If you are a Johnsonian who loves reading Henry Oliver -- what could be better? I have only one objection -- to this sentence: "He is almost as important to me as Shakespeare, and I think of him almost as the second most important writer in English, absurd as that might sound." It does not sound absurd at all. Not to me. Not in the least. In fact, I nod naturally.
I find your love for Johnson wonderfully invigorating, and also intriguing. I - well, I kind of like Johnson. But I love Boswell - not just the Life, but also the Diaries, as well as his travel writing. There's something about the unselfconscious way that Boswell exposes his own vanities, vulnerabilities, insecurities (even when he is ostensibly writing about other people) that makes me warm to him as a person. I can never quite feel that about Johnson, at least in his own writings (it's different when he's channelled through Boswell).
Comparing Johnson to Boswell on the Hebrides is fascinating: Johnson is so analytical, so sententious in his observations, while Boswell is focusing always on the tiniest details of conversation and personal interactions. Of the two, I much prefer reading Boswell - but am I right in thinking that you prefer Johnson?
Wonderful to read you on Johnson and read your readers’ appreciation of him. He is my favourite man of letters, the writer I’d most like to share a bottle with. A great critic and even greater human being…
Concerning this unfortunate poet, Christopher Smart, who was confined in a mad-house, he had, at another time, the following conversation with Dr. Burney. — Burney. “How does poor Smart do, Sir; is he likely to recover?” Johnson. “It seems as if his mind had ceased to struggle with the disease; for he grows fat upon it.” Burney. “Perhaps, Sir, that may be from want° of exercise.” Johnson. “No, Sir; he has partly as much exercise as he used to have, for he digs in the garden. Indeed, before his confinement, he used for exercise to walk to the alehouse; but he was carried back again. I did not think he ought to be shut up. His infirmities were not noxious to society. He insisted on people praying with him; and I’d as lief pray with Kit Smart as any one else. Another charge was, that he did not love clean linen; and I have no passion for it.”
Nor would it be just, under this head, to omit the fondness which he showed for animals which he had taken under his protection. I never shall forget the indulgence with which he treated Hodge, his cat: for whom he himself used to go out and buy oysters, lest the servants having that trouble should take a dislike to the poor creature. I am, unluckily, one of those who have an antipathy to a cat, so that I am uneasy when in the room with one; and I own, I frequently suffered a good deal from the presence of this same Hodge. I recollect him one day scrambling up Dr. Johnson's breast, apparently with much satisfaction, while my friend smiling and half-whistling, rubbed down his back, and pulled him by the tail; and when I observed he was a fine cat, saying, "Why yes, Sir, but I have had cats whom I liked better than this;" and then as if perceiving Hodge to be out of countenance, adding, "but he is a very fine cat, a very fine cat indeed." This reminds me of the ludicrous account which he gave , of the despicable state of a young Gentleman of good family. "Sir, when I heard of him last, he was running about town shooting cats." And then in a sort of kindly reverie, he bethought himself of his own favourite cat, and said, "But Hodge shan't be shot; no, no, Hodge shall not be shot.
Another cat related literary comment. I can heartily recommend Oliver Soden’s ‘Jeoffry: The Poet’s Cat’ a fictional biography of Christopher Smart’s feline - immortalised in Smart’s ‘Jubilate Agno’ and Benjamin Britten’s ‘Rejoice in the Lamb’
For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.
For he is the servant of the Living God duly and daily serving him.
For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.
For this is done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.
For then he leaps up to catch the musk, which is the blessing of God upon his prayer.
For he rolls upon prank to work it in.
For having done duty and received blessing he begins to consider himself.
For this he performs in ten degrees.
For first he looks upon his forepaws to see if they are clean.
For secondly he kicks up behind to clear away there.
For thirdly he works it upon stretch with the forepaws extended.
For fourthly he sharpens his paws by wood.
For fifthly he washes himself.
For sixthly he rolls upon wash.
For seventhly he fleas himself, that he may not be interrupted upon the beat.
For eighthly he rubs himself against a post.
For ninthly he looks up for his instructions.
For tenthly he goes in quest of food.
For having consider'd God and himself he will consider his neighbour.
For if he meets another cat he will kiss her in kindness.
For when he takes his prey he plays with it to give it a chance.
For one mouse in seven escapes by his dallying.
For when his day's work is done his business more properly begins.
For he keeps the Lord's watch in the night against the adversary.
For he counteracts the powers of darkness by his electrical skin and glaring eyes.
For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life.
For in his morning orisons he loves the sun and the sun loves him.
For he is of the tribe of Tiger.
For the Cherub Cat is a term of the Angel Tiger.
For he has the subtlety and hissing of a serpent, which in goodness he suppresses.
For he will not do destruction, if he is well-fed, neither will he spit without provocation.
For he purrs in thankfulness, when God tells him he's a good Cat.
For he is an instrument for the children to learn benevolence upon.
For every house is incomplete without him and a blessing is lacking in the spirit.
For the Lord commanded Moses concerning the cats at the departure of the Children of Israel from Egypt.
For every family had one cat at least in the bag.
For the English Cats are the best in Europe.
For he is the cleanest in the use of his forepaws of any quadruped.
For the dexterity of his defence is an instance of the love of God to him exceedingly.
For he is the quickest to his mark of any creature.
For he is tenacious of his point.
For he is a mixture of gravity and waggery.
For he knows that God is his Saviour.
For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.
For there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion.
For he is of the Lord's poor and so indeed is he called by benevolence perpetually—Poor Jeoffry! poor Jeoffry! the rat has bit thy throat.
For I bless the name of the Lord Jesus that Jeoffry is better.
For the divine spirit comes about his body to sustain it in complete cat.
For his tongue is exceeding pure so that it has in purity what it wants in music.
For he is docile and can learn certain things.
For he can set up with gravity which is patience upon approbation.
For he can fetch and carry, which is patience in employment.
For he can jump over a stick which is patience upon proof positive.
For he can spraggle upon waggle at the word of command.
For he can jump from an eminence into his master's bosom.
For he can catch the cork and toss it again.
For he is hated by the hypocrite and miser.
For the former is afraid of detection.
For the latter refuses the charge.
For he camels his back to bear the first notion of business.
For he is good to think on, if a man would express himself neatly.
For he made a great figure in Egypt for his signal services.
For he killed the Ichneumon-rat very pernicious by land.
For his ears are so acute that they sting again.
For from this proceeds the passing quickness of his attention.
For by stroking of him I have found out electricity.
For I perceived God's light about him both wax and fire.
For the Electrical fire is the spiritual substance, which God sends from heaven to sustain the bodies both of man and beast.
For God has blessed him in the variety of his movements.
For, tho he cannot fly, he is an excellent clamberer.
For his motions upon the face of the earth are more than any other quadruped.
For he can tread to all the measures upon the music.
Apologies for 'replying' at such length - I do tend to be long-winded... Your Substack and the community that follows you gives me a huge amount of pleasure. Thank you!
Random fact: Jo March from Little Women loves Rasselas. We read Boswell's Johnson in our literature classes in India. Alas! None of my colleagues in grad school knew this book. Nor did they know the prose of Addison and Steele nor the poetry of Pope, Dryden and others. I think the 18th century is out of favor in American English departments.
The Life is my favourite book of all time. Johnson's robust defence of Christian Revelation was the first thing that grabbed me but then it was his humour. He said some very funny things. Boswell's journals are fascinating too. AJP Taylor reckons he read the Life every 10 years. I find dipping in and out of it at any time is just as good. For all his naughtiness, Boswell deserved heaven for the legacy he left us.
Read your full essay, wonderful. Now, of course I want to read Boswell’s Johnson. Your recommendation on which edition? The Penguin seems standard, but I read that it is abridged in someway?
The Oxford edition is not abridged, at least not in the version I have. Do double check though, worth having the full thing. It has been quite common in the history of the book for abridged versions to be published.
I've never forgotten his Astronomer. As a character, he was stunningly true to life, which impression has been reinforced over many years now meeting similarly learned men in the nation's capital. Excellent piece. I need to revisit his works.
During our interview, you reminded me how much I loved Samuel Johnson, reveled in studying him, and learned from him as an ethical thinker and writer. He was, as Manchester wrote of Churchill, "joyfully human," and we need more exemplars of such living today. Thank you, Henry.
If you are a Johnsonian who loves reading Henry Oliver -- what could be better? I have only one objection -- to this sentence: "He is almost as important to me as Shakespeare, and I think of him almost as the second most important writer in English, absurd as that might sound." It does not sound absurd at all. Not to me. Not in the least. In fact, I nod naturally.
It’s a minority position for sure
For me as important as Shakespeare: Sophocles, Euripides, Ovid, Homer, Strauss (Opera), Verdi (Opera), Sappho, Borges, Camus, Bolano,
I am putting Auden to the test right now...
Not Wagner…?
I do rather enjoy Wagner’s Music. He is very important to Verdi as a counter example and Strauss moved from where he started. lets include him.
Our operatic enthusiasms are pretty much in alignment. Johnson, of course, defined opera as 'an exotic and irrational entertainment'...
Nobody’s perfect . -Last line from Some Like It Hot
I find your love for Johnson wonderfully invigorating, and also intriguing. I - well, I kind of like Johnson. But I love Boswell - not just the Life, but also the Diaries, as well as his travel writing. There's something about the unselfconscious way that Boswell exposes his own vanities, vulnerabilities, insecurities (even when he is ostensibly writing about other people) that makes me warm to him as a person. I can never quite feel that about Johnson, at least in his own writings (it's different when he's channelled through Boswell).
Comparing Johnson to Boswell on the Hebrides is fascinating: Johnson is so analytical, so sententious in his observations, while Boswell is focusing always on the tiniest details of conversation and personal interactions. Of the two, I much prefer reading Boswell - but am I right in thinking that you prefer Johnson?
Boswell is certainly easier to read. His journals are terrific.
HEre is something I wrote about the way Johnson can be amusing in his Hebrides journal too https://www.commonreader.co.uk/p/the-plain-style-says-one-thing-but?utm_source=publication-search
I love Boswell, I think he is great fun, and perhaps under-appreciated as an English writer, but Johnson is my preference, yes.
Thanks for opening the door to a room I have heard of many times but never entered. Now I will!
Enjoy!
It's well worth it, I can assure you.
Wonderful to read you on Johnson and read your readers’ appreciation of him. He is my favourite man of letters, the writer I’d most like to share a bottle with. A great critic and even greater human being…
A couple of my favourite Johnson anecdotes.
Concerning this unfortunate poet, Christopher Smart, who was confined in a mad-house, he had, at another time, the following conversation with Dr. Burney. — Burney. “How does poor Smart do, Sir; is he likely to recover?” Johnson. “It seems as if his mind had ceased to struggle with the disease; for he grows fat upon it.” Burney. “Perhaps, Sir, that may be from want° of exercise.” Johnson. “No, Sir; he has partly as much exercise as he used to have, for he digs in the garden. Indeed, before his confinement, he used for exercise to walk to the alehouse; but he was carried back again. I did not think he ought to be shut up. His infirmities were not noxious to society. He insisted on people praying with him; and I’d as lief pray with Kit Smart as any one else. Another charge was, that he did not love clean linen; and I have no passion for it.”
Nor would it be just, under this head, to omit the fondness which he showed for animals which he had taken under his protection. I never shall forget the indulgence with which he treated Hodge, his cat: for whom he himself used to go out and buy oysters, lest the servants having that trouble should take a dislike to the poor creature. I am, unluckily, one of those who have an antipathy to a cat, so that I am uneasy when in the room with one; and I own, I frequently suffered a good deal from the presence of this same Hodge. I recollect him one day scrambling up Dr. Johnson's breast, apparently with much satisfaction, while my friend smiling and half-whistling, rubbed down his back, and pulled him by the tail; and when I observed he was a fine cat, saying, "Why yes, Sir, but I have had cats whom I liked better than this;" and then as if perceiving Hodge to be out of countenance, adding, "but he is a very fine cat, a very fine cat indeed." This reminds me of the ludicrous account which he gave , of the despicable state of a young Gentleman of good family. "Sir, when I heard of him last, he was running about town shooting cats." And then in a sort of kindly reverie, he bethought himself of his own favourite cat, and said, "But Hodge shan't be shot; no, no, Hodge shall not be shot.
Another cat related literary comment. I can heartily recommend Oliver Soden’s ‘Jeoffry: The Poet’s Cat’ a fictional biography of Christopher Smart’s feline - immortalised in Smart’s ‘Jubilate Agno’ and Benjamin Britten’s ‘Rejoice in the Lamb’
For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.
For he is the servant of the Living God duly and daily serving him.
For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.
For this is done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.
For then he leaps up to catch the musk, which is the blessing of God upon his prayer.
For he rolls upon prank to work it in.
For having done duty and received blessing he begins to consider himself.
For this he performs in ten degrees.
For first he looks upon his forepaws to see if they are clean.
For secondly he kicks up behind to clear away there.
For thirdly he works it upon stretch with the forepaws extended.
For fourthly he sharpens his paws by wood.
For fifthly he washes himself.
For sixthly he rolls upon wash.
For seventhly he fleas himself, that he may not be interrupted upon the beat.
For eighthly he rubs himself against a post.
For ninthly he looks up for his instructions.
For tenthly he goes in quest of food.
For having consider'd God and himself he will consider his neighbour.
For if he meets another cat he will kiss her in kindness.
For when he takes his prey he plays with it to give it a chance.
For one mouse in seven escapes by his dallying.
For when his day's work is done his business more properly begins.
For he keeps the Lord's watch in the night against the adversary.
For he counteracts the powers of darkness by his electrical skin and glaring eyes.
For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life.
For in his morning orisons he loves the sun and the sun loves him.
For he is of the tribe of Tiger.
For the Cherub Cat is a term of the Angel Tiger.
For he has the subtlety and hissing of a serpent, which in goodness he suppresses.
For he will not do destruction, if he is well-fed, neither will he spit without provocation.
For he purrs in thankfulness, when God tells him he's a good Cat.
For he is an instrument for the children to learn benevolence upon.
For every house is incomplete without him and a blessing is lacking in the spirit.
For the Lord commanded Moses concerning the cats at the departure of the Children of Israel from Egypt.
For every family had one cat at least in the bag.
For the English Cats are the best in Europe.
For he is the cleanest in the use of his forepaws of any quadruped.
For the dexterity of his defence is an instance of the love of God to him exceedingly.
For he is the quickest to his mark of any creature.
For he is tenacious of his point.
For he is a mixture of gravity and waggery.
For he knows that God is his Saviour.
For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.
For there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion.
For he is of the Lord's poor and so indeed is he called by benevolence perpetually—Poor Jeoffry! poor Jeoffry! the rat has bit thy throat.
For I bless the name of the Lord Jesus that Jeoffry is better.
For the divine spirit comes about his body to sustain it in complete cat.
For his tongue is exceeding pure so that it has in purity what it wants in music.
For he is docile and can learn certain things.
For he can set up with gravity which is patience upon approbation.
For he can fetch and carry, which is patience in employment.
For he can jump over a stick which is patience upon proof positive.
For he can spraggle upon waggle at the word of command.
For he can jump from an eminence into his master's bosom.
For he can catch the cork and toss it again.
For he is hated by the hypocrite and miser.
For the former is afraid of detection.
For the latter refuses the charge.
For he camels his back to bear the first notion of business.
For he is good to think on, if a man would express himself neatly.
For he made a great figure in Egypt for his signal services.
For he killed the Ichneumon-rat very pernicious by land.
For his ears are so acute that they sting again.
For from this proceeds the passing quickness of his attention.
For by stroking of him I have found out electricity.
For I perceived God's light about him both wax and fire.
For the Electrical fire is the spiritual substance, which God sends from heaven to sustain the bodies both of man and beast.
For God has blessed him in the variety of his movements.
For, tho he cannot fly, he is an excellent clamberer.
For his motions upon the face of the earth are more than any other quadruped.
For he can tread to all the measures upon the music.
For he can swim for life.
For he can creep.
Thank you :)
Apologies for 'replying' at such length - I do tend to be long-winded... Your Substack and the community that follows you gives me a huge amount of pleasure. Thank you!
No apology needed I enjoyed your comments
Random fact: Jo March from Little Women loves Rasselas. We read Boswell's Johnson in our literature classes in India. Alas! None of my colleagues in grad school knew this book. Nor did they know the prose of Addison and Steele nor the poetry of Pope, Dryden and others. I think the 18th century is out of favor in American English departments.
:((
The Life is my favourite book of all time. Johnson's robust defence of Christian Revelation was the first thing that grabbed me but then it was his humour. He said some very funny things. Boswell's journals are fascinating too. AJP Taylor reckons he read the Life every 10 years. I find dipping in and out of it at any time is just as good. For all his naughtiness, Boswell deserved heaven for the legacy he left us.
Read your full essay, wonderful. Now, of course I want to read Boswell’s Johnson. Your recommendation on which edition? The Penguin seems standard, but I read that it is abridged in someway?
The Oxford edition is not abridged, at least not in the version I have. Do double check though, worth having the full thing. It has been quite common in the history of the book for abridged versions to be published.
I've never forgotten his Astronomer. As a character, he was stunningly true to life, which impression has been reinforced over many years now meeting similarly learned men in the nation's capital. Excellent piece. I need to revisit his works.
Pouring myself another cup of coffee, so I can enjoy and read the whole thing :)
Enjoy :)
Thank you. I did. I especially enjoy your writing when you love the subject matter.
Same enthusiasm is the great criticism virtue!
I ordered the Boswell biography :)
During our interview, you reminded me how much I loved Samuel Johnson, reveled in studying him, and learned from him as an ethical thinker and writer. He was, as Manchester wrote of Churchill, "joyfully human," and we need more exemplars of such living today. Thank you, Henry.
Gray, dull? That's stretching the ambition of dull.