unwilling to lose you. A dieu je vous recommande. I am, madam, your, &c. "My compliments to my dear Miss." "TO THE SAME. (From Mrs. Piozzi's Collection, vol. ii. p. 391.) "1st January, 17551. "DEAREST MADAM,-Though I am afraid your illness leaves you little leisure for the reception of airy civilities, yet I cannot forbear to pay you my congratulations on the new year; and to declare my wishes, that your years to come may be many and happy. In this wish indeed I include myself, who have none but you on whom my heart reposes; yet surely I wish your good, even though your situation were such as should permit you to communicate no gratifications to, dearest madam, your, &c." 66 TO THE SAME. (From Mrs. Piozzi's Collection, vol. ii. p. 392.) "[January 3d, 1756.] "DEAREST MADAM,-Nobody but you can recompense me for the distress which I suffered on Monday night. Having engaged Dr. Lawrence to let me know, at whatever hour, the state in which he left you; I concluded, when he stayed so long, that he stayed to see my dearest expire. I was composing myself as I could to hear what yet I hoped not to hear, when his servant brought me word that you were better. Do you continue to grow better? Let my dear little Miss inform me on a card. I would not have you write, lest it should hurt you, and consequently hurt likewise, dearest madam, yours, &c. "TO THE SAME. I "Thursday, 8th January, 1756. "HONOURED MADAM,-I beg of you to endeavour to live. I have returned your Law; which, however, I earnestly entreat you to give me. am in great trouble; if you can write three words to me, be pleased to do it. I am afraid to say much, and cannot say nothing when my dearest is in danger. "The all-merciful God have mercy on you! I am, madam, your, &c." "Miss Boothby died Friday, January 16, 1756; upon whose death Dr. Johnson composed the following prayer. Prayers and Meditations,' &c. p. 25. "Hill Boothby's death, January, 1756.-O Lord God, Almighty disposer of all things, in whose hands are life and death, who givest comforts and takest them away, I return thee thanks for the good example of Hill Boothby, whom thou hast now taken away; and implore thy grace that I may improve the opportunity of instruction which thou hast afforded me, by the knowledge of her life, and by the sense of her death; that I may consider the uncertainty of my present state, and apply myself earnestly to the duties which thou hast set before me, that, living in thy fear, I may 1 [Johnson throughout his life was liable to the inadvertence of using the date of the old year in the first days of the new; and has evidently, the Editor thinks, done so in this case; as it does not seem that Miss Boothby was ill in January, 1755.—ED.] die in thy favour, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. I commend, &c. W. and H. B 2. "Transcribed June 26, 1768 3." [On a close examination of the foregoing correspondence, it will be seen that the personal communications between Dr. Johnson and Miss Boothby were very limited, and that even during her few and short visits to London their intercourse was hardly as frequent as politeness would have required from common acquaintances. The Editor admits that several of Miss Boothby's letters contain expressions which, if we did not consider the ages of the parties and all the other circumstances of the case, would sound like something more tender than mere platonism; but the slight intercourse between them during the lady's subsequent visits to town seems to refute that inference. The general phraseology of Johnson's notes, and the terms "my dearest" and "my angel," seem strange; but it must be recollected that dearest dear, and similar superlatives of tenderness, were usual with him in addressing Miss Reynolds and other ladies for whom he confessaddressed to Miss Boothby when she was dying, edly felt nothing but friendship; and they were and when the hearts of both were softened by sickness and affliction, and warmed by spiritual communication. As to the supposed rivalry between him and Lord Lyttleton for Miss Boothby's favour (see ante, p. 276), it must be either a total mistake or an absurd exaggeration. Lord Lyttleton was, during the whole of the acquaintance of Dr. Johnson and Miss Boothby, a married man, fondly attached to his wife, and remarkable for the punctilious propriety of his moral conduct; and the preference shown by Miss Boothby, and which is said to have rankled in Johnson's heart, could have been nothing more than some incident in a morning visit, when Lord Lyttleton and Johnson may have met in Cavendish-square, (for it seems certain that they never met in the country). We have seen in the cases of Lord Chesterfield (vol. i. pp. 110-11, n.) and of Miss Cotterell (vol. i, p. 104) how touchy Johnson was on such occa sions, and how ready he was to take offence at any thing that looked like slight. Some preference or superior respect shown by Miss Boothby to Lord Lyttleton's rank and public station (he was chancellor of the exchequer in 1755) no doubt offended the sensitive pride of Johnson, and occasioned the dislike which he confessed to Mrs. Thrale he felt for Lord Lyttleton; but an amorous rivalry between them is not only absurd, but impossible. -ED.] No. VIII. [NOTE on the words balance of misery, p. 387.] THE Reverend Mr. Ralph Churton, Fellow of Brazen-Nose College, Oxford, has favoured me 2 [These initials mean, no doubt, Mr. Williams, who died a few months before, and Hill Boothby.-ED.] 3 It is not easy to say why Dr. Johnson marked sev eral of his prayers, as transcribed. Such a fact appears quite immaterial, but no doubt had some particular object.-ED.] with the following remarks on my work, which he is pleased to say, "I have hitherto extolled, and cordially approve." The chief part of what I have to observe is contained in the following transcript from a letter to a friend, which, with his concurrence, I copied for this purpose; and, whatever may be the merit or justness of the remarks, you may be sure that being written to a most intimate friend, without any intention that they ever should go further, they are the genuine and undisguised sentiments of the writer : "6th January, 1792. "Last week 1 was reading the second volume of Boswell's Johnson,' with increasing esteem for the worthy author, and increasing veneration of the wonderful and excellent man who is the subject of it. The writer throws in, now and then, very properly, some serious religious reflections; but there is one remark, in my mind an obvious and just one, which I think he has not made, that Johnson's morbid melancholy,' and constitutional infirmities, were intended by Providence, like St. Paul's thorn in the flesh, to check intellectual conceit and arrogance; which the consciousness of his extraordinary talents, awake as he was to the voice of praise, might otherwise have generated in a very culpable degree. Another observation strikes me, that in consequence of the same natural indisposition, and habitual sickliness (for he says he scarcely passed one day without pain after his twentieth year), he considered and represented human life as a scene of much greater misery than is generally experienced. There may be persons bowed down with afflictions all their days; and there are those, no doubt, whose iniquities rob them of rest; but neither calamities nor crimes, I hope and believe, do so much and so generally abound, as to justify the dark picture of life which Johnson's imagina. tion designed, and his strong pencil delineated. This I am sure, the colouring is far too gloomy for what I have experienced, though, as far as I can remember, I have had more sickness (1 do not say more severe, but only more in quantity) than falls to the lot of most people. But then daily debility and occasional sickness were far overbalanced by intervenient days, and, perhaps, weeks void of pain, and overflowing with comfort. So that in short, to return to the subject, human life, as far as I can perceive from experience or observation, is not that state of constant wretchedness which Johnson always insisted it was: which misrepresentation, for such it surely is, his biographer has not corrected, I suppose, because, unhappily, he has himself a large portion of melancholy in his constitution, and fancied the portrait a faithful copy of life." The learned writer then proceeds thus in his letter to me : "I have conversed with some sensible men on this subject, who all seem to entertain the same sentiments respecting life with those which are expressed or implied in the foregoing paragraph. It might be added, that as the representation here spoken of appears not consistent with fact and experience, so neither does it seem countenanced by scripture. There is, perhaps, no part of the sacred volume which at first sight promises so much to lend its sanction to these dark and desponding notions as the book of Ecclesiastes, which so often, and so emphatically, proclaims the vanity of things sublunary. But the design of this whole book (as it has been justly observed) is not to put us out of conceit with life, but to cure our vain expectations of a complete and perfect happiness in this world: to convince us, that there is no such thing to be found in mere external enjoyments;-and to teach us to seek for happiness in the practice of virtue, in the knowledge and love of God, and in the hopes of a better life. For this is the application of all: Let us hear, &c. xii. 13. Not only his duty, but his happiness too: For God, &c. v. 14.-See 'Sherlock on Providence,' p. 299. "The New Testament tells us, indeed, and most truly, that sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof and, therefore, wisely forbids us to increase our burdens by forebodings of sorrows; but I think it nowhere says, that even our ordinary afflictions are not consistent with a very considerable degree of positive comfort and satisfaction. And, accordingly, one whose sufferings as well as merits were conspicuous assures us, that in proportion as the sufferings of Christ abounded in them, so their consolation also abounded by Christ.' 2 Cor. i. 5. It is needless to cite, as indeed it would be endless even to refer to, the multitude of passages in both Testaments holding out, in the strongest language, promises of blessings, even in this world, to the faithful servants of God. I will only refer to St. Luke, xviii. 29, 30, and 1 Tim. iv. 8. "Upon the whole, setting aside instances of great and lasting bodily pain, of minds peculiarly oppressed by melancholy, and of severe temporal calamities, from which extraordinary cases we surely should not form our estimate of the general tenour and complexion of life; excluding these from the account, I am convinced that as well the gracious constitution of things which Providence has ordained, as the declarations of scripture and the actual condition of individuals, authorize the sincere Christian to hope that his humble and constant endeavours to perform his duty, chequered as the best life is with many failings, will be crowned with a greater degree of present peace, serenity, and comfort, than he could reasonably permit himself to expect, if he measured his views and judged of life from the opinion of Dr. Johnson, often and energetically expressed in the memoirs of him, without any animadversion or censure by his ingenious biographer. If he himself, upon reviewing the subject, shall see the matter in this light, he will, in an octavo edition, which is eagerly expected, make such additional remarks or corrections as he shall judge fit; lest the impressions which these discouraging passages may leave on the reader's mind should in a degree hinder what otherwise the whole spirit and energy of the work tends, and, I hope, successfully, to promote,-pure morality and true religion." Though I have, in some degree, obviated any reflections against my illustrious friend's dark views of life, when considering, in the course of this work, his "Rambler" and his "Rasselas," I am obliged to Mr. Churton for complying with my request of his permission to insert his remarks, being conscious of the weight of what he judiciously suggests as to the melancholy in my own constitution. His more pleasing views of life, I hope, are just. Valeant quantum valere possunt. Mr. Churton concludes his letter to me in these words: "Once, and only once, I had the satisfaction of seeing your illustrious friend; and as I feel a particular regard for all whom he distinguished with his esteem and friendship, so I derive much pleasure from reflecting that I once beheld, though but transiently, near our college gate, one whose works will for ever delight and improve the world, who was a sincere and zealous son of the church of England, an honour to his country, and an ornament to human nature." His letter was accompanied with a present from himself of his "Sermons at the Bampton Lecture," and from his friend, Dr. Townson, the venerable rector of Malpas, in Cheshire, of his "Discourses on the Gospels," together with the following extract of a letter from that excellent person, who is now gone to receive the reward of his labours: "Mr. Boswell is not only very entertaining in his works, but they are so replete with moral and religious sentiments, without an instance, as far as I know, of a contrary tendency, that I cannot help having a great esteem for him; and if you think such a trifle as a copy of the Discourses, ex dono authoris, would be acceptable to him, I should be happy to give him this small testimony of my regard." Such spontaneous testimonies of approbation from such men, without any personal acquaintance with me, are truly valuable and encouraging. No. IX. [CATALOGUE, or List of Designs, referred to in p. 429.] " DIVINITY. "A small book of precepts and directions for piety; the hint taken from the directions in Morton's exercise. "PHILOSOPHY, HISTORY, AND LITERATURE IN GENERAL. "History of Criticism, as it relates to judging of authours, from Aristotle to the present age. An account of the rise and improvements of that art of the different opinions of authours, ancient and modern. "Translation of the History of Herodian. "New edition of Fairfax's Translation of Tasso, with notes, glossary, &c. "Chaucer, a new edition of him, from manuscripts and old editions, with various readings, conjectures, remarks on his language, and the changes it had undergone from the earliest times to his age, and from his to the present; with notes explanatory of customs, &c. and references to Boccace, and other authours, from whom he has borrowed, with an account of the liberties he has taken in telling the stories; his life, and an exact etymological glossary. "Aristotle's Rhetorick, a translation of it into English. "A Collection of Letters, translated from the modern writers, with some account of the several authours. "Oldham's Poems, with notes, historical and critical. "Roscommon's Poems, with notes. "Lives of the Philosophers, written with a polite air, in such a manner as may divert as well as instruct. "History of the Heathen Mythology, with an explication of the fables, both allegorical and historical; with references to the poets. "History of the State of Venice, in a compendious manner. "Aristotle's Ethicks, an English translation of them, with notes. "Geographical Dictionary from the French. [Utrecht.] MS. "Hierocles upon Pythagoras, translated into English, perhaps with notes. This is done by Norris. [Nov. 9th, 1752.] MS. "A book of Letters, upon all kinds of subjects. "Claudian, a new edition of his works, cum notis variorum, in the manner of Burman. "Tully's Tusculan questions, a translation of them. "Tully's De Naturâ Deorum, a translation of those books. "Benzo's New History of the New World, to be translated. "Machiavel's History of Florence, to be trans countries. "A Body of Chronology, in verse, with historical notes. [Nov. 9th, 1752.] MS. "A Table of the Spectators, Tatlers, and Guardians, distinguished by figures into six degrees of value, with notes, giving the reasons of preference or degradation. "A Collection of Letters from English authours, with a preface giving some account of the writers; with reasons for selection, and criticism upon styles; remarks on each letter, if needful. "A Collection of Proverbs from various languages. Jan. 6th,-53. "A Dictionary to the Common Prayer, in imitation of Calmet's Dictionary of the Bible. March-[17]52. "A Collection of Stories and Examples, like those of Valerius Maximus. Jan. 10th, [17]53. "From Ælian, a volume of select Stories, perhaps from others. Jan. 28th,-[17]53. "Collection of Travels, Voyages, Adventures, and Descriptions of Countries. "Dictionary of Ancient History and Mythology. | "Treatise on the Study of Polite Literature, containing the history of learning, directions for editions, commentaries, &c. "Maxims, Characters, and Sentiments, after the manner of Bruyere, collected out of ancient authours, particularly the Greek, with Apophthegms. "Classical Miscellanies, Select Translations from ancient Greek and Latin authours. "Lives of Illustrious Persons, as well of the active as the learned, in imitation of Plutarch. "Judgment of the learned upon English Au thours. "Poetical Dictionary of the English tongue. "Consideration upon the present State of Lon don. "Collection of Epigrams, with notes and observations. "Observations on the English Language, relating to words, phrases, and modes of speech. "Minutiæ, Literariæ, Miscellaneous Reflections, Criticisms, Emendations, Notes. "History of the Constitution. "Comparison of Philosophical and Christian Morality, by sentences collected from the moralists and fathers. "Plutarch's Lives in English, with notes. "POETRY AND WORKS OF IMAGINATION, "Hymn to Ignorance. "The Palace of Sloth,-a vision. "Coluthus, to be translated. "Prejudice,-a poetical essay. "The Palace of Nonsense,-a vision." Johnson's extraordinary facility of composition, when he shook off his constitutional indolence, and resolutely sat down to write, is admirably described by Mr. Courtenay, in his "Poetical Review," which I have several times quoted: "While through life's maze he sent a piercing view, His mind expansive to the object grew. With various stores of erudition fraught, The lively image, the deep-searching thought, Slept in repose-but when the moment press'd, The bright ideas stood at once confess'd; Instant his genius sped its vigorous rays, And o'er the letter'd world diffused a blaze. As womb'd with fire the cloud electrick flies, And calmly o'er th' horizon seems to rise: Touch'd by the pointed steel, the lightning flows, And all th' expanse with rich effulgence glows." We shall in vain endeavour to know with exact precision every production of Johnson's pen. He owned to me that he had written about forty sermons; but as I understood that he had given or sold them to different persons, who were to preach them as their own, he did not consider himself at liberty to acknowledge them. Would those who were thus aided by him, who are still alive, and the friends of those who are dead, fairly inform the world, it would be obligingly gratifying a reasonable curiosity, to which there should, I think, now be no objection. Two volumes of them, published since his death, are sufficiently ascertained. Ante, p. 124. I have before me in his handwriting a fragment of twenty quarto leaves, of a translation into English of Sallust, De Bello Catilinario. When it was done I have no notion; but it seems to have no very superiour merit to mark it as his. Besides the publications heretofore mentioned, I am satisfied, from internal evidence, to admit also as genuine the following, which, notwithstanding all my chronological care, escaped me in the course of this work: "Considerations on the Case of Dr. Trapp's Sermons," published in 1739, in the "Gentleman's Magazine." It is a very ingenious defence of the right of abridging an authour's work, without being held as infringing his property. This is one of the nicest questions in the Law of Literature; and I cannot help thinking, that the indulgence of abridging is often exceedingly injurious to authours and booksellers, and should in very few cases be permitted. At any rate, to prevent difficult and uncertain discussion, and give an absolute security to authours in the property of their labours, no abridgement whatever should be permitted till after the expiration of such a number of years as the legislature may be pleased to fix. But, though it has been confidently ascribed to him, I cannot allow that he wrote a dedication to both houses of parliament of a book entitled "The Evangelical History Harmonized." He was no croaker, no declaimer against the times. He would not have written "That we are fallen upon an age in which corruption is not barely universal, is universally confessed." Nor, "Rapine preys on the publick without opposition, and perjury betrays it without inquiry." Nor would he, to excite a speedy reformation, have conjured up such phantoms of terror as these: "A few years longer, and perhaps all endeavours will be in vain. We may be swallowed by an earthquake; we may be delivered to our enemies.” This is not Johnsonian. There are, indeed, in this dedication several sentences constructed upon the model of those of Johnson. But the imitation of the form, without the spirit of his style, has been so general, that this of itself is not sufficient evidence. Even our newspaper writers aspire to it. In an account of the funeral of Edwin, the comedian, in "The Diary" of Nov. 9, 1790, that son of drollery is thus described: "A man who had so often cheered the sullenness of vacancy, and suspended the approaches of sorrow." And in "The Dublin Evening Post," August 16, 1791, there is the following paragraph: "It is a singular circumstance, that in a city like this, containing 200,000 people, there are three months in the year during which no place of publick amusement is open. Long vacation is here a vacation from pleasure, as well as business; nor is there any mode of passing the listless evenings of declining summer, but in the riots of a tavern, or the stupidity of a coffee-house." I have not thought it necessary to specify every copy of verses written by Johnson, it being my intention to publish an authentick edition of all his poetry, with notes. [This picture has been repeatedly engraved for various editions of this work. Before II. Now in the Marquis of Stafford's collec1770. tion. Side face, to right, eyes almost closed, 1773. without wig; showing the nervous habit to which he was addicted, when unemployed, of moving his hands up and down before him, with the fingers extended. It was of this picture that he said, "It is not friendly to hand down to posterity the imperfections of any man." Sir Joshua is said to have had in his mind this attitude and the abstracted expression of Dr. Johnson's countenance, when he painted the Soothsayer Tiresias in his large picture of the Infant Hercules. Folio, mezzotint, very fine 8vo. mezzotint for Sir Joshua's works 1770 An etching of the head only, from a copy of this picture by Ozias Humphrey Mrs. D. Turner.] III. Mr. Langton's picture, now at Gunby, near Spilsby, Lincolnshire, the seat of Peregrine Massingberd, Esq. Mr. Langton's second son. Sheet mezzotint, very fine Prefixed to his works, 1823 V. Duke of Dorset's picture at Knole, now Lord Plymouth's; a copy of No. II.] [BY BARRY. About Full face, finished only as far as the shoulders, 1781. and copied into one of the large pictures now in the room of the Society of Arts in the Adelph!. The original sketch was sold at Barry's sale to Mr. Manson for 30 guineas. Engraved in line 4to. size Anker Smith 1808 Ditto, 8vo. with specimens of Dr. Johnson's signature at different periods of his life Audinet BY OPIE. 1829] Three-quarter face, to the left. Engraved in an oval, prefixed to Dictionary folio [Do. 4to. Folio mezzotint J. Heath Davenport.] C. Townley.* BY NORTHCOTE 1786 1792 W. Doughty 1784. Do. 1786] 1792] 1782 1785 1820 Oval, prefixed to first ed. of Lives of the Poets Medallion, profile to left, with wig, prefixed to F. Bartolozzi Bartolozzi Ditto for Sharpe's Johnsoniana G. Murray A wood-cut, on the title-page of Sharpe's edition of this work, in 1 vol. [A small oval, profile to right N. Gardiner N. Gardiner 8vo. profile to right P. S. Lambourn P. S. Lambourn Profile to left, prefixed to Johnsoniana J. Taylor 1830 1786. 1791] 1756 For "Lavater's Essays on Physiognomy," in which Johnson's countenance is analysed upon the principles of that fanciful writer. [A view of Tunbridge Wells, in which Dr. and Mrs. Johnson are introduced; the figures very small. See vol. i. p. 36. 1778. A very excellent line engraving for the Dict. published by Robinson 1828 1823 Ditto, smaller 8vo. mezzotint for the works of Sir Joshua Reynolds S. W. Reynolds.] IV. Mrs. Piozzi's picture, now in the possession of Watson Taylor, Esq. Three-quarter face, to left, holding a book up to his eye. In an oval 8vo., for Murphy's ed. of his works J. Hall Ditto Audinet. 1787 Loggan. 1804 * Brother of Mr. Townley, of the Commons, an ingenious artist, who resided some time at Berlin, and has the honour of being engraver to his Majesty the King of Prussia. This is one of the finest mezzotintos that ever was executed; and what renders it of extraordinary value, the plate was destroyed after four or five impressions only were taken off. One of them is in the possession of Sir William Scott.-BoswELL. [It is probable that these four or five were merely early impressions taken off from the same plate, the dedication to Mr. Boswell, which distinguishes them, having been erased after they were printed.-J. MURRAY, JUN.] |