the only two persous then alive who had seen him; these were old Swinney and old, Cibber. Swinney's information was no more than this, "That at Will's coffee-house Dryden had a particular chair for himself, which was set by the fire in winter, and was then called his winter-chair; and that it was carried out for him to the balcony in summer, and was then called his summer-chair. Cibber could tell no more but That he remembered him a decent old man, arbiter of critical disputes at Will's.' You are to consider that Cibber was then at a great distance from Dryden, had perhaps one leg only in the room, and durst not draw in the other. Boswell. Yet Cibber was a man of observation? Johnson. I think not. Boswell. You will allow his Apology' to be well done. Johnson. very well done, to be sure, Sir. That book is a striking proof of the justness of Pope's remark : "Each might his several province well command, Boswell. And his plays are good. Johnson. Yes; but that was his trade; l'esprit du corps; he had been all his life among players and play-writers. I wondered that he had so little to say in conversation, for he had kept the best company, and learnt all that can be got by the ear. He abused Pindar to me, and then shewed me an ode of his own, with an absurd couplet, making a linnet soar on an eagle's wing. I told him that when the ancients made a simile, they always made it like something real. Mr. Wilkes remarked, that among all the bold flights of Shakspeare's imagination, the boldest was making Birnam-wood march to Dunsinane; creating a wood where there never was a shrub; a wood in Scotland ! ha! ha! ha! And he also observed, that the clannish slavery of the Highlands of Scotland was the single exception to Milton's remark of The Mountain Nymph, sweet Liberty,' being worshipped in all hilly countries. When I was at Inverary (said he,) on a visit to my old friend Archibald Duke of Argyle, his dependent congratulated me on being such a favorite of his Grace. I said It is then, gentlemen, truly lucky for me, for if I had displeased the Duke, and he had wished it, there is not a Campbell among you but would have been ready to bring John Wilkes's head to him in a charger. It would have been only. 'Off with his head! so much for Aylesbury." I was then member for Aylesbury. Dr. Johnson and Mr. Wilkes talked of the contested passage in Horace's Art of Poetry, Defficile est propriè communia dicere. Mr. Wilkes, according to my note, gave the interpretation thus: It is difficult to speak with propriety of common things; as, if a poet had to speak of Queen Caroline drinking tea, he must endeavour to avoid the vulgarity of cups and saucers. But upon reading my note, he tells me that he meant to say, that, the word communia, being a Roman law term, signifies here things communis juris, that is to say, what have never yet been treated by any body; and this appears clearly from what followed, -Tuque "Rectius Iliacum carmen deducis in actus "Quam si proferres ignota indictaque primus. You will easier make a tragedy out of the Iliad than on any subject not handled before. Johnson. He means that it is difficult to appropriate to particular persons qualities which are common to all mankind, as Homer has done. Wilkes. We have no City-Poet now: that is an office which has gone into disuse. The last was Elkanah Settle. There is something in names which one cannot help feeling, Now Elkanah Settle sounds so who can expect much from that name? We should have no he queer, sitation to give for it John Dryden, in preference to Elkanah Settle, from the names only, without knowing their different merits. Johnson. I suppose, Sir, Settle did as well for Aldermen in his time, as John Home could do now. Where did Beckford and Trecothick learn English? Mr. Arthur Lee mentioned some Scotch who had taken possession of a barren part of America, and wondered why they should choose it. Johnson. Why, Sir, all barrenness is comparative. The Scotch would not know it to be barren. Boswell. Come, come, he is flattering the English. You have now been in Scotland, Sir, and say if you did not see meat and drink enough there. Johnson, Why yes, Sir; meat and drink enough to give the inhabitants sufficient strength to run away from home. All these quick and lively sallies were said sportively, quite in jest, and with a smile, which shewed that he meant only wit. Upon this topic he and Mr. Wilkes could perfectly assimilate; here was a bond of union between them, and I was conscious that as both of them had visited Caledonia, both were fully satisfied of the strange narrow ignorance of those who imagine that it is a land of famine. But they amused themselves with persevering in the old jokes. When I claimed a superiority for Scotland over England in one respect, that no man can be arrested there for a debt merely because another swears it against him; but there must first be the judgment of a court of law ascertaining its justice; and that a seizure of the person, before judgment is obtained, can take place only, if his creditor should swear that he is about to fly from the country, or, as it is technically expressed, is in meditatione fugæ : Wilkes. That, I should think, may be safely sworn of all the Scotch nation. Johnson. (To Mr. Wilkes.) You must know, Sir, I lately took my friend Boswell, and shewed him genuine civilized life in au English provincial town. I turned him loose at Lichfield, my native city, that he might see for once real civility for you know that he lives among savages in Scotland, and among rakes in London. Wilkes. Except when he is with grave, sober, decent people, like you and me. Johnson. (smiling) And we ashamed of him. Johnson told the story of his They were quite frank and easy. asking Mrs. Macaulay to allow her footman to sit down with them, to prove the ridiculousness of the argument for the equality of mankind ; and he said to me afterwards, with a nod of satisfaction, “You saw Mr, Wilkes acquiesced." Wilkes talked with all imaginable freedom of the Judicrous title given to the Attorney-General, Diabolus Regis; adding, "I have reason to know something about that officer; for I was prosecuted for a libel. Johnson, who many people would have supposed must have been furiously angry at hearing this talked of so lightly, said not a word. He was now indeed, "a good-humoured fellow." After dinner we had an accession of Mrs. Knowles, the Quaker lady, well known for her various talents, and of Mr. Alderman Lee. Amidst some patriotic groans, somebody (I think the Alderman) said, "Poor old England is lost." Johnson. Sir, it is not so much to be lamented that old England is lost, as that the Scotch have found it. Wilkes. Had Lord Bute governed Scotland only, I should not have taken the trouble to write his eulogy, and dedicate MORTIMER' to him. Mr. Wilkes held a candle to shew a fine print of a beautiful female figure which hung in the room, and pointed out the elegant contour of the bosom with the finger of an arch connoisseur. He afterwards in a Conversation with me waggishly insisted, that all the time Johnson shewed visible signs of a fervent admiration of the corresponding charms of the fair Quaker. This record, though by no means so perfect as I could wish, will serve to give a notion of a very curious interview, which was not only pleasing at the time, but had the agreeable aud benign effect of reconciling any animosity, and sweetening any acidity, which in the various bustle of political contest, had been produced in the minds of two men, who, though widely different, had so many things in common-classical learning, modern literature, wit and humour, and ready repartee-that it would have been much to be regretted if they had been for ever at a distance from each other. Mr. Burke gave me much credit for this successful negotiation; and pleasantly said, "that there was nothing equal to it in the whole history of the Corps Diplomatique." I attended Dr. Johnson home, and had the satisfaction to hear him tell Mrs. Williams how much he had been pleased with Mr. Wilkes's company, and what an agreeable day he had passed. I talked a good deal to him of the celebrated Margaret Caroline Rudd, whom I had visited, induced by the fame of her talents, address, and irresistible power of fascination. To a lady who disapproved of my vi siting her, he said on a former occasion, "Nay, Madam, Boswell is in the right; I should have visited her myself, were it not that they have now a trick of putting every thing into the news-papers." This evening he exclaimed, “I envy him his acquaintance with Mrs. Rudd." I mentioned a scheme which I had of making a tour to the Isle of Man, and giving a full account of it; and that Mr. Burke had playfully suggested as a motto, "The proper study of mankind is MAN." Johnson. Sir, you will get more by the book than the jaunt will cost you; so you will have your diversion for nothing, and add to your reputation. On the evening of the next day I took leave of him, being to set out for Scotland. I thanked him with great warmth for all his kindness. "Sir, (said he,) you are very welcome. Nobody repays it with more." How very false is the notion that has gone round the world of the rough, and passionate, and harsh manners of this great and good man. That he had occasional sallies of heat of temper, and that he was sometimes, perhaps, too "easily provoked" by absurdity and folly, and sometimes too desirous of triumph in colloquial contest, must be allowed. The quickness both of his perception and sensibility disposed him to sudden explosions of satire; to which his extraordinary readiness of wit was a strong and almost irresistible incitement. To adopt one of the finest images in Mr. Home's "Douglas," I admit that the beadle within him was often so eager to apply the lash, that the Judge had not time to consider the case with sufficient deliberation. That he was occasionally remarkable for violence of temper may be granted: but let us ascertain the degree, and not let it be supposed that he was in a perpetual rage, and never without a club in his hand to knock down every one who approached him. On the contrary, the truth is, that by much the greatest part of his time he was civil, obliging, nay, polite in the true sense of the word; so much so, that many gentlemen who were long acquainted with him never received, or even heard a strong expression from him. The following letters concerning an Epitaph which he wrote for the monument of Dr Goldsmith, in Westminster-Abbey, afford at once a proof of his unaffected modesty, his carelessness as to his own writings, and of the great respect which he entertained for the taste and judgment of the excellent and eminent person to whom they are addressed: TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. DEAR SIR, I have been kept away from you, I know not well how, and of these vexatious hindrances I know not when there will be an end, I therefore send you the poor dear Doctor's epitaph. Read it first yourself; and if you then think it right, show it to the Club. I am, you know, willing to be corrected. If you think any thing much amiss, keep it to yourself, till we come together. I have sent two copies, but prefer the card. The dates must be settled by Dr. Percy. I am, Sir, Your most humble servant, May 16, 1776. TO THE SAME. SIR, Miss Reynolds has a mind to send the Epitaph to Dr. Beattie; I am very willing, but having no copy, cannot immediately recollect it. She tells me you have lost it. Try to recollect, and put down as much as you retain; you perhaps may have kept what I have dropped. The lines for which I am at a loss are something of rerum civilium sivè naturalium. It was a sorry trick to lose it; help me if you can. I am, Sir, Your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON. June 22, 1776. The gout grows better but slowly. It was, I think, after I had left London in this year, that this Epitaph gave occasion to a Remonstrance to the MONARCH OF LITERATURE, for an account of which I am indebted to Sir William Forbes, of Pitsligo. That my readers may have the subject more fully and clearly before them, I shall first insert the Epitaph. "OLIVARII GOLDSMITH, Qui nullum ferè scribendi genus Nullum quod tetigit non ornavit : Affectuam potens at lenis dominator: Amicorum fides, |