Boswell's Life of Johnson
money." Now you cannot be sure; for you have only your own opinion, and
the publick may think very differently.' SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 'You must
upon such an occasion have two judgements; one as to the real value
of the work, the other as to what may please the general taste at the
time.' JOHNSON. 'But you can be SURE of neither; and therefore I should
scruple much to give a suppressive vote. Both Goldsmith's comedies
were once refused; his first by Garrick, his second by Colman, who was
prevailed on at last by much solicitation, nay, a kind of force, to
bring it on. His Vicar of Wakefield I myself did not think would have
had much success. It was written and sold to a bookseller before his
Traveller; but published after; so little expectation had the bookseller
from it. Had it been sold after the Traveller he might have had twice
as much money for it, though sixty guineas was no mean price. The
bookseller had the advantage of Goldsmith's reputation from The
Traveller in the sale, though Goldsmith had it not in selling the copy.'
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 'The Beggar's Opera affords a proof how strangely
people will differ in opinion about a literary performance. Burke thinks
it has no merit.' JOHNSON. 'It was refused by one of the houses; but I
should have thought it would succeed, not from any great excellence in
the writing, but from the novelty, and the general spirit and gaiety of
the piece, which keeps the audience always attentive, and dismisses them
in good humour.'
We went to the drawing-room, where was a considerable increase of
company. Several of us got round Dr. Johnson, and complained that he
would not give us an exact catalogue of his works, that there might be a
complete edition. He smiled, and evaded our entreaties. That he intended
to do it, I have no doubt, because I have heard him say so; and I
have in my possession an imperfect list, fairly written out, which he
entitles Historia Studiorum. I once got from one of his friends a list,
which there was pretty good reason to suppose was accurate, for it was
written down in his presence by this friend, who enumerated each article
aloud, and had some of them mentioned to him by Mr. Levett, in concert
with whom it was made out; and Johnson, who heard all this, did not
contradict it. But when I shewed a copy of this list to him, and
mentioned the evidence for its exactness, he laughed, and said, 'I was
willing to let them go on as they pleased, and never interfered.' Upon
which I read it to him, article by article, and got him positively to
own or refuse; and then, having obtained certainty so far, I got some
other articles confirmed by him directly; and afterwards, from time to
time, made additions under his sanction.
The conversation having turned on Bon-Mots, be quoted, from one of the
Ana, an exquisite instance of flattery in a maid of honour in France,
who being asked by the Queen what o'clock it was, answered, 'What your
Majesty pleases.' He admitted that Mr. Burke's classical pun upon Mr.
Wilkes's being carried on the shoulders of the mob,--
'-------------Numerisque fertur
Lege solutus,'
was admirable; and though he was strangely unwilling to allow to that
extraordinary man the talent of wit, he also laughed with approbation at
another of his playful conceits; which was, that 'Horace has in one line
given a description of a good desirable manour:--
"Est modus in rebus, sunt certi denique fines;"
that is to say, a modus as to the tithes and certain fines.'
He observed, 'A man cannot with propriety speak of himself, except
he relates simple facts; as, "I was at Richmond:" or what depends
on mensuration; as, "I am six feet high." He is sure he has been at
Richmond; he is sure he is six feet high: but he cannot be sure he is
wise, or that he has any other excellence. Then, all censure of a man's
self is oblique praise. It is in order to shew how much he can spare.
It has all the invidiousness of self-praise, and all the reproach of
falsehood.'
On Tuesday, April 28, he was engaged to dine at General Paoli's,
where, as I have already observed, I was still entertained in elegant
hospitality, and with all the ease and comfort of a home. I called on
him, and accompanied him in a hackney-coach. We stopped first at the
bottom of Hedgelane, into which he went to leave a letter, 'with good
news for a poor man in distress,' as he told me. I did not question him
particularly as to this. He himself often resembled Lady Bolingbroke's
Lively description of Pope; that 'he was un politique aux choux et aux
raves.' He would say, 'I dine to-day in Grosvenor-square;' this might be
with a Duke: or, perhaps, 'I dine to-day at the other end of the town:'
or, 'A gentleman of great eminence called on me yesterday.' He loved
thus to keep things floating in conjecture: Omne ignotum pro magnifico
est. I believe I ventured to dissipate the cloud, to unveil the mystery,
more freely and frequently than any of his friends. We stopped again at
Wirgman's, the well-known toy-shop, in St. James's-street, at the corner
of St. James's-place, to which he had been directed, but not clearly,
for he searched about some time, and could not find it at first; and
said, 'To direct one only to a corner shop is TOYING with one.' I
suppose he meant this as a play upon the word toy: it was the first time
that I knew him stoop to such sport. After he had been some time in the
shop, he sent for me to come out of the coach, and help him to choose
a pair of silver buckles, as those he had were too small. Probably this
alteration in dress had been suggested by Mrs. Thrale, by associating
with whom, his external appearance was much improved. He got better
cloaths; and the dark colour, from which he never deviated, was
enlivened by metal buttons. His wigs, too, were much better; and during
their travels in France, he was furnished with a Paris-made wig,
of handsome construction. This choosing of silver buckles was a
negociation: 'Sir, (said he,) I will not have the ridiculous large ones
now in fashion; and I will give no more than a guinea for a pair.' Such
were the PRINCIPLES of the business; and, after some examination, he was
fitted. As we drove along, I found him in a talking humour, of which I
availed myself. BOSWELL. 'I was this morning in Ridley's shop, Sir; and
was told, that the collection called Johnsoniana has sold very much.'
JOHNSON. 'Yet the Journey to the Hebrides has not had a great sale.'
BOSWELL. 'That is strange.' JOHNSON. 'Yes, Sir; for in that book I have
told the world a great deal that they did not know before.'
BOSWELL. 'I drank chocolate, Sir, this morning with Mr. Eld; and, to my
no small surprize, found him to be a Staffordshire Whig, a being which
I did not believe had existed.' JOHNSON. 'Sir, there are rascals in all
countries.' BOSWELL. 'Eld said, a Tory was a creature generated between
a non-juring parson and one's grandmother.' JOHNSON. 'And I have always
said, the first Whig was the Devil.' BOSWELL. 'He certainly was, Sir.
The Devil was impatient of subordination; he was the first who resisted
power:--
"Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven."'
At General Paoli's were Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr. Langton, Marchese
Gherardi of Lombardy, and Mr. John Spottiswoode the younger, of
Spottiswoode, the solicitor.
We talked of drinking wine. JOHNSON. 'I require wine only when I
am alone. I have then often wished for it, and often taken it.'
SPOTTISWOODE. 'What, by way of a companion, Sir?' JOHNSON. 'To get rid
of myself, to send myself away. Wine gives great pleasure; and every
pleasure is of itself a good. It is a good, unless counterbalanced by
evil. A man may have a strong reason not to drink wine; and that may be
greater than the pleasure. Wine makes a man better pleased with himself.
I do not say that it makes him more pleasing to others. Sometimes it
does. But the danger is, that while a man grows better pleased with
himself, he may be growing less pleasing to others. Wine gives a man
nothing. It neither gives him knowledge nor wit; it only animates a man,
and enables him to bring out what a dread of the company had repressed.
It only puts in motion what has been locked up in frost. But this may
be good, or it may be bad.' SPOTTISWOODE. 'So, Sir, wine is a key which
opens a box; but this box may be either full or empty.' JOHNSON. 'Nay,
Sir, conversation is the key: wine is a pick-lock, which forces open the
box and injures it. A man should cultivate his mind so as to have that
confidence and readiness without wine, which wine gives.' BOSWELL. 'The
great difficulty of resisting wine is from benevolence. For instance,
a good worthy man asks you to taste his wine, which he has had twenty
years in his cellar.' JOHNSON. 'Sir, all this notion about benevolence
arises from a man's imagining himself to be of more importance to
others, than he really is. They don't care a farthing whether he drinks
wine or not.' SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 'Yes, they do for the time.' JOHNSON.
'For the time!--If they care this minute, they forget it the next. And
as for the good worthy man; how do you know he is good and worthy? No
good and worthy man will insist upon another man's drinking wine. As to
the wine twenty years in the cellar,--of ten men, three say this, merely
because they must say something;--three are telling a lie, when they
say they have had the wine twenty years;--three would rather save the
wine;--one, perhaps, cares. I allow it is something to please one's
company: and people are always pleased with those who partake pleasure
with them. But after a man has brought himself to relinquish the
great personal pleasure which arises from drinking wine, any other
consideration is a trifle. To please others by drinking wine, is
something only, if there be nothing against it. I should, however, be
sorry to offend worthy men:--
"Curst be the verse, how well so e'er it flow,
That tends to make one worthy man my foe."'
BOSWELL. 'Curst be the SPRING, the WATER.' JOHNSON. 'But let us consider
what a sad thing it would be, if we were obliged to drink or do any
thing else that may happen to be agreeable to the company where we are.'
LANGTON. 'By the same rule you must join with a gang of cut-purses.'
JOHNSON. 'Yes, Sir: but yet we must do justice to wine; we must allow it
the power it possesses. To make a man pleased with himself, let me tell
you, is doing a very great thing;
"Si patriae volumus, si Nobis vivere cari."'
I was at this time myself a water-drinker, upon trial, by Johnson's
recommendation. JOHNSON. 'Boswell is a bolder combatant than Sir Joshua:
he argues for wine without the help of wine; but Sir Joshua with it.'
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 'But to please one's company is a strong motive.'
JOHNSON. (who, from drinking only water, supposed every body who drank
wine to be elevated,) 'I won't argue any more with you, Sir. You are too
far gone.' SIR JOSHUA. 'I should have thought so indeed, Sir, had I made
such a speech as you have now done.' JOHNSON. (drawing himself in, and,
I really thought blushing,) 'Nay, don't be angry. I did not mean to
offend you.' SIR JOSHUA. 'At first the taste of wine was disagreeable to
me; but I brought myself to drink it, that I might be like other
people. The pleasure of drinking wine is so connected with pleasing your
company, that altogether there is something of social goodness in it.'
JOHNSON. 'Sir, this is only saying the same thing over again.' SIR
JOSHUA. 'No, this is new.' JOHNSON. 'You put it in new words, but it is
an old thought. This is one of the disadvantages of wine. It makes a man
mistake words for thoughts.' BOSWELL. 'I think it is a new thought; at
least, it is in a new ATTITUDE.' JOHNSON. 'Nay, Sir, it is only in a new