'Richardson had little conversation,except about his own works,of which Sir Joshua Reynolds said he was always willing to talk,and glad to have them introduced.Johnson when he carried Mr.Langton to see him,professed that he could bring him out into conversation,and used this allusive expression,"Sir,I can make him REAR."But he failed;for in that interview Richardson said little else than that there lay in the room a translation of his Clarissa into German.'
'Once when somebody produced a newspaper in which there was a letter of stupid abuse of Sir Joshua Reynolds,of which Johnson himself came in for a share,--"Pray,"said he,"let us have it read aloud from beginning to end;"which being done,he with a ludicrous earnestness,and not directing his look to any particular person,called out,"Are we alive after all this satire!"'
'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."'
'An observation of Bathurst's may be mentioned,which Johnson repeated,appearing to acknowledge it to be well founded,namely,it was somewhat remarkable how seldom,on occasion of coming into the company of any new person,one felt any wish or inclination to see him again.'
1781:AETAT.72.]--In 1781Johnson at last completed his Lives of the Poets,of which he gives this account:'Some time in March Ifinished the Lives of the Poets,which I wrote in my usual way,dilatorily and hastily,unwilling to work,and working with vigour and haste.'In a memorandum previous to this,he says of them:
'Written,I hope,in such a manner as may tend to the promotion of piety.'
The booksellers,justly sensible of the great additional value of the copy-right,presented him with another hundred pounds,over and above two hundred,for which his agreement was to furnish such prefaces as he thought fit.
As he was so good as to make me a present of the greatest part of the original and indeed only manu of this admirable work,Ihave an opportunity of observing with wonder,the correctness with which he rapidly struck off such glowing composition.
The Life of COWLEY he himself considered as the best of the whole,on account of the dissertation which it contains on the Metaphysical Poets.
While the world in general was filled with admiration of Johnson's Lives of the Poets,there were narrow circles in which prejudice and resentment were fostered,and from which attacks of different sorts issued against him.By some violent Whigs he was arraigned of injustice to Milton;by some Cambridge men of depreciating Gray;and his expressing with a dignified freedom what he really thought of George,Lord Lyttelton,gave offence to some of the friends of that nobleman,and particularly produced a declaration of war against him from Mrs.Montagu,the ingenious Essayist on Shakspeare,between whom and his Lordship a commerce of reciprocal compliments had long been carried on.In this war the smaller powers in alliance with him were of course led to engage,at least on the defensive,and thus I for one was excluded from the enjoyment of 'A Feast of Reason,'such as Mr.Cumberland has described,with a keen,yet just and delicate pen,in his Observer.
These minute inconveniences gave not the least disturbance to Johnson.He nobly said,when I talked to him of the feeble,though shrill outcry which had been raised,'Sir,I considered myself as entrusted with a certain portion of truth.I have given my opinion sincerely;let them shew where they think me wrong.'
I wrote to him in February,complaining of having been troubled by a recurrence of the perplexing question of Liberty and Necessity;--and mentioning that I hoped soon to meet him again in London.
'TO JAMES BOSWELL,ESQ.
'DEAR SIR,--I hoped you had got rid of all this hypocrisy of misery.What have you to do with Liberty and Necessity?Or what more than to hold your tongue about it?Do not doubt but I shall be most heartily glad to see you here again,for I love every part about you but your affectation of distress.
'I have at last finished my Lives,and have laid up for you a load of copy,all out of order,so that it will amuse you a long time to set it right.Come to me,my dear Bozzy,and let us be as happy as we can.We will go again to the Mitre,and talk old times over.Iam,dear Sir,yours affectionately,'March 14,1781.'
'SAM.JOHNSON.'
On Monday,March 19,I arrived in London,and on Tuesday,the 20th,met him in Fleet-street,walking,or rather indeed moving along;for his peculiar march is thus described in a very just and picturesque manner,in a short Life of him published very soon after his death:--'When he walked the streets,what with the constant roll of his head,and the concomitant motion of his body,he appeared to make his way by that motion,independent of his feet.'That he was often much stared at while he advanced in this manner,may easily be believed;but it was not safe to make sport of one so robust as he was.Mr.Langton saw him one day,in a fit of absence,by a sudden start,drive the load off a porter's back,and walk forward briskly,without being conscious of what he had done.The porter was very angry,but stood still,and eyed the huge figure with much earnestness,till he was satisfied that his wisest course was to be quiet,and take up his burthen again.
Our accidental meeting in the street after a long separation was a pleasing surprize to us both.He stepped aside with me into Falcon-court,and made kind inquiries about my family,and as we were in a hurry going different ways,I promised to call on him next day;he said he was engaged to go out in the morning.'Early,Sir?'said I.JOHNSON.'Why,Sir,a London morning does not go with the sun.'
I waited on him next evening,and he gave me a great portion of his original manu of his Lives of the Poets,which he had preserved for me.