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Martinelli should continue his History of England to the present day. GOLDSMITH. "To be sure he should." JOHNSON. "No, sir; he would give great offence. He would have to tell of almost all the living great what they do not wish told." GOLDSMITH. "It may, perhaps, be necessary for a native to be more cautious; but a foreigner who comes among us without prejudice may be considered as holding the place of a Judge, and may speak his mind freely." JOHNSON. Sir, a foreigner, when he sends a work from the press, ought to be on his guard against catching the errour and mistaken enthusiasm of the people among whom he happens to be." GOLDSMITH. "Sir, he wants only to sell his history, and to tell truth; one an honest, the other a laudable motive." JOHNSON." Sir, they are both laudable motives. It is laudable in a man to wish to live by his labours; but he should write so as he may live by them, not so as he may be knocked on the head. I would advise him to be at Calais before he publishes his history of the present age. A foreigner who attaches himself to a political party in this country is in the worst state that can be imagined: he is looked upon as a mere intermed. dler. A native may do it from interest." BOSWELL. "Or principle." GOLDSMITH. "There are people who tell a hundred political lies every day, and are not hurt by it. Surely, then, one may tell truth with safety." JOHNSON. "Why, sir, in the first place, he who tells a hundred lies has disarmed the force of his lies. But besides, a man had rather have a hundred lies told of him than one truth which he does not wish should be told." GOLDSMITH." For my part, I'd tell truth and shame the devil." JOHNSON. "Yes, sir; but the devil will be angry. wish to shame the devil as much as you do,

but I should choose to be out of the reach of his claws." GOLDSMITH. "His claws can do you no harm when you have the shield of truth."

It having been observed that there was little hospitality in London; JOHNSON. "Nay, sir, any man who has a name, or who has the power of pleasing, will be very generally invited in London. The man, Sterne, I have been told, has had engagements for three months." SMITH." And a very dull fellow." JOHNSON. "Why, no, sir."

him. Charles Townshend asked Fitzherbert to go with him, but told him, You must find somebody to bring you back: I can only carry you there. Fitzherbert did not much like this arrangement. He, however, consented, observing sarcastically, It will do very well; for then the same jokes will serve you in returning as in going.""

An eminent publick character being mentioned; -JOHNSON. "I remember being present when he showed himself to be so corrupted, or at least something so different from what I think right, as to maintain that a member of parliament should go along with his party right or wrong. Now, sir, this is so remote from native virtue, from scholastick virtue, that a good man must have undergone a great change before he can reconcile himself to such a doctrine. It is maintaining that you may lie to the publick; for you lie when you call that right which you think wrong, or the reverse. A friend of ours, who is too much an echo of that gentleman, observed, that a man who does not stick uniformly to a party is only waiting to be bought. Why, then, said I, he is only waiting to be what that gentleman is already."

We talked of the King's coming to see Goldsmith's new play." I wish he would," said Goldsmith; adding, how"Not ever, with an affected indifference, that it would do me the least good." JOHNSON. "Well then, sir, let us say it would do him good (laughing). No, sir, this affectation will not pass;-it is mighty idle. In such a state as ours, who would not wish to please the Chief Magistrate?" GOLDSMITH. "I do wish to please him. I remember a line in Dryden,

'And every poet is the monarch's friend.' JOHNSON. Nay, there are finer lines in Dryden on this subject:

It ought to be reversed."

Martinelli told us, that for several years he lived much with Charles Townshend, and that he ventured to tell him he was a bad joker. JOHNSON. "Why, sir, thus much I can say upon the subject. One day he and a few more agreed to go and dine in the country, and each of them was to bring a friend in his carriage with

General Paoli, talking of Goldsmith's new play, said," Il a fait un compliment très gracieux à une certaine grande dame;" meaning a Duchess of the first rank.

A person was mentioned who, it was said, could take down in short hand the speeches in parliament with perfect exactness. JOHNSON. "Sir, it is impossible. I remember one Angel, who came to me to write for him a Preface or Dedication to a book upon short hand, and he professed to write as fast as a man could speak. In order to try him, I took down a book, and read while he wrote; and I favoured him, for I read more deliberately than usual. I had proceeded but a very little way, when he begged I would desist, for he could not follow me." Hearing now for the first time of this Preface or Dedication, I said, "What an expense, sir, do you put us to in buying books to which you have written Prefaces or Dedications." JOHNSON. "Why I have dedicated to the Royal Family all round; that is to say, to the last generation of the Royal Family." GOLDSMITH. "And perhaps, sir, not one sentence of wit in a whole Dedication." JOHNSON. "Perhaps not, sir." BOSWELL. "What then is the reason for applying to a particular person to do that which any one may do as well?" JOHNSON. "Why, sir, one man has greater readiness at doing it than another."

I spoke of Mr. Harris, of Salisbury, as being a very learned man, and in par ticular an eminent Grecian. JOHNSON. "I am not sure of that. His friends give him out as such, but I know not who of his friends are able to judge of it." GOLDSMITH." He is what is much better: he is a worthy humane man." JOHNSON. "Nay, sir, that is not to the purpose of our argument: that will as much prove that he can play upon the fiddle as well as Giardini, as that he is an eminent Grecian." GOLDSMITH. "The greatest musical performers have but small emoluments. Giardini, I am told, does not get above seven hundred a year." JOHNSON. "That is indeed but little for a man to get who does best that which so many endeavour to do. There is nothing, think, in which the power of art is shown so much as in playing on the fiddle. In all other things we can do something at first. Any man will forge a bar of iron

On Monday, April 19, he called on me with Mrs. Williams, in Mr. Strahan's coach, and carried me out to dine with Mr. Elphinston, at his Academy at Kensington. A printer having acquired a fortune sufficient to keep his coach, was a good topick for the credit of literature. Mrs. Williams said, that another printer, Mr. Hamilton, had not waited so long as Mr. Strahan, but had kept his coach several years sooner. JOHNSON. "He was in the right. Life is short. The sooner that a man begins to enjoy his wealth the better."

Mr. Elphinston talked of a new book that was much admired, and asked Dr. Johnson if he had read it. JOHNSON. "I have looked into it." "What (said Elphinston), have you not read it throngh?" Johnson, offended at being thus pressed, and so obliged to own his cursory mode of reading, answered tartly, No, sir; do you read books through ?"

He this day again defended duelling, and put his argument upon what I have ever thought the most solid basis; that if publick war be allowed to be consistent with morality, private war must be equally so. Indeed, we may observe what strained arguments are used to reconcile war with the Christian religion. But, in my opinion, it is exceeding clear that duelling, having better reasons for its barbarous violence, is more justifiable than war, in which thousands go forth without any cause of personal quarrel, and massacre each other.

On Wednesday, April 21, I dined with him at Mr. Thrale's. A gentleman attacked Garrick for being vain. JOHNSON. "No wonder, sir, that he is vain; a man who is perpetually flattered in every mode that can be conceived. So many bellows have blown the fire that one wonders he is not by this time become a cinder." BOSWELL. "And such bellows too. Lord Mansfield with his cheeks like to burst: Lord Chatham like an Æolus. I have read such notes from them to him as were enough to turn his head." JOHNSON. "True. When he whom every body else flatters flatters me, I then am truly happy." MRS. THRALE. "The sentiment is in Congreve, I think." JOHNSON." Yes, madam, in The Way of the World :'

'If there's delight in love, 'tis when I see That heart which others bleed for bleed for

me."

No, sir, I should not be surprised though

The modes of living in different countries and the various views with which men travel in quest of new scenes having been talked of, a learned gentleman who

holds a considerable office in the law expatiated on the happiness of a savage life; and mentioned an instance of an officer who had actually lived for some time in the wilds of America, of whom, when in that state, he quoted this reflection with an air of adiniration, as if it had been deeply philosophical: "Here am I, free and unrestrained, amidst the rude magnificence of Nature, with this Indian woman by my side, and this gun, with which I can procure food when I want it: what more can be desired for human happiness?" It did not require much sagacity to foresee that such a sentiment would not be permitted to pass without due animadversion. JOHNSON. "Do not allow yourself, sir, to be im. posed upon by such gross absurdity. is sad stuff; it is brutish. If a bull could speak, he might as well exclaim,-Here am I with this cow and this grass; what being can enjoy greater felicity?"

It

We talked of the melancholy end of a gentleman who had destroyed himself. JOHNSON. "It was owing to imaginary difficulties in his affairs, which, had he talked of with any friend, would soon have vanished." BOSWELL." Do you think, sir, that all who commit suicide are mad?" JOHNSON. "Sir, they are often not universally disordered in their intellects, but one passion presses so upon them that they yield to it, and commit suicide, as a passionate man will stab another." He added, "I have often

*[So also Butler, Hudibras. P. I. c. i.

v. 845.

"A Persian Emperor whipt his grannam, The sea, his mother Venus came on." M.]

thought that after a man has taken the resolution to kill himself, it is not courage in him to do any thing, however desperate, because he has nothing to fear." GOLDSMITH. "I don't see that." JOHN

SON. "Nay, but, my dear sir, why should not you see what every one else sees?" GOLDSMITH." It is for fear of something that he has resolved to kill himself: and will not that timid disposition restrain him?" JOHNSON. "It does not signify that the fear of something made him resolve; it is upon the state of his mind after the resolution is taken that I argue. Suppose a man, either from fear, or pride, or conscience, or whatever motive, has resolved to kill himself; when once the resolution is taken, he has nothing to fear. He may then go and take the King of Prussia by the nose, at the head of his army. He cannot fear the rack, who is resolved to kill himself. When Eustace Budgel was walking down to the Thames, if he pleased, without any apprehension determined to drown himself, he might, of danger, have turned aside, and first set

fire to St. James's Palace."

We

On Tuesday, April 27, Mr. Beauclerk and I called on him in the morning. As we walked up Johnson's Court, I said, "I have a veneration for this court ;' the same reverential enthusiasm. and was glad to find that Beauclerk had found him alone. We talked of Mr. Andrew Stuart's elegant and plausible ethad been sent by the authour to Dr. Johnters to Lord Mansfield: a copy of which the end. They have not been talked of; son. JOHNSON. "They have not answered I have never heard of them. This is seldom read a book which is given to owing to their not being sold. People them; and few are given. The way to spread a work is to sell it at a low price. No man will send to buy a thing that to read it." BOSWELL. "May it not be costs even sixpence, without an intention doubted, sir, whether it be proper to publish letters, arraigning the ultimate decision of an important cause by the supreme judicature of the nation?" JOHNSON. No, sir, I do not think it was wrong to publish these letters. If they are thought to do harm, why not answer them? But they will do no harm: if Mr. Douglas be indeed the son of Lady Jane, he cannot be hurt: if he be not her son, and yet has the great estate of the family of Douglas, he may well submit to have a pamphlet against him by Andrew Stuart. Sir, I think such a publication does good, as it does good to show us the possibilities of human life. And, sir, you will not say that the Douglas cause was a cause of easy decision, when it divided your Court as much as it could

do, to be determined at all. When your Judges are seven and seven, the casting vote of the President must be given on one side or other; no matter, for my argument, on which; one or the other must be taken; as when I am to move, there is no matter which leg I move first. And then, sir, it was otherwise determined here. No, sir, a more dubious determination of any question cannot be imagined *."

He said, "Goldsmith should not be for ever attempting to shine in conversation he has not temper for it, he is so much mortified when he fails. Sir, a game of jokes is composed partly of skill, partly of chance; a man may be beat at times by one who has not the tenth part of his wit. Now Goldsmith's putting himself against another is like a man laying a hundred to one who cannot spare the hundred. It is not worth a man's while. A man should not lay a hundred to one unless he can easily spare it, though he has a hundred chances for him he can get but a guinea, and he may lose a hundred. Goldsmith is in this state. When he contends, if he gets the better, it is a very little addition to a man of his literary reputation: if he does not get the better, he is miserably

vexed."

Johnson's own superlative powers of wit set him above any risk of such nneasiness. Garrick had remarked to me of him, a few days before, "Rabelais and all other wits are nothing compared with him. You may be diverted by them; but Johnson gives you a forcible hug, and shakes laughter out of you whether you will or no."

Goldsmith, however, was often very fortunate in his witty contests, even when he entered the lists with Johnson himself. Sir Joshua Reynolds was in company with them one day, when Gold. smith said, that he thought he could write a good fable, mentioned the simplicity which that kind of composition requires, and observed, that in most fables the animals introduced seldom talk in character. "For instance (said he), the fable of the little fishes who saw birds fly over

I regretted that Dr. Johnson never took the trouble to study a question which interested nations. He would not even read a pamphlet which I wrote upon it, entitled The Essence of the Douglas Cause;" which, I have reason to flatter myself, had considerable effect in favour of Mr. Douglas: of whose legitimate filiation I was then, and am still, firmly convinced. Let me add, that no fact can be more respectably ascertained than by the judgment of the most august tribunal in the world; a judgment in which Lord Mansfield and Lord Camden united in 1769, and from which only five of a numerous body entered a protest.

their heads, and envying them, petitioned Jupiter to be changed into birds. The skill (continued he), consists in making them talk like little fishes." While he indulged himself in this fanciful reverie, he observed Johnson shaking his sides, and laughing. Upon which he smartly proceeded, "Why, Dr. Johnson, this is not so easy as you seem to think; for if you were to make little fishes talk, they would talk like Whales."

Johnson, though remarkable for his great variety of composition, never exercised his talents in fable, except we allow his beautiful tale published in Mrs. Williams's Miscellanies to be of that species. I have, however, found among his manuscript collections the following sketch of one:

"Glowworm + lying in the garden saw a candle in a neighbouring palace,-and complained of the littleness of his own light;-another observed wait a little ;soon dark, have outlasted To [many] of these glaring lights which are only brighter as they haste to nothing."

On Thursday, April 29, I dined with him at General Oglethorpe's, where were Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr. Langton, Dr. Goldsmith, and Mr. Thrale. I was very desirous to get Dr. Johnson absolutely fixed in his resolution to go with me to the Hebrides this year; and I told him that I had received a letter from Dr. Robertson the historian, upon the subject, with which he was much pleased, and now talked in such a manner of his long intended tour, that I was satisfied he meant to fulfill his engagement.

The custom of eating dogs at Otaheite being mentioned, Goldsmith observed that this was also a custom in China; that a dog-butcher is as common there as any other buteher; and that when he walks abroad, all the dogs fall on him. JOHNSON. "That is not owing to his killing dogs, sir. I remember a butcher at Lichfield, whom a dog that was in the house where I lived, always attacked. It is the smell of carnage which provokes this, let the animals he has killed be what they may.' "GOLDSMITH." Yes, there is a general abhorrence in animals at the signs of massacre. If you put a tub full of blood into a stable, the horses are like to go mad." JOHNSON. "I doubt that." GOLDSMITH. "Nay, sir, it is a fact well authenticated." THRALE. "You had better prove it before you put it into your book on natural history. You may do it in my stable if you will." JOHNSON. "Nay, sir, I would not have him prove

[It has already been observed that one of his first Essays was a Latin poem on a glowworm; but whether it be any where extant has not been ascertained. M.]