No. LXXXI.] "Takes note of what is done- [SEPTEMBER, 1857. smiled, and with great good humour agreed to their proposal. What! is it you, you dogs? I'll have a frisk with you! He was soon dressed, and they sallied together into Covent Garden, where the green-grocers and fruiterers were beginning to arrange their hampers, just come in from the country. Johnson made some attempts to help them, but the honest gardeners stared so at his figure and manner, and his odd interference, that he soon saw his services were not relished. They then repaired to one of the neighbouring taverns, and made a bowl of Bishop, a liquor so called, which Johnson had always liked; and he, while in joyous contempt of sleep, from which he had been roused, repeated the festive lines Short, O short then be thy reign, Johr.son JOHNSON'S RESIDENCE IN INNER TEMPLE LANE. Dr. Johnson's three last residences in the metropolis were No. 1, Inner Temple Lane, No. 7, Johnson's Court, and No. 8, Bolt Court, Fleet Street, where he died. The last has gone; and the former will soon pass. The whole of the building materials of the houses on the west side of Inner Temple Lane are advertised for sale on October 1, immediate demolition to follow, and among them the house in which Johnson resided for some years. Sir John Hawkins observes-Johnson was now become so well known, and had by the Rambler, and other of his writings, given such evidences, not only of great abilities, and of his skill in human life and manners, but of a sociable and benevolent disposition, that many became desirous of his acquaintance, and to And give us to the world again.* this they were further tempted by the character he had acquired of delighting in conversation, and being free They did not stay long, but walked down to the and communicative in his discourse. He had removed Thames, took a boat, and rowed to Billingsgate. Beau[from Gray's Inn] about the beginning of the year clerk and Johnson were so well pleased with their 1760, to chambers two doors down the Inner Temple- amusement, that they resolved to persevere in dissipalane, and I have been told by his neighbour at the [option for the rest of the day; but Langton being engaged posite] corner, that during the time he dwelt there, more to breakfast with some ladies, deserted them. enquiries were made at his shop for Mr. Johnson, than scolded him for leaving his social friends, to go and sit for all the inhabitants put together of both the Inner with a set of wretched un-idea'd girls' Garrick being and Middle Temple.* But it would seem, Johnson was told of this ramble, said to him smartly, I heard of resident there in 1759. Francis Barber, Johnson's your frolick t'other night. You'll be in the Chronicle.' former black servant, but had left his service, had been Upon which Johnson observed-He would not do such taken by a press-gang, and sent on board the Stag a thing, his wife would not let him!† frigate; Johnson on hearing this was greatly distressed, and Smollett, by letter to Wilkes, dated Chelsea, March 16, 1759, implored his aid to set him free. Wilkes instantly applied to his friend, Sir George Hay, then one of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and Francis Barber, without any wish of his own, was discharged. He found his old master, Johnson, in chambers in the Inner Temple, and returned to his service.† Boswell relates an amusing incident.-One night, when Beauclerk and Langton had supped at a Tavern, and sat there till about three in the morning, it came into their heads to go and knock up Johnson, and see if they could prevail on him to join them in a ramble. They rapped violently at the door of his chambers in the Temple, till at last he appeared in his shirt, with his little black wig on the top of his head instead of a night cap, and a poker in his hand, imagining, probably, that some ruffians were coming to attack him. When he discovered who they were, and was told their errand, he *Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., 1787, 8vo. p. 383. + Boswell's Life of Johnson, 1807, 8vo. Vol. I. p. 329. VOL. VII. The Rev. Dr. Maxwell of Falkland, Ireland, later relating the circumstances of his acquaintance with Johnson, which commenced in 1754, and was continued many years, has stated, Johnson was much attached to London; he observed that a man stored his mind better there, than any where else; and that in remote situa * Boswell evidently had the recital of this story from Langton, and he fancied the latter had not recollected, or that Johnson had repeated the passage wrong, the lines in Lord Lansdowne's Drinking Song to Sleep, being Short, very short be then thy reign, For I'm in haste to laugh and drink again. But the fault must have been with Langton; Johnson was not so drunk, or so forgetful in memory, as to make nonsense of his couplets. ↑ Garrick's threat, 'You'll be in the Chronicle,' was allusive to the possibility of Steevens, then Johnson's neighbour in the Temple, or himself lampooning him in the Universal Chronicle, a weekly paper, in which the Idler' commenced on Saturday, April 15, 1758, and continued on the Saturday in every week for nearly two years following. Davy in all matters rendered obsequious deference to the mandates of Mrs. Garrick; and under her regis Johnson was safe. K tions a man's body might be feasted, but his mind was starved, and his faculties apt to degenerate from want of exercise and competition. No place, said he, cured a man's vanity or arrogance so well as London; for as no man was either great or good per se, but as compared with others not so good or great, he was sure to find in the metropolis many his equals, and some his superiors. He told me, that he had frequently been offered country preferments, if he would consent to take orders; but he could not leave the improved society of the capital, or consent to exchange the exhilarating joys and splendid decorations of public life, for the obscurity, insipidity, and uniformity of remote situations. His general mode of life during my acquaintance seemed to be pretty uniform. About twelve o'clock I commonly visited him, and frequently found him in bed, or declaiming over his tea, which he drank very plentifully. He generally had a levee of morning visitors, chiefly men of letters: Hawkesworth, Goldsmith, Murphy, Langton, Steevens, Beauclerk, and others; and sometimes learned ladies, particularly I remember a French lady of wit and fashion doing him the honour of a visit. Two young women from Staffordshire visited him when I was present, to consult him on the subject of Methodism, to which they were inclined. Come,' said he, you pretty fools, dine with Maxwell and me at the Mitre, and we'll talk over that subject;' which they did, and after dinner he took one of them upon his knee, and fondled her for half an hour together. Though the most accessible and communicative man alive, yet when he suspected he was invited to be exhibited, he constantly spurned the invitation. He seemed to me to be considered as a kind of public oracle, whom everybody thought they had a right to visit He frequently gave all the silver in his pocket to the poor, who watched him between his house and the tavern where he dined. He walked the streets at all hours, and said he was never robbed,* for the rogues knew he had little money, nor had the appearance of having much. Boswell, who like many others sought an introduction to Johnson, obtained it in the back parlour of Tom Davies' the bookseller's shop, No. 8, Great Russell Street, Covent Garden, on the evening of Monday, May 16, 1763, and in a few days after, induced by Davies' stating that Johnson would certainly take his calling upon him as a compliment, Boswell so determined. So, upon Tuesday, the 24th of May, after having been enlivened by the witty sallies of Messrs. Thornton, Wilkes, Churchill, and Lloyd, with whem I had passed the morning, I boldly repaired to Johnson. His chambers were on the first floor of No. 1, Inner Temple Lane, and I entered them with an impression given me by the Rev. Dr. Blair, of Edinburgh, who had been introduced by him not long before, and described his having found the Giant in his den.' He received me very courteously. Some gentlemen, whom I do not * Madame de Boufflers, in April, 1763. Boswell subse-recollect, were sitting with him; but it must be conquently learned the particulars of this visit from Beauclerk. fessed that his apartment, and furniture, and morning -When Madame de Boufflers was first in England, said dress were sufficiently uncouth. His brown suit of Beauclerk, she was desirous to see Johnson. I accordingly cloaths looked very rusty; he had on a little, old, shrivwent with her to his chambers in the Temple, where she elled, unpowdered wig, which was too small for his our visit was over, she and I left him, and were got into head, his shirt-neck and knees of his breeches were Inner Temple-lane, when all at once I heard a noise like loose; his black worsted stockings ill drawn up; and he thunder. This was occasioned by Johnson, who it seems, had a pair of unbuckled shoes by way of slippers; but upon a little recollection, had taken it into his head that he all these slovenly particularities were forgotten the moought to have done the honours of his literary residence to a foreign lady of quality, and eager to shew himself a man of gallantry, was hurrying down the staircase in violent agitation. He overtook us before we reached the Temple gate, and brushing in between me and Madame de Boufflers, seized her hand, and conducted her to her coach. His dress was a rusty brown morning suit, a pair of old shoes by way of slippers, a little shrivelled wig sticking on the top of his head, while the sleeves of his shirt, and the knees of his breeches were hanging loose. A considerable crowd of people gathered round, and were not a little struck by his singular appearance. Well might Beauclerk, on Johnson's obtaining in July, 1762, the grant of his pension of three hundred per annum, utter the admonition, though in Falstaff's phraseology-I hope you'll now purge and live cleanly like a gentleman! was entertained with his conversation for some time. When In this respect Johnson was very similar to Professor Porson, who usually passed his evenings in social hilarity at the Cyder Cellar, in Maiden-lane, Covent Garden, whence, after midnight, and at all hours in the morning, often lumpily inebriated, he was wont to pass on his way homeward through Fleet Street, to the London Institution, in Finsbury Circus; his pockets crammed with rare volumes of classic lore, manuscripts or printers' proofs, irreparable if lost, but he was never robbed.' Well known to the girls of our town,' no one dared to molest him, and if too far gone to remember the axiom that strait is the path,' two would unhesitatingly escort him, and by linking their arms with his, endeavour to rectify the Sage in his aptitude to deviate on his course. ment that he began to talk. Boswell details further particulars of this his first interview. On Monday, June 13, Boswell records that he again called on Johnson, and told him he had been to see Johnson ride upon Three horses, behind the Three Hats at Islington. He adds I had learned that his place of frequent resort was the Mitre Tavern in Fleet-street, where he loved to sit up late, and I begged I might be allowed to pass the evening with him there soon, which he promised I should. A few days afterward, I met him near Templebar, about one o'clock in the morning, and asked him if he would then go to the Mitre. Sir, said he, it is too late; they won't let us in, but I'll go with you another night, with all my heart. On Saturday, June 25, Boswell relates some droll particulars of an altercation between Johnson and an Irish gentleman, at Clifton's eating-house in Butcher row, the dispute arising from the cause why some part of mankind were black; Johnson, overborne by the intemperate expressions of his opponent, gave up the argument and quietly walked away; when, being his gone, antagonist took his revenge, as he thought, by saying He has a most ungainly figure, and an affectation of pomposity unworthy of a man of genius.' Boswell, who had been unobserved by Johnson, followed him, and they arranged to meet that evening at the Mitre, I called on him, and we went thither at nine. We had a good supper and port wine, of which he then sometimes drank a bottle.' Tuesday, July 18, Mr. Levet this day shewed me Johnson's library which was contained in two garrets over his chambers. 1 found a number of good books, but very dusty, and in great confusion. The floor was strewed with manuscript leaves in Johnson's own handwriting, which I beheld with a degree of veneration, supposing they might contain portions of the Rambler, or of Rasselas. I observed an apparatus for chemical experiments of which Johnson was all his life very fond.t The Mitre Tavern, No. 39 in Fleet Street, it was afterward Macklin's Poets' Gallery, and lastly Saunders' Auction Rooms. In 1829, the house was demolished, and Hoare's banking house extended over its site. The Mitre Tavern now opposite Fetter-lane end, erroneously held as the scene of many incidents in literary history, was then simply known as 'Joe's Coffee-house.' The Mitre Tavern is a more recent assumption. Hawkins observes-The history of learning furnishes us with many examples of men who have deviated from the study of polite literature to that of the hermetic science, or in plainer English, to that sublime chemistry which leads to the transmutation of metals; and those who may have heard that Johnson exercised himself in chemical processes may perhaps think, that his view therein was suddenly to become the possessor of immense riches, but I am able to obviate this suspicion, and assure them, that his motive was only curiosity, and his end mere amusement. At the time he frequented the club in Ivy Lane, Dyer was going through a course of chemistry under Dr. Pemberton, of The place seemed to be very favourable for retirement and meditation. Johnson told me, that he went up thither without mentioning it to [Francis Barber] 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. Boswell at this time occupied the chambers of his friend Temple, in ‘Farrar's Building,' the house now No. 10, at the bottom of Inner Temple-lane. Johnson, who always felt an inclination to do nothing, was abetted in the indulgence of that disposition by his pension, and appears at this time to have busied himself in little beyond preparing his edition of Shakespeare, for which he had long since received subscriptions, and had subsisted upon them. The work was probably finished in Inner Temple-lane, which it would seem he quitted about Midsummer, 1765, or before. He then became Johnson of that Ilk,' by going to reside at No. 7, Johnson's Court, Fleet Street; and the honorary title of Doctor of Civil Law, by which we recognize him as Dr. Johnson, was not conferred upon him by Trinity College, Dublin, till July 23, 1765. His Shakespeare was first published on Oct. 9, in that year. Gresham College, and would sometimes give us descriptions of processes as were very entertaining, particularly to Johnson, who would listen to them attentively. We may suppose, that in the course of his reading, he had acquired some knowledge of the theory of the art, and that he wished for an opportunity of reducing that knowledge into practice; he thought the time now come, and though he had no fitter an apartment for a laboratory than the garret over his chambers in the Inner Temple, he furnished that with an alembic, with retorts, receivers and other vessels his aims were, at first, I know not, having forgotten the adapted to the cheapest and least operose processes. What account he once gave me of the earliest of his chemical operations; but, I have since learned, that they dwindled down to mere distillation, and that from substances of the simplest and coarsest sort, namely, peppermint, and the dregs of strong beer; from the latter whereof, he was able to extract a strong but very nauseous spirit, which all might smell, but few chose to taste. Johnson possibly never told Hawkins or any one else, to what purpose his chemical operations were really directed, and Time only has elicited the fact. The improvement of the manufacture of china-ware or porcelain was at this period an object of sedulous enquiry even with the most distinguished chemists, Johnson imbibed the same predilection and fancied he had discovered all that was required, until his repeated failures in the ovens of the Chelsea china works convinced him he knew nothing of its manufacture, and that his theories were nought. These abortive attempts were probably late in 1762, or early in 1763, as at the close of that year the Chelsea works were altogether discontinued; yet where-ever porcelain was made, Johnson subsequently invariably visited the manufactory, his inveterate longing tended to that course, in which he had signally failed, and his visits to Worcester in 1774, to Sèvres in 1775, and to Derby in 1777, are all recorded facts. Miss Ann Williams, his blind protegee, who had been an inmate with him in Gough Square, on his occupying the chambers in Inner Temple-lane lodged in Boltcourt, and continued there till his moval to Johnson's Court, when he again invited her to reside in his house. The house in Johnson's Court is now part of Anderton's Hotel. The buildings about to be demolished bear an inscribed stone over the first story of No. 3; dated 1657. The words DR. JOHNSON'S STAIRCASE, painted over the door at No. 1, were first placed there in December 1844. Serjeant Atkinson is the out-going tenant of the chambers formerly occupied by Johnson. A civil word to Mrs. Massey, the housekeeper there for the last twenty-five years, will lead the inquirer to a view of the rooms once occupied by England's most distinguished Lexicographer. ELIA, or Charles Lamb, once occupied at No. 4, two rooms on the third floor, with a separate staircase to the five rooms above. They are doomed with the rest. UWINS, R. A., AND WALKER'S CLASSICS. The late Thomas Uwins, R. A., recently the keeper of the National Gallery, but who died on August 25th last, at Staines, in his seventy-fifth year, with the very questionable and unmeaning designation of Surveyor of Pictures to the Queen, &c.,' obtained no little celebrity from the pleasing manner of his designs or illustrations to Walker's Series of English Classics, in their day highly popular, and supposed to be remunerative, but as in most literary adventures, frequently involving the proprietors in difficulties, so in this; after being some years before the public, a change of proprietary was indispensable, the change was effected, and Uwins' letter to John Walker, the ostensible director and publisher, in Paternoster Row, may possibly at this time be deserving of note; it is here transcribed from the autograph. Thavies Inn, Ap. 29, 1818. Sir, I have long thought of raising my price for the profitable. In future then my prices will be as follows 3 3 0 5 5 0 You will have the goodness to inform the committee as soon as possible of my determination, as the drawings for Chesterfield, WARDIAN CASES. What is the reason that when there are no plants in a Wardian case, no moisture is condensed on the glass, although there may be plenty of damp earth? S. O. The Chinese have adopted the principle of Lycurgus, and have issued a coinage of iron-money, for payment of public servants for their services, and for the purchase into other hands-the Quixoht and Gill Blas being underof corn; but the taxes from the public at large are required to be paid in silver. Dr. Rae's schooner, the Iceberg, with which, in the ensuing spring, he purposed proceeding in search of Sir John Franklin's remains, has it is feared been lost on lake Ontario with all on board. The Fourth Volume of Mr. C. R, Smith's Collectanea Antiqua being completed, he announces the Fifth Volume will commence with Notes of a Tour to Rome through the South of France, with illustrations by Mr. Fairholt.' The work is Printed for Subscribers only, and not Published.' The first brick of the New Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, laid by Mr. Lucas, the builder, on Sept. 23, at 4 p.m. Locke, and Mason and Milton, not being done I can give them immediately stood as the last at the old prices. In conclusion, Sir, permit me to express to you, to all who have had any share in the management of the works, and to the gentlemen of the committee, the very great obligations I feel for all the attentions I have received during a connection of ten or twelve years-through all which time no single circumstance has ever occurred to occasion the smallest difference or disagreement between us, and if this mination is unalterable), permit me to hope that my name letter should be the cause of our separation (as my deterand my connection with this concern may be recollected with the same feelings of respect that I entertain for all the parties interested in it. I am Sir, your obliged humble servant, THOS. UWINS. SHAKESPEARE. Ayscough received for his Index to Shakespeare, printed as a third volume to Stockdale's edition, in 1790, two hundred guineas. GENTLEMEN CONNOISSEURS IN PAINTING. Over the fire-place in the dining-parlour, the room on the right hand, on entering the hall of the house formerly Sir Joshua Reynolds's, 47, Leicester Square; Claude's finely painted landscape, a view near the Castle of Gondolfo, unquestionably one of his most capital and finished pictures, long held a prominent but justly deserved situation; it excited general admiration, and occasioned a somewhat interesting incident in the biography of the once distinguished President of the Royal Academy. There are many instances of erroneous judgment in Gentlemen Connoisseurs, some of whom, in position from circumstances, have biassed and controlled public opinion, when in fact they were wholly deficient in the essentials to qualify them as Directors of the public taste. Had Mr. Payne Knight's dictum been followed, the Elgin marbles would have been lost to the Country, but the strong remonstrance in their favour from the Royal Academicians, induced the Government to reconsider and reject that respected virtuoso's veto. Mr. Noel Desenfans was considered a Collector of no common discernment, and his capabilities were unquestioned; the Collection of Paintings at Dulwich, formerly belonging to him, fully corroborates the popular estimate of his judgment, but in his opinions he was not infallible, as was evinced by the following anecdote. Much to the vexation of Sir Joshua, Mr. Desenfans constantly eulogized the old masters, and deprecated all productions of modern art; the former therefore determined to expose the illiberality of this opinion. The Claude above mentioned was constantly the theme of Mr. Desenfans' praise, and by this picture he resolved to effect his purpose; he therefore directed his pupil Marchi to make a facsimile of it, which he finished under the continued superintendence of Sir Joshua. Marchi's copy was then dried and smoked according to the most modern improved system, and substituted in place of the original in the frame over the fire-place. My father, who had been Sir Joshua's frame maker for some years, was at this period apprised by him of the trick he proposed playing Mr. Desenfans, and in furtherance of his scheme, wrote to my father, desiring him to go to Leicester Square, and take away the landscape now hanging over the fire-place, and new line it, but on no account to touch the picture, or allow any one to do so.' The picture was accordingly put on a new lining, and was visible at the back part of my father's shop, No. 288, High Holborn. Some days after, Mr. Desenfans called in as he was used to do, and espying the picture, exclaimed, Oh! what have you got the Claude from Sir Joshua? My father replied No,' but as had been previously arranged by the painter, he shewed him Sir Joshua's letter of instructions as to the new lining of the landscape then before him. Mr. Desenfans admired the picture, examined it again and again, observed it looked rather dirty, but notwithstand ing expressed a strong desire to become its possessor. My father replied that he was not aware that Sir Joshua was disposed to part with it, but promised to write and sound him as to any purpose he might have respecting it. Mr. Desenfans was delighted, but begged Sir Joshua should not be then told that he was the party desirous of becoming the purchaser. My father then wrote, that a certain gentleman had seen the landscape, admired it, and was very desirous of knowing the price. It had been previously arranged by Sir Joshua, that if my father wrote, no answer would be sent for at least a week, in order to sharpen the appetite of the would-be possessor, Mr. Desenfans, who however called every day for a week or more, anxiously inquisitive as to the result, and on each occasion warmly scrutinizing the picture, making no further observation than that it wanted a careful cleaning.' The reply at length arrived, and my father was directed to inform the gentleman, whoever he was, that Sir Joshua was in no way desirous of selling the picture, but that as the letter had stated the gentleman very much wished for it, he would sell it for two hundred pounds, but no less. The letter was in due course shewn to Mr. Desenfans, who immediately closed on these terms, and drew on his banker a cheque for that amount. The draft was forwarded to Sir Joshua, who then affected to have only then learned who was the purchaser, and wrote a letter to Mr. Desenfans, in which he returned him the cheque, and expressed his surprise that a gentleman of Mr. Desenfans' consummate judgment should have been so completely taken in, that it was a copy by Marchi, which he had been desired to paint for practice, not supposing for a moment that so excellent a judge of the old masters, as Mr. Desenfans had proved himself on all occasions, could be so deceived. Sir Joshua spoke of this affair pretty freely, and of course much to the annoyance of Mr. Desenfans, and it caused an estrangement between them. I have often heard my father, who died in 1827, relate the particulars, but Mr. Desenfans never knew he was at all implicated. The original Claude was sold in the fourth day's sale, No. 84, of Sir Joshua's collection of paintings by the old Masters, in the Great Room next to Cumberland House, Pall Mall, on Saturday, March 14, 1795, for one hundred and forty-five guineas; but what became of Marchi's copy, it has escaped me, if I ever knew, but in 1845, all the circumstances here related were again brought to my recollection, by a picture cleaner telling me, he had a Claude to clean, that was formerly in the possession of Sir Joshua Reynolds. I remember I laughed heartily, and bid him call in again another day, and I would tell him an amusing story about the picture; he however failed to do so, and possibly the possessor, whoever he may be, may for the first time learn, from a perusal of Current Notes, that there are two Richards in the Field !-two pictures, one painted by a master whose genius is recognized by the world; a second, accredited as the original, but is only a resemblance of the other, painted by the assistant of a modern artist, whose excellence is also universally acknowledged. King Street, Covent Garden. WILLIAM CRIBB. |
