His prejudice against Scotland appeared remarkably ftrong at this time. "Sir, (faid he,) you have Etat. 59. When I talked of our advancement in literature, learnt a little from us, and you think yourselves very great men. Hume would never have written History, had not Voltaire written it before him. He BOSWELL. "But, Sir, we have Lord Kames." is an echo of Voltaire." JOHNSON. "You have Lord Kames. Keep him; ha, ha, ha! We don't envy you him. Do you ever fee Dr. Robertfon?" BOSWELL. "Yes, Sir." Indeed, Sir, he does, JOHNSON. "Does the dog talk of me?" BOSWELL. and loves you." Thinking that I now had him in a corner, and being folicitous for the literary fame of my country, I preffed him for his opinion on the merit of Dr. Robertfon's Hiftory of Scotland. But, to my furprize, he efcaped. Sir, I love Robertfon, and I won't talk of his book." It is but juftice both to him and Dr. Robertson to add, that though he indulged himself in this fally of wit, he had too good tafte not to be fully fenfible of the merits of that admirable work. An effay, written by Mr. Deane, a divine of the Church of England, maintaining the future life of brutes, by an explication of certain parts of the fcriptures, was mentioned, and the doctrine infifted on by a gentleman who feemed fond of curious fpeculation. Johnfon, who did not like to hear of any thing concerning a future state which was not authorised by the regular canons of orthodoxy, difcouraged this talk; and being offended at its continuation, he watched an opportunity to give the gentleman a blow of reprehenfion. So, when the poor fpeculatift, with a serious metaphyfical penfive face, addressed him, "But really, Sir, when we see a very fenfible dog, we don't know what to think of him." Johnfon, rolling with joy at the thought, which beamed in his eye, turned quickly round, and replied, "True, Sir: and when we fee a very foolish fellow, we don't know what to think of him." He then rofe up, ftrided to the fire, and stood for fome time laughing and exulting. I told him that I had several times, when in Italy, feen the experiment of placing a scorpion within a circle of burning coals; that it ran round and round in extreme pain; and finding no way to efcape, retired to the centre, and, like a true Stoick philofopher, darted its fting into its head, and thus at once freed itself from its woes. "This must end 'em." I faid, this was a curious fact, as it fhewed deliberate fuicide in a reptile. Johnfon would not admit. the fact. He faid, Maupertuis was of opinion that it does not kill itself, but dies of the heat; that it gets to the centre of the circle, as the coolest place; that its turning its tail in upon its head is merely a convulfion, and that it does not fting itself. He faid he would be fatisfied if the great anatomist Morgagni, after 1768. after diffecting a scorpion upon whom the experiment had been tried, should Etat. 59. certify that its fting had penetrated into its head. He feemed pleased to talk of natural philofophy. "That woodcocks, (faid he,) fly over to the northern countries, is proved, because they have been obferved at fea. Swallows certainly fleep all the winter. A number of them conglobulate together, by flying round and round, and then all in a heap throw themselves under water, and lye in the bed of a river." He told us, one of his firft effays was a Latin poem upon the glow-worm. I am forry I did not afk where it was to be found. Talking of the Ruffians and the Chinese, he advised me to read Bell's travels. I asked him whether I fhould read Du Halde's account of China. Why yes, (faid he,) as one reads fuch a book; that is to fay, confult it." He talked of the heinousness of the crime of adultery, by which the peace of families was destroyed. He said, "Confusion of progeny constitutes the effence of the crime; and therefore a woman who breaks her marriage vows is much more criminal than a man who does it. A man, to be fure, is criminal in the fight of GOD: but he does not do his wife a very material injury, if he does not infult her; if, for inftance, from mere wantonnefs of appetite, he steals privately to her chambermaid. Sir, a wife ought not greatly to resent this. I would not receive home a daughter who had run away from her husband on that account. A wife should study to reclaim her husband by more attention to please him. Sir, a man will not, once in a hundred instances, leave his wife and go to a harlot, if his wife has not been negligent of pleasing." I asked him if it was not hard that one deviation from chastity should sfo abfolutely ruin a young woman. JOHNSON. "Why no, Sir; it is the great principle which she is taught. When she has given up that principle, fhe has given up every notion of female honour and virtue, which are all included in chastity." A gentleman talked to him of a lady whom he greatly admired and wished to marry, but was afraid of her fuperiority of talents. "Sir, (faid he,) you need not be afraid; marry her. Before a year goes about, you'll find that reafon much weaker, and that wit not fo bright." Yet the gentleman may be justified in his apprehenfion by one of Dr. Johnson's admirable sentences in his life of Waller: "He doubtless praised many whom he would have been afraid to marry; and, perhaps, married one whom he would have been afhamed to praise. Many qualities contribute to domestick happiness, upon which poetry has no colours to bestow; and many airs and fallies may delight imagination, which he who flatters them never can approve." He He praised Signor Baretti. "His account of Italy is a very entertaining book; and, Sir, I know no man who carries his head higher in conversation than Baretti. There are ftrong powers in his mind. He has not, indeed, many hooks; but with what hooks he has he grapples very forcibly." At this time I observed upon the dial-plate of his watch a fhort Greek inscription, taken from the New Teftament, Nu pera, being the first words of our Saviour's folemn admonition to the improvement of that time which is allowed us to prepare for eternity; "the night cometh when no man can work." He fome time afterwards laid afide this dial-plate; and when I asked him the reason, he faid, "It might do very well upon a clock which a man keeps in his clofet; but to have it upon his watch which he carries about with him, and which is often looked at by others, might be cenfured as oftentatious." Mr. Steevens is now poffeffed of the dial-plate inscribed as above. He remained at Oxford a confiderable time; I was obliged to go to London, where I received his letter, which had been returned from Scotland. To JAMES BOSWELL, Efq. "MY DEAR BOSWELL, "I HAVE omitted a long time to write to you, without knowing very well why. I could now tell why I fhould not write, for who would write to men who publish the letters of their friends without their leave? Yet I write to you in fpite of my caution, to tell you that I fhall be glad to fee you, and that I wish you would empty your head of Corfica, which I think has filled it rather too long. But, at all events, I fhall be glad, very glad to fee you. I am, Sir, 1768. Etat. 59. "Yours affectionately, "Oxford, March 23, 1768. SAM. JOHNSON." I answered thus: To Mr. SAMUEL JOHNSON. London, 26th April, 1768. "MY DEAR SIR, "I HAVE received your last letter, which, though very fhort, and by no means complimentary, yet gave me real pleasure, because it contains these words, I fhall be glad, very glad to fee you.'-Surely, you have no reason to complain of my publishing a single paragragh of one of your letters; the 1768. Etat. 59. the temptation to it was fo ftrong. An irrevocable "But how can you bid me empty my head of Corfica?' My nobleminded friend, do you not feel for an oppreffed nation bravely ftruggling to be free? Confider fairly what is the cafe. The Corficans never received any kindness from the Genoefe. They never agreed to be fubject to them. They owe them nothing; and when reduced to an abject state of flavery, by force, fhall they not rife in the great caufe of liberty, and break the galling yoke? And shall not every liberal foul be warm for them? Empty my head of Corfica! Empty it of honour, empty it of humanity, empty it of friendfhip, empty it of piety. No! while I live, Corfica and the cause of the brave islanders shall ever employ much of my attention, fhall ever interest me in the fincereft manner. " I am, &c. "JAMES BOSWELL." Upon his arrival in London in May, he furprized me one morning with a vifit at my lodgings in Half-Moon-ftreet, was quite fatisfied with my expla-nation, and was in the kindest and most agreeable frame of mind. As he had objected to a part of one of his letters being publifhed, I thought it right to take this opportunity of asking him explicitly whether it would be improper to publish his letters after his death. His anfwer was, "Nay, Sir, when I am dead, you may do as you will." He talked in his ufual ftyle with a rough contempt of popular liberty. "They make a rout about univerfal liberty, without confidering that all that is to be valued, or indeed can be enjoyed by individuals, is private liberty. Political liberty is good only fo far as it produces private liberty. Now, Sir, there is the liberty of the prefs, which you know is a conftant topick. Suppose you and I and two hundred more were restrained from printing our thoughts: what then? What proportion would that restraint upon us bear to the private happiness of the nation?" This mode of representing the inconveniencies of restraint as light and infignificant, was a kind of sophistry in which he delighted to indulge himself, in oppofition to the extreme laxity for which it has been fashionable for too many to argue, when it is evident, upon reflection, that the very effence of government is restraint; and certain it is, that as government produces rational happiness, happiness, too much restraint is better than too little. But when restraint is 1768. unnecessary, and so close as to gall those who are subject to it, the people Etat. 59. may and ought to remonftrate; and, if relief is not granted, to refift. Of this manly and fpirited principle, no man was more convinced than Johnson himself. About this time Dr. Kenrick attacked him, through my fides, in a pamphlet, entitled "An Epistle to James Bofwell, Efq. occafioned by his having tranfmitted the moral Writings of Dr. Samuel Johnson to Pafcal Paoli, General of the Corficans." I was at firft inclined to answer this pamphlet; but Johnson, who knew that my doing so would only gratify Kenrick, by keeping alive what would foon die away of itself, would not fuffer me to take any notice of it. His fincere regard for Francis Barber, his faithful negro fervant, made him fo defirous of his further improvement, that he now placed him at a school at Bishop Stortford, in Hertfordshire. This humane attention does Johnson's heart much honour. Out of many letters which Mr. Barber received from his master, he has preferved three, which he kindly gave me, and which I fhall infert according to their dates. To Mr. FRANCIS BARBER. "DEAR FRANCIS, "I HAVE been very much out of order. I am glad to hear that you are well, and design to come foon to see you. I would have you stay at Mrs. Clapp's for the prefent, till I can determine what we shall do. Be a good boy. "My compliments to Mrs. Clapp and to Mr. Fowler. I am "May 28, 1768. "Yours affectionately, SAM. JOHNSON." Soon afterwards, he fupped at the Crown and Anchor tavern, in the Strand, with a company whom I collected to meet him. They were Dr. Percy, now Bishop of Dromore, Dr. Douglas, now Bishop of Carlisle, Mr. Langton, Dr. Robertson the Hiftorian, Dr. Hugh Blair, and Mr. Thomas Davies, who wifhed much to be introduced to these eminent Scotch literati; but on the present occafion he had very little opportunity of hearing them talk, for with an excess of prudence, for which Johnson afterwards found fault with them, they hardly opened their lips, and that only to say something which they were Rr certair |