1776. Etat. 67. countryman, Dr. Butter, then phyfician there. He was in great indignation because Lord Mountftuart's bill for a Scotch militia had been loft. Dr. Johnson was as violent against it. "I am glad, (said he,) that Parliament has had the spirit to throw it out. You wanted to take advantage of the timidity of our fcoundrels +," (meaning, I fuppofe, the ministry). It may be obferved, that he used the epithet fcoundrel very commonly, not quite in the sense in which it is generally understood, but as a strong term of disapprobation; as when he abruptly answered Mrs. Thrale, who had afked him how he did, "Ready to become a fcoundrel, Madam; with a little more spoiling you will, I think, make me a complete rafcal:"-he meant, eafy to become a capricious and felf-indulgent valetudinarian; a character for which I have heard him exprefs great disgust. Johnson had with him upon this jaunt, "Il Palermino d'Inghilterra," a romancé praised by Cervantes; but did not like it much. He faid, he read it for the language, by way of preparation for his Italian expedition.-We lay this night at Loughborough. " On Thursday, March 28, we purfued our journey. I mentioned that old Mr. Sheridan complained of the ingratitude of Mr. Wedderburne and General Fraser, who had been much obliged to him when they were young Scotchmen entering upon life in England. JOHNSON. Why, Sir, a man is very apt to complain of the ingratitude of thofe who have rifen far above him. A man when he gets into a higher sphere, into other habits of life, cannot keep up all his former connections. Then, Sir, those who knew him formerly upon a level with themselves, may think that they ought ftill to be treated as on a level, which cannot be; and an acquaintance in a former fituation may bring out things which it would be very difagreeable to have mentioned before higher company, though, perhaps, every body knows of them." He placed this fubject in a new light to me, and fhewed that a man, who has risen in the world, muft not be condemned too harshly, for being diftant to former acquaintance, even though he may have been much obliged to them. It is, no doubt, to be wished that a proper degree of attention fhould be shewn by great men to their early friends. But if either from obtufe insensibility to difference of fituation, or prefumptuous forwardnefs, which will not submit even to an exteriour obfervance of it, the dignity of high place cannot be preferved, when they are admitted into the company of thofe railed above the state in which they once were, encroachment must be repeiled, and 5 Anecdotes of Johnfon, p. 176. 4 See page 17. the the kinder feelings facrificed. To one of the very fortunate perfons whom I have mentioned, namely, Mr. Wedderburne, now Lord Loughborough, must do the juftice to relate, that I have been affured by another early acquaintance of his, old Mr. Macklin, who affifted him in improving his pronunciation, that he had found him very grateful. Macklin, I fuppofe, had not preffed upon his elevation with fo much eagerness as the gentleman who complained of him. Dr. Johnson's remark as to the jealousy entertained of our friends who rife far above us, is certainly very juft. By this was withered. the early friendship between Charles Townshend and Akenfide; and many fimilar instances might be adduced. He said, "It is commonly a weak man who marries for love." We then talked of marrying women of fortune; and I mentioned a common remark, that a man may be, upon the whole, richer by marrying a woman with a very small portion, because a woman of fortune will be proportionally expenfive; whereas a woman who brings none will be very moderate in expences. JOHNSON. "Depend upon it, Sir, this is not true. A woman of fortune being used to the handling of money, fpends it judiciously: but a woman' who gets the command of money for the first time upon her marriage, has fuch a gust in spending it, that the throws it away with great profufion." she He praised the ladies of the prefent age, infifting that they were more faithful to their husbands, and more virtuous in every refpect, than in former times, because their understandings were better cultivated. It was an undoubted proof of his good fenfe and good difpofition, that he was never querulous, never prone to inveigh against the present times, as is so common when superficial minds are on the fret. On the contrary, he was willing to speak favourably of his own age; and, indeed, maintained its fuperiority in every respect, except in its reverence for government; the relaxation of which he imputed, as its grand caufe, to the fhock which our monarchy received at the Revolution, though neceffary; and secondly, to the timid conceffions made to faction by fucceffive adminiftrations in the reign of his prefent Majefty. I am happy to think, that he lived to fee the Crown at last recover its just influence. At Leicester we read in the newspapers that Dr. James was dead. I thought that the death of an old school-fellow, and one with whom he had lived a good deal in London, would have affected my fellow-traveller much: but he only faid, "Ah! poor Jamy." Afterwards, however, when we were in the chaise, he faid, with more tenderness, "Since I fet out on this jaunt, I have lost an old friend and a young one;-Dr. James, and poor Harry," (meaning Mr. Thrale's fon). Having 1776. Etat. 67. Having lain at St. Alban's on Thursday, March 28, we breakfasted the next morning at Barnet. I expreffed to him a weakness of mind which I could not help; an uneafy apprehenfion that my wife and children, who were at a great distance from me, might, perhaps, be ill. "Sir, (faid he,) confider how foolish you should think it in them to be apprehenfive that you are ill.” This fudden turn relieved me for the moment; but I afterwards perceived it to be an ingenious fallacy. I might, to be fure, be fatisfied that they had no reafon to be apprehenfive about me, because I knew that I myself was well: but we might have a mutual anxiety, without the charge of folly; because each was, in fome degree, uncertain as to the condition of the other. I enjoyed the luxury of our approach to London, that metropolis which we both loved fo much, for the high and varied intellectual pleasure which it furnishes. I experienced immediate happiness while whirled along with fuch a companion, and said to him, "Sir, you observed one day at General Oglethorpe's, that a man is never happy for the prefent, but when he is drunk. Will you not add,—or when driving rapidly in a poft-chaife?" JOHNSON. No, Sir, you are driving rapidly from fomething, or to fomething." Talking of melancholy, he faid, "Some men, and very thinking men too, have not those vexing thoughts. Sir Joshua Reynolds is the fame all the year round. Beauclerk, except when ill and in pain, is the fame. But I believe most men have them in the degree in which they are capable of having them. If I were in the country, and were diftreffed by that malady, I would force myself to take a book; and every time I did it I fhould find it the easier. Melancholy, indeed, fhould be diverted by every means but drinking." We stopped at Meffieurs Dillys, booksellers in the Poultry; from whence he hurried away, in a hackney coach, to Mr. Thrale's in the Borough. I called at his house in the evening, having promised to acquaint Mrs. Williams of his fafe return; when, to my furprize, I found him fitting with her at tea, and, as I thought, not in a very good humour: for, it feems, when he got to Mr. Thrale's, he found the coach was at the door waiting to carry Mrs. and Miss Thrale, and Signor Baretti their Italian master, to Bath. This was not shewing the attention which might have been expected to the "Guide, Philofopher, and Friend," the Imlack who had haftened from the country to confole a diftreffed mother, who he understood was very anxious for his return. They had, I found, without ceremony, proceeded on their intended journey. I was glad to understand from him that it was still refolved that his tour to Italy with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale fhould take place, of which he had entertained some doubt, on account of the lofs which they had fuffered; and his doubts afterwards proved to be well-founded. He obferved, indeed very 1776. juftly, that "their lofs was an additional reason for their going abroad; and Etat. 67. if it had not been fixed that he fhould have been one of the party, he would force them out; but he would not advise them unless his advice was asked, left they might fufpect that he recommended what he wifhed on his own account." I was not pleafed that his intimacy with Mr. Thrale's family, though it no doubt contributed much to his comfort and enjoyment, was not without fome degree of restraint. Not, as has been grofsly suggested, that it was required of him as a talk to talk for the entertainment of them and their company; but that he was not quite at his ease; which, however, might partly be owing to his own honeft pride-that dignity of mind which is always jealous of appearing too compliant. On Sunday, March 31, I called on him, and fhewed him as a curiosity which I had discovered, his "Translation of Lobo's Account of Abyffinia,” which Sir John Pringle had lent me, it being then little known as one of his works. He faid, "Take no notice of it, or don't talk of it." He feemed to think it beneath him, though done at fix-and-twenty. I faid to him, "Your ftyle, Sir, is much improved fince you tranflated this." He answeredwith a fort of triumphant finile, "Sir, I hope it is." On Wednesday, April 3, in the forenoon, I found him very bufy putting his books in order, and as they were generally very old ones, clouds of duft were flying around him. He had on a pair of large gloves, fuch as hedgers ufe. His prefent appearance put me in mind of my uncle, Dr. Bofwell's defcription of him, of him, “A robust genius, born to grapple with whole libraries." I gave him an account of a converfation which had paffed between me and Captain Cook, the day before at dinner at Sir John Pringle's, and he was much pleased with the confcientious accuracy of that celebrated circumnavigator, who fet me right as to many of the exaggerated accounts given by Dr. Hawkesworth of his Voyages. I told him that while I was with the Captain, I catched the enthusiasm of curiofity and adventure, and felt a ftrong inclination to go with him on his next voyage. JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, a man does feel fo, till he confiders how very little he can learn from fuch voyages." BOSWELL. "But one is carried away with the general grand and indiftinct notion of A VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD." JOHNSON. "Yes, Sir, but a man is to guard himself against taking a thing in general." I faid I was certain that a great part of what we are told by the travellers to the South Sea must be conjecture, becaufe, they had not enough of the language 1776. language of thofe countries to understand fo much as they have related. Atat. 67. Objects falling under the obfervation of the fenfes might be clearly known; but every thing intellectual, every thing abftract-politicks, morals, and religion, must be darkly gueffed. Dr. Johnfon was of the fame opinion. He upon another occafion, when a friend mentioned to him feveral extraordinary facts, as communicated to him by the circumnavigators, flily obferved, "Sir, I never before knew how much I was refpected by these gentlemen; they told me none of these things." He had been in company with Omai, a native of one of the South Sea iflands, after he had been fome time in this country. He was struck with the elegance of his behaviour, and accounted for it thus: "Sir, he had paffed his time, while in England, only in the beft company; fo that all that he had acquired of our manners was genteel. As a proof of this, Sir, Lord Mulgrave and he dined one day at Streatham; they fat with their backs to the light fronting me, fo that I could not fee diftinctly; and there was fo little of the favage in Omai, that I was afraid to speak to either, left I should mistake one for the other." We agreed to dine to-day at the Mitre-tavern, after the rifing of the House of Lords, where a branch of the litigation concerning the Douglas eftate, in which I was one of the counfel, was to come on. I brought with me Mr. Murray, Solicitor-General of Scotland, now one of the Judges of the Court of Seffion, with the title of Lord Henderland. I mentioned Mr. Solicitor's relation, Lord Charles Hay, with whom I knew Dr. Johnson had been acquainted. JOHNSON. "I wrote fomething for Lord Charles; and I thought he had nothing to fear from a court-martial. I fuffered a great lofs when he died; he was a mighty pleafing man in converfation, and a reading man. The character of a foldier is high. They who ftand forth the foremost in danger, for the community, have the refpect of mankind. An officer is much more refpected than any other man who has as little money. In a commercial country money will always purchase refpect. But you find,. an officer, who has properly speaking, no money, is every where well received and treated with attention. The character of a foldier always stands him in ftead." BOSWELL. "Yet, Sir, I think that common foldiers are worse thought of than other men in the fame rank of life; fuch as labourers." JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, a common foldier is ufually a very grofs man, and any quality which procures refpect may be overwhelmed by groffnefs. A man of learning may be fo vicious or fo ridiculous that you cannot refpect him. A common foldier too, generally eats more than he can pay for. But when a common foldier is civil in his quarters, his red coat procures him a degree of respect." |