Life of Johnson
Chapter 83 : Simpson was in the higher parts of abstract mathematical science, he was little versed

Simpson was in the higher parts of abstract mathematical science, he was little versed in mixed and practical mechanicks. Mr. Muller, of Woolwich Academy, the scholastick father of all the great engineers which this country has employed for forty years, decided the question by declaring clearly in favour of the elliptical arch.

It is ungraciously suggested, that Johnson's motive for opposing Mr.

Mylne's scheme may have been his prejudice against him as a native of North Britain; when, in truth, as has been stated, he gave the aid of his able pen to a friend, who was one of the candidates; and so far was he from having any illiberal antipathy to Mr. Mylne, that he afterwards lived with that gentleman upon very agreeable terms of acquaintance, and dined with him at his house. Sir John Hawkins, indeed, gives full vent to his own prejudice in abusing Blackfriars bridge, calling it 'an edifice, in which beauty and symmetry are in vain sought for; by which the citizens of London have perpetuated study their own disgrace, and subjected a whole nation to the reproach of foreigners.' Whoever has contemplated, _placido lumine_ [Horace, _Odes_, iv. 3, 2], this stately, elegant, and airy structure, which has so fine an effect, especially on approaching the capital on that quarter, must wonder at such unjust and ill-tempered censure; and I appeal to all foreigners of good taste, whether this bridge be not one of the most distinguished ornaments of London. As to the stability of the fabrick, it is certain that the City of London took every precaution to have the best Portland stone for it; but as this is to be found in the quarries belonging to the publick, under the direction of the Lords of the Treasury, it so happened that parliamentary interest, which is often the bane of fair pursuits, thwarted their endeavours. Notwithstanding this disadvantage, it is well known that not only has Blackfriars-bridge never sunk either in its foundation or in its arches, which were so much the subject of contest, but any injuries which it has suffered from the effects of severe frosts have been already, in some measure, repaired with sounder stone, and every necessary renewal can be completed at a moderate expence. BOSWELL.

Horace Walpole mentions an ineffectual application made by the City to Parliament in 1764 'for more money for their new bridge at Blackfriars,'

when Dr. Hay, one of the Lords of the Admiralty, 'abused the Common Council, whose late behaviour, he said, ent.i.tled them to no favour.'

Walpole's _Memoirs of the Reign of George III_, i. 390. The late behaviour was the part taken by the City in Wilkes's case. It was the same love of liberty no doubt that lost the City the Portland stone.

Smollett goes out of the way to praise his brother-Scot, Mr. Mylne, in _Humphry Clinker_--'a party novel written,' says Horace Walpole, 'to vindicate the Scots' (_Reign of George III_, iv. 328). In the letter dated May 29, he makes Mr. Bramble say:--'The Bridge at Blackfriars is a n.o.ble monument of taste and public spirit--I wonder how they stumbled upon a work of such magnificence and utility.'

[1051] Juvenal, _Sat_. i. 85.

[1052] 'Born and educated in this country, I glory in the name of Briton.'--George III's first speech to his parliament. It appears from the _Hardwicke Papers_, writes the editor of the _Parl. Hist. (xv. 982), that after the draft of the speech had been settled by the cabinet, these words and those that came next were added by the King's own hand.

Wilkes in his _Dedication of Mortimer_ (see _post_, May 15, 1776) a.s.serted that 'these endearing words, "Born,&c.," were permitted to be seen in the royal orthography of Britain for Briton,' Almon's _Works_, i. 84.

[1053] In this _Introduction_ (_Works_, vi. 148) Johnson answers objections that had been raised against the relief. 'We know that for the prisoners of war there is no legal provision; we see their distress and are certain of its cause; we know that they are poor and naked, and poor and naked without a crime.... The opponents of this charity must allow it to be good, and will not easily prove it not to be the best.

That charity is best of which the consequences are most extensive; the relief of enemies has a tendency to unite mankind in fraternal affection.' The Committee for which Johnson's paper was written began its work in Dec. 1759. In the previous month of October Wesley records in his _Journal (ii. 461):--'I walked up to Knowle, a mile from Bristol, to see the French prisoners. Above eleven hundred of them, we were informed, were confined in that little place, without anything to lie on but a little dirty straw, or anything to cover them but a few foul thin rags, either by day or by night, so that they died like rotten sheep. I was much affected, and preached in the evening on _Exodus_ xxiii. 9.'

Money was at once contributed, and clothing bought. 'It was not long before contributions were set on foot in various parts of the Kingdom.'

On Oct. 24 of the following year, he records:--'I visited the French prisoners at Knowle, and found many of them almost naked again.' _Ib_.

iii. 23. 'The prisoners,' wrote Hume (_Private Corres_. p. 55), 'received food from the public, but it was thought that their own friends would supply them with clothes, which, however, was found after some time to be neglected.' The cry arose that the brave and gallant men, though enemies, were peris.h.i.+ng with cold in prison; a subscription was set on foot; great sums were given by all ranks of people; and, notwithstanding the national foolish prejudices against the French, a remarkable zeal everywhere appeared for this charity. I am afraid that M. Rousseau could not have produced many parallel instances among his heroes, the Greeks; and still fewer among the Romans. Baretti, in his _Journey from London to Genoa_ (i. 62, 66), after telling how on all foreigners, even on a Turk wearing a turban, 'the pretty appellation of _French dog_ was liberally bestowed by the London rabble,'

continues:--'I have seen the populace of England contribute as many s.h.i.+llings as they could spare towards the maintenance of the French prisoners; and I have heard a universal shout of joy when their parliament voted 100,000 to the Portuguese on hearing of the tremendous earthquake.'

[1054] Johnson's _Works_, vi. 81. See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 16, 1773, where Johnson describes Mary as 'such a Queen as every man of any gallantry of spirit would have sacrificed his life for.' 'There are,'

wrote Hume, 'three events in our history which may be regarded as touchstones of party-men. An English Whig who a.s.serts the reality of the popish plot, an Irish Catholic who denies the ma.s.sacre in 1641, and a Scotch Jacobite who maintains the innocence of Queen Mary, must be considered as men beyond the reach of argument or reason, and must be left to their prejudices.' _History of England_, ed. 1802, v. 504.

[1055] _Prayers and Meditations_, p. 42. BOSWELL. The following is his entry on this day:--

'1760, Sept. 18. Resolved D[eo]j[uvante]'

To combat notions of obligation.

To apply to study.

To reclaim imagination.

To consult the resolves on Tetty's coffin.

To rise early.

To study religion.

To go to church.

To drink less strong liquors.

To keep a journal.

To oppose laziness, by doing what is to be done tomorrow.

Rise as early as I can.

Send for books for Hist. of War.

Put books in order.

Scheme of life.'

[1056] See _post_, Oct. 19, 1769, and May 15, 1783, for Johnson's measure of emotion, by eating.

[1057] Mr. Croker points out that Murphy's _Epistle_ was an imitation of Boileau's _Epitre a Moliere_.

[1058] The paper mentioned in the text is No. 38 of the second series of the _Grays Inn Journal_, published on June 15, 1754; which is a translation from the French version of Johnson's _Rambler_, No. 190.

MALONE. Mrs. Piozzi relates how Murphy, used to tell before Johnson of the first time they met. He found our friend all covered with soot, like a chimney-sweeper, in a little room, with an intolerable heat and strange smell, as if he had been acting Lungs in the _Alchymist_, making aether. 'Come, come,' says Dr. Johnson, 'dear Murphy, the story is black enough now; and it was a very happy day for me that brought you first to my house, and a very happy mistake about the Ramblers.' Piozzi's _Anec_.

p. 235. Murphy quotes her account, Murphy's _Johnson_, p. 79. See also _post_, 1770, where Dr. Maxwell records in his _Collectanea_ how Johnson 'very much loved Arthur Murphy.' Miss Burney thus describes him:--'He is tall and well-made, has a very gentlemanlike appearance, and a quietness of manner upon his first address that to me is very pleasing. His face looks sensible, and his deportment is perfectly easy and polite.' A few days later she records:--'Mr. Murphy was the life of the party; he was in good spirits, and extremely entertaining; he told a million of stories admirably well.' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, i. 195, 210. Rogers, who knew Murphy well, says that 'towards the close of his life, till he received a pension of 200 from the King, he was in great pecuniary difficulties. He had eaten himself out of every tavern from the other side of Temple-Bar to the west end of the town.' He owed Rogers a large sum of money, which he never repaid. 'He a.s.signed over to me the whole of his works; and I soon found that he had already disposed of them to a bookseller. One thing,' Rogers continues, 'ought to be remembered to his honour; an actress with whom he had lived bequeathed to him all her property, but he gave up every farthing of it to her relations.' He was pensioned in 1803, and he died in 1805. Rogers's _Table-Talk_, p. 106.

[1059] Topham Beauclerk, Esq. BOSWELL.

[1060] Essays with that t.i.tle, written about this time by Mr. Langton, but not published. BOSWELL.

[1061] Thomas Sheridan, born 1721, died 1788. He was the son of Swift's friend, and the father of R. B. Sheridan (who was born in 1751), and the great-great-grandfather of the present Earl of Dufferin.

[1062] Sheridan was acting in Garrick's Company, generally on the nights on which Garrick did not appear. Davies's _Garrick_, i. 299. Johnson criticises his reading, _post_, April 18, 1783.

[1063] Mrs. Sheridan was authour of _Memoirs of Miss Sydney Biddulph_, a novel of great merit, and of some other pieces.--See her character, _post_, beginning of 1763. BOSWELL.

[1064] _Prayers and Meditations_, p. 44. BOSWELL. '1761. Easter Eve.

Since the communion of last Easter I have led a life so dissipated and useless, and my terrours and perplexities have so much increased, that I am under great depression and discouragement.'

[1065] See _post_, April 6, 1775.

[1066] I have had inquiry made in Ireland as to this story, but do not find it recollected there. I give it on the authority of Dr. Johnson, to which may be added that of the _biographical Dictionary_, and _Biographia Dramatica_; in both of which it has stood many years. Mr.

Malone observes, that the truth probably is, not that an edition was published with Rolt's name in the t.i.tle-page, but, that the poem being then anonymous, Rolt acquiesced in its being attributed to him in conversation. BOSWELL.

[1067] I have both the books. Innes was the clergyman who brought Psalmanazar to England, and was an accomplice in his extraordinary fiction. BOSWELL. It was in 1728 that Innes, who was a Doctor of Divinity and Preacher-a.s.sistant at St. Margaret's Westminster, published this book. In his impudent Dedication to Lord Chancellor King he says that 'were matters once brought to the melancholy pa.s.s that mankind should become proselytes to such impious delusions' as Mandeville taught, 'punishments must be annexed to virtue and rewards to vice.' It was not till 1730 that Dr. Campbell 'laid open this imposture.' Preface, p. x.x.xi. Though he was Professor of Ecclesiastical History in St.

Andrews, yet he had not, it should seem, heard of the fraud till then: so remote was Scotland from London in those days. It was not till 1733 that he published his own edition. For Psalmanazar, see _post_, April 18, 1778.

[1068] 'Died, the Rev. Mr. Eccles, at Bath. In attempting to save a boy, whom he saw sinking in the Avon, he, together with the youth, were both drowned.' _Gent. Mag_. Aug. 15, 1777. And in the magazine for the next month are some verses on this event, with an epitaph, of which the first line is,

'Beneath this stone the "_Man of Feeling_" lies.'

CROKER.

[1069] 'Harry Mackenzie,' wrote Scott in 1814, 'never put his name in a t.i.tle page till the last edition of his works.' Lockhart's _Scott_, iv.

178. He wrote also _The Man of the World_, which Johnson 'looked at, but thought there was nothing in it.' Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 2, 1773.

Scott, however, called it 'a very pathetic tale.' Croker's _Boswell, p.

359. Burns, writing of his twenty-third year, says: '_Tristram Shandy_ and the _Man of Feeling_ were my bosom favourites.' Currie's _Life of Burns_, ed.1846. p. 21.

[1070] From the Prologue to Dryden's adaptation of _The Tempest_.

[1071] The originals of Dr. Johnson's three letters to Mr. baretti, which are among the very best he ever wrote, were communicated to the elegant monthly miscellany, _The European Magazine_, in which they first appeared. BOSWELL.

[1072] Baretti left London for Lisbon on Aug. 14, 1760. He went through Portugal, Spain, and France to Antibes, whence he went by sea to Genoa, where he arrived on Nov. 18. In 1770 he published a lively account of his travels under the t.i.tle of _A Journey from London to Genoa_.

[1073] Malone says of Baretti that 'he was certainly a man of extraordinary talents, and perhaps no one ever made himself so completely master of a foreign language as he did of English.' Prior's _Malone_, p. 392. Mrs. Piozzi gives the following 'instance of his skill in our low street language. Walking in a field near Chelsea he met a fellow, who, suspecting him from dress and manner to be a foreigner, said sneeringly, "Come, Sir, will you show me the way to France?" "No, Sir," says Baretti instantly, "but I will show you the way to Tyburn."'

He travelled with her in France. 'Oh how he would court the maids at the inns abroad, abuse the men perhaps, and that with a facility not to be exceeded, as they all confessed, by any of the natives. But so he could in Spain, I find.' Hayward's _Piozzi_, ii. 347.

[1074] Johnson was intimate with Lord Southwell, _ante_, p. 243. It seems unlikely that Baretti merely conducted Mr. Southwell from Turin to Venice; yet there is not a line in his _Journey_ to show that any Englishman accompanied him from London to Turin.

[1075] See _ante_, p. 350, note.

[1076] The first of these annual exhibitions was opened on April 21, 1760, at the Room of the Society of Arts, in the Strand. 'As a consequence of their success, grew the incorporation of a Society of Artists in 1765, by seccession from which finally was const.i.tuted the Royal Academy [In Dec. 1768].' Taylor's _Reynolds_, i. 179. For the third exhibition Johnson wrote the Preface to the catalogue. In this, speaking for the Committee of the Artists he says:--'The purpose of this Exhibition is not to enrich the artist, but to advance the art; the eminent are not flattered with preference, nor the obscure insulted with contempt; whoever hopes to deserve public favour is here invited to display his merit.' Northcote's _Reynolds_, i. 101.

[1077] Hawkins (_Life_, p. 318) says that Johnson told him 'that in his whole life he was never capable of discerning the least resemblance of any kind between a picture and the subject it was intended to represent.' This, however must have been an exaggeration on the part either of Hawkins or Johnson. His general ignorance of art is shown by Mrs. Piozzi (_Anec_., p. 98):--'Sir Joshua Reynolds mentioned some picture as excellent. "It has often grieved me, sir," said Mr. Johnson, "to see so much mind as the science of painting requires, laid out upon such perishable materials: why do not you oftener make use of copper? I could wish your superiority in the art you profess to be preserved in stuff more durable than canvas." Sir Joshua urged the difficulty of procuring a plate large enough for historical subjects. "What foppish obstacles are these!" exclaims on a sudden Dr. Johnson. "Here is Thrale has a thousand tun of copper; you may paint it all round if you will, I suppose; it will serve him to brew in afterwards. Will it not, Sir?" to my husband who sat by. Indeed his utter scorn of painting was such, that I have heard him say, that he should sit very quietly in a room hung round with the works of the greatest masters, and never feel the slightest disposition to turn them, if their backs were outermost, unless it might be for the sake of telling Sir Joshua that he _had_ turned them.' Such a remark of Johnson's must not, however, be taken too strictly. He often spoke at random, often with exaggeration. 'There is in many minds a kind of vanity exerted to the disadvantage of themselves.' This reflection of his is the opening sentence to the number of the Idler (No. 45) in which he thus writes about portrait-painting:--'Genius is chiefly exerted in historical pictures; and the art of the painter of portraits is often lost in the obscurity of his subject. But it is in painting as in life; what is greatest is not always best. I should grieve to see Reynolds transfer to heroes and to G.o.ddesses, to empty splendour and to airy fiction, that art which is now employed in diffusing friends.h.i.+p, in reviving tenderness, in quickening the affections of the absent, and continuing the presence of the dead.' It is recorded in Johnson's _Works_, (1787) xi. 208, that 'Johnson, talking with some persons about allegorical painting said, "I had rather see the portrait of a dog that I know than all the allegorical paintings they can show me in the world."' He bought prints of Burke, Dyer, and Goldsmith--'Good impressions' he said to hang in a little room that he was fitting up with prints. Croker's _Boswell_, p.

639. Among his effects that were sold after his death were 'sixty-one portraits framed and glazed,' _post_, under Dec. 9, 1784. When he was at Paris, and saw the picture-gallery at the Palais Royal, he entered in his Diary:--'I thought the pictures of Raphael fine;' _post_, Oct. 16, 1775. The philosopher Hume was more insensible even than Johnson. Dr.

J.H. Burton says:--'It does not appear from any incident in his life, or allusions in his letters, which I can remember, that he had ever really admired a picture or a statue.' _Life of me_, ii. 134.