The Life of Samuel Johnson

by James Boswell

  Theologiæ opera danda.

  Serviendum et lætandum.” ‘667

  Mr. Steevens, whose generosity is well known, joined Dr. Johnson in kind assistance to a female relation of Dr. Goldsmith, and desired that on her return to Ireland she would procure authentick particulars of the life of her celebrated relation. Concerning her there is the following letter: –

  ‘To GEORGE STEEVENS, ESQ.

  ‘DEAR SIR, – You will be glad to hear that from Mrs. Goldsmith, whom we lamented as drowned, I have received a letter full of gratitude to us all, with promise to make the enquiries which we recommended to her.

  ‘I would have had the honour of conveying this intelligence to Miss Caulfield, but that her letter is not at hand, and I know not the direction. You will tell the good news. I am, Sir, your most, &c.

  ‘February 25, 1777.’ ‘sam. JOHNSON.’

  ‘MR. BOSWELL to DR. JOHNSON

  ‘MY DEAR SIR, ‘Edinburgh, Feb. 14, 1777.

  ‘My state of epistolary accounts with you at present is extraordinary. The balance, as to number, is on your side. I am indebted to you for two letters; one dated the 16th of November, upon which very day I wrote to you, so that our letters were exactly exchanged, and one dated the 21st of December last.

  ‘My heart was warmed with gratitude by the truely kind contents of both of them; and it is amazing and vexing that I have allowed so much time to elapse without writing to you. But delay is inherent in me, by nature or by bad habit. I waited till I should have an opportunity of paying you my compliments on a new year. I have procrastinated till the year is no longer new….

  ‘Dr. Memis’s cause was determined against him, with £40 costs. The Lord President, and two other of the Judges, dissented from the majority, upon this ground; – that although there may have been no intention to injure him by calling him Doctor of Medicine, instead of Physician, yet, as he remonstrated against the designation before the charter was printed off, and represented that it was disagreeable, and even hurtful to him, it was ill-natured to refuse to alter it, and let him have the designation to which he was certainly entitled. My own opinion is, that our court has judged wrong. The defendants were in mala fide, to persist in naming him in a way that he disliked. You remember poor Goldsmith, when he grew important, and wished to appear Doctor Major, could not bear your calling him Goldy. Would it not have been wrong to have named him so in your Preface to Shakspeare, or in any serious permanent writing of any sort? The difficulty is, whether an action should be allowed on such petty wrongs. De minimis non curat lex.668

  ‘The Negro cause is not yet decided. A memorial is preparing on the side of slavery. I shall send you a copy as soon as it is printed. Maclaurin is made happy by your approbation of his memorial for the black.

  ‘Macquarry was here in the winter, and we passed an evening together. The sale of his estate cannot be prevented.

  ‘Sir Allan Maclean’s suit against the Duke of Argyle, for recovering the ancient inheritance of his family, is now fairly before all our judges. I spoke for him yesterday, and Maclaurin to-day; Crosbie spoke to-day against him. Three more counsel are to be heard, and next week the cause will be determined. I send you the Informations, or Cases, on each side, which I hope you will read. You said to me when we were under Sir Allan’s hospitable roof, ”I will help him with my pen.” You said it with a generous glow; and though his Grace of Argyle did afterwards mount you upon an excellent horse, upon which ”you looked like a Bishop,” you must not swerve from your purpose at Inchkenneth. I wish you may understand the points at issue, amidst our Scotch law principles and phrases.

  [Here followed a full state of the case, in which I endeavoured to make it as clear as I could to an Englishman, who had no knowledge of the formularies and technical language of the law of Scotland.]

  ‘I shall inform you how the cause is decided here. But as it may be brought under the review of our Judges, and is certainly to be carried by appeal to the House of Lords, the assistance of such a mind as yours will be of consequence. Your paper on Vicious Intromission is a noble proof of what you can do even in Scotch law….

  ‘I have not yet distributed all your books. Lord Hailes and Lord Monboddo have each received one, and return you thanks. Monboddo dined with me lately, and having drank tea, we were a good while by ourselves, and as I knew that he had read the Journey superficially, as he did not talk of it as I wished, I brought it to him, and read aloud several passages; and then he talked so, that I told him he was to have a copy from the authour. He begged that might be marked on it…. I ever am, my dear Sir, your most faithful, and affectionate humble servant,

  ‘James Boswell’

  ’sIR ALEXANDER DICK to DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON

  ’sIR, ‘Prestonfield, Feb. 17, 1777.

  ‘I had yesterday the honour of receiving your book of your Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, which you was so good as to send me, by the hands of our mutual friend, Mr. Boswell, of Auchinleck; for which I return you my most hearty thanks; and after carefully reading it over again, shall deposit in my little collection of choice books, next our worthy friend’s Journey to Corsica. As there are many things to admire in both performances, I have often wished that no Travels or Journeys should be published but those undertaken by persons of integrity and capacity to judge well, and describe faithfully, and in good language, the situation, condition, and manners of the countries past through. Indeed our country of Scotland, in spite of the union of the crowns, is still in most places so devoid of clothing, or cover from hedges and plantations, that it was well you gave your readers a sound Monitoire669 with respect to that circumstance. The truths you have told, and the purity of the language in which they are expressed, as your Journey is universally read, may, and already appear to have a very good effect. For a man of my acquaintance, who has the largest nursery for trees and hedges in this country, tells me, that of late the demand upon him for these articles is doubled, and sometimes tripled. I have, therefore, listed Dr. Samuel Johnson in some of my memorandums of the principal planters and favourers of the enclosures, under a name which I took the liberty to invent from the Greek, Papadendrion.670 Lord Auchinleck and some few more are of the list. I am told that one gentleman in the shire of Aberdeen, viz. Sir Archibald Grant, has planted above fifty millions of trees on a piece of very wild ground at Monimusk: I must enquire if he has fenced them well, before he enters my list; for, that is the soul of enclosing. I began myself to plant a little, our ground being too valuable for much, and that is now fifty years ago; and the trees, now in my seventy-fourth year, I look up to with reverence, and shew them to my eldest son, now in his fifteenth year, and they are full the height of my country-house here, where I had the pleasure of receiving you, and hope again to have that satisfaction with our mutual friend, Mr. BOSWELL. I shall always continue, with the truest esteem, dear Doctor, your much obliged, and obedient humble servant,

  ALEXANDER DICK.a

  ‘To JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

  DEAR sIR, – It is so long since I heard any thing from you,b that I am not easy about it; write something to me next post. When you sent your last letter, every thing seemed to be mending; I hope nothing has lately grown worse. I suppose young Alexander continues to thrive, and Veronica is now very pretty company. I do not suppose the lady is yet reconciled to me, yet let her know that I love her very well, and value her very much.

  ‘Dr. Blair is printing some sermons. If they are all like the first, which I have read, they are sermones aurei, ac auro magis aurei.671 It is excellently written both as to doctrine and language. Mr. Watson’s bookc seems to be much esteemed….

  ‘Poor Beauclerk still continues very ill. Langton lives on as he is used to do. His children are very pretty, and, I think, his lady loses her Scotch. Paoli I never see.

  ‘I have been so distressed by difficulty of breathing, that I lost, as was computed, six-and-thirty ounces of blood in a few days. I am better, but not well.

  ‘I wish you would b
e vigilant and get me Graham’s Telemachus that was printed at Glasgow, a very little book; and Johnstoni Poemata,672 another little book, printed at Middleburgh.

  ‘Mrs. Williams sends her compliments, and promises that when you come hither, she will accommodate you as well as ever she can in the old room. She wishes to know whether you sent her book to Sir Alexander Gordon.

  ‘My dear Boswell, do not neglect to write to me; for your kindness is one of the pleasures of my life, which I should be sorry to lose. I am, Sir, your humble servant,

  ‘February 18, 1777.’ ‘Sam JOHNSON.’

  ‘To DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON

  ‘DEAR SIR, ‘Edinburgh, Feb. 24, 1777.

  ‘Your letter dated the 18th instant, I had the pleasure to receive last post. Although my late long neglect, or rather delay, was truely culpable, I am tempted not to regret it, since it has produced me so valuable a proof of your regard. I did, indeed, during that inexcusable silence, sometimes divert the reproaches of my own mind, by fancying that I should hear again from you, inquiring with some anxiety about me, because, for aught you knew, I might have been ill.

  ‘You are pleased to shew me, that my kindness is of some consequence to you. My heart is elated at the thought. Be assured, my dear Sir, that my affection and reverence for you are exalted and steady. I do not believe that a more perfect attachment ever existed in the history of mankind. And it is a noble attachment; for the attractions are Genius, Learning, and Piety.

  ‘Your difficulty of breathing alarms me, and brings into my imagination an event, which although in the natural course of things, I must expect at some period, I cannot view with composure….

  ‘My wife is much honoured by what you say of her. She begs you may accept of her best compliments. She is to send you some marmalade of oranges of her own making.… I ever am, my dear Sir, your most obliged and faithful humble servant,

  ‘JAMES BOSWELL.’

  ‘To JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

  ‘DEAR SIR, – I have been much pleased with your late letter, and am glad that my old enemy, Mrs. Boswell, begins to feel some remorse. As to Miss Veronica’s Scotch, I think it cannot be helped. An English maid you might easily have; but she would still imitate the greater number, as they would be likewise those whom she must most respect. Her dialect will not be gross. Her Mamma has not much Scotch, and you have yourself very little. I hope she knows my name, and does not call me Johnston.a

  ‘The immediate cause of my writing is this: – One Shaw, who seems a modest and a decent man, has written an Erse Grammar, which a very learned Highlander, Macbean, has, at my request, examined and approved.

  ‘The book is very little, but Mr. Shaw has been persuaded by his friends to set it at half a guinea, though I had advised only a crown, and thought myself liberal. You, whom the authour considers as a great encourager of ingenious men, will receive a parcel of his proposals and receipts. I have undertaken to give you notice of them, and to solicit your countenance. You must ask no poor man, because the price is really too high. Yet such a work deserves patronage.

  ‘It is proposed to augment our club from twenty to thirty, of which I am glad; for as we have several in it whom do not much like to consort with,b I am for reducing it to a mere miscellaneous collection of conspicuous men, without any determinate character.… I am, dear Sir, most affectionately your’s,

  ‘March 11, 1777.’ ’sAM. JOHNSON.’

  ‘My respects to Madam, to Veronica, to Alexander, to Euphemia, to David.’

  ‘MR. BOSWELL to DR. JOHNSON

  ‘Edinburgh, April 4, 1777.

  [After informing him of the death of my little son David, and that I could not come to London this spring: –]

  ‘I think it hard that I should be a whole year without seeing you. May I presume to petition for a meeting with you in the autumn? You have, I believe, seen all the cathedrals in England, except that of Carlisle. If you are to be with Dr. Taylor, at Ashbourne, it would not be a great journey to come thither. We may pass a few most agreeable days there by ourselves, and I will accompany you a good part of the way to the southward again. Pray think of this.

  ‘You forget that Mr. Shaw’s Erse Grammar was put into your hands by myself last year. Lord Eglintoune put it into mine. I am glad that Mr. Macbean approves of it. I have received Mr. Shaw’s Proposals for its publication, which I can perceive are written by the hand of a Master….

  ‘Pray get for me all the editions of Walton’s Lives: I have a notion that the republication of them with Notes will fall upon me, between Dr. Horne and Lord Hailes.’

  Mr. Shaw’s Proposals† for An Analysis of the Scotch Celtick Language, were thus illuminated by the pen of Johnson:

  ‘Though the Erse dialect of the Celtick language has, from the earliest times, been spoken in Britain, and still subsists in the northern parts and adjacent islands, yet, by the negligence of a people rather warlike than lettered, it has hitherto been left to the caprice and judgement of every speaker, and has floated in the living voice, without the steadiness of analogy, or direction of rules. An Erse Grammar is an addition to the stores of literature; and its authour hopes for the indulgence always shewn to those that attempt to do what was never done before. If his work shall be found defective, it is at least all his own: he is not like other grammarians, a compiler or transcriber; what he delivers, he has learned by attentive observation among his countrymen, who perhaps will be themselves surprized to see that speech reduced to principles, which they have used only by imitation.

  ‘The use of this book will, however, not be confined to the mountains and islands; it will afford a pleasing and important subject of speculation, to those whose studies lead them to trace the affinity of languages, and the migrations of the ancient races of mankind.’

  ‘To DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON

  ‘MY DEAR SIR, ‘Glasgow, April 24, 1777.

  ‘Our worthy friend Thrale’s death having appeared in the news-papers, and been afterwards contradicted, I have been placed in a state of very uneasy uncertainty, from which I hoped to be relieved by you: but my hopes have as yet been vain. How could you omit to write to me on such an occasion? I shall wait with anxiety.

  ‘I am going to Auchinleck to stay a fortnight with my father. It is better not to be there very long at one time. But frequent renewals of attention are agreeable to him.

  ‘Pray tell me about this edition of ”The English Poets, with a Preface, biographical and critical, to each Authour, by Samuel Johnson, LL.D.” which I see advertised. I am delighted with the prospect of it. Indeed I am happy to feel that I am capable of being so much delighted with literature. But is not the charm of this publication chiefly owing to the magnum nomen673 in the front of it?

  ‘What do you say of Lord Chesterfield’s Memoirs and last Letters?

  ‘My wife has made marmalade of oranges for you. I left her and my daughters and Alexander all well yesterday. I have taught Veronica to speak of you thus; – Dr. Johnson, not John-ston. I remain, my dear Sir, your most affectionate, and obliged humble servant,

  ‘JAMES BOSWELL.’

  ‘ToJAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

  ‘DEAR SIR, – The story of Mr. Thrale’s death, as he had neither been sick nor in any other danger, made so little impression upon me, that I never thought about obviating its effects on any body else. It is supposed to have been produced by the English custom of making April fools, that is, of sending one another on some foolish errand on the first of April.

  ‘Tell Mrs. Boswell that I shall taste her marmalade cautiously at first. Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.674 Beware, says the Italian proverb, of a reconciled enemy. But when I find it does me no harm, I shall then receive it and be thankful for it, as a pledge of firm, and, I hope, of unalterable kindness. She is, after all, a dear, dear lady.

  ‘Please to return Dr. Blair thanks for his sermons. The Scotch write English wonderfully well…

  ‘Your frequent visits to Auchinleck, and your short stay there, are very laudable and very judicious. Your pr
esent concord with your father gives me great pleasure; it was all that you seemed to want.

  ‘My health is very bad, and my nights are very unquiet. What can I do to mend them? I have for this summer nothing better in prospect than a journey into Staffordshire and Derbyshire, perhaps with Oxford and Birmingham in my way.

  ‘Make my compliments to Miss Veronica; I must leave it to her philosophy to comfort you for the loss of little David. You must remember, that to keep three out of four is more than your share. Mrs. Thrale has but four out of eleven.

  ‘I am engaged to write little Lives, and little Prefaces, to a little edition of The English Poets. I think I have persuaded the booksellers to insert something of Thomson; and if you could give me some information about him, for the life which we have is very scanty, I should be glad. I am, dear Sir, your most affectionate humble servant,

  ‘May3,1777.’ ‘sAM. JOHNSON.’

  To those who delight in tracing the progress of works of literature, it will be an entertainment to compare the limited design with the ample execution of that admirable performance, The Lives of the English Poets, which is the richest, most beautiful, and indeed most perfect production of Johnson’s pen. His notion of it at this time appears in the preceding letter. He has a memorandum in this year, ‘29 May, Easter Eve, I treated with booksellers on a bargain, but the time was not long.’a The bargain was concerning that undertaking; but his tender conscience seems alarmed lest it should have intruded too much on his devout preparation for the solemnity of the ensuing day. But, indeed, very little time was necessary for Johnson’s concluding a treaty with the booksellers; as he had, I believe, less attention to profit from his labours than any man to whom literature has been a profession. I shall here insert from a letter to me from my late worthy friend Mr. Edward Dilly, though of a later date, an account of this plan so happily conceived; since it was the occasion of procuring for us an elegant collection of the best biography and criticism of which our language can boast.

  ‘To JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.