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

[1305] ‘Their [the ancient moralists’] arguments have been, indeed, so unsuccessful, that I know not whether it can be shewn, that by all the wit and reason which this favourite cause has called forth a single convert was ever made; that even one man has refused to be rich, when to be rich was in his power, from the conviction of the greater happiness of a narrow fortune.’ Johnson’s Works , ii. 278. See post , June 3, 1781, and June 3, Sept. 7, and Dec. 7, 1782.

[1306] Johnson ( Works , vi. 440) shows how much Frederick owed to ‘the difficulties of his youth.’ ‘Kings, without this help from temporary infelicity, see the world in a mist, which magnifies everything near them, and bounds their view to a narrow compass, which few are able to extend by the mere force of curiosity.’ He next points out what Cromwell ‘owed to the private condition in which he first entered the world;’ and continues:—‘The King of Prussia brought to the throne the knowledge of a private man, without the guilt of usurpation. Of this general acquaintance with the world there may be found some traces in his whole life. His conversation is like that of other men upon common topicks, his letters have an air of familiar elegance, and his whole conduct is that of a man who has to do with men.’

[1307] See ante p. 408

[1308] See ante , p. 298.

[1309] That this was Mr. Dempster seems likely from the Letters of Boswell (p. 34), where Boswell says:—‘I had prodigious satisfaction to find Dempster’s sophistry (which he has learnt from Hume and Rousseau) vanquished by the solid sense and vigorous reasoning of Johnson. Dempster,’ he continues, ‘was as happy as a vanquished argumentator could be.’ The character of the ‘benevolent good man’ suits Dempster (see post , under Feb. 7, 1775, where Boswell calls him ‘the virtuous and candid Dempster’), while that of the ‘noted infidel writer’ suits Hume. We find Boswell, Johnson, and Dempster again dining together on May 9, 1772.

[1310]

‘Thou wilt at best but suck a bull,

Or sheer swine, all cry and no wool.’

Hudibras , Part i. Canto I. 1. 851.

Dr. Z. Grey, in his note on these lines, quotes the proverbial saying ‘As wise as the Waltham calf that went nine times to suck a bull.’ He quotes also from The Spectator , No. 138, the passage where the Cynic said of two disputants, ‘One of these fellows is milking a ram, and the other holds the pail.’

[1311] The writer of the article Vacuum in the Penny Cyclo . (xxvi. 76), quoting Johnson’s words, adds:—‘That is, either all space is full of matter, or there are parts of space which have no matter. The alternative is undeniable, and the inference to which the modern philosophy would give the greatest probablility is, that all space is full of matter in the common sense of the word, but really occupied by particles of matter with vacuous interstices.’

[1312] ‘When any one tells me that he saw a dead man restored to life, I immediately consider with myself, whether it be more probable that this person should either deceive or be deceived, or that the fact which he relates should really have happened.’ Humes Essay on Miracles , Part i. See post Sept. 22 1777, where Boswell again quoted this passage.

[1313] A coffee-house over against Catherine Street, now the site of a tourists’ ticket office. Athenaeum , No. 3041.

[1314] Stockdale records ( Memoirs , i. 202) that Johnson once said to him:—‘Whenever it is the duty of a young and old man to act at the same time with a spirit of independence and generosity; we may always have reason to hope that the young man will ardently perform, and to fear that the old man will desert, his duty.’

[1315] Boswell thus writes of this evening:—‘I learn more from him than from any man I ever was with. He told me a very odd thing, that he knew at eighteen as much as he does now; that is to say, his judgment is much stronger, but he had then stored up almost all the facts he has now, and he says that he has led but an idle life; only think, Temple, of that!’ Letters of Boswell , p. 34. See ante , p. 56, and post , ii. 36. He told Windham in 1784 ‘that he read Latin with as much ease when he went to college as at present.’ Windham’s Diary , p. 17.

[1316] Johnson in 1739 wrote of ‘those distempers and depressions, from which students, not well acquainted with the constitution of the human body, sometimes fly for relief to wine instead of exercise, and purchase temporary ease, by the hazard of the most dreadful consequences.’ Works , vi. 271. In The Rambler , No. 85, he says:—‘How much happiness is gained, and how much misery is escaped, by frequent and violent agitation of the body.’ Boswell records ( Hebrides , Sept. 24, 1773):—‘Dr. Johnson told us at breakfast, that he rode harder at a fox-chace than anybody.’ Mrs. Piozzi ( Anec . p. 206) says:—‘He certainly rode on Mr. Thrale’s old hunter with a good firmness, and, though he would follow the hounds fifty miles an end sometimes, would never own himself either tired or amused. I think no praise ever went so close to his heart, as when Mr. Hamilton called out one day upon Brighthelmstone Downs, “Why Johnson rides as well, for aught I see, as the most illiterate fellow in England.”’ He wrote to Mrs. Thrale in 1777:—‘No season ever was finer. Barley, malt, beer and money. There is the series of ideas. The deep logicians call it a sorites . I hope my master will no longer endure the reproach of not keeping me a horse .’ Piozzi Letters , i. 360. See post , March 19 and 28, 1776, Sept. 20, 1777, and Nov. 21, 1778.

[1317] This one Mrs. Macaulay was the same personage who afterwards made herself so much known as ‘the celebrated female historian.’ BOSWELL. Hannah More ( Memoirs , i. 234) tells the following story of Mrs. Macaulay’s daughter:—‘Desirous from civility to take some notice of her, and finding she was reading Shakespeare , I asked her if she was not delighted with many parts of King John . “I never read the Kings , ma’am,” was the truly characteristic reply.’ See post , April 13, 1773, and May 15, 1776.

[1318] This speech was perhaps suggested to Johnson by the following passage in The Government of the Tongue (p. 106)—a book which he quotes in his Dictionary :—‘Lycurgus once said to one who importuned him to establish a popular parity in the state, “Do thou,” says he, “begin it first in thine own family.”’

[1319] The first volume was published in 1756, the second in 1782.

[1320] Warton, to use his own words, ‘did not think Pope at the head of his profession. In other words, in that species of poetry wherein Pope excelled, he is superior to all mankind; and I only say that this species of poetry is not the most excellent one of the art.’ He disposes the English poets in four classes, placing in the first only Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton. ‘In the second class should be ranked such as possessed the true poetical genius in a more moderate degree, but who had noble talents for moral, ethical, and panegyrical poetry.’ In this class, in his concluding volume, he says, ‘we may venture to assign Pope a place, just above Dryden. Yet, to bring our minds steadily to make this decision, we must forget, for a moment, the divine Music Ode of Dryden ; and may, perhaps, then be compelled to confess that though Dryden be the greater genius, yet Pope is the better artist.’ Warton’s Essay , i. i, vii. and ii. 404. See post , March 31, 1772.