Muse in Livery." JOHNSON. "I doubt whether Dodsley's brother would thank a man who should write his life; yet Dodsley himself was not unwilling that his original low condition should be recollected. When Lord Lyttelton's Dialogues of the Dead' came out, one of which is between Apicius, an ancient epicure, and Dartineuf', a modern epicure, Dodsley said to me, I knew Dartineuf well, for I was once his footman." Biography led us to speak of Dr. John Campbell, who had written a considerable part of the "Biographia Britannica." Johnson, though he valued him highly, was of opinion that there was not so much in his great work, "A Political Survey of Great Britain," as the world had been taught to expect 2; and had said to me that he believed Campbell's disappointment on account of the bad success of that work had killed him. He this evening observed of it, "That work was his death." Mr. Warton, not adverting to his meaning, answered, "I believe so, from the great attention he bestowed on it." JOHNSON. "Nay, sir, he died of want of attention, if he died at all by that book." We talked of a work 3 much in vogue at that time, written in a very mellifluous style, but which, under pretext of another subject, contained much artful infidelity. I said it was not fair to attack us unexpectedly; he should have warned us of our danger, before we entered his garden of flowery eloquence, [This gentleman, whose proper name was Charles Dartiquenave (pronounced and commonly written Darteneuf), is now only recollected as a celebrated epicure; but he was a man of wit, pleasure, and political importance at the beginning of the last century-the associate of Swift, Pope, Addison, and Steele a contributor to the Tatler, and a member of the Kit-Cat club, of which collection his portrait is one of the best. He was Paymaster of the Board of Works, and Surveyor of the royal gardens; and died in 1737. It was suspected that he was a natural son of Charles the Second, by a foreign lady.-ED.] 2 Yet surely it is a very useful work, and of wonderful research and labour for one man to have executed. -BOSWELL. 3 [Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.-ED.] by advertising, "Spring-guns and men-traps set here." The authour had been an Oxonian, and was remembered there for having "turned Papist." I observed, that as he had changed several times-from the church of England to the church of Rome--from the church of Rome to infidelity,—I did not despair yet of seeing him a methodist preacher. JOHNSON (laughing). "It is said that his range has been more extensive, and that he has once been [a] Mahometan. However, now that he has published his infidelity, he will probably persist in it." BOSWELL. "I am not quite sure of that, sir." I mentioned Sir Richard Steele having published his "Christian Hero," with the avowed purpose of obliging himself to lead a religious life; yet that his conduct was by no means strictly suitable." JOHNSON. "Steele, I believe, practised the lighter vices.” Mr. Warton, being engaged, could not sup with us at our inn; we had therefore another evening by ourselves. I asked Johnson whether a man's being forward to make himself known to eminent people, and seeing as much of life, and getting as much information as he could in every way, was not yet lessening himself by his forwardness. JOHNSON. "No, sir; a man always makes himself greater as he increases his knowledge." I censured some ludicrous fantastick dialogues between two coach-horses, and other such stuff, which Baretti had lately published. He joined with me, [This sarcasm probably alludes to the tenderness with which Gibbon's malevolence to Christianity induced him to treat Mahometanism in his history; and we have seen that Johnson gravely warned Miss Knight that one who could be converted to popery might by an easy progress become even a Mahometen. Something of this sort he probably had in his mind on this occasion.-ED.] 2 [This was one of Mr. Boswell's predominant passions—a fortunate one for those whom this work amuses, for to it we owe his having sought the acquaintance of Johnson; as he had, about the same time, obtained that of Wilkes : he was, particularly in early life, fond of running after notorieties of all sorts. See his father's opinion of this propensity, ante, p. 78.-ED.] and said, "Nothing odd will do long. Tristram Shandy' did not last." I expressed a desire to be acquainted with a lady who had been much talked of, and universally celebrated for extraordinary address and insinuation'. JOHNSON. "Never believe extraordinary characters which you hear of people. Depend upon it, sir, they are exaggerated. You do not see one man shoot a great deal higher than another." I mentioned Mr. Burke. JOHNSON. "Yes, Burke is an extraordinary man. His stream of mind is perpetual." It is very pleasing to me to record, that Johnson's high estimation of the talents of this gentleman was uniform from their early acquaintance. Sir Joshua Reynolds informs me, that when Mr. Burke was first elected a member of parliament, and Sir John Hawkins expressed a wonder at his attaining a seat, Johnson said, "Now we who know Mr. Burke, know that he will be one of the first men in the country." And once, when Johnson was ill, and unable to exert himself as much as usual without fatigue, Mr. Burke having been mentioned, he said, "That fellow calls forth all my powers. Were I to see Burke now it would kill me." So much was he accustomed to consider conversation as a contest, and such was his notion of Burke as an opponent. Next morning, Thursday, 21st March, we set out in a postchaise to pursue our ramble. It was a delightful day, and we rode through Blenheim park. When I looked at the magnificent bridge built by 1 [Margaret Caroline Rudd, a woman who lived with one of the brothers Perreau, who were about this time executed (17th Jan. 1776) for a forgery: her fame for extraordinary address and insinuation" was probably very unfounded; it arose from this: she betrayed her accomplices; and they, in return, charged her with being the real author of the forgery, and alleged that they were dupes and instruments in her hands, and to support this allegation, they and their friends, who were numerous and respectable, exaggerated to the highest degree Mrs. Rudd's supposed powers of address and fascination.—ED.] VOL. III. Z John Duke of Marlborough, over a small rivulet, and recollected the epigram made 1 upon it "The lofty arch his high ambition shows, The stream an emblem of his bounty flows;" and saw that now, by the genius of Brown, a magnificent body of water was collected, I said, "They have drowned the epigram." I observed to him, while in the midst of the noble scene around us, "You and I, sir, have, I think, seen together the extremes of what can be seen in Britain-the wild rough island of Mull, and Blenheim park." We dined at an excellent inn at Chapelhouse, where he expatiated on the felicity of England in its taverns and inns, and triumphed over the French for not having, in any perfection, the tavern life. "There is no private house (said he), in which people can enjoy themselves so well, as at a capital tavern. Let there be ever so great plenty of good things, ever so much grandeur, ever so much elegance, ever so much desire that every body should be easy; in the nature of things it cannot be there must always be some degree of care and anxiety. The master of the house is anxious to entertain his guests; the guests are anxious to be agreeable to him; and no man, but a very impudent dog indeed, can as freely command what is in another man's house, as if it were his own. Whereas, at a tavern, there is a general freedom from anxiety. You are sure you are welcome: and the more noise you make, the more trouble you give, the more good things you call for, the welcomer you are. No servants will attend you with the alacrity which waiters do, who are incited by the prospect of an immediate reward in proportion as they please. No, sir; there is nothing which has yet been contrived 1 [By Doctor Evans.-ED.] by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn '." "Whoe'er has travell'd life's dull round, Where'er his stages may have been, May sigh to think he still has found The warmest welcome at an inn 2." My illustrious friend, I thought, did not sufficiently admire Shenstone. That ingenious and elegant gentleman's opinion of Johnson appears in one of his letters to Mr. Greaves, dated Feb. 9, 1760. "I have lately been reading one or two volumes of the Rambler; who, excepting against some few hardnesses 3 in his manner, and the want of more examples to enliven, is one of the most nervous, most perspicuous, most concise, most harmonious prose writers I know. A learned diction improves by time." 3 In the afternoon, as we were driven rapidly along in the postchaise, he said to me, "Life has not many things better than this+." p. 130. [He loved indeed the very act of travelling, and I Piozzi, cannot tell how far one might have taken him in a carriage before he would have wished for refreshment. He was therefore in some respects an admirable com There 1 Sir John Hawkins has preserved very few memorabilia of Johnson. is, however, to be found in his bulky tome, a very excellent one upon this subject. "In contradiction to those who, having a wife and children, prefer domestick enjoyments to those which a tavern affords, I have heard him assert, that a tavern chair was the throne of human felicity. 'As soon (said he) as I enter the door of a tavern, I experience an oblivion of care, and a freedom from solicitude when I am seated, I find the master courteous, and the servants obsequious to my call; anxious to know and ready to supply my wants: wine there exhilarates my spirits, and prompts me to free conversation and an interchange of discourse with those whom I most love: I dogmatise and am contradicted, and in this conflict of opinion and sentiments I find delight.'”—Bos WELL. We happened to lie this night at the inn at Henley, where Shenstone wrote these lines; which I give as they are found in the corrected edition of his works, published after his death. In Dodsley's collection the stanza ran thus: "Whoe'er has travell'd life's dull round, Whate'er his various tour has been, May sigh to think how oft he found His warmest welcome at an inn."-BoSWELL. 3 ["He too often makes use of the abstract for the concrete."-SHENSTONE.] 4 + [See post, 29th March.- ED.] |