the ladies and all the gentlemen to whom I "MR. BOSWELL TO DR. JOHNSON1. "Edinburgh, 29th Sept. 1777. "MY DEAR SIR,-By the first post I inform you of my safe arrival at my own house, and that I had the comfort of finding my wife and children all in good health. "When I look back upon our late interview, it appears to me to have answered expectation better than almost any scheme of happiness that I ever putin execution. My Journal is stored with wisdom and wit; and my memory is filled with the recollection of lively and affectionate feelings, which now, I think, yield me more satisfaction than at the time when they were first excited. I have experienced this upon other occasions. I shall be obliged to you if you will explain it to me; for it seems wonderful that pleasure should be more vivid at a distance than when near. I wish you may find yourself in a humour to do me this favour; but I flatter myself with no strong hope of it; for I have observed, that unless upon very serious occasions, your letters to me are not answers to those which I write." (I then expressed much uneasiness that I had mentioned to him the name of the gentleman who had told me the story so much to his disadvantage, the truth of which he had completely refuted; for that my having done so might be interpreted as a breach of confidence, and offend one whose society I valued therefore earnestly requesting that no notice might be taken of it to any body, till I should be in London, and have an opportunity to talk it over with the gentleman.) "TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. "London, 29th Nov. 1777. "DEAR SIR,-You will wonder, or you have wondered, why no letter has come from me. What you wrote at your return had in it such a strain of cowardly caution as gave me no pleasure. I could not well do what you wished; I had no need to vex you with a refusal. I have seen Mr. [Beauclerk], and as to him have set all right, without any inconvenience, so far as I know, to you. Mrs. Thrale had forgot the story. You may now be at ease. dear enemy and all her little people quite well, and had no reason to repent of your journey. I think on it with great gratitude. “I was not well when you left me at the doctor's, and I grew worse; yet I staid on, and at Lichfield was very ill. Travelling, however, did not make me worse; and when I came to London, I complied with a summons to go to Brighthelmstone, where I saw Beauclerk, and staid three days. "Our club has recommenced last Friday, but I was not there. Langton has another wench 2. Mrs. Thrale is in hopes of a young brewer. They got by their trade last year a very large sum, and their expenses are proportionate. "Mrs. Williams's health is very bad. And I have had for some time a very difficult and laborious respiration; but I am better by purges, abstinence, and other methods." am yet, however, much behindhand in my health and rest. "Dr. Blair's sermons are now universally commended; but let him think that I had the honour of first finding and first praising his excellencies. I did not stay to add my voice to that of the publick. "My dear friend, let me thank you once more for your visit: you did me great honour, and I hope met with nothing that displeased you. I staid long at Ashbourne, not much pleased, yet awkward at departing. I then went to Lichfield, where I found my friend at Stowhill 3 very dangerously diseased. Such is life. Let us try to pass it well, whatever it be, for there is surely something beyond it. "Well, now, I hope all is well; write as soon as you can to, dear sir, your affectionate servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." "TO DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. "Edinburgh, 29th Nov. 1777. "MY DEAR SIR,-This day's post has at length relieved me from much uneasiness, by bringing me a letter from you, I was, indeed, doubly uneasy; on my own account and yours. I was very anxious to be secured against any bad consequences from my imprudence in mentioning the gentleman's name who had told me a story to your disadvantage; and as I could hardly suppose it possible that you would delay so long to make me easy, unless you were ill, I was not a little apprehensive about you. "And at ease I certainly wish you, for You must not be offended when I venture the kindness that you showed in coming so to tell you that you appear to me to have long a journey to see me. It was pity to been too rigid upon this occasion. The keep you so long in pain, but, upon re-cowardly caution which gave you no pleaviewing the matter, I do not see what I could have done better than I did. "I hope you found at your return my [This letter is put a little out of its chronological place, to keep it near the answer.-ED.] sure,' was suggested to me by a friend here, to whom I mentioned the strange story, and the detection of its falsity, as an A daughter born to him.-BOSWELL. 3 Mra. Aston.-BOSWELL. instance how one may be deceived by what | of the master, discovered good information is apparently very good authority. But, as I am still persuaded, that as I might have obtained the truth without mentioning the gentleman's name, it was wrong in me to do it, I cannot see that you are just in blaming my caution. But if you were ever so just in your disapprobation, might you not have dealt more tenderly with me? "I went to Auchinleck about the middle of October, and passed some time with my father very comfortably. and sound reasoning; in which he was well supported by Mr. James Ferguson, remarkable for a manly understanding, and a knowledge both of books and of the world. But I cannot too highly praise the speech which Mr. Henry Dundas generously contributed to the cause of the sooty stranger. Mr. Dundas's Scottish accent, which has been so often in vain obtruded as an objection to his powerful abilities in parliament, was no disadvantage to him in his own country. And I do declare, that upon this "I am engaged in a criminal prosecution memorable question he impressed me, and against a country schoolmaster, for indecent I believe all his audience, with such feelings behaviour to his female scholars. There is as were produced by some of the most emino statute against such abominable conduct; nent orations of antiquity. This testimony but it is punishable at common law. II liberally give to the excellence of an old shall be obliged to you for your assistance in this extraordinary trial. I ever am, my dear sir, your faithful humble servant, * "JAMES BOSWELL." About this time I wrote to Johnson, giving him an account of the decision of the negro cause, by the court of session, which by those who hold even the mildest and best regulated slavery in abomination (of which number I do not hesitate to declare that I am none) should be remembered with high respect, and to the credit of Scotland; for it went upon a much broader ground than the case of Somerset, which was decided in England 1; being truly the general question, whether a perpetual obligation of service to one master in any mode should be sanctified by the law of a free country. A negro, then called Joseph Knight, a native of Africa, having been brought to Jamaica in the usual course of the slave trade, and purchased by a Scotch gentleman in that island, had attended his master to Scotland, where it was officiously suggested to him that he would be found entitled to his liberty without any limitation. He accordingly brought his action, in the course of which the advocates on both sides did themselves great honour. Mr. Maclaurin has had the praise of Johnson, for his argument in favour of the negro, and Mr. Macconochie 3 distinguished himself on the same side, by his ingenuity and extraordinary research. Mr. Cullen, on the part 1 See State Trials, vol. xi. p. 339, and Mr. Hargrave's argument.-BosWELL. The motto to it was happily chosen: "Quamvis ille niger, quamvis tu candidus esses." I cannot avoid mentioning a circumstance no less strange than true, that a brother advocate in considerable practice [Mr. Wright], but of whom it certainly cannot be said, Ingenuas didicit fudeliter artes asked Mr. Maclaurin, with a face of flippant assurance," Are these words your own?" -BOSWELL. friend, with whom it has been my lot to differ very widely upon many political topicks: yet I persuade myself without malice. A great majority of the lords of session decided for the negro. But four of their number, the Lord President, Lord Elliock, Lord Monboddo, and Lord Covington, resolutely maintained the lawfulness of a status, which has been acknowledged in all ages and countries, and that when freedom flourished, as in old Greece and Rome. ["TO MRS. GASTRELL*. Pemb. "Bolt-court, Fleet-street, 23d Dec. 1777. "DEAR MADAM,-Your long silence portended no good; yet I hope Ms. the danger is not so near as our anxiety sometimes makes us fear. Winter is indeed to all those that any distemper has enfeebled a very troublesome time; but care and caution may pass safely through it, and from spring and summer some relief is always to be hoped. When I came hither I fell to taking care of myself, and by physick and opium had the constriction that obstructed my breath very suddenly removed. My nights still continue very laborious and tedious, but they do not grow worse. "I do not ask you, dear madam, to take care of Mrs. Aston; I know how little you want any such exhortations; but I earnestly entreat her to take care of herself. Many lives are prolonged by a diligent attention to little things, and I am far from thinking it unlikely that she may grow better by degrees. However, it is her duty to try, and when we do our duty we have reason to hope. I am, dear madam, your most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON."] to their friends, and I send mine to you and your family. May your lives be long, happy, and good. I have been much out of order, but, I hope, do not grow worse. "The crime of the schoolmaster whom you are engaged to prosecute is very great, and may be suspected to be too common. In our law it would be a breach of the peace and a misdemeanour: that is, a kind of indefinite crime, not capital, but punishable at the discretion of the court. You cannot want matter: all that needs to be said will easily occur. "Mr. Shaw, the authour of the Gaelick Grammar, desires me to make a request for him to Lord Eglintoune, that he may be appointed chaplain to one of the new-raised regiments. "All our friends are as they were; little has happened to them of either good or bad. Mrs. Thrale ran a great black hairdressing pin into her eye; but by great evacuation she kept it from inflaming, and it is almost well. Miss Reynolds has been out of order, but is better. Mrs. Williams is in a very poor state of health. "If I should write on, I should, perhaps, write only complaints, and therefore I will content myself with telling you, that I love to think on you, and to hear from you; and that I am, dear sir, yours faithfully, "SAM. JOHNSON." "" TO DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. "Edinburgh, 8th Jan. 1778. "Your alarm at your lady's illness was reasonable, and not disproportionate to the appearance of the disorder. I hope your physical friend's conjecture is now verified, and all fear of a consumption at an end: a little care and exercise will then restore her. London is a good air for ladies; and if you bring her hither, I will do for her what she did for me-I will retire from my apartBehave ments for her accommodation. kindly to her, and keep her cheerful. You always seem to call for tenderness. Know then, that in the first month of the present year I very highly esteem and very cordially love you. I hope to tell you this at the beginning of every year as long as we live; and why should we trouble ourselves to tell or hear it oftener? "Tell Veronica, Euphemia, and Alexander, that I wish them, as well as their parents, many happy years. "You have ended the negro's cause much to my mind. Lord Auchinleck and dear Lord Hailes were on the side of liberty. Lord Hailes's naine reproaches me; but if he saw my languid neglect of my own af fairs, he would rather pity than resent my neglect of his. I hope to mend, ut et mihi vivam et amicis. I am, dear sir, yours affectionately, "SAM. JOHNSON. "My service to my fellow-traveller, Joseph." Johnson maintained a long and intimate friendship with Mr. Welch, who succeeded "DEAR SIR,-Your congratulations upon the celebrated Henry Fielding as one of his a new year are mixed with complaint: mine majesty's justices of the peace for Westmust be so too. My wife has for some time minster; kept a regular office for the police been ill, having been confined to the house of that great district; and discharged his imthese three months by a severe cold, attend-portant trust, for many years, faithfully and ed with alarming symptoms." (Here I gave a particular account of the distress which the person, upon every account most dear to me, suffered; and of the dismal state of apprehension in which I now was: adding that I never stood more in need of his consoling philosophy.) "Did you ever look at a book written by Wilson, a Scotchman, under the Latin name of Volusenus, according to the custom of literary men at a certain period? It is entitled "De Animi Tranquillitate." I earnestly desire tranquillity. Bona res quies; but I fear I shall never attain it; for, when unoccupied, I grow gloomy, and occupation agitates me to feverishness. * "I am, dear sir, your most affectionate humble servant, "JAMES BOSWELL." 66 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. "24th January, 1778. "DEAR SIR,-To a letter so interesting as your last, it is proper to return some answer, however little I may be disposed to write. ably. Johnson, who had an eager and un ceasing curiosity to know human life in all its variety, told me, that he attended Mr. Welch in his office for a whole winter, to hear the examinations of the culprits; but that he found an almost uniform tenor of misfortune, wretchedness, and profligacy. Mr. Welch's health being impaired, he was advised to try the effect of a warm climate; and Johnson, by his interest with Mr. Chamier, procured him leave of absence to go to Italy, and a promise that the pension or salary of two hundred pounds a year, which government allowed him, should not be discontinued. Mr. Welch accordingly went abroad, accompanied by his daughter Anne, a young lady of uncommon talents and literature. inattention. But the truth is, that there was no particular time in which I had any thing particular to say; and general expressions of good will, I hope, our long friendship is grown too solid to want. Of public affairs you have information from the newspapers wherever you go, for the English keep no secret; and of other things Mrs. Nollekens informs you. My intelligence could, therefore, be of no use; and Miss Nancy's letters made it unnecessary to write to you for information; I was likewise for some time out of humour, to find that motion and nearer approaches to the sun did not restore your health so fast as I expected. Of your health the accounts have lately been more pleasing; and I have the gratification of imagining to myself a length of years which I hope you have gained, and of which the enjoyment will be improved by a vast accession of images and observations which your journeys and various residence have enabled you to make and accumulate. You have travelled with this felicity, almost peculiar to yourself, that your companion is not to part from you at your journey's end; but you are to live on together, to help each other's recollections, and to supply each other's omissions. The world has few greater pleasures than that which two friends enjoy, in tracing back, at some distant time, those transactions and events through which they have passed together. One of the old man's miseries is, that he cannot easily find a companion able to partake with him of the past. You and your fellow-traveller have this comfort in store, that your conversation will be not easily exhausted; one will always be glad to say what the other will always be willing to hear. "That you may enjoy this pleasure long, your health must have your constant attention. I suppose you propose to return this year. There is no need of haste: do not come hither before the height of summer, that you may fall gradually into the inconveniences of your native clime. July seems to be the proper month. August and September will prepare you for the winter. After having travelled so far to find health, you must take care not to lose it at home; and I hope a little care will effectually preserve it. "Miss Nancy has doubtless kept a constant and copious journal. She must not expect to be welcome when she returns without a great mass of information. Let her review her journal often, and set down what she finds herself to have omitted, that she may trust to memory as little as possible, for memory is soon confused by a quick succession of things; and she will grow every day less confident of the truth of her own narratives, unless she can recur to some written memorials. If she has satisfied herself with hints, instead of full representations, let her supply the deficiencies now while her memory is yet fresh, and while her father's memory may help her. If she observes this direction, she will not have travelled in vain; for she will bring home a book with which she may entertain herself' to the end of life. If it were not now too late, I would advise her to note the impressions which the first sight of any thing new and wonderful made upon her mind. Let her now set her thoughts down as she can recollect them; for faint as they may already be, they will grow every day fainter. "Perhaps I do not flatter myself unreasonably when I imagine that you may wish to know something of me. I can gratify your benevolence with no account of health. The hand of time, or of disease, is very heavy upon me. I pass restless and uneasy nights, harassed with convulsions of my breast, and flatulencies at my stomach; and restless nights make heavy days. But nothing will be mended by complaints, and therefore I will make an end. When we meet, we will try to forget our cares and our maladies, and contribute, as we can, to the cheerfulness of each other. If I had gone with you, I believe I should have been better; but I do not know that it was in my power. I am, dear sir, your most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." This letter, while it gives admirable advice how to travel to the best advantage, and will therefore be of very general use, is another eminent proof of Johnson's warm and affectionate heart!. ["DR. JOHNSON TO MRS. LUCY PORTER. "19th February, 1778. "DEAR MADAM,—I have several Pearson little things to mention which I MSS. have hitherto neglected. "You judged rightly in thinking that the bust 2 would not please. It is condemned by Mrs. Thrale, Mrs. Reynolds, and Mrs. Garrick; so that your disapprobation is not singular. These things have never cost me any 1 The friendship between Mr. Welch and him was unbroken. Mr. Welch died hot many months before him, and bequeathed him five guineas for a ring, which Johnson received with tenderness, as a kind memorial. His regard was constant for his friend Mr. Welch's daughters; of whom Jane is married to Mr. Nollekens, the statuary, whose merit is too well known to require any praise from me.-BOSWELL. [See a great deal about Miss Anne in Miss Hawkins's Memoirs.—ED.] 2[This bust, and the walking-stick mentioned by Boswell, are now in the possession of Mrs. Pearson, of Hill Ridware, near Lichfield.-HARwooD.] thing, so that I do not much know the price. My bust was made for the Exhibition, and shown for honour of the artist, who is a man of reputation above any of the other sculptors. To be modelled in clay costs, I believe, twenty guineas; but the casts, when the model is made, are of no great price; whether a guinea or two guineas, I cannot tell. "When you complained for want of oysters, I ordered you a barrel weekly for a month; you sent me word sooner that you had enough, but I did not countermand the rest. If you could not eat them, could you not give them away? When you want any thing send me word. "I am very poorly, and have very restless and oppressive nights, but always hope for better. Pray for me. I am your most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON."] "TO DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. TO DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. "Edinburgh, 28th Feb. 1778. "MY DEAR SIR,-You are at present busy amongst the English poets, preparing, for the public instruction and entertainment, prefaces biographical and critical. It will not, therefore, be out of season to appeal to you for the decision of a controversy which has arisen between a lady and me concerning a passage in Parnell. That poet tells us, that his hermit quitted his cell -to know the world by sight, To find if books or swains report it right; dew).' "Edinburgh, 26th February, 1778. "MY DEAR SIR,-Why I have delayed, for near a month, to thank you for your last affectionate letter, I cannot say; for my mind has been in better health these three weeks than for some years past. I believe I have evaded till I could send you a copy of Lord Hailes's opinion on the negro's cause, which he wishes you to read, and correct any errors that there may be in the language; for, says he, we live in a critical, though not a learned age; and I seek to screen myself under the shield of Ajax.' I communicated to him your apology for keeping the sheets of his ' Annals' so long. He says, I am sorry to see that Dr. Johnson is in a state of languor. Why should a sober Christian, neither an enthusiast nor a fanatick, be very merry or very sad?? I envy his lordship's comfortable constitution; but well do I know that languor and dejection will afflict the best, however excellent their principles. I am in possession of Lord Hailes's opinion in his own handwriting, and have had it for some time. My excuse then for procrastination must be, that I wanted to have it copied; and I have Dr. Percy, the Bishop of Dromore, humornow put that off so long, that it will be bet-ously observed, that Levett used to breakfast on ter to bring it with me than send it, as I shall probably get you to look at it sooner when I solicit you in person. I maintain, that there is an inconsistency here; for as the hermit's notions of the world were formed from the reports both of books and swains, he could not justly be said to know by swains alone. Be pleased to judge between us, and let us have your reasons 2. "What do you say to Taxation no Tyranny,' now, after Lord North's declaration, or confession, or whatever else his conciliatory speech should be called? I never differed from you in politicks but up the crust of a roll, which Johnson, after tearing out the crum for himself, threw to his humble friend.-BOSWELL. Perhaps the word threw is "My wife, who is, I thank God, a good here too strong. Dr. Johnson never treated Levdeal better, is much obliged to you for your circumstances, that he had great kindness for him. ett with contempt; it is clear indeed, from various very polite and courteous offer of your I have often seen Johnson at breakfast, accompaapartment: but, if she goes to London, it will be best for her to have lodgings in the nied, or rather attended, by Levett, who had almore airy vicinity of Hyde-park. I, how-ways the management of the tea-kettle.—MAever, doubt much if I shall be able to prevail with her to accompany me to the metropolis; for she is so different from you and me, that she dislikes travelling; and she is so anxious about her children, that she thinks she should be unhappy if at a dis LONE. [Sir J. Hawkins states, that "Dr. Johnson frequently observed that Levett was indebted to him for nothing more than house-room, his share in a penny loaf at breakfast, and now and then a dinner on a Sunday.”—ED.] 2 See this subject discussed in a subsequent page, under May 3, 1779.---MALONE |