Life of Johnson
Chapter 402 : [989] Baretti told Malone that, having proposed to teach Johnson Italian, they went ov

[989] Baretti told Malone that, having proposed to teach Johnson Italian, they went over a few stanzas of Ariosto, and Johnson then grew weary. 'Some years afterwards Baretti said he would give him another lesson, but added, "I suppose you have forgotten what we read before."

"Who forgets, Sir?" said Johnson, and immediately repeated three or four stanzas of the poem.' Baretti took down the book to see if it had been lately opened, but the leaves were covered with dust. Prior's _Malone_, p. 160. Johnson had learnt to translate Italian before he knew Baretti.

_Ante_, i. 107, 156. For other instances of his memory, see _ante_, i.

39, 48; iii. 318, note 1; and iv. 103, note 2.

[990] For sixty-eight days he received no letter--from August 21 (_ante_, p. 84) to October 28.

[991] Among these professors might possibly have been either Burke or Hume had not a Mr. Clow been the successful compet.i.tor in 1751 as the successor to Adam Smith in the chair of Logic. 'Mr. Clow has acquired a curious t.i.tle to fame, from the greatness of the man to whom he succeeded, and of those over whom he was triumphant.' J.H. Burton's _Hume_, i. 351.

[992] Dr. Reid, the author of the _Inquiry into the Human Mind_, had in 1763 succeeded Adam Smith as Professor of Moral Philosophy. Dugald Stewart was his pupil the winter before Johnson's visit. Stewart's _Reid_, ed. 1802, p. 38.

[993] See _ante_, iv. 186.

[994] Mr. Boswell has chosen to omit, for reasons which will be presently obvious, that Johnson and Adam Smith met at Glasgow; but I have been a.s.sured by Professor John Miller that they did so, and that Smith, leaving the party in which he had met Johnson, happened to come to another company _where Miller was_. Knowing that Smith had been in Johnson's society, they were anxious to know what had pa.s.sed, and the more so as Dr. Smith's temper seemed much ruffled. At first Smith would only answer, 'He's a brute--he's a brute;' but on closer examination, it appeared that Johnson no sooner saw Smith than he attacked him for some point of his famous letter on the death of Hume (_ante_, p. 30). Smith vindicated the truth of his statement. 'What did Johnson say?' was the universal inquiry. 'Why, he said,' replied Smith, with the deepest impression of resentment, 'he said, _you lie!_' 'And what did you reply?' 'I said, you are a son of a------!' On such terms did these two great moralists meet and part, and such was the cla.s.sical dialogue between two great teachers of philosophy. WALTER SCOTT. This story is erroneous in the particulars of the _time, place,_ and _subject_ of the alleged quarrel; for Hume did not die for [nearly] three years after Johnson's only visit to Glasgow; nor was Smith then there. Johnson, previous to 1763 (see _ante_, i. 427, and iii. 331), had an altercation with Adam Smith at Mr. Strahan's table. This may have been the foundation of Professor Miller's misrepresentation. But, even _then_, nothing of this offensive kind could have pa.s.sed, as, if it had, Smith could certainly not have afterwards solicited admission to the Club of which Johnson was the leader, to which he was admitted 1st Dec. 1775, and where he and Johnson met frequently on civil terms. I, therefore, disbelieve the whole story. CROKER.

[995] 'His appearance,' says Dr. A. Carlyle (_Auto_. p. 68), 'was that of an ascetic, reduced by fasting and prayer.' See _ante_, p. 68.

[996] See _ante_, ii. 27, 279.

[997] See _ante,_ p. 92.

[998] Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale:--'I was not much pleased with any of the Professors.' _Piozzi Letters,_ i. 199. Mme. D'Arblay says:-- 'Whenever Dr. Johnson did not make the charm of conversation he only marred it by his presence, from the general fear he incited, that if he spoke not, he might listen; and that if he listened, he might reprove.'

_Memoirs of Dr. Burney,_ ii. 187. See _ante_, ii. 63

[999] Boswell has not let us see this caution. When Robertson first came in, 'there began,' we are told, 'some animated dialogue' (_ante,_ p.32).

The next day we read that 'he fluently harangued to Dr. Johnson'

(_ante,_ p.43).

[1000] See _ante,_ iii. 366.

[1001] He was Amba.s.sador at Paris in the beginning of the reign of George I., and Commander-in-Chief in 1744. Lord Mahon's _England_, ed.

1836, i. 201 and iii. 275.

[1002] The unwilling grat.i.tude of base mankind. POPE. [_Imitations of Horace_, 2 _Epis_. i. 14.] BOSWELL.

[1003] Dr. Franklin (_Memoirs_, i. 246-253) gives a curious account of Lord Loudoun, who was general in America about the year 1756.

'Indecision,' he says, 'was one of the strongest features of his character.' He kept back the packet-boats from day to day because he could not make up his mind to send his despatches. At one time there were three boats waiting, one of which was kept with cargo and pa.s.sengers on board three months beyond its time. Pitt at length recalled him, because 'he never heard from him, and could not know what he was doing.'

[1004] See Chalmers's _Biog. Dict._ xi. 161 for an account of a controversy about the ident.i.ty of this writer with an historian of the same name.

[1005] He had paid but little attention to his own rule. See _ante_, ii.

119.

[1006] 'I believe that for all the castles which I have seen beyond the Tweed, the ruins yet remaining of some one of those which the English built in Wales would supply Materials.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 152.

[1007] See _ante_, p. 40, note 4.

[1008] Johnson described her as 'a lady who for many years gave the laws of elegance to Scotland.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 200. Allan Ramsay dedicated to her his _Gentle Shepherd_, and W. Hamilton, of Bangour, wrote to her verses on the presentation of Ramsay's poem. Hamilton's _Poems_, p. 23.

[1009] See _ante_, ii. 66, and iii. 188.

[1010] 'She called Boswell the boy: "yes, Madam," said I, "we will send him to school." "He is already," said she, "in a good school;" and expressed her hope of his improvement. At last night came, and I was sorry to leave her.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 200. See _ante_, iii. 366.

[1011] See _ante_, pp. 318, 362.

[1012] Burns, who was in his fifteenth year, was at this time living at Ayr, about twelve miles away. When later on he moved to Mauchline, he and Boswell became much nearer neighbours.

[1013] He had, however, married again. _Ante_, ii. 140, note I. It is curious that Boswell in this narrative does not mention his step-mother.

[1014]

'Asper Incolumi gravitate joc.u.m tentavit.'

'Though rude his mirth, yet laboured to maintain The solemn grandeur of the tragic scene.'

FRANCIS. Horace, _Ars Poet_. l. 221.

[1015] See _ante_, iii. 65, and v. 97.

[1016] See _ante_, iv. 163, 241.

[1017] Johnson (_Works_, vii. 425) says of Addison's dedication of the opera of _Rosamond_ to the d.u.c.h.ess of Marlborough, that 'it was an instance of servile absurdity, to be exceeded only by Joshua Barnes's dedication of a Greek _Anacreon_ to the Duke.' For Barnes see _ante_, iii. 284, and iv. 19.

[1018] William Baxter, the editor of _Anacreon_, was the nephew of Richard Baxter, the nonconformist divine.

[1019] He says of Auchinleck (_Works_, ix. 158) that 'like all the western side of Scotland, it is _incommoded_ by very frequent rain.' 'In all September we had, according to Boswell's register, only one day and a half of fair weather; and in October perhaps not more.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 182.

[1020] 'By-the-bye,' wrote Sir Walter Scott, 'I am far from being of the number of those angry Scotsmen who imputed to Johnson's national prejudices all or a great part of the report he has given of our country in his _Voyage to the Hebrides_. I remember the Highlands ten or twelve years later, and no one can conceive of 'how much that could have been easily remedied travellers had to complain.' _Croker Corres_. ii. 34

[1021] 'Of these islands it must be confessed, that they have not many allurements but to the mere lover of naked nature. The inhabitants are thin, provisions are scarce, and desolation and penury give little pleasure.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 153. In an earlier pa.s.sage (p. 138), in describing a rough ride in Mull, he says:--'We were now long enough acquainted with hills and heath to have lost the emotion that they once raised, whether pleasing or painful, and had our minds employed only on our own fatigue.'

[1022] See _ante_, ii. 225.

[1023] In like manner Wesley said of Rousseau:--'Sure a more consummate c.o.xcomb never saw the sun.... He is a cynic all over. So indeed is his brother-infidel, Voltaire; and well-nigh as great a c.o.xcomb.' Wesley's _Journal,_, ed. 1830, iii. 386.

[1024] This gentleman, though devoted to the study of grammar and dialecticks, was not so absorbed in it as to be without a sense of pleasantry, or to be offended at his favourite topicks being treated lightly. I one day met him in the street, as I was hastening to the House of Lords, and told him, I was sorry I could not stop, being rather too late to attend an appeal of the Duke of Hamilton against Douglas. 'I thought (said he) their contest had been over long ago.' I answered, 'The contest concerning Douglas's filiation was over long ago; but the contest now is, who shall have the estate.' Then, a.s.suming the air of 'an ancient sage philosopher,' I proceeded thus: 'Were I to _predicate_ concerning him, I should say, the contest formerly was, What _is_ he?

The contest now is, What _has_ he?'--'Right, (replied Mr. Harris, smiling,) you have done with _quality_, and have got into _quant.i.ty_.' BOSWELL.

[1025] Most likely Sir A. Macdonald. _Ante_, p. 148.

[1026] Boswell wrote on March 18,1775:--'Mr. Johnson, when enumerating our Club, observed of some of us, that they talked from books,--Langton in particular. "Garrick," he said, "would talk from books, if he talked seriously." "_I_," said he, "do not talk from books; _you_ do not talk from books." This was a compliment to my originality; but I am afraid I have not read books enough to be able to talk from them.' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 181. See _ante_, ii. 360, where Johnson said to Boswell:-- 'I don't believe you have borrowed from Waller. I wish you would enable yourself to borrow more;' and i. 105, where he described 'a man of a great deal of knowledge of the world, fresh from life, not strained through books.'

[1027] 'Lord Auchinleck has built a house of hewn stone, very stately and durable, and has advanced the value of his lands with great tenderness to his tenants. I was, however, less delighted with the elegance of the modern mansion, than with the sullen dignity of the old castle.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 159. 'The house is scarcely yet finished, but very magnificent and very convenient.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 201. See _ante_, i. 462.

[1028] See _ante_, ii. 413, and v. 91.

[1029] The relation, it should seem, was remote even for Scotland. Their common ancestor was Robert Bruce, some sixteen generations back.

Boswell's mother's grandmother was a Bruce of the Earl of Kincardine's family, and so also was his father's mother. Rogers's _Boswelliana_, pp. 4, 5.

[1030] He refers to Johnson's pension, which was given nearly two years after George Ill's accession. _Ante_, i. 372.