another." JOHNSON. "Don't think so, sir. The king is as much oppressed as a man can be. If he plays them one against another, he wins nothing.

I had paid a visit to General Oglethorpe in the morning, and was told by him that Dr. Johnson saw company on Saturday evenings, and he would meet me at Johnson's that night. When I mentioned this to Johnson, not doubting that it would please him, as he had a great value for Oglethorpe, the fretfulness of his disease' unexpectedly showed itself; his anger suddenly kindled, and he said, with vehemence, "Did not you tell him not to come? Am I to be hunted in this manner?" I satisfied him that I could not divine that the visit would not be convenient, and that I certainly could not take it upon me of my own accord to forbid the general.

I found Dr. Johnson in the evening in Mrs. Williams's room, at tea and coffee with her and Mrs. Desmoulins, who were also both ill; it was a sad scene, and he was not in a very good humour. He said of a performance that had lately come out, "Sir, if you should search all the madhouses in England, you would not find ten men who would write so, and think it sense."

I was glad when General Oglethorpe's arrival was announced, and we left the ladies. Dr. Johnson attended him in the parlour, and was as courteous as ever. The general said he was busy reading the writers of the middle age. Johnson said they were very curious. OGLETHORPE. "The house of com

[Johnson evidently suspected that Boswell, with his usual officiousness, had invited Oglethorpe to this unseasonable visit. When Johnson clides his overzealous friend for such intermeddling, Boswell, with easy self-complacency, can discover no cause for the reprimand but Johnson's sickness or ill-humour.ED.]

2

[The editor suspects that “Annus Mirabilis; or, the Eventful Year 1782, an Historical Poem, by the Rev. W. Tasker, author of the Warlike Genius of Britain," (see ante, vol. iv. p. 213) is here meant.-ED.]

VOL. V.

E

mons has usurped' the power of the nation's money and used it tyrannically. Government is now carried on by corrupt influence, instead of the inherent right of the king." JOHNSON. "Sir, the want of inherent right in the king occasions all this disturbance. What we did at the revolution was necessary but it broke our constitution 2." OGLETHORPE. "My father did not think it necessary."

On Sunday, 23d March, I breakfasted with Dr. Johnson, who seemed much relieved, having taken opium the night before. He however protested against it, as a remedy that should be given with the utmost reluctance, and only in extreme necessity. I mentioned how commonly it was used in Turkey, and that therefore it could not be so pernicious as he apprehended. He grew warm, and said, "Turks take opium, and Christians take opium; but Russel, in his account of Aleppo, tells us, that it is as disgraceful in Turkey to take too much opium, as it is with us to get drunk. Sir, it is amazing how things are exaggerated. A gentleman was lately telling in a company where I was present, that in France as soon as a man of fashion marries, he takes an opera girl into keeping; and this he mentioned as a gene

1 [What could General Oglethorpe mean by saying that "the house of commons had usurped the power of the nation's money ?" Since a house of commons has existed, has it not exercised the power of the nation's money? Then when he says that "government was carried on by corrupt influence, instead of the inherent right of the king," he must mean, if he means any thing, that the king ought to rule in his own exclusive right, and by his own despotic will, and without the aid or the control of parliament, whose assent to the measures of the crown must be obtained by influence of some kind, or anarchy must ensue. short, if Mr. Boswell did not make an erroneous note, General Oglethorpe talked nonsense, which indeed there is reason to suspect that this amiable and garrulous old gentleman sometimes did.-ED.]

In

I have, in my "Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides," fully expressed my sentiments upon this subject. The revolution was necessary, but not a subject for glory; because it for a long time blasted the generous feelings of loyalty. And now, when by the benignant effect of time the present royal family are established in our affections, how unwise is it to revive by celebrations the memory of a shock, which it would surely have been better that our constitution had not required!-BOSWELL.

ral custom. Pray, sir,' said I, how many opera girls may there be?' He answered, About fourscore.' Well then, sir,' said I, you see there can be no more than fourscore men of fashion who can do this '.'"

Mrs. Desmoulins made tea; and she and I talked before him upon a topick which he had once borne patiently from me when we were by ourselves,-his not complaining of the world, because he was not called to some great office, nor had attained to great wealth. He flew into a violent passion, I confess with some justice, and commanded us to have done.

A

Nobody," said he, "has a right to talk in this manner, to bring before a man his own character, and the events of his life, when he does not choose it should be done. I never have sought the world; the world was not to seek me. It is rather wonderful that so much has been done for me. All the complaints which are made of the world are unjust. I never knew a man of merit neglected: it was generally by his own fault that he failed of success. man may hide his head in a hole: he may go into the country, and publish a book now and then, which nobody reads, and then complain he is neglected. There is no reason why any person should exert himself for a man who has written a good book: he has not written it for any individual. I may as well make a present to the postman who brings me a letter. When patronage was limited, an authour expected to find a Mæcenas, and complained if he did not find one.

1

Why should he complain? This

[Yes, but it may be doubted whether there were fourscore persons whom the society of Paris would admit to be stric ly and par excellence men of fashion. The fact, thus expressed with colloquial latitude, was substantially true; one of these degrading connexions was considered essential to those who pretended to the title of a man of fashion.-ED.]

Mæcenas has others as good as he, or others who have got the start of him." BosWELL. "But, surely, sir, you will allow that there are men of merit at the bar, who never get practice." JOHNSON. "Sir, you are sure that practice is got from an opinion that the person employed deserves it best; so that if a man of merit at the bar does not get practice, it is from errour, not from injustice. He is not neglected. A horse that is brought to market may not be bought, though he is a very good horse: but that is from ignorance, not from inattention."

There was in this discourse much novelty, ingenuity, and discrimination, such as is seldom to be found. Yet I cannot help thinking that men of merit, who have no success in life, may be forgiven for lamenting, if they are not allowed to complain. They may consider it as hard that their merit should not have its suitable distinction. Though there is no intentional injustice towards them on the part of the world, their merit not having been perceived, they may yet repine against fortune, or fate, or by whatever name they choose to call the supposed mythological power of destiny. It has, however, occurred to me, as a consolatory thought, that men of merit should consider thus:-How much harder would it be, if the same persons had both all the merit and all the prosperity? Would not this be a iniserable distribution for the poor dunces? Would men of merit exchange their intellectual superiority, and the enjoyments arising from it, for external distinction and the pleasures of wealth? If they would not, let them not envy others, who are poor where they are rich, a compensation which is made to them. them look inwards and be satisfied; recollecting with conscious pride what Virgil finely says of the Corycius

Let

Senex, and which I have, in another place', with truth and sincerity applied to Mr. Burke:

"Regum æquabat opes animis.”

On the subject of the right employment of wealth, Johnson observed, "A man cannot make a bad use of his money, so far as regards society, if he does not hoard it; for if he either spends it or lends it out, society has the benefit. It is in general better to spend money than to give it away; for industry is more promoted by spending money than by giving it away. A man who spends his money is sure he is doing good with it: he is not so sure when he gives it away. A man who spends ten thousand a year will do more good than a man who spends two thousand and gives away eight."

In the evening I came to him again. He was somewhat fretful from his illness. A gentleman asked him whether he had been abroad to-day. "Don't talk so childishly," said he. "You may as well ask if I hanged myself to-day." I mentioned politicks. JOHNSON. "Sir, I'd as soon have a man to break my bones as talk to me of publick affairs, internal or external. I have lived to see things all as bad as they can be."

Having mentioned his friend, the second Lord Southwell, he said, "Lord Southwell was the highestbred man without insolence, that I ever was in company with; the most qualitied I ever saw. Lord Orrery was not dignified; Lord Chesterfield was, but he was insolent. Lord ** 3 is a man of coarse

Letter to the People of Scotland against the Attempt to diminish the Number of the Lords of Session, 1785.

[This surely is too broadly stated ;-society is injured when money is spent in profligacy or corruption, or (as in the case of the Egalité Duke of Orleans) in exciting political sedition.-Ed.]

3 [Shelburne, the second Earl, afterwards first Marquis of Lansdowne. -ED.]

4 Geor.

o. 132.