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And then, sir,

Yes, there is a man in Westmoreland,
And Johnny Armstrong they do him call.

There, now, you plunge at once into the
subject. You have no previous narra-
tion to lead you to it. The two next
lines in that Ode are, I think, very good:

Though fanned by Conquest's crimson wing,

They mock the air with idle state."'

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my part, sir, I think all christians, whether papists or protestants, agree in the essential articles, and that their differences are trivial, and rather political than 5 religious.'

We talked of belief in ghosts. He said, 'Sir, I make a distinction between what a man may experience by the mere strength of his imagination, and what 10 imagination cannot possibly produce. Thus, suppose I should think that I saw a form, and heard a voice cry, "Johnson, you are a very wicked fellow, and unless you repent you will certainly be 15 punished"; my own unworthiness is so Finding him in a placid humor, and deeply impressed upon my mind, that I wishing to avail myself of the opportunity might imagine I thus saw and heard, and which I fortunately had of consulting therefore I should not believe that an exsage, to hear whose wisdom, I conceived, ternal communication had been made to in the ardor of youthful imagination, that 20 me. But if a form should appear, and men filled with a noble enthusiasm for a voice should tell me that a particular intellectual improvement would gladly man had died at a particular place, and have resorted from distant lands,-I a particular hour, a fact which I had opened my mind to him ingenuously, and no apprehension of, nor any means of gave him a little sketch of my life, to 25 knowing, and this fact, with all its which he was pleased to listen with great attention.

I acknowledged that though educated very strictly in the principles of religion, I had for some time been misled into a 30 certain degree of infidelity; but that I was come now to a better way of thinking, and was fully satisfied of the truth of the christian revelation, though I was not clear as to every point considered to 35 be orthodox. Being at all times a curious examiner of the human mind, and pleased with an undisguised display of what had passed in it, he called to me with warmth, 'Give me your hand, I 40 have taken a liking to you.' He then began to descant upon the force of testimony, and the little we could know of final causes; so that the objections of, 'Why was it so?' or 'Why was it not 45 so?' ought not to disturb us: adding, that he himself had at one period been guilty of a temporary neglect of religion, but that it was not the result of argument, but mere absence of thought.

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After having given credit to reports of his bigotry, I was agreeably surprised when he expressed the following very liberal sentiment, which has the additional value of obviating an objection to our 55 holy religion, founded upon the discordant tenets of christians themselves: For

circumstances, should afterwards be unquestionably proved, I should in that case be persuaded that I had supernatural intelligence imparted to me.'

Here it is proper, once for all, to give a true and fair statement of Johnson's way of thinking upon the question, whether departed spirits are ever permitted to appear in this world, or in any way to operate upon human life. He has been ignorantly misrepresented as weakly credulous upon that subject; and, therefore, though I feel an inclination to disdain and treat with silent contempt so foolish a notion concerning my illustrious friend, yet, as I find it has gained ground, it is necessary to refute it. The real fact then is, that Johnson had a very philosophical mind, and such a rational respect for testimony, as to make him submit his understanding to what was authentically proved, though he could not comprehend why it was so. Being thus disposed, he was willing to inquire into the truth of any relation of supernatural agency, a general belief of which has prevailed in all nations and ages. But so far was he from being the dupe of implicit faith, that he examined the matter with a jealous attention, and no man was more ready to refute its falsehood when he had discovered it. Churchill, in his

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poem entitled The Ghost, availed himself of the absurd credulity imputed to Johnson, and drew a caricature of him under the name of Pomposo,' representing him as one of the believers of the story of a ghost in Cock-lane, which, in the year 1762, had gained very general credit in London. Many of my readers, I am convinced, are to this hour under an impression that Johnson was thus 10 foolishly deceived. It will therefore surprise them a good deal when they are informed upon undoubted authority, that Johnson was one of those by whom the imposture was detected. The story had 15 become so popular, that he thought it should be investigated; and in this research he was assisted by the Rev. Dr. Douglas, now bishop of Salisbury, the great detector of impostures; who in- 20 forms me that after the gentlemen who went and examined into the evidence were satisfied of its falsity, Johnson wrote in their presence an account of it, which was published in the newspapers and 25 Gentleman's Magazine, and undeceived the world.

Our conversation proceeded. 'Sir,' proceeded. 'Sir,' said he, I am a friend to subordination as most conducive to the happiness of 30 society. There is a reciprocal pleasure in governing and being governed.

Critical

'Dr. Goldsmith is one of the first men we now have as an author, and he is a very worthy man too. He has been loose 35 in his principles, but he is coming right.' I mentioned Mallet's tragedy of Elvira, which had been acted the preceding winter at Drury-lane, and that the Honorable Andrew Erskine, Mr. 40 Dempster, and myself, had joined in writing a pamphlet, entitled Critical Strictures, against it. That the mildness of Dempster's disposition had, however, relented; and he had candidly said, 'We 45 have hardly a right to abuse this tragedy, for, bad as it is, how vain should either of us be to write one not near so good!' JOHNSON: Why, no sir; this is not just reasoning. You may abuse a tragedy, 50 though you cannot write one. You may scold a carpenter who has made you a bad table, though you cannot make a table. It is not your trade to make tables.'

When I talked to him of the paternal estate to which I was heir, he said, 'Sir,

let me tell you, that to be a Scotch landlord, where you have a number of families dependent upon you, and attached to you, is, perhaps, as high a situation as humanity can arrive at. A merchant upon the 'Change of London, with a hundred. thousand pounds, is nothing; an English Duke, with an immense fortune, is nothing; he has no tenants who consider themselves as under his patriarchal care, and who will follow him to the field upon an emergency.'

I complained to him that I had not yet acquired much knowledge, and asked his advice as to my studies. He said, 'Don't talk of study, now. I will give you a plan; but it will require some time to consider of it.' 'It is very good in you,' I replied, 'to allow me to be with you thus. Had it been foretold to me some years ago that I should pass an evening with the author of the Rambler, how should I have exulted!' What I then expressed was sincerely from my heart. He was satisfied that it was, and cordially answered, Sir, I am glad we have met. I hope we shall pass many evenings, and mornings too, together.' We finished a couple of bottles of port, and sat till between one and two in the morning.

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As Dr. Oliver Goldsmith will frequently appear in this narrative, I shall endeavor to make my readers in some degree acquainted with his singular character. He was a native of Ireland, and contemporary with Mr. Burke, at Trinity College, Dublin, but did not then give much promise of future celebrity. He, however, observed to Mr. Malone, 55 that though he made no great figure in mathematics, which was a study in much repute there, he could turn an Ode of

Horace into English better than any of
them.' He afterwards studied physic in
Edinburgh, and upon the Continent: and,
I have been informed, was enabled to
pursue his travels on foot, partly by de- 5
manding, at Universities, to enter the lists
as a disputant, by which, according to the
custom of many of them, he was entitled
to the premium of a crown, when, luckily

wherever he was, he frequently talked carelessly without knowledge of the subject, or even without thought. His person was short, his countenance coarse and vulgar, his deportment that of a scholar awkwardly affecting the easy gentleman. Those who were in any way distinguished, excited envy in him to so ridiculous an excess, that the instances of it

for him, his challenge was not accepted; 10 are hardly credible. When accompany

so that, as I once observed to Johnson,
he disputed his passage through Europe.
He then came to England, and was em-
ployed successively in the capacities of
an usher to an academy, a corrector of 15
the press, a reviewer, and a writer for a
newspaper. He had sagacity enough to
cultivate assiduously the acquaintance of
Johnson, and his faculties were gradually
enlarged by the contemplation of such a 20
model. To me and many others it ap-
peared that he studiously copied the man-
her of Johnson, though, indeed, upon a
smaller scale.

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ing two beautiful young ladies, with their mother, on a tour in France, he was seriously angry that more attention was paid to them than to him; and once at the exhibition of the Fantoccini in London, when those who sat next to him observed with what dexterity a puppet was made to toss a pike, he could not bear that it should have such praise, and exclaimed, with some warmth, Pshaw! I can do it better myself.' 3

He, I am afraid, had no settled system of any sort, so that his conduct must not be strictly scrutinized; but his affections At this time I think he had published 25 were social and generous, and when he nothing with his name, though it was had money he gave it away very liberally. 'pretty generally known that one Dr. His desire of imaginary consequence Goldsmith was the author of An Inquiry predominated over his attention to truth. into the present State of Polite Learning When he began to rise into notice, he in Europe, and of The Citizen of the 30 said he had a brother who was dean of World, a series of letters supposed to be Durham, a fiction so easily detected, that written from London by a Chinese. No it is wonderful how he should have been man had the art of displaying with more so inconsiderate as to hazard it. He advantage, as a writer, whatever literary boasted to me at this time of the power acquisitions he made. Nihil quod tetigit of his pen in commanding money, which non ornavit1 [There was nothing he I believe was true in a certain degree, touched he did not adorn]. His mind re- though in the instance he gave he was sembled a fertile but thin soil. There by no means correct. He told me that was a quick, but not a strong, vegeta- he had sold a novel for four hundred tion, of whatever chanced to be thrown 40 pounds. This was his Vicar of Wakeupon it. No deep root could be struck. field. But Johnson informed me that he The oak of the forest did not grow there; had made the bargain for Goldsmith, and but the elegant shrubbery and the fra- the price was sixty pounds. And, sir,' grant parterre appeared in gay succession. said he, a sufficient price too, when it It has been generally circulated and be- 45 was sold; for then the fame of Goldsmith lieved that he was a mere fool in con- had not been elevated, as it afterwards versation; but, in truth, this has been was, by his Traveller; and the bookseller greatly exaggerated. He had, no doubt, had such faint hopes of profit by his bara more than common share of that hurry gain, that he kept the manuscript by him of ideas which we often find in his 50 a long time, and did not publish it till countrymen, and which sometimes pro- after The Traveller had appeared. Then, duces a laughable confusion in expressing them. He was very much what the French call un étourdi, and from vanity and an eager desire of being conspicuous 55

1 See his epitaph in Westminster Abbey, written by Dr. Johnson.

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2 Miss Hornecks, one of whom is now married to Henry Bunbury, Esq., and the other to Colonel Gwyn.

3 He went home with Mr. Burke to supper; and broke his shin by attempting to exhibit to the company how much better he could jump over a stick than the puppets.

to be sure, it was accidentally worth more money.'

be sure, he is a tree that cannot produce good fruit: he only bears crabs. But, sir, a tree that produces a great many crabs, is better than a tree which produces only

Let me here apologize for the imperfect manner in which I am obliged to exhibit Johnson's conversation at this period. In the early part of my acquaintance with him, I was so wrapt in admiration of his extraordinary colloquial talents, and so little accustomed to his peculiar mode of expression, that I found it extremely difficult to recollect and record his conversation with its genuine vigor and vivacity. In progress of time, when my mind was, as it were, strongly impregnated with the Johnsonian aether, I could with much more facility and exactness, carry in my memory and commit to paper the exuberant variety of his wisdom and wit.

Mrs. Piozzi and Sir John Hawkins have strangely misstated the history of Goldsmith's situation and Johnson's 5 a few.' friendly interference, when this novel was sold. I shall give it authentically from Johnson's own exact narration: 'I received one morning a message from poor Goldsmith that he was in great distress, 10 and, as it was not in his power to come to me, begging that I would come to him as soon as possible. I sent him a guinea, and promised to come to him directly. I accordingly went as soon as I was dressed, 15 and found that his landlady had arrested him for his rent, at which he was in a violent passion. I perceived that he had. already changed my guinea, and had got a bottle of Madeira and a glass before him. 20 I put the cork into the bottle, desired he would be calm, and began to talk to him of the means by which he might be extricated. He then told me that he had a novel ready for the press, which he produced to me. I looked into it, and saw its merits; told the landlady I should return; and, having gone to a bookseller, sold it for sixty pounds. I brought Goldsmith the money, and he discharged his 30 rent, not without rating his landlady in a high tone for having used him so ill.'

My next meeting with Johnson was on Friday, the 1st of July, when he and I and Dr. Goldsmith supped at the Mitre.

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At this time Miss Williams, as she was then called, though she did not reside with him in the Temple under his roof, but had lodgings in Bolt-court, Fleetstreet, had so much of his attention, that he every night drank tea with her before he went home, however late it might be, and she always sat up for him. This it may be conjectured, was not alone a proof of his regard for her, but of his own unwillingness to go into solitude, before 35 that unseasonable hour at which he had habituated himself to expect the oblivion of repose. Dr. Goldsmith, being a privileged man, went with him this night, strutting away, and calling to me with an air of superiority, like that of an esoteric over an exoteric disciple of a sage of antiquity, 'I go to Miss Williams.' I confess, I then envied him this mighty privilege, of which he seemed so proud;

He talked very contemptuously of Churchill's poetry, observing, that it had a temporary currency, only from its 40 audacity of abuse, and being filled with living names, and that it would sink into oblivion.' I ventured to hint that he was not quite a fair judge, as Churchill had attacked him violently. JOHNSON: Nay 45 but it was not long before I obtained the

sir, I am a very fair judge. He did not attack me violently till he found I did not like his poetry; and his attack on me shall not prevent me from continuing to say what I think of him, from an appre- 50 hension that it may be ascribed to resentment. No, sir, I called the fellow a blockhead at first, and I will call him a blockhead still. However, I will acknowledge that I have a better opinion of him now than I once had; for he has shown more fertility than I expected. To

55

same mark of distinction.

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on

On Wednesday, July 6, he was gaged to sup with me at my lodgings in Downing-street, Westminster. But the preceding night my landlord having behaved very rudely to me and some company who were with me, I had resolved not to remain another night in his house. I was exceedingly uneasy at the awkward appearance I supposed I should make to Johnson and the other gentlemen whom

I had invited, not being able to receive them at home, and being obliged to order Supper at the Mitre. I went to Johnson In the morning, and talked of it as a serious distress. He laughed and said, 'Consider, sir, how insignificant this will appear a twelvemonth hence.' Were this consideration to be applied to most of the Ettle vexatious incidents of life, by which our quiet is too often disturbed, it would prevent many painful sensations. I have tried it frequently with good effect. There is nothing,' continued he, in this mighty misfortune; nay, we shall be better at the Mitre.' I 15 our reach by being ascribed to majesty. told him that I had been at Sir John Fielding's office, complaining of my landlord, and had been informed that though I had taken my lodgings for a year, I might, upon proof of his bad behavior, quit them when I pleased, without being under an obligation to pay rent for any Lager time than while I possessed them. The fertility of Johnson's mind could show itself even upon so small a matter 25 as this. Why, sir,' said he, 'I suppose this must be the law, since you have been old so in Bow-street. But if your landlord could hold you to your bargain, and the lodgings should be yours for a year, 30 you may certainly use them as you think fit. So, sir, you may quarter two lifeguardsmen upon him; or you may send the greatest scoundrel you can find into your apartments; or you may say that 35 you want to make some experiments in natural philosophy, and may burn a large quantity of assafoetida in his Louse.'

could not be politically true; and as the king might, in the exercise of his regal power, command and cause the doing of what was wrong, it certainly might be 5 said, in sense and in reason, that he could do wrong.' JOHNSON: 'Sir, you are to consider that in our constitution, according to its true principles, the king is the head, he is supreme; he is above 10 everything, and there is no power by which he can be tried. Therefore, it is, sir, that we hold the king can do no wrong; that whatever may happen to be wrong in government, may not be above

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Redress is always to be had against oppression by punishing the immediate agents. The king, though he should command, cannot force a judge to condemn a man unjustly; therefore it is the judge whom we prosecute and punish. Political institutions are formed upon the consideration of what will most frequently tend to the good of the whole, although now and then exceptions may occur. Thus it is better in general that a nation should have a supreme legislative power, although it may at times be abused. And then, sir, there is this consideration, that if the abuse be enormous, nature will rise up, and claiming her original rights, overturn a corrupt political system. I mark this animated sentence with peculiar pleasure, as a noble instance of that truly dignified spirit of freedom which ever glowed in his heart, though he was charged with slavish tenets by superficial observers; because he was at all times indignant against that false patriotism, that pretended love of freedom, that unruly restlessness, which is inconsistent with the stable authority of any good government. This generous sentiment, which he ut

I had as my guests this evening at the Mitre Tavern, Dr. Johnson, Dr. GoldSmith, Mr. Thomas Davies, Mr. Eccles, an Irish gentleman for whose agreeable company I was obliged to Mr. Davies, and the Rev. Mr. John Ogilvie, who was 45 tered with great fervor, struck me exdesirous of being in company with my lustrious friend, while I, in my turn, was proud to have the honor of showing one of my countrymen upon what easy terms Johnson permitted me to live with 50

him.

Goldsmith, as usual, endeavored with too much eagerness to shine, and dispated very warmly with Johnson against the well-known maxim of the British 55 constitution, the king can do no wrong'; affirming that what was morally false

ceedingly, and stirred my blood to that pitch of fancied resistance, the possibility of which I am glad to keep in mind, but to which I trust I never shall be forced.

Great abilities,' said he, ' are not requisite for an historian, for in historical composition all the greatest powers of the human mind are quiescent. He has facts ready to his hand, so there is no exercise of invention. Imagination is not required in any high degree; only about as much as is used in the lower

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