I attempted to continue the conversation.He was so provoked,that he said,'Give us no more of this;'and was thrown into such a state of agitation,that he expressed himself in a way that alarmed and distressed me;shewed an impatience that I should leave him,and when I was going away,called to me sternly,'Don't let us meet tomorrow.'
I went home exceedingly uneasy.All the harsh observations which Ihad ever heard made upon his character,crowded into my mind;and Iseemed to myself like the man who had put his head into the lion's mouth a great many times with perfect safety,but at last had it bit off.
Next morning I sent him a note,stating,that I might have been in the wrong,but it was not intentionally;he was therefore,I could not help thinking,too severe upon me.That notwithstanding our agreement not to meet that day,I would call on him in my way to the city,and stay five minutes by my watch.'You are,(said I,)in my mind,since last night,surrounded with cloud and storm.Let me have a glimpse of sunshine,and go about my affairs in serenity and chearfulness.'
Upon entering his study,I was glad that he was not alone,which would have made our meeting more awkward.There were with him,Mr.
Steevens and Mr.Tyers,both of whom I now saw for the first time.
My note had,on his own reflection,softened him,for he received me very complacently;so that I unexpectedly found myself at ease,and joined in the conversation.
I whispered him,'Well,Sir,you are now in good humour.JOHNSON.
'Yes,Sir.'I was going to leave him,and had got as far as the staircase.He stopped me,and smiling,said,'Get you gone IN;'a curious mode of inviting me to stay,which I accordingly did for some time longer.
This little incidental quarrel and reconciliation,which,perhaps,I may be thought to have detailed too minutely,must be esteemed as one of many proofs which his friends had,that though he might be charged with bad humour at times,he was always a good-natured man;and I have heard Sir Joshua Reynolds,a nice and delicate observer of manners,particularly remark,that when upon any occasion Johnson had been rough to any person in company,he took the first opportunity of reconciliation,by drinking to him,or addressing his discourse to him;but if he found his dignified indirect overtures sullenly neglected,he was quite indifferent,and considered himself as having done all that he ought to do,and the other as now in the wrong.
I went to him early on the morning of the tenth of November.'Now (said he,)that you are going to marry,do not expect more from life,than life will afford.You may often find yourself out of humour,and you may often think your wife not studious enough to please you;and yet you may have reason to consider yourself as upon the whole very happily married.'
1770:AETAT.61.]--During this year there was a total cessation of all correspondence between Dr.Johnson and me,without any coldness on either side,but merely from procrastination,continued from day to day;and as I was not in London,I had no opportunity of enjoying his company and recording his conversation.To supply this blank,I shall present my readers with some Collectanea,obligingly furnished to me by the Rev.Dr.Maxwell,of Falkland,in Ireland,sometime assistant preacher at the Temple,and for many years the social friend of Johnson,who spoke of him with a very kind regard.
'His general mode of life,during my acquaintance,seemed to be pretty uniform.About twelve o'clock I commonly visited him,and frequently found him in bed,or declaiming over his tea,which he drank very plentifully.He generally had a levee of morning visitors,chiefly men of letters;Hawkesworth,Goldsmith,Murphy,Langton,Steevens,Beaucherk,&c.&c.,and sometimes learned ladies,particularly I remember a French lady of wit and fashion doing him the honour of a visit.He seemed to me to be considered as a kind of publick oracle,whom every body thought they had a right to visit and consult;and doubtless they were well rewarded.
I never could discover how he found time for his compositions.He declaimed all the morning,then went to dinner at a tavern,where he commonly staid late,and then drank his tea at some friend's house,over which he loitered a great while,but seldom took supper.I fancy he must have read and wrote chiefly in the night,for I can scarcely recollect that he ever refused going with me to a tavern,and he often went to Ranelagh,which he deemed a place of innocent recreation.
'He frequently gave all the silver in his pocket to the poor,who watched him,between his house and the tavern where he dined.He walked the streets at all hours,and said he was never robbed,for the rogues knew he had little money,nor had the appearance of having much.
'Though the most accessible and communicative man alive;yet when he suspected he was invited to be exhibited,he constantly spurned the invitation.
'Two young women from Staffordshire visited him when I was present,to consult him on the subject of Methodism,to which they were inclined."Come,(said he,)you pretty fools,dine with Maxwell and me at the Mitre,and we will talk over that subject;"which they did,and after dinner he took one of them upon his knee,and fondled her for half an hour together.