I asked him if it was true as reported, that he had said lately, 'I am for the King against Fox; but I am for Fox against Pitt.'
{Charles James Fox was a prominent Whig, an opponent of George III, and the arch-rival of William Pitt the Younger. – Editor}
JOHNSON. 'Yes, Sir; the King is my master; but I do not know Pitt; and Fox is my friend.'
'Fox, (added he,) is a most extraordinary man; here is a man (describing him in strong terms of objection in some respects according as he apprehended, but which exalted his abilities the more) who has divided the Kingdom with Caesar; so that it was a doubt whether the nation should be ruled by the sceptre of George the Third, or the tongue of Fox.'
Dr. Wall, physician at Oxford, drank tea with us. Johnson had in general a peculiar pleasure in the company of physicians, which was certainly not abated by the conversation of this learned, ingenious, and pleasing gentleman.
Johnson said, 'It is wonderful how little good Radcliffe's travelling fellowships have done. {Dr. John Radcliffe had left in his will an endowment to Oxford University, to send physicians to foreign countries to study. – Editor} I know nothing that has been imported by them; yet many additions to our medical knowledge might be got in foreign countries. Inoculation, for instance, has saved more lives than war destroys: and the cures performed by the Peruvian-bark are innumerable. {Peruvian Bark: cinchona bark, also known as Jesuit’s Bark and China Bark, a remedy for malaria – Editor} 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, June 11, we talked at breakfast, of forms of prayer.
JOHNSON. 'I know of no good prayers but those in the Book of Common Prayer.'
DR. ADAMS, (in a very earnest 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 should appear to me the best, putting out some, inserting others, adding some prayers of my own, and prefixing a discourse on prayer.'
We all now gathered about him, and two or three of us at a time joined in pressing him to execute this plan. He seemed to be a little displeased at the manner of our importunity, and in great agitation 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 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 before his face, and reclined for some time upon the table.
I mentioned Jeremy Taylor's using, in his forms of prayer, 'I am the chief of sinners,' and other such self-condemning expressions. {Taylor was an author and a cleric of the Church of England, known as “the Shakespeare of Divines”. – Editor}
'Now, (said I) this cannot be 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 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 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 "I am a great sinner." 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 sinners, and of himself in particular, he says, "LORD, thou wilt not leave thy chief work undone."
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 believe; never promise more than you mean to perform." I recollected this precept in his Golden Grove; but his example for prayer contradicts his precept.'
Dr. Johnson and I went in Dr. Adams's coach to dine with Dr. 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 Johnson 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. Obscenity and Impiety have always 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 such awe. Yet, Sir, many people who might have been benefited by your conversation, have been frightened away. A worthy friend of ours has told me, that he has often been afraid to talk to you.'
JOHNSON. 'Sir, he need not have been afraid, if he had any thing rational to say. If he had not, it was better he did not talk.'
(classix comix™ is made possible in part through a generous endowment from the Bob’s Bowery Bar Fund for Chronically Underemployed Artists and Writers: “My friends at Bob’s Bowery Bar inform me that now that the Jewish holy days are over, all Passover-related menu-items will be half-price while stocks last, so come on in and try such favorites as Bob’s Mom’s famous home-made ‘gefilte fish ‘n’ chips’, ‘matzoh balls ‘n’ barnyard chicken soup’, and ‘brisket ‘n’ garlic mashed potatoes’. For a liquid dessert with a kick, why not top it all off with a ‘spiked egg cream’ made with Fox’s U-bet™ chocolate syrup and Bob’s homemade peppermint schnapps?”
– 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 View from Bellevue”, by Henry P. Stuffins, starring Kitty Carlisle as “Dr. Blanche”, with special guest star Charles Laughton.)
part 258
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