that lowering them was raising himself to their level; this affectation of familiarity with the great, this childish ambition of momentary exaltation obtained by the neglect of those ceremonies which custom has established as the barriers between one order of society and another, only showed his folly and meanness; he did not see that by encroaching on others' dignity, he puts himself in their power either to be repelled with helpless indignity, or endured by clemency and condescension. Garrick, by paying due respect to rank, respected himself; what he gave was returned, and what was returned he kept for ever; his advancement was on firm ground, he was recognized in public as well as respected in private, and as no man was ever more courted and better received by the public, so no man was ever less spoiled by its flattery: Garrick continued advancing to the last, till he had acquired every advantage that high birth or title could bestow, except the precedence of going into a room; but when he was there, he was treated with as much attention as the first man at the table, It is to the credit of Garrick, that he never laid any claim to this distinction; it was as voluntarily allowed as if it had been his birthright. In this, I confess, I looked on David with some degree of envy, not so much for the respect he received, as for the manner of its being acquired; what fell into his lap unsought, I have been forced to claim. I began the world by fighting my way. There was something about me that invited insult, or at least a disposition to neglect, and I was equally disposed to repel insult and to claim attention, and I fear continue too much in this disposition now it is no longer necessary; I receive at present as much favour as I have a right to expect. I am not one of the complainers of the neglect of merit.

"GIB. Your pretensions, Dr. Johnson, nobody will dispute ; I cannot place Garrick on the same footing: your reputation will continue increasing after your death, when Garrick will be totally forgot; you will be for ever considered as a classic

"JOHN. Enough, sir, enough; the company would be better pleased to see us quarrel than bandying compliments.

"GIB. But you must allow, Dr. Johnson, that Garrick was too much a slave to fame, or rather to the mean ambition of living with the great, terribly afraid of making himself cheap even with them; by which he debarred himself of much pleasant society. Employing so much attention, and so much management upon such little things, implies, I think, a little mind. It was observed by his friend Colman, that he never went into company but with a plot how to get out of it; he was every minute called out, and went off or returned as there was or was not a probability of his shining.

"JOHN. In regard to his mean ambition, as you call it, of living with the great, what was the boast of Pope, and is every man's wish, can be no reproach to Garrick; he who says he despises it knows he

lies. That Garrick husbanded his fame, the fame which he had justly acquired both at the theatre and at the table, is not denied ; but where is the blame either in the one or the other, of leaving as little as he could to chance? Besides, sir, consider what you have said; you first deny Garrick's pretensions to fame, and then accuse him of too great an attention to preserve what he never possessed. "GIB. I don't understand

"JOHN. Sir, I can't help that.

"GIB. Well, but, Dr. Johnson, you will not vindicate him in his over and above attention to his fame, his inordinate desire to exhibit himself to new men, like a coquette, ever seeking after new conquests, to the total neglect of old friends and admirers ;—

'He threw off his friends like a huntsman his pack,'

always looking out for new game.

"JOHN. When you quoted the line from Goldsmith, you ought, in fairness, to have given what followed:

'He knew when he pleased he could whistle them back ;'

which implies at least that he possessed a power over other men's minds approaching to fascination; but consider, sir, what is to be done here is a man whom every other man desired to know. Garrick could not receive and cultivate all, according to each man's conception of his own value: we are all apt enough to consider ourselves as possessing a right to be excepted from the common crowd; besides, sir, I do not see why that should be imputed to him as a crime, which we all so irresistibly feel and practise; we all make a greater exertion of the presence of new men than old acquaintance; it is undoubtedly true that Garrick divided his attention among so many, that but little was left to the share of any individual; like the extension and dissipation of water into dew, there was not quantity united sufficiently to quench any man's thirst; but this is the inevitable state of things: Garrick, no more than another man, could unite what, in their natures, are incompatible.

"GIB. But Garrick not only was excluded by this means from real friendship, but accused of treating those whom he called friends with insincerity and double dealings.

"JOHN. Sir, it is not true; his character in that respect is misunderstood: Garrick was, to be sure, very ready in promising, but he intended at that time to fulfil his promise; he intended no deceit : his politeness or his good nature, call it which you will, made him unwilling to deny; he wanted the courage to say No even to unreasonable demands. This was the great error of his life: by raising expectations which he did not, perhaps could not gratify, he made many

enemies; at the same time it must be remembered, that this error proceeded from the same cause which produced many of his virtues. Friendships from warmth of temper too suddenly taken up, and too violent to continue, ended as they were like to do, in disappointment; enmity succeeded disappointment; his friends became his enemies; and those having been fostered in his bosom, well knew his sensibility to reproach, and they took care that he should be amply supplied with such bitter potions as they were capable of administering; their impotent efforts he ought to have despised, but he felt them; nor did he affect insensibility.

"GIB. And that sensibility probably shortened his life.

"JOHN. No, sir, he died of a disorder of which you or any other man may die, without being killed by too much sensibility.

"GIB. But you will allow, however, that this sensibility, those fine feelings, made him the great actor he was.

"JOHN. This is all cant, fit only for kitchen wenches and chambermaids: Garrick's trade was to represent passion, not to feel it. Ask Reynolds whether he felt the distress of Count Hugolino when he drew it.

"GIB. But surely he feels the passion at the moment he is representing it.

"JOHN. About as much as Punch feels. That Garrick himself gave into this foppery of feelings I can easily believe; but he knew at the same time that he lied. He might think it right as far as I know, to have what fools imagined he ought to have; but it is amazing that any one should be so ignorant as to think that an actor will risk his reputation by depending on the feelings that shall be excited in the presence of two hundred people, on the repetition of certain words which he has repeated two hundred times before in what actors call their study. No, sir, Garrick left nothing to chance; every gesture, every expression of countenance, and variation of voice, was settled in his closet before he set his foot upon the stage1."

[This is conformable with the opinion of Grimm and Diderot, and with the admission of Mr. Kemble; but it must not be understood too literally. A great actor prepares in his study, positions, attitudes, the particular mode of uttering certain passages, and even the tone which is to be adopted; and having once ascertained, both by thought and experience, what is best, he will naturally adhere to that, however often he may play the part; but it is equally certain, that there is a large portion of the merit of a great theatrical exhibition which is not reducible to any rule, and which depends, not only on the general powers of the performer, but on his health, his spirits, and other personal circumstances of the moment which may tend to encourage or restrain his powers. And it may be safely affirmed, that although no actor ever fancies himself Othello, or any actress Calista, yet that the unpremeditated emotions last alluded to constitute a great part of the charm which distinguishes on the stage excellence from mediocrity.—ED.]

No. IV.

[ARGUMENT against a prosecution by the Procurators of Edinburgh against the publisher of a libel, referred to in p. 504.]

"All injury is either of the person, the fortune, or the fame. Now it is a certain thing, it is proverbially known, that a jest breaks no bones. They never have gained half-a-crown less in the whole profession since this mischievous paragraph has appeared; and, as to their reputation, what is their reputation but an instrument of getting money? If, therefore, they have lost no money, the question upon reputation may be answered by a very old position,-De minimis non curat prætor.

"Whether there was, or was not, an animus injuriandi is not worth inquiring, if no injuria can be proved. But the truth is, there was no animus injuriandi. It was only an animus irritandi 1, which, happening to be exercised upon a genus irritabile, produced unexpected violence of resentment. Their irritability arose only from an opinion of their own importance, and their delight in their new exaltation. What might have been borne by a procurator, could not be borne by a solicitor. Your lordships well know that honores mutant mores. Titles and dignities play strongly on the fancy. As a madman is apt to think himself grown suddenly great, so he that grows suddenly great is apt to borrow a little from the madman. To co-operate with their resentment would be to promote their frenzy ; nor is it possible to guess to what they might proceed, if to the new title of solicitor should be added the elation of victory and triumph.

"We consider your lordships as the protectors of our rights, and the guardians of our virtues; but believe it not included in your high office, that you should flatter our vices, or solace our vanity; and, as vanity only dictates this prosecution, it is humbly hoped your lordships will dismiss it.

"If every attempt, however light or ludicrous, to lessen another's reputation, is to be punished by a judicial sentence, what punishment can be sufficiently severe for him who attempts to diminish the reputation of the supreme court of justice, by reclaiming upon a cause already determined, without any change in the state of the question? Does it not imply hopes that the judges will change their opinion? Is not uncertainty and inconstancy in the highest degree disreputable

Mr. Robertson altered this word to jocandi, he having found in Blackstone that to irritate is actionable.-BosWELL.

VOL. IV.

M M

to a court? Does it not suppose, that the former judgment was temerarious or negligent? Does it not lessen the confidence of the publick? Will it not be said that jus est aut incognitum aut vagum ? and will not the consequence be drawn, misera est servitus? Will not the rules of action be obscure? Will not he who knows himself wronged to-day, hope that the courts of justice will think him right to-morrow? Surely, my lords, these are attempts of dangerous tendency, which the solicitors, as men versed in the law, should have foreseen and avoided. It was natural for an ignorant printer to appeal from the lord ordinary; but from lawyers, the descendants of lawyers, who have practised for three hundred years, and have now raised themselves to a higher denomination, it might be expected that they should know the reverence due to a judicial determination; and, having been once dismissed, should sit down in silence."

Between Miss Boothby and Dr. Johnson.

[Referred to in vol. i. p. 51, vol. iii. p. 516, vol. iv. p. 427.]

PREFACE

[Of Mr. Richard Wright, surgeon in Lichfield, the original editor of the little volume containing Dr. Johnson's notes of his early life, and the correspondence with Miss Boothby.]

It will be expected, that the editor of the following curious and interesting pages should give an account of the manner in which the original MSS. came into his possession.

[The Editor had originally intended to have given only a selection (see vol. iii. p. 516) of Miss Boothby's letters, but as the little volume in which they were published, by R. Phillips, 1805, (see v. i. p. 51), is now become scarce; and as the whole affair is a curious episode in Dr. Johnson's history, the Editor has, on reconsideration, preserved the entire correspondence. ED.]

[Miss Hill Boothby was the daughter of Mr. Brook Boothby and his second lady, Elizabeth Fitzherbert. Mr. Boothby was the son of Sir William, the second baronet, by Miss Hill Brooke, and the father of Sir Brooke, the fourth baronet. Miss Boothby was above a year older than Dr. Johnson. Though her mother's name was Fitzherbert, she was but distantly related to the Tissington family. She was attached to Mrs. Fitzherbert by an enthusiastic and spiritualized friendship, and on her death Miss Boothby devoted herself to the care of her six children. The Rev. Richard Graves, author of the Spiritual Quixote, was for some time domestic chaplain at Tissington, and as my