Boswell’s Life of Johnson: 253

Edited by Dan Leo,Assistant Professor of Remedial Basic English Comprehension Studies, Olney Community College; author of Bozzie and Dr. Sam: The Case of the Boring Bishop, the Olney Community College Press.

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One morning afterwards, when I found him alone, he communicated to me, with solemn earnestness, a very remarkable circumstance which had happened in the course of his illness, when he was much distressed by the dropsy. He had shut himself up, and employed a day in particular exercises of religion,— fasting, humiliation, and prayer. On a sudden he obtained extraordinary relief, for which he looked up to Heaven with grateful devotion. He made no direct 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 dry rationality may believe, that there was an intermediate interposition of Divine Providence, and that 'the fervent prayer of this righteous man' availed. On Sunday, May 9, I found Colonel Valiancy, the celebrated antiquarian and Engineer of Ireland, with him. On Monday, the 10th, I dined with him at Mr. Paradise's, where was a large company; Mr. Bryant, Mr. Joddrel, Mr. Hawkins Browne, &c. On Thursday, the 13th, I dined with him at Mr. Joddrel's, with another large company; the Bishop of Exeter, Lord Monboddo, Mr. Murphy, &c. On Saturday, May 15, I dined with him at Dr. Brocklesby's, where were Colonel Vallancy, Mr. Murphy, and that ever-cheerful companion Mr. Devaynes, apothecary to his Majesty. Of these days, and others on which I saw him, I have no memorials, except the general recollection of his being able and animated in conversation, and appearing to relish society as much as the youngest man. I find only these three small particulars:—  When a person was mentioned, who said, 'I have lived fifty-one years in this world without having had ten minutes of uneasiness;' he exclaimed, 'The man who says so, lies: he attempts to impose on human credulity.'  The Bishop of Exeter in vain observed, that men were very different. His Lordship's manner was not impressive, and I learnt afterwards that Johnson did not find out that the person who talked to him was a Prelate; if he had, I doubt not that he would have treated him with more respect; for once talking of George Psalmanazar, whom he reverenced for his piety, he said, 'I should as soon think of contradicting a BISHOP.'  One of the company {likely Boswell – Editor} provoked him greatly by doing what he could least of all bear, which was quoting something of his own writing, against what he then maintained.  'What, Sir, (cried the gentleman,) do you say to          "The busy day, the peaceful night,            Unfelt, uncounted, glided by?"'— Johnson finding himself thus presented as giving an instance of a man who had lived without uneasiness, was much offended, for he looked upon such a quotation as unfair. His anger burst out in an unjustifiable retort, insinuating that the gentleman's remark was a sally of ebriety {drunkenness – Editor};  'Sir, there is one passion I would 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 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.'  Another was this: when a gentleman of eminence in the literary world was violently censured for attacking people by anonymous paragraphs in newspapers; he, from the spirit of contradiction as I thought, took up his defence, and said, 'Come, come, this is not so terrible a crime; he means only to vex them a little. I do not say that I should do it; but there is a great difference between him and me; what is fit for Hephaestion is not fit for Alexander.'{Hephaestion and Alexander were best friends for life. – Editor}  Another, when I told him that a young and handsome Countess 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 to-day, by repeating this to him,' he said, 'I am too old to be made a fool; but if you say I am made a fool, I shall not deny it. I am much pleased with a compliment, especially from a pretty woman.' On the evening of Saturday, May 15, he was in fine spirits, at our Essex-Head Club. He told us, 'I dined yesterday at Mrs. Garrick's, with Mrs. 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 them all as much as they were had; but it might have been better had there been more company there.'  BOSWELL. '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, and it is always impregnated; it has always meaning.'  BOSWELL. 'Mr. Burke has a constant stream of conversation.'  JOHNSON. 'Yes, Sir; if a man were to go by chance at the same time with Burke under a shed, to shun a shower, 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.'  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 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 have answered the ostler.— When Burke does not descend to be merry, his conversation is very superiour indeed. There is no proportion 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 place opposed, and I hope with 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 friend in this observation; for that Mr. Burke was often 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 great thing. The Empress of Russia has ordered the Rambler to be translated into the Russian language: so I shall be read on the banks of the Wolga. Horace boasts that his fame would extend as far as the banks of the Rhone; now the Wolga is farther from me than the Rhone was from Horace.'  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.' (classix comix™ is brought to you by Bob’s Bowery Bar, conveniently located at the northwest corner of Bleecker and the Bowery: “I should like to remind our audience members who live in the metropolitan area, or those out-of-towners planning a visit to ‘the big apple’, that my favorite haunt Bob’s Bowery Bar serves its vaunted breakfast menu all day every day from 7am to 4am, so whenever you happen to crawl your way out of oblivion after a night of too-vigorous celebration, you can be assured of a first meal of the day in the great American tradition. I myself am partial to Bob’s Mom’s Fry-Up: a healthy slab of fried country ham, two thick slices of scrapple, two healthy rashers of Irish bacon, breaded ‘n’ fried pickled Jersey tomato; fried Lancaster County mush, home fries, and two eggs, fried the way you like ‘em. And, whatever you do,  don’t forget to apply liberal lashings of our house hellfire sauce!” – 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: “If Life Is a Joke, Why Is No One Laughing?”, by Hank Pete Shadrack, starring Kitty Carlisle as “Dr. Blanche”, with special guest star Rin-Tin-Tin as “Fido the Talking Dog”.) part 254

Boswell’s Life of Johnson: 252

Edited by Dan Leo,Associate Professor of 18th Century British Epistolary Studies, Olney Community College; author of Bozzie and Dr. Sam: A Letter to Jenny, the Olney Community College Press.

Artwork and layout supervised personally by rhoda penmarq (pencils, inks, vintage acrylic paints by eddie el greco; lettering by "roy dismas) for penmarqtown™ productions. 

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To OZIAS HUMPHRY, ESQ. {In Boswell’s words, an “eminent painter” – Editor} '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 painter 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 a regular education. He is my god-son, 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 my physicians to go abroad; nor, indeed, do I think myself yet able to endure the weather.  'I am, Sir,  'Your most humble servant, 'Sam. Johnson' To THE SAME.  'SIR,  'The bearer is my god-son, whom I take the liberty of recommending to your kindness; which I hope he will deserve by his respect to your excellence, and his gratitude for your favours.  'I am, Sir,  'Your most humble servant,  'SAM. JOHNSON.'  'April 10, 1784.' To THE SAME.  'SIR,  'I am very much obliged by your civilities to my god-son, 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,  'SAM. JOHNSON.'  'May 31, 1784.' 'To THE REVEREND DR. TAYLOR, ASHBOURNE, DERBYSHIRE.  'DEAR SIR,  'What can be the reason that I hear nothing from you? I hope nothing disables you from writing. What I have seen, and what I have felt, gives me reason to fear every thing. Do not omit giving me the comfort of knowing, that after all my losses I have yet a friend left.  'I want every comfort. My life is very solitary and very cheerless. Though it has pleased GOD wonderfully to deliver me from the dropsy, I am yet very weak, and have not passed the door since the 13th of December. I hope for some help from warm weather, which will surely come in time.  'I could not have the consent of the physicians to go to church yesterday; I therefore received the holy sacrament at home, in the room where I communicated with dear Mrs. Williams, a little before her death. O! my friend, the approach of death is very dreadful. I am afraid to think on that which I know I cannot avoid. It is vain to look round and round for that help which cannot be had. Yet we hope and hope, and fancy that he who has lived to-day may live to-morrow. But let us learn to derive our hope only from GOD.  'In the mean time, let us be kind to one another. I have no friend now living but you and Mr. Hector, that was the friend of my youth. Do not neglect, dear Sir,  'Yours affectionately,  'SAM. JOHNSON.'  'London, Easter-Monday, April 12, 1784.' What follows is a beautiful specimen of his gentleness and complacency to a young lady his god-child, one of the daughters of his friend Mr. Langton, then I think in her seventh year. He took the trouble to write it in a large round hand, nearly resembling printed characters, that she might have the satisfaction of reading it herself. The original lies 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. 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 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 life you will carefully say your prayers, and read your Bible.  'I am, my dear,  'Your most humble servant,  'SAM. JOHNSON.'  'May 10, 1784.' On Wednesday, May 5, I arrived in London, and next morning had the pleasure to find Dr. Johnson greatly recovered. I but just saw him; for a coach was waiting to carry him to Islington, to the house of his friend the Reverend Mr. Strahan, 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 conducive to health. (classix comix™ is made possible in part through the continuing support of the Bob’s Bowery Bar Foundation for Worthy Arts and Letters: “Can it really be that spring is finally here? It must be so, because my favorite urban oasis Bob’s Bowery Bar has just rolled out its long-awaited spring menu! Why not drop by and enjoy such delightful fare as Mom’s Roast Spring Chicken, one half of a juicy free-range fowl, larded with Irish bacon and slow-roasted in garlic butter ‘n’ lemon, served with plump dumplings in silken mushroom gravy and your choice of two sides,  including succotash, five-bean salad, asparagus vinaigrette, creamed spinach, or thick Jersey tomato slices, lightly breaded and fried in fatback fat. Goes swell with a great beaded imperial pint of Bob’s justly-renowned basement-brewed bock!” – 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: “Sally the Solipsist”, by Harriet Peachtree Stubbs, starring Kitty Carlisle as “Dr. Blanche”, with special guest star Judy Holiday as “Sally”.)   part 253

Boswell’s Life of Johnson: 251

Edited by Dan Leo,Assistant Professor of 18th Century British Medical Studies, Olney Community College; author of Bozzie and Dr. Sam: The Fatal Dose of Rhubarb, the Olney Community College Press.

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In consequence of Johnson's request that I should ask our physicians about his case, and desire Sir Alexander Dick to send his opinion, I transmitted him a letter from that very amiable Baronet, then in his eighty-first year, with his faculties as entire as ever; and mentioned his expressions to me in the note accompanying it: 'With my most affectionate wishes for Dr. Johnson's recovery, in which 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 the advantage of having passed through the gradations of surgery and pharmacy, and by study and practice had attained to such skill, that my father settled on him two hundred pounds a year for five years, and fifty pounds a year during his life, as an honorarium to secure his particular attendance. The opinion was conveyed in a letter 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.' 'TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.  'DEAR SIR,  'Presently after I had sent away my last letter, I received your kind medical packet. I am very much obliged both to you and your physicians for your kind attention to my disease. Dr. Gillespie has sent me an excellent consilium medicum, all solid practical experimental knowledge. I am at present, in the opinion of my physicians, (Dr. Heberden and Dr. Brocklesby,) as well as my own, going on very hopefully. I have just begun to take vinegar of squills. The powder hurt my stomach so much, that it could not be continued. 'Return Sir Alexander Dick my sincere thanks for his kind letter; and bring with you the rhubarb which he so tenderly offers me. 'I hope dear Mrs. Boswell is now quite well, and that no evil, either real or imaginary, now disturbs you.  'I am, &c.  'SAM. JOHNSON.'  'London, March 2, 1784.' 'TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.  'DEAR SIR,  'I am too much pleased with the attention which you and your dear lady show to my welfare, not to be diligent in letting you know the progress which I make towards health. The dropsy, by GOD'S blessing, has now run almost totally away by natural evacuation; and the asthma, if not irritated by cold, gives me little trouble. While I am writing this, I have not any sensation of debility or disease. But I do not yet venture out, having been confined to the house from the thirteenth of December, now a quarter of a year.  'When it will be fit for me to travel as far as Auchinleck, I am not able to guess; but such a letter as Mrs. Boswell's might draw any man, not wholly motionless, a great way. Pray tell the dear lady how much her civility and kindness have touched and gratified me. 'I wish you an easy and happy journey, and hope I need not tell you that you will be welcome to, dear Sir,  'Your most affectionate, humble servant,  'SAM. JOHNSON.'  'London, March 18, 1784.' I wrote to him, March 28, from York, informing him that I was thus far on my way to him, but that news of the dissolution of Parliament having arrived, and had some intention of being a candidate to represent the county in Parliament. 'To JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.  'DEAR SIR,  'You could do nothing so proper as to haste back when you found the Parliament dissolved. It may reasonably be expected that your presence will be of importance, and your activity of effect. 'Your solicitude for me gives me that pleasure which every man feels from the kindness of such a friend: and it is with delight I relieve it by telling, that Dr. Brocklesby's account is true, and that I am, by the blessing of GOD, wonderfully relieved. 'You are entering upon a transaction which requires much prudence. You must endeavour to oppose without exasperating; to practise temporary hostility, without producing enemies for life. This is, perhaps, hard to be done; yet it has been done by many, and seems most likely to be effected by opposing merely upon general principles, without descending to personal or particular censures or objections. One thing I must enjoin you, which is seldom observed in the conduct of elections;— I must entreat you to be scrupulous in the use of strong liquors. One night's drunkenness may defeat the labours of forty days well employed. Be firm, but not clamorous; be active, but not malicious; and you may form such an interest, as may not only exalt yourself, but dignify your family. 'Let me hear, from time to time, how you are employed, and what progress you make.  'Make dear Mrs. Boswell, and all the young Boswells, the sincere compliments of, Sir, your affectionate humble servant,  'SAM. JOHNSON.'  'London, March 30, 1784.' To Mr. Langton he wrote with that cordiality which was suitable to the long friendship which had subsisted between him and that gentleman. 'Since you left me, I have continued in my own opinion, and in Dr. Brocklesby's, to grow better with respect to all my formidable and dangerous distempers: though to a body battered and shaken as mine has lately been, it is to be feared that weak attacks may be sometimes mischievous. I have, indeed, by standing carelessly at an open window, got a very troublesome cough, which it has been necessary to appease by opium, in larger quantities than I like to take, and I have not found it give way so readily as I expected; its obstinacy, however, seems at last disposed to submit to the remedy, and I know not whether I should then have a right to complain of any morbid sensation. My asthma is, I am afraid, constitutional and incurable; but it is only occasional, and unless it be excited by labour or by cold, gives me no molestation, nor does it lay very close siege to life. 'The ladies, I find, are at your house all well, except Miss Langton, who will probably soon recover her health by light suppers. Let her eat at dinner as she will, but not take a full stomach to bed. Pay my sincere respects to dear Miss Langton in Lincolnshire, let her know that I mean not to break our league of friendship, and that I have a set of Lives for her, when I have the means of sending it.' April 8.  'I am still disturbed by my cough; but what thanks have I not to pay, when my cough is the most painful sensation that I feel? and from that I expect hardly to be released, while winter continues to gripe us with so much pertinacity. The year has now advanced eighteen days beyond the equinox, and still there is very little remission of the cold. When warm weather comes, which surely must come at last, I hope it will help both me and your young lady. 'The man so busy about addresses is neither more nor less than our own Boswell, who had come as far as York towards London, but turned back on the dissolution, and is said now to stand for some place. Whether to wish him success, his best friends hesitate. 'Let me have your prayers for the completion of my recovery: I am now better than I ever expected to have been. May GOD add to his mercies the grace that may enable me to use them according to his will. My compliments to all.' April 13.  'I am, by GOD'S blessing, I believe, free from all morbid sensations, except a cough, which is only troublesome. But I am still weak, and can have no great hope of strength till the weather shall be softer. The summer, if it be kindly, will, I hope, enable me to support the winter. GOD, who has so wonderfully restored me, can preserve me in all seasons. 'Let me enquire in my turn after the state of your family, great and little. I hope Lady Rothes and Miss Langton are both well. That is a good basis of content. Then how goes George on with his studies? How does Miss Mary? And how does my own Jenny? I think I owe Jenny a letter, which I will take care to pay. In the mean time tell her that I acknowledge the debt.  'Be pleased to make my compliments to the ladies. If Mrs. Langton comes to London, she will favour me with a visit, for I am not well enough to go out.' (classix comix™ is brought to you by Bob’s Bowery Bar, conveniently located at the northwest corner of Bleecker and the Bowery: “Yes, Saint Patrick’s Day is upon us again, and already the gutters of the Bowery are flowing green and viscously with the convulsive purgations of green beer, Irish Car Bombs, and those one-too-many shots of Jameson and Bushmills. Please remember that, if you’re going to drink, you shouldn’t drive, and in fact even if you are a teetotaler you should still play it safe and either take a cab or public transportation if shank’s mare will not suffice to take you where you want to go, although I fail to see why any non-imbiber should even want to leave the house and risk life and limb in the Bacchic madness now raging in our streets and on the public roads and highways. It is on days such as this that I am glad that I live in the same building as my favorite stopping place Bob’s Bowery Bar, and, if, as has happened oh so many times in the past, at night’s end I find myself unable to mount the four stories to my railroad flat, I can always sleep it off stretched out in a booth.” – 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: “Where Did the Snakes Go when St. Paddy Chased them out of Ireland?”, by Hubert Philip Sheehan, starring Kitty Carlisle as “Dr. Blanche”, and with special guest star Seamas McSeamas as “Father Mike”.)   part 252