Consolation in the Face of Death (Penguin)

by Samuel Johnson

  Mr Brooke mentions in his Preface his Knowledge of the Laws of his own Country; had he extended his Enquiries to the Civil Law, he could have found a full Justification of the Licenser’s Conduct, Boni Judicis est ampliare suam auctoritatem. [It is the sign of a good judge that he should augment his authority]

  If then it be the Business of a good Judge to enlarge his Authority, was it not in the Licenser the utmost Clemency and Forbearance, to extend fourteen Days only to twenty-one.

  I suppose this great Man’s Inclination to perform at least this Duty of a good Judge, is not questioned by any, either of his Friends or Enemies, I may therefore venture to hope that he will extend his Power by proper Degrees, and that I shall live to see a Malecontent Writer earnestly soliciting for the Copy of a Play, which he had delivered to the Licenser twenty Years before.

  I waited, says he, often on the Licenser, and with the utmost Importunity entreated an Answer. Let Mr Brooke consider whether that Importunity was not a sufficient Reason for the Disappointment. Let him reflect how much more decent it had been to have waited the Leisure of a great Man, than to have pressed upon him with repeated Petitions, and to have intruded upon those precious Moments which he has dedicated to the Service of his Country.

  Mr Brooke was doubtless led into this improper Manner of acting, by an erroneous Notion that the Grant of a License was not an Act of Favour but of Justice, a Mistake into which he could not have fallen, but from a supine Inattention to the Design of the Statute, which was only to bring Poets into Subjection and Dependence, not to encourage good Writers, but to discourage all.

  There lies no Obligation upon the Licenser to grant his Sanction to a Play, however excellent, nor can Mr Brooke demand any Reparation, whatever Applause his Performance may meet with.

  Another Grievance is, that the Licenser assigned no Reason for his Refusal. This is a higher Strain of Insolence than any of the former. Is it for a Poet to demand a Licenser’s Reason for his Proceedings? Is he not rather to acquiesce in the Decision of Authority, and conclude that there are Reasons which he cannot comprehend?

  Unhappy would it be for Men in Power, were they always obliged to publish the Motives of their Conduct. What is Power but the Liberty of acting without being accountable? The Advocates for the Licensing Act have alledged, that the Lord Chamberlain has always had Authority to prohibit the Representation of a Play for just Reasons. Why then did we call in all our Force to procure an Act of Parliament? Was it to enable him to do what he has always done, to confirm an Authority which no Man attempted to impair, or pretended to dispute; no, certainly: Our Intention was to invest him with new Privileges, and to empower him to do that without Reason, which with Reason he could do before.

  We have found by long Experience, that to lie under a Necessity of assigning Reasons, is very troublesome, and that many an excellent Design has miscarried by the Loss of Time spent unnecessarily in examining Reasons.

  Always to call for Reasons, and always to reject them, shews a strange Degree of Perverseness; yet such is the daily Behaviour of our Adversaries, who have never yet been satisfied with any Reasons that have been offered by us.

  They have made it their Practice to demand once a Year the Reasons for which we maintain a Standing Army.

  One Year we told them that it was necessary, because all the Nations round us were involved in War; this had no Effect upon them, and therefore resolving to do our utmost for their Satisfaction, we told them the next Year that it was necessary because all the Nations round us were at Peace.

  This Reason finding no better Reception than the other, we had Recourse to our Apprehensions of an Invasion from the Pretender, of an Insurrection in Favour of Gin, and of a general Disaffection among the People.

  But as they continue still impenetrable, and oblige us still to assign our annual Reasons, we shall spare no Endeavours to procure such as may be more satisfactory than any of the former.

  The Reason we once gave for building Barracks was for Fear of the Plague, and we intend next Year to propose the Augmentation of our Troops for fear of a Famine.

  The Committee, by which the Act for Licensing the Stage was drawn up, had too long known the Inconvenience of giving Reasons, and were too well acquainted with the Characters of great Men, to lay the Lord Chamberlain, or his deputy, under any such tormenting Obligation.

  Yet lest Mr Brooke should imagine that a License was refused him without just Reasons, I shall condescend to treat him with more Regard than he can reasonably expect, and point out such Sentiments as not only justly exposed him to that Refusal, but would have provoked any Ministry less merciful than the present to have inflicted some heavier Penalties upon him.

  His Prologue is filled with such Insinuations as no Friend of our excellent Government can read without Indignation and Abhorrence, and cannot but be owned to be a proper Introduction to such Scenes as seem designed to kindle in the Audience a Flame of Opposition, Patriotism, Publick Spirit, and Independency, that Spirit which we have so long endeavoured to suppress, and which cannot be revived without the entire Subversion of all our Schemes.

  This seditious Poet not content with making an open Attack upon us, by declaring in plain Terms, that he looks upon Freedom as the only Source of publick Happiness and national Security, has endeavoured with Subtlety, equal to his Malice, to make us suspicious of our firmest Friends, to infect our Consultations with Distrust, and to ruin us by disuniting us.

  This indeed will not be easily effected, an Union founded upon Interest and cemented by Dependance is naturally lasting: But Confederacies which owe their Rise to Virtue or mere Conformity of Sentiments are quickly dissolved, since no Individual has any Thing either to hope or fear for himself, and publick Spirit is generally too weak to combat with private Passions.

  The Poet has, however, attempted to weaken our Combination by an artful and sly Assertion, which, if suffered to remain unconfuted, may operate by Degrees upon our Minds in the Days of Leisure and Retirement which are now approaching, and perhaps fill us with such Surmises as may at least very much embarrass our Affairs.

  The Law by which the Swedes justified their Opposition to the incroachments of the King of Denmark he not only calls

  Great Nature’s Law, the Law within the Breast

  But proceeds to tell us that it is

  ——Stamp’d by Heav’n upon th’ unletter’d Mind.

  By which he evidently intends to insinuate a Maxim which is, I hope, as false as it is pernicious, that Men are naturally fond of Liberty till those unborn Ideas and Desires are effaced by Literature.

  The Author, if he be not a Man mew’d up in his solitary Study and entirely unacquainted with the Conduct of the present Ministry, must know that we have hitherto acted upon different Principles. We have always regarded Letters as great Obstructions to our Scheme of Subordination, and have therefore, when we have heard of any Man remarkably unletter’d, carefully noted him down as the most proper Person for any Employments of Trust or Honour, and considered him as a Man in whom we could safely repose our most important Secrets.

  From among the uneducated and unletter’d we have chosen not only our Embassadors and other Negotiators, but even our Journalists and Pamphleteers, nor have we had any Reason to change our Measures or to repent of the Confidence which we have placed in Ignorance.

  Are we now therefore to be told that this Law is

  Stamp’d upon th’ unletter’d Mind?

  Are we to suspect our Place-men, our Pensioners, our Generals, our Lawyers, our best Friends in both Houses, all our Adherents among the Atheists and Infidels, and our very Gazetteers, Clerks, and Court-pages, as Friends to Independency? Doubtless this is the Tendency of his Assertion, but we have known them too long to be thus imposed upon, the unletter’d have been our warmest and most constant Defenders, nor have we omitted any Thing to deserve their Favour, but have always endeavoured to raise their Reputation, extend their Influence, and encrease their Number.

  In his first Act he
abounds with Sentiments very inconsistent with the Ends for which the Power of Licensing was granted; to enumerate them all would be to transcribe a great Part of his Play, a Task which I shall very willingly leave to others, who, tho’ true Friends to the Government, are not inflamed with Zeal so fiery and impatient as mine, and therefore do not feel the same Emotions of Rage and Resentment at the Sight of those infamous Passages, in which Venality and Dependence are presented as mean in themselves, and productive of Remorse and Infelicity.

  One Line which ought, in my Opinion, to be erased from every Copy by a special Act of Parliament, is mentioned by Anderson, as pronounced by the Hero in his Sleep,

  O Sweden, O my Country, yet I’ll save thee.

  This Line I have Reason to believe thrown out as a kind of Watch-word for the opposing Faction, who, when they meet in their seditious Assemblies, have been observed to lay their Hands upon their Breasts, and cry out with great Vehemence of Accent.

  O B——, O my Country, yet I’ll save thee.

  In the second Scene he endeavours to fix Epithets of Contempt upon those Passions and Desires which have been always found most useful to the Ministry, and most opposite to the Spirit of Independency.

  Base Fear, the Laziness of Lust, gross Appetites,

  These are the Ladders and the grov’ling Foot-stool

  From whence the Tyrant rises——

  Secure and scepter’d in the Soul’s Servility

  He has debauched the Genius of our Country

  And rides triumphant, while her captive Sons

  Await his Nod, the silken Slaves of Pleasure,

  Or fettered in their Fears.—

  Thus is that decent Submission to our Superiors, and that proper Awe of Authority which we are taught in Courts, termed base Fear and the Servility of the Soul. Thus are those Gayeties and Enjoyments, those elegant Amusements, and lulling Pleasures which the Followers of a Court are blessed with, as the just Rewards of their Attendance and Submission, degraded to Lust, Grossness, and Debauchery. The Author ought to be told, that Courts are not to be mentioned with so little Ceremony, and that though Gallantries and Amours are admitted there, it is almost Treason to suppose them infected with Debauchery or Lust.

  It is observable that when this hateful Writer has conceived any Thought of an uncommon Malignity, a Thought which tends in a more particular Manner to excite the Love of Liberty, animate the Heat of Patriotism, or degrade the Majesty of Kings, he takes Care to put it in the Mouth of his Hero, that it may be more forcibly impressed upon his Reader. Thus Gustavus, speaking of his Tatters, cries out,

  ——Yes, my Arvida,

  Beyond the Sweeping of the proudest Train

  That shades a Monarch’s Heel, I prize these Weeds,

  For they are sacred to my Country’s Freedom.

  Here this abandoned Son of Liberty makes a full Discovery of his execrable Principles, the Tatters of Gustavus, the usual Dress of the Assertors of these Doctrines, are of more Divinity, because they are sacred to Freedom than the sumptuous and magnificent Robes of Regality itself. Such Sentiments are truly detestable, nor could any Thing be an Aggravation of the Author’s Guilt, except his ludicrous Manner of mentioning a Monarch.

  The Heel of a Monarch, or even the Print of his Heel is a Thing too venerable and sacred to be treated with such Levity, and placed in Contrast with Rags and Poverty. He that will speak contemptuously of the Heel of a Monarch will, whenever he can with Security, speak contemptuously of his Head.

  These are the most glaring Passages which have occurr’d, in the Perusal of the first Pages; my Indignation will not suffer me to proceed farther, and I think much better of the Licenser, than to believe he went so far.

  In the few Remarks which I have set down, the Reader will easily observe that I have strained no Expression beyond its natural Import, and have divested myself of all Heat, Partiality, and Prejudice.

  So far therefore is Mr Brooke from having received any hard or unwarrantable Treatment, that the Licenser has only acted in Pursuance of that Law to which he owes his Power, a Law which every Admirer of the Administration must own to be very necessary, and to have produced very salutary Effects.

  I am indeed surprised that this great Office is not drawn out into a longer series of Deputations, since it might afford a gainful and reputable Employment to a great Number of the Friends of the Government; and I should think instead of having immediate Recourse to the Deputy-licenser himself, it might be sufficient Honour for any Poet, except the Laureat, to stand bareheaded in the Presence of the Deputy of the Deputy’s Deputy in the nineteenth Subordination.

  Such a Number cannot but be thought necessary if we take into Consideration the great Work of drawing up an Index Expurgatorius to all the old Plays; which is, I hope, already undertaken, or if it has been hitherto unhappily neglected, I take this Opportunity to recommend.

  The Productions of our old Poets are crouded with Passages very unfit for the Ears of an English Audience, and which cannot be pronounced without irritating the Minds of the People.

  This Censure I do not confine to those Lines in which Liberty, natural Equality, wicked Ministers, deluded Kings, mean Arts of Negotiation, venal Senates, mercenary Troops, oppressive Officers, servile and exorbitant Taxes, universal Corruption, the Luxuries of a Court, the Miseries of the People, the Decline of Trade, or the Happiness of Independency are directly mentioned. These are such glaring Passages as cannot be suffered to pass without the most supine and criminal Negligence. I hope the Vigilance of the Licensers will extend to all such Speeches and Soliloquies as tend to recommend the Pleasures of Virtue, the Tranquillity of an uncorrupted Head, and the Satisfactions of conscious Innocence; for though such Strokes as these do not appear to a common Eye to threaten any Danger to the Government, yet it is well known to more penetrating Observers that they have such Consequences as cannot be too diligently obviated, or too cautiously avoided.

  A Man who becomes once enamour’d of the Charms of Virtue is apt to be very little concerned about the Acquisition of Wealth or Titles, and is therefore not easily induced to act in a Manner contrary to his real Sentiments, or to vote at the Word of Command; by contracting his Desires, and regulating his Appetites, he wants much less than other Men, and every one versed in the Arts of Government can tell, that Men are more easily influenced in Proportion as they are more necessitous.

  This is not the only Reason why Virtue should not receive too much Countenance from a licensed Stage; her Admirers and Followers are not only naturally independent, but learn such a uniform and consistent Manner of speaking and acting, that they frequently by the mere Force of artless Honesty surmount all the Obstacles which Subtlety and Politicks can throw in their way, and obtain their Ends in spite of the most profound and sagacious Ministry.

  Such then are the Passages to be expunged by the Licensers: In many Parts indeed the Speeches will be imperfect, and the Action appear not regularly conducted, but the Poet Laureat may easily supply these Vacuities by inserting some of his own Verses in praise of Wealth, Luxury, and Venality.

  But alas! all those pernicious Sentiments which we shall banish from the Stage, will be vented from the Press, and more studiously read because they are prohibited.

  I cannot but earnestly implore the Friends of the Government to leave no Art untry’d by which we may hope to succeed in our Design of extending the Power of the Licenser to the Press, and of making it criminal to publish any Thing without an Imprimatur. [‘let it be published’; by extension, the permission to print something]

  How much would this single Law lighten the mighty Burden of State Affairs? With how much Security might our Ministers enjoy their Honours, their Places, their Reputations, and their Admirers, could they once suppress those malicious Invectives which are at present so industriously propagated, and so eagerly read, could they hinder any Arguments but their own from coming to the Ears of the People, and stop effectually the Voice of Cavil and Enquiry.

  I cannot but indul
ge myself a little while by dwelling on this pleasing Scene, and imagining those Halcyon-days in which no Politicks shall be read but those of the Gazetteer, nor any Poetry but that of the Laureat; when we shall hear of nothing but the successful Negotiations of our Ministers, and the great Actions of ——.

  How much happier would this State be, than those perpetual Jealousies and Contentions which are inseparable from Knowledge and Liberty, and which have for many Years kept this Nation in perpetual Commotions.

  But these are Times rather to be wished for than expected, for such is the Nature of our unquiet Countrymen, that if they are not admitted to the Knowledge of Affairs, they are always suspecting their Governors of Designs prejudicial to their Interest; they have not the least Notion of the pleasing Tranquillity of Ignorance, nor can be brought to imagine that they are kept in the Dark, lest too much Light should hurt their Eyes. They have long claimed a Right of directing their Superiors, and are exasperated at the least Mention of Secrets of State.

  This Temper makes them very readily encourage any Writer or Printer, who, at the Hazard of his Life or Fortune, will give them any Information; and while this Humour prevails there never will be wanting some daring Adventurer who will write in Defence of Liberty, and some zealous or avaricious Printer who will disperse his Papers.

  It has never yet been found that any Power, however vigilant or despotick, has been able to prevent the Publication of seditious Journals, Ballads, Essays and Dissertations, Considerations on the present State of Affairs, and Enquiries into the Conduct of the Administration.