The Life of Samuel Johnson - James Boswell [579]
[Here he said, ‘GOD bless you with it.’ I acknowledged myself much obliged to him; but I begged that he would go on as to the propitiation being the chief object of our most holy faith. He then dictated this one other paragraph.]
‘The peculiar doctrine of Christianity is, that of an universal sacrifice, and perpetual propitiation. Other prophets only proclaimed the will and the threatenings of GOD. CHRIST satisfied his justice.’
The Reverend Mr. Palmer,a Fellow of Queen’s-College, Cambridge, dined with us. He expressed a wish that a better provision were made for parish-clerks. JOHNSON. ‘Yes, Sir, a parish-clerk should be a man who is able to make a will, or write a letter for any body in the parish.’
I mentioned Lord Monboddo’s notionb that the ancient Egyptians, with all their learning, and all their arts, were not only black, but woolly-haired. Mr. Palmer asked how did it appear upon examining the mummies? Dr. Johnson approved of this test.
Although upon most occasions I never heard a more strenuous advocate for the advantages of wealth, than Dr. Johnson: he this day, I know not from what caprice, took the other side. ‘I have not observed (said he,) that men of very large fortunes enjoy any thing extraordinary that makes happiness. What has the Duke of Bedford? What has the Duke of Devonshire? The only great instance that I have ever known of the enjoyment of wealth was, that of Jamaica Dawkins, who, going to visit Palmyra, and hearing that the way was infested by robbers, hired a troop of Turkish horse to guard him.’
Dr. Gibbons, the Dissenting minister, being mentioned, he said, ‘I took to Dr. Gibbons.’ And addressing himself to Mr. Charles Dilly, added, ‘I shall be glad to see him. Tell him, if he’ll call on me, and dawdle over a dish of tea in an afternoon, I shall take it kind.’
The Reverend Mr. Smith, Vicar of Southill, a very respectable man, with a very agreeable family, sent an invitation to us to drink tea. I remarked Dr. Johnson’s very respectful politeness. Though always fond of changing the scene, he said, ‘We must have Mr. Dilly’s leave. We cannot go from your house, Sir, without your permission.’ We all went, and were well satisfied with our visit. I however remember nothing particular, except a nice distinction which Dr. Johnson made with respect to the power of memory, maintaining that forgetfulness was a man’s own fault. ‘To remember and to recollect (said he,) are different things. A man has not the power to recollect what is not in his mind; but when a thing is in his mind he may remember it.’ The remark was occasioned by my leaning back on a chair, which a little before I had perceived to be broken, and pleading forgetfulness as an excuse. ‘Sir, (said he,) its being broken was certainly in your mind.’
When I observed that a housebreaker was in general very timorous; JOHNSON. ‘No wonder, Sir; he is afraid of being shot getting into a house, or hanged when he has got out of it.’
He told us, that he had in one day written six sheets of a translation from the French, adding, ‘I should be glad to see it now. I wish that I had copies of all the pamphlets written against me, as it is said Pope had. Had I known that I should make so much noise in the world, I should have been at pains to collect them. I believe there is hardly a day in which there is not something about me in the newspapers.’
On Monday, June 4, we all went to Luton-Hoe, to see Lord Bute’s magnificent seat, for which I had obtained a ticket. As we entered the park, I talked in a high style of my old friendship with Lord Mountstuart, and said, ‘I shall probably be much at this place.’ The Sage, aware of human vicissitudes, gently checked me: ‘Don’t you be too sure of that.’ He made two or three peculiar observations; as when shewn the botanical garden, ‘Is not every garden a botanical garden?’ When told that there was a shrubbery to the extent of several miles: ‘That is making a very foolish