Here it is proper, once for all, to give a true and 241 (1) [As I suppose you read the newspapers, you will see mention of the ghost; but, without you were here upon the spot, you could never conceive that the most bungling performance of the silliest imposture could take up the attention and con Birk II 653 ་ I am convinced, are to this hour under an impression that Johnson was thus foolishly deceived. It will therefore surprise them a good deal when they are informed upon undoubted authority, that Johnson was one of those by whom the imposture was detected. () The story had become so popular, that he thought it should be investigated; and in this research he was assisted by the Rev. Dr. Douglas, now Bishop of Salisbury, the great detecter of impostures; who informs me, that after the gentlemen who went and examined into the evidence were satisfied of its falsity, Johnson wrote in their presence an account of it, which was published in the newspapers and Gentleman's Magazine, and undeceived the world. (2) versation of all the fine world. And as the ways of the beaumonde are always in contradiction to the Gospel, they are determined to show that, though they do not believe in Moses and the prophets, they would believe if one were to come from the dead, though it was only to play tricks like a rat behind a wainscot! You must not, indeed, regret being absent, while this farce is going on. There will be an Elizabeth Canning, or a man in a bottle, or some other folly, for the amusement of this frivolous generation, at all times! - MRS. MONTAGUE TO MRS. ROBINSON, Feb. 26. 1762.] (1) No rational man doubted that inquiry would lead to detection; men only wondered that Dr. Johnson should so far give countenance to this flimsy imposition as to think a solemn in quiry necessary.- C. (2) The account was as follows: :- "On the night of the 1st of February, many gentlemen, eminent for their rank and character, were, by the invitation of the Rev. Mr. Aldrich, of Clerkenwell, assembled at his house, for the examination of the noises supposed to be made by a departed spirit, for the detection of some enormous crime. About ten at night the gentlemen met in the chamber in which the girl, supposed to be disturbed by a spirit, had, with proper caution, been put to bed by several Our conversation proceeded. "Sir," said he, “I am a friend to subordination, as most conducive to the happiness of society. There is a reciprocal pleasure in governing and being governed." ladies. They sat rather more than an hour, and hearing nothing, went down stairs, when they interrogated the father of the girl, who denied, in the strongest terms, any knowledge or belief of fraud. The supposed spirit had before publicly promised, by an affirmative knock, that it would attend one of the gentlemen into the vault under the church of St. John, Clerkenwell, where the body is deposited, and give a token of her presence there, by a knock upon her coffin; it was therefore determined to make this trial of the existence or veracity of the supposed spirit. While they were inquiring and deliberating, they were summoned into the girl's chamber by some ladies who were near her bed, and who had heard knocks and scratches. When the gentlemen entered, the girl declared that she felt the spirit like a mouse upon her back, and was required to hold her hands out of bed. From that time, though the spirit was very solemnly required to manifest its existence by appearance, by impression on the hand or body of any present, by scratches, knocks, or any other agency, no evidence of any preternatural power was exhibited. "The spirit was then very seriously advertised, that the person to whom the promise was made of striking the coffin was then about to visit the vault, and that the performance of the promise was then claimed. The company at one o'clock went into the church, and the gentleman to whom the promise was made went with another into the vault. The spirit was solemnly required to perform its promise, but nothing more than silence ensued: the person supposed to be accused by the spirit then went down with several others, but no effect was perceived. Upon their return they examined the girl, but could draw no confession from her. Between two and three she desired and was permitted to go home with her father. It is, therefore, the opinion of the whole assembly, that the child has some art of making or counterfeiting a particular noise, and that there is no agency of any higher cause." BOSWELL. Mr. Saunders Welch, Johnson's intimate friend, would have dissuaded him from his purpose of visiting the place, urging that it would expose him to ridicule; but all his arguments had no effect. What Mr. Welch foretold, was verified; he was censured for his credulity, his wisdom was arraigned, and his religious opinions resolved into superstition. Nor was this all: that facetious gentleman, Foote, who had assumed the name of был "Dr. Goldsmith is one of the first men we now have as an author, and he is a very worthy man too. He has been loose in his principles, but he is coming right." I mentioned Mallet's tragedy of "Elvira," which had been acted the preceding winter at Drury-lane, and that the Hon. Andrew Erskine (1), Mr. Dempster (2), and myself, had joined in writing a pam the modern Aristophanes, and at his theatre had long entertained the town with caricatures of living persons, thought that at this time a drama, in which himself should represent Johnson, and in his mien, his garb, and his speech, should display all his comic powers, would yield him a golden harvest. Johnson was apprised of his intention; and gave Mr. Foote to understand, that the licence under which he was permitted to entertain the town would not justify the liberties he was accustomed to take with private characters, and that if he persisted in his design, he would, by a severe chastisement of his representative on the stage, and in the face of the whole audience, convince the world, that, whatever were his infirmities, or even his foibles, they should not be made the sport of the public, or the means of gain to any one of his profession. Foote, upon this intimation, had discretion enough to desist from his purpose. Johnson entertained no resentment against him, and they were ever after friends.- - HAWKINS. (1) Third son of the fifth Earl of Kellie, born in 1736. He published [in 1763] some letters and poems addressed to Mr. Boswell. - C. (2) George Dempster, of Dunnichen, secretary to the Order of the Thistle, and long M. P. for Fife, &c. He was a man of talents and very agreeable manners. Burns mentions him more than once with eulogy. As Mr. Dempster lived a good deal in Johnson's society, the reader may be glad to see the following slip-shod but characteristic epitaph (communicated to me by Sir Walter Scott), which he made on himself: "Pray for the soul of deceased George Dempster, In his youth a great fool, in his old age a gamester.* Gamester, Scotticè, may rhyme with Dempster. He, however, only played for trifles; indeed the whole is a mere badinage.-W. SCOTT. phlet, entitled "Critical Strictures," against it. (') That the mildness of Dempster's disposition had, however, relented; and he had candidly said, "We have hardly a right to abuse this tragedy; for, bad as it is, how vain should either of us be to write one not near so good!" JOHNSON. "Why no, Sir; this is not just reasoning. You may abuse a tragedy, though you cannot write one. You may scold a carpenter who has made you a bad table, though you cannot make a table. It is not your trade to make tables." When I talked to him of the paternal estate to which I was heir, he said, 66 Sir, let me tell you, that to be a Scotch landlord, where you have a number of families dependent upon you, and attached to you, is, perhaps, as high a situation as humanity can arrive at. A merchant upon the What you're curious to know, on this tomb you shall see :- So sound was his bottom, his acquaintance all wondered To his money concerns, he paid little attention, First selling his land, then pawning his pension. But his precious time, he much better did manage; — To the end of his line, from his earliest nonage, He divided his hours into two equal parts, And spent one half in sleeping, the other at cartes."* — C. [In 1790, Mr. Dempster retired from parliament, and devoted himself to the improvement of agriculture and the fisheries. He died in 1818, aged 82.]-B. (1) The Critical Review, in which Mallet himself sometimes wrote, characterised this pamphlet as "the crude efforts of envy, petulance, and self-conceit." There being thus three epithets, we, the three authors, had a humorous contention how each should be appropriated. — B. *The Scotch, in familiar life, retain many French words (tokens of their early intercourse with France), and among others cartes for cards. -C. |