Life Of Johnson, Volume 4 (of 6) - Boswell
Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47
[698] Boswell had tried to bring about a third meeting between Johnson
and Wilkes. On May 21 he wrote:--'Mr. Boswell's compliments to Mr.
Wilkes. He finds that it would not be unpleasant to Dr. Johnson to dine
at Mr. Wilkes's. The thing would be so curiously benignant, it were a
pity it should not take place. Nobody but Mr. Boswell should be asked to
meet the doctor.' An invitation was sent, but the following answer was
returned:--'May 24, 1783. Mr. Johnson returns thanks to Mr. and Miss
Wilkes for their kind invitation; but he is engaged for Tuesday to Sir
Joshua Reynolds, and for Wednesday to Mr. Paradise.' Owing to Boswell's
return to Scotland, another day could not be fixed. Almon's _Wilkes_,
iv. 314, 321.
[699] 'If the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the
place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.' _Ecclesiastes_, xi. 3.
[700] 'When a tree is falling, I have seen the labourers, by a trivial
jerk with a rope, throw it upon the spot where they would wish it should
lie. Divines, understanding this text too literally, pretend, by a
little interposition in the article of death, to regulate a person's
everlasting happiness. I fancy the allusion will hardly countenance
their presumption.' Shenstone's _Works_, ed. 1773, ii. 255.
[701] Hazlitt says that 'when old Baxter first went to Kidderminster to
preach, he was almost pelted by the women for maintaining from the
pulpit the then fashionable and orthodox doctrine, that "Hell was paved
with infants' skulls.'" _Conversations of Northcote_, p. 80.
[702] _Acts_, xvii. 24.
[703] Now the celebrated Mrs. Crouch. BOSWELL.
[704] Mr. Windham was at this time in Dublin, Secretary to the Earl of
Northington, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. BOSWELL. See
_ante_, p.200.
[705] Son of Mr. Samuel Paterson. BOSWELL. See _ante_, iii.90, and
_post_, April 5, 1784.
[706] The late Keeper of the Royal Academy. He died on Jan. 23 of this
year. Reynolds wrote of him:--'He may truly be said in every sense, to
have been the father of the present race of artists.' Northcote's
_Reynolds_ ii.137.
[707] Mr. Allen was his landlord and next neighbour in Bolt-court.
_Ante_, iii. 141.
[708] Cowper mentions him in _Retirement_:--
'Virtuous and faithful Heberden! whose skill
Attempts no task it cannot well fulfill,
Gives melancholy up to nature's care,
And sends the patient into purer air.'
Cowper's _Poems_, ed. 1786, i. 272.
He is mentioned also by Priestley (_Auto._ ed. 1810, p.66) as one of his
chief benefactors. Lord Eldon, when almost a briefless barrister,
consulted him. 'I put my hand into my pocket, meaning to give him his
fee; but he stopped me, saying, "Are you the young gentleman who gained
the prize for the essay at Oxford?" I said I was. "I will take no fee
from you." I often consulted him; but he would never take a fee.'
Twiss's _Eldon_, i. 104.
[709] How much he had physicked himself is shewn by a letter of May 8.
'I took on Thursday,' he writes, 'two brisk catharticks and a dose of
calomel. Little things do me no good. At night I was much better. Next
day cathartick again, and the third day opium for my cough. I lived
without flesh all the three days.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii.257. He had been
bled at least four times that year and had lost about fifty ounces of
blood. _Ante_, pp.142, 146. On Aug. 3, 1779, he wrote:--'Of the last
fifty days I have taken mercurial physick, I believe, forty.' _Notes and
Queries_, 6th S. v.461.
[710] An exact reprint of this letter is given by Professor Mayor in
_Notes and Queries_, 6th S. v.481. The omissions and the repetitions
'betray,' he says, 'the writer's agitation.' The postscript Boswell had
omitted. It is as follows:--'Dr. Brocklesby will be with me to meet Dr.
Heberden, and I shall have previously make (sic) master of the case as
well as I can.'
[711] Vol. ii. p.268, of Mrs. Thrale's _Collection_. BOSWELL. The
beginning of the letter is very touching:--'I am sitting down in no
cheerful solitude to write a narrative which would once have affected
you with tenderness and sorrow, but which you will perhaps pass over now
with the careless glance of frigid indifference. For this diminution of
regard, however, I know not whether I ought to blame you, who may have
reasons which I cannot know, and I do not blame myself, who have for a
great part of human life done you what good I could, and have never done
you evil.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 268. 'I have loved you,' he continued,
'with virtuous affection; I have honoured you with sincere esteem. Let
not all our endearments be forgotten, but let me have in this great
distress your pity and your prayers. You see I yet turn to you with my
complaints as a settled and unalienable friend; do not, do not drive me
from you, for I have not deserved either neglect or hatred.'
_Ib._ p.271.
[712] On Aug. 20 he wrote:--'I sat to Mrs. Reynolds yesterday for my
picture, perhaps the tenth time, and I sat near three hours with the
patience of _mortal born to bear_; at last she declared it quite
finished, and seems to think it fine. I told her it was _Johnson's
grimly ghost_. It is to be engraved, and I think _in glided_, &c., will
be a good inscription.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 302. Johnson is quoting
from Mallet's ballad of _Margaret's Ghost_:--
'Twas at the silent solemn hour,
When night and morning meet;
In glided Margaret's grimly ghost,
And stood at William's feet.'
_Percy Ballads_, in. 3, 16.
According to Northcote, Reynolds said of his sister's oil-paintings,
'they made other people laugh and him cry.' 'She generally,' Northcote
adds, 'did them by stealth.' _Life of Reynolds_, ii. 160.
[713] 'Nocte, inter 16 et 17 Junii, 1783.
Summe pater, quodcunque tuum de corpore Numen
Hoc statuat, precibus Christus adesse velit:
Ingenio parcas, nee sit mihi culpa rogasse,
Qua solum potero parte placere tibi.'
_Works_, i.159.
[714] According to the _Gent. Mag_. 1783, p.542, Dr. Lawrence died at
Canterbury on June 13 of this year, his second son died on the 15th.
But, if we may trust Munk's _Roll of the College of Physicians_, ii.153,
on the father's tomb-stone, June 6 is given as the day of his death. Mr.
Croker gives June 17 as the date, and June 19 as the day of the son's
death, and is puzzled accordingly.
[715] Poor Derrick, however, though he did not himself introduce me to
Dr. Johnson as he promised, had the merit of introducing me to Davies,
the immediate introductor. BOSWELL. See _ante_, i.385, 391.
[716] Miss Burney, calling on him the next morning, offered to make his
tea. He had given her his own large arm-chair which was too heavy for
her to move to the table. '"Sir," quoth she, "I am in the wrong chair."
"It is so difficult," cried he with quickness, "for anything to be wrong
that belongs to you, that it can only be I that am in the wrong chair to
keep you from the right one."' Dr. Burney's _Memoirs_, ii. 345.
[717] His Lordship was soon after chosen, and is now a member of THE
CLUB. BOSWELL. He was father of the future prime-minister, who was born
in the following year.
[718] He wrote on June 23:--'What man can do for man has been done for
me.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii.278. Murphy (_Life_, p. 121) says that,
visiting him during illness, he found him reading Dr. Watson's
_Chymistry_ (_ante_, p. 118). 'Articulating with difficulty he
said:--"From this book he who knows nothing may learn a great deal, and
he who knows will be pleased to find his knowledge recalled to his mind
in a manner highly pleasing."'
[719] 'I have, by the migration of one of my ladies, more peace at home;
but I remember an old savage chief that says of the Romans with great
indignation-_ubi solitudinem faciunt pacem appellant_ [_Tacitus,
Agricola_, c. xxx]. _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 259.
[720] 'July 23. I have been thirteen days at Rochester, and am just now
returned. I came back by water in a common boat twenty miles for a
shilling, and when I landed at Billingsgate, I carried my budget myself
to Cornhill before I could get a coach, and was not much incommoded'
_Ib_. ii.294. See _ante_, iv.8, 22, for mention of Rochester.
[721] Murphy (_Life_, p. 121) says that Johnson visited Oxford this
summer. Perhaps he was misled by a passage in the _Piozzi Letters_ (ii.
302) where Johnson is made to write:--'At Oxford I have just left
Wheeler.' For _left_ no doubt should be read _lost_. Wheeler died on
July 22 of this year. _Gent. Mag_. 1783, p. 629.
[722] This house would be interesting to Johnson, as in it Charles II,
'for whom he had an extraordinary partiality' (_ante_, ii. 341), lay hid
for some days after the battle of Worcester. Clarendon (vi. 540)
describes it 'as a house that stood alone from neighbours and from any
highway.' Charles was lodged 'in a little room, which had been made
since the beginning of the troubles for the concealment of delinquents.'
[723] 'I told Dr. Johnson I had heard that Mr. Bowles was very much
delighted with the expectation of seeing him, and he answered me:--"He
is so delighted that it is shocking. It is really shocking to see how
high are his expectations." I asked him why, and he said:--"Why, if any
man is expected to take a leap of twenty yards, and does actually take
one of ten, everybody will be disappointed, though ten yards may be more
than any other man ever leaped."' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, ii.260. On
Oct. 9, he wrote:--'Two nights ago Mr. Burke sat with me a long time.
We had both seen Stonehenge this summer for the first time.' _Piozzi
Letters_, ii.315.
[724] Salisbury is eighty-two miles from Cornhill by the old coach-road.
Johnson seems to have been nearly fifteen hours on the journey.
[725] 'Aug. 13, 1783. I am now broken with disease, without the
alleviation of familiar friendship or domestic society. I have no middle
state between clamour and silence, between general conversation and
self-tormenting solitude. Levett is dead, and poor Williams is making
haste to die.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii.301. 'Aug. 20. This has been a day
of great emotion; the office of the Communion of the Sick has been
performed in poor Mrs. Williams's chamber.' _Ib_. 'Sept. 22. Poor
Williams has, I hope, seen the end of her afflictions. She acted with
prudence and she bore with fortitude. She has left me.
"Thou thy weary [worldly] task hast done,
Home art gone and ta'en thy wages."
[_Cymbeline_, act iv. sc. 2.]
Had she had good humour and prompt elocution, her universal curiosity
and comprehensive knowledge would have made her the delight of all that
knew her.' _Ib_. p. 311.
[726] Johnson (_Works_, viii. 354) described in 1756 such a companion as
he found in Mrs. Williams. He quotes Pope's _Epitaph on Mrs. Corbet_,
and continues:--'I have always considered this as the most valuable of
all Pope's epitaphs; the subject of it is a character not discriminated
by any shining or eminent peculiarities; yet that which really makes,
though not the splendour, the felicity of life, and that which every
wise man will choose for his final and lasting companion in the languor
of age, in the quiet of privacy, when he departs, weary and disgusted,
from the ostentatious, the volatile and the vain. Of such a character
which the dull overlook, and the gay despise, it was fit that the value
should be made known, and the dignity established.' See _ante_, i.232.
[727] _Pr. and Med_. p. 226. BOSWELL.
[728] I conjecture that Mr. Bowles is the friend. The account follows
close on the visit to his house, and contains a mention of Johnson's
attendance at a lecture at Salisbury.
[729] A writer in _Notes and Queries_, 1st S. xii. 149, says:--'Mr.
Bowles had married a descendant of Oliver Cromwell, viz. Dinah, the
fourth daughter of Sir Thomas Frankland, and highly valued himself upon
this connection with the Protector.' He adds that Mr. Bowles was an
active Whig.
[730] Mr. Malone observes, 'This, however, was certainly a mistake, as
appears from the _Memoirs_ published by Mr. Noble. Had Johnson been
furnished with the materials which the industry of that gentleman has
procured, and with others which, it it is believed, are yet preserved in
manuscript, he would, without doubt, have produced a most valuable and
curious history of Cromwell's life.' BOSWELL.
[731] See _ante_, ii.358, note 3.
[732] _Short Notes for Civil Conversation_. Spedding's _Bacon_, vii.109.
[733] 'When I took up his _Life of Cowley_, he made me put it away to
talk. I could not help remarking how very like he is to his writing, and
how much the same thing it was to hear or to read him; but that nobody
could tell that without coming to Streatham, for his language was
generally imagined to be laboured and studied, instead of the mere
common flow of his thoughts. "Very true," said Mrs. Thrale, "he writes
and talks with the same ease, and in the same manner."' Mme. D'Arblay's
_Diary_, i. 120. What a different account is this from that given by
Macaulay:--'When he talked he clothed his wit and his sense in forcible
and natural expressions. As soon as he took his pen in his hand to write
for the public, his style became systematically vicious.' Macaulay's
_Essays_, edit. 1843, i.404. See _ante_, ii.96, note; iv.183; and
_post_, the end of the vol.
[734] See _ante_, ii.125, iii.254, and Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 14.
[735] Hume said:--'The French have more real politeness, and the English
the better method of expressing it. By real politeness I mean softness
of temper, and a sincere inclination to oblige and be serviceable, which
is very conspicuous in this nation, not only among the high, but low; in
so much that the porters and coachmen here are civil, and that, not only
to gentlemen, but likewise among themselves.' J.H. Burton's _Hume_,
i. 53.
[736] This is the third time that Johnson's disgust at this practice is
recorded. See _ante_, ii.403, and iii.352.
[737] See _ante_, iii.398, note 3.
[738] 'Sept. 22, 1783. The chymical philosophers have discovered a body
(which I have forgotten, but will enquire) which, dissolved by an acid,
emits a vapour lighter than the atmospherical air. This vapour is
caught, among other means, by tying a bladder compressed upon the body
in which the dissolution is performed; the vapour rising swells the
bladder and fills it. _Piozzi Letters_, ii.310. The 'body' was
iron-filings, the acid sulphuric acid, and the vapour nitrogen. The
other 'new kinds of air' were the gases discovered by Priestley.
[739] I do not wonder at Johnson's displeasure when the name of Dr.
Priestley was mentioned; for I know no writer who has been suffered to
publish more pernicious doctrines. I shall instance only three. First,
_Materialism_; by which _mind_ is denied to human nature; which, if
believed, must deprive us of every elevated principle. Secondly,
_Necessity_; or the doctrine that every action, whether good or bad, is
included in an unchangeable and unavoidable system; a notion utterly
subversive of moral government. Thirdly, that we have no reason to think
that the _future_ world, (which, as he is pleased to _inform_ us, will
be adapted to our _merely improved_ nature,) will be materially
different from _this_; which, if believed, would sink wretched mortals
into despair, as they could no longer hope for the 'rest that remaineth
for the people of GOD' [_Hebrews_, iv.9], or for that happiness which is
revealed to us as something beyond our present conceptions; but would
feel themselves doomed to a continuation of the uneasy state under which
they now groan. I say nothing of the petulant intemperance with which he
dares to insult the venerable establishments of his country.
As a specimen of his writings, I shall quote the following passage,
which appears to me equally absurd and impious, and which might have
been retorted upon him by the men who were prosecuted for burning his
house. 'I cannot, (says he,) as a _necessarian_, [meaning
_necessitarian_] hate _any man_; because I consider him as _being_, in
all respects, just what GOD has _made him to be_; and also as _doing
with respect to me_, nothing but what he was _expressly designed_ and
_appointed_ to do; GOD being the _only cause_, and men nothing more than
the _instruments_ in his hands to _execute all his pleasure_.'--
_Illustrations of Philosophical Necessity_, p. 111.
The Reverend Dr. Parr, in a late tract, appears to suppose that _'Dr.
Johnson not only endured, but almost solicited, an interview with Dr.
Priestley_. In justice to Dr. Johnson, I declare my firm belief that he
never did. My illustrious friend was particularly resolute in not giving
countenance to men whose writings he considered as pernicious to
society. I was present at Oxford when Dr. Price, even before he had
rendered himself so generally obnoxious by his zeal for the French
Revolution, came into a company where Johnson was, who instantly left
the room. Much more would he have reprobated Dr. Priestley. Whoever
wishes to see a perfect delineation of this _Literary Jack of all
Trades_, may find it in an ingenious tract, entitled, 'A SMALL
WHOLE-LENGTH OF DR. PRIESTLEY,' printed for Rivingtons, in St. Paul's
Church-Yard. BOSWELL. See Appendix B.
[740] Burke said, 'I have learnt to think _better_ of mankind.' _Ante_,
iii.236.
[741] He wrote to his servant Frank from Heale on Sept. l6:--'As
Thursday [the 18th] is my birthday I would have a little dinner got, and
would have you invite Mrs. Desmoulins, Mrs. Davis that was about Mrs.
Williams, and Mr. Allen, and Mrs. Gardiner.' Croker's _Boswell_, p.739.
See _ante_, iii.157, note 3.
[742] Dr. Burney had just lost Mr. Bewley, 'the Broom Gentleman'
(_ante_, p. 134), and Mr. Crisp. Dr. Burney's _Memoirs_, ii.323, 352.
For Mr. Crisp, see Macaulay's _Review_ of Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary.
Essays_, ed. 1874, iv.104.
[743] He wrote of her to Mrs. Montagu:--'Her curiosity was universal,
her knowledge was very extensive, and she sustained forty years of
misery with steady fortitude. Thirty years and more she had been my
companion, and her death has left me very desolate.' Croker's _Boswell_,
p. 739. This letter brought to a close his quarrel with Mrs. Montagu
(_ante_, p. 64).
[744] On Sept. 22 he wrote to Mrs. Thrale:--'If excision should be
delayed, there is danger of a gangrene. You would not have me for fear
of pain perish in putrescence. I shall, I hope, with trust in eternal
mercy, lay hold of the possibility of life which yet remains.' _Piozzi
Letters_, ii.312.
[745] Rather more than seven years ago. _Ante_, ii.82, note 2.
[746] Mrs. Anna Williams. BOSWELL.
[747] See _ante_, p. 163, and Boswell's _Hebrides_, Nov 2.
[748] Dated Oct. 27. _Piozzi Letters_, ii.321.
[749] According to Mrs. Piozzi (_Letters_, ii.387), he said to Mrs.
Siddons:--'You see, Madam, wherever you go there are no seats to be
got.' Sir Joshua also paid her a fine compliment. 'He never marked his
own name [on a picture],' says Northcote, 'except in the instance of
Mrs. Siddons's portrait as the Tragic Muse, when he wrote his name upon
the hem of her garment. "I could not lose," he said, "the honour this
opportunity offered to me for my name going down to posterity on the hem
of your garment."' Northcote's _Reynolds_, i. 246. In Johnson's _Works_,
ed. 1787, xi. 207, we read that 'he said of Mrs. Siddons that she
appeared to him to be one of the few persons that the two great
corrupters of mankind, money and reputation, had not spoiled.'
[750] 'Indeed, Dr. Johnson,' said Miss Monckton, 'you _must_ see Mrs.
Siddons.' 'Well, Madam, if you desire it, I will go. See her I shall
not, nor hear her; but I'll go, and that will do.' Mme. D'Arblay's
_Diary_, ii. 198.
[751] 'Mrs. Porter, the tragedian, was so much the favourite of her
time, that she was welcomed on the stage when she trod it by the help of
a stick.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 319.
[752] He said:--'Mrs. Clive was the best player I ever saw.' Boswell's
_Hebrides, post_, v. 126. See _ante_, p. 7. She was for many years the
neighbour and friend of Horace Walpole.
[753] She acted the heroine in _Irene. Ante_, i. 197. 'It is wonderful
how little mind she had,' he once said. _Ante_, ii. 348. See Boswell's
_Hebrides, post_, v. 126.
[754] See _ante_, iii. 183.
[755] See ante, iii. 184.
[756] 'Garrick's great distinction is his universality,' Johnson said.
'He can represent all modes of life, but that of an easy, fine-bred
gentleman.' Boswell's _Hebrides, post_, v. 126. See _ante_, iii. 35.
Horace Walpole wrote of Garrick in 1765 (_Letters_, iv. 335):--'Several
actors have pleased me more, though I allow not in so many parts. Quin
in Falstaff was as excellent as Garrick in _Lear_. Old Johnson far more
natural in everything he attempted; Mrs. Porter surpassed him in
passionate tragedy. Cibber and O'Brien were what Garrick could never
reach, coxcombs and men of fashion. Mrs. Clive is at least as perfect in
low comedy.'
[757] See _ante_, ii. 465.
[758] Mr. Kemble told Mr. Croker that 'Mrs. Siddons's pathos in the last
scene of _The Stranger_ quite overcame him, but he always endeavoured to
restrain any impulses which might interfere with his previous study of
his part.' Croker's _Boswell_, p. 742. Diderot, writing of the
qualifications of a great actor, says:--'Je lui veux beaucoup de
jugement; je le veux spectateur froid et tranquille de la nature
humaine; qu'il ait par consequent beaucoup de finesse, mais nulle
sensibilite, ou, ce qui est la meme chose, l'art de tout imiter, et une
egale aptitude a toutes sortes de caracteres et de roles; s'il etait
sensible, il lui serait impossible de jouer dix fois de suite le meme
role avec la meme chaleur et le meme succes; tres chaud a la premiere
representation, il serait epuise et froid comme le marble a la
troisieme,' &c. Diderot's _Works_ (ed. 1821), iii. 274. See Boswell's
_Hebrides, post_, v. 46.
[759] My worthy friend, Mr. John Nichols, was present when Mr.
Henderson, the actor, paid a visit to Dr. Johnson; and was received in a
very courteous manner. See _Gent. Mag_. June, 1791.
I found among Dr. Johnson's papers, the following letter to him, from
the celebrated Mrs. Bellamy [_ante_, i. 326]:--
'To DR. JOHNSON.
'SIR,
'The flattering remembrance of the partiality you honoured me with, some
years ago, as well as the humanity you are known to possess, has
encouraged me to solicit your patronage at my Benefit.
'By a long Chancery suit, and a complicated train of unfortunate events,
I am reduced to the greatest distress; which obliges me, once more, to
request the indulgence of the publick.
'Give me leave to solicit the honour of your company, and to assure you,
if you grant my request, the gratification I shall feel, from being
patronized by Dr. Johnson, will be infinitely superiour to any advantage
that may arise from the Benefit; as I am, with the profoundest
respect, Sir,
'Your most obedient, humble servant, G. A. BELLAMY. No. 10 Duke-street,
St. James's, May 11, 1783.'
I am happy in recording these particulars, which prove that my
illustrious friend lived to think much more favourably of Players than
he appears to have done in the early part of his life. BOSWELL. Mr.
Nichols, describing Henderson's visit to Johnson, says:--'The
conversation turning on the merits of a certain dramatic writer, Johnson
said: "I never did the man an injury; but he would persist in reading
his tragedy to me."' _Gent. Mag_: 1791, p. 500.
[760] _Piozzi Letters_, vol. ii. p. 328. BOSWELL.
[761] _Piozzi Letters_, vol. ii. p. 342. BOSWELL. The letter to Miss
Thrale was dated Nov. 18. Johnson wrote on Dec. l3:--'You must all guess
again at my friend. It was not till Dec. 31 that he told the name.
[762] Miss Burney, who visited him on this day, records:--'He was, if
possible, more instructive, entertaining, good-humoured, and exquisitely
fertile than ever.' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, ii. 284. The day before he
wrote to one of Mrs. Thrale's little daughters:--'I live here by my own
self, and have had of late very bad nights; but then I have had a pig to
dinner which Mr. Perkins gave me. Thus life is chequered.' _Piozzi
Letters_, ii. 327.
[763] See _ante_, i. 242.
[764] See _ante_, i. 242.
[765] Nos. 26 and 29.
[766] _Piozzi Letters_, i. 334. See _ante_, p. 75.
[767] He strongly opposed the war with America, and was one of Dr.
Franklin's friends. Franklin's _Memoirs_, ed. 1818, iii. 108.
[768] It was of this tragedy that the following story is told in
Rogers's _Table-Talk_, p. 177:--'Lord Shelburne could say the most
provoking things, and yet appear quite unconscious of their being so. In
one of his speeches, alluding to Lord Carlisle, he said:--"The noble
Lord has written a comedy." "No, a tragedy." "Oh, I beg pardon; I
thought it was a comedy."' See _ante_, p. 113. Pope, writing to Mr.
Cromwell on Aug. 19, 1709, says:--'One might ask the same question of a
modern life, that Rich did of a modern play: "Pray do me the favour,
Sir, to inform me is this your tragedy or your comedy?"' Pope's _Works_,
ed. 1812, vi. 81.