means of fictitious qualifications, ought not to be resisted;--theother, What, in propriety and humanity, should be done with old horsesunable to labour. I gave him some account of my life at Auchinleck: andexpressed my satisfaction that the gentlemen of the county had, at twopublick meetings, elected me their _Praeses_ or Chairman[776].'To JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.'DEAR SIR,'Like all other men who have great friends, you begin to feel the pangsof neglected merit; and all the comfort that I can give you is, bytelling you that you have probably more pangs to feel, and more neglectto suffer. You have, indeed, begun to complain too soon; and I hope Iam the only confidant of your discontent. Your friends have not yet hadleisure to gratify personal kindness; they have hitherto been busy instrengthening their ministerial interest[777]. If a vacancy happens inScotland, give them early intelligence; and as you can serve Governmentas powerfully as any of your probable competitors, you may make in somesort a warrantable claim.'Of the exaltations and depressions of your mind you delight to talk,and I hate to hear. Drive all such fancies from you.'On the day when I received your letter, I think, the foregoing page waswritten; to which, one disease or another has hindered me from makingany additions. I am now a little better. But sickness and solitude pressme very heavily. I could bear sickness better, if I were relieved fromsolitude[778].'The present dreadful confusion of the publick[779] ought to make youwrap yourself up in your hereditary possessions, which, though less thanyou may wish, are more than you can want; and in an hour of religiousretirement return thanks to GOD, who has exempted you from any strongtemptation to faction, treachery, plunder[780], and disloyalty.'As your neighbours distinguish you by such honours as they can bestow,content yourself with your station, without neglecting your profession.Your estate and the Courts will find you full employment; and your mind,well occupied, will be quiet.'The usurpation of the nobility, for they apparently usurp all theinfluence they gain by fraud and misrepresentation, I think it certainlylawful, perhaps your duty, to resist. What is not their own they haveonly by robbery.'Your question about the horses gives me more perplexity. I know notwell what advice to give you. I can only recommend a rule which you donot want;--give as little pain as you can. I suppose that we have aright to their service while their strength lasts; what we can do withthem afterwards I cannot so easily determine. But let us consider.Nobody denies that man has a right first to milk the cow, and to sheerthe sheep, and then to kill them for his table. May he not, by parity ofreason, first work a horse, and then kill him the easiest way, that hemay have the means of another horse, or food for cows and sheep? Man isinfluenced in both cases by different motives of self-interest. He thatrejects the one must reject the other.'I am, &c.'SAM. JOHNSON.''London, Dec. 24, 1783.''A happy and pious Christmas; and many happy years to you, your lady,and children.'The late ingenious Mr. Mickle[781], some time before his death, wrote mea letter concerning Dr. Johnson, in which he mentions,--'I was upwards of twelve years acquainted with him, was frequently inhis company, always talked with ease to him, and can truly say, that Inever received from him one rough word.'In this letter he relates his having, while engaged in translating the_Lusiad_, had a dispute of considerable length with Johnson, who, asusual, declaimed upon the misery and corruption of a sea life, and usedthis expression:--'It had been happy for the world, Sir, if your heroGama, Prince Henry of Portugal, and Columbus, had never been born, orthat their schemes had never gone farther than their own imaginations.''This sentiment, (says Mr. Mickle,) which is to be found in his_Introduction to the World displayed_[782], I, in my Dissertationprefixed to the _Lusiad_, have controverted; and though authours aresaid to be bad judges of their own works[783], I am not ashamed to ownto a friend, that that dissertation is my favourite above all that Iever attempted in prose. Next year, when the Lusiad was published, Iwaited on Dr. Johnson, who addressed me with one of his good-humouredsmiles:--"Well, you have remembered our dispute about Prince Henry, andhave cited me too. You have done your part very well indeed: you havemade the best of your argument; but I am not convinced yet."'Before publishing the _Lusiad_, I sent Mr. Hoole a proof of that partof the introduction, in which I make mention of Dr. Johnson, yourself,and other well-wishers to the work, begging it might be shewn to Dr.Johnson. This was accordingly done; and in place of the simple mentionof him which I had made, he dictated to Mr. Hoole the sentence as it nowstands[784].'Dr. Johnson told me in 1772, that, about twenty years before that time,he himself had a design to translate the _Lusiad_, of the merit of whichhe spoke highly, but had been prevented by a number of otherengagements.'Mr. Mickle reminds me in this letter of a conversation, at dinner oneday at Mr. Hoole's with Dr. Johnson, when Mr. Nicol the King'sbookseller and I attempted to controvert the maxim, 'better that tenguilty should escape, than one innocent person suffer;' and wereanswered by Dr. Johnson with great power of reasoning and eloquence. Iam very sorry that I have no record of that day[785]: but I wellrecollect my illustrious friend's having ably shewn, that unless civilinstitutions insure protection to the innocent, all the confidence whichmankind should have in them would be lost.I shall here mention what, in strict chronological arrangement, shouldhave appeared in my account of last year; but may more properly beintroduced here, the controversy having not been closed till this. TheReverend Mr. Shaw[786], a native of one of the Hebrides, havingentertained doubts of the authenticity of the poems ascribed to Ossian,divested himself of national bigotry; and having travelled in theHighlands and Islands of Scotland, and also in Ireland, in order tofurnish himself with materials for a _Gaelick Dictionary_, which heafterwards compiled[787], was so fully satisfied that Dr. Johnson was inthe right upon the question, that he candidly published a pamphlet,stating his conviction and the proofs and reasons on which it wasfounded. A person at Edinburgh, of the name of Clark, answered thispamphlet with much zeal, and much abuse of its authour. Johnson took Mr.Shaw under his protection, and gave him his assistance in writing areply, which has been admired by the best judges, and by many beenconsidered as conclusive. A few paragraphs, which sufficiently marktheir great Authour, shall be selected:--'My assertions are, for the most part, purely negative: I deny theexistence of Fingal, because in a long and curious peregrination throughthe Gaelick regions I have never been able to find it. What I could notsee myself I suspect to be equally invisible to others; and I suspectwith the more reason, as among all those who have seen it no mancan shew it.'Mr. Clark compares the obstinacy of those who disbelieve thegenuineness of Ossian to a blind man, who should dispute the reality ofcolours, and deny that the British troops are cloathed in red. The blindman's doubt would be rational, if he did not know by experience thatothers have a power which he himself wants: but what perspicacity hasMr. Clark which Nature has withheld from me or the rest of mankind?'The true state of the parallel must be this. Suppose a man, with eyeslike his neighbours, was told by a boasting corporal, that the troops,indeed, wore red clothes for their ordinary dress, but that everysoldier had likewise a suit of black velvet, which he put on when theKing reviews them. This he thinks strange, and desires to see the fineclothes, but finds nobody in forty thousand men that can produce eithercoat or waistcoat. One, indeed, has left them in his chest at PortMahon; another has always heard that he ought to have velvet clothessomewhere; and a third has heard somebody say, that soldiers ought towear velvet. Can the enquirer be blamed if he goes away believing that asoldier's red coat is all that he has?'But the most obdurate incredulity may be shamed or silenced by acts. Tooverpower contradictions, let the soldier shew his velvet-coat, and theFingalist the original of Ossian[788].'The difference between us and the blind man is this:--the blind man isunconvinced, because he cannot see; and we, because though we can see,we find that nothing can be shown.'Notwithstanding the complication of disorders under which Johnson nowlaboured, he did not resign himself to despondency and discontent, butwith wisdom and spirit endeavoured to console and amuse his mind with asmany innocent enjoyments as he could procure. Sir John Hawkins hasmentioned the cordiality with which he insisted that such of the membersof the old club in Ivy-lane[789] as survived, should meet again and dinetogether, which they did, twice at a tavern and once at his house[790]:and in order to insure himself society in the evening for three days inthe week[791], he instituted a club at the Essex Head, in Essex-street,then kept by Samuel Greaves, an old servant of Mr. Thrale's.'To SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.'DEAR SIR,'It is inconvenient to me to come out, I should else have waited on youwith an account of a little evening Club which we are establishing inEssex-street, in the Strand, and of which you are desired to be one. Itwill be held at the Essex Head, now kept by an old servant of Thrale's.The company is numerous, and, as you will see by the list,miscellaneous. The terms are lax, and the expences light. Mr. Barry wasadopted by Dr. Brocklesby, who joined with me in forming the plan. Wemeet thrice a week, and he who misses forfeits two-pence[792].'If you are willing to become a member, draw a line under your name.Return the list. We meet for the first time on Monday at eight.''I am, &c.'SAM. JOHNSON.''Dec. 4, 1783.'It did not suit Sir Joshua to be one of this Club. But when I mentiononly Mr. Daines Barrington, Dr. Brocklesby, Mr. Murphy, Mr. JohnNichols, Mr. Cooke, Mr. Joddrel, Mr. Paradise, Dr. Horsley, Mr.Windham[793], I shall sufficiently obviate the misrepresentation of itby Sir John Hawkins, as if it had been a low ale-house association, bywhich Johnson was degraded[794]. Johnson himself, like his namesake OldBen[795], composed the Rules of his Club[796].In the end of this year he was seized with a spasmodick asthma of suchviolence, that he was confined to the house in great pain, beingsometimes obliged to sit all night in his chair, a recumbent posturebeing so hurtful to his respiration, that he could not endure lying inbed; and there came upon him at the same time that oppressive and fataldisease, a dropsy. It was a very severe winter, which probablyaggravated his complaints; and the solitude in which Mr. Levett and Mrs.Williams had left him, rendered his life very gloomy. Mrs.Desmoulins[797], who still lived, was herself so very ill, that shecould contribute very little to his relief[798]. He, however, had noneof that unsocial shyness which we commonly see in people afflicted withsickness. He did not hide his head from the world, in solitaryabstraction; he did not deny himself to the visits of his friends andacquaintances; but at all times, when he was not overcome by sleep, wasready for conversation as in his best days[799].'To MRS. LUCY PORTER, IN LICHFIELD.'DEAR MADAM,'You may perhaps think me negligent that I have not written to youagain[800] upon the loss of your brother; but condolences andconsolations are such common and such useless things, that the omissionof them is no great crime: and my own diseases occupy my mind, andengage my care. My nights are miserably restless, and my days,therefore, are heavy. I try, however, to hold up my head as high asI can[801].'I am sorry that your health is impaired; perhaps the spring and thesummer may, in some degree, restore it: but if not, we must submit tothe inconveniences of time, as to the other dispensations of EternalGoodness. Pray for me, and write to me, or let Mr. Pearson writefor you.'I am, &c.'SAM. JOHNSON.''London, Nov. 29, 1783.'1784: Aetat. 75.--And now I am arrived at the last year of the life ofSAMUEL JOHNSON, a year in which, although passed in severeindisposition, he nevertheless gave many evidences of the continuance ofthose wondrous powers of mind, which raised him so high in theintellectual world. His conversation and his letters of this year werein no respect inferiour to those of former years.The following is a remarkable proof of his being alive to the mostminute curiosities of literature.'To MR. DILLY, BOOKSELLER, IN THE POULTRY.'SIR,'There is in the world a set of books which used to be sold by thebooksellers on the bridge[802], and which I must entreat you to procureme. They are called _Burton's Books_[803]; the title of one is_Admirable Curiosities, Rarities, and Wonders in England_. I believethere are about five or six of them; they seem very proper to allurebackward readers; be so kind as to get them for me, and send me themwith the best printed edition of _Baxter's Call to the Unconverted_.'I am, &c.'SAM. JOHNSON.''Jan. 6, 1784.''To MR. PERKINS.'DEAR SIR,'I was very sorry not to see you when you were so kind as to call on me;but to disappoint friends, and if they are not very good natured, todisoblige them, is one of the evils of sickness. If you will please tolet me know which of the afternoons in this week I shall be favouredwith another visit by you and Mrs. Perkins, and the young people, I willtake all the measures that I can to be pretty well at that time[804].'I am, dear Sir,'Your most humble servant,'SAM. JOHNSON.''Jan. 21, 1784.'His attention to the Essex-Head Club appears from the following letterto Mr. Alderman Clark, a gentleman for whom he deservedly entertained agreat regard.'To RICHARD CLARK, ESQ.'DEAR SIR,'You will receive a requisition, according to the rules of the Club, tobe at the house as President of the night. This turn comes once a month,and the member is obliged to attend, or send another in his place. Youwere enrolled in the Club by my invitation, and I ought to introduceyou; but as I am hindered by sickness, Mr. Hoole will very properlysupply my place as introductor, or yours as President. I hope in milderweather to be a very constant attendant.'I am, Sir, &c.'SAM. JOHNSON.''Jan. 27, 1784.''You ought to be informed that the forfeits began with the year, andthat every night of non-attendance incurs the mulct of three-pence, thatis, nine pence a week.'On the 8th of January I wrote to him, anxiously inquiring as to hishealth, and enclosing my _Letter to the People of Scotland, on thepresent state of the nation_[805].'I trust, (said I,) that you will be liberal enough to make allowancefor my differing from you on two points, (the Middlesex Election, andthe American War[806]) when my general principles of government areaccording to your own heart, and when, at a crisis of doubtful event, Istand forth with honest zeal as an ancient and faithful Briton. Myreason for introducing those two points was, that as my opinions withregard to them had been declared at the periods when they were leastfavourable, I might have the credit of a man who is not a worshipper ofministerial power.''To JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.'DEAR SIR,'I hear of many enquiries which your kindness has disposed you to makeafter me[807]. I have long intended you a long letter, which perhaps theimagination of its length hindered me from beginning. I will, therefore,content myself with a shorter.'Having promoted the institution of a new Club in the neighbourhood, atthe house of an old servant of Thrale's, I went thither to meet thecompany, and was seized with a spasmodick asthma so violent, that withdifficulty I got to my own house, in which I have been confined eight ornine weeks, and from which I know not when I shall be able to go even tochurch. The asthma, however, is not the worst. A dropsy gains groundupon me; my legs and thighs are very much swollen with water, which Ishould be content if I could keep there, but I am afraid that it willsoon be higher. My nights are very sleepless and very tedious. And yet Iam extremely afraid of dying.'My physicians try to make me hope, that much of my malady is the effectof cold, and that some degree at least of recovery is to be expectedfrom vernal breezes and summer suns[808]. If my life is prolonged toautumn, I should be glad to try a warmer climate; though how to travelwith a diseased body, without a companion to conduct me, and with verylittle money, I do not well see. Ramsay has recovered his limbs inItaly[809]; and Fielding was sent to Lisbon, where, indeed, he died; buthe was, I believe, past hope when he went. Think for me what I can do.'I received your pamphlet, and when I write again may perhaps tell yousome opinion about it; but you will forgive a man struggling withdisease his neglect of disputes, politicks, and pamphlets[810]. Let mehave your prayers. My compliments to your lady, and young ones. Askyour physicians about my case: and desire Sir Alexander Dick[811] towrite me his opinion.'I am, dear Sir, &c.'SAM. JOHNSON.''Feb. 11, 1784.''TO MRS. LUCY PORTER, IN LICHFIELD.'MY DEAREST LOVE,'I have been extremely ill of an asthma and dropsy, but received, by themercy of GOD, sudden and unexpected relief last Thursday, by thedischarge of twenty pints of water[812]. Whether I shall continue free,or shall fill again, cannot be told. Pray for me.'Death, my dear, is very dreadful; let us think nothing worth our carebut how to prepare for it: what we know amiss in ourselves let us makehaste to amend, and put our trust in the mercy of GOD, and theintercession of our Saviour. I am, dear Madam,'Your most humble servant,'SAM. JOHNSON.''Feb. 23, 1784.'TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.'DEAR SIR,'I have just advanced so far towards recovery as to read a pamphlet; and