James Boswell's 'Life of Johnson': An Edition of the Original Manuscript, in Four Volumes; Vol. 4: 1780-1784 9780748628551

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THE YALE EDITIONS OF

The Private Papers of James Boswell

RESEARCH EDITION Catalogue CATALOGUE OF THE PAPERS OF JAMES BOSWELL AT YALE UNIIVERSITY, by Marion S. Pottle, Claude Colleer Abbott, and Frederick A. Pottle, 3 Vols., 1993

Correspondence Volume 1

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF JAMES BOSWELL AND JOHN JOHNSTON GRANGE, edited by Ralph S. Walker, 1966

Volume 2

THE CORRESPONDENCE AND OTHER PAPERS OF JAMES BOSWELL REMAKING OF THE LIFE OF JOHNSON, edited by Marshall Waingrow, 1969; 2nd edition, corrected and enlarged, 2001

OF

LATING TO THE

Volume 3

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF JAMES BOSWELL WITH CERTAIN MEMBERS OF THE CLUB, edited by Charles N. Fifer, 1976

Volume 4

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF JAMES BOSWELL WITH DAVID GARRICK, EDMUND BURKE, AND EDMOND MALONE, edited by Peter S. Baker, Thomas W. Copeland, George M. Kahrl, Rachel McClellan, and James Osborn, with the assistance of Robert Mankin and Mark Wollaeger, 1986 i

Volume 5

THE GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE OF JAMES BOSWELL, 1766–1769, Vol 1: 1766–1767, edited by Richard C. Cole, with Peter S. Baker and Rachel McClellan, and with the assistance of James J. Caudle, 1993

Volume 6

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF JAMES BOSWELL AND WILLIAM JOHNSON TEMPLE, 1756–1795, Vol. 1: 1756–1777, edited by Thomas Crawford, 1997

Volume 7

THE GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE OF JAMES BOSWELL, 1766–1769, Vol. 2: 1768–1769, edited by Richard C. Cole, with Peter S. Baker and Rachel McClellan, and with the assistance of James J. Caudle, 1997

Volume 8

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF JAMES BOSWELL WITH JAMES BRUCE AND ANDREW GIBB, OVERSEERS OF THE AUCHINLECK ESTATE, edited by Nellie Pottle Hankins and John Strawhorn, 1998

Volume 9

THE GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE OF JAMES BOSWELL, 1757–1763, edited by David Hankins and James J. Caudle, 2006

Journals Volume 1

JAMES BOSWELL: THE JOURNAL OF HIS GERMAN 1764, edited by Marlies K. Danziger, 2008

AND

SWISS TRAVELS,

Life of Johnson JAMES BOSWELL’S LIFE OF JOHNSON: AN EDITION OF THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT, IN FOUR VOLUMES, Vol. 1: 1709–1765, edited by Marshall Waingrow, 1994 JAMES BOSWELL’S LIFE OF JOHNSON: AN EDITION OF THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT, IN FOUR VOLUMES, Vol. 2: 1766–1776, edited by Bruce Redford, with Elizabeth Goldring, 1998 JAMES BOSWELL’S LIFE OF JOHNSON: AN EDITION OF THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT, IN FOUR VOLUMES, Vol. 3: 1776–1780, edited by Thomas F. Bonnell, 2012 JAMES BOSWELL’S LIFE OF JOHNSON: AN EDITION OF THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT, IN FOUR VOLUMES, Vol. 4: 1780–1784, edited by Thomas F. Bonnell, 2019

ii

JAMES BOSWELL’S LIFE OF JOHNSON AN EDITION OF THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT

In Four Volumes Volume 4: 1780–1784

edited by

THOMAS F. BONNELL

EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS Edinburgh

YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS New Haven and London iii

© Yale University, 2019 Edinburgh University Press, 2019 The Tun — Holyrood Road 12 (2f) Jackson’s Entry Edinburgh EH8 8PJ Yale University Press New Haven and London Set in Goudy by the Yale Boswell Editions, New Haven, printed and bound in Great Britain A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library Edinburgh University Press HB 978-0-7486-0605-4 PDF 978-0-7486-2855-1 EPUB 978-1-4744-1024-3 Yale University Press ISBN 978-0-300-24371-0 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018949398 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo-copying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers. The paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39. 48–1992 (Permanence of Paper). Published by Yale University Press with the assistance of the Annie Burr Lewis Fund.

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Boswell’s Life of Johnson, Volume 4 General Editor: Gordon Turnbull Associate Editor: Andrew S. Heisel

BOSWELL’S LIFE OF JOHNSON: AN EDITION OF THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT IN FOUR VOLUMES VOLUME 4: 1780–1784

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Editorial Committee GEORGE A. DAVIDSON, J.D., Senior Counsel, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP. CONRAD K. HARPER, Chair pro tem, LL.B., LL.D., Retired Partner, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. E. C. SCHROEDER, Director, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. BARBARA SHAILOR, PH.D., Department of Classics and Medieval Studies Program, Yale University. GORDON TURNBULL, PH.D., General Editor, Yale Boswell Editions.

Advisory Committee LINDA J. COLLEY, M.A., PH.D., F.R.HIST.S., Shelby M. C. Davis 1958 Professor of History, Princeton University. THE EARL OF ELGIN AND KINCARDINE, K.T., Broomhall, Dunfermline, Fife. BERNHARD FABIAN, DR. PHIL., Professor of English Emeritus, University of Münster. MAURICE LÉVY, M. L. Richards Professor of English Emeritus, University of Toulouse. ROGER LONSDALE, M.A., D.PHIL., Emeritus Fellow, Balliol College, Oxford University. GIUSEPPE MAZZOTTA, PH.D., Sterling Professor of Italian Language and Literature, Yale University. RALPH MCLEAN, Manuscripts Curator (Long Eighteenth-Century Collections), Archives & Manuscript Collections, National Library of Scotland. PIERRE MORÈRE, Professor of English and Scottish Literature, Université Stendhal. RONALD H. PAULSON, PH.D., William D. and Robin Mayer Professor Emeritus in the School of Arts and Sciences, Johns Hopkins University. H. MAIRI J. ROBINSON, M.A., Member, Scottish Dictionaries Council. RICHARD B. SHER, PH.D., Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History, New Jersey Institute of Technology. STUART SHERMAN, PH.D., Professor of English, Fordham University.

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General Editorial Note THE research edition of the Private Papers of James Boswell consists of three coordinated series: Boswell’s journals in all their varieties, his correspondence, and the manuscript of the Life of Johnson. The undertaking is a co-operative one involving many scholars, and publication is proceeding in the order in which the volumes are completed for the press. The ‘reading’ or trade edition of Boswell’s journal began publication in 1950 and was completed in thirteen volumes in 1989. While the annotation of that edition primarily turned inwards towards the text, the annotation of the research edition turns outwards from the text as well so as to relate the documents to the various areas of scholarship which they can illuminate: history (literary, linguistic, legal, medical, political, social, local), biography, bibliography, and genealogy, among others. The comprehensiveness and coherence of the papers that Boswell chose to preserve make them highly useful for such treatment. The correspondence is appearing in three kinds of volumes: single-correspondent volumes; subject volumes of letters related to a topic or theme; and miscellaneouscorrespondence volumes of the remaining letters in chronological sequence. Boswell’s Life of Johnson: An Edition of the Original Manuscript is presented in an arrangement which shows the method and progress of the composition. The present volume, the fourth and final one in the sequence, completes the genetic transcription of the heavily revised manuscripts of Boswell’s biography.

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Acknowledgements FEW passages in the Life of Johnson manuscript are more heavily revised than those in which Boswell strives to acknowledge personal indebtedness—for hospitality at the tables and under the roofs of welcoming hosts, for encouragement that raised and nurtured his aspirations, for the intellectual entertainment of give-and-take conversation. Generosity in all these and other forms has been extended to me by Gordon Turnbull during my work on this edition. I am deeply grateful to him for making his house a home to me, for consultations in the Beinecke poring over the manuscript, and for improvements to every aspect of the volume stemming from his inexhaustible knowledge of Boswell. His expertise calls to mind what Boswell said when noting the help received by Johnson on his Lives of the Poets from Isaac Reed, ‘whose extensive and accurate knowledge of English literary History I do not express with exaggeration, when I say it is wonderful’. The editorial office of the Yale Boswell Editions provided indispensible help. The resourceful Andrew Heisel answered queries with alacrity and precision, and assisted in my work on the Index (the groundwork for which was laid by Kevin Berland’s preliminary draft). James Caudle offered useful leads in the early stages of the volume. Renee Pelletier, a 2017 undergraduate Mount Holyoke College Fellowship summer intern, solved several research puzzles. Among the contributions of the Warnock graduate student interns, Jerry Weng’s careful transcription of Boswell’s Register of Letters continued to be of great use. Administrative responsibilities were expertly handled by Nadine Honigberg. The distinctive challenges of typesetting the volume were deftly met by Mark Spicer; I owe him a special debt of gratitude for his skillful layout of the pages (many of them tricky and requiring close collaboration) and his patience in making countless adjustments to the footnotes, endnotes, and other features of the scholarly apparatus, at my direction. Marshall Waingrow once more deserves rich tribute: in addition to devising a transcription system for this series in the course of editing the first volume, he did the essential spadework for the edition with his magisterial Correspondence and Other Papers of James Boswell Relating to the Making of the ‘Life of Johnson’. I have benefited also from a trail of typed notecards placed among the leaves of the manuscript by Marion and Frederick Pottle, great pioneers in this field without whose labours modern Boswellian work would not be possible. Warmest thanks go to the Beinecke Library staff who took good care of me for sixteen years. At Houghton Library, essential help came from John Overholt. To Emily and Zoë, for their steadfast support and understanding, I give my most loving thanks. I have also been sustained by the friendship and aid of William Zachs and Martin Adam, James H. Johnson and Lydia Moland, Michael F. Suarez, SJ, and David Vander Meulen. Those who helped me to resolve questions in their special fields include Christopher Bond, Michael Bundock, Kate Chisholm, Thomas Kaminski, Renée Kingcaid, Allen Reddick, and John Shinners. The example of Gwin J. Kolb has inspired me throughout my career. Talking one day about the final parting of Boswell and Johnson in the summer of 1784, he told me he could never read that scene in the Life without emotion. This volume, containing that scene, I dedicate in grateful memory to Gwin. xi

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Contents Acknowledgements

xi

Preface

xv

Summary of Editorial Sigla

xix

Abbreviations and short titles

xx

Text

1

Appendices

333

Notes

338

Index

443

xiii

xiv

Preface THE opening and closing years covered in the fourth and final volume of this edition of the Life of Johnson manuscript find Boswell grappling with separation—including, ultimately, his own anxious separation from the enormous biographical task. Two occurrences of the word itself in the volume frame the enterprise, marking the end of the ‘long separation’ throughout 1780 and part of 1781 when Boswell was unable to visit Johnson (p. 57) and the ‘long long separation’ after 30 June 1784 when they parted from one another in London, for what would be the last time (p. 251). Both of these separations left voids in the sort of biographical record that Boswell prized most highly: the presentation of Johnson’s life ‘in scenes’ with conversation at their core, scenes largely witnessed and participated in by the biographer. To fill the first void he introduced a substantial assemblage of Johnsoniana provided by Bennet Langton. Filling the second void was less straightforward: unable to recount the final months of his subject’s life on the basis of his own observation, he had to rely on other sources of information, including Johnson’s letters to several correspondents—chronicling his declining health and (in Boswell’s emphasis) courage in the face of suffering—and summaries or quotations from letters he received that narrated Johnson’s last moments. Organizing these letters, a simple matter (in first draft) of chronological arrangement, became complex once Boswell (in revision) took stock of the competing interests, expressed earlier in the volume, between ‘exact chronology’ and the ‘connection of subjects’ (p. 185). A deviation from chronology alleviated the frustration he encountered in handling part of the year 1783: ‘Too nice chronology is very troublesome’, he told the compositor in a marginal note, opting ‘to go on without the transitions backwards & forwards’ (p. 164 n. 1). In a similar approach to the latter half of 1784, he presented Johnson’s letters to each of several recipients en bloc, without letter headings or sign-offs. The typesetting of each recipient’s name only once, with the contents of successive letters collapsed into single paragraphs, was a separate expedient to address a concurrent complexity, the need to limit the number of pages by which the second volume of the Life outgrew the first. (Its 586 pages of text, as compared with 516, led Boswell to place the ‘Alphabetical Table of Contents’—or index—in the first volume.) In an early sign of worry about the bulk of the second volume, he told the compositor, ‘Pray print the letters in as compact a manner as may be, because the Copy seems too much’ (p. 119 n. 6). Such directives as ‘Dont make NPs but only breaks —’ and ‘take in that letter without any I am &c.’ (pp. 170 n. 9, 271 n. 8) subsequently became a refrain. At least as daunting as the logistical challenge of relating Johnson’s demise was the psychological one. Some details were too unsettling to broach, like his opium-induced ‘horrors and visions’ and ‘comatous’ state (pp. 288 n. 1, 319 n. 4), and Boswell repeatedly deferred the death scene itself. On 18 January 1791, reporting progress to Malone, he tallied 200 pages of manuscript copy still to be typeset, plus many letters, ‘and the death which is not yet written’. By 10 February the count was down to 80 pages (apart from the letters), ‘besides the Death, as to which I shall be concise though solemn’. Boswell walked to Islington on 4 March and ‘talked of Johnson’s last illness’ with the Rev. George Strahan. Ultimately, he xv

PREFACE recounted the ‘particulars’ of the death scene by quoting a section of a letter from his brother Thomas David, who related what Francis Barber had told him. Barber was in the room when Johnson died, along with John Desmoulins, not his mother ‘Mrs. Desmoulins’, as Boswell mistakenly transcribed (p. 321 n. 4). Whether or not his erroneous drafting of ‘Mrs.’ where the letter read ‘Mr.’ stemmed from his anxiety in writing about Johnson’s death, this much is clear: having told Malone that he would be ‘concise though solemn’ in narrating the death scene, he kept postponing the task until it was too late. No death scene penned by him appeared in the first edition. In the second edition, in a brief paragraph above the excerpt from his brother’s letter, he offered his own version of Barber’s account, with every detail softened (p. 321 and n. 2). Further questions of tone and tact weighed on him as he revised his handling of two other exceptionally fraught topics: the unsuccessful pursuit of funds to enable the declining Johnson to travel to Italy, and Hester Thrale’s second marriage, along with her publication (as Mrs. Piozzi) of Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson, LL.D. In both cases, wholesale deletions and revisions of large swathes of copy in the manuscript show Boswell profoundly uncertain about what to include or cut, willing in first draft to elaborate on sensitive material that, in second and even third revisions, he found it necessary to curtail or suppress. The biographer himself had spearheaded the plan for Johnson’s Italian trip, but he returned to Scotland before the matter had been resolved. The ‘Pious Negociation’ was left to the management of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Vital to their plan was the petition to George III by Lord Thurlow for an increase in Johnson’s pension—explicit in the original draft (pp. 268–70). One pass of revision (pp. 270–71), however, persuaded Boswell that the topic was so delicate as to require consultation. ‘I went early to Sir William Scott’, he wrote in his journal (5 Feb. 1791), ‘and settled with him how I should mention Lord Thurlow’s application to the King’ (268 n. 9). Aided by this judge and fellow Club member, he decided to delete his entire account of the episode and rewrite the section without reference to the king, the mention of whom in passages anticipating the process likewise had to be erased, along with phrases verging on retrospective bitterness like ‘the Lottery of Royal favour’ (see pp. 238–40, 249–50). In the end, Boswell kept narrative to a minimum in the Paper Apart designated ‘Pious Negociation’, and featured Johnson’s correspondence instead: excerpts from two letters to Reynolds and one to Boswell himself, followed by his letter to Lord Thurlow in full. Expressions of gratitude filled these letters, with no explicit mention of the king, merely acknowledgements of ‘a refusal’ and ‘this cold reception’. Boswell alluded to ‘the application’ as well, but did so in a paragraph devoted to praise of Thurlow for his generous counter-proposal to Johnson: ‘that on granting a mortgage of his pension, he should draw on his Lordship to the amount of five or six hundred pounds’ (p. 272). Boswell’s last word on the subject was a one-sentence paragraph: ‘Upon this unexpected failure I abstain from presuming to make any remarks or form any conjectures’ (p. 273). In his original draft, that sentence did not close the subject in prudent silence; it was rather a rhetorical device to introduce a string of pained remarks and conjectures (p. 269). On 20 December 1784, one week after Johnson died, Charles Dilly wrote to urge Boswell to ‘announce [his] intention to publish the Life of Dr. Johnson’. Though he was unprepared to undertake the Life at that time, it made sense to capitalize on xvi

PREFACE the moment, so Boswell set to work revising the journal of his travels in 1773 with Johnson in Scotland. By the spring of 1785, when he drafted an advertisement for The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides in which he described the forthcoming Life, he had discovered a strategic purpose to the gestational period that the larger project would require: ‘He wishes first to have before him the numerous Lives and Memoirs with which the publick curiosity is soon to be gratified by others; … that … he may receive any particulars of value, may select what is genuine, and correct what is erroneous’ (p. 334). From the outset, then, another kind of ‘separation’ governed Boswell’s compositional practice—an intention to distance his own work and his own vision of Johnson from the efforts and visions of others. In this context, Mrs. Piozzi’s Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1786) was bound to supply passages ripe for correction. Boswell on first reading it began to single them out, as did Malone, who sanctioned the need to mark ‘how far true and where the falsehood commences’ in the ‘artful misrepresentations’ of Mrs. Piozzi and others (pp. 257 n. 9, 260 n. 6). Their combined criticism of passages deemed to be erroneous proved lengthy (pp. 256–68), and Boswell preceded it with an agonized and rambling reflection on the ‘unexpected catastrophe’ of Mrs. Thrale’s marriage to Gabriel Piozzi (pp. 251–56), little of which survived a second pass of revision. Eventually, Malone’s general bill of complaint launched this section, with specific rebuttals to two passages, followed by Boswell’s rebuttals to another six. Later yet, when reading these pages in proof, Boswell came to feel that their acerbic tone damaged his authority. The stakes were high enough once again for him to seek outside help. This time, wanting tactical assistance in revising the proof-sheets paragraph by paragraph to achieve a more fair-minded tone, Boswell turned to John Courtenay. The revises reveal the results of the changes they made on 22 February 1791 when, as his journal records, ‘Courtenay came about ten … and obligingly assisted me in lightening my animadversions on Mrs. Piozzi in my Life of Johnson—for my own credit’ (p. 260 n. 5). Another vexing target of rebuttal was Sir John Hawkins’s Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1787): Hawkins ‘unaccountably viewed Johnson’s character and conduct in almost every particular with an unhappy prejudice’ (p. 284). Especially troubling was an implication about Johnson’s fear of death: ‘the strange dark manner in which Sir John Hawkins imparts the uneasiness which he expressed on account of offences with which he charged himself may give occasion to injurious suspicions as if there had been something of more than ordinary criminality weighing upon his conscience’. The cause, Boswell explained, was Johnson’s sexual activity as a young man in London. In extenuation he wrote, ‘Let the subject be divested of moral and religious association and no man will deny that thousands in many instances act against conviction.’ Yet, to lessen the charge of hypocrisy against Johnson, in the most tortuous section of the draft, he started and deleted, started and deleted again, and at last formulated a rhetorical question that granted the moral law but challenged the intensity of condemnation for this human failing: ‘And why should the most delicious deviation from those laws which if once admitted are equally obligatory though not of equal importance be peculiarly branded as inferring duplicity?’ This sentence itself disappeared by the time the revises were printed, one more sign of Boswell’s vacillation over such delicate material. ‘I am conscious’, he confessed, ‘that this is the most difficult and dangerous part of my biographical work’ (pp. 307–11). xvii

PREFACE Beyond those particular anxieties over flawed depictions of Johnson, Boswell faced others as he confronted the need to achieve a balance between aspiration to comprehensiveness and his own need for a final separation from the seemingly endless labour. Several specific items of unfinished business awaited resolution. Boswell had to deliver on a promise (see Life MS iii. 117–18) to showcase prose specimens exhibiting traits of Johnson’s style by various authors. He put in an assortment of anecdotes chronologically belonging nowhere in particular, which he drafted at different times on the twelve pages of a Paper Apart suitably headed ‘Varia’. Another feature he contemplated appeared in his notes: ‘Qu Whether insert praises of him by their dates or give a graph at the conclusion’ (p. 323 n. 3). No graph materialized, but instead, a long footnote ‘enumerated’ the portraits, engravings, busts, and coins bearing Johnson’s likeness, evidence of ‘the extraordinary zeal of the artists to extend and perpetuate his image’ (pp. 324–25). Even while attending to these elements, Boswell had yet to decide how to manage closure. As late as 10 February 1791 he asked Malone, ‘Pray how shall I wind up. Shall I give the Character in my Tour, somewhat enlarged?’ Johnson’s ‘character’ at the opening of the Tour provided the reader with an image of Johnson to hold in mind as the book recounted their travels. The Life was to have begun the same way: ‘His person and manner should be painted early so as he may be seen as his life advances’ (p. 327 n. 7). This initial intention fell by the wayside; when revived three months before publication, the only place for it was the conclusion. Rather than an introductory feature, Boswell’s ‘painting’ of Johnson’s person and manner became a vital summation of his biographical subject, a verbal representation appropriately adjoining the list of pictorial representations, the final expression of his own artistic zeal to extend and perpetuate Johnson’s image. That image, as this four-volume manuscript edition has shown, resulted from years of assiduous drafting, shaping, and honing, of sometimes confident but often stressful—and always self-demandingly conscientious—vision and revision. The materials transcribed herein mirror and magnify those Boswell used to present ‘Various Readings’ from the Lives of the Poets, ‘a considerable part of the Manuscript of which in his own hand-writing as also of the proof-sheets is in Mr. Boswell’s possession’ (pp. 27, 335). Other handwritten documents, such as the ‘Petition of the City of London to his Majesty in favour of Dr. Dodd’, served the same purpose, as Boswell contrived a method to transcribe them, showing how they had been revised (pp. 29, 227). ‘An Authour’s language’, Johnson asserted, ‘is a characteristical part of his composition’, and in cases where the language is modernized, ‘we are not sure that the sense is the same’ (p. 230). Where copy is revised, the sense is definitely not the same. The genetic transcription of Boswell’s manuscript reveals several ‘characteristical’ authorial selves, rarely satisfied in his original draft, exacting in his multifarious revisions. Boswell fretted that his ‘Various Readings’ might be regarded by some as too ‘inconsiderable’, yet his rationale for including them covers the full range of revisions, from miniscule to expansive, transcribed in the present edition. To give Boswell himself the last word, ‘such small particulars are intended for those who are nicely critical in composition, to whom they will be an acceptable selection’ (p. 50). THOMAS F. BONNELL xviii

Summary of Editorial Sigla Symbol [

Denotes

Example

Change from an original draft to a later revision.

Johnson [exclaimed ‘I would not lead my life over again though an Archangel should request it.’>] acceded to that opinion in the strongest terms.

Alternative word(s) or phrase(s) interlined in MS, usually at the first draft stage.

… and without looking back sprung away with a kind of pathetick [briskness÷hurry>] briskness if I may use [that÷such an>] that expression which seemed to indicate a struggle to conceal uneasiness, and [was to me÷touched me as>] impressed me with a foreboding of our long long separation.

A later addition, ranging in scale from a single word to several paragraphs.

Once he asked Tom Davies ≤whom he saw drest in a fine suit of clothes ≥ ‘And what art thou tonight?’ Tom answered ‘The Thane of Ross’ ≤(which it will be recollected is a very inconsiderable part)≥. ‘O brave!’ said Johnson.

A later deletion, ranging in scale from a single word to several paragraphs.

I waited on him next evening and he gave me a great quantity of the original manuscript of his Lives of the Poets, which he had preserved for me [in a Bandbox which he took down from the top of his bed del].

/

An optional—grammatically independent—word or phrase, set off as such by JB in the MS by the use of virgules.

Johnson. ‘My Dear Freind clear [/the bottom of/ del] your mind of cant.’

>

Denotes a tear in the MS; letters or words within angle brackets are supplied through recourse to the printed proofs or other clues.

… he might have been very satisfied.

>]

÷

≤

≥

del

/


] hear none of his ≤admirable≥ sayings I shall compensate for this want by inserting a collection of them for which I am indebted2 [MS 3563] to my worthy friend Mr. Langton ≤whose kind communications have been separately interwoven in many parts of this work≥. A [very small proportion÷part of them were>] [very small part of this collection was>] [few parts of this collection were>] very few articles of this collection were committed to writing by himself, he not having [accustomed himself to del] that habit which he [himself del] regrets and which those who know the numerous opportunities he had of gathering the [richest fruits of Johnsonian wit and wisdom>] [richest fruits of our illustrious friend’s wit and wisdom>] rich fruits of Johnsonian wit and wisdom must ever regret. I however found in conversations with him that a [great>] good store of Johnsoniana was [in his mind÷treasured & I compared it÷him>] treasured in his mind & I compared it to Herculaneum or some old Roman field, which when dug, fully rewards the labour employed. The authenticity of every Article is [fully authenticated>] unquestionable. [For the arrangement and partly for the expression÷style, I who wrote them down [MS 357] in his presence am answerable.÷must answer. Johnsoniana from Mr. Langton4>]

20 21

For the expression, I who wrote them down in his presence am partly answerable. On the three leaves that form a ‘Continuation’ of MS 799, see Life MS iii. 304 n. 8. Directions to the compositor, ‘Go to p. 356 = to the foot / Then take in the Langtoniana leaving one line of space’. JB at first intended to introduce the Langtoniana under the year 1770 on MS 356, but later, as shown by a memorandum on that page, instructed himself to ‘Reserve this for another year when not in London’; he set the leaf aside for that eventuality. Instead of the Langtoniana, JB posted ‘Here Maxwell’ on MS 355v, a memorandum which he deleted after drafting a new version of MS 356 to introduce William Maxwell’s Collectanea (see Life MS ii. 61–62 and n. 5). 3 The leaf transcribed here is the original version of MS 356. (See note above.) The present sentence, as drafted and revised before JB pulled the leaf out of sequence, started as follows: ‘As during this year there was a total cessation of all correspondence between [him÷Dr. Johnson>] Dr. Johnson and me, without any [false start difference bet[ween]] [cause of difference or any offence>] coldness on either side but merely [I suppose added and del] from procrastination continued from day to day, ≤[for which I am utterly at a loss to account, del] and as I had no opportunity [false start of seeing] at this time of enjoying his company≥ I shall in order to supply the Blank introduce here a Collection of his memorabilia÷sayings at different times for which I am indebted ≤=≥’. For JB’s wish to introduce the Langtoniana with phrasing that differed from his introduction of Maxwell’s Collectanea, see Life MS iii. 311 n. 6. 4 Direction to the compositor, ‘take them in’, deleted on MS 357 with the copy above it, revised by JB in the process of transferring it to the foot of MS 356 when he repositioned the Langtoniana (see notes above). Writing on 1 Mar. 1790 from Oxford, Langton regretted their ‘distance of situation’, as JB had offered him ‘the reading over’ of the Johnsoniana then in hand to calm his ‘apprehension that some of the particulars 1 2

1

H-P iv. 2

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1780

[LJ No. 15] ‘Theocritus is not deserving of very high Respect as a Writer[;] as to the Pastoral part Virgil is very evidently superior. He wrote when there had been a larger influx of Knowledge into the World than when Theocritus lived; Theocritus does not abound in description though living in a beautiful Country — the manners painted are coarse & gross — Virgil has much more description, more Sentiment, more of Nature and more of Art — Some of the most excellent parts of Theocritus are where Castor & Pollux going with the other Argonauts land on the Bebrycian Coast and there fall into a Dispute with Amycus the King of that Country which is as well conducted as Euripides could have done it — and the Battle is well related; afterwards They carry off a Woman whose two Brothers come to recover Her and expostulate with Castor & Pollux on their injustice but they pay no regard to the Brothers and a Battle ensues where Castor and his Brother are triumphant — Theocritus seems not to have seen that the Brothers have the advantage in their argument over his Argonaut-Heroes — — — — The Sicilian Gossips a piece of merit’ — — — ‘Callimachus is a Writer of little excellence — the chief thing to be learned from Him is his accounts of Rites and Mythology which though desirable to be known for the sake of understanding other parts of ancient Authors is the least pleasing or valuable part of their writings’ — ‘Mattaire’s acct. of the Stephens, a Heavy Book6 he seems to have been a puzzleheaded Man with a large Share of Scholarship but with little Geometry [he] had communicated might not be what [he] should chuse to have published’. On 2 Oct., writing again from Oxford, Langton wished that he and JB, ‘instead of merely passing a few hours together, for the reviewing such particulars as have been recovered out of what You have been pleased to style my Herculaneum’, might devote ‘a quantity of time as much larger as there might prove to be any topicks to interest relating to our revered Friend, for the endeavouring, by consultation and conference, to throw any additional Light that might be on such parts of his Character and opinions as I happened to have means more peculiarly of knowing from having lived so much with him’. While such a conference, he added, ‘should have been an earlier proceeding than now, when so much of the work is actually printed’, it did not occur until 17 Dec.; on 16 Dec. JB informed EM, ‘Langton is in town, and dines with me tomorrow quietly, and revises his Collectanea’ (Corr. 2a, pp. 241, 263–64, 275). 5 Twenty-seven Papers Apart comprise the ‘Langtonian Johnsoniana’ (or ‘LJ’). JB designated them ‘No. 1’ through ‘No. 27’, deleting sundry provisional headings used to keep the papers together: ‘Johnsoniana from Mr. Langton’ on Nos. 9, 10, 13, 15, and 23; ‘Langtoniana’ on No. 17; ‘Mr. Langton’ on No. 21; and ‘Communications by Mr. Langton’ on No. 24. Changes to the numerals on Nos. 12, 16, 20, and 25 reveal that JB entertained different possible sequences. His docket on No. 13 (post p. 13 n. 2) shows that he sent the first fifteen numbers to the compositor in a batch; dockets also appear on Nos. 7, 11, and 23 (see the appropriate notes). Nos. 1, 16, and part of 20 are in Langton’s hand; the others were taken down ‘in his presence’ by JB. Langton punctuated his prose sparsely and indicated paragraph breaks by inserting hyphens or dashes of varying lengths and number. JB reinforced most of these ‘indentations’ with brackets and marked them ‘NP’ (see Life MS iii. 266 n. 6). JB’s minor changes to Langton’s copy (not words recopied for the sake of clarity) are recorded in endnotes. His deletion of anecdotes (where no intermediate revisions for inclusion in the Life are evident) is recorded in footnotes, with citations of Corr. 2a for transcriptions of the material. Langton’s initial anecdote falls into this latter category: SJ’s comment on ‘An Edition of Lascaris’s Grammar’ (Corr. 2a, p. 275 and n. 3; see Hill-Powell v. 459, 461). 6 Printed in the revises ‘Mattaire’s account of the Stephna is a heavy book.’ JB corrected ‘na’ to ‘ani’ and—in a marginal note, around which he drew a circle—he

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1780

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25

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 2–3

or Logick in his Head with out Method and possessed of little Genius. he wrote Latin Verses from time to time — and published a set in his old age [1st ed. ii. 330] which he called Senilia — in which he shews so little Learning or Taste in writing as to make Carteret a Dactyl — — — In matters of Genealogy it is necessary to give the bare Names as they are, but in Poetry and in prose of any Elegance in the writing they require to have Inflection given to them — His Book of the Dialects is a sad heap of Confusion the only way to write on them is to tabulate them with Notes added at the bottom of the page and references’ —7 ‘It may be Questioned whether there is not some mistake as to the methods of employing the Poor seemingly on a supposition that there is a certain portion of work left undone for want of persons to do it — but if that is otherwise and all the materials we have are actually worked up — or all the manufactures we can use or dispose of are already executed — then what is given to the poor who are to be set at work must be taken from some who now have it — as time must be taken for learning, according to Sr. Wm. Petty’s Observation a certain part of those very materials that as it is, are properly worked up must be spoiled by the unskilfulness of Novices[.] We may apply to well-meaning but misjudging Persons in particulars8 of this Nature what Giannone said to a Monk who wanted what he called to convert Him — Tu sei santo ma Tu non sei Filosofo9 — It is An unhappy Circumstance that one might give away £500 in a Year to those that importune in the Streets and not do any good’ — [Sir Joshua Reynolds said1 ‘Castle Howard with the various Buildings seen as You approach to it one of the most magnificent Places any where to be seen[;] something in Vanbrugh’s Designs that has always a striking Effect — the same in Blenheim’ — del]2 ‘There is Nothing more likely to betray a Man into Absurdity than Condescension — when he seems to suppose his Understanding too powerful for his company’ — — — — scolded, ‘Don’t you know the Stephani the famous Printers?’ His incredulity rising, he turned his question mark into an exclamation point. The Estienne (‘Stephanus’) family of scholar-printers in Paris and Geneva included Robert I (1503–59), who published Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (1531), and his son Henri II (1528/31–98), who compiled a Greek lexicon and published many editions of classical authors. Langton first drafted ‘Stevens,’ bending the ‘ns,’ down the right-hand edge of the page, then wrote ‘ph’ over the ‘v’ in a way that obscured the second ‘e’. His ‘s’ connected with the ‘n’, but otherwise formed a straight line parallel with the comma, contributing to the misreading. ‘Stephani’ had been typeset once before (see Life MS iii. 181 l. 28). 7 Here JB deleted a sentence expressing SJ’s approval of ‘printing Bibles in different Languages that want them’ (Corr. 2a, p. 276 and n. 4), that opinion already having been espoused in SJ’s letter of 13 Aug. 1766 to the Edinburgh bookseller William Drummond, prompted by opposition to ‘the scheme of translating the holy scriptures into the Erse or Gaelick language’ (see Hill-Powell ii. 27–29). 8 Misprinted ‘particular’; corrected in the second edition. 9 Underscored for italics by JB. The word sei in both occurrences was misprinted ses, an error corrected in the second edition. 1 JB added these four words in his own hand, possibly to serve as copy; Langton in person must have clarified whose saying this was. Mention of Reynolds’s praise of Vanbrugh in the next section of the Life (on SJ’s Lives of the Poets; post p. 42 ll. 17–19) perhaps led JB to delete the passage here. 2 Here JB deleted a comment on Athanasius Kircher’s mention of ‘the isochronous times of the Pendulum’ (Corr. 2a, p. 276 and n. 6).

3

H-P iv. 4–5

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1780

[LJ No. 23] Having asked Mr. Langton if his Father and Mother had sate for their pictures which he thought it right for each generation of a family to do and being told they had opposed it he said ‘Sir Among the — infractuosities4 of the human mind I know not if it may not be one that there is a superstitious reluctance to sit for a picture.’ John Gilbert Cooper related that Soon after the publication of his Dictionary Garrick being asked by Johnson what people said of it Garrick told him5 among other animadversions [they>] it was objected that he cited authorities which were beneath the dignity of such a Work and mentioned Richardson. ‘Nay’ said Johnson ‘I have done worse than that. I have cited thee David.’ [LJ No. 3] Talking of expence, he observed with what munificence a great merchant will spend his money both from his having it at command, and from his enlarged views by calculation, of a good effect upon the whole. ‘Whereas’ [1st ed. ii. 331] said he ‘you will hardly ever find a country gentleman who is not a good deal disconcerted at an unexpected occasion for his being obliged to lay out ten pounds.’ When in good humour he would talk of his own writings with a ≤wonderful≥ frankness and candour and ≤would≥ even criticise them with the closest severity. One day having read over one of his Ramblers Mr. Langton asked him how he liked that paper? he ≤shook his head &≥ answered ‘too wordy’. And at another time when one was reading his Tragedy of Irene to a company at a house in the Country where he was on a visit, he [retired to a room>] left a room6, and some=body having [said to him ‘So Sir you would not stay to hear your Play.’>] asked him the reason of this, He replied ‘I7 thought it had been better.’ Talking of ≤a point of≥ delicate scrupulosity of moral conduct, he said to Mr. Langton ‘Men of harder minds than ours will do many things [at which you and I would shudder>] from which you and I would shrink; yet Sir they will perhaps do more good in life than we. But let us try to help one another. If there be a wrong twist it may be set right. It is not probable that two people can be wrong the same way.’ 3 Drafted beneath what became LJ No. 20; see p. 18 n. 1. While Langton used no quotation marks in No. 1, his paragraphs were punctuated in the revises as separate quotations (as transcribed above). Starting with No. 2, in JB’s hand, most of SJ’s sayings are preceded by a brief narrative context; within these paragraphs, which also were punctuated as quotations, the sayings were set apart as internal quotations. Selfe deleted the external and adjusted the internal marks in three paragraphs (‘Having asked …’, ‘Talking of expence …’, and ‘When in good …’), but reversed himself upon realizing that Langton was being quoted as the source of each anecdote. 4 So printed, without the preceding dash. JB had altered his original manuscript spelling, ‘anfractuosities’, by writing an ‘i’ over the first letter. In the second edition the spelling was corrected to accord with SJ’s Dictionary, which has entries for the adjective ANFRACTUOSE or ANFRACTUOUS, and the nouns ANFRACTUOUSNESS and ANFRACTURE (but not for the word ‘anfractuosity’). 5 In the margin of the revises Selfe queried the repetition of Garrick’s name, prompting JB to adjust this passage to read ‘Garrick being asked by Johnson what people said of it, told him that’. 6 Printed in the revises ‘left the room’, in correction of JB’s imperfect revision. 7 Printed in the revises ‘“Sir, I’, a misreading. The word ‘Sir’, a same-draft addition to the speech JB deleted in revision, intersects the top of the word ‘I’.

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1780

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25

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 5–6

[LJ No. 4] Of the Preface to Capel’s Shakspeare he said ‘If the man would have come to me I would have endeavoured to “endow his purposes with words” for ≤as it is≥ he doth “gabble monstrously”.’ He [told>] related that he had once in a dream a contest of wit with some other person, and that he was very much mortified by imagining that his opponent had the better of him. ‘Now’ said he ‘one may mark here the effect of sleep in weakening the power of reflection, for had not my judgement failed me, I should have seen that the wit of this supposed antagonist by whose superiority I felt myself depressed was as much [my own>] furnished by me as that which I thought I had been uttering in my own character.’ [‘I’ll have a frisk with you.’ Wapping.8 ‘Poh — leaving us for a set of wretched unidea’d girls.’ Garrick said ‘I heard of your frolick tother night. Youll be in the Chronicle.’ ‘Sir he durst not do such a thing. His wife would not let him.’ del] One evening in company an ingenious and learned gentleman read a letter of compliment to him from one of the Professours of a foreign university. Johnson in an irritable fit thinking there was too much ostentation said ‘I never receive any of these tributes of applause from abroad. One instance I recollect of a foreign publication in which mention is made of l’illustre Lockman.’9 Of Sir Joshua Reynolds he said ‘Sir I know no man who has passed through life with more observation than Reynolds.’1/2 He repeated to Mr. Langton with great energy in the Greek, our Saviour’s gracious expression concerning the forgiveness of Mary Magdalen [1st ed. ii. 332] ‘ í é é ? ú . — Thy faith hath saved thee go in peace.’ Luke 7. 50.3 He said ‘the manner of this dismission is exceedingly affecting.’ 8 The sequence of drafting is unclear: ‘I’ll have a frisk with you’ sits where JB would have indented a paragraph, but is followed by empty space; and ‘Wapping’ (an ambiguous reading—Waingrow saw ‘rapping’: Corr. 2a, p. 277) is flush left on the next line, before ‘Poh’. Both possibly were same-draft additions: JB, in listening to Langton, may have first jotted down ‘Poh’ while leaving himself room to fill in other elements of the story. After JB expanded the anecdote in a Paper Apart for 1752 (see Life MS i. 178–79), he deleted these notes, putting a ‘D’ in the margin for ‘Done’. 9 JB added a footnote on Lockman in the second edition: ‘Secretary to the British Herring Fishery, remarkable for an extraordinary number of occasional verses, not of eminent merit.’ 1 In revision, with three vertical strokes, JB deleted this paragraph, but then retained it by writing ‘stet’ twice in the margin. His deletion of the next paragraph, however—on SJ’s admiration of Reynolds’s ‘address’ [MS orig. ‘happy talent’] in continuing to host ‘a City party … at cards’ one evening while receiving an unexpected visit from SJ, Beauclerk, and Langton (Corr. 2a, p. 277)—was final. 2 Following the deleted paragraph about Reynolds is a deleted memorandum: ‘Mem Bacon on the effect of Christs death. Vid Christian Paradoxes’; see Corr. 2a, p. 277 and n. 10. 3 Printed as a footnote in the revises, ‘Luke vii. 50.’ Above this paragraph, a false start (altered before deletion) shows that a different biblical passage was initially reported: (1) ‘The concluding expression of our Saviour when dismissing the Woman who was taken in Adultery’; (2) ‘The concluding expression of our Saviour to the Woman who was taken in Adultery “Sin’. ‘Sin no more’ is what JB was poised to write, the closing words of Jesus to ‘a woman taken in adultery’, as told in John 8: 3–11. The narrative in Luke 7: 37–50 concerns ‘a woman of the city, which was a sinner’, commonly identified as Mary Magdelene because her name occurs two verses later (Luke 8: 2) as one of a group of ‘certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities’, who, with the Apostles, accompanied Jesus on his ministry.

5

H-P iv. 6–7

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1780

[LJ No. 5] He thus defined the difference between physical and moral truth ‘Physical truth is when you tell a thing as it [really subsists in itself; moral>] actually is. Moral truth is when you tell a thing sincerely and precisely as it appears to you. I say such a one walked [accross>] across the street. If he really did so [it was÷I told a>] I told a physical truth. If I thought so, [though I should have been÷though I was÷but was>] though I should have been mistaken, [it was÷I told a>] I told a Moral Truth.’ Huggins the Translator of Ariosto and Mr. Thomas Warton in the early part of his literary life had a dispute concerning that [Poet. Warton in his Observations on Spenser’s Fairy Queen gave some Account of him which>] Poet of whom Mr. Warton in his Observations on Spenser’s Fairy Queen gave some account which Huggins attempted to answer ≤with violence≥, and said ‘I will militate no longer [with>] against his nescience.’ Huggins was master of the subject, but wanted expression. Mr. Warton’s knowledge of it was then [superficial÷not so great>] imperfect, but his manner lively and elegant. Johnson said ‘It appears to me that Huggins has ball without powder and Warton powder without ball.’4 [LJ No. 6] [Of a friend who boasted÷used to boast that he had never been intoxicated, he said ‘Sir, he is made drunk at dinner by the small beer. But Sir if he gets drunk easily he gets as easily sober again. A draught of wine makes him drunk, a draught of water makes him sober. One day Sir after dinner when he was disputing with me very absurdly, I knew the cause and instead of answering him I called to the servant “Give the gentleman some coffee.” He was going on. I called again with a louder voice, “give Mr. —— some coffee.”’ 5 del] [Mr. Colman having told him that Mr. Cumberland brought him a Comedy to offer for the stage and said ‘You will find it a comedy; for we have had of late things under that name which are not Comedies.’ ‘Sir’ said Johnson ‘you should have told him you hoped the Jealous Wife was a Comedy.’>] [Mr. Colman having told that Mr. Cumberland brought him a Comedy6 to offer for the stage and said ‘I hope You will find this a comedy; for things we have had of late under that name are not Comedies.’ ‘Sir’ said Johnson ‘you should have told him you hoped the Jealous Wife was a Comedy.’ del] 4 JB copied this anecdote, with minor changes, from a draft in the Life Materials (M 155: 9) evidently based on earlier notes in the Hyde ‘Boswelliana’: ‘[blank space] who translated Ariosto had a dispute with Tom Warton as to some passages of it. [blank space] knew the subject perfectly but could not express himself. Warton knew it very superficially, but wrote with ease & vivacity. Johnson said the one had ball without powder; & the other powder without ball. / Mr. Langton’ (Houghton MS Hyde 51 (5), p. 92; see also Boswelliana, ed. Rogers, p. 274). 5 In revision, before deleting this anecdote, JB marked it to begin a paragraph, resolved his alternatives in the opening line (first preferring ‘used to boast’, then switching to ‘boasted’), and changed ‘the gentleman’ to ‘Mr. ——’. In the margin near the top of the paragraph, JB seems to have written and circled ‘Moi’—his occasional annotation in the Life Materials for anecdotes about himself recorded anonymously. The ‘Moi’ here would have been Langton, but the word is difficult to decipher, as it is obscured by four vertical deletion strokes and a false start of some kind. 6 Waingrow speculates that the comedy may have been The Brothers, staged in 1769 at Covent Garden, managed at the time by Colman (Corr. 2a, p. 288 n. 17).

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30

35

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 7–8

Talking of the Farce of High Life below Stairs he said ‘This shews you the wonderful effect of Stage exhibition.7 Here is a Farce which is really very diverting when you see it acted; and yet one may read it and not know that one has been reading any thing at all.’ He used at one time to go [much÷occasionally>] occasionally to the green room of Drury lane Theatre where he was much regarded by the Players and was very easy and facetious with them. He had a very high opinion of Mrs. Clive’s comick powers and conversed more with her than with any of them. He said ‘Clive Sir is a good thing to sit by. She [allways>] always understands what you say.’ And she said of him ‘I love to sit by Dr. Johnson. He allways entertains me.’ One night when the Recruiting Officer was acted, he said to Mr. Holland who had been expressing an apprehension that Dr. Johnson would disdain the works of Farquhar ‘No Sir, I think Farquhar a man whose writings have [much÷considerable>] considerable merit.’ [Holland answered ‘I am glad to hear you say so Sir’; and in his elation of spirit was betrayed into an oath. Johnson calmly checked him ‘But do not swear.’ ‘Sir’ said he with respectful concern ‘I ask your pardon.’ That evening8 Mr. Obrien made his first appearance in the part of Captain Brazen. When he came off the stage after having gone through the first scene Johnson called cheerfully to him ‘Well Sir you have passed the Rubicon now.’ del] 9 His friend Garrick was so busy in conducting the Drama that they could not have so much intercourse as Mr. Garrick used to profess an anxious wish that they should be.1 There might indeed be something in the contemptous severity as to the merit of acting which his old Preceptor nourished in himself that would mortify Garrick after the great applause which he received from the audience. For though Johnson said of him ‘Sir A man who has a nation to admire him every night may well be expected to be somewhat elated’, yet he would treat theatrical matters with a [1st ed. ii. 333] ludicrous slight. He mentioned [how one evening he met David coming off the stage drest in a woman’s riding hood having acted in the Wonder. ‘I came>] one evening ‘I met David coming off the stage drest in a woman’s riding hood when he acted in the Wonder. I came full upon him and I believe he was not pleased.’ Once he asked Tom Davies ≤whom he saw drest in a fine suit of clothes≥ ‘And what art thou tonight?’ Tom answered ‘The Thane of Ross’ ≤(which it will be recollected is a very inconsiderable part)≥. ‘O brave!’ said Johnson.2 7 This first sentence of SJ’s quotation was omitted in the revises. Its disappearance, along with JB’s earlier deletion of Colman’s anecdote in the paragraph above, might have been related to similar ideas having been quoted already in SJ’s letter of 10 June 1761 to Baretti: ‘We have had many new farces, and the comedy called “The Jealous Wife,” which, though not written with much genius, was yet so well adapted to the stage, and so well exhibited by the actors, that it was crowded for near twenty nights’ (Hill-Powell i. 364). 8 3 Oct. 1758 (Corr. 2a, p. 288 n. 20). 9 This sentence and the rest of this passage were deleted along with the material immediately above. When JB later reinstated it, writing ‘Stet from His friend’ in the margin, he marked it to begin a new paragraph. 1 JB scrambled this phrase, conflating ‘they should have’ with ‘there should be’. The latter phrase was printed in the revises. 2 The closing anecdote about Davies was printed in the revises as a separate paragraph.

7

H-P iv. 8–9

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1780

[LJ No. 73] Of Mr. Longley at Rochester a gentleman of very considerable learning whom Dr. Johnson met there he said ‘My heart warms towards him. I was surprised to find in him such a nice acquaintance with [the metre in÷of>] metre in the learned languages; though I was somewhat mortified that I had it not so much to myself as I should have thought.’ [Then said to Mr. Langton ‘You Sir possess a good degree of it. Continue to cultivate it.’ Mr. Langton thanked him for the compliment and said whatever share he had of it was entirely owing to him, as it was by his recommendation that he had prosecuted that kind of study. del] [A octavo volume was published attacking his Journey to the Hebrides. He lent it to Mr. Seward and jocularly said ‘The dogs when they mean to abuse me dont know how to go about it. Nobody will read an octavo volume4 against me. They should keep pelting me with six=penny pamphlets.’ ‘The character of Whirler in the Idler is said to have been old Mr. Newberry the Bookseller.’5 del]6 Talking of the minuteness with which people will record the sayings of eminent persons a story was told that when Pope was on a visit to Spence at Oxford, as they looked from the window they saw a gentleman commoner who was just come in from riding amusing himself with whipping at a post. Pope took occasion to say ‘That young gentleman seems to have little to do.’ Mr. Beauclerk observed ‘Then to be sure Spence turned round & wrote that down,’ and went on to say to Dr. Johnson ‘Pope Sir, would have said the same of you if he had seen you distilling.’ Johnson. ‘Sir if Pope had told me of my distilling I would have told him of his grotto.’ He would allow no settled indulgence of idleness upon principle and always repelled every attempt to urge excuses for it. A friend one day suggested that it was not wholesome to study soon after dinner. Johnson. ‘Ah Sir Don’t give way to such a fancy. At one time of my life I had taken it into my head that it was not wholesome to study between breakfast & dinner.’ 3 On the back of this writing sheet—folded in half to form four pages, and then folded twice more for filing—JB docketed it ‘Johnsoniana / from Mr. Langton’. Nos. 4 and 6, of like description, possibly were kept with and protected by this one, for No. 7 received the brunt of the soiling and the wear and tear of handling. 4 JB deleted ‘volume’, but then wrote it again. If the blank space before ‘octavo’ in the opening phrase was reserved for a paper size, ‘royal’ was possibly the term JB wanted. Remarks on Dr. Samuel Johnson’s Journey to the Hebrides (1779), by the Rev. Donald M’Nicol, was ‘larger than Johnson’s own’, an octavo printed on ‘Medium’ paper, or one size smaller than royal (Fleeman, Bibliography of Johnson, ii. 1206; Philip Gaskell, A New Introduction to Bibliography [1972], pp. 73–75; Corr. 2a, p. 288 n. 24). 5 Before deleting these two paragraphs, JB bracketed and marked them ‘From Mr. Seward.’ An expanded version of the first anecdote appeared earlier in the Life; see Life MS ii. 130 ll. 10–23, where JB (in revision, evidently after deleting it here) inserted into SJ’s quotation ‘They don’t know how to go about their abuse.’ The second anecdote was not used; on John Newbery, portrayed as Jack Whirler in The Idler No. 19, see Corr. 2a, p. 288 n. 24. 6 JB deleted the next paragraph, on SJ’s rejection of ‘modern cant phrases’. He moved Langton’s main example—use of the word ‘line to signify any class or description of persons such as the military line’—to his earlier discussion of SJ’s impatience with such ‘colloquial barbarisms’ (see Life MS iii. 141 ll. 18–32). The other example Langton offered here was ‘the idling scheme’ (Corr. 2a, p. 279 and n. 26).

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1780

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

25

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 9–10

[A friend once attempting at philosophical refinement where some cucumbers were at supper expressed a doubt whether in our cold climate we should use them as being the growth of a warmer climate & not of ours they did not seem to be intended for us. Johnson. ‘I remember in my younger days I used to argue that a man should not walk with a stick, for if nature had designed he should walk with a stick he would have been born with a stick. Eat cucumbers Sir if you like ’em.’7 del] [LJ No. 8] Mr. Beauclerk one day repeated to Dr. Johnson Pope’s lines Let modest Foster if he will excell Ten Metropolitans in preaching well Then asked the Dr. ‘Why did Pope say this.’ Johnson. ‘Sir he [thought>] hoped it would vex somebody.’ Dr. Goldsmith upon occasion of Mrs. Lennox’s bringing out a Play8 said to Dr. Johnson at the Club, that a person9 had advised him to go and hiss it because she had attacked Shakespeare in her Book called Shakespeare [1st ed. ii. 334] illustrated. Johnson. ‘And did not you tell him that he was a Rascal?’ G. ‘No Sir I did not. Perhaps he might not mean what he said.’ Johnson. ‘Nay Sir if he lied it is a different thing.’ Colman slyly1 said (but it is believed Dr. Johnson did not hear him) ‘Then the proper expression should have been Sir if you dont lye you’re a rascal.’2 [LJ No. 9] His affection for Topham Beauclerk was so great, that when Beauclerk was labouring under that severe illness which at last occasioned his death, Johnson said (with a voice faultering with emotion) ‘Sir I would walk to the extent of the diameter of the earth to save Beauclerk.’ One night at the Club he produced a translation of an Epitaph which Lord Elibank had written in English for his Lady and requested of Johnson to turn into latin for him. Having read Domina de North et Gray3 he said to Dyer4 7 In revision, JB changed ‘cold climate’ to ‘cold country’, but then rejected the paragraph, maybe to avoid a dissonance with what SJ says of cucumbers below (p. 12 ll. 16–20). 8 Probably The Sister (1769), as suggested by EM in a footnote in the fourth edition. 9 Richard Cumberland (Hill-Powell iv. 10 n. 1, 477). 1 Printed in the revises ‘Colman slily’. JB’s error—leaving Colman underscored as a speaker tag even though he had worked the name into his sentence—had been caught. 2 Here JB deleted two paragraphs (Corr. 2a, p. 280). The first, upon Beauclerk’s asking how some tarts could emerge from the oven brown while others remained pale, culminated in SJ’s saying, ‘Nay Sir you will find that I have a very minute attention to common things.’ The second ended mid-sentence at the bottom of the page—‘He was indeed very fond of possessing and shewing a’—followed by a catchword (‘knowledge’) revealing that the paragraph continued onto a second leaf of LJ No. 8, discarded by JB. 3 Deleted memorandum, ‘vide’. The underscored words, adapted from a lengthy inscription carved into the monument Elibank erected to his wife in the Parish Church of Aberlady, refer to a phrase describing her two marriages: ‘Primis Nuptiis Gulielmo Domino North & Grey, Secundis junctae Patricio Dno. de Elibank’ (Hill-Powell iv. 477). 4 Footnote added by EM in the third edition: ‘See Vol. II. p. 15.’ On that page, SJ’s reference to Dyer in his letter to Langton of 9 Mar. 1766 was annotated by EM as follows: ‘Samuel Dyer, Esq. a most learned and ingenious Member of the LITERARY CLUB, for whose understanding and attainments Dr. Johnson had great respect. He died Sept. 14, 1772.’ Where that note stood, Hill-Powell placed a cross-reference (ii. 17 n. 4) to its own longer footnote on the present passage involving Dyer (iv. 11 n. 1).

9

H-P iv. 10–12

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1780

‘You see Sir what barbarisms we are compelled to make use of when modern titles are to be specifically mentioned in latin inscriptions.’ When he had read it once aloud & there had been a general approbation expressed by the company, he addressed himself to Mr. Dyer in particular, and said ‘Sir I beg to have your judgement, for I know your nicety.’ Dyer then very properly desired to read it over again which having done, he pointed out an incongruity in one of the sentences. Johnson immediately assented to the observation, and said ‘Sir this is owing to an alteration of a part of the sentence from the form in which I had first written it; and I believe Sir you may have remarked that it is a very frequent cause of errour in composition when one has made a partial change without a due regard to the general structure of the sentence.’5 [LJ No. 106 ] [He>] Johnson was well acquainted with Mr. Dossie Author of a treatise on Agriculture,7 & said of him ‘Sir of the objects which the Society of Arts have chiefly in view, the chymical effects of bodies operating upon other bodies he knows more than almost any man.’ Johnson in order to give Mr. Dossie his vote to be a member of this society paid up an arrear which had run on for two years. On this occasion he mentioned a circumstance as characteristick of the Scotch. ‘One of that nation’ said he ‘who had been [one of the candidates>] a candidate against whom I had voted, came up to me with a civil salutation. Now Sir this is their way. An englishman would have stomached it, and been sulky, and never have taken further notice of you. But a scotchman Sir though you vote nineteen times against him will accost you with equal complaisance after each time, and the twentieth time Sir he will get your vote.’8 5 Here JB deleted an anecdote about Dr. James’s claim to be ‘a better greek scholar than Mr. Walmsley’ (Corr. 2a, p. 280). Hill-Powell reprints a variant of the story (iv. 33 n. 3) from Boswelliana, ed. Rogers (pp. 323–24). 6 This leaf, folded in half, comprises four pages of copy and notes for expansion into separate anecdotes. The notes, made in pencil rather than ink, dominate the inner pages, commencing halfway down the second page and filling the third page (see n. 8 below). 7 ‘I think Mr. Langton is inaccurate’, wrote Isaac Reed to JB in late 1792, ‘in saying that Dossie was the Author of a treatise on Agriculture. He wrote a treatise on Brandy and 2 Vols. called The Handmaid of Arts in which there is I believe nothing about Agriculture’. JB, who met Robert Dossie at Paoli’s on 28 Mar. 1775 before he had finished publishing Memoirs of Agriculture, and Other Œconomical Arts (3 vols., 1768–82), let the passage stand. Reed was right about Dossie’s other works (Corr. 2a, p. 384 and n. 48). 8 Here JB made notes in pencil—some now so faint as to be nearly invisible, some illegible—comprising five anecdotes. (1) ‘Born in new England & in London dyed / [No wonder del] There’s nothing in that[.] I should have rather thought to wonder if he had been born in London & dyed in New England.’ Another version appears in Life Materials: ‘Born in New England did in London die. [Yes Sir del] I [false start thought] should have thought it wonderful if one born in London should die in New England’ (M 158). Occasioned by a line from an epitaph quoted in Spectator No. 518, SJ’s chiasmus figured in JB’s footnote to the declaration ‘The town is my element’ in SJ’s letter of 25 Oct. 1784 to Dr. Brocklesby (Hill-Powell iv. 358 n. 2). (2) ‘Cl[e]one — Johnson — People will whimper at it. More blood than brains in it.’ This also reappears in the Life Materials: ‘of Cleone a Tragedy before it appeared People will whimper at it. /I think/ it has more blood than brains’ (M 158). A deleted version in ink on the fourth page of LJ No. 10—‘Of Cleone a Tragedy People will whimper at it’—gave way to the fuller anecdote in LJ No. 19 (post p. 18 ll. 3–8). (3) ‘Epitaph a Grave epigram.’ More details are found in the Life Materials: ‘≤Sir Joshua≥ An Epitaph is a grave Epigram. (not meaning a pun) ≤But Burke saw it a Grave Epigram≥’ (M 158). Although not included in the Life, the

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1780

5

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 12–13

[1st ed. ii. 335] Talking on the subject of toleration one day when some friends were with him in his study, he made his usual remark that the State has a right to regulate the Religion of the People who are the children of the state. A Clergyman9 having readily acquiesced in this Johnson who loved discussion observed ‘But Sir you must go round to other states than our own. You do not know what a Bramin has to say for himself.1 In short Sir I have got no farther than this. Every man has a right to utter what he thinks truth and every other man has a right to knock him down for it. [In short Sir del] Martyrdom is the test.’ [LJ No. 112] ‘A man’ he observed ‘should begin to write soon; for, if he waits till his judgement is matured, his inability through want of practice to express his conceptions will make the disproportion so great between what he sees and what he can at the time attain, that he will probably be discouraged from writing at all. As a proof of the justness of this remark we may instance what is related of the great Lord Granville that after he had written his letter giving an account of the battle of Dettingen he said “here is a letter expressed in terms not good enough for a tallow=chandler to have used.”’ Talking of a court martial that was sitting upon a very momentous publick occasion he expressed much doubt of an enlightened decision & said that perhaps there was not a member of it who in the whole course of his life had ever spent an hour by himself in ballancing probabilities. Goldsmith one day brought to the Club a printed Ode which he with others had been hearing read by its Authour in a publick room at the rate of five shillings each for admission. One of the company having read it aloud, anecdote circulated, one source being Reynolds, as in his letter of 31 May 1791 to Samuel Parr: ‘I remember once having made this observation to Edmund Burke, that it would be no bad definition of one sort of epitaphs, to call them grave epigrams. He repeated the words “grave epigrams”, and gave me the credit of a pun, which I never intended’ (The Letters of Sir Joshua Reynolds, p. 225); also, The Works of Samuel Parr, LL.D., ed. John Johnstone, 8 vols., 1828, iv. 684. (4) ‘In lapidary inscriptions [we do not insist upon exact truth del] are not upon oath.’ Tentative in the Life Materials about the ultimate source of this anecdote—‘Why Sir in Lapidary inscriptions we are not upon oath ≤Dr. Burney I think≥’ (M 157, p. 3)—JB incorporated it as a late addition to Paper Apart B among the sayings recollected by Burney (see Life MS ii. 175 ll. 13–15). (5) ‘The subject of toleration being mentioned We protestants think argument ≤is the way [false start of several illegible words] to deal with [undeciphered words]≥[.] Baretti there [undeciphered words] ≤The people≥ Children of State — Rev. Dr. Fordyce ≤?Certainly≥ Sir, [but you’ll>] Johnson. But Sir you’ll remember [undeciphered word] must go round. You dont know what [Confucius>] Bramin has to say for himself. In short Sir I have got no further than this. Every man has a right to utter — what he thinks truth & every other man has a right to knock him down for it. In short Sir Martyrdom is the test.’ JB converted these notes into copy on the fourth page of LJ No. 10; the change from ‘Confucius’ to ‘Bramin’ averted the repetition of SJ’s question to Mrs. Knowles: ‘have we heard all that a disciple of Confucius, all that a Mahometan, can say for himself?’ (Hill-Powell iii. 299). 9 James Fordyce, as revealed in JB’s pencil notes; see note above, section (5). 1 JB added a footnote to this sentence in the second edition: ‘Here Lord Macartney remarks, “A Bramin or any cast of the Hindoos will neither admit you to be of their religion, nor be converted to yours;—a thing which struck the Portuguese with the greatest astonishment, when they first discovered the East Indies.”’ Lord Macartney’s annotated copy of the first edition was his source (Corr. 2a, p. 254 n. 10). 2 This number, a writing sheet folded in half to form four pages, and later folded twice more for filing, is docketed on the back, ‘Johnsoniana / from / Mr. Langton’.

11

H-P iv. 13

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1780

Dr. Johnson said ‘Bolder words and more timorous meaning I think never were brought together.’3 [He added ‘This may be applied to very many literary performances.’4 del] [It is not perhaps impossible that some unfavourable representation of Dr. Johnson,5 as if he himself not contented with the Royal Bounty had pressed for a sollicitation to have it enlarged. But in justice to Dr. Johnson’s character it has been already shewn that the proposal so far from being suggested by him was made without his knowledge.6 And so far was he from repining that he said ‘We must not complain that he who has allready given to a certain degree does not chuse to give more’; and upon hearing that the King had inquired after his health with some earnestness he said in a tone of grateful satisfaction ‘O tis very pretty Sir ’tis very pretty Sir.’ And upon its being mentioned again expressed a very anxious fear that there would be no more of this favourable notice since his letter to the Lord Chancellor in full contradiction to his intention or expectation had found its way into the News-papers.7 del]8 Talking of Gray’s Odes he said ‘They are forced plants raised in a hot=bed, and they are [but del] poor plants, they are but cucumbers after all.’ A Gentleman present who had been running down Ode writing in general as a bad species of poetry, unluckily said ‘Had they been literally Cucumbers they had been better things than Odes’ — ‘Yes Sir’ said Johnson, ‘for a [hog>] hog.’ [LJ No. 129] His distinction of the different degrees of attainment of learning was thus marked upon two occasions. Of Queen Elizabeth he said ‘She had learning enough to have given dignity to a Bishop.’ And of Mr. Thomas Davies he said ‘Sir, Davies has learning enough to give credit to a Clergyman.’1 3 At that meeting of the Club—his first—JB noted ‘Golds had seen Mariots nonsence Burke read it Johns repeated Eugenio & Dryden’ (Notes 30 Apr. 1773). From these details (in BP vi. 128–30), Powell identified the author as George Marriott, his ode as The Jesuit, and the reader as Burke (Hill-Powell iv. 477–78). JB quoted the concluding lines of Eugenio in his own account of the episode under 1773, augmented by a footnote in the second edition (see Life MS ii. 103 and nn. 4–5) spurred by Isaac Reed, who had alerted him to an omission (c. Nov. 1792). Asked to send ‘the lines of Eugenio, omitted’, Reed supplied the full conclusion, with information on Thomas Beach, the author, some of it drawn from a footnote by John Nichols to an undated letter from SJ to Cave printed in Gent. Mag. Jan. 1785, lv. 5 (see Corr. 2a, pp. 384, 387–88; Stephen Clarke, ‘Of Tytler and “Eugenio”: An Unpublished Boswell Letter’, Johnsonian News Letter, vol. lxix, no. 1 [March 2018], pp. 47–53). 4 JB deleted this sentence in two stages. First, scoring through ‘He added’, he eliminated the interruption between SJ’s remarks, but then deleted the quotation also. 5 MS orig. ‘of Dr. Johnson’s’, a false start, probably to have been followed by ‘character’ (as in l. 6). JB left this opening clause grammatically incomplete. 6 JB had ‘already shewn’ that the proposal was initiated without SJ’s knowledge on MSS 976–78 of his main narrative (see post pp. 247–48), drafted before he took down these Johnsoniana from Langton. 7 Crediting Langton, JB reworked this material on MSS 1005–06 (see post pp. 269–70, 271), in one of the concluding portions of the main narrative long postponed and drafted later than the Langtonian Johnsoniana. 8 Here JB deleted a paragraph about SJ’s confession that, while at Oxford, he ‘allways felt an impulse to insult the Westminster men who were come there’ (see Corr. 2a, p. 281 and n. 37). He also deleted SJ’s scoffing at ‘Eton Men’ (post p. 17 ll. 18–22 and n. 5). 9 The original numeral of this half-leaf is obscured by the heavy ‘12’ written over it. 1 JB tore off the bottom half of this sheet, leaving visible a portion of the first line in what had been the next paragraph, deleted by an ink stroke.

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1780

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25

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 13–15

[LJ No. 132] He used to quote with great warmth the saying of Aristotle recorded by Diogenes Laertius that there was the same difference between one learned and unlearned, as between the living and the dead. [1st ed. ii. 336] It is very remarkable that he retained in his memory very slight & trivial as well as important things. As an instance of this it seems that an inferiour domestick of the Duke of Leeds had attempted to celebrate his Grace’s marriage in such homely rhimes as he could make; and this curious composition having been sung to Dr. Johnson he got it by heart, and used to repeat it in a very pleasant manner. Two of the Stanzas were these When the Duke of Leeds shall married be To a fine young Lady of high quality How happy will that gentlewoman be In his Grace of Leeds’s good company She shall have all that’s fine and fair And the best of silk and sattin3 shall wear And ride in a coach for to take the air And have a house in St. James’s square.4 To hear a Man of the weight and dignity of Johnson repeating such humble attempts at Poetry had a very amusing effect. He however seriously observed of the last Stanza that it nearly comprised all the advantages that wealth can give. [LJ No. 145] An eminent foreigner6 when he was shewn the British Museum was very troublesome with many absurd inquiries. ‘Now, there Sir, ≤(said he)7≥ is the difference between an Englishman and a frenchman. A Frenchman must be allways talking whether he knows any thing of the matter or not. An Englishman is content to say nothing when he has nothing to say.’ ≤His contempt for foreigners was indeed extreme. One evening at Old Slaughter’s Coffeehouse when a number of them were talking loud about little 2 On the verso of LJ No. 13—of like dimensions with Nos. 4, 6, 7, and 11, and similarly folded, but only a half-sheet—JB wrote ‘Langtonian Johnsoniana’ on one panel of the fold, and on another informed the compositor, ‘Fifteen / Numbers / of / Langtonian / Johnsoniana / A few more / are yet to come.’ The fact that No. 13 bears this message suggests that Nos. 14 and 15, smaller half-leaves (see n. 5 below), were tucked underneath or bundled within No. 13 along with the others sent in this parcel. 3 This spelling has survived in all editions of the Life. SJ’s Dictionary has ‘satin’. 4 For the footnote added here in the second edition, see Hill-Powell iv. 14 n. 2. 5 The half-leaves comprising Nos. 14 and 15 were once a single sheet. Before numbering them, JB cut the sheet in half to reverse the order of the anecdotes. Later, in revision, he added two paragraphs to LJ No. 14: his copy carries onto the verso of No. 14, not the verso of No. 15, where it would have continued had the sheet not already been cut in half. 6 MS orig. ‘It seems that Boissy’, though it is difficult to be sure of the name, so thoroughly did JB delete it upon abandoning two further attempts to introduce it: (1) ‘“It seems Sir that’; (2) ‘Monsieur’. If the visit was a private showing after the British Museum was established in 1753, the person in question could have been Louis de Boissy (1694–1758), poet, playwright, and member of the French Academy; if it took place after the museum opened to the public in 1759, it would have been his son, of lesser eminence, the historian Louis Michel de Boissy (1725–93). 7 Inserted in Plymsell’s hand.

13

H-P iv. 15–17

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1780

matters he said ‘Does not this confirm Old Meynell’s observation “For any thing I see, foreigners are fools.”’8 He said that once when he had a violent toothach, a frenchman accosted him thus ‘Ah Monsieur vous etudiez trop.’≥ [LJ No. 15] Having passed an evening at Mr. Langton’s with the Reverend Dr. Parr he was much pleased with the conversation of that learned gentleman and after he was gone, said to Mr. Langton ‘Sir I am obliged to you for having asked me this evening. Parr is a fair man.9 I do not know when I have had an occasion of such free controversy. It is remarkable how much [1st ed. ii. 337] of a man’s life may pass without meeting with any instance of this kind of open discussion.’ [LJ No. 1610] ‘We may fairly institute a Criticism between Shakespeare and Corneille as they both had though in a different degree the lights of latter ages.1 It is not so just between the Greek dramatick writers & Shakespeare. It may be replied to what is said by one of the remarks2 on Shakespeare that tho’ Darius’s Shade had prescience, it does not necessarily follow that he had all past particulars revealed to him.’ ‘Spanish plays being wildly & improbably farcical would please Children here as Children are entertained with Stories full of prodigies their Experience not being sufficient to cause them to be so readily startled at deviations from the natural Course of Life. The Machinery of the pagans is uninteresting to us. When a Goddess appears in Homer or Virgil we grow weary — still more so in the Grecian Tragedies — as in that kind of composition a nearer approach to nature is intended.’3 ‘Yet there are good Reasons4 for reading Romances as the fertility of Invention, the beauty of Style & Expression — the Curiosity of seeing with what kind of Performances the age & Country in wch they were written was delighted for it is to be apprehended that at the time when very wild improbable Tales were well received the people were in a barbarous state & so on the footing of Children as has been explained’ — 8 JB jotted notes pertaining to these anecdotes on EM’s letter of 8 Mar. 1788: ‘Foreigners When he had the toot[h]ach a frenchman came Ah Monsieur vous etudiez trop. At Old Slaughters when foreigners were talking loud abt. nothing said to Langton Does not this confirm [false start Meynells] what old Meynell said For what I can see of foreigners they are all fools’ (C 1913; see Corr. 4, pp. 332–33 n. 4). 9 Footnote added by EM in the third edition: ‘When the Corporation of Norwich applied to Johnson to point out to them a proper master for their Grammar-School, he recommended Dr. Parr, on his ceasing to be usher to Sumner at Harrow. B.’ The ‘B’ indicates that EM obtained the information from Burney. 10 Originally numbered ‘15’. 1 Printed in the revises ‘of a latter age’. The compositor may have adjusted the phrase, not having seen the ‘s’ in ‘ages’, which was covered by an ascender in a word from JB’s revision to the line below it. 2 Printed in the revises ‘remarkers’, as JB probably meant to write. 3 In a letter to JB dated 30 Mar. 1790, Joseph Warton wrote ‘that Johnson once owned to me, knowing how enthusiastically fond I was of the Greek Tragedies, that he never had read a Greek Tragedy in his Life’ (Corr. 2a, p. 243). JB held that SJ had ‘attempted or at least planned’ to read ‘two of Euripides’s Tragedies’, as shown by his tabulations of numbers of verses to be read in certain Greek and Latin works (Life MS i. 47), and once saw SJ immersed in Euripides (post p. 226 ll. 12–16). 4 Altered by JB from Langton’s original, ‘Other Reasons’. Printed with no paragraph break in the revises, this quotation became continuous with the one above it.

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1780

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25

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 17–18

‘It is evident enough that no one who writes now can use the pagan Deities and Mythology — the only machinery therefore seems that of ministring Spirits the Ghosts of the departed, Witches & Fairies, tho’ these latter as the vulgar Superstition concerng them (which while in its force infected at least the Imagination of those that had more advantage in Education and only their Reason set them free from it,) is every day wearing out, seem likely to be of little further assistance in the Machinery of Poetry — As I recollect Hammond introduces a Hag or Witch into one of the Love Elegies where the Effect is unmeaning and disgusting’ — ‘The man who uses his Talent of Ridicule in creating or grossly exaggerating the Instances he gives — who imputes absurdities that did not happen or when a Man was a little ridiculous describes him as having been very much so abuses his Talents greatly — The great Use of delineating absurdities is that we may know how far human Absurdity can go — the account therefore ought of absolute necessity to be faithful’ —5 ‘A certain Character (naming the person) as to the general Cast of it well described6 by Garrick but a great deal of the phraseology he expresses it7 is quite his own particularly in [1st ed. ii. 338] the proverbial Comparisons, “obstinate as a pig” &c. — — — but I dont know whether it might not be true of Him8 — that from a too great eagerness for Praise and popularity and a politeness carried to a ridiculous Excess he was likely after asserting a thing in general to give it up again in parts. For instance if he had said Reynolds was the first of painters he was capable enough of giving up as objections might happen to be severally made, first his outline — then the grace of form9 — then the colouring, and lastly to have owned that he was such a mannerist that the disposition of his pictures was all alike.’1 5 The paragraph break indicated here by Langton’s dash and blank space were not reflected in the revises; the present speech continued. 6 Printed in the revises ‘is well described’, in completion of the verb. 7 Printed in the revises ‘phraseology he uses in it’, the grammatical flaw again having been remedied. 8 Second edition, ‘Lord ——’, on which Croker later placed a note, ‘Perhaps Lord Corke’ (iv. 349 n. 2). Powell confirmed the identity of John Boyle, 5th Earl of Cork and Orrery (Hill-Powell iv. 17 n. 3, vi. 458–59) from a marginal note in Mrs. Piozzi’s copy of the 1816 edition. JB had revised the beginning of this paragraph to conceal Langton’s own identification of the person: ‘The late Ld. Orrery’s Character’. The space and number of dashes preceding the current clause, sufficient elsewhere in Langton’s manuscript to signal a new paragraph, here instead marked a shift from quotation into narration: ‘but Mr. J. apprehends it true enough of Him’. JB, finding words to turn this observation into speech, revised the clause in continuation of SJ’s saying. 9 With an eye on Langton’s phrase ‘the grace of the Forms in his pictures’ (see next note), JB began his revision here ‘grace in’, but finished the phrase with ‘of form’, writing ‘of’ over ‘in’. A misreading still present in the revises—‘grace in form’—went uncorrected and has remained in all editions of the Life. 1 Availing himself of a blank space below this passage in Langton’s copy, JB rewrote the start of a revision (‘he was capable enough of giving up’) that would have been difficult to read if drafted between the following lines of Langton’s original: ‘parts — that he was capable enough if he had said Reynolds or any other eminent Artist was the first of painters to have given up ≤as each had been objected to by others≥ his Colouring, afterwards his outline, then the grace of the Forms in his pictures, and then to have owned that he was so mere a Mannerist that His dispositions of his Pictures were all alike — —’.

15

H-P iv. 18–19

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1780

‘For Hospitality as formerly practised, there is no longer the same Reason — heretofore the poorer people were more numerous, and from want of Commerce their means of getting a Livelihood more difficult, therefore the supporting them was an act of great Benevolence, now that the poor can find maintenance for themselves and their labour is wanted a general undiscerning Hospitality tends to ill by withdrawing them from their work to Idleness and Drunkenness — — Then formerly Rents were received in kind, so that there was a great abundance of Provisions in possession of the owners of the Lands which, since the plenty of money afforded by Commerce, is no longer the Case’ — ‘Hospitality to Strangers and Foreigners in our Country is at an end since from the increased Number of them that come to us there have been a sufficient Number of people that have found an Interest in providing Inns & sufficient accommodations which is in general a more expedient method for the entertainment of travellers — Where the Travellers and Strangers are few more of that Hospitality subsists as it has not been worth while to provide places of accommodation. In Ireland there is still hospitality to strangers in some degree[;] in Hungary & Poland — probably more.’2 [LJ No. 17] Colman in a note on his translation of Terence, talking of Shakspeare’s learning asks ‘What says Farmer to this? What says Johnson?’ Upon this he observed ‘Sir let Farmer answer for himself. I never engaged in this Contraversy. I allways said [he÷Shakespeare>] Shakespeare had latin enough to grammatacise his english.’3 A Clergyman whom he characterised as one ‘who loved to say little oddities’4 was affecting one day at [the Bishop Porteous’s5÷a Bishops>] a Bishops table a sort of slyness and freedom not in character and repeated, as if part of the Old man’s wish, a Song by Dr. Walter Pope, a verse bordering on licentiousness. Johnson rebuked him in the finest manner, by first shewing him that he did not know the÷what passage6 he was aiming at, and thus humbling him ‘Sir that is not in the Song. It is thus.’ And he gave it right. Then looking stedfastly on him [1st ed. ii. 339] ‘Sir there is a part of that Song which I should wish to exemplify in my own Life May I govern my passions with absolute sway.’7 2 Here JB deleted the final page of LJ No. 16, two paragraphs in Langton’s hand about ‘Akerman Keeper of Newgate’ (Corr. 2a, p. 284). JB placed his revision of this material shortly ahead of the Langtoniana (see Life MS iii. 306–08). 3 Above this anecdote a query marking (‘Qu’) has been deleted. 4 Dr. Michael Lort, as Powell guessed (Hill-Powell vi. 458–59). The Life Materials (M 155: 9) record that ‘Dr. Johnson said of Dr. Lort—Sir he is allways trying to say little oddities. Mr. Langton.’ Reducing this material to a modifying clause in the present sentence (grafting one anecdote from Langton onto another), JB put quotation marks around the saying to preserve a portion of SJ’s speech. Because the quotation marks went unnoticed, however, SJ’s characterization of the ‘clergyman’ was not set apart in the printing. 5 The name under JB’s deletion reveals that the ‘Bishops table’ (in revision) belonged to the Bishop of Chester, Dr. Beilby Porteus. 6 Perhaps overlooked on account of JB’s intermediate deletion of the whole paragraph (see next note), this unresolved alternative was printed ‘the passage’ in the revises. 7 JB crossed out this paragraph, which fills the verso of LJ No. 17, but later reinstated it by writing ‘Stet’ three times in the margin.

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30

1780

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 19–20

[LJ No. 18] Being asked if Barnes knew a good deal of Greek? — he answered ‘I doubt Sir he was [monoculus>] unoculus inter cœcos.’8/9 He used frequently to observe that men might be very eminent in a profession without our perceiving any particular power of mind in them in conversation. ‘It seems strange’ said he ‘that a man should see so far to the right who sees so short a way to the left. Burke [(he said) del] was the only man whose common conversation corresponded with the general fame which he had1 in the world. Take up whatever topick you please he is ready to meet you.’ A gentleman by no means deficient in literature2 having discovered less acquaintance with one of the Classicks than Johnson expected, when the gentleman left the room he observed ‘You see now how little any body reads.’ Mr. Langton [having>] happening to mentioned3 his having read a good deal in Clenardus’s4 greek grammar, ‘Why Sir’ said he ‘who is there in this town who knows any thing of Clinardus but you & I.’ And upon Mr. Langton’s mentioning that he had taken the pains to learn by heart the Epistle of St. Basil which is given in that grammar as a Praxis, ‘Sir (said [[M 155: 14] he) I never made such an effort as that to attain greek.’ He used commonly to say that a man’s education depends chiefly upon himself. One day when Mr. Langton in order to give him a high opinion of two dignitaries of the church said ‘Sir they are both Eton Men’. He repeated ‘Eton Men Eton Men.’ And then (in ridicule of the sounding account) ‘alas Sir we may see then how little we can do for ourselves.’5>] he) I never made such an effort to attain greek.’ [LJ No. 19] Of Dodsley’s Publick Virtue a Poem he said ‘≤It was≥ Fine Blanky Sir6 (meaning to express his usual contempt for blank verse). However 8 The Latin was printed in italics. The incorrect diphthong was queried in the revises; JB wrote ‘æ’ in the margin (with ‘ae’ next to it for clarity), and the word in the first edition read cæcos. 9 Here, with four vertical strokes, JB deleted two anecdotes (Corr. 2a, pp. 284–85). The first, containing SJ’s reply to Lord Mansfield’s saying that ‘Severity is not the way to govern either boys or men’, wound up in Paper Apart RJ (Life MS ii. 73 ll. 27–30); the second, containing SJ’s reply to the question of how he had acquired ‘so nice a knowledge of latin’, was added to MS 10 (Life MS i. 24 ll. 26–31 and 25 l. 1). 1 This verb remained as ‘had’ when, in the revises, the verbs ‘was’ and ‘corresponded’ were printed in the present tense to maintain the direct speech of the surrounding sentences. Second edition, ‘has’. 2 A jotting in the margin, undecipherable under heavy deletion, could be related to the line JB drew across the page above this paragraph at one point, possibly designating it for a footnote. Whether it provides a clue to the identity of this anonymous person is unclear. 3 This imperfect revision, in Plymsell’s hand, was remedied when he typeset ‘happening to mention’. 4 In the name here JB placed an ‘e’ over his original ‘i’, but in the next line left it ‘Clinardus’, the spelling that appeared in the revises. In the second edition the name was spelled ‘Clenardus’. 5 After crossing out this paragraph, JB transferred what little copy remained at the top of the page—minus the words ‘as that’ (l. 17)—to the bottom of the previous page, leaving the compositor to unite ‘(said’, the original catchword (l. 16), with ‘he)’, now at the left margin (l. 23). The present leaf, once part of Langton’s Johnsoniana, is catalogued with the Life Materials because JB later made additional notes on it. 6 Printed in the revises ‘It was fine blank’. JB evidently had seen fit, in proof, to delete ‘Sir’ and substitute a less derisive version of SJ’s mocking epithet.

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H-P iv. 20–21

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1780

this miserable poem did not sell — And my poor friend Doddy said Publick Virtue was not a subject to interest the age.’ Mr. Langton when a very young man read Dodsley’s Cleone a Tragedy to him not aware of his extreme impatience to be read to. As it went on, he turned his face to the back of his chair and put himself into various attitudes which marked his uneasiness. At the end of an act however he said ‘Come lets have some more. Lets go into the slaughter=house. But I am affraid there is more blood than brains.’7 Yet he afterwards said ‘When I heard you read it I thought higher of its power of language. When I read it by8 myself I was more sensible of its pathetick effect’ and then paid it9 a compliment which many will think very extravagant. ‘Sir’ said he ‘if Otway had written this Play, no other of his pieces would have been remembered.’ Dodsley himself upon this being repeated to him said [1st ed. ii. 340] it was too much. It must be remembered that Johnson appeared not to be sufficiently sensible of the merit of Otway.10 [LJ No. 201] ‘Snatches of reading’ said he ‘will not make a Bentley or a Clarke. They are however in a certain degree advantageous. I would put a Child into a Library (where no unfit Books are) and let him read at his choice.’ ‘a Child should not be discouraged from reading any thing that he takes a liking to from a notion that it is above his reach. If that be the case, the Child will soon find it out and desist — if not — he of course gains the Instruction — which is so much the more likely to come from the Inclination with which he takes up the study.’2 Though he used to censure carelessness with great vehemence he owned that he once to avoid the trouble of locking up five guineas hid them, he forgot where, so that he could not find them. 7 For JB’s notes pertaining to this anecdote, see ante p. 10 n. 8, section (2). In MS, this paragraph ends in the middle of a line at the bottom of a page, and on the next page JB starts his new paragraph (as he often did throughout Paper Apart LJ) at the left margin. The two paragraphs were printed in the revises as one continuous paragraph. 8 Written over a false start, ‘m[yself]’; omitted in print (so in revises), probably having been missed. 9 Third edition, ‘then he paid it’, further defining this clause as belonging to the narration. Figuring out where quotations began and ended in this paragraph challenged the first compositor, who left this clause in SJ’s speech by neglecting to put quotation marks after ‘effect’ and before ‘Sir’. He punctuated Dodsley’s opinion as direct speech, but did not close the quotation after ‘It was too much’, thus leaving the final sentence in his mouth as well. These errors, missed in first proof, were corrected in the revises. 10 Footnote added by EM in the third edition: ‘This assertion concerning Johnson’s insensibility to the pathetick powers of Otway, is too round. I once asked him, whether he did not think Otway frequently tender: when he answered, “Sir, he is all tenderness.” B.’ As shown by the attribution (‘B.’), EM quoted the anecdote in Burney’s voice. 1 The present Paper Apart was originally the upper half of an entire leaf. On it, in Langton’s hand, were two of SJ’s sayings about reading (printed in the revises as a continuous speech in a single paragraph). On the lower half of the leaf, JB recorded two additional anecdotes, and a third on the verso of the leaf (at the top). He tore the leaf in half when sequencing the Langtonian Johnsoniana, assigning to the bottom part ‘No. 2’ (see ante p. 4 and n. 3) and to this top part—almost illegibly, given two or more revisions to the numerals—‘No. 20’. 2 The half-sheet below Langton’s copy having been torn off for placement elsewhere (see n. 1), the compositor here turned to JB’s copy on the verso of the leaf.

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5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

25

1780

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 21–22

[LJ No. 213] A gentleman who introduced his brother4 to Dr. Johnson was earnest to recommend him to the Doctors notice, which he did by saying ‘When we have sat together some time, Youll find my brother grow very entertaining.’ ‘Sir’ said Johnson ‘I can wait.’ [LJ No. 225] When the rumour was strong that we should have a war because the French would assist the Americans he rebuked a freind with some asperity for supposing it saying ‘No Sir National faith is not yet sunk so low.’ [LJ No. 236] [Towards the end>] In the latter part of his life in order to satisfy himself whether his mental faculties were impaired he resolved that he would try to learn a new language and fixed upon the low=dutch for that purpose and this he continued till he had read about one half of Thomas a Kempis and finding that there appeared no abatement of his power of acquisition he then desisted as thinking the experiment had been duely tried. Mr. Burke justly observed that this was not the most rigorous7 trial; low dutch being a language so near to our own; had it been one of the languages entirely different he might have been very 8 satisfied. [LJ No. 24] Mr. Langton & he having gone [out del] to see a free Masons funeral procession ≤at Rochester about the year 1782≥ and some solemn musick being played on french horns, he said ‘this is the first time that I have ever been affected by musical sounds’ adding that the impression [it del] made upon him was of a melancholy kind. Mr. Langton saying9 that this effect was a fine one 3 Another fragmentary leaf (like Nos. 2, 12, 14, 15, 20, 22, 23, and 25—nine in all), LJ No. 21 retains ink strokes along its lower edge belonging to words drafted on the bottom half of the page. The portion torn away is untraced. 4 Powell’s conjecture regarding their identities (‘Perhaps Boswell and his brother David’: Hill-Powell vi. 458–59) is dispelled by JB’s deleted memorandum in the margin: ‘One of the Herveys’. Waingrow took this to be a footnote ‘[o]mitted in the printing, perhaps because the Herveys were too numerous for speculation. John, fourth Earl of Bristol, had one son by his first wife and eleven by his second, among whom was SJ’s beloved friend, the Hon. and Rev. Henry Hervey’ (Corr. 2a, p. 286 and n. 55). JB did not mark it for a footnote in his usual way; if he contemplated one, or some other revision, he abandoned the intention. 5 A small leaf; the rest of the page from which it was detached has not been traced. 6 This Paper Apart was originally the upper two-thirds of an entire leaf; the lower third became LJ No. 25 (see p. 20 n. 5). While yet intact, the leaf was folded and docketed ‘Langtoniana’. Writing over the final letter, JB afterwards altered this to ‘Langtonian John/:soniana, / for press’, reflecting his effort to keep the revised and unrevised papers sorted. He had not finished drafting LJ, however, as shown by three undeleted memoranda jotted on the verso of the leaf: ‘Ld. Charles Hay’ (below the docket); ‘His scolding upon the Thames’ (above what became the tear line of the leaf); and ‘Bentley’s Verses’ (beneath the tear line, so now on the verso of No. 25). The first and third memoranda led to LJ No. 26, the second to LJ No 27. 7 Misread and printed ‘vigorous’ (so in revises), an error that has gone uncorrected. 8 Most of the word ‘soon’ appears on the leaf torn from this page (see n. 6 above). The compositor either inferred it from what remains—the tops of the ‘s’ and ‘n’—or found it on the other leaf. 9 Here, in the middle of the page, JB’s copy leaps over a deleted anecdote: ‘Talking of the copiousness & precision of Dr. Blagden’s communication he said “Blagden Sir is a delightful fellow Sir.”’ The saying was planted first, possibly as a memorandum; the lines introducing it, when added, had to be compressed. JB redrafted the anecdote at the bottom of the page, where he deleted it again to position it at the end of this section of the Life (see p. 20 ll. 3–4 and n. 2, p. 24 ll. 22–23 and n. 1).

19

H-P iv. 22–23

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1780

Johns. ‘Yes if it softens the mind so as to prepare it for the reception of salutary feelings it may be good, But in as much as it is melancholy per se it is bad.’1 [Talking of Dr. Blagden’s copiousness and precision of communication He said ‘Blagden is a delightful fellow Sir.’2 del] [1st ed. ii. 341] 3Goldsmith had long a visionary project that some time or other when his circumstances should be easier, he would go to Aleppo in order to acquire a knowledge as far as might be of any arts peculiar to the east and introduce them into Britain. When this was talked of in Dr. Johnson’s company he said ‘Of all men Goldsmith is the most unfit to go out upon such an inquiry for he is utterly ignorant of such arts as we allready possess and consequently could not know what would be accessions to our present stock of mechanical 4 for grinding knives and think>] knowledge. Sir he would bring home a [ grinding barrow which you see in every street in London and think that he had furnished a wonderful improvement.’ [LJ 5] ‘Greek Sir ≤said he≥ is like Lace. Every man gets as much of it as he can.’6 [LJ No. 26] When Lord Charles Hay after his return from America was preparing his defence to be offered to the Court Martial which he had demanded, having heard Mr. Langton as high in expressions of admiration of Johnson as he usually was he requested that Dr. Johnson might be introduced to him, and Mr. Langton having mentioned it to Johnson he very kindly and readily agreed and being presented to his Lordship while under arrest by Mr. Langton,7 he saw him several times, upon one of which occasions Lord Charles read to him what he had prepared of which Johnson signified his approbation8 saying ‘It is a very 1 To correct a possible misimpression, Burney sent the following reflection to EM, who added it as a footnote in the third edition: ‘The French horn, however, is so far from being melancholy per se, that when the strain is light, and in the field, there is nothing so cheerful! It was the funeral occasion, and probably the solemnity of the strain, that produced the plaintive effect here mentioned.’ 2 In revision, JB deleted ‘Sir’ at the end of SJ’s saying and inserted it after ‘Blagden’. Later, he deleted the anecdote again (see p. 19 n. 9), noting in the margin that it was ‘To come in last’; see p. 24 ll. 22–23 and n. 1. 3 JB wrote and circled ‘No. 22’ above Goldsmith’s name here at the top of this page, the verso of a leaf headed ‘Communications by Mr. Langton’. To the left of that heading, later deleted, he wrote and circled ‘No. 24’ and—after reassigning ‘No. 22’ to another leaf—scored through the number here. 4 JB left a blank space here in the MS to be filled in when he learned what the instrument was called. 5 The upper left corner of this small leaf, where presumably it was marked ‘No. 25’, has been torn away. The leaf itself was originally the lower third of a full page. When JB detached it from the upper two-thirds of the page, which became No. 23, it carried along the top edge most of the word ‘soon’ from the last line of the anecdote drafted above it (see p. 19 nn. 6, 8). 6 Here JB began a new paragraph—‘His notion of lace was so high, that he confessed’—but then deleted it. In the third edition, EM added a footnote to SJ’s comment: ‘It should be remembered, that this was said twenty-five or thirty years ago, when lace was very generally worn.’ 7 The ambiguity of JB’s syntax was corrected in the third edition: ‘and being presented by Mr. Langton to his Lordship, while under arrest,’. 8 The phrase ‘of which … approbation’ originally began ‘with which’. When JB reformulated the phrase, his new preposition blurred in with letters above and below it,

20

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1780

5 6 7 8 9

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 23–24

good soldierly defence.’ Johnson said that he had advised his Lordship that as it was in vain to contend with those who were in possession of power, if they would offer him the rank of Lieutenant General and a Government it would be better judged to desist from urging his complaints. It is well known that his Lordship died before the trial came on.9 Johnson one day gave high praise to Dr. Bentley’s versesa/1 in Dodsley’s Collection which he recited with his usual energy. Dr. Adam Smith who [1st ed. ii.

a ≤[Sub-Paper Apart ‘Note’a1] Dr. Johnson in his Life of Cowley says that these are ‘the only english verses which Bentley is known to have written.’ I 10 shall [therefore del] here insert them, and hope my readers will feel them.

11 12 13 14

15

20

Who strives to mount Parnassus’ hill And thence poetick laurels bring Must first acquire due force and skill Must fly with swan’s or eagle’s wing. Who nature’s treasures would explore, Her mysteries and arcana know, Must high as lofty Newton soar, Must stoop as delving Woodward low Who studies ancient laws and rites Tongues, arts, and arms and history, Must drudge like Seldena2 days and nights And in the endless labour die

causing the compositor to omit it. JB caught the error in the revises, altering the phrase to read ‘which Johnson signified his approbation of’. 9 JB first drafted this sentence following SJ’s quotation about Hay’s ‘soldierly defence’, but deleted it and recopied it here, where the last five words were underscored for querying (‘Q/’) by another hand. It stood as drafted in the first edition, but Langton evidently told JB that he was wrong. An emendation appeared in the Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition: ‘for trial came on, read—sentence was made known’ (p. 24). Yet the text of the second edition was unchanged, as Langton lamented to JB in July 1793: ‘The errour continues—of saying “it is well known that the Trial of Lord Charles Hay never came on.” The Trial did come on, and was carried through—and, at the Time of Lord Charles’s death, the Sentence was probably according to the usual forms before the King for his consideration’ (Corr. 2a, p. 425). Complete copies of the second edition contain the correction in the front matter (‘Corrections’, p. *xxxv); the revised reading was printed in the third edition. 1 In revision JB added a footnote symbol here, placing another at the bottom of the page, to the left of which he wrote ‘Note)’, and to the right directed the compositor to ‘Take them in’. a1 Headed ‘Note on Bentley’s Verses’, this single leaf is written on both sides, with a direction to the compositor, ‘Turn’, below the fourth stanza. a2 Printed in the revises ‘Seldon’, a misreading. Isaac Reed drew JB’s attention to the error in his letter of c. Nov. 1792 (Corr. 2a, p. 384), in time for ‘Selden’ to be printed in the second edition.

21

H-P iv. 24–25

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1780

342] was present observed in his decisive professorial manner ‘Very well — Very well.’ Johnson however [upon÷in further observation del] added ‘Yes they are well, Sir but you may observe in what manner they are [well÷so>] well. They are the forcible verses of a man little exercised in writing verse.’2 Drinking tea one day at Garrick’s with Mr. Langton he was questioned if he was not somewhat of a heretick as to Shakspeare. Said Garrick ‘I doubt he is a little of an infidel.’ ‘Sir’ said Johnson ‘I will stand by the lines I have written on Shakspeare in my Prologue at the opening of your Theatre.’ Mr. Langton suggested that in the line

5 6 7 8 9

‘And panting time toil’d after him in vain’

10 11 [he>] Johnson might have had in his eye the passage in the Tempest where 12 13 Prospero says of Miranda 14

—— ‘she will outstrip all praise ‘And make it halt behind her.’ [1st ed. ii. 343] Johnson said nothing. Garrick then ventured to observe ‘I do not 15 think the happiest line3 in the praise of Shakspeare!’ Johnson then exclaimed 16 Who travels in religious jars, (Truth mixt with errour, shades with rays) Like Whiston wanting pyx or stars In ocean wide or sinks or strays.

17 18 19 20

But grant our hero’s hope long toil And comprehensive genius crown, All sciences all arts his spoil, Yet what reward or what renown? Envy innate in vulgar souls Envy steps in and stops his rise; Envy with poison’d tarnish fouls His lustre and his worth decries. He lives inglorious or in want, To college and old books confin’d; Instead of learn’d he’s call’d pedant, Dunces advanc’d he’s left behind: Yet left content a genuine stoick he Great without patron, rich without South Sea.≥ 2 Printed in the revises ‘They are the forcible verses of a man of a strong mind, but not accustomed to write verse; for there is some uncouthness in the expression.’ For the footnote added here in the second edition, see Hill-Powell iv. 24 n. 2. 3 The word absent from JB’s copy was printed in the revises: ‘I do not think that the happiest line’.

22

25

30

1780

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 25–26

(smiling) ‘Prosaical rogues; next time I write I will make both time and space pant.’a/4 [LJ No. 27] 5‘It is well known that there was formerly a rude custom for those who were sailing [as passengers del] upon the Thames to talk to each other as they [I am sorry to see in the ‘Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh’, Vol. II. ‘An Essay on the Character of Hamlet’ written I should suppose by a very young Authour though called ‘Reverend’ in which amidst a cloud of that species of÷kind of philosophising÷abstract speculative dissertation which has for some time been fashionable in Scotland, this expression occurs ‘ridiculously called by Dr. Johnson.’ It is not worth while to mention what. But when we see a man dull enough to be insensible to the veneration due to the first literary character of his age we must be sorry that his crude criticism is permitted to come forth under the sanction of any Society honoured with Royal Patronage. From sucha1>] [Sub-Paper Apart Ra2] In the ‘Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh’ Vol. II. there isa3 ‘An Essay on the Character of Hamlet’ written I should suppose by a very young writer though called ‘Reverend’ ≤who speaks with presumptous petulance of the first literary character of his age. Amidst a cloud of words≥ in which the noble line abovementioned is thus criticised 20 with a laughable degree of formal [insensibility to poetical power>] dullnessa4 ‘Dr. Johnson has remarked that “time toiled after him in vain.” But I should apprehend that this is entirely to mistake the character. Time toils after every great man as well as after Shakspeare. The workings of an ordinary mind keep pace indeed with time; they move no faster; they have their beginning their middle 25 and their end; but superiour natures can reduce these into a point. They do not indeed suppress them; but they suspend or they lock them up in the breast.’ The ≤learned≥ Society under whose sanction such gabble is published would do well to offer a premium to any one who will discover its meaning. 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

a

Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Paper R’. See notes a1 and a2 below. The following anecdote is based on notes in Houghton MS Hyde 51 (5), pp. 91–92: ‘Mr. Samuel Johnson was one day upon the Thames when the fashion of [false start abusing each other trying who] people on the river trying who should give each other the worst language prevailed. Johnson’s figure was a good subject for an attack of this kind from a rude fellow. Johnson thought he would for once try to give a Broadside which he did thus: Sir your wife under pretence of keeping a Bawdy-house is a receiver of stolen goods. / Mr. Langton.’ 4 5

a1 Deleted direction to the compositor ‘Go to Paper R’—that is to say, the original one, which JB discarded after redrafting the footnote on a second Paper R (see next note). Before taking this step, however, JB had started to revise his copy here: he changed the first sentence so that it began ‘In the “Transactions’, deleted the phrase ‘though called “Reverend”’, and resolved his alternatives in favour of the phrase ‘kind of abstract speculative dissertation’, but then scored through ‘abstract’. a2 This redrafted Paper R (see n. a1) is headed ‘R (for No. 26 of Langtoniana.)’ a3 In the revises JB deleted ‘there is’, as he should have done in proof after restoring the original opening of the sentence, ‘I am sorry to see in’ (l. 5). a4 Printed in the revises ‘Amidst a cloudy confusion of words, (which hath of late too often passed in Scotland for Metaphysicks,) he thus ventures to criticise one of the noblest lines in our language.—’

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H-P iv. 26–27, 30

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1780

passed in the most abusive language they could ≤invent≥, generally however with as much satirical humour as they were capable of producing. Addison gives a delicate specimen of this in the Number6 of the Spectator when Sir Roger de Coverley and he are going to Spring Gardens. Johnson was once eminently successful in this species of contest. A fellow having [hailed>] attacked him with some coarse raillery, Johnson answered thus “Sir, your wife, — under pretence of keeping a bawdy=house —7 is a receiver of stolen=goods.” One evening when he & Mr. Burke and Mr. Langton were in company together and the admirable Scolding of Timon of Athens was mentioned, this instance of Johnson’s was quoted and allowed to have at least [equall>] equal excellence.’ As Johnson always allowed the extraordinary talents of Mr. Burke so Mr. Burke was fully sensible of the [intellectual>] wonderful powers of Johnson. Mr. Langton recollects having passed an evening in company with both of them, when Mr. Burke repeatedly entered upon topicks which it was evident he would have expatiated8 with extensive knowledge and richness of expression; but Johnson always seised upon the conversation in which however he acquitted himself in a most masterly manner. As Mr. Burke and Mr. Langton were walking home, Mr. Burke observed that Johnson had been very great that night. Mr. Langton joined in this but added he could have wished to hear more from another person. ‘No no’9 said Mr. Burke ‘It is enough for me to have rung the bell.’ [1st ed. ii. 344] Talking of Dr. Blagden’s copiousness and precision of information Dr. Johnson said ‘Blagden Sir is a delightful fellow.’1 6 The space remained blank in the revises; in the margin JB finally supplied the number and altered the phrase to read ‘a specimen of this ribaldry in Number 383’. He had found that the insult was not ‘delicate’: Sir Roger, derided as a ‘Queer old Putt’, was asked ‘whether he was not ashamed to go a Wenching at his Years? with a great deal of the like Thames-Ribaldry’ (The Spectator, ed. Bond, iii. 438). SJ defined PUT in his Dictionary as ‘A rustick; a clown’, and his illustration featured the phrase ‘Queer country puts’, from James Bramston’s poem, The Man of Taste, Occasion’d by an Epistle of Mr. Pope’s on that Subject (1733). Looking at the essay again also led JB to delete the final ‘s’ in ‘Spring-gardens’. 7 In the revises, JB replaced commas here (printed instead of dashes) with parentheses. In the second edition, he reverted to commas and italicized the phrase for emphasis. 8 Printed in the revises ‘expatiated on’, and changed by JB to ‘illustrated’. His dissatisfaction with the phrase began with a false start in the MS: ‘started topicks which it was evident he would have discussed in the’. Changing ‘started’ to ‘entered upon’, he scored through ‘discussed in the’; above this he again wrote and deleted ‘discusse[d]’; then he inserted ‘expatiated’, followed by a deleted false start, possibly ‘for’. 9 The second ‘no’ covers a false start, ‘sa[id]’. In the revises JB changed the first ‘No’ to ‘O’ as part of a larger expansion of this passage: ‘person; (plainly intimating that he meant Mr. Burke.) “O, no … rung the bell to him.”’ 1 Wanting this anecdote ‘To come in last’, JB recopied it here for a second time to close the Langtonian Johnsoniana (see ante p. 19 n. 9, p. 20 ll. 3–4 and n. 2); ‘communication’ was printed in the revises, not ‘information’, evidence that JB in proof reverted to his original word choice. The second edition saw a large influx of ‘additional communications by Mr. Langton’. Although the entry point for this material, as indicated in the Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition (wherein it spanned five columns of print, pp. 24–26), was ‘P. 344. after line second.’—i.e., after the current paragraph—fifteen of the new anecdotes preceded the Blagden paragraph in the second edition (iii. 274–77; Hill-Powell iv. 27–30), revealing JB’s continued determination to have it ‘come in last’. A marginal note on MS 290 tied to the third anecdote—‘mem.

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1781

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 34

≤[Paper Apart ‘799’2] This year the Reverend Dr. Francklin having published a translation of Lucian inscribed to him3 the Demonax thus

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To DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON the Demonax of the present age this piece is inscribed by a sincere admirer of his respectable talents. THE TRANSLATOR.

Though upon a particular comparrison of Demonax and Johnson there does not seem to be a great deal of similarity between them, this Dedication is a just compliment from the general character given by Lucian of the ancient Sage ‘ ó óµ , the best philosopher whom I 10 have ever seen or known.’≥ 11 [MS 8004] In 17815 he at last completed his Lives of the Poets of which he 12 gives this account ‘Sometime in March I finished the Lives of the Poets which 13 14 his saying to the Gentleman dont go we may forget you and you’ll cease to exist’ (in relation to Bishop Berkeley’s ‘sophistry’; see Life MS i. 331 n. 1)—raises the possibility that this subset of anecdotes was prepared for the first edition, but then mislaid. The other subset of fresh anecdotes—drafted or obtained too late for inclusion in the main text—wound up in the ‘Additions to Dr. Johnson’s Life recollected, and received after the Second Edition was printed’, introduced by the heading ‘From Mr. LANGTON I have the following additional Particulars’ (i. *x–*xiii; Hill-Powell iv. 30–33). Embarrassed to find them there, Langton expressed concern to JB about ‘those communications of mine that you have judged proper to make use of, and which communications unluckily stand forward and prominent, as being premised to the mass of the work and therefore should … be more than commonly correct’. Inaccuracies in two passages worried Langton, and upon the request of an acquaintance to borrow his volumes, he drafted corrections on a sheet to be ‘laid between the leaves, as not chusing that my poor contributions should go out with their imperfections on their heads’ (30 July 1793; Corr. 2a, pp. 424–25). Those revisions, which he recopied and then sent with this letter to JB, were included on a page of ‘Additional Corrections’ (p. *xxxviii in complete copies of the second edition). In the third edition, when these anecdotes migrated into the main text, they followed the Blagden paragraph (as JB was no longer alive to ensure its concluding position) and contained one final expansion, this brief additional anecdote: ‘He thus characterised an ingenious writer of his acquaintance: “Sir, he is an enthusiast by rule.”’ The ingenious writer was ‘[v]ery likely Dr. Joseph Warton’ (Hill-Powell iv. 33 n. 1). 2 JB numbered this Paper Apart ‘799’ in the upper right-hand corner, as though it were part of his main run of pages. It is catalogued as a Paper Apart, however, because the primary MS 799 (see ante p. 1 n. 1, Life MS iii. 301–11) was the one that figured in JB’s first-draft narrative. JB had overlooked one of his early intentions for the year 1780: ‘Dr. Franklin dedicates Demonax to him’ (Life Materials M 147). Since he had already directed the compositor to ‘go to the year 1781 on page 800’ (Life MS iii. 311 n. 6), he designated the present leaf ‘799’, making certain of its position by signposting ‘1780 / Etat 71’ in the upper left-hand corner, and ‘1781 / Etat 72’ below his copy at the bottom of the page. 3 JB deleted Selfe’s query in the revises about substituting ‘Dr. Johnson’ for ‘him’. 4 Between the deleted material on MS 800 and the copy to which the compositor was now directed, JB inserted a memorandum—‘Here Steevens’, later changed to ‘Here Langton as you were not in London & Steevens in 1782’—that reveals his plan for the anecdotes at that stage (see Life MS iii. 303 n. 9). The anecdotes from Steevens ultimately were folded into Paper Apart Varia (see post p. 236 and n. 9). 5 JB also posted ‘1781’ in the margin, where it was printed in the revises. On JB’s confusion over when SJ completed the Lives of the Poets, see Life MS i. 264 l. 5 and n. 8; Life MS iii. 154 nn. 9, 2. He listed ‘Account of his Poets’ under the year 1780 in the Life Materials, but later clarified ‘This in 1781’, adding ‘& Lives of the Poets completed’ to his list for that year (M 147).

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H-P iv. 34–35

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1781

I wrote in my usual way dilatorily and hastily, unwilling to work, and working with vigour and haste.’a ≤In a memorandum previous to this, he says of them ‘written I hope in such a manner as may tend to the promotion of piety.’b≥ This is the Work which of all Dr. Johnson’s writings, will ≤perhaps≥ be read most generally and with most pleasure. Philology and Biography were his favourite pursuits and those who lived most in intimacy with him heard him upon all occasions when there was a proper opportunity, take delight in expatiating upon the various merits of the English Poets; [and del] upon the niceties of their characters and the events of their progress through the world which they contributed [MS 801] to illuminate. His mind was so full of that kind of information, and it was so well arranged in his memory, that in performing what he had undertaken in this way, he had little more to do, than to put his thoughts upon [paper.6>] [paper, each Poet’s Life being first exhibited and then a critical examination of his genius and writings being subjoined.>] paper, exhibiting first each Poet’s Life and then subjoining a critical examination of his genius and writings. But when he began to write, the subject swelled in such a manner that instead of Prefaces to each Poet, of no more than a few leaves as he had originally intended,c he produced an ample rich [1st ed. ii. 345] and most entertaining View of them in every respect.7 ≤In this

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Ibid. p. 190.a1 20 Ibid. p. 174. c ≤[MS 801v] His design is thus announced in his Advertisement ‘The Booksellers having determined to publish a Body of English Poetry, I was persuaded to promise them a preface to the works of each Authour; an undertaking as it was then presented to my mind not very tedious or difficult. 25 ‘My purpose was only to have allotted to every Poet an Advertisement like that which we find in the French Miscellanies, containing a few dates and a general character; but I have been led beyond my intention I hope by the honest desire of giving useful pleasure.’≥ a

b

6 Here in revision, starting a new sentence in the margin, JB elaborated on SJ’s reliance upon memory: ‘Indeed he mentioned to Mr. Malone that he had not a small fact or date written down, but was obliged to call upon’. Deleting this unfinished idea abruptly, however, he then drafted an extension of the current sentence on the facing page. 7 At a late stage of revision, JB drew upon a memorandum in the Life Materials (M 157, p. 3): ‘His making his Prefaces to the Poets much larger than he had engaged to do, & indeed full Lives. Was like what Quintilian relates of his Institutions of Oratory “latius se tamen aperiente materia, plus quam imponebatur oneris sponte suscepi.”’ Having described in the present sentence how the prefaces had ‘swelled’, he added SJ’s own account of it in a footnote, drafting it on the verso of MS 801, for by then little space remained on MS opp. 801 (see post p. 46 n. 5), and here writing ‘(Go to [or ?See] the back)’. He then deleted this direction, moved his footnote symbol up two lines, wrote ‘See back’ beside it, and above the footnote itself specified ‘Note on the word intended on p. 801’. He worked the comparison to Quintilian into a new sentence for insertion here, drafted in four tightly-squeezed lines along part of the right-hand margin of MS opp. 801, the only available space remaining. a1 Printed in the revises ‘Prayers and Meditations, p. 190.’ The interpolation of the Langtonian Johnsoniana had separated ‘Ibid.’ from the footnote sitting to its left at the bottom of MS 800, ‘Prayers & Meditations p. 185.’ See Life MS iii. 311 n. a.

26

1781

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 35–37

he resembled Quintilian who tells us that in the composition of his Insitutions of Oratory ‘Latius se tamen aperiente materia, plus quam imponebatur oneris sponte suscepi.’≥ The Booksellers justly sensible of the great additional value of the Copy right, presented him with another hundred pounds, over and above the two hundred for which8 his agreement was to furnish such Prefaces as he thought fit.9 [Paper Apart Poets (1)] This was however but a small recompence[,] for such a collection of Biography and such principles and illustrations of Criticism as if digested and arranged in one system by some modern Aristotle or Longinus might form a Code upon that subject such as no other nation can shew. As he was so good as to make me a present of the greatest part of the original and indeed only Manuscript of this admirable Work10 I have an opportunity of contemplating with wonder the correctness with which he rapidly struck off such glowing composition, resembling in this the Lady in Waller who could impress with ‘Love at first sight’ Some other nymphs with colours faint And pencil slow may Cupid paint, And a weak heart in time destroy She has a stamp and prints the boy.

20

That he however had a good deal of trouble and some anxiety in carrying on the Work we see from a series of [P.A. Poets (2)] his notes to Mr. Nichols the Printera/1 [1st ed. ii. 346] whose variety of literary inquiry and obliging disposition Thusa1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . See several more in the Gentleman’s Magazine 1785. That Mr. Nichols urged him to dispatch is evident from the following sentence in one of his Letters to Mrs. Thrale ‘I have finished Prior; so a fig for Mr. Nichols.’a2 a

25

8 Printed in the revises ‘another hundred pounds, over and above two hundred, for which’. This probably was a misreading (rather than a change in proof), given that it fractures the clarity of JB’s draft. The flaw has never been repaired. 9 Below this paragraph, in revision, JB inserted a bold X and directed the compositor to ‘Take in Paper Poets’— thirty-two leaves designated ‘Poets’ in the upper left-hand corner and numbered 1 through 32 within parentheses in the right-hand corner. At an earlier stage, JB had placed the symbol on MS 802, underneath the next paragraph (‘While the World in general …’; post p. 51), accompanied on the facing page by the direction ‘Here take in Excerpts of his Lives’, later deleted. 10 For JB’s strategy to ‘gratify the publick’ (p. 28 l. 7) by means of this prized possession and other key features of the Life, see Appendix A. 1 JB recopied this phrase—originally the last line of P.A. Poets (1)—on a fresh page that could accommodate a footnote: his cue word (l. 23), directions to the compositor (see n. a1), and copy (ll. 25–27, trailing into the margin of the page). a1 Directions to the compositor, ‘Take in from leaves of Gent. Mag. those scored round ( ), Then say — See several more …’ (JB’s copy to conclude the footnote). This footnote takes up substantial space on both 1st ed. ii. 345 and 346 (see note below). a2 This sentence—in which ‘a fig for’ was printed ‘a fig to’—survived the first proofs and a first revise, but on the second revise (at the top of sig. Yy, p. 345) JB urgently halted

27

H-P iv. 37–38

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1781

rendered him very useful to Johnson. Mr. Steevens appears from the papers in my possession to have supplied him with some anecdotes and quotations, and I observe the fair hand of Mrs. Thrale as one of his copyists of select passages.2 It is not my intention to dwell upon each of Johnson’s Lives of the Poets or attempt an annalysis of their merits, which were I able to do it, would take up too much room in this Work. Yet I shall take leave to make a few observations upon some of them, and to gratify the publick with a few various readings. The Life of Cowley he himself considered as the best of the whole on account of the dissertation which it contains on the Metaphysical Poets. Dryden whose critical abilities were equal to his poetical, [P.A. Poets (3)] had mentioned them in one of his excellent prefatory discourses to his Plays but had barely mentioned them. Johnson [exhibited them at large and>] has exhibited them at large with such happiness of illustration from their writings, and in so luminous a manner that indeed he may be allowed the full merit of novelty to have discovered to us as it were a new planet3 in the poetical hemisphere. It is remarked by Johnson in considering the works of a Poeta that ‘Amendments are seldom made without some token of a rent’. But I do not find that this is applicable to prose.4 We shall see that though his Amendments in this Work are for the better, there is nothing of the pannus assutus; the texture is uniform and indeed what has been there at first is very seldom unfit to have remained. a

Life of Sheffield.

2 Responding to this passage in the first edition, Isaac Reed in a letter to JB alluded to himself: ‘There was another person from whom Dr. Johnson received more assistance than from all that are here mentioned put together. That person however does not desire to be mentioned’ (Corr. 2a, p. 385). Heedless of Reed’s wish, JB added a sentence here in the second edition: ‘But he was principally indebted to my steady friend Mr. Isaac Reed of Staple-inn, whose extensive and accurate knowledge of English literary History I do not express with exaggeration, when I say it is wonderful; indeed his labours have proved it to the world; and all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance can bear testimony to the frankness of his communications in private society.’ 3 MS orig. ‘must be allowed to have discovered to us a new planet’. Same-draft changes to this passage (the first of which was a false start: ‘may be allowed all the me[rit]’) disrupted the original verb phrase. The awkward result was mitigated by a comma after ‘novelty’ (so in revises); in the second edition, following the comma, JB inserted the conjunction ‘and’ (an improvement included in Corrections and Additions). 4 In the third edition, EM added a footnote here: ‘See, however, p. 10 of this volume, where the same remark is made, and Johnson is there speaking of prose. In his Life of Dryden, his observations in the Opera of “King Arthur” furnish a striking instance of the truth of this remark.’ Only the first sentence of this note appears in Hill-Powell. For EM’s cross-reference, see ante p. 10 ll. 5–11.

the press: ‘But N.B. P. 346 must not be laid on till I come & adjust the page where Mr. Nichols is mentioned.’ Evidently, then, at the printing house, JB deleted the sentence and drafted another in the margin: ‘The Editor of that Miscellany in which Johnson wrote for several years [false start justly] seems justly to think that every fragment of so great a man is worthy of being preserved.’ Nichols later admitted, ‘I was perpetually goading him to furnish the press with copy’, and quoted from the letter to Mrs. Thrale: ‘I have finished the Life of Prior—and now a fig for Mr. Nichols!’ (Literary Anecdotes, ii. 550). On SJ’s tardy supply of copy to the publishers of The Works of the English Poets, see Lives ed. Lonsdale, i. 21–47; Bonnell, The Most Disreputable Trade, pp. 140–42.

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1781

[1st ed. ii. 347]

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

20

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 38–39

Various Readingsa/5 in Cowley’s Life

‘all {future votaries of} that may hereafter pant for solitude ‘to conceive and to excite6 the {agitation or perception} pains and the pleasures of other minds’ [P.A. Poets (4)] ‘the wide effulgence of {the blazing} a summer noon. [‘copiousness of {thought} sentiment.7 del] In the Life of WALLER Johnson ≤gives a distinct and animated narrative of publick affairs in that variegated period with strong yet nice touches of character and≥ [had a fair opportunity to display his political principles which he does with÷having a fair opportunity to display his political principles does it with>] having a fair opportunity to display his political principles does it with an unqualified manly confidence and satisfies his readers how nobly he might have executed a Tory History of his country. So easy is his style in these lives that I do not recollect having found one uncommon or learned word except8 when giving an account of the approach of [his>] Wallers mortal disease he says ‘he found his legs grow tumid.’ ≤by using≥ the expression his legs swelled ≤he≥ would have avoided this, and there would have been no impropriety in its being followed by the interesting question to his physician ‘what that swelling meant?’9 The original reading is enclosed in brackets,a1 and the present one is printed in Italicks.a2 a

5 As printed in the revises, each reading began with quotation marks and a capital letter, and ended with a full stop; closing quotation marks were placed after the final reading within each series. The transcription adds the initial quotation marks where JB overlooked them, but otherwise preserves his punctuation and capitalization. 6 Printed in the revises ‘To conceive and execute’, an error never corrected. 7 See Lives ed. Middendorf, xxi. 29 and n. 6; Lives ed. Lonsdale, i. 202 (para. 61). 8 Printed in the revises ‘I do not recollect more than three uncommon or learned words; one’. The rest of the paragraph, as originally drafted, constituted JB’s first example; the second and third were added in print (see next note). 9 Two additional specimens of SJ’s uncommon words (see n. 8 above) were printed in the revises: ‘Another, when he mentions that Pope had emitted proposals; when published or issued, would have been more readily understood; and a third, when he calls Orrery and Dr. Delany writers both undoubtedly veracious, when true, honest, or faithful, might have been used. Yet, it must be owned, that none of these are hard or too big words; that custom would make them seem as easy as any others; and that a language is richer and capable of more beauty of expression, by having a greater variety of synonimes.’ a1 JB drafted this footnote after settling upon brackets to show SJ’s original language. Parentheses marked the original reading in his first example, and in the second example also he placed a parenthesis before ‘agitation’. He used a bracket after ‘perception’, however, and converted his previous parentheses to brackets. In the second edition, JB changed the word ‘brackets’ to ‘crotchets’; in SJ’s Dictionary, BRACKET was limited to a single definition, ‘a term of carpentry’, whereas CROTCHET (in its third sense) expressed a meaning specific to printing: ‘Hooks in which words are included [thus.]’ a2 Given the use of square brackets, in this edition, to surround portions of JB’s copy that he later revised, curly brackets or braces—such as {these}—will represent the crotchets deployed by JB (see note above) in his ‘Various Readings’ from SJ’s Lives.

29

H-P iv. 39–41

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1781

≤His dissertation upon the unfitness of poetry for the aweful subjects of our holy Religion, though I do not entirely agree with him has all the merit of Novelty with uncommon force of reasoning10.≥ Various readings in the Life of Waller1 ‘consented to {the insertion of their names} their own nomination [P.A. Poets (5)] ‘{after} paying a fine of ten thousand pounds ‘congratulating Charles the Second on his {coronation} recovered right.2 ‘The characters by which Waller intended to distinguish his writings are {elegance} spriteliness3 and dignity. ‘blossoms to be valued only as they {fetch} foretell fruits. ‘images such as the superficies of nature {easily} readily supplies. ‘{Some} His4 applications {are sometimes} may be thought too remote and unconsequential.’ ‘His images are {sometimes confused} not always distinct.

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Against his Life of MILTON [all del] the hounds of Whiggism have opened in full cry. But of Milton’s [reputation÷excellence>] great excellence as a Poet where shall we find such a Blazon as by the hand of Johnson? I shall select only the following passage concerning ‘Paradise Lost.’5 ‘Fancy can hardly forbear to conjecture with what temper Milton surveyed the silent progress of his Work and marked his reputation stealing its way in a kind of subterraneous current through fear and silence. I cannot but conceive him calm and confident, little disappointed, not at all [P.A. Poets (6)] dejected, relying on his own merit with steady consciousness, and waiting without impatience the vicissitudes of opinion and the impartiality of a future generation.’ Indeed [even Dr. Towers who may be considered as one of the hottest heads of÷Dr. Towers who may be considered as one of the hottest heads even of>] even Dr. Towers who may be considered as one of the hottest heads of The Revolution Society itself allows that ‘Johnson has spoken in the highest terms of the abilities of that great poet and has bestowed on his principal poetical compositions the most honourable encomiums.’a

15 16 17 18 19 20

≤See ‘An Essay on the Life Character and Writings of Dr. Samuel Johnson’ London 1787 which is very well written making a proper allowance for a

Second edition, ‘force and reasoning’, a textual corruption that has gone uncorrected. On the next line, JB made two false starts: (1) ‘the mos[t]’; (2) ‘{There is} No spectacle’ (initially with lower case letters). This example pertained to the sentence ‘No spectacle is nobler than a blaze.’ See Lives ed. Middendorf, xxi. 269 and textual note q; Lives ed. Lonsdale, ii. 30 (para. 16). 2 Here in the revises (to begin 1st ed. ii. 348) an additional reading was printed: ‘He that has flattery ready for all whom the vicissitudes of the world happen to exalt, must be {confessed to degrade his powers} scorned as a prostituted mind.’ 3 Changed by Selfe in the revises to ‘sprightliness’, as spelled in SJ’s Dictionary, though not in the Lives. See Lives ed. Middendorf, xxi. 302 and textual note r; Lives ed. Lonsdale, ii. 47 (para. 107). 4 Printed in the revises ‘{His} Some’; JB evidently corrected his transposition in proof. 5 A memorandum in the Life Materials reveals JB’s anticipation of this passage: ‘Be sure to quote from Life of Milton subterraneous fame &c’ (M 158, p. 14). 10 1

30

25

30

1781

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 41–42

[1st ed. ii. 349] That a man who [loved and venerated the>] venerated the Church and Monarchy as Johnson did should speak with a just abhorrence of Milton as a Politician or rather as a daring foe to good Polity, was surely to be expected; and to those who censure him I would recommend his commentary on Milton’s celebrated Complaint of his situation when by the lenity of Charles the Second ‘a lenity of which (Johnson well observes) the world has had perhaps no other example[’], he who had written in justification of the murder of his Sovereign was safe under an Act of oblivion.6 — ‘No sooner is he safe than he finds himself in danger fallen on evil days and evil tongues, and with darkness and with danger compass’d round. This darkness, had his eyes been better employed, [P.A. Poets (7)] had undoubtedly deserved compassion; but to add the mention of danger was ungrateful and unjust. He was fallen indeed on evil days; the time was come in which regicides could no longer boast their wickedness. But of evil tongues to complain7 required impudence at least equal to his other powers: Milton whose warmest advocates must allow, that he never spared any asperity of reproach or brutality of insolence.’

the democratical bigotry of its Authour,a1 [who however has liberality enough to speak>] whom however I cannot but admire for his liberality in speaking thus of my illustrious friend. 20 ‘He possessed extraordinary powers of understanding which were much cultivated by study, and still more by meditation and reflection. His memory was remarkably retentive, his imagination uncommonly vigorous, and his judgement keen and penetrating. He had a strong sense of the importance of religion; his piety was sincere, and sometimes ardent; and his zeal for the interests of 25 virtue was often manifested in his conversation and in his writings. The same energy which was displayed in his literary productions was exhibited also in his conversation, which was various striking and instructive, and perhaps no man ever equalled him for nervous and pointed repartees. ‘His Dictionary, his moral essays and his productions in polite literature will 30 convey useful instruction and elegant entertainment as long as the language in which they are written shall be understood.’≥ 6 With the following dash and quotation marks, JB began a second excerpt from SJ’s ‘Life of Milton’. As he had not closed the first quotation after ‘example’, however, the compositor (left to guesswork) closed it here, and—omitting JB’s dash and new quotation marks—placed a stray pair of quotation marks at the end of the paragraph. Noticing this anomaly in the revises, JB inserted quotation marks before the last clause of the second excerpt, ‘that he never spared …’, though his italics for SJ’s internal quotations showed him to be quoting throughout. The third edition restored quotation marks to the beginning of the excerpt (which became a block quotation in Hill-Powell). See Lives ed. Middendorf, xxi. 144, 156–57; Lives ed. Lonsdale, i. 262, 268 (paras. 98, 127). 7 Second edition, ‘for Milton to complain’, in correction of JB’s omission. a1 Adding this footnote in revision, and having filled the space available at the bottom of the page and in the margin, JB here wrote ‘who’ as a catchword and directed the compositor to ‘Go to the back’. The compositor typeset ‘who’ before turning the page, and so missed the fact that JB had recopied the word there and later revised it to ‘whom’; ‘whom’ was printed in the second edition.

31

H-P iv. 42–44

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1781

≤I have indeed often wondered how Milton ‘an acrimonious and surly republican’ a man ‘in his domestick relations8 was severe and arbitrary’9 and whose head was filled with the hardest and most dismal tenets of Calvinism, should have been such a Poet; should not only have written with sublimity but with beauty and even gayety, should have exquisitely painted the sweetest sensations of which our nature is capable, imaged the delicate raptures of connubial love, nay seemed to be animated with all the spirit of revelry. It is a proof that in the human mind the departments of judgement and imagination, perceptibily1 and temper may sometimes be divided by strong partitions and that the light and shade in the same character may be kept so distinct as never to be blended.2≥3 ≤[Sub-Paper Apart L4] In [this Life>] [the Life of Pope>] the Life of Milton5 Johnson took occasion to maintain his own and the general opinion of the excellence of Rhime over blank verse in English Poetry and quotes this apposite illustration of it by ‘an ingenious critick’ that it is verse only to the eye.6 The Gentleman whom he thus characterises is (as he told Mr. Seward) Mr. Lock of Norbury Park in Surry whose knowledge and taste in the fine arts is universally celebrated, with [1st ed. ii. 350] whose elegance of manners the writer of the present work has felt himself much impressed and of whose virtues a common friend not much addicted to flattery has given me the highest testimony.7≥ [P.A. Poets (7) resumed] Various readings in the Life of Milton ‘I cannot find any meaning but this which {his most bigotted advocates} even kindness and reverence can give [to the term del]. 8 Here in revision, the margin of P.A. Poets (7) providing no more room for this new paragraph, JB directed the compositor to ‘Turn to the back.’ 9 The words JB left out of this second quotation were printed in the revises: ‘a man “who in … was so severe and arbitrary”’. Third edition, ‘Republican,”*—“a man who … arbitrary,”†’, the footnotes being ‘*Johnson’s Life of Milton.’ and ‘†Ibid.’ Hill-Powell returned the quotation marks to the word ‘who’ for the second quotation. 1 Printed ‘perceptibility’. In the revises, JB changed it to ‘perception’, reviving the word from one of his first-draft reformulations of this phrase: (1) ‘imagination, temper and fancy’; (2) ‘imagination, temper and perception’. The word perceptibility is not in SJ’s Dictionary; the OED, under the sense of the word appropriate here—‘1. The faculty of or capacity for perceiving; perceptiveness.’—illustrates its usage from 1642 to 1989. 2 JB added a footnote here in the second edition: ‘Mr. Malone thinks it is rather a proof that he felt nothing of those cheerful sensations which he has described: that on these topicks it is the poet, and not the man, that writes.’ 3 Direction to the compositor (written in Plymsell’s hand), ‘Take in Paper L’. 4 Headed ‘L for back of (Poets) p. 7’; the ‘L’ stands for William Locke (1732–1810). 5 For JB’s memorandum that led to this revision, see post p. 35 n. 1. 6 As printed in the revises, this quotation had been corrected to read ‘it seems to be verse only to the eye’, and keyed to it was a footnote: ‘One of the most natural instances of the effect of blank verse happened to the late Earl of Hopeton. His Lordship observed one of his shepherds poring in the fields upon Milton’s “Paradise Lost;” and having asked him what book it was, the man answered, “An’t please your Lordship, this is a very odd sort of an authour: he would fain rhyme, but cannot get at it.”’ The word ‘happened’ was changed to ‘occurred’ in the second edition. 7 Printed in the revises ‘and to whose virtues a common friend, who has known him long, and is not much addicted to flattery, gives the highest testimony.’

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1781

5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 44

‘{perhaps no} scarcely any man ever wrote so much and praised so few. ‘a certain {rescue} preservative from oblivion. ‘Let me not be censured for this digression as {contracted} pedantick or paradoxical. ‘Socrates was rather8 of opinion that what we had to learn was how to {obtain and communicate happiness} do good and avoid evil.’ ‘its elegance {who can exhibit?} is less attainable [Various readings in the Life of Dryden.9 del] [P.A. Poets (8)] I could with pleasure expatiate upon the masterly execution of the Life of DRYDEN which we have seena was one of Johnson’s literary projects at an early period and which it is remarkable that after desisting from it from a supposed scantiness of materials he should at a very advanced age have performed so amply. His defence of that great Poet against the illiberal attacks upon him as if his embracing the Roman Catholick Communion had been a time-serving measure is a piece of reasoning at once able and candid. Indeed Dryden himself in his Hind and Panther hath given such a picture of his mind, that they who know the anxiety for repose as to the aweful subject of our state beyond the grave, though they may think his opinion ill founded must think charitably of his sentiments.1 [‘My thoughtless youth was wing’d with vain desires2>] [Sub-Paper Apart R.C.3] But, gracious GOD! how well dost thou provide For erring judgements an unerring guide!

20

a

≤See p. — of Vol. I.a1≥

8 Printed in the revises ‘rather was’, a mistaken transposition that has gone uncorrected. See Lives ed. Middendorf, xxi. 119 and textual note s; Lives ed. Lonsdale, i. 249 (para. 41). 9 An undeleted catchword—‘Were’—here at the bottom of P.A. Poets (7) leads to no other MS leaf that has been traced. If it was to be the opening word in the first specimen included under this heading, JB either changed his mind or discarded the original P.A. Poets (8). Deleting his heading here, he recopied it on the first of two surviving leaves numbered (8), and began with a different example. That page, however, he later renumbered, writing ‘10’ over the ‘8’; see post p. 34 n. 7. 1 Printed in the revises ‘sentiment’, possibly a compositorial misreading, given that the triple cross symbol added by JB in revision (see next note) impinges on the final s. 2 Beneath this place-holding verse JB alerted the compositor to ‘about nine or eleven lines to come in’. In revision he deleted the verse, placed above it a triple cross with the cue words ‘But gracious GOD’, and in the margin (next to the corresponding triple cross) stipulated ‘Paper R.C.’ for ‘Roman Catholick’. 3 Headed ‘RC (Poets) p. 8 ’. Beneath the copy of sixteen verses (more than were anticipated; see note above), JB drew a line spanning the width of the page and cut away the paper below the line. What he might have written on it is unknown. a1 Written in Plymsell’s hand in the lower left-hand corner of the page; printed in the revises ‘See page 85 of this Volume.’ There SJ recounts how, as a ‘young fellow’, he sought to ‘get materials’ about Dryden from ‘the only two persons’ still alive who had seen him (see Life MS iii. 57).

33

H-P iv. 44–46

[1st ed. ii. 351]

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1781

Thy throne is darkness in th’ abyss of light, A blaze of glory that forbids the sight. O! teach me to believe thee thus conceal’d And search no farther than thyself reveal’d; But her alone for my director take Whom thou hast promis’d never to forsake. My thoughtless youth was wing’d with vain desires; My manhood long misled by wandering fires Follow’d false lights and when their glimpse was gone My pride struck out new sparkles of her own. Such was I, such by nature still I am Be thine the glory and be mine the shame. Good life be now my task: My doubts are done; What more could shock my faith than three in one?

[P.A. Poets (9)] In drawing Dryden’s character Johnson has given though I suppose unintentionally some touches of his own. Thus ‘The power that predominated in his intellectual operations was rather strong reason than quick sensibility. Upon all occasions that were presented he studied rather than felt, and produced sentiments not such as Nature enforces but meditation supplies. With the simple and elemental passions as they spring separate in the mind he seems not much acquainted, — . . . . . – – –4 He is therefore with all his variety of excellence not often pathetick, and had so little sensibility of the power of effusions purely natural that he did not esteem them in others.’5 It may indeed be observed that in all the numerous Writings of Johnson whether in prose or verse and even in his Tragedy of which the Catastrophe is an unfortunate Princess6 there is not a single passage that ever drew a tear. [P.A. Poets (10)7] Various Readings in the Life of Dryden ‘The reason of this general perusal Addison has attempted to {find in} derive from the delight which the mind feels in the investigation of secrets.’8 4 MS orig. ‘acquainted, and seldom’. JB had started to copy the rest of SJ’s sentence, but then instead marked a large gap in his quotation with this unconventional surplus of punctuation (the short dashes drawn above a longer dash). Only a full stop was printed in the revises, however, erasing his signal that SJ’s text was discontinuous; as observed in Hill-Powell (iv. 45 n. 2), ‘In this quotation two passages are joined.’ See Lives ed. Middendorf, xxi. 483–84; Lives ed. Lonsdale, ii. 148–49 (paras. 322, 325). 5 JB shifted his quotation marks to the end of this sentence after quoting, and then deleting, the first part of SJ’s next sentence: ‘Simplicity gave him no pleasure.’ 6 MS orig. ‘a Princess’. The meaning of this phrase evidently was clarified in proof; in the revises it read, ‘of which the subject is the distress of an unfortunate Princess’. 7 This page was first drafted as P.A. Poets (8); see ante p. 33 n. 9. Almost half the page remains blank, suggesting that JB—uncertain of how many readings to exhibit—had not finished it before moving on to P.A. Poets (11) to discuss the ‘Life of Pope’. 8 Added in the same draft, this reading replaced a deleted false start, ‘“examples of’. Upon deleting the false start, JB proceeded with what would become his second specimen. When he returned to this initial position, he squeezed in two lines of copy to the right of his false start and drafted the rest of the reading down the left-hand margin of the page.

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1781

5 6 7 8 9

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 46–47

‘his best actions are but {convenient} inability of wickedness.’ ‘when once he had engaged himself in disputation {matter} thoughts flowed in on either side.’ ‘the abyss of unideal {emptiness} vacancy. ‘these like {many other harlots} the harlots of other men had his love though not his approbation. ‘He {sometimes displays} descends to display his knowledge with pedantick ostentation. ‘french words which {were then used in} had then crept into conversation.

10 [P.A. Poets (11); 1st ed. ii. 352] The Life of POPE was written by Johnson 11 con amore both from the early possession which that Writer had taken of his 12 mind and from the pleasure which he must have felt in forever silencing [his 13 detractors by a>] all attempts to lessen his poetical fame by demonstrating 14 his excellence, and pronouncing with a triumphant apotheosis9 — ‘After all 15 this, it is surely superfluous to answer the question that has once been asked,

“Whether Pope was a Poet” otherwise than by asking in return if Pope be not a poet, where is poetry to be found? To circumscribe poetry by a definition will only shew the narrowness of the definer; though a definition which shall exclude Pope will not easily be made. Let us look round upon the present time 20 and back upon the past; let us enquire10 to whom the voice of mankind has decreed the wreath of poetry; let their productions be examined and their claims stated and the pretensions of Pope will be no more disputed.’1 [P.A. Poets (12)] I remember once to have heard Johnson say ‘Sir a thousand years may elapse before there shall appear another man with a power of 25 versification equal to that of Pope.2 That power must undoubtedly be allowed its due share in enhancing the value of his captivating composition. Johnson who had done liberal justice to Warburton in his Edition of Shakspeare, which was published during the life of that powerful Writer with still greater liberality took an opportunity of paying the tribute due to him 30 [after÷when>] when he was no longer in ‘high place’ but numbered with the dead.a a Of Johnson’s conduct towards Warburton a very honourable notice is taken by the [eloquent del] Editor of ‘Tracts by Warburton and a Warburtonian not 9 Printed in the revises ‘pronouncing, a triumphant apotheosis.’ The obtrusive comma suggests that the word ‘with’ had initially been typeset, but was deleted in proof, and the full stop after ‘apotheosis’ (although followed by the printing of JB’s dash) cut off the ensuing quotation from JB’s rhetorical delivery. The remedy to these anomalies in the second edition (‘pronouncing a triumphant eulogium:’) was refined in the third edition (‘pronouncing the following eulogium:’). 10 Printed ‘let enquire’ in error; second edition, ‘let us enquire’. 1 In the margin here JB circled a belated realization: ‘Lock’s character in Miltons Life’. He deleted it after correcting Sub-Paper Apart L (see ante p. 32 l. 12). 2 JB did not mark the end of SJ’s speech. After the next sentence, flecks of ink perhaps were read as quotation marks, for inverted commas were printed there in the revises. This error was remedied in the second edition as prescribed in Corrections and Additions: ‘after Pope insert inverted commas, and dele[te] them … after imposition [sic].’ (The next direction—‘after him [l. 29] put a comma’—was ignored.)

35

H-P iv. 47–48

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1781

[1st ed. ii. 353] It seems strange that two such men as Johnson and Warburton [P.A. Poets (13)] who lived in the same age and country should not only not have been in any degree of intimacy but been almost personally unacquainted. admitteda1 into the Collectionsa2 of their respective Works.’a3 After an able and ‘fond though not undistinguishing’ consideration of Warburton’s character he says ‘In two immortal works Johnson has stood fortha4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Having availed myself of this Editors Eulogy on my departed Friend for which I warmly thank him let me not suffer the lustre of his reputation honestly acquired by profound learning and vigorous eloquence to be tarnished by a charge of illiberality. He has been accused of invidiously dragging again into light certain writings of a Person respectable by his talents ≤his learning≥ his station and his [years>] age, which were published a great many years ago, and have since it is said been silently given up by their Authour. But when it is considered that these writings were not sins of youth but deliberatea5 works of one well advanced in life, overflowing at once with flattery to a great man of great interest in the Church, and with unjust and acrimonious abuse of two men of eminent merit, and that — though it would have been unreasonable to expect an humiliating recantation — no apology whatever has been made in the cool of the evening for the oppressive fervour of the heat of the day — no slight relenting indication has appeared in any note or any corner of later publications — is it not fair to understand him as superciliously [persevering — when>] persevering? — When he allows the [cruel÷severe del] shafts to remain in the wounds and will not stretch forth a lenient hand, [is÷was>] is it wrong? [is÷was>] is it not generous to become an indignant avenger.a6 a1 Having begun this footnote near the bottom of P.A. Poets (12), JB ran out of space here and directed the compositor to ‘Turn’ to the verso of the leaf. a2 Misprinted ‘Collection’ (so in revises); never corrected. a3 False start, ‘A clamour has been raised against that Editor as if he had irreverently and insidiously dragged [false start into] again into light’. JB returned to this idea in the second paragraph of the footnote. In hopes of securing permission to name ‘that Editor’—Samuel Parr, D.D. (1747–1825)—JB wrote to him on 10 Jan. 1791: ‘Having occasion in my Life of Dr. Johnson to thank the editor of Tracts by Warburton and a Warburtonian, I request to hear by return of post, if I may say or guess that Dr. Parr is he. I should think that I may have the liberty to do my friend the credit of naming the person who has given him just and eloquent praise’ (Corr. 2a, p. 293). On 12 Jan., extending his hold on sig. Yy ‘for a day or perhaps two’ (see ante p. 27 n. a2), JB on sig. Zz in the revises (p. 353) advised the printer of this new contingency: ‘But N.B. This page must not be laid on till I hear from Dr. Parr whether his name may be mentioned.’ Grateful for JB’s ‘delicacy’ in the matter, Parr on 22 Jan. withheld consent: ‘If the passage is not printed, I shall be obliged to you for describing me as a Friend of Dr. Johnson, and the reputed Editor, or as a Warwickshire clergyman. But at all events I beg of you not to use the words, Dr. Parr’ (Corr. 2a, p. 294). a4 Direction to the compositor, ‘take in from p. 183 third line from the foot of the text, down to his Friends on p. 184.’ The quotation continued for nineteen lines of the footnote. a5 His lengthy footnote continuing to expand, JB here used adhesives to attach a second sheet of paper to the verso of P.A. Poets (12). a6 None of the emphatic dashes in this paragraph survived in the revises: the first pair had been converted to commas, the next two to semicolons, and the fifth was omitted. JB’s question mark after the word ‘wrong’, replaced by a comma, was printed at the end of the sentence.

36

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25

1781

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 48–49

≤but such instances though we must wonder at them are not rare.3≥ If I am rightly informed after a careful inquiry they never met but once which was at the house of Mrs. French ≤in London≥ well known for her elegant Assemblies and bringing eminent characters together. ≤The interview proved to be mutually agreable.≥4 Mr. William Gerrard Hamilton informs me5 that Warburton said of Johnson ‘I admire him but I cannot bear his style’ and that Johnson being told this, said ‘that is exactly my case as to him.’ He expressed in conversation with Mr. Hamilton his admiration of Warburton thus ‘The table is always full Sir. He brings things from the north and the south and from every quarter. In his “Divine Legation” you are always entertained. He carries you round and round without carrying you forward to the point; but6 you have no wish to be carried forward.’7 It is remarkable that in the Life of [ _______ >] Broome Johnson takes notice of Dr. Warburton’s using a mode of expression which he himself [P.A. Poets (14)] used and that not seldom to the great offence of those who did not know him. Having occasion to mention a note [by Broome del] stating the different 3 Although JB drafted this clause as an extension of his opening sentence, writing left to right down the left-hand margin of the page, his insertion symbol for it followed the full stop after ‘unacquainted’, and it was printed as a separate sentence in first proof. 4 This paragraph and the next were linked in JB’s list of items to include under the year 1780: ‘Mem in mentioning Warburton what W.G.H. says & He & Johnson meeting at Mrs. French’s’ (Life Materials M 147). JB had ruminated on the number of meetings between SJ and Warburton: ‘It is curious to observe that he seems to consider being of Dr. Warburton’s acquaintance as so creditable, that he expresses himself so as one might think that he used to live with him familiarly. Speaking in [Pope’s>] Broome’s Life of the translation of the Odyssey he says “A natural curiosity after the real conduct of so great an undertaking incited me once to inquire of Dr. Warburton.”—Now the truth is he never was in Dr. Warburton’s company but once’ (Life Materials M 157, pp. 5–6). 5 Hamilton related several Johnsonian anecdotes to JB, who recorded them on two folio leaves (C 1493; Corr. 2a, p. 205), possibly on 6 Feb. 1788 (Cat. ii. 703). 6 Here on the first proof-sheet (see next note) Courtenay inserted the word ‘then’. 7 Hamilton objected to being named in this paragraph. JB reported to EM on 25 Feb. 1791, ‘That nervous mortal W.G.H. is not satisfied with my report of some particulars which I wrote down from his own mouth’ (Corr. 2a, p. 298; Corr. 4, pp. 402–07). His journal entry for 3 Mar. registered exasperation: ‘Dined at W. G. Hamilton’s who had fantastically insisted that some passages … relative to him should be cancelled, & Courtenay & I were with him some time before dinner to talk of this. Courtenay had been plagued with tedious consultations about it, from the anxiety of Hamilton’s vanity. I did not like it; but yielded to a certain degree’ (Journ.). Since sig. Zz had been printed (his prior hold on the press—see ante p. 36 n. a3—having ended), JB wrote ‘Cancel’ on p. 353 of the first proofs (pages he kept after marking the revises) and added ‘this page to be altered. N.B. Take in all the words that are not delete, and do not mind the strokes across.’ (By means of cross-strokes, JB seems initially to have deleted SJ’s second saying.) In the margin next to the two deleted clauses bearing Hamilton’s name, Courtenay drafted substitute copy: (1) ‘I am extremely well informed’, with ‘extremely’ then scored out; and (2) ‘The manner in which he expressed his admiration of [false start Warburton’s] the fertility of Warburton’s genius, & of the variety of his materials was’. Beneath these revisions, JB drafted a new sentence to extend the paragraph: ‘He said to the Reverend Mr. Strahan “Warburton is the last man who has written with a mind full of (three words).”’ Evidently quoting from memory, but uncertain of the final words, JB later retrieved them (along with the omitted word ‘perhaps’) from his source, a letter of 4 Mar. 1791 from the Rev. George Strahan: ‘Warburton, he said, was perhaps the last Man that had writ with a Mind full of Reading and Reflection’ (Corr. 2a, p. 300).

37

H-P iv. 49–50

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1781

parts which were executed by the associated translators of the Odyssey he says ‘Dr. Warburton told me in his warm language that he thought the relation given in the note a lie.’ The language is warm indeed; and ≤I must own≥ cannot be [1st ed. ii. 354] justified in consistency with a decent regard to the established forms of speech. Johnson had accustomed himself to use the word lie to express a mistake or an errour in relation; in short when the thing was not so as told though the relator did not mean to deceive. When he thought there was intentional falshood in the relator his expression was ‘He lies and he knows he lies.’8 [Speaking of Pope’s not having been known to excel in conversation Johnson observes ‘it is remarkable9>] [P.A. Poets (15)] Speaking of Pope’s not having been known to excel in conversation Johnson observes that ‘traditional memory retains no sallies of raillery or sentences of observation nothing either pointed or solid, wise or merry, and that one apothegm only is recorded.’ In this respect Pope differed widely from [the great del] Johnson whose conversation was perhaps more admirable than even his writings however excellent. Mr. Wilkes has however favoured me with one repartee of Pope of which Johnson was not informed. Johnson after justly censuring him for having ‘nursed in his mind a foolish disesteem of Kings’ tells us ‘Yet a little regard shewn him by the Prince of Wales melted his obduracy; and he had not much to say when he was asked by his Royal Highness how he could love a Prince while he disliked Kings.’ The Answer which Pope made was ‘The Lion when he is young is playful and innocent; but when his claws are grown he is a terrible animal.’1/2 ≤[P.A. Poets (15)v] But although we have no collection of Pope’s sayings it is not therefore to be concluded that he was [defective as a companion.>] not agreable in social intercourse for Johnson himself has been heard to say that the happiest conversation is that of which nothing is distinctly remembered but a general effect of pleasing impression. The late Lord Somervillea/3 who

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

25

[Let me hear express my grateful remembrance of Lord Somerville’s kindness to me in my youth. He was the first person of high rank that took particular notice of me and by the honour of his encouragement made me think well of 30 a

8 In the Life Materials, JB recorded SJ’s remark on Warburton’s ‘using a mode of expression which he himself used and that not seldom to the great offence of those who did not know him. “Dr. Warburton (says he) who told me in his warm language that he thought the relation given in the note a lie”’ (M 157). Memoranda jotted alongside the present paragraph led to anecdotes drafted on P.A. Poets (15) and (16): ‘Mem Prince of Wales — & justifying Ld. Marchmont ≤to whom write of [undeciphered words]≥’. 9 A catchword here—‘that’—shows that the quotation from SJ’s ‘Life of Pope’ originally continued on the next page. JB discarded that page, however, and began this paragraph anew on the surviving P.A. Poets (15). Several more false starts (see endnotes) reveal his indecisiveness over whether to quote or paraphrase the passage: ‘It is remarkable, that, so near his time, so much should be known of what he has written, and so little of what he has said: traditional memory ...’ (Lives ed. Middendorf, xxiii. 1168; Lives ed. Lonsdale, iv. 56 [para. 264]). 1 In first proof JB changed Pope’s answer to read ‘The young lion is harmless and even playful; but when his claws are full grown, [false start be[comes]] he becomes cruel dreadful and mischievous.’ 2 Inserting an asterisk here in revision, JB told the compositor to ‘See the Back’. 3 False start, ‘whom I am happy to mention with a most grateful remembrance of his Lordships kindness to me in my youth’. This sentiment became a note; see p. 39 n. a1.

38

1781

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 50–51

saw much both of great and [gay>] brilliant life told me that he had dined in company with Pope, and that after dinner the little man as he called him drank his bottle of burgundy and was exceedingly gay & entertaining.≥ [P.A. Poets (15) resumed] I ≤now≥ cannot withhold ≤from my great friend≥ a censure of ≤at least≥ culpable inattention to a Nobleman who [P.A. Poets (16)] it has been shewn behaved to him with uncommon politeness. He says ‘except Lord Bathurst none of Pope’s [1st ed. ii. 355] noble friends were such as that a good man would wish to have his intimacy with them known to posterity.’ This will not apply to Lord Mansfield, who was not enobled in Pope’s life=time; but Johnson should have recollected that Lord Marchmont was one of those noble friends. He includes his Lordship along with Lord Bolingbroke in [the censure of neglect of Pope’s papers>] a charge of neglect of the papers which Pope left4 when in truth as I myself pointed out to him before he wrote [Pope’s>] that poet’s Life, the papers were [committed solely to the care of Lord Bolingbroke so that>] ‘committed to the sole care and judgement of Lord Bolingbroke unless he (Lord Bolingbroke) shall not survive me’ so that Lord Marchmont had no concern whatever with them.5 After the first edition of the Lives Mr. Malone whose love of justice is equal to his accuracy

my talents and aspire to deserve it better. In the placid evening of his days I was admitted in the Abbey of Holyroodhouse and at his elegant seat near Edinburgh which he himself had formed.a1>] [Sub-Paper Apart ‘Note’a2] Let me heara3 express my grateful remembrance of Lord Somerville’s kindness to me at a very early period. He was the first person of high rank that took particular notice of me in the way most flattering to a young man fondly am25 bitious of being distinguished for his literary talents and by the honour of his encouragement made me think well of myself and aspire to deserve it better. He had a happy art of communicating his varied knowledge of the World in short remarks and anecdotes with a quiet pleasant gravity that was exceedingly engaging. Never shall I forget the hours which I enjoyed with him at 30 his apparments in Holy-Rood-house,a4 and at his seat near Edinburgh which he himselfa5 had formed with an elegant taste. 20

Changed by JB in first proof to ‘left by his will’. A deleted insertion symbol here suggests that JB, in revision, considered extending the sentence. On Bathurst, Bolingbroke, and Pope, see Life MS iii. 34 ll. 4–6 and n. 2. 4 5

a1 Putting a bracket in front of these sentences, JB queried in the margin ‘Q note’. In revision, he replaced the phrase ‘in my youth’ with ‘at a very early period’, then deleted the passage, deciding that it did not belong in the main text. Inserting a footnote symbol after ‘Lord Somerville’ (see p. 38 l. 27), he drafted Sub-Paper Apart ‘Note’. a2 Headed ‘Note for back of Poets p. 15 = Somerville’. a3 Printed ‘here’ in first proof. JB had recopied the misspelling of his first draft. a4 Printed in first proof ‘apartments in Holy-Rood House’. (To his original spelling of ‘aparments’ JB had added a second ‘p’, not the missing ‘t’.) Before ‘Holy-Rood House’, which fell at the end of a line, JB inserted ‘the Palace of’, a change which caused ‘Holy-/ Rood’ to span a line break in the revises. Disliking its appearance on the page, JB wrote, ‘I wish Holyroodhouse could be in one line.’ He began to tell the compositor ‘If you can’, but then, spying his own solution, declared ‘I now see how’ and inserted ‘Royal’ before ‘Palace’. This change pushed ‘Holy-’ onto the next line in the first edition. a5 This word, marked for deletion in proof by JB, was mistakenly retained in the revises.

39

H-P iv. 51–52

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1781

made in my hearing the same remark to Johnson; yet he omitted to correct the erroneous statement. These particulars I mention in the belief that there was only forgetfulness in my friend; but I owe this much to the Earl of Marchmont’s reputation ≤who were there no other memorials will be immortalised by that line of Pope in the Verses on his Grotto There the bright flame was shot through Marchmont’s soul≥. [P.A. Poets (17)] Various Readings in the Life of Pope. ‘{somewhat free} sufficiently bold in his criticisms. ‘all the gay {niceties} varieties of diction ‘strikes the imagination with far {more} greater force6 ‘It is {probably} certainly the noblest version of poetry which the world has ever seen.’ ‘every sheet enabled him to write the next with {less trouble} more facility. ‘no man sympathises with {vanity depressed.} the sorrows of vanity7 ‘it had been {criminal} less easily excused. ‘when he {threatened to lay down} talked of laying down his pen. ‘society {is so named emphatically in opposition to} politically regulated is a state contradistinguished from a state of nature. ‘a fictitious life of an {absurd} infatuated scholar’8 ‘a foolish {contempt, disregard} disesteem of Kings [1st ed. ii. 356] ‘his hopes and fears his joys and sorrows were {like9 those of other mortals} acted strongly upon his mind’ [P.A. Poets (18)] ‘eager to pursue knowledge and attentive to {accumulate} retain it. ‘a mind {excursive} active ambitious and adventurous ‘in its {noblest} widest searches still longing to go forward ‘he wrote in such a manner as might expose him to few {neglects} hazards ‘the {reasonableness} justice of my determination.10 ‘a {favourite} delicious employment of the poets. ‘more terrifick and more powerful {beings} phantoms perform on the stormy ocean. 6 JB deleted his next specimen—‘{contempt, disregard} disesteem of Kings’—when he realized it was out of sequence with respect to the order in which these passages occur in the ‘Life of Pope’; he recopied it farther down the page in its proper place (l. 20). 7 Next to follow was a false start, ‘of a temper k[ind]’, from SJ’s characterization of the Duke of Chandos, ‘of a temper kind and beneficent, and who had consequently the voice of the publick in his favour’. SJ had revised ‘therefore’ to ‘consequently’ (Lives ed. Middendorf, xxiii. 1115 and textual note s; Lives ed. Lonsdale, iv. 35 [para. 156]). 8 Next came another false start, ‘the indulgence and accommodation which his sickness required’. JB stopped just short of SJ’s revision: ‘had given’ was changed to ‘had taught him’ (Lives ed. Middendorf, xxiii. 1165 and textual note z; Lives ed. Lonsdale, iv. 55 [para. 259]). 9 Printed in the revises ‘sorrows {were like’, in correction of the misplaced crotchet. 10 In this example, JB transposed the original and revised readings, an error that has gone uncorrected. See Lives ed. Middendorf, xxiii. 1193; Lives ed. Lonsdale, iv. 66 (para. 311) and textual note, iv. 215.

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10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

25

30

1781

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 52–54

‘the inventor of {those} this petty {beings} nation ‘the {mind} heart naturally loves truth.1 In the Life of ADDISON we find an unpleasing account of Addison having lent Steele a hundred pounds and ‘reclaimed his loan by an execution’. In the 5 new edition of the Biographia Britannia2 the authenticity of this anecdote is 6 denied. But Mr. Malone has obliged me with the following [P.A. Poets (19)] 7 note concerning it. 8 ‘Many persons3 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 The last paragraph of this Note is of great importance [and will be>] and 11 I request that my readers may consider it with particular attention. It will be 12 afterwards referred to in this work.4 13 14

[P.A. Poets (19)v] Various Readings in the Life of Addison

‘{But he was our first great example} He was however one of our earliest examples of correctness. ‘and {overlook} despise their masters. ‘his instructions were such as the {state} character of his {own time} readers made {necessary} proper. ‘his purpose was to {diffuse} infuse literary curiosity by gentle and unsus20 pected conveyance {among} into the gay, the idle and the wealthy.’ ‘framed rather for those that {wish} are learning to write. ‘domestick {manners} scenes. 15

[P.A. Poets (19) resumed] In his Life of PARNELL I wonder that Johnson omitted to insert an epitaph which he [wrote upon that amiable man and 25 was so good as to dictate to me. I shall now present it to the Publick from the only copy.>] composed for that amiable man without ever writing it down but which he was so good as at my request to dictate to me by which means it has been preserved. 30

[Hic jacet THOMAS PARNELL S.T.P. Qui sacerdos pariter ita Poeta Utrasque partes ita implevit Ut neque Sacerdoti suavitas poetæ 1 In the margin here alongside the last several examples, JB reined himself in with a memorandum concerning the sections that lay ahead: ‘A few only Various Readings / Addison Swift Parnell’. 2 Printed in the revises ‘Biographia Britannica’, in correction of JB’s error. 3 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in and pray keep it very clean. For [false start Ben] B— read Ben & for Dr. J Dr. Johnson’; a moment later JB added ‘& leave out the date’. This Sub-Paper Apart no longer forms part of the Life MS. JB later changed his mind about the date, for in the revises, following the two paragraphs quoted from EM’s note, he inserted ‘March 15, 1782. E.M.’ 4 Direction to the compositor, ‘See the back’. The readings on the verso of this leaf were added later in the original draft, not in revision.

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H-P iv. 54–55

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1781

Nec Poetæ Sacerditis sanctitas deesset.5>] Hic requiescit THOMAS PARNELL S.T.P. Qui Sacerdos parieter et Poeta Utrasque partes ita implevit Ut neque sacerdoti suavitas poetæ Nec poetæ sacerdotis sanctitas deesset. [P.A. Poets (20); 1st ed. ii. 358] Various Readings in the Life of Parnell ‘About three years {after} afterwards ‘{did not much want} was in no great need of improvement ‘But his prosperity6 {was clouded by that which took away all his powers of enjoying either profit or pleasure, the death of his wife whom he is said to have lamented with such sorrow as hastened his end.a} His end, whatever was the cause, was now approaching.’ ‘in the Hermit7 the {composition} narrative as it is less airy is less pleasing.8 In the Life of BLACKMORE we find that Writer’s reputation generously cleared by Johnson from the cloud of prejudice which [some of his>] the malignity of contemporary wits had raised arround [it in which spirited>] it. In this spirited exertion of justice he has been [P.A. Poets (21)] imitated by [his friend del] Sir Joshua Reynolds in his [defence>] praise of the architecture of Vanburgh.9 We trace Johnson’s own character in his observation on Blackmore’s ‘magnanimity ≤as an authour≥.’ ‘The incessant attacks of his enemies whether serious or merry are never discovered to have disturbed his quiet or to have lessened his confidence in himself.’ ≤Johnson I recollect once told me, laughing heartily that he understood1 it had been said of him ‘He appears not to feel; but when he is alone depend upon it he suffers sadly.’ I am as certain as I can be of any man’s real sentiments that he enjoyed the perpetual shower of little hostile arrows as evidences of his fame.≥ ≤I should have thought that Johnson who had felt the severe affliction from which Parnell never recovered would have preserved this passage.a1≥ a

5 In revision, JB replaced ‘jacet’ with ‘requiescit’ (above which another word, added and deleted, is illegible), capitalized ‘sacerdos’, corrected ‘ita’ to ‘et’, and changed ‘Poeta’ to ‘poeta’ and back again, by which point the epitaph warranted recopying. In so doing JB corrected ‘Sacerditis’, but mistakenly wrote ‘parieter’ (printed ‘pariter’ in the revises). 6 SJ’s revised reading, inadvertently omitted from JB’s copy, was inserted here in the revises, ‘did not last long’. The anomaly of its preceding, rather than following, the original reading has gone unchanged. 7 Deciding to reserve italics within the list exclusively for SJ’s revised readings, JB underscored this italicized title in the revises and specified a change in font to ‘Roman’. 8 Below these readings JB deleted a false start: ‘Various readings in the Life of Prior / ‘proportionate the {splendour} magnificence of the transaction.’ The proof-sheet he had in hand, bearing pp. [1]–16 of ‘Prior’ (sig. A, with the revision to para. 6 on p. 6), has been lost; proof-sheets survive for pp. 17–63 (sigs. B–D; see Lives ed. Lonsdale, iii. 292). 9 So printed in all editions, not ‘Vanbrugh’. On the next paragraph, see p. 325 n. 6. 1 His revision now filling the margin, JB directed the compositor to ‘See the back’. a1

Marked ‘Note’ in the margin, where JB drafted this addition in revision.

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10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

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1781

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 55–56

Various Readings in the Life of Blackmore ‘To {set} engage poetry {on the side} in the cause of virtue ‘he likewise {established} enforced the truth of Revelation.2 ‘his practice which was once {very extensive} invidiously great3/4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14

Various Readings in the Life of Philips ‘his dreaded {rival} antagonist Pope ‘They {have not often much} are not loaded with thought ‘In his translations from Pindar he {will not be denied to have reached} found the art of reaching all the obscurity of the Theban bard.’ [P.A. Poets (22)] Various Readings in the Life of Congreve

‘Congreve’s conversation must surely have been at least equally pleasing with his writings ‘it apparrently {requires} presupposes5 a familiar knowledge of many characters’ ‘reciprocation of {similies} conceits 15 ‘the dialogue is quick and {various} sparkling. ‘Love for Love a Commedy {more drawn from life} of nearer alliance to life.’ ‘the general character of his miscellanies is that they shew little wit and {no} little virtue. ‘{perhaps} certainly he had not the fire requisite for the higher species of 20 lyrick poetry.’6 2 An additional reading followed this one in the revises: ‘{Kindness} benevolence was ashamed to favour.’ Italicized in error, ‘Kindness’ was corrected by JB to ‘Roman’. This reading and nine others (see next note) evidently were added after the first proofs had been printed; see post p. 46 n. 6. 3 Nine more readings were printed here in the revises:

‘There is scarcely any distemper of dreadful name {of} which he has not {shewn} taught his reader how {it is} to {be opposed} oppose. [1st ed. ii. 359] ‘Of this {contemptuous} indecent arrogance. ‘{He wrote} but produced likewise a work of a different kind. ‘At least {written} compiled with integrity. ‘Faults which many tongues {were desirous} would have made haste to publish. ‘But though he {had not} could not boast of much critical knowledge. ‘He {used} waited for no felicities of fancy. ‘Or had ever elevated his {mind} views to that ideal perfection which every {mind} genius born to excel is condemned always to pursue and never overtake. ‘The {first great} fundamental.’ In the first example, the closing revision was clarified in the second edition: ‘{it is to be opposed} to oppose.’ The final example, truncated when typeset, JB repaired in the revises by adding the phrase, ‘principle of wisdom and of virtue’. 4 False start, ‘Various Readings in the Life of Tickell / “the fiction {unnaturally} unskilfully compounded of grecian deities and gothick fairies’. JB deferred this set of readings to his next manuscript page; see post p. 44. 5 Not underscored, but italicized in print: ‘pre-supposes’ (so in first proof). 6 These two readings were printed as one in first proof: ‘… virtue; {perhaps} …’. JB’s full stop after the word ‘virtue’—ending a line of copy at the right-hand edge of the

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H-P iv. 56–57

[1st ed. ii. 360]

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1781

Various Readings in the Life of Tickell

‘{longed} long wished to peruse it.’7 ‘At the {accession} arrival of King George. ‘fiction {unnaturally} unskilfully8 compounded of grecian deities and gothick fairies.’ Various Readings in the Life of Akenside ‘for {another} a different purpose.’9 ‘{a furious} an unnecessary and outrageous zeal ‘{something which} what he called and thought liberty [P.A. Poets (23)] ‘a {favourer of innovation} lover of contradiction. ‘Warburton’s {censure} objections ‘his rage {for liberty} of patriotism ‘Mr. Dyson with a {zeal} ardour1 of friendship.2 In the Life of Lyttelton Johnson seems to have been not favourably disposed towards that nobleman. Mrs. Thrale [fairly del] suggests that he was offended by Molly Aston’s preference of his Lordship to him.a I can by no means [1st ed. ii. 361] join the censure bestowed by Johnson on his Lorsdhip ≤(whom he calls ‘poor Littelton’)≥, for returning thanks to the Critical Reviewers for having ‘kindly commended’ his Dialogues of the Dead. Such ‘acknowledgements’ (says my freind3) ‘never can be proper since they must be paid either for flattery or for justice.’ In my opinion the most upright man who has been tried on a false accusation may when he is acquitted make [P.A. Poets (24)] a [grateful del] bow to his Jury. And when those who, no matter by what right are so much the arbiters of Literary merit as in a considerable degree to influence the publick opinion, [consider>] review an Authour’s Work placido a Let not my readers smile to think of Johnson’s being a candidate for female favour. Mr. Peter Garrick assured me that he was told by a Lady that in her

page—was tucked below the tail of the e, and no quotation marks preceded ‘{perhaps}’. JB did not catch the error in proof, but in the revises marked ‘{perhaps}’ for a capital ‘P’ and for indentation (‘N.P.’) on the next line. 7 JB deleted this example, then reinstated it by writing ‘stet’ three times, once alongside and twice above it. 8 Inadvertently not underscored, but printed in italics in first proof. 9 Scored through, but reinstated with ‘stet’ in the margin. Printed ‘{For another} different purpose’ in proof; not until the revises was the mistake queried by Selfe and corrected by JB. 1 In the revises, prompted by a query from Selfe, corrected by JB to ‘{a zeal} an ardour’. 2 Pausing here, JB posted a series of memoranda down the margin of the page (later deleted) to guide himself in the coming pages: ‘Littelton & defend him as to Reviewers — making bow to Jury[.] Mention Edin. Review of yr Tour [false start through] in Scotland[.] then Young — Then Swift. Apology as to not keeping order[.] Mrs. Boscawen & D. of Newcastle[.] ?leaving him in ?story[.] then take in Hastings’. 3 MS orig. ‘frend’; printed ‘friend’, as spelled in SJ’s Dictionary. JB often wrote ‘friend’ in revisions and copy drafted after he had begun to read proof.

44

5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

25

1781

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 57–58

lumine when I am affraid mankind in general are better pleased with severity, he may surely express a grateful sense of their civility.4 Various Readings in the Life of Lyttelton 5 6 7 8 9

‘he solaced {himself} his grief by writing a long poem to her memory. ‘the production rather {of a mind that means well than thinks vigorously} as it seems of leisure than of study, rather effusions than compositions.

opinion ‘Johnsona1 [P.A. Poets (23)v] was ‘a very seducing man.’a2 Disadvantages of person and manner may be forgotten where intellectual pleasure is communicated to a susceptible mind; and that Johnson was capable of feeling 10 the most delicate and disinterested attachment appears from the following 11 letter which is published by Mrs. Thrale with some others to the same person 12 of which the excellence is not so apparent. 13 14

TO MISS BOOTHBY Dearest Madam January 1[,] 1755.a3 Though I am afraid your illness leaves you little leisure for the reception 15 of airy civilities, yet I cannot forbear to pay you my congratulations on the new year; and to declare my wishes that your years to come may be many and happy. In this wish indeed I include myself, who have none but you on my hearta4 reposes: yet surely I wish your good, even though your situation were 20 such as should permit you to communicate no gratifications to Dearest, dearest Madam / your &c. SAM JOHNSON. 4 Several false starts here reveal JB’s indecision over whether to say more about this matter. The first, marked with the vertical line indicating an optional passage (to be retained or deleted in revision), ended mid-sentence: ‘In saying [saying added in the same draft] this, I certainly do not mean to court the favour of those [false start whose] who were thanked by Lord Lyttelton for in my Tour’. Deleting this false start, JB began to proceed with his ‘Various Readings’, but after writing ‘Various’ changed his mind again, only to start and abandon another sentence: ‘The just acknowledgements which Johnson’. It is unclear what ‘just acknowledgements’ JB verged on discussing, or where he was headed—seemingly in fulfillment of a memorandum (see ante p. 44 n. 2)—in alluding to his Tour. For the positive review of Tour in the Edinburgh Magazine and Review (Oct. 1785), see JB’s letter of 8 Nov. 1785 to EM (Corr. 4, p. 275 and n. 4). a1 Beneath SJ’s name JB wrote the catchword ‘was’ and told the compositor to ‘turn’. With room on the recto for only four lines of copy, it seems he had not anticipated the length to which this footnote would expand. It is likely that he returned later to this leaf to finish the note. a2 Printed as a four-word quotation, the compositor ignoring the superfluous set of quotation marks on ‘Johnson’. ‘He [Peter Garrick] said a Lady a very fine woman said to him that Mr. Johnson was a very seducing man among the women, when he chose it; & he added that it was suspected he had seduced her. This was not very probable’ (Journ. 24 Mar. 1775; see Ominous Years, p. 93). a3 MS orig. ‘January 1755’, as printed (with a comma) in first proof. The compositor evidently did not perceive the date, a faint ‘1’ added in the same draft. The year was actually 1756 (Letters of Johnson ed. Chapman, i. 81; ed. Redford, i. 121 n. 1). a4 Printed in first proof ‘on whom my heart’, in correction of JB’s inadvertent error.

45

H-P iv. 58–59

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1781

[P.A. Poets (25)] ‘His last literary {work} production ‘{found the way} undertook to persuade5 ≤[MS 800v] As the introduction to his Critical examination of the genius and writings of [Young>] YOUNG he did Mr. Herbert Croft then a [Student>] Barrister of Lincolns Inn now a Clergyman the honour to adopt a Life of Young written by that Gentleman who was the friend of Dr. Young’s son and wished to vindicate [his friend>] him from some very mistaken remarks to his prejudice. Mr. Croft’s performance was subjected to the revision of Dr. Johnson as appears from [a note to Mr. Nichols, printer of the Work÷collection.6>] the following note to Mr. John Nichols7: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 It has allways appeared to me to have [very reasonable merit>] a considerable share of merit, and to display [an imitation of Johnson’s Style with considerable success.>] a pretty successful imitation of Johnson’s Style. When I mentioned this to a very [distinguished Person>] eminent literary character,9 he opposed me vehemently [calling out>] exclaiming ‘no no it is [not>] not a good imitation of Johnson it has all his pomp without his sense it has all the nodosities of the oak without its strength.’ This was an image so happy that one might have thought he would [be contented÷satisfied>] have [1st ed. ii. 362] been satisfied with it. But he was not. And setting his mind again to work 5 Direction to the compositor, ‘Here take in what is reserved I think on back of p. 80[0] for YOUNG’. JB’s copy on MS 800v runs from the middle to the bottom of the page, then leaps to the top (where it was drafted sideways), and leaps once more to conclude above the lines where it began next to the symbol . Alongside the counterpart to this symbol, inserted on MS 801, JB told the compositor, ‘All that relates to this reference comes in afterwards at Young’. 6 Here JB left room for two lines of text, possibly to quote SJ’s message (or part of it) once he reviewed a copy of the note, but the space remained blank. The compositor, recording ‘3A 361’ in the empty space, put a bracket on the word ‘subjected’ to mark where sig. Aaa started in proof. In the revises, however, that line of print had been pushed two-thirds of the way down p. 361. One factor in this expansion of the printed text was the influx of additional readings from the ‘Life of Blackmore’: see ante p. 43 nn. 2–3. 7 The name ‘John’ was added in Plymsell’s hand. MS 800v was already at the printing house when JB considered extending this phrase. In continuation of his direction to the compositor on P.A. Poets (25) (see n. 5 above), he stipulated, ‘and add to “the following note to Mr. Nichols” these words’. Two wordings ensued: (1) ‘which seems not perfectly consistent with the Postscript’; (2) ‘which shews that Johnson expunged not one passage only’. Deciding not to amend his copy after all, he deleted part of what he had just written and specified what was to come next. His final set of directions read ‘Here take in what is reserved on back of p. 80[0] for YOUNG and note to Mr. Nichols (Take it from p. 10 of a Magazine parcel sent)’—an excerpt from Gent. Mag. Jan. 1785, lv. 10, typeset as a separate paragraph (so in revises). JB added a footnote here in the third edition: ‘Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. iv. [sic; corrected in Hill-Powell] p. 10.’ 8 On P.A. Poets (25), underneath his directions to the compositor (see note above), JB drafted and deleted the beginning of a paragraph to follow the excerpt from Gent. Mag.: ‘It gives me pleasure to observe [false start such praise of Night Thoughts] that Johnson when sitting as a Judge however he might have casually talked’. He deferred this thought to P.A. Poets (26); see p. 48 ll. 1–4. 9 Footnote added by EM in the third edition: ‘The late Mr. Burke.’ Burke’s denigration of Croft’s style was quoted in JB’s journal: ‘Crofts [sic] a bad imitation of Johnson[:] all the warts & contortions without the [blank space] All the panting & convulsions of ye Sybil without the inspiration’ (8 May 1781; see Laird of Auchinleck, p. 347 and n. 4).

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1781

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

20

25

30

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 59–60

[he produced another of exquisite merit>] added with exquisite felicity ‘it has all the contortions of the Sybil without the inspiration.’≥ [P.A. Poets (25) resumed] Mr. Croft very properly guards us against supposing that Young was a gloomy man and mentions that ‘his parish was indebted to the good humour of the authour of the Night Thoughts for an Assembly and a Bowling Green.’ A letter from a noble foreigner is quoted in which he is said to have been ‘very pleasant in conversation’. [This has been confirmed [P.A. Poets (26)] to me by Mr. Langton who with his Father paid him a visit at Welwyn and having brought a haunch of venison and had it drest at their Inn, Dr. Young was their guest, and seemed to relish the pleasures of the table and expand himself in vivacity. They indeed little know human nature who conclude that he who has in the hours of composition felt and expressed the deepest pathos of woe, may not in the ordinary tenour of his existence have a gayety of spirits. A little anecdote which Young told himself, marks at once his serious disposition and his lively fancy. ‘I put up a dial in my garden’ said he, ‘with this inscription eheu fugaces! — Before next morning it was gone.’>]1 [Sub-Paper Apart Lanky2] [But del] Mr. Langton who frequently visited him informs me that there was an air of benevolence in his manner, but that he could obtain from him less information than he had hoped to receive from one who had lived so much in intercourse with the brightest men of what has been called the Augustan Age of England; and that he shewed a degree of eager curiosity concerning the common occurrences that were then passing which appeared somewhat remarkable in a man of such intellectual stores of such an advanced age, and who had retired from life with declared disappointment in his expectations. An instance at once of his pensive turn of mind and3 his cheerfulness of temper appeared in a little story which he himself told to Mr. Langton when they were walking in his garden. ‘Here’ said he, ‘I had put up a4 handsome Sun dial5 with this inscription Eheu fugaces! which’ said he (smiling) ‘was sadly verified for by the next morning my dial had been carried off.’6 1 In a hybrid Paper Apart combining directions to the compositor with copy-text (see post p. 51 n. 6), JB explained what was to be done at this juncture: ‘Mr. Plymsell, / After quoting what a foreigner wrote of Dr. Young being pleasant in conversation – instead of Mr. Langton confirmed this, and the rest on that subject, insert the paper Lanky.’ The paraphrase ‘Mr. Langton confirmed this’ refers to the opening clause of the passage crossed out here for revision on Paper Apart Lanky. In the margin of P.A. Poets (26), JB jotted a memorandum, later deleted, regarding his next topic: ‘Criticisms on Young’. Two paragraphs of SJ’s criticism were followed by two of JB’s own (see p. 48). 2 Having originally labelled this Paper Apart ‘L’, JB added ‘anky’ in revision, deleted ‘But’, and marked the passage to begin a new paragraph. 3 The name ‘Langton’—written in another hand—appears here near the left margin; it might have been the only word on an otherwise blank leaf when JB picked it up to draft this Paper Apart. JB scored through the first three letters and drafted ‘and’ over the last four. 4 MS orig. ‘put a’, a false start. JB covered ‘a’ with ‘up’, then drafted ‘a’ again. Although ‘up’ reads clearly, the compositor mistakenly typeset ‘put a’ (so in revises). 5 Written ‘Sund dial’, as if JB had ‘Sundial’ in mind before drafting separate words; printed in the revises ‘sun-dial’. The word appears as ‘sundial’ in SJ’s Dictionary, both in the entry spelling and in the two illustrative quotations. 6 JB added a footnote here in the second edition: ‘The late Mr. James Ralph told Lord Macartney, that he passed an evening with Dr. Young at Lord Melcombe’s (then

47

H-P iv. 60–61

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1781

[P.A. Poets (26)] It gives me [great>] much pleasure to observe that however Johnson may have casually talked,7 — when he sits as ‘an ardent judge zealous to his trust giving sentence’ upon the ≤excellent≥ Works of Young, he allows them the high praise to which they are justly entitled. ‘The Universal Passion ([he says>] says he) [P.A. Poets (27)] is indeed a very great performance’ — ‘his8 distichs have the weight of solid sentiment and his points the sharpness of resistless truth.’ But I was most anxious concerning Johnson’s decision upon Night Thoughts which I esteem as a mass of the grandest and richest poetry that human genius has ever produced and was delighted to find this character of that Work: ‘In his Night Thoughts he has exhibited a very wide display of original poetry variegated with deep reflections and striking allusions, a wilderness of thought in which the fertility of fancy scatters flowers of every hue and of every odour. This is one of the few poems in which blank verse could not be changed for rhime but with disadvantage.’ And afterwards ‘particular lines are not to be regarded: the power is in the whole and in [1st ed. ii. 363] the whole there is a magnificence like that ascribed to Chinese plantation the magnificence of vast extent and endless diversity.’ But there is in this Poem not only all that Johnson so well brings in view but a power of the Pathetick beyond almost any example that I have seen. He [P.A. Poets (28)] who does not feel his nerves shaken and his heart pierced by many 9 passages in this extraordinary Work particularly by that in Night which describes the gradual torment suffered by the contemplation of an object of affectionate attachment visibly and certainly decaying into dissolution, must be of a hard and obstinate frame. To all the other excellencies of Night Thoughts let me add the great and peculiar one that they contain ≤not only the noblest sentiments of virtue and the immortality of the soul, but≥ the Christian Sacrifice, the Divine Propitiation with all its interesting circumstances, and consolations to ‘a wounded spirit’ solemnly and poetically displayed in such imagery and language as cannot fail to exalt animate and soothe the truly pious. No Book whatever can be recommended to young persons with better hopes of seasoning their minds with vital religion, than YOUNG’S NIGHT THOUGHTS.

Mr. Dodington) at Hammersmith. The Doctor happening to go out into the garden, Mr. Dodington observed to him, on his return, that it was a dreadful night, as in truth it was, there being a violent storm of rain and wind. “No, Sir, (replied the Doctor) it is a very fine night. THE LORD is abroad.”’ 7 No dash was printed here in the revises; following the comma, JB inserted the word ‘yet’. 8 Printed ‘performance,—his’ (so in revises). The compositor disregarded the actual quotation marks after ‘performance’ and the implicit marks before ‘his’ (complementing those at the end of the sentence), leaving only the dash, which was inadequate to convey the interruption JB had indicated between the quotations. 9 This blank space persisted into the revises, where JB, having run out of time to fill the lacuna, changed the phrase to read ‘by that most affecting one’. Night the Third describes the anguish brought on by the death of Narcissa, suffering of a kind that, as suggested in Hill-Powell (iv. 61 n. 1), may have reminded JB of the loss of his wife to consumption in 1789.

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25

30

1781

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

20

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 61–62

In the Life of SWIFT it [P.A. Poets (29)] appears to me that Johnson had [an unaccountable>] a certain degree of prejudice against that extraordinary man of which I have elsewhere had occasion to speak. [Old Mr. Sheridan>] Mr. Thomas Sheridan imputed it to a supposed apprehension in Johnson that Swift had not been sufficiently active in obtaining for him an irish degree when it was soliciteda but of this there was not sufficient evidence; and let me not presume to charge Johnson with injustice because he did not think so highly of the writings of this Authour as I have done from my youth upwards. Yet that he had an unfavourable bias is evident were it only from that passage in which he speaks of Swift’s ‘practice of saving’1 as ‘first ridiculous and at last detestable’ and yet after some examination of circumstances finds himself obliged to own that ‘it will perhaps appear that he only liked one mode of expence better than another, and saved merely that he might have something to give.’2 One observation which Johnson makes in Swift’s Life should be often inculcated ‘It may be justly supposed that there was in his conversation what appears so frequently in his Letters an affectation of familiarity with the Great, an ambition of momentary [P.A. Poets (30)] equality sought and enjoyed by the neglect of those ceremonies which custom has established as the barriers between one order of society and another. This transgression of regularity was by himself and his admirers termed greatness of soul. But a great mind disdains to hold [1st ed. ii. 364] any thing by courtesy, and therefore never usurps what a lawful claimant may take away. He that encroaches on another’s dignity, puts himself in his power; he is either repelled with helpless indignity, or endured by clemency and condescension.’ Various Readings in the Life of SWIFT3

25

‘charity may be persuaded to think that it might be written by a man of a peculiar {opinions} character without ill intention ‘he did not {disown} deny it. ‘{to} by whose kindness it is not unlikely that he was {indebted for} advanced 30 to his benefices. [a] a1 1 MS orig. ‘parsimony’. JB’s quotation marks on the newly introduced phrase were omitted in the revises, evidently overlooked by the compositor. 2 This sentence was based on a note in the Life Materials: ‘His prejudice against Swift makes him contradict himself somewhat in speaking of his œconomy; for he first calls it ridiculous and detestable, and then makes a clear explanation of it’ (M 157). 3 JB’s double underscoring of Swift’s name for small capital letters—as each poet’s name appeared in print—suggests that he had begun reading proof of the earlier pages of P.A. Poets by the time he drafted these last few pages. His previous headings in their entirety had received a single underscoring for italics. a1 Although an asterisk after ‘solicited’ signals a footnote, no asterisk and no copy appeared at the bottom of the page, an oversight that led the compositor to ignore it. In the revises, JB again marked the word for a note and—requesting the compositor to ‘Look at Mr. Selfe’s Revises’—left an open-ended cross-reference for him to fill in: ‘P. of Vol. ’. The compositor later changed it to read ‘Vol. I. p. 67.’ See Life MS i. 91 and n. 8.

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H-P iv. 62–63

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1781

‘{with} for this purpose he had recourse to Mr. Harley. ‘Sharpe whom he {represents} describes as the harmless tool of others hate.’4 ‘Harley was slow because he was {irresolute} doubtful. ‘when {readers were not many} we were not yet a nation of readers. ‘{every man who} he that could say he knew him. ‘every man of known influence has so many {more} petitions {than} which5 he {can} cannot grant that he must necessarily6 more than he {can gratify} gratifies [P.A. Poets (31)] ‘Eclesiastical7 {preferments} benefices8 ‘Swift {procured} contrived an interview ‘{As a Writer} In his works he has given very different specimens ‘On all common occasions he habitually {assumes} affects a style of {superiority} arrogance. ‘by the {omission} neglect of those ceremonies. ‘that their merits filled the world {and} or that there was no {room for} hope of more.’

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

I have not confined myself to the order of the ‘Lives’ in making my few remarks. Indeed a different order is observed in the original publication and in the collection of Johnson’s Works. And should it be objected that many of my various readings are inconsiderable those who make the objection will be 20 pleased to consider that such small particulars are intended for those who are nicely critical in composition, to whom they will be an acceptable selection. [1st ed. ii. 365] ‘Spence’s Anecdotes’ which are frequently ≤quoted and≥ referred to in Johnson’s Lives of the Poets [P.A. Poets (32)] are in a Manuscript Collection made by the Reverend Dr. Joseph Spence9 containing a number of 25 particulars concerning eminent men. To each anecdote is marked the name of the person on whose authority it is mentioned. This valuable collection is the property of the Duke of Newcastle who upon the application of Sir Lucas Pepys was pleased to permit it to be put into the hands of Dr. Johnson who I am sorry to think made but an aukward return. ‘Great assistance’ says he ‘has been given 30 me by Mr. Spence’s collections of which I consider the communication as a favour worthy of publick acknowledgement’ but he has not owned to whom he was obliged, so that the acknowledgement is unappropriated.1 4 JB followed SJ’s lead in italicizing this quotation. Again, however, he must have recognized in proof (see ante p. 42 n. 7) that any use of italics other than to highlight SJ’s revisions was potentially confusing. The quotation, in roman type, was printed within quotation marks in the revises. 5 Underscored in the revises by JB and marked ‘Ital’; duly italicized in the first edition. 6 The word omitted here, ‘offend’, was printed in the revises. 7 Printed in the revises ‘Ecclesiastical’. 8 Printed in italics in the revises. 9 Here in the third edition EM added a footnote: ‘The Rev. Joseph Spence, A.M. Rector of Great Horwood in Buckinghamshire, and Prebendary of Durham, died at Byfleet in Surrey, August 20, 1768. He was a fellow of New College in Oxford, and held the office of Professor of Poetry in that University from 1728 to 1738.’ 1 Directions to the compositor, ‘Go now to p. 801 / “While the World” &c. and go on to wrong on p. 802.— Then take in Mr. Hastings’s Parcel.— Then Go to the back of this leaf.’ For JB’s copy on the back of P.A. Poets (32), see post p. 56.

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20

25

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 63–66

[MS 801 resumed] While the World in general was filled with admiration [and delight by>] of Johnson’s Lives of the Poets, there were narrow circles in which prejudice and resentment were fostered, and from whence2 attacks of different sorts issued against him.3 By some ≤violent Whigs≥ he was arraigned of injustice to Milton, by some Cambridge men of depreciating Gray, and ≤his≥ expressing with a dignified freedom [MS 802] what he really thought of George Lord Lyttelton gave offence to [several, and>] some of the friends of that Nobleman, and particularly produced a declaration of War against him from Mrs. Montagu ≤the ingenious Essayist on Shakspeare,≥ between whom & [that Nobleman a reciprocity of compliment had long subsisted.>] his Lordship a commerce of reciprocal compliments had long been carried on. In this war the smaller powers in alliance with him were of course led to engage, at least on the defensive and [so>] thus I for one was [fated to abstinence from the ‘Feast of Reason’ as it has been ingeniously described by a keen yet delicate pen.>] proscribed from the enjoyment of ‘A Feast of Reason’ such as Mr. Cumberland has described with a keen yet just & delicate pen in his ‘Observer.’ [Such minute inconvenience>] These minute inconveniencies gave not the least disturbance to Johnson. He nobly said when I talked to him of the feeble ≤though shrill≥ outcry which had been raised ‘Sir I considered myself as [charged÷entrusted>] entrusted with [a certain portion of÷so much>] a certain portion of truth. [I have given my opinion sincerely. Let them shew where they think me wrong.’÷I was to tell what I thought and if people differed from me they were to tell me so.’>] I have given my opinion sincerely. Let them shew where they think me wrong.’4/5 [Paper Apart ‘Mr. Plymsell’6] While Johnson is thus contemplated in the splendour derived from his last and perhaps most admirable Work I introduce Third edition, ‘from which’. See p. 73 n. 4; Life MS i. 108 ll. 4–5 (endnote). In the next sentence, JB alludes selectively to critical responses from a list he kept in the Life Materials: ‘1780 … Remarks on Johnson’s Life of Milton … 1783 … Observations on Johnson’s Life of Hammond / Remarks on his Life of Gray / Remarks on his Lives of the Poets by a Yorkshire Freeholder. ≤1783 Criticism on the Elegy in a Country church=yard—≥ ≤1783 An Inquiry into some passages in Dr. Johnson’s Lives of the Poets particularly his Observations on Lyrick Poetry & the Odes of Gray by R. Potter 2/6 Dodsley≥’ (M 151). The Rev. William Beville (1755–1822), author of Observations on Dr. Johnson’s Life of Hammond (1782, published anonymously), sent his ‘little pamphlet’ to JB on 13 Mar. 1792, after receiving ‘very polite attention’ from him at Queen St. Chapel. He wrote, ‘I am persuaded, that, with you, the ardour of youth will be some apology for the rashness and ignorance of such a publication’ (Corr. 2a, p. 366). Prompted by this letter, JB added a footnote here in the second edition: ‘From this disreputable class, I except an ingenious though not satisfactory defence of HAMMOND, which I did not see till lately, by the favour of its authour, my amiable friend, the Reverend Mr. Bevill, who published it without his name. It is a juvenile performance, but elegantly written with classical enthusiasm of sentiment; and yet with a becoming modesty, and great respect for Dr. Johnson.’ 4 JB first drafted this saying on MS 224, lauding SJ’s ‘manly disdain of the idle clamour’ over his opinion of Gray’s poetry, but later deleted it to save it for the present purpose: ‘This when I mention Lives of the Poets’ (see Life MS i. 280 ll. 2–4 and n. 2). On SJ’s reaction to attacks against him, see post p. 325 n. 6. 5 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Excerpt mine of 17 feb & [false start 14 March]. Take in his of 14 March.’ For the instructions that superseded these, see p. 50 n. 1 and p. 56 n. 9; for the topics in his letter of 17 Feb., see p. 56 ll. 23–25. 6 Copy-text and directions to the compositor are interwoven in this Paper Apart, a message to Plymsell, addressed to him at ‘Mr. Baldwin’s / Union Street Blackfriars.’ 2 3

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H-P iv. 66

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1781

him with peculiar propriety as the correspondent of WARREN HASTINGS a man whose abilities equalled the immensity of his power, a man illustrious over a larger portion of the Globe and in the minds of nations infinitely more numerous than could be boasted of by the most renowned of modern times.7 Were I capable of paying a suitable tribute of admiration to him I should certainly not 5 with=[1st ed. ii. 366]hold it at a momenta when it is not possible that I should 6 be suspected of being an interested flatterer.8 His condescending and obliging 7 compliance with my solicitation I with humble gratitude acknowledge, and 8 while by publishing his letter to me accompanying the valuable communica- 9 tion I do eminent honour to my Great Friend, I shall entirely disregard any 10 invidious suggestion9 that as I in some degree participate in the honour, I have 11 12 at the same time the gratification of my own vanity in view. To James Boswell Esq:1

13 14

[Paper Apart] Park lane 2d. December 1790 15 Sir I have been fortunately spared the troublesome suspense of a long search, to which, in performance of my promise I had devoted this morning, by a

January 1791.

Beneath the address, JB promises that ‘More Copy shall come in the course of the day.’ At the top of the leaf, following his salutation to ‘Mr. Plymsell’ and first direction (see ante p. 47 n. 1), JB delivered a second: ‘Mr. Hastings’s Correspondence will of itself make a page or two.—Introduce it thus / While Johnson …’ (copy-text). While the letter from Hastings to JB took up slightly more than one page, ‘Mr. Hastings’s Parcel’ (ante p. 50 n. 1)—his letter to JB, with SJ’s three letters to him—spanned four pages in print, 1st ed. ii. 366–70. 7 Even after several same-draft changes to this tribute (see endnotes), JB did not remain satisfied with it. Alterations in proof led to the following characterization in the revises: ‘WARREN HASTINGS, a man whose regard reflects consequence even upon Johnson; a man, the extent of whose abilities was equal to that of his power; and who, by those who are fortunate enough to know him in private life, is admired for his literature and taste, and beloved for the candour, moderation, and mildness of his character.’ JB now substituted the word ‘dignity’ for ‘consequence’, and double-underlined ‘Johnson’, specifying ‘Small Caps’ in the margin. Hastings, writing on 14 May 1791 to thank JB for his gift of a copy of the Life, responded graciously to the passage ‘which speaks of me in terms of such high Encomium’ (Corr. 2a, p. 313). 8 An additional sentence was printed here in the revises: ‘But how weak would be my voice after that of a THURLOW4.’ Footnote 4 at the bottom of the page—‘See’— awaited completion. What citation JB had in mind is unknown; he scored through the note and in the main text, deleting ‘a THURLOW’, substituted the phrase ‘the millions whom he governed’. Thurlow developed a friendship with Hastings over the course of his impeachment trial; as Lord Chancellor, he presided over the trial when it began in Feb. 1788, but no longer held that office when it concluded in 1795 (Oxford DNB). 9 Printed in the revises ‘suggestions’, a misreading of JB’s alteration of the word ‘suggested’ in a false start to this clause: ‘I shall not be uneasy at the thought÷from an apprehension that it may be invidiously suggested that I’. JB would have had to decide between his alternative wordings immediately, not in revision, given that he was drafting this Paper Apart for instant dispatch to the printer. 1 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Mr. Hastings’s Letter to me’ (C 1505; see Cat. ii. 705–06).

52

1781

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

20

25

30

35

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 66–67

lighting upon the Objects of it among the first papers that I laid my hands on; my veneration for your great and good friend, Doctor Johnson, and the pride, or I hope something of a better sentiment, which I indulged in possessing such memorials of his good will towards me, having induced me to bind them in a parcel containing other select papers, and labelled with the titles appertaining to them. They consist but of three Letters, which I believe were all that I ever received from Doctor Johnson. Of these one, which was written in Quadruplicate, under the different dates of its respective dispatches, has already been made public, but not from any communication of mine. This however I have joined to the rest, and have now the pleasure of sending them to you for the use to which you informed me it was your desire to destine them. My promise was pledged with the Condition, that if the Letters were found to contain any thing which should render them improper for the public eye, you would dispense with the performance of it. You will have the goodness, I am sure, to pardon my recalling this stipulation to your recollection, as I should be loth to appear negligent of that Obligation which is always implied in an epistolary confidence. In the reservation of that right I have read them over with the most scrupulous attention, but have not seen in them the slightest cause on that ground to with=hold them from you. But though not on that, yet on another ground, I own, I feel a little, yet but a little reluctance to part with them: I mean on that of my own [1st ed. ii. 367] credit, which I fear will suffer by the Information conveyed by them, that I was early in the possession of such valuable Instructions for the beneficial Employment of the influence of my late Station, and (as it may seem) have so little availed myself of them. Whether I could, if it were necessary, defend myself against such an imputation, it little concerns the world to know. — I look only to the effect which these relicks may produce, considered as evidences of the virtues of their author: and believing that they will be found to display an uncommon warmth of private friendship, and a mind ever attentive to the improvement and extension of useful knowledge, and solicitous for the interests of mankind, I can cheerfully submit to the little sacrifice of my own fame to contribute to the illustration of so great and venerable a character. They cannot be better applied, for that end, than by being entrusted to your hands. Allow me, with this offering, to infer from it a proof of the very great esteem with which I have the honour to profess myself Sir, / Your most obedt. & most humble Servant Warren Hastings. P.S. At some future time, and when you have no further occasion for these papers, I shall be obliged to you if you will return them.

40

[Paper Apart ‘Mr. Plymsell’ resumed2] The last of the three letters thus graciously put into my hands and which has already appeared in publick belongs

2 JB drafted the following copy below his direction for taking in Hastings’s letter (see preceding note).

53

H-P iv. 67–68

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1781

to this year; but I shall previously insert the two first in the order of their dates. They altogether form a grand groupe3 in my Biographical Picture.4/5 [Paper Apart6] Sir Though I have but had7 little personal knowledge of you, I have had enough to make me wish for more, and though it be now a long time since I was honoured by your visit, I had so much pleasure from it to regret8 it. By those whom we delight to remember we are unwilling to be forgotten and therefore I cannot omit this opportunity of reviving my self in your9 by a letter which you will receive from the hands of my friend Mr. Chambers.a a man whose purity of manners and vigour of mind are sufficient to make every thing welcome that he brings. [1st ed. ii. 368] That this is my only reason for writting10 will be too apparent by the uselessness of my letter to any other purpose. I have no questions to ask, and, what I want, curiosity11 after either the ancient or present state of regions in which have been seen all the power and Splendour of wide extended empire and which as by some grant of natural superiority supply the rest of the world with almost all that pride desires and luxury enjoys; but my knowledge of them is too scanty to furnish me with proper topicks of enquiry[;] I can only wish for information, and hope that a mind comprehensive like yours will find leisure amidst the cares of your important station to enquire into many subjects of which the European would1 either think not at all or think with deficient intelligence and uncertain conjecture[.] I shall hope that he who once intended to encrease2 the learning of his country by the introduction of a

≤Now Sir Robert Chambers, one of His Majesty’s Judges in India.a1≥

In the revises JB deleted the ‘e’. Here JB had provided himself with another (see ante p. 52 n. 9) set of alternatives for immediate resolution: ‘Picture÷Tablature.’ For the deleted noun, no illustrative quotation follows the definition in SJ’s Dictionary: ‘Painting on walls or ceilings.’ 5 Direction to the compositor, ‘Then take in the three letters’. JB had delivered the letters already under separate cover, with a message on the earliest (30 Mar. 1774): ‘In case you want copy Here are three letters which may be composed till a deal of more comes tomorrow. That of 1781 comes first.’ The ‘deal of more’ included the present Paper Apart, with copy stipulating chronological order (i.e., 1781 last). Printed above the earliest letter here in the revises was the heading ‘To the Honourable WARREN HASTINGS, Esq.’ 6 Copied by JB’s servant James Ross, with the printer’s marking of sig. ‘Bbb 369’ on the word ‘time’ (see p. 55 l. 22). In several places Ross misread SJ’s handwriting; where baffled, he left blank spaces rather than venture any reading. JB evidently corrected some of the misreadings in proof, but others remained to be corrected in the revises. 7 Miscopied; correctly printed in the revises ‘have had but’. 8 Corrected by JB in the revises to read ‘too much pleasure from it to forget’. 9 Printed in the revises ‘myself in your memory’, the omitted word having been supplied. 10 Spelled correctly in the revises. 11 Corrected by JB in the revises to read ‘not that I want curiosity’. 1 Printed in the revises ‘European world’, though the ensuing verb ‘think’ in both occurrences had not yet been corrected. JB now changed them to ‘thinks’. 2 Copied correctly (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, ii. 136), but printed ‘increase’. 3 4

a1 Added to the revises in JB’s hand. ‘Chambers’ was misprinted ‘Chalmers’, an error pointed out in Corrections and Additions, and corrected in the second edition.

54

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1781

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

20

25

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 68–69

the Persian language, will examine nicely the Qualities and Misseries3 of the East, that he will survey the wonders of its antient4 edifices & ≤trace5≥ the vestiges of its ruined cities; and that at his return we shall know the arts and opinions of a Race of Men from whom very little has been hitherto derived. You Sir have no need of being told by me how much may be added by your attention and patronage to experimental knowledge and natural history. There are arts of manufacture practised in the countries in which you preside which are yet very imperfectly known here either to artificiers6 or philosophers. Of the natural productions animate and inanimate we yet have so little intelligence that our books are filled, I fear, with conjectures about things, which an Indian Peasant knows by his senses. Many of those things my first wish is to my friend to rev7 by such accounts as a Man like you will be able to give. As I have not skill to ask proper questions, I have likewise no such 8 to great men. as can enable me to send you any political information. Of the agitations of an unsettled government. and the struggles of a feeble ministry. care is doubtless taken, to give you more exact accounts than I can obtain. If you are inclined to interest yourself much in public9 transactions. it is no misfortune to you to be so distant from them.1 That literature is not totally forsaking us, and that your favourite language is not neglected will appear from the booka which I should have pleased myself more with sending If I could have presented it bound but [1st ed. ii. 369] time was wanting. I beg however, Sir, that you will accept it, from a man very desirous of your regard, and that if you think me able to gratify you by any thing more important you will employ me. I am now going to take leave, perhaps a very long leave of my dear Mr. Chambers. That he is going to live where you govern may justly alleviate the regret of parting and the hope of seeing both him and you again which I am 2 not willing to mingle with doubt, must at present as it can Sir / Your most humble servant March 30, 1774 Sam: Johnson a

Note ——a1

Misreadings for ‘Traditions and Histories’ (so printed in the revises, in lower case). Printed ‘ancient’, as spelled by SJ (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, ii. 136). 5 Word added by JB in a space left blank by Ross. 6 Spelled correctly in the revises. 7 Printed in the revises ‘to see; my second to know’. JB evidently had remedied the blank space and two misreadings (part of the latter now lost to a tear in the page) in proof. 8 No copy ventured; ‘access’ printed in the revises. 9 Printed in the revises ‘publick’, as spelled by SJ (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, ii. 137). 1 Ross’s unusual full stops in this paragraph were either omitted in print or typeset as commas. 2 No copy ventured; ‘comfort’ printed in the revises. SJ wrote ‘content’ (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, ii. 137). 3 4

a1 Added in Plymsell’s hand, followed by ‘(1 Line.)’—a reminder to himself to leave one line blank at the foot of the printed page. JB added ‘Persian Grammar’ to this blank space in the revises, but augmented the note before the page went to press, for in the first edition it was printed ‘Jones’s “Persian Grammar.”’

55

H-P iv. 69–71

[Paper Apart]

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1781

To The Honourable WARREN HASTINGS Esq.3

Sir Being informed that by the departure of a Ship there is now an opportunity of writing to Bengal I am unwilling to slip out of your memory by my own negligence, and therefore take the liberty of Reminding you of my existence by sending you a Book which is not yet made publick. I have lately visited a region less remote and less illustrious than India, which afforded some occasions for speculation. what occurred4 to me, I have put into the volumea of which I beg your acceptance. Men in your station seldom have presents totally disinterested. My Book is received, let me now make my request. There is, Sir, somewhere within your Goverment5 a young adventurer one Chauncy Laurence,6 whose Father is one of my Oldest Friends. Be pleased to shew the young man what countenance is fit, whether he wants to be restrained by your authority, or encouraged by your favour. His Father is now president of the College of Physicians a man venerable for his knowledge, & more venerable for his virtue. I wish you a prosperous Goverment, a safe return, and a long enjoyment of Plenty & tranquility.7 I am Sir / your most obedient / and / most humble Servant London Decr. 20 1774 Sam Johnson8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ≤[P.A. Poets (32)v] I wrote to him in february complaining of having been troubled by a recurrence of the perplexing question of Liberty and Necessity, and mentioning that I hoped soon to meet him again in London.

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

25

To James Boswell Esq:9≥ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [MS 802 resumed] On Monday [19 March>] March 19 I arrived in London and on tuesday the 20 met him in Fleetstreet walking or rather indeed moving along, for his [1st ed. ii. 371] [progress÷locomotion>] manner is thus described 30 a

≤‘Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland.’a1≥

3 Written in JB’s hand; printed in the revises ‘To the same.’ The copy of the letter is in the hand of his son Alexander. 4 ‘What occurred’ (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, ii. 160); second edition, ‘what has occurred’, a modification (apparently by JB) that has gone uncorrected. 5 Printed in the revises ‘government’, both here and below (l. 18). 6 Copied correctly (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, ii. 161); printed in the revises ‘Lawrence’. 7 Printed in the revises ‘tranquillity’, as spelled by SJ (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, ii. 161). 8 Next came the third of SJ’s three letters to Hastings, dated ‘Jan. 9, 1781’ in the revises and headed ‘To the same.’ This letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. 9 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letter March 14’. See earlier deleted direction, p. 51 n. 5. This letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. a1 Written in Plymsell’s hand, the title (unlike most cited by JB) was already within quotation marks.

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1781

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20

H-P iv. 71–72

in a [MS 803] very just and picturesque manner in a short [Life÷Account of him published by Kearsley>] [Lifea of him published1>] Lifea of him published by Kearsley2 very soon after his death3 ≤‘When he walked the streets what with the constant roll of his head, and the concomitant motion of his body, he appeared to make his way by that motion independent of his feet.’≥ That he was [much÷often>] often much stared at while he advanced in this manner, may easily be believed; but it was not safe to make sport of one so robust as he was. Mr. Langton saw him one day in [his absence>] a fit of his absence,4 by a sudden start drive the load off a porter’s back, and walk forward briskly without being conscious of what he had done. The Porter was very angry; but stood still, paused & eyed the huge figure with much earnestness, till he was satisfied that his wisest course was [to be quiet, and take up÷quietly to take up>] to be quiet, and take up his burthen again. [It was quite a novelty to us to meet in the street after a long separation.>] Our accidental meeting in the street after a long separation was a pleasing surprise to us both. He stepped ≤aside≥ with me into Falcon=Court and made kind inquiries ≤about my family≥, and as we were in a hurry going different ways I [engaged÷promised>] promised to call on him next day. He said he was engaged [abroad÷to go out early>] to go out in the morning. ‘Early Sir’ said I. Johnson. ‘Why Sir a London morning does not go with the sun.’ a

25

LIFE OF JOHNSON

≤[Life of

a1

>] Witha2 this well=chosen motto:

— From his cradle He was a SCHOLAR and a ripe and good one: And to add greater honours to his age Than man could give him, he died fearing Heaven. / Shakspeare.≥ 1 In revision, opting for the word ‘Account’, JB placed a caret after ‘him’ and in the margin wrote ‘by an’ (‘Account of him by an’); he then deleted this as a false start, wrote in ‘Life’ again, put a footnote symbol on it, and left an unfinished note—‘Life of ’—at the bottom of the page. 2 JB reinstated the words ‘by Kearsley’ (whether immediately in first revision or in later revision of this passage is unclear) by writing ‘stet’ twice above them. They migrated to his footnote in the second edition (see n. a2 below). 3 JB left a blank space here sufficient to accommodate one and a half lines of copy. Inserted in revision, the quotation comprised three and a half tightly squeezed lines. 4 Revision orig. ‘one of his fits of absence’; printed in the revises ‘a fit of absence’. The word ‘his’ either was not typeset, or JB deleted it in first proof. a1 In a later revision, JB deleted this incomplete note (added in first revision) and drafted its replacement in the margin. The motto he quotes appeared on the titlepage of William Cooke’s biography, beneath The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. with Occasional Remarks on His Writings, an Authentic Copy of His Will, and a Catalogue of His Works. To Which are Added, Some Papers Written by Dr. Johnson, in Behalf of a Late Unfortunate Character, Never Before Published (1785). It was advertised for sale on 27 Dec. 1784, two weeks after SJ’s death; the second edition, advertised on 22 Feb. 1785, carried a sizeable expansion of ‘Johnsoniana: or Bon-Mots, Observations, &c. of the Late Dr. Samuel Johnson.’ See Robert E. Kelley and O M Brack, Jr., Samuel Johnson’s Early Biographers, 1971, pp. 11–13, 91–108, and 154; and The Early Biographies of Samuel Johnson, ed. O M Brack, Jr. and Robert E. Kelley, 1974, pp. 91–135 and 316–17. a2 Second edition, ‘Published by Kearsley, with’.

57

H-P iv. 72

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1781

I waited on him next evening and he gave me a great quantity of the original manuscript [MS 804] of his Lives of the Poets, which he had preserved for me [in a Bandbox which he took down from the top of his bed del]. [From this Manuscript it appears÷This Manuscript proves that the Lives were written not only hastily but were struck off at once with a correctness which is truly amazing. Choice & beautiful as his Composition is in that work There are very few alterations in it from the very first strokes of his rapid pen.>] [From this Manuscript it appears÷This Manuscript proves that the Lives were written not only hastily as he has himself÷himself has informed us but were struck off at once with a correctness which is truly amazing. There are very few alterations in it from the first strokes of his rapid pen.a/5 del] I found that his friend Mr. Thrale was now very ill, and [I suppose by the solicitation of Mrs. Thrale lived at present in the÷had removed for some time 6 corner house of Grosvenor Square.>] had removed I suppose to the by the solicitation of Mrs. Thrale to a house in Grosvenor Square. [I was sorry to see him sadly emaciated÷looking miserably; but his hospitality was the same as ever, and he gave me a general invitation to his house where Dr. Johnson passed a great part of his time, and had a bed=room appropriated to him as at the house in the Borough and at Streatham.>] I was sorry to find him sadly changed in his appearance. He told me I [might÷should>] might now have the pleasure to see [/Dr./>] Dr. Johnson drink wine again; for he had lately [resumed÷returned to>] returned to it. When I mentioned [MS 805] this to Johnson, he said ‘I drink it now sometimes but not socially’; and the first evening that I was with him at Thrales, he poured a quantity of it into a large glass, and swallowed it greedily. Every thing about his character & manners was forcible and violent, there never was any moderation. Many a day did he fast many a year did he refrain from wine; but when he did eat it was voraciously when he [did drink>]

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

25

[A few, by way of a specimen of his critical nicety, and for the improvement of those who are studious of rhetorical excellence, may be acceptable 30 to my Readers.>] [Some of them, by way of a specimen of his critical nicety, and for the improvement of those who are studious of rhetorical excellence, may be acceptable to my Readers.a1 del] a

5 In revision, JB marked the next sentence—slightly altered from its original draft as part of his main narrative—for a footnote. Then, suspending his revisions to the current sentences (without resolving his sets of alternatives, the second of which, in limited space, was drafted ‘he has himself has’), he deleted the entire passage. The point intended for the main text JB expressed elsewhere in a footnote (see Life MS iii. 49 ll. 20–25), and the sentence relegated to a footnote, further revised, he restored to the main text in P.A. Poets (ante p. 50 ll. 19–22). 6 If JB left this space blank hoping to be more specific later about the house, his intention went unrealized. Mrs. Thrale noted that the winter would be spent in Grosvenor Square, recording on 29 Jan. 1781 that ‘my Master has taken a ready furnished Lodginghouse there, and we go in tomorrow’ (Thraliana i. 478). a1 Direction to the compositor, later deleted, ‘Take in a Paper of them in the order of the Lives’. For the direction that superseded this one, see ante p. 27 n. 9; for the reason why JB ultimately did not observe ‘the order of the Lives’, see ante p. 50 ll. 17–19.

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H-P iv. 72–73

[drank>] did drink wine it was in abundance. He could practice7 abstinence, but not temperance. [1st ed. ii. 372] Mrs. Thrale and I had a dispute whether [Milton or Shakespeare>] Shakspeare or Milton had [given the best portrait÷noblest description>] 5 drawn the most admirable picture of a man.a [MS 806] I was for Shakespeare; ≤Mrs. 6 Thrale for Milton≥ and upon a fair hearing Johnson decided for my opinion. 7 I told him of one of Mr. Burke’s playful sallies upon Dean Marli.8 ‘I dont like 8 the Dean of Ferns [said he del] it sounds so like a barren title.’ ‘Dr. Heath should have it’ said I. Johnson laughed and condescending to ≤trifle in the same mode 10 of≥ conceit, suggested [Dr.>] Dr. Moss. 11 12 13

a

[Milton’s Adama1>] Shakespearea2 ≤makes Hamlet thus describe his Father See what a grace was seated on this brow Hyperion’s curls the front of Jove himself An eye like Mars to threaten and command; A station like the herald Mercury New lighted on a heaven-kissing hill: A combination and a form indeed Where every god did seem to set his seal To give the World assurance of a Man.≥

1415

20

[Hamlets>] Miltona3 ≤thus pourtrays our first parent Adam [Paper Aparta4]

His fair large front and eye sublime declar’d Absolute rule; and hyacinthin locks Round from his parted forelock manly hung Clustring, but not beneath his shoulders broad.≥

7 In the revises JB queried his spelling: ‘Q practice or practise’ (noun and verb forms, respectively, in SJ’s Dictionary). The verb was printed in the first edition. 8 Changed by Selfe in the revises to ‘Marlay’. EM added a footnote here in the third edition: ‘Dr. Richard Marlay, afterwards Lord Bishop of Waterford.’ See p. 65 n. 6. a1 In first draft, reserving the lower half of MS 805 to quote—within his main narrative—the passages at stake in this dispute, JB indented the words ‘Milton’s Adam’ here and ‘Hamlets’ below (l. 20) with enough blank space after each to accommodate five or six verses in revision. For the time being, he then proceeded to the top of MS 806 and drafted his conclusion to the paragraph (‘I was for Shakespeare …’). a2 In revision, having reversed the author’s names above (ll. 3–4), JB also switched them here and below (l. 20), readying his still-blank spaces for the passages in reverse order. In the next stage of revision, when adding his copy from Hamlet, he marked the passage for a ‘Note’, placing a footnote symbol after ‘man’ and before ‘Shakespeare’. a3 In the second stage of revision to this passage, JB had to delete and recopy Milton’s name farther down the page because the quotation from Hamlet (longer than anticipated) encroached upon the space reserved for the ‘picture’ from Paradise Lost. His brief introduction of Milton’s verses brought him to the bottom of MS 805, where he directed the compositor to leave ‘Room for ten lines’; when he later prepared the ensuing Paper Apart, however, he copied only four verses, not ten. a4 This half-leaf, marked and underlined ‘For Mr. Plymsell’ in the upper left-hand corner, is headed ‘Milton’s Lines’. Beneath the verses, JB alerted Plymsell to more forthcoming copy: ‘The Addition concerning the Clergy shall be brought by me tomorrow forenoon. 12 Janry. [1791]’. For this Paper Apart, see post p. 62 l. 9 and n. 3.

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H-P iv. 73–74

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1781

He said ‘Mrs. Montagu has dropt [me; now>] me. Now Sir there are people whom one [should÷might>] should like very well to drop, but would not wish to be dropped by.’ He certainly was vain of the society of Ladies, and could make himself very agreable to them when he chose it. Sir Joshua Reynolds agreed with me [in this remark.>] that he could. Mr. Gibbon perhaps from jealousy contraverted it.9 Dean Marli1 wittily observed upon it ‘A Lady may be vain when she can turn a wolf=dog into a lap=dog.’ The election for Ayrshire my own Countee was this spring tried upon a Petition, before a Committee of the House of Commons. I was one of the Counsel for the sitting member, and took the liberty of previously stating different points to Johnson who never failed to see them clearly and to supply me with some good hints. He dictated to me the following note upon the effect of registration of deeds.2 [Paper Apart3] ‘All laws are made for the convenience of the Community. What is legally done should be legally recorded that the state of things may be [1st ed. ii. 373] known and that wherever evidence is requisite evidence may be had. For this reason the obligation to frame & establish a legal register is enforced by a legal penalty which penalty is ye want of that perfection & plenitude of right which a register would give. Thence it follows that this is not an objection merely legal for ye reason on wc the law stands being equitable makes it an equitable objection.’4 9 Printed in the revises ‘Mr. Gibbon, perhaps from resentment of Johnson’s having talked of his ugliness, which one should suppose he would not mind, controverted it.’ JB modified the sentence to read as follows: ‘Mr. Gibbon, the historick writer, and to me offensive snearer at what I hold sacred, controverted it, perhaps from resentment of Johnson’s having talked of his ugliness, which one should suppose he would not mind.’ Reconsidering the italics, JB crossed out his underlining of ‘he’ and in the margin deleted ‘Ital’. Further changes (not surviving in MS) produced the following text in the first edition: ‘Mr. Gibbon, with his usual sneer, controverted it, perhaps in resentment of Johnson’s having talked with some disgust of his ugliness, which one should think a philosopher would not mind.’ (In the second edition, ‘should’ became ‘would’.) In correcting proof JB fulfilled a memorandum on the verso of MS 513, ‘Note Gibbon’s ugliness’ (see BP vi. 276–77, and [286]; also, Hill-Powell ii. 443 n. 1, and iv. 484). 1 Printed in the revises ‘Marlay’, the spelling here (unlike the one above: see p. 59 l. 7 and n. 8) having been corrected already in proof. 2 Direction to the compositor, ‘take it in’. 3 This is the original leaf on which JB took down SJ’s dictation, abbreviating several words in haste, and later completing some of the abbreviations: ‘evidence’ (second occurrence), ‘obligation’, ‘establish’, ‘legal register’, and ‘register’. Common abbreviations, unaltered by JB, posed no trouble for the compositor, who typeset ‘and’ for the ampersands, ‘the’ for ‘ye’, and ‘which’ for ‘wc’ (so in revises). At the top of the leaf, JB wrote ‘P. 806’ to the left of a four-line docket: ‘On the effect of the Want of Registration of deeds where a Register is established. Dictated to me by Dr. Johnson in London, Sunday 1 May 1781, as an Argument before the Committee on the Ayrshire Election.’ He erred in writing the date; it was 1 Apr. 1781(see Laird of Auchinleck, p. 304; Hill-Powell iv. 74 n. †). 4 In revision, JB inserted the symbol at the bottom of MS 806 (to the right of his directions for taking in SJ’s dictation; see n. 2 above) and on the facing page, where he recopied the following paragraph—nearly verbatim, including the alternative phrases—from his first draft of it on MS opp. 792 (see Life MS iii. 295 ll. 12–17 and n. 3). Selfe marked the paragraph ‘out’; given that it was first typeset for the revises, the few textual changes appearing there (see endnotes) presumably were made by JB in the printing house.

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 74–75

≤[MS 805v] ‘This’ said he ‘you must enlarge on in speaking to the Committee. You must not argue there as if you were arguing in the schools; close reasoning will not fix their attention. You must say the same thing over and over and over again in different words. If you say it but once they may miss it [while not attending.÷in a moment of inattention.>] in a moment of inattention. It is unjust Sir to censure lawyers for multiplying words when they argue; it is necessary for them to multiply words.’5≥ [MS 807] His notion of the duty of a member of Parliament sitting upon an Election Committee was very high; and when he was told of a Gentleman upon one of those committees who read the Newspapers, part of the time and slept the rest, while the merits of a vote were examined by the Counsel, and as an excuse when challenged by the chairman for such behaviour bluntly answered ‘I had made up my mind upon that case’ Johnson6 with an indignant contempt said ‘If he was such a rogue as to make up his mind upon a case without hearing it he should not have been such a fool as to tell it.’ ‘I think’ said Mr. Dudley Long7 [‘you have made him pretty well out to be÷‘the Doctor has pretty plainly set him down as>] ‘the Doctor has pretty plainly made him out to be both rogue and fool.’ Johnson’s profound reverence for the [episcopal order÷Hierarchy>] Hierarchy made him [exact÷expect>] expect from Bishops the highest degree of decorum. He was offended even at their going to taverns. ‘A Bishop ≤(said he)≥ has nothing to do at a tipling house. It is not indeed immoral in him to [be there.>] go to a tavern. Neither would it be immoral in him to whip a top in Grosvenor Square. But if he did I hope the boys would fall upon him and apply the whip to him. There are gradations in conduct. There is morality — decency — propriety. None of these [MS 808] should be violated by a Bishop. A [man>] Bishop should not go to a house where he may meet a [man>] young fellow leading out a wench.’ Boswell. ‘But Sir every tavern does not admit women.’ Johnson. ‘Depend upon it Sir, any tavern will admit a well=drest man and a well=drest woman. They will not perhaps admit a woman whom they see every night walking by their door in the street. But a well=drest man may lead in a well-drest woman to any tavern in London. Taverns sell meat and drink, and will sell them to any body who can eat & can drink. You may as well say that a mercer will not sell silks to a woman of the town.’8 5 JB added these last five words—absent from both his draft on MS opp. 792 and Journ. 1 Apr. 1781 (see Laird of Auchinleck, p. 304)—after a pause in the same draft. 6 As punctuated in the first edition—‘case.” Johnson’—JB’s lengthy subordinate clause (‘and when he was told …’) was cut off from the independent clause it introduces (‘Johnson … said …’). The punctuation was amended in the second edition to correct the error: ‘case;”—Johnson’. 7 Second edition, ‘Mr. Dudley Long, now North’. Long took the name North in 1789 upon succeeding to the estate of Little Glemham Hall, Suffolk (Namier and Brooke, iii. 52). 8 In the Life Materials, JB had identified this paragraph as the place at which to introduce a discussion of SJ’s views on clerical deportment: ‘Story of his saying to Beauclerk after rising & rolling himself about at table after dinner “Dont you think there is something very nauseous in the merriment of parsons?” This may come in when he is angry at Bishop going to Alehouse, wt. a dissertation on his strict notions of the manners of clergymen’ (M 157, p. 8). See p. 62 n. 2.

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H-P iv. 75–76

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1781

[1st ed. ii. 374] He also disapproved of Bishops going to routs, at least of their staying /at them/9 longer than their presence [commands÷commanded>] commanded respect. He mentioned a particular Bishop. ‘Poh’ said Mrs. Thrale, ‘the Bishop of ———1 is never minded at a rout.’ [A gentleman observed>] Boswell. ‘When a Bishop [is in a state where÷that he is nobody it is improper.’>] places himself in a situation where he has no distinct character and is of no consequence, he degrades the dignity of his order.’ Johnson. ‘Mr. [——— >] Boswell Madam [had>] has said it as correctly as could be.’2 ≤[Paper Apart3] Nor was it only in the dignitaries of the church that Johnson required a particular decorum and delicacy of behaviour. He justly considered [the clergy as men set apart for the sacred office of inculcating the duties of religion by precept and by example and impressing upon the minds of men while in this state of probation the aweful concerns÷truths÷consideration of the state after death. They to whom a trust so important is committed should naturally be somewhat of a more serious cast than>] that the clergy as men set apart for the sacred office of serving at the altar and impressing the minds of men with the aweful concerns of a future state after death4 should be somewhat more serious than the generality of mankind, and have a suitable composure of manners. A due sense of the dignity of their profession independent of higher motives will ever prevent them from losing their distinction in an indiscriminate sociality; and did such as affect this, know how much it lessens them in the eyes of those whom they think to please by it they would feel themselves much mortified. Johnson and his friend Beauclerk were once together in company with several clergymen who thought they would appear to advantage by assuming the lax jollity of men of the world which as it may be observed5 in similar cases, they carried to noisy excess. Johnson who they expected would be entertained, This unresolved optional phrase was printed in the revises. The Bishop of Chester, Dr. Beilby Porteus (see p. 63 ll. 7–9 and n. 8), as recorded in Journ. 28 Mar. 1781. This entry also reveals that the tavern-going offender (see p. 61) was Jonathan Shipley, Bishop of St. Asaph (Laird of Auchinleck, p. 296). 2 Several memoranda clustered near the bottom of MS 807v (opposite the end of this paragraph) seeded elements of the ‘dissertation’ JB added here on SJ’s ‘strict notions of the manners of clergymen’ (see p. 61 n. 8): ‘Here his just notion of the decorum of Clergymen / merriment of Parsons / Bishop of Chester’s Charge but half a Beau / Describe the offensiveness of reverend Bucks. / Character of Mudge.’ JB had not finished drafting this material when he sent the present pages of the main narrative to the printing house. After deleting the memoranda, he left a message for Plymsell above on MS 807v: ‘Just before Friday March 30 will come in some remarks as to the Clergy / I fancy a page & a half in print which will be prepared by tomorrow / 12 Jany.’ Later that day, when sending ‘Milton’s Lines’ to Plymsell, JB clarified that he himself would bring the ‘Addition concerning the Clergy’ to the press (see ante p. 59 n. a4). 3 This Paper Apart—three leaves, with revisions to the second leaf spilling onto its verso—is headed ‘For p. 808 after the words as correctly as could be.’ 4 Faced in the revises with this redundancy, the flawed result of tortuous revisions, JB deleted the words ‘a future’ and substituted ‘our’, making the phrase ‘our state after death’. Still dissatisfied, he then deleted ‘after death’ and in the margin, scoring through ‘our’, wrote ‘stet a future’, finally settling on the phrase ‘a future state’. 5 Printed in the revises ‘may observed’. The cause of the omission may have been that the word ‘be’ blended in with a descender from the line above and an adjacent revision. While not corrected in the revises, the missing word was printed in the first edition. 9 1

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 76–77

sate grave & silent for some time; at last turning to Beauclerk he said by no means in a whisper ‘This merriment of parsons is mighty offensive.’ Even the dress of clergymen6 should be [perfectly del] in character and nothing can be more contemptible than [an endeavour to look like what they are not or ought not to be if they are honest men.>] conceited attempts of avoiding7 the appearance of the clerical order, attempts which are as ineffectual as they are pitiful. ‘After all (says Dr. Porteous now Bishop of London in his excellent Charge when presiding over the Diocese of Chester), a clergyman can be but half a beau.’8 9 Addison in ‘The Spectator’ has given us a fine portrait of a clergyman who is supposed to be a member of his Club; and Johnson has exhibited a model in the character of Mr. Mudgea which has escaped the Collectors of his Works, but which he owned to me and which indeed he shewed to Sir Joshua Reynolds at the time when it was written. It bears the genuine marks of Johnson’s best manner, and is as follows1≥ [Paper Apart2; 1st ed. ii. 375] ‘The Reverend Mr. Zachariah Mudge Prebendary of Exeter and Vicar of St. Andrews in Plymouth a man equally eminent for his virtues and abilities and at once beloved as a companion and reverenced a

See p.

of Volume First.a1

6 MS orig. ‘a clergyman’, and printed so in the revises; the compositor did not detect JB’s revisions. 7 Two false starts—‘priggish’ and ‘a prig[gish]’—preceded the first phrase formulated here in revision, ‘conceited affectation of avoiding …’. JB then substituted ‘attempts’ for ‘affectation’, but without altering the preposition, an oversight corrected in due course: printed in the revises ‘at avoiding’. 8 In the revises, JB altered this sentence to read as follows: ‘Dr. Porteus, now Bishop of London, in his excellent charge when presiding over the Diocese of Chester, justly animadverts upon this subject, and observes of a reverend fop that he “can be but half a beau.”’ (The spelling ‘Porteous’ had already been modified.) Bishop of Chester from 1776, Porteus succeeded Dr. Robert Lowth as Bishop of London in 1787 (Oxford DNB). 9 Many false starts preceded JB’s final copy to begin this paragraph: (1) ‘As a contrast Johnson has admirably drawn the portrait of respectable [Clergymen]’; (2) ‘As … portrait of a respectable Clergyman in the following charactera of the Reverend Mudge’; (3) ‘As … of the Reverend Mr. Mudge’; (4) ‘As … of Mr. Mudge which Sir Joshua Reynolds saw when he first wrote it and whi[ch]’; (5) ‘As … of Mr. Mudge which not being generally known has not yet appeared in the collection. [Direction to the compositor Take it in and put a note. =London Chronicle day & year.]’; (6) ‘Johnson has admirably drawn the portrait of a respectable Clergyman in the following character of Mr. Mudgea which he owned to me, and which indeed Sir Joshua Reynolds saw at the time when it was written. / The char[acter]’; (7) ‘Johnson … written. / We have an excellent portrait of a clergyman in The Spectator’; (8) ‘ Johnson … written. / We … in “The Spectator”’. 1 Direction to the compositor, with cue words, ‘“The Reverend” &c. Take it in’. 2 On this Paper Apart, which bears no heading, SJ’s character of Mudge fills both sides; JB’s footnote at the bottom of the verso had to run into the margin. The implicit quotation marks, added in the transcription for clarity, were printed in the revises. a1 Printed in the revises ‘See p. of Vol. I.’ Scoring through ‘p.’, the blank space, and the preposition, JB put a caret after ‘Vol. I’ and circled a direction for the compositor to ‘Look at Mr. Selfe’s Revises’—above which ‘p. 206’ was added afterwards. In the first edition the note was printed ‘See Vol. I. p. 206.’ On that page JB anticipated this character of Mudge by SJ (see Life MS i. 262 ll. 18–19; Hill-Powell i. 378).

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H-P iv. 77–78

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1781

as a pastor. He had that general curiosity to which no kind of knowledge is indifferent or superfluous; and that general benevolence by which no order of men is hated or despised. ‘His principles both of thought and action were great and comprehensive. By a solicitous examination of objections and judicious comparrison of opposite arguments he attained what enquiry never gives but to industry and perspicuity a firm and unshaken settlement of conviction. But his firmness was without asperity: for, knowing with how much difficulty truth was sometimes found, he did not wonder that many missed it. ‘The general course of his life was determined by his profession. He studied the sacred volumes, in the original languages with what diligence and success his Notes upon the Psalms give sufficient evidence. He once endeavoured to add the knowledge of Arabick to that of Hebrew; but finding his thoughts too much diverted from other studies, after some time desisted from his purpose. ‘His discharge of parochial duties was exemplary. How his Sermons were composed may be learned from the excellent volume which he has given to the Publick; but how they were delivered can be known only to those that heard them, for as he appeared in the pulpit words will not easily describe him. His delivery though unconstrained was not negligent, and though forcible was not turbulent; disdaining anxious nicety of emphasis, and laboured artifice of action it captivated the hearer by its natural dignity, it roused the sluggish, and fixed the volatile, and detained the mind upon the subject, without directing it to the speaker. ‘The grandeur and solemnity of the Preacher did not intrude upon his general behaviour: At the table of his friends he was a companion communicative and attentive, of unaffected manners[,] of manly cheerfulness, willing to please and easy to be pleased. His acquaintance was universally solicited, and his presence obstructed no enjoyment which religion did not forbid. Though studious he was popular, though argumentative he was modest, though inflexible he was candid, and though metaphysical yet Orthodox.’a/3/4 [MS 808 resumed; 1st ed. ii. 376] On friday [30 March>] March 30 I dined with him at Sir Joshua Reynolds’s with [the Earl of÷Lord>] the Earl of [MS 809] Charlemont, Sir Annesley Stewart, Mr. Elliot of Port Elliot,5 Mr. Burke,

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London Chronicle May 2. 1769. This respectable man is there mentioned to have died on the 3 of april that year at Cofflecta1 the seat of Thomas Veale 35 Esq: in his way to London. a

3 Given that JB placed asterisks (not his usual symbol =) on ‘Orthodox’ and by his footnote copy, Plymsell next to the lower asterisk wrote and circled ‘Note.’ 4 JB’s estimate that his additional ‘remarks as to the Clergy’ (for insertion ‘Just before Friday March 30’ near the bottom MS 808) would take up ‘a page & a half in print’ (see ante p. 62 n. 2) was fairly accurate: the preceding Paper Apart took up four-fifths of 1st ed. ii. 374, and SJ’s character of Mudge (with footnote) perfectly filled 1st ed. ii. 375. 5 Printed in the revises ‘Mr. Eliot, of Port-Eliot’. ‘Eliot’ was also printed below (p. 65 ll. 4, 20); where ‘Elliot’ remained (p. 65 l. 16), JB deleted the second ‘l’. a1 So printed. It is difficult to determine, however, whether JB drafted ‘Cofflect’, as printed in The London Chronicle (29 Apr.–2 May 1769), or ‘Coffleet’, as he may have known was correct. See Hill-Powell iv. 78, second textual note a.

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 78–79

Dean Marli,6 Mr. Langton, a most agreable day of which I regret that [all is>] every circumstance is not preserved; but it is unreasonable to require such a multiplication of felicity. Mr. Elliot with whom Dr. Walter Harte had travelled talked to us of his History of Gustavus Adolphus ≤which he said was a very good book in the german translation≥. Johnson. ‘Harte was excessively vain. He put copies of his Book in manuscript into the hands of Lord Chesterfield and Lord Granville that they might revise it. Now how absurd was it to suppose that two such noblemen would revise so big a manuscript. Poor man he left London the day of the publication of his book, that he might be out of the way of the great praise which he was to receive; and he was ashamed to return when he found how ill his book had [succeeded.÷been received.>] succeeded. It was unlucky in coming out on the same day with Robertson’s History of Scotland. His husbandry ≤however≥ is good.’ Boswell. ‘So he was fitter for that than for heroick history. He did well when he turned his [spear÷sword>] sword into a ploughshare.’7 Mr. Elliot mentioned a curious liquor peculiar to his country which the cornish fishermen drink. They call it Mahogany. It8 is made [MS 810] of two parts gin, ≤and≥ one part treacle, well beat together. I [afterwards added and del] begged to have some of it made which was done with proper skill by Mr. Elliot[, whom I called Ajax Elliot from his having seven seats in Parliament ‘Surgit ad hos clypei dominus septemplicis Ajax’9 del]. I thought it a very good liquor, and said it was [a counterpart÷of the nature>] a counterpart of what is called Athol porridge in the highlands of Scotland which is a mixture of whisky & honey. Johnson said that must be a better liquor than the cornish, for both its component parts were better. He [said>] also observed1 Mahogany must be a modern [liquor÷name>] name, for it was not long since the wood÷wood called 6 Printed in the revises ‘Dean Marlay, now Bishop of Clonfert’. The appositive was dropped in the third edition. Marlay was Bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh from 1787 until 1795, when he was ‘translated to the united bishopricks of Waterford and Lismore, in Ireland’ (Gent. Mag. May 1795, lxv. 445). 7 Although JB drafted ‘ploughshare’ as a compound word, as it appears in SJ’s Dictionary, it is hyphenated in all editions, having been printed ‘plough-/share’ across a line break in the first edition. 8 MS orig. ‘Mahogany and it’; printed so in the revises, with a semicolon after ‘Mahogany’. This was probably a misreading: even though the ink stroke through ‘and’ was lightened by being smeared, the capital ‘I’ written over the lower case letter is dark and clear. 9 JB quotes from Ovid’s account of the dispute between Ajax and Ulysses over the armour of Achilles: ‘Then up rose Ajax, lord of the sevenfold shield’ (Metamorphoses xiii. 2, trans. F. J. Miller, Loeb ed.). The entry ‘Clypeus’ in John Entick’s The New Latin and English Dictionary (1782), at variance with the usual classical forms, ‘clipeus’ (Loeb ed. ‘clipei’) and ‘clupeus’, supports the spelling quoted by JB. Eliot, who from 1761 had six seats to fill apart from his own, was thus recommended for a peerage by Lord Shelburne: ‘He returns seven Members of Parliament, has a very great fortune, and uncommon personal weight in Cornwall, where the King wants an able person of influence.’ He was created a baron in 1784. See Namier and Brooke, iii. 386–90. 1 This revision, in Plymsell’s hand, made to avoid repetition in introducing SJ’s successive remarks, initiated their conversion in print from indirect discourse, with verbs in the past tense, into direct sayings. They appeared within quotation marks in the revises; the final phrase of the previous sentence, misprinted ‘a better’, JB corrected to read ‘are better’. Not until the second edition, however, did he correct the verb within the present sentence—‘it was not long since’—to ‘is’.

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1781

mahogany÷mahogany wood2 was known in this country. I mentioned his scale of liquors Claret for boys — port for men Brandy for [the Gods>] heroes. ‘Then’ said Mr. Burke ‘let me have claret. I love to be a boy, to have the careless gayety of boyish days.’ Johnson. ‘I should drink claret too if it would give me that; but it does not; it neither makes boys men, nor men boys. You’ll be drowned by it before it has any effect upon you.’ I [mentioned÷ventured to mention>] ventured to mention [in a low voice del] a ludicrous paragraph in the Newspapers that Dr. Johnson was learning to dance of Vestris. Lord Charlemont wishing to [bring him out>] excite him to talk proposed [to the [MS 811] company del] [MS 811] ≤in a whisper≥ that he should be asked [if it>] whether it was true? ‘Shall I ask him’ said his Lordship. We were by a great majority clear for the experiment. Upon which his Lordship very gravely3 [1st ed. ii. 377] and very courteously4 said ‘Pray Sir is it true that you are taking lessons [of÷from>] from5 Vestris?’ This was risking a good deal & required the boldness of a General of Irish volunteers to make the attempt. Johnson was at first startled & in some heat answered ‘How can your Lordship ask so simple a question?’ But immediately recovering himself — Whether6 from unwillingness to be deceived or to appear deceived — or whether from real good humour, he kept up the joke [& said del] ‘Nay but if any body were to answer the paragraph and contradict it, I’d have a reply and would say that he who contradicted it was no friend either to Vestris or me. For why should not Dr. Johnson add to his other powers a little corporeal agility? Socrates learnt to dance at an advanced age, and Cato learnt Greek at an advanced age. Then it might proceed to say that this Johnson not content with dancing on the ground might dance on the rope; [and there might be÷and might introduce>] and they might introduce the Elephant dancing on the rope. [Lord Grimstone÷A Nobleman>] A Nobleman7 wrote a Play called “Love in a [MS 812] hollow tree.” He found out ≤that≥ it was a very bad one and therefore wished to buy up all the copies and burn them. 2 Printed in the revises ‘wood called mahogany’. JB suggested the second of these unresolved alternatives by dipping slightly lower on the line to draft the words ‘called mahogany’, and the third by writing ‘wood’ above the final syllables of ‘mahogany’. 3 ‘P. 376 of Vol. II is ordered for press and I expect another proof tonight’, JB told EM on 18 Jan. 1791, growing concerned about the length of the work: ‘I have yet near 200 pages of Copy besides letters and the death which is not yet written. My second volume will I see be 40 or 50 pages more than my first’ (Corr. 2a, p. 293; Corr. 4, p. 390). The page to which JB refers—the copy for which ends here—was the last of sig. Bbb (pp. 369–76). Changes made to these pages between the revises and the first edition—some noted above (see pp. 59 n. 7, 62 n. 5), including the sentence about Gibbon (see p. 60 n. 9), which expanded the paragraph in which it occurs, pushing two lines of print from p. 372 back to p. 371, and two lines from p. 371 back to p. 370—suggest that Houghton Library’s bound copy of the revises contains the penultimate proof of sig. Bbb, a third and final proof-sheet (or second revise) having gone missing. 4 Changed by Plymsell in the revises to ‘with a courteous air’. 5 Changed by Plymsell in the revises to ‘of’. 6 By means of his dash and capital ‘W’, isolating the previous phrase as a sort of stage direction, JB seems here to have introduced a separate syntactical lead-in to his main clause. Whatever disruption in cadence or sudden turnabout he was trying to represent, the effect was muted in print by the typesetting of a lower-case ‘w’ and commas instead of the dashes (here and in the line below). 7 EM disclosed the name deleted when JB resolved these alternatives (also post p. 67 ll. 3–4) by adding a footnote here in the third edition: ‘William, the first Viscount Grimston.’

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35

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 80–81

The Duchess of Marlborough had kept one, and when he was against her at an election, she had [a new÷an>] a new edition of it printed and prefixed to it as a Frontispiece an Elephant dancing on a rope to shew that [Lord Grimstone’s÷his Lordships>] his Lordships writing comedy was as aukward as an Elephant dancing on a rope.’8 [He carried this on with much pleasantry. del] On Sunday [first April>] April 1, I dined with him at Mr. Thrale’s with Sir Philip Jennings Clerke and Mr. Perkins9 who had the superintendence of Mr. Thrale’s brewery with a sallary of [£500 a÷five hundred pounds a>] five hundred pounds a year. Sir Philip had the appearance of a gentleman of ancient family well advanced in life. He wore his own white hair [in a goodly bag÷bag of goodly size÷with a goodly bag to it>] in a bag of goodly size, a black velvet coat with an embroidered waistcoat, & very rich laced ruffles which Mrs. Thrale said were old fashioned, but which for that reason I thought the more respectable, more like a Tory; yet Sir Philip was then in opposition in Parliament.1 ‘Ah Sir’ said Johnson, ‘ancient ruffles and modern principles do not agree.’ Sir Philip defended the Opposition to the American war ably and with temper, and I joined him. He [MS 813] said the majority of the Nation was against [administration>] the Ministry. Johnson. ‘[I am>] I Sir am against [administration,>] the Ministry; but it is for having too little of [what÷that of which>] that of which opposition thinks they have too much. Were I Minister, if any man wagged his finger against me he should be turned out; for that which it is in the power of Government to give at pleasure to one or to another should be given to the supporters of Government. If you will not oppose at the expence of losing your place, your opposition will not be honest, you will feel no serious grievance and the [1st ed. ii. 378] present opposition is only a contest to get what others have. Sir Robert Walpole acted as I would do. As to the American war, the sense of the nation is [with Administration>] with the Ministry. The majority of those who can understand is with it; the majority of those who can only2 [hear>] hear is against it; and as those who can only hear are more numerous than those who can understand, and Opposition is allways loudest, a majority of the rabble will be for opposition.’ This boisterous vivacity entertained us; but the fact really was that those who could understand the best were against the american war, as almost every man now is, when [MS 814] the question has been cooly considered. Mrs. Thrale gave high praise to a Gentleman of our acquaintance.3 Johnson. ‘Nay My Dear Lady, dont talk so. Mr. xxxx’s4 character is very [short>] short. It 8 JB added this anecdote involving the Duchess of Marlborough to MS 283 in revision, but then deleted it, leaving a memorandum: ‘N.B. This is mentioned by himself afterwards.’ See Life MS i. 325–26 and n. 5. 9 In the second edition, having inserted in the appropriate place SJ’s letter of 25 Oct. 1774 to Perkins, accompanied by a note to identify him (incorporating an anecdote), JB here provided a cross-reference to that page (ii. 156) in a footnote. See Life MS ii. 121 n. 2; Hill-Powell ii. 286 and n. 1, iv. 80 n. 3. 1 Printed ‘opposition in parliament’; third edition, ‘Opposition in Parliament’, with four additional uses of the upper case ‘O’ by the end of the paragraph (three in Hill-Powell), marking a return to the capitalized ‘Opposition’ drafted (with some inconsistency) by JB in the ensuing discussion. 2 Printed in the revises ‘commonly’, a misreading; corrected by Selfe to ‘can only’. 3 Second edition, ‘praise to Mr. Dudley Long, (now North.)’; see ante p. 61 n. 7. 4 MS orig. ‘Mr. —— ’s’; printed with four asterisks; second edition, ‘Mr. Long’s’.

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1781

is nothing. He fills a chair. He is a man of a genteel appearance and that is all.5 I know nobody who blasts by praise as you do. For whenever there is exaggerated praise, every body is set against a character. They are [roused÷provoked>] provoked to attack it. Now there is [Master6 del] xxxxx. You praised that man with such disproportion, that I was incited to lessen him, perhaps more than he deserves. His blood is upon your head. By the same principle your malice defeats itself; for your censure is too violent. And yet (looking to her with a leering smile) she is the first woman in the world. Could she but restrain that wicked tongue of hers, she would be the only woman. Could she7 but command that little whirligig.’ ≤Upon the subject of exaggerated praise, I took the liberty to say that I thought there might be very high praise given [of÷to>] to a known character which deserved it and therefore it would not be exaggerated. Thus one might say of [/Mr./÷Edmund>] Mr. Edmund Burke ‘He is a [/very/>] very wonderful man.’ Johnson. ‘No Sir. [You÷It>] You would not be safe if another man had a mind perversely to contradict. He might answer “Where is all the wonder? Burke is to be sure a man of uncommon abilities with a great quantity of matter in his mind, and a great fluency of language in his mouth. But we are not to be stunned8 and astonished [by÷with>] by him.”9 So [he>] you see Sir even Burke would suffer, not from any fault of his own but from your folly.’≥ [She>] Mrs. Thrale mentioned a gentleman who had acquired a fortune of four thousand a year in trade, but was absolutely miserable because he could not talk in company[,] so miserable that he was impelled to [make a confession>] lament his situation in the street to xxxxxx10 whom he hates & who he knows despises [MS 815] him. ‘I am a most unhappy man’ said he. ‘I am invited to Conversations. I go to Conversations, but alas I have no conversation.’ Johnson. 5 Footnote added in the second edition: ‘Here Johnson condescended to play upon the words Long and short. But little did he know that, owing to Mr. Long’s reserve in his presence, he was talking thus of a gentleman distinguished among his acquaintance, for acuteness of wit; one to whom I think the French expression, “Il petille d’esprit,” is particularly suited.—He has gratified me by mentioning that he heard Dr. Johnson say, “Sir, if I were to lose Boswell, it would be a limb amputated.”’ 6 Uncertain reading under deletion; added in the same draft. The following x’s were printed as five asterisks; second edition, ‘Pepys’, with a footnote: ‘William Weller Pepys, Esq. one of the Masters in the High Court of Chancery, and well known in polite circles. My acquaintance with him is not sufficient to enable me to speak of him from my own judgement. But I know that both at Eton and Oxford he was the intimate friend of the late Sir James Macdonald, the Marcellus of Scotland, whose extraordinary talents, learning, and virtues, will ever be remembered with admiration and regret.’ 7 Changed by JB in the revises to read, ‘in the world could she … tongue of hers; she … only woman could she’. A dash was printed in the first edition in place of the semicolon; in the second edition, a semicolon preceded the dash, and commas appeared after ‘world’ and ‘woman’. 8 Misprinted ‘are not be stunned’; the omitted word was supplied in the second edition. 9 Though set apart in the MS by capital letters, not quotation marks, neither JB’s hypothetical encomium (‘He … man.’) nor SJ’s formulation of a perverse contradiction (‘Where … by him.’) was punctuated as a quotation in the revises. Internal quotation marks were added to SJ’s rejoinder in the third edition. 10 Printed in the revises as six asterisks. This was William Seward; the man who had ‘no conversation’ was Charles Selwyn (Hill-Powell iv. 488, based on Journ. 1 Apr. 1781; see BP xiv. 186, and Laird of Auchinleck, p. 306).

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 83–84

‘Man commonly cannot be successful in different ways. This gentleman has spent [the time in getting four thousand pounds a year when÷in which>] [1st ed. ii. 379] in getting four thousand pounds a year the time in which he might have learnt to talk, and now he cannot talk.’ Mr. Perkins made a shrewd & [unexpected÷droll>] droll remark. ‘If he had got his four thousand a year as a mountebank he might have learnt to talk at the same time that he was getting his fortune.’ [Sir John Ladd Mr. Thrale’s Nephew, Mr. Seward and another gentleman1 ÷Some other gentlemen>] Some other gentlemen came in. The conversation concerning the [gentleman whom÷whose character>] person whose character Dr. Johnson had treated so slightingly as he did not know his merit was resumed. Mrs. Thrale said ‘You think so of him Sir, because he is quiet and does not exert himself with force. You’ll be saying the same thing of Mr. xxxxx there who sits as quiet.’ —2 This was not well-bred & Johnson did not let it pass /without correction/.3 ‘Nay Madam what right have you to talk [so to me.>] to me thus? Both Mr. xxxxx and I have reason to take it ill. You may talk so of Mr. xxxxx. But [MS 816] why do you make me do it. Have I said any thing against Mr. xxxxx. You have set him that I might shoot him. But I have not shot him.’ One of the gentlemen4 said he had seen three folio volumes of Dr. Johnson’s sayings collected by me. ‘I must put you right Sir’ said I; ‘for I am very exact in authenticity. You could not see folio volumes for I have none; you [might÷may>] might have seen some in quarto & octavo. This is inattention which one should guard against.’ Johnson. ‘Sir it is a want of concern about veracity. He does not know that he saw [any>] any volumes. If he had seen [’em÷them>] them he could have remembered their size.’ Mr. Thrale appeared very lethargick [today, but was not>] today. I saw him again on monday evening at which time he was not thought to be in immediate danger; but [on Wednesday>] early in the morning of Wednesday the fourth [April del] he expired. Johnson was in the house & thus mentions the event ‘I felt almost the last flutter of his pulse, and looked for the last time upon the face that for fifteen years had never been turned upon me but with respect or5 1 Henry Smith (‘Mr. Harry Smith a relation of Mr. Thrale’s’: Journ. 1 Apr. 1781), of New House Farm, near St. Alban’s, who became one of Thrale’s executors. JB continued to conceal his identity, using five x’s (asterisks in print) for his name each time it was invoked in the ensuing dialogue. A ‘modest, pretty sort of Young man’, in Frances Burney’s description, Smith (1756–89) was the son of Thrale’s cousin, Henry Smith (1724–65), and his wife Jane (1727–81)—making him the grandson of Ralph Smith, not son (as in the Hill-Powell index), and Thrale’s first cousin once removed (The Early Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney. Volume III. The Streatham Years: Part I, 1778–1779, ed. Lars E. Troide and Stewart J. Cooke, 1994, p. 170 and n. 20). 2 In the revises, JB’s dash was printed inside the quotation marks, as though Mrs. Thrale’s speech had been interrupted. A full stop was added after the dash (within the quotation marks) in the third edition. 3 JB’s unresolved optional phrase was printed in the revises. 4 William Seward (Hill-Powell vi. 460–61, based on Journ. 1 Apr. 1781, BP xiv. 187). Powell agreed with Geoffrey Scott’s surmise that the volumes of SJ’s sayings that Seward here claims to have seen were actually JB’s journals, written in octavo and quarto notebooks (BP vi. 156, Hill-Powell iv. 488). 5 Printed in the revises ‘and’, possibly the result of an erroneous change in first proof. The correct word, as in JB’s copy, was ‘or’ (Prayers and Meditations, p. 191).

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benignity.’a Upon that day there was a [Call>] Call of the [Literary Club>] LITERARY CLUB; but Johnson [excused>] apologised for his absence by the following note6 [Paper Apart7] Mr. Johnson knows that Sir Joshua Reynolds and the other Gentlemen will excuse his incompliance with the call, when they are told that Mr. Thrale died this morning. / Wednesday. [MS 817; 1st ed. ii. 380] [This death>] Mr. Thrale’s death was a very essential loss to Johnson, who although he did not foresee all that afterwards happened was sufficiently convinced that the comforts which Mr. Thrale’s family afforded him would now in a great measure cease. He however continued to shew a kind attention to his widow and children as long as it was acceptable, and he took upon him with a very earnest concern the office of one of his executors, the importance of which seemed greater than usual to him from his circumstances having been allways such that he had scarcely had any share in the real business of life. His friends of the [Club>] CLUB were in hopes, that Mr. Thrale might have made a [noble settlement upon>] liberal provision for him for his Life which as [there was no>] Mr. Thrale left no son, and a very large fortune it would have been highly to his honour to have done, ≤and considering Dr. Johnsons age, could not have been of long duration≥ but he [left÷bequeathed>] bequeathed him only two hundred pounds which was the legacy given to each of his executors. I could not but be somewhat diverted by hearing Johnson talk in a pompous manner ≤of his new office & particularly≥ of the concerns [MS 818] of the Brewery, which it was at last resolved should be sold.8 Lord Lucan [told>] [repeats>] tells a very good story which if not [exactly authentick is very÷truly characteristical>] [exactly authentick is truly characteristical>] precisely exact is certainly characteristical, that when [people came to look at the premises>] the sale of Thrale’s Brewery was going forward, Johnson appeared bustling about with an inkhorn & pen in his button hole like an exciseman, and ≤on being asked what he really considered to be the value of the property which was to be disposed of≥ [said>] answered ‘We are not here to sell a parcel of a

Prayers and Meditations p. 191.

Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’. Marked for ‘P. 816’ in the upper left-hand corner, this small leaf (C 1603) is the original note in SJ’s hand. Below the message, JB wrote and circled ‘The date should have been 4 April 1781.’ Cat. (ii. 724) notes that it ‘was found pinned’ to MS 816. A residue near the pinholes at the lower left-hand side of the page suggests an earlier wax adhesive. Pencilled on its verso, in the hand of George Steevens, who presided at that meeting of The Club, is the docket ‘Note to the Club, on Mr. Thrale’s Death’. Steevens sent it to JB on 12 Apr. 1787 (Corr. 2a, p. 166 and n. 2). 8 At the bottom of MS 296, a false start followed the clause ‘the Property was sold for the immense sum of £130,000’: ‘by his Executors one of whom was Dr. Johnson who is reported to have said as he assisted in displaying’. Deleting these lines, JB left himself a memorandum: ‘His saying to come in after Thrale’s death’ (see Life MS i. 344 ll. 33–34 and n. 5). That saying is the climax of the present paragraph. JB corrected the sale price in the second edition, having been informed by John Perkins, in a letter of 23 Apr. 1792, that the sum was £135,000 (Corr. 2a, p. 371; see also Hill-Powell iv. 86 n. 2). 6 7

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H-P iv. 87–88

[tubs and barrels9>] boilers and vats but the potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice.’ On friday [sixth April>] April 6 he carried me to dine at a Club which at his desire had been lately formed at the Queens Arms in St. Paul’s Church yard. He told Mr. Hoole that he wished to have a City Club, and asked him to collect one; [but said ‘Don’t>] but, said he ‘Don’t1 let them be patriots.’ The company today were very sensible well-behaved men.2 ≤I have preserved [no more of his conversation except his saying that he>] only two particulars of his conversation. He said he was glad Lord George Gordon had escaped rather than that a precedent should be established for hanging a man for constructive treason, which in consistency with his true manly constitutional toryism he considered would be a dangerous engine of arbitrary [power; and that upon>] power. And3 upon its being mentioned that an opulent and very indolent Scotch Nobleman who totally resigned the management of his affairs to a man of knowledge and abilities had claimed some merit by saying the next best thing to managing a man’s own affairs well is being sensible of incapacity and not attempting it, but having full confidence in one who can do it.4 Johnson. ‘Nay Sir this is paultry. There is a [1st ed. ii. 381] middle course. Let a man give application, and depend upon it he will soon get above a despicable state of helplessness and attain the power of acting for himself.’≥ On Saturday [7 April>] April 7 I dined with him at Mr. Hoole’s with Governour Boucher,5 & Captain Orme both of whom had been long in the East Indies & [some other gentlemen.>] being men of good Sense and observation were very entertaining. [He>] Johnson defended the oriental regulation of different [casts>] casts of men≤, which was objected to as totally destructive of the hopes of rising in society by personal merit. He shewed that there was a principle in it sufficiently plausible by analogy≥. [He said ‘we see>] ‘We see’ said he ‘in metals that there are different [classes÷species>] species, and so [also>] likewise6 in animals [MS 819] though one species may not differ very widely from another, as in the several species of dogs the cur the spaniel the mastiffs. The Bramins are the mastiffs of mankind.’ On thursday [twelfth April>] April 12 I dined with him at [the Bishop of Chester’s÷a Bishops with>] a Bishops where were Sir Joshua Reynolds [the Rev. 9 In first revision, dissatisfied with these terms, JB in the margin enjoined himself to ‘Get the names’. In second revision, deleting the memorandum, he supplied different terms. The definition of VAT in SJ’s Dictionary is applicable to the brewer’s art: ‘A vessel in which liquors are kept in the immature state.’ 1 Even though JB did not shift his quotation marks in revision, the result in print ordinarily would have been ‘“But (said he) don’t …’. Here, however, Plymsell typeset the copy as revised, merely adding a comma after ‘he’. 2 In the margin next to this paragraph, apparently in first revision, JB placed a memorandum to himself, ‘Try to recover this day’. Later, having drafted what he was able to recover on the verso of the leaf (in two stages, to judge by his revision to the opening lines of additional copy), he deleted the memorandum and directed the compositor to ‘See the Back’. 3 This revision appears to have been made in Plymsell’s hand. 4 Punctuated in the revises as a quotation, beginning ‘The next best thing …’. 5 Second edition, ‘Bourchier’; third edition, ‘Bouchier’. For a similar succession of modified spellings of a French surname, see Life MS iii. 44 n. 5. 6 Revision made in Plymsell’s hand.

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H-P iv. 88–90

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1781

Dr. Douglas del] Mr. Berrenger & some more company.7 He had dined the day before at [the Bishop of St. Asaph’s.÷another Bishops.>] another Bishop’s.8 I have unfortunately recorded none of his conversation at the [Bishop of Chesters.>] Bishop’s where we dined together. But I have preserved his ingenious defence of his dining [with two Bishops>] twice abroad in Passion week, a laxity [which at the time when he wrote his solemn paper in the Rambler upon that aweful week I am convinced he would not have done.>] in which I am convinced he would not have indulged himself at the time when he wrote his solemn paper in the Rambler upon that aweful season. It appeared to me that by being much more in company and [having occasions of indulging himself more in>] enjoying more in9 luxurious living, he had contracted a keener relish of pleasure, and was consequently less rigorous in his religious rites. This he would not acknowledge, but he reasoned ≤with admirable sophistry≥ as follows ‘Why Sir a Bishop’s calling company together in this week is to use the vulgar phrase, not the thing. But you must consider laxity is a bad thing [MS 820] but [precision÷preciseness>] preciseness is also a bad thing, and your general character may be more hurt by [precision÷preciseness>] preciseness than by dining with a Bishop in Passion week. There may be a handle for reflection. ≤It might be said≥ “He refused to dine with a Bishop in passion week, but was three sundays [absent from÷out of>] absent from church.”’ Boswell. ‘Very true Sir. But suppose a man to be uniformly [/of/ good /conduct/>] of good conduct would it not be better that he should refuse to dine with a Bishop in this week, and so not encourage a bad practice by his example.’ Johnson. ‘Why Sir you are to consider whether you might not do more harm by lessening the influence of a Bishop’s character, by your disapprobation in refusing him, than by going to him.’

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[1st ed. ii. 382] ≤To Mrs. Lucy Porter in Lichfield≥1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . On friday [thirteenth April>] April 13 being2 Good-Friday, I [was at church>] went to St. Clements church with him as usual. There I saw again his old 30 fellow=collegian Edwards to whom I said ‘I think Dr. Johnson and you meet only at church.’ ‘Sir’ said he ‘it is the best place we can meet in except heaven, and 7 JB’s journal notes provide no additional names, and no mention of John Douglas, who was a prebendary of St. Paul’s Cathedral at the time of this dinner. On Douglas’s later ecclesiastical appointments, see post p. 194 n. 2. 8 The Bishops of St. Asaph (here) and Chester (previous sentence), as shown by JB’s deleted alternatives, confirming Powell’s identification of Shipley and Porteus (Hill-Powell vi. 460–61, based on Journ. 12 Apr. 1781, BP xiv. 196). 9 This word, left intact when JB revised ‘indulging … in’ to ‘enjoying’, was printed. It was deleted in the second edition, as specified in Corrections and Additions. 1 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’. SJ’s letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. 2 JB had revised this line of copy when, evidently hurried, he had to send more pages to the compositor. Cutting off the lower third of MS 820 in order to finish working on the present paragraph, he had to recopy the numeral ‘13’—written above, and now severed from, the line to which it belonged—below the cut, to the right of the ascender in ‘being’. The two parts of the leaf afterwards were stitched back together with string.

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 90–91

I hope we shall meet there too.’ Dr. Johnson told me that there was very little communication between Edwards [MS 821] and him after their unexpected renewal of acquaintance. ‘But’ said he (smiling) ‘he met me once and said “I am told you have written a very pretty Book called The Rambler.” I was unwilling that he should leave the world in total darkness, and sent him a set.’ Mr. Berrenger3 visited him today and was very pleasing. We talked of an evening Society for conversation at a house in town of which we all were members, but of which Johnson said ‘It will never do Sir. There is nothing [served÷given>] served about there neither tea nor coffee nor lemonade nor any [1st ed. ii. 383] thing whatever; and depend upon it Sir a man does not [like>] love to go to a place [from whence÷where>] from whence4 he comes out exactly as he went in.’5 I endeavoured for argument’s sake to maintain that men of learning and talents might have very [good÷agreable>] good intellectual society without ≤the aid of≥ any little gratifications of the senses. Berrenger joined with Johnson & said that without these any meeting would be dull & [dry>] insipid. He would therefore have all the slight refreshments; nay it would not be amiss to have some cold meat & a bottle of wine upon a side board. ‘Sir (said Johnson to me ≤with an air of triumph≥,) Mr. Berrenger knows the World. Every [MS 822] body loves to have good things furnished to them without any trouble. I told Mrs. Thrale once that as she did not chuse to have card=tables, she should have a profusion of the best sweet=meats, and she would be sure to have company enough come to her.’6 ≤The event proved the justice of Johnson’s opinion as to the impracticability of getting people to meet when they know there is absolutely nothing to touch the palate; for this Society though held at the house of a person deservedly much esteemed, and composed of [such men as Lord Willoughby de Broke, Judge Nares, Dr. Stinton Mr. Chamberlayne, Mr. Langton Dr. Heberden and several more besides those who have been allready mentioned÷mentioned before>] very eminent men, could not be preserved from gradual decay.7≥ On sunday [fifteenth April>] April 15 being Easter-day, after [/attending/ del] solemn worship in St. Paul’s church, I found him alone. Dr. Scott of the Commons came. He talked of [a report÷its having been said>] its having been said that Addison wrote some of his best papers in the Spectator when [drinking.÷warm with wine.>] warm with wine. Dr. Johnson did not seem willing to admit this. Dr. Scott as a confirmation of it [said÷related>] related that Blackstone composed his Commentaries [with a bottle of port before him.÷over 3 Spelled ‘Berenger’ throughout this paragraph in the third edition, with a footnote added here by EM: ‘Richard Berenger, Esq. many years Gentleman of the Horse and first Equerry to his present Majesty.’ 4 ‘From WHENCE. A vitious mode of speech’ (SJ’s Dictionary). JB amended the phrase above (see p. 51 l. 3 and n. 2), but not here or below (pp. 119 l. 9, 150 l. 22). 5 Left for the compositor to supply, closing quotation marks were not printed here in the revises or first edition; they materialized in the third edition. 6 An X placed here in revision led the compositor to the facing page, where JB with a bracket marked the additional copy for a new paragraph. In the revises, however, it was printed in continuation of the present paragraph. 7 An entirely different sentence replaced this one in the second edition: ‘I agreed with my illustrious friend upon this subject; for it has pleased GOD to make man a composite animal, and where there is nothing to refresh the body, the mind will languish.’

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1781

a bottle of port.>] with a bottle of port before him.8 [Johnson. ‘Nay Sir, what composition is there in Blackstone’s Commentaries? Only taking from other books and putting in to his.’ Scott. ‘Pardon me Sir. There is judgement and on great points eloquence.’ del] I told him that in a company where I had lately been a desire was expressed to know his authority for the shocking story of Addison’s sending an execution into Steele’s house. ‘Sir’ said he ‘it is generally known, it is known to all who are acquainted with the literary history of that period. It is as well known as that he [MS 823] wrote Cato.’ [I was silent; but I have asked many literary men, & been told that they never heard of it.a/9 del] [Old Mr. Sheridan>] Mr. Thomas Sheridan ≤once≥ defended Addison ≤to me≥ by alledging that he did it in order to [cover>] screen1 Steele’s goods from other creditors who were going to seise them.2 We talked of the difference between the mode of education at Oxford and that in Colleges where [lectures are chiefly practised.>] instruction is chiefly

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 a [Mr. Malone added and del] 17 18 8 Distressed by the publication of this anecdote, Scott sent a letter of apology 19 to Blackstone’s family. He evidently was known to say that Blackstone, being of a ‘languid, phlegmatick constitution’ and needing ‘a cheerful glass of wine to rouse and animate him’, would arrange to have ‘some wine frequently left in the room while writing, in order to correct or prevent the depression sometimes attendant on close study’ (Sir James Prior, Life of Edmond Malone, 1860, p. 415). Any such explanation, if expressed on 15 Apr. 1781, made no appearance in JB’s brief journal record of the comment. In the second edition, at Scott’s urging, JB expanded upon what had been related: ‘that Blackstone, a sober man, composed his “Commentaries” with a bottle of port before him; and found his mind invigorated and supported in the fatigue of his great Work, by a temperate use of it.’ When EM was preparing the third edition, Scott recounted to him the pain he had felt and the ‘great offence to Blackstone’s family’ caused by the passage: ‘I remonstrated sharply with Boswell about It, and He did in a later Edition or in some Corrections by Way of Addenda, modify it in some Degree’ (the latter an allusion to Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition, p. 27). ‘The Expression as it stands’, he still thought, however, tended ‘to give Blackstone a sottish Character’, and while JB’s ‘Amendment … was to take off that Character … and to represent Him only as a Person who felt his faculties invigorated by a temperate Use of Wine’, Scott desired EM to add ‘a note to that Purpose’. EM did not oblige him, the adjustment by JB having already answered the purpose, but wrote to Blackstone’s family nonetheless to apologize for the anecdote (Corr. 2a, p. 464 and n. 3). 9 JB added the symbol # here in revision and on the facing page wrote ‘Mr. Malone’, designating the name to begin a ‘Note’, perhaps to populate it later with additional names—like the list of names serving as a footnote to ‘several able Criticks’ (see Life MS iii. 42 l. 32 and n. a). His journal offered possibilities: ‘But I have asked many people – Sir Joshua Steevens Malone Ld. Charlemont & others & none of them had heard it’ (15 Apr. 1781). Later, he deleted the present sentence and inchoate note. 1 The status of this revision, possibly made by the compositor, is ambiguous: a thin, faint deletion stroke through the three middle letters of ‘cover’ looks tentative, and an equally faint underlining of the verb suggests a query, as if ‘screen’—drafted in the margin, not above the deleted word—were being offered as a potential, not definitive, substitution, perhaps for Selfe to pursue when marking proof. There is no ‘q’, however, to designate it a query (as before; see Life MS iii. 41 n. 8). The revision was either ignored or rejected, as the word ‘cover’ was printed in the revises. 2 Footnote added in the second edition: ‘See this explained, p. 299.’ In the third edition, EM moved this note to the end of the first sentence in the paragraph. See ante p. 41 ll. 3–8 and n. 3; Hill-Powell iv. 52–53.

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H-P iv. 92–93

conveyed by lectures. Johnson. ‘Lectures were once useful; but now when all can read and books are so numerous, lectures are unnecessary. If your attention fails, and you miss a part of a lecture, it is lost; you cannot go back as you do upon a Book.’ [/Dr. Scott agreed with him. ‘But÷Yet’ said I ‘you gave lectures.’ He smiled. ‘You laughed then at those who came to you’ said I./3>] Dr. Scott agreed with him. ‘But yet’ said I ‘Dr. Scott you yourself gave lectures at Oxford.’ He smiled. ‘You laughed then’ said I4 ‘at those who came to you.’ [1st ed. ii. 384] Dr. Scott left us, [& by & by ÷& soon afterwards we had÷went to>] & soon afterwards we5 went to dinner. Our company consisted of Mrs. Williams Mrs. Desmoulins & Mr. Levet Mr. Allen the Printer and Mrs. Hall sister of the Rev. Mr. John Wesley and resembling him as I thought, both in figure and manner.6 [Our dinner was Soup — hashed veals-head — Bacon=ham & fowls and Broccoli — Roast=lamb and asparagus. Porter — and a bottle of port —. When our wine was done I asked if he would give [MS 824] us any more. ‘Sir’ said he ‘I have no more wine; but you may have poonch.’ Accordingly Mrs. Desmoulins made it, and we were very social while he sat by us sipping lemonade. del] [MS 824] He produced today for the first time some handsom silver salvers, which he told me he had bought fourteen years ago. So it was a great day. ≤I was not a little amused by observing Allen perpetually strugling to talk in the manner of Johnson, like the little frog in the fable blowing himself up to resemble the stately ox.≥ I mentioned a kind of Religious Robin=hood Society which met every sunday evening at Coachmakers Hall for free debate, and that the subject for this night was the text in the Evangelist St. Mark7 which relates with other miracles which happened at our SAVIOUR’S death ‘And many bodies of the Saints ≤which slept≥ arose, and went into the Holy City and were seen of many.’ Mrs. Hall said it was a very curious subject, and she should like to hear it discussed. Johnson (somewhat warmly). ‘One would not go to such a place to hear it — one would not be seen in such a place — to give countenance to 3 Although JB did not delete the virgule signalling the optional status of this ending to the paragraph, his finishing touches to the sentences in revision showed that he wanted the conversational exchange in print. 4 Printed in the revises ‘(then said I)’, possibly in error. JB had added the word ‘then’ above the line in his original draft (see l. 5), and later—apparently in revision—inserted ‘said I’ next to it, after deleting ‘said I’ at the end of the sentence. The intended sense of the phrase was perhaps ‘So you were laughing’. 5 In revision, resolving his two sets of alternatives in favour of those drafted above the line, JB scored through those on the line itself—on either side of ‘we’—with a single stroke, thus inadvertently deleting ‘we’, but it was printed in the revises. 6 Levett’s presence was not recorded in JB’s journal, but the company included ‘Old Macbean now a poor broyr. of ye. Chartreux’ (Journ. 15 Apr. 1781; Laird of Auchinleck, pp. 324–25). On Alexander Macbean, who worked as an amanuensis on SJ’s Dictionary and who figures in the ensuing conversation (p. 77 ll. 8–9), see Life MS iii. 21–22. Of his brother William, the ‘younger Macbean’ (in Frank Barber’s designation), little is known (see Corr. 2a, p. 128 and nn. 24–25). 7 Later, having rediscovered the text in the book of Matthew, not Mark (see post p. 78 n. a1), JB in the revises deleted ‘in the Evangelist St. Mark’ and corrected the quotation below in three places. Addressing the compositor, and recopying the quotation (incorporating his changes) for clarity, he wrote and circled: ‘The text is “And the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.”’

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such a meeting.’ — I however resolved [quietly within myself, del] that I would go[, and perhaps might be not dissatisfied del]. — ‘But Sir’ said she to Johnson ‘I should like to hear you discuss it Sir.’ — He seemed reluctant to engage in it. She talked of the resurrection [MS 825] [/of the human race/>] of the human race in general, and maintained that we [are raised÷rise>] shall be raised with the same bodies. Johnson. ‘Nay Madam we see that it is not to be the same body; for the scripture uses the illustration of grain sown, and we know that the grain which grows is not the same [with what÷that>] with what is sown. You [would not have one to rise>] cannot suppose that we shall rise with a diseased body; it is enough if there be such a sameness as to distinguish identity of person.’ She said she wished to know if a body which [was put into the earth at a burial>] has been once interred ever did spring up again. He said nothing but left [the question÷it>] the question in obscurity.8 Of apparitions9 he observed [that a total disbelief of them was against the existence of the soul between death and the last day. He said the question simply was whether departed spirits ever had the power of making themselves perceptible to us; that a man who should see an Apparition could only be convinced himself; his authority would not convince another, and his conviction if rational must be founded on being told something which could not be known but by supernatural means.>] ‘a total disbelief of them is adverse to the opinion of the existence of the soul between death and the last day; the question simply is whether departed spirits ever had1 the power of making themselves perceptible to us; a man who thinks he has seen an Apparition can only be convinced himself; his authority will not convince another, and his conviction if rational must be founded on being told something which cannot be known but by supernatural means.’ He mentioned [a thing which I never heard before was common, which is being>] [a thing that I never heard before was common, namely being>] a thing as not unfrequent of which I had never heard before2 — being called, that is hearing one’s [MS 826] name [called>] pronounced by the voice of a ≤known≥ 8 In the revises, JB reduced these two sentences to one, changed to read: ‘She seemed desireous of knowing more, but he left the question in obscurity.’ The spelling ‘desirous’ appeared in the first edition. 9 EM placed a footnote on this word in the third edition: ‘As this subject frequently recurs in these volumes, the reader may be led erroneously to suppose that Dr. Johnson was so fond of such discussions, as frequently to introduce them. But the truth is, that the authour himself delighted in talking concerning ghosts, and what he has frequently denominated the mysterious; and therefore took every opportunity of leading Johnson to converse on such subjects.’ 1 Printed in the revises ‘have’. JB evidently corrected it in proof, having overlooked it in revision when altering the verb tenses in this passage to suit its conversion from indirect discourse to direct speech. 2 The sequence of revisions to this sentence is uncertain, along with the reading of the word ‘namely’ under heavy deletion. In his final revision, formulating the phrase ‘a thing as common’, JB saw too little room on MS 825 to rearrange his syntax as he had in mind, so he recopied the four words on the facing page and finished the revision, but then substituted the phrase ‘as not unfrequent’ for ‘as common’. The revision overall was infelicitous, even confusing. Powell read the text as a claim that JB had ‘never heard of the phenomenon before’ (Hill-Powell iv. 490). What JB had not heard, rather, was that the phenomenon was ‘a thing very well known’, as Macbean asserts (p. 77 ll. 8–9); Pottle also clarified this in a note to Journ. 15 Apr. 1781 (BP xiv. 200).

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 94–95

person at a great distance far beyond the possibility of [any sound uttered by his organs to reach.>] being reached [1st ed. ii. 385] by any sound uttered by human organs. [Mr. James Brown who was formerly my Clerk and is now a military officer in the East Indies3÷An acquaintance on whose veracity I can depend>] An acquaintance on whose veracity I can depend told me that walking home one evening to Kilmarnock he heard himself called from a wood by the voice of a brother who had gone to America, and the next packet brought accounts of [that brother’s÷his>] that brother’s death.4 Macbean asserted that this inexplicable calling was a thing very well known. Dr. Johnson said that one day at Oxford as he was turning the key of his chamber, he heard his mother distinctly call Sam. She was then at Lichfield; but nothing ensued. This phænomenon is I think as wonderful as any other mysterious fact which many people are very slow to believe or rather indeed reject with [a determined obstinacy.÷an obstinate contempt.>] an obstinate contempt. Some time after this upon his making a remark which escaped my attention, Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Hall, were both together striving to answer him. He grew angry and called out loudly ‘Nay when you both speak at [once÷woonce5>] once [MS 827] it is intollerable.’ — Then [taking>] checking himself, and softening, he said — ‘This one may say though you are Ladies.’ — Then he brightened into gay humour and addressed them in the words of ≤one of the songs in≥ The Beggar’s Opera ‘But two at a time there’s no mortal can bear.’

‘What Sir’ said I ‘are you going to turn Captain Macheath?’ — There was something as pleasantly ludicrous in this scene as can be imagined. The contrast 25 between Macheath Polly and Lucy —6 and Dr. Samuel Johnson Blind peevish Mrs. Williams, and lean lank preaching Mrs. Hall was exquisite. — I stole away to Coachmakers Hall, [and heard the difficult text discoursed of÷where the difficult text was discoursed of7 /really/ with great decency /& some intelligence/. I heard the conclusion of one speech, and six more /speeches/8 3 James Brown was still living when MS 826 was drafted in 1788, but word of his death arrived before JB resolved this set of alternatives in revision; in revising the main narrative, JB had ‘not yet gone over quite a half of it’ by 8 Feb. 1790 (‘Chronology of the Making of the Life’, Corr. 2a, pp. lvii–lviii, lxii). On 1 Feb. 1790, William Brown, a writer at Kilmarnock, informed JB that his brother James had ‘died at Mongheer in Bengal in Septr. 1788, of a fever’ (C 598). 4 As if spoken by SJ, this sentence was printed within quotation marks, an error never corrected. Pottle noted the mistake, explaining that JB trusted the compositor, when faced with unmarked direct quotations, ‘to distinguish them by the sense, which must often have been ambiguous’ (BP xiv. 200; see Hill-Powell iv. 490). 5 It almost appears as though JB did not resolve these alternatives: the deletion stroke through ‘woonce’ seems to have been wiped away. In the journal, JB wrote ‘woonce’ over a false start, ‘on[ce]’. This was the second representation of SJ’s Staffordshire pronunciation during the evening to be deleted; see ‘poonch’ (ante p. 75 l. 15). 6 Of the six dashes JB placed throughout the paragraph, this one alone was printed. 7 The word ‘where’ alone (above ‘the difficult’) evoked this alternative phrase close to the wording of Journ. 15 Apr. 1781: ‘where the solemn text was discoursed of’. 8 JB drafted the optional elements for these two sentences above the line, not within virgules.

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fully.>] and heard the difficult text of which we had talked, discussed with great decency & some intelligence by several speakers. There was a difference of opinion as to the appearance of ghosts in modern times though the arguments for it supported by Mr. Addison’s authority preponderated. The immediate subject of debate was embarrassed by the bodies of the saints having been said to rise, and by the question what became of them afterwards; did they return again to their graves? or were they translated to Heaven? [MS 828] One evangelist only÷Only one evangelist9 mentions the fact.a/1 [1st ed. ii. 386] On friday [twentieth April>] April 20 I [passed>] spent with him one of the most agreable days that I remember to have enjoyed in the whole course of my life. Mrs. Garrick whose grief for the loss of her husband was I believe as sincere as ≤wounded≥ affection and admiration could produce, had this day ≤for the first time since his death≥ a select party of his friends to dine with [her. /The company were/÷her which were>] her. The company was Miss Hannah More who lived with her and whom she called her Chaplain2 — Mrs. Boscawen,3 Mrs. Elizabeth Carter Sir Joshua Reynolds Dr. Burney Dr. Johnson and [myself÷his fellow traveller] myself. We found ourselves very elegantly entertained at her house in the Adelphi where I have [enjoyed>] passed many a pleasing hour with him ‘who gladdened life.’ She looked very well. Talked of her husband with complacency, and while she cast her eyes on [the÷his>] his portrait which hung over the chimney=piece said that ‘death was now the most agreable [thought÷idea÷object>] object to her.’ The very [appearance>] semblance of David Garrick was cheering. Mr. Beauclerk with happy propriety inscribed under [that fine portrait of him÷his fine portrait>] that fine portrait of him which by Lady Diana’s kindness is now the property of my friend Mr. Langton the following passage from [MS 829] his [divine÷immortal÷favourite>] beloved Shakespeare. a

a1

JB left his alternatives unresolved. ‘Only one evangelist’ was printed in the revises. In the margin JB advised himself to ‘See if some of the best Commentators might not be shortly quoted’. Later, deleting the memorandum, he answered the question by extending the present sentence, possibly in proof. In the revises (after the footnote exponent and a comma) it continued: ‘and the commentators whom I have looked at, do not make the passage clear. There is, however, no occasion for our understanding it farther than to know, that it was one of the extraordinary manifestations of divine power, which accompanied the most important event that ever happened.’ 2 In the revises, JB seems to have contemplated deleting one or both of these phrases describing Hannah More. A ‘d’ in the margin, followed by two short lines, appears to correspond with a partial underscoring (but not deletion) of the words ‘her, and whom’. These marks were ignored. 3 Footnote added in the second edition: ‘See page 119 of this Volume.’—a crossreference to JB’s high praise of Mrs. Boscawen (see Life MS iii. 241 ll. 25–28 and n. 5; Hill-Powell iii. 331). 9 1

a1 At the bottom of MS 828, JB drafted no copy next to his foonote symbol. A memorandum in Plymsell’s hand accompanies the word ‘Note’: ‘3 or 4 lines’—the space anticipated for quotations from ‘some of the best Commentators’ that JB had hoped, but failed, to find (see n. 1 above). A single line was printed in the revises: ‘St. Matthew, chap. 27, v. 52, 53.’ Roman numerals were penned in the margin to replace ‘27’.

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 96–97

A merrier man4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . We were all in [placid gay>] fine spirits, and I whispered Mrs. Boscawen ‘I believe this is as much as can be made of life.’ [We had an excellent dinner and in particular variety of the best vegetables from the villa at Hampton choice wines and Lichfield ale which>] In addition to a splendid entertainment we were regaled with Lichfield ale which had a peculiar appropriated value. Sir Joshua & Dr. Burney & I drank cordially of it to Dr. Johnson’s health, and though he would not join us he as cordially answered ‘Gentleman I wish you all as well as you do me.’ The general effect of this day dwells upon my mind in fond remembrance but I do not find much conversation recorded. What I have preserved shall be faithfully given. [A certain5 furious Whig being mentioned Mrs. Carter said>] [Mr. Thomas Holles the strenous Whig being mentioned Mrs. Carter said>] [1st ed. ii. 387] Somebody mentioned Mr. Thomas Holles6 the strenous Whig who used to send 4

Direction to the compositor, ‘three lines’. Eleven lines were printed in the revises: ‘——— ——— ——— A merrier man, ‘Within the limit of becoming mirth, ‘I never spent an hour’s talk withal. ‘His eye begets occasion for his wit; ‘For ev’ry object that the one doth catch, ‘The other turns to a mirth-moving jest; ‘Which his fair tongue (Conceit’s expositor) ‘Delivers in such apt and gracious words, ‘That aged ears play truant at his tales, ‘And younger hearings are quite ravished; ‘So sweet and voluble is his discourse.’

JB had a copy of these lines—from Love’s Labour’s Lost (II. i. 66–76)—in Langton’s hand on a half sheet of paper; later, crossing it out, he used the other side for Paper Apart J.N. (see p. 122 n. 6). In the third edition, ‘ev’ry’ was printed ‘every’. 5 It is unclear whether JB drafted this word above ‘furious’ as an alternative to it or as an addition to the phrase. Later, he deleted the whole construction—the three words and the caret in front of ‘furious’—in a single pass of revision. 6 Corrected to ‘Hollis’ by Selfe in the revises. JB’s query in the margin of the revises prompted him to check the spelling: ‘Q if not Hollis. See Some magazine some years ago. I dare say it will be found in Mr. Baldwins London Magazine. I am pretty sure it is Hollis. I think Brand Hollis who took the name for an estate is fellow both of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies. So you will see in a Red Book.’ JB published his seventy essays as ‘The Hypochondriack’ in The London Magazine from 1777 to 1783. The lead article in the Sept. 1780 issue, ‘Select Passages from the Memoirs of the Late Thomas Hollis Esq.’, was followed by his own essay (No. 36) reflecting on ‘the happiness of a country life’ (xlix. 395–98, 398–99). Thomas Brand Hollis (c. 1719–1804), born Thomas Brand, travelled the Continent in 1748–49 with Hollis. An admirer of Hollis’s republican ideals, Brand inherited nearly all of his property in 1774, and thereafter augmented his surname. Elected to the Royal Society in 1756, and to the Society of Antiquaries in 1757, he was a founding member of the Revolution Society, established in 1788 to commemorate and reinvigorate the principles of 1688, though his radical advocacy of political reform moderated as the French Revolution led to worsening upheaval and as his causes in Britain were overtaken by more extreme reformers (Oxford DNB). Which ‘Red Book’ Selfe might have consulted is unknown; pocket registers of office-holders and other notables, usually bound in red morocco, were published frequently.

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1781

over Europe presents of democratical books with their boards stamped with daggers and Caps of Liberty.7 Mrs. Carter said ‘He was a bad man. He used to talk of people very uncharitably.’ Johnson. ‘Poh ≤Poh≥! ≤Madam≥ Who is the worse for being talked of uncharitably? Besides, he was a dull poor creature as ever lived. And8 I believe he would not have done harm to a man whom he knew to be of very opposite principles to his own. I remember once [MS 830] at the Society of Arts when an Advertisement was to be drawn up, he pointed me out as the man who could do it best. This [you see>] you will observe was kindness to me. I ≤however≥ slipt away and escaped it.’ Mrs. Carter ≤having said of a certain person9≥ ‘I doubt he was an Atheist.’ JOHNSON. [(smiling) ‘I dont know that.÷‘I dont know that. (smiling)>] ‘I dont know that. He might perhaps have become one if he had had time to ripen. ≤(smiling)≥ He might have exuberated into an Atheist.’ Sir Joshua Reynolds praised Mudge’s Sermons.1 Johnson. ‘Mudge’s Sermons are good but not practical. He grasps more sense than he can hold. He takes more corn than he can make into meal. He opens a wide prospect, but it is so distant it is indistinct.’ 2 ‘I love Blair’s sermons. Though the dog is a Scotchman and a presbyterian and every thing he should not be, I was the first to praise them.3 Such was my 7 In Berne, Switzerland, on 30 Nov. 1764, having seen a large number of them that day, JB recorded that such books, donated anonymously by a ‘whimsical Englishman … no doubt a most prodigious Whig’, had been shown to him in ‘all the principal Librarys that I have seen abroad’. They were ‘bound in red morocco, and adorned with gilded Stamps of the Cap of Liberty, Pitchforks, Swords and I know not what other terrible Instruments of fury. I am surprised that he has not thought of introducing the Scaffold the Block and the Ax.’ Marlies Danziger clarifies that the ‘Pitchforks’ were actually tridents, adding that, ‘in any case, olive branches, lyres, and other images of peace abound’ (Journ. 1, p. 251 and n. 14). Other ornaments included a palm branch, the caduceus of Mercury, the wand of Aesculapius, a standing Liberty, and Britannia (with an owl and a cock, or a wreath of oak leaves). These symbols, as Allen Reddick argues, when complemented by Hollis’s inscriptions and annotations within the books, served his semiotic purpose in creating a ‘propagandized object covered in signs (discursive on the inside, pictorial on the outside)’. Eventually learning of Hollis’s shared interest in Corsica, JB presented him with a third edition copy of An Account of Corsica (now in the Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge: Boswell’s Books, p. 416) ‘decorated with emblems in apparent imitation of Hollis’s own’—caps of liberty on the front and back boards, and also within the panels along the spine (‘“O Fair Britannia! Hail!”: Thomas Hollis and James Boswell at Liberty in Geneva and Switzerland’, in Geneva, an English Enclave 1725–1814, ed. Valérie Cossy, et al., Travaux sur la Suisse des Lumières, Vol. XI, 2009, pp. 248–49, 259–60, 263). 8 MS orig. ‘lived.” Mrs. Carter. “I doubt he was’, a false start mirroring the next sentence in JB’s journal as originally drafted. Reserving Mrs. Carter’s remark to begin the following paragraph (l. 10), JB here continued SJ’s speech, drawing on an expansion of it in his journal, where it crowds the margin and space between paragraphs. 9 By adding this phrase in revision, JB pulled Mrs. Carter’s name into the sentence, but did not delete its underlining as a speaker tag. The proper adjustment was made in print, where her name appeared in roman, not italic, letters (so in revises). In the second edition, ‘a certain person’ was changed to ‘the same person’. 1 Footnote added by JB in the third edition: ‘See page 80 of this Volume.’ His cross-reference was to SJ’s character of Mudge (ante pp. 63–64; Hill-Powell iv. 77). 2 In revision, JB drew three deletion strokes in the space between these paragraphs, united the bottom of the first paragraph with the top of the second by means of a bracket, and within the indentation here wrote ‘No NP’. When the paragraphs were combined in print, SJ’s two speeches became continuous. 3 See Life MS iii. 70–72 and n. 4.

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 98–100

candour.’ ≤(smiling)≥ Mrs. Boscawen. ‘Such his great merit to get the better of all [this.>] your prejudices.’ ≤Johnson.≥ ‘Why Madam ≤let us compound the matter. Let us ascribe it to≥ my candour and his merit.’ In the evening we had a large company in the Drawing room, several Ladies the Bishop of Kilaloe Dr. Percy4 Mr. Chamberlayne ≤of the Treasury≥ [MS 831] &c. &c. Somebody said the Life of a mere literary man could not be very entertaining. Johnson. ‘But it certainly may. This is a remark which has been made & repeated without justice. Why should the life of a literary man be less entertaining than the life of any other man. Are there not as interesting varieties in such a life? As a literary life it may be very entertaining.’ Boswell. ‘But it must be better surely when it is diversified with a little active variety — such as his having gone to Jamaica, — or — his having gone to the Hebrides.’ Johnson was not displeased at this. Talking of a very respectable Authour, he told us a curious circumstance in his life which was that he had married a Printer’s Devil. Sir Joshua. ‘A Printer’s devil Sir. Why I thought a Printers devil was a creature with a black face and in rags.’ Johnson. ‘Yes Sir. But I suppose, he had her face washed,5 and put clean clothes on her. — (Then looking very [1st ed. ii. 388] serious and very earnest). And she did not disgrace him — The Woman had a bottom of good sense.’ The word bottom thus introduced was so ludicrous [in contrast to>] when contrasted with his gravity, that most of us could not forbear tittering and laughing, though I recollect that the Bishop of Kilaloe kept his countenance with perfect steadiness, [and>] while Miss Hannah More ≤slyly≥ [MS 832] hid her face behind a Lady’s back who sat on the same settee with her. — His pride could not bear that any expression of his should excite ridicule when he did not intend it [but meant to be serious added and del]. He therefore resolved to assume and exercise despotick power [— looked sternly arround÷round÷upon us>] glanced sternly arround and [called out>] [called out in a strong tone>] asked in a strong tone ‘Where’s the merriment?’ Then collecting himself, and looking aweful to make us feel how he could impose restraint, and as it were searching his mind for a still more ludicrous word he slowly pronounced ‘I say the Woman was fundamentally sensible’ as if he had said ‘hear this now and laugh if you dare.’6 We all sat [in full composure.÷composed as at a funeral.>] composed as at a funeral. He & I walked away together. We stopped a little while by the rails of the Adelphi looking on the Thames and I said to him with tenderness that I thought of two friends we had lost who once lived in the buildings [behind us÷we had just left>] behind us, Beauclerk and Garrick. ‘Ay Sir’ said he ≤(tenderly)≥ ‘and two such friends as cannot be supplied.’ For some time after this day I did not see him very often, and of the conversation [MS 833] which I did enjoy [have I am sorry to find been very negligent Misprinted ‘D. Percy’; corrected in the second edition. Written over a false start, seemingly ‘white’ for ‘whitened’ or ‘whitewashed’, verbs illustrated in SJ’s Dictionary with usages disparaging the effort to ‘make the skin seem fair’. The author was John Campbell; his wife was Elizabeth Vobe, of Leominster (London Journal 1762–1763, ed. Gordon Turnbull, 2010, pp. 254, 496–97 nn. 5–6). 6 JB closed this paraphrase with quotation marks, implicitly adding an opening pair at ‘hear’. The compositor either missed them, or they were deleted in proof. 4 5

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1781

in making memorandums, But non omnia possumus omnes.7>] I am sorry to find I have preserved but little. I was at this time engaged in a variety of other matters which required exertion and assiduity, and necessarily occupied almost all my time. [I have preserved only two observations one of which was after having spoken very freely of those who were then in power ‘Between>] One day after having spoken very freely of those who were then in power he said to me ‘Between ourselves ≤Sir≥ I do not like to give opposition the satisfaction of knowing how much I disapprove of the Ministry.’ And [another del] when I mentioned that Mr. Burke had [said÷boasted>] boasted how quiet the Nation was in George the Second’s reign when Whigs [governed÷were in power>] were in power compared with the present reign when Tories [governed÷were in power>] governed ‘Why Sir ≤said he≥ you are to consider that Tories having more reverence for government will not oppose with the same violence as Whigs who being unrestrained by that principle will oppose by any means.’ ≤This month he lost not only Mr. Thrale but another freind Mr. William Strahan Junior Printer, the eldest son of his old and constant freind Printer to his Majesty.

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[1st ed. ii. 389] To Mrs. Strahan8≥ 20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [On tuesday 8 May I had the pleasure of again dining with him and Mr. Wilkes at Mr. Dilly’s. No negociation was now required to bring them together; for Johnson was9>] [MS 833-s] On tuesday eigth May1 I had the pleasure of again dining with him and Mr. Wilkes, at Mr. Dilly’s. No Negociation2 was now required to bring them together for Johnson was [MS 834] so well satis- 25 fied with the former interview that he was very glad to meet Wilkes again who was this day seated between [Dr. Johnson and Dr. Beattie.>] Dr. Beattie & Dr. Johnson (between Truth and Reason as General Paoli said when I told him of it). Wilkes. ‘I have been thinking Dr. Johnson that there should be a Bill brought into Parliament that the controverted elections for Scotland 30 7 ‘Not all things can we all do’ (Virgil, Eclogues viii. 63, trans. H. R. Fairclough, Loeb ed.). 8 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letter April 23’. SJ’s letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. 9 Having made one revision on an earlier pass (see next note), JB put three diagonal deletion strokes through the last four lines of copy on MS 833, took a clean sheet of paper, assigned it the identical number ‘833’, and in the same position at the bottom of the page—leaving the top three-quarters blank—recopied the deleted text from MS 833. His purpose in creating a supplemental MS 833 (designated MS 833-s for this edition) evidently was to provide friends with an opportunity to read, before it was printed, his account of this second dinner attended by SJ and Wilkes; see post p. 86 n. 4. 1 Even though JB had previously revised ‘8 May’ to ‘May 8’ (l. 21), here, in recopying the deleted text from MS 833, he reverted to a first-draft impulse in these pages to spell out the date before the month (see p. 67 l. 6, p. 71 ll. 3 and 32, p. 73 l. 30, and p. 78 l. 9, but note an inconsistency, p. 71 l. 21). It was printed ‘May 8’ in the revises. 2 Printed in the revises ‘negotiation’, as spelled in SJ’s Dictionary, but at variance with the spelling of the word in the passage to which JB alludes (see Life MS iii. 65 ll. 17–19 and n. 7) and at odds with the printing of ‘negociate’ where he had drafted ‘negotiate’ (Life MS iii. 51 ll. 14–15 and endnote); second edition, ‘negociation’.

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 101–03

should be tried in that country, at their own Abbey of Holyroodhouse and not here; for the consequence of trying them here is that we have an inundation of scotchmen who come up and never go back again. ≤Now here is Boswell who has come up upon the election for his own County which will not last a fortnight.3≥’ Johnson. ‘Nay Sir. I see no reason why they should be tried at all; for, you know one scotchman is as good as another.’ Wilkes. ‘Pray Boswell how much may be got in a year by an Advocate at the scotch bar.’ Boswell. ‘I beleive two thousand pounds.’ Wilkes. ‘How can it be possible to spend that money in Scotland?’ Johnson. ‘Why Sir, [the money÷it>] the money may be spent in England. But there is a harder question. If one man in Scotland gets possession of two thousand pounds, what remains for all the rest of the [nation÷people>] nation?’ ≤Wilkes. ‘You know in the last war the immense booty which Thurot carried off [1st ed. ii. 390] from the complete plunder of seven scotch isles; [I am credibly informed del] he reimbarked with three and sixpence.’≥ Here again they [MS 835] joined in extravagant sportive raillery upon the supposed poverty of Scotland which Dr. Beattie & I did not think it worth our4 while to [controvert÷dispute÷stop>] dispute. The subject of Quotation being introduced Mr. Wilkes censured it as Pedantry. Johnson. ‘No Sir, it is a good thing; there is a community of mind in it. classical quotation is the parole of [Literary>] literary men all over the World.’ Wilkes. ‘Upon the Continent they all quote the vulgate Bible. Shakespeare is chiefly quoted here; and we quote also Pope Prior, Butler Waller and sometimes Cowley.’ We talked of Letter=writing. Johnson. ‘It is now become so [customary÷much the fashion>] much the fashion to publish letters, that in order to avoid it I put as little into mine as I can.’ Boswell. ‘Do what you will Sir, you cannot avoid it. Should you even write as ill as you can, your letters would be published as curiosities Behold a miracle instead of Wit See two dull lines [by÷with>] with Stanhope’s pencil writ.’

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He gave us an entertaining account of Bet Flint a woman of the town [MS 836] who with some eccentrick talents and much effrontery forced herself upon his acquaintance. ‘Bet ≤said he≥ wrote her own Life ≤in versea which she ≤Johnson whose memory was wonderfully retentive remembered the first four lines of this Curious Productiona1 which have been communicated to me a

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3 JB drafted this addition and the one below (ll. 12–14) on the verso of MS 833-s (see p. 82 n. 9). When sent to press, MS 833 (with no copy on its verso) came before MS 833-s (with these revisions to MS 834, facing that page). 4 Drafted above ‘while’, possibly as an optional word (unresolved); printed in the revises. a1 JB deleted a false start here (‘which he’) and, having run out of room for copy in the margin, directed the compositor to ‘Turn’ to the verso of the leaf. Next to this direction he wrote ‘A’ for a catchword, as if poised to begin the quotation, starting with the line ‘A little minikin …’.

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1781

brought to me wishing that I would furnish her with a Preface to it (laughing.)5≥ I used to say of her that she was generally Slut and drunkard, ≤—≥ occasionally whore and thief. She had however genteel lodgings, a spinet [/on which she played/>] on which she played and a boy that [walked÷marched>] walked before her chair. Poor Bett was taken up [for÷on a charge of>] on a charge of stealing a counterpane and tried at the Old Bailley. [Willes÷Chief Justice ———6÷The Judge>] Chief Justice —— who loved a wench [directed the Jury to acquit her÷gave a favourable charge>] gave a favourable charge and she was acquitted;7 [upon>] after which Bett [said÷came /with a gay & satisfied air/>] said with a gay & satisfied air “Now that the counterpane is my own I shall make a petticoat of it.”’ Talking of Oratory Mr. Wilkes described it as accompanied with all the charms of poetical expression. Johnson. ‘No Sir; Oratory is the power [1st ed. ii. 391] of beating down your adversary’s arguments and putting better in their place.’ Wilkes. ‘But this does not move the passions.’ Johnson. ‘He must be a weak man who is to be so moved.’ ≤[Mr. Wilkes talking of a celebrated irish orator observed that amidst all the brilliancy of his imagination and the exuberance of his wit, there was a total want of taste, that it had been observed of Apelles’s venus that her flesh seemed as if she had been nourished only by roses; the oratory of that gentleman would make one suspect that he never eat any thing but potatoes or drank any thing but whisky.>] Wilkes (naming a celebrated orator). ‘Amidst all the brilliancy of ———’s imagination and the exuberance of his wit, there is a strange want of taste. It was observed of Apelles’s venus that her flesh seemed as if she had been nourished only by roses;

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by a young lady of his acquaintance,

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‘When first I drew my vital breath ‘A little minikin I came upon earth; ‘And then I came from a dark abode, ‘Into this gay and gaudy world.’≥ 5 Leaving a blank space in his original draft to accommodate nearly two lines of copy, JB finished his sentence in revision with this addition of nearly three lines (the last one squeezed in). His draft of the footnote, begun in the margin, extended onto the back of the leaf. 6 Drafting this alternative above ‘Willes’ at the edge of the page, JB found no room for the dash except below ‘Chief Justice’, where it looked like a partial underlining. If the compositor had any trouble with the reading—this option, of the three, being the one eventually kept by JB in revision—it was resolved in proof, for JB’s intention was printed correctly in the revises. 7 Printed in the revises ‘summed up favourably, and she was acquitted.’ On this full stop EM placed a note of correction in the fifth edition (iv. 108 n. 3). Evidently the Recorder had heard the case, not Willes, and her acquittal was ‘not in consequence of any favourable summing up of the Judge, but because the Prosecutrix … could not prove that the goods charged to have been stolen … were her property.’ For these details and others EM credited JB’s son: ‘Mr. James Boswell took the trouble to examine the Sessions Paper, to ascertain these particulars.’ Croker reprinted the footnote, inserting ‘Willes’ within brackets after mention of the Chief Justice (iv. 476 n. 2), confirming the identity under deletion in MS as that of Sir John Willes. Hill-Powell replaced EM’s footnote with its own of similar purpose (iv. 103 n. 3).

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 104–06

his oratory makes one sometimes suspect8 that he eats potatoes and drinks whisky.’9≥ Mr. Wilkes observed how tenacious we are [MS 837] of forms in this country, and gave as1 an instance [a÷the>] the vote of the House of Commons for remitting money to pay the army in America in Portugal pieces, when in reality, the remittance is made not in portugal [coin÷money>] money but in our own specie. Johnson. ‘Is there not a law Sir against exporting the current coin of the realm?’ Wilkes. ‘Yes Sir. But might not the House of Commons in case of real evident necessity order our own current coin to be sent into our own colonies?’ — Here Johnson with that quickness of recollection which distinguished him so eminently gave the Middlesex Patriot an admirable retort upon his own ground. ‘Sure Sir you dont think a [resolution of the House of Commons>] resolution of the House of Commons equal to [a÷the law of the land>] the law of the land.’ Wilkes (at once perceiving the application). ‘God forbid Sir.’ — To hear what [was÷had been>] had been treated with such violence in The False Alarm now turned into pleasant repartee was extremely agreable. Johnson went on — ‘Locke observes well that a prohibition to export the current coin is impolitick; for when the ballance of trade happens to be against a state, the current coin must be exported.’ Mr. Beauclerk’s [fine÷great>] great Library was this [MS 838] season sold in London by auction. Mr. Wilkes said he wondered to find in it such a numerous collection of Sermons, seeming to think it strange that [Mr. Beauclerk÷a gentleman of Mr. Beauclerk’s character in the gay world>] a gentleman of Mr. Beauclerk’s character in the gay world should have chosen to have many [compositions÷works>] compositions of that kind. Johnson. ‘Why Sir you are to consider that Sermons make a considerable branch of english literature so that a Library must be very imperfect if it has not a numerous collection of [Sermons. And>] Sermons,a And in all [1st ed. ii. 392] collections Sir, the desire of augmenting it grows stronger in proportion to the advance in acquisition; as ≤Mr. Wilkes probably did not know that there is an English Sermona1 the most comprehensive and lively Account of that entertaining faculty for whicha2 [he himself is so much admired. My old acquaintance the late a

8 In revision, before turning the conditional phrase ‘would make one suspect’ into a reportorial phrase, ‘makes one sometimes suspect’, JB momentarily wavered: he did not score through ‘would’, but then altered the rest of the phrase in line with his conversion of the passage from indirect discourse to direct speech. Faced with the flawed copy ‘would makes one sometimes suspect’, the compositor opted to retain ‘would’ and adjusted the phrase to read ‘would sometimes make one suspect’ (so in revises). 9 For Wilkes’s comment on Burke, see Journ. 21 Apr. 1779 (Laird of Auchinleck, pp. 96–97). 1 Printed ‘us’ (so in revises), a misreading; changed to ‘as’ in the second edition. a1 JB’s missing preposition was supplied in print: ‘there is in an English Sermon’ (so in revises). a2 Direction to the compositor, ‘Turn’, JB at this point having exhausted the available space in the margin of MS 838. His copy on the verso continued in a rather narrow column beneath his docket regarding the ‘Second Conversation’ between SJ and Wilkes (see post p. 86 n. 4).

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motion is accelerated by the continuance of the impetus. Besides Sir (looking at Mr. Wilkes with a placid but significant smile) a man may collect sermons with intention of [making himself÷being made>] making himself better [1st ed. ii. 393] by them. I hope Mr. Beauclerk intended that some time or other that should be the case with him.’2 ≤[Paper Apart P3] Mr. Wilkes said to me loud enough for Dr. Johnson to hear. ‘Dr. Johnson should make me a present of his Lives of the Poets, as I am a poor Patriot who cannot afford to buy them.’ Johnson seemed to take no notice of this; but in a little while he called to Mr. Dilly ‘Pray Sir be so good as to send a set of my Lives to Mr. Wilkes, with my compliments.’ This was accordingly done; and Mr. Wilkes paid Dr. Johnson a visit was courteously received, and sate with him a long time.≥ [MS 838 resumed] The company gradually [dropped÷went>] dropped away. Mr. Dilly himself was called down stairs upon business. I [myself del] left the room for a little while. When I returned I was struck with observing Dr. Samuel Johnson and John Wilkes Esq: literally tete á tete; for they were reclined upon [[MS 839] their chairs with their heads leaning almost close to each other, and talking earnestly in a kind of confidential whisper of the personal quarrel between George the Second and the King of Prussia. Such a perfect easy sociality between two such opponents in the war of political controversy as I now beheld would have been a very good subject for a picture.4>] [MS 838v] their chairs with

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Corbyn Morris Commissioner of the Customs in his ingenious ‘Essay on Wit Humour and Ridicule’ quotes it as ‘a profuse description of wit’. But I love it for its affluent variety.a3 del] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .≥ 25 Direction to the compositor, added in revision, ‘Take in Paper P’. Headed ‘P for p. 838’, followed by a memorandum: ‘See if not in already’. JB was wary of repetition, perhaps, because he might have recalled that the last items of information in this paragraph came from William Bowles, and most of the other anecdotes that Bowles sent him on 9 Nov. 1787 were incorporated at MS 914 (see post p. 165 nn. 1–3). SJ, after his illness in 1783, reported to Bowles that ‘Mr. Wilkes (with whom I had a very rough bout) called upon me soon after my recovery and sat with me some time. He asked me to give him my books which he said he should be glad to have but was too poor to buy them, so you may be sure he had them’ (Corr. 2a, p. 195; see Hill-Powell iv. 524 [App. J] for Bowles’s notes in his earlier ‘Memorandums’). 4 JB made one intermediate revision to this material—altering ‘a perfect easy sociality’ to read ‘a scene of perfect easy social intercourse’—before redrafting it, with an additional sentence and a footnote, on the back of MS 838. By also redrafting the last lines of copy of MS 833 onto MS 833-s (ante p. 82 ll. 21–25), JB prepared this run of 2 3

a3 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in [undeciphered deletion] Barrow’. Later, after deleting this copy, JB returned to the recto of MS 838, scored through ‘Turn’ (see n. a2), and wrote ‘Paper B’. As printed in the revises, this Paper Apart (now missing) read: ‘he himself is [third edition was] so much admired. It is Dr. Barrow’s first volume, and fourteenth sermon, “Against foolish Talking and Jesting.” My old acquaintance, the late Corbyn Morris, in his ingenious “Essay on Wit, Humour, and Ridicule,” calls it “a profuse description of Wit:” but I do not see how it could be curtailed, without leaving out some good circumstance of discrimination. As it is not generally known, [1st ed. ii. 392] and may perhaps dispose some to read sermons, from which they may receive real advantage, while looking only for entertainment, I shall here quote [second edition subjoin] it.’

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their heads leaning almost close to each other and talking earnestly in a kind of confidential whisper of the personal quarrel between George the Second and the King of Prussia. Such a scene of perfectly easy sociality5 between two such opponents in the War of political controversy as that which I now beheld, would have been [a very good÷excellent÷happy>] an excellent6 subject for a picture. It presented to my mind the happy days which are foretold in scripture, when the Lion shall lye down with the kid.a [[MS 839 resumed] /Dr. Beattie appeared to Mr. Wilkes in so advantageous a light that he very soon after paid him a visit at his lodgings and sat with him a considerable time./7 del] [After this day there was another pretty long interval during which Dr. Johnson and I did not meet. When I mentioned it to him at Mrs. Reynolds’s8 he said ‘Then let us live double.’>] [After this day there was another pretty long interval during which Dr. Johnson and I did not meet. When I mentioned this circumstance to him with regret he was pleased to say, ‘Then Sir let us live double.’9>] [MS 839-s] After this day there was another pretty long interval during which Dr. Johnson and I did not meet. When I mentioned it to him with regret, he was pleased to say ‘Then Sir let us live double.’1 [Paper Apart B.S. (1)] About this time it was much the fashion for several ladies to have evening assemblies [for conversation with literary and ingenious men.>] where the fair sex might enjoy the conversation with literary and ingenious men animated by a desire to please. These Societies were [known by

When I mentioned this [scene del] to the Bishop of Killaloe ‘with the goat’ said his Lordship. Such however is the engaging politeness and pleasantry of 25 Mr. Wilkes, and such the social good humour of the Bishop, that when they dined together at Mr. Dilly’s where I also was, they were mutually agreable. a

pages to be read by friends before publication. Such a purpose is suggested also by his docket on the verso of MS 838—‘Second Conversation / Between / Dr. Johnson / And / Mr. Wilkes / 1781.’—just as he had docketed the ‘First Conversation’ for discrete circulation among friends (see Life MS iii. 65 n. 7). 5 Aside from turning ‘perfect’ into an adverb, JB was recopying his intermediate revision of this phrase (see note above) when, having written ‘social interc’, he deleted the start of ‘intercourse’ and expanded ‘social’ into ‘sociality’, his original noun. 6 JB’s conversion of ‘a’ to ‘an’ beneath ‘excellent’ made his choice among these options clear, even though it is virtually impossible to tell whether he deleted ‘happy’. 7 While JB made intermediate revisions to the preceding and following paragraphs before redrafting them, he appears to have deleted this optional paragraph on his first return to this page. 8 On 17 May 1781; see Laird of Auchinleck, p. 359. 9 Directions to the compositor, added at separate stages of revision and later deleted: ‘Take in Paper B.S. / Then mention varia’. JB was not finished with revising MS 839 (as shown by evolving directions to the compositor in the margin of the page; see post pp. 89 n. 7, 94 n. 7) when he recopied these sentences on a supplemental MS 839, a quick ad hoc measure to advance his narrative and enable the compositor to proceed with the next Paper Apart. He made no effort, as he had with MS 833-s, to make MS 839-s look like a regular leaf of his narrative. 1 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Paper B.S.’ This Paper Apart comprises three numbered leaves, each headed ‘B.S.’ for ‘Blue Stocking’, with the third leaf written on both sides.

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the name of÷denominated>] denominated Blue stocking Clubs,2 the origin of which title being little known it may be worth while to relate it. One of the most eminent members of those societies when they first commenced was Mr. Stillingfleet3 whose dress was remarkably grave and in particular it was observed that he wore blue stockings. Such was the excellence of his conversation that his absence was felt as so great a loss that it used to be said ‘We can do nothing without the blue stockings’4 and thus by degrees the title was established. Miss Hannah More has admirably described a blue stocking Club in [a Poem÷her Bas Bleu>] her Bas Bleu a [1st ed. ii. 394] Poem in which many of the persons who were most conspicuous there are mentioned. Johnson was prevailed with [Paper Apart B.S. (2)] to come sometimes into these circles and did not think himself too grave even for the lively Miss Monckton ≤(now Countess of Corke)≥ who used to have the finest bit of blue at the house of her mother Lady Galway. Her vivacity enchanted the Sage, and they used to talk together with all imaginable ease. A singular instance happened one evening when she insisted that ≤some of≥ Sterne’s writings were very pathetick. Johnson bluntly denied it. ‘I am sure’ said she ‘they have affected me.’ ‘Why’ said Johnson (smiling and rolling himself about) ‘that is because dearest you’re a dunce.’ When she ≤some time≥ afterwards mentioned this to him he said with equal truth and politeness ‘Madam if I had thought so, I certainly should not have said it.’ Another evening Johnson’s kind indulgence towards me had a pretty difficult trial. I had dined at the Duke of Montrose’s with a very agreable party and his Grace according to his usual custom had circulated the bottle very freely. Lord Graham & I went together to Miss Monckton’s where I certainly was in extraordinary spirits and above all fear or awe. In the midst of a great number of persons of the first rank amongst whom I recollect ≤with confusion≥ a noble lady of the most stately decorum, I placed myself next to Johnson and thinking himself5 now fully his match, talked to him in a loud and boisterous [Paper Apart B.S. (3)] manner, desireous to shew the company how I could contend with Ajax. I particularly remember pressing him upon the value of the pleasures of the Imagination, and as an illustration of my argument asking him ‘What Sir supposing I were to fancy that the6 (naming the most charming Duchess in his Majesty’s dominions) were in love with me, should I not be very happy?’ My friend with much address evaded 2 Printed in the revises ‘the Blue-stocking Clubs’; JB deleted ‘the’. Whether or not JB drafted the two words (here and three times below) closely enough together to warrant the transcription ‘blue=stocking’, the compositor seems to have thought so, placing a hyphen between them in every case (but it was removed from the phrase ‘wore blue stockings’ in the second edition). Hannah More does not use the words in her poem, though her ‘Advertisement’ to it begins with this sentence: ‘The following Trifle owes it birth and name to the mistake of a Foreigner of Distinction, who gave the literal appellation of the Bas-bleu, to a small party of friends, who had been sometimes called, by way of pleasantry, the Blue Stockings.’ 3 Footnote added by JB in the third edition: ‘Mr. Benjamin Stillingfleet, authour of tracts relating to natural history, &c.’ 4 Closing quotation marks were not printed here until the third edition. 5 Printed in the revises ‘myself’, the word JB meant to write. 6 In the second edition, printed ‘the ——’ before the parenthesis. Mrs. Piozzi, in her copy of the 1816 edition of the Life, identified her as Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (see Hill-Powell iv. 492 [App. J]).

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 110

my interrogatories and kept me as quiet as possible, but it may easily be conceived how he must have felt.a When a few days afterwards [1st ed. ii. 395] I waited upon him, and made an apology he behaved with the most friendly gentleness.7 [Paper Apart V8 No. 1] While I remained in London this year Johnson and I dined together at several places[;] I recollect a placid day at Dr. Butter’s9 who Next day I endeavoured to give what had happened the most ingenious turn I could by the following verses a

To The Honourable MISS MONCKTON Not that with th’ excellent Montrose I had the happiness to dine Not that I late from table rose From Graham’s wit, from generous wine.

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It was not these alone which led On sacred manners to encroach And made me feel what most I dread JOHNSON’S just frown, and self-reproach.

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But when I enter’d not abas’da1 From your bright eyes were shot such rays At once intoxication flash’d, And all my frame was in a blaze!

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But not a brilliant blaze I own Of the dull smoak I’m yet asham’d I was a dreary ruin grown And not enlighten’d tho’ inflam’d Victim at once to wine and love, I hope MARIA you’ll forgive While I invoke the powers above That henceforth I may wiser live.

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The lady was generously forgiving[,] returned me an obliging answer and thus I obtained an act of oblivion and took care never to offend again.a2 7 In the margin of the original MS 839, JB replaced his earlier direction (see ante p. 87 n. 9) by writing ‘Paper V’, and later making ‘Paper’ plural (see post p. 94 n. 7). 8 Alongside ‘V’ (for ‘Varia’) JB wrote ‘for p. 839’ in the upper left-hand corner on each of three numbered sheets—the first folded and written on four sides, the second written on both sides, and the third written on one side only. 9 Misprinted ‘Dr. Butters’s’, an error corrected in the second edition.

Printed in the revises ‘abash’d’, in correction of JB’s slip of the pen. ‘His very pretty lines would make amends for any thing’, she replied on 24 Apr. 1781 (C 2044). JB had enclosed them in a letter of apology on 23 Apr. (L 977). a1 a2

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was now removed from Derby to Lower Grosvenor Street London; but of his conversation on that and other occasions during this period I neglected to keep any regular record and shall therefore insert here some miscellaneous articles which I find in my Johnsonian notes. His disorderly situation when ‘making provision for the day that was passing over him’ appears from the following Anecdote communicated to me by Mr. John Nichols. —1 [Sub-Paper Apart ‘Anecdote’] ‘In the year 1763, a young Bookseller, who was an Apprentice to Mr. Whiston, [attended Dr. Johnson>] waited on him2 with a Subscription to his [Octavo del] Shakspeare; and observing that the doctor made no Entry in any Book of the subscribers Name, ventured diffidently to ask whether he would please to have the Gentlemans Address, that it might be properly inserted in the printed List of Subscribers — “I shall print no List of Subscribers,” said Johnson with great Abruptness; but almost immediately recollecting himself, added very complacently — “Sir, I have two very cogent Reasons for not printing any List of Subscribers — the one, that I have lost all the Names, the other that I have spent all the Money.”’ [Paper Apart V No. 1 resumed] [When he was in Wales he was hospitably entertained at3 the seat of Colonel Middleton in whose hall he read with pleasure a welch inscription signifying ‘Without GOD nothing; with GOD everything.’ This Gentleman has erected in his park on the banks of a beautiful meandering stream where Johnson took delight to stand and repeat verses, an urn. del] [1st ed. ii. 396] Johnson could not brook appearing to be worsted in argument, even when he had taken the wrong side to shew the force and dexterity of his talents. When therefore he perceived that his opponent gained ground, he had recourse to some sudden mode of robust sophistry. Once when I was pressing upon him with visible advantage, he stopped me thus ‘My dear Boswell, let’s have no more of this. [You will>] You’ll make nothing of it. I’d rather have you whistle a scotch tune.’ Care however must be taken to distinguish between Johnson when he ‘talked for victory’ and Johnson when he had no desire but to inform and illustrate. His friend Mr. Hamilton when dining at my house one day, expressed this so well that I wrote down his words ‘Johnson’s great excellence in maintaining the wrong side of an argument was a splendid perversion. If you could contrive it so as to have his fair opinion upon a subject without any bias from 1 Direction to the compositor, with cue phrase: ‘“In the year 1763” (take it in)’. Nichols drafted this account, heading it ‘Anecdote’, on the back of a discarded letter wrapper addressed to him at ‘Red Lion Passage / Fleet Street’; JB docketed it ‘Anecdote of Johnson in 1763’. On the side with the copy, JB deleted Nichols’s heading, and in the upper left-hand corner wrote ‘For V. No. 1.’ 2 This rewording and the deletion of ‘Octavo’ from the next phrase were JB’s only revisions to Nichols’s text. The verb ‘attended’ was a same-draft change; Nichols had first written ‘called on’; JB preferred a version of this original phrasing. Other samedraft changes by Nichols are not recorded. 3 False start, apparently ‘Gwanynog’—the family seat of John Myddelton (1724– 92), also spelled ‘Gwaenynog’ and ‘Gwaynynog’. JB’s reason for deleting this paragraph appears from a memorandum in the margin, ‘For 1784’; see post p. 323 l. 13 and n. a5. For a different story about SJ’s visit to Gwaenynog, see Johns. Misc. ii. 397. For SJ’s impressions of the house and of Myddelton—‘the only man who in Wales, has talked to me of literature’—and further details of the visit, made in the company of the Thrales, see Hill-Powell v. 443 and 587–89 (App. D).

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H-P iv. 111–13

personal prejudice or from a wish to conquer — it was wisdom, it was justice, it was convincing, it was overpowering.’4 He had however all his life habituated himself to consider conversation as a trial of intellectual vigour and skill, and to this I think we may ascribe that unexampled richness and brilliancy which appeared in his own. As a proof at once of his eagerness for colloquial distinction, and his high notion of this eminent friend, he once addressed him thus ‘Hamilton We5 have now been several hours together; and you have said but one thing for which I envied you.’ He disliked much all speculative desponding considerations which tended to discourage men from diligence and exertion. He was in this like6 who Mr. Daines Barrington told me used to say ‘I hate a cui bono man.’ ≤—≥7 Upon being asked by a friend what he should think of one who was apt to say non est tanti ‘That he’s a stupid fellow Sir’ [said>] answered Johnson. ‘What would these tanti men be doing the while.’8 ≤—≥ When I in a low-spirited fit was talking to him with indifference of the pursuits which generally engage us in a course of action and inquiring a reason for taking so much trouble ‘Sir’ said he ≤(in an animated tone)≥ ‘it is driving on the system of Life.’ [Many a time have I found this saying a necessary antidote to indolence. del] He told me that he was glad that I had by General Oglethorpe’s means become acquainted with Dr. Shebbeare.9 Indeed that [Writer>] gentleman whatever objections were made to him, had knowledge and abilities much above [Paper Apart V No. 2] the class of ordinary Writers, and deserves to be 4 This passage led to the cancellation of a second leaf at the insistence of Hamilton, who objected to the use of his name (see ante p. 37 n. 7; Corr. 2a, p. 298 and n. 3). In cancellans [Eee 2] (pp. 395–96), the first sentence of the paragraph remained the same, followed by a dash and (within quotation marks) this altered text: ‘One of Johnson’s principal talents (says an eminent friend) was shewn in maintaining the wrong side of an argument, and in a splendid perversion of the truth.—If you could contrive to have his fair opinion on a subject, and without any bias from personal prejudice, or from a wish to be victorious in argument, it was wisdom itself, not only convincing, but overpowering.’ In the second edition, ‘friend)’ became ‘friend of his)’, and on the parenthesis EM added a footnote in the third edition: ‘The late Right Hon. William Gerrard Hamilton.’ Hamilton had died in 1796. 5 Changed to read ‘thus: “ ———, we’ in cancellans [Eee 2]. 6 Here JB left blank spaces—never filled—of about two inches at the end of one line and one inch on the next. Similar blank spaces in the revises (likewise on two lines) still awaited JB’s copy, which he supplied in the margin: ‘a respectable person’. In cancellans [Eee 2], however, the reading was ‘Dr. Shaw, the great traveller’, suggesting that JB had used the delay involved in preparing that replacement leaf finally to obtain the name he had pursued. He had queried ‘Pray who was it that said “I hate a cui bono man”’ on a small scrap of paper (Life Materials M 155: 11) that he folded and passed to someone who—beneath the query in an unidentified hand—answered, ‘Dr. Shaw the Traveller, and Principal of Edmund hall Oxford’. JB also made a note preserving this anecdote on a leaf endorsed ‘Boswelliana’ (M 58). 7 Neither this nor the other dash inserted in revision appeared in the revises. In cancellans [Eee 2], however, a dash was printed before SJ’s next speech. 8 Selfe changed this full stop to a question mark in the revises, even though SJ’s separate sentences had become conflated: ‘That … Sir (answered Johnson) what … the while.’ Aided again, however, by the delay involved in producing cancellans [Eee 2] (see n. 6 above), JB restored the speech to two sentences. In final form it read ‘That … Sir. (answered Johnson) What … the while?’ A colon was added after the parenthesis in the second edition. 9 JB had deleted a false start to this effect on MS 771; see Life MS iii. 277 n. 6.

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remembered as a respectable name in Literature were it only for his ‘Letters on the English Nation’ under the name of ‘Battista Angeloni a Jesuit’. [1st ed. ii. 397] Johnson and Shebbearea were frequently named together as having in former reigns had no predilection for the family of Hannover. The Authour of the celebrated ‘Heroick Epistle to Sir William Chambers’ introduces them in one line in a list of those who ‘tasted the sweets of his present Majesty’s reign.’10 Such was Johnson’s fair taste of the merit of that satire that he allowed Dr. Goldsmith, as he told me, to read it to him from beginning to end, and did not refuse his praise to its execution. Goldsmith could sometimes take adventureous1 liberties with him and escape unpunished. Beauclerk told me that when Goldsmith talked of a project for having a third Theatre in London, solely for the exhibition of new Plays, in order to deliver Authours from the supposed tyranny of managers, Johnson treated it slightingly upon which Goldsmith said ‘Ay ay this may be nothing to you who can now shelter yourself behind the corner of a good pension’ and that Johnson bore this with good humour. Johnson would sometimes delay for a while expressing his resentment. Mr. Beauclerk told me that one day after dinner at a house where they were together, Johnson suddenly rose, and pranced about the room in his strange convulsive manner. [Captain Brodie of>] A Captain of the Navy who had married [Johnson’s favourite Miss Aston2 del], a hearty seaman who loved to take his bottle, and was disturbed by this sort of gesticulation ≤bluntly≥ called to him ‘If Sir you be for dancing a minuet, had not you better go up to the ladies.’ It may be easily imagined how this would provoke Johnson. But though in wrath he said not a word for several minutes; then having returned to his seat, he said in an audible voice to Mr. Beauclerk ‘Dont you think this [Brodie>] xxxxxx a very rude fellow?’ [The Captain who knew his character, took no notice of this explosion. del]3 [Paper Apart V No. 3] Johnson praised the Earl of Carlisle’s Poems4 which his Lordship had published with his name as not disdaining to be a candidate for literary fame. My friend was of opinion that when a man of rank appeared in ≤I recollect a ludicrous paragraph in the Newspapers that the King had pensioned both a He=bear and a She-bear.≥ a

10 MS orig. (1) ‘those / “Who taste the sweets of his Saturnian’, with ‘his’ then altered to ‘this’; (2) ‘those who enjoye[d]’. In the first of these false starts, the verse JB centred on the page should have read ‘Who breathe the sweets of his Saturnian reign’ (see Hill-Powell iv. 113 n. 3). 1 So printed in the revises; corrected by JB to ‘adventurous’. 2 In deleting this phrase JB should have captured the words in the line above, ‘who had married’. 3 In later stages of revision, JB deleted this paragraph with three vertical strokes, then nullified its deletion by writing ‘stet’ three times in the margin. Whether the compositor overlooked its reinstatement, or JB reversed himself again later by other means, is unclear. Molly Aston’s marriage to Captain Brodie was mentioned on MS 537 (see Life MS ii. 208; Hill-Powell ii. 466). 4 This anecdote expanded on a note in the Life Materials: ‘His praising Lord Carlisle’s verses, and liberally saying that a Man of rank [false start whom] should be encouraged in his literary exertions, unlike the narrow thought of Whitehead in a Poem to Lord Villiers, who bids him not be but only patronise’ (M 157, p. 9). See n. 6 below.

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that character he deserved to have his merit handsomely allowed.a/5 In this I [1st ed. ii. 398] think he was more liberal than Mr. William Whitehead in his Elegy to Lord Villiers, in which under the pretext of ‘superiour toils demanding all their care’ he discovers a jealousy of the great paying their court to the muses. ‘to the chosen few ‘Who dare excel, thy fostering aid afford ‘Their arts, their magick powers, with honours due ‘Exalt;—but be thyself what they record.’6

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a [‘The Mob of gentlemen’÷Men of rank and fortune>] Men of rank and fortune however should be ≤pretty≥ well assured of having [attained by nature and art del] a real claim to the approbation of the publick as writers before they venture to stand forth. Dryden in his preface to ‘All for Love’ thus expresses himself.a1 [Sub-Paper Apart ‘Note’a2] ‘Men of pleasant Conversation, (at least esteemed so) and indue’d with a trifling Kind of fancy perhaps helped out by a smattering of Latin, are ambitious to distinguish themselves from the Herd of Gentlemen, by their Poetry:

Rarus enim fermè sensus communis in illâ Fortunâa3 20

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And is not this a wretched Affectation, not to be contented with what Fortune has done for them, and sit down quietly with their Estates, but they must call their Wits in question, and needlessly expose their Nakedness to publick view? Not considering that they are not to expect the same approbation from sober men which they have found from their Flatterers after the third bottle? If a4 a little glittering in Discourse has pass’d them on us for witty Men, where was the Necessity of undeceiving the world? Would a man who has an ill title to an 5 In revision, JB moved his footnote symbol here from its original position after the next sentence. Above the symbol at the foot of the page he wrote ‘Note’, but drafted the copy later in a different pen. 6 These verses and the phrase above—wrought from the verse ‘But thee superior, soberer toils demand’—come from the elegy that follows the poem to Villiers in Whitehead’s works, ‘To the Right Honourable George Simon Harcourt, Viscount Nuneham’ (stanzas ix and xiv). JB did not reproduce Whitehead’s emphasis in the concluding line—‘but be thyself’—nor did he, given that his copy spanned the width of the MS page, indent the second and fourth verses (as the stanza was printed in the revises).

Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’. Copied in Veronica Boswell’s hand; headed ‘Dryden’s Preface’ and marked ‘Note V. No. 3’ by JB. Veronica’s approach to Dryden’s elisions was inconsistent, as evident from the first one she encountered: copying ‘indu’d’, she then inserted an ‘e’ beneath the apostrophe. For the rest, she either copied the elision or filled out the word in no discernible pattern (except, in one case, to save space at the edge of the page); all were printed in full in the revises. Spellings too were normalized in print (‘endued’, ‘tried’, ‘mere’). a3 Printed in italics in the revises, omitting ‘in’. This word was restored (as in Corrections and Additions) in the second edition, and the accents on â were removed. a4 Printed in the revises ‘third bottle: If’, a departure from Dryden’s punctuation, accurately copied. a1 a2

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[MS 839 resumed] [I have preserved a few detached particulars which÷that passed about this time, /and/ which I should be sorry to lose.>] [I have preserved a few detached particulars at this period which I should be sorry to lose. del]7 [He>] Johnson had called twice on the Bishop of Killaloe before his Lordship set out for Ireland, having missed him the first time. He said ‘It would have hung heavy 5 on my heart if I had not seen him. No man ever [MS 840] paid more attention 6 to another than he has done to me,b and I [have÷had>] have neglected him, not 7 willfully but from being otherwise occupied. Allways ≤Sir set a high≥ value ≤on≥ 8 spontaneous kindness. He [who is fond of you of his own accord÷himself will>] 9 whose inclination prompts him to cultivate your friendship of his own accord 10 will love you more than one whom you have been at pains to attach /to you/8.’ 11 Estate, but yet is in possession of it, would he bring it of his own accord to be try’d at Westminster? We who write, if we want the Talenta5, yet have the excuse that we do it for a poor subsistence; but what can be urged in their Defence, who not having the vocation of poverty to scribble, out of meer Wantonness take pains to make themselves ridiculous? Horace was certainly in the right where he said That no man is satisfied with his own condition. A Poet is not pleased because he is not rich; and the Rich are discontented because the Poets will not admit them of their number.’ b ≤[MS opp. 840] This gave me very great pleasure; for there had been once a [little÷smart>] pretty smart altercation between Dr. Barnard and him, upon a question whether a man could improve himself after the age of forty five when Johnson in a hasty humour expressed himself in a manner not quite civil. Dr. Barnard made it the subject of a copy of pleasant verses in which he supposed himself to learn different perfections from different men. They concluded with delicate irony Johnson shall teach me how to place In fairest light each borrowed grace From him I’ll learn to write. Copy his clear familiar style And by the roughness of his file Grow—like himself—polite. I know not if Johnson ever saw the Poem. But I had occasion to find that as Dr. Barnard & he knew each other better, their mutual regard increased.≥ 7 In a later revision, JB deleted this sentence (made redundant by Paper Apart V No. 1, with its opening introduction of ‘miscellaneous articles’) and put a bracket on ‘He had’ to mark where the paragraph began. At the same time, he altered his previous direction to the compositor from ‘Paper V’ to ‘Papers V’ (see ante p. 89 n. 7), adding this: ‘After Papers V return to this page [false start “He had] “Johnson had called” &c.’ The false start in this direction reveals that JB revised his copy to begin the next sentence in the course of telling the compositor how to proceed. 8 JB’s unresolved optional phrase was printed in the revises. a5 Printed in the revises ‘talents’, an error never corrected; noted in Hill-Powell (iv. 114 textual note b).

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H-P iv. 115–17

[‘I was once’ said he÷Johnson told me ‘I was once much pleased to find that a carpenter who lived near me was very ready to shew me some things in his business which I wished to see. It was shewing respect to Literature.’>] Johnson told me that he9 was once much pleased to find that a carpenter who lived near him was very ready to shew him some things in his business which he wished to see. ‘It was paying (said he) respect to Literature.’ I asked him [one evening del] if he was not disatisfied with [the small share which he had÷his having so small a share>] his having so small a share of wealth, and none of those distinctions in the [state÷society>] state which are the objects of ambition. He had only a pension of [£300÷three hundred>] three hundred a year. Why was he not [in such circumstances as÷able>] in such circumstances as to keep his coach? Why had he not some considerable office? [‘Sir’ said he>] JOHNSON. ‘Sir I have never complained of the World; [1st ed. ii. 399] nor do I think that I have reason to complain. It is rather to be wondered at that I have so much. My pension is more out of the usual course of things than any instance that I have known. Here ≤Sir≥ was a man avowedly no [MS 841] freind to the government at the time gets a pension without asking for it. — I never courted the Great. They sent for me. But I think they now give me up. They are satisfied. They have seen enough of me.’ [When I said I>] Upon my observing that I could not beleive this; for they must certainly be highly pleased [with÷by>] by his conversation — Conscious of his own superiority he answered ‘≤No Sir≥ Great Lords and /great/1 ladies dont love to have their mouths stopped.’ This was very expressive of the effect which the force of his understanding and brilliancy of his fancy could not but produce; and to be sure they must have found themselves strangely diminished in his company. When I warmly declared how happy I [allways was>] was at all times to hear him. ‘Yes Sir’ said he. ‘But if you were Lord Chancellor it would not be so. You would then [care for÷consider>] consider your own dignity.’ There was much truth and knowledge of human nature in this remark. But certainly ≤one should think that≥ in whatever elevated situation of life a man who knew2 ≤the value of≥ the conversation of Johnson might [be placed÷arrive>] be placed, [MS 842] though he might prudently avoid [shewing himself lessened by comparrison in the presence of others>] a situation in which he might appear lessened by comparrison /yet/3 he would ≤frequently≥ gratify himself in private with the participation of the [high>] rich intellectual entertainment [which he could receive from Johnson.÷it.>] which Johnson could furnish. 9 After JB settled upon this opening phrase and changed ‘shewing’ to ‘paying’ in the next sentence, he drew a line with several short cross strokes in the margin alongside the present sentence, accompanied by a small cryptic marking. It seems he had turned over the rest of the revisions to Plymsell, who completed the conversion of this sentence from quotation to indirect discourse—adjusting the pronouns ‘me’, ‘me’, and ‘I’ to ‘him’, ‘him’, and ‘he’—and in the next sentence inserted ‘(said he)’. 1 JB’s unresolved optional adjective was printed in the revises. 2 Printed in italics, an error precipitated by JB’s resolution to a set of alternatives in the next line. Above the words ‘be placed’ he had drafted ‘arrive’, but deleted it in revision. As the alternative verb was situated immediately below ‘knew’, the compositor mistook its deletion for underscoring, an error never corrected. 3 JB’s unresolved optional conjunction was printed in the revises.

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Strange4 however it is to consider how [little of this is known to have been, so>] few of the Great sought his society; so that if one were disposed to take occasion for satire ≤on that account≥, very conspicuous objects present themselves. His noble freind Lord Elibank well observed that if a Great Man [contrived to see Johnson once and no more>] procured an interview with Johnson and did not endeavour to see him more it shewed a mere idle curiosity and a wretched want of relish for extraordinary powers of mind. Mrs. Thrale [smartly accounted for it>] justly & wittily accounted for such conduct by saying that [his>] Johnson’s conversation was by much too strong ≤for a person accustomed to obsequiousness and flattery≥; it was [mustard in a young child’s mouth>] mustard in a young child’s mouth.5 ≤[MS opp. 842] One day when we were talking of the distinction between a Whig and a Tory he expressed6 himself so well that I begged of him to repeat what he had said and I wrote down as follows7 [Paper Apart8]

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Of Tory & Whig.

15 16 ‘A wise Tory and a wise Whig I beleive will agree. Their principles are 17 the same though their modes of thinking are different. A High Tory [1st ed. 18 ii. 400] makes Govt. unintell≤igible≥. It is lost in the clouds. A violent Whig 19

makes it impracticable. He is for allowing so much liberty to every man that there is not power enough to govern any man. The prejudice of the Tory 20 is for establishment. The prejudice of the Whig is for innovation. A Tory does not wish to give more real power to government. But that Government should have more reverence. Then they differ as to the church. The Tory is not for giving more legal power to the Clergy, but wishes they should have9 a considerable influence founded on the opinion of mankind. The Whig is for 25 limiting & watching them with a narrow jealousy.’≥1 4 Either in the same draft or in revision, JB marked this word with a bracket to begin a new paragraph. Above the word, the deletion of an alternative or false start (undeciphered) contributed—along with other interlinear revisions and deletions—to covering up much of the bracket, both top and bottom, evidently causing the compositor to overlook it and typeset the paragraph in continuation of the previous one. 5 An asterisk placed beneath this paragraph in revision led the compositor to the facing page, and from there to the next Paper Apart. 6 Printed in the revises ‘One day, when I told him that I was a zealous Tory, but not enough “according to knowledge,” and should be obliged to him for “a reason,” he was so candid, and expressed’. 7 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’. 8 Above the title on this single leaf of dictation JB wrote ‘By Dr. Johnson 1781.’ To the left of this, for the compositor’s benefit, he later added ‘opposite to p. 842’. 9 JB copied the small remainder of this dictation later with a different pen, possibly from a second original leaf that he discarded in the interest of having fewer papers to store or send to the printer. Starting with two words here at the bottom of the leaf, he recopied the rest of it in two lines down the left margin. 1 Here in the second edition JB inserted SJ’s letter of 2 June 1781 to John Perkins (the second of five; see ante 67 n. 9 and post pp. 119 n. 7, 181 n. 9, and 280 n. 7). On 26 Sept. 1793 Perkins asked JB to return the letters which he had had ‘the honor of lending you last Christmass’. JB did so ‘with many thanks’ on 10 Oct., trusting that Perkins would ‘not take amiss that a note is written upon one of the letters’, and giving him a copy of the edition (now in Houghton Library: Boswell’s Books, p. 428;

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H-P iv. 118–19

[MS 842 resumed] On saturday [second÷2 June>] June 2 I set out for Scotland and had engaged as I sometimes did to pay a visit in my way at Southill in Bedfordshire at the hospitable mansion of [Squire>] [Mr.>] Squire Dilly the elder brother of my worthy freinds the Booksellers in the Poultry. Dr. Johnson [MS 843] agreed to be of the party this year ≤with Mr. Charles Dilly & me≥ and to go & see Lord Bute’s Seat at Luton Hoe. He talked little to us in the carriage, being chiefly occupied in reading Dr. Watson’s2 second volume of Chemical Essays, ≤which he liked very well,≥ and his own ‘Prince of Abyssinia’ on which he seemed to be intensely fixed, having told us that he had not looked at it since it was first published. I happened to take it out of my pocket today and he seised upon it with avidity. He pointed out to me the following remarkable passage3 ≤[Paper Apart ‘Rasselas’] ‘By what means, said the prince, are the Europeans thus powerfull, or why, since they can so easily visit Asia and Africa for trade or conquest, cannot the Asiaticks and Africans invade their coasts plant colonies in their ports, and give laws to their natural princes? The same wind that carries them back would bring us thither4.’ ‘They are more powerfull, Sir, than we answered Imlac, because they are wiser: knowledge will always predominate over ignorance as man governs the other animals. But why their knowledge is more than ours, I know not what reason can be given, but the unsearchable will of the Supreme Being.’≥ [MS 843 resumed] [and>] He5 said ‘This Sir, no man can explain otherwise.’ We stopped at Welwyn where I wished much to see in company with Dr. Johnson the residence of the Authour of Night Thoughts which was then possessed by his son Mr. Young. Here [address and negociation were required>] some address was requisite, for I was not acquainted with Mr. Young, and had I proposed to Dr. Johnson that we should send to him, he would have checked my wish and perhaps been offended. I therefore concerted with Mr. Dilly that I should steal [MS 844] away from Dr. Johnson & him, and try what reception I could procure from [1st ed. ii. 401] Mr. Young. If unfavourable nothing was to be said; but if [it should be del] agreable I should return and notify it /to them/6. I hastened to Mr. Young’s found he was at home, [said a>] sent in word Corr. 2a, pp. 435–36). The present letter was the one on which JB drafted a footnote, identifying the partner to whom SJ referred, the co-purchaser of Thrale’s brewery, as Robert Barclay (see ante p. 70 n. 8; Hill-Powell iv. 118 and n. 1, 493 [App. J]). 2 Footnote added in the second edition: ‘Now Bishop of Llandaff, one of the poorest Bishopricks in this Kingdom. His Lordship has written with much zeal to shew the propriety of eqaalizing [misprint corrected in third edition] the revenues of Bishops. He has informed us that he has burnt all his Chemical papers. The friends of our excellent constitution, now assailed on every side by innovators and levellers, would have less regretted the suppression of some of his Lordship’s other writings.’ Richard Watson was Bishop of Llandaff from 1782 until his death in 1816 (Oxford DNB). 3 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Rasselas’, followed by a blank line, below which (from the left margin) the sentence continued: ‘and said “This Sir, …’. In revision, JB inserted the word ‘Paper’ before ‘Rasselas’. He headed the Paper Apart ‘Rasselas’, beneath which he later added ‘p. 843’. James Ross copied out the consecutive paragraphs from SJ’s work as separate quotations; they were printed as such, with a dash between them, within the structure of JB’s paragraph, as evidently intended. 4 Misprinted ‘hither’, an error corrected in the second edition. 5 Plymsell made this revision, discontinuing JB’s sentence (see n. 3). 6 JB’s unresolved optional phrase was printed in the revises.

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that a gentleman desired to wait upon him, & was shewn into a parlour where he and a young Lady his daughter7 were sitting. He appeared to be a plain civil country gentleman; and when I begged pardon for presuming to trouble him but said I wished much to see his place if he would give me leave, he behaved very courteously and [said÷answered>] answered ‘By all means Sir. We are just going to drink tea. Will you sit down.’ I thanked him but said that Dr. Johnson had come with me from London and I must return to the Inn and drink tea with him, that my name was Boswell. I had travelled with him in the [Western Islands>] Hebrides. ‘Sir’ said he ‘I should think it a great honour to see Dr. Johnson here. Will you allow me to send for him?’ [—8 del] ≤Availing myself of this opening≥ I said that I would go myself and bring him when [MS 845] he had drunk tea. He knew nothing of my calling here. — Having been thus successful, I hastened back to the Inn and informed Dr. Johnson that Mr. Young son of Dr. Young the Authour of Night Thoughts [desired to have the honour of seeing him at the house where his Father lived. I am just come from him.9>] whom I had just left, desired to have the honour of seeing him at the house where his Father lived. Dr. Johnson ≤luckily≥ made no inquiry how this invitation had arrisen, but agreed to go, & when we entered Mr. Young’s parlour he addressed him with a very polite bow ‘Sir I had a curiosity to come and see this place. I had the honour to know that great man your Father.’ We went into the garden [and perambulated a gravel walk>] where we found a gravel walk on each side of which [is÷was>] was a row of trees planted by Dr. Young which [grew into a canopy at top.÷formed a handsom Gothick arch.>] formed a handsom Gothick arch. Dr. Johnson called it a fine grove. I beheld it with [reverence having from my earliest years had a high admiration of the Poetry of Young and still continuing impressed with the solemnity of his sentiments and the grandeur and variety of his imagery.>] [reverence having from my earliest years had a high admiration of the Poetry of Young and still continuing impressed with the solemnity of his sentiments, the grandeur and variety of his imagery, and not forgetting his lively pictures of life and manners, and the pointed force of his satire.>] reverence. We sat ≤some time≥ in the Summer=house on the outside wall of which was inscribed ‘Ambulantes in horto audiebant vocem Dei.’10 And in reference to a Brook by which it is situated. Vivendi recte qui prorogat horam &c. I said to Mr. Young [MS 846] that I had been told his Father was cheerful. ‘Sir’ said he, ‘he was too well=bred a man not to be cheerful in company; but he 7 Elizabeth Young (1767–94), then thirteen years old, daughter of Young and Elizabeth (Thornton Heysham) Young (d. 1774). Later in 1781, at the age of fourteen, she ‘ran off’ with Joseph Hankin, ‘the younger son of a local maltster’, whom she married on 26 Dec. in Stanstead Abbotts near Ware (Harold Forster, Edward Young: The Poet of the Night Thoughts, 1683–1765, 1986, pp. 379–80). 8 This dash, turned into the symbol #, led to the next phrase, added on MS opp. 844. 9 JB added this direct speech—at odds with the indirect discourse around it—in his original draft, but in revision (as follows) recast it to merge into the reported speech of this passage. This speech and the one above were printed within quotation marks in the revises: ‘I would go … calling here.’ and ‘Mr. Young son … where his Father lived.’ 10 So printed; see Hill-Powell iv. 120 textual note a: ‘read Ambulantis.’ On the version of this inscription in Croft’s ‘Life of Young’ (added in 1783), which confirms the reading ‘Ambulantes’ but gives the dubious ‘audiêrunt’, see Lives ed. Middendorf, xxiii. 1394 n. 3; ed. Lonsdale, iv. 149 and 441; Laird of Auchinleck, p. 372 n. 1.

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was gloomy when alone. He never was cheerful after my Mother’s death, and he had met with many dissappointments.’ Dr. Johnson observed to me afterwards, that1 this was no favourable account of Dr. Young; for it is [no credit÷not becoming>] not becoming to a man to have so little acquiescence in the ways of Providence, ≤as≥ to be gloomy because he has not [got÷had preferments÷promotion enough>] obtained as much preferment as he expected, nor to continue gloomy for the loss of his Wife. Grief has its time.’ The last part of this censure was theoretically made. Practically we know that grief for the loss of a Wife may be continued very long in [1st ed. ii. 402] proportion as affection has been [strong>] sincere. No man knew this better than Dr. Johnson. We went into the Church and looked at the monument erected by Mr. Young [to÷in honour of>] to his Father. Mr. Young mentioned an anecdote that his Father had received [some thousands of>] several thousand pounds of Subscription money for his ‘Universal Passion’ but had lost it in the South Sea.2 Dr. Johnson thought this must be a mistake; for he had never seen a Subscription Book.3 [MS 847] [This meeting which I was lucky enough to bring about from an elastick spirit of adventure pleased me at the time and affords pleasure in remembrance. It is like an incident in a Novel or Romance with the valuable addition÷difference of being true.÷having really happened.>] [This meeting which from a spirit of adventure I was lucky enough to bring about pleased me at the time and affords me pleasure in remembrance. It is like an incident in a Novel or Romance with the valuable addition of being true.4 del] Upon the road we talked of the [Lottery of Publication in which Authours and booksellers adventure with great uncertainty in the chances of profit and loss.>] uncertainty of profit with which Authours and Booksellers engage in the publication of literary works. [He said>] JOHNSON. ‘My [opinion>] judgement I have found is no ≤certain≥ rule [as to÷for>] as to the sale of a Book.’ Boswell. ‘Pray Sir, have you been much plagued with Authours sending you 1 Printed in the revises ‘afterwards, “That’. JB’s quotation marks at the close of SJ’s observation (l. 7) led to the placement of an opening pair here. 2 In Nov. 1792, Isaac Reed called JB’s attention to a flaw in this claim: ‘Mr. Young’s Account that his father lost in the South Sea money got by The Universal Passion cannot be true. The South Sea year was 1720 and the poem was not published untill 1726 and 1727.’ Although JB endorsed the document containing this alert ‘Mr. Reed’s Corrections and Additions for the Second Edition of my Life of Dr. Johnson’ (Corr. 2a, pp. 382, 385), he did not alter the passage in the second edition. In the third edition, however, EM added a footnote: ‘This assertion is disproved by a comparison of dates. The first four satires of Young were published in 1725; The South sea scheme (which appears to be meant,) was in 1720.’ 3 Reed possessed evidence of a subscription for a collected edition, not for The Universal Passion alone: ‘Young however had issued Proposals for an expensive Edition of his Works of which I have a Copy. He might also have raised money by it and lost it. I will find the Proposals before Mr. Boswell wants the information’ (Corr. 2a, p. 385). No trace of Reed’s having made good on this offer turned up in the second edition of the Life, as JB added no further information. 4 JB had softened the episode for the Life, omitting expressions of disapproval and irritation made by SJ as recorded in Journ. 2 June 1781; see Hill-Powell iv. 493–94 (App. J), and Laird of Auchinleck, pp. 370–71.

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their [compositions÷works>] works to revise.’ Johnson. ‘No Sir. I have been thought a sour surly fellow.’ Boswell. ‘Very lucky for you Sir — in that respect.’ — I must however observe that notwithstanding what he now said, [and del] which he [now del] no doubt imagined at the time ≤to be the fact≥, there was [probably>] perhaps no man who more frequently yielded to the solicitations even of very obscure authours to read their manuscripts or more liberally assisted them with advice and correction. He found himself very happy at [Squire>] Mr. Dilly’s where there is allways [plenty>] abundance of excellent fare and hearty welcome.5 [MS 848] ≤On Sunday June 3 we all went to Southill Church very near to Mr. Dilly’s house. It being the first Sunday of the month≥ the [Communion was given>] Holy Sacrament was administered, and I staid to ≤partake of≥ it. When I came afterwards into Dr. Johnson’s room he said ‘You did right to stay ≤& receive≥ the Communion. I had not thought of it.’ This seemed to imply that he did not chuse to approach the altar without a previous preparation, as to which good men entertain different opinions, some holding that it is irreverent to partake of that [holy÷solemn del] ordinance without considerable premeditation; others that whoever is a sincere Christian and in a proper frame to discharge any other [duty÷ritual>] ritual duty of our [holy del] Religion may without scruple discharge [this÷the>] this most solemn one. A middle notion I think the just one which is that Communicants need not think a long train of preparatory forms indispensibly necessary; but neither should they rashly and lightly venture upon so aweful and mysterious an institution. Christians must judge each for himself what degree of [abstraction is>] retirement & self=examination is necessary upon each occasion. Being in a frame which I [benevolently del] hope for the felicity of human nature many experience — in fine weather [MS 849] — at the country house of a friend — consoled and elevated by pious exercises — I expressed myself with an unrestrained [fervour÷fervency>] fervour to ‘my guide Philosopher and Freind’ ‘My Dear Sir I would fain be [good÷a good man>] a good man; and I am very good now. I fear GOD and honour the King. I wish [1st ed. ii. 403] to do no ill and to do good to all Mankind.’ He looked at me with a benignant indulgence; but took occasion to give me able and salutary caution. ‘Do not [/Sir/>] Sir accustom yourself to trust to impressions. There is a middle state of mind between conviction and hypocrisy of which many are conscious. By trusting to impressions a man may gradually come to yield to them and at length be subject to them, so as not to be a free agent or what is the same thing in effect, to suppose that he is not a free agent. A man who is in that state should not be suffered to live. If he [owns÷declares>] declares he cannot help acting in a particular way but is irresistibly impelled, there can be no confidence in him no more than in a tyger. But Sir no man beleives 5 Placing the catchword ‘I’ beneath this sentence, JB drafted MS 848 and much (if not most) of MS 849, the first line of which was ‘the Communion was given, and I staid to it.’ Then, possibly after a pause, he decided to discard MS 848, first salvaging from the leaf some copy (‘On Sunday …’) by adding it to the margin of MS 849, then changing the page number on MS 849 to 848, and finally writing ‘On’ over ‘I’ for a new catchword on MS 847. The passage thus eliminated probably drew upon the end of his journal entry for this day; see Laird of Auchinleck, p. 373.

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himself to be impelled irresistibly. We know that he who says he believes it lies. Favourable Impressions at particular moments as to the state of our [own del] souls may be [MS 850] deceitful and dangerous. In general no man can be sure of his acceptance with [God>] GOD. Some indeed may have had it revealed to them. St. Paul who wrought miracles may have had a miracle wrought on himself and ≤may have≥ obtained supernatural assurance of pardon and mercy [/and beatitude/>] and beatitude. Yet St. Paul though he expresses strong hope also expresses fear lest having preached to others he himself should be a cast=away.’ ≤The opinion of a learned Bishop of our acquaintance6 as to there being merit in religious faith being mentioned, Johnson. ‘Why yes Sir. [Were hell open before him the most licentious man would not÷no licentious man would take a fine woman to his arms.>] The most licentious man Were hell open before him would not take the most beautiful strumpet to his arms. We must as the Apostle says live by faith not by sight.’≥ I talked to him of Original sina/7 in consequence of the fall of man, and of the atonement made by our SAVIOUR for the sins of the World which he agreed with me was the great distinguishing doctrine of Christianity.8 After some conversation ≤which he desired me to remember≥ he at my request dictated to me as follows9 [Paper Apart1] ‘With respect to Original sin the inquiry is not necessary for whatever is the cause of human corruption men are evidently & confessly2 a

a1

6 Dr. Thomas Barnard, Bishop of Killaloe (Journ. 3 June 1781; see Laird of Auchinleck, p. 376). 7 Placing a small x above the ‘O’ in ‘Original sin’, JB in the margin reminded himself to ‘See Ogden & quote’. Later, also in the margin, JB added the counterpart to his footnote symbol here; see n. a1 below. 8 In the revises, this sentence ended on the word ‘SAVIOUR’, the rest of it probably deleted in proof because of implicit and explicit redundancies. The same points recur in the final paragraph of SJ’s dictation and in JB’s narrative interlude preceding it (see below p. 102 ll. 32–35 and p. 103 ll. 1–3). 9 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’. 1 The docket ‘For p. 850’ appears on the verso of the third and final leaf of this Paper Apart. On the first leaf, JB recorded the following: ‘Talking seriously of the Christian Revelation with Dr. Johnson at Mr. Dilly’s at Southill Sunday 3 June 1781, he talked so well of the Great Propitiation that I was confirmed in my faith. He bid me remember what he had said. I prevailed on him to dictate it, & I wrote as follows—’. JB later revised ‘talked’ to ‘discoursed’, as if regarding the sentences as provisional copy; they were not, however, used as text for the Life. Cordoned off from the dictation by a line drawn around them, the sentences otherwise helped JB organize his materials. In preparing the document for the press, JB added the letters missing from most of his original abbreviations (recorded in the endnotes to this volume), but left alone many requiring no clarification (‘ye’, ‘yt’, ‘wc’, ‘cd’, ‘calld’, ‘takth’, ‘punist’, etc.). 2 Printed ‘confessedly’. a1 In revision, JB deleted his memorandum (see n. 7 above), beneath which he placed a footnote symbol and instructed the compositor to reserve space for a ‘Note of three lines’. (It took up eight lines; see Hill-Powell iv. 123 n. 3.) There was room on MS opp. 851 for JB, had he been ready in revision, to draft a lead-in to the quotation from Ogden’s sermon. His copy for the eventual note is missing. On JB’s admiration of Ogden’s sermons—his vade mecum on the tour of Scotland with SJ—see Hill-Powell v. 29 n. 1.

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1781

so corrupt that all ye laws of heaven & earth are insufficient to restrain them from crimes. [1st ed. ii. 404] ‘Whatever difficulty there may be in ye conception of vicarious punishments, it is an opinion wc has had possession of mankind in all ages. There is no nation yt has not used ye practice of sacrifices. Whoever therefore denies the propriety of vicarious punishments holds an opinion which ye. sentiments & practice of mankind have contradicted from ye. beginning of ye World. The great Sacrifice for ye. sins of Mankind was offered at the death of ye MESSIAH who is calld in Scripture “the Lamb of GOD yt takth away the sin3 of the world.” To judge of ye reasonableness of ye scheme of Redemption it must be considered as necessary to the Government of ye Universe that GOD should make known his perpetual & irreconcileable detestation of moral evil. He might indeed punish, & punish only ye Offenders. But as ye end of punist. is not revenge of crimes but propagation of virtue it was more becoming ye divine clemency to find anoyer manner of proceeding less destructive to man and at least equally powerful to promote Goodness. The end of punishment is to reclaim & warn. That punishment will both reclaim & warn wc. shews evidently such abhorrence of sin in GOD as may deter us from it or strike us wt dread of vengeance when we have committed it. This is effected by vicar4 punishment. Nothing cd more testify the opposition between ye nature of GOD & moral evil or more amply display his justice, to Men & Angels, to all orders & successions of beings, than that it was necessary for ye highest & purest nature, even for DIVINITY itself to pacify the demands of vengeance by a painful death of wc the natural effect will be that when justice is appeased there is a proper place for ye exercise of Mercy and that such propitiation shall supply in some degree the imperfections of our obedience & the inefficacy of our repentance. For obedience & Repentance such as we can perform are still necessary. Our Saviour has told us that he did not come to destroy ye. law but to fulfill; to fulfill the typical law by the performance of what those types had foreshewn and the moral law by precepts of greater purity and higher exaltation.’ ≤Here He said ‘GOD bless you with it.’ I acknowledge myself obliged much to him. And then I begged he5 would go on as to the propitiation being the chief object of the Christian Revelation.6 He then dictated this one other paragraph.≥ 3 Printed ‘sins’ in the revises and all editions of the Life. The plural, whether the result of compositorial error or a change in first proof, departed from the copy and from John 1: 29; see Hill-Powell iv. 124 n. 1. 4 Printed ‘vicarious’. 5 MS orig. ‘Said I much obliged to you Sir. But then I begged he’; printed in the revises ‘I acknowledged … him; but I begged that he’. The ‘d’ added to ‘acknowledge’ probably reflected JB’s intention; whether the other differences in print stemmed from the compositor’s misreading of ‘And’ written over ‘But’ only the missing first proof would tell. 6 Printed in the revises ‘of our most holy faith’. This much of JB’s narrative interlude was probably added to SJ’s dictation shortly after the fact. The next sentence was a later addition, probably drafted when JB was preparing to send this Paper Apart to the printer. Square brackets enclosed this paragraph in print (so in revises), marking it as an interruption and a prompt for the coda to SJ’s dictation.

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 124–27

‘The peculiar doctrine of Christianity is that of an Universal sacrifice and a perpetual propitiation. Other Prophets only proclaimed the will or7 ye threatenings of GOD. CHRIST satisfied his justice.’ [MS 850 resumed; 1st ed. ii. 405] The Reverend Mr. Palmer8 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 [can÷is able to>] is able to make a will or write a letter for any [body÷one>] body in the parish.’9 I mentioned Lord Monboddo’s notion1 that the ancient [MS 851] Egyptians with all their learning and all their arts were not only black, but [wooly=headed÷haired>] wooly=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 great advantages of Wealth ≤than≥ Dr. Johnson ≤he≥ this day I know not [how>] from what caprice took the other side. ‘I have not observed ≤(said he)≥ that men of very large fortunes [get>] enjoy any thing extraordinary that makes happiness. What has the Duke of Bedford? What has the Duke of Devonshire? The only instance2 that I [know÷have ever known>] have ever known of a manly enjoyment of wealth [is÷was>] was that of Jamaica Dawkins, who going to visit Palmyra and hearing [it÷the way>] 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 [MS 852] Vicar of Southill a very respectable man with a very agreable family sent an invitation to us to drink tea. I remarked Dr. Johnson’s very formal politeness. Though allways 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 [as to forgetfulness being>] 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/3. 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 [broke>] broken, and pleading forgetfulness as an excuse. ‘Sir’, said he, ‘its being [broke>] broken was certainly in your mind.’ 7 Dictation orig. ‘&’; printed in the revises ‘and’. Whether the compositor mistook the copy for an ampersand or JB changed the word again in first proof is unknown. 8 For the lengthy footnote added by JB here in the third edition, and further information produced by Hill, see Hill-Powell iv. 125 n. 2. 9 A paragraph break occurs here in the revises. 1 Footnote added in the second edition: ‘Taken from Herodotus.’ 2 First edition, ‘great instance’. In the revises, while ‘great’ was omitted before ‘advantages’ (l. 14), the adjective was neither printed nor inserted here, a possible oversight, assuming that the changes were complementary in first proof. 3 JB’s unresolved optional word was printed in the revises.

103

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1781

≤[MS opp. 852] When I observed that a [thief>] housebreaker was [in general÷for most part>] in general very timorous ‘Johnson4 No wonder Sir. He is affraid of being shot getting [into a house, and÷or hanged÷of being hanged when÷after he has got÷gets out of it.>] 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 of Crousaz on [Pope. He would be glad to see it now and he wished that he had copies of all the pamphlets written against him as it was said Pope had.>] Pope,5 adding ‘I should be glad to see it now I wish that I [1st ed. ii. 406] had copies of all the pamphlets written against me as it is said Pope had.6 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 News=papers.’≥ [MS 852 resumed] On Monday [4 June>] June 4 we all went to Luton Hoe [/to see Lord Bute’s magnificent place÷Seat for which I had obtained a ticket/.>] to see Lord Bute’s magnificent Seat for which I had obtained a ticket.7 As we entered the park I talked in a high style of my old freindship with Lord Mountstuart & said ‘I shall probably be much at this place.’ The [MS 853] Sage aware of human vicissitudes gently [checked me.÷repressed my prospects.>] checked me. ‘Don’t you be too sure of that.’ — He made two or three peculiar observations[.] As When8 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 use of the ground. A little of it is very well.’ When it was proposed that we should walk [on÷and view>] on the pleasure ground. ‘Dont let us fatigue ourselves. Why should we walk there. Here’s a fine tree, let us get to the top of it.’ But upon the whole he was very much pleased. He said ‘This is one of the Places I do not regret coming÷having come9 to see. It is [a very stately÷magnificent house÷a very stately place indeed. /In the house/1 Magnificence>] a very stately place indeed. In the house Magnificence is not 4 JB’s misplacement of quotation marks, coupled with an absence of underscoring here, evidently led to the typesetting of SJ’s name as part of the following speech, requiring correction in proof. In the revises, SJ’s name was printed in small caps as a speaker tag, and quotation marks appeared on the word ‘No’, but quotation marks remained in front of SJ’s name; they were then deleted. 5 In the revises, JB deleted the phrase ‘of Crousaz on Pope’, substituting ‘from the french’. On the likely confusion in JB’s mind that spurred this alteration, see Hill-Powell iv. 494–96 (App. J), Life MS i. 94 n. 7, and Laird of Auchinleck, p. 375 and n. 2. 6 When first drafted, JB’s copy on MS opp. 852 ended here. Nothing more on the topic is found in Journ. 3 June 1781. At a later stage of revision, upon converting this saying into a direct quotation, JB added two more sentences to SJ’s speech. 7 JB retained the optional phrase in revision, not by deleting the virgules that defined it, but by resolving the alternatives within it. 8 MS orig. ‘When’. Printed in the revises ‘observations, as when’; the comma was altered to a semicolon. Each of SJ’s ‘peculiar observations’ that follow was preceded by a semicolon, a consistency broken once the first was altered to a comma (there in the revises) and the second became a colon (in the third edition). 9 Of these unresolved alternatives, ‘having come’ was printed in the revises. 1 What made this phrase optional was the structure of the alternatives in the previous sentence. If either phrase including ‘house’ had been chosen in revision, JB would have deleted the optional phrase, and this sentence would have begun with the word ‘Magnificence’.

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 128–29

sacrificed to convenience, nor convenience to magnificence. The Library is very splendid the dignity of the rooms is very great. & The quantity of pictures is beyond expectation, beyond hope,.’2 It happened [happily del] without any previous concert that we visited the seat of Lord Bute upon the King’s birth day. We dined and drank his Majestys health at an Inn in the village of Luton.3 ≤[MS opp. 853] In the evening I put him in mind of his promise to favour me with a copy of his celebrated letter to the Earl of Chesterfield,4 and he was at last pleased to comply with this earnest request by dictating it to me from his memory; for he beleived that he himself had no copy. There was an animated glow in his countenance while he thus recalled his [noble÷high=minded>] high=minded indignation.5 He laughed heartily at a ludicrous Action in the Court of Session in which I was Counsel. The Society of Procurators or Attornies entitled to practise in the inferiour Courts at Edinburgh had obtained a Royal Charter in which they had taken care to have their ancient designation [/of Procurators/>] of Procurators changed into [/that of/>] that of Solicitors from a notion [it was supposed>] as they supposed that it was more [genteel. An unknown wag who with others was provoked to ridicule by this glaring though harmless vanity sent to the News=paper called The Caledonian Mercury the following Card.>] genteel.6 and this new title they displayed by a publick advertisement for a General Meeting at their HALL.7 [Paper Apart P.S.8; 1st ed. ii. 407] It has been said that the Scottish Nation is not distinguished for humour; and indeed what happened on this occasion may in some degree justify the remark; for although this society had contrived 2 JB’s erratic punctuation resulted from same-draft changes to a passage that began as follows: ‘The Library is very splendid. The quantity of pictures is beyond expectation, beyond hope, and the dignity’. The full stop after ‘great’ suggests that, momentarily, JB wanted the two clauses regarding rooms to form their own sentence, and the remark about the pictures to be separate, but then he combined them by inserting the ampersand. In the revises, the first two clauses were punctuated with semicolons; the first of these is a colon in Hill-Powell. No journal entry survives as an original record of the saying; see Laird of Auchinleck, p. 376 n. 4. 3 The symbol # placed here in revision drew the compositor to the facing page. 4 A footnote on Chesterfield’s name—a cross reference awaiting completion—was printed in the revises: ‘See p. of Vol. I.’ JB advised the compositor to ‘Look at Mr. Selfe’s Revises’. Above this direction, later deleted, the compositor wrote ‘141’, and ‘page 141’ was printed in the first edition. The footnote was omitted in the second edition. 5 Above this paragraph JB wrote ‘See if this be not told allready.’ What he told in Paper Apart C was that SJ dictated the letter to him from memory ‘at last in 1781 when we were on a visit at Mr. Dilly’s at Southill in Bedfordshire’; he had not told of SJ’s glowing demeanor during the recitation (see Life MS i. 187–88 and nn. 2–5; 1st ed. i. 140–42). JB later deleted this paragraph with four diagonal strokes; later still, he reinstated it by writing ‘stet’ three times in the left margin. 6 Printed as a semicolon. JB did not adjust the punctuation in second revision after deleting the sentence that originally came next (having reworked part of it into the first paragraph of Paper Apart P.S.). At this stage there was no room in the margin of MS opp. 853 for him to extend the present sentence, so he tightly drafted the copy beneath the deleted sentence and above his direction for taking in Paper Apart P.S. 7 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Paper P.S.’ 8 JB headed this single leaf ‘P.S.’ (for ‘Procurators’ and ‘Solicitors’) in the upper left-hand corner, adding ‘for back of p. 852’.

105

H-P iv. 129, 131

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1781

to make themselves a very prominent object for the ridicule of such as might chuse to stoop to it, the only joke that appeared was the following paragraph sent as a Card to the newspaper called The Caledonian Mercury9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [MS opp. 853 resumed1] /A majority of the members of/2 the Society prosecuted Messieurs Robertson the Publishers of the Paper for damages, and the first judgement of the whole Court very wisely dismissed the Action, Solvuntur risu tabulæ tu missus abibis. But a [second>] new trial or Review was granted upon a Petition according to the forms in Scotland. This Petition I was engaged to answer and Dr. Johnson with great alacrity furnished tonight what follows.3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [Paper Apart P.S. resumed] I am ashamed to mention that the Court by a plurality of voices without having a single additional circumstance before them reversed their own judgement, made a serious matter of this dull and foolish joke and adjudged Mr. Robertson to pay to this society five pounds (sterling money) and costs of suit. The decision will seem strange to English lawyers.≥ [MS 853 resumed; 1st ed. ii. 409] On Tuesday [5 June he>] June 5 Johnson was to [MS 854] return to London. He was very pleasant at breakfast. I mentioned a freind of mine4 having resolved never to marry a pretty woman. Johnson. ‘Sir it is a very foolish resolution to resolve not to marry a pretty woman. Beauty is of itself [a good.÷estimable.÷very desireable.>] very estimable. No. Sir [I’d÷I would rather marry>] I would prefer a pretty woman, unless there are objections to her. A pretty woman may be foolish, a pretty woman may be wicked, a pretty woman may not like me. But there is no such danger in marrying a pretty woman as is apprehended. She will not be persecuted if she does not invite persecution. A pretty woman if she has a mind to be wicked, can find a readier way than another, and that is all.’ I [accompanied÷conveyed>] accompanied him in Mr. Dilly’s chaise to Shefford, where talking of Lord Bute’s never going to Scotland he said ‘As an Englishman I should wish all the scotch [nobleman and del] gentlemen to be educated in England. Scotland would become a Province. [They would÷They’d>] They would spend [all5 del] their rents in England.’ This is a subject of much consideration and much delicacy. The advantage of an english education is [certainly÷unquestionably>] unquestionably very great [MS 855] to scotch 9 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in from bottom of p. 3 and top of p. 4 of a printed Case herewith sent’. Later, above the direction, JB added the cue words ‘A Correspondent &c.’, marking them to begin a new paragraph. 1 JB’s directions to the compositor for returning here to MS opp. 853, not Paper Apart P.S., presumably were drafted on the ‘printed Case’ (see note above). 2 The unresolved optional phrase was printed in the revises. 3 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in from p. 11 of the printed Paper “All injury” &c. but print irritandi and put a note “Mr. Robertson altered this word to jocandi” [written over a false start] &c.—Return to Paper P.S.’ In the revises, the footnote read ‘Mr. Robertson altered this word to jocandi, he having found in Blackstone that to irritate is actionable.’ Within the text here taken in, the word ‘irritable’ was corrected in the second edition to read ‘irritabile’. 4 Charles Dilly (Journ. 5 June 1781; Hill-Powell vi. 462–63). 5 Printed in the revises, this word must have been reinserted in first proof, given that its deletion here by means of four diagonal lines was unmistakable.

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H-P iv. 131–33

gentlemen of talents and ambition; and [one should hope÷think that÷we may hope that occasional÷regular>] I should think that regular visits and other means might6 be effectually used to prevent them from being totally estranged from their native country any more than a Cumberland or Northumberland gentleman who has been educated in the south of England. I own indeed that it is no small misfortune for Scotch gentlemen who have neither talents nor ambition to be educated in England where [we see some wretched instances of their going about>] [they are perhaps distinguished only by a nickname acquired at school, spend their fortune in giving entertainments to those who laugh at them, and saunter>] they may be perhaps distinguished only by a nickname, lavish their fortune in giving expensive entertainments to those who laugh at them, and saunter about as mere [insignificant hangers on upon the great>] [idle insignificant beings,>] idle insignificant hangers on even upon the foolish great when if they had been judiciously brought up at home, they might have been comfortable and creditable members of society. At Shefford I had another affectionate parting from my revered freind who was taken up by the Bedford coach and carried to the Metropolis. I went with Messieurs Dilly7 to see some freinds at Bedford, dined with the officers of the Militia /of the county/8 and next day proceeded on my journey. To [Bennet Langton Esq.>] [Captain Langton Rochester>] Bennet Langton Esq.9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ≤[MS opp. 855] To Thomas Astle Esq:1

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[Paper Apart p. 855.*2] Sir, I am ashamed that you have been forced to call so often for your books, but it has been by no fault on either side. They have never been out of my 6 When resolving his alternatives in revision, JB deleted ‘hope’ and ‘we may hope’, but then also ‘one should’ and ‘think’. Next, with a wavy stroke, he again deleted ‘one’ (the first word on a new line), and in the margin wrote ‘I’, followed by a caret, and beneath this ‘should think/’—the diagonal slash (and caret) showing that the words replaced copy in the line above. Ignoring the slash, the compositor saw the phrase as an interlinear addition to the line below it, a misreading that forced him to omit the word ‘that’: ‘and regular visits, and I should think other means, might’ (so in revises). This awkward result was changed to read as follows in the second edition: ‘and regular visits, to Scotland and perhaps other means, might’. In the third edition, the comma on ‘visits’ was removed and placed after ‘Scotland’. 7 The name ‘Dilly’ was printed ‘Dillys’’ in the revises. Selfe put a ‘q’ in the margin, which led to the deletion of the ‘s’ and the apostrophe. 8 The unresolved optional phrase was printed in the revises. 9 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letter of June 16.’ This letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. In the second edition, after the letter to Langton, JB added a paragraph on SJ’s ‘charity to the poor’, and a paragraph introducing a note dated 23 June 1781 from SJ to Reynolds, ‘found among his papers after his death’ (Hill-Powell iv. 132–33). Reynolds died on 23 Feb. 1792. 1 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’. 2 Copied in the hand of the Rev. Daniel Astle, brother of Thomas (Corr. 2a, p. 159 n. 2). JB repeated the letter heading at the top of the first page, and in the upper left-hand corner wrote ‘p. 855.*’—a reference to the asterisk he inserted on MS 855 in revision to lead the compositor to MS opp. 855.

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MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1781

hands, nor have I ever been at home without seeing You, for to see a Man so skilful in the Antiquities of my Country, is an Opportunity of improvement not willingly to be missed. Your Notes on Alfreda appear to me very judicious and accurate, but they are too few. Many things familiar to you are unknown to me and to most oth- 5 ers, and you must not think too favourably of your readers, by supposing them 6 knowing you will leave them ignorant. Measure of Land, and value of Money, 7 8 it is of great importance to state with care. Had the Saxons any gold Coin? I have much curiosity after the Manners and Transactions of the Middle 9 Ages, but have wanted either Diligence or Opportunity in3 both; You Sir have 10 11 great Opportunities, and I wish you both Diligence & Success. I am 12 Sir, &c. / Sam Johnson / July 17th — 1781.≥4 ≤[Paper Apart H.B.5; 1st ed. ii. 411] The following curious Anecdote I insert in Dr. Burney’s own words.6 ‘Dr. Burney related to Dr. Johnson7 the partiality wch. his writings had excited in a friend of Dr. Burney’s8 the late Mr. Bewley, well known in Norfolk by the name of the Philosopher of Massingham9; who from the Ramblers & plan of his Dictionary, & long before the author’s fame was established by the Dicty. itself or any other work, had conceived such a reverence for him, that he urgently begged Dr. B. to give him the cover of the first letter he had recd. from him, as a relic of so estimable a writer. This was The Will of King Alfred alluded to in this Letter, is now Printing from the Original Saxon in the Library of Mr. Astle, at the expense of the University of Oxford. It is not to be sold, but is to be distributed in presents.a1 a

3 Querying whether to replace this preposition—‘q or’—Selfe also allowed that ‘in may be right’. His query was later deleted, even though ‘or’ was correct (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iii. 355). This correction was made in the second edition. 4 Beneath his previous direction to the compositor (see n. 1 above), JB later added ‘After ≤Letter to≥ Mr. Astle take in [Note>] Anecdote by Dr. Burney marked HB. Be sure to print Burney not B and Johnson not J throughout’. The ‘Letter to Mr. Astle’ and ‘Curious story by Burney’ were later additions to JB’s list under the year 1781 in the Life Materials (M 147). For the reason JB inserted Paper Apart H.B. here, posting (and later deleting) ‘1781’ at the top of the leaf—even though the end of Burney's story blends together events from 1779, 1781, and 1783—see p. 109 n. 1. 5 Headed ‘H.B.’ (for ‘Hearth Broom’) by JB, this Paper Apart was drafted by Charles Burney. Burney’s many revisions to the document are not recorded in this edition, nor are the obvious completions in print of his abbreviations. 6 This preamble, penned by JB, replaced Burney’s opening: ‘About this time’. 7 Here JB deleted the phrase ‘and his friends at Streatham’. 8 Altered by JB from Burney’s ‘Dr. B.’ JB filled in one other abbreviation of Burney’s name (at the end of the document, in the phrase ‘visit to Dr. B.’) before leaving the rest to the compositor (see n. 4 above). 9 Underlined for italics by JB. a1 JB placed footnote symbols after ‘Alfred’ and at the bottom of that page, directing the compositor to ‘See Note on the next leaf.’ He put a third symbol next to the footnote, drafted apparently by Thomas Astle after reading Daniel’s copy of the letter, as Marion Pottle speculated in a note to the Life MS. Outdated even in the first edition of the Life—the work in question was published in 1788 (Hill-Powell iv. 133 n. 2)—the footnote was revised in the second edition: ‘is now printing from … Astle, at’ became ‘from … Astle, has been printed at’, and the second sentence was omitted.

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H-P iv. 134–35

in 1755. In 1760, when Dr. B. visited Dr. J. at the Temple in London, where he had then Chambers, he happened to arrive there before he was up: & being shewn into the room where he was to breakfast, finding himself alone, he examined the contents of the appartment to try whether he cd. undiscovered steal anything to send to his friend Bewley as another relic of the admirable Dr. Johnson. But finding nothing better to his purpose, he cut some bristles off his hearth broom, & inclosed them in a letter to his country enthusiast, who recd. them wth. due reverence. The Dr. was so sensible of the honour done him by a man of Genius & Science to whom he was an utter stranger, that he said to Dr. B. “Sir! there is no man possessed of the smallest portion of modesty but must be flattered wth. the admiration of such a man. I’ll give him a set of my lives,1 if he will do me the honour to accept of them.” In this he kept his word; & Dr. B. had not only the pleasure of gratifying his friend with a present more worthy of his acceptance than the segment÷scission2 from the hearth-broom, but soon after of introducing him to Dr. J. himself, in Bolt court, with whom he had the satisfaction of conversing a considerable time, not a fortnight before his death; which happened in St. Martin’s street during his visit to Dr. Burney in the house where the great Sr. Isaac Newton had lived & died before.’3≥ [MS 855 resumed] In one of his little Memorandum Books is the following Minute [MS 856] ‘August 9 3 p.m. ætat. 72 in the Summer house at Streatham. ‘After innumerable resolutions formed and neglected, I have retired hither, to plan a life of greater diligence, in hope that I may yet be useful, and be daily better prepared to appear before my [Creatour>] Creator and my Judge, from whose infinite mercy I humbly call for assistance and support. ‘My purpose is ‘To pass eight hours every day in some serious employment.4 ‘11.5 Having prayed I purpose to employ the next six weeks upon the Italian language for my settled study.’ 1 Printed in the revises ‘Lives’. This title evidently guided JB in assigning the year 1781 to Burney’s anecdote (see ante pp. 25 n. 5, 108 n. 4). The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets (4 vols.), published in June 1781 (Fleeman, Bibliography of Johnson, ii. 1371), were a reprint of the Prefaces, Biographical and Critical, to the Works of the English Poets (10 vols., 1779–81). SJ had sent Bewley the first four volumes of the Prefaces, inscribed ‘For the Broom Gentleman’, in June 1779; he completed the gift in July 1781 with the final six volumes, requesting of Frances Burney, ‘Pray let these books be sent after the former to the gentleman whose name I do not know’ (Roger Lonsdale, Dr. Charles Burney: A Literary Biography, 1965, pp. 277–78; Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iii. 353). 2 Here Burney provided alternatives for later consideration, but neglected to make a choice before giving the anecdote to JB, an oversight repeated when JB forwarded the Paper Apart to the printer. What to call the cutting from SJ’s hearth-broom seems, then, to have been decided by the compositor, who preferred the familiar noun written on the line to the unfamiliar alternative above it. Scission as defined by Johnson and the OED—respectively, ‘The act of cutting’ and ‘The action of cutting something’—refers to the action only, not to the cutting that results from it, as in Burney’s usage. 3 Bewley died on 5 Sept. 1783. One of Burney’s dearest friends, his death left Burney so ‘worn out with grief’ that he could not attend the funeral (Lonsdale, Dr. Charles Burney, pp. 278–79). 4 JB’s double indentation of this line was printed in the revises as a single indentation. 5 The numerals designating Aug. 11 were omitted in the revises.

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1781–82

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

[1st ed. ii. 412] How venerably pious does he appear in these moments of solitude, and how spirited are his resolutions for the improvement of his mind even in elegant literature [at a very advanced period of life÷at a great age÷in old age>] at a very advanced period of life and when afflicted with many complaints.6 In Autumn he went to Oxford Birmingham Lichfield and Ashbourne for [MS 857] which very good reasons might be given in the conjectural yet positive manner of writers who are proud to account for every event which they relate. He himself however saysa ‘The motives of my journey I hardly know. I omitted it last year and am not willing to miss it again.’ But some good considerations arrise amongst which is [this>] the kindly recollection of Mr. Hector Surgeon at Birmingham. ‘Hector is likewise an old freind, the only companion of my childhood that passed through the school with me. We have always loved one another. Perhaps we may be made better by some serious conversation of which however I have no distinct hope.’ He says too, ‘At Lichfield my native place, I hope to shew a good example by frequent attendance on publick worship.’ My Correspondence with him ≤during the rest of≥ this year was ≤I know not why≥ very scanty and all on my side.7 ≤I wrote him one letter to introduce Mr. Sinclair (now Sir John) the member of Caithness to his acquaintance; and informed him in another that my wife was again affected with alarming symptoms of illness.8≥ In 17829 his complaints increased and the history of his life for this year [MS 858] [so far as I have been able to collect it, del] is little more than a mournful recital of the variations of his illness, in the midst of which however it will appear from his letters that the powers of his mind were in no degree impaired. . a

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≤Prayers & Meditations, p. ___.a1≥

6 In revision, JB inserted an asterisk below this paragraph, but deleted it before drafting any new copy. 7 Below this sentence JB left a memorandum—‘Excerpt my letters of 5 July 20 Septr. and 31 Decr.’—that he deleted in revision after adding the next sentence in the left-hand margin of the page. 8 Penultimate wording, ‘was again affected with symptoms of dangerous illness’. The verb phrase printed in the revises—‘had again been affected’—suggests that the compositor had failed to notice that JB wrote ‘was’ over ‘had’ in a series of false starts after ‘wife’: (1) ‘had again’; (2) ‘was again in bad health’; (3) ‘was again assai[led]’. 9 JB posted ‘1782.’ beside this line in the left-hand margin, where it was also printed in the revises. 1 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letter of Janry. 5’. This letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. In it SJ expressed a worry that JB, were he to lose his wife, would lose his ‘anchor, and be tost, without stability, by the waves of life.’ JB’s footnote on this sentence—‘The truth of this has been proved by sad experience.’—was elucidated by EM in the third edition: ‘Mrs. Boswell died June 4, 1789.’ a1 JB’s footnote symbol on ‘says’ (printed at the end of the quotation in the revises) led to nothing at the bottom of the page. The note was added later in Plymsell’s hand; ‘p. 201’ was printed in the revises.

110

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

25

1782

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 137

≤[MS opp. 858] At a time when he was less able than he had once been to sustain a shock, he was suddenly deprived of Mr. Levett which he thus [/tenderly/ notified>] communicated to Dr. Lawrence. Sir.

Jan. 17. 1782.2 5 Our old freind Mr. Levett who was last night eminently cheerful, 6 died this morning. The man who lay in the same room hearing an uncommon 7 noise got up and tried to make him speak but without effect. He then called 8 Mr. Holder the Apothecary who though when he came he thought him dead, opened a vein, but could draw no blood. So has ended the long life of a very 10 useful and very blameless man. I am Sir your most humble servant3 11 SAM JOHNSON. 12 13 14

In one of his Memorandum Books in my possession is the following Entry ‘January 20 Sunday. Robert Levett was buried in the church-yard of Bridewell between one and two in the afternoon. He died on thursday 17 about seven 15 in the morning by an instantaneous death. He was an old and faithful freind. I have known him from about 46. Commendavi. May GOD have had mercy4 on him. May he have mercy on me.’ Such was Johnson’s affectionate regard for Levetta that he honoured his memory with [one of the finest copy of verses that ever were written>] the fol20 lowing verses5 [1st ed. ii. 414] a

[Paper Apart6] Condemn’d to Hope’s delusive Mine7 As on we toil from Day to Day

≤See an account of him Gent. Mag. Feb. 1785.≥

2 In a later revision, by then knowing how the compositor would typeset the letter, JB drew a line moving the date down so that it would appear, near the left margin, on the same line with SJ’s name. 3 With limited space on MS opp. 858, and having begun a new line of copy with the word ‘man’, JB suggested line breaks with extra spacing before ‘I am’, ‘Sir’, and ‘your … servant’. Only the final phrase was printed on a separate line. 4 Printed in the revises ‘Commendari. May GOD have mercy’. While JB seems to have copied SJ’s words accurately, either a slip of the pen or uncertainty over the Latin verb ending left his draft of ‘Commendavi’ ambiguous: the letter v covers a false start or malformed letter, making it hard to tell whether the word ends in ‘vi’ or ‘ri’ (letter combinations that look similar in JB’s hand anyway). While ‘Commendavi’, the perfect active indicative, replaced the present passive infinitive in the second edition, the English verb as printed in the revises—possibly changed in proof to accord with ‘Commendari’—remained the same. Hawkins, in a diary of SJ’s now lost, read ‘commendari’; see Diaries, Prayers, and Annals, pp. 311–12. 5 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take them in’, deleted (perhaps inadvertently) and written again. 6 Docketed by JB, ‘This copy of Dr. Johnson’s Verses on Mr. Levetts death the Dr.[,] to whom I read them, corrected.’ The poem, filling three pages of a folded sheet, is copied in an unidentified hand; JB added the footnotes. On the fourth page William Seward left a remark, later deleted by diagonal lines: ‘Levett attended the poor for Small Fees — Dr. Johnson us’d to say “for meat when he could not get money.”’ 7 SJ’s personifications in the poem retained their upper case status in the revises, while common nouns were printed in the lower case: ‘Hope’s delusive mine’ here, for example, or in the third stanza, ‘Affection’s eye’.

111

H-P iv. 137–38

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1782

By sudden Blast or slow Decline Our social Comforts drop away. 2:8 Well tryed thro’ many a varying Year See Levett to the Grave descend Officious, innocent sincere Of every friendless Name the Friend. 3. Yet still he fills Affection’s Eye Obscurely wise & coarsely kind Nor letter’d Arrogancea deny Thy9 Praise to Merit unrefin’d. 4. When fainting Nature called for Aid And hovering Death prepared the Blow His vigorous Remedy displayed The Power of Art without the Show. 5. In Misery’s darkest Caverns1 known His ready help was ever nigh Where hopeless Anguish pours2 his Groan And lonely Want retired to die.b 6. No Summons mocked by chill Delay No petty gains disdain’d by Pride, The modest Wants of every Day The Toil of every Day supply’d.

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

25

In both the editions of Sir John Hawkins’s Life of Dr. Johnson ‘letterd ignorance’ is printed. b Johnson repeated this line to me thus 30 And labour steals an hourb1 to die but he afterwards altered it to the present reading. a

The numbering of the stanzas was omitted in the revises. Printed in the revises ‘The’; corrected to ‘Thy’ in the second edition. Omitted from the transcription, the word ‘Caverns’ was inserted by JB. 2 Another omission in the copy prompted JB to insert the verb ‘poured’, afterwards changing it to ‘pours’. In the second edition it became ‘pour’d’. 8 9 1

b1 Originally JB wrote ‘Labour steals an hour’ (with ‘an’ covering a false start, possibly ‘one’) directly below the transcription of ‘lonely Want retired’—presumably after reading the verse aloud to SJ as he ‘corrected’ the copy (see p. 111 n. 6). Later, he scored through the phrase, placed an asterisk at the end of the verse, and drafted the present note at the foot of the page.

112

1782

5 6 7 8 9

[1st ed. ii. 415]

8. The busy Day the peacefull Night Unfelt uncounted glided by His Frame was firm his Powers were bright Though now his eightieth Year was nigh. 9. Then with no Throbs of fiery Pain No cold Gradations of Decay Death broke at once the vital Chain And freed his Soul the nearest Way.

15

25

H-P iv. 138–39

7. His Virtues walked their narrow Round Nor made a Pause nor left a Void. And sure the eternal Master found His single Talent well employed.

10 11 12 13 14

20

LIFE OF JOHNSON

[[MS opp. 858 resumed] So scrupulously attentive was this Great Man that justice should be done even in the most inconsiderable matters, that Levett having left some trifling property3 he took the trouble to correspond concerning it. del]4≥ [Paper Apart M5] In one of his Registers of this year there occurs the following curious passage ‘Jan. 20. The Ministry6 is dissolved. I prayed with Francis and gave thanks.’a It has been the subject of discussion, whether there are two distinct particulars mentioned here or [whether÷that del] we are to understand the giving of thanks to be in consequence of the dissolution of a

Prayers and Meditations p. 209.

3 Here, having reached the bottom of MS opp. 858, JB originally sent the compositor to ‘Paper Apart Gent. Mag.’, its copy possibly stemming from a passage in Gent. Mag. Feb. 1785, lv. 101–02: ‘As no relations of his were known to Dr. Johnson, he advertised for them. In the course of a few weeks an heir at law appeared, and ascertained his title to what effects the deceased had left behind him.’ Later, deciding to discard the Paper Apart, JB deleted his instruction and drafted (in the right-hand margin of the page) a new clause to finish the sentence (‘he took … it.’). Later still, he deleted the passage altogether, by then perhaps having re-read SJ’s letter of 19 Mar. (see post p. 114 l. 15 and n. 2), in which he told Lucy Porter, ‘I have, by advertising, found poor Mr. Levett’s brothers in Yorkshire, who will take the little that he has left’ (so printed in revises). 4 Here ends the passage that entirely filled MS opp. 858 (see p. 111 l. 1). In a later revision, JB added a direction to the compositor along the left-hand edge of the page: ‘N.B. after Mr. Levett take in Paper M’. Paper Apart M (for ‘Ministry’) evolved from a memorandum (afterwards deleted) in the lower left-hand corner of MS 858: ‘Qu shall I mention the curious Circumstance of the ministry being dissolved etc.’ 5 Alongside the heading ‘M’ for this Paper Apart, a single leaf written on both sides, JB specified where it belonged: ‘Opposite to p. 858 after having said all that is to be said of Mr. Levett.’ He copied SJ’s saying from a draft in the Life Materials: ‘Speaking of [Lord Norths>] the Ministry he said “I am glad it is dissolved. …’ (M 158, p. 16). 6 ‘Ministry’ was printed in the lower case throughout this passage in the revises. JB restored the capital ‘M’ in the second edition.

113

H-P iv. 139–40, 142

1782

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

the Ministry? In support of the last of these conjectures [his mean opinion of that Ministry may be urged>] may be urged his mean opinion of that Ministry ≤which has frequently appeared in the course of this Work;≥ and it is strongly confirmed by what he said on the subject to Mr. Seward ‘I am glad the Ministry is [dissolved>] removed. Such a bunch of imbecillity7 never disgraced 5 a country. If they sent a messenger into the City, to take up a printer, the 6 messenger was taken up instead of the printer, and committed by the sitting 7 Alderman. If they sent one army to the relief of another the first army was 8 defeated and taken before the second arrived. I will not say that what they 9 10 did was always wrong; but it was always done at a wrong time.’ ≤To Mrs. Strahan8≥9 . . . . . . . . . . . . To Mrs. Lucy Porter1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . To [Mrs. Lucy Porter>] the Same2 . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[MS 858 resumed] . . . . . . .

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7 Printed in the revises ‘imbecility’, as spelled in SJ’s Dictionary. JB placed a caret before the l, as if about to restore his manuscript spelling, but wrote nothing in the margin. 8 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letter of Febry. 4’. SJ’s letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. After this direction, at an intermediate stage of revision, JB placed an asterisk (leading to MS opp. 858), followed by the instruction ‘Then Paper Apart’ (referring most likely to SJ’s verses on Levett). JB had earlier put the asterisk where it ultimately wound up, after the direction regarding SJ’s letter of 5 Jan. (see p. 110 n. 1); the other instruction, deleted here, he at one point situated—and later deleted—after the direction regarding SJ’s letter of 19 Mar. (for which see n. 2 below). 9 While SJ’s letter to Mrs. Strahan was added in revision, others to EM turned up even later, generating the next direction to the compositor, written in Plymsell’s hand: ‘Take in 2 Letters to Mr. Malone, of Feb. 27 & March 2’. These letters no longer form part of the Life MS. However JB conveyed them to the press, he also supplied copy (now missing) for a coda, printed as follows in the revises: ‘These short letters shew the regard which Dr. Johnson entertained for Mr. Malone, who the more he is known is the more highly valued. It is much to be regretted that Johnson was prevented from sharing the elegant hospitality of that gentleman’s table, at which he would in every respect have been fully gratified. Mr. Malone, who has so ably succeeded him as an Editor of Shakspeare, has, in his Preface, done great and just honour to Johnson’s memory.’ In the third edition, EM placed a footnote on the phrase ‘this wild adherence to Chatterton’ in the letter of 2 Mar., half of it reprinted in Hill-Powell (iv. 141 n. 1); the second half read as follows: ‘Daring, however, as this fiction was, and wild as was the adherence to Chatterton, both were greatly exceeded in 1795 and the following year, by a still more audacious imposture, and the folly and vanity of one of its adherents, who has immortalized his name by publishing a bulky volume, of which the direct and manifest object was, to prove the authenticity of certain papers attributed to Shakspeare, after the fabricator of the spurious trash had publickly acknowledged the imposture!’ EM himself had written the pamphlet on the Chatterton forgery mentioned in the first half of the footnote, and had exposed the forgeries of William Henry Ireland in a bulky volume of his own, An Inquiry into the Authenticity of Certain Miscellaneous Papers … Attributed to Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth and Henry, Earl of Southampton (1796). 1 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letter of March 5’. SJ’s letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. In the revises, the date on the letter was correctly printed ‘March 2, 1782’, and the phrase ‘cold, of which I could’ was intact. Before printing, however, the letter ‘I’ fell out of the type block; the word was restored in the second edition. 2 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letter of March 19’. SJ’s letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. In the margin to the left of this direction, over a false start

114

11 12 13 14 15

1782

5 6 7 8 9

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 143–44

On the day on which this Letter was written he [very>] thus feelingly mentions [the failure of del] his respected freind and Physician Dr. Lawrence.3 ‘Poor Lawrence has almost lost the sense of hearing, and I have lost the conversation of a learned intelligent and communicative companion, and a freind whom long familiarity has much endeared. Lawrence is one of the best men whom I have known. ‘Nostrum omnium miserere4 Deus.’a/5

≤It was Dr. Johnson’s custom when he wrote to Dr. Lawrence concerning his own health to use the latin language which was familiar to both of them. I 10 have been favoured by Miss Lawrence with one of these letters as a specimen.6 11 12 13 14

T. LAURENTIO MEDICO S.7≥

[Paper Apart L] Novum frigus, nova tussis, nova spirandi difficultas, novam sanguinis8 missionem suadent, quam tamen te inconsulto nolim fieri. Ad te venire vix possum. nec est cur ad me venias. Licere vel non licere uno verbo 15 dicendum est; cætera mihi et Holdero9 reliqueris. Si per te licet, imperatur1 nuncio Holderum ad me deducere. a

Prayers & Medit p. 207.

(possibly ‘H’), JB later wrote and circled ‘Sent to Printer thus far’ and then, just below this jotting and the original direction, cut MS 858 in half. Sending the upper portion to the printer, he kept the lower portion for further revision, noting and circling ‘19 March 1782’ beside the next paragraph (‘On the day …’) to maintain his bearings. Other evidence of the pressure on JB to quicken his pace at this time (Jan. 1791: Corr. 2a, p. lxv; Corr. 4, p. 395) is found in a message to him on p. 417 of the revises (the start of sig. Hhh): ‘Sir / More Copy if you please.’ 3 No paragraph break occurred here in the revises, nor was SJ’s closing Latin plea put on a separate line, as in JB’s copy. Instead of line breaks, dashes followed ‘Lawrence:’ and ‘known.’ Hill-Powell put in the first of these breaks. 4 Misprinted ‘misera’ (so in revises); corrected in the second edition. 5 To the left of the catchword ‘To’ (leading onto MS 859; see p. 117 l. 1), JB directed the compositor to ‘See the back’—the verso of the lower half of MS 858. The upper half had already gone to the printer (see n. 2 above). 6 JB’s introduction is adapted from an explanation by Miss Lawrence within Paper Apart L: ‘It was the custom of Doctr. Johnson when he wrote to Doctr. Lawrence on the subject of his own health to write in Latin. The following Letter is selected as being short. if Mr. Boswell wishes for the remainder they shall be transcribed & sent to him.’ 7 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’; JB later added ‘from Dr. Lawrence’, his earliest docket for this extensive Paper Apart, later deleted and replaced with a large ‘L’. For the context of Paper Apart L (most likely drafted by Elizabeth Lawrence) and JB’s provision for taking in material here, see Life MS i. 54 n. 6 and Corr. 2a, p. 185 n. 2. The text of SJ’s letter was printed in italics in the revises. 8 In the original letter ‘sanguinosi’ (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 34); uncorrected, but noted by Hill-Powell (iv. 143 textual note b). 9 A footnote on ‘Holdero’ was printed in the revises: ‘Mr. Holder, Dr. Johnson’s apothecary.’ In the second edition, the phrase ‘in the Strand,’ was inserted after ‘Mr. Holder,’. 1 In the original letter ‘imperetur’. For English translations making sense of SJ’s use of imperetur, along with the views of Macaulay (SJ should have written imperatum est) and Croker (SJ wrote either imperetur or imperator), see Hill-Powell iv. 144 n. 2, and Letters of Johnson ed. Chapman, ii. 479 n. 3.

115

H-P iv. 144

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1782

Maiis Calendis. 1782 Postquàm tu discesseris quo me vertam?a/2 Soon after the above Letter Doctr. Lawrence left London but not before the Palsy had made so great a progress as to render him unable to write for himself. — The following are extracts from Letters addressed to one of his daughters.a1 1.a2 ‘You will easily believe with what gladness I read that you had heard once again that voice to which we have all so often delighted to attend. May you often hear it. If we had his mind, and his tongue we could spare the rest. ‘I am not vigorous, but much better than when Dear Doctr. Lawrence held my pulse the last time. Be so kind as to let me know from one little interval to another the state of his body. I am pleased that he remembers me and hope that it never can be possible for me to forget him.’ / July 22. 1782 / [London del] 2. ‘I am much delighted even with the small advances which dear Doctr. Lawrence makes towards recovery. If we could have again but his mind and his tongue or his mind and his right handa3 [1st ed. ii. 419] we woulda4 not much lament the rest. I should not despair of helping the swelled hand by electricity if it were frequently and diligently applied.a5 ‘Let me know from time to time whatever happens, I hopea6 I need not tell you how much I am interested in every change.’ / Augst. 26 1782. 3. ‘Tho’ the accounta7 with which you favoured me in your last letter could not give mea8 the pleasure that I wished, yet I was glad to receive it, for my affection toa9 my dear friend makes me desirous of knowing his state whatever it be.a10 a

2 In directing the compositor to take in this material (see p. 115 n. 7), JB added, ‘upon vertam put a note and insert in it “Soon after” &c. down to the bottom of the next page—though 1783 be the last extract. They all hang together.’ They hung together also in Paper Apart L, running from the bottom of p. 3 to the bottom of p. 5. a1 Presumably Elizabeth. To dispel any ambiguity in this phrase, JB in the second edition changed ‘addressed’ to ‘addressed by Johnson’. Readings that deviate from those in Letters of Johnson ed. Redford (iv. 61, 70–71, and 111–12) are noted below. a2 In the revises, the numerical headings were omitted, and the date of each letter was printed on the final line of the extract, inside the quotation marks. a3 The compositor, mistaking ‘or’ for ‘in’, produced a nonsensical reading of this passage: ‘his mind, and his tongue in his mind, and his right hand’ (so in revises), an error never corrected. SJ was reiterating his mind-and-tongue conceit (l. 9) and imagining a second combination—mind and right hand—that likewise would have restored Dr. Lawrence in some measure to the ‘learned intelligent and communicative companion’ he cherished. Lawrence suffered a stroke in May 1782: ‘Dr. L had at this time his speech & right side much affected by a paralytic disorder’ (Paper Apart L, p. 3). a4 Printed in the revises ‘should’; error uncorrected. a5 Misprinted ‘supplied’; uncorrected. a6 Misprinted ‘and hope’, the ‘I’ having been mistaken for an ampersand; second edition, ‘and I hope’. The extra word has remained in editions of the Life. a7 MS orig. ‘accounts’; a bold ‘t’ written over ‘ts’ (tearing the paper) left the ‘s’ visible, and so ‘accounts’ was printed. Second edition, ‘account’, as in SJ’s letter. a8 SJ did not include this pronoun; error never corrected. a9 In the original letter ‘affection for’; uncorrected. a10 No paragraph break occurred here in the revises.

116

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

25

1782

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 144–48

[MS 859; 1st ed. ii. 419] To Captain Langtonb Rochester3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To Mr. Hector in Birmingham4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 To Mr. Hector in Birmingham 6 (without a date but supposed to be [this year>] about this time)5 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 ≤I wrote to him at different dates; regretted that I could not come to 9 London this spring, but hoped we should meet somewhere in the summer.6 10 mentioned the state of my affairs and suggested hopes7 of some preferment — 11 ‘I beg therefore that you continue to let me know from time to time all that 12 you observe. 13 ‘Many fits toa11 severe illness have for about threea12 months past forced my 14

kind Physician often upon my mind, I am now better and hope gratitude as well as

15 distress can be a motive to remembrance.’ / Feby. 4 1783 / Bolt Court Fleetstreet.

Mr. Langton being at this time on duty at Rochester he is addressed by his Military Title. b

3 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letter March 20’. SJ’s letter no longer forms part of the Life MS 4 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letter March 21’. This letter and the following one to Hector, no longer part of the Life MS, are in the Hyde Collection at Houghton Library, marked respectively by JB at the top ‘(P. 859) 1’ and ‘(P. 859) 2’. A footnote to the present heading was printed in the revises: ‘A part of this letter having been torn off, I have, from the evident meaning, supplied a few words at the ends and beginnings of lines.’ JB drafted this copy after his usual footnote symbol at the bottom of the first page of the letter. He drafted his conjectural readings on a slip of paper that matched up with SJ’s lines (recto and verso) along the tear that damaged the first leaf of the letter; see Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 25 n. 1. The year of the letter, misprinted ‘1781’, was corrected to ‘1782’ in the second edition. 5 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’, to which JB later added cue words, ‘That you and dear &c.’ In the revises, the parenthetical copy was printed within square brackets on the same line as ‘DEAR SIR’. On 1 Feb. 1785, Hector told JB that he had ‘many’ letters from SJ, but would ‘only inclose his last’, that of 17 Nov. 1784 (Corr. 2a, p. 42 and n. 9; see post p. 291 n. 6); by 15 July 1786 he had sent the additional letters taken in here (Corr. 2a, p. 132). JB’s revision of ‘this year’ to ‘about this time’ reveals his eventual doubt that the second letter had been written in 1782. For inferences as to the actual year—possibly 1777 or 1778 or 1780—see Hill-Powell iv. 147 n. 1; Letters of Johnson ed. Chapman, ii. 473; ed. Redford, v. 6 n. 1. SJ’s claim in the letter—‘My health has been, from my twentieth year, such as has seldom afforded me a single day of ease’ (so in revises)—led JB to seek clarification from Hector; see post p. 122 n. 5. 6 On 23 Feb. he had informed SJ, ‘Affraid I shall not have a good reason for being in London this spring. Would he meet me in Cumberland’, writing again on 18 Mar. ‘to the same effect’ (Reg. Let.). 7 Having begun this paragraph in the left-hand margin of the page, JB ran out of room here after two false starts—(1) ‘from the freindship of’; (2) ‘from the new minis[try]’— and directed the compositor to ‘see the back’. A gloss on the false starts, confirming that his hopes were related to the fall of the North ministry and the rise of Rockingham, is found in the record of his letter to Burke on 18 Mar. 1782: ‘Edmund Burke Esq: wishing for employment in London & consulting him if I should now be upon the spot’ (Reg. Let.). A trusted advisor and political ally of Rockingham, Burke was his private secretary. a11 a12

In the original letter ‘fits of’, as correctly printed in the revises. In the original letter ‘twelve’; uncorrected.

117

H-P iv. 148–50

1782

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

informed him that as ‘The Beauties of Johnson’ had been published in London, some obscure scribler8 had published at Edinburgh what he called ‘Deformities of Johnson.’ [1st ed. ii. 422] To James Boswell Esq:9≥ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [During÷Notwithstanding>] Notwithstanding his afflicted state of body and mind this year, the following correspondence affords a proof not only of his benevolence and conscientious readiness to relieve a good man from errour but by his clothing [1st ed. ii. 423] one of the sentiments in his Rambler in different language not inferiour to that of the original, shews his [admirable>] extraordinary command of clear and forcible expression.1 [Paper Apart2] A Clergyman at Bath3 wrote to him that in ‘The Morning Chronicle’ a passage in ‘The Beauties of Johnson’ Article DEATH had been pointed out as supposed by some readers to recommend suicide, the words being ‘To die is the fate of man; but to die with lingering anguish is generally his folly’ and respectfully suggesting to him that such an erroneous notion of any sentence in the writings of an acknowledged friend of Religion and virtue should not pass uncontradicted. Johnson thus answered the Clergyman’s letter .

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To The Reverend Mr.—— at Bath4 . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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J. Thomson Callender; see Hill-Powell iv. 499–500 (App. J). Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letter 28 March’. SJ’s letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. Regarding JB’s hopes of preferment, SJ replied, ‘I do not think this time of bustle and confusion likely to produce any advantage to you’ (so in revises); see n. 7 above. In the third edition, on the word ‘confusion’, EM added a footnote: ‘On the preceding day the Ministry had been changed.’ 1 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in from Gent. Mag. Feb. 1786 p. 93’. This article, following an introduction dated ‘Bath, Feb. 14’ and signed ‘A.B.’, comprised four numbered parts: (1) a clergyman’s letter of 4 May 1782 to SJ; (2) SJ’s reply of 15 May, clearing up his ‘errour’; (3) the clergyman’s grateful response of 18 May; and (4) an extract from The Morning Chronicle of 29 May, restoring the passage in question to its rightful context in Rambler No. 85, in which SJ’s purpose was ‘not to recommend suicide, but exercise’ (Gent. Mag. Feb. 1786, lvi. 93–95). JB doctored part (1) to create a narrative bridge into his quotation of part (2), added a brief coda by characterizing part (3), and used part (4) as a footnote. 2 JB evidently took a pen to the printed columns of Gent. Mag. on pp. 93 and 94 (see note above), turning part (1) of the article into his own narrative framing of SJ’s letter. The compositor was unable to follow his intentions, causing JB to substitute this Paper Apart. His note to the compositor above the copy—‘I find that what you have sent me for an explanation may be shortened thus’—reveals his aim of greater economy, given this second chance, in piecing together snippets from the printed text. 3 The Rev. Lancelot St. Albyn; see Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 39 and n. 1. 4 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in the Letter / and upon the word state = put a note and let the note be “What follows appeared in ‘The Morning Chronicle’” &c.’ Beneath this JB drafted his next direction: ‘After printing the Clergyman’s letter print as follows’. Having meant SJ’s letter, however, he deleted this and began anew: ‘After Dr. Johnson’s letter say / NP [This letter …’ (drafting the copy as transcribed next [p. 119 ll. 1–2] and marking it for a new paragraph). The footnote on ‘state’ was part (4) of the article in Gent. Mag. (see n. 1 above; Hill-Powell iv. 150 n. 2). 8

9

118

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

1782

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 151, 153–56

This letter as might be expected had its full effect, and the Clergyman acknowledged it in [a grateful and pious return.>] grateful and pious terms.a/5 ≤[Paper Apart C.D.6] The following letters require no extracts from mine to introduce them.7 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 On the 30 of August I informed him that my honoured Father had died 7 that morning; a [disorder÷complaint>] complaint under which he had long 8 laboured having suddenly come to a crisis, while I was upon a visit at the 9 seat of Sir Charles Preston from whence I had hastened the day before upon 10 receiving a letter by express. 11 12 13 14

[1st ed. ii. 426] To James Boswell Esq:8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In answer to my next letter I received one from him dissuading me from hastening to him as I had proposed. What is proper for publication is the fol15 lowing paragraph equally just and tender. ‘One expence however I would not have you spare9: let nothing be omitted that can preserve Mrs. Boswell, though it should be necessary to transplant her for a time into a softer climate. She is the prop and stay of your life. How much must your children suffer by losing her.’10 20 My Wife was now so much convinced of his sincere friendship for me and regard for her; that she without any suggestion on my part wrote him a very [kind>] polite & grateful letter. ≤The Correspondence may be seen at length [in del] Gent. Mag. Feb. 1786.a1≥ a

5 Here ended the ‘Interesting Correspondence with a Clergyman G.M. Feb. 1786’, as listed under ‘1782’ in Life Materials M 147. The compositor now returned to MS 859, where the next direction was added by JB in revision: ‘Then take in Paper CD’. 6 Headed ‘C.D. (for p. 859)’, the initials perhaps standing for ‘Complaint’ and ‘Disorder’ (see l. 7). JB’s advice to the compositor above the copy betrays a concern over the growing bulk of his second volume: ‘Pray print the letters in as compact a manner as may be, because the Copy seems too much.’ 7 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letters of June 3 and August 24’. These letters no longer form part of the Life MS. For JB’s footnote on ‘Easter’ in the first, see Hill-Powell iv. 152 n. 3; in the second, his footnote on SJ’s having ‘forgotten the authour of Gray’s character’ was unfinished in the revises: ‘The Reverend Mr. Temple. See Vol. I. p. ’. Deleting the cross-reference (see Life MS ii. 106 ll. 12–13 and n. 9), JB substituted ‘Vicar of St. Gluvias Cornwall.’ In the second edition, between these letters, another was added, ‘To Mr. PERKINS’, dated 28 Jul. 1782; see ante p. 96 n. 1. 8 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letter Septr. 7’. Given that this letter is untraced, its printed text in the first edition of the Life is used in Letters of Johnson ed. Redford (iv. 71–73). Redford notes two readings that were altered in the second edition: ‘its sorrows manifest’ to ‘it grows manifest’, and ‘Coriatachat’ to ‘Corrichatachin’ (both adopted by Hill-Powell). Only the former of these two corrections was included in Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition, p. 27. 9 Printed in the revises ‘you to spare’, the reading used in Letters of Johnson ed. Redford (iv. 73), as SJ’s reply to JB’s letter of 1 Oct. 1782 (L 673) is untraced. 10 Here, writing ‘Turn’, JB directed the compositor to the verso of the leaf. a1

JB deleted this copy in a later revision, but reinstated it by writing ‘stet’ twice.

119

H-P iv. 156–58

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1782

Dr. Johnson to Mrs. Boswell1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To JAMES BOSWELL Esq:2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mrs. Boswell to Dr. Johnson3/4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .≥5 [MS 859 resumed] [To Mr. John Nichols Printer6 del] [1st ed. ii. 429] The death of Mr. Thrale had made a very material [alteration upon÷change as to Johnson’s reception÷treatment>] alteration with respect to Johnson’s reception7 in that family. The manly authority of the [Master÷Husband>] Husband no longer [MS 860] [curbed÷checked>] curbed the lively exuberance of [Mrs. Thrale÷the Lady>] the Lady and as her vanity had been fully gratified by having the Colossus of Literature attached to her for many years she gradually became less assiduous to please him. Whether [there was so early as at this time any passion for Signor Piozzi whom she afterwards married I cannot say;>] her attachment to him was already divided by another object I am unable to ascertain; but it is plain that Johnson’s penetration was alive to her neglect or forced attention; for on the 6 of October this year we find him making a ‘parting use of the library’ at Streatham, and [using>] pronouncing a Prayer which he composed ‘On leaving Mr. Thrale’s Familya.’ ‘Almighty GOD Father of all mercy help me by thy grace that I may with humble and sincere thankfulness remember the comforts and conveniencies ≤Prayers and Meditations, p.— a1≥

a

1 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’; JB later added ‘To “I am”’, restricting the quotation to SJ’s first two sentences, but then deleted the restriction. This letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. Next came a false start—‘Mrs. Boswell to Dr. Johnson’, with the direction ‘Take it in’—deleted by JB and moved down the page to maintain chronological order within this grouping of letters. 2 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letter 7 Decr. / leaving out “Your resentment” & making * * * *’. SJ’s letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. Six asterisks in the revises marked the textual omission ordered by JB. 3 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’. This letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. 4 Printed in the revises ‘To Dr. SAMUEL JOHNSON. / Edinburgh, Dec. 20, 1782.’ 5 Direction to the compositor, ‘Return now to p. 859 and proceed to p. 861 and take in ≤Met &≥ J.N. &c. as relative to his curiosity & attention to literature & so close 1782. / Then begin 1783.’ For JB’s earlier directions concerning Papers Apart J.N. and Met., see next note, p. 121 n. 9, and p. 123 n. 9. 6 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letter Oct. 10 from Gent. Mag. Decr. 1784 p. 893’. In revision, deleting the letter heading and direction, JB substituted ‘ Paper JN’. This direction, deleted in turn, was superseded by the instructions at the end of Paper Apart C.D. (see note above). Drafting Paper Apart J.N. enabled JB to devote less space to this letter, and moving it enabled him to ‘close 1782’ on a positive note. 7 In revision, while intending to reject both ‘upon’ and ‘as to’, JB failed to delete ‘upon’. The apparent reading that resulted—‘upon with respect to’—forced the compositor to improvise: ‘alteration upon Johnson, with respect to his reception’ (so in revises). In the second edition, JB corrected the phrase to read as transcribed above. a1 Added, circled, and marked ‘Note’ in Plymsell’s hand; JB had left an asterisk in the text above. The absent page number was written in the margin of the revises: ‘214’.

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H-P iv. 158–60

which I have enjoyed at this place, and that I may resign them with holy submission equally trusting in thy protection when Thou givest and when Thou takest away. Have mercy upon me o Lord, have mercy upon me. ‘To thy fatherly protection o Lord I commend this family. Bless guide and defend them, that they may so pass through this world, as finally to enjoy in thy presence everlasting happiness [MS 861] for Jesus Christs sake. Amen.’ One cannot read this [fervent and affectionate÷affecting del] prayer without some emotions not very favourable [towards>] to the Lady whose [conduct produced the state of mind which gave occasion to it.÷occasioned it.÷conduct to him was the occasion of it.>] conduct occasioned it. [But if there was Love — what can we say? She was not so far in the vale of years as to warrant any allusion to turpe senilis amor.8 del] [His comparative happiness at Streatham in every respect had impressed his mind strongly. Even his Piety at publick worship would seem to have been more pleasingly fervid than common; for in one>] In one of his Memorandum Books I find ‘Sunday went to church at Streatham. Templo valedixi cum osculo.’9 [Paper Apart Met.1] He met Mr. ≤Philip≥ Metcalf≤e≥ often at Sir Joshua Reynolds’s and other places and was a good deal with him at Brighthelmstone [in 1782.>] this autumn being pleased at once with his excellent table and animated conversation. Mr. Metcalf≤e≥ shewed him great respect and sent him a note that he might have the use of his carriage whenever he pleased. Johnson (3 Octr. 1782) returned this polite Answer ‘Mr. Johnson is very much obliged by the kind offer of the carriage; but he has no desire of using Mr. Metcalf’s carriage except when he can have the pleasure of Mr. Metcalf’s company.’ Mr. Metcalf could not but be highly pleased that his company was thus valued by Johnson, and he frequently attended him in airings. [One day Johnson expressed a wish to see Cirencester.2 said he ‘was born there.’ ‘I’ll carry you’ said Mr. Metcalf. ‘Sir’ said he ‘I shall be obliged to you.’ They accordingly went, and he was much satisfied with what he saw. They visited>] They also went together to Cirencester and they visited Petworth and Cowdery the venerable seat of the Lords Montacute.3 ‘Sir’ said Johnson ‘I should like to stay here four and twenty hours. We see here how our ancestors lived.’ 8 JB quotes the pertinent half of the verse ‘turpe senex miles, turpe senilis amor’ (‘’Tis unseemly for the old man to soldier, unseemly for the old man to love’: Ovid, Amores I. ix. 4, trans. G. Showerman, rev. G. P. Goold, Loeb. Ed.). A small x above the ‘e’ in ‘turpe’ suggests some uncertainty about the Latin, unwarranted in this instance. 9 Beneath this paragraph, in revision, JB inserted a direction to the compositor, ‘Then Paper JN.’ In front of this direction, at a later stage of revision, he added ‘Paper Met—’. These directions reiterated, in situ, the final sequencing of these materials as laid out at the end of Paper Apart C.D. (see ante p. 120 n. 5). 1 Headed ‘Met. (p. 861.)’. The original heading of this single leaf, written on both sides, was ‘Mr. Metcalf.’ JB revised ‘Metcalf’ to ‘Metcalfe’ in three occurrences of his name, but otherwise relied on the compositor to adjust the spelling. 2 MS orig. ‘Chiches[ter]’, the birthplace of the poet William Collins—whose name probably belonged in the blank space that follows. JB’s inability to supply the name possibly led him to abandon this dialogue in revision. 3 Footnote added by EM in the third edition: ‘This venerable mansion has since been totally destroyed by fire.’ The fire had occurred on 24 Sept. 1793. Horace Walpole, having considered it the ‘loveliest and perfectest of all ancient mansions’, mourned its destruction as ‘a grievous loss to us Goths!’ (Hill-Powell iv. 507 [App. J]).

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1782

[He made Mr. Metcalf a present of his Lives of the English Poets with this inscription ‘To Mr. Metcalf from the Authour March 29, 1783.’ Upon the blank leaf of the first volume Mr. Metcalf has>] [He made Mr. Metcalfe a present of his Lives of the Poets. Upon the blank leaf of the first volume Mr. Metcalfe has>] [He made Mr. Metcalfe a present of his Lives of the Poets with an inscription in his own hand writing4 ‘To Mr. Metcalfe from the Authour.’ Upon the blank leaf of the first volume Mr. Metcalfe has written ‘This Work Mr. Edmund Burke pronounced to be the best Body of Criticism in the English Language. — Of stile — that Addison’s was the truest English. (He attended to Anglicisms.) That Johnson’s would translate best. — A conversation at Sir Joshua Reynolds’s table the day of the Dr.’s interment in Westminster Abbey which we attended.’ del] [In an extempore prayer of great energy, he mentioned a strong tendency to insanity from the age of 22.5 — This accounts for an expression to me when we went together to Chichester ≤in Octr. 1782≥ ‘that he had suffered more pain of body and distraction of mind than most men.’ See likewise his Preface to his great Work the English Dictionary, ‘written’ he says ‘not in the soft obscurities of retirement, or under the shelter of academick bowers, but amidst inconvenience and distraction, in sickness and in sorrow.’ del] [Paper Apart J.N.6; 1st ed. ii. 430] That his [love of literature>] curiosity ≤however≥ was unabated7 appears from two letters to Mr. John Nichols of 4 Here JB reinstated most of what he had deleted in first revision, writing ‘stet’ five times and underlining the inscription; next he deleted ‘stet’ above the date and above the phrase ‘with this inscription’ (to redraft it as transcribed). The rest of the paragraph saw no changes until its deletion in later revision. This passage, as transcribed in Corr. 2 (pp. 589–90), provided the information in Fleeman, Copies of Books, p. 43. 5 Trying to pinpoint the onset of SJ’s psychological troubles, JB on 15 July 1786 asked Edmund Hector about what SJ had asserted to him (ante p. 117 n. 5): ‘In one of the letters to you with which you favoured me, Dr. Johnson says that he had not enjoyed a day’s health since his twentieth year. That may refer to the first vacation he spent at home after being entered in Pembroke College. Was it then that he was first seised with a strong fit of “morbid melancholy”? or was it later? I know it was about that period.’ Hector replied that it dated from SJ’s ‘first fixing in London and his acquaintance with Mr. Thrale’, evidently referring to a later episode of marked deterioration in SJ’s mental health (Corr. 2a, p. 132 and n. 3). JB’s deletion of the present passage suggests that, deciding to trust SJ’s account in the letter to Hector, he concluded that the ‘dismal malady’ first afflicted him ‘in the college vacation of the year 1729’ (Hill-Powell i. 63). See also MS 883, where he deleted SJ’s recollection that he ‘grew melancholy’ at the age of ‘two and twenty’ (p. 143 ll. 29–30), and MS 900, where he disguised another reference by SJ to sickness at that age (p. 154 l. 8 and n. 2). 6 The first word of this Paper Apart covers the letter ‘W’, the final element of a false start: ‘To Mr. John Nichols / Sir / W[hile]’. To the left of the deleted letter heading, JB labelled the leaf ‘J.N.’, and to the right of it added ‘p. 861’. By deciding not to present the letter of 10 Oct. in full, JB reduced the copy to be typeset. Pinholes in ‘J.N.’ and the following letter (see p. 123 l. 12) suggest that he pinned them together. 7 As originally situated, below a passage that highlighted SJ’s ‘extraordinary command of clear and forcible expression’ (ante p. 118 l. 11), Paper Apart J.N. continued in this laudatory vein. Its intermediate placement, after the closing emphasis of Paper Apart C.D. on SJ’s stoic farewell to Streatham, required JB to insert ‘however’ into the first sentence to stress SJ’s resilience in the face of loss. But that pivot made no sense in its final position, following the glimpse of SJ enjoying ‘airings’ in Metcalfe’s carriage at the end of Paper Apart Met. JB remedied this flaw in the second edition: ‘That his curiosity was still unabated …’.

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H-P iv. 160–62

the 10 and 20 October8 this year. In one he says ‘I have looked into your “Anecdotes” and you will hardly thank a lover of literary history for telling you that he has been much informed and gratified. I wish you would add your own discoveries and intelligence to those of Dr. Rawlinson, and undertake the Supplement to Wood. Think on it.’ — In the other ‘I wish Sir you could obtain some fuller information of Jortin Markland and Thirlby. They were three contemporaries of great eminence.’9

≤To Sir Joshua Reynolds10≥ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 The Reverend Mr. Wilson having dedicated to him his ‘Archeological 11 Dictionary’, that mark of respect was thus acknowledged.11 12 13 14

[Sub-Paper Apart1] To The Reverend Mr. Wilson Clitheroe Lancashire

Reverend Sir That I have long ommitted2 to return you thanks for the honour conferred 15 upon me by your dedication, I intreat3 you with great earnestness not to consider as more faulty than it is — a very importunate and oppressive disorder has for some time debarred me from the pleasures and obstructed me in the duties of life[.] the esteem and kindness of Wise and good men is one of the last pleasures which I can be content to loose4 and gratitude to those from whom 20 this pleasure is received is a duty of which I hope never to be reproached5 with the final neglect[.] I therefore now return you thanks for the notice which I have received from you and which I consider as giving to my name not only more bulk but more weight not only as extending its [1st ed. ii. 431] superficies but as encreasing its Value — Your Book was evidently Wanted and will I 25 hope find its way into the schools6 to which however I do not mean to confine it for no man has so much skill in ancient rites and practices as not to want it[.] As I suppose myself to owe part of your kindness to my excellent Friend Doctor7 Patten he has likewise a just claim to my acknowledgements which 8 The second letter was dated 28 Oct. Nichols put the excerpt quoted by JB in a footnote to the letter of 10 Oct. (on the word ‘gratified’); see Hill-Powell iv. 160 n. 2. 9 Above the following letter heading JB inserted ‘Then paper Met’, deleting it later when he moved Paper Apart Met. ahead of Paper Apart J.N. (see ante p. 120 n. 5). 10 Direction to the compositor, ‘Novr. 14’. This letter—a later addition to the list under ‘1782’ in Life Materials M 147—no longer forms part of the Life MS. 11 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letter To The Rev. Mr. Wilson’. Notes in the Life Materials: ‘Dedication to him of the Archeological Dictionary. His Letter to the Authour of it, 1782 G.M. March 1785’ (M 157, p. 13; also M 147 under ‘1782’), and ‘Mem in 1782 his letter to Rev. Mr. Wilson Gent. Mag. March p. 187’ (M 158, p. 11). 1 Copied from Gent. Mag. Mar. 1785, lv. 187–88, without paragraph breaks, by JB’s daughter Euphemia. Deviations from Gent. Mag. (and SJ’s original as printed in Letters of Johnson ed. Redford) are noted below. 2 Printed ‘long omitted’; ‘so long omitted’ in Gent. Mag. (and SJ’s original). 3 So printed; ‘entreat’ in Gent. Mag. (and SJ’s original). 4 Printed ‘lose’, as in Gent. Mag. (and SJ’s original). 5 So printed, as in Gent. Mag. (SJ’s original: ‘to reproach myself’). 6 Misprinted ‘school’; this error has gone uncorrected. 7 Printed ‘Dr.’, as in Gent. Mag. (and SJ’s original).

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MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1782–83

I hope you, sir will transmit[.] There will soon appear a new Edition of my Poetical Biography[;] if you will accept of a copy to keep me in your mind be pleased to let me know how it may be conveniently conveyed to you[.] the present is small but it is given with good will by Reverend sir your most [obliged & humble servant>] &c. [Samuel>] Sam. Johnson. [Bolt Court Fleet street London del]8 Decr. 31st 1782 [MS 861 resumed] In 17839 he was still more severely afflicted than ever, as will appear in the course of his Correspondence; but still the same ardour for literature the same constant piety the same kindness for his freinds and the same [vivacity÷sprightliness of talent>] vivacity both in conversation and in writing1 distinguished him.

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

[To Mr. John Nichols Printer2>]3 [[MS 861v] On the 10 of January He thus writes to Mr. John Nichols ‘Now I will put you in a way of shewing me more kindness. I have been confined by illness a long time; and sickness and solitude make tedious evenings. Come sometimes and see &c.’ del] [[MS 862]

To James Boswell Esquire4>]

8 The revisions to SJ’s sign-off and signature were made by JB. He also, by drawing a circle around the address, apparently marked it for deletion, as it was omitted from the revises; on MS 924 (p. 187 l. 31), he both circled and scored through an address. 9 JB also posted ‘1783’ here in the margin, where it was printed in the revises. 1 Printed in the revises ‘and writing’, the preposition—partly covered by an interlined direction to the compositor—possibly having been overlooked. 2 Added in the same draft; direction to the compositor, ‘Take in [undeciphered false start] Letter Jan. 10 from Gent. Mag. Decr. 1784 p. 893’. Later, deleting his extract (ll. 15–18), JB deleted ‘Letter to Mr. Nichols in Gent. Mag.’ under ‘1783’ in Life Materials M 147. 3 In revision, having decided not to incorporate the full letter to Nichols (even though it was short), JB deleted the heading and told the compositor to ‘See the back’, where he had quoted a few sentences. At the end of this extract, once he had altered his approach to SJ’s next letter also (see next note), he added ‘—Then Paper A’. Later, deleting ‘See the back’, he deleted the paragraph on MS 861v and, in the lower lefthand corner of MS 861, recopied the direction ‘Paper A’. Later still, writing ‘Stet’ twice alongside the deleted paragraph, he wrote ‘See the back’ again and in the left-hand margin circled a clarification, ‘See the back before Paper A’. Finally, scoring through these directions and ‘Stet’, JB left his penultimate direction in effect: ‘Paper A’. 4 Above this letter heading JB wrote ‘Excerpt mine of 11 Janry.’, and below it directed the compositor to ‘Take in his (in part) ≤of≥ Feb. 4’. JB deleted these lines after drafting Paper Apart A (for ‘Auchinleck’). Judging by the reply it elicited, JB’s letter of 11 Jan. to SJ—‘giving an Account of my “Winters Walk” at Auchinleck’ (Reg. Let.)—was written in good spirits. (SJ’s poem of that title expressed the ‘Johnsonian … horrour at Life’; see Life MS i. 132–33). Moving about his estate, JB had relished ‘fine frosty’ mornings, ‘benevolent’ dealings with tenants, and ‘the loftiness of being Laird’ (Journ. 1, 2, 5 Jan. 1783). Since his father’s death on 30 Aug. 1782, he had experienced a newfound interest in his estate, as he told George Dempster on 3 Nov. 1782: ‘I am grown fond of country affairs which surprises me more than any thing I have ever yet met with in the course of my existence’ (Reg. Let.).

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[Paper Apart A5] Having given [him>] Dr. Johnson a full account of what I was doing at Auchinleck and particularly mentioned what I knew would please him, — my having brought an old man of eighty eight from a lonely cottage to a comfortable habitation within my enclosures,6 where he had [kind>] good neighbours close to him,7 I received an answer in february of which I extract what follows. ‘I am delighted with your account of your activity at Auchinleck, and wish the old gentleman whom you have so kindly removed, may live long to promote your prosperity by his prayers. You have now a new character and new duties; think on them, and practise them. ‘Make an impartial estimate of your revenue, and whatever it is live upon less. Resolve never to be poor. Frugality is not only the basis of quiet, but of beneficence. no man can help others that wants help himself; we must have enough, before we have to spare. ‘I am glad to find that Mrs. Boswell grows well, and hope that to keep her well no care nor caution will be omitted. May you long live happily together. ‘When you come hither, pray bring with you Baxters Anacreon. I cannot get that edition in London.’ [MS 862] On friday [21 March>] March 21 having arrived in London the [day÷night>] night before, I was glad to find him at Mrs. Thrale’s house in Argyll [Buildings.>] street, appearances of freindship between them being still kept up. I was shewn into his room, and after the first salutation he said ‘I am glad you are come. I am very [1st ed. ii. 432] ill.’ He looked [/very/ del] pale, and was distressed with a difficulty of breathing. But he soon [set off in>] assumed his usual strong and animated style of conversation. Seeing me now for the first time as a Laird or Proprietor of Land he began ‘Sir the superiority of a Country Gentleman over the people [on÷upon>] upon his estate is very agreable, and [whoever÷he who>] he who says he does not feel it ≤to be≥ agreable, lies; for it must be agreable to have a casual superiority over those who are by nature equal with us.’ Boswell. ‘Yet Sir we see great proprietors of land who prefer living in London.’ Johnson. ‘Why Sir the pleasure of living in London, the intellectual superiority that [is /to be/÷may be>] is enjoyed there may counterballance the other. Besides Sir, a man may [MS 863] prefer the [state÷life>] state of the Country gentleman upon the whole, and yet there may never be a moment when he is willing to make the change ≤to quit London for it≥.’ He said ‘It is better to have five per cent out of land than out of money, because it is more secure; but the readiness of transference and promptness of interest make many people [rather chuse÷prefer>] rather chuse the [funds.’ — ‘A man>] funds.8 Nay there is another disadvantage belonging A single leaf written on both sides, this Paper Apart is headed ‘A (for p. 861:)’. ‘Then went by the Tenshillingside, and visited old John Colvil whom I had placed in a good house there in his 89th. year’ (Journ. 5 Jan. 1783). Then retired, Colvil (or Colvin) had been a servant on the estate (see Corr. 8, p. 40 and n. 5). 7 Printed in the revises ‘near to him.’ JB corrected the full stop to a comma. A dash (to complement the dash after ‘please him,’) was added in the second edition. 8 In revision, JB’s insertion symbol for the next sentence (drafted on the facing page) covered the dash separating SJ’s sentences (in the journal interrupted by ‘He said’: Applause of the Jury, p. 74). 5 6

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1783

to land compared with money. A man is not so much affraid of being a hard creditor as of being a hard landlord.’ Boswell. ‘Because there is a sort of kindly connection between a landlord and his tenants.’ Johnson. ‘No Sir. Many landlords [here÷with us>] with us never see their tenants. It is, because if a landlord drives away his tenants he may not get others, whereas the demand for money is so great, it may allways be lent.’ He talked with regret and indignation of the factious opposition to Government [in Britain>] at this time and imputed it in a [good>] great measure to the Revolution. ‘Sir (said he in a low voice having come nearer to me ≤while his old prejudices seemed to be fermenting in his mind≥) this Hannoverian family is isolée here. They have no freinds. Now the Stuarts had freinds who stuck by them so late as 1745. When the [MS 864] right of the King is not reverenced there will not be reverence for those appointed by the King.’ His observation that the present Royal Family has no freinds has been too much justified by the very ungrateful behaviour of many who were under great obligations to his Majesty; at the same time there are honourable exceptions; and the very next year after this conversation and ever since the King has had as extensive and generous support as was ever given to any Monarch and has had the satisfaction of knowing that he was more and more endeared to his [people÷subjects>] people. He repeated to me his verses on Mr. Levett with an emotion which gave them full effect; and then he was pleased to say ‘You must be as much [1st ed. ii. 433] with me as you can. You have done me good. You cannot think how much better I am since you came in.’ He sent a message [to Mrs. Thrale that I was in the house.>] to acquaint Mrs. Thrale that I was arrived. I had not seen her since her husband’s death. She soon appeared, and favoured me with an invitation to stay /to/9 dinner which I accepted. There was no other company but herself and three of her daughters, Dr. Johnson and I. She ≤too≥ said she [MS 865] was very glad I was come, for [that del] she was going to Bath and should have been sorry to leave Dr. Johnson before I came. This seemed to be attentive and [kindly>] kind, and I who had not been informed of any change imagined all to be ≤as≥ well as formerly. [He had indeed said to me ‘Sir she is going to Bath. They have driven her out of town by attacks which she has provoked, by attacking every body.’ ≤(‘Who taught her, and encouraged her, in this?’ said a worthy and most conscientious friend.)1≥ del] He was little inclined to talk at dinner, and went to sleep after it. But when he joined us in the Drawing=room, he [was>] seemed revived and was again himself. Talking Of Conversation he said ‘there must in the first place be knowledge, there must be materials. — in the second place there must be a command of JB’s unresolved optional word was printed in the revises. Langton, as identified by Lustig and Pottle (Applause of the Jury, p. 74 n. 2). Notes forming the basis of this anecdote are found in Houghton MS Hyde 51 (9), a leaf headed ‘1783’: ‘Dr. Johnson said ≤of Mrs. Thrale≥ [he was glad>] “I am glad She is gone to Bath to some place where her head may cool. Sir they have fairly driven her from London. Sir She has made innumerable enemies by her tongue.” L said ≤to me≥ “Who has helped her to it.”—“Dr. J—n” said I. – “He knocks them on the head and she cuts their throats. They [MS orig. The] butcher it fairly between them.”’ 9 1

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 166–68

words. — in the third place there must be imagination to place things in such views as they are not commonly seen in. — and in the fourth place, there must be presence of mind and a resolution that is not to be overcome by failures. — This last is an essential requisite. For want of it many people do not excell in conversation. Now I want it. I throw up the game upon losing a trick.’ — I wondered to hear him talk thus of himself, and said ‘I dont [know. Sir You>] know Sir how this may be but I am sure You beat other peoples cards out [MS 866] of their hands.’ I [doubt÷am not sure>] doubt whether he heard this ≤remark≥. While he went on talking triumphantly I was fixed in admiration and said to Mrs. Thrale ‘O for short hand to take this down.’ ‘You’ll carry it all in your head, (said she). A long head is good as short hand.’2 — It has been observed ≤and wondered at≥ that Mr. Charles Fox [never talked with any freedom÷was allways very silent>] never talked with any freedom in the presence of /Dr./3 Johnson, though it is well known and I myself can witness that his conversation is various fluent and exceedingly [agreable÷pleasing>] agreable. Johnson’s experience however founded him in4 going on thus ‘Fox never talks in [conversation÷private company>] private company, not from any determination not to talk, but because he has not the first motion. A man who is used to the applause of the House of Commons has no wish for that of a private company. A man accustomed to throw for a thousand pounds if set down to throw for sixpence would not be at the pains to count his dice. Burke’s talk is the ebulition5 of his mind. He does not talk from a desire of distinction but because his mind is full.’ He thus curiously characterised one of our old acquaintance ‘xxxxxxxx6 is a good man Sir. [MS 867] But [xxxxxxxx÷he>] he is [/a vain man and/>] a vain man and a liar. He ≤however≥ only [1st ed. ii. 434] tells lies of vanity, of victories for instance in conversation which never happened.’ — This alluded to a story which I had repeated from that gentleman, to entertain Johnson with its wild bravado. ‘This Johnson Sir ≤said he≥ whom you are all affraid of, will shrink if you come close to him in argument, and roar as loud as he. He once maintained the paradox that there is no beauty but in Utility. “Sir” said I “What say you to the Peacocks tail which is one of the most beautiful objects in nature, but would have as much utility if its feathers were all of one colour.” He [felt>] felt what I thus produced, and had recourse to his usual expedient [Ridicule. “Sir” said he>] Ridicule exclaiming “a Peacock has a tail and a fox has a tail” and then he burst out into a laugh. “Well Sir” said I ≤with a strong voice,≥ looking him full in the face “You have unkenneled your fox; pursue 2 Printed in the revises ‘as good as short-hand’ (with the missing ‘as’), consistent with ‘O, for short-hand’ in the line above. Although Selfe marked this hyphen for deletion—to mirror ‘long hand’—JB retained it by scoring through the deletion mark in the margin. The compound spelling ‘shorthand’ appears in SJ’s Dictionary. 3 JB’s optional element was printed in the revises. 4 JB revised this phrasing in the second edition: ‘Johnson’s own experience, however, of that gentleman’s reserve was a sufficient reason for his’. 5 As spelled in JB’s journal; printed in the revises ‘ebullition’. 6 Printed as eight asterisks, for ‘Sheridan’ (Journ. 21 Mar. 1783, ‘old Mr. Sheridan’ on the next page). The story that JB relates below expanded on a note in the Life Materials: ‘Quote at General Paoli’s on dispute about no beauty but from Utility’ (M 157, p. 10).

127

H-P iv. 168–69

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1783

him if you dare.” He had not a word to say Sir.’ — Johnson told me that this was [an invention÷a fiction>] a fiction from beginning to end.a After musing for some time he said ‘I wonder how I should have any ennemies; for I do harm to nobody.’b Boswell. ‘In the first place Sir you will be pleased to recollect that you set out with attacking the Scotch; so you [got÷made>] got7 [MS 868] a whole nation for your ennemies.’ Johnson. ‘Why I own that by my definition of [Oats>] Oats I meant to vex them.’ Boswell. ‘Pray Sir can you trace the cause of your antipathy to the Scotch.’ Johnson. ‘I can not Sir.’ Boswell. ‘Old Mr. Sheridan says it was because they sold Charles the First.’ Johnson. ‘Then Sir old Mr. Sheridan has found out a very good reason.’ — Surely the most obstinate and sulky nationality, the most [irritable>] determined aversion to this great and good man must be cured, when he is seen thus playing with one of his prejudices of which he candidly admitted that he [1st ed. ii. 435] could not tell the reason. It was however probably owing to his having [seen÷had in his view>] had in his view the worst part of the scottish Nation the [keen hungry÷needy>] needy adventurers [who issue forth into England to avail themselves of their talents by cunning perseverance and watching every moment for flattery by which means he saw many of them ≤[MS opp. 867] Were I to insert all the stories which have been told of contests boldly maintained with him[,] imaginary victories obtained over him, of reducing him to silence and of making him own that his antagonists had the better of him in argument my volumes would swell to an immoderate size. One instance I find has circulated both in conversation and in print; that when he would not allow the scotch writers to have merit, the late Dr. Rose of Chiswick asserted that he could name one scotch writer who Dr. Johnson himself would allow to have written better than any man of the age, and upon Johnson’s asking who it was? answered ‘Lord Bute when he signed ≤the warrant for≥ your pension.’ — Upon which Johnson struck with the repartee, acknowledged that this was true.’a1 When I mentioned it to Johnson ‘Sir’ said he ‘if Rose said this, I never heard it.’a2≥ b ≤This reflection was very natural [in÷to>] in a man of a [good÷just>] good heart, who was not conscious of any ill=will to mankind, though the sharp sayings which were sometimes produced by his discrimination and vivacity and which he perhaps did not recollect were I am afraid too often remembered with resentment.≥ a

7 JB lightly deleted ‘got’ in revision, but then, above it, heavily scored through ‘made’, leaving ‘got’ (albeit with a line through it) to be typeset. a1 JB’s closing quotation marks—a stray pair—were omitted in the revises, maybe because the compositor was unsure where to set the initial marks, or viewed them as unnecessary. SJ’s own voice was sufficiently suggested by the italicized was. a2 JB drafted this passage as part of his main narrative, marking it ‘N.P.’ (above a grid, the insertion symbol on MS 867) for a new paragraph. Later, he wrote ‘Note’ over ‘N.P.’ and put the footnote symbol = beside the grid on MS 867. The genesis of this paragraph was a highly condensed note in the Life Materials: ‘Rose saying Lord Bute the best writer not true’ (M 155: 12). For the Rev. Daniel Astle’s version of this anecdote, see Corr. 2a, p. 453.

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 169–70

advanced÷prosper beyond their merits.>]8 many of whom he thought were advanced beyond their merits by means which he did not approve. Had he in his early life been in Scotland and seen the worthy sensible independent people who live rationally and hospitably ≤at home≥ [he÷his mind>] he never could have entertained such unfavourable and [MS 869] unjust notions of his fellow=subjects [of Caledonia del]. And accordingly we find that when he did visit Scotland [in÷which was not till>] in the latter period of his life, he was fully sensible of all that it deserved, as I have allready pointed out when speaking of his ‘Journey to the Western Islands’. [Having once indulged a prejudice he was unwilling to give it up. He cherished it as an old companion. I have heard him say ‘Sir I love my prejudices.’ added and del] /Next day/9 Saturday [22 March>] March 22 I found him still at Mrs. Thrale’s but he told /me that/10 he was to [go to his own house÷go home>] go to his own house in the afternoon. He was better; but I [saw÷could perceive he>] perceived was1 but an unruly patient for Dr. Pepys who [came to visit>] visited him while I was [there>] with him said ‘If you were [tractable>] tractable Sir, I should2 prescribe [so & so.>] for you.’ I related to him a remark which a respectable [freind÷foreigner>] freind3 had made to me upon the [present>] then state of Government when those who had been long in opposition had attained to power ≤it was supposed≥ against the inclination of the Sovereign. ‘You need not be uneasy ≤(said this gentleman)≥ about the King. He laughs at them all. He plays them one against another.’ Johnson. ‘Dont think so Sir. The King is as much oppressed as a man can be. If he plays them one against another, he wins nothing.’4 I had paid a visit to General Oglethorpe in the morning and was told by him that Dr. Johnson saw company on saturday evenings and he would meet me [there÷at his house tonight.>] at Johnson’s that night. When I mentioned this to Johnson [never>] not doubting that it would please him as he had a great value for Oglethorpe, the fretfulness of his disease unexpectedly shewed itself. His anger suddenly kindled, and he said with vehemence ‘Did not you tell him not to come? Am I to be hunted in this manner.’ I satisfied him that I could 8 In revision, JB’s final copy was preceded by a false start: ‘many of whom issue forth into England to avail themselves of their talents by cunning perseverance and seising every opportunity to flatter by means’. JB retained ‘many of’, but accidentally deleted ‘whom’ in scoring through the rest of the sentence (except for ‘by’, ‘means’, and ‘beyond their merits’—words turned to use in place and on the facing page). His inadvertent deletion of ‘whom’ was remedied in print. Note in the Life Materials (M 147): ‘Explain somewhere his prejudices against the Scotch. Generally the worst come to London as cunning Adventurers. Many excellent men at home.’ 9 Preceded by a lone virgule, JB’s unresolved optional phrase was printed in the revises. 10 JB’s unresolved optional phrase was printed in the revises. 1 Printed in the revises ‘he was’, in restoration of the pronoun deleted in revision. 2 Selfe’s query in the revises about replacing ‘should’ with ‘would’ was deleted. 3 General Paoli (Journ. 22 Mar. 1782; Hill-Powell vi. 462–63). 4 JB added this paragraph to MS opp. 869 in the same draft. He had skipped over the exchange in his journal entry to follow up his observation that SJ was ‘better’ with what Dr. Pepys said (see Applause of the Jury, p. 77). He then had proceeded with the next sentence, ‘I had paid a visit …’, but marked it for a new paragraph after drafting the addition on MS opp. 869.

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H-P iv. 170–71

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1783

not divine that the visit would not be convenient [MS 870] and that I certainly could not take it upon me /of my own accord/5 to forbid the General. I found Dr. Johnson in the evening [at home over tea and coffee with Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Desmoulins who÷in Mrs. Williams’s bed=chamber over tea and coffee with her and Mrs. Desmoulins who>] in Mrs. Williams’s room at tea and coffee with Mrs. Williams÷her6 and Mrs. Desmoulins who were [both ill also.>] also both ill. It was a sad scene, and he was not in very good humour. He said of a translation7 that had lately come out ‘Sir, if you should search all the Madhouses in England, you would not find ten men who would write so, and think it sense.’ [1st ed. ii. 436] I was glad when General Oglethorpe’s arrival was announced and we left the Ladies. Dr. Johnson [waited on>] attended him in the parlour, and was as courteous as ever. The General said he was busy reading the Writers of the middle age. Johnson said they were very curious. Oglethorpe. ‘The House of Commons has usurped the power of the Nation’s money and used it tyrannically. Government is now carried on by corrupt influence instead of the inherent right in the King.’ Johnson. ‘Sir, the want of inherent right in the King occasions all this disturbance. What we did at the Revolution was necessary. But it broke our Constitution.’a Oglethorpe. ‘[Um!>] [Humph. del] My Father did not think it necessary.’ [I came off with the General. del]

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≤[MS opp. 870] I have in my ‘Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides’ fully expressed my sentiments upon this subject[, as sanctioned by the respectable opinion of Blackstonea1 del]. [Let me add that del] The Revolution was necessary; but it was a [necessary evil>] necessary evila2 [independent of other bad consequences, added and del] because it for a long time blasted the generous 25 feelings of Loyalty. [But>] And now when by the benignant effect of time, [another Royal family>] [the Brunswick graft flourishes like a native shoot, &a3 the present Royal family>] the present Royal family is established in our affections, how unwise is it to revive by celebrations the memory of a shock [to our constitution which would surely have been better that it had not required.>] 30 [which it would surely have been better that our constitution had not required and which we should now forget.>] which it would surely have been better a

JB’s unresolved optional phrase was printed in the revises. JB did not resolve this element of his alternative phrasing; ‘her’ was printed in the revises, in keeping with the portion of the alternative phrasing that JB did resolve. 7 Printed in the revises ‘performance’. This word better obscured whose work was being ridiculed. In Journ. 22 Mar. 1783, SJ’s speech ended as follows: ‘… write such a Martial as Elphinstone had done and think it sense.’ Elphinston indeed found reason to complain about the treatment of his translation elsewhere in the Life; see Life MS iii. 184 n. 5. 5

6

a1 In the passage to which he refers (Hill-Powell v. 202–05), JB quoted from Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England, Bk. I, chap. 3. a2 Printed in the revises ‘but not a subject for glory’, evidence that JB’s caution in discussing this subject (marked by false starts and revisions throughout the note) carried on into his proof-reading. a3 It is unclear whether JB added this metaphor (borrowed verbatim from himself; see Hill-Powell v. 204) in the same draft or in revision. Its final form before deletion is difficult to decipher, as JB seems to have altered the beginning of the clause to read ‘the old Brunswick graft …’, possibly preceded by ‘and’.

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 171–72

[MS 871] On Sunday [23 March>] March 23 I breakfasted with Dr. Johnson who seemed much releived having taken opium the night before. He however protested against it as a remedy that should be taken with the utmost reluctance and only [in÷from>] in extreme necessity. I mentioned how commonly it was taken in Turkey and therefore it could not be so pernicious as he apprehended. He grew warm & said ‘Turks take opium and Christians take Opium. But Russel in his Account of Aleppo tells us that it is as disgraceful [for a Turk÷in Turkey>] in Turkey to take too much opium as it is [with÷for>] with us to be drunk. [/Sir/>] Sir It is amazing how things are exaggerated. A Gentleman was lately telling ≤in a company≥ where I was ≤present≥ that in France as soon as a man of fashion marries, he takes an Opera girl into keeping; /and this he [narrated>] mentioned as a general custom/8. “Pray Sir said I, how many Opera Girls may there be?”9 — [“About fourscore” /said he/.÷/He answered/ “About fourscore.”>] He answered “About fourscore.” — “Well then /Sir/1 [/said I/>] said I you see there can be no more than fourscore men of fashion who can do this.”’ Mrs. Desmoulins made tea, and she & I talked before him upon a topick which he had once borne patiently from me when we were by ourselves — his not complaining of the World because he was not called [MS 872] to some great office, nor had attained to great wealth. He flew into a violent passion I confess with some justice and commanded us to ‘have done’. ‘Nobody’ said he ‘has a right to talk in this manner, to bring before a man his own character and the events of his life, when he does not [like÷chuse>] chuse it should be done. I never [sought÷have sought>] have sought the World; the World was not to seek me. It is [1st ed. ii. 437] rather wonderful that so much has been done for me. All the Complaints [of÷which we hear of÷which are made of>] which are made of the World are unjust. I never knew a man of merit neglected. It was generally by his own fault that he failed of success. A man may hide his head in a hole. He may go into the Country, and publish a book now and then which nobody reads, and ≤then≥ complain he is neglected. There is no reason why any [Man>] person should exert himself for a man who has written a good Book. He has not written it for any individual. I may as well make a that our constitution had not required. [This consideration I humbly stated in my charge to the Grand Jury of Carlisle in 1788 when I had the honour to be Recorder of that ancient City.a4 del]≥ JB’s revision within this optional phrase, otherwise unresolved, signalled it for print. Of the internal quotation marks implicit within this exchange, only those enclosing the interlocutor’s two-word reply to SJ’s question were printed in the revises. Quotation marks were added to SJ’s question in the third edition, but not to his final rejoinder—an inconsistency found in all subsequent editions. 1 JB’s unresolved optional word (preceded by a single virgule) was printed in the revises. 8

9

a4 JB inserted ‘humbly’ before his verb after deleting several false starts for an additional sentence: (1) ‘I stated it with sincere good’; (2) ‘I stated it with a sincere good wish of counteracting what I at’; (3) ‘In my humble apprehension’ [deleted and drafted again]; (4) ‘for in my humble apprehension’ [in continuation of the present sentence]. JB arrived in Carlisle on Saturday, 26 July 1788; his records of being ‘in court’ on the 28th and 29th are followed by a lengthy gap in the journal; see English Experiment, pp. 248–50.

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H-P iv. 172–73

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1783

present to the Postman who brings me a letter. When Patronage was limited, an Authour expected to find a Mæcænas, and complained if he did not find one. Why should he complain? [Mæcænas had÷has>] This Mæcænas has others as good as he, or others who [had÷have>] have got the start of him.’ Boswell. ‘But surely Sir you will allow that ≤there are≥ many men of merit at [MS 873] the bar ≤who≥ never get practice.’ Johnson. ‘Sir, you are sure that practice is got from an opinion that the person employed deserves it best; so that if a man of merit at the bar does not get practice, it is from errour, not from injustice. He is not neglected. A horse that is brought to market may not be bought though ≤he is≥ a very good horse. But that is from ignorance not from intention.’ There was in this Discourse much novelty, ingenuity, and discrimination, such as is seldom to be found. [Yet I cannot help still÷Yet still I cannot help>] Yet I cannot help thinking that men of merit who have no success in life may be [forgiven÷pardoned>] forgiven for lamenting if they are not to be allowed to complain. They may [think it÷consider it as÷feel it>] consider it as hard that their merit should not have its suitable distinction. If there is no intentional2 injustice towards them on the part of the World because their merit has not been perceived, they [will÷may>] may repine against fortune or fate or by whatever name they chuse to call the ≤supposed≥ mythological power of Destiny. It has however occurred to me as a consolatory thought that men [MS 874] of merit should consider thus. — How much harder would it be if [some /men/÷certain men>] [certain men>] the same men had both all the merit and all the prosperity. Would not this be a miserable distribution for the poor dunces? Would men of merit exchange their intellectual superiority and the enjoyments arrising from it, for external distinction and the pleasures of Wealth? If they would not, let them not [grudge to>] envy3 others who are [deficient÷poor>] poor where they are rich, a compensation which is made to them. Let them look inwards and be satisfied, recollecting with conscious pride what ≤Virgil≥ finely says of the ≤Corycius Senex≥4 and which I have in another placea with truth and sincerity applied to Mr. Burke

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Regum æquabat opes animis. [1st ed. ii. 438] On the subject of the right employment of Wealth Johnson [said>] observed ‘A man cannot make a bad use of his money so far as regards ≤Letter to the People of Scotland against the [alarming del] attempt to 35 diminish the number of the Lords of Session. 1785.a1≥ a

2 Misprinted ‘internal’. JB corrected the error in the second edition while recasting the first half of this sentence: ‘Though there is no intentional injustice towards them on the part of the world, their merit not having been perceived, they may yet repine …’. 3 In substituting ‘envy’ for ‘grudge to’, JB did not score through ‘to’. The compositor ignored it. 4 In revision, JB filled in spaces left blank for the author’s name and the identity of the man whose characterization (in Georgics iv. 116–48) was applicable to Burke. a1 Although drafted eventually on MS opp. 874, this footnote was anticipated in JB’s original draft, as shown by an asterisk positioned from the outset after ‘place’.

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 173–74

Society if he does not hoard it. For if he either spends it or lends it out, Society has the benefit. It is in general better to spend money than to give it [/away/>] away; for [MS 875] industry is more promoted by spending money than by giving it /away/5. A man who spends his money is sure he is doing good with it. He is not so sure when he gives it away. A man who spends ten thousand÷£100006 a year will do more good than a man who spends [two thousand÷2000>] two thousand and gives away [eight÷8000>] eight.’7 In the evening I came to him again. He was rather fretful from his illness. — A Gentleman8 asked him [if>] whether he had been abroad today. ‘Dont talk so childishly’ said he. ‘You may as well ask if I hanged myself today.’ I mentioned Politicks. [He said ‘I’d>] Johnson. ‘Sir I’d as soon have a man to break my bones as talk to me of publick affairs internal or external. I have lived to see things all as bad as they can be.’ [When we were alone he told me that Mr. Lowe the Painter whom I had seen with him was a natural son of the late Lord Southwell.9 He then mentioned ‘Lord>] Having mentioned his friend the second Lord Southwell, he said ‘Lord Southwell was the highest-bred man without insolence that I ever was in company with; the most qualified [(word which I suppose he made at the instant to denote having the manners of a man of quality)1 del] I ever saw. Lord Orrery was not dignified. Lord Chesterfield was, but he was insolent. Lord xxxxxxxxx2 is a man of coarse manners, but a man of abilities and information. I don’t say he is a man I would set at the head of a Nation, though perhaps [MS 876] he may be as good as the next Prime Minister that comes. But he is a man to be at the head of a Club; — I don’t say [our Club. — For>] our CLUB; — for there’s no such Club.’ — Boswell. ‘But Sir, was not he once a factious man?’ Johnson. ‘O yes Sir. As factious a fellow as could be found; – one who was for sinking us all into the Mob.’ Boswell. ‘How then Sir did he get into favour with the King?’ Johnson. ‘Because Sir I suppose he promised the King to do whatever [he>] the King pleased.’ He said ‘Goldsmith’s blundering speech to Lord Shelburne which has been so often mentioned and which he really did make to him was only a blunder in 5 JB drafted ‘away’ as an optional word here and in l. 2 by situating it above the line, not within virgules. He pulled in the first by means of a caret; this second, left floating, was printed in the revises. 6 Printed ‘ten thousand’, in keeping with JB’s resolution of the next two sets of alternatives. 7 Next to this speech JB wrote, ‘See if this be not in a former conversation’. In revision, evidently having reviewed the conversation in which SJ ‘as usual defended Luxury’ (Life MS iii. 211 ll. 1–6; Hill-Powell iii. 291), he deleted the memorandum, underneath it commenting, ‘not quite the same So Stet’. 8 JB himself; see Applause of the Jury, p. 82. 9 JB alluded to this revelation earlier: see Life MS iii. 279 and n. 2, Hill-Powell iii. 380. 1 Not in SJ’s Dictionary, the adjective ‘qualified’ was used in this sense—‘Belonging to the upper classes of society; “of quality”.’—from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, but is now obsolete except in dialect (OED). In the second edition, JB changed the reading to ‘qualitied’. 2 Printed as nine asterisks in the revises, for ‘Shelburne’ (Journ. 23 Mar. 1783; Hill-Powell vi. 462–63).

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1783

expression. “I wonder they should call your Lordship Malagrida, for Malagrida was a very good man” meant I wonder they should use Malagrida as a term of reproach?’3 Soon after [this÷this day÷this time>] this time I had an opportunity of seeing by means of one of his freinds4 a proof that his critical acuteness and poetical talents5 as well as his obliging service to Authours were ready as ever. He had revised ‘The Village a Poem’ by the ingenious Mr. Crabbe. Its sentiments as to ≤the false notions of≥ rustick happiness and rustick virtue were quite congenial with his own, and he had taken the trouble not [MS 877] only to suggest slight corrections ≤and variations≥, but to [1st ed. ii. 439] furnish [sometimes a passage>] some lines when he thought he could give the Writer’s meaning better than in the words of the Manuscript.a [Thus instead of del]6

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[Paper Apart = a1] I shall give an [instance. In the Manuscript was this passage>] instance, marking the original by roman and Johnson’s substitution 15 16 in Italick characters. a

In fairer scenes where peaceful pleasures spring Tityrus the pride of Mantuan swains might sing But charm’d by him or smitten with his views Shall modern poets court the Mantuan muse? From truth and nature shall we widely stray Where fancy leads or Virgil led the way? On Mincio’s banks in Cæsar’s bounteous reign If Tityrus found the golden age again Must sleepy bards the flattering dream prolong Mechanick echos of the Mantuan song From truth and nature shall we widely straya2 Where Virgil, not where fancy leads the way. 3 Printed in the revises ‘blunder in emphasis:—“I wonder … man;”—meant, I wonder … reproach.’ 4 Sir Joshua Reynolds (Journ. 25 Mar. 1783); see Hill-Powell iv. 509–10 (App. J). 5 Printed in the revises ‘his talents’, evidently altered in proof; see p. 135 n. a3. 6 Treating these words as a cue phrase into a footnote, JB left an inch of blank space and began his next paragraph, ‘On Sunday 3’, only to delete this start (before finishing the date) and resume two inches farther down the page (‘On Sunday 30 March …’). The three inches of space gave JB room to insert an example of SJ’s ‘corrections’ later, either as a note or as main text, but in the left-hand margin he warned himself to proceed warily: ‘N.B. This must be touched very delicately.’ This space on MS 877 remained blank; in revision, to the right of a footnote symbol after ‘Manuscript’, he directed the compositor to ‘Take in Note’. Afterwards, having softened any reflections on Crabbe’s poetic craft (in the text changing ‘corrections’ to ‘corrections and variations’ and in the footnote concluding with praise), JB deleted the memorandum. a1 JB headed this leaf with his usual footnote symbol, and to its left added ‘Note for p. 877’. a2 Since SJ had not altered this verse, JB did not underline it. By mistake, however, it was printed in italics, an error corrected in the second edition.

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H-P iv. 176

On Sunday [30 March>] March 30 I found him at home in the evening, and had the pleasure to meet with Dr. Brocklesby [of whom I soon perceived that reading and practice of life and good spirits made÷make him a÷supply him with a÷afford a>] of whom reading7 and knowledge of life and good spirits supply him with a never=failing source of conversation. [He mentioned Sir John Pringle whom he praised as a very worthy man and said that his being President of the Royal Society had given him an opportunity to display a much greater variety of literature than he was supposed to possess. Johnson I knew had (I could not tell why except that Sir John was a Scotchman and had been Physician to William Duke of Cumberland in 1745) an inveterate prejudice against this respectable Man. So he did not relish the encomiums made upon him [MS 878] and was ready to seise the first opening to attack÷berate him. Dr. Brocklesby having proceeded to give an account of Sir John’s sad failure in spirits at÷near the close of his life and of his extreme penuriousness÷œconomy Johnson said>] [MS 878] ≤He mentioned a respectable gentleman8 who became extremely penurious near the close of his life.≥ Johnson said ‘There9 must have been a degree of madness about him.’ ‘Not at all Sir’ said Dr. Brocklesby, ‘his judgement was entire.’ Unluckily however he mentioned that although he had a fortune of £27000 pounds he denied himself [a carriage for fear÷from an apprehension he should die of want.>] [a carriage from an apprehension that he could not afford it.>] [many comforts from a supposed apprehension that he could not afford them.>] many comforts from an apprehension that he could not afford them. ‘Nay Sir’ cried Johnson ‘when the judgement is so disturbed that a man cannot count, that is pretty well.’ [This was a lively turn. But the fact was that Sir John whose skill assured him of his approaching death chose to contract his expence, and who can blame him that knows the judicious and

Here we find Johnson’s poetical and critical talentsa3 undiminished. I must however observe that the aids he gave to this poem as to the Traveller and Deserted Village of Goldsmith were so small as by no means to impair the 30 distinguished merit of the Authour. 7 MS orig. ‘Brocklesby whose reading’, altered to ‘Brocklesby of whom I soon perceived that reading’. JB in revision deleted ‘I soon perceived that’, but neglected to alter ‘of whom’. Given that ‘of’ was slightly out of the way, and ‘whose’ still visible underneath the superimposed ‘m’, the compositor may have remedied the flaw without knowing it, printing ‘Brocklesby, whose reading’ (so in revises). 8 Sir John Pringle, as confirmed under deletion (ll. 5–6); see also Journ. 30 Mar. 1783, Hill-Powell iv. 510 (App. J). JB harboured doubts about the passage from the outset, as shown by a deleted memorandum in the left-hand margin: ‘Qu if this should appear?’ In the end, concealing Pringle’s identity, he replaced sixteen lines of copy with this sentence in the margin of MS 878, but not before (at an intermediate stage) revising a few words within the passage—altering ‘an inveterate’ to ‘a strange’, deleting ‘sad’ before ‘failure’, and choosing ‘near’ from the alternatives ‘at÷near’. 9 In this sentence and the next, without inserting quotation marks, JB relied on phrasing—and here a capital ‘T’—to signal quoted speech. A lower-case ‘t’ was printed, however, with no quotation marks on SJ’s comment (so in revises). The capital ‘T’, partly camouflaged by a descender from the line above, may have been overlooked. a3

Printed in the revises ‘poetical and critical powers’; see p. 134 ll. 5–6 and n. 5.

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humane settlement which he made of that fortune which he had honourably acquired.1 del] I shall here give a few of [his>] Johnson’s sayings without the formality of dates as they have no reference to any particular time or place. ‘The more a man extends and varies his acquaintance the better.’2 ≤[Yet at another time I asked him with some warmth of disapprobation what an elegant freind of ours had to do at a Club with Mr. James McPherson and his companions. Johnson. ‘Why Sir it is mighty foolish’; and when I replied ‘But this is seeing more of Life. One should see every thing.’ Johnson. ‘Yes Sir but a man may be so much of every thing that he is nothing of any thing.’3>] [This however was meant with a just restriction; for when I at another time asked him with some warmth of disapprobation what an elegant freind of ours had to do at a Club consisting chiefly of persons of whom Johnson had a mean opinion he said ‘Why Sir it is mighty foolish’; and when I replied ‘But this is seeing more of Life. One should see every thing.’ Johnson. ‘Yes Sir but a man may be so much of every thing that he is nothing of any thing.’>] This however was meant with a just restriction; for, he on another occasion said to me ‘Sir a man may be4 so much of every thing that he is nothing of any thing.’≥ ‘Raising the wages of day=labourers is [injudicious÷wrong>] wrong; for it does not make them live better but only makes them idler, and idleness is a [MS 879] very bad thing for human nature.’ [1st ed. ii. 440] ‘It is a very good custom to keep a Journal for a man’s own use; [He÷one>] He may write upon a card a day all that is necessary to be written after [he÷one>] he has had experience of life. At first there is a great deal to be written, because there is a great deal of novelty. But when once a man has settled his opinions, there is seldom much to be set down.’ ‘There is nothing wonderful in the Journal which we see Swift kept in London, for it contains slight topicks and it might soon be written.’ I praised the accuracy of an Account Book of a /private/ person5 whom I mentioned. ≤JOHNSON.≥ ‘Keeping accounts Sir is of no use when a man is spending his own money and has nobody to whom he is to account. You won’t 1 At an intermediate stage of revision, before crossing out these final sentences of the paragraph (again erasing Pringle’s identity; see p. 135 n. 8), JB substituted the adjective ‘benevolent’ for ‘humane’. 2 The compositor set the implied quotation marks around this and the next quotation. JB marked the final two quotations. 3 Next to this draft, added on MS opp. 878 as a separate paragraph, JB jotted ‘This I believe in already’. His hunch was correct (see Life MS iii. 276 ll. 12–16 and n. 3), but he evidently confirmed it only after having revised the passage (as transcribed next), but no longer as a separate paragraph. At this point, he seems to have deleted the passage down to SJ’s concluding paradox (‘a man may be …’), only to reinstate it afterwards by writing ‘Stet’ twice in the margin. Finally, salvaging only what was required to set up SJ’s paradoxical saying, he scored through ‘Stet’, put two more deletion strokes through the passage (this time to the bottom), and below it redrafted an abbreviated version of the anecdote. 4 Mistakenly written ‘Sir a a man be’, but the correct reading (visible under deletion, l. 15) was printed in the revises. 5 Margaret (Cunynghame) Stuart (Journ. 1 Apr. 1783). JB’s unresolved optional word was printed in the revises. In the second edition, ‘private person’ was changed to ‘lady’.

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H-P iv. 177–78

eat less beef today because you have written down what it cost yesterday.’ — I mentioned a Lady6 who thought as he did, so that her husband could not get her to keep an Account of the expence of the family, as she thought it enough that she never exceeded the sum allowed her. Johnson. ‘Sir it is fit she should keep an account, because her husband wishes it; but I do not see its use.’ I maintained that keeping an Account [is of use to satisfy>] has this advantage that it satisfys7 a man that his money has not been lost [MS 880] or stolen which he might sometimes be apt to imagine were [no account kept of>] there no written state of his expence; and besides a calculation of œconomy so as not to exceed one’s income cannot be made without a view of the different articles in figures, that one may see how to retrench in some particulars less necessary than others. ≤This he did not attempt to answer.≥ Talking of an acquaintance of ours8 whose narratives which abounded in curious and interesting [topicks÷matter>] topicks were unhappily found to be very fabulous, I mentioned Lord Mansfield’s having said to me [quaintly÷in his equall humour del] ‘Suppose we beleive one half of what he tells.’ [Johnson.>] JOHNSON. ‘Ay. But we don’t know which half to beleive. By his lying we [not only lose÷lose not only>] lose not only our reverence for him, but all comfort in his conversation.’ Boswell. ‘May we not take it as amusing fiction?’ Johnson. ‘Sir the misfortune is that [you will÷you’ll>] you will ≤insensibly≥ beleive as much of it as [you incline.>] [suits your own turn of mind to do.>] you incline.’ It is remarkable that ≤notwithstanding a÷their9 congeniality in politicks≥ he never was acquainted with [Lord Mansfield. Yet he had I know not by what means investigated his intellectual character÷character as a man, of which he had no high opinion. He said ‘it is wonderful Sir with how little real superiority of mind men can make an eminent figure in publick life.’>] [the late Chief Justice. Yet he had I know not by what means investigated his Lordship’s intellectual character, of which he had no high opinion. He said ‘it is wonderful Sir with how little real superiority of mind men can make an eminent figure in publick life.’ I have heard Lord Mansfield speak of him as a writer with great respect.>] a late eminent noble Judge1 whom I have heard speak of him as a Writer with great respect. Johnson I know not upon what degree of investigation entertained no high opinion of his Lordship’s intellectual character. Talking of him to me one day, He said ‘it is wonderful Sir with how little real superiority of mind men can make an eminent figure in publick life.’2 He expressed himself to the [MS 881] same purpose concerning [Lord Loughborough>] another Law Lord,3 who it seems once took a fancy to associate with Second edition, ‘another lady’ (see note above). It was JB’s wife (Journ. 1 Apr. 1783). In revision JB simply added ‘s’ to ‘satisfy’; printed ‘satisfies’ in the revises. 8 ‘This, Mr. Chalmers thought, was George Steevens.’ (Croker; quoted in Hill-Powell iv. 178 n. 1). For SJ’s criticism of Steevens on grounds of mischief, not fabrication, see Life MS iii. pp. 201–02 and nn. 9, 1. 9 The second of JB’s unresolved alternatives, ‘their’, was printed in the revises. 1 Lord Mansfield’s name under deletion in this passage confirms the identification made first by Croker (‘No doubt’: v. 57) and later by Hill-Powell (‘Perhaps’: vi. 462–63). 2 No break occurred here in the revises; the paragraph continued. 3 Lord Loughborough’s name under deletion confirms the identification made by Mrs. Piozzi in her copy of the 1816 edition of the Life, and also by Croker (v. 57); see Hill-Powell iv. 179 n. 1. 6

7

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H-P iv. 178–79

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the Wits [1st ed. ii. 441] of London but with so little success that Foote said ‘What can [this man>] he mean by coming among us? He is not only dull himself, but the cause of dullness in others.’ Trying him by the test of his [appearances in that kind of society>] colloquial powers Johnson had found him very defective. ≤He [said to Sir Joshua Reynolds once>] once said to Sir Joshua Reynolds ‘This man now has been ten years about town, and has made nothing of it’ meaning as a companion.a≥ He said to me ‘I never heard any thing from him in company that was at all striking; and depend upon it Sir it is when you come close to a man in conversation that you discover what his real abilities are. ≤To make a speech in a publick assembly is a [knack÷trick>] knack.≥ [Thurlow’ said he ‘is÷Now I honour Thurlow’ said he ‘Thurlow is>] Now I honour Thurlow Sir. Thurlow is a fine fellow. He fairly puts his mind to yours.’ [A very fashionable Physician appeared to him /a/ shallow and frivolous /man/ in every thing else. ‘It is strange’ said he ‘that a Man who looks so far west should be so short-sighted when he looks east.’>] [A very fashionable & I understand a very successful Physician appeared to Johnson /a/ shallow and frivolous /man/ in every thing else. ‘It is strange’ said he ‘that a Man who looks so far west should see so little a way when he looks east.’4 del] After repeating to him some of his pointed lively sayings I said ‘it is a pity Sir you dont allways remember your own good [sayings>] things that you may have a laugh ≤when you will≥.’ Johnson. ‘Nay Sir it is better that I forget them, that I may be reminded of them and have a laugh.’ When I [recalled>] [reminded him of>] brought to his recollection5 [MS 882] his having said as we sailed upon Lochlomond that6 ≤if he wore any thing

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Knowing as well as I do what precision and elegance of oratory [this Lord>] 25 his Lordship can display, I cannot but suspect that his unfavourable appearance in a social circle which drew such animadversions upon him must be owing to a cold affectation of consequence from being reserved & stiff. If it be so and he might be pleasant if he would, [he cannot wonder that he misses his aim.>] we 30 cannot be sorry that he misses his aim.a1 a

4 Possibly Sir Lucas Pepys, whom Powell guessed to be the ‘foppish physician’ written about in Paper Apart Varia (a); see post p. 233 and n. 8. 5 Wanting to squeeze more copy onto this leaf, but without room for it where he usually indented a new paragraph, JB used the lower right-hand corner to draft ‘When I recalled’, and beneath it the catchword ‘his’. In first revision, he deleted ‘recalled’, above it writing ‘reminded him’ and expanding his catchword to ‘of his’. In second revision, scoring through these changes, JB drafted his final copy above ‘reminded him’, where the compositor read it as an addition to the end of the previous paragraph—a mistake that forced him to alter its pronoun—‘… have a laugh brought to my recollection.”’—and then to resurrect the original start to the next paragraph: ‘When I recalled’ (so in revises). In the second edition, addressing the oddness of SJ’s recollecting a laugh rather than actually laughing, JB changed the phrase to read ‘have a laugh on their being brought to my recollection’, and fixed the flaw at the start of the next paragraph by making it read ‘When I recalled to him’. Only the first of these repairs is found in Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition (p. 28). 6 The word ‘that’ starting a new line, JB left the rest of it blank to fill in SJ’s saying later. It was printed within quotation marks: ‘“That if … fine;”’ (so in revises). a1 Drafted as part of the main text, this sentence was bracketed for a footnote in revision, with JB telling the compositor, ‘“Knowing” &c. is a note upon Companion’.

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 179–80, 198–99

fine it should be very fine,≥ I observed that all his thoughts were [on÷upon>] upon a great scale. Johnson. ‘Depend upon it Sir every man will have as fine a thing as he can get, as large a diamond7 [/for his ring/>] for his ring.’ Boswell. ‘[Forgive÷Pardon>] Pardon me Sir. A man of a narrow mind will not think of it. A slight [trinket÷thing>] trinket will [satisfy÷please>] satisfy him Nec sufferre queat majoris pondera gemmæ.’ I told him I should send him some Essays [that÷which>] which I had written8 which I hoped he would be so good as to read and pick out the good ones. Johnson. ‘Nay Sir send me only the good ones. Don’t make me pick [’em÷them>] them.’9 On Thursday [10 April>] April 10 I introduced to him at his house in Bolt Court The Honourable and Reverend William Stuart1 son of the Earl of [Bute. I was glad that one of that family desired to wait upon Johnson whose pension was the most honourable act of Lord Bute’s Administration. The short notes which I find I have made of this interview are very short.2>] [Bute a gentleman Misprinted ‘can get; as a large diamond’, an error never corrected. Footnote added by EM in the third edition: ‘Under the title of “The Hypochondriack.”’ 9 The second edition saw an influx of new material here. Some appeared in the main text: ‘I heard him once … / … their own ease.’ (iii. 443–51; Hill-Powell iv. 180–89; Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition, pp. 28–31). The rest appeared amongst the ‘Additions to Dr. Johnson’s Life recollected, and received after the Second Edition was printed’: ‘Of Dr. Hurd … / … his ancestry.’ (i. *ii–*v, *xiii–*ix [sic for *xiv], and *xviii–*xxii; Hill-Powell iv. 189–98). In the third edition (iv. 205), one more paragraph appeared: ‘“This reminds me … / … Hodge shall not be shot.”’ (Hill-Powell iv. 197). The only copy for this material to survive is related to correspondence from Richard Owen Cambridge; for this, and for JB’s notes that generated the anecdotes on Bishop Hurd and on the sixpence SJ borrowed from JB, see Appendix B. For Sir William Chambers’s letter of 29 May 1792 to JB, which provides a backdrop to the paragraph about SJ’s perusal of ‘the manuscript of his “Chinese Architecture”’, see Corr. 2a, p. 373. For the sentence on Love and Madness, see n. 2 below. 1 Footnote added by EM in the third edition: ‘Now Lord Bishop of St. Davids.’ 2 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take them in’. Headed ‘10 April 1783’, the notes were these: ‘Hon & Rev WS Youll excuse or forgive or pardon the curiosity of a very young man who wishes to see you. Sir You do me honour. ≤Herbert Croft wrong to call Love & madness. Hackmans we have many.≥ Turkish Spy Mrs. Manley in her life says her father wrote the two first volumes.—In anoyr Book Duntons life & opinions find rest written by one Sault. Gravina an Italian Critick observes every man desires to see what he has read. No man to read what he has seen. so much does description fall short of reality [MS orig. reality fall short of description]. Russians young Barbarians w no policy conquer Nation that had nothing else. Sir W Temple said all this. [Undeciphered words] did not know he lied as Voltaire. This reign very factious owing to too much indulgence. I think so Sir. What first was lenity then grew timidity. Yet reasoning a posteriori may not be just. Suppose a few at first [?severely del] punished might have been said a sanguinary reign a man cannot tell a priori. The reign has been very unfortunate. We have had an unsuccessful war. But that does not prove our being ill governed. One side or other must prevail in War as one or other must win at play. When we beat Lewis we wer[e] not better governed [false start than]. Nor were the french better governed when Lewis beat us’ (J88). The saying inserted about Love and Madness possibly led to the sentence about it added to the second edition (Hill-Powell iv. 187; see n. 9 above). JB did not include the sayings connected with Sir William Temple when drafting Paper Apart (P. 882); they remain obscure. 7

8

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1783

truly worthy of being known to Johnson being with all the advantages of high birth, travel and elegant manners a learned and conscientious Divine with no other preferment but the living of his Father’s parish of Luton in which he is an exemplary Minister, not merely by doing his duty in the pulpit, which is the smallest part of the office of a good pastor, but by instructing those under his care and visiting the sick to whom he charitably administers temporal and spiritual comfort.3>] Bute a gentleman truly worthy of being known to Johnson being with all the advantages of high birth, learning travel and elegant manners an exemplary parish priest in every respect.4 [Paper Apart (P. 882) 1; 1st ed. ii. 442] [I presented the Rev. and Hon. William Stuart to Dr. Johnson. I shall endeavour to write down what passed pretty exactly. Mr. S. ‘Sir you’ll forgive the curiosity of a very young Man who wishes to see you.’ Dr. J. ‘Sir you do me honour.’ Mr. B. ‘I hope you are better to day Sir.’ Dr. J. ‘Why yes.’ B. ‘This fine weather will do you good. But we must have a jaunt somewhere. We make it out together exceedingly well. Our Journey to the Hebrides was very curious.’ J. ‘I got>] After some compliments on both sides the Tour which Johnson & I had made to the Hebrides was mentioned. Johnson. ‘I got an acquisition of more ideas by it than by any thing that I remember. I saw quite a different system of life.’ B≤oswell≥. ‘You would not like to make the same journey again.’ J≤ohnson≥. ‘Why no Sir. Not the same. It is a tale told. Gravina an Italian Critick observes that every man desires to see that of which he has read but no man desires to read an account of what he has seen. So much does description fall short of reality. Description only excites curiosity. Seeing satisfies it. Other people may go and see the Hebrides.’ [S. ‘Your Book Sir has diffused a general knowledge of that system of life.’5 del] B≤oswell≥. ‘I should wish to go and see some country totally different from what I have been used to, such as Turkey where Religion and every thing else are different.’ J≤ohnson≥. ‘Yes, Sir. There are two Objects of Curiosity the Christian World and the Mahometan World. All the rest may be considered as barbarous.’ [B. ‘There6 del] [Paper Apart (P. 882) 1v] Boswell. ‘Pray Sir is the Turkish Spy a genuine Book?’ Johnson. ‘No Sir. Mrs. Manley in her life says that her father wrote the two first volumes; and in another Book Dunton’s Life and Opinions7 we find that the 3 In first revision, having scored through the sentence ‘The short notes …’ (p. 139 ll. 14–15), JB widened his deletion to take in the previous sentence (‘I was glad …’: p. 139 ll. 13–14). He placed the symbol # after ‘Bute’ and on the facing page, next to the corresponding symbol, drafted this extension to the opening sentence of the paragraph. Above this passage he afterwards wrote ‘Note’, but later changed his mind, designating it ‘Text’ once he had shortened the copy considerably in final revision. 4 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Paper apart’, replacing the earlier direction (see n. 2 above) for printing the ‘very short’ notes that JB expanded into these Papers Apart. The first leaf, (P. 882) 1, catalogued as part of J 88, now is kept with the journal; leaves 2 through 4 are kept with the Life MS. 5 Deleted in second revision; in first revision, JB had expanded ‘S’ to ‘Stuart’. 6 This word at the bottom of the page, with the catchword ‘is’ beneath it, led onto a leaf that is missing. JB probably discarded it in revision, shifting its contents onto the verso of the present leaf. On the recto, he had abbreviated the speaker tags; on the later verso, he spelled them in full. Here, in revision, he deleted the start of this speech and replaced the catchword ‘is’ with ‘Boswell’. 7 In the revises, JB corrected the title (printed within quotation marks) to read ‘Dunton’s Life and Errours’.

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rest was written by one Sault ≤at two guineas a sheet, under the direction of Dr. Midgeley≥.’8 Boswell. ‘This has been a very factious reign owing to [too much indulgence by>] the too great indulgence of Government.’ Johnson. ‘I think so Sir. What /at/9 first was lenity [then del] grew timidity. Yet this is reasoning a posteriori, and may not be just. Supposing a few had at first been punished I beleive faction would have been crushed; but it might have been said that it was a sanguinary reign. A man cannot tell a priori what will be best for government to do. This reign has been very unfortunate. We have had an unsuccessful war. But that does not prove [that we have been÷our being>] that we have been ill governed. One side or other must prevail in war, as one or other must win at play. When we beat Lewis we were not better governed; nor were the french better governed when Lewis beat us.’10 [Paper Apart (P. 882) 2] On Saturday [12 April>] April 12 I visited him in company with Mr. [Wyndham>] Windham of Norfolk whom though a Whig he highly valued. One of the best things he ever said was to [Mr. Wyndham>] this gentleman who before he set out for Ireland as Secretary to Lord Northington when Lord Lieutenant, expressed to [Johnson>] the Sage some modest and virtuous doubts [as to his being able to discharge the important duty of a Statesman in that conspicuous and difficult situation.>] whether he could bring himself to practise those arts which ≤it is supposed≥ a person in that situation has occasion to employ. ‘Dont be affraid Sir’ said Johnson with a pleasant smile, ‘You will soon make a very pretty rascal.’ [1st ed. ii. 443] He talked today a good deal of the wonderful extent and variety of London, and [how men>] observed that men of curious inquiry might see in it such modes of life as very few could even imagine. He in particular recommended to us to [‘explore Wapping.’>] ‘explore Wapping’ which we resolved to do, and certainly shall.1 Mr. Lowe the Painter ≤who≥ was with him, ≤was≥ very much distressed that a large picture which he had painted was refused to be received [Paper Apart (P. 882) 2v] into the Exhibition of the Royal Academy. Mrs. Thrale knew Johnson’s character so superficially as to represent him as unwilling to do small acts of benevolence and mentions in particular that he would [not>] hardly take the 8 For the footnote EM placed here in the third edition, and for Powell’s discussion pertaining to The Turkish Spy, see Hill-Powell iv. 200 n. 2 and 517–19 (App. J). 9 JB’s unresolved optional preposition was printed in the revises. 10 Here, at the bottom of (P. 882) 1v, JB in revision added the catchphrase ‘On Saturday 12 April’, later deleting ‘12’ once he had transposed the date and month on the next page. 1 In the second edition, omitting ‘and certainly shall’, JB put a footnote on ‘do’: ‘We accordingly carried our scheme into execution, in October, 1792; but whether from that uniformity which has in modern times, in a great degree, spread through every part of the Metropolis, or from our want of sufficient exertion, we were disappointed.’ Exertion was wanting on both sides. On 26 Oct. 1792, the day before their outing, Windham had urged JB to change plans: ‘It will be a sad scandal, if an attender on executions, and an explorer of Wapping should never have been present at a boxing match. … Instead of going to Wapping suppose we go thither’ (Corr. 3, pp. 377–78 and nn. 2–3). Depression was a factor for JB; on 29 Oct., taking up his journal after a gap of more than forty days, he began, ‘A severe fit of hypochondria, which had distressed me grievously for some time, still continued’ (Great Biographer, p. 190).

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trouble to write a letter in favour of any of his freinds. The truth however is that he was remarkable in an extraordinary degree for what she denies to him, and above all for this very sort of kindness, writing letters for those to whom his solicitations might be of service. He now gave Mr. Lowe the following [/Letters/ del] of which I was diligent enough ≤with his permission2≥to take copies at the next coffeehouse ≤while Mr. Windham was so good as to wait by me≥.3 [Paper Apart (P. 882) 3[a]] To Sir Joshua Reynolds4

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Sir

Mr. Lowe considers himself as cut off from all credit & all hope by ye rejection of his picture from ye exhibition.5 Upon this work he has exhausted all his powers and suspended all his expectations; and certainly to be refused an opportunity of taking the opinion of the Publick is in itself a very great hardship. It is to be condemned without a trial. If you could procure the revocation of this incapacitating edict you would deliver an unhappy man from great affliction. The council has sometimes reversed its own determination and I hope that by your interposition this luckless picture may be got admitted. I am / [Sir / Your most humble servant>] &c. Sam. Johnson / April 12 1783. [Paper Apart (P. 882) 3[b]]

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To Mr. Barry.

Sir

20

Mr. Lowes exclusion from the exhibn gives him more trouble than you and ye r oy Gentlemen of the Council could imagine or intend. He considers disgrace and ruin as the inevitable consequence of your determination. He says that some pictures have been received after rejection and if there be any such precedent I earnestly intreat yt you will use your interest [1st ed. 25 ii. 444] in his favour. Of his Work I can say nothing. I pretend not to judge of painting and this picture I never saw but I conceive it extremely hard to shut out any man from the possibility of success and therefore I repeat my request that you will propose the reconsideration of Mr. Lowes case and if there be any among the Council with whom my name can have any weight be pleased to 30 communicate to them the desire of Sir Your most humble servant Sam Johnson / Apr. 12 1783 2 In Lowe’s telling, he was ‘overcome’ by JB’s entreaties and ‘had no power to refuse’ going with him to Peele’s coffee-house for the letters to be copied (Memoirs of the Late Thomas Holcroft, 3 vols., 1816, iii. 29–31). 3 Here JB duplicated the letter headings already on the Papers Apart and directed the compositor to ‘Take them in’. Each copy fills the recto of a separate leaf, and on the back of the Barry copy they are docketed ‘Letter to Sr. Joshua Reynolds, and Mr. Barry’. JB anticipated this passage under the year 1783 in the Life Materials (M 147): ‘Letter to Mr. Barry in favour of Mr. Lowe the Painter. / N.B. This, & that to Sir Joshua should come together.’ JB later numbered the Reynolds leaf ‘(P. 882) 3’. 4 Misprinted ‘RERNOLDS’; corrected in the second edition. 5 The abbreviations in these letters—signs of JB’s haste in copying them—were converted to full spellings by the compositor.

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H-P iv. 202–03

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[Paper Apart (P. 882) 2v resumed] Such intercession was too powerful to be resisted and Mr. Lowe’s performance was admitted at Somerset House. The subject ≤as I recollect≥ was the Deluge at that point of time when the water was verging to the top of the last ≤uncovered≥ Mountain. Near to the spot [Paper Apart (P. 882) 4] was seen the last of the Antedeluvian race exclusive of those who were saved in the Ark of Noah. This was one of those giants then the inhabitants of the Earth who had still strength to swim, and [in÷with>] with one of his hands held [up>] aloft his infant child. Upon the small remaining dry spot appeared a famished Lion ready to spring at the child & devour it. Mr. Lowe told me that Dr. Johnson said to him ‘Sir your6 picture is noble and probable.’ [‘Sir a compliment’ said>] ‘A compliment indeed’ said Mr. Lowe ‘from a man who cannot lie and cannot be mistaken.’ [MS 882 resumed7] ≤About this time he wrote [the following Letter which he omitted to date.÷without a date.

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To Mrs. Lucy Porter>]

to Mrs. Lucy Porter mentioning his bad health and that he intended a visit to Lichfield. ‘It is (says he) with no great expectation of amendment that I make every year a journey into the country; but it is pleasant to visit those whose kindness has been often experienced.’≥ 20 [On friday8 18 April>] April 18 (being Good Friday) I found him at Breakfast in his usual manner upon that day [taking>] drinking tea without milk [MS 883] and eating a cross=bun merely to prevent faintness. [He said ‘My last long walk was from Miss Monckton’s. I would not have a coach called, as I thought I should find one in my way. There were none at the head of St. James’s street 25 where I never before missed them. There were none at Charing=Cross. — When I came to the New=Church in the Strand I found them there.÷they were there. “Nay” said I. “I won’t take one now, I’m so near home.”’ Boswell. ‘I think you dont love walking Sir. Did you ever walk for walking’s sake?’ Johnson. ‘I once walked a good deal. I left it off at two and twenty when I grew 30 melancholy.’9 del] We went to St. Clement’s Church as formerly [and there was something of an agreable permanency in having the same Curate to read prayers the same Mr. Burrows to preach del].

Printed ‘yonr’, a typographical error corrected in the second edition. Having finished with Paper Apart (P. 882), the compositor returned to MS 882, where the symbol led him to the facing page for a sentence (added in revision) introducing a letter from SJ to Lucy Porter, with the direction to ‘Take it in’. Later, JB decided merely to paraphrase its topics and quote one passage. As the letter has not been recovered, JB’s extract is the only part of it presented in Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 122, dated ‘c. Saturday 12 April 1783’ by its context in the Life. From whom JB obtained the letter is unknown (see Corr. 2a, p. 66 n. 4). 8 In revision, JB deleted ‘friday’, made redundant by his naming of the holy day within the same line. Inadvertently, he also deleted ‘On’, but the preposition was restored in print. 9 JB deleted this passage in revision, perhaps to avoid an inconsistency regarding the period when SJ first ‘grew melancholy’; see ante pp. 117 n. 5 and 122 n. 5, and Corr. 2a, p. 133 n. 2. 6 7

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[He told me a curious Anecdote, that within these few months his÷my old freind Edwards met him÷me1 in the street and said ‘I am told you have lately published a very ingenious Book called the Rambler. Is it true.’ — ‘I was not willing he should leave the World in total darkness so I sent÷and sent him a set.’>] [He told me a curious Anecdote, that a few months before his old freind Edwards met him in the street and said ‘I am told you have lately published a very ingenious Book called the Rambler. Is it true.’ — ‘I was not willing (said Johnson) he should leave the World in total darkness so I sent him a set.’2 del] 3 When we came home from Church he placed himself on one of the stone=seats at his Garden door and I took the other, and [MS 884] thus in the open air and in a placid frame he talked away very easily. Johnson. ‘Were I a Country gentleman I should not be very hospitable, I should not have crowds in my house.’ Boswell. ‘Sir Alexander Dick tells me that he remembers having [/at the rate of/ del] a thousand people in a year to dine at his house; that is reckoning each person one each time that he dined there.’ Johnson. ‘That ≤Sir≥ is about three a day.’ Boswell. ‘How your statement lessens the [notion÷idea>] idea.’ Johnson. ‘That Sir is the good of counting. It brings every thing to a certainty which before floated in the mind indefinitely.’ Boswell. ‘But Omne [1st ed. ii. 445] ignotum pro magnifico [habetur÷est>] est.4 One is sorry to have this diminished.’ Johnson. ‘Sir you should not allow yourself to be delighted with [falshood>] errour.’ Boswell. ‘Three a day seem but few.’ Johnson. ‘Nay Sir he who entertains three a day does very liberally. And [if there is a large family÷in a great family>] if there is a large family the poor entertain those three; for they eat what the poor would get. There must be superfluous meat. It must be given to the poor, or thrown out.’ Boswell. ‘I observe in London that the poor go about and gather bones which I understand are manufactured.’ Johnson. ‘Yes Sir ≤they boil them and [get÷extract>] extract a grease from them for greasing wheels and other purposes≥. Of the best pieces they make a mock ivory which is used for hafts to knives and various [other purposes>] other things. [MS 885] The coarser pieces they burn, and pound them, and sell the ashes.’ Boswell. ‘For what purpose Sir?’ Johnson. ‘Why Sir for making a furnace÷furnaces5 for the Chymists for melting iron. A paste made of burnt bones will stand a stronger heat than any thing else. Consider Sir if [you’re÷you are>] you are to melt iron, you cannot line your pot with brass because it is softer than iron and would melt sooner; nor with iron; for, though malleable iron is harder than cast iron, yet it would not do. But a paste of burnt bones will not melt.’ Boswell. ‘/Do you know 1 Although JB did not draft ‘me’, it was implied by the preceding alternatives ‘his÷my’. 2 JB deleted this anecdote later. He was working on this section of the Life in late Jan. 1791 when he realized—by reading proof—that he had quoted this saying already; see ante p. 73 ll. 3–5. On 18 Jan. he reported to EM that ‘P. 376 of Vol. II is ordered for press and I expect another proof tonight’ (Corr. 4, p. 390; Corr. 2a, p. lxv). The proof he expected, sig. Ccc (pp. 377–84), contained the anecdote (on p. 382). 3 Printed in continuation of the paragraph beginning ‘On April 18’ (p. 143 l. 20). 4 In revision, JB first scored through ‘est’, but then heavily deleted ‘habetur’ and wrote in ‘est’ again. His uncertainty over the final word in this phrase from Tacitus, Agricola I. xxx, was also evident in his earlier quotation of it; see Life MS iii. 236 ll. 2–4. 5 JB drafted his alternative by placing an ‘s’ above the end of ‘furnace’, evidently overlooked in revision. Ignoring it, the compositor typeset ‘a furnace’ (so in revises).

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Sir/6 I have discovered a manufacture to a great extent of what you only piddle7 at — scraping and drying the peel of Oranges.8 At a place in Newgate=street there is a prodigious quantity done, which they sell to the Distillers.’ Johnson. ‘Sir I beleive they make a higher thing out of them than a spirit. They make what is called Orange=Butter, the oil of the Orange inspissated, which they mix perhaps with common pomatum and make it fragrant. The oil does not fly off in the drying.’ Boswell. ‘I wish to have a good [garden with walls.>] walled garden.’ Johnson. ‘I dont think it would be worth the expence to you. We compute in England a park=wall [MS 886] at [a thousand pounds÷£1000>] a thousand pounds a mile. Now a garden=wall must cost at least as much. You intend your trees should grow higher than a deer will leap. Now let us see; — for [a hundred pounds÷£100>] a hundred pounds you could only have [forty four÷44>] forty four square yards which is very little. For [two hundred pounds÷£200>] two hundred pounds you may have [eighty four÷84>] eighty four square yards which is very well. But when will you get the value of [two hundred pounds÷£200>] two hundred pounds off walls9 in your climate? No Sir such a contention with Nature is not worth while. I would plant an Orchyard1, and have plenty of such fruit as ripen well in your country. My freind Dr. Madan2 of Ireland said that in an Orchyard there should be enough to eat, enough to lay up, enough to be stolen, and enough to rot upon the ground. Cherries are an early fruit. You may have them; and you may have the early apples and [1st ed. ii. 446] pears.’ Boswell. ‘We cannot have Nonpareils.’ Johnson. ‘Sir you can no more have Nonpareils than you can have grapes.’ Boswell. ‘We have them Sir. But they are very bad.’ Johnson. ‘Nay Sir. Never [MS 887] try to have a thing merely to shew that you [cannot÷can not>] cannot have it. For ground that would let for forty shillings you may have a large Orchyard; and you see it costs you only forty shillings. Nay you may graze the ground when the trees are [old÷up>] grown up. You cannot while they are young.’ Boswell. ‘Is not a good garden a very common thing in England Sir?’ Johnson. ‘Not so common Sir as you would imagine. In Lincolnshire there is hardly an Orchyard; in Staffordshire very little fruit.’ Boswell. ‘Has Langton no Orchyard?’ Johnson. ‘No Sir.’ Boswell. ‘How so Sir?’ Johnson. ‘Why Sir from the general negligence of the County. He has it not, because nobody else has it.’ Boswell. ‘A Hothouse is a certain thing. I may have that.’ Johnson. ‘A Hothouse is pretty certain; but you must first build it; then you must keep fires in it, and JB’s unresolved optional phrase was printed in the revises. ‘2. To trifle; to attend to small parts rather than to the main’ (SJ’s Dictionary). Footnote added in the second edition: ‘It is suggested to me by an anonymous Annotator on my Work, that the reason why Dr. Johnson collected the peels of squeezed oranges, may be found, in the 558th Letter in Mrs. Piozzi’s Collection, where it appears that he recommended “dried orange-peel, finely powdered,” as a medicine.’ The letter was actually the ‘358th’, as the ‘Annotator’ had correctly cited (Corr. 2a, p. 456) and as Hill-Powell noted in square brackets next to JB’s slip (iv. 204 n. 5). 9 Printed ‘of walls’, a mistake that went uncorrected. In the second edition, JB altered the reading to ‘of walls, in fruit,’. 1 Printed ‘orchard’ (as in SJ’s Dictionary) here and throughout the passage. JB’s spelling, now obsolete, is also found in James Justice, The Scots Gardiners Director (1759). 2 JB in Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition (p. 31) stipulated ‘for Maddon [sic], read—Madden’. The revised spelling appeared in the second edition. 6 7 8

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you must have a Gardener to take care of it.’ Boswell. ‘But if I have a Gardener at any rate?’ Johnson. ‘Why yes.’ Boswell. ‘I’d have it near my house. There is no need to have it in the Orchyard.’ Johnson. ‘Yes I’d have it near my house — I would plant a great many Currants. The fruit is good, and they make a pretty sweet=meat.’ [MS 888] I record this minute detail which some may think trifling, in order to shew clearly how this great man whose mind could grasp such large and extensive subjects as he has shewn in his literary labours, was yet well informed in the common affairs of life, & loved to illustrate them. Mr. Walker the celebrated Master of [pronunciation & del] elocution came, and then we went up stairs into the Study. I asked him if he had taught many Clergymen. Johnson. ‘I hope not.’ Walker. ‘I have taught only one and he is the best reader I ever heard, not by my teaching but by his own natural talents.’ Johnson. ‘Were he the best reader in the World I would not have it told that he was taught.’ — Here was one of his peculiar prejudices. Could it be any disadvantage to [him÷the clergyman>] the clergyman to have it known that he was taught an easy and graceful delivery? Boswell. ‘Will you not allow Sir that a man may be taught to read well?’ Johnson. ‘Why Sir so far as to read better than he might do without being taught, yes. Formerly it was supposed that there was no difference in reading [MS 889] but that one read as well as another.’ Boswell. ‘It is wonderful to see old Sheridan as enthusiastick about Oratory as ever.’ Walker. ‘His enthusiasm as to what Oratory will do [may be÷is>] may be too [great÷ridiculous>] great. But he reads well.’ Johnson. ‘He [1st ed. ii. 447] reads well, but he reads low, and you know it is much easier to read low than to read high; for when you read high you are much more limited. Your loudest note can be but one, and so in proportion to loudness. Now some people have occasion to speak to an extensive audience, and must speak loud to be heard.’ Walker. ‘The art is to read strong though low.’ Talking of the Origin of language, — Johnson. ‘It must have come by inspiration. A thousand nay a million of children [would÷could>] could not invent a language. While the organs are pliable there is not understanding enough to form a language. [When there÷By the time there>] By the time that there is understanding enough, the organs are become stiff. We know that after a certain age we cannot learn to pronounce a new language. No foreigner who comes to England when advanced in life, ever pronounces english tolerably well; at least [instances of it>] such instances [MS 890] are very rare.3 ≤When I maintain 3 Originally SJ’s speech ended here, followed by the start of a new paragraph: ‘Mrs. Burney came to visit him, and seemed to be very easy with him and to entertain him very well with [MS orig. entertain him with] her conversation.’ JB then deleted this sentence, however, to extend the present paragraph on language by means of a further exchange between Walker and SJ (on ‘Synonimes’). In revision, he elaborated SJ’s current speech by adding two sentences (drafted on MS opp. 890). Such ideas, assuming JB had heard them previously, might have informed part of his essay ‘On Words’, The Hypochondriack, No. LIII (Feb. 1782): ‘I remain of opinion, that language is the immediate gift of Heaven; for it so far surpasses every thing else of which man is capable, that I cannot believe it to have been obtained otherwise than by revelation. I mean that the general faculty of communicating ideas and notions by articulate sounds has been so obtained. I do not deny that when once possessed of it, men have without supernatural assistance enlarged and varied and improved it.’ (The Hypochondriack, ed. Margery Bailey, 2 vols., 1928, ii. 151).

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that Language must have come by inspiration I do not mean that inspiration is required for Rhetorick and all the beauties of language, for when once Man has language we can conceive that he may gradually form modifications of it. I mean only that inspiration seems to me to be necessary to give man the faculty of speech; to inform him that he may have speech which I think he could no more find out without inspiration than Cows or hogs would think of such a faculty.≥’ Walker. ‘Do you think ≤Sir,≥ that there are any perfect Synonimes in any language?’ Johnson. ‘Originally there were [none÷not>] not; but by using words negligently or in poetry, one ≤word≥ comes to be confounded with another.’ [He talked a little of Dr. Dodd and told us that in his last speech at the Old Bailley he put in ‘dreadfully erroneous’ instead of some harsher epithets which Dr. Johnson had applied to his life.÷had used. ‘A freind of mine came>] [He talked of Dr. Dodd ‘in his last speech at the Old Bailley he put in “dreadfully erroneous” instead of some harsher epithet which I had applied to his life. A freind of mine’ said he ‘came>] [He talked of Dr. Dodd and told us that in his last speech at the Old Bailley which he had written for him Dodd inserted ‘dreadfully erroneous’ instead of some harsher epithet4 by which he had been characterised. ‘A freind of mine’5 said Johnson ‘came>] He talked of Dr. Dodd. ‘A freind of mine’ said he ‘came to me and told me /that/6 a Lady wished to have Dodd’s picture in a bracelet, and asked me for a Motto. I said I could think of [no÷none>] no better than Currat Lex. I was very willing to have him pardoned, that is to have the sentence changed to transportation, But when he was once hanged I did not wish he should be made a Saint.’ [Mrs. Burney came÷went in to visit Dr. Johnson and seemed to be very easy with him and to entertain him very well with her conversation.7>] Mrs. Burney Wife8 of his friend Dr. Burney came in and he seemed to be entertained with her conversation. [The fashion÷practice of giving genteeler names to places was mentioned and as an instance was given Hog=lane changed to Worship=Street which I observed was like the change of Tommy Townshend to Lord [MS 891] Sydney.>] [The practice of substituting9 new and more elegant names of streets and squares instead of old and uncouth designations was mentioned and as an instance was given Hog=lane changed to Worship=Street which I observed was like the change of Tommy Townshend to Lord [MS 891] Sydney. del] 4 The epithet, according to Lustig and Pottle, was ‘hypocritical’ (Applause of the Jury, p. 104 n. 4). 5 Above this phrase there are some heavily deleted words. How they read and how they factored into JB’s complicated series of revisions to this passage remains unclear. 6 JB’s unresolved optional word was printed in the revises. 7 With this sentence JB redrafted what he had deleted as a false start near the top of MS 890; see n. 3 above. 8 JB’s resolution of alternatives in this sentence was unusual: he rejected the phrase ‘went in’ (above ‘came’) by writing ‘Wife’ over it to gain room for the rest of his replacement phrase. As part of ‘went in’ remained visible, however, the result was ambiguous, so he scored through it and above the deletion wrote ‘Wife’ again. 9 JB had drafted this much of his revision on MS 890 when, finding it would take more space than the page afforded, he began the sentence again on the facing page. It is unclear whether he deleted the whole sentence upon seeing the results, or afterwards, on a second sweep of revision.

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[MS 891] Garrick’s funeral was talked of as [prodigiously>] extravagantly expensive; [upon which Johnson from his violent antipathy to exaggeration lowered it I thought too much.>] Johnson from his dislike to exaggeration would not allow that it was distinguished by any extraordinary pomp. ‘Were there not six horses in each coach’ said Mrs. Burney. Johnson. ‘Madam there were no more six horses than six Phœnixes.’ [I observed that upon those mournful occasions every article was÷is charged very high, from a notion probably that people being in great grief would÷will not examine into the prices with such minute attention as at other times. Mrs. Burney gave an instance of cool precaution in a gentleman of her acquaintance who when his wife died had her lead coffin weighed, and then refused to pay the Plumber the common exorbitant charge, but insisted that no more could be exacted but the value of the lead and workmanship. The Plumber was resolute & told him ‘I will have the usual price or nothing. You shall pay me that, or be in my debt to eternity.’ And the Gentleman was shamed out of his Oeconomy. ‘His attention’ said I÷It was observed that ‘His attention not to be imposed upon might be wise but it was not amiable. One cannot÷could not love such a man. It is not amiable not to feel grief for the loss of a near relation.’ Johnson. ‘He had no more or less÷nor no less grief than another. He only had the wit to have the lead weighed.’1 del] [MS 892] Mrs. Burney wondered that some very beautiful new buildings should be erected in Moorfields, [in÷on>] in so shocking a situation as between Bedlam and St. Luke’s Hospital and said she could not live there. Johnson. ‘[/Nay/÷Why>] Nay [1st ed. ii. 448] Madam You see nothing there to hurt you. You no more think of madness by having windows that look to Bedlam than you think of death by having windows that look to a Church=yard.’ Mrs. Burney. ‘[Sir we may look to a Church=yard÷We may look to a Church=yard Sir>] We may look to a Church=yard Sir; for it is right that we should be [put÷kept>] kept in mind of death.’ Johnson. ‘Nay Madam, if you go to that — it is right we2 should be kept in mind of Madness which is occasioned by too much indulgence of imagination. I think a very moral use may be made of these new buildings. [I’d>] I would have those who have heated imaginations live there and take warning.’ Mrs. Burney. ‘But Sir many of the poor people that are mad have become so from disease, or from distressing events. It is therefore not their fault3 but their misfortune, and [their condition is a melancholy thought.>] therefore to think of them is a melancholy consideration.’ Time passed on in conversation till it was too late for the service of the Church at three o’clock. I took a walk & left him alone for some time; then returned & we had coffee [MS 893] and conversation again by ourselves. I stated the Character of a ≤noble≥ freind of mine4 as a [Case to him for his opinion — >] curious Case for his opinion as an experienced judge of human 1 In revision, before deleting this passage, JB resolved his five sets of alternatives, preferring ‘is’, ‘will’, ‘It was observed that’, ‘could not’, and ‘nor no’. 2 Adjusted in print—‘it is right that we’ (so in revises)—to address a loss in clarity from the omission of JB’s dash. In the second edition, a comma where the dash had been restored a pause to the speech, if not the original cadence of a separate syntax. 3 Misprinted ‘faults’, an error corrected in the second edition. 4 Lord Mountstuart; see Hill-Powell iv. 519–20 (App. J), and Applause of the Jury, p. 106 n. 3.

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nature5 — ‘He is the most inexplicable man to me that I ever knew. Can you explain him Sir? He is I really beleive noble-minded generous and princely. But his [best>] most intimate friends may be separated from him for years, without his ever [corresponding with÷inquiring after>] asking a question concerning them. He will meet them with a formality a coldness a stately indifference. But when they come close to him and fairly engage him in conversation they find him as [entertaining del] easy pleasant and [friendly>] kind as they could wish. [One then supposes÷You then suppose>] One then supposes that what is so agreable will soon be renewed. But stay away from him for half a year, & he will neither [call nor send.>] call on you nor send to inquire about you.’ Johnson. ‘Why Sir I cannot ascertain his character exactly as I do not know him. But I should not like to have such a man for my6 freind. He may love study, & wish not to be interrupted by his freinds. Amici fures temporis. He may be a frivolous man & be so much occupied with petty pursuits, that he may not want his freinds. Or he may have [got÷formed÷taken del] a notion that there is a dignity in appearing indifferent while he [may not be more indifferent÷in fact is not more so>] in fact may not be more indifferent at his heart [MS 894] than another.’ We went to evening prayers at St. Clements at seven & then parted.7 [Paper Apart J88] [Mr. Lowe sitting with him mentioned>] On Sunday 20 April being Easter day — after attending solemn service at St. Pauls I came to Dr. Johnsons and found Mr. Lowe the Painter sitting with him. Mr. Lowe mentioned [Foley=place & del] the great number of new buildings ≤of late in London≥ yet that [the Dr.>] Dr. Johnson had observed ≤that≥ the number of inhabitants ≤was≥ not increased. Johns. ‘Why Sir the Bills of Mortality prove that [1st ed. ii. 449] no more people die now than formerly. So ≤it is plain≥ no more live. Births are nothing. For not one tenth of the people of London are born there.’ B≤oswell≥8. ‘I beleive Sir a great many of the children born in London die early.’ Johns. ‘Why yes Sir.’ Bos. ‘But those who do live are as stout & strong people as any. Dr. Price says they must be naturally stronger to get through.’ Johns. ‘That is system Sir. A great Traveller observes that it is said there are no weak or deformed people among the Indians; but [that the reason is>] he with much sagacity assigns the reason of this which is that the hardship of their life as hunters & Fishers does not allow weak or diseased children to grow up. Now had I been an Indian I must have died early. My eyes would not have served me to get food. I indeed, now could fish give me english tackle. 5 The phrase ‘as an experienced judge of human nature’, drafted on the facing page beside a triangle, was omitted in print. The corresponding triangle on MS 893, placed after ‘opinion’ below the line, was partly concealed by the ascenders in the word ‘that’ underneath it and escaped the compositor’s notice. 6 Not italicized in print. The next word, ‘freind’, appeared to be underlined by a sweeping stroke used to cross both t’s in the word ‘interrupted’ below it. To avoid confusion, JB put short vertical strokes through the ambiguous part of this line—read by the compositor, it seems, also to reverse the underlining of ‘my’. 7 Here JB started a new paragraph with the cue words ‘On Sunday 20 April’, and directed the compositor to ‘take in Paper apart’. The Paper Apart, marked with an asterisk and headed ‘For page 894’, is a revised leaf of J88 (written on both sides), originally headed ‘Easter day 1783’. 8 JB added the rest of his name here in revision, but elsewhere in the entry—above and below—he left it to the compositor to expand the abbreviations ‘Johns.’ and ‘Bos.’

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But had I been an Indian I should have starved. Or [theyd>] they would have knocked me on the head when they saw I could do nothing.’ Bos. ‘Perhaps [they’d>] they would have taken care of you. We are told they are fond of Oratory. [You’d>] You would have talked to them.’ Johns. ‘Nay Sir I should not have lived long enough to be fit to talk. [And depend>] I should have been dead before I was ten years old. Depend upon it ≤Sir≥. A Savage when he is hungry will not carry about with him a Looby of nine ≤years old≥ who cannot help himself. They have no affection Sir.’ Bos. ‘I beleive Natural affection of which we hear so much is very small.’ Johns. ‘Sir, Natural affection is nothing. But affection from principle and established duty is sometimes wonderfully strong.’ Lowe. ‘A hen Sir will feed her chickens in preference to herself.’ Johns. ‘But we dont know that the hen is hungry. Let the hen be fairly hungry & I’ll warrant she’ll peck the corn herself. A Cock I beleive will feed hens instead of eating himself. But we dont know that the [Cock>] Cock is hungry.’ Bos. ‘And that Sir is not from affection but gallantry. But some of the Indians have affection.’ Johns. ‘Sir that they help some of their children is plain; for some of them live which they could9 ≤not do without being helped.≥’ [MS 894 resumed] I dined with [him with Mrs.>] [him in company with Mrs.>] him. The company were Mrs. Williams Mrs. Desmoulins & Mr. Lowe. He seemed not to be well, talked little grew drowsy soon after dinner and retired, upon which I went away.1 Having next day gone to Mr. Burke’s seat in the country from whence I was recalled by an express that a near relation of mine2 had killed his Antagonist in a duel and was himself very dangerously wounded, I saw little of Dr. Johnson till Monday 28 April when I [was with him a considerable time.>] spent a considerable part of the [1st ed. ii. 450] day with him and introduced the subject which then chiefly occupied my mind. Johnson. ‘I do not see Sir that fighting is ≤absolutely≥ forbid÷forbidden3 in Scripture. I see Revenge forbid÷forbidden but not self=defence.’ Boswell. ‘The Quakers say it is. “Unto him that smiteth thee on one cheek offer also the other.”’ Johnson. ‘But stay Sir the text is meant only to have the effect of moderating passion. It is plain that we are not to take it in a literal sense. We see this from the Context, where there are other recommendations which [/I warrant you/>] I warrant you the Quaker will not 9 Below ‘could’, the catchword ‘not’ shows that SJ’s speech originally continued on a leaf that evidently was discarded. Deleting the catchword, JB squeezed the closing words of the speech onto the present page. The compositor left the pronoun ‘they’ out of the final clause, an error corrected in the second edition. 1 JB did not immediately go away. The next surviving leaf of J88 (also headed ‘Easter day 1783’; see p. 149 n. 7) begins as follows: ‘After dinner when the Dr. had retired to take a nap I beleive, & Mrs. Williams also was gone, Mrs. Desmoulins, Lowe & I remained.’ Lowe opened a discussion of SJ’s sexuality by asking Mrs. Desmoulins, ‘Pray tell us do you really think Dr. Johnson ever offended in point of chastity?’ The ensuing conversation caused JB later, above the entry, to write ‘Extraordinary Johnsoniana— Tacenda.’ See Applause of the Jury, pp. 110–13. 2 Lt. David Cuninghame, Mrs. Boswell’s nephew. For the cause of a long-held enmity between him and George James Riddell, with details of their duel on 21 Apr. 1783, see Applause of the Jury, pp. 116–17. In the exchange of views that follows, JB left out SJ’s explicit comment on the duel: ‘He said Dav. Cunninghame as a Duellist did right to fire. A man who fights means to prevail’ (Journ. 28 Apr. 1783). 3 The second alternative, ‘forbidden’, was printed here and in the next sentence.

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take literally As for instance [MS 895] “From him that would borrow of thee turn /thou/4 not away.” Let a man whose credit is bad come to a Quaker and say “Well Sir lend me a hundred pounds” he’ll find him as unwilling as any other man. No Sir a man may shoot [another÷him>] the man who invades his character as he may shoot [one÷the man>] him who attempts to break into his house.5 So in 1745 my friend Tom Cumming the Quaker said [“I would not fight, but I’d drive an ammunition cart”>] he would not fight, but he would drive an ammunition cart; and we know that the Quakers have sent flannel waistcoats to our soldiers /to enable them to fight better/6.’ Boswell. ‘When a man is the Aggressor & by ill usage forces on a duel in which he is killed, have we not little ground to hope that he is gone into a state of happiness?’ Johnson. ‘Sir we are not to judge determinately of the state in which a man leaves this life. He may in a moment have repented effectually and ≤it is possible may have≥ been accepted by GOD. There is in [Camden>] Camden’s Remains an Epitaph upon a very wicked man who was killed by a fall from his horse7≤, in which he is supposed to say≥ “Between the stirrup and the ground “I mercy asked, I mercy found.”’

Boswell. ‘Is not the expression in the Burial service “in the sure and certain hope of a blessed resurrection” too strong to be used indiscriminately [MS 896] and indeed sometimes when those over whose bodies it is said have been notoriously profane.’ Johnson. ‘It is sure & certain hope Sir; not beleif.’ — I did not insist farther8; but cannot help thinking that less positive words would be more proper.9 [He said of an eminent Politician ‘Considering his origin & situation in 25 life, he has done more for himself than any body has done. But how has he done it? by means that an honest÷a good man cannot approve; by disturbing government and fomenting faction as much as he could. His talents no doubt entitle him to promotion. In a regular government he might have had a thousand÷£1000 a year.’1 del] 20

4 The unresolved optional pronoun was printed in the revises. The verse may not have sounded quite right to JB’s ear because he had reversed the word order: ‘turn not thou away’ (Matthew 5: 42). 5 A set of quotation marks was printed here (as well as at the end of SJ’s speech), suggesting mistakenly that the next sentence resumed JB’s narration; the error was corrected in the second edition. For the footnote placed on ‘house’ in the second edition, see Hill-Powell iv. 211 n. 4. 6 JB’s unresolved optional phrase was printed in the revises. 7 Originally remembering only the end of the four-verse epitaph, JB left a blank space for the first two lines: ‘My friend iudge not me, / Thou seest I iudge not thee;’ (Hill-Powell iv. 212 n. 2). In revision, having either failed to track them down or found nothing in them material to the conceit, JB drafted the phrase that follows. 8 Changed by Selfe in the revises to ‘further’. 9 For the footnote added here in the second edition, see Hill-Powell iv. 212 n. 4. It was printed from a ‘slight correction’ offered by the Rev. Ralph Churton in a letter to JB dated 9 Mar. 1792 (Corr. 2a, p. 365). 1 SJ was talking about Burke (see Applause of the Jury, p. 118 n. 2). At an intermediate stage of revision, before finally deleting the paragraph, JB resolved his alternatives—keeping ‘an honest’ and ‘a thousand’, respectively—and modified ‘might have had’ to ‘might fairly have had’.

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Talking of a man who was grown very fat so as to be incommoded by corpulency He said. ‘He eats too much Sir.’ Boswell. ‘I don’t know Sir you will see one man fat who eats moderately and another lean who eats a great deal.’ Johnson. ‘Nay Sir Whatever may be the quantity that a man eats, it is plain that if he is too fat, he has eaten more than he should have done. One man may have a digestion that consumes food better than common. But it is certain that solidity is increased by putting something to [1st ed. ii. 451] it.’ Boswell. ‘But may not solids swell [MS 897] and be distended?’ Johnson. ‘[They÷Yes Sir>] Yes Sir They may swell and be distended; but that is not Fat.’ We talked of the [prosecution of Sir Thomas Rumbold.÷accusation against a gentleman for supposed delinquencies in India.>] accusation against a gentleman2 for supposed delinquencies in India. Johnson. ‘/What foundation there is for the accusation I know not but/3 they will not get at him. Where bad Actions are committed at so great a distance a delinquent can obscure the evidence till the scent becomes cold. There is a cloud between, which cannot be penetrated. Therefore all distant power is bad. I am clear that the best plan for the government of India is having4 [/what your Lord Advocate Dundas proposed/ del] a despotick governour; for if he be a good man it is [clearly÷evidently>] evidently the best government; and supposing him to be a bad man, it is better to have one plunderer than many. A Governour [now lets>] whose power is checked lets others plunder that he ≤himself≥ may be allowed to [do it.>] plunder. But if despotick he sees that the more he lets others plunder the less there will be for [him÷himself>] himself. So he restrains them; and though he [himself plunders÷plunders himself>] himself plunders the country is a gainer compared with being plundered by numbers.’ [He had lying before him a number of a Review /called/ ‘The English Review’, which he spoke of as an irregular Review, in opposition [MS 898] to the Regular Reviews the old established Monthly and Critical. He doubted if it could be established. I understand that its title of English Review is like Lucus a non lucendo being performed by Scotchmen.>] [He had lying before him one of the numbers of ‘The English Review’, which he called5 an irregular Review, in opposition [MS 898] to the old established Monthly and Critical Reviews. He doubted whether it would maintain its ground. I understand that its title of English Review is like Lucus a non lucendo it being written by Scotchmen. del] [MS 898] I mentioned the very liberal payment which [has been received for Reviewing, and mentioned its being proved>] had been received for Reviewing, 2 Sir Thomas Rumbold, Governor of Madras (1777–80), as revealed under deletion, confirming the identification based on JB’s journal (Hill-Powell iv. 213 n. 1). 3 JB’s resolution of alternatives in the previous sentence indicated that this unresolved optional clause, carrying forward the idea of ‘accusation’, was to be typeset, and the compositor did so. 4 This word, added above the line, was omitted in the revises. The compositor probably did not see it, distracted by JB’s swirling deletion of the adjacent virgule and optional mention of Henry Dundas, later 1st Viscount Melville. On Dundas and the bills he sponsored in Parliament—concerning Rumbold (Jan. 1783) and the governance of Bengal (Apr. 1783)—see Applause of the Jury, pp. 93 n. 9 and 119 nn. 4–5. 5 In this or another intermediate stage of revision, before substituting ‘called’ here for ‘spoke of as’, JB deleted the virgules around ‘called’ in the line above to retain the phrase ‘a Review called “The English Review”’, but then deleted ‘a Review called’.

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and as evidence of this that it had been proved in a trial that Dr. Shebbeare had received six guineas a sheet for that kind of [writing÷literary labour>] literary labour. Johnson. ‘Sir he might get six guineas for a particular sheet, but not communibus sheetibus.’ Boswell. ‘Pray Sir by a sheet of Review is it meant that it shall be all of the Writer’s own composition; [and÷or>] or are extracts made from the Book reviewed deducted?’ Johnson. ‘No Sir. It is a sheet; no matter of what.’ Boswell. ‘I think that is not reasonable.’ Johnson. ‘Yes Sir it is. A man will more easily write a sheet all his own than read an Octavo Volume to get extracts.’ To one of Johnson’s wonderful fertility of mind I beleive writing was really easier than reading and extracting. But with ordinary men the case is very different. A great deal indeed will depend upon the care and judgement with which the extracts are made. I can suppose [MS 899] the operation to be tedious and difficult. But in many instances we must observe crude morsels cut out of books as if at random and when a large extract is made from one place, it surely may be done [very easily.÷with very little trouble.>] with very little trouble. ≤One however I must acknowledge might be led from the practice of Reviewers [in some instances, del] to suppose that they take a pleasure in original writing; for we often find that instead of giving us an accurate account of what has been done by the authour whose work they are reviewing, which is surely the proper business of a Literary Journal they produce some plausible and ingenious conceits of their own upon the topicks which have been discussed.≥ [1st ed. ii. 452] Upon being told that old Mr. Sheridan indignant at the neglect of his Oratorical plans had threatened to go to America, Johnson. ‘I hope he [shall÷will>] will go to America.’ Boswell. ‘The Americans dont want Oratory.’ Johnson. ‘But we can6 want Sheridan.’ On Monday [29 April7>] April 29 I found him at home in the forenoon & Mr. Seward8 with him. [He was much taken with an Auchinleck Briar which I used as a walking stick, and he maintained that no such Briar grew in England. I assured him there did. ‘Then Sir’ said he ‘cut me one.’ ‘I will Sir’ said I ‘and then you will be Briareus.’9 This little play of words happened to take with him, and he laughed in hearty good humour. del]1 Horace having been mentioned: Boswell. ‘[Horace has÷There is>] There is a great deal of thinking in his works. One finds there [I think del] almost every thing but Religion.’ Seward. ‘He speaks of his [resuming÷returning to>] returning to it in his Ode Parcus Deorum cultor et infrequens.’ [MS 900] Johnson. ‘Sir he was not in earnest. This [is÷was>] was merely poetical.’ Boswell. ‘There are ≤I am affraid≥ many people [without any÷who have no>] who have no religion at all.’ Seward. 6 The underscoring of this verb in the revises, with a ‘Q’ in the margin, elicited no response from JB. Whether he was being asked to consider italics or some other change to represent SJ’s wordplay more effectively is unclear. 7 ‘Wednesday 30 April’ (Journ.); JB’s error, uncorrected, is noted in Hill-Powell (iv. 215 n. 3). 8 MS orig. ‘Suard’ (as in the journal), here and below (l. 34). By the third occurrence of his name (l. 37), JB was drafting it ‘Seward’ from the start. Cp. Life MS iii. 111 ll. 15, 23, and 27; p. 112 l. 2. 9 ‘The mythical monster of one hundred arms’ (Applause of the Jury, p. 122 n. 2). 1 JB originally indented the next sentence to begin a new paragraph. In revision, deleting the foregoing anecdote, he wrote ‘No NP’ and placed a stroke within the indentation as if to delete the space.

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‘And sensible people too.’ Johnson. ‘Why Sir not sensible in that respect. There must be [either a natural or a moral÷so far>] either a natural or a moral stupidity if one lives in a total neglect of so very important a concern.’ Seward. ‘I wonder that there should be people without Religion.’ Johnson. ‘Sir you need not wonder [/at this/>] at this when you consider how large a proportion of almost every [one’s÷man’s>] man’s life is passed without thinking of it. I myself was for [many>] some years totally [without÷regardless of>] regardless of Religion. It had dropped out of my mind. It was at an early part of my life.2 Sickness brought it back, and I hope I have never lost it since.’ Boswell. ‘My Dear Sir what a Man must you have been without Religion! Why you must have gone on drinking and swearing and — ’3 Johnson (with a [?curious del] smile). ‘[Why del] I drank enough and swore enough to be sure.’4 Seward. ‘One should think that sickness and the view of death would make more men religious.’ Johnson. ‘Sir they do not know how to go about it. They have not the first [idea÷notion5>] notion. A man who has never had religion before no more grows religious when he is sick, than a man who has never learnt figures can count when he has need of calculation.’ I mentioned a worthy freind of ours6 whom we valued much, but observed that he was too ready to introduce religious discourse [MS 901] upon all occasions. Johnson. ‘Why ≤yes≥ Sir he will introduce religious discourse without seeing whether it will end in instruction and improvement, or produce some profane jest. [He’d>] He would introduce it in the company of Wilkes and twenty more such. [/He introduced the subject of the Trinity in a mixed company; and I was obliged to reprove him./7 del]’ I mentioned Dr. Johnson’s excellent distinction between liberty of conscience and liberty of teaching. Johnson. ‘Consider Sir, If you have children whom you wish to educate in the principles of the Church of England, and there 2 JB added this sentence in the same draft, momentarily having passed over the next exchange: ‘When was that Sir said Suard.—Why Sir I think from ten till two and twenty. Sickness …’ (Journ. 30 Apr. 1783; Applause of the Jury, p. 123). For JB’s struggle to ascertain SJ’s age at the onset of his melancholy, see ante p. 122 n. 5. 3 Powell’s claim, echoed by Lustig and Pottle, that ‘the suggestion implied by “and—”’ is absent from the journal, is only half true (Hill-Powell iv. 216 n. 1; Applause of the Jury, p. 123 n. 5). No second ampersand appears, but JB did insert a dash: ‘Why you must have gone on drinking & swearing!—Said he with a sort of smile I drank …’ (Journ. 30 Apr. 1783). In other contexts, JB will use a dash to mark a new topic, or to signal his own commentary, or to buffer speeches in a colloquial exchange without speaker tags, but in the journal here, as in the Life, the dash (particularly after the exclamation point) teasingly suggests that JB was cut off before he had listed all the escalating consequences of SJ’s irreligion. 4 Encountering a final exchange on the topic of religion farther along in his journal entry—Seward’s next comment, followed by SJ’s reply—JB drafted his copy on MS opp. 900. When he backtracked to add the material here, keyed to a triangle, he marked the next sentence (‘I mentioned …’), originally run on, to begin a new paragraph. 5 Journal: ‘idea’. On the distinction between these nouns, see Life MS iii. 141 and n. 7; see also ante p. 144 ll. 16–17, where ‘idea’ was the alternative chosen by JB. 6 Langton (Journ. 30 Apr. 1783; Hill-Powell iv. 216 n. 2). 7 JB added this sentence in the same draft. Its optional status probably reflected a suspicion that he had recounted the episode already. Later, no doubt reviewing his account of the dinner on 7 May 1773, he found the exchange described in detail (with Langton’s identity similarly hidden; see Life MS ii. 110–11, Hill-Powell ii. 254).

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comes a Quaker who tries to pervert them to his principles; [You’d>] You would drive away the Quaker. You would not trust to the [1st ed. ii. 453] predomination of right which you beleive is in your opinions. [You’d>] You would keep wrong out of their heads. [/Now/>] Now The Vulgar are the children of the State. If any one attempts to teach them doctrines contrary to what the State approves, the Magistrate may and ought to restrain him.’ Seward. ‘Would you restrain private conversation Sir?’ Johnson. ‘Why Sir it is difficult to say where private conversation begins and where it ends. If we three should discuss even the great question concerning [MS 902] the existence of a Supreme Being by ourselves, we should not be restrained; for that would be to put an end to all information and improvement. But if we should discuss it in the presence of ten boarding-school girls and as many boys, I think the Magistrate would do well to put us in the stocks, to finish the debate there.’ [He had looked at a long Law Case drawn up by me in a Question of Importance which had been decided in the Court of Session. I told him I had but three guineas for doing it. ‘Sir’ said he ‘you were ill paid.’ But when I mentioned the terms in which the Lord President had praised it ‘Then Sir’ said he ‘you were well paid.’ So quick was he in repartee upon all occasions.8 del] [Sir David Dalrymple Lord Hailes had sent him a Present of a curious little printed performance ‘— ——— ——— ————’ by David Malloch which he thought afforded÷would please Johnson as affording clear evidence that Mallet had appeared even as a Literary Character by the name of Malloch his changing which to one of softer sound had given Johnson occasion to introduce him into the÷his Dictionary under the Article Alias. This piece was I suppose Mallet’s first Essay. It is in his Works with several variations. Johnson now read aloud from the beginning of it as follows [MS 903] ‘In ancient times9 upon which he observed1 ‘How false>] Lord Hailes had sent him a Present of a curious little printed poem on repairing the University of Aberdeen by David 8 At an intermediate stage of revision, before ultimately crossing out the paragraph, JB deleted the word ‘doing’ from the second sentence. On the two law cases (not one) he brought to SJ on this occasion, see Applause of the Jury, p. 124 and n. 8. An abridgement of the ‘long Law Case’ appears in Laird of Auchinleck, pp. 490–502 (App. B). 9 Here JB left room for two and a half lines of copy to be drafted in revision. On the previous page, above the catchword ‘“In’, he jotted ‘See it’, echoing a note in the Life Materials: ‘Look out for Mallet’s first Poem to quote the lines in it’ (M 158, p. 2). Away from his library, he never found the verses, though SJ had given him the very copy referred to here of A Poem in Imitation of Donaides (now in the Dyce Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum: Fleeman, Copies of Books, p. 48; Boswell’s Books, p. 274). In an early revision to this passage, JB deleted ‘“In ancient times’ and wrote ‘A little Poem’, but deleted this later and paraphrased its title over the place-holding dashes of his original draft (cp. ll. 20, 29); it was titled ‘Verses Occasioned by Dr. Frazer’s Rebuilding Part of the University of Aberdeen’ in The Works of the English Poets (1790, lxiii. 19–21). Its beginning verses were these: ‘In ancient times, ere Wealth was Learning’s foe / And dar’d despise the worth he would not know, / Ere Ignorance look’d lofty in a peer’. 1 On one early return to this passage, JB deleted ‘Sir David Dalrymple’. Later, he started to delete the whole paragraph with vertical strokes through the portion of it drafted on MS 902, but then wrote ‘stet’ three times, adding ‘stet from Lord Hailes’.

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Malloch which he thought would please Johnson as affording clear evidence that Mallet had appeared even as a Literary Character by the name of Malloch his changing which to one of softer sound had given Johnson occasion to introduce him into his Dictionary under the Article Alias.2 This piece was I suppose one of Mallet’s first Essays. It is preserved in his Works with several variations. Johnson now read aloud from the beginning of it where [MS 903] there were some commonplace assertions as to the superiority of ‘Ancient times’3. ‘How false is all this to say that in ancient times Learning was not a disgrace to a Peer as it is now. In ancient times a Peer was as ignorant as any one else. [He’d>] He would have been angry to have it thought he could write his name. Men in ancient times dared to stand forth with a degree of ignorance with which nobody would dare now to stand forth. I am allways angry when I hear ancient times praised at the expence of modern times. There is now a great deal more learning in the World than4 there was [in ancient times÷formerly>] formerly; for it is universally diffused. You have perhaps no man who knows as much greek and latin as Bentley [no man÷or>] or no man who knows as much Mathematicks as Newton. But you have many more [people÷men>] men who know greek and latin and who know Mathematicks.’ On Thursday [1 May>] May 1 I visited him in the Evening along with young Mr. Burke. He said ‘It is strange that there should be so [MS 904] [much writing÷little reading in the World and so little reading.÷much writing.>] little reading in the World and so much writing. People in general do not willingly read if they can have any thing else to amuse them. There must be an external impulse, Emulation or Vanity or Avarice. The progress which the Understanding makes through a Book has more pain than pleasure in it. Language is scanty, and inadequate to express the nice gradations and mixtures of our [1st ed. ii. 454] feelings. No man reads a Book of Science from pure inclination. [The Books that÷What Books>] The Books that we do read with pleasure are light [performances÷Compositions>] Compositions which contain a quick succession of events. However I have this year read all Virgil through. I read a Book of the Ænæid every Night so it was done in twelve nights, and I had great delight in 2

Over earlier ink strokes, possibly an asterisk, JB in revision placed the symbol

# here, and on the facing page its counterpart. No copy materialized. If he intended

to quote SJ’s example—‘Mallet, alias Malloch; that is otherwise Malloch’—his failure to do so might have lent fuel to a rumour refuted by his son James in a note on this sentence in the fourth edition (iv. 230): ‘A notion has been entertained, that no such exemplification of Alias is to be found in Johnson’s Dictionary, and that the whole story was waggishly fabricated by Wilkes in the NORTH BRITON. The real fact is, that it is not to be found in the folio or quarto editions, but was added by Johnson in his own octavo abridgment, in 1756.’ This was appended to the footnote EM had added in the third edition: ‘Malloch, as Mr. Bindley observes to me, “continued to write his name thus, after he came to London. His verses prefixed to the second edition of Thomson’s ‘Winter’ are so subscribed, and so are his Letters written in London, and published a few years ago in ‘the European Magazine:’ but he soon afterwards adopted the alteration to Mallet, for he is so called in the list of Subscribers to Savage’s Miscellanies printed in 1726: and thenceforward uniformly Mallet, in all his Writings.”’ The spelling in Thomson’s Winter had been noted in Isaac Reed’s list of ‘Corrections and Additions’ for the second edition (Corr. 2a, p. 385), but JB did not use the information. 3 Printed with a lower-case ‘a’ and no quotation marks (so in revises). 4 Printed twice, ‘than than’, an error corrected in the second edition.

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it. The Georgicks did not give me so much pleasure except the Fourth Book. The Eclogues I [have÷had>] have almost all by heart. I do not think the Story of the Ænæid interesting. I like the Story of the Odyssey [better. There are wonderful>] much better and this not on account of the wonderful things which it contains for there are wonderful things enough in the Ænæid — the Ships of the Trojans turned to Seanymphs — the tree at [Nisus’s>] Polydorus’s tomb dropping blood. The story of the Odyssey is interesting, as a great part of it is domestick. It has been said there is pleasure in writing [MS 905] particularly in writing verses. I allow you may have pleasure from writing, after it is over, if you have written well. But you don’t go willingly to it again. I know when I have [written>] been writing verses, I have run my finger down the Margin to see how many I had made and how few I had to make.’ He seemed [much pleased tonight>] to be in a very placid humour tonight. And although I have no note of the particulars of Young Mr. Burke’s conversation, it is but justice to mention in general that it was such that Dr. Johnson said to me afterwards ‘He did very well indeed. I have a mind to tell his Father.’5/6 I have no Minute of any interview with Johnson till Thursday [15 May>] May 15 when I find [this>] what follows — Boswell. ‘I wish much to be in Parliament Sir.’ Johnson. ‘Why Sir unless you come [like your countrymen del] resolved to support any administration, [you’d÷you would>] you would be the worse for being in Parliament, because [you’d÷you would>] you would be obliged to live more expensively.’ Boswell.7 ‘Perhaps Sir I should be the [worse÷less happy>] less happy for being in Parliament. I never would sell my vote, and I should be vexed if things went wrong.’ Johnson. ‘That’s cant Sir. It would not vex you more [MS 906] in the house, than in the gallery. Publick affairs vex no man.’ Boswell. ‘Have not they vexed yourself a little Sir. Have not you been vexed by all the turbulence of this Reign, and by that ≤absurd≥ vote of the House of Commons “that the influence of the Crown has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished”.’ Johnson. ‘Sir I have never slept an hour less, nor eat an ounce less meat. [I’d÷I would>] I would have knocked [them÷the factious dogs>] the factious dogs on the head to be sure; but I was not vexed.’ Boswell. ‘I declare Sir upon my honour I did imagine I was vexed, and I took a pride in it. But [I see it is÷perhaps it was÷it was perhaps>] it was perhaps cant; for I own I neither [eat nor slept less.÷eat less nor slept less.>] eat less nor slept less.’ Johnson. ‘My Dear Freind clear [/the bottom of/8 del] your mind of 5 While JB had in fact noted several comments (leading to SJ’s observations on The Æneid, The Odyssey, and pleasure in writing), no ‘particulars’ perhaps supported his claim that ‘Young Burke did exceedingly well. I just lay by & let him play the great Organ’ (Journ. 1 May 1783; Applause of the Jury, p. 128). As before with Allan Ramsay’s conversation (see Life MS iii. 281 n. 3), JB maybe doubted that the sayings as recorded would be seen to have warranted SJ’s praise. 6 In the second edition, JB here inserted SJ’s letter of 2 May 1783 to Sir Joshua Reynolds, with a footnote exonerating SJ of ‘illiberality’ towards ‘Scotchmen’; see HillPowell iv. 219–20 and n. 2. 7 With a false start here—‘I never’—JB continued to transcribe this exchange from his journal, but then scored through the two words to add a preliminary sentence more directly responsive to SJ’s challenge. 8 This phrase, optional in the Life MS, was provisional from the outset in JB’s journal. He placed brackets around it, and above it wrote ‘I am not sure’ (15 May 1783).

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cant. You may talk as other people do. You may say to a Man “Sir I am your [1st ed. ii. 4559] most humble servant.” You are not his most humble servant. — You may say “these are sad times; it is a melancholy thing to be reserved to such times.” — You don’t mind the times. You tell a man “I am sorry you had such bad weather the last day of your [MS 907] journey, and were so much wet.” — You don’t care sixpence whether he was wet or dry. — You may talk in this manner; it is a mode of talking in Society; but don’t think foolishly.’ I talked of living in the Country. Johnson. ‘Don’t set up for what is called Hospitality. It is a waste of time and a waste of money. You are eat up, and [no more minded.>] not the more respected for your liberality. If your house be like [a Coffeehouse>] an Inn nobody cares for you. A Man who stays a week with another, makes him a slave for a week.’ Boswell. ‘But there are people Sir who make their houses a home to their guests, and are themselves quite easy.’ Johnson. ‘Then Sir Home must be the same to [them>] the guests, and they need not come.’ Here he discovered a notion common enough in persons not much accustomed to entertain company, — that there must be a degree of elaborate attention otherwise company will think themselves neglected; and such attention is no doubt very fatiguing. — He proceeded ‘[Yet I would not÷I would not however>] I would not however be a stranger in my own county. I would visit my neighbours and receive their visits; but I would not1 [MS 907v] be in [a hurry>] haste to return visits. If a gentleman comes to see me, I tell him he does me a great deal of honour. I do not go to see him perhaps for ten weeks. Then we are very complaisant to each other. No Sir You will have much more influence by giving or lending money where it is wanted than by Hospitality.’ [MS 908] On Saturday [17 May>] May 17 I [was with>] saw him for a short time. Having mentioned that I had that morning been with old Mr. Sheridan, he remembered their former intimacy with a cordial warmth, and said to me ‘Tell Mr. Sheridan I shall be glad to see him and shake hands with him.’ Boswell. ‘It is to me very wonderful that resentment should be kept up so long.’ Johnson. ‘Why Sir it is not altogether resentment that he does not visit me. It is partly falling out of the habit — partly disgust as one has [for÷at>] at a drug that has made him sick. /Besides/2 he knows that I laugh at his Oratory.’3 On another day4 I spoke of [a gentleman÷one of our freinds>] one of our freinds of whom he ≤as well as I≥ had a very high [opinion. ‘But sir /said he/ This page number, printed in the revises, is missing in some copies of the first edition. Direction to the compositor, ‘Go to the back’, where JB continued his original draft. Usually he used the verso of a leaf in this manner only in revision if he had already filled the facing page with copy. He seems in this case, however, already to have started his narration of 17 May at the top of MS 908 with another pen in different ink; consequently, the evidently postponed completion of his account of 15 May trailed onto MS 907v. 2 JB’s unresolved optional word was printed in the revises. 3 Although the journal leaf on which this exchange would have been recorded is missing (see Applause of the Jury, p. 143), an early version of this anecdote appears in Boswelliana, ed. Rogers (p. 324). 4 MS orig. ‘At another time’. JB wrote ‘On’ over ‘At’, finishing so close to ‘another’ that—at a glance—the two words looked like one. ‘Another day’ was printed in the revises, probably in error. 9

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H-P iv. 223–24

he is÷opinion [b]ut said ‘Sir he5 is>] opinion. He expatiated in his praise, but added ‘Sir he is a cursed Whig, a bottomless Whig, as they all are now.’6 I mentioned my expectations from the interest of an eminent person7 then in [place>] power adding ‘but I have no claim but the claim of freindship. However some people will go a great way [for that.>] from that motive.’ Johnson. ‘Sir they [1st ed. ii. 456] will go all the way from the world8.’ A gentleman9 talked of retiring [to a desart1 del]. ‘Never think of that’ said Johnson. [MS 909] The gentleman urged ‘I should then do no ill.’ Johnson. ‘Nor no good either. Sir it [is÷would be>] would be a civil Suicide.’ On Monday [26 May>] May 26 I found him at tea and the celebrated Miss [Fanny del] Burney the [Writer>] Authour of Evelina & Cecilia with him. I asked if there would be any speakers in Parliament, if there were no places to be [had÷got÷given away>] obtained? Johnson. ‘Yes Sir. Why do you speak here? either to instruct and entertain which is a benevolent motive; or for [celebrity>] distinction which is a selfish motive.’ — I mentioned Cecilia. Johnson (with an air of animated satisfaction). ‘≤Sir≥ If you talk of Cecilia, talk on.’ [Of Mr. Barry’s Exhibition of his Pictures [blank space]2 he said>] We talked of Mr. Barry’s Exhibition of his Pictures. JOHNSON. ‘Whatever the hand may have done the Mind has done its part. There is a grasp of mind there which [is not in the other.÷you find no where else.>] you find no where else.’a a In Mr. Barry’s printed Analysis or Description of these Pictures he speaks of Dr. Johnson’sa1 character in the highest terms.a2 5 It is unclear whether this alternative—based on a repetition of the verb ‘said’ above ‘But Sir’—was the one intended, yet it reflects the way JB resolved his choices in revision, working a lower-case ‘but’ into an extended sentence. Also in revision, after the present ‘he’, JB inserted ‘as well had a high opinion’, then deleted the misplaced phrase and added ‘as well as I’ to the line above (see p. 158 l. 35). 6 Identified by Croker as follows: ‘Mr. Burke, who, however, proved himself, on the French Revolution, not to be a bottomless whig’ (v. 103). Hill-Powell concurred. 7 Hill’s inference—‘No doubt Burke, who was Paymaster of the Forces’ (Hill-Powell iv. 223 n. 2)—is confirmed by JB’s earlier false starts on MS 859; see p. 117 l. 10 and n. 7. 8 Printed in the revises ‘from that motive’. Lustig and Pottle, assuming the phrase as drafted to have been authentic but ‘not without difficulty’, assert that JB changed it in proof (Applause of the Jury, p. 146 n. 4a). That proof-sheet does not survive, however, and it is possible that the compositor in error typeset again JB’s revision to the line above— with equal ‘difficulty’ in the printed result. The original meaning as construed by Lustig and Pottle—‘They will go completely counter to the world’s usage.’—makes more sense. 9 While Hill offered reasons for thinking it was Burke (iv. 223 n. 3), Lustig and Pottle were persuaded that it was JB himself (Applause of the Jury, p. 146). 1 In revision, JB put a caret before ‘a desart’, as if he momentarily considered modifying or replacing the phrase. 2 This space was wide enough to accommodate two or three short words, for instance, ‘at the Adelphi’ (see n. a1 below). In revision, JB wrote ‘JOHNSON’ broadly to fill most of the space and also cover up (and hence delete) the words that follow, ‘he said’. a1 MS orig. ‘he thus spoke of Johnson’, a false start implying a momentary thought of quoting what Barry had written in An Account of a Series of Pictures in the Great Room of the Society of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, at the Adelphi (1783). Barry revered SJ for his ‘consistent, manly, and well-spent life’ (Applause of the Jury, p. 150 nn. 4–5). The title ‘Dr.’ was omitted in the revises; written in the margin and appearing to cap a column of d’s marking JB’s later deletion of the next paragraph, it was overlooked by the compositor. a2 Originally drafted to conclude the paragraph; marked for a footnote in revision.

159

H-P iv. 224–25

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1783

[A learned and amiable freind being mentioned Johnson. ‘Sir he has no rest÷tranquillity abed or up, — at home or abroad. At home he has his wife; abroad the Americans.÷he has the Americans. She fairly turned /Sir William/ Jones out of the house for breaking a china cup, and asked her husband if [MS 910] he brought him there to insult her. She however allways behaves well to me; gives me good words and pleasing looks; and I am very careful to return my best words and most pleasing looks.’3 del] [MS 910] I asked whether a man naturally virtuous or one who has overcome wicked inclinations is the best. Johnson. ‘Sir, to you the man who has overcome wicked inclinations is not the best. He has more merit to himself. [I’d>] I would rather trust my money to a man who has no hands and so a physical impossibility to steal, than to a man of the most honest principles. ≤There is a witty satirical story of Foote.≥ [Foote>] He had a small bust of Garrick ≤placed≥ upon his Bureau. “You may be surprised” [said he÷he said>] said he “that I allow him to be so near my gold; but you will observe he has no hands.”’ On friday4 [29 May>] May 29 being to set out for Scotland next morning, I passed a part of the day with him in more than usual earnestness, as his health was in a more precarious state than at any time when I had parted from him. He however was quick and lively and critical as usual. [I mentioned a gentleman5 who had a fancy that a character might be deliberately formed by study, but that he could not decide as to what he should be. [MS 911] ‘Sometimes’ said he ‘I think of being a grave solid man who keeps his mind to himself; sometimes a fine gay flashy fellow as any in the County.’ Johnson. ‘Sir this is mighty foolish. —— ÷A freind of mine played this÷the trick. He was first gay & talkative; and then of a sudden chose to be grave and silent. This you see is being very ridiculous. Ha ha ha — It will do him no harm in the next world but it makes him laughed at in this. Ridicule and he÷He & ridicule Sir are so incorporated, that there is no separating them.’ Boswell. ‘He was then the reverse of the insect, which is first worm and then butterfly for he was first butterfly and then worm.’6 Johnson. ‘Who said this?’ Boswell. ‘I said÷say it Sir.’ Johnson. ‘Then Sir you have said a very good thing.÷very well.’7 del] [MS 911] I mentioned one 3 Eventually deleted, this paragraph survived an earlier round of revisions in which JB scored through ‘tranquillity’, kept the phrase ‘he has the Americans’, and deleted the virgules around ‘Sir William’ to retain that optional element. On the ‘harried husband’, identified by Lustig and Pottle as the linguist John Paradise, and his wife, the ‘notoriously erratic’ American heiress Lucy Ludwell, see Applause of the Jury, p. 150 n. 6. 4 An error copied from the journal; 29 May was a Thursday (Hill-Powell iv. 224 n. 2). 5 JB himself (Journ. 29 May 1783; Applause of the Jury, p. 151). 6 In the margin to the left of these lines, JB wrote, ‘See if this be not in already’. It was—on MS 664, where Langton (not named there either) was laughed at for having been ‘first talkative from affectation and then silent from the same cause’. The passage on MS 664, however, lacked this particular saying, so JB added it to his speech there (see Life MS iii. 186 ll. 27–28 and n. 4), then deleted the present dialogue. See also Boswelliana, ed. Rogers: ‘Dr. Johnson said Langton was first a talking Man — then he would be a silent Man all upon system to be distinguished’ (p. 318). 7 JB drafted this passage in leap-frog fashion, working from a jumbled journal entry (with speeches recorded out of order and a sideways expansion in the margin [‘that he was first grave … good things sometimes.’]; Applause of the Jury, p. 151). On MS opp. 911, in order of drafting, he added (1) ‘This you see … laughed at in this.’ (2) ‘Johnson. “Who said … a very good thing.÷very well.”’ and (3) ‘Ridicule … separating them.’

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 225–26

who was a very learned man.8 Johnson. ‘Yes Sir he has a great deal of learning But it never lies straight. There is never one idea by the side of another. ’Tis all entangled; and then he drives it so aukwardly upon conversation.’ I stated to him an anxious thought by which a sincere [and conscientious del] Christian might be disturbed even when conscious of having lived a good life so far as is consistent with human infirmity; he might fear that he should afterwards fall away and be guilty of such crimes as would render all his former religion vain. Could there be upon this aweful subject such a thing as a ballancing [1st ed. ii. 457] of accounts.9 Suppose a man to have led a good life for seven years [and del] then to commit [MS 912] an act of wickedness ≤and then to die≥, will his former good1 have any effect in his favour?2 Johnson. ‘Sir if a man has led a good life for seven years and then is hurried by passion to do what is wrong, and is suddenly carried off, depend upon it he will have the reward of his seven years good life. GOD will not take a catch of him. ≤Upon this principle Richard Baxter maintains that a Suicide may be saved. “If” says he “it should be objected that [this>] what I maintain may encourage suicide, I answer I am not to tell a lie to prevent it.”≥’ Boswell. ‘But does not the text say “As the tree falls so shall it lye”.’ Johnson. ‘Yes Sir – as the tree falls. — But — (after a little [embarrassment÷stop>] pause)3 that [is meant as÷applies>] is meant as to the general state of the tree not what is the effect of a sudden blast.’ In short he interpreted the expression as referring to condition, not to position. The common notion therefore seems to be [wrong÷erroneous>] erroneous and Shenstone’s witty remark on Divines trying to give the tree a jerk upon deathbed to make it lye favourably was not well-founded.4 ≤[MS opp. 912] I asked him what works of Richard Baxter’s I should read. He said ‘Read any of them; they are all good.’ He said ‘Get as much force of mind as you can. Live within your income. [Allways have÷Have allways>] Allways have something saved at the end of the year. Let your imports be more than your exports, and you’ll never go far wrong.’ I assured him that in the extensive and various range of his acquaintance there [never had been÷was not>] never had been any one who had a more sincere respect and affection for him than I had. He said ‘I beleive it. Sir. Were I in distress, there is no man to whom I should sooner come than to you. I should 8 Langton (Journ. 29 May 1783). In revision, JB put ‘No N.P.’ in the margin to clarify that this sentence—run on with the foregoing material, now deleted—was not to begin a new paragraph. 9 Printed in the revises ‘such a thing as balancing of accounts?’ The second ‘a’ was left out in error. The phrase ‘such a thing as’, added in the same draft with no caret showing where it belonged, may have been read to replace a deletion in front of ‘ballancing’—actually a false start, ‘bl’. By taking in the phrase not after ‘subject’ but before ‘ballancing’, the compositor saw no function for the article. 1 Printed in the revises ‘Suppose a man who has led a good life for seven years, commits an act of wickedness, and instantly dies; will his former good life’. 2 Closing quotation marks printed here in the revises by mistake (in the absence of initial marks) were not deleted until the third edition. 3 The dashes preceding and following the word ‘But’, representing SJ as having been at a loss for words, were printed in the revises before and after the parentheses. 4 Deleted memorandum in the margin, ‘See the place’. For Shenstone’s remark, see Hill-Powell iv. 226 n. 1.

161

H-P iv. 226–28

1783

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

like to come & have a cottage in your park, [tottle>] toddle5 about, live mostly on milk, and be taken care of by Mrs. Boswell. She and I are good freinds now; are we not?’ Talking of devotion he said ‘Though it [is÷be>] be true that “GOD dwelleth not in temples made with hands” yet in this state of being our minds are more piously affected in places appropriated to divine worship than in others. Some people have a particular room in their house where they say their prayers, [which may be of service.÷of which I do not disapprove.>] of which I do not disapprove, as it may animate their devotion.’≥ [MS 912 resumed] He embraced me and gave me his blessing as usual when I was leaving him for any length of time. I walked from his door to=day with a fearful apprehension of what might happen before I returned. [Having been now separated from him I could not for some time enjoy his conversation[;] my readers therefore must be contented with his letters.6 added and del] [1st ed. ii. 458] TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM WINDHAM7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ≤The following is another instance of his active benevolence.8≥

.

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≤To Sir Joshua Reynolds9≥ 20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [MS 913] My anxious apprehensions at parting with him this year [had but too much reality in the sequel; for>] proved to be but too well founded; for not long [after>] afterwards he had a dreadful alarm by a stroke of the palsy of which there are very full and accurate Accounts in letters written by himself≤, which 25 shew with what composure his steady piety enabled him to behave≥.1/2 5 Not in SJ’s Dictionary. The original word, ‘tottle’, seems to have been what JB wrote in his journal, although—poorly drafted and obscured by an ink smudge—it was transcribed ‘totter’ by Lustig and Pottle (Applause of the Jury, p. 152). His use of ‘tottle’ in this sense—‘To walk unsteadily with quick, short or feeble steps, to toddle, totter’—predates the first example (1822) given in the SND. The present sentence, with the verb in its usual English form, is one of the examples illustrating the usage of ‘Toddle’ in the OED. 6 By the time JB added this sentence in revision, no room remained on MS 912. Almost none remained on MS opp. 912, but he rotated the leaf to make use of its upper margin, drafting the new sentence upside down relative to the rest of the copy. 7 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letter 31 May.’ This letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. It was one of three from SJ to Windham obtained by EM, who told JB of them on 14 Sept. 1787, adding that they were ‘of no great value, but do him honour’ (Corr. 2a, p. 185; see post p. 280 n. 6). For the footnotes JB added to the letter in the second edition, see Hill-Powell iv. 227 nn. 1–2 and 521 (App. J). 8 JB drafted this copy—marked for a new paragraph—in the left-hand margin of the page following a direction to the compositor: ‘After Letter to Mr. Windham say’. 9 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letter of June 2’. This letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. A footnote on ‘god-son’s’ in the second edition—‘Young Paterson, the son of Mr. Samuel Paterson.’—was shortened in the third edition to begin with ‘Son’. 1 SJ’s summons ‘To Mr. EDMUND ALLEN’ (for help after his stroke) was printed for insertion here in Corrections and Additions; not repeated in Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition. It duly appeared in the second edition (Hill-Powell iv. 228). 2 Notes in the Life Materials show what JB planned to incorporate here: ‘His Paralytick Stroke / Letter to Mrs. Thrale 301 / Also to Dr. Taylor’ (M 147, under ‘1783’).

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1783

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H-P iv. 228–29

To The REVEREND DR. JOHN TAYLOR3

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20

[Paper Apart4] Dear Sir, It has pleased GOD by a paralytick stroke in the night to deprive me of speech. I am very desirous of Dr. Heberden’s assistance as I think my case is not past remedy. Let me see you as soon as it is possible. Bring Dr. [1st ed. ii. 459] Heberden with you if you can, but come yourself, at all events. I am glad you are so well, when I am so dreadfully attacked. I think that by a speedy application of Stimulants much may be done. I question if a Vomit vigorous & rough would not rouse the organs of speech to action. As it is too early to send I will try to recollect what I can that can be suspected to have brought on this dreadful distress. I have been accustomed to bleed frequently for an asthmatick complaint, but have forborne for some time by Dr. Pepys’s persuasion, who perceived my legs beginning to swell. I sometimes alleviate a painful, or more properly an oppressive constriction of my chest, by opiates, & have lately taken opium frequently, but the last, or two last times in smaller Quantities. My largest dose is three grains, & last night I took but two. You will suggest these things (& they are all that I can call to mind;)5 to Dr. Heberden. I am &c. June 17: 1783 Sam. Johnson.6 [MS 913 resumed] [To MRS. THRALE>] Two days after he wrote thus to Mrs. Thrale7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Directing the compositor to ‘Take it in from’, JB left a blank space to delimit the excerpt later. Instead, deleting ‘from’, he included the whole text. The copy of the letter, in an unidentified hand, came from Mary Cobb, to whom JB expressed his indebtedness on 15 Feb. 1785 (Corr. 2a, p. 46). 4 JB designated this Paper Apart for ‘P. 913’. He circled its heading (‘Copy’, written by the transcriber) with his own earlier docket (‘Letter Dr. Samuel Johnson to the Rev. Dr. John Taylor, written while under a paralytick stroke for the first time.’) to buffer them from the text. He had to clarify the copyist’s irregular paragraph indentations, marking some to be kept (‘I am very …’; ‘I have been …’), others to be eliminated (‘I am glad …’; ‘You will suggest …’), and a new one to be created (‘I think that …’). A memorandum in the upper left-hand corner of the page—‘See Taylor’s printed Letters’—refers to his pamphlet, A Letter to Samuel Johnson on the Subject of a Future State (1787), to which three of SJ’s letters to Taylor were appended (pp. 19–22): those of 18 Mar. 1752, 17 June 1783, and 12 Apr. 1784. If JB compared the present copy with its printed version, he was content with differences in the paragraphing; in print, paragraphs also start at ‘I sometimes alleviate …’ and ‘You will suggest …’. For the 1784 letter, see post p. 187 n. 9; for the 1752 letter, see Life MS i. 172–73 nn. 9–10. 5 The parentheses around this clause were added by JB. 6 SJ’s postscript was copied on the verso of the leaf: ‘Dr. Brocklesby will be with me to meet Dr. Heberden, & I shall have previously made him master of the case, as well as I can.’ JB deleted it. 7 JB’s original direction to the compositor—‘Take in Letter 301 down to “the safety of every faculty.”’—was modified in revision: ‘Take in from Letter 301 beginning “I went to bed” & down to “the safety of every faculty.”’ On second thought, deciding to incorporate the two preceding sentences as well, JB changed his starting point to

163

H-P iv. 231, 233

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1783

≤[Paper Apart8] To Mr. THOMAS DAVIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . It gives me great pleasure to preserve such a memorial of Johnson’s regard for Mr. Davies to whom I was indebted for my introduction to him.a He indeed loved Davies cordially of which I shall give the following little evidence. One 5 day when he had treated him with too much asperity, Tom who was not with- 6 out pride and spirit, went off in a passion, but he had hardly reached home 7 when Frank who had been sent after him delivered this note from Johnson 8 ‘Come come Dear Davies, I am always sorry when we quarrel; send me word 9 10 that we are friends.’≥ [MS 913 resumed; 1st ed. ii. 461] To JAMES BOSWELL ESQ:9/1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Such was the ≤general≥ vigour of his constitution that he recovered from a partial though [horrible>] severe attack with wonderful quickness so that in July he was able to make a visit to Mr. Langton at Rochester,2 where he passed [thirteen days÷about a forthnight>] about a forthnight3 and made little Poor Derrick however though he did not himself introduce me to Dr. Johnson as he promised had the merit of introducing me to Davies the immediate introductor. a

‘On Monday the 16’. The footnote symbol following these directions led to nothing at the bottom of the page; the citation printed in the revises—‘Vol. II. p. 268, of Mrs. Thrale’s Collection.’—probably was added in proof. 8 Direction to the compositor, ‘After the letter to Mrs. Thrale to be taken in on p. 913 take in To Mr. THOMAS DAVIES / “I have had indeed” &c. / Then add’—and here JB drafted copy for a paragraph to follow the letter. SJ’s note to Davies no longer forms part of the Life MS; see Life MS iii. 309 n. 4. It was sent to JB by Davies’s widow, Susanna, on 24 Jan. 1791, only days before being typeset. On 29 Jan., when writing to EM, JB had in hand the proof-sheet of sig. Mmm (ii. 449–56); the letter to Davies was printed on p. 460 in sig. Nnn (see Corr. 2a, pp. 294–95). 9 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letter 3 July’. This letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. Printed after this letter in the revises was SJ’s letter of 5 July 1783 ‘To Mrs. LUCY PORTER, in Lichfield.’ (Within its text, ‘for awhile’ changed to ‘for a while’ in the second edition.) No direction for taking the letter in appears on MS 913. Nonetheless, JB’s original plan to include it is shown by his listing of ‘Two letters to Mrs. Lucy Porter’ under the year 1783 in the Life Materials (M 147), the other being the letter of 29 Nov. (see post p. 181 and n. 7). SJ’s undated letter to her was a later addition to the biography for this year (ante p. 143 and n. 7). 1 To the right of his previous direction (see note above), JB in revision added another: ‘Go to p. 914 till sent back hither’. He then deleted it, telling the compositor, ‘Upon looking at the Copy I think it may be as well to go on without the transitions backwards & forwards. Too nice chronology is very troublesome.’ He had placed the symbol within the indentation of the paragraph on MS 914 that begins ‘His fortitude …’ (see p. 169 l. 3), wanting to move that passage (beginning with a catalogue of SJ’s ‘severe trials’ with stroke, gout, and a sarcocele) ahead of the next paragraph on MS 913. Another sign of JB’s grappling with organization is a paragraph drafted on MS opp. 914 that he ultimately assigned to MS 946; see p. 211 and n. 4. 2 Deleted memorandum on the facing page: ‘Qu if then at Camp’. Langton in 1783 was ‘quartered for some time’ at Rochester (Oxford DNB). 3 Printed in the revises ‘fortnight’; ‘forthnight’ and ‘fortnicht’ were Scottish forms of the word (SND).

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H-P iv. 233–35

excursions as easily as at any time of his life.4 In August he went as far as the neighbourhood of Salisbury to Heale the [MS 914] seat of [Mr. Bowles, whom>] William Bowles Esq. a gentleman whom I have heard him praise for exemplary religious order in his family. In his Diary I find a short but honourable mention of this visit. ‘August 28 I came to Heale without fatigue. ‘ 30 I am entertained quite to my mind.’5/6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . While he was [at this place÷here>] here he got a letter from Dr. Brocklesby acquainting him of the death of Mrs. Williams which affected him a good [deal; for though for several years her temper had not been complacent she had been so long a part of his family and had so much reading and conversation that her departure made÷left a dreary blank.>] deal. Though for several years her temper had not been complacent7 her departure left a blank in his house. [This dispensation of Providence he received with a proper submission; and according to his habitual course of piety, composed a prayer upon the occasion.>] Upon this occasion he according to his habitual course of piety, composed a prayer.a/8 ≤[Paper Apart H9] I shall here insert a few particulars concerning him with which I have been favoured by one of his friends.1/2≥ [Sub-Paper Apart for H3, p. 2] ‘He had once conceived the design of writing the Life of Oliver Cromwell thinking as he declared that it must be highly a

Prayers & Meditations p. 226.

4 A symbol here, possibly meant to lead the compositor to additional copy, was deleted before JB had drafted any such copy. 5 In revision, JB bracketed the indented entries and marked them ‘No N.P.’ The compositor, replacing the full stop after ‘visit’ with a colon and a dash, drew them up into the paragraph (so in revises). 6 Here Plymsell wrote ‘Take in Letter to Dr. Brockelsby’, deleting what JB—to nullify the symbol (see p. 164 n. 1)—had just dictated farther down the page: ‘After Paper H take in Letter to Dr. Brockelsby’. Only in revision did JB make good on his intention to include ‘One letter to Dr. Brocklesby’, as listed for this year in the Life Materials (M 147). SJ’s letter of 29 Aug. 1783 no longer forms part of the Life MS. 7 Having deleted the reasons why SJ missed Mrs. Williams, JB made this sentence more logical by inserting a phrase here in the revises: ‘she had valuable qualities, and’. 8 Direction to the compositor, ‘Paper H’. 9 Alongside his ‘H’ (for ‘Heale’) in the upper left-hand corner, JB specified ‘for p. 914’. 1 On 2 June 1785 Bowles had written to JB that ‘most persons would object to the mention of their names’ in the Life, implicitly including himself, but shifted the onus onto JB. Given that the ‘world’ would put its ‘faith’ in JB and believe him to have ‘examined the authenticity of what is sent’, he would ‘not find it so expedient to mention the names’ of those who supplied material, lest it diminish his authority as biographer (Corr. 2a, p. 88). On 9 Nov. 1787 Bowles wrote that he would send by coach that evening his recollections, which he begged JB to ‘look over carefully for I am afraid they are carelessly compiled’ (Corr. 2a, p. 191; see n. 3 below). 2 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in all the paragraphs marked thus * so far as unscored’. 3 Headed ‘For paper H for p. 914’ by JB, this Paper Apart was drafted by Bowles over a period of two years (see Corr. 2a, pp. 192–96). It comprises twelve pages on three

165

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1783

curious to trace his extraordinary rise to the supreme power from so obscure a beginning. He at length laid aside this scheme on discovering that all that can be told of him is already in print & that it is impracticable to procure any authentick information in addition to what the world is already possessed of.’4 ‘He had likewise projected but at what part of his life is not known, a work to shew how small a quantity of REAL FICTION there is in the world & how the same images with very little variation have served all the writers who have ever written.’5 [Sub-P.A. for H, p. 3] ‘His thoughts in the latter part of his life were frequently employed on his deceased friends. [Sub-P.A. for H, p. 4] He often muttered these or such like sentences “Poor man, & then he died.”’ ‘Speaking once of a literary friend6 “he is a very pompous puzzling fellow” says the Dr. “he lent me a letter once that somebody had written him, no matter what it was about; but he wanted to have the letter back & expressed a mighty value for it, he hoped it was to be met with again, he wd. not lose it for a thousand pound. I layed my hand upon it soon after & gave it him. I beleive I said I was very glad to have met with it: Oh then he did not know that it signified any thing: So you see when the letter was lost it was worth a thousand pound & when it was found it was not worth a farthing.”’ [1st ed. ii. 464] ‘The Style & character of his conversation is pretty generally known; it was certainly conducted in conformity with a precept of Ld. Bacon, but it is not clear I apprehend that this conformity was either perceived or intended by Dr. Johnson. The precept alluded to is as follows, [Sub-P.A. for H, p. 5] “In all kinds of speech either pleasant, grave, severe, or ordinary it is convenient to speak leisurely and rather drawingly than hastily: because hasty folded sheets of writing paper (kept in order by JB’s numbering of pages 4, 5, and 8). Of its thirty-five paragraphs, JB marked twelve for inclusion with asterisks, but later deleted two of the asterisks, leaving ten ‘unscored’ (see n. 2 above, n. 5 below, and p. 167 n. 1). Only Bowles’s final copy is here transcribed; alterations made by JB (who did not bother to expand common abbreviations) are recorded in the endnotes. 4 Footnote added in the second edition: ‘Mr. Malone observes, “This, however, was certainly a mistake, as appears from the curious Memoirs lately published by Mr. Noble. Had Johnson been furnished with the materials which the industry of that gentleman has procured, he would, without doubt, have produced a most valuable and curious history of Cromwell’s life.”’ In the third edition, ‘curious Memoirs lately’ was printed ‘Memoirs’, and ‘procured, he’ became ‘procured, and with others which, it is believed, are yet preserved in manuscript, he’. On the Rev. Mark Noble and his Memoirs of the Protectorate-House of Cromwell (1784), see Hill-Powell iv. 525 (App. J). 5 JB’s next asterisk marked the following paragraph (on Sub-P.A. for H, p. 3): ‘The Doctor used to recommend Plutarch’s treatise on education & thought it contained every precept of importance on the subject, in wch. perhaps he said rather too much. He was no advocate for our publick schools & being asked what method of education he thought best he said a mixed one, partly at a school & partly at the father’s house.’ JB revised ‘The Doctor’ to ‘He’, but also placed a ‘Q’ to the left of his asterisk, indicating some hesitation about whether to include the paragraph. Eventually he deleted the asterisk, perhaps (like Bowles) dubious that Plutarch’s treatise warranted SJ’s inflated appraisal of it. 6 Powell suggests Joseph Warton, based on another anecdote recorded by Bowles: ‘Of Dr. Warton & his brother … he spoke with little respect, Joh he said “was a very empty fellow”—& of the other he spoke as the rest of the world speaks’. This was drawn from two other sets of manuscript ‘memorandums’ made by Bowles, now at Pembroke College, Oxford; see Hill-Powell iv. 523–24 (App. J).

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H-P iv. 236–38

speech confounds the memory and oftentimes besides the unseemliness drives a man either to a stammering, a non plus or harping on that wch. should follow; whereas a slow speech confirmeth the memory addeth a conceit of wisdom to the hearers, besides a seemliness of speech and countenance.” Dr. Johnson’s method of conversation was certainly calculated to excite attention, & to amuse or instruct (as it happened) without wearying or confusing his company; he was always most perfectly clear and perspicuous7; & his language was so correct & his sentences so neatly constructed that his conversation might have been all printed without wanting any correction. At the same time it was easy and natural: the accuracy of it had no appearance of labour constraint or stiffness, he seemed more correct than others by the force of habit & the customary exercise of his powerful mind.’ [Sub-P.A. for H, p. 6] ‘He valued himself a good deal on being able to do every thing for himself. He visited without a servant when he went to stay at the houses of his friends, and found few or no occasions to employ the servants belonging to the family. He knew how to mend his own stockings, to darn his linen or to sew on a button on his cloaths. “I am not (he wd. often say) an helpless man.”’8 ‘He spoke often in praise of French literature, & “the french are excellent in this” he wd. say “they have a book on every subject.” From what he had seen of them he denied them the praise of superior politeness, & mentioned with very visible disgust the custom they have of spitting on the floors of their apartments.9 “This” says the Doctor, “is as gross a thing as can well [Sub-P.A. for H, p. 7] be done, and one wonders how any man or set of men can persist in so offensive a practice for a whole day together, one shd. expect that the first effort toward civilization wd. remove it even amongst savages.”’1 [Sub-P.A. for H, p. 8] ‘Baxter’s Reasons of the Xtian Religion2 he thought contained the best collection of the evidences of the divinity of the Xtian System.’ [Sub-P.A. for H, p. 9] ‘Chymistry was always an interesting pursuit with Dr. Johnson: whilst he was in Wiltshire he attended some experiments that were made by a Physician at Salisbury on the new kinds of Air. In the course of the experiments frequent mention being made of Dr. Priestley, Dr. Johnson knit his brows & in a stern manner enquired “Why do we hear so much of Dr. 7 Printed ‘conspicuous’ in the revises, and queried by Selfe, who underscored ‘con’ and jotted ‘q per’ in the margin. His query escaped JB’s notice. The error was corrected in the second edition. 8 JB qualified this anecdote in the revises, changing the beginning of the second sentence, ‘He visited’, to ‘He sometimes visited’. A moment later, however, his scepticism prevailing, he deleted the paragraph and explained to the compositor, ‘I doubt this therefore let it go out; and thus you may more easily get in a note to Dr. Burney in the next page’. The present paragraph occupied six lines in the revises; seven lines were required on the next page for the note to Burney (see post p. 169 n. 5). 9 Misprinted ‘apartment’; restored to the plural in the second edition. 1 JB’s next asterisk marked a brief paragraph (on Sub-P.A. for H, pp. 7–8): ‘Of Mr. Thrale he appeared to preserve very tender sentiments. “Poor dear Mr. Thrale” were words often in his mouth.’ He deleted the asterisk later, no doubt, for the redundancy of the anecdote: such mutterings when SJ thought of deceased friends had already been described (ante p. 166 ll. 9–11). 2 In the revises, the title was printed within quotation marks, not italicized, and the abbreviations for ‘Christian’ (here and at the end of the sentence) were spelled out.

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Priestley?”a/3 He was very properly answered “Sir [Sub-P.A. for H, p. 10] because we are indebted [1st ed. ii. 465] to him for these important discoveries.” On this Dr. Johnson appeared well content & replyed “Well, Well, I believe we are, & let every man have the honour he has merited.”’ ‘A friend was one day about two years before his death struck with some 5 instance of Dr. Johnson’s great candour: “Well Sir” says he “I will always say 6 that you are a very candid man.” “Will you” replied the Dr. “I doubt then you 7 will be very singular. But indeed Sir” continued he “I look upon myself to be a 8 man very much misunderstood. I am not an uncandid nor am I a severe man. I 9 sometimes say more than I mean in jest, & people are apt to believe me serious: 10 however I am more candid than I was when I was younger: as I know more of 11 [Paper Apart H resumeda1] I do not wonder at Johnson’s displeasure when the name of Dr. Priestley was pronounced;a2 for I know no Writer who has been suffered to publish more pernicious doctrines. I shall instance only three. First Materialism by which mind is denied to human nature which if believed must deprive us of every elevated principle. Secondly Necessity or the doctrine that every action whether good or bad is included in an unchangeable and unavoidable system, a notion utterly subversive of moral government. Thirdly that we have no reason to suppose that our existence in a future life will be very different from what it is in this,a3 which if believed would sink wretched mortals into despair as they could no longer hope for the ‘rest which remaineth for the people of GOD’ or for that happiness which is revealed to us as something beyond the reach of our present faculties; but would feel themselves doomed to a continuation of the uneasy state under which they now groan.a4 a

3 JB deleted Bowles’s next sentence: ‘This was the effect of his religious bigotry.’ Then, placing a footnote symbol here and at the bottom of the page, he directed the compositor to ‘See note on Paper H’. a1 Next to a footnote symbol, JB wrote ‘Note on Dr. Priestley’, then drafted what follows. a2 First edition, ‘mentioned’. JB presumably made this revision in the missing first proofs, at which stage the entire footnote appeared on p. 465. The first four lines of it migrated to p. 464 in the first edition, after JB in the revises had deleted a paragraph of six lines (see p. 167 n. 8). This changed occurred before the revise of p. 465 was pulled. a3 Printed in the revises ‘no reason to think that the future world, (which, as he is pleased to inform us, will be adapted to our merely improved nature, will be materially different from this’. JB underscored ‘inform’, specifying ‘Italicks’ for the verb, and supplied the missing parenthesis after ‘nature,’. In the second edition, the words ‘merely improved’ were also italicized. a4 An additional sentence was printed here in the revises: ‘I say nothing of the petulant intemperance with which he dares to insult the venerable establishments of his country.’ Capel Lofft deemed this ‘loose shot’ fired over Priestley’s head to be unworthy of response, but otherwise, in a long letter of 26–27 May 1791, took issue with JB’s positions on ‘Necessity’, ‘Materialism’, and ‘the future State’ (Corr. 2a, pp. 319–22). By delving into arguments on moral and physical necessity, contingency, prescience, and freedom, Lofft seems equally to have had in view the conversation on these topics in 1778 (drafted on MS opp. 692), to which JB had also appended a footnote dismissive of Priestley (Life MS iii. 209–10 and n. 1). His hope that JB would indulge ‘no Contest or permanent Disgust against Dr. Priestley’ was without effect. In the second edition, JB hardened his tone against Priestley in the other footnote, and expanded the present footnote by adding three new paragraphs (see Hill-Powell iv. 238 n. 1).

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mankind I expect less of them & am ready now to call a man a good man upon easier terms than I was formerly.”’4/5

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

[MS 914 resumed] His fortitude ≤and patience≥ met with severe trials during this year. The stroke of the palsy has been related circumstantially; but he was also afflicted with the gout, and was besides troubled with a complaint which not only was attended with immediate inconvenience [MS 915] but threatened him with a painful chirurgical operation, [from the thought÷imagination which most men would shrink into a depression of spirit.>] from which most men would shrink. The complaint was a Sarcocele which Johnson bore with uncommon firmness, and was not at all frightened while he looked forward to amputation. He was attended by Mr. Pott6 and Mr. Cruikshank. I have before me a letter of the 30 July this year to Mr. Cruikshank [in which he says÷which begins>] in which he says ‘I am going to put myself into your hands’ and [then describes the Complaint, which he then supposed to be a Hydrocele. The generous attention÷care of this Gentleman who would accept of no money÷fee from him appears to have impressed him much÷strongly for on the 6 of August he sent him a set of his Lives of the Poets with the following very handsome letter. To MR. CRUIKSHANK7

20

I have in my>] [then describes the Complaint, which he supposed to be a Hydrocele. He appears to have been very sensible of the generous attention for on the 6 of August he sent him a set of his Lives of the Poets with the following note. To MR. CRUIKSHANK

I have in my>] another accompanying a set of his ‘Lives of [1st ed. ii. 466] the Poets’ in which he says ‘I beg your acceptance of these volumes as an acknowl25 edgement of the great favours which you have bestowed on Sir your most obliged and most humble servant.’ I have in my possession several more letters 4 JB deleted Bowles’s final sentence in this paragraph: ‘Speaking to the same person at another time, he said “I never judge too much of men from what they say; some people get a strange way of rattling, & others say any thing that serves a present turn.”’ 5 The text of SJ’s letter of 20 Sept. 1783 to Charles Burney was printed here in the revises, introduced by a short sentence: ‘On his return from Heale he wrote to Dr. Burney.’ JB made this addition to p. 465 (the first of sig. Ooo) in first proof upon deleting a paragraph on p. 464 (the last of sig. Nnn) in the revises (see ante p. 167 n. 8; R. W. Chapman, Johnson & Boswell Revised, 1928, p. 40). Burney summarized the letter when he sent it to JB: ‘A short note to Dr. B. on his return home from Derbyshire in 1783, is worth preserving, as it concerns his regret for the loss of Mrs. Williams, & acct. of her good Qualities’ (Life MS i. 374 and n. 2 [App. G]). The compositor typeset ‘disconsolate’ for the word ‘desolate’, a misreading noted but not corrected in Hill-Powell (iv. 239). 6 Deleted memorandum on the facing page: ‘Qu as to Mr. Pott.’ Pott’s involvement was verified by SJ’s letters later on (see, for example, p. 170 l. 17). 7 False start on next line, ‘Sir’, covered by a direction to the compositor, ‘Take in the Letter’. As the letter was one sentence long, JB downgraded his characterization of it from a ‘very handsome letter’ to a ‘note’ in his first revision to this passage, and in his second revision simply quoted it within the paragraph. JB’s reading of ‘favours’ for ‘favour’ (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 184) has not been corrected.

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from him to Mr. Cruikshank, and also to [the very ingenious del] Dr. Mudge at Plymouth which it would be improper to insert as they are filled with unpleasing technical details. I shall [MS 916] however [excerpt÷extract>] extract from his letters to Dr. Mudge [to whom he says ‘I trust much to your judgement’8 del] such passages as shew either a felicity of expression, or the undaunted state of his mind.9≤—≥ ≤[MS opp. 916] ‘My conviction of your skill and my beleif of your freindship determine me to intreat your opinion and advice.’ [After describing the Sarcocele he says del] ‘In this State I with great earnestness desire you to tell me what is to be done. Excision is doubtless necessary to the cure, and I know not any means of palliation. The operation is doubtless painful; but is it dangerous? The pain I hope to endure with decency; but I am loath to put life into much hazard.’≥1 [MS 916 resumed] ≤—≥‘By representing the gout as an Antagonist to the palsy, you have said enough to make it welcome. This is not strictly the first fit, but I hope it is as good as the first; for it is the second that ever confined me and the first was ten years ago, much less fierce and fiery than this.’ ≤—≥ [After describing the Sarcocele and mentioning that Mr. Pott had at first ‘thought excision necessary’ but afterwards ‘thought it proper to suspend all violence’ he says del] ‘Write dear Sir what you can, to inform or encourage me. The operation is not delayed by any fears or objections of mine.’ Happily the Complaint abated without his being put to the torture of amputation. But we must surely admire the manly resolution which he discovered while it hung over [him with a probability of his being obliged to submit [MS 917] to it. During that time his conversation I am assured was the same as ever, and his letters we see have all the nerve and all the point and all the vivacity that he÷they shewed at any time of his life.>] [him with a probability of his being obliged to submit [MS 917] to it. During that time his conversation I am assured was the same as ever, and his letters we see have all the nerve point and vivacity that he displayed at any time of his life.>] [him.2 He continued to write to his friends with his usual kindness.>] him. 8 In his letter of 9 Oct. 1783 (see Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 224). A heavy, swirling ink stroke obscures something after the quotation; what it was is unclear. 9 Here the symbol directed the compositor to MS opp. 916, where JB copied extracts from SJ’s letter of 9 Sept. 1783, putting them ahead of the extracts from the letter of 9 Oct. that follow on MS 916. Although each extract or narrative lead-in was indented, JB did not want them to form separate paragraphs, adding this instruction at the top of MS opp. 916 in revision: ‘Dont make NPs but only breaks ——’. Accordingly, the four extracts were printed as a single paragraph with dashes between the quotations. The dash to the right of the present paragraph, indicating that not even the first extract was to be indented, was ignored. One dash not added by JB has been supplied (l. 8). 1 Deleted false start to another extract: ‘My godson called on me lately. He’. SJ expressed a hope that William Mudge, who was ‘rationally weary of a military life’, might be placed ‘in some other state’; see Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 197 and n. 8. 2 In this second revision, JB placed a full stop here and deleted the rest of the paragraph, replacing it with the sentence that follows (drafted in the margin of MS 916). He deleted that sentence in his third revision, leaving a short paragraph about SJ’s having been spared the ‘torture of amputation’. In the letter that came next, however, written to Langton on 20 Sept. 1783, SJ expected that his ‘very troublesome and dangerous complaint’ would demand the ‘chirurgical knife’. JB transposed them in the second edition, moving the letter ahead of the present paragraph.

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[[MS 917]

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H-P iv. 240–41

To Sir Joshua Reynolds3 To Bennet Langton Esq:4 To Bennet Langton Esq:5

On the 8th. of August I wrote to him begging to know the state of his health, and mentioned ‘Baxter’s Anacreon which is in the Library at Auchinleck was I find collated by my Father in 1727 with the M.S. belonging to the University of Leyden, and he has made a number of notes upon it. Would you advise me to publish a new edition of it?’ To James Boswell Esq:6 To Bennet Langton Esq:7>]

[MS 916] To Bennet Langton Esq:8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [MS 916v; 1st ed. ii. 467] In his next letter9 to the same Gentleman he writes ‘The gout has within these four days come upon me with a violence which I 15 never experienced before. It made me helpless as an infant.’ — and in the following, [having mentioned Mrs. Williams says÷thus mentioned Mrs. Williams>] having mentioned Mrs. Williams says ‘whose death following that of Levett has now made my house a solitude. She left her little substance to a charity school. She is I hope where there is neither darkness nor want nor sorrow.’ 20 I wrote to him begging to know the state of his health1 and mentioned ≤that≥ ‘Baxter’s Anacreon which is in the Library at Auchinleck was I find 3 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letter of Septr. 6’. This letter, listed in MS Hyde 51 (27) along with those of 2 June and 4 Dec., was one of ‘Three letters to Sir Joshua Reynolds’ noted under the year 1783 in the Life Materials (M 147; the letter concerning Lowe’s painting was a later addition: see ante p. 142 n. 3). Its similarity to SJ’s letter of 11 Oct. to Langton (see above, ll. 17–19), however, prompted JB in revision to leave it out: ‘My Loss is really great. She had been my domestick companion for more than thirty years, and when I come home I shall return to a desolate habitation. I hope all her miseries are past’ (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 195). 4 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letter Sept. 20 / “I am Sir” &c.’ See n. 8 below. 5 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Sept. 24’; see nn. 8–9 below. 6 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letter Sept. 30’; see p. 172 l. 4 and n. 3. 7 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Octr. 11’; see nn. 8–9 below. 8 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letter Sept. 20 saying “I am &c.”’ (curtailing SJ’s sign-off). This letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. The date was printed ‘Sept. 29’, an error never corrected. (In the second edition, JB added a note on the word ‘companion’: ‘Mrs. Anna Williams.’) Beneath the catchword for MS 917, which he deleted, JB told the compositor to ‘See the Back’, where he clarified the sequence: ‘What is on this page immediately follows what is on the preceeding [sic] I mean Letter Sept. 20.’ Here in one paragraph he presented short quotations from the letters to Langton dated Sept. 24 and Oct. 11. 9 In the second edition, the linkage between this paragraph and SJ’s letter of Sept. 20 having been broken (see ante p. 170 n. 2), JB modified his references to the letters of Sept. 24 and Oct. 11 respectively: ‘In his next letter’ became ‘In a letter’, and ‘in the following’ (ll. 15–16) became ‘in another’. 1 JB recorded that he wrote this letter not on Aug. 8 (see l. 4) but on Aug. 9: ‘Dr. Samuel Johnson in kind concern about him—inviting him to Auchinleck—that I am

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1783

collated by my Father in 1727 with the M.S. belonging to the University of Leyden, and he has made a number of notes upon it. Would you advise me to publish a new edition of it.’2 His Answer dated Septr. 30 was — ‘You should not3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [MS 917] He this Autumn [had a very flattering compliment paid to him which was a visit [MS 918] from Mrs. Siddons that extraordinary instance of Theatrical excellence.>] [had a very flattering compliment paid to him which was a visit [MS 918] from the celebrated Mrs. Siddons whose extraordinary merit as an actress has justly excited such general admiration.4>] received a visit [MS 918] from the celebrated Mrs. Siddons. He gives this account of it in one of his letters to Mrs. Thrale.5 ‘Mrs. Siddons in her visit to me behaved with great modesty and propriety, and left nothing behind her to be censured or despised. Neither praise nor money the two powerful corrupters of mankind seem to have depraved her. I shall be glad to see her again. Her brother Kemble calls on me, and pleases me very well. Mrs. Siddons and I talked of plays; and she told me her intention of exhibiting this winter the characters of Constance Catherine and Isabella in Shakspeare.’ Mr. Kemble has favoured me with the following Minute of what passed at this visit.6 [Paper Apart Siddons7 (1)] ‘When Mrs. Siddons came into the room there happened to be no chair ≤ready≥ for her which he observing [called for one & del] said with a smile, “Madam you who so often occasion ≤a≥ want of seats to other people will the more easily excuse the want of one yourself.” [1st ed. ii. 468] ‘Having [seated>] placed himself by her he with great [ease>] good humour entered upon a consideration of the English Drama, and among other enquiries particularly asked her which of Shakspeare’s characters She [thought the most excellent.>] was most pleased with. Upon her answering that she thought the character of Queen Catharine in Henry VIII the most natural dreary (Copy)’ (Reg. Let.). Although his record is silent about Baxter’s Anacreon, he would have recalled the matter by reviewing his copy of the letter. 2 An anonymous correspondent, hoping to ‘rouse’ JB’s ‘sleeping Ambition’, wrote to him on 10 Dec. 1792 urging him to undertake several of the literary projects he contemplated in the Life, including ‘the Anacreon alluded to in p. 467’ (Corr. 2a, p. 389). 3 Direction to the compositor, ‘taking in that letter without the beginning & ending forms’. This letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. 4 Eyeing a quick revision, JB inserted ‘the celebrated’ above the top line of MS 918, but then moved this phrase to MS opp. 918 as part of an expanded revision. 5 Instead of a full stop, a colon was printed here in the revises, followed by a dash and then the quotation, without a paragraph break. 6 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in =’. On the facing page, next to the corresponding symbol, JB alerted the compositor to its imminent delivery: ‘I am to have it, to insert’. He obtained the ‘Minute’ on 3 Feb. 1791: ‘Kemble came to me in the morning and made out a note of Dr. Johnson’s conversation with Mrs. Siddons for my book’ (Great Biographer, p. 120). Kemble seems to have ‘made out’ the note first by dictating or otherwise presenting the material to JB, in whose hand most of it is drafted, and afterwards by making corrections in his own hand. Some of Kemble’s revisions are noted below; the rest attributable to him are identified in the endnotes. 7 This Paper Apart is docketed ‘Mrs. Siddons’ on the verso of the third leaf.

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“I think so too Madam” said he “and [if you will>] whenever you perform it I will once more hobble out to the Theatre myself.” [She promised she would act it for him; but many circumstances at the Theatre happened to prevent it during his life.>] Mrs. Siddons promised she would do herself the Honour of acting his favourite Part for him; but many circumstances happened to prevent the Representation of King Henry during the Doctor’s life. ‘In the course of the evening he thus gave his opinion [of÷upon>] upon the merits of some of the principal actors whom he remembered [Paper Apart Siddons (2)] to have seen upon the stage. “Mrs. Porter [for passion>] in the vehemence of Rage and Mrs. Clive [for humour>] in the sprightliness of humour I have never seen equalled. What Clive did best, she did better than Garrick; but could not do half so many things well. — She was a better romp than any I ever saw in nature. — Pritchard, in common life, was a vulgar ideot; she would talk of her gownd; but when she appeared upon the stage seemed to be inspired with gentility & understanding. [Barry was a Harry Longley.8 del] I once talked with ≤Colley≥ Cibber and thought him ignorant of the principles of his art. [Garrick was the only actor I ever saw who truly excelled both in Tragedy and Comedy; though I liked his Comedy best. A true conception of character, and 9 natural expression of it were his distinguishing ; — but he was no declaimer; There was not one of his own scene shifters who could not have spoken ‘To be or not to be’ better than he did.” — Then returning again to his excellencies as an actor on which he expatiated with1>] Garrick Madam was no declaimer; there was not one of his own scene=shifters who could not have spoken ‘To be or not to be’ better than he did. Yet he was the only actor2 I ever saw whom I could call a Master3 both in Tragedy and Comedy; though I liked him best in Comedy. A true conception of character, and natural expression of it were his distinguishing Excellencies”; — Having [Paper Apart Siddons (3)] expatiated for some time with his usual Force and Eloquence on Mr. Garrick’s extraordinary Eminence as an Actor he concluded with this Compliment to his social Talents — “and after all, Madam, I thought him less to be envyed on the Stage, than at the Head of a Table.”’4 8 Under wavy deletion strokes, the names ‘Barry’ and ‘Harry Longley’ or ‘Langley’ (an unknown character either way) are difficult to read. If continuing to name actresses, SJ perhaps referred to Ann Spranger Barry (née Street, 1733–1801) performing Harry Wildair in breeches (at Drury Lane in Farquhar’s The Constant Couple), yet in that case, JB and Kemble no doubt would have corrected the character’s surname. 9 In revision, Kemble wrote the word ‘Excellencies’ in this blank space; see next note. 1 Beneath this word, the catchword ‘his’ led onto a page that was discarded (the phrase presumably continuing ‘his usual force and eloquence’; see l. 28). Kemble started to revise the current sentence—‘Then reprising his Exc’—but finished the word four lines above, drafting ‘Excellencies’ in the blank space left by JB, and deleted what remained on the present page. Kemble’s revisions to the discarded page must have warranted a fair copy on a fresh sheet of paper, given his clean draft of the first six lines on Paper Apart Siddons (3). As a lead-in to that copy, not as a catchword, JB wrote ‘Having’ (l. 27) to the left of the deleted catchword ‘his’. 2 In revision, JB substituted ‘Player’ for ‘actor’, then reversed himself and wrote ‘actor’ again above the original word, to the right of a false start, possibly ‘M’ for ‘Man’. 3 From Kemble’s revision, ‘whom I could truly call a Master’, JB deleted ‘truly’. 4 The ‘Minute’ of SJ’s interview with Mrs. Siddons ends with this passage, as recopied by Kemble (see n. 1). JB drafted the next paragraph, revised in two places by Kemble.

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Johnson indeed had thought more upon the subject of acting than might be generally supposed. Talking of it one day to Mr. Kemble he said ‘Are you Sir one of those enthusiasts who believe yourself transformed into the very character you represent.’ Upon Mr. Kemble’s answering that he had never [felt himself so strongly affected>] felt so strong a Persuasion in himself;5 ‘To be sure not Sir’ said Johnson. ‘The thing is impossible. And if Garrick [had believed himself to be Richard the Third, he would have deserved>] really believed himself to be ≤that monster6≥ Richard the Third, he deserved to be hanged, every time he performed it.’7 — [MS 918 resumed] ≤[A very handsome>] A pleasing instance of the generous attention of one of his freinds has been discovered by the publication of Mrs. Thrale’s Collection of Letters.≥ In a [1st ed. ii. 469] letter to one of the Miss Thralesa he writes ‘A freind whose name I will tell when your Mamma has tried to guess it, sent to my physician to enquire whether this long train of illness had brought me into difficulties for want of money, with an invitation to send to him for what occasion required. I shall write this night to thank him, having no need to borrow.’ And afterwards in a letter to Mrs. Thrale ‘Since you cannot guess I will tell you that the generous man [MS 919] was Gerard Hamilton. I returned him a very thankful and respectful letter.’b [Dr. Brocklesby was the Physician who carried the message from Mr. Hamilton to Johnson who was warmly sensible of the liberal kindness of his freind but said he had not occasion for such bounty. del] [Mr. Hamilton has at my request8>] I applied to Mr. Hamilton by a common friend9 and he has at my request been so obliging as to let me have Johnson’s letter to him upon this occasion, to enrich my Collection. . a b

.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM GERARD HAMILTON1/2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

P. 328. Vol. II. P. 342.

5 Kemble’s revision. The word ‘in’ was omitted in the revises, possibly overlooked because it overlapped with the top of the ‘h’ in ‘himself’. 6 Inserted by Kemble in revision. 7 For the footnote added here in the second edition, by means of which JB hoped to prove that SJ ‘lived to think much more favourably of Players than he appears to have done in the early part of his life’, see Hill-Powell iv. 244 n. 2. 8 JB placed a caret here in revision, but then deleted it and changed the sentence as transcribed. The phrase ‘at my request’, made redundant by the new wording and evidently deleted in first proof, was omitted in the revises. 9 ‘Probably Malone’ (Hill-Powell vi. 464–65). EM was among the guests when JB dined with Hamilton on 15 June 1786: ‘The occasion of my being at length invited to his house was my being engaged in writing Dr. Johnson’s Life. He promised to give me two letters of the Doctor’s to him, and some Anecdotes’ (Journ.). Hamilton evidently was tardy in fulfilling his promise, judging by the need for JB’s later request. Only two letters to Hamilton—dated 19 Nov. 1783 (the present one) and 20 Oct. 1784 (post p. 280)—are included in Letters of Johnson ed. Redford; for the anecdotes, see ante p. 37 n 5. 1 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’. This letter is no longer with the Life MS. 2 To the right of the preceding direction (note above), JB in a late revision to MS 919 added and circled a new direction: ‘After Letter to Mr. Hamilton Paper G’.

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H-P iv. 245–47

≤[Paper Apart G3 ] I find in this as in former years notices of his kind attention to Mrs. Gardiner who though in the humble station of a tallow=chandler upon Snow=hill was a woman of excellent good sense, pious and charitable. She told me she had been introduced to him by Mrs. Masters the Poetess whose volumes he revised, and it is said illuminated here and there with a ray of his own genius. Mrs. Gardiner was very zealous for the support of a Welch Charity School and Johnson4 this year I find obtained for it a Sermon from the late Bishop of St. Asaph Dr. Shipley whom Johnson in one of his letters to Mrs. Thrale characterises as ‘knowing and conversible’ and whom all who knew his Lordship even those who differed from him in politicks remember with much respect.≥5 ≤[Paper Apart Chapone6 (1); 1st ed. ii. 470] The Earl of Carlisle having written a Tragedy entitled THE FATHER'S REVENGE some of his Lordship’s friends applied to Mrs. Chapone to prevail on Dr. Johnson to read and give his opinion of it, which he accordingly did, in a letter to that Lady. Sir Joshua Reynolds having informed me that this letter was in Lord Carlisle’s possession; though not fortunate enough to have the honour of being known to his Lordship, trusting to the general courtesy of literature, I wrote to him requesting the favour of a copy of it and to be permitted to insert it in my life of Dr. Johnson. His Lordship was so good as to comply with my request, and has thus enabled me to enrich my Work with a very fine piece of writing which displays at once the critical skill and politeness of my illustrious Friend; and perhaps the curiosity which it will excite, may induce the [noble÷accomplished>] noble and elegant 3 Headed ‘G’ (for ‘Gardiner’), to which JB added, ‘For p. 919 after Letter to Mr. Hamilton’. An outline for this paragraph is found in the Life Materials: ‘End 1783 with Attentions to Mrs. Gardener introduced to him by Mrs. Masters. Bishop of St. Asaph’s preaching at his request’ (M 147); elsewhere, JB also noted, ‘Revises Miss Masters’s Poems who introduces Mrs. Gardiner to him’ (M 157, p. 11). Francis Barber listed both women among the ‘friends who came about’ SJ when Barber first joined the Gough Square household: ‘Mrs. Masters the Poetess (who lived with Mr. Cave)’ and ‘Mrs. Gardiner Wife of a tallow Chandler on Snowhill, not in the learned way, but a worthy good woman’ (Corr. 2a, p. 128). Concerning revisions to the poems of Mrs. Masters, Powell ‘failed to find any trace of Johnson’s hand’, and Fleeman remained agnostic: ‘the details are elusive’ (Hill-Powell iv. 525–26 [App. J]; Bibliography of Johnson, i. 409). 4 Second edition: ‘support of the Ladies’ charity-school, in the parish of St. Sepulchre. It is confined to females; and, I am told, it afforded a hint for the story of Betty Broom in “The Idler.” Johnson’. 5 On MS 919, below his direction regarding SJ’s letter to Hamilton, JB wrote ‘Excerpt my letters of 19 Octr. & 22 Novr.’ In revision, he added in the left-hand margin a new instruction: ‘A letter concerning Lord Carlisle’s Tragedy will be inserted between that to Mr. Hamilton & my Excerpts.’ Later, he altered ‘Excerpts’ to ‘Extracts’ in both occurrences and added the direction regarding Paper G (see n. 2), which took precedence. 6 This Paper Apart comprises three leaves, docketed ‘Mrs. Chapone’ (in another hand) on the back of the third. Above the docket, JB explained where it belonged: ‘This comes in p. 919 between ≤what is after≥ letter to Mr. Hamilton and Extracts [written over Excer[pts]] of my letters &c.’ (The phrase inserted later refers to Paper G; see note above.) JB wrote to Lord Carlisle on 29 Dec. 1789 requesting permission to use the letter that follows. Carlisle replied on 31 Dec. that it had been ‘mislaid’, but that he would ‘obey [JB’s] commands’ once he found it, assuming he saw ‘no objections … to the exposition of its contents’ (Corr. 2a, pp. 230–31). JB had sweetened his request with this assurance: ‘Mr. Boswell has taken care to record the liberal terms in which Dr. Johnson praised Lord Carlisle’s Poems’; see ante p. 92 and n. 4.

175

H-P iv. 247–48

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1783

Authour to gratify the World by the publicationa of a Performance of which Dr. Johnson has spoken in such terms. [Paper Apart Chapone (2)] To MRS. CHAPONE. Madam. By sending the Tragedy to me a second timeb I think that a very honourable distinction has been shewn me and I did not delay the perusal of which I am now to tell the effect. The construction of the Play is not completely regular; the stage is too often vacant, and the scenes are not sufficiently connected. This however would be called by Dryden only a mechanical defect, which takes away little from the power of the Poem, and which is seen rather than felt. A rigid examiner of the diction might perhaps wish some words changed and some lines more vigorously terminated. But from such petty imperfections what writer was ever free? The general form and force of the dialogue is of more importance. It seems to want that quickness of reciprocation which characterises the English drama, and is not always sufficiently fervid or animated. Of the sentiments I remember not one that I wished omitted. In the imagery I cannot forbear to distinguish the [Paper Apart Chapone (3)] comparrison of joy succeeding grief [1st ed. ii. 471] to light rushing on the eye accustomed to darkness. It seems to have all that can be desired to make it please. It is new, just, and delightful.c With the characters either as conceived or preserved, I have no fault to find; but was much inclined to congratulate a Writer who in defiance of prejudice and fashion, made the Archbishop a good man, and scorned all thoughtless applause which a vicious Churchman would have brought him. The catastrophe is affecting. The Father and Daughter both culpable, both wretched and both penitent divide between them our pity and our sorrow. Thus Madam, I have performed what I did not willingly undertake, and could not decently refuse. The noble Writer will be pleased to remember that sincere criticism ought to raise no resentment, because judgement is not under

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A few copies only of this Tragedy have been printed and given to the Authour’s friends. b Dr. Johnson having been very ill when the Tragedy was first sent to him, had declined the consideration of it. 35 c ≤[Sub-Paper Apartc1] I could have borne my woes; that stranger Joy Wounds while it smiles: — The long-imprison’d wretch; Emerging from the night of his damp cell, Shrinks from the sun’s bright beams, & that which flings 40 Gladness o’er all, to him is agony.≥ a

c1 Copied by Hester Chapone. While the footnote on P.A. Chapone (2) was part of JB’s original draft (see note b), this one was added in revision to P.A. Chapone (3), with cue words at the bottom of the page: ‘I could have borne my woes &c.’

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1783

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 248, 250–51

the control of will; but involuntary criticism, as it has still less of choice, ought to be more remote from possibility of offence. I am Madam / Your most humble servant SAM: JOHNSON.7≥ 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

[Paper Apart8] I consulted him on two questions of a very different nature, one whether the unconstitutional influence exercised by the peers of Scotland in the election of the representatives of Commons by means of fictitious qualifications ought not be resisted? — the other what in propriety and humanity should be done with old horses unable to labour. I gave him some account of my life at Auchinleck and expressed my satisfaction that the gentlemen of the County had at two publick meetings elected me their Præses or Chairman.

[MS 919 resumed] To James Boswell Esq:9/1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ≤[Paper Apart Mickle2 (1); 1st ed. ii. 473] The late ingenious Mr. Mickle 15 some time before his death wrote me a letter concerning Dr. Johnson in which he mentions ‘I was upwards of twelve years acquainted with him was frequently in his company always talked with ease to him and can truly say that I never received from him one rough word.’ In this letter he relates having while engaged in translating the Lusiad had a 20 dispute of considerable length with Johnson who as usual declaimed upon the misery and corruption of a sealife and used this expression ‘It had been happy for the world Sir, if your hero Gama, Prince Henry of Portugal and Columbus had never been born, or that their schemes had never gone farther than their own imaginations.’ ‘This sentiment’ says Mr. Mickle ‘which is to be found in 25 his “Introduction to the World Displayed” I in my Dissertation prefixed to the 7 In the revises, ‘Nov. 28, 1783’ was printed near the left-hand margin on the same line as SJ’s name. (In the third edition, ‘November’ was printed in full.) SJ had written only ‘Nov. 1783’ (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 251). Hester Chapone, in reply to a last-minute query about when she had received the letter, told JB on 27 Feb. 1791 that she had no copy, but that after she had sent it on to Lord Carlisle, his letter of acknowledgement to her was dated 29 Nov. 1783. On this basis JB assigned it a date (Corr. 2a, p. 299 and n. 3). 8 The heading for this Paper Apart—‘Extracts 19 Octr. & 22 Novr. 1783’ (see ante p. 175 n. 5)—is belied by what JB drafted. Nothing from the letter of 19 Oct. materialized: ‘Dr. Samuel Johnson, of my bad spirits this Autumn, & sudden relief. Affectionate inquiries about him. Why should I not venture in London?’ (Reg. Let.). JB’s concern over what was to be done with old horses, raised in the letter of 22 Nov., was a recurrent one, as shown by letters to and from the Auchinleck estate overseer James Bruce in Nov. 1782 (Corr. 8, p. 35 and nn. 5–6, p. 37 and n. 2, p. 38). 9 Direction to the compositor, ‘Excerpt his of Dec. 24’ (no longer with the Life MS). 1 In revision, to the right of the direction about SJ’s letter of 24 Dec., JB circled new instructions: ‘Next comes Paper from Mr. Mickle’. To this he later appended another direction, ‘Then Reply to Clarke’. 2 This Paper Apart comprises three leaves, docketed ‘Mr. Mickle for 1783’ on the verso of the third. The source of this material was Mickle’s letter of 28 Oct. 1786 to JB, in which he urged the following approach: ‘If you make any use of it, I beg and adjure you not to print the above hasty Memorandum, but to reduce the heads of it into your own language’ (Corr. 2a, pp. 140–42). Accordingly, JB used a mixture of paraphrase and quotation in drafting these pages.

177

H-P iv. 251–52

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1783

Lusiad have controverted; and though Authours are said to be bad judges of their own works I am not ashamed to own to a friend that that dissertation is my favourite above all that I ever attempted in prose. Next year when the Lusiad was published I waited on Dr. Johnson who addressed me with [Paper Apart Mickle (2)] one of his good-humoured smiles “Well you have remembered our dispute about Prince Henry and have cited me3 too. You have done your part very well indeed; you have made the best of your argument, but I am not convinced yet.” ‘Before publishing the Lusiad, I sent Mr. Hoole a proof of that part of the Introduction in which I make mention of Dr. Johnson yourself and other well-wishers to the work begging it might be shewn to Dr. Johnson. This was accordingly done and in place of the simple mention of him which I had made, he dictated to Mr. Hoole the sentence as it now stands. ‘Dr. Johnson told me in 1772 that about twenty years before that time he himself had a design to translate the Lusiad, of the merit of which he spoke highly, but had been prevented by a number of other engagements.’ Mr. Mickle reminds me in this letter of a conversation when dining one day at Mr. Hoole’s with Dr. Johnson when Mr. Nicol the Kings Bookseller & I attempted to contravert the maxim ‘Better that ten guilty should escape than one inocent person suffer’4 and were answered by Dr. Johnson with great power of reasoning and eloquence. I am very sorry that I have no record of that day; but I [Paper Apart Mickle (3)] well recollect my illustrious friend’s having ably shewn that unless civil institutions insure protection to the inocent, all the confidence which mankind should have in them would be lost.≥ ≤[Paper Apart5] I shall here mention what should properly have appeared in my account of the last year though the controversy was not closed till this.6 The Reverend [1st ed. ii. 474] Mr. Shaw a native of one of the Hebrides, having entertained doubts of the authenticity of the Poems ascribed to Ossian, divested himself of national bigotry & having travelled in the Highlands and islands of Scotland and also in Ireland in order to furnish himself with materials for a Galick Dictionary which he afterwards compiled, was so fully satisfied that Dr. Johnson was in the right upon the question that he fairly published 3 Not italicized in print. JB’s underscoring—faint in itself and touched by an ascender from the line below—possibly went unnoticed. His false starts and same-draft changes to ll. 9–16 below (see endnotes) show Mickle’s original wording. 4 Note in the Life Materials (M 157, p. 16): ‘Fortescue de laudibus Legum Angliæ C 27 expresses the Maxim “Better twenty guilty escape than one innocent suffer.”’ The title of chapter xxvii—‘The Way of Proceeding in Capital Cases’—provides the context for the full statement of this principle: ‘Indeed, one would much rather that twenty guilty persons should escape the punishment of death, than that one innocent person should be condemned, and suffer capitally.’ JB’s quotation echoes Blackstone’s reformulation of the principle within a broader context: ‘all presumptive evidence of felony should be admitted cautiously: for the law holds, that it is better that ten guilty persons escape, than that one innocent suffer’ (4 Comm. 359). 5 Headed ‘P. 919 (To come in after Mr. Mickle)’, this Paper Apart is a single leaf written on both sides. 6 In the second edition, altering his opinion about where this paragraph ‘properly’ belonged, JB justified keeping it here: ‘I shall here mention what, in strict chronological arrangement should have appeared in my account of last year; but may more properly be introduced here, the controversy having not been closed till this.’

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1783

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20

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 252–54

a Pamphlet stating his conviction and the proofs and reasons on which it was founded. A person at Edinburgh of the name of Clark answered this pamphlet with much violence and with abuse of its Author. Johnson took Mr. Shaw under his protection and gave him his assistance in writing a Reply which has been admired by the best judges and by many been considered as conclusive.7 A few paragraphs which sufficiently mark their great Authour shall be selected. ‘My Assertions8≥ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ≤[MS opp. 9199] Notwithstanding the complication of disorders under which Johnson now laboured he did not resign himself to despondency and discontent, but with wisdom and spirit endeavoured to console and amuse himself with as many innocent enjoyments as he could procure. Sir John Hawkins has [given an account of>] mentioned the cordiality with which he [insisted÷contrived>] insisted that such of the Members of the old club in Ivy=lane as survived should meet again & dine together1 which they did twice at a tavern and once at his house: And in order to insure himself society in the evening for three days in the week, he instituted a Club at the Essex Head in Essex Street then kept by Samuel Greaves an old servant of Mr. Thrales[, a Club of which the nature & terms are thus given by himself>] [, a Club of which the scheme & terms are thus given by himself del].

To Sir Joshua Reynolds.2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 It did not suit Sir Joshua to be one of this Club. But [the list of its members4 will 25 sufficiently obviate an ignorant and uncharitable misrepresentation>] when I mention only the Hon. Daines Barrington, Dr. Brocklesby Mr. Murphy Mr. 7 In the revises there was no paragraph break here. The next sentence was printed as part of the current paragraph. 8 Direction to the compositor, ‘“My Assertions” &c. (p. 52) down to “shew it.” / Then “Mr. Clark” p. 54 down to “can be shown” p. 55’. 9 The symbol marking the insertion of this material was first placed on MS 919 beneath the direction for taking in SJ’s letter to Hamilton (ante p. 174 n. 1). With Papers Apart afterwards taking priority, JB later repositioned the symbol below the direction regarding SJ’s letter to him of Dec. 24 (ante p. 177 n. 9), but additional Papers Apart once again intervened. 1 The phrase ‘& dine together’, added later, may have resulted from the ‘Qu’ jotted in the margin next to this passage when drafted. For details of the meetings, see HillPowell iv. 435–36 (App. C). 2 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letter 4 Decr.’ This letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. To the right of this direction, JB later planted the symbol #, which remains a puzzle, since no corresponding symbol is to be found elsewhere on MS opp. 919, nor any stray copy or direction. 3 While not indented in JB’s copy, this sentence began a new paragraph in the revises, as it followed the letter to Reynolds, complete with ‘beginning & ending forms’ (cp. ante p. 172 l. 4 and n. 3). 4 Here, in revision, JB inserted a symbol with a memorandum, ‘Put them in a Note.’ Later, instead of drafting a footnote, he incorporated the names after the word ‘But’ in the present sentence (as next transcribed), although his first draft of this revision was worded for insertion here: ‘But the respectable list of its members, when I mention … Windham, will sufficiently’.

179

H-P iv. 254–56

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1783

Joddrel Mr. Paradise, Mr. Windham[a] in the respectable list of its members5, I shall sufficiently obviate the misrepresentation of it by Sir John Hawkins, as if it had been a low Alehouse [1st ed. ii. 476] association by which Johnson was degraded. Johnson himself like his namesake Old Ben composed the Rules of his Club [as follow6 del].≥ [MS 919 resumed] In the end of this year he was seised with a spasmodick Asthma of such violence that he was confined to the house in great [distress>] pain being sometimes obliged to sit all night in his chair a recumbent posture being so hurtful to his respiration that he could not endure lying in bed; And there came upon him at the same time that oppressive and fatal disease a dropsy. It was a very severe winter which probably aggravated his complaints, and the solitude in which Mr. Levett & Mrs. Williams had left him, rendered [MS 920] his life very gloomy. ≤Mrs. Desmoulins who still remained was herself so very [1st ed. ii. 477] ill that she could contribute very little to his relief.≥ He indeed had none of that unsocial shyness which we commonly see in people afflicted with sickness. He did not hide his head in abstraction. He did not deny himself to the visits of his freinds and acquaintances; but at all times when he was not overcome by sleep was ready for conversation as in his best days.

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a I was in Scotland when this Club was founded and during all the winter; but 18 as soon as I came to town I was proposed by the Honourable Daines Barrington1920 and chosen a Member.a1 I beleive there are few Societies where there is better conversation, or more [cordiality and del] decorum. Several of us resolved to continue Members after our great Founder was removed by death. Other members were added, and now above four yearsa2 since that loss we go on happily.a3

5 In the revises, these seven words were omitted, a footnote exponent was printed on ‘Mr. Windham’, and in front of that name an additional member appeared, ‘Dr. Horsley’. In the margin, for inclusion before ‘Mr. Joddrel’, JB drafted ‘Mr. Cooke’, and before this name in the second edition he inserted ‘Mr. John Nichols’. Also, as printed in the revises, ‘the Hon.’ Daines Barrington became ‘Mr.’ 6 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take them in from Gent. Mag.’ Later, deleting ‘as follow’ in the text, he also deleted the direction and provided a new one, ‘ Insert them in a Note’, adding ‘ (Note) get them in Gent. Mag.’ In the revises, JB added a heading to the printed footnote: ‘RULES’. See Gent. Mag. Feb. 1785, lv. 99. a1 Printed in the revises ‘winter. Johnson, however, declared I should be a member, and invented a word upon the occasion: “Boswell (said he) is a very clubable man.” When I came to town I was proposed by Mr. Barrington and chosen.’ Francesco Sastres recounted the story to JB in a letter dated 22 Feb. 1786. When SJ mentioned the club and stated that JB ‘should be one of the number’, Sastres ‘observed that there could be no better member—upon which Dr. Johnson replied “to be sure, Sir, Boswel is a very clubable man he will bring and he will carry away.”’ By this remark SJ ‘invented a new word to express at once a good member of such a society’ (Corr. 2a, p. 109). JB noted it in the Life Materials: ‘On Essex Head Club being founded he mentioned me and did me the honour to invent a Word Clubable &c.’ (M 157, p. 14). a2 JB drafted ‘four’ over a false start, ‘fi[ve]’. Printed in the revises ‘six years’; second edition, ‘eight years’ (so too in the third edition, since JB died in 1795). Given that the fourth anniversary of SJ’s death was 13 Dec. 1788, JB’s draft reveals that he made this revision in 1789. On 27 Feb. 1786 he had written William Bowles, ‘Our Johnsonian Club in Essex Street goes on exceedingly well, and I doubt not of its continuing for many many years to be an instructive and entertaining Society’ (Corr 2a, p. 110). a3 JB drafted this passage as part of his main text, and later marked it for a footnote.

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1783–84

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 256–59

≤To Mrs. Lucy Porter7≥ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 And now I am [come to>] arrived at the last year of the Life of Samuel Johnson, an year in which although [he began it in heavy>] passed in severe 5 indisposition, he nevertheless gave many evidences of the continuance of those 6 wonderous powers of mind which raised him so high in the intellectual World. 7 His conversation and his letters [during÷of>] of this year were in no respect 8 inferiour to those of former years. 9 The following is a remarkable proof of his being alive to the most minute 10 curiosities of literature. 11 12 13 14

To Mr. Dilly Bookseller in the Poultry9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ≤[Paper Apart1; 1st ed. ii. 478] His attention to the Essex Head Club appears from the following letter to Mr. Alderman Clark a gentleman for whom 15 he deservedly entertained a great regard.≥ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ≤[Paper Apart2] On the 8 of January I wrote to him anxiously inquiring as to his health and enclosing my ‘Letter to the People of Scotland on the present State of the Nation.’ — ‘I trust (said I) that you will be liberal enough to make 20 allowance for my differing from you on two points [the Middlesex election and the American War]3 when my general principles of government are according to your own heart, and when at a crisis of doubtful event I stand forth with honest Zeal as an ancient and faithful Baron. My reason for introducing those two points was that as my opinions with regard to them had been declared at 25 the periods when they were least favourable, I might have at least the credit of a man who is not a worshiper of ministerial power.’≥4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Direction to the compositor, ‘Lett Nov. 29’. This letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. Adding it in revision, JB temporarily had lost track of it (see ante p. 164 n. 9). 8 JB posted ‘1784’ here in the margin. Misprinted ‘1783’ in the margin of the revises, it was corrected by JB. 9 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Letter 6 Janry.’ This letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. In the second edition, the letter to Dilly was followed by another, dated 21 Jan. 1784, from SJ to John Perkins (see ante p. 96 n. 1). 1 On MS 920 there are no instructions for taking in SJ’s letter of 27 Jan. 1784 to Richard Clark, nor any heading on this half-sheet Paper Apart. The letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. Clark wrote to JB on 12 Mar. 1788, telling him, ‘I called at your House to inform you that I had pick’d up two or three Notes of our Friend Dr. Johnson’, and inviting him to return the visit in order to collect them (Corr. 2a, p. 214). However many JB retrieved, this letter—the last of seven to Clark in Letters of Johnson ed. Redford (iv. 278)—was the only one included in the Life. It is not listed under ‘1784’ in the Life Materials (M 147), an omission that helps to account for its late insertion. 2 Beneath the direction for taking in SJ’s letter to Dilly (n. 9 above), JB drafted a memorandum, ‘Excerpt mine of 8 & 24 Janry.’—later revised to ‘Extract mine of 8 Janry’. While he kept a copy of that letter, there is no record of the other letter. On 30 Jan. he noted, ‘Mr. Francis Barber Dr. Johnson’s faithful servant, to write to me at least once a week of his Master, but not to let him know, as it might alarm him’ (Reg. Let). 3 Drafted by JB, these square brackets were typeset as such. 4 On MS 920, the next direction to the compositor is ‘Take in his of Feb. 11’. SJ’s letter of this date no longer forms part of the Life MS.

181

H-P iv. 261–62

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

[MS 920 resumed] ≤To Mrs. Lucy Porter5≥ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [MS 921] In consequence of [his>] Johnson’s request that I should ‘ask our physicians about his case and desire Sir Alexander Dick to send him his opinion’7 [and having corresponded with /Dr. Heberden and/ Dr. Brocklesby concerning it, I applied to Sir Alexander Dick and Dr. Gillespie with both of whom I was very well acquainted and had their Opinions in writing and I wrote the following circular letter to those eminent men Dr. Cullen Dr. Monro and Dr. Hope a copy in the same words to each.8 del] I [first sent>] first transmitted him a letter from that [most>] very amiable Baronet then in his 81st year with his faculties as entire as ever and mentioned the expressions [of the note accompanying it to me>] to me in the note accompanying it ‘with [(said he) del] my most affectionate wishes for Dr. Johnson’s recovery in which

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≤[MS 920v] I sent it to Mr. Pitt with a lettera1 in which I thus expressed myself ‘My principles may appear to you too monarchical but I know and am persuaded they are not inconsistent with the true principles of liberty. Be this as it may, You Sir are now the Prime Minister called by the Sovereign to maintain the rights of the Crown as well as those of the People against a violent faction. 20 As such you are entitled to the warmest support of every good subject in every department.’ He answered ‘I am extremely obliged to you for the sentiments you do me the honour to express and have observed with great pleasure the zealous and able support given to the CAUSE OF THE PUBLICK in the work you were 25 so good to transmit to me.’≥ a

5 Direction to the compositor, ‘Lett. feby. 23’. This letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. JB listed ‘Four letters to Mrs. Lucy Porter’ under ‘1784’ in the Life Materials (see post p. 276 n. 12), but took in only two, dated Feb. 23 and Dec. 2, the first and last of the eight written to her in 1784 included in Letters of Johnson ed. Redford. 6 The next instructions on MS 920 took the form of a memorandum, ‘Excerpt mine of 14 and 23 feb.’ JB later altered the first word to ‘Extract’, but eventually deleted the memorandum without drafting any copy. His extract of the letters—both recorded in Reg. Let. simply ‘Dr. Samuel Johnson (Copy)’—was to have introduced SJ’s reply, as reflected in the next direction to the compositor, ‘Take in his of feb. 27’. Later, in the margin, JB limited what was to be quoted: ‘Of Letter Feb. 27 Only the first and last paragraphs are to come in, with a few **** between but on the word character put a note which is on the other side of this leaf.’ The omitted text—marked by six asterisks in print—remains unknown, as the original letter is untraced. In the first paragraph, the phrase ‘knowledge of the history’ became ‘knowledge of history’ in the second edition, a correction stipulated in Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition (p. 32). 7 JB’s quotation marks, obscured by his deletion and reinstatement of this passage in revision (see next note), were overlooked. He quotes (altering pronouns) the final sentence of SJ’s letter of Feb. 11. 8 Here, pausing halfway down MS 921, JB left a memorandum in the margin: ‘State this from its own parcel.’ Before he resumed drafting (with a different pen, spacing his lines more tightly and leaving no margin), he deleted all but the first five words on the page, but then preserved his quotation of SJ’s request, instructing the compositor, ‘stet down to opinion’. a1 Sent on 3 Jan. 1784; on 9 Feb. JB received Pitt’s reply: ‘Right Hon. W. Pitt First Lord of the Treasury applauding my Letter on the State of the Nation’ (Reg. Let.).

182

1784

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 262–63

his friends, his country and all Mankind have so deep a stake.’ — And at the same time a full opinion upon his case by Dr. Gillespie who like Dr. Cullen [had advanced÷passed>] had the advantage of having passed through the gradations of Surgery and Pharmacy and by study & practice had attained to such skill that my Father settled on him £200 a year for five years [certain del] and £50 a year during his life as an honorarium to secure his particular attendance. The Opinion was conveyed in a letter [1st ed. ii. 481] to me beginning ‘I am sincerely sorry for the bad state of health your very learned and illustrious friend Dr. Johnson labours under at present.’9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [MS 921v] I also applied to three of the eminent Physicians who had chairs in our celebrated school of Medecine at Edinburgh Drs. Cullen Hope and Monro to each of whom I sent the following letter Dear Sir1 [Paper Apart2] Dr. Johnson has been very ill for some time; and in a letter of anxious apprehension, he writes to me ‘Ask your Physicians about my Case.’ This you see is not authority for a regular consultation. But I have no doubt of your readiness to give your advice to a Man so eminent, and who in his Life of Garth, has paid your profession a just and elegant compliment. — ‘I beleive every man has found in Physicians, great liberality and dignity of sentiment, very prompt effusions of beneficence and willingness to exert a lucrative art, where there is no hope of lucre.’ Dr. Johnson is aged 74. Last Summer he had a stroke of the Palsy, from which he recovered almost entirely. He had before that, been [1st ed. ii. 482] troubled with a catarhous cough. This winter he was seised with a spasmodick asthma, by which he has been confined to his house for about three months. Dr. Brocklesby writes to me, that upon the least admission of cold, there is such a constriction upon his breast, that he cannot lye down in his bed, but is obliged to sit up all night, and gets rest, and sometimes sleep only by means of Laudanum and syrup of poppies and that there are œdematous tumours on his legs and thighs. Dr. Brocklesby trusts a good deal to the return of mild weather. Dr. Johnson says that a dropsy gains ground upon him; and he seems to think 9 The compositor found JB’s next direction on MS 922: ‘Take in his of March 2’. In this letter, which is untraced, SJ thanked JB for his ‘kind medical packet’ with its opinion from Sir Alexander Dick and ‘an excellent consilium medicum’ from Dr. Gillespie. Below this direction, an asterisk added in revision then led the compositor to the facing page, MS 921v, where JB gives an account of his ‘circular letter’ to three physicians, originally introduced on the recto of MS 921, but deferred to this ‘parcel’ (see n. 8 above). 1 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’. 2 Copied by John Lawrie, who noted ‘To Dr. Alexander Monro Physician in Edinr.’ JB added, ‘The same verbatim sent to Dr. William Cullen and Dr. John Hope.’ Later, he deleted and switched the names of Monro and Hope, so the copy is catalogued as a letter to Hope (L 641). The Cullen Project website has images of JB’s letter to Cullen (DOC ID 2412) and Cullen’s reply of 10? March 1784 (DOC ID 4791). Unlike the letter used by Lawrie (see next note), the letter to Cullen ends with the customary information: ‘James’s Court / 7 March 1784.’ Where Lawrie copied ‘effusions’ (l. 22), the Cullen letter reads ‘effusion’ (as in SJ’s text). In the reply, where JB transcribed ‘publick’ and ‘as much as’ (p. 184 ll. 7–8), Cullen wrote ‘Public’ and ‘so much as’.

183

H-P iv. 263–65

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

that a warmer climate would do him good. I understand he is now rather better, and is using vinegar of Squills. I am with great esteem / Dear Sir Your most obedient / humble servant. 7 March 17843 James Boswell4 [MS 921v resumed] All of them paid the most polite attention to my letter and its venerable object. Dr. Cullen’s words concerning him were ‘It would give me the greatest pleasure to be of any service to a man the publick properly esteem and whom I esteem and respect as much as I do Dr. Johnson.’ — Dr. Hope’s ‘Few people have a better claim on me than your friend, as hardly a day passes that I do not ask his opinion about this or that word.’ — Dr. Monro’s ‘I most sincerely join you in sympathising with that very worthy & ingenious character from whom his country has derived much instruction and entertainment.’ Dr. Hope corresponded with his friend Dr. Brocklesby. Drs. Cullen and Monro wrote their opinions and prescriptions to me, which I afterwards carried with me to London, and so far as they were encouraging communicated to Johnson. The liberality on one hand and grateful sense of it on the other must be pleasing to my readers.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [MS 922] ≤I wrote to him March 266 from York that I had witnessed with high satisfaction the triumph of monarchical principle over aristocratical influence in that great County, in an Address to the King; that I was thus far in my way7 to him but that news of the dissolution of Parliament having arrived I was to hasten back to my own County where I had carried an Address to his Majesty by a great majority and had some intention of being a candidate to represent the County in Parliament.≥8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Added by JB after he deleted a note made by Lawrie below his copy, ‘no date but delivered 7 March 1784’; printed in the revises ‘March 7, 1784.’ 4 Added in JB’s hand; printed in the revises ‘JAMES BOSWELL.’ 5 Next on MS 922 came a deleted memorandum, ‘Excerpt mine of 9 March and mention my Wife’s shortly’, followed by a direction to the compositor: ‘Take in his of March 18 ≤leaving out the paragraph “You must likewise” &c. and putting * * *≥’. JB drafted no excerpt from his letter of Mar. 9: ‘Dr. Samuel Johnson of various particulars, enclosing a letter to him from my Wife’ (Reg. Let.). As SJ’s reply of 18 Mar. is untraced, the content of the omitted paragraph—represented by six asterisks in print—remains unknown. 6 In revision, JB substituted this copy for a direction farther down MS 922, ‘Take in mine of 26 March’. Rotating the page and using some space originally left blank at the top—for what purpose is unclear—he drafted the paragraph in short lines perpendicular to the rest of the copy on the page. The date here, added in the same draft, was misprinted ‘March 28’, an error never corrected; the ‘6’ connected like a tangent with the ‘o’ in ‘wrote’ above it, giving it (at a glance) the appearance of an ‘8’. 7 Selfe, writing ‘q on/’ in the margin of the revises, wondered whether the phrase should be ‘on my way’ (as it was in Reg. Let.: ‘Dr. Samuel Johnson of my being stopt on my way to him &c. &c.’). Plymsell, crossing out the query, accepted the correction; ‘on my way’ was printed in the first edition. 8 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in his of March 30’. SJ’s letter no longer forms part of the Life MS; it is untraced. Below this direction, JB left himself a memorandum, ‘Excerpt mine of 9 April’. Deleting it in revision, he told the compositor to ‘See Paper B’, but later deleted this direction, too; this material remains unknown. No letter to SJ was recorded in Apr. 1784 until the end of the month, when JB wrote to him from Lichfield, at the same time writing to Charles Dilly ‘that I am soon to be in London’ (Reg. Let.).

184

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

25

1784

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 266–68

[To follow exact chronology in inserting his letters is my general plan. But where this would interrupt the connection of subjects I think it better to deviate from it in some degree.9 5 6 7 8 9

. . . . ≤[MS 922v]3

.

.

.

To Bennet Langton Esq: To Bennet Langton Esq.1 del] . . . . . . . . . . . . . To [Mr. del] OZIAS HUMPHREY Esq:a

.

.2

a ≤[Paper Apart Notea1] The eminent painter representative of the ancient family of Homfrey (now spelt Humphrya2) in the west of [England. The family 10 appears from their arms which they have invariably used, to have been>] England 11 who as appears from their arms which they have invariably used, to have beena3 12 (as I have seen authenticated by the best authority) one of those among the 9 On JB’s frustration with the ‘troublesome’ demands of preserving a semblance of ‘nice chronology’ at this stage of the biography, see ante p. 164 n. 1. 1 The directions for these letters—‘Take in March 27’ and ‘Take in April 8’—were followed by more: ‘Take in Note to Lord Portmore & to Mr. Langton April 13’ (and below this a catchword onto MS 923, ‘The’; see p. 187 n. 1). Deleting all this in revision with three diagonal strokes, JB placed an X above the first letter heading with new instructions: ‘Take in a Parcel according to the directions given upon it’. This parcel no longer forms part of the Life MS. It presumably included copy for the sentence printed in the revises introducing the material: ‘To Mr. Langton he wrote with that cordiality which was suitable to the long friendship which had subsisted between him and that gentleman.’ The letters to Langton were printed seriatim, the first paragraph of each starting with its date, and the note to Lord Portmore was printed as a footnote to SJ’s mention of him in the letter of Apr. 13. To his plan for these letters in the Life Materials, JB added ‘(Note to Ld. )’, unable then to recall Portmore’s name (M 147). 2 In the letter of Mar. 27, text from the sentence beginning ‘Pay my sincere respects to the two principal ladies in your house; and when you write to dear Miss Langton …’ was omitted in the second edition: it read, ‘Pay my sincere respects to dear Miss Langton …’. The error was corrected in Hill-Powell. In the letter of Apr. 8, Selfe queried the following sentence in the revises: ‘Whether they wish him success, his best friends hesitate.’ Underscoring the word ‘they’, he wrote ‘q to’—a reading accepted by Plymsell. The phrase printed in the first edition—‘Whether to wish’—has remained unchanged. It had been typeset accurately in the first place (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 310). 3 Plymsell evidently discussed with JB where the copy on MS 922v was to come in, as shown by the direction in his hand in the margin of MS 923: ‘Take in Letters To Mr. Humphrey.’ Circling this, he drew an arrow to the centre of the top of the page, making it the first order of business on MS 923 to typeset the facing page. EM informed JB of the letters on 28 Sep. 1787: ‘you are in high luck, for here is Mr. Humphry the painter just come from India, who has three more letters for you’ (Corr. 2a, p. 186). JB visited Humphry on Tuesday, 5 Jan. 1790 (Journ.), possibly to return the letters with a message written the previous day: ‘Mr. Boswell presents his compliments to Mr. Humphrey, and returns Dr. Johnson’s letters, with many thanks. / Queen Anne Street West Monday’ (L 645, endorsed ‘Doctor Johnsons Letters from Mr. Boswell—Jany. 3rd. 1790’). Although Waingrow assigned the year 1791 to this message (Corr. 2a, p. 293), Marion Pottle surmises that the ‘presence of a black wafer (mourning for Mrs. Boswell) suggests that Humphry may have been correct in the year but not in the day of the month’ (Cat. i. 254). It is likely, then, that JB was revising these pages in Jan. 1790. a1 Headed ‘Note on Humphrey the title of Letter Ap. 5 – 1784.’ Plymsell duly placed the footnote exponent on the surname, even though ‘Esq:’, a later addition to the heading, had been squeezed in between the name and the footnote symbol. a2 Printed ‘Humphrey’ in the revises (uncorrected), but ‘Humphry’ in the first edition. a3 Printed ‘who, as appears ... used, have been’, in repair of JB’s flawed revision.

185

H-P iv. 268–69

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

Sir

Mr. Hoole has told me with what benevolence you listened to a request which I was almost afraid to make, of leave to a young Painterb to attend you from time to time in your painting=room, to see your operations and receive your instructions. The young man has perhaps good parts, but has been without a4 regular education. He is my GODson and therefore I interest myself in his progress and success, and shall think myself much favoured if I receive from you a permission to send him. My health is by GOD’s blessing much restored, but I am not yet allowed by the5 Physicians to go abroad, nor indeed do I think myself6 yet able to endure the weather. I am Sir / your most humble servant [Bolt Court Fleet=Street del] SAM: JOHNSON. Ap. 5. 1784. [1st ed. ii. 487]

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

To [Mr. OZIAS HUMPHREY>] the Same.

15 16 17 Sir. The bearer is my Godson whom I take the liberty of recommending to 18 your kindness which I hope he will deserve by his respect to your excellence, 19

and his gratitude for your favours. I am Sir / your most humble serv 7 SAM JOHNSON≥8

20

Knights and Esquires of honour who are represented by Holingshead as having issued from the tower of London on coursers apparelled for the justes accompanied by ladies of honour leading every one a knight with a chain of gold, passing through the streets of London unto Smithfield on sunday at three o’clock in the afternoon being the first sunday after Michaelmas in the fourteenth year of King 25 Richard the Second. This family once enjoyed large possessions, but like others hasa4 lost them in the progress of ages. Their blood however remains to them well ascertained; and they may hope in the revolution of events, to recover that rank in society for which in modern times fortune seems to be an indispensible 30 requisite.≥ b [MS 922v] Son of Mr. Samuel Paterson eminent for his knowledge of books.b1 In SJ’s original, ‘any’ (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 309). Accurately copied; printed in the revises ‘my’. JB copied ‘myself’ as one word here and in the previous paragraph (ll. 7, 8). SJ wrote ‘myself’ here, but ‘my self’ above (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 309). 7 In the revises, on the same line with SJ’s name, the date was printed near the left-hand margin: ‘April 10, 1784.’ SJ dated it ‘Apr. 13, 1784’ (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 313), as noted in Hill-Powell (iv. 269 textual note c). 8 The first two letters having completely filled MS 922v, the third required the following Paper Apart. 4

5 6

a4 In the revises, Selfe underscored the first word of the next sentence, ‘Their’, and the ‘s’ in this verb, writing ‘q have’ in the margin. His correction accepted, ‘have’ was printed in the first edition. b1 This footnote was added at a later stage of composition.

186

1784

≤[Paper Apart]

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 269, 271

To [Mr. OZIAS HUMPHREY>] the Same.

Sir

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

I am very much obliged by your civilities to my Godson, but must beg of you to add to them the favour of permitting him to see you paint, that he may know how a picture is begun, advanced, and completed. If he may attend you in a few of your operations, I hope he will shew that the benefit has been properly conferred, both by his proficiency and his gratitude. At least I shall consider you as enlarging your kindness to / Sir your humble servant May 31. 1784. SAM JOHNSON≥9

[MS 923] What1 follows is a beautiful specimen of his gentleness and complacency to a Young Lady [his godchild one of the daughters of Mr. Langton÷one of his godchildren of which he had several the daughter of Mr. Langton2>] his god3 child one of the daughters of his friend Mr. Langton then in her year. 15 He took the trouble to write it in a large round hand nearly resembling [printed characters÷print>] printed characters that she might have the satisfaction of reading it herself. The Original lyes before me, but shall be faithfully restored to her, and I dare say will be preserved by her as a jewel as long as she lives. To Miss JANE LANGTON in Rochester Kent My Dearest Miss Jenny. I am sorry that your pretty letter has been so long without being answered; but when I am not pretty well, I do not always write plain enough for young Ladies.4 I am glad my Dear to see that you write so well and hope that you mind your pen your book and your needle, for they are all necessary. Your books will 25 give you knowledge and make you respected and your needle will find you useful employment when you do not care to read. When you are a little older, I hope you will be very diligent in learning arithmetick; and above all that through your whole [MS 924] life you will carefully say your prayers and read your Bible. I am / My Dear / Your most humble Servant 30 Sam: Johnson. [Bolt Court Fleet=Street del] May 10. 1784.5 20

9 Printed next in the revises was SJ’s letter of 12 Apr. 1784 ‘To the Reverend Dr. TAYLOR, Ashbourne, Derbyshire.’ No direction for taking it in appears in the MS, nor was it listed under the year 1784 in the Life Materials (M 147). 1 Written over ‘The’ (see ante, p. 185 n. 1), a false start, probably for ‘The following’. 2 JB originally drafted ‘his godchild’, turned this phrase into ‘one of his godchildren’, and then deleted ‘one of’ and ‘ren’, only to write them in again as part of an alternative phrasing for later consideration. In revision he deleted only ‘ren’; ‘one of’, now superfluous, was ignored. 3 Printed in the revises ‘then I think in her seventh’. Jane Langton, born on 6 June 1776, was one month away from her eighth birthday. 4 In SJ’s original, the next sentence begins a new paragraph (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 325). 5 Next on MS 924 is a memorandum, ‘Excerpt mine of 3 May’, deleted in revision without having produced any copy. No letter to SJ is recorded for May 1784 in Reg. Let.

187

H-P iv. 271–72

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

On Wednesday [5 May>] May 5 I arrived in London and next morning had the pleasure to find Dr. Johnson greatly recovered [and having even a fresh look of redintegration6 del]. I but just saw him; for a coach was waiting to carry him to Islington to the house of his freind the Reverend ≤Mr. Strahan7≥ where he went sometimes for the benefit of good air, which notwithstanding his having formerly laughed at the general opinion upon the subject, he now acknowledged was [essentially different as to health in different places.>] conducive to health. ≤[MS opp. 924] One morning afterwards when I found him alone he communicated to me with solemn earnestness a very [extraordinary>] remarkable circumstance, which had happened in the course of his illness when he was much oppressed8 by the dropsy. He had shut himself up & employed a day in [retirement in del] particular exercises [1st ed. ii. 489] of Religion fasting humiliation and prayer. On a sudden he obtained extraordinary relief, /for which he looked up to Heaven with grateful devotion/9. He made no direct [inference from÷observation÷commentary on this event÷fact>] inference from this fact but from his manner of telling it, I could perceive that it appeared to him as something more than an incident in the common course of events. For my own part, I have no difficulty to avow that cast of thinking which by many modern pretenders to Wisdom is called superstitious. But here I think even men of [very>] pretty dry rationality may beleive that there was an immediate1 interposition of divine Providence and that the ‘fervent prayer’ of this ‘righteous man’2 availed.a≥

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

a Upon this subject there is a very fair and judicious remark in the Life of Dr. Abernethy in the first edition of the Biographia Britannica which I [am sorry to see is omitted in the second edition.>] should have been glad to see in his Life which has been written for the second edition of that valuable Work.a1 [Paper 25

6 JB’s italics suggest a self-conscious use of the scientific term from SJ’s Dictionary: ‘1. Renovation; restoration. ... 2. Redintegration chymists call the restoring any mixed body or matter, whose form has been destroyed, to its former nature and constitution.’ 7 No journal entry for this day survives (see Applause of the Jury, p. 210) to suggest why JB might have left a blank space here in his original draft. He visited Strahan in Islington in Mar. 1791 (see post p. 287 n. 8). 8 Erroneously print ‘distressed’, a misreading caused by JB’s same-draft extension of this sentence, which originally ended on the word ‘illness’. Merging into the l’s of that word from above, the descenders in ‘oppressed’ disappeared from view. 9 JB’s unresolved optional phrase was printed in the revises. 1 Printed ‘intermediate’ in error. Croker, noting that ‘the term intermediate does not seem quite clear’, inferred correctly that JB ‘may have meant immediate’ (v. 169 n. 1). 2 Drawing on the second sentence of James 5: 16—‘The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.’—JB marked his quotations separately, but they were conflated in print, punctuated as a single quotation (‘the fervent … man’). a1 JB drafted this sentence as part of his main text, but marked it for a footnote in revision, adding the cue words ‘To deny’—words indented on the Paper Apart that follows, evidently drafted below other copy that he now tore off and discarded, stipulating on the small leaf that remained ‘No N.P.’ He drew from a note that tells of Abernethy as a boy ‘diverting himself’ upon a bridge for some time, then running off to see something else that suddenly caught his eye, at which instant the arch of the bridge collapsed. The sentence preceding the one quoted by JB urged scepticism: ‘This otherwise trifling circumstance is inserted, because mentioned by the writer of his life as a particular act of Providence exerted in his favour; a remark which surely had been better unnoticed, or at most advanced problematically’ (Biographia Britannia, 6 vols., 1747–66, vi. 1 [Supplement]).

188

1784

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

20

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 272–73

[MS 924 resumed] On Sunday [9 May>] May 9 I found Colonel Vallancy the celebrated Antiquarian and Engineer of Ireland with him.3 On Monday the 10 I dined with [MS 925] him at4 Mr. Paradise’s where was a large company. Mr. Bryant Mr. Joddrel Mr. Hawkins-Browne &c. On thursday the 13 I dined with him at Mr. Joddrels with another large company the Bishop of Apart] ‘To deny the exercise of a particular providence in the Deitys government of the world is certainly impious; yet nothing serves the cause of the scorner more than an incautious forward zeal in determining the ≤particular≥ instances of it.’a2 [MS opp. 924 resumed] [In confirmation of÷To confirm my sentiments÷ opinion>] In confirmation of my sentiments I am also happy to quote the sensible and elegant writer Mr. Melmoth in Letter 8 of his Collection published under the name of Fitzosborne.a3 [Paper Aparta4] [‘I should be exceedingly cautious in pointing out any supposed instances of that kind; as those who are fond of indulging themselves in determining the precise cases wherein they imagine the immediate interposition of the Divinity is discoverable often run into the weakest and most injurious superstitions.’ ≤His opinion however upon the question in general is thus given.≥ del] ‘We may safely assert that the belief of a particular Providence is founded upon such probable reasons as may well justify our assent. It would scarce therefore be wise to renounce an opinion which affords so firm a support to the soul in those seasons wherein she stands most in needa5 of assistance, merely because it is not possible in questions of this kind to solve every difficulty which attends them.’ 3 Of the three meetings between SJ and Colonel Charles Vallancey mentioned in the Life, this private conversation on May 9 (as opposed to the dinners attended by several guests on May 15 and 17) is perhaps the likeliest one to have led SJ to promise him ‘a long Letter for publication … on the necessity of printing all our [i.e., Irish] ancient Mss at the public expence’. Joseph Cooper Walker, who wrote to JB about this matter on 26 July 1785, requested—‘as an Irishman’—that JB and Sir John Hawkins search for the letter: ‘perhaps the rough draft of such a Letter may be found amongst the Doctor’s Papers’ (Corr. 2a, p. 93). SJ’s poor health may have kept him from fulfilling his promise, explaining why no draft was found. 4 Placing a bracket before this word in the MS, the compositor marked it ‘Rrr 489’ as the text initiating sig. Rrr. In the revises, however, it had been pushed down p. 489 to begin the twelfth line, the result (in part) of JB’s insertion of SJ’s letter of 12 Apr. to Taylor in first proof (see ante p. 187 n. 9). a2 Direction to the compositor, ‘Go to corner of back of p. 923 X and make N.P.’ An X in the lower right-hand corner of MS opp. 924 led the compositor to its counterpart in the upper right-hand corner, where the next sentence—JB having rotated the leaf—is perpendicular to the rest of the copy on the page. a3 Direction to the compositor, ‘Proceed and take it in.’ a4 Underneath the heading ‘Letter 8’, JB added, ‘This makes part of the Note on the back of p. 923’. JB left open space between two quotations from separate paragraphs of the letter (Letter xlviii: Hill-Powell iv. 272 n. a); later, placing a line in the indentation before the second one (l. 19), he wrote ‘No NPs’ in the margin. Later still, using the open space, he drafted a transitional sentence (ll. 17–18), but deleted this addition afterwards, along with the first quotation. Finally, he put a bracket and ‘NP’ in front of the second quotation; in the revises, however, it did not start a new paragraph. a5 Misprinted ‘in most need’; uncorrected, though noted in Hill-Powell (iv. 272 n. b).

189

H-P iii. 273

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

Exeter, Lord Monboddoa/5 Mr. Murphy &c.6 On Saturday [15 May÷the 15>] the 15 I dined with him at Dr. Brocklesbys where were Colonel Vallancy Mr. Murphy [Mr. Devaynes Apothecary to the Royal Household &c. &c.>] and that ever=cheerful companion Mr. Devaynes the Apothecary &c.7 Of all these days and others on which I saw him I have [no÷few>] no Memorials 5 except the general recollection of his being [copious>] able and animated in 6 conversation and appearing to relish Society as much as the youngest man. 7 [1st ed. ii. 490] I find only these three8 small particulars. ≤—≥ One [that del] 8 when a person was mentioned who [said÷observed he had>] said ‘I have lived 9 fifty one years [/in the World/>] in this World9 without having1 ten minutes 10 of uneasiness’ he exclaimed ‘The Man who says so lies. He attempts to impose 11 ≤[MS 925v] I was sorry to observe Lord Monboddo avoid any communication with Dr. Johnson. I flattered myself that I had made them very good friends (See Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides Edit 3 p. )a1 but unhappily his Lordship had resumed and cherished a violent prejudice against my illustrious friend to whom I must do the justice to say thata2 there was on his part not the least anger but a good-humoured sportiveness. Nay though he knew of his Lordships dispositiona3 towards him, he was even kindly; as appeared from his inquiring of me after him, by an abbreviated name ‘Well how does Monny?’≥ a

Direction to the compositor, ‘See the back for Note on Monboddo’. A seemingly arbitrary paragraph break appeared here in the revises, disrupting the catalogue of SJ’s visitors and dinner companions from May 9 to May 15. Plymsell had left out nearly three lines of copy here, from the ampersand following ‘Murphy’ through ‘Murphy’ below (l. 3), bracketed and marked ‘Out’ in the MS by Selfe. In rectifying the omission, Plymsell started a new paragraph—whether with guidance from JB is unknown. 7 Uncertain about Devaynes, JB in his original draft jotted ‘Qu’ next to the line ‘Apothecary to the Royal Household &c. &c.’ Although he deleted the office in revision, it rematerialized in print: ‘Mr. Devaynes, apothecary to his Majesty’ (so in revises). 8 MS orig. ‘only two’. By the time JB drafted MS 926, the two had become three, beginning with ‘One’ in the next sentence, succeeded by ‘Another’ (p. 191 l. 22) and ‘Another’ (p. 192 l. 7). On each of these words, in revision, he put a bracket (combined with ‘NP’ on the first and third), but he later opted for dashes rather than separate paragraphs, telling the compositor ‘Not N.P.s but ——s between’. 9 JB retained this optional phrase in revision, not by deleting the virgules (including a superfluous one after ‘the’), but by converting the word ‘the’ into ‘this’. 1 Printed ‘having had’ in the first edition, the result of a query to this effect in the revises. 5

6

a1 JB originally put his usual footnote symbol (=) on ‘friends’, but in the same draft, before having put the corresponding symbol at the bottom of the page, he remembered that he was drafting a footnote and added this parenthetical reference to replace the symbol, hiding it by writing ‘See’ with a large ‘S’. In the revises, that ‘S’ was printed in the lower case, quotation marks enclosed the title, and the citation read ‘third edition, page 67’. a2 Within the second of six false starts here (see endnotes), JB quoted Pope’s verse ‘Laugh where we must be candid where we can’ (Essay on Man i. 11), but then, above (and descending into) the second ‘where we’, he wrote and deleted ‘Laugh where’, as though to try the clauses in reverse: ‘where we must be candid Laugh where we can’. a3 Corrected to read ‘indisposition’ in the second edition.

190

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

1784

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 273–74

on human credulity.’2 ≤[MS opp. 925] The Bishop of Exeter3 in vain observed [with an amiable mildness of manner that men were very different. One of the company>] that men were very different. His Lordships manner was not impressive and I found afterwards that Johnson did not know that the person 5 who talked to him was a Prelate. If he had I doubt not that he would have 6 treated him with more respect; for once talking of George Psalmanazar whom 7 he reverenced for his piety, he [thus del] said ‘I should as soon4 of contradicting 8 a Bishop.’ One of the company5 provoked him greatly by doing what he could 9 least of all bear which was quoting something of his own writing, against what 10 he then maintained. ‘What Sir’ cried the gentleman ‘do you say to 11 12 13 14

“The busy day the peaceful night Unfelt uncounted glided by”.’6

Johnson having thus himself presented as giving Mr. Levett as an instance of a man living without uneasiness was much offended, for he used to own that 15 ‘he talked for victory’. He looked angry and deigned to give only this Answer insinuating7 that the gentleman’s remark was a sally of ebriety ‘Sir there is one passion I would [advise you to command.÷have you command.>] advise you to command. When you have drunk out that glass don’t drink another.’ Here was exemplified what Goldsmith said of him with the aid of a very witty 20 image from one of Cibber’s Comedies ‘There is no arguing with Johnson; for if his pistol misses fire he knocks you down with the butt end of it.’8≥ [MS 925 resumed] ≤—≥ Another [that del] when a gentleman of eminence in 2 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in “The Bishop” &c. from the opposite page as Text’. JB specified ‘Text’ because, when drafting the addition in revision, he had written beside it (and now deleted) ‘Note’. 3 Footnote added by EM in the third edition: ‘Dr. John Ross.’ 4 Printed ‘should as soon think’ (so in revises), in remedy of JB’s lapse. 5 Croker offered, ‘Most probably Mr. Boswell himself, who has more than once applied the same quotation from Cibber to Johnson’s retorts on him’ (v. 171 n. 1), adding a cross-reference to the other passage in which (as below) JB quoted Goldsmith’s use of Cibber’s ‘witty words’ to characterize SJ’s ‘talking for victory’ (see Life MS ii. 52 ll. 4–8; Hill-Powell ii. 100). Having once already repeated that SJ ‘talked for victory’ (ante p. 90 l. 30), JB eliminated that phrase here (l. 15) in first proof (see n. 7 below). 6 Footnote added by JB in the third edition: ‘Verses on the death of Mr. Levett.’ The question mark printed at the end of this speech in the revises did not, as elsewhere, cause JB to puzzle over the house style for marking only the start of an internal quotation when it occurred at the end of the quotation containing it. If the speech was a question, the internal quotation itself might be read as interrogatory (see Life MS iii. 213 n. 7). Hill-Powell here (as in that case) ignored this ambiguity, closing both the internal and external quotations outside the question mark. 7 This passage was altered in print: ‘Johnson having thus had himself presented as giving as an instance of a man who had lived without uneasiness was much offended, for he looked upon such quotation as unfair. His anger burst out in an unjustifiable retort, insinuating’ (so in revises). Underscored and queried, the second ‘as’ in the phrase ‘as giving as’ was omitted in the first edition; in first proof, JB evidently had deleted only the name from the phrase ‘as giving Mr. Levett as an instance’. In the second edition, the passage began ‘Johnson finding himself thus presented …’; also, ‘such quotation’ was printed ‘such a quotation’ (but Hill-Powell restored the reading of the first edition). 8 This passage was based on notes in the Life Materials (155: 5): ‘In 1769 Dr. Goldsmith dining at Colman’s where I was said “There is no arguing with Johnson. For if

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the literary World÷literature9 was violently censured for attacking people by anonymous paragraphs in News=papers, he from a÷the1 spirit of contradiction as I thought, took up his defence, and said ‘Come come this is [MS 926] not so terrible a crime. He means only to vex them a little. I do not say that I should do [this>] it. [/But there is a great difference. What is fit for Hephestion is not fit for Alexander./2>] But there is a great difference between him and me. What is fit for Hephestion is not fit for Alexander.’ ≤—≥ Another [that del] when I told him that a young and handsome [Lady of quality>] Countess3 had said to me ‘I should think that to be praised by Dr. Johnson would make one a fool all one’s life’; and that I answered ‘Madam I shall make him a fool today by [repeating÷reporting>] repeating this to him’, he said ‘I am too old to be made a fool; but if you say I am, I shall not deny it. I am much pleased with a compliment /especially/4 from a pretty woman.’ On the evening of Saturday [15 May>] May 15 he was in fine spirits at our Essex=Head Club. [Johnson.÷He said÷told us>] He told us ‘I dined yesterday at Mrs. Garrick’s with Mrs. [Elizabeth del] [1st ed. ii. 491] Carter Miss Hannah More and Miss Fanny Burney. Three such women are not to be found. I know not where I could find a fourth, except Mrs. Lennox who is superiour to them all.’ Boswell. ‘What≤!≥ had you them all to yourself Sir?’ Johnson. ‘I had [’em÷them>] them all as much as they were had; but it might have been better [had some more company been÷there been more company>] had there been more company there.’ [MS 927] Boswell. ‘[Might not÷Will not you allow Sir that5>] Might not Mrs. Montagu have been a fourth?’ Johnson. ‘Sir Mrs. Montagu does not make a trade of her wit. — But Mrs. Montagu is a very extraordinary Woman. She has a constant stream of conversation; his pistol misses fire he knocks you down with the butt end of it.” This I often told [see also Hill-Powell ii. 100, v. 292] as a fine Bon Mot of Goldsmith’s. In 1778 Mrs. Thrale shewed me that it had been [false start already] said before by Colley Cibber in his Comedy of The Refusal Act I. “Witling. O your servant Sir. What! now your fire’s gone you would knock me down with the Butt=end, would you?”—There may have been only a coincidence of fancies. But as Goldsmith was a Play=writer it was probably borrowing.’ JB became acquainted with George Colman (the elder) at the Shakespeare Jubilee in Stratford (Journ. 7 Sept. 1769) and dined with him in London at Goldsmith’s (Notes 26 Sept. 1769), but since the journal stops mid-entry on 26 Sept., his record of the dinner at Colman’s has been lost. Mrs. Thrale credited Goldsmith with a good ‘Stroke’ upon hearing the quip in June 1777, but ‘looking one Day into an exploded Play of Cibber’s I saw the very Expression’ (Thraliana i. 83). 9 The first of these unresolved alternatives was printed in the revises. The gentleman was George Steevens, as first identified by Croker (v. 172 n. 1). For another reference to his attacks, see Life MS iii. 201 and n. 9; Hill-Powell iii. 281. SJ on 14 Apr. 1775 called him ‘a great writer in the newspapers’ (Ominous Years, p. 146). 1 Printed ‘the’ in the revises. 2 Although JB did not delete the virgule before ‘But’ (which was not paired with a closing virgule), his revision to the first of these two optional sentences indicated that they were to be typeset. 3 Possibly Frances Twysden (1763–1816), as Lustig and Pottle suggest (Applause of the Jury, p. 212 n. 6). In 1783 she became the second wife of Archibald Montgomerie, 11th Earl of Eglinton; they divorced in 1788 (Oxford DNB). 4 JB’s unresolved optional word was printed in the revises. 5 JB reserved the rest of this alternative phrasing for adjustment later, in the event he should prefer it. In revision, he deleted it, except for the word ‘that’, which was ignored by the compositor.

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H-P iv. 275–77

and it is allways impregnated; it has allways meaning6.’ Boswell. ‘Mr. Burke has a constant stream of conversation.’a Johnson. ‘Yes Sir; if [you went÷a man were to go by chance along with÷at the same time with>] a man were to go by chance at the same time with Burke under a [shade>] shed to shun a shower [you÷he>] he would say this is an extraordinary man. If Burke should go into a stable to see his horse drest the ostler would say “We have had an extraordinary man here.”’7 Boswell. ‘Foote was a man who never failed in conversation. If he had gone into a Stable’ — Johnson. ‘Sir if he had gone into a stable, the ostler would have said here has been a comical fellow; but he would not have [esteemed÷respected>] respected him.’ Boswell. ‘And Sir the Ostler would have answered him, would have given him as good as he brought as the common saying is.’ Johnson. ‘Yes Sir, and Foote would [answer>] have answered the ostler. — When Burke does not descend to be merry, his conversation is very superiour indeed. There is no proportion [MS 928] between the powers which he shews in serious talk and in jocularity. When he lets himself down to that, he is in the kennel.’ — I have in another placeb opposed, and I hope with [full del] success Dr. Johnson’s very singular and erroneous notion as to Mr. Burke’s Pleasantry. Mr. Windham now said low to me that he differed from our great freind in this [particular÷observation>] observation; for that [/Mr./>] Mr. Burke was often [merry, and very well.>] very happy in his merriment. It would not have been right for either of us to have contradicted Johnson at this time in a Society all of whom did not know and value Mr. Burke as much as we did. It might have occasioned something more rough, and at any rate would probably have checked the flow of Johnson’s good humour. — He called to us with a sudden air of exultation as the thought started into his mind ‘O! Gentlemen I must tell you a very [extraordinary÷great>] great thing.8 The Empress of Russia [I was here repeating what he had said of Mr. Burke with the variation only of constant for perpetual. See Conversation at Oxford p. a1 added and del] b ≤Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides p. b1≥ a

An x above this word marked it for reconsideration in revision. JB let it stand. Although the capitalized ‘We’ turned this second hypothetical comment into an internal quotation, it was typeset in the lower case (so in revises); neither comment received quotation marks. In the third edition, both comments were preceded by dashes, and quotation marks enclosed the first. 8 According to Nichols, who visited SJ one day accompanied by the Rev. William Tooke, it was Tooke who reported this news (Literary Anecdotes, ii. 552–53). 6

7

a1 This intended cross-reference was to 1st ed. ii. 27, where SJ remarked ‘His stream of mind is perpetual.’ See Life MS ii. 197 and n. 7 [for ‘rigour’ read ‘vigour’]; Hill-Powell ii. 450 and n. 2; and Chapman, Johnson & Boswell Revised, p. 41. In revision, JB deleted the note (on MS opp. 927) and the asterisk that marked its insertion (on MS 927). b1 In the revises, the title was printed within quotation marks, followed by ‘edit. 3, p. 20.’ Although JB originally allotted space for a symbol to key his eventual footnote, he drafted the citation later—since no room remained at the bottom of MS 928—in the left margin of the page. To preclude its being typeset parenthetically, he wrote ‘N.B. Note at the bottom of the page’. In the second and third editions, ‘edit. 3’ progressed from ‘third edit.’ to ‘third edition’.

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has ordered [the÷my>] the Rambler to be translated into the Russian language.c/9 So I shall be read on the banks of [1st ed. ii. 492] the ≤Wolga≥. Horace boasts that he should be read on the banks of the .10 Now the ≤Wolga≥ is farther from me than the was from Horace.’ [MS 929] Boswell. ‘You must certainly be pleased with this Sir.’ Johnson. ‘I am pleased Sir to be sure. A man is pleased to find he has succeeded in that which he has endeavoured to do.’ ≤[Somebody>] One of the company mentioned [/his/>] his having seen [Lord Mansfield>] an aged Nobleman1 driving in his carriage and looking exceedingly well, notwithstanding his great age. Johnson. ‘Ah Sir; that is nothing. Bacon observes that a stout healthy old man is like a Tower undermined.’≥ On Sunday [16 May>] May 16 I found him alone. He talked of Mrs. Thrale [and seemed much concerned. I could not imagine what disturbed him; for I had heard nothing to her disadvantage. He said ‘Sir she has done every thing wrong since Thrale’s bridle was off her neck! You must know there was an Italian Singer’ — Here Dr. Douglas now Bishop of Carlisle was announced, and Johnson was interrupted in explaining himself to me upon a subject÷an affair which has since made much noise, but which being then totally unsuspected by me, I never afterwards asked him about it, which if I had done, I have no doubt that by my peculiar ease in questioning him I should have heard what would have been well worth being recorded.>] with much concern, saying ‘Sir she has done every thing wrong since Thrale’s bridle was off her neck!’ and was proceeding to mention some circumstances which have since been the subject of publick discussion, when he was interrupted by the arrival of Dr. Douglas now Bishop of Carlisle.2

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≤I have since heard that the report was not well-founded; but the elation 25 discovered by Johnson in the belief that it was true shewed a noble ardour for literary fame.≥ c

9 This passage led JB to delete on MSS 130–31 his account of SJ’s ‘delight and exaltation’ on hearing about the translation ordered by ‘the illustrious Catharine’ (see Life MS i. 157). In the margin next to the present sentence, however, he posted a memorandum: ‘Qu as to this’, deleted in revision when he drafted the footnote casting doubt on SJ’s claim. 10 As printed in the revises, SJ’s phrasing of Horace’s boast had been modified so as not to echo his own: ‘Horace boasts that his fame would extend as far as the banks of the Rhone’. In first proof, evidently, JB added the name of the river that escaped him in revision here and in the next sentence. 1 Printed in the revises ‘a noble person’. Lord Mansfield was then seventy-nine years old. Born 2 Mar. 1705, he died at the age of eighty-eight on 20 Mar. 1793. A note in the Life Materials was the origin of this anecdote: ‘At Essex Head Club of Lord Mansfield / Bacon A stout healthy old man is a Tower undermined’ (M 157, p. 16). Drafting the anecdote on MS opp. 929, JB wrote ‘like’ above ‘is a Tower’—probably as a same-draft addition, but possibly an optional word (which was printed)—and left a memorandum next to the line, later deleted, ‘See’. Hill, unable to locate the metaphor in Bacon, found a similar image in Huet, who likened ‘la santé ruineuse des vieillards à une tour sapée’ (Johns. Misc. ii. 229 n. 2). 2 Second edition, ‘Bishop of Salisbury’. Douglas was appointed Bishop of Salisbury on 27 July 1791, holding that office till his death in 1807. In 1784 he was Prebendary of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and was elevated to the Bishopric of Carlisle in 1787 (Clergy of the Church of England Database), an event narrated by JB in the following deleted passage. For further information on Douglas, see Corr. 3, pp. xlvi–xlvii.

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H-P iv. 277–78

[Dr. Douglas’s conversation was allways very agreable to Dr. Johnson. How much do I regret that he did not live to see a man of such eminent merit raised to [MS 930] the Mitre. But although he had great freinds it was reserved to the Earl of Lonsdale so late as 1787 to recommend him effectually to the station which he ought long before to have attained. del] Dr. Douglas upon this occasion [corrected a mistake>] refuted a mistaken notion which is very common in Scotland that the eclesiastical discipline of the Church of England [if>] though duely enforced is insufficient to preserve the morals of the Clergy [and that>] in as much as all delinquents may be screened by appealing to the Convocation which [is never authorized by the King to sit for dispatch of business; for the Convocation is not a Court of>] being never authorised by the King to sit for dispatch of business the appeal never can be heard. Dr. Douglas observed that this was founded upon ignorance; for that the Bishops have sufficient power to maintain discipline, and that3 the sitting of the Convocation was wholly immaterial in this respect it being not a Court of Judicature, but like a Parliament to make Canons and Regulations as the times may require. Johnson talking of the fear of death said ‘Some people are not affraid, because they look upon salvation as the effect of an absolute decree, and think they feel in themselves the marks of sanctification. Others, and [those the most rational in my opinion÷in my opinion those the most rational>] those the most rational in my opinion, look upon salvation as conditional, and as they never can be sure that they have complied with the conditions [MS 931] they are affraid.’ ≤In one of his little Manuscript Diaries about this time I find [several short notices which mark>] a short notice which marks his amiable [and kind and grateful del] disposition /more certainly than a thousand studied declarations/4. [Thus del] — ‘Afternoon spent cheerfully and elegantly, I hope without offence to GOD or Man, though in no holy duty yet in the general exercise and cultivation of benevolence.’ [— ‘Seward’s Generosity.’ — ‘Mr. Metcalf sent me six bottles of sweet wine. Miss Reynolds had sent me one upon the 22 when Metcalf was with me.’ — ‘Windham’s kindness.’5 del]≥ On Monday [17 May>] May 17 I dined with him at Mr. Dilly’s where were Colonel Vallancy, Reverend Dr. Gibbons6 [Mr. Capel Lofft÷Capel Lofft Esq:>] Mr. Capel Lofft who though a most zealous Whig has a mind so [cultivated with÷full of>] full of learning and knowledge and so [1st ed. ii. 493] much in exercise in the various exertions of literature and withall so much liberality that Dr. Johnson’s stupendous [abilities÷powers>] powers though they did not frighten [him÷this little David of Constitutional enthusiasm>] this little David of popular enthusiasm7 could not but excite his admiration. [We had÷There 3 Initially the revision ended here on MS opp. 930, leading back to ‘the Convocation is …’ (ll. 10–11)’ on MS 930. Then, deleting ‘the Convocation is’, JB extended the revision, forming the ‘t’ in ‘the’ with the slash that had marked the end of the revision. 4 JB’s unresolved optional phrase was printed in the revises. 5 For the context of this missing diary, see Diaries, Prayers, and Annals, pp. 369–70. On ‘Seward’s Generosity’, see post p. 273 n. 7. 6 The conjunction missing here—‘and’—was printed in the revises. 7 A deleted memorandum in the margin—‘There must be some touches for popularity.’—sheds light on the wording of this revision and further changes to this portion

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was>] There was also Mr. Brathwaite8 of the Post Office that [very del] amiable and freindly Man [whose modest and unassuming good sense÷character has made him the companion of most÷who with modest and unassuming manners has been the companion of most>] who with modest and unassuming manners has associated with many of the Wits of the age. Johnson was very quiescent today. Perhaps too I was indolent. I find nothing more of him in my notes but that when I mentioned that I had seen in the King’s Library sixty three [copies÷editions>] editions of my favourite Thomas á Kempis amongst which it was in eight languages Latin German French Italian Spanish English Arabick ≤and≥ Armenian, he said he thought it unnecessary to collect many editions [MS 932] of a Book which were all the same [in the text.>] except as to the paper & print. He would have ≤the original and≥ all the translations and all the editions which [differed in substance.÷the matter.>] [differed in any essential matter.>] had any variations in the text. He approved of the famous Collection of editions of Horace by Douglas ≤mentioned by Pope≥ who is said to have had a whole closet filled with them, and he said every Man should try to collect one Book in that manner and present it to a Publick Library. On tuesday [17 May>] May 179 I [found him going÷stepping into a Hackney Coach at the entry to his Court.÷Bolt Court.÷his own Court. I accompanied him to Dr. Heberden’s door where he was to dine.÷to Pallmall where he was to dine with Dr. Heberden. I told>] saw him for a short time in the morning. I told him that the Mob had called out as the King passed ‘No Fox No Fox’ which I did not like. He said ‘They were right Sir.’ I said ‘I thought not; for, it seemed to be making Mr. Fox the King’s competitor.’1 There being no audience so that there could be no triumph in a victory, he fairly agreed with me. I said it might do very well if explained thus ‘Let us have no Fox’ understanding it as a prayer to his Majesty not to appoint [such a÷that gentleman>] that gentleman Minister. On Wednesday [19 May>] May 19 I sat [MS 933] a part of the evening with him [alone.>] by ourselves. I [mentioned a fine thought of Dr. Young’s2 that>] of the sentence as printed in the revises: ‘much in exercise in various exertions, and withal so much liberality, that the stupendous powers of the literary Goliath, though they did not frighten this little David of popular spirit’ (the first phrase was printed ‘much exercised in various departments’ in the second edition). Lofft wrote to JB on 17 May 1791, the day after receiving the biography as a gift, responding positively to his portrayal: ‘I must have been illiberal indeed if I had suffered my difference in metaphysics, religion, or politics to have made me insensible to moral and intellectual excellence of the stamp of Johnson’s’ (Corr. 2a, p. 316). For JB’s first impressions of Lofft—‘a little, diminutive being’—see Journ. 19 Mar. 1778; Hill-Powell iv. 529 (App. J). Lofft presented to JB his Remarks on the Letter of the Rt. Hon. Edmund Burke, concerning the Revolution in France (1790; Boswell’s Books, p. 263). 8 Printed ‘Braithwaite’ (so in revises). 9 Corrected to ‘May 18’ in the second edition. 1 JB’s quotation marks around his comment were not printed in the revises. 2 On the facing page, beneath the memorandum ‘Quote’, JB drafted ‘Our dying friends are pioneers to smooth’, a verse from Night Thoughts (iii. 280–84): Our dying friends are pioneers, to smooth Our rugged pass to death; to break those bars Of terror, and abhorrence, nature throws Cross our obstructed way; and, thus to make Welcome, as safe, our port from every storm.

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observed that the death of our freinds might be a consolation against the fear [of death to ourselves>] of our own dissolution because we might have more freinds in the other world than in this. He perhaps felt this as a reflection upon his [direful del] apprehension as to death, and [said÷observed>] said with heat ‘How [did he know where his departed freinds were, or whether they would>] can a man know where his departed freinds are, or whether they will be his freinds in the other world. How many freindships have you known formed upon principles of virtue? Most freindships are formed by caprice or by chance mere confederacies [in÷of>] in vice or leagues [in÷of>] in folly.’3 We talked of our worthy freind Mr. Langton. He said ‘I know not who will go to Heaven if Langton does not.4 Sir I could almost say Sit anima mea cum Langtono.’ I mentioned a very eminent freind5 as a virtuous man. Johnson. ‘Yes Sir. But ——— has not the evangelical virtue of Langton. ——— I am affraid would not scruple to pick up a wench.’ [He again insisted on one of our freind’s having a ridiculous character.6 ‘Sir’ said he ‘as an instance how [MS 934] wrongheaded he is; When>] [1st ed. ii. 494] He however charged that gentleman7 with what he thought want of judgement upon an interesting occasion. [MS 934] ‘When I was ill ≤said he≥ I desired he would tell me ≤sincerely≥ in what he thought my life was faulty. ≤Sir≥ He brought me a sheet of paper on which he had written down [all the>] several texts of Scripture [recommending÷recommendatory of÷exhorting to Christian Charity>] recommending Christian Charity, as if I had been defective in Christian Charity. And when I questioned him [“What did this amount to?” Why that>] [on what this animadversion was grounded. Why that>] [what occasion I had given for this animadversion all that he could say amounted to Before copying the other verses, however, he realized that the ‘consolation’ he had raised in conversation differed from what was expressed in Young’s poem, at which point—above the single verse—he wrote, ‘N.B. Having more friends in the other world than in this is my thought’. All this was then deleted. 3 These phrases sounding familiar, JB wrote in the margin, ‘See if this be not a line in Young.’ It came in fact from Addison’s Cato (III. i. 7–10), where Portius declares, ‘Marcus, the friendships of the world are oft / Confederacies in vice, or leagues of pleasures; / Ours has severest virtue as its basis, / And such a friendship ends not but with life.’ 4 Deleted memorandum keyed to a small x after this sentence: ‘See if none of this be any where else.’ Not finding the remark elsewhere, JB retained it here. 5 ‘The reference is certainly to Windham’, wrote Percy Fitzgerald, citing a source who had seen the manuscript of Windham’s diary and found ‘confessions in it which support Johnson’s speculation’ (Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. 3 vols., 1874, iii. 70 n. 1). Powell observed that ‘no published evidence’ supported this statement; Hill, admitting that ‘eminent friend’ generally meant Burke, found that to be unlikely here (Hill-Powell iv. 280 n. 2). Croker rejected Burke and Reynolds as possibilities (v. 177 n. 1). 6 A deleted memorandum here in the margin—‘Will it not be better to tell it of Langton & sink the attack in strong terms?’—reveals the conscious strategy that drove JB’s revisions of the following passage: to name Langton openly and defend him by proving the unreasonableness of SJ’s charge. Making a strong case required JB to revisit MSS 933–35 more than once in revision and involved gathering the proper evidence directly from Langton (see n. 9 below). 7 Printed in the revises ‘Mr. Langton’, a clarification evidently made in proof when JB noticed that the ‘gentleman’ just mentioned—the final lines of MS 933 having been deleted—was the anonymous person who, SJ suspected, was not above picking up a wench. The present revision, drafted on MS opp. 934, was marked ‘NP.’

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this that>] what occasion I had given for such an animadversion all that he could say amounted to this that I sometimes contradicted people in conversation. Now what harm does it do to any Man to be contradicted?’ Boswell. ‘I suppose he meant the manner of doing it — roughly — and harshly.’ Johnson. ‘And who is the worse for that?’ Boswell. ‘It hurts people of weak nerves.’ Johnson. ‘I know no such weak=nerved people.’ — [Here though I did not chuse to irritate him by pressing the subject farther in opposition to him I could not help thinking that his censure was ill founded, and that a÷the conscientious freind when thus asked as a Confessor to tell a sick man what appeared to him amiss in his conduct could not in a more gentle way admonish him. The texts chosen were8 del] [MS 935] Mr. Burke to whom I [stated this Case thought somewhat differently from me & said>] related this conference said ‘It is well [if when a man comes to die÷when a man comes to die if>] if when a man comes to die he has nothing [heavier÷worse>] heavier upon his conscience than having been a little rough in conversation.’ [Certain it is that Johnson was highly offended at the time when the texts were presented to him calling out to his freind in>] [Johnson at the time when this paper was presented to him was at first very sensible9 … >] [Johnson at the time when this paper was presented to him though at first pleased with the attention of his friend, soon exclaimed in>] [Johnson at the time when this paper was presented to him though at first pleased with the attention of his friend, whom he thanked with seeming complacency soon exclaimed in>] 1Johnson at the time when this paper was presented to him though at first pleased with the attention of his friend, whom he thanked in an earnest manner, soon exclaimed2 in a loud and angry tone ‘What is your drift Sir?’ Sir Joshua Reynolds pleasantly observed that it was a scene for a Comedy to see [a÷the>] a Penitent get into a violent passion and [labour his÷the>] belabour his Confessor.a

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≤[MS opp. 935] After all I cannot but be of opinion that as Mr. Langton was seriously requested by Dr. Johnson to mention what appeared to him erroneous in the character of his friend, he was bound as an honest man to intimate what he really thought, which he certainly did in the most delicate manner 30 so that Johnson himself when in a quiet frame was pleased with it. The texts suggested are now before me, and I shall quote a few of them. ‘Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.’ Mat. v. 5.a1—‘I therefore the prisoner a

8 Here JB left blank spaces at the bottom of MS 934 and top of MS 935 sufficient to add four or five lines of copy later. In revision, however, rather than using the space merely to cite the scriptural texts, he deleted this passage altogether and on the facing page drafted a lengthy footnote to mount a more circumstantial defence of Langton. 9 Having just drafted ‘was at first very sensible’ on MS opp. 935, JB (to the left of this phrase) counselled himself to ‘Get this from Langton exactly’ and suspended his revision. Later, below that revised copy and the memorandum—both now deleted—he moved ahead with his next revision. 1 This sentence began a new paragraph in the revises. 2 In a late stage of revision, JB deleted this verb and drafted ‘had a parox[ysm]’ (forming only half of the ‘x’), then deleted this false start and wrote ‘exclaimed’ again. a1 MS orig. ‘Mat. 5. 5.’ JB deleted and recopied this in full, afterwards writing ‘v’ over the first ‘5’ (see n. a2). Before situating the citation here, however, he had started drafting it to precede the quotation, as shown by ‘Mat’ added and deleted above ‘them. “Blessed’.

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H-P iv. 281–82

[I mentioned to him this evening that one of our freinds3 was not pleased with me for calling his conversation Chocolade which used to be very consolatory to me in a forenoon, after having been elevated the day before with the Champagne of more impetuous talkers. Johnson. ‘I think Sir you express it well when you call it Chocolade. It has substance; it has sweetness, but it has no÷is wanting in spirit.’>] [I mentioned to him this evening that one of our freinds was not pleased with me for calling his conversation Chocolade which used to be very consolatory to me. Johnson. ‘I think Sir you express it well when you call it Chocolade. It has substance; it has sweetness, but it is wanting in spirit.’ del] [MS 936] I have preserved no more of his conversation [at the times÷on the days>] at the times when I saw him during the rest of this month till Sunday the 30th ≤May≥ when I met him in the evening at Mr. Hoole’s where there was a large company both of Ladies and Gentlemen. Sir James Johnston [happened to say÷said>] happened to say that he paid no regard to the arguments of Counsel at the bar of the house of Commons, because they were paid for speaking. Johnson. ‘Nay Sir, argument is argument. You cannot help paying regard to their arguments if they are good. If it were testimony you [may÷might>] might disregard it if you know that it [is>] were4 purchased. There is a beautiful image in Bacon upon this subject. Testimony [1st ed. ii. 495] is like5 an arrow shot from a long

of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.—With all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering forbearing one another in love.’ Ephes. iv.a2 1. 2.—‘And above all these things put on charity which is the bond of perfectness.’ Col. iii. 14.—‘Charity suffereth long and is kind; charity envieth not, charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.—Doth 25 not behave itself unseemly, [seeketh not her owna3 del]—is not easily provoked.’ 1 Cor. xiii. 4. 5.≥ 20

3 Lustig and Pottle suggested Langton. Among the notes JB used for this section of the Life were these: ‘Langton a wrong-headed, absurd animal.—Chocolade well. It has substance, it has sweetness. But no spirit’ (Applause of the Jury, p. 215 n. 7, p. 216 n. 6). 4 Printed in the revises ‘knew that it were’, in remedy of JB’s imperfect revision. 5 Here and in the next sentence JB added ‘like’ in the same draft—if for optional inclusion, both were left unresolved, but were printed. As before with Bacon (see ante p. 194 n. 1), a deleted memorandum in the margin, ‘See’, indicated his intention to verify the allusion. EM, discovering that the ‘image’ came from Robert Boyle, placed a footnote on ‘Bacon’ in the fourth edition of the Life (iv. 302 n. 7): ‘Dr. Johnson’s memory deceived him. The passage referred to is not Bacon’s, but Boyle’s; and may be found, with a slight variation, in Johnson’s Dictionary, under the word—CROSS-BOW.’ EM added that a compilation of ‘the most striking passages’ in the Dictionary ‘would form a very pleasing and popular volume’. For a fuller recounting of the conversation at Hoole’s by Dr. John Moore, see Hill-Powell iv. 531 (App. J). a2 Printed in the revises ‘v.’ and never corrected, though Hill-Powell notes that it should read ‘iv.’ Not yet having decided to use Roman numerals for the chapter citations, JB seems to have written ‘4’, then turned it into a thick (and blotted) ‘i’, apparently read as a deletion by the compositor. a3 Langton must have seen that the whole of 1 Cor. xiii. 4–7, usually quoted en bloc, did not belong in a litany of faults for SJ to ponder. But if, in obliging JB ‘exactly’ with details of this episode (see p. 198 n. 9), he reported verses 4 and 5, JB could see—having written it—that the present phrase also was inapplicable to SJ, and he stopped after the next one without drafting ‘thinketh no evil’. The compositor typeset the dashes separating the biblical texts, but not the dashes between verses (ll. 21, 24, 25).

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bow; the force of it depends on the strength of the hand that draws it. Argument is like an arrow from a Crossbow which has equal force though shot by a child.’ ≤[MS opp. 936] He had dined [to=day>] that day at Mr. Hoole’s and Miss Helen Maria Williams being expected in the evening, Mr. Hoole put into [Dr. Johnson’s>] his hands her Poem entitled .6 Johnson read it over and when this [elegant poetess and amiable enchanting young Lady>] pleasing amiable and accomplished enchanting young Lady7 was presented to him, he took her by the hand in the most courteous manner and repeated the finest stanza [in÷of>] of her Poem. This was the most delicate and pleasing compliment he could pay. Her respected friend Dr. Kippis from whom I had this anecdote was standing by and [heard it with no small satisfaction.÷was not a little gratified.>] was not a little gratified. Miss Williams told me that the only other time she was fortunate enough to be in Dr. Johnson’s company he asked her to sit down by him which she did and upon her inquiring how he was he answered ‘I am very ill indeed Madam. I am very ill even when you are near me. What should I be were you at a distance.’≥ [MS 936 resumed] He had now a great desire to go to Oxford as his first jaunt after his illness[;] we had talked of it for some days, and I had promised to accompany him. He was impatient & fretful [MS 937] tonight because I did not at once agree to go with him on thursday. When I considered how ill he had been, and what allowance should be made for the influence of sickness upon his [temper÷humour>] temper, I resolved to indulge him [however inconvenient it might be. I had omitted÷neglected to attend any of the two first days of the Commemoration of Handel in Westminster Abbey. The third and last was to be on the following Saturday; and it was then beleived that there would be again an opportunity of hearing that very magnificent musical performance in 8 which upwards of exerted their talents. I thought it hard to lose this; but I was willing to make the sacrifice for the quiet and complacency of Johnson. However Sir Joshua Reynolds who thought that I certainly should not lose it, suggested an expedient, which was that I should go with Johnson to Oxford on thursday, and having seem him safe there, return to town on friday, be at 6 The word ‘entitled’ was a later addition, filling half the space originally left blank. In the revises, ‘her beautiful “Ode on the Peace;”’ was printed, with a footnote: ‘The Peace made by that very able statesman, the Earl of Shelburne, now Marquis of Lansdowne, which may fairly be considered as the foundation of all the prosperity of Great-Britain since that time.’ When JB supplied the title—either on the missing first proofs near the top of p. 495 or on a separate leaf—he evidently drafted copy beneath it for the accompanying footnote without marking it as such. Plymsell, having typeset it as a note, left a query next to it in the margin of the revises: ‘Q is this intended for a Note in Ms’. JB’s deletion of the query served as a confirmation. The ‘e’ in ‘Lansdowne’, omitted in the second and third editions, was restored in Hill-Powell. 7 Having neglected to delete ‘enchanting’ in revision, JB evidently did so in proof and continued to refine this string of adjectives: ‘this amiable, elegant, and accomplished young Lady’ (so in revises). In the second edition, he omitted ‘amiable’ and, to explain why he was ‘obliged to strike it out’, placed a note on ‘lady’ deploring her approval of the ‘savage Anarchy’ in revolutionary France; see Hill-Powell iv. 282 n. 2. 8 There were 513 performers, according to the diary of Mary Hamilton, the niece of Sir William Hamilton and close friend of several women in SJ’s social circle. She was introduced to JB at the concert on 5 June (Applause of the Jury, pp. 228–29).

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H-P iv. 283–84

the Commemoration on Saturday, and go again to him afterwards. This, Sir Joshua thought he could [MS 938] not take amiss, but must rather consider it as paying him a great compliment to go to Oxford purposely to attend him.>] [MS opp. 937] though with some inconvenience to myself as I wished to attend the musical meeting in honour of Handel in Westminster Abbey on the following saturday. ≤[MS opp. 938] In the midst of his own diseases and pains he was ever compassionate to [those÷the misfortunes÷the necessities>] the distresses of others, and actively earnest in procuring them [relief.

10 To Sir Joshua Reynolds9>] 11 12 relief, as appears from a note to Sir Joshua Reynolds of June 1 in these words1 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ≥ 14 [MS 938] On Thursday [3 June>] June 3 the Oxford Post Coach took us up

in the morning at Bolt Court. The other two passengers were [Mrs. and Miss Beresford mother and daughter>] Mrs. Beresford and her daughter two very agreable Ladies from America, [whose names I contrived to learn in the course of our journey del]. They were going to Worcestershire where they [now>] then resided. Frank had been sent by his Master the day before to take places for us; and I found from the Way=bill that Dr. Johnson had made our names be put 20 down. Mrs. Beresford who had read [1st ed. ii. 496] it, whispered me ‘Is this the great Dr. Johnson?’ I told her it was. So she was then prepared to listen. As she soon happened to mention in a voice so low that Johnson did not hear it, that her husband had been a Member of the American Congress, I cautioned her to beware of introducing that subject, as she must know how very violent 25 Johnson was against [our bretheren÷the people>] the people of that Country. He talked a great deal [which I am very sorry I have not recorded; but I perfectly recollect that Miss Beresford was charmed; and though [MS 939] she did not exclaim so extravagantly as in the Play2 15

Then he would talk good Gods! how he would talk, 30 she said to me ‘How he does talk.÷go on. Every>] but I am sorry I have preserved

little of the conversation. Miss Beresford was so much charmed [MS 939] that she said to me aside ‘How he does talk! Every sentence is an Essay.’ She amused herself in the coach with knotting. He would [not÷scarcely allow it>] scarcely allow this species of employment any merit. ‘Next to mere idleness’ said he ‘I 35 think knotting is to be reckoned in the scale of insignificance; though I once

Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Note 1 June’. Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in without N.P. or any beginning or ending forms.’ SJ’s letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. 2 In the open space before this phrase and the blank half line after it, JB was unable to supply the name of Nathaniel Lee and the title of his play, The Rival Queens. He may have been familiar with the verse because Addison in Spectator No. 39 had celebrated its many perfections: ‘What can be more Natural, more Soft, or more Passionate, than that Line in Statira’s Speech, where she describes the Charms of Alexander’s Conversation?’ (The Spectator, ed. Bond, i. 166–67). 9 1

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attempted to learn knotting. Dempster’s sister (looking to me) [attempted>] endeavoured to teach me it; but I made no progress.’3 ≤I was surprised at his talking without reserve in the publick Post Coach of the State of his affairs. ‘I have’ said he ‘about the World /I think/4 [above a thousand pounds which I intend shall afford÷about as much as will afford>] above a thousand pounds which I intend shall afford Frank an Annuity of seventy pounds a year.’≥5 At ≤the Inn6≥ where we dined he was exceedingly disatisfied with some roast Mutton which we had for dinner. The Ladies I saw wondered to see the great [Philosopher÷sage whose wisdom÷discourse and wit>] Philosopher whose wisdom and wit they had been admiring all the way, get into [a downright passion for>] ill=humour from such a cause. He scolded the Waiter saying ‘It is as bad as bad can be. It is ill=fed ill=killed ≤ill=kept≥ and ill=drest.’ He [stood>] bore the journey very well, and seemed to feel himself elevated as he approached Oxford that magnificent & venerable Seat of Learning Orthodoxy and Toryism. Frank came in the heavy coach in readiness to attend him; and we were received with the most polite hospitality at the house of ≤his old friend≥ Dr. Adams Master of Pembroke College who had given us a kind invitation. Before we were set down I communicated to Johnson my having engaged to return to London directly for the reason I have mentioned, but [MS 940] that I would hasten down to him again. [Sir Joshua Reynolds had guessed right, for del] he7 was [much del] pleased that I had made this journey merely to keep him company. He was easy & placid [at Dr. Adams’s with the÷his excellent old freind,>] with Dr. Adams’s8, Mrs. & Miss Adams and Mrs. Kennicot Widow of the learned Hebrean, who was [here on a visit.÷on a visit here.>] here on a visit. He soon dispatched the inquiries which were made about his illness and recovery, by a short & distinct narrative and then assuming a gay air and repeating from Swift Nor think on our approaching ills9 [Nor>] And talk of spectacles and pills. 3 In the Life Materials, JB anticipated this passage: ‘To illustrate Dr. Johnsons conversation in the Oxford Coach on knotting see Dorset’s Ballad on that subject’ (M 158, p. 6). On MS 643, however, after drafting a conversation from 1778 in which SJ admitted ‘I once tried knotting’, JB left himself a memorandum to consider which passage would be better for introducing Dorset’s verses (see Life MS iii. 172 n. 6). In the end, they appeared in neither place. 4 JB’s unresolved optional phrase—marked by a single virgule in the margin—was printed in the revises. 5 In the second edition, JB extended this paragraph to illustrate the claim, ‘Indeed his openness with people at a first interview was remarkable.’ See Hill-Powell iv. 284. 6 In revision, unable to recall the staging town where they had stopped, JB resorted to this expedient to fill the gap left blank in his original draft. It was possibly ‘Kings head Inn, Hounslow’, as the heading reads on a discarded wrapper used by JB to draft verses ‘apparently … en route to or from Oxford’ on this occasion (M 308; Cat. i. 124–25). 7 Printed ‘He’ to begin a new sentence (so in revises). 8 Printed in the revises ‘Dr. Adams’, in correction of JB’s oversight. 9 Why JB happened to draft ‘ills’ off to the right and slightly down from the rest of the line is unclear.

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H-P iv. 285–86

[1st ed. ii. ‘504’1] [Bishop Newton÷Dr. Newton the Bishop of Bristol>] Dr. Newton the Bishop of Bristol having been mentioned, Johnson recollecting what is said of him in that Prelate’s [Memoirs of his own life2 thus made his retort÷descanted÷took his revenge>] account of his own lifea/3 thus retaliated ‘Tom knew he should be dead before what he [said of me should be printed.4>] has said of me would appear. He durst not have printed it while he was alive.’ Dr. Adams. ‘I beleive his Dissertation on the Prophecies5 [is÷was>] is his great Work.’ Johnson. ‘Why Sir it [was>] is Tom’s great Work; but how far it is great or how much of it [was>] is Tom’s [is another question.÷are other questions.>] are other questions. [/I fancy a considerable part of it was borrowed./>] I fancy a considerable part of it was borrowed.’ [Dr. Adams. ‘He was a very successful Man.’÷Dr. Adams mentioned a certain Bishop6 as a very successful Man.>] Dr. Adams. ‘He was a very successful Man.’ Johnson. ‘I don’t think so Sir. [Tom÷He>] He did not get very high. [He was late of getting what he did get;÷What he did get he got late;>] He was late in getting what he did get; [MS 941] and he did not get it by the best means. I beleive he was a [mighty gross÷great>] gross flatterer.’

a ≤[Paper Aparta1] [After animadverting upon Mr. Gibbons History he says>] Dr. Newton in his Account of his own Life after animadverting upon Mr. Gib20 bons History says ‘Dr. Johnson’s Lives of the Poets afforded more amusement; but candour was much hurt and offended at the malevolence that predominates in every part. Some passages it must be allowed are judicious and well-written but make not sufficient compensation for so much spleen and ill-humour. Never 1 Printed ‘497’ correctly in the revises, but ‘504’ in the first edition. The printer, trying to fix one mispagination (see p. 215 n. 9), had created another. 2 Here JB left room to add two lines of copy in revision. Later, anticipating a lengthier addition, he put a large asterisk here and another near the top of the blank facing page to receive the eventual copy. Before drafting anything, however, he had to send these pages to the printer, at which point, nullifying the open space on MS 940 with seven diagonal slashes, he put a new asterisk in the margin and told the compositor to allow for a ‘Note of about eight lines or ten’ (‘eight’ covers an ‘s’—for ‘six’ or ‘seven’). Below this direction he placed the footnote symbol = and the word ‘Note’. 3 Printed in the revises ‘recollecting the manner in which he had been mentioned by that Prelate’, with the footnote exponent on ‘Prelate’. In the second edition, ‘mentioned’ was changed to ‘censured’. 4 In the same draft, above the words ‘be printed’, JB added a virgule or diagonal slash and then deleted it, changing his mind perhaps about an optional extension to the sentence. 5 Printed ‘Dissertations on the Prophecies’ within quotation marks in the revises. Published in three volumes (1754–58), its full title was A Dissertation on the Prophecies, Which have remarkably been fulfilled, and at this time are fulfilling in the world. 6 This alternative (coupled with the alternatives in SJ’s reply) exhibits JB’s occasional mode of concealing the identity of a person who had just been explicitly discussed. In revision here, he decided not to disguise the fact that Newton was still the topic of conversation. a1 JB drafted the first section of this Paper Apart on the back of a letter wrapper (L583, to Andrew Gibb: Cat. i. 243–44) franked 4 Feb. 1791, revealing roughly when he would have delivered it to Plymsell, who docketed the second leaf (which begins ‘the more surprised …’) on its verso ‘Note Bishop Newton’.

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I [set off for London in the night so as to be at Court next day being the Kings Birthday and being fully rewarded for my trouble÷the trouble of my Journey by hearing the Musick in Westminster Abbey the impression of which upon me was such that I never would go again÷a second7 lest it should be effaced, I was to have been at Oxford again on Monday, but was detained till Wednesday, when>] fulfilled my intention by going to London and returned to Oxford on Wednesday the 9 of June, when I was happy to find myself again in the same agreable Circle at Pembroke College, with the comfortable prospect of making some stay. Johnson welcomed my return [by calling out with more than ordinary glee ‘How d’ye do my freind?’ Such slight touches which render a picture vivid shall never be omitted by me let cold & dry Criticks cavil as they will.÷may.>] with more than ordinary glee. He talked with great regard of the Honourable Archibald Campbell whose character he had given at the Duke of Argylls table when we were at [Inveraray,a/8 but he added÷now said ‘I never knew>] [Inveraray, and at this time

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 was any biographer more sparing of his praise or more abundant in his censures. 18 He seemingly delights more in exposing blemishes than in recommending 19

beauties, slightly passes over excellences, inlarges upon imperfections, and not content with his own severe reflections, revives old scandal and produces large quotations from the forgotten works of former criticks. His reputation was so 20 high in the republick of letters, that it wanted not to be raised upon the ruins of others. But these Essays instead of raising a higher idea than was before entertained of his understanding have certainly given the world a worse opinion of his temper.’ The Bishop was therefore the more surprised and concerned for his townsman, for he respected him not only for his genius and learning, but valued 25 him much more for the more amiable part of his character, his humanity and charity his morality and religion.’a2 The last sentence we may consider as the general and permanent opinion of Bishop Newton; the remarks which precede it must by all who have read Johnson’s admirable Work be imputed to the disgust and peevishness of old age. I wish it had not appeared and that Dr. Johnson had 30 not been provoked by it to express himself not in respectful terms of a Prelate whose labours were certainly of considerable advantage both to Literature and Religion.a3≥ JB no doubt meant to write ‘a second time’. Placing an asterisk here, JB drafted a note at the foot of the page: ‘Journal of a [written over the] Tour to the Hebrides Edit. 3. p. .’ Later, he deleted and recopied these elements on MS opp. 941 (see p. 205 n. 1). 7

8

a2 While the italics marked this passage as a quotation, JB also put quotation marks here, which were printed in the revises. Selfe queried whether they should be deleted. Scoring out the query, JB inserted quotation marks on ‘respected’ (omitted from the second and third editions in error; restored in Hill-Powell, but placed on ‘he’). a3 This final sentence, drafted in a different ink, represents a second expansion of the note beyond what JB first intended. The stated focus of the note, Newton’s criticism of SJ’s ‘malevolence’, took up twelve lines in print (slightly exceeding the ‘eight lines or ten’ Plymsell was told to expect; see p. 203 n. 2). The full note required nineteen lines, nearly half the printed page.

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wrote out for me distinctly in his own hand9 but he added÷now said ‘I never knew>] [Inveraray, and at this time wrote out for me in his own hand a fuller account of that learned and venerable Writer which is inserted in my Journala/1 but he added÷now said ‘I never knew>] Inveraray, and at this time wrote out for me in his own hand a fuller account of that learned and venerable Writer which I have published in its [1st ed. ii. 498] proper place.a/2 Johnson made a remark this evening which struck me a good deal. ‘I never’ said he ‘knew a Nonjuror who could reason.’3 ≤Surely he did not mean to deny that faculty to many of their writers to Hickes Brett4 and other eminent divines of that persuasion and did not recollect that the Seven Bishops so justly celebrated for their magnanimous resistance of arbitrary power were yet Nonjurors to the new Government.≥ The Nonjuring Clergy of Scotland ≤indeed≥ [who have>] [who excepting a few very respectable conscientious men have>] who excepting a few have lately by a sudden stroke cut off all their ties of allegiance to the House of Stuart and resolved to pray for our present lawful Sovereign by name ≤may be thought to≥ have [strongly del] confirmed this remark, [and shewn that so far as principle [MS 942] is concerned, they are not÷have not been reasoners; for undoubtedly the indefeasible hereditary right which they professed to beleive was inherent in Prince Charles Grandson of King James the second is equally in his brother, and must equally be continued while the line of succession can a

Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides Edit 3. p.

.a1

9 On MS opp. 941, in the first of three passes of revision to the present sentence, JB ended his new clause here and placed ‘Qu?’ above it. On his next pass, deleting the adverb ‘distinctly’ along with his reminder to query the matter, he extended the clause. 1 Deleting two false starts here—‘of our T[our]’; ‘of our Hebridean Exp[edition]’—JB put an asterisk on this word and another at the bottom of the page, where he recopied his note from MS 941 (see p. 204 n. 8). 2 Since this phrase replaced the word ‘Journal’ (l. 3), to which JB had shifted the asterisk in revision, the footnote exponent implicitly was to be typeset here. In the revises, however, it was printed on ‘Inveraray’, either moved there by JB in proof or put there by the compositor (taking a cue from its original placement; see p. 204 l. 15 and n. 8). For SJ’s ‘character’ of Campbell, see Hill-Powell v. 357. 3 A footnote added here in the second edition presented ‘a dialogue between Mr. John Henderson and Dr. Johnson on this topick’ (see Hill-Powell iv. 286 n. 3). It resulted from an exchange of letters initiated by the Rev. William Agutter in Oct. 1792. Responding to Agutter’s offer of some ‘Corrections and Remarks’ for a second edition of the Life (‘If … called for’), JB reported that the printer was then working on the third and final volume of the second edition, but that if Agutter could deliver to him ‘any remarks … in time for what remains to be printed’, he would ‘be pleased to communicate them’ (Corr. 2a, p. 381). 4 Here, in the left-hand margin of MS 941, JB paused. Below ‘Brett’, next to an apparent footnote symbol, is written ‘This for a Controversy’—to what end is unclear, whether as a memorandum (perhaps original to the page) or cue words for a note to be drafted. Later, deleting that symbol and phrase, JB continued the sentence with a different pen, his copy straddling the deletion (after ‘and other’), jumping to the middle of the margin from the bottom of the page as the sentence kept growing, and again from there to the top of the margin. a1 The page reference, still missing in the revises, had to be written in the margin. In the first edition, following the title (in quotation marks, which were omitted in HillPowell), the citation was printed ‘3d edit. p. 371.’ In the second edition, ‘3d’ became ‘third’.

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be traced; but feeling may cool by length of÷in process of time, or prudence may direct a submission to hard necessity.>] [[MS 942] as it may be said that5 the indefeasible hereditary right which they professed to beleive if ever true was inherent in Prince Charles Grandson of King James the second is equally in his brother, and must equally be continued while the line of succession can be traced; but feeling may cool by length of time, or prudence may direct a submission to what they consider as hard necessity.>] [MS 942] as it may be said that the divine indefeasible hereditary right which they professed to beleive if ever true must be equally true still.6 ≤Many of my readers will be surprised when I mention that Johnson assured me he had never in his life been in a nonjuring meeting-house.≥ [On Thursday 10 June while we were at breakfast, the 37 Volume of the Gentleman’s Magazine was brought that he might look at the Apotheosis of Milton which had been ascribed to him. He declared it was not his. He beleived it to be Guthrie’s.7 In this volume he pointed out the following÷a passage from Savage’s Wanderer, saying ‘These are fine Verses.’8 ‘If>] Next morning at breakfast, he pointed out a passage in Savage’s ‘Wanderer’, saying ‘These are fine Verses.’ ‘If (said he) I had written with hostility of Warburton in my Shakspeare, I should have quoted [these lines÷this couplet>] this couplet

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“Here Learning blinded first and then beguil’d “Looks dark as Ignorance, as Fancy wild.” You see theyd have fitted him [to a T.÷exactly.>] to a T.’ (smiling) Dr. Adams. [MS 943] ‘But you did not write against Warburton.’ Johnson. ‘No Sir. I treated him with great respect both in my Preface, and in my Notes.’ [Dr. Adams. ‘I 25 remember I carried a message to you from him. He said he knew nobody who was acquainted with you but myself and Hawkins Browne, and he begged I would tell you that he honoured you much for your letter to Lord Chesterfield, which was written with a proper spirit.’9 del] 5 Drafted ‘as it may said that’. The word inadvertently omitted, ‘be’, was printed in the revises, though Plymsell had not added it to MS 942 (see n. 6). 6 The final revisions to this passage, as evident from Plymsell’s hand, were dictated by JB in the printing house. Only the last two clauses of the original sentence (‘but feeling … necessity’) were deleted at first, leaving the preceding copy (‘was inherent … traced’) momentarily intact. This too was then deleted, and with it the verb phrase ‘must equally be continued’, necessary to the syntax of what remained, so Plymsell drafted ‘must be equally true still’. 7 Deleting this material, JB transferred it to his discussion of SJ’s writing for The Gentleman’s Magazine; see Life MS i. 96–97 and nn. 7–8, Hill-Powell i. 140. 8 Here JB left room to copy two couplets later. In revision, however, he deleted the space by drawing a line from ‘Verses.’ to ‘If’. The abutting speeches (l. 18) were separated by a dash in the revises. The ‘fine Verses’ SJ admired on the page in question (Gent. Mag. May 1737, vii. 310) were in one of these passages from ‘The Wanderer’: Canto ii. 163–74, 185–220, or 223–42; or Canto v. 485–88 (481 spliced in with 485). 9 JB deleted this remark after incorporating it into Paper Apart C (see Life MS i. 185 n. 6 and 190 ll. 4–10). Adams repeated portions of this anecdote in the Johnsoniana he related to JB at this time (June 1784) and again in a letter of 17 Feb. 1785 (Corr. 2a, pp. 18, 50).

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Mrs. Kennicot spoke of her brother ≤the Reverend Mr. Chamberlayne≥ who had [given up÷sacrificed>] given up good preferments in the Church of England on his conversion to the Roman Catholick [faith÷Religion>] faith. Johnson who [felt an admiration of conscientiousness as warmly as man could do said with fervency>] [felt an admiration of conscientious adherence to principle as warmly as man could do said with fervency>] warmly admired every man who acted from a conscientious regard to principle erroneous or not exclaimed fervently1 ‘GOD bless him.’ [She observed as a confirmation of Dr. Johnson’s opinion in favour of the present age as no worse than former ones, that>] Mrs. Kennicot in confirmation of Dr. Johnson’s opinion that the present was not worse than former ages, mentioned that her brother assured her there was now less infidelity on the Continent than there had been; Voltaire and Rousseau were less read. I asserted from good authority that Hume÷Hume’s infidelity2 was certainly less read. Johnson. ‘All infidel Writers drop into oblivion when personal connections and the floridness of novelty are gone; though [there is a foolish fellow who by thinking to be witty upon them, may bring them again into notice.3 He has been a College joker [MS 944] and does not÷A man who has been a College joker [MS 944] does not>] now & then a foolish fellow who thinks he can be witty upon them, may bring them again into notice. There will sometimes start up a College joker who [MS 944] does not consider that what is a joke in a college will not do in [1st ed. ii. 499] the World. To such [writers in favour÷defenders>] defenders of Religion I would apply a [part÷stanza>] stanza of a [little added and del] Poem which I remember to have seen in some old [Magazine>] Collection. Henceforth be quiet and agree Each kiss his empty brother Religion scorns a foe like thee, But dreads a freind like t’other. The point is well, though the expression is not correct one and not thee should be opposed to t’other.’a/4 a ≤[MS opp. 944] I have inserted the stanza as Johnson repeated it from memory. But I have since found the Poem itself in ‘The Foundling Hospital for Wit’ printed at London 1749. It is as follows. 1 It is unclear whether the changes to this sentence involved an intermediate revision (as transcribed) or same-draft alterations on a single return. Either way, JB neglected to convert ‘fervency’ to an adverb, an oversight corrected by Plymsell, whose initiative here is suggested by the ‘tl’ written over the ‘c’ in the same ink that showed his hand on MS 941. 2 The second of JB’s unresolved alternatives was printed in the revises. 3 A deleted memorandum in the margin shows that JB thought it essential to recast SJ’s words in revision: ‘This must be curtailed as it hits Dr. Horne.’ His changes to this sentence and the next obscured the particularity of SJ’s censure. Dr. George Horne attacked Hume, Voltaire, and other rationalists in A Letter to Dr. Adam Smith (1777) and Letters on Infidelity (1784). 4 A grid symbol inserted here in revision drew the compositor to a paragraph on the facing page, drafted after JB had discovered the poem in The Foundling Hospital for

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On the Roman Catholick Religion he said ‘≤If you join the [Papists÷ Romanists>] Papists externally they will not interrogate you strictly as to your beleif in their tenets. No reasoning Papist beleives every article of their faith.≥ There is one side on which a good man might be persuaded to embrace it. A good man of a timorous disposition in great doubt of his acceptance with GOD and pretty credulous might be glad to be of a Church where there are so many helps to get to Heaven. I would be a Papist if I could. I have fear enough; but an obstinate rationality prevents me. I shall never be a Papist, unless on the near approach of death [for÷of>] of which I have a very great [fear÷terrour>] terrour. I wonder that [all women are not Papists.>] [women who are timid in their nature are not all Papists.>] women are not all Papists.’ Boswell. ‘They are not more affraid of death than men are.’ Johnson. ‘Because they are less wicked.’ Dr. Adams. ‘They are more pious.’ Johnson. ‘No, hang ’em, they are not more pious. A wicked fellow is the most [MS 945] pious when he takes to it. He’ll beat you all at piety.’ He argued in defence of some of the peculiar tenets of the Church of Rome. As to giving only the bread to the laity he said ‘They may think [what was÷is merely ritual might÷may be allowed from considerations of conveniency and>] that in what is merely ritual deviations from the primitive mode may be admitted [1st ed. ii. 500] on the ground of convenience, and I think they are as well warranted to make this alteration as we are [to baptize by sprinkling.÷to substitute sprinkling in÷as baptism.>] to substitute sprinkling in the room of

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‘EPIGRAM occasioned by a Religious Dispute at Bath.’ On Reason Faith and Mystery high Two wits harangue the table B——ya1 believes he knows not why N—— swears ’tis all a fable. Peace coxcombs peace and both agree N—— kiss thy empty brother Religion laughs at foes like thee And dreads a friend like t’other.≥ Wit, vol. 6 (1749)—hence his alteration of ‘Magazine’ to ‘Collection’ in introducing the stanza. Later, deciding to make it a footnote, he drew a line from the grid symbol—initially centred above the next paragraph on MS 944—to a mark placed here on ‘t’other’ and specifying ‘Note’ beside the grid on MS opp. 944. A page in the Life Materials (M 156: 6) laid the way for the footnote: ‘Johnson / At Oxford 1784 / [Peace coxcombs peace and both agree del] / In the Foundling Hospital for Wit / printed at London 1749 [9 written over 3]’; below this JB copied the stanzas, following the miscellany by indenting the second and fourth verses of each. That pattern was reintroduced in print, in both the footnote and the main text (so in revises). a1 In Croker, two dashes were printed within this name, suggesting two syllables to complement his identification of Richard Bentley, son of the classicist; the antagonist was identified as Beau Nash (v. 187–88 n. 3).

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the ancient Baptism.’5 As to the invocation of Saints he said ‘Though I do not think it [warranted÷authorised>] authorised it appears to me that “the communion of Saints” in the Creed means communion with the Saints in Heaven as connected with “the Holy Catholick Church”.’a He admitted the influence 5 of evil spirits upon our minds, and said ‘Nobody who beleives the New Testa6 ment can deny [this÷it>] it.’ I brought a Volume of Dr. Hurd the Bishop of 7 Worcester6 Sermons and read ≤to the company some passages≥ from one of 8 them, upon this text ‘≤Resist the Devil and he will flee from you.’ James iv. 7.≥7 I 9 was happy to produce so judicious and elegant [an authority>] a supporterb/8 for 10 a doctrine which I know not why should in this World of imperfect knowledge 11 and [1st ed. ii. 501] therefore of wonder and mystery ≤in a thousand instances≥, 12 be contested by some with an unaccountable assurance ≤& flippancy≥. 13 14

≤[MS opp. 945] Waller in his ‘Divine Poesie’ Canto first has the same thought finely expressed. a

The Church triumphant and the church below In songs of praise their present union show Their joys are full; our expectation long In life we differ, but we join in song Angels and we assisted by this art May sing together tho’ we dwell apart.≥

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≤[Paper Apart Hb1 (1)] The Sermon thus opens—‘That there are angels and spirits good and bad; that at the head of these last there is ONE more considerable and malignant than the rest, who in the form, or under the name of a Serpent was deeply concerned in the fall of man and whose head, as the prophetick 25 language is, the Son of man was one day to bruise; that this evil spirit though that prophecy be in part completed, has not yet received his death’s wound, but is still permitted, for ends unsearchable to us, and in ways which we cannot particularly explain, to have a certain degree of power in this world hostile to its virtue and happiness, and sometimes exerted with too much success; all this b

5 By compositorial oversight, the closing quotation marks implicit here (though not added by JB) were missing in the first three editions of the Life. Hill-Powell corrected the error. 6 Printed in the possessive, ‘Worcester’s’ (so in revises). 7 After a pair of quotation marks, JB left enough blank space to add three or four lines of copy in revision. Later, he added only ‘Resist the Devil’ and began to cite ‘Ja[mes]’, but then, writing ‘and’ over the citation, extended the biblical text. (In the revises, ‘flee’ was printed ‘fly’, a departure from the text which has been noted—HillPowell iv. 290 n. 3—but not corrected.) Empty space remained below the quotation, perhaps causing the next sentence—though drafted flush with the left margin—to be indented in print. To remedy the anomaly of this one-sentence paragraph, JB in the third edition joined the present sentence to it. 8 Direction to the compositor, ‘Note on Paper H to come in on word supporter’. b1 When JB labelled this Paper Apart ‘H’ (for ‘Hurd’) in the upper left-hand corner, he deleted his original docket at the top of the page: ‘Sermon at Lincolns Inn from the text Resist the Devil and he will flee from you. James iv. 7.’ Around the ‘H’ he later added ‘Note to come in on word supporter p. 945’.

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≤[MS opp. 945] [I maintained that the words both of the Catechism and of the Communion service of the Church of England convey÷impart a meaning not easily to be distinguished from the Roman Catholick doctrine of the real presence of our Saviour in the Holy Sacrament.9 I assured him that Jeremy Taylor whose Golden Grove he had recommended to me was a strong assertor of this doctrine. He would not allow it till I pointed out to him the following passage.>] [I assured him that Jeremy Taylor whose Golden Grove he had recommended to me was a strong assertor of the doctrine of the Real presence in the is so clear from Scripture, that no believer unless he be first of all spoiled by philosophy and vain deceit can possibly entertain a doubt of it.’ [Paper Apart H (2)] Having treated of possessions his Lordship says ‘as I have no authority to affirm that there are now any such so neither may I presume to say with confidence that there are not any.’ ‘But then with regard to the influence of evil spirits at this day upon the SOULS of men, I shall take leave to be a great deal more peremptory. (Then having stated the various proofs)b2 All this I say is so manifest to every one who reads the scriptures that if we respect their authority, the question concerning the reality of the demonickb3 influence upon the minds of men is clearly determined.’b4 Let it be remembered that these are not the words of an antiquated or obscure enthusiast, but of a learned and polite Prelate now [alive whose eminent character gives a dignity to his opinions.>] alive; and were spoken not to a vulgar congregation, but to the honourable Society of Lincoln’s-Inn.b5 His Lordship in this Sermon explains the words ‘deliver us from evil’ in the Lords Prayer as signifying a request to be protected from ‘the evil one’ that is, the devil. This was well illustrated in a short but excellent Commentary by my late worthy friend Dr. Lort of whom it may truly be said Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit. It is remarkable that Waller in his ‘Reflections on the several Petitions’ in that sacred form of Devotion has understood this in the same sense ‘Guard us from all temptations of the FOE.’≥ 9 Having started this addition at the top of MS opp. 945, JB here leapt over his copy for the footnote on Waller’s ‘Divine Poesie’ (see p. 209).

The compositor used square brackets, preceded by a dash, to mark JB’s interruption. Looking somewhat like ‘demoniak’, the word was printed ‘demoniack’ (the spelling in SJ’s Dictionary) in the revises, but at that point was corrected to JB’s spelling. It changed to ‘demoniack’ in the second edition, and reverted to ‘demonick’ in Hill-Powell. b4 As originally drafted and docketed, Paper Apart H ended here, two-thirds of the way down this second leaf. Near the bottom of the page, as a memorandum, JB wrote down the couplet from Swift that ultimately wound up on MS 940 (see ante, p. 202). The paragraph that follows was a later addition, drafted in more compact lines—one snaking its way between the deleted verses—that carry onto the verso of the leaf. b5 This revision was another dictated by JB to Plymsell (see p. 206 n. 6), as shown by the compositor’s handwriting, the same light brown ink, and also the hyphenated place name, which reflected the house style rather than JB’s usual drafting of streets and places. The phrase ‘but to the’ was first drafted ‘but the’. b2

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Holy Sacrament. He would not allow it till I pointed out to him the following passage.1 del]≥ [MS 946] After dinner when one of us talked of there being a great enmity between Whig and Tory Johnson. ‘Why not so much I think /unless when they come in competition with each other/2. There is none when they are only common acquaintance none when they are of different sexes. A Tory will marry into a Whig family [/and÷or a Whig into a Tory family/>] and a Whig into a Tory family3 without any reluctance. But indeed in a matter of much more concern than political tenets and that is Religion, Men and Women do not concern themselves much about difference [of÷in>] of opinion. And Ladies set no value on the moral character of men who pay their addresses to them; the greatest profligate will be as well received as the man of the greatest virtue, and this by a very good woman by a Woman who says her prayers three times a day.’ Our Ladies endeavoured to [defend their sex from this charge.÷oppose this charge.>] defend their sex from this charge. But he roared them down. ‘No no. A Lady will take Jonathan Wild as readily as St. Austin if he has threepence more; and what is worse her parents will give her ≤to him≥.’4 ≤[MS 913v] Miss Adams [named÷mentioned an eminent man in the political world of profligate reputation÷character>] mentioned a gentleman of licentious character5 and said ‘Suppose I had a mind to marry that gentleman would my parents consent.’ Johnson. ‘Yes, they’d consent, and [you’d÷you would>] you’d go. [You’d÷You would>] You’d go though they did not consent.’ Miss Adams. ‘Perhaps their opposing might make me go.’ Johnson. ‘O very well. You’d take one whom you think a bad man to have the pleasure of vexing your parents. You put me in mind of [/Dr. Barrowby/ the÷a>] Dr. Barrowby the Physician who was very fond of Swine’s [flesh. One÷flesh and one>] flesh. One day when he was eating it he said “I wish I was a Jew.” “Why so?” said somebody. “The Jews are not allowed your favourite meat.” “Because” said he “I should then have the gust of eating it with the pleasure of sinning.”’ He then proceeded in ‘his declamation’.6≥ 1 Moving between this page and MS 950 (see post p. 214 ll. 21–23), JB deleted this revision, reinstated it, and deleted it again. On this theological issue Taylor had published The Real Presence and Spiritual in the Blessed Sacrament of Christ (1654). 2 JB’s unresolved optional phrase—marked by a virgule before ‘unless’—was printed in the revises, with ‘in’ becoming ‘into’. 3 JB’s resolution of alternatives within this optional phrase signalled his intention to incorporate it; he did not delete the virgules framing it. 4 Direction to the compositor, added in revision above an asterisk, ‘Back of p. 913’. Before drafting any copy there, however, JB in revision had planted an asterisk on MS opp. 946 and penned two lines: ‘Miss Adams mentioned÷named an eminent man in the political world of profligate’. Deleting this afterwards, he put an asterisk on MS 913v and there redrafted the lines—at first omitting, then restoring the phrase ‘in the political world’. In the upper left-hand corner of MS 913v he wrote ‘From p. 946’, later changing it to read ‘This belongs to p. 946’ and circling it for the compositor. Why JB drafted this passage on MS 913v is unclear; nothing on MS 914 suggests that he considered adding it to that page (see ante p. 164 n. 1). 5 Possibly Fox, given the revelation (under deletion) that the man was a politician, the aptness of both characterizations (‘profligate’ and ‘licentious’), and the discussion of Fox nearby, on MS 946v (see pp. 212–13). 6 No quotation marks were printed here; the compositor may not have seen the opening pair, added after JB had drafted (rather closely together) the words ‘in his’. Also, the copy on MS 913v was printed in the revises as a separate paragraph—after the

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[MS 946 resumed] ‘Women have a perpetual envy of our vices. They are less vicious than we, not from choice, but because we restrain them. They are the slaves of order and fashion. Their virtue is of more consequence [MS 947] to us, than our own, so far as [this world is concerned.÷concerns this world.>] concerns this world.’7 ≤[MS 945v] Miss Adams soon after this made an observation that I do not recollect [but which pleased him much, upon which he÷pleased him so much that he>] which pleased him much; he said with a good=humoured smile, ‘that there should be so much excellence united with so much depravity is strange.’ [1st ed. ii. 502] Indeed this Lady’s good qualities [distinguished del] merit and accomplishments and her constant attention to [him were not unobserved.÷lost upon him.>] Dr. Johnson were not lost upon him. She happened to [say÷mention to>] tell him that a little coffee=pot in which she made his coffee was the only thing she could call her own. He turned to her with a complacent gallantry. ‘Don’t say so my dear. I hope you dont reckon my heart [/for/>] as nothing.’8≥ ≤[MS 946v] [I asked him if it was true÷Boswell. ‘Is it true Sir>] I asked him if it was true as was reported9 that he had said lately ‘I am for the King against Fox; but I am for Fox against Pitt.’ Johnson. ‘Yes Sir. The King is my Master. But I do not know Pitt, and Fox is my Freind. [I would give my vote for Fox, because my vote being÷when added to some hundreds of majority is nothing; but voting against my freind is something. I would not give him my vote if it were to gain him his election, if it were to be a casting vote.’ Boswell. ‘Then Sir you would give the weight of your authority in favour÷support of a man of whom you disapprove.’ He did not reply to this; though doubtless if he had inclined, his extraordinary ingenuity could have given a plausible turn to what seemed not a little strange; nor could I help thinking that his calling Mr. Fox his freind was vanity, as I knew of no connection between them except their being both members of our Club. Mrs. Kennicot afterwards observed that Dr. Johnson’s acting towards Fox as he now professed he would÷should do would be deceit. He would appear to be for Mr. Fox; yet he meant he should do him no good, and would give his vote against him, if it would hurt him.1 del] [Johnson went on2 del] ‘Fox is a most extraordinary man. Here is a man without birth, without climax of ‘his declamation’: ‘Women have a perpetual envy … this world.’ Whether the compositor misunderstood where to place the passage or JB reorganized the material in proof is unknown. Either way, the rearrangement created the appearance of a paragraph abruptly ended, with the present sentence seeming out of place—an impression little changed in the second edition by JB’s substitution of ‘Johnson’ for ‘He’. 7 Direction to the compositor, ‘ Go to back of page 945’. 8 Direction to the compositor, ‘Go to the back of p. 946’, later changed to ‘Go to ’ (with a circle around the triangle to differentiate it from the one at the top of this page; see n. 7). 9 Printed in the revises ‘as reported’. A wet deletion stroke on MS 947, when JB turned over the page, blotted onto MS 946v just above ‘was’, but smeared into the ‘a’, leaving the false appearance of deletion. 1 A puzzling direction to the compositor might be related to this deletion. Beneath the instructions that led from MS 945v to MS 946v (see n. 8 above), JB wrote ‘Paper P.F.’ If the initials stood for ‘Pitt’ and ‘Fox’, it is possible that JB transferred this material to a Paper Apart and later discarded it from the Life MS. 2 The underlining of SJ’s name for a speaker tag was an uncorrected false start. In deleting these words (along with ll. 19–31), JB continued SJ’s speech from l. 19. Either

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fortune, without virtue,3 who has divided the Kingdom with Cæsar, so that it was a doubt whether the Nation should be ruled by the sceptre of George the Third, or the tongue of Fox.’4 When I repeated this to Mr. Burke he grew very warm. ‘Will not a family that has been enobled÷peers for a Century give birth? Had not Mr. Fox a great fortune? And as to Virtue, he may be charged with the common vices of youth, but [is he not an honest a fair a generous man.’ He worked>] it is a great mistake that a man cannot be virtuous because he has some vices. Mr. Fox is an honest, honourable, plain, simple character.’ He worked himself up till he went this length ‘I protest I do not know a more virtuous man than Fox.’≥ [MS 947 resumed] Dr. Wall Physician at Oxford drank tea with us. Johnson had [allways÷in general>] in general a peculiar pleasure in the company of Physicians which was certainly not [lessened÷abated>] abated by the conversation of this learned ingenious and pleasing gentleman. Johnson said ‘It is wonderful how little good Radcliff’s travelling fellowships have done. I know nothing that has been imported by them. Yet many additions to our medical knowledge might be got in foreign countries. Inocculation for instance has saved more lives than War destroys. And the cures performed by the peruvian Bark [have been very numerous.÷extensive.>] are innumerable. But it is in vain to send our travelling Physicians to France and Italy and Germany; for all that is known there is known here. I’d send them out of Christendom. I’d send them among barbarous nations.’ On friday [11÷eleventh>] eleventh June we talked at breakfast of [prayers.÷ forms of prayer.>] forms of prayer. Johnson. ‘I know of no good prayers but those in [the÷our>] the Book of Common Prayer.’ Dr. Adams (in a very earnest [MS 948] manner). ‘I wish Sir, you would compose some Family Prayers.’ Johnson. ‘I will not compose prayers for you, Sir, because you can do it for yourself. But I have thought of getting together all the Books of prayers which I could, selecting those which [I thought÷appeared to me>] should appear to me the best, putting out passages, inserting others, adding some prayers of my own, and prefixing a discourse on prayer.’ — We all ≤now≥ gathered about him [upon this del], and two or three of us at a time joined in pressing him to execute this plan. He seemed to be [a little÷somewhat>] a little displeased at ≤the manner of≥ our importunity, and in great agitation [said÷called out>] called out ‘Do not talk thus of what is so aweful. I know not what time GOD will allow me in this World. There are many [1st ed. ii. 503] things which I wish to do.’ Some of us persisted, and Dr. Adams said ‘I never was more serious about any thing in my life.’ Johnson. ‘Let me alone, let me alone; I am overpowered’ — and then he put his hands upon his face and reclined for [some time÷a while>] some time upon the table. I mentioned Jeremy Taylor’s using in his forms of Prayer ‘I am the Chief of [MS 949] sinners,’ and [other such÷such other>] other such self-condemning Plymsell misunderstood the segue, or JB decided against it afterwards, for in the revises the next remark began a new paragraph: ‘Fox (added he) is a most …’. 3 Printed in the revises ‘a man (describing him in strong terms of objection in some respects according as he apprehended, but which exalted his abilities the more)’. 4 In the revises, the paragraph ended here. Burke’s warm rebuttal had been deleted.

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expressions. ‘Now’ said I ‘this cannot be [done÷said>] said with truth by every man ≤and therefore is improper for a general printed form≥. I myself cannot say that I am the worst of men. — I [will>] will not say so.’ Johnson. ‘A man may know that physically ≤that is in the real state of things≥ he is not the worst man, but ≤that≥ morally he may be so. Law [/in his Serious Call/5 del] observes that “Every man knows something worse of himself, than he is sure of in others.” You may not have committed such crimes as some men have done; but you do not know against what degree of light they have sinned. Besides Sir “the Chief of Sinners” is a mode of [expression for÷expressing>] expression for “I am a great sinner.”6 So St. Paul speaking of our Saviour’s having died to save sinners says “of whom I am the Chief” yet he certainly did not think himself so bad as Judas Iscariot.’ Boswell. ‘But Sir Taylor means it literally for he founds a Conceit upon it. When [praying for the conversion of÷speaking of converting>] praying for the conversion of sinners & of himself in particular he says “Lord thou will not leave thy chief work undone.”’7 Johnson. ‘I do not approve of figurative expressions in addressing the Supreme Being; and I never use them. Taylor gives a very good advice. Never lie in your prayers; never confess more than you really beleive; never promise more than you mean to perform.’ I recollected this ≤precept≥ in his Golden Grove. But his example for Prayer contradicts [MS 950] his Precept. [Dr. Johnson warmly÷keenly contended with me that Taylor in this Treatise did not hold the real presence in the holy Sacrament. But I pointed out to him this passage8 del] [He>] Dr. Johnson & I went in Dr. Adams’s coach to dine with Dr. [Nowel>] Nowell Principal of St. Mary Hall at his beautiful Villa at Iffley on the banks of the Isis, about two miles from Oxford. While we were upon the road, I had the resolution to ask him whether he thought that the roughness of his manner had been an advantage or not, and if he would not have done more good if he had been more gentle? I proceeded to answer myself thus ‘Perhaps it has been of advantage, as it has given weight to what you said. You could not perhaps have talked with such authority without it.’ Johnson. ‘No. Sir. I have done more good [as I am.÷with it.>] as I am. Obscenity and Impiety have allways been repressed in my company.’ Boswell. ‘True Sir; and that is more than can be said of every Bishop. Greater liberties have been taken in the presence of a Bishop though a very good man, from his being milder, and therefore not commanding 5 In revision, after cancelling the first virgule and with pen on paper to cancel the second (as shown by a spot of ink), JB changed his mind and deleted the optional phrase. 6 This set of internal quotation marks, left implicit by JB, was printed in the revises. 7 Next to this speech is a deleted memorandum, ‘See Golden Grove’. As noted by Croker (Life, 10 vols., 1844, viii. 297 n. 2), JB ‘probably quoted from memory, and the quotation may not be perfectly accurate.’ By presenting it as a ‘Conceit’, perhaps, JB allowed himself to paraphrase. SJ in the next speech was also paraphrasing, but his summary of Taylor’s advice (‘Never lie … perform.’) was punctuated in the revises as an internal quotation; Hill-Powell notes the passage he paraphrased (iv. 295 n. 2). 8 Putting asterisks here and on the facing page, JB directed the compositor to ‘Take it in’. In later abandoning this intention here and above (see pp. 210–11 and n. 1), he also left unfulfilled a memorandum in the Life Materials (M 157, p. 17): ‘Add to Question of Real Presence at Oxford, the fine saying Thursday 24 June 1784. Like little Children.’ Whether the last phrase was an allusion to Matthew 18: 2–4 is unknown.

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such awe. [But many>] Yet Sir, many people who might [1st ed. ii. ‘470’9] have [profited>] been benefited by your conversation have been [MS 951] frightened away. [Langton÷A worthy friend of ours>] A worthy friend of ours1 has told me that he has often been [frightened>] afraid to talk to you.’ Johnson. ‘Sir, he need not have been [frightened>] afraid, if he had any thing rational to say. If he had not, it was better he did not talk.’ [Here he was begging the question, and assuming in some degree his least amiable habit. In opposition to what he now said I will quote a sentence from one of those admirable Sermons which their Editor Mr. Hayes Usher of Westminster School has with ingenious truth entitled ‘Sermons left for Publication by John Taylor LLD.’ By whom they were composed÷written all who are acquainted with The Rambler will I think have no doubt. Talking of ‘harsh strictness and sour virtue’ the Preacher says ‘Goodness of this character is more formidable than lovely; it may drive away vice from its presence; but will never persuade it to stay to be amended; it may teach, it may remonstrate; but the hearer will seek for more mild instruction.’ Yet let me do justice to my illustrious Freind, whose repulsive manner at times though perhaps the same in effect, was by no means of the same nature with that which is here held forth. No man had more indulgence for the frailties of human nature no man was less rigorous. His Characteristick was not ‘sour’ but ‘surly virtue’ as he himself gives÷expresses it in his ‘London a Poem.’2 del]3 ≤[MS opp. 951] Dr. [Nowel>] Nowell is celebrated for having preached a Sermon before the House of Commons on the Thirtieth of January 1772 full of high Tory Sentiments for which he was thanked as usual and printed it at their request; but in the midst of that turbulence and faction which disgraced a part of the present Reign [it having been charged with [blank space]4>] the thanks were afterwards ordered to be expunged. This strange conduct sufficiently exposes itself and Dr. [Nowel>] Nowell5 will ever have the honour which is due to a lofty Freind of our Monarchical Constitution. Dr. Johnson said to me ‘Sir [they÷the Court>] the Court will be very much to blame if he is not promoted.’ I told this to Dr. [Nowel>] Nowell, and asserting my humbler though not less 9 A misprint for 504, marked for correction in the revises. The error persisted, however, when the printer put ‘504’ on the wrong page (see p. 203 n. 1). 1 JB’s deleted alternative confirms Langton’s identity (Hill-Powell iv. 295 n. 4). 2 Line 145 (Poems 1974, p. 75). In revision, JB made three changes within this passage that reveal an initial intention to retain it: he scored through the first sentence (‘Here … habit.’), underlined for italics the phrase ‘left for Publication’, and scored through the alternative ‘written’ in favour of ‘composed’. Later, he deleted the entire passage, having moved some of the material into his revision of the Ashbourne Journal; see Life MS iii. 127 ll. 6–9. 3 This page lacked an original catchword onto MS 952, the first page of ‘Parcel 28’ (so marked for separate delivery to the printer). What the lower right-hand corner contains instead is ‘Dr. ’—a catchword and symbol leading to JB’s copy on MS opp. 951. 4 JB left blank more than a full line in order to come back at a later time and specify the charge. In revision, however, after an attempt to continue the sentence—‘it having been charged with doctrines which’—he deleted this clause and completed the sentence as next transcribed. 5 Given that JB in revision added a second ‘l’ to ‘Nowel’ throughout this paragraph, the compositor should have typeset ‘Nowell’ here, even though the ink of the second ‘l’ was very faint. JB added the letter in the revises, and also in the next paragraph (having in that instance not changed the spelling in MS).

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zealous exertions in the same cause, I suggested that whatever return we might receive we still should have the consolation of being like Butler’s steady and generous Royalist ‘True as the dial to the Sun ‘Although it be not shone upon.’≥6 [MS 952] We were well entertained and very happy at Dr. Nowel’s where was a very agreable [Company. When we drank ‘Church and King’ after dinner and I thought of Dr. Nowel Dr. Johnson and myself sitting together in÷at this classical spot, it seemed the very perfection of Toryism. I relished the old Port and hugged myself.>] Company and we drank ‘Church and King’ after dinner with true Tory cordiality. We talked of a certain Clergyman of extraordinary character7 who by exerting [particular>] his talents in writing ≤on temporary topicks≥ and displaying uncommon [intrepidity÷boldness>] intrepidity had raised himself to [wealth & splendour.÷a splendid situation.>] affluence. I maintained [that we should not find fault with this, for merit>] that we ought not to be indignant at his success for merit of every sort was entitled to reward. Johnson. ‘Sir I will not allow this man to have merit. No Sir. What he has is /rather/8 the contrary. I will indeed allow him courage, and on this account we so far give him credit. We have more respect for a man who robs boldly on the high=way than for a fellow who jumps out of a ditch and knocks you down ≤behind your back≥. Courage is a quality so necessary for maintaining virtue that it is allways respected, even when it is associated with vice.’ I [complained of÷censured>] censured the [gross abuse÷coarse invective>] coarse invective which was become fashionable in the House of Commons, and said that if [the members÷our Senators>] members ≤of parliament≥ must [MS 953] attack each other personally in the heat of debate it should be done more genteely. Johnson. ‘No Sir. That would be much [worse much more dangerous.>] worse. Abuse [does not last when>] is not so dangerous when there is no vehicle of wit or delicacy, no subtle conveyance. The difference [1st ed. ii. 505] between [one mode of abuse and the other÷the coarse and refined is as between>] coarse and refined abuse is as the difference between being [bruised÷beat>] bruised by a club [and÷or>] and wounded by a poisoned arrow.’9 [He was right and del] I have since observed his position elegantly expressed by Dr. Young 6 This paragraph, with its warm praise of Nowell, fulfilled an intention jotted in the Life Materials (M 158, p. 8): ‘Mem Dr. Nowel. Be sure to celebrate him. Sandie must go to Him.’ JB’s son and heir Alexander, whom he had hoped would study at Oxford, in the event matriculated at Edinburgh University in 1792. 7 Sir Henry Bate Dudley, 1st Baronet (1745–1824), who first caught the public eye by means of ‘a rather unclerical exhibition of personal prowess in a Vauxhall squabble’ (Croker, v. 196 n. 2). As editor and then proprietor of the Morning Post, and founder of the Morning Herald, he was both influential and notorious, printing ‘an unprecedented amount of scurrilous material’. He also wrote comic operas (Oxford DNB). 8 The unresolved optional word was printed in the revises. 9 This anecdote was based on a note, dated 11 June 1784, on a scrap of paper first headed ‘Johnsoniana’, then ‘Boswelliana’. For that version of the anecdote, see Applause of the Jury, p. 236 n. 2.

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 298–99

‘As the soft plume gives swiftness to the dart ‘Good breeding sends the satire to the heart.’

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On saturday twelfth June there drank tea with us at Dr. Adams’s Mr. John Henderson student [of÷in>] of Pembroke College celebrated for his wonderful acquirements in [Mystical÷Alchymical and other>] Alchymy Judicial Astrology and other abstruse and curious learning10 [by which he made himself eminent del] [as also>] and the Reverend Herbert Croft who I am affraid was somewhat [hurt at÷by>] mortified by Dr. Johnson’s not being highly pleased with some Family Discourses which he had printed. They were in [a stile somewhat of familiarity such as addressing his man=servant by name and mentioning his playing on the fiddle. Johnson could not approve of÷bear any mixture of levity in religious exercises.÷composition.>] too familiar a stile to be approved of by Dr. Johnson. I have no [note÷recollection>] note of this [evening’s÷afternoon’s1 del] conversation except [a single÷this>] a single [MS 954] fragment. When I mentioned Thomas Lord Littleton’s vision, the prediction of the time of his death and its exact fulfillment Johnson. ‘It is the most extraordinary thing that has happened in my day. I heard it with my own ears from his uncle Lord Westcote. I am ≤so≥ glad to have ≤every≥ evidence of the spiritual World that I am willing to beleive it.’ Dr. Adams [(who has2 no superstition) del]. ‘You have evidence enough; good evidence, which needs not such support.’ Johnson. [‘I like to have more.’>] [‘We cannot have too much.’>] ‘I like to have more.’3 [— He repeated the story of Parson Ford’s ghost and how his wife÷Mrs. Johnson beleived it. But then said÷added he, ‘we do not know the character of the Waiter to whose information she trusted.’4 del] Mr. Henderson with whom I had sauntered in the venerable walks of Merton College and found [to be a very extensive and firm and cheerful divine>] a very learned & pious man, supt5 with us. Dr. Johnson [surprised÷confounded÷ amazed>] surprised him not a little by acknowledging with a look of [dejected del] horrour that he was much oppressed by the fear of death. ≤The≥ Amiable Dr. Adams suggested that GOD was infinitely good. Johnson. ‘That He is infinitely good as far as the perfection of his nature will allow I certainly beleive; but it is necessary for good upon the whole that individuals should be punished. 10 Footnote added in the second edition: ‘See an account of him, in a sermon by the Reverend Mr. Agutter.’ 1 Even though JB deleted both alternatives, ‘evening’s’ was printed in the revises. 2 JB in revision changed his verb tense to ‘had’ (Adams having died in 1789) before deleting the parenthesis altogether. 3 Having deleted and replaced the original wording of SJ’s speech in his first revision, JB reinstated it in a second revision by writing ‘Stet’ in the margin beside it. 4 In revision, inserting a mark before this sentence, JB wrote in the margin, ‘See if this addition in the story.’ Later, he deleted the memorandum and these sentences, apparently satisfied that the story on MSS 755–56 contained a sufficient reflection on the waiter’s character. While SJ had not mentioned ‘character’ per se, his concluding comment had raised the question of reliability: ‘That rests upon his word, and there it remains.’ See Life MS iii. 256–57. 5 Printed in the revises ‘man. He supt’. Selfe restored the MS reading, but the compositor misunderstood his correction, and ‘man, he supt’ was printed in the first edition. In the second edition, ‘he’ was omitted; in the third edition, ‘supt’ became ‘supped’.

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As to an [individual>] individual therefore he is [not>] not infinitely good; and as I cannot be sure6 that I have fulfilled the conditions on [MS 955] which salvation is granted, I am affraid I may be one of those who [shall÷will>] shall be damned’ (looking [down dismally÷dismally down>] dismally). Dr. Adams. ‘What do you mean by damned?’ Johnson (passionate & loud÷passionately & loudly7). ‘Sent to Hell Sir, and punished everlastingly.’ Dr. Adams. ‘I don’t beleive that ≤doctrine≥.’ Johnson. ‘Do8 you beleive that some will be punished at all?’ Dr. Adams. ‘Being excluded from Heaven will be a punishment; yet there may be no great positive suffering.’ Johnson. ‘Well Sir; But if you admit any degree of punishment, there is an end of your argument for infinite goodness simply considered; [for÷because>] for [1st ed. ii. 506] infinite goodness would [have>] inflict no punishment [at all>] whatever. There is not infinite goodness physically considered; morally there is.’ Boswell. ‘But may not a man attain to such a degree of hope as not to be uneasy from the fear of death?’ Johnson. ‘A man may have such a degree of hope as to keep him quiet. You see I am not quiet, from the vehemence with which I talk. But I do not despair.’ Mrs. Adams. ‘You seem Sir to forget the merits of our Redeemer.’ Johnson. ‘Madam I do not forget the merits of my Redeemer. But my Redeemer has said that he will set some on his right hand, and some on his left.’ — He was in gloomy agitation, and said, ‘I’ll [MS 956] have no more on’t.’ — [This was a discouraging exhibition of Christianity. But let it>] If what has now been stated should be urged by the enemies of Christianity as if its influence on the mind were not benignant, let it be remembered that Johnson’s temperament was melancholy of which such direful apprehensions of futurity are [among the common effects>] often an effect.9 We shall [see by and by÷afterwards how when>] presently see that when he approached nearer to his aweful change, his mind [was releived.>] became tranquil and he exhibited as much fortitude as becomes a thinking man in that situation. [I now thanked GOD that my mind was calm and placid, while I ‘considered my latter end’1 and Dr. Adams to whom I expressed it agreed with me that I could not be more sure÷surer of being right÷in the right were I in great fear÷frightened than I was at present. del] From the subject of death we passed to discourse of Life, whether it was upon the whole more happy or miserable. Johnson was decidedly for the ballance 6 JB later adjusted his emphases in this sentence: while ‘individual’ remained italicized, ‘not’ was printed in roman font and ‘sure’ in italics (so in revises). 7 In revision, JB overlooked the alternatives awaiting resolution, which he had formed by writing ‘ly’ above the end of each adjective. The adverbs were printed in the revises. 8 Printed in the revises ‘Hold, Sir; do’—an addition that reveals continued attention to this conversation in proof. A memorandum in the margin of his original draft on MS 955—‘Caution here’—shows that JB was worried about SJ’s ‘discouraging exhibition of Christianity’ (ll. 20–21). This warning, later deleted, guided his revisions to this passage, and may even have tempered the wording of his original draft as he proceeded; as much as possible, he wanted to avoid gratifying ‘the enemies of Christianity’ (l. 22). 9 Printed in the revises ‘often a common effect’, a redundancy probably introduced in proof, since the revision here was too clear to have been misread. 1 JB moved the opening quotation marks from ‘I’ to ‘considered’ in the same draft. His allusion was to Deuteronomy 32: 29—‘O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!’

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H-P iv. 300–04

of misery.2 In confirmation of which I maintained that no man would chuse to lead over again that Life which he had experienced. Johnson [exclaimed ‘I would not lead my life over again though an Archangel should request it.’>] acceded to that opinion in the strongest terms. This is an inquiry often made; and [there being cause for it is at least>] its being a subject of disquisition is a proof that [MS 957] much misery presses upon human feelings, for those who are conscious of a felicity of existence would never hesitate to accept of a repetition of it. I have met with very few who would. [I heard Mr. Burke one day>] I have heard Mr. Burke make use of a very ingenious and plausible argument ≤on this subject≥. ‘Every man’ said he ‘would lead his life over again; for, every man is willing to go on and take an addition to his life which as he grows older he has no reason to think will be better, or even so good as what has preceeded.’ [I beleive÷imagine however the truth is that there÷But there>] I imagine however the truth is that there is a deceitful hope that the next part of Life will be free from the pains and anxieties & sorrows which we have allready felt. We are for wise purposes ‘Condemned3 to Hope’s delusive mine’ as Johnson finely says. And I may also quote the celebrated lines of Dryden equally philosophical and poetical

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[1st ed. ii. 507]

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[And from Lifes dregs hope to receive What it’s could not give.4>] When I consider Life tis all a cheat Yet fool’d with hope men favour the deceit. Trust on and think tomorrow will repay; Tomorrow’s falser than the former day; Lies worse; and while it says we shall be blest With some new joys, cuts off what we possest. Strange cozenage! none would live past years again, Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain And from the dregs of life think to receive What the first sprightly running could not give.a

≤[MS opp. 957] [One of the company>] It was observed to Dr. Johnson that it seemed strange that he who [was so often the delight and admiration of his a

AURENG-ZEBE.

2 The footnote added here in the second edition took up nearly three columns of the Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition (pp. 33–34; see Hill-Powell iv. 300 n. 2). Its genesis was a letter from the Rev. Ralph Churton dated 9 Mar. 1792, praised by JB on 5 Apr. as being ‘so good, that if you will give me permission, I will insert it as a note on “the unhappiness of human life”’. Churton on 10 Apr. assented: ‘if You think the observations may be at all useful, they are, with all their imperfections on their head, at Your service and Your Mercy’ (Corr. 2a, pp. 362–65, 368, 369). 3 Printed in the revises ‘Condemn’d’, suggesting that either JB or Selfe had checked to see how the verse had been quoted before; see ante p. 111. 4 Above this fragmentary couplet JB left a blank space sufficient to add the preceding couplet later. In revision, however, having decided to add four couplets, he deleted the verses here, placed an asterisk in the open space, and on the facing page next to an asterisk copied the poetry.

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1784

company by his lively conversation÷brilliant wit÷the delight and admiration of the company in which he was>] has so often delighted his company by his lively and brilliant conversation should say he was miserable. Johnson. ‘Alas! it is all outside. I may be cracking my joke and cursing the Sun. Sun how I hate thy beams!’ I knew not well what to think of this declaration, whether to hold it [as genuine>] as a genuine picture of his mind5, or as the effect of his persuading himself contrary to fact, [of the truth of a system of human unhappiness which he had assumed.>] that the position which he had assumed as to human unhappiness was true. There is a sentence applicable to him in Mr. Grevilles ‘Maxims Characters and Reflections’ a Book which is entitled to more praise than it has received.6≥ [MS 958] On sunday [11 June>] [June 10>] June 13 our Philosopher was calm at breakfast. There was something exceedingly pleasing in our leading a College life [with no÷without>] without restraint and with superiour elegance, ≤in consequence of our living in the Master’s house and≥ having the company of Ladies. Mrs. Kennicot related ≤in his presence≥ a lively saying of Dr. Johnson to Miss Hannah More who [said to him she wondered that Milton who had written÷could write>] had expressed a wonder that the Poet who had written Paradise Lost should write such poor Sonnets. ‘Milton ≤Madam≥ [had>] was a genius that could cut a Colossus from a rock, but could not carve heads upon cherry stones.’7 We talked of the casuistical question [whether it was allowable at any time to depart from Truth.÷concerning Truth whether it was allowable at any time to depart from it.>] whether it was allowable at any time to depart from Truth.8 Johnson.‘The general rule is that Truth should never be violated because it is of the utmost importance to the comfort of life, that we should have a full security by mutual faith; and occasional inconveniencies should be willingly suffered that we may preserve it. There [are however÷must however be>] must however be some exceptions. If ≤for instance≥ a murderer should ask you [1st ed. ii. 508] which way a man is gone, you may tell him what is not true, because you are under a previous obligation not to betray a man to a murderer.’ Boswell. 5 A footnote on this phrase was printed in the revises: ‘Yet there is no doubt that a man may appear very gay in company who is sad at heart. His merriment is like the sound of drums and trumpets in a battle, to drown the groans of the wounded and dying.’ 6 After a colon here in the revises, the following was printed: ‘ARISTARCHUS is charming: how full of knowledge, of sense, of sentiment. You get him with difficulty to your supper; and after having delighted every body and himself for a few hours, he is obliged to return home;—he is finishing his treatise, to prove that unhappiness is the portion of man.’ A footnote keyed to the title provided a citation, ‘Page 139.’ This paragraph grew out of a late addition to JB’s list under ‘1784’ in the Life Materials: ‘Quote at Oxford when he cracked / joke & cursed Sun. Aristarchus. / p. 139 Maxims Characters & Reflections’ (M 147). 7 JB noted this anecdote on the same leaf of ‘Boswelliana’ that contained the snippet of conversation from 11 June about coarse political discourse (see p. 216 and n. 9). For other details about this leaf, see Applause of the Jury, p. 239 n. 3. 8 Although the alternatives at the end of the sentence (‘Truth.÷it.’) were left unresolved, JB’s deletion of ‘concerning Truth’ in revision signalled the phrasing he wanted. ‘Whether … Truth?’ was printed in the revises. In the second and third editions, quotation marks were printed after the question mark, but not before ‘Whether’; Hill-Powell omitted them.

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 305–06

9 ‘Supposing [it to be true÷the fact to be that /Mr./ [MS 959] /really/ wrote Junius and were asked if he did÷had>] the person who wrote Junius [MS 959] were asked whether he was the Authour might he deny it?’ Johnson. ‘I dont know what to say to this. If you were sure that [/Mr./ >] he wrote Junius would you if he denied it, think as well of him afterwards? Yet it may be [urged÷said>] urged that what a man has no right to ask≤,≥ you may refuse to communicate; and there is no other effectual mode of preserving a secret and an important secret the discovery of which may be very hurtful to you but a flat denial, for if you are silent or hesitate or evade, it will be held equivalent to a confession. But stay Sir, [/here is another case — / suppose /Mr./ >] here is another case. Supposing the Authour had told me ≤confidentially≥that he had written Junius and I were asked if he had, I should [think÷hold>] hold myself at liberty to deny it as being under a previous promise express or implied to conceal it. Now what I [should>] ought to do for [/Mr./ >] the Authour may I not do for myself? But I deny the lawfulness of telling a lie to a sick man for fear of alarming him. You have no business with consequences. You are to tell the truth. Besides you [are not sure÷do not know>] are not sure what effect your telling him that he is in danger [may÷will>] may have. [MS 960] It may [increase his distemper>] bring his distemper to a crisis and that may cure him.1 Of all lying I have the greatest abhorrence at this, because I beleive it has been frequently practised on myself.’ [This Discussion showed me that he could make Truth pliable2 to occasional circumstances though I never knew a Man who maintained its inflexibility to so high an extent. del] I [myself del] cannot help thinking that there is much weight in the opinion of those who have held that Truth as an eternal and immutable principle ought upon no account whatever to be violated [on account of>] from supposed previous or superiour obligations of which every man being the judge for himself, there is great danger that we may too often from partial motives persuade ourselves that they exist; And probably whatever extraordinary instances may sometimes occur where some evil may be prevented by violating this noble principle it would be found that human happiness would upon the whole be more perfect were Truth universally preserved.3 ≤[MS opp. 960] In the Notes to the Dunciad we find the following elegant and pathetick verses addressed to Popea/4 a

The annotator calls them ‘amiable verses.’

9 The limited space left blank here in the lower right-hand corner of the page—immediately above and equal in length to the catchword ‘really’—was suitable only for a short name like ‘Burke’. The three spaces left blank on MS 959 were similarly limited. All were deleted in revision, perhaps because of the earlier conversation in which, on the supposition that Burke was Junius, his warranted denial of authorship had been discussed; see Life MS iii. 277, Hill-Powell iii. 376–77. 1 JB started to insert a new sentence in revision, as shown by a caret here and the word ‘It’, drafted and deleted above the line two or so inches to the left. 2 A deletion above this word—possibly of the symbol #—suggests that JB may have contemplated expanding the sentence in revision before deleting it altogether. 3 An asterisk inserted here in revision led the compositor to the facing page. 4 Below Pope’s name and the symbol =, JB left nearly half of the page blank for two or three quatrains to be copied in later. In the lower portion of this space, at the

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[Paper Apart5]

While malice Pope denies thy page Its own celestial fire While Criticks and while bards in rage Admiring, won’t admire

[1st ed. ii. 509]

While wayward pens thy worth assail And envious tongues decry These times tho’ many a friend bewail These times bewail not I.

1784

But when the World’s loud praise is thine And spleen no more shall blame When with thy Homer thou shalt shine In one establish’d fame When none shall rail and ev’ry lay Devote a wreath to thee That day (for come it will) that day Shall I lament to see.

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15 16 17 [MS opp. 960 resumed] 6It is surely [not a little remarkable÷strange÷extra- 18 ordinary>] not a little remarkable that they should appear without a name. 19

Miss Seward knowing Dr. Johnson’s almost universal and [minute÷particular÷ exact>] minute literary [intelligence÷information>] information, signified a 20 desire that I should ask him who was the Authour. He was prompt with his Answer. ‘Why Sir, [it was Lewis7>] they were written by one Lewis an undermaster or [teacher in>] usher of Westminster School who published a Miscellany in which Grongar Hill first came out.’8 [It is strange that such fine

edge of the page (to the right of where the verses would come in), JB wrote ‘Note) =’ and drafted the footnote. Afterwards, once he had decided to quote four quatrains and copied them on a Paper Apart, he directed the compositor to ‘Take them in’. 5 Centred at the top is the phrase ‘called “amiable verses”’. To the left of this JB added ‘in Notes’, and then above this ‘to Dunciad’. Later, he deleted ‘in Notes to Dunciad’. 6 This sentence, drafted flush with the margin, began a new paragraph in the revises. 7 Here JB paused, having left a blank space (in vain) for ‘David’. At a later sitting— as shown by differences in pen, ink, and the compactness of his copy—he finished the paragraph, running out of room at the bottom of the page and drafting his last two lines along its left-hand edge. He wrote and deleted ‘Lewis’ in the blank space before working the originally-drafted surname into his continuation. In the Life Materials, next to the note ‘Mem at Oxford Lewis’s Verses’, he jotted ‘D’ for Done (M 157, p. 16). 8 EM added a footnote here in the third edition: ‘Lewis’s Verses, addressed to Pope, (as Mr. Bindley suggests to me,) were first published in a Collection of Pieces in verse and prose on occasion of “The Dunciad,” 8vo. 1732. They are there called an Epigram. They do not appear in Lewis’s own Miscellany, printed in 1726.—“Gronger Hill,” the same gentleman observes, was first printed in Savage’s Miscellanies, as an Ode, (it is singular that Johnson should not have recollected this,) and was reprinted in the same year, in Lewis’s Miscellany, in the form it now bears. / “Lewis,” the Rev. Mr. Blakeway adds, “was one of the Ushers of Westminster School, and is, I think, buried in the Cloisters.” He also published, if I am not mistaken, the Lusus Westmonasterienses, a Collection of Latin Epigrams, and Prologues by the boys there. In his Miscellanies, 1726, the beautiful poem,—“Away, let nought to love, displeasing;”—(reprinted in

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H-P iv. 307–08

verses should have been published without a name.9 del] Johnson praised them highly, and repeated them with a noble animation. In [line 12>] the twelfth line instead of ‘one established10 fame’, he repeated ‘one unclouded flame’ which he thought was the reading in former editions, but I beleive was a flash of his own genius. It is much more poetical than the other.≥ [MS 960 resumed] On Monday 14 [and>] or Tuesday 15 June1 [MS 961] Dr. Johnson and I dined on one of them I forget which with Mr. Mickle Translator of the Lusiad at Wheatley a very pretty Country place a few miles from Oxford, and on the other with Dr. Wetherel2 Master of University College [Dr. Adams being with us del]. [I have no Memorial of either day except a slight pleasantry as we went to Mr. Mickle’s. ‘Now Sir if Mickle have sense he will give us a large dish of pease. We have been eating them with tea=spoons, at Oxford.’ There happened to be÷come a very large dish of them; upon which I jogged him, and he laughed. del] [The other leaf which must not wither3 was his going from Dr. Wetherell’s to visit>] From Dr. Wetherell’s he went to visit Mr. ≤Sackville≥ Parker the Bookseller and when he returned to us ≤gave the following account of his visit≥ saying ‘I have been to see my old freind Sack Parker. I find he has married his Maid.4 He has done right. She had lived with him many years in great confidence, and they had mingled minds. I do not think he could have found any wife that would have [made him so happy.÷done as well.>] made him so happy. The Woman was [MS 962] very attentive and civil [/to me/>] to me. She pressed me to fix a day for dining with them & to say what I liked and she would be sure to [get÷have>] get it for me. Poor Sack! He is very ill indeed. We parted as never to meet again. It has quite broke me down.’ This pathetick [Account÷narrative÷interview>] narrative was strangely diversified with [a÷the>] the [1st ed. ii. 510] grave and earnest defence of a man’s [marrying÷having married>] having married his [Maid which one could not but feel as>] Maid. I could not but feel it as in some degree ludicrous. In the [morning÷forenoon>] morning of tuesday [15 June>] June 15, while we sat at Dr. Adams’s we talked of a printed Letter from The Reverend Herbert Croft to a young gentleman who had been his Pupil in which he advised him Percy’s “Reliques,” vol. i. book iii. No. 14,) first appeared.’ Hill-Powell includes only part of the note, with a correction: ‘Lewis’s verses were first printed in the so-called “Second Edition, with some additional Notes” of the Dunciad, 1729, p. 106’ (iv. 307 n. 3, vi. 482). 9 In drafting this sentence at a later sitting (see n. 7 above), JB forgot that his first comment on the verses had been this very point, but caught the redundancy on his final pass of revision. In calling the poet’s wish to remain anonymous ‘strange’, he repeated one of the alternatives for the comment drafted earlier (p. 222 l. 17). 10 Second edition, ‘establish’d’, as quoted in the verse above. 1 Printed in the revises ‘Monday 14, and Tuesday, June 15’; second edition, ‘Monday, June 14, and Tuesday, 15’. The word ‘and’ was possibly typeset in error. JB’s revision, in light brown ink, was ambiguous: ‘or’, slightly smeared, may have looked deleted, and the caret drawing it in sat directly beneath (not in front of) ‘and’. 2 Printed in the revises ‘Wetherell’, as spelled below (l. 15). 3 MS orig. ‘fade’. JB corrected his biblical allusion (to Psalms 1: 3) immediately. 4 Elizabeth Dunn; they married in Oxford on 25 Aug. 1783. Both died in 1796: ‘On Wednesday [9 Mar.] died, Mrs. Parker, wife of Mr. Sackville Parker’ (Reading Mercury and Oxford Gazette, Monday, 14 Mar. 1796); the bookseller’s will was proved on 31 Dec.

223

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to read to the end of whatever Books he should begin to read. Johnson. ‘This is [a strange Advice surely.÷surely a strange Advice.>] surely a strange Advice. You may as well [resolve /that/ if you get acquainted with a Man you are to keep to him÷resolve if you get acquainted with a Man to keep to him>] resolve that whatever men you happen to get acquainted with you are to keep to them for life. A Book may be good for nothing. Or there may be only one thing in it worth knowing. Are we to read it all through?5 These voyages (pointing to the three large Volumes of Voyages to the South Sea which were just come out) who will read [’em÷them>] them6 through? A man had better [MS 963] work his way before the mast than read [’em÷them>] them through. They will be eaten by rats and mice before [theyre÷they are>] they are read through. There can be little entertainment in such [Voyages÷Books>] Books. One set of savages is like another.’ Boswell. ‘I do not think the People of Otaheité can be reckoned savages.’ Johnson. ‘Dont cant [about÷in defence of>] in defence of savages.’ Boswell. ‘They have the art of navigation.’ Johnson. ‘A dog or a cat can swim.’ Boswell. ‘They carve very ingeniously.’ Johnson. ‘A cat can scratch and a child with a nail can scratch.’ I perceived this was none of the Mollia tempora fandi; so desisted. Upon his mentioning that when he came to College he wrote his first exercise twice over; but never did so [again÷afterwards>] afterwards Miss Adams. ‘I suppose Sir you could not make them better.’ Johnson. ‘Yes Madam to be sure I could make them better.7 Thought is allways better than no thought.’ Miss Adams. ‘[Why Sir do you think÷Why do you think Sir>] Do you think Sir you could make your Ramblers better?’ Johnson. ‘[To be sure÷No doubt÷Certainly>] Certainly I could.’ Boswell. ‘I’ll lay ≤a bet Sir≥ you cannot.’ Johnson. ‘But I will Sir, if I chuse. I shall make the best of [’em÷them>] them you shall pick out, better.’8 Boswell. ‘But you may add to them. I will not [MS 964] allow of that.’ Johnson. ‘Nay Sir, there are three ways of [making them better÷mending them>] making them better — putting out — adding — or correcting.’ [The following conversation passed between him and a gentleman÷Student of the Temple who was about to be called to the bar.>] [During this stay at Oxford the following conversation passed between him and a Student of the Temple who was about to be called to the bar.>] During our visit at Oxford the following conversation passed between him and me on the subject of my trying my fortune at the english bar. [Being asked if>] [Being asked whether>] Having asked whether a very extensive acquaintance in London which was very valuable and of great advantage to a man at large might not be prejudicial 5 On the tedium of reading entire books, William Bowles quoted SJ as having said, ‘I have red [sic] few books through, they are generally so repulsive that I cannot’ (letter to JB dated 9 Nov. 1787; Corr. 2a, p. 195). 6 JB had shifted SJ’s emphasis by the time the revises were printed: ‘who will read them’. 7 The significance of a vertical line in the margin alongside this and the next three lines (the rest of SJ’s speech and the question posed by Miss Adams) is unclear. Whatever it was JB wanted to reconsider later, he cancelled the line in revision by putting two short horizontal strokes through it—his usual manner of deleting a slash that marked optional material. 8 No quotation marks were printed here, an error corrected in the second edition.

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H-P iv. 309–10

to a Lawyer [by preventing9÷as it might prevent>] by preventing him from giving sufficient attention to business Johnson. ‘Sir, you will attend to business as business lays hold of you. ≤When not actually employed≥ You may see your freinds as much as you do now. You may dine at a Club every day, and sup with one of the members every night. And you may be as much at Publick Places as one who has [1st ed. ii. 511] seen them all would wish to be. But you must take care to attend constantly in Westminster Hall, both to mind your business, as it almost all learnt1 there (for nobody reads now) and to shew that you want to have business. And you must not be too often seen at Publick Places that [those who wish to get the fees you get>] competitors2 may not have it to say “He is allways [MS 965] at the Play=house or Ranlagh3, and never to be found in his Chambers.” ≤And Sir there must be a kind of solemnity in the manner of a professional man.≥ I have nothing particular to say to you ≤on the subject≥. All this I should say to any one. I should have said it to Lord Thurlow twenty years ago.’ THE PROFESSION may probably think this representation of what is required in a Barrister who would hope for success to be by much too indulgent [/and indeed mistaken/ del]. But certain it is that as ‘The wits of Charles found easier ways to fame’4

some of the Lawyers of this age who have risen high have by no means thought it absolutely necessary to [submit to÷undergo>] submit to that long and painful course of study which [a Coke a [blank space]5.>] a Plowden a Coke or a Hale considered as requisite. My ≤respected≥ freind Mr. Langton has shewn me in the hand writing6 of his Grandfather a curious Account of 25 a [dialogue÷conversation>] conversation which [that gentleman÷he>] he had 20

9 Because these words began a new line above a false start—‘and if ever’—there was no room above them for an alternate phrasing. Consequently, JB drafted ‘as it might’ in the left margin, slightly above the position of the new line. He did not add ‘prevent’; had he chosen that phrasing in revision, he would have deleted the last syllable in ‘preventing’. 1 The verb JB left out was printed in the revises: ‘as it is almost all learnt’. 2 Before settling on this revision, having put a wavy deletion through the phrase ‘to get the fees you get’, JB inserted a caret after ‘wish’ and wrote ‘do’ above the line in false start of a new phrase. Then, scoring through ‘those who wish’, he wrote and deleted two words (the first possibly ‘who’) in the margin, beneath which he drafted ‘competitors’. 3 Printed in the revises ‘or at Ranelagh’. 4 JB started to quote SJ’s verse alongside ‘as’ (writing ‘Th[e]’) before giving it a separate line. His syntax, which runs through the quotation, was interrupted in the revises: ‘… fame.” / Some …’. Selfe suggested substituting a comma and a lower-case ‘s’, corrections that JB accepted by deleting the ‘Qr’ next to them. 5 JB left room to add two names. In revision, he started the phrase ‘a Coke a Hale o[r]’, then backtracked to revise the sentence as next transcribed. The word ‘or’, squeezed in and also camouflaged by a revision to the line below, was omitted in the revises. While the asyndeton—‘a Plowden, a Coke, a Hale’—was not ungrammatical, JB in the second edition added ‘and’ after the second comma. 6 Printed in the revises ‘hand-writing’; written ‘hand / [Lord Ch del] writing’, the draft overtaking a prior false start to ‘Lord Chief Justice Hale’. It is unclear why JB, getting ahead of himself, would have skipped a line to begin writing Hale’s name.

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with Lord Chief Justice Hale, in which that great man tells him that [for some time he studied [blank space]7>] ‘for two years after he came to the inn of court he studied sixteen hours a day[’;] [MS opp. 965] however his Lordship added that by this intense application ‘he almost brought himself to his grave, though he were of a very strong constitution, and after reduced himself to eight hours; but that he would not advise any body to so much, that he thought six hours a day with attention and constancy was sufficient, that a man must use his body as he would use his horse and his stomach, not tire him at once but rise with an appetite.’8 [MS 965 resumed] On Wednesday [sixteenth June>] June nineteenth9 [we returned to London in the Post Coach.>] Dr. Johnson & I returned to London. [There was nobody in the Post coach with÷along with us, but a Gentleman’s Servant a civil intelligent man who when he observed [MS 966] Dr. Johnson reading Euripides in Greek1 said ‘I would pay for many dinners to be able to read that Book.’ del] [MS 966] He was not well today and said very little ≤employing himself chiefly in reading Euripides≥.2 He expressed some displeasure at me for not observing sufficiently the various objects upon the road. ‘If I had your eyes Sir’ said he, ‘I should count the passengers.’ It was wonderful how [well he could observe with his imperfect eyesight, owing to attention, which I beleive may be acquired.3>] accurate his observation4 of visual objects was notwithstanding his imperfect eyesight, owing to a habit of attention. ≤That he was much satisfied with the [attention>] respect paid to him at Dr. Adams’s is thus attested by himself ‘I returned last night from Oxford after a forthnights5 abode with Dr. Adams who treated me as well as I could expect or wish; and he that contents a sick man, a man whom it is impossible to please, has surely done his part well.’a≥ [1st ed. ii. 512] [/For some time/ after he returned÷his return>] After his return to London from this excursion I saw him frequently, but have [preserved a

Letters to Mrs. Thrale Vol. 2 p. 372.

7 Here JB left half a line blank, sufficient for him to have added ‘sixteen hours a day’ later. In that blank space, misjudging how long his revision would become, he squeezed in one and a half lines of copy, but then decided to expand the sentence in the middle of MS opp. 965, where at first he left margins on both sides of his draft. Near the bottom of the page he used the full width of the paper, and from there finally drew a line leading to the top half of the page, where he completed the sentence. 8 In the revises, this passage was punctuated as a single quotation, with parentheses inserted and with semicolons reinforcing its parallel clauses: ‘… tells him “That for two years … ; however (his Lordship added) that by this … ; but that he … ; that he thought … ; that a man must … appetite.”’ 9 Printed in the revises ‘June 19’. By revising the date, JB introduced an error that has never been corrected, though it is noted in Hill-Powell (iv. 311 n. 1). 1 A caret placed here, either in the original draft or in revision before JB deleted this sentence, points above the line to a false start (one or two letters) situated to allow for a half line of copy. 2 On SJ’s reading Euripides, see ante p. 14 n. 3. 3 JB jotted ‘Qu’ above and to the right of this verb. In revision, while deleting the phrase, he confirmed his belief by implying—through the phrase ‘a habit of attention’—that one’s attention can be improved. 4 Printed in the plural, creating a grammatical error—‘observations … was’—not corrected until the third edition, when ‘observation’ was restored. 5 Printed ‘fortnight’s’, as in Letters of Johnson ed. Redford (iv. 334); see p. 164 n. 3.

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 311

no memorandums till tuesday twenty second June, when I dined with him at the Literary Club the last time of his being in that much valued Society.>] few memorandums. ≤I shall therefore here insert some particulars which I collected at various times.a/6≥ [Paper Apart ‘Note’a1] Having ≤unexpectedly≥ by the favour of Mr. Stone of Hackneya2 [obtained>] seen the Original in Johnson’s hand=writing of the Petition of the City of London to his Majesty in favour of Dr. Dodd I [shall del] now present it to my Readers with such passages as were omitted enclosed in [parentheses>] crotchets and the additions or variations marked in Italicks.a3 ‘That William Dodd Doctor of Laws now lying under sentence of death in your Majesty’s gaol of Newgate for the crime of forgery, has for a great part of his life set an useful and laudable example of diligence in his calling, (and as we have reason to believe, has exercised his ministry with great fidelity and efficacy) which in many instances has produced the most happy effect. ‘That he has been the first institutor (or) and a very earnest and active promoter of several modes of useful charity, and (that) therefore (he) may be considered as having been on many occasions a benefactor to the Publick. ‘(That when they consider his past life, they are willing to suppose his late crime to have been not the consequence of habitual depravity, but the sugges20 tion of some sudden and violent temptation.) ‘(That) Your Petitioners therefore considering his case as in some of its circumstances unprecedented and peculiar and encouraged by your Majesty’s known clemency (they) most humbly recommend the said William Dodd to (his) your Majesty’s most gracious consideration, in hope that he will be found not alto25 gether (unfit) unworthy to stand an example of Royal mercy.’ 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

a

6 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Paper Varia’. For the resumption of MS 966 after the lengthy Varia, where JB revises ‘till tuesday twenty second June …’ to begin a new paragraph, see p. 238 ll. 7–8 and n. 1. a1 Headed ‘Note’, this Paper Apart is a single leaf written on both sides and docketed on the verso: ‘Note on the word times on the insertion in the margin of p. 966 where Varia are referred to. It is better to put this in a note, it being supplementary.’ a2 Printed in the first edition ‘Mr. Stone, of London-Field, Hackney’, Selfe having inserted ‘London Field,’ in the margin of the revises. JB had hoped for a different insertion on this last page of sig. Ttt; on the first page (p. 505) he had written, ‘I could wish that the form in which p. 512 is were not thrown off till I have an answer from Mr. Stone the gentleman mentioned in the note to tell me his Christian name, that I might call him Esq.’ The answer from John Hurford Stone, dated 17 Feb. 1791 (Corr. 2a, p. 297), arrived too late for JB to make this change, and he forgot to do so in the second edition when moving this footnote to the proper section on Dodd (Hill-Powell iii. 143 n. 1); see Life MS iii. 92 ll. 25–27 and n. 3. a3 MS orig. ‘such passages as were omitted or varied marked with Italicks.’ He changed this protocol as soon as he needed to mark a variation, finding that parentheses in combination with italics were necessary. Later, Plymsell deleted ‘parentheses’ and wrote in ‘crotchets’ to reflect his typesetting; JB himself did not convert parentheses to crotchets, as he did in marking the first of SJ’s revisions to the Lives of the Poets (see ante p. 29 n. a and nn. a1, a2). JB may have collated SJ’s original against the text of the petition copied in the Life Materials: ‘Petition of The Lord Mayor &c. / most humbly sheweth / That William Dodd …’ (M 156: 5).

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[Paper Apart Varia7 (1)] The Reverend Mr. Astle of Ashbourne in Derbyshire brother to the learned and ingenious Thomas Astle Esq: was from his early years known to Dr. Johnson who obligingly advised him as to his studies and recommended to him the following Books of which a list which he has been pleased to communicate lyes before me in Johnson’s own hand-writing.8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [I am also obliged to that gentleman÷him for the following anecdotes.9 del] It having been mentioned to Dr. Johnson that a gentleman who had a son whom he imagined to [labour under÷have>] have an extreme degree of [bashfulness÷timidity>] timidity resolved to send [1st ed. ii. 513] him to a publick school that he might acquire confidence. ‘Sir’ said Johnson ‘this is a preposterous expedient for removing his infirmity; such a disposition should be cultivated in the shade; placing him at a publick school is forcing an owl upon day.’ [P.A. Varia (2)] Speaking of a gentleman whose house was much frequented by low company ‘Rags, Sir’ said he, ‘will always make their appearance where they have a right to do it.’ Of the same gentleman’s mode of living he said ‘Sir the servants instead of doing what they are bid stand round the table in idle clusters gaping upon the guests and seem as unfit to attend a company as to steer a man of war.’ [From Mr. Thomas Sheridan I had the following Anecdotes.1 del] A ≤dull≥ country magistrate gave Johnson a long tedious account of his exercising his criminal jurisdiction the result of which was his having sentenced four convicts to transportation. Johnson in an agony of impatience to get rid of such a companion exclaimed ‘I heartily wish Sir that I were the fifth.’2 7 This Paper Apart, headed ‘Varia (for p. 966.)’ on its first page, comprises twelve pages numbered by JB in the upper right-hand corner. Pages 3, 4, and 10 were drafted discontinuously: when JB completed each of these pages, he was boxed in by copy already drafted on the next page, which forced him to write more compactly and to use the side margins (the top margin also in one case). Interleaved with the twelve pages were two Supplemental Papers Apart headed ‘Varia’, and two leaves contributed by George Steevens. 8 For SJ’s list (Houghton MS Hyde 50 (11)), the letter that enclosed it from the Rev. Daniel Astle (dated 23 Jan. 1787), and glosses on the books, see Corr. 2a, pp. 155–57. JB directed that the titles in the list be typeset one after another as part of the present paragraph: ‘Take it in from a pasted paper ≤(of which be careful)≥; but make no NPs [Only — between del] [Only a — where del] and dont mention the number of vols. Print it in Italicks.’ Dashes were printed between the titles, notwithstanding the deleted instructions about them. Selfe did not know which book by Anthony Blackwall was meant by ‘Blackwal on the Classicks’, writing in the margin of the revises ‘q Blackwal’s sacred Classicks’. JB deleted his query, either unwilling to alter SJ’s list, or trusting readers to recognize that An Introduction to the Classics (1718) was meant, not The Sacred Classics Defended and Illustrated (1725). The spelling became ‘Blackwall’ in the second edition. 9 A notebook of twenty-six leaves, drafted and revised by the Rev. Daniel Astle in Dec. 1786, was JB’s source for the next three paragraphs. The gentleman with a timid son was said to be ‘a certain north country gentleman’; the gentleman who hosted low company and employed idle servants was Dr. Taylor (Corr. 2a, pp. 143–45 and 150 n. 16). 1 In revision, before deleting this sentence, JB scored through ‘Anecdotes’ and began to write ‘Johnsoni[ana]’. 2 JB heard this story while dining at the Sheridans’ London home on 17 Dec. 1762. Sheridan, recently returned to London from a two-year stay in Windsor, said it was the Mayor of Windsor whose company exasperated SJ. For that telling, and possible names of the mayor in question, see London Journal 1762–1763, ed. Turnbull, pp. 50 and 371. A version of the anecdote appears also in Boswelliana, ed. Rogers (p. 211).

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[Mr. Sheridan was present when÷Johnson was one of a company to whom>] Johnson was present when a Tragedy was read in which there occurred this line ‘Who rules o’er freemen should himself be free.’3 5 6 7 8 9

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The Company having admired it much ‘I cannot agree with you’ said Johnson. ‘It might as well be said “Who drives fat oxen should himself be fat.”’ In the time of Lord Bute’s administration when it was observed that a great [P.A. Varia (3)] number of scotch came to London somebody disputed it in Johnson’s presence saying ‘I do not see a very great number of scotch here.’ ‘Nay Sir’ cried Johnson ‘you cannot see them. ≤—≥ They are disguised in breeches.’4 A person having gone out of a coffeehouse where Johnson was after having had some conversation with him, one of the company asked Johnson who that gentleman was. ‘Why Sir’ said Johnson, ‘I do not like to speak ill of any man behind his back; but I believe he is an Attorney.’5 — The too indiscriminate admission to that employment which requires both abilities and integrity has given rise to [many del] injurious reflections, which are totally inapplicable to many [most>] very respectable men who exercise it with reputation and honour. [Johnson’s sarcasm upon Attornies is the only instance of his indulging himself in a vulgar reflection against any class of men. del] [1st ed. ii. 514] Johnson having argued for some time ≤with a gentleman6≥ at a coffeehouse, his opponent who had talked in a very puzling manner happened to say ‘I don’t understand you, Sir,’ upon which Johnson observed, ‘Sir I7 have found you an argument, but I am not obliged to find you an understanding.’ 3 Originally run on; marked for a separate line in the same draft. This anecdote expanded on a note in the Life Materials: ‘[When Sheridan was>] Mr. Sheridan told me that when he was reading Brookes’s Earl of Essex at Garrick’s Who Rules oer freemen &c.’ (M 158, p. 10). Having left out the playwright and title, JB declined adding them in the second edition after Isaac Reed had suggested it: ‘The line here quoted I think was in Brooke’s Earl of Essex …’ (Corr. 2a, p. 385). 4 JB later suppressed this witticism at the expense of the Scots. Printed in place of it in the revises was a paragraph about John Cator and the ‘cordial solace’ SJ found at his ‘seat of Beckenham’ (third edition, ‘seat at Beckenham’) in Kent, ‘one of the finest places’, JB added, that he himself ‘ever was a guest’ (second edition, ‘ever was a guest; and where I find more and more a hospitable welcome’); see Hill-Powell iv. 313. On Cator, whom JB visited in late Oct. 1790, see Corr. 2a, p. 266 and n. 3. 5 In place of these sentences, an expanded reworking of the deleted sentence below (ll. 18–19) was printed in the revises: ‘Johnson seldom encouraged general censure of any profession; but he was willing to allow a due share of merit to the various departments necessary in civilised life. In a splenetick, sarcastical, or jocular frame, however, he would sometimes utter a pointed saying of that nature. One instance has been mentioned, where he gave a sudden satirical stroke to the character of an attorney.’ A footnote on the word ‘mentioned’ referred the reader to 1st ed. i. 343 (Hill-Powell ii. 126), where a version of this anecdote, with SJ’s saying, appeared among Maxwell’s Collectanea; see Life MS ii. 62 n. 7 and Corr. 2a, p. 169 n. 2. 6 Printed in the revises ‘with a pertinacious gentleman’; he remains unidentified. 7 False start, ‘am’. Out of room here at the bottom of the page, JB rotated the sheet and drafted two lines in the margin, writing ‘a[m]’ again before drafting ‘have’ over it.

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[P.A. Varia (4)] Talking ≤to me≥ of Horry Walpole (as the Honourable Horace Walpole is8 ≤often≥ called [by the Wits del]) [he>] Johnson allowed that he got together a great many curious little things and told them in an elegant manner. Mr. Walpole [though he thought Johnson a more amiable character after reading his letters to Mrs. Thrale never>] thought Johnson a more amiable character after reading his letters to Mrs. Thrale; but never was one of the true admirers of that great man.9 We may suppose a prejudice conceived if he ever heard Johnson’s account to Sir George Staunton that when he made the speeches in Parliament for the Gentleman’s Magazine ‘he always took care to put Sir Robert Walpole in the wrong, and to say every thing he could against the Electorate of Hanover.’ The celebrated Heroick Epistle in which Johnson is satirically introduced, has been ascribed both to Mr. Walpole & Mr. Mason. One day at Mr. Courtenay’s when a gentleman expressed his opinion that there was more energy in that Poem than could be expected from Mr. Walpole, Mr. Warton the late Laureat observed [in his shrewd, blunt manner del] ‘It may have been written by Walpole and buckramed by Mason.’ [P.A. Varia (5)] He dissapproved of Lord Hailes for having modernised the language of the Ever=memorable John Hales of Eton in an edition which his Lordship published of that writers Works. ‘An Authour’s language Sir’ said he, ‘is a characteristical part of his composition and is also characteristical of the age in which he writes. Besides, Sir, when the language is changed we are not sure that the sense is the same. No Sir I am sorry Lord Hailes has done this.’ Here it may be observed that his frequent use of the expression No Sir was not always to intimate contradiction; for he would say so when he was about to [utter or del] enforce an affirmative proposition which had not been denied, as in the instance [now>] last mentioned. I used to consider it as a kind of flag of defiance as if he had said ‘Any argument you may offer against this is not just. No Sir it is not.’ It was like Falstaffs ‘I deny your Major.’ [P.A. Varia (6)] Sir Joshua Reynolds having said that he took the altitude of a man’s taste by his stories and his wit, and of his understanding by the remarks which he repeated being always sure that he must be a weak man who quotes common things with an emphasis as if they were oracles. Johnson agreed1 with him; and Sir Joshua having also observed that the real character of a man was found out by his amusements JOHNSON. ‘Yes Sir. No man is a hypochrite in his pleasures.’2 [1st ed. ii. 515] Had Johnson treated at large De claris Oratoribus he might have given us an admirable Work. When the Duke of Bedford attacked the Ministry as vehemently as he could for having [extended>] taken upon themselves3 to extend the time for the importation of corn Lord Chatham in his 8 Second edition, ‘as Horace now Earl of Orford was’; third edition, ‘as Horace late Earl of Orford was’. The title descended to him in Dec. 1791, and he died on 2 Mar. 1797. 9 Footnote added by EM in the third edition: ‘In his Posthumous Works, he has spoken of Johnson in the most contemptuous manner!’ 1 MS orig. ‘Sir Joshua Reynolds said to him … oracles. In this Johnson agreed …’. In the second edition, the full stop after ‘oracles’ became a semicolon and a dash. 2 For the paragraph on puns added here in the second edition, see Hill-Powell iv. 316. 3 Printed ‘him’ in the revises, the word was underlined and in the margin a correction was offered, ‘them’ (not ‘themselves’); ‘them’ was printed in the first edition.

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 317–18

first speech in the House of Lords, boldly avowed himself to be an adviser of that measure. ‘My Collegues’ said he ‘as I was confined by indisposition, did me the signal honour of coming to the bedside of a sick man to ask his opinion. But had they not thus condescended, I should have taken up my bed and walked in order to have delivered that opinion at the Council Board.’ [‘Now Sir’ said Johnson>] Mr. Langton who was present mentioned this to Johnson who observed ‘Now Sir we see that he took these words as he found them, without considering that though the expression in scripture take up thy bed and walk4 strictly suited the instance of [P.A. Varia (7)] a sick man restored to health and strength who would of course be supposed to carry his bed with him, it could not be proper in the case of a man who was lying in a state of feebleness, and who certainly would not add to the difficulty of moving at all, that of carrying his bed with him.’ When I pointed out to him in a news-paper one of Mr. Grattan’s animated and glowing speeches in favour of the freedom of Ireland in which this expression occurred (I know not if accurately taken) ‘We will persevere till there is not one link of the english chains left to clank upon the rags of the meanest beggar in Ireland’ ‘Nay Sir’ said Johnson ‘dont you perceive that one link cannot clank.’5 Mrs. Thrale has [in her Anecdotes a kind of parody or counterpart of a fine passage in one of Mr. Burke’s Speeches on American Taxation and ascribes it to Johnson.>] publisheda as Johnson’s a kind of parody or counterpart of a fine poetical passage in one of Mr. Burke’s Speeches on American Taxation. It is vigorously but somewhat coarsely executed and I am inclined to suppose is not correctly exhibited. I hope he did not use the words ‘vile agents’ for the Americans in the House of Commons;6 and if he did so in an extempore effusion, I wish the Lady had not committed it to writing. [P.A. Varia (8)] Mr. Burke uniformly [treated Johnson with>] shewed Johnson7 the greatest respect; and when Mr. Townshend now Lord Sydney at a period when he was conspicuous in opposition threw out some reflection in Parliament upon the grant of a pension to a man of such political principles as Johnson, Mr. Burke though then of the same party with Mr. Townshend stood a

Anecdotes p.

a1

4 JB underscored the first words of this quotation, but stopped at the right-hand margin; these words fell on the next line. They were printed in italics in the revises. 5 A note in the Life Materials generated this paragraph: ‘Grattans Speech ≤before 1773≥ one link clank’ (M 158, p. 5). JB meant 1783. Grattan’s oratory was crucial to the political pressure that led to the Repeal Act of 1782, followed in 1783 by the Irish Appeals Act, successive measures that restored some legislative autonomy to the Irish Parliament. 6 Printed in the revises ‘words “vile agents, for … House of Parliament;”’. The compositor mistook JB’s semicolon for closing quotation marks, not having seen the pair after ‘vile agents’. The comma was deleted, but JB did not correct the misplaced quotation marks until the second edition. 7 This revision, in Plymsell’s hand, presumably was dictated by JB. a1

Printed in the revises ‘“Anecdotes,” p. 43.’

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warmly forth in defence of his friend to whom he justly observed the pension was granted solely on account of his eminent literary merit.8 I am well assured that Mr. Townshend’s attack upon Johnson was the occasion of his ‘hitching in a rhime’ for that [1st ed. ii. 516] in the Original copy of Goldsmiths character of Mr. Burke in his ‘Retaliation’ another person’s name stood in the couplet where Mr. Townshend is now introduced ‘Tho’ fraught with all learning kept straining his throat To persuade Tommy Townshend to lend him a vote.’ It may be worth remarking among the minutiæ of my collection9 that Johnson was once drawn for the militia, the trained bands of the City of London, and that Mr. Rackstrow [the proprietor del] of the [Wax=work>] Museum shew10 in Fleet=street was his Colonel. It may be believed he did not serve in person; but the idea with all [P.A. Varia (9)] its circumstances is certainly laughable. He upon that occasion provided himself with a musket, and with a sword and belt which I have seen hanging in his closet. He was very constant to those whom he once employed if they gave him no reason to be displeased. [For the last twenty four years of his life Mr. Matthew Collet officiated as his barber.1 del] When somebody talked of being imposed on in the purchase of tea & sugar and such articles ‘That will not be the case’, said he ‘if you go to a stately shop as I always do. In such a shop it is not worth their while to take a petty advantage.’ An Authour of most anxious and restless vanity being mentioned ‘Sir’ said he ‘there is not a young sapling upon Parnassus more severely blown about by every wind of criticism than that poor fellow.’2 8 This passage grew from a note in the Life Materials (M 157, p. 11): ‘Tommy Townshend attacks his pension[;] Burke generously defends.’ Langton recollected the story differently, as he wrote to JB upon reading the second edition: ‘the Person that I heard Johnson speak of as his defender on that occasion was Mr. Fox, as I particularly well remember;—perhaps Mr. Burke might also have come forwards’ (Corr. 2a, p. 425). HillPowell also notes that it was Fox (iv. 318 n. 3). The passage remained unchanged. 9 On a leaf of the Life Materials headed ‘Johnsonian Fragments to be inserted in their places’, successive notes were the basis for this paragraph and the next: ‘His being drawn for the Militia Rackstrow his Colonel. / His Taylor Barber Shoemaker’ (M 157, p. 15). 10 This word was omitted from the revises. JB probably intended (but neglected) to delete it in revision when substituting ‘Museum’ for ‘Wax=work’. 1 One of the questions JB posed to Francis Barber on 15 July 1786 was ‘What were the names of your Master’s Barber Taylor and Shoemaker, and where do they live?’ It yielded these details: ‘Barber Mr. Collet lives in plumbtree court shoelane; his taylor for many years was Mr. Harrison upon Ludgate hill—But he having died he employed Mr. Cooke in King Street Bloomsbury who made one suit for himself and one for Francis. His shoemaker was Owen in Bonds stables fetter lane—dead but the business carried on by his daughter’ (Corr. 2a, p. 128). The present sentence of the Life MS, though later deleted, shows that JB had fleetingly intended to make use of this information to memorialize SJ’s constancy to those who ‘officiated’ in such roles for him. 2 Croker thought it was Percival Stockdale (v. 215); Powell guessed Richard Cumberland (Hill-Powell vi. 466–67). It was JB himself, as revealed in the Life Materials (M 155: 14), where he wrote ‘moi’ next to a version of this anecdote. JB copied his earlier draft nearly verbatim for the present paragraph, with slight same-draft deviations (see endnotes).

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 319–20

The difference he observed between a well=bred and an ill-bred man is this3 ‘One immediately attracts your liking; the other your aversion. You love the one, till you find reason to hate him. You hate the other till you find reason to love him.’ [P.A. Varia (10)] The wife of one of his acquaintance4 had fraudulently made a separate purse to himself5 out of her husband’s fortune. Feeling a proper compunction in her last moments she confessed how much she had secreted; but before she could tell where it was placed, she was seised6 with a convulsive fit and expired. Her husband said he was more hurt by her want of confidence in him than by the loss of his money. ‘I told him’, said Johnson, ‘that he should console himself; for perhaps the money might be found, and he was sure that his wife was gone.’7 [Supplemental P.A. Varia (a)] A foppish physician [had been told÷supposed>] imagined that Johnson had animadverted on his wearing a [laced÷fine>] fine coat & mentioned it to him. ‘I did not notice you’ said Johnson. The physician still insisted.8 ‘Sir’ said Johnson ‘had you been dipt in Pactolus I should not have noticed you.’ [1st ed. ii. 517] He seemed to take a pleasure in speaking in his own [stately del] style; for when he had carelessly missed it he would repeat the thought translated into it. Talking of the ≤comedy of The≥ Rehearsal he said ‘It has not wit enough to keep it sweet.’ This was easy. He therefore catched9 himself and pronounced [in del] a more rounded sentence ‘It has not vitality enough to preserve it from putrefaction.’1 He censured a writer of entertaining Travels for assuming a feigned character saying (in his sense of the word) ‘he carries out one lye; we know not how many he brings back.’2 3 MS orig. ‘The difference said he between a well=bred and an ill=bred man’. While JB did not mark the quotation in this paragraph, his rephrasing signalled—and the compositor understood—that SJ’s speech began with the next word. A comma printed after ‘observed’, however, causing another to be added after ‘difference’ in the second edition, creates the impression that the quotation marks were misplaced. 4 Identified in Cooke, Life of Johnson, as Mrs. Cave (Hill-Powell iv. 319 n. 4). 5 JB’s mistake; printed in the revises ‘to herself’; second edition, ‘for herself’. 6 JB’s spelling, routinely typeset ‘seized’, survived in this form here until the third edition. 7 Direction to the compositor, inserted in revision: ‘Here a few more Varia’. By this JB meant two supplemental leaves, each headed ‘Varia’, here designated (a) and (b). 8 Second edition: ‘A foppish physician once reminded Johnson of his having been in company with him on a former occasion. “I do not remember it, Sir.” The physician still insisted; adding that he that day wore so fine a coat that it must have attracted his notice.’ Powell thought this might have been Sir Lucas Pepys (Hill-Powell iv. 319 n. 5), also a possible candidate for the ‘very fashionable Physician’ under deletion earlier (see ante p. 138 ll. 13–18). 9 Written with a large ‘c’ to cover a false start, apparently ‘r[epeated]’. Underscoring the word in the revises, Selfe in the margin wrote ‘q caught’, a correction adopted by Plymsell. 1 As recorded in the Life Materials, it was Joseph Warton who heard this saying: ‘Dr. Warton / Rehearsal / It has not wit enough to keep it sweet. This clean [MS orig. clear]—But not content with that—I mean it has not [false starts: (1) su[fficient]; (2) live particles] vitality enough to preserve it from putrefaction’ (M 155: 13). 2 Dr. John Moore, as revealed in the Life Materials: ‘Moores Travels carries one lie out with him &c.’ (M 157, p. 11), and ‘Moore’s Travels came out in 1779’ (M 158,

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Though he had no [perception of the beauty in>] taste in painting, he admired much the manner in which Sir Joshua Reynolds [Supplemental P.A. Varia (a)v] treated of his art in his Discourses to the Royal Academy. He observed of a passage one day ‘I think I might as well have said this myself’ and once when Mr. Langton was sitting by him he read one of them very eagerly and when he had finished it, expressed himself thus ‘Very well, Master Reynolds, Very well indeed. But it will not be understood.’3/4 No man Was more ready to make an Apology when he had censur’d unjustly than Johnson. When [one of the Proof sheets of his lives of the Poets was5 brought>] a Proof sheet of one of his Works was brought to him he found fault with the mode in which a part of it was arranged[,] refused to read it, and in a passion desired that the Compositora might be sent to him. The Compositor was Mr. Manning a decent sensible man who had composed about one half of his Dictionary when in Mr. Strahan’s Printing=house [did>] and a great part of his Lives of the Poets when in Mr. Nichols’s Printing=house and now (in 6 his year) when in Mr. Baldwin’s printing-house has composed a part of this Work concerning him. By producing the manuscript he at once satisfied ≤Dr.≥ Johnson that he7 was not to blame. Upon which Johnson candidly and earnestly said to him, ‘Mr. Compositor I ask your pardon. Mr. Compositor I ask your pardon again & again.’ a

A Compositor in the Art of printing means a1

p. 17). A View of Society and Manners in France, Switzerland and Germany (1779) was followed by A View of Society and Manners in Italy, with anecdotes related to some eminent characters (1781). In the third edition, JB extended this paragraph as follows: ‘At another time, talking of the same person, he observed, “Sir, your assent to a man whom you have never known to falsify, is a debt: but after you have known a man to falsify, your assent to him then is a favour.”’ 3 In revision, JB replaced the phrase ‘when he had finished it’ with ‘of a remarkable passage’, at the same time deleting the word ‘passage’ above (l. 4). Without replacing that word, however, he then put vertical strokes through all nine lines of this paragraph on the verso of the leaf, only to reverse course before having deleted the beginning of the paragraph on the recto as well: he reinstated these lines by writing ‘stet’ four times in the margin, but scored through the newly drafted phrase. 4 In the second edition, JB added a paragraph here based on the following ‘Johnsoniana’: ‘Painting can illustrate but cannot inform. Justice[:] Woman selling sweetmeats’ (M 162); see Hill-Powell iv. 321. It was Jean Campbell, JB’s young second cousin, who had misinterpreted a print of Justice with her scales, as he told General Paoli in support of Paoli’s observation that emblematical or historical pictures were often inscrutable without ‘some previous instruction to direct us’ (Journ. 22 Mar. 1772). 5 The sentence to this point—the original portion of it drafted as a topic, ‘Was more ready … unjustly’—was written in the hand of JB’s son James. JB resumed drafting with the word ‘brought’. The later revision to the present phrase was made in Plymsell’s hand. 6 No numerals were added to this blank space; printed ‘seventy-seventh’ in the revises. 7 Printed in roman in the revises; JB’s underlining for italics probably was missed. a1 Here, following a vertical line, JB directed the compositor to ‘explain it neatly’, leaving the definition in expert hands. As printed in the revises, the note (its initial word, a same-draft insertion between ‘Note =’ and ‘Compositor’, having been missed) read as follows: ‘Compositor, in the art of printing, means, the person who adjusts the types in the order in which they are to stand for printing; one who arranges what is called the form, from which an impression is taken.’ In the second edition, the note began ‘Compositor in the Printing-house means, the person …’.

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 321–23

[Supplemental P.A. Varia (b)] His ≤generous≥ humanity to the miserable was almost beyond example. The following instance is well attested. Coming home late one night, he found a poor [girl>] woman lying in the street so much exhausted that she could not walk. He took her upon his back, and carried her to his house where he discovered that she was one of those wretched females who had fallen into the lowest state of vice poverty and disease. Instead of harshly upbraiding her, he had her taken care of with all tenderness for a long time at a considerable [1st ed. ii. 518] expence till she was restored to health; and endeavoured to put her into a virtuous way of living.8 He thought Mr. Caleb Whitefoord singularly happy in hitting on the signature of Papyrius Cursor to his ingenious & diverting cross=readings of the News-papers; it being at once a real name of an ancient Roman and clearly expressive of the thing done in this lively conceit. He once in his life was known to utter what is called a bull. Sir Joshua Reynolds when they were riding together in Devonshire, complained that he had9 [Supplemental P.A. Varia (b)v] a very bad horse for that even when going down hill he moved slowly step by step. ‘Ay’ said Johnson ‘and when he goes up hill, he stands still.’1 He had a great aversion to gesticulating in company. He called once to a gentleman2 who offended him in that point ‘Dont attitudinise’3 and when another gentleman thought he was giving additional force to what he uttered, by expressive movements of his hands, Johnson fairly seised4 them, and held them down. An authour of considerable eminence5 having engrossed a good share of the Conversation in the Company of Johnson & having said nothing but what was very trifling6 Johnson when he was Gone observed to us ‘It is Wonderful what a difference there sometimes is between a Mans Powers of writing & of 8 A footnote to this sentence was printed in the revises: ‘This circumstance therefore alluded to in Mr. Courtenay’s “Poetical Character,” of him is strictly true.’ JB extended the note in the second edition: ‘My informer was Mrs. Desmoulins, who lived many years in Dr. Johnson’s house.’ 9 Direction to the compositor, ‘turn’. 1 For the other anecdote about riding when Reynolds and SJ were together in Devonshire—a passage in JB’s journal at first revised for inclusion in the Life, but then omitted—see Life MS iii. 34 and n. 3. 2 Identified as Sir Richard Musgrave by Croker (v. 220 n. 1). The gentleman mentioned in the next clause was perhaps Joseph Warton (Hill-Powell iv. 323 n. 1). 3 Written ‘attitudinse’; printed in the revises ‘attitudenise’; italicized in the second edition. The OED quotes this paragraph, up through SJ’s speech, to illustrate the earliest use of ‘Attitudinize’. 4 JB’s spelling again survived into the revises (see ante p. 233 l. 8 and n. 6), but Selfe corrected it here, so ‘seized’ was printed in the first edition. 5 Following this word, the rest of the paragraph was written in the hand of JB’s son James. In the second edition, the dash concealing the author’s name at the beginning of the next sentence was printed as seven asterisks. On this basis Hill conjectured that the author was probably James Beattie (Hill-Powell iv. 323 n. 2). 6 MS orig. (1) ‘common’; (2) ‘trifling & insignifi-/-cant’ (drafted in an arc down the edge of the page and completed on the next line). While ‘cant’ was clearly deleted, the straight deletion stroke on the previous line touched only part of the ampersand and ‘nifi’, leaving most of the word visible, which led to the printing of ‘and insignificant’ in error.

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1784

talking. ———— writes with Great Spirit but is a poor talker[;] had he held his tongue We might have suppos’d him to have been restrain’d by modesty but he has spoken a great Deal to day & you have heard what stuff it was.’7 [P.A. Varia (10) resumed] A Gentleman having said that a Congé d’Elire has not perhaps the force of a command, but may be considered only as a strong recommendation ‘Sir’ replied Johnson (who overheard him) ‘it is such a recommendation as if I should throw you out of a two pair of stairs window, and recommend to you to fall soft.’a [P.A. Varia (11)] Mr. Steevens who passed many a social hour with him during their long acquaintance, which commenced when they both lived in the Temple has preserved a good number of particulars concerning him, most of which are to be found in the department of Apothegms &c. in the Collection of [1st ed. ii. 519] [his>] Johnson’s Works. But he has been pleased to favour me with the following which are original.8 [Satellite Paper Apart9] ‘One evening, previous to the trial of Baretti, a consultation of his friends was held at the house of Mr. Cox the solicitor in Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane. Among others present were Mr. Burke and Dr. Johnson, who differed in sentiments concerning the tendency of some part of the defence the Prisoner was to make. When the meeting was over, Mr. Steevens observed that the question between him & his friend had been agitated with rather too much warmth. “It may be so, Sir”, replied the Doctor; “for Burke and I should have been of one opinion, if we had1 no audience.” ‘Dr. Johnson once assumed a character in which perhaps even Mr. Boswell never saw him. His curiosity having been excited by the praises bestowed on the celebrated Torré’s fireworks at Marybone gardens, he desired Mr. Steevens to accompany him thither. The evening had proved showery; & soon after the few people present were assembled, publick notice was given that the conductors to the wheels, suns, stars, &c. were so thoroughly water-soaked, that it was impossible any part of the exhibition should be made. “This is a mere excuse”,

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This has been printed in other publications ‘fall to the ground.’ But Johnson 30 himself gave me the true expression which he had used, as above; meaning that the recommendation left as little choice in the one case as the other.a1 a

Closing quotation marks were not printed here until the third edition. Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’. A memorandum in the Life Materials governed part of JB’s introduction: ‘In his Works Article Apothegms &c.’ (M 156: 5). Another intention went unfulfilled, jotted on MS 373 in revision when JB deleted SJ’s parody of an ancient ballad: ‘NB This comes in among Mr. Steevens’s Johnsoniana’ (see Life MS ii. 86 and n. 8; also Hill-Powell ii. 136 n. 4, and 212 n. 4). 9 This Paper Apart—a sheet folded to form four pages—was one of two enclosures sent by Steevens to JB in a letter dated 23 Apr. 1786. On the fourth page is JB’s docket, ‘From Mr. Steevens.’ On the third page, below the last of the anecdotes drafted by Steevens, JB wrote ‘Mr. Steevens adds this testimony’, and then copied within quotation marks the final paragraph of the other enclosure (see Corr. 2a, pp. 118–19). 1 Marking the revises here and underscoring ‘should have been’ to suggest a misalignment in verbs, Selfe in the margin wrote ‘q had had’. His suggested correction was printed in the first edition. 7

8

a1 A note in the Life Materials confirms that JB was consciously motivated here to set the record straight: ‘Congé d’elire—(But give it right)’ (M 156: 5).

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H-P iv. 324–26

says the Doctor, “to save their crackers for a more profitable company. Let us but hold up our sticks, & threaten to break those coloured Lamps that surround the Orchestra, & we shall soon have our wishes gratified. The core of the fireworks2 cannot be injured. Let the different pieces be touched in their respective centers, and they will do their offices as well as ever.” — Some young men who overheard him, immediately began the violence he had recommended, and an attempt was speedily made to fire some of the wheels which appeared to have received the smallest damage; but to little purpose were they lighted, for most of them completely failed. — The Author of the Rambler, however, may be considered on this occasion as the ring-leader of a successful riot, though not as a skilful pyrotechnist. ‘It has been supposed that Dr. Johnson, so far as fashion was concerned, was careless of his appearance in public. But this is not altogether true, as the following slight instance may show. — Goldsmith’s last Comedy was to represented3 during some Court-mourning; and Mr. S.4 appointed to call on Dr. Johnson & carry him to the tavern where he was to dine with other5 of the Poet’s friends. The Doctor was ready dressed, but in coloured cloaths; yet being told that he would find every one else in black, received the intelligence with a profusion of thanks, hastened to change his attire, all the while repeating his gratitude for the information that had saved him from an appearance so improper in the front row of a front box. “I would not”, [1st ed. ii. 520] added he, “for ten pounds, have seemed so retrograde to any general observance.” ‘He would sometimes found his dislikes on very slender circumstances. Happening one day to mention Mr. Flexman, a dissenting minister, with some compliment to his exact memory in chronological matters, the Dr.6 replied, “let me hear no more of him, Sir. That is the fellow who made the index to my Ramblers, and set down the name of Milton, thus — ‘Milton. Mr. John.’”’ Mr. Steevens adds this testimony ‘It is unfortunate however for Johnson that his particularities7 and frailties can be more distinctly traced than his good and amiable exertions. Could the many bounties he studiously concealed, the many acts of humanity he performed in private be displayed with equal circumstantiality, his defects would be so far lost in the blaze of his virtues, that the latter only would be regarded.’ [P.A. Varia (11) resumed] Though from my very great admiration of Johnson I have wondered that he was not courted by all the great and all the eminent persons of his time, it ought fairly to be considered that no man of [obscure>] humble birth who lived entirely by literature, in short no Authour by profession ever rose in this country into that personal notice which he did. 2 Printed ‘fire-works’ here, though ‘fireworks’ above (p. 236 l. 25), a discrepancy that persisted through the third edition. Both are printed ‘fireworks’ in Hill-Powell. 3 Printed in the revises ‘was to be represented’, in correction of Steevens’s omission. 4 Printed in the revises ‘Mr. Steevens’. 5 Printed in the revises ‘others’. 6 Printed in the revises ‘Doctor’. 7 Steevens wrote ‘peculiarities’. Waingrow argues that JB’s substitution was not meant ‘to shade the meaning: the two words were practically interchangeable’ (Corr. 2a, pp. 118, 121 n. 20). One of the definitions under PARTICULARITY in SJ’s Dictionary is ‘Something peculiar.’

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In the course of this Work a numerous variety names have8 been mentioned, to which many might be added.9 [P.A. Varia (12)] I cannot omit Lord and Lady Lucan at whose house he often enjoyed all that elegant living & the best company can contribute to happiness while he found hospitality united with extraordinary accomplishments and embellished with charms of which no man could be insensible.1 On tuesday June [twenty second>] 22 I dined with him at THE LITERARY CLUB the last time of his being in that respectable Society. [MS 966 resumed] [There were present [blank space].2>] The other members present were the Bishop of St. Asaph Lord Eliot Lord Palmerston Dr. Fordyce and Mr. Malone. He looked ill; but had such a manly fortitude that he did not trouble ≤cloud≥3 the company with melancholy complaints. They all shewed evident marks of kind concern about him with which he was much pleased, and he exerted himself to be as entertaining as his indisposition allowed him [breath to be del]. [Here I must again regret my neglect in recording. del] The anxiety of his freinds [for preserving [MS 967] so valuable÷estimable a Life>] to preserve [MS 967] a Life estimable4 as long as human means might be supposed to have influence, made them plan for him a retreat from the severity of a British Winter to the mild climate of Italy. This scheme was at last brought to a [/very/ del] serious resolution at General Paoli’s, where [some of us>] I5 had often talked of it. [It was considered that he would be exceedingly helpless and dull were he to go alone, and therefore it was concerted that he should be accompanied by Mr. Sastres the Italian Master who we were persuaded would wait on him with a very affectionate attention, & who very readily agreed to go.>] [It was considered that he would be exceedingly helpless and dull were he to go alone, and therefore it was concerted that he should be accompanied by an Italian who we were persuaded would wait on him with an assiduous attention, & who very readily agreed to go. del] One essential matter however [we>] 8 MS orig. ‘a great many names have’. The preposition missing from JB’s same-draft change was added in print (‘variety of names’), and the verb was corrected to ‘has’ in the second edition. 9 False starts, (1) ‘I ought not however to omit that of a Statesman so distinguished as Lord Shelburne the [P.A. Varia (12)] Marquis of [Lansdowne]’; (2) [P.A. Varia (12)] ‘I cannot omit Lord Lucan a flippant attack upon [false start him] whom he once’. 1 Direction to the compositor, ‘Return to p. 966’. On that page JB revised the sentence where his copy was to resume (see the original: ante pp. 226–27 and n. 6), but then recopied his revision here on P.A. Varia (12), and finally replaced ‘twenty second’ with ‘22’. After typesetting that, the compositor returned to MS 966. 2 Here JB left room (for one and a half lines of copy) to complete the sentence in revision. 3 In writing ‘cloud’ above ‘trouble’ in revision, JB probably meant to delete the original verb rather than to form a set of alternatives for later resolution. The compositor typeset ‘trouble’, deferring to the word drafted on the line, not above it. 4 Printed in the revises ‘so estimable a life’, the compositor having resorted to the original structure of the phrase on account of a flawed revision. Choosing ‘estimable’ from the alternatives, JB placed a caret after ‘Life’, changed his catchword on MS 966 from ‘so’ to ‘a’, and deleted ‘so’ on MS 967. He did not recopy ‘so’ next to ‘estimable’ above the line, however, causing the compositor to ignore its deletion and disregard the caret. 5 This change, along with ‘we’ to ‘I’ below (l. 28), was a later revision to the page, made when JB deleted the following sentence about their ‘concerted’ decisions. That sentence survived his first pass of revision.

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H-P iv. 326–27

I [understood÷supposed>] understood was necessary to be previously settled which was obtaining [from the King÷his Majesty6 del] such an addition to [Johnson’s pension>] his income as would be sufficient to [put him in a situation>] enable him to defray the expence in [1st ed. ii. 521] a [suitable del] manner, becoming the first Literary Character of a Great Nation and independent of all his other merits, the Authour of the [Dictionary of the English Language>] DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. The Person to whom [I above all others thought÷it was [undeciphered word(s)]>] I above all others thought I should apply to negociate this business was [Lord Thurlow /Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain/ but I first consulted>] [Lord Thurlow Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain but I first consulted>] [Lord Chancellor Thurlow but I first consulted>] the Lord Chancellora/7 [MS opp. 967] because I knew that he highly valued Johnson, and that Johnson highly valued [his Lordship÷him, so>] his Lordship, so that it was no degradation of my illustrious freind to solicit for him [from such>] the favour of such a man. [He had said of him when he was at the bar ‘Thurlow is a fine fellow Sir. He fairly puts his mind to yours’ thus contrasting his manly manner with that priggish÷pert÷prim affectation which he had observed with disgust in others; and>] I have mentioned what Johnson said of him to me when he was at the barb; and after his Lordship was advanced to the seals, he said of him ‘I [will÷would>] would prepare myself for no man in England but Lord Thurlow; when I am to meet with him I should wish to know a day before.’8 How he [would÷could>] would have prepared himself I cannot conjecture. Would he have selected certain topicks, & considered them in every view so as to be [in readiness÷ready>] in readiness to argue them at all points and what may we suppose these÷those9 topicks would have been? I once suggested this curious [thought>] disquisition1 to the Great Man who was the subject of [such a compliment from such a man.>] [this very high compliment.>] this compliment. He smiled but did not [attempt÷try to del] pursue it.2 a

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b

Edward Lord Thurlow. ≤Page — b1 of this volume.≥

6 Here and in subsequent passages concerning this matter, JB in revision deleted references to the King. On Thurlow’s confirming to JB that the request had been broached with the King, see Hill-Powell iv. 542–43 (App. J) and Journ. 26 Feb. 1786. 7 It is unclear whether the penultimate change to this phrase was a distinct revision (as transcribed) or a false start to the final revision. JB wrote ‘Thurlow’ above ‘Chancellor’, but the reading he intended is uncertain, given an ambiguous sequence of deletions. At any rate, his last revision was to delete ‘but’ and insert an asterisk taking the compositor to MS opp. 967. 8 Francesco Sastres heard SJ say this ‘in a company at his own house’, as he informed JB by letter on 22 Feb. 1786 (Corr. 2a, p. 109). 9 Printed ‘those’ (so in revises). 1 Printed in the revises ‘started the curious topick’. Deleting ‘topick’, JB substituted ‘enquiry’ and then changed his spelling to ‘inquiry’ (as in SJ’s Dictionary); ‘enquiry’ was printed in the first edition, however, as in several other (but not all) cases where JB’s copy read ‘inquiry’ (see post pp. 373, 385, 414, 425; also Life MS iii. 337, 345, 348). 2 JB related the saying to Thurlow at his levee on 26 Feb. 1786 (Journ.). b1 Printed in the revises ‘441’; see ante p. 138. JB deleted this footnote in the second edition; Hill-Powell (on the word ‘mentioned’) provided its own cross-reference to iv. 179.

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[MS 967 resumed3] I first consulted with Sir Joshua Reynolds who perfectly [agreed with me. I therefore>] coincided in opinion with me and I therefore though personally [MS 968] very little known to his Lordship, wrote to hima [as follows To The Lord High Chancellor ≤of Great Britain≥4>] stating the case, and requesting his good offices for Dr. Johnson. I mentioned that I was obliged to set out for Scotland on Monday the 28, so that if his Lordship should have any commands for me, as to this pious negociation, he would be pleased to send them before that time; otherwise Sir Joshua Reynolds would gladly give all attention to it. This Application was made not only without any [solicitation>] suggestion on the part of Johnson himself but was utterly unknown to him, nor had he the smallest suspicion of it. Any insinuation≤s≥ therefore which since his death [has>] have been thrown out as if he had [deigned÷stooped>] stooped to ask what was superfluous [is>] are without any [foundation; but indeed though>] foundation. But had he asked it, it would not have been superfluous; for, though the money he had saved [turned out>] proved to be more than his freinds imagined or than I beleive he himself in his carelessness [upon that head well knew÷was fully aware>] concerning worldly matters knew it to be, had he travelled upon the Continent an augmentation of his income would by no means have been [superfluous>] unnecessary. [Here then was a ticket in the Lottery of Royal favour which I put into the wheel for him and while the effect of it was to be progressively discovered I continued to see him without any difference in my behaviour but exactly as if nothing /of the sort/ had been done.>] How this application might succeed was quite uncertain. I therefore for some time gave Johnson no information concerning it.5 ≤It is strange that Sir John Hawkins should have related that the application was made by Sir Joshua Reynolds, when he could so easily have been a

3 A new paragraph began here in the revises, even though JB had not marked it for such in revision at the point of resumption, the second clause of his original sentence (see p. 239 ll. 7–10). 4 Deleted direction to the compositor ‘Take it in’. JB left some blank space below this direction (for no obvious reason) before starting the next paragraph. In revision, having decided not to present the letter, he used that space to continue the present paragraph; after the words ‘should have’, he told the compositor to ‘Go to the back.’ The letter, dated 24 June 1784, was reprinted in Letters of James Boswell, ed. Tinker (ii. 323–24) from Johns. Misc. (ii. 459), where Tinker observed it had first been printed, but Croker had printed it before that (v. 236), citing ‘Reyn. MSS’. 5 Evidently deleted in first proof, these sentences were not printed in the revises. A same-draft revision to the next paragraph (see post p. 242 n. 3) reveals JB’s struggle to work from untraced notes which ‘must have been defective or ambiguous at this point’ (Applause of the Jury, p. 249 n. 2). He had begun to describe the events of June 25, but reassigned them to June 24, and then—afterwards finding material for June 23—inserted the symbol here to direct the compositor first to MS opp. 968. For a cryptic allusion to SJ’s conversation on 24 June, see ante p. 214 n. 8.

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H-P iv. 328–29

[MS opp. 968; 1st ed. ii. 522] On Wednesday twenty third, June I [visited÷waited on him in the forenoon÷paid him a forenoon visit>] visited him in the forenoon after having [witnessed÷seen÷been present at>] been present at the shocking sight of fifteen men executed before Newgate. I said to him [that del] I was sure that human life was not machinery that is to say a chain of fatality planned and directed by the Supreme Being, as it had in it so much wickedness and misery, [such÷so many>] so many instances of both as that by which my mind was now clouded. Were it machinery it would be better than it is in these respects, though less noble, as not being a system of moral [government÷discipline>] government. He agreed with me, and added ‘the small=pox can less be accounted for than an execution, upon the supposition of machinery; for we are sure it comes without a fault.6 But Sir as to the doctrine of Necessity no man beleives it. If a man should give me arguments that I do not see, — though I could not answer them, should I beleive that I do not see?’7/8 ≤Talking of the religious discipline proper for unhappy convicts he said ‘Sir an ordinary clergyman will probably not impress their minds sufficiently. They should be attended by a methodist preacher9 or a popish priest.’ Let me however observe in justice to the Reverend Mr. Vilette who has been 1 Ordinary of Newgate for no less than years in the course of which he has informed of the truth by inquiring of Sir Joshua. Sir John’s carelessness to ascertain facts is very remarkable.a1≥ 6 In the revises, JB deleted all but the first four words of this sentence, registering (in the gutter margin) doubts about the speech: ‘I strike out this tho’ in my notes, because I do not see its meaning & I may have erred.’ In the outer margin he drafted copy to make the sentence read as follows: ‘He agreed with me now, as he always did, upon the great question of the liberty of the human will which has been perplexed with so much sophistry.’ He then added ‘in all ages’ before ‘perplexed’, but told the compositor, ‘If you want room in all ages may be omitted’. SJ’s speech now commenced with the next sentence, but no quotation marks were set on it until the second edition. 7 In the revises, a comment was printed after SJ’s speech: ‘It will be observed, that Johnson at all times made the just distinction between doctrines contrary to reason, and doctrines above reason.’ 8 The copy that follows—though begun on the present line of text when added later—was printed as a separate paragraph in the revises. JB drafted seven lines (more compactly) before reaching the bottom of the page, then (rotating the page twice) worked in three lines at the top and two lines in the right-hand margin. This addition was based on a note in the Life Materials under the heading ‘Johnsonian Fragments to be inserted in their places’: ‘Convicts under sentence of death, regular Clergyman wont do. Must have Methodist or Popish Priest’ (M 157, p. 15). In the revises, JB changed ‘an ordinary clergyman’ (l. 16) to ‘one of our regular clergy’. 9 Footnote added in the second edition: ‘A friend of mine happened to be passing by a field congregation in the environs of London, when a Methodist preacher quoted this passage with triumph.’ 1 Where JB left room for a numeral he did not supply, Plymsell in the revises left space for the number to be spelled out. Putting an X in that empty space, JB instructed him, ‘Send my note to Mr. Villette in the morning & open the answer. Or inquire of Mr. Akerman for the number of years. Get it somehow.’ The number printed in the first edition, ‘seventeen’, changed to ‘eighteen’ in the second. a1 Rotating the leaf, JB drafted several lines of this footnote in the left-hand margin of MS 968, and when he ran out of room there, rotated it again to finish the note in the narrow blank space at the top.

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attended many hundreds of wretched criminals, that his earnest and humane exhortations have been very effectual. His extraordinary diligence is highly praise=worthy and merits a distinguished reward.≥2 [MS 968 resumed] [On Thursday 24 June3>] On Thursday June 24 I dined with him at [MS 969] Mr. Dilly’s where were the Rev≤erend≥ Mr. Knox Master of Tunbridge School, Mr. Smith [Rector>] Vicar of Southill Dr. Beattie Mr. Pinkerton ≤authour of various literary performances≥ and the Rev≤erend≥Dr. Mayo [of Well=close Square del]. At my desire [old÷the elder>] old Mr. Sheridan was invited as I was earnest to have Johnson and him brought together again by chance, that a reconciliation might be effected. Mr. Sheridan [came>] happened to come early and having learnt that Dr. Johnson was to be there, went [off;>] away, so I found with sincere regret that my freindly intentions were hopeless. I [have no note of what>] recollect nothing that passed this day except Johnson’s quickness who when Dr. Beattie observed ≤as something remarkable it had happened to him4≥ that he had chanced to see both No. 1 and No. 1000 of the hackney coaches, the first and the last ‘Why Sir ≤(said he)5≥ there is an equal chance for one’s seeing those two numbers as any other two.’ He was clearly right. Yet the seeing of the two extremes ≤each of which is in some degree more conspicuous than the rest≥ could not but strike one in a stronger manner, than the sight of any other two numbers [in the indiscriminate course of numbers del]. Though I have neglected to preserve [1st ed. ii. 523] his conversation [of this day del], I beleive it was [from it>] at this interview that Mr. Knox formed [MS 970] the notion of it which he has exhibited in his [Winter Evening’s Amusements.6>] ‘Winter Evenings’. On Friday [25 June>] June 25 I dined with him at General Paoli’s where he says in one of his letters to Mrs. Thrale ‘I love to dine’. There were a variety of dishes much to his taste of all which he seemed to me to eat so much that I was affraid he might be hurt by it; & I whispered to the General my fear and begged 2 Footnote added in the second edition: ‘I trust that THE CITY OF LONDON, now happily in unison with THE COURT, will have the justice and generosity to obtain preferment for this Reverend Gentleman, now a worthy old servant of that Magnificent Corporation.’ 3 A same-draft revision; originally the paragraph began ‘Friday 25 June’ (see ante p. 240 n. 5). 4 This imperfect reading—its flawed phrasing based on the position of a single caret after ‘observed’—was printed in the revises with a comma after ‘remarkable’. To make it read properly, JB changed ‘it’ to ‘which’, and the comma was printed after ‘him’ in the first edition. Another plausible reading of the revision (imperfect for other reasons) would be to view the two phrases—drafted above the line with a short space separating them—as discontinuous additions: ‘≤as something remarkable≥ that ≤it had happened to him [that]≥’. 5 Added in Plymsell’s hand; second edition, ‘(said Johnson,)’. 6 JB put an x above the title and another in the margin as a reminder to check it. Knox, thinking JB meant that he had ‘exhibited’ some of the conversation itself, complained to him on 1 June 1791: ‘You are mistaken in saying that I adopted something in my Winter Evenings from a Conversation of Dr. J. at Mr. Dillys. Indeed I do not rightly understand what you mean. But I certainly adopted Nothing from it’ (Corr. 2a, p. 326). Knox had, in fact, published a ‘notion’ of SJ’s conversation: ‘His character ensured him respect previously to his speaking, and what he said justified it; for it was original and solid; his authoritative tone and manner compelled acquiescence, even if conviction was not produced; but, after all, he was not what the world calls a pleasant companion’ (Winter Evenings: or, Lucubrations on Life and Letters, 2 vols., 1788, ii. 53).

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 331–32

he might not [encourage it.÷press him.>] press him. ‘Alas’ said the General ‘see how very ill he looks; he can live but a very short time. Would you refuse any slight gratifications to a man under sentence of death. There is a human7 custom in Italy by which persons in that melancholy situation are indulged with having whatever they like best to eat and drink, even with expensive elegancies.’ I shewed him some verses on Lichfield by Miss Seward which I had that day received from her and had the pleasure to hear him approve of them. He confirmed to me the [truth÷authenticity>] truth of a high compliment which I had been told he had paid to that Lady when she mentioned to him the Colombiade an epick Poem by [MS 971] Madame du Boccage8 ‘Madame there is not in it any [description equal to yours÷thing equal to your description>] thing equal to your description of the sea round the North Pole in your Ode on the death of Captain Cook.’9 On Sunday [27÷twenty seventh June>] June 27 I found him rather better [than he had been on friday del]. I mentioned to him a young man who was going out to Jamaica1 with his wife & children in expectation of being provided for by two of her brothers settled in that island [a Clergyman and a Physician.÷one a Clergyman and the other a Physician.>] one a Clergyman and the other a Physician. Johnson. ‘It is a wild scheme, Sir, unless he has a positive and deliberate invitation. There was a [young woman>] poor girl who used to come about me, [who had a cousin in Barbadoes who÷that÷whose cousin in Barbadoes>] who had a cousin in Barbadoes that in a letter /to her/2 [desired>] expressed a wish she would come out to that island, and expatiated on the [good circumstances in which she was there.>] comforts & happiness of her situation. The poor girl went. Her cousin was much surprised, and asked her [why she came.÷how she 7 Printed ‘humane’ (so in revises, as in SJ’s Dictionary), the spelling reserved for this sense of the word from the beginning of the eighteenth century (OED). JB had spelled it this way above (see p. 242 l. 1). 8 An x above ‘du’ suggests that JB was unsure whether to write ‘du’ or ‘de’. The name was correct as drafted. 9 With this paragraph JB fulfilled a promise to Seward—in his letter of 21 Jan 1785 soliciting materials from her for the Life—to record that SJ ‘acknowledged himself to be Sensible’ of her excellence as a poet (Corr. 2a, p. 39). 1 Reg. Let. reveals some of the story: ‘Mr. Lawrie is on his way to Jamaica’ (26 June 1784). John Lawrie, JB’s law clerk in Edinburgh for some fifteen years, performed various tasks up until 22 June, including copy work (see p. 183 n. 2), but he and his family faced growing distress. His marriage to Janet Steen on 26 Feb. 1775 had been kept secret, as shown by JB’s having written to him on 20 Mar. 1779 about ‘his marriage—that I fear he & his Wife may find more difficulties than they imagine’, eliciting on 22 Mar. an admission from Lawrie ‘that he has been married some years’. The plan to emigrate stalled. JB expressed puzzlement on 1 July 1784: ‘Strange that he has given me no account of the encouragement he has to go out with his family to Jamaica. He must write to me fully.’ After drafting a letter of reference to ‘Mr. Bennet, Secretary to Governour Campbell Jamaica, recommending Mr. Lawrie warmly’, JB wrote to Lawrie throughout July; sent letters to his brother David, one with a £50 draft; and granted power-of-attorney to a third party, ‘authoris[ing] him to advance £20 for Lawrie’s passage, & at last to pay all that should be wanting for it, after exertions had been made to collect’. These efforts came to nothing. Lawrie remained in Britain and in the following years often required JB’s aid. Lawrie’s brothers-in-law in Jamaica have not been further identified. 2 JB’s unresolved optional phrase was printed in the revises.

243

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1784

could think of coming.>] how she could think of coming. “Because” said she “you invited me.” “Not I” answered the [sister>] cousin.3 The letter then was produced. “I see it is true” said she, “that I did invite you; but I did not think [youd÷you would>] you would come.” They lodged her in an outhouse where she passed her time miserably, and as soon as she had an opportunity she returned to England. Allways [MS 972] tell this, when you [hear÷know>] hear of people going abroad to relations, upon a notion of being well received. [Here probably>] In the case which you mention, it is probable the Clergyman spends all he gets, and the Physician does not know how much he is to get.’ [I had some hopes that he would have accompanied me a part of the way to Scotland that he might have had the benefit of air at a distance from London, in a freind’s house. But in this I was disappointed; for Dr. Taylor to whom I had written at his÷Johnson’s desire to know if his house which he was repairing would be in readiness wrote to me that it would not;÷desire acquainted me that his house which he was repairing would not be in readiness; and a Lady who used to express much regard for him, and to whom I therefore wrote of myself suggesting that his being under her roof might be much for the benefit of his health, fairly gave me to understand that she would not chuse to have such a÷him as her guest.>] [I had some hopes that he would have accompanied me a part of the way to Scotland that he might have had the benefit of country air in a freind’s house. But in this I was disappointed; for Dr. Taylor to whom I had written4 at Johnson’s desire to know if his house which he was repairing would be in readiness wrote to me that it would not; and a Lady who used to express much regard for him, and to whom I therefore suggested by a letter that his being under her roof might be much for the benefit of his health, fairly gave me to understand that she would not chuse to have him as her guest.5 del] We this day dined at Sir Joshua Reynolds’s with General Paoli, Lord Eliot ≤(formerly Mr. Eliot of Port Eliot)6≥ Dr. Beattie and some more [1st ed. ii. 524] company. Talking of Lord Chesterfield Johnson. ‘His manner was exquisitely elegant and he had more knowledge than I expected.’ Boswell. ‘Did you find Sir [his conversation to be÷that his conversation was superiour?’>] his conversation to be of a superiour style?’ Johnson. [MS 973] ‘Sir in the conversation [which÷that>] which I had with him I had the best right to superiority, for it was upon philology and literature.’ Lord Eliot [/who had travelled along with Mr. Stanhope Lord Chesterfields natural son/>] who had travelled at the same An alert Plymsell drafted this substitution, correcting JB’s mistake. On Tuesday, 22 June, JB wrote to the ‘Rev. Dr. Jo. Taylor to know by return of post when his house will be ready to receive Dr. Johnson. I shall wait till Saturday night for his answer, that if it will be ready soon I may bring the Dr. to Lichfield’ (Reg. Let.). 5 In reply to JB’s letter of 11 June from Oxford (L 372)—‘Mrs. Cobb Lichfield to know if it would be convenient for her to ask Dr. Johnson to her house?’ (Reg. Let.)— Mary Cobb on 13 June said that, while she wished to see SJ as often as he wanted to visit her, it ‘would not be perfectly convenient’ for him to stay with her (C 795, written in Mary Adey’s hand). JB had suggested that if SJ declined her invitation, Lucy Porter might be ‘more desirous to accommodate him agreeably’. Mrs. Cobb rejected the idea, believing that Mrs. Porter would be displeased to learn that such an invitation had been extended. See also Applause of the Jury, p. 251 n. 7. 6 As named above (see p. 64 l. 33 and n. 5). Eliot had been created 1st Baron Eliot on 30 Jan. 1784 (Oxford DNB). 3

4

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time with Mr. Stanhope Lord Chesterfields natural son7 justly observed that it was strange that a man who shewed he had so much affection for his son as Lord Chesterfield did by writing so many [of those÷long and anxious>] long and anxious letters to him allmost all of them when he was Secretary of State which certainly was a proof of great goodness of disposition should endeavour to make his son a Rascal8. His Lordship told us that Foote had intended to bring on the stage a father who had thus tutored his son, and to shew the son an honest man to every one9 else, but practising his father’s maxims upon [him÷himself>] him and cheating him. Johnson. ‘[I am much pleased with this÷This was a very excellent>] I am much pleased with this design; but I think there was no [necessity for making÷occasion to make>] occasion to make the son honest at all. No he should be a consummate rogue; the contrast between honesty and knavery would be the stronger. It should be contrived so that the Father should be the only sufferer by the son’s villainy and thus [there would be poetical justice.÷poetical justice would be done.>] there would be poetical justice.’1 ≤[MS opp. 973] He put Lord Eliot in mind of Dr. Walter Harte. ‘I know’ said he, ‘Harte was your Lordship’s tutor, and he was also tutor to the Peterborough family. Pray, my Lord do you recollect any particulars that he told you of Lord Peterborough? He is a favourite of mine and is not enough known; his character has been only ventilated2 in party pamphlets.’ Lord Eliot said if Dr. Johnson would be so good as to ask him any questions, he would tell what he could recollect. Accordingly some things were mentioned. ‘But’ said his Lordship ‘the best account of Lord Peterborough that I have happened to meet with is “Captain Carleton’s Memoirs.” Carleton was descended of an ancestor who had distinguished himself at the siege of Derry. He was an officer and what was rare at that time had some knowledge of engineering.’ Johnson said he had never heard of the Book. Lord Eliot had it at Port Eliot, but after a good deal of inquiry procured a copy in London, and sent it to Johnson who told Sir Joshua Reynolds that he was going to bed when it came but was so much pleased with it, that he sate up till he had read it through and found in it such an air of truth that he could not doubt of its authenticity, adding with a smile (in allusion to Lord Eliot’s having recently been raised to the Peerage) ‘I [1st ed. ii. 525] did not think a young Lord could have mentioned to me a book in English History that was not known to me.’≥3 7 JB’s revision within this optional phrase, without cancellation of the defining virgules, signalled his intention to include it. 8 A small x above this word marked it for reconsideration. In revision JB let it stand. 9 Printed ‘every thing’ in error; corrected to ‘every one’ in the second edition. 1 Placing an X beneath this paragraph in revision, JB jotted three memoranda in the middle of MS opp. 973: ‘Lord Peterborough & Lord Eliot / a young Lord’s getting him / Carleton’s Memoirs’. He deleted the memoranda later, after drafting the following paragraph in the surrounding space. 2 As in the third definition provided by SJ’s Dictionary: ‘To examine; to discuss.’ The OED, citing usage in this sense dating from 1527, quotes among its examples this passage from the Life. 3 For the next paragraph originally started here (two lines of copy on MS 973, two on MS 974), see post p. 247 ll. 10–12 and n. 8. Having decided to postpone that material, JB changed his catchword for MS 974 to ‘An’.

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[MS 974] An addition to our company came after we went up to the Drawing-room. Dr. Johnson seemed to rise in spirits as his audience increased. He said ‘He [was for Lord Orford’s pictures and Sir Ashton Levers Museum being>] wished that Lord Orford’s pictures and Sir Ashton Levers Museum might be purchased by the Publick because both the money and the pictures and curiosities4 would remain in [Britain÷the Nation>] the country. Whereas if they were sold [abroad÷into another Kingdom>] into another Kingdom the Nation [got indeed some money, but lost>] would indeed get some money, but would lose the pictures and curiosities which it would be desireable we should have [as models of÷for improvement in>] for improvement in taste and natural history. The only question was that as the Nation was much in want of money whether it would not be better to take a large price from a foreign state.’ He entered upon a curious discussion of the difference between intuition and sagacity, [how one was immediate /in its effect/ the other /required/ a circuitous>] one being immediate in its effect the other requiring a circuitous process; one ≤he observed≥ was [/as it were/ del] the eye of the mind, the other the nose of the mind; [and then quoted÷repeated from Dryden5 del] [MS 975] [A gentleman÷One of the gentlemen>] A gentleman6 present took up the argument against him, and [/with some reason/ del] maintained that [we never think÷no man ever thinks>] no man ever thinks of the nose of the mind not adverting that though that figurative phrase seems strange to us as very unusual it is truly not more forced than Hamlet’s ‘in my mind’s eye Horatio.’ He persisted much too long and appeared to Johnson as putting himself forward as his Antagonist with [a flippant vanity.>] too much presumption. Upon which he called to him [angrily÷in a loud tone>] in a loud tone ‘What is it you are contending for if you be contending?’ And afterwards [imagining÷thinking>] imagining that the gentleman retorted upon him with a kind of smart drollery he said ‘Mr. —— ≤It [is not fit that you should talk>] does not become you to talk so to me. Besides Sir≥ Ridicule is not your talent. 4 The coupling of ‘the pictures and curiosities’ as opposed to ‘the money’—a coupling repeated in SJ’s argument in the next sentence—was disrupted by the way the phrase was printed in the revises: ‘the money, and the pictures, and the curiosities’. A series of three nouns was ill-suited to follow ‘both’; this flaw has never been corrected. 5 Leaving room for two verses here at the bottom of MS 974, JB jotted a memorandum in the margin, ‘See a passage in which sagacious hound comes in’. Later he deleted the memorandum, along with the present phrase, causing a full stop to be typeset after ‘mind’. A clue to the passage that eluded him, from Dryden’s Fables, is found in the Dictionary, where SJ joined together lines 749 and 752 from ‘The Cock and the Fox’ to illustrate his first definition of SAGACIOUS, ‘Quick of scent’:

With might and main they chas’d the murd’rous fox, Nor wanted horns t’ inspire the sagacious hounds. 6 Croker was the first to identify him as Burke’s son, Richard (v. 244 n. 2). In resolving the alternatives in revision, JB twice added and deleted ‘young’, which, given his earlier mention of ‘Young Mr. Burke’ (ante p. 157 l. 14), would have served as a clue. His impulse to provide one persisted in later editions of the Life. In the second edition, he substituted five asterisks for the dash in ‘Mr. ——’ below (l. 28, p. 247 ll. 5–6). According to Croker, this led ‘to a suspicion that young Mr. Burke was meant’, but some readers—Hill surmised—now believed the person was Edmund Burke, causing JB in the third edition to alter this opening phrase to ‘A young gentleman’ (Hill-Powell iv. 335 n. 3).

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H-P iv. 335–36

You have [here÷in this÷that>] there neither intuition nor sagacity.’ — The Gentleman protested that he had intended no improper freedom, but [had the greatest÷was all>] had the greatest respect for Dr. Johnson. [By & by del] After a short pause during which we were somewhat uneasy, Johnson. ‘Give me your hand ≤Sir≥. You [was>] were too tedious and I was too short.’ –– Mr. ——. ‘Sir I am honoured by your attention in any way.’ Johnson. ‘Come Sir let us have no more of it. We offended one another by our contention. [We shall offend [MS 976] our÷Let us not offend [MS 976] the>] Let us not offend [MS 976] the company by our compliments.’ [[MS 973] /Dr./ Johnson this day said he should wish much to go to Italy, and that he dreaded [MS 974] next winter in England.’7 I said nothing, but felt a secret satisfaction in thinking that I had8>] [MS 976] [He this day said ‘he should wish÷wished much to go to Italy, and that he dreaded next÷passing winter in England.’ I said nothing but enjoyed a secret satisfaction in thinking that I had>] He now said ‘he wished much to go to Italy, and that he dreaded passing the following winter in England.’ I said nothing but enjoyed a secret satisfaction in thinking that I had [taken the most likely way to get÷done what would probably get him to Italy in a proper way.>] taken the most effectual measures to make such a scheme practicable. On Monday [28 June>] June 28 I had the honour to receive from the Lord Chancellor the following Letter.

[1st ed. ii. 526] ≤To JAMES BOSWELL Esq.9≥ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . This letter gave me [an elevated satisfaction÷pleasure /which has been sel25 dom equalled in the course of the events of my life/.>] a very high satisfaction. I next day went and shewed it to Sir Joshua Reynolds who was exceedingly pleased with [it, and in the warmth of his freindly joy÷rejoicing, said that he /himself/ would undertake that /Mr./ Sastres÷the Italian before mentioned should have a pension of eighty pounds for his life.>] [it, and in the generous 30 warmth of his friendship said that he himself would undertake that the Italian before mentioned should have a pension of eighty pounds for his life if he accompanied Johnson.>] [it, and in the generous warmth of his friendship said that he himself would undertake that if the Italian above alluded to accompanied Johnson abroad he should have an annuity of eighty pounds for his life.>] it. 35 He thought that I should now communicate the negociation to Dr. Johnson, who might afterwards complain if the [success>] attention with which it had been honoured, should be too long [MS 977] concealed from him. I intended to set out for Scotland next morning, but [he÷Sir Joshua>] Sir Joshua cordially 7 In this draft on MS 974, JB punctuated only the close of SJ’s speech. In recopying the passage on MS 976 (see next note), he provided both sets of quotation marks. 8 A false start (see ante p. 245 n. 3), these four lines of copy served as a first draft for the beginning of the present paragraph on MS 976. After using and deleting the original draft, JB temporarily mislaid MS 974, for the entire block of undeleted copy on that page (see p. 246 ll. 1–17) was bracketed by Selfe and marked ‘out’. It had been typeset by the time the revises were printed. 9 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’. This letter no longer forms a part of the Life MS.

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insisted that I should stay another day, that Johnson and I [might÷should>] might dine with him [so added and del] that we three might talk of his [going to Italy÷Italian travels>] Italian Tour, and ≤as Sir Joshua expressed himself,≥ ‘have it all out’1. I hastened to Johnson and was told by him that he was rather better today. Boswell. ‘I am [really÷sincerely>] very anxious about you Sir, and particularly that you should go to Italy for the Winter which I beleive is your own wish.’ Johnson. ‘It is Sir.’ Boswell. ‘You have no objection ≤I presume≥ but the money ≤it would require≥.’ Johnson. [‘Why no Sir.’÷‘I think not.’>] ‘Why no Sir.’ [Boswell. ‘Why÷Well then /Sir/ suppose the King should give you the money. I have reason to think he will.’ Johnson. ‘Why should you think so?’ Boswell. ‘You are not to be angry with me.’ Johnson. ‘No.’ Boswell. ‘Why then I will tell you fairly what I have done. /I have applied to the Lord Chancellor./’ He listened with much÷mild attention while I communicated to him what had÷all that had passed. Then warmly÷eagerly called out÷exclaimed÷said>] [Boswell. ‘Well then Sir suppose the King should give you the money. I have reason to think he will.’ Johnson. ‘Why should you think so?’ Boswell. ‘You are not to be angry with me.’ Johnson. ‘No.’ Boswell. ‘Why then Sir I will tell you fairly what I have done. I have applied to the Lord Chancellor.’ He listened with much attention while I communicated to him all that had passed. Then warmly said>] I then gave him a particular account of what had been done and read to him the Lord Chancellor’s letter. — He listened with much attention while I Then2 warmly said ‘This is taking prodigious pains about a Man.’ ‘O! Sir’ said I, with most sincere affection ‘your freinds [MS 978] would do every thing for you.’ He paused — grew more and more agitated — till tears [started into÷gushed from>] started into his eyes, and he exclaimed with [much÷fervent>] fervent emotion ‘GOD bless you all.’ I was so affected that I also shed tears. — After a [little while÷short silence>] short silence he [renewed÷extended>] renewed & extended his grateful benediction ‘GOD bless you all for JESUS CHRIST’S sake.’ We both remained for some time unable to speak. He [got up÷rose>] rose suddenly and [quitted÷left>] quitted the room quite [attendri.÷melted in tenderness.>] melted in tenderness. He staid out3 a short time, till he had [1st ed. ii. 527] recovered his [firmness, and I should suppose till he had offered up his solemn thanks at the throne of grace.>] firmness. [We had a very little conversation as I was in a hurry to be in the Court of Exchequer to hear the great Cause of Sutton & Johnston.4÷as I had an engagement at a distant part of the town. del] [I secured him for Sir>] Soon 1 JB retained this phrase in revision, but a deleted draft on the facing page, ‘talk it all over’, suggests he was on the verge of replacing it. 2 As printed in the revises—‘attention; then’—the words that survived revision in error were omitted. By not deleting ‘while I’, JB at first perhaps wanted the words to lead into his revision in the margin: ‘I then gave ... Lord Chancellor’s letter.’ Then, however, by placing an insertion symbol after SJ’s last undeleted speech—‘Why no Sir.’ (ll. 8–9)—he situated the newly drafted clause to follow that remark. 3 Printed ‘but’ in error; a descender above the ‘o’ made it look (at a glance) like a ‘b’. 4 After battling the French off Cape Verde in Apr. 1781, Evelyn Sutton, Captain of the Isis, was arrested by Cmdre. George Johnstone and charged with failure to pursue the enemy. As the Isis had been crippled, Sutton sought legal redress for ‘false and malicious arrest’ (Applause of the Jury, p. 254 n. 6). JB saved an article (one he probably wrote) about the cause in the Public Advertiser, 27 Nov. 1786 (see P 119 (7), Cat. iii. 1075).

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H-P iv. 337–38

after he returned I left him, having first engaged him to dine at Sir Joshua Reynolds’s next day. ≤—≥ I never was again under that roof which [had so long been revered by me.>] I had so long reverenced. On Wednesday [30 June>] June 30 [he & I had the freindly confidential dinner with Sir Joshua Reynolds, nobody being present but ourselves.÷we three.>] the freindly confidential dinner with Sir Joshua Reynolds took place, no other company being present. [MS 979] Had I known that this was the last time that I should enjoy [the conversation of Dr. Samuel Johnson in this World÷upon earth, in what a flutter of feeling should I have been.>] in this world the conversation of a friend whom I so much respected, and5 from whom I derived so much instruction and entertainment,6 I should have been deeply affected. When I now look back to it I am vexed that a single word should have [perished. But alas I have no more than what memory has preserved.>] been forgotten. Both Sir Joshua and I were so sanguine in our expectations, [knowing the very high value which the Sovereign÷King had expressed for him÷Dr. Johnson,>] [knowing the very high esteem which the King had expressed for Dr. Johnson, del] that we expatiated with confidence on the large provision which we were sure would be made for him, conjecturing whether [it would be a donation at once or an augmentation÷increase÷doubling of his pension or both.>] [the Royal Munificence would be displayed in one large donation or in an ample increase of his pension.>] Munificence would be displayed in one large donation or in an ample increase of his pension. He himself [yielded so much to÷catched so much of>] catched so much of our enthusiasm as to allow himself to suppose it not impossible that our hopes might in one way or other be realised. He [declared>] said that he would rather have his pension doubled than a grant of a thousand pounds; ‘for’, said he, ‘though probably I may not live to receive as much as a thousand pounds, a man would have the consciousness that [he should be for÷pass the rest of his life in splendour.’÷he for the rest of his life would be in splendour.’>] he should pass the rest of his life7 in splendour how long soever it might be.’ Considering what a moderate proportion [six [MS 980] hundred pounds a year bear>] an income of six [MS 980] hundred pounds a year bears to innumerable fortunes in this Country, it is [striking to think>] worthy of remark that a man so truly great should think it Splendour. As an instance of extraordinary [generosity of>] liberality of freindship he told us that Dr. Brocklesby had upon this occasion offered him a hundred a year for his life. A [generous>] grateful tear started into his eye as he spoke this in a faultering tone. [Dr. Brocklesby told me that Johnson said ‘he would accept of no such bounty but from the King.’>] [Dr. Brocklesby told me that 5 Revision orig. ‘so much revered and’. It is unclear whether JB altered this draft immediately, in the second step of the current revision (see next note), or later. 6 Marking the end of this revision with a diagonal slash, JB at first left intact the rest of the sentence, ‘in what a flutter … been.’ Then, however, deleting that clause, he drafted ‘I’ to cover the slash and continued revising as follows. 7 A caret placed here in revision suggests that JB started to take in ‘would be’, but then deleted those words before making any other changes to incorporate the alternate ending of this sentence.

249

H-P iv. 338–39

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1784

Johnson though strongly impressed with the kindness of his offer said ‘he would accept of no such bounty but from the King.’8 del] [We>] Sir Joshua & I endeavoured to flatter his imagination with agreable prospects of happiness in Italy. [‘Nay’ said he÷Johnson. ‘Nay>] ‘Nay’ said he ‘I must not expect much of that. [/Were I going to Italy to see fine÷capital pictures like Sir Joshua, or to run after fine women÷wenches÷Ladies like Boswell, I might to be sure have pleasure in Italy. But/ when>] When a man goes to Italy, merely to feel how he breathes the air, he can enjoy very little.’9 [MS opp. 980] Our conversation turned upon living in the Country,1 which Johnson whose melancholy mind required the dissipation of quick successive variety, had habituated himself to consider as a kind of ≤mental≥imprisonment. [Johnson. ‘If a man’s pleasure÷enjoyment be intellectual he must live in a great City. The Country /of itself/2 can do nothing for him. If indeed he carries employment with him, he may prefer it for a certain time. If he has a Book to write and must be shut up in a room, it is better to be in the Country than in town; it is better to look out upon green fields than upon a dead wall. But unless in such a case he loses sadly by being in the country.’ del] [Boswell. ‘Yet Sir>] ‘Yet Sir’ said I, ‘there are many people [/of very good understanding/ del] who are content to live in the Country.’ Johnson. ‘Sir it is in the intellectual World as in the Physical World. ≤We are told by natural philosophers≥ A [Body>] body is at rest in the place that is fit for it. They who are content to live in the country are [fit>] fit for the country.’ [MS 980 resumed; 1st ed. ii. 528] Talking of various enjoyments, I argued that a refinement of taste was a disadvantage as they who [had÷have attained to it were÷must be seldomer pleased than such [MS 981] as had no nice power of discrimination, and were÷are therefore satisfied with almost every thing that came÷comes in their way.÷with which they meet.>] have attained to it must be seldomer pleased than [MS 981] those who have no nice discrimination, and are therefore satisfied with every thing that comes in their way. Johnson. ‘Nay Sir, ≤that is a paultry notion. Endeavour to≥ be as perfect as you can in every [way>] respect.’ [Sir Joshua Reynolds’s coach was to set us both down.÷Sir Joshua Reynolds ordered his coach to carry us both home. When we came to the entry of Bolt Court, he>] I accompanied him in Sir Joshua Reynolds’s coach to the entry of Bolt Court. He asked me [if>] whether I would not go [in with him.>] with him to his house. I declined it from an apprehension that my spirits would sink. We [bid>] bade adieu to each other affectionately in the carriage. When he had got down upon the foot pavement, he called out ‘Fare you well’, and without look8 Brocklesby told JB of this in a letter of 13 Dec. 1784; he made the offer ‘long before it was known any application in a certain quarter was to be made’ (Corr. 2a, p. 22). 9 An asterisk here led the compositor to MS opp. 980. When working from notes or his journal, JB occasionally doubled back to a facing page in the same draft. Whether that was true here is unclear; this draft was based solely on memory (see p. 249 l. 13). 1 Given the frequent recurrence of this topic, JB advised himself in the margin to ‘See if not somewhere else.’ Finding that a version of SJ’s first speech here had been quoted already (Life MS iii. 181, Hill-Powell iii. 253), JB deleted it in revision. 2 To signal its optional status, JB drafted this phrase above the line (for a second time; see endnotes), not within virgules, as was his usual practice.

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 339

ing back sprung away with a kind of pathetick [briskness÷hurry>] briskness3 if I may use [that÷such an>] that expression which seemed to indicate a struggle to conceal uneasiness, and [was to me÷touched me as>] impressed me with a foreboding of our long long separation. [/I remained one day longer in town to have the chance of talking over my negociation with the Lord Chancellor but, the multiplicity of his important business did not allow of this. So I left the business in the hands of Sir Joshua Reynolds./>] I remained one day more in town to have the chance of talking over my negociation with the Lord Chancellor but, the multiplicity of his important engagements did not allow of this. So I left the business in the hands of Sir Joshua Reynolds.4 [MS 982] [Immediately>] Soon after this ≤time≥, Dr. Johnson had the mortification of being informed by Mrs. Thrale that ‘what she supposed he never beleived’a was true [towit>] namely that she was actually going to marry Signor Piozzi an Italian Musick-Master [who had taught her daughters del]. ≤He endeavoured to prevent it; but in vain. If she would publish the whole5 [MS 982v] of the correspondence that passed between Dr. Johnson and her on the subject we should have a full view of his real sentiments. As it is, our judgement must be biassed by that characteristick specimen which Sir John Hawkins has given us ‘Poor Thrale! I thought that either her virtue or her vice would have restrained her from such a marriage. She is now become a subject for her enemies to exult over, and for her friends, if she has any left, to forget, or pity.’b≥ [[MS 982] 6Concerning this unexpected catastrophe÷event I do not wish to say much.÷Upon this unexpected catastrophe÷event I do not wish to dwell. It would indeed be cruel, after such severe censure has been inflicted by others to whom the harsh though necessary business of an executioner does not seem to be disagreable. I shall speak of it only so far as I consider Johnson to be interested in it. His mortification was probably owing to three causes — his pride being hurt by such a ludicrous satire upon his high estimation of learned ladies, and of this Lady in particular — his being deprived altogether of÷precluded from the society of one whose wealth and vivacity had united to amuse the a b

≤Letters to Mrs. Thrale Vol. 2 p. 375.≥ ≤Dr. Johnson’s Letter to Sir John Hawkins ‘Life’ p. 570.≥

3 In resolving his alternatives, JB scored through both words, wrote ‘haste’ on the facing page, then deleted that word and wrote in ‘briskness’ again. 4 Revising these optional sentences later in order to retain them, JB converted the first virgule into a bracket and marked it ‘N.L.’ to indicate a new paragraph. 5 Here JB directed the compositor to ‘See the back’, having filled the left margin with this new copy (drafted parallel to the edge of the page), including a false start supplanted by the present sentence: ‘Part of the correspondence has been published by her, and part suppressed; for it is well known that’. His draft on the verso of the leaf also was perpendicular to the copy already on the page (changes to MS 983 made during the first stage of revision). 6 JB’s original copy from the top of MS 982 to the middle of MS 984 was drafted as a single paragraph. Paragraph breaks were introduced into this block of text over the course of several revisions (see ensuing footnotes and endnotes), either marked explicitly by JB or (as here) created by an addition (ll. 16–23) that finishes the preceding paragraph.

251

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gloom which depressed him — and his real concern that the daughters of his freind Thrale should lose the creditable protection of a Mother. [MS 983] I will not add to these three — another which has been circulated with some confidence — his being himself a lover of this rich Widow, and disappointed and provoked by such a preference. I do not beleive that he had any such thought.7>] [Upon this unexpected event I do not wish to say much. It would indeed be cruel, after such severe censure has been inflicted by others to whom the harsh though necessary business of an executioner does not seem to be disagreable.8 I shall speak of it only so far as I consider Johnson to be interested in it. His mortification was probably owing to three causes — his pride being hurt by such a satire upon his high estimation of learned ladies, and of this Lady in particular — his being precluded from the society of one whose wealth and vivacity had united to amuse the gloom which depressed him — and his real concern that the daughters of his freind Thrale should lose the creditable protection of a Mother.a/9 [MS 983] Another reason indeed has been circulated with some confidence and humourously exhibited; — his being himself a lover of this rich Widow, and disappointed and provoked by such a preference. It is unnecessary to dwell seriously on such a groundless fancy. del] [In the Collection of his Letters with a few of her own which Mrs. Thrale has published, Letter 453 announces to him the marriage being ‘irrevocably

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

[[MS opp. 982] A fourth cause of mortification has been assigned towit that Johnson himself wished to espouse her. This I believe to be totally without any serious foundation, though I have seen him pleased to be rallied upon it. The report however has given rise to an ‘Ode by Dr. Johnson to Mrs. Thrale upon their supposed approaching Nuptials’ printed for Faulder in Bond Street, 25 of which I shall select two Stanzas as a specimen. a

Jealousy of Piozzi Indignant thought to English pride That any eye should ever see JOHNSON one moment set aside For Tweedle dum and tweedle dee. 7 Here JB placed an asterisk mated to a query on the facing page relative to these two sentences: ‘Qu? if Note or Text’. He deleted the query in the first pass of revision; see n. 9 below. 8 JB retained these two sentences in his initial revision—resolving inconsistently, it seems, the paired alternatives in the first sentence (‘Concerning … say much.÷Upon … dwell.’). In a later revision, he began scoring through these lines one by one, but then accelerated his deletion by drawing diagonal strokes across the page and back to expunge the copy to this point. Afterwards, when deleting the rest of the copy on the page, he annulled these sentences again in sweeping strokes to the bottom of MS 982. 9 Although this material went through further stages of revision, a note here will save multiple transcriptions of the text of the paragraph itself. In this first pass of revision, JB retained as main text (see n. 7 above) the two following sentences in altered form, placing a footnote on the word ‘exhibited’: ‘See Ode’ (its full title left incomplete, a title he well knew since he was the author). In the second pass, he deleted those sentences, replacing them with a footnote drafted on MS opp. 982 and keyed here to ‘Mother’. In the third pass, he revised that note and deleted the mocking verses. In the fourth pass, he deleted the note and resituated the material: see post p. 299 ll. 14–18 and n. a2.

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H-P iv. (none)

settled’ and Letter 454 which is very mild indeed is given as if it were his Answer to it÷this. But besides that there is an interval of eight days between them though the distance was only that between Bath and London, it is perfectly well known that there were two letters between them÷intermediate letters, one from Johnson in strong and earnest terms attempting if possible to avert what he looked upon as a very fatal resolution, the other from Mrs. Thrale assuming a keen and violent÷high tone /contrasting the brewer with the Musickmaster avowing her inflexibility/.>] [In the Collection of his Letters with a few of her own which Mrs. Thrale has published, Letter 453 announces to him the marriage being ‘irrevocably settled’ and Letter 454 which is very mild indeed is given as if it were his Answer to it. But besides that there is an interval of eight days between them though the distance was only that between Bath and London, it is perfectly well known that there were two intermediate letters, one from Johnson in strong and earnest terms attempting if possible to avert what he looked upon as a very fatal measure, the other from Mrs. Thrale assuming a high and violent tone contrasting the brewer with the Musickmaster and avowing her fixed resolution to pursue her own inclination.1 del] [Seeing that there was now no possibility÷hope left of preventing the match [MS 984] Johnson’s heart relented, and he wrote to her that pathetick and soothing letter which she not authentically endeavours to pass for the answer to her first declaration. By this true statement of the particulars Johnson appears at once with the dignity of disapprobation and the amiable yielding of tenderness. Whether any more letters passed between Johnson÷him and her after this time I know not.÷I am told that no more letters passed between Johnson÷him and her after this time. Sir John Hawkins I fancy has published his last words concerning her.2>] [Seeing that there was now no hope left of His own Imagined success To rich felicity thus rais’d My bosom glows with amorous fire Porter no longer shall be prais’d ’Tis I myself am — THRALES ENTIRE.>] [A fourth cause has been assigned towit that Johnson himself wished to espouse the rich widow. This I believe to be totally without any serious foundation, though I have seen him pleased to be rallied upon it. The report however has given rise to a humourous Poem ‘Ode by Dr. Johnson to Mrs. Thrale upon their supposed approaching Nuptials’ printed for Faulder in Bond Street in which their fancied loves are ludicrously exhibited. del] 1 Writing to Mrs. Thrale on 2 July, SJ begged to see her if she was not yet ‘ignominiously married’, if the ‘last act’ was ‘yet to do’ and her fate was not ‘irrevocable’. In her reply of 4 July (sent by coach to forestall his coming), she defended Piozzi’s birth, sentiments, and profession, and—until SJ could think better of him—broke off their correspondence. SJ’s ‘very mild’ (‘pathetick and soothing’: see ll. 20–21) response was dated 8 July. See Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 338, 343–44 and n. 1. 2 Leaving room here to add two and a half lines of copy in revision, JB in the margin wrote ‘Qu if insert? from p. 570.’ See p. 254 ll. 7–8 and n. 4.

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preventing the match [MS 984] Johnson’s heart relented, and he wrote to her that pathetick and soothing letter which she endeavours to pass for the answer to her first declaration. My intention in this short but true statement of the particulars of this transaction is to shew that Johnson in this last intercourse with this Lady displayed not only the dignity of disapprobation but the amiable softness of a tender & affectionate heart. I suppose3 letters passed between Johnson and her after this time. Sir John Hawkins I fancy has published his last words concerning her. ‘Poor Thrale4 del] [Justice to his memory÷the character of a great & good man which in my opinion she has very wantonly hurt obliges me before dismissing this subject to make a few observations in his favour.>] [Justice to the character of this great & good man which in my opinion she has very wantonly endeavoured to injure, obliges me before dismissing this subject to make a few observations in his favour on her narrative.>] Justice to Dr. Johnson’s character5 It must be admitted that [a considerable portion of happiness was infused into his existence÷obtained to him by>] Johnson derived a considerable portion of happiness from the comforts and elegancies [and consequence and society del] which he enjoyed in [Mrs.>] Mr. Thrales family; but [if we are÷were to÷should beleive Mrs. Thrale he>] Mrs. Thrale assures us he was indebted for [this>] these to her husband ≤alone≥ who ≤certainly≥ respected him [sincerely and on whose account she bore with him.>] [sincerely [MS opp. 984] for she thus writes now that he cannot answer: ‘Veneration>] [sincerely [MS opp. 984] for she thus writesa in a motley and I think contradictory manner now that he is gone and cannot refute her: ‘Veneration>] sincerely. [MS opp. 984] Her words are: ‘Veneration for his virtue reverence for his talents, delight in his conversation and habitual endurance of a yoke my husband first put upon me and of which he contentedly bore his share for sixteen or seventeen years made me go on so long with [1st ed. ii. 529] Mr. Johnson; but the perpetual confinement I will own to have been terrifying in the first years of our friendship and irksome in the last nor could I pretend to support it without help when my coadjutor was no more.’a/6 Alas [alas del]! how different is this from the declarations which I have heard a

Anecdotes p. 293.a1

3 In revision, while otherwise rejecting both of the alternative phrasings of this sentence (p. 253 ll. 24–26), JB did not delete either ‘Whether’ or ‘any’. Above ‘letters’ he drafted ‘I suppose’ and bracketed the words to begin a new paragraph. 4 Leaving this revision incomplete, JB at the bottom of the page combined a memorandum with a partial draft of his eventual footnote: ‘Note) Extract Letter Dr. Johnson to Sir John Hawkins. Life p. ’. Afterwards, when ready to finish the quotation and footnote, he drafted them on MS 982v (see ante p. 251 ll. 20–23 and 34). 5 This phrase, as revised, survived JB’s deletion of the rest of the sentence, and an X at the right edge of the page suggests that his final copy may have continued elsewhere. With no such copy to be found, however, the compositor evidently ignored the words. 6 This quotation is transcribed to reflect JB’s final intention: as originally drafted, only five words or phrases were underlined for italics, but in revision, he marked the entire quotation for ‘Italicks’, a decision that entailed the use of roman type for underlined words. (In the third edition, ‘Mr. Johnson’ also was printed in roman). a1 The title ‘Anecdotes’ was printed within quotation marks in footnotes and in the text throughout this discussion. In the revises and first edition, this footnote appeared on ii. 528 with no exponent in the text above. The exponent was printed on ii. 529 of

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[her>] this Lady make in his lifetime without a single murmur against any of his peculiarities or ≤against≥ any one circumstance [in÷of their>] which attended their intimacy. [Her Letters to him of÷about which I may judge from one which I have in my possession were full not only of reverence÷veneration÷respect but of affection I had almost said fondness.7 [MS 984v] Had she not listened to the song of love÷voice of the charmer ‘And instead of your÷a lap=dog take me to your arms’8, had not she found the presence of the Sage a formidable÷an aweful check upon that passion which it seems she supposed irresistible even at her years and with her daughters arround her, I am convinced÷cannot help thinking, that we should not have been surprised and shocked by such a change of tone in his ‘dearest dear Lady.’ we never should have heard of that burthensome yoke the weight of which was never perceived till almost twenty years had elapsed.>] [Her Letters to him instead of betraying any symptoms of discontent were full not only of respect but of affection I had almost said fondness. [MS 984v] Had she not found the presence of the Sage9 a check upon the indulgence of that passion which it seems she supposed irresistible even at her years and with her daughters arround her, we never should have heard of that yoke the weight of which was never perceived till almost twenty years had elapsed. del] [[MS 984] 1But all of us who [MS 985] had an opportunity to observe what really was the fact, know well that although Mr. Thrale did indeed respect÷honour him & loved his company÷conversation, it was Mrs. Thrale who most assiduously courted him, and for all her care and attention she was amply repaid by the gratification of her vanity in having so great a man whose conversation was so much desired, to be as it were in her possession, so that on his account in order to share that conversation she in return was courted by numbers of eminent persons, to whom she could display the mighty Johnson as her playful domestick 7 After drafting and deleting three sputtering false starts here—‘Indeed’, ‘Indeed all’, and ‘Indeed all’ again—JB proceeded to the verso of MS 984. 8 This was the last line of a song in Charles Macklin’s Love à-la-Mode (1759). The following stanzas provide the context:

Ten times in a day to her chamber I come, To tell her my passion, but can’t, I’m struck dumb: For Cupid he seizes my soul with surprize, And my tongue falls asleep at the sight of her eyes. Her little dog Pompey’s my rival I see, She kisses and hugs him, but frowns upon me: Then pray, my dear Charlotte, debase not your charms, But instead of your lap-dog take me to your arms. (1784, p. 19) 9 The word ‘been’, written and deleted above the line here in revision, suggests that JB momentarily considered the phrasing ‘Had not the presence of the Sage been’. 1 This copy originally followed the sentence ending on the phrase ‘she bore with him’ (ante p. 254 l. 21). It is indented here because that passage, as revised and augmented on MSS opp. 984 and 984v, concluded a paragraph.

the revises (the first page of sig. Yyy), where the quotation ended, causing JB to address Selfe at the bottom of the page: ‘The reference 1 relates to p. 293. But see if it be not on the preceeding page, Sheet Xxx. It is so in the Proof.’ Sig. Xxx had evidently gone to press already; all Selfe could do was delete the exponent on ii. 529. It was restored in the second edition after the quotation.

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companion. Dean Marli upon the supposition of his ferocity wittily observed that she was vain to shew that she could turn a Wolf=dog into a lap=dog.’2>] [But all of us who [MS 985] had an opportunity of observing the real state of the case know well that although Mr. Thrale truly respected him & loved his company, Mrs. Thrale indeed assiduously courted him, and for all her care and 5 attention she was amply repaid by the gratification of her vanity in having so 6 great a man whose conversation was so much desired, to be as it were in her 7 possession, so that on his account in order to share that conversation she in 8 return was courted by numbers of eminent persons, to whom she could display 9 10 the mighty Johnson as her domestick companion.a del] 3 [MS 986 ] [To guard my readers against the mistaken notion of Dr. John- 11 son’s character which this Lady’s Anecdotes of him exhibit too much care 12 [But besides all these considerations and taking no notice of÷leaving out of the case the pecuniary advantage which she has made of Johnson having received for her Collection of Letters alone five hundred guineas her having it in her power to come forth into the World /even after her second marriage/ with the consequence of÷in the elevation of having shewn extraordinary [MS 986] kindness to Johnson is a full compensation according to Prior’s Epigram a

To John I owed great obligation But John unhappilya1 thought fit To publish it to all the Nation. Sure John and I are more than quit.a2 del] 2 JB marked only the close of this quotation. In successive stages of revision—prior to deleting the entire page—he scored through this sentence; reinstated it, writing ‘Stet’ in the margin and correcting the name to ‘Marlay’; then deleted ‘Stet’, by that point recalling that Marlay’s witticism already stood in print (see ante pp. 59 n. 8, 60 ll. 6–7 and n. 1). 3 As originally drafted, the copy on MS 986 ended with Prior’s verses (see n. a2), followed by a direction to the compositor: ‘Here take in Paper apart of Remarks on a few of her Anecdotes’. JB drew a circle around this direction at some point, but ultimately deleted it. No such Paper Apart survives. If the direction was merely promissory, the copy that follows—inexplicably indented in line with Prior’s epigram above it, but written to fill the page as usual on MS 987—represents JB’s first draft of the ‘Remarks’. If, however, JB drafted a Paper Apart Remarks, what follows represents his recopying of it, no doubt with revisions. a1 Quoting from memory, JB placed a small x above this word, and another in the margin, to remind himself to verify it. His quotation was accurate (The Literary Works of Matthew Prior, ed. H. Bunker Wright and Monroe K. Spears, 2 vols., 1959, i. 454). The epigram was integral to this passage from its inception as a note in the Life Materials: ‘Mrs. Thrale abundantly recompensed by the celebrity given to a Brewer & his Wife / Besides as Prior says / To John I owed great obligation / &c.’ (M 149). a2 This footnote, transcribed here as first drafted, was originally part of the main text. JB marked it for a note in revision, changing ‘But besides’ to ‘Besides’ and after the phrase ‘kindness to Johnson’ inserting ‘without which “he would scarce have lived and kept his faculties entire” a cruel inuendo!’ (sic; quoting from Anecdotes, p. 294; Johns. Misc. i. 341). Before resolving the sets of alternatives or the optional phrase, however, he began deleting lines individually and finally the note altogether with four vertical strokes. This deletion was separate from (and made prior to) JB’s decision to delete all the copy above it on MS 985.

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cannot be taken for from its÷their very nature her book ‘lends>] [As a sincere friend of the Great Man whose Life I am writing, I consider it as a duty to guard my readers against the mistaken notion of Dr. Johnson’s character which this Lady’s Anecdotes of him suggest4 for from their very nature and form her book ‘lends>] As a sincere friend of the Great Man whose Life I am writing, I think it necessary to guard my readers against the mistaken notion of Dr. Johnson’s character which this Lady’s Anecdotes of him suggest for from the very nature and form of her book it ‘lends deception lighter wings to fly.’ [In the front of this generous array let me place one of more powerful dexterity than myself — Mr. Malone5 who thus admirably observes ‘Mrs. Piozzi’s Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson should be read with the constant recollection that she6 is totally careless about truth.’>] [‘Mrs. Piozzi’s Anecdotes’ a friend justly observes ‘should be read with the constant recollection that she is totally careless about truth.’>] [‘These Anecdotes (a learned gentleman justly observes) should be read with the constant recollection that their Authour is by no means scrupulously attentive to truth.’ [MS 987] ‘Johnson ≤(he adds)7≥ used to say of her that if she could but make a story better in the telling, she did not care what she added to it, a practice which he thought very blameable. From the best accounts I have been able to collect from the persons concerned it appears to me that very many of these anecdotes8 are misrepresented or miscoloured or exaggerated or some circumstances suppressed or added.’ del] [‘Another particular to be recollected is that>] [‘Let it also be remembered that>] [MS 987] ‘Let it be remembered (says a learned friend9) that she has 4 In revision, initially working with the original opening phrase of this sentence (‘To guard … exhibit’), JB changed ‘exhibit’ to ‘suggest #’ and copied that symbol on the facing page. But before writing ‘I think it necessary’ (the false start he had in mind; see endnotes), he deleted those symbols, put an asterisk above the words ‘To guard’ (at the same time turning the ‘T’ into a ‘t’), and drafted a new phrase to precede them. 5 EM’s name under deletion here and below (p. 261 ll. 22–23) confirms Croker’s identification of ‘an eminent critick’ (see n. 9): ‘no doubt Mr. Malone, whose MS. Notes on Mrs. Piozzi’s “Anecdotes” contain the germs of these criticisms’ (v. 254). The notes were ‘communicated’ to Croker by the purchaser of EM’s copy of the Anecdotes from the 1825 sale of the library of James Boswell, Jr. (Boswell’s Books, p. 307, item 2612). 6 Here JB deleted two false starts: (1) ‘is constantly’; (2) ‘has comprised in a small volume all she could recollect of’. The words of EM to this point were paraphrased, as shown by JB’s return to the second of these starts below, where he drafted (and revised) a different phrase to usher it in (ll. 22–23). 7 JB inserted this phrase in revision to separate the present quotation from the one on MS 986. From the top of MS 987 to the middle of MS 990, he put quotation marks at the start of each line copied from EM; excerpts from Mrs. Piozzi’s Anecdotes, by contrast, received the usual opening and closing sets of quotation marks. In print, however, the convention of running quotation marks down the left margin of the page was outmoded. To keep the two sources of quotation distinct in terms of their display, JB in revision drew a line down the left-hand margin alongside each quotation from the Anecdotes and specified ‘Italicks’. Consequently, words originally underlined were printed in roman. As before (see p. 254 n. 6), such quotations in the following pages are transcribed to reflect JB’s final intentions. 8 MS orig. ‘I have taken particular pains to examine the very persons concerned, relative to almost all she has told and every one of them’, a false start. JB rephrased EM’s wording even as he jotted quotation marks to start each new line (see n. 7). 9 Printed in the revises ‘an eminent critick’, with a footnote on the phrase: ‘Who has been pleased to furnish me with his remarks.’ EM’s remarks abetted the strategy

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comprised in a small volume all ≤that≥ she could recollect of Dr. Johnson in twenty years [and told some certainly severe things said by him and people÷they who>] during which period doubtless some severe things were said by him and they who read the Book in two hours [imagine>] naturally enough suppose that [Dr. Johnson’s>] his whole conversation was [made up of such /sayings/.>] of this complection. But the fact is I have been often in his company, and never once heard him say a severe thing to any one and many others can [say the same thing.>] attest the same. When he did say a severe thing it was generally extorted by ignorance pretending to knowledge, or by extreme vanity or affectation.’ [This excellent Critick has taken the trouble to write down a string [MS 988] of inaccuracies and misrepresentations which he has detected in this little Volume; and with his permission I select one or two.1>] [MS opp. 987] ‘Two instances of inaccuracy2 are peculiarly worthy of notice.’ [MS 988] [P. 183 She says>] ‘It is said[a]/3 “The natural4 roughness of his manner so often mentioned would notwithstanding the regularity of his notions burst through them all from time to time and he once bade a very celebrated lady who praised him with too much zeal perhaps, or perhaps too strong an emphasis (which always offended him) consider what her flattery was worth before she choaked him with it.”’ — [Now let the real÷genuine anecdote be contrasted with this. — ‘The person>] ‘Now let the genuine anecdote be contrasted with this [account added and del].5 — The person thus represented as being harshly treated though a very celebrated Lady was then just come to London from [having been a Mistress of a country boarding school.>] an obscure situation in the country. At Sir Joshua Reynolds’s one evening she met Dr. Johnson. She very soon began to pay her court to him in the most fulsome strain. Spare me I beseech you dear Madam was his reply. She still laid it on. Pray Madam let us have no more of this he rejoined. Not paying any attention to these warnings she continued still her eulogium. At length provoked by this indelicate and vain obtrusion of compliment he [cried out>] [exclaimed6 del] [MS 989] Dearest Lady consider a

Anecdotes p. 183.

he had laid out for JB on 4 Sept. 1786 when writing to express dismay over a criticism of JB in the Public Advertiser: ‘towards the end of the Life, where the smaller traits of character are to be investigated, it would be very right to answer this and Mrs. Piozzi, and all other artful misrepresentations that are well done; and to mark distinctly how far true and where the falsehood commences’ (Corr. 2a, p. 140). 1 At an intermediate stage of revision, JB changed this to ‘select two instances.’ 2 To complement the quotation marks by which he turned his own narrative bridge into the words of the ‘eminent critick’, JB later inserted ‘(adds he)’ here (evidently in proof; so printed in revises). 3 JB added no footnote symbol in revision, but the exponent was printed here in the revises. 4 Changed by JB in the revises to ‘That natural’, the correct reading. 5 In revision, when marking this sentence to begin a new paragraph, JB added quotation marks, turning his own transition once again (see n. 2 above) into the words of the ‘eminent critick’. 6 By mistake, JB later deleted this verb—drafted in revision on MS opp. 988—without replacing it. The compositor, given no subsequent choice, typeset it (so in revises).

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with yourself what your flattery is worth before you bestow it so freely.7 — And he was right. It is high presumption in any obscure individual to suppose that his praise can confer any honour on such a man as Dr. Johnson. [1st ed. ii. 530] ‘How different does this story appear when accompanied with all these circumstances which really belong to it, but which Mrs. Piozzi8 either did not know or has suppressed. [The former however I beleive to be the fact. del]’ [P. 202 del] 9She saysa ‘One gentleman however who dined at a nobleman’s house in his company and that of Mr. Thrale to whom I was obliged for the Anecdote was willing to enter the lists in defence of King William’s character, and having opposed and contradicted Johnson two or three times petulantly enough, the master of the house began to feel uneasy and expect disagreable consequences; to avoid which he said loud enough for the Doctor to hear, Our freind here has no meaning now in all this except just to relate at club tomorrow how he teised Johnson at dinner to-day — this is all to do himself honour. No upon my word replied the other, I see no honour in it whatever you may do. “Well Sir (returned Mr. [MS 990] Johnson sternly) if you do not see the honour I am sure I feel the disgrace.”’1 ‘This is all sophisticated. Mr. Thrale was not in the company though he might have related the story to Mrs. Thrale, and it has gained something by the way. Sir Joshua Reynolds2 from whom I had the story was present. It was not at the house of a Nobleman but of Mr. Fitzmaurice.3 On the observation being made by the master of the [family>] house on a gentleman’s contradicting Johnson that he talked for the honour &c. the gentleman4 [grunted, half a

Anecdotes p. 202.

7 The ‘celebrated Lady’ was identified as Hannah More by Mrs. Piozzi in her copy of the 1816 edition of the Life. In the revises, each speech was marked as an internal quotation, and the paragraph ended here; the following dash and sentences were omitted. To avoid quoting SJ’s rebuke of More twice, JB deleted his own version of it on MS opp. 695; see Life MS iii. 212 ll. 7–10 and n. 9. Croker (v. 255) supplied a cross-reference to that previous discussion of More’s flattery (iv. 152), where he had identified her on the basis of the ‘Malone MS’; on this MS, see ante p. 257 n. 5. 8 Printed in the revises ‘Mrs. Thrale’. 9 Quotation marks printed here in the revises signalled the continuing remarks of the ‘eminent critick’. 1 Assuming JB reproduced this aspect of his copy accurately, EM missed two of the words italicized by Mrs. Piozzi in SJ’s speech: ‘… see the honour, … feel the disgrace.’ He was faithful to her text, however, in placing quotation marks only around SJ’s speech. None were printed in the revises; dashes set apart each internal quotation, and a semicolon stood in for the dash in the copy. In the third edition, in combination with the dashes, quotation marks enclosed the initial speech (‘Our … honour.’); and in addition to the four words in roman type, the names also were so printed—‘Mr. Thrale’, ‘King William’s’, ‘Johnson’ (twice), and ‘Mr. Johnson’. 2 Printed in the revises ‘A friend’, whose identity as Reynolds the MS now reveals. 3 A small x above ‘Mr.’ suggests that JB meant to reconsider EM’s form of reference to the Hon. Thomas Fitzmaurice, whose name was omitted from the end of this sentence in the revises: ‘present; and it was not at the house of a nobleman.’ Mrs. Piozzi identified him in her copy of the 1816 edition of the Life; see Hill-Powell iv. 542 (App. J). 4 Richard Pottinger, one of four Clerks to the Privy Seal, as identified by Mrs. Piozzi (dubbing him ‘the Hero’), and by EM in his copy of her Anecdotes (Hill-Powell iv. 542 [App. J]; Corr. 2a, p. 113 n. 8).

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to himself,>] muttered in a low voice, I see no honour in it, and Dr. Johnson said nothing so all the rest [(though bien trouvée) is÷is (though bien trouvée)>] (though bien trouvée) is mere garnish.’ I have had occasion several times in the course of this Worka/5 to correct the careless inaccuracy of Mrs. Thrale as to particulars which consisted with my own knowledge. And indeed what [can>] could be expected from one who [with keeness attempts>] with an inconsistent flippancy presumes to censure that anxious desire of authenticity which prompts a person who is to record conversations, to write them down at the moment.6 Unquestionably if they are to be recorded at all, the sooner it is done the better. [She>] This Lady herself ≤[MS opp. 990] [declares÷confesses÷says>] says (p. 23)7 ‘To recollect however and to repeat the sayings of Dr. Johnson is almost all that can be done by the writers of his life8; as his life, at least since my acquaintance with him, consisted in little else than talking, when he was not employed in some serious piece of work;’ and she≥ [MS 991] boasts of having kept a common place book, and indeed we find she wrote down (in her way) much9 of the conversation of Dr. Johnson and of those who talked with him; but had she done [it÷so>] it recently it is to be hoped it would have been less erroneous.1 a

≤See pages

≥

a1

5 At this juncture, where JB left behind the inaccuracies of the Anecdotes exposed by EM and shifted into his own fault-finding, many significant differences between the MS and the revises reveal changes made in first proof. JB received help in moderating his tone: on 22 Feb. 1791, ‘Courtenay came about ten … and obligingly assisted me in lightening my animadversions on Mrs. Piozzi in my Life of Johnson—for my own credit.—His manly mind conveyed to me some sympathick force’ (Journ.). The fruits of this lightening began with the ensuing passage, printed as follows in the revises: ‘to point out the incorrectness of Mrs. Thrale, as to particulars which consisted with my own knowledge. But indeed she has, in flippant terms enough, expressed her disapprobation of that anxious …’. A query in the margin next to the phrase ‘consisted with’—‘Qr with’—was deleted by JB. 6 JB put no footnote symbol on this quotation, but nearby, in the lower left-hand corner of the page, wrote ‘Anecdotes p. 44’. In the revises, the note—its exponent appearing here—was printed ‘Ibid. p. 44.’ ‘P. 44 is undoubtedly levelled at me’, JB fumed to EM on 31 Mar. 1786, ‘for, it describes what the Jade has often seen me do—but with Dr. Johnson’s approbation; for he at all times was flattered by my preserving what fell from his mind when shaken by conversation, so there was nothing like treachery. I must have the patience of Job to bear the Book of Esther. But I shall trim her recitativo and all her airs’ (Corr. 2a, p. 114). 7 In the revises, a footnote on ‘says’ replaced this in-text citation: ‘Ibid. p. 23.’ Adding the present passage in revision, JB marked the following quotation for italics from the start (cp. p. 257 n. 7). In the third edition, ‘Dr. Johnson’ was converted to roman type. 8 Printed in the revises ‘Life’, in differentiation from ‘life’ in the next phrase. 9 MS orig. ‘and indeed she wrote down much’; printed in the revises ‘and we find she noted, at one time or other, in a very lively manner, specimens’. 1 Printed in the revises ‘recently, they probably would have been less erroneous; [1st ed. ii. 531] and we should have been relieved from those disagreeable doubts of their authenticity, with which we must now peruse them.’ a1 No trace of this footnote appeared in the revises. Either time ran short to find the pages, or JB deferred the task to the second of five entries for ‘Piozzi, Mrs.’ in the Table of Contents: ‘anecdotes related by her of Johnson refuted or explained, i. 11, 29, 43, 225, 263, 378, 381, 479; ii. 515, 528, 529–33.’ Many of these pages overlap with the cross-references in Hill-Powell (iv. 343 n. 1) that also serve JB’s original purpose.

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[She tells us (p. 71) that she wrote down from his own lips his lines÷verses÷ epigram on a temple to the Winds at Lord Ansons (meaning Mr. Anson’s in Staffordshire) and thus she gives them2 5 6 7 8 9

Gratum animum laudo; qui debuit omnia ventis. Quam bene ventorum surgere templa jubet. Now it is impossible that Johnson could have dictated so uncouth and totally unmetrical a line as the first. The line which he did write and with which he favoured me was Qui nil virtuti qui debuit omnia ventis. del]

She [says of÷thus attacks him (p. 193)>] says of him[a]/3 ‘he was the most charitable of mortals, without being what we call an active freind. Admirable at giving counsel, no man saw his way so clearly; but he would not stir a finger for the assistance of those to whom he was willing enough to give advice.’ And again on the same page ‘If you wanted a slight favour, you must apply to people of other dispositions; for not a step would Johnson move to obtain a man a vote in a Society to repay a compliment which might be [MS 992] useful or pleasing, to write a letter of request &c.4 or to obtain a hundred pounds a year more for a freind who perhaps had already two or three. No force could urge him to diligence, no importunity could conquer his resolution to stand still.’ 20 It is amazing [that so gross>] that so strange a misrepresentation of this great man’s character should come from one who had such opportunities of knowing the contrary. Indeed nothing can be more just and penetrating than [Mr. Malone’s observation that>] the observation made by the learned gentleman whose sentiments I have already quoted — [namely del] that ‘her Book is evi25 dently written at two different times and with two different [Views÷objects>] Views one to aggrandise the other to depreciate Dr. Johnson.’ While he was the ‘Guide Philosopher and Freind’ of Mrs. Thrale he could not be too much extolled; but when he became the indignant upbraider of Signora Piozzi, then 10 11 12 13 14 15

≤Anecdotes p. 193.a1≥

a

2 MS orig. ‘gives the first line’, changed once JB decided to quote both lines, as Mrs. Piozzi had done in countering the version of the epigram ‘falsely printed in many papers since his death’. In The European Magazine Jan. 1785, vii. 58, for instance, the first line read ‘QUI nil virtuti, sed debuit Omnia Ventis,’, the wording mirrored in JB’s correction. The text quoted by Mrs. Piozzi was adopted in Poems 1964 (pp. 256–57) and Poems 1974 (pp. 168–69). 3 The footnote symbol implicit in JB’s revision was printed here in the revises. As elsewhere (see ante p. 257 n. 7), the following quotation from the Anecdotes is transcribed according to the direction—given in revision—that ‘Italicks’ be used. 4 JB inserted this ‘&c.’—which is not in the Anecdotes—in the same draft, perhaps returning to the quotation after the mention below (p. 262 ll. 8, 22–27) of SJ’s literary largesse in many genres. a1 In the course of printing, the two citations at the foot of p. 531 became reversed. This one in error was printed ‘“Anecdotes,” p. 51.’ See p. 262 n. 6.

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he was to be by all means [pulled down÷lowered>] lowered, that his authority might be [lessened>] diminished.5 [Our Authoress÷The Lady>] This Lady does not advert [how>] that she herself contradicts the [strange del] assertion of his being obstinately defective in [the÷la>] the petite morale [MS 993] in the little endearing charities of social life in conferring smaller favours for (p. 51)6 she says ‘Dr. Johnson was liberal enough in granting literary assistance to others, I think; and innumerable are the prefaces sermons lectures and dedications which he used to make for people who begged of him.’ I am certain that a more active freind has rarely [been found÷appeared÷existed>] been found in any age. This Work which I fondly hope will rescue his memory from Obloquy contains a thousand instances of [his÷such>] his benevolent exertions in almost every way that can be conceived; and particularly in employing his pen with a generous readiness for those to whom its aid could be useful. ≤Indeed his readiness and activity in doing little offices of kindness both by letters and personal application was one of the most remarkable features in his character and for the truth of this I can appeal to a numerous and respectable band of his friends yet living Sir Joshua Reynolds The Bishop of Dromore Mr. Langton Mr. Hamilton Mr. Burke Mr. Windham Mr. Malone7 Sir William Scott Sir Robert Chambers.≥ Mrs. Thrale of all the human race÷all who ever knew him should be the last to charge him as she has done. She who is so particularly indebted to his goodness.8 Can she forget the Advertisements which he condescended to write for Mr. Thrale9 at the time of his election Contest, the epitaphs on her Mother and husband, the playful & even trifling verses for the amusement of her and her daughters, his stooping to correspond even with1 her children and [to enter÷entering>] entering into their [paultry÷minute>] minute concerns ≤which shews him in the most amiable light≥.2 [And above all can she forget his taking the trouble 5 In altered form, only the first sentence of this paragraph survived in the revises: ‘It is amazing that one who had such opportunities of knowing Dr. Johnson, should appear so little acquainted with his real character.’ The paragraph continued with the copy below, to which an introductory phrase had been added: ‘I am sorry this lady …’. 6 Omitted in the revises, the in-text citation was replaced by a footnote on ‘says’: ‘Ibid. p. 193.’ The accidental reversal of page numbers by the compositor (see p. 261 n. a1) was never corrected, though the two errors are noted in Hill-Powell. 7 JB readjusted the order of names as his roster grew. Here he drafted ‘Mr. L’, then wrote ‘Malone’ over the ‘L’, placed a caret after ‘Reynolds’, and added ‘Mr. Langton’ there above the line. Three more names followed EM’s, beginning with ‘The Bishop of Dromore’. Then, however, JB moved the Bishop’s name by deleting it, rewriting it in the left-hand margin, and inserting another caret after Reynolds’s name, to the left of the previous one. The compositor either did not see both carets, or did not know what to make of them, for he typeset the Bishop’s name where it was originally drafted (so in revises). 8 JB added this sentence in the same draft, an early symptom of rising ‘indignation’ (see p. 263 n. 3). It was omitted in the revises along with the previous sentence, replaced by a dash. The missing first proof would have shown which of the unresolved alternative phrases in that sentence had been typeset. 9 Printed in the revises ‘And can Mrs. Thrale forget the advertisements which he wrote for her husband’. 1 Printed in the revises ‘his corresponding with’. 2 In the margin next to this question (punctuated as such in the revises), JB later jotted a memorandum, ‘Quote some to & of them & mention Mr. Hastings’s remark’.

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through such a series of years to honour her with so many letters [MS 994] that she actually sold them for no less a sum than five hundred guineas!3 It is not easy to refrain from /warmth and strong/ expressions of disapprobation when such things are; but I will refrain /both from delicacy to one÷her÷a lady with whom I once lived in the cordiality of the Johnsonian School, /and for my own decorum.÷the decorum of my own Work/. del] ≤[Paper Apart4; 1st ed. ii. 532] [One of this Lady’s Anecdotes (p. 158) merits peculiar observation. It relates>] She relatesa that Mr. [Cholmondeley>] Ch—lm—ley unexpectedly rode up to Mr. Thrale’s carriage in which Mr. Thrale & she & Dr. Johnson were travelling; that he paid them all his proper compliments; but observing that Dr. Johnson who was reading did not see him ‘tapt him gently on the shoulder. Tis Mr. Ch—lm—ley says my husband. — Well Sir — and what if it is Mr. Ch—ml—ey5, says the other sternly, just lifting his eyes a moment from his book, and returning [them del] to it again, with renewed avidity.’ This surely conveys a [very unfavourable del] notion of Johnson as if he had been grossly rude to Mr. Cholmondeley6 a gentleman whom he always loved a

P. 158.a1

He deleted it afterwards, without adding any such quotations here, but elsewhere having incorporated the letter written to him on 2 Dec. 1790 in which Hastings praises SJ’s ‘uncommon warmth of private friendship’ (ante p. 53 ll. 28–29)—very likely the remark that had a bearing on the present passage. 3 JB’s deletions to this passage occurred at one later sitting, but in two stages. His primary target was the present sentence, which he scored through line by line. Then he began to revise the next sentence: he kept its opening phrase, ‘It is not easy to’, continuing it (on MS opp. 994) ‘suppress the indignation that I feel upon this subject; but’. With this linkage to his final clause (‘but I will refrain’), he scored through one line of intervening copy, but then abruptly—before addressing the optional elements or alternative phrases at the end of the sentence—deleted with sweeping triangular strokes the whole portion of this paragraph drafted on MS 994. 4 A single leaf written on both sides, this Paper Apart is headed ‘Mr. Cholmondeley’, to which JB added ‘For p. 530 of the printed work.’ He earlier had intended this passage to come in at the bottom of MS opp. 996 (see p. 265 n. 8), but its delivery to the printer after the proof of sig. Yyy (pp. 529–36) had been pulled suggests a delayed drafting, as does his underscoring of the central quotation for italics from the outset, not afterwards. How the paragraph wound up on p. 532 of the revises is unclear. On p. 530, it perhaps would have been the first paragraph to succeed EM’s criticisms. JB’s later (possibly lastminute) revision of its introductory sentence changed it from a special exhibit of Mrs. Piozzi’s ‘misrepresentations’ at the head of his own animadversions into one of several examples to be examined in turn. 5 JB’s inconsistency here was resolved in print: ‘Mr. Ch—lm—ley’. In the revises, both speeches were enclosed within quotation marks; in the Anecdotes, quotation marks had appeared only on SJ’s reply. In the third edition, both occurrences of ‘Mr. Ch—lm—ley’ were printed in roman type. 6 Footnote added in the second edition: ‘George James Cholmondeley, Esq. grandson of George third Earl of Cholmondeley, and one of the Commissioners of Excise; a gentleman respected for his abilities, and elegance of manners.’ a1 Printed in the revises ‘“Anecdotes,” p. 158.’ JB changed ‘158’ to ‘258’, correcting his original error. Revisions to these pages in proof, combined with an earlier mistake in typesetting (see p. 264 n. 2), led to three erroneous footnotes on p. 532 of the revises, including the reversal of the present note with the next one (see p. 264 n. 7). At the top of the page, JB listed the correct citation belonging to each exponent, and in the righthand margin advised the compositor, ‘You will take care the references be distinct’.

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& esteemed. If therefore there was an absolute necessity for telling the story at all, it might have been thought that tenderness for Dr. Johnson’s character would have disposed her to state any circumstance that could soften it. Why then is there a total silence as to what Mr. Cholmondeley told her — [towit del] that Johnson who had known him from his earliest years having been made sensible of what had doubtless a strange appearance took occasion when he afterwards met him, to make [the most>] a very courteous and kind apology. There is another little circumstance which I cannot but remark. [The ‘Anecdotes’ were>] Her Book was published in 1785. [The Lady>] She had then in her possession a letter from Dr. Johnson dated in 1777 (Letters to Mrs. Thrale Vol. 2. p. 12) which begins thus7 ‘Cholmondeleys story shocks me, if it be true, which I can hardly think, for I am utterly unconscious of it: I am very sorry, and very much ashamed.’ Why then publish the Anecdote? or if she did why not add the circumstances with which she was well acquainted.8≥ [MS 994] Let me add one other glaring [Mistatement which is÷namely>] misrepresentation namely the picture which she exhibits of [/the effect of/ del] his social intercourse./9 /On page 23 she thus describes him ‘ever musing till he was called out to converse, and conversing till the fatigue of his freinds or the promptitude of his own temper to take offence consigned him back again to silent meditation.’ Nothing can be more unlike more [directly÷shamelessly contrary>] diametrically opposite to what all his [valuable del] freinds know [to be the truth del], than this; I can scarcely beleive that it comes from that Mrs. Thrale whom I have [often and often÷so often>] so often [seen÷beheld>] beheld listening with rapture [to Johnson÷while Johnson talked>] while Johnson talked and [have heard say>] who has said to myself ‘Many people admire and reverence Mr. Johnson; but you and I love him.’1 [I have never seen her since she chose to retire ‘where she knew Mr. Johnson would not follow her’ (p. 292)2 never [MS 995] since she became the wife of Signor Piozzi, and therefore though I read the words which I have quoted, my imagination revolts at their being hers. del] 7 JB added the foregoing parenthetical citation in the same draft, after inserting and deleting a footnote symbol here. Yet the citation appeared as a footnote—the title within quotation marks, ‘Vol. 2’ printed ‘Vol. II.’—in the revises, switched with another note (see p. 263 n. a1). JB clarified that the exponent on ‘dated in 1777 refers to Letters’. 8 These questions, added to the Paper Apart with the same pen and ink used for a few other last-minute revisions (as transcribed above), were printed in the revises as separate sentences: ‘Why … anecdote? Or … acquainted?’ The final question mark, replaced with an exclamation point in the second edition, was restored in Hill-Powell. 9 Without second virgules corresponding to this one (deleted in revision with a somewhat errant stroke) or the one that immediately follows, the phrases JB considered to be optional are unclear. If he had a shorter introduction of the ensuing quotation in mind, he achieved it eventually by excising most of the first sentence in proof. In the revises, the paragraph began ‘In his social intercourse she thus describes him:’, with an erroneous footnote—‘Ibid. p. 192.’—that required correction (see n. 2 below). 1 This sentence was omitted from the revises. JB had previously included this saying on MS 613, in a section of narrative—running several pages—later deleted; see Life MS iii. 66 n. 1. 2 At an intermediate stage of revision, JB substituted a footnote for this citation, writing ‘Anecdotes p. 192’ at the bottom of MS 994. The original page number had been correct. Although JB later deleted the footnote along with the sentence, the compositor assigned this page number in error to the quotation on MS 994 that remained (ll. 17–20; see n. 9 above). JB corrected it to read ‘Anecdotes p. 23’.

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[MS 995] [What! does>] Does she represent Johnson’s conversation as ‘fatiguing his freinds, and himself as habitually prompt to take offence.’ Her double picture occurs here again.3 For in the same [Book (p. 302)>] Booka [the same woman says>] she tells us ‘He was however seldom inclined to be silent when any moral or 5 literary question was started; and it was on such occasions that like the sage in Ras6 selas, he spoke and attention watched his lips, he reasoned and conviction closed his 7 periods.’ Yet she can without remorse give a hideous caricature of Him to whom 8 she was under the greatest obligations and of whose conversation so far from its 9 ever fatiguing his freinds it may with truth be said that4 they regretted when it 10 was interrupted or ceased and could exclaim in Milton’s language 11 12 13 14

‘With thee conversing I forget all time.’

[1st ed. ii. 533] Such being the carelessness and inaccuracy in general, and after a certain event the prejudice [& spleen del] of Mrs. Thrale, I certainly do5 not claim too much in behalf of my illustrious [MS 996] freind than that how15 ever smart and entertaining her Anecdotes [may be they are not to be held÷are they must not be held>] are they must not to be held6 as good evidence against him; for wherever an instance of [grossness and brutality÷shocking roughness>] harshness and severity is told I beg leave to doubt its perfect authenticity. I mean there may have been some foundation for it; but that like that of his reproof to 20 the ‘very celebrated Lady’ it is so [told÷conveyed in the telling>] told as to be [quite>] very different from the real fact.7 [This observation I apply to÷With this observation I meet>] This observation I apply to the Anecdote [on p. 284 del] said to be told her by himself≤b≥ [of del] his saying of a Lady in her own presence [because she asserted>] who had asserted that she was happy ‘she is happy 25 without health without beauty, without money and without understanding.’ ≤And if a woman [devoid>] destitute of all those qualities had the affectation to assert that she was in possession of what he thought was denied even to the most fortunate of mortals, there is no wonder that he was irritated.8≥ a

30

b

Anecdotes p. 302. Anecdotes p. 284.

3 In the revises, these two sentences were also omitted (see n. 1 above), and the next sentence began with ‘Yet’, not ‘For’. 4 Curtailed and adjusted in proof, this sentence began as follows in the revises: ‘His conversation, indeed, was so far from ever fatiguing his friends, that’. In the third edition, ‘fatiguing’ was italicized. 5 In the revises, the opening phrases of this sentence having been excised in proof, p. 533 began ‘I certainly, then, do …’. 6 JB neglected to delete ‘to’ when resolving his alternatives; printed ‘must not be held’. 7 Printed in the revises ‘authenticity; for though there may have been some foundation for it, yet, like that of his reproof to the “very celebrated lady,” it may be so exhibited in the narration as to be very unlike the real fact.’ The paragraph ended here; the next two sentences had been deleted in proof. In the first of the following sentences, JB overlooked the quotation from p. 284 of the Anecdotes when, in revision, he went through this section designating ‘Italicks’ for all such excerpts. 8 Below this sentence, drafted in revision on MS opp. 996, JB later wrote ‘Here comes in story of Mr. Cholmondeley.’ The story was taken in elsewhere; see ante p. 263 and n. 4.

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[Another Anecdote of the same sort appears on page 63.>] There is Another Anecdote of the same sort of which the evident tendency is to represent Dr. Johnson as totally devoid of affection tenderness or even common civility, namely 63.9 ‘When I one day lamented the loss of a first cousin killed in America — “Prithee my dear (said he) have done with canting: how would the world be worse for it I may ask, if all your relations were at once spitted like larks, and roasted for Presto’s supper.” — Presto was the dog that lay under the table while we talked.’ [/In the first place/>] In the first place1 I suspect this too of exaggeration and distortion. I do not however [MS 997] deny that he made her an angry speech. But let the circumstances fairly appear as related by a gentleman2 who was present. [She it seems was whining and pretending to great concern about the death of a cousin3 with whom it does not appear that she had any freindship. There were a dozen of larks for supper, and while she was talking of her great sensibility on this melancholy occasion she continued devouring the larks. When she was got to the seventh or eigth, Dr. Johnson was so provoked with her affectation, that in his haste he called out it would be no great matter (meaning no doubt to her) if all her relations were spitted like those larks she was eating and given to Presto for his supper. del] ≤[MS opp. 997] ‘A relation not of hers but of Mr. Thrales, for whom both Thrale and Johnson had a regard had been ordered with his regiment to America where he had been killed in battel. Dr. Johnson had not yet heard of his fate and 4Mrs. Thrale while she was supping very heartily upon larks, laid down her knife & fork and abruptly exclaimed “O dear Mr. Johnson do you know what has happened. — The last letters from abroad have brought us an account that our poor cousin’s head was taken off by a cannon ball.” Johnson who was shocked both at the fact & her unfeeling manner of telling it replied “Madam it would give you very little concern if all your relations were spitted like those larks, and drest for Presto’s supper.”’a/5≥

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[MS 997 resumed] Upon mentioning this to my freind a1Mr. Wilkes he pleasantly told me a story somewhat similar which he witnessed at Paris. A 30 a

9 Printed in the revises ‘The evident tendency of the following anecdote is to represent Dr. Johnson very deficient in affection, tenderness, or even common civility.’ The citation came in a footnote on ‘anecdote’: ‘“Anecdotes,” p. 63.’ In the second edition, ‘as’ was reinserted after ‘Johnson’, and ‘very’ became ‘extremely’. 1 Originally run on. In revision, JB turned the first virgule into a bracket to indicate a new paragraph. In the revises, however, the sentence—without this opening phrase, evidently deleted in proof—was printed in continuation of the previous paragraph. 2 Printed in the revises ‘as told by Mr. Baretti’. In the copy deleted below—his own version of what Baretti related to him—JB elaborated a suspicion he had expressed on 31 Mar. 1786 to EM: ‘The story of spitting her relations is I suppose exaggerated; or she must have provoked him confoundedly by affectation of grief’ (Corr. 2a, p. 114). 3 Augmented to read ‘death of a cousin of Mr. Thrales’ at an intermediate stage of revision. 4 The preceding contextual details were omitted in the revises. Baretti’s account began here: ‘Mrs. Thrale, while supping …’. 5 Direction to the compositor, ‘See Note’. a1 This copy was originally part of the main text, drafted after (l. 18) ‘… Presto for his supper.’ In revision, JB placed a bracket here and marked it ‘NP’, but before he had

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[[MS 998] To confirm Mrs. Thrale’s being÷As a proof that Mrs. Thrale was subject to fits of affectation of great feeling I shall relate an Anecdote which I took sufficient pains to ascertain correctly. She complained to me that during their Tour in France, Dr. Johnson and she were in a chaise a little way behind that÷the carriage in which Mr. Thrale was. That she saw Mr. Thrale in imminent danger of his life and screamed out in an agony of fright; that Johnson instead of sympathising with her and endeavouring to console her, kept his eyes close fixed on a Book which he was reading, and remained inflexible, without taking the least notice of her.b This she mentioned as an instance how unfeeling he could be. I mentioned this to Johnson who answered it thus. ‘Sir I will tell you how it was. Thrale imagining himself in danger [MS 999] of an overturn had jumped out of the÷his Carriage. I saw he was safe, and she saw he was safe. But she set up a shout of distress and pretended to be in prodigious consternation. /I had a mind to let÷that I might let her see that I was not to be duped by her tricks, /and therefore was steady in paying no attention to her/.’>]6 [[MS 998] As a proof that Mrs. Thrale was subject to fits of affectation of great feeling I shall insert a short story in Johnson’s own words to me. ‘One day during our Tour in France Thrale imagining himself in danger [MS 999] of an overturn had jumped

young man of fashion invited him to supa2 with him and a Lady who had been 20 for some time his Mistress, but with whom he was going to part. He told Mr. Wilkes that he really felt very much for her, she was in such distress, and that he meant to make her a present of two hundred [Louis=d’ors÷pieces>] Louis=d’ors. Mr. Wilkes observed the behaviour of Mademoiselle who to be sure sighed very [MS 998] tenderly and [assumed÷put on>] assumed on very pathetick airsa3 of 25 grief; but she [nevertheless÷however>] nevertheless eat no less than three french pigeons, which are as large as partridges in England. Mr. Wilkes slyly whispered the gentleman ‘One hundred will [be enough÷do>] do.’a4 b b1 [She touches upon this story Anecdotes p. del] 6 The next transcription of this paragraph represents JB’s copy after a second round of revision, when he deleted much of the portion drafted on MS 998. In his first revision, while retaining that section, he had made three changes within it, deleting ‘sufficient’ (l. 3), altering ‘a chaise … behind that÷the carriage’ (ll. 4–5) to read ‘a carriage … behind that’, and replacing ‘mentioned’ (l. 9) with ‘related’.

deleted either the preceding phrase or ‘he’ (for the paragraph to begin ‘Mr. Wilkes pleasantly …’), he changed his mind, shifting the bracket to the word ‘Upon’ and marking it ‘Note’. a2 Printed in the revises, ‘he, with his usual readiness, pleasantly matched it with the following sentimental anecdote. He was invited by a young man of fashion at Paris, to sup’. a3 In resolving his alternatives, JB deleted ‘put’ but not ‘on’, leaving this garbled phrase. The compositor’s expedient, evidently, was to typeset ‘assumed every pathetick air’, a misreading that has gone uncorrected. a4 Printed in the revises ‘Mr. Wilkes whispered the gentleman, “We often say in England, Excessive sorrow is exceeding dry, but I never heard Excessive sorrow is exceeding hungry. Perhaps one hundred will do.” He took the hint.’ In the last sentence, JB changed ‘He’ to ‘The gentleman’. JB sought the imprimatur of Wilkes for this paragraph, as revealed by his message to the printer on of the first page of sig. Zzz (p. 537): ‘Sheet yyy is with Mr. Wilkes to look at a note.’ He assured the compositor, however, that there would be ‘no such alteration as to interfere’ with sig. Zzz. b1 See Anecdotes, pp. 276–77; Johns. Misc. i. 330.

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out of his Carriage. I saw he was safe, and she saw he was safe. But she set up a shout of distress and pretended to be in prodigious consternation. I had a mind to let her see that I was not to be duped by her tricks, and therefore was steady in paying no attention to her.’ del] [MS 999] [I am sorry to have been obliged to expose÷detect Mrs. Thrale’s foibles so much and>] [I am sorry to have been obliged to expose the inaccuracies and misrepresentations of Mrs. Thrale’s Anecdotes and>] It is with concern that I find myself obliged to animadvert on the inaccuracies of Mrs. Piozzi’s Anecdotes and perhaps I may be thought to have dwelt too long upon her little Collection. But as from Johnson’s long residence under [Mr. Thrale’s÷her /first/ husband’s>] Mr. Thrale’s roof and [extraordinary intimacy>] his intimacy with her the Account which she has [thrown into the World of this great and good man may have gained too much credit to his no small disadvantage a generous regard for his memory and a zeal for truth have obliged me>] given of him may have made an unfavourable and unjust impression my [1st ed. ii. 534] duty as a faithful biographer has obliged me to perform this unpleasing task. [Were it necessary I could shew errour or misrepresentation in almost every one article of her ‘Anecdotes.’7/8 del]9 [[MS 1003] During all this time I was very anxious to know the fate of the Lord Chancellor’s pious negociation as I called÷termed it in favour of the 7 In revision, here at the bottom of MS 999, JB directed the compositor to ‘Take in / Piozzian Rhimes’. Later, deleting the present sentence, he put the symbol = on ‘task’ (l. 16) and added ‘= Note’ to the left of this direction. These instructions—as evident from the nearby catchword, ‘Excerpt’—supplanted a direction or memorandum at the top of an original MS 1000, later discarded; on the surviving MS 1000, the word ‘Having’ begins a new paragraph (see post p. 273). On JB’s ‘Piozzian Rhimes’, published 20–27 Apr. 1786 in four London newspapers, see English Experiment, p. 60 and n. 8. The poem was reprinted in An Asylum for Fugitive Pieces, in Prose and Verse (2 vols., 1786); Irma S. Lustig included it in ‘Boswell at Work: The “Animadversions” on Mrs. Piozzi’, Modern Language Review 67, 1972, p. 18 n. 1. How many of its thirty-six verses JB intended to incorporate remains unknown. 8 As shown by the Life Materials, JB overlooked or ignored two of his memoranda from a list of topics intended for this section on Mrs. Thrale: ‘See Latin Ode on Mrs. Thrale in 1786 April or about it—Morning Post or Morning Chronicle / … Mrs. Thrales marrying meanly / See Ladies Library The Widow’ (M 158, p. 14). The Latin ode, wrongly attributed to SJ when printed in The Morning Chronicle for 24 Apr. 1786, was ‘a jeu d’ sprit, suggested by a perusal of the Tour to the Hebrides’ (Poems 1974, p. 468); its publication was intended to give it ‘a place in the next Edition of Mr. BOSWELL’s Book’, a purpose evidently considered by JB for the Life rather than the Tour. ‘The Widow’ was an essay in The Ladies Library. Written by a Lady [Mary Wray]. Published by Mr. Steele (3 vols., 1714). Its thesis and tone are manifest in the transition from the first paragraph into the second: ‘The conjugal Love, transplanted into the Grave as into a finer Mold, improves into Piety, and lays a kind of Sacred Obligation upon the Widow, to perform all Offices of Respect and Kindness, which his Remains are capable of. / Now those Remains are of three sorts, his Body, his Memory, his Children.’ 9 In his final revision to this page, JB deleted his instructions regarding the ‘Piozzian Rhimes’ (see n. 7), and above them directed the compositor to ‘Take in Pious Negociation’. On the Paper Apart itself, beneath the underscored heading, JB specified that it was ‘to come in after p. 999’—moving this revised account forward from the pages on which he had originally addressed the topic, MSS 1003–06 (see post p. 277 and n. 2). The delicate nature of the topic led JB to solicit advice: ‘I went early to Sir William Scott, and settled with him how I should mention Lord Thurlow’s application to the King to enable Johnson to go abroad, and its failure’ (Journ. 5 Feb. 1791).

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H-P iv. (none)

Authour of THE ENGLISH DICTIONARY and I own I suffered myself to indulge very sanguine÷elevated hopes which were at once depressed by the following÷a Letter from Sir Joshua Reynolds.1 How Dr. Johnson himself was affected on this occasion will appear from the following Letters. To SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS2 To The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain3 [MS 1004] Upon this unexpected failure I abstain from presuming to offer÷make any remarks or form any conjectures because I humbly own I can account for it upon no principle whatever. Some people who pretend to be very wise have said that the application was not made through the regular channel; but were that true I cannot beleive that a defect in form would have been allowed÷laid hold of to frustrate a noble and most proper÷laudable exertion of Liberality. A person who is employed in some capacity about Court gave me to understand, that the Italian who was proposed as the attendant4 of Dr. Johnson and on that account was to have had a gratuity had been chattering in a very foolish÷an idle manner to some other foreigners of inferiour note, and that such tittle tattle having gradually ascended, some unlucky prejudice had been formed against the application before it was made. The [MS 1005] truly great man who did make the application and who afterwards shewed such a dignified generosity signified÷hinted÷threw out in a conversation with me5 such explanations as it would be too much presumption in me to repeat upon this occasion.÷at this time. Let then the Mystery remain without any rash and irreverent Animadversions, /or any such ironical disquisition as that which the Authour of Old maids has indulged.÷that in which the Authour of Old maids has indulged himself./6 Too much cannot be said to obviate fully any misrepresentation of Johnson as if he himself not contented with the Royal Bounty had pressed for a solicitation to have it enlarged. It has allready in justice to him been /clearly÷authentically÷ pointedly/ shewn that the solicitation÷application to the Lord Chancellor was made even without his knowledge; And so far was he from repining, as I am assured by Mr. Langton he said ‘We must not complain that He who has allready given to a certain degree÷so much [MS 1006] does not chuse to give more.’ And upon hearing that a great Personage÷the King had inquired after his 1 Memorandum, with direction to the compositor, ‘Take in what is proper of it’; later deleted. 2 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 9 Septr.’; later deleted. 3 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’; later deleted. 4 Francesco Sastres; see ante p. 238 l. 23 and p. 247 l. 28. 5 On 26 Feb. 1786; see ante p. 239 nn. 6, 2. 6 William Hayley, author of A Philosophical Essay on Old Maids (1785), a title too long for the blank space left by JB. The ‘ironical disquisition’ appeared in another of Hayley’s works, Two Dialogues: Containing a Comparative View of the Lives, Characters, and Writings, of Philip, the Late Earl of Chesterfield, and of Dr. Samuel Johnson (1787). The topic of SJ’s pension is briefly discussed in the second dialogue, when one of the interlocutors wishes that ‘an annuity of equal value’ had come from Garrick instead (p. 201).

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health with some earnestness he said in a gentle÷soft tone of grateful satisfaction ‘O ’tis very pretty Sir; ’tis very pretty Sir.’ And upon its being mentioned again he expressed a very anxious fear that there would be no more of this favourable notice since his letter to the Lord Chancellor had quite contrary to his intention 5 found its way into÷had appeared in the Newspapers.7>] [[MS 1003] During all this time I was very anxious to know the fate of the 6 Lord Chancellor’s pious negociation as I called it in favour of the Authour of 7 THE ENGLISH DICTIONARY and I own I suffered myself to indulge very sanguine 8 hopes which were at once depressed by the following÷a8 Letter from Sir Joshua 9 10 Reynolds.9 How Dr. Johnson was affected on this occasion will appear from the follow- 11 12 ing Letters. To SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS1

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To The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britaina/2 [MS 1004] Upon this unexpected failure I abstain from presuming to make any remarks or form any conjectures3 because I humbly own I can account for it upon no principle whatever. Some people who pretend to be very wise have said that the application was not made through the regular channel; but were that true I cannot beleive that a defect in form would have been allowed to frustrate a noble and highly proper exertion of Liberality. A person who has a station in some sort connected with the Court hinted to me that the Italian who was [An incorrect copy of this Letter having been circulated, I print it from the original draft in Dr. Johnson’s own hand=writing.a1 added and del] a

7 An earlier draft of this paragraph was part of the Langtonian Johnsoniana (see ante p. 12 ll. 4–15). Anna Seward had found the letter to be ‘a very stiff, indifferent performance, tinctured with a sort of covert resentment to the King, that looks ungrateful for past obligations’, as she wrote to JB on 25 Mar. 1785, wondering too how SJ ‘could bear the thoughts of such a request being made to his Majesty, since he had a capital of three thousand pounds, out of which he might have drawn to support the expence of continental travelling’ (Corr. 2a, p. 64). Such a view, JB may have thought, warranted a second exoneration of SJ in addition to the one above (p. 240 ll. 11–21), but he ultimately deleted the present material. On SJ’s assets, see also p. 202 ll. 3–7. 8 These alternatives were left unresolved in JB’s first pass of revision. 9 Memorandum, with direction to the compositor, ‘Take in what is proper of it’. In a later pass of revision, JB deleted this paragraph (and memorandum/direction) separately; at that moment, he had not yet decided to delete all the copy from here to the middle of MS 1007. 1 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 9 Septr.’ 2 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’. 3 This clause, representing the first two lines of copy on MS 1004, escaped initial deletion when, at a subsequent stage of revision, JB scored through the next line of copy. After a pause, he deleted all the copy on this page with two sweeping strokes. He returned to this clause, however, in the concluding sentence of Paper Apart Pious Negociation; see p. 273 ll. 1–2. a1 Added in revision, this footnote trails down the margin of MS 1003. After a false start, ‘Either’, JB wrote ‘Note’ and then drafted his copy.

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proposed as the attendant of Dr. Johnson and on that account was to have had a gratuity had been chattering in a very idle & foolish manner to some other foreigners of inferiour note, and that such tittle tattle having gradually ascended, some unlucky prejudice had been formed against the application before it was made. The [MS 1005] truly great man who did make the application and who afterwards shewed such a dignified generosity threw out in a conversation with me such explanations as it would be too much presumption in me to repeat at this time. Let then the Mystery remain without any rash Animadversions, /or any such ironical disquisition as that which the Authour of Old maids has indulged.÷that in which the Authour of Old maids has indulged himself./4 Too much cannot be said to refute the erroneous representations of those who have suggested that Johnson himself not contented with the Royal Bounty had urged his friends to solicit an enlargement of it. It has allready been shewn that the application to the Lord Chancellor was made by me even without Johnson’s knowledge; And so far was he from repining at the ill success of our negocation that he said Mr. Langton5 ‘We must not complain that He who has allready given to a certain extent [MS 1006] does not chuse to give more.’ And upon hearing that a great Personage÷the King6 had inquired after his health with some earnestness he expressed a grateful satisfaction. And upon its being mentioned again he said ‘Alas I fear there would be no more of this favourable notice since my letter to the Lord Chancellor had quite contrary to my intention found its way into the Newspapers.’7>] [Paper Apart Pious Negociation] Having left the pious negociation as I called it, in the best hands I shall here insert what relates to it. Johnson wrote to Sir Joshua Reynolds July 6 as follows ‘I am going I hope8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . He wrote to me July 269 ‘I wish your affairs could have permitted a longer and continued exertion of your zeal and kindness. They that have your kindness may want your ardour. In the mean time I am very feeble, and very dejected.’

4 These alternatives and their optional status were left unresolved in JB’s first pass of revision. 5 By moving ‘he said’ forward in revision (cp. ante p. 269 l. 32), JB probably meant the copy here to read ‘he said to Mr. Langton’. 6 These alternatives were left unresolved in JB’s first pass of revision. 7 Revision orig. ‘he expressed a fear that “there would be no more of this favourable notice” since his letter … had quite contrary to his intention found … Newspapers.’ JB then moved the quotation marks and adjusted the lines to read as if spoken—without, however, altering the phrase ‘there would be’ or changing ‘had’ to ‘has’. 8 Following these cue words (MS orig. ‘I am going to try’), JB directed the compositor to ‘take in that letter without any I am &c.’ SJ’s sign-off was duly omitted, and the space taken up by the letter in print was reduced further by the use of dashes to mark paragraphs, not indentations (so in revises). The letter—dated July 8, not July 6 (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 341–42)—no longer forms part of the Life MS. 9 A false start to the quotation—‘Before’—reveals that JB immediately changed his mind about where to begin quoting SJ’s letter. Since the original has not been traced, the passage that JB was about to copy is unknown; the excerpts from it printed in the Life here and below (p. 291 l. 9 and n. 8) comprise the copy-text for Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 354–55.

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By a letter from Sir Joshua Reynolds1 I was informed that the Lord Chancellor had called on him and acquainted him that the application had not been successful;2 but that his Lordship after speaking highly in praise of Johnson as a man who was an honour to his country desired Sir Joshua to let him know that on granting a mortgage of his pension he should draw on his Lordship to 5 the amount of five or six hundred [Paper Apart Pious Negociation [extra leaf]] 6 pounds; and that his Lordship explained the meaning of the Mortgage to be that 7 he wished the business to be conducted in such a manner as that Dr. Johnson 8 should appear to be under the least possible obligation. Sir Joshua mentioned 9 10 that he had by the same post communicated all this to Dr. Johnson. v [Paper Apart Pious Negociation ] How Johnson was affected upon this occa- 11 12 sion will appear from what he wrote. To Sir Joshua Reynolds Ashbourne Sept. 9.

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‘Many3 words I hope are not necessary between you and me to convince you what gratitude is excited in my heart by the Chancellor’s liberality, and your kind offices. ****4 [1st ed. ii. 535] ‘I have enclosed a letter to the Chancellor, which when you have read it you will be pleased to seal with a head or any other general seal, and convey it to him; had I sent it directly to him, I should have seemed to overlook the favour of your intervention.’

15 16 17 18 19 20

To The LORD HIGH CHANCELLORa/5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sir Joshua Reynolds on account of the excellence both of the sentiment and expression of this letter took a copy of it which he shewed to some of his friends, a

1 As recorded in Reg. Let., JB on Aug. 3 wrote to Reynolds ‘begging he may be earnest with the Lord Chancellor to get the Royal Bounty extended to enable Dr. Johnson to go to Italy’. No reply is recorded, for the next dated entry is that of Nov. 12, above which JB noted that, in the intervening months, he had ‘Sent a few letters and received several. But being under a cloud of inactivity did not write them in my Book’. The letter in question (C 2355), dated 2 Sept. 1784, begins ‘I had no news to write you relating to our friend Dr. Johnson till today when the Lord Chancellor called on me to acquaint me with the consequence of his pious negociation, He express’d himself much mortified that it was receivd not with the warmth he expected. He says he did his utmost but he fears he has not the art of begging successfully—he would take another opportunity “But you know,” says he “we must not teize people. …”’ (Corr. 3, pp. 172–73). 2 Here JB paused, turned the leaf over, and began a new paragraph (‘How Johnson ...’; see l. 11). His draft of the current sentence, when resumed, continued (more compactly) to the bottom of the page and (by means of a catchword and symbol: ‘pounds #’) onto an extra half-sheet. After drafting this extra leaf, JB affixed it with an adhesive to the left-hand side of the main Paper Apart. 3 Printed in the revises ‘wrote to Sir Joshua Reynolds: / Ashbourne, Sept. 9. “Many’. In Hill-Powell, the quotation is marked to begin at ‘Ashbourne’. 4 Six asterisks were printed in the revises to indicate the omitted text. 5 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in ≤from Hawkins and keep the leaves clean≥’. In the text of the letter, near the phrase ‘to brood hope’, Selfe in the revises queried whether the correct reading was ‘to brood on hope’. JB deleted the query.

272

1784

5 6 7 8

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 349–51

≤Upon this unexpected failure I abstain from presuming to make any remarks, or offer any conjectures.6≥7 [MS 1000; 1st ed. ii. 536] Having after [much reasoning>] repeated reasonings brought Dr. Johnson not to oppose my removing to London, and even to furnish me with arguments in favour of what he had [discouraged>] opposed, I wrote to him requesting that he would write them for me; he was so good as one of whom being allowed to peruse it leisurely at home it was transcribed, and found its way into the Newspapers and Magazines.a1 It was transcribed with some inaccuracies. I print it from the original draft in Johnson’s own hand=writing.a2 6 The space in which JB drafted this sentence (retrieved from MS 1004: see p. 270 ll. 15–16 and n. 3) was limited by his footnote—from below and from the right (see n. a1). He marked it with a bracket and ‘NP’ for a new paragraph. 7 A paragraph in the Life Materials (M 161) headed ‘Johnson’s Life / Vol. III p. 616’ refers to this spot in the second edition. JB may have drafted it for insertion ‘in the proofs of the second edition in the text or as a foot-note, or, possibly in the “Additions” at the beginning of vol. i. of the second edition’ (Cat. i. 95). Not used, it reads as follows: ‘The handsome manner in which Johnson declined Lord Thurlow’s liberal offer by giving apparrently sufficient reasons must raise him in our esteem. But I believe his noble pride now was such that he would accept of no bounty but from his Sovereign which indeed he said to Sir Joshua Reynolds and of this I know he [false start was] gave an undoubted proof. For having found in ≤the remains of≥ his Journal in my possession the following memorandum (date) “Sewards generosity” I pressed my friend to [false start know] explain to me what it meant, and he told me that long before the application to the King when Johnson was one day expressing a wish to go abroad into a warm climate for the benefit of his health [false start but could] and seeming to regret that he had not money enough for that purpose Mr. Seward said to him Dont make yourself uneasy on that account. [false starts: (1) Amongst; (2) You] Amongst ourselves meaning his particular friends we will enable you to do it. I have fifty pounds at your service and I will engage [false start ≤by≥] in a forthnights time to bring you five hundred pounds. Johnson ≤taking him cordially by the hand≥ replied My Dear Sir I am very much obliged to you for your kindness but cannot think of being a burthen to my friends.’ For ‘Seward’s Generosity’, see also ante p. 195 l. 29. a1 Having here reached the bottom of the page, JB rotated the sheet counterclockwise and drafted the next two sentences in several short lines between the letter heading and the first line of the footnote. On 23 Dec. 1784, JB asked Reynolds, ‘Pray was the letter in the Newspapers to him from Dr. Johnson genuine. If it was how came it to be made publick’ (Corr. 2a, p. 27). As explained in Gent. Mag. Dec. 1784, liv. 892, Lady L—– [Lucan] memorized the letter and put it to paper afterwards at home (with only one mistake: ‘rested’ instead of ‘rioted’), which led to other copies and publication. A copy in the Boswell Papers in an unidentified hand (C 1612) is endorsed by Reynolds, ‘Copy of Dr. Johnsons Letter to the Lord Chancellor Thurlow’. a2 The text in the Life differs in more than a dozen places from the draft by SJ now in the Hyde Collection at Houghton Library; the departures are noted in Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 399–400. By modifying his direction to the compositor—the last change to this page, worked in around the ‘NP’ marking the final added lines of copy (see nn. 5–6 above)—JB apparently resorted to taking the letter in ‘from Hawkins’ after giving up hope of obtaining SJ’s draft. Hawkins presented ‘an authentic copy, being taken from his own draft now in my hands’ (p. 571). Apart from a few changes in capital letters, punctuation, and italics, the only divergence in JB’s Life from Hawkins’s text was the reading ‘not able, to migrate’ for ‘I should not be able, to migrate’. Unless SJ made two drafts, the differences between the version in Hawkins and JB and the version transcribed (variously) by Chapman and Redford remain a puzzle. The copy endorsed by Reynolds (see n. a1) is very close to the version in Hawkins and JB.

273

H-P iv 351

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

to comply and I shall extract that part of his letter to me of June 118 as a proof how well he could exhibit [the advantageous view of a÷my favourite÷spirited adventure.>] [at once a wise and encouraging view of my spirited project.>] a cautious yet encouraging view of it. [—— del] ‘I remember and intreat you to remember that virtus est vitium fugere; the first approach to riches is security from poverty. The condition upon which you have my consent to settle in London is, that your expence never exceeds your annual income. Fixing this basis of security, you cannot be hurt, and you may be very much advanced. The loss of your Scottish business, which is all that you can lose, is not to be reckoned as any equivalent to the hopes and possibilities that open here upon you. If you succeed, the question of prudence is at an [end. Every>] end; every body will think that done rightly9 which ends happily; and though your expectations, of which I would not advise you to talk too much, should not be totally answered, you can hardly fail to get friends who will do1 [MS 1000v] for you all that your present situation allows you to hope; and if after a few years, you should return to Scotland, you will return with a mind supplied by various conversation and many opportunities of enquiry, with much knowledge and materials for reflexion2 and instruction.’ ≤[Paper Apart3] Let us now [turn to a more agreable subject, and del] contemplate Johnson thirty years after the death of his Wife, still retaining the tenderness of his affection for her.≥ [MS 1000v resumed] To The Reverend Mr. BAGSHAW at Bromley.4 8 Actually July 11, as Hill surmised (iv. 351 n. 2) and as subsequent recovery of the original has proved. Now in the National Library of Scotland, the letter was amended by JB in two places where omissions in SJ’s phrasing led him to guess at a verb: ‘think’ (l. 12) and ‘fail’ (l. 14); see Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 347. 9 Misprinted ‘right’ (so in revises), an error that has gone uncorrected. 1 Directing the compositor to ‘turn’, JB continued his copy on the verso of this substitute MS 1000. The present copy, possibly replacing the same topic on the discarded MS 1000 (see ante p. 268 n. 7), was perhaps spurred by a memorandum in the Life Materials (M 147): ‘In 1784 State your arguments for coming to London as in Letter 18 Augt. 1778. Also Sir John Pringle’s saying I know not if you will be at rest when you are in London. But I am convinced you will never be at rest till you are there.’ JB on 18 Aug. 1778 wrote to SJ ‘of my late dreary dejection—& of a variety of things’, and kept a copy (Reg. Let.). If this letter contained the arguments to which he alluded, it would help to elucidate SJ’s comments to Langton on 29 Aug. 1778 (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iii. 125): ‘I have lately heard from Boswel who seems to be in his old lunes. He wants to come to town.’ 2 Printed ‘reflection’, as in the Dictionary, where SJ explained, ‘from reflect: thence I think reflexion less proper’. 3 In the upper left-hand corner of this half-sheet, JB drew a fingerpost pointing at his direction to the compositor, ‘For p. 536 of the printed Work.’ The drawing probably matched another on the now missing proof to show where the paragraph belonged. In the revises, the concluding phrase was printed ‘still retaining for her all the tenderness of affection.’ JB drafted this Paper Apart on the back of an invitation to a dinner where he would also find ‘Sr. Joshua & a few other friends’. Although the sign-off and signature are torn away, the writer was probably Nathaniel Dance; JB received a dinner invitation from Dance on 24 Feb. 1791 and dined with him the next day in company with Sir Joshua and others (C 3185; Cat. iii. 1034; Great Biographer, p. 128). 4 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in of July 12 but make it as close at the end as may be’ (to minimize the space devoted to SJ’s sign-off). A note was added to the

274

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

1784

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 351–52

[Paper Apart5] Sir, Perhaps You may remember that in the year 17536 You committed to the ground my dear Wife. I now entreat your permission to lay a Stone upon her, and have sent the inscription, that if You find it proper, You may signify your allowance. You will do me a great favour by showing the place where She lies, that the Stone may protect her remains. Mr. Ryland will wait on You for the inscription,a and procure it to be engraved. You will easily believe that I shrink from this mournful Office. When it is done, if I have Strength remaining, I will visit Bromley once again, and pay You part of the respect to which You have a right from, Reverend Sir, / Your most humble Servant / Sam: Johnson. July 12. 1784. / Bolt court, Fleetstreet.7

[MS 1000v resumed; 1st ed. ii. 537] On the same day he wrote to Mr. 15 Langton ‘I cannot but think8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a

which is inserted in his Works.a1

letter heading in the second edition: ‘I have mentioned in Vol. I. [sic for ‘II.’] p. 122, that I am obliged for this and a former letter to Dr. John Loveday of the Commons, a son of the late learned and pious John Loveday, Esq. of Caversham, in Berkshire. This worthy gentleman having retired from business now lives in Warwickshire.’ In thanking Loveday and pointing out that he had done so previously as well—by contrast, the note begins ‘I am obliged …’ in Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition (p. 34)—JB did more than was necessary to please the Rev. Ralph Churton, who on 10 Apr. 1792 had written that he would ‘not be sorry’ to see Loveday’s name in the Index to a second edition (Corr. 2a, p. 370). His name was duly included. In the third edition, the footnote was reduced to a cross-reference; the redundant acknowledgement was jettisoned. 5 On this Paper Apart, written in the hand of John Loveday, see Life MS ii. 113 n. 2. The memorandum ‘Letter to Rev. Mr. Bagshaw as to Gravestone Bromley’ was a late marginal addition to JB’s list under ‘1784’ in the Life Materials (M 147). Another copy of this letter, made and signed by Penelope Loveday, half-sister to John, contains two minor variants—one of which, mirroring a mistake made by Bagshaw when he transcribed it for her in 1787, indicates which document she copied (C 1611; Cat. ii. 725–26). 6 JB did not correct the year to read 1752, even though the Rev. John Campbell brought the error to his attention, suspecting a ‘merely typographical’ mistake or ‘a skip of memory in Johnson’ (letter of 19 Apr. 1793; Corr. 2a, p. 403). SJ tried to rectify his error once he saw ‘the draught of the stone’, informing John Ryland on 4 Nov. 1784 that ‘it should be 52’ (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford iv. 348, 435). 7 The compositor reduced the five lines of SJ’s sign-off (see n. 4 above) to two lines of print by making ‘Reverend Sir,’ continuous with the body of the letter; putting the date and SJ’s name on a single line (as usual, in reverse order); and omitting ‘Bolt court, Fleetstreet.’ 8 Direction to the compositor, ‘down to after me.’ A false start preceded this narrative lead-in to the letter: ‘To Bennet Langton’, deleted no doubt because of the increased space such a letter heading (and sign-off) would have occupied in print. SJ’s letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. a1

Footnote added in JB’s hand; printed in the revises ‘Printed in his Works.’

275

H-P iv. 353

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

[He also composed the following Prayer9 [MS 1001] which is at once so wise and energetick so philosophical and so pious that I doubt not of its affording consolatory aid to many a sincere christian when in a distressfull state of mind to which I beleive the best are liable. Against inquisitive and perplexing Thoughts10/11 del] ≤Next day he set out on a jaunt to Staffordshire and Derbyshire flattering himself that he might be in some degree relieved.12≥ [[MS 1002]

[MS 1003]

To The Right Honourable WILLIAM WINDHAM1 To DR. BROCKLESBY2 To SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS3 To DR. BROCKLESBY4 To DR. BROCKLESBY5 To BENNET LANGTON Esq.6 To DR. BROCKLESBY7 To DR. BROCKLESBY8

9 Here, midway down the verso of this substitute MS 1000 (see ante p. 268 n. 7, p. 274 n. 1), JB recopied the beginning of the sentence (and the catchword ‘which’) that originally led onto MS 1001. At an intermediate stage of revision, he redrafted it—‘On the 12 of August he composed the following Prayer’—at the top of MS 1001 above the existing copy; doing so enabled him to extend his copy (and printing instructions) on MS 1000v to the bottom of the page. Later still, deleting the present paragraph, he redrafted the material as Paper Apart PP; see post p. 283. 10 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in from Prayers and Meditations.’ Also deleted, at the foot of the page, is the note ‘Prayers and Meditations p. 219.’ 11 Below this copy JB deleted a false start: ‘To The Right Honourable William Windham’ / (Take it in)’. The letter heading reappeared on MS 1002; see l. 8. 12 Here JB planted the catchword for a new paragraph, ‘During &c.’, and told the compositor to ‘Take in his Letters while absent from London as in a Packet.’ All that survives with the Life MS is the Paper Apart providing copy and directions to guide the compositor through the Packet (see p. 277 n. 16). JB heavily revised the following pages, originally organized by strict chronology: a sequence of letters from Aug. 14 to Sept. 2 (MSS 1002–03); a narrative introduction to the letters of Sept. 9 to Sir Joshua Reynolds and Lord Thurlow, followed by a narrative postlude (MSS 1003–06); and a string of letters from Sept. 11 to Nov. 6 (MSS 1006–07). While JB’s reworking of the middle pages resulted in Paper Apart Pious Negociation, he reorganized the other letters by name of recipient. JB’s tallies under ‘1784’ in the Life Materials—‘Four letters to Mrs. Lucy Porter / Nine letters to Sir Joshua Reynolds / Nineteen letters to Dr. Bocklesby’ (M 147)—agree with lists he made and apparently used for packaging the letters (Houghton MS Hyde 51 (27)). JB was given sixteen letters by Brocklesby on 29 Jun. 1785 (Journ.); he had twenty in hand by 29 Jan. 1791 (Corr. 2a, p. 77 n. 1, p. 295). Of the nineteen letters written in 1784, twelve were slated for inclusion on MSS 1002–07; three of these were omitted from the Packet (see notes below), but seven more were added, making for sixteen in all. 1 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’; see post p. 280 n. 6. 2 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 14 August’. 3 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 19 August’. 4 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 19 August’. 5 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 21 August’. 6 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 26 August’. 7 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 30 August’; not used. 8 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 2 Septr.’

276

5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

1784

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 353

To SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS1/2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [MS 1006] To DR. BROCKLESBY.3 To DR. BROCKLESBY4 5 To SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS5 6 To DR. BROCKLESBY6 7 To Sir JOSHUA REYNOLDS7 8 To Dr. Brocklesby8 9 [MS 1007] To The Right Honourable WILLIAM GERARD HAMILTON9 10 To PARADISE Esq.10 11 To Mr. JOHN NICHOLS Printer (GM Dec. 1784)11 12 To DR. BROCKLESBY.12 13 To DR. BROCKLESBY13 14 To DR. BURNEY.14 15 To DR. BROCKLESBY15 >] [Paper Apart16] During his absence from London he kept up a correspondence with several of his friends, from which, [so far as I am possessed of it, del] I shall select what appears to me proper for publication ≤without attending nicely to chronological order≥. 20 To Dr. Brocklesby17 he writes Ashbourne July 2118 ‘The kind attention19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 2 Septr.’ For the original copy on MSS 1003–06 concerning SJ’s pension, revised and then redrafted as Paper Apart Pious Negociation, see ante p. 268 n. 9 and pp. 268–71. 3 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 11 Septr.’ 4 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 16 Septr.’ 5 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 18 September’. 6 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 29 Septr.’ 7 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 2 Octr.’; see p. 282 n. 1. 8 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 6 Octr.’ 9 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 20 Octr.’ 10 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 20 Octr.’ 11 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 20 Octr.’ 12 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 20 Octr.’; see p. 279 l. 11. 13 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 25 Octr.’ 14 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 1 Novr.’ 15 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 6 Novr.’; not used. 16 This Paper Apart is a sheet folded in half and written on three sides. Related to it are two other Papers Apart: set within the fold, a leaf bearing George Nicol’s copy of the letter to him introduced at the bottom of the second page (see p. 281 n. 1); and following the sheet, a leaf bearing JB’s copy of a letter to John Nichols (see p. 282 n. 5). 17 Here and below, the name of each recipient was printed in small capital letters. By naming them once, and by starting new paragraphs with the dates of SJ’s successive letters to them, JB eliminated a great deal of blank typographical space that would otherwise have been created by multiple letter headings. 18 Selfe noticed a discrepancy between the date of this letter and a reference within it to ‘yesterday (19th)’. He changed ‘21’ to ‘20’, explaining ‘see next p.’ (1st ed. ii. 538), where he underlined ‘(19th)’ and put a ‘q’ in the margin. Unwittingly, he generated an error that has gone uncorrected. As SJ’s diary reveals, ‘19th’ should have been ‘20th’ (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 352 n. 4). 19 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in all the paragraphs that are not marked with a pencil’, later altered to read ‘Take in all the paragraphs and passages that are 1 2

277

H-P iv. 354–56

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

July 311 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 52 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 123 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 144 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 165 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 217 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Augt. 268 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sept. 29 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . After the paragraph about Windham ≤say≥ he then mentions the effects of certain medecines as tokens that ‘Nature is returning10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . marked with a pencil and make no breaks when a Dear Sir at the end occurs and say only Dear Sir &c.’ Given that each letter was typeset as a paragraph, SJ’s own paragraph indentations were marked in print by dashes. In the text of this first letter, Selfe queried the spelling of ‘born’, underlining it in the revises and proposing either ‘bor’n’ (in elision of ‘boren’) or ‘borne’, adding ‘I prefer the former’. JB deleted the former, leaving ‘borne’ to be printed in the first edition. EM in the third edition put a footnote on the word ‘recovers’: ‘This is probably an errour either of the transcript or the press. Removes seems to be the word intended.’ He was correct; SJ wrote ‘removes’ (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 352). Unless otherwise noted, the footnotes to these letters marked ‘BOSWELL’ in Hill-Powell appeared in the first edition. 1 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in as directed above’ (see preceding note), to which JB later added ‘N.B. Take in of this only what is on the first page’. In the revises, the spelling of ‘loath’ (as in the Dictionary, and as SJ wrote: Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 356) was queried by Self: ‘q lothe’. JB, deleting the query, changed the spelling instead to ‘loth’. 2 Direction to the compositor, ‘Same manner and so [false start in] as to the rest.’ 3 Direction to the compositor, ‘Same manner’. 4 Direction to the compositor, ‘Same’. 5 Direction to the compositor, ‘same’, to which JB later added, ‘N.B. In the paragraph The Squills stop at ounce’. In the revises, the accurately printed phrase ‘race upon the stairs’ (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 370) led Selfe to doubt the preposition: ‘q up’. JB deleted his query. 6 This date—mistakenly omitted by JB (see p. 276 l. 11 and n. 4)—was the next one printed in the revises, as the letter of this date no doubt appeared next in the Packet accompanying the Paper Apart. JB’s pencil markings for taking in the first two paragraphs are still visible on the original (Houghton MS Hyde 1). 7 Direction to the compositor, ‘Same’. 8 Direction to the compositor, ‘same’. 9 Direction to the compositor, ‘same’. 10 Direction to the compositor, ‘Proceed to rightly’. With this copy, JB bypassed another mention of the ‘squil pils’ and provided a bridge into the following clause: ‘that they produce their effect is to me another token that Nature is recovering’ (Letters of

278

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

1784

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

LIFE OF JOHNSON

Sept. 91 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sept. 112 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sept. 163 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lichfield Sept. 294 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oct. 6.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [Oct. 206 del] Oct. 257 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To Mr. Hoole [he wrote del] Ashbourne August 7.8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 139 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 41 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

H-P iv. 357–60

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 387). Later, however, by adding ‘say’, he turned the opening phrase into a direction to the compositor, who typeset ‘He then mentions the effects of certain medicines, as taken, that “Nature is recovering’ (so in revises). Plymsell’s misreading of ‘tokens’ has never been corrected; a semicolon after ‘taken’ in the third edition slightly disguised the fractured syntax, but Hill-Powell restored the comma. Yet Plymsell rectified JB’s misreading of ‘recovering’: SJ wrote ‘retur’, deleted ‘tur’, and added ‘covering’; JB’s eye was tricked either by SJ’s first intention, or by his draft of ‘returning’ in the next line, immediately below ‘Nature is’. 1 Direction to the compositor, ‘Same’. 2 Direction to the compositor, ‘Same’. 3 Direction to the compositor, ‘Same’. 4 Direction to the compositor, ‘Same manner’. In the first sentence of this letter, Selfe turned ‘air balloon’ (so in revises) into a hyphenated noun. 5 Direction to the compositor, ‘Same’. 6 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Same’. 7 Direction to the compositor, ‘Same’. JB’s footnote to this letter—revolving around ‘the curious epitaph quoted in the “Spectator,” / “Born in New-England, did in London die;”’—was based on notes jotted in both the Langtonian Johnsoniana and Life Materials; see ante p. 10 n. 8, section (1). After the opening sentence of this footnote, JB in the second edition inserted a new sentence, followed by a quotation, and indented ‘Once’ to begin a separate paragraph (see Hill-Powell iv. 358 n. 2); also, ‘the “Spectator,”’ became ‘“The Spectator,”’. 8 Direction to the compositor, ‘Same manner’. Although afterwards, to the left of these words, JB added ‘All of this except [undeciphered word]’, the entire letter was typeset. The direction he meant to modify was the next one; see next note. Under ‘1784’ in the Life Materials JB wrote ‘Three letters to Mr. Hoole’ (M 147); he obtained them from Hoole on 8 Apr. 1788 (Journ.). 9 Direction to the compositor, ‘Same’. Misdated by SJ, this letter was written on Sept. 13 (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 403 n. 1). JB’s pencil markings showing which portions were to be taken in are still visible on the original. Not printed in the revises was his footnote, drafted in ink, to the opening phrase of the last paragraph, ‘About the club’: ‘At the Essex=Head in Essex Street.’ See Houghton MS Hyde 1. 1 Direction to the compositor, ‘Same’, to which JB later added ‘Only first & last paragraphs’.

279

H-P iv. 360–63

1784

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

To Dr. Burney [he wrote del] August 2. ‘The weather2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Septr. 4. Concerning a private transaction3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Novr. 1. ‘Our correspondence4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To Mr. Langton [he wrote del] August 26. ‘The kindness5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To Mr. Windham — August6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 To The Right Hon. William Gerard Hamilton8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2 Direction to the compositor, ‘&c. to the end & make the Note’. JB later added ‘See loose sheets’, namely Burney’s ‘Memorandum of His Acquaintance and Correspondence with Johnson Prepared for Boswell’ (see Life MS i. 371 n. 6). For the ‘Note’ Burney drafted in reference to the present letter, see Life MS i. 375 and n. 7; Hill-Powell iv. 360 n. 2. 3 Direction to the compositor, ‘&c. Make no NPs’. The present sentence—Burney’s preface to the part of SJ’s letter to be excerpted, modified from ‘This letter strictly concerns a private transaction ...’—was printed within brackets in the revises, and the phrase ‘in other occasions’ was printed ‘on other occasions’ (see Life MS i. 376). 4 Direction to the compositor, ‘&c. [false start do[wn]] to the end (but not “I am Dear Sir” &c.)’. One sentence, however, was omitted in the revises; see Life MS i. 377 n. 3. JB’s footnote on ‘Fanny’ was added in the second edition (Hill-Powell iv. 361 n. 2). Hill-Powell in error left out the dash marking SJ’s paragraph break after ‘more exact.’ 5 Direction to the compositor, ‘take it in down to you all.’ A misprint of the date as ‘Aug. 25’ has never been corrected. In the third edition, EM added a footnote on the word ‘consolation’: ‘Probably some word has been here omitted before consolation;— perhaps sad, or miserable; or the word consolation, has been printed by mistake, instead of mortification:—but the original letter not being now in Mr. Langton’s hands, the errour (if it be one) cannot be corrected.’ In advance of the sixth edition, EM on 28 Sept. 1808 wrote to James Boswell, Jr., hoping that he possessed the letter and could resolve the matter (Corr. 2a, p. 470). The original in the Hyde Collection shows there was no error; see Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 383. 6 Undated, but endorsed ‘Augt. 1784’, this letter was written c. 20 Aug. (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 375 n. 1). There was no direction to the compositor regarding it, and only ‘NP’ for the letter of Oct. 2. While JB had listed a ‘Letter to Mr. Windham’ under the year 1783 in the Life Materials, none appeared under 1784 (M 147); and while JB had in mind only one letter to Windham on MS 1002 (see p. 276 l. 8 and n. 1), the two that turned up here made for a full accounting of the three he received from EM (see p. 162 n. 7). 7 In the second edition, SJ’s letter of 4 Oct. 1784 to John Perkins preceded this letter to Hamilton. It was the fifth of such letters to be added (see ante p. 96 n. 1). 8 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in of Oct. 20’. To the left of this heading, Plymsell wrote and circled ‘NB. Full Letter’, and beneath this ‘Do.’ (Ditto), likewise circled, for each of the next three letter headings. These four letters, unlike the twenty-five preceding and five following them in the Packet, were thus accorded the typographical layout used elsewhere in the Life, with a centred heading, a separate line for ‘DEAR SIR,’ the full text of the letter (with dashes, however, marking new paragraphs), and a separate line for the place and date of composition (near the lefthand margin) and SJ’s name (near the right-hand margin). On Hamilton’s offering of anecdotes and two letters—listed in the Life Materials under ‘1783’ and ‘1784’ (M 147)—see ante p. 174 n. 9.

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 364–65

[1st ed. ii. 547] To John Paradise Esq.9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To Mr. Nicol Bookseller.10 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

[Satellite Paper Apart1] Dear Sir Since we parted I have been very2 much oppressed by my Asthma, but it has lately been less laborious — When I sit I am almost at ease, and I can walk, though yet very little, with less difficulty for this week past, than before. — I hope I shall again enjoy my Friends, & that You & I shall have a little more literary conversation. —3 Where I now am, every thing is very liberally provided for me but conversation,4 My Friend is sick himself, and the reciprocation of complaints and groans affords not much of either pleasure or instruction — What we have not at home this Town does not supply, and I shall be glad (of)5 a little imported intelligence, and hope that you will bestow now and then a little time on the relief and entertainment of Sir Your Humble Servant / Sam: Johnson Ashbourne Derbyshire / Aug: 19. 17846 [Paper Apart resumed]

20

To Mr. Cruikshank Sept. 4

[Dear Sir added and del]7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In this letter he states the particulars of his Case.8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’. In the second edition, JB added a footnote to the letter heading with a few details of Paradise’s life and character (see Hill-Powell iv. 364 n. 2), to which EM in the third edition appended his date of death: ‘Mr. Paradise died, December 12, 1795.’ 10 Printed in the revises ‘To Mr. GEORGE NICOLL’, with a footnote on his name, ‘Bookseller to his Majesty.’ The spelling of his surname became ‘NICOL’ in the second edition. 1 Nicol copied this letter, at the bottom writing ‘To Mr. Nicol / Bookseller in the Strand / London’. On the verso, JB noted ‘This belongs to The Rev. Mr. Astle’. For this and other papers linked to Daniel Astle, see Corr. 2a, p. 149 n. 1. 2 This word was omitted in print, an error that has never been corrected. 3 This dash, as elsewhere in the latter part of the Life, was printed to represent—and stood in place of—the following paragraph break. The other dashes in the letter marked the ends of sentences: two were printed as full stops, and one was ignored. 4 Instead of Nicol’s comma, a full stop was printed in the revises. 5 Left out by SJ, this preposition was added by Nicol. His parentheses were not printed. Square brackets mark the omission in Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 374. 6 The compositor abbreviated the first line of SJ’s sign-off, merging it with the text of the letter (‘… of, Sir, yours, &c.’), and reduced the other three lines to one line of print, with ‘Ashbourne, August 19, 1784’ (‘Derbyshire’ omitted) near the left-hand margin and SJ’s name to the right. In the second edition, ‘Yours, &c.’ was printed on a separate line, and ‘August’ became ‘Aug.’ (Hill-Powell, ‘August’). 7 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in down to relief. / Then go to “Have your lectures” & take in that paragraph’. 8 JB enclosed this copy within square brackets, marking it as an interpolation. The brackets were printed in the revises with dashes before and after them. Below the copy was his next direction to the compositor, ‘Then take in “In return” &c.’

281

H-P iv. 365–69

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

To Mr. Thomas Davies August 14. ‘The tenderness9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Poor dear Allen he was a good man.’ To Sir Joshua Reynolds1 August 19. ‘Having had2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sept. 23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sept. 184 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [Sub-Paper Apart5] To Mr. JOHN NICHOLS Lichfield Oct. 20. ‘When you were here, you were pleased as I am told, to think my absence an inconvenience. I should certainly have been very glad to give so skilful a lover of antiquities any information about my native place, of which however I know not much, and have reason to believe that not much is known. ‘Though I have not given you any amusement, I have received amusement from you. At Ashbourne where I had very little company I had the luck to borrow “Mr. Bowyer’s Life”, a book so full of contemporary history that a literary man must find some of his old friends. I thought that I could now and then have told you some hints worth your notice; and perhaps we may talk a 9 Direction to the compositor, ‘After Mrs. Davies — & “Poor dear Allen he was a good man.”’ If SJ indented the sentence ‘Poor dear Allen …’ for a separate paragraph, the compositor would have known already to place a dash after ‘Mrs. Davies.’ JB’s insertion of the dash, then, suggests a textual omission from this untraced letter. 1 To the following three letters to Reynolds, JB in the second edition added another three, interspersing them chronologically: ‘Ashbourne, July 21’, ‘Sept. 9’, and ‘October 2’; that of Sept. 9 repeated passages already quoted, and that of Oct. 2 fulfilled an original intention (see pp. 272, 277 n. 7). These six letters, combined with the two previously taken in (see pp. 201, 271), equal the eight listed for 1784 in Letters of Johnson ed. Redford (v. 67). JB had counted nine letters to Reynolds in 1784 (see p. 276 n. 12) because he had listed the letter of July 21 twice; see Houghton MS Hyde 51 (27). 2 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in down to Friends / Then proceed to Hitherto dear Sir, and take in down to remember it.’ A footnote was printed in the revises on the sentence ‘Poor Ramsay!’: ‘Allan Ramsay, Esq. painter to his Majesty, who died about this time, much regretted by his friends.’ In the third edition, ‘about this time’ became ‘August 10, 1784, in the 71st year of his age’. 3 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in ≤from≥ the second paragraph to the end; but not I am.’ JB omitted the first paragraph because it contained SJ’s criticism of Reynolds’s ‘furious purposes’—his threat to resign as President of the Royal Academy when, after Allan Ramsay’s death, he was not at once made painter to the King (Hill-Powell iv. 366 n. 2). JB restored the paragraph in the second edition, Reynolds having died in 1792. Reynolds, in his letter of Sept. 2 to JB (see p. 272 n. 1), provided a postscript to this episode: ‘Poor Ramsay is dead and your humble servant succeeds him as Kings Principal Painter—if I had known what a shabby miserable place it is, I would not have asked for it; besides as things have turned out I think a certain person is not worth speaking to, nor speaking of so I shall conclude’ (C 2355; Corr. 3, p. 173). 4 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in without Dear Sir, or I am.’ 5 JB drafted this Paper Apart, a single leaf written on both sides, later than the Paper Apart to which it is subjoined; by then, as shown by his underscoring of Nichols’s name for small capital letters, he knew how these names would be printed (see p. 277 n. 17). This was the third letter to Nichols (see p. 120 n. 6, p. 124 n. 2) published in Gent. Mag. Dec. 1784, liv. 893–94, and was originally to be taken in from this source, as planned in the Life Materials: ‘Letters to Mr. Nichols in the Gentleman’s Magazine’ (M 147, under ‘1784’; see p. 277 l. 11 and n. 11). In print, dashes replaced the paragraph breaks.

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1784

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

20

25

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 369–70

life over. I hope we shall be much together. You must now be to me what you were before, and what dear Mr. Allen was besides. He was taken unexpectedly away, but I think he was a very good man. ‘I have made little progress in recovery. I am very weak, and very sleepless; but I live on and hope.’6 This various mass of correspondence which I have thus brought together is valuable both as an addition to the store which the Publick already has of Johnson’s writings; and as exhibiting a genuine and noble specimen of vigour and vivacity of mind which neither age nor sickness could impair or diminish.7 [MS 1007] It may be observed that his Writing of all sorts÷in every way8 whether for the Publick or privately to his freinds was by fits and starts for we see frequently that a number of letters are written on the same day. When he had once overcome his aversion to begin he was [I÷we may suppose>] I suppose desireous to go on [and>] in order to releive his mind from the uneasy reflection of delaying what he ought to do. [MS 1000v resumed9; Paper Apart PP; 1st ed. ii. 550] While in the country notwithstanding the complication of distress which he endured, his mind did not lose its powers. He translated an Ode of Horace which is printed in his works, and composed several prayers. I shall insert one of them which is so wise and energetick so philosophical and so pious that I doubt not of its affording consolation to many a sincere christian when in a state of mind to which I believe the best are sometimes liable.a/1/2 [MS 1001] And here [/by the favour of Mr. Andrew Strahan/ del] I am enabled fully to refute a very unjust reflection both against Dr. Johnson and his faithful servant Mr. Francis Barber by Sir John Hawkins, as if both of them had been guilty of culpable neglect towards a person of the name of Heely whom Sir John chuses to call a relation of Dr. Johnson’s.3 The fact is that Mr. Heely ≤Against inquisitive and perplexing Thoughts≥ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a

6 In the second edition, below the letter to Nichols, a line was left blank to mark the end of SJ’s ‘Letters when in the Country’ (see next note). 7 At the foot of the page, below JB’s copy, Plymsell wrote, ‘It may be observed, &c. (p. 1007)’, cue words to guide himself back to MS 1007, where JB had written in the margin (at the end of the series of deleted letter headings), ‘To come in after his Letters when in the Country’. 8 The second of these unresolved alternatives, ‘in every way’, was printed. 9 An asterisk in the lower right-hand corner of MS 1000v, after the direction ‘Take in his Letters while absent from London as in a Packet’ (see ante p. 276 n. 12), led the compositor to an asterisk in the left-hand corner with the direction ‘Paper PP’. On the Paper Apart, headed ‘PP’, JB added ‘Back of p. 1000’. For the embryonic draft of this passage, see ante p. 276 ll. 1–5. 1 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in from Prayers & Medits p. 119.’ JB amended this in revision by specifying ‘Quote it in a Note.’ The italicized copy, added in revision above the first direction, began the footnote, which required eleven lines of print in the revises. No citation was provided, rendering moot the erroneous page number; it should have been p. 219, as cited on MS 1001 (see p. 276 n. 10). 2 Down the left-hand margin of the page JB told the compositor ‘Next go to p. 1001’. 3 This ‘unjust reflection’ in the ‘Postscript’ to Hawkins’s biography had irritated Edmund Hector. Writing to JB on 19 June 1787, he quoted from a local newspaper verses derisive of Hawkins (ending ‘And suffer Dullness to pollute his Fame / With the

283

H-P iv. 370–71

1784

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

was not his relation; he had indeed been married to one of his cousins, but she had died ≤without leaving4 children≥ and he had married another woman, so [MS 1002] that even the slight connection which there once had been by alliance was dissolved. Notwithstanding this, Dr. Johnson who had shewn very great liberality to this Man while his first wife was alive as [appears÷is proved>] 5 has appeared in a former part of this Worka was humane and charitable enough 6 to continue his bounty to him occasionally; but surely there was no strong 7 call of duty upon him ≤or upon his legatee5≥ to do more. The following Let- 8 ter [communicated to me by the favour of Mr. Andrew Strahan6>] obligingly 9 communicated to me by Mr. Andrew Strahan will confirm what I have stated. 10 11 12 To Mr. Heely No. 5 in Pye Street Westminster. 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ≤Indeed it is very necessary to keep in mind that Sir John Hawkins has unac- 14 7

countably viewed Johnson’s character and conduct in almost every particular 15 with an unhappy prejudice.b/8≥ Vol. 1. p. a1 b ≤[MS 1001v] I shall add one instance only to those on which I have thought it incumbent on me to observe. Talking of Mr. Garrick’s having signified his willingness to let Johnson have the loan of any of his books to assist him in his edition of Shakspeare, Sir John says (p. 444) ‘Mr. Garrick knew not what risque he ran by this offer. Johnson had so strange a forgetfulness of obligations of this sort, that few who lent him books ever saw them again.’ This surely conveys a most unfavourable insinuation, and has been so understood. Sir John mentions the single case of a curious edition of Politian which he tells us ‘appeared to belong to Pembroke College’ and which probably ‘had been by Johnson as his own for upwards of fifty years.’b1 Would it not be fairer to consider this as a

insidious Tale of Helys name’), and urged JB into the lists: ‘May not this infamous story of our illustrious Friend be washd away by a Postscript in yours’ (Corr. 2a, p. 172). On 29 June, JB wrote to Barber that Hawkins had ‘done gross injustice’ to SJ and treated Barber and his wife ‘so injuriously … as to deserve animadversion’ (Corr. 2a, p. 173). Barber replied on 9 July, eager for JB to ‘vindicate’ their cause (Corr. 2a, pp. 176–77). 4 Printed ‘having’, a misreading that has gone uncorrected. 5 In revision, before putting a caret after ‘him’ and adding this phrase in the margin, JB began to extend the sentence instead. He placed a caret after ‘more’, and above the line—far enough to the left to draft a full clause—wrote and deleted a false start, ‘nor did’. 6 JB added ‘the favour of’ above ‘Mr. Andrew Strahan’, perhaps as an optional phrase related to the one in the first sentence of the paragraph. This passage grew out of a note in the Life Materials: ‘Letter to Mr. Heely left with Mr. A. Strahan’ (M 147). 7 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’. This letter no longer is with the Life MS. 8 Below this sentence (most of it added in the left-hand margin of MS 1002) JB jotted a memorandum, ‘Here book=stealing to be refuted’. He deleted this afterwards, putting the symbol # after ‘prejudice’ and another near the top of MS 1001v, where he drafted his refutation, and later marked it ‘Note’. a1 Printed in the revises ‘Vol. I. p. ’, still blank; ‘290’ was added in the margin, then changed to ‘289’. b1 MS orig. ‘and which Johnson had probably used as his own for upwards of fifty years’. Noticing that his paraphrase had slipped back into quotation (Hawkins: ‘had been used as his own … years’), JB now added quotation marks and adjusted his copy,

284

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25

1784

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

20

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 371–72

[[MS 1007] He was now at Lichfield9 [MS 1008] his native City>] [MS 1008] We now behold him for the last time at his native City for which he ever retained a [great>] warm affection and which by a sudden apostrophe under the Work1 [Lich>] Lich he introduces with reverence [& honour del] into his immortal [monument÷work the Dictionary>] work THE ENGLISH DICTIONARY Salve Magna Parens.c/2/3 ≤[MS 1002v] While here, he felt a revival of all the an inadvertence and draw no general inference? The truth is that Johnson was so attentive, that in one of his manuscripts in my possession he has marked in two columns Books borrowed and books lent. In Sir John Hawkins’s Compilation there are however some passages concerning Johnson which have unquestionable merit. One of them I shall transcribe [to shew at once my candour towards a man who in his Book shewed me none, and my fairness>] in justice to a writer whom I have had too much occasion to censure, and my fairnessb2 as the Biographer of my illustrious friend. ‘There was wanting in his conduct and behaviour that dignity which results from a regular and orderly course of action, and by an irresistible power commands esteem. He could not be said to be a stayed man nor so to have adjusted in his mind the balance of reason and passion as to give occasion to say what may be observed of some men that all they do is just fit and right.’b3 ≥ c [Paper Apartc1] The following circumstance mutually to the honour of Johnson and the corporation of his native City has been communicated to me by 9 To avoid sending the compositor back to the bottom of MS 1007 for these words, JB revised the start of this sentence at the top of MS 1008, beneath an alert: ‘Pages 1003 – 4 – 5 – & 6 are cancelled & 1007 in already’. This alert replaced successive postings which had become difficult to read in the left-hand margin of MS 1008: ‘NB / 1007 / is / inserted’, and later, tucked in below ‘NB’, ‘1003 – 4 – 5 – 6 / cancelled’. 1 A slip of the pen; printed ‘word’ (so in revises). 2 John Loveday, below his transcription of SJ’s letters to Bagshaw (see ante p. 275 n. 5), remarked, ‘Mr. Boswell, doubtless, knows, that his inestimable freind has admitted into his Dictionary some characteristical notices of himself under / GRUBSTREET. n.s. / LICH. n.s. / LEXICOGRAPHER. n.s.’ This reminder probably led JB, when correcting the first proofs of 1st ed. i. 164, to delete a passage about SJ’s ‘playful’ self-deprecation regarding ‘his own laborious task’ in making the Dictionary, and to replace it with the definitions for Grubstreet and Lexicographer (see Life MS i. 214 ll. 7–9 and n. 6). 3 The symbol , inserted here in revision, led to the facing page—now (with MSS 1003–06 ‘cancelled’ and MS 1007 ‘in already’: see n. 9 above) the verso of MS 1002.

inserting ‘had been’ above ‘used’, but reflexively deleting ‘used’ in the process. The verb is legible under deletion, but in the revises, ‘considered’ was printed instead. Also lost was JB’s separate demarcation of the two quotations; the text from ‘appeared’ to ‘years’ was punctuated as a single quotation. b2 Evidently in proof, JB altered this remnant of his original parallel phrasing (‘to shew ... my candour ... and my fairness ...’) to establish a different balance: ‘in justice to a writer ... and to shew my fairness ...’ (so in revises). b3 In the second edition, the footnote continued: ‘Yet a judicious friend well suggests, “It might, however, have been added, that such men are often merely just, and rigidly correct, while their hearts are cold and unfeeling; and that Johnson’s virtues were of a much higher tone than those of the stayed, orderly man, here described.”’ The ‘judicious friend’ was probably EM (Hill-Powell vi. 468–69). c1 This Paper Apart, headed ‘Note on Lichfield where Johnson’s regard for it is mentioned’, is the letter Charles Simpson wrote to William Vyse on 27 Jan. 1790 (C 2492.5; Corr. 2a, p. 168 n. 4). JB deleted the first sentence and opening words of the second

285

H-P iv. 372

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

[1st ed. ii. 552] tenderness of filial affection an instance of which appeared in his ordering the grave stone and inscription over Elizabeth Blaneyd to be substantially & carefully renewed.≥ [[MS 1008 resumed] Miss Seward whose industry is equal to her genius has favoured me with the following Anecdotes of him during this his last visit to his native City÷Lichfield where he remained÷which lasted about six weeks.4>] [Miss Seward whose industry is equal to her genius has favoured me with the following Anecdotes of Johnson, some of which occurred during this his last visit to Lichfield where he remained about six weeks.>] [Miss Seward whose industry is equal to her genius has favoured me with many Anecdotes of Johnson from which I select the following.5>] [MS 1002v resumed] [A few anecdotes shall here be selected from a number with which I have been favoured by Miss Seward whose industry is equal to her genius. I have taken the liberty to curtail them in some places.6 del]7 the Rev. Dr. Vyse from the Town Clerk. ‘≤Mr.≥ Simpson has now before him, a Record, of the respect and veneration which the Corporation of Lichfield, in the year 1767,c2 had for the Merits and Learning of [the Dr., whose Father formerly built>] Dr. Johnson. His Father built the Corner House in the Market=place, the two Fronts of which, towards Market and Bread=market Streetc3, stood upon Wast=Landc4 of the Corporation, under a forty years Lease, wch was then expired. — On the 15 Aug. 1767 at a Common Hall of the Bailiffs & Citizens, It was orderd (and that without any Sollicitation) that a Lease should be granted to Saml. Johnson Dr. of Laws of the Incroachments at his House for the Term of Ninety nine years, at the old rent, which was 5s. — of which as Town clerk Mr. Simpson had the honor & pleasure of informing him and also that he was desired to accept it without paying [1st ed. ii. 552] any Fine, on the occasion — which Lease was afterwards granted and the Dr. died possessed of this property.’ d See Vol. I p. 9. 4 MS orig. ‘Miss Seward … visit.’ If JB, as it appears, extended the sentence in the same draft, he did so after starting the next paragraph, for most of the copy wound up on MS 1007v, where he revised it later. Once MS 1007 was ‘in already’, however, and not to be sent to the printer again, JB recopied that revision in the margin of MS 1008. Later still, he scored through the whole sentence and drafted another revision on MS 1002v, the page that by this point was facing MS 1008 (see preceding note). 5 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take them in’. JB later added ‘from Paper S’, writing the ‘S’ heavily and horizontally to cover up one or two other letters. This direction, undeleted, was replaced by instructions at the end of Paper Apart HW; see p. 287 n. 1. 6 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Take them in’; see p. 287 n. 1. 7 Below this deleted copy and accompanying direction (see n. 6) on MS 1002v, JB told the compositor to ‘Take in Paper HW’.

sentence, above them drafting his own lead-in, and stipulated ‘No NP’ for the quotation. JB’s few alterations to Simpson’s text are transcribed as revisions. c2 JB deleted this phrase, then reinstated it by writing ‘stet’ above it twice. c3 Printed ‘Broad-market-street’ in error. In Simpson’s hand, the letter ‘e’ closely resembles—and in ‘Bread’ it is virtually indistinguishable from—an ‘o’. Powell, aware that the street name was incorrect (without knowing the cause), placed a textual note on it: ‘read Bread-market-street’ (iv. 372 n. 2 and n. a). c4 Printed in the revises ‘waste land’.

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25

1784

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 372–74

[Paper Apart HW8] To Mr. Henry White a young clergyman with whom he now formed an intimacy so as to talk to him with great freedom he mentioned that he could not in general accuse himself of having been an undutiful son. ‘Once indeed’ said he, ‘I was disobedient; I refused to attend my Father to Uttoxeter Market. Pride was the source of that refusal. The remembrance of it was painful. A few years ago, I desired to expiate this fault. I went to Uttoxeter in very bad weather, and stood bareheaded in the rain on the spot where my Father’s stall used to stand. In contrition I stood, and I hope the pennance was expiatory.’9/1/2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [MS 1008 resumed] [One might have supposed that as he had now very faint hopes of recovery, & as Mrs. Thrale was no longer devoted to him, he>] As Johnson had now very faint hopes of recovery, & as Mrs. Thrale was no longer devoted to him, it might have been supposed that he would naturally have chosen to remain in the comfortable house of his beloved Wife’s daughter, and [end his days where he began them.÷close his life where he began it.>] end his life where he began it. But there was [an extraordinary spirit÷animated and lofty spirit in Johnson,>] in him an animated and lofty spirita, and [whatever such a complication of diseases might do to÷however such a complication

≤[MS 1002v] Mr. Burke suggested to me as [a motto to the Life of Johnson what Cicero says of Appius in his Cato Major>] applicable to Johnson what Cicero in his Cato Major says of Appius ‘Intentum enim animum tanquam arcum habebat nec languescens succumbebat [senectuti.’>] senectuti’, repeating at the samea1 time the following noble words in the same passage ‘Ita enim senectus 25 honesta est si se ipsa defendit, si jus suum retinet, si nemini emancipata est, si usque ad extremum vitæ spiritum vindicet jus suum.’≥ 20

a

8 Headed ‘HW’ in the upper left-hand corner, to which JB added ‘(for back of p. 1002)’. On Henry White and his promise to supply JB with his recollections of SJ, see Corr. 2a, p. 76 and n. 1. SJ’s account of his penance at Uttoxeter, as told to White and printed in The Political Magazine for Dec. 1787, was transcribed by the Rev. George Strahan and obtained from him by JB on 4 Mar. 1791 (Journ.; Corr. 2a, p. 300). 9 A note in the Life Materials suggests that JB had intended to cite SJ’s writings as context for this story: ‘His notion of pennance as expiation Rambler No. 110’ (M 153: 5). 1 Direction to the compositor, ‘Go to a sheet [false start in] marked (Miss Seward) and take in from the last page * No. 2 “I told him” down to “torture” *. / Then take in from the second page No. 1 * “Some years ago (says the same Lady) I asked him his opinion” &c. down to “dressing-room.” *’ JB afterwards deleted the latter direction. Paper Apart ‘Miss Seward’—untraced—probably was the ‘good packet’ she drafted in reply to JB’s request for information on 21 Jan. 1785, and the ‘valuable treasure’ he acknowledged on 15 Feb. (Reg. Let.; L 1148; Applause of the Jury, pp. 274, 279 and n. 5). Her mention of Henry White (see Hill-Powell iv. 373–74) explains why Paper Apart HW was taken in first. An early plan for this section of the Life is found in JB’s notes on a sheet of paper used later in Paper Apart for Page 1009 (see p. 288 n. 1): ‘Account of [false start his] him while at Lichfield from Miss Seward, Mr. White & Gent. Mag. I think’. The Political Magazine was the publication he had in mind (see n. 8 above). 2 Below the deleted direction (see n. 1) JB wrote, ‘Then return to page 1008’ and included the cue words ‘As Johnson’ (the start of his revised copy: see l. 13). a1 JB accurately gauged that the original draft of this footnote would fill the lower third of MS 1002v. Extending the note in revision, however, he ran out of room here at the bottom of the page. Rotating the leaf counter-clockwise, he availed himself of the middle third of the page, earlier left blank beneath his direction to ‘Take in Paper HW’.

287

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1784

of diseases might depress>] however such a complication of diseases might depress [1st ed. ii. 553] [ordinary÷common>] ordinary Mortals all who saw him beheld ≤and acknowledged≥ the invictum animum Catonis. Such was his intellectual ardour even at this time that he said to one freind ‘Sir I look upon [every÷a>] every day to be lost in which I do not make a new acquaintance’3 and to [MS 1009] another when talking of the attacks of his illness ‘I will be conquered: I will not capitulate.’4 And such was his love of London, so high a relish had he of its ≤magnificent≥ extent and variety ≤of intellectual [engagement>] entertainment≥ that he languished when absent from it, his mind having [become÷grown÷been rendered>] become [quite÷altogether>] quite luxurious from the long habit of enjoying [it.÷the Metropolis.] the Metropolis.5 [/I may add÷It may be added that although at Lichfield he was in the midst of÷surrounded with freinds who loved and revered him, and for whom he had a very sincere÷tender affection and sincere÷constant regard the Talk as he used to say6÷Conversation of London could be found no where else./>] and therefore though at Lichfield he was surrounded with freinds who7 loved and revered him, and for whom he had a very sincere affection he still found that such Conversation as London affords could be found no where else. These [feelings÷considerations>] feelings joined probably [with>] to some flattering hopes of [relief by means of÷aid from>] aid from the eminent Physicians and Surgeons in London who kindly and generously attended him without accepting of fees, made him resolve to return to the Capital.8 [Paper Apart for Page 10099 (p. 1)1] From Lichfield he [proceeded>] came to Birmingham where he passed a few days with his worthy old schoolfellow Mr. 3 Here in the margin JB posed a query: ‘Q is not this used before.’ On MS opp. 162, across from his own comment on the wisdom of ‘continually adding to the number of our friends’, he had added in revision SJ’s remark to Reynolds about the need for a man to ‘make new acquaintance as he advances through life’ (see Life MS i. 215). JB introduced this remark as having been made ‘at an after period of his life’—perhaps on the present occasion, raising the possibility that the unnamed friend here was Reynolds. Deleting the query, JB let the quotation stand, possibly because its expression here was different (see ante p. 133 n. 7). 4 Deleted marginal memorandum, ‘Ask’. The person JB wanted to ask—presumably the one to whom SJ spoke—remains unidentified. In the Life Materials, JB noted ‘His strong speech at Lichfield of his disease “I will be stormed / I will not capitulate.”’ Above ‘Lichfield’ he added ‘not impiously but’. Another memorandum nearby reads as follows: ‘His thought of dying—uncertain whether he would wish to have a freind by him—or have it all between GOD and himself’ (M 157, p. 11). 5 A semicolon was printed here in the revises, suitable to the manner in which JB incorporated the following optional sentence in revision. 6 For this expression, taken from Mrs. Piozzi’s Anecdotes, which JB had used and then deleted twice earlier, see Life MS iii. 187 ll. 2–3 and n. 7. 7 Printed in the revises ‘although at Lichfield, surrounded with friends, who’. JB’s revision of ‘although’ (l. 12) to ‘though’ was ambiguous: in deleting the first syllable, he scored through only the ‘a’. 8 Direction to the compositor, ‘From Lichfield # Take in Paper apart of three undeleted pages.’ 9 To the left of this heading, JB inserted the symbol #. Numbered ‘(p. 1)’ through ‘(p. 3)’, the three leaves of this Paper Apart—originally two (see p. 290 n. 1)—are held together by a small stitching in the centre of the left-hand edge. 1 JB wrote ‘Paper apart for Page 1009’ above two deleted memoranda: ‘1784 / To Dr. Brocklesby 6 Novr.’, and the note about material from Anna Seward and Henry White

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H-P iv. 375–76

Hector, who thus writes to me2 ‘He was very solicitous with me to recollect some of our most early transactions and transmit them to him, for I perceived nothing gave him greater pleasure than calling to mind those days of our innocence. I complied with his request, and he only received them a few days before his death. I have transcribed for your inspection exactly the Minutes I wrote to him.’ [/This paper having been found in his repositories after his death Sir John Hawkins has inserted it entire, and I have made occasional use of it and other communications from Mr. Hector, in the course of this Work. I have both visited Mr. Hector and corresponded with him since Dr. Johnson’s death, and by asking a variety of particulars have obtained pointed÷much additional information./>] This paper having been found in his repositories after his death Sir John Hawkins has inserted it entire, and I have made occasional use of it and other communications from Mr. Hector,3 in the course of this Work. I have both visited Mr. Hector and corresponded with him since Dr. Johnson’s death, and by asking a variety of particulars have obtained additional information. I [took>] followed the same mode with the Rev≤erend≥ Dr. Taylor in whose presence I wrote down a good deal of what he could tell, and he at my request signed his name [/to give it authenticity/>] to give it authenticity.4 It is very rare to find any [one who can give any distinct>] person who is able to give a distinct account of the Life even of those whom they have known intimately, without [having questions put>] questions being put to them. My freind Dr. Kippis has told me that on this account it is [usual>] a practice with him to [draw÷make>] draw out a Biographical Catechism. [He>] Johnson then proceeded to Oxford where he was again kindly received by Dr. Adams5 who was pleased to give me the following Account in one of his Letters (17 Feb. 1785)6 ‘His last visit was I beleive to my house which he left after a stay of four or five days. We had much serious talk together for which I ought to be the better as long as I live. You will [Paper Apart for Page 1009 (p. 2)] remember some discourse which we had in the summer upon the subject of Prayer and [1st ed. ii. 554] the difficulty of this sort of composition. He reminded me of this, and of my having wished him to try his hand and to give us a specimen of the style and manner that he approved. He added that he was now in a right frame of mind, and as he could not possibly employ his (see p. 287 n. 1). Writing from Lichfield on 6 Nov., SJ told Brocklesby, ‘I am endeavouring to make haste to town’. JB decided to omit this letter (see p. 277 n. 15) in which SJ, in ‘extremely low’ spirits, reported taking ‘Squills in too great a quantity’ and supporting himself with opiates until he was ‘comatous’ (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 436). 2 In a letter dated 1 Feb. 1785; see Corr. 2a, p. 42 and p. 44 n. 10. 3 For the footnote added here in the second edition, based on Hector’s letter of 9 Aug. 1791 to JB, see Hill-Powell iv. 375 n. 2; Corr. 2a, p. 339. In the third edition, within brackets, EM added ‘This early and worthy friend of Johnson died at Birmingham, September 2, 1794.’ 4 JB met with Taylor in London on 6 May 1785; see Corr. 2a, pp. 80–84 and 85 n. 22. 5 For the footnote added by EM here in the third edition, which included the lengthy inscription on a monument at Gloucester to Adams’s memory, see Hill-Powell iv. 548 (App. J). 6 JB added this date in the same draft, after discovering his error in citing the date on the verso of Paper Apart for Page 1009 (p. 2); see n. 8 below. For the full letter, see Corr. 2a, pp. 48–51.

289

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1784

time better, he would in earnest set about it. /But I find upon inquiry that no papers of this sort were left behind him except a few short ejaculatory forms suitable to his present situation./’7 [Here Dr. Adams was not as yet sufficiently informed; and there appears to have been something of confusion÷not quite clear concerning that Collection published under÷with the title of ‘Prayers and Meditations’ for in a subsequent Letter (12 July 17868) Dr. Adams writes to me ‘The prayers which Mr. Strahan has unadvisedly published were designed (for)9 and in the Envelope were addressed to me, as Dr. Scott told me, and were, I am confident intended to shew me that he had not forgot his promise of writing to me upon that subject though not well enough to attempt it. How Mr. Strahan came to think himself authorised and even directed to publish them (which must be impossible) I think I can form some not wholly improbable conjecture.’1>] [Paper Apart for p. 1009 (p. 3)] Dr. Adams had not [at this time>] then received accurate information on this subject, for it has since appeared that various prayers had been composed by [him>] Johnson2 at different periods, which intermingled with pious resolutions and some short notes of his ≤Life≥ have in pursuance of his desire been published by the Reverend Mr. Strahan under the title of ‘Prayers and Meditations.’3 4 This admirable Collection to which I have frequently referred in the course of this work, evinces beyond all his compositions for the Publick, and all the eulogies of his friends and admirers, the sincere virtue and [uniform del] piety of Johnson. It proves with unquestionable authenticity that amidst all his constitutional infirmities, his earnestness to conform his practice to the precepts of Christianity was unceasing, and that he habitually referred every action of his life to the will of the Supreme Being. [MS 1009 resumed] He arrived in London on the 16 of November and next day sent to Dr. Burney the following note which I insert as [MS 1010] [his last÷the last token of his>] the last token of his remembrance of this [very del] accomplished and amiable man, and as another of the many proofs of This unresolved optional sentence was printed. MS orig. ‘17 Feb. 1785’, a momentary mistake; see n. 6 above. The date on the letter, 12 July 1786, reflects Adams’s use of Old Style dating; Waingrow dated it ?22 July 1786 (Corr. 2a, pp. 135–36 and n. 1). JB received it on 24 July (Reg. Let.). 9 As Adams had omitted this word (see Corr. 2a, p. 136), JB put it in parentheses. 1 JB wrote ‘Qu’ in the margin at the beginning of this paragraph, and at the end jotted a memorandum: ‘Here respectfully differ, and commend the Prayers.’ This brought him to the bottom of the verso of Paper Apart for p. 1009 (p. 2). Afterwards, deleting the query, the memorandum, and the paragraph, he drafted p. 3 on a larger leaf of paper. He heightened his commendation of the publication further in first proof (see n. 3 below). 2 Printed in the revises ‘by him’. The compositor may not have noticed the revision: ‘Johnson’, written in a relatively light ink, is camouflaged from above by the descenders in the word ‘prayers’. 3 In the revises, the latter part of this sentence was printed ‘notes of his life, were entitled by him “Prayers and Meditations,” and have in pursuance of his earnest requisition in the hopes of doing good, been published, with a judicious well-written Preface, by the Reverend Mr. Strahan, under the title of “Prayers and Meditations.”’ The last phrase—evidently overlooked when the sentence was altered in first proof, and now redundant—JB deleted and replaced with ‘to whom he delivered them’. 4 Printed in the revises as a continuation of the previous paragraph. 7

8

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 377–79

[his benignity /and kindness÷tenderness/ of disposition.÷the tenderness and benignity of his heart.>] the tenderness and benignity of his heart.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To MR. HECTOR6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [My correspondence with him÷His correspondence with me>] [1st ed. ii. ‘525’7] His correspondence with me after his letter on the subject of my settling in London shall now ≤so far as is proper≥ be produced in one series. July 26 he wrote to me from Ashbourne ‘On the 148 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Having written to him in bad spirits a letter filled with dejection and fretfulness, and at the same time expressing anxious apprehensions concerning him on account of a dream which had disturbed me, his answer was9 chiefly in terms of reproach on a supposed charge of ‘affecting discontent and indulging the vanity of complaint’. [But it÷It however>] It however proceeded ‘Write to me often and write like a man. I consider your fidelity and tenderness as a great part of the comforts [MS 1011] which are yet left me, and sincerely wish we could be nearer to each other. * * *10 ‘My dear friend Life is very short and very uncertain; let us spend it as well as we can. My worthy neighbour Allen is dead. Love me as well as you can.1 — Pay my respects to dear Mrs. Boswell. — Nothing ailed me at that time. Let your superstition at last have an end.’ 5 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’. See ‘Charles Burney’s Memorandum of His Acquaintance and Correspondence with Johnson Prepared for Boswell’, Life MS i. 377 and n. 4. Burney endorsed the letter ‘Dr. Johnson’s last remembrance’ (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 437). 6 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in 17 Novr.’ This letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. 7 A misprint, corrected to 555 in the revises, but the error remained. 8 Direction to the compositor, ‘take in to within myself on p. 2’. This letter no longer forms part of the Life MS; see ante p. 271 and n. 9. JB had written to SJ on 4 July (Reg. Let.). Replying on 11 July, SJ said that he was ‘setting out’ the next day for Lichfield and Ashbourne and would write again from Ashbourne ‘if I find myself disposed to stay’ (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 347–48); he did so on 26 July. Where he tells of ‘the Doctor’ busy in his fields, JB in the second edition added a footnote, ‘The Rev. Dr. Taylor.’ 9 Here, looking for a suitable entrance into SJ’s reply, JB made two false starts: (1) ‘in these words “I was in no haste to answer your letter for it’; (2) ‘“Your letter gave’. On 3 Aug. he wrote SJ ‘a long melancholy letter quite in misery from my ambitious project of going to the english bar, being impracticable at least for some time. Asking him to come to Auchinleck’ (Reg. Let.). SJ reported receiving it—‘a gloomy account of his perplexity and irresolution’—in a letter to Sir William Forbes dated 7 Aug. (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 362). SJ’s confessed delay in answering this ‘gloomy account’ suggests that he did so later in the month, and that his letter written ‘two days after’ was dated Aug. 28, not ‘July 28’, as drafted by JB, probably in error (see p. 292 l. 2). Aug. 26 and 28 were post days on which SJ wrote other letters as well. 10 JB added these asterisks in the same draft after he had begun the next paragraph. Printed here in the revises (with no paragraph break) was a dash, eight asterisks, a full stop, and another dash. 1 Omitted in first proof, these two short sentences were marked ‘Out’ by Selfe. In the revises, they were printed after rather than before the following dash.

291

H-P iv. 379–80

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

Feeling very soon that the manner in which he had written might hurt me he in two days after July 28 wrote to me again giving me an account of his sufferings [and then kindly÷affectionately saying>] [affectionately & wisely saying>] after which follows ‘Before this letter you will have had one which I hope you will not take amiss; for it contains only truth, and that truth kindly intended. * * *2 Spartam quam nactus es orna; make the most and best of your lot, and compare yourself not with the few that are above you, but with the multitudes which are below you. * * * Go steadily forward with lawful business or honest diversions. Be, as Temple says of the Dutchmen, be well when you are not ill, and pleased when you are not angry.* * * This may seem but an ill return for your tenderness; but I mean it well, for I love you with great ardour and [1st ed. ii. 556] sincerity. Pay my respects to dear Mrs. Boswell, and teach the young ones to love me.’ [MS 1012] I unfortunately was so [inexplicably ill>] [inexplicably uneasy>] [ill>] much indisposed [for>] during a considerable part of the year that it was not ≤or at least I thought it was not≥ in my power to write to my illustrious friend [upon topicks of entertainment del] as formerly or without expressing such complaints as offended [him.>] [him for I felt the force of Shakspeare’s words ‘How weary stale flat and unprofitable ‘Seem to me all the uses of this World.’3>]

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him. [I conjured him not to do me the injustice of charging me with affectation, and was long silent.>] [I conjured him not to do me the injustice of charging me with affectation, and with much regret was long silent.>] Having conjured him not to do me the injustice of charging me with affectation, I 25 with much regret was4 long silent.5 6 His last letter to me then came, and affected me very tenderly. To James Boswell Esq;7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 JB first put a dash here, then covered it up with three asterisks—printed in the revises as seven asterisks and a full stop. The ellipses below (ll. 8, 10) were printed as six asterisks and a full stop. 3 In the first stage of revision to MS 1012, JB deleted the clause containing Hamlet’s complaint from the bottom of the page, where it characterized SJ’s ‘experience’ (see p. 293 ll. 4–7), and transferred it to the top of the page here (writing perpendicularly down the left-hand margin) to express his own suffering. 4 Printed ‘I was with much regret’, probably in error. In his first revision to this sentence, JB inserted the phrase ‘with much regret’, placing a caret before ‘was’. Writing ‘I’ over that caret in his second revision, he put a new caret after ‘was’, but then deleted it and moved it back to precede the verb. 5 Lapses of several months in Reg. Let. and Journ. accompanied JB’s indisposition. Entries resumed in both for 12 Nov., marking the start of a recovery (see ante p. 272 n. 1; Applause of the Jury, p. 263). 6 This sentence was printed in continuation of the previous paragraph (so in revises). 7 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in Nov. 3 but omit the third paragraph “Do not” &c. and put stars * * * *.’ This letter no longer forms part of the Life MS. The ‘stars’ were printed as six asterisks and a full stop. In the second edition, the date was printed ‘Nov. 5’, a mistake corrected in Hill-Powell.

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H-P iv. 380–82

[It was>] [It was however>] Yet it was [very÷not a little>] not a little painful to me to find that in a paragraph of this letter which I have omitted he still persevered in arraigning me [of affecting÷pretending to be unhappy>] as before which was strange in him who had so much experience [of that inexplicable state in which he felt the force of Shakspeare’s words ‘How weary stale flat and unprofitable ‘Seem to me all the uses of this World.’>] of what I suffered.8 [MS 1013] I however wrote to him two as kind letters as I could; the last of which came too late to be read by him9 ≤for his illness [it will be seen del] encreased more rapidly than I had apprehended≥; but I had the consolation of being informed that he spoke of me on his death=bed with affection ≤and I look forward with humble hope of renewing our friendship in a better world≥. I now relieve [my readers from any farther notice of the Authour of this Work who>] the readers of this Work from any farther personal notice of its Authour who if he [has obtruded>] shall be thought to have obtruded himself too much upon their attention, requests them to consider the peculiar [nature÷plan>] plan of his biographical undertaking. Soon after Johnson’s return to the Metropolis both the Asthma and Dropsy [soon1 del] became more violent and distressful. He had for some time kept a Journal in latin of the state of his illness ≤and the remedies which he used≥ under the [1st ed. ii. 557] title of Ægri Ephemeris which he began on the [MS 1014] [12>] 6 of July but continued it no longer than the ≤8≥ of ≤November≥2 finding I suppose that it was a mournful ≤and unavailing≥ register. It is in my possession and is written with much care and accuracy [in the following extracts>] [as will appear from a few short extracts del]. Still his love of Literaturea/3 did not fail. He [sent>] drew out and gave to his [1st ed. ii. 558] friend Mr. John Nichols what perhaps he alone could have It is truly wonderful to consider the extent and constancy of Johnson’s Literary Ardour, notwithstanding the Melancholy which clouded and embittered a

30

In the revises, the next sentence was printed as part of the present paragraph. The sentence originally ended here, followed by a false start: ‘To such uncertainty are all human connections liable. I was indeed’. Deleting these lines, JB placed a semicolon after ‘him’ and continued the sentence, ‘but I had …’. Only one letter, sent on 19 Nov., is listed in Reg. Let. On 12 Nov., having received SJ’s letter of 3 Nov., JB wrote a short despairing reply, but his wife stopped him from sending it (Journ.). 1 JB added this word in the same draft, either forgetting that his sentence began with it, or setting up an alternative syntax (‘After … soon became’) rejected in revision. 2 In revising this imperfect draft, JB relied on a note under ‘1784’ in the Life Materials: ‘Ægre Ephemeris begins July 6. Continued no longer than Novr. 8’ (M 147). 3 On the first page of sig. Zzz in the revises, beneath his message about Wilkes (see ante p. 267 n. a4), JB advised the compositor, ‘It will be observed that there is yet to come an additional train of note upon page 1014. You must contrive to manage so as that there may be at least four or five lines on each page of text. I shall contract the note as much as I can.—And I hope by Monday to have All the remaining copy in the Printing House / 4 March 1791’. The note began on p. 557 below five lines of text, dominated pp. 558–59 below only two lines of text on each page, and even then spilled onto p. 560. 8 9

293

H-P iv. 381–83

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

done a list of the Authours of the Universal History mentioning their several shares in that [1st ed. ii. 559] Work. [He directed that it should be deposited in his existence. Besides the numerous and various Works which he executed, he had at different times formed schemes of a great many more of which the following Catalogue was given by him to Mr. Langton and by that gentleman presented to His Majesty. DIVINITYa1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [Paper Apart Ca2; 1st ed. ii. 559] Johnson’s extraordinary facility of composition when he shook off his constitutional indolence, and resolutely sate down to write is admirably described by Mr. Courtenay in his ‘Poetical Review’ which I have several times quoted.a3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [MS 1014v] We shall in vain endeavour to know with exact precision every production of Johnson’s pen.a4 [MS 1014v add-on] He owned to me that he had written about forty sermons but as I understood that he had given or sold them to different persons who were to preach them as their own, he did not consider himself at liberty to acknowledge them. Would those who were thus aided by him who are still alive, and the friends of those who are dead fairly inform the World it would be obligingly gratifying a reasonable curiosity to which there should I think nowa5 be no objection.a6 — I have now lying before me in his hand-writing a fragment in twenty quarto leaves of a Translationa7 into a1 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in the Catalogue from Hawkins p. 8’ (sic for ‘81’). Later, in the left-hand margin of MS 1014, JB added, ‘After the Catalogue of intended works take in also in the same long Note what is on the other side of this leaf.’ Still later he added, ‘But first insert Paper C’. In the Life Materials (M 158, p. 11) he queried, ‘Should not his Catalogue of intended Publications Hawkins p. 81 Note be taken in?’ Hawkins’s list—one project under ‘DIVINITY’, forty-three under ‘PHILOSOPHY, HISTORY, and LITERATURE in general’, and five under ‘POETRY and works of IMAGINATION’ (pp. 81–84)—filled the rest of 1st ed. ii. 557 and all of 1st ed. ii. 558 except for two lines of main text. a2 Headed ‘C’, with the instruction, ‘to be inserted before what is on the back of p. 1014. See the bottom of that page.’ MS 1014 specifies where Paper C belongs (see n. a1). a3 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in from p. 15 / “While through life’s maze” & / down to glow foot of the page.’ a4 A symbol inserted here in revision led to a later addition to this passage: a halfleaf pasted sideways to the top of MS 1014v. Although indented, as if drafted for a separate paragraph, the copy was printed in the revises as part of the current paragraph; only the first of the two dashes was printed. a5 JB drafted this seven-word phrase (‘to which … now’) above—and it extended slightly beyond—a deleted false start: ‘without now incurring’. His underscoring of the redrafted ‘now’ for italics touched the deletion stroke through ‘now incurring’, so he made the line thick. The compositor, failing to notice this, did not italicize the word. a6 JB added a sentence here in the second edition: ‘Two volumes of them, published since his death, are sufficiently ascertained; see Vol. II. p. 111.’ On the crossreferenced page, SJ considered the ‘liberty of preaching’ (see Hill-Powell ii. 249). a7 The phrase ‘in twenty quarto leaves’, added in the same draft, replaced a false start to the next sentence: ‘It consists of twenty quarto leaves, begins near the conclusion of Chapter 28 and ends with Chapt[er]’. Next to these lines JB jotted ‘Q’ and ‘Q Look’, but deleted ‘Look’ along with the false start. With no caret showing where the phrase belonged, and the word ‘in’ obscured by the large top of the ‘T’ in ‘Translation’, the compositor mistakenly typeset ‘a fragment of twenty quarto leaves, a translation’ (so in revises), causing JB to insert ‘of’ after the comma.

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H-P iv. 383

the British Museum which has been done.>] It has according to his direction been deposited in the British Museum.b/4

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English of Sallust De Bello Catalinarioa8. When it was done I have no notion; but it seems to have no very superiour merit to mark it as his. — [MS 1014v resumed] Besides those ≤publications≥ which with all my ≤chronological≥ care I have ascertained in the course of this Work, I am [willing>] satisfied ≤from internal evidence≥ to admit also as genuine the following [which have been ascribed to him by others del]a9: ‘Considerations on the Case of Dr. Trapp’s Sermons’a10 published in 1739 in The Gentlemans Magazine. It is a very ingenious defence of the right of abridging an Authour’s Work without being held as infringing his [right of del] property. This is one of the nicest questions in the Law of Literature, and I cannot help thinking that [great indulgence in>] the indulgence of abridging is ≤often≥ exceedingly injurious to Authours and Booksellers and should in very few cases be permitted.a11 Dedication for Mrs. Lennox to the Earl of Middlesex of her Female Quixote in 1762.a12 Preface to the Catalogue of the Artists Exhibition in 1762. ≤Preface to Baretti’s Easy Lessons in Italian & English in 1775.≥ But ≤though it has been confidently ascribed to him≥ I cannot allow that he wrote Dedicationa13 to both Houses of Parliament of a Book entitled ‘The Evangelical History Harmonized.’ He was no croaker; no declaimer against the times. He would nota14 [Paper Apart W] have written ‘That we are fallen upon an age in which corruption is barely nota15 universal, is universally confessed.’ Nor 4 Because the other footnote to this paragraph was so long (see p. 293 n. 3), the note on ‘Museum’ was printed on p. 560 of the revises, not p. 559, where ‘Museum’ stood alone on the second line of main text. With room on that line to extend the present sentence, JB did so, deleting the note on p. 560 and in the margin of p. 559 writing ‘and is printed in the Gentleman’s Magazine for December 1784’. In the third edition, EM added a lengthy footnote to the end of the paragraph; see Hill-Powell iv. 550 (App. J).

JB corrected his spelling to ‘Catilinario’ in the second edition. Second edition, ‘Beside the publications heretofore mentioned, I am satisfied, from internal evidence, to admit also as genuine the following, which, notwithstanding all my chronological care, escaped me in the course of this Work’. a10 A dagger was printed in the revises at the end of this and each subsequent title, indicating a work attributed to SJ in the absence of explicit confirmation. a11 In the second edition, this paragraph continued: ‘At any rate, to prevent difficult and uncertain discussion, and give an absolute security to authours in the property of their labours, no abridgement whatever should be permitted till after the expiration of such a number of years as the Legislature may be pleased to fix.’ a12 This work and the next two works were omitted in the second edition. a13 Printed in the revises ‘a Dedication’. Modern scholarly opinion is against JB on this point; see Hill-Powell iv. 549–50 (App. J) and Fleeman, Bibliography of Johnson, i. 712–14. a14 Direction to the compositor, ‘Proceed to Paper W’. Above this direction, the catchword ‘have’ leads onto the Paper Apart, which is headed ‘W (for back of p. 1014)’. a15 Printed ‘not barely’ (so in revises), a transposition that has gone uncorrected. See The Evangelical History of Our Lord Jesus Christ Harmonized, Explained and Illustrated with Variety of Notes Practical, Historical, and Critical, 2 vols., 1757, i. sig. a2. a8 a9

295

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1784

[MS 1015; 1st ed. ii. 560] During his sleepless nights he amused himself by translating into latin verse from the Greek many of the epigrams in the Anthologia.5 These translations with some other poems by him in latin he gave to his friend Mr. Langton who ≤having added a few notes≥ sold them to the Booksellers for a small sum to be [appropriated÷disposed of in charity and>] 5 given to some of his relations which was accordingly done and they are printed 6 7 in the Collection of his Works. A very erroneous notion has circulated as to Johnson’s [extreme del] defi- 8 ciency in the knowledge of the greek language partly owing to the modesty 9 with which [he himself from knowing how much there was to be learnt used to 10 mention his own comparative acquisitions.÷he himself mentioned his acquisi- 11 tions in knowing how much there was to be learnt.>] from knowing how much 12 ‘Rapine preys on the publick without opposition and perjury betrays it without inquiry.’ Nor would he to excite a speedy reformation have conjured up such phantoms of terrour as [1st ed. ii. 560] these ‘A few years longer, and perhaps all endeavours will be in vain. We may be swallowed by an earth=quake; we may be delivered to our enemies.’ This is not Johnsonian. There are indeed in this Dedication several sentences constructed upon the model of those of Johnson. But [as I have observed above, del] the imitation of ≤the form without the spirit of≥ his style has been so general that this of itself is not sufficient evidence. Even our Newspaper writers aspire to it. In an account of the funeral of Edwin the Comedian in ‘The Diary’ of 9 Novr. 1790 that son of drollery is thus described ‘A man who had so often cheered the sulleness of vacancy, and suspended the approaches of sorrow.’a16/a17 [And here I shall fulfill my promise of exhibiting specimens of imitation of Johnson’s style in various modes.a18 del] b [MS 1014 resumed] It is printed in the Gentleman’s Magazine for December 1784.b1 5

Dr. Brocklesby mentioned this in a letter to JB dated 13 Dec. 1784 (Corr. 2a, p. 22).

In the revises, JB drafted a new sentence for insertion here: ‘I have not thought it necessary to specify every copy of verses written by Johnson, it being my intention to publish [false start his authentick] an authentick edition of all his Poetry with notes.’ It appeared in the first edition as a separate paragraph. a17 In the second edition, the present paragraph continued: ‘And in “The Dublin Evening Post,” August 16, 1791, there is the following paragraph: “It is a singular circumstance, that, in a city like this, containing 200,000 people, there are three months in the year during which no place of publick amusement is open. Long vacation is here a vacation from pleasure, as well as business; nor is there any mode of passing the listless evenings of declining summer, but in the riots of a tavern, or the stupidity of a coffee-house.”’ a18 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take them in’. To the left of this, a circled memorandum—‘See the Criticism on his style in Dublin Transactions’—resulted in the opening paragraphs of the section devoted to stylistic imitations (see p. 298 ll. 1–29). JB’s introduction of that section here suggests he had lost track of the fact that he was still drafting the footnote he had vowed to ‘contract’ as much as possible (see p. 293 n. 3). Another sign of disorientation, perhaps, is the phrase ‘as I have observed above’ (l. 19), later deleted, in reference to a paragraph for which JB’s copy has not been traced; see post p. 305 n. 2. b1 In the revises, JB transferred this reference into the main text; see p. 295 n. 4. a16

296

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25

1784

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

20

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H-P iv. 384–85

there was to be learnt he used to mention his own comparative acquisitions. ≤When Mr. Cumberlanda/6 talked to him of the greek fragments which are so well illustrated in the ‘Observer’ and of the greek dramatists in general he candidly acknowledged his insufficiency in that particular branch of Greek literature.≥ ≤Yet≥ It may be said that though not a great, he was a good greek scholar. Mr. Burney7 who is universally acknowledged by the best judges to be one of the few men of this age who are very eminent for their skill in that noble language has assured me that Johnson’s knowledge of it, was such, that he8 could give a greek word for almost every english one and that although not [full master of>] sufficiently conversant in the niceties of the language he upon some occasions discovered even in these a considerable degree of critical acumen. Mr. Dalzell Professour of Greek at Edinburgh whose merit is also well known [MS 1016] mentioned to me in very liberal terms the impression which was made upon him ≤by Johnson≥ in a conversation ≤which they had in London≥ concerning that language.9 As Johnson therefore was undoubtedly one of the first latin scholars in modern times let us not deny to his fame [the additional splendour of the greek.>] some additional splendour from greek. [≤And here I shall fulfill my promise of exhibiting specimens of imitation of Johnson’s style in various modes.1≥>] [Paper Apart2 (1); 1st ed. ii. 561] I shall now fulfill my promise of exhibiting specimens of various sorts of imitation of Johnson’s stile.3

a ≤[MS 1015v] Mr. Cumberland assures me that he was always treated with great courtesy by Dr. Johnson who in his Letters to Mrs. Thrale Vol. 2 p. 68 thus speaks of that learned ingenious and accomplished gentleman ‘The want 25 of company is an inconvenience. But Mr. Cumberland is a Million.’≥

6 An asterisk here took the compositor to the verso of MS 1015, where JB rotated the page and drafted the footnote sideways relative to the copy on the recto. 7 Second edition, ‘Dr. Charles Burney, the younger’. The words to be replaced were mistakenly identified as ‘Mrs. Burney’ in Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition (p. 35). 8 Printed in the revises ‘has assured me, that he’. Either Plymsell looked up from the page and resumed typesetting from the wrong ‘that’ without Selfe’s having marked the missing phrase as ‘Out’, or JB deleted the seven words in proof without adjusting the pronoun. JB made this correction now, changing ‘he’ to ‘Johnson’. 9 In the revises, JB deleted this sentence, but then wrote ‘Stet’ six times (above it and in both margins) to reinstate it, stipulating as follows: ‘[false start Only instead of merit and of also well known read] Only instead of merit read skill in it and for also well known read unquestionable’. Plymsell, evidently on his own, altered ‘Professour’ to ‘Professor’. 1 JB recopied this sentence (see ante p. 296 ll. 25–26) to the right of the symbol , also inserted in revision. In the margin of the page, Plymsell wrote and circled the relevant direction to himself: ‘ Take in imitations’. The opening words of the deleted sentence were typeset, evidently, for the printed catchword in the revises at the bottom of p. 560 was ‘And’. Deleting this catchword, JB replaced it with ‘I shall’. Whether p. 561—the first of sig. 4C—was corrected in first proof or the first revise is unknown; on the extant sig. 4C, a second revise, p. 561 begins ‘I shall now …’. 2 A seven-page Paper Apart comprises the core of this section, accompanied by six Sub-Papers Apart. After the pages were drafted, JB numbered the first two in the upper right-hand corner, but blotted ‘2’ and moved it to the lower left-hand corner, where the rest followed; but see post p. 299 n. 7. 3 MS orig. ‘style’. JB changed the spelling, no doubt, after drafting ‘Stile’ below (see p. 298 ll. 2, 35). All were printed in the revises with a ‘y’.

297

H-P iv. 385–87

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1784

In the ‘Transactions of The Royal Irish Academy’ 1787 there is an ‘Essay on the Stile of Doctor Samuel Johnson’ by the Rev. Robert Burrowes whose respect for the great [subject÷object>] object of his criticisma is thus evinced in the concluding paragraph ‘I have singled him out from the whole body of English writers, because his universally acknowledged beauties would be most apt to induce imitation; and I have treated rather on his faults than his perfections, because an Essay might comprise all the observations I could make upon his faults while volumes would not be sufficient for a treatise on his perfections.’ Mr. Burrowes has annalysed the composition of Johnson and pointed out its peculiarities with great acuteness; and I would recommend a careful perusal of his Essay to [Paper Apart (2)] those who being captivated by the union of perspicuity and splendour which the writings of Johnson contain without having a sufficient portion of his vigour of mind may be in danger of becoming bad copyists of his manner. I however cannot but observe and I observe it to his credit that this learned gentleman has himself caught no mean degree of the expansion and harmony which independent of all other circumstances characterise the sentences of Johnson. Thus in the Preface to the Volume in which his Essay appears we find ‘If it be said that in societies of this sort too much attention is frequently bestowed on subjects barren and speculative, it may be answered, that no one science is so little connected with the rest, as not to afford many principles whose use may extend considerably beyond the science to which they primarily belong, and that no proposition is so purely theoretical as to be totally incapable of being applied to practical purposes. [Paper Apart (3)] There is no apparent connection between duration and the cycloidal arch, the properties of which duely attended to have furnished us with our best regulated methods of measuring time: and he who has made himself master of the nature and affections of the logarithmick curve is not aware that he has advanced considerably towards ascertaining the proportionable density of the air at its various distances from the surface of the earth.’ [1st ed. ii. 562] The ludicrous imitators of Johnson’s style are innumerable. Their general method is to accumulate hard words without considering that although4 was fond of introducing them occasionally there is not a single sentence in all his writings where they are crowded together as in the first verse

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 20

25

30

a ≤We must smile at a little inaccuracy of Metaphor in the Preface to the Transactions which is written by Mr. Burrowes. The Critick of the Stile of 35 Johnson having with a just zeal for literature observed that the Irisha1 nation are called on to exert themselves, afterwards says ‘They are called on by every tye which can have a laudable influence on the heart of man.’≥ 4 A false start here—‘took’ (pleasure or delight)—distracted JB from including the necessary pronoun ‘he’; it was supplied in print (so in revises). a1 Printed in the revises ‘whole’, probably in error. While JB put a footnote symbol on ‘criticism’ in his original draft, he added the note itself in revision, beginning with one line at the bottom of the page, then rotating the leaf counter-clockwise three times and filling each margin in turn. ‘Irish’ was the first word drafted (quite poorly) upside down in the top margin; to its left, JB blackened in the circled page number ‘1’, which evidently looked like a smeared ‘w’ starting the word, causing it to be misread.

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H-P iv. 387

of the following imaginary Ode by him to Mrs. Thralea which appeared in the News=papers5 Cervisial6 Coctor’s viduate dame Opins’t thou this gigantick frame Procumbing at thy shrine Shall catenated by thy charms A captive in thy ambient arms Perennially be thine?

5 6 7 8 9

[Paper Apart (4)7] ≤This and a thousand other such attempts, are totally

10 unlike the original which the writers imagined they were turning into ridicule. 11 There is not similarity enough for burlesque, or even for caricature.≥ 12 Mr. Colman8 in his ‘Prose on several Occasions’ has a ‘Letter from 13 LEXIPHANES containing Proposals for a glossary or Vocabulary of the Vulgar 14 a

≤Johnson’s wishing to unite himself with this rich widow was much talked

15 of; but I believe without any foundation. The report however gave occasion

toa1 a Poem not without characteristical merit entitled Ode to Mrs. Thrale by Samuel Johnson LLD. on their supposed approaching Nuptials printed for Mr. Faulder in Bond Street.a2≥ 5 Nearing the bottom of Paper Apart (3), JB wrote the following verses compactly to fit them in, starting each one slightly farther to the right. In the revises, the third and sixth verses were indented, just as the stanza—the first of five—appeared in the Public Advertiser of 8 Nov. 1782. Simply titled ‘Ode’, the poem was accompanied by mock scholia and an introduction signed ‘S.J. / Brighthelmstone, Nov. 4, 1782’. 6 In the revises, doubtful of this word form, Selfe underscored the suspect letters and in the margin wrote ‘Qr si’. Although his suspicion was correct—the word was ‘CERVICIAL’ in the Public Advertiser—his query was not addressed and the spelling did not change. In this same verse, ‘viduate’ in the Public Advertiser was not italicized. 7 Pages ‘4’ through ‘7’ of this Paper Apart were numbered ‘5’ through ‘8’ at first. JB apparently discarded the original p. 4 in revision, evidently after salvaging the two sentences added to the present page (copied tightly into the margin above ‘Mr. Colman …’), and perhaps the note drafted in the margin of the previous page (see n. a2). 8 In the Life Materials (M 158) JB anticipated this passage on Colman’s ridicule of the Dictionary ‘in cant words Johnsonised’ (see Life MS i. 211 n. 7), and when revising the Ashbourne Journal for the Life, next to his promise to include imitations of SJ’s style, he put Colman’s parody first in a memorandum of potential exhibits: ‘Mem Lexiphanes two Jephsons Miss Aikin Erskine Knox Steevens Nares—Knox—Life of Sir John Davies’ (see Life MS iii. 117–18 and n. 2). From this list—although JB in the text beside it quoted SJ’s praise of Miss Aikin as his best imitator—only Colman, Knox, and Nares figured in the present section of the Life. Whether ‘two Jephsons’ signified separate works by Robert Jephson, or works by him and another Jephson, is unclear. ‘The Life of Sir John Davies’ probably was the one written by George Chalmers for his edition of Davies’s Historical Tracts (1786); he also edited SJ’s Parliamentary Debates (see Life MS i. 107 ll. 11–12 and n. 6). a1 Printed ‘occasion for’, a misreading. JB corrected the preposition in the second edition. a2 This note, written sideways in the left-hand margin of Paper Apart (3), superseded a passage drafted, revised, and finally deleted on MS 983 and MS opp. 982 (see ante pp. 252–53 and n. 9). In the second edition, reviving his intention to include part of the poem, JB extended the note: ‘—I shall quote as a specimen, the first three

299

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1784

Tongue intended as a Supplement to a larger DICTIONARY.’ It is evidently meant as a sportive sally of ridicule on Johnson whose style is thus imitated, without being grossly overcharged. ‘It is easy to foresee that the idle and illiterate will complain that I have increased their labours by endeavouring to diminish them, and that I have explained what is more easy by what is more difficult. — Ignotum per ignotius. I expect on the other hand the liberal acknowledgements of the learned. He who is buried in scholastick retirement, secluded from the assemblies of the gay, and remote from the circles of the polite will at once comprehend the definitions and be gratefull for such a seasonable and necessary elucidation of his mother tongue. Annexed to this letter is a short specimen of the work thrown together in a vague and [Paper Apart (5)] desultory manner, not even adhering to alphabetical concatenation.’b/9 [1st ed. ii. 563] The serious imitators of Johnson’s style whether intentionally or by the imperceptible effect of its strength and animation are, as I have had already occasion to observe[,] so many, that I might introduce quotations

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

I shall insert a few of the most laughable articles.b1 ‘Higgledy-piggledy—Conglomeration and confusion.b2 Hodge-podge—A culinary mixture of heterogeneous ingredients, applied metaphorically to all discordant combinations. 20 [1st ed. ii. 563] Tit for Tat—Adequate retaliation. Shilly Shally—Hesitation and Irresolution. Fee! fa! fum!b3—Gigantick Intonations. Rigmarole—Discourse incoherent and rhapsodical. Crincum-crancum—Lines of irregularity and involution. Ding-dong—Tintinabuloryb4 Chimes used metaphorically to signify dispatch 25 and vehemence.’b5 b

9 Quotation marks were correctly printed here in the revises, but also after the previous sentence. Selfe mistakenly deleted the present set, making this sentence read as JB’s own comment. Meanwhile, JB noticed the extraneous quotation marks on an earlier proof, and in Corrections and Additions directed readers to insert a dash after ‘tongue’ (see l. 10) and to ‘prefix inverted commas to the following word’—turning Colman’s consecutive sentences into separate quotations. But Selfe’s reading persisted; Hill noted the error (iv. 388 n. 1) and Powell finally corrected it. To Pottle, unaware of what had produced JB’s correction, it was ‘quite incomprehensible’ (Lit. Car., p. 155).

stanzas:’ (for the stanzas, see Hill-Powell iv. 387 n. 1). An inconsistency between ‘rais’d’ and ‘praised’—both words elided in his original draft (see p. 253 ll. 29, 31) and in Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition (p. 36)—was resolved in favour of full spellings in the third edition. b1 This sentence—omitted in the revises—and the ‘articles’ below (eight of Colman’s twenty-eight) were drafted as main text, but marked for a footnote in revision. b2 On the next line, writing ‘Hurly’, JB was set to proceed from the first to the second definition in Colman: ‘Hurly-Burly,—Extreme Tumult and Uproar.’ Deleting this false start, however, he began to copy select entries in no particular order. Below Crincum-crancum (l. 24) he copied Hodge-podge and its definition, but bracketed this entry in revision, put ‘Tr’ (for ‘Transpose’) in the margin, and drew a line to move it up the page, telling the compositor, ‘Hodge-podge next to Higgledy’. b3 ‘Fee! Fau! Fum!’ in Colman, as noted in Hill-Powell (iv. 388 n. a). b4 ‘Tintinnabulory’ in Colman; printed ‘Tintinabulary’ in the revises (as in OED). b5 A comma was printed here in error; in the second edition it became a full stop.

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H-P iv. 388–89

from a great proportion of the writers in our language since he appeared. I shall [here del] point out only the following. WILLIAM ROBERTSON D.D.1 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

[Sub-Paper Apart Robertson2] ‘In other parts of the globe man in his rudest state appears as lord of the creation giving law to various tribes of animals which he has tamed and reduced to subjection. The Tartar follows his prey on the horse which he has reared; or tends his numerous herds which furnish him both with food and clothing; the Arab has rendered the camel docile and avails himself of its persevering strength; the Laplander has formed the rein=deer to be subservient to his will; and even the people of Kamchatka3 have trained their dogs to labour. This command over the inferiour creatures is one of the noblest prerogatives of man, and among the greatest efforts of his wisdom and power. Without this, his dominion is incomplete. He is a monarch who has no subjects; a master without servants and must perform every operation by the strength of his own arm.’ Hist. of America Vol. 1. Quarto p. 3324 [Paper Apart (6)]

EDWARD GIBBON ESQ.5

[Sub-Paper Apart Gibbon6] ‘Of all our passions and appetites the love of power is of the most imperious and unsociable nature, since the pride of one 20 man requires the submission of the multitude. In the tumult of civil discord the laws of society lose their force and their place is seldom supplied by those of humanity. The ardour of contention the pride of victory the despair of success the memory of past injuries and the fear of future dangers all contribute to inflame the mind and to silence the voice of pity.’ 25 Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Vol. 1. Chap. 4.7 [Paper Apart (6) resumed; 1st ed. ii. 564] MISS BURNEY8 [Sub-Paper Apart Burney9] ‘My family mistaking ambition for honour and rank for dignity have long planned a splendid connection for me, to which Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’. Headed ‘[REVEREND added and del] WILLIAM ROBERTSON D.D.’ 3 Printed ‘Kamschatka’ (so in revises). JB started the place name incorrectly, writing ‘Kams’, then fixed his error in finishing the word, covering the s with a c—but not completely. The compositor, able to make out both letters, typeset both, a misreading that has gone uncorrected. 4 Printed as a footnote, with quotation marks around ‘History of America’, and with the roman numeral ‘I’. Below this citation, JB removed part of the leaf on which he had copied, or started to copy, a specimen by Knox, as evident from the tops of the letters for ‘R Mr. [false start Kn[ox]] Vicesimus’. 5 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’. 6 Headed ‘Edward Gibbon Esq:’. 7 Printed as a footnote, with quotation marks around the title, and with roman numerals. 8 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’. 9 Headed ‘MISS BURNEY.’ 1

2

301

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1784

though my invariable repugnance has stopt any advances their wishes and their views immovably1 adhere. I am but too certain they will now listen to no other. I dread therefore to make a trial where I despair of success; I know not how to risk a prayer with those who may silence me by a command.’ Cecilia Book 7. Chap. 1.2 [Paper Apart (6) resumed]

REVEREND MR. NARESa/3

[Sub-Paper Apart Nares4] ‘In an enlightened and improving age much, perhaps, is not to be apprehended from the inroads of mere caprice; at such a period it will generally be perceived that needless irregularity is the worst of all deformities and that nothing is so truly elegant in language as the simplicity of unviolated analogy. — Rules will therefore be observed — so far as they are known and acknowledged: but at the same time the desire of improvement having been once excited will not remain inactive; and its efforts unless assisted by knowledge as much as they are prompted by zeal, will not unfrequently be found pernicious, so that the very persons whose intention it is to perfect the instrument of reason, will deprave and disorder it unknowingly. At such a time, then, it becomes peculiarly necessary that the analogy of language should be fully examined and understood: that its rules should be carefully laid down

5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

The passage which I quote is taken from that Gentleman’s ‘ELEMENTS OF ORTHOEPY containing a distinct view of the whole Analogy of the ENGLISH 20 LANGUAGE so far as ita1 relates to Pronunciation Accent and Quantity’ London 1784. I beg leave to offer my particular acknowledgements to the Authour of a Work of uncommon merit and great utility,a2 I know no book which contains in the same compass more learning, polite literature sound sense accuracy of 25 arrangement and perspicuity of expression.a3 a

1 The words ‘stopt’ and ‘immovably’, copied accurately from Burney’s text, were printed ‘stopped’ and ‘immoveably’ in the revises. The spelling ‘immovably’, as found in SJ’s Dictionary, was restored in the second edition. 2 Printed as a footnote, with quotation marks around the title, and with roman numerals. The chapter number, as noted in Hill-Powell (iv. 389 n. 5), should have been ‘v’. JB deleted a second specimen below this one by removing the bottom of the leaf, as shown by the tops of several letters above the tear. 3 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’. 4 JB wrote ‘Reverend MR. NARES’ at the top of this leaf, placed a footnote symbol on the heading, copied the first six words of the imitation (‘In … age’), and then—on the lower third of the page—drafted his note, carrying it onto the verso of the leaf, again using the lower portion of the page. In the spaces left open on both sides of the leaf, he turned over the task of copying the quotation to James Ross, in whose hand the rest of this document was written.

The compositor omitted this word; his error has gone uncorrected. The comma left here after two false starts (see endnotes) was printed as a full stop. a3 The punctuation of this footnote in Hill-Powell—except for its own error, an extra quotation mark after ‘ORTHOEPY;’ (iv. 389 n. 6)—remains what it was in the revises. Beneath the note, Powell comments, ‘The punctuation is Boswell’s.’ Actually, it was mostly the compositor’s, notwithstanding JB’s assertion elsewhere in the revises that ‘it is my duty to point’ (see Life MS iii. 196 n.3). Only the missing first proof or first revise would show here whether JB himself had made any of these sporadic adjustments. a1 a2

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 390–91

and that it should be clearly shown5 how much it contains which being already right should be defended from change and violation: how much it has that demands amendment; and how much that, for fear of greater inconveniences must perhaps be left unaltered, though irregular’ — [Paper Apart (6) resumed] A distinguished Authour6 in THE MIRRORa a Periodical Paper published at Edinburgh has imitated Johnson very closely.7 Thus in No. 168 [Sub-Paper Apart Gibbon resumed] ‘The effects of the return of Spring have been frequently remarked as well in [1st ed. ii. 565] relation to the human mind as to the animal and vegetable world. The reviving power of this season has been traced from the fields to the herds that inhabit them and from the lower classes of beings up to man. Gladness and joy are described as prevailing through universal nature animating the low of the cattel the carrol of the birds and the pipe of the shepherd.’ [Paper Apart (6) resumed] The Reverend MR. KNOX Master of Tunbridge School appears to have [had del] the imitare9 aveo of Johnsons style perpetually in his mind and to his assiduous study of it we may ascribe the extensive popularity of his writings.b/1/2

a That collection was presented to Dr. Johnson I believe by its Authours and I heard him speak very well of it.a1 b 20 ≤It were to be wished that he had imitated that great man in every respect & had not followed the example of Dr. Adam Smith in ungraciously attacking his venerable Alma Mater Oxford,b1≥ 5 Misprinted ‘known’, an error noted in Hill-Powell (iv. 390 n. a) but not corrected. Ross’s draft clearly begins ‘sho’, followed by a slip of the pen; a ‘w’ oddly formed to cover up this slip perhaps distracted the compositor and contributed to the misreading. 6 Henry Mackenzie (Hill-Powell iv. 390 n. 1). 7 No paragraph break appeared here in the revises. 8 Following the cue words ‘The effects’, JB told the compositor to ‘Take it in from the same Paper on which Edward Gibbon Esq. is written’. ‘Mirror No. 16’, written above the excerpt at hand, originally was drafted below it as a citation. On the verso of this Paper Apart, JB began to copy the concluding paragraph of Mirror No. 110: ‘And last number: “The disadvantages attending their publication they have not enumerated by way of plea for favour or apology for faults. They will give their volumes as they gave their papers to the world not’. JB first deleted this unfinished sentence (which continues ‘meanly dependent on its favour, nor coldly indifferent to it.’), then the entire passage. 9 Third edition, ‘imitari’, a correction overlooked in the second edition, though specified in Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition (p. 36). 1 In revision, JB began to expand this paragraph: ‘It were to be wishe[d]’. Then, opting for a note instead, he deleted the false start, inserted a footnote symbol, rotated the page, and drafted his copy in the margin along the edge of the leaf. 2 Writing to JB on 1 June 1791, Knox objected to the footnote—‘You censure me severely’—and to his portrayal in this paragraph as ‘a mere Imitator’: true, he had been ‘impressed ... with a Desire of imitating’ SJ as a young man, but had ‘studiously avoided a servile Imitation’ (Corr. 2a, p. 235). To assuage his sense of injury, JB in the second edition modified the note (see n. b1 below) and altered ‘assiduous study’ to ‘assiduous,

JB noted this opinion in the Life Materials: ‘His praising Mirror’ (M 158, p. 3). This comma—left by a false start: ‘Alma Mater of Oxford, which’—was printed as a full stop. In the second edition, JB extended the note by stressing the lesser culpability of Knox on this score and by praising ‘others of his productions; particularly his sermons’ (Hill-Powell iv. 391 n. 1; ‘Baliol’ became ‘Balliol’ in the third edition). a1

b1

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1784

In his ‘Essays Moral and Literary’ No. 3 we find the following passage3 [SubPaper Apart Gibbon resumed] ‘The polish of external grace may indeed be deferred ’till4 the approach of manhood – when5 solidity is obtained by pursuing the modes prescribed by our forefathers then may the file be used. The firm substance will bear attrition, & the lustre then acquired will be durable.’ — [Paper Apart (7)] [But the following in No. 11 is so obviously modelled after the most tumid cast as to have the appearance of intentional burlesque.>] There is however one in No. 11 which is blown up into such tumidity as to be truly6 ludicrous. The Writer means to tell us that members of Parliament who have run in debt by extravagance will sell their votes to avoid imprisonmenta/7 which he thus expresses8 [Sub-Paper Apart Gibbon resumed] ‘They who build houses & collect costly pictures and furniture, with the Money of an honest Artisan or mechanic, will be very glad of emancipation from the hands of a bailiff by a sale of their senatorial suffrage.’ [Ibid.9 ‘Ebullitions will sometimes arise in a free community like humors in a healthy body & when they preserve the limits of moderation they are to be considered as symptoms of a sound constitution. But when they rise too high & continue to [sic] long they are like a gangrene which gradually diffuses itself till it destroys the vitality of the subject from which it originates.’ del] ≤Mr. Knox in his Moral and Literary abstractiona1 may be excused for not knowing the political state of his Country. No senator can be in the hands of a bailiff.≥ a

though not servile, study’. In a letter to EM on 12 Mar. 1786, JB had enclosed ‘a leaf of Knox’s Essays ... in which are paragraphs wonderfully Johnsonian’. ‘Croft Knox and Nares to this great÷Johnson’s school belong’, he declared: ‘Croft—because his Young (notwithstanding Burke) is for the most part undistinguishable—Knox because he is very like, and is a Writer of prodigious popularity—Nares because he is also very like, and has I think uncommon merit which deserves to be pointed out to the World’ (Corr. 4, pp. 299–300; for Burke’s criticism of Croft’s style, see ante p. 46 and n. 9). 3 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in from the back of Paper EDWARD GIBBON Esq: at .’ Written beneath the false start from Mirror No. 110 (see p. 303 n. 8), this excerpt, below the heading ‘Essay No. 3’, was copied in an unidentified hand; so too were the next two excerpts (see ll. 11–20). 4 Printed without the unnecessary elision mark, which was not in Knox’s text. 5 Printed in the revises ‘manhood. When’ (as in Knox). The copyist had drafted ‘manhood when’ before inserting a short dash where room allowed, below the line. 6 In the revises, Selfe uncharacteristically marked this word to be spelled ‘truely’. Nowhere else did it contain an ‘e’, so the compositor ignored his correction. 7 JB deleted a false start here: ‘in which by the way there are two mistakes one in holding the vulgar errour that money may be actually received’. Later, deciding after all to mention Knox’s mistake, he drafted a footnote to that effect at the bottom of the page. In the revises, ‘imprisonment’ was printed ‘an arrest’. 8 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in from back of Paper EDWARD GIBBON Esq: .’ 9 Above the previous excerpt stood a deleted heading, ‘Extract from Essay No. 11’. a1 Printed ‘Moral and Literary Abstraction’ within quotation marks. Instead of reading ‘abstraction’ as part of JB’s reproof (toned down from ‘vulgar errour’: see n. 7 above) of Knox for his mistake, Plymsell took the word to be part of a title because the initial ‘a’ was slightly enlarged. In the second edition, quotation marks remained around ‘Moral and Literary’, but ‘abstraction’ appeared outside them.

304

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 20

1784

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 392–93

[Paper Apart (7) resumed] But I think the most perfect Imitation of Johnson is [the professed one in>] a professed one entitled ‘A Criticism on Gray’s Elegy in a Country Church=Yard’ said to be written by Mr. Young Professour of Greek at Glasgow and of which let him have the credit unless a better title can be shewn. It has not only the peculiarities of his style but that very species of literary illustration and discussion for which he was eminent. Having already quoted so much from others, I shall refer the curious1 to this Performance with an assurance of much entertainment.2/3 [MS 1016 resumed; 1st ed. ii. 566] [His>] Johnson’s4 affection for his departed relations seemed to grow warmer as he approached nearer to the time when he might hope to see them again. It probably appeared to him that he should upbraid himself with unkind inattention were he to leave the world without having paid a tribute of respect to their memory. To Mr. Green Apothecary in Lichfield5

15

[Paper Apart6] Dear Sir, I have enclosed the epitaph7 for my Father, Mother, and Brother, to be

MS orig. ‘my readers’; see n. 3 below. A paragraph serving as a coda to the imitations—for which no copy survives— was printed here in the revises: ‘Yet whatever merit there may be in any imitations of Johnson’s style, every good judge must see that they are obviously different from the original; for all of them are either deficient in its force, or overloaded with its peculiarities; and the powerful sentiment to which it is suited is not to be found.’ 3 Beneath the final paragraph on Paper Apart (7) JB wrote and circled ‘Space’, and below this (closer to the right-hand corner of the page) the catchwords ‘My readers’ (for MS 1017). The typographical buffer he meant to create appeared in the second edition, but was unnecessary in the first: his coda to the imitations (see note above) ended the main text on 1st ed. ii. 565, and ‘My readers’ began the text on 1st ed. ii. 567. While MS 1017 was evidently still in JB’s hands at this point, MS 1016 was at the printing house, and only half of it been typeset (see ante p. 297). Plymsell spotted the problem and, probably having discussed it with JB, added a new direction to the right of ‘Space’: ‘Go to p. 1016,—His affection, &c.’ He scored through ‘My readers’, substituting ‘His’, but then deleted this new catchword, and in the cue phrase changed ‘His’ to ‘Johnson’s’. 4 Plymsell made this revision on MS 1016 in the course of correcting the direction on Paper Apart (7); see note above. 5 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in’. JB inadvertently included this letter heading within the parentheses he routinely placed around directions to the printer (and did so again with the next heading). The same heading in his hand appears on the Paper Apart, but with ‘at’ instead of ‘in’; ‘at’ was typeset. 6 On 29 June 1787, JB solicited from Richard Greene a copy of SJ’s letter to him, ‘which I have seen in your hands’; Greene copied it on the present leaf, enclosing it in his reply of 8 July (Corr. 2a, pp. 174–76). JB wrote ‘Letter to Mr. Green at Lichfield’ about half-way down his list of Life Materials for 1784, and also near the bottom; he later deleted the redundant listing (M 147). 7 A footnote on this word was printed in the revises: ‘No man understood that species of composition better than Johnson. I should have mentioned in 1773, his Epitaph on Mrs. Bell, wife of his friend JOHN BELL, Esq. It is printed in his Works, as well as the above.’ JB moved this note in the second edition, putting a more elaborate version of it on his opening paragraph for the year 1773; see Life MS ii. 84 n. 2. 1

2

305

H-P iv. 393–94

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

all engraved on the large size, and laid in the Middle Isle8 in St.-Michael’s Church, which I request the Clergyman and the Church-Wardens9 to permit. The first care must be to find the exact place of interment, that the stone may protect the bodies. Then let the Stone be deep, massy and hard, and do not let the difference of ten pounds or more defeat our purpose. I have enclosed ten pounds, and Mrs. Porter will pay you ten more, which I gave her for the same purpose. What more is wanted shall be sent, and I beg that all possible hast10 may be made, for I wish to have it done while I am yet alive. Let me know, dear sir, that you receive this. / I am, / Sir / Your most humble Servant,1 Sam. Johnson. / Decem. 2d. 1784.2 To Mrs. Porter. / Madam, be pleased to pay to Mr. Greene ten pounds. / Sam. Johnson. / £10:0:0 / Decem. 2d. 1784.3 [MS 1016 resumed] To Mrs. Lucy Porter4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

[MS 1017; 1st ed. ii. 567] My readers are now at last to behold Samuel Johnson preparing himself for that doom from which the most exalted powers afford no exemption to man. Death had always been to him a object of terrour so that he though5 by no means happy, he still clung to life with an eagerness at which many have wondered.6 At any time when [he was7 del] ill, he was very 20 Printed in the revises ‘aisle’. Printed in the revises ‘and church-wardens’, probably in error; uncorrected. Printed in the revises ‘haste’. 1 This portion of the sign-off was printed without line breaks. In the second edition, ‘Your … servant,’ was printed on its own line; and in the third, so was ‘I am, Sir,’. 2 Printed on the same line in reverse order, with the date ‘Dec. 2, 1784’ (so in revises). 3 Omitted in print, this copy was circled in the lower left-hand corner of the page. Whether a postscript or a separate enclosure for Greene’s use, it represented, as SJ wrote in his letter to Lucy Porter, ‘a power to call on You for ten pounds’ (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 444). 4 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in. Only after English leave out the Translation and put within brackets [Here a Translation]’. This letter, only the second of four to Lucy Porter originally slated for inclusion under the year 1784 (see ante p. 182 n. 5), no longer forms part of the Life MS. The omission of SJ’s English version of his wife’s epitaph puzzled EM, who wrote to Forbes on 4 May 1804 (as the fourth edition was printing ‘with great rapidity’) asking for the original letter in order to print it ‘at full and without any mutilation’ (Corr. 2a, p. 468). The desired result went unrealized. For the translation, see Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 444. 5 Printed in the revises ‘an object of terrour; so that though’. The typesetting of ‘an’ and omission of ‘he’ corrected errors left by same-draft changes within this wider passage: MS orig. (1) ‘an object of aweful apprehension and though his existence in this state was by no means happy, he’; (2) ‘a very aweful object so that he though by no means happy, he’. 6 To usher in Paper Apart E.C., JB began a new paragraph, drafting ‘A me[mber]’, but deleted this false start. Then, continuing the present paragraph instead, he drafted and deleted ‘He’, the start of a cue phrase into the first sentence of the Paper Apart as originally drafted. Next, he revised that sentence (on the Paper Apart; see p. 307 ll. 1–4), and finally recopied a truncated version of it here. 7 These words, printed in the second revise, evidently were restored in proof by JB. 8

9

10

306

1784

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 394–95

much pleased to be told that he looked better.8 [Paper Apart E.C.] [He was much pleased to be told that he looked better.>] [Such had been his habitual dread of death that at any time when he was ill he was very much pleased to be told that he looked better. del] An ingenious member of the Eumelian Cluba/9 informs me that upon one occasion when he [told>] said to him, that he saw health returning to his cheek Johnson seised him by the hand and exclaimed ‘Sir you are one of the kindest friends I ever had.’ [MS 1017 resumed] 1His own state of his views of futurity will appear truly rational and may perhaps2 impress the unthinking with seriousness.3 ‘You know (said4 heb)5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . His great fear of death and the strange dark manner in which Sir John Hawkins [MS 1018] imparts the uneasiness which he expressed on account of offences with which he charged himself may give occasion to injurious suspicions as if there had been something of more than [common÷ordinary>] ordinary criminality weighing upon his conscience. On that account therefore as well as from that regard to truth which he inculcatedc I am to mention (with all

a A Club in London founded by the learned and ingenious Physician Dr. Ash in honour of whose name it was called Eumelian from the Greek µé 20 though it was warmly contended and even put to a vote, that it should have the more obvious appelation of Fraxinean, from the latin. b Letters to Mrs. Thrale Vol. 2 p. 350. c ≤See what he said to Mr. Malone p. of this Volume.c1≥

8 Here, writing the cue phrase ‘An ingenious member of’, JB directed the compositor to ‘take in Paper E.C. from ’. On the Paper Apart he did not score out the first sentence, but simply placed the symbol before ‘An ingenious …’. On the verso of ‘E.C.’ is a phrase from Cicero, ‘arcum … senectuti’ (see p. 287 ll. 22–23). 9 William Seward, as conjectured by Mrs. Piozzi in her copy of the 1816 edition of the Life (Hill-Powell iv. 551). 1 JB indented this line of copy more deeply than the line above it, which was a false start to the paragraph: ‘His dread of something af[ter]’. 2 False start, ‘give pause’, within quotation marks, in allusion to Hamlet: ‘For in that sleep of death what dreams may come / When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, / Must give us pause’ (III. i. 66–68). 3 False start, ‘For as I have heard him observe “Of those who are without fear there are five hundred’. The germ of this saying is found on a leaf of ‘Boswelliana’ recorded in June 1784 at Oxford: ‘Fear of death. For one without it from hope[,] 500 from negligence’ (J93; see p. 216 n. 9, Applause of the Jury, p. 243). In conversation on 15 Apr. 1778, when Mrs. Knowles offered scriptural solace—‘The righteous shall have hope in his death.’—SJ justified the ‘uneasy apprehension’ of any ‘rational man’ who subjected his own obedience and repentance to ‘close examination’ (see Life MS iii. 213). 4 Selfe queried this verb tense in the revises: underscoring ‘id’, he wrote ‘q says’ in the margin, and next to this added ‘I believe’, but then made an effort to wipe away ‘I believe’. Plymsell adopted the correction. 5 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take in from the beginning down to feign’. JB began this quotation in line with the end of his false start after ‘seriousness’ (see n. 3); in the revises, it was printed to start a new paragraph. c1 JB drafted this note in the left-hand margin of MS 1018. In the revises it included ‘p. 356’. For the cross-referenced passage—on reasons for relating ‘the vicious as well as the virtuous actions of men’—see ante p. 41 and Hill-Powell iv. 53.

307

H-P iv. 395–96

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

possible respect and [1st ed. ii. 568] delicacy however) that [Johnson’s÷his>] his conduct after he came to London and had associated with Savage and others was not so strictly virtuous in one respect as when he was a young man. It was well known that his amorous inclinations were uncommonly [warm÷strong>] strong and impetous.6 He owned to many of his friends that he used to take women of the town to taverns and hear them relate their history. — In short it must not be concealed that like many other good and pious men, amongst whom we find÷may place7 the Apostle [MS 1019] Paul upon his own authority, Johnson was not free from propensities which were ever ‘warring against the law of his mind’ and that in his combats with them he was sometimes overcome.8 Here let the profane and licentious pause; ≤—≥ let them not thoughtlessly say that Johnson was a Hypochrite9 or that1 [Paper Apart E, No. 1] his principles were not firm because his practice was not uniformly conformable to what he professed. [Why should the most delicious deviation from moral rectitude÷morality the laws of which if once admitted are all equally obligatory though not of equal consequence÷importance, be peculiarly branded as inferring duplicity?2 del] Let the subject be divested of moral and religious association and no man will deny that thousands in many instances act against conviction. Is a prodigal for example a hypochrite when he owns he is satisfied that his extravagance3 will bring him to ruin and misery. We are sure he believes it?4 but immediate inclination strengthened by indulgence prevails over [this belief.>] that belief 6 Printed ‘impetuous’. JB began to draft ‘impetu’, but then finished the word (covering the half-formed ‘u’) as he usually spelled such endings; see ‘presumptous’ (p. 309 l. 12), and also Life MS iii. 241 n. 5, and 313 (endnote for p. 2 l. 18). 7 The second of these unresolved alternatives, ‘may place’, was printed in the revises. 8 William Bowles similarly accounted for SJ’s ‘gloomy apprehensions’ of death: ‘all his fears’, he told JB in Nov. 1787, ‘arose from an idea of his own defective conduct’ (Corr. 2a, p. 196). 9 Not found among the variant spellings in the OED; printed ‘an hypocrite’ here and below (l. 21). See also p. 230 l. 34 and endnote. 1 Here, drafting the cue words ‘his principles’, JB directed the compositor to ‘Take in Paper E’. Beneath this direction, he tore off the lower three-fifths of MS 1019. A few ink marks from the copy thus discarded appear along the bottom of the paper that remains. 2 JB recopied a version of this sentence below (p. 309 ll. 3–6). Whether he did so in the same draft or upon resuming this Paper Apart after a pause, its situation here was stable enough temporarily for JB to have drafted additional material initially to precede it, and then to follow it (see next note). 3 This much of the present paragraph was a second draft, recopied with slight changes (see endnotes) from a first draft originally meant to precede the foregoing sentence. Having just drafted that sentence, JB put the symbol = after ‘professed.’ He rotated the page counter-clockwise, repeated the symbol =, and filled the left-hand margin with this passage, stopping abruptly when—with this word—he ran out of room. Then, returning the page to its proper orientation, he recopied what he had written (deleting his first draft) and marked it for a new paragraph. Why he placed another symbol = at the top of the page next to the heading ‘Paper E’ remains a puzzle. 4 JB’s inadvertent question mark perhaps anticipated what he began to draft next: ‘Why then should not credit be given to the Opinions [‘O’ covering a false start] of moral’. Deleting this false start, he continued the present sentence without backtracking to delete the question mark. In print, the question mark was moved to the previous sentence, and a semicolon appeared here.

308

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 20

1784

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

20

25

30

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 396–97

in influencing his conduct. Why then shall credit be refused [Paper Apart E, No.1v] to the sincerity of those who acknowledge their persuasion of moral and religious truth yet sometimes fail in living as it requires them to do. And why should the most delicious deviation from those laws which if once admitted are equally obligatory though not of equal importance be peculiarly branded as inferring duplicity?5 I heard Dr. Johnson once observe ‘there is something noble in publishing truth though it condemns one’s self’a/6 and one who [said÷asserted>] said in his presence ‘he had no notion of people being in earnest in their good professions whose practice was not suitable to them’ was thus reprimanded by him ‘Sir, are you so grossly ignorant of human nature as not to know that a man may be very sincere in good principles without having good practice?’b But let no man encourage or soothe himself in ‘presumptous sin’ from knowing that Johnson was sometimes [led to>] hurried into indulgencies which he thought criminal. I have exhibited [them as a shade>] this circumstance as a shade in so great a character, both from my sacred regard [Paper Apart E, No. 2] to truth, and to shew that he was not so weakly scrupulous as he has been represented by those who [foolishly del] imagine that the [sins÷faults>] sins of which a deep sense was upon his mind were merely such little ≤venial≥ trifles as pouring milk into his tea on good=friday. His under-[1st ed. ii. 569] standing will be defended by my statement if his consistency of conduct be in some degree impaired. But [to apply this del] What wise man would for momentary gratifications deliberately subject himself to suffer such uneasiness7 as we find was experienced by Johnson in reviewing his [life÷conduct>] conduct as compared with his notion of the [precepts÷ethicks>] ethicks of the Gospel. Let the [following÷aweful>] following passages be kept in remembrance — ‘O GOD giver and preserver of all life, by whose power I was created and by whose providence I am sustained, look down upon me with tenderness and mercy, grant that I may not have been created to be finally destroyed; that I may not be preserved to add wickedness to wickedness.’c — ‘O Lord, let [Paper Apart E, No. 3] me not sink into total depravity, look down upon me, and rescue me at last from the captivity of sin.’d — ‘Almighty and most merciful Father, who hast continued my life from year to year, grant that by longer life I may become less desireous of sinful pleasures8 and more careful of eternal happiness.’e — Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides 3 Edit. p. 209.a1 Ibid. p. 374. c Prayers & Medit. p. 47. d Ibid. p. 68. e Ibid. p. 84.

a

35

b

This sentence, first drafted above (see p. 308 n. 2), was omitted in the revises. In revision, JB scored through this quotation, but then reinstated it (writing ‘stet’ above it three times) before making any other changes to the sentence. 7 A small x above this word marked it for reconsideration in revision. JB let it stand. 8 Here JB placed quotation marks, a dash, and a footnote symbol. Then, noticing more to copy, he deleted these elements and completed the sentence. 5

6

a1 In the second edition, JB augmented this note by introducing a quotation from SJ’s letter of 29 Nov. 1783 to Mrs. Thrale (see Hill-Powell iv. 396 n. 4).

309

H-P iv. 397–98

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

‘Let not my years be multiplied to increase my guilt but as age advances,9 let me become more pure in my thoughts more regular in my desires, and more obedient to thy laws.’f/1 ‘Forgive o merciful Lord whatever I have done contrary to thy laws. Give me such a sense of my wickedness as may produce true contrition and effectual repentance, so that when I shall be called into another state, I may be received among the sinners to whom sorrow and reformation have obtained pardon, for Jesus Christ’s sake Amen.’g Such was the distress of mind such the contrition of Johnson in his hours [Paper Apart E, No. 4] of privacy and in his devout approaches to his Maker. His sincerity therefore [is÷must appear to every candid mind>] must appear to every candid mind unquestionable. [He upon many occasions and particularly to some of his friends when he had a near prospect of death expressed himself concerning his conduct in terms much stronger than I think are fairly warranted. del] It is of essential consequence to keep in view that there was in this excellent man’s conduct no false principle of commutation no deliberate indulgence in sin, in consideration of a counterballance of duty. His offending, and his repenting were distinct and separate.a/2 And when we consider his almost unexampled attention to truth, his inflexible integrity, his constant piety, who will dare

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Ibid. p. 120. 20 Ibid. p. 130. a ≤[Satellite Paper Apart Notea1] Dr. Johnson [used to relate>] related with ≤an earnestness of≥ approbation a story of a gentleman who [from an÷in an>] in an impulse of passion overcame the virtue of a young woman. a2‘When she said [to him÷to me>] to him “I am affraid [Sir del] we have done wrong” he 25 answered [seriously del] Yes we have done wrong; — for [/said he/ del] I would not debauch her mind.’≥ f

g

9 JB copied ‘but as age advances,’ above the line, having at first overlooked the phrase. In the revises, ‘my age’ was printed. Hill-Powell notes that ‘my’ was not in SJ’s MS (iv. 397 n. b); nor was it in the published text. The error has gone uncorrected. 1 JB put no dash here to separate the quotations, but one was printed in the revises. 2 In revision, JB placed a footnote symbol here, and in the margin directed the compositor to ‘See note’. Above this alert he affixed to the present page the half-leaf on which he had drafted the note. In the revises, a colon was printed here, not a full stop; the sentence continued, ‘and when …’. a1 This smaller leaf is affixed to the middle of the left-hand edge of Paper Apart E, No. 4. To the left of the circled heading ‘Note’ JB added ‘E’, and then (continuing leftward) ‘No. 4’. A memorandum written along the edge of the leaf, circled but later heavily deleted, possibly reads ‘ask Seward’. a2 JB’s quotation marks here begin either the transgressor’s speech, with two internal quotations (‘I ... wrong’ and ‘Yes we ... wrong’) or SJ’s speech, with a third internal quotation (‘for ... her mind’, voiced by the transgressor to SJ). JB marked only the first internal quotation, and left other ambiguities as well. The alternatives ‘to him÷to me’ required a complementary set in the next line (‘he÷I answered’); its absence perhaps led JB in revision, first choosing ‘to me’, to restore ‘to him’—after which it was a mistake to delete the optional ‘said he’. In the revises (with no quotation marks here), two speeches were marked: ‘I … wrong!’ and ‘Yes, we … her mind.’ The latter conflates separate speeches to the woman and to SJ, an error that has gone uncorrected.

310

1784

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 398–99

to throw a stone3 at him? Besides, let it never be forgotten that he cannot be charged with any offence indicating badness of heart, any [1st ed. ii. 570] thing dishonest, base or malignant, but that on the contrary he was charitable [to÷in>] in an extraordinary degree so that even in one of his own rigid judgements of himself [(East4 [Paper Apart E, No. 5] 1781)>] [Paper Apart E, No. 5] (Easter Eve 1781) while he says ‘I have corrected no external habits’ he is obliged to own ‘I hope that since my last communion I have advanced by pious reflections in my submission to GOD and my benevolence to man.’b I am conscious that this is the most difficult and dangerous part of my biographical [undertaking÷work>] work and /I/5 cannot but be very anxious concerning it. I trust that I have got through it preserving at once my regard to truth to my friend and to the interests of [virtue÷morality>] virtue and Religion;6 nor can I [perceive>] apprehend that more harm can ensue from the knowledge of the irregularity of Johnson guarded as I have stated it, than from [that of the excess in wine of Addison and of Parnell, which>] [that of Addison and of Parnell indulging themselves in excess of wine, which>] knowing that Addison and Parnell were sometimes guilty of excess in wine, which Johnson himself ≤in his lives of these ingenious worthy and pious men≥ has not forborne to [mention÷record>] record.7

[MS 1019/(1)8] It is not my intention to give a very minute detail of the particulars of Johnson’s remaining days, of whom it9 was now evident that the crisis was fast approaching when he must ‘die like men, and fall like one of the Princes.’1 Yet it will be instructive, as well as gratifying to the curiosity of my readers, 25 to record a few circumstances on the authenticity of which they may perfectly 20

b

Prayers & Meditations 192.

3 In the revises, JB elevated his allusion to John 8: 7, altering the phrase to ‘cast a stone’ and adding quotation marks. In the third edition, the closing quotation marks followed the question mark, an error persisting in Hill (iv. 398), but corrected by Powell. 4 JB did not recopy this catchword on the next page; whether the paper torn away here included ‘Eve’ is unknown. In revision, adding ‘(Easter Eve’ to the next page, JB deleted the damaged catchword and above the tear wrote ‘Easter’. 5 JB’s unresolved optional pronoun was printed in the revises. 6 In the revises, dashes were printed after ‘truth’ and ‘friend’; in the second edition, commas preceded the dashes. With a full stop here, ‘Nor’ began a new sentence. 7 JB’s desire to set this discussion apart from his narrative (see ante p. 305 n. 3) produced a blank line below this paragraph in the revises. That typographical space was eliminated in the third edition. 8 This page is the first of eight leaves drafted separately before JB knew where they would fit into his unfinished account of Johnson’s final days. He provisionally numbered them ‘1’ through ‘8’ in the lower left-hand corner. Provisional numbering appears also on the final ten leaves of the main narrative (see post p. 322 n. 2). Only after these sequences and the pages in between had been drafted did JB number them in the upper right-hand corners. The pages provisionally numbered 1–8 became MS 1019 through MS 1026; those numbered 1–10 became MS 1037 through MS 1046. 9 Printed ‘it it’, a redundancy not corrected until the second edition. 1 The following sentence, indented beneath eleven false starts to a new paragraph (see endnotes), was printed as part of the present paragraph.

311

H-P iv. 399–401

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

rely, as I have been at the utmost pains to obtain them from the [persons whose names will be mentioned.>] best authority. [MS 1020/(2)] Dr. Heberden Dr. Brocklesby Dr. Warren and Dr. Butter ≤Physicians generously≥ attended him without accepting of any fees as did Mr. Cruikshank Surgeon and all that could be done from professional skill and ability was tried, to prolong a life [which was del] so truly valuable. He himself indeed having on account of his very bad constitution been perpetually applying himself to medical inquiries united his own efforts with those of the gentlemen who attended him, and imagining that the dropsical collection of water which oppressed him might be drawn off by making incisions in his legs, he with his usual resolute defiance of pain cut deep when he thought that his surgeon had done it too tenderly.a [MS 1021/(3); 1st ed. ii. 571] About eight or ten days before his death when Dr. Brocklesby paid him his morning visit he seemed very low and desponding and said ‘I have been as a dying man all night.’ He then emphatically broke out in the words of Shakspeare ‘Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas’d ‘Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow ‘Raze out the written troubles of the brain ‘And with some sweet oblivious antidote ‘Cleanse the full bosom of that perilous stuff ‘Which weighs upon the heart’2

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

20

To which Dr. Brocklesby readily answered from the same great Poet —— ‘therein the patient ‘Must minister unto himself.’

25

Johnson expressed himself much satisfied with the application. This bold experiment Sir John Hawkins has [involved in a cloud of unnecessary discussion as if to vindicate Johnson from a charge of intentionally>] related in such a manner as to suggest a charge against Johnson of intentionally hastening his end, a charge so totally inconsistent with his character in every 30 respect that it is injurious even to refute it as Sir John has thought it necessary to do. The fact was that [it>] what Johnson did indicated an extraordinary eagerness to retard his dissolution.a1 a

2 A question mark was printed after each of the first three verses in the revises, and a full stop after ‘heart’. In the second edition, the question marks were converted to semicolons, the full stop became a question mark, and the word ‘full’ was corrected to read ‘stuff’d’. The following sentence was not indented in the revises. a1 These sentences, drafted as main text, were marked for a footnote in revision. Waingrow suggests that, by including them, JB perhaps was ‘yielding’ to Francis Barber’s disgust over the ‘aspersions Sir John has thrown out against my Master as having been his own Murderer’ (Corr. 2a, p. 177 and n. 3). As printed in the revises, the final sentence began ‘It is evident, that what Johnson did in hopes of relief indicated …’.

312

1784

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 401–02, 404

On another day after this when talking on the subject of prayer Dr. Brocklesby repeated from Juvenal Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15

20

25

and so on to the end of the tenth Satire, [MS 1022/(4)] but in running it quickly over happened in the line Qui spatium vitæ extremum inter munera ponat to pronounce supremum for extremum, at which Johnson’s critical ear instantly took offence, and discoursing vehemently on the unmetrical effect of such a lapse he shewed himself as full as ever of the spirit of the Grammarian.3 Having no near relations it had been for some time Johnson’s intention to make a liberal provision for his faithful servant Mr. Francis Barber, whom he looked upon as particularly under his protection and whom he had all along treated truly as an humble friend. Having asked Dr. Brocklesby what would be a proper annuity to bequeath to a favourite servant, and being answered that it must depend on the circumstances of the master and that in the case of a nobleman £50 a year was considered as an adequate reward for many years faithful service ‘Then’ said Johnson ‘shall I be nobilissimus for I mean to leave Frank £70 a year, and I [MS 1023/(5)] desire you to tell him so.’ It is strange however to think that Johnson was not free from [1st ed. ii. 572] that general weakness of being averse to [make÷execute his>] execute a will, so that he delayed it from time to time, and had it not been for Sir John Hawkins’s repeatedly urging it, I think it is probable that his kind resolution would not have been fulfilled. After making one in which as Sir John Hawkins informs us the benefit of Francis extended no farther than4 the promised annuity Johnson’s final disposition of his property was established by a Will and Codicil of which copies are subjoined.a/5 a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a1 [Paper Apart ‘Observations’a2 (1); 1st ed. ii. 574] Upon these testamentary deeds it is proper to make a few observations. 3 Brocklesby recounted these exchanges in his letter of 27 Dec. 1784 to JB, whose clean draft of them combined paraphrase and quotation (see Corr. 2a, p. 29). 4 MS orig. ‘After first / making one in which the benefit of Francis / extended no farther than’. JB scored through all but the opening word as a false start, then reinstated it by writing ‘stet’ twice above ‘making one in which’ and three times above ‘extended no farther than’. Above ‘the benefit of Francis’ he drafted a new phrase, ‘as Sir John Hawkins informs us’. This insertion evidently was mistaken by the compositor for a substitution (requiring ‘in’ to be omitted), for the passage read as follows in the revises: ‘After making one which, as Sir John Hawkins informs us, extended no further than’. 5 Direction to the compositor at the foot of the page, ‘Note / = Here they come in—& after them, I shall introduce also in note some remarks [false start upon t[hem]].’ a1 The will and codicil took up the rest of 1st ed. ii. 572 and all of p. 573 beneath two lines of main text. JB’s ‘remarks’ similarly dominated p. 574 and ended on p. 575. a2 At the top of this Paper Apart—four leaves numbered in the lower left-hand corner—JB signalled its position: ‘To follow the Will and Codicil in note’. On the verso of the last leaf, in a different hand, it was docketed ‘Observations on the Will’.

313

H-P iv. 403–05

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

[1st ed. ii. 573] The consideration of the numerous papers of which he was possessed seems to have struck6 Johnson’s mind with a sudden anxiety; and [1st ed. ii. 574] as they were in great confusion it is much to be lamented that he had His express declaration with his dying breath of his faith as a Christian, as it had been often practised in such solemn writings, was of real consequence from this great man, as the conviction of a mind equally acute and strong might well overballance the doubts of others who were his contemporaries. The expression polluted may to some convey an impression of more than ordinary contamination; but that is not warranted by its genuine meaning as appears from ‘The Rambler’ No. 42. The same word is used in the Will of Dr. Sanderson Bishop of Lincoln, who was piety itself. His legacy of £200 to the Representatives of Mr. Innys Bookseller in St. Paul’s Church-yard was the effect of a very worthy motive. He told Sir John Hawkins that his father having become bankrupt, Mr. Innys had assisted him with money or credit to continue his business. ‘This’ said he ‘I consider as an obligation on me to be grateful to his descendants.’ [Paper Apart ‘Observations’ (2)] The amount of his property proved to be considerably more than he had supposed it to be. Sir John Hawkins estimates the bequest to Francis Barber at a sum little short of £1500 including an annuity of £70 to be paid to him by Mr. Langton in consideration of £750 which Johnson had lent to that gentleman. Sir John seems not a little angry at this bequest and mutters ‘a caveat against ostentatious bounty and favour to negroes.’ But surely when a man has money entirely of his own acquisition especially when he has no near relations he may without blame dispose of it as he pleases, and with great propriety to a faithful servant. Mr. Barber by the recommendation of his Master retired to Lichfield where he might pass the rest of his days in comfort. It has been objected that Johnson has omitted many of his best friends when leaving books to several, as tokens of his last remembrance.a3 The names of Dr. Adams Dr. Taylor Dr. Burney Mr. Hector Mr. Murphy the Authour of this Work and others who were intimate with him are not to be found in his Will. This may be accounted for by considering that as he was very near his dissolution at the time, he probably mentioned such names as happened to occur to him; and that he may have recollected [Paper Apart ‘Observations’ (3)] that he had formerly shewn thesea4 such proofs of his regard that it was not necessary to crowd his will with their names. Mrs. Lucy Porter was much displeased that nothing was left to her; but besides what I have now stated she should have 6 JB scored through this paragraph opening as a false start, then reinstated it, writing ‘stet’ six times above the lines. An overlooked redundancy in print—‘to have to have’— was corrected in the second edition. a3 Among those who registered such objections to JB, Temple was ‘disappointed and angry’ not to see JB’s name when he read the will in the newspaper, and Mary Adey, expressing surprise that Lucy Porter had not been left ‘some little remembrance’, was also ‘not Pleas’d that [JB] was not rememberd’ (Corr. 2a, pp. 35, 55). Brocklesby cited SJ’s agitation as the reason ‘he forgot to mention in his Will made in that time of perplexity the names of Boswell Strahan Murphy etc. whom he loved sincerely’ (Corr. 2a, p. 30). a4 Printed in the revises ‘others’. JB no doubt corrected his drafting error in proof.

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30

35

1784

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 404–06

not entrusted some faithful and discreet person with the care and selection of [1st ed. ii. 575] them; instead of which, he in a precipitate manner, burnt masses of them as I should apprehend, with [MS 1024/(6)] little regard to discrimination; not that I suppose [that del] we have thus been deprived of any compositions which he had ever intended for the publick eye; but from what escaped the flames I judge that many [additional circumstances÷curious circumstances>] curious circumstances relating both to himself and other literary characters have perished. Two very valuable articles I am sure we have lost — which were two Quarto Volumes containing the fullest fairest and most particular account of his own life from his earliest recollection. I owned to him that having accidentally seen them I had read a great deal in them, and apologising for the liberty I had taken asked him if I could help it? He placidly answered ‘Why Sir I do not think you could have helped it.’ I said that I had for once in my life found an inclination

considered that she had left nothing to Johnson by her will which was made during his lifetime as appeared at her decease.a5 His enumerating several persons in one group and leaving them ‘each a book at their election’ might possibly have given occasion to a curious question as to the order of choice, had they not luckily fixed on different books. His library 20 though by no means handsom in its appearance was sold by Mr. Christie for £320a6 many people being desireous to have a book which had belonged to Dr. Johnson. In many of them he had written little notes, sometimes tender memorials of his departed Wife As ‘This was dear Tetty’s Book’ sometimes occasional a7 remarks of different sorts. Mr. Lysons, of Inn has favoured me with 25 the two following — In ‘Holy Rules and Helps to Devotion by Bryan Duppa Lord Bishop of Winton’ has preces quidam videtur diligenter tractasse; spero non inauditus.a8 [Paper Apart ‘Observations’ (4); 1st ed. ii. 575] In ‘The Rosicrucian infallible axiomata by John Heydon Gent’ prefixed to which are some verses addressed 30 to the Authour, signed Ambr. Waters AM. Coll. Ex. Oxon ‘These latin verses were written to Hobbes by Bathurst upon his Treatise on Human Nature, and have no relation to thea9 Book. — An odd fraud.’ 15

a5 This paragraph grew out of the following notes in the Life Materials: ‘In his Will no mention of Hector Taylor Adams Strahan ≤Steevens≥ Murphy. Mrs. Lucy Porter was much offended. I argued with her. It afterwards appeared that though rich she had not put him into her Will’ (M 157, p. 14). a6 Printed ‘three hundred and twenty pounds’ in the revises, where JB changed the sum to ‘two hundred and forty-seven pounds nine shillings’, with the caveat, ‘If too crowded you may put figures’. Figures were not needed; space allowed for the new wording. The actual sum was was £321 15s.; see Hill-Powell iv. 444–45 (App. F). a7 This blank space remained in proof as late as the revises, when JB in the margin finally provided the name of the inn, ‘Clifford’s’. a8 In print, quotation marks enclosed SJ’s italicized comment, which he made on p. 134 of this book. Lysons copied it when inscribing the book (Fleeman, Copies of Books, p. 17), but his transcription (conveyed verbatim to JB) may have been inaccurate; Hill thought he misread ‘quidem’ and ‘inauditas’ (iv. 405). If so, the inaccuracy was compounded in the Life by compositorial error: ‘Preces’ was typeset instead of ‘has preces’ (‘these prayers’). Duppa’s ‘Morning Prayers collected out of the Psalms’ began on p. 134. a9 SJ wrote ‘this’ (Fleeman, Copies of Books, p. 22).

315

H-P iv. 406

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

to commit theft. It had come into my mind to carry off those two volumes, & never see him more; upon my inquiring how this would have affected him ‘Sir’ said he, ‘I believe I should have gone mad.’a/7 One of those volumes Sir John [MS 1025/(7)] Hawkins informs usa1 he put into his pocket; for which the excuse he [makes÷states>] states is that he meant to preserve it from falling into the hands of a persona2 whom he describes so as to make it sufficiently [plain÷clear>] clear who is meant; ‘having strong reasons’ says he ‘to suspect that this man might find and make an ill use of the book.’ Why Sir John should suppose that the gentleman alluded to would act in this manner he has not thought fit to explain. But what he did was not approved of by Johnson who upon being acquainted of it without delay by a friend expressed great indignationa3 warmly insisted on the Book being delivered up; and in the supposition of his afterwards missing it without knowing by whom it had been taken, he said [in Mr. Langton’s hearinga4 del] ‘Sir I should have gone out of the World distrusting half mankind.’ Sir John next day wrote a letter to Johnson assigning the reasons for his conducta5 upon which Johnson observed to Mr. Langton ‘Bishop Sanderson could not have dictated a better letter. I could almost say Melius est sic penituisse quam non errasse.’a6 [MS 1026/(8)] The agitation into which Johnson was thrown by this incident [was probably the reason why he hastily burnt>] probably made him hastily burn those precious volumes, which must ever be regretted.a7 a

7 Writing about this episode to Reynolds on 23 Dec. 1784, JB reflected, ‘I almost regret I did not commit a splendidum peccatum which all of us would now have forgiven on account of the Rich Stores of Mind which it would have preserved’ (Corr. 2a, p. 26). a1 After drafting the current clause, JB returned to insert a footnote symbol here, but deleted it before placing its counterpart at the foot of MS 1025. Whether certain changes to this passage were made in the same draft or in revision is difficult to determine. JB’s decision to turn the passage into a note seems to have been a revision: he posted ‘Note) =’ within the paragraph indentation on MS 1024, ‘Note’ twice down the left-hand margin of MS 1025, and ‘Note’ alongside the paragraph at the top of MS 1026. JB drafted a rough summary of this episode in the Life Materials (M 155: 15), pieced together mostly with quotations from Hawkins, Life of Johnson, pp. 586–87. a2 Croker here, within editorial brackets, inserted ‘Mr. George Stevens’ (v. 316 n. 2). a3 Printed in the revises ‘indignation, and’. JB inadvertently omitted the conjunction when adding the phrase ‘expressed great indignation’ in the same draft. a4 It is unclear whether JB deleted this phrase in the same draft or in revision. The sentence implies that Langton heard not only the following speech, but also the unnamed friend’s report to SJ of the book having been taken. In the second edition, however, by a change to the first part of this clause—‘and, afterwards, in the supposition of his missing it …’—SJ’s speech was represented as a later reflection. a5 False starts, (1) ‘and he tells us that he received a verbal answer by Mr. Langton which were he to repeat it’; (2) ‘and he tells us “I received a verbal answer by Mr. Langton which were I to repeat it, would render me suspected of inexcusable vanity”’. a6 In the revises, the sentence below was printed as part of the present paragraph. a7 JB started to extend this lament in revision, but then deleted his draft: ‘Huetius de rebus ad eum pertinentibus was one of his favourite books; and a work of the same kind might have been’. He had in mind SJ’s classification of works by ‘egotists’. Huetius exemplified the ‘third class’ of such writers, and ‘a work of the same kind’ from SJ’s pen would have ‘given importance to [his] own private history by an intermixture of literary anecdotes, and the occurrences of [his] own times’ (see Life MS iii. 116–17).

316

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1784

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 406–07, 410–11

[MS 1026/(8)] During his last illness Johnson experienced the steady and kind attachment of his numerous friends. Mr. Hoole has drawn up a Narrative of what passed in the visits which he paid to him during that time ≤from 20 November to 13 December8 the day of his death inclusive≥ and has favoured me with a perusal of it.9 Nobody was more attentive to him than [1st ed. ii. 576] Mr. Langton to whom he tenderly said Te teneam moriens deficiente manu1 and I think it highly to the honour of Mr. Windham that his important occupations as an active Statesman did not hinder him from paying assiduous respect to the dying Sage whom he revered. Mr. Langton informs me that [‘]one day when Mr. Burke & he and four or five more were sitting with him,2 Mr. Burke said to him “I am afraid Sir such a number of us may be oppressive to you.” “No Sir” said Johnson; “it [MS 1027] is not so; and I must be in a wretched state indeed, when your company would not be a delight to me.” Mr. Burke in a tremulous voice expressive of being very tenderly affected replied “My Dear Sir! you have always been too good to me.” Immediately afterwards he went away. This was the last circumstance in the acquaintance of these two eminent men.’3/4 It is to the mutual credit of Johnson and Divines of different communions, that although he was a steady Church of England man there was nevertheless much agreable intercourse between him and them. Let me particularly name the late Mr. La Trobe and Mr. Hutton of the Moravian profession. His intimacy with the English Benedictines at Paris has been mentioned and as an additional proof of the charity in which he lived with good men of the Roman Catholick Church I am happy in this opportunity of recording his friendship with the Reverend Mr. Hussey Chaplain ≤in London≥ [MS 1028] to the King of Spain, 8 Printed in the revises ‘from the 10th of November to the 13th of December’. The compositor’s misreading of the date in November has gone unnoticed and uncorrected. 9 Second edition, ‘perusal of it, with permission to make extracts, which I have done.’ Of the phrases added, only the word ‘with’ was printed in Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition; the other eight words were missing (p. 36). 1 As with the Latin texts above (p. 313, ll. 3, 6), JB originally drafted this quotation to be printed on a separate line. In revision, however, he marked it ‘No NP’. A full stop was printed here in the revises, followed by ‘And’. 2 Printed in the revises ‘one day he found Mr. Burke and four or five more friends sitting with Johnson,’. JB corrected the comma to a full stop; minus the conjunction ‘when’ (originally added in the same draft), the clause was no longer subordinate. 3 MS orig. ‘men, whom Mr. Malone’. Deleting this false start, JB placed quotation marks after ‘men’. Plymsell, left to determine the beginning of the quoted passage, typeset it at ‘one day ...’ (l. 9) and punctuated the intervening remarks as internal quotations, separated by a dash where two abutted one another (l. 11). The topic of this paragraph relates to a memorandum in the Life Materials: ‘Mark the visitors whom he thought worthy of mention under his hand especially the last year’ (M 158, p. 14). 4 Here in the second edition (iii. 688–91) a new passage, preceded and followed by typographical spaces, was added. It began ‘The following particulars of his conversation, within a few days of his death, I give on the authority of Mr. John Nichols’. These ‘particulars’ comprised seven paragraphs, the first of which—on SJ’s misgivings related to the Parliamentary Debates—complemented JB’s account of his having written no more speeches once he learned that they ‘were thought genuine’ (see Life MS i. 106–07 and n. 3). A long footnote placed on ‘Nichols’ accompanied the new section, introduced as follows: ‘On the same undoubted authority, I give a few articles, which should have been inserted in chronological order; but which, now that they are before me, I should be sorry to omit:’ (see Hill-Powell iv. 407–10). On the sources of these materials, see Cat. i. 88 for M 146 (3a).

317

H-P iv. 411–12

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

[a man5 eminent for not only his powerful eloquence as a preacher, but for his extensive abilities various acquisitions and real worth.>] that very respectable man, eminent for not only his powerful eloquence as a preacher, but for his abilities and acquisitions. — Nay though Johnson loved a Presbyterian the least this did not prevent his having a long and uninterrupted social connection with the Reverend Dr. James Fordyce who since his death [has in the fervour of devotional composition gratefully celebrated him.>] hath gratefully celebrated him in a warm strain of devotional composition. Amidst constitutional clouds which hung over the dying Johnson his characteristical manner shewed itself on [many>] different occasions. When Dr. Warren in the usual style hoped that he was better, his answer was ‘No Sir. You cannot conceive with what acceleration I advance towards death.’ A man whom he had never seen before was employed one night to sit up with him. Being asked next morning how he liked his attendant his answer was ‘Not at all, Sir. The fellow’s an idiot; he is as aukward as a turnspit when first put into the wheel, and as sleepy as a dormouse.’6 ≤Mr. Windham having placed a pillow conveniently to support him he thanked him for his kindness, & said ‘that will do; — all that a pillow can do.’7≥ [1st ed. ii. 577]8 He observed that ‘scruples made many men miserable; but few men good.’9 These words, left undeleted in revision, were ignored by the compositor. The Rev. George Strahan sent JB this account on 4 Mar. 1791 (Corr. 2a, p. 300). The sitter probably was Cawston, a servant of William Windham (see post p. 322 n. 5). 7 Memorandum in the Life Materials: ‘Mr Windham having adjusted a pillow behind him he said “That will do Sir—All that a pillow can do”’ (M 158, p. 13). 8 In Houghton’s bound revises, pp. 577–84 are clean, except for three slight corrections by Selfe. Another revise of sig. 4E—bearing the many changes between it and the first edition made by JB (noted below and in the endnotes)—must be lost. 9 By Hoole’s account, SJ said this on 30 Nov. (Johns. Misc. ii. 152–53). This paragraph—in the MS bracketed and marked ‘4E. 577’, showing that it stood atop the first page of sig. 4E in proof —was replaced by another in the revises: ‘He repeated with great spirit a poem, consisting of about fifteen stanzas in four lines, in alternate rhymes, which he said he had composed some years before, on occasion of a young gentleman’s coming of age; saying he had never repeated it but once since he composed it, and had given but one copy of it. From the specimen of it which Mrs. Piozzi have given of it in her “Anecdotes,” p. , it is much to be wished that we could see the whole.’ In the last sentence, ‘have’ was corrected to ‘has’ and page number ‘196’ was supplied in the first edition. The second edition saw these changes: ‘rhymes’ to ‘rhyme’; ‘a young’ to ‘a rich, extravagant young’; ‘specimen of it’ to ‘specimen’; ‘given of it’ to ‘exhibited of it’, with the citation put into a footnote; ‘we’ to ‘the world’; and this continuation—‘Indeed, I can speak from my own knowledge; for having had the pleasure to read it, I found it to be a piece of exquisite satire, conveyed in a strain of pointed vivacity and humour, and in a manner of which no other instance is to be found in Johnson’s writings. After describing the ridiculous and ruinous career of a wild spendthrift, he consoles him with this reflection: / “You may hang or drown at last.”’ Changes from the second edition to the third were these: ‘about fifteen’ to ‘several’; ‘From the specimen … whole.’ to ‘That copy was given to Mrs. Thrale, now Piozzi, who has published it in a Book which she entitles “British Synonimy,” but which is truly a collection of entertaining remarks and stories, no matter whether accurate or not.’; ‘Indeed, … I found it to be’ to ‘Being’; and ‘writings. After … reflection:’ to ‘writings, I shall here insert it:’, followed by the entire poem of seven stanzas (for which, see Hill-Powell iv. 413). The gentleman was Sir John Lade, as identified by Mrs. Piozzi (Hill-Powell iv. 553) and Croker (v. 324). 5

6

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1784

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25

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 413–15

As he opened a note which his servant [MS 1029] brought to him he said ‘An odd thought strikes me. We shall receive no letters in the grave.’ He requested three things of Sir Joshua Reynolds —10 to forgive him thirty pounds which he had borrowed of him — to read the Bible — and never to use his pencil on a Sunday. Sir Joshua readily acquiesced.1 Indeed he shewed the greatest [earnestness÷anxiety>] anxiety for the religious improvement of [many of del] his friends to whom he discoursed of its infinite importance. He [requested of÷pressed>] pressed Mr. Hoole to think of what he had said and to commit it to writing, and upon being afterwards assured that this was done, pressed his hands and said earnestly ‘thank you.’ Dr. Brocklesby having [shewn him the>] attended him with the utmost assiduity and kindness as his physician and friend, he was peculiarly desireous that this gentleman should not entertain any loose speculative notions but be confirmed in the truths of Christianity, and insisted on his writing down in his presence as nearly as he [MS 1030] could collect it, the import of what passed on the subject, and Dr. Brocklesby having complied with the request, he made him sign the paper and urged him to keep it in his own custody as long as he lived.2/3 Johnson with that native fortitude which amidst all his bodily distress and mental sufferings never forsook him, asked Dr. Brocklesby as a man in whom he had confidence to tell him plainly whether he could recover. ‘Give me’ said he ‘a direct answer.’ The Doctor having first asked him if he could bear the whole truth which way soever it might lead, and being answered that he could, declared that in his opinion he could not [MS 1031] recover without a miracle. ‘Then’ said Johnson ‘I will take no more physick, not even my opiates; for I have prayed that I may render up my soul to GOD unclouded.’4 In this resolution he persevered and at the same time used only the weakest kinds of sustenance.5 10 This dash—otherwise a heavy deletion stroke through a false start, ‘firs[t]’—was read and typeset as a dash in light of the syntax and the dashes that follow. 1 Here JB made and deleted three attempts to begin a new paragraph: (1) ‘It would be’; (2) ‘It would in my opinion be painful’; (3) ‘His strong impression of the text “Of him to whom much is given much will be required”’ (see post p. 330 ll. 1–2). 2 Writing to JB on 27 Dec. 1784, Brocklesby reported that SJ ‘made me on 28th Novr. write down some curious dicta on the Subject and Importance of Faith’. He gave JB a copy of these dicta in Apr. 1785, prefaced by a summary of SJ’s concern about his ‘speculative Opinions’ on Christianity and fear that he had ‘too loosely considerd the Doctrines of our Religion’ (Corr. 2a, pp. 28, 77). For an earlier comment on Brocklesby’s beliefs—under deletion, the ‘loose notions’ of an anonymous ‘Physician’—see Life MS ii. 159 and n. 5. 3 Here JB began a new paragraph: ‘It seems to me that it can serve no good purpose to relate minutely the bodily distresses and mental sufferings of a great man in that humiliating but inevitable state when he is gradually approaching to that aweful but mysterious change of being called death.’ JB altered ‘that aweful but mysterious’ to ‘the mysterious’, but then deleted the entire sentence as a false start in order to begin the paragraph afresh. 4 While JB ended SJ’s speech here, it went on in Brocklesby’s letter of 27 Dec. 1784: ‘unclouded and simple, for” said he “Opiates though they ever lulled my bodily pains yet they usually filld my imagination with horrors and visions that disturbed for several hours my clear judgem[en]t and I should be loth to dy in that state with any overcast to cloud it.”’ (Corr. 2a, p. 29; see also p. xl). 5 In the second edition, an additional sentence appeared here: ‘Being pressed by Mr. Windham to take somewhat more generous nourishment, lest too low a diet should have the very effect which he dreaded, by debilitating his mind, he said “I will take any thing but inebriating sustenance.”’

319

H-P iv. 415–16

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

The Reverend Mr. Strahan who was the son of his friend and had been always one of his great favourites had during Johnson’s last illness the satisfaction of contributing to soothe and comfort him. That gentleman’s house at Islington of which he is Vicar afforded6 occasionally & [1st ed. ii. 578] easily an agreable change of place and fresh air; and he attended upon Johnson in town in the discharge of the sacred offices of his profession. Mr. Strahan has given me the agreable assurance that after being [MS 1032] in much agitation, Johnson became quite composed and continued so till his death.7 Dr. Brocklesby who will not be suspected of fanaticism obliged me [at the time del] with the following [accounts ‘for some time>] [accounts after mentioning the perplexity and doubts8 in which the Doctor supposes the greater portion of his life was passed ‘for some time>] accounts. ‘For some time before his death all his fears were calmed and absorbed by the prevalence of his faith, and his trust in the merits and propitiation of JESUS CHRIST.’ ‘He talked often to me about the necessity of faith in the sacrifice of JESUS as necessary beyond all good works whatever for the salvation of Mankind.’ ‘He pressed me to study Dr. Clark and to read his Sermons. I asked him why he pressed Dr. Clark an Arian?a “Because (said he) he is fullest on the propitiatary9 sacrifice.”’

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 20

a ≤The change of his sentiments with regarda1 [MS 1032v] to Dr. Clarke is thus mentioned to me in a letter from the late Dr. Adams Master of Pembroke College Oxford. ‘The Doctor’s prejudices were the strongest, and certainly in another sense the weakest that ever possessed a sensible man.a2 You know his extreme zeal for orthodoxy. But did you ever hear what he told me himself 25 thata3 he had made it a rule not to admit Dr. Clarke’s name in his Dictionary. This however wore off. At some distance of time he advised with me what Books he should read in defence of the Christian Religion. I recommended “Clarke’s Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion” as the best of the kind, 6 After drafting three more words here, apparently ‘him whatever ple[asure]’, JB deleted the sentence as a false start. Then, writing ‘stet’ twice in the margin, he reinstated it—except for those words, which he deleted more heavily—and went on (‘an agreable ...’). He then paused, however, to insert ‘occasionally & easily’ here. In the second edition, ‘afforded’ was printed ‘afforded Johnson’; with this change, ‘Johnson’s’ above (l. 2) became ‘his’ and ‘Johnson’ below (l. 5) became ‘him’. 7 Strahan related this detail to JB in his letter of 4 Mar. 1791 (Corr. 2a, p. 300). The next four paragraphs, drawn from Brocklesby’s letter of 27 Dec. 1784 (see Corr. 2a, pp. 28–29 and nn. 1, 3, 7, and 10), were set apart in the second edition: a blank typographical space preceded them, and another followed them. In transcribing Brocklesby’s anecdotes, JB added italics and small capital letters. 8 Deleted direction to the compositor, ‘Note on doubts Paper T’. No such Paper Apart remains with the Life MS; whether JB drafted it is unknown. 9 So printed in the revises, without correction; nonetheless, it read ‘propitiatory’ in the first edition. Elsewhere Brocklesby quoted the word ‘expiatory’ (Corr. 2a, p. 77).

Direction to the compositor, ‘turn’, evidence that JB drafted this note in revision. JB added this sentence in the same draft, copying it along the left-hand edge of the leaf, having at first begun his quotation with the next sentence. Adams’s letter is untraced; see Corr. 2a, p. 101. a3 Printed in the revises ‘told me himself? That’. a1 a2

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 416–18

[MS 1033] Johnson having thus in his mind the true Christian scheme at once rational and consolatory, uniting justice and mercy in the Divinity with the improvement of human nature while the Holy Sacrament was celebrating in his Apartment fervently uttered this prayer b ‘Almighty and most merciful Father I am now as to human eyes it seems &c1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . From my brother Thomas David I have these particulars2 ‘The Doctor from the time that he was certain his death was near, appeared to be perfectly resigned, was seldom or never fretful or out of temper, and often said to his faithful servant who gave me this account “Attend Francis to the salvation of your soul which is the object of greatest importance”; he also explained to him passages in the scripture and seemed to have pleasure in talking upon religious subjects. [The Reverend [MS 1034] Mr. Strahan was often with him, and prayers were read several times in his apartment. del] [MS 1034] 3On Monday 13 Decr. the day on which he died, a Miss Morris daughter to a particular friend of his called and said to Francis that she begged to be permitted to see the Doctor that she might earnestly request him to give her his blessing. Francis went into the room followed by the young Lady, and delivered the message. The Doctor turned himself in the bed, and said “GOD bless you my dear.” These were the last words he spoke. — His difficulty of breathing increased till about seven o’clock in the evening, when Mr. Barber, and Mrs. Desmoulins4 who were sitting in the room, observing that the noise he made in breathing had ceased, went to the bed and found he was dead.’ and I find in what is called his “Prayers and Meditations” that he was fre-

25 quently employed in the latter part of his time in reading Clarke’s Sermons.’≥

≤The Reverend Mr. Strahan took care to have it preserved and has inb1 serted it in ‘Prayers and Meditations’ p. ≥ b

1 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in from “Prayers & Meditations” towards the end of the Book’. JB started these instructions after the word ‘Father’, writing and deleting ‘Take’, then extended the cue phrase to avoid any ambiguity. No copy of the prayer survives from George Strahan’s letter of 4 Mar. 1791; see Corr. 2a, p. 300 and n. 10. 2 In a letter dated 31 Dec. 1784 (C 506). JB deleted this sentence in the second edition, replacing it with a version better suited to follow a new paragraph added above it. These changes, as combined in Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition, read as follows: ‘Having, as has been already mentioned, made his will on the 8th and 9th of December, and settled all his worldly affairs, he languished till Monday, the 13th of that month, when he expired, about seven o’clock in the evening, with so little apparent pain that his attendants hardly perceived when his dissolution took place. / Of his last moments, my brother, Thomas David, has furnished me with the following particulars:’ (p. 37). A blank typographical space appeared between these paragraphs in the second and third editions, but not in Hill-Powell. 3 This sentence began a new paragraph in the revises, with quotation marks indicating the continuation of David Boswell’s letter. 4 JB here made a slight but influential transcription error, inadvertently adding an ‘s’ to the ‘Mr’ of ‘Mr. Desmoulins’ in his brother’s letter. It was not the elderly and frail Elizabeth Desmoulins but her son, John Desmoulins, who attended the dying SJ with Barber. See Gordon Turnbull, ‘Not a Woman in Sight: At Dr. Johnson’s Deathbed’, TLS, 18–25 Dec. 2009, pp. 19–21. b1 Printed ‘222’ in the revises, ‘216’ in the second edition—the pages where the prayer appeared, respectively, in the second and first editions of Prayers and Meditations.

321

H-P iv. 418–20

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

About two days after his death, the following very agreable account was communicated to Mr. Malone in a letter by the Honourable John Byng [whom I thank for>] to whom I am much obliged for granting me [MS 1035] permission to introduce it [into>] in my Work. ‘Dear Sir Since I saw you5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A few days before his death he had asked Sir John Hawkins as one of his Executors where he should be buried? and on being answered ‘doubtless in Westminster Abbey’, seemed to feel a satisfaction very natural [in>] to a Poet, and indeed in my opinion very natural [in>] to every man of any imagination.6 Accordingly upon Monday December 20 his remains were deposited in [the Poets corner in del] that noble and renowned [MS 1036] Edifice and over his grave was placed a large blue flag stone with this inscription7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . His funeral was attended by a respectable number of his friends particularly by many members of THE LITERARY CLUB who were then in town and was also honoured by the presence of several of the Reverend Chapter of Westminster.8 His schoolfellow Dr. Taylor performed the mournful office of reading the service. I trust I shall not be accused of affectation, when I declare that I find myself unable to express all that I felt upon the loss of such a ‘Guide Philosopher and Friend.’9 I shall therefore not say one word of my own but adopt those of an eminent friend1 which he uttered with an abrupt excellence superiour to [all [MS 1037/(1)2] study>] [MS 1037/(1)] all studied speeches ‘He has made a chasm [1st ed. ii. 581] which not only nothing can fill up, but which nothing has a 5 Direction to the compositor, ‘Take it in; only make no contractions and on the word Cawston line 2 put a note—Servant to The Right Honourable William Windham. Leave out the Postscript “Mr. W. left” &c.’ Byng on 12 Apr. 1791 granted JB leave to publish the letter, offering in addition—should JB ‘wish for further Particulars’—to ‘send the Person to you who watchd Dr. J in his last days’ (Corr. 2a, pp. 309–10). 6 Printed in the first edition, ‘of any imagination, who has no family sepulchre in which he can be laid with his fathers.’ 7 Here JB left a blank space equal to two or three lines of copy, not five, as the inscription would have required. Within this space, in revision, he directed the compositor to ‘See it in the pages of Hawkins’s Life of him now in the Printing House’. Hawkins’s work was still on hand from its use in typesetting SJ’s will and codicil. 8 Here in the second edition a new sentence was added: ‘Mr. Burke, Sir Joseph Banks, Mr. Windham, Mr. Langton, Sir Charles Bunbury, and Mr. Colman, bore his pall.’ 9 ‘On the subject of Johnson’, added JB in a footnote here in the third edition, ‘I may adopt the words of Sir John Harrington, concerning his venerable Tutor and Diocesan, Dr. John Still, Bishop of Bath and Wells’. Two passages from Nugæ Antiquæ ensued; see Hill-Powell iv. 420 n. 3. 1 This person’s decease in 1796 enabled EM, as before, to identify him by footnote in the third edition: ‘The late Right Hon. William Gerrard Hamilton.’ ‘That nervous mortal W.G.H.’ (in JB’s fraught epithet) having insisted that two leaves on which he was named be cancelled, JB by the time he drafted MS 1037 knew better than to reveal his identity. Hamilton expressed a version of the following sentiment in company on 6 Feb. 1788 (see ante p. 37 nn. 5 and 7, p. 91 n. 4; Corr. 2a, p. 205 and n. 2). 2 On the numbers ‘(1)’ through ‘(10)’ posted in the lower left-hand corners of MS 1037 through MS 1046, see ante p. 311 n. 8. JB’s reason for numbering these final ten leaves of the MS provisionally is unclear, given the otherwise seemingly smooth flow of copy from MS 1036 onto MS 1037.

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25

1784

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 420–22

tendency to fill up. ≤—≥ Johnson is dead. ≤—≥ Let us go to the next best. — There is nobody. — No man can be said to put you in mind of Johnson.’ As Johnson had abundant homage paid to him during his life,a/3 so no Writer in this Nation ever had such an accumulation of literary honours after his death.4 The Lives the Memoirs the Essays both in prose and verse [1st ed. [Paper Apart Notea1] Besides the Dedications to him by Dr. Goldsmitha2 & the Reverend Mr. Wilson which I have mentioned [in their order÷according to their dates>] according to their dates, there was one by a Ladya3 of a Versification of ‘Aningait and Ajut’ and one by the ingenious Mr. Walker of his ≤‘Elements of Elocution’a4≥. I have introduced into this work several compliments paid to him in the writings of his contemporaries; but the number of them is so great that we may fairly say that there was almost a general tribute. ≤Let me not be forgetful of the honour done to him by Colonela5≥ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a

3 In revision, JB jotted and circled a memorandum in the margin: ‘Note of Dedicts ≤of Aningait≥ & Walker’s / Mem his pictures prints & Bust.’ Beneath this he later directed the compositor to ‘Take in Note’. The footnote, along with the next sentence of main text, grew out of a series of memoranda in the Life Materials: ‘Many Verses ≤small copies≥ on his death and a thousand paragraphs Anecdotes strictures ≤Memoirs—Sketches≥— Mention some Poems of size. … Many engravings of him. … Qu Whether insert praises of him by their dates or give a graph at the conclusion’ (M 157, p. 13). 4 An additional sentence was printed here in the revises: ‘A sermon upon that subject was preached in St. Mary’s church, Oxford, before the University, by the Reverend Mr. Agutter, of Magdalen College.’ James Abercrombie on 10 Oct. 1792 asked JB to send him this ‘Funeral Sermon’, and Agutter himself wrote to JB about it on 17 Oct. 1792: ‘I am obliged to you for mentioning my Sermon which I have not yet printed’ (Corr. 2a, pp. 379, 381). In the second edition, JB added a footnote—beginning ‘It is not yet published.’—on ‘College’ (see Hill-Powell iv. 422 n. 1). The direction in Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition, ‘after College, read’ (p. 37), should have read ‘On College put the following note’. a1 On the first leaf of this Paper Apart, JB wrote ‘Note on’, later adding ‘on life p. ’, not yet knowing that it would fall on p. 581 in print. On the second leaf he wrote ‘Note on life continued’; a docket on its verso (in another hand) reads ‘Note on Life’. a2 In the first edition, an additional name appeared here, ‘the Reverend Dr. Franklin’. a3 Anne Penny; see Courtney and Nichol Smith, Bibliography of Johnson, p. 35. a4 This title, which fills a space left blank in the original draft, was replaced by another in the first edition: ‘Rhetorical Grammar’. a5 Direction to the compositor, ‘five lines’. In the revises, the five lines below this clause—with ‘Colonel’ printed ‘Colonel Middleton,’—were still blank. The six lines printed in the first edition (forcing one line of the main text from p. 581 onto p. 582) read as follows, after ‘Myddelton,’ [second edition ‘Myddleton’]: ‘of Gwaynynog, near Denbigh; who, on the banks of a rivulet in his Park, where Johnson delighted to stand and repeat verses, erected an urn with the following inscription:

“This spot was often dignified by the presence of “SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. “Whose moral writings, exactly conformable to the precepts of Christianity, “Give ardour to Virtue and confidence to Truth.”’ The third line of the inscription was too wide for the text block in the second and third editions, forcing ‘“Christianity,’ onto its own line, an anomaly copied in Hill-Powell; in the final line, ‘Give’ became ‘Gave’ in the third edition, but Hill-Powell restored ‘Give’. For a draft of part of this material, see Paper Apart V (ante p. 90 ll. 17–21 and n. 3).

323

H-P iv. 421–22

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1784

ii. 582] ≤which have been published≥5 concerning him would make many volumes, [and an exact catalogue of them would be desireable del]. The ≤numerous≥ attacks ≤too≥ upon him I consider as making part of his consequence

As no inconsiderable circumstance of his fame we must reckon the extraordinary zeal of the artists to extend and perpetuate his image. I can enumerate a bust by Mr. Nollekens and the many casts which are made from it, several pictures by Sir Joshua Reynoldsa6 One by Mr. Zoffani and one by Mr. Opie and the following engravings of his portrait — 1 One by Cooke from Sir Joshua for the Proprietors Edition of his folio Dictionary — 2 One from Ditto by Ditto for their Quarto Edition 3 One from Opie by Heath for Harrison’s folio Editiona7 of his Dictionary — 4 One from Nollekens’s bust of him by Bartolozzi for Fielding’s Quarto Edition of his Dictionary — 5 One small from Harding by Trotter for his ‘Beauties.’ [Paper Apart Note ‘continued’] 6 One Small froma8 Sir Joshua by Trotter for his Lives of the Poets — 7 One small one from Sir Joshua by Hall for ‘The Rambler’ 8 One Small from an original drawing in the possession of Mr. John Simco, etched by Trotter for another edition of his Poets 9 One small no painters name etched by Taylor for his Johnsoniana 10 One folio whole length with his oak stick as described in Boswell’s Tour drawn and etched by Trotter 11 One large from Sir Joshua Mezzotinto by Doughty 12 One large Roman Head from Sir Joshua by Marchi a9 13 One Octavo holding a book to his eye from Sir Joshua by for his a10 works. 14 One small drawn from the life & engraved by Trotter for his Life a11 published by Kearsley. 15 One large from Opie by This is 5 Throughout this paragraph it is difficult to distinguish with any certainty between later revisions and same-draft changes. a6 Second edition, ‘Reynolds, from one of which, in the possession of the Duke of Dorset, Mr. Humphry executed a beautiful miniature in enamel; one by Mrs. Frances Reynolds, Sir Joshua’s sister;’. a7 Printed in the revises ‘Harrison’s edition’. It was in fact a folio (Fleeman, Bibliography of Johnson, i. 436–37). a8 JB originally drafted ‘Small one from ...’ to begin this leaf, but then realized that numerals were needed for clarity in this growing list. Returning to the first leaf of the note, he inserted the numerals 1 through 5, then here, on the second leaf, deleted ‘one’ and inserted ‘6 One’ in the margin to the left of ‘Small’. From this point forward his draft included numerals from the start. The list expanded from 17 to 18 in the second edition (see n. a14); this numbering guided Hill-Powell in its notes on the engravings in the last six pages of App. H on portraits of SJ (iv. 447–64). a9 Still blank in the revises; first edition, ‘Hall’. a10 Printed ‘One small from a drawing from the life, and engraved by’ (so in revises), a misreading of flawed copy. In rejecting two false starts—(1) ‘One small taken from the life by’; (2) ‘One small a drawing from the Life by’—JB left two words undeleted: ‘from’ in the first, ‘a’ in the second, resulting in the apparent phrase ‘from a drawn from’. The compositor kept both stray words and either ignored or overlooked JB’s alteration of ‘drawing’ to ‘drawn’, marring the parallel verbs patterned after the inscription on the plate, ‘Drawn from the Life & Etched by T. Trotter’ (Hill-Powell iv. 461). a11 Printed in the revises ‘by Mr. Townley, an ingenious engraver now at Berlin.’ Second edition, ‘by Mr. Townley, (brother of Mr. Townley, of the Commons,) an ingenious artist, who resided some time at Berlin, and has the honour of being engraver to His [third edition his] Majesty the King of Prussia.’

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 422–23

[as he>] upon the principle which he himself so well knew and asserted.6 Many who trembled at his presence, were forward in assault where7 they [thought there was no longer danger>] no longer apprehended danger and as [/the Reverend/8>] the Reverend Dr. Parr [MS 1038/(2)] [once del] said to one of his 5 6 7 8 9 10

one of the finest mezzotintos that ever was executeda12 16 One Small from Sir Joshua by for Lavater’s Essay on Physiognomya13 in which Johnson’s countenance is annalysed upon the principles of that fanciful writer 17 One large from Sir Joshua’s first picture of him by Heath for this work.a14/a15 6 On these topics see p. 42 ll. 20–27 and the Life Materials: ‘Mention all his ≤praisers &≥ Opponents you can find worth while’ (M 158, p. 4); ‘Of those who attacked him we may quote his own words of Blackmore “he either despised or defied them, wrote on as he had written before, and never turned aside to quiet them by civility or repress them by confutation”’ (M 157, p. 7; see Lives ed. Lonsdale, iii. 85; ed. Middendorf, xxii. 774). 7 Printed in the revises ‘when’. 8 Drafted above the line, its optional status reflected by the space before ‘Dr. Parr’, which was wider than necessary; a caret in revision drew it in. a12 JB left enough space here for two lines of copy, but it remained blank. The following was printed in the revises: ‘executed; and what renders it of extraordinary value, the plate [first edition correction plate was] destroyed after four or five impressions only were taken of [second edition correction off]. One of them is in the possession of Sir William Scott.’ A sentence was added to this passage in the second edition: ‘Mr. Townley has lately been prevailed with to execute and publish another of the same, that it may be more generally circulated among the admirers of Dr. Johnson.’ Townley had dedicated the new plate, dated 20 Feb. 1792, to JB (Hill-Powell iv. 462). a13 As printed in the revises, this item (moved to the end of the list) began ‘17. And one small from Sir Joshua, for Lavater’s Essay on Physiognomy’, a description shortened before the sheets went to press: ‘17. And one for Lavater’s Essay on Physiognomy’. (In the second edition, quotation marks enclosed ‘Lavater’s … Physiognomy’.) Lavater’s Essai sur la physiognomie destiné a faire connoître l’homme (1781–83) featured two images of SJ. They were ‘exactly copied’ in Essays on Physiognomy, the English translation by Henry Hunter, D.D., but, as told on the plate, ‘The Editor has taken the liberty to introduce between them one engraved after a cast taken from nature, as a proof of Mr. Lavater’s Physiognomical Sagacity and a confirmation of his doctrine.’ The Essays, John Murray’s most profitable publication, were issued in parts by subscription from 1788 to 1799, with over 800 engravings ‘Executed by, or under the Inspection of, Thomas Holloway’ (Zachs, The First John Murray, pp. 69–70). Part No. VII, dated Nov. 1788, carried the engraving with the three depictions of SJ (p. 194). The plate does not record whether Holloway himself copied the ‘cast taken from nature’; as observed in Hill-Powell, it bore ‘no resemblance to any known portrait of Johnson’ (iv. 463–64). a14 Switched with the item above, this was printed as number 16. In the second edition, ‘this work’ became ‘this work, in quarto’, to distinguish it from the second edition itself, cited with a newly listed engraving: ‘17. One octavo, by Baker, for the present edition.’ (The engraving in Lavater became number 18.) In the third edition, ‘present edition’ became ‘octavo edition’. a15 Here, Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition (p. 37) stipulated ‘And to the note add—There are also several seals with his head cut on them, particularly a very fine one by that eminent artist, Edward Birch, Esq. R.A. in the possession of the younger Dr. Charles Burney. / Let me add, as a proof of the popularity of his character, that there are copper pieces struck at Birmingham, with his head impressed on them, which pass current as half-pence there, and in the neighbouring parts of the country.’ Slated for the second edition, this addition was not included until the third; ‘Birch’ was printed ‘Burch’.

325

H-P iv. 423–24

MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

little pragmatical foes who was invidiously snarling at his fame9 ‘Ay now that the old Lion is dead every ass thinks he may kick at him.’1 ≤[MS 1038v] A Monument for him in Westminster Abbey was resolved upon soon after his death and has been supported by a most respectable contribution and2 in the Cathedral of his native City of Lichfield a smaller one is about to be erected.3 His epitaph has roused the warmest competition of genius many having appeared; but has not yet been settled.4 If laudari a laudato viro be praise which is highly estimable I should not forgive myself were I to omit the following sepulchral verses written by the Right Honourable Henry Flood5 9 Printed in the revises ‘danger. When one of his little pragmatical foes was invidiously snarling at his fame, the Reverend Dr. Parr, with his usual bold animation,’. By mistake—either JB’s in revising proof or the compositor’s in resetting this passage—the main clause lacked a verb; in remedy, ‘exclaimed’ was printed after ‘Parr’ in the first edition. In the second edition, ‘fame,’ became ‘fame, at Sir Joshua Reynolds’s table,’. 1 Here, in revision, JB wrote ‘Back’, sending the compositor to the verso of MS 1038. 2 Second edition, ‘contribution; but the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s having come to a resolution of admitting monuments there, upon a liberal and magnificent plan, that Cathedral was afterwards fixed on as the place in which a cenotaph should be erected to his memory. And’. This change, when drafted for Corrections and Additions, did not yet include the final phrase, ‘in which … memory’. 3 In the third edition, EM added a footnote here: ‘This Monument has been since erected. It consists of a Medallion, with a tablet beneath, on which is this inscription:

“The Friends of SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. “A Native of Lichfield, “Erected this Monument, “As a tribute of respect “To the memory of a man of extensive learning, “A distinguished moral writer, and a sincere Christian. “He died Dec. 13, 1784, aged 75.”’ For other details of the monument and a slightly varied representation of the epitaph, see Hill-Powell iv. 472 (App. I). 4 Printed in the revises ‘To compose his epitaph has excited the warmest competition of genius.’ This sentence caused Samuel Parr ‘serious alarm’, as he wrote to JB on 11 Dec. 1791: ‘I never meant to triumph over a competitor, and, before the perusal of your book, I never understood that any competition at all existed.’ Repeatedly asked to produce an epitaph, Parr explained, he had refused until his ‘objections were completely vanquished’. JB replied on Dec. 22, admitting ‘I have expressed myself inaccurately. I should not have said that to write Johnson’s Epitaph has excited the warmest competition of genius; but that it will no doubt excite—or must certainly excite’ (Corr. 2a, pp. 349–50). The phrase he substituted in the second edition was ‘could not but excite’. JB also put a footnote here in the second edition, quoting a passage from Parr’s letter to William Seward in which, detailing the challenges posed by an epitaph for SJ, he left ‘this mighty task to some hardier and some abler writer’. Nonetheless, JB added, ‘this great scholar … has yielded to repeated solicitations, and executed the very difficult undertaking.’ In the third edition, EM reported that the monument in St. Paul’s Cathedral had ‘opened to publick view’ on 23 Feb. 1796, quoted Parr’s epitaph, and credited those who had raised money for the project. For the full note, see Hill-Powell iv. 423 n. 3. 5 To clarify that Flood had not intended the verses ‘as a regular monumental inscription for Dr. Johnson’, EM drafted a footnote for insertion here in the second edition. He had called on Flood in ‘June, 1790’, after a large subscription was raised for SJ’s monument, ‘to which Mr. Flood liberally contributed’; happening to discuss the monument, they differed on the appropriate language for the epitaph, and the next day Flood jotted the verses as a ‘postscript to a note on another subject’. JB quoted the paragraph, citing EM and his wish ‘[t]o prevent any misconception on this subject’; see Hill-Powell iv. 424 n. 2. In the third edition, the month was revised to ‘Dec. 1789’.

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LIFE OF JOHNSON

H-P iv. 424–25, 426

No need of Latin or of Greek to grace Our JOHNSONS mem’ry and inscribe his grave His native language claims this mournful space To pay the Immortality he gave.6≥ 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

[MS 1038/(2) resumed] The character of Samuel Johnson7 has I trust been so developed in the course of this Work that my readers may be considered as [fully>] well acquainted with him. As however it will be expected that I should bring together the capital and distinguishing features of this wonderful man I shall now endeavour to acquit myself of that part of my biographical undertaking.a/8 9 Man is in general made up of contradictory qualities and these will ever appear in strange succession where [MS 1039/(3)] a consistency in appearance at least if not in reality has not been attained by long habits of philosophical discipline. In proportion to the native vigour of the mind the contradictory qualities will be the more prominent and more difficult to be adjusted and therefore we are not to wonder that Johnson exhibited an eminent example of the remark which I have made upon human nature. At different times he seemed a different man in some respects not however in any great or essential article upon which he had fully employed his mind and settled certain principles of duty but only in his manners and discursive displays of argument and fancy.1/2 His figure was

20

a ≤As I certainly do not see any reason to give a different character of my illustrious friend now from what I formerly did, the greatest part of the sketch of him in my Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, Edit 3. p. 7 is here adopted.a1≥ 6 As printed in the revises, the second and fourth verses were indented, with quotation marks on each verse and at the end. 7 Writing to EM on 10 Feb. 1791, JB wondered how to conclude the work: ‘Pray how shall I wind up. Shall I give the Character in my Tour, somewhat enlarged?’ (Corr. 4, p. 400). He deviated from the plan outlined in the Life Materials (M 157, p. 2): ‘His person and manner should be painted early so as he may be seen as his life advances.’ 8 Printed in the revises ‘undertaking8, however difficult it may be to do that which many of my readers will do [first edition do better] for themselves.’ 9 A false start preceding this word—‘That it’—left it slightly indented in JB’s copy, but whether the sentence began a new paragraph in proof is unknown. It did so in the revises, but on the next page (1st ed. ii. 583, line 8). By then, JB had moved his physical depiction of SJ (‘His figure …’; see l. 19 below) to the head of this section, where it began a new paragraph (on 1st ed. ii. 582, six lines up from the bottom). 1 A misreading of ‘discursive’—caused by an errant ink stroke that appeared to delete the letters ‘ve’—led to an error in the revises: ‘manners and discourse, displays of argument and fancy.’ As corrected in the first edition, the passage read ‘manners, and in displays of argument and fancy in his talk.’ In the second edition, ‘displays’ became ‘the display’. 2 Here, in the revises, an additional passage was printed from JB’s earlier sketch of SJ in the Tour: ‘He was prone to superstition, but not to credulity. Though imagination might incline him to a belief of the marvellous and the mysterious, his vigorous reason examined the evidence with jealousy.’ A defect in this quotation—the omission of ‘his’ before ‘imagination’—was corrected in the first edition. Next in the revises came the sentence ‘He was a sincere and zealous Christian, …’ (see p. 328 l. 7); the following sentence (‘His figure …’) now began the character portrait (see n. 9 above). a1 Rotating MS 1038 counter-clockwise, JB squeezed three lines of this note into the margin alongside the main-text paragraph before running out of room; rotating the leaf again, he worked his way up the margin from the paragraph indentation to the top of the

327

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MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

large and well formed and his countenance of the cast of an ancient statue; yet his appearance was rendered strange and somewhat [MS 1040/(4)] uncouth by convulsive cramps by the scars of that distemper which it was once imagined the royal touch could cure, and by a slovenly mode of dress in which he generally allowed himself.3 He had the use only of one eye; yet so much does mind govern and even supply the deficiency of organs, that his perceptions were4 uncommonly quick and accurate.5 He was a sincere and zealous Christian of high church of England and monarchical principles which he would not tamely suffer to be questioned and had perhaps at an early period narrowed his mind somewhat too much both as to systematick religion and politic. His being Impressed with the danger of extreme latitude in either Though himself of a true independent spirit6 occasioned his appearing somewhat unfavourable to the general prevalence of that noble freedom of sentiment which is the best possession of Man.7 ≤[MS 1040v] Nor can it be denied that He indulged prejudices8 unworthy of a great mind, against his fellow subjects in Ireland and Scotland, for foreigners in general, not to mention other distinctions.

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 3 A series of false starts and same-draft revisions (see endnotes) created ambiguity 18 here, remedied in print by a full stop after ‘dress’ and omission of the last six words (so in revises). 4 Printed in the revises ‘his visual perceptions, as far as they [1st ed. ii. 583] extended, were’. 5 Two additional sentences were printed here in the revises: ‘So morbid was his temperament, that he never knew the natural joy of a free and vigorous use of his limbs; but when he walked, it was like the struggling gait of one in fetters; when he rode he had no command or direction of his horse, but was carried as if in a balloon. That with his constitution and habits of life he should have lived seventy-five years, is a proof that an inherent vivida vis is a powerful preservative of the human frame.’ In the first edition, ‘limbs; but when’ was printed ‘limbs: when’, and a comma followed ‘rode’. A draft of this passage is found in the Life Materials: ‘His morbid constitution made him not a fair judge of human existence[;] his perceptions were clouded, his sensations dull at times & at times irritated according to the variations of sickness. / He never knew the natural joy of a free & vigorous use of the limbs. He took violent exercise at times. But when he walked it was the strugling plunging gait of one in fetters. When he rode he had no command or direction of the horse, but was carried as if in a Balloon’ (M 155: 16). After this passage in the revises, the sentence that began ‘Man is in general …’ was indented to start a new paragraph (see p. 327 l. 10 and n. 9). 6 JB drafted these seven words—marked with an X—down the left-hand margin of MS 1040 after deleting the last of several false starts that carried this sentence onto MS 1041 (see endnotes). Seeing no other X on the page to show where the phrase belonged, the compositor evidently ignored the capital ‘T’ and put it here: ‘though he was of a very independent spirit’ (so in revises, set off by commas). The result is a slightly illogical flow of thought, which has nonetheless stood in all editions. 7 Here, in revision, JB directed the compositor to ‘See the back’. 8 MS orig. ‘He suffered his mind to be possessed by prejudices’. The rest of this text on MS 1040v, as evident from the revises, was altered in proof. The next sentence (‘This however … obnoxious to him.’) was omitted entirely, and the end of the present sentence (which had cost JB several false starts: see endnotes) was printed as follows: ‘indulged prejudices which frequently suggested many of his pointed sayings, that rather shew a playfulness of fancy than any settled malignity.’ The verb ‘indulged’ gave JB second thoughts, for in the first edition, that part of the sentence read ‘had many prejudices; which, however, frequently’. page. Throughout the long concluding paragraph on SJ’s character, JB rearranged the various elements ‘adopted’—quoted, paraphrased, elaborated, truncated, or otherwise altered—from his previous sketch.

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H-P iv. 426–27

This however did not prevent his having strong and lasting friendships with individuals of those very classes which were unreasonably obnoxious to him.≥ [MS 1041/(5)] He was steady and inflexible in maintaining the obligations of religion and morality both from a regard for the order of society and from a veneration for the Great Source of all order; correct nay stern in his taste; hard to please and easily offended; impetuous and irritable in his temper; but of a most humane and benevolent heart,a which shewed itself not only [1st ed. ii. 584] in a most liberal charity as far as his circumstances would allow, but in a thousand instances of active benevolence. Born with a distemper which made him restless and fretful and afflicted with a constitutional melancholy the clouds of which darkened the brightness of his fancy and gave a gloomy cast to his [MS 1042/(6)] whole course of thinking we ought not to wonder at his sallies of impatience and passion at any time especially when provoked by obtrusive ignorance or offensive petulance.9 And surely when it is considered that ‘amidst sickness and sorrow’ he exerted his faculties in so many works for the benefit of mankind, and particularly that he achieved the great and admirable Dictionary of our language we must be astonished at his resolution.1

≤In the Olla Podrida a collection of Essays published at Oxford there is a very well written paper upon the character of Johnsona1 said to be bya2 the Rev20 erend Dr. Horne now Bishop of Norwich. The following image is eminently just and beautifula3≥ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a

9 By the time the revises were printed, JB had corrected a mismatch in phrasing (‘Born with … we ought not’), replaced the word ‘offensive’, and attached a new clause to this sentence: ‘He was afflicted with a bodily distemper [first edition disease] which made him restless and fretful, and with a constitutional melancholy … thinking: we therefore ought not … or presuming petulance; and allowance must be made for his uttering hasty and satirical sallies, even against his best friends.’ Here, using his description of SJ’s ‘constitutional melancholy’ (from the Tour), JB addressed, by way of addition, a topic posed in the Life Materials (M 153): ‘His violent bursts of passion to be wondered at when we see how well he was aware of their evil from Rambler No. 11 p. 59.’ On this page in several editions of The Rambler (including item 1794 in Boswell’s Books, p. 241), SJ describes how, by ‘a steady perseverance in his ferocity’, a man will eventually find ‘that he lives only to raise contempt and hatred’. 1 Direction to the compositor, ‘See the back’. a1 The preceding copy having filled the left-hand margin of the page, JB drafted the words ‘character of Johnson’ upside down at the top of MS 1041, and here directed the compositor to go to the ‘Back’. a2 Printed in the revises ‘said to be written by’; second edition, ‘written by’. Sarah Adams in a letter of 13 June 1787 had told JB about this publication: ‘Have you seen the 13th Number of a Paper called the Olla Podrida, upon the Subject of Johnson and his Biographers? It is understood to be written by the Dean of Canterbury.’ Dean of Canterbury from 1781, George Horne (1730–92) became Bishop of Norwich in 1790 (Corr. 2a, pp. 169–70 and n. 3). In the second edition, he was identified as ‘the late excellent Bishop of Norwich’; in the third edition, ‘late’ became ‘last’, but Hill-Powell restored ‘late’. a3 Direction to the compositor, ‘Two lines’. In the revises, the quotation read ‘To reject wisdom, because the person of him who communicates it is uncouth, and his manners are inelegant;—what is it, but to throw away a pine-apple, and assign for a reason the roughness of its coat.’ A question mark followed ‘coat’ in the first edition.

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≤[MS 1042v] The solemn text ‘Of him2 to whom much is given much will be required’ seems to have been ever present to his mind,3 and to have made him disatisfied with his labours & acts of goodness however comparatively great; so that the consciousness of his superiority was in that respect a cause of disquiet. He suffered so much from this and from the gloom which perpetually haunted him and made solitude frightful that it may be said of him ‘If in this life only he had hope he was of all men the most miserable.’ But I trust that he has now more benignant views of the divine administration and is participating in the happiness of the just.4≥ [MS 1042/(6) resumed] He was conscious of his superiority and was perhaps rather too constant in asserting it.5 He loved praise when it was brought to him; but was too proud to seek for it. He was somewhat susceptible of flattery. As he was general and unconfined in his studies, he cannot be considered as Master of any one particular science, but he had accumulated a [MS 1043/(7)] vast and various collection of learning and knowledge which was so arranged in his mind as to be ever in readiness to be brought forth. But his superiority over other men consisted chiefly in a certain6 continual power of seising the useful substance of all that he knew, and exhibiting it in a clear and forcible manner, so that knowledge which we often see to be no better than lumber in men of dull understanding was in him true evident & actual wisdom.7 His mind was so full of imagery that he might have been perpetually a poet yet it is remarkable that however rich his prose is in that respect the poetical pieces which he wrote8 were in general not so, but rather strong sentiment and acute observation conveyed in good verse, particularly in heroick couplets. Though usually grave [MS 1044/(8)] and even awful in his deportment no man had more wit and humour he frequently [1st ed. ii. ‘587’ [sic for 585]] indulged himself in pleasantry and sportive sallies9 the 2 Printed ‘text of “him’, with misplaced quotation marks; second edition, ‘text, “of him’. JB had started to introduce this biblical text on MS 1029; see ante p. 319 n. 1. 3 Printed in the revises ‘mind in a vigorous [first edition rigorous] sense’. 4 This sentence was not printed in the revises. 5 This sentence also did not appear in the revises. SJ’s superiority over others, earlier said to have been carried with ‘dignity’ (Life MS i. 25, Hill-Powell i. 47), here takes on a quality implicit in a memorandum on this topic in the Life Materials (M 157, p. 5), a quotation from the ‘Life of Gay’ that JB applied to SJ: ‘His feeling of independence from his ≤native≥ superiority of talents is thus discovered. “Whoever is apt to hope good from others is diligent to please them: but he that believes his powers strong enough to force their own way, commonly tries only to please himself.”’ See Lives ed. Lonsdale, iii. 97; ed. Middendorf, xxii. 795. 6 Printed in the revises ‘chiefly in what may be called the art of thinking, the art of using his mind; a certain’. 7 Two additional sentences were printed here in the revises: ‘His moral precepts are practical, as [first edition practical; for] they are drawn from an intimate acquaintance with human nature. His maxims carry conviction; for they are founded on the basis of common sense.’ In the second edition, the latter sentence was extended: ‘sense, and a very attentive and minute survey of real life.’ 8 MS orig. ‘his poetical pieces’, a phrase restored in the second edition, among other changes to the end of the sentence: ‘his poetical pieces, in general, have not much of that splendour, but are rather distinguished by strong sentiment, and accurate observation, conveyed in harmonious and energetick verse, particularly in heroic couplets.’ 9 Printed in the revises ‘in colloquial pleasantry; and’. As for the ‘sallies’, see ante p. 329 ll. 12–14 and n. 9.

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H-P iv. 428–29

heartiest merriment was often enjoyed in his company with this great advantage that as it was entirely free from any poisonous tincture of vice or impiety, it was salutary to those who shared in it.1 He had accustomed himself to such accuracy in his common conversationb/2 that he at all times delivered himself with a perspicuity force and elegant choice of expression the effect of which was aided by his having a loud voice and a slow deliberate utterance. He united a most [MS 1045/(9)] logical head with a most fertile imagination which gave him an extraordinary advantage in arguing; for he could reason close or wide b Though a perfect resemblance of Johnson is not to be found in any age, parts of his character are admirably expressed by Clarendon in drawing that of Lord Falkland who the noble and masterly historian describes at his seat near Oxford ‘Such an immenseness of wit, such a solidity of judgement so infinite a fancy bound in by a most logical ratiocination.’b1 — [MS 1045/(9)] ‘His acquaintance was cultivated by the most polite and accurate men so that his house was a university in less volume, whetherb2 they came not so much for repose as study, and to examine and refine those grosser propositions, which laziness and consent made current in conversation.’ Bayle’s account of Menage may also be quoted as exceedingly applicable to the great subject of this Work.b3 [Paper Apart Bayle] ‘His illustrious friends erected a very glorious monument to him in the collection entitled Menagiana. Those who judge of things aright will confess that this collection is very proper to shew the extent of genius and learning which was the character of Menage. And I may be bold to say that the excellent works he published will not distinguish him from other learned men so advantageously as this. To publish books of great learning, to make Greek and Latin verses exceedingly well turned is 1 False start, ‘He was prone to supers[tition]’; see p. 327 n. 2. In the Tour (v. 17), the sentence beginning with these words followed the one ending ‘indulged himself in pleasantry and sportive sallies.’ See p. 330 l. 26. 2 JB placed a large asterisk here, his copy having reached mid-page, and another (marked ‘Note’) a quarter of the way up from the bottom of the page, then evidently began drafting the footnote before finishing the present sentence of his main text; see n. b1 below. b1 Here at the bottom of the page JB wrote ‘turn’, but then, instead of proceeding to the verso of the leaf, he deleted the instruction, placed a dash and the catchword ‘His’, and continued the footnote on the next page. He did so beneath the direction ‘Note’ a fourth of the way down MS 1045/(9), thus limiting the copy that would fit above it when he resumed his main narrative. b2 A copying error; printed in the revises ‘whither’, as in Clarendon. b3 Here, after the cue words ‘His illustrious friends’, JB directed the compositor to ‘take in paper Bayle’. He drafted this Paper Apart on Charles Dilly’s letter of 22 Mar. 1791 about Heath’s engraving of the frontispiece to the Life (C 1056, asking JB to find out the year of Reynolds’s portrait and SJ’s age at sitting). The first part of JB’s copy fills the back of the unfolded letter, straddling the address. This paragraph stemmed from an afterthought to a note in the Life Materials (M 158, p. 6): ‘Get acquainted with Maty & go sometimes to the ≤British≥ Museum. N.B. Johnson. See Maty’s Review April 1785 a good deal of Sam in the Life of Reisk. ≤See also Menage in Bayle.≥’ Paul Henry Maty, ‘Under Librarian’ at the British Museum, published A New Review with Literary Curiosities and Literary Intelligence, for the Year 1785, in which (vii. 260–62) a ‘Character’ of scholar and physician Johann Jakob Reiske extolled his rectitude, charity, pious adherence to religion, wonderful memory, and ‘unexampled love of letters’.

331

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MANUSCRIPT EDITION

1784

as he saw best for the moment. Exulting in his intellectual strength and dexterity he could when he pleased be the greatest sophist that [MS 1046/(10)] ever contended in the lists of declamation and from a spirit of contradiction and a delight in shewing his powers, he would often maintain the wrong side with equal warmth and [1st ed. ii. ‘588’ [sic for 586]] ingenuity, so that his real 5 opinions could [not be>] seldom be gathered from his talk.3 But he was too 6 conscientious to make errour permanent and pernicious by deliberately writ- 7 ing it and in all his numerous works he earnestly inculcated what appeared to 8 him to be ≤the≥ truth. His piety was constant and was the ruling principle of 9 all his conduct and the more that we consider his character we shall be the 10 11 more disposed to regard him with admiration and reverence.4 The End5 not a common talent, I own; neither is it extremely rare. b4It is incomparably more difficult to find men who can furnish discourse about an infinite number of things and who can diversify them an hundred ways. How many authours are there who are admired for their works, on account of the vast learning that is displayed in them who are not able to sustain a conversation. – – – b5 Those who know Menage only by his books might think he resembled those learned men. But if you shew the MENAGIANA you distinguish him from them and make him known by a talent which is given to very few learned men. There it appears that he was a man who spoke off-hand a thousand good things. His memory extended to what was ancient and modern, to the court and to the city, to the dead and to the living languages, to things serious and things jocose in a word to a thousand sorts of subjects. That which appeared a trifle to some readers of the Menagiana, who did not consider circumstances, caused admiration in other readers who minded the difference between what a man speaks without preparation, and that which he prepares for the press. Andb6 therefore we cannot sufficiently commend the care which his illustrious friends took to erect to him a monument so capable of giving him immortal glory. They were not obliged to rectify what they had heard him say; for, in so doing they had not been faithful historians of his conversations.’ 3 Printed in the revises ‘so that, when there was an audience, his real opinions could seldom be gathered from his talk; though when he was in company with a single friend, he would discuss a subject with genuine fairness.’ 4 JB broke this sentence apart in the second edition, attaching the first half of it to the preceding sentence, and elaborating the second half in a new paragraph: ‘… the truth; his piety being constant, and the ruling principle of all his conduct. / Such was SAMUEL JOHNSON; a man whose talents, acquirements, and virtues, were so extraordinary, that the more his character is considered, the more he will be regarded by the present age, and by posterity, with admiration and reverence.’ 5 Below ‘THE END’, two additional lines were printed in the second edition: ‘FROM THE PRESS OF HENRY BALDWIN; / March 20, 1793.’ b4 With this word, bracketed and marked ‘4F’, the footnote in proof flowed from p. 584 onto p. ‘587’, the first leaf of sig. 4F. In the revises, the entire note was on this page. b5 No dashes were printed here in the revises. b6 Here, posting the catchword ‘therefore’, JB turned the letter over, rotated it, and continued his copy along the edge of the paper opposite Dilly’s message.

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Appendices Appendix A (page 27, line 12, note 10) Early Formulations of the Life in a Draft Advertisement In response to Charles Dilly’s advice, in a letter dated 20 December 1784, ‘that I should announce my intention to publish the Life of Dr. Johnson’, JB wrote on 23 December ‘that I intend to publish in the Spring my tour with Dr. Johnson, a good Prelude to my large Work his Life’ (Reg. Let.). He used this phrase in an advertisement drafted shortly thereafter, in part to announce his intention to publish ‘The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides’, but also to outline several components he planned to feature in his eventual biography of SJ. Only in revision did he add lines characterizing the Tour. While the full advertisement has not been traced in print, the portion about the Tour appeared on the verso of the last page of text in A Letter to the People of Scotland (1785).1 JB long ruminated on the features of the Life and their potential to entice readers. On 22 March 1786, he solicited EM’s opinion on the idea of prosecuting the publisher of ‘Peter Pindar’s Attack’ on him for fabricating a conversation in which SJ ‘spoke of me in the most contemptous manner’. A verdict against ‘the fellow’, he speculated, might lessen any harm done by his ‘falsehood’ in the long run, but the immediate publicity of the lawsuit would be beneficial as well: ‘consider if this would not give an opportunity to announce the Work in the most splendid manner. Erskine would expatiate upon it as not only to be the Life and Conversation of the first Genius, etc. etc. etc. but the History of the Literature and Literary Men during a considerable period’.2 No legal action was taken, yet the topics JB imagined the famously eloquent Thomas Erskine expatiating upon eventually made their way onto his titlepage. To the very end, as JB struggled to conclude the work (see p. 327 n. 7), he pondered the composition of the title-page. He asked EM for his thoughts on March 9, and again on March 12 — ‘Meantime the Title Page must be made as good as may be.’ — and EM on April 14 provided advice on its wording.3 JB drafted and revised the full-length advertisement on both sides of a folio leaf; later, on another folio sheet, he recopied it, making further changes, but halted abruptly mid-sentence.4 Only the lower portion of this later sheet survives; JB evidently sent the upper portion to the printer as copy for the advertisement in A Letter to the People of Scotland. For the transcriptions below (including those in Appendix B), same-draft revisions are recorded in the endnotes. On the verso of p. 107; see Lit. Car., p. 110. Corr. 4, pp. 304–05 and nn. 4–5, 15. The Rev. John Wolcot (‘Peter Pindar’), in his Postscript to A Poetical and Congratulatory Epistle to James Boswell, Esq. on his Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with the Celebrated Dr. Johnson (1786), imagined SJ considering murder to prevent JB from writing his life. 3 Corr. 4, pp. 304, 400, 413, 415, and 417–18. 4 M 128 (Beinecke GEN MSS 89, Box 51; see Cat. i. 80). 1

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[About Easter 1785>] 5 March 1785 ≤speedily≥ will be published in one volume octavo Printed for CHARLES DILLY LONDON The JOURNAL of a TOUR to the HEBRIDES in company with SAMUEL JOHNSON L.L.D. By JAMES BOSWELL Esq: O! while along the stream of time thy Name Expanded flies, and gathers all its fame; Say shall my little bark attendant sail, Pursue the triumph and partake the gale. POPE.

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10 11 12 13 ≤which will exhibit with a minute accuracy what the RAMBLER often said was 14

the pleasantest part of his life, & while it gives the remarks which Mr. Boswell himself was able to make will contain a specimen of that conversation which for wisdom & wit was equally admired & conspicuous.≥ This ≤volume5≥ Publication is to be a Prelude to a Large Work for which Mr. Boswell has been collecting materials for upwards of twenty years, during which he was honoured with the intimate freindship of DR. JOHNSON to whose memory he is ambitious to erect a Literary Monument worthy of that illustrious Authour and most excellent Man. He wishes first to have before him the numerous Lives and Memoirs with which the publick curiosity is soon to be gratified by others; ≤— as also communications from different [quarters>] persons6 with which he has already been favoured with several – authenticated by the signed names of obliging Correspondents desireous of contributing their aid to enhance the celebrity of the most exalted Freind of the Crown the Church, and the Language of ENGLAND [—]≥ that in addition to the great Stock which is peculiar to himself, and lyes in his repositories secure from invasion, he may receive any particulars of value, may select what is genuine, correct what is erroneous, [Verso of folio leaf] and arrange the WHOLE in the most perfect order in his power. And then — in due time will appear

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The LIFE of SAMUEL JOHNSON L.L.D. By JAMES BOSWELL Esq: [enriched with interesting Anecdotes of that great and good Man from his 35 childhood upwards, till his solemn yet calm departure for a better World.>] This Work will trace that great and good Man from his childhood, till his calm and pious departure for a better World. It will be enriched with innumerable When adding this word in revision, JB did not delete ‘Publication’. In place of ‘quarters’ JB substituted ‘persons who had’, but the latter words do not fit his syntax. 5

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5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Anecdotes of Literature — His Conversations with various people some of them the most eminent of the age upon a multiplicity of subjects, recorded in the manner of the Ancients [particularly>] especially Plutarch — [His Letters during a long series of years>] Letters and Extracts of Letters from him at different periods — ≤emendations and additions by him to Literary performances various readings of passages in his Lives of the Poets, a considerable part of the Manuscript of which in his own hand=writing as also of the proof=sheets is in Mr. Boswell’s possession.≥ And [several Original Pieces upon different occasions>] Original Pieces upon several occasions dictated by him to Mr. Boswell [of the authenticity of all which there will be intrinsick evidence by that superiour>] in all which the World will acknowledge that superiour energy which marked every emanation7 of the mind of Dr. SAMUEL JOHNSON! There will be subjoined / testimonies of / contemporary Authors.8 _________

[Half sheet] It is to be a Prelude to a LARGE WORK for which Mr. Boswell diligently collected materials for ≤upwards of≥ twenty years during which he was honoured with the intimate freindship of DR. JOHNSON who was well informed of his design, and to whose memory he is ambitious to erect a Literary Monument worthy of that illustrious Authour and Most Excellent Man. He wishes first to have before him the numerous Lives & Memoirs with which the Publick 20 curiosity has been and probably will be entertained for some time by others; as also communications from different persons concerning so distinguished a Freind of the Church, the Crown and the Language of ENGLAND. He gratefully acknowledges his obligations ≤for materials received since DR. JOHNSON’s death≥ [to Miss Seward of Lichfield the Dr.’s native place; del] to Mr. Edmund 25 Hector of Birmingham [his>] Dr. Johnson’s Schoolfellow — to the Reverend Dr. Adams Master of Pembroke College Oxford who to use his own words ‘had the honour for a time to call him his Pupil’ — and to Dr. Brocklesby who attended him ≤as a Physician≥ in his last illness.9 He hopes to1 15

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Appendix B (page 139, line 10, note 9) Notes and Drafts of Material Included in ‘Additions to Dr. Johnson’s Life Recollected, and Received after the Second Edition Was Printed’

[M 155: 13] Talking once at Cambridge of Dr. Hurd he said ‘How Hurd came to prefer rhime to blank verse I cannot tell for it is right Sir. He must have got 35 at the right by some wrong way.’ 7 In the space below this sentence JB deleted a revision he seemed to start: ‘the Energy of emanation’. 8 Beneath this promise JB later wrote ‘needless to mention this’. 9 On the full draft of the advertisement, in the upper left-hand corner of the recto, JB prepared for these acknowledgements with a memorandum: ‘gratefully thank [false start Dr. Adams his Tutor] Mr. Edmund Hector his Schoolfellow The Rev. Dr. A. Master of Pemb C Oxf his Tutor Miss Seward &c. Dr. Brocklesby’. See Life MS i. 10 n. 9. 1 JB’s revised draft ends here.

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At another time he observed ‘Hurd Sir is of a school where every thing is to be accounted for a priori; for instance when it was the fashion to wear scarlet breeches they would have explained to you how it must have happened that Scarlet breeches should be worn precisely at that time.’ He however when Mr. Langton told him that he had been introduced to Dr. Hurd said ‘Hurd Sir is a valuable acquaintance for any man to obtain.’ ‘Down with the breeches.’2 _________

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[M 158, p. 12] He once borrowed Sixpence of me saying ‘This not to be repaid.’3 _________ [M 146: 64] Johnson ask’d [Mr. Cambridge>] Richard Owen Cambridge Esqr.5 if he had read the Spanish translation of Sallust, said to be written by a Prince of Spain, with the assistance of his Tutor, who is professedly the author of a Treatise annexed on the Phœnician language. Mr. Cambridge commended the work particularly as he thought the Translator understood his Author better than is commonly the case with Translators. But said, He was disappointed in the purpose for which he borrow’d the book To see whether a Spaniard could be better furnishd with Inscriptions from monuments coins or other antiquities which he might more probably find on a coast so immediately opposite to Carthage than the [Antiquarians>] Antiquaries6 of any other countries. [Johnson>] JOHNSON.7 ‘I am very sorry you was not gratified in your expectations.’ [Cambridge>] CAMBRIDGE.8 ‘The Language would have been of little use as there is no History existing in that [language>] tongue9 to ballance the partial accounts which the Roman writers have left us.’ Johnson. ‘No Sir. They have not been partial. they have told their own story without shame or regard to equitable treatment of their injured enemy. They had no compunction no feeling for a Carthaginian. Why Sir, They would never have borne ≤Virgil’s description of≥10 Æneas’s treatment of Dido if she had [been anything but>] not been11 a Carthaginian.’1 Second edition, i. *ii; see Hill-Powell iv. 189–90. Second edition, i. *iii; see Hill-Powell iv. 191. This Paper Apart, sent by Cambridge in the spring of 1793 (Corr. 2a, p. 407), comprises a single folded sheet. The copy on sides 1–2, apparently in the hand of an amanuensis, is followed by a message in Cambridge’s hand; side 3 contains JB’s tribute to Cambridge, and side 4 the endorsement (see p. 337 n. 2). 5 Revision in the hand of JB’s assistant. 6 Alteration possibly by JB. 7 Underscored for small capital letters by JB. 8 Underscored for small capital letters by JB. 9 Revision by JB. 10 Addition—invited by Cambridge (see n. 1 below)—in the hand of JB’s assistant. 11 Revision in the hand of JB’s assistant. 1 Below this copy, leaving a blank space, Cambridge addressed JB: ‘If You sd. think, (for I dont exactly remember or see the difference) that He said Virgil’s treatment, You’ll put which of two you or Mr. Malone think best. / I’m sorry I cd. not make the whole shorter but, you’ll [false start do wh[at]] print it or not as you chuse.’ JB deleted these lines with five vertical strokes. 2

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I gratefully acknowledge this and other Communications from Mr. Cambridge, whom, if a beautiful Villa on the banks of the Thames a few miles distant from London, a numerous and excellent library which he accurately knows & reads, a choice collection of pictures which he understands & rel5 ishes, an easy fortune, an amiable family, an extensive circle of friends and 6 acquaintance, distinguished by rank, fashion & genius, a literary fame various, 7 elegant, & still increasing, colloquial talents rarely to be found, & with all 8 these means of happiness, enjoying when well advanced in years, health & 9 vigour of body, serenity and animation of mind, do not entitle to be addressed 10 fortunate senex! I know not to whom in any age that expression could with 11 propriety have been used. Long may he live to hear & to feel it.2 12 13 14

2 Second edition, i. *xix–*xx; see Hill-Powell iv. 195–96. The closing acknowledgement, written on side 3 of the Paper Apart, was dictated by JB to the same person in whose unidentified hand several small changes were made to the preceding copy (see nn. 5, 10, and 11 above). The Paper Apart served as printer’s copy, as evident from the direction following JB’s endorsement on side 4: ‘Communication from Richard Owen Cambridge Esq: Pray return this.’

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page 1 1–2 Being disappointed in my hopes of] MS orig. ‘Not having had it in my power to’, a false start. 6–7 A very few] Third edition, ‘Very few’. 11 Johnsonian] Added in the same revision. 12 Johnsonian] Printed in italics in the revises. 14 Johnsoniana] Printed in italics in the revises. 17 unquestionable] First revision, ‘fully ascertaine[d]’. 21 For the expression] Resolving his alternatives in favour of ‘expression’, JB also started to revise the preceding phrase: he scored through ‘arrangement’ to write ‘se[quence]’, but then deleted the phrase. 21 partly] Added in the same revision. page 2 1 is] Added by JB. 2 is] Added by JB. 2 superior] Printed in the revises ‘superiour’. 6 are] Added by JB. 9–10 which is as well … related] JB’s modification of Langton’s successive formulations: (1) ‘which is well conducted and the Battle well related’; (2) ‘which is well conducted [—] as Euripides could have done it — and the Battle well related’. 15 Argonaut-Heroes] Printed in the revises ‘Argonaut heroes’. 15 The Sicilian Gossips] Printed in the revises within quotation marks, followed by the verb ‘is’, which JB neglected to insert in reviewing this leaf of the Langtoniana. 16 is] Added by JB. 16 thing] Added by JB. 17 is his] Added by JB. 17 accounts] Printed in the revises ‘account’. 18 Authors] Printed in the revises ‘authours’. 21 puzzleheaded] Printed in the revises ‘puzzle-headed’. page 3 with out] Printed in the revises ‘without’. Senilia] Underscored for italics by JB; so printed in the revises, within quotation marks. 9 It may be Questioned … not] Altered by JB from Langton’s orig. ‘a Question whether not’. 15 learning,] JB’s comma replaced the second dash of a pair used by Langton to isolate the comparison, ‘as time must be taken for learning’; the first dash also was printed as a comma in the revises. 15 Sr. Wm.] Printed in the revises ‘Sir William’. 17 We may apply] Altered by JB from Langton’s orig. ‘Sometimes perhaps applicable’. 19 convert] Italicized in the second edition. 19 Filosofo] Third edition, ‘filosopho’; Hill-Powell, ‘filosofo’. 19 It is] Added by JB. 20 £500 in a Year] Altered by JB from Langton’s orig. ‘£500 - a Year’; printed in the revises ‘five hundred pounds in a year’. 1 3

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NOTES TO PAGES 3–6

26 There is] Added by JB. 26–27 Condescension] Underscored for italics by JB. page 4 1 sate] Second edition, ‘sat’. 3 being told they had] False start, ‘not’. 4 be] Written over the first letter of a false start, possibly a ‘c’. 5 a picture] The ‘a’ is written over an illegible letter of a false start. 6 John Gilbert Cooper related that] Added in the same draft. 7 among] MS orig. ‘amongs[t]’. 8 animadversions] Written over the first letter of a false start. 10 thee] Italicized in the second edition. 14 you will hardly ever find] Added in the same draft, to convert the phrase that follows (‘a country gentleman who …’) from the subject of the sentence into the object of the newly inserted verb. 21 And at] Second edition, ‘At’. 21 Irene] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 22 where he was on a visit] Omitted in the revises. 23 some=body] Printed in the revises ‘somebody’. 23 So Sir you] MS orig. ‘So you’. page 5 he doth “gabble monstrously”] In the revises the internal quotation included ‘he doth’. In the third edition it began at ‘gabble’ (as in the MS). Hill-Powell reverted to the earlier printed punctuation. 11 Poh] Written over the first letter of a false start, ‘I’ or ‘J’. 11 leaving] Written over the first letter of a false start, ‘t’. 12 unidea’d] Written over the first letter(s) of an illegible false start. 14–15 read … to him] Third edition, ‘read to him a letter of compliment which he had received’. 15 Professours] Printed in the revises ‘Professors’. 21 in the Greek,] Added in the same draft. 21 Saviour’s] Printed in the revises ‘SAVIOUR’S’. 22 gracious] Added in the same draft. í ] In the first word, the letters were printed as a ligature. In 23 forming the second word, JB united the upsilon to the top of the omicron, a ligature replicated in print (following the sigma ). Hill-Powell, ‘ í ’. 24 50] The ‘0’ seems to have been written over another numeral, but Luke 7 ends with verse 50. 24 the manner of] Added in the same draft, followed by the undeciphered beginning of another word, deleted, apparently a false start. 25 is] Written over the first letter of a false start. 3

page 6 6–7 it was÷I told a] An undeciphered deletion to the left of JB’s alternative phrase was possibly a third option, ‘what [I told]’. 11 Observations on Spenser’s Fairy Queen] Printed within quotation marks in the revises, with ‘Spenser’s’ spelled ‘Spencer’s’. 32 of late] In revision JB apparently changed ‘late’ to ‘lately’, but reversed himself before he had deleted ‘of’.

339

NOTES TO PAGES 7–9

page 7 1 High Life below Stairs] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 5–6 green room] Printed in the revises ‘green-room’. 9 said] Written over a false start, ‘used’. 11 the Recruiting Officer] Printed within quotation marks (with an uppercase ‘T’) in the revises. 16 Sir] Written over ‘I a[sk]’, a false start. 18 Brazen. When] The ‘W’ is written over a false start, possibly ‘Brazen a[nd]’. 19 gone through] MS orig. ‘perf[ormed]’. 23 contemptous] Printed in the revises ‘contemptuous’. 26 said of him ‘Sir A man] MS orig. ‘said “A man’. 28 with a ludicrous slight] MS orig. ‘with ludicrous’, a false start. 29 how] Added in the same draft. 31 riding hood] Printed in the revises ‘riding-hood’. 32 the Wonder] Printed in the revises ‘The Wonder’. 35 part] Printed in the revises ‘character’. page 8 1–2 Of … said] MS orig. ‘of Mr. Longley at Rochester a gentleman of very considerable learning Dr. Johnson said’; marked for indentation in revision. 3 surprised] Printed in the revises ‘surprized’; second edition, ‘surprised’. 3 acquaintance with] False start ‘the metrical’. 4 metre] Printed in the revises ‘the metre’. 4 though] Added in the same draft. 5 I had it not so] MS orig. ‘I had not to’, a false start. 10 attacking] MS orig. ‘against’, altered perhaps when JB quoted SJ using ‘against’ a few lines below. 11–12 The dogs … about it.] MS orig. ‘The dogs dont know how to go about it Sir when they’, a false start. 16 Talking] This replaces a false start, ‘A young’. 18 commoner] False start, ‘whippin[g]’. 19 who was] Written above a false start, possibly ‘st[riking]’. JB fashioned the ‘st’ into a ‘w’ to form ‘who’, but then deleted the word, evidently thinking it not very legible. 19 whipping at a post] MS orig. ‘whipping a post’. 20 took] Written over the first letter of a false start, possibly ‘s[aid]’. 21 turned round &] MS orig. ‘turned &’. 22–23 Pope Sir, … if he had seen] MS orig. ‘Pope would have said the same of you Sir, had he seen’. JB formed the word ‘you’ to hide ‘your’, perhaps a false start for ‘your distilling’. 23 my] MS orig. ‘his’, a slip of the pen. page 9 2 expressed] MS orig. ‘said’, a false start. 9 excell] Printed in the revises ‘excel’. 11 Why] The ‘W’ seems to be written over another letter. 14 Club] Printed in the revises ‘CLUB’. 15 (first) Shakespeare] Printed in the revises ‘Shakspeare’. 15–16 Shakespeare illustrated] Printed ‘Shakspeare Illustrated’ within quotation marks in the revises. A lower-case ‘i’ appeared in the second edition, replaced by the upper case again in the third.

340

NOTES TO PAGES 9–12

17 19 20 21 23 25 25 27

G.] Printed in the revises ‘GOLDSMITH.’ been Sir] Printed in the revises ‘been,—Sir’, the dash indicating an internal quotation. lye] Printed ‘lie’. Beauclerk] MS orig. ‘Beauclerc’. (with … emotion)] Added in the same draft. JB wrote ‘(with a voi[ce]’ above ‘said’ approaching the right margin of the page, but needing more space, began the phrase again from the left side of the page. Club] Printed in the revises ‘CLUB’. translation] MS orig. ‘translation into latin’. Dyer] MS orig. ‘Dier’.

page 10 2 in latin inscriptions] Added in the same draft. 5 then] Added in the same draft. 7–9 said ‘Sir this … it;] MS orig. ‘said it had been owing to an alteration of a part of the sentence from the form [illegible false start, covered by next word] in which he had first written it.’ 9–10 that it is a very] MS orig. ‘that that is very’, a false start. 9–11 it is … sentence] Third edition, ‘the making a partial change, without a due regard to the general structure of the sentence, is a very frequent cause of errour in composition’. 17–18 mentioned … Scotch. ‘One] MS orig. (1) ‘mentioned as a circumstance characteristic of the Scotch “One’; (2) ‘mentioned as a circumstance which he said was characteristic of the Scotch “One’. page 11 Talking … one day] MS orig. ‘One day when Mr. Langt[on]’, a false start. he] False start, ‘said “We Protestants try to persuade our opponents by arg[ument or arguing]’. 4 Johnson] JB began to underscore SJ’s name for a speaker tag, but deleted the underscoring in order to introduce his quotation differently. 2–5 State … state …states] In the revises JB replaced each lower-case ligatured ‘st’ with ‘St’. 7 farther] Second edition, ‘further’. 10 he observed] Added in the same draft. 13 at the time] Omitted in the revises. 15 had] False start, ‘lef[t]’. 18 court martial] Printed ‘Court-martial’. 18 publick] Added in the same draft. 19 expressed … decision &] Added in the same draft. 20–21 in the whole … himself] MS orig. ‘had ever spent an hour by himself’. 22 Club] Printed ‘CLUB’. 22 with] Written over ‘he[ard]’, a false start. 1 2

4 5 5 6

page 12 perhaps] Added in the same draft. himself] Written over a false start, ‘n[ot]’. not] Written over a half-formed ‘h’, a false start for ‘had’. sollicitation] MS orig. (inadvertently) ‘solictation’. See post p. 424, endnote for p. 286 l. 22; also Life MS iii. 390, endnote for p. 269 l. 25.

341

NOTES TO PAGES 12–14

6 8 10 11 11 13 18 19 24

Dr. Johnson’s character] False start, ‘that’. repining] MS orig. ‘presuming to complain’. does not chuse to give more] MS orig. ‘will not give more’. JB inadvertently left out ‘to’. after] Written over the first letter of a false start, ‘w[ith]’. in a tone of grateful satisfaction] Added in the same draft. very] Written over the first letter of a false start, ‘f[ear]’. Ode writing] Changed by Selfe in the revises to ‘Ode-writing’. poetry] MS orig. ‘company’, an obvious slip. learning enough] MS orig. ‘as much learning’, a false start.

page 13 4–5 It is … things.] JB wrote the sentence out cleanly after giving up on two false starts: (1) ‘It was very remarkable that his memory retained almost every’; (2) ‘It is very remarkable that he had room in his memory for very trivial things as well as those of’. 7 rhimes] Printed in the revises ‘rhymes’; second edition, ‘rhimes’. 15 silk] MS orig. (1) ‘silk’; (2) ‘silks’. 18 repeating] False start, ‘the humble strains’. 20 last Stanza] Second edition, ‘last stanza repeated by him’. 20 Stanza that] MS orig. ‘Stanza “It ne[arly]’; the false start of a quotation is covered by ‘that’. 20 comprised] Printed in the revises ‘comprized’. 22 inquiries] Mistakenly written ‘inquires’. 26 contempt] In the revises JB inserted ‘unjust’ before ‘contempt’. page 14 1–2 “For …fools.”] Instead of JB’s quotations marks around Old Meynell’s saying (which was, given the addition of quotation marks to each paragraph throughout the Langtoniana, a quotation within SJ’s internal quotation), it was preceded by a dash in the revises. The saying was italicized in the second edition. 3 toothach] As spelled in SJ’s Dictionary; printed ‘tooth-ache’; third edition, ‘tooth-ach’. 4 vous] Written with an oversized ‘v’, apparently to conceal a capital ‘V’. 4 ‘Ah … etudiez trop.’] Printed in italics in the revises, without quotation marks. Hill-Powell, ‘étudiez’. 5 passed] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘spent’. 5–7 Having … and after] MS orig. ‘After passing an evening at Mr. Langton’s with the Reverend Dr. Parr he said of that learned gentleman after’. 8 know] Written over the first letter of a false start. 10 open] Added in the same draft. 11–13 We … writers & Shakespeare.] Altered by JB from Langton’s ‘Criticism fair between Shakesp. and Corneille ≤the latter something more≥ as they have alike had the lights which in latter ages have been added, not so just between the Greek & Shakespeare.’ Each occurrence of ‘Shakespeare’ in this paragraph was printed ‘Shakspeare’ in the revises. 13–14 It may … Shakespeare] Altered by JB from Langton’s ‘It may be replied to them on Shakesp.’ 14 tho’] Printed in the revises ‘though’. 15 prescience] Underscored for italics by JB.

342

NOTES TO PAGES 14–16

15

Shade had … he had] Altered by JB from Langton’s ‘Shade has … he has had’. 17 Spanish plays being] Altered by JB from Langton’s ‘Spanish play’. 18 Experience] JB deleted ‘of Life’ from this phrase, as the sentence ends on these words (l. 20). 20 The Machinery … is] Altered by JB from Langton’s ‘Machinery therefore of the pagans’. 21–23 more so … intended] Langton’s orig. ‘more so when in one of the old Grecian Tragedies – where the ≤nearer≥ approach to Nature is intended’. JB’s first draft revision to the concluding clause was ‘as a nearer approach to Nature is intended’. 24 Romances] Langton originally wrote ‘them’, in reference to the works just discussed, then deleted it and replaced it with ‘Romances’. 26 wch] Printed in the revises ‘which’. 26 were written] Altered by JB from Langton’s ‘were wrote’. 29 as has been explained] Altered by JB from Langton’s ‘as above explained’. Langton wrote ‘explained’ above his deleted ‘described’. The omission of ‘as’ from the revises was corrected by JB. page 15 2 ministring] Third edition, ‘ministering’. 3 tho’] Printed in the revises ‘though’. 4 concerng] Printed in the revises ‘concerning’. 5 Imagination] Printed in the revises ‘imagination’. 5 and only] Second edition, ‘though’. 8 the Love Elegies] Printed in the revises ‘his love elegies’. 12 describes] Altered by JB from Langton’s ‘described’. 13–14 The great … know] Altered by JB from Langton’s ‘the great Use of hearing those absurdities delineated is to know’. 14 Absurdity] Printed in the revises ‘folly’. 14–15 ought of absolute necessity] Altered by JB from Langton’s ‘absolutely necessary’. 17 phraseology] Altered by JB from Langton’s ‘Style’. 20 eagerness for] Altered by JB from Langton’s ‘Taste of’; third edition, ‘eagerness of’; Hill-Powell, ‘eagerness for’. 21 a ridiculous Excess] Altered by JB from Langton’s ‘absurd Excess’. 23 might happen to be] MS orig. ‘might be’. page 16 1 For] JB capitalized Langton’s ‘for’. 10 is] Inserted by JB. 10 at an end] Printed in the revises ‘now almost at an end’. 11 increased Number of them] Printed in the revises ‘increase of them’. 12 sufficient] Printed in the revises ‘proper’. 15–16 accommodation. In … strangers] Altered by JB from Langton’s ‘accommodation[;] in Ireland still’. 19 What says Johnson?] A dash preceded this second question in the revises; it was omitted in the second edition. 21 Contraversy] Printed in the revises ‘controversy’. 21 Shakespeare] Printed in the revises ‘Shakspeare’. 22 grammatacise] Printed in the revises ‘grammatticise’; second edition, ‘grammaticise’.

343

NOTES TO PAGES 16–18

24–25 a Bishops table] By first deleting ‘Bishop Porteous’s’ (but not ‘the’) from the alternative phrase, JB seems to have considered the phrase ‘the table of a Bishop’. 26 the Old man’s wish, a Song] MS orig. ‘the Song’. Quotation marks were printed around ‘The Old Man’s Wish,’ in the revises. 29 not in the Song] Printed in the revises ‘not the song’. 32 sway.] Second edition, ‘sway!’; Hill-Powell returned to a full stop. page 17 1–2 Being asked … Sir] MS orig. (1) ‘Had not Barnes a good deal of Greek Sir?’; (2) ‘Had not Barnes a good deal of Greek? – “I doubt Sir’. 3–4 He … profession] MS orig. ‘Talking of÷on the subject of one eminent in his profession who’. JB began the anecdote again on the verso of LJ No. 18, having neared the bottom of the recto with this false start. 13 is there in this town who] Added in the same draft. 15 learn] Written over the first letter of a false start; followed by another false start, ‘the’. 18–19 He … himself. One day] MS orig. ‘Though he used commonly to say that a man’s education depends chiefly upon himself, yet he would at times give way; one day’. 21 (in ridicule … account)] Added in the same draft. 24 Virtue] Written over a false start, apparently an ‘S’. 24 Publick … Poem] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 24–25 Fine … verse).] MS orig. ‘Fine Blanky (meaning to express his usual contempt for blank verse) Sir.’ page 18 poor] Added in the same draft. was] Written over one false start, ‘no[w]’, and generating three more: (1) ‘dead’; (2) ‘grown’; (3) ‘not in[teresting]’. 3 when a very young man] Added in the same draft. 3 Cleone a Tragedy] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 4 not] Written over the first letter of a false start. 4 went on,] JB wrote ‘went, on’, misplacing the comma. 6 uneasiness.] False start, ‘There is here so [undeciphered letter]’. 7 some more] Mistakenly written ‘so more’. 7 slaughter=house.] Printed in the revises ‘slaughter-house again, Lanky’. 9 Yet … said] MS orig. (1) ‘He afterwards s[aid]’; (2) ‘Yet when it was concluded he paid it’. 9 When] False start, ‘I read it myself I was more sensible of its pathetick effect’. 12 this Play] MS orig. (1) ‘this’; (2) ‘it’. 14 appeared not to be] MS orig. ‘was not’. Printed in the revises ‘always appeared not to be’. 16 ‘Snatches … or] Altered by JB from Langton’s ‘Snatches of reading – not a Bentley nor’; in drafting ‘will not make’, JB wrote ‘not’ over the false start ‘mak[e]’. 17 They … advantageous.] Sentence added by JB. 17 I would put] Altered by JB from Langton’s ‘— to put’. 18 where no unfit Books are] Altered by JB from Langton’s ‘where no Books unfit’. 19 ‘a Child … discouraged] Altered by JB from Langton’s ‘Not to discourage a Child’. 1 2

344

NOTES TO PAGES 18–20

19–20 takes a liking to] Altered by JB from Langton’s ‘has an Inclination to’. 20 it] Added by JB. 20 reach. If … case] Altered by JB from Langton’s ‘reach or other such reasons[;] if so’. 21 find it out] Altered by JB from Langton’s ‘find that out’. page 19 2–3 When we … time,] Added in the same draft. 3 entertaining.’] Followed by a dash in the revises. 5 rumour] False start, ‘first’. 10 low=dutch] Printed in the revises ‘Low Dutch.’ 11 Thomas a Kempis] Printed ‘Thomas à Kempis’ within quotation marks in the revises. 12 finding … appeared] MS orig. (1) ‘finding’, a false start; (2) ‘having the comfort to find that there was’. 13 duely] Second edition, ‘duly’. 14 the most rigorous] MS. orig. ‘a sufficient’. 15 one of the languages] MS orig. ‘a language’. 17 see] Written over a false start, ‘he[ar]’. 17 free Masons] Printed in the revises ‘Freemason’s’. 18 at Rochester … 1782] Printed in the revises ‘when they were at Rochester’. 19 french horns] Printed in the revises ‘French-horns’; second edition, ‘French horns’. 20 him] Written over one or two undeciphered letters of a false start. 20–21 that the impression … kind.] Printed within quotation marks in the revises, yet without ‘him’ having been changed to ‘me’. page 20 one Johns.] Printed in the revises ‘one. JOHNSON.’; second edition, ‘one,— JOHNSON.’ 1 Yes] Written over ‘Sir’. 2 feelings it may be good, But] MS orig. ‘feelings. But’. 2 in as much] Printed in the revises ‘inasmuch’. 2 bad] Written over the first letters of a false start, perhaps in coordination with JB’s same-draft addition of the phrase ‘it may be good’ to the contrasting clause (see first endnote for l. 2). Above ‘per se’ he wrote ‘it is’, possibly as an alternative ending to the sentence (‘it is bad per se’), but scored through the phrase before completing it. 6–7 in order to] MS orig. ‘and’. 7 arts] False start ‘which’. 9 most] Written over the first letter of a false start, possibly ‘l[east]’. 13 grinding barrow] Printed ‘grinding-barrow’. 14 furnished] MS orig. ‘contributed’. 17–18 When … Court Martial] MS orig. (1) ‘When Lord Charles on his return from America where he’; (2) ‘When Lord Charles Hay after his return from America was preparing his defence for’; (3) ‘When … was preparing himself before the Court Martial’. 21 agreed] False start, ‘to wait upon’. 22 while] Written over a false start, probably ‘he’. 24 ‘It is a] False start, ‘well drawn and’. 1

345

NOTES TO PAGES 21–24

page 21 2 were in possession] MS orig. ‘had possession’. 3 the] Written over the first letter of a false start. 3–4 it would be better judged] MS orig. ‘he would do well’. 4 desist from] False start, possibly ‘co’ for ‘complaints’ or ‘complaining’. 6 gave … Bentley’s] MS orig. ‘after having recited D[r.]’, a false start. 7 who] Written over a false start, possibly ‘m[ade]’. 9 english] Added in the same draft. 10 feel] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘apply’. 12 And thence] Written in alignment with the opening verse, then deleted and rewritten to establish the form followed throughout the poem, with the second and fourth lines of each stanza indented. page 22 2 well.’] MS orig. (1) ‘well” as if to’; (2) ‘well.” Upon which’, both false starts. 2–3 are well] Printed in the revises ‘are very well’. 2–3 are well, Sir but you] MS orig. ‘are well, Sir but well in’, a false start. 5 Drinking … day] MS orig. ‘Drinking one’, an inadvertent slip. 7 infidel.’ ‘Sir] Between the speeches a dash was printed in the revises. 11 Tempest] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 16 then] Omitted in the revises. 33 stoick] Printed in the revises ‘Stoick’. 34 South Sea] Circled in the margin, to clarify a cramped MS orig. ‘South sea’. page 23 rogues;] Second edition, ‘rogues!’ I will] Printed in the revises ‘I’ll’. talk to] Printed in the revises ‘accost’. sorry to see] A same-draft insertion here—‘published with the sanction’—was deleted as a false start. 9 occurs] False start, ‘con’. 10 Johnson.’ It] MS orig. ‘Johnson” no’, a false start. JB wrote ‘It’ over ‘no’. 10 mention] Written over a false start, possibly ‘ex[plain]’. 13 Society] False start, ‘unde[r]’. 17 very] Added in the same draft. 16–17 written … writer] JB deleted ‘written’, possibly when he drafted ‘writer’, but then wrote it again. In the revises he deleted ‘writer’ and substituted ‘man’. 18 presumptous] Printed in the revises ‘presumptuous’; third edition, ‘presumptious’; Hill-Powell, ‘presumptuous’. 19–21 is thus criticised … “Dr. Johnson has] MS orig. ‘is criticised … “Dr. Johnson (says he) has’, with ‘(says he)’ added in the same draft. 21 toiled] Printed in the revises ‘toil’d’. 22 that] Written over ‘this’, the next word to be drafted. 26 suspend] False start, ‘or lock them up in’; written again for JB to add ‘they’ before ‘lock’. 27 published] Printed in the revises ‘ushered into the world’. 1 1 4 5

2 3

page 24 producing.] False start, ‘Johnson’. the Spectator] Printed ‘The Spectator’ within quotation marks in the revises.

346

NOTES TO PAGES 24–26

4 6 7 7 9 10 11 12 12 13 16 17 17 19 20

Coverley] MS orig. ‘Coverly’; second edition, ‘Coverely’; third edition, ‘Coverly’; Hill-Powell, ‘Coverley’. answered] Second edition, ‘answered him’. stolen=goods] Printed in the revises ‘stolen-goods’; second edition, ‘stolen goods’. when] Written over ‘as’. instance] Written over an ‘e’, possibly for ‘example’. allowed] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘thought’. Burke] False start, ‘of whom’, changed to ‘so’ before JB had recopied ‘whom’—written here as a catchword—on the next page. powers] Above the line, for insertion after this word, JB wrote but then deleted ‘and’, whether originally or when revising ‘intellectual powers’ to ‘wonderful powers’ is unclear. Johnson.] False start, ‘One evening when’. in company] Omitted in the revises. seised] Third edition, ‘seized’; see also p. 233 n. 6, p. 235 n. 4. himself] False start, ‘with’. As … Langton] MS orig. (1) ‘As Mr. Burke and Langton’; (2) ‘As Burke and Langton’. night] False start, ‘“True” said Mr. Langton’. said Mr. Burke] False start, ‘with’.

page 25 1 Francklin] Printed in the revises ‘Franklin’. 2 Lucian] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 3–5 To DR. … TRANSLATOR.] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 6 comparrison] Printed in the revises ‘comparison’. 7 seem] Written over the first part of an ‘a’, possibly for ‘appear’. 7 this Dedication] MS orig. ‘the dedication’. 8 by Lucian] Added in the same draft. 8 (second) the] Written over ‘that’. ] The letters were printed as a ligature; Hill-Powell, ‘ ’. 9 11 he] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘Johnson’. 11 Lives of the Poets] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 12 Lives of the Poets] Printed within internal quotation marks in the revises. page 26 memorandum previous to this] MS orig. (1) ‘former memorandum’; (2) ‘memorandum previous to the’. 2 says of] MS orig. ‘characterises’. 3 written] Printed with a capital ‘W’ in the revises. 4 Dr. Johnson’s writings,] MS orig. ‘that he ever accomplished, and in’, the last part of which was a false start. 4 be] Written over an illegible false start. 5 read] MS orig. ‘pe[rused]’. 5 were] Written over ‘wa[s]’. 8 various] Written with an exaggerated ‘v’ to cover up the first letter of a false start. 16 writings] Printed in the revises ‘works’. 18 leaves] Printed in the revises ‘pages’. 2

347

NOTES TO PAGES 27–29

page 27 2–3 Latius … materia, … quam … suscepi] Printed in the revises ‘Latiùs … materiâ … quàm … suscepi’. 4 Copy right] Printed in the revises ‘copy-right’. 4 over] Written above a deleted false start, possibly ‘more’, or a malformed ‘over’. 8 such principles and illustrations of] Added in the same draft. 9 in one system … Longinus] MS orig. ‘by some modern Aristotle into one system’. 10 a Code … such as] MS orig. ‘such a Code upon that subject as’. 13 contemplating] Printed in the revises ‘observing’. 13 he] False start, ‘com[posed]’. 14 composition, resembling in this] Printed in the revises ‘contemplation. He may be assimilated to’. 20 good] Written over a false start, ‘gre[at]’. 20 in] False start, ‘the’. 21 we see] MS orig. ‘appears’, in which the initial ‘a’ covers the first letter of a false start. JB probably made this change after beginning the next sentence ‘Mr. Steevens appears’. 21 his notes] Second edition, ‘letters’. 25 the Gentleman’s Magazine] Printed within quotation marks in the revises, with a capital ‘T’. page 28 very useful] Second edition, ‘useful’. Johnson.] MS orig. ‘Johnson as’, a false start. dwell … Lives of the Poets] MS orig. ‘examine each of his Prefaces or Lives’. In the revises, ‘Lives of the Poets’ was printed within quotation marks. 5 do it] MS orig. (1) ‘perf[orm]’; (2) ‘do’. 6 Yet I shall] MS orig. ‘I shall however’. 6–7 shall take leave to make … and to gratify the publick with] Printed in the revises ‘shall make a few observations upon some of them, and insert’. 8 Cowley] Printed in the revises in small caps. 8 The … considered] MS orig. (1) ‘The Life of Cowley he himself considered’; (2) ‘The Life of Cowley which he himself considered’. Perhaps to avoid a subject phrase of unwieldy length, JB returned to his original syntax by deleting ‘which’. 9 Metaphysical Poets] Printed in italics in the revises. 11 in one of … his Plays] Second edition, ‘in his excellent Dedication of his Juvenal’, a correction included in Corrections and Additions. 13 happiness of illustration] Printed in the revises ‘happy illustration’. 13–14 in so luminous a manner that] MS orig. ‘in luminous manner’, a false start. 16–17 Amendments] MS orig. ‘Alterations’. 19 there] Formed out of a false start, either ‘thes[e]’ or ‘they’. 20 has been] Second edition, ‘had been’. 20 very] Added in the same draft. 1 1 4

1

page 29 Readings] MS orig. ‘readings’; so printed in the revises; third edition, ‘Readings’.

348

NOTES TO PAGES 29–31

1 3

Cowley’s Life] Printed in the revises ‘the Life of COWLEY’. the] JB formed the ‘t’ in this word out of a prematurely placed parenthesis. See p. 29 n. a1. 7 WALLER] A caret here, coupled with ‘where’ above the line, indicates a false start in revision. Needing more room, JB deleted the word here, in the middle of the page, and in the left margin wrote ‘whe[re]’, abandoning his intention even before completing the word. 8 publick … variegated period] Revision orig. (1) ‘the varied publick affairs’, a false start; (2) ‘publick affairs in that varied period’; (3) ‘publick affairs in that variegated part’, a false start. In the third of these drafts, JB fused ‘varied period’ into ‘variegated’, and in his final formulation wrote ‘period’ over ‘part’. 12 with … manly confidence] MS orig. ‘with unqualified manliness’. 12 and] Written over the first letter of a false start. 13 his country.] MS orig. ‘our Nation.’ 14 So easy … lives] Two false starts to the paragraph preceded this phrase: (1) ‘Though I acknowledge that Johnson’s’; (2) ‘Though Johnson’s’. The word ‘Johnson’s’, left undeleted above ‘lives’, was ignored by the compositor. 20–21 is printed] MS orig. (1) ‘in’; (2) ‘printed’, written over ‘in’. page 30 for the aweful subjects] MS orig. ‘for subjects’, a false start. Novelty] Printed in the revises ‘originality’. with] False starts, (1) ‘a str[ong]’; (2) ‘much force’; (3) ‘force of reasoning and must I should think’. 4 readings] Written ‘reading’; printed in the plural (so in revises). 4 Waller] Printed in the revises ‘WALLER’. 17 Blazon] It appears JB first wrote ‘Blazan’, then doctored the second vowel into an ‘o’. 18 Lost] MS orig. ‘lost’. 25 hottest heads] MS orig. ‘most bigotted’. 27 even Dr. Towers] In resolving his alternatives (deciding where to place ‘even’), JB first chose the phrase ‘even of The Revolution Society itself’, then changed his mind in favour of ‘even Dr. Towers’. 27 hottest heads] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘warmest zealots’. 28 allows] Written over ‘has’, a false start. 31 ‘An Essay] MS orig. ‘an “Essay’. 1 3 3

page 31 loved and venerated the] MS orig. ‘loved our’; ‘the’ is written over ‘our’. did] MS orig. ‘is known to have [done]’. to those who … I would] MS orig. ‘they who censure him would’, a false start. 6 (Johnson well observes)] Printed in the revises ‘(as Johnson well observes)’. 7–8 who had written … Sovereign] Added in the same draft. 9 tongues, and with] Third edition, ‘tongues, with’; Hill-Powell restored ‘and’. 10 compass’d] Second edition, ‘compassed’. 17 democratical] A later addition. 1 2 4

349

NOTES TO PAGES 31–34

18 25

whom … but] Printed ‘who I cannot but however’; in the revises, JB transposed the last two words. manifested] False start, ‘and’.

page 32 3 hardest and most dismal] MS orig. ‘hard and dismal’. 5 gayety] Third edition, ‘gaiety’. 5 should have] False start, ‘imagined the’. 6–7 delicate raptures … love] MS orig. ‘enchantments of connubial bliss’. 7 to be] Added in the same draft. 8 judgement] MS orig. ‘reason’. 10 in the same character may] MS orig. ‘may in the same character’. 14 Rhime] Printed in the revises ‘rhyme’. 14 apposite] MS orig. (1) ‘concise’; (2) ‘pointed’. 15 critick’ that it … eye. The] MS orig. ‘critick.” The’. 16 whom … characterises] MS orig. ‘whom he characterises’, a false start. 17 Surry] Printed in the revises ‘Surrey’. 17 knowledge and] Added in the same draft. 17–18 is universally celebrated] MS orig. (1) ‘is well [known]’; (2) ‘is universally known’; false start, ‘to whose elegance of manners the writer of the present work though not known’. 19 has felt himself much] MS orig. (1) ‘so mu[ch]’, a false start; (2) ‘owns himself much’. 19 of whose virtues] MS orig. ‘of whom one’, a false start. 21 Milton] Printed in the revises ‘MILTON’. page 33 1 ever] Added in the same draft. 7 exhibit?] MS orig. ‘attain?’ 12 a supposed] Added in the same draft. 12 he should] False starts, (1) ‘in the’; (2) ‘at an’. 12 a very advanced] Printed in the revises ‘an advanced’. 13 performed] Second edition, ‘exhibited’. 13 so amply] MS orig. ‘in so ample a manner’. 15 embracing] MS orig. ‘conversion to’. 17 Hind and Panther] Printed in the revises, in roman font, within quotation marks. 17 hath given … mind] MS orig. ‘has thus thrown a shield’, a false start. 19 may] False starts, (1) ‘not approve of his’; (2) ‘not agree with him’; ‘agree’ is written over ‘his’. 19 ill founded] Printed in the revises ‘ill-founded’. page 34 1 th’ abyss] Second edition, ‘the abyss’. 5 her] Printed in the revises ‘Her’. 8 wandering] Printed in the revises ‘wand’ring’. 11 nature] Printed in the revises ‘Nature’. 14 three in one?] Printed in the revises ‘Three in One?’ 15 drawing] Added in the same draft. 15–16 though I suppose unintentionally] Added in the same draft. 19 Nature] JB’s capital ‘N’ covers up an undeciphered slip of the pen.

350

NOTES TO PAGES 34–36

24 25 27 27

numerous] MS orig. ‘various’. Tragedy of which the Catastrophe] MS orig. ‘Tragedy which turns o[n]’, a false start; ‘the’ is written over ‘turns’, and ‘Catastrophe’ over the beginning stroke of an ‘o’. Readings] MS orig. ‘readings’. Dryden] Printed in the revises ‘DRYDEN’.

page 35 his] MS orig. ‘it’, a false start. {matter}] False start, ‘flowed’. unideal] Printed in the revises ‘un-ideal’. harlots] Added in the same draft. displays] Written over an illegible false start. The Life … Johnson] MS orig. ‘In writing the Life of POPE Johnson’, a false start. 11–12 possession … mind] MS orig. ‘possession which that admirable writer had taken of his mind’. Deleting every word but ‘which’ from this clause, JB ultimately could think of no better way to express his meaning and copied it all again, except for the adjective ‘admirable’. Two false starts ensued from the second writing of ‘mind’: (1) ‘from the congeniality’; (2) ‘and from the tr’ (either ‘triumphant’ or ‘triumph’). 12 forever] Printed in the revises ‘for ever’. 14 pronouncing with a] Revision orig. ‘concluding with the full’. 15 superfluous] MS orig. ‘superflous’; the missing ‘u’ was added by caret. 16 “Whether Pope was a Poet”] Printed without quotation marks in the revises; punctuated with a question mark. JB placed closing quotation marks on the question, but indicated its start merely with the capital ‘W’. (See endnote for ll. 16–17.) 17 poet] MS orig. ‘Poet’, as capitalized above (see l. 16). Neither instance was capitalized in the revises. 16–17 if Pope … found?] Printed in the revises with a capital ‘I’. Unlike JB, the printer was consistent in punctuating the two questions. (See endnote for l. 16.) 23 I remember …] Not indented, but marked to begin a new paragraph. 24 another man with] False start, ‘an equal’. 26 due] Written over a false start, possibly ‘ow[n]’. 26 enhancing] Written over a false start, possibly ‘encre[asing]’. 29 took] A deletion above this verb suggests an aborted alternative or samedraft change, ‘has [?taken]’. 29 opportunity of paying] Second edition, ‘opportunity, in the life of Pope, of paying’. 30 he] MS orig. ‘the rev[?erend]’. 32 Of … taken] MS orig. ‘A very honourable notice is taken of Johnson on this Account’, a false start. 1 2 4 5 7 10

page 36 an able] False starts, (1) ‘investi[gation]’; (2) ‘discussion’; (3) [undeciphered word]; (4) ‘examination of Warburton’s character and while he states strong objections’. The phrase ‘of Warburton’s’ remained undeleted, but the compositor ignored it, as JB recopied it further along in the sentence. 9 suffer] False starts, (1) ‘his profound learning and vigorous eloquence’; (2) ‘his [undeciphered word]’; (3) ‘the lustre of his fame honestly ac[quired]’.

4

351

NOTES TO PAGES 36–38

Doubtful that this closely interlineated third start could be read easily by the compositor, JB copied it again, and after doing so, changed ‘fame’ to ‘reputation’. 10 eloquence] MS orig. ‘elloquence’. 11 a charge] MS orig. ‘an unjust charge’. 12 Person] Written over a false start, possibly ‘Re[?verend]’, or a slip of the pen. 12 respectable by] MS orig. ‘respectable for’. 12 ≤his learning≥] JB began to insert this phrase after ‘his station’, as shown by a false start above the ‘n’, ‘hi[s]’. 14 it is said] Added in the same draft. 15 deliberate] MS orig. ‘cool and deliberate’. 16 one well advanced in life] MS orig. ‘manho[od]’. 16 at once with] MS orig. ‘with’. 17 and with] False starts, (1) ‘unrelenting’; (2) ‘unmerited abuse of two men highly’. 21 relenting] Added in the same draft. 21 indication] False start, ‘of’. 21 or] Written over the first letter of a false start. 21 later] MS orig. ‘subsequent’. 22 fair to] False start, ‘hold him’. 23 cruel÷severe] In revision, JB rejected both alternatives, then wrote in ‘cruel’ again, only to delete it. 24–25 is÷was … is÷was] In both cases, JB rejected each verb tense in turn, then wrote ‘is’ in again. 25 avenger.] MS orig. ‘avenger of injured merit.’ page 37 together.] False start, ‘Johnson appears to have wished’. Mr. William Gerrard Hamilton …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. The ‘W’ in ‘William’ was written over a false start, ‘Ge[rrard]’. 8 as] Written over a false start, ‘t[o him]. 8 expressed] Written over a false start, ‘s[aid]’. 12 forward.] Written over a false start, possibly ‘on[ward]’. 13–14 notice of] False starts, (1) ‘an expression’; (2) ‘Dr. Warburt[on’s]’ (deleted for lack of space). 14 Warburton’s] Second edition, ‘Warburton’; Hill-Powell, ‘Warburton’s’. 16 stating] Written over ‘in’, a false start. 16 different] Deleted and written in again, but whether in the same draft or in revision is unclear. 4 6

page 38 the Odyssey] Printed within quotation marks in first proof, with a capital ‘T’. 5 had] Written over the first word of a false start, ‘was too’. 6 a mistake … when the thing was] MS orig. ‘a person’s mistake or an errour in relation when it wa[s]’. 6 thing was not so as told] Third edition, ‘thing was not so as told’. 7 deceive] Written over the beginning of a false start, perhaps ‘m[islead]’. 9–10 Speaking of … observes] MS orig. (1) ‘He observes of Pope’s not having been known to excell in conversation’; (2) ‘Speaking of Pope’s not … 1

352

NOTES TO PAGES 38–39

to excell in conversation Johnson mentions only one apothegm which has been preserved of his’; (3) ‘Speaking of Pope’s not … to excel in conversation Johnson observes that traditional memory retains no sallies of raillery’. At what point JB corrected the spelling of ‘excell’ is unclear. 11 observes that] False starts, (1) ‘one apoth[egm]’; (2) ‘no sallies of raillery …’. 15 admirable] MS orig. ‘extraordinary’. 15 excellent.] False start, ‘There is however one saying of his’. 16 of which Johnson] MS orig. ‘which Johnson’, a false start. 17 Johnson … having ‘nursed] MS orig. (1) ‘Johnson censure[d]’, a false start; (2) ‘Johnson after justly censuring him for “nursing’. These changes were sloppy; ‘justly’ is altered from an illegible false start, and ‘having’ is written ‘havind’. 19 had] Written illegibly, then overwritten, deleted, and written again. 19 when] False start, ‘his P[rince]’. 20 Kings.’] Punctuated with a question mark in first proof. 21 he] Written over a false start, the first stroke of a ‘y’ for ‘young’. 23 But although] MS orig. ‘It is’, a false start. 23 no] MS orig. ‘not’, a false start. 24 not therefore to be concluded] MS orig. ‘not absolutely certain’. 24 that he] MS orig. (1) ‘that he’; (2) ‘that his’, a false start. 25 intercourse for Johnson] Revision orig. ‘intercourse. Johnson’. 25 himself] Omitted in the second edition. 26–27 the happiest conversation … impression.] Printed within quotation marks in first proof. page 39 who saw] False start, ‘a’. told me] MS orig. (1) ‘assured’; (2) ‘told me and’, false starts. now] Printed in first proof and the revises, but omitted on cancellans [Zz]. withhold] Written over an ‘r’, possibly a false start for ‘refrain’; printed in first proof ‘with-hold’. 5 who] Drafted as a catchword; not recopied on P.A. Poets (16). 9 This will … Lord Mansfield] MS orig. ‘Lord Mansfield indeed’, a false start. 9 enobled in] MS orig. ‘enobled during’; printed in first proof ‘ennobled in’. 11 friends.] MS orig. ‘friends, and that his Lordships character’, a false start. 11 He … with] MS orig. ‘He also includes L[ord]’, a false start. 12–13 a charge … left] Revision orig. ‘a charge of neglect of the papers left’, a false start. 14 the papers] JB drafted ‘the’ by transforming the first word of a false start, ‘that so ill leaves’. 16 unless] False start, ‘in the’. 16 (Lord Bolingbroke)] JB appears to have placed the parentheses over quotation marks. 18 whose love … accuracy] Added in the same draft. 19 to deserve it better.] MS orig. ‘to deserve it better to [undeciphered words]’. 19 In the placid] False start, ‘day’. 22 Somerville’s] Second edition, ‘Somerfield’s’, an error corrected in the third edition. 24–25 fondly … distinguished] MS orig. (1) ‘ambitious of distinction’; (2) ‘ambitious of a distinction’. 1 1 4 4

353

NOTES TO PAGES 39–41

26

better.] False starts, (1) ‘In the placid evening of his days,’; (2) ‘Never shall I forget the hours which I enjoyed’; (3) ‘Never shall I forget the hours of a great’; (4) ‘Never shall I forget the knowledge’; (5) ‘Never shall I forget the hours which’; (6) ‘His knowledge of the World ne[?ver]’; (7) ‘His knowledge of the World was communicated in the’; (8) ‘His varied knowledge of the World was communicated with a quiet pleasant gravity that was extremely engaging. Never shall I forget’; (9) ‘He had the happy art of communicating his varied knowledge of the World in short remarks and anecdotes’. 27–28 in short … anecdotes with] MS orig. ‘by short remarks and anecdotes in’. 30–31 his seat … taste] MS orig. ‘his elegant seat near Edinburgh which he himself formed’. In first proof, after ‘seat’, JB inserted the words ‘of Drum’, but then deleted them. page 40 made in my hearing] MS orig. ‘in my presence made’. These particulars I mention] MS orig. ‘This I mention’. this much] MS orig. ‘it’; ‘this’ is written over ‘it’. Earl] Written over an illegible false start. line of] False start, [undeciphered letters]. There] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘And’. Pope] Printed in the revises ‘POPE’. criticisms] Second edition, ‘criticism’; Hill-Powell, ‘criticisms’. sympathises] Printed in the revises ‘sympathizes’. {vanity depressed.} the sorrows of vanity] MS orig. ‘the sorrows of vanity {vanity depressed}’. 15 {criminal} less easily excused] MS orig. ‘less {criminal} easily excused’. 18 contradistinguished] Written across two lines, ‘contra:/:distinguished’; printed ‘contra-distinguished’. 27 he] False start, ‘might’.

1 2 3 3 5 6 7 8 14 14

page 41 find] False starts, (1) ‘the following unpleasing anecdote. “Steele whose imprudence of generosity’; (2) ‘the following unpleasing relation’. 3 Addison having] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘his having’. 4 execution’.] False starts, (1) ‘When I men[tioned]’; (2) ‘The [undeciphered letter]’. 8 Many persons] In the printed text that follows, ‘informed him’ was changed to ‘mentioned’ in the second edition. 10 of] Written over ‘in’. 11 my readers may] False start, ‘give p[articular]’. 12 referred to] False starts, (1) [undeciphered letter]; (2) ‘in an interestin[g]’. 13 Readings] MS orig. ‘readings’. 13 Addison] Printed in the revises ‘ADDISON’. 14 example] Added in the same draft. 19 his purpose was] Added in the same draft. 23 In] False starts, (1) ‘exh[?ibiting]’; (2) ‘writing the Life’. 24 to insert] False start, ‘the’. 24 epitaph] False starts, (1) ‘which he’; (2) ‘upon that amiable man’. 26 composed] Printed in the revises ‘had long before composed’. 27 so good as] The word ‘as’, omitted in the revises, was restored by JB. 3

354

NOTES TO PAGES 42–44

page 42 Parnell] Printed in the revises ‘PARNELL’. ‘{did … improvement] MS orig. (1) ‘“his fortune which indeed was in no g[reat]’; (2) ‘“was in no great need of im[provement]’, false starts. 15–16 In … cleared by Johnson from] MS orig. a series of false starts: (1) ‘In adding his’; (2) ‘In his Life of BLACKMORE by’; (3) ‘In … BLACKMORE whom by brin[ging]’; (4) ‘In … BLACKMORE Johnson has cleared’; (5) ‘In … BLACKMORE whose merit he has with a generous spirit of justice brought into notice’; (6) ‘In … BLACKMORE whose character as a man and a poet he has generously cleared from’. 17 raised] MS orig. ‘throw[n]’. 18 imitated] MS orig. ‘followed’, as JB’s catchword, but changed before he began the next page. 20 observation] Second edition, ‘observations’. 22 never] False start, ‘disturb’. 23 Johnson] False start, ‘indeed’. 24 he] Written over a false start, possibly ‘the’. 24 appears] False start, ‘to n[ot]’. 26 that he] False start, ‘was’. 26 enjoyed the] False start, ‘innumerab[le]’. 27 hostile] Added in the same draft. 29 would] False start, ‘not’. 7 9

page 43 1 Blackmore] Printed in the revises ‘BLACKMORE’. 5 Philips] Printed in the revises ‘PHILIPS’. 10 Congreve] Printed in the revises ‘CONGREVE’. 16 Commedy] Printed in first proof ‘comedy’. page 44 Tickell] Printed in first proof ‘TICKELL’. fairies] Second and third editions, ‘faries’; Hill-Powell, ‘fairies’. Various Readings] MS orig. ‘Variations’, a mistake. Akenside] Printed in first proof ‘AKENSIDE’. {something which} what he called] MS orig. ‘{something} which he called for’, a false start. 10 a {favourer of innovation} lover …] MS orig. ‘{a favourer of innovation} a lover …’. 12 his rage] MS orig. (1) ‘Mr. Dys[on]’; (2) ‘his {rage’, false starts. 14 Lyttelton] Printed in first proof ‘LYTTELTON’. 14 not favourably] MS orig. (1) ‘unfavourably’; (2) ‘disinclined to’, a false start. 15 that nobleman] Two letters of a deleted false start appear above ‘that’. 15 Mrs. Thrale] MS orig. (1) ‘Mrs. Thrale’; (2) ‘According to Mrs. Thrale’, a false start. 15 fairly] Added in the same draft. 15 he was] False start, ‘jealous’. 17 join the censure] Second edition, ‘join in the censure’. 17–18 (whom … ‘poor Littleton’)] Printed in first proof ‘whom … “poor Lyttelton,”’ (without parentheses). 19 Dialogues of the Dead.] Italicized within quotation marks in first proof. 1 5 6 6 9

355

NOTES TO PAGES 44–47

21 justice.’] False start, ‘But if they who pass as the Arbiters of Literature’. 23–24 no matter by what right] Omitted in the second edition. page 45 mankind] MS orig. ‘human na[ture]’, a false start. are] Written over a false start, possibly ‘i[s]’, JB reconsidering which verb to couple with ‘mankind’. 2 he may] False start, ‘without’. 3 Lyttelton] Printed in the revises ‘LYTTELTON’. 10 attachment] MS orig. ‘sentiments’. 11 letter which] MS orig. ‘letter to’, a false start. 13 TO MISS BOOTHBY] Printed in first proof ‘To Miss BOOTHBY.’ 14 Dearest Madam] Originally underscored for italics; printed in small caps. 20–21 to / Dearest, dearest Madam / your] Printed in first proof ‘to, dearest, dearest Madam, / “Your,’. 1 1

page 46 4 then] Added in the same draft. 7 very] A later addition. 7 mistaken] Second edition, ‘erroneous’. 8 was] Written over a false start, ‘la[ter]’. 12 have] Written over ‘be’, a false start. 13–14 considerable] MS orig. ‘great’. 17 it has all his pomp … sense] A later addition; in the revises JB changed ‘sense’ to ‘force’. page 47 1 added] Printed in the revises ‘he added’; JB had mistakenly deleted ‘he’. 2 contortions] Written over a false start, ‘ins’, possibly for ‘inspiration’. 3–4 supposing] Written over a false start, possibly ‘as[suming]’. 5 good humour] Printed in the revises ‘good-humour’. 5 the authour of] Added in the same draft; ‘the’ inadvertently omitted; ‘authour’ originally ‘author’. 5 Night Thoughts] Italicized within quotation marks in the revises. 6 Bowling Green] Printed in the revises ‘Bowling-Green’. 9–10 their Inn] MS orig. ‘the Inn’. 12 that he who has] MS orig. ‘that because he who has’. A caret after ‘has’ shows that JB was poised to insert a phrase here, but then instead he deleted the caret and scored through ‘because’. 13 tenour] MS orig. ‘tenor’. 15 dial] MS orig. ‘dial plate’. 19 he could … receive] MS orig. (1) ‘instead of the communications which he hoped to have received’; (2) ‘he could obtain from him less than’, a false start. 20–21 what has been called … England] MS orig. ‘our Augustan Age’; ‘called’ was first ‘thought’. 21 England;] False starts, (1) ‘Young afforded very little of’; (2) ‘Young was earnest’; (3) ‘he found Young’s’. 22 common] Added in the same draft. 23 a man of such] MS orig. ‘suc[h]’, a false start, converted into the word ‘a’. 24 declared] Written over the first letter of a false start, possibly an ‘m’.

356

NOTES TO PAGES 47–49

26 26 27 29 29 30

An instance at once] MS orig. ‘One instance’. turn of mind] MS orig. ‘train’, a false start. to Mr. Langton when] MS orig. ‘to Mr. Langton. When they came to a certain spot in’, a false start. (smiling)] Added in the same draft. which’ said he (smiling) ‘was] Printed in the revises ‘which (said he, smiling) was’; changed by JB to ‘which (speaking with a smile) was’. had been carried off] MS orig. ‘was gone’; ‘was’ remained undeleted, but the compositor ignored it.

page 48 2 when he sits] False start, ‘upon Young.’ 8 concerning] False start, ‘that’. 8 Night Thoughts] Italicized within quotation marks in the revises. 9 which I] False start, ‘shall ever esteem as one of the noblest a[nd]’. 11 Night Thoughts] Italicized within quotation marks in the revises. 15 disadvantage.’ And afterwards ‘particular] MS orig. (1) ‘disadvantage. The wild’, in continuation of the quotation, a false start; (2) ‘disadvantage. **’, seemingly a false start with asterisks to indicate an ellipsis; (3) ‘disadvantage. – particular’, a false start with a dash marking an ellipsis; (4) ‘disadvantage.” He adds “particular’. 17 Chinese] Originally lower case. 19 not only all … but] MS orig. ‘not only grandeur but’. 20 Pathetick] MS orig. ‘pathetick’, and so printed in the revises, where JB again capitalized the ‘P’. 22–23 by that … which describes] MS orig. ‘by one in Night describing’. 23 contemplation] False start, ‘suf[fered]’, the word that began this phrase. 23 object of] MS orig. ‘objectio[n]’, an inadvertent false start. 24 and] False start, ‘de[caying]’. 25 be … frame] MS orig. ‘be formed of obstinate materials’. 26 Night Thoughts] Italicized within quotation marks in the revises. 27 one] MS orig. ‘circumstance’; see ‘circumstances’ (l. 29). 28 the immortality of the soul] Second edition, ‘contemplations on immortality’. 29 interesting] Added in the same draft. 30 solemnly and poetically] MS orig. ‘solemnly yet poetically’. 31 the truly pious] MS orig. ‘a truly pious mind’. 31–32 No … persons] MS orig. (1) ‘No Book whatever put into the hands of young people’, a false start; (2) ‘No Book whatever can be recommended to th[e ?perusal/?attention] of young people’; before JB drafted a noun, he put a deletion stroke through ‘th’ and ‘of’. 33 NIGHT THOUGHTS] Printed in the revises within quotation marks. page 49 3 man] False start, ‘whose variety’. 5 obtaining for him] False start, ‘the’. 8 this Authour] MS orig. ‘an Authour’, a false start. 8–9 that he had an] False starts, (1) ‘unaccountable’; (2) ‘unfavourable intention towa[rds]’; (3) ‘unfavourable bias is evident were it only from the pa[ssage]’. 14 One … Life] MS orig. (1) ‘In the late’, a false start; (2) ‘One sen[?timent]’; (3) ‘One observation in this Life’.

357

NOTES TO PAGES 49–51

14–15 should be often inculcated] MS orig. (1) ‘cannot be too much impressed upon’; (2) ‘is so useful’; (3) ‘deserve[s]’; (4) ‘should ne[ver]’. 26 may] MS orig. ‘might’. 29 he was] False start, ‘{indebted} advance[d]’. page 50 others hate] Second edition, ‘others’ hate’. when] MS orig. ‘at that time when’. those who make …] MS orig. ‘let those who make …’, a false start. nicely] MS orig. ‘nice in’, a false start; JB formed the ‘ly’ over ‘in’. Lives of the Poets] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. False starts, (1) ‘were obligingly procured [catchword for written over from]’; (2) ‘are a Manuscript by Dr. Joseph Spence Authour of Polymetis’; (3) ‘are contained in a Manuscript Collection made by the Reverend Dr. Joseph Spence’. 28 Sir Lucas Pepys] False start, ‘Physic[ian]’. 29 was pleased to permit] Above this phrase JB wrote and deleted ‘obliging’, perhaps looking for a place to reinsert ‘obligingly’ (see endnote to l. 24). 29 I am sorry] False starts, (1) ‘to say made but a cold and ungracious return to his Grace whom he did not even name’; (2) ‘to say made but a cold and ungracious return for the obligation to his Grace whom he did not even name’; (3) ‘to say made but an aukward return to his Grace but the words “great assistance”’; (4) ‘to think made but an aukward return for the obligation. The words “great assistance”’. The key to these reformulations was JB’s addition, deletion, reintroduction, and finally second deletion of the phrase ‘for the obligation’. At what point he revised the verb ‘say’ to ‘think’ is unclear. 30 says he] False start, ‘in his Advertis[ement]’. 31 collections] Printed in the revises ‘Collection’. 32 acknowledgement’ but] MS orig. ‘acknowledgement[.]” But’. 32–33 but … unappropriated.] Many false starts preceded the final wording of this clause: (1) ‘but as he has not named’; (2) ‘but he has not named’; (3) ‘but having not named th[e]’; (4) ‘but having not said to whom he was obliged, there’; (5) ‘but having not named the noble[man …]’; (6) ‘but having not owned to whom he was obliged, there is no’; (7) ‘but he has not owned to whom he was obliged. Mr. Seward tells me that he kept the Anecdotes so long that his Grace was displeased.’ (8) ‘but … obliged, so that the acknowledgement is unappropriated, which [undeciphered word]’; (9) ‘but … unappropriated, which seems strange in’; (10) ‘but … unappropriated, which seems strange considering the’. Undeleted remnants of these false starts—stray instances of ‘not’ and ‘named’—were ignored by the compositor. As printed in the revises, the sentence concluded with the phrase ‘unappropriated to his Grace.’ 2 4 20 22 24

page 51 2 Lives of the Poets,] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 7 friends] First draft, ‘admirers’. 9 Montagu] Printed in the revises ‘Montague’; second edition, ‘Montagu’. 9 the ingenious … Shakspeare] Revision orig. ‘the Essayist on Shakspeare’. 10 reciprocity] Inadvertently drafted ‘reciprecity’. In revision JB inserted ‘ali’ after the ‘c’, as if to write ‘reciprocality’, but then, on the facing page, drafted a broader revision with the word ‘reciprocal’ in it. 11 In this war] MS orig. ‘Into this war’, a false start.

358

NOTES TO PAGES 51–54

13–14 the ‘Feast of Reason’] Originally JB included ‘the’ within his quotation marks. 15 proscribed] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘excluded’. 16 ‘Observer.’] Printed in the revises ‘“OBSERVER.”’ 18 of] Written over ‘on’, a false start. 18 feeble] Added in the same draft. 24 While] False start, ‘we thus [contemplate]’. 24 Johnson] Printed in the revises ‘my friend’. page 52 1–4 WARREN HASTINGS … times.] MS orig. (1) ‘a truly great man’; (2) ‘a man illustrious over a greater extent of space and’, a false start; (3) ‘WARREN HASTINGS late Governour General of India a man whose abilities equalled the immensity of his power, a man illustrious over a larger portion of the Globe and in the minds of nations infinitely more numerous than the most renowned of modern times’. 4–5 Were I capable of paying] MS orig. ‘Could I pay’. 5 admiration] MS orig. ‘praise’. 6 with=[1st ed. ii. 366]hold] Second edition, ‘withhold’. 7–8 condescending … solicitation] MS orig. ‘obliging condescension to my Solicit[ation]’. 8 with humble gratitude] MS orig. ‘gratefully’. 8 and] False start ‘with his permission’. 9 publishing] MS orig. ‘the publication of’. The preposition, undeleted, was ignored by the compositor. 9 valuable] Added in the same draft. 10 Great Friend] MS orig. (1) ‘friend’; (2) ‘great friend’. 12 at the same time the gratification of] Added in the same draft; originally ‘the gratification of’. 14 2d. December 1790] Printed in the revises ‘Dec. 2, 1790.’ 18 January 1791] Footnote added in the same draft; MS orig. [undeciphered letters]. page 53 2 Doctor] Printed in the revises ‘Dr.’ 4 good will] Printed in the revises ‘good-will’; second edition, ‘good will’. 7 Doctor] Printed in the revises ‘Dr.’ 9 public] Printed in the revises ‘publick’. 13 public] Printed in the revises ‘publick’. 19 with=hold] Printed in the revises ‘with-hold’; third edition, ‘withhold’. 27 author] Printed in the revises ‘authour’. 35–36 myself / Sir, / Your] Printed in the revises ‘myself, Sir, / “Your’. 36 obedt. &] Printed in the revises ‘obedient / “And’. 37 Warren Hastings.] Printed in the revises ‘WARREN HASTINGS.’ 38 P.S.] Printed in italics in the revises. 39 will] Printed in the revises ‘would’. 41 already] Added in the same draft. 1 1

page 54 previously] Added in the same draft. two first] Second edition, ‘first two’.

359

NOTES TO PAGES 54–58

15 24

wide extended] Printed in the revises ‘wide-extended’. Now] Third edition, ‘Afterwards’.

page 55 29–30 can / Sir / Your] Printed in the revises ‘can, Sir, / “Your’. 31 Sam: Johnson] Printed in the revises ‘SAM. JOHNSON.’ page 56 19–20 tranquility. / I am Sir / your] Printed in the revises ‘tranquillity. I am, Sir, / “Your’. 20 obedient / and / most] Printed in the revises ‘obedient / “And most’. 21 Decr.] Printed in the revises ‘Dec.’ 21 Sam Johnson] Printed in the revises ‘SAM. JOHNSON.’ 23 complaining] False start, ‘again of bad spirits and’. 24 troubled by] MS orig. (1) ‘disturbed’; (2) ‘troubl[ed]’; (3) ‘perplexed with’. 24 the perplexing question] MS orig. ‘my perplexing c[?oncern]’; ‘the’ covers ‘my’; ‘c’ forms part of ‘q’. 24–25 Necessity, and mentioning] MS orig. (1) ‘Necessity— ’; (2) ‘Necessity, and i[n]’; ‘i[n] became ‘m’. 29 tuesday the 20] Printed in the revises ‘Tuesday, the 20th,’. 30 manner] Printed in the revises ‘march’; second edition, ‘peculiar march’. page 57 7 but] False start, ‘every one perceived that’. 11 paused] Omitted in the revises. 14 It was quite …] Originally run on; in revision changed to ‘Our accidental …’ and marked for a new paragraph. 16 surprise] Printed in the revises ‘surprize’. 19 Early Sir] MS orig. ‘Early’; second edition, ‘Early, Sir?’ page 58 I waited …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. a great quantity] Printed in the revises ‘a quantity’; second edition, ‘a great portion’. 1–2 the original] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘his original’. 2 Lives of the Poets,] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 5 but were struck off] MS orig. ‘but struck off’. 6 Composition] Written over ‘work’, a false start. 6–7 Choice … alterations in it from] MS orig. (1) ‘There are very few alterations either in’, a false start; (2) ‘There are very few alterations from …’. 12 found that … Thrale was] Second edition, ‘found on visiting his friend, Mr. Thrale, that he was’. 16 sorry to] False start, [undeciphered letters]. 19 find] Second edition, ‘see’. 20 changed] Written in haste without the ‘d’, but typeset correctly. 21 He told me …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 24 socially’; and the first] Printed in the revises ‘socially.” The first’. 25 Thrales, he poured] Printed in the revises ‘Thrale’s, I observed he poured’. 25 a quantity of it into a large glass] Second edition, ‘a large quantity of it into a glass’; Hill-Powell returned to the reading of the first edition. 27 moderation. Many] Printed in the revises ‘moderation; many’. 1 1

360

NOTES TO PAGES 59–62

page 59 in abundance] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘copiously’. Shakespeare] Printed in the revises ‘Shakspeare’. upon] Second edition, ‘after’. fair] Written over the first letter of a false start, ‘t’, probably for ‘trial’. Dean] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘Deanery’. in the] MS orig. ‘in a’, a false start. Shakespeare] Printed in the revises ‘Shakspeare’. god] MS orig. ‘good’; converted into ‘god’ by means of a large ‘d’. Clustring] Printed in the revises ‘Clust’ring’.

1 4 6 6 8 9 11 18 24

page 60 He said …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. very] Written over the first letter or two of an undeciphered false start. upon it] Omitted in the revises. Countee] Printed in the revises ‘county’. previously] Added in the same draft. effect of] Omitted in the revises.

1 4 6 8 10 12

page 61 1 on] A later addition. 1 in speaking] Printed in the revises ‘when speaking’. 3–4 over and over and over] Printed in the revises ‘over and over’. 4 may miss] Printed in the revises ‘miss’. 7 necessary] Printed in italics in the revises; second edition, ‘often necessary’. 9 Election Committee] Printed in the lower case; hyphenated in the second edition. 11 rest,] False start, ‘during ‘th[e]’; JB deleted ‘during’, and over ‘th’ drafted ‘while’ with a large ‘w’. 21 even] Added in the same draft. 22 tipling house] Printed in the revises with a hyphen; JB inserted a second ‘p’ to correct the spelling. 22 It] MS orig. ‘Ther[e]’, a false start. 33 can eat & can drink] Printed in the revises ‘can eat eat and drink’. JB deleted the extra ‘eat’ and reinserted ‘can’ before ‘drink’. page 62 as correctly as could be.] Second edition, ‘as correctly as it could be.’ particular] Added in the same draft. while] Added in the same draft. aweful] Deleted letters above this word, possibly ‘con’, suggest a false start to the alternatives JB provided for the next word, ‘concerns’. 14 the state after death.] MS orig. ‘a state beyond the’, a false start. 14–15 should naturally be] MS orig. ‘will naturally have at least’, a false start. 15 somewhat of a more serious cast] MS orig. ‘somewhat more serious’. 15 as men] Second edition, ‘as persons’. 16 at the altar] False starts in revision: (1) [undeciphered letter]; (2) ‘and’. 18 a suitable] MS orig. ‘an uniform’. 19 A due sense] MS orig. ‘Had they a due sense’, a false start. 19–20 independent of higher motives] Added in the same draft. 8 10 13 13

361

NOTES TO PAGES 62–65

20 20 21 23 24 24 25 25 27

will ever] False start, ‘produce’. losing] MS orig. ‘ming[ling]’ a false start. how] Added in the same draft, having momentarily been omitted. mortified.] False start, ‘Once’, deleted as a catchword here at the bottom of the page. JB replaced it with a new catchword, ‘Johnson’. Johnson …] Originally flush left at the top of a new page; marked for new paragraph in revision. once together in] MS orig. ‘once in’; ‘together’ is written over ‘in’. thought they] Second edition, ‘thought that they’. would] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘should’. entertained,] MS orig. ‘entertained by this,’.

page 63 sate grave & silent] MS orig. ‘sate gravely’. In the second edition, ‘sate’ became ‘sat’. 2 ‘This] Written again in revision; JB changed his mind after converting his original draft to ‘The’. 3 Even the dress …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 3 perfectly] Added in the same draft. 3 in character and] False starts, (1) [undeciphered letters]; (2) ‘as they have great advantages conferred upon them by the Community they’; (3) ‘as they … by the Community there is something dishonest in’; (4) ‘as they … by the Community it would be dishonest and base in them to’. 4 contemptible] Printed in the revises ‘despicable’. 6 clerical order,] False starts, (1) ‘which are’; (2) ‘which it’; (3) ‘which enjoys many advantages from the pious benefi[cence]’; (4) ‘which enjoys … pious liberality of mankind’; (5) ‘which is also highly respectable [undeciphered words]’. 6 ineffectual] First draft, ‘unavailing’. 7 in] Written over ‘to’, a false start. 8 Charge] MS orig. ‘charge’. 11 his] MS orig. ‘the’. 11 Club] Printed in italics in the revises. 12 which] False start, ‘he acknowledg[ed]’. 13 he shewed to Sir Joshua Reynolds] MS orig. ‘Sir Joshua Reynolds saw’. 14 genuine] MS orig. ‘strongest’. 1

page 64 2 superfluous] MS orig. ‘superficial’, a copying error immediately corrected. 5 comparrison] Printed in the revises ‘comparison’. 17 Publick; but] MS orig. ‘Publick. But’; The London Chronicle, ‘Public; but’. 20 action] MS orig. ‘diction’, an inadvertent substitution. 25 At] Written over ‘at’; printed in the revises ‘at’ (as in The London Chronicle). 34 London Chronicle … 1769.] Printed within quotation marks in the revises; in the first edition, however, the quotation marks enclosed only ‘London Chronicle’. 35 3 of april] Printed in the revises ‘3d of April’. 4 5

page 65 with whom … had travelled] MS orig. ‘who had travelled’, a false start. History … Adolphus] Printed within quotation marks in the revises.

362

NOTES TO PAGES 65–69

5–6 9 11 13 18 21–22 23

a very … translation] Revision orig. ‘very well in german’. Poor man he] Printed in the revises ‘Poor man! he’. which] Omitted in the revises. History of Scotland] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. beat] Second edition, ‘beaten’. a very good liquor] Printed in the revises ‘very good liquor’. Athol porridge] Printed in italics in the revises, with a capital ‘P’.

page 66 Mahogany must … in this country.] Printed in the revises as a quotation. gayety] Printed in the revises ‘gaiety’. whisper] Written over a false start, ‘con[fidential]’; see p. 87 l. 2. true? ‘Shall I ask him’] Printed in the revises ‘true. “Shall I ask him?”’ by a great majority] MS orig. ‘all’. said] MS orig. ‘put the q[uestion]’. General of Irish volunteers] MS orig. ‘General of volun’; having reached the end of a line, JB paused to add ‘Irish’ (orig. ‘irish’), then neglected to write ‘teers’ on the next line. The intended word was printed. 26 Elephant] MS orig. ‘elephant’. 28 very] Omitted in the revises.

1 3 10 11 12 13 15

page 67 Clerke] Printed in the revises ‘Clerk’. superintendence] Corrected to ‘superintendance’ by Selfe in the revises, but an ink stroke cancelled his replacement letter ‘a’; see Life MS iii. 119 n. 6. 11 coat] Written over ‘s’, possibly a false start for ‘suit’. 24 and] Added in the same draft. 31 This boisterous …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 31 fact really] Second edition, ‘truth in my opinion,’. 33 cooly] Printed in the revises ‘coolly’. 7 7

page 68 genteel] Written over the first letter of an undeciphered false start. defeats] Written over the first letter of an undeciphered false start. perversely] A later addition. you see Sir even Burke] Revision orig. ‘you see Bu[rke]’; ‘Sir’ is written over ‘Bu’. 26 alas] Added in the same draft; printed ‘alas!’ in the revises. 1 7 16 19

page 69 2 four thousand pounds a year] MS orig. ‘four thousand a year’. 10 whose character] Written in again in revision, JB having first preferred ‘whom’ from the alternatives ‘whom÷whose character’. 14 well-bred] Printed in the revises ‘well bred’. 16 to me] Omitted in the revises. 17–18 Have I said … against Mr. xxxxx.] Punctuated with a question mark in the second edition. 22 some in quarto] MS orig. ‘some quarto’, a false start; JB wrote ‘some’ twice. 27 monday evening] False start, ‘& still he’. 28 the fourth] Printed in the revises ‘the 4th’.

363

NOTES TO PAGES 69–72

29 29

April] Added in the same draft. mentions] MS orig. ‘feelingly mentions’; SJ’s saying (‘I felt …’) perhaps led JB to delete the adverb.

page 70 had scarcely had any] Printed in the revises ‘had scarcely any’. Life] Written over ‘hife’, probably a conflation of ‘his’ and ‘life’; JB formed an ‘L’ over the ‘h’. 24 repeats] Revision orig. ‘tells’, the word to which JB reverted in second revision. 26 certainly characteristical] In second revision, scoring through ‘truly characteristical’ on MS 818, JB on the facing page wrote ‘surely [undeciphered letter]’, but then, deleting ‘surely’, drafted ‘certainly’ over the illegible letter and recopied the adjective ‘characteristical’. 28 inkhorn … button hole … exciseman] Printed in the revises ‘ink-horn … button-hole … excise-/man’. 30 answered] An oversized ‘a’ incorporates the diagonal slash that marked the phrase to be added in front of ‘said’ until, in the same revision, JB then chose also to replace ‘said’ with ‘answered’.

14 17

page 71 3 sixth] An exaggerated ‘s’ covers a false start, perhaps ‘f’ for ‘fifth’. 3 he] Written over ‘I’, a false start. 7 today were] Third edition, ‘were to-day’; Hill-Powell, ‘to-day were’. 11 constitutional] A later addition. 12 that] Added in the same draft. 13 and very indolent] A later addition. 13–14 Nobleman who totally resigned] MS orig. ‘Nobleman totally resigned’, a false start. 16 well] Added in the same draft. 17 paultry] Printed in the revises ‘paltry’, as spelled in SJ’s Dictionary. 19 attain] MS orig. ‘have’. 25 totally] Written over the first letter of a false start, possibly ‘g’ for ‘greatly’. 28 and] Added in the same draft. 30 several] Omitted in the revises. 30 the cur … the mastiffs] Added in the same draft; preceded by a dash in the revises, with ‘mastiffs’ printed ‘mastiff’. page 72 Berrenger] Third edition, ‘Berenger’. I] MS orig. ‘A’, a false start. Passion week] Printed in the revises ‘Passion-week’, both here and below (ll. 18, 19). 5–6 a laxity which at] MS orig. (1) ‘a laxity [undeciphered letter]’; (2) ‘a laxity at’, false starts. 6 paper in the] Added in the same draft. 9 the Rambler] Printed ‘The Rambler’ within quotation marks in the revises. 10 having occasions of] Added in the same draft. 18 may] Changed to ‘might’ in the revises, possibly by Selfe. 22–23 would it not … example.’] Punctuated with a question mark in the revises. 1 2 5

364

NOTES TO PAGES 72–75

27

30 31 32

To Mrs. Lucy Porter …] In the text of this letter, ‘require some care myself’ was corrected in the second edition to ‘require some care of myself’ (as in Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iii. 336); Hill-Powell, while noting the change, restored the first-edition reading. as usual.] False start, ‘Between the fir[?st]’. I think] Printed in the revises ‘I think Sir,’. it is the best place we can meet in] MS orig. ‘we cannot meet in a better place’.

page 73 said he (smiling)] Printed in the revises ‘(said he, smiling)’. leave] Written over the first letter(s) of an undeciphered false start. for conversation] Added in the same draft. we all were] MS orig. ‘we were’; printed in the revises ‘we were all’. but of which] MS orig. ‘but which’, a false start. does] Written over a false start, possibly ‘dis[likes]’. side board] Printed in the revises ‘side-board’. once] Added in the same draft. did] Written heavily over ‘does’, deleted, and written again more legibly. sweet=meats] Printed in the revises as one word, as it appears in SJ’s Dictionary. 27 Dr. Heberden] ‘Dr.’ is written over a false start, ‘an[d]’. 32 came.] Second edition, ‘came in.’ 33 the Spectator] Printed ‘The Spectator’ within quotation marks in the revises. 36 Commentaries] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 3 5 7 7 8 10 17 20 20 21

page 74 Cato.’] Preceded in the revises by a single inverted comma, marking it as a title; see Life MS iii. 213 n. 7. 15 Colleges where] Printed in the revises ‘the colleges, where’; second edition, ‘those colleges where’. 9

page 75 2 attention] Written over the first letter of a false start, possibly ‘i’. 5 then] Added in the same draft. 5 came to you’ said I.] MS orig. ‘came to you.”’ 8 & by & by] The first ‘by’ is written over a false start, possibly ‘we’. 9 Our] Written over ‘We’, a false start. 9 consisted of] False start, ‘his two’. 10 & Mr. Levet] Printed in the revises ‘Mr. Levett’. 11 Rev.] Printed in the revises ‘Reverend’. 17 He produced today] Printed in the revises ‘Johnson produced now’. 17 for the first time] Added in the same draft. 17 handsom] Printed in the revises ‘handsome’. 20 the little frog in the fable] MS orig. ‘a little frog’; JB drafted ‘the’ over ‘a’. 22 Robin=hood] Printed in the revises ‘Robinhood’. 23 Coachmakers Hall] Printed in the revises ‘Coachmakers’-hall’; cp. endnote for p. 77 l. 27.

365

NOTES TO PAGES 76–80

page 76 go, and perhaps … dissatisfied.] MS orig. ‘go.’ With a different pen, possibly at a later sitting, JB added a new clause to extend the sentence, but it represents a same-draft change since his original draft continues from that point with the fresh pen. 3 discuss it Sir.’] In the revises JB deleted ‘Sir’. 10–11 She said she wished] Printed in the revises ‘She wished’. 14 Of apparitions …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 20 is adverse to] Revision orig. ‘is incons[istent]’, a false start. 27 He mentioned …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 2

page 77 of that] MS orig. ‘of the’. Then] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘But’. The Beggar’s Opera] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. turn] Written over a false start, possibly ‘b[e]’, then deleted and rewritten above the line for clarity. 27 I stole away …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 27 Coachmakers Hall] Printed in the revises ‘Coachmaker’s-hall’; third edition, ‘Coachmakers’-hall’.

8 18 21 23

page 78 4 supported] Written over part of a ‘p’ (in anticipation of ‘preponderated’). 10 most agreable] Printed in the revises ‘happiest’. 19 very] Omitted in the second edition; reinstated in Hill-Powell. 19 well. Talked] Printed in the revises ‘well, talked’. 20 she] JB started the lower-case ‘s’ as a capital letter. 25 Mr.] Added in the same draft. 27 Shakespeare] Printed in the revises ‘Shakspeare’. page 79 3 whispered] Printed in the revises ‘whispered to’. 4–5 an excellent … particular] Added in the same draft. 6 we] Two false starts—‘wer[e]’ and ‘h[ad]’—are overwritten here. 7 value] False start in revision, ‘as the produce of the’ (this last word itself written over a false start). 9 he as cordially] MS orig. ‘he cordially’. 16 Somebody] Second edition, ‘One of the company’. 16 strenous] Printed in the revises ‘strenuous’. 16 who used to] False starts, (1) ‘print; (2) ‘pus[h]’; (3) ‘send democratical books in presents’; (4) ‘send over Europe presents of democractical books bound’. page 80 2 bad] Apparently written over the first letter of an undeciphered false start. 3 talk of people very uncharitably] Printed in the revises ‘talk uncharitably’. 6 own] Added in the same draft. 8 you see] Added in the same draft. 10 Mrs. Carter…] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 14 Mudge’s Sermons … Mudge’s Sermons] In both cases, printed within quotation marks in the revises.

366

NOTES TO PAGES 80–83

18

Blair’s sermons] Printed ‘Blair’s Sermons’ within quotation marks in the revises.

page 81 5 Kilaloe] Printed in the revises ‘Killaloe’. 8–9 Why … other man.] Punctuated with a question mark in the revises. 10 such a life? As] MS orig. ‘such a life as’, a false start. 10 a literary life] Printed in the revises in italics. 14–15 a curious circumstance … which was] Added in the same draft. 15 Sir Joshua.] Printed in the revises ‘REYNOLDS.’ 16 Sir.] Punctuated with an exclamation point in the revises. 21 most of us] Above ‘most’ JB drafted and deleted ‘the’, perhaps a false start for an alternative phrase. 22 Kilaloe] Printed in the revises ‘Killaloe’. 24 sat] Printed in the revises ‘sate’; second edition, ‘sat’. 27 sternly] Written over a false start, ‘stri[ctly]’. 29 asked] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘called out’, his original wording. 33 sat] Here printed as spelled by JB, not ‘sate’ (see endnote for l. 24). 33 full] A thick ‘u’ covers the two vowels of a false start, ‘fea[r]’. 36–37 with tenderness that I thought] Second edition, ‘with some emotion that I was now thinking’. 38 Ay] Printed in the revises ‘Aye’; third edition, ‘Ay’. 38–39 said he (tenderly)] Printed in the revises ‘(said he, tenderly)’. page 82 other] Added in the same draft. occupied] Above this word, as an alternative, JB began to draft ‘en[gaged]’, but then deleted it; he had used the same verb earlier in the sentence. 6–7 One day after having] Originally run on, when the sentence began ‘I have preserved … after having’; marked for new paragraph in revision. The word ‘after’ was omitted in the revises. 9 of the Ministry] MS orig. ‘of Ministry’. 10 how quiet] MS orig. ‘how much,’ a false start. 13 Why] MS orig. ‘N[ay]’; JB used the ‘N’ to form the ‘W’. 13 governed ‘Why] Printed in the revises ‘governed. “Why’; second edition, ‘governed;—“Why’. 15 by that principle] MS orig. ‘by principle’. 16 Mr.] A later addition. 19 To Mrs. Strahan] In the text of SJ’s letter of 23 Apr. 1781, the word ‘must’ was omitted from the phrase ‘how much you must suffer’ in the second edition; it was restored in Hill-Powell. 28 Truth and Reason] Second edition, ‘Truth and Reason’. 2 3

page 83 Holyroodhouse] Printed in the revises ‘Holy-Rood House’; see p. 39 n. a4. that] Added in the same draft, possibly as an optional word. JB deleted it in revision, but changed his mind and wrote it in again. 4 who has] MS orig. (1) ‘who h[as]’; (2) ‘who tells us he’. 4 has come up] Second edition, ‘is come up’. 4 which will] Deleted but drafted again after the ensuing false starts (see next endnote) were rejected. 1 2

367

NOTES TO PAGES 83–86

5

fortnight.] MS orig. (1) ‘fortnight a[nd]’; (2) ‘fortnight but we shall’, false starts. 7 bar.] Punctuated with a question mark in the revises. 13 from the complete plunder] Second edition, ‘by the complete plunder’. 13–14 isles; I am credibly informed he] MS orig. (1) ‘isles[.] He’; (2) ‘isles; I am i[nformed]’. 13–14 isles; he reimbarked] Printed in the revises ‘isles. He re-imbarked’; second edition, ‘isles; He re-embarked’; third edition, ‘isles; he re-embarked’. 14 sixpence] Printed in the revises ‘six-pence’. 15 they] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘Johnson and Wilkes’. 17 dispute] Deleted in revision, JB initially having selected either ‘controvert’ or ‘stop’ from his three options, but then written in again when he changed his mind. 18 The subject …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 21 Shakespeare] Printed in the revises ‘Shakspeare’. 24 We talked …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 29 miracle] Punctuated with an exclamation point in the revises. 33 wrote her own Life] MS orig. ‘composed a Poem’. 34 was] Drafted, deleted, and drafted again. 3 5 6 9 10 10 14 24 25

page 84 spinet] Printed in the revises ‘spinnet’. Bett] Printed in the revises ‘Bet’. Old Bailley] Printed in the revises ‘Old-Bailey’; third edition, ‘Old Bailey’. Bett] Printed in the revises ‘Bet’. said] Written again after JB in revision first selected the alternative, ‘came’. my own] Printed in italics in the revises. your] Written over the beginning of a false start, ‘t[he]’. only] Omitted in the revises. acquaintance,] False start, ‘and are as fol[lows]’.

page 85 money] Written again after JB in revision first selected the alternative, ‘coin’. 8–9 in case of real evident necessity] Added in the same draft. 12 you] Printed in italics in the revises. 14 (at once perceiving the application)] Added in the same draft. 14 God] Written in oversized letters, and printed ‘GOD’ in the revises. 16 The False Alarm] Not italicized in the revises, but printed within quotation marks. 16 turned] MS orig. ‘made’. 25 Why] Written over the initial stroke of an ‘S’, a false start for ‘Sir’. 28–29 desire … stronger in] MS orig. ‘desire of augmenting grows stronger as’. 31 comprehensive and] False start, ‘var[ious]’; see ‘variety’ (p. 86 l. 24). 6

page 86 1 impetus] Italicized in the second edition. 7 Lives of the Poets] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 8 Patriot] The ‘P’ is written over another capital letter, undeciphered. 8–9 seemed to take no notice of this] MS orig. ‘took no notice of this at the time’; in the revises, ‘this’ was printed ‘this hint’.

368

NOTES TO PAGES 86–88

11 12 13 15 15 16 16 22 24

a visit] False starts, (1) ‘was’; (2) ‘where’. sate] Second edition, ‘sat’. dropped÷went] These alternatives were not drafted one above the other: the first falls at the end of a line, the second starts the next line. a little while. When] Printed in the revises ‘sometime; when’; Selfe marked ‘sometime’ for two words, and this change was made. Samuel] The ‘S’ covers a false start, ‘J’ for ‘Johnson’. tete á tete] Printed in the revises ‘tête à tête’. they were] False start, ‘sitting close with their’. the late Corbyn Morris Commissioner of the Customs] MS orig. ‘Corbyn Morris’. variety] The ‘v’ covers the first stroke of an undeciphered false start. In the text of Barrow’s sermon that follows, ‘dexterous’ became ‘dextrous’ in the second edition; ‘ ’ became ‘ ’, its correction to ‘ ’ (with a ligature for ) in Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition (p. 27) having been misread; flagged by Langton (Corr. 2a, p. 425), the mistakes were corrected in the third edition.

page 87 lye] Second edition, ‘lie’. enjoy the] MS orig. ‘have’; printed in the revises ‘participate in’. is] MS orig. ‘are’, a false start; third edition, ‘was’ (see also p. 86 n. a3), reflecting the death of Wilkes in 1797.

7 21 24

page 88 1–2 origin of which title] False starts, (1) ‘is I believe little known. It took it’s rise from there being about t[his]’; (2) ‘is … being at t[his]’; (3) ‘is … being when th[ese]’; (4) ‘is … being when such meetings first commenced’. 4 remarkably] MS orig. ‘particularly’. 4 and in particular it] MS orig. ‘and who in particular’, a false start. 6 so great a loss] MS orig. ‘so great diminution’. 7 thus] MS orig. ‘hence’. 8 has admirably described a] MS orig. ‘has described th[e]’. 9 Bas Bleu] Italicized within quotation marks in the revises. 11 prevailed with] False start, ‘sometim[es]’, drafted as a catchword. 14 at the house of her mother] MS orig. ‘at her mother’, a false start. 15 singular instance] MS orig. ‘curious ins[tance]’, above which are the first letters of another false start. 17 denied] Formed over a false start, ‘deri[?ded]’. 17 ‘I am sure’ said she] MS orig. (1) ‘She refe[rred]’; (2) ‘She off[ered]’. 18 rolling] Written over an undeciphered false start. 18 said Johnson (smiling and … about)] Printed in the revises ‘(said Johnson, smiling, and … about)’. 27 I recollect … a] False start, possibly ‘mo[st]’. 27 noble lady of the] False start, [undeciphered word]. 28 thinking] MS orig. ‘imagining’. 30 desireous to shew the company] MS orig. ‘desireous to let th[e]’; printed in the revises ‘desirous to let the company know’, a return to the phrasing JB originally had in mind. 31 value] MS orig. ‘importance’. 32 illustration] MS orig. ‘instance’.

369

NOTES TO PAGES 88–91

32 33 33 34

‘What Sir] False start, ‘dont you’. most charming] MS orig. ‘loveliest’. were] False start, possibly ‘in lo[ve]’, the phrase he then adopted anyway. very happy] MS orig. ‘a very happy [man]’.

page 89 When … afterwards] MS orig. (1) ‘After a due interval’; (2) ‘When in’, a false start; second edition, ‘However, when … afterwards’. 2–3 waited upon him, and] MS orig. ‘waited upon him, he’, a false start. 4 While … Johnson] MS orig. ‘During my stay in London this year I’; to the ‘I’ (which was no different from his ‘J’) JB added ‘ohnson’ and rephrased the first three words of the sentence. 5 at several places] MS orig. ‘several [times]’, a false start, followed by two others: (1) ‘particularly at Mr. Allen the’; (2) ‘particularly at ou[r]’. 8 To … MISS MONCKTON] Printed in the revises ‘To the Honourable Miss MONCKTON’. 19 flash’d] Written more like ‘flush’d’, as it was printed; corrected by JB in the revises. 22 smoak] Second edition, ‘smoke’. 24 tho’] Changed by Selfe in the revises to ‘though’. 26 you’ll] Misread and printed ‘will’; corrected by JB in the revises. 29 returned me an obliging answer] False start, ‘and said she’. 30 act of oblivion] Printed in the revises ‘Act of Oblivion’. 2

page 90 1 was now removed] Second edition, ‘had now removed’. 1 but of] False starts, (1) ‘that and other’; (2) ‘his conversation there’. 2–3 keep any regular record] MS orig. ‘keep regular memor[andums]’ (JB’s usual form of the plural). 4 which I find in] MS orig. ‘scattered in’. 5 His disorderly situation] MS orig. ‘As an instance of his carelessness and [undeciphered letters]’, a false start. In the revises, ‘situation’ was printed ‘habits’; with this change, the verb ‘appears’ (l. 6) should have become ‘appear’, a correction that materialized in cancellans [Eee2]. 9 Shakspeare;] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 15–16 the one] Printed in the revises ‘one’. 20 This Gentleman] False start, ‘to’. 29 distinguish between] False start, ‘Johnson’s conversation when he “talked for victory”’; ‘victory’ covers the first letter of another word, possibly ‘c[onquest]’. 30 desire] MS orig. ‘wish’; ‘desire’ covers the first letter of a false start. 31 His] Written over ‘M’, probably for ‘Mr.’ 31 when dining … day,] Added in the same draft. 32 wrote down] MS orig. ‘preserve[d]’. 34 upon a subject] MS orig. ‘upon an’, a false start. 3

page 91 He had … life] MS orig. ‘It must however be acknowledged that he all his life was’; JB then deleted ‘acknowledged’, wrote ‘countered’ above it, deleted that, and wrote ‘acknowledged’ again before deleting most of this to rephrase the sentence.

370

NOTES TO PAGES 91–93

4 4 4 5 5 5 7 7 8 12 14

trial] Written over the first letter of a false start, ‘s’, possibly for ‘struggle’. vigour] Written over a false start, apparently ‘s’ for ‘skill’. may ascribe] Printed in the revises ‘may venture to ascribe’. richness] Written over a false start, apparently ‘ex[cellence]’. which] False start, ‘he never failed to display’. own] Written over an undeciphered letter. We] MS orig. ‘I’, a false start. have now been] Printed in the revises ‘now have been’. one thing] False start, ‘that’. of one] MS orig. ‘of a gentleman’; second edition, ‘of a man’. low-spirited] Printed in the revises ‘low spirited’; in cancellans [Eee 2], ‘low-spirited’. 15 was talking to him with indifference of] MS orig. ‘talked to him of’. 16 a reason for] False start, ‘enga[ging]’. 16–17 said he (in … tone)] Printed in the revises ‘(said he, in … tone)’. 19 glad that] MS orig. ‘glad to’, a false start; ‘that’ is written over ‘to’. 20 Indeed] False start, ‘notwithstanding’. 21 whatever] Written over an undeciphered false start. page 92 1–2 ‘Letters … Nation’] MS orig. ‘“Letters on the English Nation b[y]’, a false start; in the revises JB inserted ‘admirable’ before the title. 4 Hannover] Printed in the revises ‘Hanover’. 5 the celebrated] MS orig. (1) ‘that exquisitely satirical performance’; (2) ‘that much’, false starts. 6 them] MS orig. ‘the’, a false start. 6 those who ‘tasted] Third edition, ‘those “who tasted’. 7 fair taste] Second edition, ‘candid relish’. 7 merit] MS orig. ‘pointed elegance’, with ‘pointed’ perhaps formed over another word. 8 Goldsmith, as] MS orig. ‘Goldsmith to’, a false start; ‘as’ covers ‘to’. 9 did not … execution] MS orig. ‘could not refuse it his comm[endation]’. 13 supposed] Added in the same draft. 14 Ay ay] Printed in the revises ‘Aye, aye,’; third edition, ‘Ay, ay,’. 15 good] Omitted in the revises. 16 good humour] Printed in the revises ‘good-humour’. 17 delay for a while expressing his] MS orig. ‘delay the expression of his’. 17 Johnson … resentment.] Two false starts preceded this topic sentence: (1) ‘It was remarkable’; (2) ‘It was a remarkable circumstance in’. 22 gesticulation] False start, ‘turned’. 23 If] Written over the first letter of a false start. 25 then] MS orig. ‘but’. 29 praised] Written to cover up the first letter of a false start. page 93 1 that] Written over a false start, apparently ‘this’. 1 handsomely] MS orig. ‘fairly’. 2 Whitehead] False start, ‘who’. 2–3 Elegy to Lord Villiers] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 6 fostering] MS orig. ‘fostring’; printed in the revises ‘fost’ring’. 9 rank and fortune] MS orig. ‘fortune’.

371

NOTES TO PAGES 93–96

11 11–12 12 14

as] Written over ‘in’, a false start. venture to] False start, ‘risk the’. All] MS orig. ‘all’. helped out by] Dryden, ‘helped out with’ (see Hill-Powell iv. 114 n. a).

page 94 1–2 which÷that passed] MS orig. (1) ‘which passed’; (2) ‘which’ (above the prior phrase, deleted in turn). 12 bring it] Third edition, ‘bring it out’; Hill-Powell, ‘bring it’. 17 That no … condition.] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 20 very great pleasure] Printed in the revises ‘a very great pleasure’; MS reading restored in second edition. 21 pretty smart] Adding ‘pretty’ in revision to the alternative ‘little’, JB changed his mind and redrafted ‘smart’. 21 upon a] MS orig. ‘upon the’. 22 when] Written over the first two letters of a false start, perhaps ‘an[d]’. 23 expressed himself] False start, ‘too rou[ghly]’. 23 civil.] False start, ‘In consequence of this’. 24 subject of a] False start, ‘good’. 25–26 concluded with delicate irony] MS orig. ‘concluded thus’. 28 borrowed] Printed in the revises ‘borrow’d’. 33 I know not if] Indented in the revises as a new paragraph; second edition, ‘I know not whether’. page 95 his] Omitted in the revises. freind] In planting his catchword to MS 841 on the previous leaf, JB wrote ‘friend’, then altered it to ‘freind’, revealing an element of randomness in his spelling of the word. See p. 44 n. 3. 17 no freind to the government … gets] Second edition, ‘no friend to Government … who got’. 19 have] Written over ‘ar[e]’, a false start. 21 conversation — Conscious] Printed in the revises ‘conversation; conscious’. 25 company] MS orig. ‘presence’. 26 hear him. ‘Yes] Printed in the revises ‘hear him;—“Yes’. 29 There was …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 30 one should think that] Revision orig. ‘to’, a false start. 30 situation] Printed in the revises ‘state’. 34 comparrison] Printed in the revises ‘comparison’. 36 Johnson.÷it.] JB drafted and deleted ‘Johnson’, substituted ‘it’, and then (above the original draft) again wrote ‘Johnson.’ While this sequence possibly involved later revisions, the changes seem to have been made in the original draft, resulting in a set of alternatives, both ultimately rejected. 36 which Johnson] Revision orig. ‘with which Johnson’, a false start. 8 17

page 96 endeavour] Printed in the revises ‘wish’. such conduct] Revision orig. ‘such a’, a false start. that] Added in the same draft. mouth.] Punctuated with an exclamation point in the revises.

6 8 9 11

372

NOTES TO PAGES 96–99

13–14 15 18 18 23

I begged … had said and] Added in the same draft. Of Tory & Whig.] Printed in the revises ‘Of TORY and WHIG.’ Govt.] Printed in the revises ‘Government’. It is lost in the clouds.] Added in the same draft. differ as] MS orig. ‘differ in’, a false start; ‘as’ covers ‘in’.

page 97 had engaged … at Southill] Second edition, ‘had promised, to pay a visit, in my way, as I sometimes did, at Southill’; the comma on ‘promised’ was omitted in Hill-Powell. 2–3 at Southill in Bedfordshire] Added in the same draft; possibly begun as a two-word alternative, ‘at Southill’, written above ‘in my way’ 3 Squire] Reinstated by means of a ‘stet’ written above the word, after JB in first revision had deleted it and substituted ‘Mr.’ Printed in the revises with an apostrophe, ‘’Squire’, to suggest an elided ‘E’. 5 year] False start, ‘with’. 8 Chemical Essays] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 9 having] False start, ‘I think’. 10 looked] Written over ‘rea[d]’, a false start. 11 today] Second edition, ‘this day’. 12–13 means, said the prince,] Printed in the revises ‘means (said the Prince)’. 13 powerfull] Printed in the revises ‘powerful’, both here and in l. 17. 17 we answered Imlac,] Printed in the revises ‘we, (answered Imlac,)’. 23 Night Thoughts] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 2

page 98 3–4 but said I wished] Second edition, ‘but that I wished’. 6 down.’] Punctuated with a question mark in the revises. 13 Dr. Young] Added in the same draft. 14 Night Thoughts] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 17 inquiry] Second edition, ‘enquiry’; third edition, ‘inquiry’. 18 go, & when] MS orig. ‘go. When’. 20 went into the garden and] Added in the same draft. 23 handsom] Printed in the revises ‘handsome’. 28–29 the grandeur … imagery] Initially retained in JB’s first revision of this passage, then deleted. 29–30 not forgetting … manners] MS orig. (1) ‘the’, a false start; (2) ‘his just pictures of character’; (3) ‘his just drawings of character’. 31 We sat …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 31 some time] In the revises printed ‘sometime’—as this tight interlinear addition appears—but corrected. 33 Vivendi recte … &c.] Printed within quotation marks (&c. not in italics); Selfe corrected recte to ‘rectè’. page 99 3 for it is] The word ‘is’ is written over ‘no’, a false start for ‘no credit’. 4 to a man] Printed in the revises ‘in a man’. 4–5 to have so little … Providence,] Added in the same draft. 12 We went into …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 13 to] Revision orig. ‘for’, in rejection of both alternatives, then ‘to’ was written in again.

373

NOTES TO PAGES 99–102

15

Subscription money] A hyphen followed ‘money’ in the revises; JB moved it between the words. 15 but had lost it] MS orig. ‘which he lost’. 14–16 that his Father … South Sea.] Punctuated in the revises with terminal quotation marks. Selfe queried whether to delete them, or to add a set of initial quotation marks on ‘that’. JB opted for deletion; cp. p. 99 n. 1. ‘South Sea’ was printed with a hyphen. 17 Subscription Book] Printed in the revises ‘subscription-book’. 19 at the time and] False start, ‘will ever’. 22 from a spirit of adventure] Moved forward in revision, after JB had begun to change ‘from an elastick spirit of adventure’ to ‘from a’ (altering ‘an’ to ‘a’). 27 in] Written over the first letter of a false start. page 100 revise.’] Punctuated with a question mark in the revises. sour surly] Hill-Powell, ‘sour, surly’. — I must] Printed without a dash in the revises. Mr. Dilly’s] Second edition, ‘’Squire Dilly’s’. very near] Printed in the revises ‘which is very near’. Sunday of] MS orig. ‘sunday in’; ‘of ’ is written over ‘in’. frame] Second edition, ‘frame of mind’. think the just one] MS orig. ‘think one’, a false start; printed in the revises ‘believe to be the just one’. 22 indispensibly] Written over ‘n’, for ‘necessary’; the spelling in SJ’s Dictionary is ‘indispensably’. 26 frame] Second edition, ‘frame of mind’. 26–27 human nature] False start, ‘which’. 27 country house] Printed in the revises ‘country-house’; third edition, ‘country house’. 32 do good] Printed in the revises ‘be benevolent’. 33 able] Second edition, ‘wise’. 40 but] Second edition, ‘and’.

1 2 3 8 10 11 19 21

page 101 Favourable] Added in the same draft. God] Drafted in large letters, but also underscored twice in revision. cast=away] A compound word in SJ’s Dictionary; printed as two words in the revises; Selfe added a hyphen. 11 mentioned,] Punctuated in the revises with a full stop; second edition, a semicolon followed by a dash. 13 take] False start, ‘the’. 22 evidently] Dictation orig. ‘evidly’. 2 4 9

page 102 1 insufficient] Dictation orig. ‘insuffict’. 3 difficulty] Dictation orig. ‘diffic’. 3–4 conception … punishments] Dictation orig. ‘concep of vicar punishts’. 4 opinion … possession] Dictation orig. ‘opin … possess’. 6 vicarious punishments] Dictation orig. ‘vicar punishts’. 7 which … sentiments … mankind … contradicted] Dictation orig. ‘wc … sentims … mank …contra’.

374

NOTES TO PAGES 102–04

7–8 8 9 10 10–11 11 12 12 12 17 18 19 20 22 25 26 27 28 29 32 32 35

ye. beginning] Dictation orig. ‘yt. begin’. Sacrifice … Mankind … offered] Dictation orig. ‘Sac … Mank … offed’. Scripture] Dictation orig. ‘Scrip’. the sin of the world] Added later. Redemption] Dictation orig. ‘Redempt’. necessary to the] Dictation orig. ‘necess to ye’, with a false start before ‘ye’. GOD] Written ‘God’ in oversized letters to indicate small caps. should] Dictation orig. ‘shd’, added in the same draft. perpetual & irreconcileable] Dictation orig. ‘perpet & irrecn’. punishment … punishment … reclaim] Dictation orig. ‘punis … punis … rec’. shews evidently such abhorrence] Dictation orig. ‘shew evidly such abhor’. vengeance] Dictation orig. ‘venge’. punishment … opposition] Dictation orig. ‘punis …opposit’. necessary] Dictation orig. ‘necess.’ propitiation] Dictation orig. ‘propiti’. in some degree the imperfections] Dictation orig. ‘the imperfection’. obedience & Repentance] Dictation orig. ‘obed & Repent’. Saviour] Printed in small capital letters in the revises. fulfill; to fulfill] Printed ‘fulfil: to fulfil’; third edition, ‘fulfill: to fufill’; Hill-Powell, ‘fulfill; to fulfill’. Here He said] MS orig. (1) ‘He sa[id]’ (started above and deleted); (2) ‘He said’, followed by a false start, possibly ‘for a [undeciphered letter]’. bless you with it.] MS orig. ‘bless you v[?ery]’, a false start. paragraph] MS orig. ‘sentence’.

page 103 Christianity] Dictation orig. ‘christian’, written over an undeciphered false start. 1 Universal] Dictation orig. ‘Univers’. 2 and a perpetual] Dictation orig. ‘and a perpet’; printed in the revises ‘and perpetual’. 2 Prophets] Dictation orig. ‘prophets’. 5–6 that a better provision] MS orig. ‘that better provision’. 6 Parish Clerks … parish Clerk] Printed in the revises with hyphens 10 wooly=haired] Printed in the revises ‘woolly-haired’. 19 a manly enjoyment] Printed in the revises ‘the enjoyment’. 23 Gibbons’ and] Printed in the revises ‘Gibbons.” And’. 28 formal] Third edition, ‘respectful’. 29 Sir] Added in the same draft. 1

page 104 timorous] Punctuated in the revises with a full stop; second edition, a semicolon followed by a dash. 9 adding] Revision orig. ‘adding that’. 9 see it now I wish] Printed ‘see it now, I wish’ in the revises, where JB changed the comma to a full stop. 17 talked in a high style] MS orig. ‘talked too high’. 18 The] Written over a false start, ‘I’. 19 repressed] Written over a false start, possibly ‘rebuk[ed]’. 2

375

NOTES TO PAGES 104–07

23 24 25 26

When] False start, ‘asked’. pleasure ground] Printed in the revises ‘pleasure-ground’. there.] Punctuated with a question mark in the revises. let us] Printed in the revises ‘let’s’.

page 105 birth day] Printed in the revises ‘birth-day’. this] MS orig. ‘his’, a false start. Scottish] MS orig. ‘scottish’. although] False start, ‘those’.

5 9 23 25

page 106 1 such as] MS orig. ‘those÷such who’, alternatives resolved immediately. 1–2 might chuse] MS orig. ‘chos[e]’. 1–2 might chuse to stoop] Printed in the revises ‘might stoop’. 2 joke that] MS orig. ‘squib that’. 2 joke that appeared] Second edition, ‘joke to which it gave rise,’. 3 as a Card] Omitted in the second edition. 3 the newspaper called] Added in the same draft; the noun was printed ‘news-paper’; third edition, ‘newspaper’. This spelling, in most places in the third edition, resolved inconsistencies between the hyphenated and non-hyphenated forms of the word found in JB’s drafting and in the first and second editions. 3 The Caledonian Mercury] Italicized within quotation marks in print. 5–6 prosecuted] In revision, JB scored through this verb, but then—before he had drafted a substitute—wiped away his deletion stroke. 6 Messieurs Robertson the Publishers] Printed in the revises ‘Mr. Robertson, the publisher’. 6 for damages] A later addition; no italics were used in the revises. 7 whole] A later addition. 10 furnished tonight] Second edition, ‘furnished me this evening with’. 12–13 by a plurality of voices] Added in the same draft; prior to this, JB started to insert ‘a’ before ‘the Court’, as if to draft ‘a plurality of the Court’. 14 made] MS orig. ‘and made’, altered when JB added a third verb to the sequence, ‘and adjudged’. 15 this society] Printed in the revises ‘the Society’. 16 suit.] False starts, (1) ‘It shews how narrow the liberty of the press is in Scotland, and with’; (2) ‘It shews … Scotland, and what inaccuracy there is’; (3) ‘English’; (4) ‘The decision is st[range]’. 30 nobleman and] Added in the same draft. 30 to be] Third edition, ‘should be’; Hill-Powell, ‘to be’. 33 consideration] Printed in the revises ‘consequence’. page 107 has] MS orig. ‘have’, a momentary grammatical lapse. their] MS orig. ‘them’. only by a] False start, ‘sch[ool]’. nickname] Printed in the revises ‘nick-name’. hangers on] Before reviving his original epithet, JB in second revision started to extend his first revision, ‘idle … beings, even of [undeciphered letter(s)]’; second edition, ‘hangers-on’; no hyphen in Hill-Powell.

5 8 10 10 13

376

NOTES TO PAGES 107–12

16 At Shefford …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 18 officers of the] Added in the same draft. 20–21 To Bennet Langton Esq.] In the text of this letter, ‘disincumbred’ reads ‘disincumbered’ in the second edition, ‘disencumbered’ in the third, and ‘disencumbred’ in Letters of Johnson ed. Redford (iii. 351). page 108 11–12 I am … 1781.] In the revises, ‘I am, Sir, &c.’ was printed on its own line, and on the next line (near the left margin) ‘July 17, 1781.’ and (near the right margin) ‘SAM. JOHNSON.’ 17 author’s] Printed in the revises ‘authour’s’. 20 relic] Printed in the revises ‘relick’, both here and below (p. 109 l. 5). 21 this] Hill-Powell, ‘his’. 22 Saxon] Not italicized in the revises. 22 expense] Printed in the revises ‘expence’. page 109 anything] Printed in the revises ‘any thing’. hearth broom] Printed in the revises ‘hearth-broom’. inclosed] Second edition, ‘enclosed’. Dr.] Printed in the revises ‘Doctor’. of introducing] Third edition, ‘introducing’, in error; Hill-Powell, ‘of introducing’. 20 Memorandum Books] Printed in the revises ‘memorandum-books’. 22 Summer house] Printed in the revises ‘summer-house’. 5 7 7 8 15

page 110 6 for] Written over the first word of a false start, ‘to vary the scene and see’. 10 But] Written over ‘He’, a false start. 6–15 In Autumn … hope.’] Printed in Hill-Powell as two paragraphs, each ending with a block quotation. SJ’s words in the next paragraph also were presented as a block quotation. 19 why] Written over ‘how’. 19 one letter] MS orig. ‘a letter’, changed when JB brought up ‘another’ later in the sentence (l. 21). 23 for this year] Third edition, ‘this year’. page 111 2 which he thus] Second edition, ‘which event he thus’. 6 same room] False start in copying, ‘got up’. 12 Memorandum Books] Printed in the revises ‘memorandum-books’. 18 honoured] Written over ‘has’. 20 verses] Second edition, ‘pathetick verses’. 24 See] Undeciphered false start, possibly ‘news’. 24 him Gent. Mag.] Printed in the revises ‘him in “Gentleman’s Magazine”’; second edition, ‘him in “The Gentleman’s Magazine”’. page 112 tryed thro’] Printed in the revises ‘try’d through’; ‘thro’’, in SJ’s opinion, was ‘contracted by barbarians from through’ (Dictionary). 5 Levett] Printed in small caps in the revises. 4

377

NOTES TO PAGES 112–14

7 9

every] Printed in the revises ‘ev’ry’; third edition, ‘every’. Affection’s] Lower case (by mistake) in the second edition; upper case restored in Hill-Powell. 14 called] Printed in the revises ‘call’d’. 15 hovering … prepared] Printed in the revises ‘hov’ring … prepar’d’. 16 displayed] Printed in the revises ‘display’d’. 17 Power] Printed in the revises ‘pow’r’; second edition, ‘power’. 22 Want] Lower case (by mistake) in the second edition; upper case restored in Hill-Powell. 22 retired] Printed in the revises ‘retir’d’; second edition, ‘retired’; elided again in the third edition. 24 mocked] Printed in the revises ‘mock’d’. 26 every] Printed in the revises ‘ev’ry’; third edition, ‘every’. 27 every] Printed in the revises ‘ev’ry’; third edition, ‘every’. 28 both the editions] Printed in the revises ‘both editions’. 28–29 letterd ignorance] Printed in the revises ‘letter’d ignorance’. Just as the copyist wrote ‘lettered’ and then inserted an apostrophe to mark the elision (l. 11), JB wrote ‘lettere’ and on the final letter superimposed a ‘d’. 30 Johnson] Written over ‘Dr.’ 30–32 thus / And labour … die / but] Printed in the revises ‘thus: / “And Labour … die.” / But’. page 113 walked] Printed in the revises ‘walk’d’. the eternal] First transcribed ‘his eternal’; printed in the revises ‘th’ Eternal’; second edition, ‘th’Eternal’; third edition, ‘the Eternal’; Hill-Powell, ‘th’ Eternal’. 5 His] First transcribed ‘The’; it is unclear whether the copyist or JB corrected the error. 5 employed] Printed in the revises ‘employ’d’. 7 peacefull] Printed in the revises ‘peaceful’. 12 fiery] Third edition, ‘firy’; Hill-Powell, ‘fiery’. 20 one of] Added in the same draft. 20 his] Second edition, ‘Johnson’s’. 23 here or we] Printed in the revises ‘here, or that we’. Second edition, ‘here? or that we’.

2 4

page 114 1 Ministry?] Printed in the revises ‘ministry.’ Second edition, ‘Ministry?’ 1 support] MS orig. (1) ‘support’; (2) ‘confirma[tion]’. 1 conjectures] MS orig. (1) ‘suppositions’; (2) ‘inter[pretations]’. 1–2 opinion of that Ministry] False starts, (1) ‘of which I have given some’; (2) ‘which I have had occasion to mention,’. 4 on the subject] Added in the same draft. 8 Alderman] MS orig. ‘alderman’. 9 and taken] False start, ‘prisoner’, possibly written over the first letter(s) of another false start. 13 To … Porter] Printed in the revises ‘To Mrs. LUCY PORTER, in Lichfield.’ Second edition changes to this letter: (1) ‘and I am sorry’ to ‘and am sorry’; (2) ‘befals’ to ‘befalls’; (3) ‘Mr. Cobb’ to ‘Mrs. Cobb’. Hill-Powell reversed (1), and should have reversed (2) (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 15).

378

NOTES TO PAGES 114–18

15

To the Same] Second edition changes to this letter: (1) ‘chearful’ to ‘cheerful’; (2) ‘have had little’ to ‘have had but little’; (3) ‘the little that he has’ to ‘the little he has’; (4) ‘Bailey’ to ‘Baily’. Hill-Powell reversed (3) and (4), and should have reversed (2) (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 21–22).

page 115 which was familiar to both of them] Omitted in the revises. T. LUARENTIO MEDICO S.] Printed in the revises ‘T. LAWRENTIO, Medico S.’ Second edition, ‘T. LAWRENCIO, Medico, S.’ 17 Prayers & Medit] Printed in the revises ‘Prayers and Meditations’.

9 11

page 116 quo] Altered by Selfe in the revises to ‘quò’. Doctr. Lawrence] Printed in the revises ‘Dr. Lawrence’, here and below (ll. 10, 15–16). 21 Augst.] Printed in the revises ‘Aug.’ 22 Tho’] Printed in the revises ‘Though’.

2 3

page 117 To Captain Langtonb Rochester] Added in the same draft; printed in the revises ‘To Captain LANGTON3, in ROCHESTER.’ 3 To … Birmingham] In the text of this letter, ‘make the advances’ was corrected to read ‘make no advances’ in the second edition. In the third edition, EM placed a footnote on ‘dear Mrs. Careless’, a cross-reference to SJ’s disclosure that she was his first love (Hill-Powell ii. 459). 5 To Mr. Hector in Birmingham] Printed in the revises ‘To the same.’ Second edition change to letter: ‘overborn’ to ‘overborne’; the reading in the original letter is ‘overborn’ (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, v. 7). 8 at] Written over ‘of’, a false start. 15 Feby. … Fleetstreet.] Printed in the revises ‘Bolt-court, Fleet-street, Feb. 4, 1783.’ 1

page 118 ‘The Beauties] MS orig. ‘the “Beauties’. had] Written over ‘at’, a false start for the phrase to come, ‘at Edinburgh’. Deformities] Written over a false start, ‘Th[e]’; second edition, ‘The Deformities’. 7 this] Written over ‘the’, a false start. 8 to relieve] False start, ‘even an unknown’. 9 clothing] Third edition, ‘cloathing’; Hill-Powell, ‘clothing’. 9 Rambler] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 10 not inferiour … original] Added in the same draft. 11 extraordinary] Revision orig. ‘singular’. 16 respectfully] False start, ‘requesting him’. 16 that] False starts, (1) ‘it was of importance for th[e]’; (2) ‘such a doubt should not p’. 16 erroneous] Written over the first letter of a false start, ‘a’. 17 any sentence] False start, ‘which had th[e]’. 19 thus … Clergyman’s] MS orig. ‘sent the Clergyman’, a false start. 1 2 2

379

NOTES TO PAGES 119–21

page 119 2 a] Added in the same draft. 3–4 from mine to introduce them] Added in the same draft. Two misprints in the letter of 3 June 1782 were corrected in the second edition: ‘debts’ to ‘debt’; ‘nothing ro spare’ to ‘nothing to spare’ (Selfe made this correction in the revises, but it was overlooked). Selfe’s correction of ‘cheerful’ to ‘chearful’ (as spelled in the letter) was reversed in the second edition; cp. Life MS iii. 115 n. a2, 389, and 394. SJ’s sign-off in the letter of 24 Aug. 1782, ‘your, &c.’ (accurately printed) changed to ‘Yours, &c.’ in the second edition. 6 30 of August] Printed in the revises ’30th of August’. 6 informed him] MS orig. ‘wrote’. 8–9 visit … whence] MS orig. ‘visit at Sir Charles Preston’s whence’. 11 To James Boswell Esq:] Second edition change in the text of this letter: ‘death, wherever’ to ‘death, whenever’; third edition: ‘well ordered’ to ‘well-ordered’ (only the latter adopted by Hill-Powell). 13–14 one from him dissuading … proper] MS orig. (1) ‘one from him not pro[per]’; (2) ‘one from him of which what is proper’, both false starts. 20 Wife] Written over the first letter(s) of an undeciphered false start. 21 that she] False start, ‘entirely of’. 21 that she … wrote] Second edition, ‘that, without any suggestion on my part, she wrote’. 22 polite & grateful] Revision orig. ‘polite respe[ctful]’. 23 [in del] Gent. Mag.] Printed in the revises ‘in the Gentleman’s Magazine,’. page 120 Dr. Johnson to Mrs. Boswell] SJ’s sign-off, ‘your, &c.’ became ‘Yours, &c.’ in the second edition; noting the change, Hill-Powell restored the reading of the first edition. 3 To JAMES BOSWELL Esq:] Second edition changes in the text of this letter: ‘often long before’ to ‘long before’; ‘suspect after’ to ‘suspect that after’ (the former merely noted in Hill-Powell, the latter silently adopted). 8 The] Written over ‘In’, a false start. 8 had made] False start, [undeciphered letters]. 18 on the 6 of October] MS orig. ‘on October’, a false start. In the revises, ‘6’ was printed ‘6th’. 19 making a] Added in the same draft, in remedy of JB’s having lost track of his sentence structure. 20 which he composed] Added in the same draft. 21 GOD] Written ‘God’ in oversized letters. 1

page 121 3–4 o Lord … o Lord] Printed in the revises ‘O LORD … O LORD’. 6 Jesus Christs] Printed in the revises ‘JESUS CHRIST’S’. 13 comparative] Added in the same draft. 15–16 Memorandum Books] Printed in the revises ‘memorandum-books’. 16 find] False start, ‘on a’. 16 Templo … osculo.] JB began to centre this text on a new line, but had written only ‘T’ when he chose instead to put ‘Templo’ after ‘Streatham.’ He then drafted ‘valedixi’ through the ‘T’ on the next line, with a messy result, so deleted the word and wrote it again in continuation.

380

NOTES TO PAGES 121–26

18 21–22 30 30

Brighthelmstone] Printed in the revises ‘Brighthelmston’. (3 Octr. 1782)] Printed in the revises ‘(3d October, 1782,)’. Petworth and] Added in the same draft. Cirencester … Cowdery] Second edition, ‘Chichester … Cowdry’.

1 6

page 122 English] Added in the same draft. in] Written over ‘on’, a false start.

1 5 10 10 24

page 123 the 10 and 20 October] Printed in the revises ‘the 10th and 20th of October’. (first) the] Written over a false start, possibly ‘a’. Mr.] Written over a false start, ‘Dr.’ Archeological] Third edition, ‘Archæological’. encreasing] Printed in the revises ‘increasing’.

page 124 it is] Mistakenly copied ‘is is’; printed in the revises ‘it is’. Decr. 31st 1782] Printed in the revises ‘Dec. 31, 1782’, sharing a line with SJ’s name; ‘Dec.’ became ‘December’ in the third edition. 9 still] Omitted in the revises. 15 On … writes to] MS orig. (1) ‘On the 10 of’; (2) ‘He thus writes on’.

4 8

page 125 10 duties; think] MS orig. ‘duties. Think’. 20 I] False start, ‘called at’. 24–25 breathing. But … assumed] Second edition, ‘breathing; but after the common inquiries he assumed’. 25 strong and animated] Printed in the revises ‘strong animated’. 26 began] Printed in the revises ‘began,’; second edition, ‘began thus:’. 27 Country Gentleman] Printed in the revises ‘country-gentleman’ here and below (l. 34). 35 to quit] MS orig. ‘to it’, a false start or slip of the pen. 36 per cent] Printed in the revises ‘per cent.’ The abbreviation point was omitted in the second edition. 37 transference] Second edition, ‘transfer’. page 126 1 money] MS orig. ‘money lent out’. 5 others] MS orig. ‘on[e]’, a false start. 7 He talked …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 10 Hannoverian] Printed in the revises ‘Hanoverian’. 13 King.’] False start, ‘That’. 14 His … ] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 17–18 had as] The ‘s’ in ‘as’ covers a half-formed ‘n’, a false start for ‘an’. 18 was ever] Printed in the revises ‘ever was’. 25 He sent …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision (by means of a bracket without ‘N.P.’ or ‘N.L.’). 29 too] Added and apparently deleted in the same draft; added again in revision. 32 had not been informed] MS orig. ‘had been informed’, a false start.

381

NOTES TO PAGES 126–30

35 38 39

Who] Written over a false start, ‘From [whom]’. and] False start, ‘we had him’. Talking Of Conversation] MS orig. ‘Of Conversation’.

page 127 seen in] MS orig. ‘seen’. excell] So printed in the revises, where the second ‘l’ was deleted. know. Sir You] MS orig. ‘know. You’. down.] Second edition, ‘down!’ Johnson, though] MS orig. ‘Johnson. T [or F]’, a false start. JB turned his full stop into a comma and wrote ‘though’ over the capital letter. 28 I had repeated] MS orig. ‘I repeated’. 37 unkenneled] Printed in the revises ‘unkennelled’. 2 4 6 10 14

page 128 can not] Second edition, ‘cannot’; Hill-Powell, ‘can not’. Surely …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. saw] Seemingly written over another word, perhaps ‘said’, or overwritten in revision. 20 contests … with him] Added in the same draft. 25 who] False start, ‘the’. Second edition, ‘whom’. 27 asking who it was?] Punctuated in the revises with a comma, not a question mark. 27 when he] False start, ‘wrote an’. 32 any] Written over an undeciphered letter. 32 though the] MS orig. ‘though I [or J]’, a false start. JB deleted ‘though’, then added it again and wrote ‘the’ over the capital letter. 32 sharp] MS orig. ‘sarcas[tick]’. 34 and which] Second edition, ‘which’; Hill-Powell, ‘and which’. 34 which he] False start, ‘often did’. 34 were I am afraid] MS orig. ‘I am afraid [were]’. A heavy ‘f’ may cover a doubling in ‘affraid’. 8 11 18

page 129 2 beyond] Second edition, ‘above’. 4 people] Printed in the revises ‘gentlemen’. 15 Dr. Pepys] Second edition, ‘Sir Lucas Pepys’. 20–21 against … sovereign] Added in the same draft. 31 manner.’] In the revises, a question mark replaced the full stop. page 130 in very] Printed in the revises ‘in a very’; second edition, ‘in very’; HillPowell, ‘in a very’. 9 Madhouses] Printed in the revises ‘mad-houses’; third edition, ‘madhouses’; Hill-Powell, ‘mad-houses’. It is a compound word in SJ’s Dictionary. 12 and we left the Ladies] Added in the same draft, with ‘left’ drafted over a false start, ‘b’. 21–22 fully expressed] MS orig. ‘fully explained’. 22 sentiments upon] MS orig. ‘sentiments of’, a false start. 23 Let me add that] Added in the same draft. 7

382

NOTES TO PAGES 130–34

28 29

Royal family is] Printed in the revises ‘Royal Family are’. by celebrations] A later addition.

page 131 3 be taken] Printed in the revises ‘be given’. 4–5 was taken] Printed in the revises ‘was used’. 5 and therefore] Second edition, ‘and that therefore’. 8 with÷for] JB started to write ‘for’ on the line: over the ascender of an ‘f’ he wrote ‘with’. 8 to be drunk] Printed in the revises ‘to get drunk’. 9 It] MS orig. ‘it’. 11 this] Written over ‘h[e]’, the next word JB drafted. 11 narrated] False start, ‘and’. 20 ‘have done’] Printed without quotation marks in the revises. 32 better … required.] In revision, JB deleted and rewrote ‘better that’ and ‘had not required’. 32 This] Written over two false starts: (1) ‘I’; (2) ‘The’. 33–34 honour to be] MS orig. ‘honour of’, a false start. page 132 1 Postman] Printed in the revises ‘post-man’; third edition, ‘postman’. 2–3 Mæcænas … Mæcænas] This name in the revises was printed ‘Mecænas’; second edition, ‘Mæcænas’; third edition, ‘Mæcenas’. 5 many] Omitted in the second edition. 11 novelty … discrimination] MS orig. ‘novelty and ingenuity’. 14 not to be allowed] Printed in the revises ‘not allowed’. 22 same men] Second edition, ‘same persons’. 22–23 prosperity.] Punctuated in the revises with a question mark; it reverted to a full stop in the second edition. 31 Regum æquabat opes animis.] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. JB’s middle vowel in æquabat covers a false start, possibly an ‘e’. 32 On the subject …] MS orig. ‘Johnson’, a false start. 33 of his money] MS orig. ‘of money’. page 133 4 A] Seemingly written over ‘I’, possibly a false start for ‘If’. 8 rather] Second edition, ‘somewhat’. 8 He was … illness.—] Added in the same draft. 11 to break] MS orig. ‘break’. 16 mentioned] Written ‘mention’ inadvertently. 16 Having mentioned] False start in revision, ‘that’. 17 highest-bred] Printed as two words; hyphenated in the second edition. 19 having] added in the same draft. 25 Boswell. ‘But Sir,] MS orig. ‘“But Sir,” said he’, a false start. 25–26 was not he] Second edition, ‘was he not’. page 134 ‘The Village a Poem’] Printed in the revises ‘“The Village,” an admirable poem’. 7 the ingenious] Printed in the revises ‘the Reverend’. 7

383

NOTES TO PAGES 134–37

11 15 15 19 19 21–22 22 23 26 27–28 28

when] MS orig. ‘whi[ch]’, a false start. marking] Revision orig. ‘distinguishing’. original] Written over a false start, ‘rom[an]’. charm’d] Second edition, ‘charmed’. views] Inadvertently drafted ‘view.’; printed in the revises ‘views,’. truth … nature … fancy] Printed in the revises ‘Truth … Nature … Fancy’. led the way?] False start on a new line, ‘Which J[ohnson]’. Mincio’s] The first ‘i’ is written over a different vowel, a false start. song] Punctuated with a question mark in the revises. truth … nature … fancy] Printed in the revises ‘Truth … Nature … Fancy’. way.’] The full stop became a question mark in the second edition.

page 135 7 opportunity to] False start, possibly ‘pos[sess]’. 16 the close] Deleted, then drafted again. 19 £27000 pounds] Printed in the revises ‘twenty-seven thousand pounds’. 22–23 that … afford them.] Drafted again in JB’s third revision, though undeleted from his second. 28 poem] MS orig. ‘Poem’. 28–29 the Traveller and Deserted Village of] MS orig. ‘those of’; printed in the revises ‘“The Traveller” and “Deserted Village” of’. 29 were] Written over ‘are’. 30 distinguished] MS orig. a false start, possibly ‘g[reat]’. page 136 give] Printed in the revises ‘insert’. Mr. James] A later addition. One should see every thing.] Added in the same draft. for when I … asked] Revision orig. ‘for at another time when I asked’. He÷One] MS orig. ‘one’; JB wrote the upper-case ‘H’ over the first two letters of ‘one’. 29 Account Book] Second edition, ‘account-book’.

3 7 9 11 23

page 137 thought] Written over ‘was’, a false start. fit] The ‘t’ covers a false start or slip of the pen. This he] Revision orig. ‘To this he’, a false start. to me] Added in the same draft. one half] Printed in the revises ‘one half ’. Ay. But] Printed in the revises ‘Aye; but’; third edition, ‘Ay; but’. incline.’] Second edition, ‘incline to believe.”’ acquainted] Written over ‘in’, a false start. men] Written over ‘can’, the next word to be copied in SJ’s quotation. noble Judge] MS orig. ‘judi[cial]’, a false start. Johnson] MS orig. ‘But Johnson’. entertained] MS orig. ‘expressed’. high] Printed in the revises ‘exalted’. an eminent … life.’] JB deleted this phrase in one pass of revision, but then wiped away the ink. 37 Law Lord] Third edition, ‘law-Lord’.

3 4 12 15 16 17 21 23 26 31 32 33 33 35

384

NOTES TO PAGES 138–42

5 19 20 20 20 24 24 25 27 29 29

page 138 This] Written over ‘He’, a false start. After] Written over ‘I’, a false start. Sir] Added in the same draft. good] Added in the same draft. things] In haste written ‘thing’. sailed upon] Second edition, ‘sailed up’; Hill-Powell, ‘sailed upon’. wore] Inadvertently written ‘worse’. elegance] MS orig. ‘elegant’, a false start. in a social] MS orig. ‘in social’, a false start. pleasant] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘an agreable man’. if he would, he] False starts, (1) ‘deserves’; (2) ‘cannot’ (deleted, then written again in continuation of the original draft).

page 139 Pardon me] In revision, JB deleted ‘Pardon’, then ‘Forgive me’, and wrote ‘Pardon me’ again. 4 A] Written over ‘I’, a false start. 7 Essays] Printed within quotation marks in the revises.

4

2 20 21 30 31

page 140 conscientious] MS orig. ‘pious’. again.’] The full stop became a question mark in the second edition. Gravina] Not italicized in the second edition. Turkish Spy] Printed within quotation marks in the revises, not in italics. life] Printed in the revises ‘Life’.

page 141 3 Boswell. ‘This …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 5 a posteriori] Printed in the revises ‘à posteriori’. 8 a priori] Printed in the revises ‘à priori’. 12–13 Lewis … Lewis] Printed in the revises ‘Louis … Louis’. 14–15 I visited … whom] MS orig. ‘Mr. Wyndham of Norfolk ac[?companied]’, a false start. 19 important] Written, deleted, and written again in the same draft. 23 soon] Written over an undeciphered false start. 24 He talked today …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. In the revises, ‘today’ was printed ‘to-day’; third edition, ‘to day’; Hill-Powell, ‘to-day’. 25 inquiry] Printed in the revises ‘enquiry’. 26 in particular] Added in the same draft. 27 ‘explore Wapping’] Printed in the revises without quotation marks. 29 Mr. Lowe …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 31 Royal Academy.] False start, ‘So very’. 31 Johnson’s] Written over the first letter of a false start, possibly ‘h[is]’. 1 6 18

page 142 of any of his freinds] Printed in the revises ‘of his friends’. wait] Printed in the revises ‘stay’. Sam. Johnson / April 12 1783.] Printed on the same line, in reverse order.

385

NOTES TO PAGES 142–46

22 29 33

of] Written over ‘can’, a false start. reconsideration] Printed in the revises ‘re-consideration’. Sam Johnson / Apr. 12 1783] Printed in reverse order on the same line (with ‘April’ in full).

page 143 2 Somerset House] Third edition, ‘Somerset Place’. 4 Mountain.] False start, ‘Upon÷In the small remaining dry spot was’. 5 seen] MS orig. ‘exhi[bited]’. 8–9 Upon … Lion] MS orig. ‘A famis[h]ed Lion appeared upon’, a false start. 22 merely] Omitted in the revises. 32 Mr.] MS orig. ‘Dr.’; cp. Life MS iii. 279 ll. 6–8, where JB revised ‘Mr.’ to ‘Dr. Burrows’. page 144 a curious Anecdote,] Added in the same draft. stone=seats] Printed in the revises ‘stone seats’; hyphenated in the second edition. 11 frame] Second edition, ‘frame of mind’. 15 reckoning … one] Second edition, ‘reckoning each person as one’. 16 about] Added in the same draft. 17 Sir] Added in the same draft. 26 manufactured.’] No closing quotation marks were printed in the first three editions; Hill-Powell corrected the error. 27 they] MS orig. ‘the’, a false start. 30 burn, and pound them] Printed in the revises ‘burn and pound them’; third edition, ‘burn and pound’. 35 cast iron] MS orig. ‘cast’. 36 burnt bones] Second edition, ‘burnt-bones’; Hill-Powell, ‘burnt bones’.

1 10

page 145 done] Second edition, ‘prepared’. Boswell. ‘I wish …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. such a contention] Printed in the revises ‘such contention’; false start, ‘i[s]’ (covered by ‘with’). 18 Nature] Printed in the revises ‘nature’; second edition, ‘Nature’. 19–21 that in an Orchyard … ground.] Second edition, ‘that, “in an orchard … ground.”’ 26 For ground] Second edition, ‘From ground’. 28 while] Written over ‘when’. 29–30 England Sir?] MS orig. ‘England?’ 30 as you would imagine] Printed in the revises ‘as you imagine’. 31 Orchyard; in Staffordshire] MS orig. ‘Orchyard. In Staffordshire’. 34 Hothouse] Printed in the revises ‘hot-house’ (here and in SJ’s reply). 3 8 17

1 2

page 146 and you must have] MS orig. ‘and have’. rate?’] Printed in the revises ‘rate.”’; second edition, ‘rate?—”’; the dash was omitted in Hill-Powell.

386

NOTES TO PAGES 146–50

3 5 8 8 10 26 28

‘Yes] The opening quotation marks for this speech, missing in the first edition, were printed in the second edition. sweet=meat] Printed in the revises ‘sweetmeat’. subjects] MS orig. ‘objects’. well informed] Printed in the revises ‘well-informed’. came] Second edition, ‘came in’. so … loudness] Second edition, ‘so the variety is less in proportion to the loudness’. though] Written over a false start, possibly ‘tou’, a slip of the pen.

page 147 11–12 in his last speech in the Old Bailley he] MS orig. ‘in the last speech he’, a false start. 21 Dodd’s picture] Second edition, ‘Dr. Dodd’s picture’. 22 Currat] MS orig. ‘currat’. page 148 that it was distinguished by any] MS orig. ‘that there was any’. in each coach’] Printed in the revises ‘in each coach?”’; third edition, ‘to each coach?”’ 5 Johnson.] Added in the same draft. 9 minute] Added in the same draft. 11 the Plumber] Added in the same draft. 12 insisted that] False start, ‘the’. 13 The Plumber was] MS orig. ‘Said the Plumber’, a false start. 19 the wit] MS orig. ‘wit’, possibly a false start for ‘wit enough’. 23 there] Added in the same draft. 37 I … time] MS orig. ‘I left him for a little while and called on [a] freind’. 39 I stated] False start, ‘a’. Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 4 5

page 149 with] Written over the first letter of a false start, possibly ‘f[ormally]’. fairly] Added in the same draft. One then supposes] In revision, JB reinstated this alternative after first choosing ‘You then suppose’. 13 & be] Added in the same draft. 14 may not want his freinds] Printed in the revises ‘may not want friends’. 19–20 20 April] Printed in the revises ‘April 20’. 21 to Dr. Johnsons] Printed in the revises ‘to Dr. Johnson’. 21–22 Mr. Lowe mentioned] Revision orig. ‘He mentioned’. 26 Births are] Second edition, ‘The register of births proves’.

5 6 8

1 13 24 24 25 27

page 150 should] Printed in the revises ‘must’. eating] Omitted in the revises. very] Omitted in the revises. saw little of Dr. Johnson] False start, ‘for some days’. 28 April] Printed in the revises ‘April 28’. then] Omitted in the revises; restored in the second edition.

387

NOTES TO PAGES 150–55

29 30 31

say it is.] False starts, (1) ‘If it’; (2) ‘If Any man’ (with ‘A’ written over ‘it’). offer] Second edition, ‘offer him’; Hill-Powell, ‘offer’. only] Added in the same draft.

page 151 literally As] The capital ‘A’ covers up quotation marks, a false start for the quotation that follows. 8 ammunition cart] Printed in the revises with a hyphen; second edition, two words. 9 our] Added in the same draft. 10 ill usage] Printed in the revises with a hyphen. 14 Camden’s Remains] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 18 asked] Third edition, ‘ask’d’. 19 Burial service] Printed in the revises with a hyphen. 22 profane.] Written ‘profance.’ Selfe corrected the full stop to a question mark in the revises. 1

page 152 1–2 by corpulency He] Printed in the revises ‘with corpulency; he’. 5 fat] A thickened ‘t’ covers an additional letter—possibly ‘s’, a slip of the pen. 5 eaten] MS orig. ‘eat’. 7 increased] Printed in the revises ‘encreased’. 13 bad] Added in the same draft. 29 I understand that] False starts, (1) ‘ti[tle]’; (2) ‘as the title’. 34 written] Revision orig. ‘comp[osed]’. 35 I mentioned …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in second revision of preceding sentences. page 153 1 in a trial] Misprinted ‘in trial’; corrected by JB in the revises to ‘in a trial’. 5 own composition; or] Second edition, ‘own composition? or’. 9–10 was really] MS orig. ‘really was’. 18 us] Omitted in the revises. 19–20 which is surely … Literary Journal] Possibly a later addition. 33 thing] Written over a false start, possibly ‘to[pick]’. page 154 My Dear Sir] MS orig. ‘Dear Sir’. must you] JB nearly wrote ‘you must’, but, starting a ‘y’, turned the letter into an ‘m’. 15 man] Written over the first letters of an undeciphered false start. 18 worthy] MS orig. ‘religious’, changed when JB used the same word later in the sentence. 9 10

page 155 9–10 Supreme Being by ourselves,] MS orig ‘Supreme Being,’; a tiny stroke deleted the comma. 10–11 all information and improvement] Printed in the revises ‘all improvement’.

388

NOTES TO PAGES 155–59

20 21 24

by David Malloch] False start of undeciphered letters and a wavy line. he thought] Added in the same draft. This] Written over ‘He’, a false start.

page 156 commonplace assertions as to] First draft, ‘remarks as to’; ‘assertions’ seems to have been drafted, wiped clean, and drafted again in the same spot; ‘commonplace’ was printed with a hyphen. 6–8 Johnson now read … times’. ‘How false is] Second edition, ‘Johnson having read … times;—“How false (said he) is’. 16 or] Omitted in the second edition. 22–23 willingly read] MS orig. ‘read willingly’. 30 However] Added in the same draft. 31 Ænæid] Printed in the revises ‘Æneid’, here and below (p. 157 ll. 3, 5).

7

page 157 2 all] Added in the same draft. 6 Seanymphs] Printed in the revises ‘sea-nymphs’. 11 down] Written over the first letter of a false start, ‘r’. 13–14 humour tonight. And] Printed in the revises ‘humour, and’. 26 Sir.] Punctuated in the revises with a question mark. 27 this] MS orig. ‘his’, a false start. 28 the House of Commons] MS orig. ‘the Commons’. 29 diminished”.’] Printed ‘diminshed’?”’; internal quotation not marked in the third edition; Hill-Powell provided internal and external quotation marks, both outside the question mark. 32–33 and I took] Printed in the revises ‘and took’. 34 (third) eat] Second edition, ‘ate’. page 158 sad] Second edition, ‘bad’; Hill-Powell, ‘sad’. such times] Second edition, ‘such time’, an error corrected in the third edition. 6 sixpence] Printed in the revises ‘six-pence’. 6 was] Second edition, ‘is’; Hill-Powell, ‘was’. 9 eat up] Second edition, ‘eaten up’. 16 Here he …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 20 county] Misprinted ‘country’ in the third edition; Hill-Powell, ‘county’. 30 kept] Written over the first letter of an undeciphered false start. 3 4

page 159 Nor] MS orig. ‘No’. Writer] Written over a false start, ‘Ev[elina]’. Evelina & Cecilia] Printed ‘Evelina and Cecilia’ in the revises within a single pairing of quotation marks. In the third edition, each title received its own set of quotation marks. 13 obtained?] Second edition, ‘obtained.’ 15 Cecilia] Printed within quotation marks in the revises, here and in the next sentence. 21 In Mr. Barry’s] MS orig. ‘Mr. Barry’s’, a false start. 8 11 11

389

NOTES TO PAGES 160–64

5 12 13 19 20 23

page 160 She however allways] MS orig. ‘She has allways’, a false start. There is] Revision orig. ‘Foote’, a false start. small] Written underneath the ascender of a ‘b’, a false start for ‘bust’. and critical] Added in the same draft. by study] Added in the same draft. County] MS orig. ‘Countr[y]’; the ‘y’ covers the mistaken ‘r’.

page 161 1–2 Yes Sir he … learning But it] MS orig. ‘Yes Sir But it’, a false start now that ‘it’ no longer referred to ‘knowledge’: Langton, a ‘Man of great knowledge’ (Journ.), was now a ‘very learned man’. 12 to do what] MS orig. ‘to commit what’. 14 seven years] Punctuated in the revises with an apostrophe to form the possessive case. 15 maintains] Printed in the revises ‘believes’. 18 so shall it lye”.’] Printed in the revises ‘so it must lye’?”’ The internal quotation mark, omitted in the third edition, reappeared in Hill-Powell outside the question mark; see Life MS iii. 213 n. 7. JB wrote ‘lye’ over ‘lie’; second edition, ‘lie’, here and in l. 24. 23 upon deathbed] Printed in the revises ‘upon a death-bed’. 24 was] Printed in the revises ‘is’. 24 well-founded] Printed in the revises as separate words without a hyphen. 25 what] Written over the first letter of a false start. 27 much] Written over the first letter of a false start. 29 imports] Written over a false start, ‘ex[ports]’. 31 a] Written over the first stroke of an ‘m’, a false start for ‘more’. 32 Were] Written over a false start, possibly ‘I[f]’. page 162 10 He embraced …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 13 been] Written over a false start, ‘n[ow]’. 23 dreadful alarm by a stroke] Printed in the revises ‘dreadful stroke’. 24–25 which shew … composure] Second edition, ‘to shew with what composure of mind, and resignation to the Divine Will,’; Hill-Powell, ‘which shew … Divine Will,’. page 163 3 GOD] Underscored by JB for small capital letters. 10 rouse] Printed in the revises ‘rouze’; second edition, ‘rouse’. 22–23 wrote thus to Mrs. Thrale] In the text of this letter, ‘rouze’ became ‘rouse’ in the second edition. page 164 preserve] MS orig. ‘insert’. Johnson’s] Written over a false start, probably ‘D[r.]’; followed by a false start, ‘hon[?est]’. 6 treated him with] MS orig. (1) ‘treated with’, a false start; (2) ‘treated Tom with’. 7 had] Written over ‘was’, a false start. 3 3

390

NOTES TO PAGES 164–67

8 8–9

Frank] False start, ‘delivered him this note’. note from Johnson ‘Come] MS orig. (1) ‘note “Come’; (2) ‘note ?to h[im]’, a false start; (3) ‘note which’, another false start; printed in the revises ‘note:—“Come’. 11 To JAMES BOSWELL ESQ:] In the text of this letter, ‘I design’ became ‘I designed’ in the second edition; Hill-Powell, ‘I design’. 14 a partial though severe] Printed in the revises ‘this alarming and severe’. 18–19 had the merit … inroductor.] MS orig. ‘was the cause of it.’ page 165 at this place÷here] A false start to a third option, ‘at Heale’, appears from the initial stroke of an ‘H’. 9 got] Printed in the revises ‘had’. 19 particulars] MS orig. ‘communications’. 19–20 him with which] MS orig. ‘him which’, a false start. 22 thinking as he declared that it] Printed in the revises ‘saying, that he thought it’. 9

page 166 2 this scheme] Printed in the revises ‘his scheme’. 6–7 how the same] Second edition, ‘that the same’. 7 writers] Printed in the revises ‘authours’. 11 Poor man,] Punctuated in the revises with an exclamation point. 12 Speaking once of a literary] Printed in the revises ‘Speaking of a certain literary’. 13 says the Dr.] Printed in the revises ‘says the Doctor’; second edition, ‘said he’. 13 written him] Printed in the revises ‘written to him’. 16 pound] Printed in the revises ‘pounds’, both here and below (l. 19). 16 after] Printed in the revises ‘afterwards’. 17 Oh] Printed in the revises ‘O’. 20 his] JB’s revision to Bowles’s orig. ‘the Doctor’s’. 23 Dr. Johnson] Printed in the revises ‘Johnson’. page 167 to a stammering, a non plus or] Printed in the revises ‘to stammering, a non-plus or’. 6 amuse or instruct] Second edition, ‘amuse and instruct’; Hill-Powell, ‘amuse or instruct’. 8 correct] Printed in the revises ‘accurate’. 9 without wanting any correction] Printed in the revises ‘without any correction’. 12 exercise] Printed in the revises ‘exercises’. 13 He] JB’s revision of Bowles’s orig. ‘The Dr.’ 17 to sew on a button on] Printed in the revises ‘to sew a button on’. 19 literature, & “the french] Printed in the revises ‘literature. “The French’. 21 superior] Printed in the revises ‘superiour’. 23 says] Second edition, ‘said’. 26 toward] Third edition, ‘towards’; Hill-Powell, ‘toward’. 26 amongst] Third edition, ‘among’; Hill-Powell, ‘amongst’. 2

391

NOTES TO PAGES 168–71

page 168 3 replyed] Printed in the revises ‘replied’. 6 says] Printed in the revises ‘said’. 7 the Dr.] Printed in the revises ‘the Doctor’. 12 Johnson’s] MS orig. ‘his’. 14 suffered] MS orig. ‘permitted’; false start, ‘with impunity’. 15 First] Added in the same draft. 15 by which] False starts, (1) ‘the dignity of’; (2) ‘divine’. 15 human nature] MS orig. ‘man’. False starts, (1) ‘which must therefore’; (2) ‘which must consequently debase’; (3) ‘which must [undeciphered word]’. 16 elevated] MS orig. ‘nobl[e]’. 16 principle] MS orig. ‘sentiment’. 17 included in] MS orig. (1) ‘the result of’; (2) ‘caused by’. 18 system,] False start, ‘which if it were possible to ?believe it, would totally destroy’. 20–21 wretched mortals] MS orig. ‘the wretched’. 21 could] MS orig. ‘would’. 21 rest which] Printed in the revises ‘rest that’. 23 beyond] Written over a false start, possibly ‘lar[ger]’. 23 beyond … faculties] Printed in the revises ‘beyond our present conceptions’. page 169 4–5 he was also] MS orig. ‘he had also’, a false start. 6 was attended … inconvenience] MS orig. ‘gave him immediate pain’. 7 painful] Omitted in the second edition; restored in Hill-Powell. 7 operation,] MS orig. ‘amp[utation]’; false start, ‘which to most men’. 9 Sarcocele] Printed in the revises ‘sarcocele’. 11 was attended] MS orig. ‘had [undeciphered letter]’; false start, ‘for this’. 11 Mr. Pott and] In the revises, JB here inserted ‘also’, but omitted it in the second edition. 12 30 July] Printed in the revises ’30th of July’. 13 in which he says] In revision, JB first favoured the alternative ‘which begins’, but then, reverting to this option, redrafted ‘in’ and ‘he says’. The clause quoted from SJ’s letter was preceded by another phrase; see Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 183. 14–15 The generous] MS orig. ‘So sensible was he of the generous’, a false start. page 170 shew either] MS orig. ‘eith[er]’, a false start. loath] As in Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 197; changed by JB in the revises to ‘loth’. 18 afterwards] False start, ‘advised’. 5 12

page 171 In his] MS orig. ‘He sa[ys]’, a false start. having] Written in again, after JB in revision deleted it momentarily in favour of the alternative phrasing. 17 says] Third edition, ‘he says’. 18 charity school] Printed in the revises ‘charity-school’. 13 17

392

NOTES TO PAGES 172–73

page 172 M.S.] Second edition, ‘MS.’ of it.’] Punctuated in the revises with a question mark instead of a full stop. Answer dated Septr. 30 was—] MS orig. ‘Answer was—’. Printed in the revises ‘answer was dated September 30.—’. 10–11 received a visit] Revision orig. ‘was visited’, a false start. 18 Catherine] Second edition, ‘Catharine’; Hill-Powell, ‘Catherine’. 22 When] Written over a false start, ‘M[rs.]’. 22 into the room] False start in revision, ‘he’. 23 ready] Inserted in revision by Kemble. 23 called for one &] Added in the same draft. 24 with a smile,] Added in the same draft. 24 a want] MS orig. ‘want’; ‘a’ inserted in revision by Kemble. 25 the more easily] MS orig. ‘more easily’. 26 placed] Revision by Kemble. 26 with great ease] False start, ‘and’. 27 good humour] Revision by Kemble. 27 entered upon … Drama] MS orig. ‘entered into the subje[ct]’, a false start. 28 enquiries] JB drafted this over ‘inq’; second edition, ‘inquiries’. 29 was most pleased with] Revision by Kemble; a deleted false start, ‘struc[k]’, precedes ‘pleased’. 30 Catharine] MS orig. ‘Katharine’; printed in the revises ‘Catherine’; second edition, ‘Catharine’; Hill-Powell, ‘Catherine’. 30 Henry VIII] Printed in the revises ‘Henry the Eighth’.

1 3 4

page 173 natural “I think] Printed in the revises ‘natural. “I think’; second edition, ‘natural:—“I think’. 1 I think so too Madam] MS orig. ‘Madam I think so too’. 1 whenever you] Revision by Kemble. 2 hobble out to] MS orig. ‘venture to’. 6 King Henry] Kemble’s revision orig. ‘Henr[y VIII]’; printed in the revises ‘King Henry the Eighth’. 4–6 Mrs. Siddons promised … life.] Revision by Kemble. 7 thus] Added in the same draft. 7–8 upon the] Revision by Kemble; JB had opted for the alternative ‘of the’. 8 merits of] False start, ‘the vari[ous]’. 8 actors] Printed in the revises ‘performers’. 9–10 in the vehemence of Rage] Revision by Kemble. 10 in the sprightliness of humour] Revision by Kemble. 14–15 inspired with] Printed in the revises ‘inspired by’. 15 understanding] Written over the first letter of a false start. 16 Colley] Added in revision by Kemble. 17 truly] Added in the same draft. 21 Then returning] MS orig. ‘Then expat[iating]’, a false start. 23 declaimer; there] Revision orig. ‘declaimer. There’. 24 ‘To be or not to be’] Printed in the revises in italics, without quotation marks. 25–26 liked him best in comedy] Kemble’s revision, from the original ‘liked his comedy best’.

1

393

NOTES TO PAGES 173–77

27 28 30

distinguishing] Second edition, ‘distinguished’; Hill-Powell, ‘distinguishing’. for some time] Omitted in the revises. envyed] Printed in the revises ‘envied’.

page 174 represent.’] The full stop became a question mark in the fourth edition. if Garrick] False start, ‘were’. A pleasing] Revision orig. ‘An’, a false start. kindness of] False start, ‘a freind whom he admired and honoured but declared that he would not accept of any pecuni[ary]’. 25 enrich] Printed in the revises ‘adorn’. 26 TO … HAMILTON] At the end of the letter, ‘Nov.’ became ‘November’ in the third edition. 28 P. 328. Vol. II.] Printed in the revises ‘Vol. II. p. 328.’ 29 P. 342.] Printed in the revises ‘Ibid. p. 342.’ 4 6 10 21

page 175 4 told me she] Added in the same draft. 5 ray] Written over the first letter of a false start. 7 I find] False start, ‘prevailed’. 7 a Sermon] False start, ‘to be p[?reached]’. 7–8 the late … Dr. Shipley] MS orig. ‘Dr. Shipley Bishop of St. Asaph’. 8 whom Johnson] Printed in the revises ‘whom he’. 9–10 all who knew his Lordship] Added in the same draft. 13 THE FATHER’S REVENGE] Printed within quotation marks, in addition to the small caps. 16 possession;] The semicolon was corrected to a comma in the revises. 16–17 though not] Second edition, ‘though I was not’. 21 at once] Second edition, ‘both’. page 176 Authour] Printed with a lower-case ‘a’; JB restored the capital letter in the second edition. 19 comparrison] Printed in the revises ‘comparison’, as in Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 251. 35 had declined … it] MS orig. ‘had returned it unopened’. 1

page 177 control] Printed in the revises ‘controul’; ‘control’ in Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 252. 2–3 I am / Madam / Your … servant] Printed in the revises ‘I am, &c.’ 7 of Commons] Printed in the revises ‘of the Commons’. 8 ought not be] Printed in the revises ‘ought not to be’. 8–9 resisted? … labour.] Revises, ‘resisted? … labour?’; second edition, ‘resisted; … labour.’ 14 The late ingenious] MS orig. ‘My late ingenious friend’. 16 mentions] MS orig. (1) ‘observes’; (2) ‘says’. 19 relates having] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘relates his having’. 19 while … the Lusiad] Added in the same draft. 1

394

NOTES TO PAGES 177–79

20 20 20 21

considerable] Written over the first letter of a false start, ‘s’. declaimed] Written over an undeciphered letter. who … declaimed] Printed ‘who, as, usual declaimed’; second edition, ‘who, as usual, declaimed’. sealife] Printed in the revises ‘sea life’.

page 178 Next year] MS orig. ‘About a year after’; two deleted letters above ‘year’ reveal a false start. 6–7 your part] Added in the same draft. 9 Before] MS orig. ‘Previous to’. 10–11 Dr. Johnson yourself … work] MS orig. ‘you and other well-wishers to the work among whom I name’, a false start. 11 Johnson.] MS orig. ‘Johnson for his c[onsent]’, a false start. 16 number] MS orig. ‘multitude’. 16 number of other] False start, ‘avocations; that he had afterwards recommended it to Dr. Goldsmith who for the same reaso[n]’. 17 when dining] Second edition, ‘at dinner’. 19 contravert] Printed in the revises ‘controvert’. 19 ten guilty] MS orig. ‘ten guilty persons’. 22 ably] Added in the same draft. 23 protection] MS orig. ‘security. 20–23 inocent … inocent] In the first of these, JB overwrote a slip of the pen; both were printed ‘innocent’ in the revises. 25 here] False start, ‘as the’. 25 should properly] MS orig. ‘co[uld]’. 25–26 appeared in] False start, ‘the co[urse]’. 26 of the last year] Printed in the revises ‘of last year’. 29–30 and islands] Added in the same draft. 31 Galick] Printed in the revises ‘Gaelick’. 31 compiled] MS orig. (1) ‘published’; (2) ‘completed’. 32 fairly] Second edition, ‘candidly’. 3

page 179 at Edinburgh] Added in the same draft. answered this pamphlet] False start, ‘in a’. much violence and with abuse] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘much zeal, and much abuse’. 5 admired by … and by many been] Added in the same draft. 6 A few paragraphs] MS orig. ‘The following paragraphs’, a false start. 6 Authour] Printed in the revises ‘authour’; second edition, ‘Authour’. 6 shall] Written over the first letter of a false start. 7 selected] MS orig. ‘presented as a specimen’. 12–13 amuse himself] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘amuse his mind’. 18 a Club] Added later, when JB deleted the final phrase of the sentence. 20 of which the] False start, possibly ‘cust[om]’. 24 Sir Joshua] MS orig. ‘Sir Joshua’s various’, a false start. 26 only] Added in the same revision. 2 2 3

395

NOTES TO PAGES 180–83

page 180 3 Alehouse] Printed in the revises ‘ale-house’. 4 namesake] Printed in the revises ‘name-sake’. 4–5 Rules of his Club] False start, ‘which’. 7 of such violence] MS orig. ‘so [violent]’, a false start. 13 Mrs. Desmoulins] Revision orig. ‘and Mrs. Desmoulins’, to extend the previous sentence. 13 remained] Printed in the revises ‘lived’. 15 indeed] Printed in the revises ‘however’. 16 head in abstraction] Second edition, ‘head from the world, in solitary abstraction’. 18 was ready] False start, ‘to hear an[d]’. 19 this] MS orig. ‘the’. 22–23 to continue Members] Printed in the revises ‘to continue it’. 23 our] Written over ‘J’, a false start for ‘Johnson’. page 181 1 To … Porter] Printed in the revises ‘To Mrs. LUCY PORTER, in Lichfield.’ 3–4 Samuel Johnson] Printed in the revises ‘SAMUEL JOHNSON’. 4 an year in which] MS orig. ‘a year which’, a false start; second edition, ‘a year in which’. 6 wonderous] Printed in the revises ‘wondrous’. 9 remarkable] Written over a false start, possibly ‘cur[ious]’. 17 8 of January] Printed in the revises ‘8th of January’. 20 from you on] False start, ‘my’. 23 Baron] Second edition, ‘Briton’; Hill-Powell, ‘Baron’. 24 opinions] MS orig. ‘opinion’. 24 declared] False start, ‘to them’. 25 at least] Deleted by JB in the revises. 26 worshiper] Printed in the revises ‘worshipper’. page 182 1 To … Porter] Printed in the revises ‘To Mrs. LUCY PORTER, in Lichfield.’ 6–7 to send him his opinion] Printed in the revises ‘to send his opinion’. 10 circular] Added in the same draft. 10 those eminent men] Added in the same draft. 11 first] Omitted in the revises. 13 81st year] Printed in the revises ‘eighty-first year’; false start, ‘with directions’. 13 with his faculties … ever] Added in the same draft. 13 the expressions] Printed in the revises ‘his expressions’. 16 I sent it to Mr. Pitt] MS orig. ‘Having sent it Mr. Pitt’, a false start. page 183 Pharmacy] False starts, (1) ‘to the Doctorat[e]’; (2) ‘and was a man of such skill’; (3) ‘and ha[d attained to such skill]’ (next to be drafted, following a modifying phrase). 4–5 had attained … skill] False start, ‘and was’, added in the same draft. 5 £200] Printed in the revises ‘two hundred pounds’. 6 £50] Printed in the revises ‘fifty pounds’. 4

396

NOTES TO PAGES 183–86

6 6 7 9

12 12 12 24 26 29

during] Written over a false start, ‘f[or]’. honorarium] MS orig. ‘honorary’, a false start. ‘I am] False start, ‘in great anxiety’. at present.’] Second edition changes in the text of SJ’s letter of 2 Mar. 1784 taken in here: ‘Dr. Gillespie has sent’ became ‘Dr. Gillespie has sent me’, and in JB’s footnote on ‘rhubarb’, ‘Society … of Arts and Sciences’ became ‘Society … of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce’. our] MS orig. ‘that’. Medecine] Printed in the revises ‘medicine’. Drs.] Printed in the revises ‘Doctors’. 74] Printed in the revises ‘seventy-four’. catarhous] Printed in the revises ‘catarrhous’. lye] Second edition, ‘lie’.

page 184 venerable] MS orig. ‘respectable’. words] False start, ‘were’. to a man] Printed in the revises ‘to a man whom’. publick] JB began with a capital ‘P’, then wrote a lower-case ‘p’ over it and finished the word. 11 sympathising] Printed in the revises ‘sympathizing’. 13 Drs.] Printed in the revises ‘Doctors’. 14 and prescriptions] Added in the same draft. 15 they] Written over ‘ea[ch]’, a false start. 16–17 must be pleasing to my readers.] Printed in the revises ‘I have great satisfaction in recording.’ 19 that I had] False start, possibly ‘high’. 19–20 that … satisfaction] Printed in the revises ‘informing him that I had a high gratification in’. 20 principle] Printed in the revises ‘principles’. 21–23 Address … Address] Printed in the revises ‘address … address’; second edition ‘address … Address’. 6 6 7 7

7 9 10

page 185 HUMPHREY] First edition, ‘HUMPHRY’, a change not marked in the revises. spelt] Omitted in the second edition; restored in Hill-Powell. which they … used] MS orig. ‘which I have seen’, a false start.

page 186 GODson] Drafted with exaggerated letters ‘od’; printed in the revises ‘god-son’. 10 GOD’s] So printed; drafted with ‘od’ even more exaggerated, and also underscored twice. 11 nor] False start, ‘do’. 12 I am … servant] Printed in the revises ‘I am, Sir, your most humble servant,’ (on one line). 14 Ap. 5. 1784.] Printed ‘April 5, 1784.’ in the revises, near the left-hand margin, on the same line as SJ’s name. 17 Godson] Printed in the revises ‘godson’; third edition, ‘god-son’. 21 Holingshead] Second edition, ‘Holinshed’. 7

397

NOTES TO PAGES 186–90

22

apparelled] So printed, though written ‘apparelld’, as adjusted (in haste) from ‘appareled’. 24 unto] Printed in the revises ‘into’. 29 in society] A later addition. 29 an] Written over a false start of the next word drafted, ‘ind[ispensible]’. 31–32 eminent for his knowledge of books] Omitted in the third edition. page 187 Godson] Printed in the revises ‘god-son’. kindness to / Sir] MS orig. ‘kindness to S[ir]’, then JB wrote ‘Sir’ on the next line; printed in the revises ‘kindness to, Sir,’ (on the same line). 13–14 godchild] Printed in the revises ‘god-child’. 17 lyes] Printed in the revises ‘lies’. 28–29 Bible. / I am / My Dear] Printed in the revises ‘bible. I am, my dear,’ (on the same line). 31 May 10. 1784.] Printed near the left margin in the revises, on the same line as SJ’s name. 3 8

page 188 conducive] Revision orig. ‘ac[?tually]’, a false start drafted above ‘essentially’. 8 afterwards] Added in the same draft. 11 shut himself up &] Added in the same draft. 11–12 a day … Religion] MS orig. ‘a day in particular exercises of Religion in retirement’; punctuated in the revises with a comma followed by a dash. 12–13 humiliation and] MS orig. ‘humiliation of’, a false start. 13 extraordinary] Added in the same draft. 18 to avow] Written over ‘in’, possibly a false start for ‘in avowing’. 19 even] Added in the same draft. 19 pretty] Omitted in the second edition. 7

page 189 3 the 10] Printed in the revises ‘the 10th’. 4 Hawkins-Browne] No hyphen was printed in the revises. 4 the 13] Printed in the revises ‘the 13th’. 11 also] Added in the same draft. 11–12 the sensible … writer Mr. Melmoth] First draft, ‘the sensible and elegant Melmoth’. In the revises, ‘the’ was printed ‘that’. 12 Letter 8] Printed in the revises ‘Letter VIII.’ page 190 2 the 15] Printed in the revises ‘May 15’. 4–5 Of all these] Printed in the revises ‘Of these’. 5 no] Written in again, after JB had first resolved his alternatives in favour of ‘few’. 8–9 One when] Second edition, ‘When’; Hill-Powell, ‘One, when’. 12 avoid] MS orig. ‘avoiding’. 15 prejudice against] MS orig. ‘aversion to’. 16 that] Omitted in the revises. False starts, (1) ‘he followed very fairly’; (2) ‘he followed with all fairness the maxim “Laugh where we must be candid

398

NOTES TO PAGES 190–95

19

where we can” for while knowing and relishing’; (3) ‘he followed … for while knowing as he did all the superiority of cultivated over [?savage]’; (4) ‘he followed … for while he made good=humoured sport of the’; (5) ‘he followed … for while he made good=humoured sport of his preference of savage to civilised life, he allowed him “elegant learning’; (6) ‘with respect to his Lordship there was not’. of me after him] MS orig. ‘af[ter me]’, a false start; JB wrote ‘of’ over the two letters. abbreviated name] Printed in the revises ‘abbreviation of his name’.

4 4 5 6 8 13 21 22

page 191 found … did not know] Printed in the revises ‘learnt … did not find out’. did not know that] False start, ‘a Prelate’. was] Written over an undeciphered false start. George Psalmanazar] False start, ‘he said “I should h[ave]’. Bishop] Printed in the revises ‘bishop’; third edition, ‘BISHOP’. Levett] MS orig. ‘Levet’. butt end] MS orig. ‘but end’, a slip of the pen. Another] Second edition, ‘Another was this:’.

19

page 192 Hephestion] Changed by Selfe in the revises to ‘Hephæstion’. think that to be] MS orig. ‘think to be’, above which JB drafted either a false start (possibly ‘be[ing]’, as an alternative) or ‘that’ (poorly formed), then wrote ‘that’ over it. 9–10 make one] MS orig. (1) ‘make one’; (2) ‘make me’. 12 say I am] Second edition, ‘say I am made a fool’. 16 Elizabeth] Added in the same draft above ‘Carter’, as if optional.

7 9

10 11 15 24

page 193 And Sir the Ostler] MS orig. ‘And the Ostler’. answered him] MS orig. ‘answered him’. to that] Added in the same draft. good humour] Printed in the revises with a hyphen.

1 19 22 26

page 194 Rambler] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. heard] Written over the start of an illegible letter, possibly ‘r[?ecorded]’. to mention] MS orig. ‘to give a’, a false start. in] Written over ‘o[n]’, a false start.

page 195 7 eclesiastical] Printed in the revises ‘ecclesiastical’. 8 duely] Printed in the revises ‘duly’. 8–9 in as much as] Revision orig. ‘for that’; printed in the revises ‘inasmuch as’. 11 being never] Revision orig. (1) ‘may never be’; (2) ‘they never being’. 11 authorised] Printed in the revises ‘authorized’. 13 have] Written over ‘had’. 14 sitting of the Convocation] False start, ‘has’. 14 wholly] Added in the same draft.

399

NOTES TO PAGES 195–99

16 17 33

as the times] Printed in the revises ‘as times’. Johnson …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. Reverend] Second edition, ‘the Reverend’.

page 196 4–5 who with … many] Resolution of alternatives orig. ‘whose modest and unassuming manners has [sic] associated him with many’. JB deleted ‘him’, and, having scored through ‘with’ (l. 4), wrote it in again. 6 Perhaps too I] MS orig. (1) ‘I too perhaps’; (2) ‘Perhaps I’. 8 á Kempis] Printed in the revises ‘à Kempis’. 9 German] Added in the same draft. 13–14 differed in any essential matter.] Revision orig. ‘in any ess[ential]’, inserted after ‘which’, a false start. 14 had any variations] Revision orig. ‘had any essential’, a false start. 16 a whole closet] Printed in the revises ‘a closet’. 16 said] Second edition, ‘added’, with the ensuing comment set off by quotation marks. page 197 5 departed] Added in the same draft. 5–7 How … other world.] Punctuated with a question mark in Hill-Powell. 9 leagues] Written ‘leauges’, but printed correctly by the compositor. 10 We talked …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 17 charged] MS orig. ‘accused’. 18 judgement] False start, ‘in one’. 22 (first) Christian] Added in the same draft. 23 Christian] Added in the same draft. 22–23 as if I … Charity] Omitted in the revises. page 198 amounted to this that] Printed in the revises ‘amounted to this—that’. appeared] MS orig. ‘appears’. Case] Added in the same draft. this paper] Printed in the revises ‘the paper’. manner,] Revision orig. ‘tone’. Penitent] MS orig. ‘Penetent’. by Dr. Johnson] MS orig. ‘by a christian friend’—added in the same draft, but altered once JB had drafted the phrase ‘in the character of his friend’ farther along in the same clause. 28 mention what] False start, ‘he thou[ght]’. 29 intimate] Written over the first letter of a false start, ‘c’. 30 really] Added in the same draft. 31 frame] Second edition, ‘frame of mind’. 2 9 11 22 23 25 28

page 199 the day before] Added in the same draft. 30th May] Printed in the revises ’30th of May’. 13 both] Written over a false start, ‘o[f]’. 17 were] Written over a false start, possibly ‘i[s]’. 20 Lord] Printed in the revises ‘LORD’. 3 12

400

NOTES TO PAGES 199–203

21 21 22 26

With] Written over a false start, possibly ‘In’. long suffering] Hyphenated in the revises. these] Added in the same draft. 1 Cor. xiii. 4. 5.] MS orig. ‘Cor. xiii. 4. 5.’

page 200 2 Crossbow] Printed in the revises ‘cross-bow’. 5 her] Written over a false start, possibly ‘a’. 5–6 and when this] MS orig. ‘and this’, a false start. 10 respected] Printed in the revises ‘respectable’. 15 inquiring] Printed in the revises ‘enquiring’. 17–18 to Oxford as his first jaunt … talked] MS orig. ‘to Oxford of which we had talked’, a false start. 18 we had talked] Printed in the revises ‘we talked’. 23 any of] Added in the same draft. 29 who] Written over a false start, probably ‘s[uggested]’. 31 friday,] False start, ‘and’. page 201 4–5 to attend] MS orig. ‘to be’, a false start. 5 of Handel in] MS orig. ‘of Handel on’, a false start. 11 relief] Printed in the revises ‘aid’. June 1] The numeral, omitted in the second and third editions, was restored 11 in Hill-Powell. 13 Post Coach] Printed in the revises ‘post-coach’, here and below (p. 202 l. 3). 26 but I] False start, ‘am’. page 202 8 At the Inn …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 8 dined] Printed in the revises ‘stopped’. 15 magnificent &] Added in the same draft. 16 Toryism] Written over some slip of the pen. 19 invitation] False start, ‘to’, added in the same draft. 20 directly] Added in the same draft. 21 hasten down] Second edition, ‘hasten back’. 25 Hebrean] Printed in the revises ‘Hebræan’. 27 & distinct] Added in the same draft. 27–28 assuming … air and repeating] Printed in the revises ‘assuming a gay air, repeated’. page 203 would appear] Revision orig. ‘appeared’. (second) is] In revision, JB selected ‘is’, then wrote ‘was’ over it, then deleted this and wrote ‘is’ again. 10 considerable] MS orig. ‘grea[t]’. 14 very] Added in the same draft. 19 Dr. Newton in … Life] Revision orig. ‘In the Anecdotes’, a false start. 20 Lives of the Poets] Printed in the revises within quotation marks, but not italicized. 22 well-written] Printed without a hyphen in the revises. 6 7

401

NOTES TO PAGES 203–08

23

ill-humour] Printed without a hyphen in the revises.

page 204 3–4 of which upon me was … I never] MS orig. ‘of which was such that I resolve[d]’, a false start. 7 9 of June] Printed in the revises ‘9th of June’. 8 agreable] Added in the same draft. 9 by calling out] Added in the same draft. 18 excellences] Printed in the revises ‘excellencies’. 18 inlarges] Printed in the revises ‘enlarges’. 22 Essays] MS orig. ‘essays’. 24 surprised] Written over a false start, ‘c’ or possibly ‘co’ for ‘concerned’; printed in the revises ‘surprized’. 28 Newton; the] MS orig. ‘Newton. The’. 29 imputed] Written over the first letter of a false start, possibly ‘e[xcused]’. 30–31 wish it … by it] Second edition, ‘wish they … by them’. 31 not in respectful] MS orig. ‘in disrespectful’. 32 whose labours were certainly] MS orig. ‘who certainly’, a false start. page 205 3 venerable Writer which] False start, ‘I have’. 6–7 made a remark this evening] Revision orig. ‘observed to us this evening’, a false start. 8 mean to] Added in the same draft. 10 and did not] Revision orig. ‘and did he not’, a false start. 14 their] Deleted in proof, as evident from the spacing between words in the revises. 16 confirmed] Written over the first pen stroke of a false start, possibly a ‘t’. 18 22 1 2 4 9

1 3 5 6 7 16 17 19 23

page 206 I had] False start, ‘been’. Ignorance] MS orig. ‘ignorance’. page 207 spoke] Written over ‘ment[ioned]’. good preferments] Second edition, ‘great prospects’. an admiration of] Added in the same draft. She observed as a…] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph when revised to ‘Mrs. Kennicot in …’. page 208 If] Written over the first letter of an undeciphered false start. reasoning] Added in the same draft. acceptance with GOD] False start, ‘might’. so] Written over the first letter of a false start, possibly a ‘t’. helps to get to heaven] MS orig. ‘helps to heaven’. He argued …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. giving only the bread] Printed in the revises ‘the giving the bread only’. deviations from the] Revision orig. ‘deviations from its’. occasioned … Bath] Printed in italics in the revises.

402

NOTES TO PAGES 209–12

3 7 9 9 9 12 13 20

page 209 means communion] Printed in the revises ‘means the communion’. to the company some passages] First draft, ‘some passages’. to produce so judicious …] MS orig. ‘to bring so judicious …’, a false start. a supporter] Revision orig. (1) ‘an advocate’; (2) ‘a def[ender]’. for] Changed in the revises to ‘of’. unaccountable] Printed in the revises ‘unthinking’. ‘Divine Poesie’ Canto first] MS orig. ‘first Canto’, a false start. tho’] Printed in the revises ‘though’.

page 210 11 his Lordship says] MS orig. ‘he says’. 16 various proofs] Second edition, ‘various proofs, he adds,’. 21–22 whose eminent … opinions.] MS orig. (1) ‘the friend of the great and of the’; (2) ‘who has had merit enough to deserve and merits’, both false starts. 25 as] Written over quotation marks anticipating the gloss ‘the evil one’. 26 This was] Printed in the revises ‘This is’. 26 illustrated] False starts, (1) ‘by my late f[riend]’; (2) ‘by my late worthy friend Dr. Lort in a parti[?cular]’. 26 in a short but excellent Commentary] First draft, ‘in an Essay’. 27 Dr. Lort] Printed in the revises ‘the Reverend Dr. Lort’. False starts, (1) ‘whose death’; (2) ‘of whose death’; (3) ‘who will long be remembered with regard by an ex[?tensive]’. 28 Waller in his] False start, ‘poetical’. page 211 Tory] Punctuated in the revises ‘Tory.’; second edition, ‘Tory;—’. not so much] MS orig. ‘not much’. roared them down.] Punctuated in the revises with an exclamation point. No no.] The second ‘no’ was added in the same draft. threepence] Printed in the revises ‘three-pence’; third edition, ‘threepence’. would my parents consent.’] The full stop became a question mark in the second edition. 27 not allowed] Printed in the revises ‘not allowed to eat’. 29 He then proceeded] Second edition, ‘Johnson then proceeded’.

4 4 15 15 16 20

page 212 2 restrain] Printed in the revises ‘restrict’. 6 after this] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘afterwards’. 9 depravity] Italicized in the second edition. 10–11 good qualities … and accomplishments] MS orig. ‘accomplishments÷good qualities’, a set of alternatives which JB turned into a series by adding ‘merit and’, then modifying this with ‘distinguished’. 13 that] Added in the same draft. 13 made] Printed in the revises ‘had made’. 14 He] Written over a false start, possibly ‘The’. 28 Dr. Johnson’s] MS orig. ‘Johnson’s’. 30–31 appear … give his vote] MS orig. ‘give his vote for him, if it would do him no good, and would give it’.

403

NOTES TO PAGES 213–16

page 213 who] Written with an exaggerated ‘w’ over the first stroke of a false start. Will] MS orig. ‘B[?ut]’, a false start. One stroke added to the ‘B’ turned it into an oddly formed ‘W’. 15 Radcliff’s] Printed in the revises ‘Radcliffe’s’. 15 know] MS orig. ‘knew’. 17 Inocculation] Printed in the revises ‘Inoculation’. 18 peruvian Bark] MS orig. ‘Bark’; printed in the revises ‘Peruvian-bark’. 19 very] Written over a false start, ‘num[erous]’. 23 eleventh June] Printed in the revises ‘June 11’. 25 Book of Common Prayer.’] Preceded in the revises by a single inverted comma, marking it as a title; see Life MS iii. 213 n. 7. 28 prayers] MS orig. ‘prayer’. 30 passages] Printed in the revises ‘some’. 34 great] Added in the same draft. 39 upon his face] Printed in the revises ‘before his face’. 1 4

page 214 10 Saviour’s] Printed in small capital letters in the revises. 13–15 When praying for …÷speaking of … he says] Added in the same draft. 15 Lord thou will] Printed in the revises ‘LORD, thou wilt’. 19 Golden Grove] Printed within quotation marks in the revises, not italicized. 22 holy] Added in the same draft. 27 him] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘Johnson’. 29 gentle?] The question mark became a full stop in the second edition. 32 Impiety] MS orig. ‘impiety’. page 215 7 in some degree] Added in the same draft. 11 The Rambler] MS orig. a lower-case ‘t’. 16–17 manner at times though] MS orig. ‘manner was’, a false start; JB overwrote ‘was’, transforming it into ‘though’. 17 of the same nature with] MS orig. ‘the same nature [as]’, a false start. 18 had] Written over the first letters of an undeciphered false start. 22 Thirtieth] Written over ‘30’; printed in the revises ‘30th’. 22–23 January 1772 … Sentiments] MS orig. ‘January’, to which JB added ‘17’, not yet recalling the year; ‘72 full of High Tory Sentiments’ was a later addition. 24 but] False start, ‘it having been afterwards taken up’. 24–25 a part of] A later addition. 28 Monarchical] Written over ‘C[onstitution]’. page 216 2 still should have] Printed in the revises ‘should still have’. 4 as] Written over a false start, possibly ‘to’. 8–9 in÷at this classical spot] Added in the same draft. 11 with true Tory cordiality] Revision orig. (1) ‘in good old port’; (2) ‘with true cord[iality]’. 13 in writing] Added in the same draft. 14 intrepidity] Written again after JB had at first resolved his alternatives in favour of ‘boldness’.

404

NOTES TO PAGES 216–19

15–16 we should not find fault with this, for] Added in the same draft. 16 that we ought …] This revision was drafted on MS opp. 952, the word ‘that’ covering a false start; blotted letters on MS 952 before ‘we should …’ (see note above) suggest a prior false start there. 20 high=way] Printed in the revises ‘highway’. 25 invective which was] Second edition, ‘invectives which were’. 27 each other] MS orig. ‘one [another]’. 27 the heat of] Added in the same draft. 28 genteely] Printed in the revises ‘genteelly’; third edition, ‘genteely’; HillPowell, ‘genteelly’. 28 much worse much more dangerous] MS orig. ‘much more dangerous’. 34 Dr. Young] MS orig. ‘Young’. page 217 3 twelfth June] Printed in the revises ‘June 12’. 6–7 by which … eminent] Added in the same draft. 9 Family Discourses] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 10 addressing] Written with an exaggerated ‘a’ to cover the first letters of a false start. 12 stile] Printed in the revises ‘style’. 13 by Dr. Johnson] Revision orig. ‘by Dr. Johnson, who could not bear any mixture of’, a false start; printed in the revises ‘by so manly a mind’. 15 Littleton’s] Printed in the revises ‘Lyttelton’s’. 16 fulfillment] Changed in the revises to ‘fulfilment’. 25 sauntered] MS orig. ‘walked’. 26 found] Printed in the revises ‘found him’. 26 to be] Added in the same draft. 26 and cheerful] Added in the same draft. 28 dejected] Added in the same draft. 30 That] Written over a false start, ‘Sir,’. page 218 Sir] Added in the same draft. Well Sir; But if] MS orig. ‘Well, but if’; printed in the revises ‘Well, Sir; but if’, to which a comma was added after ‘but’. 16 do] The ‘o’ covers a slip or the pen or the initial stroke of a false start. 19 right hand] Hyphenated (across a line break) in the revises; the misleading hyphen made its way into the second edition, but was omitted in the third. 21 If what has now been stated] MS orig. ‘If this’. 6 9

page 219 1 the ballance of misery] MS orig. ‘the misery’. 2 that Life which] Printed in the revises ‘the life which’. 6 those] Written over ‘m’, possibly a false start for ‘men’. 8 I heard Mr. Burke one day] MS orig. ‘Mr. Burke one day’, a false start. 12 preceeded] Printed in the revises ‘preceded’. 14 deceitful] MS orig. ‘deceiving’. 17 quote … Dryden] MS orig. ‘quote Dryden’, a false start. 33 AURENG-ZEBE] Printed in the revises ‘AURENGZEBE’. A citation was added in the third edition, ‘Act. iv. Sc. I.’

405

NOTES TO PAGES 220–22

page 220 There is … to him] Printed in the revises ‘We may apply to him a sentence’. without] In revision, JB wrote ‘out’ again, having first deleted the syllable in favour of the alternative phrasing, ‘with no’. 14–15 in consequence … house and] Revision orig. (1) ‘&’, a false start (on MS 958); (2) ‘in consequence of our living in the Master’s house/’ (on MS opp. 958); JB then drafted ‘and’ over the slash marking the end of this second draft. 19 Paradise Lost] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 21 cherry stones] Printed with a hyphen in the revises. 23 depart] Written over a false start, ‘vio[late]’. 25 that] Added in the same draft. 27 willingly] Added in the same draft. 29 some] Added in the same draft. 9 14

page 221 5 denied] Written over a false start, ‘di’, perhaps for ‘disavowed’. 7 effectual] Added in the same draft. 9–10 evade, it will … confession.] MS orig. ‘evade it, will be held a confession.’ JB lost track of his sentence structure; the original comma, undeleted, was ignored. 10 Sir] Added in the same draft. 11 case. Supposing the Authour] Revision orig. ‘case — suppose the Authour of Junius’. 13 as being] MS orig. ‘because’, a false start. 15 telling a lie to a sick man] MS orig. ‘telling a sick man that’, a false start. 20 abhorrence at] Second edition, ‘abhorrence of’. 24 myself] Added in the same draft. 25–26 as an eternal … principle] Added in the same draft; ‘eternal’ was added and deleted in the line above, showing that JB first considered the phrase ‘held that eternal [and immutable] Truth’. 27 supposed] Added in the same draft. 27 obligations of which] MS orig. ‘obligations which’, a false start. 27–28 being the judge for himself] Second edition, ‘being to judge for himself’. 28 great] Written over the first letters of a false start, possibly ‘mu[ch]’. 28 we] Written over ‘he’. 28 may too often] Second edition, ‘too often’; Hill-Powell, ‘may too often’. 28–29 from partial motives] Added in the same draft. 32 be more perfect were Truth] MS orig. ‘be promoted were it’; ‘Truth’ is written over ‘it’. 33 Dunciad] Printed within quotation marks in the revises; false start, ‘there’. 33–34 elegant and pathetick] The first word (added in the same draft) and next two words (added later) were omitted in the second edition. page 222 7 tho’] Printed in the revises ‘though’. 13 ev’ry] Printed in the revises ‘every’. 23 undermaster] Printed in the revises ‘under-master’. 22–23 Lewis … who published] Third edition, ‘Lewis, who was either undermaster or an usher of Westminster-school, and published’.

406

NOTES TO PAGES 222–26

24

Grongar Hill] Printed within quotation marks in the revises.

page 223 5 genius] Written over the first letter of an undeciphered false start. 7 I forget which] Added in the same draft. 7 Mr.] Written over ‘the’, a false start for ‘the [Translator of the Lusiad]’. 8 Lusiad] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 8 Country] Added in the same draft. 14 The other] Written over false starts: ‘The’ over ‘Fr[om]’; ‘other’ over ‘on[e]’. 15 to visit] MS orig. ‘to visit his old friend’. 17–18 my old friend Sack Parker] MS orig. ‘poor Sack Parker who is very ill indeed’; altered when JB drafted ‘Poor Sack! He is very ill indeed.’ (ll. 23–24). 19 many] Written over a false start, possibly ‘mor[e]’. 23 be sure to] Added in the same draft. 28 in some degree] Added in the same draft. 30 The Reverend] Added in the same draft. page 224 to the end of] MS orig. ‘to the end’. You may] MS orig. ‘He might’, a false start. voyages] Printed in the revises ‘Voyages’. Voyages to the South Sea] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. Otaheité] Printed in the revises ‘Otaheite’; second edition, ‘Otaheité’. (first) savages] MS orig. ‘Savages’; printed ‘Savages’ in this, the preceding, and the next speech. 17 tempora] Third edition, ‘tempori’, an error corrected in Hill-Powell. 20–21 ‘I suppose … better.’] Punctuated with a question mark in the third edition. 22 allways] Omitted in the revises.

1 3 7 8 13 14

page 225 (first) business] Printed in the revises ‘business.’; second edition, ‘his business;—’. 11 allways] Written over a false start, ‘never’. 11–12 found in] Printed in the revises ‘found at’. 12 Chambers] Written over the first letter of a false start, perhaps a small ‘c’. 16 probably] Added in the same draft. 17 to be by much] MS orig. ‘to be much’. 20 some of] Added in the same draft. 21 thought] Written over a false start, ‘s’, possibly for ‘submitted’. 21 absolutely] Added in the same draft. 23 considered] Written over a ‘t’, perhaps a false start for ‘took [to be]’. 25 (second) he] Written in again, after JB in revision first chose the alternative, ‘that gentlemen’. 2

page 226 3–4 added that] JB wrote ‘that’ over quotation marks, a false start to his next quotation. 6 so much, that he] MS orig. ‘so much, that the’, a false start. 8 as he would use his] Printed in the revises ‘as he would his’. 13 a civil intelligent man] Added in the same draft.

407

NOTES TO PAGES 226–30

22 28 28

paid to him] MS orig. ‘paid him’. Letters to Mrs. Thrale] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. Vol. 2] Printed in the revises ‘Vol. II.’

page 227 3 here] Written over the first letter of a false start. 3 some] MS orig. ‘a few’; false start, ‘of his sayings’. 6–7 Original … Petition] MS orig. ‘Original Copy÷draft of the Petition’. 6–7 the Petition … Dodd] Printed within quotation marks in the revises, with a capital ‘T’; false start, ‘which Johnson said’. 8 enclosed] Printed in the revises ‘inclosed’. 24 in hope that] Second edition, ‘in hopes that’. 25 Royal mercy] Printed in the revises ‘royal mercy’; third edition, ‘Royal Mercy’. page 228 2–3 from his early years] Added in the same draft. 4–5 which he has been pleased to communicate] Added in the same draft; ‘has been pleased’ was first drafted ‘was pleased’. 5 lyes] Second edition, ‘lies’. 5 Johnson’s] Written over ‘his’. 7 also] Added in the same draft. 8 It having … gentleman] MS orig. ‘A gentleman’, a false start. 12 his] Written over a false start, ‘s[uch]’. 12 such] Written, deleted, and written again. 12 should] Written over ‘as’, a false start. 14 Speaking] Written over the first letter of a false start, apparently ‘O[f]’. 17 mode of living] MS orig. ‘table’. 18 round the table] Added in the same draft. 19 seem as] False start, ‘i[ll calculated]’, Astle’s phrase (Corr. 2a, p. 145). 21 gave] Written over the first letter of a false start. 22 (first) his] Written over the first letter of a false start. 22 jurisdiction] False start, ‘and’. 24 Sir] Deleted in revision, then written in again. 24 the fifth] Printed in the revises ‘a fifth’. page 229 2 was read] False start, possibly ‘alo[ud]’. 2 this] MS orig. ‘the follo[wing]’. 4 ‘I cannot … you’ said Johnson.] MS orig. ‘“Why” said Johnson’, a false start. 11 gone out of a] MS orig. ‘left a’. 15 that employment … integrity] MS orig. ‘an employment of great trus[t]’. 18 Johnson’s sarcasm … is] MS orig. ‘I believe this’, a false start. 19 any class] MS orig. ‘any general class’. 20–21 at a coffeehouse] Omitted in the revises. 21 puzling] Printed in the revises ‘puzzling’. 22 upon] Written over an undeciphered false start. 7

page 230 true] MS orig. (1) ‘true’; (2) ‘sen[?sible]’.

408

NOTES TO PAGES 230–32

7–8

We may suppose … heard] MS orig. (1) ‘Perhaps he may have been preju[diced]’; (2) ‘Perhaps he may have heard wh[at]’. 8 account to … Staunton] False start, ‘of the mode in which he made the speeches in Parliament, “Why Sir I knew the names’. 11 The] Written over the first letter of a false start. 12 satirically] Printed in the revises ‘satyrically’. 13 expressed his opinion] MS orig. ‘observed’. 16 Walpole] Written over ‘Mason an[d]’, an inadvertent false start. 16 buckramed] Printed in the revises ‘buckram’d’; third edition, ‘buckram’d’. 20–21 characteristical of the age … writes] MS orig. ‘characteristick of his age’; ‘the’ covers ‘his’. 23 frequent] Added in the same draft. 24 always to intimate contradiction] MS orig. ‘merely in [contradiction]’; ‘to’ covers ‘in’. 25 which had not been denied] Added in the same draft. 25–26 as in the instance] MS orig. ‘as for instance’, a false start. 27 had said] False starts, (1) ‘No, Sir [undeciphered letter(s)]’; (2) ‘No, Sir You’. 31 must] An oddly formed ‘m’ suggests the correction of a false start. 33 the real character of] Added in the same draft. 34 found out] Written over a false start, possibly ‘re[vealed]’. 34 amusements] MS orig. ‘amusement’. 34 JOHNSON.] Second edition, ‘Johnson added,’. 34 hypochrite] Printed in the revises ‘hypocrite’. 37–38 the Ministry] Added in the same draft. page 231 Collegues] Printed in the revises ‘colleagues’. of coming] MS orig. ‘to come’. bedside] Printed in the revises ‘bed-side’. Council Board] Second edition, ‘Council-Board’. a sick man] Printed in the revises ‘the sick man’. with him] Omitted in the revises. a news-paper] Printed in the revises ‘the news-paper’; third edition, ‘the newspaper’. See p. 376, endnote for p. 106 l. 3. 14–15 animated and] Added in the same draft. 16 (I know not … taken)] Added in the same draft. 17 chains] Printed in the revises ‘chain’. 19 clank.’] The full stop became a question mark in the second edition. 20 in her Anecdotes] False start, ‘give[n]’. 25 not correctly] Printed in the revises ‘not quite correctly’. 30 when he was] False start, ‘a’. 31 political] Added in the same draft. 32 though] Written over a false start, probably ‘s[tood]’ (the verb to come). 32 then] Added in the same draft. 2 3 3 5 9 13 14

2 4 7 9

page 232 solely] Added in the same draft. rhime] Printed in the revises ‘rhyme’. Tho’] Printed in the revises ‘Though’. It may …] Preceded by a false start, one or two letters heavily deleted.

409

NOTES TO PAGES 232–34

10 12 15 16 19 20 20–21 22–23 23

drawn for] Second edition, ‘drawn to serve in’. Colonel] MS orig. ‘colonel’. in] Written over the first letter of a false start, possibly ‘b’. He was …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. tea &] Added in the same draft. In] Written over the first letter of a false start, possibly ‘H’. worth their while] MS orig. ‘worth while’. ‘Sir’ said he ‘there] MS orig. ‘he said “Sir there’, as in the Life Materials. upon Parnassus] False start, ‘that [is]’, as in the Life Materials.

page 233 2–3 the one] MS orig. ‘a well=bred man’. 6 separate] Omitted in the revises. 6–7 Feeling … confessed] MS orig. (1) ‘Feeling at last a proper compunction she confessed’; (2) ‘Feeling a proper compunction she confessed in her last moments’. 7–8 how much … where] MS orig. ‘how much the sum was; but before she could tell it’; ‘where’ covers ‘it’. 14 animadverted] Written over the first letter of a false start. 15 said Johnson] Printed in the revises ‘was his answer’. 19 for when] MS orig. ‘and when’. 19–20 repeat … translated] MS orig. (1) ‘repeat’; (2) ‘translate’. 20 The Rehearsal] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 21 was] Above this word JB started to draft another beginning with ‘w’, but deleted it. 22 pronounced] False start, ‘one rotund ?s[entence]’. 24 censured] MS orig. ‘was angr[y]’, a false start. 24 Travels] False starts, (1) ‘for feigning the character ?and’; (2) ‘for a history ?e’; (3) ‘a history in which he set out’; these transcriptions are uncertain. 24–25 character saying (in … word)] MS orig. (1) ‘character. “Sir” said he’; (2) ‘character saying (in his ?mann[er]’, both false starts. page 234 1 perception of the beauty in] MS orig. (1) ‘taste of’; (2) ‘taste in’. 1 taste in painting] Printed in the revises ‘taste for painting’. 3 of his art] The ‘o’ is written over an ‘i’, a false start for ‘in his Discourses’. 3 Discourses … Academy] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 4 of a passage one day] Second edition, ‘one day of a passage in them’. 5 eagerly and] False start, ‘thus ?ex[pressed]’. 8 censur’d] Printed in the revises ‘censured’. 9 lives] MS orig. ‘lif[e]’. 11 mode] False start, ‘of printin[g]’. 13 man who] False start, ‘now h[as]’, added above the line in the same draft. 13 composed] MS orig. ‘prin[ted]’. 14 Dictionary] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 15 Lives of the Poets] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 15 when] Written over ‘in’. 16 composed] MS orig. ‘done’. 15–17 in Mr. Nichols’s … this Work] Second edition, ‘in that of Mr. Nichols; and who (in his seventy-seventh year) when in Mr. Baldwin’s printing-

410

NOTES TO PAGES 234–36

17 18 19

house, composed a part of the first edition of this work’. By producing] Written over a false start, part of which is ‘John[son]’. and] Written over ‘said’, a false start. said] MS orig. ‘ad’, a false start possibly for ‘addressed’.

page 235 1 miserable] MS orig. ‘wretched’. 2 example.] False start, ‘It is well known’. 3 one night] MS orig. ‘on a’; ‘night’ covers ‘a’; ‘on’ was understood as ‘one’. 4 exhausted] False start, ‘with hun[ger]’. 4 that] Written over ‘s[he]’. 5 she was one] MS orig. ‘she was a’, a false start; JB converted ‘a’ into ‘one’. 6 had fallen] Written over ‘wer[e]’, a false start. 6 vice] Written over the first letter of a false start. 6 poverty] Added in the same draft. 6 disease.] False start, ‘He’. 7 harshly] Added (and hastily written ‘harsly’) in the same draft. 7–8 for a long time at a considerable] MS orig. ‘at a great’. 8 at a considerable expence] Second edition, ‘at considerable expence’. 8 health;] False start, ‘but as I was informed could not restore her to a’. 9 virtuous] MS orig. (1) ‘comfortable’; (2) ‘comf’. 10 He] MS orig. ‘Johnson’. 10 hitting on] Added in the same draft. 12 at once] Omitted in the revises. 14 to utter] Printed in the revises ‘to have uttered’. 14–15 Sir … Devonshire] MS orig. ‘Riding with Sir Joshua Reynolds in Devonshire’, a false start. 18 goes up hill, he stands still.’] Printed in the revises ‘goes up hill, he stands still.”’ 21 giving] Added in the same draft, JB having mistakenly left it out. 24 considerable] Written over the first letter of a false start, possibly ‘s[ome]’. 24 engrossed] MS orig. (1) ‘spoken’; (2) ‘taken’; (3) ‘thrown out’. 25 & having] Added in the same draft. 26 very] Omitted in the second edition; restored in Hill-Powell. page 236 suppos’d] Printed in the revises ‘supposed’. restrain’d] Second edition, ‘restrained’. d’Elire] MS orig. ‘delire’; Hill-Powell ‘d’élire’. replied] MS orig. ‘said’. replied Johnson (who … him)] Printed in the revises ‘(replied Johnson, who … him)’. 7 two pair of stairs] Connected by hyphens in the revises; only the first hyphen (in ‘two-pair’) appeared in the third edition, but Hill-Powell included all three. 13 Johnson’s Works] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 30 printed] False start, ‘to [the ground]’. 31 himself] False start, ‘corrected the’. 32 in] Written over a false start, possibly ‘a[s]’. 2 2 4 6 6

411

NOTES TO PAGES 237–40

page 237 the Rambler] Printed within quotation marks in the revises, with a capital ‘T’. 10 ring-leader] Third edition, ‘ringleader’. 13 public] Printed in the revises ‘publick’, as Steevens had spelled it previously (p. 236 l. 27). 27 thus—‘Milton] Printed in the revises ‘thus:—Milton’; Hill-Powell ‘thus: Milton’. 34 great] Second edition, ‘high’. 37 literature] MS orig. ‘his pen’. 38 in this country] Added in the same draft. 9

page 238 3 often] MS orig. ‘frequently’. 3–4 elegant living & the best company] MS orig. (1) ‘the best company and elegant living and’; (2) ‘elegant living the best company and’; printed in the revises ‘an elegant table and the best company’. 4 happiness] False starts, (1) ‘and which were [undeciphered letter]’; (2) ‘and which were relished by Johnson’; (3) ‘and be shared with other guests’; (4) ‘and was gratified with’; (5) ‘and found extraordinary a[ccomplishments]’. 4 happiness while he found] Printed in the revises ‘happiness; he found’. 5 no man] MS orig. ‘man’, with the ‘m’ seemingly written over a false start. 22 were he] MS orig. ‘were [undeciphered letter]’, a false start. page 239 5 Great] MS orig. ‘great’. 6 Authour] JB formed the ‘A’ out of a false start, possibly a capital ‘T’. 6–7 the DICTIONARY] Printed in the revises ‘THE DICTIONARY’. 9 negociate] Printed in the revises ‘negotiate’; second edition, ‘negociate’. 12 because] False starts, (1) ‘I knew he highly valued Johnson, and because Johns[on]’; (2) ‘I knew he highly valued Johnson, and Johnson’; (3) ‘I knew he highly valued Johnson, and I knew’. 13 his Lordship÷him, so] MS orig. ‘his Lordship.÷him. Long’, a false start. 17 his manly manner with] MS orig. ‘him with’, a false start. 21 when] An exaggerated ‘w’ covers another letter, possibly ‘I’. 21 should] Added in the same draft. 23 Would he] MS orig. ‘Would ha[ve]’, a false start. 23 &] Added in the same draft. 25 points and] Printed in the revises ‘points? and’. page 240 coincided] Revision orig. ‘approved’, a false start. Dr. Johnson] MS orig. ‘my’, a false start possibly for ‘my friend’. to set out … the 28] MS orig. ‘soon to set out for Scotland’; printed in the revises ‘to set out for Scotland early in the week after’. In the second edition, the last two words became ‘following week’. 8 as to] MS orig. ‘respecting’. 9 otherwise] MS orig. ‘but’. 10 gladly] Omitted in the revises. 26 for some time] Added in the same revision. 2 6 7

412

NOTES TO PAGES 241–45

1 3 19

page 241 twenty third, June] Printed in the revises ‘June 23’. forenoon] Second edition, ‘morning’. for] Written over an illegible false start.

page 242 5 the] Written over the first upstroke of a capital ‘M’ (for ‘Mr. Knox’). 5 the Reverend Mr. Knox] Second edition, ‘the Rev. Mr. (now Dr.) Knox’. 7–8 the Reverend Dr. Mayo] Second edition, ‘the Rev. Dr. Mayo’. 11 learnt] Second edition, ‘learned’. 18 extremes] False start, ‘was more’. 21–22 conversation, I beleive it was] Printed in the revises ‘conversation. It was perhaps’; first edition, ‘conversation, it was perhaps’. 22 Mr. Knox] Second edition, ‘Dr. Knox’. 26 There were] Second edition, ‘There was’. 28 hurt by it; & I] MS orig. ‘hurt by it. I’. page 243 2–3 Would you … death.] Punctuated in the revises with a question mark. 5 best] Added in the same draft. 6 elegancies] Printed in the revises ‘delicacies’. 7–8 by Miss Seward which … from her] MS orig. (1) ‘which … from Miss Seward’; (2) ‘by Miss Seward which … from that lady’. 10–11 the Colombiade] Printed ‘The Colombiade,’ within quotation marks in the revises. 12 not in it any] Third edition, ‘not any’; Hill-Powell, ‘not in it any’. 13 Ode] The capital ‘O’ hides a lower-case ‘o’, or possibly a ‘v’ (for ‘verses’). 18 settled in that island] Added in the same draft. 23 expressed a wish] Revision orig. ‘signified a wish’. 24 she would come out] Third edition, ‘she should come out’. 26 went. Her cousin] Printed in the revises ‘went out: her cousin’. 26 surprised] Printed in the revises ‘surprized’; second edition, ‘surprised’. 2 4 8 12 12 16 28 32

page 244 then was] Second edition, ‘was then’. outhouse] Printed in the revises ‘out-house’. probably] Added in the same draft. house.] False start, ‘I had’. for] False start, ‘I had an answer’. of myself] False start, possibly ‘to [suggest]’. more] Second edition, ‘other’. style?’] Printed ‘style.”’ in the first three editions; Hill-Powell, ‘style?”’

page 245 Secretary] MS orig. ‘secretary’. proof of great] So printed in first edition, though misprinted ‘proof great’ in the revises without being marked for correction. 5 which certainly … disposition] Added in the same draft. 7 to shew] Added in the same draft; altered from MS orig. ‘shewing’. 18 Harte was] False start, ‘tutor to’. 4 5

413

NOTES TO PAGES 245–48

20 25 26 27 28 28 29 29 30 31 32 34–35

a favourite of mine] MS orig. ‘a favourite character of mine’. is] Second edition, ‘is in’. an] Written over an illegible false start. of engineering] Started ‘of engine’, deleted, then drafted again. never heard of] MS orig. ‘not seen’. had it] MS orig. ‘had the [book]’. inquiry] Printed in the revises ‘enquiry’. sent it to Johnson] MS orig. ‘sent it to Johnson as a present’. when] False start, ‘he’. sate up] Second edition, ‘sat up’. an air of truth] MS orig. (1) ‘evidence’; (2) ‘authenticity and truth’. in English History] Printed in the revises ‘in the English history’.

page 246 was] Seemingly written over a false start, possibly ‘wis[hed]’. wished that] Second edition, ‘wished’. desireable] Printed in the revises ‘desirable’; see Life MS iii. 347, 380. was that as the Nation] Second edition, ‘was, as the nation’. state.’] The full stop became a question mark in the second edition. of the mind] Added in the same draft. that figurative phrase] MS orig. ‘the phrase’; second edition, ‘that figurative sense’. 24–25 too much presumption] Revision orig. ‘much [undeciphered letters]’. 25 called] Written over ‘s’, probably for ‘said’. 27 gentleman] MS orig. ‘Gentleman’. 29 Sir] Omitted in the revises.

3 4 9 11 12 16 21

page 247 2–3 had the greatest] MS orig. ‘had all’, a false start then worked into the alternative ‘was all’. 3 By & by] Added in the same draft. 5–6 Mr. ––––.] Printed in the revises as a capitalized speaker tag, ‘MR. ––––.’ 7 let us have] Printed in the revises ‘let’s have’. 10 much] Written over ‘to’. 16 following] Omitted in the revises. 27 freindly joy÷rejoicing] An illegible deletion above ‘freindly’ suggests the start of a third option. 34 an annuity] First draft ‘a pension’. 36 with which it had] False start, ‘now’; second edition, ‘with which he had’. page 248 talk of his] Above ‘his’ JB started and deleted an alternative, ‘Jo[hnson’s]’. while I] False start, ‘read’. said] Written again once JB had rejected all three options (l. 14) in turn. I then gave] Printed in the revises ‘Upon which I gave’. affection] Written over ‘emotion’; JB used ‘emotion’ in the next sentence. for you] Added in the same draft. benediction] Above the line JB started and deleted an alternative phrase, ‘prayer for’. 29 both] Added in the same draft.

2 13 20 20 23 24 28

414

NOTES TO PAGES 248–52

31

quite] Added in the same draft.

page 249 15 Both …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 16 which the] Both words seem to be written over single-letter false starts. 18 large] Second edition, ‘liberal’. 23 increase of] First draft, ‘increase in’. 24–25 to allow himself to suppose] MS orig. ‘to suppose’. 28 live to receive] False start, ‘what’. 30–31 rest of his life] Printed in the revises ‘remainder of his life’. 31 moderate] MS orig. ‘moderation’, a slip of the pen. 36 As an instance …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. 37 upon this occasion] Added in the same draft. 38 generous] Added in the same draft. page 250 much of] Added in the same draft. fine] Added in the same draft. Italy,] False start, [undeciphered letters]. had] Written over the first two letters of a false start, possibly ‘le’. Johnson.] False start, ‘The Country /of itself/ can do nothing for an intell[ectual]’. 12 he] Written over the first letter of a false start. 18 there] Written over a false start, ‘m[any]’. 20 (second) World] Added in the same draft. 20–21 philosophers A body] Printed in the revises ‘philosophers, that a body’. 25–26 power of] Added in the same draft. 30 paultry] Printed in the revises ‘paltry’. 30 be] MS orig. ‘ende[avour]’, a false start to the word reintroduced in revision. 38 called] False start, possibly ‘at’, or a slip of the pen for ‘out’.

5 6 8 11 12

page 251 3 touched me as] MS orig. ‘affe[cted]’, a false start. 9 his] Printed in the revises ‘his Lordship’s’. 10 allow of this] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘allow of it’. 10 the business] Printed in the revises ‘the management of the business’. 13 by Mrs. Thrale that] False start, ‘she was’. 14 towit] Added in the same draft. 18 we should] False start, ‘see his real’. 18 real] Added in the same draft. 18 As it is,] False start, ‘we can’. 19 characteristick] Added in the same draft. 26–27 others to whom] MS orig. ‘others whom’, a false start. 27 harsh though necessary] Added in the same draft. 30 ludicrous] Added in the same draft. Letters … Thrale Vol. 2] Printed in the revises ‘“Letters … Thrale,” Vol. II.’ 33 1

page 252 the gloom which depressed him] A false start above this phrase—‘his dreary’—was followed by another letter, possibly ‘s’ for ‘state’.

415

NOTES TO PAGES 252–57

2 4

should] Written over the first letter of an undeciphered false start. rich] Written over a false start, probably ‘wea[lthy]’; rewritten in revision for clarity. 5 provoked] False start, ‘that’. 20 announces] Written over a false start of two letters, the first an ‘i’. 21 towit] Added in the same draft. 22 wished to espouse her] MS orig. (1) ‘was a suitor of the Lady’; (2) ‘was a lover of the Lady’. 23 any] Written over a false start, ‘fo[undation]’. 24–25 an ‘Ode … Nuptials’] MS orig. (1) ‘a Poem of’, a false start; (2) ‘a Poem entitled “Ode … Nuptials”’.

page 253 1 which is very mild indeed] Added in the same draft. 1 it were] Added in the same draft, possibly as an optional phrase. 19 the match] Written over the first two letters of an undeciphered false start. 21 which] Written over the first letter of an undeciphered false start. 22–23 appears at once with] MS orig. ‘has at once’, a false start. 24 tenderness.] False start, ‘Sir John’. 36 a humourous Poem] Revision orig. ‘an im’, a false start. 38 fancied] Revision orig. [undeciphered word]. page 254 of this transaction is to shew] Revision orig. ‘of it sh[ews]’. Johnson] False start in revision, ‘displayed both [undeciphered letter]’. with this Lady] Revision orig. ‘with a Lady whose intimacy he ha[d]’, a false start. 6 softness] Revision orig. ‘qu’, a false start. 10 before dismissing this subject] Added in the same draft. 23 in a motley …] Revision orig. [undeciphered false start].

4 4 5

page 255 1 this Lady] Printed in the revises ‘Mrs. Thrale’. 1 lifetime] Printed in the revises ‘life-time’. 1–2 any of his peculiarities] Printed in the revises ‘any peculiarities’. 3 intimacy. Her] MS orig. ‘intimacy, and her’. 3–4 Letters … possession] MS orig. ‘Letters to him of which I have one in my possession’. 4 full not only of] MS orig. ‘full of not only’. 10 that we] MS orig. seemingly ‘that Jo[hnson]’, a false start. 25 in return] Added in the same draft. 1 1 14 15 1

page 256 Dean] Written over ‘The’. upon … ferocity] Added in the same draft. which] Written over ‘to’, a false start. her Collection] MS orig. ‘the Collection’. page 257 too much care cannot be taken] False start to an alternative phrase, ‘there cannot’.

416

NOTES TO PAGES 257–62

1 2 5–6 8 14 18

her book] MS orig. (1) ‘it’; (2) ‘the book’. consider it as a duty] Revision orig. ‘think it ne[cessary]’. think it necessary] Revision orig. ‘consider it as necessary’. book it ‘lends] Second edition, ‘book, “it lends’; Hill-Powell, ‘book, it “lends’. ‘These Anecdotes (a learned … observes)] Revision orig. ‘A learned gentleman justly observes “These Anecdotes’. From] MS orig. ‘from’, by mistake.

page 258 /sayings/] Optional status suggested by its position above the line. complection] Printed in the revises ‘complexion’. inaccuracy] Written over the first stroke of an ‘m’, for ‘misrepresentation’; followed by a false start, ‘and misrepresentation deserve’. 29 eulogium] Printed in the revises ‘eulogy’.

5 6 13

page 259 8 She says] Second edition, ‘She says, in another place’. 18 not] Printed in italics in the third edition. 19 have] False start, ‘h’, possibly a repetition of ‘have’. 19–20 and it has gained something by the way] Omitted in the revises. 21 not] Printed in italics in the third edition. 23 that he talked] Printed in the revises ‘that he had talked’. 1 7 14 15 15

page 260 I see no honour in it,] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. with … flippancy] Revision orig. (1) ‘with petulant keeness’; (2) ‘flipp[antly]’. work;’ and she] Printed in the revises ‘work.” She’. boasts of having] Printed in the revises ‘boasts of her having’. common place] Hyphenated in the revises.

page 261 1 (p. 71)] Added in the same draft. 7 write] MS orig. ‘dictate to’; JB converted ‘to’ into a ‘w’. 7–8 and with … me] MS orig. ‘and favoured me [with]’, a false start. 20 that so gross] MS orig. (1) ‘how very gross’; (2) ‘how so gross’, false starts. 24 already] MS orig. ‘all[ready]’; JB deleted the start of his usual spelling. page 262 lowered] Redrafted on MS opp. 992 after JB had deleted both alternatives in revision. 3 that] Written over a false start, possibly ‘the’. 4 herself] Written over the first letter of a false start, ‘s’. 5 petite morale] Third edition, ‘petites morales’. 6 (p. 51)] MS orig. ‘in’, a false start, overwritten by the ‘p’. 6 Dr. Johnson] Converted to roman type in the third edition. 12 his] Redrafted in revision after JB had rejected, in turn, both alternatives. 12 almost] Added in the same draft. 13 employing … readiness] MS orig. ‘employing with a generous readiness’. 14 useful.] False start, ‘Has she then forgotten’. 1

417

NOTES TO PAGES 262–64

14 14 17 17 23 24 24 25

Indeed] Revision orig. (1) ‘Witness’; (2) ‘Nay bes[ides]’. False starts, (1) ‘all’; (2) ‘if there was any part of his character’. readiness and activity] Printed in the revises ‘obliging activity’. and respectable] Added in the same draft. a numerous … living] Printed in the revises ‘a number of his respectable friends:’. her Mother and husband] Printed in the revises ‘him and her mother’. & even trifling] Added in the same draft. for the] MS orig. ‘for her’; ‘the’ is written over ‘her’. even] Added in the same draft.

page 263 1 years] Written over an undeciphered word. 4 when] Written over the first letter of a false start. 4–5 one÷her÷a lady with whom] MS orig. (1) ‘one of’, a false start, probably leading into ‘the Johnsonian School’; (2) ‘one÷her with whom’. JB added the third option, ‘a lady’, with a different pen, possibly glancing back at this passage in the same draft when, a few lines down the page, he changed to this pen. 7 this Lady’s Anecdotes] MS orig. ‘these Anecdotes’. 8 merits peculiar observation.] MS orig. (1) ‘is [undeciphered letter]’; (2) ‘is in’; (3) ‘is somewhat singular.’ False starts, (1) ‘It mentions Mr. Ch—lm—ley having paid his compliments’; (2) ‘It mentions Mr. Ch—lm—ley having met Mr. & Mrs. Thrale and Dr. Johnson when on a jaunt in Shropshire and’; (3) ‘It mentions … in Shropshire or Derbyshire’; (4) ‘It mentions that when Mr. and Mrs. Thrale’; (5) ‘Mrs. Thrale evidently means to convey an impression’. 8 that] False start ‘when’. 11 but observing that] MS orig. ‘but that’, a false start. 11 who] Written over the first two letters of a false start. 16 Mr. Cholmondeley] Added in the same draft. 1

1 1 2 2 3 3 4

page 264 whom … esteemed] MS orig. (1) ‘whom no man who knows or who has ever seen him would treat with disrespect. But Johnson who from his long acquaintance with Mr. Cholmondeley’s Mother h[ad]’; (2) ‘whom … disrespect. But Johnson who had known him from his child[hood]’; (3) ‘whom … disrespect. But Johnson … from his earliest’; (4) ‘whom he esteemed & had loved from his earliest’. If therefore …] MS orig. ‘If therefore it could have been softened [undeciphered letter]’, a false start. telling] Printed in the revises ‘mentioning’. tenderness] MS orig. (1) ‘respect’; (2) ‘regard’; printed in the revises ‘her tenderness’. Dr. Johnson’s character] MS orig. (1) ‘the venerable character of Johnson’; (2) ‘the character of Johnson’. disposed her] False start, ‘who’. circumstance] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘thing’. told her] MS orig. ‘afterwards mentioned’. In revision, JB deleted ‘told’, started and deleted ‘mentio[ned]’, then redrafted ‘told’.

418

NOTES TO PAGES 264–67

4–5 6 7 8 13 16 22 23 25 26

told her — that] Printed in the revises ‘told her? — That’; second edition, ‘told her? — that’. appearance] False starts, (1) ‘apolo[gized]’; (2) ‘did’, added above the line in the same draft. apology.] MS orig. (1) ‘apology, ascribing’; (2) ‘apology, imputing it either to a [undeciphered letters]’; (3) ‘apology, imputing it either to absence of mind at the time, or to his having been fretted by someth[ing]’, false starts. circumstance which] False starts, (1) ‘seems’; (2) ‘is’. Anecdote? or] MS orig. ‘Anecdote without at least’, a false start. misrepresentation] Written over a false start or slip of the pen. whom] MS orig. ‘who’, a false start. often and often÷so often] A third option was started and deleted, ‘again and a[gain]’. people] Added in the same draft. chose] Written over the first letter of a false start.

page 265 3 For in the] MS orig. (1) ‘For in’; (2) ‘For the’ (with ‘the’ written over ‘in’). 5–6 Rasselas,] Printed within quotation marks in the revises; in roman type in the third edition. 7 Him] The ‘m’ is written over a slip of the pen or false start. 14 freind than that] Printed in the revises ‘friend in saying, that’. 15 her Anecdotes] Printed in the revises ‘Mrs. Thrale’s “Anecdotes”’. 18 perfect] Added in the same draft. 20 it] Written over ‘is’, a false start. 26 affectation] Written over ‘affected’, a false start. page 266 Another …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph when revised to ‘There is Another’. 2 represent] MS orig. ‘give’, a false start. 5 Prithee] Changed by Selfe in the revises to ‘Pr’ythee’; second edition, ‘Prithee’. 5 be worse] Printed in the revises ‘be the worse’; JB’s copy was accurate. 7 supper.”’] Punctuated in the revises with a question mark. 4–7 America … Presto’s … Presto] Third edition, ‘America … Presto’s … Presto’. 9 I do not however deny] Printed in the revises ‘I allow’. 23–24 O dear … happened.] Printed in the revises ‘O, my dear … happened?’ 26 unfeeling manner of telling] Printed in the revises ‘light unfeeling manner of mentioning’. 27 all your] MS orig. ‘all those l[arks]’, a false start; ‘your’ covers the ‘l’. 29 Upon … Wilkes he] MS orig. (1) ‘Similar’; (2) ‘Somewhat Similar’; (3) ‘Upon this my friend Mr. Wilkes’, all false starts. 1

page 267 3–4 that during … France,] MS orig. ‘that when’, a false start. 5 That she saw Mr. Thrale] MS orig. ‘That Mr. Thrale’, a false start. 9 unfeeling] Written over the initial letters of an illegible false start. 11 overturn] Written over the initial letters of a false start or slip of the pen.

419

NOTES TO PAGES 267–72

20 He told] Printed in the revises ‘He said to’. 22 make] MS orig. ‘g[ive]’ or ‘g[rant]’. 23–24 to be sure sighed very tenderly] Printed in the revises ‘sighed indeed very piteously’. 25 she nevertheless] Omitted in the revises. 26 partridges in England.] Printed in the revises ‘English partridges, besides other things.’ 28 story] Added in the same draft. 6 10 13 13 16 17

page 268 to expose] False start in revision, ‘thus minute[ly]’. as from Johnson’s] MS orig. ‘as I understand that Johnson’s’, a false start. may have gained] MS orig. ‘has gained’. no small] Added in the same draft. to perform] Printed in the revises ‘reluctantly to perform’. shew errour] MS orig. ‘shew the errour’.

page 269 8–9 presuming … conjectures] MS orig. ‘offering÷making any remarks or even conjectures’. 10 very] Added in the same draft. 12 were that true] Added in the same draft. 27–28 as if he] The word ‘he’ covers a false start, ‘n[ot]’. 28 Bounty] MS orig. ‘bounty’. 29 clearly] Written over the first stroke of a false start. 33 chuse to give] MS orig. ‘give’. 34 And upon hearing] MS orig. ‘Upon hearing’. 1 23

page 270 gentle÷soft] Added in the same draft. original draft] Above the line, before ‘original’, is a false start, possibly ‘in’.

page 271 16–17 at the ill … (first) that] Preceding this revision (in the margin) JB made an illegible false start above ‘repining’. 18 to a certain extent] Written out; JB in revision first had chosen ‘so much’, deleting ‘to a certain degree’ (p. 269 l. 33). 24–25 as I called it,] MS orig. (1) ‘/as I called it’; (2) ‘(as I called it’. In deleting the virgule-turned-parenthesis, JB did not replace it with any puncutation, but a comma was printed. 25 in the best hands I] False starts, (1) ‘was anxious to hear’; (2) ‘shall here insert all that I’; (3) ‘shall here without regard to the ex[act]’ (i.e., narrative chronology). 25 Johnson] False start, ‘wrote to me’. 26 July 6] Added in the same draft; printed in the revises ‘on July 6’. page 272 but that his Lordship] MS orig. (1) ‘but that his Lordship’; (2) ‘that his Lordship however’. 3 highly in praise] MS orig. ‘in [praise]’. 3

420

NOTES TO PAGES 272–78

5

on granting a] MS orig. ‘on consideration of h[is]’ (the ‘h’, a mere upstroke, is covered by ‘a’). 7 pounds; and … Lordship] MS orig. (1) ‘pounds, explaining to Sir Joshua to’; (2) ‘pounds; His Lordship’; (3) ‘pounds; and His Lordship’; (4) ‘pounds; and that His Lordship’ (then recopied for clarity). 8 manner as that] Second edition, ‘manner, that’. 11–12 this occasion] Printed in the revises ‘the occasion’. 19 convey it] MS orig. ‘send it’; the revision was correct (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 398). 21 To … CHANCELLOR] At the end this letter, ‘Sept. 1784’ became ‘September, 1784’ in the third edition. 23 Sir Joshua Reynolds] False start, ‘having kept a copy of this letter’. 24 took] MS orig. ‘kept’. 24 some] MS orig. ‘several’. page 273 unexpected] Written over the first letter of a false start, possibly an ‘e’. or offer] Second edition, ‘or to offer’. brought] Written over the first letter of a false start, possibly ‘w’. Dr. Johnson] Written over ‘him’; followed by a false start, ‘to’. not to oppose] Printed in the revises ‘to agree to’. had] Written over ‘he’, an inadvertent repetition. discouraged] MS orig. ‘disapproved’. requesting that he] Printed in the revises ‘requesting he’. one of whom being] Printed in the revises ‘one of whom, who admired it, being’. 7 it was transcribed] Printed in the revises ‘a copy was made’. 9 from] False starts, (1) ‘Johnson’s’; (2) ‘the draf[t]’; (3) ‘the dr[aft]’. 1 2 4 4 4 5 5 6 7

page 275 14–15 wrote to Mr. Langton] MS orig. ‘wrote Mr. Langton’. page 276 1 also] Added in the same draft. 3 when in … mind] MS orig. ‘in a state mind’ (sic). 6–7 Next day … relieved.] MS orig. ‘Hoping that he might obtain some relief from change of air and variety of objects’, a false start. page 277 kept] Written over the letter ‘c’, a false start for ‘corresponded’.

16

page 278 August 12] MS orig. ‘August 15’, an inadvertent mistake. August 19] In the text of this letter, the phrase ‘six drops thebaick tincture’ became ‘six drops [of] thebaick tincture’ in the second edition; SJ included the preposition (Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 372). 13 August 21] In the text of this letter, the word ‘show’ (as SJ wrote: Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 377) was printed ‘shew’ in Hill-Powell. 15 Augt. 26] Printed in the revises ‘August 26.’ 5 11

421

NOTES TO PAGES 279–82

page 279 Sept. 16] In the text of this letter, Brocklesby having mentioned ‘hot weather’ in London, SJ mistakenly wrote ‘we have had in Derbyshire very much’. The word he left out was supplied in the second edition: ‘we have [not] had …’ (as printed also in Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 405). 7 Sept. 29] MS orig. ‘Sept. 19’, an inadvertent error. 9 Oct. 6] Printed in the revises ‘October 6’. 12 Oct. 25] Printed in the revises ‘October 25’. In the text of this letter, ‘bidden’ became ‘bid’ in the second edition; Hill-Powell restored ‘bidden’ (as SJ wrote: Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 428). 14 August 7] Printed in the revises ‘Aug. 7’. 16 August 13] Printed in the revises ‘Aug. 13’. In the text of this letter, the spelling ‘Nichols’ became ‘Nicholls’ in the second edition; Hill-Powell, ‘Nichols’. Hill-Powell in error left out the dash marking SJ’s paragraph break after ‘regulate its motion.’ 18 September 4] Printed in the revises ‘Sept. 4’. In the text of this letter, a dash introduced in the third edition erroneously suggested that SJ ended a paragraph at ‘tenderness.’ Hill-Powell omitted it. 5

page 280 Septr. 4] Printed in the revises ‘Sept. 4’. Novr. 1] Printed in the revises ‘Nov. 1’. ‘The kindness] In the text of this letter, ‘forgetfulness of’ (as SJ wrote: Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 382) became ‘forgetfulness for’ in the second edition; Hill-Powell, ‘forgetfulness of’. The dashes marking SJ’s final two paragraph breaks were omitted in the second edition, and the preceding one vanished in the third edition; all three were restored in Hill-Powell. 9 August] In the text of this letter, SJ’s spelling of ‘concentred’ was changed to ‘concentered’ in the second edition. 11 October 2.] Second edition, ‘Lichfield. October 2.’ In the text of the letter, ‘surprized’ was changed to ‘surprised’ (as SJ had spelled it) in the second edition. 13 Hon.] Printed in the revises ‘Honourable’; second edition, ‘Hon.’ 3 5 7

page 281 Sept. 4] Omitted here in the revises; ‘Ashbourne, Sept. 4. 1784’ was printed below the text of the letter. In the sign-off to the letter, ‘your, &c.’ became ‘yours, &c.’ in the second edition.

18

page 282 August 14] Above this date is a false start, either ‘I’ or ‘J’ with another letter. To Sir Joshua Reynolds] Regarding the letters added in the second edition: In that of July 21, correct readings replaced two errors in Principal Corrections and Addition to the First Edition (p. 35): ‘Lichfield’ was printed for ‘Litchfield’, and ‘water has encreased a little’ for ‘water has increased’. In that of Sept. 9, ‘something’ replaced ‘some thing’ (p. 35), while ‘Dutchess’ (as written: Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 398) was printed ‘Duchess’. 4 August 19] Added in the same draft. In the text of the letter, ‘watry’ (as written: Letters of Johnson ed. Redford, iv. 374) was changed to ‘watery’ in the second edition. 1 4

422

NOTES TO PAGES 282–86

10

To Mr. JOHN NICHOLS Lichfield] MS orig. ‘To Mr. NICHOLS’.

page 283 whether] Formed preserving the first three letters of a false start, ‘where’. a number of letters] Second edition, ‘many letters’. I÷we may suppose] Added in the same draft. While in the country] MS orig. ‘While at Ashbourne’. complication of distress] MS orig. ‘distress’; printed in the revises ‘accumulation of illness’. 18–19 which is printed in his works,] Added in the same draft. 20 energetick] Written over a false start, possibly ‘s[o]’. 24–25 reflection both … Hawkins, as] Second edition, ‘reflection, by Sir John Hawkins, both against Dr. Johnson, and his faithful servant, Mr. Francis Barber, as’.

11 12 13 16 17

page 284 4 Notwithstanding this,] Omitted in the revises. 4 shewn] Written over a false start, ‘as’. 10 will] False start, ‘be a sufficient vindication’. 10 confirm] Written over the first letters of a false start, possibly ‘es[tablish]’. 17 I shall] MS orig. ‘T[o]’, a false start. 17–18 those on which … to observe.] MS orig. (1) ‘those on which’, a false start; (2) ‘those which I have thought it incumbent on me to clear up.’ Second edition: ‘those which … to point out.’ 19 books] Written over the first letter of a false start, possibly ‘L[ibrary]’. 20 (p. 444)] Printed in the revises ‘(page 444)’. 24 the single case … Politian] MS orig. ‘one instance of a Politian’. 26 Would] Written over ‘It’, a false start. 2 4 6 6 7 8 10 11 11 18

page 285 him … at] Printed in the revises ‘Johnson … in’. & honour] Added in the same draft. Salve Magne Parens.] False start, ‘One might’; revived below (p. 287 l. 11). revival] MS orig. ‘renewal’; the sentence ends ‘to be renewed’. and] Drafted, deleted, and drafted again. that] False starts, (1) ‘I have seen’; (2) ‘I have in my possession’. there are … passages] MS orig. ‘there is’, a false start. which] Written over the first letter of a false start, possibly ‘o[f]’. One] MS orig. ‘There is one’, a false start. balance] MS orig. ‘ballance’.

page 286 1 filial] MS orig. ‘paren[tal]’. 1 affection] False start, ‘and took care to order a’. 2 grave stone] Printed in the revises ‘grave-stone’. 3 substantially & carefully] A later addition; first draft, ‘carefully &’. 11–13 A few anecdotes shall here … Seward] First draft, ‘A few anecdotes with which I have been favoured by Miss Seward’, a false start. 15 Rev.] Printed in the revises ‘Reverend’. 20 forty years Lease, wch] Printed in the revises ‘forty years’ Lease, which’.

423

NOTES TO PAGES 286–89

21 22 22 23 23 24 25 25 26–27 27

15 Aug. 1767] Printed in the revises ‘15th of August, 1767’. orderd] Printed in the revises ‘ordered’. Sollicitation] Second edition, ‘solicitation’. Saml. Johnson Dr.] Printed in the revises ‘Samuel Johnson, Doctor’. Incroachments] Third edition, ‘encroachments’. 5s.—of which] Printed in the revises ‘five shillings. Of which,’. honor] Printed in the revises ‘honour’. also] Omitted in the revises. occasion—which] Printed in the revises ‘occasion, which’. Dr.] Printed in the revises ‘Doctor’.

page 287 1–2 To … intimacy] MS orig. (1) ‘He told a young Clergyman the Reverend Mr. Henry White’; (2) ‘He at this time became very intimate with the Reverend Mr. Henry White’, both false starts. 2 mentioned] MS orig. ‘owned’. 5 refusal. The] Printed in the revises ‘refusal, and the’. 6 A few] MS orig. (1) ‘A few’; (2) ‘S[?ome]’. JB used the ‘S’ in forming the new ‘A’. 6 expiate] Printed in the revises ‘atone for’. 7 stood bareheaded] Printed ‘stood for a considerable time bare-headed’. The compositor of the third edition, seeing ‘bare-/headed’ across a line break in the second edition, typeset ‘bareheaded’ (as it has remained). 8 pennance] Second edition, ‘penance’. 10 . . . . ] As printed in the revises from the missing Paper Apart ‘Miss Seward’, ‘not been wanting’ became ‘not been wanting’ in the second edition, and ‘Doctor Johnson’ became ‘Dr. Johnson’. 12 hopes of recovery, & as] MS orig. ‘hopes of a recovery, as’. 22 Cato Major] Third edition, ‘CATO MAJOR’; Hill-Powell, ‘Cato Major’. page 288 1 such … diseases] Printed in the revises ‘complicated diseases’. 3–4 Such was … he said] MS orig. ‘Even at this time he said’. 5–6 acquaintance’ and to] JB drafted ‘to’ as a catchword, but did not recopy it on MS 1009. Printed in the revises ‘acquaintance.” And to’; second edition, ‘acquaintance;” and to’. 6 the attacks of his illness] Printed in the revises ‘his illness’. 14 sincere] Written over the first letter(s) of an undeciphered false start. 16 surrounded with] Written in again in revision, after JB initially chose the alternative phrase, ‘in the midst of’ (ll. 12–13). 18 such Conversation … affords] Revision orig. ‘the Conversation of London’. 19 probably] Added in the same draft. 21 in London] Added in the same draft. 21–22 accepting of] Added in the same draft; second edition, ‘accepting’; HillPowell, ‘accepting of’. 6 14

page 289 This] MS orig. (1) ‘I’; (2) ‘The’, each word written over the previous false start. visited Mr. Hector and corresponded] Printed in the revises ‘visited and corresponded’.

424

NOTES TO PAGES 289–92

15

19 20 20 24 25 26

by asking … particulars] Printed in the revises ‘by asking a great variety of particulars’. JB changed this to read ‘by putting a great variety of questions’, but then restored the printed reading (see ‘questions being put’ in l. 21). In the second edition, ‘asking’ became ‘my inquiries concerning’. person] Written ‘pesons’, but printed ‘person’, as required by the singular verb that follows. even] Added in the same draft. those whom they have] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘one whom he has’. again] Written over ‘ki[ndly]’, the next word to be drafted. give me] MS orig. ‘write to me’. 17 Feb. 1785] Printed in the revises ‘17th Feb. 1785’; second edition, ‘Feb. 17th, 1785’.

page 290 1 inquiry] Printed in the revises ‘enquiry’. 2 ejaculatory] MS orig. ‘ejaculations’, a slip in transcription. 16 various] Written over the first letter of an undeciphered false start. 23 Johnson. It proves] MS orig. ‘Johnson, pr[oving]’. 24 practice] MS orig. ‘life’, a word used in the final clause of this sentence. 25 habitually] Added in the same draft. 25–26 referred every action] Printed in the revises ‘endeavoured to refer every transaction’. 27 16 of November] Printed in the revises ‘16th of November’. 28 to Dr. Burney] Added in the same draft. 29 very] Added in the same draft. 30 this accomplished] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘this ingenious’; second edition, ‘that ingenious’. 4 8 9 13 14

page 291 TO MR. HECTOR] Printed in the revises ‘To Mr. HECTOR, in Birmingham.’ produced] Written over ‘ex’, for ‘extracted’. 14] Printed in the revises ‘14th’. chiefly] Added in the same draft. on … charge of ‘affecting] MS orig. ‘for a supposed charge “a[ffecting]’; in the revises, ‘on’ was printed ‘for’.

page 292 in two days after] The word ‘days’ is written over an undeciphered false start; second edition ‘two days afterwards’. 3 affectionately & wisely] Drafted after the original alternatives were deleted in turn, first ‘affectionately’, then ‘kindly’. 4 saying] Redrafted in revision after JB had begun to replace the word with ‘sugges[ting]’. 4 follows] Second edition, ‘he thus proceeds’. 6 most] Written over the first stroke of a false start, probably ‘b[est]’. 9–10 Be, as … Dutchmen, be … angry.] Printed within quotation marks in the revises, with the interrupting commas as parentheses. 17 without] False starts, (1) ‘such’; (2) [undeciphered letter]. 18 him for I felt] Revision orig. ‘him. I felt’. 26 affected me] MS orig. (1) ‘affected me’; (2) ‘im[?pressed]’, a false start. 2

425

NOTES TO PAGES 292–95

26

very tenderly] MS orig. ‘with sincere’, a false start.

page 293 very÷not a little] Added in the same draft. two as kind letters as] MS orig. ‘two kind letters’, a false start. more rapidly] Printed in the revises ‘more rapidly upon him’. affection] False start, ‘and I trust that he [undeciphered word]’. I now relieve …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. MS orig. of this sentence, ‘I now then withdraw myself from any farther notice.’ 14 the Authour of this Work] MS orig. ‘myself’. 16 shall] Printed in the revises ‘should’. 17 attention,] False start, ‘would’. 19 Asthma] Written over a false start, ‘Astmat[ick]’ or ‘Astmat[ical]’. 21 Journal] MS orig. ‘mournful Journal’. 22 he] Written over a false start, possibly ‘w[as]’. 23 6 of July] Printed in the revises ‘6th of July’. 23 continued it no longer than] MS orig. ‘discontinued it’. 23 8 of November] Printed in the revises ‘8th of November’. 25 much] Printed in the revises ‘great’. 26 few] False start, possibly ‘ex[tracts]’. 27 fail.] False start, ‘During his sleepless nigh[ts]’. 27 He] False start, ‘wrote to’. 29 constancy] MS orig. ‘permanen[ce]’.

1 9 11 12 14

page 294 He drew out … a list] Third edition, ‘A very few days before his death he transmitted to his friend Mr. John Nichols, a list’. 1 Universal History] False start, ‘with’. 4 great] Written over the first letter of an undeciphered false start. 5 given by] MS orig. ‘delivered to’, a false start. 9 Johnson’s] MS orig. ‘His’. 10 sate] Second edition, ‘sat’. 11 his] Written over the first stroke of a false start. 11 ‘Poetical Review’] False starts, (1) ‘of the’; (2) ‘the Character’. 14 know] MS orig. ‘ascertain’. 16 sermons] False start, ‘for different’. 16 given or] Added in the same draft. 18 at liberty] Written over a false start, ‘as [undeciphered letter]’. 18 acknowledge] MS orig. ‘own’; the sentence began ‘He owned …’. 18 Would those] False start, ‘still alive who are’. 19 fairly] Written over a false start, possibly ‘in[form]’. 20 obligingly] Added in the same draft. 21 now lying before me] JB deleted ‘now’ in the revises, and ‘lying’ in the second edition. 1

1

page 295 It has according] In revision, before altering his original sentence to begin in this manner, JB started to extend the final phrase of the sentence, writing ‘accor[ding]’ above ‘has been done.’

426

NOTES TO PAGES 295–97

4 9 9 11 14 14 16 16 19 22

but] False start, ‘in conf’. ‘Considerations …] Originally run on; marked for new paragraph in revision. published] Written over ‘in’, the next word to be drafted. right] Written over a false start, possibly ‘lit[erary]’. injurious] False start, ‘to those who have employed much time and labour upon large’. Booksellers] False starts, (1) ‘whose tim[e]’; (2) ‘who’. for Mrs. Lennox] Added in the same draft. Female Quixote] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. Easy Lessons in Italian & English] Printed within quotation marks. Harmonized.’] A comma was printed in error; corrected to a full stop in the second edition.

page 296 1–2 amused himself by translating] MS orig. ‘translated’. 2–3 from the Greek … Anthologia] MS orig. ‘many of the epigrams in the Greek Anthologia’. 3 some] Written over a false start, possibly ‘o[ther]’ (the next word). 4 a few notes] False start, ‘&’. 6 given to some of his] MS orig. ‘given to his’; in the revises, JB changed ‘his’ to ‘Johnson’s’. 8 extreme] Added in the same draft. 9 modesty] MS orig. ‘dif[fidence]’. 10 from knowing] False start, ‘the’. 10 to be learnt] MS orig. ‘to learn’. 11 comparative] Written over a false start, possibly ‘ac[quisitions]’. 16 earth=quake] Printed in the revises ‘earthquake’. 21 Newspaper writers] MS orig. ‘Newspapers’. 22 9 Novr. 1790] Printed in the revises ‘Nov. 9, 1790’. 22 that] MS orig. ‘that he is’, a false start; deleting the first and third words, JB turned ‘he’ into ‘that’. 23 sulleness] Printed in the revises ‘sullenness’. page 297 the ‘Observer’] Printed in the revises ‘“The Observer”’. and of the greek] False start, ‘fragme[nts]’. one of the] False starts, (1) ‘first schol[ars]’; (2) ‘most’. full] Added in the same draft. conversant] MS orig. ‘versed’; to this JB added ‘con’ and wrote ‘ant’ over the ‘ed’. 12 Dalzell] Second edition, ‘Dalzel’. 13 well known] False start, ‘told me that Johnson [MS 1016] in a conversation with him shewed a knowledge of the greek grammar’; before deleting this draft, JB altered the last word to ‘grammarians’. 16 one of the] False start, ‘greatest Masters of Roman learning’. 16 let us not] False start, ‘with[hold from]’. 20 fulfill] Printed in the revises ‘fulfil’. 20 of various sorts] Added in the same draft. 23 Letters to Mrs. Thrale] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 23 Vol. 2] Written over ‘p.’, a false start for ‘p. 68’; printed in the revises ‘Vol. II.’ 3 3 7 10 10

427

NOTES TO PAGES 297–302

24

ingenious] Added in the same draft.

page 298 1 Academy’ 1787] Printed in the revises ‘Academy, 1787,”’. 2 Doctor] Printed in the revises ‘Dr.’ 2 Rev.] Second edition, ‘Reverend’. 5 universally acknowledged] Third edition, ‘universally-acknowledged’. 7 comprise] Printed in the revises ‘comprize’. 9 Burrowes] Printed in small capital letters in the revises. 10 great] Printed in the revises ‘much’. 12 contain] False starts, (1) ‘may’; (2) ‘without a sufficient’. 13 his vigour of mind] MS orig. ‘vigour of mind’. 14–15 and I observe it to his credit] Added in the same draft. 15 no mean degree] MS orig. ‘some portion’. 25 duely] Printed in the revises ‘duly’. 31 method] MS orig. ‘errour’. 33 in all his writings] MS orig. ‘of his writings’. 35–36 Critick … Johnson] Printed in the revises ‘critick of the style of Johnson’; second edition, ‘critick … of JOHNSON’. page 299 10 imagined they were] MS orig. ‘imagine they are’. 12 Colman] Printed in small capital letters in the revises. 12 a ‘Letter] Printed in the revises ‘“A Letter’. 15 without any foundation] Printed in the revises ‘without foundation’. 16 not without characteristical] MS orig. ‘of characteristical’. 16–17 Ode … Nuptials] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. page 300 4–5 endeavouring to diminish] MS orig. ‘diminishing’. 9 gratefull] MS orig. ‘grateful’; printed in the revises ‘grateful’. 9 for such a] False start, possibly ‘n[ecessary]’. 10 mother tongue] Second edition, ‘mother-tongue’; Hill-Powell, ‘mother tongue’. 13 imitators of] False starts, (1) ‘Johnson whether intentionally or by imperceptible’; (2) ‘Johnson whether intentionally or by the imperceptible effect of his strong and animated style’. 16 articles] False starts, (1) ‘not confining myself even’; (2) ‘confining myself still less to’. 20 Tit] Written over ‘Tat’, a false start. page 301 a great proportion of the writers] MS orig. ‘the greatest part of the writers’; second edition, ‘a numerous body of writers’. 1 appeared.] Second edition, ‘appeared in the literary world.’ 2 only] MS orig. [undeciphered letters]; added in the same draft. 17 ESQ.] Printed in the revises ‘Esq.’ 26 MISS] Printed in the revises ‘Miss’; Hill-Powell, ‘MISS’. 1

6

page 302 REVEREND] Printed in the revises ‘Reverend’; Hill-Powell, ‘REVEREND’.

428

NOTES TO PAGES 302–06

22 23

1784.] False starts, (1) ‘It is a Work of uncommon merit for its’; (2) ‘I beg leave to make my particular acknowle[dgements]’; (3) ‘I beg to offer’. utility,] False starts, (1) ‘to natives as well as to foreigners’; (2) ‘to all who wish to attain and preserve’.

page 303 inconveniences] Second edition, ‘inconveniencies’; Hill-Powell, ‘inconveniences’. 5 THE MIRROR] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 5–6 Periodical] MS orig. lower case. 12 cattel … carrol] Printed in the revises ‘cattle … carol’. 14 MR. KNOX] Printed in the revises ‘Mr. KNOX’; second edition, ‘Dr. KNOX’. 15 of Johnsons style] MS orig. ‘of Johnson’. 16 to his … we may ascribe] MS orig. ‘by an assiduous study of it’, a false start; ‘ascribe’ was printed ‘partly ascribe’ in the revises. 18 That collection] MS orig. ‘The Authours’, a false start. 18 and] False start, ‘he thought’. 20–21 respect &] False start, ‘particularly in his reverence for’. 3

page 304 forefathers] Third edition, ‘fore-fathers’, after the word was printed across a line break in the second edition; the hyphen was removed in Hill-Powell. 6 in No. 11] MS orig. ‘in E[ssay]’; a large, elongated ‘N’ covers the ‘E’. 7 as to] Written over a false start, ‘is’. 8 however one in No. 11 which] In revision, JB’s draft of ‘however’ left little space for ‘one’, suggesting perhaps that the phrasing he first had in mind was ‘however in No. 11 one which’. 9 members of Parliament] MS orig. ‘a member of Parliament’. 9 who] Written over the first letter stroke of an undeciphered false start. 13 mechanic] Printed in the revises ‘mechanick’. 21 Mr. Knox] Second edition, ‘Dr. Knox’. 22 state] Printed in the revises ‘regulations’. 4

page 305 the professed one in] Added in the same draft. said to be] MS orig. ‘whi[ch]’, a false start. Mr. Young Professour] Printed in the revises ‘Mr. YOUNG, Professor’. shewn.] MS orig. ‘shewn to it.’ of his] Written over a false start, ‘and’; printed in the revises ‘of Johnson’s’. literary] False start, ‘research and’. illustration and discussion] Printed in the revises ‘discussion and illustration’. eminent.] False starts, (1) ‘It is so like, that two’; (2) ‘It is so like, that some of the Criticks best’; (3) ‘It is so like, that some of the Criticks most’. 7 others] Written over an undeciphered false start. 12 leave] Written over an undeciphered false start.

2 3 3 5 5 6 6 6

page 306 14 To … Porter] Printed in the revises ‘To Mrs. LUCY PORTER, in Lichfield.’ 16–17 Samuel Johnson] Printed in the revises ‘SAMUEL JOHNSON’. 17 preparing … doom from which] MS orig. (1) ‘in that state’; (2) ‘preparing

429

NOTES TO PAGES 306–09

18

himself for that state from which’. always been to him] MS orig. ‘been to him all his life’.

page 307 3 dread of death that] False start, ‘he was always’. 5 informs me that] False start, ‘upon one of’. 12–13 Sir John Hawkins] False starts, (1) ‘intimates’; (2) ‘conveys to’. 17 that regard] Printed in the revises ‘the regard’. 18 Physician] Added in the same draft. 21 appelation] Printed in the revises ‘appellation’. 22 Letters to Mrs. Thrale] Printed within quotation marks in the revises; second edition, ‘Mrs. Thrale’s Collection, March 10, 1784’ (without quotation marks). 22 Vol. 2] Printed in the revises ‘Vol. II.’ page 308 Savage and others] MS orig. ‘the licentious Savage and others wh[o]’, a false start. 3 young] Printed in the revises ‘younger’. 7–8 amongst whom] False start, ‘not to m[?ention]’; second edition, ‘among whom’. 9 propensities] Written over the first letters of a false start, apparently ‘per’. 14 was not uniformly] MS orig. ‘was uniformly’; JB got ahead of himself. 15 to what he professed.] MS orig. (1) ‘to them.’; (2) ‘to what he taught.’ 15–16 moral rectitude÷morality] MS orig. ‘moral rectitude÷the laws of morality’; this same-draft change was necessitated by the next phrase, ‘the laws of which’, initially begun (‘the l[aws]’) above the second false start of the words ‘be peculiarly’ (see endnote to l. 17). 16 if once admitted] Added in the same draft. 17 be peculiarly] These words, before ending up here, were drafted and deleted as false starts earlier in this sentence three times: after (1) ‘deviation’, (2) ‘moral rectitude÷morality’, and (3) ‘obligatory’. 19 subject be divested of] Printed in the revises ‘question be considered independent of’. 20 thousands … act] First draft, ‘thousands unquestionably act in many instances’. 20 conviction] Preceded in first draft by a deleted word, possibly ‘such’. 21 owns he is satisfied that] First draft, ‘owns that he is satisfied’. 21 his extravagance] First draft, ‘extravagance’, as recopied from the margin, then JB added ‘his’. 23 inclination] Written over the first letter of a false start; followed by a false start, ‘prevails over’. 2

3 3 3 3 3

page 309 religious] Written over the first letter of a false start. truth] Printed in the revises ‘duty’. sometimes] Added in the same draft. them to do] Added in the same draft. in living … do.] Printed in the revises ‘of living as it requires?’

430

NOTES TO PAGES 309–11

7

and one who] MS orig. ‘and to one who’, a false start; printed in the revises to begin a new sentence. 12 presumptous] Printed in the revises ‘presumptuous’. 12 from] MS orig. ‘by’. 13 indulgencies] Printed in the revises ‘indulgences’. 14 criminal. I have exhibited them as a shade] MS orig. ‘criminal and which I have exhibited as a shade’. 15 regard] Drafted as a catchword, but not recopied on the next leaf. 15–16 regard to truth] Printed in the revises ‘love of truth’. 17 foolishly] Added in the same draft. 17–18 sins÷faults of which] MS orig. ‘sins÷faults which’, a false start. 18 deep] Added in the same draft. 20 by my statement] Added in the same draft. 21 But to apply this] Added in the same draft. 21–22 for momentary gratifications] Added in the same draft. 22 such] Written over the first letter of a false start. 24 as compared with] False start, ‘the d’. 24 Gospel.] Punctuated with a question mark in the revises. 29 Lord] Printed in the revises ‘LORD’. 34 Journal … Hebrides] Printed within quotations marks; they were omitted in the second edition. 34 3 Edit.] Printed in the revises ‘3d edit.’ 36 Prayers & Medit.] Printed in the revises ‘Prayers and Meditations’, within quotation marks; the quotation marks were omitted after the first edition. 38 Ibid. p. 84.] Printed in the revises ‘Ibid. 84.’; second edition, ‘Ibid. p. 84.’ page 310 o merciful Lord] Printed in the revises ‘O merciful LORD’. Jesus Christ’s] Printed in the revises ‘JESUS CHRIST’s’. contrition] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘penitence’. Maker.] False starts, (1) ‘Was he not then in e[arnest]’; (2) ‘Was he not then in earnest when he’. 12 He] False start, ‘in my opinion’. 12 of] Drafted with a large ‘o’ to cover a slip of the pen or false start. 16 false principle of] Added in the same draft. 16 deliberate indulgence] MS orig. ‘deliberate indulgence’. 20 Ibid. p. 120.] Printed in the revises ‘Ibid. 120.’; second edition, ‘Ibid. p. 120.’ 22–23 with … approbation] Second edition, ‘with very earnest approbation’. 26–27 for … debauch her mind] MS orig. ‘for I would not debauch her mind’; printed in the revises ‘for I would not debauch her mind’.

3 7 8 9

2 6 11 14 14 16 17

page 311 indicating badness of heart] MS orig. ‘proceeding from the heart’. no] Written and deleted twice, then drafted again. I trust that] False start, ‘the species of’. irregularity] Third edition, ‘irregularities’; Hill-Powell, ‘irregularity’. guarded as I have stated it,] Added in the same draft. indulging] Written over ‘indulged’, a false start. sometimes guilty … wine] Printed in the revises ‘intemperate in the use of wine’.

431

NOTES TO PAGES 311–12

18 18 18 20 20 21 21 22 23

24 26

Johnson himself] Second edition, ‘he himself’. lives] Printed in the revises ‘Lives’. these ingenious worthy] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘those celebrated writers’. It is not] MS orig. ‘It is no [undeciphered letter]’, a false start. very] Added in the same draft; deleted in revision; written in again later. particulars] MS orig. ‘circumstances’. remaining] MS orig. ‘last’. fast] MS orig. ‘now’. Princes’.] False starts to a new paragraph: (1) ‘The veneration and affection’; (2) ‘The affectionate veneration which I entertained for him when alive and shall ever preserve for his memory’; (3) ‘It appears to me’; (4) ‘In my opinion’; (5) ‘I thought myself fortunate’; (6) ‘I thought mys[elf]’; (7) ‘In my opinion’; (8) ‘Sir John Hawkins has published a kind’; (9) ‘Besides the register given’; (10) ‘In my opinion it is not for’; (11) ‘Sir John Hawkins has published [a÷the>] a kind of register which may contribute’. gratifying to] The word ‘to’ is written over the first letter of an undeciphered false start. Prayers & Meditations 192] MS orig. ‘Prayers & Medit. 192’; printed in the revises ‘“Prayers and Meditations,” p. 192’. The quotation marks were omitted after the first edition.

page 312 on the authenticity of which … rely] MS orig. ‘for the authenticity …’, a false start. 1 obtain them] Second edition, ‘obtain an accurate account of his last illness,’. 4 accepting of any fees] Second edition, ‘accepting any fees’; Hill-Powell reinserted ‘of’. 6 tried, to prolong …] MS orig. ‘tried. He himself indeed’, a false start. 6–7 He himself indeed] False starts, (1) ‘who on accoun[t]’; (2) ‘on account of his very bad constitution had been all his life’; (3) ‘having on account of his very bad constitution been addicted’. 9 the] Written over the first stroke of a false start, possibly ‘d[ropsical]’. 10 by making incisions] MS orig. ‘by incisions’. 10 legs] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘body’. 11 resolute defiance of pain] MS orig. ‘bold resolution’. 11 cut deep when] MS orig. (1) ‘cut deep with’; (2) ‘cut deep where’, both false starts. 12 done it] MS orig. ‘made the experiment’. 16 Shakspeare] False start, ‘in’. 25 unto] Second edition, ‘to’. 26 much] A deletion above this word suggests a false start, possibly ‘v[ery]’. 27–28 unnecessary] Added in the same draft. It is unclear whether JB deleted it in revision (as transcribed) or moments later, after drafting the final clause of the sentence, ‘as Sir John thought it necessary to do.’ 28 as if to] False start ‘prove’. 28 vindicate Johnson from] False start, ‘an’. 30 end, a charge] MS orig. ‘end, which’, a false start. 30 totally] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘very’. 1

432

NOTES TO PAGES 313–14

page 313 Orandum … sano] Printed in the revises in italics within quotation marks. end] Written over a false start, possibly ‘c[onclusion]’. happened] Printed in the revises ‘he happened’. Qui … munera ponat] Printed in the revises in italics within quotation marks; ‘munera’, mistakenly typeset as ‘numera’, was corrected by JB. 12 under] MS orig. ‘upon’; JB was about to repeat the phrase just drafted. 13 what would be] MS orig. ‘what was considered’. 14 to bequeath] MS orig. ‘to leave’, probably changed when the verb recurred in SJ’s speech (l. 17); omitted in the second edition; restored in Hill-Powell. 14 it] MS orig. ‘thi[s]’. 16 £50] Printed in the revises ‘fifty pounds’. 16 years] An apostrophe indicating possession was added in the second edition. 17 service] Printed in the revises ‘service.’; second edition, ‘service;—’. 17 Then] MS orig. ‘then’. 17 £70] Printed in the revises ‘seventy pounds’. 25 established] MS orig. ‘sett[led]’, a false start. 25 Will and Codicil] JB seems to have placed a full stop here before extending the sentence. 25 of which] False start, ‘authen[tick]’. 3 4 5 6

page 314 of the numerous] Second edition, ‘of numerous’; Hill-Powell, ‘of the numerous’. 4 of his faith] Omitted by mistake in the second edition; restored in HillPowell. 4 faith] False start, [undeciphered lettters]. 5 practised] JB wrote ‘practic’, placed an ‘s’ over the second ‘c’, and then added ‘ed’. See p. 59 n. 7. 5 was] False starts, (1) ‘happily suited to put beyond [undeciphered words]’; (2) ‘what some had [undeciphered words]’. 6 great man, as] Second edition, ‘great man; for’. 6 as the conviction of a mind] MS orig. ‘whose mind’, a false start. 8 convey] Written over the first letter of a false start, possibly ‘h[ave]’. 9 as] Written over the first letter of an undeciphered false start. 12 of £200] Added in the same draft; printed in the revises ‘of two hundred pounds’. 13 was the effect of] False start, probably ‘mos[t]’; second edition, ‘proceeded from’. 14 become bankrupt] Second edition, ‘become a bankrupt’. 17 The] Written over ‘His’, a false start, both here and over the catchword on the previous page; not indented, but marked for a new paragraph in the same draft. 17 property] MS orig. ‘estat[e]’. 19 the bequest to Francis Barber] MS orig. (1) ‘it’; (2) ‘what’, a false start. 19 £1500] Printed in the revises ‘fifteen hundred pounds’. 20 £70] Printed in the revises ‘seventy pounds’. 20 to be paid] Written over a false start, ‘p[aid]’. 20 £750] Printed in the revises ‘seven hundred and fifty pounds’. 1

433

NOTES TO PAGES 314–16

23

acquisition] False starts, (1) ‘he may without blame give’; (2) ‘he … blame leave it to whom’. 24–25 , and with great propriety to a faithful servant] Added in the same draft. 27–28 when leaving] MS orig. ‘in giving’; JB did not delete ‘in’, but the compositor ignored it. 28 to several, as tokens] MS orig. ‘to several as the tokens’. 29 Dr. Burney] Added in the same draft. 32 probably mentioned] MS orig. ‘inserted’. 32 names] Omitted in the revises. 31–33 by considering … him; and … recollected] MS orig. ‘both by considering … him; and by recollecting’, a false start. 36 but] False start, ‘she was very wealth[y]’. page 315 1 and selection] Added in the same draft. 3 them as I should] MS orig. ‘them I should’. 3 with] Written with a large ‘w’ formed using the first stroke of a false start. 2–4 burnt … discrimination] Second edition, ‘burnt large masses of them, with little regard, as I apprehend, to discrimination’. 3–4 discrimination; not] Printed in the revises ‘discrimination. Not’. 9 lost —] In print this dash—a very short one—became a comma. 10 the fullest fairest and] Printed in the revises ‘a full, fair, and’. 12 apologising … taken] Added in the same draft; second edition, ‘apologizing … taken’. 13 it?] Punctuated with a full stop in the revises. 14 found] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘felt half’. 16 lifetime] Printed in the revises ‘life-time’. 17 group] Second edition, ‘groupe’; third edition, ‘group’. 20 handsom] Printed in the revises ‘handsome’. 21–22 Dr. Johnson] Second edition, ‘Johnson’; Hill-Powell, ‘Dr. Johnson’. 22 tender] Added in the same draft. 23 Wife As] MS orig. ‘Wife’, followed by quotation marks for the ensuing quotation; printed ‘wife; as,’. 24 Inn] False starts, (1) ‘has favo[ured]’; (2) ‘who has several of his’. 25 two following —] MS orig. ‘following two’; the dash covers quotation marks. 26 In ‘Holy] MS orig. ‘In Duppa’s “Holy’; marked (probably in the same draft) for indentation on a new line. 26 Devotion] JB started to put quotation marks here, but then extended the title through ‘Winton’. Hill-Powell moved the punctuation back here, ending the title on ‘Devotion’. 26 by Bryan Duppa] MS orig. ‘by Duppa’. 28 Rosicrucian] Misprinted ‘Rossicrucian’ in the third edition; corrected in Hill-Powell. 29 Gent’ prefixed] Printed in the revises ‘Gent.” Prefixed’; second edition, ‘Gent.” prefixed’. 4 7

page 316 those] Second edition, ‘these’. meant;] False start, ‘his words’.

434

NOTES TO PAGES 316–18

8 9 10 10 11 13 16 18 19 21

says] Second edition, ‘said’; Hill-Powell, ‘says’. should suppose] MS orig. ‘should have supposed’. has not thought] MS orig. ‘does not think’. what he did] MS orig. (1) ‘his conduct’; (2) ‘his own conduct’. acquainted … by] MS orig. (1) ‘acquainted’; (2) ‘informed of it by’. of his] False start, ‘hav[ing]’. assigning the reasons] Second edition, ‘assigning reasons’. Melius … errasse] Printed in italics. In the second edition, the final word became ‘errâsse’. into which] False start, ‘this incident thre[w]’. volumes] Printed in the revises ‘records’.

page 317 3 paid to him] Second edition, ‘paid him’. 7 important] Added in the same draft. 8 hinder] Printed in the revises ‘prevent’. 9 dying] Added in the same draft. 14 Sir!] Punctuated with a comma in the revises. 17–18 It is … communions, that] MS orig. (1) ‘His reverend friends of various÷different communions must be ment[ioned]’; (2) ‘It is for’; (3) ‘It is to the credit of his reverend friends of different÷various communions that’; (4) ‘His friends’; (5) ‘F[or]’; (6) ‘It is to the mutual credit both’; (7) ‘It is … credit of Johnson [undeciphered letters]’; (8) ‘It is … credit of Johnson and his acquaintances amongst’; (9) ‘It is … credit of Johnson and his numerous acquaintance amongst’. 18 Church of England] Printed in the revises ‘Church-of-England’. 18 man] False start, ‘he lived on very agreable’. 21 English] Added in the same draft. 21 mentioned and] False start, ‘let me add to that proof of his friendly disposition towards’. 22 Roman Catholick] Printed in the revises ‘Romish’. 24 Mr. Hussey … King of Spain] Printed in the revises ‘Thomas Hussey, D.D. His Catholick Majesty’s Chaplain of Embassy at the Court of London’. page 318 1–2 eminent … worth.] MS orig. (1) ‘not more eminent for …’; (2) ‘at once eminent for …’; (3) ‘eminent at once for his e[loquence]’; (4) ‘eminent at once for his powerful eloquence and extensive abilities’; (5) ‘eminent for not only his powerful eloquence as a preacher, but for his extensive abilities and real worth.’ 3 for not only] Printed in the revises ‘not only for’. 4 abilities] Printed in the revises ‘various abilities’. 4–5 loved … least] MS orig. ‘loved least those of the’, a false start. 4–5 the least] Second edition, ‘the least of all’. 5 his having] Added in the same draft. 8 a warm strain] Revision orig. (1) ‘the r[ichness]’; (2) ‘the warm richness’; (3) ‘a rich’; (4) ‘a fer[vent]’. 9 constitutional] Changed by JB in the revises to ‘the melancholy’. 9 which] False start, ‘darkened’.

435

NOTES TO PAGES 318–21

15 15

idiot] Printed in the revises ‘ideot’. turnspit] Printed in the revises ‘turn-spit’.

page 319 As … note] MS orig. (1) ‘Having received a note from some’; (2) ‘Upon Having received a note from some’. 1 brought … said] MS orig. (1) ‘brought [as catchword on MS 1028] him’; (2) ‘brought [recopied on MS 1029 over him] he said’; printed in the revises ‘brought him, he said’. 2 me. We] Printed in the revises ‘me.—We’; second edition, ‘me:—we’. 4 had borrowed] Printed in the revises ‘borrowed’. 7 many of] Added in the same draft. 8 importance] Printed in the revises ‘consequence’. 8 pressed] Printed in the revises ‘begged of’. 9 commit it to writing] MS orig. ‘commit to writing’, a false start. 10 said earnestly ‘thank you.’] Printed in the revises ‘in an earnest tone, thanked him.’ 10 Dr.] Written over a false start, possibly ‘He’. 13 entertain] Written over a false start, perhaps ‘em[brace]’. 13 any loose] Added in the same draft. 14 writing down] False start, ‘and reading to him what he understood [MS 1030] to be the sense’. 16 the request] MS orig. ‘his request’; JB drafted ‘the’ over ‘his’. 17 in his own custody] Added in the same draft. 22 soever] Inadvertently written ‘sover’. 25 unclouded. In] MS orig. ‘unclouded and in’; the original ‘in’, undeleted, was ignored. 1

page 320 5 fresh air;] False start, ‘whenever [undeciphered word(s)]’. 5 attended upon] Printed in the revises ‘attended also upon’. 5–6 he attended … profession.] MS orig. ‘his attendance upon Johnson in town in the discharge of the sacred office of his profession was frequent’. 8 became] MS orig. (1) ‘became’; (2) ‘attained’, a false start. 10 Dr. Brocklesby] False start, ‘who obliged me with full accounts of his much respected patient and’. 10 fanaticism] MS orig. ‘enthusiasm’. 10 obliged] Written over a false start, possibly ‘ha[s]’. 16 JESUS] Third edition, ‘Jesus’; Hill-Powell, ‘JESUS’. 18–19 Clark … Clark] Printed ‘Clarke … Clark’; second edition, ‘Clarke … Clarke’. 19 Arian?] Punctuated with a full stop in the revises. 21 Clarke] MS orig. ‘Clark’. 1 1 2 3 3

page 321 Johnson …] MS orig. ‘The [undeciphered word(s)] views’, a false start. thus] Omitted in the revises; printed in the first edition. Divinity] Second edition, ‘DIVINITY’. nature] False start, ‘thus uttered’. while] Written over ‘when’.

436

NOTES TO PAGES 321–22

3–4 15 18 20 24 26

nature … uttered] Second edition, ‘nature, previous to his receiving the Holy Sacrament in his apartment, composed and fervently uttered’. 13 Decr.] Printed in the revises ‘the 13th of December’. the room] Second edition, ‘his room’. my dear.”] Punctuated in the revises with an exclamation point. is] Written over ‘are’. The Reverend] Printed in the revises ‘Reverend’, yet in first edition, ‘The Reverend’.

page 322 1 About … the following] MS orig. ‘The following’. 2 Malone] False start, ‘by a’. 3–4 permission] Written over a false start, apparently ‘sa[nction]’, as a catchword on MS 1034 before JB recopied the word on MS 1035. 5 Since] Written over a false start, ‘“s’. In the revises, ‘“SINCE’ was indented on a new line. 7 asked] MS orig. ‘inquired’, a false start. 8 buried? and] MS orig. ‘buried on’, a false start; punctuated in the revises ‘buried; and’. 8–9 ‘doubtless … Abbey’] MS orig. ‘in Westminster Abbey’ (without quotation marks). 10 imagination.] MS orig. (1) ‘imagination whose mind’; (2) ‘imagination. “If said he my executors think it proper to mark the spot of’, both false starts. 11 December 20] MS orig. ‘December 19’. False starts, (1) ‘he was attended’; (2) ‘his funeral’; (3) ‘his interment was per’. 13 flag stone] Printed in the revises ‘flag-stone’. 15–16 particularly … town] MS orig. (1) ‘amongst whom the members of THE LITERARY CLUB’, a false start; (2) ‘particularly by such members of THE LITERARY CLUB as were in town’. Printed in the revises ‘particularly by many of the members of THE LITERARY CLUB, who were then in town’; second edition, ‘particularly such of the members of THE LITERARY CLUB as were then in town’. 16–17 and was also honoured by] MS orig. (1) ‘and by’; (2) ‘and also by’; (3) ‘and was honoured by’. 17 honoured by] Second edition, ‘honoured with’. 18 schoolfellow] Printed in the revises ‘school-fellow’. 19 service.] Second edition, ‘burial service.’ A blank line followed, eliminated in Hill-Powell. 20 declare] MS orig. ‘say’. 21 felt] MS orig. ‘feel’. 22 I shall … my own] MS orig. ‘Instead therefore of saying one word myself I shall’. 23 excellence] Second edition, ‘felicity’. 23 superiour] Third edition, ‘superior’. 23 all] This catchword for MS 1037 was not at first recopied on that page. 24 all studied] Revision orig. ‘studied’, then JB added his catchword from MS 1036. 24 speeches] Printed in the revises ‘composition’; second edition, ‘compositions’.

437

NOTES TO PAGES 323–26

page 323 1 dead] MS orig. ‘gone’. 5 and] Written over ‘in’, an inadvertent slip. 6 Besides] Changed by JB to ‘Beside’ in second edition proof (P 103 (3)). 8–9 Versification of] False start, ‘his’. 11 the number of] False start, ‘such’. 12 so great that] MS orig. ‘so great as to’, a false start. page 324 making] Omitted in the second edition. we must reckon] Added in the same draft; the next phrase, ‘the extraordinary zeal of the artists’ (already drafted) was originally the subject of the sentence. 5 to extend and perpetuate] MS orig. ‘to perpetuate’, written over an undeciphered letter. 6 and the many casts … from it] MS orig. ‘from which many casts’, a false start. 7 Zoffani] Third edition, ‘Zoffanij’; Hill-Powell, ‘Zoffani’. 8 of his portrait] Added in the same draft. 8 One by Cooke] MS orig. ‘One folio for the’, a false start. 9 from Ditto] Added in the same draft. 11 bust of him] MS orig. ‘bust’. 14 Lives of the Poets] Printed within quotation marks in the first edition. 14–15 7 One small one from] Second edition, ‘7. One small, from’. 15 8 One Small from] MS orig. ‘8 Small one’; ‘from’ is written over ‘one’. 17 his Poets] Printed in the revises ‘his Lives of the Poets.’; first edition, ‘his “Lives of the Poets.”’ 17 9 One small] False start, ‘for his Johnsoniana’. 19 Tour] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 19–20 large from Sir Joshua Mezzotinto] MS orig. ‘large Mezzotinto’; printed in the revises ‘large mezzotinto from Sir Joshua’. 20 One large Roman Head] MS orig. ‘Roman Head’. 21 One Octavo holding] MS orig. ‘One from Sir Joshua holding’. 23 published] Added in the same draft. 3 4

2

page 325 where] False start, ‘there was as they [thought]’.

page 326 1 invidiously] Added in the same draft. 1 Ay] Printed in the revises ‘Aye’; third edition, ‘Ay’. 4 has been supported] Second edition, ‘was supported’. 6 about] Omitted in the revises. 5–6 and in … erected] Added in the same draft. 7 many having appeared] Added in the same draft. 7 settled.] False start, ‘However’. 7 a laudato] Printed in the revises ‘à laudauto’; first edition, ‘à laudato’. 7–8 be praise] MS orig. (1) ‘was’; (2) ‘be exalted [undeciphered letter]’, false starts. 8 myself] Written over a false start or slip of the pen. 9 verses] MS orig. ‘inscription’; printed in the revises ‘verses on the authour of THE ENGLISH DICTIONARY,’.

438

NOTES TO PAGES 327–28

page 327 1 Latin] MS orig. ‘latin’. 2 mem’ry and] Second edition, ‘memory, or’. 5 Johnson] MS orig. ‘Johnson religious moral political and literary’. 5 Samuel Johnson] Printed in the revises in small capital letters. 5–6 been so developed] MS orig. ‘been developed’, a false start. 6 my readers] Printed in the revises ‘they who have honoured it with a perusal’. 7 him.] MS orig. (1) ‘him yet’; and possibly (2) ‘him. Yet’, false starts. 7 As however it will] MS orig. ‘It will however’; in the revises ‘will’ was printed ‘may’. 7–8 bring together] MS orig. (1) ‘sum’; (2) ‘collect and sum up’; printed in the revises ‘collect into one view’. 8 features of this] MS orig. ‘features by which this’, a false start. 8 wonderful] Printed in the revises ‘extraordinary’. 8 now] Added in the same draft; omitted in the revises. 9 that part] There is an illegible deletion between these words. 9 my] MS orig. ‘the’. 9 biographical] Added in the same draft. 10 contradictory qualities] MS orig. ‘contradictions’. The letters ‘ory’ written over ‘ions’ resembled ‘ing’, and so that word was misprinted ‘contradicting’ in the revises, but ‘contradictory’ in the first edition. 10–11 appear] So in the revises; first edition, ‘shew themselves’. 11 where] False start, ‘they have not’. 11–12 in appearance … reality] MS orig. (1) ‘of appearance at least’; (2) ‘in appearance at least and perhaps in reality’. 13 native] Added in the same draft. 14 and more difficult to be adjusted] Added in the same draft. 15 an eminent] MS orig. ‘a striking’. 15 the remark] MS orig. ‘[blank space] remark’. JB wrote ‘the’ in the space (with a different pen), but ‘this remark’ was printed in the revises. 18 and settled … duty] Added in the same draft. 19 figure] Written over ‘form’. 19 was] Written over the first letter of a false start; followed by a false start, ‘of’. 20 certainly] Omitted in the second edition. 21 did] MS orig. [undeciphered word or false start]; printed in the revises ‘gave’. 22 Journal … Hebrides] Printed within quotation marks in the revises. 22 Edit 3. p. 7] Printed in the revises ‘3d edit. p. 7’; omitted in the first edition. page 328 rendered] Written above one or two undeciphered false starts. cramps] False start, ‘and by’. that distemper] MS orig. (1) ‘a dis[temper]’; (2) ‘that distemper’ (deleted and written again). 4 royal] Written ‘rouyal’ in haste. 4 by … in which] MS orig. (1) ‘by a slovenly mode’; (2) ‘by slovenly’; (3) ‘by a slovenly h[abit]’; (4) ‘by a slovenly mode of dress to which’. 4–5 generally] Added in the same draft. 5 only of] MS orig. ‘but of’; ‘only’ is written over ‘but’. 8 church of England] Printed in the revises ‘Church-of-England’. 2 3 3

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NOTES TO PAGES 328–30

10 systematick] Omitted in the revises. 13 general] Omitted in the revises. 10–14 His being Impressed … Man.] MS orig. (1) ‘But although wisely impressed’; (2) ‘Although wisely impressed’; (3) ‘Impressed with the danger of extreme latitude in either which might occasion his appearing unfavourable to that noble’; (4) ‘Impressed … appearing somewhat unfavourable to the general prevalence of that noble freedom of sentiment which is the noblest’; (5) ‘Impressed … which is the best possession of Man [MS 1041] he could not [undeciphered word]’; (6) ‘Impressed … Man [MS 1041] he himself was animated with a generous and independent’; (7) ‘Impressed … Man [MS 1041] he was not only animated with a÷the spirit of independence, but’. 15–16 against … general,] MS orig. (1) ‘having an unreasonable contempt’; (2) ‘having an unreasonable [undeciphered letters] aversion to’; (3) ‘having … aversion for his fellow subjects who were not english, and for all foreigners in general,’. Several false starts followed ‘general,’: (1) ‘and for sectaries and even for those’; (2) ‘and even for those’; (3) ‘in short for those who were not English, nay he even wh[?]’; (4) ‘nay for all wh[o]’. page 329 those very classes] MS orig. (1) ‘those classes’; (2) ‘the very [classes]’. morality] MS orig. ‘virtue’. Great Source] Second edition, ‘GREAT SOURCE’. shewed itself] False start, ‘in a thousand instances not only of liberal’. restless and fretful] Second edition, ‘often restless and fretful’. we ought not] MS orig. ‘we are not’. obtrusive ignorance or offensive petulance] MS orig. ‘ignorance or petulance’, with ‘petulance’ written over an undeciphered false start which also begins ‘pe’. 15 his faculties] MS orig. (1) ‘his faculties’; (2) ‘his great faculties’. 16 achieved] Second edition, ‘atchieved’. 16 the great] MS orig. ‘the vast’. 17 Dictionary] Second edition, ‘DICTIONARY’. 17 language] False start, ‘he must’. 18–19 a very well written] Printed in the revises ‘an excellent’; third edition, ‘an admirable’. 19–20 the Reverend] Added in the same draft. 20 image] Printed in the revises ‘passage’. 20 eminently] Added in the same draft. 21 just and beautiful] Printed in the revises ‘happy’. 2 4 5 7 10 12 14

page 330 1 solemn] Added in the same draft. 3 & acts of goodness] Added in the same draft. 4 the consciousness] Printed in the revises ‘the unavoidable consciousness’. 5–6 He suffered … that it may be said] MS orig. ‘This and the gloom which perpetually haunted him and made solitude frightful to him may be’, a false start. 7 the most miserable] So in revises; first edition, ‘most miserable’. 8–9 participating in the] False start, ‘joys of a good and faithful’. 10 rather] Added in the same draft. 10 loved] Written over the first letter of a false start.

440

NOTES TO PAGES 330–32

13 16 16 16 17 17 20 22 24 25 25 26 26

but] False start, ‘his mind’. superiority] Written over the first letter of a false start. other men] Printed in the revises ‘other learned men’. consisted] MS orig. ‘was’. certain] False starts, (1) ‘power of under[standing]’; (2) ‘power of intelle[ct]’; (3) ‘power of applying his’; (4) ‘power of exhibiting and applying all that he knew in [written over first letter of another word] a clear and forcibl[e]’. substance] MS orig. ‘parts’. true evident &] Added in the same draft. in that respect] Second edition, ‘in this respect’. usually] Added in the same draft. no man had more] Printed in the revises ‘he possessed uncommon and peculiar powers of’. humour] False start, ‘and’; followed by a semicolon in the revises. indulged] Written over the first letter of a false start. sallies] False start, ‘and the merriment which was enjoyed in his company was’.

page 331 2 tincture] MS orig. ‘mixture’. 4–5 at all times … effect of which] MS orig. (1) ‘delivered himself with perspicuity force and choice of expression upon all oc[casions]’; (2) ‘at all times delivered … expression to the effect’, false starts. In the revises ‘perspicuity’ was omitted; second edition, ‘at all times expressed his thoughts with great force, and an elegant choice of language, the effect of which’. 6 He united] Second edition, ‘In him were united’. 9 perfect resemblance of] MS orig. ‘full parallel to’. 10 parts … are admirably] MS orig. ‘we find traces of his character admirably’. 10–11 Clarendon … Lord Falkland] Not printed in italics in the revises. 11 Falkland … noble and masterly historian describes] MS orig. (1) ‘Falkland. That illustrious historian describe[s]’; (2) ‘Falkland. That illustrious historian ?nobly describes’, false starts. The word ‘masterly’ is written through ‘?nobly’. 15 house] Written over a slip of the pen; JB was quoting this part of the sentence exactly. 15 a university] Printed in the revises ‘a University’; second edition, ‘an University’. 18 Bayle’s] Not printed in italics in the revises. 18 applicable] MS orig. ‘well [deleted word, possibly suited]’. 23–24 the excellent works … as this] Printed in italics in the revises. page 332 1 Exulting] MS orig. ‘Glorying’. 3 contended] MS orig. ‘wielded’, a false start. 3 lists] MS orig. ‘schools’. 5–6 so that … from his talk.] MS orig. ‘so that in his talk’, a false start. 7–8 writing it and] MS orig. ‘writing it for’. 10 conduct and] False start, ‘notwit[hstanding]’. 10 the more that we] Printed in the revises ‘the more we’. 21 off-hand] Printed in the revises ‘off hand’; third edition, ‘off-hand’.

441

NOTES TO PAGES 332–37

24 24 29

in a word] MS orig. ‘in short’. to a thousand sorts] MS orig. ‘to thousands’. to erect to him a monument] Second edition, ‘to erect a monument’. page 333 (none)

page 334 1 (first)1785] Written over ‘1775’. 13 exhibit] False start, ‘a curious’. 13 with a minute accuracy] Revision orig. ‘with minute accuracy’. 13 the RAMBLER] Revision orig. ‘Dr. Johnson’. 15 make] False start, ‘upon the highlands and’. 23 others] False start in revision, ‘and he will’. 25 signed names] Revision orig. ‘names’. 26 most exalted] Revision orig. ‘noblest’. 26–27 the Crown the Church] Revision orig. ‘the Church’. 35 interesting] Added in the same draft. 3 5 5 6 12 24 26 33

page 335 especially] Revision orig. ‘especially of’. emendations] Revision orig. ‘emendations of’. emendations ... by him] Revision orig. ‘his emendations and additions’. in] Written over ‘on’. Dr.] Added in the same draft. the Dr.’s] MS orig. ‘his’. use his] JB wrote ‘his’ over the first letter(s) of an undeciphered false start. Talking once at Cambridge of Dr. Hurd] MS orig. (1) ‘Talking of Dr. Hurd he’; (2) ‘When he was at Cambridge Talking of Dr. Hurd he’; (3) ‘Talking of Dr. Hurd at Cambridge’, all false starts.

page 336 5 told] MS orig. ‘said to’. 14–15 Translator] Cambridge’s first draft: ‘Translation’. 21–22 The Language … History] Cambridge’s first draft: ‘I should have been sorry if there had been any History’. page 337 2 whom,] MS orig. ‘who h[as or having]’, a false start. 2 Thames] MS orig. ‘Thames,’. 6 genius] False start, ‘& with all these means of happiness’. 6–7 various, elegant, &] MS orig. ‘various &’. 8 happiness] Written over the first letter of an undeciphered false start. 8 enjoying … years,] Added in the same draft. 9 do] MS orig. apparently ‘don[t]’.

442

Index THE indexes of this edition of the Life are designed to complement the index of the HillPowell edition. Just as the two editions will ordinarily be used together for scholarly purposes, so will their indexes. The following abbreviations are employed here: JB (James Boswell), SJ (Samuel Johnson), EM (Edmond Malone), Life (Boswell’s Life of Johnson). Peers are listed under their titles. Abercrombie, Rev. James (1758–1841), 323 n. 4 Aberlady, Scotland, 9 n. 3 Abernethy, John (1680–1740), Presbyterian minister, 188 Adams, Sarah (Hunt), wife of William, 202 Adams, Sarah (1746–1804), daughter of following, 202, 211–12, 224, 329 n. a2 Adams, William (1706–89), D.D., Church of England minister, Master of Pembroke College, Oxford: correspondence with JB, 289–90, 320–21, 335; SJ visits, 202–26, 289–90; on prayer, 213, 289–90; omitted from SJ’s will, 314–15 Addison, Joseph (1672–1719), poet, essayist, and playwright, 34, 78; alleged mistreatment of Steele, 41, 74; Cato, 74, 197 n. 3; SJ’s ‘Life of’, 41 and n. 1; Spectator, 10 n. 8, 24, 63, 73, 201 n. 2, 279 n. 7; style of, 122; and wine, 73, 311 Adey, Mary (1742–1830): on omission of Lucy Porter and JB from SJ’s will, 314 n. a3; letter from Mary Cobb in her hand, 244 n. 5 Æschylus (c. 525–c. 456 B.C.): ‘Darius’s Shade’ in The Persians, 14 Agutter, Rev. William (1758–1835), Church of England clergyman: funeral sermon for SJ at Oxford, 323 n. 4; on John Henderson, 217 n. 10; provides JB with additional material, 205 n. 3, 323 n. 4 Aikin, Anna Laetitia (1743–1825), later Barbauld, poet, essayist, imitator of SJ’s style, 299 n. 8 Akenside, Mark (1721–70), poet: SJ’s ‘Life of’, 44; and Warburton, 44 Akerman, Richard (c. 1722–92), Keeper of Newgate, 16 n. 2, 241 n. 1 Alfred the Great (849–99), King of Wessex, 108

Allen, Edmund (1726–84), printer, SJ’s neighbour in Bolt Court, 162 n. 1; death of, 282–83, 291; dines with SJ and company, 75, 370 America, 20, 77, 201, 301; Americans do not ‘want Oratory’, 153; death of Mrs. Thrale’s cousin in, 266; Burke on American taxation, 231; SJ’s opinions about, 67, 160 and n. 3, 201; payment of British army in, 85; ‘Old’ Sheridan threatens to go to, 153; war with, 19, 67, 181, 266 Anacreon (c. 582–c. 485 B.C.), 125, 171–72 and n. 2 Angeloni, Battista. See Shebbeare, John Anson, George Anson, Baron (1697–1762), naval officer and politician, 261 Apelles of Kos (fl. 4th century B.C.), 84 Argyll, Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of (1682–1761), 204 Ariosto, Ludovico (1474–1533), Italian poet, 6 Aristarchus of Samos (c. 310–c. 230 B.C.), astronomer and mathematician, 220 n. 6 Aristotle (384–22 B.C.), 13, 27 Asaph, Bishop of St. See Shipley, Jonathan Ash, John (1723–98), M.D., physician, founder of the Eumelian Club, 307 Ashbourne, Derbyshire, 187 n. 9, 228; JB’s ‘Ashbourne Journal’, 215 n. 2, 299 n. 8; SJ visits, 110, 282, 291 n. 8, 423; SJ writes from, 272, 277, 279, 281, 282 n. 1, 291 and n. 8 Astle, Rev. Daniel (c. 1743–1826), of Ashbourne, later Rector of Bramshall, brother of following: JB uses material from, 107 n. 2, 128 n. a2, 228 and nn. 8–9, 281 n. 1; SJ’s advice on reading, 228 Astle, Thomas (1735–1803), archivist, collector, author, 107–08, 228; Notes on Alfred, 108; The Will of King Alfred, 108 and n. a1

443

INDEX

Aston, Hon. and Rev. Henry Hervey (1701– 48), friend of SJ, 19 n. 4 Aston, Mary (‘Molly’) (c. 1706–65), 44, 92 Asylum for Fugitive Pieces, in Prose and Verse, An, 268 n. 7 Auchinleck (house and estate): JB’s Auchinleck Briar walking stick, 153; JB considers walled garden, orchard, hothouse, 145–46; SJ imagines settling there, 161–62; JB invites SJ to, 171 n. 1, 291 n. 9; SJ on, 125; library at, 171; overseers/factors, see Bruce, James; Gibb, Andrew; Tenshillingside farm, 125 n. 6 Auchinleck, Alexander Boswell, Lord (1707–82), father of JB: annotations on Anacreon, 171–72; death of, 119, 124 n. 4 Augustan Age of England, 47 Augustine, St. (354–430), 211 Bacon, Francis (1561–1626), Baron Verulam, 1st Viscount St. Albans, statesman and author, 5 n. 2, 194 and n. 1; ‘Essay on Conversation’, 166–67; SJ misattributes Boyle quotation to, 199 and n. 5 Bagshaw, Rev. Thomas (c. 1711–87), Church of England minister at Bromley: SJ’s letter to, 274–75 and nn. 4–5, 285 n. 2 Baker, J. (fl. 1793), engraver, 325 n. a14 Baldwin, Henry (c. 1734–1813), printer, 51 n. 6; and the Life of Johnson, 234, 332 n. 5, 410–11; publisher of The London Magazine, 79 n. 6 Banks, Sir Joseph (1743–1820), naturalist: pall-bearer at SJ’s funeral, 322 n.8 Barbados, 243 Barber, Francis (‘Frank’) (c. 1742–1801), servant of SJ, 75 n. 6, 164, 175 n. 3; agrees to write to JB each week during SJ’s decline, 181 n. 2; attends SJ at his death, xvi, 321; SJ’s legacy for, 202, 313–14; rejects assertion that SJ hastened his own death, 312 n. a1; rejects Hawkins’s assertion that SJ and he neglected Heely, 283–84 and n. 3; retires to Lichfield, 314; supplies JB with names of SJ’s tradesmen, 232 n. 1 Barclay, Robert (c. 1740–1828), brewer, 96 n. 1 Baretti, Giuseppi Marc’ Antonio (1719–89), author, lexicographer, 7 n. 7, 10 n. 8, 266 and nn. 2, 4; SJ’s preface to Easy Lessons in

Italian & English, 295; trial of, 236 Barnard, Thomas (1728–1806), D.D., Bishop of Killaloe and Kilfenora: argument with SJ, 94; character of, 87; dines with SJ, JB, and company, 81, 87; on faith, 101 and n. 6; SJ visits, 94; verses on SJ, 94 Barnes, Joshua (1654–1712), professor of Greek at Cambridge, 17 Barrington, Daines (1727–1800), lawyer and antiquary, 91, 180 n. 5; member of the Essex Head Club, 179; nominates JB to become a member, 180 and n. a1 Barrow, Isaac (1630–77), D.D., 85–86 and n. a3, 369 Barrowby, William (1682–1751), M.D., physician, 211 Barry, Ann (1733–1801), actor, 173 n. 8 Barry, James (1741–1801), painter: An Account of a Series of Pictures in the Great Room of the Society of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, at the Adelphi, 159 n. a1; correspondence with SJ, 142 and n. 3; on SJ, 159 and n. a1; SJ’s praise for Barry’s work, 159 Bartolozzi, Francesco (1727–1815), R.A., engraver: etching of Nollekens’ bust of SJ, 324 Bath, 118, 208, 253; Mrs. Thrale in, 126 Bathurst, Allen Bathurst, 1st Earl of (1684– 1775), 39 and n. 5 Bathurst, Ralph (1620–1704), M.D., President of Trinity College, Oxford: verses to Hobbes, 315 Baxter, Rev. Richard (1615–91), Independent minister and theologian, 161; Reasons of the Christian Religion, 167 Baxter, William (1650–1723), classical scholar, editor of Anacreon, 125, 171–72 Bayle, Pierre (1647–1706), French philosopher and historian: JB compares SJ to his character of Ménage, 331 Beach, Thomas (d. 1737), wine merchant and poet, 12 n. 3 Beattie, James (1735–1803), D.D., poet and philosopher, 82–83, 235–36 and n. 5; dines with SJ, JB, and company, 82, 242, 244; sees first and last hackney coach numbers, 242; and Wilkes, 82, 87 Beauclerk, Lady Diana (Spencer) (1734– 1808), artist, wife of following, 78

444

INDEX

Beauclerk, Hon. Topham (1739–80), book collector, 5 n. 1, 92; and the Adelphi buildings, 81; character of, 85–86; in conversation with SJ, 8, 9 and n. 2, 61 n. 8, 62–63; death of, 9; friendship with JB, 81; friendship with SJ, 9, 62, 81; library of, 85–86; inscription under portrait of Garrick, 78–79 Beauties of Johnson, The, 118, 324 Beckenham, Kent, 229 n. 4 Bedford, 107 Bedford, Francis Russell, 5th Duke of (1765–1802), 103 Bedford, John Russell, 4th Duke of (1710– 71), attacks the Ministry, 230 Bedfordshire, 97, 105 n. 5. See also Southill Bell, Jane (c. 1718–71), wife of following, 305 n. 7 Bell, John (1724–96), brother of Dr. William Bell, prebendary of Westminster, 305 n .7 Bentley, Richard (1662–1742), classical scholar, 18, 156; verses by, 19 n. 6, 21 Bentley, Richard (c. 1708–1782), author and artist, son of preceding, 208 and n. a1 Berenger, Richard (bap. 1719, d. 1782), courtier and Equerry to George III: and SJ on conversation, 73 Beresford, Sarah (Blakeway) Logan (1728– 96), American passenger on Oxford Post coach, 201–02 Beresford, Miss, daughter of preceding, 201–02 Berkeley, George (1685–1753), D.D., Bishop of Cloyne, philosopher, 24 n. 1 Berkshire, 274 n. 4 Beville, Rev. William (1755–1822), 51 n. 3 Bewley, William (1726–83), surgeon and apothecary, ‘Philosopher of Massingham’, 108, 109 and nn. 1–3 Bible: 187, 319; Acts, 162; Colossians, 199; I Corinthians, 199 and n. a3; Deuteronomy, 218 n. 1; Ecclesiastes, 161; Ephesians, 199; Esther, 260 n. 6; James, 188 n. 2, 209; Job, 260 n. 6; John, 311 and n. 3; Luke, 5, 150, 319 n. 1, 330; Mark, 75; Matthew, 75 n. 7, 78 n. a1, 151 n. 4, 198, 214 n. 8; EM recommends ‘Christian Charity’ to SJ by listing verses from, 177–79; SJ recommends friends to read, 187, 319; translations of, 3 n. 7; Vulgate quoted on

the Continent, 83 Bindley, James (1739–1818), antiquary and book collector, 156 n. 2, 222 n. 8 Bingham, Charles. See Baron Lucan Bingham, Margaret. See Baroness Lucan Biographia Britannica, 41, 188 Birch, Edward. See Burch, Edward Birmingham, 110, 117, 288, 289 n. 3; SJ’s head on Conder token, 325 n. a15 Blackmore, Sir Richard (1733–?1812), poet and physician: SJ’s ‘Life of’, 42–43, 46 n. 6, 325 n. 6, 355 Blackstone, Sir William (1723–80), legal author and judge, 106 n. 3; JB cites the Commentaries, 130 and n. a1, 178 n. 4; SJ on the Commentaries, 73–74 and n. 8 Blackwall, Anthony (c. 1672–1730), classical scholar and schoolmaster, 228 n. 8 Blagden, Sir Charles (1748–1820), physician and scientist, 19 n. 9, 20, 24 and n. 1 Blair, Hugh (1718–1800), D.D., minister, professor of rhetoric at Edinburgh: SJ on, 80 Blakeway, Rev. John Brickdale (1765–1826), Church of England minister and antiquary, 222 n. 8 Blaney, Elizabeth (d. 1694), 286 Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, 3 Blue-Stocking Clubs, 87–88 and nn. 1–2. See also Burney, Frances; Carter, Elizabeth; Montagu, Elizabeth; More, Hannah; Lady Orrery; Piozzi, Hester Lynch Boccage, Anne-Marie Fiquet du (1710– 1802), French poet: her Columbiade, 243 Boissy, Louis de (1694–1758), French poet, 13 n. 6 Boissy, Louis Michel de (1725–93), French historian, son of preceding, 13 n. 6 Bolingbroke, Henry St. John, 1st Viscount (1678–1751), 39 and n. 5 Boothby, Hill (1708–56), friend of SJ, 45 Boscawen, Frances (Glanville) (1719–1805), letter writer and literary hostess, 44 n. 2, 78 and n. 3, 79, 81 Boswell, Alexander. See Auchinleck, Lord Boswell, Sir Alexander (‘Sandy’) (1775– 1822), son and heir of JB, 56 n. 3, 216 n. 6 Boswell, David (1748–1826), later Thomas David, brother of JB, xvi, 19 n. 4, 243 n. 1, 321 and nn. 2–3

445

INDEX

Boswell, Euphemia (1774–1837), daughter of JB, 123 n. 1 BOSWELL, JAMES (JB) (1740–95) General: and Auchinleck: as Laird of, 124 n. 4, 125, 181; his life there, 177; depression of, 141 n. 1, 177 n. 8, 272 n. 1, 274 n. 1, 291 and n. 9, 292 and n. 5; echoes Hamlet’s lament, 292–93; SJ’s response to, 291–93; and Handel Commemoration, 200–01 and n. 8, 204; hopes for preferment, 117 and n. 7, 118 n. 9; indolence of, 91, 196; and the law, 60–61, 131 and n. a4; attends cause of Sutton & Johnstone, 248 and n. 4; on barristers who never get practice, 132; draws up case in the Court of Session, 155; plans to practise law in London, 177 n. 8, 224–25, 273–74, 291 n. 9; states views to Grand Jury of Carlisle, 131; his memory praised by Mrs. Thrale, 127; public offices: County Præses or Chairman, 177; Recorder of Carlisle, 131 and n. a4; vulnerability to criticism, 232 and n. 2; his wife’s illness, 110 and n. 8; his wife’s death, 110 n. 1, 185 n. 3; wishes to be in Parliament, 157, 184; wishes to travel to ‘totally different’ country, 140; witnesses executions at Newgate, 241. See also Auchinleck (house and estate) Ideas and opinions: on the American war, 67, 181; on Americans and oratory, 153; on apparitions, 75–76, 78 and n. 1; on attention improved by habit, 226; ; on ‘Biographical Catechism’ and Kippis, 289; on Bishop Newton’s peevishness regarding SJ’s Lives, 204; on Burke’s merriment, 193; on a chance coincidence, 242; on childhood mortality, 149; on Corsica, 80 n. 7; on domestic economy, 136–37; on Foote’s conversation, 193; on the Glorious Revolution, 130–31; on Goldsmith, 135; on Horace, 153; on the House of Hanover, 130; on imitations of SJ’s style, 298–305; on Langton’s criticism of SJ’s character, 198–99; on Langton’s rich knowledge of SJ, 1; on the law: ‘abridging’ in magazines an encroachment on literary property, 295; attorneys admitted to employment too indiscriminately, 229; echoes Blackstone, 130 n. a1, 178 and n. 4; quotes Fortescue, 178 n. 4; rigorous study,

446

whether necessary, 225–26; on the life of a country gentleman, 158, 177, 250; on the liquor mahogany, 65; on living one’s life over again, 219; on Capel Lofft, 195; on Michael Lort, 210; on a man marrying his housemaid, 223; on merit without success, 132; on the Middlesex election, 181; on Milton’s imagination, 32; on monarchical principle, 184, 215; on Oxford University, 202; on payment for reviewing books, 152–53; on refinement of taste, 250; on religion: Church of England communion service and Roman Catholic doctrine, 210–11; death and the afterlife, 151, 161, 196–97, 218; divine providence, 188–89; evil spirits, 209–10; failure to live as religious truth requires, 308–09; Hume’s infidelity, 207; Hurd sermon read aloud, 209; necessity vs. free will, 241; Nonjuring clergy of Scotland, 205–06; original sin, 101; prayer, providential interposition, and superstition, 188–89; preparation for communion, 100; Priestley’s ‘pernicious doctrines’, 168 and n. a4; Jeremy Taylor’s claim to be ‘Chief of sinners’, 213–14; on Scotland: his handling of SJ’s prejudice against, 129 n. 8, 229 n. 4; Peers’ influence on elections to House of Commons, 177; Scottish ‘adventurers’ in England, 128–29 and n. 8; on Shakespeare over Milton, 59; on Tahitian ingenuity, 224; on Thomas à Kempis, 196; on Tories vs. Whigs, 30, 51, 79, 80 n. 7, 82, 96, 141, 195, 216; on truth-telling and exceptions, 221, 406; on Edward Young, 98, 196–97 Relations with SJ: accompanies him to Oxford, 200–02, 204; anxiety over his health, 162, 250–51, 291, 293 and n. 9; apologizes after boisterous contention with SJ, 88–89; asked by SJ to consult with physicians about his case, 182; attempts to enable SJ to travel for his health, 248, 268–73; JB on SJ: his amiable disposition, 195; his consciousness of superiority, 330 and n. 5; his defiance of attackers, 325 n. 6; his fear of death, 306–07 and n. 3; his fortitude in facing illness, pain, 122 n. 7, 170, 179, 201, 238, 290, 329; his piety, 124, 162, 290, 328; his poetical talents, 134, 135 and n. a3, 330; his sarcasm upon

INDEX

attorneys, 229; his ‘surly virtue’, 215; his tenderness and benignity of heart, 290–91; his writings not eliciting tears, 34; JB on SJ’s conversation, 1, 38, 95–96, 124, 125, 127, 132, 170, 441; accuracy, 331; advantage in arguing, 331–32; audience a factor, 196, 236, 246, 332 n. 3; ‘discursive displays of argument and fancy’, 327 and n. 1; function of ‘No Sir’, 230; roughness of manner, 214, 258–59, 265; ‘spirit of contradiction’, 192–93, 332; correspondence with SJ: letters from, 51 n. 5, 56, 110 and n. 1, 118 and n. 9, 119 and nn. 7–8, 120, 124–5, 164, 171 and n. 6, 172, 177, 181 n. 4, 184 n. 8, 274, 291 and nn. 8–9, 292–93, 294; letters to: 51 n. 5, 56, 117–18, 119, 124 n. 4, 125, 171–72, 177 n. 8, 181, 184 and n. 8, 273, 274 n. 1, 291 and nn. 8–9, 292 and n. 5, 293 and n. 9; final ‘Fare you well’, 250–51; friendship with, 100, 119, 161–62, 204, 248, 257, 291–92, 314 n. a3, 322; inclination to steal SJ’s ms. recollections, 315–16 and nn. 7, a7; intervals between meetings or letters, 1 and n. 3, 57, 87, 110, 117, 162, 251, 292 and n. 5; SJ’s advice to JB: to abandon superstition, 291; on being a good man, 100–01; on caring for Mrs. Boswell, 119, 125; to clear his mind of cant, 157–58, 224; on force of mind, 161; on frugality, 125, 157, 161, 274; on human vicissitude, 104, 291; on improving his estate, 145–46; to live a steady life, 292; to make the most of his lot, 292; on moving to London to practise law, 224–25, 274; to observe more carefully, 226; to read Richard Baxter, 161; to read Jeremy Taylor, 210; on refinement of taste, 250; to spend life well, 291; on standing for Parliament, 157; SJ appreciates JB’s wit, 153, 160, 199, 223; SJ calls him ‘clubable’, 180 n. a1; SJ embraces and blesses him on parting, 162; SJ expresses fondness for, 161–62, 293; SJ expresses gratitude to, 248, 291; SJ loves him with great ardour, 291; SJ refuses to pick out JB’s best essays, 139; SJ reproves him for ‘vanity of complaint’, 291–92; SJ speaks of him affectionately on death-bed, 293; SJ worsted in argument by him, 90; omitted from SJ’s will, 314 and n. a3; pleasure in

bringing SJ to Young’s home, 97–98, 99; veneration for SJ, 100, 104, 161, 237, 322, 331–32, 432; wishes SJ could accompany him part way to Scotland, 244; wishes SJ could meet him in Cumberland, 117 and n. 6; wonders about SJ’s lack of wealth, great office, 95, 131; wonders why SJ not courted by the great, 237 Writings: An Account of Corsica, 80 n. 7; Ashbourne Journal, 215 n. 2, 299 n. 8; Boswelliana, 6 n. 4, 10 n. 5, 158 n. 3, 160 n. 6, 228 n. 2; ‘To the Honourable Miss Monkton’, 89; The Hypochondriack, 79 n. 6, 139 and n. 8, 146 n. 3; Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, xvii, 44 n. 2, 45 n. 4, 130, 190, 193 and n. b1, 204 n. 8, 205 n. a1, 268 n. 8, 309, 324, 327 and nn. 7, 2, 329 n. 9, 331 n. 1, 333–35; Letter to the People of Scotland against the attempt to diminish the number of the Lords of Session, 132, 181, 333; The Life of Dr. Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: advertisement for, 333–35; compositor for, 234; illustrations in, 325 and n. a14; ‘Ode by Dr. Samuel Johnson to Mrs. Thrale, upon their supposed approaching Nuptials’, 252–53, 299, 416; ‘Piozzian Rhimes’, 268 nn. 7, 9; Publication attributed to JB: article on Sutton and Johnstone case in Public Advertiser, 248 n. 4 Boswell, James, Jr. (1778–1822), barrister, son of JB: EM’s correspondence with, 280 n. 5; examines Session Papers for EM, 84 n. 7; Life materials in his hand, 234 n. 5; sale of his library, 257 n. 5 Boswell, Margaret (Montgomerie) (c. 1738– 89), wife of JB, 110 and n. 1, 137 and n. 6, 292; correspondence with SJ, 119, 120, 184 n. 5; death of, 48 n. 9, 110 n. 1, 185 n. 3; prevents JB from sending despairing letter to SJ, 293 n. 9 Boswell, Veronica (1773–95), daughter of JB, 93 n. a2 Bourchier, Charles (c. 1727–1810), Governor of Madras: dines with SJ and company, 71 Bowles, William (1755–1826), of Heale House: on SJ’s conversation conforming to Bacon’s precept, 166–67; on SJ’s fear of death, 308 n. 8; SJ visits, 165; JB’s correspondence with, 180 n. a2; on Plutarch, 166 n. 5; provides JB with material, 86 n.

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INDEX

3, 165 nn. 1, 3, 166 n. 6, 168 n. 3, 169 n. 4, 224 n. 5, 308 n. 8 Bowyer, William (1699–1777), printer: Nichols’s Anecdotes of William Bowyer, 282 Boyle, John. See Orrery, Earl of Boyle, Robert (1627–91), natural philosopher: SJ misattributes Boyle quotation to Bacon, 199 n. 5 Braithwaite, Daniel (1731–1817), clerk to Postmaster-General: dines at Dilly’s with SJ, JB, and company, 196 Bramins. See Hinduism Bramston, James (c. 1694–1744), poet, 24 n. 6 Brett, Thomas (1667–1744), bishop of the Nonjuring Church of England, 205 British Museum, 13, 295, 331 n. b3 Brocklesby, Richard (1722–97), M.D., physician: correspondence with JB, 182, 183, 250 n. 8, 296 n. 5, 313 n. 3, 319 nn. 2, 4, 320 nn. 7, 9, 335, 436; correspondence with SJ, 10 n. 8, 165 and n. 6, 276 and n. 12, 277–79, 288 n. 1, 422; dines with SJ, JB, and company, 190; member of the Essex Head Club, 179; friendship with SJ, 135, 313, 319; and William Gerard Hamilton, 174; medical attendance on SJ, 163 n. 6, 182–84, 312–13, 319–20, 335, 436; offers SJ a hundred a year for life, 249–50; on SJ’s last days, 314 n. a3, 319–20; SJ urges confirmation of Christian truths, 319 and n. 2; on omissions in SJ’s will, 314 n. a3; on Sir John Pringle, 135 and nn. 7–8; tells SJ he cannot recover, 319 Brodie, Captain David, R.N. (c. 1709–87), 92 and n. 3 Bromley, Kent, 274–75 Brooke, Henry (c. 1703–83), author and playwright: Earl of Essex, 229 and n. 3 Broome, William (1689–1745), poet and translator, 37 and n. 4 Brown, James (d. 1788), JB’s clerk, army officer, 77 and n. 3 Brown, William, writer in Kilmarnock, brother of preceding, 77 n. 3 Browne, Isaac Hawkins, the elder (1705–60), politcian and poet, 206 Browne, Isaac Hawkins, the younger (1745– 1818), 189 Bruce, James (1719–90), JB’s overseer at

Auchinleck, 177 n. 8 Brunswick. See Hanover, house of Bryant, Jacob (1715–1804), antiquary, 189 Buckingham, George Villiers, 2nd Duke of (1628–87), politician and author: The Rehearsal, 233 Bunbury, Sir Thomas Charles (1740–1821), M.P.: pall-bearer at SJ’s funeral, 322 n. 8 Burch, Edward (c. 1730–1814), R.A., gem and seal engraver, 325 n. a15 Burke, Edmund (1729–97), M.P., statesman, 157, 159 n. 9, 197 n. 4, 246 n. 6; JB’s hopes of preferment by, 117 n. 7, 159 and n. 7; JB on, 132 and n. 4, 193; JB visits, 150; can testify to SJ’s benevolent actions, 262; conversations with JB, 59, 66, 198, 213 and n. 4, 219; conversations with SJ, 24, 66, 236, 317; on Croft, 46 n. 9, 303 n. 2; defends SJ’s pension against Townshend, 231–32 and n. 8; dines with SJ, JB, and others, 64–65; on Fox, 213 and n. 4; and French Revolution, 159 n. 6, 195 n. 7; Goldsmith’s character of, 232; on SJ, 19, 24, 198, 231–32, 317; on SJ’s Lives, 122; SJ on, 17, 24, 68, 127, 151 and n. 1, 158–59, 193 and n. a1, 236, 317; as possible author of Junius letters, 221 n. 9; reads Marriott ode at The Club, 12 n. 3; pall-bearer at SJ’s funeral, 322 n. 8; on reliving one’s life, 219; speech on American taxation, 231; suggests motto from Cicero for the Life, 287; visits SJ in his last days, 317 and n. 2; on the Whig ministry, 82; Wilkes on, 84–85 and n. 9; wit of, 10 n. 8, 59, 193 Burke, Richard (1758–94), son of preceding, 156, 157 and n. 5, 246–47 and n. 6 Burney, Charles (senior) (1726–1814), Mus. Doc., musician and author: and William Bewley, 108–09; anecdotes of SJ, 10 n. 8, 14 n. 9, 18 n. 10, 108–09; correspondence with SJ, 167 n. 8, 169 n. 5, 277, 280, 290–91; correspondence with EM, 20 n. 1; dines with SJ, 78–79; ‘Memorandum of His Acquaintance and Correspondence with Johnson’, 280 n. 2, 291 n. 5; omitted from SJ’s will, 314 Burney, Charles, Jr. (1757–1817), D.D., classical scholar, schoolmaster, and book collector, son of preceding, 325 n. a15; on SJ’s knowledge of Greek, 297 and n. 7

448

INDEX

Burney, Elizabeth (Allen, née Allen) (c. 1728–96), second wife of Dr. Charles (senior), 146 n. 3, 147–48 Burney, Frances (1752–1840), novelist and diarist, daughter of Dr. Charles (senior), 69 n. 1, 109 n. 1; Cecilia, 159, 301–02; Evelina, 159; imitator of SJ’s style, 301–02; at tea with SJ, 159; dines with SJ and others at Mrs. Garrick’s, 192 Burrowes, Robert (1756–1841), D.D., Church of Ireland clergyman: ‘Essay on the Stile of Doctor Samuel Johnson’, 298; ‘Preface’ to Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, 298 Burrows, John (1733–86), D.D., Rector of St. Clement Danes, 143, 386 Bute, John Stuart, 3rd Earl of (1713–92), Prime Minister (before 1723, 3rd Viscount Mountstuart): administration of, 139, 229; and SJ’s pension, 128 and n. a2, 139; SJ visits Luton Hoe, 97, 104–05; and Scotland, 106, 229; See also Stuart, Rev. William Bute, John Stuart, 4th Earl and 1st Marquis of. See Mountstuart, Lord Butler, Samuel (bap. 1613, d. 1680), poet: often quoted in England, 83; Hudibras, 216 Butter, William (1726–1805), M.D., of Derby, 89–90, 312 Byng, Hon. John (1743–1813): letter to EM about SJ’s death and funeral, 322 and n. 5 Caesar, Gaius Julius (100–44 B.C.), 134, 213 Caithness, 110 Callender, J. Thomson (1758–1803), critic and political writer: The Deformities of Samuel Johnson, 118 n. 8 Cambridge, Richard Owen (1717–1802), poet and essayist, 139 n. 9, 336–37, 442 Cambridge University, 335; Cambridge men resent SJ for depreciating Gray, 51; Queen’s College, 103; Trinity College, 80 n. 7 Camden, William (1551–1623), historian, 151 Camões, Luís Vaz de (c. 1524–80), Portuguese poet: The Lusiad, 177–78, 223 Campbell, Hon. Rev. Archibald (c. 1669– 1744), Scottish Episcopal bishop and theologian: SJ’s account of, 204–05

Campbell, Sir Archibald (1739–91), army officer and governor of Jamaica, 243 n. 1 Campbell, Jean (d. 1789), later Mrs. Robert Reid, JB’s second cousin, 234 n. 4 Campbell, John (1708–75), LL.D., historian and author, 81 and n. 5 Campbell, Rev. John (1758–1828), Minister of Kippen, Stirling, 275 n. 6 Capell, Edward (1713–81), Shakespeare editor, 5 Carless, Ann (Hector) (1711–88), ‘Mrs. Careless’, Hector’s sister and SJ’s first love, 379 Carleton, Capt. George (fl. 1672–1713), soldier, 245 and n. 1 Carlisle, 131 Carlisle, Bishops of. See Law, Dr. Edmund or Douglas, Dr. John (after 1787) Carlisle, Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of (1748–1825), poet: correspondence with JB, 175 n. 6; The Father’s Revenge, 175–77 and nn. 5–7; SJ on, 92–93, 175 n. 6 Carter, Elizabeth (1717–1806), poet and translator, 78–80, 192; dines with SJ, Mrs. Garrick, and company, 78, 192; on Thomas Hollis, 79–80 Castle Howard, Yorkshire, 3 Catherine II, ‘the Great’ (1762–96), Empress of Russia, 193–94 Cato the Elder (234–149 B.C.), 66 Cator, John (1730–1804), timber-merchant and friend of Henry Thrale; JB visits at Beckenham, Kent, 229 n. 4; SJ’s visits to, 229 n. 4 Cave, Edward (1691–1754), printer and editor of Gentleman's Magazine, 175 n. 3 Cave, Susannah (Milton) Newton (1683/4– 1750), wife of preceding, 233 and n. 4 Caversham, Berkshire, 274 n. 4 Cawston, a servant of William Windham, 318 and n. 6, 322 n. 5 Centlivre, Susanna (c. 1667–1723), poet, actor, and playwright: The Wonder, 7 Chalmers, Alexander (1759–1834), author and editor, 137 n. 8 Chalmers, George (1742–1825), author and editor: edited SJ’s Parliamentary Debates, 299 n. 8; ‘Life of Sir John Davies’, 299 n. 8 Chamberlayne, Edward (d. 1782), Secretary of the Treasury, younger brother of fol-

449

INDEX

lowing: dines in company with SJ, JB, and others, 81; participant in society for conversation, 73 Chamberlayne, Rev. George (1739–1815), elder brother of preceding, 207 Chambers, Sir Robert (1737–1803), jurist and judge, 54–55, 262; can testify to SJ’s benevolent actions, 262 Chambers, Sir William (1722–96), architect, 92; SJ reads ms. of ‘Chinese Architecture’, 139 n. 9 Chandos, James Brydges, 1st Duke of (1673– 1744), 40 n. 7 Chapone, Hester (1727–1801), author: asks SJ to read Lord Carlisle’s tragedy, 175; SJ’s letter to, 176–77 and n. 7 Charlemont, James Caulfeild, 1st Earl of (1728–99), 64, 66, 74 n. 9 Charles I (1600–49), King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 128 Charles II (1630–85), King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 30, 31, 225 Charles Edward, Prince (1720–88), the ‘Young Pretender’, grandson of James II, 205–06 Chatham, William Pitt, the elder, 1st Earl of (1708–78), statesman, Prime Minister, 230–31 Chatterton, Thomas (1752–70), poet, 114 n. 9 Chester, Bishop of. See Porteus, Beilby Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of (1694–1773), 269 n. 6; Harte and, 65; SJ on conversation of, 244; SJ on manners of, 133; SJ’s letter to, 105, 206; letters to his natural son, 244–45; Young on ‘Stanhope’s Pencil’, 83. See also Stanhope, Philip Chichester, West Sussex, 121 n. 2, 122, 381 Chiswick, 128 Cholmondeley, George Cholmondely, 3rd Earl of (1702/3–70), grandfather of following, 263 n. 6 Cholmondeley, George James (1752–1830), Commissioner of Excise: Mrs. Thrale’s anecdote of SJ and, 263–64 and n. 6, 418 Christie, James (1780–1803), auctioneer, 315 Church of England: Convocation and discipline, 195; Chapter of Westminster attended SJ’s funeral, 322

Churton, Rev. Ralph (1754–1831), 151 n. 9, 219 n. 2, 274 n. 4 Cibber, Colley (1671–1757), actor, author, and theatre manager, 173; Goldsmith’s bon mot from The Refusal, 191 and n. 8 Cicero (106–43 B.C.), 287 Cirencester, error for Chichester, 121, 381 Clarendon, Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of (1609– 74): JB compares Clarendon on Falkland to SJ, 331 Clark, John (d. 1807), Ossianic controversialist, 177 n. 1, 179 and n. 8 Clark, Richard (1739–1831), Alderman, City Chamberlain, 181 and n. 1 Clarke, Samuel (1675–1729), D.D., scholar and divine, 18; Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion, 320; and SJ’s Dictionary, 320; SJ recommends Brocklesby to read, 320–21 Clenardus. See Cleynaerts, Nicolas Clerke, Sir Philip Jennings. See JenningsClerke, Sir Philip Cleynaerts, Nicolas (1495–1542), Flemish grammarian: his Greek grammar, 17 Clive, Catherine (‘Kitty’) (1711–85), actor and singer, 7, 173 Clubs, 133, 136, 259; Addison’s club, 63; Blue-Stocking Clubs, 87–88; a ‘ City Club’ at the Queen’s Arms, St. Paul’s Churchyard, 71; the Literary Club (The Club): JB at, 12 n. 3, 227, 238; Fox and, 212; Goldsmith and, 12; SJ’s absence upon Mr. Thrale’s death, 70; SJ’s conversation at, 9–12, 238; SJ’s last attendance, 227, 238; members at SJ’s funeral, 322; George Steevens presiding, 70 n. 7; the Essex Head Club: 179–81, 192, 194 n. 1, 279 n. 9; JB chosen as member, 180 and n. a1; continues after SJ’s death, 180 n. a2; Hawkins misrepresents, 180; SJ’s rules for, 179–80; kept by Samuel Greaves, 179; Reynolds declines membership, 179; the Eumelian Club, 307; the Ivy Lane Club, 179; SJ on clubs, 133, 136, 225 Coachmakers’ Hall debate society, 75–78 Cobb, Mary (Hammond) (1718–93), of Lichfield, 163 n. 3, 378; SJ staying with her not convenient, 244 n. 5 Coke, Sir Edward (1552–1634), judge and legal author, 225

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INDEX

Collet, Matthew (fl. 1760–84), SJ’s barber, 232 Collins, William (1721–59), poet, 121 n. 2 Colman, George, the elder (1732–94), playwright and theatre manager: JB dines with, 191 n. 8; in conversation with SJ, 6, 9; and Richard Cumberland, 6 and n. 6; The Jealous Wife, 6, 7 n. 7; pall-bearer at SJ’s funeral, 322 n. 8; parodies SJ’s Dictionary and style, 299–300 and nn. 8, b1–b4; on Shakespeare, 16; translates Terence, 16 Columbus, Christopher (c. 1451–1506), Italian navigator, 177 Colvil (or Colvin), John (b. 1673), servant at Auchinleck, 125 n. 6 Confucius (551–479 B.C.), 10 n. 8 Congreve, William (1670–1729), dramatist and poet, 43 Cook, Capt. James (1728–79), explorer, 243 Cook (or Cooke), William (d. 1824), playwright, biographer of SJ: Life of Johnson, 57 and n. a1, 233 n. 4; member of Essex Head Club, 180 n. 5 Cooke, Thomas (c. 1744–1818), engraver: engraving of SJ’s portrait by Reynolds, 324 Cooke, Mr., SJ’s tailor in King Street, Bloomsbury, 232 n. 1 Cooper, John Gilbert (1723–69), author, 4 Cork, Lord. See Orrery, John Boyle, 5th Earl of Cork and Orrery Cork, Countess of. See Monckton, Hon. Mary Cornwall, 65 n. 9, 119 n. 7 Corrichatachin, Skye, 119 n. 8 Courtenay, John (1738–1816), politician and poet, 230; assists JB, xvii, 37 nn. 6–7, 260 n. 5; character of SJ, 294; ‘Poetical Review’, 235 n. 8, 294; and William Gerard Hamilton, 37 n. 7 Covent Garden Theatre, 6 n. 6 Cowdray House, Sussex, 121 Cowley, Abraham (1618–67), poet: SJ’s ‘Life of’, 21, 28–29; often quoted in England, 83 Cox, Mr., solicitor in Chancery Lane, 236 Crabbe, George (1754–1832), poet: SJ’s revision of The Village, 134 and n. 6, 383 Critical Review, The, 44, 152 Croft, Rev. Sir Herbert (1751–1816), author and lexicographer, 217; JB on, 139 n. 2; A Brother’s Advice to His Sisters, 217; Burke on Croft’s style, 46 n. 9, 303 n. 2; imita-

tor of SJ’s style, 46–47, 303 n. 2; life of Young by, 46–47, 98 n. 10, 303 n. 2; Love and Madness, 139 n. 2; printed letter to a young gentleman, 223–24 Cromwell, Oliver (1599–1658), Lord Protector, 165–66 and n. 4 Crousaz, Jean Pierre de (1663–1750), Swiss theologian: SJ translates part of Examen from French, 104 Cruikshank, William Cumberland (1745– 1800), anatomist and surgeon: attends SJ in his final illness, 312; SJ writes to, 281; and SJ’s sarcocele, 169–70 Cullen, William (1710–90), M.D., chemist and physician, 182, 183 and n. 2, 184 Cumberland, 107, 117 n. 6 Cumberland, Richard (1732–1811), dramatist and poet, 6, 9 and n. 9, 51, 232 n. 2, 297; The Brothers, 6 n. 6; The Observer, 51, 297 Cumberland, William Augustus, Duke of (1721–64), son of George II, general, 135 Cumming, Thomas (d. 1774), Quaker merchant, 151 Cuninghame, David (d. 1814), army officer, Mrs. Boswell’s nephew, 150 and n. 2 Dalzel, Andrew (1742–1806), classical scholar, Edinburgh professor of Greek, 297 Dance, Nathaniel (1735–1811), painter and politician: JB and Reynolds dine with, 274 n. 3 Davies, Sir John (1569–1626), lawyer and poet, 299 n. 8 Davies, Susanna (Yarrow) (c. 1723–1801), wife of following, 164 n. 8, 282 n. 9 Davies, Thomas (c. 1712–85), actor, bookseller, and author, 7, 12; correspondence with SJ, 164 and n. 8, 282; SJ on, 12, 164 Dawkins, James (1722–57), planter, antiquary, and archaeologist, called ‘Jamaica Dawkins’, 103 de Coverly, Sir Roger, 24 Deformities of Johnson, The, 118 Delany, Patrick (1685/6–1768), D.D., poet and divine, 29 n. 9 Dempster, George (1732–1818), M.P., agriculturalist, 124 n. 4 Dempster, Jean (‘Jeany’) (1736–c. 1769), sister of preceding, 202

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INDEX

Derby, 90 Derbyshire, 169 n. 5, 187 n. 9, 228, 276, 281, 422 Derrick, Samuel (1724–69), author, 164 Desmoulins, Elizabeth (Swinfen) (1716–85): JB converses with, 131, 150 n. 1; dines with SJ, JB, and company, 75, 150 and n. 1; illness of, 130, 180; and SJ’s death, xvi, 321 n. 4; provides material for JB, 235 n. 8 Desmoulins, John (b. 1755), son of preceding: and the death of SJ, xvi, 321 n. 4 Devaynes, John (1726–1801), apothecary to the Royal Household, 190 Devonshire, 235 and n. 1 Devonshire, Georgiana (Spencer), Duchess of (1757–1806), wife of 5th Duke, 88 n. 6 Devonshire, William Cavendish, 5th Duke of (1748–1811), 103 Diary, The (newspaper), 296 Dick, Sir Alexander (1703–85), 3rd Bt., physician, 144, 182–83 and n. 9 Dilly, Charles (1739–1807), bookseller, xvi, 82, 86, 87, 97, 103, 104, 106 and n. 4, 107, 184 n. 8, 195, 242 and n. 6, 331, 333, 334; correspondence with SJ, 181 and n. 9 Dilly, Edward and Charles, booksellers, 97 Dilly, John, or ‘Squire’ (1731–1806), elder brother of preceding, 97, 100, 101 n. 1, 103, 105 n. 5, 106, 107, 373, 374 Diogenes Laertius (180–240), 13 Dodd, William (1729–77), LL.D., clergyman and forger, 18, 227 nn. a2–a3; SJ’s petition of the City of London for, xviii, 227; last speech at the Old Bailey, 147 Dodington, George Bubb, 1st Baron Melcombe (1691–1762), politician, and patron, 47 n. 6 Dodsley, Robert (1703–64), bookseller and poet, 51 n. 3; Cleone: A Tragedy, 10 n. 8, 18 and n. 9; A Collection of Poems, 21; Publick Virtue: A Poem, 17–18 Dorset, Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of (1643–1706), poet, 202 n. 3, Dorset, John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of (1745–99): miniature of SJ from Reynolds in his possession, 324 n. a6 Dossie, Robert (1717–77), chemist and author, 10 and n. 7 Doughty, William (1757–82), portrait painter and engraver: mezzotint of Reyn-

olds portrait of SJ, 324 Douglas, James (c. 1675–1742), M.D., anatomist, man-midwife, book collector, 196 Douglas, John (1721–1807), D.D., Prebendary of St. Paul’s, later Bishop of Carlisle and afterwards of Salisbury, 71–72 and n. 7, 194 and n. 2, 195; on Church of England governance, 195 Dromore, Bishop of. See Percy, Thomas Drummond, William (d. 1774), Edinburgh bookseller, 3 n. 7 Drury Lane Theatre, 7, 173 n. 8 Dryden, John (1631–1700), poet, critic, dramatist, 28; preface to All for Love quoted by JB, 93–94; Aureng–Zebe quoted by JB, 219; Fables quoted by SJ, 246 and n. 5; The Hind and the Panther, 33–34; SJ’s ‘Life of’: 28 n. 4, 33–35; defends Dryden’s Catholicism, 33; unintentionally reflects SJ’s own character in, 34; SJ on, 176; SJ recites verse by, 12 n. 3; SJ seeks materials about, 33 n. a1 Dublin Evening Post, 296 n. a17 Dudley, Sir Henry Bate, 1st Baronet (1745– 1824), Church of England minister and newspaper editor, 216 and n. 7 Dundas, Henry. See Melville, Viscount Dunton, John (1659–1733), bookseller: on The Turkish Spy, 139 n. 2, 140–41 and n. 7 Duppa, Brian (1588–1662), D.D., Bishop of Winchester: SJ’s copy of his Holy Rules and Helps to Devotion, 315 Dyer, John (bap. 1699, d. 1757), poet: Grongar Hill, 222 and n. 8 Dyer, Samuel (bap. 1721, d. 1772), translator, 9–10; member of The Club, 9 n. 4 Dyson, Jeremiah (1722–76), civil servant and politician, 44 East Indies. See India Edinburgh, 39, 105, 120 n. 4, 179, 243 n. 1, 354; Holyroodhouse, 39 and n. a4, 83; SJ visits, 120 n. 4; publishing in, 3 n. 7, 118, 303; School of Medicine, 183; Society of Procurators, 105. See also Royal Society of Edinburgh; Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Edinburgh Magazine and Review, 44 n. 2, 45 n. 4 Edinburgh University, 216 n. 6, 297

452

INDEX

Edwards, Oliver (1711–91), lawyer and college friend of SJ, 72–73, 144; SJ sends him The Rambler, 73 Edwin, John (1749–90), comedian, 296 Eglinton, Frances (Twysden) Montgomerie, Countess of (1763–1816), second wife of Archibald Montgomerie, 11th Earl of, later Mrs. Frances Moore, 192 n. 3 Egypt, 103 Elibank, Lady Maria Margaretta (van Ellemeet) (c. 1690–1762), wife of following, earlier Lady North and Grey, 9 and n. 3 Elibank, Patrick Murray, 5th Baron (1703– 78), 9–10, 96 Eliot, Edward, of Port Eliot, 1st Baron Eliot (1727–1804), politician, 244 n. 6; on Chesterfield’s influence on his son, Philip Stanhope, 245; dines with SJ and company, 64–65, 238, 244; and Harte, 65, 245; multiple parliamentary seats, 65 and n. 9 Elphinston, James (1721–1809), educationalist, advocate of spelling reform: his translation of Martial, 130 and n. 7 England: Angeloni’s Letters on the English Nation, 92; ‘Augustan Age’ of, 47; character of Englishman vs. Frenchman, 13; character of Englishman vs. ‘Scotchman’, 10; education in, 106–07; gardens and orchards in, 145; and SJ’s monarchical principles, 328; laws, lawyers, and courts of, 106 ,130 n. a1, 224, 291 n. 9; Scots in, 83, 106–07, 128–29 and n. 8, 152; winters in, 247. See also Church of England English Review, The, 152 Entick, John (c. 1703–73), lexicographer and author: New Latin and English Dictionary, 65 n. 9 ‘Epistle of St. Basil’, 17 Erskine, Hon. Andrew (1740–93), poet and critic, 333; imitator of SJ’s style, 299 n. 8 Essex, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of (1565– 1601), soldier and politician, 229 n. 3. Essex Head Club, 179–81, 192, 194 n. 1, 279 n. 9 Estienne (‘Stephanus’), Henri II (1528/31– 98), scholar-printer, son of following, 2 and n. 6 Estienne (‘Stephanus’), Robert I (1503–59), scholar-printer, 2 and n. 6 Eton College, 68 n. 6, 230; SJ and ‘Eton

Men’, 12 n. 8, 17 Eumelian Club, 307 Euripides (c. 480–c. 406 B.C.), 2, 14 n. 3, 226 European Magazine, The, 156 n. 2, 261 n. 2 Evangelical History of Our Lord Jesus Christ Harmonized, 295 and n. a15 Falkland, Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount (1609/10–43), politician and author: JB compares SJ to Clarendon’s character of, 331 Farmer, Richard (1735–97), D.D., literary scholar, Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 16 Farquhar, George (1676/7–1707), playwright, 7, 173 n. 8 Faulder, Robert (1747/8–1815), printer and bookseller, 252, 253, 299 Fielding, John (fl. 1775–96), bookseller, 324 Fitzmaurice, Hon. Thomas (1742–93), 259 and n. 3 Fitzosborne, Sir Thomas. See Melmoth, William, the younger Flexman, Roger (1708–95), D.D., English Presbyterian minister and librarian: indexed The Rambler, 237 Flint, Bet, prostitute and author, 83–84 Flood, Henry (1732–91), politician and author: contributed to fund for SJ’s monument, 326 n. 5; ‘sepulchral verses’ for SJ, 326 and n. 5, 327 Foote, Samuel (1720–77), actor, satirist, and playwright, 160, 193; on Lord Loughborough, 137–38; design for stage satire on Lord Chesterfield and son, 245 Forbes, Sir William (1739–1806), of Pitsligo, Bt., banker and author, 291 n. 9; EM writes to asking for original of SJ’s letter to Green, 306 n. 4 Ford, Betty (d. 1768), SJ’s cousin, wife of Humphry Heely, 283–84 Ford, Rev. Cornelius (1694–1731), ‘Parson Ford’, SJ’s cousin: SJ repeats the story of his ghost, 217 Fordyce, George (1736–1802), M.D., physician: dines with SJ and others at The Club, 238 Fordyce, James (1720–96), D.D., Church of Scotland minister and moralist, 10 n. 8, 11 and n. 9, 318

453

INDEX

Fortescue, Sir John (c. 1397–1479), jurist, Chief Justice of the King’s Bench, 178 n. 4 Foster, James (1697–1753), Baptist minister and preacher, 9 Foundling Hospital for Wit, The, 207 and n. 4 Fox, Charles James (1749–1806), politician, later Prime Minister: Burke on Fox, 213 and n. 4; defends SJ’s pension against Townshend’s attack, 232 n. 8; SJ for the King against Fox, and Fox against Pitt, 212; member of The Club, 212; mob calls out ‘No Fox’, 196; profligate and licentious, 211 n. 5, 213; silent in presence of SJ, 127 France, 139 n. 2, 141, 213; Frenchmen, 13, 14; French Miscellanies, 26; French Revolution, 79 n. 6, 159 n. 6, 195 n. 7, 200 n. 7; French expressions, 35, 68 n. 5; misspelling of French names, 71 n. 5; SJ in, 267; SJ on French gentlemen and ‘Opera Girls’, 131; SJ on French habit of spitting, 167; SJ on French literature, 167; translations from, 104 n. 5; wars with, 19, 139 n. 2, 248 n. 4. See also Paris Francklin, Thomas (1721–84), D.D., classicist, clergyman, author, 25; posthumous tribute to SJ, 323 n. a2 Fraser (or Frazer), James (1645–1731), bookseller and collector, 155 n. 9 French, Katherine (Lloyd) (d. 1791), society hostess, 37 Friedrich Wilhelm II (1712–86), King of Prussia (known as Frederick the Great), 86–87, 324 n. a11 Galway, Jane (Westenra) Monckton, Viscountess (d. 1788), second wife of John Monckton (1st Viscount Galway), mother of Mary (Monkton) Boyle, Countess of Orrery, 88 Gama, Vasco da (d. 1524), Portuguese navigator, 177 Gardiner, Ann (Hedges) (d. 1789), wife of tallow-chandler, friend of SJ, 175 Garrick, David (1717–79), actor, playwright, theatre manager, 229 n. 3, 269 n. 6; as an actor, 7, 173–74; and the Adelphi, 81; death and funeral of, 78, 81, 148; fame of, 7, 173; and Foote, 160; and SJ’s Dictionary, 4; SJ on, 5, 81, 173–74; lends Shakespeare books to SJ, 284–85; and Lord Orrery, 15

and n. 7; portrait inscription by Beauclerk, 78–79; and Shakespeare, 22, 78 Garrick, Eva Maria (Veigel) (1724–1822), dancer, wife of preceding, 78; SJ dines with Mrs. Garrick and company, 192 Garrick, Peter (1710–95), vintner, brother of David, 44–45 and n. a2 Garth, Sir Samuel (1661–1719), physician and poet, 183 Gay, John (1685–1732), poet and dramatist: SJ’s ‘Life of’, 330 n. 5; SJ quotes The Beggar’s Opera, 77 Gentleman’s Magazine, 12 n. 3, 27 and n. a1, 46 n. 7, 65 n. 6, 111, 113 n. 3, 118 nn. 1–2 and 4, 119, 120 n. 6, 123 n. 1, 124 n. 2, 180 n. 6, 206 and nn. 7–8, 230, 273 n. a1, 282 n. 5, 287 n. 1, 295–96 and nn. 4, b1 George I (1660–1727), King of Great Britain and Ireland, 44 George II (1683–1760), King of Great Britain and Ireland, 21 n. 9; Burke on quiet reign of, 82; quarrel with King of Prussia, 86–87 George III (1738–1820), King of Great Britain and Ireland, 65 n. 9, 126, 129, 130, 133, 184, 195, 212, 282 n. 3; birthday of, 105, 204; JB on, 130–31; inquires after SJ’s health, 12, 269–70, 271; SJ on Fox vs. the King, 212–13; library of, 196; mob calls out ‘no Fox’ as King passes, 196; and pension for SJ, xvi, 92, 95, 231–32, 239 and n. 6, 249–50, 269 n. 6; petition for clemency for Dodd by the City of London, 227; request for support to send SJ to Italy, 248, 268–73 Germany, 213, 234; German language, 65, 196 Ghosts and apparations, 75, 78; Addison on, 78; JB’s interest in, 76 n. 9; SJ on, 76; in literature, 15; Parson Ford’s ghost, 217 Giannone, Pietro (1676–1748), Italian historian, 3 Gibb, Andrew (1767–1839), overseer at Auchinleck, 203 n. a1 Gibbon, Edward (1737–94), historian: JB on, 60 n. 9, 66 n. 3; Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 301; imitator of SJ’s style, 301; on SJ, 60; Bishop Newton on, 203 Gibbons, Thomas (1720–85), D.D., Independent minister and diarist, 103; dines at Dilly’s with SJ, JB and company, 195

454

INDEX

Gillespie, Thomas (d. 1804), M.D., Lord Auchinleck’s physician: JB seeks his opinion on SJ’s case, 182–83 and n. 9, 396 Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?–74), author: on Burke, 232; in conversation with SJ, 9, 92; dedication to SJ, 323; The Deserted Village, 135; SJ on character of, 20; on SJ’s arguing, 191 and nn. 5, 8; SJ recommends he translate Lusiades, 395; SJ’s revisions of poems, 135; project to study culture at Aleppo, 20; brings Marriott’s ode to The Club, 11–12 and n. 3; reads Mason’s poetry to SJ, 92; ‘Retaliation’, 232; She Stoops to Conquer, 237; speech to Lord Shelburne, 133–34; The Traveller, 135 Gordon, Lord George (1751–93), political and religious agitator, 71 Graham, James Graham, 6th Marquis of (1755–1836), later 3rd Duke of Montrose, 88–89 Granville, John Carteret, 1st Earl (1690– 1763), 3, 11, 65 Grattan, Henry (c. 1746–1820), politician, 231 and n. 5 Gravina, Gian Vincenzo (1664–1718), Italian poet and critic, 139 n. 2, 140 Gray, Thomas (1716–71), poet and literary scholar: Elegy Written in a Country ChurchYard, 305; SJ on Odes, 12, 51 n. 3; SJ’s ‘Life of’, 51 and nn. 3–4, 119 n. 7; Temple’s character of, 119 n. 7 Greaves, Samuel (fl. 1783–84), former servant of Mr. Thrale and proprietor of the Essex Head, 179 Green (or Greene), Richard (1716–93), antiquary and apothecary in Lichfield, 305 and n. 6, 306 and n. 3 Greville, Richard Fulke (c. 1717–1806), M.P., diplomat, and essayist, 220 and n. 6 Grimston, William Grimston, 1st Viscount (1683–1756), Whig politician, 66–67 and n. 7 Gustavus Adolphus, or Gustav II Adolf (1594–1632), King of Sweden, 65 Guthrie, William (1708–70), historian and political journalist: ‘Apotheosis of Milton’, 206 Hackman, Rev. James (1752–79), murderer, 139 n. 2

Hailes, Sir David Dalrymple, Lord (1726– 92), Scottish judge and author, 155 and n. 1; modernized edition of John Hales’s works, 230 Hale, Sir Matthew (1609–76), jurist, Lord Chief Justice, 225–26 and n. 6 Hales, John (1584–1656), Fellow of Eton, 230 Hall, John (1739–97), engraver: portraits of SJ: for The Rambler, 324; for his works, 324 n. a9 Hall, Martha (Wesley) (c. 1707–91), sister of John Wesley: dines with SJ and company, 75; and Anna Williams, 77 Hamilton, Mary (1756–1816), courtier, diarist, niece of Sir William Hamilton, 200 n. 8 Hamilton, William Gerard (1729–96), politician: can testify to SJ’s benevolent actions, 262; on chasm left by SJ’s death, 322–23; generosity of, 174; SJ’s correspondence with, 174, 277, 280; SJ on, 91; on SJ’s conversation, 90–91; on SJ and Warburton, 37 and n. 4; provides JB with material, 37 nn. 4–5, 174 and n. 9, 280 n. 8; but objects to inclusion of his name, 37 n. 7, 91 n. 4, 322 n. 1 Hammond, James (1710–42), politician and poet: Love Elegies, 15; SJ’s ‘Life of’, 51 n. 3 Hampton, Middlesex, 79 Handel, George Frederick (1685–1759), composer, 200–01, 204 Hankin, Joseph (b. 1761), husband of Edward Young’s granddaughter Elizabeth, 98 n. 7 Hanover, house of, 92, 126, 130, 230. See also George I, II, III Harcourt, George Simon Harcourt, 2nd Earl (1736–1809), styled Viscount Nuneham (until 1777), politician and patron of the arts, 93 n. 6 Harding, J. (fl. 1782), painter: portrait of SJ, 324 Harington, Sir John (c. 1560–1612), courtier and author: Nugæ Antiquæ, 322 n. 9 Harley, Edward. See Oxford, Earl of. Harrison, Daniel (d. 1766), SJ’s tailor on Ludgate Hill, 232 n. 1 Harrison, James, the younger (fl. 1785–1824), publisher: Harrison’s Edition of A Dictionary of the English Language, 324 Harrow School, 14 n. 9

455

INDEX

Harte, Rev. Walter (1708/9–74), Church of England minister, author: History of Gustavus Adolphus, 65; SJ on, 65; tutored Lord Eliot and Lord Peterborough, 65, 245 Hastings, Warren (1732–1818), GovernorGeneral of India, 44 n. 2, 50 n. 1, 52 and nn. 7–8, 262 n. 2, 359; correspondence with JB, 52–53; correspondence with SJ, 53–56 Hawkins, Sir John (1719–89), musicologist, lawyer, biographer: as executor for SJ, 189 n. 3, 322 and n. 7; and SJ’s lost diary, 111 n. 4; Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., xvii, 112, 179–80, 251, 253–54 and n. 4, 283–84, 289, 314, 316 and n. a1; alleges that SJ’s conscience was uneasy, 307; alleges that SJ hastened his own death, 312 and n. a1; alleges that SJ did not return books, 284–85; condemns SJ’s bequest to Frank Barber, 313–14; JB’s differences with, 180, 283–85, 307, 312, 314, 316; JB on the carelessness and prejudice of his biography, 240–41, 284; JB praises passage of unquestionable merit, 285; as source for JB, 111 n. 4, 112, 179, 254 n. 4, 272 n. 5, 273 n. a2, 289, 294 n. a1, 313, 314, 316 n. a1, 322 n. 7; takes a volume of SJ’s ms. memoirs, 316; tells SJ he will be buried in Westminster Abbey, 322; urges SJ to make a will, 313 Hawkins-Browne. See Browne, Isaac Hawkins Hay, Lord Charles (c. 1705–60), M.P., army officer, 19 n. 6, 20–21 and n. 9, 345 Hayes, Rev. Samuel (c. 1749–c. 1795), usher at Westminster School, editor of SJ’s sermons for John Taylor, 215 and n. 2 Hayley, William (1745–1810), poet and biographer: Two Dialogues: Containing a Comparative View of the Lives, Characters, and Writings, of Philip, the Late Earl of Chesterfield, and of Dr. Samuel Johnson, 269 n. 6; Philosophical Essay on Old Maids, 269 Heath, James (1757–1834), engraver: engraving of SJ from Opie, 324 Heberden, William (1710–1801), M.D., physician: attends SJ, 163 and n. 6, 182, 312; SJ dines with, 196; participant in society for conversation, 73 Hector, Edmund (1708–94), surgeon, lifelong friend of SJ, 110, 335 and n. 9: correspondence with JB, 117 n. 5, 122 n. 5,

283 n. 3, 288–89 and n. 3; correspondence with SJ, 117 and nn. 4–5, 122 n. 5, 291; on Hawkins’s ‘unjust reflection’ on SJ and Barber, 283 n. 3; omitted from SJ’s will, 314, 315 n. a5 Heely, Humphry (1714–c. 1796), husband of SJ’s cousin Betty (Ford) Heely, 283–84 Henderson, John (1757–88), scholar and eccentric, 217: dialogue with SJ on Nonjuring clergy, 205 n. 3; surprised by SJ's fear of death, 217 Henry, Prince of Portugal (Infante Dom Henrique, o Navegador) (1394–1460), 177–78 Herculaneum, 1 and n. 4 Herodotus (c. 484–c. 428 B.C.), 103 n. 1 Hervey family, 19 n. 4 Heydon, John (1629–c. 1670), occultist, writer on astrology and alchemy: note in SJ’s copy of The Rosie Crucian Infallible Axiomata, 315 Hickes, George (1642–1715), D.D., bishop of the Nonjuring Church of England, antiquary, 205 Hinduism, 10 n. 8, 11 and n. 1, 71 Hobbes, Thomas (1588–1679), philosopher, 315 Hodge (SJ’s cat), 139 n. 9 Holder, Robert (d. 1797), apothecary: attends SJ, 115 and n. 9; attends Levett, 111 Holinshed, Raphael (c. 1525–80), historian, 186, 397 Holland, Charles (1733–69), actor, 7 Hollis, Thomas (1720–74), political philosopher, ‘the strenuous Whig’, 79–80 and nn. 6–7 Hollis, Thomas Brand (c. 1719–1804), radical Whig, 79 n. 6 Holloway, Thomas (1748–1827), engraver, 325 n. a13 Homer, 14, 222; SJ on The Odyssey, 157 Hoole, John (1727–1803), playwright and translator: asked by SJ to form a ‘City Club’, 71; conversations with SJ, 178, 199 n. 5, 319; correspondence with SJ, 279 and n. 8; hosts SJ and others for dinners and evening gatherings, 71, 178, 199, 200; and Ozias Humphry, 186; and Mickle, 178; narrative of SJ’s last days, 317 and n. 9, 318 n. 9; SJ urges religious improvement, 319 Hope, John (1725–86), M.D., physician,

456

INDEX

professor of Botany and Materia Medica: opinion sought on SJ’s illness, 182–84 Hopetoun, John Hope, 2nd Earl of (1704– 81), 32 n. 6 Horace (65–8 B.C.), 94, 194 and n. 10, 210; Douglas’s collection of, 196; Epistles, 98; Odes, 153, 283; religious topics in, 153 Horne, George (1730–92), D.D., Church of England minister, Dean of Canterbury, later Bishop of Norwich: JB deletes SJ’s reference to, 207 n. 3; on character of SJ, 329 and n. a2 Horsley, Samuel (1733–1806), D.C.L., successively Bishop of St. David’s, Rochester, and St. Asaph, 180 n. 5 Hounslow, stage on road to Oxford, 202 n. 6 Huet, Pierre Daniel (1630–1721), Bishop of Avranches, 194 n. 1; Commentarius de rebus ad eum pertinentibus a favourite with SJ, 316 n. a7 Huggins, William (1696–1761), translator of Ariosto, 6 Hume, David (1711–76), philosopher and historian, 207 and n. 3 Humphry, Ozias (1742–1810), miniature and portrait painter: ancient family of, 185–86; SJ asks to allow his godson to watch him paint, 185–87; lends JB letters from SJ, 185 n. 3; miniature of SJ from Reynolds, 324 n. a6 Hurd, Richard (1720–1808), D.D., Bishop of Worcester, 139 n. 9, 209, 335–36 Hussey, Rev. Thomas (1741–1803), Roman Catholic chaplain to the Spanish Ambassador, 317–18, 435 Hutton, James (1715–95), Moravian minister and bookseller, 317 India (East Indies), 11 n. 1, 54–56, 185 n. 3, 359; Bengal, 56, 77 and n. 3, 152 n. 4; SJ on caste system, 71; SJ on colonial government of, 152; Madras, 152 n. 2 Innys, William (d. 1756), bookseller: SJ’s legacy to his descendants, 314 Inveraray, Argyll, 204–05 Ireland, 65 n. 6, 66, 94, 141, 145, 178, 189; Acts promoting autonomy of Irish Parliament, 231 n. 5; Grattan’s speech on the freedom of, 231; hospitality to strangers in, 16; Irish oratory, 84, 231 and n. 5;

SJ’s prejudice against, 328; publication of ancient Irish manuscripts, 189 n. 3; Royal Irish Academy, 298; Siege of Derry, 245; Swift and an Irish degree for SJ, 49 Ireland, William Henry (1775–1835), author and literary forger, 114 n. 9 Islam (Mahometans), 10 n. 8, 140 Italy, 213, 415; custom of indulging the terminally ill, 243; SJ and Italian language, 109, 295; SJ wishes to travel to, 238, 247–48, 250, 272 n. 1; Sastres the Italian Master, 238, 247–48, 269–70. See also Moore, John Ivy Lane Club, 179 Jacobites, 126, 205–06 Jamaica, 81, 243 and n. 1 James II (1633–1701), King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 205–06 James, Dr. Robert (bap. 1703, d. 1776), physician, inventor of fever powder, 10 n. 5 Jennings-Clerke, Sir Philip (c. 1722–88), politician: dines with SJ and circle, 67 Jephson, Robert (1736/7–1803), playwright, parodies SJ’s style, 299 n. 8 Jodrell, Richard Paul (1745–1831), classical scholar and dramatist: dines with SJ, JB and circle, 189–90; member of the Essex Head Club, 179–80 Johnson, Elizabeth (Jervis) Porter (1689– 1752), wife of SJ, 253, 287; believes story of Parson Ford’s ghost, 217; SJ’s affliction over her death, 42, 99; SJ arranges for new tombstone and epitaph, 275, 306 n. 4; SJ retains tenderness for, 274–75, 315 Johnson, Michael (1656–1731), father of SJ: SJ’s epitaph for, 305–06; SJ’s penance for not accompanying him to Uttoxeter Market, 287; William Innys’s assistance to, 314; Lichfield grants SJ lease to his father’s house, 286 Johnson, Nathaniel (1712–37), bookseller, brother of SJ: SJ’s epitaph for, 305–06 JOHNSON, SAMUEL (SJ) (1709–84) Part I. Biographical Materials a) actions, events: answers abusive raillery on Thames, 23–24; appearance, 327–28; burns personal papers, 314–16; conduct on first arrival in London, 308; counts verses when writing poetry, 157; death of,

457

INDEX

321–22; dines at The Club for last time, 227, 238; drawn for London militia, 232; draws up list of authors of The Universal History, 293–95; dresses for court mourning, 237; funeral of: attended by Chapter of Westminster, 322; service read by Dr. Taylor, 322; granted life lease on father’s Lichfield house, 285–86; on Lord Hays’s court martial, 20–21; hears mother’s voice from a distance, 77; pension (Royal Bounty), 12, 92, 95, 128, 139, 231, 232 and n. 8, 238–39, 249, 269 n. 6, 271, 272 n. 1, 277 n. 2; posthumous tributes to, 323–27; epitaph, 326 and n. 4; Lichfield Cathedral monument, 326; St. Paul’s Cathedral cenotaph, 326 nn. 2, 3; Westminster Abbey monument, 326; recommendation sought by Norwich grammar school, 14 n. 9; refusal to attend father to Uttoxeter Market, 287; rumoured to be learning to dance, 66; sale of his library, 315; shops for tea and sugar, 232; and the Society of Arts, 10, 73, 80; solicits sermon for ‘Welch Charity School’, 175; as a student in Oxford, 224; ‘talked for victory’, 90–91 and n. 4, 191 and n. 5, 332 and n. 3, 370; and the Torré fireworks, 236–37; travel to Italy proposed, 238, 247–48, 250, 272 n. 1; JB and Reynolds seek increase in pension, 238–39, 247–50; the ‘Pious Negociation’, 240, 248, 268–69, 270, 271, 272 ; failure of plan, 268 n. 9, 270, 271–73; Lord Thurlow’s counteroffer, 272; newspapers publish SJ’s letter to Lord Thurlow, 273 and n. a1; unable to learn knotting (knitting), 201–02; utters a ‘bull’, 235; visits Ashbourne, 110, 291 n. 8; visits Beckenham, Kent, 229 n. 4; visits Birmingham, 110, 288–89; visits Chichester, 121; visits Derbyshire, 276; visits Lichfield, 110, 285–86, 291 n. 8; visits Luton Hoe, 104–05, 110; visits Oxford, 110, 200–02, 204–26, 289–90; visits Salisbury, 165, 167; visits Staffordshire, 276; visits Welwyn, 97–99; will and testament, 313 and nn. a1, a2; and wine, 58–59, 65–66, 73, 75, 79, 195, 311; wonders how he should have enemies, 128. See also Clubs character: affection for departed friends and relations, 99, 111, 115, 166, 286, 305;

458

tenderness for his wife, 42, 99, 274–75; amorous inclinations when young, 308; appreciation of generosity, 195, 248–50; attention to minutiae of life, 145–46, 330 n. 7; attentiveness to returning borrowed books, 284–85; benevolence and charity, 107 n. 9, 118, 141, 162, 195, 197, 199, 204, 235, 237, 261–62, 284, 296, 311, 317, 329; candour, 4, 80–81, 168; compassion, 201, 215, 235; constancy to those he employed, 232; contradictory qualities, 327; dislike of being read to, 18; dislike of flattery, 258–59; dislike of gesticulation, 235; disorderliness, 90; enjoyment of company of physicians, 213; enjoyment of criticism, 42, 104; fear of solitude, 330; friendship, 9, 53, 64, 119, 185 n. 1, 262 and n. 2, 293, 317, 329; graciousness, 89; immoderation, 58–59; indolence and industry, 294; aversion to starting to write, 283; and resolution to pursue serious employment, 109; indulgence for human frailty, 215; intellect: ardour, spirit, vivacity, 110, 124, 160, 170, 179, 283, 287, 288; collection of learning and knowledge vast, 146, 195, 330–32, 441; delight in philology and biography, 26; logic and imagination, 331; perceptions quick and accurate, 328; retentive memory, 13, 83; superstition and rationality, 327 n. 2; interest in chemistry, 167–68; lack of taste in painting, 142, 234; love of literature, 293; manner of arguing, 90–91, 214–15, 246–47, 327; Burke on, 198; dislike of being bested in argument, 90; dislike of quotation of his own writing against him, 191; Goldsmith on, 191 and n. 8; Langton on, 197–98; EM on, 258; Reynolds on, 198; manner of walking, 56–57, 92, 328 n. 5; manner of speaking, 167; piety of, 26, 31, 109–10, 121, 124, 162, 165, 214, 276, 283, 290, 310, 311, 321, 328, 332; prejudices, 49, 81, 90–91, 126, 128, 129, 146, 320, 328–29 and n. 8; principles of duty, 61, 100, 123, 149, 327, 329; roughness of manner, 214–15, 258; seductiveness to women, 44–45 and n. a2; sense of superiority, 95, 330; stern in taste, 329; struggle with propensity to vice, 308; temperament of, 218, 328 n. 5; anger, 61 n. 8, 77, 129, 131, 156, 191 and

INDEX

n. 7, 198, 246, 253 n.1, 266; ill-humour, 202; impatience, 246, 329; independence of spirit, 328; irritability, 5, 99 n. 4, 229 n. 5, 265, 328 n. 5, 329; jocularity, 229 n. 5; obstinacy, 262; pride, 273 n. 7, 287; restlessness, 329; sarcasm, 229 n. 5; violence of passion, 329 and n. 9; vanity of female society, 60; willingness to apologize, 234, 246–47, 263–64; wit, 1, 330. See also Horne, George b) ideas, opinions, views of self concepts: on ambition, 49, 95; on admiration, 7, 37, 109; on affection, 150; on amusements, 230; on atheism, 80; on avarice, 156; on beauty: female, 106, 265; and utility, 127; on benevolence, 16, 64, 125, 159, 195, 311; on Berkeley’s philosophy, 24–25 n. 1; on the brevity of life, 291; on budgeting, 161; on carelessness, 18; on children, 14, 18, 146, 149–50, 154–55; on classical learning, 2 and n. 4, 8, 17, 83, 156, 228 n. 8; on coffee- and tea-houses, 73, 158; on collecting books, 85–86, 196; on compliments, 5, 192, 247, 258–59; on condescension, 3, 49; on corpulence, 152; on courage, 216; on cucumbers, 9, 12; on dancing, 66; on despondency, 91; on dreams, 5; on drinking water, 6; on drinking wine, 6, 73–74, 154; on exaggeration, 15, 68, 131, 148; on failure, 127; on fame, 35, 42, 92–93, 193–94 and n. 10; on family portraits, 4; on fashion, 131, 138–39; on flattery, 109, 203, 258–59 and n. 7; on foppery, 233; on friendship, 94, 136, 149, 197, 249; on frugality, 125; on ghosts and apparitions, 76 and n. 9, 78; in contemporary writing, 15; Parson Ford’s ghost, 217; on grief, 99, 148, 267; on good-breeding, 217, 233; on governing passion, 16; on hanging, 71; on happiness, 33, 103, 265; eternal, 121, 151, 309; life as a balance of misery, 218–20; on his own wit, 138; on honesty, 63, 151, 160, 213–14, 245; on housebreakers, 104; on hospitality, 16, 144, 158; on idleness, indolence, and industry, 8, 16, 26, 64, 71, 91, 109, 133, 136, 201; on imagination, 40; in conversation, 127; distinct from judgment, 32; effect of pagan mythology on, 15; and madness, 14; on inattention,

459

69; on insincere invitations, 243–44; on intellectual qualities of eminent men, 137–38; on intuition vs. sagacity, 246–47; on keeping accounts, 136–37; on keeping a journal, 136; on kindness, 94, 123, 195, 269–272; on knotting, 201–02; on learned ladies, 252; on learning, 3, 8, 12, 13, 16, 18, 156, 161, 206; on lectures, 74–75; on lending money, 158; on letterwriting, 83, 103, 166, 319; on licentiousness, 16, 101, 211; on lies, 37–38, 221; on the life of a country gentleman, 4, 125, 144, 158, 228; on living in the country vs. city, 250; on madness, 135, 148; on mankind: expects less of the more he knows, 168–69; on marriage, 81, 137, 232, 251; on melancholy, 91; on merit and neglect, 131–32; on memory, 103, 138; on moral conduct, 4; on moral truth, 6; on obscenity, 214; on old age, 194; on the poor, 144; on practice in writing, 11; on his prejudices, 129; on the present judged against the past, 207, 295–96; on principled action, 207; on probability, 242; on pronunciation, 146; on provisions for entertainment, 73; on quotation, 83; on reading, 18, 146, 156; on reliving one’s life, 219; and resentment, 92, 158; on retirement from society, 159; his scale of liquors, 66; on sea explorers, 177; on seduction, 310; on ‘seeing Life’, 136; on self-reliance, 167; on servants, 228; on subscription printing, 90; on suicide, 161; on swearing, 7, 154; on taste, 250; on temperament and will, 90; on timidity, 228; on trusting first impressions, 100–01; on truth, 10 n. 8, 41, 257, 309; moral truth, 6; on needful evasions, 220–21; nobility of publishing, even when it condemns the author, 309; on uneasiness, 190–91; on vicissitude: of human life, 104; of opinion, 30; on visiting, 158; on virtue, 160; on wages of workers, 136; on wealth, 95, 132–33, 274; advantages of, 13, 249, 251–52; and happiness, 103, 26; vs. merit, 132, 216; and miserliness, 135; on wit, 5; on women, 192, 208; envy male vices, slaves of order and fashion, 212; more interested in wealth than moral character of suitors, 211; on writing, 156–57

INDEX

history, politics, social institutions and customs: on the American war, 67; on Burke: a ‘bottomless Whig’, 159 and nn. 6, 7; his factionalism, 151; on the Constitution, 130; on drunkenness among the people, 16; on duelling, 150 and n. 2; on education, 17, 18, 106, 166 n. 5, 228; on Englishmen, 10, 13, ; on Eton, 12 n. 8, 17; on factious governance, 133, 139 n. 2, 141, 151; on foreigners, 13–14, 328, 440; on the Glorious Revolution, 126, 130; Lord George Gordon, 71; on Henry Grattan, 231; on hospitality to strangers, 16; on the House of Hanover, 230; on idleness caused by benevolence, 16; on inappropriate familiarity with the great, 49; on the Interregnum, 29; on justice and protecting the innocent, 178; on law, 60, 85, 178; attorneys, 229; JB’s cases, 155; imposed by colonizers, 97; lawyers, 61, 224–25; registration of deeds, 60; on Locke and export of currency, 85; on the management of one’s affairs, 71; on medicine: inoculation, 213; knowledge to be sought in ‘barbarous nations’ 213; medicinal use of orange peel, 145 n. 8; Peruvian Bark, 213; mistrust of extreme latitude in politics, 328; on monarchy, 126, 130, 328; on opposition in government, 67; on Oxford University, 74–75; on Parliament: abuse and invective in, 216; arguments of Counsel in, 199; the dissolution of the North ministry, 113–14; duties of sitting members of, 61; factiousness in, 157, 216; and the inherent right of kings, 130, 157; Robert Walpole, 230; SJ’s Parliamentary Debates, 230, 299 n. 8, 317 n. 4, 409; the North Ministry, 67, 82; the Opposition, 67, 82, 129; on patriotism and patriots, 44, 71; on political parties and the king, 129, 212; on poverty, 3, 16; on public affairs ‘as bad as they can be’, 133; on public schools, 166 n. 5; on Queen Elizabeth, 12; on ‘savages’, 224; on the House of Stuart, 128; on taverns admitting women and bishops, 61; and Thomas Townshend, 231–32; on Tories, 96; SJ’s Tory sensibility, 29, 71, 82; vs. Whigs, 96, 159; the ‘Vulgar’ as ‘children of the State’, 155; on war, 19; with France, 139 n. 2, 141;

460

on Westminster, 12 n. 8; on Whigs, 82; Whigs vs. Tories, 96, 211 language: on argument vs. testimony, 199–200; on cant, 8 n. 6, 157–58, 266; on conversation, 17, 38, 95–96, 115, 124–27, 137–83, 157, 244, 264–65; best found in London, 288; contradiction not harmful, 197–98; double entendres in, 81; on fear of engaging with him, 214–15; as ‘free controversy’, 14; impatience with tedious accounts, 228; joking on the outside, miserable within, 219–20; private vs. public, 155, 202; on religious matters, 101–03; requires knowledge, command of words, imagination, presence of mind 126–27; requires substance, sweetness, and spirit, 199; roughness vs. gentleness of manner, 214–15; on saying more than he means in jest, 168; skill not equally distributed, 17, 38, 68–69, 95; ‘Society for conversation’ impracticable without food, 73; as a trial of intellectual vigour and skill, 91, 138; and zeal for virtue, 31; on correctness, 41; on English-Latin translation, 9–10; and Low-Dutch, 19; and Greek, 5, 17, 20; SJ’s knowledge of, 297, 327; SJ reads Euripides, 226; SJ translates from the Greek Anthology, 296; on the Irish language, 3 n. 7; on Italian as his ‘settled study’, 109; and Latin, 115, 121, 261, 313, 327; Ægri Ephemeris (journal of his illness), 293; SJ as ‘one of the first latin scholars in modern times’, 297; SJ’s Latin poems, 296; on modernized language, 230; on oratory, 84, 138, 146; on the origin of language, 146–47; on propriety of usage, 8 n. 6; on proverbial phraseology, 15; on public reading (oral delivery), 146; on synonyms, 147 literary and dramatic arts: on absurdity usefully ridiculed, 15; on acting, 7; actors and actresses, 173–74; on Addison, 41; advising and correcting authors, 99–100, 134; on Æschylus, 14; on the Ancients and Moderns, 156; on anonymous newspaper attacks, 192; on Thomas Astle’s ‘Notes on Alfred’, 107; on Bathurst’s verses to Hobbes, 315; on Beach’s Eugenio, 12 n. 3; on Bentley’s verses, 21–22 and n. 2; on Blair’s sermons, 80–81; on blank verse, 17–18, 32, 48, 335;

INDEX

on Henry Brooke’s Earl of Essex, 229; on Buckingham’s The Rehearsal, 233; on Frances Burney’s Cecilia, 159; on Callimachus, 2; on Capell’s preface to Shakespeare, 5; on Lord Carlisle, 92, 175–77; on Chesterfield’s Letters to His Son, 244–45; on Colley Cibber, 173; on classical machinery, 14–15; on classical metre, 3, 8, 313; on Catherine Clive, 173; on George Colman’s The Jealous Wife, 6; on comedy, 6, 7 n. 7, 173, 233; on Pierre Corneille, 14; and George Crabbe, 134; on Herbert Croft, 217, 223–24; on description falling short of reality, 139 n. 2, 140; on Robert Dodsley: Publick Virtue, 17–18; Cleone, 18; on John Dryden, 28 n. 4, 33–34, 176; on Elphinston’s translation of Martial, 130 and n. 7; on The English Review, 152; on Euripides, 2; on fabulous narratives, 137; on farce, 7; on George Farquhar, 7; on Foote’s intended stage satire on Lord Chesterfield and son, 245; on French literature, 167; on David Garrick: his acting, 173–74; his character of Lord Orrery, 15 and n. 8; on Goldsmith’s project for a third London theatre, 92; on Gray’s Odes, 12; on Greek dramatists, 14 and n. 3; on Lord Hailes’s modernized edition of the works of John Hales, 230; on James Hammond, 15; on Homer: pagan machinery in 14; Pope’s Odyssey, 37–38 and n. 4; vs. Virgil, 157; on William Huggins, 6; on Horace, 153, 194 and n. 10; SJ on his own work: Irene, 4; Rambler, 4, 224; on Junius, 221; and Juvenal, 313; on David Lewis, 222–23; on the ‘Lottery’ of literary publishing, 99–100; on George Lord Lyttleton, 51; on ‘machinery’ of ghosts, witches, and fairies, 15, 44; on David Mallet, 155–56; on George Marriott’s The Jesuit, 11–12 and n. 3; on William Mason’s ‘Heroick Epistle to Sir William Chambers’, 92; and Mary Masters, 175; on Michel Maittaire: book of Greek dialects, 3; history of the Estienne printers, 2–3; on the Metaphysical Poets, 28; on Milton, 30–33, 220; on Shakespeare vs. Milton, 59; on John Moore, 233 and n. 2; on John Nichols’s Anecdotes, 123, 282; on William O’Brien’s stage debut, 7; and ‘Ossian’, 178–79; on Thomas Otway, 18 and n. 10;

461

on pathos, 48, 88; on patronage, 132; on Plutarch, 166 n. 5; on poetic invention, 14, 15; on poetry: pastoral verse, 2, 134; ‘Rhime’ vs. blank verse, 32, 48; unfit for ‘the aweful subjects’ of religion, 30; on poetic justice, 245; on Alexander Pope, 9, 35; translation of Homer, 37–38 and n. 4; on Walter Pope, 16; on Mary Porter, 173; on Hannah Pritchard, 173; on publishing letters, 83; on reading books to their end, 224 and n. 5; on revising what one has written, 10, 224; on reviewing literary works, 44–45, 152–53; on Reynolds’s Discourses, 234; on romances, 14; on Russell’s Natural History of Aleppo, 131; on Savage’s Wanderer, 206; on sermons as a branch of literature, 85; on Anna Seward, 243; on Shakespeare, 14, 16, 22–23, 59, 312; Shakespeare vs. Milton, 59; on Sheridan’s Oratory, 158; and Sarah Siddons, 172–73; on Spanish plays, 14; on Laurence Sterne, 88; on styles of composition, 14; on Swift’s London journal, 136; on the theatre, 7; on Theocritus, 2; on James Townley’s High Life Below Stairs, 7; on tragedy, 14; on travel writing, 224, 233; on Virgil, 2, 14, 156–57; on vulnerability to criticism, 232; on Thomas Warton, 6; on William Warburton, 37 and nn. 4, 7; edition of Shakespeare, 35, 206 personages: and Sarah Adams, 212; on Edmund Allen, 283, 291; and Thomas Barnard, 94; on Joshua Barnes, 17; on James Barry, 159; on Lord (Allen) Bathurst, 39; on James Beattie, 235–36; on Topham Beauclerk, 9, 81, 85–86; on Richard Bentley, 18, 156; on Richard Berenger, 73; and William Bewley, 108–09; on William Blackstone, 74; on Sir Charles Blagden, 24; on Hugh Blair, 80–81; on Lord Bolingbroke, 39; on JB, 68 n. 5, 161–62, 232 and n. 2, 248, 291–92, 293; on Margaret Boswell, 119, 162; on William Bowles, 165; on Dr. Brocklesby, 319 and n. 2; on Edmund Burke, 17, 24, 127, 151, 193, 236, 317; on Richard Burke, 157; on Frances Burney, 192; on Archibald Campbell, 204–05; on Elizabeth (Vobe) Campbell, 81; on Elizabeth Carter, 192; on George Chamberlayne, 207; on Robert

INDEX

Chambers, 54; on Lord Chesterfield, 133, 244–45; on Colley Cibber, 173; on Dr. Samuel Clarke, 18; on Catherine Clive, 7, 173; on Richard Cumberland, 297; on Thomas Davies, 7, 12 164; on Jamaica Dawkins, 103; on Patrick Delany, 29 n. 9; on Robert Dossie, 10; on Sir Henry Bate Dudley, 216; on Elizabeth Dunn, 223; on Samuel Dyer, 10; on Roger Flexman, 237; on Bet Flint, 83–84; on Samuel Foote, 193; on Charles James Fox, 127, 196, 212–13; on David Garrick, 4, 5, 7, 81, 173–74; on Edward Gibbon, 60 n. 9; and Rev. Thomas Gibbons, 103; on Oliver Goldsmith, 20, 92, 133–34; on William Gerard Hamilton, 91, 174; on Dr. Walter Harte, 65; and Warren Hastings, 53–56; on Sir John Hawkins’s letter of apology, 316; on Lord Charles Hay, 20–21; on Edmund Hector, 110, 288–89; on Thomas Hollis, 80; on Dr. Richard Hurd, 335–36; and William Innys, 314; on Sir Philip Jennings-Clerke, 67; on Bennet Langton, 154 and n. 6, 160–61, 197 and n. 6, 198, 215, 294, 317; and Jane Langton, 187; on Charlotte Lennox, 192; on Robert Levett, 111–13, 126, 171, 191; on Dudley Long, 67–68; on Dr. Michael Lort, 16 and n. 4; on Lord Loughborough, 137–38; on Mauritius Lowe, 133, 141–43; on George Lord Lyttleton, 44, 51; on Thomas Lord Lyttelton, 217; on Lord Mansfield, 137, 194; on Lord Marchmont, 39–40; and Philip Metcalfe, 121–22; on Littleton Poyntz Meynell, 14; and William Mickle, 177–78; on Elizabeth Montagu, 60, 192–93; on Hannah More, 192, 258–59; on Rev. Zachariah Mudge, 63–64, 80; on Col. John Myddelton, 90 n. 3; on Bishop Thomas Newton, 203; on John Nichols, 27 and n. a2, 282–83; on Dr. Thomas Nowell, 215; and James Oglethorpe, 129–30; and the Countess of Orrery, 88; on Lord Orrery, 15 and n. 8, 29 n. 9, 133; and Pasquale Paoli, 242; on John and Lucy Paradise, 160 and n. 3; on Sackville and Elizabeth Parker, 223; on Dr. Samuel Parr, 14 and n. 9; on William Weller Pepys, 68 and n. 6; on Lord Peterborough, 245; and Gabriel Mario Piozzi: SJ’s alleged jealousy of, 120, 252–53; on

462

Dr. Joseph Priestley, 167–68; on Sir John Pringle, 135; on George Psalmanazar, 191; lament for Allan Ramsay, 282 n. 2; on Sir Joshua Reynolds, 5 and n. 1, 234, 272, 282 n. 3; on Richard Savage, 206; on Anna Seward, 243; on William Seward, 195, 273 n. 7, 307 and n. 9; and Dr. William Shaw, 178–79; on Lord Shelburne, 133; and Thomas Sheridan, 127–28, 146, 153, 158; on Jonathan Shipley, Bishop of St. Asaph, 61, 62 n. 1, 175; on Lord Southwell, 133; on George Steevens, 137 and n. 8, 191–92 and n. 9; and Rev. George Strahan, 320; on Dr. John Taylor, 228 and n. 9, 291 n. 8; on Henry Thrale, 69–70, 167 n. 1, 262; on Hester Thrale: her affectation, 266; his concern for her daughters, 252; her exaggeration, 67–68; her ‘ignominious’ marriage to Piozzi, 194, 251–54; her wicked tongue, 68, 126 and n. 1; on Lord Thurlow, 138, 239; on Horace Walpole, 230; on Sir Robert Walpole, 67, 230, 246; on William Warburton, 35, 37–38 and n. 7, 351; on Joseph Warton, 24 n. 1, 166 and n. 6; on Thomas Warton, 6, 166 n. 6; and Henry White, 287; on John Wilkes, 86, 154; on Sir John Willes, 84; and Anna Williams, 77, 169 n. 5, 171; and Helen Maria Williams, 200; and William Windham, 141, 195, 197 and n. 5; on Edward Young, 99 places: on America and Americans, 19, 160, 201; on American Indians, 149–50; Auchinleck, 125, 153, 171 n. 1, 291 n. 9; barbarous parts of the world, 140; on France aiding America, 19; on Frenchmen, 13–14, 131; Gwaenynog, Wales, 90 n. 3, 323 n. a5; on Hungary, 16; on India, 56, 152; caste system in, 71; colonial government of, 152; practical knowledge of peasants in, 55; Inverary, 204–05; on Ireland, 16, 231; Islington, 188; SJ’s residences in London: Bolt Court, 109, 117, 124, 139, 186, 187, 196, 201, 250, 275; the Temple, 109, 236; on Lichfield, 110, 282, 288; the Mahometan World, 140; on Poland, 16; on Scotland: aversion to, 128, 135; ‘Scotchmen’, 80, 83, 128, 152, 157, 229; Scottish civility, 10; Scottish poverty, 83; on Turkey, 131, 140; Wales, 90, 323 n. a5; Welwyn, 97; Wiltshire, 167

INDEX

religion: on an afterlife, 197, 217–18; on apparitions, ghosts and departed souls, 76; Arianism, 320; on Richard Baxter, 161, 167; belief in Christ’s propitiatory sacrifice, 320; on the Bible’s translation into other languages, 3 n. 7; Hugh Blair’s sermons, 80–81; charged with being defective in charity, 197–99; church attendance, 72, 100, 110, 121, 143, 149, 162; on Easter, 311; on Good Friday, 72–73; on Church of England, 320; the Book of Common Prayer, 213; on the King’s Congé d’Elire, 236; on Dr. Samuel Clarke, 320; on clergy as viewed by Tory and Whig, 96; on damnation, 218; on the decorum of bishops, 61–62, 72; on the decorum of clergymen, 62–64; on devotion, 162; dying expression of faith as Christian, 314, 319, 321; and the English Benedictines in Paris, 317; on evidence for Christianity, 167; on evidence for the spiritual world, 217; on excessive religious discourse, 154; fasting, humiliation, and prayer, 188; fear of death, 195, 197, 208, 218, 306, 308 and n. 8, 309, 217–18; calmed before death, 320; on faith, 101; on free will vs. necessity, 100–01, 241; on God’s infinite goodness, 217–18; on good principles without good practice, 308–09; on the hope of resurrection, 151; on infidelity, 207; influence of evil spirits, 209; SJ’s early irreligion, 154, 308; on Jewish dietary laws, 211; Judas Iscariot, 214; on knowing the state of one’s soul, 100–01; lack of religion as moral stupidity, 154; on literal interpretation of Scripture, 150–151; on William Law, 214; on liberty of conscience vs. liberty of teaching, 154; on Mary Magdalene, 5; on Methodism, 241; mistrust of extreme latitude in religion, 328; and Moravians, 317; on Zachariah Mudge’s sermons, 80; on Nonjurors, 205–06; openness to those of other communions, 317; on parish clerks, 103; penance, 287; piety, 26, 191, 290, 310, 321; in face of illness, 162; wicked people reformed excel at piety, 208; poetry unfit for ‘the aweful subjects’ of religion, 30; and prayer, 109, 120–01, 213, 289–90, 309–10; composes prayer at the death of a friend, 165; composes

prayer ‘Against inquisitive and perplexing thoughts’, 276, 283; considers publishing volume of prayers, 213; disapproves of figurative expressions in, 214; in preparation for death, 321; on self-condemning prayer, 213–14; preparation in life for the last judgment, 109, 161; Presbyterianism, 80, 318; on Protestant argumentation, 10 n. 8, 341; on Quakers, 150–51; on Redemption, 101–03, 321; on religious controversy, 207; on religious discipline for convicts, 241; on religious education of children, 154–55; religious improvement of friends, 319; repentance, 310, 314; on the resurrection of the body, 75–76; reverence for episcopal hierarchy, 61–62; on Roman Catholic church: differences with Church of England, 209–10; Eucharistic bread given to laity, 208; invocation of saints, 209; ‘a popish priest’ proper to exhort convicts, 241; and rationality, 208; on the sacraments: the doctrine of the ‘Real presence’, 210–11, 214 and n. 8; receiving Communion, 100, 311, 321; on salvation, 195, 218; on self-knowledge, 214; on sin, 161, 214, 309–10, 314; original sin and human corruption, 101–02; St. Paul, 101, 214, 308; on state regulation of religion, 11, 155; on submitting to God’s will (providence), 97, 99, 165, 311; on suicide, 118; on Jeremy Taylor, 210–11, 213–14; on toleration, 10 n. 8, 11; the Trinity, 154; veneration for order, 329; on violence and war, 150–51; zeal for orthodoxy, 320, 329. See also Part II: Writings … Prayers and Meditations c) health and spirits: asthma, 163, 180, 183, 281, 293; catarrhous cough, 183; convulsive cramps, 328; dread of English winter, 247; dropsy (edema), 180, 183, 188, 293; SJ’s efforts to reduce it, 312; effects of illnesses on appearance, 328; eyesight, 226, 328; faint hope of recovery, 287; fretfulness when ill, 129, 133, 329; friends’ attendance during last illness, 317–19; and gout, 164 n 1, 169, 170, 171; on his own mental faculties, 19; illness of, 117, 122, 124, 129, 131, 150, 162, 170, 181–83, 186, 200, 201, 202, 238, 243, 283, 287–88, 293, 306–07, 319, 328–29; melancholy,

463

INDEX

122, 169, 252, 293–94, 312, 318, 329–30; and apprehensions of futurity, 218; onset of, 117 n. 5, 122 and n. 5, 143; requires rapid stimulation, 250; and solemn music, 19–20; morbid temperament, 328 n. 5; Dr. Mudge’s judgment trusted, 170; opiate treatments, 131, 163, 183, 319 and n. 4; paralytic stroke, 162–63, 169, 170; pleased to be told he looked better, 307; recovery from illness, 186, 188, 278, 283; relief provided by religious exercises, 188; resolution in face of pain, 170, 287–88; sarcocele, possible excision of, 169, 170; scrofula, 328; sociability despite illness, 180, 201, 226, 306–07, 318 ; stroke of the palsy, 162, 169, 170, 183; toothache, 14; treated with vinegar of squills, 183 d) miscellaneous: on expense, 4; on his financial status, 202; on gardens and orchards, 104, 145–46; on magnificence in architecture, 104; portraits of SJ, 324–25 and nn. a6–a14; seals and copper pieces with SJ’s head, 325 n. a15; his style, 94; Burrowes’s ‘Essay on the Stile of Doctor Samuel Johnson’, 298; ‘easy’ style in the Lives, 29; imitations of, 46–47, 296–305; Warburton’s dislike of, 37 Part II. Writings Ægri Ephemeris, 293; ‘Considerations on the Case of Dr. Trapp’s Sermons’, 295; Dictionary, 4 and n. 4, 13 n. 3, 14, 24 n. 6, 29 n. a1, 30 n. 3, 31, 32 n. 1, 44 n. 3, 47 n. 5, 54 n. 4, 59 n. 7, 65 n. 7, 71 n. 9, 73 n. 4, 75 n. 6, 81 n. 5, 82 n. 2, 108, 109 n. 2, 114 n. 7, 122, 127 n. 2, 128, 133 n. 1, 145 nn. 7, 1, 155–56 and n. 2, 162 n. 5, 188 n. 6, 199 n. 5, 210 n. b3, 234, 237 n. 7, 239 and n. 1, 243 n. 7, 245 n. 2, 246 n. 5, 269–70, 274 n. 2, 278 n. 1, 285 and n. 2, 302 n. 1, 320, 324, 329, 342, 364, 365, 374, 377, 382; Colman’s ridicule of in ‘Vocabulary of the Vulgar Tongue’, 299–301; EM on ‘most striking passages’ in, 199 n. 5; The False Alarm, 85; The Idler, 8 and n. 5, 175 n. 4; Irene, 4, 34; A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, 8, 56, 81, 129, 140, 203–04, 309; Letter to Lord Chesterfield, 105, 206; Lives of the Poets, xviii, 25–28, 50–51 and n. 3, 58, 109 n. 1, 169, 227 n. a3, 234, 324, 335; presentation copies

464

of, 86, 109, 122, 124; Spence’s Anecdotes frequently quoted in, 50; ‘Advertisement’, 26 n. c, 50; ‘Life of Addison’, 41, 74, 311; ‘Life of Akenside’, 44; ‘Life of Blackmore’, 42–43 and n. 3, 325 n. 6, 355; ‘Life of Broome’, 37; ‘Life of Congreve’, 43; ‘Life of Cowley’, 21, 28–29; ‘Life of Dryden’, 28 n. 4, 33–35; ‘Life of Garth’, 183; ‘Life of Gray’, 51 and n. 4; ‘Life of Hammond’, 51 n. 3; ‘Life of Lyttelton’, 44–46, 51; ‘Life of Milton’, 30–33, 51; ‘Life of Parnell’, 41–42, 311; ‘Life of Ambrose Philips’, 43; ‘Life of Pope’, 35–41; ‘Life of Prior’, 27, 42 n. 8; ‘Life of Sheffield’, 28; ‘Life of Swift’, 49–50; ‘Life of Tickell’, 44; ‘Life of Waller’, 29–30; ‘Life of Young’, 46–48; London, 215; ‘On the Death of Dr. Robert Levett’, 111–13, 126, 191, 219; Parliamentary Debates, 230, 299 n. 8, 317 n. 4, 409; ‘Petition of the City of London to his Majesty in favour of Dr. Dodd’, xviii, 227 and n. a3; Prayers and Meditations, 26 n. a1, 69 n. 5, 70, 110, 113, 115, 120, 165, 276 and n. 10, 283 and n. 1, 290 and n. 3, 309, 311, 321 and n. b1; Dr. Adams on, 290; publication of by Rev. George Strahan, 290, 321; Prefaces, Biographical and Critical, to the Works of the English Poets. See Lives of the Poets; ‘Prologue Spoken by Mr. Garrick at the Opening of the Theatre in Drury-Lane, 1747’, 22–23, 225; Rambler, 4, 72, 73, 108, 118, 144, 237, 287 n. 9, 314, 324, 329 n. 9, 334; SJ claims essays could be improved, 224; SJ complains about Flexman’s index, 237; report of Russian translation, 193–94 and n. 9; style apparent in SJ’s sermons for Dr. Taylor, 215; Rasselas, 97, 265; edition of Shakespeare, 35, 90; dedications, 262; for Lennox’s The Female Quixote, 295; epitaphs: for Mrs. Bell, 305 n. 7; for SJ’s father, mother, and brother, 305–06; for SJ’s wife, 306 n. 4; for Parnell, 41–42; for Hester Maria Salusbury, 262; for Henry Thrale, 262; translation into Latin of Lord Elibank’s for his Lady, 9; prefaces, 262; to Baretti’s Easy Lessons in Italian & English, 295; to Catalogue of the Artists’ Exhibition (1762), 295; to The World Displayed, 177–78; sermons, 262; sold to those who

INDEX

preached them as their own, 294; for Dr. Taylor, 215; translations: Horace’s Odes iv. 7, 283; Sallust’s De Bello Catilinario, 294–95; Greek epigrams translated into Latin, 296; verses: ‘On leaving Mr. Thrale’s Family’, 120–21, 122 n. 7; parody of an ancient ballad, 236 n. 8; poem on Sir John Lade’s coming of age, 318 n. 9; poems in Latin, 296; works considered or suggested, 293–96; collection of oratory (De claris Oratoribus), 230; collection of prayers with prefatory discourse, 213; letter on necessity of printing ancient Irish manuscripts, 189 n. 3; ‘Life of Cromwell’, 165–66; an early life of Dryden, 33 n. a1; a translation of Lusiades, 178; a work on the limits of fiction, 166; works attributed to SJ: ‘Apotheosis of Milton’, 206; dedication to The Evangelical History Harmonized, 295–96 Johnson, Sarah (Ford) (1669–1759), SJ’s mother, 77, 305 Johnstone, George (1730–87), M.P., naval commander, 248 n. 4 Johnstone, Sir James (1726–94), M.P., 199 Jones, Sir William (1746–94), orientalist and judge, 55 and n. a1, 160 Jonson, Ben (c. 1572–c. 1637), dramatist and poet, 180 Jortin, Rev. John (1698–1770), ecclesiastical historian and literary critic, 123 ‘Junius’, 221 Juvenal, 93, 139, 313, 348 Kearsley, George (d. 1790), bookseller, 57; and Cooke’s Life of Johnson, 324 Kemble, John Philip (1757–1823), actor, 172–74, 393 Kennicott, Ann (Chamberlayne) (d. 1831), wife of following, 202, 207, 212; relates saying of SJ on Milton, 220 Kennicott, Benjamin (1718–83), D.D., Church of England minister, Hebrew scholar, 202 Keppel, Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount (1725– 86), Admiral, R.N.: court martial of, 10 Killaloe, Bishop of. See Barnard, Thomas Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, 77 King of Prussia. See Friedrich Wilhelm II. Kippis, Andrew (1725–95), D.D., Presby-

terian minister and biographer, 200; his biographical method, 289 Kircher, Athanasius (1602–80), S.J., German scholar, 3 n. 2 Knowles, Mary (Morris) (1733–1807), poet, Quaker, 10 n. 8; on the hope of the righteous, 307 n. 3 Knox, Rev. Vicesimus (1752–1821), Master of Tunbridge School and author, 413, 429; attacks Oxford, 303; causes JB to temper his ‘censure’ of him, 303 nn. 2, b1; and his Winter Evenings, 242 and n. 6; dines with SJ, JB, and company, 242; imitator of SJ’s style, 299 n. 8, 301 n. 4, 303–04 and n. 2; on SJ’s conversation, 242 n.6; on voteselling in Parliament, 304 and nn. 7, a1 Lade, Sir John, (1759–1838), 2nd Bt., Henry Thrale’s nephew, 69; SJ’s poem on his coming of age, 318 n. 9 Ladies Library. Written by a Lady, The, 268 n. 8 Langton, Bennet (1696–1769), father of following, 4, 47 Langton, Bennet (c. 1736–1801), friend of SJ: admiration of SJ, 20, 24; anecdotes of SJ in ‘Langtonian Johnsoniana’, xv, 1–24 (details of: 1 nn. 2, 4, 2 n. 5, 4 n. 3, 8 n. 3, 10 n. 8, 12 n. 7, 13 n. 2, 17 n. 5, 18 n. 1, 19 n. 6, 20 nn. 3, 5, 24 n. 1), 25 n. 4, 26 n. a1, 270 n. 7, 279 n. 7, 338, 341–45; additional anecdotes from, 24 n. 1, 57, 126 and n. 1, 198 n. 9, 231, 232 n. 8, 234, 269, 271, 316 and n. a4, 336; anecdotes credited to him in Life Materials and other notes, 6 n. 4, 16 n. 4, 23 n. 5, 126 n. 1; and JB, 1 and n. 4, 3 n. 1, 225, 316 and n. a4; JB on, 199 and n. 3; can testify to SJ’s benevolent actions, 262; on Burke, 24; in conversation with SJ, 4–5, 8, 14, 17–20, 22–23, 24, 154 and n. 7, 160 n. 6, 197–98, 215, 231, 234, 316, 336; correspondence with JB, 1 n. 4, 21 n. 9, 24 n. 1, 232 n. 8; correspondence with SJ, 9 n. 4, 107, 117, 170 n. 2, 171 and n. 8, 185 and n. 1, 274 n. 1, 275, 276, 280 and n. 5; dines with SJ and circle, 64–65; on Eton, 17; foibles of remarked on by SJ, 154, 160–61 and nn. 6, 8, 197, 199 and n. 3; friendship with SJ, 185 n. 1, 198, 317; and Garrick, 22–23, 78; and Greek

465

INDEX

correction, 369; and Greek grammar, 17; and Hawkins, 316 and n. a5; and SJ’s bequest to Frank Barber, 314; exhorts SJ to ‘Christian Charity’ in conversation, 197–98, 199 and n. a3; frightened to talk with SJ, 215; on SJ’s fits of absence, 57; given SJ’s catalogue of ‘schemes’ for works left unwritten, 294; given SJ’s Latin translations of Greek verse, 296; and SJ on ‘modern cant’, 8 n. 6; SJ visits at Rochester, 164; a learned man, 160–61, 390; as militia captain, 107, 117, 164 and n. 2; on music and melancholy, 19–20; has no orchard, 145; and Lord Orrery, 15 n. 8; pall-bearer for SJ’s funeral, 322 n. 8; participant in society for conversation, 73; presents Lord Charles Hay to SJ, 20–21 and n. 9; reads aloud to SJ, 18; and religious discourse, 154 and nn. 6–7; transcribes lines from Shakespeare, 79 n. 4; visits SJ in his last days, 317; on Edward Young, 47 and nn. 1, 3 Langton, George (1647–1727), grandfather of preceding, 225–26, mistakenly named instead of the great-grandfather George (1617–96) Langton, Jane (1776–1854), eldest daughter of Bennet, SJ’s goddaughter, 185 n. 2; SJ’s correspondence with, 187 Lascaris, Constantine (1434–1501), Greek scholar and grammarian, 2 n. 5 La Trobe, Benjamin (1728–86), Moravian minister and leader, 317 Lavater, Johann Kaspar (1741–1801), Swiss theologian and physiognomist: Essay on Physiognomy, 325 and n. a13 Law: JB considers a lawsuit against ‘Peter Pindar’, 333; JB on rigours of legal study, 225–26; capital cases, 178 n. 4; European laws and colonialism, 97; Gibbon on, 301; in House of Commons, 85, 199; and human corruption, 101–02; SJ’s conversation with JB on, 60–61, 155 and n. 8; SJ on court martial of Lord Hay, 20–21; on court martial of Admiral Keppel, 11; SJ on the practice of law, 224–25; SJ and Wilkes on, 85; Levett’s estate, 113 and n. 3; at the Old Bailey, 84, 147; Society of Procurators, Edinburgh, 105–06. See also Blackstone, Sir William

Law, William (1686–1761), Nonjuring minister and devotional author, 214 Lawrence, Elizabeth (d. 1790), daughter of following, 115 and nn. 6–7; SJ’s correspondence with, 116–17 Lawrence, Thomas (1711–83), M.D., physician, 56, 115–16 and n. a3; SJ’s correspondence with, 111, 115–16 and n. 6 Lawrence, William Chauncey (d. 1783), advocate to East India Company, son of preceding, 56 Lawrie, Jean (Steen), wife of following, 243 n. 1 Lawrie, John (fl. 1771–93), JB’s law clerk, 183 n. 2, 184 n. 3; plans to settle in Jamaica, 243 and n. 1 Lee, Nathaniel (c. 1653–92), playwright and poet, 201 n. 2 Leeds, Thomas Osborne, 4th Duke of (1713–89), 13 Lennox, Charlotte (c. 1730–1804), novelist, translator, playwright, critic: SJ praises, 192; SJ writes Dedication for The Female Quixote, 295; Shakespeare Illustrated, 9; The Sister, 9 and n. 8 Lever, Sir Ashton (1729–88), natural history collector; SJ wishes his museum might be purchased by the public, 246 Levett, Robert (1705–82), surgeon, apothecary, SJ’s tenant and friend: death of, 111, 171, 180; dines with SJ, JB, and company, 75 and n. 6; SJ finds heirs of, 113 and n. 3; SJ’s verses ‘On the Death of Dr. Robert Levett’, 111–13, 114 n. 8, 126, 191 and nn. 6–7 Lewis, David (1682–1760), poet: SJ on, 222–23; verses addressed to Pope, 221–22 and n. 8 Lichfield: city grants SJ lease on his father’s house, 286; Frank Barber retires to, 314; JB in, 184 n. 8; SJ honoured by, 285–86, 326 and n. 3; SJ on, 282, 285 and n. c1, 288; SJ visits, 110, 143, 244 nn. 4–5, 285–86, 287 n. 1, 288 and n. 4, 291 n. 8; SJ writes from, 279, 282; and Sarah Johnson, 77; Lichfield ale, 79; monument to SJ, 326; Seward’s verses on, 243; St. Michael’s Church, 306; tribute to in Dictionary, 285 and n. 2. See also Cobb, Mary; Porter, Lucy; Seward, Anna; White, Rev. Henry

466

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LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON I. Manuscript of: a) method of composition: ambiguous copy in, 5 n. 8, 20 n. 7, 34 n. 4, 64 n. a1, 74 n. 1, 76 n. 2, 111 n. 4, 130 n. a3, 159 n. 5, 223 n. 1, 239 n. 7, 254 n. 5, 264 n. 9; flawed copy in: remedied adequately in print, 4 n. 6, 7 n. 1, 9 n. 1, 17 n. 3, 22 n. 3, 62 n. 4, 63 n. 7, 72 n. 9, 85 nn. 8, a1, 88 n. 5, 104 n. 4, 122 n. 7, 128 nn. 7–8, 129 nn. 8, 1, 135 n. 7, 136 n. 4, 185 n. a3, 187 n. 2, 192 n. 5, 195 n. 6, 199 n. 4, 232 n. 10, 237 n. 3, 238 nn. 3–4, 248 n. 2, 254 n. 3, 258 n. 6, 265 n. 6, 278 n. 6, 298 n. 4, 306 n. 5, 308 n. 4, 316 n. a3, 320 n. 9, 328 n. 3, 338, 349, 351, 363; remedied imperfectly in print, 28 n. 3, 105 n. 2, 107 n. 6, 120 n. 7, 125 n. 7, 233 n. 3, 238 n. 8, 242 n. 4, 267 n. a3, 284 n. b1, 288 n. 7, 310 n. a2, 324 n. a10, 328 n. 6; footnotes in: added, 21 n. 1, 26 n. 7, 31 n. a1, 42 n. a1, 56 n. a1, 57 n. 1, 74 n. 9, 84 n. 5, 86 n. 4, 101 n. a1, 110 n. a1, 176 n. c1, 186 n. b1, 194 n. 9, 203 n. a1, 254 n. 4, 270 n. a1, 275 n. a1, 284 n. 8, 303 n. 1, 304 n. 7, 310 n. 2, 320 n. a1, 322 n. 5, 359; changed, 55 n. a1; deleted, 58 n. 5, 74 n. 9, 193 n. a1; shifted from main text, 38 n. 3, 39 n. a1, 57 n. 2, 58 n. 5, 59 nn. a1–a2, 128 n. a2, 138 n. a1, 140 n. 3, 159 n. a2, 180 n. a3, 188 n. a1, 207 n. 4, 252 nn. 7, 9, 256 n. a2, 266 n. a1, 283 n. 1, 300 n. b1, 312 n. a1, 316 n. a1; shifted to main text, 191 n. 2; memoranda and queries in, 1 n. 2, 5 n. 2, 6 n. 5, 8 n. 5, 9 n. 3, 16 n. 3, 19 nn. 4, 6, 9, 21 n. 9, 24 n. 1, 25 n. 4, 35 n. 1, 38 n. 8, 39 n. a1, 41 n. 1, 44 n. 2, 47 n. 1, 51 n. 4, 60 n. 9, 62 n. 2, 67 n. 8, 70 n. 8, 71 nn. 9, 2, 78 n. 1, 86 n. 3, 90 n. 3, 101 n. 7, 105 n. 5, 110 n. 7, 113 n. 4, 114 n. 2, 124 n. 4, 133 n. 7, 134 n. 6, 135 n. 8, 136 n. 3, 160 n. 6, 161 n. 4, 163 n. 4, 164 n. 2, 166 n. 5, 169 n. 6, 175 n. 5, 179 n. 1, 181 n. 2, 182 nn. 6, 8, 184 nn. 5, 8, 187 n. 5, 190 n. 7, 194 nn. 9, 1, 195 n. 7, 196 n. 2, 197 nn. 3–4, 6, 198 n. 9, 199 n. 5, 202 n. 3, 207 n. 3, 210 n. b4, 214 n. 7, 217 n. 4, 218 n. 8, 226 n. 3, 227 n. a1, 236 n. 8, 245 n. 1, 246 n. 5, 250 n. 1, 252 n. 7, 253 n. 2, 254 n. 4, 262 n. 2, 269 n. 1, 270 n. 9,

284 n. 8, 287 n. 1, 288 nn. 3–4, 1, 290 n. 1, 296 n. a18, 299 n. 8, 310 n. a1, 323 n. 3; message from compositor in, 114 n. 2; messages to compositor in, xv, 13 n. 2, 25 n. 2, 33 n. 2, 46 n. 5, 47 n. 1, 51 n. 6, 54 n. 5, 59 nn. a3–a4, 62 n. 2, 75 n. 7, 78 n. a1, 101 n. a1, 108 n. 4, 116 n. 2, 118 n. 2, 119 n. 6, 120 n. 5, 164 n. 1, 170 n. 9, 171 n. 8, 172 n. 6, 175 nn. 5–6, 182 n. 6, 185 n. 1, 189 n. a4, 190 n. 8, 193 n. b1, 203 n. 2, 234 n. a1, 265 n. 8, 271 n. 8, 280 n. 2, 283 nn. 7, 2, 285 n. 9, 294 nn. a1–a2, 313 nn. 5, a2, 322 n. 7; obscurities in, 6 n. 5, 19 n. 4, 34 n. 4, 139 n. 2, 147 n. 5, 170 n. 8, 173 n. 8, 179 n. 2, 202 n. 9, 205 n. 4, 211 n. 4, 212 n. 1, 224 n. 7, 240 n. 5, 320 n. 8, 322 n. 2, 337 n. 2; unresolved alternative and optional expressions in, 16 n. 6, 52 n. 9, 58 n. 5, 62 n. 9, 66 n. 2, 69 n. 3, 78 n. 9, 83 n. 4, 94 n. 8, 95 nn. 1, 3, 97 n. 6, 103 n. 3, 104 n. 9, 106 n. 2, 107 n. 8, 109 n. 2, 127 n. 3, 129 nn. 9–10, 130 nn. 5–6, 131 nn. 8, 1, 133 nn. 5–6, 136 n. 5, 137 n. 9, 141 n. 9, 144 n. 5, 145 n. 6, 147 n. 6, 150 n. 3, 151 nn. 4, 6, 152 n. 3, 158 n. 2, 188 n. 9, 192 nn. 9, 1, 4, 195 n. 4, 199 n. 5, 202 n. 4, 207 n. 2, 211 n. 2, 216 n. 8, 218 n. 7, 220 n. 8, 239 n. 9, 243 n. 2, 262 n. 8, 270 n. 8, 271 nn. 4, 6, 283 n. 8, 290 n. 7, 308 n. 7, 311 n. 5 b) compositor’s setting of: 60 n. 3, 77 n. 4, 84 n. 6, 85 n. 8, 108 nn. 4, 8, 109 n. 2, 111 n. 2, 114 n. 2, 120 n. 7, 121 n. 1, 132 n. 3, 136 n. 2, 142 n. 5, 144 n. 5, 149 n. 8, 152 n. 3, 165 n. 5, 189 n. 4, 199 n. a3, 210 n. b2, 215 n. 5, 227 n. a3, 238 n. 4, 254 n. 5, 275 n. 7, 281 n. 6, 302 n. a3, 304 n. 6, 318 n. 5, 349, 351, 357–59, 434; corrections, 14 n. 2, 17 n. 3, 19 n. 8, 32 n. 1, 39 nn. a3–a4, 41 n. 2, 44 nn. 8, 3, 45 n. a4, 75 n. 5, 97 n. 5, 123 nn. 2, 4, 137 n. 7, 202 nn. 7–8, 207 n. 1, 278 n. 10, 400, 425, 439; misreadings: uncorrected, 4 n. 7, 15 n. 9, 19 n. 7, 29 n. 6, 31 n. 6, 33 n. 8, 36 n. a2, 52 n. 9, 77 n. 4, 94 n. a5, 95 n. 2, 110 n. 8, 116 nn. a3–a6, 123 n. 6, 138 n. 5, 139 n. 7, 145 n. 9, 149 n. 6, 158 n. 4, 169 n. 5, 171 n. 8, 184 n. 6, 188 nn. 8, 1, 189 n. a5, 199 n. a2, 212 n. 9, 246 n. 4, 248 n. 3, 261 n. a1, 262 nn. 6–7, 274 n. 9, 278

467

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n. 10, 280 n. 5, 284 nn. 4, b1, 286 n. c3, 295 n. a15, 298 n. a1, 301 n. 3, 303 n. 5, 310 nn. 9, a2, 313 n. 4, 317 n. 8, 324 n. a10, 327 n. 1; later emended or revised, 2 n. 6, 3 nn. 8–9, 18 n. 9, 21 n. a2, 31 n. 6, 44 n. 9, 54 n. a1, 67 nn. 2, 4, 85 n. 1, 97 n. 4, 107 nn. 6–7, 115 n. 4, 116 n. a7, 117 n. 4, 120 n. 7, 132 n. 2, 134 n. a2, 148 n. 3, 151 n. 5, 161 n. 2, 167 nn. 7, 9, 217 n. 5, 226 n. 4, 231 n. 6, 245 n. 9, 294 n. a7, 299 n. a1, 300 n. 9, 304 n. a1, 330 n. 2, 370, 380, 438–39; oversights: uncorrected, 16 n. 4, 18 n. 8, 45 n. a3, 63 n. 6, 149 n. 5, 159 n. a1, 161 n. 9, 182 n. 7, 188 n. 2, 211 n. 6, 234 n. 7, 235 n. 6, 281 n. 2, 294 n. a5, 302 n. a1, 315 n. a8; later emended or revised, 20 n. 8, 31 n. a1, 35 n. 10, 43 n. 6, 62 n. 5, 68 n. 8, 73 n. 5, 88 n. 4, 93 n. a3, 150 n. 9, 190 n. 6, 209 n. 5, 224 n. 8, 225 n. 5, 236 n. 7, 241 n. 6, 343, 354, 386–87, 413, 421; possible misreadings or oversights: uncorrected, 14 n. 1, 27 n. 8, 33 n. 1, 34 n. 4, 47 n. 4, 48 n. 8, 49 n. 1, 65 n. 8, 73 n. 6, 74 n. 1, 75 n. 4, 81 n. 6, 92 n. 3, 96 n. 4, 102 nn. 3, 5, 119 n. 9, 124 n. 1, 135 n. 9, 152 n. 4, 159 n. 8, 170 n. 9, 174 n. 5, 178 n. 3, 186 n. 5, 209 n. 7, 223 n. 1, 238 n. 3, 290 n. 2, 292 n. 4, 306 n. 9; later emended or revised, 35 nn. 9, 2, 111 n. 4, 112 n. 9, 185 n. a2, 209 n. 7, 297 nn. 8, 1, 372; typographical errors, 81 n. 4, 89 n. 9, 114 n. 1, 142 n. 4, 143 n. 6, 156 n. 4, 158 n. 9, 203 n. 1, 215 n. 9, 220 n. 8, 291 n. 7, 311 n. 9, 314 n. 6, 395, 427. See also Plymsell; Selfe c) sources of: Dr. William Adams, 206 n. 9, 335 and n. 9; Addison’s Spectator, 24 n. 6; Rev. Daniel Astle, 228 and n. 9, 281 n. 1; Francis Barber, 175 n. 3, 232 n. 1, 321; Giuseppi Baretti, 266 nn. 2, 4; Dr. Barnard’s verses on SJ, 94; Isaac Barrow’s sermon, 86 n. a3; James Barry’s Account of a Series of Pictures, 159; Pierre Bayle’s Menagiana, 331–32; Topham Beauclerk, 92; Bible: Matthew, 75 n. 7, 78 n. a1; Biographia Britannica, 188–89; JB’s Correspondence: to and from Drs. Cullen, Hope, Monro, 183–84; letters to SJ, 51 n. 5, 56, 110 and n. 7, 117–18 and n. 6, 119, 124–25 and n. 4, 171–72, 177 and n. 8,

468

181 and n. 2, 182 n. 6, 184 and nn. 5–8, 187 n. 5, 291 and nn. 8–9, 293 and n. 9; letter to Lord Thurlow, 240 and n. 4; letters to JB from: Sarah Adams, 329 n. a2; Dr. William Adams, 206 n. 9, 289–90, 320–21; Rev. William Agutter, 205 n. 3, 323 n. 4; ‘anonymous Annotator’, 145 n. 8; Francis Barber, 312 n. a1; Rev. William Beville, 51 n. 3; Thomas David Boswell, 321; William Bowles, 86 n. 3, 165 n. 1, 224 n. 5, 308 n. 8; Dr. Richard Brocklesby, 250 n. 8, 296 n. 5, 313 n. 3, 319 nn. 2, 4, 320 and n. 7, 335 and n. 9, 436; Sir William Chambers, 139 n. 5; Rev. Ralph Churton, 151 n. 9, 219 n. 2, 274 n. 4; Mary Cobb, 244 n. 5; Sir Alexander Dick, 182–83; Dr. Thomas Gillespie, 183; Richard Greene, 305 n. 6; Warren Hastings, 52–53, 262 n. 2; Edmund Hector, 117 n. 5, 122 n. 5, 283 n. 3, 289 and nn. 2–3, 335 and n. 9; Vicesimus Knox, 303 n. 2; Bennet Langton, 24 n. 1; William Julius Mickle, 177–78; Samuel Parr, 326 n. 4; John Perkins, 70 n. 8; William Pitt, 182 and n. a1; Isaac Reed, 10 n. 7, 12 n. 3, 21 n. a2, 28 n. 2, 99 n. 2, 156 n. 2, 229 n. 3; Sir Joshua Reynolds, 272 and n. 1; Francesco Sastres, 180 n. a1, 239 n. 8; Sir William Scott, 74 n. 8; Anna Seward, 270 n. 7; John Hurford Stone, 227 n. a2; Dr. John Taylor, 244 and n. 4; Lord Thurlow, 247; JB’s ‘Johnsoniana’, 234 n. 4; JB’s journals, 45 n. a2, 46 n. 9, 61 n. 5, 62 n. 1, 68 n. 10, 69 nn. 1, 4, 72 nn. 7–8, 74 nn. 8–9, 75 n. 6, 77 nn. 5, 7, 80 n. 8, 87 n. 8, 99 n. 4, 100 n. 5, 101 n. 6, 106 n. 4, 125 n. 8, 127 n. 6, 129 nn. 3–4, 130 n. 7, 133 n. 8, 134 n. 4, 135 n. 8, 136 n. 5, 137 n. 6, 140 n. 4, 149–50 nn. 7, 1, 152 n. 2, 153 nn. 7–8, 154 nn. 2–7, 157 nn. 5, 7–8, 160 nn. 4–5, 7, 161 n. 8, 162 n. 5, 235 n. 1, 250 n. 9, 299 n. 8; JB’s journals lost or with gaps, 105 n. 2, 131 n. a4, 158 n. 3, 188 n. 7, 214 n. 8, 240 n. 5, 292 n. 5; JB’s Life Materials, 6 n. 4, 10 n. 8, 16 n. 4, 17 n. 5, 25 nn. 2, 5, 26 n. 7, 30 n. 5, 37 n. 4, 38 n. 8, 49 n. 2, 51 n. 3, 61 n. 8, 91 n. 6, 92 n. 4, 108 n. 4, 113 n. 5, 119 n. 5, 123 nn. 10, 11, 124 n. 2, 127 n. 6, 128 n. a2, 129 n. 8, 142 n. 3, 155 n. 9, 162 n. 2, 164 n. 9, 165 n. 6,

INDEX

171 n. 3, 175 n. 3, 178 n. 4, 180 n. a1, 181 n. 1, 182 n. 5, 185 n. 1, 187 n. 9, 191 n. 8, 194 n. 1, 202 n. 3, 207 n. 4, 214 n. 8, 216 n. 6, 220 n. 6, 222 n. 7, 227 n. a3, 229 n. 3, 231 n. 5, 232 nn. 8–9, 2, 233 nn. 1–2, 236 nn. 8, a1, 241 n. 8, 256 n. a1, 268 n. 8, 273 n. 7, 274 n. 1, 275 n. 5, 276 n. 12, 279 nn. 7–8, 280 nn. 6, 8, 282 nn. 1, 5, 284 n. 6, 287 n. 9, 288 n. 4, 293 n. 2, 294 n. a1, 299 n. 8, 303 n. a1, 305 n. 6, 315 n. a5, 316 n. a1, 317 n. 3, 318 n. 7, 323 n. 3, 325 n. 6, 327 n. 7, 328 n. 5, 329 n. 9, 330 n. 5, 331 n. b3, 335–36; JB’s memory, 35, 37 n. 7, 104 n. 6, 214 n. 7, 249, 250 n. 9, 256 n. a1; JB’s notes, 10 n. 8, 14 n. 8, 126 n. 1, 139 n. 2, 199 n. 3; JB’s ‘Ode by Dr. Samuel Johnson to Mrs. Thrale … Nuptials’, 252–53, 299 and n. a2; JB’s Tour, 205 n. a1, 309, 327 nn. 7, a1, 327–32; ‘Boswelliana’, 6 n. 4, 23 n. 5, 91 n. 6, 158 n. 3, 216 n. 9, 220 n. 7, 228 n. 2; William Bowles, 165 n. 3, 165–69; Edmund Burke, 287; Dr. Charles Burney, 10 n. 8, 14 n. 9, 18 n. 10, 20 n. 1, 108–09, 169 n. 5, 280 n. 2, 291 n. 5; Burrowes’s ‘Essay on the Stile of Doctor Samuel Johnson’ and ‘Preface’ to Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, 298; John Byng’s letter to EM, 322; Caledonian Mercury, 106 n. 9; Richard Owen Cambridge, 139 n. 9, 336–37; Lord Carlisle, 175 and n. 6; Hester Chapone, 175– 77; Clarendon’s History of the Rebellion, 331; Mary Cobb, 163 n. 3; Colman’s ‘Letter from Lexiphanes’, 299–300; Cooke’s Life of Samuel Johnson, 57 and n. a1; Crabbe’s manuscript of The Village with SJ’s revisions, 134; Susanna Davies, 164 n. 8; The Diary, 296; Dodsley’s Collection of Poems by Several Hands, 21–22; Dryden: Aureng-Zebe, 219; Hind and Panther, 33– 34; ‘Preface’ to All for Love, 93–94; Henry Flood, 326 n. 5; Sir William Forbes, 291 n. 8; Foundling Hospital for Wit, 207–08 and n. 4; Francklin’s translation of Lucian, 25; Gentleman’s Magazine, 27 and n. a1, 46 n. 7, 111, 113 n. 3, 118–19, 120 n. 6, 123 n. 1, 124 n. 2, 180 n. 6, 206 and n. 8, 282 n. 5, 296; Greville’s Maxims, Characters, and Reflections, 220 and n. 6; William Gerard Hamilton, 37 n. 5, 90–91, 174 n.

469

9; Harington’s Nugae Antiquae, 322 n. 9; Warren Hastings, 44 n. 2, 50 n. 1, 51 n. 6; Hawkins’s Life of Johnson, 112, 179–80, 189 n. 3, 240–41, 251, 253–54 and n. 4, 272 n. 5, 273 n. a2, 283–85, 289, 294 n. a1, 307, 312, 313 n. 4, 314, 316 and n. a1, 322 and n. 7; John Hoole, 317 and n. 9, 318 n. 9; Bishop Horne’s Olla Podrida, 329; Bishop Hurd’s ‘Sermon at Lincoln’s Inn’, 209–10 and n. b1; SJ’s correspondence: letters to JB, 56, 110 and n. 1, 118, 119, 120, 124 n. 4, 125, 164, 171–72, 177, 181, 182 and nn. 6–7, 183 n. 9, 184 nn. 5, 8, 274 and n. 8, 291 and nn. 8–9, 292–93; letters to others: Edmund Allen, 162 n. 1; Rev. Daniel Astle, 228 n. 9; Thomas Astle, 107–08; Rev. Thomas Bagshaw, 274–75; James Barry, 142; Margaret Boswell, 120; Dr. Richard Brocklesby, 165 n. 6, 276 and n. 12, 277–79; Dr. Charles Burney, 169 n. 5, 277, 280, 290–91; Hester Chapone, 176–77 and n. 7; Richard Clark, 181 and n. 1; The Club, 70; William Cruikshank, 169–70, 281; Thomas Davies, 164, 282; Charles Dilly, 181; Richard Greene, 305–06; William Gerard Hamilton, 174, 277, 280, 322 n. 1; Warren Hastings, 54–56, 56 n. 8; Edmund Hector, 117 and nn. 4–5, 122 n. 5, 291; Humphry Heely, 284: John Hoole, 279; Ozias Humphry, 185–87; Bennet Langton, 107, 117, 171, 185 n. 1, 275, 276, 280; Jane Langton, 187; Elizabeth Lawrence, 116–17; Dr. Thomas Lawrence, 111, 115–16; EM, 114 n. 9, 257 and nn. 5–7; Dr. John Mudge, 170; John Nichols, 27–28, 46, 120 and nn. 5–6, 122–23 and nn. 6, 8, 124 and nn. 2–3, 277, 282–83 and n. 5; George Nicol, 281 and nn. 10, 1; Dr. John Paradise, 277, 281; John Perkins, 67 n. 9, 96 n. 1, 119 n. 7, 181 n. 9, 280 n. 7; Lucy Porter, 72, 113 n. 3, 114, 153, 164 n. 9, 181, 182, 276 n. 12, 306 and nn. 3–4; Lord Portmore, 185 n. 1; Sir Joshua Reynolds, 107 n. 9, 123, 142, 162, 171, 179, 201, 269–73, 276 and n. 12, 277, 282 and n. 1; Rev. Lancelot St. Albyn, 118 nn. 1, 3; Margaret Strahan, 82, 114; Dr. John Taylor, 163 and n. 4, 187 n. 9; Hester Thrale, 27 and n. a2, 163, 172, 174, 175, 226, 242, 253 n. 1, 255, 309 n.

INDEX

a1; ‘one of the Miss Thrales’, 174; Lord Thurlow, 269–70, 272; Rev. Thomas Wilson, 123–24; Sir William Windham, 162, 276, 280 and n. 6; letter to SJ from: Margaret Boswell, 120, 184 n. 5; SJ’s diaries, 165, 195, 273 n. 7, 277 n. 18, 293; SJ’s dictation to JB, 41–42, 60, 96, 101–03, 105 n. 5, 106 and n. 3, 335; SJ’s Dictionary, 122, 285 and n. 2; SJ’s list of recommended books for Rev. Daniel Astle, 228 and n. 8; SJ’s Lives of the Poets: manuscripts of, in SJ’s hand, xviii, 27, 58, 335; ‘Advertisement’, 26, 50; ‘Life of Addison’, 41; ‘Life of Akenside’, 44; ‘Life of Blackmore’, 42–43, 325 n. 6; ‘Life of Broome’, 37–38; ‘Life of Congreve’, 43;‘ ‘Life of Cowley’, 21, 29; ‘Life of Dryden’, 34–35; ‘Life of Gay’, 330 n. 5; ‘Life of Lyttelton’, 45–46; ‘Life of Milton’, 30–33; ‘Life of Parnell’, 42; ‘Life of Philips’, 43; ‘Life of Pope’, 35, 38–41; ‘Life of Prior’, 42 n. 8; ‘Life of Sheffield’, 28; ‘Life of Swift’, 49–50; ‘Life of Tickell’, 43 n. 4, 44; ‘Life of Waller’, 30; ‘Life of Young’, 46–48; SJ’s Memorandum Books, 109, 111, 121; SJ’s ‘On the Death of Dr. Robert Levett’, 111–13; SJ’s ‘Petition of the City of London to his Majesty in favour of Dr. Dodd’ in manuscript with revisions, xviii, 227; SJ’s Prayers and Meditations, 25–26 and n. a1, 69–70, 110, 113, 115, 120–21, 165, 276, 283 n. 1, 309–11, 321; SJ’s Rasselas, 97; SJ’s Registers, 113; SJ’s Sermons Left for Publication by John Taylor, LL.D., 215; John Philip Kemble, 172–74; Dr. Andrew Kippis, 200, 289; Knox’s Winter Evenings, 242 n. 6; Bennet Langton, 6 n. 4, 16 n. 4, 23 n. 5, 24 n. 1, 47 and nn. 1–3, 197–99, 234, 316, 317, 336; ‘Langtonian Johnsoniana’, xv, 1–24, 269–70 and n. 7, 279 n. 7; Elizabeth Lawrence, 115–17; London Chronicle, 63–64; Dudley Long, 68 n. 5; John Loveday, 274 n. 4, 275 n. 5, 285 n.2; Mauritius Lowe, 142; Samuel Lysons, 315 and n. a8; Lord Macartney, 11 n. 1, 47 n. 6; EM, 32 n. 2, 41 n. 3, 162 n. 7, 185 n. 3, 257–60, 261–62, 285 n. b3, 326 n. 5, 333; William Maxwell, 1 n. 2, 229 n. 5; Melmoth’s Letters of Sir Thomas Fitzosborne, 189; Philip Metcalfe, 121–22; Milton’s Paradise Lost,

59; Bishop Newton’s Account of His Own Life, 203–04; John Nichols, 27 n. a2, 90, 317 n. 4; Ogden’s sermons, 101 nn. 7, a1; Parr’s Tracts by Warburton and a Warburtonian, 35–36 and n. a3; Mrs. Piozzi: Anecdotes, xvii, 231, 254, 256 68, 288 n. 6; British Synonymy, 318 n. 9; Letters to and from the Late Samuel Johnson, LL.D., 45, 145 n. 8, 163 n. 7, 174, 226, 251, 252–53, 264, 297, 307; Pope’s Dunciad, 221–22; Public Advertiser, 299; Sir Joshua Reynolds, 122, 175; Sir William Scott, 268 n. 9, 325 n. a12; Anna Seward, 243 n. 9, 270 n. 7, 286–87 and n. 1, 335 and n. 9; William Seward, 8 n. 5, 32, 114; Shakespeare: Hamlet, 59; Love’s Labour’s Lost, 79 n. 4; Rev. William Shaw’s ‘Reply to Mr. Clark’s Answer’, 179; Thomas Sheridan, 74, 228–29; specimens of prose by Frances Burney, Edward Gibbon, Vicesimus Knox, Henry Mackenzie, Rev. Robert Nares, William Robertson, and John Young, 301–05; George Steevens, 25 n. 4, 70 n. 7, 228 n. 7, 236–37; John Hurford Stone, 227; Andrew Strahan, 283–84; Rev. George Strahan, 37 n. 7, 287 n. 8, 318 n. 6, 320 and n. 7, 321 and n. 1; Dr. John Taylor, 289 and n. 4; Towers’s Essay on the Life, Character, and Writings of Dr. Samuel Johnson, 30–31; Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 23; Rev. John Villette, 241 n. 1; William Vyse’s letter from Charles Simpson, 285–86 and n. c1; Waller’s ‘Divine Poesie’, 209; Henry White, 287; Whitehead’s ‘To … Viscount Nuneham’, 93 and n. 6; John Wilkes, 38, 266–67 and n. a4; Sir William Windham, 318, 319 n. 5; Young’s Night Thoughts, 196 n. 2; ‘a young lady of SJ’s acquaintance’, 83–84 d) errors in: of transcription, 54 nn. 6–11, 1, 55 nn. 3–4, 6–7, 56 n. 5, 108 n. 3, 112 nn. 1–2, 115 nn. 8, 1, 116 nn. a8–a9, 117 nn. a11–a12, 123 nn. 2–4, 7, 169 n. 7, 183 n. 2, 186 n. 4, 187 n. 4, 259 n. 1, 278 n. 10, 299 n. 6, 300 nn. b3–b4, 312 n. 2, 315 n. a9, 320 n. 9, 321 n. 4, 331 n. b1; of quotation, 5 n. 3, 24 n. 6, 31 n. 7, 32 nn. 9, 6, 50 n. 6, 151 n. 4, 327 n. 2, 372, 419; of omission, 42 n. 6, 50 n. 6; slips and

470

INDEX

accidental errors, 12 n. 5, 14 n. 2, 32 n. 1, 40 nn. 9–10, 41 n. 2, 42 n. 5, 44 n. 8, 45 n. a4, 80 n. 9, 89 n. a1, 92 n. 1, 127 n. 2, 132 n. 3, 143 n. 8, 191 n. 4, 204 n. 7, 206 n. 5, 209 n. 6, 225 n. 1, 231 n. 4, 233 n. 5, 235 n. 3, 285 n. 1, 291 n. 9, 314 n. a4, 321 n. 4, 340, 342, 344, 346, 349, 353, 356, 359–60, 363, 381, 383–85, 411, 436, 439; uncorrected, 40 n. 10, 153 n. 7, 226 n. 9; factual, 75 n. 7, 232 n. 8, 275 n. 6 e) proofs of: changes in, 37 n. 3, 39 nn. a3–a4, 43 n. 5, 44 n. 8, 45 n. a4, 352–56; revisions in, 38 n. 1, 39 nn. 4, a4–a5, 169 n. 5, 189 n. 4; by Courtenay, 37 n. 6, 260 n. 5; by Courtenay and JB on cancelled leaf, 37 n. 7; corrections and revisions in (inferred), 17 n. 6, 24 n. 1, 30 n. 4, 34 n. 6, 35 n. 9, 43 nn. 2–3, 46 n. 6, 52 nn. 7–8, 55 n. 7, 57 n. 4, 60 n. 4, 69 n. 5, 76 n. 1, 78 n. 1, 81 n. 6, 101 n. 8, 102 n. 3, 103 nn. 7, 2, 106 n. 5, 111 n. 4, 134 n. 5, 159 n. 8, 163 n. 7, 168 n. a2, 174 n. 8, 191 nn. 5, 7, 194 n. 10, 197 n. 7, 200 nn. 6–7, 205 n. 2, 213 n. 4, 218 nn. 8–9, 240 n. 5, 258 n. 2, 260 nn. 5, 9, 1, 262 nn. 5, 8–9, 1, 263 nn. 4, a1, 264 nn. 9, 1, 265 nn. 3–5, 7, 266 nn. 9, 1, 4, 267 nn. a2, a4, 285 n. b2, 290 nn. 1, 3, 297 nn. 8, 1, 306 n. 7, 314 n. a4, 318 n. 9, 326 n. 9, 328 n. 8, 402; errors in: corrected, 18 n. 9, 23 n. a3, 27 n. a2, 43 n. 6, 44 n. 9, 60 n. 1, 104 n. 4, 263 n. a1, 291 n. 1, 300 n. 9; uncorrected, 27 n. 8, 39 n. a5, 45 n. a3; JB’s reading of, 44 n. 3, 49 n. 3, 50 n. 4, 60 n. 9, 66 n. 3, 130 n. a2, 144 n. 2, 164 n. 8, 254 n. a1; signature markings of (in ms.), 46 n. 6, 54 n. 6, 189 n. 4, 318 n. 9, 332 n. b4 f) revises of: changes in, 2 n. 6, 7 n. 2, 14 n. 4, 15 n. 5, 17 nn. 8, 1, 6, 18 nn. 7, 1, 22 n. 2, 23 n. a4, 24 nn. 1, 8, 26 n. a1, 29 nn. 5, 8–9, 30 n. 2, 32 n. 7, 33 n. a1, 34 n. 6, 36 n. a6, 47 n. 5, 48 n. 7, 50 nn. 4, 7–8, 52 nn. 7–8, 54 n. 5, 55 n. 1, 56 n. 3, 57 n. 4, 60 n. 9, 63 n. a1, 65 nn. 6, 1, 66 n. 6, 67 n. 1, 68 n. 9, 69 n. 2, 71 n. 4, 77 n. 6, 80 n. 2, 82 n. 2, 84 n. 7, 88 n. 2, 91 n. 7, 93 nn. 6, a3–a4, 98 n. 9, 99 n. 1, 101 nn. 8, 2, 102 nn. 4–6, 103 nn. 7, 9, 2, 104 n. 8, 105 n. 4, 106 n. 3, 109 nn. 1, 4–5, 110 n. a1, 111 n. 7, 112 n. 8, 113 n. 6, 114 n. 7, 115

471

n. 3, 116 nn. a2, a10, 120 n. 4, 130 nn. 7, a2, 134 nn. 3, 5, 135 n. a3, 137 n. 2, 138 n. 6, 144 n. 3, 145 n. 1, 148 n. 2, 156 n. 3, 159 n. 8, 161 nn. 1, 3, 164 n. 3, 167 n. 2, 168 nn. a3–a4, 169 n. 5, 172 n. 5, 174 n. 8, 177 n. 7, 179 nn. 7, 3, 180 nn. 5, a1, 184 n. 3, 186 n. 7, 187 nn. 9, 3, 189 nn. 4, a4, 190 nn. 7, a1, 191 n. 7, 193 nn. 7, b1, 194 nn. 10, 1, 195 n. 7, 196 n. 1, 197 n. 7, 198 n. 1, 200 nn. 6–7, 203 nn. 3, 5, 205 n. 7, 207 n. 4, 210 n. b3, 211 n. 2, 212 n. 2, 213 nn. 3–4, 217 n. 1, 218 n. 6, 220 n. 6, 222 n. 6, 224 n. 6, 225 n. 3, 226 n. 8, 229 nn. 4–6, 231 n. a1, 234 nn. 6, a1, 237 nn. 4–6, 239 n. 1, 240 n. 5, 241 nn. 7–8, 257 n. 9, 258 nn. 2–3, 259 nn. 8–9, 1–3, 260 nn. 6, 8, 264 n. 8, 266 n. 2, 271 n. 8, 272 n. 3, 274 n. 3, 275 nn. 7, a1, 277 n. 17, 280 n. 3, 281 nn. 10, 3, 6, 285 n. b2, 286 n. c4, 290 n. 4, 291 n. 10, 292 n. 6, 293 n. 8, 299 n. 5, 300 nn. b1, b4, 302 n. 1, 303 n. 7, 304 nn. 5, 7, 305 nn. 2, 5, 306 nn. 1–3, 307 nn. 5, c1, 309 n. 5, 310 n. 2, 311 nn. 6, 1, 312 nn. 2, a1, 316 n. a6, 317 nn. 8, 2, 318 n. 9, 320 n. a3, 321 nn. 3, b1, 323 nn. 4, a5, 324 nn. a7, a11, 325 nn. a12–a14, 326 nn. 9, 4, 327 nn. 6, 8–9, 1–2, 328 n. 4–6, 8, 329 nn. 9, a2–a3, 330 nn. 3–7, 9, 332 nn. 3, b5, 338–51, 354–441; corrections in: already typeset, 4 n. 6, 7 n. 1, 9 n. 1, 14 n. 2, 15 nn. 6–7, 18 n. 9, 22 n. 3, 30 n. 4, 32 nn. 9, 6, 40 n. 9, 41 n. 2, 42 nn. 5–6, 54 nn. 7, 9 –10, 1, 55 nn. 3–4, 6–9, 56 nn. 5, 7, 60 n. 1, 63 nn. 7–8, 64 n. 5, 76 n. 1, 78 nn. 1, a1, 80 n. 9, 82 n. 1, 88 n. 5, 89 n. a1, 93 n. a2, 104 n. 4, 105 n. 6, 117 n. a11, 123 nn. 2–4, 7, 127 nn. 2, 5, 143 n. 8, 164 n. 3, 191 n. 4, 196 n. 8, 206 n. 5, 209 n. 6, 219 n. 3, 223 n. 2, 225 n. 1, 226 n. 5, 231 n. 4, 233 n. 5, 235 n. 3, 237 n. 3, 243 n. 7, 263 n. 5, 274 n. 2, 278 n. 6, 281 n. 4, 285 n. 1, 295 n. a13, 298 n. 4, 302 n. a2, 303 n. b1, 304 n. 4, 306 nn. 8, 10, 308 nn. 6, 9, 314 n. a4, 316 n. a3, 325 n. 7, 329 n. 9, 331 n. b1, 344, 349, 356, 360, 364, 373, 381, 383–85, 391, 396–97, 399, 408–09, 427–29; newly drafted, 2 n. 6, 17 n. 8, 20 n. 8, 23 n. a3, 24 n. 6, 30 n. 3, 31 n. 6, 43 nn. 2–3, 6, 44 nn. 9, 1, 54 nn. 8, 11, 1, 59

INDEX

n. 8, 64 n. 5, 65 n. 1, 75 n. 7, 78 n. a1, 79 n. 6, 88 n. 2, 91 n. 8, 92 n. 1, 104 n. 4, 107 n. 7, 181 n. 8, 184 n. 7, 210 n. b3, 215 n. 5, 217 n. 5, 225 n. 4, 230 n. 3, 235 n. 4, 236 n. 1, 258 n. 4, 263 n. a1, 264 nn. 7, 9, 2, 307 n. 4, 317 n. 2, 318 n. 9, 343, 361, 363, 370, 373–74, 379–80, 382, 388, 394, 399, 433; errors in, 39 n. a5, 54 n. 2, 55 n. 2, 56 n. 6, 69 n. 5, 72 n. 9, 254 n. a1, 300 n. 9; footnotes in: added, 32 n. 6, 49 n. a1, 54 n. a1, 115 n. 9, 117 n. 4, 163 n. 7, 200 n. 6, 220 n. 5, 235 n. 8, 257 n. 9, 260 n. 7, 281 n. 10, 282 n. 2, 305 n. 7; shifted from main text, 5 n. 3, 262 n. 6, 264 n. 7, 266 n. 9, 301 nn. 4, 7, 302 n. 2; shifted to main text, 296 n. b1; inconsistencies in, 17 nn. 1, 4, 42 n. 6, 64 n. 5, 65 n. 1, 82 n. 2, 104 n. 8, 131 n. 9, 215 n. 5, 219 n. 3, 233 n. 6, 237 n. 2, 239 n. 1, 299 n. a2, 367, 376, 397, 436; messages to printers in, 2 n. 6, 27 n. a2, 36 n. a3, 79 n. 6, 105 n. 4, 167 n. 8, 227 n. a2, 241 nn. 6, 1, 254 n. a1, 263 n. a1, 264 n. 7, 267 n. a4, 293 n. 3, 315 n. a6; omissions in, 7 n. 7, 18 n. 8, 259 n. 7, 260 n. a1; queries in, 4 n. 5, 17 n. 8, 25 n. 3, 44 nn. 9, 1, 79 n. 6, 107 n. 7, 108 n. 3, 129 n. 2, 153 n. 6, 167 n. 7, 184 n. 7, 185 n. 2, 186 n. a4, 190 n. 1, 191 n. 7, 200 n. 6, 225 n. 4, 228 n. 8, 233 n. 9, 236 n. 1, 260 n. 5, 272 n. 5, 277 nn. 18–19, 278 nn. 1, 5, 299 n. 6, 307 n. 4, 374; revisions in, 4 n. 5, 24 nn. 6–9, 27 n. a2, 32 n. 1, 48 nn. 7, 9, 49 n. a1, 50 n. 5, 52 n. 7, 54 n. 3, 55 n. a1, 60 n. 9, 62 n. 4, 63 nn. 8, a1, 66 nn. 4–5, 68 n. 7, 76 n. 8, 91 n. 6, 104 nn. 5, 8, 105 n. 4, 119 n. 7, 120 n. a1, 140 n. 7, 151 n. 8, 165 n. 7, 167 n. 8, 168 n. a3, 180 n. 5, 186 n. a4, 205 n. a1, 227 n. a2, 233 n. 9, 239 n. 1, 241 nn. 6, 8, 277 n. 18, 278 n. 1, 279 n. 4, 284 n. a1, 290 n. 3, 295 n. 4, 296 n. a16, 297 nn. 8–9, 1, 311 n. 3, 315 nn. a6–a7, 342, 346–47, 349–50, 354, 356–57, 359–62, 364, 366–71, 375, 385, 392, 394–96, 403–05, 415, 418–19, 425–27, 431–32, 434–35; second revises, 27 n. a2, 66 n. 3, 297 n. 1, 306 n. 7; unexplained markings, 78 n. 2, 95 n. 9 II. Editions of: a) 1st edition: changes during printing, 17 n. 8, 39 n. a4, 50 n. 5, 55 n. a1, 59 n. 7, 60

n. 9, 62 n. 5, 63 n. a1, 66 n. 3, 68 n. 7, 76 n. 8, 103 n. 2, 105 n. 4, 168 n. a2, 184 n. 7, 185 n. a2, 186 n. a4, 190 n. 1, 191 n. 7, 205 n. a1, 227 n. a2, 235 n. 4, 236 n. 1, 239 n. 1, 241 n. 1, 242 n. 4, 277 n. 19, 318 nn. 8–9, 320 n. 9, 322 n. 6, 323 nn. a2, a4–a5, 324 n. a9, 325 n. a12, 326 n. 9, 327 nn. 8, 1–2, 328 nn. 5, 8, 329 nn. 9, a3, 330 nn. 3, 7, 362, 397, 413, 436–40; cancelled pages, 37 n. 7, 91 nn. 4–8, 322 n. 1, 353, 370, 371; errors in, 3 nn. 8–9, 21 n. a2, 35 n. 10, 61 n. 6, 68 n. 8, 73 n. 5, 81 n. 4, 88 n. 3, 89 n. 9, 97 n. 4, 106 n. 3, 112 n. 9, 114 n. 1, 115 n. 4, 116 nn. a6–a7, 117 n. 4, 132 n. 2, 134 n. a2, 142 n. 4, 143 n. 6, 148 n. 3, 150 n. 9, 151 n. 5, 156 n. 4, 158 n. 9, 161 n. 2, 167 nn. 7, 9, 186 n. 7, 196 n. 9, 203 n. 1, 209 n. 5, 217 n. 5, 224 n. 8, 226 n. 4, 231 n. 6, 236 n. 7, 238 n. 8, 241 n. 6, 245 n. 9, 254 n. a1, 299 n. a1, 300 n. b5, 304 n. a1, 311 n. 9, 314 n. 6, 325 n. a12, 386–87; uncorrected, 15 n. 9, 102 n. 3, 145 n. 9, 185 n. 2, 278 n. 10; ‘Corrections and Additions’, 28 n. 3, 35 n. 2, 54 n. a1, 72 n. 9, 93 n. a3, 162 n. 1, 326 n. 2, 348 b) Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition: 21 n. 9, 24 n. 1, 74 n. 8, 119 n. 8, 138 n. 5, 139 n. 9, 145 n. 2, 162 n.1, 182 n. 6, 219 n. 2, 274 n. 4, 297 n. 7, 299 n. a2, 303 n. 9, 317 n. 9, 321 n. 2, 323 n. 4, 325 n. a15, 369, 422 c) 2nd edition: 24 n. 1, 99 nn. 2–3, 205 n. 3, 229 n. 3, 232 n. 8, 273 n. 7, 274 n. 4, 376; additions to, 24 n. 1, 28 n. 2, 67 n. 9, 96 n. 1, 107 n. 9, 119 n. 7, 139 nn. 9, 2, 157 n. 6, 162 n. 1, 181 n. 9, 202 n. 5, 230 n. 2, 234 n. 4, 280 n. 7, 282 nn. 1, 3, 317 nn. 9, 4, 319 n. 5, 322 n. 8, 326 n. 2, 332 n. 5; changes in, 15 n. 8, 24 n. 7, 29 n. a1, 32 n. 6, 35 n. 9, 43 n. 3, 57 nn. 2, a2, 60 n. 9, 61 n. 7, 67 nn. 3–4, 68 nn. 6–7, 70 n. 8, 71 n. 5, 73 n. 7, 74 n. 8, 80 n. 9, 82 n. 2, 86 n. a3, 88 nn. 2, 6, 91 nn. 4, 8, 93 n. a3, 107 n. 6, 108 n. a1, 111 n. 4, 112 n. 2, 113 n. 6, 115 n. 9, 116 n. a1, 122 n. 7, 125 n. 7, 127 n. 4, 133 n. 1, 136 n. 5, 137 n. 6, 138 n. 5, 145 n. 9, 148 n. 2, 164 n. 9, 168 nn. a3–a4, 171 n. 9, 175 n. 4, 178 n. 6, 180 nn. 5, a2, 182 n. 6, 191 n. 7, 193 n.

472

INDEX

b1, 194 n. 2, 195 n. 7, 200 n. 7, 203 n. 3, 205 n. a1, 210 n. b3, 211 n. 6, 223 nn. 10, 1, 225 n. 5, 228 n. 8, 229 n. 4, 230 nn. 8, 1, 233 nn. 3, 5, 8, 234 n. a1, 235 nn. 3, 5, 241 n. 1, 242 n. 5, 246 n. 6, 264 n. 8, 266 n. 9, 281 nn. 10, 6, 283 n. 6, 295 nn. a9, a12, 297 n. 7, 302 n. 1, 303 n. b1, 305 n. 3, 306 n. 1, 311 n. 6, 312 n. 2, 316 n. a4, 318 n. 9, 320 n. 7, 321 nn. 2, b1, 323 n. a5, 324 nn. a6, a8, a11, 325 nn. a13–a14, 326 nn. 9, 4, 327 n. 1, 329 n. a2, 330 nn. 2, 7–8, 332 n. 4, 338–63, 365–415, 417, 419, 421–41; corrections, 3 nn. 8–9, 4 n. 4, 17 nn. 1, 4, 21 n. a2, 28 n. 3, 31 nn. 7, a1, 35 nn. 10, 2, 54 n. a1, 61 n. 6, 65 n. 1, 68 n. 8, 72 n. 9, 81 n. 4, 85 n. 1, 89 n. 9, 97 n. 4, 106 n. 3, 108 n. 3, 112 n. 9, 114 n. 1, 115 n. 4, 116 nn. a6–a7, 117 n. 4, 119 n. 8, 120 n. 7, 132 n. 2, 134 n. a2, 142 n. 4, 143 n. 6, 145 n. 2, 148 n. 3, 150 n. 9, 151 n. 5, 156 n. 4, 167 nn. 7, 9, 190 n. a3, 196 n. 9, 217 n. 5, 224 n. 8, 231 n. 6, 238 n. 8, 241 n. 6, 245 n. 9, 254 n. a1, 295 n. a8, 299 n. a1, 300 n. b5, 304 n. a1, 311 n. 9, 314 n. 6, 325 n. a12; footnotes: added, 5 n. 9, 11 n. 1, 12 n. 3, 13 n. 4, 22 n. 2, 32 n. 2, 47 n. 6, 51 n. 3, 67 n. 9, 68 nn. 5–6, 74 n. 2, 78 n. 3, 97 n. 2, 103 n. 1, 141 n. 1, 145 n. 8, 151 nn. 5, 9, 157 n. 6, 162 nn. 7, 9, 166 n. 4, 171 n. 8, 174 n. 7, 200 n. 7, 205 n. 3, 217 n. 10, 219 n. 2, 241 n. 9, 242 n. 2, 263 n. 6, 274 n. 4, 280 n. 4, 281 n. 9, 289 n. 3, 291 n. 8, 317 n. 4, 323 n. 4, 326 nn. 4–5; expanded, 168 n. a4, 235 n. 8, 279 n. 7, 285 n. b3, 294 n. a6, 295 n. a11, 296 n. a17, 299 n. a2, 303 n. b1, 309 n. a1, 325 n. a12; moved, 227 n. a2, 305 n. 7; omitted, 105 n. 4, 239 n. b1; errors in: 21 n. 9, 97 n. 2, 185 n. 2, 200 n. 6, 204 n. a2, 209 n. 5, 220 n. 8, 226 n. 4, 236 n. 7, 292 n. 7, 386; uncorrected, 30 n. 10, 56 n. 4, 145 n. 8; ‘Additional Corrections’, 24 n. 1; ‘Additions to Dr. Johnson’s Life recollected, and received after the Second Edition was printed’, 24 n. 1, 139 n. 9, 273 n. 7, 335–36 and n. 2, 336 and n. 3, 336–37 and n. 2; ‘Corrections’, 21 n. 9 d) 3rd edition: 180 n. a2, 376; additions to, 24 n. 1, 139 n. 9, 233 n. 2; changes in, 18 n. 9, 21 n. 9, 24 n. 1, 32 n. 9, 35 n. 9, 51

n. 2, 65 n. 6, 67 n. 1, 68 n. 9, 69 n. 2, 71 n. 5, 79 n. 4, 86 n. a3, 104 n. 8, 107 n. 6, 131 n. 9, 162 n. 9, 166 n. 4, 177 n. 7, 193 nn. 7, b1, 209 n. 7, 217 n. 5, 229 n. 4, 230 n. 8, 233 n. 6, 246 n. 6, 254 n. 6, 259 n. 1, 260 n. 7, 263 n. 5, 274 n. 4, 278 n. 10, 282 n. 2, 299 n. a2, 303 n. b1, 311 n. 7, 318 n. 9, 323 n. a5, 324 n. a11, 325 n. a14, 326 n. 5, 329 n. a2, 338–43, 346–50, 352–53, 355, 359–60, 364, 366–69, 371–92, 394, 397–99, 401, 403, 405–09, 411–13, 417, 419, 421–22, 424, 426, 428–29, 431, 434, 436–38, 440–41; corrections, 20 n. 7, 31 n. 6, 73 n. 5, 88 n. 3, 97 n. 2, 161 n. 2, 226 n. 4, 236 n. 7, 303 n. 9; footnotes: added by JB, 32 n. 9, 46 n. 7, 80 n. 1, 88 n. 3, 103 n. 8, 191 n. 6, 322 n. 9; added by EM, 9 n. 4, 14 n. 9, 18 n. 10, 20 nn. 1, 6, 28 n. 4, 46 n. 9, 50 n. 9, 59 n. 8, 66 n. 7, 73 n. 3, 76 n. 9, 91 n. 4, 99 n. 2, 114 n. 9, 118 n. 9, 121 n. 3, 139 nn. 8, 1, 141 n. 8, 156 n. 2, 191 n. 3, 222 n. 8, 230 n. 9, 277 n. 19, 280 n. 5, 289 n. 5, 295 n. 4, 322 n. 1, 326 n. 3, 379; expanded by JB, 325 n. a15; expanded by EM, 110 n. 1, 281 n. 9, 289 n. 3, 326 n. 4; moved, 74 n. 2; errors in: 200 n. 6, 204 n. a2, 209 n. 5, 220 n. 8, 311 n. 3, 386 e) 4th edition: 9 n. 8, 156 n. 2, 199 n. 5, 306 n. 4, 394 f) 5th edition: 84 n. 7 g) 6th edition: 280 n. 5 Lincoln, 314 Lincolnshire, 145 Literary Club (The Club). See Clubs Loch Lomond, 138–39 Locke, John (1632–1704), philosopher, 85 Locke, William (1732–1810), of Norbury Park, Surrey, 32 and n. 5 Lockman, John (1698–1771), poet and translator, 5 and n. 9 Lofft, Capel (1751–1824), lawyer and author, 168 n. a4, 195 and n. 7; dines at Dilly’s with SJ, JB and company, 195; gives JB copy of his Remarks on the Letter of the Rt. Hon. Edmund Burke, concerning the Revolution in France, 195 n. 7 LONDON Buildings and Institutions: Adelphi Buildings, 78, 81, 159 nn. 2, a1; Argyll

473

INDEX

Buildings, 125; Bedlam (St. Mary Bethlehem Hospital), 148; Bond’s Stables, 232 n. 1; Bridewell church. See below, St. Bride’s Church; Clifford’s Inn, 315 n. a7; Coachmakers’ Hall, 75, 77, 365–66; Covent Garden Theatre, 6 n. 6; Doctors’ Commons, 73, 274 n. 4, 324 n. a11; Drury Lane Theatre, 7, 22, 173 n. 8; Foley-Place, 149; Inns of Court, 226; Lincoln’s Inn, 46, 209 n. b1; Society of Lincoln’s Inn, 210; Marylebone Garden, 236–37; NewChurch, in the Strand, 148; Newgate, 16 n. 2, 227, 241; Old Bailey, 84, 147; Pall Mall, 196; Queen St. Chapel, 51 n. 3; Rackstrow’s Wax-work Museum, 232; Ranelagh, 225; Somerset House, 143, 386; Southampton Buildings, 236; Spring Gardens (later Vauxhall), 24; Staple Inn, 28 n. 2; St. Bride’s Church, 111; St. Clement Danes Church, 72, 143, 149; St. Luke’s Hospital, 148; St. Paul’s Cathedral, 72 n. 7, 73, 149, 194 n. 2, 326 nn. 2, 4; the Temple, 109, 224, 236; the Tower, 186; Westminster Abbey, 122, 200–01, 204, 322, 326; SJ buried in Poets’ Corner, 322; Chapter of Westminster at SJ’s funeral, 322; Westminster Hall, 94, 225; Westminster School, 12 n. 8, 215, 222 and n. 8; Vauxhall Gardens, 216 n. 7 Coffeehouses, Taverns, etc., 61, 179, 229, 237, 296 n. a17, 308; the Essex Head, 179, 180 n. a1, 181, 192, 194 n. 1, 279 n. 9; Peele’s Coffeehouse, 142 n. 2; Old Slaughter’s Coffeehouse, 13–14; Queen’s Arms, 71 Streets, Squares, and Districts: Argyll Street, 125; Blackfriars, 51 n. 6; Bloomsbury, 232 n. 1; Bolt Court, 109, 117, 124, 139, 186, 187, 196, 201, 250, 275; Bond St., 252–53, 299; Chancery Lane, 236; Charing Cross, 143; Essex St., 179, 180 n. a2, 279 n. 9; Falcon-Court, 57; Fetter Lane, 232 n. 1; Fleet St., 56, 90 n. 1, 117, 124, 186, 187, 232, 275; Grosvenor Sq., 58, 61; Hog-Lane, 147; Islington, 188, 320; Ivy Lane, 179; James’s Court, 183 n. 2; King St., 232 n. 1; Lower Grosvenor St., 90; Ludgate Hill, 232 n. 1; Moorfields, 148; Newgate St., 145; Plumtree Court, Shoe Lane, 232 n. 1; Pye St., Westminster,

284; Queen Anne St., 185 n. 3; Red Lion Passage, 90 n. 1; St. James’s Sq., 13; St. James’s St., 143; St. Martin’s St., 109; St. Paul’s Churchyard, 71, 314; Smithfield, 186; Snow Hill, 175 and n. 1; the Strand, 115 n. 9, 143, 281; Streatham: and the Burney family, 69 n. 1; Thrales’ house at, 58, 108 n. 7, 109, 120, 121, 122 n. 7; Union St., 51 n. 6; Wapping, 5 and n. 8, 141; Well-close Sq., 242; Worship St. (formerly Hog-Lane), 147 Miscellaneous: JB on city preferment for John Villette, 242 n. 2; many new buildings in, 149; child mortality in, 149–50; Gordon Riots, 71; SJ on changing inelegant place-names, 147; SJ on population of, 149; Lord Mayor of, 227 n. a3; Goldsmith’s project for a third theatre, 92 London Chronicle, The, 5, 63 n. 9, 64 and n. a1, 362 London Magazine, The, 79 n. 6 Long, Dudley (later North) (1748–1829), Whig politician, 61 and n. 7, 67–68 and nn. 3–5 Longinus (c. 213–73), 27 Longley, John (1749–1822), Recorder of Rochester and magistrate, 8 Lort, Michael (1724/5–90), D.D., antiquary and professor of Greek at Cambridge, 16 and n. 4, 403; A Short Commentary on the Lord’s Prayer, 210 Loughborough, Alexander Wedderburne, 1st Baron (1733–1805), later 1st Earl of Rosslyn, Lord Chancellor, 137–38 Louis XV (1710–74), King of France, 139 n. 2, 141 Love and Madness. See Croft, Herbert Loveday, John (1711–89), antiquary and traveller, father of following, 274 n. 4 Loveday, John (1742–1809), antiquary and advocate in Doctors’ Commons, 274 n. 4; material in the hand of, 275 n. 5, 285 n. 2 Loveday, Penelope (1759–1846), half-sister of preceding: copy of SJ’s letter to Rev. Bagshaw in her hand, 275 n. 5 Lowe, Mauritius (1746–93), painter, 141–43 and nn. 2–3, 149–50 and n. 1, 171 n. 3; dines with SJ, JB, and company, 150; natural son of Lord Southwell, 133 Lowth, Robert (1710––87), D.D., Bishop of

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INDEX

London, biblical critic and grammarian, 63 n. 8 Lucan, Charles Bingham, Baron (1735–99), later 1st Earl of Lucan, 70, 238 and n. 9 Lucan, Margaret (Smith), Baroness (c. 1740– 1814), later Countess of, wife of preceding, painter of miniatures, 238, 273 n. a1 Lucian (c. 120–c. 180), 25 Lusiades (The Lusiad). See Camões, Luís Vaz de; Goldsmith, Oliver; Mickle, William Julius Lusus Westmonasterienses, 222 n. 8 Lysons, Samuel (1763–1819), antiquary, 315 and n. a8 Lyttelton, George Lyttelton, 1st Baron (1709–73), politician and author, 51; Dialogues of the Dead, 44; SJ’s ‘Life of’, 44–45 and n. 4, 51 Lyttelton, Thomas Lyttelton, 2nd Baron (1744–99), son of preceding, 217 Macartney, George Macartney, 1st Earl (1737–1806), diplomat and colonial administrator, 11 n. 1, 47 n. 6 Macbean, Alexander (d. 1784), author and amanuensis on SJ’s Dictionary, 75 n. 6, 76 n. 2, 77 Macbean, William, younger brother of preceding, 75 n. 6 Macdonald, Sir James (c. 1742–66), of Sleat, 8th Bt., 68 n. 6 MacKenzie, Henry (1745–1831), novelist: imitator of SJ’s style, 303 and n. 6 Macklin, Charles (?1699–1797), actor and dramatist: JB quotes Love à-la-Mode, 255 and n. 8 M’Nicol (MacNicol), Rev. Donald (1735– 1802): Remarks on Dr. Samuel Johnson’s Journey to the Hebrides, 8 n. 4 MacPherson, James (1736–96), alleged translator of Ossian, 136; Ossian, 178 Mæcænas, Gaius (c. 70–8 B . C .), Roman diplomat and patron, 132 Maittaire, Michel (1668–1747), Frenchborn classical scholar and bibliographer: Græcæ Linguæ Dialecti. In usum Scholæ Westmonast., 3; Stephanorum Historia, vitas ipsorum ac libros complectens, 2–3 Malagrida, Gabriel (1689–1761), Portuguese Jesuit: name applied to Lord Shelburne, 133–34

Mallet (or Malloch), David (1701/2?–65), poet and dramatist: SJ on his name as alias for ‘Malloch’, 155–56 and n. 2; A Poem in Imitation of Donaides, 155 n. 9; ‘Verses Occasioned by Dr. Frazer’s Rebuilding Part of the University of Aberdeen’, 155 n. 9 Malone, Edmond (EM) (1741–1812), literary scholar, editor, biographer: xv, xvii, xviii, 257 n. 5, 307, 317 n. 3; apologizes to Blackstone’s family, 74 n. 8; assists JB with advice, materials, 41 and n. 3, 162 n. 7, 185 n. 3, 322, 327 n. 7, 333, 336 n. 1; a ‘common friend’ of William Gerard Hamilton, 174 and n. 9; corrects misrepresentations in Mrs. Piozzi’s Anecdotes, 257–60, 261, 263 n. 4; correspondence with JB, 1 n. 4, 14 n. 8, 37 n. 7, 45 n. 4, 66 n. 3, 144 n. 2, 162 n. 7, 164 n. 8, 185 n. 3, 260 n. 6, 266 n. 2, 303 n. b1, 327 n. 7; dines with SJ, JB, and others at The Club, 238; edition of Shakespeare, 114 n. 9; on forgeries by Chatterton and Ireland, 114 n. 9; can testify to SJ’s benevolent actions, 262; SJ’s letters to, 114 n. 9; on SJ’s Lives of the Poets: his reliance on memory, 26 n. 6; ‘Addison’, 41, 74 and n. 9; ‘Milton’, 32 n. 2; ‘Pope’, 39–40; on SJ’s mistake regarding a planned Cromwell biography, 166 n. 4; on SJ’s virtues, 285 n. b3. See also LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, II. Editions of, d) 3rd edition: footnotes added by EM, expanded by EM, and e) 4th edition, f) 5th edition, g) 6th edition Manley, Delarivier (c. 1670–1724), author: on the authorship of The Turkish Spy, 139 n. 2, 140 Manley, Sir Robert (d. 1687), army officer, historian, father of preceding, 139 n. 2, 140 Manning, Mr. (fl. 1714–91), compositor for Strahan, Nichols, and Baldwin, 234, 410–11 Mansfield, William Murray, 1st Earl of (1705–93), politician, Lord Chief Justice, 17 n. 9, 39, 137, 194 and n. 1 Marchi, Giuseppe Filippo Liberati (1735– 1808), Italian-English painter and engraver: etching of Roman Head of SJ by Reynolds, 324 Marchmont, Hugh Hume Campbell, 3rd Earl

475

INDEX

of (1708–94), 38 n. 8, 39–40 Markland, Jeremiah (1693–1776), classical scholar, 123 Marlay, Richard (c. 1728–1802), D.D., Dean of Ferns, later Bishop of Clonfert and of Waterford, 59 and n. 8, 60 and n. 1, 65 and n. 6, 256 Marlborough, Sarah Churchill (Jenyns), Duchess of (1660–1744), 67 Marriott, Rev. George (c. 1735–93), clergyman and author, 12 n. 3 Martial, Marcus Valerius (38/41–c. 103), 130 n. 7 Mason, Rev. William (1725–97), poet: ‘Heroick Epistle to Sir William Chambers’, 92, 230, 371 Masters, Mary (c. 1694–1771), poet, 175 Maty, Paul Henry (1744/45–87), librarian, 331 n. b3 Maxwell, William (1732–1818), D.D., Church of Ireland clergyman, 1 nn. 2–3, 229 n. 5 Mayo, Rev. Henry (1733–93), LL.D., Independent minister and literary journalist, 242 Melcombe, Lord. See Dodington, George Bubb Melmoth, William, the younger (c. 1710– 99), author (as Sir Thomas Fitzosborne) and translator, 189 Melville, Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount, (1742–1811), Scottish lawyer, statesman, 152 and n. 4 Ménage, Gilles (1613–92), French scholar, lexicographer, and poet: JB compares SJ to Bayle’s character of, 331–32 Metcalfe, Philip (1733–1818), politician, 121, 122 n. 7: SJ gives him a copy of the Lives, 122; sends SJ gift of wine, 195 Meynell, Littleton Poyntz (1699–1751), gambler, 14 Mickle, William Julius (1735–88), poet and translator of The Lusiad, 177–78 and nn. 1–2; SJ and JB dine with, 223 Midgley, Robert (1654/5–1723), physician, editor of The Turkish Spy, 140–41 and n. 8 Milton, John (1608–74), poet, 59, 237; JB quotes, 265; ‘Apotheosis of Milton’ not by SJ, 206; SJ’s ‘Life of’, 30–33, 35 n. 1, 51 and n. 3; Hannah More and SJ on Milton’s

sonnets, 220; Paradise Lost, 30, 32 n. 6, 59 and nn. a3–a4, 62 n. 2, 220, 265 Mirror, The, 303 and nn. 8, a1 Monboddo, James Burnett, Lord (1714–99), Scottish judge and author, 103, 190 Monckton, Hon. Mary (1746–1840), afterwards Countess of Cork and Orrery (as second wife of Edmund Boyle, 7th Earl of), Bluestocking, 88–89 and n. a2, 143 Monro, Alexander (1733–1817), M.D., physician, Professor of Anatomy and Surgery, 182–84 Montacute (or Montagu), Lords, 121 and n. 3 Montagu, Elizabeth (Robinson) (1718– 1800), author and Bluestocking, 51, 192–93; drops SJ, 60; An Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakespear, 51 Monthly Review, The, 152 Montrose, William Graham, 2nd Duke of (1712–90), 88–89 Moore, John (1729–1802), M.D., physician and author, 199 n. 5, 233 and n. 2 More, Hannah (1745–1833), author, philanthropist, Bluestocking, 81, 192; Bas Bleu, 88 and n. 2; dines with SJ and others at Mrs. Garrick’s, 78, 192; flatters SJ, 258–59 and n. 7; on Milton’s sonnets, 220 Morning Chronicle, The, 118 and nn. 1, 4, 268 n. 8 Morning Herald, The, 216 n. 7 Morning Post, The, 216 n. 7, 268 n. 8 Morris, Corbyn (1710–79), Commissioner of Customs, author: Essay on Wit, Humour, and Ridicule, 85–86 and n. a3 Morris, Miss (fl. 1784), daughter of following: visits SJ on death-bed, 321 Morris, Valentine (1727–89), Governor of St. Vincent (1772–79), 321 Mountstuart, John Stuart, Lord (1744–1814), styled Viscount, later 4th Earl and 1st Marquis of Bute, 148–49 and n. 4 Mudge, John (1721–93), M.D., Plymouth surgeon and physician, 170 Mudge, Maj.-Gen. William (1762–1820), son of preceding and SJ’s godson, 170 n. 1 Mudge, Rev. Zachariah (1694–1769), grandfather of preceding, 62 n. 2, 63–64, 80 Murphy, Arthur (1727–1805), dramatist and author: dines with JS, JB, and company, 189–90; member of the Essex Head Club,

476

INDEX

179; omitted from SJ’s will, 314 and n. a3, 315 n. a5 Murray, John (1745–93), bookseller and publisher: publisher of Lavater, 325 n. a13 Musgrave, Sir Richard (1746–1818), 1st Bt., political writer, 235 n. 2 Myddelton, Col. John (1724–92), 90 and n. 3; urn honouring SJ, 323 and n. a5 Nares, Sir George (1716–86), judge, 73 Nares, Rev. Robert (1753–1829), philologist: Elements of Orthoepy, 302–03; imitator of SJ’s style, 299 n. 8, 303 n. 2 Nash, Richard (‘Beau’) (1674 –1761), arbiter of fashion at Bath, 208 and n. a1 Newbery, John (c. 1713–67), publisher and bookseller, 8 Newcastle, Henry Fiennes-Clinton, 2nd Duke of (1720–94), 44 n. 2, 50 Newton, Sir Isaac (1642–1727), philosopher and mathematician, 21, 109, 156 Newton, Thomas (1704–82), D.D., Bishop of Bristol and Dean of St. Paul’s, editor: Account of his own Life, 203; A Dissertation on the Prophecies, 203; on malevolence in SJ’s Lives, 203–04 and nn. 6, a3 Nichols, John (1745–1826), printer and author, 12 n. 3, 180 n. 5, 193 n. 8, 234; Anecdotes of William Bowyer, 282–83; SJ’s letters to, 120 and n. 6, 122–23 and n. 8, 124 and nn. 2–3, 277 and n. 16, 282–83 and n. 5; and SJ’s Lives of the Poets, 27–28 and n. a2, 46 and n. 7, 234; SJ provides Nichols a list of Universal History authors, 293–95; provides JB with material, 90 and nn. 1–2, 317 n. 4 Nicol, George (c. 1741–1828), the King’s bookseller, 178, 277 n. 16, 281 and nn. 10, 1, 4, 5 Noble, Rev. Mark (1754–1827), 166 n. 4 Nollekens, Joseph (1737–1823), sculptor: portrait bust of SJ, 324 Norfolk, 108, 141 North, Dudley. See Long, Dudley North, Frederick (1732–92), styled Lord North, later 2nd Earl of Guilford, Prime Minister, 113 and n. 5, 117 n. 7 North and Grey, Lady. See Elibank, Lady North and Grey, William North, 6th Baron (1678–1734), army officer, Jacobite, 9 n. 3

North Briton, The, 156 n. 2 Northington, Robert Henley, 2nd Earl of (1747–86), politician, 141 Northumberland, 107 Norwich, Bishop of. See Horne, George Norwich Grammar School, 14 n. 9 Nowell, Thomas (c. 1730–1801), D.D., Principal of St. Mary Hall, Oxford, 214–15, 216 and n. 6 Nuneham, Viscount. See Harcourt, 2nd Earl O’Brien, William (d. 1815), actor and playwright, 7 ‘Ode to Mrs. Thrale by Samuel Johnson LLD.’ See under Boswell, James: Writings Ogden, Samuel (1716–78), D.D., 101 nn. 7 and a1 Oglethorpe, Gen. James Edward (1696– 1785), founder of the colony of Georgia, 91, 129–30 Olla Podrida, 329 and n. a2 Opie, John (1761–1807), R. A., painter: portrait of SJ, 324 Orford, Lord. See Walpole, Horace; Walpole, Robert Orme, Captain (fl. 1781): dines with SJ , 71 Orrery, John Boyle, 5th Earl of (1707–62), later 5th Earl of Cork and, 15 and n. 8, 133; SJ on the veracity of, 29 n. 9 Ossian. See MacPherson, James Otaheité. See Tahiti Otway, Thomas (1652–85), playwright and poet, 18 and n. 10 Ovid (43 B.C.–c. 17 A.D.), 65 and n. 9, 121 and n. 8 Owen, Mr., of Fetter Lane, shoemaker, 232 n. 1 Oxford, 1 n. 4, 110, 193, 200–26, 244 n. 5, 307 n. 3, 323 n. 4, 331; St. Mary’s Church, 323 n. 4 Oxford, Robert Harley, 1st Earl of (1661– 1724), statesman, 50 Oxford University, 8, 68 n. 6, 108, 303 and n. b1, 329; Edmund Hall, 91 n. 6; SJ on mode of education at, 74–75; SJ’s student days at, 12 n. 8, 77, 122 n. 5, 224; SJ visits, 110, 200–26, 289, 307 n. 3; Magdalen College, 323 n. 4; Merton College, 217; New College, 50 n. 9; Pembroke College, 122 n. 5, 166 n. 6, 202, 204, 217, 284,

477

INDEX

320, 335; ‘Seat of Learning Orthodoxy and Toryism’, 202; St. Mary Hall, 214; University College, 223 Palmer, Rev. Thomas Fyshe (1747–1802), Unitarian minister, 103 and n. 8 Palmerston, Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount, (1739–1802), politician and traveller: dines with SJ at The Club, 238 Palmyra, 103 Paoli, Pasquale (1725–1807), Corsican general and patriot, 10 n. 7, 127 n. 6, 238; JB quotes, 82, 129 and n. 4; on emblematic or historical pictures, 234 n. 4; SJ and JB dine with, 242–43, 244; on SJ’s illness, 243; on the state of British government, 129 Paradise, John (1743–95), linguist, 160 and n. 3, 281 n. 9; member of the Essex Head Club, 180; SJ and JB dine with, 189; SJ’s letters to, 277, 281 Paradise, Lucy (Ludwell) (1752–1814), wife of preceding, 160 n. 3 Paris: English Benedictines in, 317; printers in, 2 n. 6; Wilkes’s anecdote about, 266–67 and n. a4 Parker, Elizabeth (Dunn) (d. 1796), wife of following, 223 and n. 4 Parker, Sackville (1707–96), Oxford Bookseller, 223 and n. 4 Parliament, 67 and n. 1, 159; JB wishes to be in, 157, 184; Burke’s speeches in, 231–32; Church of England Convocation compared to, 195; corruption in, 130; dissolution of, 184; and the government of India, 152 and n. 4; SJ’s dedication of The Evangelical History Harmonized to, 295; SJ’s Parliamentary Debates, 230, 299 n. 8, 317 n. 4, 409; SJ’s pension criticized in, 231–32; House of Commons, 85, 130, 157, 177, 199, 215; election committees of, 60–61, 82–83; ‘Ajax’ Elliot returns seven members of, 65 and n. 9; and Fox, 127; personal attacks in, 216; vote on how to pay army in America, 85; House of Lords, 231; trial of Hastings in, 52 n. 8; Middlesex election, 181; the Opposition, 67 and n. 1; and Scotland’s elections, 82–83, 177; Thrale’s election contest, 262; vote-selling in, 304. See also Irish Parliament under Ireland

Parnell, Thomas (1679–1718), D.D., poet and essayist: excess in wine, 311; ‘The Hermit’, 42; SJ’s ‘Life of’, 41–42 Parr, Samuel (1747–1825), LL.D., Church of England minister, schoolmaster and author, 10 n. 8, 36 n. a3; JB’s correspondence with, 36 n. a3, 326 n. 4; epitaph for SJ, 326 and n. 4; SJ on, 14 and n. 9; on posthumous attacks on SJ, 325–26 and n. 9; editor of Tracts by Warburton and a Warburtonian, 35–36 and n. a3 Paterson, Samuel (1728–1802), bookseller, 162 n. 9, 186 Paterson, Samuel, Jr. (fl. 1776–89), son of preceding, SJ’s godson, 162 n. 9, 186–87 Patten, Thomas (1714–90), D.D., Church of England minister, 123 Paul, St., 101, 214, 308 Pembroke College. See Oxford University Penny, Anne (1729–84), poet: dedication of Anningait and Ajutt to SJ, 323 and n. a3 Pepys, Sir Lucas, 1st Bt. (1742–1830), physician and antiquary, 138 and n. 4, 233 and n. 8; attends SJ, 129, 163; and ‘Spence’s Anedotes’, 50 Pepys, William Weller (1740–1825), Master in Chancery, later 1st Bt., 68 and n. 6 Percy, Thomas (1729–1811), D.D., Bishop of Dromore, antiquarian, poet, and scholar, 81; can testify to SJ’s benevolent actions, 262; Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, 222 n. 8 Perkins, John (c. 1730–1812), manager of Thrale’s brewery, 67, 69, 70 n. 8; SJ’s correspondence with, 67 n. 9, 96 n. 1, 119 n. 7, 181 n. 9, 280 n. 7 Peterborough, Charles Mordaunt, 3rd Earl of (c. 1658–1735), general and diplomat: tutored by Dr. Walter Harte, 245 Petty, Sir William (1623–87), economist, 3 Petworth House, Sussex, 121, 381 Philips, Ambrose (1674–1749), poet: SJ’s ‘Life of’, 43 Pindar (c. 518–c. 438 B.C.), 43 Pindar, Peter. See Wolcot, John Pinkerton, John (1758–1826), historian and poet, 242 Piozzi, Gabriel Mario (1740–1809), musician, xvii, 120; SJ and Piozzi’s marriage to Mrs. Thrale, 251–53

478

INDEX

Piozzi, Mrs. See Thrale, Hester Pitt, William, the elder. See Chatham, Earl of Pitt, William, the younger (1759–1806), Tory statesman, Prime Minister, 182; SJ for Fox against him, 212 Plowden, Edmund (c. 1518–85), jurist, 225 Plutarch (c. 46–120), 166 n. 5 Plymsell, John, compositor at Baldwin’s press, 71 n. 1, 185 n. a1, 190 n. 6, 206 n. 5, 212 n. 2, 234 n. a1, 241 n. 1, 278 n. 10, 297 n. 8, 304 n. a1, 317 n. 3; changes to copy in his hand: additions, 13 n. 7, 46 n. 7, 95 n. 9, 242 n. 5; dictations from JB, 206 n. 6, 210 n. b5, 231 n. 7; footnotes, 33 n. a1, 55 n. a1, 56 n. a1, 78 n. a1, 110 n. a1, 120 n. a1; revisions, 17 n. 3, 65 n. 1, 71 nn. 3, 6, 95 n. 9, 97 n. 5, 207 n. 1, 227 n. a3, 234 n. 5, 244 n. 3, 297 n. 9, 305 n. 4; changes to revises in his hand, 66 nn. 4–5; corrections in revises accepted by, 184 n. 7, 185 n. 2, 186 n. a4, 233 n. 9, 307 n. 4; directions to compositor in his hand, 32 n. 3, 114 n. 9, 165 n. 6, 185 n. 3, 297 n. 1, 305 n. 3; memoranda to himself, 55 n. a1, 64 n. 3, 78 n. a1, 203 n. a1, 280 n. 8, 283 n. 7; message to JB, 200 n. 6; JB’s messages to him, 47 n. 1, 51 n. 6, 59 n. a4, 62 n. 2, 203 n. 2, 204 n. a3; Paper Apart ‘Mr. Plymsell’, 51–54 Politian, or Angelo Ambrogini (1454–94), Italian classical scholar and poet, 284 Political Magazine, The, 287 nn. 8, 1 Pope, Alexander (1688–1744), poet: JB quotes, 40, 190 n. a2, 334; Crousaz on, 104 and n. 5; and his grotto, 8, 40; SJ on, 8, 9, 35; SJ’s ‘Life of’, 29 n. 9, 32 n. 5, 34 n. 7, 35, 37 n. 4, 38–41, 351–53; his conversation and sayings, 38–39 and n. 9; his noble friends, 39 and n. 5; and Lord Marchmont, 39–40; and Warburton, 35; David Lewis’s verses to, 221–22 and nn. 7–8; pamphlets written against, 104; and Ambrose Philips, 43; often quoted in England, 83; Lord Somerville’s praise of, 38–39; and minuteness of anecdotes in Spence, 8; mentioned, 24 n. 6, 196 Writings: The Dunciad, 221–22; Epilogue to the Satires, 9; Essay on Man, 190 n. a2, 398–99; Pope’s Homer, 37–38, 222; ‘Verses on his Grotto’, 40

Pope, Walter (c. 1627–1714), D. M., astronomer and author, 16 Porter, Lucy (1715–86), SJ’s stepdaughter: and SJ’s family monuments, 306; SJ’s last days not spent with, 287; SJ’s letters to, 72, 113 n. 3, 114, 143 and n. 7, 164 n. 9, 181, 182 and n. 5, 276 n. 12, 306 and nn. 3–4, 365, 378; SJ visits at Lichfield, 244 n. 5; omitted from SJ’s will, 314–15 and nn. a3, a5 Porter, Mary (d. 1765), actor, 173 Porteus, Beilby (1731–1809), D.D., Bishop of Chester (later of London), 16, 62 and n. 1, 63 and n. 8; SJ, JB, and others dine with, 71–72 and n. 8 Portmore, Charles Colyear, 2nd Earl of (1700–85), 185 n. 1 Pott, Percivall (1714–88), physician and surgeon, 169–70 Potter, Rev. Robert (1721–1804), clergyman, translator, and critic, 51 n. 3 Pottinger, Richard (d. 1794), Clerk to the Privy Seal, 259–60 and n. 4 Preston, Sir Charles (c. 1735–1800), 5th Bt., 119 Price, Richard (1723–91), D.D., dissenting minister, philosopher, and demographer, 149 Priestley, Joseph (1733–1804), LL.D., theologian and natural philosopher: JB on his ‘pernicious doctrines’, 168 and nn. 3, a3–a4; SJ on, 167–68 Prince of Wales, Frederick Louis (1707–51), father of George III, 38 Pringle, Sir John (1707–82), Bt., M.D., military physician, 135–36 and nn. 8, 1, 274 n. 1 Prior, Matthew (1664–1721), poet: JB quotes, 256 and n. a1; SJ’s ‘Life of’, 27 and n. a2, 42 n. 8; often quoted in England, 83 Pritchard, Hannah (Vaughan) (1711–68), actor, 173 Psalmanazar, George (c. 1679–1763), impostor and author: SJ reverences his piety, 191 Public Advertiser, 248 n. 4, 257 n. 9, 299 nn. 5–6 Quakers, 150–51, 155 Queen’s Arms Club, 71 Quintilian (c. 35–c. 100), 26–27 and n. 7

479

INDEX

Rackstrow, Benjamin (d. 1772), museum proprietor and militia officer, 232 Radcliffe, John (c. 1650–1714), M.D., physician and philanthropist, 213 Ralph, James (c.1705–62), miscellaneous writer, 47 n. 6 Ramsay, Allan (1713–84), painter, 157 n. 5, 282 nn. 2–3 Rawlinson, Richard (1690–1755), D.C.L., topographer and anecdotist, 123 ‘Red Book’, 79 n. 6 Reed, Isaac (1742–1807), literary editor: letters to JB, 10 n. 7, 12 n. 3, 21 n. a2, 99 nn. 2–3, 156 n. 2, 229 n. 3; provided material to SJ for Lives, 28 n. 2 Reiske, Johann Jakob (1716–74), German scholar and physician, 331 n. b3 Revolution Society, 30, 79 n. 6, 349 Reynolds, Frances (1729–1807), painter and author, sister of following, 87: gives SJ gift of wine, 195; portrait of SJ, 324 n. a6 Reynolds, Sir Joshua (1723–92), painter and art theorist, 63, 121, 197 n. 5, 202, 235 n. 1, 250, 258, 326 n. 9; on Blenheim, 3; JB’s letters to, 272 n. 1, 273 n. a1, 316 n. 7; letters to JB, 269, 272 and n. 1; on Castle Howard, 3; conversations with JB, 200–01, 240, 247; conversations with SJ, 80, 138, 230, 235, 245, 249, 288 n. 3; conversation with Metcalfe, Burke on day of SJ’s burial, 122; credited with pun, 10 n. 8; death of, 107 n. 9, 282 n. 3; declines membership in Essex Head Club, 179; dines with SJ, JB, and others at Bishop of Chester’s, 71; dines with SJ, JB, and others at Mrs. Garrick’s, 78; furnishes JB with materials, 134 and n. 4, 175, 258–59, 326 n. 9; can testify to SJ’s benevolent actions, 262; SJ on, 5 and n. 1, 234; SJ on Discourses, 234; on SJ, 60; SJ and JB dine with, 64, 244, 249; SJ’s letters to, 70, 107 n. 9, 123, 142 and n. 3, 157 n. 6, 162, 171 and n. 3, 179, 201, 269, 270, 271, 272, 276 and n. 12, 277, 282 and nn. 1, 3, 422; and SJ’s pension, xvi, 240, 247–51, 269–73, 273 nn. 7, a1–a2, 282 n. 3; on scene between SJ and Langton as ‘Comedy’, 198; SJ’s last requests of, 319; and judgment of character, 230; on Mudge’s sermons, 80; as Painter to the King, 282 n. 3; portraits of SJ, 324 and n.

a6, 331 n. b3; reproductions by Cooke, Hall, Humphry, and Trotter, 324; and the Royal Academy, 282 n. 3; on Vanbrugh’s architecture, 3 and n. 1, 42; witness to counter Mrs. Piozzi’s narratives, 258–59; mentioned, 15 and n. 1, 240 n. 4 Richard II (1367–1400), King of England, 186 Richard III (1452–85), King of England, 174 Richardson, Samuel (1689–1761), novelist and printer, 4 Robertson, John (1722–91), printer, bookseller, and publisher of Caledonian Mercury, 106 and n. 3, 376 Robertson, William (1721–93), Church of Scotland minister, historian, Principal of Edinburgh University: History of America, 301; History of Scotland, 65; imitator of SJ’s style, 301 Rochester, Kent, 8, 187; Freemasons’ funeral procession at, 19; SJ visits Langton at, 164; Langton quartered at, 107, 117, 164 and n. 2 Rockingham, Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquis of (1730–82), politician, Prime Minister, 117 n. 7 Roman Catholic Church, 33, 207, 208–10, 317, 435 Rome, 1, 235, 301, 324, 336, 427 Rose, William (1719–86), schoolmaster and translator, 128 Ross, James, servant to JB, 54 n. 6, 55 nn. 5, 1, 97 n. 3, 302 n. 4, 303 n. 5 Ross, John (1719–92), D.D., Bishop of Exeter: dines with SJ, JB, and company, 189–91 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques (1712–78), philosopher, 207 Royal Academy of Arts, 141, 234, 282 n. 3 Royal Irish Academy, 296 n. a18, 298 Royal Society, 79 n. 6, 135 Royal Society of Edinburgh, 23 Rumbold, Sir Thomas (1736–91), Governor of Madras, 152 and nn. 2, 4 Russell, Alexander (c. 1715–68), M.D., physician, author of Natural History of Aleppo, 131 Russia, 139 n. 2; Empress Catherine allegedly orders Rambler translation, 193–94 and n. 9

480

INDEX

Ryland, John (1716/17–98), West India Merchant and friend of SJ, 275 and n. 6 St. Albyn, Rev. Lancelot (c. 1722–91), Rector of Parracombe and Vicar of Wembdon, Somerset, 118–19 and nn. 1, 3 Sallust (86–34 B.C.): SJ mentions Spanish translation of, 336; SJ translates part of De Bello Catilinario, 294–95 Salusbury, Hester Maria (Cotton) (1707–73), Mrs. Thrales’s mother, 262 Sanderson, Robert (1587–1663), D.D., Bishop of Lincoln, 314, 316 Sastres, Francesco (fl. 1776–1822), Italian teacher and translator: his idle chatter, 269; letter to JB, 180 n. a1, 239 n. 8; selected to accompany SJ to Italy, 238, 247, 269 and n. 4 Sault, Richard (d. 1702), mathematician and author, 139 n. 2, 140–41 Savage, Richard (1697/8–1743), poet and playwright, 206, 308, 430; Miscellaneous Poems, 156 n. 2, 222 n. 8; The Wanderer, 206 and n. 8 Saxons, 108 Scotland, 68 n. 6, 71, 90, 145 n. 1, 195, 274; ‘Athol porridge’, 65; JB in, 180; JB travels back to, 97, 160, 240, 244, 247; JB and SJ in, 98, 101 n. a1, 129, 140, 178; Bute and, 106, 128, 229; courts and legal matters in, 83, 105, 106; elections in, 82–83, 177; English Review written by ‘Scotchmen’, 152; fashion for abstract speculation in, 23 and n. a4; the Hebrides, 81, 98, 140, 178; the Highlands, 65, 178; and humour, 105–06; SJ on ‘Scotchmen’, 10, 83, 229; SJ’s antipathy to the ‘Scotch’, 80, 128–29 and n. 8, 135, 157 n. 6, 328–29; Nonjuring clergy in, 205; the supposed poverty of, 83; Robertson, History of Scotland, 65; Scots gentlemen and English education, 106–07; Scottish word forms, 162 and n. 5, 164 n. 3. See also Auchinleck; JB’s Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides and Letter to the People of Scotland; Edinburgh; Stuart, House of; SJ’s Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland; Royal Society of Edinburgh Scott, Dr., afterwards Sir William (1745– 1836), D.C.L., later Baron Stowell, attorney ‘of the Commons’, judge, xvi, 74 n. 8,

268 n. 9; on Blackstone and wine, 73–74 and n. 8; conversation with SJ and JB, 73–75; could testify to SJ’s benevolence, 262; and SJ’s Prayers and Meditations, 290; owned rare Townley mezzotint portrait of SJ, 324–25 and n. a12 Selfe, Mr., corrector at Henry Baldwin’s press, 74 n. 1, 219 n. 3, 297 n. 8; copy in MS marked ‘Out’ by, 60 n. 4, 190 n. 6, 247 n. 8, 291 n. 1; corrects revises, 4 n. 3, 30 n. 3, 59 n. 8, 67 n. 2, 79 n. 6, 91 n. 8, 151 n. 8, 217 n. 5, 227 n. a2, 235 n. 4, 254 n. a1, 279 n. 4, 318 n. 8, 342, 363, 364, 369, 370, 373, 374, 379, 380, 388, 399, 419; correction introduces error, 277 n. 18, 300 n. 9; correction is rejected, 127 n. 2, 304 n. 6; queries phrasing or word choice, 25 n. 3, 44 nn. 9, 1, 107 n. 7, 108 n. 3, 129 n. 2, 167 n. 7, 184 n. 7, 185 n. 2, 186 n. a4, 233 n. 9, 236 n. 1, 272 n. 5, 278 n. 5, 307 n. 4; queries punctuation, 44 n. 9, 107 n. 7, 204 n. a2, 225 n. 4, 374; queries repetition of name, 4 n. 5; queries spelling, 277 n. 19, 299 n. 6; queries title of book, 228 n. 8; JB’s messages to, 79 n. 6, 254 n. a1; ‘Mr. Selfe’s revises’ used to supply cross-references, 49 n. a1, 63 n. a1, 105 n. 4 Selwyn, Charles (1715–94), Paris banker, 68–69 and n. 10 Seven Bishops, the (opposed to Declaration of Indulgence in 1688), 205 Seward, Anna (1742–1809), poet, ‘The Swan of Lichfield’, 222, 335 and n. 9; anecdotes of SJ in Lichfield, 286–87 and n. 1, 288 n. 1, 423, 424; JB on her genius, 286; correspondence with JB, 243 n. 9, 270 n. 7, 287 n. 1; on SJ’s letter to Lord Thurlow, 270 n. 7; SJ on her Elegy on the Death of Captain Cook, 243; verses on Lichfield, 243 Seward, William (1747–99), anecdotist, 8 and n. 5, 32, 68 n. 10, 69 and n. 4, 111 n. 6, 114, 307 and n. 9, 310 n. a1, 326 n. 4, 358; conversation with JB and SJ, 153–55; offers to raise funds for SJ’s travel to Italy, 195, 273 n. 7 Shakespeare, William (1564–1616): and Corneille, 14; edited by SJ, 90; edited by EM, 114 n. 9; Falstaff, 230; and Garrick, 22, 78, 174; and Greek drama, 14; Ireland’s forgeries of, 114 n. 9; SJ on, 16,

481

INDEX

22–23; Lennox’s Shakespeare Illustrated, 9; and Milton, 59; quoted more than other authors, 83; Warburton’s edition of, 35, 206 Plays: Hamlet, 59, 246, 292, 293, 307 n. 2; Henry VIII, 172–73; King John, 172; Love’s Labour’s Lost, 79 and n. 4; Macbeth, 7, 312; Measure for Measure, 172; Richard III, 174; Tempest, 22; Timon of Athens, 24 Shakespeare Jubilee, Stratford, 192 n. 8 Sharp, John (c. 1645–1714), D.D., Archbishop of York, 50 Shaw, Thomas (1694–1751), D.D., clergyman, Professor of Greek, traveller, 91 n. 6 Shaw, Rev. William (1749–1831), Gaelic grammarian and lexicographer: doubts authenticity of Ossian poems, 178–79; SJ defends, 179; Gaelic dictionary, 178 Shebbeare, John (1709–88), physician and political author, 91–92, 153; SJ and, 92; writing as Battista Angeloni, 92 Shefford, Bedfordshire, 106–07 Shelburne, William Petty (formerly Fitzmaurice), 2nd Earl of (1737–1805), later 1st Marquis of Lansdowne, Prime Minister, 65 n. 9, 133 n. 2, 200 n. 6, 238 n. 9; and Goldsmith, 133–34 Shenstone, William (1714–63), poet, 161 Sheridan, Thomas (c. 1719–88), actor and elocutionist: anecdotes provided to JB, 228–29; defends Addison, 74; and Oratory, 146, 153; SJ on, 127–28, 146, 153, 158; on SJ’s prejudice against Swift, 49; on SJ’s prejudice against the Scots, 128; leaves Dilly’s to avoid SJ, 242 Shipley, Jonathan (1713–88), D.D., Bishop of St. Asaph, 62 n. 1; SJ dines with, 72 and n. 8; SJ on, 175; member of The Club, 238 Siddons, Sarah (Kemble) (1755–1831), actor, 172–73 Simco, John (fl. 1786), owned drawing of SJ, 324 Simpson, Charles (1732–96), Town Clerk of Lichfield, 285 n. c1, 286 Sinclair, Sir John (1754–85), politician and agriculturalist, 110 Smith, Adam (1723–90), moral philosopher and political economist, 21–22; JB on his attack on Oxford, 303 Smith, Henry (1724–65), cousin of Henry

Thrale, father of following, 69 n. 1 Smith, Henry (1756–89), executor of Henry Thrale, 69 and n. 1 Smith, Jane (1727–81), mother of preceding, 69 n. 1 Smith, Rev. Lawrence (c. 1716–1800), Church of England minister, Vicar of Southill, 103, 242 Smith, Ralph (fl. 1744), father of Henry Sr., 69 n. 1 Society of Antiquaries, 79 n. 6 Society of Arts, 10, 80, 159 n. a1 Society of Lincoln’s Inn, 210 Society of Procurators, 105–06 Socrates (469/70–399 B.C.), 33, 66 Somerville, James Somerville, 12th Baron (1698–1765), 38–39 South Sea Bubble, 22, 99 and n. 2 Southampton, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of (1573–1624), 114 n. 9 Southill, Bedfordshire, 97, 100, 101 n. 1, 103, 105, 242, 373 Southwell, Thomas (1698–1766), 2nd Baron Southwell: SJ on, 133 and n. 1; Mauritius Lowe his natural son, 133 Spectator, The, 10 n. 8, 24 and n. 6, 63, 73, 201 n. 2, 279 n. 7 Spence, Joseph (1699–1768), scholar and anecdotist, 8; Anecdotes, 50 and n. 9; Polymetis, 358 Spenser, Edmund (c. 1552–99), poet, 6 Staffordshire, 145, 261; SJ’s Staffordshire accent, 77 n. 5; SJ travels to, 276 Stanhope. See Chesterfield, Earl of Stanhope, Philip (c. 1732–68), Chesterfield’s natural son, 244–45 Staunton, Sir George (1737–1801), physician and diplomat, 229 Steele, Sir Richard (1672–1729), author and politician, 268 n. 8; alleged mistreatment by Addison, 41, 74, 354 Steevens, George (1736–1800), literary editor and scholar, 74 n. 9; imitator of SJ’s style, 299 n. 8; SJ on, 137 and n. 8, 191–92 and n. 9; on SJ’s character, 237; and SJ’s diary, 316 and n. a2; member of The Club, 70 n. 7; omitted from SJ’s will, 315 n. a5; supplies anecdotes for SJ’s Lives, 28; supplies material to JB, 25 n. 4, 70 n. 7, 228 n. 7, 236–37 and nn. 8–9

482

INDEX

Stephens. See Estienne Sterne, Laurence (1713–68), Church of England minister and author, 88 Stewart, Sir Annesley (1725–1801), of Ramalton, 6th Bt., 64 Still, John (c. 1543–1607/8), D.D., Bishop of Bath and Wells, 322 n. 9 Stillingfleet, Benjamin (1702–71), botanist and author: and Blue-Stocking Clubs, 88 Stinton, George (1730–83), D.D., chaplain to Archbishop Secker, 73 Stockdale, Percival (1736–1811), poet and magazine editor, 232 n. 2 Stone, John Hurford (1763–1818), radical and printer, 227 and n. a2 Strahan, Andrew (1750–1831), youngest son of William Strahan, 283–84 Strahan, George (1744–1824), D.D., Vicar of Islington, second son of William Strahan: JB visits, xv, 188 n. 7; correspondence with JB, 37 n. 7, 287 n. 8, 318 n. 6, 320 n. 7, 321 n. 1; house at Islington, 188, 320; and SJ’s ‘Prayers and Meditations’, 290 and n. 3, 321; and SJ’s last days, 320, 321; SJ visits, 188 Strahan, Margaret Penelope (Elphinston) (1719–85), wife of following: SJ’s correspondence with, 82, 114, 367 Strahan, William (1715–85), King’s Printer, 82; and SJ’s Dictionary, 234; omitted from SJ’s will, 314 n. a3, 315 n. a5 Strahan, William, junior (d. 1781), printer, eldest son of preceding, 82 Stratford, Warwickshire, 191 n. 8 Streatham. See under London Stuart, House of, 126, 205–06. See also Charles I; Charles II; Charles Edward; James II Stuart, Hon. Margaret (Cunynghame) (1745–1808), wife of Lieut.-Col. the Hon. James Archibald Stuart, 136 and n. 5 Stuart, Hon. and Rev. William (1755–1822), 5th son of Lord Bute, later Bishop of St. Davids, then Archbishop of Armagh: character of, 139–40; conversation with SJ and JB, 139 n. 2, 140–41 Sumner, Robert Carey (1729–71), D.D., Master of Harrow, 14 n. 9 Sutton, Captain Evelyn (d. 1817), 248 n. 4 Swift, Jonathan (1667–1745), D.D., author,

Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin: SJ’s ‘Life of’, 41 n. 1, 44 n. 2, 49–50; SJ’s prejudice against, 49 and n. 2; SJ quotes, 202, 210 n. b4; Swift’s London journal, 136 Sydney, Lord. See Townshend, Thomas Tahiti (Otaheité), 224 Taylor, Isaac (1730–1807), engraver: etching from SJ portrait by unnamed painter, 324 Taylor, Jeremy (1613–67), D.D., Bishop of Down and Connor, 210–11, 213–14; SJ recommends JB read Golden Grove, 210; The Real Presence and Spiritual in the Blessed Scarament of Christ, 211 n. 1; Taylor, Rev. John (1711–88), LL.D., of Ashbourne, 291 n. 8; correspondence with SJ, 162 n. 2, 163 and n. 4, 187 n. 9; house not ready to accommodate SJ, 244 and n. 4; hosted low company and employed idle servants, 228 and n. 9; SJ wrote sermons for, 215; Johnsoniana communicated by, 289 and n. 4; A Letter to Samuel Johnson on the Subject of a Future State, 163 n. 4; omitted from SJ’s will, 314, 315 n. a5; performs SJ’s funeral service, 322 Temple, Sir William (1628–99), diplomat and author, 139 n. 2; SJ quotes, 292 Temple, Rev. William Johnson (1739–96), essayist, friend of JB, 314 n. a3; writes character of Gray, 119 n. 7 Tenshillingside. See under Auchinleck Terence (c. 195–c. 159 B.C.), 16 Thirlby, Styan (c. 1691–1753), LL.D., textual critic and theologian, 123 Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380–1471), monk and author, 19, 196 Thomson, James (1700–48), poet and playwright, 156 n. 2 Thrale, Henry (1728–81), M.P., brewer, husband of Hester Lynch, 122 n. 5, 179, 194, 251–56, 259; JB visits, 58, 69; his brewery, 67, 70–71, 96 n. 1; death of, 69–70, 82, 120, 167 n. 1; declining health of, 58, 69; hospitality to SJ, 58, 70, 120, 254, 268; SJ and JB dine with, 67; SJ helps in Parliamentary election of, 262; SJ travels with, 90 n. 3, 263–64, 267–68; SJ visits, 69; SJ one of his executors, 70–71; SJ’s prayer ‘On leaving Mr. Thrale’s Family’, 120–21;

483

INDEX

and SJ’s wine drinking, 58; relation of his killed in America, 266; respected SJ and loved his company, 255–56; residences: in Argyll Buildings, 125; in the Borough, 58; on Grosvernor Square, 58; at Streatham, 58, 108 n. 7, 109, 120–21, 122 n. 7 Thrale, Hester Lynch (Salusbury), later Piozzi (1741–1821): ascribes parody of Burke speech to SJ, 231; JB critical of her altered attitude towards SJ, 120–21, 254–56, 261–62, 264, 287; JB visits and dines with, 125–26; praises JB’s memory, 127; cites Cibber as source of Goldsmith quotation, 191 n. 8; commonplace book, 260; conversations with SJ, 62, 67–69, 73, 126–27, 260; correspondence with SJ, 252–53 and n. 1, 254, 255, 262–63, 390; dispute with JB over Shakespeare and Milton, 59; fair copy in her hand of passages in ms. of SJ’s Lives, 28; identifies personages unnamed in Life, 15 n. 8, 88 n. 6, 137 n. 3, 259 nn. 7, 3–4, 307 n. 9, 318 n. 9; SJ on, 126 n. 1, 194; SJ on her marriage to Piozzi, 194, 251–54, 261, 264; SJ dines with, 126, 266; SJ travels with, 90 n. 3, 263–64, 267–68; SJ visits, 125, 129; SJ writes epitaphs for her husband and mother, 262; and SJ’s letter to Miss Boothby, 45; on SJ: deficient in benevolence, 141–42, 261; devoid of affection, tenderness, civility, feeling, 258, 266, 267; fatiguing, temperamental, and sullen in company, 264; impatient with contradiction, 259; rudely inattentive, 263; yoke of confinement with him, 254; on SJ and Molly Aston, 44; on SJ’s conversation, 96, 254, 260, 264–65; ‘Latin Ode on Mrs. Thrale’ misattributed to SJ, 268 n. 8; ‘Ode by Dr. Samuel Johnson to Mrs. Thrale, upon their supposed approaching Nuptials’ (by JB), 252–53 and n. 9, 299 and n. a2, 416; and Piozzi, 120, 194, 251, 252, 253 and n. 1, 264, 268 n. 8; travels to Bath, 126 and n. 1, 253 Writings: Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson, LL.D., xvi, 141–42, 231, 254, 256–68, 288 n. 6, 318 n. 9; JB corrects misrepresentations in, xvii, 141–42, 254–56, 260 n. a1, 260–68; EM corrects misrepresentations in, xvii, 257–60, 263 n. 4; EM sees different purpose in after SJ upbraids

her, 261–62; British Synonymy, 318 n. 9; Letters to and from the Late Samuel Johnson, LL.D., 27 and n. a2, 45, 145 n. 8, 162 n. 2, 163 and n. 7, 172, 174, 226, 230, 242, 251, 252–53, 256, 262–63, 264, 297, 307, 309 n. a1; Thraliana, 58 n. 6, 191 n. 8 Thrale family, 70, 108 n. 7, 126, 251–52; SJ writes to ‘one of the Miss Thrales’, 174 Thurlow, Edward (1731–1806), 1st Baron Thurlow, Lord Chancellor, 52 n. 8, 225; JB’s correspondence with, 240 and n. 4, 247–48; SJ’s letter to, xvi, 12, 272, 273 n. a1, 276 n. 12; SJ’s opinion of, 138, 239; and SJ’s pension, xvi, 239 and nn. 6, 2, 248, 251, 268 n. 9, 268–72, 272 n. 1; offer of financial assistance to SJ, 273 n. 7 Thurot, François (1727–60), French naval captain and privateer, 83 Tibullus (c. 55–c. 19 B.C.): SJ quotes, 317 Tickell, Thomas (1686–1740), poet: SJ’s ‘Life of’, 43 n. 4, 44 Torré, Giovanni-Battista (d. 1780), pyrotechnician, 237–38 Towers, Joseph (1737–99), LL.D., dissenting minister, 30, 349; An Essay on the Life, Character, and Writings of Dr. Samuel Johnson, 30–31 Townley, Charles (c. 1746–c. 1800), engraver: mezzotint of Opie’s portrait of SJ, 324–25 and nn. a11–a12 Townley, Rev. James (1714–78), schoolmaster and playwright: High Life below Stairs, 7 Townley, Mr., of the Commons, brother of Charles, 324 n. a11 Townshend, Thomas (1733–1800), 1st Viscount Sydney, 147; attacks SJ’s pension in Parliament, 231–32 and n. 8 Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, 296 n. a18, 298 Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 23 Trapp, Joseph (1679–1747), D.D., Church of England minister and author, 295 Trotter, Thomas (c. 1750–1803), engraver: portraits of SJ drawn and etched by, 324 and n. a10; engravings of SJ portraits by Harding, Reynolds, and unnamed artist, 324 Tunbridge School, 242, 303 Turkish Spy, The, 139 n. 2, 140–41 and n. 8 Twysden, Frances. See Eglinton, Countess of

484

INDEX

Universal History, The, 293–95 University of Leiden, 171–72 Uttoxeter Market, 287 Vallancey, Col. Charles (1721–1812), antiquary and military surveyor, 189 and n. 3; dines with SJ, JB, and company, 190, 195 Vanbrugh, Sir John (1664–1726), playwright and architect, 3, 42 Veale, Thomas (d. 1780), of Coffleet, 64 Vestris, Gaëtan Apolline Balthasar (1729– 1808), dancer, 66 Villette (or Vilette), Rev. John (d. 1799), Church of England minister, Newgate Prison chaplain, 241–42 and n. 1 Villiers, George Bussy Villiers, Viscount (1735–1805), afterwards 4th Earl of Jersey, 92–93 and nn. 4, 6 Virgil (70–19 B.C.): Aeneid, 156–57, 336; JB quotes, 82, 132; in Crabbe’s The Village, 134; Eclogues, 2, 82 n. 7, 157; Georgics, 132 and n. 4, 157; and Homer, 14, 157; SJ on, 2, 14, 134, 156–57; superior to Theocritus, 2 Vobe, Elizabeth, ‘Printer’s Devil’, wife of John Campbell, 81 and n. 5 Voltaire, François–Marie Arouet (1694– 1778), author, historian, and philosopher, 139 n. 2, 207 Vyse, William (1742–1816), D.C.L., Rector of Lambeth, 285–86 and n. c1 Wales: SJ visits, 90 and n. 3; the ‘Welch Charity School’, 175 Walker, John (1732–1807), lexicographer and elocutionist: conversation with SJ and JB, 146–47; Elements of Elocution dedicated to SJ, 323 Walker, Joseph Cooper (1761–1810), Irish antiquary, 189 n. 3 Wall, Martin (1747–1824), D.Med., physician at Oxford, 213 Waller, Edmund (1606–87), poet and politician: JB quotes from ‘Divine Poesie’, 209; from ‘Of Loving at First Sight’, 27; from ‘Some Reflections of his upon the Several Petitions in the Same [Lord’s] Prayer’, 210; SJ’s ‘Life of’, 29–30; often quoted in England, 83 Walmsley, Gilbert (1680–1751), barrister

and scholar, 10 n. 5 Walpole, Horace (1717–97), 4th Earl of Orford, author and politician; on Cowdray House, 121 n. 3; ‘Heroick Epistle’ attributed to, 230; prejudice against SJ, 230 Walpole, Sir Robert (1676–1745), 1st Earl of Orford, Prime Minister, 67, 230; SJ wanted his art collection to remain in Britain, 246 Warburton, William (1698–1779), D.D., Bishop of Gloucester, 44; Divine Legation of Moses, 37; and SJ, 35–37 and n. 4; on SJ’s style, 37; SJ on, 35, 37–38 and n. 7, 351; SJ on his edition of Shakespeare, 35, 206; Parr’s Tracts by Warburton and a Warburtonian, 35–36 and n. a3 Warren, Richard (1731–97), M.D., physician: attends SJ in his final illness, 312, 318 Warton, Joseph (1722–1800), D.D., poet and literary critic, 24 n. 1, 166 and n. 6, 233 n. 1, 235 and n. 2; correspondence with JB, 14 n. 3 Warton, Thomas (1728–90), Poet Laureate, historian, brother of preceding, 230; on Ariosto, 6; SJ on, 6, 166 n. 6; Observations on Spenser’s Fairy Queen, 6 Warwickshire, 36 n. a3, 274 n. 4 Waters, Ambrose (fl. 1660), plagiarist of prefatory verses, 315 Watson, Richard (1737–1816), D.D., Bishop of Llandaff, 97and n. 2 Wedderburne, Alexander. See Loughborough, Baron ‘Welch Charity School’, 175 Welwyn, Hertfordshire, 47, 97 Wesley, Rev. John (1703–91), co-founder of Methodism, 75 Westcote, William Henry Lyttelton, 1st Baron (1724–1808), colonial governor and diplomat, 217 Westminster School, 215, 222; SJ on Westminster men at Oxford, 12 n. 8 Wetherell, Nathan (1726–1807), D.D., Dean of Hereford and Master of University College, Oxford, 223 Wheatley, Oxfordshire, 223 Whiston, John (1711–80), bookseller, 90 Whiston, William (1667–1752), Church of England minister and natural philosopher, 22

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INDEX

White, Rev. Henry (1761–1836), of Lichfield, Church of England Minister, 287 and nn. 8, 1, 424 Whitefoord, Caleb (1734–1810), wine merchant and diplomat: SJ on his ‘crossreadings’ of newspapers, 235 Whitehead, William (1715–85), Poet Laureate, 92–93 and nn. 4, 6 Wild, Jonathan (1682/3–1725), London criminal, 211 Wilkes, John (1725–97), politician, 154, 156 n. 2, 293 n. 3, 369; and Beattie, 82, 87; JB on, 87; on Burke, 84–85; conversation with SJ, JB, and others, 82–87; dines with SJ, JB, and others at Dilly’s, 82–87; dines with Barnard and JB at Dilly’s, 87; on oratory, 84; on quotation, 83; solicits gift of SJ’s Lives, 86 and n. 3; tells anecdote of man parting from mistress in Paris, 266–67 and n. a4; tells of Pope’s repartee, 38 Willes, Sir John (1685–1761), Chief Justice, 84 and n. 7 William III (1650–1702), King of England, 259 Williams, Anna (1706–83), poet and companion of SJ, 171 n. 8; death of, 165, 169 n. 5, 171, 180; dines with SJ and company, 75, 150 and n. 1; drinks tea and coffee with SJ and others, 130; and Mrs. Hall, 77; health of, 130; and SJ, 77, 130, 165, 171, 180 Williams, Helen Maria (1762–1827), poet and author, 200 and n. 7 Willoughby de Broke, John Peyto-Verney, 14th Baron (1738–1816), courtier, 73 Wilson, Rev. Thomas (1747–1813), schoolmaster: dedicates Archaeological Dictionary to SJ, 123, 323; SJ’s letter to, 123–24 and n. 11 Wiltshire, 167 Windham, William (1750–1810), traveller and politician, 141, 195, 197 and n. 5, 278; and JB, 141 and n. 1, 142, 193; on

Burke’s jocularity, 193; could testify to SJ’s benevolent actions, 262; SJ’s letters to, 162 and n. 7, 276, 280 and n. 6; and SJ’s last days, 317, 318 and n. 6, 319 n. 5, 322 n. 5; member of the Essex Head Club, 179–80; pall-bearer at SJ’s funeral, 322 n. 8 Windsor, Berkshire, 228 n. 2 Wolcot, John (bap. 1738, d. 1819), poet and satirist under pseudonym ‘Peter Pindar’, 333 and n. 2 Wood, Anthony à (1632–95), antiquary and biographer, 123 Worcestershire, 201 Wray, Mary Harrison (d. 1745), probable compiler of The Ladies Library. Written by a Lady, 268 n. 8 York, 184 Yorkshire, 51 n. 3, 113 n. 3 Young, Edward (1683–1765), D.C.L., poet, 99 n. 2; JB misattributes Addison quotation to, 197 n. 3; JB on, 98; JB quotes, 83, 196–97 and n. 2, 216–17; Croft’s biography of, 46–47, 98 n. 10, 303 n. 2; SJ’s ‘Life of’, 44 n. 2, 46–48; SJ on, 99; SJ and JB visit his home, garden at Welwyn, 97–99; Langton’s character of, 47; Love of Fame, the Universal Passion, 48, 99 and n. 2; Night Thoughts, 47–48, 97, 98, 196 n. 2; and the South Sea Bubble, 99 and n. 2 Young, Elizabeth (1767–94), daughter of the two following, 98 Young, Elizabeth (Thornton Heysham) (d. 1774), wife of following, 98 n. 7 Young, Frederick (b. 1732), son of Edward, 97–99 Young, John (c. 1746–1820), Professor of Greek at Glasgow: A Criticism on Gray’s Elegy in a Country Church-Yard, 305; imitator of SJ’s style, 305 Zoffany, Johan (1733–1810), portrait painter: portrait of SJ, 324

486