Boswell's Life of Johnson
a rectory in the gift of Mr. Langton, the father of his much
valued friend. But he did not accept of it; partly I believe from
a conscientious motive, being persuaded that his temper and habits
rendered him unfit for that assiduous and familiar instruction of
the vulgar and ignorant which he held to be an essential duty in a
clergyman; and partly because his love of a London life was so strong,
that he would have thought himself an exile in any other place,
particularly if residing in the country. Whoever would wish to see his
thoughts upon that subject displayed in their full force, may peruse The
Adventurer, Number 126.
1757: AETAT. 48.]--MR. BURNEY having enclosed to him an extract from the
review of his Dictionary in the Bibliotheque des Savans, and a list of
subscribers to his Shakspeare, which Mr. Burney had procured in Norfolk,
he wrote the following answer:
'TO MR. BURNEY, IN LYNNE, NORFOLK.
'SIR,--That I may shew myself sensible of your favours, and not commit
the same fault a second time, I make haste to answer the letter which
I received this morning. The truth is, the other likewise was received,
and I wrote an answer; but being desirous to transmit you some proposals
and receipts, I waited till I could find a convenient conveyance, and
day was passed after day, till other things drove it from my thoughts;
yet not so, but that I remember with great pleasure your commendation
of my Dictionary. Your praise was welcome, not only because I believe
it was sincere, but because praise has been very scarce. A man of
your candour will be surprised when I tell you, that among all my
acquaintance there were only two, who upon the publication of my
book did not endeavour to depress me with threats of censure from the
publick, or with objections learned from those who had learned them
from my own Preface. Your's is the only letter of goodwill that I have
received; though, indeed, I am promised something of that sort from
Sweden.
'How my new edition will be received I know not; the subscription has
not been very successful. I shall publish about March.
'If you can direct me how to send proposals, I should wish that they
were in such hands.
'I remember, Sir, in some of the first letters with which you favoured
me, you mentioned your lady. May I enquire after her? In return for the
favours which you have shewn me, it is not much to tell you, that I wish
you and her all that can conduce to your happiness. I am, Sir, your most
obliged, and most humble servant,
SAM. JOHNSON.'
'Gough-square, Dec. 24, 1757.'
In 1758 we find him, it should seem, in as easy and pleasant a state of
existence, as constitutional unhappiness ever permitted him to enjoy.
'TO BENNET LANGTON, ESQ., AT LANGTON, LINCOLNSHIRE.
'DEAREST SIR,--I must indeed have slept very fast, not to have been
awakened by your letter. None of your suspicions are true; I am not
much richer than when you left me; and, what is worse, my omission of an
answer to your first letter, will prove that I am not much wiser. But
I go on as I formerly did, designing to be some time or other both rich
and wise; and yet cultivate neither mind nor fortune. Do you take notice
of my example, and learn the danger of delay. When I was as you are now,
towering in the confidence of twenty-one, little did I suspect that I
should be at forty-nine, what I now am.
'But you do not seem to need my admonition. You are busy in acquiring
and in communicating knowledge, and while you are studying, enjoy the
end of study, by making others wiser and happier. I was much pleased
with the tale that you told me of being tutour to your sisters. I, who
have no sisters nor brothers, look with some degree of innocent envy
on those who may be said to be born to friends; and cannot see,
without wonder, how rarely that native union is afterwards regarded. It
sometimes, indeed, happens, that some supervenient cause of discord may
overpower this original amity; but it seems to me more frequently thrown
away with levity, or lost by negligence, than destroyed by injury or
violence. We tell the ladies that good wives make good husbands; I
believe it is a more certain position that good brothers make good
sisters.
'I am satisfied with your stay at home, as Juvenal with his friend's
retirement to Cumae: I know that your absence is best, though it be not
best for me.
'Quamvis digressu veteris confusus amici,
Laudo tamen vacuis quod sedem figere Cumis
Destinet, atque unum civem donare Sibylloe.'
'Langton is a good Cumae, but who must be Sibylla? Mrs. Langton is as
wise as Sibyl, and as good; and will live, if my wishes can prolong
life, till she shall in time be as old. But she differs in this, that
she has not scattered her precepts in the wind, at least not those which
she bestowed upon you.
'The two Wartons just looked into the town, and were taken to see
Cleone, where, David* says, they were starved for want of company to
keep them warm. David and Doddy** have had a new quarrel, and, I think,
cannot conveniently quarrel any more. Cleone was well acted by all the
characters, but Bellamy left nothing to be desired. I went the first
night, and supported it, as well as I might; for Doddy, you know, is
my patron, and I would not desert him. The play was very well received.
Doddy, after the danger was over, went every night to the stage-side,
and cried at the distress of poor Cleone.
* Mr. Garrick--BOSWELL.
** Mr. Dodsley, the Authour of Cleone.--BOSWELL.
'I have left off housekeeping, and therefore made presents of the
game which you were pleased to send me. The pheasant I gave to Mr.
Richardson,* the bustard to Dr. Lawrence, and the pot I placed with Miss
Williams, to be eaten by myself. She desires that her compliments and
good wishes may be accepted by the family; and I make the same request
for myself.
* Mr. Samuel Richardson, authour of Clarissa.--BOSWELL.
'Mr. Reynolds has within these few days raised his price to twenty
guineas a head, and Miss is much employed in miniatures. I know not any
body [else] whose prosperity has increased since you left them.
'Murphy is to have his Orphan of China acted next month; and is
therefore, I suppose, happy. I wish I could tell you of any great good
to which I was approaching, but at present my prospects do not much
delight me; however, I am always pleased when I find that you, dear Sir,
remember, your affectionate, humble servant,
SAM. JOHNSON.'
'Jan. 9, 1758.'
Dr. Burney has kindly favoured me with the following memorandum, which
I take the liberty to insert in his own genuine easy style. I love to
exhibit sketches of my illustrious friend by various eminent hands.
'Soon after this, Mr. Burney, during a visit to the capital, had an
interview with him in Gough-square, where he dined and drank tea with
him, and was introduced to the acquaintance of Mrs. Williams. After
dinner, Mr. Johnson proposed to Mr. Burney to go up with him into his
garret, which being accepted, he there found about five or six Greek
folios, a deal writing-desk, and a chair and a half. Johnson giving to
his guest the entire seat, tottered himself on one with only three legs
and one arm. Here he gave Mr. Burney Mrs. Williams's history, and shewed
him some volumes of his Shakspeare already printed, to prove that he was
in earnest. Upon Mr. Burney's opening the first volume, at the Merchant
of Venice, he observed to him, that he seemed to be more severe on
Warburton than Theobald. "O poor Tib.! (said Johnson) he was ready
knocked down to my hands; Warburton stands between me and him." "But,
Sir, (said Mr. Burney,) you'll have Warburton upon your bones, won't
you?" "No, Sir; he'll not come out: he'll only growl in his den." "But
you think, Sir, that Warburton is a superiour critick to Theobald?" "O
Sir he'd make two-and-fifty Theobalds, cut into slices! The worst of
Warburton is, that he has a rage for saying something, when there's
nothing to be said." Mr. Burney then asked him whether he had seen the
letter which Warburton had written in answer to a pamphlet addressed "To
the most impudent Man alive." He answered in the negative. Mr. Burney
told him it was supposed to be written by Mallet. The controversey now
raged between the friends of Pope and Bolingbroke; and Warburton and
Mallet were the leaders of the several parties. Mr. Burney asked him
then if he had seen Warburton's book against Bolingbroke's Philosophy?
"No, Sir, I have never read Bolingbroke's impiety, and therefore am not
interested about its confutation."'
On the fifteenth of April he began a new periodical paper, entitled The
Idler, which came out every Saturday in a weekly news-paper, called
The Universal Chronicle, or Weekly Gazette, published by Newbery. These
essays were continued till April 5, 1760. Of one hundred and three,
their total number, twelve were contributed by his friends.
The Idler is evidently the work of the same mind which produced The
Rambler, but has less body and more spirit. It has more variety of real
life, and greater facility of language. He describes the miseries of
idleness, with the lively sensations of one who has felt them; and in
his private memorandums while engaged in it, we find 'This year I hope
to learn diligence.' Many of these excellent essays were written as
hastily as an ordinary letter. Mr. Langton remembers Johnson, when on
a visit at Oxford, asking him one evening how long it was till the post
went out; and on being told about half an hour, he exclaimed, 'then we
shall do very well.' He upon this instantly sat down and finished an
Idler, which it was necessary should be in London the next day. Mr.
Langton having signified a wish to read it, 'Sir, (said he) you shall
not do more than I have done myself.' He then folded it up and sent it
off.
1759: AETAT. 50.]--In 1759, in the month of January, his mother died at
the great age of ninety, an event which deeply affected him; not that
'his mind had acquired no firmness by the contemplation of mortality;'
but that his reverential affection for her was not abated by years, as
indeed he retained all his tender feelings even to the latest period of
his life. I have been told that he regretted much his not having gone
to visit his mother for several years, previous to her death. But he was
constantly engaged in literary labours which confined him to London; and
though he had not the comfort of seeing his aged parent, he contributed
liberally to her support.
Soon after this event, he wrote his Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia;
concerning the publication of which Sir John Hawkins guesses vaguely
and idly, instead of having taken the trouble to inform himself with
authentick precision. Not to trouble my readers with a repetition of
the Knight's reveries, I have to mention, that the late Mr. Strahan the
printer told me, that Johnson wrote it, that with the profits he might
defray the expence of his mother's funeral, and pay some little debts
which she had left. He told Sir Joshua Reynolds that he composed it in
the evenings of one week, sent it to the press in portions as it was
written, and had never since read it over. Mr. Strahan, Mr. Johnston,
and Mr. Dodsley purchased it for a hundred pounds, but afterwards paid
him twenty-five pounds more, when it came to a second edition.
Voltaire's Candide, written to refute the system of Optimism, which it
has accomplished with brilliant success, is wonderfully similar in its
plan and conduct to Johnson's Rasselas; insomuch, that I have heard
Johnson say, that if they had not been published so closely one after
the other that there was not time for imitation, it would have been in
vain to deny that the scheme of that which came latest was taken from