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Life of Johnson Novel Chapters
List of most recent chapters published for the Life of Johnson novel. A total of 427 chapters have been translated and the release date of the last chapter is Apr 02, 2024
Latest Release: Chapter 1 : Life Of Johnson.Vol. 1.by Boswell.Edited by Birkbeck Hill.PREFACE.Fielding, it is said,
Life Of Johnson.Vol. 1.by Boswell.Edited by Birkbeck Hill.PREFACE.Fielding, it is said, drank confusion to the man who invented the fifth act of a play. He who has edited an extensive work, and has concluded his labours by the preparation of a copious ind
- 101 'I do not find that I am likely to come back very soon from this place.I shall, perhaps, stay a fortnight longer; and a fortnight is a long time to a lover absent from his mistress. Would a fortnight ever have an end?'I am, dear Sir, 'Your
- 102 'The ballad of Hardyknute[275] has no great merit, if it be really ancient. People talk of nature. But mere obvious nature may be exhibited with very little power of mind.'On Thursday, October 19, I pa.s.sed the evening with him at his house. He
- 103 I maintained it to be a poetical conceit. A Pict being painted, if he is slain in battle, and a vest is made of his skin, it is a painted vest won from him, though he was naked[322].Johnson spoke unfavourably of a certain pretty voluminous authour, saying
- 104 '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.''London, Sept. 25, 1770.'
- 105 "Strange cozenage! none would live past years again, Yet all hope pleasure from what still remain[363]."For his part, he said, he never pa.s.sed that week in his life which he would wish to repeat, were an angel to make the proposal to him.'
- 106 'We dined _tete a tete_ at the Mitre, as I was preparing to return to Ireland, after an absence of many years. I regretted much leaving London, where I had formed many agreeable connexions: "Sir, (said he,) I don't wonder at it; no man, fon
- 107 'Ashbourn in Derbys.h.i.+re, July 17, 1771.'Compliments to Miss Reynolds,''To DR. JOHNSON.'Edinburgh, July 27, 1771.'MY DEAR SIR, 'The bearer of this, Mr. Beattie[419], Professor of Moral Philosophy at Aberdeen, is desir
- 108 'DEAR SIR, 'I congratulate you and Lady Rothes[427] on your little man, and hope you will all be many years happy together.'Poor Miss Langton can have little part in the joy of her family. She this day called her aunt Langton to receive the
- 109 On Tuesday, March 31, he and I dined at General Paoli's. A question was started, whether the state of marriage was natural to man. JOHNSON.'Sir, it is so far from being natural for a man and woman to live in a state of marriage, that we find all
- 110 Goldsmith told us, that he was now busy in writing a natural history[537], and, that he might have full leisure for it, he had taken lodgings, at a farmer's house, near to the six mile-stone, on the Edgeware road, and had carried down his books in tw
- 111 'To make a penal law reasonable and just, two conditions are necessary, and two proper. It is necessary that the law should be adequate to its end; that, if it be observed, it shall prevent the evil against which it is directed. It is, secondly, nece
- 112 'I have taken the liberty of troubling you with a packet, to which I wish a safe and speedy conveyance, because I wish a safe and speedy voyage to him that conveys it. I am, Sir, 'Your most humble servant, 'SAM. JOHNSON.''London,
- 113 JOHNSON. 'Nay, Sir, I say that is not _luxury_. Let us take a walk from Charing-cross to White-chapel, through, I suppose, the greatest series of shops in the world; what is there in any of these shops (if you except gin-shops,) that can do any human
- 114 On Thursday, April 29, I dined with him at General Oglethorpe's, where were Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr. Langton, Dr. Goldsmith, and Mr. Thrale. I was very desirous to get Dr. Johnson absolutely fixed in his resolution to go with me to the Hebrides this
- 115 JOHNSON. 'Why, Sir, you might contrive to teach your children _extra scandalum_; but, Sir, the magistrate, if he knows it, has a right to restrain you. Suppose you teach your children to be thieves?' MAYO.'This is making a joke of the subje
- 116 'Johnson's-court, Fleet-street, July 5, 1773.''Write to me as soon as you can. Chambers is now at Oxford.'I again wrote to him, informing him that the Court of Session rose on the twelfth of August, hoping to see him before that t
- 117 "_Cives seditiosi Mariam Scotorum Reginam sese muneri abdicare invitam cogunt_."'Be so good as to read the pa.s.sage in Robertson, and see if you cannot give me a better inscription. I must have it both in Latin and English; so if you shoul
- 118 'I am, however, obliged to you, dear Sir, for your endeavours to help me, and hope, that between us something will some time be done, if not on this, on some occasion.'Chambers is either married, or almost married, to Miss Wilton, a girl of sixt
- 119 'DEAR SIR, 'I wish you could have looked over my book before the printer, but it could not easily be. I suspect some mistakes; but as I deal, perhaps, more in notions than in facts, the matter is not great, and the second edition will be mended,
- 120 Asaph and Bangor, the two seats of their Bishops; have been upon Penmanmaur[835] and Snowden[836], and pa.s.sed over into Anglesea. But Wales is so little different from England, that it offers nothing to the speculation of the traveller.'When I came
- 121 'DEAR SIR, 'I have returned your play[848], which you will find underscored with red, where there was a word which I did not like. The red will be washed off with a little water.'The plot is so well framed, the intricacy so artful, and the
- 122 'What does Becket[868] mean by the _Originals_ of Fingal and other poems of Ossian, which he advertises to have lain in his shop?''TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.'DEAR SIR, 'You sent me a case to consider, in which I have no facts but what
- 123 'There is nothing in the book, from beginning to end, that a Scotchman need to take amiss. What he says of the country is true; and his observations on the people are what must naturally occur to a sensible, observing, and reflecting inhabitant of a
- 124 That this pamphlet was written at the desire of those who were then in power, I have no doubt; and, indeed, he owned to me, that it had been revised and curtailed by some of them. He told me, that they had struck out one pa.s.sage, which was to this effec
- 125 looking downwards all the time, and, while p.r.o.nouncing the four last words, absolutely touching the ground with a kind of contorted gesticulation.Garrick, however, when he pleased, could imitate Johnson very exactly[955]; for that great actor, with his
- 126 Lady Miller's collection of verses by fas.h.i.+onable people, which were put into her Vase at Batheaston villa[991], near Bath, in compet.i.tion for honorary prizes, being mentioned, he held them very cheap: '_Bouts rimes_ (said he,) is a mere c
- 127 As we walked to St. Clement's church, and saw several shops open upon this most solemn fast-day of the Christian world, I remarked, that one disadvantage arising from the immensity of London, was, that n.o.body was heeded by his neighbour; there was
- 128 'All verbal injury must comprise in it either some false position, or some unnecessary declaration of defamatory truth. That in calling him Doctor, a false appellation was given him, he himself will not pretend, who at the same time that he complains
- 129 'Never, my dear Sir, do you take it into your head to think that I do not love you; you may settle yourself in full confidence both of my love and my esteem; I love you as a kind man, I value you as a worthy man, and hope in time to reverence you as
- 130 'I have been remarkably healthy all the journey, and hope you and your family have known only that trouble and danger which has so happily terminated. Among all the congratulations that you may receive, I hope you believe none more warm or sincere, t
- 131 'Oct. 17, Tuesday. At the Palais Marchand I bought A snuff-box[1175], 24 L.------------- 6 Table book 15 Scissars 3 p [pair] 18 ---- 63--2 12 6[1176]'We heard the lawyers plead.--N. As many killed at Paris as there are days in the year. _Chambre
- 132 'Nov. 5. Sunday. We saw the cathedral.--It is very beautiful, with chapels on each side. The choir splendid. The bal.u.s.trade in one part bra.s.s.--The Neff[1204] very high and grand.--The altar silver as far as it is seen.--The vestments very splen
- 133 'I have at last sent you all Lord Hailes's papers. While I was in France, I looked very often into Henault[1236]; but Lord Hailes, in my opinion, leaves him far and far behind. Why I did not dispatch so short a perusal sooner, when I look back,
- 134 'I am, Sir, 'Your affectionate servant, 'SAM. JOHNSON.'Feb. 3, 1773'I had followed his recommendation and consulted Lord Hailes, who upon this subject had a firm opinion contrary to mine. His Lords.h.i.+p obligingly took the troub
- 135 'Your most affectionate humble servant, 'SAM. JOHNSON.''March 5, 1776.'To THE SAME.'DEAR SIR, 'Very early in April we leave England, and in the beginning of the next week I shall leave London for a short time; of this I
- 136 Finding him still persevering in his abstinence from wine, I ventured to speak to him of it.--JOHNSON. 'Sir, I have no objection to a man's drinking wine, if he can do it in moderation. I found myself apt to go to excess in it, and therefore, af
- 137 He mentioned to me the singular history of an ingenious acquaintance.'He had practised physick in various situations with no great emolument.A West-India gentleman, whom he delighted by his conversation, gave him a bond for a handsome annuity during
- 138 'Never speak of a man in his own presence. It is always indelicate, and may be offensive.''Questioning is not the mode of conversation among gentlemen[1385]. It is a.s.suming a superiority, and it is particularly wrong to question a man con
- 139 'May 4,--66. I have read since the noon of Easter day the Gospels of St.Matthew and St. Mark in Greek.'I have read Xenophon's Cyropaidia.'BODLEIAN LIBRARY. SELECT AUTOGRAPHS. (MONTAGU.) APPENDIX B.(_Page_ 312.) Johnson's sentiment
- 140 [22] 'The inference upon the whole is, that it is not from the value or worth of the object which any person pursues that we can determine his enjoyment; but merely from the pa.s.sion with which he pursues it, and the success which he meets with in h
- 141 [60] The pa.s.sage omitted alluded to a private transaction. BOSWELL.[61] The censure of my Latin relates to the Dedication, which was as follows: VIRO n.o.bILISSIMO, ORNATISSIMO, JOANNI, VICECOMITI MOUNTSTUART, ATAVIS EDITO REGIBUS EXCELSAE FAMILLAE DE B
- 142 [95] The particulars of this conversation I have been at great pains to collect with the utmost authenticity from Dr. Johnson's own detail to myself; from Mr. Langton who was present when he gave an account of it to Dr. Joseph Warton, and several oth
- 143 85). 'The author is a strange being, and has a rage of knowing everybody that ever was talked of. He forced himself upon me at Paris in spite of my teeth and my doors.' To this Gray replied:--'Mr. Boswell's book has pleased and moved m
- 144 182.[167] _An account of the Manners and Customs of Italy_, by Joseph Baretti, London, 1768. The book would be still more entertaining were it not written as a reply to Sharp's _Letters on Italy_. _Post_ under April 29, 1776.[168] Mrs. Piozzi wrote o
- 145 Honours to one in my situation are something like ruffles to one that wants a s.h.i.+rt.' Prior's _Goldsmith_, ii. 221. 'Wicked Will Whiston,'&c., comes from Swift's _Ode for Music, On the Longitude_ (Swift's _Works_, ed. 180
- 146 [237] Mr. Stewart, who in 1768 was sent on a secret mission to Paoli, in his interesting report says:--'Religion seems to sit easy upon Paoli, and notwithstanding what his historian Boswell relates, I take him to be very free in his notions that way.
- 147 [271] Bouhours, 1628-1702. Voltaire, writing of Bouhours' _Maniere de bien penser sur les ouvrages d'esprit_, says that he teaches young people 'a eviter l'enflure, l'obscurite, le recherche, et le faux.'_Ib_, p. 54. Johnson,
- 148 [310] See _post_, June 28, 1777, note.[311] Laceration was properly a term of surgery; hence the italics. See _post_, Jan. 20, 1780.[312] See _post_, April 15, 1778.[313] See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Sept. 12, 1773.[314] He bids us pray 'For faith
- 149 [346] 'He loved the poor,' says Mrs. Piozzi (_Anec_. p. 84), 'as I never yet saw any one else do, with an earnest desire to make them happy."What signifies," says some one, "giving half-pence to common beggars?they only lay i
- 150 [378] See _ante_, ii. 76.[379] 'It is dangerous for a man and woman to suspend their fate upon each other at a time when opinions are fixed, and habits are established; when friends.h.i.+ps have been contracted on both sides; when life has been plann
- 151 [411] See _post_, July 27, 1778.[412] Hawkins (_Life_, p. 513) says that Mr. Thrale made the same attempt. 'He had two meetings with the ministry, who at first seemed inclined to find Johnson a seat.' 'Lord Stowell told me,' says Mr.Cr
- 152 [443] See _ante_, ii. 105.[444] The pet.i.tion was presented on Feb. 6 of this year. By a majority thrown of 217 to 71 leave was refused for it to be brought up. _Parl.Hist_. xvii. 245-297. Gibbon, in a letter dated Feb. 8, 1772 (_Misc.Works_, ii. 74), co
- 153 [478] See _post_, April 17, 1778, and May 19, 1784.[479] See _ante_, i. 240, and ii. 105.[480] _Revelations_, xiv. 2.[481] Johnson, in _The Rambler_, No. 78, describes man's death as 'a change not only of the place, but the manner of his being;
- 154 [523] 185,000. 2 _Kings_, xix. 35.[524] Lord Chatham wrote on Oct. 12, 1766, to Lord Shelburne that he 'had extremely at heart to obtain this post for Lord Cardross, a young n.o.bleman of great talents, learning, and accomplishments, and son of the E
- 155 After the first fortnight he said to me, "Young man, it would be cheating you to take your money; for you never can learn what I am trying to teach you." I was exceedingly mortified, and cried; for, being a Prime Minister's son, I had firml
- 156 [595] Now Doctor White, and Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Pennsylvania. During his first visit to England in 1771, as a candidate for holy orders, he was several times in company with Dr. Johnson, who expressed a wish to see the edition of his _Ra.s.s
- 157 [629] See _ante_, i. 252.[630] 'By inscribing this slight performance to you, I do not mean so much to compliment you as myself. It may do me some honour to inform the publick, that I have lived many years in intimacy with you. It may serve the inter
- 158 _Ib_ i, 459.[668]'Then I alone the conquest prize, When I insult a rival's eyes: If there's, &c.'Act iii, sc. 12.[669]'But how did he return, this haughty brave, Who whipt the winds, and made the sea his slave?(Though Neptune took
- 159 [696] See _ante_, ii. 210.[697] See _post_, Oct. 10, 1779.[698] 'Vertot, ne en Normandie en 1655. Historien agreable et elegant.Mort en 1735.' Voltaire, _Siecle de Louis XIV_.[699] Even Hume had no higher notion of what was required in a writer
- 160 [732] Boswell calls Elwal Johnson's countryman, because they both came from the same county. See _ante_, ii.[733] Baretti, in a MS. note on _Piozzi Letters_, i. 219, says:--'Johnson would have made an excellent Spanish inquisitor. To his shame b
- 161 [773] Mrs. Piozzi's _Anecdotes of Johnson_, p. 131. BOSWELL. Mrs. Piozzi (_Anec_. p. 129) describes her mother and Johnson as 'excellent, far beyond the excellence of any other man and woman I ever yet saw. As her conduct extorted his truest est
- 162 [817] These books Dr. Johnson presented to the Bodleian Library, BOSWELL.[818] On the cover enclosing them, Dr. Johnson wrote, 'If my delay has given any reason for supposing that I have not a very deep sense of the honour done me by asking my judgem
- 163 [858] See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 23.[859] In the Court of Session of Scotland an action is first tried by one of the Judges, who is called the Lord Ordinary; and if either party is dissatisfied, he may appeal to the whole Court, consisting of fif
- 164 [891] See _Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides_, 3rd ed. p. 520 [p. 431].BOSWELL.[892] For the letter, see the end of Boswell's _Hebrides_.[893] _Fossilist_ is not in Johnson's _Dictionary_.[894] 'Rasay has little that can detain a traveller,
- 165 [933] He had written to Temple six days earlier:--'Second sight pleases my superst.i.tion which, you know, is not small, and being not of the gloomy but the grand species, is an enjoyment; and I go further than Mr.Johnson, for the facts which I heard
- 166 _Works_, viii. 487. Goldsmith, in his _Life of Parnell_ (_Misc. Works_, iv. 25), thus seems to sneer at _The Elegy_:--'The _Night Piece_ on death deserves every praise, and, I should suppose, with very little amendment, might be made to surpa.s.s all
- 167 'To his first state let him return with speed, Who sees how far the joys he left exceed His present choice.' FRANCIS.Malone says that 'Walpole, after he ceased to be minister, endeavoured to amuse his mind with reading. But one day when Mr.
- 168 [1034] 'Of Gibbon, Mackintosh neatly remarked that he might have been cut out of a corner of Burke's mind, without his missing it.' _Life of Mackintosh_, i. 92. It is worthy of notice that Gibbon scarcely mentions Johnson in his writings. M
- 169 [1070] The following pa.s.sages shew that the thought, or something like it, was not new to Johnson:--'Bruyere declares that we are come into the world too late to produce anything new, that nature and life are preoccupied, and that description and s
- 170 [1101] This song is the twelfth air in act i.[1102] 'In several parts of tragedy,' writes Tom Davies, 'Walker's look, deportment, and action gave a _distinguished glare to tyrannic rage_.'Davies's _Garrick_, i. 24.[1103] Pope
- 171 220. 'June 11, 1775. You never told me, and I omitted to inquire, how you were entertained by Boswell's _Journal_. _One would think the man had been hired to be a spy upon me_. He was very diligent, and caught opportunities of writing from time
- 172 [1184] Lewis XVI.[1185] The King's sister, who was guillotined in the Reign of Terror.[1186] See p. 391. BOSWELL.[1187] 'When at Versailles, the people showed us the Theatre. As we stood on the stage looking at some machinery for playhouse purpo
- 173 169. Yet, in his _Life of Barretier_ (_Works_, vi. 380), he says:--'The first languages which he learnt were the French, German, and Latin, which he was taught, not in the common way, by a mult.i.tude of definitions, rules, and exceptions, which fati
- 174 [1264] A similar bill had been thrown out sixteen years earlier by 194 to 84. 'A Bill for a Militia in Scotland was not successful; nor could the disaffected there obtain this mode of having their arms restored.Pitt had acquiesced; but the young Whig
- 175 [1305] See _ante_, pp. 279, 283.[1306] 'I have seen,' said Mr. Donne to Sir R. Drewry, 'a dreadful vision since I saw you. I have seen my dear wife pa.s.s twice by me, through this room, with her hair hanging about her shoulders, and a dead
- 176 [1340] In _Poems_ by Christopher Smart, ed. 1752, p. 100. One line may serve as a sample of the whole poem, Writing of 'Bacchus, G.o.d of hops,'the poet says:-- ''Tis he shall gen'rate the buxom beer.'[1341] See Boswell'
- 177 [1377] He wrote:--'Mr. Boswell is with me, but I will take care that he shall hinder no business, nor shall he know more than you would have him.' Mr. Morison's _Collection of Autographs_, vol. ii.[1378] 'March 23, 1776. Master Thrale,
- 178 The Life Of Johnson.Volume 3.by Boswell.THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D.Having left Ashbourne in the evening, we stopped to change horses at Derby, and availed ourselves of a moment to enjoy the conversation of my countryman, Dr. b.u.t.ter, then physicia
- 179 Sir Joshua mentioned Mr. c.u.mberland's _Odes_,[134] which were just published. JOHNSON. 'Why, Sir, they would have been thought as good as Odes commonly are, if c.u.mberland had not put his name to them; but a name immediately draws censure, un
- 180 I asked him whether he would advise me to read the Bible with a commentary, and what commentaries he would recommend. JOHNSON. 'To be sure, Sir, I would have you read the Bible with a commentary; and I would recommend Lowth and Patrick on the Old Tes
- 181 '"'Off with his head! So much for Aylesbury[217].'"'I was then member for Aylesbury.'Dr. Johnson and Mr. Wilkes talked of the contested pa.s.sage in Horace's _Art of Poetry_[218], '_Difficile est proprie commun
- 182 Sir William Forbes's observation is very just. The anecdote now related proves, in the strongest manner, the reverence and awe with which Johnson was regarded, by some of the most eminent men of his time, in various departments, and even by such of t
- 183 'TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.'SIR, 'A young man, whose name is Paterson, offers himself this evening to the Academy. He is the son of a man[259] for whom I have long had a kindness, and who is now abroad in distress. I shall be glad that you wil
- 184 'Baretti went away from Thrale's in some whimsical fit of disgust, or ill-nature, without taking any leave[282]. It is well if he finds in any other place as good an habitation, and as many conveniencies. He has got five-and-twenty guineas by tr
- 185 'SIR ALEXANDER d.i.c.k TO DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON.'Prestonfield, Feb. 17, 1777.'Sir, 'I had yesterday the honour of receiving your book of your _Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland_, which you was so good as to send me, by the hands
- 186 'MR. BOSWELL TO DR. JOHNSON.'Edinburgh, April 4, 1777.[After informing him of the death of my little son David, and that I could not come to London this spring:--]'I think it hard that I should be a whole year without seeing you. May I pres
- 187 Early in this year came out, in two volumes quarto, the posthumous works of the learned Dr. Zachary Pearce, Bishop of Rochester; being _A Commentary, with Notes, on the four Evangelists and the Acts of the Apostles_, with other theological pieces. Johnson
- 188 'I suppose Miss Boswell reads her book, and young Alexander takes to his learning. Let me hear about them; for every thing that belongs to you, belongs in a more remote degree, and not, I hope, very remote, to, dear Sir, 'Yours affectionately, &
- 189 'Sir Allan Maclean has[377] carried that branch of his cause, of which we had good hopes: the President and one other Judge only were against him.I wish the House of Lords may do as well as the Court of Session has done. But Sir Allan has not the lan
- 190 [Informing him that my wife had continued to grow better, so that my alarming apprehensions were relieved: and that I hoped to disengage myself from the other embarra.s.sment which had occurred, and therefore requesting to know particularly when he intend
- 191 While we sat basking in the sun upon a seat here, I introduced a common subject of complaint, the very small salaries which many curates have, and I maintained, 'that no man should be invested with the character of a clergyman, unless he has a securi
- 192 Dr. Johnson! as I sought your knowledge at an early hour in life, would to heaven I had cultivated the love and acquaintance of so excellent a man!--I pray G.o.d most sincerely to bless you with the highest transports--the infelt satisfaction of _humane_
- 193 We dined with Dr. b.u.t.ter, whose lady is daughter of my cousin Sir John Douglas, whose grandson is now presumptive heir of the n.o.ble family of Queensberry. Johnson and he had a good deal of medical conversation.Johnson said, he had somewhere or other
- 194 I talked to him of Forster's _Voyage to the South Seas_, which pleased me; but I found he did not like it. 'Sir, (said he,) there is a great affectation of fine writing in it.' BOSWELL. 'But he carries you along with him.' JOHNSON
- 195 He praised Grainger's _Ode on Solitude_, in Dodsley's _Collection_, and repeated, with great energy, the exordium:-- 'O Solitude, romantick maid, Whether by nodding towers you tread; Or haunt the desart's trackless gloom, Or hover o�
- 196 'My dear friend, let me thank you once more for your visit; you did me great honour, and I hope met with nothing that displeased you. I staid long at Ashbourne, not much pleased, yet aukward at departing. I then went to Lichfield, where I found my fr
- 197 Welch accordingly went abroad, accompanied by his daughter Anne, a young lady of uncommon talents and literature.'TO SAUNDERS WELCH, ESQ., AT THE ENGLISH COFFEE-HOUSE, ROME.'DEAR SIR, 'To have suffered one of my best and dearest friends to
- 198 His liberality, indeed, was at all periods of his life very remarkable.Mr. Howard, of Lichfield, at whose father's house Johnson had in his early years been kindly received, told me, that when he was a boy at the Charter-House, his father wrote to hi
- 199 I should have liked to hear you play on the violoncello. _That_ should have been _your_ instrument.' JOHNSON. 'Sir, I might as well have played on the violoncello as another; but I should have done nothing else. No, Sir; a man would never undert
- 200 JOHNSON. 'There is nothing marked in that. No, Sir, Garagantua is the best.' Notwithstanding this ease and good humour, when I, a little while afterwards, repeated his sarcasm on Kenrick[737], which was received with applause, he asked, '_W