come, you may be sure that I shall take you and Lichfield in my way. I am nearer coming, I will send you word.

When

"Of Mr. Porter I have seen very little, but I know not that it is his fault, for he says that he often calls, but never finds me; I am sorry for it, for I love him. Mr. Mathias has lately had a great deal of money left him, of which you have probably heard already. I am, my dearest, your most affectionato servant,

LETTER 123.

TO THE REV. THOMAS WARTON.

"SAM. JOHNSON.'

"London, June 28, 1770.

"DEAR SIR,-The readiness with which you were pleased to promise me some notes on Shakspeare, was a new instance of your friendship. I shall not hurry you; but am desired by Mr. Steevens, who helps me in this edition, to let you know, that we shall print the tragedies first, and shall therefore want first the notes which belong to them. We think not to incommode the readers with a supplement; and therefore, what we cannot put into its proper place, will do us no good. We shall not begin to print before the end of six weeks, perhaps not so soon. I am, &c.,

"SAM. JOHNSON,"

"Lichfield, July, 7, 1770.

"I thought I should have heard something to-day about Streatham; but there is no letter; and I need some consolation, for rheumatism is come again, though in a less degree than formerly. I reckon to go next week to Ashbourne, and will try to bring you the dimensions of the great bull. The skies and the ground are all so wet that I have been very little abroad; and Mrs. Aston is from home, so that I have no motive to walk. When she is at home, she lives on the top of Stowhill, and I commonly climb up to see her once a day. There is nothing there now but the empty nest. To write to you about Lichfield is of no use, for you never saw Stow-pool, nor Borowcop-hill. I believe you may find Borow or Boroughcop-hill in my Dictionary, under cop or cob. Nobody here knows what the name imports."

"Lichfield, July 11, 1770.

"Mr. Greene, the apothecary, has found a book which tells who paid levies in our parish, and how much they paid above an hundred years ago. Do you not think we study this book hard? Nothing is like going to the bottom of things. Many families that paid the parish rates are now extinct, like the race of Hercules. Pulvis et umbra sumus. What is nearest us touches us most. The passions rise higher at domestic than at imperial tragedies. I am not wholly unaffected by the revolutions in Sadler Street; nor can forbear to mourn when old names vanish away, and new come into their place."

TAT. 61.

VISIT TO ASHBOURNE.

45

"Ashbourne, July, 20, 1770.

"I came hither on Wednesday, having staid one night at a lodge in the forest of Nedewood. Dr. Taylor's is a very pleasant house, with a lawn and a lake, and twenty deer and five fawns upon the lawn. Whether I shall by any light see Matlock I do not yet know.

"That Baretti's book would please you all I made no doubt. I know not whether the world has ever seen such travels before. Those whose lot it is to ramble can seldom write, and those who know how to write very seldomramble. If Sidney had gone, as he desired, the great voyage with Drake, there would probably have been such a narrative as would have equally satisfied the poet and the philosopher."

"Ashbourne, July 28, 1770.

"I have seen the great bull, and very great he is. I have seen likewise his heir apparent, who promises to inherit all the bulk and all the virtues of his sire. I have seen the man who offered an hundred guineas for the young bull, while he was yet little better than a calf. Matlock, I am afraid, I shall not see, but I purpose to see Dovedale; and, after all this seeing, I hope to see you." TO THE REV. DR. JOSEPH WARTON.

LETTER 125.

"Sept. 21, 1770. "DEAR SIR,-I am revising my edition of Shakspeare, and remember that I formerly misrepresented your opinion of Lear. Be pleased to write the paragraph as you would have it, and send it. If you have any remarks of your own upon that or any other play, I shall gladly receive them. Make my compliments to Mrs. Warton. I sometimes think of wandering a few days to Winchester, but am apt to delay. I am, Sir, your most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON."

LATTER 126.

TO MR. FRANCIS BARBER,
At Mrs. Clapp's, Bishop-Stortford.

"London, Sept. 25, 1770.

"DEAR FRANCIS,-I am at last sat down to write to you, and should very much blame myself for having neglected you so long, if I did not impute that and many other failings to want of health. I hope not to be so long silent again. I am very well satisfied with your progress, if you can really perform the exercises which you are set; and I hope Mr. Ellis does not suffer you to impose on him, or on yourself. Make my compliments to Mr. Ellis and to Mrs. Clapp, and Mr. Smith.

Let me know what English books you read for your entertainment. You can never be wise unless you love reading. Do not imagine that I shall forget or forsake you; for if, when I examine you, I find that you have not lost your time, you shall want no encouragement from yours affectionately,

"SAM. JOHNSON."

LETTER 127.

TO THE SAME.

"December 7, 1770.

"Dear Francis,-I hope you mind your business. I design you shall stay with Mrs. Clapp these holidays. If you are invited out you may go, if Mr. Ellis gives leave. I have ordered you some othes, which you will rec-ive, I believe, next week. My compliments to Mrs. Clap", and to Mr. Ellis, an Mr. Smith, &c.--I am your affectionate

· SAN. JanNSON."

CHAPTER III.

1770.

Dr. Maxwe I's Collectanea-Johnson's Politics, and general Mode of Life-Opulent Tradermen-London-Black-letter Books-"Anatomy of Melancholy."-Government of Ireland -Love-Jacob Behmen-Established Clergy-Dr. Priestley-Blank Verse-French Novels -Pere Boscovich-Lord Lyttelton's Dialogues-Ossian-Woodhouse, the Poetical Cobbler-Boetius-National Debt-Mallet-Marriage-Foppery-Gilbert-Cooper-HomerGregory Sharpe-Poor of England-Corn Laws-Dr. Browne Mr. Burke-Economy-Fortune-hunters-Orchards-Irish Clergy.

DURING this year there was a total cessation of all correspondence between Dr. Johnson and me, without any coldness on either side, but merely from procrastination, continued from day to day; and, as I was not in London, I had no opportunity of enjoying his company and recording his conversation. To supply this blank, I shall present my readers with some Collectanea, obligingly furnished to me by the Rev. Dr. Maxwell,' of Falkland, in Ireland, some time assistant preacher at the Temple, and for many years the social friend of Johnson, who spoke of him with a very kind regard

Collectanea.

2

"My acquaintance with that great and venerable character commenced in the year 1754. I was introduced to him by Mr. Grierson, his Majesty's printer at Dublin, a gentleman of uncommon learning, and great wit and vivacity. Mr. Grierson died in Germany, at the age of twenty-seven. Dr. Johnson highly respected his abilities, and often observed, that he possessed more extensive knowledge than any man of his years he had ever known. His industry was equal to his talents; and he particularly excelled in every

1 Dr. William Maxwell was the son of Dr. John Maxwell, Archdeacon of Downe, in Ireland, and cousin of the Honourable Henry Maxwell, Bishop of Dromore in 1765, and of Meath in 1766, from whom he obtained preferment; but having a considerable property of his own, he resigned the living when, as it is said, his residence was insisted on; and he fixed himself in Bath, where he died, so late as 1818, at the age of 87.-C.

2 Son or the learned Mrs. Grierson, who was patronised by the late Lord Granville, and was he editor of several of the classics.-B.

species of philological learning, and was, perhaps, the best critic of the age be lived in.

"I must always remember with gratitude my obligation to Mr. Grierson, for the honour and happiness of Dr. Johnson's acquaintance and friendship, which continued uninterrupted and undiminished to his death: a connection, that was at once the pride and happiness of my life.

"What a pity it is, that so much wit and good sense as he continually exhi bited in conversation, should perish unrecorded! Few persons quitted his company without perceiving themselves wiser and better than they were before. On serious subjects he flashed the most interesting conviction upon his audisors; and upon lighter topics, you might have supposed-Albano musas de monte locutas.

66

Though I can hope to add but little to the celebrity of so exalted a character, by any communications I can furnish, yet, out of pure respect to his memory, I will venture to transmit to you some anecdotes concerning him, which fell under my own observation. The very minutiæ of such a character must be interesting, and may be compared to the filings of diamonds.

"In politics he was deemed a Tory, but certainly was not so in the obnoxious or party sense of the term; for while he asserted the legal and salutary prerogatives of the crown, he no less respected the constitutional liberties of the people. Whiggism, at the time of the Revolution, he said, was accompanied with certain principles; but latterly, as a mere party distinction under Walpole and the Pelhams, was no better than the politics of stock-jobbers, and the religion of infidels.

A

"He detested the idea of governing by parliamentary corruption, and asserted most strenuously, that a prince steadily and conspicuously pursuing the interests of his people could not fail of parliamentary concurrence. prince of ability, he contended, might and should be the directing soul and spirit of his own administration; in short, his own minister, and not the mere head of a party and then, and not till then, would the royal dignity be sincerely respected.

"Johnson seemed to think, that a certain degree of crown influence' over the Houses of Parliament (not meaning a corrupt and shameful dependence) was very salutary, nay, even necessary, in our mixed government. For,' said he, if the members were under no crown influence, and disqualified from receiving any gratification from Court, and resembled, as they possibly might, Pym and Haslerig, and other stubborn and sturdy members of the Long Parliament, the wheels of government would be totally obstructed. Such men would oppose, merely to show their power, from envy, jealousy, and perversity of disposition; and, not gaining themselves, would hate and oppose all who

1 On the necessity of crown influence, see Boucher's "Sermons on the American Revo ution," p. 218; and Paley's "Moral Philosophy," b. vi. ch. vii. p. 491, 4to., there quoted.BLAKEWAY.