Dr.Johnson advised me to-day,to have as many books about me as Icould;that I might read upon any subject upon which I had a desire for instruction at the time.'What you read THEN (said he,)you will remember;but if you have not a book immediately ready,and the subject moulds in your mind,it is a chance if you again have a desire to study it.'He added,'If a man never has an eager desire for instruction,he should prescribe a task for himself.But it is better when a man reads from immediate inclination.'
He repeated a good many lines of Horace's Odes,while we were in the chaise.I remember particularly the Ode Eheu fugaces.
He told me that Bacon was a favourite authour with him;but he had never read his works till he was compiling the English Dictionary,in which,he said,I might see Bacon very often quoted.Mr.Seward recollects his having mentioned,that a Dictionary of the English Language might be compiled from Bacon's writings alone,and that he had once an intention of giving an edition of Bacon,at least of his English works,and writing the Life of that great man.Had he executed this intention,there can be no doubt that he would have done it in a most masterly manner.
Wishing to be satisfied what degree of truth there was in a story which a friend of Johnson's and mine had told me to his disadvantage,I mentioned it to him in direct terms;and it was to this effect:that a gentleman who had lived in great intimacy with him,shewn him much kindness,and even relieved him from a spunging-house,having afterwards fallen into bad circumstances,was one day,when Johnson was at dinner with him,seized for debt,and carried to prison;that Johnson sat still undisturbed,and went on eating and drinking;upon which the gentleman's sister,who was present,could not suppress her indignation:'What,Sir,(said she,)are you so unfeeling,as not even to offer to go to my brother in his distress;you who have been so much obliged to him?'
And that Johnson answered,'Madam,I owe him no obligation;what he did for me he would have done for a dog.'
Johnson assured me,that the story was absolutely false:but like a man conscious of being in the right,and desirous of completely vindicating himself from such a charge,he did not arrogantly rest on a mere denial,and on his general character,but proceeded thus:--'Sir,I was very intimate with that gentleman,and was once relieved by him from an arrest;but I never was present when he was arrested,never knew that he was arrested,and I believe he never was in difficulties after the time when he relieved me.I loved him much;yet,in talking of his general character,I may have said,though I do not remember that I ever did say so,that as his generosity proceeded from no principle,but was a part of his profusion,he would do for a dog what he would do for a friend:but I never applied this remark to any particular instance,and certainly not to his kindness to me.If a profuse man,who does not value his money,and gives a large sum to a whore,gives half as much,or an equally large sum to relieve a friend,it cannot be esteemed as virtue.This was all that I could say of that gentleman;and,if said at all,it must have been said after his death.Sir,I would have gone to the world's end to relieve him.
The remark about the dog,if made by me,was such a sally as might escape one when painting a man highly.'
On Tuesday,September 23,Johnson was remarkably cordial to me.It being necessary for me to return to Scotland soon,I had fixed on the next day for my setting out,and I felt a tender concern at the thought of parting with him.He had,at this time,frankly communicated to me many particulars,which are inserted in this work in their proper places;and once,when I happened to mention that the expence of my jaunt would come to much more than I had computed,he said,'Why,Sir,if the expence were to be an inconvenience,you would have reason to regret it:but,if you have had the money to spend,I know not that you could have purchased as much pleasure with it in any other way.'
I perceived that he pronounced the word heard,as if spelt with a double e,heerd,instead of sounding it herd,as is most usually done.He said,his reason was,that if it was pronounced herd,there would be a single exception from the English pronunciation of the syllable ear,and he thought it better not to have that exception.
In the evening our gentleman-farmer,and two others,entertained themselves and the company with a great number of tunes on the fiddle.Johnson desired to have 'Let ambition fire thy mind,'
played over again,and appeared to give a patient attention to it;though he owned to me that he was very insensible to the power of musick.I told him,that it affected me to such a degree,as often to agitate my nerves painfully,producing in my mind alternate sensations of pathetick dejection,so that I was ready to shed tears;and of daring resolution,so that I was inclined to rush into the thickest part of the battle.'Sir,(said he,)I should never hear it,if it made me such a fool.'
This evening,while some of the tunes of ordinary composition were played with no great skill,my frame was agitated,and I was conscious of a generous attachment to Dr.Johnson,as my preceptor and friend,mixed with an affectionate regret that he was an old man,whom I should probably lose in a short time.I thought Icould defend him at the point of my sword.My reverence and affection for him were in full glow.I said to him,'My dear Sir,we must meet every year,if you don't quarrel with me.'JOHNSON.
'Nay,Sir,you are more likely to quarrel with me,than I with you.
My regard for you is greater almost than I have words to express;but I do not choose to be always repeating it;write it down in the first leaf of your pocket-book,and never doubt of it again.'
