约翰逊4-6-60

home, Dr. Johnson desired to see my books. He took down Ogden's _Sermonson Prayer_[67], on which I set a very high value, having been muchedified by them, and he retired with them to his room. He did not staylong, but soon joined us in the drawing room. I presented to him Mr.Robert Arbuthnot, a relation of the celebrated Dr. Arbuthnot[68], and aman of literature and taste. To him we were obliged for a previousrecommendation, which secured us a very agreeable reception at St.Andrews, and which Dr. Johnson, in his _Journey_, ascribes to 'someinvisible friend[69].'Of Dr. Beattie, Mr. Johnson said, 'Sir, he has written like a manconscious of the truth, and feeling his own strength[70]. Treating youradversary with respect is giving him an advantage to which he is notentitled[71]. The greatest part of men cannot judge of reasoning, andare impressed by character; so that, if you allow your adversary arespectable character, they will think, that though you differ from him,you may be in the wrong. Sir, treating your adversary with respect, isstriking soft in a battle. And as to Hume,--a man who has so muchconceit as to tell all mankind that they have been bubbled[72] for ages,and he is the wise man who sees better than they,--a man who has solittle scrupulosity as to venture to oppose those principles which havebeen thought necessary to human happiness,--is he to be surprized ifanother man comes and laughs at him? If he is the great man he thinkshimself, all this cannot hurt him: it is like throwing peas against arock.' He added '_something much too rough_' both as to Mr. Hume's headand heart, which I suppress. Violence is, in my opinion, not suitable tothe Christian cause. Besides, I always lived on good terms with Mr.Hume, though I have frankly told him, I was not clear that it was rightin me to keep company with him. 'But, (said I) how much better are youthan your books!' He was cheerful, obliging, and instructive; he wascharitable to the poor; and many an agreeable hour have I passed withhim[73]: I have preserved some entertaining and interesting memoirs ofhim, particularly when he knew himself to be dying, which I may sometime or other communicate to the world[74]. I shall not, however, extolhim so very highly as Dr. Adam Smith does, who says, in a letter to Mr.Strahan the Printer (not a confidential letter to his friend, but aletter which is published[75] with all formality:) 'Upon the whole, Ihave always considered him, both in his life time and since his death,as approaching as nearly to the idea of a perfectly wise and virtuousman as perhaps the nature of human frailty will permit.' Let Dr. Smithconsider: Was not Mr. Hume blest with good health, good spirits, goodfriends, a competent and increasing fortune? And had he not also aperpetual feast of fame[76]? But, as a learned friend has observed tome, 'What trials did he undergo to prove the perfection of his virtue?Did he ever experience any great instance of adversity?'--When I readthis sentence delivered by my old _Professor of Moral Philosophy_, Icould not help exclaiming with the _Psalmist_, 'Surely I have now moreunderstanding than my teachers[77]!'While we were talking, there came a note to me from Dr. WilliamRobertson.'DEAR SIR,'I have been expecting every day to hear from you, of Dr. Johnson'sarrival. Pray, what do you know about his motions? I longto take him by the hand. I write this from the college, where I haveonly this scrap of paper. Ever yours,'W. R.''Sunday.'It pleased me to find Dr. Robertson thus eager to meet Dr. Johnson. Iwas glad I could answer, that he was come: and I begged Dr. Robertsonmight be with us as soon as he could.Sir William Forbes, Mr. Scott, Mr. Arbuthnot, and another gentlemandined with us. 'Come, Dr. Johnson, (said I,) it is commonly thought thatour veal in Scotland is not good. But here is some which I believe youwill like.' There was no catching him. JOHNSON. 'Why, Sir, what iscommonly thought, I should take to be true. _Your_ veal may be good; butthat will only be an exception to the general opinion; not a proofagainst it.'Dr. Robertson, according to the custom of Edinburgh at that time, dinedin the interval between the forenoon and afternoon service, which wasthen later than now; so we had not the pleasure of his company tilldinner was over, when he came and drank wine with us. And then begansome animated dialogue[78], of which here follows a pretty full note.We talked of Mr. Burke. Dr. Johnson said, he had great variety ofknowledge, store of imagery, copiousness of language. ROBERTSON. 'He haswit too.' JOHNSON. 'No, Sir; he never succeeds there. 'Tis low; 'tisconceit. I used to say, Burke never once made a good joke[79]. What Imost envy Burke for, is his being constantly the same. He is never whatwe call hum-drum; never unwilling to begin to talk, nor in haste toleave off.' BOSWELL. 'Yet he can listen.' JOHNSON. 'No: I cannot say heis good at that[80]. So desirous is he to talk, that, if one is speakingat this end of the table, he'll speak to somebody at the other end.Burke, Sir, is such a man, that if you met him for the first time in thestreet where you were stopped by a drove of oxen, and you and he steppedaside to take shelter but for five minutes, he'd talk to you in such amanner, that, when you parted, you would say, this is an extraordinaryman[81]. Now, you may be long enough with me, without finding any thingextraordinary.' He said, he believed Burke was intended for the law; buteither had not money enough to follow it, or had not diligenceenough[82]. He said, he could not understand how a man could apply toone thing, and not to another. ROBERTSON said, one man had morejudgment, another more imagination. JOHNSON. 'No, Sir; it is only, oneman has more mind than another. He may direct it differently; he may, byaccident, see the success of one kind of study, and take a desire toexcel in it. I am persuaded that, had Sir Isaac Newton applied topoetry, he would have made a very fine epick poem. I could as easilyapply to law as to tragick poetry.' BOSWELL. 'Yet, Sir, you did apply totragick poetry, not to law.' JOHNSON. 'Because, Sir, I had not money tostudy law. Sir, the man who has vigour, may walk to the east, just aswell as to the west, if he happens to turn his head that way[83].'BOSWELL. 'But, Sir, 'tis like walking up and down a hill; one man willnaturally do the one better than the other. A hare will run up a hillbest, from her fore-legs being short; a dog down.' JOHNSON. 'Nay, Sir;that is from mechanical powers. If you make mind mechanical, you mayargue in that manner. One mind is a vice, and holds fast; there's a goodmemory. Another is a file; and he is a disputant, a controversialist.Another is a razor; and he is sarcastical.' We talked of Whitefield. Hesaid he was at the same college with him[84], and knew him _before hebegan to be better than other people_ (smiling;) that he believed hesincerely meant well, but had a mixture of politicks and ostentation:whereas Wesley thought of religion only[85]. ROBERTSON said, Whitefieldhad strong natural eloquence, which, if cultivated, would have donegreat things. JOHNSON. 'Why, Sir, I take it, he was at the height ofwhat his abilities could do, and was sensible of it. He had the ordinaryadvantages of education; but he chose to pursue that oratory which isfor the mob[86].' BOSWELL. 'He had great effect on the passions.'JOHNSON. 'Why, Sir, I don't think so. He could not represent asuccession of pathetic images. He vociferated, and made an impression._There_, again, was a mind like a hammer.' Dr. Johnson now said, acertain eminent political friend of our's[87] was wrong, in his maxim ofsticking to a certain set of _men_ on all occasions. 'I can see that aman may do right to stick to a _party_ (said he;) that is to say, he isa _Whig_, or he is a _Tory_, and he thinks one of those parties upon thewhole the best, and that to make it prevail, it must be generallysupported, though, in particulars it may be wrong. He takes its faggotof principles, in which there are fewer rotten sticks than in the other,though some rotten sticks to be sure; and they cannot well be separated.But, to bind one's self to one man, or one set of men, (who may be rightto-day and wrong to-morrow,) without any general preference of system, Imust disapprove[88].'He told us of Cooke, who translated Hesiod, and lived twenty years on atranslation of Plautus, for which he was always taking subscriptions;and that he presented Foote to a Club, in the following singular manner:'This is the nephew of the gentleman who was lately hung in chains formurdering his brother[89].' In the evening I introduced to Mr.Johnson[90] two good friends of mine, Mr. William Nairne, Advocate, andMr. Hamilton of Sundrum, my neighbour in the country, both of whomsupped with us. I have preserved nothing of what passed, except that Dr.Johnson displayed another of his heterodox opinions,--a contempt oftragick acting[91]. He said, 'the action of all players in tragedy isbad. It should be a man's study to repress those signs of emotion andpassion, as they are called.' He was of a directly contrary opinion tothat of Fielding, in his _Tom Jones_; who makes Partridge say, ofGarrick, 'why, I could act as well as he myself. I am sure, if I hadseen a ghost, I should have looked in the very same manner, and donejust as he did[92].' For, when I asked him, 'Would you not, Sir, startas Mr. Garrick does, if you saw a ghost?' He answered, 'I hope not. If Idid, I should frighten the ghost.'MONDAY, AUGUST 16.Dr. William Robertson came to breakfast. We talked of _Ogden on Prayer_.Dr. Johnson said, 'The same arguments which are used against GOD'Shearing prayer, will serve against his rewarding good, and punishingevil. He has resolved, he has declared, in the former case as in thelatter.' He had last night looked into Lord Hailes's _Remarks on theHistory of Scotland_. Dr. Robertson and I said, it was a pity LordHailes did not write greater things. His lordship had not then publishedhis _Annals of Scotland_[93]. JOHNSON. 'I remember I was once on avisit at the house of a lady for whom I had a high respect. There was agood deal of company in the room. When they were gone, I said to thislady, "What foolish talking have we had!" "Yes, (said she,) but whilethey talked, you said nothing." I was struck with the reproof. How muchbetter is the man who does anything that is innocent, than he who doesnothing. Besides, I love anecdotes[94]. I fancy mankind may come, intime, to write all aphoristically, except in narrative; grow weary ofpreparation, and connection, and illustration, and all those arts bywhich a big book is made. If a man is to wait till he weaves anecdotesinto a system, we may be long in getting them, and get but few, incomparison of what we might get.Dr. Robertson said, the notions of _Eupham Macallan_, a fanatick woman,of whom Lord Hailes gives a sketch, were still prevalent among some ofthe Presbyterians; and therefore it was right in Lord Hailes, a man ofknown piety, to undeceive them[95].We walked out[96], that Dr. Johnson might see some of the things whichwe have to shew at Edinburgh. We went to the Parliament-House[97],where the Parliament of Scotland sat, and where the _Ordinary Lords_ ofSession hold their courts; and to the New Session-House adjoining to it,where our Court of Fifteen (the fourteen _Ordinaries_, with the LordPresident at their head,) sit as a court of Review. We went to the_Advocates Library_[98], of which Dr. Johnson took a cursory view, andthen to what is called the _Laigh_[99] (or under) Parliament-House,where the records of Scotland, which has an universal security byregister, are deposited, till the great Register Office be finished. Iwas pleased to behold Dr. Samuel Johnson rolling about in this oldmagazine of antiquities. There was, by this time, a pretty numerouscircle of us attending upon him. Somebody talked of happy moments forcomposition; and how a man can write at one time, and not at another.'Nay, (said Dr. Johnson,) a man may write at any time, if he will sethimself _doggedly_[100] to it.'I here began to indulge _old Scottish_[101] sentiments, and to express awarm regret, that, by our Union with _England_, we were no more;--ourindependent kingdom was lost[102]. JOHNSON. 'Sir, never talk of yourindependency, who could let your Queen remain twenty years in captivity,and then be put to death, without even a pretence of justice, withoutyour ever attempting to rescue her; and such a Queen too; as every manof any gallantry of spirit would have sacrificed his life for[103].'Worthy Mr. JAMES KERR, Keeper of the Records. 'Half our nation wasbribed by English money.' JOHNSON. 'Sir, that is no defence: that makesyou worse.' Good Mr. BROWN, Keeper of the Advocates' Library. 'We hadbetter say nothing about it.' BOSWELL. 'You would have been glad,however, to have had us last war, sir, to fight your battles!' JOHNSON.'We should have had you for the same price, though there had been noUnion, as we might have had Swiss, or other troops. No, no, I shallagree to a separation. You have only to _go home_.' Just as he had saidthis, I, to divert the subject, shewed him the signed assurances of thethree successive Kings of the Hanover family, to maintain thePresbyterian establishment in Scotland. 'We'll give you that (said he)into the bargain.'We next went to the great church of St. Giles, which has lost itsoriginal magnificence in the inside, by being divided into four placesof Presbyterian worship[104]. 'Come, (said Dr. Johnson jocularly toPrincipal Robertson[105],) let me see what was once a church!' Weentered that division which was formerly called the _New Church_, and oflate the _High Church_, so well known by the eloquence of Dr. HughBlair. It is now very elegantly fitted up; but it was then shamefullydirty[106]. Dr. Johnson said nothing at the time; but when we came tothe great door of the Royal Infirmary, where upon a board was thisinscription, '_Clean your feet!_' he turned about slyly and said, 'Thereis no occasion for putting this at the doors of your churches!'We then conducted him down the Post-house stairs, Parliament-close, andmade him look up from the Cow-gate to the highest building in Edinburgh,(from which he had just descended,) being thirteen floors or storiesfrom the ground upon the back elevation; the front wall being built uponthe edge of the hill, and the back wall rising from the bottom of thehill several stories before it comes to a level with the front wall. Weproceeded to the College, with the Principal at our head. Dr. AdamFergusson, whose _Essay on the History of Civil Society[107]_ gives hima respectable place in the ranks of literature, was with us. As theCollege buildings[108] are indeed very mean, the Principal said to Dr.Johnson, that he must give them the same epithet that a Jesuit did whenshewing a poor college abroad: '_Hae miseriae nostrae_.' Dr. Johnsonwas, however, much pleased with the library, and with the conversationof Dr. James Robertson, Professor of Oriental Languages, the Librarian.We talked of Kennicot's edition of the Hebrew Bible[109], and hoped itwould be quite faithful. JOHNSON. 'Sir, I know not any crime so greatthat a man could contrive to commit, as poisoning the sources ofeternal truth.'I pointed out to him where there formerly stood an old wall enclosingpart of the college, which I remember bulged out in a threateningmanner, and of which there was a common tradition similar to thatconcerning _Bacon's_ study at Oxford, that it would fall upon some verylearned man[110]. It had some time before this been taken down, that thestreet might be widened, and a more convenient wall built. Dr. Johnson,glad of an opportunity to have a pleasant hit at Scottish learning,said, 'they have been afraid it never would fall.'We shewed him the Royal Infirmary, for which, and for every otherexertion of generous publick spirit in his power, that noble-mindedcitizen of Edinburgh, George Drummond, will be ever held in honourableremembrance. And we were too proud not to carry him to the Abbey ofHolyrood-house, that beautiful piece of architecture, but, alas! thatdeserted mansion of royalty, which Hamilton of Bangour, in one of hiselegant poems, calls'A virtuous palace, where no monarch dwells[111].'I was much entertained while Principal Robertson fluently harangued toDr. Johnson, upon the spot, concerning scenes of his celebrated _Historyof Scotland_. We surveyed that part of the palace appropriated to theDuke of Hamilton, as Keeper, in which our beautiful Queen Mary lived,and in which David Rizzio was murdered; and also the State Rooms. Dr.Johnson was a great reciter of all sorts of things serious or comical. Ioverheard him repeating here in a kind of muttering tone, a line of theold ballad, _Johnny Armstrong's Last Good Night_:'And ran him through the fair body[112]!'We returned to my house, where there met him, at dinner, the Duchess ofDouglas[113], Sir Adolphus Oughton, Lord Chief Baron, Sir WilliamForbes, Principal Robertson, Mr. Cullen[114], Advocate. Before dinner hetold us of a curious conversation between the famous GeorgeFaulkner[115] and him. George said that England had drained Ireland offifty thousand pounds in specie, annually, for fifty years. 'How so,Sir! (said Dr. Johnson,) you must have a very great trade?' 'No trade.''Very rich mines?' 'No mines.' 'From whence, then, does all this moneycome?' 'Come! why out of the blood and bowels of the poor peopleof Ireland!'He seemed to me to have an unaccountable prejudice against Swift[116];for I once took the liberty to ask him, if Swift had personally offendedhim, and he told me he had not. He said to-day, 'Swift is clear, but heis shallow. In coarse humour, he is inferior to Arbuthnot[117]; indelicate humour, he is inferior to Addison. So he is inferior to hiscontemporaries; without putting him against the whole world. I doubt ifthe _Tale of a Tub_ was his[118]: it has so much more thinking, moreknowledge, more power, more colour, than any of the works which areindisputably his. If it was his, I shall only say, he was _imparsibi_[119].'We gave him as good a dinner as we could. Our Scotch muir-fowl, orgrowse, were then abundant, and quite in season; and so far as wisdomand wit can be aided by administering agreeable sensations to thepalate, my wife took care that our great guest should not be deficient.Sir Adolphus Oughton, then our Deputy Commander in Chief, who was notonly an excellent officer, but one of the most universal scholars I everknew, had learned the Erse language, and expressed his belief in theauthenticity of Ossian's Poetry[120]. Dr. Johnson took the opposite sideof that perplexed question; and I was afraid the dispute would have runhigh between them. But Sir Adolphus, who had a very sweet temper,changed the discourse, grew playful, laughed at Lord Monboddo's[121]notion of men having tails, and called him a Judge, _a posteriori_,which amused Dr. Johnson; and thus hostilities were prevented.At supper[122] we had Dr. Cullen, his son the advocate, Dr. AdamFergusson, and Mr. Crosbie, advocate. Witchcraft was introduced[123].Mr. Crosbie said, he thought it the greatest blasphemy to suppose evilspirits counteracting the Deity, and raising storms, for instance, todestroy his creatures. JOHNSON. 'Why, Sir, if moral evil be consistentwith the government of the Deity, why may not physical evil be alsoconsistent with it? It is not more strange that there should be evilspirits, than evil men: evil unembodied spirits, than evil embodiedspirits. And as to storms, we know there are such things; and it is noworse that evil spirits raise them, than that they rise.' CROSBIE. 'Butit is not credible, that witches should have effected what they are saidin stories to have done.' JOHNSON. 'Sir, I am not defending theircredibility. I am only saying, that your arguments are not good, andwill not overturn the belief of witchcraft.--(Dr. Fergusson said to me,aside, 'He is right.')--And then, Sir, you have all mankind, rude andcivilized, agreeing in the belief of the agency of preternatural powers.You must take evidence: you must consider, that wise and great men havecondemned witches to die[124].' CROSBIE. 'But an act of parliament putan end to witchcraft[125].' JOHNSON. 'No, Sir; witchcraft had ceased;and therefore an act of parliament was passed to prevent persecution forwhat was not witchcraft. Why it ceased, we cannot tell, as we cannottell the reason of many other things.'--Dr. Cullen, to keep up thegratification of mysterious disquisition, with the grave address forwhich he is remarkable in his companionable as in his professionalhours, talked, in a very entertaining manner, of people walking andconversing in their sleep. I am very sorry I have no note of this. Wetalked of the _Ouran-Outang_, and of Lord Monboddo's thinking that hemight be taught to speak. Dr. Johnson treated this with ridicule. Mr.Crosbie said, that Lord Monboddo believed the existence of every thingpossible; in short, that all which is in _posse_ might be found in_esse_. JOHNSON. 'But, Sir, it is as possible that the _Ouran-Outang_does not speak, as that he speaks. However, I shall not contest thepoint. I should have thought it not possible to find a Monboddo; yet_he_ exists.' I again mentioned the stage. JOHNSON. 'The appearance of aplayer, with whom I have drunk tea, counteracts the imagination that heis the character he represents. Nay, you know, nobody imagines that heis the character he represents. They say, "See _Garrick!_ how he looksto night! See how he'll clutch the dagger!" That is the buz of thetheatre[126].'TUESDAY, AUGUST 17.Sir William Forbes came to breakfast, and brought with him Dr.Blacklock[127], whom he introduced to Dr. Johnson, who received him witha most humane complacency; 'Dear Dr. Blacklock, I am glad to see you!'Blacklock seemed to be much surprized, when Dr. Johnson said, 'it waseasier to him to write poetry than to compose his _Dictionary_[128]. Hismind was less on the stretch in doing the one than the other. Besides;composing a _Dictionary_ requires books and a desk: you can make a poemwalking in the fields, or lying in bed. Dr. Blacklock spoke ofscepticism in morals and religion, with apparent uneasiness, as if hewished for more certainty[129]. Dr. Johnson, who had thought it allover, and whose vigorous understanding was fortified by much experience,thus encouraged the blind Bard to apply to higher speculations what weall willingly submit to in common life: in short, he gave him morefamiliarly the able and fair reasoning of Butler's _Analogy_: 'Why, Sir,the greatest concern we have in this world, the choice of ourprofession, must be determined without demonstrative reasoning. Humanlife is not yet so well known, as that we can have it. And take the caseof a man who is ill. I call two physicians: they differ in opinion. I amnot to lie down, and die between them: I must do something.' Theconversation then turned on Atheism; on that horrible book, _Systeme dela Nature_[130]; and on the supposition of an eternal necessity, withoutdesign, without a governing mind. JOHNSON. 'If it were so, why has itceased? Why don't we see men thus produced around us now? Why, at least,does it not keep pace, in some measure, with the progress of time? Ifit stops because there is now no need of it, then it is plain there is,and ever has been, an all powerful intelligence. But stay! (said he,with one of his satyrick laughs[131].) Ha! ha! ha! I shall supposeScotchmen made necessarily, and Englishmen by choice.'At dinner this day, we had Sir Alexander Dick, whose amiable character,and ingenious and cultivated mind, are so generally known; (he was thenon the verge of seventy, and is now (1785) eighty-one, with hisfaculties entire, his heart warm, and his temper gay;) Sir David