Page:Johnsonian Miscellanies II.djvu/54

 Anecdotes by

��Dr. Johnson calls the act in Braganza x with the monk, para- lytick on one side ; i. e. the monk is introduced without any notification of his character, so that any monk, or any other person might as well be introduced in the same place, and for the same purpose. And I myself say, that Velasquez quitting his hold of the Dutchess, upon sight of the monk, is an effect without a sufficient cause. The cool, intrepid character of Velasquez required that he should either have dispatched, or attempted to dispatch the monk, and then there would have been a pretext for losing hold of the Dutchess. The Duke is a poor, tame animal, and by no means equal to his historic character. A whimsical incident I was witness to there. Murphy told a very comical story of a Scotchman's interview with Dr. Johnson, upon his earnest desire of being known to the Doctor. This was Boswell himself 2. N.B. The Tour to the Western Isles was written in twenty days 3, and the Patriot in three 4. Taxation no Tyranny within a week 5, and not one of them would have yet seen the light, had it not been for Mrs. Thrale and Baretti, who stirred him up by laying wagers 6.

��the ladies find so much novelty at Weymouth. Ovid says that the sun is undelightfully uniform.' I con jectured in a note that he wrote not sun but sea. Letters, ii. 325. I could not however find the reference to Ovid. I have no doubt however that he was referring to the line which he quoted to Boswell at Leith :

'Una est injusti caerula forma maris.'

Ovid, Amor. L. ii. El. xi.

1 A tragedy by Robert Jephson, acted at Drury Lane 1775. Post, p. 182.

2 Ante, \. 428.

3 He ' conceived the thought of it ' on Sept. I, 1773. Life, v. 141. For part of his material he used his letters to Mrs. Thrale. In the following winter he was collecting information. Ib. ii. 269, 271. In March he wrote to Boswell : ' I think I shall be very

��diligent next week about our travels, which I have too long neglected.' Ib. ii. 277. On June 20 he 'put the first sheets to the press.' Ib. p. 278. On July 4 he had still two sheets to write. Ib. p. 288. Owing to the delay of the printer the last sheet was not corrected till Nov. 25. Ib. p. 288.

4 < The Patriot was called for by my political friends on Friday, was written on Saturday.' Ib. ii. 288.

5 On Jan. 21, 1775, he wrote to Boswell : ' I am going to write about he wrote to Mrs. Thrale : ' My pamphlet has not gone on at all.' Letters, i. 308. By March i it had been not only written, but altered by some one in the Ministry. Ib. i. 309. ' The False Alarm was written be tween eight o'clock on Wednesday night and twelve o'clock on Thurs day night.' Ante, i. 173.

6 According to Hawkins, 'it was

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