On Saturday,July 30,Dr.Johnson and I took a sculler at the Temple-stairs,and set out for Greenwich.I asked him if he really thought a knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages an essential requisite to a good education.JOHNSON.'Most certainly,Sir;for those who know them have a very great advantage over those who do not.Nay,Sir,it is wonderful what a difference learning makes upon people even in the common intercourse of life,which does not appear to be much connected with it.''And yet,(said I)people go through the world very well,and carry on the business of life to good advantage,without learning.'JOHNSON.'Why,Sir,that may be true in cases where learning cannot possibly be of any use;for instance,this boy rows us as well without learning,as if he could sing the song of Orpheus to the Argonauts,who were the first sailors.'He then called to the boy,'What would you give,my lad,to know about the Argonauts?''Sir,(said the boy,)I would give what I have.'Johnson was much pleased with his answer,and we gave him a double fare.Dr.Johnson then turning to me,'Sir,(said he)a desire of knowledge is the natural feeling of mankind;and every human being,whose mind is not debauched,will be willing to give all that he has to get knowledge.'
We landed at the Old Swan,and walked to Billingsgate,where we took oars,and moved smoothly along the silver Thames.It was a very fine day.We were entertained with the immense number and variety of ships that were lying at anchor,and with the beautiful country on each side of the river.
I talked of preaching,and of the great success which those called Methodists have.JOHNSON.'Sir,it is owing to their expressing themselves in a plain and familiar manner,which is the only way to do good to the common people,and which clergymen of genius and learning ought to do from a principle of duty,when it is suited to their congregations;a practice,for which they will be praised by men of sense.To insist against drunkenness as a crime,because it debases reason,the noblest faculty of man,would be of no service to the common people:but to tell them that they may die in a fit of drunkenness,and shew them how dreadful that would be,cannot fail to make a deep impression.Sir,when your Scotch clergy give up their homely manner,religion will soon decay in that country.'
Let this observation,as Johnson meant it,be ever remembered.
I was much pleased to find myself with Johnson at Greenwich,which he celebrates in his London as a favourite scene.I had the poem in my pocket,and read the lines aloud with enthusiasm:
'On Thames's banks in silent thought we stood:
Where Greenwich smiles upon the silver flood:
Pleas'd with the seat which gave ELIZA birth,We kneel,and kiss the consecrated earth.'
Afterwards he entered upon the business of the day,which was to give me his advice as to a course of study.
We walked in the evening in Greenwich Park.He asked me,Isuppose,by way of trying my disposition,'Is not this very fine?'
Having no exquisite relish of the beauties of Nature,and being more delighted with 'the busy hum of men,'I answered,'Yes,Sir;but not equal to Fleet-street.'JOHNSON.'You are right,Sir.'
I am aware that many of my readers may censure my want of taste.
Let me,however,shelter myself under the authority of a very fashionable Baronet in the brilliant world,who,on his attention being called to the fragrance of a May evening in the country,observed,'This may be very well;but,for my part,I prefer the smell of a flambeau at the playhouse.'
We staid so long at Greenwich,that our sail up the river,in our return to London,was by no means so pleasant as in the morning;for the night air was so cold that it made me shiver.I was the more sensible of it from having sat up all the night before,recollecting and writing in my journal what I thought worthy of preservation;an exertion,which,during the first part of my acquaintance with Johnson,I frequently made.I remember having sat up four nights in one week,without being much incommoded in the day time.
Johnson,whose robust frame was not in the least affected by the cold,scolded me,as if my shivering had been a paltry effeminacy,saying,'Why do you shiver?'Sir William Scott,of the Commons,told me,that when he complained of a head-ache in the post-chaise,as they were travelling together to Scotland,Johnson treated him in the same manner:
'At your age,Sir,I had no head-ache.'
We concluded the day at the Turk's Head coffee-house very socially.
He was pleased to listen to a particular account which I gave him of my family,and of its hereditary estate,as to the extent and population of which he asked questions,and made calculations;recommending,at the same time,a liberal kindness to the tenantry,as people over whom the proprietor was placed by Providence.He took delight in hearing my deion of the romantick seat of my ancestors.'I must be there,Sir,(said he)and we will live in the old castle;and if there is not a room in it remaining,we will build one.'I was highly flattered,but could scarcely indulge a hope that Auchinleck would indeed be honoured by his presence,and celebrated by a deion,as it afterwards was,in his Journey to the Western Islands.
After we had again talked of my setting out for Holland,he said,'I must see thee out of England;I will accompany you to Harwich.'
I could not find words to express what I felt upon this unexpected and very great mark of his affectionate regard.
Next day,Sunday,July 31,I told him I had been that morning at a meeting of the people called Quakers,where I had heard a woman preach.JOHNSON.'Sir,a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hinder legs.It is not done well;but you are surprized to find it done at all.'
