1776.

Ætat. 67.

Having lain at St. Alban's on Thursday, March 28, we breakfasted the next morning at Barnet. I expreffed to him a weakness of mind which I could not help; an uneasy apprehenfion that my wife and children, who were at a great distance from me, might, perhaps, be ill. "Sir, (faid he,) confider how foolish you should think it in them to be apprehensive that you are ill.” This fudden turn relieved me for the moment; but I afterwards perceived it to be an ingenious fallacy. I might, to be fure, be fatisfied that they had no reason to be apprehenfive about me, because I knew that I myself was well: but we might have a mutual anxiety, without the charge of folly, because each was, in fome degree, uncertain as to the condition of the other.

I enjoyed the luxury of our approach to London, that metropolis which we both loved fo much, for the high and varied intellectual pleasure which it furnishes. I experienced immediate happiness while whirled along with fuch a companion, and faid to him, "Sir, you obferved one day at General Oglethorpe's, that a man is never happy for the present, but when he is drunk. Will you not add,--or when driving rapidly in a poft-chaife?" JOHNSON. "No, Sir, you are driving rapidly from fomething, or to fomething.”

Talking of melancholy, he said, "Some men, and very thinking men too, have not those vexing thoughts. Sir Joshua Reynolds is the fame all the year round. Beauclerk, except when ill and in pain, is the fame. But I believe most men have them in the degree in which they are capable of having them. If I were in the country, and were diftreffed by that malady, I would force myself to take a book; and every time I did it I fhould find it the easier. Melancholy, indeed, fhould be diverted by every means but drinking."

We stopped at Meffieurs Dillys, bookfellers in the Poultry; from whence he hurried away, in a hackney coach, to Mr. Thrale's in the Borough. I called at his house in the evening, having promised to acquaint Mrs. Williams of his fafe return; when, to my furprize, I found him fitting with her at tea, and, as I thought, not in a very good humour: for, it feems, when he got to Mr. Thrale's, he found the coach was at the door waiting to carry Mrs. and Miss Thrale, and Signor Baretti their Italian master, to Bath. This was not fhewing the attention which might have been expected to the "Guide, Philofopher, and Friend," the Imlack who had haftened from the country to confole a distreffed mother, who he understood was very anxious for his return. They had, I found, without ceremony, proceeded on their intended journey. I was glad to understand from him that it was ftill refolved that his tour to Italy with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale fhould take place, of which he had entertained some doubt, on account of the lofs which they had fuffered; and

1776.

his doubts afterwards proved to be well-founded. He obferved, indeed very justly, that "their lofs was an additional reason for their going abroad; and Ætat. 67. if it had not been fixed that he should have been one of the party, he would force them out; but he would not advise them unless his advice was afked, left they might fufpect that he recommended what he wished on his own account." I was not pleased that his intimacy with Mr. Thrale's family, though it no doubt contributed much to his comfort and enjoyment, was not without fome degree of restraint. Not, as has been grofsly fuggefted, that it was required of him as a task to talk for the entertainment of them and their company; but that he was not quite at his ease; which, however, might partly be owing to his own honeft pride-that dignity of mind which is always jealous of appearing too compliant.

On Sunday, March 31, I called on him, and fhewed him as a curiosity which I had discovered, his "Tranflation of Lobo's Account of Abyffinia," which Sir John Pringle had lent me, it being then little known as one of his works. He said, "Take no notice of it, or don't talk of it." He seemed to think it beneath him, though done at fix-and-twenty. I faid to him, "Your style, Sir, is much improved fince you translated this." He answered with a fort of triumphant fmile, "Sir, I hope it is."

On Wednesday, April 3, in the forenoon, I found him very bufy putting his books in order, and as they were generally very old ones, clouds of dust were flying around him. He had on a pair of large gloves, fuch as hedgers ufe. His prefent appearance put me in mind of my uncle, Dr. Boswell's defcription of him, "A robuft genius, born to grapple with whole

libraries."

I gave him an account of a converfation which had paffed between me and Captain Cook, the day before at dinner at Sir John Pringle's, and he was much pleafed with the confcientious accuracy of that celebrated circumnavigator, who fet me right as to many of the exaggerated accounts given by Dr. Hawkefworth of his Voyages. I told him that while I was with the Captain, I catched the enthusiasm of curiofity and adventure, and felt a strong inclination to go with him on his next voyage. JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, a man does feel fo, till he confiders how very little he can learn from fuch voyages." BosWELL. "But one is carried away with the general grand and indistinct notion of A VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD." JOHNSON. "Yes, Sir, but a man is to guard himself against taking a thing in general." I faid I was certain that a great part of what we are told by the travellers to the South Sea must be conjecture, because they had not enough of the language

1776. language of thofe countries to understand fo much as they have related. Atat. 67. Objects falling under thè obfervation of the fenfes might be clearly known; but every thing intellectual, every thing abstract-politicks, morals, and religion, muft be darkly gueffed. Dr. Johnfon was of the fame opinion. He upon another occafion, when a friend mentioned to him feveral extraordinary facts, as communicated to him by the circumnavigators, flily obferved, "Sir, I never before knew how much I was refpected by the fe gentlemen; they told me none of thefe things."

He had been in company with Omai, a native of one of the South Sea iflands, after he had been fome time in this country. He was ftruck with the elegance of his behaviour, and accounted for it thus: "Sir, he had paffed his time, while in England, only in the best company; fo that all that he had acquired of our manners was genteel. As a proof of this, Sir, Lord Mulgrave and he dined one day at Streatham; they fat with their backs to the light fronting me, fo that I could not fee diftinctly; and there was fo little of the favage in Omai, that I was afraid to fpeak to either, left I fhould miftake one for the other."

They who ftand forth the refpect of mankind.

An

We agreed to dine to-day at the Mitre-tavern, after the rifing of the House of Lords, where a branch of the litigation concerning the Douglas eftate, in which I was one of the counfel, was to come on. I brought with me Mr. Murray, Solicitor-General of Scotland, now one of the Judges of the Court of Seffion, with the title of Lord Henderland. I mentioned Mr. Solicitor's relation, Lord Charles Hay, with whom I knew Dr. Johnson had been acquainted. JOHNSON. "I wrote fomething for Lord Charles; and I thought he had nothing to fear from a court-martial. I fuffered a great lofs when he died; he was a mighty pleafing man in converfation, and a reading man. The character of a foldier is high. foremost in danger, for the community, have the officer is much more respected than any other man who has as little money. In a commercial country money will always purchase refpect. But you find, an officer, who has properly speaking, no money, is every where well received and treated with attention. The character of a foldier always ftands him in stead." BOSWELL."Yet, Sir, I think that common foldiers are worse thought of than other men in the fame rank of life; fuch as labourers." JOHNSON Why, Sir, a common foldier is ufually a very grofs man, and any quality which procures respect may be overwhelmed by groffnefs. A man of learning may be fo vicious or fo ridiculous that you cannot respect him. A common foldier too, generally eats more than he can pay for. But when a common foldier is civil in his quarters, his red coat procures him a degree of respect.”

1776.

The peculiar refpect paid to the military character in France was mentioned. BOSWELL. "I should think that where military men are so numerous, they Etat. 67. would be lefs valued as not being rare." JOHNSON. "Nay, Sir, wherever a particular character or profeffion is high in the estimation of a people, those who are of it will be valued above other men. We value an Englishman highly in this country, and yet Englishmen are not rare in it.”

Mr. Murray praised the ancient philofophers for the candour and good humour with which thofe of different fects difputed with each other. JOHNSON. "Sir, they difputed with good humour, because they were not in earnest as to religion. Had the ancients been serious in their belief, we should not have had their Gods exhibited in the manner we find them represented in the Poets. The people would not have fuffered it. They difputed with good humour upon their fanciful theories, because they were not interested in the truth of them. When a man has nothing to lofe, he may be in good humour with his opponent. Accordingly you fee in Lucian, the Epicurean, who argues only negatively, keeps his temper; the Stoick, who has fomething pofitive to preserve, grows angry. Being angry with one who controverts an opinion which you value, is a neceffary confequence of the uneafiness which you feel. Every man who attacks my belief, diminishes in fome degree my confidence in it, and therefore makes me uneafy, and I am angry with him who makes me uneafy. Thofe only who believed in Revelation have been angry at having their faith called in question; because they only had something upon which they could reft as matter of fact." MURRAY. "It seems to me that we are not angry at a man for controverting an opinion which we believe and value; we rather pity him." JOHNSON. "Why, Sir; to be fure when you wish a man to have that belief which you think is of infinite advantage, you wish well to him; but your primary confideration is your own quiet. If a madman were to come into this room with a stick in his hand, no doubt we should pity the ftate of his mind; but our primary confideration would be to take care of ourselves. We fhould knock him down firft, and pity him afterwards. No, Sir; every man will difpute with great good humour upon a fubject in which he is not interested. I will dispute very calmly upon the probability of another man's fon being hanged, but if a man zealously enforces the probability that my own fon will be hanged, I fhall certainly not be in very good humour with him." I added this illuftration, "If a man endeavours to convince me that my wife, whom I love very much, and in whom I have great confidence, is a difagreeable woman, and is even unfaithful to me, I fhall be very angry, for he is putting me in fear of being unhappy." MURRAY." But, Sir, truth will always bear an

VOL. II.

H

examination."

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Atat. 67.

examination." JOHNSON. "Yes, Sir, but it is painful to be forced to defend it. Confider, Sir, how fhould you like, though confcious of your innocence, to be tried before a jury for a capital crime, once a week.”

We talked of education at great fchools, the advantages and disadvantages of which Johnfon displayed in a luminous manner; bus his arguments preponderated fo much in favour of the benefit which a boy of good parts might receive at one of them, that I have reafon to believe Mr. Murray was very much influenced by what he had heard to-day, in his determination. to fend his own fon to Weftminster fchool.

I introduced the topick, which is often ignorantly urged, that the Universities of England are too rich, fo that learning does not flourish in them as it would do, if thofe who teach had fmaller falaries, and depended on their affiduity for a great part of their income. JOHNSON. "Sir, the very reverse of this is the truth; the English Univerfities are not rich enough. Our fellowships are only fufficient to fupport a man during his ftudies to fit him for the world, and accordingly in general they are held no longer than till an opportunity offers of getting away. Now and then, perhaps, there is a fellow who grows old in his college; but this is against his will, unless he be a man very indolent indeed. A hundred a year is reckoned a good fellowship, and that is no more than is neceffary to keep a man decently as a fcholar. We do not allow our fellows to marry, because we confider academical institutions as preparatory to a fettlement in the world. It is only by being employed as a tutor, that a fellow can obtain any thing more than a livelihood. To be fure a man, who has enough without teaching, will probably not teach; for we would all be idle if we could. In the fame manner, a man who is to get nothing by teaching, will not exert himself. GreshamCollege was intended as a place of inftruction for London; able Profeffors were to read lectures gratis, they contrived to have no scholars; whereas, if they had been allowed to receive but fix-pence a lecture from each scholar, they would have been emulous to have had many scholars. fhould be the intereft of those who teach to cafe in our Univerfities. That they are too rich is certainly not true; for they have nothing good enough to keep a man of eminent learning with them for his life. In the foreign Univerfities a profefforfhip is a high thing. It is as much almoft as a man can make by his learning; and therefore we find the moft learned men abroad are in the Universities. It is not fo with us. Our Uiversities are impoverished of learning, by the penury of their provifions. I wifh there were many places of a thoufand a-year at Oxford, to keep first rate men of learning from quitting the Univerfity." Undoubtedly, 3

Every body will Every body will agree that it have fcholars; and this is the

if