We then talked of marrying women of fortune; and I mentioned a common remark, that a man may be, upon the whole, richer by marrying a woman with a very small portion, because a woman of fortune will be proportionably expensive; whereas a woman who brings none will be very moderate in expenses. JOHNSON. "Depend upon it, Sir, this is not true. A woman of fortune, being used to the handling of money, spends it judiciously; but a woman who gets the command of money for the first time upon her marriage, has such a gust in spending it, that she throws it away with great profusion." He praised the ladies of the present age, insisting that they were more faithful to their husbands, and more virtuous in every respect, than in former times, because their understandings were better cultivated. It was an undoubted proof of his good sense and good disposition, that he was never querulous, never prone to inveigh against the present times, as is so common when superficial minds are on the fret. On the contrary, he was willing to speak favourably of his own age; and, indeed, maintained its superiority in every respect, except in its reverence for government; the relaxation of which he imputed, as its grand cause, to the shock which our monarchy received at the Revolution, though necessary; and, secondly, to the timid concessions made to faction by successive administrations in the reign of his present Majesty. I am happy to think, that he lived to see the Crown at last recover its just influence. At Leicester we read in the newspaper that Dr. James was dead. I thought that the death of an old school-fellow, and one with whom he had lived a good deal in London, would have affected my fellow-traveller much but he only said, "Ah! poor Jamy." Afterwards, however, when we were in the chaise, he said, with more tenderness, "Since I set out on this jaunt, I have lost an old friend and a young one ;-Dr. James,1 and poor Harry" (meaning Mr. Thrale's son). 1 [Robert James was, like Johnson, a Staffordshire man. He was born at Kinverstone in 1703, and published in 1743 a Medical Dictionary to which his friend Johnson contributed. He is best known for his James's Powder, Pulvis Jacobi, which was represented afterwards by the Pulvis Antimonialis of the Pharmacopœia, a mixture of one part of oxide of antimony with two AGE 67.] RETURN TO LONDON. 5 Having lain at St. Alban's, on Thursday, March 28, we breakfasted the next morning at Barnet. I expressed to him a weakness of mind which I could not help; an uneasy apprehension that my wife and children, who were at a great distance from me, might, perhaps, be ill. "Sir, (said he,) consider how foolish you would think it in them to be apprehensive that you are ill." This sudden turn relieved me for the moment; but I afterwards perceived it to be an ingenious fallacy.1 I might, to be sure, be satisfied that they had no reason to be apprehensive about me, because I knew that I myself was well: but we might have a mutual anxiety, without the charge of folly; because each was, in some degree, uncertain as to the condition of the other. I enjoyed the luxury of our approach to London, that metropolis which we both loved so much, for the high and varied intellectual pleasure which it furnishes. I experienced immediate happiness while whirled along with such a companion, and said to him, "Sir, you observed one day at General Oglethorpe's, that a man is never happy for the present, but when he is drunk, Will you not add—or when driving rapidly in a post-chaise?" JOHNSON. No, Sir, you are driving rapidly from something, or to something." Talking of melancholy, he said, "Some men, and very thinking men too, have not those vexing thoughts.2 Sir Joshua Reynolds parts of precipitated phosphate of lime. The composition of James's Powder was kept secret, but its action was very uncertain. In one case five grains administered by Dr. James himself produced vomiting and purging for twenty-four hours. In another case twenty grains produced no visible effect, Dr. James and Mrs. Thrale's son died on the same day, March 23, 1776.] 1 [Surely it is no fallacy, but a sound and rational argument. He who is perfectly well, and apprehensive concerning the state of another at a distance from him, knows to a certainty that the fears of that person concerning his health are imaginary and delusive; and hence has a rational ground for supposing that his own apprehensions concerning his absent wife or friend, are equally unfounded.-MALONE.] [In short, it is reasoning from Analogy.] 2 The phrase "vexing thoughts," is, I think, very expressive. It has been familiar to me from my childhood; for it is to be found in the "Psalms in Metre," used in the Churches (I believe I should say kirks) of Scotland, Psal. xliii. v. 5. "Why art thou then cast down, my soul? What should discourage thee? is the same all the year round. Beauclerk, except when ill and in pain, is the same. But I believe most men have them in the degree in which they are capable of having them. If I were in the country, and were distressed by that malady, I would force myself to take a book; and every time I did it I should find it the easier. Melancholy indeed should be diverted by every means but drinking." We stopped at Messrs. Dillys, booksellers in the Poultry; from whence he hurried away, in a hackney coach, to Mr. Thrale's in the Borough. I called at his house in the evening, having promised to acquaint Mrs. Williams of his safe return; when, to my surprize, I found him sitting with her at tea, and, as I thought, not in a very good humour: for, it seems, when he had got to Mr. Thrale's, he found the coach was at the door waiting to carry Mrs. and Miss Thrale, and Signor Baretti,1 their Italian master, to Bath. This was not showing the attention which might have been expected to the "Guide, Philosopher, and Friend;" the Imlac who had hastened from the country to console a distressed mother, who, he understood, was very anxious for his return. They had, I found, without ceremony, proceeded on their intended journey. I was glad to understand from him that it was still resolved that his tour to Italy with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale should take place, of which he had entertained some doubt, on account of the loss which they had suffered; and his doubts afterwards appeared to be well-founded. He observed, indeed very justly, that "their loss was an additional reason for their going abroad; and if it had not been fixed that he should have been one of the party, he would force them out; but he would not advise them unless his advice was asked, lest they might suspect that he recommended what he wished on his own account." I was not pleased that his intimacy with Mr. Thrale's Some allowance must no doubt be made for early prepossession. But at a maturer period of life, after looking at various metrical versions of the Psalms, I am well satisfied that the version used in Scotland, is, upon the whole, the best; and that it is vain to think of having a better. It has in general a simplicity and unction of sacred Poesy; and in many parts its transfusion is admirable. [Johnson had obtained for Baretti the office of Italian master in Mr. Thrale's family.] THE THRALES LEAVING FOR BATH. 7 AGE 67.] family, though it no doubt contributed much to his comfort and 'enjoyment, was not without some degree of restraint: Not, as has been grossly suggested, that it was required of him as a task to talk for the entertainment of them and their company; but that he was not quite at his ease; which, however, might partly be owing to his own honest pride-that dignity of mind which is always jealous of appearing too compliant. On Sunday, March 31, I called on him and showed him as a curiosity which I had discovered, his "Translation of Lobo's Account of Abyssinia," which Sir John Pringle 1 had lent me, it being then little known as one of his works. He said, "Take no notice of it," or "Don't talk of it." He seemed to think it beneath him, though done at six-and-twenty. I said to him, "Your style, Sir, is much improved since you translated this." He answered with a sort of triumphant smile, "Sir, I hope it is." On Wednesday, April 3, in the morning, I found him very busy putting his books in order, and, as they were generally very old ones, clouds of dust were flying around him. He had on a pair of large gloves, such as hedgers use. His present appearance put me in mind of my uncle, Dr. Boswell's, description of him, "A robust genius, born to grapple with whole libraries." I gave him an account of a conversation which had passed between me and Captain Cook, the day before, at dinner at Sir John Pringle's; and he was much pleased with the conscientious accuracy of that celebrated circumnavigator, who set me right as to many of the exaggerated accounts given by Dr. Hawkesworth of his Voyages. I told him that while I was with the Captain, I catched the enthusiasm of curiosity and adventure, and felt a strong inclination to go with him on his next voyage. JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, a man does feel so, till he 1 1 [Sir John Pringle was born in Roxburghshire in 1707, and was, at this period, the President of the Royal Society, to which office he had been elected in 1772. He had been Professor of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh, and then Physician-General to the Forces, before he settled in practice as a physician in London. He had also obtained the Copley Medal of the Royal Society for experiments on antiseptics. He died in 1782.] considers how very little he can learn from such voyages." BOSWELL. "But one is carried away with the general grand and indistinct notion of A VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD." JOHNSON. "Yes, Sir, but a man is to guard himself against taking a thing in general." I said I was certain that a great part of what we are told by the travellers to the South Sea must be conjecture, because they had not enough of the language of those countries to understand so much as they have related. Objects falling under the observation of the senses might be clearly known; but every thing intellectual, every thing abstract-politicks, morals, and religion, must be darkly guessed. Dr. Johnson was of the same opinion. He upon another occasion, when a friend mentioned to him several extraordinary facts, as communicated to him by the circumnavigators, slily observed, "Sir, I never before knew how much I was respected by these gentlemen; they told me none of these things." He had been in company with Omai, a native of one of the South Sea Islands, after he had been some time in this country. He was struck with the elegance of his behaviour, 1 [Omai, a native of the newly-discovered Friendly Islands, was brought to England in 1775 by Captain Ferneaux in the Adventure, the consort of Captain Cook's ship the Resolution. Omai was taken up by Lord Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty, taken to all the sights, and made a sight of. He was introduced to George III., when he shook hands with his Majesty and said, "How do you do?" He was taken to see the ships at Portsmouth, taken to Cambridge, dressed in military uniform, with his hair tied in a queue. He was introduced to a beautiful duchess, and she gave him her handkerchief, marked with a coronet, which he devoutly kissed. He sat to Sir Joshua Reynolds for his picture, in a long white robe and turban ; and he pined for return to all these glories when he was carried back to his own home. So Cowper thought he would, when he referred to him with pity in The Task, published in 1785: "But far beyond the rest, and with most cause, Thee, gentle savage, whom no love of thee Or thine, but curiosity, perhaps, Or else vainglory, prompted us to draw Forth from thy native bowers, to show thee here The gifts of Providence, and squander life. * * * * * Rude as thou art (for we returned thee rude |