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it. Nay, Cumberland has made his 'Odes' subsidiary to the fame of another man. (1) They might have run well enough by themselves; but he has not only loaded them with a name, but has made them carry double."

We talked of the reviews, and Dr. Johnson spoke of them as he did at Thrale's. Sir Joshua said, what I have often thought, that he wondered to find so much good writing employed in them, when the authors were to remain unknown, and so could not have the motive of fame. JOHNSON. "Nay, Sir, those who write in them, write well, in order to be paid well."

LETTER 246.

TO MISS REYNOLDS.

"April 15. 1776.

"DEAREST MADAM,

When you called on Mrs. Thrale, I find by enquiry that she was really abroad. The same thing happened to Mrs. Montagu, of which I beg you to inform her, for she went likewise by my opinion. The denial, if it had been feigned, would not have pleased me. Your visits, however, are kindly paid, and very kindly taken. We are going to Bath this morning; but I could not part without telling you the real state of your visit. I am, dearest Madam, &c. "SAM. JOHNSON."

Soon after this day, he went to Bath with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale. I had never seen that beautiful city, and wished to take the opportunity of visiting it while Johnson was there. Having written to him, I received the following answer:

(1) Mr. Romney, the painter, who has now deservedly established a high reputation.

LETTER 247.

TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

"DEAR SIR, Why do you talk of neglect? When did I neglect you? If you will come to Bath, we shall all be glad to see you. Come therefore, as soon as you can. - But I have a little business for you at London. Bid Francis look in the paper drawer of the chest of drawers in my bed-chamber, for two cases; one for the attorney-general, and one for the solicitor-general. They lie, I think, at the top of my papers; otherwise they are somewhere else, and will give me more trouble. "Please to write to me immediately, if they can be found. Make my compliments to all our friends round the world, and to Mrs. Williams at home. your, &c.

I am, Sir,

"SAM. JOHNSON.

"Search for the papers as soon as you can, that, if it is necessary, I may write to you again before you come down."

On the 26th April, I went to Bath; and on my arrival at the Pelican inn, found lying for me an obliging invitation from Mr. and Mrs. Thrale, by whom I was agreeably entertained almost constantly during my stay. They were gone to the rooms : but there was a kind note from Dr. Johnson, that he should sit at home all the evening. I went to him directly; and before Mr. and Mrs. Thrale returned, we had by ourselves some hours of tea-drinking and talk.

I shall group together such of his sayings as I preserved during the few days that I was at Bath. Of a person (1) who differed from him in politics, (1) Mr. Burke.

C.

he said, "In private life he is a very honest gentleman; but I will not allow him to be so in public life. People may be honest, though they are doing wrong: that is, between their Maker and them. But we, who are suffering by their pernicious conduct, are to destroy them. We are sure that [Burke] acts from interest. We know what his genuine principles were. (1) They who allow their passions to confound the distinctions between right and wrong, are criminal. They may be convinced; but they have not come honestly by their conviction."

It having been mentioned, I know not with what truth, that a certain female political writer (2), whose doctrines he disliked, had of late become very fond of dress, sat hours together at her toilet, and even put on rouge: JOHNSON. "She is better employed at her toilet, than using her pen. It is better she should be reddening her own cheeks, than blackening other people's characters."

He told us that "Addison wrote Budgell's papers in the Spectator, at least mended them so much that he made them almost his own; and that Draper, Tonson's partner, assured Mrs. Johnson, that the much admired Epilogue to 'The Distressed Mother,' which came out in Budgell's name, was in reality written by Addison."

(1) He means, that, in earlier life, they, at the Club, knew that Burke was not what Johnson would call a Whig. Mr. Burke ended as he began —

"This sun of empire, where he rose, he set !"- C. (2) Mrs. Macaulay. — C.

"The mode of government by one may be ill adapted to a small society, but is best for a great nation. The characteristic of our own government at present is imbecility. The magistrates dare not call the guards for fear of being hanged. The guards will not come for fear of being given up to the blind rage of popular juries."

Of the father (1) of one of our friends he observed, "He never clarified his notions, by filtrating them through other minds. He had a canal upon his estate, where at one place the bank was too low. I dug the canal deeper," said he.

He told me that "so long ago as 1748, he had read The Grave,' a Poem (2), but did not like it much." I differed from him; for though it is not equal throughout, and is seldom elegantly correct, it abounds in solemn thought and poetical imagery beyond the common reach. The world has differed from him; for the poem has passed through many editions, and is still much read by people of a serious cast of mind.

A literary lady of large fortune was mentioned, as

(1) The elder Mr. Langton. - Hawk. Mem.

(2) I am sorry that there are no memoirs of the Rev. Robert Blair, the author of this poem. He was the representative of the ancient family of Blair of Blair, in Ayrshire; but the estate had descended to a female, and afterwards passed to the son of her husband by another marriage. He was minister of the parish of Athelstaneford, where Mr. John Home was his successor; so that it may truly be called classic ground. His son, who is of the same name, and a man eminent for talents and learning, now, with universal approbation, solicitor-general of Scotland. F B. [A life of Blair is given in the editions of the English Poets by Anderson and Chalmers. He died in 1746, in his forty-seventh year.]

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one who did good to many, but by no means by stealth;" and instead of "blushing to find it fame,' acted evidently from vanity. JOHNSON. "I have seen no beings who do as much good from benevolence, as she does, from whatever motive. If there are such under the earth, or in the clouds, I wish they would come up, or come down. What Soame Jenyns says upon this subject is not to be minded; he is a wit. No, Sir; to act from pure benevolence is not possible for finite beings. Human benevolence is mingled with vanity, interest, or some other motive." (1)

He would not allow me to praise a lady (2) then at Bath; observing, "She does not gain upon me, Sir; I think her empty-headed." He was, indeed, a stern critic upon characters and manners. Even Mrs. Thrale did not escape his friendly animadversion at times. When he and I were one day endeavouring to ascertain, article by article, how one of our friends (3) could possibly spend as much

(1) The pension which Mrs. Montagu had lately settled on Miss Williams (see ante, p. 29.) would naturally account for this defence of that lady's beneficence, but it seems also to have induced Johnson to speak of her intellectual powers in a strain of panegyric as excessive as his former depreciation. Miss Reynolds relates, that she had heard him speak of Mrs. Montagu in terms of high admiration. "Sir," he would "that lady exerts more mind in conversation than any person I ever met with: Sir, she displays such powers of ratiocination such radiations of intellectual excellence as are amazing!"— C.

say,

(2) This has been supposed to be Miss Hannah More; yet it seems hard to conceive in what wayward fancy he could call her "empty-headed."-C. I am glad to find, from Hannah More's Letters recently published, that my doubt was well founded. She was at this time in London, and could not have been the person meant. — C. 1835

3) Mr. Langton.-C.

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