Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

duced you.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

I had a kindness for Derrick, and am sorry he is dead." In the summer of 1761, Mr. Thomas Sheridan was at Edinburgh, and delivered lectures upon the English Language and Public Speaking to large and respectable audiences. I was often in his company, and heard him frequently expatiate upon Johnson's extraordinary knowledge, talents, and virtues, repeat and boast of his being his guest sometimes till his pointed sayings, describe his particularities, two or three in the morning. At his house I hoped to have many opportunities of seeing the sage, as Mr. Sheridan obligingly assured me I should not be disappointed.

When I returned to London in the end of 1762, to my surprise and regret I found an irreconcileable difference had taken place between Johnson and Sheridan. A pension of two hundred pounds a year had been given to Sheridan. Johnson, who, as has been already mentioned, thought slightingly of Sheridan's art, upon hearing that he was also pensioned, exclaimed, "What! have they given him a pension? Then it is time for me to give up mine." Whether this proceeded from a momentary indignation, as if it were an affront to his exalted merit that a player should be rewarded in the same manner with him, or was the sudden effect of a fit of peevishness, it was unluckily said, and, indeed, cannot be justi

THIS is to me a memorable year; for in it I had the happiness to obtain the acquaintance of that extraordinary man whose memoirs I am now writing; an acquaintance which I shall ever esteem as one of the most fortunate circumstances in my life. Though then but two and twenty, I had for several years read his works with delight and instruction, and had the highest reverence for their author, which had grown up in my fancy into a kind of mysterious veneration, by figuring to myself a state of solemn elevated abstraction, in which I supposed him to live in the immense metro-fied. Mr. Sheridan's pension was granted to polis of London. Mr. Gentleman', a native of Ireland, who passed some years in Scotland as a player, and as an instructor in the English language, a man whose talents and worth were depressed by misfortunes, had given me a representation of the figure and manner of DICTIONARY JOHNSON! as he was then called; and during my first visit to London, which was for three months in 1760, Mr. Derrick the poet 3, who was Gentleman's friend and countryman, flattered me with hopes that he would introduce me to Johnson, an honour of which I was very ambitious. But he never found an opportunity; which made me doubt that he had promised to do what was not in his power; till Johnson some years afterwards told me, "Derrick, Sir, might very well have intro

him, not as a player, but as a sufferer in the cause of government, when he was manager of the Theatre Royal in Ireland, when parties ran high in 1753.4 And it must also be allowed that he was a man of literature, and had considerably improved the arts of reading and speaking with distinctness and propriety.

Besides, Johnson should have recollected that Mr. Sheridan taught pronunciation to Mr. Alexander Wedderburne, whose sister was married to Sir Harry Erskine, an intimate friend of Lord Bute, who was the favourite of the king; and surely the most outrageous Whig will not maintain, that, whatever ought to be the principle in the disposal of offices, a pension ought never to be granted from any bias of court connection. Mr. Macklin, indeed, shared

literary character had any thing to do with the pension, and no doubt he endeavoured to soften Johnson's resentment by

1 Francis Gentleman was born in 1728, and educated in Dublin. His father was an officer in the army, and he, at the age of fifteen, obtained a commission in the same regi-giving, as he does in the above passage, this favour a political met on the reduction, at the peace of 1748, he lost this profession, and adopted that of the stage, both as an author and an actor; in neither of which did he attain any eminence. He died in December, 1784; having, in the later course of his life, experienced "all the hardships of a wandering actor, and all the disappointments of a friendless author." CROKER.

2 As great men of antiquity, such as Scipio Africanus, had an epithet added to their names, in consequence of some celebrated action, so my illustrious friend was often called DICTIONARY JOHNSON, from that wonderful achievement of genius and labour, his "Dictionary of the English Language;" the merit of which I contemplate with more and more admiration. - BoSWELL. Boswell himself was at one time anxious to be called Corsica Boswell. See post, September, 1769. CROKER.

3 See antè, p. 35. n. 1.- CROKER.

4 Unluckily Boswell, in his tenderness to the amour propre of Dr. Johnson, cannot bear to admit that Sheridan's

colour; but there seems no reason to believe that Sheridan's pension was given to him as a sufferer by a playhouse riot. It was probably granted (et hinc illæ lacryma) on the same motive as Johnson's own, namely, the desire of the King and Lord Bute to distinguish the commencement of the new reign by the patronage of literature. Indeed, this is rendered almost certain by various passages of the letters of Mrs. Sheridan to Mr. Whyte: e. g. "London, Nov. 29. 1762.Mr. Sheridan is now, as I mentioned to you formerly, busied in the English Dictionary, which he is encouraged to pursue with the more alacrity as his Majesty has vouchsafed him such a mark of royal favour. I suppose you have heard that he has granted him a pension of 2001. a year, merely as an encouragement to his undertaking, and this without solicitation, which makes it the more valuable." Whyte's Miscellanea Nova, p. 104. 107. 111. Mr. Samuel Whyte, the writer of this volume, was a celebrated schoolmaster in Dublin, a relation of and much attached to the Sheridan family. Richard Brinsley Sheridan and his elder brother

with Mr. Sheridan the honour of instructing am glad that Mr. Sheridan has a pension, for Mr. Wedderburne ; and though it was too he is a very good man." Sheridan could never late in life for a Caledonian to acquire the forgive this hasty contemptuous expression. It genuine English cadence, yet so successful rankled in his mind; and though I informed were Mr. Wedderburne's instructors, and his him of all that Johnson said, and that he would own unabating endeavours, that he got rid of be very glad to meet him amicably, he posithe coarse part of his Scotch accent, retaining tively declined repeated offers which I made, only as much of the "native wood-note wild," and once went off abruptly from a house where as to mark his country; which, if any Scotch- he and I were engaged to dine, because he was man should affect to forget, I should heartily told that Dr. Johnson was to be there. I have despise him. Notwithstanding the difficulties no sympathetic feeling with such persevering which are to be encountered by those who resentment.2 It is painful when there is a have not had the advantage of an English breach between those who have lived together education, he by degrees formed a mode of socially and cordially; and I wonder that there speaking, to which Englishmen do not deny is not, in all such cases, a mutual wish that it the praise of elegance. Hence his distin- should be healed. I could perceive that Mr. guished oratory, which he exerted in his own Sheridan was by no means satisfied with Johncountry as an advocate in the Court of Session, son's acknowledging him to be a good man.3 and a ruling elder of the Kirk, has had its That could not soothe his injured vanity. I fame and ample reward, in much higher spheres. could not but smile, at the same time that I was When I look back on this noble person at offended, to observe Sheridan, in the Life of Edinburgh in situations so unworthy of his Swift, which he afterwards published, attemptbrilliant powers, and behold LORD LOUGH-ing in the writhings of his resentment to deBOROUGH, at London, the change seems almost like one of the metamorphoses in Ovid; and as his two preceptors, by refining his utterance, gave currency to his talents, we may say, in the words of that poet, "Nam vos mutastis." I have dwelt the longer upon this remarkable instance of successful parts and assiduity, because it affords animating encouragement to other gentlemen of North Britain to try their fortunes in the southern part of the island, where they may hope to gratify their utmost ambition; and now that we are one people by the Union, it would surely be illiberal to maintain, that they have not an equal title with the natives of any other part of his Majesty's dominions.

Johnson complained that a man who disliked him repeated his sarcasm to Mr. Sheridan, without telling him what followed, which was, that after a pause he added, "However, I

Charles, were placed very early under his tuition, as was, at an interval of above thirty years, my friend Thomas Moore, who, in his Life of Sheridan, pays an affectionate tribute to their common preceptor. - CROKER.

This is an odd coincidence. A Scotchman who wishes to learn a pure English pronunciation, employs one preceptor who happens to be an Irishman, and afterwards another, likewise an Irishman — and this Irish-taught Scot becomes -and mainly by his oratory-one of the chief ornaments of the English senate, and the first subject in the British empire. CROKER.

2 But Johnson seems to have kept it alive by persevering sarcasins. CROKER.

3 Why should he have been? his goodness had nothing to say to the question. Sheridan's pension was given for his literary character, and Johnson's following up his attack on his talents by a supercilious acknowledgment that he was nevertheless a very good man, was an additional insult. See next page, n. 4.-CROKER.

4 Dr. Johnson had depreciated the talents and character of Dr. Swift, not merely in conversation, but in his Lives of the Poets. Sheridan, in his Life of Swift, advocated the cause of the dean, for whom he had a natural and hereditary veneration; and though he observed on Johnson's criticisms and censures with a severity sharpened probably by his personal feelings, he treated him on all other points with moderation and respect. CROKER.

5 See antè, p. 121. n. 5.

6 My position has been very well illustrated by Mr. Belsham, of Bedford, in his Essay on Dramatic Poetry:

“The fashionable doctrine (says he) both of moralists and

preciate Johnson, by characterising him as "a writer of gigantic fame, in these days of little men;" that very Johnson whom he once so highly admired and venerated.*

5

This rupture with Sheridan deprived Johnson of one of his most agreeable resources for amusement in his lonely evenings ; for Sheridan's well-informed, animated, and bustling mind never suffered conversation to stagnate; and Mrs. Sheridan was a most agreeable companion to an intellectual man. She was sensible, ingenious, unassuming, yet communicative. I recollect, with satisfaction, many pleasing hours which I passed with her under the hospitable roof of her husband, who was to me a very kind friend. novel, entitled "Memoirs of Miss Sydney Biddulph," contains an excellent moral, while it inculcates a future state of retribution; and what it teaches is impressed upon the

Her

critics in these times is, that virtue and happiness are con-
stant concomitants; and it is regarded as a kind of dramatic
impiety to maintain that virtue should not be rewarded, nor
vice punished, in the last scene of the last act of every
tragedy. This conduct in our modern poets is, however, in
my opinion, extremely injudicious; for it labours in vain to
inculcate a doctrine in theory, which every one knows to be
false in fact, viz. that virtue in real life is always productive
of happiness; and vice of misery. Thus Congreve concludes
the tragedy of "The Mourning Bride" with the following
foolish couplet: -

'For blessings ever wait on virtuous deeds,
And, though a late, a sure reward succeeds.'

"When a man eminently virtuous, a Brutus, a Cato, or a Socrates, finally sinks under the pressure of accumulated misfortune, we are not only led to entertain a more indignant hatred of vice, than if he rose from his distress, but we are inevitably induced to cherish the sublime idea that a day of future retribution will arrive, when he shall receive not merely poetical, but real and substantial justice."— Essays Philosophical, listorical, and Literary, London, 1791, 8vo. vol. ii. p. 317.

as

This is well reasoned and well expressed. I wish, indeed, that the ingenious author had not thought it necessary to introduce any instance of a man eminently virtuous; he would then have avoided mentioning such a ruffian as Brutus under that description. Mr. Belsham discovers in his Essays so much reading and thinking, and good composition, that I regret his not having been fortunate enough to be educated a member of our excellent national establish

[graphic][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

mind by a series of as deep distress as can affect humanity, in the amiable and pious heroine, who goes to her grave unrelieved, but resigned, and full of hope of "heaven's mercy." Johnson paid her this high compliment upon it: "I know not, Madam, that you have a right, upon moral principles, to make your readers suffer so much."

Mr. Thomas Davies the actor, who then kept a bookseller's shop in Russell-Street, Covent Garden', told me that Johnson was very much his friend, and came frequently to his house, where he more than once invited me to meet him; but by some unlucky accident or other he was prevented from coming to us.

Mr. Thomas Davies was a man of good understanding and talents, with the advantage of a liberal education. Though somewhat pompous, he was an entertaining companion; and his literary performances have no inconsiderable share of merit. He was a friendly and very hospitable man. Both he and his wife (who has been celebrated 2 for her beauty), though upon the stage for many years, maintained an uniform decency of character; and Johnson esteemed them, and lived in as easy an intimacy with them as with any family which he used to visit. Mr. Davies recollected several of Johnson's remarkable sayings, and was one of the best of the many imitators of his voice and manner, while relating them. He increased my impatience more and more to see the extraordinary man whose works I highly valued, and whose conversation was reported to be so peculiarly excellent.

At last, on Monday, the 16th of May, when I was sitting in Mr. Davies's back parlour, after having drunk tea with him and Mrs. Davies, Johnson unexpectedly came into the shop; and Mr. Davies having perceived him through the glass-door in the room in which we were sitting, advancing toward us, he announced his awful approach to me, somewhat in the manner of an actor in the part of Horatio, when he addresses Hamlet on the appearance of his father's ghost, "Look, my ford, it comes!" I found that I had a very perfect idea of Johnson's figure, from the

ment. Had he not been nursed in nonconformity, he probably would not have been tainted with those heresies (as I sincerely, and on no slight investigation, think them) both in religion and politics, which, while I read, I am sure, with candour, I cannot read without offence. BOSWELL. One wonders that with these feelings he thought it worth while to intrude, with so little excuse for it, Mr. Belsham's very common-place remarks. - CROKER.

I No. 8.-The very place where I was fortunate enough to be introduced to the illustrious subject of this work, deserves to be particularly marked. I never pass by it without feeling reverence and regret. - BOSWELL.

2 By Churchill, in the Rosciad.

"With him came mighty Davies: on my life,
That Davies has a very pretty wife.
Statesman all over - in plots famous grown —
He mouths a sentence as curs mouth a bone."

This sarcasm drove, it is said, (post, April 7. 1778) poor
Davies from the stage. -
CROKER.

66

portrait of him painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds soon after he had published his Dictionary, in the attitude of sitting in his easy chair in deep meditation; which was the first picture his friend did for him, which Sir Joshua very kindly presented to me, and from which an engraving has been made for this work. Mr. Davies mentioned my name, and respectfully introduced me to him. I was much agitated; and recollecting his prejudice against the Scotch, of which I had heard much, I said to Davies, "Don't tell where I come from." "From Scotland," cried Davies, roguishly. "Mr. Johnson," said I, "I do indeed come from Scotland, but I cannot help it." I am willing to flatter myself that I meant this as light pleasantry to soothe and conciliate him, and not as an humiliating abasement at the expense of my country. But however that might be, this speech was somewhat unlucky; for with that quickness of wit for which he was so remarkable, he seized the expression come from Scotland," which I used in the sense of being of that country; and, as if I had said that I had come away from it, or left it, retorted, "That, Sir, I find, is what a very great many of your countrymen cannot help." This stroke stunned me a good deal; and when we had sat down, I felt myself not a little embarrassed, and apprehensive of what might come next. He then addressed himself to Davies: "What do you think of Garrick? He has refused me an order for the play for Miss Williams, because he knows the house will be full, and that an order would be worth three shillings." Eager to take any opening to get into conversation with him, I ventured to say, "O Sir, I cannot think Mr. Garrick would grudge such a trifle to you." "Sir," said he, with a stern look, "I have known David Garrick longer than you have done: and I know no right you have to talk to me on the subject." Perhaps I deserved this check; for it was rather presumptuous in me, an entire stranger, to express any doubt of the justice of his animadversion upon his old acquaintance and pupil. I now felt myself much mortified, and began to think that the hope which I had long indulged of obtaining

3 Mr. Murphy, in his "Essay on the Life and Genius of Dr. Johnson,' [first published after the first edition of this work,] has given an account of this meeting considerably different from mine, I am persuaded without any consciousness of error. His memory, at the end of near thirty years, has undoubtedly deceived him, and he supposes himself to have been present at a scene which he has probably heard inaccurately described by others. In my note taken on the very day, in which I am confident I marked every thing material that passed, no mention is made of this gentleman; and I am sure that I should not have omitted one so well known in the literary world. It may easily be imagined that this my first interview with Dr. Johnson, with all its circumstances, made a strong impression on my mind, and would be registered with peculiar attention. -BOSWELL. 4 That this was a momentary sally against Garrick there can be no doubt; for at Johnson's desire he had, some years before, given a benefit-night at his theatre to this very person, by which she had got two hundred pounds. Johnson, indeed, upon all other occasions, when I was in his company, praised the very liberal charity of Garrick. I once mentioned to

« ПредишнаНапред »