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THE DOCTOR ENRAGED.

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up all he has."-BOSWELL: "Foote, Sir, told me, that when he was very ill he was not afraid to die."-JOHNSON: "It is not true, Sir. Hold a pistol to Foote's breast, or to Hume's breast, and threaten to kill them, and you'll see how they behave."-Boswell: "But may we not fortify our minds for the approach of death?” JOHNSON [in a rage]: "No, Sir, let it alone. No, Sir, let it alone. It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time. A man knows it must be so, and submits. It will do him no good to whine.” .

Boswell attempted to continue the conversation, though he might have been warned off that subject by the Doctor's last passionate utterance. "Give us no more of this," cried Johnson, in great wrath; and he gave his importunate visitor to understand that he might take his departure as soon as he pleased. When Boswell was leaving the room Johnson shouted after him, "Don't let us meet to-morrow."

The guilty man did, however, call upon the offended Doctor next day, having first smoothed the way thither by sending him a very humble letter of apology. He was received graciously, and pardoned freely. Boswell takes this opportunity of remarking (and the remark is a good one) that "though Johnson might be charged with bad humour at times he was always a good-natured man." Sir Joshua Reynolds, also, used to observe that, if our Author had been rude to any one, he always took the first opportunity of begging his pardon,-by drinking to him, or directing his discourse specially to him, or in some other little delicate way.

While the Doctor was musing over the fire one evening in Thrale's drawing-room, a young gentleman suddenly, and, as Johnson seems to have fancied, somewhat disrespectfully, called to him: "Mr. Johnson, would you advise me to marry?"—JOHNSON [angrily]: "Sir, I would advise no man to marry who is not likely to propagate understanding." He then left the room, but, returning almost immediately, sat down and discoursed so eloquently and good-humouredly upon "marriage" that the whole company, young gentleman included, forgave the former rudeness-perceiving that the Doctor was apologizing in his own way.

Johnson could say "Peccavi," and say it sincerely too; but he

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JOHNSON'S WAY OF APOLOGIZING.

would not put his mouth in the dust while he pronounced the word. He could seek forgiveness of his fellow-men, and seek it frankly; but he must ask it standing on his feet. He could beg a man's pardon; but only in a manly way. And he looked for no other sort of apology from those who had offended him. His disgust at intoxication, for instance, was well known by all his acquaintances. On one occasion, a friend of his appeared at a tavern, where he and some others were at supper, in a state a little beyond the allowed limit. A wag, thinking to provoke a very strong rebuke of the ill-advised gentleman, asked Johnson a few days afterwards, "Well, Sir, what did your friend say to you as an apology for being in such a situation?" "Sir, he said all that a man should say: he said he was sorry for it.”

So that little flash of anger which poor Boswell struck out has, after all, only brought to light one more admirable trait in the character of JOHNSON THE MAN.

NEGRO FRANCIS AT SCHOOL.

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CHAPTER XIX.

NEGRO FRANCIS AT SCHOOL-PROPOSAL TO ENTER PARLIAMENTMEDITATIONS ON EARLY RISING.

(1769-1771.)

BOSWELL again called upon the Doctor on the morning of the tenth of November, the day on which he was to leave for Scotland -for matrimonial purposes. The prospect of connubial felicity had made the expectant husband voluble; he therefore took courage to recite to the sage a little love-song which he had himself composed and which Dibdin was to set to music :

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JOHNSON: "It is very well, Sir, but you should not swear." Whereupon the obnoxious "Oh! by my soul," was changed on the instant to "Alas! alas!"

"TO MR. FRANCIS BARBER, AT MRS. CLAPP'S, BISHOP STORTFORD,

"DEAR FRANCIS,

HERTFORDSHIRE,

"London, Sept. 25, 1770.

"I am at last sat down to write to you, and should very much blame myself for having neglected you so long, if I did not impute

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TWO LITTLE LETTERS.

that and many other failings to want of health. I hope not to be so long silent again. I am very well satisfied with your progress, if you can really perform the exercises which you are set; and I hope Mr. Ellis does not suffer you to impose on him or on yourself.

"Make my compliments to Mr. Ellis, and to Mrs. Clapp, and Mr. Smith.

ment.

"Let me know what English books you read for your entertainYou can never be wise unless you love reading. "Do not imagine that I shall forget or forsake you; for if, when I examine you, I find that you have not lost your time, you shall want no encouragement from

"Yours affectionately,

"SAM. JOHNSON."

"TO THE SAME.

"December 7, 1770.

"DEAR FRANCIS,

"I hope you mind your business. I design you I design you shall stay with Mrs. Clapp these holidays. If you are invited out you may go, if Mr. Ellis gives leave. I have ordered you some clothes, which you will receive, I believe, next week. My compliments to Mrs. Clapp, and to Mr. Ellis, and Mr. Smith, &c.

"I am, your affectionate,

"SAM. JOHNSON."

These two little letters give us a far deeper insight into the real Johnson than his political pamphlet, "The False Alarm," which was published the same year, and created a great sensation in that noisy world where politics reign supreme.

In 1771, he published another political pamphlet, entitled "Thoughts on the late Transactions respecting Falkland's Islands."

These two pamphlets had been on the government side, and very warmly on that side. It therefore occurred to a friend of Johnson's, also a supporter of the government, and a Member of Parliament to boot, that our Author might be a valuable acquisition to the House of Commons, could he by any means find

PROPOSAL TO ENTER PARLIAMENT.

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entrance there. On the strength of this conviction the gentleman wrote to one of the Secretaries of the Treasury the following letter :

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SIR,

"New Street, March 30, 1771.

"You will easily recollect, when I had the honour of waiting upon you some time ago, I took the liberty to observe to you, that Dr. Johnson would make an excellent figure in the House of Commons, and heartily wished he had a seat there. My reasons are briefly these:

"I know his perfect good affection to his Majesty and his government, which I am certain he wishes to support by every means in his power.

"He possesses a great share of manly, nervous, and ready eloquence; is quick in discerning the strength and weakness of an argument; can express himself with clearness and precision, and fears the face of no man alive.

"His known character, as a man of extraordinary sense and unimpeached virtue, would secure him the attention of the House, and could not fail to give him a proper weight there.

"He is capable of the greatest application, and can undergo any degree of labour, where he sees it necessary, and where his heart and affections are strongly engaged. His Majesty's ministers might therefore securely depend on his doing, upon every proper occasion, the utmost that could be expected from him. They would find him ready to vindicate such measures as tended to promote the stability of government, and resolute and steady in carrying them into execution. Nor is anything to be apprehended from the supposed impetuosity of his temper. To the friends of the king you will find him a lamb, to his enemies a lion.

"For these reasons I humbly apprehend that he would be a very able and useful member. And I will venture to say, the employment would not be disagreeable to him; and knowing, as I do, his strong affection to the king, his ability to serve him in that capacity, and the extreme ardour with which I am convinced he would engage in that service, I must repeat that I wish most heartily to see him in the House.

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