Mr. BOSWELL, to Dr. Johnson, Edinburgh, Sept. 9, 1777. (After informing him that I was to set out next day, in order to meet him at Alhbourne:-] “ I have a present for you from Lord Hailes; the fifth book of · Lactantius,' which he has published with Latin notes. He is also to give you a few anecdotes for your * Life of Thomson,' who I find was private tutor to the present Earl of Hadington, Lord Hailes's cousin, a circumstance not mentioned by Dr. Murdoch. I have keen expectations of delight from your edition of the English Poets. “ I am sorry for poor Mrs. Williams's situation. You will, however, have the comfort of reflecting on your kindness to her. Mr. Jackson's death, and Mrs. Aston's palsy, are gloomy circumstances. Yet surely we should be habituated to the uncertainty of life and health. When my mind is unclouded by melancholy, I consider the temporary distresses of this state of being, as light afflictions, by stretching my mental view into that glorious after existence, when they will appear to be as nothing. But present pleasures and present pains must be felt. I lately read • Rasselas' over again with great satisfaction. “ Since you are desirous to hear about Macquarry's sale I shall inform you particularly. The gentleman who purchased Ulva is Mr. Campbell, of Auchnabà : our friend Macquarry was proprietor of two-thirds of it, of which the rent was 1561. gs. id.}. This parcel was set up at 4,0691. 155. id. but it fold for no less than 5,5401. The other third of Ulva, with the island of Staffa, belonged to Macquarry of Ormaig. Its rent, including that of Staifa, 831. 12. 2d. -set up at 21781. 16s. 4d.fold for no less than 3,5401. The Laird of Col wished to purchase Ulva, but he thought the price too high. There may, indeed, be great improvements made there, both in fishing and agriculture ; but the interest of the purchase-money exceeds the rents so very much, that I doubt if the bargain will be profitable. There is an island called Little Colonsay, of 10l. yearly rent, which I am informed has belonged to the Macquarrys of Ulva for many ages, but which was lately claimed by the Presbyterian Synod of Argyll, in consequence of a grant made to them by Queen Anne. It is believed that their claim will be dismissed, and that Little Colonsay will also be sold for the advantage of Macquarry's creditors. What think you of purchasing 3 purchasing this isand, and endowing a school or college there, the master to be 1777. “ JAMES BOSWELL." TO JAMES BOSWELL, Esq. « DEAR SIR, “ I WRITE to be left at Carlise, as you direct me, but you cannot have it. Your letter, dated Sept. 6, was not at this place till this day, . Thursday, Sept 11; and I hope you will be here before this is at Carlisle '. ? It appears that Johnson, now in his fixty-eighth year, was seriously inclined to realise the “ Albourne, Sept. 13, 1777. Such an ardour of mind, and vigour of enterprize, is admirable at any age; but more particu- However, a DR. JOHNSON. 1777. However, what you have not going, you may have returning; and as I believe Ætat. 68. I shall not love you less after our interview, it will then be as true as it is now, that I set a very high value upon your friendship, and count your kindness as one of the chief felicities of my life. Do not fancy that an intermission of writing is a decay of kindness. No man is always in a disposition to write ; nor has any man at all times something to say. “ That distrust which intrudes fo often on your mind is a mode of melancholy, which, if it be the business of a wise man to be happy, it is foolish to indulge; and if it be a duty to preserve our faculties entire for their proper use, it is criminal. Suspicion is very often an useless pain. From that, and all other pains, I wish you free and safe ; for I am, dear Sir, “ Most affectionately yours, " Athbourne, Sept. 11, 1777. SAM. JOHNSON.” On Sunday evening, September 14, I arrived at Athbourne, and drove directly up to Dr. Taylor's door. Dr. Johnson and he appeared before I had got out of the post-chaise, and welcomed me cordially. I told them that I had travelled all the preceding night, and gone to bed at Leek, in Staffordshire; and that when I rose to go to church in the afternoon, I was informed there had been an earthquake, of which, it seems, the shock had been felt, in some degree, at Ashbourne. Johnson. “Sir, it will be much exaggerated in popular talk : for, in the first place, the common people do not accurately adapt their thoughts to the objects ; nor, secondly, do they accurately adapt their words to their thoughts: they do not mean to lie; but, taking no pains to be exact, they give you very false accounts. A great part of their language is proverbial. If any thing rocks at all, they say it rocks like a cradle ; and in this way they go on.” The subject of grief for the loss of relations and friends being introduced, I observed that it was strange to consider how foon it in general wears away. Dr. Taylor mentioned a gentleman of the neighbourhod as the only instance he had ever known of a person who had endeavoured to retain grief. He told Dr. Taylor, that after his lady's death, which affected him deeply, he resolved that the grief, which he cherished with a kind of sacred fondness, should be lasting ; but that he found he could not keep it long. Johnson. “ All grief for what cannot in the course of nature be helped, soon wears away ; in some sooner, indeed, in some later ; but it never continues very long, unless where there is madness, such as will make a man have pride so fixed in his mind, 1 1777. mind, as to imagine himself a King; or any other passion in an unreasonable I was somewhat disappointed in finding that the edition of the English Poets, for which he was to write Prefaces and Lives, was not an undertaking directed by him ; but that he was to furnish a Preface and Life to any poet the booksellers pleased. I asked him if he would do this to any dunce's works, if they should ask him. Johnson. “ Yes, Sir; and say he was a dunce.” . My friend seemed now not much to relish talking of this edition. On Monday, September 15, Dr. Johnson observed, that every body commended such parts of his “ of his “ Journey to the Western Inands,” as were in their own way. “For instance, (said he,) Mr. Jackson. (the all-knowing) told me, there was more good sense upon trade in it, than he should hear in the House of Commons in a year, except from Burke. Jones commended the part which treats of language; Burke that which describes the inhabitants of mountainous countries." After breakfast, Johnson carried me to see the garden belonging to the fchool of Ashbourne, which is very prettily formed upon a bank, rising gradually behind the house. The Reverend Mr. Langley, the head master, accompanied us. While we sat balking in the sun upon a seat here, I introduced a common fubject of complaint, the very small salaries which many curates have, and I I maintained, “ that no man should be invested with the character of a clergyman, unless he has a security for such an income as will enable him to appear respectable; that, therefore, a clergyman should not be allowed to have a curate, unless he gives him a hundred pounds a year; if he cannot do that, let him perform the duty himself.” Johnson. “ To be sure, Sir, it is wrong that any clergyman should be without a reasonable income ; but as the church revenues were fadly diminished at the Reformation, the clergy who have livings cannot afford, in many instances, to give good salaries to curates, without leaving themselves too little ; and, if no curate were to be permitted, unless he had a hundred pounds a year, their number would be very a 1777. . It is not a a very finall, which would be a disadvantage, as then there would not be such Ærat. 68. choice in the nursery for the church, curates being candidates for the higher ecclesiastical offices, according to their merit and good behaviour.” He We had with us at dinner several of Dr. Taylor's neighbours, good civil gentlemen, who seemed to understand Dr. Johnson very well, and not to confider him in the light that a certain person did, who being struck, or rather stunned by his voice and manner, when he was afterwards asked what he thought of him, answered, “ He's a tremendous companion.” Johnson told me, that “ Taylor was a very sensible acute man, and had a strong mind; that he had great activity in some respects, and yet such a sort of indolence, that if you should put a pebble upon his chimney-piece, you would find it there, in the same state, a year afterwards.” And here is the proper place to give an account of Johnson's humane and zealous interference in behalf of the Reverend Dr. William Dodd, formerly Prebendary of Brecon, and chaplain in ordinary to his Majesty ; celebrated as a very popular preacher, an encourager of charitable institutions, and authour of a variety of works, chiefly theological. Having unhappily contracted expensive habits of living, partly occalioned by licentiousness of manners, he in an evil hour, when pressed by want of money, and dreading an exposure of his circumstances, forged a bond of which he attempted to avail himself to support his credit, Aatrering himself with hopes that he might be able to repay its amount without being detected. The person, whose name he thus rafhly and criminally presumed to fallify, was the Earl of Chesterfield, to whom he had been tutor, and who, he perhaps, in the warmth of his feelings, Aattered himself would have paid the money in case of an alarm being taken, rather than suffer him to fall a victim to the dreadful consequences of violating the law against forgery, the most dangerous crime in a commercial country; but the unfortunate divine had the mortification to find that he was mistaken. His noble pupil appeared against him, and he was capitally convicted. Johnson ز a |