dead many years? Mr. Boswell's original | tion of first; and all words relating to gambling error and his subsequent silence on the subject is very strange. The Editor is satisfied either that Mr. Boswell did not obtain the letter, or that it related to some circumstance of Johnson's life which he did not choose to divulge; and what could it have been that he would not have told ?-ED.] vol. lxix. p. 1171. "This Steward was Francis Stuart. Gent. Mag. He was the son of a shop-keeper in Edinburgh, and was brought up to the law. For several years he was employed as a writer in some of the principal offices of Edinburgh; and being a man of good natural parts, and given to literature, he frequently assisted in digesting and arranging MSS. for the press; and, among other employments of this sort, he used to boast of assisting or copying some of the juvenile productions of the afterwards celebrated Lord Kaimes when he was very young and a correspondent with the Edinburgh Magazine. When he came to London, he stuck more closely to the press; and in this walk of copying or arranging for the press, he got recommended to Dr. Johnson, who then lived in Gough-square. Frank was a great admirer of the Doctor, and upon all occasions consulted him; and the Doctor had also a very respectable opinion of his amanuensis Frank Stuart, as he always familiarly called him. But it was not only in collecting authorities that Frank was employed he was the man who did every thing in the writing way for him, and managed all his affairs between the Doctor, his bookseller, and his creditors, who were then often very troublesome, and every species of business the Doctor had to do out of doors; and for this he was much better qualified than the Doctor himself, as he had been more accustomed to common business, and more conversant in the ways of men. and card-playing, such as All Fours, Catch honours, Cribbage, &c. were, among the typos, said to be Frank Stuart's, corrected by the Doctor, for which he received a second payment. At the time this happened, the Dictionary was going on printing very briskly in three departments, letter D, G, and L, being at work upon at the same time; and as the Doctor was, in the printing-house phrase, out of town-that is, had received more money than he had produced MS. for-the proprietors restricted him in his payments, and would answer no more demands from him than at the rate of a guinea for every sheet of MS. copy he delivered; which was paid him by Mr. Strahan on delivery; and the Doctor readily agreed to this. The copy was written upon 4to. post, and in two columns each page. The Doctor wrote, in his own hand, the words and their explanation, and generally two or three words in each colunin, leaving a space between each for the authorities, which were pasted on as they were collected by the different clerks or amanuenses employed and in this mode the MS. was so regular, that the sheets of MS. which made a sheet of print could be very exactly ascertained. Every guinea parcel came after this agreement regularly tied up, and was put upon a shelf in the corrector's room till wanted. The MS. being then in great forwardness, the Doctor supplied copy faster than the printers called for it; and in one of the heaps of copy it happened that, upon giving it out to the compositors, some sheets of the old MS. that had been printed off were found among the new MS. paid for. It is more probable that this happened by the Doctor's keeping the old copy, which was always returned him with the proof, in a disorderly manner. But another mode of accounting for this was at that time very current in the printing-house. The Doctor, besides his old and constant assistant, Stuart, had several others, some of them not of the best characters; and one of this class had been lately discharged, whom the Doctor had been very kind to, notwithstanding all his loose and idle tricks; and it was generally supposed that he had fallen upon this expedient of picking up the old MS. to raise a few guineas, finding the money so readily paid on the MS. as he delivered it. But every body was inclined to acquit the Doctor, as he had been well known to have rather too little thoughts about money matters. And what served to complete the Doctor's acquittal was, Stuart immediately on the discovery supplying the quantum of right copy (for it was ready); which set every thing to rights, and that in the course of an hour or two, as the writer of this note can truly assert, as he was employed in the business. "That he was a porter-drinking man, as Captain Grose says, may be admitted; for he usually spent his evenings at the Bible, in Shirelane, a house of call for bookbinders and printers, where Frank was in good esteem among some creditable neighbours that frequented the back-room; for, except his fuddling, he was a very worthy character. But his drinking and conviviality, he used to say, he left behind him at Edinburgh, where he had connected himself with some jovial wits and great card-players, which made his journey to London very prudent and necessary, as nothing but such a measure could break off the connexion, or bring them to good hours and moderation. In one of those night rambles, Stuart and his companions met with the mob-procession when they were conducting Captain Porteous to be hanged; and Stuart and his companions were next day examined about it before the town-council, when (as Stuart used to say) we were found to be too drunk to have had any hand in the business.' But he gave a most accurate and particular account of that memorable transaction in the Edinburgh Magazine of that time, which he was rather fond of relating. "In another walk, besides collecting authorities, he was remarkably useful to Dr. Johnson; that was, in the explanation of low cant phrases, which the Doctor used to get Frank to give his explana- I known." ་ How such an erroneous and injurious account of an accident so fairly and justly to be accounted for, and the Doctor's character cleared from all imputation of art or guilt, came to Captain Grose's ears, is hard to be accounted for: but it appears to have been picked up among the common gossip of the press-room, or other remote parts of the printing-house, where the right state of the fact could not be minutely related nor accurately X. LESSON IN BIOGRAPHY; OR, HOW TO WRITE THE LIFE OF ONE'S FRIEND. An Extract from the LIFE OF DR. Pozz, in ten volumes folio, written by JAMES Bozz, Esq. who FLOURISHED with him near fifty years. [By A. CHALMERS, Esq. Among the numerous parodies and jeux d'esprit which Mr. Boswell's work produced, the following pleasantry from the pen of Mr. Alexander Chalmers, which appeared in the periodical publications of the day, is worth preserving; for it is not merely a good pleasantry, but a fair criticism of some of the lighter parts of the work.-ED.] "We dined at the chop-house. Dr. Pozz was this day very instructive. We talked of books. I mentioned the History of Tommy Trip. I said it was a great work. Pozz. Yes, sir, it is a great work; but, sir, it is a great work relatively; it was a great work to you when you was a little boy: but now, sir, you are a great man, and Tominy Trip is a little boy.' I felt somewhat hurt at this comparison, and I believe he perceived it; for, as he was squeezing a lemon, he said, Never be affronted at a comparison. I have been compared to many things, but I never was affronted. No, sir, if they would call me a dog, and you a canister tied to my tail, I would not be affronted.' "Cheered by this kind mention of me, though in such a situation, I asked him what he thought of a friend of ours, who was always making comparisons. Pozz. Sir, that fellow has a simile for every thing but himself. I knew him when he kept a shop: he then made money, sir, and now he makes comparisons. Sir, he would say that you and I were two figs stuck together; two figs in adhesion, sir; and then he would laugh.' Bozz. 'But have not some great writers determined that comparisons are now and then odious?' Pozz. 'No, sir, not odious in themselves, not odious as comparisons; the fellows who make them are odious. The whigs make comparisons.' "We supped that evening at his house. I showed him some lines I had made upon a pair of breeches. Pozz. Sir, the lines are good; but where could you find such a subject in your country? Bozz. Therefore it is a proof of invention, which is a characteristic of poetry. Pozz. Yes, sir, but an invention which few of your countrymen can enjoy.' I reflected afterwards on the depth of this remark: it affords a proof of that acuteness which he displayed in every branch of literature. I asked him if he approved of green spectacles? Pozz. As to green spectacles, sir, the question seems to be this: if I wore green spectacles, it would be because they assisted vision, or because I liked them. Now, sir, if a man tells me he does not like green spectacles, and that they hurt his eyes, I would not compel him to wear them. No, sir, I would dissuade him. A few months after, I consulted him again on this subject, and he honoured me with a letter, in which he gives the same opinion. It will be "It would have been unpardonable to have omitted a letter like this, in which we see so much of his great and illuminated mind. On my return to town, we met again at the chop-house. We had much conversation to-day: his wit flashed like lightning; indeed, there is not one hour of my present life in which I do not profit by some of his valuable communications. "We talked of wind. I said I knew many persons much distressed with that complaint. Pozz. Yes, sir, when confined, when pent up.' I said I did not know that, but I questioned if the Romans ever knew it. Pozz. Yes, sir, the Romans knew it.' Bozz. 'Livy does not mention it.' Pozz. No, sir, Livy wrote History. Livv was not writing the Life of a Friend.' "On medical subjects his knowledge was immense. He told me of a friend of ours who had just been attacked by a most dreadful complaint: he had entirely lost the use of his limbs, so that he could neither stand nor walk, unless supported; his speech was quite gone; his eyes were much swollen, and every vein distended, yet his face was rather pale, and his extremities cold; his pulse beat 160 in a minute. I said, with tenderness, that I would go and see him; and, said I, Sir, I will take Dr. Bolus with me.' Pozz. No, sir, don't go.' I was startled, for I knew his compassionate heart, and earnestly asked why? Pozz Sir, you don't know his disorder.' Bozz. 'Pray what is it? Pozz, Sir, the man is dead drunk! This explanation threw me into a violent fit of laughter, in which he joined me, rolling about as he used to do when he enjoyed a joke; but he afterwards checked me. Pozz Sir, you ought not to laugh at what I said. Sir, he who laughs at what another man says, will soon learn to laugh at that other man. Sir, you should laugh only at your own jokes; you should laugh seldom.' "We talked of a friend of ours who was a very violent politician. I said I did not like his company. Pozz. No, sir, he is not healthy; he is sore, sir; his mind is ulcerated; he has a political whitlow; sir, you cannot touch him without giving him pain. Sir, I would not talk politicks with that man; I would talk of cabbage and pease: sir, I would ask him how he got his corn in, and whether his wife was with child; but I would not talk politicks.' Bozz. But perhaps, sir, he would talk of nothing else.' Pozz. Then, sir, it is plain what he would do.' On my very earnestly inquiring what that was, Dr. Pozz an- | ton's Chronology; but as they gave employment swered, Sir, he would let it alone.' to useful artisans, he did not dislike the large buckles then coming into use. . "I mentioned a tradesman who had lately set up his coach. Pozz. He is right, sir.; a man who would go on swimnringly cannot get too soon off his legs. That man keeps his coach. Now, sir, a coach is better than a chaise, sir-it is better than a chariot.' Bozz. Why, sir?' Pozz. Sir, it will hold more.' I begged he would repeat this, that I might remember it, and he complied with great good humour. 'Dr. Pozz,' said I, you ought to keep a coach.'' Pozz. Yes, sir, I ought.' Bozz. But you do not, and that has often surprised me.' Pozz. Surprised you! There, sir, is another prejudice of absurdity. Sir, you ought to be surprised at nothing. A man that has lived half your days ought to be above all surprise. Sir, it is a rule with me never to be surprised. It is mere ignorance, you cannot guess why I do not keep a coach, and you are surprised. Now, sir, if you did know, you would not be surprised.' I said, tenderly, I hope, my dear sir, you will let me know before I leave town.' Pozz. Yes, sir, you shall know now. You shall not go to Mr. Wilkins, and to Mr. Jenkins, and to Mr. Stubbs, and say, why does not Pozz keep a coach? I will tell you myself-Sir, I can't afford it.' 6 "Next day we dined at the Mitre. I mentioned spirits. Pozz. Sir, there is as much evidence for the existence of spirits as against it. You may not believe it, but you cannot deny it.' I told him that my great grandmother once saw a spirit. He asked me to relate it, which I did very minutely, while he listened with profound attention. When I mentioned that the spirit once appeared in the shape of a shoulder of mutton, and another time in that of a tea-pot, he interrupted me :-Pozz. There, sir, is the point; the evidence is good, but the scheme is defective in consistency. We cannot deny that the spirit appeared in these shapes; but then we cannot reconcile them. What has a tea-pot to do with a shoulder of mutton? Neither is it a terrific object. There is nothing contemporaneous. Sir, these are objects which are not seen at the same time, nor in the same place.' Bozz. I think, sir, that old women in general are used to see ghosts.' Pozz. Yes, sir, and their conversation is full of the subject: I would have an old woman to record such conversations; their loquacity tends to minuteness.' "We talked of drinking. I asked him wheth- "We talked of a person who had a very bad er, in the course of his long and valuable life, he character. Pozz. Sir, he is a scoundrel.' Bozz. had not known some men who drank more than I hate a scoundrel.' Pozz. There you are they could bear? Pozz. Yes, sir; and then, wrong don't hate scoundrels. Scoundrels, sir, sir, nobody could bear them. A man who is are useful. There are many things we cannot do drunk, sir, is a very foolish fellow.' Bozz. But, without scoundrels. I would not choose to keep sir, as the poet says, "he is devoid of all care. company with scoundrels, but something may be Pozz. Yes, sir, he cares for nobody; he has got from them.' Bozz. Are not scoundrels gennone of the cares of life: he cannot be a mer-erally fools? Pozz. No, sir, they are not. A chant, sir, for he cannot write his name; he cannot be a politician, sir, for he cannot talk; he cannot be an artist, sir, for he cannot see; and yet, sir, there is science in drinking,' Bozz. I suppose you mean that a man ought to know what he drinks.' Pozz. No, sir, to know what one drinks is nothing; but the science consists of three parts. Now, sir, were I to drink wine, I should wish to know them all; I should wish to know when I had too little, when I had enough, and when I had too much. There is our friend ******* (mentioning a gentleman of our acquaintance); he knows when he has too little, and when he has too much, but he knows not when he has enough. Now, sir, that is the science of drinking, to know when one has enough.' · scoundrel must be a clever fellow; he must know many things of which a fool is ignorant. Any man may be a fool. I think a good book might be made out of scoundrels. I would have a Biographia Flagitiosa, the Lives of Eminent Scoundrels, from the earliest accounts to the present day.' I mentioned hanging: I thought it a very awkward situation. Pozz. No, sir, hanging is not an awkward situation: it is proper, sir, that a man whose actions tend towards flagitious obliquity should appear perpendicular at last.' I told him that I had lately been in company with some gentlemen, every one of whom could recollect some friend or other who had been hanged. Pozz. Yes, sir, that is the easiest way. We know those who have been hanged; we can recollect that: but we cannot number those who deserve it; it would not be decorous, sir, in a mixed company. No, sir, that is one of the few things which we are compelled to think.'"' "We talked this day on a variety of topics, but I find very few memorandums in my journal. On small beer, he said it was flatulent liquor. He disapproved of those who deny the utility of absolute power, and seemed to be offended with a Our regard for literary property' prevents friend of ours who would always have his eggs our making a larger extract from the above poached. Sign-posts, he observed, had degener-important work. We have, however, we hope, ated within his memory; and he particularly given such passages as will tend to impress found fault with the moral of the Beggar's Opera. our readers with a high idea of this vast unI endeavoured to defend a work which had af-dertaking.-Note by the author. forded me so much pleasure, but could not mas- 1 [This alludes to the jealousy about copyright, which ter that strength of mind with which he argued; Mr. Boswell carried so far that he actually printed sepaand it was with great satisfaction that he commu-rately, and entered at Stationers' Hall, Johnson's Letter nicated to me afterwards a method of curing corns by applying a piece of oiled silk. In the early history of the world, he preferred Sir Isaac New to Lord Chesterfield (vol. i. p. 112), and the Account of Johnson's Conversation with George III. at Buckingham House, (vol. i. p. 239) to prevent his rivals making use of them.-ED.] XI. to which my book has given rise, I have made no MR. BOSWELL'S Original Dedication of the answer. Every work must stand or fall by its "Tour to the Hebrides." TO EDMOND MALONE, ESQ. MY DEAR SIR,—In every narrative, whether historical or biographical, authenticity is of the utmost consequence. Of this I have been so firmly persuaded, that I inscribed a former work to that person who was the best judge of its truth. I need not tell you I mean General Paoli; who, after his great, though unsuccessful efforts to preserve the liberties of his country, has found an honourable asylum in Britain, where he has now lived many years the object of royal regard and private respect; and whom I cannot name without expressing my very grateful sense of the uniform kindness which he has been pleased to show me. The friends of Dr. Johnson can best judge, from internal evidence, whether the numerous conversations which form the most valuable part of the ensuing pages are correctly related. To them, therefore, I wish to appeal, for the accuracy of the portrait here exhibited to the world. As one of those who were intimately acquainted with him, you have a title to this address: You have obligingly taken the trouble to peruse the original manuscript of this "Tour," and can vouch for the strict fidelity of the present publication. Your literary alliance with our much lamented friend, in consequence of having undertaken to render one of his labours more complete, by your edition of Shakspeare, a work which I am confident will not disappoint the expectations of the publick, gives you another claim. But I have a still more powerful inducement to prefix your name to this volume, as it gives me an opportunity of letting the world know that I enjoy the honour and happiness of your friendship; and of thas publickly testifying the sincere regard with which I am, my dear sir, your very faithful and obedient servant, JAMES BOSWELL. London, 20th September, 1785. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION. By correcting the errours of the press in the former edition, and some inaccuracies for which the authour alone is answerable, and by supplying some additional notes, I have endeavoured to render this work more deserving of the very high nonour which the public has been pleased to show t-the whole of the first impression having been sold in a few weeks. J. B. London, 20th December, 1785. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE THIRD EDITION. ANIMATED by the very favourable reception which two large impressions of this work have had, it has been my study to make it as perfect as I could in this edition, by correcting some inaccuracies which I discovered myself, and some which the kindness of friends or the scrutiny of adversaries pointed out. A few notes are added, of which the principal object is, to refute misrepresentation and calumny. own merit. I cannot, however, onit this opportunity of returning thanks to a gentleman who published a " Defence" of my "Journal,” and has added to the favour by communicating his name to me in a very obliging letter. It would be an idle waste of time to take any particular notice of the futile remarks, to many of which, a petty national resentment, unworthy of my countrymen, has probably given rise; remarks, which have been industriously circulated in the publick prints by shallow or envious cavillers, who have endeavoured to persuade the world that Dr. Johnson's character has been lessened by recording such various instances of his lively wit and acute judgment, on every topick that was presented to his mind. In the opinion of every person of taste and knowledge that I have conversed with, it has been greatly heightened; and I will venture to predict, that this specimen of the colloquial talents and extemporaneous effusions of my illustrious fellow-traveller will become still more valuable, when, by the lapse of time, he shall have become an ancient; when all those who can now bear testimony to the transcendent powers of his mind shall have passed away, and no other memorial of this great and good man shall remain but the following "Journal," the other anecdotes and letters preserved by his friends, and those incomparable works which have for many years been in the highest estimation, and will be read and admired as long as the English language shall be spoken or understood. J. B. Life of Father Paul, acknowl. 1739. A complete vindication of the Licenser of 1 I do not here include his poetical works; for, except ing his Latin translation of Pope's Messiah, his London. and his Vanity of Human Wishes, imitated from Juvenal; his Prologue on the opening of Drury lane Theatre by Mr. Garrick, and his Irene, a Tragedy, they are very numerous, and in general short; and I have promised a complete edition of them, in which I shall, with the ut most care, ascertain their authenticity, and illustrate them with notes and various readings.-BOSWELL. [The meaning of this sentence, and particularly of the word To the animadversions in the periodical jour-wrote, "they are not very numerous," which would be excepting, is not very clear. Perhaps Mr. Boswell nals of criticism, and in the numerous publications less obscure.-ED.] the Stage from the malicious and scan- FOR THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. Considerations on the case of Dr. Trapp's 1740. FOR THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. Life of Admiral Drake, acknowl. 1741. FOR THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. A free translation of the Jests of Hiero- 1742. FOR THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. 1744. 1745. Nov. 19, 1740, to Feb. 28, 1742-3, inclusive, acknowl. Considerations on the Dispute between Crousaz and Warburton on Pope's Essay on Man, intern. evid. A Letter, announcing that the Life of Mr. Advertisement for Osborne concerning the FOR THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. FOR THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. FOR THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. 1749. Letter on Fire Works. Essay on the Account of the Conduct of The Life of Sydenham, afterwards pre- Proposals for printing Bibliotheca Harlei- Essay on the Description of China from the French of Du Halde, intern. evid. 1743. Dedication to Dr. Mead of Dr. James's Medicinal Dictionary, intern. evid. FOR THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. Parliamentary Debates under the name of 1 [These and several other articles, which are marked with an asterisk, were suggested to Mr. Malone by Mr. Chalmers as probably written by Dr. Johnson; they are, therefore placed in this general list.-ED.] The RAMBLER, the first paper of which was published 20th of March this year, and the last 17th of March, 1752, the day on which Mrs. Johnson died, acknowl. Letter in the General Advertiser to excite the attention of the publick to the performance of Comus, which was next day to be acted at Drury-lane play house for the benefit of Milton's grand-daughter, acknowl. Preface and Postscript to Lauder's Pam phlet, entitled "An Essay on Milton's Use and Imitation of the Moderns in his Paradise Lost," acknowl. FOR THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. 1751. 2 This is a mistake. The last number of the Rambler appeared on the 14th of March, three days before Mrs. Johnson died. See vol. i. p. 89.-MALONE. |