Baretti, in his Journey from London to Genoa (i. 62, 66), after telling how on all foreigners, even on a Turk wearing a turban, 'the pretty appellation of French dog was liberally bestowed by the London rabble,' continues:--'I have seen the populace of England contribute as many shillings as they could spare towards the maintenance of the French prisoners; and I have heard a universal shout of joy when their parliament voted L100,000 to the Portuguese on hearing of the tremendous earthquake.'
[1054] Johnson's Works, vi. 81. See Boswell's Hebrides, Aug. 16, 1773, where Johnson describes Mary as 'such a Queen as every man of any gallantry of spirit would have sacrificed his life for.' 'There are,' wrote Hume, 'three events in our history which may be regarded as touchstones of party-men. An English Whig who asserts the reality of the popish plot, an Irish Catholic who denies the massacre in 1641, and a Scotch Jacobite who maintains the innocence of Queen Mary, must be considered as men beyond the reach of argument or reason, and must be left to their prejudices.' History of England, ed. 1802, v. 504.
[1055] Prayers and Meditations, p. 42. BOSWELL. The following is his entry on this day:--
'1760, Sept. 18. Resolved D[eo]j[uvante]' To combat notions of obligation. To apply to study. To reclaim imagination. To consult the resolves on Tetty's coffin. To rise early. To study religion. To go to church. To drink less strong liquors. To keep a journal. To oppose laziness, by doing what is to be done tomorrow. Rise as early as I can. Send for books for Hist. of War. Put books in order. Scheme of life.'
[1056] See post, Oct. 19, 1769, and May 15, 1783, for Johnson's measure of emotion, by eating.
[1057] Mr. Croker points out that Murphy's Epistle was an imitation of Boileau's Epitre a Moliere.
[1058] The paper mentioned in the text is No. 38 of the second series of the Grays Inn Journal, published on June 15, 1754; which is a translation from the French version of Johnson's Rambler, No. 190. MALONE. Mrs. Piozzi relates how Murphy, used to tell before Johnson of the first time they met. He found our friend all covered with soot, like a chimney-sweeper, in a little room, with an intolerable heat and strange smell, as if he had been acting Lungs in the Alchymist, making aether. 'Come, come,' says Dr. Johnson, 'dear Murphy, the story is black enough now; and it was a very happy day for me that brought you first to my house, and a very happy mistake about the Ramblers.' Piozzi's Anec. p. 235. Murphy quotes her account, Murphy's Johnson, p. 79. See also post, 1770, where Dr. Maxwell records in his Collectanea how Johnson 'very much loved Arthur Murphy.' Miss Burney thus describes him:--'He is tall and well-made, has a very gentlemanlike appearance, and a quietness of manner upon his first address that to me is very pleasing. His face looks sensible, and his deportment is perfectly easy and polite.' A few days later she records:--'Mr. Murphy was the life of the party; he was in good spirits, and extremely entertaining; he told a million of stories admirably well.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i. 195, 210. Rogers, who knew Murphy well, says that 'towards the close of his life, till he received a pension of L200 from the King, he was in great pecuniary difficulties. He had eaten himself out of every tavern from the other side of Temple-Bar to the west end of the town.' He owed Rogers a large sum of money, which he never repaid. 'He assigned over to me the whole of his works; and I soon found that he had already disposed of them to a bookseller. One thing,' Rogers continues, 'ought to be remembered to his honour; an actress with whom he had lived bequeathed to him all her property, but he gave up every farthing of it to her relations.' He was pensioned in 1803, and he died in 1805. Rogers's Table-Talk, p. 106.
[1059] Topham Beauclerk, Esq. BOSWELL.
[1060] Essays with that title, written about this time by Mr. Langton, but not published. BOSWELL.
[1061] Thomas Sheridan, born 1721, died 1788. He was the son of Swift's friend, and the father of R. B. Sheridan (who was born in 1751), and the great-great-grandfather of the present Earl of Dufferin.
[1062] Sheridan was acting in Garrick's Company, generally on the nights on which Garrick did not appear. Davies's Garrick, i. 299. Johnson criticises his reading, post, April 18, 1783.
[1063] Mrs. Sheridan was authour of Memoirs of Miss Sydney Biddulph, a novel of great merit, and of some other pieces.--See her character, post, beginning of 1763. BOSWELL.
[1064] Prayers and Meditations, p. 44. BOSWELL. '1761. Easter Eve. Since the communion of last Easter I have led a life so dissipated and useless, and my terrours and perplexities have so much increased, that I am under great depression and discouragement.'
[1065] See post, April 6, 1775.
[1066] I have had inquiry made in Ireland as to this story, but do not find it recollected there. I give it on the authority of Dr. Johnson, to which may be added that of the biographical Dictionary, and Biographia Dramatica; in both of which it has stood many years.