ed vigorous resolution against any deviation from moral duty. BOSWELL." But you would not have me to bind myself by a solemn obligation?" JOHNSON (much agitated). "What! a vow!—O, no, sir, a vow is a horrible thing! it is a snare for sin. The man who cannot go to heaven without a vow, may go-1." Here, standing erect in the middle of his library, and rolling grand, his pause was truly a curious compound of the solemn and the ludicrous: he half-whistled in his usual way when pleasant, and he paused as if checked by religious awe. Methought he would have added, to hell, but was restrained. I humoured the dilemma. "What, sir!" said I, "In cælum jusseris ibit?'"-Juv. 3 Sat. alluding to his imitation of it, "And bid him go to hell, to hell he goes." I had mentioned to him a slight fault in his noble "Imitation of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal," a too near recurrence of the verb spread in his description of the young enthusiast at college: "Through all his veins the fever of renown Spreads from the strong contagion of the gown; O'er Bodley's dome his future labours spread, And Bacon's mansion trembles o'er his head. " He had desired me to change spreads to burns; but for perfect authenticity, I now had it done with his own hand 2. I thought this alteration not only cured the fault, but was more poetical, as it might carry an allusion to the shirt by which Hercules was inflamed. We had a quiet, comfortable meeting at Mr. Dilly's; nobody there but ourselves. Mr. Dilly mentioned somebody having wished that Milton's "Tractate on Education" should be printed along with his Poems in the edition of the English Poets then going on. JOHNSON, "It would be breaking in upon the plan; but would be of no great consequence. So far as it would be any thing, it would be wrong. Education in England has been in danger of being hurt by two of its greatest men, Milton and Locke. Milton's plan is impracticable, and I suppose has never been tried. Locke's, I fancy, has been tried often enough, but is very imperfect; it gives too much to one side, and too little to the other; it gives too little to literature.-I shall do what I can for Dr. Watts; but my materials are very scanty. His poems are by no means his best works; I cannot praise his poetry itself highly; but I can praise its design." 1 [See ante, vol. i. p. 234.-ED.] The slip of paper on which he made the correction is deposited by me in the noble library to which it relates, and to which I have presented other pieces of his handwriting.-BOSWELL. My illustrious friend and I parted with assurances of affectionate regard. I wrote to him on the 25th of May, from Thorpe, in Yorkshire, one of the seats of Mr. Bosville, and gave him an account of my having passed a day at Lincoln, unexpectedly, and therefore without having any letters of introduction, but that I had been honoured with civilities from the Reverend Mr. Simpson, an acquaintance of his 3, and Captain Broadley, of the Lincolnshire militia; but more particularly from the Reverend Dr. Gordon, the chancellor, who first received me with great politeness as a stranger, and, when I informed him who I was, entertained me at his house with the most flattering attention: I also expressed the pleasure with which I had found that our worthy friend, Langton, was highly esteemed in his own county town. "TO DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. "Edinburgh, 18th June, 1778. "MY DEAR SIR, * "Since my return to Scotland, I have been again at Lanark, and have had more conversation with Thomson's sister. It is strange that Murdoch, who was his intimate friend, should have mistaken his mother's maiden name, which he says was Hume, whereas Hume was the name of his grandmother by the mother's side. His mother's name was Beatrix Trotter 4, a daughter of Mr. Trotter of Fogo, a small proprietor of land. Thomson had one brother, whom he had with him in England as his amanuensis; but he was seized with a consumption, and having returned to Scotland, to try what his native air would do for him, died young. He had three sisters; one married to Mr. Bell, minister of the parish of Strathaven, one to Mr. Craig, father of the ingenious architect, who gave the plan of the New Town of Edinburgh, and one to Mr. Thomson, master of the grammar-school at Lanark. He was of a humane and benevolent disposition; not only sent valuable presents to his sisters, but a yearly allowance in money, and was always wishing to have it in his power to do them more good. Lord Lyttelton's observation, that he loathed much to write,' was very true. His letters to his sister, Mrs. Thomson, were not frequent, and in one of them he says, 'All my friends who know me, know how backward I am to 3 [Probably brother of the gentleman to whom he addressed the letter, ante, vol. i. p. 150, and vol. ii. p. 59.-ED.] 4 Dr. Johnson was by no means attentive to minute accuracy in his "Lives of the Poets;" for, notwithstanding my having detected this mistake, he continued it.-BosWELL. ardly. What I told him of the increasing expense of a growing family, seems to have struck him. He certainly had gone on with very confused views, and we have, I think, shown him that he is wrong; though, with the common deficience of advisers, we have not shown him how to do right. write letters; and never impute the negli- | his beams. This is natural, but it is cowgence of my hand to the coldness of my heart.' I send you a copy of the last letter which she had from him; she never heard that he had any intention of going into holy orders. From this late interview with his sister, I think much more favourably of him, as I hope you will. I am eager to see more of your Prefaces to the Poets: I solace myself with the few proof-sheets which I have. "I send another parcel of Lord Hailes's 'Annals,' which you will please to return to me as soon as you conveniently can. He says, 'he wishes you would cut a little deeper;' but he may be proud that there is so little occasion to use the critical knife. I ever am, my dear sir, your faithful and affectionate humble servant, "JAMES Boswell." 66 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. "SIR,-I have received two letters from you, of which the second complains of the neglect shown to the first. You must not tie your friends to such punctual correspondence. You have all possible assurances of my affection and esteem; and there ought to be no need of reiterated professions. When it may happen that I can give you either counsel or comfort, I hope it will never happen to me that I should neglect you: but you must not think me criminal or cold, if I say nothing when I have nothing to say. "You are now happy enough. Mrs. Boswell is recovered; and I congratulate you upon the probability of her long life. If general approbation will add any thing to your enjoyment, I can tell you that I have heard you mentioned as a man whom every body likes. I think life has little more to give. 1 has gone to his regiment. He has laid down his coach, and talks of making more contractions of his expense: how he will succeed, I know not. It is difficult to reform a household gradually; it may be done better by a system totally new. I am afraid he has always something to hide. When we pressed him to go to 2, "I wish you would a little correct or restrain your imagination, and imagine that happiness, such as life admits, may be had at other places as well as London. Without affecting 5 Stoicism, it may be said, that it is our business to exempt ourselves as much as we can from the power of external things. There is but one solid basis of happiness; and that is, the reasonable hope of a happy futurity. This may be had everywhere. "I do not blame your preference to London to other places, for it is really to be preferred, if the choice is free; but few have the choice of their place, or their manner of life; and mere pleasure ought not to be the prime motive of action. "Mrs. Thrale, poor thing, has a daughter. Mr. Thrale dislikes the times, like the rest of us. Mrs. Williams is sick; Mrs. Desmoulins is poor. I have miserable nights. Nobody is well but Mr. Levett. I am, dear sir, your most, &c. "SAM. JOHNSON." Mr. Langton has been pleased, at my request, to favour me with some particulars of Dr. Johnson's visit to Warley-camp, where this gentleman was at the time stationed as a captain in the Lincolnshire militia. I shall give them in his own words in a letter to me. It was in the summer of the year 1778, that he complied with my invitation to come down to the camp at Warley, and he staid with me about a week; the scene appeared, notwithstanding a great degree of ill health that he seemed to labour under, to interest and amuse him, as agreeing with the disposition that I believe you know he constantly manifested towards inquiring into subjects of the military kind. He sate, with a patient degree of attention, to observe the proceedings of a regimental courtmartial, that happened to be called in the time of his stay with us; and one night, as late as at eleven o'clock, he accompanied the major of the regiment in going what are styled the rounds, where he might observe the forms of visiting the guards, for the seeing that they and their sentries are ready in their duty on their several posts He took occasion to converse at times or 3 [The Wey canal, from Guildford to Wey-military topics, once in particular, that I bridge, in which he had a considerable share, which see the mention of, in your Journal of a his grandson now possesses.-ED.] he objected the necessity of attending his 1 [Langton.-ED.] 2 [Langton.-ED.] [His lady and family, it appears, were in Scotland at this period.-ED.] [In former editions "asserting❞—emended by Mr. Malone.-ED.] Tour to the Hebrides,' which lies open be- | fore me, as to gunpowder; which he spoke of to the same effect, in part, that you relate. "On one occasion, when the regiment were going through their exercise, he went quite close to the men at one of the extremities of it, and watched all their practices attentively; and, when he came away, his remark was, 'The men indeed do load their musquets and fire with wonderful celerity.' He was likewise particular in requiring to know what was the weight of the musket balls in use, and within what distance they might be expected to take effect when fired off. "In walking among the tents, and observing the difference between those of the officers and private men, he said, that the superiority of accommodation of the better conditions of life, to that of the inferior ones, was never exhibited to him in so distinct a view. The civilities paid to him in the camp were, from the gentlemen of the Lincolnshire regiment, one of the officers of which accommodated him with a tent in which he slept; and from General Hall, who very courteously invited him to dine with him, where he appeared to be very well pleased with his entertainment, and the civilities he received on the part of the General 2; the attention likewise of the General's aid-de-camp, Captain Smith, seemed to be very welcome to him, as appeared by their engaging in a great deal of discourse together. The gentlemen of the East-York regiment likewise, on being informed of his coming, solicited his company at dinner, but by that time he had fixed his departure, so that he could not comply with the invitation." In the course of this year there was a difference between him and his friend Mr. Strahan; the particulars of which it is unnecessary to relate. Their reconciliation was communicated to me in a letter from Mr. Strahan in the following words: "The notes I showed you that past between him and me were dated in March last. The matter lay dormant till 27th July, when he wrote to me as follows: · TO WILLIAM STRAHAN, ESQ. 'SIR, It would be very foolish for us to continue strangers any longer. You can never by persistency make wrong right. If I resented too acrimoniously, I resented only to yourself. Nobody ever saw or [Ante, vol. i. p. 363.-BoswELL.] 2 When I one day at court expressed to General Hall my sense of the honour he had done my friend, he politely answered, "Sir, I did myself honour."-BOSWELL. "As to Dr. Coilier's 3 epitaph, Nollekens has had it so long, that I vol. ii have forgotten how long. You never had it. p. 20. "There is a print of Mrs. Montague, and I shall think myself very ill rewarded for my love and admiration if she does not give me one; she will give it nobody in whom it will excite more respectful sentiments. But I never could get any thing from her but by pushing a face; and so, if you please, you may tell her. "When I called the other day at Burney's, I found only the young ones at home; at last came the doctor and madam, from a dinner in the country, to tell how they had been robbed as they returned. The doctor saved his purse, but gave them three guineas and some silver, of which they returned him three-and-sixpence, unasked, to pay the turnpike. "I have sat twice to Joshua, and he seems to like his own performance. He has projected another, in which I am to be busy; but we can think on it at leisure. "Mrs. Williams is come home better, and the habitation is all concord and harmony; only Mr. Levett harbours discontent. "With Dr. Lawrence's consent, I have, for the two last nights, taken musk: the first night was a worse night than common, the second, a better; but not so much better as that I dare ascribe any virtue to the medicine. I took a scruple each time 3 [Dr. Collier, of the Commons, an early friend of Mrs. Thrale's, who died 23d May, 1777. -ED.] We surely cannot but admire the benevolent exertions of this great and good man, especially when we consider how grievously he was afflicted with bad health, and how uncomfortable his home was made by the perpetual jarring of those whom he charitably accommodated under his roof. He has sometimes suffered me to talk jocularly of his group of females, and call them his Seraglio. He thus mentions them, together with honest Levett, in one of his letters to Mrs. Thrale; "Williams hates every body; Levett hates Desmoulins, and does not love Williams; Desmoulins hates them both; Poll loves none of them." Hawk. p. 408. [These connexions exposed him to trouble and incessant solicitation, which he bore well enough; but his inmates were enemies to his peace, and occasioned him great disquiet: the jealousy that subsisted among them rendered his dwelling irksome to him, and he seldom approached it, after an evening's conversation abroad, but with the dread of finding it a scene of discord, and of having his ears filled with the complaints of Mrs. Williams of Frank's neglect of his duty and inattention to the interests of his master, and of Frank against Mrs. Williams, for the authority she assumed over him, and exercised with an unwarrantable severity. Even those intruders who had taken shelter under his roof, and who, in his absence from home, brought thither their children, found cause to murmur; "their provision of food was scanty, or their dinners ill dressed;" all which he chose to endure rather than put an end to their clamours by ridding his home of such thankless and troublesome guests. Nay, so insensible was he of the ingratitude of those whom he suffered thus to hang upon him, and among whom he may be said to have divided an income which was little more than sufficient for his own support, that he would submit to reproach and personal affront from some of them; even Levett would sometimes insult him, and Mrs. Williams, in her paroxysms 1 Miss Carmichael.-BoswELL. [The editor has not learned how this lady was connected with Dr. Johnson.-Ed.] of rage, has been known to drive him from her presence.] "T CAPTAIN LANGTON 2, WARLEY-CAMP. "31st October, 1778. "DEAR SIR,-When I recollect how long ago I was received with so much kindness at Warley common, I am ashamed that I have not made some inquiries after my friends. "Pray how many sheep-stealers did you convict? and how did you punish them? When are you to be cantoned in better habitations? The air grows cold, and the ground damp. Longer stay in the camp cannot be without much danger to the health of the common men, if even the officers can escape. "You see that Dr. Percy is now dean of Carlisle; about five hundred a year, with a power of presenting himself to some good living. He is provided for. "The session of the Club is to commence with that of the parliament. Mr. Banks 3 desires to be admitted; he will be a very honourable accession. "Did the king please you4? The Cox heath men, I think, have some reason to complain 5. Reynolds says your camp is better than theirs. "I hope you find yourself able to encounter this weather. Take care of your own health; and, as you can, of your men. Be pleased to make my compliments to all the gentlemen whose notice I have had, and whose kindness I have experienced. I am, dear sir, your most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." I wrote to him on the 18th of August, the 18th of September, and the 6th of November; informing him of my having had another son born, whom I had called James6, that I had passed some time at Auchinleck; that the Countess of Loudoun, now in her 2 Dr. Johnson here addresses his worthy friend, Bennet Langton, Esq. by his title as captain of the Lincolnshire militia, in which he has since been most deservedly raised to the rank of major. BOSWELL. 3 [Afterwards Sir Joseph.-ED.] 4 [His majesty and the queen visited Warley Camp on the 20th October.-ED.] 5 [Of the King's not visiting that camp as well as Warley, which, however, he did, on the 3d November.-ED.] few notes to this work. [This was the gentleman who contributed a He was of Brazenose College, and a Vinerian Fellow, and died in FebHALL. The editor had the pleasure of his acruary, 1822, at his chambers, in the Temple.-quaintance. He published an edition of Shakspeare; was very convivial; and in other respects like his father, though altogether on a smaller scale.-ED.] maety ninth year, was as fresh as when he saw her, and remembered him with respect; and that his mother by adoption, the Countess of Eglintoune, had said to me, "Tell Mr. Johnson, I love him exceedingly; " that I had again suffered much from bad spirits; and that as it was very long since I heard from him, I was not a little uneasy. The continuance of his regard for his friend, Dr. Burney, appears from the following letters: "TO THE REVEREND DR. WHEELER OXFORD. "London, 2d November, 1778. , “DEAR SIR, Dr. Burney, who brings this paper, is engaged in a History of Musick; and having been told by Dr. Markham of some MSS. relating to his subject, which are in the library of your college, is desirous to examine them. He is my friend; and therefore I take the liberty of entreating your favour and assistance in his inquiry; and can assure you, with great confidence, that if you knew him he would not want any intervenient solicitation to obtain the kindness of one who loves learning and virtue as you love them. "I have been flattering myself all the summer with the hope of paying my annual visit to my friends; but something has obstructed me: I still hope not to be long without seeing you. I should be glad of a little literary talk; and glad to show you, by the frequency of my visits, how eagerly I love it, when you talk it. I am, dear sir, your most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." "TO THE Reverend dr. edwARDS 2, OXFORD. "London, 2d November, 1778. "SIR,-The bearer, Dr. Burney, has had some account of a Welsh manuscript in the Bodleian library, from which he hopes to gain some materials for his History of Musick; but being ignorant of the language, is at a loss where to find assistance. I make no doubt but you, sir, can help him through his difficulties, and therefore take the liberty of recommending him to your favour, as I am sure you will find him a man worthy of 1 [Benjamin Wheeler was entered at Trinity College, November 12, 1751, at the age of from that house in 1758, he removed to Magdalen eighteen. Having taken the degree of M. A. College, where he became B. D. 1769, and D. D. the year following. In 1776 he was appointed Regius Professor of Divinity and Canon of Christ Church, in which he was succeeded by Dr. Randolph, late Bishop of London, in 1783.HALL.] 2 [Edward Edwards entered at Jesus College 1743, æt. 17; M. A. 1749; B. D. 1756; and D. D. 1760.-HALL.] every civility that can be shown, and every benefit that can be conferred "But we must not let Welsh drive u from Greek. What comes of Xenophon 3? If you do not like the trouble of publishing the book, do not let your commentaries be lost; contrive that they may be published somewhere. I am, sir, your humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." These letters procured Dr. Burney great kindness and friendly offices from both of these gentlemen, not only on that occasion, but in future visits to the university. The same year Dr. Johnson not only wrote to Joseph Warton in favour of Dr. Burney's youngest son, who was to be placed in the college of Winchester, but accompanied him when he went thither. "TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. "21st November, 1778. "DEAR SIR,-It is indeed a long time since I wrote, and I think you have some reason to complain; however, you must not let small things disturb you, when you have such a fine addition to your happiness as a new boy, and I hope your lady's health restored by bringing him. It seems very probable that a little care will now restore her, if any remains of her complaints are left. "You seem, if I understand your letter, to be gaining ground at Auchinleck, an incident that would give me great delight. * * "When any fit of anxiety, or gloominess, or perversion of mind lays hold upon you, make it a rule not to publish it by complaints, but exert your whole care to hide it; by endeavouring to hide it, you will drive it away. Be always busy. "The Club is to meet with the parliament; we talk of electing Banks, the traveller; he will be a reputable member. 66 Langton has been encamped with his company of militia on Warley-common; I spent five days amongst them; he signalised himself as a diligent officer, and has very high respect in the regiment. He presided when I was there at a court-martial; he is now quartered in Hertfordshire; his lady and little ones are in Scotland. Paoli came to the camp, and commended the soldiers. "Of myself I have no great matters to that I have had these twenty years was at say: my health is not restored; my nights are restless and tedious. The best night Fort-Augustus. "I hope soon to send you a few lives to read. I am, dear sir, your most affectionate, "SAM. JOHNSON." 3 [Dr. Edwards was preparing an edition of Xenophon's Memorabilia, which, however, he did not live to publish.---En | |