1783. I am very sorry that I did not take a note of an eloEtat, quent argument in which he maintained that the situ74. ation of Prince of Wales was the happiest of any person's in the kingdom, even beyond that of the Sovereign. I recollect only-the enjoyment of hope,-the high superiority of rank, without the anxious cares of government, and a great degree of power, both from natural influence wisely used, and from the sanguine expectations of those who look forward to the chance of future favour.

Sir Joshua Reynolds communicated to me the following particulars:

Johnson thought the poems published as translations from Ossiau, had so little merit, that he said, "Sir, a man might write such stuff for ever, if he would abandon his mind to it."

He said, "A man should pass a part of his time with the laughers, by which means any thing ridiculous or particular about him might be presented to his view, and corrected." I observed, he must have been a bold laugher who would have ventured to tell Dr. Johnson of any of his particularities."

Having observed the vain ostentatious importance of many people in quoting the authority of Dukes and Lords, as having been in their company, he said, he went to the other extreme, and did not mention his authority when he should have done it, had it not been that of a Duke or a Lord.

Dr. Goldsmith said once to Dr. Johnson, that he wished for some additional members to the LITERARY

The author of this line was first ascertained by Galleottus Martius, who died in 1476; as is observed in MENAGIANA, vol. iii. p. 130. edit. 1762. For an account of Philip Gualtier, see Vossius de Poet. Latin. p. 254, fol. 1697.

A line not less frequently quoted than any of the preceding, was suggested for enquiry, several years ago, in a Note on THE RAPE OF LUCRECE:

But the author of this verse has not, I believe, been discovered. M.]

I am happy, however, to mention a pleasing instance of his enduring with great gentleness to hear one of his most striking particularities pointed out :-Miss Hunter, a niece of his friend Christopher Smart, when a very young girl, struck by his extraordinary motions, said to him, " Pray, Dr. Johnson, why do you make such strange gestures?"-"From bad habit, (he replied.) Do you, my dear, take care to guard against bad habits." This I was told by the young lady's brother at Margate.

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Ætat.

CLUB, to give it an agreeable variety; for (said he,) 1783. there can now be nothing new among us: we have travelled over one another's minds. Johnson seemed 74. a little angry, and said, Sir, you have not travelled over my mind, I promise you." Sir Joshua, however, thought Goldsmith right; observing, that "when people have lived a great deal together, they know what each of them will say on every subject. A new understanding, therefore, is desirable; because though it may only furnish the same sense upon a question which would have been furnished by those with whom we are accustomed to live, yet this sense will have a different colouring; and colouring is of much effect in every thing else as well as in painting."

Johnson used to say that he made it a constant rule to talk as well as he could both as to sentiment and expression, by which means, what had been originally effort became familiar and easy. The consequence of this, Sir Joshua observed, was, that his common conversation in all companies was such as to secure him universal attention, as something above the usual colloquial style was expected.

Yet, though Johnson had this habit in company, when another mode was necessary, in order to investigate truth, he could descend to a language intelligible to the meanest capacity. An instance of this was witnessed by Sir Joshua Reynolds, when they were present at an examination of a little black-guard boy, by Mr. Saunders Welch, the late Westminster Justice. Welch, who imagined that he was exalting himself in Dr. Johnson's eyes by using big words, spoke in a manner that was utterly unintelligible to the boy; Dr. Johnson perceiving it, addressed himself to the boy, and changed the pompous phraseology into colloquial language. Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was much amused by this procedure, which seemed a kind of reversing of what might have been expected from the two men, took notice of it to Dr. Johnson, as they walked away by themselves. Johnson said, that it was continually the case; and that he was always obliged to translate the Justice's swelling diction, (smiling,) so as that his

1783. meaning might be understood by the vulgar, from whom information was to be obtained.

Etat.

74.

Sir Joshua once observed to him, that he had talked above the capacity of some people with whom they had been in company together. "No matter, Sir, (said Johnson;) they consider it as a compliment to be talked to, as if they were wiser than they are. So true is this, Sir, that Baxter made it a rule in every sermon that he preached, to say something that was above the capacity of his audience."s

Johnson's dexterity in retort, when he seemed to be driven to an extremity by his adversary, was very remarkable. Of his power in this respect, our common friend, Mr. Windham, of Norfolk, has been pleased to furnish me with an eminent instance. However unfavourable to Scotland, he uniformly gave liberal praise to George Buchanan, as a writer. In a conversation concerning the literary merits of the two countries, in which Buchanan was introduced, a Scotchman, imagining that on this ground he should have an undoubted triumph over him, exclaimed, "Ah, Dr. Johnson, what would you have said of Buchanan, had he been an Englishman ?""Why, Sir, (said Johnson, after a little pause,) I should not have said of Buchanan, had he been an Englishman, what I will now say of him as a Scotchman, that he was the only man of genius his country ever produced."

And this brings to my recollection another instance of the same nature. I once reminded him that when Dr. Adam Smith was expatiating on the beauty of Glasgow, he had cut him short by saying, "Pray, Sir, have you ever seen Brentford ?" and I took the liberty to add, My dear Sir, surely that was shocking.""Why, then, Sir, (he replied,) you have never seen Brentford."

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Though his usual phrase for conversation was talk, yet he made a distinction; for when he once told me

The justness of this remark is confirmed by the following story, for which I am indebted to Lord Eliot: A country Parson, who was remarkable for quoting scraps of Latin in his sermons, having died, one of his parishioners was asked how he liked his successor; " He is a very good preacher, (was his answer,) but no tatiner."

that he dined the day before at a friend's house, with 1783. "a very pretty company;" and I asked him if there Etat. was good conversation, he answered, "No, Sir; we 74. had talk enough, but no conversation; there was nothing discussed."

Talking of the success of the Scotch in London, he imputed it in a considerable degree to their spirit of nationality. "You know, Sir, (said he,) that no Scotchman publishes a book, or has a play brought upon the stage, but there are five hundred people ready to applaud him."

He gave much praise to his friend, Dr. Burney's elegant and entertaining travels, and told Mr. Seward that he had them in his eye, when writing his "Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland."

Such was his sensibility, and so much was he affected by pathetick poetry, that, when he was reading Dr. Beattie's "Hermit," in my presence, it brought tears into his eyes.9

He disapproved much of mingling real facts with fiction. On this account he censured a book entitled "Love and Madness."

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Mr. Hoole told him, he was born in Moorfields, and had received part of his early instruction in Grubstreet. "Sir, (said Johnson, smiling) you have been regularly educated." Having asked who was his instructor, and Mr. Hoole having answered, "My uncle, Sir, who was a taylor;" Johnson, recollecting himself, said, Sir, I knew him; we called him the metaphysical taylor. He was of a club in Old-street, with me and George Psalmanazar, and some others but pray, Sir, was he a good taylor ?" Mr. Hoole having answered that he believed he was too mathematical, and used to draw squares and triangles on his shop-board, so that he did not excel in the cut of a coat "-" I am sorry for it (said Johnson,) for I would have every man to be master of his own business."

9

In pleasant reference to himself and Mr. Hoole, as

[The particular passage which excited this strong emotion, was, as I have heard from my father, the third stanza, " "Tis night," &c. J. B.-O.]

1783. brother authours, he often said, "Let you and I, Sir, Etat, go together, and eat a beef-steak in Grub-street."

74.

Sir William Chambers, that great Architect whose works shew a sublimity of genius, and who is esteemed by all who know him, for his social, hospitable, and generous qualities, submitted the manuscript of his "Chinese Architecture," to Dr. Johnson's perusal. Johnson was much pleased with it, and said, "It wants no addition nor correction, but a few lines of introduction;" which he furnished, and Sir William adopted."

He said to Sir William Scott, "The age is running mad after innovation; and all the business of the world is to be done in a new way; men are to be hanged in a new way; Tyburn itself is not safe from the fury of innovation." It having been argued that this was an improvement." No, Sir, (said he, eagerly,) it is not an improvement; they object, that the old method drew together a number of spectators. Sir, executions are intended to draw spectators. If they do not draw spectators, they don't answer their purpose. The old method was most satisfactory to all parties; the publick was gratified by a procession; the criminal was supported by it. Why is all this to be swept away?" I perfectly agree with Dr. Johnson upon this head, and am persuaded that executions now, the solemn procession being discontinued, have not nearly the effect which they formerly had. Magistrates both in London, and elsewhere, have, I am afraid, in this, had too much regard to their own ease.

,

The Honourable Horace Walpole, late Earl of Oxford, thus bears testimony to this gentleman's merit as a writer: Mr. Chambers's Treatise on Civil Architecture,' is the most sensible book, and the most exempt from prejudices, that ever was written on that science.-Preface to "Anecdotes of Painting in England.”

2 The introductory lines are these: "It is difficult to avoid praising too little or too much. The boundless panegyricks which have been lavished upon the Chinese learning, policy, and arts, shew with what power novelty attracts regard, and how naturally esteem swells into admiration.

"I am far from desiring to be numbered among the exaggerators of Chinese excellence. I consider them as great, or wise, only in comparison with the nations that surround them; and have no intention to place them in competition either with the ancients or with the moderns of this part of the world; yet they must be allowed to claim our notice as a distinct and very singular race of men: as the inhabitants of a region divided by its situation from all civilized countries, who have formed their own manners, and invented their own arts, without the assistance of example,"