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1770.

"Upon a vifit to me at a country lodging near Twickenham, he asked what fort of fociety I had there. I told him, but indifferent; as they chiefly tat. 61. confifted of opulent traders, retired from business. He said, he never much liked that clafs of people; For, Sir, (faid he,) they have loft the civility of tradefmen, without acquiring the manners of gentlemen.'

"Johnson was much attached to London: he observed, that a man ftored his mind better there, than any where else; and that in remote fituations a man's body might be feafted, but his mind was ftarved, and his faculties apt to degenerate, from want of exercise and competition. No place, he said, cured a man's vanity or arrogance, fo well as London; for as no man was either great or good per fe, but as compared with others not fo good or great, he was fure to find in the metropolis many his equals, and fome his fuperiours. He obferved, that a man in London was in lefs danger of falling in love indifcreetly, than any where elfe; for there the difficulty of deciding between the conflicting pretensions of a vast variety of objects, kept him fafe. He told me, that he had frequently been offered country preferment, if he would confent to take orders; but he could not leave the improved fociety of the capital, or confent to exchange the exhilarating joys and splendid decorations of publick life, for the obscurity, infipidity, and uniformity of remote fituations.

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Speaking of Mr. Harte, Canon of Windfor, and writer of The Hiftory of Guftavus Adolphus,' he much commended him as a scholar, and a man of the most companionable talents he had ever known. He faid, the defects in his history proceeded not from imbecillity, but from foppery.

"He loved, he said, the old black letter books; they were rich in matter, though their style was inelegant; wonderfully fo, confidering how converfant the writers were with the best models of antiquity.

"Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy,' he said, was the only book that ever took him out of bed two hours fooner than he wished to rife.

"He frequently exhorted me to fet about writing a History of Ireland, and archly remarked, there had been fome good Irish writers, and that one Irishman might at least aspire to be equal to another. He had great compaffion for the miferies and diftreffes of the Irish nation, particularly the Papifts; and feverely reprobated the barbarous debilitating policy of the British government, which he faid was the most deteftable mode of perfecution. To a gentleman, who hinted fuch policy might be neceffary to fupport the authority of the English government, he replied by faying, Let the authority of the English government perifh, rather than be maintained by iniquity. Better

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1770.

would it be to restrain the turbulence of the natives by the authority of the Etat. 61. fword, and to make them amenable to law and juftice by an effectual and vigorous police, than to grind them to powder by all manner of disabilities and incapacities. Better (faid he,) to hang or drown people at once, than by an unrelenting perfecution to beggar and ftarve them.' The moderation and humanity of the prefent times have, in fome measure, juftified the wisdom of his obfervations.

"Dr. Johnson was often accused of prejudices, nay, antipathy, with regard to the natives of Scotland. Surely, fo illiberal a prejudice never entered his mind and it is well known, many natives of that refpectable country poffeffed a large fhare in his esteem; nor were any of them ever excluded from his good offices, as far as opportunity permitted. True it is, he confidered the Scotch, nationally, as a crafty, defigning people, eagerly attentive to their own intereft, and too apt to overlook the claims and pretenfions of other people. While they confine their benevolence, in a manner, exclufively to those of their own country, they expect to share in the good offices of other people. Now (faid Johnson,) this principle is either right or wrong; if right, we fhould do well to imitate fuch conduct; if wrong, we cannot too much deteft it.'

"Being folicited to compofe a funeral fermon for the daughter of a tradefman, he naturally enquired into the character of the deceased; and being told fhe was remarkable for her humility and condescension to inferiours, he obferved, that those were very laudable qualities, but it might not be so easy to discover who the lady's inferiours were.

"Of a certain player he remarked, that his converfation ufually threatened and announced more than it performed; that he fed you with a continual reno vation of hope, to end in a constant fucceffion of disappointment.

"When exasperated by contradiction, he was apt to treat his opponents with too much acrimony; as, Sir, you don't fee your way through that question:'- Sir, you talk the language of ignorance.' On my obferving to him that a certain gentleman had remained filent the whole evening, in the midst of a very brilliant and learned fociety, Sir, (faid he,) the conversation overflowed and drowned him.'

"His philofophy, though auftere and folemn, was by no means morose and cynical, and never blunted the laudable fenfibilities of his character, or exempted him from the influence of the tender paffions. Want of tenderness, he always alledged, was want of parts, and was no less a proof of stupidity than depravity.

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"Speaking of Mr. Hanway, who published A Six Weeks Tour through 1770. the South of England,' 'Jonas, (faid he,) acquired fome reputation by travelling abroad, but loft it all by travelling at home.'

"Of the paffion of love he remarked, that its violence and ill effects were much exaggerated; for who has known any real fufferings on that head, more than from the exorbitancy of any other paffion?

which he faid was the

Law (faid he,) fell

"He much commended Law's Serious Call,' finest piece of hortatory theology in any language. latterly into the reveries of Jacob Behmen, whom Law alledged to have been fomewhat in the fame ftate with St. Paul, and to have seen unutterable things. Were it even fo, (faid Johnfon,) Jacob would have refembled St. Paul still more, by not attempting to utter them.'

"He obferved, that the established clergy in general did not preach plain enough; and that polished periods and glittering fentences flew over the heads of the common people, without any impreffion upon their hearts. Something might be neceffary, he obferved, to excite the affections of the common people, who were funk in languor and lethargy, and therefore he supposed that the new concomitants of methodism might probably produce fo desirable an effect. The mind, like the body, he observed, delighted in change and novelty, and even in religion itself, courted new appearances and modifications. Whatever might be thought of fome methodist teachers, he faid, he could fcarcely doubt the fincerity of that man, who travelled nine hundred miles in a month, and preached twelve times a week; for no adequate reward, merely temporal, could be given for fuch indefatigable labour.

"Of Dr. Priestly's theological works, he remarked, that they tended to unfettle every thing, and yet fettled nothing.

"He was much affected by the death of his mother, and wrote to me to come and affist him to compose his mind, which indeed I found extremely agitated. He lamented that all ferious and religious converfation was banished from the society of men, and yet great advantages might be derived from it. All acknowledged, he faid, what hardly any body practifed, the obligation we were under of making the concerns of eternity the governing principles of our lives. Every man, he observed, at last wishes for retreat: he fees his expectations fruftrated in the world, and begins to wean himself from it, and to prepare for everlasting separation.

"He obferved, that the influence of London now extended every where, and that from all manner of communication being opened, there shortly would be no remains of the ancient simplicity, or places of cheap retreat to be found..

Etat. 61.

"He

1770.

"He was no admirer of blank-verfe, and faid it always failed, unless fufEtat. 61. tained by the dignity of the fubject. In blank-verfe, he faid, the language fuffered more distortion, to keep it out of profe, than any inconvenience or limitation to be apprehended from the fhackles and circumfcription of rhyme.

"He reproved me once for faying grace without mention of the name of our Lord JESUS CHRIST, and hoped in future I would be more mindful of the apoftolical injunction.

"He refused to go out of a room before me at Mr. Langton's house, saying, he hoped he knew his rank better than to prefume to take place of a Doctor in Divinity. I mention fuch little anecdotes, merely to fhew the peculiar turn and habit of his mind.

"He used frequently to obferve, that there was more to be endured than enjoyed, in the general condition of human life; and frequently quoted thofe lines of Dryden :

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Strange cozenage! none would live past years again,

Yet all hope pleasure from what still remain.'

For his part, he said, he never paffed that week in his life which he would wish to repeat, were an angel to make the propofal to him.

"He was of opinion, that the English nation cultivated both their foil and their reafon better than any other people; but admitted that the French, though not the highest, perhaps, in any department of literature, yet in every department were very high. Intellectual pre-eminence, he obferved, was the highest fuperiority; and that every nation derived their highest reputation from the fplendour and dignity of their writers. Voltaire, he said, was a good narrator, and that his principal merit confifted in a happy felection and arrangement of circumftances.

"Speaking of the French novels, compared with Richardfon's, he said they might be pretty baubles, but a wren was not an eagle.

"In a Latin converfation with the Pere Bofcovitz, at the house of Mrs. Cholmondeley, I heard him maintain the fuperiority of Sir Ifaac Newton over all foreign philosophers, with a dignity and eloquence that furprized that learned foreigner. It being obferved to him, that a rage for every thing English prevailed much in France after Lord Chatham's glorious war, he said, he did not wonder at it, for that we had drubbed thofe fellows into a proper reverence for us, and that their national petulance required periodical chaftisement.

"Lord

That

"Lord Lyttelton's Dialogues, he deemed a nugatory performance. man (faid he,) fat down to write a book, to tell the world what the world had all his life been telling him.'

Somebody obferving that the Scotch Highlanders in the year 1745, had made furprizing efforts, confidering their numerous wants and disadvantages: Yes, Sir, (faid he,) their wants were numerous, but you have not mentioned the greatest of them all,-the want of law.'

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Speaking of the inward light, to which fome methodists pretended, he faid, it was a principle utterly incompatible with focial or civil fecurity. If a man (said he,) pretends to a principle of action of which I can know nothing, nay, not so much as that he has it, but only that he pretends to it; how can I tell what that perfon may be prompted to do? When a person profeffes to be governed by a written afcertained law, I can then know where to find him.'

"The poem of Fingal, he faid, was a mere unconnected rhapsody, a tirefome repetition of the fame images. In vain fhall we look for the lucidus ordo, where there is neither end or object, defign or moral, nec certa recurrit imago.'

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Being asked by a young nobleman, what was become of the gallantry and military spirit of the old English nobility, he replied, Why, my Lord, I'll tell you what is become of it; it is gone into the city to look for a fortune.' "Speaking of a dull tiresome fellow, whom he chanced to meet, he said, That fellow feems to me to poffefs but one idea, and that is a wrong one.' "Much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at laft Johnson obferved, that he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney.'

"He fpoke with much contempt of the notice taken of Woodhouse, the poetical fhoemaker. He faid, it was all vanity and childishness; and that fuch objects were, to thofe who patronifed them, mere mirrours of their own fuperiority. They had better (faid he,) furnish the man with good implements for his trade, than raise fubfcriptions for his poems. He may make an excellent fhoemaker, but can never make a good poet. A school-boy's exercife may be a pretty thing for a fchool-boy, but is no treat for a man.'

"Speaking of Boetius, who was the favourite writer of the middle ages, he said it was very furprizing, that upon fuch a fubject, and in such a fituation, he fhould be magis philofophus quàm Chriftianus.

"Speaking

1770.

Ætat. 61.

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