do you think?' Goldsmith, no doubt, replied I, and he will do it the best among us. 'The dog would write it best to be sure, replied he; but his particular malice towards me, and general disregard for truth, would make the book useless to all, and injurious to my character.' Oh! as to that, said I, we should all fasten upon him, and force him to do you justice[1]; but the worst is, the Doctor does not know your life; nor can I tell indeed who does, except Dr. Taylor of Ashbourne. 'Why Taylor (said he) is better acquainted with my heart than any man or woman now alive; and the history of my Oxford exploits lies all between him and Adams; but Dr. James[2] knows my very early days better than he. After my coming to London to drive the world about a little, you must all go to Jack Hawkesworth for anecdotes[3]: I lived in great familiarity with him (though I think there was not much affection) from the year 1753 till the time Mr. Thrale and you took me up[4]. I intend, however, to disappoint the rogues, and either make you write the life, with Taylor's intelligence; or, which is better, do it myself, after outliving you all. I am now (added he), keeping a diary, in hopes of using it for that purpose some time[5].' Here the conversation stopped, from my accidentally looking in an old magazine of the year 1768[6], where I saw the following lines with his name to them, and asked if they were his.
- ↑ See Forster's Goldsmith, ii. 380, for Forster's criticism of this passage.
- ↑ The inventor of the powder which bears his name. He had been at school with Johnson. Life, i. 81; iii. 4.
- ↑ For the sense in which Johnson used the word anecdote see ib. ii. 11, n. 1.
- ↑ The Adventurer, which Hawkesworth edited and to which Johnson contributed, was published in the years 1753-4. In the Life of Swift Johnson, mentioning Hawkesworth, speaks of 'the intimacy of our friendship.' Works, viii. 192. The Thrales 'took Johnson up' in 1765. Life, i. 490, 520.
- ↑ The greater part of this 'was consigned by him to the flames a few days before his death.' Ib. i. 25; iv. 405.
- ↑ Gentleman's Magazine, 1768, p. 439.
and, if I survive him, I shall be one who will most faithfully do honour to his memory.' Life, v. 312.
'Johnson found in James Boswell such a biographer as no man but himself ever had, or ever deserved to have. ... His Life of Johnson may be termed without exception the best parlour-window book that was ever written.' Scott's Misc. Works, ed. 1834, iii. 260.
