Page images
PDF
EPUB

In a man whom religious education has secured from licentious indulgences, the passion of love, when once it has seized him, is exceed ingly strong; being unimpaired by dissipation and totally concentrated in one object. This was experienced by Johnson, when he became

ago, that a a young fellow had a sprig of myrtle given him by a girl he courted, and asked me to write him some verses that he might present her in return. I promised, but forgot; and when he called for his lines at the time agreed on, "Sit still a moment," says I, "dear Mund, and I'll fetch them thee;" so stepped aside for five minutes, and wrote the nonsense you now keep such a stir about.'-Anecdotes, p. 34.

In my first edition I was induced to doubt the authenticity of this account, by the following circumstantial statement in a letter to me from Miss Seward, of Lichfield - I know those verses were addressed to Lucy Porter, when he was enamoured of her in his boyish days, two or three years before he had seen her mother, his future wife. He wrote them at my grandfather's, and gave them to Lucy in the presence of my mother, to whom he showed them on the instant. She used to repeat them to me, when I asked her for the verses Dr. Johnson gave her, "On a Sprig of Myrtle," which he had stolen or begged from her bosom. We all know honest Lucy Porter to have been incapable of the mean vanity of applying to herself a compliment not intended for her.' Such was this lady's statement, which I make no doubt she supposed to be correct; but it shows how dangerous it is to trust too impli citly to traditional testimony and ingenious inference; for Mr. Hector has lately assured me that Mrs. Piozzi's account is in this instance accurate, and that he was the person for whom Johnson wrote those verses, which have been erroneously ascribed to Mr. Hammond.

I am obliged in so many instances to notice Mrs. Piozzi's incorrectness of relation, that I gladly seize this opportunity of acknowledging that, however often, she is not always inaccurate.

The author having been drawn into a controversy with Miss Anna Seward, in consequence of the preceding statement (which may be found in the Gentleman's Magazine, vols. lxiii. and lxiv.), received the following letter from Mr. Edmund Hector on the subject:

'DEAR SIR,-I am sorry to see you are engaged in altercation with a lady who seems unwilling to be convinced of her errors. Surely it would be more ingenuous to acknowledge than to persevere.

'Lately, in looking over some papers I meant to burn, I found the original manuscript of The Myrtle, with the date on it, 1731, which I have enclosed.

the fervent admirer of Mrs. Porter, after her first husband's death.' Miss Porter told me, that when he was first introduced to her mother, his appearance was very forbidding; he was then lean and lank, so that his immense structure of bones was hideously striking to the eye, and the scars of the scrofula were deeply visible. He also wore his hair, which was straight and stiff, and separated behind; and he often had seemingly convulsive starts and odd gesticulations, which tended to excite at once surprise and ridicule. Mrs. Porter was so much engaged by his conversation, that she overlooked all these external disadvantages, and said to her daughter, 'This is the most sensible man that I ever saw in my life.'

Though Mrs. Porter was double the age of Johnson,2 and her person and manner, as described to me by the late Mr. Garrick, were by no means pleasing to others, she must have had a superiority of understanding and talents,* as she certainly inspired him with a more than ordinary passion; and she having signified her willingness to accept of his hand, he went to

and to exhibit to the public the truth of your narrative, you are at liberty to make what use you please of this statement.

'I hope you will pardon me for taking up so much of your time. Wishing you multos et felices annos, I shall subscribe myself, your obliged humble servant, 'E. HECTOR.

[ocr errors]

BIRMINGHAM, Jan. 9, 1794.'-BOSWELL.

1 It appears from Mr. Hector's letter that Johnson became acquainted with her three years before he married her.-MALONE.

2 Mrs. Johnson's maiden name was Jervis. Though there was a great disparity of years between her and Dr. Johnson, she was not quite so old as she is here represented, having only completed her forty-eighth year in the month of February preceding her marriage, as appears by the following extract from the parish register of Great Peatling, in Leicestershire, which was obligingly made at my request, by the Hon. and Rev. Mr. Ryder, Rector of Lutterworth, in that county :

'Anno Dom. 1688-9. Elizabeth, the daughter of William Jervis, Esq., and Mrs. Anne, his wife, born the fourth day of February and mané, baptized 16th day of the same month by Mr. Smith, Curate of Little Peatling. JOHN ALLEN, Vicar.'

The family of Jervis, Mr. Ryder informs me, once possessed nearly the whole lordship of Great Peatling (about 2000 acres), and there are many monuments of them in the church; but the estate is now much reduced. The present representative of this ancient family is Mr. Charles Jervis of Hinckley, Attorney

The true history (which I could swear to) is as follows:-Mr. Morgan Graves, the elder brother of a worthy clergyman near Bath, with whom I was acquainted, waited upon a lady in this neighbourhood, who at parting presented him the branch. He showed it me, and wished much to return the compli-at-Law.-MALONE. ment in verse. I applied to Johnson, who was with me, and in about half an hour dictated the verses which I sent to my friend.

'I most solemnly declare, at that time, Johnson was an entire stranger to the Porter family; and it was almost two years after that I introduced him to the acquaintance of Porter, whom I bought my clothes of.

'If you intend to convince this obstinate woman,

3 That in Johnson's eyes she was handsome, appears from the epitaph which he caused to be inscribed on her tombstone not long before his own death, and which may be found in a subsequent page, under the year 1752.-MALONE.

The following account of Mrs. Johnson and her family is copied from a paper (chiefly relating to Mrs. Anna Williams) written by Lady Knight at Rome, and transmitted by her to the late John Hoole,

Lichfield to ask his mother's consent to the marriage, which he could not but be conscious was a very imprudent scheme, both on account of their disparity of years and her want of fortune. But Mrs. Johnson knew too well the ardour of her son's temper, and was too tender a parent to oppose his inclinations.

I know not for what reason the marriage ceremony was not performed at Birmingham; but a resolution was taken that it should be at Derby, for which place the bride and bridegroom set out on horseback, I suppose in very good humour. But though Mr. Topham Beauclerk used archly to mention Johnson's having told him with much gravity, 'Sir, it was a love marriage on both sides,' I have heard from my illustrious friend the following curious account of their journey to church upon the nuptial morn [9th July]:-'Sir, she had read the old romances, and had got into her head the fantastical notion that a woman of spirit should use her lover like a dog. So, sir, at first she told me that I rode too fast, and she could not keep up with me; and when I rode a little slower, she passed me, and complained that I lagged behind. I was not to be made the slave of caprice; and I resolved to begin as I meant to end. I therefore pushed on briskly, till I was fairly out of her sight. The road lay between two hedges, so I was sure she could not miss it; and I contrived that she should soon come up with me. When she did, I observed her to be in tears.

This, it must be allowed, was a singular beginning of connubial felicity; but there is no doubt that Johnson, though he thus showed a manly firmness, proved a most affectionate and

Esq., the translator of Metastasio, etc., by whom it was inserted in the European Magazine for October 1799:

'Mrs. Williams' account of Mrs. Johnson was, that she had a good understanding, and great sensibility, but inclined to be satirical. Her first husband died insolvent. Her sons were much disgusted with her for her second marriage, perhaps because they, being struggling to get advanced in life, were mortified to think she had allied herself to a man who had not any visible means of being useful to them; however, she always retained her affection for them. While they [Dr. and Mrs. Johnson] resided in Gough Square, her son, the officer, knocked at the door, and asked the maid if her mistress was at home. She answered, "Yes, sir, but she is sick in bed." "Oh," says he, "if it's so, tell her that her son Jervis called to know how she did;" and was going away. The maid begged she might run up to tell her mistress, and, without attending his answer, left him. Mrs. Johnson, enraptured to hear her son was below, desired the maid to tell him she longed to embrace him. When the maid descended, the gentleman was gone, and poor Mrs. Johnson was much agitated by the adventure: it was the only time he ever made an effort to see her. Dr. Johnson did all he could to console his wife, but told Mrs. Williams, "Her son is

indulgent husband to the last moment of Mrs. Johnson's life and in his Prayers and Meditations we find very remarkable evidence that his regard and fondness for her never ceased, even after her death.

He now set up a private academy, for which purpose he hired a large house, well situated near his native city.. In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1736 there is the following advertisement:

'At EDIAL, near Lichfield, in Staffordshire, young gentlemen are boarded and taught the Latin and Greek languages by SAMUEL JOHNSON.'

But the only pupils that were put under his care were the celebrated David Garrick and his brother George, and a Mr. Offely, a young gentleman of good fortune, who died early. As yet his name had nothing of that celebrity which afterwards commanded the highest attention and respect of mankind. Had such an advertisement appeared after the publication of his London, or his Rambler, or his Dictionary, how would it have burst upon the world! with what eagerness would the great and the wealthy have embraced an opportunity of putting their sons under the learned tuition of SAMUEL JOHNSON! The truth, however, is, that he was not so well qualified for being a teacher of elements, and a conductor in learning by regular gradations, as men of inferior powers of mind. His own acquisitions had been made by fits and starts, by violent irruptions in the regions of knowledge; and it could not be expected that his impatience would be subdued, and his impetuosity restrained, so as to fit him for a quiet guide to novices. The art of communicating instruction, of whatever

uniformly undutiful; so I conclude, like many other sober men, he might once in his life be drunk, and in that fit nature got the better of his pride."'

The following anecdotes of Dr. Johnson are recorded by the same lady:

'One day that he came to my house to meet many others, we told him that we had arranged our party to go to Westminster Abbey: would not he go with us? "No," he replied, “not while I can keep out."

[ocr errors]

'Upon our saying that the friends of a lady had been in great fear lest she should make a certain match, he said, "We that are his friends have had great fears for him."

'Dr. Johnson's political principles ran high, both in Church and State. He wished power to the King and to the heads of the Church, as the laws of England have established; but I know he disliked absolute power. And I am very sure of his disapprobation of the doctrines of the Church of Rome; because, about three weeks before we came abroad, he said to my Cornelia, "You are going where the ostentatious pomp of church ceremonies attracts the imagination; but if they want to persuade you to change, you must remember that, by increasing your faith, you may be persuaded to become Turk." It these were not the words, I have kept up to the express meaning.'-MALONE.

kind, is much to be valued; and I have ever thought that those who devote themselves to this employment, and do their duty with diligence and success, are entitled to very high respect from the community, as Johnson himself often maintained. Yet I am of opinion that the greatest abilities are not only not required for this office, but render a man less fit for it. While we acknowledge the justness of Thomson's beautiful remark,

'Delightful task! to rear the tender thought, And teach the young idea how to shoot!' we must consider that this delight is perceptible only by a mind at ease,' a mind at once calm and clear: but that a mind gloomy and impetuous like that of Johnson, cannot be fixed for any length of time in minute attention, and must be so frequently irritated by unavoidable slowness and error in the advances of scholars, as to perform the duty with little pleasure to the teacher, and no great advantage to the pupils. Good temper is a most essential requisite in a preceptor. Horace paints the character as bland:

Ut pueris olim dant crustula blandi
Doctores, elementa velint ut discere prima.'

Johnson was not more satisfied with his situation as the master of an academy, than with that of the usher of a school; we need not wonder, therefore, that he did not keep his academy above a year and a half. From Mr. Garrick's account, he did not appear to have been profoundly reverenced by his pupils. His oddities of manner and uncouth gesticulations could not but be the subject of merriment to them; and in particular, the young rogues used to listen at the door of his bed-chamber, and peep through the keyhole, that they might turn into ridicule his tumultuous and awkward fondness for Mrs. Johnson, whom he used to name by the familiar appellation of Tetty or Tetsey, which, like Betty or Betsey, is provincially used as a contraction for Elizabeth, her Christian name, but which to us seems ludicrous when applied to a woman of her age and appearance. Mr. Garrick described her to me as very fat, with a bosom of more than ordinary protuberance, with swelled cheeks, of a florid red, produced by thick painting, and increased by the liberal use of cordials; flaring and fantastic in her dress, and affected both in her speech and her general behaviour. I have seen Garrick exhibit her by his exquisite talent of mimicry, so as to excite the heartiest bursts of laughter; but he, probably, as is the case in all such representations, considerably aggravated the picture.

That Johnson well knew the most proper course to be pursued in the instruction of youth, is authentically ascertained by the following paper in his own handwriting given about this

period to a relation, and now in the possession of Mr. John Nichols :

SCHEME FOR THE CLASSES OF A GRAMMAR
SCHOOL.

'When the introduction, or formation of nouns and verbs, is perfectly mastered, let them learn

'Corderius by Mr. Clarke, beginning at the same time to translate out of the introduction, that by this means they may learn the syntax. Then let them proceed to

'Erasmus, with an English translation, by the same author.

'Class II. Learns Eutropius and Cornelius Nepos, or Justin, with the translation.

'N.B. The first class gets for their part every morning the rules which they have learned before, and in the afternoon learns the Latin rules of the nouns and verbs.

'They are examined in the rules which they have learned, every Thursday and Saturday.

'The second class does the same whilst they are in Eutropius; afterwards their part is in the irregular nouns and verbs, and in the rules for making and scanning verses. They are examined as the first.

'Class III. Ovid's Metamorphoses in the morning, and Cæsar's Commentaries in the afternoon.

'Practice in the Latin rules till they are perfect in them; afterwards in Mr. Leeds' Greek Grammar. Examined as before.

'Afterwards they proceed to Virgil, beginning at the same time to write themes and verses, and to learn Greek; from thence passing on to Horace, etc., as shall seem most proper.

[blocks in formation]

which knowledge is of little use. This is neces-
sary in Latin, and more necessary in English;
and can only be acquired by a daily imitation of
the best and correctest authors.
'SAM. JOHNSON.'

They were recommended to Mr. Colson,' an eminent mathematician and master of an academy, by the following letter from Mr. Walmesley :

'TO THE REVEREND MR. COLSON.

While Johnson kept his academy, there can 'LICHFIELD, March 2, 1737. be no doubt that he was insensibly furnishing 'DEAR SIR,-I had the favour of yours, and his mind with various knowledge; but I have am extremely obliged to you ; but I cannot say not discovered that he wrote anything except I had a greater affection for you upon it than I a great part of his tragedy of Irene. Mr. had before, being long since so much endeared Peter Garrick, the elder brother of David, told to you, as well by an early friendship as by me that he remembered Johnson's borrowing your many excellent and valuable qualifications; the Turkish History of him, in order to form his and had I a son of my own, it would be my play from it. When he had finished some part ambition, instead of sending him to the uniof it, he read what he had done to Mr. Walmes-versity, to dispose of him as this young gentleley, who objected to his having already brought his heroine into great distress, and asked him, 'How can you contrive to plunge her into deeper calamity?' Johnson, in sly allusion to the supposed oppressive proceedings of the court of which Mr. Walmesley was registrar, replied, 'Sir, I can put her into the Spiritual Court!'

man is.

'He, and another neighbour of mine, one Mr. Samuel Johnson, set out this morning for London together. Davy Garrick is to be with you early the next week, and Mr. Johnson to try his fate with a tragedy, and to see to get himself employed in some translation, either from the Latin or the French. Johnson is a very good

Mr. Walmesley, however, was well pleased with this proof of Johnson's abilities as a dra-scholar and poet, and I have great hopes will matic writer, and advised him to finish the tragedy and produce it on the stage.

CHAPTER V.

1737-1741.

JOHNSON now thought of trying his fortune in London, the great field of genius and exertion, where talents of every kind have the fullest scope and the highest encouragement. It is a memorable circumstance that his pupil' David Garrick went thither at the same time," with intent to complete his education, and follow the profession of the law, from which he was soon diverted by his decided preference for the stage.

This joint expedition of those two eminent men to the metropolis, was many years afterwards noticed in an allegorical poem on Shakspeare's mulberry-tree, by Mr. Lovibond, the ingenious author of The Tears of Old Mayday.

Both of them used to talk pleasantly of this their first journey to London. Garrick, evidently meaning to embellish a little, said one day in my hearing, 'We rode and tied.' And the Bishop of Killaloe (Dr. Barnard) informed me, that at another time, when Johnson and Garrick were dining together in a pretty large company, Johnson, humorously ascertaining the chronology of something, expressed himself thus: That was the year when I came to London with twopence halfpenny in my pocket.' Garrick, overhearing him, exclaimed, Eh? what do you say?-with twopence halfpenny in your pocket?' Johnson: Why, yes; when I came with twopence halfpenny in my pocket, and thou, Davy, with three halfpence in thine.'-BOSWELL.

turn out a fine tragedy-writer. If it should in
any way lie in your way, doubt not but you
would be ready to recommend and assist your
countryman.
'G. WALMESLEY.'

How he employed himself upon his first coming to London is not particularly known.2 I never heard that he found any protection or encouragement by the means of Mr. Colson, to whose academy David Garrick went. Mrs. Lucy Porter told me that Mr. Walmesley gave

him a letter of introduction to Lintot, his book

seller, and that Johnson wrote some things for him; but I imagine this to be a mistake, for I have discovered no trace of it, and I am pretty

1 The Reverend John Colson was bred at Emanuel College, Cambridge, and in 1728, when George the Second visited that University, was created Master of Arts. About that time he became First Master of the Free School at Rochester, founded by Sir Joseph Williamson. In 1739 he was appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in the University of Cambridge, on the death of Professor Sanderson, and held that office till 1759, when he died. He published Lectures on Experimental Philosophy, translated from the French of l'Abbé Nodet, Svo, 1732, and some other tracts. Our author, it is believed, was mistaken in stating him to have been Master of an Academy. Garrick, probably, during his short residence at Rochester, lived in his house as a private pupil.— BOSWELL.

The character of Gelidus, the philosopher, in the Rambler (No. 24), was meant to represent this gentleman. See Mrs. Piozzi's Anecdotes, etc., p. 49.MALONE.

2 One curious anecdote was communicated by himself to Mr. John Nichols. Mr. Wilcox the bookseller, on being informed by him that his intention was to get his livelihood as an author, eyed his robust frame

sure he told me that Mr. Cave was the first publisher by whom his pen was engaged in London.

He had a little money when he came to town, and he knew how he could live in the cheapest manner. His first lodgings were at the house of Mr. Norris, a staymaker, in Exeter Street, adjoining Catherine Street, in the Strand. 'I dined,' said he, 'very well for eightpence, with very good company, at the Pine Apple, in New Street, just by. Several of them had travelled. They expected to meet every day, but did not know one another's names. It used to cost the rest a shilling, for they drank wine; but I had a cut of meat for sixpence, and bread for a penny, and gave the waiter a penny; so that I was quite well served, nay, better than the rest, for they gave the waiter nothing.' He at this time, I believe, abstained entirely from fermented liquors; a practice to which he rigidly conformed for many years together, at different periods of his life.

in the early part of his life, and particularly at the interesting æra of his launching into the ocean of London, it is not to be wondered at, that an actual instance, proved by experience, of the possibility of enjoying the intellectual luxury of social life upon a very small income should deeply engage his attention, and be ever recollected by him as a circumstance of much importance. He amused himself, I remember, by computing how much more expense was absolutely necessary to live upon the same scale with that which his friend described, when the value of money was diminished by the progress of commerce. It may be estimated that double the money might now with difficulty be sufficient.

[ocr errors][merged small]

entertained, and had an opportunity of meeting
genteel company. Not very long before his
death, he mentioned this, among other particu-
lars of his life which he was kindly communi-
cating to me; and he described this early
friend, 'Harry Hervey,' thus: 'He was a
vicious man, but very kind to me. If you call
a dog Hervey, I shall love him.'
He told me he had now only written three
acts of his Irene, and that he retired for
some time to lodgings at Greenwich, where
he proceeded in it somewhat further, and
used to compose walking in the park, but
did not stay long enough at that place to
finish it.

His Ofellus,' in the Art of Living in Lon-house in London, where Johnson was frequently don, I have heard him relate, was an Irish painter, whom he knew at Birmingham, and who had practised his own precepts of economy for several years in the British capital. He assured Johnson-who, I suppose, was then meditating to try his fortune in London, but was apprehensive of the expense-'that thirty pounds a year was enough to enable a man to live there without being contemptible. He allowed ten pounds for clothes and linen. He said a man might live in a garret at eighteenpence a week; few people would inquire where he lodged; and if they did, it was easy to say, "Sir, I am to be found at such a place." By spending threepence in a coffeehouse, he might be for some hours every day in very good company; he might dine for sixpence, breakfast on bread and milk for a penny, and do without supper. On clean-shirt-day he went abroad, and paid visits.' I have heard him more than once talk of his frugal friend, whom he recollected with esteem and kindness, and did not like to have one smile at the recital. 'This man,' said he gravely, 'was a very sensible man, who perfectly understood common affairs; a man of a great deal of knowledge of the world, fresh from life, not strained through books.

He borrowed a horse and ten pounds at Birmingham. Finding himself master of so much money, he set off for West Chester, in order to get to Ireland. He returned the horse, and probably the ten pounds too, after he got home.'

Considering Johnson's narrow circumstances

attentively, and with a significant look, said, 'You had better buy a porter's knot.' He however added, 'Wilcox was one of my best friends.'-BOSWELL.

1 Ofellus was a philosophic countryman, commemorated by Horace, Sat. ii. lib. 2.-BOSWELL.

At this period we find the following letter from him to Mr. Edward Cave, which, as a link in the chain of his literary history, it is proper to insert :

TO MR. CAVE.

'GREENWICH, next door to the Golden Heart, CHURCH STREET, July 12, 1737. 'SIR,-Having observed in your papers very uncommon offers of encouragement to men of letters, I have chosen, being a stranger in Lon

The Honourable Henry Hervey, third son of the first Earl of Bristol, quitted the army and took orders. He married a sister of Sir Thomas Ayston, by whom he got the Aston estate, and assumed the name and arms of that family.-BOSWELL.

The Honourable Henry Hervey was nearly of the same age with Johnson, having been born about nine months before him, in the year 1709. He married Catherine, the sister of Sir Thomas Aston, in 1739; and as that lady had seven sisters, she probably succeeded to the Aston estate on the death of her brother under his will. Mr. Hervey took the degree of Master of Arts at Cambridge, at the late age of thirty-five, in 1744; about which time, it is believed, he entered into holy orders.-MALONE.

« PreviousContinue »