'On one occasion,when the regiment were going through their exercise,he went quite close to the men at one of the extremities of it,and watched all their practices attentively;and,when he came away,his remark was,"The men indeed do load their muskets and fire with wonderful celerity."He was likewise particular in requiring to know what was the weight of the musquet balls in use,and within what distance they might be expected to take effect when fired off.
'In walking among the tents,and observing the difference between those of the officers and private men,he said that the superiority of accommodation of the better conditions of life,to that of the inferiour ones,was never exhibited to him in so distinct a view.
The civilities paid to him in the camp were,from the gentlemen of the Lincolnshire regiment,one of the officers of which accommodated him with a tent in which he slept;and from General Hall,who very courteously invited him to dine with him,where he appeared to be very well pleased with his entertainment,and the civilities he received on the part of the General;the attention likewise,of the General's aide-de-camp,Captain Smith,seemed to be very welcome to him,as appeared by their engaging in a great deal of discourse together.'
We surely cannot but admire the benevolent exertions of this great and good man,especially when we consider how grievously he was afflicted with bad health,and how uncomfortable his home was made by the perpetual jarring of those whom he charitably accommodated under his roof.He has sometimes suffered me to talk jocularly of his group of females,and call them his Seraglio.He thus mentions them,together with honest Levett,in one of his letters to Mrs.
Thrale:'Williams hates every body;Levett hates Desmoulins,and does not love Williams;Desmoulins hates them both;Pollloves none of them.'Miss Carmichael.
A year later he wrote:At Bolt-court there is much malignity,but of late little hostility.'--ED.
In 1779,Johnson gave the world a luminous proof that the vigour of his mind in all its faculties,whether memory,judgement,or imagination,was not in the least abated;for this year came out the first four volumes of his Prefaces,biographical and critical,to the most eminent of the English Poets,published by the booksellers of London.The remaining volumes came out in the year 1780.The Poets were selected by the several booksellers who had the honorary copy right,which is still preserved among them by mutual compact,notwithstanding the decision of the House of Lords against the perpetuity of Literary Property.We have his own authority,that by his recommendation the poems of Blackmore,Watts,Pomfret,and Yalden,were added to the collection.
On the 22nd of January,I wrote to him on several topicks,and mentioned that as he had been so good as to permit me to have the proof sheets of his Lives of the Poets,I had written to his servant,Francis,to take care of them for me.
On the 23rd of February I wrote to him again,complaining of his silence,as I had heard he was ill,and had written to Mr.Thrale,for information concerning him;and I announced my intention of soon being again in London.
'TO JAMES BOSWELL,ESQ.
'DEAR SIR,--Why should you take such delight to make a bustle,to write to Mr.Thrale that I am negligent,and to Francis to do what is so very unnecessary.Thrale,you may be sure,cared not about it;and I shall spare Francis the trouble,by ordering a set both of the Lives and Poets to dear Mrs.Boswell,in acknowledgement of her marmalade.Persuade her to accept them,and accept them kindly.If I thought she would receive them scornfully,I would send them to Miss Boswell,who,I hope,has yet none of her mamma's ill-will to me....
'Mrs.Thrale waits in the coach.I am,dear Sir,&c.,'March 13,1779.'
'SAM.JOHNSON.'
He sent a set elegantly bound and gilt,which was received as a very handsome present.--BOSWELLThis letter crossed me on the road to London,where I arrived on Monday,March 15,and next morning at a late hour,found Dr.
Johnson sitting over his tea,attended by Mrs.Desmoulins,Mr.