1122. Unto him… the other: Luke 6:29.
1123. From him… not away: Matthew 5:42.
1124. Between the stirrup… mercy found: Camden, Remaines Concerning Britain, p. 387 (where however it reads, ‘Betwixt the stirrop and the ground | Mercy I askt, mercy I found’).
1125. a gentleman: Sir Thomas Rumbold.
1126. communibus sheetibus: For average sheets.
1127. his oratorical plans: In 1756 Thomas Sheridan had published a work of which the purpose and argument are made plain in its title: British Education: Or, the Source of the Disorders of Great Britain. Being an Essay towards proving, that the Immorality, Ignorance, and false Taste, which so generally prevail, are the natural and necessary Consequences of the present defective System of Education. With an Attempt to shew, that a Revival of the Art of Speaking, and the Study of our own Language, might contribute, in a great measure, to the Cure of those Evils.
1128. Monday, April 29: In fact Wednesday 30 April.
1129. Parcus… infrequens: ‘A grudging and infrequent worshipper of the gods’ – Horace, Odes, i.34.
1130. a worthy friend: Bennet Langton.
1131. one of our friends: Edmund Burke.
1132. an eminent person: Probably Burke once more.
1133. A gentleman: Again, possibly Burke.
1134. Friday, May 29: Actually a Thursday.
1135. a very learned man: Bennet Langton.
1136. As the tree… must lie: Cf. Ecclesiastes 11:3.
1137. Shenstone’s witty remark… death-bed: ‘When a tree is falling, I have seen the laborers, by a trivial jerk with a rope, throw it upon the spot where they would wish it should lie. Divines, understanding this text too literally, pretend by a little interposition in the article of death, to regulate a person’s everlasting happiness. I fancy the allusion will hardly countenance their presumption’: William Shenstone, ‘On Religion’, in Works in Verse and Prose, 2 vols. (1764), II, 297.
1138. cantharides: The pharmacopoeial name of the dried beetle Cantharis vesicatoria or Spanish Fly. Used externally as a rubefacient and vesicant; internally as a diuretic and stimulant to the genito-urinary organs, etc. Formerly considered an aphrodisiac (OED, 2).
1139. one of his friends: William Bowles.
1140. a certain literary friend: Dr Joseph Warton.
1141. rest… for the people of God: Cf. Hebrews 4:9.
1142. sarcocele: A hard fleshy enlargement of the testicle (OED).
1143. Constance, Catharine, and Isabella, in Shakspeare: Characters in, respectively, King John, Henry VIII and Measure for Measure.
1144. a common friend: Edmond Malone.
1145. the election… fictitious qualifications: In the unreformed House of Commons qualifications of various kinds, including property qualifications, were sought from both candidates and electors to ensure that only men of a certain standing might either vote for or become Members of Parliament (see Sir William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, 4 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1765–9), I, 164–74). Boswell is probably referring to the notorious practice whereby men were fraudulently granted freeholds (that is to say, the contract transferring the property contained an agreement to reconvey the property back to the original owner) in order temporarily to qualify them to vote (ibid., I, 167). By this expedient large landowners might create a number of electors in their own interest at the time of an election. This would certainly amount to ‘unconstitutional influence’.
1146. the sentence as it now stands: ‘… he is happy to be enabled to add Dr. Johnson to the number of those, whose kindness for the man, and good wishes for the translation, call for his sincerest gratitude’ – William Mickle (tr.), The Lusiad, 3rd edn, 2 vols. (1798), I, cccxxxi–ii.
1147. To-day… Milton:JohnMilton, Sonnet xxi,‘Cyriack, whose grandsire on the royal bench’ (composed? 1655, first published 1673), ll. 5–6.
1148. his name-sake… the Rules of his Club: Ben Jonson composed the ‘Leges Conviviales’ which were engraved over the mantelpiece in the Apollo of the Old Devil Tavern at Temple Bar, which he used as his club room.
1149. consilium medicum: Medical advice.
1150. squills: A preparation made from the bulb or root of the sea-onion or other related plant (OED).
1151. the triumph… over aristocratical influence: In January 1784 the ministry had been in a minority of 39 (in a House of 425); by April, and following a general election, they were in a majority of 97 (in a House of 369). On 30 March 1784 Horace Walpole, commenting on this reversal, noted its popularity: ‘The nation is intoxicated, and has poured in addresses of thanks to the crown for exerting the prerogative against the palladium of the people.’ The exertion of prerogative had been the dissolution of Parliament on 25 March 1784.
1152. the fervent prayer of this righteous man: Cf. James 5:16.
1153. One of the company: James Boswell.
1154. a gentleman of eminence: George Steevens.
1155. On Tuesday… not to appoint that gentleman minister: A reference to the mobbing of George III when he opened Parliament that day. Other witnesses suggest that the mob was favourable to Fox.
1156. Sit… Langtono: May my soul be with Langton.
1157. a very eminent friend: Edmund Burke.
1158. image in Bacon… shot by a child: In fact an image of Robert Boyle’s, not Bacon’s, and quoted in a compressed form by Johnson in the fourth edition of his Dictionary under crossbow. The passage occurs in the ‘Preface’ to Boyle’s Some Considerations About the Reconcileableness of Reason and Religion (1675), and reads, ‘[T]here are some arguments, which being clearly built upon sense, or evident experiments, need borrow no assistance from the refutation of any of the proposers or approvers and may, I think, be fitly enough compared to arrows shot out of a cross-bow, and bullets shot out of a gun, which have the same strength, and pierce equally, whether they be discharged by a child, or a strong man. But then, there are other ratiocinations, which either do, or are supposed to depend, in some measure, upon the judgment and skill of those, that make the observations, whereon they are grounded, and their ability to discern truth from counterfeits, and solid things from those, that are but superficial ones: and these may be compared to arrows shot out of a long-bow, which make much the greater impres sion, by being shot by a strong and skilful archer’ (Robert Boyle, Works. A New Edition, 6 vols. (1772), IV, 156).
1159. The Journey to London: See n. 247.
1160. Nor think… and pills: Jonathan Swift, ‘Stella’s Birth-day. March 13. 1726/7’, ll. 5-6.
1161. Parenetick Divinity: Divinity composed in order to give exhortation or advice.
1162. seven Bishops… arbitrary power: A reference to the seven bishops of the Church of England who in 1687 had opposed James II’s Declaration of Indulgence – a measure which proposed to remove the disabilities attaching to Dissenters, but only in order to do the same for Roman Catholics.
1163. Here Learning… Fancy wild: Richard Savage, The Wanderer (1729), canto ii, p. 40 (where however it reads ‘Frenzy’, not ‘Fancy’).
1164. Epigram… t’other: ‘Timothy Silence’, The Foundling Hospital for Wit (1749), pp. 87-8.
1165. spoiled… deceit: Cf. Colossians 2:8.
1166. Multis… occidit: ‘He died mourned by many good men’ – Horace, Odes, I.xxiv.9.
1167. Every man… in others: William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (1729), pp. 474-5.
1168. of whom I am the chief: 1 Timothy 1:15.
1169. True as the dial… shone upon: Butler, Hudibras, III.ii.175-6.
1170. a certain clergyman: The Revd Sir Henry Bate.
1171. As the soft plume… to the heart: Edward Young, Two Epistles to Mr. Pope, concerning the Authors of the Age (1730), ep. ii, p. 27.
1172. my Redeemer has said… on his left: Matthew 20:21-3.
1173. St. Paul’s thorn in the flesh: 2 Corinthians 12:7.
1174. sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof: Matthew 6:34.
1175. considering… his Rambler and his Rasselas: See pp. 119–22 and 182-4.
1176. Valeant… possunt: May they have all the weight they can.
1177. ex dono authoris: Given by the author.
1178. Condemn’d… mine: ‘On the Death of Dr. Robert Levet’ (1783), l. 1.
1179. Aurungzebe: Dryden, Aureng-Zebe, IV.i.33–42.
1180. Sun, how I hate thy beams: Milton, Paradise Lost, iv.37.
1181. While malice…to see: Alexander Pope, The Dunciad Variorum (1729), note to ii.134.
1182. Grongar Hill: John Dyer, Grongar Hill (1726).
1183. Voyages to the South Sea: James Cook, A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean (1784).
1184. mollia… fandi: ‘The most promising time to address him’ – Virgil, Aeneid, iv.293.
1185. The wits… to fame: Johnson, ‘Prologue Spoken by Mr. Garrick at the Opening of the Theatre in Drury-Lane, 1747’, l. 17.
1186. Wednesday, June 19: In fact it was the 16th.
1187. a gentleman: Dr John Taylor.
1188. A dull country magistrate: The mayor of Windsor.
1189. Who rules… be free: Henry Brooke, The Earl of Essex. A Tragedy (1761), p. 13.
1190. a gentleman: Possibly Boswell himself.
1191. I deny your Major: 1 Henry IV, II.v.452.
1192. De Claris Oratoribus: ‘Of famous orators’.
1193. take up thy bed and walk: Mark 2:9.
1194. Though fraught… a vote: Oliver Goldsmith, Retaliation: A Poem (1774), p. 8.
1195. An authour… vanity: Possibly Richard Cumberland.
1196. The wife of one of his acquaintance: Mrs Cave.
1197. A foppish physician: Sir Lucas Pepys.
1198. Pactolus: A river in Lydia whose sands contained gold.
1199. a writer of entertaining Travels: Dr John Moore.
1200. a little Miss: Jeanie Campbell, the step-daughter of Mrs Boswell’s sister.
1201. this lively conceit: Whitefoord, under the pseudonym ‘Papirius Cursor’, proposed a ‘new and humourous method of reading the News-papers’, namely reading across the two columns of a page of newsprint to produce paradoxical conjunctions, such as ‘This day his Majesty will go in state to | fifteen notorious common prostitutes.’
1202. a gentleman: Sir Richard Musgrave.
1203. another gentleman: Dr Joseph Warton.
1204. An authour: Possibly Dr James Beattie.
1205. a young man: John Lawrie, Boswell’s former clerk.
1206. A young gentleman: Richard Burke, son of Edmund Burke.
1207. In my mind’s eye, Horatio: Hamlet, I.ii.184.
1208. it lends deception… to fly: Cf. Pope, ‘Epistle to Bathurst’, ll. 69–70: ‘Blest paper-credit! last and best supply! | That lends Corruption lighter wings to fly!’
1209. an eminent critick: Edmond Malone.
1210. a very celebrated lady: Hannah More.
1211. the master of the house: Richard Pottinger, Clerk to the Privy Seal.
1212. a gentleman: Hon. Thomas Fitzmaurice.
1213. bien trouvee: Happily invented if untrue (cf. the Italian ben trovato).
1214. With thee… all time: Milton, Paradise Lost, iv.639.
1215. on July 6: In fact on 8 July.
1216. one of whom: Perhaps Lady Lucan.
1217. mihi carior: Endeared to myself.
1218. virtus… fugere: ‘To flee vice is the beginning of virtue’ – Horace, Epistles, I.i.41.
1219. Que les vers… vos amis: ‘Don’t let verse be your sole occupation; cultivate your friends’ – Nicolas Boileau, Art poetique (1674), ‘chant iv’, ll. 121-2.
1220. Ciceronianus: Possibly a speech by Bulephorus, ‘Dialogus Ciceronianus’, in Erasmi opera omnia (Amsterdam: North Holland Publishing Company, 1969-), II, 618–19.
1221. abite curce: ‘Begone, dull cares’ – Martial, XI.vi.6.
1222. nocitura petuntur: ‘We crave what will harm us’ – Juvenal, Satires, x.8.
1223. vis vitce: Living force.
1224. vis inertice: Power of inertia.
1225. Quid… una: ‘What relief is there in plucking out one thorn from many?’ – Horace, Epistles, II.ii.212.
1226. the balloon… so long expected: Ballooning was a popular craze at this time.
1227. inter stellas Luna minores: ‘The moon among the lesser stars’ – Horace, Odes, I.xii.46.
1228. Chatsworth: The Derbyshire seat of the dukes of Devonshire.
1229. Prceterea… sola: ‘Besides all this, the little blood in his now chilly frame is never warm except with fever’ – Juvenal, Satires, x.217–18.
1230. Born… in London die: The Spectator, 518 (24 October 1712).
1231. But who… with death: George Colman, Two Odes (1760), p. 9; the line is reused in his and Robert Lloyd’s affectionate parody of Gray’s ‘The Bard’, printed in Poems by Mr. Gray (1768), p. 181.
1232. non progredi, est regredi: Not to make progress is to go back.
1233. Aug. 25: In fact 26 August.
1234. acceptum et expensum: Income and expense.
1235. res familiares: Domestic economies.
1236. a little favour from the court: Johnson probably refers to Reynolds’s appointment as court painter to George III.
1237. hydropick tumour: A tumour charged or swollen with water (OED).
1238. Mr. Garrick’s… his edition of Shakspeare: See above, p. 362.
1239. a curious edition of Politian: See above, p. 53.
1240. There was wanting… and right: Hawkins, The Life of Samuel Johnson, p. 409.
1241. a judicious friend: Probably Edmond Malone.
1242. Broad-market-street: In fact Bread Market Street.
1243. Salve… parens: ‘Hail, great Mother!’ – Virgil, Georgics, ii.173.
1244. invictum… Catonis: ‘Cato’s stubborn soul’ – Horace, Odes, II.i.24.
1245. Intentum… senectuti: ‘His mind was always as resilient as a strung bow, and he was never affected by the slackening of old age’ –Cato Major, XI.38 (slightly misremembered at the end).
1246. Ita… suum: ‘A truly admirable old age is one in which a man still defends his opinions, still claims justice for himself, is beholden to no one, and maintains his just rights until his last breath’ – ibid.
1247. Spartam… orna: ‘Sparta is your country – make the most of it’ – Erasmus, Chiliades, II.i (1559), p. 485.
1248. Be… when you are not angry: A remark Sir William Temple makes apropos the spleen (to which he thinks the Dutch are particularly prone) in his ‘Observations Upon the United Provinces of the Netherlands’ (1673): ‘this is a Disease too refin’d for this Country and People, who are well, when they are not ill; and pleas’d, when they are not troubled; are content, because they think little of it; and seek their Happiness in the common Ease and Commodities of Life, or the encrease of Riches; not amusing themselves with the more speculative Contrivance of Passion, or Refinements of Pleasure’ (Works, 2 vols. (1720), I, 54).
1249. JEgri Ephemeris: ‘A sick man’s journal’.
1250. cum notis variorum: With various notes.
1251. De Natura Deorum: ‘On the nature of the gods’.
1252. Minutice Literarice: ‘Literary trifles’.
1253. While through life’s maze… glows: John Courtenay, A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral Character of the late Samuel Johnson (1786), pp. 24, 26-7.
1254. De Bello Catilinario: ‘On the Catiline War’.
1255. the Anthologia: The Greek Anthology, a collection of Greek epigrams, songs, epitaphs and rhetorical exercises that includes about 3,700 short poems, mostly written in elegiac couplets.
1256. The Observer: Richard Cumberland, The Observer (1785).
1257. ignotum per ignotius: The unknown by the less well-known.
1258. A distinguished authour: Henry Mackenzie.
1259. imitari aveo: ‘Eager emulation’ – Lucretius, iii.6.
1260. Alma Mater: A title given by the
Romans to several goddesses, especially to Ceres and Cybele, and transferred in England to universities and schools regarded as ‘fostering mothers’ to their alumni (OED).
1261. tumidity: The quality or condition of being tumid; swollenness (OED).
1262. An ingenious member: William Seward.
1263. Eumelian: Musical or rhythmical.
1264. Fraxinean: Pertaining to the ash (fraxinus being the Latin word for an ash tree).
1265. warring against the law of his mind: Romans 7:23.
1266. presumptuous sin: Psalms 19:13.
1267. cast a stone: John 8:7.
1268. die… one of the Princes: Psalms 82:7.
1269. Can’st thou not… the heart: Macbeth, V.iii.42-7.
1270. therein the patient… himself: Macbeth, V.iii.48-9.
1271. Orandum… sano: ‘We should pray for a sound mind in a sound body’ – Juvenal, Satires, x.356.
1272. Qui… ponat: ‘Who considers long life to be the least of Nature’s gifts’ – Juvenal, Satires, x.358.
1273. supremum for extremum: Supremum: final or dying. Extremum: long.
1274. nobilissimus: Most noble.
1275. Preces… inauditas: ‘He seems to have been careful in his prayers; I hope they were heard.’
1276. a person: George Steevens.
1277. Melius… non errasse: ‘Better so to have repented than never to have sinned.’
1278. Te teneam… manu: ‘When I expire, let my trembling hand hold yours’ – Tibullus, I.i.60. Cf. Johnson, Adventurer, 58 (1753).
1279. Mr. Blackwell: In fact the Revd Anthony Blackwall.
1280. Tantùm… Virgilium: ‘I caught a glimpse of Virgil’ – Ovid, Tristia, IV.x.5.
1281. Dr. P∗∗∗∗∗∗∗: Joseph Priestley.
1282. long hundred: Six score, or 120.
1283. an excellent lady: Mrs John Hoole.
1284. a rich… young gentleman: Sir John Lade.
1285. ∗∗∗ ∗∗∗∗: Sir John.
1286. use his pencil: Paint (and thus engage in gainful work).
1287. Samuel Johnson… lxxv : ‘Samuel Johnson, LL.D., died 13 December in the year of Our Lord 1784. Aged 75.’
1288. venew: A thrust or hit in fencing; a stroke or wound with a weapon (OED, 2a).
1289. Guide, Philosopher, and Friend: Pope, An Essay on Man, iv.390.
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