Johnson's sayings would not appear so extraordinary, were it not for his bow-wow way.' The sayings themselves are generally of sterling merit; but, doubtless, his manner was an addition to their effect; and therefore should be attended to as much as may be. It is necessary however, to guard those who were not acquainted with him, against overcharged imitations or caricatures of his manner, which are frequently attempted, and many of which are second-hand copies from the late Mr. Henderson the actor, who, though a good mimick of some persons, did not represent Johnson correctly. BOSWELL.
[959] See 'Prosodia Rationalis; or, an Essay towards establishing the Melody and Measure of Speech, to be expressed and perpetuated by peculiar Symbols.' London, 1779. BOSWELL.
[960] I use the phrase in score, as Dr. Johnson has explained it in his Dictionary:--'A song in SCORE, the words with the musical notes of a song annexed.' But I understand that in scientific property it means all the parts of a musical composition noted down in the characters by which it is established to the eye of the skillful. BOSWELL. It was declamation that Steele pretended to reduce to notation by new characters. This he called the melody of speech, not the harmony, which is the term in score implies. BURNEY.
[961] Johnson, in his Life of Gray (Works, viii. 481), spoke better of him. 'What has occurred to me from the slight inspection of his Letters, in which my understanding has engaged me, is, that his mind had a large gap; that his curiosity was unlimited, and his judgment cultivated.' Horace Walpole (Letters, ii 128) allowed that he was bad company. 'Sept. 3, 1748. I agree with you most absolutely in your opinion about Gray; he is the worst company in the world. From a melancholy turn, from living reclusely, and from a little too much dignity, he never converses easily; all his words are measured and chosen, his writings are admirable; he himself is not agreeable.'
[962] In the original, 'Give ample room and verge enough.' In the Life of Gray (Works, vii. 486) Johnson says that the slaughtered bards 'are called upon to "Weave the warp, and weave the woof," perhaps with no great propriety; for it is by crossing the woof with the warp that men weave the web or piece; and the first line was dearly bought by the admission of its wretched correspondent, "Give ample room and verge enough." He has, however, no other line as bad.' See ante, i. 402.
[963] This word, which is in the first edition, is not in the second or third.
[964] 'The Church-yard abounds with images which find a mirror in every mind, and with sentiments to which every bosom returns an echo. The four stanzas, beginning "Yet even these bones," are to me original. I have never seen the notions in any other place; yet he that reads them here persuades himself that he has always felt them. Had Gray written often thus, it had been vain to blame, and useless to praise him.' Works, viii. 487. Goldsmith, in his Life of Parnell (Misc. Works, iv. 25), thus seems to sneer at The Elegy:--'The Night Piece on death deserves every praise, and, I should suppose, with very little amendment, might be made to surpass all those night pieces and church-yard scenes that have since appeared.'
[965] Mr. Croker says, 'no doubt Lady Susan Fox who, in 1773, married Mr. William O'Brien, an actor.' It was in 1764 that she was married, so that it is not likely that she was the subject of this talk. See Horace Valpole's Letters, iv. 221.
[966] Mrs. Thrale's marriage with Mr. Piozzi.
[967] See ante, i. 408.
[968] Boswell was of the same way of thinking as Squire Western, who 'did indeed consider a parity of fortune and circumstances to be physically as necessary an ingredient in marriage as difference of sexes, or any other essential; and had no more apprehension of his daughter falling in love with a poor man than with any animal of a different species.' Tom Jones, bk. vi. ch. 9.
[969]
'Temptanda via est, qua me quoque possim Tollere humo victorque virum volitare per ora.' 'New ways I must attempt, my grovelling name To raise aloft, and wing my flight to fame.'
DRYDEN, Virgil, Georg. iii. 9. 'Chesterfield was at once the most distinguished orator in the Upper House, and the undisputed sovereign of wit and fashion. He held this eminence for about forty years. At last it became the regular custom of the higher circles to laugh whenever he opened his mouth, without waiting for his bon mot. He used to sit at White's, with a circle of young men of rank around him, applauding every syllable that he uttered.' Macaulay's Life, i. 325.
[970] With the Literary Club, as is shewn by Boswell's letter of April 4, 1775, in which he says:--'I dine on Friday at the Turk's Head, Gerrard Street, with our Club, who now dine once a month, and sup every Friday.' Letters of Boswell, p. 186. The meeting of Friday, March 24, is described ante, p. 318, and that of April 7, post, p. 345.
[971] Very likely Boswell (ante, ii. 84, note 3).
[972] In the Garrick Corres.