Chapter 27

BOSWELL.

[1185]Macaulay (Essays, ed. 1874, iv. 157) gives a yet better example of her Johnsonian style, though, as I have shewn (ante, p. 223, note 5), he is wrong in saying that Johnson's hand can be seen.

[1186]Cecilia, Book. vii. chap. i. [v.] BOSWELL.

[1187]The passage which I quote is taken from that gentleman'sElements of Orthoepy; containing a distinct View of the whole Analogy of the ENGLISH LANGUAGE, so far as relates toPronunciation, Accent, and Quantity, London, 1784. I beg leave to offer my particular acknowledgements to the authour of a work of uncommon merit and great utility. I know no book which contains, in the same compass, more learning, polite literature, sound sense, accuracy of arrangement, and perspicuity of expression. BOSWELL.

[1188]That collection was presented to Dr. Johnson, I believe by its authours; and I heard him speak very well of it. BOSWELL.The Mirrorwas published in 1779-80; by 1793 it reached its ninth edition. For an account of it see Appendix DD. to Forbes'sBeattie. Henry Mackenzie, the author ofThe Man of Feeling, was the chief contributor as well as the conductor of the paper. He is given as the author of No. 16 in Lynam's edition, p. 1.

[1189]The name of Vicesimus Knox is now scarcely known. Yet so late as 1824 his collectedWorkswere published in seven octavo volumes. The editor says of hisEssays(i. iii):—'In no department of theBelles Lettreshas any publication, excepting theSpectator, been so extensively circulated. It has been translated into most of the European languages.' Seeante, i. 222, note 1; iii. 13, note 3; and iv. 330.

[1190]Lucretius, iii. 6.

[1191]It were to be wished, that he had imitated that great man in every respect, and had not followed the example of Dr. Adam Smith [ante, iii. 13, note 1] in ungraciously attacking his venerableAlma MaterOxford. It must, however, be observed, that he is much less to blame than Smith: he only objects to certain particulars; Smith to the whole institution; though indebted for much of his learning to an exhibition which he enjoyed for many years at Baliol College. Neither of them, however, will do any hurt to the noblest university in the world. While I animadvert on what appears to me exceptionable in some of the works of Dr. Knox, I cannot refuse due praise to others of his productions; particularly his sermons, and to the spirit with which he maintains, against presumptuous hereticks, the consolatory doctrines peculiar to the Christian Revelation. This he has done in a manner equally strenuous and conciliating. Neither ought I to omit mentioning a remarkable instance of his candour: Notwithstanding the wide difference of our opinions, upon the important subject of University education, in a letter to me concerning this Work, he thus expresses himself: 'I thank you for the very great entertainment yourLife of Johnsongives me. It is a most valuable work. Yours is a new species of biography. Happy for Johnson, that he had so able a recorder of his wit and wisdom.' BOSWELL.

[1192]Dr. Knox, in hisMoral and Literaryabstraction, may be excused for not knowing the political regulations of his country. No senator can be in the hands of a bailiff. BOSWELL.

[1193]It is entitledA Continuation of Dr. J—n's Criticism on the Poems of Gray. The following is perhaps the best passage:—'On some fine evening Gray had seen the moon shining on a tower such as is here described. An owl might be peeping out from the ivy with which it was clad. Of the observer the station might be such that the owl, now emerged from the mantling, presented itself to his eye in profile, skirting with the Moon's limb. All this is well. The perspective is striking; and the picture well defined. But the poet was not contented. He felt a desire to enlarge it; and in executing his purpose gave it accumulation without improvement. The idea of the Owl'scomplainingis an artificial one; and the views on which it proceeds absurd. Gray should have seen, that it but ill befitted theBird of Wisdomto complain to the Moon of an intrusion which the Moon could no more help than herself.' p. 17. Johnson wrote of this book:—'I know little of it, for though it was sent me I never cut the leaves open. I had a letter with it representing it to me as my own work; in such an account to the publick there may be humour, but to myself it was neither serious nor comical. I suspect the writer to be wrong-headed.'Piozzi Letters, ii. 289. 'I was told,' wrote Walpole (Letters, viii. 376), 'it would divert me, that it seems to criticise Gray, but really laughs at Johnson. I sent for it and skimmed it over, but am not at all clear what it means—no recommendation of anything. I rather think the author wishes to be taken by Gray's admirers for a ridiculer of Johnson, and by the tatter's for a censurer of Gray.' '"The cleverest parody of the Doctor's style of criticism," wrote Sir Walter Scott, "is by John Young of Glasgow, and is very capital."'Croker Corres, ii. 34.

[1194]Seeante, iv. 59, for Burke's description of Croft's imitation.

[1195]Seeante, ii. 465.

[1196]H.S.E.

MICHAEL JOHNSON,

Vir impavidus, constans, animosus, periculorum immemor, laborum patientissimus; fiducia christiana fortis, fervidusque; paterfamilias apprime strenuus; bibliopola admodum peritus; mente et libris et negotiis exculta; animo ita firmo, ut, rebus adversis diu conflictatus, nec sibi nec suis defuerit; lingua sic temperata, ut ei nihil quod aures vel pias, vel castas laesisset, aut dolor, vel voluptas unquam expresserit.

Natus Cubleiae, in agro Derbiensi,

Anno MDCLVI.

Obiit MDCCXXXI.

Apposita est SARA, conjux,

Antiqua FORDORUM gente oriunda; quam domi sedulam, foris paucis notam; nulli molestam, mentis acumine et judicii subtilitate praecellentem; aliis multum, sibi parum indulgentem: aeternitati semper attentam, omne fere virtutis nomen commendavit.

Nata Nortoniae Regis, in agro Varvicensi, Anno MDCLXIX;

Obiit MDCCLIX.

Cum NATHANAELE, illorum filio, qui natus MDCCXII, cum vires et animi et corporis multa pollicerentur, anno MDCCXXXVII, vitam brevem pia morte finivit. Johnson'sWorks, i. 150.

[1197]Hawkins (Life, p. 590) says that he asked that the stone over his own grave 'might be so placed as to protect his body from injury.' Harwood (History of Lichfield, p. 520) says that the stone in St. Michael's was removed in 1796, when the church was paved. A fresh one with the old inscriptions was placed in the church on the hundredth anniversary of Johnson's death by Robert Thorp, Esq., of Buxton Road House, Macclesfield. The Rev. James Serjeantson, Rector of St. Michael's, suggests to me that the first stone was never set up. It is, he says, unlikely that such a memorial within a dozen years was treated so unworthily. Moreover in 1841 and again in 1883, during reparations of the church, a very careful search was made for it, but without result. There may have been, he thinks, some difficulty in finding the exact place of interment. The matter may have stood over till it was forgotten, and the mason, whose receipted bill shews that he was paid for the stone, may have used it for some other purpose.

[1198]Seeante, i. 241, and iv. 351.

[1199]'He would also,' says Hawkins (Life, p. 579), 'have written in Latin verse an epitaph for Mr. Garrick, but found himself unequal to the task of original poetic composition in that language.'

[1200]In hisLife of Browne, Johnson wrote:—'The time will come to every human being when it must be known how well he can bear to die; and it has appeared that our author's fortitude did not desert him in the great hour of trial.'Works, vi. 499.

[1201]A Club in London, founded by the learned and ingenious physician, Dr. Ash, in honour of whose name it was called Eumelian, from the Greek [Greek: Eumelias]; though it was warmly contended, and even put to a vote, that it should have the more obvious appellation ofFraxinean, from the Latin. BOSWELL. This club, founded in 1788, met at the Blenheim Tavern, Bond-street. Reynolds, Boswell, Burney, and Windham were members. Rose'sBiog. Dict.ii. 240. [Greek: Eummeliaes] meansarmed with good ashen spear.

[1202]Mrs. Thrale'sCollection, March 10,1784. Vol. ii. p. 350.

BOSWELL.

[1203]Hawkins'sLife of Johnson, p. 583.

[1204]See what he said to Mr. Malone, p. 53 of this volume. BOSWELL.

[1205]Seeante, i. 223, note 2.

[1206]Epistle to the Romans, vii. 23.

[1207]'Johnson's passions,' wrote Reynolds, 'were like those of other men, the difference only lay in his keeping a stricter watch over himself. In petty circumstances this [? his] wayward disposition appeared, but in greater things he thought it worth while to summon his recollection and be always on his guard.... [To them that loved him not] as rough as winter; to those who sought his love as mild as summer—many instances will readily occur to those who knew him intimately of the guard which he endeavoured always to keep over himself.' Taylor'sReynolds, ii. 460. Seeante, i. 94, 164, 201, and iv. 215.

[1208]Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3d ed. p. 209. [Post, v. 211.] On the same subject, in his Letter to Mrs. Thrale, dated Nov. 29, 1783, he makes the following just observation:—'Life, to be worthy of a rational being, must be always in progression; we must always purpose to do more or better than in time past. The mind is enlarged and elevated by mere purposes, though they end as they began [in the original,begin], by airy contemplation. We compare and judge, though we do not practise.' BOSWELL.

[1209]Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, p. 374. [Post, v. 359.]

BOSWELL.

[1210]Psalmxix. 13.

[1211]Pr. and Med.p.47. BOSWELL.

[1212]Ib.p. 68 BOSWELL

[1213]Ib.p. 84 BOSWELL

[1214]Ib.p. 120. BOSWELL.

[1215]Pr. and Med. p. 130. BOSWELL.

[1216]Dr. Johnson related, with very earnest approbation, a story of a gentleman, who, in an impulse of passion, overcame the virtue of a young woman. When she said to him, 'I am afraid we have done wrong!' he answered, 'Yes, we have done wrong;—for I would notdebauch her mind.' BOSWELL.

[1217]St. John, viii. 7.

[1218]Pr. and Med.p. 192. BOSWELL.

[1219]Seeante, iii. 155.

[1220]Boswell, on Feb. 10, 1791, describing to Malone the progress of his book, says:—'I have now before me p. 488 [of vol. ii.] in print; and 923 pages of the copy [MS.] only is exhausted, and there remains 80, besides thedeath; as to which I shall be concise, though solemn. Pray how shall I wind up? Shall I give thecharacterfrom myToursomewhat enlarged?' Croker'sBoswell, p. 829. Mr. Croker is clearly in error in saying (ib.p. 800) that 'Mr. Boswell's absence and the jealousy between him and some of Johnson's other friends prevented his being able to give the particulars which he (Mr. Croker) has supplied in the Appendix.' In this Appendix is Mr. Hoole's narrative which Boswell had seen and used (post, p. 406).

[1221]Psalmlxxxii. 7.

[1222]See Appendix E.

[1223]'On being asked in his last illness what physician he had sent for, "Dr. Heberden," replied he, "ultimus Romanorum, the last of the learned physicians."' Seward'sBiographiana, p. 601.

[1224]Mr. Green related that when some of Johnson's friends desired that Dr. Warren should be called in, he said they might call in whom they pleased; and when Warren was called, at his going away Johnson said, 'You have come in at the eleventh hour, but you shall be paid the same with your fellow-labourers. Francis, put into Dr. Warren's coach a copy of theEnglish Poets.' CROKER. Dr. Warren ten years later attended Boswell in his last illness.Letters of Boswell, p. 355. He was the great-grandfather of Col. Sir Charles Warren, G.C.M.G., F.R.S., Chief Commissioner of Police.

[1225]This bold experiment, Sir John Hawkins has related in such a manner as to suggest a charge against Johnson of intentionally hastening his end; a charge so very inconsistent with his character in every respect, that it is injurious even to refute it, as Sir John has thought it necessary to do. It is evident, that what Johnson did in hopes of relief, indicated an extraordinary eagerness to retard his dissolution. BOSWELL. Murphy (Life, p. 122) says that 'for many years, when Johnson was not disposed to enter into the conversation going forward, whoever sat near his chair might hear him repeating from Shakespeare [Measure for Measure, act iii. sc. i]:—

"Ay, but to die and go we know not where;To lie in cold obstruction and to rot;This sensible warm motion to becomeA kneaded clot; and the delighted spiritTo bathe in fiery floods."

And from Milton [Paradise Lost, ii. 146]:—

"Who would loseThough full of pain this intellectual being?"'

Johnson, the year before, at a time when he thought that he must submit to the surgeon's knife (ante, p. 240), wrote to Mrs. Thrale:—'You would not have me for fear of pain perish in putrescence. I shall, I hope, with trust in eternal mercy lay hold of the possibility of life which yet remains.'Piozzi Letters, ii. 312. Hawkins records (Life, p. 588) that one day Johnson said to his doctor:—'How many men in a year die through the timidity of those whom they consult for health! I want length of life, and you fear giving me pain, which I care not for.' Another day, 'when Mr. Cruikshank scarified his leg, he cried out, "Deeper, deeper. I will abide the consequence; you are afraid of your reputation, but that is nothing to me." To those about him, he said, "You all pretend to love me, but you do not love me so well as I myself do." 'Ib. p. 592. Windham (Diary, p. 32) says that he reproached Heberden with beingtimidorum timidissimus. Throughout he acted up to what he had said:—'I will be conquered, I will not capitulate.'Ante, P. 374.

[1226]Macbeth, act v. sc. 3.

[1227]Satires, x. 356. Paraphrased by Johnson in The Vanity of Human Wishes, at the lines beginning:—

'Pour forth thy fervours for a healthful mind,Obedient passions and a will resigned.'

[1228]Johnson, three days after his stroke of palsy (ante, p. 230), wrote:—'When I waked, I found Dr. Brocklesby sitting by me. He fell to repeating Juvenal's ninth satire; but I let him see that the province was mine.'Piozzi Letters, ii. 274.

[1229]Johnson, on his way to Scotland, 'changed horses,' he wrote, 'at Darlington, where Mr. Cornelius Harrison, a cousin-german of mine, was perpetual curate. He was the only one of my relations who ever rose in fortune above penury, or in character above neglect.'Piozzi Letters, i. 105. Malone, in a note to later editions, shews that Johnson shortly before his death was trying to discover some of his poor relations.

[1230]Mr. Windham records (Diary, p. 28) that the day before Johnson made his will 'he recommended Frank to him as to one who had will and power to protect him.' He continues, 'Having obtained my assent to this, he proposed that Frank should be called in; and desiring me to take him by the hand in token of the promise, repeated before him the recommendation he had just made of him, and the promise I had given to attend to it.

[1231]Johnson wrote five years earlier to Mrs. Thrale about her husband's will:—'Do not let those fears prevail which you know to be unreasonable; a will brings the end of life no nearer.'Piozzi Letters, ii. 72.

[1232]'IN THE NAME OF GOD. AMEN. I, SAMUEL JOHNSON, being in full possession of my faculties, but fearing this night may put an end to my life, do ordain this my last Will and Testament. I bequeath to GOD, a soul polluted with many sins, but I hope purified by JESUS CHRIST. I leave seven hundred and fifty pounds in the hands of Bennet Langton, Esq.; three hundred pounds in the hands of Mr. Barclay and Mr. Perkins, brewers; one hundred and fifty pounds in the hands of Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore; one thousand pounds, threeper cent.annuities, in the publick funds; and one hundred pounds now lying by me in ready money: all these before-mentioned sums and property I leave, I say, to Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir John Hawkins, and Dr. William Scott, of Doctors Commons, in trust for the following uses:—That is to say, to pay to the representatives of the late William Innys, bookseller, in St, Paul's Church-yard, the sum of two hundred pounds; to Mrs. White, my female servant, one hundred pounds stock in the threeper cent. annuitites aforesaid. The rest of the aforesaid sums of money and property, together with my books, plate, and household furniture, I leave to the before-mentioned Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir John Hawkins, and Dr. William Scott, also in trust, to the use of Francis Barber, my man-servant, a negro, in such a manner as they shall judge most fit and available to his benefit. And I appoint the aforesaid Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir John Hawkins, and Dr. William Scott, sole executors of this my last will and testament, hereby revoking all former wills and testaments whatever. In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name, and affix my seal, this eighth day of December, 1784.

'Sam Johnson, (L.S.)

'Signed, scaled, published, declared,and delivered, by thesaid testator, as his last willand testament, in the presenceof us, the word two being firstinserted in the opposite page.'GEORGE STRAHAN'JOHN DESMOULINS

'By way of Codicil to my last Will and Testament, I, SAMUEL JOHNSON, give, devise, and bequeath, my messuage or tenement situate at Litchfield, in the county of Stafford, with the appertenances, in the tenure or occupation of Mrs. Bond, of Lichfield aforesaid, or of Mr. Hinchman, her under-tenant, to my executors, in trust, to sell and dispose of the same; and the money arising from such sale I give and bequeath as follows, viz. to Thomas and Benjamin, the sons of Fisher Johnson, late of Leicester, and ——- Whiting, daughter of Thomas Johnson [F-1], late of Coventry, and the grand-daughter of the said Thomas Johnson, one full and equal fourth part each; but in case there shall be more grand-daughters than one of the said Thomas Johnson, living at the time of my decease, I give and bequeath the part or share of that one to and equally between such grand-daughters. I give and bequeath to the Rev. Mr. Rogers, of Berkley, near Froom, in the county of Somerset, the sum of one hundred pounds, requesting him to apply the same towards the maintenance of Elizabeth Herne, a lunatick [F-2]. I also give and bequeath to my god-children, the son and daughter of Mauritius Lowe [F-3], painter, each of them, one hundred pounds of my stock in the threeper cent, consolidated annuities, to be applied and disposed of by and at the discretion of my Executors, in the education or settlement in the world of them my said legatees. Also I give and bequeath to Sir John Hawkins, one of my Executors, the Annales Ecclesiastici of Baronius, and Holinshed's and Stowe's Chronicles, and also an octavo Common Prayer-Book. To Bennet Langton, Esq. I give and bequeath my Polyglot Bible. To Sir Joshua Reynolds, my great French Dictionary, by Martiniere, and my own copy of my folio English Dictionary, of the last revision. To Dr. William Scott, one of my Executors, the Dictionnaire de Commerce, and Lectius's edition of the Greek poets. To Mr. Windham [F-4], Poetae Graeci Heroici per Henricum Stephanum. To the Rev. Mr. Strahan, vicar of Islington, in Middlesex, Mill's Greek Testament, Beza's Greek Testament, by Stephens, all my Latin Bibles, and my Greek Bible, by Wechelius. To Dr. Heberden, Dr. Brocklesby, Dr. Butter, and Mr. Cruikshank, the surgeon who attended me, Mr. Holder, my apothecary, Gerard Hamilton, Esq., Mrs. Gardiner [F-5], of Snow-hill, Mrs. Frances Reynolds, Mr. Hoole, and the Reverend Mr. Hoole, his son, each a book at their election, to keep as a token of remembrance. I also give and bequeath to Mr. John Desmoulins [F-6], two hundred pounds consolidated threeper cent, annuities: and to Mr. Sastres, the Italian master [F-7], the sum of five pounds, to be laid out in books of piety for his own use. And whereas the said Bennet Langton hath agreed, in consideration of the sum of seven hundred and fifty pounds, mentioned in my Will to be in his hands, to grant and secure an annuity of seventy pounds payable during the life of me and my servant, Francis Barber, and the life of the survivor of us, to Mr. George Stubbs, in trust for us; my mind and will is, that in case of my decease before the said agreement shall be perfected, the said sum of seven hundred and fifty pounds, and the bond for securing the said sum, shall go to the said Francis Barber; and I hereby give and bequeath to him the same, in lieu of the bequest in his favour, contained in my said Will. And I hereby empower my Executors to deduct and retain all expences that shall or may be incurred in the execution of my said Will, or of this Codicil thereto, out of such estate and effects as I shall die possessed of. All the rest, residue, and remainder, of my estate and effects, I give and bequeath to my said Executors, in trust for the said Francis Barber, his Executors and Administrators. Witness my hand and seal, this ninth day of December, 1784.

'SAM. JOHNSON, (L. S.)

'Signed, sealed, published, declared,and delivered, by thesaid Samuel Johnson, as, andfor a Codicil to his last Will andTestament, in the presence ofus, who, in his presence, and athis request, and also in thepresence of each other, havehereto subscribed our names aswitnesses.'JOHN COPLEY.'WILLIAM GIBSON.'HENRY COLE.'

Upon these testamentary deeds it is proper to make a few observations.

His express declaration with his dying breath as a Christian, as it had been often practised in such solemn writings, was of real consequence from this great man; for the conviction of a mind equally acute and strong, might well overbalance the doubts of others, who were his contemporaries. The expressionpolluted, may, to some, convey an impression of more than ordinary contamination; but that is not warranted by its genuine meaning, as appears fromThe Rambler, No. 42[F-8]. The same word is used in the will of Dr. Sanderson, Bishop of Lincoln [F-9], who was piety itself.

His legacy of two hundred pounds to the representatives of Mr. Innys, bookseller, in St. Paul's Church-yard [F-10], proceeded from a very worthy motive. He told Sir John Hawkins, that his father having become a bankrupt, Mr. Innys had assisted him with money or credit to continue his business. 'This, (said he,) I consider as an obligation on me to be grateful to his descendants [F-11].'

The amount of his property proved to be considerably more than he had supposed it to be. Sir John Hawkins estimates the bequest to Francis Barber at a sum little short of fifteen hundred pounds, including an annuity of seventy pounds to be paid to him by Mr. Langton, in consideration of seven hundred and fifty pounds, which Johnson had lent to that gentleman. Sir John seems not a little angry at this bequest, and mutters 'a caveat against ostentatious bounty and favour to negroes [F-12].' But surely when a man has money entirely of his own acquisition, especially when he has no near relations, he may, without blame, dispose of it as he pleases, and with great propriety to a faithful servant. Mr. Barber, by the recommendation of his master, retired to Lichfield, where he might pass the rest of his days in comfort.

It has been objected that Johnson has omitted many of his best friends, when leaving books to several as tokens of his last remembrance. The names of Dr. Adams, Dr. Taylor [F-13], Dr. Burney, Mr. Hector, Mr. Murphy, the Authour of this Work, and others who were intimate with him, are not to be found in his Will. This may be accounted for by considering, that as he was very near his dissolution at the time, he probably mentioned such as happened to occur to him; and that he may have recollected, that he had formerly shewn others such proofs of his regard, that it was not necessary to crowd his Will with their names. Mrs. Lucy Porter was much displeased that nothing was left to her; but besides what I have now stated, she should have considered, that she had left nothing to Johnson by her Will, which was made during his life-time, as appeared at her decease.

His enumerating several persons in one group, and leaving them 'each a book at their election,' might possibly have given occasion to a curious question as to the order of choice, had they not luckily fixed on different books. His library, though by no means handsome in its appearance, was sold by Mr. Christie, for two hundred and forty-seven pounds, nine shillings [F-14]; many people being desirous to have a book which had belonged to Johnson. In many of them he had written little notes: sometimes tender memorials of his departed wife; as, 'This was dear Tetty's book:' sometimes occasional remarks of different sorts. Mr. Lysons, of Clifford's Inn, has favoured me with the two following:

InHoly Rules and Helps to Devotion, by Bryan Duppa, Lord Bishop of Winton, 'Preces quidam (? quidem) videtur diligenter tractasse; spero non inauditus (? inauditas).'

InThe Rosicrucian infallible Axiomata, by John Heydon, Gent., prefixed to which are some verses addressed to the authour, signed Ambr. Waters, A.M. Coll. Ex. Oxon. 'These Latin verses were written to Hobbes by Bathurst, upon his Treatise on Human Nature, and have no relation to the book.—An odd fraud.'—BOSWELL. [Note: See Appendix F for notes on this footnote.]

[1233]'He burned,' writes Mrs. Piozzi, 'many letters in the last week, I am told, and those written by his mother drew from him a flood of tears. Mr. Sastres saw him cast a melancholy look upon their ashes, which he took up and examined to see if a word was still legible.'—Piozzi Letters, ii. 383.

[1234]Boswell in hisHebrides(post, v. 53) says that Johnson, starting northwards on his tour, left in a drawer in Boswell's house 'one volume of a pretty full and curiousDiary of his Life, of which I have,' he continues, 'a few fragments.' The other volume, we may conjecture, Johnson took with him, for Boswell had seen both, and apparently seen them only once. He mentions (ante, i. 27) that these 'few fragments' had been transferred to him by the residuary legatee (Francis Barber). One large fragment, which was published after Barber's death, he could never have seen, for he never quotes from it (ante, i. 35, note 1).

[1235]One of these volumes, Sir John Hawkins informs us, he put into his pocket; for which the excuse he states is, that he meant to preserve it from falling into the hands of a person whom he describes so as to make it sufficiently clear who is meant; 'having strong reasons (said he,) to suspect that this man might find and make an ill use of the book.' Why Sir John should suppose that the gentleman alluded to would act in this manner, he has not thought fit to explain. But what he did was not approved of by Johnson; who, upon being acquainted of it without delay by a friend, expressed great indignation, and warmly insisted on the book being delivered up; and, afterwards, in the supposition of his missing it, without knowing by whom it had been taken, he said, 'Sir, I should have gone out of the world distrusting half mankind.' Sir John next day wrote a letter to Johnson, assigning reasons for his conduct; upon which Johnson observed to Mr. Langton, 'Bishop Sanderson could not have dictated a better letter. I could almost say,Melius est sic penituisse quam non errâsse.' The agitation into which Johnson was thrown by this incident, probably made him hastily burn those precious records which must ever be regretted. BOSWELL. According to Mr. Croker, Steevens was the man whom Hawkins said that he suspected. Porson, in his wittyPanegyrical Epistle on Hawkins v. Johnson(Gent. Mag.1787, pp. 751-3, andPorson Tracts, p. 341), says:—'I shall attempt a translation [ofMelius est, &c.] for the benefit of your mere English readers:—There is more joy over a sinner that repenteth than over a just person that needeth no repentance. And we know from an authority not to be disputed (Hawkins'sLife, p. 406) thatJohnson was a great lover of penitents.

"God put it in the mind to take it hence,That thou might'st win the more thy [Johnson's] love,Pleading so wisely in excuse of it."

[1236]Henry IV, act iv. sc. 5.

[1237]'Tibullus addressed Cynthia in this manner:—

"Te spectem, suprema, mihi cum venerit hora,Te teneam moriens deficiente mamu.Lib. i. El. I. 73.Before my closing eyes dear Cynthia stand,Held weakly by my fainting, trembling hand."'Johnson's Works, iv. 35.

[1238]Windham was scarcely a statesman as yet, though for a few months of the year before he had been Chief Secretary for Ireland (ante, p 200). He was in Parliament, but he had never spoken. HisDiaryshews that he had no 'important occupations.' On Dec. 12, for instance, he records (p. 30):—'Came down about ten; read reviews, wrote to Mrs. Siddons, and then went to the ice; came home only in time to dress and go to my mother's to dinner.' Seeante, p. 356, for his interest in balloons.

[1239]'My father,' writes Miss Burney, 'saw him once while I was away, and carried Mr. Burke with him, who was desirous of paying his respects to him once more in person. He rallied a little while they were there; and Mr. Burke, when they left him, said to my father:—"His work is almost done, and well has he done it."' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 333. Burke, in 1792, said in Parliament that 'Dr. Johnson's virtues were equal to his transcendent talents, and his friendship he valued as the greatest consolation and happiness of his life.'Parl. Debates, xxx. 109.

[1240]On the same undoubted authority, I give a few articles, which should have been inserted in chronological order; but which, now that they are before me, I should be sorry to omit:—

'In 1736, Dr. Johnson had a particular inclination to have been engaged as an assistant to the Reverend Mr. Budworth, then head master of the Grammar-school, at Brewood, in Staffordshire, "an excellent person, who possessed every talent of a perfect instructor of youth, in a degree which, (to use the words of one of the brightest ornaments of literature, the Reverend Dr. Hurd, Bishop of Worcester,) has been rarely found in any of that profession since the days of Quintilian." Mr. Budworth, "who was less known in his life-time, from that obscure situation to which the caprice of fortune oft condemns the most accomplished characters, than his highest merit deserved," had been bred under Mr. Blackwell [Blackwall], at Market Bosworth, where Johnson was some time an usher [ante, i. 84]; which might naturally lead to the application. Mr. Budworth was certainly no stranger to the learning or abilities of Johnson; as he more than once lamented his having been under the necessity of declining the engagement, from an apprehension that the paralytick affection, under which our great Philologist laboured through life, might become the object of imitation or of ridicule, among his pupils.' Captain Budworth, his grandson, has confirmed to me this anecdote.

'Among the early associates of Johnson, at St. John's Gate, was Samuel Boyse [G-1], well known by his ingenious productions; and not less noted for his imprudence. It was not unusual for Boyse to be a customer to the pawnbroker. On one of these occasions, Dr. Johnson collected a sum of money to redeem his friend's clothes, which in two days after were pawned again. "The sum, (said Johnson,) was collected by sixpences, at a time when to me sixpence was a serious consideration [G-2]."

'Speaking one day of a person for whom he had a real friendship, but in whom vanity was somewhat too predominant, he observed, that "Kelly [G-3] was so fond of displaying on his side-board the plate which he possessed, that he added to it his spurs. For my part, (said he,) I never was master of a pair of spurs, but once; and they are now at the bottom of the ocean. By the carelessness of Boswell's servant, they were dropped from the end of the boat, on our return from the Isle of Sky [G-4]."'

The late Reverend Mr. Samuel Badcock [G-5], having been introduced to Dr. Johnson, by Mr. Nichols, some years before his death, thus expressed himself in a letter to that gentleman:—

'How much I am obliged to you for the favour you did me in introducing me to Dr. Johnson! Tantùm vìdi Virgilium[G-6]. But to have seen him, and to have received a testimony of respect from him, was enough. I recollect all the conversation, and shall never forget one of his expressions. Speaking of Dr. P—— [Priestley], (whose writings, I saw, he estimated at a low rate,) he said, "You have proved him as deficient inprobityas he is in learning [G-7]." I called him an "Index-scholar [G-8];" but he was not willing to allow him a claim even to that merit. He said, that "he borrowed from those who had been borrowers themselves, and did not know that the mistakes he adopted had been answered by others." I often think of our short, but precious, visit to this great man. I shall consider it as a kind of anaerain my life.' BOSWELL. [Note: See Appendix G for notes on this footnote.]

[1241]See ante, i. 152, 501.

[1242]He wrote to Dr. Taylor on Feb. 17, 1776:—'Keep yourself cheerful. Lie in bed with a lamp, and when you cannot sleep and are beginning to think, light your candle and read. At least light your candle; a man is perhaps never so much harrassed (sic) by his own mind in the light as in the dark.'Notes and Queries, 6th S. v. 423.

[1243]Mr. Croker records 'the following communication from Mr. Hoole himself':—'I must mention an incident which shews how ready Johnson was to make amends for any little incivility. When I called upon him, the morning after he had pressed me rather roughly to read louder, he said, "I was peevish yesterday; you must forgive me: when you are as old and as sick as I am, perhaps you may be peevish too." I have heard him make many apologies of this kind.'

[1244]'To his friend Dr. Burney he said a few hours before he died, taking the Doctor's hands within his, and casting his eyes towards Heaven with a look of the most fervent piety, "My dear friend, while you live do all the good you can." Seward's Biographiana,p. 601

[1245]Mr. Hoole, senior, records of this day:—'Dr. Johnson exhorted me to lead a better life than he had done. "A better life than you, my dear Sir:" I repeated. He replied warmly, "Don't compliment not." Croker's Boswell, p. 844

[1246]See ante, p. 293

[1247]The French historian, Jacques-Auguste de Thou, 1553-1617, author of Historia sui Temporisin 138 books.

[1248]See ante,ii. 42, note 2.

[1249]Mr. Hutton was occasionally admitted to the royal breakfast-table. "Hutton," said the King to him one morning, "is it true that you Moravians marry without any previous knowledge of each other?" "Yes, may it please your majesty," returned Hutton; "our marriages are quite royal" Hannah More's Memoirs, i. 318. One of his female-missionaries for North American said to Dr. Johnson:—'Whether my Saviour's service may be best carried on here, or on the coast of Labrador, 'tis Mr. Hutton's business to settle. I will do my part either in a brick-house or a snow-house with equal alacrity.' Piozzi'sSynonymy, ii. 120. He is described also in theMemoirs of Dr. Burney, i. 251, 291.

[1250]Ante, ii. 402.

[1251]Burke said of Hussey, who was his friend and correspondent, that in his character he had made 'that very rare union of the enlightened statesman with the ecclesiastic.' Burke's Corres. iv. 270.

[1252]Boswell refers, I believe, to Fordyce's epitaph on Johnson in the Gent. Mag.1785, p. 412, or possibly to anOdeon p. 50 of his poems.

[1253]'Being become very weak and helpless it was thought necessary that a man should watch with him all night; and one was found in the neighbourhood for half a crown a night.' Hawkins's Life of Johnson, p. 589.

[1254]It was on Nov. 30 that he repeated these lines. See Croker's Boswell, p. 843.

[1255]British Synonymy, i. 359. Mrs. Piozzi, to add to the wonder, says that these verses were 'improviso,' forgetting that Johnson wrote to her on Aug 8, 1780 (Piozzi Letters, ii. 175):—'You have heard in the papers how —- is come to age. I have enclosed a short song of congratulation which you must not shew to anybody. It is odd that it should come into anybody's head. I hope you will read it with candour; it is, I believe, one of the author's first essays in that way of writing, and a beginner is always to be treated with tenderness.' That it was Sir John Lade who had come of age is shewn by the entry of his birth, Aug. 1, 1759, in theGent. Mag.1759, p. 392. He was the nephew and ward of Mr. Thrale, who seemed to think that Miss Burney would make him a good wife. (Mme. D'Arblay'sDiary, i. 79.) According to Mr. Hayward (Life of Piozzi, i. 69) it was Lade who having asked Johnson whether he advised him to marry, received as answer: 'I would advise no man to marry, Sir, who is not likely to propagate understanding.' Seeante, ii. 109, note 2. Mr. Hayward adds that 'he married a woman of the town, became a celebrated member of the Four-in-Hand Club, and contrived to waste the whole of a fine fortune before he died.' In Campbell'sChancellors(ed. 1846, v. 628) a story is told of Sir John Ladd, who is, I suppose, the same man. The Prince of Wales in 1805 asked Lord Thurlow to dinner, and also Ladd. 'When "the old Lion" arrived the Prince went into the ante-room to meet him, and apologised for the party being larger than he had intended, but added, "that Sir John was an old friend of his, and he could not avoid asking him to dinner," to which Thurlow, in his growling voice, answered, "I have no objection, Sir, to Sir John Ladd in his proper place, which I take to be your Royal Highness's coach-box, and not your table."'

[1256]British Synonymywas published in 1794, later therefore than Boswell's first and second editions. In both these the latter half of this paragraph ran as follows:—"From the specimen which Mrs. Piozzi has exhibited of it (Anecdotes, p. 196) it is much to be wished that the world could see the whole. Indeed I can speak from my own knowledge; for having had the pleasure to read it, I found it to be a piece of exquisite satire conveyed in a strain of pointed vivacity and humour, and in a manner of which no other instance is to be found in Johnson's writings. After describing the ridiculous and ruinous career of a wild spendthrift heconsoleshim with this reflection:—

"You may hang or drown at last."'

[1257]Sir John.

[1258]'"Les morts n'écrivent point," says Madame de Maintenon.' Hannah More's Memoirs, i. 233. The note that Johnson received 'was,' says Mr. Hoole, 'from Mr. Davies, the bookseller, and mentioned a present of some pork; upon which the Doctor said, in a manner that seemed as if he thought it ill-timed, "too much of this," or some such expression.' Croker'sBoswell, p. 844.

[1259]Sir Walter Scott says that 'Reynolds observed the charge given him by Johnson on his death-bed not to use his pencil of a Sunday for a considerable time, but afterwards broke it, being persuaded by some person who was impatient for a sitting that the Doctor had no title to exact such a promise.' Croker's Corres. ii. 34. 'Reynolds used to say that "the pupil in art who looks for the Sunday with pleasure as an idle day will never make a painter."' Northcote'sReynolds, i. 119. 'Dr. Johnson,' said Lord Eldon, 'sent me a message on his death-bed, to request that I would attend public worship every Sunday.' Twiss'sEldon, i. 168. The advice was not followed, for 'when a lawyer, a warm partisan of the Chancellor, called him one of the pillars of the Church; "No," said another lawyer, "he may be one of its buttresses; but certainly not one of its pillars, for he is never found within it."'Ib. iii. 488. Lord Campbell (Lives of the Chancellors, vii. 716) says:—Lord Eldon was never present at public worship in London from one year's end to the other. Pleading in mitigation before Lord Ellenborough that he attended public worship in the country, he received the rebuke, "as if there were no God in town.'"

[1260]Reynolds records:—'During his last illness, when all hope was at an end, he appeared to be quieter and more resigned. His approaching dissolution was always present to his mind. A few days before he died, Mr. Langton and myself only present, he said he had been a great sinner, but he hoped he had given no bad example to his friends; that he had some consolation in reflecting that he had never denied Christ, and repeated the text, "Whoever denies me, &c." [St. Matthewx. 33.] We were both very ready to assure him that we were conscious that we were better and wiser from his life and conversation; and that so far from denying Christ, he had been, in this age, his greatest champion.' Taylor'sReynolds, ii. 459.

[1261]Hannah More (Memoirsi. 393) says that Johnson, having put up a fervent prayer that Brocklesby might become a sincere Christian, 'caught hold of his hand with great earnestness, and cried, "Doctor, you do not sayAmen." The Doctor looked foolishly, but after a pause cried "Amen"' Her account, however, is often not accurate.

[1262]Windham records (Diary, p. 30) that on the night of the 12th he urged him to take some sustenance, 'and desisted only upon his exclaiming, "It is all very childish; let us hear no more of it."' On his pressing him a second time, he answered that 'he refused no sustenance but inebriating sustenance.' Windham thereupon asked him to take some milk, but 'he recurred to his general refusal, and begged that there might be an end of it. I then said that I hoped he would forgive my earnestness; when he replied eagerly, "that from me nothing would be necessary by way of apology;" adding with great fervour, in words which I shall (I hope) never forget—"God bless you, my dear Windham, through Jesus Christ;" and concluding with a wish that we might meet in some humble portion of that happiness which God might finally vouchsafe to repentant sinners. These were the last words I ever heard him speak. I hurried out of the room with tears in my eyes, and more affected than I had been on any former occasion.' It was at a later hour in this same night that Johnson 'scarified himself in three places. On Mr. Desmoulins making a difficulty of giving him the lancet he said, "Don't you, if you have any scruples; but I will compel Frank," and on Mr. Desmoulins attempting to prevent Frank from giving it to him, and at last to restrain his hands, he grew very outrageous, so much so as to call Frank "scoundrel" and to threaten Mr. Desmoulins that he would stab him.'Ib. p. 32.

[1263]Mr. Strahan, mentioning 'the anxious fear', which seized Johnson, says, that 'his friends who knew his integrity observed it with equal astonishment and concern.' He adds that 'his foreboding dread of the Divine justice by degrees subsided into a pious trust and humble hope in the Divine mercy.' Pr. and Med.preface, p. xv.

[1264]The change of his sentiments with regard to Dr. Clarke, is thus mentioned to me in a letter from the late Dr. Adams, Master of Pembroke College, Oxford:—'The Doctor's prejudices were the strongest, and certainly in another sense the weakest, that ever possessed a sensible man. You know his extreme zeal for orthodoxy. But did you ever hear what he told me himself? That he had made it a rule not to admit Dr. Clarke's name in his Dictionary. This, however, wore off. At some distance of time he advised with me what books he should read in defence of the Christian Religion. I recommended Clarke'sEvidences of Natural and Revealed Religion, as the best of the kind; and I find in what is called hisPrayers and Meditations, that he was frequently employed in the latter part of his time in reading Clarke'sSermons. BOSWELL. Seeante, i. 398.

[1265]The Reverend Mr. Strahan took care to have it preserved, and has inserted it in Prayers and Meditations, p. 216. BOSWELL.

[1266]See ante, iii. 433.

[1267]The counterpart of Johnson's end and of one striking part of his character may be found in Mr. Fearing in The Pilgrim's Progress, part ii. '"Mr. Fearing was," said Honesty, "a very zealous man. Difficulty, lions, or Vanity Fair he feared not at all; it was only sin, death, and hell that were to him a terror, because he had some doubts about his interest in that celestial country." "I dare believe," Greatheart replied, "that, as the proverb is, he could have bit a firebrand, had it stood in his way; but the things with which he was oppressed no man ever yet could shake off with ease."' Seeante, ii. 298, note 4.

[1268]Her sister's likeness as Hope nursing Love was painted by Reynolds. Northcote's Reynolds, i. 185.

[1269]The following letter, written with an agitated hand, from the very chamber of death, by Mr. Langton, and obviously interrupted by his feelings, will not unaptly close the story of so long a friendship. The letter is not addressed, but Mr. Langton's family believe it was intended for Mr. Boswell.

'MY DEAR SIR,—After many conflicting hopes and fears respecting the event of this heavy return of illness which has assailed our honoured friend, Dr. Johnson, since his arrival from Lichfield, about four days ago the appearances grew more and more awful, and this afternoon at eight o'clock, when I arrived at his house to see how he should be going on, I was acquainted at the door, that about three quarters of an hour before, he breathed his last. I am now writing in the room where his venerable remains exhibit a spectacle, the interesting solemnity of which, difficult as it would be in any sort to find terms to express, so to you, my dear Sir, whose own sensations will paint it so strongly, it would be of all men the most superfluous to attempt to—.'—CROKER. The interruption of the note was perhaps due to a discovery made by Langton. Hawkins says, 'at eleven, the evening of Johnson's death, Mr. Langton came to me, and in an agony of mind gave me to understand that our friend had wounded himself in several parts of the body.' Hawkins's Life, p. 590. To the dying man, 'on the last day of his existence on this side the grave the desire of life,' to use Murphy's words (Life, p. 135), 'had returned with all its former vehemence.' In the hope of drawing off the dropsical water he gave himself these wounds (seeante, p. 399). He lost a good deal of blood, and no doubt hastened his end. Langton must have suspected that Johnson intentionally shortened his life.

[1270]Servant to the Right Honourable William Windham. BOSWELL.

[1271]Sir Joshua Reynolds and Paoli were among the mourners. Among the Nichols papers in the British Museum is preserved an invitation card to the funeral.

[1272]Dr. Burney wrote to the Rev. T. Twining on Christmas Day, 1784:—'The Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey lay all the blame on Sir John Hawkins for suffering Johnson to be so unworthily interred. The Knight's first inquiry at the Abbey in giving orders, as the most acting executor, was—"What would be the difference in the expense between a public and private funeral?" and was told only a few pounds to the prebendaries, and about ninety pairs of gloves to the choir and attendants; and he then determined that, "as Dr. Johnson had no music in him, he should choose the cheapest manner of interment." And for this reason there was no organ heard, or burial service sung; for which he suffers the Dean and Chapter to be abused in all the newspapers, and joins in their abuse when the subject is mentioned in conversation.' Burney mentions a report that Hawkins had been slandering Johnson. Recreations and Studies of a Country Clergyman of the XVIII Century, p. 129. Dr. Charles Burney, jun., had written the day after the funeral:—'The executor, Sir John Hawkins, did not manage things well, for there was no anthem or choir service performed—no lesson—but merely what is read over every old woman that is buried by the parish. Dr. Taylor read the service but so-so.' Johnstone'sParr, i. 535.

[1273]Pope's Essay on Man, iv. 390. Seeante, iii. 6, and iv. 122.

[1274]On the subject of Johnson I may adopt the words of Sir John Harrington, concerning his venerable Tutor and Diocesan, Dr. John Still, Bishop of Bath and Wells; 'who hath given me some helps, more hopes, all encouragements in my best studies: to whom I never came but I grew more religious; from whom I never went, but I parted better instructed. Of him therefore, my acquaintance, my friend, my instructor, if I speak much, it were not to be marvelled; if I speak frankly, it is not to be blamed; and though I speak partially, it were to be pardoned.' Nugoe Antiquoe, vol. i. p. 136. There is one circumstance in Sir John's character of Bishop Still, which is peculiarly applicable to Johnson: 'He became so famous a disputer, that the learnedest were even afraid to dispute with him; and he finding his own strength, could not stick to warn them in their arguments to take heed to their answers, like a perfect fencer that will tell aforehand in which button he will give the venew, or like a cunning chess-player that will appoint aforehand with which pawn and in what place he will give the mate.'Ibid. BOSWELL.

[1275]The late Right Hon. William Gerard Hamilton. MALONE.

[1276]'His death,' writes Hannah More (Memoirs, i. 394), 'makes a kind of era in literature.' 'One who had long known him said of him:—'In general you may tell what the man to whom you are speaking will say next. This you can never do of Johnson.' Johnson'sWorks(1787), xi. 211.

[1277]Beside the Dedications to him by Dr. Goldsmith [ante, ii. 216], the Reverend Dr. Francklin [ante, iv. 34], and the Reverend Mr. Wilson [ante, iv. 162], which I have mentioned according to their dates, there was one by a lady, of a versification ofAningait and Ajut, and one by the ingenious Mr. Walker [ante, iv. 206], of hisRhetorical Grammar. I have introduced into this work several compliments paid to him in the writings of his contemporaries; but the number of them is so great, that we may fairly say that there was almost a general tribute.

Let me not be forgetful of the honour done to him by Colonel Myddleton, of Gwaynynog, near Denbigh; who, on the banks of a rivulet in his park, where Johnson delighted to stand and repeat verses, erected an urn with the following inscription:

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