and in the squills we will rest for the pres- | minores."—(He then mentions the effects ent." "21st August. "The kindness which you show by having me in your thoughts upon all occasions will, I hope, always fill my heart with gratitude. Be pleased to return my thanks to Sir George Baker 1, for the consideration which he has bestowed upon me. Is this the balloon that has been so long expected, this balloon to which I subscribed, but without payment? It is pity that philosophers have been disappointed, and shame that they have been cheated; but I know not well how to prevent either. Of this experiment I have read nothing: where was it exhibited? and who was the man that ran away with so much money? Continue, dear sir, to write often, and more at a time; for none of your prescriptions operate to their proper uses more certainly than your letters operate as cordials." "26th August. "I suffered you to escape last post without a letter, but you are not to expect such indulgence very often; for I write not so much because I have any thing to say, as because I hope for an answer; and the vacancy of my life here makes a letter of great value. I have here little company and little amusement, and, thus abandoned to the contemplation of my own miseries, I am something gloomy and depressed; this too I resist as I can, and find opium, I think, useful; but I seldom take more than one grain. Is not this strange weather? Winter absorbed the spring, and now autumn is come before we have had summer. But let not our kindness for each other imitate the inconstancy of the seasons." "2d Sept. "Mr. Windham has been here to see me: he came, I think, forty miles out of his way, and staid about a day and a half; perhaps I make the time shorter than it was. Such conversation I shall not have again till I come back to the regions of literature; and there Windham is inter stellas 3 Luna 1 [The celebrated physician, created a baronet in 1776, died June, 1809, ætat. 88.-ED.] 2 [Does Dr. Johnson here allude to the unsuccessful attempt made, in 1784, by De Moret, who was determined to anticipate Lunardi in his first experiment in England? "Moret attempted to inflate his balloon with rarified air, but by some accident in the process it sunk upon the fire, and the populace, who regarded the whole as an imposture, rushing in, completely destroyed the machine."-Brayley's Londiniana, vol. ii. 162, note.-J. H. MARKLAND.] 3 It is remarkable that so good a Latin scholar as Johnson should have been so inattentive to the metre, as by mistake to have written stellas instead of ignes.-Boswell. of certain medicines, as taken; and adds) "Nature is recovering its original powers, and the functions returning to their proper state. God continue his mercies, and grant me to use them rightly." "9th September. "Do you know the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire? And have you ever seen Chatsworth? I was at Chatsworth on Monday: I had seen it before, but never when its owners were at home: I was very kindly received, and honestly pressed to stay; but I told them that a sick man is not a fit inmate of a great house. But I hope to go | again some time." "11th September. "I think nothing grows worse, but all rather better, except sleep, and that of late has been at its old pranks. Last evening, I felt what I had not known for a long time, an inclination to walk for amusement; I took a short walk, and came back again neither breathless nor fatigued. This has been a gloomy, frigid, ungenial summer; but of late it seems to mend: I hear the heat sometimes mentioned, but I do not feel it: Præterea minimus gelido jam in corpore sanguis Febre calet solà.' Juv. s. x. v. 217. I hope, however, with good help, to find means of supporting a winter at home, and to hear and tell at the Club what is doing, and what ought to be doing, in the world. I have no company here, and shall naturally come home hungry for conversation. To wish you, dear sir, more leisure, would not be kind; but what leisure you have, you must bestow upon me." "16th September. "I have now let you alone for a long time, having indeed little to say. You charge me somewhat unjustly with luxury. At Chatsworth, you should remember that I have eaten but once; and the doctor, with whom I live, follows a milk diet. I grow no fatter, though my stomach, if it be not disturbed by physick, never fails me. I now grow weary of solitude, and think of removing next week to Lichfield, a place of more society, but otherwise of less convenience. When I am settled, I shall write again. Of the hot weather that you mentioned, we have [not] had in Derbyshire very much; and for myself I seldom feel heat, and suppose that my frigidity is the effect of my distemper-a supposition which naturally leads me to hope that a hotter climate may be useful. But I hope to stand another English winter.” "Lichfield, 29th September. "On one day I had three letters about the air-balloon: yours was far the best, and has enabled me to impart to my friends in the country an idea of this species of amusement. In amusement, mere amusement, I am afraid it must end, for I do not find that its course can be directed so as that it should serve any purposes of communication; and it can give no new intelligence of the state of the air at different heights, till they have ascended above the height of mountains, which they seem never likely to do. I came hither on the 27th. How long I shall stay, I have not determined. My dropsy is gone, and my asthma much remitted, but I have felt myself a little declining these two days, or at least to-day; but such vicissitudes must be expected. One day may be worse than another; but this last month is far better than the former: if the next should be as much better than this, I shall run about the town on my own legs." "6th October. "The fate of the balloon I do not much lam ent: to make new balloons is to repeat the jest again. We now know a method of mounting into the air, and, I think, are not likely to know more. The vehicles can serve no use till we can guide them; and they can gratify no curiosity till we mount with them to greater heights than we can reach without; till we rise above the tops of the highest mountains, which we have yet not done. We know the state of the air in all its regions, to the top of Teneriffe, and therefore learn nothing from those who navigate a balloon below the clouds. The first experiment, however, was bold, and deserved applause and reward: but since it has been performed, and its event is known, I had rather now find a medicine that can ease an asthma." "25th October. "You write to me with a zeal that animates and a tenderness that melts me. I am not afraid either of a journey to London, or a residence in it. I came down with little fatigue, and am now not weaker. In the smoky atmosphere I was delivered from the dropsy, which I consider as the original and radical disease. The town is my element2: there are my friends, there are my [Lunardi had ascended from the Artillery Ground on the 15th of this month, and as this was the first ascent in a balloon which had been witnessed in England, it is not surprising that very general interest was excited by the spectacle, and that so many allusions should be made to it by Johnson and his correspondents.-MARKLAND.] 2 His love of London continually appears. In a letter from him to Mrs. Smart, wife of his friend the poet, which is published in a well-written life of him, prefixed to an edition of his poems, in 1791, there is the following sentence: "To one that has passed so many years in the pleasures and books, to which I have not yet bid farewell, and there are my amusements. Sir Joshua told me long ago, that my vocation was to publick life, and I hope still to keep my station, till God shall bid me Go in peace." TO MR. HOOLE. "Ashbourne, 7th August. "Since I was here, I have two little letters from you, and have not had the gratitude to write. But every man is most free with his best friends, because he does not suppose that they can suspect him of intentional incivility. One reason for my omission is, that being in a place to which you are wholly a stranger, I have no topicks of correspondence. If you had any knowledge of Ashbourne, I could tell you of two Ashbourne men, who, being last week condemned at Derby to be hanged for robbery, went and hanged themselves in their cell. But this, however it may supply us with talk, is nothing to you. Your kindness, I know, would make you glad to hear some good of me, but I have not much good to tell: if I grow not worse, it is all that I can say. I hope Mrs. Hoole receives more help from her migration. Make her my compliments, and write again to, dear sir, your affectionate servant." "18th August. "I thank you for your affectionate letter. I hope we shall both be the better for each other's friendship, and I hope we shall not very quickly be parted. Tell Mr. Nichols that I shall be glad of his correspondence when his business allows him a little remission; though to wish him less business, that I may have more pleasure, would be too selfish. To pay for seats at the balloon is not very necessary, because in less than a minute they who gaze at a mile's distance will see all that can be seen. About the wings, I am of your mind: they cannot at all assist it, nor I think regulate its motion. I am now grown somewhat easier in my body, but my mind is sometimes depressed. About the Club I am in no great pain. The forfeitures go on, and the house, I hear, is improved for our future meetings. I hope we shall meet often and sit long." "4th September. "Your letter was indeed long in coming, but it was very welcome. Our acquaintance has now subsisted long, and our recol opulence of London, there are few places that can give much delight." Once, upon reading that line in the curious epitaph quoted in "The Spectator," "Born in New-England, did in London díe," he laughed and said, "I do not wonder at this. It would have been strange, if, born in London, he had died in New-England."-BoswELL. I "Ist November. lection of each other involves a great space, | uing to write. A post-day has now been and many little occurrences which melt the long a day of recreation." thoughts to tenderness. Write to me, therefore, as frequently as you can. hear from Dr. Brocklesby and Mr. Ryland1 that the Club is not crowded. I hope we shall enliven it when winter brings us together." TO DR. BURNEY. "2nd August. "The weather, you know, has not been balmy. I am now reduced to think, and am at least content to talk, of the weather. Pride must have a fall 2. I have lost dear Mr. Allen; and wherever I turn, the dead or the dying meet my notice, and force my attention upon misery and mortality. Mrs. Burney's escape from so much danger, and her ease after so much pain, throws, however, some radiance of hope upon the gloomy prospect. May her recovery be perfect, and her continuance long! I struggle hard for life. I take physick and take air my friend's chariot is always ready. We have run this morning twenty-four miles, and could run forty-eight more. But who can run the race with death?" "Our correspondence paused for want of topicks. I had said what I had to say on the matter proposed to my consideration, and nothing remained but to tell you that I waked or slept, that I was more or less sick. I drew my thoughts in upon myself, and supposed yours employed upon your book. That your book has been delayed I am glad, since you have gained an opportunity of being more exact. Of the caution necessary in adjusting narratives there is no end. Some tell what they do not know, that they may not seem ignorant, and others from mere indifference about truth. All truth is not, indeed, of equal importance: but, if little violations are allowed, every violation will in time be thought little; and a writer should keep himself vigilantly on his guard against the first temptations to negligence or supineness. I had ceased to write, because respecting you I had no more to say, and respecting myself could say little good. I cannot boast of advancement, and in case of convalescence it may be said, with few "4th September. exceptions, Non progredi est regredi. I [Concerning a private transaction, in hope I may be excepted. My great diffiwhich his opinion was asked, and after giv-culty was with my sweet Fanny 3, who, by ing it, he makes the following reflections, which are applicable on other occasions.] "Nothing deserves more compassion than wrong conduct with good meaning; than loss or obloquy suffered by one who, as he is conscious only of good intentions, wonders why he loses that kindness which he wishes to preserve; and not knowing his own fault-if, as may sometimes happen, nobody will tell him-goes on to offend by his endeavours to please. I am delighted by finding that our opinions are the same. You will do me a real kindness by contin 1 [See ante, vol. i. p. 75, and vol. ii. p. 364. Mr. Ryland died 24th July, 1798, æt. 81.-ED.] 2 There was no information for which Dr. Johnson was less grateful than for that which concerned the weather. It was in allusion to his impatience with those who were reduced to keep conversation alive by observations on the weather, that he applied the old proverb to himself. If any one of his intimate acquaintance told him it was hot or cold, wet or dry, windy or calm, he would stop them by saying, "Poh! poh! you are telling us that of which none but men in a mine or a dungeon can be ignorant. Let us bear with patience, or enjoy in quiet, elementary changes, whether for the better or the worse, as they are never secrets."-BURNEY. [He says 66 pride must have a fall," in allusion to his own former assertions, that the weather had no effect on human health. See Idler, No. 11, and ante, vol. i. pp. 142 and 193.-ED.] her artifice of inserting her letter in yours, had given me a precept of frugality which I was not at liberty to neglect; and I know not who were in town under whose cover I could send my letter. I rejoice to hear that you are so well, and have a delight particularly sympathetick in the recovery of Mrs. Burney." 66 TO MR. LANGTON. "25th August. "The kindness of your last letter, and my omission to answer it, begins to give you, even in my opinion, a right to recriminate, and to charge me with forgetfulness for the absent. I will therefore delay no longer to give an account of myself, and wish I could relate what would please either myself or my friend. On July 13 I left London, partly in hope of help from new air and change of place, and partly excited by the sick man's impatience of the present. I got to Lichfield in a stage vehicle, with very little fatigue, in two days, and had the consolation 4 to find that since my last visit 3 The celebrated Miss Fanny Burney.-Bos WELL. Probably some word has been here omitted before consolation—perhaps sad or miserable; or the word consolation has been printed by mistake, instead of mortification: but the original letter not being now [1798] in Mr. Langton's my three old acquaintances are all dead. July 20 1 went to Ashbourne, where I have been till now. The house in which we live is repairing. I live in too much solitude, and am often deeply dejected. I wish we were nearer, and rejoice in your removal to London. A friend at once cheerful and serious is a great acquisition. Let us not neglect one another for the little time which Providence allows us to hope. Of my health I cannot tell you, what my wishes persuaded me to expect, that it is much improved by the season or by remedies. I am sleepless; my legs grow weary with a very few steps, and the water breaks its boundaries in some degree. The asthma, however, has remitted: my breath is still much obstructed, but is more free than it was. Nights of watchfulness produce torpid days. I read very little, though I am alone; for I am tempted to supply in the day what I lost in bed. This is my history; like all other histories, a narrative of misery. Yet I am so much better than in the beginning of the year, that I ought to be ashamed of complaining. I now sit and write with very little sensibility of pain or weakness; but when I rise, I shall find my legs betraying me. Of the money which you mentioned I have no immediate need: keep it, however, for me, unless some exigence requires it. Your papers I will show you certainly when you would see them; but I am a little angry at you for not keeping minutes of your own acceptum et expensum, and think a little time might be spared from Aristophanes for the res familiares. Forgive me, for I mean well. I hope, dear sir, that you and Lady Rothes and all the young people, too many to enumerate, are well and happy. God bless you all." "TO MR. WINDHAM. "August. "The tenderness with which you have been pleased to treat me through my long illness, neither health nor sickness can, I hope, make me forget; and you are not to suppose that after we parted you were no longer in my mind. But what can a sick man say, but that he is sick? His thoughts are necessarily concentred in himself: he neither receives nor can give delight; his inquiries are after alleviations of pain, and his efforts are to catch some momentary comfort. Though I am now in the neighbourhood of the Peak, you must expect no account of its wonders, of its hills, its waters, its caverns, or its mines; but I will tell you, dear sir, what I hope you will not hear with less satisfaction, that, for about a week past, my asthma has been less afflictive." "Lichfield, 2d October. "I believe you had been long enough acquainted with the phænomena of sickness not to be surprised that a sick man wishes to be where he is not, and where it appears to every body but himself that he might easily be, without having the resolution to remove. I thought Ashbourne a solitary place, but did not come hither till last Monday. I have here more company, but my health has for this last week not advanced; and in the languor of disease how little can be done! Whither or when I shall make my next remove, I cannot tell; but I entreat you, dear sir, to let me know from time to time where you may be found, for your residence is a very powerful attractive to, sir, your most humble servant." "TO DR. PERKINS. "Lichfield, 4th October, 1784. "DEAR SIR,-I cannot but flatter myself that your kindness for me will make you glad to know where I am, and in what state. "I have been struggling very hard with my diseases. My breath has been very much obstructed, and the water has attempted to encroach upon me again. I passed the first part of the summer at Oxford, afterwards I went to Lichfield, thence to Ashbourne in Derbyshire, and a week ago I returned to Lichfield. "My breath is now much easier, and the water is in a great measure run away, so that I hope to see you again before winter. "Please make my compliments to Mrs. Perkins, and to Mr. and Mrs. Barclay. I am, dear sir, your most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." (( TO THE RIGHT HON. WILLIAM GERARD HAMILTON. "Lichfield, 20th October, 1784. "DEAR SIR,-Considering what reason you gave me in the spring to conclude that you took part in whatever good or evil might befall me, I ought not to have omitted so long the account which I am now about to give you. My diseases are an asthma and a dropsy, and, what is less curable, seventyfive. Of the dropsy, in the beginning of the summer, or in the spring, I recovered to a degree which struck with wonder both me and my physicians: the asthma now is likewise for a time very much relieved. I went to Oxford, where the asthma was very tyrannical, and the dropsy began again to threaten me; but seasonable physick stopped the inundation: I then returned to London, and in July took a resolution to visit Staffordshire and Derbyshire, where I am yet struggling with my disease. The dropsy made another attack, and was not easily hands, the errour (if it be one) cannot be correct- ejected, but at last gave way. The asthed.-MALONE. ma suddenly remitted in bed on the 13th of August, and though now very oppressive, is, I think, still something gentler than it was before the remission. My limbs are miserably debilitated, and my nights are sleepless and tedious. When you read this, dear sir, you are not sorry that I wrote no sooner. I will not prolong my complaints. I hope still to see you in a happier hour, to talk over what we have often talked, and perhaps to find new topicks of merriment, or new incitements to curiosity. I am, dear sir, &c. "SAM. JOHNSON." "TO JOHN PARADISE, ESQ. 1 "Lichfield, 27th October, 1784. "DEAR SIR,-Though in all my summer's excursion I have given you no account of myself, I hope you think better of me than to imagine it possible for me to forget you, whose kindness to me has been too great and too constant not to have made its impression on a harder breast than mine. Silence is not very culpable, when nothing pleasing is suppressed. It would have alleviated none of your complaints to have read my vicissitudes of evil. I have struggled hard with very formidable and obstinate maladies; and though I cannot talk of health, think all praise due to my Creator and Preserver for the continuance of my life. The dropsy has made two attacks, and has given way to medicine; the asthma is very oppressive, but that has likewise once remitted. I am very weak and very sleepless; but it is time to conclude the tale of misery. I hope, dear sir, that you grow better, for you have likewise your share of human evil, and that your lady and the young charmers are well. I am, dear sir, &c. "SAM. JOHNSON." "" TO MR. GEORGE NICOL 2. "Ashbourne. 19th August, 1784. "TO MR. CRUIKSHANK. "Ashbourne, 4th September, 1784. "DEAR SIR,-Do not suppose that I forget you: I hope I shall never be accused of forgetting my benefactors. I had, till lately, nothing to write but complaints upon complaints of miseries upon miseries; but within this fortnight I have received great relief. Have your lectures any vacation? If you are released from the necessity of daily study, you may find time for a letter to me.e.—[In this letter he states the particulars of his case.]—In return for this account of my health, let me have a good account of yours, and of your prosperity in all your undertakings. I am, dear sir, yours, &c. "SAM. JOHNSON." "TO MR. THOMAS DAVIES. "14th August. "The tenderness with which you always treat me makes me culpable in my own eyes for having omitted to write in so long a separation. I had, indeed, nothing to say that you could wish to hear. All has been hitherto misery accumulated upon misery, disease corroborating disease, till yesterday my asthma was perceptibly and unexpectedly mitigated. I am much com forted with this short relief, and am willing to flatter myself that it may continue and improve. I have at present such a degree of ease as not only may admit the comforts but the duties of life. Make my compliments to Mrs. Davies.-Poor dear Allan!he was a good man." "DEAR SIR,-Since we parted, I have been much oppressed by my asthma, but it has lately been less laborious. When I sit I am almost at ease; and I can walk, though yet very little, with less difficulty for this week past than before. I hope I shall again enjoy my friends, and that you and I shall have a little more literary conversa-ed Where I now am, every thing is very liberally provided for me but conversation. tion. "TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. "Ashbourne, 21st July. "The tenderness with which I am treatby my friends makes it reasonable to suppose that they are desirous to know the state of my health, and a desire so benevoSon of the late Peter Paradise, Esq. his Brit-field in two days without any painful falent ought to be gratified.—I came to Lichannick majesty's consul at Salonica in Macedonia, by his lady, a native of that country. He studied tigue, and on Monday came hither, where I at Oxford, and has been honoured by that univer-purpose to stay and try what air and regusity with the degree of LL. D. He is distinguish-larity will effect. I cannot yet persuade ed not only by his learning and talents, but by an myself that I have made much progress in amiable disposition, gentleness of manners, and a very general acquaintance with well-informed and accomplished persons of almost all nations.BOSWELL. [See ante, vol. i. p. 22.—ED.] ? Bookseller to his majesty.-BoSWELL. recovery. My sleep is little, my breath is very much encumbered, and my legs are very weak. The water has increased a little, but has again run off. The most distressing symptom is want of sleep." |