Life of Johnson
Chapter 220 : 'A Messieurs Le President et les autres Membres du Conseil de l'Academie Roy

'A Messieurs Le President et les autres Membres du Conseil de l'Academie Royale des Arts a Londres.

'Messieurs,

'C'est avec la plus vive reconnoissance que J'accepte la charge de Secretaire pour la Correspondence etrangere de votre Academie a laquelle J'ai eu l'honneur d'etre choisi par vos suffrages unanimes gracieus.e.m.e.nt confirmes par sa Majeste.

'Ce choix spontane Messieurs me flatte beaucoup; et m'inspire des desirs les plus ardens de m'en montrer digne, au moins par la prompt.i.tude avec laquelle Je saisirai toute occasion de faire ce que Je pourrai pour contribuer a l'avantage des Arts et la celebrite de l'Academie.

'J'ai l'honneur d'etre avec toute la consideration possible,

'Messieurs,

'Votre serviteur tres oblige tres humble et tres fidel, 'Boswell.'

'A Londres, 'ce 31 d'Octobre, 1791'

[In this letter I have made no attempt to correct Boswell's errors.]

LETTER III.

'To the President and Council of The Royal Academy of Arts in London.

'Gentlemen,

'Your unsolicited and unanimous election of me to be Secretary for Foreign Correspondence to your Academy, and the gracious confirmation of my election by his Majesty, I acknowledge with the warmest sentiments of grat.i.tude and respect.

'I have always loved the Arts, and during my travels on the Continent I did not neglect the opportunities which I had of cultivating a taste for them.[1372] That taste I trust will now be much improved, when I shall be so happy as to share in the advantages which the Royal Academy affords; and I fondly embrace this very pleasing distinction as giving me the means of providing additional solace for the future years of my life.

'Be a.s.sured, Gentlemen, that as I am proud to be a member of an Academy which has the peculiar felicity of not being at all dependant on a Minister[1373], but under the immediate patronage and superintendence of the Sovereign himself, I shall be zealous to do every thing in my power that can be of any service to our excellent Inst.i.tution.

'I have the honour to be,

'Gentlemen,

'Your much obliged

'And faithful humble servant,

'JAMES BOSWELL.'

'London,

'31 October, 1791.'

LETTER IV.

'SIR,

'I am much obliged to you for the very polite terms in which you have been pleased to communicate to me my election to be Secretary for Foreign Correspondence to the Royal Academy of Arts in London; and I request that you will lay before the President and Council the enclosed letters signifying my acceptance of that office.

'I am with great regard,

'Sir,

'Your most obedient humble servant,

'JAMES BOSWELL.'

'London,

'31 October, 1791.

'To John Richards, Esq., R.A. &c.'

Bennet Langton's letter of acceptance of the Professors.h.i.+p of Ancient Literature in the place of Johnson is dated April 2, 1788.

I must express my acknowledgments to the President and Council of the Royal Academy for their kindness in allowing me to copy the above letters from the originals that are in their possession.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See ante, March 15, 1776.

[2] _Anecdotes of Johnson_, p. 176. BOSWELL. 'It is,' he said, 'so _very_ difficult for a sick man not to be a scoundrel.' Ib. p. 175.

He called Fludyer a scoundrel (_ante_, March 20, 1776), apparently because he became a Whig. 'He used to say a man was a scoundrel that was afraid of anything. "Whoever thinks of going to bed before twelve o'clock is," he said, "a scoundrel."' Johnson's _Works_ (1787), xi. 199, 211. Mr. Croker points out that 'Johnson in his _Dictionary_ defined _knave_, a scoundrel; _sneakup_, a scoundrel; _rascal_, a scoundrel; _loon_, a scoundrel; _lout_, a scoundrel; _poltroon_, a scoundrel; and that he coined the word _scoundrelism_' (Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 25, 1773). Churchill, in _The Ghost_, Book ii. (_Poems_, i. 1. 217), describes Johnson as one

'Who makes each sentence current pa.s.s, With _puppy, c.o.xcomb, scoundrel, a.s.s_.'

Swift liked the word. 'G.o.d forbid,' he wrote, 'that ever such a scoundrel as Want should dare to approach you.' Swift's _Works_, ed.

1803, xviii. 39.

[3] See _ante_, i. 49, for Johnson's fondness for the old romances.

[4] Boswell, _ante_, i. 386, implies that Sheridan's pension was partly due to Wedderburne's influence.

[5] See _ante_, i. 386.

[6] Akenside, in his _Ode to Townshend_ (Book ii. 4), says:--

'For not imprudent of my loss to come, I saw from Contemplation's quiet cell His feet ascending to another home, Where public praise and envied greatness dwell.'

He had, however, no misgivings, for he thus ends:--

'Then for the guerdon of my lay, This man with faithful friends.h.i.+p, will I say, From youth to honoured age my arts and me hath viewed.'

[7] We have now more knowledge generally diffused; all our ladies read now 'which is a great extension.' _Post_, April 29, 1778.