he had come early into parliament, he certainly would have been the greatest speaker that ever was there, Johnson exclaimed, "I should 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 extensive knowledge, his quickness and force of mind, his vivacity and richness of expression, his wit and humour, and above all, his poignancy of sarcasm, would have had great effect in a popular assembly; 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 short flights of conversation, might have failed in that continued and expanded kind of argument, which is requisite in stating complicated matters in public 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 was himself so eminent an orator, must be allowed to have great weight. It was confirmed by Sir William Scott [Lord Stowell], who mentioned, that Johnson had told him, that he had several times tried to speak in the Society of Arts and Sciences, but "had found he could not get on." (1) From Mr. William Gerard Hamilton I

(1) Dr. Kippis, however (Biog. Brit. art. "J. Gilbert Cooper," p. 266., n. new edit.), says, that he "once heard Dr.

have heard, that Johnson, when observing to him that it was prudent for a man who had not been accustomed to speak in public, to begin his speech in as simple a manner as possible, acknowledged that. he rose in that society to deliver a speech which he had prepared ; "but," said he, "all my flowers of oratory forsook me." I however cannot help wishing, that he had "tried his hand" in Parliament; and I wonder that ministry did not make the experiment. (1)

Johnson speak in the Society of Arts and Manufactures, upon a subject relative to mechanics, with a propriety, perspicuity, and energy, which excited general admiration."-M. I cannot give credit to Dr. Kippis's account against Johnson's own statement, vouched by Lord Stowell and Mr. Hamilton; but even if we could, one speech in the Society of Arts was no test of what Johnson might have been able to do in parliament; and it may be suspected that, at the age of sixty-two, he, with all his talents, would have failed to acquire that peculiar tact and dexterity, without which even great abilities do not succeed in that very fastidious assembly. — C.

(1) The publication of Johnson's political tracts exhibited him to the world in a new character: he ceased now to be considered as one who, having been more conversant with books than with men, knew little of active life, the views of parties, or the artifices of designing men: on the contrary, they discovered that he had, by the force of his own genius, and the observations he had made on the history of our own and other countries, attained to such skill in the grand leading principles of political science, as are seldom acquired by those in the most active and important stations, even after long experience; and that, whatever opinions he might have formed on this subject, he had ability by strong reasoning to defend, and by a manly and convincing eloquence to enforce. Mr. Thrale, a man of slow conceptions, but of a sound judgment, was not one of the last that discerned in his friend this talent, and believing that the exercise of it might redound to the benefit of the public, entertained a design of bringing Johnson into parliament. We must suppose that he had previously determined to furnish him with a legal qualification, and Johnson, it is certain, was willing to accept the trust. Mr. Thrale had two meetings with the minister, who, at first, seemed inclined to find him a seat; but,

TO MISS LANGTON.

"London, April 17. 1771.

"MADAM,—If I could have flattered myself that my letters could have given pleasure, or have alleviated pain, I should not have omitted to write to a lady to whom I do sincerely wish every increase of pleasure, and every mitigation of uneasiness.

"I knew, dear madan, that a very heavy affliction (1) had fallen upon you; but it was one of those which the established course of nature makes necessary, and to which kind words give no relief. Success is, on these occasions, to be expected only from time.

"Your censure of me, as deficient in friendship, is therefore too severe. I have neither been unfriendly, nor intentionally uncivil. The notice with which you have honoured me, I have neither forgotten, nor remembered without pleasure. The calamity of ill health, your brother will tell you that I have had, since I saw you, sufficient reason to know and to pity. But this is another evil against which we can receive little help from one another. I can only advise you, and I advise you with great earnestness, to do nothing that may hurt you, and to reject nothing that may do you good. To preserve health is a moral and religious duty: for health is the basis of all social virtues; we can be useful no longer than while we are well.

"If the family knows that you receive this letter, you will be pleased to make my compliments. I flatter myself with the hopes of seeing Langton after Lady

whether upon conversation he doubted his fitness for his purpose, or that he thought himself in no need of his assistance, the project failed. Johnson was a little soured at this disappointment: he spoke of Lord North in terms of severity.. HAWKINS.

Probably, the death of her aunt, the elder Miss Langton.

Rothes's recovery; and then I hope that you and I shall renew our conferences, and that I shall find you willing as formerly to talk and to hear; and shall be again admitted to the honour of being, madam, your most obedient and most humble servant,

"SAM. JOHNSON."

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

LETTER 131. TO DR. JOHNSON.

"Edinburgh, April 18. 1771.

"MY DEAR SIR, -I can now fully understand those intervals of silence in your correspondence with me, which have often given me anxiety and uneasiness; for although I am conscious 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 subsequent part of this letter, I gave him an account of my comfortable life as a married man (1), and a lawyer in practice at the Scotch bar; invited him to Scotland, and promised to attend him to the Highlands and Hebrides.

(1) Mr. Boswell had married, in November, 1769, Miss Margaret Montgomerie, of the family of the Montgomeries of Lainshawe, who were baronets, and claimed the peerage of Lyle. Dr. Johnson says of this lady to Mrs. Thrale, in a letter from Auchinleck, August 23. 1773: "Mrs. B. has the mien and manner of a gentlewoman, and such a person and mind as would not in any place either be admired or condemned. She is in a proper degree inferior to her husband: she cannot rival him, nor can he ever be ashamed of her.-C.

TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

"London, June 20. 1771.

"DEAR SIR-If you are now able to comprehend that I might neglect to write without diminution of affection, you have taught me, likewise, how that neglect may be uneasily felt without resentment. I wished for your letter a long time, and when it came, it amply recompensed the delay. I never was so much pleased as now with your account of yourself; and sincerely hope, that between public business, improving studies, and domestic pleasures, neither melancholy nor caprice will find any place for entrance. Whatever philosophy may determine of material nature, it is certainly true of intellectual nature, that it abhors 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 business, make your lady happy, and be a good Christian. After this,

-tristitiam et metus

'Trades protervis in mare Creticum
'Portare ventis.'

"If we perform our duty, we shall be safe and steady, Sive per,' &c. whether we climb the Highlands, or are tost among the Hebrides; and I hope the time will come when we may try our powers both with cliffs and water. I see but little of Lord Elibank (1), I know not why; perhaps by my own fault. I am this day going into Staffordshire and Derbyshire for six weeks. dear Sir, your most affectionate, and most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON."

(1) Patrick Murray, fifth Lord Elibank.

I am,

He had been in

the army, and served as a colonel in the expedition against Carthagena in 1740. He was a man of wit and talents, and wrote some tracts relative to the statistics and history of Scotland. He died in 1778.-C.