My next meeting with Johnson was on Friday the 1st of July,when he and I and Dr.Goldsmith supped together at the Mitre.I was before this time pretty well acquainted with Goldsmith,who was one of the brightest ornaments of the Johnsonian school.Goldsmith's respectful attachment to Johnson was then at its height;for his own literary reputation had not yet distinguished him so much as to excite a vain desire of competition with his great Master.He had increased my admiration of the goodness of Johnson's heart,by incidental remarks in the course of conversation,such as,when Imentioned Mr.Levet,whom he entertained under his roof,'He is poor and honest,which is recommendation enough to Johnson;'and when I wondered that he was very kind to a man of whom I had heard a very bad character,'He is now become miserable;and that insures the protection of Johnson.'
He talked very contemptuously of Churchill's poetry,observing,that 'it had a temporary currency,only from its audacity of abuse,and being filled with living names,and that it would sink into oblivion.'I ventured to hint that he was not quite a fair judge,as Churchill had attacked him violently.JOHNSON.'Nay,Sir,I am a very fair judge.He did not attack me violently till he found Idid not like his poetry;and his attack on me shall not prevent me from continuing to say what I think of him,from an apprehension that it may be ascribed to resentment.No,Sir,I called the fellow a blockhead at first,and I will call him a blockhead still.
However,I will acknowledge that I have a better opinion of him now,than I once had;for he has shewn more fertility than Iexpected.To be sure,he is a tree that cannot produce good fruit:
he only bears crabs.But,Sir,a tree that produces a great many crabs is better than a tree which produces only a few.'
Let me here apologize for the imperfect manner in which I am obliged to exhibit Johnson's conversation at this period.In the early part of my acquaintance with him,I was so wrapt in admiration of his extraordinary colloquial talents,and so little accustomed to his peculiar mode of expression,that I found it extremely difficult to recollect and record his conversation with its genuine vigour and vivacity.In progress of time,when my mind was,as it were,strongly impregnated with the Johnsonian oether,Icould,with much more facility and exactness,carry in my memory and commit to paper the exuberant variety of his wisdom and wit.
At this time MISS Williams,as she was then called,though she did not reside with him in the Temple under his roof,but had lodgings in Bolt-court,Fleet-street,had so much of his attention,that he every night drank tea with her before he went home,however late it might be,and she always sat up for him.This,it may be fairly conjectured,was not alone a proof of his regard for HER,but of his own unwillingness to go into solitude,before that unseasonable hour at which he had habituated himself to expect the oblivion of repose.Dr.Goldsmith,being a privileged man,went with him this night,strutting away,and calling to me with an air of superiority,like that of an esoterick over an exoterick disciple of a sage of antiquity,'I go to Miss Williams.'I confess,I then envied him this mighty privilege,of which he seemed so proud;but it was not long before I obtained the same mark of distinction.
On Tuesday the 5th of July,I again visited Johnson.
Talking of London,he observed,'Sir,if you wish to have a just notion of the magnitude of this city,you must not be satisfied with seeing its great streets and squares,but must survey the innumerable little lanes and courts.It is not in the showy evolutions of buildings,but in the multiplicity of human habitations which are crouded together,that the wonderful immensity of London consists.'
On Wednesday,July 6,he was engaged to sup with me at my lodgings in Downing-street,Westminster.But on the preceding night my landlord having behaved very rudely to me and some company who were with me,I had resolved not to remain another night in his house.
I was exceedingly uneasy at the aukward appearance I supposed Ishould make to Johnson and the other gentlemen whom I had invited,not being able to receive them at home,and being obliged to order supper at the Mitre.I went to Johnson in the morning,and talked of it as a serious distress.He laughed,and said,'Consider,Sir,how insignificant this will appear a twelvemonth hence.'--Were this consideration to be applied to most of the little vexatious incidents of life,by which our quiet is too often disturbed,it would prevent many painful sensations.I have tried it frequently,with good effect.'There is nothing (continued he)in this mighty misfortune;nay,we shall be better at the Mitre.'
I had as my guests this evening at the Mitre tavern,Dr.Johnson,Dr.Goldsmith,Mr.Thomas Davies,Mr.Eccles,an Irish gentleman,for whose agreeable company I was obliged to Mr.Davies,and the Reverend Mr.John Ogilvie,who was desirous of being in company with my illustrious friend,while I,in my turn,was proud to have the honour of shewing one of my countrymen upon what easy terms Johnson permitted me to live with him.
Goldsmith,as usual,endeavoured,with too much eagerness,to SHINE,and disputed very warmly with Johnson against the well-known maxim of the British constitution,'the King can do no wrong;'
affirming,that 'what was morally false could not be politically true;and as the King might,in the exercise of his regal power,command and cause the doing of what was wrong,it certainly might be said,in sense and in reason,that he could do wrong.'JOHNSON.
'Sir,you are to consider,that in our constitution,according to its true principles,the King is the head;he is supreme;he is above every thing,and there is no power by which he can be tried.