The Life of Samuel Johnson, vol 3 | Page 9

hand.' BOSWELL. 'But, Sir, this lady does not want that the
contract should be dissolved; she only argues that she may indulge
herself in gallantries with equal freedom as her husband does, provided
she takes care not to introduce a spurious issue into his family. You
know, Sir, what Macrobius has told us of Julia.[73]' JOHNSON. 'This
lady of yours, Sir, I think, is very fit for a brothel.'
Mr. Macbean[74], authour of the Dictionary of ancient Geography,
came in. He mentioned that he had been forty years absent from
Scotland. 'Ah, Boswell! (said Johnson, smiling,) what would you give
to be forty years from Scotland?' I said, 'I should not like to be so long
absent from the seat of my ancestors.' This gentleman, Mrs. Williams,
and Mr. Levet, dined with us.
Dr. Johnson made a remark, which both Mr. Macbean and I thought
new. It was this: that 'the law against usury is for the protection of
creditors as well as of debtors; for if there were no such check, people
would be apt, from the temptation of great interest, to lend to desperate
persons, by whom they would lose their money. Accordingly there are
instances of ladies being ruined, by having injudiciously sunk their
fortunes for high annuities, which, after a few years, ceased to be paid,
in consequence of the ruined circumstances of the borrower.'
Mrs. Williams was very peevish; and I wondered at Johnson's patience
with her now, as I had often done on similar occasions. The truth is,
that his humane consideration of the forlorn and indigent state in which
this lady was left by her father, induced him to treat her with the utmost
tenderness, and even to be desirous of procuring her amusement, so as
sometimes to incommode many of his friends, by carrying her with him
to their houses, where, from her manner of eating, in consequence of
her blindness, she could not but offend the delicacy of persons of nice

sensations.[75]
After coffee, we went to afternoon service in St. Clement's church.
Observing some beggars in the street as we walked along, I said to him
I supposed there was no civilised country in the world, where the
misery of want in the lowest classes of the people was prevented.
JOHNSON. 'I believe, Sir, there is not; but it is better that some should
be unhappy, than that none should be happy, which would be the case
in a general state of equality.'[76]
When the service was ended, I went home with him, and we sat quietly
by ourselves. He recommended Dr. Cheyne's books. I said, I thought
Cheyne had been reckoned whimsical. 'So he was, (said he,) in some
things; but there is no end of objections. There are few books to which
some objection or other may not be made.' He added, 'I would not have
you read anything else of Cheyne, but his book on Health, and his
English Malady.'[77]
Upon the question whether a man who had been guilty of vicious
actions would do well to force himself into solitude and sadness;
JOHNSON. 'No, Sir, unless it prevent him from being vicious again.
With some people, gloomy penitence is only madness turned upside
down. A man may be gloomy, till, in order to be relieved from gloom,
he has recourse again to criminal indulgencies.'[78]
On Wednesday, April 10, I dined with him at Mr. Thrale's, where were
Mr. Murphy and some other company. Before dinner, Dr. Johnson and
I passed some time by ourselves. I was sorry to find it was now
resolved that the proposed journey to Italy should not take place this
year.[79] He said, 'I am disappointed, to be sure; but it is not a great
disappointment.' I wondered to see him bear, with a philosophical
calmness, what would have made most people peevish and fretful. I
perceived, however, that he had so warmly cherished the hope of
enjoying classical scenes, that he could not easily part with the scheme;
for he said, 'I shall probably contrive to get to Italy some other way.
But I won't mention it to Mr. and Mrs. Thrale, as it might vex them.' I
suggested, that going to Italy might have done Mr. and Mrs. Thrale
good. JOHNSON. 'I rather believe not, Sir. While grief is fresh, every

attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till grief be digested, and
then amusement will dissipate the remains of it.'
At dinner, Mr. Murphy entertained us with the history of Mr. Joseph
Simpson,[80] a schoolfellow of Dr. Johnson's, a barrister at law, of
good parts, but who fell into a dissipated course of life, incompatible
with that success in his profession which he once had, and would
otherwise have deservedly maintained; yet he still preserved a dignity
in his deportment.