brewer, and member of Parliament for the borough of Southwark ; his lady was of good Welsh extraction, lively, clever, and fond of literature; fond, at least, of literary talk. From this time forward Johnson used their house almost as a home. His gloom was dispelled by the sight of the happy faces which the Thrales delighted to gather round their board; his roughnesses were smoothed a little, and his irregularities somewhat lessened, by the necessary restraints of such society; while his talents had every opportunity of display and even of development, from the sort of company with whom his host and hostess were wise enough to bring him into contact. The atmosphere of that house was genial, in every sense of the word: Genius was welcomed at the door, and Geniality presided at the table.

Here are a few interesting and touching notes from one of our Author's Journals of this period:

"At church, Oct.-65.

"To avoid all singularity. Bonaventura.

"To come in before service, and compose my mind by meditation, or by reading some portions of Scripture. Tetty.

"If I can hear the sermon, to attend it, unless attention be more troublesome than useful.

"To consider the act of prayer as a reposal of myself upon God, and a resignation of all into his holy hand.”

Is not that a naïve resolution ?" If I can hear the sermon, to attend it, UNLESS ATTENTION BE MORE TROUBLESOME THAN USEFUL." Then let us mark the one word, "Tetty." It is only a word; but how eloquent it is! See, too, how it stands there quite by itself, apart from all the rest, as if the very syllables of it were sacred! "Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them; they can be injured by us, they can be wounded; they know all our penitence, all our aching sense that their place is empty, all the kisses we bestow on the smallest relic of their presence.”

BOSWELL returned to London in February, 1766, and found Johnson occupying a good house in Johnson's Court, Fleet Street; in which he had set apart one room on the ground-floor for Mrs. Williams, and the garret, as usual, for Mr. Levett. The faithful Barber was still at his post. Our Author's way of living had also undergone a change: he now eschewed wine, and drank only water or lemonade,-driven to that reformation by medical authority mainly, though impelled a little, we may believe, by one or other of the many condemnatory decisions arrived at in his numerous courts of conscience. He and Boswell had several good talks together, either at his own house or at their old and favourite haunt, the Mitre Tavern. Occasionally, one or two other gentlemen were present. We shall run the several evenings into one, and give the best bits of the conversation in a single view.

Boswell mentioned that Voltaire, in a conversation with him, had distinguished Pope and Dryden thus:-"Pope drives a handsome chariot, with a couple of neat trim nags; Dryden a coach, and six stately horses."- JOHNSON: "Why, Sir, the truth is, they both drive coaches and six; but Dryden's horses are either galloping or stumbling: Pope's go at a steady even trot."

Boswell spoke of a person whom Johnson knew, and whose creed was, 66 'As man dies like a dog, let him lie like a dog."JOHNSON: "If he dies like a dog, let him lie like a dog."

JOHNSON AND ROUSSEAU.

143

Boswell added that this man said to him, "I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am.” -JOHNSON: "Sir, he must be very singular in his opinion if he thinks himself one of the best of men, for none of his friends think him so."

Boswell mentioned Hume's notion, that all who are happy are equally happy; a little Miss with a new gown at a dancingschool ball, a general at the head of a victorious army, and an orator after having made an eloquent speech in a great assembly. -JOHNSON: "Sir, that all who are happy are equally happy, is not true. A peasant and a philosopher may be equally satisfied, but not equally happy. Happiness consists in the multiplicity of agreeable consciousness. A peasant has not capacity for having equal happiness with a philosopher."

Boswell remarked that, when abroad, he had spent some time with Rousseau in his own wild retreat, and had enjoyed many pleasant hours in Italy with Mr. Wilkes.

JOHNSON: "It seems, Sir, you have kept very good company abroad, Rousseau and Wilkes!"-BOSWELL: "My dear Sir, you don't call Rousseau bad company. Do you really think him a bad man ?”—JOHNSON: "Sir, if you are talking jestingly of this, I don't talk with you. If you mean to be serious, I think him one of the worst of men; a rascal, who ought to be hunted out of society, as he has been. Three or four nations have expelled him, and it is a shame that he is protected in this country."— BOSWELL: "I don't deny, Sir, but that his novel may, perhaps, do harm; but I cannot think his intention was bad."-JOHNSON : "Sir, that will not do. We cannot prove any man's intention to be bad. You may shoot a man through the head, and say you intended to miss him; but the judge will order you to be hanged. An alleged want of intention, when evil is committed, will not be allowed in a court of justice. Rousseau, Sir, is a very bad man. I would sooner sign a sentence for his transportation than that of any felon who has gone from the Old Bailey these many years. Yes, I should like to have him work in the plantations."-BOSWELL: "Sir, do you think him as bad a man

Voltaire ?"-JOHNSON: "Why, Sir, it is difficult to settle the proportion of iniquity between them.”

Speaking of convents :

JOHNSON: "If convents should be allowed at all, they should only be retreats for persons unable to serve the public, or who have served it. It is our first duty to serve society; and after we have done that, we may attend wholly to the salvation of our own souls. A youthful passion for abstracted devotion should not be encouraged."

On subordination :—

JOHNSON: "So far is it from being true that men are naturally equal, that no two people can be half an hour together, but one shall acquire an evident superiority over the other."

A young gentleman teased Johnson with an account of the infidelity of his servant, who, he said, would not believe in the Bible because he could not read it in the original languages.

JOHNSON: "Why, foolish fellow, has he any better authority for almost everything that he believes?"

BOSWELL: "Then the vulgar, Sir, never can know they are right, but must submit themselves to the learned."

JOHNSON: "To be sure, Sir. The vulgar are the children of the state, and must be taught like children."

BOSWELL: "Then, Sir, a poor Turk must be a Mahometan, just as a poor Englishman must be a Christian ?”

JOHNSON: "Why, yes, Sir; and what then? This now is such stuff as I used to talk to my mother, when I first began to think myself a clever fellow; and she ought to have whipped me for it."

GOLDSMITH: "I think, Mr. Johnson, you don't go near the theatres now. You give yourself no more concern about a new play than if you had never had anything to do with the stage."JOHNSON: "Why, Sir, our tastes greatly alter. The lad does not care for the child's rattle, and the old man does not care for the young man's whore."-GOLDSMITH: "Nay, Sir, but your Muse was not a whore."-JOHNSON: 'Sir, I do not think she was. But as we advance in the journey of life, we drop some of the things

LETTERS TO BENNET LANGTON.

145

which have pleased us; whether it be that we are fatigued, and don't choose to carry so many things any farther, or that we find other things which we like better."-BOSWELL: "But, Sir, why don't you give us something in some other way?"—GOLDSMITH : "Ay, Sir, we have a claim upon you."-JOHNSON: “No, Sir, I am not obliged to do any more. No man is obliged to do as much as he can do. A man is to have part of his life to himself If a soldier has fought a good many campaigns, he is not to be blamed if he retires to ease and tranquillity. A physician, who has practised long in a great city, may be excused if he retires to a small town and takes less practice. Now, Sir, the good I can do by my conversation bears the same proportion to the good I can do by my writings, that the practice of a physician, retired to a small town, does to his practice in a great city."-BOSWELL : "But I wonder, Sir, you have not more pleasure in writing than in not writing."-JOHNSON: "Sir, you may wonder.”

Talking of verse-making :

JOHNSON: "The great difficulty is, to know when you have made good ones. When composing, I have generally had them. in my mind, perhaps fifty at a time, walking up and down in my room; and then I have written them down, and often, from laziness, have written only half lines. I have written a hundred lines in a day. I remember I wrote a hundred lines of 'The Vanity of Human Wishes' in a day. Doctor (turning to Goldsmith), I am not quite idle; I made one line t'other day; but I made no more." GOLDSMITH: 66 'Let us hear it; we'll put a bad one to it."-JOHN SON: "No, sir; I have forgot it."

"TO BENNET LANGTON, ESQ., AT LANGTON, NEAR SPILSBY,

"DEAR SIR,

LINCOLNSHIRE.

"March 9, 1766. Johnson's Court, Fleet Street.

"What your friends have done, that from your departure till now nothing has been heard of you, none of us are able to inform the rest; but as we are all neglected alike, no one thinks himself entitled to the privilege of complaint.

"I should have known nothing of you or of Langton, from the

L