第77章
Sir Adam suggested,that luxury corrupts a people,and destroys the spirit of liberty.JOHNSON.'Sir,that is all visionary.I would not give half a guinea to live under one form of government rather than another.It is of no moment to the happiness of an individual.Sir,the danger of the abuse of power is nothing to a private man.What Frenchman is prevented from passing his life as he pleases?'SIR ADAM.'But,Sir,in the British constitution it is surely of importance to keep up a spirit in the people,so as to preserve a balance against the crown.'JOHNSON.'Sir,I perceive you are a vile Whig.Why all this childish jealousy of the power of the crown?The crown has not power enough.When I say that all governments are alike,I consider that in no government power can be abused long.Mankind will not bear it.If a sovereign oppresses his people to a great degree,they will rise and cut off his head.There is a remedy in human nature against tyranny,that will keep us safe under every form of government.Had not the people of France thought themselves honoured as sharing in the brilliant actions of Lewis XIV,they would not have endured him;and we may say the same of the King of Prussia's people.'Sir Adam introduced the ancient Greeks and Romans.JOHNSON.'Sir,the mass of both of them were barbarians.The mass of every people must be barbarous where there is no printing,and consequently knowledge is not generally diffused.Knowledge is diffused among our people by the news-papers.'Sir Adam mentioned the orators,poets,and artists of Greece.JOHNSON.'Sir,I am talking of the mass of the people.We see even what the boasted Athenians were.The little effect which Demosthenes's orations had upon them,shews that they were barbarians.'
On Sunday,April 5,after attending divine service at St.Paul's church,I found him alone.
He said,he went more frequently to church when there were prayers only,than when there was also a sermon,as the people required more an example for the one than the other;it being much easier for them to hear a sermon,than to fix their minds on prayer.
On Monday,April 6,I dined with him at Sir Alexander Macdonald's,where was a young officer in the regimentals of the Scots Royal,who talked with a vivacity,fluency,and precision so uncommon,that he attracted particular attention.He proved to be the Honourable Thomas Erskine,youngest brother to the Earl of Buchan,who has since risen into such brilliant reputation at the bar in Westminster-hall.
Fielding being mentioned,Johnson exclaimed,'he was a blockhead;'
and upon my expressing my astonishment at so strange an assertion,he said,'What I mean by his being a blockhead is that he was a barren rascal.'BOSWELL.'Will you not allow,Sir,that he draws very natural pictures of human life?'JOHNSON.'Why,Sir,it is of very low life.Richardson used to say,that had he not known who Fielding was,he should have believed he was an ostler.Sir,there is more knowledge of the heart in one letter of Richardson's,than in all Tom Jones.I,indeed,never read Joseph Andrews.'
ERSKINE.'Surely,Sir,Richardson is very tedious.'JOHNSON.
'Why,Sir,if you were to read Richardson for the story,your impatience would be so much fretted that you would hang yourself.
But you must read him for the sentiment,and consider the story as only giving occasion to the sentiment.'
We talked of gaming,and animadverted on it with severity.
JOHNSON.'Nay,gentlemen,let us not aggravate the matter.It is not roguery to play with a man who is ignorant of the game,while you are master of it,and so win his money;for he thinks he can play better than you,as you think you can play better than he;and the superiour skill carries it.'ERSKINE.'He is a fool,but you are not a rogue.'JOHNSON.'That's much about the truth,Sir.It must be considered,that a man who only does what every one of the society to which he belongs would do,is not a dishonest man.In the republick of Sparta,it was agreed,that stealing was not dishonourable,if not discovered.I do not commend a society where there is an agreement that what would not otherwise be fair,shall be fair;but I maintain,that an individual of any society,who practises what is allowed,is not a dishonest man.'BOSWELL.'So then,Sir,you do not think ill of a man who wins perhaps forty thousand pounds in a winter?'JOHNSON.'Sir,I do not call a gamester a dishonest man;but I call him an unsocial man,an unprofitable man.Gaming is a mode of transferring property without producing any intermediate good.Trade gives employment to numbers,and so produces intermediate good.'
On Thursday,April 9,I called on him to beg he would go and dine with me at the Mitre tavern.He had resolved not to dine at all this day,I know not for what reason;and I was so unwilling to be deprived of his company,that I was content to submit to suffer a want,which was at first somewhat painful,but he soon made me forget it;and a man is always pleased with himself when he finds his intellectual inclinations predominate.
He observed,that to reason philosophically on the nature of prayer,was very unprofitable.
Talking of ghosts,he said,he knew one friend,who was an honest man and a sensible man,who told him he had seen a ghost,old Mr.
Edward Cave,the printer at St.John's Gate.He said,Mr.Cave did not like to talk of it,and seemed to be in great horrour whenever it was mentioned.BOSWELL.'Pray,Sir,what did he say was the appearance?'JOHNSON.'Why,Sir,something of a shadowy being.'
On Friday,April 10,I dined with him at General Oglethorpe's,where we found Dr.Goldsmith.
I started the question whether duelling was consistent with moral duty.The brave old General fired at this,and said,with a lofty air,'Undoubtedly a man has a right to defend his honour.'