Book xiv
. Chap. i._
Illustrious predecessors.[364-3]
_Covent Garden Journal. Jan. 11, 1752._
FOOTNOTES:
[362-1] The incense of the heart may rise.--PIERPONT: _Every Place a Temple._
[363-1] Thus when a barber and a collier fight, The barber beats the luckless collier--white; The dusty collier heaves his ponderous sack, And big with vengeance beats the barber--black. In comes the brick-dust man, with grime o'erspread, And beats the collier and the barber--red: Black, red, and white in various clouds are tost, And in the dust they raise the combatants are lost.
CHRISTOPHER SMART: _The Trip to Cambridge_ (on "Campbell's Specimens of the British Poets," vol. vi. p. 185).
[363-2] Sober as a judge.--CHARLES LAMB: _Letter to Mr. and Mrs. Moxon._
[363-3] See Addison, page 300.
[363-4] See Heywood, page 20.
[363-5] Socrates said, Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live.--PLUTARCH: _How a Young Man ought to hear Poems._
[363-6] A penny saved is twopence dear; A pin a day 's a groat a year.
FRANKLIN: _Hints to those that would be Rich_ (1736).
[364-1] Amiable weaknesses of human nature.--GIBBON: _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. xiv._
[364-2] See Bolingbroke, page 304.
[364-3] Illustrious predecessor.--BURKE: _The Present Discontents._
I tread in the footsteps of illustrious men. . . . In receiving from the people the sacred trust confided to my illustrious predecessor.--MARTIN VAN BUREN: _Inaugural Address, March 4, 1837._
WILLIAM PITT, EARL OF CHATHAM. 1708-1778.
Confidence is a plant of slow growth in an aged bosom.
_Speech, Jan. 14, 1766._
A long train of these practices has at length unwillingly convinced me that there is something behind the throne greater than the King himself.[364-4]
_Chatham Correspondence. Speech, March 2, 1770._
Where law ends, tyranny begins.
_Case of Wilkes. Speech, Jan. 9, 1770._
Reparation for our rights at home, and security against the like future violations.[364-5]
_Letter to the Earl of Shelburne, Sept. 29, 1770._
If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country I never would lay down my arms,--never! never! never!
_Speech, Nov. 18, 1777._
The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the force of the Crown. It may be frail; its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it; the storms may enter, the rain may enter,--but the King of England cannot enter; all his forces dare not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement!
_Speech on the Excise Bill._
We have a Calvinistic creed, a Popish liturgy, and an Arminian clergy.
_Prior's Life of Burke_ (1790).
FOOTNOTES:
[364-4] Quoted by Lord Mahon, "greater than the throne itself."--_History of England, vol. v. p. 258._
[364-5] "Indemnity for the past and security for the future."--RUSSELL: _Memoir of Fox, vol. iii. p. 345, Letter to the Hon. T. Maitland._
SAMUEL JOHNSON. 1709-1784.
Let observation with extensive view Survey mankind, from China to Peru.[365-1]
_Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 1._
There mark what ills the scholar's life assail,-- Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail.
_Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 159._
He left the name at which the world grew pale, To point a moral, or adorn a tale.
_Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 221._
Hides from himself his state, and shuns to know That life protracted is protracted woe.
_Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 257._
An age that melts in unperceiv'd decay, And glides in modest innocence away.
_Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 293._
Superfluous lags the veteran on the stage.
_Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 308._
Fears of the brave, and follies of the wise! From Marlb'rough's eyes the streams of dotage flow, And Swift expires, a driv'ler and a show.
_Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 316._
Must helpless man, in ignorance sedate, Roll darkling down the torrent of his fate?
_Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 345._
For patience, sov'reign o'er transmuted ill.
_Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 362._
Of all the griefs that harass the distrest, Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest.[366-1]
_London. Line 166._
This mournful truth is ev'rywhere confess'd,-- Slow rises worth by poverty depress'd.[366-2]
_London. Line 176._
Studious to please, yet not ashamed to fail.
_Prologue to the Tragedy of Irene._
Each change of many-colour'd life he drew, Exhausted worlds, and then imagin'd new.
_Prologue on the Opening of Drury Lane Theatre._
And panting Time toil'd after him in vain.
_Prologue on the Opening of Drury Lane Theatre._
For we that live to please must please to live.
_Prologue on the Opening of Drury Lane Theatre._
Catch, then, oh catch the transient hour; Improve each moment as it flies! Life 's a short summer, man a flower; He dies--alas! how soon he dies!
_Winter. An Ode._
Officious, innocent, sincere, Of every friendless name the friend.
_Verses on the Death of Mr. Robert Levet. Stanza 2._
In misery's darkest cavern known, His useful care was ever nigh[366-3] Where hopeless anguish pour'd his groan, And lonely want retir'd to die.
_Verses on the Death of Mr. Robert Levet. Stanza 5._
And sure th' Eternal Master found His single talent well employ'd.
_Verses on the Death of Mr. Robert Levet. Stanza 7._
Then with no throbs of fiery pain,[367-1] No cold gradations of decay, Death broke at once the vital chain, And freed his soul the nearest way.
_Verses on the Death of Mr. Robert Levet. Stanza 9._
That saw the manners in the face.
_Lines on the Death of Hogarth._
Philips, whose touch harmonious could remove The pangs of guilty power and hapless love! Rest here, distressed by poverty no more; Here find that calm thou gav'st so oft before; Sleep undisturb'd within this peaceful shrine, Till angels wake thee with a note like thine!
_Epitaph on Claudius Philips, the Musician._
A Poet, Naturalist, and Historian, Who left scarcely any style of writing untouched, And touched nothing that he did not adorn.[367-2]
_Epitaph on Goldsmith._
How small of all that human hearts endure, That part which laws or kings can cause or cure! Still to ourselves in every place consigned, Our own felicity we make or find. With secret course, which no loud storms annoy, Glides the smooth current of domestic joy.
_Lines added to Goldsmith's Traveller._
Trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay.
_Line added to Goldsmith's Deserted Village._
From thee, great God, we spring, to thee we tend,-- Path, motive, guide, original, and end.[367-3]
_Motto to the Rambler. No. 7._
Ye who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and pursue with eagerness the phantoms of hope; who expect that age will perform the promises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the present day will be supplied by the morrow,--attend to the history of Rasselas, Prince Of Abyssinia.
_Rasselas. Chap. i._
"I fly from pleasure," said the prince, "because pleasure has ceased to please; I am lonely because I am miserable, and am unwilling to cloud with my presence the happiness of others."
_Rasselas. Chap. iii._
A man used to vicissitudes is not easily dejected.
_Rasselas. Chap. xii._
Few things are impossible to diligence and skill.
_Rasselas. Chap. xii._
Knowledge is more than equivalent to force.[368-1]
_Rasselas. Chap. xiii._
I live in the crowd of jollity, not so much to enjoy company as to shun myself.
_Rasselas. Chap. xvi._
Many things difficult to design prove easy to performance.
_Rasselas. Chap. xvi._
The first years of man must make provision for the last.
_Rasselas. Chap. xvii._
Example is always more efficacious than precept.
_Rasselas. Chap. xxx._
The endearing elegance of female friendship.
_Rasselas. Chap. xlvi._
I am not so lost in lexicography as to forget that _words are the daughters of earth, and that things are the sons of heaven_.[368-2]
_Preface to his Dictionary._
Words are men's daughters, but God's sons are things.[368-3]
_Boulter's Monument._ (Supposed to have been inserted by Dr. Johnson, 1745.)
Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison.
_Life of Addison._
To be of no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant, and which is animated only by faith and hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of example.
_Life of Milton._
The trappings of a monarchy would set up an ordinary commonwealth.
_Life of Milton._
His death eclipsed the gayety of nations, and impoverished the public stock of harmless pleasure.
_Life of Edmund Smith_ (alluding to the death of Garrick).
That man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona.
_Journey to the Western Islands: Inch Kenneth._
He is no wise man that will quit a certainty for an uncertainty.
_The Idler. No. 57._
What is read twice is commonly better remembered than what is transcribed.
_The Idler. No. 74._
Tom Birch is as brisk as a bee in conversation; but no sooner does he take a pen in his hand than it becomes a torpedo to him, and benumbs all his faculties.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell).[369-1] _Vol. i. Chap. vii. 1743._
Wretched un-idea'd girls.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. i. Chap. x. 1752._
This man [Chesterfield], I thought, had been a lord among wits; but I find he is only a wit among lords.[369-2]
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. i. 1754._
Sir, he [Bolingbroke] was a scoundrel and a coward: a scoundrel for charging a blunderbuss against religion and morality; a coward, because he had not resolution to fire it off himself, but left half a crown to a beggarly Scotchman to draw the trigger at his death.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. i. 1754._
Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and when he has reached ground encumbers him with help?
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. ii. 1755._
I am glad that he thanks God for anything.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. ii. 1755._
If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, sir, should keep his friendship in a constant repair.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. ii. 1755._
Being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. iii. 1759._
Sir, I think all Christians, whether Papists or Protestants, agree in the essential articles, and that their differences are trivial, and rather political than religious.[370-1]
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. v. 1763._
The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees is the high-road that leads him to England.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. v. 1763._
If he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, sir, when he leaves our houses let us count our spoons.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. v. 1763._
Sir, your levellers wish to level _down_ as far as themselves; but they cannot bear levelling _up_ to themselves.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. v. 1763._
A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. vi. 1763._
Sherry is dull, naturally dull; but it must have taken him a great deal of pains to become what we now see him. Such an access of stupidity, sir, is not in Nature.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. ix._
Sir, a woman preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. ix._
I look upon it, that he who does not mind his belly will hardly mind anything else.[371-1]
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. ix._
This was a good dinner enough, to be sure, but it was not a dinner to _ask_ a man to.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. ix._
A very unclubable man.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. ix. 1764._
I do not know, sir, that the fellow is an infidel; but if he be an infidel, he is an infidel as a dog is an infidel; that is to say, he has never thought upon the subject.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. iii. Chap. iii. 1769._
It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. iii. Chap. iv._
That fellow seems to me to possess but one idea, and that is a wrong one.[371-2]
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. iii. Chap. v. 1770._
I am a great friend to public amusements; for they keep people from vice.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. iii. Chap. viii. 1772._
A cow is a very good animal in the field; but we turn her out of a garden.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. iii. Chap. viii. 1772._
Much may be made of a Scotchman if he be caught young.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. iii. Chap. viii. 1772._
A man may write at any time if he will set himself doggedly to it.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. iv. Chap. ii. 1773._
Let him go abroad to a distant country; let him go to some place where he is _not_ known. Don't let him go to the devil, where he _is_ known.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. iv. Chap. ii. 1773._
Was ever poet so trusted before?
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. v. Chap. vi. 1774._
Attack is the reaction. I never think I have hit hard unless it rebounds.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. v. Chap. vi. 1775._
A man will turn over half a library to make one book.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. v. Chap. viii. 1775._
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. v. Chap. ix._
Hell is paved with good intentions.[372-1]
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. v. Chap. ix._
Knowledge is of two kinds: we know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.[372-2]
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. v. Chap. ix._
I never take a nap after dinner but when I have had a bad night; and then the nap takes me.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. vi. Chap. i. 1775._
In lapidary inscriptions a man is not upon oath.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. vi. Chap. i. 1775._
There is now less flogging in our great schools than formerly,--but then less is learned there; so that what the boys get at one end they lose at the other.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. vi. Chap. i. 1775._
There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.[372-3]
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. vi. Chap. iii. 1776._
No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. vi. Chap. iii. 1776._
Questioning is not the mode of conversation among gentlemen.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. vi. Chap. iv. 1776._
A man is very apt to complain of the ingratitude of those who have risen far above him.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. vi. Chap. iv. 1776._
All this [wealth] excludes but one evil,--poverty.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. vi. Chap. ix. 1777._
Employment, sir, and hardships prevent melancholy.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. vi. Chap. ix. 1777._
When a man is tired of London he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. vi. Chap. ix. 1777._
He was so generally civil that nobody thanked him for it.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. vi. Chap. ix. 1777._
Goldsmith, however, was a man who whatever he wrote, did it better than any other man could do.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. vii. Chap. iii. 1778._
Johnson had said that he could repeat a complete chapter of "The Natural History of Iceland," from the Danish of Horrebow, the whole of which was exactly (Ch. lxxii. _Concerning snakes_) thus: "There are no snakes to be met with throughout the whole island."[373-1]
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. vii. Chap. iv. 1778._
As the Spanish proverb says, "He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies must carry the wealth of the Indies with him," so it is in travelling,--a man must carry knowledge with him if he would bring home knowledge.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. vii. Chap. v. 1778._
The true, strong, and sound mind is the mind that can embrace equally great things and small.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. vii. Chap. vi. 1778._
I remember a passage in Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield," which he was afterwards fool enough to expunge: "I do not love a man who is zealous for nothing." . . . There was another fine passage too which he struck out: "When I was a young man, being anxious to distinguish myself, I was perpetually starting new propositions. But I soon gave this over; for I found that generally what was new was false."
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. vii. Chap. viii. 1779._
Claret is the liquor for boys, port for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. vii. Chap. viii. 1779._
A Frenchman must be always talking, whether he knows anything of the matter or not; an Englishman is content to say nothing when he has nothing to say.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. vii. Chap. x._
Of Dr. Goldsmith he said, "No man was more foolish when he had not a pen in his hand, or more wise when he had."
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. vii. Chap. x._
The applause of a single human being is of great consequence.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. vii. Chap. x._
The potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice.[374-1]
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. viii. Chap. ii._
Classical quotation is the _parole_ of literary men all over the world.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. viii. Chap. iii. 1781._
My friend was of opinion that when a man of rank appeared in that character [as an author], he deserved to have his merits handsomely allowed.[374-2]
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. viii. Chap. iii. 1781._
I never have sought the world; the world was not to seek me.[374-3]
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. viii. Chap. v. 1783._
He is not only dull himself, but the cause of dullness in others.[374-4]
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. viii. Chap. v. 1784._
You see they 'd have fitted him to a T.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. viii. Chap. ix. 1784._
I have found you an argument; I am not obliged to find you an understanding.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. viii. Chap. ix. 1784._
Who drives fat oxen should himself be fat.[375-1]
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. viii. Chap. ix. 1784._
Blown about with every wind of criticism.[375-2]
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. viii. Chap. x. 1784._
If the man who turnips cries Cry not when his father dies, 'T is a proof that he had rather Have a turnip than his father.
_Johnsoniana. Piozzi, 30._
He was a very good hater.
_Johnsoniana. Piozzi, 39._
The law is the last result of human wisdom acting upon human experience for the benefit of the public.
_Johnsoniana. Piozzi, 58._
The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.
_Johnsoniana. Piozzi, 154._
Dictionaries are like watches; the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.
_Johnsoniana. Piozzi, 178._
Books that you may carry to the fire and hold readily in your hand, are the most useful after all.
_Johnsoniana. Hawkins. 197._
Round numbers are always false.
_Johnsoniana. Hawkins. 235._
As with my hat[375-3] upon my head I walk'd along the Strand, I there did meet another man With his hat in his hand.[375-4]
_Johnsoniana. George Steevens. 310._
Abstinence is as easy to me as temperance would be difficult.
_Johnsoniana. Hannah More. 467._
The limbs will quiver and move after the soul is gone.
_Johnsoniana. Northcote. 487._
Hawkesworth said of Johnson, "You have a memory that would convict any author of plagiarism in any court of literature in the world."
_Johnsoniana. Kearsley. 600._
His conversation does not show the minute-hand, but he strikes the hour very correctly.
_Johnsoniana. Kearsley. 604._
Hunting was the labour of the savages of North America, but the amusement of the gentlemen of England.
_Johnsoniana. Kearsley. 606._
I am very fond of the company of ladies. I like their beauty, I like their delicacy, I like their vivacity, and I like their silence.
_Johnsoniana. Seward. 617._
This world, where much is to be done and little to be known.
_Prayers and Meditations. Against inquisitive and perplexing Thoughts._
Gratitude is a fruit of great cultivation; you do not find it among gross people.
_Tour to the Hebrides. Sept. 20, 1773._
A fellow that makes no figure in company, and has a mind as narrow as the neck of a vinegar-cruet.
_Tour to the Hebrides. Sept. 30, 1773._
The atrocious crime of being a young man, which the honourable gentleman has with such spirit and decency charged upon me, I shall neither attempt to palliate nor deny; but content myself with wishing that I may be one of those whose follies may cease with their youth, and not of that number who are ignorant in spite of experience.[376-1]
_Pitt's Reply to Walpole. Speech, March 6, 1741._
Towering in the confidence of twenty-one.
_Letter to Bennet Langton. Jan. 9, 1758._
Gloomy calm of idle vacancy.
_Letter to Boswell. Dec. 8, 1763._
Wharton quotes Johnson as saying of Dr. Campbell, "He is the richest author that ever grazed the common of literature."
FOOTNOTES:
[365-1] All human race, from China to Peru, Pleasure, howe'er disguised by art, pursue.
THOMAS WARTON: _Universal Love of Pleasure._
De Quincey (Works, vol. x. p. 72) quotes the criticism of some writer, who contends with some reason that this high-sounding couplet of Dr. Johnson amounts in effect to this: Let observation with extensive observation observe mankind extensively.
[366-1] Nothing in poverty so ill is borne As its exposing men to grinning scorn.
OLDHAM (1653-1683): _Third Satire of Juvenal._
[366-2] Three years later Johnson wrote, "Mere unassisted merit advances slowly, if--what is not very common--it advances at all."
[366-3] _Var._ His ready help was always nigh.
[367-1] _Var._ Then with no fiery throbbing pain.
[367-2] Qui nullum fere scribendi genus Non tetigit, Nullum quod tetigit non ornavit.
See Chesterfield, page 353.
[367-3] A translation of Boethius's "De Consolatione Philosophiæ," iii. 9, 27.
[368-1] See Bacon, page 168.
[368-2] The italics and the word "forget" would seem to imply that the saying was not his own.
[368-3] Sir William Jones gives a similar saying in India: "Words are the daughters of earth, and deeds are the sons of heaven."
See Herbert, page 206. Sir THOMAS BODLEY: _Letter to his Librarian, 1604._
[369-1] From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835.
Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell's intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to _write his life_ he would prevent it by _taking Boswell's!_--CARLYLE: _Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter._
[369-2] See Pope, page 331.
[370-1] I do not find that the age or country makes the least difference; no, nor the language the actor spoke, nor the religion which they professed,--whether Arab in the desert, or Frenchman in the Academy. I see that sensible men and conscientious men all over the world were of one religion of well-doing and daring.--EMERSON: _The Preacher. Lectures and Biographical Sketches, p. 215._
[371-1] Every investigation which is guided by principles of nature fixes its ultimate aim entirely on gratifying the stomach.--ATHENÆUS: _Book vii. chap. ii._
[371-2] Mr. Kremlin was distinguished for ignorance; for he had only one idea, and that was wrong.--DISRAELI: _Sybil,