not commit adultery." son: "You are wrong," said John"it is a negative precept, and ought to be pronounced, "Thou shalt not commit adultery. (1) 217. Warburton. When a Scotsman was talking against Warburton, Johnson said, he had more literature than had been im. ported from Scotland since the days of Buchanan. Upon his mentioning other eminent writers of the Scots "These will not do," said Johnson; "let us have some more of your northern lights; these are mere farthing candles.' To a person who asked "whether he had ever been in with Dr. Warburton," he answered, company 66 Ι never saw him till one evening, about a week ago, at the Bishop of St. Asaph's: at first he looked surlily at me; but after we had been jostled into conversation, he took me to a window, asked me some questions, and before we parted was so well pleased with me that he patted me." "You always, Sir, preserved a respect for him? " "Yes, and justly; when as yet I was in no favour with the world, he spoke well of me (2), and I hope I never forgot the obligation." 218. Authors. To a lady who signified a great desire to increase her acquaintance with authors, conceiving that more might be learned from their conversation and manner of living, than from their works, “Madam,” said he, "the best part of an author will always be found in his writings." 219. Complainers. 66 Complainers," said he, are always loud and clamorous." (1) See antè, Vol. I. p. 193. (2) In his Preface to Shakspeare. — C. 220. Lord Chesterfield's Son. Johnson said that he had once seen Mr. Stanhope, Lord Chesterfield's son (1), at Dodsley's shop, and was so much struck with his awkward manner and appearance, that he could not help asking Mr. Dodsley who he was. 221. Fear of Death. To his censure of fear (2) in general, he made, however, one exception with respect to the fear of death, timorum maximus: he thought that the best of us were but unprofitable servants, and had much reason to fear. 222. Dr. Birch. Of Dr. Birch, Johnson was used to speak in this manner: "Tom is a lively rogue; he remembers a great deal, and can tell many pleasant stories; but a pen is to Tom a torpedo, the touch of it benumbs his hand and his brain: Tom can talk; but he is no writer." 223. Lyttelton and the Leasowes." Johnson's account of Lord Lyttelton's envy to Shenstone for his improvements in his grounds, &c. was confirmed by an ingenious writer. Spence was in the house for a fortnight with the Lytteltons before they offered to show him Shenstone's place. He has been accused of treating Lord Lyttelton roughly in his life of him: he assured a friend, however, that he kept back a very ridiculous anecdote of him, relative to a question he put to a great divine of his time. 224. Public Opinion. Dr. Johnson held all authors very cheap that were not satisfied with the opinion of the public about them. He used to say, that every man who writes thinks he (1) [The natural son to whom Lord Chesterfield addressed the celebrated Letters on Manners.] (2) [See antè, Vol. V. p. 231., and p. 123. of this volume.] can amuse or inform mankind, and they must be the best judges of his pretensions. 225. Puns. Though no great friend to puns, he once, by accident, made a singular one. A person who affected to live after the Greek manner, and to anoint himself with oil, was one day mentioned: Johnson, in the course of conversation on the singularity of his practice, gave him the denomination of this man of Greece (or grease, as you please to take it). 226. Society and Retirement. He thought worse of the vices of retirement than of those of society. 227. The Law. He thought very favourably of the profession of the law, and said that the sages thereof, for a long series backward, had been friends to religion. Fortescue says, that their afternoon's employment was the study of the Scriptures. (1) (1) Lord Coke, in his Institutes, 1. ii. c. 1. s. 85., quotes these ancient, as he calls them, verses, recommending a proper distribution of the time of a law-student. "Sex horas somno, totidem des legibus æquis, Quatuor orabis, des epulisque duas; Quod superest ultrò sacris largire Camænis." Of these Sir William Jones made two versions: "Six hours to sleep, to law's grave study six; Four spend in prayer - the rest on nature fix: " rather (he adds), "Six hours to law, to soothing slumber seven; It is not very clear what nature in the first version means; in the second Sir William has shortened his day to twenty-three hours: and the general advice" of all to Heaven" destroys the peculiar appropriation of a certain period to religious exercises. The following version, if less poetical, is at least more exact : "Six hours to sleep devote- to law the same; Pray four, feast two- the rest the Muses claim."- C. 228. The Old English Divines. That Johnson owed his excellence as a writer to the divines and others of the last century, I can attest. Hooker he admired for his logical precision, Sanderson for his acuteness, and Taylor for his amazing erudition; Sir Thomas Browne for his penetration, and Cowley for the ease and unaffected structure of his periods. The tinsel of Sprat disgusted him, and he could but just endure the smooth verbosity of Tillotson. Hammond and Barrow he thought involved, and of the latter that he was unnecessarily prolix. 229. "Fiat experimentum in corpore vili." He was much pleased with the following repartee : "Fiat experimentum in corpore vili," said a French physician to his colleague, in speaking of the disorder of a poor man that understood Latin, and who was brought into an hospital; "Corpus non tam vile est," says the patient, " pro quo Christus ipse non dedignatus est mori." 230. Hume. He would never hear Hume mentioned with any temper. "A man," said he, "who endeavoured to persuade his friend, who had the stone, to shoot himself!" 231. Madness. He was a great enemy to the present fashionable way of supposing worthless and infamous persons mad. 232. A Scoundrel. Dr. Johnson used to say a man was a scoundrel who was afraid of any thing. He thought of Dr. Clarke, whose sermons he valued above all others, that he complied too frequently with invitations to dine with persons of high rank, his parishioners, and spent too much of his time in ceremonious visits differing, in this respect, from his contemporary Smalridge, the elegant Favonius of the Tatler, who, in the height of his reputation as a preacher, was ever ready to visit a sick person in the most obscure alley of Westminster. 234. Biography. When accused of mentioning ridiculous anecdotes in the "Lives of the Poets," he said, he should not have been an exact biographer if he had omitted them. "The business of such a one," said he, "is to give a complete account of the person whose life he is writing, and to discriminate him from all other persons, by any peculiarities of character or sentiments he may happen to have." 235. Round Numbers. 66 "Round numbers," said he, are always false.” 236. Friendships. He once mentioned to me a saying of Dr. Nicholls, and highly commended it; namely, that it was a point of wisdom to form intimacies, and choose for our friends only persons of known worth and integrity; and that to do so had been the rule of his life. 237. Story Telling. 66 Being once asked, if he ever embellished a story "No," said he ; a story is to lead either to the knowledge of a fact or character, and is good for nothing if it be not strictly and literally true.' |