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I apologised by saying I had mentioned him as an instance of one who wanted as little as any man in the world, and yet, perhaps, might receive some additional lustre from

dress.

Having left Ashbourne in the evening, we stopped to change horses at Derby, and availed ourselves of a moment to enjoy the conversation of my countryman, Dr. But ter, then physician there. He was in great indignation because Lord Mountstuart's bill for a Scotch militia had been lost. 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 scoundrels" (meaning, I suppose, the ministry). It may be observed, that he used the epithet scoundrel, 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 asked him how he did, "Ready to become a scoundrel, madam; with a little more spoiling you will, I think, make me a complete rascal 2; " he meant, easy to become a capricious and self-indul gent valetudinarian 3; a character for which I have heard him express great disgust; [particularly when it connected itself in his mind with intellectual apathy.] [Nothing more certainly Piozzi, offended Dr. Johnson than the idea of a man's mental faculties decaying by time. It is not true; sir,' would he say: 'what a man could once do, he would always do, unless, indeed, by dint of vicious indolence, and compliance with the nephews and nieces who crowd round an old fellow, and help to tuck him in, till he, contented with the exchange of fame for ease, e'en resolves to let them set the pillows at his back, and gives no farther proof of his existence than just to suck the jelly that prolongs it.""]

ED.

p. 152.

Johnson had with him upon this jaunt "Il Palmerino d'Inghilterra," a romance praised by Cervantes; but did not like it much. He said, 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 pursued our journey. I mentioned that old Mr.

["It is so very difficult," he said, on another occasion, to Mrs. Piozzi, "for a sick man not to be a scoundrel." may be here observed, that scoundrel seems to have been a favourite word of his. In his Dictionary, he defined knave, a scoundrel; loon, a scoundrel; lout, a scoundrel; poltroon, a scoundrel; sneakup, a scoundrel; rascal, a scoundrel; and scoundrel itself he defines a mean rascal; a low petty villain.-ED.] 2 Anecdotes, p. 176.-BoswELL. [See post, 16th Sept. 1777.-ED.] 7

VOL. II.

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 those who have risen far above him. A man, when he gets into a higher sphere, into other habits of life, cannot keep up all his former connexions. Then, sir, those who knew him formerly upon a level with themselves may think that they ought still to be treated as on a level, which cannot be: and an acquaintance in a former situation may bring out things which it would be very disagreeable to have mentioned before higher company, though, perhaps, every body knows of them." He placed this subject in a new light to me, and showed, that a man who has risen in the world must not be condemned too harshly, for being distant 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 should be shown by great men to their early friends. But if either from obtuse insensibility to difference of situation, or presumptuous forwardness, which will not submit even to an exteriour observance of it, the dignity of high place cannot be preserved; when they are admitted into the company of those raised above the state in which they once were, encroachment must be repelled, and the kinder feelings sacrificed. To one of the very fortunate persons whom I have mentioned, namely, Mr Wedderburne, now Lord Loughborough, I must do the justice to relate, that I have been assured by another early acquaintance of his, old Mr. Macklin, who assisted in improving his pronunciation, that he found him very grateful. Macklin, I sup pose, had not pressed upon his elevation with so much eagerness as the gentleman who complained of him. Dr. Johnson's remark as to the jealousy entertained of our friends who rise far above us is certainly very just. By this was withered the early friendship between Charles Townshend and Akenside 4; and many similar 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 men-. tioned a common remark, that a man may

4 [This is no inappropriate instance. Charles Townshend the nephew [grandnephew] of the prime minister-the son [grandson] of a peer, who was secretary of state, and leader of the house of lords-was as much above Akenside in their earliest days, as at any subsequent period; nor was Akenside in rank inferior to Dr. Brock lesby, with whom Charles Townshend continued in intimate friendship to the end of his life.-ED.).

be, upon the whole, richer by marrying a woman with a very small portion, because a woman of fortune will be proportionably expensive; whereas a woman who brings none will be very moderate in expenses. JOHNSON.. "Depend upon it, sir, this is not true. A woman of fortune being used to the handling of money, spends it judiciously; but a woman who gets the command of money for the first time upon her marriage, has such a gust in spending it, that she throws it away with great profusion."

satisfied that they had no reason to be ap prehensive 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 some degree, uncer tain as to the condition of the other.

I enjoyed the luxury of our approach to London, that metropolis which we both lov ed so much, for the high and varied intellectual pleasure which it furnishes. I experienced immediate happiness while whirled along with such a companion, and said to him, "Sir, you observed one day at General Oglethorpe's, that a man is never happy for the present, but when he is drunk Will you not add-or when driving rapidly in a post-chaise?" JOHNSON. "No, sir, you are driving rapidly from something, or to something."

ED

[Yet it was but a week before (21st March) that he had said that life had few things better than driving rapidly in a post-chaise 3." This is an instance of the justice of Mrs. Piozzi's observation,]

He praised the ladies of the present age, insisting that they were more faithful to their husbands, and more virtuous in every respect, than in former times, because their understandings were better cultivated. It was an undoubted proof of his good sense and good disposition, 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 maintain-["That it was unlucky for those who Piozzi, ed its superiority in every respect, except in its reverence for government; the relaxation of which he imputed, as its grand cause, to the shock which our monarchy received at the revolution, though necessary; and, secondly, to the timid concessions made to faction by successive administrations in the reign of his present majesty. I am happy to think, that he lived to see the crown at last recover its just influence

At Leicester we read in the newspaper that Dr. James was dead 1. I thought that the death of an old schoolfellow, and one with whom he had lived a good deal in London, would have affected my fellow-traveller much: but he only said, "Ah! poor Jamy!" Afterwards, however, when we were in the chaise, he said, with more tenderness, "Since I set out on this jaunt, 1 have lost an old friend and a young one; Dr. James, and poor Harry" (meaning Mr. Thrale's son).

Having lain at St. Alban's on Thursday, March 28, we breakfasted the next morning at Barnet, I expressed to him a weakness of mind which I could not help; an uneasy apprehension that my wife and children, who were at a great distance from me, might, perhaps, be ill. "Sir," said he, "consider how foolish you would think it in them to be apprehensive that you are ill," This sudden turn relieved me for the moment; but I afterwards perceived it to be an ingenious fallacy 2. I might, to be sure, he

delighted to echo Johnson's senti- p. 201. ments, that he would not endure from them to-day what he had yesterday, by his own manner of treating the subject, made them fond of repeating 4."]

Talking of melancholy, he said, "Some men, and very thinking men too, have not those vexing thoughts 5. Sir Joshua Rey nolds is the same all the year round. Beau clerk, except when ill and in pain, is the same. But I believe most men have them

imaginary and delusive; and hence has a rational ground for supposing that his own apprehensions, concerning his absent wife or friend, are equally

unfounded.-MALONE.

3 [See also post, 19th September, 1777.ED.]

Menage attributes to the celebrated Duke de 4 [See post, 1st April, 1781, a similar instance. Montausier (the Misanthrope of Moliere) a like disposition, and gives an amusing instance.-Menagiana, vol. iii. p. 91.-ED.]

The phrase "vexing thoughts," is, I think, very expressive. It has been familiar to me from my childhood; for it is to be found in the Psalms in Metre," used in the churches (I believe I should say kirks) of Scotland, Psal. xliii v. 5.

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"Why art thou then cast down, my soul'
What should discourage thee?
And why with vexing thoughts art thou
Disquieted in me?"

Some allowance must no doubt be made for early prepossession. But at a maturer period of life, after looking at various metrical versions of the [Dr. James died 23d March, 1776 -ED.] Psalms, I am well satisfied that the version used Surely it is no fallacy, but a sound and rational in Scotland is, upon the whole, the best; and that argument. He who is perfectly well, and appre-it is vain to think of having a better. It has in hensive concerning the state of another at a dis-general a simplicity and unction of sacred poesy tance from him, knows to a certainty that the and in many parts its transfusion is admirable.fears of that person concerning his health are BOSWELL.

1

in the degree in which they are capable of having them. If I were in the country, and were distressed by that malady, I would force myself to take a book; and every time I did it I should find it the easier. Melancholy, indeed, should be diverted by every means but drinking.”

On Wednesday, April 3, in the morning, I found him very busy putting his books in order, and, as they were generally very old ones, clouds of dust were flying around him. He had on a pair of large gloves, such as hedgers use. His present appearance put me in mind of my uncle Dr. Boswell's description of him, "A robust genius, born to grapple with whole libraries."

I gave him an account of a conversation which had passed between me and Captain Cook, the day before, at dinner at Sir John Pringle's; and he was much pleased with the conscientious accuracy of that celebrated circumnavigator, who set 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 curiosity and adventure, and felt a strong inclination to go with him on his next voyage. JOHNSON. "Why, sir, a man does feel so, till he considers how very little he can learn from such voyages." BOSWELL. "But one is

discovered, his " Translation of Lobo's Account of Abyssinia," which Sir John Pringle had lent me, it being then little known as one of his works. He said, "Take no notice of it," or Don't talk of it." He seemed to think it beneath him, though done at six-and-twenty. I said to him, "Your We stopped at Messieurs Dillys, book- style, sir, is much improved since you transsellers in the Poultry; from whence he hur-lated this." He answered, with a sort of ried away, in a hackney coach, to Mr. triumphant smile, "Sir, I hope it is." Thrale's in the Borough. I called at his house in the 'evening, having promised to acquaint Mrs. Williams of his safe return; when, to my surprise, I found him sitting with her at tea, and, as I thought, not in a very good humour: for, it seems, when he had 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 showing the attention 1 which might have been expected to the "guide, philosopher, and friend; " the Imlac who had hastened from the country to console a distressed mother, who, he understood, was very anxious for his return. They had, I found, without ceremony, proceeded on their journey. I was glad to understand from him that it was still resolved that his tour to Italy with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale should take place, of which he had entertained some doubt, on account of the loss which they had suffered; and his doubts afterwards appeared to be well founded. He observed, indeed very justly, that "their loss was an additional reason for their going abroad; and if it had not been fixed that he should have been one of the party, he would force them out; but he would not advise them unless his advice was asked, lest they might suspect that he recommended what he wished on his own account." I was not pleased that his intimacy with Mr. Thrale's family, though it no doubt contributed much to his comfort and enjoyment, was not without some degree of restraint: not, as has been grossly suggested, that it was required of him as a task to talk for entertainment of them and their company; but that he was not quite at his ease; which, however, might partly be owing to his own honest pride that dignity of mind which is always jealous of appearing too compliant.

On Sunday, March 31, I called on him and showed him as a curiosity which I had

1 [How so? The journey must have been settled for some days, and, under the melancholy circumstances in which it was arranged, it would surely have been strange if Dr. Johnson's sudden appearance had interrupted it. Baretti, on the other hand, with more appearance of justice, complained that Johnson had not offered to accompany" the distressed mother," instead of himself, who went, he tells us, because no one else would go.-Er.]

carried away with the general, grand, and indistinct notion of ▲ VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD." JOHNSON. "Yes, sir, but man is to guard himself against taking a thing in general." I said I was certain that a great part of what we are told by the travellers to the South Sea must be conjec ture, because they had not enough of the language of those countries to understand so much as they have related. Objects falling under the observation of the senses might be clearly known; but every thing intellectual, every thing abstract-politicks, morals, and religion, must be darkly guessed. Dr. Johnson was of the same opinion. He, upon another occasion, when a friend mentioned to him several extraordinary facts, as communicated to him by the circumnav igators, slily observed, "Sir, I never before knew how much I was respected 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 Islands, after he had been some time in this country. He was struck with the elegance of his be haviour, and accounted for it thus: "Sir, he had passed his time, while in England, only in the best company; so 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 sat | with their backs to the light fronting me, so that I could not see distinctly; and there was so little of the savage in Omai, that I was afraid to speak to either, lest I should mistake one for the other 1."

We agreed to dine to-day at the Mitre tavern, after the rising of the House of Lords, where a branch of the litigation concerning the Douglas estate, in which I was one of the counsel, was to come on. I brought with me Mr. Murray, solicitor-general of Scotland, now one of the judges of the court of session, with the title of Lord Henderland. I mentioned Mr. Solicitor's relation, Lord Charles Hay 2, with whom I knew Dr. Johnson had been acquainted. JOHNSON. "I wrote something for Lord Charles 3, and I thought he had nothing to fear from a court-martial. I suffered a great loss when he died; he was a mighty pleasing man in conversation, and a reading man. The character of a soldier is high. They who stand forth the foremost in danger, for the community, have the respect of mankind. An officer is much more respected than any other man who has little money. In a commercial country, money will always purchase respect. But you find, an officer, who has, properly speaking, no money, is every where well received and treated with attention. The character of a soldier always stands him in stead." BOSWELL. "Yet, sir, I think that common soldiers are worse thought of than other men in the same rank of life; such as labourers." JOHNSON. 66 Why, sir, a common soldier is usually a very gross man, and any quality which procures respect may be overwhelmed by grossness. A man of learning may be so vicious or so ridiculous that you cannot respect him. A common

[This might perhaps have been more justly attributed to the defect of his sight (see ante, p. 18, n.) than to any resemblance between Omai and Lord Mulgrave.-ED.]

[Third son of the third Marquis of Tweedale. He was an officer in the army, and distinguished himself at the battle of Fontenoy; where he is said to have been the officer who invited the French guards to fire. He was afterwards third in command under Lord Loudon and General Hopson, in an expedition against Canada; but expressing himself with some violence against the tardiness of his superiors, he was, on the 31st July, 1757, put under arrest and sent to England, to be tried by a court-martial, which, however, did not assemble till Feb. 1760; but Lord Charles died on the 1st of May following, before the sentence was promulgated.-ED.]

soldier, too, generally eats more than he can pay for. But when a common soldier is civil in his quarters, his red coat procures him a degree of respect." The peculiar respect paid to the military character in France was mentioned. BOSWELL. "I should think that where military men are so numerous, they would be less valuable as not being rare." JOHNSON. "Nay, sir, wherever a particular character or profession is high in the estimation of a people, those who are of it will be valued above other men. We value an Englishman high in this country, and yet Englishmen are not rare in it."

Mr. Murray praised the ancient philosopliers for the candour and good humour with which those of different sects disputed with each other. JOHNSON. "Sir, they disputed 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 represented in the pocts. The people would not have suffered it. They disputed with good humour upon their fanciful theories, because they were not interested in the truth of them: when a man has nothing to lose, he may be in good humour with his opponent. Accord ingly you see, in Lucian, the Epicurean, who argues only negatively, keeps his tem per; the Stoick, who has something posi tive to preserve, grows angry 4. Being an gry with one who controverts an opinion which you value, is a necessary conse quence of the uneasiness which you feel Every man who attacks my belief, dimin ishes in some degree my confidence in it, and therefore makes me uneasy; and I am angry with him who makes me uneasy. Those only who believed in revelation have been angry at having their faith called in question; because they only had something upon which they could rest as matter of fact." MURRAY.

"It seems 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 sure, when you wish a man to have that belief which you think is of infinite advantage, you wish well to him; but your primary consideration is your own quiet. If a madman were to come into this room with a stick in his hard, no doubt we should pity the state of his mind; but our primary consideration would be to take care of ourselves. We should knock him

4 He alluded probably to the pleadings for and against Pleasure in Lucian's Dicasteria, where 3 [The editor, by the kindness of his friend Sir the Stoick, being defeated by Epicurus in the court John Beckett, now judge-advocate general, has below, appeals to Jupiter, but there seems no looked over the original minutes of this court-mar-loss of temper. See Lucian, ed. 1615, tial, but finds nothing that can be supposed to have Perhaps the squabble between the disputants at been written by Johnson -E.]. the end of Jupiter the Tragic was meant.-ED.]

756.

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tion declare, that my boys have derived from them a great deal of good, and no evil, and I trust they will, like Horace, be grateful to their father for giving them so valuable an education.

down first, and pity him afterwards. No, sir, every man will dispute with great good humour upon a subject in which he is not interested. I will dispute very calmly upon the probability of another man's son being hanged; but if a man zealously enforces I introduced the topick, which is often the probability that my own son will be ignorantly urged, that the universities of hanged, I shall certainly not be in a very England are too rich 2; so that learning does good humour with him." I added this il- not flourish in them as it would do, if those lustration, "If a man endeavours to convince who teach had smaller salaries, and dependme that my wife, whom I love very much, ed on their assiduity for a great part of and in whom I place great confidence, is a their income. JOHNSON. "Sir, the very disagreeable woman, and is even unfaithful reverse of this is the truth; the English unito me, I shall be very angry, for he is put-versities are not rich enough. Our fellowting me in fear of being unhappy." MUR- ships are only sufficient to support a man RAY. “But, sir, truth will always bear an during his studies to fit him for the world, examination." JOHNSON. Yes, sir, but and accordingly in general they are held no it is painful to be forced to defend it. Con- longer than till an opportunity offers of getsider, sir, how should you like, though ting away. Now and then, perhaps, there conscious of your innocence, to be tried be- is a fellow who grows old in his college; fore a jury for a capital crime, once a week." but this is against his will, unless he be a We talked of education at great schools; man very indolent indeed. A hundred a the advantages and disadvantages of which year is reckoned a good fellowship, and Johnson displayed in a luminous manner; that is no more than is necessary to keep a but his arguments preponderated so much man decently as a scholar. We do not alin favour of the benefit which a boy of good low our fellows to marry, because we conparts might receive at one of them 1, that I sider academical institutions as preparatory have reason to believe Mr. Murray was to a settlement in the world. It is only by very much influenced by what he had heard being employed as a tutor, that a fellow can to-day in his determination to send his own obtain any thing more than a livelihood. son to Westminster school. I have acted To be sure, a man who has enough without in the same manner with regard to my own teaching will probably not teach; for we two sons; having placed the eldest at Eton, would all be idle if we could. In the same and the second at Westminster. I cannot manner, a man who is to get nothing by say which is best. But in justice to both teaching will not exert himself. Gresham those noble seminaries, I with high satisfac- college was intended as a place of instruction for London; able professors were to read lectures gratis; they contrived to have no scholars; whereas, if they had been allowed to receive but sixpence a lecture from each scholar, they would have been_emulous to have had many scholars. Every body will agree that it should be the interest of those who teach to have scholars; and this is the case 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 professorship 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 so with us. Our universities are impoverished of learning, by the penury of their provisions. 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 case, literature

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[A peculiar advantage of an education in our public schools was stated in one of his parliamentary speeches by the late Mr. Canning himself a great authority and example on such a subject. Foreigners often ask, 'By what means an uninterrupted succession of men, qualified more or less eminently for the performance of united parliamentary and official duties, is secured? › First, I answer (with the prejudices perhaps of Eton and Oxford), that we owe it to our system of public schools and universities. From these institutions is derived (in the language of the prayer of our collegiate churches) a due supply of men fitted to serve their country both in church and state.' It is in her public schools and universities that the youth of England are, by a discipline which shallow judgments have sometimes attempted to undervalue, prepared for the duties of publick life. They are rare and splendid exceptions, to be sure; but in my conscience I believe, that England would not be what she is without her system of public education, and that no other country can become what England is without the advantages of such a system." Such was also Mr. Gibbon's opinion. "I shall always be ready to join in the public opinion, that our public #chools, which have produced so many eminent characters, are the best adapted to the genius and constitution of the English people."-Memoirs. Mis. Works, vol. i. p. 37.-ED.]

2 Dr. Adam Smith, who was for some time a professor in the university of Glasgow, has uttered, in his "Wealth of Nations," some reflections upon this subject which are certainly not well founded, and seem to be invidious.-Boswell.

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