and purpose to keep out of its way. There is no doubt that I might mention some circumstances; but I do not choose to commit them to paper. What his opinion is I do not know. He says, I am singularly obliged to Dr. Johnson for his accurate and useful criticisms. Had he given some strictures on the general plan of the work, it would have added much to his favours.' He is charmed with your verses on Inchkenneth, says they are very elegant, but bids me tell you, he doubts whether "Legitimas faciunt pectora pura preces' be according to the rubrick 2: but that is your concern; for, you know, he is a Presbyterian." "TO DR. LAWRENCE 3. "7th Feb. 1775. "SIR,-One of the Scotch physicians is now prosecuting a corporation that in some publick instrument have styled him doctor of medicine instead of physician. Boswell desires, being advocate for the corporation, to know whether doctor of medicine is not a legitimate title, and whether it may be considered as a disadvantageous distinction. I am to write to-night; be pleased to tell me. I am, sir, your most, &c. "SAM. JOHNSON." "TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. "7th Feb. 1775. "MY DEAR BOSWELL,-I am surprised that, knowing as you do the disposition of your countrymen to tell lies in favour 1 His lordship, notwithstanding his resolution, did commit his sentiments to paper, and in one of his notes affixed to his Collection of Old Scottish Poetry, he says, "to doubt the authenticity of those poems is a refinement in scepticism indeed."-J. BOSWELL. 2 [Meaning, perhaps, that this line would, if taken as a general principle, exclude the expediency of any form of prayer, or the necessity of a priesthood, and consequently impugn our liturgy and church establishment; but Dr. Johnson's verses referred to a case not of public but of domestic prayer; and the Church of England, though its liturgy affords admirable helps to private devotion, does not affect to regulate it by any form or rubrick; it was, however, perhaps, this criticism which induced Johnson to substitute for this elegant line the obscure and awkward one, "Sint pro legitimis pura labella sacris." See ante, p. 20, n.—ED.] 3 The learned and worthy Dr. Lawrence, whom Dr. Johnson respected and loved as his physician and friend.-BOSWELL. of each other', you can be at all affected by any reports that circulate among them. Macpherson never in his life offered me a sight of any original or of evidence of any any kind; but thought only of intimidating me by noise and threats, till my last answer-that I would not be deterred from detecting what I thought a cheat by the menaces of a ruffian-put an end to our correspondence. "The state of the question is this. He, and Dr. Blair, whom I consider as deceived, say, that he copied the poem from old manuscripts. His copies, if he had them, and I believe him to have none, are nothing. Where are the manuscripts? They can be shown if they exist, but they were never shown. De non existentibus et non apparentibus, says our law, eadem est ratio. No man has a claim to credit upon his own word, when better evidence, if he had it, may be easily produced. But so far as we can find, the Erse language was never written till very lately for the purposes of religion. A nation that cannot write, or a language that was never written, has no manuscripts. "But whatever he has he never offered to show. If old manuscripts should now be mentioned, I should, unless there were more evidence than can be easily had, suppose them another proof of Scotch conspiracy in national falsehood. "Do not censure the expression; you know it to be true. "Dr. Memis's question is so narrow as to allow no speculation; and I have no facts before me but those which his advocate has produced against you. "I consulted this morning the president of the London College of physicians, who says, that with us, doctor of physic (we do not say doctor of medicine) is the highest title that a practiser of physic can have; that doctor implies not only physician, but teacher of physic; that every doctor is legally a physician; but no man, not a doctor, can practise physic but by licence particularly granted. The doctorate is a licence of itself. It seems to us a very slender cause of prosecution. "I am now engaged, but in a little time I hope to do all you 1 My friend has, in this letter, relied upon my testimony, with a confidence, of which the ground has escaped my recollection.-BOSWELL. [This, and a subsequent phrase in this letter, must have left poor Mr. Boswell sorely perplexed between his desire to stand well with his countrymen, and his inability to deny Johnson's assertion. His evasion is awkward enough, for there are several passages in his Journal of the Tour which seem, if not to justify, at least to excuse Johnson's appeal to him; for instance, Mr. Boswell's observation, ante, 20th October, on "the confident carelessness of the statements with which he and Dr. Johnson were so constantly deceived and provoked."-ED.] would have. My compliments to madam and Veronica. I am, sir, your most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." What words were used by Mr. Macpherson in his letter to the venerable sage, I have never heard; but they are generally said to have been of a nature very different from the language of literary contest. Dr. Johnson's answer appeared in the newspapers of the day, and has since been frequently republished; but not with perfect accuracy. I give it as dictated to me by himself, written down in his presence, and authenticated by a note in his own handwriting, "This, I think, is a true copy'." "MR. JAMES MACPHERSON,-I received your foolish and impudent letter. Any violence offered me I shall do my best to repel; and what I cannot do for myself, the law shall do for me. I hope I never shall be deterred from detecting what I think a cheat, by the menaces of a ruffian. "What would you have me retract? I thought your book an imposture; I think it an imposture still. For this opinion I have given my reasons to the publick, which I here dare you to refute. Your rage I defy. Your abilities, since your Homer, are not so formidable; and what I hear of your morals inclines me to pay regard not to what you shall but to what you shall prove. You may print this if you will. say, "SAM. JOHNSON." Mr. Macpherson little knew the character of Dr. Johnson, if he supposed that he could be easily intimidated; for no man was ever more remarkable for personal courage. He had, indeed, an awful dread of death, or rather, "of something after death :" and what rational man, who seriously thinks of quitting all that he has ever known, and going into a new and unknown state of being, can be without that dread? But his fear was from reflection; his courage natural. His fear, in that one instance, was the re 1 I have deposited it in the British Museum. --Boswell. Piozzi, p. 214. sult of philosophical and religious consideration. He feared death, but he feared nothing else, not even what might occasion death. [Fear was indeed a sensation to which Dr. Johnson was an utter stranger, excepting when some sudden apprehensions seized him that he was going to die; and even then, he kept all his wits about him, to express the most humble and pathetic petitions to the Almighty: and when the first paralytic stroke took his speech from him, he instantly set about composing a prayer in Latin, at once to deprecate God's mercy, to satisfy himself that his mental powers remained unimpaired, and to keep them in exercise, that they might not perish by permitted stagnation. When one day he had at Streatham taken tincture of antimony instead of emetic wine, for a vomit, he was himself the person to direct what should be done for him, and managed with as much coolness and deliberation as if he had been prescribing for an indifferent person.] Many instances of his resolution may be mentioned. One day, at Mr. Beauclerk's house in the country, when two large dogs were fighting', he went up to them, and beat them till they separated; and at another time, when told of the danger there was that a gun might burst if charged with many balls, he put in six or seven, and fired it off against a wall. Mr. Langton told me, that when they were swimming together near Oxford, he cautioned Dr. Johnson against a pool, which was reckoned particularly dangerous; upon which Johnson directly swam into it. He told me himself that one night he was attacked in the street by four men, to whom he would not ["When we inquired," says Mrs. Piozzi, "into the truth of this story, he answered, the dogs have been somewhat magnified, I believe. They were, as I remember, two stout young pointers; but the story has gained but little." Piozzi, p. 88. This story was told ante, p. 24. ED.] yield, but kept them all at bay, till the watch came up, and carried both him and them to the roundhouse. In the playhouse at Lichfield, as Mr. Garrick informed me, Johnson having for a moment quitted a chair which was placed for him between the sidescenes, a gentleman took possession of it, and, when Johnson on his return civilly demanded his seat, rudely refused to give it up; upon which Johnson laid hold of it, and tossed him and the chair into the pit1. Foote, who so successfully revived the old comedy, by exhibiting living characters, had resolved to imitate Johnson on the stage, expecting great profits from his ridicule of so celebrated a man. Johnson being informed of his intention, and being at dinner at Mr. Thomas Davies's, the bookseller, from whom I had the story, he asked Mr. Davies, "what was the common price of an oak stick?" and being answered sixpence, "Why then, sir," said he, “give me leave to send your servant to purchase me a shilling one. I'll have a double quantity; for I am told Foote means to take me off, as he calls it, and I am determined the fellow shall not do it with impunity." Davies took care to acquaint Foote of this, which effectually checked the wantonness of the mimick. Mr. Macpherson's menaces made Johnson provide himself with the same implement of defence; and had he been attacked, I have no doubt that, old as he was, he would have made his corporal prowess be felt as much as his intellectual. His "Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland*” is a most valuable performance. It abounds in extensive philosophical views of society, and in ingenious sentiment and lively description. A considerable 1 [If Mrs. Piozzi had reported any statement so obviously exaggerated as this, Mr. Boswell would have been very indignant.-Ed.] |