Letters, vol. ii.

p. 154.

p. 156.

p. 158.

12th June, 1780. "The publick has escaped a very heavy calamity. The rioters attempted the Bank on Wednesday night, but in no great number; and like other thieves, with no great resolution. Jack Wilkes headed the party that drove them away. It is agreed, that if they had seized the Bank on Tuesday, at the height of the panick, when no resistance had been prepared, they might have carried irrecoverably away whatever they had found. Jack, who was always zealous for order and decency', declares, that if he be trusted with power, he will not leave a rioter alive. There is, however, now no longer any need of heroism or bloodshed; no blue riband 2 is any longer worn.

["All danger here is apparently over: but a little agitation still continues. We frighten one another with seventy thousand Scots to come hither with the Dukes of Gordon and Argyll, and eat us, and hang us, or drown us; but we are all at quiet.”]

"14th June, 1780.

"There has, indeed, been an universal panick, from which the king was the first that recovered. Without the concurrence of his ministers, or the assistance of the civil magistrates, he put the soldiers in motion, and saved the town from calamities, such as a rabble's government must naturally produce."

Such was the end of this miserable sedition, from which London was delivered by the magnanimity of the sovereign himself. Whatever some may maintain, I am satisfied that there was no combination or plan, either domestic or foreign; but that the mischief spread by a gradual contagion of frenzy, augmented by the quantities of fermented liquors of which the deluded populace possessed themselves in the course of their depredations.

I should think myself very much to blame, did I

[At this ironical allusion to Mr. Wilkes's own proceedings in former times, he would have been the first to smile. To a gentleman who, at a still later period, was alluding to the turbulent days of Wilkes and liberty, and appealed for confirmation of some opinion to Mr. Wilkes, the latter, with a serious pleasantry, replied, "My dear sir, I never was a Wilkite."-ED.]

2 Lord George Gordon and his followers, during these outrages, wore blue ribands in their hats.-MALONE.

3 [Mr. Boswell had omitted this passage.-ED.]

here neglect to do justice to my esteemed friend' Mr. Akerman, the keeper of Newgate, who long discharged a very important trust with an uniform intrepid firmness, and at the same time a tenderness and a liberal charity which entitle him to be recorded with distinguished honour.

Upon this occasion, from the timidity and negligence of magistracy on the one hand, and the almost incredible exertions of the mob on the other, the first prison of this great country was laid open, and the prisoners set free; but that Mr. Akerman, whose house was burnt, would have prevented all this, had proper aid been sent him in due time, there can be no doubt.

Mr.

Many years ago, a fire broke out in the brick part which was built as an addition to the old gaol of Newgate. The prisoners were in consternation and tumult, calling out, "We shall be burnt, we shall be burnt! Down with the gate!-down with the gate!" Akerman hastened to them, showed himself at the gate, and having, after some confused vociferation of "Hear him! hear him!" obtained a silent attention, he then calmly told them, that the gate must not go down; that they were under his care, and that they should not be permitted to escape; but that he could assure them they need not be afraid of being burnt, for that the fire was not in the prison, properly so called, which was strongly built with stone; and that if they would engage to be quiet, he himself would come in to them, and conduct them to the further end of the building, and would not go out till they gave him leave. To this proposal they agreed ;

[Why Mr. Boswell should call the keeper of Newgate his “esteemed friend” has puzzled many readers; but besides his natural desire to make the acquaintance of every body who was eminent or remarkable, or even notorious, his strange propensity for witnessing executions probably brought him into more imme. diate intercourse with the keeper of Newgate.-ED.]

66

upon which Mr. Akerman, having first made them fall back from the gate, went in, and with a determined resolution ordered the outer turnkey upon no account to open the gate, even though the prisoners (though he trusted they would not) should break their word, and by force bring himself to order it. "Never mind me," said he, "should that happen.” The prisoners peaceably followed him, while he conducted them through passages of which he had the keys to the extremity of the gaol, which was most distant from the fire. Having by this very judicious conduct fully satisfied them that there was no immediate risk, if any at all, he then addressed them thus: Gentlemen, you are now convinced that I told you true. I have no doubt that the engines will soon extinguish this fire: if they should not, a sufficient guard will come, and you shall be all taken out and lodged in the compters. I assure you, upon my word and honour, that I have not a farthing insured. I have left my house that I might take care of I will keep my promise, and stay with you if you insist upon it; but if you will allow me to go out and look after my family and property, I shall be obliged to you." Struck with his behaviour, they called out, "Master Akerman, you have done bravely; it was very kind in you: by all means go and take care of your own concerns. He did so accordingly, while they remained, and were all preserved.

you.

Johnson has been heard to relate the substance of this story with high praise, in which he was joined by Mr. Burke. My illustrious friend, speaking of Mr. Akerman's kindness to his prisoners, pronounced this eulogy upon his character:-" He who has long had constantly in his view the worst of mankind, and is yet eminent for the humanity of his disposition, must have had it originally in a great degree, and continued to cultivate it very carefully."

["DR. JOHNSON TO MRS. THRALE.

"London, 15th June, 1780. "I was last week at Renny's' conversatione, and Renny got her room pretty well filled; and there were Mrs. Ord, and Mrs. Horneck, and Mrs. Bunbury 2, and other illustrious names, and much would poor Renny have given to have had Mrs. Thrale too, and Queeny, and Burney 3; but human happiness is never perfect; there is always une vuide affreuse, as Maintenon complained, there is some craving void left aking in the breast. Renny is going to Ramsgate; and thus the world drops away, and I am left in the sultry town, to see the sun in the Crab, and perhaps in the Lion, while you are paddling with the Nereids+."

"London, 4th July, 1780.

"I have not seen or done much since I had the misfortune of seeing you go away. I was one night at Burney's. There were Pepys, and Mrs. Ord, and Paradise', and Hoole, and Dr. Dunbar of Aberdeen, and I know not how many more; and Pepys and I had all the talk."]

["DR. JOHNSON TO MISS REYNOLDS.

"Bolt-court, 16th June, 1780.

“DEAR MADAM,-I answer your letter as soon as I can, for I have just received it. I am very willing to wait on you at all times, and will sit for the picture, and, if it be necessary, will sit again, for whenever I sit I shall be always with you.

"Do not, my love, burn your papers. I have mended little but some bad rhymes. I thought them very pretty, and was much moved in reading them. The red ink is only lake and gum, and with a moist sponge will be washed off.

"I have been out of order, but by bleeding and other means, am now better. Let me know on which day I shall come to you. I am, dear madam, your most humble servant,

"SAM. JOHNSON.

"To-day I am engaged, and only to-day."]

[Miss Reynolds.-ED.]

[See ante, vol. i. p. 423.-ED.]

3[Miss Fanny Burney, the author of Evelina, now Madame D'Arblay.-ED.] 4 Mrs. Thrale was at Brighton.-ED.]

5[Sce ante, vol. i. p. 34.-ED.]

[Of a poem now (by the favour of Mr. Palmer) before the Editor. Johnson read it attentively, and made numerous corrections, but after all it is not worth much.-ED.]

Letters,

vol. ii.

p. 161.

p. 165.

Reyn.

MSS.

Letters, vol. ii. p. 166.

p. 168.

p. 170.

p. 173.

"DR. JOHNSON TO MRS. THRALE.

"London, 10th July, 1780. "Last week I saw flesh but twice, and I think fish once: the rest was pease.

"You are afraid, you say, lest I extenuate myself too fast, and are an enemy to violence: but did you never hear nor read, dear madam, that every man has his genius; and that the great rule by which all excellence is attained, and all success procured, is to follow genius; and have you not observed in all our conversation that my genius is always in extremes—that I am very noisy or very silent, very gloomy or very merry, very sour or very kind? And would you have me cross my genius, when it leads me sometimes to voracity, and sometimes to abstinence? You know that the oracle said, Follow your genius. When we get together again (but when, alas! will that be?) you can manage me, and spare me the solicitude of managing myself.

"I stay at home to work, and yet do not work diligently; nor can tell when I shall have done, nor perhaps does any body but myself wish me to have done; for what can they hope I shall do better? Yet I wish the work was over, and I was at liberty. Would I go to Mrs. Aston and Mrs. Porter, and see the old places, and sigh to find that my old friends are gone? Would I recal plans of life which I never brought into practice, and hopes of excellence which I once presumed, and never have attained? Would I compare what I now am, with what I once expected to have been? Is it reasonable to wish for suggestions of shame, and opportunities of sorrow?"

"London, 27th July, 1780.

"I dined yesterday at Sir Joshua's with Mrs. Cholmondeley, and she told me I was the best critick in the world, and I told her that nobody in the world could judge like her of the merit of a critick.

"On Sunday I was with Dr. Lawrence and his two sistersin-law, to dine with Mr. G——, at Putney. The doctor cannot hear in a coach better than in a room, and it was but a dull day."

"London, 1st August, 1780.

"I sent to Lord Westcote about his brother's life; but he says he knows not whom to employ, and is sure I shall do him

1

[Brother to the first Lord Lyttleton, by which title he was afterwards him self created an English peer. See ante, vol. iii. p. 156. n.—ED-]