The Life of Samuel Johnson, vol 2 | Page 9

write nullius originis, for obscure extraction?
'I have defended myself as well as I could.
'Might I venture to differ from you with regard to the utility of vows? I
am sensible that it would be very dangerous to make vows rashly, and
without a due consideration. But I cannot help thinking that they may
often be of great advantage to one of a variable judgement and irregular
inclinations. I always remember a passage in one of your letters to our
Italian friend Baretti; where talking of the monastick life, you say you
do not wonder that serious men should put themselves under the
protection of a religious order, when they have found how unable they
are to take care of themselves.[69] For my own part, without affecting
to be a Socrates, I am sure I have a more than ordinary struggle to
maintain with the Evil Principle; and all the methods I can devise are
little enough to keep me tolerably steady in the paths of rectitude.
* * * * *
'I am ever, with the highest veneration, 'Your affectionate humble
servant, 'JAMES BOSWELL.'
It appears from Johnson's diary, that he was this year at Mr. Thrale's,
from before Midsummer till after Michaelmas, and that he afterwards
passed a month at Oxford. He had then contracted a great intimacy with
Mr. Chambers of that University, afterwards Sir Robert Chambers, one
of the Judges in India.[70]
He published nothing this year in his own name; but the noble

dedication[71][*] to the King, of Gwyn's London and Westminster
Improved, was written by him; and he furnished the Preface,[Dagger]
and several of the pieces, which compose a volume of Miscellanies by
Mrs. Anna Williams, the blind lady who had an asylum in his house. Of
these, there are his 'Epitaph on Philips,'[72][*] 'Translation of a Latin
Epitaph on Sir Thomas Hanmer,'[73][Dagger] 'Friendship, an
Ode,'[74][*] and, 'The Ant,'[*] a paraphrase from the Proverbs, of
which I have a copy in his own hand-writing; and, from internal
evidence, I ascribe to him, 'To Miss ----, on her giving the Authour a
gold and silk net-work Purse of her own weaving'[75]; [Dagger] and,
'The happy Life.'[76][Dagger]
Most of the pieces in this volume have evidently received additions
from his superiour pen, particularly 'Verses to Mr. Richardson, on his
Sir Charles Grandison;' 'The Excursion;' 'Reflections on a Grave
digging in Westminster Abbey.'[77] There is in this collection a poem
'On the Death of Stephen Grey, the Electrician;'[*] which, on reading it,
appeared to me to be undoubtedly Johnson's. I asked Mrs. Williams
whether it was not his. 'Sir, (said she, with some warmth,) I wrote that
poem before I had the honour of Dr. Johnson's acquaintance.' I,
however, was so much impressed with my first notion, that I mentioned
it to Johnson, repeating, at the same time, what Mrs. Williams had said.
His answer was, 'It is true, Sir, that she wrote it before she was
acquainted with me; but she has not told you that I wrote it all over
again, except two lines.'[78] 'The Fountains,'[dagger] a beautiful little
Fairy tale in prose, written with exquisite simplicity, is one of Johnson's
productions; and I cannot with-hold from Mrs. Thrale the praise of
being the authour of that admirable poem, 'The Three Warnings.'
He wrote this year a letter, not intended for publication, which has,
perhaps, as strong marks of his sentiment and style, as any of his
compositions. The original is in my possession. It is addressed to the
late Mr. William Drummond, bookseller in Edinburgh, a gentleman of
good family, but small estate, who took arms for the house of Stuart in
1745; and during his concealment in London till the act of general
pardon came out obtained the acquaintance of Dr. Johnson, who justly
esteemed him as a very worthy man. It seems, some of the members of

the society in Scotland for propagating Christian knowledge, had
opposed the scheme of translating the holy scriptures into the Erse or
Gaelick language, from political considerations of the disadvantage of
keeping up the distinction between the Highlanders and the other
inhabitants of North-Britain. Dr. Johnson being informed of this, I
suppose by Mr. Drummond, wrote with a generous indignation as
follows:
'To MR. WILLIAM DRUMMOND.
'SIR,
'I did not expect to hear that it could be, in an assembly convened for
the propagation of Christian knowledge, a question whether any nation
uninstructed in religion should receive instruction; or whether that
instruction should be imparted to them by a translation of the holy
books into their own language. If obedience to the will of God be
necessary to happiness, and knowledge of his will be necessary to
obedience, I know not how he that with-holds this knowledge, or
delays it, can be said to love his neighbour