Jonnum his, there is one Mrs. Macaulay | 14 "AR Sun, a great republican. One day www I we at her house, I put on a very QUAYCAREVE "ENANce, and said to her, Madam, * Mecente a convert to your way of I am convinced that all mankind win upon an ex, ial footing; and to give you ka they satsemame proof, Madam, that I am in earnest, here is a very sensible, civil, wety-newayed fellow-citizen, your footman; 1 desire that he may be allowed to sit down I thas, hir, shewed her The shridity of the levelling doctrine. She be the yo liked me since. bir, your levellers winter level down as far as themselves; but they cannot bear levelling up to themselves. They would all have some people under thems why not then have some people

*lerys them?" I mentioned a certain author who disgusted me by his forwardness, and by showing no deference to noblemen into where company he was admitted. JoиNSuppose a shoe-maker should claim an equality with him, as he does with a Lord's how he would stare. Why, Sir, do yonu stare ? (says the shoemaker ;) I do great services to society. "Tis true, I am paid for doing it's but so are you, Sir: and I am sorry to say it, better paid than I am, for doing something not so necessary. For mankind could do better without your books, than without my shoes. Thus, Sir, there would be a perpetual struggle for precedence, were there no fixed invariable rules for the distinction of rank, which creates no jealousy, as it is allowed to be acci

dental."

He said, Dr. Joseph Warton was a very agreeable man, and his "Essay on the Genus and writings of Pope," a very pleasing book. I wondered that he delayed so long to give us the continuation of it. JOHNSON: "Why, Sir, I suppose he finds himself a little disappointed, in not having been able to persuade the world to be of his opinion as to Pope."

We have now been favoured with the concluding volume, in which, to use a parliamentary expression, he has explained, so as not to appear quite so adverse to the opinion of the world, concerning Pope, as was at first thought; and we must all agree, that his work is a most valuable accession to English literature.

A writer of deserved eminence being mentioned, Johnson said, "Why, Sir, he is a man of good parts, but being originally poor, he has got a love of mean company and low jocularity; a very bad thing, Sir. To laugh is good, as to talk is good. But you ought no more to think it enough if you laugh, than you are to think it enough if you talk. You may laugh in as many ways as you

This one Mrs. Macauley was the same personage

who afterwards made herself so much known as "the celebrated female historian."

talk; and surely every wes off taking practised cannot be extremer

I spoke of a Sir James Martić young man of most distinguished mens v united the highest reputacim Ein ei Oxford, with the pitch sura di great Highland Chefen 1 netted that Sir James had sat to me, thus be had never seen Mr. Johnson bens he had a great respect for him, though at the same time, it was mixed with some degree of tert. JOHNSON: Sir. if he were to be acquired with me, it might lessen both.”

The mention of this gentiam led us to talk of the Western Islands of Sectioni, to visit which he expressed a wish that the appeared to me a very romantic fancy, whi little thought would be afterwards realized. He told me, that his father had put Martin's account of those islands into his hands when he was very young, and that be was highly pleased with it; that he was par ticularly struck with the St. Kilda man's notion, that the high church of Glasgow had been hollowed out of a rock; a circumstance to which old Mr. Johnson had directed his attention. He said, he would go the He brides with me, when I returned from my travels, unless some very good companion should offer when I was absent, which he did not think probable: adding, "There are few people to whom I take so much to as to you. And when I talked of my leaving England, he said with a very affectionate air," My dear Boswell, I should be very unhappy at parting, did I think we were not to meet again." I cannot too often remind my readers, that although such instances of his kindness are doubtless very flattering to me, yet I hope my recording them will be ascribed to a better motive than to vanity; for they afford unquestionable evidence of his tenderness and complacency, which some, while they were forced to acknowledge his great powers, have been so strenuous to deny.

He maintained that a boy at school was the happiest of human beings. I supported a different opinion, from which I have never yet varied, that a man is happier and I enlarged upon the anxiety and sufferings which are endured at school. JOHNSON: "Ah! Sir, a boy's being flogged is not so severe as a man's having the hiss of the world against him. Men have a solicitude about fame; and the greater share they have of it, the more afraid they are of losing it." I silently asked myself, "Is it possible that the great SAMUEL JOHNSON really entertains any such apprehension, and is not confident that his exalted fame is established upon a foundation never to be shaken ?"

He this evening drank a bumper to Sir David Dalrymple, "as a man of worth, a scholar, and a wit."—"I have (said he) never heard of him, except from you; but let him

I expressed my opinion of my friend Derrick as but a poor writer. JOHNSON: "To be sure, Sir, he is: but you are to consider that his being a literary man has got for him all that he has. It has made him King of Bath. Sir, he has nothing to say for himself but that he is a writer. Had he not been a writer, he must have been sweeping the crossings in the streets, and asking halfpence from every body that passed."

In justice, however, to the memory of Mr. Derrick, who was first tutor in the ways of London, and shewed me the town in all its variety of departments, both literary and sportive, the particulars of which Dr. Johnson advised me to put in writing, it is proper to mention what Johnson, at a subsequent period, said of him both as a writer and an editor: "Sir, I have often said, that if Derrick's letters had been written by one of a more established name, they would have been thought very pretty letters." And, "I sent Derrick to Dryden's relations to gather materials for his life; and I believe he got all that I myself should have got."+

Poor Derrick! I remember him with kindness. Yet I cannot withhold from my readers a pleasant humorous sally which could not have hurt him had he been alive, and now is perfectly harmless. In his collection of poems, there is one upon entering the harbour of Dublin, his native city,. after a long absence. It begins thus:

"Eblana! much loved city, hail!

Where first I saw the light of day."

And after a solemn reflection on his being "numbered with forgotten dead," there is the following stanza:

"Unless my lines protract my fame,

And those who chance to read them, cry,
I knew him! Derrick was his name,
In yonder tomb his ashes lie:"

which was thus happily parodied by Mr. John Home, to whom we owe the beautiful and pathetic tragedy of" Douglas :"

"Unless my deeds protract my fame,
And he who passes sadly sings,

I knew him! Derrick was his name,
On yonder tree his carcass swings!"

I doubt much whether the amiable and

ingenious author of these burlesque lines will recollect them; for they were produced extempore one evening while he and I were walking together in the dining-room at Eglingtoune Castle, in 1760, and I have never mentioned them to him since.

Johnson said once to me, "Sir, I honour Derrick for his presence of mind. One night, when Floyd, another poor author, was wandering about the streets in the

⚫ Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 2d edit. p. 104. † Ibid. p. 142.

He published a biographical work, containing an account of eminent writers, in 3 vols. 8vo.

night, he found Derrick fast asleep upon a bulk; upon being suddenly waked, Der. rick started up, My dear Floyd, I am sorry to see you in this destitute state; will you go home with me to my lodgings ?"

I again begged his advice as to my method of study at Utrecht "Come, (said he,) let us make a day of it. Let us go down to Greenwich and dine, and talk of it there." The following Saturday was fixed for this

excursion.

As we walked along the Strand to-night, arm in arm, a woman of the town accosted us, in the usual enticing manner. “No. no, my girl, (said Johnson,) it won't do." He, however, did not treat her with harshness; and we talked of the wretched life of such women, and agreed, that much more misery than happiness, upon the whole, is produced by illicit commerce between the

sexes.

On Saturday, July 30, Dr. Johnson and I took a sculler at the Temple-stairs, and set out for Greenwich. I asked him if he really thought a knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages an essential requisite to a good education. JOHNSON: " Most certainly, Sir; for those who know them have a very great advantage over those who do not. Nay, Sir, it is wonderful what a difference learning makes upon people even in the common intercourse of life, which does not appear to be much connected with it.” “And yet, (said I,) people go through the world very well, and carry on the business of life to good advantage without learning."JOHNSON: "Why, Sir, that may be true in cases where learning cannot possibly be of any use; for instance, this boy rows us as well without learning, as if he could sing the song of Orpheus to the Argonauts, who were the first sailors." He then called to the boy, "What would you give, my lad, to know about the Argonauts?" "Sir, (said the boy,) I would give what I have." Johnson was much pleased with his answer, and we gave him a double fare.

Dr. John

son then turning to me, "Sir, (said he,) a desire of knowledge is the natural feeling of mankind; and every human being, whose mind is not debauched, will be willing to give all that he has, to get knowledge."

We landed at the Old Swan, and walked to Billingsgate, where we took oars and It was a very fine day. We were entermoved smoothly along the silver Thames.

tained with the immense number and variety of ships that were lying at anchor, and with the beautiful country on each

side of the river.

I talked of preaching, and of the grea success, which those called methodists§

All who are acquainted with the history of religion (the most important, surely, that concerns the human mind) know that the appellation of Methodists was first given to a society of students in the University of Ox

have. JOHNSON, "Sir, it is owing to their expressing themselves in a plain and familiar manner, which is the only way to do good to the common people, and which clergymen of genius and learning ought to do from a principle of duty, when it is suited to their congregation; a practice, for which they will be praised by men of sense. То insist against drunkenness as a crime, because it debases reason, the noblest faculty of man, would be of no service to the common people: but to tell them that they may die in a fit of drunkenness, and shew them how dreadful that would be, cannot fail to make a deep impression. Sir, when your Scotch clergy give up their homely manner, religion will soon decay in that country." Let this observation, as Johnson meant it, be ever remembered.

I was much pleased to find myself with Johnson at Greenwich, which he celebrates in his "London," as a favourite scene. had the poem in my pocket, and read the lines aloud with enthusiasm:

"On Thames's banks in silent thought we stood,
Where Greenwich smiles upon the silver flood:
Pleas'd with the seat which gave ELIZA birth,
We kneel, and kiss the consecrated earth."

He remarked that the structure of Greenwich hospital was too magnificent for a place of charity, and that its parts were too much detached, to make one great whole.

Buchanan, he said, was a very fine poet; and observed, that he was the first who complimented a lady, by ascribing to her the different perfections of the heathen goddesses;* but that Johnston improved upon

ford, who, about the year 1730, were distinguished by an earnest and methodical attention to devout exercises. This disposition of mind is not a novelty, or peculiar to any sect, but has been, and still may be found, in many Christians of every denomination. Johnson himself was, in a dignified manner, a Methodist. In his Rambler,

No. 110, he mentions with respect the whole discipline of regulated piety;" and in his " Prayers and Meditations," many instances occur of his anxious examination into his spiritual state. That this religious earnestness, and in particular an observation of the influence of the Holy Spirit, has sometimes degenerated into folly, and sometimes been counterfeited for base purposes, cannot be denied. But it is not, therefore, fair to decry it when genuine. The principal argument in reason and good sense against methodism is, that it tends to debase human nature, and prevent the generous exertions of goodness, by an unworthy supposition that GOD will pay no regard to them; although it is positively said in the Scriptures, that "he will reward every man according to his works." But I am happy to have it in my power to do justice to those, whom it is the fashion to ridicule, without any knowledge of their tenets; and this I can do by quoting a passage from one of their best apologists, Mr. Milner, who thus expresses their doctrine upon this subject: "Justified by faith, renewed in his faculties, and constrained by the love of Christ, their believer moves in the sphere of love and gratitude, and all his duties flow more or less from this principle. And though they are accumulating for him in heaven a treasure of bis proportioned to his faithfulness and activity, and it is by no means inconsistent with his principles to feel the force of this consideration, yet love itself sweetens every duty to his mind; and he thinks there is no absurdity in his feeling the love of GoD as the grand commanding principle of his life." Essays on several religious Subjects, &c. by Joseph Milner, A. M. Master of the Grammar School of Kingston-upon-Hull, 1789, p. 11. [Epigram. Lib. ii. "In Elizabeth. Angliæ Reg."—

this, by making his lady, at the same time, free from their defects.

He dwelt upon Buchanan's elegant verses to Mary Queen of Scots, Nympha Caledonia, &c. and spoke with enthusiasm of the beauty of Latin verse. "All the modern languages (said he) cannot furnish so melodious a line

as

"Formosam resonare doces Amaryllida silvas." Afterwards he entered upon the business of the day, which was to give me his advice mention with much regret, that my record as to a course of study. And here I am to of what he said is miserably scanty. I recollect with admiration an animating blaze tual power in me to the highest pitch, but of eloquence, which roused every intellecmust have dazzled me so much, that my memory could not preserve the substance of his discourse; for the note which I find of it is no more than this :-" He ran over vised me to select some particular branch to the grand scale of human knowledge; adexcel in, but to acquire a little of every kind." The defects of my minutes will be fully supplied by a long letter upon the subject, which he favoured me with, after I had been some time at Utrecht, and which my readers will have the pleasure to peruse in its proper place.

We walked in the evening in Greenwich Park. He asked me, I suppose, by way of "Is not this very trying my disposition, fine?" Having no exquisite relish of the beauties of Nature, and being more delighted, "Yes, Sir; but not equal to Fleeted with "the busy hum of men," I answerstreet." JOHNSON: "You are right, Sir." I am aware that many of my readers may censure my want of taste. Let me, however, shelter myself under the authority o a very fashionable Baronet + in the brilliant world, 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 o a flambeau at the playhouse."

We stayed so long at Greenwich, that our sail up the river, in our return to London, was by no means so pleasant as in the morning; for the night air was so cold that it made me shiver. I was the more sensible of it from having sat up all the night

I suspect that the author's memory here deceived him, and that Johnson said, "the first modern poet;" for there is a well-known Epigram in the ANTHOLOGIA, containing this kind of eulogy. M.]

Virgil. Ecl. I. v. 5.

My friend, Sir Michael Le Fleming. This gentleman, with all his experience of sprightly and elegant life, inherits, with the beautiful family domain, no inconsiderable share of that love of literature, which distinguished his venerable grandfather, the Bishop of Carlisle. He one day observed to me, of Dr. Johnson, in a felicity of phrase,There is a blunt dignity about him on every occasion."

[Sir Michael Le Fleming died of an apoplectic fit, while conversing at the Admiralty with Lord Howick, May 19, 1806. M.]