约翰逊4-6-90

We dined with Mr. Myddelton, the clergyman, at Denbigh, where I saw theharvest-men very decently dressed, after the afternoon service, standingto be hired. On other days, they stand at about four in the morning.They are hired from day to day.SEPTEMBER 6.We lay at Wrexham; a busy, extensive, and well built town. It has a verylarge and magnificent Church. It has a famous fair.SEPTEMBER 7.We came to Chirk Castle.SEPTEMBER 8, THURSDAY.We came to the house of Dr. Worthington[1234], at Llanrhaiadr. Ourentertainment was poor, though his house was not bad. The situation isvery pleasant, by the side of a small river, of which the bank riseshigh on the other side, shaded by gradual rows of trees. The gloom, thestream, and the silence, generate thoughtfulness. The town is old, andvery mean, but has, I think, a market. In this house, the Welshtranslation of the Old Testament was made. The Welsh singing Psalms werewritten by Archdeacon Price. They are not considered as elegant, but asvery literal, and accurate.We came to Llanrhaiadr, through Oswestry; a town not very little, norvery mean. The church, which I saw only at a distance, seems to be anedifice much too good for the present state of the place.SEPTEMBER 9.We visited the waterfall, which is very high, and in rainy weather verycopious. There is a reservoir made to supply it. In its fall, it hasperforated a rock. There is a room built for entertainment. There wassome difficulty in climbing to a near view. Lord Lyttelton[1235] camenear it, and turned back.When we came back, we took some cold meat, and notwithstanding theDoctor's importunities, went that day to Shrewsbury.SEPTEMBER 10.I sent for Gwynn[1236], and he shewed us the town. The walls arebroken, and narrower than those of Chester. The town is large, and hasmany gentlemen's houses, but the streets are narrow. I saw Taylor'slibrary. We walked in the Quarry; a very pleasant walk by theriver.[1237] Our inn was not bad.SEPTEMBER 11.Sunday. We were at St. Chads, a very large and luminous Church. We wereon the Castle Hill.SEPTEMBER 12.We called on Dr. Adams,[1238] and travelled towards Worcester, throughWenlock; a very mean place, though a borough. At noon, we came toBridgenorth, and walked about the town, of which one part stands on ahigh rock; and part very low, by the river. There is an old tower,which, being crooked, leans so much, that it is frightful to pass by it.In the afternoon we came through Kinver, a town in Staffordshire; neatand closely built. I believe it has only one street.The road was so steep and miry, that we were forced to stop atHartlebury, where we had a very neat inn, though it made a very poorappearance.SEPTEMBER 13.We came to Lord Sandys's, at Ombersley, where we were treated with greatcivility.[1239]The house is large. The hall is a very noble room.SEPTEMBER 15.We went to Worcester, a very splendid city. The Cathedral is very noble,with many remarkable monuments. The library is in the Chapter House. Onthe table lay the _Nuremberg Chronicle_, I think, of the first edition.We went to the china warehouse. The Cathedral has a cloister. The longaisle is, in my opinion, neither so wide nor so high as that ofLichfield.SEPTEMBER 16.We went to Hagley, where we were disappointed of the respect andkindness that we expected[1240].SEPTEMBER 17.We saw the house and park, which equalled my expectation. The house isone square mass. The offices are below. The rooms of elegance on thefirst floor, with two stories of bedchambers, very well disposed aboveit. The bedchambers have low windows, which abates the dignity of thehouse. The park has one artificial ruin[1241], and wants water; thereis, however, one temporary cascade. From the farthest hill there is avery wide prospect.I went to church. The church is, externally, very mean, and is thereforediligently hidden by a plantation. There are in it several modernmonuments of the Lytteltons.There dined with us, Lord Dudley, and Sir Edward Lyttelton, ofStaffordshire, and his Lady. They were all persons of agreeableconversation.I found time to reflect on my birthday, and offered a prayer, which Ihope was heard.SEPTEMBER 19.We made haste away from a place, where all were offended[1242]. In theway we visited the Leasowes[1243]. It was rain, yet we visited all thewaterfalls. There are, in one place, fourteen falls in a short line. Itis the next place to Ham Gardens[1244]. Poor Shenstone never tasted hispension. It is not very well proved that any pension was obtained forhim. I am afraid that he died of misery[1245].We came to Birmingham, and I sent for Wheeler, whom I found well.SEPTEMBER 20.We breakfasted with Wheeler,[1246] and visited the manufacture of PapierMache. The paper which they use is smooth whited brown; the varnish ispolished with rotten stone. Wheeler gave me a tea-board. We then went toBoulton's,[1247] who, with great civility, led us through his shops. Icould not distinctly see his enginery.Twelve dozen of buttons for three shillings.[1248] Spoons struck atonce.SEPTEMBER 21.Wheeler came to us again.We came easily to Woodstock.SEPTEMBER 22.We saw Blenheim and Woodstock Park.[1249] The Park contains two thousandfive hundred acres; about four square miles. It has red deer. Mr.Bryant[1250] shewed me the Library with great civility. _DurandiRationale_, 1459[1251]. Lascaris' _Grammar_ of the first edition, wellprinted, but much less than later editions[1252]. The first_Batrachomyomachia_[1253].The Duke sent Mr. Thrale partridges and fruit.At night we came to Oxford.SEPTEMBER 23.We visited Mr. Coulson[1254]. The Ladies wandered about the University.SEPTEMBER 24.We dine with Mr. Coulson. Vansittart[1255] told me his distemper.Afterwards we were at Burke's, where we heard of the dissolution of theParliament. We went home[1256].FOOTNOTES:[1] See _ante_, ii. 434, note 1, and iii. 209.[2] His _Account of Corsica_, published in 1768.[3] Horace Walpole wrote on Nov.6, 1769 (_Letters_, v. 200):--'I foundPaoli last week at Court. The King and Queen both took great notice ofhim. He has just made a tour to Bath, Oxford, &c., and was everywherereceived with much distinction.' See _ante_, ii. 71.[4] Boswell, when in London, was 'his constant guest.' Ante, iii 35.[5] Boswell's son James says that 'in 1785 Mr. Malone was shewn at Mr.Baldwin's printing-house a sheet of the _Tour to the Hebrides_which contained Johnson's character. He was so much struck with thespirit and fidelity of the portrait that he requested to be introducedto its writer. From this period a friendship took place between them,which ripened into the strictest and most cordial intimacy. After Mr.Boswell's death in 1795 Mr. Malone continued to shew every mark ofaffectionate attention towards his family.' _Gent. Mag._ 1813, p. 518.[6] Malone began his edition of _Shakespeare_ in 1782; he brought it outin 1790. Prior's _Malone_, pp. 98, 166.[7] Boswell in the 'Advertisement' to the second edition, dated Dec. 20,1785, says that 'the whole of the first impression has been sold in afew weeks.' Three editions were published within a year, but the fourthwas not issued till 1807. A German translation was published in Luebeckin 1787. I believe that in no language has a translation been publishedof the _Life of Johnson_. Johnson was indeed, as Boswell often callshim, 'a trueborn Englishman'--so English that foreigners could neitherunderstand him nor relish his _Life_.[8] The man thus described is James I.[9] See _ante_, i. 450 and ii. 291.[10] _A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland_. Johnson's _Works_ix. 1.[11] See _ante_, i. 450. On a copy of Martin in the Advocates' Library[Edinburgh] I found the following note in the handwriting of Mr.Boswell:--'This very book accompanied Mr. Samuel Johnson and me in ourTour to the Hebrides.' UPCOTT. Croker's _Boswell_, p. 267.[12] Macbeth, act i. sc. 3.[13] See _ante_, iii. 24, and _post_, Nov. 10.[14] Our friend Edmund Burke, who by this time had received some prettysevere strokes from Dr. Johnson, on account of the unhappy difference intheir politicks, upon my repeating this passage to him, exclaimed 'Oilof vitriol !' BOSWELL.[15] _Psalms_, cxli. 5.[16] 'We all love Beattie,' he had said. _Ante_, ii. 148.[17] This, I find, is a Scotticism. I should have said, 'It will not belong before we shall be at Marischal College.' BOSWELL. In spite of thiswarning Sir Walter Scott fell into the same error. 'The light foot ofMordaunt was not long of bearing him to Jarlok [Jarlshof].' _Pirate_,ch. viii. CROKER. Beattie was Professor of Moral Philosophy and Logic inMarischal College.[18] 'Nil mihi rescribas; attamen ipse veni.' Ovid, _Heroides_, i. 2.Boswell liked to display such classical learning as he had. When hevisited Eton in 1789 he writes, 'I was asked by the Head-master to dineat the Fellows' table, and made a creditable figure. I certainly havethe art of making the most of what I have. How should one who has hadonly a Scotch education be quite at home at Eton? I had my classicalquotations very ready.' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 308.[19] Gray, Johnson writes (_Works_, viii. 479), visited Scotland in1765. 'He naturally contracted a friendship with Dr. Beattie, whom hefound a poet,' &c.[20] _Post_, Sept. 12.[21] See _ante_, i. 274.[22] Afterwards Lord Stowell. He, his brother Lord Eldon, and Chamberswere all Newcastle men. See _ante_, i. 462, for an anecdote of thejourney and for a note on 'the Commons.'[23] See _ante_, ii. 453.[24] See _ante_, iv. III.[25] Baretti, in a MS. note on _Piozzi Letters_, i. 309, says:--'Themost unaccountable part of Johnson's character was his total ignoranceof the character of his most familiar acquaintance.'[26] Lord Pembroke said once to me at Wilton, with a happy pleasantry,and some truth, that 'Dr. Johnson's sayings would not appear soextraordinary, were it not for his _bow-wow way_:' but I admit the truthof this only on some occasions. The _Messiah_, played upon the_Canterbury organ_, is more sublime than when played upon an inferiorinstrument, but very slight musick will seem grand, when conveyed to theear through that majestick medium. _While therefore Dr. Johnson'ssayings are read, let his manner be taken along with them_. Let it,however, be observed, that the sayings themselves are generally great;that, though he might be an ordinary composer at times, he was for themost part a Handel. BOSWELL. See _ante_, ii. 326, 371, and underAug. 29, 1783.[27] See _ante_, i. 42.[28] See _ante_, i. 41.[29] Such they appeared to me; but since the first edition, Sir JoshuaReynolds has observed to me, 'that Dr. Johnson's extraordinary gestureswere only habits, in which he indulged himself at certain times. When incompany, where he was not free, or when engaged earnestly inconversation, he never gave way to such habits, which proves that theywere not involuntary.' I still however think, that these gestures wereinvoluntary; for surely had not that been the case, he would haverestrained them in the publick streets. BOSWELL. See _ante_, i. 144.[30] By an Act of the 7th of George I. for encouraging the consumptionof raw silk and mohair, buttons and button-holes made of cloth, serge,and other stuffs were prohibited. In 1738 a petition was presented toParliament stating that 'in evasion of this Act buttons and button-holeswere made of horse-hair to the impoverishing of many thousands andprejudice of the woollen manufactures.' An Act was brought in toprohibit the use of horse-hair, and was only thrown out on the thirdreading. _Parl. Hist._ x. 787.[31] Boswell wrote to Erskine on Dec. 8, 1761: 'I, James Boswell Esq.,who "am happily possessed of a facility of manners"--to use the verywords of Mr. Professor [Adam] Smith, which upon honour were addressed tome.' _Boswell and Erskine Corres_. ed. 1879, p. 26.[32] _Post_, Oct. 16.[33] _Hamlet_, act iii, sc. 4.[34] See _ante_, iv., March 21, 1783. Johnson is often reproached withhis dislike of the Scotch, though much of it was assumed; but no oneblames Hume's dislike of the English, though it was deep and real. OnFeb. 21, 1770, he wrote:--'Our Government is too perfect in point ofliberty for so rude a beast as an Englishman; who is a man, a bad animaltoo, corrupted by above a century of licentiousness.' J. H. Burton's_Hume_, ii. 434. Dr. Burton writes of the English as 'a people Hume soheartily disliked.' _Ib_. p. 433.[35] See _ante_, iv. 15.[36] The term _John Bull_ came into the English language in 1712, whenDr. Arbuthnot wrote _The History of John Bull_.[37] Boswell in three other places so describes Johnson. See _ante_,i.129, note 3.[38] See _ante_, i.467.[39] 'All nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues.' _Rev_. vii.9.[40] See _ante_, ii. 376[41] In Cockburn's _Life of Jeffrey_, i.157, there is a description ofEdinburgh, towards the close of the century, 'the last purely Scotch agethat Scotland was destined to see. Almost the whole official state, assettled at the Union, survived; and all graced the capital, unconsciousof the economical scythe which has since mowed it down. All our nobilityhad not then fled. The lawyers, instead of disturbing good company byprofessional matter, were remarkably free of this vulgarity; and beingtrained to take difference of opinion easily, and to conduct discussionswith forbearance, were, without undue obtrusion, the most cheerfulpeople that were to be met with. Philosophy had become indigenous in theplace, and all classes, even in their gayest hours, were proud of thepresence of its cultivators. And all this was still a Scotch scene. Thewhole country had not begun to be absorbed in the ocean of London.According to the modern rate of travelling [written in 1852] thecapitals of Scotland and of England were then about 2400 miles asunder.Edinburgh was still more distant in its style and habits. It had thenits own independent tastes, and ideas, and pursuits.' Scotland at thistime was distinguished by the liberality of mind of its leadingclergymen, which was due, according to Dr. A. Carlyle (_Auto_. p 57), tothe fact that the Professor of Theology under whom they had studied was'dull and Dutch and prolix.' 'There was one advantage,' he says,'attending the lectures of a dull professor--viz., that he could form noschool, and the students were left entirely to themselves, and naturallyformed opinions far more liberal than those they got from theProfessor.'[42] Chambers (_Traditions of Edinburgh_, ed. 1825, ii.297) says that'the very spot which Johnson's armchair occupied is pointed out by themodern possessors.' The inn was called 'The White Horse.' 'It derivesits name from having been the resort of the Hanoverian faction, theWhite Horse being the crest of Hanover.' Murray's _Guide to Scotland_,ed. 1867, p. 111.[43] Boswell writing of Scotland says:--'In the last age it was thecommon practice in the best families for all the company to eat milk, orpudding, or any other dish that is eat with a spoon, not by distributingthe contents of the dish into small plates round the table, but by everyperson dipping his spoon into the large platter; and when the fashion ofhaving a small plate for each guest was brought from the continent by ayoung gentleman returned from his travels, a good old inflexibleneighbour in the country said, "he did not see anything he had learntbut to take his broth twice." Nay, in our own remembrance, the use of acarving knife was considered as a novelty; and a gentleman of ancientfamily and good literature used to rate his son, a friend of mine, forintroducing such a foppish superfluity.'--_London Mag_. 1778, p.199.[44] See _ante_, ii. 403. Johnson, in describing Sir A. Macdonald'shouse in Sky, said:--'The Lady had not the common decencies of hertea-table; we picked up our sugar with our fingers.' _PiozziLetters_, i.138.[45] Chambers says that 'James's Court, till the building of the NewTown, was inhabited by a select set of gentlemen. They kept a clerk torecord their names and their proceedings, had a scavenger of their own,and had balls and assemblies among themselves.' Paoli was Boswell'sguest there in 1771. _Traditions of Edinburgh_, i. 219. It was burntdown in 1857. Murray's _Guide to Scotland_, ed. 1883, p.49. Johnsonwrote:--'Boswell has very handsome and spacious rooms, level with theground on one side of the house, and on the other four stories high.'_Piozzi Letters_, i. 109. Dr. J.H. Burton says that Hume occupied themjust before Boswell. He continues:--'Of the first impression made on astranger at that period when entering such a house, a vivid descriptionis given by Sir Walter Scott in _Guy Mannering_; and in CounsellorPleydell's library, with its collection of books, and the prospect fromthe window, we have probably an accurate picture of the room in whichHume spent his studious hours.' _Life of Hume_, ii. 137, 431. AtJohnson's visit Hume was living in his new house in the street which washumorously named after him, St. David Street. _Ib_. p. 436.[46] The English servant-girl in _Humphry Clinker_ (Letter of July 18),after describing how the filth is thus thrown out, says:--'The maidcalls _gardy loo_ to the passengers, which signifies _Lord have mercy