BOSWELL. Boswell's 'position has been illustrated' with far greater force by Johnson. 'It has been the boast of some swelling moralists, that every man's fortune was in his own power, that prudence supplied the place of all other divinities, and that happiness is the unfailing consequence of virtue. But surely the quiver of Omnipotence is stored with arrows against which the shield of human virtue, however adamantine it has been boasted, is held up in vain; we do not always suffer by our crimes; we are not always protected by our innocence.' The Adventurer, No. 120. See also Rasselas, chap. 27.
[1150] 'Charles Fox said that Mrs. Sheridan's Sydney Biddulph was the best of all modern novels. By the by [R. B.] Sheridan used to declare that he had never read it.' Rogers's Table-Talk, p. 90. The editor says, in a note on this passage:--'The incident in The School for Scandal of Sir Oliver's presenting himself to his relations in disguise is manifestly taken by Sheridan from his mother's novel.'
[1151] No. 8.--The very place where I was fortunate enough to be introduced to the illustrious subject of this work, deserves to be particularly marked. I never pass by it without feeling reverence and regret. BOSWELL.
[1152] Johnson said:--'Sir, Davies has learning enough to give credit to a clergyman.' Post, 1780, in Mr. Langton's Collection. The spiteful Steevens thus wrote about Davies:--'His concern ought to be with the outside of books; but Dr. Johnson, Dr. Percy, and some others have made such a coxcomb of him, that he is now hardy enough to open volumes, turn over their leaves, and give his opinions of their contents. Did I ever tell you an anecdote of him? About ten years ago I wanted the Oxford Homer, and called at Davies's to ask for it, as I had seen one thrown about his shop. Will you believe me, when I assure you he told me "he had but one, and that he kept for his own reading?"' Garrick Corres. i. 608.
[1153] Johnson, writing to Beattie, post, Aug 21, 1780, says:--'Mr. Davies has got great success as an author, generated by the corruption of a bookseller.' His principal works are Memoirs of Garrick, 1780, and Dramatic Miscellanies, 1784.
[1154] Churchill, in the Rosciad, thus celebrated his wife and mocked his recitation:--
'With him came mighty Davies. On my life That Davies hath a very pretty wife:-- Statesman all over!--In plots famous grown!-- He mouths a sentence, as curs mouth a bone.'
Churchill's Poems, i. 16.
See post, under April 20, 1764, and March 20, 1778. Charles Lamb in a note to his Essay on the Tragedies of Shakespeare says of Davies, that he 'is recorded to have recited the Paradise Lost better than any man in England in his day (though I cannot help thinking there must be some mistake in this tradition).' Lamb's Works, ed. 1840, p. 517.
[1155] See Johnson's letter to Davies, post, June 18, 1783.
[1156] Mr. Murphy, in his Essay on the Life and Genius of Dr. Johnson, [p. 106], has given an account of this meeting considerably different from mine, I am persuaded without any consciousness of errour. His memory, at the end of near thirty years, has undoubtedly deceived him, and he supposes himself to have been present at a scene, which he has probably heard inaccurately described by others. In my note taken on the very day, in which I am confident I marked every thing material that passed, no mention is made of this gentleman; and I am sure, that I should not have omitted one so well known in the literary world. It may easily be imagined that this, my first interview with Dr. Johnson, with all its circumstances, made a strong impression on my mind, and would be registered with peculiar attention. BOSWELL.
[1157] See post, April 8, 1775.
[1158] That this was a momentary sally against Garrick there can be no doubt; for at Johnson's desire he had, some years before, given a benefit-night at his theatre to this very person, by which she had got two hundred pounds. Johnson, indeed, upon all other occasions, when I was in his company, praised the very liberal charity of Garrick. I once mentioned to him, 'It is observed, Sir, that you attack Garrick yourself, but will suffer nobody else to do it.' JOHNSON, (smiling) 'Why, Sir, that is true.' BOSWELL. See post, May 15, 1776, and April 17, 1778.
[1159] By Henry Home, Lord Kames, 3 vols. Edinburgh, 1762. See post, Oct. 16, 1769. 'Johnson laughed much at Lord Kames's opinion that war was a good thing occasionally, as so much valour and virtue were exhibited in it. "A fire," says Johnson, "might as well be thought a good thing; there is the bravery and address of the firemen employed in extinguishing it; there is much humanity exerted in saving the lives and properties of the poor sufferers; yet after all this, who can say a fire is a good thing?"' Johnson's Works, (1787) xi. 209.
[1160] No. 45 of the North Briton had been published on April 23. Wilkes was arrested under a general warrant on April 30. On May 6 he was discharged from custody by the Court of Common Pleas, before which he had been brought by a writ of Habeas Corpus.