with each particular person, if it could be done, would be a task, of which the labour would not be repaid by the advantage. But exceptions are to be made; one of which must be a friend so eminent as Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was truly his dulce decus, and with whom he maintained an uninterrupted intimacy to the last hour of his life. When Johnson lived in Castle Street, Cavendish Square, he used frequently to visit two ladies who lived opposite to him, Miss Cotterells, daughters of Admiral Cotterell. (1) Reynolds used also to visit there, and thus they met. (2)

mixing, otherwise than occasionally, with polite company;" and Dr. Harwood has favoured me with the following memorandum, in Johnson's writing, made about this time, of certain visits which he was to make (perhaps on his return from Oxford in 1754); and which, as it contains the names of some of the highest and lowest of his acquaintance, is probably a list of nearly all his friends: "Visits to Brodie, Fowke, Taylor, Elphinston, Osborne, Garden[er], Richardson, Strahan, Millar, Tonson, Dodsley, Reynolds, Lenox, Gully, Hawkesworth, Gardiner, Drew, Lawrence, Garrick, Robinson, sen., Boyle, Wilson, Henry, Tyers, Hawkins, Ryland, Payne, Newberry, Bathurst, Grainger, Baker, Weston, Millar, Craster, Simpson, Rose, Giffard, Gregory, Desmoulins, Lloyd, Sherrard. CROKER.

(1) Captain Charles Cotterell retired totally from the service in July, 1747, being put on the superannuated list, with the rank and pay of a rear-admiral. He died in August, 1754.-CROKER.

(2) It would be naturally inferred from Mr. Boswell's account, that the acquaintance between Johnson and Sir Joshua took place so early as at the time when the former resided in Castle Street. This can hardly have been the case. Reynolds, then a youth under age, passed the years 1741 and 1742 in London, but did not again revisit the metropolis till the end of 1752. (See Northcote's Life, pp. 12. 31, and 32.) That the acquaintance did not commence on the first visit, is proved by its having occurred after the publication of the Life of Savage, which was in 1744. Barber also must have been in error when he described Reynolds as one of Johnson's intimates at the period of his wife's death. - CROKER.

Mr. Reynolds, as I have observed above, had, from the first reading of his Life of Savage, conceived a very high admiration of Johnson's powers of writing. His conversation no less delighted him; and he cultivated his acquaintance with the laudable zeal of one who was ambitious of general improvement. Sir Joshua, indeed, was lucky enough, at their very first meeting, to make a remark, which was so much above the common-place style of conversation, that Johnson at once perceived that Reynolds had the habit of thinking for himself. The ladies were regretting the death of a friend, to whom they owed great obligations; upon which Reynolds observed, "You have, however, the comfort of being relieved from a burthen of gratitude." They were shocked a little at this alleviating suggestion, as too selfish ; but Johnson defended it in his clear and forcible manner, and was much pleased with the mind, the fair view of human nature (1), which it exhibited, like some of the reflections of Rochefaucault. The consequence was, that he went home with Reynolds, and supped with him.

Sir Joshua told me a pleasant characteristical anecdote of Johnson about the time of their first

(1) Johnson himself has a sentiment somewhat similar in his 87th Rambler: -"There are minds so impatient of inferiority, that their gratitude is a species of revenge, and they return benefits, not because recompense is a pleasure, but because obligation is a pain."-J. BOSWELL, jun. This is, no doubt, "a somewhat similar sentiment;" but in the Rambler, Johnson mentions it with the censure it deserves; whereas, in the text, he is represented as applauding it. Such an observation is very little like the usual good manners, good nature, and good sense of Sir Joshua; and we cannot but suspect the authority, whatever it was, on which Boswell admitted this anecdote.-ČRoker.

acquaintance. When they were one evening together at the Miss Cotterells', the then Duchess of Argyle (1) and another lady of high rank came in. Johnson, thinking that the Miss Cotterells were too much engrossed by them, and that he and his friend were neglected, as low company of whom they were somewhat ashamed, grew angry; and resolving to shock their supposed pride, by making their great visiters imagine that his friend and he were low indeed, he addressed himself in a loud tone to Mr. Reynolds, saying, "How much do you think you and I could get in a week, if we were to work as hard as we could?". as if they had been common mechanics.(2)

(1) Jane Warburton, second wife of John second Duke of Argyle. His Grace died in 1743. She survived till 1767. CROKER.

(2) [Mrs. Chapone, in one of her letters to Miss Carter, gives the following account of her meeting Johnson and Miss Williams at Richardson's country-house, near Fulham, about

this time:

"10th July, 1752.

"We had a visit, whilst at Northend, from your friend Mr. Johnson and poor Mrs. Williams. I was charmed with his behaviour to her, which was like that of a fond father to his daughter. She seemed much pleased with her visit; showed very good sense, with a great deal of modesty and humility; and so much patience and cheerfulness under her misfortune, that it doubled my concern for her. Mr. Johnson was very communicative and entertaining, and did me the honour to address most of his discourse to me. I had the assurance to dispute with him on the subject of human malignity, and wondered to hear a man, who, by his actions, shows so much benevolence, maintain that the human heart is naturally malevolent, and that all the benevolence we see in the few who are good is acquired by reason and religion. You may believe I entirely disagreed with him, being, as you know, fully persuaded that benevolence, or the love of our fellowcreatures, is as much a part of our natures as self-love; and that it cannot be suppressed or extinguished without great violence from the force of other passions. I told him, I suspected him of these bad notions from some of his Ramblers, and had accused him to you; but that you had persuaded me I had mistaken his sense. To which he answered, that if he had be trayed such sentiments in the Ramblers, it was without design; for that he believed that the doctrine of human malevolence, though a true one, is not a useful one, and ought not to be published to the world. Is there any truth

His acquaintance with Bennet Langton, Esq. of Langton, in Lincolnshire, another much valued friend, commenced soon after the conclusion of his Rambler; which that gentleman, then a youth, had read with so much admiration, that he came to London chiefly with a view of endeavouring to be introduced to its author. (1) By a fortunate chance, he happened to take lodgings in a house where Mr. Levett frequently visited; and having mentioned his wish to his landlady, she introduced him to Mr. Levett, who readily obtained Johnson's permission to bring Mr. Langton to him; as, indeed, Johnson, during the whole course of his life, had no shyness,

that would not be useful, or that should not be known?"-Works, vol. i. p. 72.]

(1) Mr. Langton was born about 1737, and entered, as Dr. Hall informs me, of Trinity College, Oxford, July 7. 1757. So much of his history is told with that of Dr. Johnson's, that it is unnecessary to say more in this place, except that he was remarkable for his knowledge of Greek, and that he seems, at one time of his life, to have practised engineering as a profession. On Dr. Johnson's death, he succeeded him as professor of ancient literature in the Royal Academy. He died on the 10th of December, 1801, and was buried at Southampton. The following description of his person and appearance later in life may be amusing: "O! that we could sketch him with his mild countenance, his elegant features, and his sweet smile, sitting with one leg twisted round the other, as if fearing to occupy more space than was equitable; his person inclining orward, as if wanting strength to support his height, and his arms crossed over his bosom, or his hands locked together on his knee; his oblong gold-mounted snuff-box, taken from the waistcoat pocket opposite his hand, and either remaining between his fingers or set by him on the table, but which was never used but when his mind was occupied on conversation; so soon as conversation began, the box was produced." Miss Hawkins's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 282. — - CROKER.

real or affected, but was easy of access to all who were properly recommended, and even wished to see numbers at his levée, as his morning circle of company might, with strict propriety, be called. Mr. Langton was exceedingly surprised when the sage first appeared. He had not received the smallest intimation of his figure, dress, or manner. From perusing his writings, he fancied he should see a decent, well-drest, in short, a remarkably decorous philosopher. Instead of which, down from his bedchamber, about noon, came, as newly risen, a huge uncouth figure, with a little dark wig which scarcely covered his head, and his clothes hanging loose about him. But his conversation was so rich, so animated, and so forcible, and his religious and political notions so congenial with those in which Langton had been educated, that he conceived for him that veneration and attachment which he ever preserved. Johnson was not the less ready to love Mr. Langton, for his being of a very ancient family; for I have heard him say, with pleasure, "Langton, Sir, has a grant of free-warren from Henry the Second; and Cardinal Stephen Langton, in King John's reign, was of this family." (1)

Mr. Langton afterwards went to pursue his studies at Trinity College, Oxford, where he formed an

(1) It is to be wondered that he did not also mention Bishop Langton, a distinguished benefactor to the cathedral of Lichfield, and who also had a grant of free-warren over his patrimonial inheritance, from Edward I.; the relationship might probably be as clearly traced in the one case as in the other. See Harwood's History of Lichfield, p. 139. — CROKER.