p. 257. effect, that Johnson was surprised At these meetings Sir J. Hawkins ob- | J. Hawkins, tells us, to the same serves not only that in conversation Johnson made it a rule to talk his best, Hawk. but that on many subjects he was not uniform in his opinions, contending as often for victory as for truth: at one time good, at another evil was predominant in the moral constitution of the world. Upon one occasion, he would deplore the non-observance of Good-Friday, and on another deny, that among us of the present age there is any decline of public worship. He would sometimes contradict self-evident propositions, such as, that the luxury of this country has increased with its riches; and that the practice of card-playing is more general than heretofore. At this versatility of temper, none, however, took of fence: as Alexander and Cæsar were born for conquest, so was Johnson for the office of a symposiarch, to preside in all conversations; and Sir J. Hawkins adds that he never yet saw the man who would venture to contest his right. Let it not, however, be imagined, that the members of this club met together with the temper of gladiators, or that there was wanting among them a disposition to yield to each other in all diversities of opinion: and, indeed, disputation was not, as in many associations of this kind, the purpose of the meeting; nor were their conversations, like those of the Rota club, restrained to particular topicks. On the contrary, it may be said, that with the gravest discourses was intermingled "mirth, that af ter no repenting draws" (Millon); for not only in Johnson's melancholy there were lucid intervals, but he was a great contributor to the mirth of conversation, by the many witty sayings he uttered, and the many excellent stories which his memory had treasured up, and he would on occasion relate; so that those are greatly mistaken who infer, either from the general tendency of his writings, or that appearance of hebetude which marked his countenance when living, and is discernible in the pictures and prints of him, that he could only reason and discuss, dictate and control. In the talent of humour there hardly ever was his equal. By this he was enabled to give to any relation that required it the graces and aids of expression, and to discriminate with the nicest exactness the characters of those whom it concerned. In aping this faculty, Sir J. Hawkins says that he had seen even Warburton disconcerted, and when he would fain have been thought a man of pleasantry, not a little out of countenance. [Mr. Murphy, a better judge than Sir Hawk. p. 259. [For the sake of further relaxation from his literary labours, and probably also for Mrs. Johnson's hea this summer visited Tunbridge Well a place of much greater resort than present. In the print2, representin of "the remarkable characters" wh at Tunbridge Wells, in 1748, and from a drawing of the same size, Dr. son stands the first figure.] [On the opposite side of the drawing his wife is represented, as are also G Cibber, Speaker Onslow, Lord Ch Lord Lyttelton, and Miss Chudleig several other celebrated persons; and assemblage, as has been already neither Johnson or his wife exhib appearance of inferiority to the rest company.] In the Gentleman's Magazine fo of this year he wrote a "Life of R mon*," with Notes (p. 216); which terwards much improved (indenti notes into text), and inserted amon Lives of the English Poets. Mr. Dodsley this year brought o Preceptor," one of the most va books for the improvement of young that has appeared in any language; this meritorious work Johnson fur The Preface," containing a g sketch of the book, with a short and perspicuous recommendation of each article [this he sat up a whole night to write]; and also, "The Vis Theodore, the Hermit, found in his a most beautiful allegory of huma under the figure of ascending the mo of Existence. The Bishop of D [Percy] heard Dr. Johnson say, th thought this was the best thing h wrote [and he told Mr. Tyers that h posed it also, in one night, after finish evening in Holborn]. In January, 1749, he published Vanity of Human Wishes, being the Satire of Juvenal imitated *." He, 1 [This should be borne in mind in Johnson's conversations, because much peculiarity called humour cannot be ade conveyed in words and many things may trite, dull, or offensively rude in mere na which were enlivened or softened by the reader who may be curious about Johnson's early style of the delivery.-ED.] Associates.-ED.] See ante, p. 34, 35, leve, composed it the preceding year1. Mrs. Johnson, for the sake of country air, had lodgings at Hampstead, to which he resorted occasionally, and there the greatest part, if not the whole, of this imitation was written. The fervid rapidity with which it was produced is scarcely credible. I have heard him say, that he composed seventy lines of it one day, without putting one of them upon paper till they were finished2. I remember when I once regretted to him that he had not given us more of Juvenal's Satires, he said, he probably should give more, for he had them all in his head; by which I understood, that he had the originals and correspondent allusions floating in his mind, which he could, when he pleased, embody and render permanent without much labour. Some of them3, however, he observed were too gross for imitation. |ing his fixed intention to publish at some period, for his own profit, a complete collection of his works. His "Vanity of Human Wishes" has less of common life, but more of a philosophick dignity than his "London." More readers, therefore, will be delighted with the pointed spirit of "London," than with the profound reflection of "The Vanity of Human wishes." Garrick, for instance, observed in his sprightly manner, with more vivacity than regard to just discrimination, as is usual with wits, "When Johnson lived much with the Herveys, and saw a good deal of what was passing in life, he wrote his London,' which is lively and easy: when he became more retired, he gave us his Vanity of Human Wishes,' which is as hard as Greek. Had he gone on to imitate another satire, it would have The profits of a single poem, however ex-been as hard as Hebrew 5." cellent, appear to have been very small in But The Vanity of Human Wishes" the last reign, compared with what a pub-is, in the opinion of the best judges, as high lication of the same size has since been known to yield. I have mentioned upon Johnson's own authority, that for his "London" he had only ten guineas; and now, after his fame was established, he got for his Vanity of Human Wishes" but five guineas more, as is proved by an authentick document in my possession 4. It will be observed, that he reserves to himself the right of printing one edition of this satire, which was his practice upon occasion of the sale of all his writings; it be Sir John Hawkins, with solemn inaccurary, represents this poem as a consequence of the indifferent reception of his tragedy. But the fact is, that the poem was published on the 9th of January, and the tragedy was not acted till the 6th of the February following.-BOSWELL. [Mr. Ellis here more solemnly inaccurate than Er John, who, though he erroneously inverts the order of appearance of the two works, does not represent the poem as a consequence of the indsierent reception of the play, but, on the contrary, neutralizes the mistake he makes as to time, by warning his reader not to impute the translation of Juvenal to the failure of the tragedy. Lo.] [The was Johnson's general habit of composing: his defect of sight rendered writing and writen corrections troublesome, and he therefore exercised his memory where others would have employed pen and paper.-ED.] [He probably said "sonie passages of them; for there are none of Juvenal's Satires to which the same objection may be made as to s of Horace's, that it is altogether gross and fotos-ED.] * - Nov, 25, 17-48, I received of Mr. Dodsley fen guineas, for which I assign to him the right of copy of an Imitation of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal, written by me; reserving to myself the right of printing one edition.-SAM. JOHNSON." -BOSWELL. an effort of ethick poetry as any language can show. The instances of variety of disappointment are chosen so judiciously, and painted so strongly, that, the moment they are read, they bring conviction to every thinking mind. That of the warrior, Charles of Sweden, is, I think, as highly finished a picture as can possibly be conceived. That of the scholar must have depressed the too sanguine expectations of many an ambitious student6. [Gar 5 From Mr. Langton.-BoswELL. rick's criticism (if it deserves the name) and his facts are both unfounded. "The Vanity of Human Wishes" is in a graver and higher tone than the London, but not harder to be understood. On the contrary, some classical allusions, inconsistent with modern manners, obscure passages of the latter; while all the illustrations, sentiments, and expressions of the former are, though wonderfully noble and dignified, yet perfectly intelligible, and almost familiar. Moreover, we have seen that when Johnson wrote London, he was not living the gay and fashionable life which Mr. Garrick is represented as mentioning. Alas! he was starving in obscure lodgings on eightpence and even fourpence a day (see ante, p. 39), and there is in London nothing to show any intimacy with the great or fashionable world. As to the Herveys, it may be here observedcontrary to Mr. Boswell's (as well as Mr. Garrick's) supposition-that he was intimate with that family previous to the publication of Lon don:-that the sneer in that poem at "Clodio's jest," stood in the first edition" H—y's jest," and was probably aimed at Lord Hervey, who was a favourite theme of satire with the opposition writers of the day.-ED.] 6 In this poem one of the instances mentioned of unfortunate learned men is Lydiat: "Hear Lydiat's Life, and Galileo's end." p. 38, 39. Piozzi, [When Dr. Johnson, one day, read his own satire, in which the life of a scholar is painted, with the various obstructions thrown in his way to fortune and to fame, he burst into a passion of tears: Mr. Thrale's family and Mr. Scott only were present, who, in a jocose wav, clapped him on the back, and said, "What's all this, my dear sir? Why you, and I, and Hercules 2, you know, were all troubled with melancholy." He was a very large man, and made out the triumvirate with Johnson and Hercules comically enough.] Were all the other excellencies of this poem annihilated, it must ever have our The History of Lydiat being little known, the following account of him may be acceptable to many of my readers. It appeared as a note in the Supplement to the Gentleman's Magazine for 1748, in which some passages extracted from Johnson's poem were inserted, and it should have been added in the subsequent editions." A very learned divine and mathematician, Fellow of New College, Oxon, and Rector of Okerton, near Banbury. He wrote, among many others, a Latin treatise De natur& cæli, &c.' in which he attacked the sentiments of Scaliger and Aristotle, not bearing to hear it urged, that some things are true in philosophy, and false in divinity. He made above 600 Sermons on the harmony of the Evangelists. Being unsuccessful in publishing his works, he lay in the prison of Bocardo at Oxford, and in the King's Bench, till Bishop Usher, Dr. Laud, Sir William Boswell, and Dr. Pink, released him by paying his debts. He petitioned King Charles I. to be sent into Ethiopia, &c. to procure MSS. Having spoken in favour of monarchy and bishops, he plundered by the parliament forces, and twice carried away prisoner from his rectory; and afterwards had not a shirt to shift him in three months, without he borrowed it, and died very poor in 1646."-BoSWELL. [In 1609, Lydiat accompanied Usher into Ireland, and obtained (probably by his interest) the office of chapelreader in Trinity College, Dublin, at a salary of 3. 68. 8d. per quarter: he was resident there about two years; and in March, 1612, it appears, that he had from the college "51. to furnish him for his journey to England." The remembrance of Lydiat was traditionally preserved in Dublin College; and the Editor recollects to have heard, about 1797, that, in some ancient buildings, then recently removed, Lydiat had resided-evidence, either that he had left a high reputation behind him, or, more probably, that Johnson's mention of him had revived the memory of his sojourn in that university.-ED.] 66 was grateful reverence from its noble concl With these celestial wisdom calms the mi Garrick being now vested with the power by being manager of Dru theatre, he kindly and generously use of it to bring out Johnson's tr which had been long kept back for w encouragement. But in this bend purpose he met with no small di from the temper of Johnson, which not brook that a drama which h formed with much study, and had obliged to keep more than the nine of Horace, should be revised and alte the pleasure of an actor. Yet G knew well, that without some altera would not be fit for the stage. A dispute having ensued between them rick applied to the Reverend Dr. Ta 3 In this poem, a line in which the da tending on female beauty is mentioned, b generally, I believe, been misunderstood: "Yet Vane could tell what ills from beauty spri And Sedley curs'd the form that pleas'd a king." The lady mentioned in the first of thes was not the celebrated Lady Vane, who moirs were given to the publick by Dr. S but Anne Vane, who was mistress to Fre [George Lewis Scott, F. R. S., an amiable Prince of Wales, and died in 1736, not l and learned man, formerly sub-preceptor to fore Johnson settled in London. Some George the Third, and afterwards a Commission-of this lady was published, under the er of Excise, whom it seems Johnson did not now reckon as 66 one of the lowest of all human beings." See ante, p. 10.-ED.] "The Secret History of Vanella, 8vo. See also" Vanella in the Straw, 4to. -BOSWELL. [See post, 17 Aug. 177 2 [In allusion to the madness of Hercules on observations respecting the lines in que Mount Oeta.-ED.] ED.] William Yonge. I know not how his play came to be thus graced by the pen of a person then so eminent in the political world 5. Notwithstanding all the support of such performers as Garrick, Barry, Mrs. Cibber, Mrs. Pritchard, and every advantage of dress and decoration, the tragedy of Irene did not please the publick. Mr. Garrick's zeal carried it through for nine nights, so that the authour had his three nights' profits; and from a receipt signed by hini, now in the hands of Mr. James Dodsley, it appears that his friend, Mr. Robert Dodsley, epilogue was always supposed to be Johnson's, and that Mr. Boswell's account is a "new discovery, and by no means probable," and he adds, that "it were to be wished that the epilogue could be transferred to any other writer, it being the worst jeu d'esprit which ever fell from Johnson's pen." Mr. John Taylor also has lately informed the editor that Murphy subsequently repeated to him that Johnson was the anthor of the epilogue. The first fourteen lines certainly deserve Murphy's censure, and could hardly have been written by the pen of Johnson; but the last ten lines are much better, and it may be suspectthat these Johnson added to or altered from the original copy.-ED.] Dr. Adams was present the first night of the representation of Irene, and gave me the following account: "Before the curtain drew up, there were catcalls whistling, which alarmed Johnson's friends. The Prologue, which was written by himself in a manly strain, soothed the audience, and the play went off tolerably, till it came to the conclusion, when Mrs. Pritchard, the heroine of the piece, was to be strangled upon the stage, and was to speak two lines with the bow-string round her neck. The audience cried out Murder! murder 3! She several times attempted to speak; but in vain. At last she was obliged to go off the stage alive." This passage was afterwards struck out, and she was carried off to be put to death behind the scenes, as the play now has it. The Epilogue, as John-ed son informed me', was written by Sir Mahomet was in fact played by Mr. Barry, and Demetrius by Mr. Garrick: but probably the parts were not yet cast.-BoswELL. [It has been said that Garrick originally intended to have taken the part of Mahomet, and he probably sided it to Barry to propitiate him in the autbour's favour.-ED.] The expression used by Dr. Adams was "othed." I should rather think the audience ared by the extraordinary spirit and dignity of the following lines : W25 Beths at least his praise, be this his pride, * This shows how ready modern audiences are to condemn in a new play what they have frequently endured very quietly in an old one. Kowe has made Moneses, in Tamerlane, die the bow-string, without offence.--MALONE. And Davies tell us, in his " Life of Garrick," p. 128, that the strangling Irene, contrary Horace's rule, coram populo, was suggested Garrick-ED.] [Dr. Anderson says in his Life, that" Mr. Berzell ascribes this epilogue to Sir W. Yonge good foundation: yet Mr. Boswell, who his first edition had simply stated the fact, added the second, "as Johnson informed me." A Murphy too asserts (Life, p. 154), that the 5 [It has been observed that he must, before this, have some acquaintance with Sir W. Yonge, who told him that great should be pronounced so as to rhyme with seat, while Lord Chesterfield had said it should rhyme to state. (See post, 27th March, 1772.)-ED.] 6 I know not what Sir John Hawkins means by the cold reception of IRENE. [See ante, note, p. 77.] I was at the first representation; and most of the subsequent. It was much applauded the first night, particularly the speech on to-morrow. It ran nine nights at least. It did not indeed become a stock-play, but there was not the least opposition during the representation, except the first night in the last act, where Irene was to be strangled on the stage, which John [Bull] could not bear, though a dramatick poet may stab or slay by hundreds. The bow-string was not a Chistian nor an ancient Greek or Roman death. But this offence was removed after the first night, and Irene went off the stage to be strangled.-Many stories were circulated at the time, of the authour's being observed at the representation to be dissatisfied with some of the speeches and conduct of the play himself; and, like La Fontaine, expressing his disapprobation aloud.-BURNEY. [Mr. Murphy (Life, p. 53,) says, "the amount of the three benefit nights for the tragedy of IRENE, it is to be feared, were not very considerable, as the profit, that stimulating motive, never invited the authour to another dramatick attempt." But Mr. Isaac Reed discovered that the authour's three nights, after deducting about 1902. for the expenses of the house, amounted together to near 2007., besides the 1007. for the copy. These were, at the time, large sums to Dr. Johnson.-ED.] gave him one hundred pounds for the copy, with his usual reservation of the right of one edition. IRENE, considered as a poem, is entitled to the praise of superiour excellence. Analysed into parts, it will furnish a rich store of noble sentiments, fine imagery, and beautiful language; but it is deficient in pathos, in that delicate power of touching the human feelings, which is the principal end of the drama. Indeed Garrick has complained to me, that Johnson not only had not the faculty of producing the impressions of tragedy, but that he had not the sensibility to perceive them. His great friend Mr. Wamsley's prediction, that he would "turn out a fine tragedy writer," was, therefore, ill-founded. Johnson was wise enough to be convinced that he had not the talents necessary to write successfully for the stage, and never made another attempt in that species of composition. And When asked how he felt upon the ill success of his tragedy, he replied, "Like the Monument;" meaning that he continued firm and unmoved as that column 2 let it be remembered, as an admonition to the genus irritabile of dramatick writers, that this great man, instead of peevishly complaining of the bad taste of the town, submitted to its decision without a murmur. He had, indeed, upon all occasions a great deference for the general opinion: "A man (said he) who writes a book, thinks himself wiser or wittier than the rest of mankind; he supposes that he can instruct or amuse them, and the publick to whom he appeals must, after all, be the judges of his pretensions." On occasion of this play being brought upon the stage, Johnson had a fancy that as a dramatick authour his dress should be more gay than what he ordinarily wore; he therefore appeared behind the scenes, and even in one of the side-boxes, in a scarlet waistcoat, with rich gold-lace, and a gold-lace hat. He humorously observed to Mr. Langton, "that when in that dress he could not treat people with the same ease as when in his usual plain clothes." 1 Aaron Hill (vol. ii. p. 355), in a letter to Mr. Mallett, gives the following account of Irene after having seen it. "I was at the anomalous Mr. Johnson's benefit, and found the play his pro- | per representative; strong sense ungraced by sweetness or decorum."-BOSWELL. 2 [Or, more modestly perhaps, that he felt no more than the Monument could feel. It may, indeed, be presumed, from Dr. Burney's evidence, and from considering that it produced him more money than he probably had ever before possessed, that he was far from thinking that his tragedy had failed. The London Magazine for February, states that Irene was then acting with great applause.-ED.] Dress indeed, we must allow, has mo fect even upon strong minds tha should suppose, without having had t perience of it. His necessary atten while his play was in rehearsal, and its performance, brought him acqu with many of the performers of both which produced a more favourable op of their profession than he had harsh pressed in his Life of Savage. With of them he kept up an acquaintance a as he and they lived, and was ever re show them acts of kindness. He for siderable time used to frequent the Room, and seemed to take delight in pating his gloom, by mixing in the s ly chit-chat of the motley circle the found there. Mr. David Hume rela me from Mr. Garrick, that Johnson denied himself this amusement, from erations of rigid virtue, saying, "I'l no more behind your scenes, Dav the silk stockings and white bosoms o actresses excite my amorous propens 4 ["DR. JOHNSON TO MISS PORTER "Goff 5 Square, July 12, 174 "DEAR MISS,-I am extremely c to you for your letter, which I woul answered last post, but that illness vented me. I have been often out der of late, and have very much n ed my affairs. You have acted ver dently with regard to Levett's affair, will, I think, not at all embarrass n you may promise him, that the mo shall be taken up at Michaelmas, or, a some time between that and Chri and if he requires to have it done soc will endeavour it. I make no doubt, time, of either doing it myself, or pe ing some of my friends to do it for n "Please to acquaint him with it, me know if he be satisfied. When h called on me, his name was mistake therefore I did not see him; but findi mistake, wrote to him the same da never heard more of him, though I e ed him to let me know where to w him. You frighted me, you little with your black wafer, for I had forg 3 [This appears to have been by no me case. His most acrimonious attacks on C and Sheridan, and players in general, were quent to this period.-ED.] [This letter, and some others, which w pear in their proper places, I owe to the ited kindness of the Rev. Dr. Harwood, t torian of Lichfield, who procured the with permission to publish them, from Mrs son of Lichfield, who is in possession of the nals.-ED.] 5 [Thus in the original.-ED.] 6 [This confirms the statement, as to th in page 64. n.--ED.] |