The Life of Samuel Johnson - James Boswell [851]
a Which term I applied to all the heirs male.
a I had reminded him of his observation mentioned, ante, p. 400.
a The entail framed by my father with various judicious clauses, was executed by him and me, settling the estate upon the heirs male of his grandfather, which I found had been already done by my grandfather, imperfectly, but so as to be defeated only by selling the lands. I was freed by Dr. Johnson from scruples of conscientious obligation, and could, therefore, gratify my father. But my opinion and partiality for male succession, in its full extent, remained unshaken. Yet let me not be thought harsh or unkind to daughters: for my notion is, that they should be treated with great affection and tenderness, and always participate of the prosperity of the family.
a A letter to him on the interesting subject of the family settlement, which I had read.
a I suppose the complaint was, that the trustees of the Oxford Press did not allow the London booksellers a sufficient profit upon vending their publications.
a I am happy in giving this full and clear statement to the publick, to vindicate, by the authority of the greatest authour of his age, that respectable body of men, the Booksellers of London, from vulgar reflections, as if their profits were exorbitant, when, in truth, Dr. Johnson has here allowed them more than they usually demand.
b He said, when in Scotland, that he was Johnson of that Ilk.
c See ante, p. 221.
a The privilege of perpetuating in a family an estate and arms indefeasibly from generation to generation, is enjoyed by none of his Majesty’s subjects except in Scotland, where the legal fiction of fine and recovery is unknown. It is a privilege so proud, that I should think it would be proper to have the exercise of it dependent on the royal prerogative. It seems absurd to permit the power of perpetuating their representation, to men, who having had no eminent merit, have truly no name. The King, as the impartial father of his people, would never refuse to grant the privilege to those who deserved it.
a It has been mentioned to me by an accurate English friend, that Dr. Johnson could never have used the phrase almost nothing, as not being English;555 and therefore I have put another in its place. At the same time, I am not quite convinced it is not good English. For the best writers use the phrase ‘Little or nothing;’ i.e. almost so little as to be nothing.
a Sir John Hawkins has preserved very few Memorabilia of JOHNSON. There is, however, to be found, in his bulky tome, a very excellent one upon this subject: – ‘In contradiction to those, who, having a wife and children, prefer domestick enjoyments to those which a tavern affords, I have heard him assert, that a tavern chair was the throne of human felicity. – “As soon,” said he, “as I enter the door of a tavern, I experience an oblivion of care, and a freedom from solicitude: when I am seated, I find the master courteous, and the servants obsequious to my call; anxious to know and ready to supply my wants: wine there exhilarates my spirits, and prompts me to free conversation and an interchange of discourse with those whom I most love: I dogmatise and am contradicted, and in this conflict of opinions and sentiments I find delight.” ‘561
b We happened to lie this night at the inn at Henley, where Shenstone wrote these lines. I give them as they are found in the corrected edition of his Works, published after his death. In Dodsley’s collection the stanza ran thus: –
‘Whoe’er has travell’d life’s dull round,
Whate’er his various tour has been.
May sigh to think how oft he found
His warmest welcome at an Inn.’
c ‘He too often makes use of the abstract for the concrete.’ Shenstone.
a Such is this little laughable incident, which has