66 TO DR. LAWRENCE.

"20th January, 1780. "DEAR SIR,-At a time when all your friends ought to show their kindness, and with a character which ought to make all that know you your friends, you may wonder that you have yet heard nothing from

me.

"I have been hindered by a vexatious and incessant cough, for which within these ten days I have been bled once, fasted four or five times, taken physick five times, and opiates, I think, six.. This day it seems to remit.

"The loss, dear sir, which you have lately suffered, I felt many years ago, and know therefore how much has been taken from you, and how little help can be had from consolation. He that outlives a wife whom he has long loved, sees himself disjoined from the only mind that has the same hopes, and fears, and interest; from the only companion with whom he has shared much good or evil; and with whom he could set his mind at liberty, to retrace the past or anticipate the future. The continuity of being is lacerated; the settled course of sentiment and action is stopped; and life stands suspended and motionless, till it is driven by external causes into a new channel. But the time of suspense is dreadful.

"Our first recourse in this distressed solitude is, perhaps for want of habitual piety, to a gloomy acquiescence in necessity. Of two mortal beings, one must lose the other. But surely there is a higher and better comfort to be drawn from the consideration of that Providence which watches over all, and a belief that the living and the dead are equally in the hands of God, who will reunite those whom he has separated, or who sees that it is best not to reunite. I am, dear sir, your most affectionate and most humble servant,

ED.

"SAM. JOHNSON."

[In the spring of this year Dr. Johnson's society lost one of its brightest ornaments by the death of Mr. Beauclerk1. The charms of conversation -like those of acting-are transient; and of the social talents of Beauclerk, as of the dramatic powers of Garrick, little can remain, but the general testimony of cotemporaries to their excellence. Mr. Hardy has preserved Lord Charlemont's opinion of Mr. Beauclerk, with whom he was much connected. conversation," said his lordship, "could scarcely be equalled. He possessed an exquisite taste, vari

Life of
Charle-

mont,
vol. i.
p. 344, 347.

"His

[He died 11th March, in his forty-first year. ED.]

good breeding. He was eccentric-often querulous-entertaining a contempt for the generality of the world, which the politeness of his manners could not always con ceal; but to those whom he liked most ge, nerous and friendly. Devoted at one moment to pleasure, and at another to literature, sometimes absorbed in play, and sometimes in books, he was, altogether, one of the most accomplished and, when in good humour, and surrounded by those who suited his fancy, one of the most agreeable men that could possibly exist." Mr. Hardy has preserved a few of Mr. Beauclerk's letters to Lord Charlemont, which are probably characteristic of his style, and one or two which touch on Johnson and his society the reader will perhaps not think misplaced here.

MR. BEAUCLERK TO THE EARL OF CHARLEMONT.

I am

"Adelphi, 20th Nov. 1773. "MY DEAR LORD,-I delayed writing to you, as I had flattered myself that I should have been able to have paid you a visit at Dublin before this time; but I have been prevented, not by my own negligence and indolence, but by various matters. rejoiced to find by your letter that Lady Charlemont is as you wish. I have yet remaining so much benevolence towards mankind, as to wish that there may be a son of yours educated by you as a specimen of what mankind ought to be.

"Goldsmith the other day put a paragraph into the newspapers in praise of Lord Mayor Townshend.. The same night he happened to sit next to Sord Shelburne, at Drury-lane; I mentioned the cir cumstance of the paragraph to him, and he said to Goldsmith that he hoped he had mentioned nothing about Malagrida in it. Do you know,' answered Goldsmith, that I never could conceive the reason why they call you Malagrida, for Malagrida was a very good sort of man.' You see plainly what he meant to say, but that happy turn of expression is peculiar to himself. Mr. Walpole says that this story is a picture of Goldsmith's whole life.

"Johnson has been confined for some weeks in the Isle of Sky; we hear that he was obliged to swim over to the main land, taking hold of a cow's tail. Be that as it may, Lady Di3 has promised to make a drawing of it.

2 [See post, 23d March, 1783.-ED.] 3 [Ante, vol. i. p. 316. was much celebrated, and Mr. Walpole built a Lady Di's pencil room for the reception of some of her drawings, which he called the Beauclerk closet: but the editor has never seen any of her ladyship's works which seemed to him to merit, as mere works of art, such high reputation.-ED.]

"Our poor club is in a miserable state of decay; unless you come and relieve it, it will certainly expire. Would you imagine that Sir Joshua Reynolds is extremely anxious to be a member at Almack's1? You see what noble ambition will make a man attempt. That den is not yet opened, consequently I have not been there; so, for the present, I am clear upon that score. suppose your confounded Irish politics take up your whole attention at present. If they could but have obtained the absentee tax, the Irish parliament would have been perfect. They would have voted themselves out of parliament, and lessened their estates one half of the value. This is patriotism with a vengeance! There is nothing new at present in the literary world. Mr. Jones2, of our club, is going to publish an account, in Latin, of the eastern poetry, with extracts translated verbatim in verse. I will order Elmsly 3 to send it to you, when it comes out; I fancy it will be a very pretty book. Goldsmith has written a prologue for Mrs. Yates, which she spoke this evening before the Opera. It is very good. You will see it soon in all the newspapers, otherwise I would send it to you. I hope to hear in your next letter that you have fixed your time for returning to England. We cannot do without you. If you do not come here, I will bring all the club over to Ireland, to live with you, and that will drive you here in your own defence. Johnson shall spoil your books, Goldsmith pull your flowers, and Boswell talk to you: stay then if you can. Adieu, my dear lord. Pray make my compliments to Lady Charlemont, and believe me to be very sincerely and affectionately yours,

"T. BEAUCLERK."

either to the happiness or misery of any one.

"I saw a letter from Foote, with an account of an Irish tragedy; the subject is Manlius, and the last speech which he makes, when he is pushed off from the Tarpeian rock, is, Sweet Jesus, where am I going?' Pray send me word if this is true. We have a good comedy 5 here which is good for nothing; bad as it is, however, it succeeds very well, and has almost killed Goldsmith with envy.

"I have no news either literary or political to send you. Every body, except myself and about a million of vulgars, are in the country. I am closely confined, as Lady Di expects to be every hour. I am, my dear lord, very sincerely and affectionately yours, “T. BEAUCLERK.”]

"TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

"8th April, 1780. "DEAR SIR,-Well, I had resolved to send you the Chesterfield letter 6, but I will write once again without it. Never impose tasks upon mortals. To require two things is the way to have them both undone.

"For the difficulties which you mention in your affairs, I am sorry; but difficulty is now very general: it is not therefore less grievous, for there is less hope of help. I pretend not to give you advice, not knowing the state of your affairs; and general counsels about prudence and frugality would do you little good. You are, however, in the right not to increase your own perplexity by a journey hither; and I hope that by staying at home you will please your father.

MONT.

"Adelphi, 24th Dec. 1773. "MY DEAR LORD,-I hope you received a letter from me some time ago; I mention this that I may not appear worse than I am, and likewise to hint to you that, when you receive this, you will be two letters in my debt. I hope your parliament has finished all its absurdities, and that you will be at leisure to come over here to attend your club, where you will do much more good than all the patriots in the world ever did to any body, viz. you will make very many of your friends extremely happy; and you know Goldsmith has informed us that no form of government ever contributed

[At this period a gaming club.-ED.] 2 [Sir William Jones.-En.]

3 [The bookseller.-ED.]

4 [The reader will observe Mr. Beauclerk's estimate of Boswell's conversation.-ED.]

and reasoning, are now over. Such another will not often be found among mankind. He directed himself to be buried by the side of his mother, an instance of tenderness which I hardly expected. He has left his children to the care of Lady Di, and if she dies, of Mr. Langton, and of Mr. Leicester his relation, and a man of good character. His library has been offered to sale to the Russian ambassador 7.

"Dr. Percy, notwithstanding all the noise of the newspapers, has had no literary loss. Clothes and moveables were

burnt to the value of about one hundred pounds; but his papers, and I think his books, were all preserved.

"Poor Mr. Thrale has been in extreme danger from an apoplectical disorder, and recovered, beyond the expectation of his physicians: he is now at Bath, that his mind may be quiet, and Mrs. Thrale and Miss are with him.

"Having told you what has happened to your friends, let me say something to you of yourself. You are always complaining of melancholy, and I conclude from those complaints that you are fond of it. No man talks of that which he is desirous to conceal, and every man desires to conceal that of which he is ashamed. Do not pretend to deny it; manifestum habemus fu- rem. Make it an invariable and obligatory law to yourself, never to mention your own mental diseases. If you are never to speak of them, you will think on them but little; and if you think little of them, they will molest you rarely. When you talk of them, it is plain that you want either praise or pity: for praise there is no room, and pity will do you no good; therefore, from this hour speak no more, think no more, about them.

"Your transaction with Mrs. Stewart 1 gave me great satisfaction. I am much obliged to you for your attention. Do not lose sight of her. Your countenance may be of great credit, and of consequence of great advantage to her. The memory of her brother is yet fresh in my mind: he was an ingenious and worthy man.

"Please to make my compliments to your lady and to the young ladies. I should like to see them, pretty loves! `I am, dear sir, yours affectionately,

"SAM. JOHNSON."

at the fire at Northumberland-house; but I was present when his apartments were in flames, and can explicitly declare that all his books and papers were safely removed."-Cradock's Memoirs, p. 43.-ED.]

1 [See ante, p. 225.-ED.]

2 [Here Mr. Boswell had prefaced the introduction of the letter of the 28th April by the following words: "I shall present my readers with one of her original letters to him at this time, which will amuse them probably more than those well-written, but studied epistles which she has inserted in her collection, because it exhibits the easy vivacity of their literary intercourse. It is also of value as a key to Johnson's answer, which she has printed by itself, and of which I shall sub

Pearson

"DEAR MADAM,-I am indeed but a sluggish correspondent, and MSS know not whether I shall much mend: however, I will try.

"I am glad that your oysters proved good, for I would have every thing good that belongs to you; and would have your health good, that you may enjoy the rest. My health is better than it has been for some years past; and, if I see Lichfield again, I hope to walk about it.

Your brother's request I have not forgotten. I have bought as many volumes as contain about an hundred and fifty sermons, which I will put in a box, and get Mr. Mathias to send him. I shall add a letter.

"We have been lately much alarmed at Mr. Thrale's. He has had a stroke, like that of an apoplexy; but he has at last got so well as to be at Bath, out of the way of trouble and business, and is likely to be in a short time quite well.

"I hope all the Lichfield ladies are quite well, and that every thing is prosperous among them.

"A few weeks ago I sent you a little stuffgown, such as is all the fashion at this time. Yours is the same with Mrs. Thrale's, and Miss bought it for us. These stuffs are very cheap, and are thought very pretty.

"Pray give my compliments to Mr. Pearson, and to every body, if any such body there be, that cares about me.

"I am now engaged about the rest of the

join extracts.", This insinuation against Mrs. Thrale is quite unfounded: her letters are certainly any thing but studied epistles; and that one which Mr. Boswell has published is not more easy and unaffected, nor in any respect of a different character from those she herself has given.ED.]

3 [Dated in Mrs. Thrale's volume 1779 by mistake.-ED.]

[Spence's very amusing anecdotes, which had been lent Johnson in manuscript: they were not printed till 1820.-Ed.]

"I have lately had colds: the first was pretty bad, with a very troublesome and frequent cough; but by bleeding and physick it was sent away. I have a cold now, but not bad enough for bleeding.

"For some time past, and indeed ever since I left Lichfield last year, I have abated much of my diet, and am, I think, the better for abstinence. I can breathe and move with less difficulty; and I am as well as people of my age commonly are. I hope we shall see one another again some time this year. I am, dear love, your humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON."]

Letters, vol. ii. p. 99-126.

["TO MRS. THrale.

"11th April, 1780. "On Sunday I dined with poor Lawrence, who is deafer than ever. When he was told that Dr. Moisy visited Mr. Thrale, he inquired for what, and said that there was nothing to be done which Nature would not do for herself. On Sunday evening I was at Mr. Vesey's, and there was inquiry about my master; but I told them all good. There was Dr. Barnard of Eton, and we made a noise all the evening: and there was Pepys, and Wraxal till I drove him

away.

"[Miss] Burney said she would writeshe told you a fib. She writes nothing to me. She can write home fast enough. I have a good mind not to let her know that Dr. Barnard, to whom I had recommended her novel 1, speaks of it with great commendation; and that the copy which she lent me has been read by Dr. Lawrence three times over. And yet what a gipsy it is! She no more minds me than if I were a Brangton.

"You are at all places of high resort, and bring home hearts by dozens; while I am seeking for something to say of men about whom I know nothing but their verses, and sometimes very little of them. Now I have begun, however, I do not despair of making an end. Mr. Nicholls holds that Addison is the most taking of all that I have done. I doubt they will not be done before you come away.

"Now you think yourself the first writer in the world for a letter about nothing. Can you write such a letter as this? so miscellaneous, with such noble disdain of regularity, like Shakspeare's works? such graceful negligence of transition, like the ancient

1 1 [Evelina.-ED.]

"London, 25th April, 1780. "How do you think I live? On Thursday I dined with Hamilton 4, and went thence to Mrs. Ord 5. On Friday, with much company, at Mrs. Reynolds's. On Saturday at Dr. Bell's. On Sunday at Dr. Burney's, with your two sweets from Kennington, who are both well; at night came Mrs. Ord, Mr. Harris, and Mr. Greville, &c. On Monday with Reynolds; at night with Lady Lucan; to-day with Mr. Langton; to-morrow with the Bishop of St. Asaph; on Thursday with Mr. Bowles; Friday -; Saturday at the academy 6; Sunday with Mr. Ramsay. "I told Lady Lucan how long it was since she sent to me; but she said I must consider how the world rolls about her.

*

"I not only scour the town from day to day, but many visiters come to me in the morning, so that my work makes no great

2 [Compare this with two former phrases, in which Shakspeare and Mrs. Montagu are mentioned (ante, vol. i. p. 260), and wonder at the inconsistencies to which the greatest genius and the highest spirit may be reduced!-ED.]

[Probably Miss Mulso, afterwards Mrs. Chapone, one of Richardson's female coterie.-ED.] [Probably the Right Honourable W. G. Hamilton.-ED.]

[This lady (a celebrated blue stocking of daughter of Mr. Dillingham, an eminent surgeon. her day) was Miss Anne Dillingham, the only She was early married to Mr. Ord, of Northumberland, who, on his decease, left her a very large property. She died in May, 1808, at the age of

82.

See Gent. Mag, for July, 1808.-ED.] 6 [The annual dinner on opening the Exhibition.-ED.]

progress, but I will try to quicken it. I should certainly like to bustle a little among you, but I am unwilling to quit my post till I have made an end."]

"MRS. THRALE TO DR. JOHNSON.
"Bath, Friday, 28th April. -

"I had a very kind letter from you yesterday, dear sir, with a most circumstantial date 1.

"Yesterday's evening was passed at Mrs. Montagu's. There was Mr. Melmoth 2. I do not like him though, nor he me. It was expected we should have pleased each other; he is, however, just tory enough to hate the Bishop of Peterborough 3 for whiggism, and whig enough to abhor you for toryism.

"Mrs. Montagu flattered him finely; so he had a good afternoon on 't. This evening we spend at a concert. Poor Queeney's sore eyes have just released her: she had a long confinement, and could neither read nor write, so my master treated her, very good-naturedly, with the visits of a young woman in this town, a tailor's daughter, who professes musick, and teaches so as to give six lessons a day to ladies, at five and threepence a lesson. Miss Burney says she is a great performer; and I respect the wench for getting her living so prettily. She is very modest and pretty-mannered, and not seventeen years old.

"You live in a fine whirl indeed. If I did not write regularly, you would half forget me, and that would be very wrong, for I felt my regard for you in my face last night, when the criticisms were going on. "This morning it was all connoisseurship. We went to see some pictures painted by a gentleman-artist, Mr. Taylor, of this place. My master makes one every where, and has got a good dawdling companion to ride with him now. He looks well enough, but I have no notion of health for a man whose mouth cannot be sewed up. Burney and I and Queeney tease him every meal he eats, and Mrs. Montagu is quite serious with him; but what can one do? He will eat, I think; and if he does eat, I know he will not live. It makes me very unhappy, but I must bear it. Let me always have your friendship. I am, most sincerely, dear sir, your faithful servant, "H. L. T."

1

[This alludes to Johnson's frequent advice to her and Miss Thrale to date their letters; a lauda

"DR. JOHNSON TO MRS. THRALE. "London, 1st May, 1780. "DEAREST MADAM,-Mr. Thrale never will live abstinently, till he can persuade himself to live by rule 4. * Encour

age, as you can, the musical girl.

Nothing is more common than mutual dislike, where mutual approbation is particularly expected. There is often on both sides a vigilance not over-benevolent; and as attention is strongly excited, so that nothing drops unheeded, any difference in taste or opinion, and some difference where there is no restraint will commonly appear, immediately generates dislike.

"Never let criticisms operate on your face or your mind; it is very rarely that an authour is hurt by his criticks. The blaze [of reputation cannot be blown out, but it often dies in the socket. A very few names may be considered as perpetual lamps that shine unconsumed. From the authour of Fitzosborne's Letters' I cannot think myself in much danger. I met him only once about thirty years ago, and in some small dispute reduced him to whistle. Having not seen him since, that is the last impression. Poor Moore, the fabulist, was one of the company.

"Mrs. Montagu's long stay, against her own inclination, is very convenient. You would, by your own confession, want a companion; and she is par pluribus. Conversing with her you may find variety in one. ["At Mrs. Ord's I met one Mrs. Ba travelled lady, of great spirit, and some consciousness of her own abilities. We had a contest of gallantry an hour long, so much to the diversion of the company, that, at Ramsay's, last night, in a crowded room, they would have pitted us again. There were Smelt and the Bishop of St. Asaph, who comes to every place; and Lord Monboddo, and Sir Joshua, and ladies out of tale.

"The exhibition, how will you do, either to see or not to see! The exhibition is eminently splendid. There is contour, and keeping, and grace, and expression, and all the varieties of artificial excellence. The apartments were truly very noble. The pictures, for the sake of a skylight, are at the top of the house: there we dined, and I sat over against the Archbishop of York.”

"Bolt-court, Fleet-street, 7th May, 1780.

[William Melmoth, the author of Fitzosborne's Letters, and the translator of the Letters of Pliny and Cicero, and some o the minor works of the latter. He was about Johnson's age, but long survived him, dying in 1799, ætat. 89. ED.] 3 Dr. John Hinchcliffe -BOSWELL.

I have taken the liberty to leave out a few lines.-BOSWELL.

[The editor would have supposed this to have been Mrs. Boscawen, but that Johnson appears to have met this lady two years before. See ante, p. 191.-ED.]