Life Of Johnson, Volume 5 - Boswell
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[899] 'Sir Allan went to the headman of the island, whom fame, but fame
delights in amplifying, represents as worth no less than fifty pounds.
He was, perhaps, proud enough of his guests, but ill prepared for our
entertainment; however he soon produced more provision than men not
luxurious require.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 146.
[900] _An Account of the Isle of Man. With a voyage to I-Columb-Kill_.
By W. Sacheverell, Esq., late Governour of Man. 1702.
[901] 'He that surveys it [the church-yard] attended by an insular
antiquary may be told where the kings of many nations are buried, and if
he loves to soothe his imagination with the thoughts that naturally rise
in places where the great and the powerful lie mingled with the dust,
let him listen in submissive silence; for if he asks any questions his
delight is at an end.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 148.
[902] On quitting the island Johnson wrote: 'We now left those
illustrious ruins, by which Mr. Boswell was much affected, nor would I
willingly be thought to have looked upon them without some emotion.'
_Ib_. p. 150.
[903] Psalm xc. 4.
[904] Boswell wrote on Nov. 9, 1767:--'I am always for fixing some
period for my perfection as far as possible. Let it be when my account
of Corsica is published; I shall then have a character which I must
support.' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 122. Five weeks later he wrote:--'I
have been as wild as ever;' and then comes a passage which the Editor
has thought it needful to suppress. _Ib_.p.128.
[905] Boswell here speaks as an Englishman. He should have written '_a_
M'Ginnis.' See _ante_, p. 135, note 3.
[906] 'The fruitfulness of Iona is now its whole prosperity. The
inhabitants are remarkably gross, and remarkably neglected; I know not
if they are visited by any minister. The island, which was once the
metropolis of learning and piety, has now no school for education, nor
temple for worship, only two inhabitants that can speak English, and not
one that can write or read.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 149. Scott, who
visited it in 1810, writes:--'There are many monuments of singular
curiosity, forming a strange contrast to the squalid and dejected
poverty of the present inhabitants.' Lockhart's _Scott_, ed. 1839, iii.
285. In 1814, on a second visit, he writes:--'Iona, the last time I saw
it, seemed to me to contain the most wretched people I had anywhere
seen. But either they have got better since I was here, or my eyes,
familiarized with the wretchedness of Zetland and the Harris, are less
shocked with that of Iona.' He found a schoolmaster there. _Ib_.
iv. 324.
[907] Johnson's Jacobite friend, Dr. King (_ante_, i. 279), says of
Pulteney, on his being made Earl of Bath:--'He deserted the cause of
his country; he betrayed his friends and adherents; he ruined his
character, and from a most glorious eminence sunk down to a degree of
contempt. The first time Sir Robert (who was now Earl of Orford) met him
in the House of Lords, he threw out this reproach:--"My Lord Bath, you
and I are now two as insignificant men as any in England." In which he
spoke the truth of my Lord Bath, but not of himself. For my Lord Orford
was consulted by the ministers to the last day of his life.' King's
_Anec_. p. 43.
[908] See _ante_, i. 431, and iii. 326.
[909] 'Sir Robert Walpole detested war. This made Dr. Johnson say of
him, "He was the best minister this country ever had, as, if _we_ would
have let him (he speaks of his own violent faction), he would have kept
the country in perpetual peace."' Seward's _Biographiana_, p. 554. See
_ante_, i. 131.
[910] See _ante_, iii. Appendix C.
[911] I think it incumbent on me to make some observation on this strong
satirical sally on my classical companion, Mr. Wilkes. Reporting it
lately from memory, in his presence, I expressed it thus:--'They knew he
would rob their shops, _if he durst;_ they knew he would debauch their
daughters, _if he could;_' which, according to the French phrase, may be
said _rencherir_ on Dr. Johnson; but on looking into my Journal, I found
it as above, and would by no means make any addition. Mr. Wilkes
received both readings with a good humour that I cannot enough admire.
Indeed both he and I (as, with respect to myself, the reader has more
than once had occasion to observe in the course of this Journal,) are
too fond of a _bon mot_, not to relish it, though we should be ourselves
the object of it.
Let me add, in justice to the gentleman here mentioned, that at a
subsequent period, he _was_ elected chief magistrate of London [in
1774], and discharged the duties of that high office with great honour
to himself, and advantage to the city. Some years before Dr. Johnson
died, I was fortunate enough to bring him and Mr. Wilkes together; the
consequence of which was, that they were ever afterwards on easy and not
unfriendly terms. The particulars I shall have great pleasure in
relating at large in my _Life of Dr. Johnson_. BOSWELL. In the copy of
Boswell's _Letter to the People of Scotland_ in the British Museum is
entered in Boswell's own hand--
'Comes jucundus in via pro vehiculo est.
To John Wilkes, Esq.: as pleasant a companion as ever lived. From the
Author.
--will my Wilkes retreat,
And see, once seen before, that ancient seat, etc.'
See _ante_, iii. 64, 183; iv. 101, 224, note 2.
[912] See _ante_, iv. 199.
[913] Our afternoon journey was through a country of such gloomy
desolation that Mr. Boswell thought no part of the Highlands equally
terrifick.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 150.
[914] Johnson describes Lochbuy as 'a true Highland laird, rough and
haughty, and tenacious of his dignity: who, hearing my name, inquired
whether I was of the Johnstons of Glencoe (_sic_) or of Ardnamurchan.'
_Ib_.
[915] Boswell totally misapprehended _Lochbuy's_ meaning. There are two
septs of the powerful clan of M'Donaid, who are called Mac-Ian, that is
_John's-son_; and as Highlanders often translate their names when they
go to the Lowlands,--as Gregor-son for Mac-Gregor, Farquhar-son for
Mac-Farquhar,--_Lochbuy_ supposed that Dr. Johnson might be one of the
Mac-Ians of Ardnamurchan, or of Glencro. Boswell's explanation was
nothing to the purpose. The _Johnstons_ are a clan distinguished in
Scottish _border_ history, and as brave as any _Highland_ clan that ever
wore brogues; but they lay entirely out of _Lochbuy's_ knowledge--nor
was he thinking of _them_. WALTER SCOTT.
[916] This maxim, however, has been controverted. See Blackstone's
_Commentaries_, vol. ii. p. 291; and the authorities there quoted.
BOSWELL. 'Blackstone says:--From these loose authorities, which
Fitzherbert does not hesitate to reject as being contrary to reason, the
maxim that a man shall not stultify himself hath been handed down as
settled law; though later opinions, feeling the inconvenience of the
rule, have in many points endeavoured to restrain it.' _Ib_. p. 292.
[917] Begging pardon of the Doctor and his conductor, I have often seen
and partaken of cold sheep's head at as good breakfast-tables as ever
they sat at. This protest is something in the manner of the late
Culrossie, who fought a duel for the honour of Aberdeen butter. I have
passed over all the Doctor's other reproaches upon Scotland, but the
sheep's head I will defend _totis viribus_. Dr. Johnson himself must
have forgiven my zeal on this occasion; for if, as he says, _dinner_ be
the thing of which a man thinks _oftenest during the day, breakfast_
must be that of which he thinks _first in the morning_. WALTER SCOTT. I
do not know where Johnson says this. Perhaps Scott was thinking of a
passage in Mrs. Piozzi's _Anec_. p. 149, where she writes that he said:
'A man seldom thinks with more earnestness of any thing than he does of
his dinner.'
[918] A horrible place it was. Johnson describes it (_Works_, ix. 152)
as 'a deep subterraneous cavity, walled on the sides, and arched on the
top, into which the descent is through a narrow door, by a ladder or
a rope.'
[919] See _ante_, p. 177.
[920] Sir Allan M'Lean, like many Highland chiefs, was embarrassed in
his private affairs, and exposed to unpleasant solicitations from
attorneys, called, in Scotland, _writers_ (which indeed was the chief
motive of his retiring to Inchkenneth). Upon one occasion he made a
visit to a friend, then residing at Carron lodge, on the banks of the
Carron, where the banks of that river are studded with pretty villas:
Sir Allan, admiring the landscape, asked his friend, whom that handsome
seat belonged to. 'M---, the writer to the signet,' was the reply.
'Umph!' said Sir Allan, but not with an accent of assent, 'I mean that
other house.' 'Oh ! that belongs to a very honest fellow Jamie---, also
a writer to the signet.' 'Umph!' said the Highland chief of M'Lean with
more emphasis than before, 'And yon smaller house?' 'That belongs to a
Stirling man; I forget his name, but I am sure he is a writer too;
for---.' Sir Allan who had recoiled a quarter of a circle backward at
every response, now wheeled the circle entire and turned his back on the
landscape, saying, 'My good friend, I must own you have a pretty
situation here; but d--n your neighbourhood.' WALTER SCOTT.
[921] Loch Awe.
[922] 'Pope's talent lay remarkably in what one may naturally enough
term the condensation of thoughts. I think no other English poet ever
brought so much sense into the same number of lines with equal
smoothness, ease, and poetical beauty. Let him who doubts of this peruse
his _Essay on Man_ with attention.' Shenstone's _Essays on Men and
Manners. [Works_, 4th edit. ii. 159.] 'He [Gray] approved an observation
of Shenstone, that "Pope had the art of condensing a thought."'
Nicholls' _Reminiscences of Gray_, p. 37. And Swift [in his _Lines on
the death of Dr. Swift_], himself a great condenser, says--
'In Pope I cannot read a line
But with a sigh I wish it mine;
When he can in one couplet fix
More sense than I can do in six.'
P. CUNNINGHAM.
[923] He is described by Walpole in his _Letters_, viii. 5.
[924] 'The night came on while we had yet a great part of the way to go,
though not so dark but that we could discern the cataracts which poured
down the hills on one side, and fell into one general channel, that ran
with great violence on the other. The wind was loud, the rain was heavy,
and the whistling of the blast, the fall of the shower, the rush of the
cataracts, and the roar of the torrent, made a nobler chorus of the
rough musick of nature than it had ever been my chance to hear before.'
Johnson's _Works_, ix. 155. He wrote to Mrs. Thrale:--'All the rougher
powers of nature except thunder were in motion, but there was no danger.
I should have been sorry to have missed any of the inconveniencies, to
have had more light or less rain, for their co-operation crowded the
scene and filled the mind.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 177.
[925] I never tasted whiskey except once for experiment at the inn in
Inverary, when I thought it preferable to any English malt brandy. It
was strong, but not pungent, and was free from the empyreumatick taste
or smell. What was the process I had no opportunity of inquiring, nor do
I wish to improve the art of making poison pleasant.' Johnson's _Works_,
ix. 52. Smollett, medical man though he was, looked upon whisky as
anything but poison. 'I am told that it is given with great success to
infants, as a cordial in the confluent small-pox.' _Humphry Clinker_.
Letter of Sept. 3.
[926] _Regale_ in this sense is not in Johnson's _Dictionary_. It was,
however, a favourite word at this time. Thus, Mrs. Piozzi, in her
_Journey through France_, ii. 297, says:--'A large dish of hot chocolate
thickened with bread and cream is a common afternoon's regale here.'
Miss Burney often uses the word.
[927] Boswell, in answering Garrick's letter seven months later,
improved on this comparison. 'It was,' he writes, 'a pine-apple of the
finest flavour, which had a high zest indeed among the heath-covered
mountains of Scotia.' _Garrick Corres_. i. 621.
[928] See _ante_, p. 115.
[929] See _ante_, i. 97.
[930] 'Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane.' _Macbeth_, act v. sc.
8.
[931]
'From his first entrance to the closing scene
Let him one equal character maintain.'
FRANCIS. Horace, _Ars Poet._ l. 126.
[932] I took the liberty of giving this familiar appellation to my
celebrated friend, to bring in a more lively manner to his remembrance
the period when he was Dr. Johnson's pupil. BOSWELL.
[933] See _ante_, p. 129.
[934] Boswell is here quoting the Preface to the third edition of his
_Corsica_:--'Whatever clouds may overcast my days, I can now walk here
among the rocks and woods of my ancestors, with an agreeable
consciousness that I have done something worthy.'
[935] See _ante_, i. 148, and _post_, Nov. 21.
[936] I have suppressed my friend's name from an apprehension of
wounding his sensibility; but I would not withhold from my readers a
passage which shews Mr. Garrick's mode of writing as the Manager of a
Theatre, and contains a pleasing trait of his domestick life. His
judgment of dramatick pieces, so far as concerns their exhibition on the
stage, must be allowed to have considerable weight. But from the effect
which a perusal of the tragedy here condemned had upon myself, and from
the opinions of some eminent criticks, I venture to pronounce that it
has much poetical merit; and its authour has distinguished himself by
several performances which shew that the epithet _poetaster_ was, in the
present instance, much misapplied. BOSWELL. Johnson mentioned this
quarrel between Garrick and the poet on March 25, 1773 (_Piozzi
Letters_, i. 80). 'M---- is preparing a whole pamphlet against G----,
and G---- is, I suppose, collecting materials to confute M----.' M----
was Mickle, the translator of the _Lusiad_ and author of the _Ballad of
Cumnor Hall_ (_ante_, ii. 182). Had it not been for this 'poetaster,'
_Kenilworth_ might never have been written. Scott, in the preface, tells
how 'the first stanza of _Cunmor Hall_ had a peculiar species of
enchantment for his youthful ear, the force of which is not even now
entirely spent.' The play that was refused was the _Siege of
Marseilles_. Ever since the success of Hughes's _Siege of Damascus_ 'a
siege had become a popular title' (_ante_, iii. 259, note 1).
[937] She could only have been away for the day; for in 1776 Garrick
wrote:--'As I have not left Mrs. Garrick one day since we were married,
near twenty-eight years, I cannot now leave her.' _Garrick Corres_.
ii. 150.
[938] Dr. Morell once entered the school-room at Winchester College, 'in
which some junior boys were writing their exercises, one of whom, struck
no less with his air and manner than with the questions he put to them,
whispered to his school-fellows, "Is he not a fine old Grecian?" The
Doctor, overhearing this, turned hastily round and exclaimed, "I am
indeed an old Grecian, my little man. Did you never see my head before
my Thesaurus?"' The Praepostors, learning the dignity of their visitor,
in a most respectful manner showed him the College. Wooll's _Life of Dr.
Warton_, p. 329. Mason writing to Horace Walpole about some odes,
says:--'They are so lopped and mangled, that they are worse now than the
productions of Handel's poet, Dr. Morell.' Walpole's _Letters_, v. 420.
Morell compiled the words for Handel's _Oratorios_.
[939] _Ante_, i. 148.
[940] I doubt whether any other instance can be found of _love_ being
sent to Johnson.
[941] The passage begins:--'A _servant_ or two from a revering distance
cast many a wishful look, and condole their honoured master in the
language of sighs.' Hervey's _Meditations_, ed. 1748, i. 40.
[942] _Ib_. ii. 84.
[943] The _Meditation_ was perhaps partly suggested by Swift's
_Meditation upon a Broomstick_. Swift's _Works_ (1803), iii. 275.
[944] Thomas Burnet of the Charterhouse, in his _Sacred Theory of the
Earth_, ed. 1722, i. 85.
[945] See _ante_, i. 476, and ii. 73.
[946] Elizabeth Gunning, celebrated (like her sister, Lady Coventry) for
her personal charms, had been previously Duchess of Hamilton, and was
mother of Douglas, Duke of Hamilton, the competitor for the Douglas
property with the late Lord Douglas: she was, of course, prejudiced
against Boswell, who had shewn all the bustling importance of his
character in the Douglas cause, and it was said, I know not on what
authority, that he headed the mob which broke the windows of some of the
judges, and of Lord Auchinleck, his father, in particular. WALTER SCOTT.
See _ante_, ii. 50.
[947] See _ante_, i. 408, and ii. 329.
[948] She married the Earl of Derby, and was the great-grandmother of
the present Earl. Burke's _Peerage_.
[949] See _ante_, iv. 248.
[950] Lord Macaulay's grandfather, Trevelyan's _Macaulay_, i. 6.
[951] See _ante_, p. 118.
[952] On reflection, at the distance of several years, I wonder that my
venerable fellow-traveller should have read this passage without
censuring my levity. BOSWELL.
[953] _Ante_, p. 151.
[954] See _ante_, i. 240.
[955] As this book is now become very scarce, I shall subjoin the title,
which is curious:--The Doctrines of a Middle State between Death and
the Resurrection: Of Prayers for the Dead: And the Necessity of
Purification; plainly proved from the holy Scriptures, and the Writings
of the Fathers of the Primitive Church: and acknowledged by several
learned Fathers and Great Divines of the Church of England and others
since the Reformation. To which is added, an Appendix concerning the
Descent of the Soul of Christ into Hell, while his Body lay in the
Grave. Together with the Judgment of the Reverend Dr. Hickes concerning
this Book, so far as relates to a Middle State, particular Judgment, and
Prayers for the Dead as it appeared in the first Edition. 'And a
Manuscript of the Right Reverend Bishop Overall upon the Subject of a
Middle State, and never before printed. Also, a Preservative against
several of the Errors of the Roman Church, in six small Treatises. By
the Honourable Archibald Campbell. Folio, 1721. BOSWELL.
[956] The release gained for him by Lord Townshend must have been from
his last imprisonment after the accession of George I; for, as Mr.
Croker points out, Townshend was not Secretary of State till 1714.
[957] See _ante_, iv. 286.
[958] He was the grandson of the first Marquis, who was beheaded by
Charles II in 1661, and nephew of the ninth Earl, who was beheaded by
James II in 1685. Burke's _Peerage_. He died on June 15, 1744, according
to the _Gent. Mag._ xiv. 339; where he is described as 'the consecrated
Archbishop of St. Andrews.' See _ante_, ii. 216.
[959] George Hickes, 1642-1715. A non-juror, consecrated in 1693
suffragan bishop of Thetford by three of the deprived non-juror bishops.
Chalmers's _Biog. Dict._ xvii. 450. Burnet (_Hist. of his own Time_, iv.
303) describes him as 'an ill-tempered man, who was now [1712] at the
head of the Jacobite party, and who had in several books promoted a
notion, that there was a proper sacrifice made in the Eucharist.'
Boswell mentions him, _ante_, iv. 287.
[960] See _ante_, ii. 458.
[961] This must be a mistake for _He died_.
[962] 'It is generally supposed that life is longer in places where
there are few opportunities of luxury; but I found no instance here of
extraordinary longevity. A cottager grows old over his oaten cakes like
a citizen at a turtle feast. He is, indeed, seldom incommoded by
corpulence, Poverty preserves him from sinking under the burden of
himself, but he escapes no other injury of time.' Johnson's Works,
ix. 81.
[963] Lady Lucy Graham, daughter of the second Duke of Montrose, and
wife of Mr. Douglas, the successful claimant: she died in 1780, whence
Boswell calls her '_poor_ Lady Lucy.' CROKER
[964] Her first husband was the sixth Duke of Hamilton and Brandon. On
his death she refused the Duke of Bridgewater. She was the mother of
four dukes--two of Hamilton and two of Argyle. Her sister married the
Earl of Coventry. Walpole's _Letters_, ii. 259, note. Walpole, writing
on Oct. 9, 1791, says that their story was amazing. 'The two beautiful
sisters were going on the stage, when they were at once exalted almost
as high as they could be, were Countessed and double-Duchessed.' _Ib_.
ix. 358. Their maiden name was Gunning. The Duchess of Argyle was alive
when Boswell published his _Journal_.
[965] See _ante_, iv. 397, and v. 210. It was Lord Macaulay's
grandfather who was thus reprimanded. Mr. Trevelyan remarks (_Life of
Macaulay_, i. 7), 'When we think what well-known ground this [subject]
was to Lord Macaulay, it is impossible to suppress a wish that the great
talker had been at hand to avenge his grandfather.' The result might
well have been, however, that the great talker would have been reduced
to silence--one of those brilliant flashes of silence for which Sydney
Smith longed, but longed in vain.
[966] See _ante_, ii. 264, note 2.
[967] See _ante_, iv. 8, for his use of 'O brave!'
[968] Having mentioned, more than once, that my _Journal_ was perused by
Dr. Johnson, I think it proper to inform my readers that this is the
last paragraph which he read. BOSWELL. He began to read it on August 18
(_ante_, p. 58, note 2).
[969] See _ante_, ii. 320.
[970] Act i. sc. 1. The best known passage in _Douglas_ is the speech
beginning 'My name is Norval.' Act ii. The play affords a few quotations
more or less known, as:--
'I found myself
As women wish to be who love their lords.'
Act i.
'He seldom errs
Who thinks the worse he can of womankind.'
Act iii.
'Honour, sole judge and umpire of itself.'
Act iv.
'Unknown I die; no tongue shall speak of me.
Some noble spirits, judging by themselves,
May yet conjecture what I might have proved,
And think life only wanting to my fame.'
Act v.
'An honest guardian, arbitrator just
Be thou; thy station deem a sacred trust.
With thy good sword maintain thy country's cause;
In every action venerate its laws:
The lie suborn'd if falsely urg'd to swear,
Though torture wait thee, torture firmly bear;
To forfeit honour, think the highest shame,
And life too dearly bought by loss of fame;
Nor to preserve it, with thy virtue give
That for which only man should wish to live.'
[_Satires_, viii. 79.]
For this and the other translations to which no signature is affixed, I
am indebted to the friend whose observations are mentioned in the notes,
pp. 78 and 399. BOSWELL. Sir Walter Scott says, 'probably Dr. Hugh
Blair.' I have little doubt that it was Malone. 'One of the best
criticks of our age,' Boswell calls this friend in the other two
passages. This was a compliment Boswell was likely to pay to Malone, to
whom he dedicated this book. Malone was a versifier. See Prior's
_Malone_, p. 463.
[971] I am sorry that I was unlucky in my quotation. But notwithstanding
the acuteness of Dr. Johnson's criticism, and the power of his ridicule,
_The Tragedy of Douglas_ sill continues to be generally and deservedly
admired. BOSWELL. Johnson's scorn was no doubt returned, for Dr. A.
Carlyle (_Auto._ p. 295) says of Home:--'as John all his life had a
thorough contempt for such as neglected his poetry, he treated all who
approved of his works with a partiality which more than approached to
flattery.' Carlyle tells (pp. 301-305) how Home started for London with
his tragedy in one pocket of his great coat and his clean shirt and
night-cap in the other, escorted on setting out by six or seven Merse
ministers. 'Garrick, after reading his play, returned it as totally
unfit for the stage.' It was brought out first in Edinburgh, and in the
year 1757 in Covent Garden, where it had great success. 'This tragedy,'
wrote Carlyle forty-five years later, 'still maintains its ground, has
been more frequently acted, and is more popular than any tragedy in the
English language.' _Ib._ p. 325. Hannah More recorded in 1786
(_Memoirs_, ii. 22), 'I had a quarrel with Lord Monboddo one night
lately. He said _Douglas_ was a better play than Shakespeare could have
written. He was angry and I was pert. Lord Mulgrave sat spiriting me up,
but kept out of the scrape himself, and Lord Stormont seemed to enjoy
the debate, but was shabby enough not to help me out.'
[972] See _ante_, ii. 230, note 1.
[973] See _ante_, p. 318.
[974] See _ante_, iii. 54
[975] See _ante_, p. 356.
[976] See _ante_, iii. 241, note 2.
[977] As a remarkable instance of his negligence, I remember some years
ago to have found lying loose in his study, and without the cover, which
contained the address, a letter to him from Lord Thurlow, to whom he had
made an application as Chancellor, in behalf of a poor literary friend.
It was expressed in such terms of respect for Dr. Johnson, that, in my
zeal for his reputation, I remonstrated warmly with him on his strange
inattention, and obtained his permission to take a copy of it; by which
probably it has been preserved, as the original I have reason to suppose
is lost. BOSWELL. See _ante_, iii. 441.