Chapter 2

_Johnson and Bishop Percy_.

(Vol. i, p. 486.)

Bishop Percy in a letter to Boswell says: 'When in 1756 or 1757 I became acquainted with Johnson, he told me he had lived twenty years in London, but not very happily.' --Nichols's _Literary History_, vii. 307.

_Barclay's Answer to Kenrick's Review of Johnson's 'Shakespeare.'_

(Vol. i, p. 498.)

Neither in the British Museum nor in the Bodleian have I been able to find a copy of this book. _A Defence of Mr. Kenricks Review_, 1766, does not seem to contain any reply to such a work as Barclay's.

_Mrs. Piozzi's 'Collection of Johnson s Letters.'_

(Vol. ii, p. 43, n. 2.)

MR. BOSWELL TO BISHOP PERCY. 'Feb. 9, 1788.

'I am ashamed that I have yet seven years to write of his life. ... Mrs. (Thrale) Piozzi's Collection of his letters will be out soon. ... I saw a sheet at the printing-house yesterday... It is wonderful what avidity there still is for everything relative to Johnson. I dined at Mr. Malone's on Wednesday with Mr. W. G. Hamilton, Mr. Flood, Mr. Windham, Mr. Courtenay, &c.; and Mr. Hamilton observed very well what a proof it was of Johnson's merit that we had been talking of him all the afternoon.' --Nichols's _Literary History_, vii. 309.

_Johnson on romantic virtue_.

(Vol. ii, P. 76.)

'Dr. Johnson used to advise his friends to be upon their guard against romantic virtue, as being founded upon no settled principle. "A plank," said he, "that is tilted up at one end must of course fall down on the other." '--William Seward, _Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons_, ii. 461.'

_'Old' Baxter on toleration_.

(Vol. ii, p. 253.)

The Rev. John Hamilton Davies, B.A., F.R.H.S., Rector of St. Nicholas's, Worcester, and author of _The Life of Richard Baxter of Kidderminster, Preacher and Prisoner_ (London, Kent & Co., 1887), kindly informs me, in answer to my inquiries, that he believes that Johnson may allude to the following passage in the fourth chapter of Baxter's Reformed Pastor:--

'I think the Magistrate should be the hedge of the Church. I am against the two extremes of universal license and persecuting tyranny. The Magistrate must be allowed the use of his reason, to know the cause, and follow his own judgment, not punish men against it. I am the less sorry that the Magistrate doth so little interpose.'

_England barren in good historians_.

(Vol. ii, p. 236, n. 2.)

Gibbon, writing of the year 1759, says:

'The old reproach that no British altars had been raised to the muse of history was recently disproved by the first performances of Robertson and Hume, the histories of Scotland and of the Stuarts.' --_Memoirs of Edward Gibbon_, ed. 1827, i. 103.

_An instance of Scotch nationality_.

(Vol. ii, p. 307.)

Lord Camden, when pressed by Dr. Berkeley (the Bishop's son) to appoint a Scotchman to some office, replied: 'I have many years ago sworn that I never will introduce a Scotchman into any office; for if you introduce one he will contrive some way or other to introduce forty more cousins or friends.' --G. M. _Berkeley's Poems_, p. ccclxxi.

_Mortality in the Foundling Hospital of London_.

(Vol. ii, p. 398.)

'From March 25, 1741, to December 31, 1759, the number of children received into the Foundling Hospital is 14,994, of which have died to December 31, 1759, 8,465.'--_A Tour through the Whole Island of Great Britain_, ed. 1769, vol. ii, p. 121. A great many of these died, no doubt, after they had left the Hospital.

_Mr. Planta_.

(Vol. ii, p. 399, n. 2.)

The reference is no doubt to Mr. Joseph Planta, Assistant-Librarian of the British Museum 1773, Principal Librarian 1799-1827. See Edwards' _Lives of the Founders of the British Museum_, pp. 517 sqq.; and Nichols's _Illustrations of Literature_, vol. vii, pp. 677-8.

'_Unitarian_'.

(Vol. ii, p. 408, n. 1.)

John Locke in his _Second Vindication of the Reasonableness of Christianity_ quotes from Mr. Edwards whom he answers:--'This gentleman and his fellows are resolved to be Unitarians; they are for one article of faith as well as One person in the Godhead.' --Locke's _Works_, ed. 1824, vi, 200.

_The proposed Riding School for Oxford_.

(Vol. ii, p. 424.)

My friend, Mr. C. E. Doble, has pointed out to me the following passage in _Collectanea_, First Series, edited by Mr. C. R. L. Fletcher, Fellow of All Souls College, and printed for the Oxford Historical Society, Oxford, 1885.

'The _Advertisement to Religion and Policy, by Edward Earl of Clarendon_, runs as follows:--

"Henry Viscount Cornbury, who was called up to the House of Peers by the title of Lord Hyde, in the lifetime of his father, Henry Earl of Rochester, by a codicil to his will, dated Aug. 10, 1751, left divers MSS. of his great grandfather, Edward Earl of Clarendon, to Trustees, with a direction that the money to arise from the sale or publication thereof, should be employed as a beginning of a fund for supporting a Manage or Academy for riding and other useful exercises in Oxford; a plan of this sort having been also recommended by Lord Clarendon in his Dialogue on Education. Lord Cornbury dying before his father, this bequest did not take effect. But Catharine, one of the daughters of Henry Earl of Rochester, and late Duchess Dowager of Queensbury, whose property these MSS. became, afterwards by deed gave them, together with all the monies which had arisen or might arise from the sale or publication of them, to [three Trustees] upon trust for the like purposes as those expressed by Lord Hyde in his codicil."

'The preface to the _Life of Edward Earl of Clarendon, written by himself_., has words to the same effect. (See also _Notes and Queries_, Ser. I. x. 185, and xi. 32.)

'From a letter in _Notes and Queries_, Ser. II. x. p. 74, it appears that in 1860 the available sum, in the hands of the Trustees of the Clarendon Bequest, amounted to £10,000. The University no longer needed a riding-school, and the claims of Physical Science were urgent; and in 1872 the announcement was made, that by the liberality of the Clarendon Trustees an additional wing had been added to the University Museum, containing the lecture-rooms and laboratories of the department of Experimental Philosophy.' Vol. i. p. 305.

_Boswell and Mrs. Rudd._

(Vol. ii, p. 450, n. 1.)

In Mr. Alfred Morrison's _Collection of Autographs_, vol. i. p. 103, mention is made among Boswell's autographs of verses entitled _Lurgan Clanbrassil_, a supposed Irish song.'

I have learnt, through Mr. Morrison's kindness, that 'on the document itself there is the following memorandum, signed, so far as can be made out, H. W. R.:--

"The enclosed song was written and composed by James Boswell, the biographer of Johnson, in commemoration of a tour he made with Mrs. Rudd whilst she was under his protection, for living with whom he displeased his father so much that he threatened to disinherit him.

"Mrs. Rudd had lived with one of the Perreaus, who were tried and executed for forgery. She was tried at the same time and acquitted.

"My father having heard that Boswell used to sing this song at the Home Circuit, requested it of him, and he wrote it and gave it him. H.W. R."'

"Feb. 1828."

Christopher Smart.

(Vol. ii, p. 454, n. 3.)

Mr. Robert Browning, in his Parleyings with Christopher Smart, under the similitude of 'some huge house,' thus describes the general run of that unfortunate poet's verse:--

'All showed the Golden Mean without a hint Of brave extravagance that breaks the rule. The master of the mansion was no fool Assuredly, no genius just as sure! Safe mediocrity had scorned the lure Of now too much and now too little cost, And satisfied me sight was never lost Of moderate design's accomplishment In calm completeness.'

Mr. Browning goes on to liken one solitary poem to a Chapel in the house, in which is found--

'from floor to roof one evidence Of how far earth may rival heaven.'

_Parleyings with certain People of Importance in their Day_ (pp. 80-82), London, 1887.

_Johnsons discussion on baptism--with Mr. Lloyd, the Birmingham Quaker_.

(Vol. ii, p. 458.)

In _Farm and its Inhabitants_ (_ante_, p. xlii), a further account is given of the controversy between Johnson and Mr. Lloyd the Quaker, on the subject of Barclay's _Apology_.

'Tradition states that, losing his temper, Dr. Johnson threw the volume on the floor, and put his foot on it, in denunciation of its statements. The identical volume is now in the possession of G. B. Lloyd, of Edgbaston Grove.

'At the dinner table he continued the debate in such angry tones, and struck the table so violently that the children were frightened, and desired to escape.

'The next morning Dr. Johnson went to the bank [Mr. Lloyd was a banker] and by way of apology called out in his stentorian voice, "I say, Lloyd, I'm the best theologian, but you are the best Christian.'" p. 41. It could not have been 'the next morning' that Johnson went to the bank, for he left for Lichfield on the evening of the day of the controversy (_ante_, ii. 461). He must have gone in the afternoon, while Boswell was away seeing Mr. Boulton's great works at Soho (ib. p. 459).

Mr. G. B. Lloyd, the great-grandson of Johnson's host, in a letter written this summer (1886), says: 'Having spent much of my boyhood with my grandfather in the old house, I have heard him tell the story of the stamping on the broad volume.'

Boswell mentions (ib. p. 457) that 'Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd, like their Majesties, had been blessed with a numerous family of fine children, their numbers being exactly the same.' The author of _Farm and its Inhabitants_ says (p. 46): 'There is a tradition that when Sampson Lloyd's wife used to feel depressed by the care of such a large family (they had sixteen children) he would say to her, "Never mind, the twentieth will be the most welcome."' His fifteenth child Catharine married Dr. George Birkbeck, the founder of the Mechanics' Institutes (ib. p. 48).

A story told (p. 50) of one of Mr. Lloyd's sons-in-law, Joseph Biddle, is an instance of that excess of forgetfulness which Johnson called 'morbid oblivion' (_ante_, v. 68). 'He went to pay a call in Leamington. The servant asked him for his name, he could not remember it; in perplexity he went away, when a friend in the street met him and accosted him, "How do you do, Mr. Biddle?" "Oh, Biddle, Biddle, Biddle, that's the name," cried he, and rushed off to pay his call.'

The editor is in error in stating (p. 45, n. 1) that a very poor poem entitled _A bone for Friend Mary to pick_, is by Johnson. It may be found in the _Gent. Mag._ for 1791, p. 948.

_Lichfield in 1783._

(Vol. ii, p. 461.)

C. P. Moritz, a young Prussian clergyman who published an account of a pedestrian tour that he made in England in the year 1782, thus describes Lichfield as he saw it on a day in June:--

'At noon I got to Lichfield, an old-fashioned town with narrow dirty streets, where for the first time I saw round panes of glass in the windows. The place to me wore an unfriendly appearance; I therefore made no use of my recommendation, but went straight through and only bought some bread at a baker's, which I took along with me.'--_Travels in England in 1782_, p. 140, by C. P. Moritz. Cassell's National Library, 1886.

The 'recommendation' was an introduction to an inn given him by the daughter of his landlord at Sutton, who told him 'that the people in Lichfield were, in general, very proud.' Travelling as he did, on foot and without luggage, he was looked upon with suspicion at the inns, and often rudely refused lodging.

_Richard Baxter's doubt_.

(Vol. ii, p. 477.)

The Rev. J. Hamilton Davies [See _ante_, p. xlix. 1] informs me that there can be no doubt that Johnson referred to the following passage in _Reliquiae Baxterianae_, folio edition of 1696, p. 127:--

'This is another thing which I am changed in; that whereas in my younger days I was never tempted to doubt of the Truth of Scripture or Christianity, but all my Doubts and Fears were exercised at home, about my own Sincerity and Interest in Christ--since then my sorest assaults have been on the other side, and such they were, that had I been void of internal Experience, and the adhesion of Love, and the special help of God, and had not discerned more Reason for my Religion than I did when I was younger, I had certainly apostatized to Infidelity,' &c.

Johnson, the day after he recorded his 'doubt,' wrote that he was 'troubled with Baxter's _scruple_' (_ante_, ii. 477). The 'scruple' was, perhaps, the same as the 'doubt.' In his _Dictionary_ he defines _scruple_ as _doubt; difficulty of determination; perplexity; generally about minute things_.

_Oxford in 1782_.

(Vol. iii, p. 13, n. 3.)

The Rev. C. P. Moritz (_ante_, p. liv) gives a curious account of his visit to Oxford. On his way from Dorchester on the evening of a Sunday in June, he had been overtaken by the Rev. Mr. Maud, who seems to have been a Fellow and Tutor of Corpus College[3], and who was returning from doing duty in his curacy. It was late when they arrived in the town. Moritz, who, as I have said, more than once had found great difficulty in getting a bed, had made up his mind to pass the summer night on a stonebench in the High Street. His comrade would not hear of this, but said that he would take him to an ale-house where 'it is possible they mayn't be gone to bed, and we may yet find company.' This ale-house was the Mitre.

'We went on a few houses further, and then knocked at a door. It was then nearly twelve. They readily let us in; but how great was my astonishment when, on being shown into a room on the left, I saw a great number of clergymen, all with their gowns and bands on, sitting round a large table, each with his pot of beer before him. My travelling companion introduced me to them as a German clergyman, whom he could not sufficiently praise for my correct pronunciation of the Latin, my orthodoxy, and my good walking.

'I now saw myself in a moment, as it were, all at once transported into the midst of a company, all apparently very respectable men, but all strangers to me. And it appeared to me extraordinary that I should thus at midnight be in Oxford, in a large company of Oxonian clergy, without well knowing how I had got there. Meanwhile, however, I took all the pains in my power to recommend myself to my company, and in the course of conversation I gave them as good an account as I could of our German universities, neither denying nor concealing that now and then we had riots and disturbances. "Oh, we are very unruly here, too," said one of the clergymen, as he took a hearty draught out of his pot of beer, and knocked on the table with his hand. The conversation now became louder, more general, and a little confused. ... At last, when morning drew near, Mr. Maud suddenly exclaimed, "D-n me, I must read prayers this morning at All Souls!" "D-n me" is an abbreviation of "G-d d-n me," which in England does not seem to mean more mischief or harm than any of our or their common expletives in conversation, such as "O gemini!" or "The deuce take me!" ... I am almost ashamed to own, that next morning, when I awoke, I had got so dreadful a headache from the copious and numerous toasts of my jolly and reverend friends that I could not possibly get up. --_Travels in England in 1782_, by C. P. Moritz, p. 123.

[Footnote 3: No such person appears in the _Catalogue of Graduates_.]

_Dr. Lettsom_.

(Vol. in, p. 68.)

Boswell in an _Ode to Mr. Charles Dilly_, published in the _Gent. Mag._ for 1791, p. 367, says that Dr. Lettsom 'Refutes pert Priestley's nonsense.'

_William Vachell_.

(Vol. iii, p. 83, n. 3.)

Mr. George Parker of the Bodleian Library informs me that William Vachell had been tutor to Prince Esterhazy, and that for many years he held the appointment of 'Pumper,' or Lessee of the baths at Bath. In 1776 and 1777 he paid as rental for them to the Corporation £525. He died on November 26, 1789. According to Mr. Ivor Vachell (_Notes and Queries_, 6th S. vii. 327), it was his eldest son who signed the Round Robin.

_Johnson and Baretti_.

(Vol. iii, p. 96, n. 1.)

Baretti in his _Tolondron_, p. 145, gives an account of a difference between himself and Johnson. Johnson sent to ask him to call on him, but Baretti was leaving town. When he returned the time for a reconciliation had passed, for Johnson was dead.

_English pulpit eloquence_.

(Vol. iii, p. 248.)

'Upon the whole, which is preferable, the philosophic method of the English, or the rhetoric of the French preachers? The first (though less glorious) is certainly safer for the preacher. It is difficult for a man to make himself ridiculous, who proposes only to deliver plain sense on a subject he has thoroughly studied. But the instant he discovers the least pretensions towards the sublime or the pathetic, there is no medium; we must either admire or laugh; and there are so many various talents requisite to form the character of an orator that it is more than probable we shall laugh.' --_Memoirs of Edward Gibbon_, ed. 1827, i. 118.

_Bishop Percy's communications to Boswell relative to Johnson_.

(Vol. iii, p. 278, n. 1.)

'JAMES BOSWELL TO BISHOP PERCY.

"9 April, 1790.

"As to suppressing your Lordship's name when relating the very few anecdotes of Johnson with which you have favoured me, I will do anything to oblige your Lordship but that very thing. I owe to the authenticity of my work, to its respectability, and to the credit of my illustrious friends [? friend] to introduce as many names of eminent persons as I can... Believe me, my Lord, you are not the only bishop in the number of great men with which my pages are graced. I am quite resolute as to this matter." '--Nichols's _Literary History_, vii. 313.

_Sir Thomas Brown's remark 'Do the devils lie? No; for then Hell could not subsist._'

(Vol. iii, p. 293.)

This remark, whether it is Brown's or not, may have been suggested by Milton's lines in _Paradise Lost_, ii. 496-9, or might have suggested them:--

'O shame to men! devil with devil damn'd Firm concord holds, men only disagree Of creatures rational.'

_Johnson on the advantages of having a profession or business_.

(Vol. iii, p. 309, n. 1.)

'Dr. Johnson was of opinion that the happiest as well as the most virtuous persons were to be found amongst those who united with a business or profession a love of literature.' --Seward's _Biographiana_, p. 599.

_Johnson's trips to the country_.

(Vol. iii, p. 453.)

I have omitted to mention Johnson's visit to 'Squire Dilly's mansion at Southill in June, 1781 (_ante_, iv. 118-132).

_Citations of living authors in Johnson's Dictionary_.

(Vol. iv, p. 4, n. 3.)

Johnson cites _Irene_ under _impostures_, and Lord Lyttelton under _twist_.

_Dr. Parrs evening with Dr. Johnson_. (Vol. iv, p. 15.)

The Rev. John Rigaud, B.D., Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, has kindly sent me the following anecdote of the meeting of Johnson and Parr:--

'I remember Dr. Routh, the old President of Magdalen, telling me of an interview and conversation between Dr. Johnson and Dr. Parr, in the course of which the former made use of some expression respecting the latter, which considerably wounded and offended him. "Sir," he said to Dr. Johnson, "you know that what you have just said will be known in four-and-twenty hours over this vast metropolis." Upon which Dr. Johnson's manner altered, his eye became calm, and he put out his hand, and said, "Forgive me, Parr, I didn't quite mean it." "But," said the President, with an amused and amusing look, "_I never could get him to tell me what it was Dr. Johnson had said!_" He spoke of seeing Dr. Johnson going up the steps into University College, dressed, I think, in a snuff-coloured coat.'

Dr. Martin Joseph Routh, who was President of Magdalen College for sixty-four years, was born in 1755 and died on December 22, 1854.

'_Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris_.'

(Vol. iv, p. 181, n. 3.)

Malone's note on _The Rape of Lucrece_ must have been, not as I conjectured on line 1111, but on lines 1581-2:--

'It easeth some, though none it ever cured, To think their dolour others have endured.'

With these lines may be compared Satan's speech in _Paradise Regained_,