Talking of some of the modern plays,he said False Delicacy was totally void of character.He praised Goldsmith's Good-natured Man;said,it was the best comedy that had appeared since The Provoked Husband,and that there had not been of late any such character exhibited on the stage as that of Croaker.I observed it was the Suspirius of his Rambler.He said,Goldsmith had owned he had borrowed it from thence.'Sir,(continued he,)there is all the difference in the world between characters of nature and characters of manners;and THERE is the difference between the characters of Fielding and those of Richardson.Characters of manners are very entertaining;but they are to be understood by a more superficial observer than characters of nature,where a man must dive into the recesses of the human heart.'
It always appeared to me that he estimated the compositions of Richardson too highly,and that he had an unreasonable prejudice against Fielding.In comparing those two writers,he used this expression:'that there was as great a difference between them as between a man who knew how a watch was made,and a man who could tell the hour by looking on the dial-plate.'
'I have not been troubled for a long time with authours desiring my opinion of their works.I used once to be sadly plagued with a man who wrote verses,but who literally had no other notion of a verse,but that it consisted of ten syllables.Lay your knife and your fork,across your plate,was to him a verse:
Lay your knife and your fork,across your plate.
As he wrote a great number of verses,he sometimes by chance made good ones,though he did not know it.'
Johnson expatiated on the advantages of Oxford for learning.
'There is here,Sir,(said he,)such a progressive emulation.The students are anxious to appear well to their tutors;the tutors are anxious to have their pupils appear well in the college;the colleges are anxious to have their students appear well in the University;and there are excellent rules of discipline in every college.That the rules are sometimes ill observed,may be true;but is nothing against the system.The members of an University may,for a season,be unmindful of their duty.I am arguing for the excellency of the institution.'
He said he had lately been a long while at Lichfield,but had grown very weary before he left it.BOSWELL.'I wonder at that,Sir;it is your native place.'JOHNSON.'Why,so is Scotland YOUR native place.'
His prejudice against Scotland appeared remarkably strong at this time.When I talked of our advancement in literature,'Sir,(said he,)you have learnt a little from us,and you think yourselves very great men.Hume would never have written History,had not Voltaire written it before him.He is an echo of Voltaire.'
BOSWELL.'But,Sir,we have Lord Kames.'JOHNSON.'You HAVE Lord Kames.Keep him;ha,ha,ha!We don't envy you him.Do you ever see Dr.Robertson?'BOSWELL.'Yes,Sir.'JOHNSON.'Does the dog talk of me?'BOSWELL.'Indeed,Sir,he does,and loves you.'
Thinking that I now had him in a corner,and being solicitous for the literary fame of my country,I pressed him for his opinion on the merit of Dr.Robertson's History of Scotland.But,to my surprize,he escaped.--'Sir,I love Robertson,and I won't talk of his book.'
An essay,written by Mr.Deane,a divine of the Church of England,maintaining the future life of brutes,by an explication of certain parts of the ures,was mentioned,and the doctrine insisted on by a gentleman who seemed fond of curious speculation.Johnson,who did not like to hear of any thing concerning a future state which was not authorised by the regular canons of orthodoxy,discouraged this talk;and being offended at its continuation,he watched an opportunity to give the gentleman a blow of reprehension.So,when the poor speculatist,with a serious metaphysical pensive face,addressed him,'But really,Sir,when we see a very sensible dog,we don't know what to think of him;'
Johnson,rolling with joy at the thought which beamed in his eye,turned quickly round,and replied,'True,Sir:and when we see a very foolish FELLOW,we don't know what to think of HIM.'He then rose up,strided to the fire,and stood for some time laughing and exulting.
I asked him if it was not hard that one deviation from chastity should so absolutely ruin a young woman.Johnson.'Why,no,Sir;it is the great principle which she is taught.When she has given up that principle,she has given up every notion of female honour and virtue,which are all included in chastity.'
A gentleman talked to him of a lady whom he greatly admired and wished to marry,but was afraid of her superiority of talents.
'Sir,(said he,)you need not be afraid;marry her.Before a year goes about,you'll find that reason much weaker,and that wit not so bright.'Yet the gentleman may be justified in his apprehension by one of Dr.Johnson's admirable sentences in his life of Waller:
'He doubtless praised many whom he would have been afraid to marry;and,perhaps,married one whom he would have been ashamed to praise.Many qualities contribute to domestic happiness,upon which poetry has no colours to bestow;and many airs and sallies may delight imagination,which he who flatters them never can approve.'
He praised Signor Baretti.'His account of Italy is a very entertaining book;and,Sir,I know no man who carries his head higher in conversation than Baretti.There are strong powers in his mind.He has not,indeed,many hooks;but with what hooks he has,he grapples very forcibly.'
At this time I observed upon the dial-plate of his watch a short Greek inion,taken from the New Testament,[Greek text omitted],being the first words of our SAVIOUR'S solemn admonition to the improvement of that time which is allowed us to prepare for eternity:'the night cometh when no man can work.'