373. Cold Baths. well, I thank Very We then came to a cold bath. I expatiated upon its salubrity. "Sir," said he, "how do you do?" Then, sir, let well enough I hate immersion." Truly, as Falstaff says, the Doctor "would have a sort of alacrity at sinking."(*) 374. The Venus de Medicis. Upon the margin stood the Venus de Medicis "So stands the statue that enchants the world." "Throw her," said he, "into the pond to hide her nakedness, and to cool her lasciviousness." 375. Arcadia. He then, with some difficulty, squeezed himself into a root-house, when his eye caught the following lines from Parnell: "Go search among your idle dreams, Or own the next began in this." The Doctor, however, not possessing any sylvan ideas, seemed not to admit that heaven could be an Arcadia. 376. Doing Good. I then observed him with Herculean strength tugging at a nail which he was endeavouring to extract from the bark of a plum-tree; and having accomplished it, he exclaimed, "There, sir, I have done some good to-day; the tree might have festered. I make a rule, sir, to do some good every day of my life." 377. Sterne's Sermons. Returning through the house, he stepped into a small study or book-room. The first book he laid his hands (*) [A mistake-he was a good swimmer. See Boswell, vol. vi. p. 218.-C.] upon was Harwood's (*) "Liberal Translation of the New Testament." The passage which first caught his eye was from that sublime apostrophe in St. John, upon the raising of Lazarus, "Jesus wept;" which Harwood had conceitedly rendered" and Jesus, the Saviour of the world, burst into a flood of tears." He contemptuously threw the book aside, exclaiming, "Puppy!" I then showed him Sterne's Sermons. 66 Sir," said he, "do you ever read any others?" "Yes, Doctor; I read Sherlock, Tillotson, Beveridge, and others." "Ay, sir, there you drink the cup of salvation to the bottom; here you have merely the froth from the surface." 378. Shakspeare's Mulberry Vase.-Garrick. Within this room stood the Shakspearean mulberry vase, a pedestal given by me to Mr. Garrick, and which was recently sold, with Mr. Garrick's gems, at Mrs. Garrick's sale at Hampton. The Doctor read the inscription: "SACRED TO SHAKSPEARE, And in honour of DAVID GARRICK, Esq. The Ornament-the Reformer Of the British Stage." (†) "Ay, sir; Davy, Davy loves flattery; but here, indeed, you have flattered him as he deserves, paying a just tribute to his merit." (*) [The reader must bear in mind that this Doctor Edward Harwood, the same mentioned by Mr. Cradock, and who has been dead many years, is not to be confounded with Dr. Thomas Harwood, of Lichfield, who is now alive, and whose information is quoted at the beginning of this article.-C.] (†) [This vase is now in the rich collection of Thomas Hill, Esq., of the Adelphi. New Monthly Mag., v. xliv.] PART X. ANECDOTES, BY MR. GREEN, OF LICHFIELD. 379. Dr. Kippis.-Royal Society. DR. BROCKLESBY, a few days before the death of Dr. Johnson, found on the table Dr. Kippis's account of the Disputes of the Royal Society. Dr. Johnson inquired of his physician if he had read it, who answered in the negative. "You have sustained no loss, sir. It is poor stuff, indeed, a sad unscholar-like performance. I could not have believed that that man would have written so ill." 380. Dr. Warren. Being desired to call in Dr. Warren, he said, they might call in anybody they pleased; and Warren was called. At his going away, "You have come in," said Dr. Johnson, "at the eleventh hour; but you shall be paid the same with your fellow-labourers. Francis, put into Dr. Warren's coach a copy of the English Poets.' 6 999 381. Fear of Death. Some years before, some person in a company at Salisbury, of which Dr. Johnson was one, vouched for the company, that there was nobody in it afraid of death"Speak for yourself, sir," said Johnson, "for indeed I am." "I did not say of dying," replied the other; "but "And so I mean,' of death, meaning its conséquences." rejoined the Doctor; "I am very seriously afraid of the consequences." PART XI. ANECDOTES, BY THE REV. MR. PARKER.(*) 382. Stow-Hill. DR. JOHNSON's friendship for Mrs. Elizabeth Aston commenced at the palace in Lichfield, the residence of Mr. Walmesley: with Mrs. Gastrel he became acquainted in London, at the house of her brother-in-law, Mr. Hervey. During the Doctor's annual visits to his daughter-in-law, Lucy Porter, he spent much of his time at Stow-Hill, where Mrs. Gastrel and Mrs. Elizabeth Aston resided. They were the daughters of Sir Thomas Aston, of Aston Hall in Cheshire, of whom it is said, that being applied to for some account of his family, to illustrate the history of Cheshire, he replied, that " the title and estate had descended from father to son for thirty generations, and that he believed they were neither much richer nor much than they were at first." 383. Dr. Hunter.-Miss Seward. poorer He used to say of Dr. Hunter, master of the free grammar school, Lichfield, that he never taught a boy in his life-he whipped and they learned. Hunter was a pompous man, and never entered the school without his gown and cassock, and his wig full dressed. He had a remark (*) The following anecdotes are told by Mr. Parker, from the relation of Mrs. Aston and her sister. ably stern look, and Dr. Johnson said, he could tremble at the sight of Miss Seward, she was so like her grandfather. 384. Lives of the Poets. Mrs. Gastrel was on a visit at Mr. Hervey's, in London, at the time that Johnson was writing the Rambler: the printer's boy would often come after him to their house, and wait while he wrote off a paper for the press in a room full of company. A great portion of the Lives of the Poets was written at Stow-Hill: he had a table by one of the windows, which was frequently surrounded by five or six ladies engaged in work or conversation. Mrs. Gastrel had a very valuable edition of Bailey's Dictionary, to which she often referred. She told him that Miss Seward said that he had made poetry of no value by his criticism. Why, my dear lady," replied he, "if silver is dirty, it is not the less valuable for a good scouring." 66 385. Climbing. A large party had one day been invited to meet the Doctor at Stow-Hill: the dinner waited far beyond the usual hour, and the company were about to sit down, when Johnson appeared at the great gate; he stood for some time in deep contemplation, and at length began to climb it, and, having succeeded in clearing it, advanced with hasty strides towards the house. On his arrival Mrs. Gastrel asked him, "if he had forgotten that there was a small gate for foot passengers by the side of the carriage entrance." "No, my dear lady, by no means,” replied the Doctor; “but I had a mind to try whether I could climb a gate now as I used to do when I was lad.” 386. Cato's Soliloquy. 66 One day Mrs. Gastrel set a little girl to repeat to him Cato's soliloquy, which she went through very correctly. The Doctor, after a pause, asked the child, "What was to bring Cato to an end?" She said, it was a knife. No, My aunt Polly said it was a Why aunt Polly's knife may do, but it was a dagger, my dear." He then asked her the meaning of "bane and antidote," which she was unable to give. Mrs. Gastrel said, "You cannot expect so young a child to my dear, it was not so." 66 knife." 66 |