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When I called upon Dr. Johnson next morning, I found him highly satisfied with his colloquial prowess the preceding evening. 'Well," said he, 66 we had good talk." BOSWELL. "Yes, Sir; you tossed and gored several persons."

The late Alexander Earl of Eglintoune,1 who loved wit more than wine, and men of genius more than sycophants, had a great admiration of Johnson; but, from the remarkable elegance of his own manners, was perhaps too delicately sensible of the roughness which sometimes appeared in Johnson's behaviour. One evening about this time, when his lordship did me the honour to sup at my lodgings with Dr. Robertson and several other men of literary distinction, he regretted that Johnson had not been educated with more refinement, and lived more in polished society. 'No, no, my lord," said Signor Baretti," do with him what you would, he would always have been a bear." True," answered the earl, with a smile, "but he would have been a dancing bear."

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To obviate all the reflections which have gone round the world to Johnson's prejudice, by applying to him the epithet of a bear, let me impress upon my readers a just and happy saying of my friend Goldsmith, who knew him well:-"Johnson, to be sure, has a roughness in his but no man alive has a more tender heart. has nothing of the bear but his skin."

manner;

He

In 1769, so far as I can discover, the public was favoured with nothing of Johnson's composition, either for himself or any of his friends. His "Meditations" too strongly prove that he suffered much both in body and mind; yet was he perpetually striving against evil, and nobly en

1 Tenth earl, who was shot, in 1769, by Mungo Campbell, whose fowling-piece Lord Eglintoune attempted to seize. To this nobleman Boswell was indebted, as he himself said, for his early introduction to the circle of the great, the gay, and the ingenious. Boswell thus mentions himself in a tale called The Cub at Newmarket, published in 1762:

"Lord Eglintoune, who loves, you know,

A little dish of whim or so,

By chance a curious cub had got,

-Croker.

On Scotia's mountains newly caught.".

."-Gent. Mag.

deavouring to advance his intellectual and devotional improvement. Every generous and grateful heart must feel for the distresses of so eminent a benefactor to mankind; and now that his unhappiness is certainly known, must respect that dignity of character which prevented him from complaining.

His Majesty having the preceding year instituted the Royal Academy of Arts in London, Johnson had now the honour of being appointed Professor in Antient Literature.1 In the course of the year he wrote some letters to Mrs. Thrale, passed some part of the summer at Oxford and at Lichfield, and when at Oxford he wrote the following letter:

TO THE REVEREND MR. THOMAS WARTON.

"DEAR SIR,

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'May 31, 1769.

“Many years ago, when I used to read in the library of your College, I promised to recompense the college for that permission, by adding to their books a Baskerville's Virgil. I have now sent it, and desire you to reposit it on the shelves in my name.?

In which place he has been succeeded by Bennet Langton, Esq. When that truly religious gentleman was elected to this honorary Professorship, at the same time Edward Gibbon, Esq., noted for introducing a kind of sneering infidelity into his historical writings, was elected Professor in Ancient History, in the room of Dr. Goldsmith, I observed that it brought to my mind, "Wicked Will Whiston and good Mr. Ditton."-I am now also of that admirable institution, as Secretary for Foreign Correspondence, by the favour of the Academicians, and the approbation of the sovereign. [Note in second edition, vol. i., p. 525.Editor.]

2 It has this inscription in a blank leaf :-" Hunc librum D.D. Samuel Johnson eo quod hic loci studiis interdum vacaret." Of this library, which is an old Gothic room, he was very fond. On my observing to him that some of the modern libraries of the University were more commodious and pleasant for study, as being more spacious and airy, he replied, "Sir, if a man has a mind to prance, he must study at Christchurch and All-Souls."-Warton.

Mr. Robinson Ellis, the distinguished scholar and fellow of Trinity College, informs me (1881) that this copy is honourably preserved on the shelves of the Library.-Editor.

"If you will be pleased to let me know when you have an hour of leisure, I will drink tea with you. I am engaged for the afternoon to-morrow, and on Friday all my mornings are my own.1 I am, &c.,

:

"SAM. JOHNSON."

I came to London in the autumn; and having informed him that I was going to be married in a few months, I wished to have as much of his conversation as I could before engaging in a state of life which would probably keep me more in Scotland, and prevent me seeing him so often as when I was a single man; but I found he was at Brighthelmstone with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale. I was very sorry that I had not his company with me at the Jubilee, in honour of Shakspeare, at Stratford-upon-Avon, the great poet's native town.2 Johnson's connection both with Shakspeare and Garrick founded a double claim to his presence; and it would have been highly gratifying to Mr.

1 During this visit he seldom or never dined out. He appeared to be deeply engaged in some literary work. Miss Williams was now with him at Oxford.-Warton.

2 Mr. Boswell, on this occasion, justified Johnson's foresight and prudence, in advising him to "clear his head of Corsica :" unluckily, the advice had no effect, for Boswell made a fool of himself at the Jubilee by sundry enthusiastic freaks; amongst others, lest he should not be sufficiently distinguished, he wore the words CORSICA BOSWELL in large letters round his hat. There was an absurd print of him, I think in the London Magazine, published, no doubt, with his concurrence, in the character of an armed Corsican chief, at the Jubilee masquerade on the evening of the 7th Sept. 1769, in which he wears a cap with the inscription of" Viva la Libertà!"-but his friend and admirer, Tom Davies, records that he wore ordinarily the vernacular inscription of " CORSICA BOSWELL in large letters outside his hat."-Life of Garrick, ii. 212. Earlier in the year he had visited Ireland, and was no doubt the correspondent who furnished the following paragraph to the Public Advertiser of the 7th July, 1769:

"Extract of a letter from Dublin, 8th June.

"James Boswell, Esq., having now visited Ireland, he dined with his Grace the Duke of Leinster, at his seat at Carton. He went also by special invitation, to visit the Lord Lieutenant at his country seat at Leixlip; to which he was conducted in one of his Excellency's coaches by Lt. Col. Walshe. He dined there, and stayed all night, and next morning came in the coach with his Excellency, to the Phoenix Park, and was present at a review of Sir Joseph Yorke's Dragoons. He also dined with the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor. He is now set out on his return to Scotland."-Croker.

Garrick. Upon this occasion I particularly lamented that he had not that warmth of friendship for his brilliant pupil, which we may suppose would have had a benignant effect on both. When almost every man of eminence in the literary world was happy to partake in this festival of genius, the absence of Johnson could not but be wondered at and regretted. The only trace of him there, was in the whimsical advertisement of a haberdasher, who sold Shaksperian ribands of various dyes; and by way of illustrating their appropriation to the bard, introduced a line from the celebrated Prologue, at the opening of Drury Lane theatre:

"Each change of many-colour'd life he drew."

From Brighthelmstone Dr. Johnson wrote me the following letter; which they who may think that I ought to have suppressed, must have less ardent feelings than I have always avowed.1

1 In the Preface (p. xix-xx) to my Account of Corsica, published in 1768, I thus express myself:

"He who publishes a book, affecting not to be an author, and professing an indifference for literary fame, may possibly impose upon many people such an idea of his consequence as he wishes may be received. For my part, I should be proud to be known as an author, and I have an ardent ambition for literary fame; for, of all possessions, I should imagine literary fame to be the most valuable. A man who has been able to furnish a book, which has been approved by the world, has established himself as a respectable character in distant society, without any danger of having that character lessened by the observation of his weaknesses. To preserve an uniform dignity among those who see us every day, is hardly possible; and to aim at it, must put us under the fetters of perpetual restraint. The author of an approved book may allow his natural disposition an easy play, and yet indulge the pride of superior genius, when he considers that by those who know him only as an author, he never ceases to be respected. Such an author, when in his hours of gloom and discontent, may have the consolation to think, that his writings are, at that very time, giving pleasure to numbers; and such an author may cherish the hope of being remembered after death; which has been a great object to the noblest minds in all ages.” [Added in the second edition, vol. i., p. 527.-Editor.]

"DEAR SIR,

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TO JAMES BOSWELL, ES.

"Brighthelmstone, Sept. 9, 1769.

Why do you charge me with unkindness? I have omitted nothing that could do you good, or give you pleasure, unless it be that I have forborne to tell you my opinion of your 'Account of Corsica.' I believe my opinion, if you think well of my judgment, might have given you pleasure; but when it is considered how much vanity is excited by praise, I am not sure that it would have done you good. Your History is like other histories, but your Journal is, in a very high degree, curious and delightful. There is between the history and the journal that difference which there will always be found between notions borrowed from without, and notions generated within. Your history was copied from books; your journal rose out of your own experience and observation. You express images which operated strongly upon yourself, and you have impressed them with great force upon your readers. I know not whether I could name any narrative by which curiosity is better excited, or better gratified.

"I am glad that you are going to be married; and as I wish you well in things of less importance, wish you well with proportionate ardour in this crisis of your life. What I can contribute to your happiness, I should be very unwilling to withhold; for I have always loved and valued you, and shall love you and value you still more, as you become more regular and useful; effects which a happy marriage will hardly fail to produce.

"I do not find that I am likely to come back very soon from this place. I shall, perhaps, stay a fortnight longer; and a fortnight is a long time to a lover absent from his mistress. Would a fortnight ever have an end? I am, dear Sir, your most affectionate humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON."

After his return to town, we met frequently, and I continued the practice of making notes of his conversation, though not with so much assiduity as I wish I had done. At this time, indeed, I had a sufficient excuse for not being able to appropriate so much time to my journal; for

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