"THERE has appeared lately in the papers an account of a boat overset between Mull and Ulva, in which many passengers were lost, and among them Maclean of Col. We, you know, were once drowned; * I hope, therefore, that the story is either wantonly or erroneously told. Pray satisfy me by the next post. "I have printed two hundred and forty pages. I am able to do nothing much worth doing to dear Lord Hailes's book. I will, however, send back the sheets; and hope, by degrees, to answer all your reasonable expectations. "Mr. Thrale has happily surmounted a very violent and acrimonious opposition; but all joys have their abatement: Mrs. Thrale has fallen from her horse, and hurt herself very much. The rest of our friends, I believe, are well. My compliments to Mrs. Boswell. "I am, Sir, London, October 27, 1774." "Your most affectionate servant, This letter, which shows his tender concern for an amiable young gentleman to whom he had been very much obliged in the Hebrides, I have inserted according to its date, though before receiving it I had informed him of the melancholy event, that the young Laird of Col was unfortunately drowned. "DEAR SIR, 66 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. "LAST night I corrected the last page of our Journey to the Hebrides.' The printer has detained it all this time, for I had, before I went into Wales, written all except two sheets. The Patriot' was called for by my political friends on Friday, was written on Saturday, and I have heard little of it. So vague are conjectures at a distance. As soon as I can, I will take care that copies be sent to you, for I would wish that they might be given before they are bought; but I am afraid that Mr. Strahan will send to you and to the booksellers at the same time. Trade is as diligent as courtesy. I have mentioned all that you recommended. Pray make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell, and the younglings. The club, has, I think, not yet met. "Tell me, and tell me honestly, what you think and what others say of our travels. Shall we touch the Continent? + "Nov. 26, 1774." "I am, dear Sir, "Your most humble servant, In the newspapers. Alluding to a passage in a letter of mine, where, speaking of his "Journey to the Hebrides," I say, "But has not The Patriot' been an interruption, by the time taken to write it, and the time luxuriously spent in listening to its applauses?" We had projected a voyage together up the Baltic, and talked of visiting some of the more northern regions. 31-(2279) In his manuscript diary of this year, there is the following entry: "Nov. 27. Advent Sunday. I considered that this day, being the beginning of the ecclesiastical year, was a proper time for a new course of life. I began to read the Greek Testament regularly at 160 verses every Sunday. This day I began the Acts. 6 'In this week I read Virgil's Pastorals.' I learned to repeat the Pollio and Gallus. I read carelessly the first Georgic." Such evidences of his unceasing ardour, both for "divine and human lore," when advanced into his sixty-fifth year, and notwithstanding his many disturbances from disease, must make us at once honour his spirit, and lament that it should be so grievously clogged by its material tegument. It is remarkable that he was very fond of the precision which calculation produces. Thus we find in one of his manuscript diaries, " 12 pages in 4to. Gr. Test. and 30 pages in Beza's folio, comprise the whole in forty days." "DEAR SIR, "DR. JOHNSON TO JOHN HOOLE, ESQ. "I HAVE returned your play,* which you will find underscored with red, where there was a word which I did not like. The red will be washed off with a little water. "The plot is so well framed, the intricacy so artful, and the disentanglement so easy, the suspense so affecting, and the passionate parts so properly interposed, that I have no doubt of its success. * "Cleonice. Written by John Hoole, the translator of Tasso and Ariosto. at Covent Garden in March, 1775. The play was produced CHAPTER XXV-1775 JOHNSON AND MACPHERSON Johnson and Mrs. Charlotte Lennox-His Preface to Baretti's Easy Lessons-Correspondence with Boswell-Questions the Authenticity of Ossian's Poems-His Letter to James Macpherson-His Personal Courage-Defeats Foote's Intended Mimicry-" Journey to the Western Islands," Published-The Ossian Controversy. THE first effort of his pen, in 1775, was, "Proposals for publishing the Works of Mrs. Charlotte Lennox,"* [t] in three volumes quarto. In his diary, January 2, I find this entry: "Wrote Charlotte's Proposals.' But, indeed, the internal evidence would have been quite sufficient. Her claim to the favour of the public was thus enforced : "Most of the pieces, as they appeared singly, have been read with approbation, perhaps above their merits, but of no great advantage to the writer. [" Mrs. Lennox, a lady now well known to the literary world, had written a novel entitled "The Life of Harriot Stuart,' which in the spring of 1751 was ready for publication. One evening at the [Ivy Lane] Club, Johnson proposed to us the celebrating the birth of Mrs. Lennox's first literary child, as he called her book, by a whole night spent in festivity. Upon his mentioning it to me, I told him I had never sat up a whole night in my life; but he, continuing to press me, and saying that I should find great delight in it, I, as did all the rest of the company, consented. The place appointed was the Devil Tavern, and there, about the hour of eight, Mrs. Lennox and her husband, and a lady of her acquaintance still [1785] living, as also the Club, and friends to the number of nearly twenty assembled. The supper was elegant, and Johnson had directed that a magnificent hot apple-pie should make a part of it, and this he would have stuck with bay leaves, because, forsooth, Mrs. Lennox was an authoress, and had written verses; and, further, he had prepared for her a crown of laurel, with which, but not until he had invoked the Muses by some ceremonies of his own invention, he encircled her brows. The night passed, as must be imagined, in pleasant conversation and harmless mirth, intermingled at different periods with the refreshments of coffee and tea. About five, Johnson's face shone with meridian splendour, though his drink had only been lemonade; but the far greater part of the company had deserted the colours of Bacchus, and were with difficulty rallied to partake of a second refreshment of coffee, which was scarcely ended when the day began to dawn. This phenomenon began to put us in mind of our reckoning; but the waiters were all so overcome with sleep that it was two hours before a bill could be had, and it was not till near eight that the creaking of the street door gave the signal for our departure."-Hawkins.] THE She hopes, PATRIOT. Addreffed to the ELECTORS of GREAT BRITAIN, TREY bawl for Freedom in their fenfelefs nood, LONDON: Printed for T. CADELL, in the Strand, Facsimile title-page (reduced) of one of Johnson's anonymous political pamphlets therefore, that she shall not be considered as too indulgent to vanity, or too studious of interest, if, from that labour which has hitherto been chiefly gainful to others, she endeavours to obtain at last some profit to herself and her children. She cannot decently enforce her claim by the praise of her own performances; nor can she suppose that, by the most artful and laboured address, any additional notice could be procured to a publication, of which HER MAJESTY has condescended to be the PATRONESS." He this year also wrote the Preface to Baretti's "Easy Lessons in Italian and English." [+] DEAR SIR, 66 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. "You never did ask for a book by the post till now, and I did not think on it. You see now it is done. I sent one to the King, and I hear he likes it. "I shall send a parcel into Scotland for presents, and intend to give to many my friends. In your catalogue, you left out Lord Auchinleck. "Let me know, as fast as you read it, how you like it; and let me know if any mistake is committed, or anything important left out. I wish you could have seen the sheets. My compliments to Mrs. Boswell, and to Veronica, and to all my friends. Edinburgh, Jan. 19, 1775. "BE pleased to accept of my best thanks for your Journey to the Hebrides,' which came to me by last night's post. I did really ask the favour twice; but you have been even with me by granting it so speedily. Bis dat qui cito dat. Though ill of a bad cold, you kept me up the greatest part of the last night: for I did not stop till I had read every word of your book. I looked back to our first talking of a visit to the Hebrides, which was many years ago, when sitting by ourselves in the Mitre Tavern, in London, I think about witching time o'night and then exulted in contemplating our scheme fulfilled, and a monumentum perenne of it erected by your superior abilities. I shall only say that your book has afforded me a high gratification. I shall afterwards give you my thoughts on particular passages. In the meantime, I hasten to tell you of your having mistaken two names, which you will correct in London, as I shall do here, that the gentlemen who deserve the valuable compliments which you have paid them, may enjoy their honours. In page 106, for Gordon read Murchison; and in page 357, for Maclean read Macleod.* But I am now to apply to you for immediate aid in my profession, which you have never refused to grant when I requested it. I enclose you a petition for Dr. Memis, a physician at Aberdeen, in which Sir John Dalrymple has exerted his talents, and which I am to answer as counsel for the managers of the Royal Infirmary in that city. Mr. Jopp, the Provost, who delivered to you your freedom, is one of my clients, and, as a citizen of Aberdeen, you will support him. * [These and several other errors which Boswell pointed out Johnson neglected to correct, and they are therefore repeated in all editions of his work.-Croker.] Etat. 66] "The fact is shortly this. In a translation of the charter of the Infirmary from Latin. into English, made under the authority of the managers, the same phrase in the original is in one place rendered Physician, but when applied to Dr. Memis is rendered Doctor of Medicine. Dr. Memis complained of this before the translation was printed, but was not indulged with having it altered; and he has brought an action for damages, on account of a supposed injury, as if the designation given to him. was an inferior one, tending to make it be supposed he is not a Physician, and, consequently, to hurt his practice. My father has dismissed the action as groundless, and now he has appealed to the whole Court." * "TO JAMES BOSWELL, "I LONG to hear how you like the the daughter of Colonel Ramsay, Lieutenant Governor of New York, who sent her over to England at the age of fifteen. In 1747 she published a volume of poems, and probably about this time became acquainted with and married a Mr. Lennox, or Lenox, who was in the employ of Mr. Strahan the printer. Her novel, "Harriot Stuart," which is supposed to give her own history, appeared in 1751, her best remembered book, "The Female Quixote," in 1752. Johnson was always extremely kind to Mrs. Lennox, and besides his "Proposals for publishing her works " he wrote for her in 1753 a dedication for her "Shakspeare Illustrated" to the Earl of Orrery. Mrs. Lennox was reduced to great distress in the latter part of her life. book; it is, I think, much liked here. But Macpherson is very furious: can you give me any more intelligence about him, or his Fingal? Do what you can, and do it quickly. Is Lord Hailes on our side? 66 Pray let me know what I owed you when I left you, that I may send it to you. "I am going to write about the Americans. If you have picked up any hints among your lawyers, who are great masters of the law of nations, or if your own mind suggest anything, let me know. But mum, it is a secret. * In the Court of Session of Scotland, an action is first tried by one of the Judges, who is called the Lord Ordinary; and if either party is dissatisfied, he may appeal to the whole Court, consisting of fifteen, the Lord President and fourteen other Judges, who have both in and out of Court the title of Lords, from the name of their estates; as, Lord Auchinleck, Lord Monboddo, etc. |