第95章

JOHNSON.Madam,we must distinguish.Were I a man of rank,Iwould not let a daughter starve who had made a mean marriage;but having voluntarily degraded herself from the station which she was originally entitled to hold,I would support her only in that which she herself had chosen;and would not put her on a level with my other daughters.You are to consider,Madam,that it is our duty to maintain the subordination of civilized society;and when there is a gross and shameful deviation from rank,it should be punished so as to deter others from the same perversion.'

On Friday,March 31,I supped with him and some friends at a tavern.One of the companyattempted,with too much forwardness,to rally him on his late appearance at the theatre;but had reason to repent of his temerity.'Why,Sir,did you go to Mrs.

Abington's benefit?Did you see?'JOHNSON.'No,Sir.''Did you hear?'JOHNSON.'No,Sir.''Why then,Sir,did you go?'

JOHNSON.'Because,Sir,she is a favourite of the publick;and when the publick cares the thousandth part for you that it does for her,I will go to your benefit too.'

Very likely Boswell.--HILL.

Next morning I won a small bet from Lady Diana Beauclerk,by asking him as to one of his particularities,which her Ladyship laid Idurst not do.It seems he had been frequently observed at the Club to put into his pocket the Seville oranges,after he had squeezed the juice of them into the drink which he made for himself.

Beauclerk and Garrick talked of it to me,and seemed to think that he had a strange unwillingness to be discovered.We could not divine what he did with them;and this was the bold question to be put.I saw on his table the spoils of the preceding night,some fresh peels nicely scraped and cut into pieces.'O,Sir,(said I,)I now partly see what you do with the squeezed oranges which you put into your pocket at the Club.'JOHNSON.'I have a great love for them.'BOSWELL.'And pray,Sir,what do you do with them?

You scrape them,it seems,very neatly,and what next?'JOHNSON.

'Let them dry,Sir.'BOSWELL.'And what next?'JOHNSON.'Nay,Sir,you shall know their fate no further.'BOSWELL.'Then the world must be left in the dark.It must be said (assuming a mock solemnity,)he scraped them,and let them dry,but what he did with them next,he never could be prevailed upon to tell.'JOHNSON.

'Nay,Sir,you should say it more emphatically:--he could not be prevailed upon,even by his dearest friends,to tell.'

He had this morning received his Diploma as Doctor of Laws from the University of Oxford.He did not vaunt of his new dignity,but Iunderstood he was highly pleased with it.

I observed to him that there were very few of his friends so accurate as that I could venture to put down in writing what they told me as his sayings.JOHNSON.'Why should you write down MYsayings?'BOSWELL.'I write them when they are good.'JOHNSON.

'Nay,you may as well write down the sayings of any one else that are good.'But WHERE,I might with great propriety have added,can I find such?

Next day,Sunday,April 2,I dined with him at Mr.Hoole's.We talked of Pope.JOHNSON.'He wrote,his Dunciad for fame.That was his primary motive.Had it not been for that,the dunces might have railed against him till they were weary,without his troubling himself about them.He delighted to vex them,no doubt;but he had more delight in seeing how well he could vex them.'

His Taxation no Tyranny being mentioned,he said,'I think I have not been attacked enough for it.Attack is the re-action;I never think I have hit hard,unless it rebounds.'BOSWELL.'I don't know,Sir,what you would be at.Five or six shots of small arms in every newspaper,and repeated cannonading in pamphlets,might,Ithink,satisfy you.But,Sir,you'll never make out this match,of which we have talked,with a certain political lady,since you are so severe against her principles.'JOHNSON.'Nay,Sir,I have the better chance for that.She is like the Amazons of old;she must be courted by the sword.But I have not been severe upon her.'

BOSWELL.'Yes,Sir,you have made her ridiculous.'JOHNSON.

'That was already done,Sir.To endeavour to make HER ridiculous,is like blacking the chimney.'

Croker identifies her as Mrs.Macaulay.See p.119.--ED.

I talked of the cheerfulness of Fleet-street,owing to the constant quick succession of people which we perceive passing through it.

JOHNSON.'Why,Sir,Fleet-street has a very animated appearance;but I think the full tide of human existence is at Charing-cross.'

He made the common remark on the unhappiness which men who have led a busy life experience,when they retire in expectation of enjoying themselves at ease,and that they generally languish for want of their habitual occupation,and wish to return to it.He mentioned as strong an instance of this as can well be imagined.'An eminent tallow-chandler in London,who had acquired a considerable fortune,gave up the trade in favour of his foreman,and went to live at a country-house near town.He soon grew weary,and paid frequent visits to his old shop,where he desired they might let him know their melting-days,and he would come and assist them;which he accordingly did.Here,Sir,was a man,to whom the most disgusting circumstance in the business to which he had been used was a relief from idleness.'

On Wednesday,April 5,I dined with him at Messieurs Dilly's,with Mr.John Scott of Amwell,the Quaker,Mr.Langton,Mr.Miller,(now Sir John,)and Dr.Thomas Campbell,an Irish clergyman,whom I took the liberty of inviting to Mr.Dilly's table,having seen him at Mr.Thrale's,and been told that he had come to England chiefly with a view to see Dr.Johnson,for whom he entertained the highest veneration.He has since published A Philosophical Survey of the South of Ireland,a very entertaining book,which has,however,one fault;--that it assumes the fictitious character of an Englishman.