Dabit Deus his quoque finem.' ['This too the Gods shall end.' MORRIS, Virgil, Aeneids, 1.199.] Piozzi Letters, ii. 347.
[805] Boswell's purpose in this Letter was to recommend the Scotch to address the King to express their satisfaction that the East India Company Bill had been rejected by the House of Lords. Ib. p. 39. 'Let us,' he writes, 'upon this awful occasion think only of property and constitution;' p. 42. 'Let me add,' he says in concluding, 'that a dismission of the Portland Administration will probably disappoint an object which I have most ardently at heart;' p. 42. He was thinking no doubt of his 'expectations from the interest of an eminent person then in power' (ante, p. 223.)
[806] On p. 4 Boswell condemns the claim of Parliament to tax the American colonies as 'unjust and inexpedient.' 'This claim,' he says, 'was almost universally approved of in Scotland, where due consideration was had of the advantage of raising regiments.' He continues:--'When pleading at the bar of the House of Commons in a question concerning taxation, I avowed that opinion, declaring that the man in the world for whom I have the highest respect (Dr. Johnson) had not been able to convince me that Taxation was no Tyranny.'
[807] Boswell wrote to Reynolds on Feb. 6:--'I intend to be in London next month, chiefly to attend upon Dr. Johnson with respectful affection.' Croker's Boswell, p. 748.
[808] 'I have really hope from spring,' he wrote on Jan. 21, 'and am ready, like Almanzor, to bid the sun fly swiftly, and leave weeks and months behind him. The sun has looked for six thousand years upon the world to little purpose, if he does not know that a sick man is almost as impatient as a lover.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 347. Almanzor's speech is at the end of Dryden's Conquest of Granada:--
'Move swiftly, Sun, and fly a lover's pace; Leave weeks and months behind thee in thy race.'
See ante, i. 332, where Johnson said, 'This distinction of seasons is produced only by imagination operating on luxury. To temperance every day is bright,' and post, Aug. 2, 1784.
[809] He died in the following August at Dover, on his way home. Walpole's Letters, viii. 494. See ante, iii. 250, 336, and post, Aug. 19, 1784.
[810] On the last day of the old year he wrote:--'To any man who extends his thoughts to national consideration, the times are dismal and gloomy. But to a sick man, what is the publick?' Piozzi Letters, ii. 344.
The original of the following note is in the admirable collection of autographs belonging to my friend, Mr. M. M. Holloway:--
'TO THE REV. DR. TAYLOR,
'in Ashbourne,
'Derbyshire.
'DEAR SIR,
'I am still confined to the house, and one of my amusements is to write letters to my friends, though they, being busy in the common scenes of life, are not equally diligent in writing to me. Dr. Heberden was with me two or three days ago, and told me that nothing ailed me, which I was glad to hear, though I knew it not to be true. My nights are restless, my breath is difficult, and my lower parts continue tumid.
'The struggle, you see, still continues between the two sets of ministers: those that are out and in one can scarce call them, for who is out or in is perhaps four times a day a new question. The tumult in government is, I believe, excessive, and the efforts of each party outrageously violent, with very little thought on any national interest, at a time when we have all the world for our enemies, when the King and parliament have lost even the titular dominion of America, and the real power of Government every where else. Thus Empires are broken down when the profits of administration are so great, that ambition is satisfied with obtaining them, and he that aspires to greatness needs do nothing more than talk himself into importance. He has then all the power which danger and conquest used formerly to give; he can raise a family and reward his followers.
'Mr. Burke has just sent me his Speech upon the affairs of India, a volume of above a hundred pages closely printed. I will look into it; but my thoughts seldom now travel to great distances.
'I would gladly know when you think to come hither, and whether this year you will come or no. If my life be continued, I know not well how I shall bestow myself.
'I am, Sir,
'Your affectionate &c.,
'SAM. JOHNSON.'
'London, Jan. 24, 1784.'
[811] See post, v. 48.
[812] See post, p. 271.
[813] I sent it to Mr. Pitt, with a letter, in which I thus expressed myself:--'My principles may appear to you too monarchical: but I know and am persuaded, they are not inconsistent with the true principles of liberty. Be this as it may, you, Sir, are now the Prime Minister, called by the Sovereign to maintain the rights of the Crown, as well as those of the people, against a violent faction. As such, you are entitled to the warmest support of every good subject in every department.' He answered:--'I am extremely obliged to you for the sentiments you do me the honour to express, and have observed with great pleasure the zealous and able support given to the CAUSE OF THE PUBLICK in the work you were so good to transmit to me.' BOSWELL.