1770. { "He was no admirer of blank-verse, and faid it always failed, unless fufÆtat. 61. tained by the dignity of the subject. In blank-verse, he said, the language fuffered more distortion, to keep it out of profe, than any inconvenience or limitation to be apprehended from the shackles and circumfcription of rhyme. " He reproved me once for faying grace without mention of the name of our Lord JESUS CHRIST, and hoped in future I would be more mindful of the apoftolical injunction. " He refused to go out of a room before me at Mr. Langton's house, saying, he hoped he knew his rank better than to prefume to take place of a Doctor in Divinity. I mention such little anecdotes, merely to shew the peculiar turn and habit of his mind. "He used frequently to observe, that there was more to be endured than enjoyed, in the general condition of human life; and frequently quoted those Jines of Dryden : • Strange cozenage! none would live past years again, For his part, he said, he never passed that week in his life which he would wish "He was of opinion, that the English nation cultivated both their foil and their reason better than any other people; but admitted that the French, though not the highest, perhaps, in any department of literature, yet in every department were very high. Intellectual pre-eminence, he observed, was the highest fuperiority; and that every nation derived their highest reputation from the splendour and dignity of their writers. Voltaire, he faid, was a good narrator, and that his principal merit confifted in a happy selection and arrangement of circumstances. " Speaking of the French novels, compared with Richardson's, he said they might be pretty baubles, but a wren was not an eagle. " In a Latin conversation with the Pere Boscovitz, at the house of Mrs. Cholmondeley, I heard him maintain the fuperiority of Sir Ifaac Newton over all foreign philosophers, with a dignity and eloquence that surprized that learned foreigner. It being observed to him, that a rage for every thing English prevailed much in France after Lord Chatham's glorious war, he said, he did not wonder at it, for that we had drubbed those fellows into a proper reverence for us, and that their national petulance required periodical chaftisement. " Lord } "Lord Lyttelton's Dialogues, he deemed a nugatory performance. That 1770. man (faid he,) fat down to write a book, to tell the world what the world had Ætat. 61. all his life been telling him.' " Somebody observing that the Scotch Highlanders in the year 1745, had made furprizing efforts, confidering their numerous wants and disadvantages: 'Yes, Sir, (faid he,) their wants were numerous, but you have not mentioned the greatest of them all, the want of law.' < If " Speaking of the inward light, to which fome methodists pretended, he said, it was a principle utterly incompatible with focial or civil security. a man (faid he,) pretends to a principle of action of which I can know nothing, nay, not so much as that he has it, but only that he pretends to it; how can I tell what that person may be prompted to do? When a person professes to be governed by a written afcertained law, I can then know where to find him.' "The poem of Fingal, he said, was a mere unconnected rhapsody, a tirefome repetition of the fame images. 'In vain shall we look for the lucidus ordo, where there is neither end or object, design or moral, nec certa recurrit imago.' "Being asked by a young nobleman, what was become of the gallantry and military spirit of the old English nobility, he replied, 'Why, my Lord, I'll tell you what is become of it; it is gone into the city to look for a fortune.' Speaking of a dull tiresome fellow, whom he chanced to meet, he said, • That fellow feems to me to possess but one idea, and that is a wrong one.' " Much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at last Johnson observed, that he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney.' " He spoke with much contempt of the notice taken of Woodhouse, the poetical shoemaker. He said, it was all vanity and childishness; and that fuch objects were, to those who patronised them, mere mirrours of their own fuperiority. They had better (faid he,) furnish the man with good implements for his trade, than raise subscriptions for his poems. He may make an excellent shoemaker, but can never make a good poet. A school-boy's exercife may be a pretty thing for a school-boy, but is no treat for a man.' Speaking of Boetius, who was the favourite writer of the middle ages, he said it was very furprizing, that upon such a subject, and in such a situation, he should be magis philofophus quam Chriftianus. " Speaking i 1 1770. } "Speaking of Arthur Murphy, whom he very much loved, 'I don't know Ætat. 61. (faid he,) that Arthur can be classed with the very first dramatick writers; yet at present I doubt much whether we have any thing fuperior to Arthur.' "Speaking of the national debt, he said, it was an idle dream to suppose that the country could fink under it. Let the publick creditors be ever so clamorous, the interest of millions must ever prevail over that of thousands. " Of Dr. Kennicott's Collations, he observed, 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 observed, that so 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 spoke with no great respect: 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 should meet a fuitable companion in a wife. It was a miferable thing when the conversation could only be fuch as, whether the mutton should be boiled or roasted, and probably a difpute about that. " He did not approve of late marriages, observing, that more was lost in point of time, than compenfated for by any possible advantages. Even ill afsorted marriages were preferable to cheerless celibacy. " Of old Sheridan he remarked, that he neither wanted parts or literature, but that his vanity and Quixotism obfcured his merits. "He faid, foppery was never cured; it was the bad stamina of the mind, which, like those of the body, were never rectified: once a coxcomb, and always a coxcomb. "Being told that Gilbert Cowper called him the Caliban of literature; • Well, (faid he,) I must dub him the Punchinello.' " Speaking 1770. "Speaking of the old Earl of Corke and Orrery, he said, 'that man spent his life in catching at an object, [literary eminence, which he had not power Ætat. 61. to grafp.' " He often used to quote, with great pathos, those fine lines of Virgil: • Optima quæque dies miferis mortalibus ævi * Prima fugit; fubeunt morbi, tristisque senectus, * Et labor, et duræ rapit inclementia mortis.' " To find a substitution for violated morality, he said, was the leading feature in all perversions of religion." In 1771 he published another political pamphlet, entitled " Thoughts on the late Transactions respecting Falkland's Islands," in which, upon materials furnished to him by ministry, and upon general topicks expanded in his richest style, he fuccefsfully 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 suggested by some, with what truth I shall not take upon me to decide, that he rated the consequence of those ilands 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 so dreadful, that it is astonishing how civilifed, nay, Christian nations, can deliberately continue to renew it. His description of its miseries in this pamphlet, is one of the finest pieces of eloquence in the English language. Upon this occafion, too, we find Johnfon lashing the party in opposition with unbounded feverity, and making the fullest use of what he ever reckoned a most effectual argumentative instrument, 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 single 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 softened in one particular, after the first edition; for the conclusion of Mr. George Grenville's character stood thus: "Let him not, however, be depreciated in his grave. He had powers not universally possessed: could he have enforced payment of the Manilla ransom, he could have counted it." Which, instead of retaining its fly sharp point, was reduced to a mere flat unmeaning expreffion, or, if I may use the word,-truism: "He had powers not universally possessed: and if he sometimes erred, he was likewise sometimes right." 1771. 1771. Mr. Strahan, the printer, who had been long in intimacy with Johnson, in Etat. 62. the course of his literary labours, who was at once his friendly agent in receiving his pension 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 service, 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 Treasury, of which he gave me a copy in his own hand-writing, which is as follows: " SIR, " YOU will easily recollect, when I had the honour of waiting upon you some time ago, I took the liberty to observe to you, that Dr. Johnfon would make an excellent figure in the House of Commons, and heartily wished he had a feat there. My reasons are briefly these : " I know his perfect good affection to his Majesty, and his government, which I am certain he wishes to support by every means in his power. " He possesses a great share of manly, nervous, and ready eloquence; is quick in difcerning the strength and weakness of an argument; can express himself with clearness 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 House, 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 sees it necessary, and where his heart and affections are strongly engaged. His Majesty's ministers might therefore securely 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 steady in carrying them into execution. Nor is any thing to be apprehended from the supposed impetuosity of his temper. To the friends of the King you will find him a lamb, to his enemies, a lion. " For these reasons, I humbly apprehend that he would be a very able and useful member. And I will venture to say, the employment would not be disagreeable to him; and knowing, as I do, his strong 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 service, I must repeat, that I wish most heartily to fee him in the House. 4 « If |