J^r-^._ -- ^'^ r . __^->»-^-^*l,- -^ - L I B R A^ R Y OF THE Theological Seminary, PRINCETON, N. J. ^ Sheff, ..S-e-cUaii . . .^ OTj-T ^ook, lvio._„ „ , A DONATION FROM ]h..:^JL^L^ ^ Beceived A N E S S A Y ON THE LIFE AND GENIUS O F SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. *^* Entered at Stationers Hall. A N E ON THE LIFE AND GENIUS O F SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. Bv ARTHUR MURPHY, Esq,. LONDON: Printed for T. Longman, B. White and Son, B. Law, J. Dodflcy, H. Baldwin, J. Robfon, J. Johnfon, C. Dilly, T. Vernor, G. G. J. and J. Robinfon, T. Cadell, J. Nichols, R. Baldwin, N. Conant, P. Elmfly, F. and C. Rivjngton, T. Payne, VV. Goldfmith, R. Faulder, Leigh and Sotheby, G. Nicol, J. Murray, A, Strahan, VV. Lowndes, T. Evans, VV. Bent, S. Hayes, G. and T. VVilkie, T. and J. Egerton, VV. Fox, P. M'Qneen, Ogilvie and SpearC; Darton and Harvey, G, and C. Kearlley, W. Mill^"f £. C. Collins, and E. Ncwbery. M DCC xcir. A N ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND GENIUS O F SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. WHEN the works of a great Writer, who has bequeathed to pofterlty a lafting legacy, are prefented to the world, It is naturally expefted, that fome account of his life fhould accompany the edition. The Reader wifiies to know as much as pofilble of the Author. The circumftances that at- tended him, the features of his private cha- rafter, his couverfation, and the means by which he rofe to eminence, become the fa- VoL. I. a vourite 2 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AMD vouriteobje6ls of enquiry. Cnriofity Is excited; and the admirer of his works is eager to know his private opinions, his courle of ftudy, the particularities of his conduct, and, above all, whether he purfued the wifdom which he re- commends, and praftifed the virtue which his writings infpire. A principle of gratitude is awakened in every generous mind. For the entertainment and inftruftion which genius and diligence have provided for the world, men of refined and fenfible tempers are ready to pay their tribute of praife, and even to form a pofthumous frleodfliip with the author. In reviewing the life of fuch a writer, there is, befides, a rule of juflice to which the publick have an undoubted claim. Fond ad- miration and partial frlendfliip fhould not be fufFered to reprefent his virtues with exaggera- tion ; nor fhould malignity be allowed, under a fpecious difgulfe, to magnify mere defefts, the ufual failings of human nature, into vice or grofs deformity. The lights and fliades of the character (hould be given ; and, if this be done with a ftricl regard to truth, a juft efti- mate of Dr. Johnfon will afford a Itffon per- haps GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 3 haps as valuable as the moral dodlrlne that fpeaks with energy in every page of his works. The prefent writer enjoyed tlie converfatioii and friendfhip of that excellent man more than thirty years. He thought it an honour to be fo conne£led, and to this hour he reflefls on his lofs with regret : but regret, he knows, has lecret bribes, by which the judgement may be influenced, and partial affe£lion may be carried beyond the bounds of truth. In the prefent cafe, however, nothing needs to be difguifed, and exaggerated praife is unneceflary. It is an obfervation of the younger Pliny, in his Epiflle to his Friend of Tacitus, that hiftory ought never to magnify matters of facl, becaufe worthy adlions require nothing but the truth. Nam nee hijioria debit egredi veritater??^ ct honejle fadt'is Veritas Jujjicit, This rule the prefent biographer promifes (hall guide his pen throughout the following narrative. It may be fiiid, the death of Dr. Johnfon kept the public mind in agitation beyond nil former example. No literarv character ever a 2 excited 4 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND excited fo much attention ; and, when the prefs has teemed with anecdotes, apophthegms, effays, and publications of every kind, what occafion now for a new traft on the fune threadbare fubject ? The plain truth (hall be the anfwer. The proprietors of Johnfon's Works thought the life, which they prefixed to their former edition, too unwieldy for re- publication. The prodigious variety of foreign matter, introduced into that performance, feemed to overload the memory of Dr. John- fon, and in the account of his own life to leave him hardly vifible. They wiflied to have a more concife, and, for that reafon, perhaps a more fatisfaclory account, fuch as may exhibit a juft pifture of the man, and keep him the prhicipal figure in the fore- ground of his own pifture. To comply with that requell: is the defi[^n of this eflay, w-hich the writer under- takes with a trembling hand. He has no dif- coveries, no fecret anecdotes, no occafional controverfy, no fuddcn flafhes of wut and humour, no private converfation, and no new fads to embellifli his work. Every thing has been gleaned. Dr* Johnfon faid of himfelf, <^ I am not uncanJid, nor fevere : I fome- '* times GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 5 *' times fay more than I mean, in jeft, and *' people are apt to think me ferious *." The exercife of that privilege, which is enjoyed by every man in fociety, has not been allowed to him. His fame has given importance even to trifles, and the zeal of his frieiids has brought every thing to light. What (hould be related, and what fhould not, has been publiflied with- out diftinftion. Dicenda taceiida lociuil Every thing that fell from him has been caught w^ith eagernefs by his admirers, who, as he fays in one of his letters, have afted with the dili- gence of fpies upon his condufl:. To fome of them the following Tmes, in Mallet's Poem on Verbal Criticifm, are not inapplicable : ^' Such that erave bird in Northern feas is found, " Whofe name a Dutchman only knows to found; '^ VVhere-e'er the king of fifh moves on before, '' This humble friend attends from ihore to fhore; " With eye ftlU earneft, and with bill inclin'd, ^' He picks up what his patron drops behind, '* With thofe choice cates his palate to regale, " And is the careful Tibbald of a whale." * Bofweirs Life of Johiifon, Vol. If. p. 465. a 3 After 6 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND After fo many effays and volumes of Johnfont" ana^ what remains for the prefent writer? Perhaps, what has not been attempted ; a Ihort, yet full, a faithful, yet temperate hif- tory of Dr. Johnfon. SAMUEL JOHNSON was born at Lichfield, September 7, 1 709, O. S "^. His father, Michael Johnfon, was a bookfeller in that city ; a man of large athletic make, and violent paffions ; wrong-headed, pofitive, and at times afflicted with a degree of melancholy, little fhort of madnefs. His mother was fifter to Dr. Ford, a praftifmg phyfician, and father of Cornelius Ford, generally known by the name of Parson Ford, the fame who is re- prcfcnted near the punch-bowl in Hogarth's Midiilght Modern Converilition. In the Life of Fenton, Johnfon fays, that '' his abilities, " inftead of furnifhing convivial merriment to *' the voluptuous and diilblute, might have ena- *' bled him to excel among the virtuous and the * Tills appears in a note to Johnfon's Diary, prefixed \o the fiifl of his prayers. After the alteration of the flile, he kept his birth-day on the 18th of September, and it is accordingly marked Septernber tV. *' wife*" GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 7 ** Wife." Being chaplain to the Earl of Chef- terfield, he wlfhed to attend that nobleman on his embafly to the Hague. Collcy Cibber has recorded the anecdote. '' You fhould go," faid the witty peer, " if to your many vices you '' would add one m^ore." *» Pray, my Lord, *' what is that r" " Hypccrify, my dear Doc- *' tor." Johnfon had a younger brother named Nathaniel, who died at the age of twenty- feven or twenty-eight. Michael Johnfon, the father, was chofen in the year 1^18 Under Bailiff of Lichfield, and in the year 1725 he ferved the office of the Senior Baililt. He had a brother of the nam.e of Andrew, who, for fome years, kept the ring at Smithfield, ap- propriated to wreftlers and boxers. Our author ufed to iliy, that he was never thrown or con- quered. Michael, the father, died December 17 21, at the a'-e of fcvetUv fix ; his mother at €ighty-nine, of a p-radunl decay, in the year 1759. Of the family nothing m.ore can be related worthy of liotice John Ion did not delight in talking of his relations. '' There is '' little pleafurc," he faid to Mrs. Fiozzi, *' in <^' relating the anecdotes of beggary. a 4 Johnfon 8 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND Johnfon derived from his parents, or from an unwholefome nurfe, the diftemper called the King's Evil. The Jacobites at that time believed in the efficacy of the royal touch ; and accordingly Mrs. Johnfon prefented her fon, when two years old, before Qiieen Anne, who, for the firfl: time, performed that office, and communicated to her young patient all the healing virtue in her powder, tie was after- wards cut for that fcrophulous humour, and the under part of his face was learned and dif- figured by the operation. It is fuppofed, that this difeale deprived him of the light of his left eye, and alfo impaired his hearing. At eight years old, he was placed under Mr. Hawkins, at the Free-fchool at Lichfield, where he was not remarkable for diligence or regular application. Whatever he read, his tenacious memory made his own. In the fields with his fchool-felloW'S he talked more to him- felf than w^ith his companions. In 1725, when he was about fixteen years eld, he went on a vifit to his coufm Cornelius Ford, who detained him for fome months, and in the mean time affiilcd him in the daffies. The ^ ^ general GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. ^ general direftion for his ftudics, which he then received, he related to Mrs. Piozzl. " Ob- ** tain," fiiys Ford, '' fome general principles *' of every fcience : he who can talk only on *' one fubjedl, or a6l only in one department, is •' feldom wanted, and, perhaps, never wifhed *' for ; while the man of general knowledge *' can often benefit, and always pleafe." This advice Johnfon feems to have purfued with a good inclination. His reading was always dcful- tory, feldom refting on any particular author, but rambling from one book to another, and, by hafty fnatches, hoarding up a variety of know- ledge. It may be proper in this place to men- tion another general rule laid down by Ford for Johnfon's future conduS : " You will ^* make your way the more eafily in the world, *' as you are contented to difpute no man's " claim to converlation-excellence : they will, ** therefore, more willingly allow your preten- ^* fions as a writer." *' But," fays Mrs. Pi- ozzi, " the features of peculiarity, which mark '' a charadler to all fucccedlng generations, are *' flow in coming to their growth." That ingenious lady adds, with her ufual vivacity, «<^ Can one, on fuch an occafion, forbear recol- *' kaing lO AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND " leding the prediftions of Boileau's father, *' who faid, flroking the head of the young *' fatirift, * this little man has too much wit, " but he will never fpeak ill of any one* ?" On Johnfon's return from Cornelius Ford, Mr. Hunter, then Mafter of the Free-fchool at Lichfield, refufed to receive him again on that foundation. At this diftance of time, what his reafons were, it is vain to enquire ; but to refufe affiftance to a lad of promifing genius mud be pronounced harfli and illiberal. It did not, however, ftop the progrefs of the young ftudent's education. He was placed at another fchool, at Stourbridge in Worcefter- fhire, under the care of Mr. Wentworth. Having gone through the rudiments of claffic literature, he returned to his father's houfe, and was probably intended for the trade of a bookfeller. He has been heard to fay that he could bind a book. At the end of two years, being then about nineteen, he went to affift the ftudies of a young gentleman, of the name of Corbet, to the Univerfity of Oxford ; and on the 31ft of October, 1728, both were entered of Pembroke College ; Corbet as a gentleman- commoner, G2!NIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. H commoner, and Johnfon as a commoner. The college tutor, Mi* Jordan, was a man of no genius ; and Johnfon, it feems, fliewed an early contempt of mean abilities, in one or two inftances behaving with inlolence to that gentleman. Of his general conduct at the iiniverfity there are no particulars that merit attention, except the tranflarion of Pope's Meifiah, which was a college exercife inipofed upon him as a talk by Mr. Jordan. Corbet left the univerfity in about two years, and Johnfon's falary ceafed. He was, by confe- quence, ftraitened in his circumiiances ; but he ftill remained at college. Mr. Jordan, the tutor, went off to a livins; ; and was fucceeded hv Dr. Adams, who afterwards became head of the college, and was efteemed through life for his learning, his talents, and his amiable cha- racter. Johnfon grew^ more regular in his attendance. Ethics, theology, and claffic lite- rature, were his favourite Itudies. He difco- vered, notwithilanding, early lymptoms of that wandering difpoiition of mind which ad- hered to him to the end of his life. His read- ing was by fits and ftarts, undirefted to any particular faience. General philology, agree- ably 12 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND ably to his coufin Ford's advice, was the objeft of his ambition. He received, at that time, 211 early imprellion of piety, and a tafte for the beft authors ancient and modern. It mav, notwithftanding, be queftioned whether, ex- cept his Bible, he ever read a book entirely through. Late in life, if any man praifed a book in his prefence, he was fure to alk, '' Did you read it through ?" If the anfwer was in the affirmative, he did not feem willing to believe it. He continued at the univerfity till the want of pecuniary fupplies obliged him to quit the place. He obtained, however, the affiftance of a friend, and returnisig in a fliort time was able to complete a reiidence of three years. The hiflory of his exploits at Oxford, he uied to fay, was beft known to Dr. Taylor and Dr. Adams. Wonders are told of his memory, and, indeed, all who knew him late in life can witnefs that he retained that fa- culty in the greateft vigour. From the univerfity Johnfon returned to Lichfield. His father died fcon after, De- cember 1731 ; and the whole receipt out of his effecls, as appeared by a memorandum in the fon's GENIUS OF DR. T0HN30N. i^ foil's hand-writing, dated 15th June, 1732, was no more than twenty pounds *. In this exigence, determined that poverty (liould nei- ther deprefs his fpirit nor warp his integrity, he hecame under-mafter of a Grammar- fchool at Market Eofwortii in Leicefterfhire. l^iat relburce, however, did not laft loner. Dil- gulled by the pride of Sir Woiftan Dixie, the patron of thai, little feminary, he left the place in difcontent, and ever after fpoke of it with abhorrence. In 1733 he w^ent o-n a vifif to Mr. Hedor, who had been his fchool- fellow, and was then a furirrecn at Birminsr- h^am, lodging at the houfe of Warren, a bookfelier. At that place Johnfon tranflated a Voynge to Abyfilnia, written by Jerome Lobo, a Portugueze miflionary. This was the firft literary work from the pen of Dr. John- fon. His friend Heflor was occafionally his * The entry of this is remarkable for his early refolu- tioii to preferve through hfc a fair and upright character, *' 1732, Junii 15. Undecim anreos depofui, qnodie,quid- *' quid ante niatris funus (quod fcrum fit precor) de pa- *' ternis bonis fperare beet, viginti fciHcet libras, accept. *' Ufquc adeo miiii mea fortuna fingenda eft interea, et iie *' paupertate vires animi langucfcant, ne in flagitia egefias '* adigat. cavendum." amanu- 14 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND amanuenfis. The work was, probably, un- dertaken at the defire of Warren, the book- feller, and was printed at Birmingham ; but it appears in the Literary Magazine, or Hiftory of the Works of the Learned, for March, 1735, that it was publiflied by Bettefworth and Hitch, Pater-nofter-row. It contains a narrative of the endeavours of a company of miffionaries to convert the people of Abyffi- nia to the Church of Rome. In the preface to this work Johnfon obferves, " that the Por- *' tuguefe traveller, contrary to the general view " of his countrymen, has amufed his readers " with no romantic abfurdities, or incredible ** fidions. He appears, by his modeft and *' unafFeded narration, to have defcrlbed things *' as he faw them ; to have copied nature from *' the life ; and to have confulted his fenfes, " not his imagination. He meets with no baii- *' lilks, that deflroy with their eyes ; his cro- *' codiles devour their prey, without tears ; and *' his catarafts fall from the rock, without ** deafenincr the neishbourinp inhabitants. The 000 *' reader will here find no regions curfed with *' irremediable barrennefs, or bleffed w^lth fpon- *' taneous fecundity ; no perpetual gloom, or 2 *' unceailng GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. I5 «* unceaGng fun-fhine ; nor are the nations, here *' defcribed, either void of all fenfe of huma- " nity, or confuinmate in all private and focial '' virtues : here are no Hottentots without reli- *' gion, polity, or articulate language ; no Chi- *' nefe perfectly polite, and completely (killed in '« all fciences : he will difcover, what will always " be difco^'ered by a diligent and impartial en- '' quirer, that wherever human nature is to be *' found, there is a mixture of vice and virtue, ** a conteft of paffion and reafon ; and that the ** Creator doth not appear partial in his diftri- " butions, but has balanced, in moft countries, *' their particular inconveniences by particular «' favours." We have here an early fpecimeii of Johnfon's manner : the vein of thinking and the frame of the fentenccs are manifcftly his : we fee the infant Hercules. The trani- lation of Lobo's Nairative has been reprinted lately in a feparate volume, with fome other tracts of Dr. Johnfon's, and therefore forms no part of this edition; but a compendious account of fo interefting a work as Father Lobo's dlfcovery of the head of the Nile, will not, it is imagined, be unacceptable to the reader. Fa:h:r l6 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND Father Lobo, the Portuguefe Miffionary, embarked in 1622, m the fame fleet with the Count Fidigueira^ who was appointed, by the king of Portugal, Viceroy of the Indies. They arrived at Goa ; and in January 1624, Father Lobo fet out on the million to Abyflinia. Two of the Jefuits, fent on the fame commiflion, were murdered in their attempt to penetrate into that empire, Lobo had better fuccefs : he furmounted all difficulties, and made his way into the heart of the country. Then fol- lows a defcription of Abyffinia, formerly the largeft empire of which vve have an account in hiftory. It extended from the Red Sea to the kingdom of Congo, and from ^gypt to the Indian Sea, containing no lefs than forty provinces. At the time of Lobo's miffion, it was not much larger than Spain, confiding then but of five kingdoms, of which part was entirely fubjedt to the Emperor, and part paid him a tribute, as an acknov/ledgement. The provinces were inhabited by Moors, Pagans, Jews, and Chriftians. The laft was in Lobo's time the tftabiaTied and reigning religion. The diverfity of people and religion is the rcafoa why GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 1 7 why the kingdom was under different forms of government, with laws and cuftoms extremely various. Some of the people neither fowed their lands, nor improved them by any kind of culture, living upon milk and flefh, and, like the Arabs, encamping without any fettled ha- bitation. In fome places they praftlfed no rites of worfhip, though they believed that, in the regions above, there dwells a Being that governs the world. This Deity they call in tlieir language OiiL The Chriftianlty, pro- feffed by the people in fome parts, is io cor- rupted with fuperftltions, errors, and herefies, and fo mingled with ceremonies borrowed from the Jews, that little, befides the name of Chriftianlty, is to be found among them. Tl:ie Abyffins cannot properly be faid to have either cities or houfes ; they live in tents or cottages made of ftraw or cby, very rarely building with ftone. Their villages or towns confift of thefe huts; yet even of fuch villages they have but few, becaufe the grandees, the vice- roys, and the emperor himfelf, are always in camp, that they m.ay be prepared, upon the moft fudden alarm, to meet every emergence in a country which Is engaged every year cither Vol. I. b ia l8 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND ill foreign wars or inteftlne commotions. Ethi- opia produces very near the fame kinds of pro- vlfion as Portugal, though, by the extreme lazinefs of the inhabitants, in a much lefs quantity. What the ancients imagined of the torrid zone being a part of the world unin- habitable, is fo far from being true, that the climate is very temperate. The blacks have better features than in other countries, and are not without wit and ingenuity. Their appre- henfion is quick, and their judgement found. There are in this climate two harvefts in the year; one in winter, which lafts through the months of July, Auguft, and September; the other in the fprlng. They have, in the greateft plenty, railins, peaches, pomegranates, fugar- canes, and fome figs. Moft of thefe are ripe about Lent, which the Abyflins keep with great ftrlftnefs. The animals of the country are the lion, the elephant, the rhinoceros, the unicorn, horfes, mules, oxen, and cows with- out number. They have a very particular cuftom, which obliges every man, that has a thoufand cows, to fave every year one day*s milk of all his herd, and make a bath with it for his relatloMs. This they do fo many days ill GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. I9 hi each year, as they have thoufands of cattle ; fo that, to exprefs how rich a man is, they tell you, he bathes fo many tunes. *' Of the river Nile, which has furnifhed fo rriuch controverfy, we have a full and clear defcription. It is called by the natives, Abavi, the Father of Water. It rifes in Sacala, a province of the kingdom of Goiama, the moft fertile and agreeable part of the Abyffiniaii dominions. On the Eaftern fide of the coun- try, on the declivity of a mountain, whofe defcent is io eafy, that it feems a beautiful plain, is that fource of the Nile, which has been fought after at fo much expence and la- bour. This fpring, or rather thefe two fprings, are two holes, each about two feet diameter, a ftone's call: diftant from each other. One of them is about five feet and a half iii depth. Lobo was not able to fink his plum- met lower, perhaps, becaufe it was flopped by roots, the whole place being full of trees. A line of ten feet did not reach the bottom of the other. Thefe fprings are fuppofed by the Abyfllns to be the vents of a great fubterraneous lake. At a fmali diftance b 2 to 20 AN ESSAY O K THE LIFE AND to the South, IS a village called Gnix^ through which you alcer.d to the top of the mountain, where there is a little hill, which the idola- trous /JgacL hold in great veneration. Their prieft calls them together to this place once a year ; and every one iacrifices a cow, or more, according to the diiierent de2;rees of wealth and devotion. Hence we have fufficient proof, that thelb nations always paid adoration to the Deity of this famous river. " As to the courfe of the Nile, its waters, after their firft rife, run towards the Eaft, about the lenoth of a mufket-fliot ; then, turning Northward, continue hidden in the grafs and w^eds for about a quarter of a league, when they re-appear amongft a quantity of rocks. The Nile from its fource proceeds with fo inconfiderable a current, that it is in danger of being dried up by the hot feafon ; but foon receiving an increafe from the Gemma, th& Keltu, the Bransa, and the other fmaller rivers, it expands to fuch a breadth in the plains of Bo ad, which is not above three days journey from its fource, that a mulket-ball will Icarculy fly from one bank to the other. Here . GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 21 Here it begins to run northward, winding, however, a little to the Eaft, for the Ipace of nine or ten leagues, and then enters the Co- much-talked-of Lake of Dambia, flowing with fuch violent rapidity, that its waters may be diftingui(hed through the whole paf- fage, which is no lefs than fix leagues. Here begins the greatnefs of the Nile. Fifteen miles further, in the land of Alata, it ruflies precipitately from the top of a hieh rock, and forms one of the moft beautiful water- fa] Is in the world. ' Lobo favs, he paffed under it without being wet, and reiling himfelf, for the fake of the coolnefs, was charmed with a thoufand delightful rainbows, which the fun-beams painted on the water, in all their fhining and lively colours *. Tlie * This Mr. Bruce, the late traveller, avers to be a downright falfebood. He lays, a deep pool of v.atcr reaches to the very foot of the rock; and, allowinci; that there was a feat or bench (which there is not) in the middle of the pool, it is abfolutely impoffiblc, by any exertion of human flrength, to have arrived at it. But it may be alked, can Mr. Bruce fay what was the face of the country in the \ear 1622, when Lobo law the magnificent iight, which he has defcribed ? Mr. Bruce's pool of water may have been formed fince ; and Lobo, perhaps, was content to fit down without a bench. b 3 fall 22 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND fall of this mighty ftream, from fo great a height, makes a noife that may be heard at a confiderable diftance ; but it was not found, that the neighbouring inhabitants were deaf. After the catarafl:, the Nile collects its fcattered ftream among the rocks, which are fo near each other, that, in Lobo's time, a bridge of beams, on which the whole imperial army paffed, was laid over them. Sultan Sequed has fince built a lT:one bridge of one arch, in the fame place, for which purpofe he procured mafons fiom India. Here the river alters its courie, and paffes through various kingdoms, fuch as Amhara, Olaca, Choaa, Da- mot, and the kingdom of Goiama, and, after various w^indlngs, returns within a fliort day's journey of its fpring. To purfue it through all its mfizes, and accompany it round the kingdom of Goiama, is a journey of twenty-nine days. From i\byfiitna the river pafles Into the countries of Fazulo and Om- BARCA, two vaft regions little known, inha- bited by nations entirely different from the Abyiiins. Their hair, like that of the other blacks in thofe regions, is fhort and curled. In the year 1615, Rassela Christos, Lieu- tenant- . GENIUS OF DR, JOHNSON. 2^ tenant-general to Sultan Sequed, entered thofe kingdoms in a hoftile manner; but, not being able to get intelligence, returned without at- tempting any thing. As the empire of Abyffinia terminates at thefe defcents, Lobo followed the courfe of the Nile no firther, leaving it to range over barbarous kingdoms, and convey wealth and plenty into ^gypt, w^hich owes to the annual inundations of this river its envied fertility '^. Lobo knows no- thing of the Nile in the reft of its paffage, except that It receives great increafe from many other rivers, has leveral cataracts like that already defcribed ; and that few fifh are to be found in it. That fcarcity is to be attributed to the river-horfe and the crocodile^ which de- ftroy the weaker inhabitants of the river. Something, likewife, muft be imputed to the cataraSls^ where fifli cannot fall without being killed. Lobo adds, that neither he, nor any with whom he converfed about the crocodile^ ever faw him weep ; and therefore all that * After comparing this defcriptlon with that lately- given by Mr. Bruce, the reader will judge whether Lobo is to lofe the honour of having been at the head of the Nile near two centuries before any other European tra- veUer* , , b 4 hath 24 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND hath been laid about his tears muft be ranked among the f, of children. among the fables invented for the amufement *' As to the caufes of the hiundatlons of the Nile, Lobo obferves, that many an idle hypo- thefis has been framed. Some theorlfts afcribe it to the high winds, that flop the current, and force the water above its banks. Others pretend a fubterraneous communication be- tween the Ocean and the Nile, and that the fea, when violently agitated, fwells the river. Many are of opinion, that this mighty flood proceeds from the melting of the fnow on the mountains of ^^^.thiopia ; but io much fnow and fuch prodigious heat are never met with in the fame region. Lobo never faw fnow in Abyfiinia, except on Mount Semen in the kingdom of Tigre, very remote from the Nile; and on Namara, which is, indeed, not far diftant, but where there never falls fnow enough to wet, when diffolved, the foot of the mountain. To the immerife labours of the Por^ iuguefe mankind is indebted for tliC knowledge of the real caufe of thefe inundations, fo great and fo regular. By them we are informed, that Abvf. GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 25 Abyffinia, where the Nile rifes, is full of mountains, and, in its natural fituation, is much higher than -^gypt ; that in the winter, from June to September, no day is without rain; that the Nile receives, in its courfe, all the rivers, brooks, and torrents, that fall from thofe mountains, and, by neceflary confe- quence, fwelling above its banks, fills the plains of ^-Egypt with inundations, which come regularly about the month of July, or three weeks after the beginning of the rainy feafon in Ethiopia. The different degrees of this flood are fuch certain indications of the fruit- fulnefs or fterility of the enfuing year, that it is publickly proclaimed at Cairo how much the water hath gained during the night." Such is the account of the Nile and its in- undations, which, it is hoped, will not be deemed an improper or tedious digredion, efpe- cially as the whole is an extraft from Johnfon's tranflation. He is all the time the actor in the fcene, and in his own words relates the ftory. Having finiflied this work, he returned in Fe- bruary, 1734, to his native city, and, in the month of Auguft following, publifhcd Pro- pofals 20 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND pofals for printing by fubfcriptlon, the Latin Poems of Politian, with the Hiftory of Latin Poetry, from the ^ra of Petrarch to the time of Politian ; and alfo the Life of Politian, to be added by the Editor, Samuel Johnfon. The book to be printed in thirty o6lavo fheets, price five (hillings. It is to be regretted that this projefl: failed for want of encouragement, Johnfon, it feems, differed from Boileau, Vol- taire, and D'Alembert, who have taken upon them to profcribe all modern efforts to write with elegance in a dead language. For a deci- iion, pronounced in fo high a tone, no good reafon can be afli2;ned. The interefts of learn- ing require, that the diction of Greece and Rome (hould be cultivated with care ; and he who can write a language with correflnefs, will be moft likely to underftand its idiom, its grammar, and its peculiar graces of ftjle, Vv^hat man of tafte would willingly forego the pleafure of reading Vida, Fracajiorius, Sannazaro^ Sirada^ and others, down to the iate elegant produdions of Bifhop Lowth ? The hiftory which Johnfon propoled to him- felf would, beyond all queftlon, have been a valuable addition to the hiilory of letters ; but hla GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 27 his projecl failed. His next expedient was to offer his afRflance to Cave, the original pro- jedor of the Gentleman's Magazine. For this purpofe he fent his propolals in a letter, offering, on reafonable terms, occafionally to fill feme pages with poems and infcriptions never printed before ; with fugitive pieces that deferved to be revived, and critical remarks on authors ancient and modern. Cave agreed to retain him as a correfpondent and contributor to the Magazine. What the conditions were cannot now be known; but, certainly, they wevQ not fufficient to hinder Johnfon from cart- ing his eyes about him in queft of other em- ployment. Accordingly, in 1735, he made over- tures to the reverend Mr, Bud worth, Mafter of a Grammar-fchool at Brerewood, in Stafford- ihire, to become his affiftant. This propofi- tion did not fucceed. Mr. Budworth appre- liended, that the involuntary motions, to. which Johnfon's nerves were fubjecl, might make him an objedl of ridicule with his Icho- lars, and, by confequence, leffen their refpedl for their mafter. Another mode of advancing himfelf prefented itfelf about this time. xMrs. Porter, the widow of a mercer in Birmingham, 2 admired aS AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND admired his talents. It is fald that (he had about eight hundred pounds ; and that fum to a perfon in Johnfon*s circumftances was an affluent fortune. A marriage took place ; and, to turn his wife's money to the beft advantage, he projected the fcheme of an academy for education. Gilbert Walmfley, at that time Regifter of the Ecclefiaftical Court of the Bifhop of Lichfield, was diftinguiihed by his erudition and the politenefs of his manners. He was the friend of Johnfon, and, by his weight and influence, endeavoured to promote his intereft. The celebrated Garrick, whofe father, Captain Garrick, lived at Lichfield, was placed in the new feminary of education by that gentleman's advice. Garrick was then about eighteen years old. An accefiion of fe- ven or eight pupils was the moft that could be obtained, though notice was given by a public advertifement ^, that at Edial, near Lich- field, in Stafffordihire, young Gentlemen are boarded and taught the Latin and Greek Lan- guages, by Samuel Johnfon. * See the Gentleman's Magazine for 1736, p. 418. 3 The GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 29 The undertaking proved abortive. John- fon, having now abandoned all hopes of pro- moting his fortune in the country, determined to become an adventurer in the world at large. His young pupil, Garrick, had formed the fame refolution ; and, accordingly, in March, J 737, they arrived in London together. Two fuch candidates for fame perhaps never, before that day, entered the metropolis together. Their ftock of money was foon exhaufted. In his viiionary projeft of an academy Johnfoa had probably wafted his wife's fubftance ; and Garrick's father had little more than his half- pay. The two fellow-travellers had the world before them, and each was to chufe his road to fortune and to fame. They brought with them genius, and powers of mind, peculiarly formed by nature for the difterent vocations to which each of them felt himfelf inclined. They afled from the impulfe of young minds, even then meditating great things, and with courage anticipating fuccefs. Their friend Mr. Walmfley, by a letter to the Rev. Mr. Colfon, who, it feems, was a great mathematician, exerted his good offices in their favour; He g 'avc 30 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND gave notice of their intended journey. *' Davy *' Garrick," he fald, " will be with you next " week ; and Johnfon, to try his fate with a *^ tragedy, and to get himfelf employed in fome ** tranflation either from the Latin or French. *' Johnfon is a very good fcholar and a poet, *' and, I have great hopes, will turn out a fine " tragedy-writer. If it fhould be In your ** way, I doubt not but you will be ready to *' recommend and affift your countrymen." Of Mr. Walmfley's merit, and the excellence of his charafter, Johnfon has left a beautiful teflimonial at the end of the Life of Edward Smith. It is reafonable to conclude, that a mathematician, abforbed in abftradt fpecula- tions, was not able to find a fphere of aftioii for two men who were to be the architefts of their own fortune. In three or four years after- wards Garrick came forth with talents that aftonifhed the publick. He began his career at Goodman's-fields, and there, monjiratus fatis Vefpajianus ! he chofe a lucrative profeffion, and confequently foon emerged from all his difficulties. Johnfon was left to toil in the humble walks of literature. A tragedy, as appears by Walmfiey's letter, was the whole of GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 3I of his ftock. This, moft probably, was Irene ; but, if then finiihed, it was doomed to wait for a more happy period. It was of- fered to Fleetwood, and rejefled. Johnfou looked round him for employment. Having, while he remained in the country, correfponded with Cave under a feigned name, he now thought it time to make himfelf known to a man whom he confidered as a patron of lite- rature. Cave had announced, by public adver- tifement, a prize of fifty pounds for the beft Poem on Life, Death, Judgement, Heaven, and Hell ; and this circumftance difrufed an idea of his liberality. Johnfon became con- nefted with him in bufinefs, and in a clofe and intimate acquaintance. Of Cave's charafter it is unneceflary to fay any thing in this place, as Johnfon was afterwards the biographer of his firft and moft ufeful patron. To be en- gaged in the tranflation of fome important book was ftill the objed which Johnfon had in view. For this purpofe he propofed to give the Hiftory of the Council of IVent, with copious notes then lately added to a French edition. Twelve (heets of this work were printed, for which Johnfon received forty- nine 32 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND nine pounds, ns appears by his receipt in the pofleffion of Mr. Nichols, the compiler of that entertaining and ufeful work, the Gentle- man's Magazine. Johnfon's tranflation was never completed ; a like defign was offered to the publick, under the patronage of Dr. Za- chary Pearce ; and by that contention both attempts were fruftrated. Johnfon had been commended by Pope for the tranflation of the Mefiiah into Latin verie ; but he knew no approach to fo eminent a man. With one, however, who was connected with Pope, he became acquainted at St. John's Gate ; and that perfon was no other than the well-known Richard Savage, whofe life was afterwards WTitten by Johnfon with great elegance, and a ^ depth of moral refledion. Savage was a man of coniiderable talents. His addrefs, his va- rious accomplifhments, and, above all, the peculiarity of his misfortunes recommended him to Johnfon's notice. They became united in the clofeft intimacy. Both had great parts, and they were equally under the prefiure of want. Sympathy joined them in a league of friendfhip. Johnfon has been often heard to relate, that he and Savage walked round Grofve- nor- dENltJS OP DK. JOHNSON. 23 nor-fquare till four in the morning ; in the courfe of their converfation reforming the world, dethroning princes, eftablifhing new forms of government, and giving laws to the feveral ftates of Europe, till, fatipued at length •with their legiflative oi?.ce, they beo-an to feel the want of refrefnment ; but could not mufter up more that four pence halfpenny. Savage, it is true, had m.any vices ; but vice could never ftrike its roots in a m/md like Johnfon's, feafoned early with religion, and tfje principles of moral reftitude. His firft prayer was com- pofed in the year 1738. He had not at that time renounced tlie uie of wine; and, no doubt, occafionally enjoyed his friend and his bottle. The love of late h.ours, which fol- lowed him through lire, was, perhaps, crigi- iially contracled In company with Savage. However that may be, their conneflloii was not of long duration. L'l the year 1738, Sa- vage was reduced to the lad diflrefs. Mr. Pope, in a letter to him, exprelied his con- cern for " the miferable withdrawing of iiis *' penfion after the death of the Queen ;'* and gave him hopes that, " in a fhort tinne, he ^' ihould find himfclf fuppllcd with a compc- VoL. I. c '' tence, 34 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND ** tence, without any dependance on thofe *' little creatures, whom we are pleafed to call *' the Great." The fcheme propofed to him was, that he fhould retire to Swanfea in Wales, and receive an allowance of fifty pounds a year, to be raifed by fubicriptlon ; Pope was to pay twenty pounds. This plan, though finally eftabliflied, took more than a year be- fore it was carried into execution. ' In the mean time, the intended retreat of Savage called to Johnfon's mind the third fatire of Juvenal, in which that poet takes leave of a friend, who was withdrawing himfelf from all the vices of Rome. Struck with this idea, he wrote that well-known Poem, called London. The firft lines manifeftly point to Savage. '^ Though grief and fondnefs in uiy bread rebel, *^ When injured Thales bids the town farewell ; *"' Yet ilill my calmer thoughts his choice com- *' mend ; *• I praife the hermit, but regret the friend. '* Refolv'd at length from Vice and London far, ** To breathe in diflant fields a purer air ; " And^ fix'd on Cambria's folltary fliore, '^ Give to St. David one true Briton more/' Johnfon at that time lodged at Greenwich. He there fixes the fcene, and takes leave of 2 his GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 35 his friend; who, he fays in his Life, . parted from him with tears in his eyes. The poem, when finifhed, was olTl^red to Cave. It hap- pened, however, that the late Mr. Dodfley was the purchafer at the price of ten guineas. It was publlflied in 1738 ; and Pope, we are told, faid, " The author, whoever he is, will *' not be long concealed ;" alluding to the paf- fage in Terence, Ubi^ ubi eft, d'lu celarl non poteji. Notwlthftanding that predidion, it does not appear that, befides the copy-money, anv advantage accrued to the author of a poem, written with the elegance and energy of Pope* Johnfon, in Auguft 1738, went, with all the fame of his poetry, to offer himfelf a candi- date for the mafterfliip of the fchool at Ap- pleby, in Leicefterfhire. The ftatutes of the place required, that the perfon chofen fliould be a mafter of arts. To remove this objec- tion, the late Lord Govver was induced to write to a friend, in order to obtain for John- fon a mailer's degree in the Univerlity of Dub- lin, by the recommendation of Dr. Swift. The letter was printed in one of the maga- zines, and is as follows ; c 2 •' S I R, ^6 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE A N I> <^« S I R, *' Mr. Samnel Johnibii (author of London^. *« a fatire, and fome other poetical pieces) is a *' native of this county, and much relpecled *' by fome worthy gentlemen in the neigh- *' bourhood, who are truftees of a charity- *•* fchool, now vacant ; the certain falary of '' which is fixtj^ pounds per year, of which *^ they are deiirous to make him mader ; but " unfortunately he is not capable of receivuTg " their bounty, which would make him happy ** for life, by not being a mafter of arts, " which, by the ftatutes of the fchool, the " mafter of it muft be. ^' Now thefe gentlemen do me the honour to *' think, that 1 have intereft enough in you, ** to prevail upon you to write to Dean Swift, ^' to perfuade the Univerfity of Dublin to fend '^ a diploma to me, conftituting this poor nnaii *' mafter of arts in their Univerfity. They ** highly extol the man's learning and probity; «' and will not be perfuaded, that the Univerfity " will make any difficulty of conferring fuch " a favour upon a ftranger, if he is recom« « mended by the Dean.. They fay, he is not ** afraid GEKIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 37 *^ afraid of the ftridleft examination, though *' he is of fo long a journey; and yet he will *« venture it, if the Dean thinks it neceffary, *« chufincr rather to die upon tl^e road, than to " be ftarved to death in tranflating for book- *' fellers, which has been his only fubfiftencc ^' for fome tin::ie paft, *' I fear there is more difficulty in this affair " than thefe good-natured gentlemen appre- ^' hend, efpecially as their ekaion cannot " hQ delayed longer than the nth of next <« month. If you fee this matter in the fame ^' light that it appears to me, I hope you will ^' burn this, and pardon me for giving you fo '' much trouble about an imprafticable thing; *' but, if you think there is a probability of *^ obtaining the favour aflced, I am fure your " humanity and propenfity to relieve merit in " diftrefs will incline you to ferve the poor « man, without my adding any more to tha '' trouble I have already given you, than affur- «' ing you, that I am, with great truth, Sir, " Your fiiithful humble fervant, <' GowER. <' Treiitbam, Aug. ift." Q o This 38 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND This fcheme mifcarried. There is reafon to think, that Swift declined to meddle in the bufinefs ; and to that circumftance Johnfon's known diflike of Swift has been often im- puted. It is mortifying to purfue a man of merit through all his difficulties ; and yet this narra- tive muft be, through many following years, the hiftory of Genius and Virtue ftruggling with Adverfity* Having loft the fchool at Appleby, Johnfon was thrown back on the metropolis. Bred to no profeffion, without relations, friends, or intereft, he was con- demned to drudgery in the fervice of Cave, his only patron. In November 1738 was pub- liflied a tranflatlon of Croufaz's Examen of Pope's Efllay on Man ; '* containing a fuccinft *' View of the Syftem of the Fatalifts, and a *^ Confutation of their Opinions; with an *' lUuftration of the Doflrlne of Free Will ; ^' and an Enquirj^ whnt view Mr. Pope might *' have in touching upon the Leibnitzian Phi- *' lofophy, and Fatal ifm. By Mr. Croufaz, ** Profeflbr of Philofophy and Mathematics at ^' Laufanne.'* This tranflation has been eeiie- rally GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. J^ rally thought a production of Johnfon's pen ; but it is now known, that Mrs. Elizabeth Carter has acknowledged it to be or.e of her early per- formances. It is certain, liowever, that Johnfoii was eager to promote the publication. lie confi- dered the foreign philofopher as a man zealous in thecaufe of religion ; and witli him he was wil- ling to join againft the fyftem of the Fatalifts, and the doctrine of Leibnitz. It is well known that Warburton wrote a vindication of Mr. Pope; but there is realbn to think, that Johnfori conceived an early prejudice agalnft the Efiay on Man ; and what once took root in a mliid like his, was not eaiily eradicated. His letter to Cave on this fubjeft is ftill extnnt, and mav well juflify Sir John Hawkins, who inferred that Johnfon w^as the tranfiator of Crouiaz. The conclufion of the letter is remarkable. *' I am ** yours, Impransus." If by that Latin word was meant that he had not dined, becaufe he wanted the means, wlio cnn read it, even at this liour, without an aching heart r With a mind naturally vigorous, and quick- ened by neceflity, Johnfoa formed a multipli- city of projeds ; but moft of them proved abortive. A number of fmall tradls ilfued c 4 from 40 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND from his pen with wonderful rapidity ; fuch as '* xMarmor Norfolciense ; or an Eliay ^' on an ancient prophetical Infcription, in. " Monkiili Rhyme, dlfcovered at Lynn iii ^' Norfolk. By Probus Brhannicm^'' This was a pamphlet ngainft Sir Robert VValpole, According to Sir John Hawkins, a warrarit was iifued to apprehend the Author, who re- retired with his wife to an obfcure lodg^inp- near Lambeth Marfii, and there eluded the fearch of the meliengers. But this ftory has 110 foundation in truth. Johufon was never known to mention fuch an incident in his life; and Mr. Steele (late of the Treafury) caufed diligent fearch to be made at the proper offices, and no trace of fuch a uroceedlno: could be found. In the frme year (i^u^,^) the Lord Chamberlain prohibited the reprefentation of a tragedy, called Gustavus Vasa, by Henry Brooke. Under the maik of irony Johnfou publifhed, " A Vindication of tlie Licencer *' from the malicious and fcandalous Aiperiions *' of Mr. Brooke." Of thefe two pieces Sir John Haw'kins fays, " they have neitner learn - *^ ing nor v^it ; nor a fingle ray of that ge- *' nius which has fince blazed forth ;" but as |:hey have been lately re-piintedj the reader, \ who GENIUS OF DR, JOHNSON. 41 who wiihes to gratify his curiofity, is referred to the fourteenth volume of Johnlon's works, publifhed by Stockdale. The lives of Boer- haave, Blake, Barratler, Father Paul, and others, v/ere, about that time, printed in the Gentleman's Magazine. The fubfcriptioa of iifty pounds a year for Savage was completed; and in July, 1739, Johnfon parted with the companion of his midnight-hours, never to fee him m.ore. The feparation was, perhaps, an advantacje to him, who wanted to make a right ufe of his time, and even then beheld, with felf-reproach, the w^afie occafioned by dif- fipation. His abftinence from wine and (Irorig liquors began foon after the departure of Sa- vage. What habits he contra^icd in the courlc cf that acquaintance cannot now be known. The ambition of excelling in converfation, and that pride of viclory, which, at times, dil- graced a man of Johnfon's genius, were, per- haps, native blemiflies. A fierce fpirit of in- dependence, even in the midfl: of poverty, may be feen in Savage ; and, if not tlience transfufed by Johnfon into his own manners, it may, at leaft, be fuppofed to have £:^i!v:d ftrens^th from the examole before him. iJuiino; that conneclion there was, if we belie vc^ Sir John 4% AN ESSAr ON THE LIFE AND John Hawkins, a fhort feparation between our author and his wife ; but a reconciliation foon took place. Johnfon loved her, and (hewed his afFe6lion in various modes of gallantry, which Garrick ufed to render ridiculous by his mimicry. The afFeftationof foft and fafhionable airs did not become an unwieldy figure : his admiration was received by the wife with the flutter of an antiquated coquette; and both, it is well known, furnifhed matter for the lively genius of Garrick. It is a mortifying refleftion, that Johnfon, with a ftore of learning and extraordinary ta- lents, was not able, at the age of thirty, to force his way to the favour of the publick. Slow rifes worth by poverty deprejs\i, '' He *' was ftill," as he fays himfelf, *' to provide ** for the day that was paiTing over him." He iaw Cave involved in a flate of warfare with the numerous competitors, at that time ftrug- gling with the Gentleman's Magazine ; and gratitude for fuch fupplies as Johnfon received, dilated a Latin Ode on the fubje(5l of that contention. The firil: lines, " Urbane, null is feffe laboribus, *' Urbane, nuilis vidtc calumniis," put GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 43 put one ill mind of Cafimir's Ode to Pope Urban : " Urbane, regum maxime, maxlnie '^ Urbane vatum/' — The Polifli poet was, probably, at that time in the hands of a man who had meditated the hiftory of the Latin poets. Guthrie the hlf- torian, had from July 1736 compofed the parhamentary fpeeches for the Magazines ; but, from the beginning of the feffion which opened on the 19th of November 1740, Johnfon fucceeded to that department, and con- tinued It from that time to the debate on fpi- rituous liquors, v/hlch happened in the Houfe of Lords in February, 1742-3. The elo- quence, the force of argument, and the fplen- dor of language, dlfplayed in the Icveral fpeeches, are well known, and univefally ad- mired. The whole has been colledled in two volumes by Mr. Stockdale, and may form a proper iupplement to this edition. Ttiat John- fon was the author of the debates during that period was not generally known ; but the fe- cret tranfplred feveral years atterwards, and was avowed by himfelf on the follovi'Ing occafion. Mr. Wedderburne (now Lord Lough- borough), 44 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND borough). Dr. Johnfon, Dr. Francis (the tranflator of Horace), the prefent writer, and others, dined with the late Mr. Foote. An important debate towards the end of Sir Ro- bert Walpole's adminiftration being mentioned, Dr. Francis obferved, " That Mr. Pitt's fpeech, *' on that occafion, was the beft he had ever ^' read/' He added, ^' That he had employed *^ eight years of his life in the ftudy of De- ** mofthenes, and finifhed a tranflation of that *' celebrated orator, with all the decorations ^' of ftyle and language within the reach of ^' his capacity ; but he had met with nothing *' equal to the fpeech above-mentioned." Many of the company remembered the debate ; and fome paffages were cited, with the approbation and applaufe of all prefent. During the ar- dour of converfation Johnfon remained filent. As foon as the warmth of praife fubfided, he opened with thefe words. '' That fpeech I '' wrote in a garret In Exeter-ftreet." The company was ftruck with aftonifhment. After flaring at each other in filent amaze. Dr. Fran- cis aiked, '^ How that fpeech could be written ** by him?" " Sir/' faid Johnfon, *' i wrote it '' in Exeter-ftreet. I never had been in the " gallery GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 45 '^ gallery of the Houfe of Commons but once» *' Cave had Intereft with the door-keepers. ** He, and the perfons employed under him, '* gained admittance : they brought away the '* fubjeft of dlfcuffion, the names of the ^' fpeakers, the fide they took, and the order ** in which they rofe, together with notes of '' the arguments advanced in the courfe of the ** debate. The whole was afterwards commu- '' nicated to me, and 1 compofed the fpeechcs *' in the form which they now have in the Par- *' liamentary debates." To this dlfcovery Dr. Francis made anfwer : *' Then, Sir, you have *' exceeded Demofthenes himfelf ; for to fay, " that you have exceeded Francises Demof- ^' thenes, would be faying nothing." The reft of the company beftowed lavifh encomiums on. Johnfon : one, in particular, praifed his im- partiality ; obferving, that he dealt out reafoii and eloquence with an equal hand to both parties. '' That is not quite true," faid John- " fon ; '^ I faved appearances tolerably well ; " but I took care that the w^hig dogs fhould «' not have the beft of it." The fale of the Magazine was greatly increafed by the Parlia- mentary debates, which were continued by John- 46 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND Johnfon till the month of March, 1742-j. From that time the Magazine was condudted by Dr. Hawkefvvorth. In 1743-4, Ofborne, the bookfeller, who kept a (hop In Gray's-Inn, purchafed the Earl of Oxford's library, at the price of thirteen thoufand pounds. He proje£led a catalogue in five o£lavo volumes, at five fhillings each. Johnfon was employed in that painful drudgery. He was likewife to collect all fuch fmall trails, as were in any degree worth preferving, in order to reprint and publifh the whole in a colledtion, called " The Harleian Mifcellany." The cata- logue was completed ; and the Mifcellany in 1749 was pubiifhed in eight quarto volumes. In this bufinefs Johnfon was a day-labourer for immediate fubfiflence, not unlike Guftavus Vafa working in the mines of Dalicarlia. What Wilcox, a bookfeller of eminence in the Strand, fald to Johnfon, on his firft arrival in town, was now almoft confirmed. He lent our author five guineas, and then afked him, " How do you mean to earn your livelihood in *' this town ?" *' By my literary labours," was the aafwer. Wilcox, flaring at him, fhook his GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 47 his head: "By your literary labours! — You " had better buy a porter's knot." Johnfou ufed to tell this anecdote to Mr. Nichols ; but he faid, " Wilcox was one of my beft friends, •' and he n:ieant well." In facl, Johnfon, while employed in Gray's-Inn, may be faid to have car- ried a porter's knot. He paufed occafionally, to perufe the book that came to his hand. Olborne thought that fuch curiofity tended to nothing but delay, and obje£led to it with all the pride and infolenceof a man, who knew that he paid daily wages. In the difpute that of courfe enfued, Ofborne, with that roughnefs which was natu- ral to him, enforced^his argument by giving the lie. Johnfon feized a foUo, and knocked the bookfeller down. This ftory has been related as an inftance of Johnfon's ferocity ; but merit cannot always take the fpurns of the unworthy with a patient fpirit. That the hiftory of an author mufl: be found in his works is, in general, a true obfervation ; and was never more apparent than in the pre- fent narrative. Every ccra of Johnfon's life is fixed by his writings. In 1744, he pubhfhcd the Life of Savage ; and then proje^^ed a new edition 43 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE ANI3 edition of Shakfpeare. As a prelude to this defign, he publiflied, in 17455 Mifccllaneous Ohfervations on the Tragedy of Macbeth^ "with Remarks cfi Sir Thomas Hanmer'* s Edition ; to which were prefixed^ Propofah for a new Edi-- iion of Shah [pear e^ with a Specimen. Of tins pamphlet VVarburton, in the Preface to Shak- fpeare, has given his opinion : *' As to al! *' thofe things, wliich liave been publiflied " under the title of Eiiays, Remarks, Ob- " fervations, &c. on Shakfpeare, if you " except fome critical notes on Macbeth^ *' given as a fpecimen of a projefted edition, *' and written, as appears^ by a man of parts *' and genius, the reft are abfolutely below a *' ferious notice." But the attention of the publick was not excited ; there was no friend to promote a fubfcription ; and the projetft died, to revive at a future day. A new undertaking, however, was foon after propofed ; namely, au Englifh DIdlionary, upon an enlarged plan. Several of the moft opulent bookfellers had meditated a work of this kind ; and the agree- ment was foon adjufted between the parties. Em- boldened by this connefticn, Johnfcn thought of a better habitation than he had hitherto known. GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON". 49 known. He had lodged with his wife in courts and alleys about the Strand ; but now, for the purpofe of carrying on his arduous undertaking, and to be near his printer and friend Mr. St rah an, he ventured to take a houfe in Gough-fquare, Fleet-flreet. He was told that the Earl of Chef- terfield was a friend to his undertaking ; and, in confequence of that Intelligence, he publifhed, In 1747, The Plan of a DiBiona7y of the E?7gli/Ij Language^ addrejjed to the Right Honourable Phi- lip Dor??jer^ Earl oj Chefterfield^ one of his Majejly^s principal Secretaries of State. Mr. WhIteliead, afterwards Poet Laureat, undertook to convey the manufcript to his Lord(hip : the confe- quence was an Invitation from Lord Chefter- field to the author. A ftronger contraft of cha- ra£lers could not be brought together ; the Nobleman, celebrated for his wit, and all the graces of polite behaviour ; the Author, con- fcious of his ovv^n merit, towering in idea above all competition, verfed in fcholaftic logic, but a ftranger to the arts of polite con- verfatlon, uncouth, vehement, and vociferous. The coalition w^as too unnatural. Johnfon expefted a Mi^cenas, and was difappointed. No patronage, no affiftance followed. Vilits Vol. L d were 50 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE ANI> were repeated ; but the reception was not cor- dial, johnion one day was left a full bom^ wait- ing in an anti-chamber, till a gentleman (hould retire, and leave his Lordfhip at leifure. This was the ftimous Colley Cibber. Johnfon faw liim go, and, fired with indignation, rufhed out of the houie. What Lord Chefterfield thought of his vifitor may be feen in a paflage in one of that Nobleman's letters to his fon ^. '' There is a man, vvhofe moral charafter, deep learn- ing, and fuperior parts, I acknowledge, ad- mire, and refpeft ; but whom it is fo im- poflible for me to love, that I am almoft in a fever whenever I am in his company. His figure (without being deformed) feems made to difgrace or ridicule the common ftrudure of the human body. His legs and arms are never in the pofition which, according to the fituation of his body, they ought to be in, but conftantly employed in commit- ting adts of hoftility upon the Graces. He throw^s any where, but down his throat, whatever he means to drink ; and mangles what he means to carve. Inattentive to all the regards of focial life, he miftimes and * Letter CCXIL ^^ mif- GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 5C ^' mifplaces every thing. He dlfputes with heat " indifcrimiiiately, mindlefs of the rank, cha- " radter, and fituation of thofe with whom he " difputes. Abfolutely ignorant of the feveral ^^ gradations of familiarity and refpeft, he is *' exaftly the fame to his fuperiors, his equals, "and his inferiors; and therefore, by a ne- '' ceflary confequence, is abfurd to two of the " three. Is it poffible to love fuch a man ? *' No. The utmofl: I can do for him is, to ^' confider him a refpeftable Hottentot.'* Such was the idea entertained by Lord Chefterfield. After the incident of Colley Gibber, Johnfoii never repeated his vifits. In his high and de- cifive tone, he has been often heard to fay, " Lord Chefterfield is a Wit among Lordsj *' and a Lord among Wits.'* In the conrfe of the year 1747, Garrick, in conjunaion with Lacy, became patentee of Drury-lane Playhoufe. For the opening of the theatre, at the ufnal time, Johnfon wrote for his friend the well-known prologue, which, to fay no more of it, may at leaft be placed on a level with Pope's to the tragedy of Cam. The play-houfc being now under (jarrick's d 2 di- 52 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND illredion, Johnfon thought the opportunity fair to think of his tragedy of Irene, which was his whole flock on his firft arrival in town, m the year 1 737. That pUiy was accordingly put into rehearfal in January 1749. As a pre- curfor to prepare the way, and awaken the puhlic attention, The Va7iity of Hwnan Wipes, a Poem in Imitation of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal, by the i\uthor of honckn^ was pub- llflied in the fune month. In the Gentleman's Magazine, for February, 17491 vve find that the tragedy of Ire^ie was afted at Drury-lane, on Monday, February the 6th, and from that time, without interruption, to Monday, February the 20th, being in all thirteen nights. Since that time it has not been exhibited on any flage. Irene may be added to fome other plays in our language, which have loft their place in the theatre, but continue to pleafe in the clofet. During the reprefentation of this piece, Johnfon attended every night behind the fcenes. Conceiving that his charadler, as an author^ required fome ornament for his perfon, he chofe, upon that occafion, to de* corate himfelf with a handfome walftcoat, and . a gold-laced hat. The late Mr. Topham Beau- clerc^ GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 52 clerc, who had had a great deal of that hu- mour which pleafes the more for feeming isndefigned, ufed to give a pleafant defcription of this Green-room finery, as related by the au- thor himfelf ; " But," faid Johnfon, with great gravity, *' I foon laid afide my gold- laced hat, " left it fhould make me proud." The amount of the three benefit nights for the tragedy of Irene^ it is to be feared, was not very confi- derable, as the profit, that ftimulatlng motive, never invited the author to another dramatic attempt. Some years afterwards, when the prefent writer was intimate with Garrlck, and knew Johnfon to be In dlftrefs, he afked tlie manager why he did not produce another tra- gedy for his Lichfield friend ? Garrick's anfwcr was remarkable : '' When Johnfon writes ^^ tragedy^ declamation roars ^ and pajjlon Jlecps : '< when Shnkfpeare wrote, he dipped his pen ** in his own heart." There may, perhaps, be a degree of fame- nefs In this regular way of tracing an author from one work to another, and the reader may feel the effea: of a tedious monotony ; but in the life of Johnfon there are no other land- d 3 marks. 54 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND iPiarks. He was now forty years old, and had mixed but little with the world. He followed 110 profeffion, traiifaded no bufinefs, and was a fl:rano:er to what is called a town-life. We are now arrived at the brighteft period he had hitherto known. His name broke out upon mankind with a degree of luftre that promifed a triumph over all his difficulties. The Life of Savage was admired as a beautiful and Inftruc- tive piece of biography. The two Imitations of Juvenal were thought to rival even the ex- cellence of Pope ; and the tragedy of Ire7te^ though uninterefting on the ftage, was uni- verfally admired in the clofet, for the propriety of the fentiments, the richnefs of the lati- guage, and the general harmony of the whole compofition. His fame was widely diffufed ; and he had made his agreement with the book- fellers for his Englifli Didionary at the fum of fifteen hundred guineas ; part of which was to be, from time to turie, advanced in proportion to the progrefs of the work. This was a cer- tain fund for his fupport, without being obliged to write fugitive pieces for the petty fupplies of the day. Accordingly we find that, in 1749, he eftabliflied a club, con fi fling of ten in num- ber. GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 5^ ber, at Horfeman's, in Ivy-lane, on every Tuefday evening. This is the {ivi\ fcene of focial life to which Johnfon can be traced out of his own houfe. The members of this little fociety were, Samuel Johnfon ; Dr. Salter (father of the late Mafter of the Charter- houfe) ; Dr. Hawkefworth ; Mr. Ryhmd, a merchant; Mr. Payne, a book feller, in Pater- nofter-row ; Mr. Samuel Dyer, a learned young man ; Dr. WilHam M'Ghie, a Scotch phyfi- clan ; Dr. Edmund Barker, a young phyfician ; Dr. Bathurft, another young phyfician ; and Sir John Hawkins. This lift is given by Sir John, as it (liould feem, with no other view than to draw a fpiteful and malevolent ch a rafter of almoft every one of them. Mr. Dyer, whom Sir John fays he loved with th^e affec- tion of a brother, meets w^ith the liarflieft treatment, becaufe it was his maxim, that to live in peace with mankind^ and in a temper to do good offices^ ivas the mojl ejj'cntial pari of our duty. That notion of moral goodnefs gave umbrage to Sir John Hawkins, and drew down upon the memory of his friend the bit- tereft Imputations. Mr. Dyer, however, was admired and loved through life. He was a d JL man 56 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND ' man of literature. Johnfon loved to enter wiih him Into a dlicuffion of metaphyseal, moral, and critical fubje£ls ; in thofe confliils, exercifing his talents, and, according to hir> cuftom, always contending for vi£lory. Dr. Bathurfl: was the perlon on whom Johnfon fixed his affection. He hardly ever fpoke of him without tears In his eyes. It w^as from him, who was a native of Jamaica, that Johnfon received Into his fervice Frank, the black fervant, whom, on account of his mafter, he valued to the end of his life. At the time of Inftituting the club In Ivy-lane, Johnfon had projeded the Rambler. The title was moft probably fuggefted by the Wanderer ; a poem which he mentions, with the warmefl: praile, in the Life of Savage. With the fame fpirit of independence with which he wiftied to live, It was now his pride to write. He communi- cated his plan to none of his friendb : he de- fired no aififtance, relying entirely on his own fund, and the protection of the Divine Being, which he implored In a folemn form of prayer, com.pofed by himfelf for the occafion. Hav- inci: formed a refolutlon to undertake a work that might be of ufe and honour to his country, he GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 57 he thought, with Milton, that this was not to be obtained " but by devout prayer to that ** Eternal Spirit that can enrich with all ut- ** terance and knowledge, and fend out his *' feraphlm with the hallowed fire of his altar, *' to touch and purify the lips of whom h« *' pleafes," Having invoked the fpecial proteflion of Heaven, and by that afl: of piety fortified his mind, he began the great work of the Ram^ bier. The firft number was publiflied on Tuef- day, March the 20th, 1750; and from that time was continued regularly every Tuefday and Saturday for the fpace of two years, when it finally clofed on Saturday, March 14, 1752. As It began with motives of piety, fo It ap- pears, that the fame religious fpirit glowed with unabating ardour to the laft. His con- clufion is: '' The Eflays profefledly ferious, If *' 1 have been able to execute my own inten- *' tions, will be found exaflly conformable to *' the precepts of Chrlftlanity, without any *' accommodation to the llcentloufnefs and le- ^' vlty of the prefent age. I therefore look <« back on this part of my work with plenlnre, " which 58 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AN D *' which no man (hall dhninifli or augment. *^ 1 fhall never envy the honours which wit and <^ learning obtain in any other caufe, if I can *' be numbered among the writers who have *' given ardour to virtue, and confidence to *' truth." The whole number of Effays amounted to two hundred and eight. Addi^ fon's, in the Spectator, are more in number, but not half in point of quantity : Addifon was not bound to publifli on ftated days ; he could watch the ebb and flow of his genius, and fend his pa- per to the prefs when his own tafte was fatif- fied. Johnfon's cafe was very different. He wrote fingly and alone. In the whole progrefs of the work he did not receive more than ten effays. This was a fcanty contribution. For the reft, the author has defcribed his fituation : *' He that condemns himfelf to compofe on a ** ftated day, will often bring to his tafk an at^ *^ tention difiipated, a memory embarrafled, an *' imagination overwhelmed, a mind diftrafted " with anxieties, a body languifhing with dif- *' eafe : he will labour on a barren topic, till it *^ is too late to change it ; or, in the ardour of ^< invention, difFafe his thoughts into wild exu- ^^ berance, which the preffing hour of publi- *' cation GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 59 «^ cation cannot fufFer judgement to examine or *^ reduce." Of this excellent produftion the number fold on each day did not amount to five hundred : of courfe the bookfeller, who paid the author four guineas a week, did not carry- on a fuccefsful trade. His generofity and per- feverance deferve to be commended ; and hap- pily, when the colleilion appeared in volumes, were amply rewarded. Johnfon lived to fee his labours fiourifh in a tenth edition. His pofterlty, as an ingenious French writer has faid on a fimilar occafion, began in his life- time. In the beginning of 1750, foon after the Rambler was let on foot, Johnfon was induced by the arts of a vile impoftor to lend his aflifl- ance, during a temporary delufion, to a fraud not to be paralleled in the annals of literature. One Lauder, a native of Scotland, who had been a teacher in the Univerfity of Edin- burgh, had conceived a mortal antipathy to the name and chara6ler of Milton. His reafon was, becaufe the prayer of Pamela, in Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, was, as he fup- ppfed, mahcioufiy inferted by the great poet in an 6o AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE ANP an edition of the Eikon Bafilike, in order to fix an imputation of impiety on the memory of the murdered king. Fired with refentment, and willing to reap the profits of a grofs im- pofition, this man colledled from feveral Latin poets, fuch as Mafenius the Jefuit, Staphorf- tius a Dutch divine, Beza, and others, all fuch paflages as bore any kind of refemblance to different places in the Paradife Loft ; and thefe he publifhed, from time to time, in the Gentleman's Magazine, with occafional inter- polations of lines, which he himfelf tranllated from Milton, The public credulity fwallowed all with eagernefs; and Milton was fuppofed to be guilty of plagiarifm from inferior modern writers. The fraud fucceeded fo well, that Lauder collected the whole into a volume, and advertlfed it under the title of '' An EJfay on Milton s life a?id Imitaiion of the Moderns^ ' in lois Paradife Lof ; dedicated to the Univer- Jities of Oxford and Cambridge J"^ While the book was in the prefs, the proof- fheets were fliewn to Johnfon at the Ivy-lane Club, by Payne, the bookfeller, who was one of the members. No man in that fociety was in pof^- feflion of the authors from w^hom Lauder profelled «( <( GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON, gf profefled to make his extrafts. The charge was believed, and the contriver of it found his way to Johnfon, who is reprefented by Sir John Hawkins, not indeed as an accompHce in the fraud, but, through motives of malignity to Milton, delighting in the deteftion, and exulting that the poet's reputation would fuf- fer by the difcovery. More malice to a de- ceafed friend cannot well be imagined. Haw- kins adds, " that he wjjijed well to the argu^ *' ment^ muji be inferred from the preface, which " indubitably was written by him.^^ The preface, it is well known, was written by Johnfon, and for that reafon is Inferted in this edition. But if Johnfon approved of the argument, it was^ no longer than while he believed it founded in truth. Let us advert to his own words in that very preface. *' Among the enquiries to *' which the ardour of criticiftn has naturally " given occafion, none is more obfcure in it- *' felf, or more worthy of rational curiofity, *' than a retrofpedion of the progrefs of this *' mighty genius in the confl:rud:ion of his «' work ; a view of the fabric gradually rifing, " perhaps from fmall beginnings, till its fouii- *' dation refts in the centre, and its turrets *' fparkle 62 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND ' fparkle in the fkles ; to trace back the ftruc-* ' ture, through all its varieties, to the fimpli- ' city of the firfl: plan ; to find what was pro- 'jefted, whence the fcheme was taken, how * it was improved, by what affiftance it was ' executed, and from what ftores the mate- ' rials were collected ; whether its founder * dug them from the quarries of nature, or ' demoliftied other buildings to embellifh his ' own.'* Thefe were the itiotives that induced Johnfon to affift Lauder with a preface : and are not thefe the motives of a critic and a fcholar ? What reader of tafte, what man of real knowledge, would not think his time well employed in an enquiry fo curious, fo intereft- ing, and inftructive ? If Lauder's fa£ls were really true, who would not be glad, without the fmalleft tinfture of malevolence, to receive real information ? It is painful to be thus obliged to vindicate a man who, in his heart, towered above the petty arts of fraud and im- pofition, again ft an injudicious biographer, who undertook to be his editor, and the protedor of his memory. Another writer, Dr. Towers, in an Eflay on the Life and Character of Dn Johnfon, feems to countenance this calumny. 2 Ha GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 63 He fays, It can hardly be doubted^ bat that yoh?iJons averjion to Milton s politics was the caufd of that alacrity with which he joined with Lander in his infamous attack on our great epic poet, and which induced him to affifi in that iranfa^ion, Thefe words would feem to de- fcribe an accomplice, were they not immedi- ately followed by an exprefs declaration, that Johnfon was unacquainted with the impofure. Dr. Towers adds, It feems to have been by way of making fome compenfation to the memory of Milton^ for the fiare he had in the attack of Lauder, that fohnjon zvrote the prologue, fpoken by Gar rick, at Drury-lane Theatre, 1750, on the performance of the Mafque oj Comus, for the benefit of Milton s grand- daughter. Dr. Towers is not free from prejudice ; but, as Shakfpeare has it, " he begets a temperance, to give '* it fmoothnefs." He is, therefore, entitled to a difpafiionate anfwer. When Johnfon wrote the prologue, it does appear that he was aware of the malignant artifices praclifed by Lauder. In the poftfcript to Johnibn's pre- face, a fubfcriptlon is propofed, for relieving the grand-daughter of the author of Paradiie Loft. Dr. Towers will agree that this fhews John- 64 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND Johnfon's alacrity in doing good. That alacrity fhewed itfelf again in the letter printed in the European Magazine, January, 1785, and there faid to have appeared originally in the General Advertifer, 4th April, 1750, by which the publick were invited to embrace the oppor- tunity of paying a juft regard to the Illuftrious dead, united with the pleafure of doing good to the living. Ihe letter adds, '^ To affift in- *' duftriouo indigence, ftruggling with didrefs, *^ and debilitated by age, is a difplay of vir- *' tue, and an acquifition of happlnefs and ho- ** nour. Whoever, therefore, would be thought *^ capable of pleafure in reading the works of *' our incomparable Milton, and not fo defti- *^ tute of gratiude as to refufe to lay out a '* trifle, in a rational and elegant entertain- *' ment, for the benefit of his living remains, '' for the exercife of their own virtue, the " increafe of their reputation, and the con- *' fciouinefs of doing good, (hould appear at ** Drury-lane Theatre, to-morrow, April 5, " when CoMUs will be performed for the bene- ** fit of Mrs. Elizabeth Fofter, grand-daughter *' to the autlior, and the only furviving branch *' of his family. Nota bene^ there wall be a 3 *' new GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 65 *' new prologue on the occafion, written by *' the author of Irene, and fpoken by Mr. " Garrick." The man, who had thus exerted himfelf to ferve the grand- daughter, cannot be fuppofed to have entertained perfonal malice to the grand-father. It is true, that the ma- levolence of Lauder, as well as the impoftures of Archibald Bower, were fully dete6led by the labours, in the caufe of truth, of the Rev. Dr. Douglas, now Lord Bifliop of Salifbury. " Diram qui contudit Hydram, Notaque fatal! portenta labore fubegit." *' his affiftance ; an afriftance which I am per« *' fuadecl would never have been communr- " cated, had there been the leaft fufplcion of " thole facls, which 1 have been the inftru^ " meiit of conveying to the world." Wc have here a Gontemporary teftimony to the in- tegrity of Dr. Tohnfon throuphout the v.' hols of that vile traiiTadion. Wliat was the con- leqiience of the requilition made by Dr. Doug- his .^ Jolinion, whole ruling pafiion may be faid to be the love ot truth, convinced Lauder,, that it w^ouki be more for his interefi: to make a full con. fe I'll on of his guilt, than to (land forth the conviried cham.pion of a \yc ; and k>r this purr>o(e he drew up, in the ftrongeil: terms, a recantaiion in a Letter to the Rev. Mk. Douglas, which Lauder figned, and publifhed in the year ^JS^' ^^"^^^^- pi^-ce will remain a laflin^^ memorial of the abhorrence with which Johnfon beheld a viohnion of truth, Mr. Ni- chols, whofe attachment to his illudrious friend was lunvearied, fliewed him in. Ij8a a book, called Remarks on Johnfon a Life of Milton-^ in which the affair of Lauder was renewed with virulence, and a poetical fcale m the Lite- rary Masazuie 1758 (when Johnfon had ceafed to write in tnat coUe&ion) was urged as an additional GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON, 6^ tiddltional proof of deliberate malice. He read the libellous paflagewith attention, and inftantly wrote on the margin : " in the bufinefs of Lau-* *' der 1 was deceived, partly by thinking the man ^* too frantic to be fraudulent. Of x.ht poetical ^^ fcalc quoted from the Magazine I am not the *' author. I fancy it was put in after I had "quitted that work; for 1 not only did not " write it, but ] do not remember it." As a critic and a fcholar, John.fon was willing to receive what numbers at the time believed to be true information : when he found that the whole was a forgery, he renounced all eon- iieclion with the author* In March 1752, he felt a fevere ftroke of affliclion in the death of his wife. The laft number of the Rambler, as already mentioned, w^as on the 14th ot that month. The lofs of Mrs. John Ton was tnen approaching, and, pro- bably, was the caufe that put an end to thoft admirable periodical efiays. It appears that fhe died on the 28th of March : in a memorandum, at the foot of the Prayers and Meditations, that is called her Dying Y^aj, She was buried at Bromley, under the care of Dr. Hawkef- Worth. Johnfon placed a Latin Infcription on e 2 her 63 AN ESSAY ON THfi LIFE AND her tomb, in which he celebrated her beauty. With the (ingularity of his prayers for his deceafed wife, from that time to the end of his days, the world is fafFiciently acquainted. On Eafter- day, 22d April, 1764, his memorandum fays: *' Thought on Tetty, poor dear Tetty ! with *' my eyes full. Went to Church. After " fermcn I recommended Tetty in a prayer by *•' herfelf ; and my father, mother, brother, *' and Bathurft, in another. I did it only *' once, fo far as it mi^jht be lawful for me." In a prayer, January 23, 1759? the day on which his mother was buried, he commends, as far as may be lawful, her foul to God, im- ploring for her whatever is moil: beneficial to her in her prefent ftate. in this habit he per- fervered to the end of his days. The Rev, Mr. Strahan, the editor of the Prayers and MeditationSj obferves, '* That Johnfon, on *' fome occafions, prays that the Almighty *• may have had mercy on his wife and Mr. " Thrale : evidently fuppoiing their fentence *' to have been already pafled in the Divine '' Mind ; and, by confequence, proving, that *' he had no belief in a flate of purgatory, and *' no reafon for praying for the dead that could <' impeach the fincerlty of his profefiion as a 2 " Pro- « GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 69 '' Proteftaut;' Mr. Strahan adds, '' That, in *' praying for the regretted tenants of the *' grave, Johnfjii conformed to a pradice " which has heen retained by many learned ** members of the Eftabliihed Church, though '' the Liturgy no longer admits it. If where «' the tree falleth^ there It pad be \ if our frate, <' at the clofe of life, is to be the meafure of ' our final fentence, then prayers for the '^ dead, being vifibly fruitlefs, can be regarded ^' only as the vain oblations of fuperftition. *' But of all fuperftltions this, perhaps, is one « of the lead: unamiable, and moft incident to ^^ a good mind. If our fenfations of kindnefs «' be intenfe, thofe, whom we have revered and ^' loved, death cannot wholly feclude from cur *' concern. It is true, for the reafon juft men- *' tioned, fuch evidences of our furviving af- <* feftion may be thought ill-judged ; but " furely they are generous, and feme natural " tendernefs is due even to a fuperftition, which ^' thus originates in piety and benevolence." Thefe fentences, extrafted from the Rev. Mr. Strahan's preface, if they are not a full jufiification, are, at lead, a beautiful apo- lop-y. It will not be improper to add what Johnfon himfelf has faid on the fubjcft. Being e 3 a(ked J*© AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND afked by Mr. Boiwell^, what he thought of purgatoiy, as believed by the Roman Catho- lics ? His anfvver was, " It is a very hara-jlefs '' doilrine. Tliey are of opinion, that tiie ^'generality of mankind are neither fo obfti- ^' nately wicked as to deferve everlafting pu- ^' niih'Tient ; nor fo good as to merit being " admitted into the ibciety of blelied fpirits ; *' and, therefore, that God is gracioufly pleafed '' to allow a middle ftate, where they may be *' purified by certain degrees of fufferlng. You ^' iee tliere is nothing unreafonable in this; *' and if it be once eftabliflied that there are *' fouls in purgatory, it is as proper to pray *' for theni, as for our brethren of mankind^ *' who are yet in this life." This was Dr. Johnfon's guefs into futurity ; and to guefs is the utmofi: that man can do. Shadows^ elands^ and darknefs^ reji upon it. Mrs. Johnfon left a daughter, Lucy Porter, by her firft liufband. She had contrafted z friendihip with Mrs. Anne Williams, the daugh- ter of Zachary Williams, a phyfician of emi- nence in South Wales, who had devoted more th^n thirty years of a long life to the ftudy of * Life of Johnfon, Vol. I. p. 2,"-^. the GENIUS OF DR. J O H N S O N. jr I the iongltude, and was thought to have made great advances towards that important dllco- vcry. His letters to Lord Flahfax, and the Lords of the Admiralty, partly corredled and partly written by Dr. Johnlon, are ilill extant in the hands of Mr. Nichols *. We there find Dr. Williams, in tlie eighty^ third year of kis age, ftating, that he had prepared an in- ftrument, which miglit be called an epitome or miniature of the terraqueous globe^ (hew- ing, with the aiiillance of tables conftruded by himfelf, the variations of the magnetic needle, and afcertaining the longitude for the fafety of navigation. It appears that this Icheme had been referred to Sir Ifaac Newton ; but that great philofcpher excufing himfelf on account of his advanced age, all applications were ufejcfs till 1751, when the fubjedt was referred, by order of Lord Anfon, to Dr. Bradley, the celebrated proftfTor of aftronomy. His report was unfovourable t;> though it allows that a confiderable progrefs had been made, Dr, Williams, after all his la- bour and expence, died in a fhort time after, a melancholy Inftance of unrewarded merit, * See Gentleman's Magazine for Nov. and Dec. ly^y* t Ibid, for Dec. 1787, p. 104c?. e 4 IIr> ^2 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND His daughter poffeffed uncommon talentSj and, though blmd, had an alacrity of mind that made her converfation agreeable, and even defnable. To relieve and appeafe me- lancholy refleftions, Johnfon took her home to his houfe hi Gough-fquare. In 1755? Garrick gave her a benefit-play, which pro- duced two hundred pounds. In 1766, (lie publiihed, by fubfcription, a quarto volume of Mifcellanies, and increafed her little ftock to three hundred pounds. That fund, with John Ton's protedion, fupported her through the remainder of hei: life. During the two years in which the Rambler WMS carried on, the Dlftionary proceeded by flow degrees. In May 1752, having compofed a prayer preparatory to his return from tears and forrow to the duties of life, he refumed his grand de- fign, and went on with vigour, giving, however, occafional affiftance to his friend Dr. Hawkef- worth in the Adventurer, which began foon after the Rambler was laid a fide. Some of the moft valuable eflays in that colledlion were from the pen of Johnfon. The Di£lionary was completed towards the end of 1754; and, Cave bein^ then no more, it was a mortification to the author of that noble addition to our Ian- GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 7^ language, that his old friend did not live to fee the triumph of his labours. In May 1755, that great work was publiflied. Johnfon was defirous that it fhould come from one who had obtained academical honours ; and for thatpur- pofe, his friend the Rev. Thomas Warton ob- tained for him, in the preceding month of February, a diploma for a mafter's degree from the Univerfity of Oxford. Garrick, on the publication of the Didlionary, wrote the fol- lowing lines. *^ Talk of war with a Briton, he '11 boldlv advance, *' That one Englifn foldier can beat ten of France. *' Would we alter the boafi from the fword to the ^' pen, ^' Our odds are frill greater, Hill greater our men. *' In the deep mines of fcience though Frenchmen " may toil, " Can their flrength be compar'd to Locke, New- '' ton, or Boyle ? " Let them rally their heroes, fend forth all their *' povv'rs. " Their verfemen and profemen, then match them " with ours. *' Firfl; Shakfpeare and Milton, like Gods in the fight, '* Have put their whole drama and epic to fiicxht. " In fatires, epiftles, and odes, would they cope ? ** Their numbers retreat before Dryden and Pope. " And J'4 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND ** And Johnfon well arm'd, like a hero or yore, ^f Kas beat Forty French, and will beat Forty more^'* It is, perhaps, needlefs to mention, that Forty was the number of the French Academy, at the time vvlicn their Dictionary was publilhed to ft^ttle their language. In the courfe of the winter preceding this grand publication, the late Earl of Chefler- field gave two effays in the periodical Paper, called The World, dated November 28, and December 5, 1754? to prepare the publick for fo important a work. The original plan, ad- dreiTed to his Lordlhsip in the year 1747J i^ there mentioned in terms of the higheft praife ; and this was underftood, at the time, to be a courtly way of foliciting a dedication of the Dlclionary to himfelf. Johnfon treated this civility with difdain. He faid to Garrick and others, '' I have failed a long and painful ** voyajje round the world of the Engliih lan- *' puaoe : and does he now fend out two cock- o fa *' boats to tow me into harbour r" He had faid, in the laft number of the Rambler, *' that, having laboured to maintain the dignity <' of virtue, I will not now degrade it by tlie *' meannefs of dedication." Such a man, when he •GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 75 he had finifhed his " DIfllonary, not," as he Liys hhnfclf, " ui the foft oblcurities of retlre- *' ment, or under the flielter of academic ** bowers, bt^vt amidft inconvenience and dlf-- ^' traction, in ficknefs and in forrow, and *' witliout the patronage of the great," was not likely to be caught by the lure thrown out by Lord Chefterfield. He had in vain foup^ht the patronage of that nobleman ; and his pride, exaipeiated by diiappointment, drew from him the following letter, dated in the month of February, '755. ?' To the Right Honourable the Earl of ^' Chesterfield. " My Lord, *' I have been lately informed, by the pro- f* prietors of the World, that two papers, in *' which my Didionary is recommended to the ^' publick, were written by your f >ordfiiip. *' To be fo diftuiguiflied is an honour which, *' btini^ very little accuftomed to favours from *' the great, I know not w^ell how to receive, or '' in what terms to acknowledge. *' When, upon fome (light encouragement, f* I firit vifited your Lordfliip, I was overpow- <« ered, like the reft of mankind, by the en- *' chantment ftC 76 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND " chantment of your addrefs, and could liot forbear to vviflij that I might boaft myfelf k vamqiieur dii vai?iqiieur de la terre ; tb.at I ^' might obtain that regard for which I faw *' the world contending. Bat I found my *' attendance fo little encouraged, that neither *' pride, nor mcdefty, would fuffer me to con- ** tinue it. When I had once addreffed your *^ Lordfhip in public, I had exhaufted all the *' art of pleafing, which a retired and un- *' courtly fcholar can poflefs. 1 had done all *' that I could ; and no man is well pleafed to *^ have his all neglected, be it ever io little. *^ Seven years, my Lord, have now paffed ^' fince I waited in your outward room, or was *' repulfed from your door ; during which ^' time I have been pufhing on my Vv^ork " through difficulties, of which it is ufelefs to *^ complain, and have brouoht it at laft to the *' verge of publication, without one afl.of *' afliftance, one word of encouragement, or *' one fmile of favour. Such treatment I did ^' not expeft, for I never had a patron before. ** The Shepherd in Virgil grew acquainted *^ with Love, and found him a native of the " rocks, " Is GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON, 77 ^' Is not a patron, my Lord, one who looks *' with unconcern on a man ftriiggluig for life in " the water, and, when has he reached ground, *' encumbers him with help ? The notice ** which you have been pleafed to take of my ** labours, had it been early, had been kind ; " but it has been delayed till I am indiiferent, " and cannot enjoy it ; till I am folitary, and *' cannot impart it ; till I am known, and do *' not want it. I hope it is no very cynical afpe- *' rity not to confefs obligations where no be- ^' nefit has been received ; or to be unwilling *' that the publick fliould confider me as ownng *' that to a patron, which Providence has ena- *' bled me to do for myfelf. " Having carried on mv w^ork thus far w^ith ** (o little obligation to any favourer of learn- *' ing, I fiiall not be difappointed, though I *' fnould conclude it, if lefs be poflible, with *' lefs ; for I have been long wakened from '' that dream of hope, in w^iich I once boa fted ^^ myfelf with fo much exultation. *' My Lord, '• Your Lordfhip's mofl: humble " and mod obedient fervant, " Samuel J o it n s o n." It ^B AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND It is fciid, upon good authority, that Johnfod once received from Lord Chefterfield the fuat of ten pounds. It were to be wiflied that the fecret had never tranipired. It was mean to^ receive it, and meaner to give it. It may be imagined, that for Johnfon's ferocity, as it has been called, there was fome foundatiijn in his' finances ; and, as his Diftionary was brought to a conclufion, that money was now to flow in upon him. The reverfe was the cafe. For his fubfifience, during the progreis of the work, he had received at different times the amount of his contract ; and when his re- ceipts were produced to him at a tavern-dinner^ given by the bookfellers, it appeared, that he had been paid a hundred pouiids and upwards more than his due. The author of a booky called LexiphaneSy written in a -vir. Campbell^ a Scotchman, and puriv-r of a man of vvar^ endeavoured to blaft his laurels, but m vain^ The world applauded, and John ion never re- plied. '' Abufe," he faid, " is often of ier* *' vice ; there lb nothi'ig io dangerous to an '' author as hlence ; his name, like a Ihuttle- *' cock, muft be beat backward and torward, '' or it falls to thcj ground.'* L^.xipliaiies pro- fefied -CfeNlUS OF DR. JOHNSON; ;^9 feffetl to be nil iir.itation of the pleafant mnii- iier of Lucian ; but iiumour was not tlie talent of the writer of Lexiphaacs. As Dryden fays, ** He had too much horfe-play In his raillery." It was In the fumnier 1754? that the prefent writer became acquainted wath Dr. Johnfon, The caufe of his firfi vifit Is related by Mrs. Piozzi nearly in the following manner. '' Mr. *' Murphy being engaged in a periodical paper, '* the Gray's-Inn Journal, was at a friend's *' houfe in the country, and, not being difpofed ^^ to lofe pleafure for bufmefs, wifhed to cou- *' tent his bookfeller by fome unftudied effay. *' He therefore took up a French 'journal Liic-^ *' ra!rL\ and tranfiating fomething he liked, ** fent it away to town. Time, how^ever, dli- *' covered that he tranflated from the French a *' Rambler, which had been taken from the *' Englifli without acknowledgement. Upon '' this difcovery Mr. Murphy thought it riglit «^ to make his cxcufes to Dr. Johnfbn. He ** weiit next dav, and found him covered with *' foot, like a chimney-fweeper, in a little room, " as if he had been adting; Lun^s in the Al- *^' chymifl:, makmg cether. This beiiig told by ^' Mr, Murphy in company, ' Come, come,' 7 ^' faid So AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND ^' faid Dr. Johnfon, ' the flory is black ** enough ; but it was a happy day that brought " you firfl: to my houle'," After this firft vifit, the author of this narrative by degrees grew intimate with Dr. Johnfon. The firft ftriking fentence, that he heard from him, wa3 in a few days after the publication of Lord Boling- broke's pofthumous works. Mr. Garrick aiked him, " If he had feen them ?" " Yes, I have *' feen them." "What do you think of " them ?" *' Think of them !" He made a long paufe, and then replied : " Think of *' them ! A fcoundrel and a coward ! A fcoun- *' drel, who fpent his life in charging a gun ** againft Chriflianity ; and a coward, who^ ** was afraid of hearing the report of his own ^' gun ; but left half a crown to a hungry *' Scotchman to draw the triec^er after his " death." His mind, at this time drained and over-laboured by conftant exertion, called for an interval of repofe and indolence. But indolence was the time of danger : it was then that his fpirits, not employed abroad, turned with inward hofiility againft himfelf. His refleftions on his ov/n life and conduft were always feverc ; and, wifhing to be immaculate, he. GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. Si he deftroyed his own peace by uniiectfTary fcri> pies. He tells us, that when he iiirveyed Ills paft life, he difcovered nothing but a barrtn wafteof time, with fome ditorders of body, and diflur- bances of niind, very near to madnefs. His life, he fays, from his earliefl: years, was walled in a morning bed ; and his reigning fin was a gene- ral fluggifhnefs, to which he was always in- clined, and, in part of his life, a 1 moll: com- pelled, by morbid melancholy, and wearinefs of mind. This was his conftitutional ma- lady, derived, perhaps, from his father, who was, at times, overcaft with a gloom that bor- dered on infanity. When to this it is added, that Johnfon, about the age of twenty, drew up a defcription of his infirmities, for Dr. Swinfen, at that time an eminent phyfician in Staflx)rdniire ; and received an anfwcr to his letter, importing, that the fymptoms indicated a future privation of reafon ; who can wonder that he was troubled with melancholy and de- jeilion of fpirit ? An apprehcnfion of the worft calamity that can befal human nature -uing over him all the reft of his life, like the i word of the tyrant fufpended over his gueft. In his lixtieth year he had a mind to u rite th." hillory of his melancholy ; but he defifted, not know- VoL, I. f ing 82 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND ing whether it would not too much difturb huT). Ill a Latin poem, however, to which he has prefixed as a title, rNriGI SEATTON, he has left a pI6lure, of himfelf, drawn with as much truth, and as firm a hand, as can be feen in the portraits of Hogarth or Sir Jofliua Reynolds. The learned reader will find the original poem in this volume, p. 178 ; and it is hoped, that a tranfiatlon, or rather imitation^ of {o curious a piece will not be improper in this place. KNOV/ YOURSELF. {after revising and enlarging the ENGLISH LEXICON, OH DICTIONARY.) When Scaliger, whole years of labour paft, Beheld his Lexicon complete at lafl:. And weary of his taik, with wond'ring eyes. Saw from words pil'd on words a fabric rife, He curs'd the induftry, inertly ftrong, In creeping toil that could perfifl fo long. And if, enrag'd he cried, Heav'n meant to llied Its keeneft vengeance on the guilty head, The drudgery of words the damn'd would know^, Doom'd to write Lexicons in endlefs woe *. * See Scallgcr's Epigram on this fubje£l, communicated without doubt by Dr. John Ton, Gent. Mag. 1748, p. 8. Yes,. GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 83 Yes, you had caufe, great Genius ! to repent ; ^^ You lofl good days, that might be better fpent ;" You well might grudge the hours of lingering pain, And view your learned labours with difdain. To you were giv'n the large expanded mind. The flame of genius, and the tafte refin'd. °Twas yours on eagle wings aloft to foar, And amid ft rolling Vi/orlds the Great P'^irft Caufc explore ; To fix the sras of recorded time. And live in ev'ry age and ev'ry clime ; Record the Chiefs, who propt their Country's caufe ; Who founded Empires, and eftablifli'd Laws ; To learn whate'er the Sao-e with virtue fraught, Whate'er the Mufe of moral v;ifdom tau2,ht. Thefe were your quarry; thefe to you v/ere known, And the world's ample volume was your own. Yet v/arn'd by me, ye pigmy Wits, beware. Nor with immortal Scaliger compare. For me, though his example ilrike my view^ Oh ! not for me his footfteps to purfue. Whether firfl Nature, unpropitious, cold, This clay compounded in a ruder mould ; Or the flow current, loit'ring at my heart. No gleam of wit or fancy can impart ; W^hate'er the caufe, from me no numbers flow, No vifions warm me, and no raptures glow. £2 A mind 84 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND A mind like Scaliger's, fuperlor illll, No grief could conquer, no misfortune chill. Though for the maze of words his native ikies He feem'd to quit, 'twas but again to rife ; To mount once more to the bright fource of day. And view the wonders of th' a^therial way. The love of Fame his gen'rous bofom fir'd ; Each Science haiFd him, and each Mufe infpir'd. For him the Sons of Learning trimm*d the bays. And Nations grew harmonious in his praife. My talk perform^], and all my labours o er. For me what lot has Fortune now m (lore ? The liftlefs will fucceeds, that worft difcafe, The rack of indolence, the iluggilh eafe. Care grows on care, and o'er my aching ]:>rain Black Melancholy pours her morbid train. No kind relief, no lenitive at hand, I feek at midnight clubsj the focial Band ; ' But midnight clubs, vvhere wit v/ith noife confpires. Where Comus revels, and where wine infpires, Delight no more ; I feek my lonely bed. And call on Sleep to footh my languid head. But Sleep from thefe fad lids flies far away ; I mourn all night, and dread the coming day. Exhaufied, tir'd, I throw my eyes around. To find fome vacant fpot on ciafiic ground ; And foon, vain hope ! I form a grand defign ; L.anp-uor fucceeds, and all my pow'rs decline. If GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 85 If Science open not her rlchefL vein. Without materials all our toil is vain. A form to ruo:2;ed flone when Phidias p-ives, 00 CD ' Beneath his touch a new creation lives. Remove his marble, and his genius dies; With Nature then no breathing flatue vies. Whate'er I plan, I feel my pow'rs confin'd By Fortune's frown and penury of mind. I boafl no knowledge glean'd with toil and ft rife, That bright reward of a welhadted life. 1 view myfelf, while Reafon's feeble lip-ht Shoots a pale glimmer through the gloom of night, W^hile paflions, error, phantoms of the brain, And vain opinions, nil the dark domain •, A dreary void, where fears with grief combined Wade all within, and defolate the mind. What then remains ? Mnfl: I in flow decline To mute inp-lorious cafe old ao;e refi2,n ? Or, bold ambition kindling in my bread, Attempt fomc arduous talk .^ Or, were it bed Brooding o'er Lexicons to pafs the day. And in that labour drudge my life away ? Such is the picture for which Dr. JohnfMi fat to himfeif. He gives the prominent fea- tures of his charader ; his laliitude, his mor- f 3 bid 86 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND bid melancholy, his love of fame, his dejec« tion, his tavern-parties, and his wandering reveries, Vacuce mala for?mia 'mentis^ about which fo much has been written ; all are painted in miniature, but in vivid colours, by his own hand. His idea of writing morq Dictionaries was not merely faid in verfe. Mr. Hamilton, who was at that time an eminent printer, and well acquainted with Dr. John- fon, remembers that he engaged in a Com- mercial Diftionary, and, as appears by the receipts in his poflefiion, was paid his price, for feveral ilieets ; but he foon relinquiflied the undertaking. It is probable, that he found himfelf not fufficiently verfed in that branch of knowledge. He was again reduced to the expedient of fliort compofitions for the fupply of the day,, The writer of this narrative has now before him a letter in Dr. Johnfon's hand-writingg which (hews the diftrefs and melancholy fitua- tion of the rnan, who had wTitten the Rambler, "and finifhed the great w^ork of his Diilionary. The letter is dlrefled to Mr. Richardfon (the author of Clarlfla), and ]s as follows : 5 ^^ ?>l R^ GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 87 ^' S I R, ^' I am obliged to entreat your afliftance. I ^* am now under an arrcft for five pounds " eighteen {hillings. Mr. Strahan, from whom ** I fliould have received the neceffary help in *' this cafe, is not at home ; and 1 am afraid ^' of not finding Mr. Millar. If you will be " fo good as to fend me this fum, I will very ^* gratefully repay you, and add it to all for- ^' mer obligations. I am, Sir, ** Your moft obedient ^^ and moft humble fervant, *' Samuel Johnson. " Gough-fquare, i6 March.'* In the margin of this letter there is a memo- randum in thefe words: "March i6, 17*^6. " Sent fix guineas. Witnefs, Wm. Ri- " chardfon." For the honour of an admired writer it is to be regretted, that we do not find a more liberal entry. To his friend in dlftrcfs he fent eight fliiHings more than was wanted. Had an incident of this kind occurred in one of his Romances, Richardfon would have known how to 2:race his hero; but in fifli- tious fcenes generofity cofts the writer no- thing. f 4 About 88 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND About this time Johnfon contributed fe- veral papers to a periodical Mircellany, called Tlie Visitor, from motives which are highly honourable to him, a coropaffionate re- gard for the late Mr. Chriftopher Smart. The criticifm on Pope's Epitaphs appeared in that work. In a fliort time after, lie became a re- viewer in the Literary Magazine, under the auf[;iccs of the late Mr. Newbery, a m.an of a projeding head, good tiiite, and great in- duitry. This employme-u engroiTed but little of lohnion's time. He iefi9iu:d himfelf to iudo euce, took no exercile, rofe about two, and then received the vilus of his friends. Au- thors, long fiiice forgotten, waited on him as their oracle, and he gave relponfes \\\ the chair of criticilm. He liftened to the complaints, the Ichemes, and the hop<^s and fears of a crowd of inferior writers, '* who," he faid, in the words of Roger Afcham, '' lived, men *' knew 710 1 ho'ii\ cmd dkci objcure^ men marked *' not whefiy He believed, that he cbuld give a bci':er liiftory of Grub-ftreet tiian any man Jiving. His houfe was filled with a fucceffion of vifuors till four or five in the evening. Paring the whole time he prefided at his tea- table. GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 89 table. Tea was his favourite beverage ; and, wh'v n the late Jonas Hanwny pronounced his anathema agauift the uie of tea, Johnfon rofe in defence of his habitual pradlice. declaring himielf "' m th it; article a hardened finner, *' who had for years diluted liis meals with *' the intuiioa of tnat faicinating plant ; vvhofe *' tea-kettle had no time to cool ; who with **• tea lolaced tiie midnight hour, and with tea " welcomed the morning." The propofa! for a new edition of Shak- fpeare. which had formerly mllcarried, was refumed in the year 1756. The book- fellers readily agreed to his terms, and fub- fcription-tickets were iffued out. For under- taking this work, money, he confeffed, was the inciting motive. His friends exerted them- felves to promote his intereft; and, in the mean time, he engaged in a new periodical produdion called The Idler. The firft num- ber appeared on Saturday, April 15, 1758 ; and the laft, April 5, 1760. The profits of this work, and the fubfcriptions for the new edition of Shakfpeare, were the means by which he fupported himfelf for four or five 4 years* 90 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND years. In 1759 was publiflied Raffelas, Prince of Abyffinia. His tranflation of Lobo's Voyage to Abyflinia feems to have pointed out that country for the fcene of a£lion ; and Rajfila Chrijios^ the General of Sultan Segued^ men- tioned in that work, moft probably fuggefted the nanie of the prince. The author wanted to fet out on a journey to Lichfield, in order to pay the laft offices of filial piety to his mother, who, at the age of ninety, was then near her diffolutlon ; but money was neceflary. Mr. Johnfton, a bookfeller who has long fince left off bufinefs, gave one hundred pounds for the copy. With this fupply Johnfon fet out for Lichfield ; but did not arrive in time to clofe the eyes of a parent whom he loved. He at- tended the funeral, which, as appears among his memorandums, was on the 23d of Janu-^ ary, 1759. Johnfon now found it neceffary to retrench his expences. He gave up his houfe in Gough- fquare. Mrs. Williams went into lodgings. He retired to Gray's-lnn, and foon removed to chambers in the Inner Temple-lane, where he lived in poverty, total idlenefs, and the pride of rucvatui'd GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 9I literature. Magni Jlat nominis umbra. Mr. Fitzherbert (the father of Lord St. Helen's, the prefent muilfter at Madrid) a man diftuiguKhed through life for his benevo- lence and other amiable qualities, ufed to fay, that he paid a morning vifit to John- fon, intending from his chambers to fend a letter into the city ; but, to his great fur- prize, he found an author by profefTion with- out pen, ink, or paper. The prefent Bifhop of Salifbury was alfo among thofe who endea- voured, by conftant attention, to footh the cares of a mind which he knew to be afflifted with gloomy apprehenfions. At one of the parties made at his houfe, Bofcovich, the Je- fuit, who had then lately introduced the New- tonian philofophy at Rome, and, after pub- lilhing an elegant Latin poem on the fubje6l, ^vas made a Fellow of the Royal Society, was one of the company invited to meet Dr. John- fon. The converfation at nrft was moftly in French. Johnfon, though thoroughly verfed in that language, and a profefied admirer of Boileau and La Bruyere, did not underfland its pronunciation, nor could he fpeak it him- felf with propriety. For the reft of the even- ing the talk was in Latin, Bofcovich had a ready gZ AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND ^eady current flow of that filtnfy phrafeology vv'ith which a prieft may travel through Italy, Spain, and Germany. Johnfon fcorned what he called colloquial barbarifms. It was his pride to ipeak his heft. He went on, after a little pradlice, with as much faci- lity as if it was his native tongue. One fen- tence this writer well remembers. Obferving that Fontinelle at firfl oppofed the Newtonian philofophy, and embraced it afterwards, his words were : Fontme/Ius^ m jailor^ tn extrema JeneBute^ fu'it iransfuga adcajlra ticwtoniana. We have now traveled through that part of Dr. Johnfbn's life which was a perpetual ftrug- gle with difficulties. Halcyon days are now to open upon him. In the month of May 1762, his Majcfty, to reward literary merit, fignified his pleafure to grant to Johnfon a penfion of three hundred pounds a year. The Earl of Bute was minifter. Lord Loughborough, who, perhaps, was originally a mover in the bufi- nefs, had authority to mention it. He was well acquainted wiih Johnfon ; but, having heard much of his independent fpirit, and of the downfall of Olborne the bookieller, he did not GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 93 not know but his benevolence miffht be re- warded with a folio on his head. He defired the author of thefe memoirs to undertake the tafk. This writer thought the opportunity of doing fo much good the moft happy incident in his life. He went, without dday, to the chambers in the Inner Temple- lane, which, in fa£l, were the abode of wretchednefs. By flow and ftudied approaches the meflage was difclofed. Johnfon made a long paufe : he afked if it was ferioufly intended ? He fell into a profound meditation, and his own defi- nition of a penfioner occurred to him. He was told, '' That he, at leall:, did not come " within the definition." He defired to meet next day, and dine at the A4itre Ta- vern. At that meeting he gave up all his fcruples. On the following day Lord Loughborough conduced him to the Earl of Bute. The converfation that pafied was in the evening related to this writer by Dr. Johnfon. He expreffed his fenfe of his Majefty's bounty, and thought himfelf the more highly ho- noured, as the favour was not beftowed on him for having dipped his pen in fadlion. *' No, Sir," faid Loid Bute, " it is not ofi^ered " to 94 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND " to you for having dipped your pen in (aCnou^ *' nor with a defign that you ever fhould.'' Sir John Hawkins will have it, that, after this interview, Johnfon was often preiTed to wait on Lord Bute, hut with a fullen fpirit refufed to comply. However that he, Johnfon was ne- ver heard to utter a difrefpedtful w^ord of that nobleman. The writer of this effay remem- bers a circumftance which may throw fome light on this fubjeft. The late Dr. Rofe, of Chifwick, whom Johnfon loved and refpefled, contended for the pre-eminence of the Scotch writers ; and Fergulon's book on Civil Society, then on the eve of publication, he faid, would give the laurel to North Britain. " Alas I *' what can he do upon that fubjedl r" fliid John- fon : *' Ariftotle, Polybius, Grotius, Puffen- '' dorf, and Burlemaqui, have reaped in tliat ^' field before him/' " He will treat it," fliid Dr. Rofe, " in a new manner.'* ^' A new " manner ! Buckinger had no hands, and he *' wrote his name with his toes at Charing- *' crofs, for half a crown apiece ; that was a *' nev/ manner of writing !" Dr. Rofe re- plied, " If that will not fatisfy you, I will *' name a writer, whom you mvifl allow to he «' the- €ENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 95 « the beft in the kingdom." " Who is that r" " The Earl of Bute, when he wrote an order " for your penfion." " There, Slr,'*faid John- fon, '* you have me in the toil ; to Lord Bute " I muft allow whatever praife you may claim ** for him." Ingratitude was no part of John- fon's charafter. Being now in the pofieffion of a regular in- come, Johnfon left his chambers in the Tem- ple, and once more became mafter of a houfe in Johnfon's-court, Fleet- ftreet. Dr. Levet, his friend and phyfician in ordinary, paid his daily vifits with afliduity ; made tea all the morning, talked what he had to fay, and did not expefl: an anfwer. Mrs. Williams had her apartment in the houfe, and entertained her benefaftor with more enlarged converfation. Chemiftry was part of Johnfon's amufement. For this love of experimental philofophy, Sir John Hawkins thinks an apology neceffary. He tells us, with great gravity, that curiofity was the only objeft in view ; not an intention to grow fuddenly rich by the philofopher's ftone, or the tranfmutation of metals. To en- large his circle, Johnfon once more had re- courfe g6 AN ESSAY OM THE LIFE AN£> coiirfe to a literary club. This was at the Turk's Head, in Garrard ftreet, Soho, on every •1. Tuefday evening through the year. The members were, befides himfelf, the right ho- nourable Edmund Burke, Sir Jofhua Reynolds, Dr. Nugent, Dr. Goldfmith, the late Mr. Topham Beauclerk, Mr. Langton, Mr. Cha- mier, Sir John Hawkins, and fome others. Johnfon's afFeftion for bir Joihua was found- ed on a long acquaintance, and a thorough knowledge of the virtues and amiable quali- ties of that excellent artift. He dehghted in the converfation of Mr. Burke. He met hira for the firft time at Mr. Garrick's feveral years ago. On the next day he faid, " I fuppofe, *' Murphy, you are proud of your country- ** man. Cum talis sit utinam noster *' EssET !'* From that time his conftant ob- fervation was, " That a man of fenfe could ** not meet Mr. Burke by accident, under a *' gateway to avoid a fhower, without being " convinced that he was the firft man in Eng- *' land." Johnfon felt not only kindnefs, but zeal and ardour for his friends. He did every thing in his power to advance the reputation of Dr. Goldfmith. He loved him, though he knew GENIUS OF DPv. JOHNSON, gj knew his failings, and particularly the leaven of envy which corroded the mind of that ele- gant writer, and made him impatient, without difguife, of the praifes beftowed on any perfon whatever. Of this infirmity, which marked Goldfmith's charafter, Johnfon gave a remark- able inftance. It happened that he went with Sir Jolhua Reynolds and Goldfmith to fee the Fantoccini, which were exhibited fome years ago in or near the Haymarket. They admired the curious mechanifm by which the puppets were made to walk the ftage, draw a chair to the table, fit down, write a letter, and per- form a variety of other aftions with fuch dex- terity, that though Naiiire'^s jour?2eymen made the mcn^ they imitated humanity to the aftonifli- ment of the fpedator. The entertainment being over, the three friends retired to a ta- vern. Johnfon and Sir Jofhua talked with pleafure of what they had {^t\\ ; and fays Johnfon, in a tone of admiration, ^* How the *' little fellow brandifhed his fpontoon !'* *' There is nothing, in it," replied Goldfmith, ftartlng up with impatience ; '' give me a fpon- ** toon ; I can do it as well myfclf*" Vol. L g Enjoying oS AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE ANt) Enjoying his amufements at his weekly club, and happy in a flate of independence, John- fon gained in the year 1765 another refource, which contributed more than any thing elfe to exempt hiai from the folicitudes of life. He was introduced to the late Mr. Thrale and his family. Mrs. Piozzi has related the faft, and it is therefore needlefs to repeat it in this place. The author of this narrative looks back to the fhare he had in that bufinefs with felf- congratula- tion, lince he knows the tendernefs which from that time foothed Johnfon's cares at Streatham, and prolonged a valuable life. The fubfcri- bers to Shakfpeare began to defpair of ever feeing the promifed edition. To acquit him- felf of this obligation, he went to work un- willingly, but proceeded with vigour. In the month of O'flober 1765, Shakfpeare was pub- liil^ed ; and, in a fhort time after, the Uni- verfity of Dublin fent over a diploma, in ho- nourable terms, creating him a Doftor of Laws. Oxford in eight or ten years afterwards followed the example ; and till then Johnfon never affumed the title of Doftor. In 1766 hh conftitution fcemed to be in a rapid decline, and GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 99 and that morbid melancholy, which often clouded his underflanding, came upon him with a deeper gloom than ever. Mr. and Mrs. Thrale paid him a viiit in this fituation, and found him on his knees, with Dr. Delap, the re£lor of Lewes, in SufTex, befeeching God to continue to him the ufe of his underfland- ing. Mr. Thrale took him to his houfe at Streatham ; and Johnfon from that time be* came a conftant refident in the family. He went occafionatly to the club in Gerard-ftrcet ; but his head quarters were fixed at Streatham. An apartment was fitted up for him, and the library was greatly enlarged. Parties were conflantly invited from town ; and Johnfon was every day at an elegant table, with felefl and polifhed company. Whatever could be devifed by Mr. and Mrs. Thrale to promote the happi- nefs, and eftablifli the herlth of their gueft, was ftudioufly performed from that time to the end of Mr. Th rale's life. Johnfon accompa- nied the family in all their fummer excurfions to Brighthelmftone, to Wales, and to Paris. It is but juflice to Mr. Thrale to fay, that a more ingenuous frame of mind no man pol- fefled. His education at Oxford gave him the cr 2 habits 100 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND habits of a gentleman ; liis smiable temper recommended his converfation, and the good- nefs of his heart made him a fincere friend. That he was the patron of Johnfon, is an ho- nour to his memory. In petty difputes with contemporary wri- ters, or tlie w^its of the age, Johnfon was fel- dom entangled. A fingle mcident of that kind may not be unworthy of notice, fince k liappened with a man of great celebrity in his time. A number of friends dined with Gar- rick on a Chriftmas-day. Foote was then in Ireland. It was faid at table, that the modera Ariftophanes (fo Foote was called) had been horfe-whipped by a Dublin apothecary, for mimicking him on the ftage. " I wonder," faid Garrick, *' that any man fliould (hew fo '' much refentment to Foote ; he has a pa- ^' tent for fuch liberties ; nobody ever thought ^' it worth his while to quarrel with him in *' London." *^ I am glad," faid Johnfon, '^ to '' find that the ma?t is rtjing in the worlds The expreffion was afterwards reported to Foote; w4io, in return, gave out, that he would pro- duce GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. lOI duce the Caliban of literature on the ftage. Being informed of this defign, Johnfon fent word toFoote, " That the theatre being intended ^* for the reformation of vice, he would flep from ** the boxes on the ftage, and correft him be- *' fore the audience." Foote knew the intre- pidity of his antagonift, and abandoned the defign. No ill-will enfued. Johnfon ufed to fay, *' That, for broad-faced mirth, Foote had ** not his equal." Dr. Johnfon's fame excited the curiofity of the King. His Majefty expreffed a defire to fee a man of whom extraordinary things were faid« Accordingly, the librarian at Buckingham- houfe invited Johnfon to fee that elegant collec- tion of books, at the fame time giving a hint of what was intended. His Majefty entered the room; and, among other things, alked the author, '' If he meant to give the world *' any more of his com.pofition^ r" Johnfon anfwered, " That he thought he had writ- " ten enou2:h." '' And I fliould think fo ^' too," replied his Majefty, '* if you had not ^^ written fo well." g 3 Though 102 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND Though Johnfon thought he had written enough, his genius, even in fpite of bodily fluggifhnefs, could not lie ftill. In 1770 we find him entering the hfts as a political writer. The flame of difcord that blazed throughout the nation on the expulilon of Mr. Wilkes, and the final determination of the Ploufe of Commons, that Mr. Luttrell v/as duly eledled by 206 votes againft 1143, fpread a general fpint of difcontent. To allay the tumult. Dr. Johnfon publifhed "The Falfe Alarm. Mrs, Piozzi informs us, ^' That this pamphlet was ** written at her houle, between eight o'clock *^ on Wedncfday night and twelve on Thurf- '* day night." This celerity has appeared wonderful to many, and fome have doubted the truth. It may, however, be placed withia the bounds of probability. Johnfon has ob- ierved that there are different methods of com- po(irion. Virgil was ufed to pour out a great number of veri'es in the morning, and pafs the day in retrenching the exuberances, and cor- refting inaccuracies ; and it was Pope's cuftom to write his firfl: thoughts in his firft words, and gradually to atr.plirj^ decorate, re(?:ify, and refine GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. I03 refine them. Others employ at once memory and invention, and, with little intermediate ufe of the pen, form and polifli large mafles by continued meditation, and write their produc- tions only, when, in their ophiion, they have completed them- This laft was Johnfon's method. He never took his pen in hand till he had well w^eighed his fubjecl, and grafped in his mind the fentiments, the train of argu- ment, and the arrangement of the whole. As he often thought aloud, he had, perhaps, talked it over to himfelf. This may account for that rapidity with which, in general, he difpatched his flieets to the prefs, without be- ing at the trouble of a fair copy. Whatever may be the logic or eloquence of T^he Falfe Alarm ^ the Houfe of Commons have iince erafed the refolution from the Journals. P3ut whether they have not left materials for a fu- ture controverfy may be made a queftioij. In 1771 he publilhed another tract, on the fubjed of Falkland Islands. The defign was to (hew the impropriety of going to war with Spain for an ifland thrown afide froni human ufe, ftormy in winter, and barren In g 4 fa m me fa I04 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND fummer. For this work It is apparent that mate- rials were furniflied by diredlion of the minifter^ At the approach of the general elec- tion in 1774, he wrote a (hort dilcourfe, called The Patriot, not with any vifiole applica- tion to Mr. Wilkes ; but to teach the people to rejeft the leaders of oppofition, who called themfelves patriots. In 1775 he undertook a pamphlet of n:iore importance, namely, Taxa- iion no Tyranny^ in anfwer to the Refolutions and x\ddrefs of the American Congrefs. The fcope of the argument was, that diftant colo- nies, which had, in their affemblies, a legifla- ture of their own, were, not with (landing, lia- ble to be taxed in a Britifli Parliament, where they had neither peers in one houfe, nor reprer fentatives in the other. He w^as of opinion, that this country was flrong enough to enforce obedience. " When an Englilliman," he fays, *' is told that the Americans fhoot up like the *' hydra, he naturally confiders how the hydra " was deftroyed," The event has fliewn how much he and the minifter of that day were juillakeq. The GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. IO5 The Account of the Tour to the Wefteru Iflands of Scothmd, which was undertaken in the autumn of 1773, in company with Mr. Bofwell, was not pubhftied till fome time in the year 1775- This book has been varioufly received ; by fome extolled for the elegance of the narrative, and the depth of obfervation on life and manners ; by others, as much con- demned, as a work of avowed hoftility to the Scotch nation. The praife was, beyond all quef- tion, fairly deferved; and the cenfure, on due examination, will appear hafty and ill founded. That Johnfon entertained fome prejudices flgainft the Scotch, muft not be dilTembled, It is true, as Mr. Bofwell fays, '^ that he thought *' their fiiccefs in England exceeded their pro^ *' portion of real merits and he could not but * ' fee in them that natio?ia!lly which no liberal^ ^* minded Scotfman will deny^ The author of thefe memoirs well remembers, that Johiifoa one day alked him, " Have you obferved the ^^ difference between your own country impu- *' dence and Scottifh impudence?" The an- fwer being in the negative : " Then I will tell *^ you/' fald Johnfon. " The impudence of " an lo6 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND " an Irifhman is the impudence of a fly, that *' buzzes about you, and you put it away, but *' it returns again, and flutters and teazes you. *' The impudence of a Scotfman is the impu- *' dence of a leech, that fixes and fucks your ^^ blood,'* Upon another occafion, this writer went with him into the fliop of Da vies the bookfeller, in Ruffel-ftreet, Covent- garden. Da- vies came running to him almoftout of breath with joy : *' The Scots gentleman is come, *' Sir ; his principal wi(h is to fee you ; he is *' now in the back- parlour/' '' Well, well, ^' I'll fee the gentleman," faid Johnfon. He walked towards the room. Mr. Eofwell was the perfon. This writer followed with no Imall curiofity. '' I find," faid Mr. Bofwell, ' that I am come to London at a bad time, ' when great popular prejudice has gone forth * againft us North Britons; but when I am ' talking to you, I am talking to a large and ' liberal mind, and you know that I cannt^t ' be/p coining Jrcm Scothmd''' *' Sir," faid Johnfon, " no more can the refl: of your coun- •* trvmen," 5 ' IL GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. IC7 He had other reafons that helped to alienate him from the natives of Scotland. Bt-ino^ a cordial weil-vvifher to the conflitutioa in Church and State, he did not think that Calvin and John Knox were proper founders of a national religion. He made, however, a wide diftinc- tion between the DlfTenters of Scotland and the Separatifts of England. To the former he imputed no dlfaffeftion, no want of loyalty. Their loldiers and their officers had (hed their blood with zeal and courage in the fervice of Great Britain ; and the people, he ufed to fay, were content with their own eftablifhed modes of worfnip, without wifhing, in the prefent age, to give any difturbance to the Church of England. This he was at all times ready to admit; and therefore declared, that when- ever he found a Scotchman to whom an Eng- lifliman was as a Scotchman, that Scotchman (liould be as an Engliihman to him. In this, furely, there was no rancour, no malevolence. The Diffenters on this fide tlie Tweed appeared tQ him in a diti%rent light. Their religion, he frequently faid, was too w^orklly, too political, too reillefs -md ambitious. The dodlrine of cciJJjiering IC8 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AN0 cafblenng kings, and ere£ling on the ruins of the conftitutlon a new form of government, which, lately ilTued from their pulpits, he always thought \v3S,iirider a calm difguife, the principle that hy lurking in their hearts. He knew that a wild democracy had overturned King, Lords, and Commons ; and that a fet of Republican Fanatics, who would not bow at the name of Jesus, had taken poffeflion of all the livings and all the parifiies in the kingdom. That thofe fcenes of horror might never be renewed, was the ardent wifh of Dr. Johnfon ; and though he apprehended no danger from Scot- land, it is probable that his dlflike of Cal- vinifm mingled fometimes with his refle ** and ftubborn audacity is the lail: refuge of ** guilt." This reafoning carries with it great weight. It roufed the refentment of Mr. Macpherfon. He fent a threatening letter to the author ; and Johnfon anfwered him in the rough phrafe of ftern defiance. The two he- roes frowned at a diftance, but never came to adlion. In the year I777» the misfortunes of Dr. Dodd excited his compaffion. He wrote a fpeech for that unhappy man, when called up to receive judgement of death ; befides two pe- titions, one to the King, and another to the Queen ; and a fermon to be preached by Dodd to the convi£ls in Newgate. It may appear trifling to add, that about the fame time he ■wrote a prologue to the comedy of A Word to the Wife, written by Hugh Kelly. The play, fome years before, had been damned by a party on the firft night. It was revived for the benefit of the author's widow. Mrs. Piozzi relates, that when Johnfon was rallied forthefe exertions, fo clofe to one another, his r.nfwer was, When they come to me with a dying Farfnn CfiNItJS OF DR* JOHNSON. Ilj Par/on^ and a dead Stay-maker^ what can a man dc? We come now to the laft of his literary labours. At the requeft of the Bookfellers he undertook the Lives of the Poets. The firfl pubhcation was in 1779, and the whole was compleated in 178 1. In a memorandum of that year he fays, fome time in March he finifihed the Lives of the Poets, which he v^rote in his ufual way, dilatorily and haftily, unv.'illing to work, yet w^orking with vigour and hafte. In another place, he hopes they are written in fuch a manner as may tend to the promotion of piety. That the hiflory of fo many men, w^ho, in their different degrees, made themfelves con- fpicuous in their time, was not written recently after their deaths, feems to be an omifilon that does no honour to the Republic of Letters. Their contemporaries in general looked on with calm indifference, and fuffered Wit and Genius to vanifli out of the world in total filence, un- regarded, and unlamented. Was there no friend to pay the tribute of a tear ? No juft ob- ferver of hfe, to record the virtues of the de- ceafed? Was even Envy filent ? It feemed to have been agreed, that if an author's works furvived, the hiftory of the man was to give no Vol.. L h moral 114 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND moral leffon to after-ages. If tradition told us that Ben Jonson went to the Devil Tavern; that Shakspeare ftole deer, and held tlie ftir- rup at playhonfe doors; that Dryden fre- quented Button's Coftee-houfe ; curiofity was lulled afleep, and Biography forgot the beft part of her fundion, which is to inftrucl naankind by examples taken from the fchool of life. This talk remained for Dr. Johnfon, when years had rolled away ; when the channels of information were, for the moft part, choaked up, and little remained befides doutful anec- dote, uncertain tradition, and vague report. " Nunc fitus informis premit et deferta Vetuflas "^ The value of Biography has been better un- derftood in other ages, and in other countries, Tacitus informs us, that to record the lives and chara£ler3 of illuftrlous men was the practice of the Roman authors, in the early periods of the Republic, In France the example has been followed. FonitnelUy U" Akmbert^ and Monjieur ^homas^ have left models in this kind of com- pofition. They have emhalnied the dead. But it Is true, that they had incitements and ad- vantages, GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. II5 vantages, even at a dlftant day, which could not, by any diligence, be obtained by Dr. Johnfon. The wits of France had ample ma- terials. They lived hi a nation of critics, who had at heart the honour done to their country by their Poets, their Heroes, and their Philo- fophers. They had, befides, an Academy of Belief Leitres^ where Genius was cultivated, re- fined, and encouraged. They had the tracts, the effays, and diffcrtations, w^hich remain in the memories of the Academy, and they had the fpeeches of the feveral members, delivered at their firfl: admiflion to a feat in that learned Affembly. In thofe fpeeches the new Acade- mician did ample juftice to the memory of his predecefibr ; and though his harangue w^as de- corated with the colours of eloquence, and was, for that reafon, called panegyric, yet being pronounced before qualified judges, vA\o knew the talents, the conduft, and morals of the deceafed, the fpeaker could not, with pro- priety, wander into the regions of fiftion^ The truth was known, before it was adorned. The Academy faw the marbk^ before the artifl poliflied it. But this country has had no i\ca- demy of Literature. The public mind? for cen- ^ h % turie^, il6 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND tunes, has been engrofled by party and faflion ; iy the madnefs of many for the gain of a few ; by civil wars, religious dilTentions, trade and com- merce, and the arts of accumulating wealth. Amidft fuch attentions, who can wonder that Cold praile has been often the only reward of merit? In this country DoSor Nathaniel Hodges, who, like the good bilhop of Mar- feilles, drew purer breath amidft the contagion of the plague in London, and, during the whole time, continued in the city, adminiftering me- dical afiiftance, was fufFered, as Johnfon nfed to relate with tears in his eyes, to die for debt in a gaol. In this country, the man who brought the New River to London was ruined by that noble projeft ; and in this country Otway died for want on Tower Hill ; Butler, the great author of Hudibras, whofe name can only die with the Englifh language, was left to languifii in poverty, the particulars of his life almoft unknown, and fcarcs a veftige of him left ex- cept his immortal poem. Had there been an Academy of Literature, the lives, at leaft, of thofe celebrated p^^rfons would have been writ- ten for the benefit of pofterity. Swift, it feems, had the idea of fuch an inftitution, and pro- \ ' " ^ pofe(J <5ENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. I 17 pofed It to Lord Oxford ; but Whig and Tory- were more important objects. It is needlefs to dlflernble, that Dr. Johnfon, in the Life of Rofcommon, talks of the inutility of fuch a projefl:. *' Li this country," he fays, '^ an *' Academy could be expefted to do but little. " If an academician's place were profitable, it " would be given by intereft ; if attendance ** were gratuitous, it would be rarely paid, and " no man would endure the leaft difguft. Una« *' nimity is impoflible, and debate would fepa- *' rate the affembly." To this it may be fuf- ficient to anfwer, that the Royal Society has not been diffolved by fu Hen difguft ; and the modern Academy at Somerfet-houfe has already performed much, and promifes more. Una- nimity is not neceffary to fuch an affembly. On the contrary, by difference of opinion, and -collifion of fentiment, the caufe of Literature would thrive and flourlfii. The true principles of criticifm, the fecret of fine writing, the in^ veftigation of antiquities, and other interefiing fubjedts, might occafion a clafn of opinions ; but in that contention Truth would receive il- luftration, and the effays of the feveral mem- ber5 would fupply the Memoirs of the Academy. h 3 But, Il8 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND But, fays Dr. Johnfon, " fuppofe the philo- *' logical decree made and promulgated, what *' would be its authority ? In abfoiute govern- " ment there is lometimes a general reverence *' paid to all that has the (anclion of power, *' the countenance of greatnefs. How little *' this is the flate of our country needs not to *' be told. The edifts of an Enplifh academy *^ would probably be read by many, only that ^' they may be fure to difobey them.. The pre- ** lent manners of the nation would deride au- *' thority, and therefore nothing is left, but that *^ every writer fliould criticize hinafelf." This furejy is not conclufive. It is by the ftandard of the beft writers that every man fettles for himfelf his plan of legitimate compofition ; and fince the authority of fuperior genius is acknow- ledged, that authority, which the individual obtains, would not be leffened by an afibciation with others of diflinguifl^ed ability. It may, therefore, be inferred, that an i\cademy of Li- terature would be an eftablifliment highly ufe- ful, and an honour to Literature. In fuch an inftitution profitable places would not be wanted, l^alis avarus baud facile ejl animus ; and the minifter, who Ihall find leifure from party 4 and GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. U^ and faction, to carry fuch a fcheme into execu- tion, will, in all probability, be refpe6led by pofterity as the Maecenas of letters. We now take leave of Dr. Johnfon as an author. Four volumes of his Lives of the Poets were publKhed in 1778, and the work was completed in 17S1. Should Biography fall again into difufe, there will not always he a Johnfon to look back through a century, and give a body of critical and moral inftrudtiou. In April 1781, he loft his friend Mr. Thrale. His own words, in his diary, will heft tell that Tielancholy event. " On Wednefday the nth ' of April, was buried ii'iy dear friend Mr. ' Thrale, who died on Wednefday the 4th, ' and with him were buried many of my hopes ' and pleafures. About five, 1 think, on Wed- ' nefday morning he expired. I felt aimoft * the laft flutter of his pulle, and looked for ' the laft time upon the face, that, for fil'teea ' years before, had never been turned upon me ' but with refpc61: and benignity. Farewel : ' may God, that delighteth in mercy, have ^ hadrcitxQy on thee. 1 had conftantly prayed ' for him before his death. The deceafe of him, h 4 ** from 120 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND ^' from whofe friendfliip I had obtained many ^' opportunities of amufemeiit, and to whom I *' turned my thoughts as to a refuge from mif- ** fortunes, has left me heavy. But my buii- *^ nefs is with myfelf." From the clofe of his laft work, the malady, that perfecuted him through life, came upon him with alarming feverity, and his conftitution declined apace. Ill 1782 his old friend Levet expired without warning, and W'lthout a groan. Events like thefe reminded Johnfon of his own mortaHty. He continued his vifits to Mrs. Thrale at Streatham, to the 7th day of Odober, 1782, when having flrft compofed a prayer for the happlnefs of a family, with whom he had for many years enjoyed the pleafures and comforts of life, he removed to his own houfe in town. He fays he was up early in the morning, and read fortuitoufly in the Gofpel, which "was his parting uje of the library. The merit of the fa* mily is manifefted by the fenfe he had of it, and we fee his heart overflowing with grati- tude. He leaves the place with regret, and cajls a lingering look behind. The GENIUS OF DR JOHNSON, 121 The few remaining occurrences may be fooii difpatched. In the month of June, 1783, Johnfon had a paralytic ftroke, which afFefled his fpeech only. He wrote to Dr. Taylor of Weft- minfter ; and to his friend Mr. Allen, the printer, who lived at the next door. Dr. Brocklefby arrived in a fliort time, and by his care, and that of Dr. Heberden, Johnfon foon recovered. During his illnefs the writer of this narrative vifited him, and found him reading Dr. Watr fon's Chemiftry. •, Articulating v/ith difficulty, he faid, *' From this book, he who knows '' nothing may learn a great deal ; and he *' who knows, will be pleafed to find his know- " ledge recalled to his mind in a manner highly *« pleafing." In the month of Auguft he fet out for Lichfield, on a vifit to Mrs. Lucy Porter, the daughter of his wife by her firfl: hufband ; and in his way back paid his refpe£ts to Dr. Adams at Oxford. Mrs. Williams died at his houfe in Bolt-court in the month of Sep- tember, during his abfence. This was another ihock to a mind like his, ever agitated by the thoughts of futurity. The contemplation of his own approaching end was conftantly before his eyes 3 and the profpeil of death, he declared, was 122 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND was terrible. For many years, when he was not difpofed to enter into the converfatlon going forward, whoever fat near his chair, might hear him repeating, from Shakfpeare, Aji but to die and go we know not where ; To he in cold obflruction and to rot ; This fenfible warm motion to become A kneaded clod, and the delighted fpirit To bathe in fiery floods. And from Milton, Who would lofe. For fear of pain, this intelledlual being ? By the death of Mrs. Williams he was left in a ftate of deflitution, with nobody but Frank, his black fervant, to footh his anxious moments. In November 1783, he was fwell- ed from head to foot with a dropfy. Dr. Brocklelby, with that benevolence with which he always aflills his friends, paid his vifits with afhduity. The medicines prefcribed were fo efficacious, that in a few days, Johnfon, while he was offering up his prayers, was fud- denly obliged to rife, and, in the courfe of the day, difcharged twenty pints of water. Johnfon, GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 1 23 Johnfon, being eafed of his dropfy, began to entex-tain hopes that the vigour of his confti- tutioQ was not entirely broken. For the fake of converfing with his friends, he eftabllfhed a converfatlon club, to meet on every Wed- nefday evening ; and, to ferve a man whom he had known in Mr. Thrale's houfhold for many years, the place was fixed at his houfe in ElTex ftreet near the Temple. To anfwer the maligiiant remarks of Sir John Hawkins on this fubjeft, were a wretched wafte of time. Profefling to be Johnfon's friend, that bio- grapher has ralfed more objeftions to his charac- ter, than all the enemies of that excellent man. Sir John had a root of bltternefs that/)/^/ rancoujs in the vejfel of his peace. Fielding, he fays, was the Inventor of a cant phrafe, Goodnefs of hearty which means little more than the virtue of a hofe or a dog. He (hould have known that kind affections are the efience of virtue ; they are the will of God Implanted in our nature, to aid and ftrengthen moral obligation ; they incite to action ; a fenfe of benevo- lence is no lels neceffary than a fenfe of duty. Good affefllons are an ornament not only to an author but to his writings. He who (hews him- 124- AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND fiimfelf upon a cold fcent for opportunities to bark and fnail throughout a volume of fix hundred pages, may, if he will, pretend to inorallze ; but Goodness of Heart, or, to ufe that politer phrafe, the virtue of a horfe or a dog^ would redound more to his honour. But Sir John is no more : our bufinefs is with Johnfon. The members of his club were rc- fpe£table for their rank, their talents, and their literature. They attended with pundluality till about Midfummer 1784, when, with fome appearance of health, Johnfon went into Der- bylhire, and thence to Lichfield. While he was in that part of the world, his friends in town were labouring for his benefit. The air of a more fouthern climate they thought Height prolong a valuable life. But a penfion of / 300 a year was a flender fund for a travel- ing valetudinarian, and it was not then known that he had fived a moderate fum of money. Mr. Bofwell and Sir Jofliua Reynolds under- took to folicit the patronage of the Chancellor. With Lord Thurlow, while he was at the bar, Johnfon was w^ell acquainted. He was often heard to fay, ^' Thurlow is a man of fuch *« vigour of mind, that I never knew I was to '' meet GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 1 25 ** meet him but — I was going to fay, I was ** afraid, but that would not be true, for I ** never was afraid of any man ; but I never ** knew that I was to meet Thurlow, but I ** knew I had fomething to encounter." The Chancellor undertook to recommend Johnfon's cafe, but without fuccefs. To protrad if pof- fible the days of a man, whom he refpedued, he offered to advance the fum of five hundred pounds. Being informed of this at Lichfield,, Johnfon wrote the following letter. ** My Lord, " After a long and not inattentive obferva- ^^ tion of mankind, the generofitv of your ^' Lord {hip' 3 offer raifes in me not lefs wonder *^ than gratitude. Bounty, fo liberally beftou'- ^^ ed, I fhould gladly receive if my condition ^^ made it neceffary; for to fuch a mind who ^* would not be proud to own his obligations ? ** But it has pleafed God to refrore me to lo ^f ereat a meafure of health, that if I fnould ^' now appropriate fo much of a fortune deftined ^'^ to do good, I could not efcape from myfelf *^ the charge of advancing a falfe claim. My " journey to the' continent, though I once ^ *' thought 126 AN ESSAY 'on THE LIFE AND *' thought It neceflary, was never much en- ** couraged by my phyficiatis ; and I was very " defirous that your Lordfhip (hould be told it •' by Sir JoHiua Reynolds as an event very un- ** certain ; for, if I grew much better, I (hould *' not be willing ; if much worfe, I (hould not *' be able to migrate. Your Lordfhip was firft *' foHcited without my knowledge ; but when '^ I was told that you were pleafed to honour ** me with your patronage, I did not expe£l to *' hear of a refufal ; yet, as I have had no long *' time to brood hopes, and have not rioted in *' imaginary opulence, this cold reception has ** been fcarce a diliippointment ; and from your *' Lordfiiip's kindnefs I have received a benefit *' which only men like you are able to beftow. *' I fhall now live mlhi carior^ with a higher ** opinion of my own merit, *' I am, my Lord, «* your Lordfhip's mofh obliged, <* moft grateful, '' and moft humble fervant, " Samuel Johnson. *' September, 1784.*' Wc GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 127 We have in this inftance the exertion of two congenial minds; one, with a generous impulfe relieving merit in dlftrefs, and tiie other, by gratitude and dignity of fentiment lifing to an equal elevation. It leems, however, that greatnefs of mind Is not confined to greatnefs of rank. Dr. Brockles- by was not content to affifl: with his medical art ; he refolved to minlfler to his patient's mind, and pluck from his viemory the for row which the late refufal from a high quarter might occafion. To enable him to vlfit the fouth of France in purfuit of health, he offered from his own funds an annuity of one hundred pounds, payable quarterly. This was a fweet oblivions antidote^ but it was not accepted for the reafons afilgned to the Chancellor. The propofal, however, will do honour to Dr. Brockleiby, as long as liberal fentiment (hall be ranked among the focial virtues. In the month of Oflober, 1784, we find Dr. Johnfon correfponding with Mr. Nichols, the intelligent compiler of the Gentleman's Magazine, and, in the langour of ficknefs, flill defirous 128 AK ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND defirous to contribute all in his power to the advancement of fcience and ufeful knowledge. He fays, in a letter to that gentleman, dated Lichfield, Oclober lo, that he ihould be glad to V i^e fo (kilful a lover of Antiquities any in- form tion. He adds, *' At Afliburne, where I *rhad very little company, I had the luck to '' borrow iMr. Bowycr's Life, a book fo full of *« contemporary hiftory, that a literary man ** muft find fome of his old friends. I thought *' that I could now and then have told you ** fome hints w^orth your notice : We perhaps *' may talk a life over. I hope we fhall be " much together. You mufl: now be to mc *' what you were before, and what dear Mr. «' Allen was befides. , He was taken unexpeft- <* edly away, but I think he was a very good ** man. 1 have made very little progrefs in re- ** covery. I am very w^eak, and very fleeplefs ; *' but I live on and hope." In that languid condition, he arrived, on the 1 6th of November, at his houfe in Bolt-court, there to end his days. He laboured with the dropfy and an afthma. He was attended by Dr. Heberden, Dr. Warren, Dr. Brock!efl)y, GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 1 29 Dr. Butter, and Mr. Cruikfliank, the eminent furgeon. Eternity prefented to his mind an aweful profpect, and, with as much virtue as perhaps ever is the lot of man, he fl-iuddercd at the thought of his diilblution. His friends awakened the comfortable refledlion of a weli- fpent life ; and, as his end drew near, they had the fatisfiidion of feeing him com- pofed, and even chearfnl, infomuch that he was able, in the courfe of his refllefs nights, to make tranflations of Greek epigrams from the Anthologia ; and to compofe a Latin epi- taph for his father, his mother, and his bro- ther Nathaniel. He meditated, at the fame time, a Latin infcription to the memory of Garrick, but his vigour was exhaufted. FIis love of Literature was a paflion that ftuck to his laft fand. Seven days before his death he wrote the following letter to his friend Mr. Nichols. ''SIR, *' The late learned Mr. Swinton of Oxford having one day remarked that one mnn, mean- ing, 1 fuppofe, no man but himfelf, could affigii all the parts of the Ancient Univerfal Vol, L i Hlilory 130 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE^ AND, Hiftory to their proper authors, at the requeft of Sir Robert Chambers, or myfelf, gave the account which I now tranfmit to you in his own hand, behig willing that of fo great a work the hiftory fhould be known, and that each writer (hould receive his due proportion of praife from pofterity. ** I recommend to you to preferve this fcrap of literary intelligence in Mr. Swinton's own hand, or to depofit it in the Mufeum*, that the ve- racity of this account may never be doubted. " I am, Sir, *' Your moft humble fervant, Dec. 6, 1784. " Sam. Johnson/' Mr. Svvinton. The Hiftory of the Carthaginians. , Numidians. > ' Mauritanians. ■ Gastullans. * Garamantes. .- Melano Gastulians. — Nigritae, — Cyrenaica. - Marmarica. It is there depofited. J. N, The GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. I^I The Hiftory of the Regio Syrtica. Turks, Tartars, and Moguls. ■ — " Indians. ' Chinefe. Difiertatlon on the peopling of America. The Hiftory of the Difiertatlon on the Inde- pendency of the i\rabs. The Cofmogony, and a fmall part of the hidory immediately following. By Mr. Sale. To the Birth of Abraham. Chiefly by Mr. Shelvock. Hiftory of the Jews, Gauls, and Spaniards. By Mr. Pflilmanazar. Xenophon's Retreat. By the fame. Hiftory of the Perfians, and the Conftantino- . politan Empire. By Dr, Campbell. Hiftory of the Romans. By Mr. i^ovver *. On * Before this authentic communication, Mr. Nichols had given, in the volume of the Magazine for 1781, p. 370, the following account- of the Univerfal Hiflary. Tlic pro- pofals were publifhed 06lober6, J 729 ; and the authois of thefirft feven volumes were, Vol. 1. Mr. Sale, tranHator of the Koran. II. George Pfalmanazar. HI. Gtoro-e Pfalmanazar. \ 2 HI. Archi- 132 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND On the morning of Dec. y. Dr. Johnfon re- quefted to fee Mr. Nichols. A few days before, he had borrowed fome of the early vo- lumes of the Magazuie, with a profeffed inten- tion to point out the pieces which he had writ- ten in that colledion. The books lay on the table, with many leaves doubled down, and in particular thofe which contained his fliare in the Parliamentary Debates. Such was the good- iiefs of Johnfon's heart, that he then declared, that *' thofe debates were the only parts *« of his writings which gave him any com- *' punftion; but that at the time he wrote them *^ he had no conception that he was impofing " upon the world, though they were frequently *' written from very flender materials, and often '* from none at all, the mere coinage of his III, Archibald Bovver. Captain Shelvock. Dr. Campbell. IV. The fame as vol. III. V. Mr. Bower. VI. Mr. Bower. Rev. John Swinton. VII. Mr. Swinton^ Mr. Bovver. " own GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. I33 *' own Imagiaatlon." He added, '' that he never " wrote any part of his work with equal velo- *' city. Three columns of the Magazine in an *-' hour," he faid, " was no uncommon effort ; " which was fafter than moft perfons could *' have tranfcribed that quantity. In one day '' in particular, and that not a very long one, *' he wrote twelve pages, more in quantity than '^ ever he wrote at any other time, except in *' the Life of Savage, of which forty- eight *' pages in odavo were the produftion of one *' long day, including a part of the night." ^ In the courfe of the converfation, he aflved, whether any of the family of Faden the printer were livinp-. Belnt^ told that the geographer near Charing-crofs was Faden's fon, he laid, after a (hort paufe, '' I borrowed a guinea of '' his father near thirty years ago ; be lo good ^' as to take this, and pay it for me," Wifl-iing to difcharge every duty, and every obligation, Johnfbn recolleaed another debt of ten pounds, which he had borrowed from his friend Mr. Hamilton the printer, about twenty years before. He fent the money to Mr. Ha- ; o miltou 134- AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND miltoii at his houfe in Bedford Row, with an apology for the length of time. The Reverend Mr. Strahan was the bearer of the meffnge, about four or five days before Johnlon breathed his laft. Mr. Saftres (whom Dr. Johnfon efteemed and mentioned in his will) entered the room daring his illnefs. Dr. Johnfon, as foon as he law him, ftretched forth his hand, and, in a tone of lamentation, called out, Jam mori- TURus ! But the love of life was ftiU an adllve principle. Feeling himfelf fwelled with the dropfy, he conceived that, by incifions in his legs, the water might be difcharged. Mr. Crulkfhank apprehended that a mortification might be the confcquence ; but, to appeafe a diftempered fancy, he gently lanced the furface. Johnfon cried out, *• Deeper, deeper; I want ** length of life, and you are afraid of giving ** me pain, which I do not value." On the 8th of December, the Reverend Mr« Strahan drew his will, by which, after a few le- gacies, the refidue, amounting to about fifteen hundred pounds, was bequeathed to Frank, the Black GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 135 Black fervant, formerly configned to tlie tef- tator by his friend Dr. Bathurfl. The hiftory of a death- bed is painful. Mr. Strahan informs us, that the ftrength of reli- gion prevailed againft the infirmity of nature ; and his foreboding dread of the Divine Juftice fubiided into a pious truft and humble hope of mercy at the Throne of Grace. On Monday the 13th day of December (the laft of his ex- iftence on this fide the grave), the defire of life returned with all its former vehemence. He ftill imagined, that, by pundluring his legs relief might be obtained. At eight in the morn- ing he tried the experiment, but no water fol- lowed. In an hour or tv/o after, he fell into a doze, and about {qvqu m the evening, expired without a groan. On the 20th of the month his remains, with due folemnlties, and a numerous attendance of his friends, were buried in Weftminfter Abbey, near the foot of Shakfpeare's monument, and clofe to the grave of the late Mr. Garrick. The funeral fervice was read by his friend Dr. Taylor. A black marble over his grave has the fol- lowing infcription : i 4 Samuel 130 an essay on the life and Samuel Johnson, LL. D. obi it XIII die Dccembris, Anno Domini MDCCLXXXIV. /Etatis fu^ Lxxv, If we now look back, as from nn eminence, to view the fcenes of life, and the literary la- bours in wliich Dr. Johnfon was engaged, we may be able to delineate the features of the man, and to form an eftimate of his genius. As a man, Dr. Johnfon ftands difplayed in open day- light. Nothing remains undifcovered. Whatever he faid is known ; and without al- lowing him the ufual privilege of hazarding fentiments, and advancing poiitions, for mere amufement, or the pleafure of difcuflion, Cri- ticifm has endeavoured to make him anfwerable for what, perhaps, he never ferioufly thought. His diary, v^^hich has been printed, difcovers ftill more. We have before us the very heart of the man, with all his inward confciouinefs. And yet neither in the open paths of life, nor in his fecret recefles, has any one vice been dif- covered. We fee him reviewing every year of his life, and feverely cenfuring himfelf, for not keeping refolutions, which morbid melancholy, and GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. I ^y and other bodily infirmities, rendered imprac- ticable. We lee him for every little defeft hn- pofing on himfelf voluntary penance, going through the d\y with only one cup of tea with- out milk, and to the laft, amidft paroxyfms and remillions of illnefs, forming plans of ftudy and refolutions to amend his life*. Many of his fcruples may be called vveakneflTes ; but they are the weakneffes of a good, a pious, and mod excellent man. His perfon, it is well known, was large and unwieldy. His nerves were aftefted by that diforder, for which, at two years of age, he was prefented to the roy:il touch. His head ihook, and involuntary motions made it uncer- tain that his legs and arms w^ould, even at a tea-table, remain in their proper place. A perfon of Lord Chefterfield's delicacy might in his company be in a fever. He would fome- times of his own accord do things inconfillent with the eftablilhed modes of behaviour. Sit- ting at table with the celebrated Mrs Chol- mondeley, who exerted herfelf to circulate the ^ Oil the fubjevfl of voluntary penance fee the Rambler, fub- 138 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND fnbfcription for Shakfpeare, he took hold of her hand in the middle of dinner, and held it clofe to his eye, wondering at the delicacy and the whitenefs, till with a fmile (lie alked. Will he give it to me again wben he has done with it ? The exteriors of polltenefs did not belong to Johnfon, Even that civility which proceeds, or ought to proceed, from the mind, was fome- tlmes violated. His morbid melancholy had an efFe<£l on his temper ; his paffions were ir- ritable ; and the pride of fcience, as well as of a fierce independent Ipirit, inflamed him on fome occafions above all bounds of moderation. Though not in the ihade of academic bowers, he led a fcholaftic life ; and the habit of pro- nouncing decifions to his friends and vifitors gave him a di(Satorial manner, which was much enforced by a voice naturally loud, and often overftretched. Metaphyfical difcuiTion, moral theory, fyfcems of religion, and anec- dotes of literature, were his favourite topics. General hifiory had little of his regard. Bio- graphy was his delight. 'The proper Jludy of mankind is man. Sooner than hear of the Punic war, he would be rude to the perfon that in- troduced the fulled, 6 Job a- GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON, 120 Johnfon was born a logician ; one of thofe, to whom only books of logic are faid to be of life. In confequence of his Ikill in that art, he loved argumentaiiou. No nnan thought more proio'indly, nor with fuch acute difcernment, A fallacy could not i}\ud before him : it was fure to be refuted by ftrength of reafoning, and a precifion both in idea and expreffion almoft unequalled. When he choie by apt illuftratioii to place the argument of his adverfary in a lu- dicrous light, one was almoft inclined to think ridicule the tejl of truth. He was furprized to be told, but it is certainly true, that, wi:h great powers of mind, wit and humour were his fhining talents. That he often argued for the fake of a triumph over his adverfary, cannot be difTembled. Dr. Rofe, of Chiiwick, has been heard to tell of a friend of his, who thanked him for introducing liim to Dr. Johnfon, as he had been convinced, in the courfe of a long difpute, that an opinion w4iich he had embraced as a fettled truth, was no better than a vulgar error. This being reported to Johnfon, " Nay," fiid he, " do not let him be thankful, for he was *' right, and I was wrong.'* Like his uncle Andrew, in the ring at bmithfield, Johnfon, in 140 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND in a circle of difpiitants, was determined neither io he thrown nor conquered, Notwithftanding all his piety, felf-government, or the command of his pafiions in converfation, does not feem to have been among his attainments. When- ever he thought the contention was for fupe- riority, he has been known to break out with violence, and even ferocity. When the fray was over, he generally foftened into repent- ance, and, by conciliating meafures, took care that no animofity (liould be left rankling in the breaft of his antagonift. Of this defe£l he feems to have been confcious. In a letter to Mrs. Thrale, he fays, '' Poor Baretti ! do not *^ quarrel with him ; to negleil him a little ** will be fufficient. He means only to be ** frank and manly, and independent, and, per- ** haps, as you fay, a little wife. To be frank, <* he thinks, is to be cynical ; and to be inde- ** pendent, is to be rude. Forgive him, deareft <' lady, the rather, becaufe of his mifbehaviour *M am afraid he learned part of me, I hope *^ to fet him hereafter a better example." For his own intolerant and overbearing fpirit he apologized by obferving, that it had done fome good ; obfcenity and impiety were re- preffed in his company. It GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. I41 It was late in life before he had the habit of mixnig, otherwife than occafionally, with po- lite company. At Mr. Th rale's he faw a con- ftant fuccefiion of well- accompli (hed vifitors. In that fociety he began to wear off the rugged points of liis own charafter. Fie faw the ad- vantages of mutual civility, and endeavoured to profit by the models before him. He aimed at what has been called by Swift the lejfer mo- rals^ and by Cicero minores virtutes. His en- deavour, though new and late, gave pleafure to all his acquaintance. Men were glad to fee that he was willing to be comm.unicative on equal terms and reciprocal complacence. The time was then expelled when he was to ceafe being w4:iat George Garrick, brother to the celebrated aftor, called him the firft time he heard him converfe, " A tremendous Companion." He certainly wiflied to be po- lite, and even thought himfelf (o \ but his. civility ftiil retained fomething uncouth and j-iarfli. His manners took a milder tone, but the endeavour was too palpably feen. He la- boured even in trifles. He was a giant gaining ^ purchafe to lift a feather. It 142 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND It is obferved by the younger Pliny, that in the confines of virtue and great qualities there are generally vices of an oppofite nature. In Dr, Johnfon not one ingredient can take the name of vice. From his attainments in literature grew the pride of knowledge ; and from his powers of reafoning, the love of dif- putation and the vain- glory of fuperior vigour. His piety, in fome inftances, bordered on fu- perdition. He was willing to believe in pre- ternatural agency, and thought it not more flrange that there fhould be evil fpirits than evil men. Even the quedion about fecond light held him in fufpence. " Second fight," Mr. Pennant tells ns, 'Ms a power of feeing '^ images impreifed on the organs of fight by *' the power of fuicy, or on the fancy by the *' difordered fpirits operating on the mind. It '* is the faculty of feeing fpedres or vifions, which reprefent an event adually paffing at ' a diftance, or likely to happen at a future " day. In 1 77 1, a gentleman, the laft who *' was fuppofed to be pofTefled of this faculty, *' had a boat at fea in a tempeftuous night, *' and, being anxious for his freight, fuddenly *' ftarted up, and faid his men would be ** drowned, for he liad feen them pafs before '' him c GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 1 43 ^' him with wet garments and dropping locks, ** The event correfponded with his difordered ** fancy. And thus," continues Mr. Pennant, ** a diftempered imagination, clouded with " anxiety, may make an imprefiion on the ** fpirits ; as perfons, reftlefs and troubled with " indignation, fee various forms and figures *' while they lie awake in bed.'^ This is what Dr. Johnfon was not willing to rejecl. He wiflied for fome pofitive proof of communica* tions with another world. His benevolence embraced the whole race of man, and yet was tinftured with particular prejudices. He wa5 pleafed with the minifter in the Ifle of Sky, and loved him fo much that he began to wiih him not a Prefbyterian. To that body of Dif- lenters his zeal for the Eftabliihed Church made him in fome degree an adverfiuy ; and his at- tachment to a mixed and limited Monarchy led him to declare open war againft what he called a fuUen Republican. He would rather praife a man of Oxford than of Cambridge. He dif- liked a Whig, and loved a Tory. Thefe were the fhades of his charadler, which it has been the bufinefs of certain party- writers to rcprw- fent in the darkefi colours. Since 144 AN" ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND Since virtue, or moral goodnefs, confifts in a jull conformity of our adlions to the relations in which we ftand to the Supreme Being and to our fellow creatures, where fliall we find a man who has been, or endeavoured to be, more diligent in the difcharge of thole eflential duties ? His firft prayer was compofed m 1738 ; he continued thofe fervent ejaculations of piety to the end of his life. In his medita- tions we fee him fcrutinizing himfelf with feverity, and aiming at perfecllon unattainable by man. His duty to his neighbour confifted in univerfal benevolence, and a conftant aim at the produSion of happinefs. Who was more fincere and fteady in his friend (hips ? It has been faid that there was no real affection be- tween him and Garrick. On the part of the latter, there might be fome corrofions of jea- loufy. The chara£lcr of Prospero, in the Rambler, N'^. 200, was, beyond all queftion, occafioned by Garrick's oftentatious difplay of furniture and Drefden china. It was furely fair to take from this incident a hint for a moral effay ; and, though no more was in- tended, Garrick, we are told, remembered it with uneaiinefs. He was alfo hurt that his 4 Lichfield iGENIUS OF DR, JOHNSON. 1 45 Lichfield friend did not think fo highly of his dramatic art as the rcfl: of the world. The fail was, Johnfon could not fee the paf- lions as thev rofe and chafed one another in the varied features of that expreffive face ; and by his own manner of reciting verfes, which was wonderfully impreffive, he plainly (hewed that he thought there was too much of artifi- cial tone and meafured cadence in the decla- mation of the theatre. The prefent writer well remembers being in converfation with Dr. Johnfon near the fide of the fcenes during the trao;edv of Kino; Lear : when Gar- rick came ofl:' the ftage, he faid, " You two *' talk fo loud you defiroy all my feelings.*' *' Prithee,'* replied Johnfon, '' do not talk of «' feelinp-s. Punch has no feelinps." This feems to have been his fettled opinion ; admi- rable as Garrick's imitation of nature always was, Johnfon thought it no better than mere niimickry. Yet it is certain that he efteemed and loved Garrick ; that he dwelt with plea- fure on his praife ; and ufed to declare, that he deferved his great fuccefs, becaufe on all applications for charity he gave more than was allced. After Garrick's death he never talked Vol. L k of 146 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND of him Without a tear in his eyes. He offered, if Mrs. Garrick would defire it of him, to be the editor of his works and the hiflorian of his life. It has been mentioned that on his death- bed he thought of writing a Latin infcription to the memory of his friend. Numbers are flill living who know thefe fafts, and ftill re- member with gratitude the friendfliip which he iliewed to them with unaltered affedlion for a number of years. His humanity and generofity, in proportion to his flender income, were unbounded. It has been truly faid, that the lame, the blind, and the forrowful, found in his houfe a fure retreat. A ftridl adherence to truth he confidered as a facred obligation, infomuch that, in relating the moft minute anecdote, he would not allow himfelf the fmall- cft addition to embellifh his ftory. The late Mr. Tyers, w^ioknew Dr. Johnfon intimately, obferved, '^ that he always talked as if he was *' talking upon oath." After a long acquaint- ance with this excellent man, and an attentive retrofpefl: to his whole condufl:, fuch is the light in which he appears to the writer of this effay. The following lines of Horace may be deemed h;s pidure in miniature : Iracundior «ENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON, I47 Iracundior efl paulo, minus aptus acutis I^aribus horuni hominum, rideri poflit, eo quod Ruflicius tonfo toga defluit, & male laxus In pede calceus h^ret ; at eil bonus, ut melior vir Non alius quifquam ; at libi amicus, at ingenium ingens, Inculto latet hoc fub corpore ^, It remains to give a review of Johnfon's works ; and this, it is imagined, will not be unwelcome to the reader. Like Milton and Addifon, he feems to have been fond of his Latin poetry. Thofe com- pofitions fhew that he was an early fcholar ; but his vcrfes have not the graceful eafe that gave fo much fuavity to the poems of Addifon. The tranflation of the Meffiah labours under * Your friend is paiTionate, perhaps unfit For the briflc petulance of modern wit. His hair ill cut, his robe that aukvvard flows. Or his large flioes, to raillery expofe The man you love ; yet is he not poflcfs'J Of virtues, with which very few are bled? While underneath this rude uncouth difguife A genius of extcnlivc knowledge lies. Francis's Hor. Book i. Sat. 3. k 2 two 148 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND two difadvantages ; it Is firft to be compared with Pope's inimitable performance, and after- wards with the Poilio of Virgil. It may ap- pear trifling to remark, that he has made the letter folutlon of his mother, darkened the pi£turcr# A tale, that fhould keepcuriofity awake by the artifice ot unexpefted incidents, was not the defign of a mind pregnant with better things. He, who reads the heads of the chapters, will find, that it is not a courfe of adventures that invites him forward, but a difcufllon of intereft- ing queftions ; Refiedions on Human Life; the Kiftory of Imlac, the Man of Learning ; a Differtation upon Poetry ; the Charader of a wife and happy Man, who difcourfes with energy on the government of the paffions, and on a fudden, when Death deprives him of his daughter, forgets all his maxims of wifdom and the eloquence that adorned them, yield- insr to the ftroke of aSlidion with all the ve- hemence of the bittereft anguifh. It is by pic- tures of life, and profound moral refle£lion, that expe£lation Is engaged and gratified throughout the work. The Hiftory of the Mad Aftronomer, who imagines that, for five years, he poflefled the regulation of the weather, and that the fun paffed from tropic to tropic by his direc- tion, reprefents in ftriking colours the fad cfft&s of a diftempered imagination. It be- comes the more affeding, when we recoiled that GiENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 165 that it proceeds from one, who lived in fear of the fame dreadful vlfitation ; from one who fays emphatically, '* Of the uncertainties in ^^ our prefent ftate, the moft dreadful and ^* alarming is the uncertain continuance of ** reafon." The enquiry into the caufe of madnefs, and the dangerous prevalence of ima- gination, till, in time, fome particular train of ideas fixes the attention, and the mind re- curs conftantly to the favourite conception, is carried on in a ftrain of acute obfervation ; but it leaves us room to think, that the author w\as tranfcribing from his own apprehenfions. The difcourfe on the nature of the foul gives us all that philofophy knows, not without a tindlure of fuperftition. It is remarkable that the va- nity of human puifuits was, about the fame time, the fubje6l that employed both Johnfon and Voltaire ; but Cmidide is the work of a lively imagination, and RafTelas, with all its fplendour of eloquence, exhibits a gloomy pic- ture. It fnould, however, be remembered, that the world has known the weeping as well as the LAUGHING philofopher, 1 3 The l66 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND The Didionary does not properly fall with- in tiie province of this eflay. The preface, however, will be found in this edition. Fie who reads the clofe of it, without acknow- ledging the force of the pathetic and fublime, mull: have more infenfibiiity in his compofition than ufually falls to the ihare of man. The work itlelf, though in feme inllances abufe lias been loud, and in others malice has en- deavoured to undermine its fame, dill remains the Mount Atlas of Engliih Literature. Though fLoriiis and tempeils thunder on its broiv. And oceans break their billows at its leer. It ftands unmov'd, and glories in its height. 'I'hat johnfon w^as eminently qualified for the office of a commentator on Shakfpeare, no man can doubt ; but it was an office wliich he never cordially embraced. The publick ex- pe£led more than he had diligence to perform ; and yet his edition has been the ground on wliich QVtry fubic quent commentator has chofe to build. One note, for its fmgularity, may be thought worthy of notice in this place, ilamlet lays, For it the fun breed mas^q-ots in a dead dog, being a God-ki/Jing carrion. la this Wr,r- GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 167 Warburton difcovered the origin of evil. Ham- let, he fays, breaks 00" in the middle of the ientence; but the learned commentator knows what he was going to lay, and, being unwil- ling to keep the fecret, he goes on in a train ot philofophical realoning that leaves the reader in aftonifhment. John (on, with true pietv, adopts the fanciful hypothecs, declaring it to be a noble emendation, which almoit fets the critic on a level with the autlior. T\\t oeneral obfervations at the end ot ilie feveral plays, and the preface, will be found in this edition. The former, with great elegance and precillon, give a lummarv view of each drama. The preface is a tra^l of great erudition and philo- iophiical critic'iim. Johnfon's political pamphlets, whatever was jiis motive for writing them, whether grati- tude for his penfion, or the folicitation of n^eii in powder, did not fupport the cauie for which tlicy were undertaken. They are written in a flyle truly harmonious, and with his uiual dipnity of language. When it is laid that Iv^ advanced pofitlons repugnant to the common rights of mankind y the virulence of party may 1 4 be l68 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND be fufpeded. It is, perbap?, true that in the cla-? mour raifed throughout the kingdom Johnfou over heated his mind ; but he was a friend to the rights of man, and he was greatly fuperior to the littlencfs of fplrit tliat might incline him to advance what he did not think and firmly believe. In the Fulje Alarm^ though many of the mod eminent men in the kingdom con- curred in petitions to the throne, yet Johnfon, having well furveyed the mafs of the people, has given, with great humour and no lefs truth, what may be called, the birth^ parent^ €ge^ and education of a remonjlrance. On the fubje£t of Falkland's idands, the fine diffuafive from too haPiily involving the world in the calamities of war, mufl extort npplaufe even fi-om the party that wi(hed, at that time, for icenes of tumult and commotion. It was in the fame pamphlet that Johnfon offered bat- tle to Junius; a writer, who, by the uncom« iiion elegance of his ftyle, charmed every rea- der, though his objeift was to inflame the na- tion in favour of a faclion. Junius fought in the dark ; he faw his enemy and had his full blow, while he himlelf remained iafe in ob- icurity. But let us not, faid Johnfon, miftake 1 the GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 169 the venom of the fliaft for the vigour of the bow. The keen nive6llve which he pubHflied on that occafion, promlfed a paper- war between two combatants, who knew the ufe of their weapons. A battle between them was as ea- gerly expe£led as between Mendoza and Big Ben, But Junius, whatever was his reafon, never returned to the field. He laid down bis arms, and has, ever fince, remained as fecret as the man in the mask in Voltaire's Hiftory, The account of his journey to the Hebrides or Weftern Ifles of Scotland, is a model for fuch as fhall hereafter relate their travels. The author did not vifit that part of the world in the charader of an Antiquary, to amufc us with wonders taken from the dark and fa- bulou'j ages ; nor as a Mathematician, to mea- fure a degree, and fettle the longitude and lati- tude of the feveral iilands. Thofe, who ex- peeled fuch information, expeded what was never intended . In every ivork regard the uriter'^s end, Johnfon went to ko. men and manners, modes of life, and the progrefs of civilization. His remarks are fo artfully blended with the rapidity 170 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND rapidity and elegance of his narrative, that the reader is incHned to vvifh, as Johnion did with regard to Gray, that to travel^ and to tell his travels^ had been more of his employ me?it. As to Johnfon's Parliamentary Dehates, no- thin*^ with propriety can be faid in this place. They are colleded in two volumes by Mr. Stock- dale, and the flow of eloquence which runs through the ieveral fpeeches is fufficiently known . It will not be ufelefs to mention two more vo- lumes, which may form a proper funplement to this edition. They contain a fet of Sermons left for pubilcation by John Taylor, LL.D. The Reverend Mr. Hayes, who ufhered thefe Difcourfes into the world, has not given them as the corapofition of Dr. Taylor. All he could lav for his departed friend was, that he left them in filence among his papers. Mr. Hayes knew them to be the produclion of a fuperior mind ; and the writer of thefe Memoirs owes it to the candour of that elegant fcholar, that he is now w^arranted to give an additional proof of Jobnfon's ardour in the caufe of piety, and every moral duty. The lail difcourfe in the cojkaioa was intended to be delivered by Dr. Taylor GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. lyi Taylor at the funeral of Johnfon's wife ; but that Reverend gentleman declined tlie office, becnule, as he told Mr. Hayes, the pralle of the dcceakd was too mucli amplified. He, who reads the piece, will find it a beautiful moral lelion, written with temper, and no where overcharj^ed with ambitious ornaments. The reft of the Difcouifes were the fund, which Dr. Taylor, from time to time, carried with Iiim to his pulpit. He had the largest Bu LL * in England, and fome of the beft Sermons. We come now to the Lives of the Foets, a work undertaken at the age of feventy, yet the moft brilliant, and certainly the moft popular of all our Author's writings. For this perform- ance he needed little preparation. Attentive always to the hiftory of letters, and by his own natural bias fond of Biography, he was the more willing to embrace the propofition of the Bookfdllers. He was verfed in the whole body of En^lilh Poetry, and his rules of criticilni were fettled with precifion. Ttie difiertation, in the Life of Cowley, on t!ie metaphyfical Poets of the laft century, has the attraclion of * See Johnfon's Letters from Aflibouriie in Vol. XII. of this edition. novelty %JZ AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AN© novelty as well as found obfervation. The writers, who followed Dr. Donne, went m queft of fomething better than truth and nature. As Sancho fays in Don Quixotte^ they wanted better bread than is made with wheat. They took pains to bewilder themfelves, and were ingenious for no other purpofe than to err. la Johnfon's review of Cowley's works, falfe wit is deteded in all Its fhapes, and the Gothic tafte for glittering conceits, and far-fetched allufions, is exploded, never, it is hoped, to re-^ vive again. An author, who has publlflied his obferva- tions on the Life and Writings of Dr. John- fon, fpeaking of the Lives of the Poets, fays, *' Thefe compolitlons, abounding in ftrong and ^' acute remark, and Vv'ith many fine and even *' fubllmc pailages, have unqueftionably great *' merit ; but if they be regarded merely as *' containing narrations of the Lives, delinea- *' tions of the characters, and firiftures of the ^^ feveral authors, they are far from being al- ^' ways to be depended on.". He adds, '* The *' characters are fometimes partial, and there '^ is fometimes too wycH malignity of mif- " reprefentation^ GENtUS OF t)R. JOHNSON, 1 73 *^ reprefentation, to which, perhaps, may be ** johied no inconfiderable portion of erroneous " criticifm." The feveral claufes of this cen* fure deferve to be anfwered as fully as the limits of this effay will permit. In the firft place, the fails are related upon the befi: intelligence, and the beft vouchers that could be gleaned, after a great lapfe of time. Probability was to be inferred from fuch ma- terials as could be procured, and no man better underftood the nature of hiftorical evidence than Dr. Johnfon ; no man was more religioudy an obferver of truth. If his Hiftory is any where defeflive, it muft be imputed to the want of better information, and the errors of uncertain tradition. Ad nos vix tenuis hmx perlabltur aura. If the ftriflures on the works of the various authors are not always fatisfadory, and it er- roneous crltlcifm may fometimes be fufpeiled, who can hope that in matters of tafl:e all fliall agree ? The inflances in which the public mind has differed from the pofitions advancf^d by the author, are few in number. It has been 174 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND been fiiid, that juflice has not been done to Swift; that Gay and Prior are undervalued; and that Gray has been hardily treated. This charge, perhaps, ought not to be difputed. Johnfon, it is well known, had conceived a prejudice againft Swift. His friends tren^/oled for him when he was writing that life, but were pleafed, at laft, to fee it executed with temper and moderation. As to Prior, it is pro- bable that he gave his real opinion, but an opinion that will not be adopted by men of lively fancy. With regard to Gray, when he condemns the apoftrophe, in which Father Thames is defired to tell who drives the hoop, or tofles the ball, and then adds, that Father Thames had no better means of knowing than himfelf ; when he compares the abrupt beginning of the firft ftanza of the bard to the ballad of Johnny Armstrong, " Is there ever a man in all Scot- land\^ there are, perhaps, few friends of John- fon, who would not wi(h to blot out both the paflages. It may be queflloned whether the remarks on Pope's Effay on Man can be re- ceived without great caution. It has been al- ready mentioned, that Croufaz, a profeffor in Switzerland, eminent for his Treatife of Logic, 4 ftarted GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. I75 flarted up a profefled enemy to tint poem. Johnfon lays, " his mind was oi^e of thofe, in " which philofophy and piety are happily *■' united. He looked with dillrufl: upon all '' metaphyfical fyftems of theology, and was '• perfuaded, that the pofitlons of Pope were *' intended to draw mankind awav from Reve- ^' lation, and to reprefent the whole courfe of *' things as a neceiTary concatenation of in- ^' diflbluble fatality." Tliis is not th.e place for a controverfy about the Leibuitzian fyftem. VVarburton, with all the powers of his larcre and comprehenlive mind, publifhcd a Vindica- tion of Pope ; and yet Johnfon fays, that '' in *' many paffages a religious eye may eafily dif- '' cover expreffions not very favourable to mo- *' rals, or to liberty.'* This fentence is fevere, and, perluips, dogmatical. Croufaz wrote an Examen of The Essay on Man, and after- wards a Commentary on every remarkable paf- fage ; and though it now appears that Mrs. Elizabeth Carter tranflated the foreign Critic, yet it is certain that Johnfon encouraged the work, and, perhaps, imbibed thofe early pre- judices which adhered to him to the end of his life. He ihuddered at the idea of irreligion. Hence 2j76 AN ESSAY O^T THE LIFE AND Hence we are told in the Life of Pope, '' Never *' were penury of knov/ledge and vulgarity of *^ fentlment fo happily difguiied ; Pope, in the *' chair of wifdom, tells much that every man ^' knows, and much that he did not know him* *' felf ; and gives us comfort In the polition, " that though marl's afool^ yet God is wife ; that *' human advantages are unftable ; that our *^ true honour is, not to have a great part, but *' to aft it well ; that virtue only is our own, *' and that happinefs is always in our power. *' The reader, when he meets all this in its new *' array, no longer knows the talk of his mo- ^^ ther and his nurfe." But may it not be faid, that every fyftem of ethics m^uft or ought to ter- ininate in plain and general maxims for the ufe of life ? and, though in fuch axioms no dlfcovery is made, does not the beauty of the moral theory confift in the premifes, and the chain of reafon- ing that leads to the conclufion ? May not truth, as Johnfon himfelf fays, be conveyed to the mind by a new train of intermediate images ? Pope's doflrine about the ruling paffion does not feem to be refuted, though it is called, in harfli terms, pernicious as well as fiilfe, tend- ing to eftablifh a kind of moral predeftination, 9r GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 1 77 or over- ruling principle, which cannot be re- fifted. But John foil was too eafily alarmed in the caufe of religion. Organized as the human race is, individuals have different inlets of per- ception, different powers of mind, and dhferent fenfations of pleafure and pain. All fpread their charms, but charm not all alike. On different fenfes different objeds {trike ; Hence different palfions more or lefs inflame, As flrong or weak the organs of the frame. And hence one mafter-paflion in the bread. Like Aaron^s ferpent fwallows up the reft. Brumoy fays, Pafcal from his infancy felt him- felf a geometrician ; and Vandyke, in like manner, was a painter. Shakfpeare, who of all poets had the deepefl infight into human nature, was aware of a prevailing bias in the operations of every mind. By him we are told, ^' Majlerlefs pajjionfways us to the mood of what it likes or loaths^ It remains to enquire, whether in the lives before us the characters are partial, and too of- ten drawn with malignity of mifreprefentation. To prove this it is alledged, tbat JVhnfon has mifreprefented the circumflances relative to the Vol. I. m tranf- 178 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND tranflation of the firft Iliad, and malicioufly afcribed that performance to Addlfon, uiftead of TIckell, with too much reliance on the tef- tuBony of Pope, taken from the account in the papers left by Mr. Spence. For a refuta- tion of the fallacy imputed to Addifon, we are referred to a note in the Blographia Britannica^ written by the late Judge Blackjlone^ who, it is faid, examined the whole matter with accu- racy, and found that the firft regular ftate- ment of the accufation againft Addifon was publifhed by RufFhead in his Life of Pope, from the materials which he received from Dr. Warburton. But, with all due deference to the learned Judge, whofe talents deferve all praife, this account is by no means accurate. Sir Richard Steele, in a dedication of the Comedy of the Drummer to Mr. Congreve, gave the firft infight into that bulinefs. He fays, in a ftyle of anger and refentment, *' If •* that gentleman (Mr. Tickell) thinks himfelf ^' injured, I will allow I have wronged him •' upon thisiffue, that (if the reputed tranflator ♦' of the firft book of Homer fhall pleafe to *^ give us another book) there fliall appear I *' another GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 179 ^' another good judge in poetry, befides Mr. '' Alexander Pope, who (liall like it." The authority of Steele outweighs all opinions founded on vain conje6lure, and, indeed, fecms to be decifive, iince we do not find that Tickell, though warmly prefled, thought proper to vin- dicate himfelf. But the grand proof of Johnfon*s malignity, iS the manner in which he has treated the cha- racler and condu6l of Milton. To enforce this charge, has wearied fophiftry, and exhaufted the invention of a party. What they cannot deny, they palliate ; w4iat they cannot prove, they fay is probable. But why all this rage again ft Dr. Johnfon ? Addifon, before him, had faid of Milton ; Oh ! had the Poet ne'er prophan'd his pen. To varniQi o'er the guilt of faithlefs men ! And had not Johnfon an equal right to avow his fentiments ? Do his enemies claim a privilege to abufe whatever is valuable to Englifhmen, either in Church or State, and muft the liberty of UNLICENSED PRINTING be denied to the friends of the Britifh conftitution? ^ m 2 It l80 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND It is unneceffary to purfue the argument through all its artifices, fince, difmantled of ornament and feducing language, the plain truth may be ftated In a narrow compafs. John- fon knew that Milton was a republican ; he fays, "• an acrimonious, and furly republican, *' for which it is not known that he gave any *' better realon, than that a popular government *' was the moft frugal ; for the trappings of a ^' monarchy would fet up an ordinary common- *' wealth/' Johnfon knew that Milton talked " aloud of the danger of readmitting king- *' SHIP in this nation ; and when Milton adds, *Vthat a commonwealth was commended, or '^ rather enjoined, by our Saviour himfeif to *' all Chriftians, not without a remarkable dif- '' allowance, and the brand of Gentilifm upon '^ KINGSHIP," Johnfon thought him no better than a wild enthuiiail. He knew, as well as Milton, " that the happinefs of a nation '^ mufl needs be firm.eft and certaineft in a full *' and free council of their own electing, where *« no fingle perfon, but reafon only fways ;" but the example of all the republics, recorded in the annals of mankind, gave him no room to GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. l8l to hope that reason only would be heard. He knew that the repubhcan form of govern • ment, having httle or no compHcation, and no confonance of parts by a nice mechanifm forming a regular whole, was too fimple to be beautiful even in theory. In practice it, perhaps, never exifted. In its moft flourifhing ftate, at Athens, Rome, and Carthage, it was a con- ftant fcene of tumult and commotion. From the mifchiefs of a wild democracy, the progrefs has ever been to the dominion of an ariftocracy ; and the w^ord ariftocracy fatally includes the boldeft and moft turbulent citizens, who rife by their crimes, and call themfelves the befl: men in the State. By intrigue, by cabal, and faftion, a pernicious oligarchy is fure to fuc- ceed, and end at laft in the tyranny of a fin^ gle ruler. Tacitus, the great m after of poli- tical wifdom, faw, under the mixed authority of king, nobles, and people, a better form of government than Milton's boafted republic ; and what Tacitus admired in theory, but de- fpaired of enjoying, Johnfon faw eftabliihcd in this country. He knew that it had been over- turned by the rage of frantic men -, but he knew that, after the iron rod of Cromwell's ufurpa- m 3 tion, l82 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND tion, the conftitution was once more reftored to its firfl: principles. Monarchy was eftabUflied, and this country was regenerated. It was re- generated a fecond time at the Revolution : the rights of men were then defined, and^the bleffings of good order and civil liberty have been ever fince difFufed through the whole comm-unity. The peace and happinefs of fociety were what Dr. Johnfon had at heart. He knew that Milton called his Defence of the Regicides, a defence of the people of England, but, how- ever gloffed and varniflied, he thought it an apology for murder. Had the men, who, under a (hew of liberty, brought their king to the fcafFold, proved by their fubfequent con- duft, that the public good infpired their ac- tions, the end might have given fome fan£lion to the means ; but ufurpation and (lavery fol- lowed. Milton undertook the office of fecre- tary under the defpotic power of Cromwell, offering the incenfe of adulation to his mafter, with the titles of Dire^ior of public Cotmcilsy the Leader of unconqiiered Armies^ the Father of his Coimtry. Milton declared, at the fame time, that nothing is more pleafng to God, or more GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. I 83 more agreeable to reafon^ than that the higheft mind jidoiild have the Jovereign power. In this ftrain of fervile flattery Milton gives us the right divine of tyrants. But it feems, in the fame piece, he exhorts Cromwell '* not to de- " fert thofe great principles of liberty which *' he had profefTed to efpoufe ; for it would be *' a grievous enormity, If, after having fuccefs- ♦' fully oppofed tyranny, he fliould himfelf *' a£l the part of a tyrant, and betray the caufe ** that he had defended." This defertion of every honeft principle the advocate for liberty lived to fee, Cromwell a6led the tyrant ; and, with vile hypocrify, told the people, that he had confulted the Lord, and the Lord would have it fo. Milton took an under part in the tragedy. Did that become the defender of the people of England ? Brutus fiw his country endaved ; he ftruck the blow for freedom, and he died with honour in the caufe. Had he lived to be fe- cretary under Tiberius, what would now be fiid of his memory ? But ftill, it feems, the proftitution with which Milton is charged, fince it cannot.be defended, is to be retorted on the characler of Johnfon. Foe 184 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND For this purpofe a book has been publlflied, called Remarks on Dr, 'Johnfoiis Life of Milton^ io which are added Milton's TraBate of Education^ and Areopagitica. In this laboured tra£l we are told, *' There is one performance afcribed to *' the pen of the Do£lor, where the proftitution ** is of fo Angular a nature, that it would be *' difficult to feledl an adequate motive for it *' out of the mountainous heap of conjectural ** caufes of human pafiions, or human caprice. ** It is the fpeech of the late unhappy Dr^ *' William Dodd, when he was about to hear *' the fentence of the law pronounced upon *' him, in confequence of an indictment for *' forgery. The voice of the publick has given •' the honour of manufacturing this fpeech to ** Dr.Johnfon ; and the ftyle and configuration of *' the fpeech itfelf confirm the imputation. But *' it is hardly poffible to divine what could be ** his motive for accepting the office. A man, *' to exprefs the precife ftate of mind of another, " about to be deftined to an ignominious death *' for a capital crime, fhould, one would ima- ** gine, have fome confcioufnefs, that he him- ** felf had incurred fome guilt of the fame ♦« kind,** In all the fchools of fophiftry is there GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 185 there to be found fo vile an argument ? In the purlieus of Grub-ftreet is there fuch another mouthful! of dirt ? In the whole quiver of Malice is there fo envenomed a fliaft ? After this it is to be hoped, that a certain clafs of men will talk no more of Johnfon's malignity. The laft apology for Milton is, that he ailed according to his principled. But Johnfon thought thofe principles detefta- ble ; pernicious to the conftltution In Church and State, deftrudive of the peace of fociety, and hoftile to the great fabric of civil policy, which the wifdom of ages has taught every Briton to revere, to love, and cherifh. He reckoned Milton in that clafs of men, of whom the Roman hiftorlan fays, when they want, by a fudden convulfion, to overturn the govern- ment, they roar and clamour for liberty ; if they fucceed, they deftroy liberty itfelf. Ut im- perlum evertant^ Libertaiem prceferuni ; ji fer^ verterint^ liber tat em ipfam aggredieniur. Such were the fentlments of Dr. Johnfon ; and it may be alked, in the language of Bolingbroke, " Are *' thefe fentlments, which any mrai, who Is ^^ born a Briton, in any circumftances, in any I <« fitua- l86 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND ** fituarion, ought to be afhamed, or afraid to **avowf^* Johnfoa has done ample juftlce to Milton's poetry : the Criticifni on Paradile Loft is a fubliaie compofition. Had he thought the author as good and pious a citizen as Dr. Watts, he would have been ready, iiotwith- ftanding his non-conformity, to do equal ho- nour to the memory of the man. It IS now time to clofe this^flay, which the author fears has been 'drawn too much into length. In the progrefs of the work, feeble as it may be, he thought himfelf performing the laft human office to the memory of a friend, whom he loved, efteemed, and honoured. His faltem accumulem donis, et fungar inani Munere. The author of thefe memoirs has been anxious to give the features of the man, and the true characler of the author. He has not fufFered the hand of partiality to colour his excellencies with too much warmth ; nor has he endeavoured to throw his fingularities too much into fhade. Dr. Johnfon's failings may well be forgiven for the fake of his virtues. His defe£ls were fpots in the fun. His piety, his kind affedions, and the good- nefs GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. iSy nefs of his heart, prefent an example worthy of imitation. His works will remain a monument of genius and of learning. Had he written nothing but Avhat is contained in this edition, the quantity fliews a life fpent in ftudy and meditation. If to this we add the labour of his Diftionary and other various produdlions, it may be fairly allowed, as he ufed to fay of hlmfelf, that he has written his fhare. In the volumes here prefented to the publick, the reader will find a perpetual fource of pleafure and inftru6lion. With due precautions, authors may learn to grace their ftyle with elegance, harmony, and precifion ; they may be taught to think with vigour and perfpicuity; and, to crown the whole, by a diligent attention to thefe books all may advance in virtue. FINIS. N #