Grampian Club > Boswelliana

MEMOIR OF JAMES BOSWELL. 163
Boswell regrets that his friend would, by his performance, be
" a sad loser."
While thus abetting the ridicule of the Ayrshire poet,
Boswell's other enterprize was more creditable. He gave
assistance in raising funds for a monument to Dr. Johnson in
Westminster Abbey. To this undertaking he thus refers in a
letter to Mr. Temple, dated the 28th November, 1789 :—
" Last Sunday I dined with him (Malone), with Sir Joshua
Eeynolds, Sir Joseph Banks, Mr. Metcalfe, Mr. Windham, Mr.
Courtenay, and young Mr. Burke, being a select number of
Dr. Johnson's friends, to settle as to effectual measures for
having a monument erected to him in Westminster Abbey ;
it is to be a whole-length statue of him, by Bacon, which will
cost £600. Sir Joshua and Sir William Scott, his executors,
are to send circular letters to a number of people, of whom
we make a list, as supposing they will contribute. Several
of us subscribed five guineas each, Sir Joshua and Metcalfe
ten guineas each, Courtenay and young Burke two guineas
each. Will you not be one of us, were it but for one
guinea ? We expect that the Bench of Bishops will be liberal,
as he was the greatest supporter of the hierarchy. That
venerable sound brings to my mind the rufi&ans of France, who
are attempting to destroy all order, ecclesiastical and civil.
The present state of that country is an intellectual earthquake,
a whirlwind, a mad insurrection, without any immediate cause,
and therefore we see to what a horrible anarchy it tends."
The subject of the monument is resumed in Boswell's letter
to Mr. Temple, dated 8th February, 1790 :—
"You will have seen that Johnson's friends have been
exerting themselves for his monument, which is to cost six
hundred guineas. We have now near to £400 of the money.
Can we have no Cornish coin ? I wish you could assist us in
your neighbourhood. As your character of Gray was adopted
by him it would appear well if you sent two guineas. We