Life of Johnson
Chapter 89 : [1240] Reynolds said of Johnson:--'He was not easily imposed upon by professions t

[1240] Reynolds said of Johnson:--'He was not easily imposed upon by professions to honesty and candour; but he appeared to have little suspicion of hypocrisy in religion.' Taylor's _Reynolds_, ii. 459.

Boswell, in one of his penitent letters, wrote to Temple on July 21, 1790:--'I am even almost inclined to think with you, that my great oracle Johnson did allow too much credit to good principles, without good practice.' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 327.

[1241] Campbell lived in 'the large new-built house at the north-west-corner of Queen Square, Bloomsbury, whither, particularly on a Sunday evening, great numbers of persons of the first eminence for science and literature resorted for the enjoyment of conversation.'

Hawkins's _Johnson_, p. 210.

[1242] Churchill, in his first poem, _The Rosciad_ (Poems, i. 4), mentions Johnson without any disrespect among those who were thought of as judge.

'For Johnson some, but Johnson, it was feared, Would be too grave; and Sterne too gay appeared.'

In The Author (ib. ii. 36), if I mistake not, he grossly alludes to the convulsive disorder to which Johnson was subject. Attacking the pensioners he says--the italics are his own:--

'Others, _half-palsied_ only, mutes become, And what makes Smollett write makes Johnson dumb.'

[1243] See _post_, April 6, 1772, where Johnson called Fielding a blockhead.

[1244] Churchill published his first poem, _The Rosciad_, in March or April 1761 (_Gent. Mag_. x.x.xi. 190); _The Apology_ in May or June (_Ib_.

p. 286); _Night_ in Jan. 1762 (_Ib_. x.x.xii. 47); The First and Second Parts of The Ghost in March (_ib_. p. 147); The Third Part in the autumn (_ib_. p. 449); _The Prophecy of Famine _in Jan. 1763 (_ib_. x.x.xiii.

47), and _The Epistle to Hogarth_ in this month of July (_ib_. p. 363).

He wrote the fourth part of _The Ghost_, and nine more poems, and died on Nov. 4, 1764, aged thirty-two or thirty-three.

[1245] 'Cowper had a higher opinion of Churchill than of any other contemporary writer. "It is a great thing," he said, "to be indeed a poet, and does not happen to more than one man in a century; but Churchill, the great Churchill, deserved that name." He made him, more than any other writer, his model.' Southey's _Cowper_, i. 87, 8.

[1246] Mr. Forster says that 'Churchill asked five guineas for the ma.n.u.script of _The Rosciad_ (according to Southey, but Mr. Tooke says he asked twenty pounds).' Finding no purchaser he brought the poem out at his own risk. Mr. Forster continues:--'The pulpit had starved him on forty pounds a year; the public had given him a thousand pounds in two months.' Forster's _Essays_, ii. 226, 240. As _The Rosciad _was sold at one s.h.i.+lling a copy, it seems incredible that such a gain could have been made, even with the profits of _The Apology_ included. 'Blotting and correcting was so much Churchill's abhorrence that I have heard from his publisher he once energetically expressed himself, that it was like cutting away one's own flesh.' D'Israeli's _Curiosities of Literature_, ed. 1834, iii. 129. D'Israeli 'had heard that after a successful work he usually precipitated the publication of another, relying on its crudeness being pa.s.sed over by the public curiosity excited by its better brother. He called this getting double pay, for thus he secured the sale of a hurried work.'

[1247] In the opening lines of _Gotham,_ Bk. iii, there is a pa.s.sage of great beauty and tenderness.

[1248] In 1769 I set Thornton's burlesque _Ode_. It was performed at Ranelagh in masks, to a very crowded audience, as I was told; for I then resided in Norfolk. BURNEY. Dr. Burney's note cannot be correct. He came to reside in London in 1760 (_Memoirs of Dr. Burney_, i. 133) The Ode is in the list of 'new books, published' in the _Gent. Mag_. for June 1763, and is described as having been performed at Ranelagh.

[1249] _The Connoisseur_ was started by Thornton and Colman in 1754.

Cowper and Lloyd were contributors. Southey's _Cowper_, i. 46, 49, 65.

[1250] See _ante_, p. 350, note.

[1251] See _post_, Aug. 2, 1763, and Oct. 26, 1769.

[1252] See _post_. Sept. 20, 1777, note.

[1253] The northern bard mentioned page 421. When I asked Dr. Johnson's permission to introduce him, he obligingly agreed; adding, however, with a sly pleasantry, 'but he must give us none of his poetry.' It is remarkable that Johnson and Churchill, however much they differed in other points, agreed on this subject. See Churchill's _Journey_.

['Under dark Allegory's flimsy veil Let Them with Ogilvie spin out a tale Of rueful length,'

Churchill's _Poems_, ii. 329.]

It is, however, but justice to Dr. Ogilvie to observe, that his _Day of Judgement_ has no inconsiderable share of merit. BOSWELL.

[1254] 'Johnson said:--"Goldsmith should not be for ever attempting to _s.h.i.+ne_ in conversation."' _Post_, April 27, 1773. See also _post_, May 7, 1773.

[1255] Fifteen years later Lord George Germaine, Secretary of State, a.s.serted in a debate 'that the King "was his own Minister," which Charles Fox took up admirably, lamenting that His Majesty "was his own _unadvised_ Minister."' Walpole's _Journal of the Reign of George III_, ii. 314.

[1256] 'The general story of mankind will evince that lawful and settled authority is very seldom resisted when it is well employed.... Men are easily kept obedient to those who have temporal dominion in their hands, till their veneration is dissipated by such wickedness and folly as can neither be defended nor concealed.' _The Rambler_, No. 50. See _post_, March 31, 1772.

[1257] 'It is natural to believe ... that no writer has a more easy task than the historian. The philosopher has the works of omniscience to examine.... The poet trusts to his invention.... But the happy historian has no other labour than of gathering what tradition pours down before him, or records treasure for his use.' _The Rambler_, No. 122.

[1258] See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 21, 1773.

[1259] 'Arbuthnot was a man of great comprehension, skilful in his profession, versed in the sciences, acquainted with ancient literature, and able to animate his ma.s.s of knowledge by a bright and active imagination; a scholar with great brilliancy of wit; a wit, who in the crowd of life retained and discovered a n.o.ble ardour of religious zeal.'

Johnson's _Works_, viii. 296.

[1260] Goldsmith wrote from Edinburgh in 1753:--'Shall I tire you with a description of this unfruitful country, where I must lead you over their hills all brown with heath, or their vallies scarce able to feed a rabbit? Man alone seems to be the only creature who has arrived to the natural size in this poor soil. Every part of the country presents the same dismal landscape.' Forster's _Goldsmith_, i. 433.

[1261] See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Nov. 10, 1773.

[1262] Johnson would suffer none of his friends to fill up chasms in conversation with remarks on the weather: 'Let us not talk of the weather.' BURNEY.

[1263] See _ante_, p. 332.

[1264] Boswell wrote to Temple on Sept. 9, 1767:--'How unaccountable is it that my father and I should be so ill together! He is a man of sense and a man of worth; but from some unhappy turn in his disposition he is much dissatisfied with a son whom you know. I write to him with warmth, with an honest pride, wis.h.i.+ng that he should think of me as I am; but my letters shock him, and every expression in them is interpreted unfavourably. To give you an instance, I send you a letter I had from him a few days ago. How galling is it to the friend of Paoli to be treated so! I have answered him in my own style; I will be myself.'

_Letters of Boswell_, p. 110. In the following pa.s.sage in one of his _Hypochondriacks_ he certainly describes his father. 'I knew a father who was a violent Whig, and used to attack his son for being a Tory, upbraiding him with being deficient in "n.o.ble sentiments of liberty,"

while at the same time he made this son live under his roof in such bondage, that he was not only afraid to stir from home without leave, like a child, but durst scarcely open his mouth in his father's presence. This was sad living. Yet I would rather see such an excess of awe than a degree of familiarity between father and son by which all reverence is destroyed.' _London Mag_. 1781, p. 253.

[1265] Boswell, the day after this talk, wrote:--'I have had a long letter from my father, full of affection and good counsel. Honest man!

he is now very happy: it is amazing to think how much he has had at heart, my pursuing the road of civil life.' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 25.

[1266] Gray, says Nicholls, 'disliked all poetry in blank verse, except Milton.' Gray's _Works_, ed. 1858, v. 36. Goldsmith, in his _Present State of Polite Learning_ (ch. xi.), wrote in 1759:--'From a desire in the critic of grafting the spirit of ancient languages upon the English have proceeded of late several disagreeable instances of pedantry. Among the number, I think, we may reckon blank verse. Nothing but the greatest sublimity of subject can render such a measure pleasing; however, we now see it used upon the most trivial occasions.' On the same page he speaks of 'the tuneless flow of our blank verse.' See _post_, 1770, in Dr.

Maxwell's _Collectanea_ and the beginning of 1781, under _The Life of Milton_, for Johnson's opinion of blank verse.

[1267] 'Johnson told me, that one day in London, when Dr. Adam Smith was boasting of Glasgow, he turned to him and said, "Pray, Sir, have you ever seen Brentford?'" Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 29, 1773. See _post_, April 29, 1778.

[1268] 'He advised me to read just as inclination prompted me, which alone, he said, would do me any good; for I had better go into company than read a set task. He said, too, that I should prescribe to myself five hours a day, and in these hours gratify whatever literary desires may spring up.' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 28. The Editor of these _Letters_ compares Tranio's advice:--

'No profit grows where is no pleasure ta'en: In brief, Sir, study what you most affect.'

_Taming of the Shrew_, act i. sc. I.

'Johnson used to say that no man read long together with a folio on his table. "Books," said he, "that you may carry to the fire, and hold readily in your hand, are the most useful after all."' Johnson's _Works_ (1787), xi. 197. See also _The Idler_, No. 67, and _post_, April 12, 1776, and under Sept. 22, 1777.

[1269] Wilkes, among others, had attacked him in Aug. 1762 in _The North Briton_, Nos. xi. and xii.

[1270] When I mentioned the same idle clamour to him several years afterwards, he said, with a smile, 'I wish my pension were twice as large, that they might make twice as much noise.' BOSWELL.

[1271] In one thing at least he was changed. He could now indulge in the full bent, to use his own words (_Works_, viii. l36), 'that inquisitiveness which must always be produced in a vigorous mind, by an absolute freedom from all pressing or domestick engagements.'

[1272] See _post_, April 13, 1773, Sept. 17 and 19, 1777, March 21, 1783, and June 9, 1784. Lord Shelburne says:--'After the Revolution the Tory and Jacobite parties had become almost identified by their together opposing the Court for so many years, and still more by the persecution which they suffered in common, for it was the policy of Sir Robert Walpole to confound them as much as possible, so as to throw the Jacobite odium upon every man who opposed government.' Fitzmaurice's _Shelburne_, i. 35. Lord Bolingbroke (_Works_, iii. 28) complains that the writers on the side of the ministry 'frequently throw out that every man is a friend to the Pretender who is not a friend of Walpole.'

[1273] See _post_, April 6, 1775

[1274] _Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides_, 3rd edit. p. 402 [Nov. 10].

BOSWELL.

[1275] Mr. Walmsley died in 1751 (_ante_, p. 81). Johnson left Lichfield in 1737. Unless Mr. Walmsley after 1737 visited London from time to time, he can scarcely be meant.