I found a number of good books,but very dusty and in great confusion.The floor was strewed with manu leaves,in Johnson's own handwriting,which I beheld with a degree of veneration,supposing they perhaps might contain portions of The Rambler or of Rasselas.I observed an apparatus for chymical experiments,of which Johnson was all his life very fond.The place seemed to be very favourable for retirement and meditation.
Johnson told me,that he went up thither without mentioning it to his servant,when he wanted to study,secure from interruption;for he would not allow his servant to say he was not at home when he really was.'A servant's strict regard for truth,(said he)must be weakened by such a practice.A philosopher may know that it is merely a form of denial;but few servants are such nice distinguishers.If I accustom a servant to tell a lie for ME,have I not reason to apprehend that he will tell many lies for HIMSELF.'
Mr.Temple,now vicar of St.Gluvias,Cornwall,who had been my intimate friend for many years,had at this time chambers in Farrar's-buildings,at the bottom of Inner Temple-lane,which he kindly lent me upon my quitting my lodgings,he being to return to Trinity Hall,Cambridge.I found them particularly convenient for me,as they were so near Dr.Johnson's.
On Wednesday,July 20,Dr.Johnson,Mr.Dempster,and my uncle Dr.
Boswell,who happened to be now in London,supped with me at these Chambers.JOHNSON.'Pity is not natural to man.Children are always cruel.Savages are always cruel.Pity is acquired and improved by the cultivation of reason.We may have uneasy sensations from seeing a creature in distress,without pity;for we have not pity unless we wish to relieve them.When I am on my way to dine with a friend,and finding it late,have bid the coachman make haste,if I happen to attend when he whips his horses,I may feel unpleasantly that the animals are put to pain,but I do not wish him to desist.No,Sir,I wish him to drive on.'
Rousseau's treatise on the inequality of mankind was at this time a fashionable topick.It gave rise to an observation by Mr.
Dempster,that the advantages of fortune and rank were nothing to a wise man,who ought to value only merit.JOHNSON.'If man were a savage,living in the woods by himself,this might be true;but in civilized society we all depend upon each other,and our happiness is very much owing to the good opinion of mankind.Now,Sir,in civilized society,external advantages make us more respected.Aman with a good coat upon his back meets with a better reception than he who has a bad one.Sir,you may analyse this,and say what is there in it?But that will avail you nothing,for it is a part of a general system.Pound St.Paul's Church into atoms,and consider any single atom;it is,to be sure,good for nothing:but,put all these atoms together,and you have St.Paul's Church.So it is with human felicity,which is made up of many ingredients,each of which may be shewn to be very insignificant.In civilized society,personal merit will not serve you so much as money will.
Sir,you may make the experiment.Go into the street,and give one man a lecture on morality,and another a shilling,and see which will respect you most.If you wish only to support nature,Sir William Petty fixes your allowance at three pounds a year;but as times are much altered,let us call it six pounds.This sum will fill your belly,shelter you from the weather,and even get you a strong lasting coat,supposing it to be made of good bull's hide.
Now,Sir,all beyond this is artificial,and is desired in order to obtain a greater degree of respect from our fellow-creatures.And,Sir,if six hundred pounds a year procure a man more consequence,and,of course,more happiness than six pounds a year,the same proportion will hold as to six thousand,and so on as far as opulence can be carried.Perhaps he who has a large fortune may not be so happy as he who has a small one;but that must proceed from other causes than from his having the large fortune:for,coeteris paribus,he who is rich in a civilized society,must be happier than he who is poor;as riches,if properly used,(and it is a man's own fault if they are not,)must be productive of the highest advantages.Money,to be sure,of itself is of no use;for its only use is to part with it.Rousseau,and all those who deal in paradoxes,are led away by a childish desire of novelty.When Iwas a boy,I used always to choose the wrong side of a debate,because most ingenious things,that is to say,most new things,could be said upon it.Sir,there is nothing for which you may not muster up more plausible arguments,than those which are urged against wealth and other external advantages.Why,now,there is stealing;why should it be thought a crime?When we consider by what unjust methods property has been often acquired,and that what was unjustly got it must be unjust to keep,where is the harm in one man's taking the property of another from him?Besides,Sir,when we consider the bad use that many people make of their property,and how much better use the thief may make of it,it may be defended as a very allowable practice.Yet,Sir,the experience of mankind has discovered stealing to be so very bad a thing,that they make no scruple to hang a man for it.When I was running about this town a very poor fellow,I was a great arguer for the advantages of poverty;but I was,at the same time,very sorry to be poor.Sir,all the arguments which are brought to represent poverty as no evil,shew it to be evidently a great evil.You never find people labouring to convince you that you may live very happily upon a plentiful fortune.--So you hear people talking how miserable a King must be;and yet they all wish to be in his place.'
