in a passion, and never would return. I the reason why he resolved to have no conremember having mentioned this story to nexion with him. When the Dictionary George Lord Lyttelton, who told me he was upon the eve of publication, Lord Cheswas very intimate with Lord Chesterfield; terfield, who, it is said, had flattered himand holding it as a well-known truth, de- self with expectations that Johnson would fended Lord Chesterfield by saying, that dedicate the work to him, attempted, in a "Cibber, who had been introduced familiar- courtly manner, to soothe and insinuate ly by the back-stairs, had probably not been himself with the sage, conscious, as it should there above ten minutes"" It may seem seem, of the cold indifference with which he strange even to entertain a doubt concern- had treated its learned authour; and furing a story so long and so widely current, ther attempted to conciliate him, by writing and thus implicitly adopted, if not sanction- two papers in "The World," in recomed, by the authority which I have men- mendation of the work; and it must be contioned; but Johnson himself assured me, fessed, that they contain some studied comthat there was not the least foundation for pliments, so finely turned, that if there had it. He told me, that there never was any been no previous offence, it is probable that particular incident which produced a quar-Johnson would have been highly delighted. rel between Lord Chesterfield and him; but Praise, in general, was pleasing to him; but that his lordship's continued neglect was am less dejected than most people in my situation would be." 11th Nov. 1752.-"The waters have done my head some good, but not enough to refit me for social life." 16th Feb. 1753.-" I grow deafer, and consequently more isolé' from society every day." 10th Oct. 1753.-"I belong no more to social life, which, when I quitted busy publick life, I flattered myself would be the comfort of my declining age." 16th Nov. 1753.-" I give up all hopes of cure. I know my place and form my plan accordingly, for I strike society out of it." [Hawkins, who lived much with Johnson, about this period, attributes the breach between tim and Lord Chesterfield to the offence taken by Johnson at being kept waiting during a visit of Cibber's; and Johnson himself, in his celebrated ken, seems to give colour to this latter opinion. He 3: It is seven years since I waited in your outer rooms, or was repulsed from your door, during which I have pushed my work to the verge of publication without one act of assistance, one word of encouragement, or one smile of favour the expressions, "waited in your outer rooms" and repulsed from your door" certainly gave colour to "the long current and implealy adopted story as told by Hawkins, and ntioned by Lord Lyttelton. In all this affair, John's account, as given by Boswell, is inraived in inconsistencies, which seem to prove that his pride, or his waywardness, had taken of fence at what he afterwards felt, in his own heart, to be no adequate cause of animosity.-ED.] [Why was it to be expected that Lord Ches-upon me. In this situation you will easily supterfeld should cultivate his private acquaintance? that he did not do so, was a loss to his lordship; and the amour propre " of Johnson might be (s, indeed, it probably was) offended at that neglect, but surely it was no ground for the kind of charge which is made against his lordship. But even this neglect of Johnson's acquaintance a lot without some excuse. Johnson's personal manners and habits, even at a later and more polabed period of his life, would probably not have beach to Lord Chesterfield's taste; but it be remembered, that Johnson's introduction to Lord Chesterfield did not take place till his ked-hip was past fifty, and he was soon after attacked by a disease which estranged him from Berity. The neglect lasted, it is charged, from 1748 to 1755: the following extracts of his private letters to his most intimate friends will prove that during that period Lord Chesterfield may be ad for not cultivating Johnson's society: 2th January, 1749. My old disorder in my best hindered me from acknowledging your Luer letters." D.th June, 1752.-"I am here in my hermibgt, very deaf, and consequently alone; but I 7th Feb. 1754.-" At my age, and with my shattered constitution, freedom from pain is the best I can expect." 1st March, 1754.-"I am too much isolé, too much secluded either from the busy or the beau monde, to give you any account of either." 25th Sept. 1754.-"In truth, all the infirmities of an age still more advanced than mine crowd pose that I have no pleasant hours." 10th July, 1755.-"My deafness is extremely increased, and daily increasing, and cuts me wholly off from the society of others, and my other complaints deny me the society of myself." Johnson, perhaps, knew nothing of all this, and imagined that Lord Chesterfield declined his acquaintance on some opinion derogatory to his personal pretensions. Mr. Tyers however, who knew Johnson early and more familiarly than the other biographers, suggests a more precise and probable ground for Johnson's animosity than Boswell gives, by hinting that Johnson expected some pecuniary assistance from Lord Chesterfield. He says, "It does not appear that Lord Chesterfield showed any substantial proofs of approbation to our philologer. A small present Johnson would have disdained, and he was not of a temper to put up with the affront of a disappointment. He revenged himself in a letter to his lordship written with great acrimony. Lord Chesterfield indeed commends and recommends Mr. Johnson's Dictionary in two or three numbers of the World: but not words alone please him.'”—Biog. Sketch. p. 7.-ED.] by praise from a man of rank and elegant | bute to the farther spreading of our language accomplishments, he was peculiarly grati fied. His lordship says, "I think the publick in general, and the republick of letters in particular, are greatly obliged to Mr. Johnson, for having undertaken and executed so great and desirable a work. Perfection is not to be expected from man: but if we are to judge by the various works of Johnson already published, we have good reason to believe, that he will bring this as near to perfection as any man could do. The plan of it, which he published some years ago, seems to me to be a proof of it. Nothing can be more rationally imagined, or more accurately and elegantly expressed. I therefore recommend the previous perusal of it to all those who intend to buy the Dictionary, and who, I suppose, are all those who can afford it. * "It must be owned, that our language is, at present, in a state of anarchy, and hitherto, perhaps, it may not have been the worse for it. During our free and open trade, many words and expressions have been imported, adopted, and naturalized from other languages, which have greatly enriched our own. Let it still preserve what real strength and beauty it may have borrowed from others; but let it not, like the Tarpeian maid, be overwhelmed and crushed by unnecessary ornaments. The time for discrimination seems to be now come. Toleration, adoption, and naturalization have run their lengths. Good order and authority are now necessary. But where shall we find them, and at the same time, the obedience due to them? We must have recourse to the old Roman expedient in times of confusion, and choose a dictator. Upon this principle I give my vote for Mr. Johnson, to fill that great and arduous post; and I hereby declare that I make a total surrender of all my rights and privileges in the English language, as a free-born British subject, to the said Mr. Johnson, during the term of his dictatorship. Nay more, will not only obey him like an old Roman, as my dictator, but, like a modern Roman, I will implicitly believe in him as my pope, and hold him to be infallible while in the chair, but no longer. More than this he cannot well require; for, I presume, that obedience can never be expected, when there is neither terrour to enforce, nor interest to invite it. I "But a Grammar, a Dictionary, and a History of our Language, through its sev eral stages, were still wanting at home, and importunately called for from abroad. Mr. Johnson's labours will now, I dare say, very fully supply that want, and greatly contri in other countries. Learners were discour aged, by finding no standard to resort to; and, consequently, thought it incapable of any. They will now be undeceived and encouraged." This courtly device failed of its effect. Johnson, who thought that "all was false and hollow," despised the honeyed words, and was even indignant that Lord Chesterfield should, for a moment, imagine that he could be the dupe of such an artifice1. His expression to me concerning Lord Chesterfield, upon this occasion, was, "Sir, after making great professions, he had, for many years, taken no notice of me; but when my Dictionary was coming out, he fell a scribbling in The World' about it. Upon which, I wrote him a letter expressed in civil terms, but such as might show him that I did not mind what he said or wrote, and that I had done with him." This is that celebrated letter of which so much has been said, and about which curiosity has been so long excited, without being gratified. I for many years solicited Johnson to favour me with a copy of it, that so excellent a composition might not be lost to posterity. He delayed from time to time to give it to me 2; till at last, in 1781, when we were on a visit at Mr. Dilly's, at Southill in Bedfordshire, he was pleased to dictate it to me from memory. He afterwards found among his papers a copy of it, which he had dictated to Mr. Baretti, with its title and corrections, in his own hand-writing. This he gave to Mr. Langton; adding that if it were to ome into print, he wished it to be from that copy. By Mr. Langton's kindness, I am enabled to enrich my work with a perfect transcript of what the world has so eagerly desired to see. "TO THE EARL OF CHESTERFIELD. "7th February, 1755. "MY LORD, I have been lately informed, by the proprietor of The World,' that two [It does not appear that there was any thing like "device" or artifice."-ED.] Dr. Johnson appeared to have had a remarkable delicacy with respect to the circulation of this letter; for Dr. Douglas, bishop of Salisbury, informs me, that having many years ago pressed him to be allowed to read it to the second Lord Hardwicke, who was very desirous to hear it (promising at the same time, that no copy of it should be taken), Johnson seemed much pleased that it had attracted the attention of a nobleman of such respectable character; but after pausing some time, declined to comply with the request, "No Sir; I have hurt the dog too much already;" or words to that purpose. saying, with a smile, BOSWELL. [This admission favours the edi tor's opinion that Johnson, when the first ebullition of temper had subsided, felt that he had been unreasonably violent.-En.] papers, in which my Dictionary is recommended to the publick, were written by your lordship. To be so distinguished is an honour, which, being very little accustomed to favours from the great, I know not well how to receive, or in what terms to acknowledge. When, upon some slight encouragement, I first visited your lordship, I was overpowered, like the rest of mankind, by the enchantment of your address, and could not forbear to wish that I might boast myself Levainqueur du vainqueur de la terre1 that I might obtain that regard for which I saw the world contending; but I found my attendance so little encouraged, that neither pride nor modesty would suffer me to continge it. When I had once addressed your lordship in publick, I had exhausted all the art of pleasing which a retired and uncourtly scholar can possess. I had done all that I could; and no nian is well pleased to have his all neglected, be it ever so little. "Seven years, my lord, have now past, since I waited in your outward rooms, or was repulsed from your door; during which time I have been pushing on my work through difficulties, of which it is useless to complain, and have brought it, at last, to the verge of publication, without one act of assistance?, one word of encouragement, or one smile of favour. Such treatment I did Est expect, for I never had a patron before. "The shepherd in Virgil grew at last acquainted with Love, and found him a native of the rocks 3. [No very moderate expectation for "a retired and uncourtly scholar!"-ED.] The following note is subjoined by Mr. LangDr. Johnson, when he gave me this copy of his letter, desired that I would annex to it his information to me, that whereas it is said in the letter, that no assistance had been received,' he did once receive from Lord Chesterfield the sum of ten pounds; but as that was so inconsiderable , be thought the mention of it could not poperly find a place in a letter of the kind that w"-BosWELL. [This surely is an unfactory excuse; for the sum, though now so derable, was one which many years before, Auton tells us, that Paul Whitehead, then a fehashie poet, received for a new work; it was tomach as Johnson himself had received for the expyright of his best poetical production: and when Dr. Madden, some years after, gave him the em for revising a work of his, Johnson said La dhe Doctor was very generous, for ten gs was to me, at that time, a great sum" (post, 1756). When Johnson alleged against Let Chesterfield such a trifle as the waiting in La cateroom, he ought not to have omitted a sary obligation, however inconsiderable.— La] (The editor confesses that he does not see bert of this allusion; if some more ingenious "Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help? The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labours, had it been early 4, had been kind; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot impart it5; till I am known, and do not want it. I hope it is no very cynical asperity, not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received, or to be unwilling that the publick should consider me as owing that to a patron, which Providence has enabled me to do for myself. "Having carried on my work thus far with so little obligation to any favourer of learning, I shall not be disappointed though I should conclude it, if less be possible, with less; for I have been long wakened from that dream of hope, in which I once boasted myself with so much exultation. My lord, your lordship's most humble, most obedient servant, "SAM. JOHNSON6," "While this was the talk of the town", (says Dr. Adams, in a letter to me) I happened to visit Dr. Warburton, who, finding that I was acquainted with Johnson, desired me earnestly to carry his compliments to him, and to tell him, that he honoured him for his manly behaviour in rejecting eye should discover a meaning, it must still be admitted to be pedantic.-ED.] [The notice could not have been, for any useful purpose, taken earlier. Johnson might have complained that notice of some other kind had not been taken, but "the notice which his lordship was pleased to take" was peculiarly well timed, and could not properly have come sooner.-ED.] In this passage Dr. Johnson evidently alludes to the loss of his wife. We find the same tender recollection recurring to his mind upon innumerable occasions: and perhaps no man ever more forcibly felt the truth of the sentiment so elegantly expressed by my friend Mr. Malone, in his prologue to Mr. Jephson's tragedy of Julia: "Vain-wealth, and fame, and fortune's fostering care, If no fond breast the splendid blessings share; And, each day's bustling pageantry once past, There, only there, our bliss is found at last."-Boswell. 6 Upon comparing this copy with that which Dr. Johnson dictated to me from recollection, the variations are found to be so slight, that this must be added to the many other proofs which he gave of the wonderful extent and accuracy of his memory. To gratify the curious in composition, I have deposited both the copies in the British Museum. -BOSWELL. 7 If this letter was the talk of the town, it appears, from all the evidence, that it must have become known through Lord Chesterfield, ag Johnson always refused to let it be seen.-ED.] these condescensions of Lord Chesterfield, | expressed." The air of indifference, v and for resenting the treatment he had re-imposed upon the worthy Dodsley, ceived from him with a proper spirit. John- certainly nothing but a specimen of son was visibly pleased with this compli- dissimulation 2 which Lord Chesterfiel ment, for he had always a high opinion of culcated as one of the most essential le Warburton 1." Indeed, the force of mind for the conduct of life. His lordshi which appeared in this letter was congeni- deavoured to justify himself to Do al with that which Warburton himself am- from the charges brought against hi ply possessed. Johnson; but we may judge of the fi ness of his defence, from his having ex his neglect of Johnson, by saying, that had heard he had changed his lodging did not know where he lived;" as if could have been the smallest difficul inform himself of that circumstance, b quiring in the literary circle with w his lordship was well acquainted, and indeed, himself, one of its ornaments. There is a curious minute circumstance which struck me, in comparing the various editions of Johnson's Imitations of Juvenal. In the tenth Satire one of the couplets upon the vanity of wishes even for literary distinction stood thus: "Yet think what ills the scholar's life assail, Toil, envy, want, the garret, and the jail.” But after experiencing the uneasiness which Lord Chesterfield's fallacious patronage made him feel, he dismissed the word garret from the sad group, and in all the subsequent editions the line stands, “Toil, envy, want, the Patron, and the jail." That Lord Chesterfield must have been mortified by the lofty contempt, and polite, yet keen, satire with which Johnson exhibited him to himself in this letter, it is impossible to doubt. He, however, with that glossy duplicity which was his constant study, affected to be quite unconcerned. Dr. Adams mentioned to Mr. Robert Dodsley that he was sorry Johnson had written his letter to Lord Chesterfield. Dodsley, with the true feelings of trade, said, “he was very sorry too; for that he had a property in the Dictionary, to which his lordship's patronage might have been of consequence.' He then told Dr. Adams, that Lord Chesterfield had shown him the letter. "I should have imagined (replied Dr. Adams) that Lord Chesterfield would have concealed it." "Poh! (said Dodsley) do you think a letter from Johnson could hurt Lord Chesterfield? Not at all, sir. It lay upon his table, where any body might see it. He read it to me; said, this man has great powers,' pointed out the severest passages, and observed how well they were Soon after Edwards's "Canons of Criticism" came out, Johnson was dining at Tonson the bookseller's with Hayman the painter and some more company. Hayman related to Sir Joshua Reynolds, that the conversation having turned upon Edwards's book, the gentlemen praised it much, and Johnson allowed its merit. But when they went farther, and appeared to put that authour upon a level with Warburton, "Nay (said Johnson), he has given him some smart hits, to be sure; but there is no proportion between the two men; they must not be named together. A fly, sir, may sting a stately horse, and make him wince; but one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still."-BOSWELL Dr. Adams expostulated with Joh and suggested, that his not being adr when he called on him, was probably be imputed to Lord Chesterfield; f lordship had declared to Dodsley, that would have turned off the best serva ever had, if he had known that he d him to a man who would have been a more than welcome;" and in confirm of this, he insisted on Lord Chester general affability and easiness of a especially to literary men. Johnson), that is not Lord Cheste he is the proudest man this day exist "No (said Dr. Adams), there is one son, at least, as proud; I think, by own account, you are the prouder m the two." "But mine (replied Jo instantly) was defensive pride." T Dr. Adams well observed, was one of happy turns 3 for which he was so re ably ready. "Sir Johnson having now explicitly a his opinion of Lord Chesterfield, did I frain from expressing himself conce that nobleman with pointed freedom: man (said he) I thought had been among wits: but, I find, he is only among lords!" And when his Lett his natural son were published, he o 2 [Why? If, as may have been the Lord Chesterfield felt that Johnson was un wards him, he would not have been mor Il n'y a que la verité qui blesse. By M well's own confession it appears that John not give copies of this letter; that for man Boswell had in vain solicited him to do s that he, after the lapse of twenty years, di luctantly. With all these admissions, he Mr. Boswell attribute to any thing but co rectitude Lord Chesterfield's exposure of which the authour was so willing to bury vion?-ED.] 3 [This, like all the rest of the affair, discoloured by prejudice. Lord Che made no attack on Johnson, who certainl on the offensive, and not the defensive. ed, that "they teach the morals of a pros- I have heard Johnson himself talk of the titute, and the manners of a dancing-mas- character, and say that it was meant for ter 1" George Lord Littleton, in which I could by no means agree; for his lordship had nothing of that violence which is a conspicuous feature in the composition. Finding that my illustrious friend could bear to have it supposed that it might be meant for him, I said, laughingly, that there was one trait which unquestionably did not belong to him; "he throws his meat any where but down his throat." "Sir (said he), Lord Chesterfield never saw me eat in his life 4." The character of a "respectable Hottentot." in Lord Chesterfield's Letters, has been generally understood to be meant for Johnson, and I have no doubt that it was. But I remember when the literary property of those letters was contested in the court of session in Scotland, and Mr. Henry Dundas, one of the counsel for the proprietors, read this character as an exhibition of Johnson, Sir David Dalrymple, Lord Hailes, one of the judges, maintained, with some warmth, that it was not intended as a portrait of Johnson, but of a late noble lord, distinguished for abstruse science. * That collection of letters cannot be vindicated from the serious charge of encouraging, in some passages, one of the vices most destructive to the good order and comfort of society, which bus lordship represents a mere fashionable gallantry; and, in others, of inculcating the base practice of dissimulation, and recommending, with disproportionate anxiety, a perpetual attention to external elegance of manners. But it must, at the same time, be allowed, that they contain many good precepts of conduct, and much genuine information upon life and manners, very happily expressed; and that there was considerable merit in paying o munch attention to the improvement of one who was dependent upon his lordship's protection; it has, probably, been exceeded in no instance by the most exemplary parent; and though I can by no means approve of confounding the distinction between lawful and illicit offspring, which is, in effect, insulting the civil establishment of our country, to look no higher; I cannot help thinking it laudable to be kindly attentive to those, of whose existence we have, in any way, been the Cage. Mr. Stanhope's character has been unjustly represented as diametrically opposite to what Lord Chesterfield wished him to be. He has been talled dull, groes, and awkward: but I knew him at Dresden, when he was envoy to that court; and though he could not boast of the graces, he was, in truth, a sensible, civil, well-behaved man. -BOSWELL * Now (1792) one of his majesty's principal cretaries of state.-BosWELL. [And afterwards Viscount Melville.—ED.] [Probably George, second Earl of Macclesfeld, who published, in 1751, a learned pamphlet en the alteration of the style, and was, in 1752, elected president of the Royal Society. Lord Macclesfield's manner was, no doubt, awkward and embarrassed, but little else in his character resembles that of the "respectable Hottentot," witch more probably was, as the world has suppesed, intended for Johnson. On the 6th of March came out Lord Bolingbroke's works, published by Mr. David Mallet. The wild and pernicious ravings, under the name of "Philosophy," which were thus ushered into the world, gave great offence to all well-principled men. Johnson, hearing of their tendency, which nobody disputed, was roused with a just indignation, and pronounced this memorable sentence 5 upon the noble authour and his edi tor. ard: a scoundrel for charging a blunderbuss "Sir, he was a scoundrel, and a cowagainst religion and morality; a coward, because he had not resolution to fire it off himself, but left half a crown to a beggarly Scotchman 7 to draw the trigger after his death!" Garrick, who I can attest from my own knowledge had his mind seasoned 7 [Mallet's wife, a foolish and conceited woman, one evening introduced herself to David Hume, at an assembly, saying, "We deists, Mr. Hume, should know one another." Hume was exceedingly displeased and disconcerted, and replied, 'Madam, I am no deist; I do not so style myself, neither do I desire to be known by that appellation."-Hardy's Life of Lord Charlemont, vol. i. p. 235. The imputation might, even on mere worldly grounds, be very disagreeable to Hume; for the editor has in his possession proof that when Lord Hertford (whose private secretary, in his embassy to Paris, Hume had been) was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, his lordship declined continuing him in the same character, alleging as a reason the dissatisfaction that it would excite on account of Hume's anti-religious Lord Macclesfield assisted Lord Chesterfield in the bull for changing the style; and Lord Chesberfiend very candidly confessed that his own lighter and more graceful way of treating a subject ech he understood but superficially ran away wah the applause which was more justly due to the perior information and science of Lord Mac-principles.—ED.] |