Boswell's Life of Johnson
well as of the other, in proportion to the force of law. All men will
naturally commit fornication, as all men will naturally steal. And, Sir,
it is very absurd to argue, as has been often done, that prostitutes are
necessary to prevent the violent effects of appetite from violating the
decent order of life; nay, should be permitted, in order to preserve the
chastity of our wives and daughters. Depend upon it, Sir, severe laws,
steadily enforced, would be sufficient against those evils, and would
promote marriage.'
Mr. Thrale called upon him, and appeared to bear the loss of his son
with a manly composure. There was no affectation about him; and he
talked, as usual, upon indifferent subjects. He seemed to me to hesitate
as to the intended Italian tour, on which, I flattered myself, he and
Mrs. Thrale and Dr. Johnson were soon to set out; and, therefore, I
pressed it as much as I could. I mentioned, that Mr. Beauclerk had said,
that Baretti, whom they were to carry with them, would keep them so long
in the little towns of his own district, that they would not have time
to see Rome. I mentioned this, to put them on their guard. JOHNSON.
'Sir, we do not thank Mr. Beauclerk for supposing that we are to be
directed by Baretti. No, Sir; Mr. Thrale is to go, by my advice, to Mr.
Jackson, (the all-knowing) and get from him a plan for seeing the most
that can be seen in the time that we have to travel. We must, to be
sure, see Rome, Naples, Florence, and Venice, and as much more as we
can.' (Speaking with a tone of animation.)
When I expressed an earnest wish for his remarks on Italy, he said, 'I
do not see that I could make a book upon Italy; yet I should be glad to
get two hundred pounds, or five hundred pounds, by such a work.' This
shewed both that a journal of his Tour upon the Continent was not wholly
out of his contemplation, and that he uniformly adhered to that strange
opinion, which his indolent disposition made him utter: 'No man but a
blockhead ever wrote, except for money.' Numerous instances to refute
this will occur to all who are versed in the history of literature.
He gave us one of the many sketches of character which were treasured in
his mind, and which he was wont to produce quite unexpectedly in a very
entertaining manner. 'I lately, (said he,) received a letter from the
East Indies, from a gentleman whom I formerly knew very well; he had
returned from that country with a handsome fortune, as it was reckoned,
before means were found to acquire those immense sums which have been
brought from thence of late; he was a scholar, and an agreeable man, and
lived very prettily in London, till his wife died. After her death, he
took to dissipation and gaming, and lost all he had. One evening he lost
a thousand pounds to a gentleman whose name I am sorry I have forgotten.
Next morning he sent the gentleman five hundred pounds, with an apology
that it was all he had in the world. The gentleman sent the money back
to him, declaring he would not accept of it; and adding, that if Mr.
------ had occasion for five hundred pounds more, he would lend it
to him. He resolved to go out again to the East Indies, and make
his fortune anew. He got a considerable appointment, and I had some
intention of accompanying him. Had I thought then as I do now, I should
have gone: but, at that time, I had objections to quitting England.'
It was a very remarkable circumstance about Johnson, whom shallow
observers have supposed to have been ignorant of the world, that very
few men had seen greater variety of characters; and none could observe
them better, as was evident from the strong, yet nice portraits which he
often drew. I have frequently thought that if he had made out what the
French call une catalogue raisonnee of all the people who had passed
under his observation, it would have afforded a very rich fund of
instruction and entertainment. The suddenness with which his accounts
of some of them started out in conversation, was not less pleasing than
surprizing. I remember he once observed to me, 'It is wonderful, Sir,
what is to be found in London. The most literary conversation that I
ever enjoyed, was at the table of Jack Ellis, a money-scrivener behind
the Royal Exchange, with whom I at one period used to dine generally
once a week.'
Volumes would be required to contain a list of his numerous and various
acquaintance, none of whom he ever forgot; and could describe and
discriminate them all with precision and vivacity. He associated with
persons the most widely different in manners, abilities, rank, and
accomplishments. He was at once the companion of the brilliant Colonel
Forrester of the Guards, who wrote The Polite Philosopher, and of the
aukward and uncouth Robert Levet; of Lord Thurlow, and Mr. Sastres,
the Italian master; and has dined one day with the beautiful, gay,
and fascinating Lady Craven, and the next with good Mrs. Gardiner, the
tallow-chandler, on Snow-hill.
On my expressing my wonder at his discovering so much of the knowledge
peculiar to different professions, he told me, 'I learnt what I know of
law, chiefly from Mr. Ballow, a very able man. I learnt some, too, from
Chambers; but was not so teachable then. One is not willing to be taught
by a young man.' When I expressed a wish to know more about Mr. Ballow,
Johnson said, 'Sir, I have seen him but once these twenty years. The
tide of life has driven us different ways.' I was sorry at the time
to hear this; but whoever quits the creeks of private connections,
and fairly gets into the great ocean of London, will, by imperceptible
degrees, unavoidably experience such cessations of acquaintance.
'My knowledge of physick, (he added,) I learnt from Dr. James, whom I
helped in writing the proposals for his Dictionary and also a little
in the Dictionary itself. I also learnt from Dr. Lawrence, but was then
grown more stubborn.'
A curious incident happened to-day, while Mr. Thrale and I sat with
him. Francis announced that a large packet was brought to him from the
post-office, said to have come from Lisbon, and it was charged SEVEN
POUNDS TEN SHILLINGS. He would not receive it, supposing it to be some
trick, nor did he even look at it. But upon enquiry afterwards he found
that it was a real packet for him, from that very friend in the East
Indies of whom he had been speaking; and the ship which carried it
having come to Portugal, this packet, with others, had been put into the
post-office at Lisbon.
I mentioned a new gaming-club, of which Mr. Beauclerk had given me
an account, where the members played to a desperate extent. JOHNSON.
'Depend upon it, Sir, this is mere talk. WHO is ruined by gaming? You
will not find six instances in an age. There is a strange rout made
about deep play: whereas you have many more people ruined by adventurous
trade, and yet we do not hear such an outcry against it.' THRALE. 'There
may be few people absolutely ruined by deep play; but very many are much
hurt in their circumstances by it.' JOHNSON. 'Yes, Sir, and so are very
many by other kinds of expence.' I had heard him talk once before in the
same manner; and at Oxford he said, 'he wished he had learnt to play at
cards.' The truth, however, is, that he loved to display his ingenuity
in argument; and therefore would sometimes in conversation maintain
opinions which he was sensible were wrong, but in supporting which, his
reasoning and wit would be most conspicuous. He would begin thus: 'Why,
Sir, as to the good or evil of card-playing--' 'Now, (said Garrick,) he
is thinking which side he shall take.' He appeared to have a pleasure in
contradiction, especially when any opinion whatever was delivered with
an air of confidence; so that there was hardly any topick, if not one of
the great truths of Religion and Morality, that he might not have been
incited to argue, either for or against. Lord Elibank had the highest
admiration of his powers. He once observed to me, 'Whatever opinion
Johnson maintains, I will not say that he convinces me; but he never
fails to shew me, that he has good reasons for it.' I have heard Johnson
pay his Lordship this high compliment: 'I never was in Lord Elibank's
company without learning something.'
We sat together till it was too late for the afternoon service. Thrale
said he had come with intention to go to church with us. We went at
seven to evening prayers at St. Clement's church, after having drank
coffee; an indulgence, which I understood Johnson yielded to on this
occasion, in compliment to Thrale.
On Sunday, April 7, Easter-day, after having been at St. Paul's
Cathedral, I came to Dr. Johnson, according to my usual custom. It
seemed to me, that there was always something peculiarly mild and placid
in his manner upon this holy festival, the commemoration of the most
joyful event in the history of our world, the resurrection of our LORD
and SAVIOUR, who, having triumphed over death and the grave, proclaimed
immortality to mankind.
I repeated to him an argument of a lady of my acquaintance, who
maintained, that her husband's having been guilty of numberless
infidelities, released her from conjugal obligations, because they were
reciprocal. JOHNSON. 'This is miserable stuff, Sir. To the contract of
marriage, besides the man and wife, there is a third party--Society;
and if it be considered as a vow--GOD: and, therefore, it cannot be
dissolved by their consent alone. Laws are not made for particular
cases, but for men in general. A woman may be unhappy with her husband;
but she cannot be freed from him without the approbation of the civil
and ecclesiastical power. A man may be unhappy, because he is not so
rich as another; but he is not to seize upon another's property with his
own hand.' BOSWELL. 'But, Sir, this lady does not want that the contract
should be dissolved; she only argues that she may indulge herself in
gallantries with equal freedom as her husband does, provided she takes
care not to introduce a spurious issue into his family. You know, Sir,
what Macrobius has told us of Julia.' JOHNSON. 'This lady of yours, Sir,
I think, is very fit for a brothel.'
Mr. Macbean, authour of the Dictionary of ancient Geography, came in.
He mentioned that he had been forty years absent from Scotland. 'Ah,
Boswell! (said Johnson, smiling,) what would you give to be forty years
from Scotland?' I said, 'I should not like to be so long absent from
the seat of my ancestors.' This gentleman, Mrs. Williams, and Mr. Levet,
dined with us.
Mrs. Williams was very peevish; and I wondered at Johnson's patience
with her now, as I had often done on similar occasions. The truth is,
that his humane consideration of the forlorn and indigent state in which
this lady was left by her father, induced him to treat her with the
utmost tenderness, and even to be desirous of procuring her amusement,
so as sometimes to incommode many of his friends, by carrying her with
him to their houses, where, from her manner of eating, in consequence of
her blindness, she could not but offend the delicacy of persons of nice
sensations.
After coffee, we went to afternoon service in St. Clement's church.
Observing some beggars in the street as we walked along, I said to him
I supposed there was no civilized country in the world, where the misery
of want in the lowest classes of the people was prevented. JOHNSON.
'I believe, Sir, there is not; but it is better that some should be
unhappy, than that none should be happy, which would be the case in a
general state of equality.'
When the service was ended, I went home with him, and we sat quietly by
ourselves.
Upon the question whether a man who had been guilty of vicious actions
would do well to force himself into solitude and sadness; JOHNSON. 'No,