man'. Sooner than hear of the Punic war, he would be rude to the person that introduced the subject 2. Johnson was born a logician; one of those, to whom only books of logic are said to be of use. In consequence of his skill in that art, he loved argumentation. No man thought more profoundly, nor with such acute discernment. A fallacy could not stand before him: it was sure to be refuted by strength of reasoning, and a precision both in idea and expression almost unequalled. When he chose by apt illustration to place the argument of his adversary in a ludicrous light, one was almost inclined to think ridicule the test of truth3. He was surprized to be told, but it is certainly true, that, with great powers of mind, wit and humour were his shining talents. That he often argued for the sake of a triumph over his adversary, cannot be dissembled 5. Dr. Rose, of Chiswick, has been heard to tell of a friend of his, who thanked him for introducing him to Dr. Johnson, as he had been convinced, in the course of a long dispute, that an opinion which he had embraced as a settled truth, was no better than a vulgar error. This being reported 3 Truth, 'tis suppos'd, may bear all Lights: and one of those principal Lights or natural Mediums by which Things are to be view'd, in order to a thorow Recognition, is Ridicule it-self, or that Manner of Proof by which we discern whatever is liable to just Raillery in any subject..... Without Wit and Humour Reason can hardly have its proof, or be distinguish'd.' Shaftesbury's Characteristics, ed. 1714, i. 61, 73. For Warburton's argument that 'reason is the test of ridicule and not ridicule the test of truth,' see The Divine Legation, ed. 1765, i Dedication, p. 15. 'It is commonly said, and more particularly by Lord Shaftesbury, that ridicule is the best test of truth, for that it will not stick where it is not just. I deny it. A truth learned in a certain light, and attacked in certain words, by men of wit and humour, may, and often doth, become ridiculous, at least so far that the truth is only remembered and repeated for the sake of the ridicule.' Chesterfield's Letters, iii. 260. 'Akenside adopted Shaftesbury's foolish assertion of the efficacy of ridicule for the discovery of truth." Johnson's Works, viii. 470. * Ante, p. 287. to to Johnson, Nay,' said he, 'do not let him be thankful, for he was right, and I was wrong.' Like his uncle Andrew, in the ring at Smithfield, Johnson, in a circle of disputants, was determined neither to be thrown nor conquered'. Notwithstanding all his piety, self-government, or the command of his passions in conversation, does not seem to have been among his attainments. Whenever he thought the contention was for superiority, he has been known to break out with violence, and even ferocity. When the fray was over, he generally softened into repentance, and, by conciliating measures, took care that no animosity should be left rankling in the breast of his antagonist. Of this defect he seems to have been conscious. In a letter to Mrs. Thrale 3, he says, 'Poor Baretti! do not quarrel with him; to neglect him a little will be sufficient. He means only to be frank and manly, and independent, and, perhaps, as you say, a little wise. To be frank, he thinks, is to be cynical; and to be independent, is to be rude. Forgive him, dearest lady, the rather, because of his misbehaviour I am afraid he learned part of me. I hope to set him hereafter a better example.' For his own intolerant and overbearing spirit he apologized by observing, that it had done some good; obscenity and impiety were repressed in his company*. It was late in life before he had the habit of mixing, otherwise than occasionally, with polite company. At Mr. Thrale's he 1 Anie, p. 49. 2 Goldsmith sat silently brooding over Johnson's reprimand to him after dinner. Johnson perceived this, and said aside to some of us, "I'll make Goldsmith forgive me;" and then called to him in a loud voice, "Dr. Goldsmith,-something passed to-day where you and I dined; I ask your pardon." Goldsmith answered placidly, "It must be much from you, Sir, that I take ill." And so at once the difference was over.' Life, ii. 256. See post, in Miss Reynolds's Recollections, and in Sir Joshua Reynolds's Character of Johnson. 3 Letters, i. 350. 4 Life, iv. 295. 5 Before his arrival in town he was but little accustomed to free conversation with his superiors.' Hawkins, p. 164. Boswell, speaking of the best families at Lichfield, says:-'In these families he passed much time in his early years. In most of them he was in the company of ladies... so that the notion which has been industriously circulated and believed that he never was in good company till late in life... is wholly without foundation.' Life, i. 82. See post, in Percy's Anecdotes. saw saw a constant succession of well-accomplished visitors. In that society he began to wear off the rugged points of his own character. He saw the advantages of mutual civility, and endeavoured to profit by the models before him1. He aimed at what has been called by Swift the lesser morals, and by Cicero minores virtutes. His endeavour, though new and late, gave pleasure to all his acquaintance. Men were glad to see that he was willing to be communicative on equal terms and reciprocal complacence. The time was then expected when he was to cease being what George Garrick, brother to the celebrated actor, called him the first time he heard him converse, 'A TREMENDOUS COMPANION 3. He certainly wished to be polite, and even thought himself so; but his civility still retained something uncouth and harsh. His manners took a milder tone, but the endeavour was too palpably seen. He laboured even in trifles. He was a giant gaining a purchase to lift a feather. It is observed by the younger Pliny, that in the confines of virtue and great qualities there are generally vices of an opposite nature. In Dr. Johnson not one ingredient can take the name of vice. From his attainments in literature grew the pride Life, i. 495; iii. 325; ante, p. 318. 2 Those inferiour duties of life, which the French call les petites morales, or the smaller morals, are with us distinguished by the name of good manners or breeding.' Swift, Tatler, No. 20. 'Great talents and great virtues (if you should have them) will procure you the respect and the admiration of mankind; but it is the lesser talents, the leniores virtutes, which must procure you their love and affection.' Chesterfield's Letters, ii. 304. 'To kinder skies, where gentler died two days after his brother's funeral. His first question on his entering the theatre after a temporary absence was invariably, "Has my brother wanted me?" Old Charles Bannister, with a sort of tender pleasantry, when he heard of his death said, "His brother wanted him." Garrick Corres., vol. i. Preface, p. 62. 4.666 "Sir, I look upon myself as a very polite man;" and he was right in a proper manly sense of the word.' Life, v. 363. See also ib. iii. 337, and ante, p. 168. 5 'It appears to me that I labour when I say a good thing.' Ib. v. 76. • Purchase used in this sense is not in Johnson's Dictionary. of of knowledge; and from his powers of reasoning, the love of disputation and the vain-glory of superior vigour. His piety, in some instances, bordered on superstition. He was willing to believe in preternatural agency, and thought it not more strange that there should be evil spirits than evil men'. Even the question about second-sight held him in suspense. 'Secondsight,' Mr. Pennant tells us, 'is a power of seeing images impressed on the organs of sight by the power of fancy, or on the fancy by the disordered spirits operating on the mind. It is the faculty of seeing spectres or visions, which represent an event actually passing at a distance, or likely to happen at a future day. In 1771, a gentleman, the last who was supposed to be possessed of this faculty, had a boat at sea in a tempestuous night, and, being anxious for his freight, suddenly started up, and said his men would be drowned, for he had seen them pass before him with wet garments and dropping locks. The event corresponded with his disordered fancy. And thus,' continues Mr. Pennant, 'a distempered imagination, clouded with anxiety, may make an impression on the spirits; as persons, restless and troubled with indignation, see various forms and figures while they lie awake in bed. This is what Dr. Johnson was not willing to reject 3. He wished for some positive proof of communications with another world. His benevolence embraced the whole race of man, and yet was tinctured with particular prejudices. He was pleased with the minister in the Isle of Sky, and loved him so much that he began to wish him not a Presbyterians. ' Life, v. 45. 2 Apparently quoted from Pennant's Tour in Scotland, 1769, 4th ed., p. 198. 3 Johnson (Works, ix. 107) thus sums up his examination of secondsight: There is against it, the seeming analogy of things confusedly seen, and little understood; and for it, the indistinct cry of natural persuasion, which may be, perhaps, resolved at last into prejudice and tradition. I never could advance my curiosity to conviction; but came away at last only willing to believe.' To that body of Dissenters his zeal for the Established Church made him in some degree an adversary; and his attachment to a mixed and limited Monarchy led him to declare open war against what he called a sullen Republican'. He would rather praise a man of Oxford than of Cambridge'. He disliked a Whig, and loved a Tory. These were the shades of his character, which it has been the business of certain party-writers to represent in the darkest colours 3. Since virtue, or moral goodness, consists in a just conformity of our actions to the relations in which we stand to the Supreme Being and to our fellow-creatures, where shall we find a man who has been, or endeavoured to be, more diligent in the discharge of those essential duties? His first prayer was composed in 1738; he continued those fervent ejaculations of piety to the end of his life. In his meditations we see him scrutinizing himself with severity, and aiming at perfection unattainable by man. His duty to his neighbour consisted in universal benevolence, and a constant aim at the production of happiness. Who was more sincere and steady in his friendships? It has been said that there was no real affection between him and Garrick. On the part of the latter, there might be some corrosions of jealousy. The character of PROSPERO, in the Rambler, No. 200, was, beyond all question, occasioned by Garrick's ostentatious display of furniture and Dresden china 3. It was surely fair to take from this incident a hint for a moral to Garrick was ever austere, like that of a schoolmaster to one of his scholars.' Percy says that 'Johnson kept Garrick much in awe.' Life, i. 99, n. I. Boswell describes how one evening 'Garrick played round Johnson with a fond vivacity, taking hold of the breasts of his coat, and, looking up in his face with a lively archness, complimented him on the good health which he seemed then to enjoy; while the sage, shaking his head, beheld him with a gentle complacency.' Ib. ii. 82. 5 lb. i. 216. essay; |