Boswell's Life of Johnson
and talked with a noble enthusiasm of keeping up the representation of
respectable families. His zeal on this subject was a circumstance in his
character exceedingly remarkable, when it is considered that he himself
had no pretensions to blood. I heard him once say, 'I have great merit
in being zealous for subordination and the honours of birth; for I
can hardly tell who was my grandfather.' He maintained the dignity and
propriety of male succession, in opposition to the opinion of one of
our friends, who had that day employed Mr. Chambers to draw his will,
devising his estate to his three sisters, in preference to a remote
heir male. Johnson called them 'three DOWDIES,' and said, with as high
a spirit as the boldest Baron in the most perfect days of the feudal
system, 'An ancient estate should always go to males. It is mighty
foolish to let a stranger have it because he marries your daughter, and
takes your name. As for an estate newly acquired by trade, you may give
it, if you will, to the dog Towser, and let him keep his OWN name.'
I have known him at times exceedingly diverted at what seemed to others
a very small sport. He now laughed immoderately, without any reason
that we could perceive, at our friend's making his will; called him the
TESTATOR, and added, 'I dare say, he thinks he has done a mighty thing.
He won't stay till he gets home to his seat in the country, to produce
this wonderful deed: he'll call up the landlord of the first inn on the
road; and, after a suitable preface upon mortality and the uncertainty
of life, will tell him that he should not delay making his will; and
here, Sir, will he say, is my will, which I have just made, with the
assistance of one of the ablest lawyers in the kingdom; and he will read
it to him (laughing all the time). He believes he has made this will;
but he did not make it: you, Chambers, made it for him. I trust you
have had more conscience than to make him say, "being of sound
understanding;" ha, ha, ha! I hope he has left me a legacy. I'd have his
will turned into verse, like a ballad.'
Mr. Chambers did not by any means relish this jocularity upon a matter
of which pars magna fuit, and seemed impatient till he got rid of us.
Johnson could not stop his merriment, but continued it all the way
till we got without the Temple-gate. He then burst into such a fit of
laughter, that he appeared to be almost in a convulsion; and, in order
to support himself, laid hold of one of the posts at the side of the
foot pavement, and sent forth peals so loud, that in the silence of the
night his voice seemed to resound from Temple-bar to Fleet-ditch.
This most ludicrous exhibition of the aweful, melancholy, and venerable
Johnson, happened well to counteract the feelings of sadness which I
used to experience when parting with him for a considerable time. I
accompanied him to his door, where he gave me his blessing.
'TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.
'DEAR Sir,--I shall set out from London on Friday the sixth of this
month, and purpose not to loiter much by the way. Which day I shall be
at Edinburgh, I cannot exactly tell. I suppose I must drive to an inn,
and send a porter to find you.
'I am afraid Beattie will not be at his College soon enough for us,
and I shall be sorry to miss him; but there is no staying for the
concurrence of all conveniences. We will do as well as we can. I am,
Sir, your most humble servant,
'August 3, 1773.'
'SAM. JOHNSON.'
TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.
'Newcastle, Aug. 11, 1773.
'DEAR SIR, I came hither last night, and hope, but do not absolutely
promise, to be in Edinburgh on Saturday. Beattie will not come so soon.
I am, Sir, your most humble servant,
'My compliments to your lady.'
'SAM. JOHNSON.'
TO THE SAME.
'Mr. Johnson sends his compliments to Mr. Boswell, being just arrived at
Boyd's.--Saturday night.'
His stay in Scotland was from the 18th of August, on which day he
arrived, till the 22nd of November, when he set out on his return to
London; and I believe ninety-four days were never passed by any man in a
more vigorous exertion.*
* In his Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, published the
year after Johnson died, Boswell gives a detailed account of
Johnson's conversation and adventures with him throughout
the journey of 1773. Partly owing to their uninterrupted
association, partly to the strangeness and variation of
background and circumstances, and partly to Boswell's larger
leisure during the tour for the elaboration of his account,
the journal is even more racy, picturesque, and interesting
than any equal part of the Life. No reader who enjoys the
Life should fail to read the Tour--unabridged!--ED.
His humane forgiving disposition was put to a pretty strong test on his
return to London, by a liberty which Mr. Thomas Davies had taken
with him in his absence, which was, to publish two volumes, entitled,
Miscellaneous and fugitive Pieces, which he advertised in the
news-papers, 'By the Authour of the Rambler.' In this collection,
several of Dr. Johnson's acknowledged writings, several of his anonymous
performances, and some which he had written for others, were inserted;
but there were also some in which he had no concern whatever. He was at
first very angry, as he had good reason to be. But, upon consideration
of his poor friend's narrow circumstances, and that he had only a little
profit in view, and meant no harm, he soon relented, and continued his
kindness to him as formerly.
In the course of his self-examination with retrospect to this year, he
seems to have been much dejected; for he says, January 1, 1774, 'This
year has passed with so little improvement, that I doubt whether I have
not rather impaired than increased my learning'; and yet we have seen
how he READ, and we know how he TALKED during that period.
He was now seriously engaged in writing an account of our travels in the
Hebrides, in consequence of which I had the pleasure of a more frequent
correspondence with him.
'TO BENNET LANGTON, ESQ., AT LANGTON, NEAR SPILSBY, LINCOLNSHIRE.
'DEAR SIR,--You have reason to reproach me that I have left your
last letter so long unanswered, but I had nothing particular to say.
Chambers, you find, is gone far, and poor Goldsmith is gone much
further. He died of a fever, exasperated, as I believe, by the fear of
distress. He had raised money and squandered it, by every artifice
of acquisition, and folly of expence. But let not his frailties be
remembered; he was a very great man.
'I have just begun to print my Journey to the Hebrides, and am leaving
the press to take another journey into Wales, whither Mr. Thrale is
going, to take possession of, at least, five hundred a year, fallen to
his lady. All at Streatham, that are alive, are well.
'I have never recovered from the last dreadful illness, but flatter
myself that I grow gradually better; much, however, yet remains to mend.
[Greek text omitted].
'If you have the Latin version of Busy, curious, thirsty fly, be so kind
as to transcribe and send it; but you need not be in haste, for I shall
be I know not where, for at least five weeks. I wrote the following
tetastrick on poor Goldsmith:--
[Greek text omitted]
'Please to make my most respectful compliments to all the ladies, and
remember me to young George and his sisters. I reckon George begins to
shew a pair of heels.
'Do not be sullen now, but let me find a letter when I come back. I am,
dear Sir, your affectionate, humble servant,
'SAM. JOHNSON.
'July 5,1774.'
In his manuscript diary of this year, there is the following entry:--
'Nov. 27. Advent Sunday. I considered that this day, being the beginning
of the ecclesiastical year, was a proper time for a new course of
life. I began to read the Greek Testament regularly at 160 verses every
Sunday. This day I began the Acts.
'In this week I read Virgil's Pastorals. I learned to repeat the Pollio
and Gallus. I read carelessly the first Georgick.'
Such evidences of his unceasing ardour, both for 'divine and human
lore,' when advanced into his sixty-fifth year, and notwithstanding his
many disturbances from disease, must make us at once honour his spirit,
and lament that it should be so grievously clogged by its material
tegument.
1775: AETAT. 66.]--
'MR. BOSWELL TO DR. JOHNSON.
'Edinburgh, Feb. 2,1775.
'. . . As to Macpherson,' I am anxious to have from yourself a full
and pointed account of what has passed between you and him. It is
confidently told here, that before your book came out he sent to you,
to let you know that he understood you meant to deny the authenticity
of Ossian's poems; that the originals were in his possession; that you
might have inspection of them, and might take the evidence of people
skilled in the Erse language; and that he hoped, after this fair offer,
you would not be so uncandid as to assert that he had refused reasonable
proof. That you paid no regard to his message, but published your strong
attack upon him; and then he wrote a letter to you, in such terms as he
thought suited to one who had not acted as a man of veracity.' . . .
What words were used by Mr. Macpherson in his letter to the venerable
Sage, I have never heard; but they are generally said to have been of
a nature very different from the language of literary contest. Dr.
Johnson's answer appeared in the news-papers of the day, and has since
been frequently re-published; but not with perfect accuracy. I give
it as dictated to me by himself, written down in his presence, and
authenticated by a note in his own handwriting, 'This, I think, is a
true copy.'
'MR. JAMES MACPHERSON,--I received your foolish and impudent letter. Any
violence offered me I shall do my best to repel; and what I cannot do
for myself, the law shall do for me. I hope I shall never be deterred
from detecting what I think a cheat, by the menaces of a ruffian.
'What would you have me retract? I thought your book an imposture; I
think it an imposture still. For this opinion I have given my reasons
to the publick, which I here dare you to refute. Your rage I defy. Your
abilities, since your Homer, are not so formidable; and what I hear of
your morals, inclines me to pay regard not to what you shall say, but to
what you shall prove. You may print this if you will.'
'SAM. JOHNSON.'
Mr. Macpherson little knew the character of Dr. Johnson, if he supposed
that he could be easily intimidated; for no man was ever more remarkable
for personal courage. He had, indeed, an aweful dread of death, or
rather, 'of something after death;' and what rational man, who seriously
thinks of quitting all that he has ever known, and going into a new and
unknown state of being, can be without that dread? But his fear was from
reflection; his courage natural. His fear, in that one instance, was the
result of philosophical and religious consideration. He feared death,
but he feared nothing else, not even what might occasion death.
Many instances of his resolution may be mentioned. One day, at Mr.
Beauclerk's house in the country, when two large dogs were fighting, he
went up to them, and beat them till they separated; and at another time,
when told of the danger there was that a gun might burst if charged with
many balls, he put in six or seven, and fired it off against a wall. Mr.
Langton told me, that when they were swimming together near Oxford, he
cautioned Dr. Johnson against a pool, which was reckoned particularly
dangerous; upon which Johnson directly swam into it. He told me himself
that one night he was attacked in the street by four men, to whom he
would not yield, but kept them all at bay, till the watch came up,
and carried both him and them to the round-house. In the playhouse