A still stronger…
p. 214, 25 June 1763
… did not think. [I have heard him say with a manly disdain of the idle clamour that was made upon this subject from various quarters, ‘This is my opinion. I have a right to give it. They may tell ∫ Let them shew me I am wrong.’]
Finding him…
p. 222, 1 July 1763
… only a few.’
[It must be remembered ∫ The truth is that Churchill did not at first declare war against Johnson. On the contrary in his first Poem The Rosciad he rather treated him with ↑ some ↑ respect; for, while mentioning ∫ enumerating the men of genius ∫ eminent men whom he supposes as candidates for being the Judge who should decide the merits of the various pretenders to the vacant chair of Roscius there is this passage
For JOHNSON some, but JOHNSON it was feared
Would be too grave and Sterne too loose appeared.
But when he understood that Johnson undervalued his poetry, ∫ opposed the current of fashion, he drew the following very extravagant and gross Caricatura of him which like all Caricatures]
In this depreciation…
p. 227, 14 July 1763
… any of the sciences.
[And although for a general acquisition of knowledge reading that for which we have an inclination may be best as it is most nutritive to eat that for which we have an appetite, we must consider that a stomach which has fasted ↑ very ↑ long will have no appetite for any kind of food; the longer it fasts it will be the worse; and therefore we must not wait till an appetite returns, but throw in immediately some wholesome sustenance. The stomach then may recover its tone and taste may revive. So it is with the mind when by a long course of dissipation it is quite relaxed. It must be gradually restored, and then we may better judge what study is most agreable ∫ to what study it has a propensity.] To such a degree…
pp. 229–30, 14 July 1763
… happiness as possible.’
[He told me tonight that he intended to give us some more imitations of Juvenal; that he had several of them in his head, which he had not written down. How much is it to be regretted that he did not fulfill this intention.]
[When we entered the Mitre this evening he said to me ‘We will not drink two bottles of port.’ However when one was drunk he called for another pint, and when we had got almost to the bottom of ∫ almost finished that, and I was making a shew of distributing it equally ∫ dividing it justitia distributiva ‘Come said he jollily, you need not measure it so exactly.’ ‘Sir said I it is done.’ ‘Well Sir said he, are you satisfied? or would you have another?’ ‘Would you Sir? said I.’ ‘Yes said he I think I would. I think two bottles would seem to be the quantity for us.’ Accordingly we made them ∫ it out. This little Anecdote will give a more lively conviction of his social pleasantry than pages of studied declamation ∫ narrative could do. He took me cordially by the hand and said ‘My Dear Boswell! I do love you very much.’ No Monarch ∫ King could have said any thing to me, that would have elevated me so much ∫ by which I should have been so much elevated.]
Next morning…
p. 233, 21 July 1763
… human happiness. [There is a reciprocation of ∫ reciprocal pleasure in commanding and in obeying.] Were we all…
pp. 233-4, 21 July 1763
… great Duke.’
[I was happy to hear my notions of subordination as ∫ the notions of subordination which I entertained as a zealous Monarchical man so ably defended. My zeal I thought would after this be more ‘according to knowledge.’]
He took care…
p. 236, 21 July 1763
… with low spirits. [– I felt a dignified consolation in being told ∫ knowing that so great a ∫ this great man was not exempted from a species of affliction which is aggravated by being thought by many peculiarly humiliating.]
He again insisted…
p. 244, 30 July 1763
… done at all. [It is remarkable that there was here a coincidence with a saying of my Father’s, who was a man of a strong mind and remarkable grave humour ∫ vein of humour. A person who was born blind ∫ person who had been blind from his infancy ∫ blind man took a fancy for some time to be a Clergyman and numbers of people flocked to hear him preach as is usual when any thing extraordinary is exhibited. My Father being asked what he thought of this answered ‘the learned english dog.’]
On Tuesday…
p. 260, 1765
… even affection. [I have often applied to Mrs. Thrale & him the scriptural expression ∫ expression in scripture ‘And she was with him as a daughter.’] The vivacity…
p. 260, 1765
… received with reverence. [↑ Dr. Adam Smith said of it in the hearing of Sir Joshua Reynolds ‘It is the most manly piece of Criticism I have ever read. He is not sufficient to make an authority of ↑] What he did…
p. 293, May 1768
… frame of mind. [I was elated and embracing him cried out ‘Thou great Man.’ He smiled and said ‘Don’t call names.’] As he had…
p. 389, 1 May 1773
… some other Scotchman.’ [Upon this subject he once said with exquisite wit to Dr. Barnard now Bishop of Kilaloe who expressed an apprehension that, were he to visit Ireland he might be as severe upon the irish as upon the Scotch. ‘No Sir; the irish are a fair people; they never speak well of one another.’]
We drank…
p. 424, 1775
… fearless confidence. [The Account which he published of his ‘Journey,’ though almost universally admired for its profound research upon many curious topicks, its perspicuous observations, and strong as well as beautiful language has been ignorantly and virulently attacked by some ∫ individuals.] His remark…
p. 430, 1775
… in this rhapsody. [He seemed to me instead of a dexterous Champion to be a furious Bull turned loose to trample down and toss and gore the Colonists and all their friends.]
That this…
p. 436, 27 March 1775
… variety of them.’
[I half persuaded him to go with me ↑ after the Play ↑ to sup at Beauclerk’s. He went a part of the way. But suddenly stopped short and took a resolution to go home. He said with a placid look ‘But I don’t love Beauclerk the less.’ Such little circumstances may to some appear too slight ∫ may by some be thought too small. But I draw the portrait of Johnson in the style of a flemish painter. I am not satisfied with hitting the large features. I must be exact as to every line in his countenance every hair, every mole. But I am chiefly anxious not to omit any trait however slight that evinces ∫ illustrates the philanthropy of his disposition which has been so grossly misunderstood. There was an affectionate caveat in his ‘But I don’t love Beauclerk the less’ which indicated a tenderness more than common.]
At Mr. Beauclerk’s…
p. 459, 18 April 1775
… one wild beast or many?’ [But let me now observe that happily we are not under a necessity of being under either one or the other ∫ there is not the necessity for our having either one or the other. In our noble constitution as Blackstone has ably illustrated it, there is absolute power neither in one nor in many fallible men ∫ no doubt but it is lodged not in one nor in many fallible beings. It is inherent in the law of the Land.]
Johnson praised…
Index of Subjects
abbreviating names, S.J.’s habit of 54, 59, 190, 191, 398, 914
abjuration, oath of 434, n. a
abridgements, defended by S.J. 11, 82, 976
abroad, advice to people going 946
abruptness, in poetry 214
absolute princes 459 abstemious, S.J., not ‘temperate’ 246, 804
absurdities, delineating 771
abuse, coarse and refined 928
‘Acade´mie Franc¸ais’ 106, 162
Academy, the Royal, see Royal Academy
‘Accademia della Crusca’ 162, 234
‘accommodate’ 783
account-keepin
g 862
accuracy 375, 441, 771, 964; see also under Index of Persons, Boswell II
achievement and non-achievement 328
Achilles, shield of 780
‘acid’ 455
acquaintance 520, 862, 972
acting 896–7
action in speaking 178–9, 372
actors, see players
Adamites 395
addresses to the throne in 1784 167, 909
admiration 454
adoption, ancient mode of 138
‘adscititious’ 116–17
adultery 291, 714, 742
Advent-Sunday 416
Adventure, the 339
adversaries, see antagonists advisers, the common deficiency of 720
advocates, see lawyers
‘Ægri Ephemeris’ 976
affairs, managing one’s 812
affectation 247, 603, 664–5, 777, 803; see also singularity
affection 311, 733, 879
afforestation 574, 634–5
age: old, see old age; present 444, 521, 646, 665, 923
air, new kinds of 893
air-bath, Monboddo’s 613
alchymy 462–3
‘alias’ 883
Almack’s Club 531
almanac 457
‘almost nothing’ 503 n. a
alms-giving, see charity
ambassador, Russian 745
ambition 539
America, American Colonies and Americans, see Index of Places
amusements 350, 938
ancestry 342, 400
ancient and modern writers compared 704
ancient times worse than modern 883
anecdotes 266
‘anfractuosity’, ‘anfractuousness’ 765
animals 290, 393, 545; see also dogs; Index of Persons, Johnson I: cats
animus irritandi 835
annihilation 605, 683
anonymous writings 727
antagonists 501
‘Antigallican’, popular epithet 172
antimosaical remark 514
antiquarian 674, 703–4
Apelles’ Venus 820
Apollo Press 584
apologies, ‘seldom of any use’ 262
apostolical ordination 313
apparitions, see ghosts
applause 780
apple dumplings 329
application 812
apprehensions, see Index of Persons, Boswell II: imagination
April fool 578
Arabic 777
archbishop 872
arches, semicircular and elliptical 187
architecture 13, 148, 499; see also Index of Persons, Others: Chambers, Sir William
Argonauts 241
arguing 524–5
argument 283, 518, 519, 919
Argyll, Synod of 594; see also 411
Arian heresy 780
arithmetic 45, 635
armorial bearings 355
arms 716
army, see soldiers
art, see painting and statuary
Artemisia 300
arthritick tyranny
102 articles, see Thirty-nine Articles
‘artificially’ 544
Artists, Society of, see Society of Artists
‘ascertain’ 740
assent 940
Assyrians 354, 537
atheism 265
Athenians 45, 351
‘Athol porridge’ 808
attacks on authors 294, 442, 726, 753, 1001; see also Index of Persons, Johnson I: attacks
Attorney-General 560
attorneys 327, 834, 937
Augustan Age 384
austerities, religious, see monasteries
author, an 316, 818, 940, 942
authority 501, 665
authors 66, 68, 112, 209, 289, 297 n. c, 326, 363, 386, 446, 495, 533–4, 571, 610, 621, 675, 696, 704, 725–6, 817–18, 826, 830, 860, 932–3, 938
avarice 556, 697
baby 311
ballads 251, 332, 358, 373, 607–9
balloons 960, 962, 963, 969
baptism 54 n. a, 509, 924
bar, see law; lawyers
barbarous society 209
Barclay, Perkins and Co., see Index of Persons, Others: Perkins, John
baron 67 n. b
baronet 713
barristers, see lawyers
bat 709
baths 54 n. a, 310
bear, see under Index of Persons, Johnson I
beauty, independent of utility 348, 857
Bedfordshire militia 166 n. 131, 738
Bedlam 463, 878
beer 474; see also Index of Persons, Others: Thrale, Henry
beggars 532, 739–40, 780; see also charity
Belgrade, siege of 356
belief 524
benevolence 539, 543, 680
Benevolists, the 603 n. a
‘Betty or Betsey’ 58
‘bibliopole’ 446
‘Bibliothèque’ 154, 154–5
‘big’ 712
‘Big man’, an Irishism 267
‘bill’ 200
biographical catechism 973
biography 6, 19–24, 139, 225, 284, 302, 349, 502–3, 556, 606, 671 n. b, 781, 792, 985
birds 393
birth, respect for, see under Index of Persons, Johnson I; Boswell II
‘bis dat qui cito daf 417
Biscay, language of 173
‘bishop’ 136
bishops 351, 450, 769, 805, 812, 828 n. b, 922, 927; see also hierarchy, English
bleeding 604–5
blind, the 361; see also Index of Persons, Others: Hetherington, William
‘blockhead’ 222, 352, 508
‘blood’ 400
Blue-stockings, the 823
boars 649
Bohemian language 343
bones 875–6
‘bon-mots’ 449, 626 n. a, 697
books 43, 61, 239, 323, 346, 382, 456, 464, 476, 627, 692, 703, 731; see also copyright; editions; reading
bookseller, a drunken 156, 388
booksellers 51, 165, 231, 446, 492, 579, 679 n. a, 724, 904; see also copyright
Boswell family 243, 872
Boswelliana 685 n. a
botanical garden 834
botanist 201 n. a
bottom 594 n. a, 594 n. 688, 818
bounty on corn, see corn
‘bouts-rimes’ 443
Boyle, family of, see Index of Places: Orrery Brahmins 769 n. a, 812
brandy 729, 808
bravery 985
bread tree 393
breeches 868
breeding, see good breeding
brewers 257
brewing 474; see also Index of Persons, Others: Thrale, Henry
bribery 444
Britain 75 n. b, 704
British Coffee-House, London 363
British Museum Library 20, 88, 143 n. a, 422 n. a, 427, 476 n. a, 770
Briton 75 n. b, 188
brooks 659
‘Brownism’ 166
Brunswick, House of, see Hanover, House of
brutes, see animals
buckles, for shoes, made of silver 699
‘bulk’ (see OED s.v. bulk sb.) 240
bull-dog, on the excellence of a 625–6
‘Bulse’ 715
burgess-ticket, see Aberdeen
burrow, a man near his 728
business 443
‘Busy, curious, thirsty fly’ 412
cabbages 507
Cabiri, the 148
calculation, see under Index of Persons, Johnson I
‘Caliban of literature’ 328
‘called’ 815
Calypso 151
camp 718; see also Index of Places: Coxheath Camp; Warley Common
‘can, to leave one’s’ 512
cant: 209, 629, 884
capital punishments, see executions; Index of Places: Tyburn
cards 171, 531
carele
ssness 773
carpenter, anecdote of a 827
‘Cartaret’, a dactyl 764
castes of the Hindoos 769 n. a, 812
Catalogue raisonne 89
catalogues 456
catechism: Larger & Shorter Catechism 411
cathedrals, English 577
cats 872; see also under Index of Persons, Johnson I
celibacy 328
censure 548, 692–3, 698
certainties, small, the bane of men of talents 435
chair of veracity or verity 548
‘Cham of literature’ 186 n. e
Chancellors, Lord, how chosen 344
chances 945
change, silver 869
chaplains 309
character 288, 478, 501, 528, 529, 652, 675–6, 709, 713, 780
charade, a 871
charitable establishment in Wales 611
charity 322, 373, 394–5, 546, 764
Charterhouse 107, 588, 644, 762
chastity 292, 508
cheerfulness 688
chemistry 82, 230, 265, 343, 738, 893
children 138, 231, 311, 480–81, 533, 591, 614, 771, 773; see also under Index of Persons, Johnson I
China 52, 186 n. c, 291, 668, 707, 797; see also Index of Persons, Others: Du Halde, J. B.
Christianity 211, 215, 227, 234, 239, 265, 267, 276, 625, 692, 694
Christ’s Hospital 415
Christ’s satisfaction 832
chuck-farthing 445–6
Church, the 548–51, 568
‘Church and King’ 778, 927
Church of England 244, 351–2, 389–92, 444, 509, 596–7, 759, 760, 917; see also clergy; curates
Church of Rome, see Roman Catholics
Church of Scotland 15, 244, 340, 351–2, 389–92, 509
circulating libraries, see libraries
The Life of Samuel Johnson Page 151
