The Life of Samuel Johnson - James Boswell [836]
d I am inclined to think that he was misinformed as to this circumstance. I own I am jealous for my worthy friend Dr. John Campbell. For though Milton could without remorse absent himself from publick worship I cannot. On the contrary, I have the same habitual impressions upon my mind, with those of a truly venerable Judge, who said to Mr. Langton, ‘Friend Langton, if I have not been at church on Sunday, I do not feel myself easy.’ Dr. Campbell was a sincerely religious man. Lord Macartney, who is eminent for his variety of knowledge, and attention to men of talents, and knew him well, told me, that when he called on him in a morning, he found him reading a chapter in the Greek New Testament, which he informed his Lordship was his constant practice. The quantity of Dr. Campbell’s composition is almost incredible, and his labours brought him large profits. Dr. Joseph Warton told me that Johnson said of him, ‘He is the richest authour that ever grazed the common of literature.’
a The northern bard mentioned page 223. When I asked Dr. Johnson’s permission to introduce him, he obligingly agreed; adding, however, with a sly pleasantry, ‘but he must give us none of his poetry.’ It is remarkable that Johnson and Churchill, however much they differed in other points, agreed on this subject. See Churchill’s Journey. It is, however, but justice to Dr. Ogilvie to observe, that his Day of Judgement has no inconsiderable share of merit.
a When I mentioned the same idle clamour to him several years afterwards, he said, with a smile, ‘I wish my pension were twice as large, that they might make twice as much noise.’
a Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd edit. p. 402 {10 Nov.}.
b He used to tell, with great humour, from my relation to him, the following little story of my early years, which was literally true: ‘Boswell, in the year 1745, was a fine boy, wore a white cockade, and prayed for King James, till one of his uncles (General Cochran) gave him a shilling on condition that he should pray for King George, which he accordingly did. So you see (says Boswell) that Whigs of all ages are made the same way.’
c Letter to Rutland on Travel, i6mo. 1569.
a This one Mrs. Macaulay was the same personage who afterwards made herself so much known as ‘the celebrated female historian.’
a This opinion was given by him more at large at a subsequent period. See Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd edit. p. 32 {16 Aug.}.
a I fully intended to have followed advice of such weight; but having staid much longer both in Germany and Italy than I proposed to do, and having also visited Corsica, I found that I had exceeded the time allowed me by my father, and hastened to France in my way homewards.
b Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd edit. p. 104 {27 Aug.}.
c Ibid. p. 142 {p. 242, 22 Sept.}.
a He published a biographical work, containing an account of eminent writers, in three vols. 8vo.
a All who are acquainted with the history of religion, (the most important, surely, that concerns the human mind,) know that the appellation of Methodists was first given to a society of students in the University of Oxford, who about the year 1730 were distinguished by an earnest and methodical attention to devout exercises. This disposition of mind is not a novelty, or peculiar to any sect, but has been, and still may be found, in many Christians of every denomination. Johnson himself was, in a dignified manner, a Methodist. In his Rambler, No. 110, he mentions with respect ‘the whole discipline of regulated piety;’ and in his Prayers and Meditations, many instances occur of his anxious