"Nay, Sir, (said Johnson,) don't you perceive that one link cannot clank." 1 Mrs. Thrale has published, as Johnson's, a kind of parody or counterpart of a fine poetical passage in one of Mr. Burke's speeches on American Taxation. It is vigorously but somewhat coarsely executed; and I am inclined to suppose, is not quite correctly exhibited. I hope he did not use the words "vile agents for the Americans in the House of Parliament;" and if he did so, in an extempore effusion, I wish the lady had not committed it to writing. Mr. Burke uniformly shewed Johnson the greatest respect; and when Mr. Townshend, now Lord Sydney, at a period when he was conspicuous in opposition, threw out some reflection in parliament upon the grant of a pension to a man of such political principles as Johnson; Mr. Burke, though then of the same party with Mr. Townshend, stood warmly forth in defence of his friend, to whom, he justly observed, the pension was granted solely on account of his eminent literary merit. I am well assured, that Mr. Townshend's attack upon Johnson was the occasion of his "hitching in a rhyme ; for, that in the original copy of Goldsmith's character of Mr. Burke, Anecdotes," p. 43. 1 At this place may be recorded a most characteristic discussion between Johnson and Dr. Campbell on the subject of the Irish volunteers — "The Doctor, who had been long silent, turned a sharp ear to what I was saying, and with vehemence said, 'Why, sir, don't you call it disturbance to oppose legal government with arms in your hands, and compel it to make laws in your favour? Sir, I call it rebellionrebellion as much as the rebellions of Scotland.' Doctor,' said I, 'I am sorry to hear that fall from you. There is a separate Legislature which firmly denies its allegiance to the British Parliament.' 'Sir,' says the Doctor, you do owe allegiance to the British Parliament as a conquered nation; and had I been minister I would have made you submit to it. I would have done as Oliver Cromwell did. I would have burned your cities, and roasted you in the fires of them.' I, after allowing the Doctor to vent his indignation upon Ireland, coolly replied, 'Doctor, the times are altered; and I don't find that you have succeeded so well in burning the cities and roasting the inhabitants of America.' 'Sir,' says he gravely, and with a less vehement tone, 'what you say is true, the times are altered; for power is nowhere. We live under a government of influence, not of power; but, Sir, had we treated the Americans as we ought, and as they deserved, we should have at once razed all the towns, and let them enjoy their forests.' After this wild rant, argument would have but enraged him. I, therefore, let him vibrate into calmness. Then, turning round to me, he, with a smile, says, 'After all, Sir, though I hold the Irish to be rebels, I don't think they have been so very wrong; but you know that you compelled our Parliament, by force of arms, to pass an Act in your favour. That I call rebellion.' But, Doctor,' said I, 'did the Irish claim anything that ought not to have been granted, though they had not made the claim?' 'Sir, I won't dispute that matter with you; but what I insist upon is, that the mode of requisition was rebellious.' 'Well, Doctor, let me ask you but one question, and I shall ask you no more on this subject, Do you think that Ireland would have obtained what it has got by any other means?' 'Sir,' he says candidly, I believe it would not. However, a wise government should not grant even a claim of justice if an attempt is made to extract it by force.' I said no more."-Diary. in his "Retaliation," another person's name stood in the couplet where Mr. Townshend is now introduced : "Though fraught with all learning, kept straining his throat, To persuade Tommy Townshend to lend him a vote." It may be worth remarking, among the minutiae of my collection, that Johnson was once drawn for the militia, the Trained Bands of the City of London, and that Mr. Rackstrow, of the Museum in Fleet-street, was his Colonel. It may be believed he did not serve in person; but the idea, with all its circumstances, is certainly laughable. He upon that occasion provided himself with a musket, and with a sword and belt, which I have seen hanging in his closet. He was very constant to those whom he once employed, if they gave him no reason to be displeased. When somebody talked of being imposed on in the purchase of tea and sugar, and such articles; "That will not be the case, (said he,) if you go to a stately shop, as I always do. In such a shop it is not worth their while to take a petty advantage." An authour of most anxious and restless vanity being mentioned, "Sir, (said he,) there is not a young sapling upon Parnassus more severely blown about by every wind of criticism than that poor fellow." The difference he observed, between a well-bred and an ill-bred man is this: "One immediately attracts your liking, the other your aversion. You love the one till you find reason to hate him; you hate the other till you find reason to love him." The wife of one of his acquaintance had fraudulently made a purse to herself out of her husband's fortune. Feeling a proper compunction in her last moments, she confessed how much she had secreted; but before she could tell where it was placed, she was seised with a convulsive fit and expired. Her husband said, he was more hurt by her want of confidence in him, than by the loss of his money. "I told him (said Johnson) that he should console himself; for perhaps the money might be found, and he was sure that his wife was gone." A foppish physician imagined that Johnson had animadverted on his wearing a fine coat, and mentioned it to him. "I did not notice you;" was his answer. The physician still insisted. "Sir, (said Johnson,) had you been dipt in Pactolus, I should not have noticed you." Cor. et. Ad.-Instead of the last paragraph read-"A foppish physician once re He seemed to take a pleasure in speaking in his own style; for when he had carelessly missed, he would repeat the thought translated into it. Talking of the Comedy of "The Rehearsal," he said, "It has not wit enough to keep it sweet." This was easy ;-he therefore caught himself, and pronounced a more rounded sentence, "It has not vitality enough to preserve it from putrefaction.” 1 He censured a writer of entertaining Travels for assuming a feigned character, saying (in his sense of the word) "He carries out one lye; we know not how many he brings back." Though he had no taste for painting, he admired much the manner in which Sir Joshua Reynolds treated of his art, in his "Discourses to the Royal Academy." He observed of a passage one day, "I think I might as well have said this myself." And once when Mr. Langton was sitting by him, he read one of them very eagerly, and expressed himself thus: "Very well, Master Reynolds; very well, indeed. But it will not be understood." No man was more ready to make an apology when he had censured unjustly than Johnson. When a proof-sheet of one of his works was brought to him, he found fault with the mode in which a part of it was arranged, refused to read it, and in a passion desired that the compositor might be sent to him. The compositor was Mr. Manning, a decent sensible man, who had composed about one half of his "Dictionary," when in Mr. Strahan's printing-house; and a great part of his "Lives of the Poets," when in Mr. Nichols's printing-house; and now (in his seventy-seventh year) when in Mr. Baldwin's printing-house, has composed a part of this work conminded Johnson of his having been in company with him on a former occasion, 'I do not remember it, Sir.' The physician still insisted; adding that he that day wore so fine a coat that it must have attracted his notice. Sir, (said Johnson,) had you been dipt in Pactolus, I should not have noticed you.' Compositor, in the art of printing, means, the person who adjusts the types in the order in which they are to stand for printing; one who arranges what is called the form, from which an impression is taken. Cor. et Ad.-After line 16, read—"When I observed to him that Painting was so far inferior to Poetry, that the story or even emblem which it communicates must be previously known, and mentioned as a natural and laughable instance of this, that a little miss, on seeing a picture of Justice with the scales, had exclaimed to me, See, there's a woman selling sweetmeats;' he said, ‘Painting, Sir, can illustrate, but cannot inform.'" cerning him. By producing the manuscript, he at once satisfied Dr. Johnson that he was not to blame. Upon which Johnson candidly and earnestly said to him, "Mr. Compositor, I ask your pardon. Mr. Compositor, I ask your pardon, again and again." His generous humanity to the miserable was almost beyond example. The following instance is well attested: Coming home late one night, he found a poor woman lying in the street, so much exhausted that she could not walk; he took her upon his back, and carried her to his house, where he discovered that she was one of those wretched females who had fallen into the lowest state of vice, poverty, and disease. Instead of harshly upbraiding her, he had her taken care of with all tenderness for a long time, at a considerable expence, till she was restored to health, and endeavoured to put her into a virtuous way of living.a He thought Mr. Caleb Whitefoord, singularly happy in hitting on the signature of Papyrius Cursor, to his ingenious and diverting cross-readings of the news-papers; it being a real name of an ancient Roman, and clearly expressive of the thing done in this lively conceit. He once in his life was known to have uttered what is called a bull; Sir Joshua Reynolds, when they were riding together in Devonshire, complained that he had a very bad horse, for that even This circumstance therefore alluded to in Mr. Courtenay's "Poetical Character," of him is strictly true. Cor. et Ad.-To above note add, "My informer was Mrs. Desmoulins, who lived many years in Dr. Johnson's house." This little scene has suggested a noble passage to Mr. Carlyle, which also furnishes the key to what so mysteriously attracts and fascinates in Boswell's narrative: "Strange power of reality! Not even this poorest of occurrences, but now, after seventy years are come and gone, has a meaning. Do but consider that it is true; that it did in very deed occur. That unhappy outcast, with all her sins and woes, lawless desires, too complex mischances, her wailings and her riotings, has departed utterly. Alas! her siren finery has got all besmutched, ground, generations since, into dust and smoke. She is no longer here, but far from us, in the bosom of eternity. Whence we too came, whither we too are bound. ... It is well worth an artist's while to examine for himself what it is that gives each pitiful incident their memorableness; his aim likewise is, above all things, to be memorable. Half the effect we already perceive depends on the object, on its The being real, on its being really seen. it is that opens the whole mind, quickens every faculty of the intellect to do its fit work, that of knowing; and therefore, by sure consequence, of vividly uttering forth."-Miscel., art. Biography, p. 14 ed. 1847. when going down hill he moved slowly step by step. "Ay (said Johnson) and when he goes up hill, he stands still.” He had a great aversion to gesticulating in company. He called once to a gentleman who offended him in that point, "Don't attitudenise." And when another gentleman thought he was giving additional force to what he uttered, by expressive movements of his hands, Johnson fairly seized them, and held them down. An authour of considerable eminence having engrossed a good share of the conversation in the company of Johnson, and having said nothing but what was very trifling and insignificant; Johnson when he was gone, observed to us, "It is wonderful what a difference there sometimes is between a man's powers of writing and of talking. writes with great spirit, but is a poor talker; had he held his tongue we might have supposed him to have been restrain'd by modesty; but he has spoken a great deal to-day; have heard what stuff it was." and you A gentleman having said that a congé d'elire, has not perhaps the force of a command, but may be considered only as a strong recommendation. "Sir, (replied Johnson, who overheard him,) it is such a recommendation, as if I should throw you out of a twopair-of-stairs window, and recommend to you to fall soft." Mr. Steevens, who passed many a social hour with him during their long acquaintance, which commenced when they both lived in the Temple, has preserved a good number of particulars concerning him, most of which are to be found in the department of Apothegms, &c. in the Collection of "Johnson's Works." But he has been pleased to favour me with the following, which are original : "One evening, previous to the trial of Baretti, a consultation of his friends was held at the house of Mr. Cox, the Solicitor, in Southampton-buildings, Chancery-lane. Among others present were, Mr. Burke and Dr. Johnson, who differed in sentiments concerning the tendency of some part of the defence the prisoner was to make. When the meeting was over, Mr. Steevens observed, that the This has been printed in other publications, "fall to the ground." But Johnson himself gave me the true expression which he had used, as above; meaning that the recommendation left as little choice in the one case as the other. Second Edition.-Line 13, 66 "2 *******.* 1 Mr. Croker knew this gentleman, who was Sir Richard Musgrave, the same who used to protest that "he would clean shoes" for Dr. Johnson. Dr. Beattie was then in town, and the asterisks probably stand for his name. Mr. Croker, who had not seen the variation, imagined that Robertson was intended. |