The Life of Samuel Johnson - James Boswell [863]
a Now, at the distance of fifteen years since this conversation passed, the observation which I have had an opportunity of making in Westminster Hall has convinced me, that, however true the opinion of Dr. Johnson’s legal friend may have been some time ago, the same certainty of success cannot now be promised to the same display of merit. The reasons, however, of the rapid rise of some, and the disappointment of others equally respectable, are such as it might seem invidious to mention, and would require a longer detail than would be proper for this work.
a Ecclesiasticus. ch. xxxviii, verse 25. The whole chapter may be read as an admirable illustration of the superiority of cultivated minds over the gross and illiterate.
a 2nd edit. p. 53.
b Page 89.
c See Plott’s History of Staffordshire, p. 88, and the authorities referred to by him.
a I am told that Horace, Earl of Orford, has a collection of Bon-Mots by persons who never said but one.
b I am informed by Mr. Langton, that a great many years ago he was present when this question was agitated between Dr. Johnson and Mr. Burke; and, to use Johnson’s phrase, they ‘talked their best;’ Johnson for Homer, Burke for Virgil. It may well be supposed to have been one of the ablest and most brilliant contests that ever was exhibited. How much must we regret that it has not been preserved.
a Pope mentions,
‘Stretch’d on the rack of a too easy chair.’732
But I recollect a couplet quite apposite to my subject in Virtue, an Ethick Epistle, a beautiful and instructive poem, by an anonymous writer, in 1758; who, treating of pleasure in excess, says: –
‘Till languor, suffering on the rack of bliss,
Confess that man was never made for this.’733
a See ante, p. 560.
a Gray’s Elegy, 68.
a A daughter born to him.
b Mrs. Aston.
a See State Trials, vol. xi, p. 339, and Mr. Hargrave’s argument.
b The motto to it was happily chosen: –
‘Quamvis ille niger, quamvis tu candidus esses.’741
I cannot avoid mentioning a circumstance no less strange than true, that a brother Advocate in considerable practice, but of whom it certainly cannot be said, Ingenuas didicit fideliter artes,742 asked Mr. Maclaurin, with a face of flippant assurance, ‘Are these words your own?’
a The friendship between Mr. Welch and him was unbroken. Mr. Welch died not many months before him, and bequeathed him five guineas for a ring, which Johnson received with tenderness, as a kind memorial. His regard was constant for his friend Mr. Welch’s daughters; of whom, Jane is married to Mr. Nollekens the statuary, whose merit is too well known to require any praise from me.
b Dr. Percy, the Bishop of Dromore, humorously observed, that Levett used to breakfast on the crust of a roll, which Johnson, after tearing out the crumb for himself, threw to his humble friend. [Perhaps the word threw is here too strong. Dr. Johnson never treated Levett with contempt.]
a See this subject discussed in a subsequent page, under May 3, 1779 {p. 735}.
b Alluding to a line in his Vanity of Human Wishes, describing Cardinal Wolsey in his state of elevation: –
‘Through him the rays of regal bounty shine.’
a Daughter of Dr. Swinfen, Johnson’s godfather, and widow of Mr. Desmoulins, a writing-master.
a [The first edition was in 1492. Between that period and 1792, according to this account, there were 3600 editions. But this is very improbable.]
b See ante, p. 533.
c [Since this was written the attainder has been reversed; and Nicholas Barnewall is now a peer of Ireland with this title. The person mentioned in the text had studied physick, and prescribed gratis to the poor. Hence arose the subsequent conversation.]
a Literary Magazine, 1756, p. 37.
b The following plausible but overprudent counsel on this subject is given by an Italian writer, quoted by ‘Rbedi de generatione insectarum,’ with the epithet of ‘divini poette:’756
‘Sempre a quel ver ch’ha faccia di menzogna
De’ l’uom chiuder