Thrale's,in the Borough,I hastened thither,and found Mrs.Thrale and him at breakfast.I was kindly welcomed.In a moment he was in a full glow of conversation,and I felt myself elevated as if brought into another state of being.Mrs.Thrale and I looked to each other while he talked,and our looks expressed our congenial admiration and affection for him.I shall ever recollect this scene with great pleasure,I exclaimed to her,'I am now,intellectually,Hermippus redivivus,I am quite restored by him,by transfusion of mind.''There are many (she replied)who admire and respect Mr.Johnson;but you and I LOVE him.'
He said,when in Scotland,that he was Johnson of that Ilk.--BOSWELL.
He seemed very happy in the near prospect of going to Italy with Mr.and Mrs.Thrale.'But,(said he,)before leaving England I am to take a jaunt to Oxford,Birmingham,my native city Lichfield,and my old friend,Dr.Taylor's,at Ashbourn,in Derbyshire.Ishall go in a few days,and you,Boswell,shall go with me.'I was ready to accompany him;being willing even to leave London to have the pleasure of his conversation.
We got into a boat to cross over to Black-friars;and as we moved along the Thames,I talked to him of a little volume,which,altogether unknown to him,was advertised to be published in a few days,under the title of Johnsoniana,or Bon-Mots of Dr.Johnson.
JOHNSON.'Sir,it is a mighty impudent thing.'BOSWELL.'Pray,Sir,could you have no redress if you were to prosecute a publisher for bringing out,under your name,what you never said,and ascribing to you dull stupid nonsense,or making you swear profanely,as many ignorant relaters of your bon-mots do?'
JOHNSON.'No,Sir;there will always be some truth mixed with the falsehood,and how can it be ascertained how much is true and how much is false?Besides,Sir,what damages would a jury give me for having been represented as swearing?'BOSWELL.'I think,Sir,you should at least disavow such a publication,because the world and posterity might with much plausible foundation say,"Here is a volume which was publickly advertised and came out in Dr.Johnson's own time,and,by his silence,was admitted by him to be genuine."'
JOHNSON.'I shall give myself no trouble about the matter.'
He was,perhaps,above suffering from such spurious publications;but I could not help thinking,that many men would be much injured in their reputation,by having absurd and vicious sayings imputed to them;and that redress ought in such cases to be given.
He said,'The value of every story depends on its being true.Astory is a picture either of an individual or of human nature in general:if it be false,it is a picture of nothing.For instance:
suppose a man should tell that Johnson,before setting out for Italy,as he had to cross the Alps,sat down to make himself wings.
This many people would believe;but it would be a picture of nothing.(naming a worthy friend of ours,)used to think a story,a story,till I shewed him that truth was essential to it.'
I observed,that Foote entertained us with stories which were not true;but that,indeed,it was properly not as narratives that Foote's stories pleased us,but as collections of ludicrous images.
JOHNSON.'Foote is quite impartial,for he tells lies of every body.'
The importance of strict and scrupulous veracity cannot be too often inculcated.Johnson was known to be so rigidly attentive to it,that even in his common conversation the slightest circumstance was mentioned with exact precision.The knowledge of his having such a principle and habit made his friends have a perfect reliance on the truth of every thing that he told,however it might have been doubted if told by many others.As an instance of this,I may mention an odd incident which he related as having happened to him one night in Fleet-street.'A gentlewoman (said he)begged I would give her my arm to assist her in crossing the street,which Iaccordingly did;upon which she offered me a shilling,supposing me to be the watchman.I perceived that she was somewhat in liquor.'
This,if told by most people,would have been thought an invention;when told by Johnson,it was believed by his friends as much as if they had seen what passed.
We landed at the Temple-stairs,where we parted.
I found him in the evening in Mrs.Williams's room.Finding him still persevering in his abstinence from wine,I ventured to speak to him of it--JOHNSON.'Sir,I have no objection to a man's drinking wine,if he can do it in moderation.I found myself apt to go to excess in it,and therefore,after having been for some time without it,on account of illness,I thought it better not to return to it.Every man is to judge for himself,according to the effects which he experiences.One of the fathers tells us,he found fasting made him so peevish that he did not practise it.'
Though he often enlarged upon the evil of intoxication,he was by no means harsh and unforgiving to those who indulged in occasional excess in wine.One of his friends,I well remember,came to sup at a tavern with him and some other gentlemen,and too plainly discovered that he had drunk too much at dinner.When one who loved mischief,thinking to produce a severe censure,asked Johnson,a few days afterwards,'Well,Sir,what did your friend say to you,as an apology for being in such a situation?'Johnson answered,'Sir,he said all that a man SHOULD say:he said he was sorry for it.'