James Boswell - THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON - All 6 Volumes in One Edition

Cowper, whose temperament was in some respects not unlike Johnson’s, wrote:—‘A vacant hour is my abhorrence; because, when I am not occupied, I suffer under the whole influence of my unhappy temperament.’ Southey’s Cowper , vi. 146.

[411] Richardson was of the same way of thinking as Hogarth. Writing of a speech made at the Oxford Commemoration of 1754 by the Jacobite Dr. King (see post , Feb. 1755), he said:—‘There cannot be a greater instance of the lenity of the government he abuses than his pestilent harangues so publicly made with impunity furnishes ( sic ) all his readers with.’— Rich. Corresp . ii. 197.

[412] Impartial posterity may, perhaps, be as little inclined as Dr. Johnson was to justify the uncommon rigour exercised in the case of Dr. Archibald Cameron. He was an amiable and truly honest man; and his offence was owing to a generous, though mistaken principle of duty. Being obliged, after 1746, to give up his profession as a physician, and to go into foreign parts, he was honoured with the rank of Colonel, both in the French and Spanish service. He was a son of the ancient and respectable family of Cameron, of Lochiel; and his brother, who was the Chief of that brave clan, distinguished himself by moderation and humanity, while the Highland army marched victorious through Scotland. It is remarkable of this Chief, that though he had earnestly remonstrated against the attempt as hopeless, he was of too heroick a spirit not to venture his life and fortune in the cause, when personally asked by him whom he thought his prince. BOSWELL.

Sir Walter Scott states, in his Introduction to Redgauntlet , that the government of George II were in possession of sufficient evidence that Dr. Cameron had returned to the Highlands, not , as he alleged on his trial, for family affairs merely, but as the secret agent of the Pretender in a new scheme of rebellion: the ministers, however, preferred trying this indefatigable partisan on the ground of his undeniable share in the insurrection of 1745, rather than rescuing themselves and their master from the charge of harshness, at the expense of making it universally known, that a fresh rebellion had been in agitation so late as 1752. LOCKHART. He was executed on June 7, 1753. Gent. Mag . xxiii. 292. Lord Campbell ( Lives of the Chancellors , v. 109) says:—‘I regard his execution as a wanton atrocity.’ Horace Walpole, however, inclined to the belief that Cameron was engaged in a new scheme of rebellion. Walpole’s Memoirs of George II , i. 333.

[413] Horace Walpole says that towards convicts under sentence of death ‘George II’s disposition in general was merciful, if the offence was not murder.’ He mentions, however, a dreadful exception, when the King sent to the gallows at Oxford a young man who had been ‘guilty of a most trifling forgery,’ though he had been recommended to mercy by the Judge, who ‘had assured him his pardon.’ Mercy was refused, merely because the Judge, Willes, ‘was attached to the Prince of Wales.’ It is very likely that this was one of Johnson’s ‘instances,’ as it had happened about four years earlier, and as an account of the young man had been published by an Oxonian. Walpole’s Memoirs of the Reign of George II , i. 175.

[414] It is strange that when Johnson had been sixteen years in London he should not be known to Hogarth by sight. ‘Mr. Hogarth,’ writes Mrs. Piozzi, ‘was used to be very earnest that I should obtain the acquaintance, and if possible, the friendship of Dr. Johnson, “whose conversation was to the talk of other men, like Titian’s painting compared to Hudson’s,” he said…. Of Dr. Johnson, when my father and he were talking together about him one day, “That man,” says Hogarth, “is not contented with believing the Bible, but he fairly resolves, I think, to believe nothing but the Bible.”’ Piozzi’s Anec . p. 136.

[415] On October 29 of this year James Boswell was born.

[416] In this preface is found the following lively passage:—‘The Roman Gazetteers are defective in several material ornaments of style. They never end an article with the mystical hint, this occasions great speculation . They seem to have been ignorant of such engaging introductions as, we hear it is strongly reported ; and of that ingenious, but thread-bare excuse for a downright lie, it wants confirmation .’

[417] The Lives of Blake and Drake were certainly written with a political aim. The war with Spain was going on, and the Tory party was doing its utmost to rouse the country against the Spaniards. It was ‘a time,’ according to Johnson, ‘when the nation was engaged in a war with an enemy, whose insults, ravages, and barbarities have long called for vengeance.’ Johnson’s Works , vi. 293.

[418] Barretier’s childhood surpassed even that of J. S. Mill. At the age of nine he was master of five languages, Greek and Hebrew being two of them. ‘In his twelfth year he applied more particularly to the study of the fathers.’ At the age of fourteen he published Anti-Artemonius; sive initium evangelii S. Joannis adversus Artemonium vindicatum . The same year the University of Halle offered him the degree of doctor in philosophy. ‘His theses, or philosophical positions, which he printed, ran through several editions in a few weeks.’ He was a deep student of mathematics, and astronomy was his favourite subject. His health broke down under his studies, and he died in 1740 in the twentieth year of his age. Johnson’s Works , vi. 376.

[419] He wrote also in 1756 A Dissertation on the Epitaphs written by Pope .

[420] See post , Oct. 16, 1769.

[421] In the original and . Gent. Mag . x. 464. The title of this poem as there given is:—‘An epitaph upon the celebrated Claudy Philips, Musician, who died very poor.’

[422] The epitaph of Phillips is in the porch of Wolverhampton Church. The prose part of it is curious:—

‘Near this place lies

Charles Claudius Phillips,

Whose absolute contempt of riches

and inimitable performances upon the

violin

made him the admiration of all that

knew him.

He was born in Wales,

made the tour of Europe,

and, after the experience of both

kinds of fortune,

Died in 1732.’

Mr. Garrick appears not to have recited the verses correctly, the original being as follows:—

‘Exalted soul, thy various sounds could please The love-sick virgin and the gouty ease; Could jarring crowds , like old Amphion, move To beauteous order and harmonious love; Rest here in peace, till Angels bid thee rise, And meet thy Saviour’s consort in the skies.’ BLAKEWAY.

Consort is defined in Johnson’s Dictionary as a number of instruments playing together .

[423] I have no doubt that it was written in 1741; for the second line is clearly a parody of a line in the chorus of Cibber’s Birthday Ode for that year. The chorus is as follows:

‘While thou our Master of the Main

Revives Eliza’s glorious reign,

The great Plantagenets look down,

And see your race adorn your crown.’

Gent. Mag . xi. 549.

In the Life of Barretier Johnson had also this fling at George II:—‘Princes are commonly the last by whom merit is distinguished.’ Johnson’s Works , vi. 381.

[424] See Boswell’s Hebrides , Oct. 23 and Nov. 21, 1773.

[425] Hester Lynch Salusbury, afterwards Mrs. Thrale, and later on Mrs. Piozzi, was born on Jan. 27, 1741.

[426] This piece is certainly not by Johnson. It contains more than one ungrammatical passage. It is impossible to believe that he wrote such a sentence as the following:—‘Another having a cask of wine sealed up at the top, but his servant boring a hole at the bottom stole the greatest part of it away; sometime after, having called a friend to taste his wine, he found the vessel almost empty,’ &c.