Life Of Johnson, Volume 5 - Boswell
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We came to Llanrhaiadr, through Oswestry; a town not very little, nor
very mean. The church, which I saw only at a distance, seems to be an
edifice much too good for the present state of the place.
SEPTEMBER 9.
We visited the waterfall, which is very high, and in rainy weather very
copious. There is a reservoir made to supply it. In its fall, it has
perforated a rock. There is a room built for entertainment. There was
some difficulty in climbing to a near view. Lord Lyttelton[1235] came
near it, and turned back.
When we came back, we took some cold meat, and notwithstanding the
Doctor's importunities, went that day to Shrewsbury.
SEPTEMBER 10.
I sent for Gwynn[1236], and he shewed us the town. The walls are
broken, and narrower than those of Chester. The town is large, and has
many gentlemen's houses, but the streets are narrow. I saw Taylor's
library. We walked in the Quarry; a very pleasant walk by the
river.[1237] Our inn was not bad.
SEPTEMBER 11.
Sunday. We were at St. Chads, a very large and luminous Church. We were
on the Castle Hill.
SEPTEMBER 12.
We called on Dr. Adams,[1238] and travelled towards Worcester, through
Wenlock; a very mean place, though a borough. At noon, we came to
Bridgenorth, and walked about the town, of which one part stands on a
high rock; and part very low, by the river. There is an old tower,
which, being crooked, leans so much, that it is frightful to pass by it.
In the afternoon we came through Kinver, a town in Staffordshire; neat
and closely built. I believe it has only one street.
The road was so steep and miry, that we were forced to stop at
Hartlebury, where we had a very neat inn, though it made a very poor
appearance.
SEPTEMBER 13.
We came to Lord Sandys's, at Ombersley, where we were treated with great
civility.[1239]
The house is large. The hall is a very noble room.
SEPTEMBER 15.
We went to Worcester, a very splendid city. The Cathedral is very noble,
with many remarkable monuments. The library is in the Chapter House. On
the table lay the _Nuremberg Chronicle_, I think, of the first edition.
We went to the china warehouse. The Cathedral has a cloister. The long
aisle is, in my opinion, neither so wide nor so high as that of
Lichfield.
SEPTEMBER 16.
We went to Hagley, where we were disappointed of the respect and
kindness that we expected[1240].
SEPTEMBER 17.
We saw the house and park, which equalled my expectation. The house is
one square mass. The offices are below. The rooms of elegance on the
first floor, with two stories of bedchambers, very well disposed above
it. The bedchambers have low windows, which abates the dignity of the
house. The park has one artificial ruin[1241], and wants water; there
is, however, one temporary cascade. From the farthest hill there is a
very wide prospect.
I went to church. The church is, externally, very mean, and is therefore
diligently hidden by a plantation. There are in it several modern
monuments of the Lytteltons.
There dined with us, Lord Dudley, and Sir Edward Lyttelton, of
Staffordshire, and his Lady. They were all persons of agreeable
conversation.
I found time to reflect on my birthday, and offered a prayer, which I
hope was heard.
SEPTEMBER 19.
We made haste away from a place, where all were offended[1242]. In the
way we visited the Leasowes[1243]. It was rain, yet we visited all the
waterfalls. There are, in one place, fourteen falls in a short line. It
is the next place to Ham Gardens[1244]. Poor Shenstone never tasted his
pension. It is not very well proved that any pension was obtained for
him. I am afraid that he died of misery[1245].
We came to Birmingham, and I sent for Wheeler, whom I found well.
SEPTEMBER 20.
We breakfasted with Wheeler,[1246] and visited the manufacture of Papier
Mache. The paper which they use is smooth whited brown; the varnish is
polished with rotten stone. Wheeler gave me a tea-board. We then went to
Boulton's,[1247] who, with great civility, led us through his shops. I
could not distinctly see his enginery.
Twelve dozen of buttons for three shillings.[1248] Spoons struck at
once.
SEPTEMBER 21.
Wheeler came to us again.
We came easily to Woodstock.
SEPTEMBER 22.
We saw Blenheim and Woodstock Park.[1249] The Park contains two thousand
five hundred acres; about four square miles. It has red deer. Mr.
Bryant[1250] shewed me the Library with great civility. _Durandi
Rationale_, 1459[1251]. Lascaris' _Grammar_ of the first edition, well
printed, but much less than later editions[1252]. The first
_Batrachomyomachia_[1253].
The Duke sent Mr. Thrale partridges and fruit.
At night we came to Oxford.
SEPTEMBER 23.
We visited Mr. Coulson[1254]. The Ladies wandered about the University.
SEPTEMBER 24.
We dine with Mr. Coulson. Vansittart[1255] told me his distemper.
Afterwards we were at Burke's, where we heard of the dissolution of the
Parliament. We went home[1256].
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See _ante_, ii. 434, note 1, and iii. 209.
[2] His _Account of Corsica_, published in 1768.
[3] Horace Walpole wrote on Nov.6, 1769 (_Letters_, v. 200):--'I found
Paoli last week at Court. The King and Queen both took great notice of
him. He has just made a tour to Bath, Oxford, &c., and was everywhere
received with much distinction.' See _ante_, ii. 71.
[4] Boswell, when in London, was 'his constant guest.' Ante, iii 35.
[5] Boswell's son James says that 'in 1785 Mr. Malone was shewn at Mr.
Baldwin's printing-house a sheet of the _Tour to the Hebrides_
which contained Johnson's character. He was so much struck with the
spirit and fidelity of the portrait that he requested to be introduced
to its writer. From this period a friendship took place between them,
which ripened into the strictest and most cordial intimacy. After Mr.
Boswell's death in 1795 Mr. Malone continued to shew every mark of
affectionate attention towards his family.' _Gent. Mag._ 1813, p. 518.
[6] Malone began his edition of _Shakespeare_ in 1782; he brought it out
in 1790. Prior's _Malone_, pp. 98, 166.
[7] Boswell in the 'Advertisement' to the second edition, dated Dec. 20,
1785, says that 'the whole of the first impression has been sold in a
few weeks.' Three editions were published within a year, but the fourth
was not issued till 1807. A German translation was published in Luebeck
in 1787. I believe that in no language has a translation been published
of the _Life of Johnson_. Johnson was indeed, as Boswell often calls
him, 'a trueborn Englishman'--so English that foreigners could neither
understand him nor relish his _Life_.
[8] The man thus described is James I.
[9] See _ante_, i. 450 and ii. 291.
[10] _A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland_. Johnson's _Works_
ix. 1.
[11] See _ante_, i. 450. On a copy of Martin in the Advocates' Library
[Edinburgh] I found the following note in the handwriting of Mr.
Boswell:--'This very book accompanied Mr. Samuel Johnson and me in our
Tour to the Hebrides.' UPCOTT. Croker's _Boswell_, p. 267.
[12] Macbeth, act i. sc. 3.
[13] See _ante_, iii. 24, and _post_, Nov. 10.
[14] Our friend Edmund Burke, who by this time had received some pretty
severe strokes from Dr. Johnson, on account of the unhappy difference in
their politicks, upon my repeating this passage to him, exclaimed 'Oil
of vitriol !' BOSWELL.
[15] _Psalms_, cxli. 5.
[16] 'We all love Beattie,' he had said. _Ante_, ii. 148.
[17] This, I find, is a Scotticism. I should have said, 'It will not be
long before we shall be at Marischal College.' BOSWELL. In spite of this
warning Sir Walter Scott fell into the same error. 'The light foot of
Mordaunt was not long of bearing him to Jarlok [Jarlshof].' _Pirate_,
ch. viii. CROKER. Beattie was Professor of Moral Philosophy and Logic in
Marischal College.
[18] 'Nil mihi rescribas; attamen ipse veni.' Ovid, _Heroides_, i. 2.
Boswell liked to display such classical learning as he had. When he
visited Eton in 1789 he writes, 'I was asked by the Head-master to dine
at the Fellows' table, and made a creditable figure. I certainly have
the art of making the most of what I have. How should one who has had
only a Scotch education be quite at home at Eton? I had my classical
quotations very ready.' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 308.
[19] Gray, Johnson writes (_Works_, viii. 479), visited Scotland in
1765. 'He naturally contracted a friendship with Dr. Beattie, whom he
found a poet,' &c.
[20] _Post_, Sept. 12.
[21] See _ante_, i. 274.
[22] Afterwards Lord Stowell. He, his brother Lord Eldon, and Chambers
were all Newcastle men. See _ante_, i. 462, for an anecdote of the
journey and for a note on 'the Commons.'
[23] See _ante_, ii. 453.
[24] See _ante_, iv. III.
[25] Baretti, in a MS. note on _Piozzi Letters_, i. 309, says:--'The
most unaccountable part of Johnson's character was his total ignorance
of the character of his most familiar acquaintance.'
[26] Lord Pembroke said once to me at Wilton, with a happy pleasantry,
and some truth, that 'Dr. Johnson's sayings would not appear so
extraordinary, were it not for his _bow-wow way_:' but I admit the truth
of this only on some occasions. The _Messiah_, played upon the
_Canterbury organ_, is more sublime than when played upon an inferior
instrument, but very slight musick will seem grand, when conveyed to the
ear through that majestick medium. _While therefore Dr. Johnson's
sayings are read, let his manner be taken along with them_. Let it,
however, be observed, that the sayings themselves are generally great;
that, though he might be an ordinary composer at times, he was for the
most part a Handel. BOSWELL. See _ante_, ii. 326, 371, and under
Aug. 29, 1783.
[27] See _ante_, i. 42.
[28] See _ante_, i. 41.
[29] Such they appeared to me; but since the first edition, Sir Joshua
Reynolds has observed to me, 'that Dr. Johnson's extraordinary gestures
were only habits, in which he indulged himself at certain times. When in
company, where he was not free, or when engaged earnestly in
conversation, he never gave way to such habits, which proves that they
were not involuntary.' I still however think, that these gestures were
involuntary; for surely had not that been the case, he would have
restrained them in the publick streets. BOSWELL. See _ante_, i. 144.
[30] By an Act of the 7th of George I. for encouraging the consumption
of raw silk and mohair, buttons and button-holes made of cloth, serge,
and other stuffs were prohibited. In 1738 a petition was presented to
Parliament stating that 'in evasion of this Act buttons and button-holes
were made of horse-hair to the impoverishing of many thousands and
prejudice of the woollen manufactures.' An Act was brought in to
prohibit the use of horse-hair, and was only thrown out on the third
reading. _Parl. Hist._ x. 787.
[31] Boswell wrote to Erskine on Dec. 8, 1761: 'I, James Boswell Esq.,
who "am happily possessed of a facility of manners"--to use the very
words of Mr. Professor [Adam] Smith, which upon honour were addressed to
me.' _Boswell and Erskine Corres_. ed. 1879, p. 26.
[32] _Post_, Oct. 16.
[33] _Hamlet_, act iii, sc. 4.
[34] See _ante_, iv., March 21, 1783. Johnson is often reproached with
his dislike of the Scotch, though much of it was assumed; but no one
blames Hume's dislike of the English, though it was deep and real. On
Feb. 21, 1770, he wrote:--'Our Government is too perfect in point of
liberty for so rude a beast as an Englishman; who is a man, a bad animal
too, corrupted by above a century of licentiousness.' J. H. Burton's
_Hume_, ii. 434. Dr. Burton writes of the English as 'a people Hume so
heartily disliked.' _Ib_. p. 433.
[35] See _ante_, iv. 15.
[36] The term _John Bull_ came into the English language in 1712, when
Dr. Arbuthnot wrote _The History of John Bull_.
[37] Boswell in three other places so describes Johnson. See _ante_,
i.129, note 3.
[38] See _ante_, i.467.
[39] 'All nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues.' _Rev_. vii.9.
[40] See _ante_, ii. 376
[41] In Cockburn's _Life of Jeffrey_, i.157, there is a description of
Edinburgh, towards the close of the century, 'the last purely Scotch age
that Scotland was destined to see. Almost the whole official state, as
settled at the Union, survived; and all graced the capital, unconscious
of the economical scythe which has since mowed it down. All our nobility
had not then fled. The lawyers, instead of disturbing good company by
professional matter, were remarkably free of this vulgarity; and being
trained to take difference of opinion easily, and to conduct discussions
with forbearance, were, without undue obtrusion, the most cheerful
people that were to be met with. Philosophy had become indigenous in the
place, and all classes, even in their gayest hours, were proud of the
presence of its cultivators. And all this was still a Scotch scene. The
whole country had not begun to be absorbed in the ocean of London.
According to the modern rate of travelling [written in 1852] the
capitals of Scotland and of England were then about 2400 miles asunder.
Edinburgh was still more distant in its style and habits. It had then
its own independent tastes, and ideas, and pursuits.' Scotland at this
time was distinguished by the liberality of mind of its leading
clergymen, which was due, according to Dr. A. Carlyle (_Auto_. p 57), to
the fact that the Professor of Theology under whom they had studied was
'dull and Dutch and prolix.' 'There was one advantage,' he says,
'attending the lectures of a dull professor--viz., that he could form no
school, and the students were left entirely to themselves, and naturally
formed opinions far more liberal than those they got from the
Professor.'
[42] Chambers (_Traditions of Edinburgh_, ed. 1825, ii.297) says that
'the very spot which Johnson's armchair occupied is pointed out by the
modern possessors.' The inn was called 'The White Horse.' 'It derives
its name from having been the resort of the Hanoverian faction, the
White Horse being the crest of Hanover.' Murray's _Guide to Scotland_,
ed. 1867, p. 111.
[43] Boswell writing of Scotland says:--'In the last age it was the
common practice in the best families for all the company to eat milk, or
pudding, or any other dish that is eat with a spoon, not by distributing
the contents of the dish into small plates round the table, but by every
person dipping his spoon into the large platter; and when the fashion of
having a small plate for each guest was brought from the continent by a
young gentleman returned from his travels, a good old inflexible
neighbour in the country said, "he did not see anything he had learnt
but to take his broth twice." Nay, in our own remembrance, the use of a
carving knife was considered as a novelty; and a gentleman of ancient
family and good literature used to rate his son, a friend of mine, for
introducing such a foppish superfluity.'--_London Mag_. 1778, p.199.
[44] See _ante_, ii. 403. Johnson, in describing Sir A. Macdonald's
house in Sky, said:--'The Lady had not the common decencies of her
tea-table; we picked up our sugar with our fingers.' _Piozzi
Letters_, i.138.
[45] Chambers says that 'James's Court, till the building of the New
Town, was inhabited by a select set of gentlemen. They kept a clerk to
record their names and their proceedings, had a scavenger of their own,
and had balls and assemblies among themselves.' Paoli was Boswell's
guest there in 1771. _Traditions of Edinburgh_, i. 219. It was burnt
down in 1857. Murray's _Guide to Scotland_, ed. 1883, p.49. Johnson
wrote:--'Boswell has very handsome and spacious rooms, level with the
ground on one side of the house, and on the other four stories high.'
_Piozzi Letters_, i. 109. Dr. J.H. Burton says that Hume occupied them
just before Boswell. He continues:--'Of the first impression made on a
stranger at that period when entering such a house, a vivid description
is given by Sir Walter Scott in _Guy Mannering_; and in Counsellor
Pleydell's library, with its collection of books, and the prospect from
the window, we have probably an accurate picture of the room in which
Hume spent his studious hours.' _Life of Hume_, ii. 137, 431. At
Johnson's visit Hume was living in his new house in the street which was
humorously named after him, St. David Street. _Ib_. p. 436.
[46] The English servant-girl in _Humphry Clinker_ (Letter of July 18),
after describing how the filth is thus thrown out, says:--'The maid
calls _gardy loo_ to the passengers, which signifies _Lord have mercy
upon you!_'
[47] Wesley, when at Edinburgh in May, 1761, writes:--'How can it be
suffered that all manner of filth should still be thrown even into this
street [High Street] continually? How long shall the capital city of
Scotland, yea, and the chief street of it, stink worse than a common
sewer?' Wesley's _Journal_, iii. 52. Baretti (_Journey from London to
Genoa_, ii.255) says that this was the universal practice in Madrid in
1760. He was driven out of that town earlier than he had intended to
leave it by the dreadful stench. A few years after his visit the King
made a reform, so that it became 'one of the cleanest towns in Europe.'
_Ib_. p 258. Smollett in _Humphry Clinker_ makes Matthew Bramble say
(Letter of July 18):--'The inhabitants of Edinburgh are apt to imagine
the disgust that we avow is little better than affectation.'
[48] 'Most of their buildings are very mean; and the whole town bears
some resemblance to the old part of Birmingham.' _Piozzi
Letters_, i. 109.
[49] See _ante_, i. 313.
[50] Miss Burney, describing her first sight of Johnson, says:--'Upon
asking my father why he had not prepared us for such uncouth, untoward
strangeness, he laughed heartily, and said he had entirely forgotten
that the same impression had been at first made upon himself; but had
been lost even on the second interview.' _Memoirs of Dr. Burney_, ii.91.
[51] See _post_, Aug. 22.
[52] see _ante_, iii. 216.
[53] Boswell writes, in his _Hypochondriacks_:--'Naturally somewhat
singular, independent of any additions which affectation and vanity may
perhaps have made, I resolved to have a more pleasing species of
marriage than common, and bargained with my bride that I should not be
bound to live with her longer than I really inclined; and that whenever
I tired of her domestic society I should be at liberty to give it up.
Eleven years have elapsed, and I have never yet wished to take advantage
of my stipulated privilege.' _London Mag_. 1781, p.136. See _ante_, ii.
140, note 1.
[54] Sir Walter Scott was two years old this day. He was born in a house
at the head of the College Wynd. When Johnson and Boswell returned to
Edinburgh Jeffrey was a baby there seventeen days old. Some seventeen or
eighteen years later 'he had the honour of assisting to carry the
biographer of Johnson, in a state of great intoxication, to bed. For
this he was rewarded next morning by Mr. Boswell clapping his head, and
telling him that he was a very promising lad, and that if "you go on as
you've begun, you may live to be a Bozzy yourself yet."' Cockburn's
_Jeffrey_, i. 33.
[55] He was one of Boswell's executors, and as such was in part
responsible for the destruction of his manuscripts. _Ante_, iii. 301,
note i. It is to his _Life of Dr. Beattie_ that Scott alludes in the
Introduction to the fourth Canto of _Marmion_:--
'Scarce had lamented Forbes paid
The tribute to his Minstrel's shade;
The tale of friendship scarce was told,
Ere the narrator's heart was cold--
Far may we search before we find
A heart so manly and so kind.'
It is only of late years that _Forbes_ has generally ceased to be a
dissyllable.
[56] The saint's name of _Veronica_ was introduced into our family
through my great grandmother Veronica, Countess of Kincardine, a Dutch
lady of the noble house of Sommelsdyck, of which there is a full account
in Bayle's _Dictionary_. The family had once a princely right in
Surinam. The governour of that settlement was appointed by the States
General, the town of Amsterdam, and Sommelsdyck. The States General have
acquired Sommelsdyck's right; but the family has still great dignity and
opulence, and by intermarriages is connected with many other noble
families. When I was at the Hague, I was received with all the affection
of kindred. The present Sommelsdyck has an important charge in the
Republick, and is as worthy a man as lives. He has honoured me with his
correspondence for these twenty years. My great grandfather, the husband
of Countess Veronica, was Alexander, Earl of Kincardine, that eminent
_Royalist_ whose character is given by Burnet in his _History of his own
Times_. From him the blood of _Bruce_ flows in my veins. Of such
ancestry who would not be proud? And, as _Nihil est, nisi hoc sciat
alter_, is peculiarly true of genealogy, who would not be glad to seize
a fair opportunity to let it be known. BOSWELL. Boswell visited Holland
in 1763. _Ante_, i. 473. Burnet says that 'the Earl was both the wisest
and the worthiest man that belonged to his country, and fit for
governing any affairs but his own; which he by a wrong turn, and by his
love for the public, neglected to his ruin. His thoughts went slow and
his words came much slower; but a deep judgment appeared in everything
he said or did. I may be, perhaps, inclined to carry his character too
far; for he was the first man that entered into friendship with me.'
Burnet's _History_, ed. 1818, i. III. 'The ninth Earl succeeded as fifth
Earl of Elgin and thus united the two dignities.' Burke's _Peerage_.
Boswell's quotation is from Persius, _Satires_, i. 27: 'Scire tuum nihil
est, nisi te scire hoc sciat alter.' It is the motto to _The
Spectator_, No. 379.
[57] She died four months after her father. I cannot find that she
received this additional fortune.
[58] See _ante_, ii. 47.
[59] See _ante_, iv. 5, note 2.
[60] See _ante_, iii. 231. Johnson (_Works_, ix. 33) speaks of 'the
general dissatisfaction which is now driving the Highlanders into the
other hemisphere.' This dissatisfaction chiefly arose from the fact that
the chiefs were 'gradually degenerating from patriarchal rulers to
rapacious landlords.' _Ib._ p. 86. 'That the people may not fly from the
increase of rent I know not whether the general good does not require
that the landlords be, for a time, restrained in their demands, and kept
quiet by pensions proportionate to their loss.... It affords a
legislator little self-applause to consider, that where there was
formerly an insurrection there is now a wilderness.' _Ib._ p. 94. 'As
the world has been let in upon the people, they have heard of happier
climates and less arbitrary government.' _Ib._ p. 128.
[61] 'To a man that ranges the streets of London, where he is tempted to
contrive wants for the pleasure of supplying them, a shop affords no
image worthy of attention; but in an island it turns the balance of
existence between good and evil. To live in perpetual want of little
things is a state, not indeed of torture, but of constant vexation. I
have in Sky had some difficulty to find ink for a letter; and if a woman
breaks her needle, the work is at a stop.' _Ib._ p. 127.
[62] 'It was demolished in 1822.' Chambers's _Traditions of Edinburgh_,
i. 215.
[63] 'The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of
isles be glad thereof.' _Psalms_, xcvii.1.
[64] A brief memoir of Mr. Carre is given in Forbes's _Life of Beattie_,
Appendix Z.
[65] It was his daughter who gave the name to the new street in which
Hume had taken a house by chalking on his wall ST. DAVID STREET. 'Hume's
"lass," judging that it was not meant in honour or reverence, ran into
the house much excited, to tell her master how he was made game of.
"Never mind, lassie," he said; "many a better man has been made a saint
of before."' J.H. Burton's _Hume_, ii. 436.
[66] The House of Lords reversed the decision of the Court of Session in
this cause. See _ante_, ii.50, 230.
[67] Ogden was Woodwardian Professor at Cambridge. The sermons were
published in 1770. Boswell mentions them so often that in Rowlandson's
caricatures of the tour he is commonly represented as having them in his
hand or pocket. See _ante_, iii. 248.
[68] 'Talking of the eminent writers in Queen Anne's reign, Johnson
observed, "I think Dr. Arbuthnot the first man among them.'" _Ante_,
i. 425.
[69] 'We found that by the interposition of some invisible friend
lodgings had been provided for us at the house of one of the professors,
whose easy civility quickly made us forget that we were strangers.'
_Works_, ix. 3.
[70] He is referring to Beattie's _Essay on Truth_. See _post_, Oct. 1,
and _ante_, ii. 201.
[71] See _ante_, ii. 443, where Johnson, again speaking of Hume, and
perhaps of Gibbon, says:--'When a man voluntarily engages in an
important controversy, he is to do all he can to lessen his antagonist,
because authority from personal respect has much weight with most
people, and often more than reasoning.'
[72] Johnson, in his Dictionary, calls _bubble_ 'a cant [slang] word.'