[408] In the first two editions _formal_.[409] Johnson maintains this in _The Idler_, No. 74. 'Few,' he says,'have reason to complain of nature as unkindly sparing of the gifts ofmemory ... The true art of memory is the art of attention.' See_ante_, iii. 191.[410]The first of the definitions given by Johnson of _to remember_ is_to bear in mind anything; not to forget. To recollect_ he defines _torecover to memory_. We may, perhaps, assume that Boswell said, 'I didnot recollect that the chair was broken;' and that Johnson replied, 'youmean, you did not remember. That you did not remember is your own fault.It was in your mind that it was broken, and therefore you ought to haveremembered it. It was not a case of recollecting; for we recollect, thatis, recover to memory, what is not in our mind.' In the passage _ante_,i. 112, which begins, 'I indeed doubt if he could have remembered,' wefind in the first two editions not _remembered_, but _recollected_.Perhaps this change is due to euphony, as _collected_ comes a few linesbefore. Horace Walpole, in one of his _Letters_ (i. 15), distinguishesthe two words, on his revisiting his old school, Eton:--'By the way, theclock strikes the old cracked sound--I recollect so much, and rememberso little.'[411] He made the same boast at St. Andrews. See Boswell's _Hebrides_,Aug. 19. He was, I believe, speaking of his translation of Courayer's_Life of Paul Sarpi and Notes_, of which some sheets were printed off._Ante_, i. 135.[412] Horace Walpole, after mentioning that George III's mother, whodied in 1772, left but L27,000 when she was reckoned worth at leastL300,000, adds:--'It is no wonder that it became the universal beliefthat she had wasted all on Lord Bute. This became still more probable ashe had made the purchase of the estate at Luton, at the price ofL114,000, before he was visibly worth L20,000; had built a palace there,another in town, and had furnished the former in the most expensivemanner, bought pictures and books, and made a vast park and lake.'_Journal of the Reign of George III_, i. 19.[413] To him Boswell dedicated his _Thesis_ as _excelsae familiae deBute spei alterae_ (_ante_, ii. 20). In 1775, he wrote of him:--'He iswarmly my friend and has engaged to do for me.' _Letters of Boswell_,p. 186[414] He was mistaken in this. See _ante_, i. 260; also iii. 420.[415] In England in like manner, and perhaps for the same reason, allAttorneys have been converted into Solicitors.[416] 'There is at Edinburgh a society or corporation of errand boys,called Cawdies, who ply in the streets at night with paper lanthorns,and are very serviceable in carrying messages.' _Humphrey Clinker_.Letter of Aug. 8.[417] Their services in this sense are noticed in the same letter.[418]'The formal process shall be turned to sport,And you dismissed with honour by the Court.'FRANCIS. Horace, _Satires_, ii.i.86.[419] Mr. Robertson altered this word to _jocandi_, he having found inBlackstone that to irritate is actionable. BOSWELL.[420] Quoted by Johnson, _ante_, ii. l97.[421] His god-daughter. See _post_ May 10, 1784.[422] See _post_, under Dec. 20, 1782[423] See _ante_, i. 155[424] The will of King Alfred, alluded to in this letter, from theoriginal Saxon, in the library of Mr. Astle, has been printed at theexpense of the University of Oxford. BOSWELL.[425] He was a surgeon in this small Norfolk town. Dr. Burney's_Memoirs_, i. 106.[426] Burney visited Johnson first in 1758, when he was living in GoughSquare. _Ante_, i. 328.[427] Mme. D'Arblay says that Dr. Johnson sent them to Dr. Burney'shouse, directed 'For the Broom Gentleman.' Dr. Burney's _Memoirs_,ii. 180.[428] 'Sept. 14, 1781. Dr. Johnson has been very unwell indeed. Once Iwas quite frightened about him; but he continues his strangediscipline--starving, mercury, opium; and though for a time halfdemolished by its severity, he always in the end rises superior both tothe disease and the remedy, which commonly is the most alarming of thetwo.' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, ii. 107. On Sept. 18, his birthday, hewrote:--'As I came home [from church], I thought I had never begun anyperiod of life so placidly. I have always been accustomed to let thisday pass unnoticed, but it came this time into my mind that some littlefestivity was not improper. I had a dinner, and invited Allen andLevett.' _Pr. and Med._ p. 199.[429] This remark, I have no doubt, is aimed at Hawkins, who (_Life_, p.553) pretends to account for this trip.[430] _Pr. and Med._ p. 201. BOSWELL.[431] He wrote from Lichfield on the previous Oct. 27:--'All here isgloomy; a faint struggle with the tediousness of time; a dolefulconfession of present misery, and the approach seen and felt of what ismost dreaded and most shunned. But such is the lot of man.' _PiozziLetters_, ii. 209.[432] The truth of this has been proved by sad experience. BOSWELL. Mrs.Boswell died June 4, 1789. MALONE.[433] See account of him in the _Gent. Mag_. Feb. 1785. BOSWELL, seeante, i. 243, note 3.[434] Mrs. Piozzi (_Synonymy_, ii. 79), quoting this verse, under_Officious_, says;--'Johnson, always thinking neglect the worstmisfortune that could befall a man, looked on a character of thisdescription with less aversion than I do.'[435]'Content thyself to be _obscurely good_.'Addisons _Cato_, act. iv. sc. 4.[436] In both editions of Sir John Hawkins's _Life of Dr. Johnson_,'letter'd _ignorance_' is printed. BOSWELL. Mr. Croker (_Boswell_, p. I)says that 'Mr. Boswell is habitually unjust to Sir J. Hawkins.' As somekind of balance, I suppose, to this injustice, he suppresses this note.[437] Johnson repeated this line to me thus:--'And Labour steals an hour to die.'But he afterwards altered it to the present reading. BOSWELL. This poemis printed in the _Ann. Reg_. for 1783, p. 189, with the followingvariations:--l. 18, for 'ready help' 'useful care': l. 28, 'His singletalent,' 'The single talent'; l. 33, 'no throbs of fiery pain,' 'nothrobbing fiery pain'; l. 36, 'and freed,' 'and forced.' On the nextpage it is printed _John Gilpin_.[438] Mr. Croker says that this line shows that 'some of Gray's happyexpressions lingered in Johnson's memory' He quotes a line that comes atthe end of the _Ode on Vicissitude_--'From busy day, the peacefulnight.' This line is not Gray's, but Mason's.[439] Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale on Aug. 14, 1780:--'If you wantevents, Here is Mr. Levett just come in at fourscore from a walk toHampstead, eight miles, in August.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 177.[440] In the original, _March_ 20. On the afternoon of March 20 LordNorth announced in the House of Commons 'that his Majesty's Ministerswere no more.' _Parl. Hist_. xxii. 1215.[441] _Pr. and Med_. p. 209 [207]. BOSWELL.[442] See _ante_, ii. 355, iii. 46, iv. 81, 100. Mr. Seward records inhis _Biographiana_, p. 600--without however giving the year--that'Johnson being asked what the Opposition meant by their flaming speechesand violent pamphlets against Lord North's administration, answered:"They mean, Sir, rebellion; they mean in spite to destroy that countrywhich they are not permitted to govern."'[443] In the previous December the City of London in an address, writesHorace Walpole, 'besought the King to remove both his public and_private_ counsellors, and used these stunning and memorablewords:--_"Your armies are captured; the wonted superiority of yournavies is annihilated, your dominions are lost."_ Words that could beused to no other King; no King had ever lost so much without losing all.If James II. lost his crown, yet the crown lost no dominions.' _Journalof the Reign of George III_, ii. 483. The address is given in the _Ann.Reg._ xxiv. 320. On Aug. 4 of this year Johnson wrote to Dr.Taylor:--'Perhaps no nation not absolutely conquered has declined somuch in so short a time. We seem to be sinking. Suppose the Irish,having already gotten a free trade and an independent Parliament, shouldsay we will have a King and ally ourselves with the House of Bourbon,what could be done to hinder or overthrow them?' Mr. Morrison's_Autographs_, vol. ii.[444] In February and March, 1771, the House of Commons ordered eightprinters to attend at the bar on a charge of breach of privilege, inpublishing reports of debates. One of the eight, Miller of the _EveningPost_, when the messenger of the House tried to arrest him, gave the manhimself into custody on a charge of assault. The messenger was broughtbefore Lord Mayor Crosby and Aldermen Wilkes and Oliver, and a warrantwas made out for his commitment. Bail was thereupon offered and acceptedfor his appearance at the next sessions. The Lord Mayor and Oliver weresent to the Tower by the House. Wilkes was ordered to appear on April 8;but the Ministry, not daring to face his appearance, adjourned the Housetill the 9th. A committee was appointed by ballot to inquire into thelate obstructions to the execution of the orders of the House. Itrecommended the consideration of the expediency of the House orderingthat Miller should be taken into custody. The report, when read, wasreceived with a roar of laughter. Nothing was done. Such was, to quotethe words of Burke in the _Annual Register_ (xiv. 70), 'the miserableresult of all the pretended vigour of the Ministry.' See _Parl. Hist._xvii. 58, 186.[445] Lord Cornwallis's army surrendered at York Town, five days beforeSir Henry Clinton's fleet and army arrived off the Chesapeak. _Ann.Reg._ xxiv. 136.[446] Johnson wrote on March 30:--'The men have got in whom I haveendeavoured to keep out; but I hope they will do better than theirpredecessors; it will not be easy to do worse.' Croker's _Boswell_,p. 706.[447] This note was in answer to one which accompanied one of theearliest pamphlets on the subject of Chatterton's forgery, entitled_Cursory Observations on the Poems attributed to Thomas Rowley_, &c. Mr.Thomas Warton's very able _Inquiry_ appeared about three monthsafterwards; and Mr. Tyrwhitt's admirable _Vindication of his Appendix_in the summer of the same hear, left the believers in this daringimposture nothing but 'the resolution to say again what had been saidbefore.' MALONE.[448] _Pr. and Med._ p. 207. BOSWELL.[449] He addressed to him an Ode in Latin, entitled _Ad Thomam Laurence,medicum doctissimum, quum filium peregre agentem desiderio nimis tristiprosequeretur. Works_, i. 165.[450] Mr. Holder, in the Strand, Dr. Johnson's apothecary. BOSWELL.[451] 'Johnson should rather have written "imperatum est." But themeaning of the words is perfectly clear. "If you say yes, the messengerhas orders to bring Holder to me." Mr. Croker translates the words asfollows:-"If you consent, pray tell the messenger to bring Holder tome." If Mr. Croker is resolved to write on points of classical learning,we would advise him to begin by giving an hour every morning to our oldfriend Corderius.' Macaulay's _Essays_, ed. 1843, i 366. In _The Answersto Mr. Macaulay's Criticism_, prefixed to Croker's _Boswell_, p. 13, itis suggested that Johnson wrote either _imperetur_ or _imperator_. Theletter may be translated: 'A fresh chill, a fresh cough, and a freshdifficulty in breathing call for a fresh letting of blood. Without youradvice, however, I would not submit to the operation. I cannot well cometo you, nor need you come to me. Say yes or no in one word, and leavethe rest to Holder and to me. If you say yes, let the messenger bebidden (imperetur) to bring Holder to me. May 1, 1782. When _you_ haveleft, whither shall I turn?'[452] Soon after the above letter, Dr. Lawrence left London, but notbefore the palsy had made so great a progress as to render him unable towrite for himself. The folio wing are extracts from letters addressed byDr. Johnson to one of his daughters:--'You will easily believe with what gladness I read that you had heardonce again that voice to which we have all so often delighted to attend.May you often hear it. If we had his mind, and his tongue, we couldspare the rest.'I am not vigorous, but much better than when dear Dr. Lawrence held mypulse the last time. Be so kind as to let me know, from one littleinterval to another, the state of his body. I am pleased that heremembers me, and hope that it never can be possible for me to forgethim. July 22, 1782.''I am much delighted even with the small advances which dear Dr.Lawrence makes towards recovery. If we could have again but his mind,and his tongue in his mind, and his right hand, we should not muchlament the rest. I should not despair of helping the swelled hand byelectricity, if it were frequently and diligently supplied.'Let me know from time to time whatever happens; and I hope I need nottell you, how much I am interested in every change. Aug. 26, 1782.''Though the account with which you favoured me in your last letter couldnot give me the pleasure that I wished, yet I was glad to receive it;for my affection to my dear friend makes me desirous of knowing hisstate, whatever it be. I beg, therefore, that you continue to let meknow, from time to time, all that you observe.'Many fits of severe illness have, for about three months past, forcedmy kind physician often upon my mind. I am now better; and hopegratitude, as well as distress, can be a motive to remembrance.Bolt-court, Fleet-street, Feb. 4, 1783.' BOSWELL.[453] Mr. Langton being at this time on duty at Rochester, he isaddressed by his military title. BOSWELL.[454] Eight days later he recorded:--'I have in ten days written toAston, Lucy, Hector, Langton, Boswell; perhaps to all by whom my lettersare desired.' _Pr. and Med._ 209. He had written also to Mrs. Thrale,but her affection, it should seem from this, he was beginning to doubt.[455] See _ante_, p. 84.[456] See _ante_, i. 247.[457] See _post_, p. 158, note 4.[458] Johnson has here expressed a sentiment similar to that containedin one of Shenstone's stanzas, to which, in his life of that poet, hehas given high praise:--'I prized every hour that went by,Beyond all that had pleased me before;But now they are gone [past] and I sigh,I grieve that I prized them no more.'J. BOSWELL, JUN.[459] She was his god-daughter. See _post_, May 10, 1784.[460] 'Dr. Johnson gave a very droll account of the children of Mr.Langton, "who," he said, "might be very good children, if they were letalone; but the father is never easy when he is not making them dosomething which they cannot do; they must repeat a fable, or a speech,or the Hebrew alphabet, and they might as well count twenty for whatthey know of the matter; however, the father says half, for he promptsevery other word."' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, i. 73. See _ante_, p.20, note 2.[461] A part of this letter having been torn off, I have, from theevident meaning, supplied a few words and half-words at the ends andbeginnings of lines. BOSWELL.[462] See vol. ii. p. 459. BOSWELL. She was Hector's widowed sister, andJohnson's first love. In the previous October, writing of a visit toBirmingham, he said:--'Mrs. Careless took me under her care, and told mewhen I had tea enough.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 205.[463] This letter cannot belong to this year. In it Johnson says of hishealth, 'at least it is not worse.' But 1782 found him in very badhealth; he passed almost the whole of the year 'in a succession ofdisorders' (_post_, p. 156). What he says of friendship renders italmost certain that the letter was written while he had still Thrale;and him he lost in April, 1781. Had it been written after June, 1779,but before Thrale's death, the account given of health would have beeneven better than it is (_ante_, iii. 397). It belongs perhaps to theyear 1777 or 1778.[464] 'To a man who has survived all the companions of his youth ...this full-peopled world is a dismal solitude.' _Rambler_, No. 69.[465] See _ante_, i. 63.[466] They met on these days in the years 1772, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 81, and3.[467] The ministry had resigned on the 20th. _Ante_, p. 139, note 1.[468] Thirty-two years earlier he wrote in _The Rambler_, No. 53:-'Inthe prospect of poverty there is nothing but gloom and melancholy; themind and body suffer together; its miseries bring no alleviation; it isa state in which every virtue is obscured, and in which no conduct canavoid reproach.' And again in No. 57:--'The prospect of penury in age isso gloomy and terrifying, that every man who looks before him mustresolve to avoid it; and it must be avoided generally by the science ofsparing.' See _ante_. 441.[469] See _ante_, p. 128.[470] Hannah More wrote in April of this year (_Memoirs_, i.249):--'Poor Johnson is in a bad state of health. I fear hisconstitution is broken up.' (Yet in one week he dined out four times._Piozzi Letters_, ii. 237.) At one of these dinners, 'I urged him,' shecontinues (_ib_. p. 251) 'to take a _little_ wine. He replied, "I can'tdrink a _little_, child; therefore, I never touch it. Abstinence is aseasy to me as temperance would be difficult." He was very good-humouredand gay. One of the company happened to say a word about poetry, "Hush,hush," said he, "it is dangerous to say a word of poetry before her; itis talking of the art of war before Hannibal."'[471] This book was published in 1781, and, according to Lowndes,reached its seventh edition by 1787. See _ante_, i. 214.[472] The clergyman's letter was dated May 4. _Gent. Mag._ 1786, p. 93.Johnson is explaining the reason of his delay in acknowledging it.[473] What follows appeared in the _Morning Chronicle_ of May 29,1782:--'A correspondent having mentioned, in the _Morning Chronicle_ ofDecember 12, the last clause of the following paragraph, as seeming tofavour suicide; we are requested to print the whole passage, that itstrue meaning may appear, which is not to recommend suicide but exercise.'Exercise cannot secure us from that dissolution to which we aredecreed: but while the soul and body continue united, it can make theassociation pleasing, and give probable hopes that they shall bedisjoined by an easy separation. It was a principle among the ancients,that acute diseases are from Heaven, and chronical from ourselves; thedart of death, indeed, falls from Heaven, but we poison it by our ownmisconduct: to die is the fate of man; but to die with lingering anguishis generally his folly.' [_The Rambler_, No. 85.] BOSWELL.[474] The Correspondence may be seen at length in the _Gent. Mag._ Feb.1786. BOSWELL. Johnson, advising Dr. Taylor 'to take as much exercise ashe can bear,' says:-'I take the true definition of exercise to be labourwithout weariness.' _Notes and Queries_, 6th S. v. 461.[475] Here he met Hannah More. 'You cannot imagine,' she writes(_Memoirs_, i. 261), 'with what delight he showed me every part of hisown college. Dr. Adams had contrived a very pretty piece of gallantry.We spent the day and evening at his house. After dinner, Johnson beggedto conduct me to see the College; he would let no one show it me buthimself. "This was my room; this Shenstone's." Then, after pointing outall the rooms of the poets who had been of his college, "In short," saidhe, "we were a nest of singing-birds." When we came into the