loud voice,) "Sir, I am not saying that you could live in friendship with a man from whom you differ as to some point: I am only saying that I could do it. You put me in mind of Sappho, in Ovid."*

He said to Sir Joshua Reynolds, "If a man does not make new acquaintance as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man should keep his friendship in constant repair.”

Amid the cold obscurity of Johnson's early life, there was one brilliant circumstance to cheer him : he was well acquainted with Mr. Henry Hervey, one of the branches of the noble family of that name, who had been quartered at Lichfield as an officer of the army, and had at this time a house in London, where Johnson was frequently entertained, and had an opportunity of meeting genteel company. Not very long before his death, he mentioned this, among other particulars of his life; and he described

Si, nisi quæ facie poterit te digna videri,
Nulla futura tua est; nulla futura tua est.'

His meaning, no doubt, was, "If you are determined to associate with no one whose sentiments do not universally coincide with your own, you will, by such a resolution, exclude yourself from all society; for no two men can be found, who, on all points, invariably think alike. So Sappho in Ovid, tells Phaon, that if he will not unite him. self to any one who is not a complete resemblance of himself, it will be impossible for him to form any union at all."

If to no charms thou wilt thy heart resign,
But such as merit, such as equal thine;
By none, alas! by nonę thou canst be moved:
Phaon alone by Phaon must be loved.'

this early friend, Harry Hervey, thus: "He was a vicious man, but very kind to me. if you call a dog Hervey, I shall love him."

Boswell having mentioned that old Sheridan complained of the ingratitude of Mr. Wedderburne and General Fraser, who had been much obliged to him when they were young Scotchmen entering upon life in England. JOHNSON." Why, sir, a man is very apt to complain of the ingratitude of those who have risen far above him. A man, when he gets into a higher sphere, into other habits of life, cannot keep up all his former connexions: then, sir, those who knew him formerly upon a level with themselves, may think that they ought still to be treated as on a level, which cannot be; and an acquaintance in a former situation may bring out things which it would be very disagreeable to have mentioned before higher company, though, perhaps, every body knows them." He placed this subject in a new light to his auditor, and showed, that a man who has risen in the world, must not be condemned too harshly for being distant to former acquaintance, even though he may have been much obliged to them. It is, no doubt, to be wished, that a proper degree of attention should be shown by great men to their early friends: but if, either from obtuse insensibility to difference of situation, or presumptuous forwardness, which will not submit even to an exterior observance of it, the dignity of high place cannot be preserved, when they are admitted into the company of those raised above the state in which they once were, encroachment must be repelled, and the kinder feelings sacrificed. "To one

of the very fortunate persons whom I have mentioned," adds Boswell, "namely, Mr. Wedderburne, now lord Loughborough, I must do the justice to relate, that I have been assured by another early acquaintance of his, old Mr. Macklin, who assisted in improving his pronunciation, that he found him very grateful. Macklin, I suppose, had not pressed upon his elevation with so much eagerness as the gentleman who complained of him. Dr. Johnson's remark as to the jealousy entertained of our friends who rise far above us, is certainly very just. By this was withered the early friendship between Charles, Townshend and Akenside; and many similar instances might be adduced."

One evening, at Miss Reynolds's, Sir Joshua's sister, Boswell mentioned that an eminent friend of theirs, talking of the common remark that affection descends, said, that "this was wisely contrived for the preservation of mankind; for which it was not so necessary that there should be affection from children to parents, as from parents to children; nay, there would be no harm, in that view, though children should at a certain age eat their parents," JOHNSON. "But, sir, if this were known generally to be the case, parents would not have affection for children." BoSWELL." True, sir; for it is in expectation of a return that parents are so attentive to their children; and I know a very pretty instance of a little girl of whom her father was very fond, who once, when he was in a melancholy fit, and had gone to bed, persuaded him to rise in good humour, by saying, My dear papa, please to get up, and let me help you on with your clothes, that I may learn to do it when you are an old man."

"Having lain at St. Albans, on Thursday, March 28," says Boswell, "we breakfasted the next morning at Barnet. I expressed to him a weakness of mind which I could not help; an uneasy apprehension that my wife and children, who were at a great distance from me, might, perhaps, be ill. Sir,' said he, consider how foolish you would think it in them to be apprehensive that you are ill. This sudden turn relieved me for the moment, but I afterwards perceived it to be an ingenious fallacy.* I might, to be sure, be satisfied, that they had no reason to be apprehensive about me, because I knew that I myself was well: but we might have a mutual anxiety without the charge of folly; because each was, in some degree, uncertain as to the condition of the other."

The subject of grief for the loss of relations and friends being introduced, Boswell observed, that it was strange to consider how soon it in general wears away. Dr. Taylor mentioned a gentleman of the neighbourhood as the only instance he had ever known of a person who had endeavoured to retain grief. He told Dr. Taylor, that after his lady's death, which affected him deeply, he resolved that the grief, which he cherished with a kind of sacred fondness, should be lasting; but that he found he could not keep it long. JOHNSON. "All grief for what cannot in the

ment.

*Surely it is no fallacy, but a sound and rational arguHe who is perfectly well, and apprehensive concerning the state of another at a distance from him, knows to a certainty that the fears of that person concerning his health are imaginary and delusive; and hence has a rational ground for supposing that his own apprehensions concerning his absent wife or friend are equally unfounded. Malone.

course of nature be helped, soon wears away; in some sooner, indeed, in some later; but it never continues very long, unless where there is madness, such as will make a man have pride so fixed in his mind, as to imagine himself a king; or any other passion in an unreasonable way: for all unnecessary grief is unwise, and therefore will not be retained long by a sound mind. If, indeed, the cause of our grief is occasioned by our own misconduct, if grief is mingled with remorse of conscience, it should be lasting." BosWELL." But, sir, we do not approve of a man who very soon forgets the loss of a wife or a friend." JOHNSON. "Sir, we disapprove of him, not because he soon forgets his grief, for the sooner it is forgotten the better; but because we suppose, that if he forgets his wife or his friend soon, he has not had much affection for them."

No. VIII.

MARRIAGE,

JOHNSON asserted, "Marriage is the best state for man in general; and every man is a worse man, in proportion as he is unfit for the married state."

When Dr. Johnson was married, the ceremony was not performed at Birmingham, where the bride and bridegroom lived; but a resolution was taken that it should be at Derby, for which place they set out on horseback, no doubt in very good humour. But though Mr. Topham Beauclerk used archly to