DR. JOHNSON AS JOHN BULL

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 104, 29 October 1909, Page 9

DR. JOHNSON AS JOHN BULL

, BICENTENARY CELEBRATIONS. LORD ROSEBERY'S TRIBUTE. [FBOM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] LONDON, 17th September. Lord Rosebery on Wednesday paid a visit to Lichfield, where he took a prominent part in tho celebrations of iho bicentenary of the birth of Dr. Johnson, and received tho freedom of tho city Th» Mayor, Sheriff, and corporation ot Lichfield received his lordship at tho houso in which Johnson was born, tho bathroom i'nd living rooms of which are in practically the eaino state as in tho days of the great lexicographer. They next visited the Johnson Exhibition at the Art School, and afterwards proceeded to the Guildhall for tho principal function of tho day. Lord Rosebery delivered a brilliant eulogy Of all the men wo have never seen, Lord Rosobery said, tlohnson is the man wo know best, whom we can best imagine, whom we can most easily fancy that we liayo seen and heard. His appearance in. this hall at this moment would no doubfc cause a sensation, but in five minutes it would bo the sensation of a friend restored to us after a long absence abroad. IF THE DOCTOR CAME? Wo can fancy him approaching now, rumbling and grumbling: "What is this conoourso of tuly people, sir? This is strange nonsense, sir. To celebrate a man's birthday without his consent is an impertinence, sir. What is it to you, sir, whether I am two hundred years old or not? Methuselah, of whom we know piactically nothing, was undoubtedly my senior, and wo do not commemorate him," Boswell at his side obsequiously explaining and anticipating. Dubious grunts follow, I possibly an explosion, but Lucy I'orter, Molly Aston, Peter Garrick, and the Stewj ards rally round him,; ho beams serenely I and calls for tea. Three daya hence. Lord Rosebery went on, will occur the two hundredth anniversary of Johnson's birth in this ancient city of Lichfield. Born poor, and scrofulous, and half blind, and with an hereditary ' melancholy not far removed from madness, tho advent of tho small bookseller's son cannot have caused' a ripple among your people. He seemed destined to hiß father's back shop until in tho course of nature ho should appear as principal in tho front, in the pleasantest and most congenial of all modern trades, but rarely leading to fame. And yet it is this obscurest of events which we have this week hurried to Lichfiokl to celebrate. What is the cause of Johnson's extraoidinary hold v upo'i us, of his immortality among us? It does not, I think, mainly lest upon his works. His twelve volumes sleep, I fear, on our ehdlves — at least, they do on mine, i como to this conclusion, spe*akine: always for mysolf alone, that his litera»y fame substantially survives in two supremo poems — the Lives of tho Poeti and the Dictionary — but that if theso stood alone, remarkable as they are, wo should not be assembled hore today. I pass thon to tho most solid base, Boswell, and the figuro whioh remains eternally resting on Boswell. HIS LOVE FOR BOSWELL. Johnson under his rough exterior had a heart of manly tondernesb. He realised Boswell's enthusiasm, and his heart went out to tho lad. Boswell loved him, and so he came to lovo Boswell. • Boswellian imitations aro rare. TJIO books which occur to me as resembling it are all foreign, and BoswclPs book has never, I believe, been translated into any language. Though thero is an abstract in Russian, they are not strictly imitations. Eckermann's records of Goethe's conversations lack naturo and simplicity. We feel that all is transacted in full dress. Another recent journalist was content to endure hard things so that ho might collect tho crumbs which fell from a great man's table; but the crumbs had better have gone where other crumbs go. Gourgaud's journal at St. Helenai comes, perhaps, nearest to Boswell's life as the faithful, constant portraiture of a great man by a resident observer. But Gourgaud had not Boswell's qualities, and there was not sufficient play of lifo at St. Helena to lighten tho record. Johnson was John Bull himself. Ho exalted the character, of which he may be regarded as its sublime type, but he embodied tho spirit. His Toryism was part of his John Bullism; his love of London was rather that of tho John Bull than the Cockney; his hatred of Scotland was that of the John Bull of hiß youth. His natural melancholy made him dread solitude ; and he preferred his "Seraglio" to a lonely home. But as visitors were not certain, ho sought mankind where ho could find it, haunted taverns, -and founded clubs. His own illustrious club, of which I have the misfortune to be, the father, was founded in 1764, at tho instance of Reynolds, and still survives in pristine vigour ; successful candidates are still apprised of their election in the formula composed by Gibbon. Wo celebrated our founder's bi-centenary this year, as ho would have wished, by a full dinner.

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