A thing most brutish, I endow'd thy purposesWith words that made them known.'_The Tempest_, act i. sc. 2.[16] Secretary to the British Herring Fishery, remarkable for anextraordinary number of occasional verses, not of eminent merit.BOSWELL. See _ante_, i. 115, note i. Lockman was known in France as thetranslator of Voltaire's _La Henriade_. See Marmontel's Preface.Voltaire's _Works_, ed. 1819, viii. 18.[17] _Luke_ vii. 50. BOSWELL.[18] Miss Burney, describing him in 1783, says:--'He looks unformed inhis manners and awkward in his gestures. He joined not one word in thegeneral talk.' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, ii. 237. See _ante_, ii.41, note 1.[19] By Garrick.[20] See _ante_, i. 201.[21] See _post_, under Sept. 30, 1783.[22] The actor. Churchill introduces him in _The Rosciad_ (_Poems_, i.16):--'Next Holland came. With truly tragic stalk, He creeps, he flies.A Hero should not walk.'[23] In a letter written by Johnson to a friend in 1742-43, he says: 'Inever see Garrick.' MALONE.[24] See _ante_, ii. 227.[25] _The Wonder! A Woman keeps a Secret_, by Mrs. Centlivre. Acted atDrury Lane in 1714. Revived by Garrick in 1757. Reed's _Biog.Dram_. iii. 420.[26] In _Macbeth_.[27] Mr. Longley was Recorder of Rochester, and father of ArchbishopLongley. To the kindness of his grand-daughter, Mrs. Newton Smart, I owethe following extract from his manuscript _Autobiography_:--'Dr. Johnsonand General Paoli came down to visit Mr. Langton, and I was asked tomeet them, when the conversation took place mentioned by Boswell, inwhich Johnson gave me more credit for knowledge of the Greek metres thanI deserved. There was some question about anapaestics, concerning whichI happened to remember what Foster used to tell us at Eton, that thewhole line to the _Basis Anapaestica_ was considered but as one verse,however divided in the printing, and consequently the syllables at theend of each line were not common, as in other metres. This observationwas new to Johnson, and struck him. Had he examined me farther, I fearhe would have found me ignorant. Langton was a very good Greek scholar,much superior to Johnson, to whom nevertheless he paid profounddeference, sometimes indeed I thought more than he deserved. The nextday I dined at Langton's with Johnson, I remember Lady Rothes [Langton'swife] spoke of the advantage children now derived from the little bookspublished purposely for their instruction. Johnson controverted it,asserting that at an early age it was better to gratify curiosity withwonders than to attempt planting truth, before the mind was prepared toreceive it, and that therefore, _Jack the Giant-Killer, Parisenus andParismenus_, and _The Seven Champions of Christendom_ were fitter forthem than Mrs. Barbauld and Mrs. Trimmer.' Mrs. Piozzi (_Anec_. p. 16)says:--'Dr. Johnson used to condemn me for putting Newbery's books intochildren's hands. "Babies do not want," said he, "to hear about babies;they like to be told of giants and castles, and of somewhat which canstretch and stimulate their little minds." When I would urge thenumerous editions of _Tommy Prudent_ or _Goody Two Shoes_; "Rememberalways," said he, "that the parents buy the books, and that the childrennever read them.'" For Johnson's visit to Rochester, see _post_,July, 1783.[28] See _post_, beginning of 1781, after _The Life of Swift_, andBoswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 15.[29] See _ante_, under Sept. 9, 1779.[30] Johnson wrote of this grotto (_Works_, viii. 270):--'It may befrequently remarked of the studious and speculative that they are proudof trifles, and that their amusements seem frivolous and childish.'[31] See _ante_, i. 332.[32] _Epilogue to the Satires_, i. 131. Dr. James Foster, theNonconformist preacher. Johnson mentions 'the reputation which he hadgained by his proper delivery.' _Works_, viii. 384. In _TheConversations of Northcote_, p. 88, it is stated that 'Foster firstbecame popular from the Lord Chancellor Hardwicke stopping in the porchof his chapel in the Old Jewry out of a shower of rain: and thinking hemight as well hear what was going on he went in, and was so well pleasedthat he sent all the great folks to hear him, and he was run after asmuch as Irving has been in our time.' Dr. T. Campbell (_Diary_, p. 34)recorded in 1775, that 'when Mrs. Thrale quoted something from Foster's_Sermons_, Johnson flew in a passion, and said that Foster was a man ofmean ability, and of no original thinking.' Gibbon (_Misc. Works_, v.300) wrote of Foster:--'Wonderful! a divine preferring reason to faith,and more afraid of vice than of heresy.'[33] It is believed to have been her play of _The Sister_, brought outin 1769. 'The audience expressed their disapprobation of it with so muchappearance of prejudice that she would not suffer an attempt to exhibitit a second time.' _Gent. Mag._ xxxix. 199. It is strange, however, ifGoldsmith was asked to hiss a play for which he wrote the epilogue.Goldsmith's _Misc. Works_, ii. 80. Johnson wrote on Oct. 28, 1779(_Piozzi Letters_, ii. 72):--'C---- L---- accuses ---- of making a partyagainst her play. I always hissed away the charge, supposing him a manof honour; but I shall now defend him with less confidence.' Baretti, ina marginal note, says that C---- L---- is 'Charlotte Lennox.' Perhaps---- stands for Cumberland. Miss Burney said that 'Mr. Cumberland isnotorious for hating and envying and spiting all authors in the dramaticline.' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, i. 272.[34] See _ante_, i. 255.[35] In _The Rambler_, No. 195, Johnson describes rascals such as thisman. 'They hurried away to the theatre, full of malignity anddenunciations against a man whose name they had never heard, and aperformance which they could not understand; for they were resolved tojudge for themselves, and would not suffer the town to be imposed uponby scribblers. In the pit they exerted themselves with great spirit andvivacity; called out for the tunes of obscene songs, talked loudly atintervals of Shakespeare and Jonson,' &c.[36] See _ante_, ii. 469.[37] Dr. Percy told Malone 'that they all at the Club had such a highopinion of Mr. Dyer's knowledge and respect for his judgment as toappeal to him constantly, and that his sentence was final.' Malone addsthat 'he was so modest and reserved, that he frequently sat silent incompany for an hour, and seldom spoke unless appealed to. Goldsmith, whoused to rattle away upon _all_ subjects, had been talking somewhatloosely relative to music. Some one wished for Mr. Dyer's opinion, whichhe gave with his usual strength and accuracy. "Why," said Goldsmith,turning round to Dyer, whom he had scarcely noticed before, "you seem toknow a good deal of this matter." "If I had not," replied Dyer, "Ishould not, in this company, have said a word upon the subject."' Burkedescribed him as 'a man of profound and general erudition; his sagacityand judgment were fully equal to the extent of his learning.' Prior's_Malone_, pp. 419, 424. Malone in his _Life of Dryden_, p. 181, saysthat Dyer was _Junius_. Johnson speaks of him as 'the late learned Mr.Dyer.' _Works_, viii. 385. Had he been alive he was to have been theprofessor of mathematics in the imaginary college at St. Andrews.Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 25. Many years after his death, Johnsonbought his portrait to hang in 'a little room that he was fitting upwith prints.' Croker's _Boswell_, p. 639.[38] _Memoirs of Agriculture and other Oeconomical Arts_, 3 vols., byRobert Dossie, London, 1768-82.[39] See _ante_, ii. 14.[40] Here Lord Macartney remarks, 'A Bramin or any cast of the Hindooswill neither admit you to be of their religion, nor be converted toyours;--a thing which struck the Portuguese with the greatestastonishment, when they first discovered the East Indies.' BOSWELL.[41] See _ante_, ii. 250.[42] See _ante_, Aug. 30, 1780.[43] John, Lord Carteret, and Earl Granville, who died Jan. 2, 1763. Itis strange that he wrote so ill; for Lord Chesterfield says (_Misc.Works_, iv. _Appendix_, p. 42) that 'he had brought away with him fromOxford, a great stock of Greek and Latin, and had made himself master ofall the modern languages. He was one of the best speakers in the Houseof Lords, both in the declamatory and argumentative way.'[44] Walpole describes the partiality of the members of thecourt-martial that sat on Admiral Keppel in Jan. 1779. One of them'declared frankly that he should not attend to forms of law, but tojustice.' So friendly were the judges to the prisoner that 'it requiredthe almost unanimous voice of the witnesses in favour of his conduct,and the vile arts practised against him, to convince all mankind howfalsely and basely he had been accused.' Walpole, referring to themembers, speaks of 'the feelings of seamen unused to reason.' Some ofthe leading politicians established themselves at Portsmouth during thetrial. _Journal of the Reign of George III_, ii. 329[45] See _ante_, ii. 240.[46] In all Gray's _Odes_, there is a kind of cumbrous splendour whichwe wish away.... The mind of the writer seems to work with unnaturalviolence. "Double, double, toil and trouble." He has a kind of struttingdignity, and is tall by walking on tip-toe. His art and his struggle aretoo visible, and there is too little appearance of ease and nature.'Johnson's _Works_, viii. 484-87. See _ante_, i. 402, and ii. 327, 335.[47] One evening, in the Haymarket Theatre, 'when Foote lighted the Kingto his chair, his majesty asked who [sic] the piece was written by? "Byone of your Majesty's chaplains," said Foote, unable even then tosuppress his wit; "and dull enough to have been written by a bishop."'Forster's _Essays_, ii. 435. See _ante_, i. 390, note 3.[48] Bk. v. ch. 1.[49] See _ante_, ii. 133, note 1; Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 27, andOct. 28.[50] The correspondent of _The Gentleman's Magazine_ [1792, p. 214] whosubscribes himself SCIOLUS furnishes the following supplement:--'A lady of my acquaintance remembers to have heard her uncle sing thosehomely stanzas more than forty-five years ago. He repeated thesecond thus:--She shall breed young lords and ladies fair,And ride abroad in a coach and three pair,And the best, &c.And have a house, &c.And remembered a third which seems to have been the introductory one,and is believed to have been the only remaining one:--When the Duke of Leeds shall have made his choiceOf a charming young lady that's beautiful and wise,She'll be the happiest young gentlewoman under the skies,As long as the sun and moon shall rise,And how happy shall, &c.It is with pleasure I add that this stanza could never be more trulyapplied than at this present time. BOSWELL. This note was added to thesecond edition.[51] See _ante_, i. 115, note 1.[52] See _ante_, i. 82.[53] Baretti, in a MS. note on _Piozzi Letters_, i. 121, says:--'Johnsonwas a real _true-born Englishman_. He hated the Scotch, the French, theDutch, the Hanoverians, and had the greatest contempt for all otherEuropean nations; such were his early prejudices which he neverattempted to conquer.' Reynolds wrote of Johnson:--'The prejudices hehad to countries did not extend to individuals. In respect to Frenchmenhe rather laughed at himself, but it was insurmountable. He consideredevery foreigner as a fool till they had convinced him of the contrary.'Taylor's _Reynolds_, ii. 460. Garrick wrote of the French in1769:--'Their _politesse_ has reduced their character to such asameness, and their humours and passions are so curbed by habit, that,when you have seen half-a-dozen French men and women, you have seen thewhole.' _Garrick Corres_. i. 358.[54] 'There is not a man or woman here,' wrote Horace Walpole from Paris(_Letters_ iv. 434), 'that is not a perfect old nurse, and who does nottalk gruel and anatomy with equal fluency and ignorance.'[55] '"I remember that interview well," said Dr. Parr with greatvehemence when once reminded of it; "I gave him no quarter." The subjectof our dispute was the liberty of the press. Dr. Johnson was very great.Whilst he was arguing, I observed that he stamped. Upon this I stamped.Dr. Johnson said, "Why did you stamp, Dr. Parr?" I replied, "Because youstamped; and I was resolved not to give you the advantage even of astamp in the argument."' This, Parr said, was by no means his firstintroduction to Johnson. Field's _Parr_, i. 161. Parr wrote to Romillyin 1811:--'Pray let me ask whether you have ever read some admirableremarks of Mr. Hutcheson upon the word _merit_. I remember a controversyI had with Dr. Johnson upon this very term: we began with theologyfiercely, I gently carried the conversation onward to philosophy, andafter a dispute of more than three hours he lost sight of my heresy, andcame over to my opinion upon the metaphysical import of the term.' _Lifeof Romilly_, ii. 365. When Parr was a candidate for the mastership ofColchester Grammar School, Johnson wrote for him a letter ofrecommendation. Johnstone's _Parr_, i. 94.[56] 'Somebody was praising Corneille one day in opposition toShakespeare. "Corneille is to Shakespeare," replied Mr. Johnson, "as aclipped hedge is to a forest."' Piozzi's _Anec_. p. 59.[57] Johnson, it is clear, discusses here Mrs. Montagu's _Essay onShakespeare_. She compared Shakespeare first with Corneille, and thenwith Aeschylus. In contrasting the ghost in _Hamlet_ with the shade ofDarius in _The Persians_, she says:--'The phantom, who was to appearignorant of what was past, that the Athenian ear might be soothed andflattered with the detail of their victory at Salamis, is allowed, forthe same reason, such prescience as to foretell their future triumph atPlataea.' p. 161.[58] Caution is required in everything which is laid before youth, tosecure them from unjust prejudices, perverse opinions, and incongruouscombinations of images. In the romances formerly written, everytransaction and sentiment was so remote from all that passes among men,that the reader was in very little danger of making any applications tohimself.' _The Rambler_, No. 4.[59] Johnson says of Pope's _Ode for St. Cecilia's Day_:--'The nextstanzas place and detain us in the dark and dismal regions of mythology,where neither hope nor fear, neither joy nor sorrow can be found.'_Works_, viii. 328. Of Gray's _Progress of Poetry_, he says:--'Thesecond stanza, exhibiting Mars' car and Jove's eagle, is unworthy offurther notice. Criticism disdains to chase a school-boy to hiscommon-places.' _Ib_. p. 484.[60] See _ante_, ii. 178.[61]'A Wizard-Dame, the Lover's ancient friend,With magic charm has deaft thy husband's ear,At her command I saw the stars descend,And winged lightnings stop in mid career, &c.'Hammond. _Elegy_, v. In Boswell's _Hebrides_ (Sept. 29), he said'Hammond's _Love Elegies_ were poor things.'[62] Perhaps Lord Corke and Orrery. _Ante_, iii. 183. CROKER.[63] Colman assumed that Johnson had maintained that Shakespeare wastotally ignorant of the learned languages. He then quotes a line toprove 'that the author of _The Taming of the Shrew_ had at least readOvid;' and continues:--'And what does Dr. Johnson say on this occasion?Nothing. And what does Mr. Farmer say on this occasion? Nothing.'Colman's _Terence_, ii. 390. For Farmer, see _ante_, iii. 38.[64] 'It is most likely that Shakespeare had learned Latin sufficientlyto make him acquainted with construction, but that he never advanced toan easy perusal of the Roman authors.' Johnson's _Works_, V. 129. 'Thestyle of Shakespeare was in itself ungrammatical, perplexed, andobscure.' _Ib_. p. 135.[65]'May I govern my passion withan absolute sway,And grow wiser and better, asmy strength wears away,Without gout or stone by agentle decay.'_The Old Man's Wish_ was sung to Sir Roger de Coverley by 'the fairone,' after the collation in which she ate a couple of chickens, anddrank a full bottle of wine. _Spectator_, No. 410. 'What signifies ourwishing?' wrote Dr. Franklin. 'I have sung that _wishing song_ athousand times when I was young, and now find at fourscore that thethree contraries have befallen me, being subject to the gout and thestone, and not being yet master of all my passions.' Franklin's_Memoirs_, iii. 185.[66] He uses the same image in _The Life of Milton_ (_Works_, vii.104):--'He might still be a giant among the pigmies, the one-eyedmonarch of the blind.' Cumberland (_Memoirs_, i. 39) says that Bentley,hearing it maintained that Barnes spoke Greek almost like his mothertongue, replied:--'Yes, I do believe that Barnes had as much Greek andunderstood it about as well as an Athenian blacksmith.' See _ante_, iii284. A passage in Wooll's _Life of Dr. Warton_ (i. 313) shews thatBarnes attempted to prove that Homer and Solomon were one and the sameman. But I. D'Israeli says that it was reported that Barnes, not havingmoney enough to publish his edition of _Homer_, 'wrote a poem, thedesign of which is to prove that Solomon was the author of the _Iliad_,to interest his wife, who had some property, to lend her aid towards thepublication of so divine a work.' _Calamities of Authors_, i. 250.[67] 'The first time Suard saw Burke, who was at Reynolds's, Johnsontouched him on the shoulder and said, "Le grand Burke."' _Boswelliana_,p. 299. See ante, ii. 450.[68] Miss Hawkins (_Memoirs_, i. 279, 288) says that Langton told herfather that he meant to give his six daughters such a knowledge ofGreek, 'that while five of them employed themselves in feminine works,the sixth should read a Greek author for the general amusement.' Shedescribes how 'he would get into the most fluent recitation of half apage of Greek, breaking off for fear of wearying, by saying, "and so itgoes on," accompanying his words with a gentle wave of his hand.'[69] See post, p. 42.[70] See ante, i. 326.[71] This assertion concerning Johnson's insensibility to the pathetickpowers of Otway, is too _round_. I once asked him, whether he did notthink Otway frequently tender: when he answered, 'Sir, he is alltenderness.' BURNEY. He describes Otway as 'one of the first names inthe English drama.' _Works_, vii. 173.[72] See ante, April 16, 1779.[73] Johnson; it seems, took up this study. In July, 1773, he recordedthat between Easter and Whitsuntide, he attempted to learn the Low Dutchlanguage. 'My application,' he continues, 'was very slight, and mymemory very fallacious, though whether more than in my earlier years, Iam not very certain.' _Pr. and Med._ p. 129, and ante, ii. 263. On hisdeath-bed, he said to Mr. Hoole:--'About two years since I feared that Ihad neglected God, and that then I had not a _mind_ to give him; onwhich I set about to read _Thomas a Kempis_ in Low Dutch, which Iaccomplished, and thence I judged that my mind was not impaired, LowDutch having no affinity with any of the languages which I knew.'Croker's _Boswell_, p. 844. See ante, iii. 235.[74] See post, under July 5, 1783.[75] See ante, ii. 409, and iii. 197.[76] One of Goldsmith's friends 'remembered his relating [about the year1756] a strange Quixotic scheme he had in contemplation of going todecipher the inscriptions on the _written mountains_, though he wasaltogether ignorant of Arabic, or the language in which they might besupposed to be written.' Goldsmith's _Misc. Works_, ed. 1801, i. 40.Percy says that Goldsmith applied to the prime minister, Lord Bute, fora salary to enable him to execute 'the visionary project' mentioned inthe text. 'To prepare the way, he drew up that ingenious essay on thissubject which was first printed in the _Ledger_, and afterwards in his_Citizen of the World_ [No. 107].' _Ib_. p. 65. Percy adds that the Earlof Northumberland, who was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, regretted 'thathe had not been made acquainted with his plan; for he would have