Life of Johnson, Volume 4 · Chapter 43Footnotes: (11)
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[823] Horace Walpole (Letters, viii. 466) wrote on March 30:—'The nation is intoxicated, and has poured in Addresses of Thanks to the Crown for exerting the prerogative against the palladium of the people.'
[824] The election lasted from April 1 to May 16. Fox was returned second on the poll. Ann. Reg. xxvii. 190.
[825] He was returned also for Kirkwall, for which place he sat for nearly a year, while the scrutiny of the Westminster election was dragging on. Parl. Hist. xxiv. 799.
[826] Hannah More wrote on March 8 (Memoirs, i. 310):—'I am sure you will honour Mr. Langton, when I tell you he is come on purpose to stay with Dr. Johnson, and that during his illness. He has taken a little lodging in Fleet-street in order to be near, to devote himself to him. He has as much goodness as learning, and that is saying a bold thing of one of the first Greek scholars we have.'
[827] Floyer was the Lichfield physician on whose advice Johnson was 'touched' by Queen Anne. Ante, i. 42, 91, and post, July 20, 1784.
[828] To which Johnson returned this answer:—
'TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EARL OF PORTMORE.
'Dr. Johnson acknowledges with great respect the honour of Lord Portmore's notice. He is better than he was; and will, as his Lordship directs, write to Mr. Langton.
'Bolt-court, Fleet-street,
April 13, 1784.'
BOSWELL. Johnson here assumes his title of Doctor, which Boswell says (ante, ii. 332, note 1), so far as he knew, he never did. Perhaps the letter has been wrongly copied, or perhaps Johnson thought that, in writing to a man of title, he ought to assume such title as he himself had.
[829] The eminent painter, representative of the ancient family of Homfrey (now Humphry) in the west of England; who, as appears from their arms which they have invariably used, have been, (as I have seen authenticated by the best authority,) one of those among the Knights and Esquires of honour who are represented by Holinshed as having issued from the Tower of London on coursers apparelled for the justes, accompanied by ladies of honour, leading every one a Knight, with a chain of gold, passing through the streets of London into Smithfield, on Sunday, at three o'clock in the afternoon, being the first Sunday after Michaelmas, in the fourteenth year of King Richard the Second. This family once enjoyed large possessions, but, like others, have lost them in the progress of ages. Their blood, however, remains to them well ascertained; and they may hope in the revolution of events, to recover that rank in society for which, in modern times, fortune seems to be an indispensable requisite. BOSWELL.
[830] Son of Mr. Samuel Paterson. BOSWELL. In the first two editions after 'Paterson' is added 'eminent for his knowledge of books.' See ante, iii. 90.
[831] Humphry, on his first coming to London, poor and unfriended, was helped by Reynolds. Northcote's Reynolds, ii. 174.
[832] On April 21 he wrote:—'After a confinement of 129 days, more than the third part of a year, and no inconsiderable part of human life, I this day returned thanks to God in St. Clement's Church for my recovery.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 365.
[833] On April 26 he wrote:—'On Saturday I showed myself again to the living world at the Exhibition; much and splendid was the company, but like the Doge of Genoa at Paris [Versailles, Voltaire, Siècle de Louis XIV, chap, xiv.], I admired nothing but myself. I went up the stairs to the pictures without stopping to rest or to breathe,
[Pope's Essay on Man, iii. 3.] The Prince of Wales had promised to be there; but when we had waited an hour and a half, sent us word that he could not come.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 367. 'The first Gentleman in Europe' was twenty-one years old when he treated men like Johnson and Reynolds with this insolence. Mr. Forster (Life of Goldsmith, ii. 244) says that it was at this very dinner that 'Johnson left his seat by desire of the Prince of Wales, and went to the head of the table to be introduced.' He does not give his authority for the statement.
[834] Mr. Croker wrote in 1847 that he had 'seen it very lately framed and glazed, in possession of the lady to whom it was addressed.' Croker's Boswell, p. 753.
[835] Shortly before he begged one of Mrs. Thrale's daughters 'never to think that she had arithmetic enough.' Ante, p. 171, note 3. See ante, iii. 207, note 3.
[836] Cowper wrote on May 10 to the Rev. John Newton:—'We rejoice in the account you give us of Dr. Johnson. His conversion will indeed be a singular proof of the omnipotence of Grace; and the more singular, the more decided.' Southey's Cowper, xv. 150. Johnson, in a prayer that he wrote on April 11, said:—'Enable me, O Lord, to glorify Thee for that knowledge of my corruption, and that sense of Thy wrath, which my disease and weakness and danger awakened in my mind.' Pr. and Med. p. 217.
[837] Mr. Croker suggests immediate.
[838] 'The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.' St. James, v. 16.
[839] Upon this subject there is a very fair and judicious remark in the life of Dr. Abernethy, in the first edition of the Biographia Britannica, which I should have been glad to see in his life which has been written for the second edition of that valuable work. 'To deny the exercise of a particular providence in the Deity's government of the world is certainly impious: yet nothing serves the cause of the scorner more than an incautious forward zeal in determining the particular instances of it.'
In confirmation of my sentiments, I am also happy to quote that sensible and elegant writer Mr. Melmoth [see ante, iii. 422], in Letter VIII. of his collection, published under the name of Fitzosborne. 'We may safely assert, that the belief of a particular Providence is founded upon such probable reasons as may well justify our assent. It would scarce, therefore, be wise to renounce an opinion which affords so firm a support to the soul, in those seasons wherein she stands in most need of assistance, merely because it is not possible, in questions of this kind, to solve every difficulty which attends them.' BOSWELL.
[840] I was sorry to observe Lord Monboddo avoid any communication with Dr. Johnson. I flattered myself that I had made them very good friends (see Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, third edit. p. 67, post, v. 80), but unhappily his Lordship had resumed and cherished a violent prejudice against my illustrious friend, to whom I must do the justice to say, there was on his part not the least anger, but a good-humoured sportiveness. Nay, though he knew of his Lordship's indisposition towards him, he was even kindly; as appeared from his inquiring of me after him, by an abbreviation of his name, 'Well, how does Monny?' BOSWELL. Boswell (Hebrides, post, v. 74) says:—'I knew Lord Monboddo and Dr. Johnson did not love each other; yet I was unwilling not to visit his lordship, and was also curious to see them together.' Accordingly, he brought about a meeting. Four years later, in 1777 (ante, iii. 102), Monboddo received from Johnson a copy of his Journey to the Hebrides. They met again in London in 1780 (Piozzi Letters, ii. III), and perhaps then quarrelled afresh. Dr. Seattle wrote on Feb. 28, 1785:-'Lord Monboddo's hatred of Johnson was singular; he would not allow him to know anything but Latin grammar, "and that," says he, "I know as well as he does." I never heard Johnson say anything severe of him, though when he mentioned his name, he generally "grinned horribly a ghastly smile,"' ['Grinned horrible,' &c. Paradise Lost, ii. 846.] Forbes's Beattie, p. 333. The use of the abbreviation Monny on Johnson's part scarcely seems a proof of kindliness. See ante, i. 453, where he said:--'Why, Sir, _Sherry_ is dull, naturally dull,' &c.; and iii. 84, note 2, where he said:—'I should have thought Mund Burke would have had more sense;' see also Rogers's Boswelliana, p. 216, where he said:—'Derry [Derrick] may do very well while he can outrun his character; but the moment that his character gets up with him he is gone.'
[841] On May 13 he wrote:—' Now I am broken loose, my friends seem willing enough to see me. ... But I do not now drive the world about; the world drives or draws me. I am very weak.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 369.
[842] See ante, iii, 443.
[843] See ante, p. 197.
[844] Boswell himself, likely enough.
[845] Verses on the death of Mr. Levett. BOSWELL. Ante, p. 138
[846] If it was Boswell to whom this advice was given, it is not unlikely that he needed it. The meagreness of his record of Johnson's talk at this season may have been due, as seems to have happened before, to too much drinking. Ante, p.88, note 1.
[847] Ante, ii. 100.
[848] George Steevens. See ante, iii. 281.
[849] Forty-six years earlier Johnson wrote of this lady:-'I have composed a Greek epigram to Eliza, and think she ought to be celebrated in as many different languages as Lewis le Grand.' Ante, i. 122. Miss Burney described her in 1780 as 'really a noble-looking woman; I never saw age so graceful in the female sex yet; her whole face seems to beam with goodness, piety, and philanthropy.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i. 373.
[850] 'Mrs. Thrale says that though Mrs. Lennox's books are generally approved, nobody likes her.' Ib. p. 91. See ante, i. 255, and iv. 10.
[851] 'Sept. 1778. MRS. THRALE. "Mrs. Montagu is the first woman for literary knowledge in England, and if in England, I hope I may say in the world." DR. JOHNSON. "I believe you may, Madam. She diffuses more knowledge in her conversation than any woman I know, or, indeed, almost any man." MRS. THRALE. "I declare I know no man equal to her, take away yourself and Burke, for that art."' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i. 118. It is curious that Mrs. Thrale and Boswell should both thus instance Burke. Miss Burney writes of her in much more moderate terms:—'Allowing a little for parade and ostentation, which her power in wealth and rank in literature offer some excuse for, her conversation is very agreeable; she is always reasonable and sensible, and sometimes instructive and entertaining.' Ib. p. 325. See ante, ii. 88, note 3. These five ladies all lived to a great age. Mrs. Montagu was 80 when she died; Mrs. Lennox, 83; Miss Burney (Mme. D'Arblay), 87; Miss More and Mrs. (Miss) Carter, 88. Their hostess, Mrs. Garrick, was 97 or 98.
[852] Miss Burney, describing how she first saw Burke, says:—'I had been told that Burke was not expected; yet I could conclude this gentleman to be no other. There was an evident, a striking superiority in his demeanour, his eye, his motions, that announced him no common man.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 145. See ante, ii. 450, where Johnson said of Burke:—'His stream of mind is perpetual;' and Boswell's Hebrides post,, v. 32, and Prior's Life of Burke, fifth edition, p. 58.
[853] Kennel is a strong word to apply to Burke; but, in his jocularity, he sometimes 'let himself down' to indelicate stories. In the House of Commons he had told one—and a very stupid one too—not a year before. Parl. Hist, xxiii. 918. Horace Walpole speaks of Burke's 'pursuit of wit even to puerility.' Journal of the Reign of George III, i. 443. He adds (ib. ii. 26):—'Burke himself always aimed at wit, but was not equally happy in public and private. In the former, nothing was so luminous, so striking, so abundant; in private, it was forced, unnatural, and bombast.' See ante, p. 104, where Wilkes said that in his oratory 'there was a strange want of taste.'
[854] Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, third edition, p. 20 [post, v. 32.] BOSWELL. See also ante, i. 453, and iii. 323.
[855] I have since heard that the report was not well founded; but the elation discovered by Johnson in the belief that it was true, shewed a noble ardour for literary fame. BOSWELL. Johnson wrote on Feb. 9:—'One thing which I have just heard you will think to surpass expectation. The chaplain of the factory at Petersburgh relates that the Rambler is now, by the command of the Empress, translating into Russian, and has promised, when it is printed, to send me a copy.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 349. Stockdale records (Memoirs, ii. 98) that in 1773 the Empress of Russia engaged 'six English literary gentlemen for instructors of her young nobility in her Academy at St. Petersburgh.' He was offered one of the posts. Her zeal may have gone yet further, and she may have wished to open up English literature to those who could not read English. Beauclerk's library was offered for sale to the Russian Ambassador. Ante, iii. 420. Miss Burney, in 1789, said that a newspaper reported that 'Angelica Kauffmann is making drawings from Evelina for the Empress of Russia.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, v. 35.
[856]
[857] See ante, iii. 49.
[858] See post, June 12, 1784.
[859] See ante, p. 126.
[860] H. C. Robinson (Diary, i. 29) describes him as 'an author on an infinity of subjects; his books were on Law, History, Poetry, Antiquities, Divinity, Politics.' He adds (ib. p. 49l):—'Godwin, Lofft, and Thelwall are the only three persons I know (except Hazlitt) who grieve at the late events'—the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. He found long after his death 'a MS. by him in these words:—"Rousseau, Euripides, Tasso, Racine, Cicero, Virgil, Petrarch, Richardson. If I had five millions of years to live upon this earth, these I would read daily with increasing delight."' Ib. iii. 283.
[861] Dunciad, iv. 394, note.
[862] The King opened Parliament this day. Hannah More during the election found the mob favourable to Fox. One night, in a Sedan chair, she was stopped with the news that it was not safe to go through Covent Garden. 'There were a hundred armed men,' she was told, 'who, suspecting every chairman belonged to Brookes's, would fall upon us. A vast number of people followed me, crying out "It is Mrs. Fox; none but Mr. Fox's wife would dare to come into Covent Garden in a chair; she is going to canvas in the dark."' H. More's Memoirs, i. 316. Horace Walpole wrote on April 11:—'In truth Mr. Fox has all the popularity in Westminster.' Letters, viii. 469.
[863] See post, under June 9, 1784, where Johnson describes Fox as 'a man who has divided the kingdom with Caesar.'
[864] See ante, p. 111.
[865] See ante, ii. 162.
[866] Boswell twice speaks of W. G. Hamilton as 'an eminent friend' of Johnson. He was not Boswell's friend. (Ante, p. 111, and post, under Dec. 20, 1784.) But Boswell does not here say 'a friend of ours.' By 'eminent friend' Burke is generally meant, and he, possibly, is meant here. Boswell, it is true, speaks of his 'orderly and amiable domestic habits' (ante, iii. 378); but then Boswell mentions the person here 'as a virtuous man.' If Burke is meant, Johnson's suspicions would seem to be groundless.
[867] See ante, p. 168, where Johnson 'wonders why he should have any enemies.'
[868] After all, I cannot but be of opinion, that as Mr. Langton was seriously requested by Dr. Johnson to mention what appeared to him erroneous in the character of his friend, he was bound, as an honest man, to intimate what he really thought, which he certainly did in the most delicate manner; so that Johnson himself, when in a quiet frame of mind, was pleased with it. The texts suggested are now before me, and I shall quote a few of them. 'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.' Mat. v. 5.—'I therefore, the prisoner of the LORD, beseech you, that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called; with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love.' Ephes. v. [iv.] 1, 2.—'And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.' Col. iii. 14.—'Charity suffereth long and is kind; charity envieth not, charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up: doth not behave itself unseemly, is not easily provoked.' 1 Cor. xiii. 4, 5. BOSWELL. Johnson, in The Rambler, No. 28, had almost foretold what would happen. 'For escaping these and a thousand other deceits many expedients have been proposed. Some have recommended the frequent consultation of a wise friend, admitted to intimacy and encouraged by sincerity. But this appears a remedy by no means adapted to general use; for, in order to secure the virtue of one, it pre-supposes more virtue in two than will generally be found. In the first, such a desire of rectitude and amendment as may incline him to hear his own accusation from the mouth of him whom he esteems, and by whom therefore he will always hope that his faults are not discovered; and in the second, such zeal and honesty as will make him content for his friend's advantage to lose his kindness.'
[869] Member for Dumfries.
[870] Malone points out that the passage is not in Bacon, but in Boyle, and that it is quoted in Johnson's Dictionary (in the later editions only), under cross-bow. It is as follows:—'Testimony is like the shot of a long-bow, which owes its efficacy to the force of the shooter; argument is like the shot of the cross-bow, equally forcible whether discharged by a giant or a dwarf.' See Smollett's Works, ed. 1797, i. cliv, for a somewhat fuller account by Dr. Moore of what was said by Johnson this evening.
[871] The Peace made by that very able statesman, the Earl of Shelburne, now Marquis of Lansdown, which may fairly be considered as the foundation of all the prosperity of Great Britain since that time. BOSWELL. In the winter of 1782-83, preliminary treaties of peace were made with the United States, France, and Spain; and a suspension of arms with Holland. The Ode is made up of such lines as the following:—
Gent. Mag.; 1783. p. 245.
[872] In the first edition of my Work, the epithet amiable was given. I was sorry to be obliged to strike it out; but I could not in justice suffer it to remain, after this young lady had not only written in favour of the savage Anarchy with which France has been visited, but had (as I have been informed by good authority), walked, without horrour, over the ground at the Thuillieries, when it was strewed with the naked bodies of the faithful Swiss Guards, who were barbarously massacred for having bravely defended, against a crew of ruffians, the Monarch whom they had taken an oath to defend. From Dr. Johnson she could now expect not endearment but repulsion. BOSWELL.
[873] Rogers (Table-Talk, p. 50) described her as 'a very fascinating person,' and narrated a curious anecdote which he heard from her about the Reign of Terror.
[874] This year, forming as it did exactly a quarter of a century since Handel's death, and a complete century since his birth, was sought, says the Gent. Mag. (1784, p. 457) as the first public periodical occasion for bringing together musical performers in England. Dr. Burney writes (Ann. Reg. 1784, p. 331):—'Foreigners must have been astonished at so numerous a band, moving in such exact measure, without the assistance of a Coryphaeus to beat time. Rousseau says that "the more time is beaten, the less it is kept."' There were upwards of 500 performers.
[875] See ante, iii. 242.
[876] Lady Wronghead, whispers Mrs. Motherly, pointing to Myrtilla.
'Mrs. Motherly. Only a niece of mine, Madam, that lives with me; she will be proud to give your Ladyship any assistance in her power.
'Lady Wronghead. A pretty sort of a young woman—Jenny, you two must be acquainted.
'Jenny. O Mamma! I am never strange in a strange place. Salutes Myrtilla.' The Provoked Husband; or, A Journey to London, act ii. sc. 1, by Vanbrugh and Colley Gibber. It was not therefore Squire Richard whom Johnson quoted, but his sister.
[877] See ante, p. 191.
[878] See Macaulay's Essays, ed. 1843, i. 353, for his application of this story.
[879] She too was learned; for according to Hannah More (Memoirs, i. 292) she had learnt Hebrew, merely to be useful to her husband.
[880]
Swift's Lines on Stella's Birthday, 1726-27. Works, ed. 1803, xi. 21.
[881] Dr. Newton, in his Account of his own Life, after animadverting upon Mr. Gibbon's History, says, 'Dr. Johnson's Lives of the Poets afforded more amusement; but candour was much hurt and offended at the malevolence that predominates in every part. Some passages, it must be allowed, are judicious and well written, but make not sufficient compensation for so much spleen and ill humour. Never was any biographer more sparing of his praise, or more abundant in his censures. He seemingly delights more in exposing blemishes, than in recommending beauties; slightly passes over excellencies, enlarges upon imperfections, and not content with his own severe reflections, revives old scandal, and produces large quotations from the forgotten works of former criticks. His reputation was so high in the republick of letters, that it wanted not to be raised upon the ruins of others. But these Essays, instead of raising a higher idea than was before entertained of his understanding, have certainly given the world a worse opinion of his temper.—The Bishop was therefore the more surprized and concerned for his townsman, for he respected him not only for his genius and learning, but valued him much more for the more amiable part of his character, his humanity and charity, his morality and religion.' The last sentence we may consider as the general and permanent opinion of Bishop Newton; the remarks which precede it must, by all who have read Johnson's admirable work, be imputed to the disgust and peevishness of old age. I wish they had not appeared, and that Dr. Johnson had not been provoked by them to express himself, not in respectful terms, of a Prelate, whose labours were certainly of considerable advantage both to literature and religion. BOSWELL.
[882] Newton was born Jan. 1, 1704, and was made Bishop in 1761. In his Account of his own Life (p. 65) he says:—'He was no great gainer by his preferment; for he was obliged to give up the prebend of Westminster, the precentorship of York, the lecturership of St. George's, Hanover Square, and the genteel office of sub-almoner.' He died in 1781. His Works were published in 1782. Gibbon, defending himself against an attack by Newton, says (Misc. Works, l. 24l):—'The old man should not have indulged his zeal in a false and feeble charge against the historian, who,' &c.
[883] Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd ed. p. 371 [Oct. 25]. BOSWELL. See ante, ii. 216.
[884] The Rev. Mr. Agutter [post, under Dec. 20] has favoured me with a note of a dialogue between Mr. John Henderson [post, June 12] and Dr. Johnson on this topick, as related by Mr. Henderson, and it is evidently so authentick that I shall here insert it:—HENDERSON. 'What do you think, Sir, of William Law?' JOHNSON. 'William Law, Sir, wrote the best piece of Parenetick Divinity; but William Law was no reasoner.' HENDERSON. 'Jeremy Collier, Sir?' JOHNSON. 'Jeremy Collier fought without a rival, and therefore could not claim the victory.' Mr. Henderson mentioned Kenn and Kettlewell; but some objections were made: at last he said, 'But, Sir, what do you think of Leslie?' JOHNSON. 'Charles Leslie I had forgotten. Leslie was a reasoner, and a reasoner who was not to be reasoned against.' BOSWELL.
For the effect of Law's 'Parenetick Divinity' on Johnson, see ante, i. 68. 'I am surprised,' writes Macaulay, 'that Johnson should have pronounced Law no reasoner. Law did indeed fall into great errors; but they were errors against which logic affords no security. In mere dialectical skill he had very few superiors.' Macaulay's England, ed. 1874, v. 81, note. Jeremy Collier's attack on the play-writers Johnson describes in his Life of Congreve (Works, viii. 28), and continues:—'Nothing now remained for the poets but to resist or fly. Dryden's conscience, or his prudence, angry as he was, withheld him from the conflict: Congreve and Vanbrugh attempted answers.' Of Leslie, Lord Bolingbroke thus writes (Works, in. 45):—'Let neither the polemical skill of Leslie, nor the antique erudition of Bedford, persuade us to put on again those old shackles of false law, false reason, and false gospel, which were forged before the Revolution, and broken to pieces by it.' Leslie is described by Macaulay, History of England, v. 81.
[885] Burnet (History of his own Time, ed. 1818, iv. 303) in 1712 speaks of Hickes and Brett as being both in the Church, but as shewing 'an inclination towards Popery.' Hickes, he says, was at the head of the Jacobite party. See Boswell's Hebrides, Oct. 25.
[886] 'Only five of the seven were non-jurors; and anybody but Boswell would have known that a man may resist arbitrary power, and yet not be a good reasoner. Nay, the resistance which Sancroft and the other nonjuring Bishops offered to arbitrary power, while they continued to hold the doctrine of non-resistance, is the most decisive proof that they were incapable of reasoning.' Macaulay's England, ed. 1874, v. 81.
[887] See ante, ii. 321, for Johnson's estimate of the Nonjurors, and i. 429 for his Jacobitism.
[888] Savage's Works, ed. 1777, ii. 28.
[889] See ante, p. 46.
[890] See Boswell's Hebrides, post, v. 77.
[891] I have inserted the stanza as Johnson repeated it from memory; but I have since found the poem itself, in The Foundling Hospital for Wit, printed at London, 1749. It is as follows:—
BOSWELL. The disputants are supposed to have been Beau Nash and Bentley, the son of the doctor, and the friend of Walpole. Croker. John Wesley in his Journal, i. 186, tells how he once silences Nash.
[892] See ante, ii. 105.
[893] Waller, in his Divine Poesie, canto first, has the same thought finely expressed:—
[894] See Boswell's Hebrides, post, v. 45.
[895] In the original, flee.
[896] The sermon thus opens:—'That there are angels and spirits good and bad; that at the head of these last there is ONE more considerable and malignant than the rest, who, in the form, or under the name of a serpent, was deeply concerned in the fall of man, and whose head, as the prophetick language is, the son of man was one day to bruise; that this evil spirit, though that prophecy be in part completed, has not yet received his death's wound, but is still permitted, for ends unsearchable to us, and in ways which we cannot particularly explain, to have a certain degree of power in this world hostile to its virtue and happiness, and sometimes exerted with too much success; all this is so clear from Scripture, that no believer, unless he be first of all spoiled by philosophy and vain deceit [Colossians, ii. 8], can possibly entertain a doubt of it.'
Having treated of possessions, his Lordship says, 'As I have no authority to affirm that there are now any such, so neither may I presume to say with confidence, that there are not any.'
'But then with regard to the influence of evil spirits at this day upon the SOULS of men, I shall take leave to be a great deal more peremptory.—(Then, having stated the various proofs, he adds,) All this, I say, is so manifest to every one who reads the Scriptures, that, if we respect their authority, the question concerning the reality of the demoniack influence upon the minds of men is clearly determined.'
Let it be remembered, that these are not the words of an antiquated or obscure enthusiast, but of a learned and polite Prelate now alive; and were spoken, not to a vulgar congregation, but to the Honourable Society of Lincoln's-Inn. His Lordship in this sermon explains the words, 'deliver us from evil,' in the Lord's Prayer, as signifying a request to be protected from 'the evil one,' that is the Devil. This is well illustrated in a short but excellent Commentary by my late worthy friend, the Reverend Dr. Lort, of whom it may truly be said, Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit. It is remarkable that Waller, in his Reflections on the several Petitions, in that sacred form of devotion, has understood this in the same sense;—
BOSWELL. Dr. Lort is often mentioned in Horace Walpole's Letters. Multis ille quidem flebilis occidit,' comes from Horace, Odes, i. xxiv. 9, translated by Francis,—
For Dr. Hurd see ante, p. 189.
[897] There is a curious anecdote of this physician in Gent. Mag. 1772, p. 467.
[898] See ante, p. 166. He may have taken the more to Fox, as he had taken to Beauclerk (ante, i. 248), on account of his descent from Charles II. Fox was the great-great-grandson of that king. His Christian names recall his Stuart ancestry.
[899] Horace Walpole wrote on April 11 (Letters, viii. 469):—'In truth Mr. Fox has all the popularity in Westminster; and, indeed, is so amiable and winning that, could he have stood in person all over England, I question whether he would not have carried the Parliament.' Hannah More (Memoirs, i. 316) in the same month wrote:—'Unluckily for my principles I met Fox canvassing the other day, and he looked so sensible and agreeable, that if I had not turned my eyes another way, I believe it would have been all over with me.' See ante, p. 279.