. 66 asked Boswell, by way of trying his disposition, "Is not this very fine?" Boswell, having no exquisite relish of the beauties of nature, and being more delighted with "the busy hum of men," answered, "Yes, sir; but not equal to Fleet-street." JOHNSON. You are right, sir." Johnson and his friend appear to have agreed in taste with a baronet very fashionable in the brilliant world, sir Michael le Fleming, who, on his attention being called to the fragrance of a May evening in the country, observed," This may be very well; but, for my part, I prefer the smell of a flambeau at the playhouse." Johnson was much attached to London: he observed, that a man stored his mind better there than any where else; and that in remote situations a man's body might be feasted, but his mind was -starved, and his faculties apt to degenerate, from want of exercise and competition. No place, he said, cured a man's vanity or arrogance so well as London; for as no man was either great or good per se, but as compared with others not so good or great, he was sure to find in the metropolis many his equals, and some his superiors. He observed, that a man in London was in less danger of falling in love indiscreetly than any where else; for there the difficulty of deciding between the conflicting pretensions of a vast variety of objects kept him safe. He had frequently been offered country preferment, if he would consent to take orders; but he could not leave the improved society of the capital, or consent to exchange the exhilarating joys and splendid decorations of public life, for the obscurity, insipidity, and uniformity of remote si, tuations. He was not desirous, however, of a benefice in London; "for," he remarked, "a London parish is a very comfortless thing; as the clergyman sel. dom knows the face of one out of ten of his parishioners." Dining at the Mitre, tête-à-tête with Dr. Maxwell, who was preparing to return to Ireland, after an absence of many years, he regretted much lea. ving London, where he had formed many agreeable connexions: 66 Sir," said he, "I don't wonder at it; no man, fond of letters, leaves London without regret. But remember, sir, you have seen and enjoyed a great deal; you have seen life in its highest decorations, and the world has nothing new to exhibit. No man is so well qualified to leave public life as he who has long tried it and known it well. We are always hankering after untried situations, and imagining greater felicity from them than, they can afford. No, sir, knowledge and virtue may be acquired in all countries, and your local consequence will make you some amends for the intellectual gratifications you relinquish." Then he quoted the following lines with great pathos : He who has early known the pomps of state, Can boldly say, " The trifle I contemn;" He then took a very affecting leave of the doctor, said he knew it was a point of duty that called him away, and added, "We shall be sorry to lose you: laudo tamen." It having been observed that there was little hospitality in London: JOHNSON. "Nay, sir, any man who has a name or who has the power of pleasing, will be generally invited in London. The man Sterne, I have been told, has had engagements for three months." GOLDSMITH. "And a very dull fellow." JOHNSON. "Why, no, sir." He said, "London is nothing to some people; but to a man whose pleasure is intellectual, London is the place. And there is no place where economy can be so well practised as in London: more can be had here for the money, even by ladies, than any where else. You cannot play tricks with your fortune in a small place; you must make an uniform appearance. Here a lady may have well-furnished apartments, and elegant dress, without any meat in her kitchen." "I was amused," adds Boswell," by considering with how much ease and coolness he could write or talk to a friend, exhorting him not to suppose that happiness was not to be found as well in other places as in London; when he himself was at all times sensible of its being, comparatively speaking, a heaven upon earth. The truth is, that by those who, from sagacity, attention, and experience, have learnt the full advantage of London, its pre-eminence over every other place, not only for variety of enjoyment, but for comfort, will be felt with a philosophical exultation. The freedom from remark and petty censure, with which life may be passed there, is a circumstance which a man who knows the teasing restraint of a narrow circle must relish highly. Mr. Burke, whose orderly and amiable domestic habits might make the eye of obser vation less irksome to him than to most men, said once very pleasantly, in my hearing, Though I have the honour to represent Bristol, I should not like to live there; I should be obliged to be so much upon my good behaviour? In London, a man may live in splendid society at one time, and in frugal retirement at another, without animadversion. There, and there alone, a man's own house is truly his castle, in which he can be in perfect safety from intrusion whenever he pleases. I never shall forget how well this was expressed to me one day by Mr. Meynell; The chief advantage of London,' said he,' is, that a man is always so near his burrow. " To Boswell he said: "It is wonderful, sir, what is to be found in London. The most literary conversation that I ever enjoyed, was at the table of Jack Ellis, a money-scrivener behind the Royal Exchange, with whom I at one period used to dine generally once a week." As Boswell and Johnson walked to St. Clement's church, and saw several shops open upon the most solemn fast-day of the Christian world, Boswell remarked, that one disadvantage arising from the immensity of London, was, that nobody was heeded by his neighbour; there was no fear of censure for not observing Good-Friday, as it ought to be kept, and as it is kept in country-towns. Johnson said, it was, upon the whole, very well observed even in London. He, however, owned that London was too large; but added, "It is nonsense to say the head is too big for the body. It would be as much too big, though the body were ever so large; that is to say, though the country were ever so exten. sive. It has no similarity to a head connected with a body." Boswell talked of the cheerfulness of Fleet-street, owing to the constant quick succession of people which we perceive passing through it. JOHNSON. "Why, sir, Fleet-street has a very animated appearance; but I think the full tide of human exist. ence is at Charing-cross." No. XIV. MANNERS. THOUGH of no high extraction himself, Johnson had much respect for birth and family, especially among ladies. He said, "Adventitious accomplishments may be professed by all ranks; but one may easily distinguish the born gentlewoman.” The same feeling probably much influenced his attachment to Mr. Langton and Mr. Beauclerk, two gay young men of good birth. Johnson, at first, thought it strange that Langton should associate so much with one who had the character of being loose, both in his principles and practice: but, by degrees, he himself was fascinated. Mr. Beauclerk's being of the St. Albans family, and having, in some particulars, a resemblance to Charles the Second, contributed, in Johnson's imagination, to throw a lustre upon his other qualities; and, in a short time, the moral, pious Johnson, and the gay, dissipated Beauclerk, were companions. "What a coalition!" said Garrick, when he heard of this: |