Life of Johnson
Chapter 63 : [418] Barretier's childhood surpa.s.sed even that of J. S. Mill. At the age of nin

[418] Barretier's childhood surpa.s.sed even that of J. S. Mill. At the age of nine he was master of five languages, Greek and Hebrew being two of them. 'In his twelfth year he applied more particularly to the study of the fathers.' At the age of fourteen he published _Anti-Artemonius; sive initium evangelii S. Joannis adversus Artemonium vindicatum_. The same year the University of Halle offered him the degree of doctor in philosophy. 'His theses, or philosophical positions, which he printed, ran through several editions in a few weeks.' He was a deep student of mathematics, and astronomy was his favourite subject. His health broke down under his studies, and he died in 1740 in the twentieth year of his age. Johnson's _Works_, vi. 376.

[419] He wrote also in 1756 _A Dissertation on the Epitaphs written by Pope_.

[420] See _post_, Oct. 16, 1769.

[421] In the original _and_. _Gent. Mag_. x. 464. The t.i.tle of this poem as there given is:--'An epitaph upon the celebrated Claudy Philips, Musician, who died very poor.'

[422] The epitaph of Phillips is in the porch of Wolverhampton Church.

The prose part of it is curious:--

'Near this place lies Charles Claudius Phillips, Whose absolute contempt of riches and inimitable performances upon the violin made him the admiration of all that knew him.

He was born in Wales, made the tour of Europe, and, after the experience of both kinds of fortune, Died in 1732.'

Mr. Garrick appears not to have recited the verses correctly, the original being as follows:--

'Exalted soul, _thy various sounds_ could please The love-sick virgin and the gouty ease; Could jarring _crowds_, like old Amphion, move To beauteous order and harmonious love; Rest here in peace, till Angels bid thee rise, And meet thy Saviour's _consort_ in the skies.' BLAKEWAY.

_Consort_ is defined in Johnson's _Dictionary_ as _a number of instruments playing together_.

[423] I have no doubt that it was written in 1741; for the second line is clearly a parody of a line in the chorus of Cibber's _Birthday Ode_ for that year. The chorus is as follows:

'While thou our Master of the Main Revives Eliza's glorious reign, The great Plantagenets look down, And see _your_ race adorn your crown.'

_Gent. Mag_. xi. 549.

In the _Life of Barretier_ Johnson had also this fling at George II:--'Princes are commonly the last by whom merit is distinguished.'

Johnson's _Works_, vi. 381.

[424] See Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 23 and Nov. 21, 1773.

[425] Hester Lynch Salusbury, afterwards Mrs. Thrale, and later on Mrs.

Piozzi, was born on Jan. 27, 1741.

[426] This piece is certainly not by Johnson. It contains more than one ungrammatical pa.s.sage. It is impossible to believe that he wrote such a sentence as the following:--'Another having a cask of wine sealed up at the top, but his servant boring a hole at the bottom stole the greatest part of it away; sometime after, having called a friend to taste his wine, he found the vessel almost empty,' &c.

[427] Mr. Carlyle, by the use of the term 'Imaginary Editors'

(_Cromwell's Letters and Speeches_, iii. 229), seems to imply that he does not hold with Boswell in a.s.signing this piece to Johnson. I am inclined to think, nevertheless, that Boswell is right. If it is Johnson's it is doubly interesting as showing the method which he often followed in writing the Parliamentary Debates. When notes were given him, while for the most part he kept to the speaker's train of thoughts, he dealt with the language much as it pleased him. In the _Gent. Mag_.

Cromwell speaks as if he were wearing a flowing wig and were addressing a Parliament of the days of George II. He is thus made to conclude Speech xi:--'For my part, could I multiply my person or dilate my power, I should dedicate myself wholly to this great end, in the prosecution of which I shall implore the blessing of G.o.d upon your counsels and endeavours.' _Gent. Mag_. xi. 100. The following are the words which correspond to this in the original:--'If I could help you to many, and multiply myself into many, that would be to serve you in regard to settlement.... But I shall pray to G.o.d Almighty that He would direct you to do what is according to His will. And this is that poor account I am able to give of myself in this thing.' Carlyle's _Cromwell_, iii. 255.

[428] See Appendix A.

[429] Lord Chesterfield.

[430] Duke of Newcastle.

[431] I suppose in another compilation of the same kind. BOSWELL.

[432] Doubtless, Lord Hardwick. BOSWELL.

[433] The delivery of letters by the penny-post 'was originally confined to the cities of London and Westminster, the borough of Southwark and the respective suburbs thereof.' In 1801 the postage was raised to twopence. The term 'suburbs' must have had a very limited signification, for it was not till 1831 that the limits of this delivery were extended to all places within three miles of the General Post Office. _Ninth Report of the Commissioners of the Post Office_, 1837, p. 4.

[434] Birch's _MSS. in the British Museum_, 4302. BOSWELL.

[435] See _post_, Dec. 1784, in Nichols's _Anecdotes_. If we may trust Hawkins, it is likely that Johnson's 'tenderness of conscience' cost Cave a good deal; for he writes that, while Johnson composed the _Debates_, the sale of the _Magazine_ increased from ten to fifteen thousand copies a month. 'Cave manifested his good fortune by buying an old coach and a pair of older horses.' Hawkins's _Johnson_, P. 123.

[436] I am a.s.sured that the editor is Mr. George Chalmers, whose commercial works are well known and esteemed. BOSWELL.

[437] The characteristic of Pulteney's oratory is thus given in Hazlitts _Northcole's Conversations_ (p. 288):--'Old Mr. Tolcher used to say of the famous Pulteney--"My Lord Bath always speaks in blank verse."'

[438] Hawkins's _Life of Johnson_, p. 100. BOSWELL.

[439] A bookseller of London. BOSWELL

[440] Not the Royal Society; but the Society for the encouragement of learning, of which Dr. Birch was a leading member. Their object was to a.s.sist authors in printing expensive works. It existed from about 1735 to 1746, when having incurred a considerable debt, it was dissolved. BOSWELL.

[441] There is no erasure here, but a mere blank; to fill up which may be an exercise for ingenious conjecture. BOSWELL.

[442] Johnson, writing to Dr. Taylor on June 10, 1742, says:--'I propose to get _Charles of Sweden_ ready for this winter, and shall therefore, as I imagine, be much engaged for some months with the dramatic writers into whom I have scarcely looked for many years. Keep _Irene_ close, you may send it back at your leisure.' _Notes and Queries_, 6th S., v. 303.

_Charles of Sweden_ must have been a play which he projected.

[443] The profligate sentiment was, that 'to tell a secret to a friend is no breach of fidelity, because the number of persons trusted is not multiplied, a man and his friend being virtually the same.'

_Rambler_, No. 13.

[444] _Journal of a tour to the Hebrides_, 3rd edit. p. 167. [Sept. 10, 1773.] BOSWELL.

[445] This piece contains a pa.s.sage in honour of some great critic. 'May the shade, at least, of one great English critick rest without disturbance; and may no man presume to insult his memory, who wants his learning, his reason, or his wit.' Johnson's _Works_, v. 182. Bentley had died on July 14 of this year, and there can be little question that Bentley is meant.

[446] See _post_, end of 1744.

[447] 'There is nothing to tell, dearest lady, but that he was insolent and I beat him, and that he was a blockhead and told of it, which I should never have done.... I have beat many a fellow, but the rest had the wit to hold their tongues.' Piozzi's _Anec_. p. 233. In the _Life of Pope_ Johnson thus mentions...o...b..rne:--'Pope was ignorant enough of his own interest to make another change, and introduced Osborne contending for the prize among the booksellers [_Dunciad_, ii. 167]. Osborne was a man entirely dest.i.tute of shame, without sense of any disgrace but that of poverty.... The shafts of satire were directed equally in vain against Cibber and Osborne; being repelled by the impenetrable impudence of one, and deadened by the impa.s.sive dulness of the other.' Johnson's _Works_, viii. 302.

[448] In the original _contentions_.

[449] 'Dec. 21, 1775. In the Paper Office there is a wight, called Thomas Astle, who lives like moths on old parchments.' Walpole's _Letters_, vi. 299.

[450] Savage died on Aug. 1, 1743, so that this letter is misplaced.

[451] The Plain Dealer was published in 1724, and contained some account of Savage. BOSWELL.

[452] In the _Gent. Mag_. for Sept. 1743 (p. 490) there is an epitaph on R----d S----e, Esq., which may perhaps be this inscription. 'His life was want,' this epitaph declares. It is certainly not the Runick Inscription in the number for March 1742, as Malone suggests; for the earliest possible date of this letter is seventeen months later.

[453] I have not discovered what this was. BOSWELL.

[454] The _Mag.-Extraordinary_ is perhaps the Supplement to the December number of each year.

[455] This essay contains one sentiment eminently Johnsonian. The writer had shown how patiently Confucius endured extreme indigence. He adds:--'This constancy cannot raise our admiration after his former conquest of himself; for how easily may he support pain who has been able to resist pleasure.' _Gent. Mag_. xii. 355.

[456] In this Preface there is a complaint that has been often repeated--'All kinds of learning have given way to politicks.'