Oldalképek
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors]

1770.

"Speaking of Arthur Murphy, whom he very much loved, I don't know tat. 61. (faid he,) that Arthur can be claffed with the very first dramatick writers; yet at prefent I doubt much whether we have any thing fuperior to Arthur.'

"Speaking of the national debt, he faid, it was an idle dream to fuppofe that the country could fink under it. Let the publick creditors be ever fo clamorous, the intereft of millions must ever prevail over that of thousands.

"Of Dr. Kennicott's Collations, he obferved, that though the text should not be much mended thereby, yet it was no small advantage to know, that we had as good a text as the most confummate industry and diligence could procure.

"Johnfon obferved, that fo many objections might be made to every thing, that nothing could overcome them but the neceffity of doing something. No man would be of any profeffion, as fimply opposed to not being of it: but every one must do fomething.

"He remarked, that a London parish was a very comfortless thing, for the clergyman feldom knew the face of one out of ten of his parishioners.

"Of the late Mr. Mallet he fpoke with no great refpect: faid, he was ready for any dirty job: that he had wrote against Byng at the instigation of the ministry, and was equally ready to write for him, provided he found his account in it.

"A gentleman who had been very unhappy in marriage, married immediately after his wife died: Johnson said, it was the triumph of hope over experience.

"He observed, that a man of sense and education fhould meet a suitable companion in a wife. It was a miferable thing when the converfation could only be fuch as, whether the mutton fhould be boiled or roasted, and probably a difpute about that.

"He did not approve of late marriages, obferving, that more was loft in point of time, than compenfated for by any poffible advantages. Even ill afforted marriages were preferable to cheerlefs celibacy.

"Of old Sheridan he remarked, that he neither wanted parts or literature, but that his vanity and Quixotifm obfcured his merits.

"He faid, foppery was never cured; it was the bad ftamina of the mind, which, like those of the body, were never rectified: once a coxcomb, and always a coxcomb.

[ocr errors]

Being told that Gilbert Cowper called him the, Caliban of literature; Well, (faid he,) I muft dub him the Punchinello.'

Speaking

1770.

"Speaking of the old Earl of Corke and Orrery, he faid, that man spent his life in catching at an object, [literary eminence,] which he had not power tat. 61.

to grafp.'

"He often used to quote, with great pathos, thofe fine lines of Virgil :

[ocr errors]

Optima quæque dies miferis mortalibus ævi

• Prima fugit; fubeunt morbi, tristisque fene&tus,

Et labor, et dura rapit inclementia mortis.'

"To find a substitution for violated morality, he faid, was the leading feature in all perverfions of religion."

In 1771 he published another political pamphlet, entitled " Thoughts on the late Tranfactions refpecting Falkland's Islands," in which, upon materials furnished to him by ministry, and upon general topicks expanded in his richest ftyle, he fuccessfully endeavoured to perfuade the nation that it was wife and laudable to fuffer the question of right to remain undecided, rather than involve our country in another war. It has been fuggefted by fome, with what truth I fhall not take upon me to decide, that he rated the confequence of those iflands to Great-Britain too low. But however this may be, every humane mind must surely applaud the earnestness with which he averted the calamity of war; a calamity fo dreadful, that it is astonishing how civilifed, nay, Christian nations, can deliberately continue to renew it. His defcription of its miferies in this pamphlet, is one of the finest pieces of eloquence in the English language. Upon this occafion, too, we find Johnson lafhing the party in oppofition with unbounded feverity, and making the fulleft ufe of what he ever reckoned a molt effectual argumentative inftrument, contempt. His character of their very able mysterious champion, JUNIUS, is executed with all the force of his genius, and finished with the highest care. He feems to have exulted in fallying forth to fingle combat against the boafted and formidable hero, who bade defiance to " principalities and powers, and the rulers of this world."

This pamphlet, it is obfervable, was foftened in one particular, after the first edition; for the conclufion of Mr. George Grenville's character stood thus: "Let him not, however, be depreciated in his grave. He had powers not univerfally poffeffed: could he have enforced payment of the Manilla ranfom, he could have counted it." Which, inftead of retaining its fly fharp point, was reduced to a mere flat unmeaning expreffion, or, if I may use the word,-truifm: "He had powers not univerfally poffeffed: and if he fometimes erred, he was likewife fometimes right."

[blocks in formation]

1771.

1771.

Etat. 62.

Mr. Strahan, the printer, who had been long in intimacy with Johnson, in the course of his literary labours, who was at once his friendly agent in receiving his penfion for him, and his banker in supplying him with money when he wanted it; who was himself now a Member of Parliament, and who loved much to be employed in political negociation; thought he should do eminent fervice, both to government and Johnson, if he could be the means of his getting a feat in the House of Commons. With this view, he wrote a letter to one of the Secretaries of the Treafury, of which he gave me a copy in his own hand-writing, which is as follows:

"SIR,

"YOU will eafily recollect, when I had the honour of waiting upon you fome time ago, I took the liberty to obferve to you, that Dr. Johnson would make an excellent figure in the Houfe of Commons, and heartily wished he had a feat there. My reasons are briefly these :

"I know his perfect good affection to his Majefty, and his government, which I am certain he wishes to fupport by every means in his

power.

"He poffeffes a great share of manly, nervous, and ready eloquence; is quick in difcerning the strength and weakness of an argument; can express himself with clearnefs and precision, and fears the face of no man alive.

"His known character, as a man of extraordinary sense and unimpeached virtue, would fecure him the attention of the Houfe, and could not fail to give him a proper weight there.

"He is capable of the greatest application, and can undergo any degree of labour, where he fees it neceffary, and where his heart and affections are ftrongly engaged. His Majefty's ministers might therefore fecurely depend on his doing, upon every proper occafion, the utmost that could be expected from him. They would find him ready to vindicate fuch measures as tended to promote the stability of government, and refolute and fteady in carrying them into execution. Nor is any thing to be apprehended from the fuppofed impetuofity of his temper. To the friends of the King you will find him a lamb, to his enemies a lion.

"For thefe reafons, I humbly apprehend that he would be a very able and ufeful member. And I will venture to fay, the employment would not be difagreeable to him; and knowing, as I do, his ftrong affection to the King, his ability to serve him in that capacity, and the extreme ardour with which I am convinced he would engage in that fervice, I must repeat, that I wish most heartily to see him in the House.

"If you think this worthy of attention, you will be pleased to take a convenient opportunity of mentioning it to Lord North. If his Lordship should happily approve of it, I fhall have the fatisfaction of having been, in fome degree, the humble inftrument of doing my country, in my opinion, a very effential service. I know your good-nature, and your zeal for the publick welfare, will plead my excufe for giving you this trouble. . I am, with the greateft refpect, Sir,

"New-ftreet, March.

"Your most obedient and humble fervant,

30, 1771.

WILLIAM STRAHAN."

This recommendation we know was not effectual; but how, or for what reafon, can only be conjectured. It is not to be believed that Mr. Strahan would have applied, unless Johnson had approved of it. I never heard him mention the subject; but at a later period of his life, when Sir Joshua Reynolds told him that Mr. Edmund Burke had faid, that if he had come early into parliament, he certainly would have been the greatest speaker that ever was there, Johnson exclaimed, "I fhould like to try my hand now."

It has been much agitated among his friends and others, whether he would have been a powerful speaker in Parliament, had he been brought in when advanced in life. I am inclined to think, that his extenfive knowledge, his quickness and force of mind, his vivacity and richness of expreffion, his wit and humour, and above all his poignancy of sarcasm, would have had great effect in a popular affembly; and that the magnitude of his figure, and striking peculiarity of his manner, would have aided the effect. But I remember it was observed by Mr. Flood, that Johnson having been long used to sententious brevity and the fhort flights of conversation, might have failed in that continued and expanded kind of argument, which is requifite in ftating complicated matters in publick speaking; and as a proof of this he mentioned the supposed speeches in Parliament written by him for the magazine, none of which, in his opinion, were at all like real debates. The opinion of one who is himself fo eminent an orator, must be allowed to have great weight. It was confirmed by Sir William Scott, who mentioned, that Johnson had told him, that he had feveral times tried to fpeak in the Society of Arts and Sciences, but "had found he could not get on." From Mr. William Gerard Hamilton I have heard, that Johnfon, when obferving to him that it was prudent for a man who had not been accustomed to speak in publick to begin his speech in as simple a manner as poffible, acknowledged that he rose in that fociety

Y y 2

1771.

Etat. 62.

"but (faid he,) all

1771. fociety to deliver a fpeech which he had prepared; Etat. 62. my flowers of oratory forfook me." I however cannot help wifhing, that he had tried his hand" in parliament; and I wonder that ministry did not make the experiment.

I at length renewed a correfpondence which had been too long discontinued:

To Dr. JOHNSON.

"MY DEAR SIR,

Edinburgh, April 18, 1771.

"I CAN now fully underftand thofe intervals of filence in your correspondence with me, which have often given me anxiety and uneasiness; for although I am confcious that my veneration and love for Mr. Johnson have never in the least abated, yet I have deferred for almost a year and a half to write to him."

In the fubfequent part of this letter, I gave him an account of my comfortable life as a married man, and a lawyer in practice at the Scotch bar; invited him to Scotland, and promised to attend him to the Highlands, and Hebrides.

"DEAR SIR,

To JAMES BOSWELL, Efq.

"IF you are now able to comprehend that I might neglect to write without diminution of affection, you have taught me, likewife, how that neglect may be uneafily felt without refentment. I wished for your letter a long time, and when it came, it amply recompenfed the delay. I never was fo much pleased as now with your account of yourself; and fincerely hope, that between publick bufinefs, improving ftudies, and domeftick pleasures, neither melancholy nor caprice will find any place for entrance. Whatever philofophy may determine of material nature, it is certainly true of intellectual nature, that it abbors a vacuum: our minds cannot be empty; and evil will break in upon them, if they are not pre-occupied by good. My dear Sir, mind your studies, mind your bufinefs, make your lady happy, and be a good Chriftian. After this,

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]
« ElőzőTovább »