The Life of Samuel Johnson

by James Boswell

  945. The Wonder: Susannah Centlivre, The Wonder! A Woman Keeps a Secret (1714).

  946. The Thane of Ross: A minor role in Macbeth.

  947. his grotto: Pope constructed a celebrated grotto (i.e. an excavation or structure made to imitate a rocky cave, often adorned with shellwork, etc., and serving as a place of recreation or a cool retreat) in the grounds of his villa at Twickenham: cf. Maynard Mack, The Country and the City (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1969), esp. ch. 2, ‘The Shadowy Cave’, pp. 41–76.

  948. Let modest Foster… well: Pope, ‘Epilogue to the Satires’, i.131-2.

  949. a person: Richard Cumberland.

  950. Domina de North et Gray: Lady North and Gray.

  951. its authour: George Marriott.

  952. One of the company: Edmund Burke.

  953. Aristotle… the dead: Diogenes Laertius, V.i.19.

  954. A lady of my acquaintance… her uncle: Mrs Thrale and Sir Thomas Salusbury.

  955. A lady… how happy shall: Gentleman’s Magazine, lxii (1792), 213–14.

  956. Ah, Monsieur… trop: Ah, sir, you study too much.

  957. one of the remarkers… revealed to him: Johnson alludes to a passage in Elizabeth Robinson Montagu’s Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakespear (1769), pp. 160–61, in which she compares Shakespeare with Corneille.

  958. Lord—: John Boyle, 5th Earl of Cork and Orrery.

  959. A clergyman: Possibly Dr Michael Lort.

  960. The Old Man’s Wish: Walter Pope, The Old Man’s Wish (?i74o).

  961. May I govern… sway: Ibid., p. 1; cf. The Spectator, 410 (20 June 1712).

  962. unoculus inter ccecos: The one-eyed man among the blind (who proverbially was their king).

  963. A gentleman: Possibly Sir Joshua Reynolds.

  964. praxis: An example or collection of examples to serve for practice or exercise in a subject, esp. in grammar (OED, 2a).

  965. A gentleman… his brother: Possibly James and David Boswell.

  966. Parnassus’ hill: In Greek mythology, Mount Parnassus was the home of the Muses; hence metonymic of poetic or artistic achievement.

  967. South Sea: An allusion to the South Sea Bubble, a British speculation mania which created and destroyed great fortunes in 1720.

  968. a friend: Perhaps Topham Beauclerk.

  969. She will outstrip… behind her: The Tempest, IV.i.io-n.

  970. a very young man: The Revd Thomas Robertson.

  971. the admirable scolding of Timon of Athens: Timon of Athens, III.vii. 80–97; IV.i.1-41; IV.iii.1-23.

  972. Nil… extra: ‘Seek not to find yourself outside yourself – Persius, Satires, i.7.

  973. Down then… Dorian lyre: Gilbert West, Odes of Pindar… translated from the Greek (1749), p. 6.

  974. a certain noble Lord: John Boyle, 5th Earl of Cork and Orrery.

  975. a very angry answer: John Wilkes, A Letter to Samuel Johnson LL.D. (1770).

  976. Philosophy and vain deceit: Colossians 2:8.

  977. the Retreat of the Ten Thousand: Xenophon, Anabasis.

  978. the Arian heresy: Named after the early Christian theologian Arius (c. 250–336), who denied the doctrine of the Trinity advanced by his great rival St Athanasius (c. 293–373); hence used to denote a spectrum of theological positions ranging from outright unitarianism to varying degrees and kinds of subordination of the Son to the Father. The first Arian controversy broke out in the fourth century, but it was echoed in the eighteenth century in England, when the doctrine of the Trinity again came under sceptical pressure: see Maurice Wiles, Archetypal Heresy: Arianism Through the Centuries (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996).

  979. an ingenious writer: Joseph Warton.

  980. the shield of Achilles: The shield forged for the Greek warrior Achilles by Hephaestus, the god of fire and metalworking, is the subject of a famous description in bk 18 of The Iliad.

  981. Latiùs… suscepi: ‘But as my matter grew under my hand, I voluntarily undertook a bigger task than had been laid upon me’ – I.Proem.3.

  982. Some other nymphs… the boy: Edmund Waller, ‘Of Loving at First Sight’, ll. 15–18.

  983. Life of Sheffield: Johnson, Lives of the Poets, ed. Lonsdale, III, 47.

  984. pannus assutus: ‘Purpureus… unus et alter | Assuitur pannus’ – ‘a purple patch or two is tacked on’ – Horace, Ars Poetica, ll. 15–16.

  985. blazon: A record of virtues or excellencies (OED, 4).

  986. The Revolution Society: A society established to commemorate the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Its members had been early enthusiasts for the French Revolution, and it was to a meeting of that society on 4 November 1789 that Richard Price delivered the speech which provoked Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790).

  987. fallen on… compassed round: Milton, Paradise Lost, vii.25-7.

  988. a common friend: Possibly Edmond Malone.

  989. But, gracious God… Three in One: John Dryden, The Hind and the Panther (1687), i.64–79.

  990. the editor: Samuel Parr.

  991. balance of the sanctuary: Cf. Daniel 5:27.

  992. a person: Richard Hurd.

  993. And the bright flame… soul: Alexander Pope, ‘Verses on a Grotto by the River Thames at Twickenham, composed of Marbles, Spars, and Minerals’ (1741), l. 12.

  994. execution: The enforcement by the sheriff, or other officer, of the judgement of a court; chiefly, the seizure of the goods or person of a debtor in default of payment (OED, 7).

  995. Hic requiescit… deesset: ‘Here lies Thomas Parnell, D. D., who, at once priest and poet, so played both parts that the poet’s sweetness was never false to the priest, nor the priest’s piety false to the poet.’

  996. Molly Aston: In fact Hill Boothby.

  997. published by Mrs. Thrale: Hester Lynch Piozzi, Letters to and from the late Samuel Johnson, 2 vols. (1788), II, 391.

  998. placido lumine: See n. 155.

  999. a very eminent literary character: Edmund Burke.

  1000. nodosities: Knotty swellings or protuberances (OED).

  1001. the Sybil: See n. 142.

  1002. Eheu fugaces: See n. 724.

  1003. an ardent judge… giving sentence: Cf. Pope, An Essay on Criticism, ll. 677-8: ‘An ardent Judge, who Zealous in his Trust, | With Warmth gives Sentence, yet is always Just…’

  1004. distichs: A couple of lines of verse, usually making complete sense, and (in modern poetry) rhyming; a couplet (OED).

  1005. Jan. 9: The original is dated 29 January.

  1006. From his cradle… Heaven: Henry VIII, IV. ii. 50–51, 67-8.

  1007. See… a man: Hamlet, III.iv.54–61.

  1008. His… broad: Milton, Paradise Lost, iv.300–303.

  1009. a gentleman: William Strahan.

  1010. A bishop… tippling-house: Johnson is referring to Bishop Shipley of St Asaph.

  1011. routs: A rout was a fashionable gathering or assembly, a large evening party or reception, much in vogue in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (OED, 9.)

  1012. the Bishop of—: Bishop Porteus of Chester.

  1013. The Spectator:No. 2, 2March 1711 (actually written by Richard Steele).

  1014. bag: A small silken pouch to contain the back-hair of a wig (OED, 5).

  1015. Il pétille d’esprit: ‘He fizzes with wit.’

  1016. Marcellus: A reference to Marcus Claudius Marcellus (43–23 bc), adoptive son of Augustus and married to Augustus’s daughter Julia. He was intended to succeed Augustus in the principate but, like Sir James Macdonald (1742–66), he died young.

  1017. a gentleman: Charles Selwyn.

  1018. ∗∗∗∗∗∗: William Seward.

  1019. Some other gentlemen: William Seward, Sir John Lade and Henry Smith.

  1020. Mr. ∗∗∗∗∗: Henry Smith.

  1021. One of the gentlemen: William Seward.

  1022. a Bishop: Dr Beilby Porteus, then bishop of Chester.

  1023. another Bishop: Dr Jonathan Shipley, bisho
p of St Asaph.

  1024. And the graves… unto many: Matthew 27:52–3.

  1025. Scripture… grain sown: Matthew 13:31–2.

  1026. An acquaintance: James Boswell’s clerk, Brown.

  1027. But two at a time… can bear: John Gay, ‘Tom Tinker’s my true love’, The Beggar’s Opera, III.xi.31. The outlaw Macheath is here singing about having to choose between his two wives, Polly and Lucy.

  1028. who gladdened life: The quotation comes from Johnson’s ‘Life of Edmund Smith’, where it refers to David Garrick (Lives of the Poets, ed. Lonsdale, II, 179.)

  1029. A merrier man… his discourse: Love’s Labours Lost, II.i.66–76.

  1030. One of the company: Probably Boswell himself.

  1031. a very respectable authour: Dr John Campbell.

  1032. parole: Language.

  1033. Behold…pencil writ: ‘[There wasa]clubatthe King’s HeadinPall Mall that (arrogantly) called themselves “the World”. Lord Stanhope then (now Lord Chesterfield), Lord Herbert, etc. etc. [were members]. Epigrams [were] proposed to be writ by each after dinner once when Dr. Young was invited thither. [He] would have declined writing, because he had no diamond. Lord Chesterfield lent him his, and he wrote immediately: Accept a miracle instead of wit: See two dull lines by Stanhope’s pencil writ.’ (Joseph Spence, Observations, Anecdotes, and Characters of Books and Men, ed. James M. Osborn, 2 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966), no. 852, I, 343). Young needed a diamond because the epigrams were to be engraved on the glasses.

  1034. a young lady: Possibly Fanny Burney.

  1035. Chief Justice —: Sir John Willes.

  1036. a celebrated orator: Edmund Burke.

  1037. Sure, Sir… law of the land: Wilkes had defied a resolution of the House of Commons excluding him from sitting as a member.

  1038. Proteus: In Greek mythology a sea god who had the power of assuming different shapes.

  1039. in Scripture… the kid: Isaiah 11:6 (slightly misremembered).

  1040. the most charming Duchess: Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire.

  1041. an eminent friend of his: William Gerard Hamilton.

  1042. cui bono: To the benefit of whom?

  1043. a friend: Possibly Boswell himself.

  1044. non est tanti: It is not worthwhile.

  1045. The authour: William Mason.

  1046. Rarus… Fortuna: ‘Regard for others is rarely encountered among the nobility’ – Juvenal, Satires, viii.73-4.

  1047. That no man… his own condition: The allusion is to Horace, Satires, I.i.1-3: ‘Qui fit, Maecenas, ut nemo, quam sibi sortem | seu ratio dederit seu fors obiecerit, illa | contentus vivat, laudet diversa sequentis?’ – ‘How is it, Maecenas, that no living man is happy with the lot either which he has chosen or which fate has thrown in his way, but rather praises those who have followed other paths of life?’

  1048. address: Skill, dexterity, adroitness (OED, 4).

  1049. Ambulantis… vocem Dei: ‘They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden’ – Genesis 3:8.

  1050. Vivendi… horam, &c: ‘He who puts off the hour of right-living is like the bumpkin waiting for the river to run out: yet on it glides, and on it will glide, rolling its flood for ever’ – Horace, Epistles, I.ii.41-3.

  1051. St. Paul… a cast-away: 1 Corinthians 9:27.

  1052. a learned Bishop: Dr Thomas Barnard, bishop of Killaloe.

  1053. as the Apostle says… not by sight: 2 Corinthians 5:7.

  1054. The Lamb of God… the world: John 1:29.

  1055. Our Saviour… to fulfill: Matthew 5:17.

  1056. fourteen years: In fact seven years.

  1057. Solventur… abibis: ‘The tables will dissolve with laughter, and you will be discharged’ – Horace, Satires, II.i.86.

  1058. De minimis… Prcetor: The law does not concern itself with trifles.

  1059. animus injuriandi: Intention to injure.

  1060. animus irritandi: Intention to annoy.

  1061. genus irritabile: ‘The sensitive race of poets’ – Horace, Epistles, II.ii.102.

  1062. honores mutant mores: Honours change manners.

  1063. jus est… servitus: Law is either unknown or uncertain… the slavery is wretched.

  1064. a friend of mine: Charles Dilly.

  1065. Commendavi: I commended (his soul to heaven).

  1066. Nostrum… Deus: God have mercy on us all.

  1067. T. Lawrencio… vertam: ‘To Dr Lawrence. A fresh chill, a fresh cough, and a fresh difficulty in breathing call for a fresh letting of blood. Without your advice, however, I would not submit to the operation. I cannot well come to you, nor need you come to me. Say yes or no in one word, and leave the rest to Holder and to me. If you say yes, tell the messenger to send Holder. May 1,1782. When you have left, to whom shall I turn?’

  1068. Without… this time: In fact postmarked 28 August, and therefore belonging to an earlier year.

  1069. some obscure scribbler: J. Thomson Callender.

  1070. phlebotomy: The action or practice of extracting blood from a vein for therapeutic or diagnostic purposes (OED, 1).

  1071. The Reverend Mr. —: Lancelot St Albyn.

  1072. Exercise… his folly: Johnson, Rambler, 85 (1751).

  1073. Life… a well-ordered poem: ‘Life should a well-order’d Poem be’ – Abraham Cowley, ‘Upon Liberty’ (composed? 1665-7, first published 1668), vi.

  1074. Templo… osculo: I took my leave of the church with a kiss.

  1075. an old man: John Colvil.

  1076. isolee: Isolated.

  1077. ebullition: Effervescence.

  1078. one of our old acquaintance: Thomas Sheridan, father of Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

  1079. a respectable friend: General Paoli.

  1080. Mcecenas: Gaius Cilnius Maecenas (?64~8 bc), close counsellor of Augustus, and enlightened and generous patron of a literary circle which included Virgil, Horace, Propertius and Varius; hence, by extension, any generous patron of poetry or the arts.

  1081. the Corycius Senex: An old man from Corycus.

  1082. Regum… animis: ‘In contentment, he matched the riches of kings’ – Virgil, Georgics, iv.132.

  1083. A gentleman: Boswell himself.

  1084. Lord ∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗: Lord Shelburne.

  1085. Malagrida… reproach: George III used to call Shelburne ‘Malagrida’, after a Jesuit executed in 1761 in Lisbon for having sanctioned an attempt on the life of King Joseph of Portugal, and as a result at this time the name ‘Malagrida’ had become associated with malice and duplicity.

  1086. one of his friends: Sir Joshua Reynolds.

  1087. a respectable gentleman: Sir John Pringle.

  1088. a lady whom I mentioned: Mrs Stuart.

  1089. another lady: Mrs Boswell.

  1090. an acquaintance of ours: George Steevens.

  1091. a late eminent noble judge: Possibly Lord Mansfield.

  1092. another law-Lord: Lord Wedderburn.

  1093. Nec… gemmce: ‘Unable to support a gem of weight’ – Juvenal, Satires, i.29.

  1094. some Essays which I had written: As ‘The Hypochondriack’ in the London Magazine.

  1095. Nullum… prudentia: ‘Heaven’s help is not refused, if wisdom be present’ – Juvenal, Satires, x.365.

  1096. Nullum… imprudentia: Heaven’s help is withheld in the presence of folly.

  1097. NugiS antiquce: Ancient trifles.

  1098. namque… nugas: ‘For you used to think that my trifles were worth something’ – Catullus, i.3 – 4.

  1099. Ingenium… corpore: ‘Vast gifts of mind are hidden under that uncouth exterior’ – Horace, Satires, I.iii.33-4.

  1100. Quos… dementat: ‘Those whom God wishes to destroy, he first makes mad.’

  1101. Semel… omnes: ‘We have all been mad once’ – Virgil, Eclogues, i.117–18.

  1102. in Johannes Baptista Mantuanus: Baptistae Mantuani Carmelitae, Ado-lescentia, seu Bucolica (1498), i.118.

  1103. Lov
e and Madness: Sir Herbert Croft, Love and Madness (1780).

  1104. Wickham: Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire.

  1105. Hic… passi: ‘Here was the band who had battled and bled for their homeland’ – Virgil, Aeneid, vi.66o.

  1106. Inventas… per artes: ‘Those who ennobled life by the arts they discovered’ – Virgil, Aeneid, vi.663.

  1107. a Prince of Spain… his tutor: Don Gabriel Antonio and F. Perez Bayer.

  1108. fortunate senex: Happy old man.

  1109. imagines majorum: Images of our ancestors (as used to be displayed in the homes of Roman aristocrats).

  1110. the Turkish Spy: Giovanni Paolo Marana, L’esploratore turco e le di lui relazioni segrete alla Porta Ottomana (1684), a much-reprinted and translated work which inaugurated a new genre in European literature, that of the pseudo-foreign letter.

  1111. à posteriori: From effect to cause.

  1112. à priori: From cause to effect.

  1113. When we beat Louis… when Louis beat us: The reference is to Louis XIV (1638–1714), crowned king of France on 14 May 1643. While William III was on the English throne, Louis had enjoyed victories over allied forces (which incorporated English troops) during the War of the League of Augsburg (1689–97) and at the battles of Fleurus (1690), Steenkerke (1692) and Neerwinden (1693). During the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14), however, for all but the first year of which the Stuart Queen Anne was on the English throne, Louis suffered a series of defeats at the hands of English troops under Marlborough, at the battles of Blenheim (1704), Ramillies (1706), Oudenarde (1708) and Malplaquet (1709). Johnson’s comment therefore weakens the case for his Jacobitism, since he rejects an opportunity to praise Stuart monarchy to the detriment of William III.

  1114. Omne… magnifico est: ‘The unknown is always taken for something grand’ – Tacitus, Agricola, xxx.

  1115. Inspissated: Thickened.

  1116. Pomatum: An ointment for the skin or hair (OED, 1).

  1117. nonpareils: Several formerly popular varieties of apple characterized by very late ripening and a sweet-sharp flavour (OED, 4).

  1118. Currat Lex: Let the law take its course.

  1119. a noble friend: Lord Mountstuart.

  1120. Amici fures temporis: ‘Friends are the thieves of time’ – Bacon, Advancement of Learning, bk 2.

  1121. a near relation… antagonist: Lieutenant David Cuninghame had killed Mr Riddell.