Mr.Kemble has favoured me with the following minute of what passed at this visit:--'When Mrs.Siddons came into the room,there happened to be no chair ready for her,which he observing,said with a smile,"Madam,you who so often occasion a want of seats to other people,will the more easily excuse the want of one yourself."'Having placed himself by her,he with great good-humour entered upon a consideration of the English drama;and,among other inquiries,particularly asked her which of Shakspeare's characters she was most pleased with.Upon her answering that she thought the character of Queen Catharine,in Henry the Eighth,the most natural:--"I think so too,Madam,(said he;)and whenever you perform it,I will once more hobble out to the theatre myself."Mrs.Siddons promised she would do herself the honour of acting his favourite part for him;but many circumstances happened to prevent the representation of King Henry the Eighth during the Doctor's life.
'In the course of the evening he thus gave his opinion upon the merits of some of the principal performers whom he remembered to have seen upon the stage."Mrs.Porter in the vehemence of rage,and Mrs.Clive in the sprightliness of humour,I have never seen equalled.What Clive did best,she did better than Garrick;but could not do half so many things well;she was a better romp than any I ever saw in nature.Pritchard,in common life,was a vulgar ideot;she would talk of her GOWND:but,when she appeared upon the stage,seemed to be inspired by gentility and understanding.Ionce talked with Colley Cibber,and thought him ignorant of the principles of his art.Garrick,Madam;was no declaimer;there was not one of his own scene-shifters who could not have spoken To be,or not to be,better than he did;yet he was the only actor I ever saw,whom I could call a master both in tragedy and comedy;though I liked him best in comedy.A true conception of character,and natural expression of it,were his distinguished excellencies."Having expatiated,with his usual force and eloquence,on Mr.
Garrick's extraordinary eminence as an actor,he concluded with this compliment to his social talents:"And after all,Madam,Ithought him less to be envied on the stage than at the head of a table."'
Johnson,indeed,had thought more upon the subject of acting than might be generally supposed.Talking of it one day to Mr.Kemble,he said,'Are you,Sir,one of those enthusiasts who believe yourself transformed into the very character you represent?'Upon Mr.Kemble's answering that he had never felt so strong a persuasion himself;'To be sure not,Sir,(said Johnson;)the thing is impossible.And if Garrick really believed himself to be that monster,Richard the Third,he deserved to be hanged every time he performed it.'
I find in this,as in former years,notices of his kind attention to Mrs.Gardiner,who,though in the humble station of a tallow-chandler upon Snow-hill,was a woman of excellent good sense,pious,and charitable.She told me,she had been introduced to him by Mrs.Masters,the poetess,whose volumes he revised,and,it is said,illuminated here and there with a ray of his own genius.
Mrs.Gardiner was very zealous for the support of the Ladies'
charity-school,in the parish of St.Sepulchre.It is confined to females;and,I am told,it afforded a hint for the story of Betty Broom in The Idler.
The late ingenious Mr.Mickle,some time before his death,wrote me a letter concerning Dr.Johnson,in which he mentions,--'I was upwards of twelve years acquainted with him,was frequently in his company,always talked with ease to him,and can truly say,that Inever received from him one rough word.'
Mr.Mickle reminds me in this letter of a conversation,at dinner one day at Mr.Hoole's with Dr.Johnson,when Mr.Nicol the King's bookseller and I attempted to controvert the maxim,'better that ten guilty should escape,than one innocent person suffer;'and were answered by Dr.Johnson with great power of reasoning and eloquence.I am very sorry that I have no record of that day:but I well recollect my illustrious friend's having ably shewn,that unless civil institutions insure protection to the innocent,all the confidence which mankind should have in them would be lost.
Notwithstanding the complication of disorders under which Johnson now laboured,he did not resign himself to despondency and discontent,but with wisdom and spirit endeavoured to console and amuse his mind with as many innocent enjoyments as he could procure.Sir John Hawkins has mentioned the cordiality with which he insisted that such of the members of the old club in Ivy-lane as survived,should meet again and dine together,which they did,twice at a tavern and once at his house:and in order to insure himself society in the evening for three days in the week,he instituted a club at the Essex Head,in Essex-street,then kept by Samuel Greaves,an old servant of Mr.Thrale's.
'TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.
'DEAR SIR,--It is inconvenient to me to come out,I should else have waited on you with an account of a little evening Club which we are establishing in Essex-street,in the Strand,and of which you are desired to be one.It will be held at the Essex Head,now kept by an old servant of Thrale's.The company is numerous,and,as you will see by the list,miscellaneous.The terms are lax,and the expences light.Mr.Barry was adopted by Dr.Brocklesby,who joined with me in forming the plan.We meet thrice a week,and he who misses forfeits two-pence.
'If you are willing to become a member,draw a line under your name.Return the list.We meet for the first time on Monday at eight.I am,&c.
'Dec.4,1783.'
'SAM.JOHNSON.'
It did not suit Sir Joshua to be one of this Club.But when Imention only Mr.Daines Barrington,Dr.Brocklesby,Mr.Murphy,Mr.
