[759] See ante, i. 437.
[760] Hume, on Feb. 24 of this year, mentioned to Adam Smith as a late publication Lord Monboddo's Origin and Progress of Language:--'It contains all the absurdity and malignity which I suspected; but is writ with more ingenuity and in a better style than I looked for.' J. H. Burton's Hume, ii. 466. See ante, ii. 74.
[761] Monday was May 10.
[762] See ante, i. 413. Percy wrote of Goldsmith's envy:--'Whatever appeared of this kind was a mere momentary sensation, which he knew not how, like other men, to conceal.' Goldsmith's Misc. Works, i. 117.
[763] He might have applied to himself his own version of Ovid's lines, Genus et proavos, &c., the motto to The Rambler, No. 46:--
'Nought from my birth or ancestors I claim; All is my own, my honor and my shame.'
See ante, ii. 153.
[764] That Langton is meant is shewn by Johnson's letter of July 5 (post, p. 265). The man who is there described as leaving the town in deep dudgeon was certainly Langton. 'Where is now my legacy?' writes Johnson. He is referring, I believe, to the last part of his playful and boisterous speech, where he says:--'I hope he has left me a legacy.' Mr. Croker, who is great at suspicions, ridiculously takes the mention of a legacy seriously, and suspects 'some personal disappointment at the bottom of this strange obstreperous and sour merriment.' He might as well accuse Falstaff of sourness in his mirth.
[765] See Boswell's Hebrides, Sept. 23, 1773, where Boswell makes the same remark.
[766]
'Et quorum pars magna fui.' 'Yea, and was no small part thereof.'
Morris, AEneids, ii. 6.
[767] Johnson, as drawn by Boswell, is too 'awful, melancholy, and venerable.' Such 'admirable fooling' as he describes here is but rarely shown in his pages. Yet he must often have seen equally 'ludicrous exhibitions.' Hawkins (Life, p. 258) says, that 'in the talent of humour there hardly ever was Johnson's equal, except perhaps among the old comedians.' Murphy writes (Life, p. l39):--'Johnson was surprised to be told, but it is certainly true, that with great powers of mind, wit and humour were his shining talents.' Mrs. Piozzi confirms this. 'Mr. Murphy,' she writes (Anec. p. 205), 'always said he was incomparable at buffoonery.' She adds (p. 298):--'He would laugh at a stroke of genuine humour, or sudden sally of odd absurdity, as heartily and freely as I ever yet saw any man; and though the jest was often such as few felt besides himself, yet his laugh was irresistible, and was observed immediately to produce that of the company, not merely from the notion that it was proper to laugh when he did, but purely out of want of power to forbear it.' Miss Burney records:--'Dr. Johnson has more fun, and comical humour, and love of nonsense about him than almost anybody I ever saw.' Mine. D'Arblay's Diary, i. 204. See Boswell's own account, post, end of vol. iv.
[768] Pr. and Med. p. 129. BOSWELL. See post, 1780, in Mr. Langton's Collection for Johnson's study of Low Dutch.
[769] 'Those that laugh at the portentous glare of a comet, and hear a crow with equal tranquillity from the right or left, will yet talk of times and situations proper for intellectual performances,' &c. The Idler, No. xi. See ante, i. 332.
[770] 'He did not see at all with one of his eyes' (ante, i. 41).
[771] Not six months before his death, he wished me to teach him the Scale of Musick:--'Dr. Burney, teach me at least the alphabet of your language.' BURNEY.
[772] Accurata Burdonum [i.e. Scaligerorum] Fabulae Confutatio (auctore I. R). Lugduni Batavorum. Apud Ludovicum Elzevirium MDCXVII. BRIT. MUS. CATALOGUE.
[773] Mrs. Piozzi's Anecdotes of Johnson, p. 131. BOSWELL. Mrs. Piozzi (Anec. p. 129) describes her mother and Johnson as 'excellent, far beyond the excellence of any other man and woman I ever yet saw. As her conduct extorted his truest esteem, her cruel illness excited all his tenderness. He acknowledged himself improved by her piety, and over her bed with the affection of a parent, and the reverence of a son.' Baretti, in a MS. note on Piozzi Letters, i. 81, says that 'Johnson could not much near Mrs. Salusbury, nor Mrs. Salusbury him, when they first knew each other. But her cancer moved his compassion, and made them friends.' Johnson, recording her death, says:--'Yesterday, as I touched her hand and kissed it, she pressed my hand between her two hands, which she probably intended as the parting caress ... This morning being called about nine to feel her pulse, I said at parting, "God bless you; for Jesus Christ's sake." She smiled as pleased.' Pr. and Med. p. 128.
[774] Johnson wrote to Dr. Taylor July 22, 1782:--'Sir Robert Chambers slipped this session through the fingers of revocation, but I am in doubt of his continuance. Shelburne seems to be his enemy. Mrs. Thrale says they will do him no harm. She perhaps thinks there is no harm without hanging. The mere act of recall strips him of eight thousand a year.' Notes and Queries, 6th S., v. 462.
[775] Beattie was Professor of Moral Philosophy.