(swarming 1, I think, was the phrase) the largest there. 'Why, I can swarm it now,' replied Dr. Johnson, which excited a hearty laugh (he was then, I believe, between fifty and sixty); on which he ran to the tree, clung round the trunk, and ascended to the branches, and, I believe, would have gone in amongst them, had he not been very earnestly entreated to descend; and down he came with a triumphant air, seeming to make nothing of it. At another time, at a gentleman's seat in Devonshire, as he and some company were sitting in a saloon, before which was a spacious lawn, it was remarked as a very proper place for running a Race. A young lady present boasted that she could outrun any person; on which Dr. Johnson rose up and said, 'Madam, you cannot outrun me;' and, going out on the Lawn, they started. The lady at first had the advantage; but Dr. Johnson happening to have slippers on much too small for his feet, kick'd them off up into the air, and ran a great length without them, leaving the lady far behind him, and, having won the victory, he returned, leading Her by the hand, with looks of high exultation and delight 2. It was at this place where the lady of the House before a large company at Dinner address'd herself to him with a very audible voice, 'Pray, Dr. Johnson, what made you say in your Dictionary that the Pastern of a Horse was the knee of an [sic] Horse 3? ' ‘Ignorance, madam, ignorance,' answered Johnson. And I was told that at another time at the same table, when the lady was pressing him to eat something, he rose up with his knife in his hand, and loudly exclaim'd, 'I vow to God I cannot eat a bit more,' to the great terror, it was said, of all the company. I did not doubt of the gentleman's veracity who related this. But I was rather surprised at this expression from Johnson; for never 1 Swarming, in this sense, is not in Johnson's Dictionary. Miss Reynolds in one of her manuscripts writes warming. 2 From Paris he wrote:-ʻ 'I ran a race in the rain this day, and beat Baretti.' Life, ii. 386. See Letters, ii. 363, n. 1, for his race with his friend Payne. 3 Ante, i. 182 n.; Life, i. 293, 378. This blunder is the stranger as in Bailey's Dictionary, which he had before him when writing his own, pastern is correctly defined. 4 Boswell records in his Tour:'I must take some merit from my contriving that he shall not be asked twice to eat or drink anything (which always disgusts him).' Life, v. 264. See ante, ii. 184 n. did I know any person so cautious in mentioning that awful name on common occasions, and I have often heard him rebuke those who have unawares interjuctionaly [sic] made use of it1. It was about this time when a lady was traveling [sic] with him in a post-chaise near a village Churchyard 2, in which she had seen a very stricking [sic] object of maternal affection, a little verdent [sic] flowery monument, raised by the Widow'd Mother over the grave of her only child, and had heard some melancholy circumstances concerning them, and as she was relating them to Dr. Johnson, she heard him make heavy sighs, indeed sobs, and turning round she saw his Dear Face bathed in tears, an incident which induced the Lady to describe them in a little poem intitled [sic] A melancholy 3 Tale, founded upon true circumstances *. I Ante, ii. 18 n., 45 n. 2 Wear in Deavonshire (sic), near Torrington. MISS REYNOLDS. Johnson went to Devonshire in 1762, and spent two days at Torrington, with Reynolds's brothers-inlaw, Palmer and Johnson. Miss Reynolds, who saw him there, was no doubt the lady. Taylor's Reynolds, ii. 215, 217; Life, i. 377. 'Mr. Palmer's house is in its arrangements little altered since Dr. Johnson dined in it in 1762.' Murray's Handbook to Devon, ed. 1872, p. 260. 3 Melancholy is scored through in the original. 4 In one of her manuscripts, after 'bathed in tears,' Miss Reynolds added:-'A circumstance he had probably long forgotten, when he wrote at the end of the manuscript Poem with his correcting pen in red ink, I know not when I have been so much affected. Dr. Johnson honour'd two more poems by the same Author with his corrections and inserted them in Mrs. Williams's collection of poems, without knowing who was the Author till many years after. In the same Book is a most beautiful little composition of his own, a Fairy tale, which I think shews the most amiable view of Dr. Johnson's mind of any of his works.' See Life, ii. 26. He wrote to her on June 16, 1780:-' Do not, my love, burn your papers. I have mended little but some bad rhymes. I thought them very pretty, and was much moved in reading them.' Letters, ii. 180. In Lady Colomb's collection is a copy of her verses mended by Johnson. The following extract shows the badness of her rhymes and the nature of his corrections. These last, in italics, were written above the original. 'As late disconsolate in pensive mood Oft sigh'd to think how youth had pass'd away, Of gloomy age should Fate my Days prolong, Tho' Tho' it cannot be said that Dr. Johnson was 'in manners gentle,' yet it justly can, that he was 'in affections mild ',' benevolent and Compassionate, and to this singularity of character, inverting the common forms of civilized society, may I believe be ascribed in a great measure his extraordinary celebrity, sublimated, as one may say, with terror and with love. But indeed it is worthy of consideration whether these, or any of Dr. Johnson's singularities, would have excited such admiration, had they not been associated with the idea of his moral and religious character; hence, most undoubtedly, that universal homage of respect and veneration that has been paid to his memory. Much may be said in excuse for Dr. Johnson's asperity of manners at times, being, I believe, the natural effects of those inherent melancholy infirmities, both mental and corporeal, to which he was subject. Very rarely I believe-perhaps neverwas he intentionally asperous, unless provoked by something said or done that seem'd detrimental to the cause of religion or morality, even in the slightest degree. Tho' indeed it must be confessed that in his zealous ardour to defend the former he too often trespassed on the borders of the latter. in the middle way Yet whilst I linger on the doubtful steep Where Life's high vigour verges to decay Where youth declining seems with age to meet Nature to her own Laws appears averse, She yet all hope withdraws Still prompts resistance where there's no redress; The springing grass, the circulating air. Chears every sense the common air I breathe Johnson seems to have soon grown weary of correcting; at all events the corrections in the first few lines are not much less than those in the whole poem of about 170 lines. ''Of manners gentle, of affections mild, 2'Obscenity and impiety (said Johnson) have always been repressed Pope, Epitaph on Gay. in my company.' Life, iv. 295. See ante, ii. 224. But But what I believe chiefly conduced to fix that general stigma on his character for ill-breeding was his naturally loud and imperious tone of voice 1, which apparently heightened his slightest dissenting opinion to a degree of harsh reproof, and, with his corresponding Aspect, had in general an intimidating influence on those who were not much acquainted with him, and often excited a degree of resentment, which his words in their common acceptation had no tendency to provoke. I have often on those occasions heard him express great surprise that what he had said could have given any offence, but rarely, I believe, any sorrow 3, being conscious of the rectitude of his intentions, which to preserve seem'd his chief concern, the chief object of his meditations, in which not unfrequently he seem'd absorbed even when in company. It was doubtless very natural for so good a man to keep a strict watch over his mind; but so very strict as Dr. Johnson apparently did may perhaps in some measure be attributed to his dread of its hereditary tendencies, which, I had reason to believe, he was very apprehensive bordered upon insanity 5. Probably his studious attention to repel their prevalency, together with his experience of divine assistance, co-operating with his reasoning faculties, may have proved in the highest degree conducive to the exaltation of his piety, the pre-eminency of his wisdom; and I think it is probable that all his natural defects which so peculiarly debard [sic] him from unprofitable amusements were also conducive to the same end". 2 'After musing for some time, he said, "I wonder how I should have any enemies; for I do harm to nobody." Life, iv. 168. When he was ill of the palsy, he wrote to Mrs. Thrale :-'I have in this still scene of life great comfort in reflecting that I have given very few reason to hate me. I hope scarcely any man has known me closely but for his benefit, or cursorily but to his innocent entertainment.' Letters, ii. 314. See also Life, iv. 280, where he says that he knows no such weak-nerved people' as to be hurt by being contradicted roughly and harshly; and iv. 295. 3 For his readiness to seek a reconciliation, see ante, ii. 223. * See ante, ii. 225, where Sir Joshua Reynolds also mentions 'the strict watch Johnson kept over himself.' 5 Ante, i. 409. 6 In another version of the Recollections Miss Reynolds writes:Being so peculiarly debarred from the enjoyment of those amusements which the eye and the ear afford, doubtless he sought more assiduously That That Dr. Johnson's mind was preserved from insanity by his Devotional aspirations may surely be reasonably supposed. No man could have a firmer reliance on the efficacy of Prayer, and he would often with a solemn earnestness beg of his intimate friends to pray for him, and apparently on very slight occasions of corporeal indisposition. But that he should have desired one prayer from Dr. Dodd, who was such an atrocious offender, has I know been very much condemn'd, as highly injurious to his character, not considering perhaps that Dr. Johnson might have had sufficient reason to believe Dodd to be a sincere Penitent, which indeed was the case1; besides his mind was so soften'd with pitty [sic] and for those gratifications which scientific pursuits or philosophic meditation bestow.' Somewhat the same thought is expressed by Baron Grimm:'Je ne saurais m'empêcher d'avancer, en passant, un paradoxe qui mérite cependant d'être approfondi; c'est que dans l'état où sont les choses, et l'esprit de société étouffant continuellement en nous le génie, rien n'est si favorable à sa conservation que des sens peu parfaits. Ainsi, la vue extrêmement basse vous empêchera de remarquer mille petites manières, mille minuties, et vous ne pourrez jamais avoir envie de les imiter, parce que vous ne les aurez jamais aperçues. Ainsi, votre oreille peu fine vous empêchera de distinguer la différence des tons, et vous serez garanti de la manie de vous y exercer, parce que vous ne les aurez pas sentis. C'est ainsi que votre génie concentré en luimême au milieu de la société conservera sa force et sa sûreté, et sera à l'abri des dangers qui l'entourent.' Correspondance de Grimm, ed. 1814, i. 187. I 'Atrocious' is an absurd term to apply to Dodd. Johnson in his last letter to him said:-'Be comforted; your crime, morally or religiously considered, has no very deep dye of turpitude. It corrupted no man's principles; it attacked no man's life. It involved only a temporary and reparable injury. . . . In requital of those well-intended offices which you are pleased so emphatically to acknowledge, let me beg that you make in your devotions one petition for my eternal welfare.' Life, iii. 147. Wesley, who visited Dodd in prison two days before his execution, said :'Such a prisoner I scarce ever saw before; much less such a condemned malefactor. I should think none could converse with him without acknowledging that God is with him.' Wesley's Journal, ed. 1827, i. 378. Dodd had forged the signature of his late pupil, the fifth Earl of Chesterfield, to a bond for £4,200, flattering himself with hopes that he might be able to repay its amount without being detected.' Life, iii. 140. Five years earlier he had published a sermon 'intended to have been preached in the Chapel-Royal at St. James's,' on 'the Frequency of Capital Punishments inconsistent with Justice, sound Policy and Religion.' Gentleman's Magazine, 1772, p. 182. In the Index to the first 56 volumes of the Gentleman's Magazine under compassion |
