Soon after this day,he went to Bath with Mr.and Mrs.Thrale.Ihad never seen that beautiful city,and wished to take the opportunity of visiting it,while Johnson was there.
On the 26th of April,I went to Bath;and on my arrival at the Pelican inn,found lying for me an obliging invitation from Mr.and Mrs.Thrale,by whom I was agreeably entertained almost constantly during my stay.They were gone to the rooms;but there was a kind note from Dr.Johnson,that he should sit at home all the evening.
I went to him directly,and before Mr.and Mrs.Thrale returned,we had by ourselves some hours of tea-drinking and talk.
I shall group together such of his sayings as I preserved during the few days that I was at Bath.
It having been mentioned,I know not with what truth,that a certain female political writer,whose doctrines he disliked,had of late become very fond of dress,sat hours together at her toilet,and even put on rouge:--JohnsoN.'She is better employed at her toilet,than using her pen.It is better she should be reddening her own cheeks,than blackening other people's characters.'
He would not allow me to praise a lady then at Bath;observing,'She does not gain upon me,Sir;I think her empty-headed.'He was,indeed,a stern critick upon characters and manners.Even Mrs.Thrale did not escape his friendly animadversion at times.
When he and I were one day endeavouring to ascertain,article by article,how one of our friends could possibly spend as much money in his family as he told us he did,she interrupted us by a lively extravagant sally,on the expence of clothing his children,describing it in a very ludicrous and fanciful manner.Johnson looked a little angry,and said,'Nay,Madam,when you are declaiming,declaim;and when you are calculating,calculate.'At another time,when she said,perhaps affectedly,'I don't like to fly.'JOHNSON.'With YOUR wings,Madam,you MUST fly:but have a care,there are CLIPPERS abroad.'
On Monday,April 29,he and I made an excursion to Bristol,where Iwas entertained with seeing him enquire upon the spot,into the authenticity of 'Rowley's Poetry,'as I had seen him enquire upon the spot into the authenticity of 'Ossian's Poetry.'George Catcot,the pewterer,who was as zealous for Rowley,as Dr.Hugh Blair was for Ossian,(I trust my Reverend friend will excuse the comparison,)attended us at our inn,and with a triumphant air of lively simplicity called out,'I'll make Dr.Johnson a convert.'
Dr.Johnson,at his desire,read aloud some of Chatterton's fabricated verses,while Catcot stood at the back of his chair,,moving himself like a pendulum,and beating time with his feet,and now and then looking into Dr.Johnson's face,wondering that he was not yet convinced.We called on Mr.Barret,the surgeon,and saw some of the ORIGINALS as they were called,which were executed very artificially;but from a careful inspection of them,and a consideration of the circumstances with which they were attended,we were quite satisfied of the imposture,which,indeed,has been clearly demonstrated from internal evidence,by several able criticks.
Honest Catcot seemed to pay no attention whatever to any objections,but insisted,as an end of all controversy,that we should go with him to the tower of the church of St.Mary,Redcliff,and VIEW WITH OUR OWN EYES the ancient chest in which the manus were found.To this,Dr.Johnson good-naturedly agreed;and though troubled with a shortness of breathing,laboured up a long flight of steps,till we came to the place where the wonderous chest stood.'THERE,(said Cateot,with a bouncing confident credulity,)THERE is the very chest itself.'After this OCULAR DEMONSTRATION,there was no more to be said.He brought to my recollection a Scotch Highlander,a man of learning too,and who had seen the world,attesting,and at the same time giving his reasons for the authenticity of Fingal:--'I have heard all that poem when I was young.'--'Have you,Sir?Pray what have you heard?'--'I have heard Ossian,Oscar,and EVERY ONE OF THEM.'
Johnson said of Chatterton,'This is the most extraordinary young man that has encountered my knowledge.It is wonderful how the whelp has written such things.'
We were by no means pleased with our inn at Bristol.'Let us see now,(said I,)how we should describe it.'Johnson was ready with his raillery.'Describe it,Sir?--Why,it was so bad that Boswell wished to be in Scotland!'
After Dr.Johnson's return to London,I was several times with him at his house,where I occasionally slept,in the room that had been assigned to me.I dined with him at Dr.Taylor's,at General Oglethorpe's,and at General Paoli's.To avoid a tedious minuteness,I shall group together what I have preserved of his conversation during this period also,without specifying each scene where it passed,except one,which will be found so remarkable as certainly to deserve a very particular relation.
'Garrick (he observed,)does not play the part of Archer in The Beaux Stratagem well.The gentleman should break out through the footman,which is not the case as he does it.'
'That man is never happy for the present is so true,that all his relief from unhappiness is only forgetting himself for a little while.Life is a progress from want to want,not from enjoyment to enjoyment.'
'Lord Chesterfield's Letters to his Son,I think,might be made a very pretty book.Take out the immorality,and it should be put into the hands of every young gentleman.An elegant manner and easiness of behaviour are acquired gradually and imperceptibly.No man can say "I'll be genteel."There are ten genteel women for one genteel man,because they are more restrained.A man without some degree of restraint is insufferable;but we are all less restrained than women.Were a woman sitting in company to put out her legs before her as most men do,we should be tempted to kick them in.'
