Prayers & Med. p. 115. p. 117. p. 118. skill. BOSWELL. "But, sir, is there not a quality [The following meditations, made about this period, are very interesting sketches of his feelings: 66 “ April 26, 1772. I was some way hindered from continuing this contemplation in the usual manner, and therefore try, at the distance of a week, to review the last [Easter] Sunday. "I went to church early, having first, I think, used my prayer. When I was there, I had very little perturbation of mind. During the usual time of meditation, I considered the Christian duties under the three principles of soberness, righteousness, and godliness; and purposed to forward godliness by the annual perusal of the Bible; righteousness by settling something for charity, and soberness by early hours. I commended as usual, with preface of permission, and, I think, mentioned Bathurst I came home, and found Paoli and Boswell waiting for me. What devotions I used after my return home, I do not distinctly remember. I went to prayers in the evening; and, I think, entered late. "On Good Friday, I paid Peyton without requiring work. "It is a comfort to me, that at last, in my sixty-third year, I have attained to know, even thus hastily, confusedly, and imperfectly, what my Bible contains." "Having missed church in the morning (April 26), I went this evening, and afterwards sat with Southwell."] While I remained in London this spring, I was with him at several other times, both by himself and in company. I dined with him one day at the Crown and Anchor tavern, in the Strand, with Lord Elibank, Mr. Langton, and Dr. Vansittart of Oxford'. Without specifying each particular day, I have preserved the following memorable things. I regretted the reflection in his preface to Shakspeare against Garrick, to whom we cannot but apply the following passage :—“I collated such copies as I could procure, and wished for more, but have not found the collectors of these rarities very communicative." I told him, that Garrick had complained to me of it, and had vindicated himself by assuring me, that Johnson was made welcome to the full use of his collection, and that he left the key of it with a servant, with orders to have a fire and every convenience for him. I found Johnson's notion was, that Garrick wanted to be courted for them, and that, on the contrary, Garrick should have courted him, and sent him the plays of his own accord. But, indeed, considering the slovenly and careless manner in which books were treated by Johnson, it could not be expected that scarce and valuable editions should have been lent to him. A gentleman having to some of the usual arguments for drinking added this:-"You know, sir, drinking drives away care, and makes us forget whatever is disagreeable. Would not you allow a man to drink for that reason?" JOHNSON. JOHNSON. "Yes, sir, if he sat next you." 1 [Dr. Robert Vansittart, LL.D., professor of civil law at Oxford, and recorder of Windsor. He was a senior fellow of All Souls, where, after he had given up the profession in London, he chiefly resided in a set of rooms, formerly the old library, which he had fitted up in the Gothic style, and where he died about 1794. He was remarkable for his good-humour and inoffensive wit, and a great favourite on the Oxford circuit. He was tall and very thin; and the bar gave the name of Counsellor Van to a sharp-pointed rock on the Wye, which still retains the name. He was the elder brother of Mr. Henry Vansittart, governor of Bengal, father of the present Lord Bexley, to whom the editor is indebted for the above particulars relative to his uncle.-ED.] 1 I expressed a liking for Mr. Francis Osborne's ' works, and asked him what he thought of that writer. He answered, "A conceited fellow. Were a man to write so now, the boys would throw stones at him." He, however, did not alter my opinion of a favourite authour, to whom I was first directed by his being quoted in "The Spectator," and in whom I have found much shrewd and lively sense, expressed indeed in a style somewhat quaint, which, however, I do not dislike. His book has an air of originality. We figure to ourselves an ancient gentleman talking to us. When one of his friends endeavoured to maintain that a country gentleman might contrive to pass his life very agreeably, "Sir," said he, " you cannot give me an instance of any man who is permitted to lay out his own time, contriving not to have tedious hours." This observation, however, is equally applicable to gentlemen who live in cities, and are of no profession. He said, "there is no permanent national character: it varies according to circumstances. Alexander the Great swept India3; now the Turks sweep Greece." A learned gentleman, who, in the course of conversation, wished to inform us of this simple fact, that the counsel upon the circuit at Shrewsbury were much bitten by fleas, took, I suppose, seven or eight minutes in relating it circumstantially. He in a plenitude of The [Of the family of the Osbornes, of Chicksands, in Bedfordshire. work by which he is now best known is, his "Historical Memoirs of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and King James," written in a very acrimonious spirit. He had attached himself to the Pembroke family; and, like Earl Philip (whom Walpole designates by the too gentle appellation of memorable Simpleton), joined the parliamentarians. He died in 1659.-ED.] [Not quite: men who live in cities have theatres, clubs, and all the variety of public and private society within reach.-ED.] 3 [The force of this illustration is not very obvious. India, so far as regards the natives, is perhaps now quite as liable to be swept by an invader as it was three thousand years ago. All authorities seem to be agreed that the people of India and China have changed wonderfully little in the lapse of time.-ED.] phrase told us, that large bales of woollen cloth were lodged in the town-hall; that by reason of this, fleas nestled there in prodigious numbers; that the lodgings of the counsel were near the town-hall; and that those little animals moved from place to place with wonderful agility. Johnson sat in great impatience till the gentleman had finished his tedious narrative, and then burst out (playfully however), "It is a pity, sir, that you have not seen a lion; for a flea has taken you such a time, that a lion must have served you a twelvemonth "." He would not allow Scotland to derive any credit from Lord Mansfield; for he was educated in England. 66 Much," said he, " may be made of a Scotchman, if he be caught young." 66 Talking of a modern historian, and a modern moralist, he said, "There is more thought in the moralist than in the historian. There is but a shallow stream of thought in history." BOSWELL. “But surely, sir, an historian has reflection." JOHNSON. "Why yes, sir; and so has a cat when she catches a mouse for her kitten. But she cannot write like [Beattie]; neither can [Robertson]." He said, "I am very unwilling to read the manuscripts of authours, and give them my opinion. If the authours who apply to me have money, I bid them Mrs. Piozzi, to whom I told this anecdote, has related it as if the gentleman had given the natural history of the mouse.”—Anecdotes, p. 191. [The "learned gentleman" was certainly Dr. Vansittart, as is proved by two passages in the correspondence between Mrs. Thrale and Dr. Johnson, July and August, 1773. She writes to the doctor in Scotland, "I have seen the man that saw the mouse," &c. Johnson replies, "Poor V- -, &c; he is a good man, and, when his mind is composed, a man of parts." This, with Boswell's reference in the preceding page to Dr. Vansittart, and the mention of the Shrewsbury circuit, which Vansittart went, together with the preceding note, leave no doubt that he was the person alluded to. It also proves that the inaccuracy of which Boswell accuses Mrs. Piozzi was (if an inaccuracy at all) sanctioned by Johnson himself; for we see that he at once understood whom she meant by "the man that saw the mouse."-ED.] 2 [This historian and moralist (whose names Mr. Boswell left in blank) are Doctors Robertson and Beattie.-ED.] boldly print without a name; if they have written in order to get money, I tell them to go to the booksellers and make the best bargain they can." Boswell. "But, sir, if a bookseller should bring you a manuscript to look at." JOHNSON. JOHNSON. "Why, sir, I would desire the bookseller to take it away." I mentioned a friend of mine who had resided long in Spain, and was unwilling to return to Britain. JOHNSON. "Sir, he is attached to some woman." BOSWELL. "I rather believe, sir, it is the fine climate which keeps him there." JOHNSON. "Nay, sir, how can you talk so? What is climate to happiness? Place me in the heart of Asia, should I not be exiled? What proportion does climate bear to the complex system of human life? You may advise me to go to live at Bologna to eat sausages. The sausages there are the best in the world; they lose much by being carried." On Saturday, 9th May, Mr. Dempster and I had agreed to dine by ourselves at the British coffee-house. Johnson, on whom I happened to call in the morning, said, he would join us, which he did, and we spent a very agreeable day, though I recollect but little of what passed. He said, "Walpole was a minister given by the king to the people: Pitt was a minister given by the people to the king,—as an adjunct." "The misfortune of Goldsmith in conversation is this he goes on without knowing how he is to get off. His genius is great, but his knowledge is small. As they say of a generous man, it is a pity he is not rich, we may say of Goldsmith, it is a pity he is not knowing. He would not keep his knowledge to himself." 1 [Probably Mr. Boswell's brother, David. Sce post, sub 29th April, 1780. -ED.] |