Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

The peculiar respect paid to the military character in France was mentioned. BOSWELL. "I should think that where military men are fo numerous, they would be lefs valued as not being rare." JOHNSON. "Nay, Sir, wherever a particular character or profeffion is high in the estimation of a people, those who are of it will be valued above other men. We value an Englishman highly in this country, and yet Englishmen are not rare in it."

Mr. Murray praised the ancient philofophers for the candour and good humour with which thofe of different fects difputed with each other. JOHNSON. "Sir, they difputed with good humour, because they were not in earnest as to religion. Had the ancients been serious in their belief, we should not have had their Gods exhibited in the manner we find them reprefented in the Poets. The people would not have fuffered it. They difputed with good humour upon their fanciful theories, because they were not interested in the truth of them. When a man has nothing to lofe, he may be in good humour with his opponent. Accordingly you fee in Lucian, the Epicurean, who argues only negatively, keeps his temper; the Stoick, who has fomething pofitive to preserve, grows angry. Being angry with one who controverts an opinion which you value, is a neceffary confequence of the uneafinefs which you feel. Every man who attacks my belief, diminishes in fome degree my confidence in it, and therefore makes me uneafy, and I am angry with him who makes me uneafy. Thofe only who believed in Revelation have been angry at having their faith called in question; because they only had fomething upon which they could reft as matter of fact." MURRAY. "It feems to me that we are not angry at a man for controverting an opinion which we believe and value; we rather pity him." JOHNSON. "Why, Sir; to be fure when you wish a man to have that belief which you think is of infinite advantage, you wish well to him; but your primary confideration is your own quiet. If a madman were to come into this room with a ftick in his hand, no doubt we should pity the state of his mind; but our primary confideration would be to take care of ourselves. We fhould knock him down first, and pity him afterwards. No, Sir; every man will difpute with great good humour upon a subject in which he is not interested. I will difpute very calmly upon the probability of another man's fon being hanged, but if a man zealously enforces the probability that my own fon will be hanged, I fhall certainly not be in very good humour with him." I added this illuftration, "If a man endeavours to convince me that my wife, whom I love very much, and in whom I have great confidence, is a difagreeable woman, and is even unfaithful to me, I fhall be very angry, for he is putting me in fear of being unhappy." MURRAY. "But, Sir, truth will always bear an

VOL. II.

H

examination."

1776.

tat. 67.

1776.

Ætat. 67.

examination." JOHNSON. "Yes, Sir, but it is painful to be forced to defend it. Confider, Sir, how should you like, though conscious of your innocence, to be tried before a jury for a capital crime, once a week.”

We talked of education at great schools, the advantages and disadvantages of which Johnson difplayed in a luminous manner; but his arguments. preponderated fo much in favour of the benefit which a boy of good parts might receive at one of them, that I have reason to believe Mr. Murray was very much influenced by what he had heard to-day, in his determination to fend his own fon to Westminster school.

I introduced the topick, which is often ignorantly urged, that the Universities of England are too rich, fo that learning does not flourish in them as it would do, if those who teach had fmaller falaries, and depended on their affiduity for a great part of their income. JOHNSON. "Sir, the very reverse of this is the truth; the English Univerfities are not rich enough. Our fellowships are only fufficient to fupport a man during his ftudies to fit him for the world, and accordingly in general they are held no longer than till an opportunity offers of getting away. Now and then, perhaps, there is a fellow who grows old in his college; but this is against his will, unless he be a man very indolent indeed. A hundred a year is reckoned a good fellowship, and that is no more than is neceffary to keep a man decently as a scholar. We do not allow our fellows to marry, because we consider academical institutions as preparatory to a fettlement in the world. It is only by being employed as a tutor, that a fellow can obtain any thing more than a livelihood. To be fure a man, who has enough without teaching, will probably not teach; for we would all be idle if we could. In the fame manner, a man who is to get nothing by teaching, will not exert himself. GrelhamCollege was intended as a place of inftruction for London; able Professors were to read lectures gratis, they contrived to have no scholars; whereas, if they had been allowed to receive but fix-pence a lecture from each scholar, they would have been emulous to have had many scholars. Every body will agree that it fhould be the intereft of those who teach to have fcholars; and this is the cafe in our Universities. That they are too rich is certainly not true; for they have nothing good enough to keep a man of eminent learning with them for his life. In the foreign Universities a profefforfhip is a high thing. It is as much almost as a man can make by his learning; and therefore we find the most learned men abroad are in the Universities. It is not fo with us. Our Uiversities are impoverished of learning, by the penury of their provifions. I wish there were many places of a thousand a-year at Oxford, to keep first rate men of learning from quitting the University." Undoubtedly,

if this were the cafe, Literature would have a ftill greater dignity and fplendour at Oxford, and there would be grander living fources of inftruction.

I mentioned Mr. Maclaurin's uneafinefs on account of a degree of ridicule carelessly thrown on his deceased father, in Goldsmith's " Hiftory of Animated Nature," in which that celebrated mathematician is reprefented as being subject to fits of yawning fo violent as to render him incapable of proceeding in his lecture; a story altogether unfounded, but for the publication of which the law would give no reparation. This led us to agitate the queftion, whether legal redress could be obtained, even when a man's deceased relation was calumniated in a publication. Mr. Murray maintained there fhould be reparation, unless the authour could justify himself by proving the fact. JOHNSON. "Sir, it is of fo much more confequence that truth fhould be told, than that individuals should not be made uneasy, that it is much better that the law does not restrain writing freely concerning the characters of the dead. Damages will be given to a man who is calumniated in his life-time, because he may be hurt in his worldly intereft, or at least hurt in his mind: but the law does not regard that uneasiness which a man feels on having his ancestor calumniated. That is too nice. Let him deny what is faid, and let the matter have a fair chance by difcuffion. But, if a man could fay nothing against a character but what he can prove, history could not be written; for a great deal is known of men of which proof cannot be brought. A minister may be notoriously known to take bribes, and yet you may not be able to prove it." Mr. Murray suggested, that the authour should be obliged to fhew some sort of evidence, though he would not require a ftrict legal proof: but Johnson firmly and resolutely opposed any restraint whatever, as adverse to a free investigation of the characters of mankind".

On

• Dr. Goldsmith was dead before Mr. Maclaurin difcovered the ludicrous errour. But Mr. Nourse, the bookfeller, who was the proprietor of the work, upon being applied to by Sir John Pringle, agreed very handfomely to have the leaf on which it was contained cancelled, and re-printed without it, at his own expence.

7 What Dr. Johnson has here faid, is undoubtedly good fenfe; yet I am afraid that law, though defined by Lord Coke the perfection of reafon," is not altogether with him; for it is held in the books, that an attack on the reputation even of a dead man, may be punished as a libel, because tending to a breach of the peace. There is however, I believe, no modern decided cafe to that effect. In the King's Bench, Trinity Term, 1790, the queftion occurred on occafion of an indictment, The King v. Topham, who, as a proprietor of a newspaper entitled "THE WORLD," was found guilty of a libel against Earl Cowper, deceased, because certain injurious charges against his Lordship were published in that paper. One of the counfei for Mr. Topham, my friend Mr. Conft, who is very able to maintain the argument with learning and ingenuity, informs me that it

[blocks in formation]

1776.

Etat. 67.

[ocr errors]

1776.

Atat. 67.

On Thursday, April 4, having called on Dr. Johnson, I said, it was a pity that truth was not fo firm as to bid defiance to all attacks, fo that it might be fhot at as much as people chose to attempt, and yet remain unhurt. JOHNSON. "Then, Sir, it would not be fhot at. Nobody attempts to dispute that two and two make four: but with contests concerning moral truth, human paffions are generally mixed, and therefore it muft ever be liable to affault and mifrepresentation."

On Friday, April 5, being Good-Friday, after having attended the morning fervice at St. Clement's church, I walked home with Johnson. We talked of the Roman Catholick religion. JOHNSON. "In the barbarous ages, Sir, priests and people were equally deceived; but afterwards there were grofs corruptions introduced by the clergy, fuch as indulgences to priests to have concubines, and the worship of images, not, indeed, inculcated, but knowingly permitted." He strongly cenfured the licensed stews at Rome. BoSWELL. "So then, Sir, you would allow of no irregular intercourse whatever between the fexes?" JOHNSON. "To be fure I would not, Sir. I would punish it much more than is done, and fo reftrain it. In all countries there has been fornication, as in all countries there has been theft; but there may be more or lefs of the one, as well as of the other, in proportion to the force of law. All men will naturally commit fornication, as all men will naturally fteal. And, Sir, it is very abfurd to argue, as has been often done, that prostitutes are necessary to prevent the violent effects of appetite from violating the decent order of life; nay, fhould be permitted, in order to preserve the chastity of our wives and daughters. Depend upon it, Sir, fevere laws, fteadily enforced, would be fufficient against thofe evils, and would promote marriage."

I ftated to him this cafe:-" Suppofe a man has a daughter who he knows has been feduced, but her misfortune is concealed from the world: fhould he keep her in his house? Would he not, by doing so, be acceffary to imposition? And, perhaps, a worthy unfufpecting man might come and marry this woman, unless the father inform him of the truth." JOHNSON. "Sir, he is acceffary to no impofition. His daughter is in his houfe; and if a man courts her, he takes his chance. If a friend, or, indeed, if any man asks his opinion whether he should marry her, he ought to advise him against it, without telling why, becaufe his real opinion is then required. Or, if he has other

is intended to move in arreft of judgement; fo that we shall probably have a folemn determination, upon a point of univerfal importance. No man has a higher reverence for the law of England in general than I have; but, with all deference I cannot help thinking, that profecution by indict ́ment, if a defendant is never to be allowed to justify, must often be very oppreffive, unless Juries, who I am more and more confirmed in holding to be judges of law as well as of fact, interpofe.

daughters

daughters who know of her frailty, he ought not to keep her in his houfe. You are to confider the ftate of life is this; we are to judge of one another's characters as well as we can; and a man is not bound, in honefty or honour, to tell us the faults of his daughter or of himself. A man who has debauched his friend's daughter is not obliged to fay to every body- Take care of me don't let me into your houfes without fufpicion. I once debauched a friend's daughter: I may debauch yours.”

Mr. Thrale called upon him, and appeared to bear the lofs of his fon with a manly compofure. There was no affectation about him; and he talked, as ufual, upon indifferent fubjects. He feemed to me to hefitate as to the intended Italian tour, on which, I flattered myself, he and Mrs. Thrale and Dr. Johnson were foon to fet out; and, therefore, I preffed it as much as I could. I mentioned that Mr. Beauclerk had' faid, that Baretti, whom they were to carry with them, would keep them fo long in the little towns of his own diftrict, that they would not have time to fee Rome. I mentioned this, to put them on their guard. JOHNSON. "Sir, we do not thank Mr. Beauclerk for fuppofing that we are to be directed by Baretti. No, Sir; Mr. Thrale is to go, by my advice, to Mr. Jackfon, (the all-knowing,) and get from him a plan for feeing the moft that can be feen in the time that we have to travel. We must, to be sure, fee Rome, Naples, Florence, and Venice, and as much more as we can," (fpeaking with a tone of animation).

When I expreffed an earnest wish for his remarks on Italy, he faid, "I do not fee that I could make a book upon Italy; yet I fhould be glad to get two hundred pounds, or five hundred pounds by fuch a work. This fhewed both that a journal of his Tour upon the Continent was not wholly out of his contemplation, and that he uniformly adhered to that strange opinion, which his indolent difpofition made him utter: "No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money." Numerous inftances to refute this will occur to all who are verfed in the hiftory of literature.

He gave us one of the many sketches of character which were treasured in his mind, and which he was wont to produce quite unexpectedly in a very entertaining manner. "I lately (faid he,) received a letter from the Eaft-Indies, from a gentleman whom I formerly knew very well; he had returned from that country with a handsome fortune, as it was reckoned, before means were found to acquire thofe immenfe fums which have been brought from thence of late; he was a fcholar, and an agreeable man, and lived very prettily in London, till his wife died. After her death, he took to diffipation and gaming, and lost all he had. One evening he loft a thousand pounds to a gentleman whose name I am forry I have forgotten. Next morning he fent the gentleman 6

five

1776.

tat. 67.

« AnteriorContinua »