Chapter XXIII: Part 23

[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 Temporis_ in 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's _Synonymy_, ii. 120. He is described also in the _Memoirs 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 an _Ode_ on 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 the _Gent. 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's _Diary_, 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.' See _ante_, 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's _Chancellors_ (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 Synonymy_ was 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 he _consoles_ him 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's _Boswell_, 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's _Reynolds_, 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's _Eldon_, 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. Matthew_ x. 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's _Reynolds_, ii. 459.

[1261] Hannah More (_Memoirs_ i. 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 say _Amen_." 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's _Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion_, as the best of the kind; and I find in what is called his _Prayers and Meditations_, that he was frequently employed in the latter part of his time in reading Clarke's _Sermons_. BOSWELL. See _ante_, 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."' See _ante_, 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 (see _ante_, 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's _Parr_, i. 535.

[1273] Pope's _Essay on Man_, iv. 390. See _ante_, 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's _Works_ (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 of _Aningait and Ajut_, and one by the ingenious Mr. Walker [_ante_, iv. 206], of his _Rhetorical 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:

'This spot was often dignified by the presence of
SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D.
Whose moral writings, exactly conformable to the
precepts of Christianity,
Gave ardour to Virtue and confidence to Truth [H-1].'

As no inconsiderable circumstance of his fame, we must reckon the extraordinary zeal of the artists to extend and perpetuate his image. I can enumerate a bust by Mr. Nollekens, and the many casts which are made from it; several pictures by Sir Joshua Reynolds, from one of which, in the possession of the Duke of Dorset, Mr. Humphry executed a beautiful miniature in enamel; one by Mrs. Frances Reynolds, Sir Joshua's sister; one by Mr. Zoffani; and one by Mr. Opie [H-2]; and the following engravings of his portrait: 1. One by Cooke, from Sir Joshua, for the Proprietors' edition of his folio _Dictionary_.--2. One from ditto, by ditto, for their quarto edition.--3. One from Opie, by Heath, for Harrison's edition of his _Dictionary_.--4. One from Nollekens' bust of him, by Bartolozzi, for Fielding's quarto edition of his _Dictionary_.--5. One small, from Harding, by Trotter, for his _Beauties_.--6. One small, from Sir Joshua, by Trotter, for his _Lives of the Poets_.--7. One small, from Sir Joshua, by Hall, for _The Rambler_.--8. One small, from an original drawing, in the possession of Mr. John Simco, etched by Trotter, for another edition of his _Lives of the Poets_.--9. One small, no painter's name, etched by Taylor, for his _Johnsoniana_.--10. One folio whole-length, with his oak-stick, as described in Boswell's _Tour_, drawn and etched by Trotter.--11. One large mezzotinto, from Sir Joshua, by Doughty [H-3].--l2. One large Roman head, from Sir Joshua, by Marchi.--13. One octavo, holding a book to his eye, from Sir Joshua, by Hall, for his _Works_.--14. One small, from a drawing from the life, and engraved by Trotter, for his _Life_ published by Kearsley.--15. One large, from Opie, by Mr. Townley, (brother of Mr. Townley, of the Commons,) an ingenious artist, who resided some time at Berlin, and has the honour of being engraver to his Majesty the King of Prussia. This is one of the finest mezzotintos that ever was executed; and what renders it of extraordinary value, the plate was destroyed after four or five impressions only were taken off. One of them is in the possession of Sir William Scott [H-4]. Mr. Townley has lately been prevailed with to execute and publish another of the same, that it may be more generally circulated among the admirers of Dr. Johnson.--16. One large, from Sir Joshua's first picture of him, by Heath, for this work, in quarto.--17. One octavo, by Baker, for the octavo edition.--18. And one for Lavater's _Essay on Physiognomy_, in which Johnson's countenance is analysed upon the principles of that fanciful writer.--There are also several seals with his head cut on them, particularly a very fine one by that eminent artist, Edward Burch, Esq. R.A. in the possession of the younger Dr. Charles Burney.

Let me add, as a proof of the popularity of his character, that there are copper pieces struck at Birmingham, with his head impressed on them, which pass current as half-pence there, and in the neighbouring parts of the country. BOSWELL. [Note: See Appendix H for notes on this footnote.]

[1278] It is not yet published.--In a letter to me, Mr. Agutter says, 'My sermon before the University was more engaged with Dr. Johnson's _moral_ than his _intellectual_ character. It particularly examined his fear of death, and suggested several reasons for the apprehension of the good, and the indifference of the infidel in their last hours; this was illustrated by contrasting the death of Dr. Johnson and Mr. Hume: the text was Job xxi. 22-26.' BOSWELL. It was preached on July 23, 1786, and not at Johnson's death. It is entitled _On the Difference between the Deaths of the Righteous and the Wicked. Illustrated in the Instance of Dr. Samuel Johnson and David Hume, Esq._ The text is from Job xxi. 23 (not 22)-26. It was published in 1800. Neither Johnson nor Hume is mentioned in the sermon itself by name. Its chief, perhaps its sole, merit is its brevity.

[1279] See _ante_, ii. 335, and iii. 375.

[1280] 'May 26, 1791. After the Doctor's death, Burke, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Boswell sent an ambling circular-letter to me begging subscriptions for a monument for him. I would not deign to write an answer; but sent down word by my footman, as I would have done to parish officers, with a brief, that I would not subscribe.' Horace Walpole's _Letters_, ix. 319. In Malone's correspondence are complaints of the backwardness of the members of the Literary Club 'to pay the amounts nominally subscribed by them.' Prior's _Goldsmith_, ii. 226.

[1281] It was, says Malone, owing to Reynolds that the monument was erected in St. Paul's. In his _Journey to Flanders_he had lamented that sculpture languished in England, and was almost confined to monuments to eminent men. But even in these it had not fair play, for Westminster Abbey was so full, that the recent monuments appeared ridiculous being stuck up in odd holes and corners. On the other hand St. Paul's looked forlorn and desolate. Here monuments should be erected, under the direction of the Royal Academy. He took advantage of Johnson's death to make a beginning with the plan which he had here sketched, and induced his friends to give up their intention of setting up the monument in the Abbey. Reynolds's _Works_, ed. 1824, ii. 248. 'He asked Dr. Parr--but in vain--to include in the epitaph Johnson's title of Professor of Ancient Literature to the Royal Academy; as it was on this pretext that he persuaded the Academicians to subscribe a hundred guineas.' Johnstone's _Parr_, iv. 686. See _ante_, ii. 239, where the question was raised whose monument should be first erected in St. Paul's, and Johnson proposed Milton's.

[1282] The Reverend Dr. Parr, on being requested to undertake it, thus expressed himself in a letter to William Seward, Esq.:

'I leave this mighty task to some hardier and some abler writer. The variety and splendour of Johnson's attainments, the peculiarities of his character, his private virtues, and his literary publications, fill me with confusion and dismay, when I reflect upon the confined and difficult species of composition, in which alone they can be expressed, with propriety, upon his monument.'

But I understand that this great scholar, and warm admirer of Johnson, has yielded to repeated solicitations, and executed the very difficult undertaking. BOSWELL. Dr. Johnson's Monument, consisting of a colossal figure leaning against a column, has since the death of our authour been placed in St. Paul's Cathedral. The Epitaph was written by the Rev. Dr. Parr, and is as follows:

SAMVELI IOHNSON
GRAMMATICO ET CRITICO
SCRIPTORVM ANGLICORVM LITTERATE PERITO
POETAE LVMINIBVS SENTENTIARVM
ET PONDERIBVS VERBORVM ADMIRABILI
MAGISTRO VIRTVTIS GRAVISSIMO
HOMINI OPTIMO ET SINGVLARIS EXEMPLI
QVI VIXIT ANN LXXV MENS IL. DIEB XIII
DECESSIT IDIB DECEMBR ANN CHRIST cIo Iocc LXXXIIII
SEPVLT IN AED SANCT PETR WESTMONASTERIENS
XIII KAL IANVAR ANN CHRIST cIo Iocc LXXXV
AMICI ET SODALES LITTERARII
PECVNIA CONLATA
H M FACIVND CVRAVER.

On a scroll in his hand are the following words: [Greek: ENMAKARESSIPONONANTAXIOSEIHAMOIBH].

On one side of the Monument--- FACIEBAT JOHANNES BACON SCVLPTOR ANN. CHRIST. M.DCC.-LXXXXV.

The Subscription for this monument, which cost eleven hundred guineas, was begun by the LITERARY CLUB. MALONE. See Appendix I.

[1283] '"Laetus sum laudari me," inquit Hector, opinor apud Naevium, "abs te, pater, a laudato viro."' Cicero, _Ep. ad Fam_. xv. 6.

[1284] To prevent any misconception on this subject, Mr. Malone, by whom these lines were obligingly communicated, requests me to add the following remark:--

'In justice to the late Mr. Flood, now himself wanting, and highly meriting, an epitaph from his country, to which his transcendent talents did the highest honour, as well as the most important service; it should be observed that these lines were by no means intended as a regular monumental inscription for Dr. Johnson. Had he undertaken to write an appropriated and discriminative epitaph for that excellent and extraordinary man, those who knew Mr. Flood's vigour of mind, will have no doubt that he would have produced one worthy of his illustrious subject. But the fact was merely this: In Dec. 1789, after a large subscription had been made for Dr. Johnson's monument, to which Mr. Flood liberally contributed, Mr. Malone happened to call on him at his house, in Berners-street, and the conversation turning on the proposed monument, Mr. Malone maintained that the epitaph, by whomsoever it should be written, ought to be in Latin. Mr. Flood thought differently. The next morning, in the postscript to a note on another subject, he mentioned that he continued of the same opinion as on the preceding day, and subjoined the lines above given.' BOSWELL. Cowper also composed an epitaph for Johnson--though not one of much merit. See Southey's _Cowper_, v. 119.

[1285] As I do not see any reason to give a different character of my illustrious friend now, from what I formerly gave, the greatest part of the sketch of him in my _Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides_, is here adopted. BOSWELL.

[1286] See _ante_, i. 41.

[1287] For his fox-hunting see _ante_, i. 446, note I.

[1288] _Lucretius_, i. 72.

[1289] See ante, i. 406.

[1290] 'He was always indulgent to the young, he never attacked the unassuming, nor meant to terrify the diffident.' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_ ii. 343.

[1291] In the _Olla Podrida_, a collection of Essays published at Oxford, there is an admirable paper upon the character of Johnson, written by the Reverend Dr. Home, the last excellent Bishop of Norwich. The following passage is eminently happy: 'To reject wisdom, because the person of him who communicates it is uncouth, and his manners are inelegant;--what is it, but to throw away a pine-apple, and assign for a reason the roughness of its coat?' BOSWELL. The _Olla Podrida_ was published in weekly numbers in 1787 8. Boswell's quotation is from No. 13.

[1292] 'The _English Dictionary_ was written ... amidst inconvenience distraction, in sickness and in sorrow.' Preface to Johnson's _Dictionary, Works_, v. 51.

[1293] 'For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.' _Luke_, xii. 48.

[1294] 'If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.' I _Corinthians_, xv. 19.

[1295] See ante, ii. 262, note 2.

[1296] Though a perfect resemblance of Johnson is not to be found in any age, parts of his character are admirably expressed by Clarendon in drawing that of Lord Falkland, whom the noble and masterly historian describes at his seat near Oxford;--'Such an immenseness of wit, such a solidity of judgement, so infinite a fancy, bound in by a most logical ratiocination.--His acquaintance was cultivated by the most polite and accurate men, so that his house was an University in less volume, whither they came, not so much for repose as study, and to examine and refine those grosser propositions, which laziness and consent made current in conversation.'

Bayle's account of Menage may also be quoted as exceedingly applicable to the great subject of this work:--'His illustrious friends erected a very glorious monument to him in the collection entitled Menagiana. Those who judge of things aright, will confess that this collection is very proper to shew the extent of genius and learning which was the character of Menage. And I may be bold to say, that _the excellent works he published will not distinguish him from other learned men so advantageously as this_. To publish books of great learning, to make Greek and Latin verses exceedingly well turned, is not a common talent, I own; neither is it extremely rare, It is incomparably more difficult to find men who can furnish discourse about an infinite number of things, and who can diversify them an hundred ways. How many authours are there, who are admired for their works, on account of the vast learning that is displayed in them, who are not able to sustain a conversation. Those who know Menage only by his books, might think he resembled those learned men; but if you shew the MENAGIANA, you distinguish him from them, and make him known by a talent which is given to very few learned men. There it appears that he was a man who spoke off-hand a thousand good things. His memory extended to what was ancient and modern; to the court and to the city; to the dead and to the living languages; to things serious and things jocose; in a word, to a thousand sorts of subjects. That which appeared a trifle to some readers of the _Menagiana_, who did not consider circumstances, caused admiration in other readers, who minded the difference between what a man speaks without preparation, and that which he prepares for the press. And, therefore, we cannot sufficiently commend the care which his illustrious friends took to erect a monument so capable of giving him immortal glory. They were not obliged to rectify what they had heard him say; for, in so doing, they had not been faithful historians of his conversations.' BOSWELL. Boswell's quotation from Clarendon (ed. 1826, iv. 242) differs somewhat from the original.

[1297] See _ante_, ii. 326, and iv. 236.

[1298] See _ante_, p. iii.

[1299] To this finely-drawn character we may add the noble testimony of Sir Joshua Reynolds:--'His pride had no meanness in it; there was nothing little or mean about him.' Taylor's _Reynolds_, ii. 457.

[1300] In Johnson's character of Boerhaave there is much that applies equally well to himself. 'Thus died Boerhaave, a man formed by nature for great designs, and guided by religion in the exertion of his abilities. He was of a robust and athletick constitution of body, so hardened by early severities and wholesome fatigue that he was insensible of any sharpness of air, or inclemency of weather. He was tall, and remarkable for extraordinary strength. There was in his air and motion something rough and artless, but so majestick and great at the same time, that no man ever looked upon him without veneration, and a kind of tacit submission to the superiority of his genius.... He was never soured by calumny and detraction, nor ever thought it necessary to confute them; "for they are sparks," said he, "which, if you do not blow them, will go out of themselves."... He was not to be overawed or depressed by the presence, frowns, or insolence of great men; but persisted, on all occasions, in the right with a resolution always present and always calm.... Nor was he unacquainted with the art of recommending truth by elegance, and embellishing the philosopher with polite literature.... He knew the importance of his own writings to mankind, and lest he might by a roughness and barbarity of style, too frequent among men of great learning, disappoint his own intentions, and make his labours less useful, he did not neglect the politer arts of eloquence and poetry. Thus was his learning at once various and exact, profound and agreeable.... He asserted on all occasions the divine authority and sacred efficacy of the holy Scriptures; and maintained that they alone taught the way of salvation, and that they only could give peace of mind.' Johnson's _Works_, vi. 288.

[1301] Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was born at Plympton.

[1302] See _ante,_ iii. 43, note 3.

THE END OF THE FOURTH VOLUME.

End of Project Gutenberg's Life Of Johnson, Volume 4 (of 6), by Boswell