Life of Samuel Johnson, Vol. II (version 2) — Section 63

In the afternoon, as we were driven rapidly along in the post-chaise, he said to me 'Life has not many things better than this[1336].'

We stopped at Stratford-upon-Avon, and drank tea and coffee; and it pleased me to be with him upon the classick ground of Shakspeare's native place.

He spoke slightingly of Dyer's _Fleece_[1337].

--'The subject, Sir, cannot be made poetical.

How can a man write poetically of serges and druggets?

Yet you will hear many people talk to you gravely of that _excellent_ poem, _The Fleece_.'

Having talked of Grainger's _Sugar-Cane_, I mentioned to him Mr. Langton's having told me, that this poem, when read in manuscript at Sir Joshua Reynolds's, had made all the assembled wits burst into a laugh, when, after much blank-verse pomp, the poet began a new paragraph thus:-- 'Now, Muse, let's sing of _rats_' And what increased the ridicule was, that one of the company, who slily overlooked the reader, perceived that the word had been originally _mice_, and had been altered to _rats_, as more dignified[1338].

This passage does not appear in the printed work.

Dr. Grainger, or some of his friends, it should seem, having become sensible that introducing even _Rats_ in a grave poem, might be liable to banter.

He, however, could not bring himself to relinquish the idea; for they are thus, in a still more ludicrous manner, periphrastically exhibited in his poem as it now stands: 'Nor with less waste the whisker'd vermin race A countless clan despoil the lowland cane.'

Johnson said, that Dr. Grainger was an agreeable man; a man who would do any good that was in his power.

His translation of _Tibullus_, he thought, was very well done; but _The Sugar-Cane_, a poem, did not please him[1339]; for, he exclaimed, 'What could he make of a sugar-cane?

One might as well write the "Parsley-bed, a Poem;" or "The Cabbage-garden, a Poem."

' BOSWELL.

'You must then _pickle_ your cabbage with the _sal atticum_.'

JOHNSON.

'You know there is already _The Hop-Garden_, a Poem[1340]: and, I think, one could say a great deal about cabbage.

The poem might begin with the advantages of civilised society over a rude state, exemplified by the Scotch, who had no cabbages till Oliver Cromwell's soldiers introduced them[1341]; and one might thus shew how arts are propagated by conquest, as they were by the Roman arms.'

He seemed to be much diverted with the fertility of his own fancy.

I told him, that I heard Dr. Percy was writing the history of the wolf in Great-Britain.

JOHNSON.

'The wolf, Sir!

why the wolf?

Why does he not write of the bear, which we had formerly?

Nay, it is said we had the beaver.

Or why does he not write of the grey rat, the Hanover rat, as it is called, because it is said to have come into this country about the time that the family of Hanover came?

I should like to see _The History of the Grey Rat, by Thomas Percy, D. D.

, Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty_,' (laughing immoderately).

BOSWELL.

'I am afraid a court chaplain could not decently write of the grey rat.'

JOHNSON.

'Sir, he need not give it the name of the Hanover rat.'

Thus could he indulge a luxuriant sportive imagination, when talking of a friend whom he loved and esteemed.

He mentioned to me the singular history of an ingenious acquaintance.

'He had practised physick in various situations with no great emolument.

A West-India gentleman, whom he delighted by his conversation, gave him a bond for a handsome annuity during his life, on the condition of his accompanying him to the West-Indies, and living with him there for two years.

He accordingly embarked with the gentleman; but upon the voyage fell in love with a young woman who happened to be one of the passengers, and married the wench.

From the imprudence of his disposition he quarrelled with the gentleman, and declared he would have no connection with him.

So he forfeited the annuity.

He settled as a physician in one of the Leeward Islands.

A man was sent out to him merely to compound his medicines.

This fellow set up as a rival to him in his practice of physick, and got so much the better of him in the opinion of the people of the island that he carried away all the business, upon which he returned to England, and soon after died.'

On Friday, March 22, having set out early from Henley[1342], where we had lain the preceding night, we arrived at Birmingham about nine o'clock, and, after breakfast, went to call on his old schoolfellow Mr. Hector[1343].

A very stupid maid, who opened the door, told us, that 'her master was gone out; he was gone to the country; she could not tell when he would return.'

In short, she gave us a miserable reception; and Johnson observed, 'She would have behaved no better to people who wanted him in the way of his profession.'

He said to her, 'My name is Johnson;

tell him I called.

Will you remember the name?'

She answered with rustick simplicity, in the Warwickshire pronunciation, 'I don't understand you, Sir.'

--'Blockhead, (said he,) I'll write.'

I never heard the word _blockhead_ applied to a woman before, though I do not see why it should not, when there is evident occasion for it[1344].

He, however, made another attempt to make her understand him, and roared loud in her ear, '_Johnson_', and then she catched the sound.

We next called on Mr. Lloyd, one of the people called Quakers.

He too was not at home; but Mrs. Lloyd was, and received us courteously, and asked us to dinner.

Johnson said to me, 'After the uncertainty of all human things at Hector's, this invitation came very well.'

We walked about the town, and he was pleased to see it increasing.

I talked of legitimation by subsequent marriage, which obtained in the Roman law, and still obtains in the law of Scotland.

JOHNSON.

'I think it a bad thing; because the chastity of women being of the utmost importance, as all property depends upon it, they who forfeit it should not have any possibility of being restored to good character; nor should the children, by an illicit connection, attain the full right of lawful children, by the posteriour consent of the offending parties.'

His opinion upon this subject deserves consideration.

Upon his principle there may, at times, be a hardship, and seemingly a strange one, upon individuals; but the general good of society is better secured.

And, after all, it is unreasonable in an individual to repine that he has not the advantage of a state which is made different from his own, by the social institution under which he is born.

A woman does not complain that her brother, who is younger than her, gets their common father's estate.

Why then should a natural son complain that a younger brother, by the same parents lawfully begotten, gets it?

The operation of law is similar in both cases.

Besides, an illegitimate son, who has a younger legitimate brother by the same father and mother, has no stronger claim to the father's estate, than if that legitimate brother had only the same father, from whom alone the estate descends.

Mr. Lloyd joined us in the street; and in a little while we met _Friend Hector_, as Mr. Lloyd called him.

It gave me pleasure to observe the joy which Johnson and he expressed on seeing each other again.

Mr. Lloyd and I left them together, while he obligingly shewed me some of the manufactures of this very curious assemblage of artificers.

We all met at dinner at Mr. Lloyd's, where we were entertained with great hospitality.

Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd had been married the same year with their Majesties, and like them, had been blessed with a numerous family of fine children, their numbers being exactly the same.

Johnson said, 'Marriage is the best state for a man in general; and every man is a worse man, in proportion as he is unfit for the married state.'

I have always loved the simplicity of manners, and the spiritual-mindedness of the Quakers; and talking with Mr. Lloyd, I observed, that the essential part of religion was piety, a devout intercourse with the Divinity; and that many a man was a Quaker without knowing it.

As Dr. Johnson had said to me in the morning, while we walked together, that he liked individuals among the Quakers, but not the sect; when we were at Mr. Lloyd's, I kept clear of introducing any questions concerning the peculiarities of their faith.

But I having asked to look at Baskerville's edition of _Barclay's Apology_, Johnson laid hold of it; and the chapter on baptism happening to open, Johnson remarked, 'He says there is neither precept nor practice for baptism, in the scriptures; that is false.'

Here he was the aggressor, by no means in a gentle manner; and the good Quakers had the advantage of him; for he had read negligently, and had not observed that Barclay speaks of _infant_ baptism[1345]; which they calmly made him perceive.

Mr. Lloyd, however, was in as great a mistake; for when insisting that the rite of baptism by water was to cease, when the _spiritual_ administration of CHRIST began, he maintained, that John the Baptist said, '_My baptism_ shall decrease, but _his_ shall increase.'

Whereas the words are, '_He_ must increase, but _I_ must decrease[1346].'

One of them having objected to the 'observance of days, and months, and years,' Johnson answered, 'The Church does not superstitiously observe days, merely as days, but as memorials of important facts.

Christmas might be kept as well upon one day of the year as another; but there should be a stated day for commemorating the birth of our Saviour, because there is danger that what may be done on any day, will be neglected.'

He said to me at another time, 'Sir, the holidays observed by our church are of great use in religion.'

There can be no doubt of this, in a limited sense, I mean if the number of such consecrated portions of time be not too extensive.

The excellent Mr. Nelson's[1347] _Festivals and Fasts_, which has, I understand, the greatest sale of any book ever printed in England, except the Bible, is a most valuable help to devotion; and in addition to it I would recommend two sermons on the same subject, by Mr. Pott, Archdeacon of St. Alban's, equally distinguished for piety and elegance.

I am sorry to have it to say, that Scotland is the only Christian country, Catholick or Protestant, where the great events of our religion are not solemnly commemorated by its ecclesiastical establishment, on days set apart for the purpose.

Mr. Hector was so good as to accompany me to see the great works of Mr. Bolton, at a place which he has called Soho, about two miles from Birmingham, which the very ingenious proprietor shewed me himself to the best advantage.

I wish Johnson had been with us: for it was a scene which I should have been glad to contemplate by his light[1348].

The vastness and the contrivance of some of the machinery would have 'matched his mighty mind.'

I shall never forget Mr. Bolton's expression to me: 'I sell here, Sir, what all the world desires to have--POWER.'

He had about seven hundred people at work.

I contemplated him as an _iron chieftain_, and he seemed to be a father to his tribe.

One of them came to him, complaining grievously of his landlord for having distrained his goods.'

'Your landlord is in the right, Smith, (said Bolton).

But I'll tell you what: find you a friend who will lay down one half of your rent, and I'll lay down the other half; and you shall have your goods again.'

From Mr. Hector I now learnt many particulars of Dr. Johnson's early life, which, with others that he gave me at different times since, have contributed to the formation of this work.

Dr. Johnson said to me in the morning, 'You will see, Sir, at Mr. Hector's, his sister, Mrs. Careless[1349], a clergyman's widow.

She was the first woman with whom I was in love.

It dropt out of my head imperceptibly; but she and I shall always have a kindness for each other.'

He laughed at the notion that a man never can be really in love but once, and considered it as a mere romantick fancy.

On our return from Mr. Bolton's, Mr. Hector took me to his house, where we found Johnson sitting placidly at tea[1350], with his _first love_; who, though now advanced in years, was a genteel woman, very agreeable, and well-bred.

Johnson lamented to Mr. Hector the state of one of their school-fellows, Mr. Charles Congreve, a clergyman, which he thus described: 'He obtained, I believe, considerable preferment in Ireland, but now lives in London, quite as a valetudinarian, afraid to go into any house but his own.

He takes a short airing in his post-chaise every day.

He has an elderly woman, whom he calls cousin, who lives with him, and jogs his elbow when his glass has stood too long empty, and encourages him in drinking, in which he is very willing to be encouraged; not that he gets drunk, for he is a very pious man, but he is always muddy[1351].

He confesses to one bottle of port every day, and he probably drinks more.

He is quite unsocial; his conversation is quite monosyllabical: and when, at my last visit, I asked him what a clock it was?

that signal of my departure had so pleasing an effect on him, that he sprung up to look at his watch, like a greyhound bounding at a hare.'

When Johnson took leave of Mr. Hector, he said, 'Don't grow like Congreve; nor let me grow like him, when you are near me[1352].'

When he again talked of Mrs. Careless to-night, he seemed to have had his affection revived; for he said, 'If I had married her, it might have been as happy for me.

[1353]' BOSWELL.

'Pray, Sir, do you not suppose that there are fifty women in the world, with any one of whom a man may be as happy, as with any one woman in particular.'

JOHNSON.

'Ay, Sir, fifty thousand.'

BOSWELL.

'Then, Sir, you are not of opinion with some who imagine that certain men and certain women are made for each other; and that they cannot be happy if they miss their counterparts.'

JOHNSON.

'To be sure not, Sir.

I believe marriages would in general be as happy, and often more so, if they were all made by the Lord Chancellor, upon a due consideration of characters and circumstances, without the parties having any choice in the matter.'

I wished to have staid at Birmingham to-night, to have talked more with Mr. Hector; but my friend was impatient to reach his native city; so we drove on that stage in the dark, and were long pensive and silent.

When we came within the focus of the Lichfield lamps, 'Now (said he,) we are getting out of a state of death.'

We put up at the Three Crowns, not one of the great inns, but a good old fashioned one, which was kept by Mr. Wilkins, and was the very next house to that in which Johnson was born and brought up, and which was still his own property[1354].

We had a comfortable supper, and got into high spirits.

I felt all my Toryism glow in this old capital of Staffordshire.

I could have offered incense _genio loci_; and I indulged in libations of that ale, which Boniface, in _The Beaux Stratagem_, recommends with such an eloquent jollity[1355].