glass, so well described by Lord Hailes in one of his papers in the World,' who think a fact ought to be recorded merely because it is a fact: for surely he has retained a great deal of conversation neither instructive nor entertaining; although other parts again are highly so. As to the offensive passages, I really do not believe that he considered them in that light when he gave them to the press: for I do believe him to have been sincere in his declaration, that it was not his intention to hurt any mortal; and my memory serves me to recollect many passages of the original MS. which he has omitted for that very reason; and in his second edition, which is now printed, he tells me he has omitted a good deal of the first. I have been accused of being his adviser to print the book, from a letter of mine towards the conclusion; which, by the bye, he inserted without my knowledge or permission: but that letter merely related to a perusal of the MS., at a time when I had not the most distant the most characteristic and entertaining biographical works in the English language. For Mr Boswell I entertained a sincere regard, which he returned by the strongest proof in his power to confer, by leaving me the guardian of his children. He died in London, 19th May, 1795, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. * idea of his printing his Journal. I have also been accused of having written that complimentary letter, because of the eulogium with which he has been pleased to honour me in his book: but that passage, in which I am mentioned in so flattering a manner, was not in the original MS. which I saw. As his Life of Dr Johnson' will probably be a work of a similar nature, I have taken the liberty of strongly enjoining him to be more careful what he inserts, so as not to make to himself enemies, or give pain to any person whom he may have occasion to mention and I hope he will do so, as he seems sorry for some parts of the other. "I have been much pleased with Dr Johnson's Prayers and Meditations:' they show him to have been a man of sincere and fervent piety: but I think Mr Strahan has been much to blame in printing the MS. verbatim. I do not think an editor is at liberty to add a single iota to the work of his author; but surely there could have been no crime in Mr Strahan's retrenching occasionally a few things, which throw, in some degree, an air of ridicule on a work of so serious a He has mentioned this in his second edition, p. 524. nature; and which, by giving cause for scoffing, will perhaps diminish the good effects the book might otherwise be expected to produce: had he likewise substituted Elizabeth, (which Boswell tells me was Mrs Johnson's real name,) in the place of such a ridiculous appellation as Tetty, surely no man could have found fault with the change. It is somewhat extraordinary to see a mind so vigorous as his was, distressing itself with terrors on subjects apparently of no great importance, while the whole tenor of his life had been so irreproachable and useful to the world by his writings; which, one should think, are of sufficient magnitude to render unnecessary his self-accusation of idleness. * "It would give you pleasure, I am sure, to hear of Mr William Gregory's having got a living. He is a most excellent young man; and has well supported Dr Reid's character of him, when, in a letter to me while he was at Glasgow college, the Doctor called him one of the incorruptibles. The living is worth about L. 160, and it is a good thing to have such a patron as the Archbishop of Canterbury." * Son of the late Dr John Gregory. He is since dead. LETTER CLXXXVIII. DR BEATTIE TO SIR WILLIAM FORBES. Aberdeen, 12th February, 1786. "It is with much concern, and with the most cordial sympathy, that I condole with Lady Forbes and you on your late afflictions. I pray God they may be sanctified to you; that you may be strengthened to bear them without injury to your health; and that the dear survivors may be spared for a comfort to their parents, a blessing to one another, and an ornament to society. Those, whom a wise Providence has been pleased to take away, have been soon released from their warfare, and have now an eternity of happiness before them, without the possibility of change. This consideration will sooth your melancholy, and will shortly, I trust, enable you to overcome it. "What you say of Mr Boswell coincides with my sentiments exactly. I am convinced he meant no harm; but many things in his book are injudicious, and must create him enemies, and are really injurious to the memory of Dr Johnson. Johnson's faults were balanced by many and great virtues; and when that is the case, the virtues only should be remembered, and the faults entirely forgotten. But in this book, Johnson's want of temper, want of candour, obstinacy in dispute, and rage of contradiction, (for most of his speeches began with No, Sir,) are minutely recorded and exemplified. I cannot but take notice of a very illiberal saying of Johnson with respect to the late Mr Strahan, (Mr Boswell has politely concealed the name,) who was a man to whom Johnson had been much obliged, and whom, on account of his abilities and virtues, as well as rank in life, every one who knew him (and Johnson as well as others) acknowledged to be a most respectable character. See page 94. * I have seen the letter mentioned by Dr Gerard, and I have * After so severe a reproof from Dr Beattie, it is proper, for his sake, to insert here the paragraph from Mr Boswell's 'Journal' which occasioned it. ર "Dr Gerard told us, that an eminent printer was very inti"mate with Warburton." Johnson. " Why, Sir, he has printed some of his works, and, perhaps, bought the property of some "of them. The intimacy is such as one of the Professors here "may have with one of the carpenters, who is repairing the college," &c. &c. |