约翰逊4-6-21

"Henceforth be quiet and agree,Each kiss his empty brother;Religion scorns a foe like thee,But dreads a friend like t'other."The point is well, though the expression is not correct; _one_, and not_thee, should be opposed to _t'other_[891].'On the Roman Catholick religion he said, 'If you join the Papistsexternally, they will not interrogate you strictly as to your belief intheir tenets. No reasoning Papist believes every article of their faith.There is one side on which a good man might be persuaded to embrace it.A good man of a timorous disposition, in great doubt of his acceptancewith GOD, and pretty credulous, might be glad to be of a church wherethere, are so many helps to get to Heaven. I would be a Papist if Icould. I have fear enough; but an obstinate rationality prevents me. Ishall never be a Papist, unless on the near approach of death, of whichI have a very great terrour. I wonder that women are not all Papists.'BOSWELL. 'They are not more afraid of death than men are.' JOHNSON.'Because they are less wicked.' DR. ADAMS. 'They are more pious.'JOHNSON. 'No, hang 'em, they are not more pious. A wicked fellow is themost pious when he takes to it. He'll beat you all at piety.'He argued in defence of some of the peculiar tenets of the Church ofRome. As to the giving the bread only to the laity, he said, 'They maythink, that in what is merely ritual, deviations from the primitive modemay be admitted on the ground of convenience, and I think they are aswell warranted to make this alteration, as we are to substitutesprinkling in the room of the ancient baptism.' As to the invocation ofsaints[892], he said, 'Though I do not think it authorised, it appearsto me, that "the communion of saints" in the Creed means the communionwith the saints in Heaven, as connected with "The holy CatholickChurch[893]."' He admitted the influence of evil spirits[894] upon ourminds, and said, 'Nobody who believes the New Testament can deny it.'I brought a volume of Dr. Hurd the Bishop of Worcester's _Sermons_, andread to the company some passages from one of them, upon this text,'_Resist the Devil, and he will fly[895] from you.' James_, iv. 7. I washappy to produce so judicious and elegant a supporter[896] of adoctrine, which, I know not why, should, in this world of imperfectknowledge, and, therefore, of wonder and mystery in a thousandinstances, be contested by some with an unthinking assurance andflippancy.After dinner, when one of us talked of there being a great enmitybetween Whig and Tory;--JOHNSON. 'Why not so much, I think, unless whenthey come into competition with each other. There is none when they areonly common acquaintance, none when they are of different sexes. A Torywill marry into a Whig family, and a Whig into a Tory family, withoutany reluctance. But indeed, in a matter of much more concern thanpolitical tenets, and that is religion, men and women do not concernthemselves much about difference of opinion; and ladies set no value onthe moral character of men who pay their addresses to them; the greatestprofligate will be as well received as the man of the greatest virtue,and this by a very good woman, by a woman who says her prayers threetimes a day.' Our ladies endeavoured to defend their sex from thischarge; but he roared them down! 'No, no, a lady will take Jonathan Wildas readily as St. Austin, if he has three-pence more; and, what isworse, her parents will give her to him. Women have a perpetual envy ofour vices; they are less vicious than we, not from choice, but becausewe restrict them; they are the slaves of order and fashion; their virtueis of more consequence to us than our own, so far as concernsthis world.'Miss Adams mentioned a gentleman of licentious character, and said,'Suppose I had a mind to marry that gentleman, would my parentsconsent?' JOHNSON. 'Yes, they'd consent, and you'd go. You'd go thoughthey did not consent.' MISS ADAMS. 'Perhaps their opposing might make mego.' JOHNSON. 'O, very well; you'd take one whom you think a bad man, tohave the pleasure of vexing your parents. You put me in mind of Dr.Barrowby[897], the physician, who was very fond of swine's flesh. Oneday, when he was eating it, he said, 'I wish I was a Jew.' 'Why so?(said somebody); the Jews are not allowed to eat your favourite meat.''Because, (said he,) I should then have the gust of eating it, with thepleasure of sinning.' Johnson then proceeded in his declamation.Miss Adams soon afterwards made an observation that I do not recollect,which pleased him much: he said with a good-humoured smile, 'That thereshould be so much excellence united with so much _depravity_,is strange.'Indeed, this lady's good qualities, merit, and accomplishments, and herconstant attention to Dr. Johnson, were not lost upon him. She happenedto tell him that a little coffee-pot, in which she had made his coffee,was the only thing she could call her own. He turned to her with acomplacent gallantry, 'Don't say so, my dear; I hope you don't reckon myheart as nothing.'I asked him if it was true as reported, that he had said lately, 'I amfor the King against Fox; but I am for Fox against Pitt.' JOHNSON. 'Yes,Sir; the King is my master; but I do not know Pitt; and Fox is myfriend[898].''Fox, (added he,) is a most extraordinary man; here is a man (describinghim in strong terms of objection in some respects according as heapprehended, but which exalted his abilities the more) who has dividedthe Kingdom with Caesar[899]; so that it, was a doubt whether the nationshould be ruled by the sceptre of George the Third, or the tongueof Fox.'Dr. Wall, physician at Oxford, drank tea with us. Johnson had ingeneral a peculiar pleasure in the company of physicians, which wascertainly not abated by the conversation of this learned, ingenious, andpleasing gentleman. Johnson said, 'It is wonderful how little goodRadcliffe's travelling fellowships[900] have done. I know nothing thathas been imported by them; yet many additions to our medical knowledgemight be got in foreign countries. Inoculation, for instance, has savedmore lives than war destroys[901]: and the cures performed by thePeruvian-bark are innumerable. But it is in vain to send our travellingphysicians to France, and Italy, and Germany, for all that is knownthere is known here; I'd send them out of Christendom; I'd send themamong barbarous nations.'On Friday, June 11, we talked at breakfast, of forms of prayer. JOHNSON.'I know of no good prayers but those in the _Book of Common Prayer_.'DR. ADAMS, (in a very earnest manner): 'I wish, Sir, you would composesome family prayers.' JOHNSON. 'I will not compose prayers for you, Sir,because you can do it for yourself. But I have thought of gettingtogether all the books of prayers which I could, selecting those whichshould appear to me the best, putting out some, inserting others, addingsome prayers of my own, and prefixing a discourse on prayer.' We all nowgathered about him, and two or three of us at a time joined in pressinghim to execute this plan. He seemed to be a little displeased at themanner of our importunity, and in great agitation called out, 'Do nottalk thus of what is so aweful. I know not what time GOD will allow mein this world. There are many things which I wish to do.' Some of uspersisted, and Dr. Adams said, 'I never was more serious about any thingin my life.' JOHNSON. 'Let me alone, let me alone; I am overpowered.'And then he put his hands before his face, and reclined for some timeupon the table[902].I mentioned Jeremy Taylor's using, in his forms of prayer, 'I am thechief of sinners,' and other such self-condemning expressions[903].'Now, (said I) this cannot be said with truth by every man, andtherefore is improper for a general printed form. I myself cannot saythat I am the worst of men; I _will_ not say so.' JOHNSON. 'A man mayknow, that physically, that is, in the real state of things, he is notthe worst man; but that morally he may be so. Law observes that "Everyman knows something worse of himself, than he is sure of inothers[904]." You may not have committed such crimes as some men havedone; but you do not know against what degree of light they have sinned.Besides, Sir, "the chief of sinners" is a mode of expression for "I am agreat sinner." So St. Paul, speaking of our SAVIOUR'S having died tosave sinners, says, "of whom I am the chief[905];" yet he certainly didnot think himself so bad as Judas Iscariot.' BOSWELL. 'But, Sir, Taylormeans it literally, for he founds a conceit upon it. When praying forthe conversion of sinners, and of himself in particular, he says, "LORD,thou wilt not leave thy _chief_ work undone." JOHNSON. 'I do not approveof figurative expressions in addressing the Supreme Being; and I neveruse them[906]. Taylor gives a very good advice: "Never lie in yourprayers; never confess more than you really believe; never promise morethan you mean to perform[907]." I recollected this precept in his_Golden Grove_; but his _example_ for prayer contradicts his _precept_.'Dr. Johnson and I went in Dr. Adams's coach to dine with Dr. Nowell,Principal of St. Mary Hall, at his beautiful villa at Iffley, on thebanks of the Isis, about two miles from Oxford. While we were upon theroad, I had the resolution to ask Johnson whether he thought that theroughness of his manner had been an advantage or not, and if he wouldnot have done more good if he had been more gentle. I proceeded toanswer myself thus: 'Perhaps it has been of advantage, as it has givenweight to what you said: you could not, perhaps, have talked with suchauthority without it.' JOHNSON. 'No, Sir; I have done more good as I am.Obscenity and Impiety have always been repressed in my company[908].'BOSWELL. 'True, Sir; and that is more than can be said of every Bishop.Greater liberties have been taken in the presence of a Bishop, though avery good man, from his being milder, and therefore not commanding suchawe. Yet, Sir, many people who might have been benefited by yourconversation, have been frightened away. A worthy friend of ours[909]has told me, that he has often been afraid to talk to you.' JOHNSON.'Sir, he need not have been afraid, if he had any thing rational to say.If he had not, it was better he did not talk[910].Dr. Nowell is celebrated for having preached a sermon before the Houseof Commons, on the 3Oth of January, 1773, full of high Tory sentiments,for which he was thanked as usual, and printed it at their request; but,in the midst of that turbulence and faction which disgraced a part ofthe present reign, the thanks were afterwards ordered to beexpunged[911]. This strange conduct sufficiently exposes itself; and Dr.Nowell will ever have the honour which is due to a lofty friend of ourmonarchical constitution. Dr. Johnson said to me, 'Sir, the Court willbe very much to blame, if he is not promoted.' I told this to Dr.Nowell, and asserting my humbler, though not less zealous exertions inthe same cause, I suggested that whatever return we might receive, weshould still have the consolation of being like Butler's steady andgenerous Royalist,'True as the dial to the sun,Although it be not shone upon[912].'We were well entertained and very happy at Dr. Nowell's, where was avery agreeable company, and we drank 'Church and King' after dinner,with true Tory cordiality.We talked of a certain clergyman[913] of extraordinary character, whoby exerting his talents in writing on temporary topicks, and displayinguncommon intrepidity, had raised himself to affluence. I maintained thatwe ought not to be indignant at his success; for merit of every sort wasentitled to reward. JOHNSON. 'Sir, I will not allow this man to havemerit. No, Sir; what he has is rather the contrary; I will, indeed,allow him courage, and on this account we so far give him credit. Wehave more respect for a man who robs boldly on the highway, than for afellow who jumps out of a ditch, and knocks you down behind your back.Courage is a quality so necessary for maintaining virtue, that it isalways respected, even when it is associated with vice[914].I censured the coarse invectives which were become fashionable in theHouse of Commons[915], and said that if members of parliament mustattack each other personally in the heat of debate, it should be donemore genteely. JOHNSON. 'No, Sir; that would be much worse. Abuse is notso dangerous when there is no vehicle of wit or delicacy, no subtleconveyance. The difference between coarse and refined abuse is as thedifference between being bruised by a club, and wounded by a poisonedarrow.' I have since observed his position elegantly expressed byDr. Young:--'As the soft plume gives swiftness to the dart,Good breeding sends the satire to the heart[916].'On Saturday, June 12, there drank tea with us at Dr. Adams's, Mr. JohnHenderson, student of Pembroke-College, celebrated for his wonderfulacquirements in Alchymy, Judicial Astrology, and other abstruse andcurious learning[917]; and the Reverend Herbert Croft, who, I am afraid,was somewhat mortified by Dr. Johnson's not being highly pleased withsome _Family Discourses_, which he had printed; they were in toofamiliar a style to be approved of by so manly a mind. I have no note ofthis evening's conversation, except a single fragment. When I mentionedThomas Lord Lyttelton's vision[918], the prediction of the time of hisdeath, and its exact fulfilment;--JOHNSON. 'It is the most extraordinarything that has happened in my day. I heard it with my own ears, from hisuncle, Lord Westcote. I am so glad to have every evidence of thespiritual world, that I am willing to believe it.' DR. ADAMS. 'You haveevidence enough; good evidence, which needs not such support.' JOHNSON.'I like to have more[919].'Mr. Henderson, with whom I had sauntered in the venerable walks ofMerton-College, and found him a very learned and pious man, supped withus. Dr. Johnson surprised him not a little, by acknowledging with a lookof horrour, that he was much oppressed by the fear of death[920]. Theamiable Dr. Adams suggested that GOD was infinitely good. JOHNSON. 'Thathe is infinitely good, as far as the perfection of his nature willallow, I certainly believe; but it is necessary for good upon the whole,that individuals should be punished. As to an _individual_, therefore,he is not infinitely good; and as I cannot be _sure_ that I havefulfilled the conditions on which salvation is granted, I am afraid Imay be one of those who shall be damned.' (looking dismally.) DR. ADAMS.'What do you mean by damned?' JOHNSON. (passionately and loudly) 'Sentto Hell, Sir, and punished everlastingly[921].' DR. ADAMS. 'I don'tbelieve that doctrine.' JOHNSON. 'Hold, Sir, do you believe that somewill be punished at all?' DR. ADAMS. 'Being excluded from Heaven will bea punishment; yet there may be no great positive suffering.' JOHNSON.'Well, Sir; but, if you admit any degree of punishment, there is an endof your argument for infinite goodness simply considered; for, infinitegoodness would inflict no punishment whatever. There is not infinitegoodness physically considered; morally there is.' BOSWELL. 'But may nota man attain to such a degree of hope as not to be uneasy from the fearof death?' JOHNSON. 'A man may have such a degree of hope as to keep himquiet. You see I am not quiet, from the vehemence with which I talk;but I do not despair.' MRS. ADAMS. 'You seem, Sir, to forget the meritsof our Redeemer.' JOHNSON. 'Madam, I do not forget the merits of myRedeemer; but my Redeemer has said that he will set some on his righthand and some on his left.' He was in gloomy agitation, and said, 'I'llhave no more on't[922].' If what has now been stated should be urged bythe enemies of Christianity, as if its influence on the mind were notbenignant, let it be remembered, that Johnson's temperament wasmelancholy, of which such direful apprehensions of futurity are often acommon effect. We shall presently see that when he approached nearer tohis aweful change, his mind became tranquil, and he exhibited as muchfortitude as becomes a thinking man in that situation.From the subject of death we passed to discourse of life, whether it wasupon the whole more happy or miserable. Johnson was decidedly for thebalance of misery[923]: in confirmation of which I maintained, that noman would choose to lead over again the life which he had experienced.Johnson acceded to that opinion in the strongest terms[924]. This is aninquiry often made; and its being a subject of disquisition is a proofthat much misery presses upon human feelings; for those who areconscious of a felicity of existence, would never hesitate to accept ofa repetition of it. I have met with very few who would. I have heard Mr.Burke make use of a very ingenious and plausible argument on thissubject;--'Every man (said he) would lead his life over again; for,every man is willing to go on and take an addition to his life, which,as he grows older, he has no reason to think will be better, or even sogood as what has preceded.' I imagine, however, the truth is, that thereis a deceitful hope that the next part of life will be free from thepains, and anxieties, and sorrows, which we have already felt[925]. Weare for wise purposes 'Condemn'd to Hope's delusive mine;' as Johnsonfinely says[926]; and I may also quote the celebrated lines of Dryden,equally philosophical and poetical:--'When I consider life, 'tis all a cheat,Yet fool'd with hope, men favour the deceit:Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay;To-morrow's falser than the former day;Lies worse; and while it says we shall be blestWith some new joys, cuts off what we possest.Strange cozenage! none would live past years again;Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain;And from the dregs of life think to receive,What the first sprightly running could not give[927].'It was observed to Dr. Johnson, that it seemed strange that he, who hasso often delighted his company by his lively and brilliant conversation,should say he was miserable. JOHNSON. 'Alas! it is all outside; I may becracking my joke[928], and cursing the sun. _Sun, how I hate thybeams_[929]!' I knew not well what to think of this declaration; whetherto hold it as a genuine picture of his mind[930], or as the effect ofhis persuading himself contrary to fact, that the position which he hadassumed as to human unhappiness, was true. We may apply to him asentence in Mr. Greville's[931] _Maxims, Characters, andReflections_[932]; a book which is entitled to much more praise than ithas received: 'ARISTARCHUS is charming: how full of knowledge, of sense,of sentiment. You get him with difficulty to your supper; and afterhaving delighted every body and himself for a few hours, he is obligedto return home;--he is finishing his treatise, to prove that unhappinessis the portion of man[933].'On Sunday, June 13, our philosopher was calm at breakfast. There wassomething exceedingly pleasing in our leading a College life, withoutrestraint, and with superiour elegance, in consequence of our living inthe Master's house, and having the company of ladies. Mrs. Kennicotrelated, in his presence, a lively saying of Dr. Johnson to Miss HannahMore, who had expressed a wonder that the poet who had written _ParadiseLost_ should write such poor Sonnets:--' Milton, Madam, was a geniusthat could cut a Colossus from a rock; but could not carve heads uponcherry-stones[934].'We talked of the casuistical question, Whether it was allowable at anytime to depart from _Truth_? JOHNSON. 'The general rule is, that Truthshould never be violated, because it is of the utmost importance to thecomfort of life, that we should have a full security by mutual faith;and occasional inconveniences should be willingly suffered that we maypreserve it. There must, however, be some exceptions. If, for instance,a murderer should ask you which way a man is gone, you may tell him whatis not true, because you are under a previous obligation not to betray aman to a murderer[935].' BOSWELL. 'Supposing the person who wrote_Junius_ were asked whether he was the authour, might he deny it?'JOHNSON. 'I don't know what to say to this. If you were _sure_ that hewrote _Junius_, would you, if he denied it, think as well of himafterwards? Yet it may be urged, that what a man has no right to ask,you may refuse to communicate[936]; and there is no other effectual modeof preserving a secret and an important secret, the discovery of whichmay be very hurtful to you, but a flat denial; for if you are silent, orhesitate, or evade, it will be held equivalent to a confession. Butstay, Sir; here is another case. Supposing the authour had told meconfidentially that he had written _Junius_, and I were asked if he had,I should hold myself at liberty to deny it, as being under a previouspromise, express or implied, to conceal it. Now what I ought to do forthe authour, may I not do for myself? But I deny the lawfulness oftelling a lie to a sick man for fear of alarming him. You have nobusiness with consequences; you are to tell the truth. Besides, you arenot sure what effect your telling him that he is in danger may have. Itmay bring his distemper to a crisis, and that may cure him. Of alllying, I have the greatest abhorrence of this, because I believe it hasbeen frequently practised on myself.'I cannot help thinking that there is much weight in the opinion of thosewho have held, that Truth, as an eternal and immutable principle, ought,upon no account whatever, to be violated, from supposed previous orsuperiour obligations, of which every man being to judge for himself,there is great danger that we too often, from partial motives, persuadeourselves that they exist; and probably whatever extraordinary instancesmay sometimes occur, where some evil may be prevented by violating thisnoble principle, it would be found that human happiness would, upon thewhole, be more perfect were Truth universally preserved.In the notes to the _Dunciad_[937], we find the following verses,addressed to Pope[938]:--'While malice, Pope, denies thy pageIts own celestial fire;While criticks, and while bards in rageAdmiring, won't admire:While wayward pens thy worth assail,And envious tongues decry;These times, though many a friend bewail,These times bewail not I.But when the world's loud praise is thine,And spleen no more shall blame;When with thy Homer thou shalt shineIn one establish'd fame!When none shall rail, and every layDevote a wreath to thee:That day (for come it will) that dayShall I lament to see.'It is surely not a little remarkable, that they should appear without aname. Miss Seward[939], knowing Dr. Johnson's almost universal andminute literary information, signified a desire that I should ask himwho was the authour. He was prompt with his answer: 'Why, Sir, they werewritten by one Lewis, who was either under-master or an usher ofWestminster-school, and published a Miscellany, in which _GrongarHill_[940] first came out[941].' Johnson praised them highly, andrepeated them with a noble animation. In the twelfth line, instead of'one establish'd fame,' he repeated 'one unclouded flame,' which hethought was the reading in former editions: but I believe was a flash of