Boswell’s Life of Johnson: 224

Edited by Dan Leo, Assistant Professor of 18th Century British Theological Studies, Olney Community College; author of Bozzie and Dr. Sam: The Case of the Vicarious Vicar, the Olney Community College Press.

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Being in a frame of mind which, I hope for the felicity of human nature, many experience,— in fine weather,— at the country house of a friend,— consoled and elevated by pious exercises,— I expressed myself with an unrestrained fervour to my 'Guide, Philosopher, and Friend;'  'My dear Sir, I would fain be a good man; and I am very good now. I fear GOD, and honour the King, I wish to do no ill, and to be benevolent to all mankind.'  He looked at me with a benignant indulgence; but took occasion to give me wise and salutary caution.  'Do not, 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 declares he cannot help acting in a particular way, and is irresistibly impelled, there can be no confidence in him, no more than in a tyger. But, Sir, no man believes 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 souls, may be deceitful and dangerous. In general no man can be sure of his acceptance with 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; 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 acquaintance, as to there being merit in religious faith, being mentioned;—  JOHNSON. 'Why, yes, Sir, 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 sin, in consequence of the fall of man, and of the atonement made by our SAVIOUR. After some conversation, which he desired me to remember, he, at my request, dictated to me as follows:— 'With respect to original sin, the inquiry is not necessary; for whatever is the cause of human corruption, men are evidently and confessedly so corrupt, that all the laws of heaven and earth are insufficient to restrain them from crimes. 'Whatever difficulty there may be in the conception of vicarious punishments, it is an opinion which has had possession of mankind in all ages. There is no nation that has not used the practice of sacrifices. Whoever, therefore, denies the propriety of vicarious punishments, holds an opinion which the sentiments and practice of mankind have contradicted, from the beginning of the world.  'The great sacrifice for the sins of mankind was offered at the death of the MESSIAH, who is called in scripture "The Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world." To judge of the reasonableness of the scheme of redemption, it must be considered as necessary to the government of the universe, that GOD should make known his perpetual and irreconcileable detestation of moral evil. He might indeed punish, and punish only the offenders; but as the end of punishment is not revenge of crimes, but propagation of virtue, it was more becoming the Divine clemency to find another manner of proceeding, less destructive to man, and at least equally powerful to promote goodness.  'The end of punishment is to reclaim and warn. That punishment will both reclaim and warn, which shews evidently such abhorrence of sin in GOD, as may deter us from it, or strike us with dread of vengeance when we have committed it. This is effected by vicarious punishment.  'Nothing could more testify the opposition between the nature of GOD and moral evil, or more amply display his justice, to men and angels, to all orders and successions of beings, than that it was necessary for the highest and purest nature, even for DIVINITY itself, to pacify demands of vengeance, by a painful death; of which the natural effect will be, that when justice is appeased, there is a proper place for the exercise of mercy; and that such propitiation shall supply, in some degree, the imperfections of our obedience, and the inefficacy of our repentance: for, obedience and repentance, such as we can perform, are still necessary.  'Our SAVIOUR has told us, that he did not come to destroy the 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 acknowledged myself much obliged to him; but I begged that he would go on as to the propitiation being the chief object of our most holy faith. He then dictated this one other paragraph.] 'The peculiar doctrine of Christianity is, that of an universal sacrifice, and perpetual propitiation. Other prophets only proclaimed the will and the threatenings of GOD. CHRIST satisfied his justice.' The Reverend Mr. Palmer, 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 is able to make a will, or write a letter for any body in the parish.' I mentioned Lord Monboddo's notion that the ancient Egyptians, with all their learning, and all their arts, were not only black, but woolly-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 advantages of wealth, than Dr. Johnson: he this day, I know not from what caprice, took the other side.  'I have not observed (said he) that men of very large fortunes enjoy any thing extraordinary that makes happiness. What has the Duke of Bedford? What has the Duke of Devonshire? The only great instance that I have ever known of the enjoyment of wealth was, that of Jamaica Dawkins, who, going to visit Palmyra, and hearing that the way was infested by robbers, hired a troop of Turkish horse to guard him.' (classix comix™ is brought to you by Bob’s Bowery Bar, conveniently situated at the northwest corner of Bleecker and the Bowery: “Summer in the city! Yes, as much as we love this greatest of all metropolises, those of us who are unable to escape to an estate in the Hamptons or the mountains, cannot be blamed for assuming a somewhat hangdog and drooping demeanor as we toil and moil our way through yet another day of 90-degrees-plus temperatures – but, instead of heading wearily to one’s sweltering sixth-floor tenement walk-up at the work day’s end, why not do what I do and stop in at Bob’s Bowery Bar with its newly refurbished air conditioning and its ‘happy hour’ now expanded through Labor Day from 5pm to 9pm, Monday through Friday! All ‘well’ drinks in this ‘window of opportunity’ available at half-price, and since you’ll probably be skipping dinner, help yourself to our rotating menu of complimentary bar snacks such as Uneeda Biscuits ‘n’ cheese, hardboiled cage-free eggs, Utz’s sourdough pretzels ‘n’ chips, and – my personal favorite – pickled pig’s feet! ” – 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 Melancholy Ice Cream Man, by Humphrey P. Stumpton, starring Kitty Carlisle as “Dr. Blanche”, with special guest star Danny Kaye as “Mr. Murgatroyd”.)   part 225

Boswell’s Life of Johnson: 223

Edited by Dan Leo, Associate Professor of 18th Century British Behavioral Studies, Olney Community College; author of Bozzie and Dr. Sam: The Case of the Importunate Visitor, the Olney Community College Press.

Art direction by rhoda penmarq (layout, pencils, inks, cybernetic art by eddie el greco; lettering by roy dismas) for penmarq™/sternwall™ transgalactic productions.

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We stopped at Welwyn, where I wished much to see, in the company of Dr. Johnson, the residence of the authour of Night Thoughts {A long poem by Edward Young, published between 1742 and 1745; Boswell called it "the grandest and richest poetry that human genius has ever produced"; today it is best known for the illustrations done for it in 1797 by William Blake.– Editor}, which was then in the possession of his son, Mr. Young.  Here some address was requisite, for I was not acquainted with Mr. Young, and had I proposed to Dr. Johnson that we send to him, he would have checked my wish, and perhaps have been offended. I therefore concerted with Mr. Dilly, that I should steal away from Dr. Johnson and him, and try what reception I could procure from Mr. Young; if unfavourable, nothing was to be said; but if agreeable, I should return and notify it to them.  I hastened to Mr. Young’s, found he was at home, sent in word that a gentleman desired to wait upon him, and was shewn in to a parlour where he and a young lady, his daughter, were sitting. He appeared to be a plain, civil, country gentleman: and when I begged pardon for presuming to trouble him, but that I wished much to see his place, if he would give me leave; he behaved very courteously, and answered, ‘By all means, Sir; we are just going to drink tea; will you sit down?’  I thanked him, but said, Dr. Johnson had come with me from London, and I must return to the inn to drink tea with him; that my name was Boswell, that I had traveled with him in the Hebrides. ‘Sir (said he), I should think it a great honour to see Dr. Johnson here. Will you allow me to send for him?’ Availing myself of this opening, I said that, ‘I would go myself and bring him, when 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, 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 as to how this invitation had arisen, but agreed to go, and when we entered Mr. Young’s parlour, he addressed him with a very polite bow, ‘Sir, I had a curiosity to see this place. I had the honour to know that great man, your father.’  We went into the garden, where we found a gravel walk, on each side of which was a row of trees, planted by Dr. Young, which formed a handsome Gothick arch: Dr. Johnson called it a fine grove. I beheld it with reverence. We sat some time in the summer-house. I said to Mr. Young, 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 was gloomy when alone. He never was cheerful after my mother’s death, and he had many disappointments.’  Dr. Johnson observed to me afterwards, ‘That this was no favourable account of Dr. Young; for it is not becoming in a man to have so little acquiescence in the ways of Providence, as to be gloomy because he has not 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 continue very long, in proportion as affection has been sincere. No man knew this better than Dr. Johnson. Upon the road we talked about the uncertainty with which authours and booksellers engage in the publication of literary works.  JOHNSON. ‘My judgement I have found is no certain rule as to the sale of a book.’ BOSWELL. ‘Pray, Sir, have you been much plagued with authours sending you their 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, notwithstanding what he now said,  which he no doubt imagined at the time to be the fact, there was, 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 Dilly’s, where there is always abundance of excellent fare, and hearty welcome. (classix comix™ is sponsored by Bob’s Bowery Bar, conveniently located at the northwest corner of Bleecker and the Bowery: “Say, it was a scorcher today, and the weatherman says we’re in for quite likely two more months of the same! If you just happen to reside – not unlike yours truly – in a sixth-floor tenement walk-up with no air-conditioning, I know a swell way to beat the heat! Why not do what I do and head on down (or, in my case, go downstairs) to Bob’s Bowery Bar, where the central air-conditioning has finally been fixed, and is always kept at a cooling but not downright arctic 76 degrees. Ask your server about the house summer drink specials, too; and false modesty shall not prevent me from recommending the eponymous Sternwall Snowball: an eminently refreshing concoction of British Royal Navy rum, ‘triple sec’, just a wee dram of absinthe, fresh lime juice, crystalized ginger and jaggeree, Osterized with lots of ice and served in a milkshake glass – bet you can’t drink just one, but take my advice, and don’t drink more than four!” – 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 play:  The Bad Humor Man , by Herman P. Schlossberg, starring Kitty Carlisle as “Dr. Blanche”, with special guest star Alastair Sim as “Mr. Mooge”.) part 224

Boswell’s Life of Johnson: 222

Edited by Dan Leo, Assistant Professor of Unjustly Unread Classics of British Literature, Olney Community College; author of Bozzie and Dr. Sam: A Scandal in Scalding Alley, the Olney Community College Press.

Artwork and layout personally supervised by rhoda penmarq (layout, pencils, inks, sustainable and environmentally-friendly water colors by eddie el greco; lettering by roy dismas) for penmarq produqtions™, a wholly-owned subsidiary of sternwallqorp™.

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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