These variations of Letters, Exeter college, whom I liked very well. company help the mind, though they cannot do much for the vol. ii. body. But the body receives some help from a cheerful mind.” P. 243. "Oxford, 17th June, 1782. "Oxford has done, I think, what for the present it can do, and I am going slyly to take a place in the coach for Wednesday, and you or my sweet Queeney will fetch me on Thursday, and see what you can make of me. "To-day I am going to dine with Dr. Wheeler, and tomorrow Dr. Edwards has invited Miss Adams and Miss More. Yesterday I went with Dr. Edwards to his living. He has really done all that he could do for my relief or entertainment, and really drives me away by doing too much."] "TO MR. PERKINS. "28th July, 1782. “Dear sir,—I am much pleased that you are going a very long journey, which may by proper conduct restore your health and prolong your life. "Observe these rules: "1. Turn all care out of your head as soon as you mount the chaise. "2. Do not think about frugality; your health is worth more than it can cost. "3. Do not continue any day's journey to fatigue. "4. Take now and then a day's rest. "5. Get a smart sea-sickness, if you can. "6. Cast away all anxiety, and keep your mind easy. "This last direction is the principal; with an unquiet mind, neither exercise, nor diet, nor physick, can be of much use. "I wish you, dear sir, a prosperous journey, and a happy recovery. I am, dear sir, your most affectionate, humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." "TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. "24th August, 1782. “Dear sir,—Being uncertain whether I should have any call this autumn into the country, I did not immediately answer your kind letter. I have no call; but if you desire to meet me at Ashbourne, I believe I can come thither; if you had rather come to London, I can stay at Streatham: take your choice. "This year has been very heavy. From the middle of January to the middle of June, I was battered by one disorder p. 249. after another! I am now very much recovered, and hope still to be better. What happiness it is that Mrs. Boswell has escaped. "My Lives are reprinting, and I have forgotten the authour of Gray's character: write immediately, and it may be perhaps yet inserted. "Of London or Ashbourne you place I shall be glad to see you. have your free choice; at any am, dear sir, yours, &c. "SAM. JOHNSON." On the 30th August, I informed him that my honoured father had died that morning; a complaint under which he had long laboured having suddenly come to a crisis, while I was upon a visit at the seat of Sir Charles Preston, from whence I had hastened the day before, upon receiving a letter by express. "TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. "London, 7th Sept. 1782. "DEAR SIR,—I have struggled through this year with so much infirmity of body, and such strong impressions of the fragility of life, that death, whenever it appears, fills me with melancholy; and I cannot hear without emotion of the removal of any one, whom I have known, into another state. "Your father's death had every circumstance that could enable you to bear it; it was at a mature age, and it was expected; and as his general life had been pious, his thoughts had doubtless for many years past been turned upon eternity. That you did not find him sensible must doubtless grieve you; his disposition towards you was undoubtedly that of a kind, though not of a fond father. Kindness, at least actual, is in our power, but fondness is not; and if by negligence or imprudence you had extinguished his fondness, he could not at will rekindle it. Nothing then remained between you but mutual forgiveness of each other's faults, and mutual desire of each other's happiness. "I shall long to know his final disposition of his fortune. "You, dear sir, have now a new station, and have therefore new cares, and new employments. Life, as Cowley seems to say, ought to resemble a well-ordered poem; of which one rule generally received is, that the exordium should be simple, and 1 The Rev. Mr. Temple, vicar of St. Gluvias, Cornwall-BoswELL. should promise little. Begin your new course of life with the least show, and the least expense possible: you may at pleasure increase both, but you cannot easily diminish them. Do not think your estate your own, while any man can call upon you for money which you cannot pay: therefore, begin with timorous parsimony. Let it be your first care not to be in any man's debt. "When the thoughts are extended to a future state, the present life seems hardly worthy of all those principles of conduct and maxims of prudence which one generation of men has transmitted to another; but upon a closer view, when it is perceived how much evil is produced and how much good is impeded by embarrassment and distress, and how little room the expedients of poverty leave for the exercise of virtue, it grows manifest that the boundless importance of the next life enforces some attention to the interests of this. "Be kind to the old servants, and secure the kindness of the agents and factors. Do not disgust them by asperity, or unwelcome gaiety, or apparent suspicion. From them you must learn the real state of your affairs, the characters of your tenants, and the value of your lands. "Make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell. I think her expectations from air and exercise are the best that she can form. I hope she will live long and happily. "I forgot whether I told you that Rasay has been here. We dined cheerfully together. I entertained lately a young gentleman from Corrichatachin. "I received your letters only this morning. I am, dear sir, yours, &c. "SAM. JOHNSON." In answer to my next letter, I received one from him, dissuading me from hastening to him as I had proposed. What is proper for publication is the following paragraph, equally just and tender: "One expense, however, I would not have you to spare: let nothing be omitted that can preserve Mrs. Boswell, though it should be necessary to transplant her for a time into a softer climate. She is the prop and stay of your life. How much must your children suffer by losing her!" My wife was now so much convinced of his sin VOL. V. D Piozzi, p. 109. cere friendship for me, and regard for her, that without any suggestion on my part, she wrote him a very polite and grateful letter. "DR. JOHNSON TO MRS. BOSWELL. but "London, 7th September, 1782. “DEAR LADY,—I have not often received so much pleasure as from your invitation to Auchinleck, The journey thither and back is, indeed, too great for the latter part of the year; if my health were fully recovered, I would suffer no little heat and cold, nor a wet or a rough road, to keep me from you. I am, indeed, not without hope of seeing Auchinleck again; but to make it a pleasant place I must see its lady well, and brisk, and airy. For my sake, therefore, among many greater reasons, take care, dear madam, of your health, spare no expense, and want no attendance that can procure ease or preserve it. Be very careful to keep your mind quiet; and do not think it too much to give an account of your recovery to, madam, yours, &c. "SAM. JOHNSON." [In the autumn of this year he accompanied Mrs. Thrale to Brighthelmstone, where, having got a little French print of some people skating, with these lines written under "Sur un mince chrystal l'hyver conduit leurs pas : Le précipice est sous la glace. Telle est de nos plaisirs la légère surface : Glissez, mortels; n'appuyez pas—” she begged translations from every body. Dr. Johnson gave her this : "O'er ice the rapid skaiter flies, With sport above and death below: Thus lightly touch and quickly go."] 1 [The following letters prove how constant and zealous was his friendship for Mr. Lowe. [Communicated by J. H. Markland, esq.—ED.] "22d October, 1782. "SIR,-I congratulate you on the good that has befallen you. I always told you that it would come. I would not, however, have you flatter yourself too soon with punctuality. You must not expect the other half year at Christmas. You may use the money as your needs require; but save what you can. "You must undoubtedly write a letter of thanks to your benefactor in your own name. I have put something on the other side. I am, sir, your most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." "TO LORD SOUTHWELL. "MY LORD,—The allowance which you are pleased to make me, I received on the by Mr. Paget. Of the joy which it brought your lordship cannot judge, because you cannot imagine my distress. It was long since I had known a morning without solicitude for noon, or lain down at night without foreseeing with terror the distresses of the morning. My debts were small but many; my creditors were poor, and therefore troublesome. Of this misery your lordship's bounty has given me an intermission. May your lordship live long to do much good, and to do for many what you have done for, my lord, your lordship's, &c. "M. LOWE."] "TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 66 London, 7th December, 1782. "DEAR SIR,—Having passed almost this whole year in a succession of disorders, I went in October to Brighthelmstone, whither I came in a state of so much weakness, that I rested four times in walking between the inn and the lodging. By physick and abstinence I grew better, and am now reasonably easy, though at a great distance from health. I am afraid, however, that health begins, after seventy, and long before, to have a meaning different from that which it had at thirty. But it is culpable to murmur at the established order of the creation, as it is vain to oppose it. He that lives must grow old; and he that would rather grow old than die has God to thank for the infirmities of old age. "At your long silence I am rather angry. You do not, since now you are the head of your house, think it worth your while to try whether you or your friend can live longer with out writing; nor suspect, after so many years of friendship, MS. |