ÆTAT. 61. CORRESPONDENCE. 43 I have recourse to you for such information as you are more able to give me than any other man. "In support of an opinion which you have already placed above the need of any more support, Mr. Steevens, a very ingenious gentleman, lately of King's College, has collected an account of all the translations which Shakspeare might have seen and used. He wishes his catalogue to be perfect, and therefore intreats that you will favour him by the insertion of such additions as the accuracy of your inquiries has enabled you to make. To this request, I take the liberty of adding my own solicitation. "We have no immediate use for this catalogue, and therefore do not desire that it should interrupt or hinder your more important employments. But it will be kind to let us know that you receive it. I am, Sir, &c., "SAM. JOHNSON." LETTER 121. TO MRS. LUCY PORTER. "May 1, 1770. "DEAREST MADAM,-Among other causes that have hindered me from answering your last kind letter, is a tedious and painful rheumatism, that has afflicted me for many weeks, and still continues to molest me. I hope you are well, and will long keep your health and your cheerfulness. "One reason why I delayed to write, was my uncertainty how to answer your letter. I like the thought of giving away the money very well; but when I consider that Tom Johnson is my nearest relation, and that he is now old and in great want; that he was my playfellow in childhood, and has never done anything to offend me; I am in doubt whether I ought not rather give it him than any other. "Of this, my dear, I would have your opinion. I would willingly please you, and I know that you will be pleased best with what you think right. Tell me your mind, and do not learn of me to neglect writing; for it is a very sorry trick, though it be mine. "Your brother is well; I saw him to-day, and thought it long since I saw him before it seems he has called often and could not find me. I am, my dear, your affectionate humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." LETTER 122. TO THE SAME. "London, May, 29, 1770. "MY DEAREST DEAR,-I am very sorry that your eyes are bad; take great care of them, especially by candlelight. Mine continue pretty good, but they are sometimes a little dim. My rheumatism grows gradually better. I have con sidered your letter, and am willing that the whole money should go where you, my dear, originally intended. I hope to help Tom some other way. So that matter is over. "Dr. Taylor has invited me to pass some time with him at Ashbourne; if I come, you may be sure that I shall take you and Lichfield in my way. When I am nearer coming, I will send you word. "Of Mr. Porter I have seen very little, but I know not that it is his fault, for he says that he often calls, but never finds me; I am sorry for it, for I love him. Mr. Mathias has lately had a great deal of money left him, of which you have probably heard already. I am, my dearest, your most affectionate servant, LETTER 123. TO THE REV. THOMAS WARTON. "SAM. JOHNSON,' "London, June 28, 1770. "DEAR SIR,-The readiness with which you were pleased to promise me some notes on Shakspeare, was a new instance of your friendship. I shall not hurry you; but am desired by Mr. Steevens, who helps me in this edition, to let you know, that we shall print the tragedies first, and shall therefore want first the notes which belong to them. We think not to incommode the readers with a supplement; and therefore, what we cannot put into its proper place, will do us no good. We shall not begin to print before the end of six weeks, perhaps not so soon. I am, &c., "SAM. JOHNSON." LETTER 124. TO MRS. THRALE. "Lichfield, July, 7, 1770. "I thought I should have heard something to-day about Streatham; but there is no letter; and I need some consolation, for rheumatism is come again, though in a less degree than formerly. I reckon to go next week to Ashbourne, and will try to bring you the dimensions of the great bull. The skies and the ground are all so wet that I have been very little abroad; and Mrs. Aston is from home, so that I have no motive to walk. When she is at home, she lives on the top of Stowhill, and I commonly climb up to see her once a day. There is nothing there now but the empty nest. To write to you about Lichfield is of no use, for you never saw Stow-pool, nor Borowcop-hill. I believe you may find Borow or Boroughcop-hill in my Dictionary, under cop or cob. Nobody here knows what the name imports." "Lichfield, July 11, 1770. “Mr. Greene, the apothecary, has found a book which tells who paid levies in our parish, and how much they paid above an hundred years ago. Do you not think we study this book hard? Nothing is like going to the bottom of things. Many families that paid the parish rates are now extinct, like the race of Hercules. Pulvis et umbra sumus. What is nearest us touches us most. The passions rise higher at domestic than at imperial tragedies. I am not wholly unaffected by the revolutions in Sadler Street; nor can forbear to mourn when old names vanish away, and new come into their place." ÆTAT. 61. VISIT TO ASHBOURNE. 45 "Ashbourne, July, 20, 1770. "I came hither on Wednesday, having staid one night at a lodge in the forest of Nedewood. Dr. Taylor's is a very pleasant house, with a lawn and a lake, and twenty deer and five fawns upon the lawn. Whether I shall by any light see Matlock I do not yet know. "That Baretti's book would please you all I made no doubt. I know not whether the world has ever seen such travels before. Those whose lot it is to ramble can seldom write, and those who know how to write very seldom ramble. If Sidney had gone, as he desired, the great voyage with Drake, there would probably have been such a narrative as would have equally satisfied the poet and the philosopher." "Ashbourne, July 28, 1770. "I have seen the great bull, and very great he is. I have seen likewise his heir apparent, who promises to inherit all the bulk and all the virtues of his sire. I have seen the man who offered an hundred guineas for the young bull, while he was yet little better than a calf. Matlock, I am afraid, I shall not see, but I purpose to see Dovedale; and, after all this seeing, I hope to see you." LETTER 125. TO THE REV. DR. JOSEPH WARTON. 66 Sept. 21, 1770. "DEAR SIR,-I am revising my edition of Shakspeare, and remember that I formerly misrepresented your opinion of Lear. Be pleased to write the paragraph as you would have it, and send it. If you have any remarks of your own upon that or any other play, I shall gladly receive them. Make my compliments to Mrs. Warton. I sometimes think of wandering a few days to Winchester, but am apt to delay. I am, Sir, your most humble servant, LETTER 126. TO MR. FRANCIS BARBER, "SAM. JOHNSON." "London, Sept. 25, 1770. "DEAR FRANCIS,-I am at last sat down to write to you, and should very much blame myself for having neglected you so long, if I did not impute that and many other failings to want of health. I hope not to be so long silent again. I am very well satisfied with your progress, if you can really perform the exercises which you are set; and I hope Mr. Ellis does not suffer you to impose on him, or on yourself. Make my compliments to Mr. Ellis and to Mrs. Clapp, and Mr. Smith. "Let me know what English books you read for your entertainment. You can never be wise unless you love reading. Do not imagine that I shall forget or forsake you; for if, when I examine you, I find that you have not lost your time, you shall want no encouragement from yours affectionately, "SAM. JOHNSON.” LETTER 127. TO THE SAME. "December 7, 1770. “Dear Francis,—I hope you mind your business. I design you shall stay with Mrs. Clapp these holidays. If you are invited out you may go, if Mr. Ellis gives leave. I have ordered you some othes, which you will receive, I believe, next week. My compliments to Mrs. Clapp, and to Mr. Ellis, and Mr. Smith, &c.—I am your affectionate, "SAM JOHNSON." CHAPTER III. 1770. Dr. Maxwel's Collectanea-Johnson's Politics, and general Mode of Life-Opulent Tradesmen-London-Black-letter Books-" Anatomy of Melancholy."-Government of Ireland -Love-Jacob Behmen-Established Clergy-Dr. Priestley-Blank Verse-French Novels -Pere Boscovich-Lord Lyttelton's Dialogues-Ossian-Woodhouse, the Poetical Cobbler-Boetius-National Debt Mallet-Marriage-Foppery-Gilbert-Cooper-HomerGregory Sharpe-Poor of England-Corn Laws-Dr. Browne-Mr. Burke-Economy-Fortune-hunters-Orchards-Irish Clergy. DURING this year there was a total cessation of all correspondence between Dr. Johnson and me, without any coldness on either side, but merely from procrastination, continued from day to day; and, as I was not in London, I had no opportunity of enjoying his company and recording his conversation. To supply this blank, I shall present my readers with some Collectanea, obligingly furnished to me by the Rev. Dr. Maxwell,' of Falkland, in Ireland, some time assistant preacher at the Temple, and for many years the social friend of Johnson, who spoke of him with a very kind regard Collectanea. "My acquaintance with that great and venerable character commenced in the year 1754. I was introduced to him by Mr. Grierson, his Majesty's printer at Dublin, a gentleman of uncommon learning, and great wit and vivacity. Mr. Grierson died in Germany, at the age of twenty-seven. Dr. Johnson highly respected his abilities, and often observed, that he possessed more extensive knowledge than any man of his years he had ever known. His ndustry was equal to his talents; and he particularly excelled in every 1 Dr. William Maxwell was the son of Dr. John Maxwell, Archdeacon of Downe, in Ireland, and cousin of the Honourable Henry Maxwell, Bishop of Dromore in 1765, and of Meath in 1766, from whom he obtained preferment; but having a considerable property of his own, he resigned the living when, as it is said, his residence was insisted on; and he fixed himself in Bath, where he died, so late as 1818, at the age of 87.-C. 2 Son of the learned Mrs. Grierson, who was patronised by the late Lord Granville, and was the editor of several of the classics.-B. |