Page:Johnsonian Miscellanies I.djvu/341

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Anecdotes.

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prospects and views, and laying out ground and taste in gardening^[1]: 'That was the best garden (he said) which produced most roots and fruits; and that water was most to be prized which contained most fish.' He used to laugh at Shenstone most unmercifully for not caring whether there was any thing good to eat in the streams he was so fond of, 'as if (says Johnson) one could fill one's belly with hearing soft murmurs, or looking at rough cascades^[2]!'

He loved the sight of fine forest trees however, and detested Brighthelmstone Downs, 'because it was a country so truly desolate (he said), that if one had a mind to hang one's self for desperation at being obliged to live there, it would be difficult to find a tree on which to fasten the rope.' Walking in a wood when it rained, was, I think, the only rural image he pleased his fancy with^[3]; 'for (says he) after one has gathered the apples in an orchard, one wishes them well baked, and removed to a London eating-house for enjoyment.'

With such notions, who can wonder he passed his time uncomfortably enough with us, whom he often complained of for living so much in the country; 'feeding the chickens (as he said I did) till I starved my own understanding. Get however (said he) a book about gardening, and study it hard, since you will pass your life with birds and flowers, and learn to raise the largest

pany."' European Magazine, xv. 100.

If there is any truth in this story it is wrong in its particulars, for at this time Boswell and Hannah More did not know Johnson.

↑ 'I have a notion,' writes Boswell, 'that he at no time has had much taste for rural beauties. I have myself very little.' Life, v. 112. See ante, p. 215.
↑ 'We talked of Shenstone. Dr. Johnson said he was a good layer-out of land, but would not allow him to approach excellence as a poet.' Life, v. 267. After describing him as 'a layer-out of land' Johnson continues: – 'Perhaps a surly and a sullen speculator may think such performances rather the sport than the business of human reason.' Works, viii. 409. 'Nothing raised Shenstone's indignation more than to ask if there were any fishes in his water.' Ib. p. 410.
↑ When he was kept in town by his Lives of the Poets he wrote to Mr. Thrale: – 'I hope to see standing corn in some part of the earth this summer, but I shall hardly smell hay or suck clover-flowers.' Letters, ii. 163.

[1] 'I have a notion,' writes Boswell, 'that he at no time has had much taste for rural beauties. I have myself very little.' Life, v. 112. See ante, p. 215.

[2] 'We talked of Shenstone. Dr. Johnson said he was a good layer-out of land, but would not allow him to approach excellence as a poet.' Life, v. 267. After describing him as 'a layer-out of land' Johnson continues: – 'Perhaps a surly and a sullen speculator may think such performances rather the sport than the business of human reason.' Works, viii. 409. 'Nothing raised Shenstone's indignation more than to ask if there were any fishes in his water.' Ib. p. 410.

[3] When he was kept in town by his Lives of the Poets he wrote to Mr. Thrale: – 'I hope to see standing corn in some part of the earth this summer, but I shall hardly smell hay or suck clover-flowers.' Letters, ii. 163.

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