Letters, vol. ii. p. 70.

which he had retained; and that the good woman, who was in very moderate circumstances, but contented and placid, wondered at his scrupulous and liberal honesty, and received the guinea as if sent her by Providence ;-that I had repeatedly begged of him to keep his promise to send me his letter to Lord Chesterfield; and that this memento, like Delenda est Carthago, must be in every letter that I should write to him, till I had obtained my object.

["TO MRS. THRALE.

"London, 25th Oct. 1779.

"On Saturday I walked to Dover-street and back. Yester'day I dined with Sir Joshua. There was Mr. Elliot' of Cornwall, who inquired after my master. At night I was bespoken by Lady Lucan; but she was taken ill, and the assembly was put off. I am to dine with Renny to-morrow.

"Some old gentlewomen at the next door are in very great distress. Their little annuity comes from Jamaica, and is therefore uncertain; and one of them has had a fall, and both are very helpless; and the poor have you to help them. Persuade my master to let me give them something for him. It will be bestowed real want."]

upon

In 1780, the world was kept in impatience for the completion of his "Lives of the Poets," upon which he was employed so far as his indolence allowed him to labour.

I wrote to him on January 1 and March 13, sending him my notes of Lord Marchmont's information concerning Pope;-complaining that I had not heard from him for almost four months, though he was two letters in my debt; that I had suffered again from melancholy;-hoping that he had been in so much better company (the Poets), that he had not time to think of his distant friends; for if that were the case,

'[First Lord Eliot. See post, sub 30th March, 1781.—ED.]

I should have some recompense for my uneasiness; -that the state of my affairs did not admit of my coming to London this year; and begging he would return me Goldsmith's two poems, with his lines marked.

His friend Dr. Lawrence having now suffered the greatest affliction to which a man is liable, and which Johnson himself had felt in the most severe manner, Johnson wrote to him in an admirable strain of sympathy and pious consolation.

"TO DR. LAWRENCE.

"20th January, 1780. "DEAR SIR,-At a time when all your friends ought to show their kindness, and with a character which ought to make all that know you your friends, you may wonder that you have yet heard nothing from me.

"I have been hindered by a vexatious and incessant cough, for which within these ten days I have been bled once, fasted four or five times, taken physick five times, and opiates, I think, six. This day it seems to remit.

"The loss, dear sir, which you have lately suffered, I felt many years ago, and know therefore how much has been taken from you, and how little help can be had from consolation. He that outlives a wife whom he has long loved, sees himself disjoined from the only mind that has the same hopes, and fears, and interest; from the only companion with whom he has shared much good or evil; and with whom he could set his mind at liberty, to retrace the past or anticipate the future. The continuity of being is lacerated; the settled course of sentiment and action is stopped; and life stands suspended and motionless, till it is driven by external causes into a new channel. But the time of suspense is dreadful.

"Our first recourse in this distressed solitude is, perhaps for -want of habitual piety, to a gloomy acquiescence in necessity. Of two mortal beings, one must lose the other. But surely there is a higher and better comfort to be drawn from the consider-ation of that Providence which watches over all, and a belief that the living and the dead are equally in the hands of God, who will reunite those whom he has separated, or who sees that it is best not to reunite. I am, dear sir, your most affectionate and most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON."

Er.

[In the spring of this year Dr. Johnson's society lost one of its brightest ornaments by the death of Mr. Beauclerk'. The charms of conversation-like those of acting-are transient; and of the social talents of Beauclerk, as of the dramatic powers of Garrick, little can remain, but the general testimony of cotemporaries to their excellence. Mr. Hardy has preserved Lord Charlemont's opinion of Mr. BeauLife of clerk, with whom he was much connected. "His conversation," said his lordship, "could scarcely be p. 344. equalled. He possessed an exquisite taste, various

Charle

mont, vol. i.

accomplishments, and the most perfect good breeding. He was eccentric-often querulous-entertaining a contempt for the generality of the world, which the politeness of his manners could not always conceal; but to those whom he liked most generous and friendly. Devoted at one moment to pleasure, and at another to literature, sometimes absorbed in play, and sometimes in books, he was, altogether, one of the most accomplished and, when in good humour, and surrounded by those who suited his fancy, one of the most agreeable men that could possibly exist.” Mr. Hardy has preserved a few of Mr. Beauclerk's letters to Lord Charlemont, which are probably characteristic of his style, and one or two which touch on Johnson and his society the reader will perhaps not think misplaced here.

"MR. BEAUCLERK TO THE EARL OF CHARLEMONT.

"Adelphi, 20th Nov. 1773.

"MY DEAR LORD,—I delayed writing to you, as I had flattered myself that I should have been able to have paid you a visit at Dublin before this time; but I have been prevented, not by my own negligence and indolence, but by various matters. I am rejoiced to find by your letter that Lady Charlemont is as you wish. I have yet remaining so much bene

[He died 11th March, in his forty-first year.-ED.]

Charlm.

volence towards mankind as to wish that there may be a son of Life of yours educated by you as a specimen of what mankind ought to be.

"Goldsmith the other day put a paragraph into the newspapers in praise of Lord Mayor Townshend. The same night he happened to sit next to Lord Shelburne, at Drury-lane; I mentioned the circumstance of the paragraph to him, and he said to Goldsmith that he hoped he had mentioned nothing about Malagrida in it. Do you know,' answered Goldsmith, that I never could conceive the reason why they call you Malagrida, for Malagrida was a very good sort of man'.' You see plainly what he meant to say, but that happy turn of expression is peculiar to himself. Mr. Walpole says that this story is a picture of Goldsmith's whole life.

6

"Johnson has been confined for some weeks in the Isle of Sky; we hear that he was obliged to swim over to the main land, taking hold of a cow's tail. Be that as it may, Lady Di2 has promised to make a drawing of it.

"Our poor club is in a miserable state of decay; unless you come and relieve it, it will certainly expire. Would you imagine that Sir Joshua Reynolds is extremely anxious to be a member at Almack's 3? You see what noble ambition will make a man attempt. That den is not yet opened, consequently I have not been there; so, for the present, I am clear upon that score. I suppose your confounded Irish politics take up your whole attention at present. If they could but have obtained the absentee tax, the Irish parliament would have been perfect. They would have voted themselves out of parliament, and lessened their estates one half of the value. This is patriotism with a vengeance! There is nothing new at present in the literary world. Mr. Jones, of our club, is going to publish an account, in Latin, of the eastern poetry, with extracts translated verbatim in verse. I will order Elmsly to send it to you, when

5

it comes out; I fancy it will be a very pretty book. Goldsmith has written a prologue for Mrs. Yates, which she spoke

1 [See post, 23d March, 1783.—ED.]

2

[Ante, vol. ii. p. 230. Lady Di's pencil was much celebrated, and Mr. Walpole built a room for the reception of some of her drawings, which he called the Beauclerk closet: but the editor has never seen any of her ladyship's works which seemed to him to merit, as mere works of art, such high reputation.ED.]

3 [At this period a gaming club.-ED.]

4 [Sir William Jones.-ED.]

5 [The bookseller.-ED.]

vol. i.

p. 344.

Charlm.

vol. i.

Life of this evening before the Opera. It is very good. You will see it soon in all the newspapers, otherwise I would send it to you. p. 344. I hope to hear in your next letter that you have fixed your time for returning to England. We cannot do without you. If you do not come here, I will bring all the club over to Ireland, to live with you, and that will drive you here in your own defence. Johnson shall spoil your books, Goldsmith pull your flowers, and Boswell talk to you: stay then if you can. Adieu, my dear lord. Pray make my compliments to Lady Charlemont, and believe me to be very sincerely and affectionately yours, "T. BEAUCLERK."

p. 347.

"MR. BEAUCLERK TO LORD CHARLEMONT.

"Adelphi, 24th Dec. 1773. "MY DEAR LORD,—I hope you received a letter from me some time ago; I mention this that I may not appear worse than I am, and likewise to hint to you that, when you receive this, you will be two letters in my debt. I hope your parliament has finished all its absurdities, and that you will be at leisure to come over here to attend your club, where you will do much more good than all the patriots in the world ever did to any body, viz. you will make very many of your friends extremely happy; and you know Goldsmith has informed us that no form of government ever contributed either to the happiness or misery of any one.

"I saw a letter from Foote, with an account of an Irish tragedy; the subject is Manlius, and the last speech which he makes, when he is pushed off from the Tarpeian rock, is, 'Sweet Jesus, where am I going?' Pray send me word if this is true. We have a good comedy nothing; bad as it is, however, it succeeds very well, and has almost killed Goldsmith with envy.

here which is good for

I have no news either literary or political to send you. Every body, except myself and about a million of vulgars, are in the country. I am closely confined, as Lady Di expects to be every hour. I am, my dear lord, very sincerely and affectionately yours, "T. BEAUCLERK."]

[The reader will observe Mr. Beauclerk's estimate of Boswell's conversation.-ED.]

2

[Probably "The School for Wives."-ED.]