On Sunday,September 21,we went to the church of Ashbourne,which is one of the largest and most luminous that I have seen in any town of the same size.I felt great satisfaction in considering that I was supported in my fondness for solemn publick worship by the general concurrence and munificence of mankind.
Johnson and Taylor were so different from each other,that Iwondered at their preserving an intimacy.Their having been at school and college together,might,in some degree,account for this;but Sir Joshua Reynolds has furnished me with a stronger reason;for Johnson mentioned to him,that he had been told by Taylor he was to be his heir.I shall not take upon me to animadvert upon this;but certain it is,that Johnson paid great attention to Taylor.He now,however,said to me,'Sir,I love him;but I do not love him more;my regard for him does not increase.As it is said in the Apocrypha,"his talk is of bullocks:"I do not suppose he is very fond of my company.His habits are by no means sufficiently clerical:this he knows that Isee;and no man likes to live under the eye of perpetual disapprobation.'
I have no doubt that a good many sermons were composed for Taylor by Johnson.At this time I found,upon his table,a part of one which he had newly begun to write:and Concio pro Tayloro appears in one of his diaries.When to these circumstances we add the internal evidence from the power of thinking and style,in the collection which the Reverend Mr.Hayes has published,with the SIGNIFICANT title of 'Sermons LEFT FOR PUBLICATION by the Reverend John Taylor,LL.D.,'our conviction will be complete.
I,however,would not have it thought,that Dr.Taylor,though he could not write like Johnson,(as,indeed,who could?)did not sometimes compose sermons as good as those which we generally have from very respectable divines.He shewed me one with notes on the margin in Johnson's handwriting;and I was present when he read another to Johnson,that he might have his opinion of it,and Johnson said it was 'very well.'These,we may be sure,were not Johnson's;for he was above little arts,or tricks of deception.
I mentioned to Johnson a respectable person of a very strong mind,who had little of that tenderness which is common to human nature;as an instance of which,when I suggested to him that he should invite his son,who had been settled ten years in foreign parts,to come home and pay him a visit,his answer was,'No,no,let him mind his business.JOHNSON.'I do not agree with him,Sir,in this.Getting money is not all a man's business:to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.'
In the evening,Johnson,being in very good spirits,entertained us with several characteristical portraits.I regret that any of them escaped my retention and diligence.I found,from experience,that to collect my friend's conversation so as to exhibit it with any degree of its original flavour,it was necessary to write it down without delay.To record his sayings,after some distance of time,was like preserving or pickling long-kept and faded fruits,or other vegetables,which,when in that state,have little or nothing of their taste when fresh.
I shall present my readers with a series of what I gathered this evening from the Johnsonian garden.
'Did we not hear so much said of Jack Wilkes,we should think more highly of his conversation.Jack has great variety of talk,Jack is a scholar,and Jack has the manners of a gentleman.But after hearing his name sounded from pole to pole,as the phoenix of convivial felicity,we are disappointed in his company.He has always been AT ME:but I would do Jack a kindness,rather than not.
The contest is now over.'
'Colley Cibber once consulted me as to one of his birthday Odes,a long time before it was wanted.I objected very freely to several passages.Cibber lost patience,and would not read his Ode to an end.When we had done with criticism,we walked over to Richardson's,the authour of Clarissa and I wondered to find Richardson displeased that I "did not treat Cibber with more RESPECT."Now,Sir,to talk of RESPECT for a PLAYER!'(smiling disdainfully.)BOSWELL.'There,Sir,you are always heretical:
you never will allow merit to a player.'JOHNSON.'Merit,Sir!
what merit?Do you respect a rope-dancer,or a ballad-singer?'
BOSWELL.'No,Sir:but we respect a great player,as a man who can conceive lofty sentiments,and can express them gracefully.'
JOHNSON.'What,Sir,a fellow who claps a hump on his back,and a lump on his leg,and cries "I am Richard the Third"?Nay,Sir,a ballad-singer is a higher man,for he does two things;he repeats and he sings:there is both recitation and musick in his performance:the player only recites.'BOSWELL.'My dear Sir!you may turn anything into ridicule.I allow,that a player of farce is not entitled to respect;he does a little thing:but he who can represent exalted characters,and touch the noblest passions,has very respectable powers;and mankind have agreed in admiring great talents for the stage.We must consider,too,that a great player does what very few are capable to do:his art is a very rare faculty.WHO can repeat Hamlet's soliloquy,"To be,or not to be,"as Garrick does it?'JOHNSON.'Any body may.Jemmy,there (a boy about eight years old,who was in the room,)will do it as well in a week.'BOSWELL.'No,no,Sir:and as a proof of the merit of great acting,and of the value which mankind set upon it,Garrick has got a hundred thousand pounds.'JOHNSON.'Is getting a hundred thousand pounds a proof of excellence?That has been done by a scoundrel commissary.'
This was most fallacious reasoning.I was SURE,for once,that Ihad the best side of the argument.I boldly maintained the just distinction between a tragedian and a mere theatrical droll;between those who rouse our terrour and pity,and those who only make us laugh.'If (said I,)Betterton and Foote were to walk into this room,you would respect Betterton much more than Foote.'