L 54. 1763. fhrubbery and the fragrant parterre appeared in gay fucceffion. It has been generally circulated and believed that he was a mere fool in converfation"; but, in truth, this has been greatly exaggerated. He had, no doubt, a more than common fhare of that hurry of ideas which we often find in his countrymen, and which fometimes produces a laughable confufion in expreffing them. He was very much what the French call un etourdi, and from vanity and an eager defire of being confpicuous wherever he was, he frequently talked carelefsly without knowledge of the fubject, or even without thought. His perfon was short, his countenance coarfe and vulgar, his deportment that of a scholar aukwardly affecting the eafy gentleman. Those who were in any way distinguished, excited envy in him to fo ridiculous an excefs, that the inftances of it are hardly credible. When accompanying two beautiful young ladies. with their mother on a tour in France, he was feriously angry that more attention was paid to them than to him; and once at the exhibition of the Fantoccini, in London, when those who fat next him obferved with what dexterity a puppet was made to tofs a pike, he could not bear that it fhould have fuch praife, and exclaimed with fome warmth, "Pfhaw! I can do it better myself." He, I am afraid, had no settled system of any fort, so that his conduct must not be strictly fcrutinifed; but his affections were focial and generous, and when he had money he gave it away very liberally. His defire of imaginary confequence predominated over his attention to truth. When he began to rife into notice, he said he had a brother who was Dean of Durham, a fiction so easily detected, that it is wonderful how he should have been fo inconfiderate as to hazard it. He boafted to me at this time of the power of his pen in commanding money, which I believe was true in a certain degree, though in the inftance he gave he was by no means correct. He told me that he had fold a novel for four hundred pounds. This was his "Vicar of In allufion to this, Mr. Horace Walpole, who admired his writings, faid he was inspired ideot ;" and Garrick described him as one "an Sir Joshua Reynolds has mentioned to me that he frequently heard Goldfmith talk warmly of the pleasure of being liked, and observe how hard it would be if literary excellence should preclude a man from that fatisfaction, which he perceived it often did, from the envy which attended it; and therefore Sir Joshua was convinced that he was intentionally more abfurd, in order to leffen himself in focial intercourfe, trufting that his character would be fufficiently fupported by his works. If it indeed was his intention to appear abfurd in company, he was often very fuccefsful. But with due deference to Sir Joshua's ingenuity, I think the conjecture too refined. Wakefield." Wakefield." But Johnson informed me, that he had made the bargain for Goldsmith, and the price was fixty pounds. "And, Sir, (said he) a fufficient price too, when it was fold; for then the fame of Goldfmith had not been elevated, as it afterwards was, by his Traveller;' and the bookfeller had fuch faint hopes of profit by his bargain, that he kept the manufcript by him a long time, and did not publish it till after the Traveller had appeared. Then, to be fure, it was accidentally worth more money." 8 Mrs. Piozzi and Sir John Hawkins have strangely mis-stated the history of Goldsmith's fituation and Johnson's friendly interference, when this novel was fold. I fhall give it authentically from Johnson's own exact narration: "I received one morning a message from poor Goldsmith that he was in great distress, and, as it was not in his power to come to me, begging that I would come to him as foon as poffible. I fent him a guinea, and promised to come to him directly. I accordingly went as soon as I was dreft, and found that his landlady had arrested him for his rent, at which he was in a violent paffion. I perceived that he had already changed my guinea, and had got a bottle of Madeira and a glass before him. I put the cork into the bottle, defired he would be calm, and began to talk to him of the means by which he might be extricated. He then told me that he had a novel ready for the prefs, which he produced to me. I looked into it, and faw its merit; told the landlady I should foon return, and having gone to a bookfeller, fold it for fixty pounds. I brought Goldfmith the money, and he discharged his rent, not without rating his landlady in a high tone for having used him so ill." My next meeting with Johnson was on Friday the 1ft of July, when he and I and Dr. Goldsmith fupped together at the Mitre. I was before this time pretty well acquainted with Goldsmith, who was one of the brightest Life of Johnfon, p. 420. 1763. Etat. 54. 7 Anecdotes of Johnfon, p. 119. It may not be improper to annex here Mrs. Piozzi's account of this transaction, in her own words, as a fpecimen of the extreme inaccuracy with which all her anecdotes of Dr. Johnfon are related, or rather discoloured and distorted. "I have forgotten the year, but it could fcarcely I think be later than 1765 or 1766, that he was called abruptly from our houfe after dinner, and returning in about three hours, faid he had been with an enraged authour, whofe landlady preffed him for payment within doors, while the bailiffs befet him without; that he was drinking himself drunk with Madeira, to drown care, and fretting over a novel, which, when finished, was to be his whole fortune, but he could not get it done for distraction, nor could he step out of doors to offer it for fale. Mr. Johnson, therefore, fet away the bottle, and went to the bookseller, recommending the performance, and defiring fome immediate relief; which when he brought back to the writer, he called the woman of the house directly to partake of punch, and pass their time in merriment." Anecdotes of Johnson, p. 119. 1763. › Atat. 54. ornaments of the Johnfonian fchool. Goldfmith's refpectful attachment to Johnson was then at its height; for his own literary reputation had not yet distinguished him fo much as to excite a vain defire of competition with his great mafter. He had increased my admiration of the goodness of Johnson's heart, by incidental remarks in the course of conversation, fuch as, when I mentioned Mr. Levet, whom he entertained under his roof, "He is poor and honest, which is recommendation enough to Johnfon;" and when I wondered that he kind to a man of whom I had heard a very bad character, "He is now become miferable, and that infures the protection of Johnson." Goldsmith attempted this evening to maintain, I fuppofe from an affectation of paradox, that knowledge was not defirable on its own account, for it often was a fource of unhappiness. JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, that knowledge may in fome cafes produce unhappiness, I allow. But, upon the whole, knowledge per fe is certainly an object which every man would wish to attain, although, perhaps, he may not take the trouble neceffary for attaining it.” was very Dr. John Campbell, the celebrated political and biographical writer, being mentioned, Johnfon faid, " Campbell is a man of much knowledge, and has a good fhare of imagination. His Hermippus Redivivus' is very entertaining, as an account of the Hermetick philofophy, and as furnishing a curious hiftory of the extravagancies of the human mind. If it were merely imaginary, it would be nothing at all. Campbell is not always rigidly careful of truth in his converfation; but I do not believe there is any thing of this carelefinefs in his books. Campbell is a good man, a pious man. afraid he has not been in the infide of a church for many years'; but he never paffes a church without pulling off his hat. This fhews that he has good principles. I used to go pretty often to Campbell's on a Sunday evening, till I began to confider that the fhoals of Scotchmen who flocked about I am I am inclined to think that he was mifinformed as to this circumftance. I own I am jealous for my worthy friend Dr. John Campbell. For though Milton could without remorfe abfent himfelf from publick worship, I cannot. On the contrary, I have the fame habitual impreffions upon my mind, with thofe of a truly venerable Judge, who faid to Mr. Langton, "Friend Langton, if I have not been at church on Sunday, I do not feel myfelf eafy." Dr. Campbell was a fincerely religious man. Lord Macartney, who is eminent for his variety of knowledge, and attention to men of talents, and knew him well, told me, that when he called on him in a morning, he found him reading a chapter in the Greek New Teftament, which he informed his Lordship was his conftant practice. The quantity of Dr. Campbell's compofition is almoft incredible, and his labours brought him large profits. Dr. Jofeph Warton told me that Johnfon faid of him, " He is the richest authour that ever grazed the common of literature." him might probably fay, when any thing of mine was well done, Ay, ay, he has learnt this of CAWMELL!" He talked very contemptuously of Churchill's poetry, obferving, that "it had a temporary currency, only from its audacity of abufe, and being filled with living names, and that it would fink into oblivion." I ventured to hint that he was not quite a fair judge, as Churchill had attacked him violently. JOHNSON. "Nay, Sir, I am a very fair judge. He did not attack me violently till he found I did not like his poetry; and his attack on me shall not prevent me from continuing to fay what I think of him, from an apprehenfion that it may be ascribed to refentment. No, Sir, I called the fellow a blockhead at firft, and I will call him a blockhead ftill. However, I will acknowledge that I have a better opinion of him now, than I once had; for he has fhewn more fertility than I expected. To be fure, he is a tree that cannot produce good fruit: he only bears crabs. But, Sir, a tree that produces a great many crabs is better than a tree which produces only a few." In this depreciation of Churchill's poetry I could not agree with him. It is very true that the greatest part of it is upon the topicks of the day, on which account, as it brought him great fame and profit at the time, it must proportionally flide out of the publick attention as other occafional objects fucceed. But Churchill had extraordinary vigour both of thought and expreffion. His portraits of the players will ever be valuable to the true lovers of the drama; and his ftrong caricatures of feveral eminent men of his age, will not be forgotten by the curious. Let me add, that there are in his works many paffages which are of a general nature; and his "Prophecy of Famine" is a poem of no ordinary merit. It is, indeed, falfely injurious to Scotland; but therefore may be allowed a greater share of invention. Bonnel Thornton had just published a burlesque "Ode on St. Cecilia's day, adapted to the ancient British mufick, viz. the falt-box, the Jew's-harp, the marrow-bones and cleaver, the hum-ftrum or hurdy-gurdy, &c." Johnson praised its humour, and feemed much diverted with it. He repeated the following paffage: "In ftrains more exalted the falt-box fhall join, "And clattering and battering and clapping combine; "With a rap and a tap, while the hollow fide founds, 1763. Etat. 54. 1763. Etat. 54. I mentioned the periodical paper called THE CONNOISSEUR. He faid it wanted matter. No doubt it has not the deep thinking of Johnfon's writings. But furely it has just views of the furface of life, and a very sprightly manHis opinion of THE WORLD was not much higher than of the Con ner. noiffeur. Let me here apologize for the imperfect manner in which I am obliged to exhibit Johnson's conversation at this period. In the early part of my acquaintance with him, I was fo wrapt in admiration of his extraordinary colloquial talents, and fo little accustomed to his peculiar mode of expreffion, that I found it extremely difficult to recollect and record his conversation with its genuine vigour and vivacity. In progrefs of time, when my mind was, at it were, ftrongly impregnated with the Johnfonian æther, I could, with much more facility and exactnefs, carry in my memory and commit to paper the exuberant variety of his wifdom and wit. At this time Mifs Williams, as fhe was then called, though fhe did not refide with him in the Temple under his roof, but had lodgings in Bolt-court, Fleet-ftreet, had so much of his attention, that he every night drank tea with her before he went home, however late it might be, and fhe always fat up for him. This, it may be fairly conjectured, was not alone a proof of his regard for her, but of his own unwillingness to go into folitude before that unfeasonable hour at which he had habituated himfelf to expect the oblivion of repofe. Dr. Goldfinith, being a privileged man, went with him this night, ftrutting away, and calling to me with an air of fuperiority, like that of an efoterick over an exoterick difciple of a fage of antiquity, "I go to Mifs Williams." I confefs, I then envied him this mighty privilege, of which he feemed fo proud; but it was not long before I obtained the fame mark of diftinction. On Tuesday the 5th of July, I again vifited Johnson. He told me he had looked into the poems of a certain pretty voluminous modern writer, which had lately come out, but could find no thinking in them. BOSWELL. "Is there not imagination in them, Sir?" JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, there is in them what was imagination, but it is no more imagination in him, than found is found in the echo. And his diction too is not his own. We have long ago feen whiterobed innocence, and flower-befpangled meads." Talking of London, he observed, " Sir, if you wish to have a just notion of the magnitude of this city, you must not be fatisfied with feeing its great streets and squares, but must furvey the innumerable little lanes and courts. It is not in the fhewy evolutions of buildings, but in the multiplicity of human habitations |