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for his Majesty had heard and remembered the circumstance, which Johnson himself had forgot.

His Majesty expressed a desire to have the literary biography of this country ably executed, and proposed to Dr. Johnson to undertake it. Johnson signified his readiness to comply with his Majesty's wishes.

During the whole of this interview, Johnson talked to his Majesty with profound respect, but still in his firm manly manner, with a sonorous voice, and never in that subdued tone which is commonly used at the levée and in the drawing-room. After the King withdrew, Johnson showed himself highly pleased with his Majesty's conversation, and gracious behaviour. He said to Mr. Barnard, Sir, they may talk of the King as they will; but he is the finest gentleman I have ever seen." And he afterwards observed to Mr. Langton, Sir, his manners are those of as fine a gentleman as we may suppose Lewis the Fourteenth or Charles the Second." I

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At Sir Joshua Reynolds's, where a circle of Johnson's friends was collected round him to hear his account of this memorable conversation, Dr. Joseph Warton, in his frank and lively manner, was very active in pressing him to mention the particulars. 'Come now, Sir, this is an interesting matter; do favour us with it." Johnson, with great good-humour, complied.

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He told them, "I found his Majesty wished I should talk, and I made it my business to talk. I find it does a man good to be talked to by his Sovereign. In the first place, a man cannot be in a passion- Here some question interrupted him, which is to be regretted, as he certainly would have pointed out and illustrated many circumstances of advantage, from being in a situation where the powers of the mind are at once excited to vigorous exertion, and tempered by reverential awe.

During all the time in which Dr. Johnson was employed in relating to the circle at Sir Joshua Reynolds's the particulars of what passed between the King and him, Dr. Goldsmith remained unmoved upon a sofa at some

This reminds us of Madame de Sevigne's charming naïveté, when after giving an account of Louis XIV. having danced with her, she adds, "Ah! c'est le plus grand roi du monde !"-Croker.

distance, affecting not to join in the least in the eager curiosity of the company. He assigned as a reason for his gloom and seeming inattention, that he apprehended Johnson had relinquished his purpose of furnishing him with a Prologue to his play, with the hopes of which he had been flattered; but it was strongly suspected that he was fretting with chagrin and envy at the singular honour Dr. Johnson had lately enjoyed. At length, the frankness and simplicity of his natural character prevailed. He sprung from the sofa, advanced to Johnson, and in a kind of flutter, from imagining himself in the situation which he had just been hearing described, exclaimed, "Well, you acquitted yourself in this conversation better than I should have done; for I should have bowed and stammered through the whole of it."1

2

I received no letter from Johnson this year; nor have I discovered any of the correspondence he had, except the two letters to Mr. Drummond, which have been inserted for the sake of connection with that to the same gentleman in 1766. His diary affords no light as to his employment at this time. He passed three months at Lichfield: and I cannot omit an affecting and solemn scene there, as related by himself:

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1 It is remarkable that Johnson should have seen four, if not five, of our sovereigns, and been in the actual presence of three if not four of them. Queen Anne touched him; George the First he probably never but George the Second he must frequently have seen, though only in public. George the Third he conversed with on this occasion; and he once told Sir John Hawkins, that, in a visit to Mrs. Percy, who had the care of one of the young princes, at the Queen's house, the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV., being a child, came into the room, and began to play about; when Johnson, with his usual curiosity, took an opportunity of asking him what books he was reading, and, in particular, inquired as to his knowledge of the Scriptures; the Prince, in his answers, gave him great satisfaction. It is possible, also, that at that visit he might have seen Prince William Henry (William IV.), who was, I think, as well as the Duke of Kent, under Mrs. Percy's care.Croker.

2 It is proper here to mention, that when I speak of his correspondence, I consider it independent of the voluminous collection of letters, which, in the course of many years, he wrote to Mrs. Thrale,-which forms a separate part of his works; and, as a proof of the high estimation set on any thing which came from his pen, was sold by that lady for the sum of five hundred pounds.

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Sunday, Oct. 18, 1767. Yesterday, Oct. 17, at about ten in the morning, I took my leave for ever of my dear old friend, Catherine Chambers, who came to live with my mother about 1724, and has been but little parted from us since. She buried my father, my brother, and my mother. She is now fifty-eight

years old.

"I desired all to withdraw, then told her that we were to part for ever; that as Christians, we should part with prayer; and that I would, if she was willing, say a short prayer beside her. She expressed great desire to hear me; and held up her poor hands, as she lay in bed, with great fervour, while I prayed, kneeling by her, nearly in the following words :

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Almighty and most merciful Father, whose loving kindness is over all thy works, behold, visit, and relieve this thy servant, who is grieved with sickness. Grant that the sense of her weakness may add strength to her faith, and seriousness to her repentance. And grant that by the help of thy Holy Spirit, after the pains and labours of this short life, we may all obtain everlasting happiness, through JESUS CHRIST Our Lord, for whose sake hear our prayers. Amen. Our Father, &c.

"I then kissed her. She told me that to part was the greatest pain that she had ever felt, and that she hoped we should meet again in a better place. I expressed, with swelled eyes, and great emotion of tenderness, the same hopes. We kissed, and parted. I humbly hope to meet again, and to part no more.' Johnson as

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By those who have been taught to look upon a man of harsh and stern character, let this tender and affectionate scene be candidly read; and let them then judge whether more warmth of heart, and grateful kindness, is often found in human nature.

We have the following notice in his devotional record :—

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August 2, 1767. I have been disturbed and unsettled for a long time, and have been without resolution to apply to study or to business, being hindered by sudden snatches."2

He, however, furnished Mr. Adams with a Dedication *

1 Prayers and Meditations, pp. 77-8.

Catherine Chambers, as Dr. Harwood informed me, died in a few days after this interview, and was buried in St. Chad's, Lichfield, on the 7th of Nov., 1767.-Croker.

2 Prayers and Meditations, p. 72.

to the King of that ingenious gentleman's "Treatise on the Globes," conceived and expressed in such a manner as could not fail to be very grateful to a monarch, distinguished for his love of the sciences.

This year was published a ridicule of his style, under the title of "Lexiphanes." Sir John Hawkins ascribes it to Dr. Kenrick; but its author was one Campbell, a Scotch purser, in the navy.' The ridicule consisted in applying Johnson's "words of large meaning" to insignificant matters, as if one should put the armour of Goliath upon a dwarf. The contrast might be laughable; but the dignity of the armour must remain the same in all considerate minds. This malicious drollery, therefore, it may easily be supposed, could do no harm to its illustrious object.

TO BENNET LANGTON, ESQ.

At Mr. Rothwell's, Perfumer, in New Bond Street.

"DEAR SIR,

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'Lichfield, Oct. 10, 1767.

"That you have been all summer in London is one more reason for which I regret my long stay in the country. I hope that you will not leave the town before my return. We have here only the chance of vacancies in the passing carriages, and I have bespoken one that may, if it happens, bring me to town on the fourteenth of this month; but this is not certain.

"It will be a favour if you communicate this to Mrs. Williams: I long to see all my friends. I am, dear Sir, your most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON."

It appears from his notes of the state of his mind,3 that he suffered great perturbation and distraction in 1768. Nothing of his writings was given to the public this year, except the Prologue* to his friend Goldsmith's comedy of

1 Anderson (Life of Johnson, ed. 1815, p. 230) confirms Boswell's statement. It was the production of Mr. Archibald Campbell, son of Professor Archibald Campbell, of St. Andrew's, a purser in the navy. and author of The Sale of Authors, and other tracts.-Editor.

2 This letter first appeared in the third edition, 1799, vol. ii., p. 45. * Prayers and Meditations, p. 81.

"The Good-natured Man." The first lines of this Prologue are strongly characteristical of the dismal gloom of his mind; which in his case, as in the case of all who are distressed with the same malady of imagination, transfers to others its own feelings. Who could suppose it was to introduce a comedy, when Mr. Bensley solemnly began.

"Press'd with the load of life, the weary mind
Surveys the general toil of human kind."

But this dark ground might make Goldsmith's humour shine the more.1

In the spring of this year, having published my " Account of Corsica, with the Journal of a Tour to that Island," I

In this prologue, as Mr. John Taylor informs me, after the fourth line-" And social sorrow loses half its pain"-the following couplet was inserted :—

"Amidst the toils of this returning year,
When senators and nobles learn to fear,

Our little bard without complaint may share
The bustling season's epidemic care.

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So the Prologue appeared in the Public Advertiser. Goldsmith probably thought that the lines printed in Italic characters, which, however, seem necessary, or at least improve the sense, might give offence, and therefore prevailed on Johnson to omit them. The epithet little, which perhaps the author thought might diminish his dignity, was also changed to anxious.-Malone.

2 The exact title is as follows: "An account of Corsica, the Journal of a Tour to that island; and Memoirs of Pascal Paoli. By James Boswell. Glasgow. Printed by R. and A. Foulis for E. and Č. Dilly, in the Poultry, London. 1768." "The attention of London Society had been attracted to Corsica by a well-timed book of travels; for Boswell, who had been sent abroad to study law, had found his way to Paoli's head-quarters, and returning home with plenty to tell, had written what is still by far the best account of the island that has ever been published."-Trevelyan's Early History of Charles James Fox, p. 153. London: Longman and Co. 1880.-Editor.

"Mr. Boswell's book I was going to recommend to you when I received your letter: it has pleased and moved me strangely, all (I mean) that relates to Paoli. He is a man born two thousand years after his time! The pamphlet proves what I have always maintained, that any fool may write a most valuable book by chance, if he will tell us what he heard and saw with veracity. Of Mr. Boswell's truth I have not the least suspicion, because I am sure he could invent nothing of this kind. The true title of this part of his work is, a Dialogue between a Green-Goose and a Hero. Gray to Horace Walpole, Feb. 25, 1768."

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