I asked him if he was dissatisfied at having so small a share of wealth, and none of those distinctions in the state which are the objects of ambition. He had only a pension of three hundred a year. Why was he not in such circumstances as to keep his coach? Why had he not some considerable office?
JOHNSON. 'Sir, I have never complained of the world; 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 friend to Government at the time, who got 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.'
Upon my observing that I could not believe this, for they must certainly be highly pleased by his conversation; conscious of his own superiority, he answered, ‘No, sir; great lords and ladies don’t 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 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 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 state of life a man who knew the value of the conversation of Johnson might be placed, though he might prudently avoid a situation in which he might appear lessened by comparison; yet he would frequently gratify himself in private with the participation of the rich intellectual entertainment which Johnson could furnish.
Strange, however, it is, to consider how 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 friend, Lord Elibank, well observed, that if a great man procured an interview with Johnson, and did not wish to see him more, it shewed a mere idle curiosity, and a wretched want of relish for extraordinary powers of mind. Mrs. Thrale justly and wittily accounted for such conduct by saying, that 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!
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 himself so well, that I begged of him to repeat what he had said, and I wrote down as follows:—
OF TORY AND WHIG.
'A wise Tory and a wise Whig, I believe, will agree. Their principles are the same, though their modes of thinking are different. A high Tory makes government unintelligible: it is lost in the clouds. A violent Whig 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 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 have a considerable influence, founded on the opinion of mankind; the Whig is for limiting and watching them with a narrow jealousy.'
On Saturday, June 2, I had set out for Scotland, and had promised to pay a visit in my way, as I sometimes did, at Southill, in Bedfordshire, at the hospitable mansion of Squire Dilly, the elder brother of my worthy friends, the booksellers, in the Poultry. {“The Poultry”: a London street which got its name because poulterers sent their fowls there to be prepared, in “Scalding Alley”. - Editor} Dr. Johnson agreed to be of the party this year, with Mr. Charles Dilly and me, and to go and see Lord Bute's seat at Luton Hoe.
He talked little to us in the carriage, being chiefly occupied in reading Dr. Watson's 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 this day, and he seized upon it with avidity. He pointed out to me the following remarkable passage:—
'By what means (said the prince) are the Europeans thus powerful; 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 thither.'
'They are more powerful, 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.'
He said, ‘This, Sir, no man can explain otherwise.’
(classix comix™ is made possible in part through a continuing grant from the Bob’s Bowery Bar Fund for Uncommercial Arts and Letters: “Looking for a congenial spot to nurse one of those debilitating Sunday hangovers? Why not join me at Bob’s Bowery Bar for ‘Brunch With Tony & Sally’, every Sunday afternoon from noon till three, featuring Tony Winston on the upright Steinway and the lovely chanteuse Shirley De La Salle (fresh off her sold-out tour of the Midwest in Cole Porter’s Fifty Million Frenchmen) playing and singing the songs that you want to hear! While you’re there, why not check out the ever-changing brunch bill of fare and try to force some solid food down? If you can’t make up your mind, allow me to recommend the eponymous Sternwall Omelette: four large fresh-from-Bob’s Mom’s-coop eggs wrapped around ground house-made spicy pork sausage, stewed Jersey tomatoes and melted Limburger, smothered with Bob’s ‘hellfire sauce’ and with a generous ‘side’ of fries ‘n’ gravy?”
– Horace P. Sternwall, host and narrator of Bob’s Bowery Bar Presents Philip Morris Commander’s “Blanche Weinberg: Lady Psychiatrist”, broadcast live 8pm Sundays {EST} exclusively on the Dumont Television Network. This week’s presentation:The Man Who Loved Cats but Hated People, by Hoagland P. Somerset, starring Kitty Carlisle as “Dr. Blanche”, with special guest star Monty Wooley as “Mr. Mooper”.)
part 223
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