526. Pepys, writing in 1660, says: 'I did send for a cup of tee, (a China drink) of which I never had drank before.' Pepys' Diary, i. 137. Horace Walpole (Letters, i. 224) writing in 1743 says:--'They have talked of a new duty on tea, to be paid by every housekeeper for all the persons in their families; but it will scarce be proposed. Tea is so universal, that it would make a greater clamour than a duty on wine.' In October 1734 tea was sold in London at the following prices:--Ordinary Bohca 9s. per lb. Fine Bohca 10s. to 12s. per lb. Pekoe 15s. per lb. Hyson 20s. to 25s. per lb. Gent. Mag. iv. 575.
[921] Yet in his reply to Mr. Hanway he said (Works, vi. 33):--'I allowed tea to be a barren superfluity, neither medicinal nor nutritious, that neither supplied strength nor cheerfulness, neither relieved weariness, nor exhilarated sorrow.' Cumberland writes (Memoirs, i. 357):--'I remember when Sir Joshua Reynolds at my house reminded Dr. Johnson that he had drank eleven cups, he replied: "Sir, I did not count your glasses of wine, why should you number up my cups of tea?" And then laughing in perfect good humour he added:--"Sir, I should have released the lady from any further trouble, if it had not been for your remark; but you have reminded me that I want one of the dozen, and I must request Mrs. Cumberland to round up my number."'
[922] In this Review Johnson describes himself as 'a hardened and shameless tea-drinker, who has for twenty years diluted his meals with only the infusion of this fascinating plant; whose kettle has scarcely time to cool; who with tea amuses the evening, with tea solaces the midnight, and with tea welcomes the morning.' Johnson's Works, vi. 21. That 'he never felt the least inconvenience from it' may well be doubted. His nights were almost always bad. In 1774 he recorded:--'I could not drink this day either coffee or tea after dinner. I know not when I missed before.' The next day he recorded:--'Last night my sleep was remarkably quiet. I know not whether by fatigue in walking, or by forbearance of tea.' Diary of a Journey into North Wales, Aug. 4.
[923] See post, May, 1768.
[924]
'Losing, he wins, because his name will be Ennobled by defeat who durst contend with me.'
DRYDEN, Ovid, Meta., xiii. 19.
[925] In Hanway's Essay Johnson found much to praisc. Hanway often went to the root when he dealt with the evils of life. Thus he writes:--'The introducing new habits of life is the most substantial charity.' But he thus mingles sense and nonsense:--'Though tea and gin have spread their baneful influence over this island and his Majesty's other dominions, yet you may be well assured that the Governors of the Foundling Hospital will exert their utmost skill and vigilance to prevent the children under their care from being poisoned, or enervated, by one or the other.' Johnson's Works, vi. 26, 28.
[926] 'Et pourquoi tuer cet amiral? C'est, lui dit-on, parce qu'il n'a pas fait tuer assez de monde; il a livre un combat a un amiral francais, et on a trouve qu'il n'etait pas assez pres de lui. Mais, dit Candide, l'amiral francais etait aussi loin de l'amiral anglais que celui-ci l'etait de l'autre. Cela est incontestable, lui repliquat-on; mais dans ce pays-ci il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres.' Candide, ch. xxiii.
[927] See post, June 3, 1781, when Boswell went to this church.
[928] Johnson reprinted this Review in a small volume by itself. See Johnson's Works, vi. 47, note.
[929]
'I have ventured, Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders, This many summers in a sea of glory, But far beyond my depth.'
Henry VIII, Act iii. sc. 2.
[930] Musical Travels through England, by Joel Collier [not Collyer], Organist, 1774. This book was written in ridicule of Dr. Burney's Travels, who, says his daughter, 'was much hurt on its first appearance.' Dr. Burney's Memoirs, i. 259.
[931] See ante, p. 223.
[932] Some time after Dr. Johnson's death there appeared in the newspapers and magazines an illiberal and petulant attack upon him, in the form of an Epitaph, under the name of Mr. Soame Jenyns, very unworthy of that gentleman, who had quietly submitted to the critical lash while Johnson lived. It assumed, as characteristicks of him, all the vulgar circumstances of abuse which had circulated amongst the ignorant. It was an unbecoming indulgence of puny resentment, at a time when he himself was at a very advanced age, and had a near prospect of descending to the grave. I was truly sorry for it; for he was then become an avowed, and (as my Lord Bishop of London, who had a serious conversation with him on the subject, assures me) a sincere Christian. He could not expect that Johnson's numerous friends would patiently bear to have the memory of their master stigmatized by no mean pen, but that, at least, one would be found to retort. Accordingly, this unjust and sarcastick Epitaph was met in the same publick field by an answer, in terms by no means soft, and such as wanton provocation only could justify:
'EPITAPH,
'Prepared for a creature not quite dead yet.