principal merit consisted in a happy selection and arrangement of cir

cumstances.

"Speaking of the French novels, compared with Richardson's, he said, they might be pretty baubles, but a wren was not an eagle.

"In a Latin conversation with the Pere Boscovitch, at the house of Mrs. Cholmondeley, I heard him maintain the superiority of Sir Isaac Newton over all foreign philosophers, with a diguity and eloquence that surprised that learned foreiguer. It being observed to him, that a rage for every thing English prevailed much in France after Lord Chatham's glorious war, he said, he did not wonder at it, for that we had drubbed those fellows into a proper reverence for us, and that their national petulance required periodical chastisement.

"Lord Lyttelton's Dialogues, he deemed a nugatory performance. "That man, (said he,) sat down to write a book, to tell the world what the world had all his life been telling him.'

"Somebody observing that the Scotch Highlanders, in the year 1745, had made surprising efforts, considering their numerous wants and disadvantages Yes, Sir, (said he,) their wants were numerous: but you have not mentioned the greatest of them all,-the want of law.’

"Speaking of the inward light, to which some methodists pretended, he said, it was a principle utterly incompatible with social or civil security. If a man (said he,) pretends to a principle of which I can know nothing, nay, not so much as that he has it, but only that he pretends to it; how can I tell what that person many be prompted to do? When a person professes to be governed by a written ascertained law, I can then know where to find him.'

"The poem of Fingal, he said, was a mere unconnected rhapsody, a tiresome repetition of the same images. In vain shall we look for the lucidus ordo, where there is neither end or object, design or moral, nec certa recurrit imago.'

"Being asked by a young noblemau, what was become of the gallantry and military spirit of the old English nobility, he replied, Why, my Lord, I'll tell you what is become of it: it is gone into the city to look for a fortune.'

"Speaking of a dull tiresome fellow, whom he chanced to meet, he said, That fellow seems to me to possess but one idea, aud that is a wrong one.'

"Much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman, who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at last Johnson observed, that he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney.'

In a Discourse by Sir William Jones, addressed to the Asiatic Society, Feb. 25, 1785, is the following passage:

"One of the most sagacious men in this age who continues, I hope, to improve and adorn it, Samuel Johnson, remarked in my hearing, that if Newton had flourished in ancient Greece, he would have been worshipped as a Divinity."

"He spoke with much contempt of the notice taken of Woodhouse, the poetical shoemaker. He said, it was all vanity and childishness: and that such objects were, to those who patronized them, mere mirrors of their own superiority. They had better (said he,) furnish the man with good implements for his trade, than raise subscriptions for his poems. He may make an excellent shoemaker, but can never make a good poet. A school-boy's exercise may be a pretty thing for a school-boy; but it is no treat for a man.'

"Speaking of Boetius, who was the favourite writer of the middle ages, he said it was very surprising, that upon such a subject, and in such a situation, he should be magis philosophus quam Christianus.

"Speaking of Arthur Murphy, whom he very much loved, I don't know (said he,) that Arthur can be classed with the very first dramatic writers; yet at present 1 doubt much whether we have any thing supe rior to Arthur.'

"Speaking of the national debt, he said, it was an idle dream to suppose that the country could sink under it. Let the public creditors be ever so clamorous, the interest of millions must ever prevail over that of thousands.

"Of Dr. Kennicott's Collations, he observed, that though the text should not be much mended thereby, yet it was no small advantage to know, that we had as good a text as the most consummate industry and diligence could procure.

"Johnson observed, that so many objections might be made to every thing, that nothing could overcome them but the necessity of doing something. No man would be of any profession, as simply opposed to not being of it: but every one must do something.

"He remarked, that a London parish was a very comfortless thing; for the clergyman seldom knew the face of one out of ten of his parishioners.

"Of the late Mr. Mallet he spoke with no great respect: said, he was ready for any dirty job: that he had wrote against Byng at the instigation of the ministry, and was equally ready to write for him, provided he found his account in it.

"A gentleman who had been very unhappy in marriage, married immediately after his wife died; Johnson said, it was the triumph of hope over experience.

"He observed, that a man of sense and education should meet a suitable companion in a wife. It was a miserable thing when the conversation could only be such as, whether the mutton should be boiled or roasted, and probably a dispute about that.

"He did not approve of late marriages, observing that more was lost in point of time, than compensated for by any possible advantages. Even ill assorted marriages were preferable to cheerless celibacy.

"Of old Sheridan he remarked, that he neither wanted parts nor literature; but that his vanity and Quixotism obscured his merits.

"He said, foppery was never cured; it was the bad stamina of the mind, which, like those of the body, were never rectified: once a coxcomb, and always a coxcomb.

Being told that Gilbert Cowper called him the Caliban of literature; Well, (said he,) I must dub him the Punchinello.'

"Speaking of the old Earl of Cork and Orrery, he said, that man spent his life in catching at an object, [literary eminence,] which he had not power to grasp.'

"To find a substitution for violated morality, he said, was the leading feature in all perversions of religion.

"He often used to quote, with great pathos, those fine lines of Virgil: 'Optima quæque dies miseris mortalibus avi

Prima fugit; subeunt morbi, tristique senectus 'Et labor, et dura rapit inclementia mortis.'

"Speaking of Homer, whom he venerated as the prince of poets, Johnson remarked that the advice given to Diomed‡ by his father, when he sent him to the Trojan war, was the noblest exhortation that could be instanced in any heathen writer, and comprised in a single line:

Αιεν αριστεύειν, καὶ υπείροχον εμμεναιν :

which, if I recollect well, is translated by Dr. Clarke thus: semper appetere præstantissima, et omnibus aliis antecellere.

"He observed, it was a most mortifying reflection for any man to consider, what he had done, compared with what he might have done.'

"He said, few people had intellectual resources sufficient to forego the pleasures of wine. They could not otherwise contrive how to fill the interval between dinner and supper.

"He went with me, one Sunday, to hear my old Master, Gregory Sharpe, preach at the Temple.-In the prefatory prayer, Sharpe ranted about Liberty, as a blessing most fervently to be implored, and its continuance prayed for. Johnson observed that our liberty was in no sort of danger :-he would have done much better, to pray against our licentiousness.

"One evening at Mrs. Montague's, where a splendid company was assembled, consisting of the most eminent literary characters, I thought he seemed highly pleased with the respect and attention that were shewn him, and asked him on our return home, if he was not highly gratified by his visit: No, Sir, (said he) not highly gratified; yet I do not recollect to have passed many evenings with fewer objections.'

Though of no high extraction himself, he had much respect for birth and family, especially among ladies. He said, adventitious accom

Dr. Maxwell's memory has deceived him. Glaucus is the person who received this counsel; and Clarke's translation of the passage (II. x. l. 208.) is as follows:

"Ut semper fortissime rem gererem, et superior virtute essem aliis."

plishments may be possessed by all ranks; but one may easily distinguish the born gentlewoman.'

"He said, the poor in England were better provided for, than in any other country of the same extent: he did not mean little Cantons, or petty Republics. Where a great proportion of the people, said he, are suffered to languish in helpless misery, that country must be ill policed, and wretchedly governed: a decent provision for the poor, is the true test of civilization.-Gentlemen of education, he observed, were pretty much the same in all countries; the condition of the lower orders, the poor especially, was the true mark of national discrimination.'

"When the corn-laws were in agitation in Ireland, by which that country has been enabled not only to feed itself, but to export corn to a large amount; Sir Thomas Robinson observed, that those laws might be prejudicial to the corn-trade of England. Sir Thomas, (said he,) you talk the language of a savage: what, Sir? would you prevent any people from feeding themselves, if by any honest means they can do it.' "It being mentioned, that Garrick assisted Dr. Brown, the author of the Estimate,' in some dramatic composition, No, Sir; (said Johnson,) he would no more suffer Garrick to write a line in his play, than he would suffer him to mount his pulpit.'

"Speaking of Burke, he said, 'It was commonly observed he spoke too often in parliament; but nobody could say he did not speak well, though too frequently and too familiarly.'

"Speaking of economy, he remarked, it was hardly worth while to save anxiously twenty pounds a year. If a man could save to that degree, so as to enable him to assume a different rank in society, then, indeed, it might answer some purpose.

"He observed, a principal source of erroneous judgement was, viewing things partially and only on one side: as for instance, fortune-hunters, when they contemplated the fortune singly and separately, it was a dazzling and tempting object; but when they came to possess the wives and their fortunes together, they began to suspect they had not made quite so good a bargain.

"Speaking of the late Duke of Northumberland living very magnificiently when Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, somebody remarked, it would be difficult to find a suitable successor to him: then exclaimed Johnson, he is only fit to succeed himself.

“He advised me, if possible, to have a good orchard. He knew, he said, a clergyman of small income, who brought up a family very reputably, which he chiefly fed with apple dumplins.

"He said, he had known several good scholars among the Irish gentlemen; but scarcely any of them correct in quantity. He extended the same observation to Scotland.

"Speaking of a certain Prelate, who exerted himself very laudably in building churches and parsonage-houses; however, said he, I do not find that he is esteemed a man of much professional learning, or a liberal patron of it ;-yet, it is well, where a mau possesses any strong positive 2Q

No. 4.

excellence. Few have all kinds of merit belonging to their character. We must not examine matters too deeply-No, Sir, a fallible being will fail somewhere.'

66

Talking of the Irish clergy, he said, Swift was a man of great parts, and the instrument of much good to his country.-Berkeley was a profound scholar, as well as a man of fine imagination; but Usher, he said, was the great luminary of the Irish church; and a greater, he added, no church could boast of; at least in modern times.

"We dined tête-à-tête at the Mitre, as I was preparing to return to Ireland, after an absence of many years. I regretted much leaving London, where I had formed many agreeable connexions: Sir, (said he,) I dont wonder at it; no man, fond of letters, leaves London without regret. But remember, Sir, you have seen and enjoyed a great deal ;you have seen life in its highest decorations, and the world has nothing new to exhibit.-No man is so well qualified to leave public life as he who has long tried it and known it well. We are always hankering after untried situations, and imagining greater felicity from them than they can afford. No, Sir, knowledge and virtue may be acquired in all countries, and your local consequence will make you some amends for the intellectual gratifications you relinquish.' Then he quoted the following lines with great pathos :

Being desirous to trace these verses to the fountain-head, after having in vain turned over several of our elder poets with the hope of lighting on them. I applied to Dr. Maxwell, now resident at Bath, for the purpose of ascertaining their author: but that gentleman could furnish no aid on this occasion. At length the lines have been discovered by the author's second son, Mr. James Boswell, in the London Magazine for July, 1732, where they form part of a poem on RETIREMENT, there published anonymously, but in fact (as he afterwards found) copied with some slight variations, from one of Walsh's smaller poems, entitled. The Retirement ;" and they exhibit another proof of what has been elsewhere observed by the author of the work before us, that Johnson retained in his memory fragments of obscure or neglected poetry. In quot ing verses of that description, he appears by a slight variation to have sometimes given them a moral turn, and to have dexterously adapted them to his own sentiments, where the original had a very different tendency. Thus, in the present instance, (as Mr. J. Boswell observes to me) "the author of the poem abovementioned exhibits himself as having retired to the country, to avoid the vain follies of a town life,-ambition, avarice, and the pursuit of pleasure, contrasted with the enjoyments of the country, and the delightful conversation that the books, &c. furnish; which he holds to be infinitely more pleasing and instructive than any which town can afford. He is then led to consider the weakness of the human mind, and after lamenting that be