Hawk. p. 512, 513. Tene mulceri fidibus canoris ? Currere formas ? Inter equales, sine felle liber, Codices, veri studiosus, inter, Rectius vives: sua quisque carpat Gaudia gratus. Lusibus gaudet puer otiosis, At seni, fluxo sapienter uti Tempore restat. [The publication of Johnson's political tracts exhibited him to the world in a new character: he ceased now to be considered as one who, having been occupied in literary studies, and more conversant with books than with men, knew little of active life, the views of parties, or the artifices of designing men: on the contrary, they discovered that he had, by the force of his own genius, and the observations he had made on the history of our own and other countries, attained to such skill in the grand leading principles of political science, as are seldom acquired by those in the most active and important stations, even after long experience; and that, whatever opinions he might have formed on this subject, he had ability by strong reasoning to defend, and by a manly and convincing eloquence to enforce. Mr. Thrale, a man of slow conceptions, but of a sound judgment, was not one of the last that discerned in his friend this talent, and believing that the exercise of it might redound to the benefit of the publick, entertained a design of bringing Johnson into parliament. We must suppose that he had previously determined to furnish him with a legal qualification, and Johnson, it is certain, was willing to accept the trust. Mr. Thrale had two meetings with the minister, who, at first, seemed inclined to find him a seat; but, whether upon conversation he doubted his fitness for his purpose, or that he thought himself in no need of his assistance, the project failed.] Mr. Strahan, the printer, who had been long in intimacy with Johnson, in the course of his literary labours, who was at once his friendly agent in receiving his pension for him, and his banker in supplying him with money when he wanted it; who was himself now a member of parliament, and who loved much to be employed in political negotiation; thought he should do eminent service, both to government and Johnson, if he could be the means of his getting a seat in the house of commons. With this view, he wrote a letter to one of the secretaries of the treasury', of which he gave me a copy, in his own handwriting, which is as follows: 66 "New-street, March 30, 1771. SIR,-You will easily recollect, when I had the honour of waiting upon you some time ago, I took the liberty to observe to you, that Dr. Johnson would make an excellent figure in the house of commons, and heartily wished he had a seat there. My reasons are briefly these: "I know his perfect good affection to his majesty, and his government, which I am certain he wishes to support by every means in his power. "He possesses a great share of manly, nervous, and ready eloquence; is quick in discerning the strength and weakness of an argument; can express himself with clearness and precision, and fears the face of no man alive. "His known character as a man of extraordinary sense and unimpeached virtue would secure him the attention of the house, and could not fail to give him proper weight there. "He is capable of the greatest application, and can undergo any degree of labour, where he sees it necessary, and where his heart and affections are strongly engaged. His majesty's ministers might therefore securely depend on his doing, upon every proper occasion, the utmost that could be expected from him. They would find him ready to vindicate such measures as tended to promote the stability of government, and resolute and steady in carrying them into execution. Nor is any thing 1 [The secretaries of the treasury, at this time, were Sir Grey Cooper and James West, Esq.-ED.] to be apprehended from the supposed impetuosity of his temper. To the friends of the king you will find him a lamb, to his enemies a lion. "For these reasons, I humbly apprehend that he would be a very able and useful member. And I will venture to say, the employment would not be disagreeable to him; and knowing, as I do, his strong affection to the king, his ability to serve him in that capacity, and the extreme ardour with which I am convinced he would engage in that service, I must repeat, that I wish most heartily to see him in the house. "If you think this worthy of attention, you will be pleased to take a convenient opportunity of mentioning it to Lord North. If his lordship should happily approve of it, I shall have the satisfaction of having been, in some degree, the humble instrument of doing my country, in my opinion, a very essential service. I know your good-nature, and your zeal for the publick welfare, will plead my excuse for giving you this trouble. I am, with the greatest respect, sir, your most obedient and humble servant, "WILLIAM STRAHAN." This recommendation, we know, was not effectual; but how, or for what reason, can only be conjectured'. It is not to be believed that Mr. Strahan would have applied, unless Johnson had approved of it. I never heard him mention the subject; but at a later period of his life, when Sir Joshua Reynolds told him that Mr. Edmund Burke had said, that if he had come early into parliament, he certainly would have been the greatest speaker that ever was there, Johnson exclaimed, "I should like to try my hand now." It has been much agitated among his friends and others, whether he would have been a powerful speaker in parliament, had he been brought in when advanced in life. I am inclined to think, that his extensive knowledge, his quickness and force of mind, his vivacity and richness of expression, his wit and 1 [Lord Stowell has told the editor, that it was understood amongst Johnson's friends that "Lord North was afraid that Johnson's help (as he himself said of Lord Chesterfield's) might have been sometimes embarrassing." "He perhaps thought, and not unreasonably,” added Lord Stowell, "that, like the elephant in the battle, he was quite as likely to trample down his friends as his foes."-ED.] humour, and above all, his poignancy of sarcasm, would have had great effect in a popular assembly; and that the magnitude of his figure, and striking peculiarity of his manner, would have aided the effect. But I remember it was observed by Mr. Flood, that Johnson, having been long used to sententious brevity, and the short flights of conversation, might have failed in that continued and expanded kind of argument, which is requisite in stating complicated matters in publick speaking; and as a proof of this he mentioned the supposed speeches in parliament written by him for the magazine, none of which, in his opinion, were at all like real debates. The opinion of one who was himself so eminent an orator, must be allowed to have great weight. It was confirmed by Sir William Scott [Lord Stowell], who mentioned that Johnson had told him, that he had several times tried to speak in the Society of Arts and Manufactures, but "had found he could not get on." From Mr. William Gerard Hamilton I have heard, that Johnson, when observing to him that it was prudent for a man who had not been accustomed to speak in publick, to begin his speech in as simple a manner as possible, acknowledged that he rose in that society to deliver a speech which he had prepared; "but," said he, "all my flowers of oratory forsook me." I however cannot help wishing, that he had " tried his hand" in parliament; and I wonder that ministry did not make the experiment. 1 Dr. Kippis, however (Biograph. Britan. article “J. Gilbert Cooper,” p. 266, n. new edit.), says, that he "once heard Dr. Johnson speak in the Society of Arts and Manufactures, upon a subject relative to mechanicks, with a propriety, perspicuity, and energy, which excited general adiniration."-MALONE. [We cannot give credit to Dr. Kippis's account against Johnson's own statement vouched by Lord Stowell and Mr. Hamilton; but even if we could, one speech in the Society of Arts was no test of what Johnson might have been able to do in parliament; and it may be suspected that at the age of sixty-two he, with all his talents, would have failed to acquire that peculiar tact and dexterity, without which even great abilities do not succeed in that very fastidious assembly.-ED.] Hawk. P. 513. Piozzi, p. 32, 33. [Johnson himself was, in Sir J. Hawkins's opinion, a little soured by this disappointment; and he afterwards spoke of Lord North in terms of asperity.] [It was, says Mrs. Piozzi, in 1775 that Mr. Burke made the famous speech' in parliament, that struck even foes with admiration, and friends with delight. Among the nameless thousands who are contented to echo those praises they have not skill to invent, I ventured, before Dr. Johnson himself, to applaud, with rapture, the beautiful passage in it concerning Lord Bathurst and the angel ; which," said the doctor, "had I been in the house, I would have answered thus: 66 "Suppose, Mr. Speaker, that to Wharton, or to Marlborough, or to any of the eminent whigs of the last age, the Devil had, not with any great impropriety, consented to appear; he would perhaps in somewhat like these words have commenced the conversation: "You seem, my lord, to be concerned at the judicious apprehension, that while you are sapping the foundations of royalty at home, and propagating here the dangerous doctrine of resistance, the distance of America may secure its inhabitants from your arts, though active: but I will unfold to you the gay prospects of futurity. This people, now so innocent and harmless, shall draw the sword against their mother-country, and bathe its point in the blood of their benefactors: this people, now contented with a little, shall then refuse to spare, what they themselves confess they could not miss; and these men, now so honest and so grateful, shall, in return for peace and for protection, see their vile agents in the house of parliament, there to sow the seeds of sedition, and propagate confusion, perplexity, and pain. Be not dispirited then at the contemplation of their present happy state; I promise you that anarchy, poverty, and death, shall, by my care, be carried even across the spacious Atlantic, and settle in America itself, the sure consequences of our beloved whiggism." This Mrs Piozzi thought a thing so very particular, that she begged his leave to write it down [On the 22d March, 1775.-ED.] |