them.

'I have received four Erse books, without any direction, and suspect that they are intended for the Oxford library.

If that is the intention, I think it will be proper to add the metrical psalms, and whatever else is printed in _Erse_, that the present may be complete.

The donor's name should be told.

'I wish you could have read the book before it was printed, but our distance does not easily permit it.

'I am sorry Lord Hailes does not intend to publish _Walton_; I am afraid it will not be done so well, if it be done at all.

'I purpose now to drive the book forward.

Make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell, and let me hear often from you.

'I am, dear Sir, 'Your affectionate humble servant, 'SAM.

JOHNSON.'

'London, Octob.

1, 1774.' This tour to Wales, which was made in company with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale, though it no doubt contributed to his health and amusement, did not give an occasion to such a discursive exercise of his mind as our tour to the Hebrides.

I do not find that he kept any journal or notes of what he saw there[838].

All that I heard him say of it was, that 'instead of bleak and barren mountains, there were green and fertile ones; and that one of the castles in Wales would contain all the castles that he had seen in Scotland.'

Parliament having been dissolved[839], and his friend Mr. Thrale, who was a steady supporter of government, having again to encounter the storm of a contested election, he wrote a short political pamphlet, entitled _The Patriot_, addressed to the electors of Great-Britain; a title which, to factious men, who consider a patriot only as an opposer of the measures of government, will appear strangely misapplied.

It was, however, written with energetick vivacity; and, except those passages in which it endeavours to vindicate the glaring outrage of the House of Commons in the case of the Middlesex election, and to justify the attempt to reduce our fellow-subjects in America to unconditional submission, it contained an admirable display of the properties of a real patriot, in the original and genuine sense;--a sincere, steady, rational, and unbiassed friend to the interests and prosperity of his King and country.

It must be acknowledged, however, that both in this and his two former pamphlets, there was, amidst many powerful arguments, not only a considerable portion of sophistry, but a contemptuous ridicule of his opponents, which was very provoking.

'To MR. PERKINS[840].

'SIR, 'You may do me a very great favour.

Mrs. Williams, a gentlewoman whom you may have seen at Mr. Thrale's, is a petitioner for Mr. Hetherington's charity: petitions are this day issued at Christ's Hospital.

'I am a bad manager of business in a crowd; and if I should send a mean man, he may be put away without his errand.

I must therefore intreat that you will go, and ask for a petition for Anna Williams, whose paper of enquiries was delivered with answers at the counting-house of the hospital on Thursday the 20th.

My servant will attend you thither, and bring the petition home when you have it.

'The petition, which they are to give us, is a form which they deliver to every petitioner, and which the petitioner is afterwards to fill up, and return to them again.

This we must have, or we cannot proceed according to their directions.

You need, I believe, only ask for a petition; if they enquire for whom you ask, you can tell them.

'I beg pardon for giving you this trouble; but it is a matter of great importance.

'I am, Sir, 'Your most humble servant, 'SAM JOHNSON.'

'October 25, 1774.' 'To JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

'DEAR SIR, 'There has appeared lately in the papers an account of a boat overset between Mull and Ulva, in which many passengers were lost, and among them Maclean of Col. We, you know, were once drowned[841]; I hope, therefore, that the story is either wantonly or erroneously told.

Pray satisfy me by the next post.

'I have printed two hundred and forty pages.

I am able to do nothing much worth doing to dear Lord Hailes's book.

I will, however, send back the sheets; and hope, by degrees, to answer all your reasonable expectations.

'Mr. Thrale has happily surmounted a very violent and acrimonious opposition[842]; but all joys have their abatement: Mrs. Thrale has fallen from her horse, and hurt herself very much.

The rest of our friends, I believe, are well.

My compliments to Mrs. Boswell.

'I am, Sir, Your most affectionate servant, 'SAM.

JOHNSON.'

'London, October.

27, 1774.' This letter, which shows his tender concern for an amiable young gentleman to whom he had been very much obliged in the Hebrides, I have inserted according to its date, though before receiving it I had informed him of the melancholy event that the young Laird of Col was unfortunately drowned[843].

'To JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

'DEAR SIR, 'Last night I corrected the last page of our _Journey to the Hebrides_.

The printer has detained it all this time, for I had, before I went into Wales, written all except two sheets.

_The Patriot_ was called for by my political friends on Friday, was written on Saturday, and I have heard little of it.

So vague are conjectures at a distance[844].

As soon as I can, I will take care that copies be sent to you, for I would wish that they might be given before they are bought; but I am afraid that Mr. Strahan will send to you and to the booksellers at the same time.

Trade is as diligent as courtesy.

I have mentioned all that you recommended.

Pray make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell and the younglings.

The club has, I think, not yet met.

'Tell me, and tell me honestly, what you think and what others say of our travels.

Shall we touch the continent[845]?

'I am, dear Sir, 'Your most humble servant, 'SAM.

JOHNSON.'

'Nov.

26, 1774.' In his manuscript diary of this year, there is the following entry:-- 'Nov.

27. Advent Sunday.

I considered that this day, being the beginning of the ecclesiastical year, was a proper time for a new course of life.

I began to read the Greek Testament regularly at 160 verses every Sunday.

This day I began the Acts.

'In this week I read Virgil's _Pastorals_.

I learned to repeat the _Pollio_ and _Gallus_.

I read carelessly the first _Georgick_.'

Such evidences of his unceasing ardour, both for 'divine and human lore,' when advanced into his sixty-fifth year, and notwithstanding his many disturbances from disease, must make us at once honour his spirit, and lament that it should be so grievously clogged by its material tegument.

It is remarkable, that he was very fond of the precision which calculation produces[846].

Thus we find in one of his manuscript diaries, '12 pages in 4to.