on that subject any more than a lawyer upon physick. Johnson. “ He is 1776. mistaken, Sir; a man who has never been engaged in trade himself may Etat. 77. undoubtedly write well upon trade, and there is nothing which requires more to be illustrated by philosophy than trade does. As to mere wealth, that is to say, money, it is clear that one nation or one individual cannot increase its store but by making another poorer: but trade procures what is more valuable, the reciprocation of the peculiar advantages of different countries. A merchant seldom thinks but of his own particular trade. To write a good book upon it, a man must have extensive views. It is not necessary to have practised, to write well upon a subject.” I mentioned law as a subject on which no man could write well without practice. Johnson. “Why, Sir, in England, where so much money is to be got by the practice of the law, most of our writers upon it have been in practice; though Blackstone had not been much in practice when he published his “Commentaries. But upon the Continent, the great writers on law have not all been in practice: Grotius, indeed, was; but Puffendorf was not, Burlamaqui was not.” When we had talked of the great consequence which a man acquired by being employed in his profession, I suggested a doubt of the justice of the general opinion, that it is improper in a lawyer to solicit employment; for why, I urged, should it not be equally allowable to folicit that as the means of consequence, as it is to solicit votes to be elected a member of parliament? Mr. Strahan had told me, that a countryman of his and mine, who had risen to eminence in the law, had, when first making his way, solicited him to get him employed in city causes. Johnson. “Sir, it is wrong to stir up law-suits; but when once it is certain that a law-suit is to go on, there is nothing wrong in a lawyer's endeavouring that he shall have the benefit, rather than another.” Boswell. “ You would not solicit employment, Sir, if you were a lawyer,” Johnson. “ No, Sir; but not because I should think it wrong, but because I should disdain it.” This was a good distinction, which will be felt by men of just pride. He proceeded : He proceeded : “ However, I would not have a lawyer to be wanting to himself in using fair means. I would have him to inject a little hint now and then, to prevent his being overlooked.” Lord Mounstuart's bill for a Scotch militia, in supporting which his Lordship had made an able speech in the House of Commons, was now a pretty. general topick of conversation.- Johnson. “ As Scotland contributes so little land-tax towards the general support of the nation, it ought not to have a militia paid out of the general fund, unless it should be thought for the general interest, that Scotland should be protected from an invasion, which no man VOL. II. D a can a 1776. can think will happen; for what enemy would invade Scotland, where there is Ætat. 67. nothing to be got? No, Sir; now that the Scotch have not the pay of English soldiers spent among them, as so many troops are sent abroad, they are trying to get money another way by having a militia paid. If they are afraid, and seriously desire to have an armed force to defend them, they should pay for it. Your scheme is to retain a part of your little land-tax, by making us pay and clothe your militia.” BOSWELL. “ You should not talk of we and you, Sir; there is now an Union.” JOHNSON, “ There must be a distinction of interest, while the proportions of land-tax are so uncqual. If Yorkshire should say, 'Instead of paying our land-tax, we will keep a greater number of militia,' it would be unreasonable.” In this argument my friend was certainly in the wrong. The land-tax is as unequally proportioned between different parts of England, as between England and Scotland; nay, it is considerably unequal in Scotland itself. But the land-tax is but a finall part of the numerous branches of publick revenue, all of which Scotland pays precisely as England does. A French invasion made in Scotland would soon penetrate into England. He thus discoursed upon supposed obligations in settling estates :--- Where a man gets the unlimited property of an estate, there is no obligation upon him in justice to leave it to one perfon rather than to another. There is a motive of preference from kindness, and this kindness is generally entertained for the nearest relation. If I owe a particular man a sum of money, I am obliged to let that man have the next money I get, and cannot in justice let another have it: but if I owe money to no man, I may dispose of what I get as I please. There is not a debitum jußitie to a man's next heir;, there is only a debitum caritatis. It is plain, then, that I have morally a choice, according to my liking. If I have a brother in want, he has a claim from affection to my assistance : but if I have also a brother in want, whom I like better, he has a preferable claim. The right of an heir at law is only this, that he is to have the succession to an estate, in case no other person is appointed to it by the owner. His righ: is merely preferable to that of the King." We got into a boat to cross over to Black-friars;, and as we moved along the Thames, I talked to him of a little volume, which, altogether unknown 'to him, was advertised to be published in a few days, under the title of Johnsoniana, or Bon Mots of Dr. Johnson.” Johnson. “Sir, it is a mighty impudent thing.” Boswell. “Pray, Sir, could you have no redress if you were to prosecute a publisher for bringing out, under your name, what you never said, and ascribing to you dull stupid nonsense, or making you swear profanely, as many ignorant relaters of your bon mots do ?” Johnson. “No, a a a a Sir; there will always be some truth mixed with the falsehood, and how can 1776. He was, perhaps, above suffering from such spurious publications; but I could not help thinking, that many men would be much injured in their reputation, by having absurd and vicious sayings imputed to them; and that redress ought in such cases to be given. He said, “ The value of every story depends on its being true. A story is a picture either of an individual or of human nature in general : if it be false, it is a picture of nothing. For instance : suppose a man should tell that Johnson, before setting out for Italy, as he had to cross the Alps, sat down to make himself wings. This many people would believe ; but it would be a picture of nothing. ** (naming a worthy friend of ours,) used to think a story, a story, till I fhewed him that truth was essential to it.” I observed, that Foote entertained us with stories which were not true ; but that, indeed, it was properly not as narratives that Foote's stories pleased us, but as collections of ludicrous images. Johnson. “ Foote is quite impartial, for he tells lies of every body.” The importance of strict and scrupulous veracity cannot be too often inculcated. Johnson was known to be so rigidly attentive to it, that even in his common conversation the Nightest circumstance was mentioned with exact precision. The knowledge of his having such a principle and habit made his friends have a perfect reliance on the truth of every thing that he told, however it might have been doubted if told by many others. As an instance of this, I may mention an odd incident which he related as having happened to him one night in Fleet-street. “A gentlewoman (said he) begged I would give her my arm to assist her in crossing the street, which I accordingly did ; upon which she offered me a shilling, supposing me to be the watchman. I perceived that she was somewhat in liquor.” This, if told by most people, would have been thought an invention : when told by Johnson, it was believed by his friends as much as if they had seen what passed. We landed at the Temple-stairs, where we parted. · D 2. I found 1776. I found him in the evening in Mis. Williams's room. . We talked of Etat. 77. religious orders. He said, “ It is as unreasonable for a man to go into a Car thusian convent, for fear of being immoral, as for a man to cut off his hands for fear he should steal. There is, indeed, great resolution in the immediate act of dismembering himself; but when that is once done, he has no longer any merit: for though it is out of his power to steal, yet he may all his life be a thief in his heart. So when a man has once become a Carthusian, he is obliged to continue so, whether he chooses it or not. Their silence, too, is absurd. We read in the gospel of the apostles being fent to preach, but not to hold their tongues. All severity that does not tend to increase good, or prevent evil, is idle. I said to the Lady Abbess of a convent, Madam, you are here, not for the love of virtue, but the fear of vice.' She said, “She should remember this as long as she lived.” I thought it hard to give her this view of her situation, when she could not help it; and, indeed, I wondered at the whole of what he now faid; because, both in his “ Rambler” and “ Idler,” he treats religious austerities with much folemnity of respect. Finding him ftill persevering in his abstinence from wine, I ventured to speak to him of it.—Johnson. “Sir, I have no objection to a man's drinking wine, if he can do it in moderation. I found myself apt to go to excess in it, and therefore, after having been for some time without it, on account of ill-. ness, I thought it better not to return to it. Every man is to judge for himself, according to the effects which he experiences. One of the fatherstells us, he found fasting made him so peevish that he did not practise it.” Though he often enlarged upon the evil of intoxication, he was by no means harsh and unforgiving to those who indulged in occasional excess in wine. One of his friends, I well remember, came to sup at a tavern with him and fome other gentlemen, and too plainly discovered that he had drunk too much at dinner. When one who loved mischief, thinking to produce a severe censure, asked Johnson, some days afterwards, “ Well, Sir, what did your friend say to you, as an apology for being in such a situation ?” Johnson answered, “Sir, he said all that a man should say: he faid he was sorry for it.” I heard him once give a very judicious practical advice upon this subject : “A man, (faid he,) who has been drinking wine at all freely, should never go into a new company. With those who have partaken of wine with him, he may be pretty well in unison; but he will probably be offensive, or appear ridiculous, to other people. He a a a a He allowed very great influence to education. “I do not deny, Sir, hut 1776. there is some original difference in minds ; but it is nothing in comparison of Ætat. 67. what is formed by education. We may inttance the science of numbers, which all minds are equally capable of attaining; yet we find a prodigious difference in the powers of different men, in that respect, after they are grown up, because their minds have been more or less exercised in it; and I think the same cause will explain the difference of excellence in other things, gradations admitting always some difference in the first principles.” This is a difficult subject; but it is best to hope that diligence may do a great deal. We are sure of what it can do, in increasing our mechanical force and dexterity. I again visited him on Monday. He took occasion to enlarge, as he often did, upon the wretchedness of a sea-life.“ A ship is worse than a gaol. There is, in a gaol, better air, better company, better conveniency of every kind; and a ship has the additional disadvantage of being in danger. When men come to like a sea-life, they are not fit to live on land.”_" Then _ (said I,) it would be cruel in a father to breed his son to the sea.” Johnson. “ It would be cruel in a father who thinks as I do. Men go to sea, before they know the unhappiness of that way of life ; and when they have come to know it, they cannot escape from it, because it is then too late to choose another profession; as indeed is generally the case with men, when they have once engaged in any particular way of life.” . On Tuesday, March 19, which was fixed for our proposed jaunt, we met in the morning at the Somerset coffee-house in the Strand, where we were taken up by the Oxford coach. He was accompanied by Mr. Gwyn, the architect; and a gentleman of Merton College, whom we did not know, had the fourth seat. We foon got into conversation ; for it was very remarkable of Johnson, that the presence of a stranger was no restraint upon his talk. I observed that Garrick, who was about to quit the stage, would soon have an easier life. Johnson. “I doubt that, Sir.” Boswell. “Why, Sir, he will be Atlas with the burthen off his back.” Johnson. “But I know not, Sir, if he will be so steady without his load. However, he should never play any more, but be entirely the gentleman, and not partly the player: he should no longer subject himself to be hissed by a mob, or to be insolently treated by performers, whom he used to rule with a high hand, and who would gladly retaliate.” Boswell. “I think he should play once a year for the benefit of decayed actors, as it has been said he means to do.” JOHNSON. “ Alas, , Sir! he will soon be a decayed actor himself.” Johnson |