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AN
ESSAY
ON THE
LIFE AND GENIUS
OF
SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D.
\* Entered at Stationers Hall.
AN
%2^Z^
/
E
ON THE
LIFE AND GENIUS
OF
SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL. D.
By ARTHUR MURPHY, E Qi
LONDON:
Printed for T. Longman, B. White and Son. B Law, J. Dodfley, II. Baldwin,
\. Rohfon, f. Jolmfon, C. Dilly, T. Vernor, G. G. J. mid J. Rohinfon,
T. Cadtll, J. N.chols, R. Baldwin, N. Cdnant, P. Elmfly, F. and C.
Riving'on, T. Payne, W. Goldfmith, R. Faulder, Leie.li ard Sotliehy,
G. Nicol, f. Mtirrav. A Strahan, W. Lowndes, T. Evans, W. Eent,
S Hayes, G. and T. VVilkie, T. and J. Efierton, W.Fcx.'P. M'Qneen,
O^ilvie and Speare, Darton and Harvey, G. and C. Kearfley, W. Millar,
15. C. Colhns, and li. Ncwbery.
MDCCXCIII.
r \
3 53 3
je-*
A N
E S S AY
O N T H E
LIFE AND GENIUS
O F
SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D
WHEN the works of a great Writer,
who has bequeathed to pofterity a
iafting legacy, are prefented to the world, it
is naturally expected, that fome account of
his life fhould accompany the edition. The
Reader wifhes to know as much as poffible
of the Author. The circumftances that at-
tended him, the features of his private cha-
racter, his converfation, and the means by
which he rofe to eminence, bscome the fa-
a vouritc
% AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
vourite objects of enquiry. Curiofity is excited;
and the admirer of his works is eager to know
his private opinions, his courfe of ftudy, the
particularities of his conduct, and, above all,
whether he purfued the wifdom which he re-
commends, and practifed the virtue which his
writings inipire. A principle of gratitude is
awakened in every generous mind. For the
entertainment and inftruclion 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 poflhumous friendship with the author.
In reviewing the life of fuch a writer, there
is, bcfides, a rule of juftice to which the
publick have an undoubted claim. Fond ad-
miration and partial friendship mould not be
luffered to reprefent his virtues with exaggera-
tion j nor mould malignity be allowed, under
a fpecious difguife, to magnify mere defects,
the ufual failings of human nature, into vice
or grofs deformity. The lights and ihades of
the character mould be piven ; and, if this be
done with a fhicr, regard to truth, a jufr eili-
mate of Dr. Johnfon will afford a lefTon per-
haps
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 3
haps as valuable as the moral doctrine that
fpeaks with energy in every page of his
works.
The prefent writer enjoyed the converfatiou
and friendmip of that excellent man more than
thirty years. He thought it an honour to be fo
connected, and to this hour he reflects on his
lofs with regret: but regret, he knows, has
fecret bribes, by which the judgement may be
influenced, and partial affection may be carried
beyond the bounds of truth. In the prefent
cafe, however, nothing needs to be diiguifed,
and exaggerated praife is unneceffary. It is an
obfervation of the younger Pliny, in his Epiftle
to his Friend of Tacitus, that hiftory ought
never to magnify matters of fact, becaufe
worthy actions require nothing but the truth.
Nam nee hiftoria debet egredi veritatetn, et
honejle fj3is Veritas fufficit. This rule the
prefent biographer promifes (hall guide his pen
throughout the following narrative.
It mav be faid, the death of Dr. Johnfon
kept the public mind in agitation beyond all
former example. No literary 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 tract on the fame
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 vilible. They wifned to have
a more concife, and, for that reafon, perhaps a
more fatisfactory account, fuch as may exhibit
a jufl picture of the man, and keep him the
principal figure in the fore ground of his own
picture. To comply with that requeft is the
defign of this eflay, w r hich the writer under-
takes with a trembling hand. He has no dif-
coveries, no fecret anecdotes, no occasional
controverfy,, no iudden flames of wit and
humour, no private converfation, and no new
facts to embellifh his work. Every thin?" has
/ been gleaned. Dr. John fon faid of himfelf,
\ " 1 am not uncandid, 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 friends has brought
every thing to light. What mould be related,
and what mould not, has been published wirh-
out diftinction. Dicenda tacenda locuti ! Every
thing that fell from him has been caught with
eagerneis by his admirers, who, as he fays in
one of his letters, have acted with the dili-
gence of fpies upon his conduct. To fome of
them the following lines, in Mallet's Poem on
Verbal Criticifm, are not inapplicable :
" Such that grave bird in Northern feas is found,
" Whofe name a Dutchman only knows to found;
** Where -e'er the king of fifh moves on before,
st This humble friend attends from more to more;
t{ With eye fliil earned, and with bill inclin'd,
" He picks up what his patron drops behind,
" With thoie choice cates his palate to regale,
" And is the careful Tibbald of a whale."
* Bofwell's Life of Johnfon. Vol. II. p. 465.
a 3 After
6 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
After fo many effays and volumes of Johnfoni*
ana, what remains for the prefent writer ?
Perhaps, what has not been attempted ; a
fhort, 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 paflions ; wrong headed, pofitive, and
at times afflicted with a degree of melancholy,
little fhort of madnefs. His mother was filler
to Dr. Ford, a practicing phyfician, and father
of Cornelius Ford, generally known by the
name of Parson Ford, the fame who is re-
prefented near the punch- bowl in Hogarth's
Midnight Modern Converfation. In the Life
of Fenton, Johnfon fays, that " his abilities,
" inftead of furniming convivial merriment to
" the voluptuous and difiblute, might have ena-
c bled him to excel among the virtuous and the
* This appears in a note to Johnfon's Diarv, prefixed
to the tirft of his prayers. After the alteration of tiie
ftiie, he kept his birth-day on rhe 18th of September,
and it is accordingly marked September , 7 ,.
" wife."
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON, ?
t wife." Being chaplain to the Earl of Chef-
terfield, he wifhed to attend that nobleman on
his embaffy to the Hague. Colley Cibber has
recorded the anecdote. " You mould go," faid
the witty peer, " if to your many vices you
would add one more." " Pray, my Lord,
fc what is that?" " Hypocrify, 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 1718 Under
Bailiff of Lichfield, and in the year 1725 he
ferved the office of the Senior Bailiff. He had
a brother of the name of Andrew, who, for
fome years, kept the ring at Smithfield, ap-
propriated to wreftlers and boxers. Our author
ufed to fay, that he was never thrown or con-
quered. Michael, the father, died December
1 73 1, at the age of feventy-fix ; his mother at
eighty-nine, of a gradual decay, in the year
1759. Of the family nothing more can be
related worthy of notice. Johnion did not
delight in talking of his relations. " There is
ii little pleaiure," he faid to xVlrs. Piozzi, " ill
" relating the anecdotes of beggary."
a 4 Johnfou
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 Queen Anne,
who, for the fir ft time, performed that office,
and communicated to her young patient all the
healing virtue in her power. He was after-
wards cut for that fcrophuloui. humour, and
the under part of his face was feamed and dif-
figured by the operation. It is fuppofed, that
this difeafe deprived him of the fight 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-fellows he talked more to him-
felf than with his companions, in 1725,
when lie was about fix teen years old, he went
on a vifit to his coufin Cornelius Ford, who
detained him for fome months, and in the
mean time affiled him in the daffies. The
general
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 9
general direction for his ftudies, which he then
received, he related to Mrs. Piozzi. " Ob*
" tain," fays Ford, " fome general principles
" of every fcience : he who can talk only on
" one fubject, or act 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 purfaed with a
good inclination. His reading was always deful-
tory, feldom refting on any particular author,
but rambling from one book to another, and,
by hafty matches, hoarding up a variety of
knowledge. It may be proper in this place to
mention another general rule laid down by
Ford for Johnfon's future conduct : " You will
" make your way the more eafily in the world,
{S as you are contented to difpute no man's
" claim to converfation-excellence : they will,
'* therefore, more willingly allow your preten-
" fions as a writer." But," fays Mrs. Pi-
ozzi, 4t the features of peculiarity, which mark
" a character to all fucceeding generations, are
" flow in coming: to their growth." That
ingenious lady adds, with her ufual vivacity,
" Can one, on fuch an occalion, forbear recol-
" lecting
IO AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
** letting the predictions of Boileau's father,
** who faid, ftroking the head of the young
* 6 fatinft, * this little man has too much wit,
M but he will never fpeak ill of any one' r"
On Johnfon's return from Cornelius Ford,
Mr. Hunter, then Mafler of the Free-fchool
at Lichfield, refufed to receive him again on
that foundation. At this diitance of time,
what his reafons were, it is vain to enquire ;
but to refute affiilance to a lad of promifmg
genius muft be pronounced harlh and illiberal.
It did not, however, flop the progrefs of the
young ftudent's education. He was placed
at another fchool* at Stourbridge in Worcefter-
frire, under the care of Mr. Wentworth.
Having gone through the rudiments of claffic
literature, he resumed to his father's houfe,
and was probably intended for the trade of a
bookfJler. He has been heard to fay that he
could bind a book. At the end of two years,
bcinir the i about nineteen, he went, to aflift the
ftudies of a young gentleman of the name of
Corbet, to the Univerfity of Oxford ; and on
they'll: of u&ober, 1728, both were entered
of Pembroke College ; Corbet as a gentleman-
commoner,
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. II
commoner, and Johnfon as a commoner. The
college-tutor, Mr. Jordan, was a man of no
genius ; and Johnfon, it feems, (hewed an
early contempt of mean abilities, in one or
two infrances behaving with infolence to that
gentleman. Of his general conduct at the
univeriky there are no particulars that merit
attention, except the tranilation of Pope's
Meffiah, which was a college-exercife impofed
upon him as a talk by Mr. Jordan. Corbet
left the univerfity in about two years, and
Jchnfon's falary ceafed. He was, by confe-
quence, ftraitened in his circumftances; but he
{till remained at college. Mr. Jordan, the tutor,
went off to a living ; and was fucceeded by
Dr. Adams, who afterwards became head of
the college, and was efreemed 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, notwithstanding, early iymptoms of
that wandering difpofition of mind which ad-
hered to him to the end of his life. His read-
ing was by fits and {tarts, undirected to any
particular fcience. General philology, agree-
2 ably
12 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
ably to his coufin Ford's advice, was the object
of his ambition. He received, at that time,
an early impreflion of piety, and a tafte for
the beft authors ancient and modern. It may,
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 afk,
** 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
afliitance of a friend, and returning in a fhort
time was able to complete a refidence of three
years. The hiftory of his exploits at Oxford,
he ufed to fay, was bell: 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 greatest vigour.
From the univerfity Johnfon returned to
Lichfield. His father died foon after, De-
cember, 1 73 1 ; and the whole receipt out of his
effects, as appeared by a memorandum in the
fon's
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON". 1 3
fbn's hand- writing, dated 15th June, 1732,
was no more than twenty pounds *. In this
exigence, determined that poverty mould nei-
ther deprefs his fpirit nor warp his integrity,
he became under-mafter of a Grammar-fchool
at Market Boiworth in JLeicefterfhire. That
refource, however, did not la ft long. Dif-
gufted by the pride of Sir Wolftan Dixie, the
patron of that little feminary, he left the
place in difcontent, and ever after fpoke of it
with abhorrence. In 1733 he went on a vifit
to Mr. Hector, who had been his fchool-
fellow, and was then a furgeon at Birming-
ham, lodging at the houfe of Warren, a
bookleller. At that place Johnfon tranflated
a Voyage to Abyffinia, written by Jerome
Lobo, a Portugueze miffionary. This was the
fir ft literary work from the pen of Dr. John-
fon. His friend Hector was occafionaily his
* The entry of this is remarkable for his early refolu-
tion to preferve through lite a fair and upright character.
*' 1 732, Junii 15. Undecim aureos dcpofui, quo die, quid-
" quid ante matris funus (quod ierum fit precor) rie pa-
" ternis bonis iperare licet, vieinti fcilicet libras, accept.
" Ufque ?.dco mihi rnea fortuna fingenda eft interea, et ns
" pauperta'e vires animi languefcant, ne in flagitia egeftas
*' 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 publifhed by Bettefworth
and Hitch, Pater- nofter- row. It contains a
narrative of the endeavours of a company of
million aries to convert the people of Abyfli-
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
" fictions. He appears, by his modeft. and
*' unaffected narration, to have defcribed things
" as he law them ; to have copied nature from
"the life; and to have confulted his fenfes,
" not his imagination. He meets with no bafi-
" lifks, that deftroy with their eyes ; his cro-
*' codiles devour their prey, without tears; and
*' his cataracts fall from the rock, without
46 deafening the neighbouring inhabitants. The
" reader will here find no regions curled with
" irremediable barrenneis, or blefTed with fpon-
" taneous fecundity ; no perpetual gloom, or
" unceafing
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 1 5
u unceafing fun-fhine ; nor are the nations, here
" defcribed, either void of all fenfeofhuma-
' nity, or eonfummate in all private and fociai
" 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 difcovered 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
c Creator doth not appear partial in his diftri-
" butions, but has balanced, in mod countries,
*' their particular inconveniences by particular
u favours." We have here an early fpecimen
of Johnfon's manner : the vein of thinking
and the frame cf the fentences are maniftfrly
his : we fee the infant Hercules. The trans-
lation or Lobo's Narrative has been reprinted
lately in a feparate volume, with foine 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 difcover v of the head of the Kile,
will not, it is imagined, be unacceptable to the
reader.
Father
l6 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
Father Lobo, the Portuguefe Miflionary,
embarked in 1622, in the fame fleet with the
Count Vidigueira, 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 miffion to Abyilinia. Two
of the Jefuits, fent on the fame commiffion,
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 we have an account
in hifiory. It extended from the Red Sea 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 fubjecl: to the Emperor, and part paid
him a tribute, as an acknowledgement. The
provinces were inhabited by Moors, Pagans,
Jews, and Chriftians. The laft was in Lobo's
time the eftablifhed and reigning religion. The
diverfity of people and religion is the reafon
why
GENIUS OP DR. JOHNSON. iy
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 praeYifed 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
their language Out. The Chriftianity, pro-
feffed by the people in fome parts, is {o cor-
rupted with fuperftitions, errors, and herefies,
and fo mingled with ceremonies borrowed from
the Jews, that little, betides the name of
Chriftianity, is to be found among them. The
Abyflins cannot properly be faid to have either
cities or houfes ; they live in tents or cottages
made of ftraw or clay, 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 may be prepared, upon the
mod fudden alarm, to meet every emergence in
a country which is engaged every year either
b in
l8 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
in foreign wars or inteftine commotions. Ethi-
opia produces very near the fame kinds of pro-
vision 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 harvefls in the
year; one in winter, which lafts through the
months of July, Auguil:, and September ; the
other in the fjpring. They have, in the greateft
plenty, raifins, peaches, pomegranates, fugar-
canes, and fome figs. Mod of thefe are ripe
about Lent, which the A by (Tins keep with
great ftri&nefs. 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 relations. This they do fo many days
in
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 1 9
in each year, as they have thoufands of cattle ;
fo that, to exprefs how rich a man is, they
tell you, he bathes fo many times,
" Of the river Nile, which has furniftied
fo much 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
mod fertile and agreeable part of the Abyflinian
dominions. On the Eaftern fide of the coun-
try, on the declivity of a mountain, whofe
defcent is fo 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 (tone's caft diftant from each other.
One of them is about five feet and a half in
depth. L,obo 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 Abyflins to be the vents of a great
fubterraneous lake. At a fmall diitance
b 2 to
HO AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
to the South, is a village called Guix, through
which you afcend to the top of the mountain,
where there is a little hill, which the idola-
trous Agacl hold in great veneration. Their
pried calls them together to this place once a
year ; and every one facrifices a cow, or more,
according to the different degrees of wealth
and devotion. Hence we have fufficient proof,
that thefe 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 length of a mutket-lhot ; then, turning
Northward, continue hidden in the grafs and
weeds 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, the
Keltu, the Bransa, and the other fmaller
rivers, it expands to fuch a breadth in the
plains of Boad, which is not above three days
journey from its fource, that a mufket-ball
will fcarcely fly from one bank to the other.
4 Here
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 21
Here it begins to turn northward, winding,
however, a little to the Eaft, for the fpace of
nine or ten leagues, and then enters the fo-
much-talked-of Lake of Dambia, flowing
with fuch violent rapidity, that its waters
may be diftinguifhed through the whole paf-
fage, which is no lefs than fix leagues. Here
begins the greatnefs of the Nile. Fifteen
miles farther, in the land of Alata, it
rumes precipitately from the top of a high
rock, and forms one of the moft beautiful
water- falls in the w r orld. Lobo fays, he
pafTed under it without being wet, and refting
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 *. The
* This Mr. Bruce, the late traveller, avers to be a
downright falfehood. He fays, a deep pool of water
reaches to the very foot of the rock. ; and, allowing
that there was a feat or bench (which there is not) in the
middle of the pool, it is abfolutely impoiTible, by any
exertion of human itrength, to have arrived at it. But
it may be aiked, can Mr. Bruce fay what was the face of the
country in the year 1622, when Lobo faw the magnificent
light 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
considerable diftance; but it was not found, that
the neighbouring inhabitants were deaf. After
the cataract, 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
patted, was laid over them. Sultan Sequed
has fince built a ftone bridge of one arch, in
the fame place, for which purpofe he procured
mafons from India. Here the river alters its
courfe, and pafles through various kingdoms,
fuch as Amhara, Olaca, Choaa, Da-
mot, and the kingdom of Goiama, and,
after various windings, returns within a fhort
day's journey of its fpring. To purfue it
through all its mazes, and accompany it round
the kingdom of Goiama, is a journey of
twenty-nine days. From Abyffinia the river
pafles into the countries of Fazulo and Om-
barca, two vaft regions little known, inha-
bited by nations entirely different from the
Abyffins. 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. 23
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
Abyflinia terminates at thefe defcents, Lobo
followed the courfe of the Nile no farther,
leaving it to range over barbarous kingdoms,
and convey wealth and plenty into zEgypr,
which owes to the annual inundations of this
river its envied fertility*. Lobo knows no-
thing of the Nile in the reft of its pafl'age,
except that it receives great increafe from many
other rivers, has feveral cataracts like that
already defcribed, and that few fifth are to be
found in it. That fcarcity is to be attributed
to the river-borfe and the crocodile, which de-
ftroy the weaker inhabitants of the river.
Something, likewife, mull be imputed to the
cataracts, where fifth 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 defcription 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-
veller.
b 4 hath
24 AM ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
hath been faid about his tears mult be ranked
among the fables invented for the amufement
of children.
" As to the caufes of the inundations of the
Nile, Lobo obferves, that many an idle hypo-
thecs has been framed. Some theorifts 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 mow on the
mountains of ^Ethiopia ; but fo much mow
and fuch prodigious heat are never met with
in the fame region. Lobo never faw fnow in
Abyflinia, 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 immenfe labours of the For-
tuguefe mankind is indebted for the knowledge
of the real caufe of thefe inundations, fo great
and fo regular. By them we are informed, that
Abyf-
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON, 25
Abyffinia, where the Nile rifes, is full of
mountains, and, in its natural (ituation, is
much higher than ^Egypt ; 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 publicly proclaimed at Cairo how much the
water had 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 digreffion, efpe-
cially as the whole is an extract from Johnfon's
tranflation. He is all the time the actor in the
fcene, and in his own words relates the ftory.
Having fmifhed this work, he returned in Fe-
bruary, 1734, to his native city, and, in the
month of Auguft following, publifhed Pro-
pofals
26 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
pofals for printing, by fubfcription, the Latin
poems of Politian, with the Hiftory of Latin
Poetry, from the JEra 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 octavo meets, price
five millings. It is to be regretted that this
project failed for want of encouragement.
Johnfon, it feems, differed from Boileau, Vol-
taire, and D'Alembert, who had taken upon
them to profcribe all modern efforts to write
with elegance in a dead language. For a deci-
fion, pronounced in fo high a tone, no good
reafon can be affigned. The interefts of learn-
ing require, that the diction of Greece and
Rome mould be cultivated with care ; and he,
who can write a language with correctnefs,
will be moil: likely to tinderftand its idiom, its
grammar, and its peculiar graces of ftyle.
What man of tafte would willingly forego
the pleafure of reading Vida, Fracajtorius,
Sannazaro, Strada, and others, down to the
late elegant productions of Bifhop Lowth r
The hiftory which Johnfon propofed to him-
felf would, beyond all queftion, have been a
valuable addition to the hiftory of letters ; but
his
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 27
his project failed. His next expedient was to
offer his aflittance to Cave, the original pro-
jector of the Gentleman's Magazine. For
this purpofe he fent his propofals in a letter,
ofFering, on reafonable terms, occafionaliy to
fill fome 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
were not fufficient to hinder Johnfon from call-
ing his eyes about him in queft of other em-
ployment. Accordingly, in 1 735, he made over-
tures to the reverend Mr. Budworth, Matter of
a Grammar-fchool at Brerewood, in Staffbrd-
fhire, to become his aflittant. This propor-
tion did not fucceed. Mr. Budworth appre-
hended, that the involuntary motions, to
which Johnion's nerves were fubjeft, might
make him an object of ridicule with his fcho-
lars, and, by confequence, lefTen their refpeet
for their matter. Another mode of advancing
himfelf prefented itfelf about this time. Mrs.
Porter, the widow of a mercer in Birmingham,
admired
28 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
admired his talents. It is faid that me 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 diftinguifhed by his
erudition and the politenefs t>f 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 acceflion of fe-
ven or eight pupils was the moll: that could be
obtained, though notice was given by a public
advertifement *, that, at Edial, near Lich-
field, in StafFordmire, young Gentlemen are
boarded, and taught the Latin and Greek Lan-
guages, by Samuel Johnfon.
* See the Gentleman's Magazine for 1736, p. 418.
The
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 2
The undertaking proved abortive. John-
fon, having now abandoned all hope9 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,
1737, they arrived in London together. Two
fuch candidates for fame perhaps never, before
that day, entered the metropolis together.
Their flock of money was foon exhaufted. In
his vifionary project of an academy Johnfon
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 different vocations to
which each of them felt himfelf inclined.
They a&ed 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
gave
30 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
gave notice of their intended journey. " Davy
" Garrick," he faid, '* 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
V way, I doubt not but you will be ready to
u recommend and affift your countrymen."
Of Mr. Walmfley's merit, and the excellence
of his character, Johnfon has left a beautiful
teftimonial at the end of the Life of Edward
Smith. It is reafonable to conclude, that a
mathematician, abforbed in abftrad fpecula-
tions, was not able to find a fphere of action
for two men who were to be the architects of
their own fortune. In three or four years after-
wards, Garrick came forth with talents that
aflonifhed the publick. He began his career
at Goodman's-fields, and there, monflratus fatis
Vejpajianus ! 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 Walmfley's letter, was the whole
of
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 31
of his {lock. This, mod probably, was
Irene; but, if then finiftHed, it was doomed
to wait for a more happy period. It was of-
fered to Fleetwood, and rejected. Johnfon
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 diffufed an
idea of his liberality. Johnfon became con-
nected with him in buiinefs, and in a clofe and
intimate acquaintance. Of Cave's character it
is unnecefTary to fay any thing in this place,
as Johnfon was afterwards the biographer of
his firft and mod ufeful patron. To be en-
gaged in the tranflation of fome important
book was ftill the object which Johnfon had in
view. For this purpofe he propofed to give
the Hiflory of the Council of Trent, with
copious notes then lately added to a French
edition. Twelve meets of this work were
printed, for which Johnfon received forty-
nine
32 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
nine pounds, as appears by his receipt in the
pofleflion 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 frustrated. Johnfon had been
commended by Pope for the tranflation of
the Median into Latin verfe ; 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
written by Johnfon with great elegance, and a
depth of moral reflection. Savage was a man
of considerable talents. His addrefs, his va-
rious accomplishments, 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 prefTure of
want. Sympathy joined them in a league of
friendship. Johnfon had been often heard to
relate that he and Savage walked round Grofve-
nor-
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 33
nor-fquare till four in the morning; in the
courfe of their converfation reforming the
world, dethroning princes, eftabliihing new
forms of government, and giving laws to the
feveral ftates of Europe, till, fatigued at length
with their legiflative office, they began to feel
the want of refrefhment ; but could not mutter
up more than four pence halfpenny. Savage,
it is true, had many vices ; but vice could
never ftrike its roots in a mind like Johnfon's,
feafoned early with religion, and the principles
of moral rectitude. His hrft prayer was com-
pofed in the year 1738. He had not at that
time renounced the uie of wine ; and, no
doubt, occafionally enjoyed his friend and his
bottle. The love of late hours, which fol-
lowed him through life, was, perhaps, origi-
nally contracted in company with Savage.
However that may be, their connection was
not of long duration. In the year 1738, Sa-
vage was reduced to the iaft diftrefs. Mr.
Pope, in a letter to him, exprefTed his con-
cern for " the miferable withdrawing of his
" pennon after the death of the Queen ;" and
gave him hopes, that, " in a fhort time, he
4i mould find himfelf fupplied with a compe-
c *' tence,
34 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
" tence, without any dependance on tbofe
" little creatures, whom we are pleafed to call
" the Great." The fcheme proposed to him
was, that he mould retire to Swanfea in Wales,
and receive an allowance of fifty pounds a
year, to be railed by fubfcription ; Pope was
to pay twenty pounds. This plan, though
finally eftablilhed, tcok 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 irom all the vices of
Rome. Struck with this idea, he wrote that
well-known Poem, called London. The firil
lines manifeftly point to Savage.
" Though grief and fonclnefs in my breaft rebel,
" When injured Thales bids the town farewel ;
" Yet ftill 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 diftant fields a purer air ;
" And, fix'd on Cambria's foiitary fhore,
" Give to St. David one true Bricon more."
John foil at that time lodged at Greenwich.
He there fixes the fcene, and takes leave of
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 finifTied, was offered to Cave. It hap-
pened, however, that the late Mr. Dodfley
was the purchafer, at the price of ten guineas.
It was publimed in 1 738 ; and Pope, we are
told, faid, ' The author, whoever he is, will
" not be long concealed ;" alluding to the paf-
fage in Terence, //, ubl ejl, dlu celari non
fotefl. Not with (landing that prediction, it does
not appear that, befides the copy- money, any
advantage accrued to the author of a poem,
written with the elegance and energy of Pope.
John fon, in Auguft 173S, went, with all the
fame of his poetry, to offer himfelf a candi-
date for the maiterfhip of the fchool at Ap-
pleby, in Leicefterfhire. The ftatutes of the
place required, that the perfon chofen mould
be a mafter of arts. To remove this objec-
tion, the late Lord Gower was induced to
write to a friend, in order to obtain for John-
fon a mailer's degree in the Univerfity 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,
36 an essay on the life and
"Sir,
" Mr. Samuel Johnfon (author of London,
" a fatire, and fome other poetical pieces) is a
" native of this county, and much refpected
" by fome worthy gentlemen in the neigh-
" bourhood, who are truftees of a charity-
" fchool, now vacant ; the certain falary of
" which is fixty pounds per year, of which
" they are defirous to make him mafter ; but
" unfortunately he is not capable of receiving
' 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 I 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 man
" mafter of arts in their univerfity. They
*' highly extol the man's learning and probity;
*' and will not be perfuaded, that the Univerfity
<f 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
2 '* afraid
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON, %J
" afraid of the ftrictefr. examination, though
" he is of fo long a journey ; and yet he will
" venture it, if the Dean thinks it neceffary,
" chufing rather to die upon the road than to
4< be flarved to death in tranflating for book-
" fellers, which has been his only fubfiftence
" for fome time paft.
" I fear there is more difficulty in this affair
" than thefe good-natured gentlemen appre-
" hend, efpecially as their election cannot
" be 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 impracticable thing ;
" but, if you think there is a probability of
* s obtaining the favour afked, I am fure your
" humanity and propenfity to relieve merit in
" diftrefs will incline ycu to ferve the poor
" man, without my adding any more to the
" trouble I have already given you than aflu-
" ring you, that I am, with great truth, Sir,
" Your faithful humble fervant,
" Gower.
" Trentham, Aug. ifl."
c 3 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 Advcrfity. Having loft the fchool at
Appleby, Johnfon was thrown back on the
metropolis. Bred to no profeflion, without
relations, friends, or intereft, lie was con-
demned to drudgery in the fervice of Cave, his
only patron. In November, 1738, was pub-
lilhed a tranflation of Croufaz's Examen of
Pope's EfTay on Man ; " containing a fuccinct
* View or' the Syftem of the Fatalifts, and a
** Confutation of their Opinions, with an
" llluflration of the Doctrine of Free Will ;
" and an Fnquiry, what view Mr. Pope might
<( have in touching upon the Leibnitzian Phi-
*' loiophy, and Fatalifin. By Mr. Croufaz,
*' ProicOor of Philoionhy and Mathematics at
11 Laufanne." This tranflation has been gene-
rally
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 39
rally thought a production of Johnfon's pen ;
but it is now known, that Mrs. Elizabeth Carter
has acknowledged it to be one of her early per-
formances. It is certain, however, that Johnfon
was eager to promote the publication. He confi-
dered the foreign philofophy as a man zealous in
the caufe of religion; and with him he was wil-
ling to join againit. 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 reafon to think, that Johnfon
conceived an early prejudice againit the EfTay on
Man ; and what once took root in a mind like
his was not eaiily eradicated. His letter to
Cave on this fubjedt is (till extant, and may well
juftify Sir John Hawkins, who inferred that
Johnfon was the tranflator of Croufaz. The
conclufion of the letter is remarkable. " I am
4 * yours, Impr ansus." If by that Latin word
was meant that he had not dined, becaufe he
wanted the means, who can read it, even at
this hour, without an aching heart ?
With a mind naturally vigorous, and quick-
ened bv necellky, Johnlon formed a multipli-
city of projects ; but mod: of them proved
abortive. A number of fmall tracts iifued
c 4 from
40 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
from his pen with wonderful rapidity ; fuch
as " MarMor Norfolciense ; or an Effay
*! on an ancient prophetical Infcription, in
" Monkifh Rhyme, difcovered at Lynn in
" Norfolk. By Probus Brit amicus" This
was a pamphlet againft Sir Robert Walpole.
According to Sir John Hawkins, a warrant
was iffued to apprehend the Author, who re-
tired with his wife to an oblcure lodging
near Lambeth-Marfh, and there eluded the
fearch of the mefiengers. But this ftory has
no foundation in truth. Johnfon 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 proceeding could be
found. In the fame year (1739) the Lord
Chamberlain prohibited the reprefentation of a
tragedy, called Gustavus Vasa, by Henry
Brooke. Under the mafk of irony, Johnfon
published, " A Vindication of the Licencer
" from the malicious and fcandalous Afperiions
' of Mr. Brooke." Of thefe two pieces Sir
John Hawkins fays, " they have neither learn-
" ing nor wit ; nor a (ingle ray of that ge-
" nius which has fince blazed forth ;" but as
they have been lately re-printed, the reader,
who
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 41
who wifhes to gratify his curiofity, is referred
to the fourteenth volume of Johnfbn's works,
published by Stockdale. The lives of Boer-
haave, Blake, Barratier, Father Paul, and
others, were, about that time, printed in the
Gentleman's Magazine. The fubfcription of
fifty pounds a year for Savage was completed ;
and in July, 1739, Johnfon parted with the
companion of his midnight hours, never to
lee him more. The feparation was, perhaps-,
an advantage to him, who wanted to make a
right uie of his time, and even then beheld,
with felf- reproach, the wafle occasioned bv dii-
fipation. His abftinence from wine and ftrong
liquors began foon after the departure of ra-
vage. What habits he contracted in the courfe
of that acquaintance cannot now be known.
The ambition of excelling in converfation, and
that pride of victory, which, at times, dis-
graced a man of Johnfon's genius, were, per-
haps* native blemifhes. A fierce fpirit of in-
dependence, even in the midft of poverty,
may be feen in Savage, and, if not thence
transfufed by Johnfon into his own manners,
it may, at lead:, be fuppofed to have gained
Strength from the example before him. During
that connection, there was, if we believe Sir
John
42 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
John Hawkins, a fhort reparation between our
author and his wife; but a reconciliation foon
took place. Johnfon loved her, and fhewed his
affection in various modes of gallantry, which
Garrick ufed to render ridiculous by his mimicry.
The affectation of foft and faftiionable 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* furnimed matter for the lively genius
of Garrick.
It is a mortifying reflection, that Johnfon,
with a flore of learning and extrordinary ta-
lents, was not able, at the age of thirty, to
force his way to the favour of the publick.
Slow r[je$ worth by poverty deprefid. " He
" was {till," as he fays himfelf, ' to provide
" for the day that was pairing over him." He
faw Cave involved in a ftate of warfare with
the numerous competitors, at that time ftrug-
gling with the Gentleman's Magazine ; and
gratitude, for fuch fupplies as Johnfon received,
dictated a Latin Ode on the fubjedl of that
contention. The fir ft lines,
" Urbane, nullis fefle laboribus,
" Urbane, nullis vic'te caluraniis,"
put
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 43
put one in mind of Cafimir's Ode to Pope
Urban :
u Urbane, regum raaxime, maxirae
<e Urbane vatum."
The Polifh poet was, probably, at that time in
the hands of a man who had meditated the
hiftory of the Latin poets. Guthrie, the his-
torian, had from July, 1736, compofed the
parliamentary 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, which happened in the Houfe
of Lords in February, 1742-3. The elo-
quence, the force of argument, and the fplen-
dor of language, difplayed in the feverai
fpeeches, are well known, and univerfally ad-
mired. The whole has been collected in two
volumes by Mr. Stockdale, and may form a
proper fupplement to this edition. That John-
fon was the author of the debates during that
period was not generally known; but the fe-
cret tranfpired feverai years afterwards,
and was avowed by himielf on the following
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 dehate towards the end of Sir Ro-
bert Walpole's adminiftration being mentioned,
Dr. Francis obferved, " That Mr. Pitt's fpeech,
u on that occafion, was the bed he had ever
*' read." He added, " That he had employed
" eight years of his life in the ftudy of De-
'* mofthenes, and finimed 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
t; equal to the fpeech above-mentioned." Many
of the company remembered the debate ; and
fome paflages were cited, with the approbation
and applauie of all prefent. During the ar-
dour of converfation John ion 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 aftonimment. After
flaring at each other with filent amaze, Dr. Fran-
cis afked, '* How that fpeech could be written
'" by him r" " 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.
44 Cave had intereft with the door-keepers.
" He, and the perfons employed under him,
" gained admittance : they brought away the
" fubjedl: of difcuffion, the names of the
4 fpeakers, the fide they took, and the order
" in which they rofe, together with the notes of
4 * the arguments advanced in the courfe of the
" debate. The whole was afterwards commu-
" nicated to me, and I compofed the fpeeches-
" in the form which they now have in the Par-
" liamentary Debates." To this difcovery Dr.
Francis made anfwer : *' Then, Sir, you have
" exceeded Demofthenes himfelf ; for, to fay
*' that you have exceeded Francis's 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 reafon
and eloquence with an equal hand to both
parties. " That is not quite true," faid John-
fon ; " I faved appearances tolerably well ;
M but I took care that the whig dogs mould
" 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, 1742-3.
From that time the Magazine was conducted
by Dr. Hawkefvvorth.
In 1^43-4, Ofbome, the bookfeller, who
kept a mop in Gray's-Inn, purchafed the Earl
of Oxford's library, at the price of thirteen
thoufand pounds. He projected a catalogue in
five octavo volumes, at five millings each.
Johnfon was employed in that painful drudgery.
He was likewife to collect all fuch frhall tracts
as were in any degree worth preferving, in order
to reprint and publim the whole in a collection,
called " The Harleian Mifcellany." The cata-
logue was completed ; and the Milcellany, in
1749, was publilhed in eight quarto volume:.
In this bufinefs Johnfon was a day-labourer for
immediate fubfillence, not unlike Gufravus
Vafa working in the mines of Dalicarlia.
What Wilcox, a bookfeller of eminence in the
Strand, faid to Johnfon, on his firfl arrival in
town, was now almoit 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 anfwer. Wilcox, flaring at him, monk
his
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 47
his head : " By your literary labours! You
" had better buy a porter's knot." Johnfon
ufed to tell this anecdote to Mr. Nichols ; but
he faid, " Wilcox was one of my beft friends,
" and he meant well." In fact, 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. Ofborne
thought that fuch curiofity tended to nothing
but delay, and objected to it with all the pride and
infolence of 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 folio, and knocked the
bookfeller down. This ftory has been related
as an inflance of Johnfon's ferocity; but merit
cannot always take the fpurns of the unworthy
with a patient fpirit.
That the hiflory of an author muft be found
in his works is, in general, a true obfervation ;
and was never more apparent than in the pre-
fent narrative. Every aera of Johnfon's life is
fixed by his writings. In 1744, he published
the Life of Savage ; and then projected a new
edition
48 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
edition of Shakfpeare. As a prelude to that
defign, he published, in 1745, Mifcellaneous
Obfervations on the Tragedy of Macbeth, with
Remarks on Sir Thomas Hanmer*s Edition : to
which were prefixed, Propofals for a new Edi-
tion of Shakfpeare, with a Specimen, Of this
pamphlet, Warburton, in the Preface to Shak-
fpeare, has given his opinion : " As to all
** thofe things, which have been published
" under the title of Effays, Remarks. Ob-
'* fervations, &c. on Shakfpeare, if you
u except fome critical notes on Macbeth,
" given as a fpecimen of a projected edition,
" and written, as appears, by a man of parts
" and genius, the red: are abfolutely below a
46 ferious notice,'* But the attention of the
publick was not excited ; there was no friend
to promote a fuhfcription ; and the project died
to revive at a future day. A new undertaking,
however, was {oon after propofed ; namely,
an Englifh Dictionary, upon an enlarged plan.
Several of the mod: opulent bookfellers had
meditated a work of this kind ; and the agree-
ment wasfoon adjufred between the parties. Em-
boldened by this connection, Johnfon 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 printerand friend, Mr. Strahan,
he ventured to take a houfe in Gough-fquare,
Fleet-ftreet. 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 Dictionary of the Englijk
Language, addrejfedto the Right Honourable Phi-
lip Dormer, Earl of Chejlerfield, one of his Ma~
jejly s principal Secretaries of State, Air. White-
head, afterwards poet Laureat, undertook to
convey the manufcript to his Lordfhip : the
confequence was an invitation from Lord Chef-
terfield to the author. A ftronger contrail: of
characters could not be brought together; the
Nobleman, celebrated for his wit, and all the
graces of polite behaviour; the Author, con-
icious of his own merir, towering in idea
above all competition, verfed in fcholaftic
logic, but a Granger to the arts of polite con-
verfation, uncouth, vehement, and vociferous.
The coalition was too unnatural. Johnfou
expected a Maecenas, and was difappointeJ.
No patronage, no affiftance followed. Vines
d were
50 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE A N Vf
were repeated ; but the reception was not cor-
dial. John ion one day was left a full hour, wait-
ing in an anti-chamber, till a gentleman mould
retire, and leave his Lordmip at leifure. This
was the famous Colley Gibber. Johnfon faw
him go, and, fired with indignation, turned out
of the houfe. What Lord Chefterfield thought
of his viiitor may be feen in a paffage in one
of that Nobleman's letters to his fon *. " There
." is a man, whofe moral character, deep learn-
" ing, and luperior parts, I acknowledge, ad-
" mire, and refpect ; but whom it is fo im-
" pofiible for me to love, that I am almoft in
" a fever whenever I am in his company. His
" figure (without being deformed) fee ms made
" to difgrace or ridicule the common ftru&ure
' 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 conitantly employed in commit-
" ting acts of hoflility upon the Graces. He
<{ throws any where, but down his throat,
" whatever he means to drink ; and mangles
" what he means to carve. Inattentive to all
" the regards of locial life, he miftimes and
* Letter CCX1I.
" mif*
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 5T
" mifplaces every thing. He difputes with heat
** indifcriminately, mindlefs of the rank, cha-
" ra&er, and fituation, of thofe with whom he
" difputes. Abfolutely ignorant of the feveral
" gradations of familiarity and refpect, he is
"exactly 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 utmoft 1 can do for him is, to
" confider him a refpe&able Hottentot.*' Such
was the idea entertained by Lord Chefterfield.
After the incident of Colley Cibber, Johnfou
never repeated his vifits. In his high and de-
cifive tone, he has been often heard to fay,
" Lord Chefterflsld is a Wit among Lords,
" and a Lord among Wits."
In the courfe of the year 1747, Garrick,
in conjunction with Lacy, became patentee of
Drury-lane Playhoufe. For the opening of
the theatre, at the ufual 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 Cato.
The play-houfe being now under Garrick's
d 2 di-
52 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
direction, Johnfon thought the opportunity fair
to think of his tragedy of Irene, which was
his whole flock on his firft arrival in town in
the year i 737. That play was accordingly put
into rehearfal in January 1749. As a pre-
curfor to prepare the way, and awaken the
public attention, 'The Vanity of Human Wijloes^
a Poem in Imitation of the Tenth Satire of
Juvenal, by the Author of London, was pub-
limed in the fame month. In the Gentleman's,
Magazine, for February, 1749, we find that
the tragedy of Irene was acted 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 ftage. Irene may be added to fome other
plays in our language, which have loll: 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 character, as
an author, required fome ornament for his
perfon, he chofe, upon that occafion, to de-
corate himfelf with a handfome waiffcoat, and
gold-laced hat. The late Mr. Topham Beau-
clere^
OENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. $$
clerc, who had had a great deal of that hu-
mour which pleafes the more for feeming
undesigned, ufed to give a pleafant defcription
of this Green-room finery, as related by the author
himfelf ; * But," faid Johnfon with great gra-
vity, ** I foon laid aiide 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 ftimulating motive,
never invited the author to another dramatic
attempt. Some years afterwards, when the
prefent writer was intimate with Garrick, and
knew Johnfon to be in diftrefs, he afked the
manager why he did not produce another tra-
gedy for his Lichfield friend r Garrick's anfwer
was remarkable : " When Johnfon writes
" tragedy, declamation roars, and pajjion Jleefis :
'* when Shakfpeare 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 efFa& 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
marks. He was now forty years old, and had
mixed but little with the world. He followed
no profeflion, tranfacted no bufinefs, and was
a Granger to what is called a town-life. We
are now arrived at the brighten 1 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 Irene,
though uninterefting on the ftage, was uni-
verfally admired in the clofet, for the propriety
of the fentiments, the richnefs of the lan-
guage, and the general harmony of the whole
compoiition. His fame was widely dirfuied ;
and he had made his agreement with the book-
fellers for his Engliih Dictionary at the fum of
fifteen hundred guineas ; part of which was to
be, from time to time, 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. xAccordingly, we find that, in 1749,
he cftablimed a club, conlifiing of ten in num-
ber,
GENIUS' OF DR. JOHNSON. 55
i>er, at Horfeman's, in Ivy-lane, on every
Tuefday evening. This is the firir. fcene of
focial life to which John (on can be traced out
of his own houfe. The members of this
little fociety were, Samuel Johnfon; Dr. Salter
(father of the late Matter of the Charter-
houfc) ; Dr. Hawkefworth ; Mr. Ryland, a
merchant; Mr. Payne, a bookfeller, in Pater-
nofter-row; Mr. Samuel Dyer, a learned young
man ; Dr. William M'Ghie, a Scotch phyfi-
cian ; Dr. Edmund Barker, a young phyfician ;
Dr. Bathurft, another young physician ; and
Sir John Hawkins. This lift is given by Sir
John, as it mould feem, with no other view
than to draw a fpiteful and malevolent character
of almoft every one of them. Mr. Dyer,
whom Sir John fays he loved with the affec-
tion of a brother, meets with the harmeft
treatment, becaufe it was his maxim, that to
live in peace with mankind \ and in a temper to do
good offices, was the moji ejfential part 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 4 man
$6 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
man of literature. Johnfon loved to enter
with him into a difcuffion of metaphyfical,
moral, and critical, fubjedts ; in thofe conflicts,
exercifing his talents, and, according to his
cuftom, always contending for victory. Dr.
Bathurft was the perfon on whom Johnfon
fixed his affection. He hardly ever fpoke of
him without tears in his eyes. It was from
him, who was a native of Jamaica, that
Johnfon received into his fervice Frank, the
black fervant, whom, on account of his matter,
he valued to the end of his life. At the time
of instituting the club in Ivy-lane, Johnfon
had projected the Rambler. The title was moil
probably fuggefted by the Wanderer ; a poem
which he mentions, with the warmed praife,
in the Life of Savage. With the fame fpirit of
independence with which he wifhed to live, it
was now his pride to write. He communi-
cated his plan to none of his friends : lie de-
fired no affifbnce, relying entirely on his own
fund, and the protection of the Divine Being,
which he employed in a folemn form of prayer,
compofed by himfelf for the occaiion. Ha-
ving formed a refolution 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
" feraphim, with the hallowed fire of his altar,
" to touch and purify the lips of whom he
" pleafes."
Having invoked the fpecial protection of
Heaven, and by that act of piety fortified his
mind, he began the great work of the Ram-
bler. The firft number was publifhed 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, profeffedly ferious, if
" I have been able to execute my own inten-
" tions, will be found exactly conformable to
** the precepts of Chriftianiry, without anv
" accommodation to the licentioufnefs and le-
" vity of the prefent age. I therefore look
* back on this part of my work with pleafure,
1 " which
58 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
M which no man (hall diminifh or augment.
** I 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 EfTays
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 publiih on dated 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
efTays. This was a fcanty contribution. For
the reft, the author has defcribed his fituation :
u He that condemns himfelf to compofe on a
" ftated day, will often bring to his talk an at-
** tentiou difnpated, a memory embarraffed, an
** imagination overwhelmed, a mind diftracted
" 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, dirfufe 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 production 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 generality and per-
feverance deferve to be commended ; and hap-
pily, when the collection appeared in volumes,
were amply rewarded. Johnfon lived to fee
his labours flourim in a tenth edition. His
pofterity, as an ingenious French writer has
faid on a fimilar occalion, began in his life-
time.
In the beginning of 1750, foon after the
Rambler was fet on foot, Johnfon was induced,
by the arts of a vile impoftor, to lend his affift-
ance, during a temporary delulion, 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 character of Milton. His
reafon was, becaufe the prayer of Pamela, in
Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, was, as he fup-
pofed, malicioufly infer ted by the great poet in
an
60 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
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 impo-
fition, this man collected from feveral Latin
poets, fuch as Mafenius the Jefuit, Staphorf-
tius a Dutch divine, Beza, and others, all
fuch paffages as bore any kind of refemblance
to different places in the Paradife Loll ; and
thefe he publifhed, from time to time, in the
Gentleman's Magazine, with occafional inter-
polations of lines, which he himfelf tranflated
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 advertifed it under the title of " An E/fay
" on Milton* s Ufe and Imitation of the Moderns,
' in his Paradife Lo/l ; dedicated to the Univer-
11 f ties of Oxford and Cambridge" While the
book was in the prefs, the proof-meets were
(hewn 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-
feffion of the authors from whom Lauder
profefled
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 6l
profeffed to make his extracts. 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 accomplice in
the fraud, but, through motives of malignity
to Milton, delighting in the detection, 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 wijhed well to the argu-
*.* ment majl be inferred from the preface, which
u indubitably was written by him, 1 * 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 criticifm has naturally
given occanon, none is more obfcure in it-
*' felf, or more worthy of rational curiofity,
'* than a retrofpection of the progrefs of this
*' mighty genius in the conftruction of his
" work ; a view of the fabric gradually rifing,
<c perhaps from fmall beginnings, till its fcun-
* dation reds in the centre, and its turrets
" fparkle
6l AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
" fparkle in the ikies ; to trace back the ftruc-
" ture, through all its varieties, to the fimpli-
' city of the firft plan; to find what was pro-
" jected, whence the fcheme was taken, how
" it was improved, by what afiiftance it was
i executed, and from what ftores the mate-
" rials were collected ; whether its founder
tl dug them from the quarries of nature, or
" demolished other buildings to embellim his
" own." 1 hefe were the motives that induced
Johnfon to afTift 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 interefr-
ing, and inftructive ? If Lauder's facts were
really true, who would not be glad, without
the fmalleft tincture 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, againfl an injudicious biographer, who
undertook to be his editor, and the protector
of his memory. Another writer, Dr. Towers,
in an Effay on the Life and Character of Dr.
Johnfon, feems to countenance this calumny.
He
GENIUS OF D R. JOH.N SON. (^
He fays, // can hardly he doubted, but that
John/on s averfon to Milton's politics was the
caufe of that alacrity with which he joined with
Lauder in his infamous attack on our great epic
poet, and which induced him to affift in that
tranfaclion. Thefe words would feem to de-
fcribe an accomplice, were they not immedi-
ately followed by an exprefs declaration, that
John fon was unacquainted with the impofure.
Dr. Towers adds, // feems to have been by way
of mailing fame compenfation to the memory of
Milton, for the fioare he had in the attack of
Lauder, that Johnfon wrote the prologue, fpoken
by Garrick, at Drury-lane Theatre, 1750, on
the performance of the Mafque of 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 difpaffionate anfwer. When Johnfou
wrote the prologue, it does not appear that he was
aware of the malignant artifices practifed by
Lauder. In the poftfeript to Johnfon's pre-
face, a fubfeription is propofed, for relieving
the grand-daughter of the author of Faradife
Loft. Dr. Towers will agree that this fhew
John-
64 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
Johnfon's alacrity in doing good. That alacrity
mewed itfelf again in the letter printed in the
European Magazine, January, 17^5, 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. The letter adds, " To affifi in-
** duftrious indigence^ ftruggling'with diftrefs,
" and debilitated by age, is a difplay of vir-
* tue, and an acquifition of happi nets- 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 gratitude 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-
" fcioufnefs of doing good, mould appear at
* Drury-lane Theatre, to-morrow, April 5,
" when Comus will be performed for the bene-
" fit of Mrs. Elizabeth Fofter, grand-daughter
u to the author, and the only furviving branch
* of his family. Not a bene, there will be a
" new
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 6$
" new prologue on the occafion, written by
" the author of Irene, and fpoken by Mr.
* Garrick." The man, who had thus exertod
himfelf to ferve the grand-daughter, cannot be
iuppofed to have entertained peribnal malice
to the grand-father. It is true, that the ma-
levolence of Lauder, as well as the impoftures
of Archibald Bower, were fully detected by
the labours, in the caufe of truth, of the Rev.
Dr. Douglas, now Lord Bifhop of Salifbury.
" Diram qui contudit Hydfam,
" Notaque fatali portenta labore fubegit."
But the pamphlet, entituled, Milton vindicated
from the Charge of Plagiarifm brought agair'ifi
him by Mr, Lauder, and Lauder himfelf coil-
viewed of fever at Forgeries and grofs Impofitions on
the Publick, by John Douglas, M. A. Reefer
of Eaten Confiantine, Salop, was not pub-
limed till the year 175 1. In that work, p. *jj.
Dr. Douglas fays: " It is to be hoped, nay,
" it is expecled, that the elegant and nervous
*' writer, whofe judicious fentiments and in-
" imitable ftyle point out the author of Lau-
" der's preface and poflfcript, will no longer
' allow A man to plume himfelf with his fca-
* then, who appears Ho little to have deferved
e " his
66 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE ANt>
*' his alTiftance ; an aiTiftance which I am per-
*' fuaded would never have been communi-
*' cated, had there been the leafr. fufpicion of
* thofe facts, which I have been the inftru-
*' ment of conveying to the world." We
have here a contemporary teftimony to the in-
tegrity of Dr. Johnfon throughout the whole
of that vile tranfaction. What was the con-
fequence of the requifition made by Dr. Dou-
glas ? Johnfon, whofe ruling paflion may be
faid to be the love of truth, convinced Lauder,
that it would be more for his intereft to make
a full confeftion of his guilt than to (land
forth the convicted champion of a lie ; and for
this purpofe he drew up, in the frrongeit terms,
a recantation hi a Letter to the Rev. Mr.
Douglas, which Lauder figned, and published
in the year 1 75 1 . That piece will remain a
kiting memorial of the abhorrence with which
Johnfon beheld a violation of truth. Mr. Ni-
chols, whofe attachment to his illuftrious friend
was unwearied, mewed him in 1780 a book,
called Remarks on Johnfon 1 s Life of Milton,
in which the affair of Lauder was renewed
with virulence, and a poetical fcale in the Lite-
rary Magazine 1758 (when Johnfon had ceafed
to write in that collection) was urged as an
additional
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 6j
additional proof of deliberate malice. He read
the libellous pafTagewith attention, and inftantly
wrote on the margin : *' In the bufinefs of Lau-
" derl was deceived, partly by thinking the man
*' too frantic to be fraudulent. Of the poetical
" fca/e, quoted from the Magazine, I am not the
" author. I fancy it was put in after I had
" quitted that work : for, I not only did not
" write it, but I do not remember it." As a
critic and a fcholar, John foil 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 connec-
tion with the author.
In March 1752, he felt a fevere ftroke of
affliction in the death of his wife. The laft
number of the Rambler, as already mentioned,
was on the 14th of that month. The lofs of
Mrs. Johnfon was then approaching, and, pro-
bably, was the caufe that put an end to thofe
admirable periodical effays. It appears that (he
died on the 28th of March: in a memorandum,
at the foot of the Prayers and Meditations,
that is called her Dying Day. She was buried
at Bromley, under the care of Dr. Hawkef-
worth. Johnfon placed a Latin infcription on
e 2 her
68 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
her tomb, in which he celebrated her beauty.
With thefingularity of his prayers for his deceafed
wife, from that time to the end of his days, the
world is fufficiently acquainted. On Eafter-
day, 22d April, 1764, his memorandum fays:
" Thought on Tetty, poor dear Tetty ! with
" my eyes full. Went to Church. After
" fermon I recommended Tetty in a prayer by
" herfelf; and my father, mother, brother,
" and Bathurft, in another, I did it onVy
" once, fo far as it might 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 flate. In this habit he per-
iervered to the end of his days. The Rev.
Mr. Strahan, the editor of the Prayers and
Meditations, obierves, *' That Johnfon, on
* fome occalions, prays that the Almighty
" may have bad mercy on his wife and Mr.
" Thrale : evidently fuppofing their fentence
*' to have been already pafled in the Divine
*' Mind ; and, by confequence, proving, that
" he had no belief in a ll:ate of purgatory, and
* no reafon for praying for the dead that could
" impeach the fmcerity of his profeffion as a
1 " Pro-
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 6f
4t Proteftant." Mr. Strahan adds, ** That, in
** praying for the regretted tenants of the
" grave, Johnfon conformed to a practice
" which has been retained by many learned
" members of the Eftablifhed Church, though
" the Liturgy no longer admits it. If, where
u the tree falleth, there it /hall be ; if our ftate,
" at the clofe of life, is to be the meafure of
" our final fen ten ce ; then prayers for the
*' dead, being vifibly fruitlefs, can be regarded
"only as the vain oblations of fu perflation.
* i But, of all fuperftitions, this, perhaps, is one-
tl of the leafl; unamiable, and moff. incident to
" a good mind. If our fenfations of kindnefs
" be intenfe, thofe, whom we have revered and
<4 loved, death cannot wholly feclude from our
" concern. It is true, for the reafon juft men-
" tioned, fuch evidences of our furvivino- af-
'* feclion may be thought ill-judged; but
*' furely they are generous, and fome natural
'* tendernefs is due even to a fuperftition, which
" thus originates in piety and benevolence."
Thefe fentences, extracted from the Rev.
Mr. Strahan's preface, if they are not a full
juftihcation, are, at lead:, a beautiful apo-
logy. It will not be improper to add what
Johnfon himfelf has faid on the fubjedt. Being
e 3 afked
70 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
afked by Mr. Bofweli*, what he thought of
purgatory, as believed by the Roman Catho-
lics ? his anfwer was, " It is a very harmlefs
" doctrine. They are of opinion, that the
" generality of mankind are neither fo obfti-
* nately w r icked as to deferve everlafting pu
*' nifhment ; nor fo good as to merit being
" admitted into the fociety of blefTed fpirits ;
" and, therefore, that God is gracioufly pleafed
*' to allow a middle ftate, where they may be
" purified by certain degrees of fufTering. You
" fee there is nothing unreaibnable in this ;
" and, if it be once eftablifhed that there are
" fouls in purgatory, it is as proper to pray
'< for them, as for our brethren of mankind 9
<e who are yet in this life," This was Dr.
Johnfon's guefs into futurity; and to guefs is
the ut mo ft that man can do. Sbiuiows, clouds %
and darknefs, reft upon it,
Mrs. Johnfon left a daughter, Lucy Porter,
by her firft hufband. She had contracted a
friendship with Mrs, Anne Williams, the daugh-
ter of Zachary Williams, a phyfician of emi-
nence in South Wales, who had devoted more
than thirty years of a long life to the ftudy of
* Life of Johnfon, Vol, I. p. 328.
the
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON, 7 1
the longitude, and was thought to have made
great advances towards that important diico-
very. His letters to Lord Halifax, and the
Lords of the Admiralty, partly corrected and
partly written by Dr. Johnfon, are frill extant
in the hands of Mr. Nichols *, We there
find Dr. Williams, in the eighty -third year of
his age, ftating, that he had prepared an in-
ffcrument, which might be called an epitome
or miniature of the terraqueous globe, {hew-
ing, with the affiftanee of tables conftru&ed
by himfelf, the variations of the magnetic
needle, and afcertaining the longitude for the
fafety of navigation. It appears that this
fcheme had been referred to Sir Ifaac Newton ;
but that great philofopher excuiing himfelf on
account of his advanced age, all applications
were ufelefs till 1751* when the fubject was
referred, by order of Lord Anfon, to Dr.
Bradley, the celebrated profelTor of aftronamy.
His report was unfavourable -j- 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.
* Sec Gentleman's Magazine for Nov. and Dec. 1787.
t I hid, for Dec. 1787, p. 1042.
e 4 His
^2 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
His daughter poiTeffed uncommon talents, '
and, though blind, had an alacrity of mind
that made her converfation agreeable, and
even defirable. To relieve and appeafe me-
lancholy reflections, Johnfon took her home
to his houle in Gough-fquare. In 1755,
Garrick gave her a benefit-play, which pro-
duced two hundred pounds. In 1766, me
published, by fubfcription, a quarto volume of
Mifcell anies, and increafed her little flock to
three hundred pounds. That fund, with
Johnfon's protection, fupported her through
the remainder of her life.
During the two years in which the Rambler
was carried on, the Dictionary proceeded by flow
degrees. In May 1 752, having compofed a prayer
preparatory to his return from tears and forrow
to the duties of life, lie refumed his grand de-
iign, and went on with vigour, giving, however,
occafional ailiftance to his friend Dr. Hawkef-
worth in the Adventurer, which began fbon
after the Rambler was laid aiide. Some of the
moft valuable effays in that collection were
from the pen of Johnfon. The Dictionary
was completed towards the end of 1754 ; and,
Cave being then no more, it was a mortification
to the author of that noble addition to our
Ian-
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. ^3
language, that his old friend did not live to fee
the triumph of his labours. In May 1755,
that great work was published. John foil was
defirous that it mould come from one who had
obtained academical honours ; and for that pur-
pofe, his friend the Rev. Thomas Warton ob-
tained for him, in the preceding month of
February, a diploma for a matter's degree from
the Univeriity of Oxford. Garrick, on the
publication of the Dictionary, wrote the fol-
lowing lines :
" Talk of war with a Briton, he '11 boldly advance,
" That one Englifh foldier can beat ten of France.
" Would we alter the boaft from the fword to the
" pen,
Cl Our odds are flill greater, ftill 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
" pow'rs.
" Their verfemen and profemen, then match them
" with ours.
" Firft Shakfpeare and Milton, like Gods in the fight,
tf Have put their whole drama and epic to flight.
ci In fatires, epiftles, and odes, would they cope?
" Their numbers retreat before Dryden and Pope.
" And
74 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
^ And Johnfon well arm'd, like a hero of yore,
*f Has 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 when their Dictionary was publifhed
to fettle their language.
In the courfe of the winter preceding this
grand publication, the late Earl of Cheflcr-
field gave two effays in the periodical Paper,
called The World, dated November 28, and
December 5, 1754, to prepare the publick for
fc* important a work. The original plan, ad-
tlreffed to his Lotduhip in the year 1747, is
there mentioned in terms of the higheft praife ;
and this was underftood, at the time, to be
a courtly way of foliating a dedication of the
Dictionary to himfelf. Johnfon treated this
civility with difdain. He laid to Garrick and
others, " 1 have failed a long and painful
*' voyage round the world of the Englifh lan-
" S ua & e ana " ^ oes ne now ^ e d out two cock-
** boats to tow me into harbour ?" 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 the
** meannefs of dedication." Such a man, when
he
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 75
he had finifhed his !' Dictionary, not," as he
lays himfelf, " in the foft obfcurities of retire-
" ment, or under the fhelter of academic
f* bowers, but amidft inconvenience and dif-
" traction, in ficknefs and in forrow, and
f without the patronage of the great," was*
not likely to be caught by the lure thrown out
by Lord Chefterfield. He had in vain fought
the patronage of that nobleman ; and his pride,
exafperated by difappointment, drew from him
the following letter, dated in the month of
February, 1755.
4t To the Right Honourable the Earl of
" Chesterfield.
* My Lord,
" I have been lately informed, by the pro-
f 4 prietors of the World, that two papers, in
*' which my Dictionary is recommended to the
*' publick, were written by your Lordihip.
*' To be fo diftinguilhed is an honour which,
" being very little accuftomed to favours from
" the great, I know not well how to receive,
" or in what terms to acknowledge.
" When, upon fome flight encouragement,
" I firft vifited your Lordfhip, I wasoverpow-
" ered, like the reft of mankind, by the en-
" chantment
j6 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
u chantment of your addrefs, and could not
" forbear to wim, that I might boafr, myfelf
" le vainqueur du vainqueur de la terre ; that I
" might obtain that regard for which I faw
" the world contending. But I found my
*' attendance fo little encouraged, that neither
" pride, nor modefty, would fuffer me to con-
'* tinue it. When I had once addreiTed your
" Lordihip in publick, I had exhaufted all the
" art of pleafing, which a retired and un-
" courtly fcholar can pofTefs. I had done all
" that I could ; and no man is well pleafed to
" have his all neglected, be it ever fo little.
** Seven years, my Lord, have now pafled
" fince I waited in your outward room, or was
* repulfed ftom your door ; during which
" time 1 have been puming on my work
u through difficulties, of which it is ufelefs to
44 complain, and have brought it at lair, to the
" verge of publication, without one act of
" affiftance, one word of encouragement, or
" one fmile of favour. Such treatment I did
" not expect ; 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. JJ
14 Is not a patron, my Lord, one who looks
4 with unconcern on a man ftruggling for life in
4 the water, and, when he has reached ground,
' encumbers him with help ? The notice
4 which you have been pleafed to take of my
4 labours, had it been early, had been kind ;
8 but it has been delaved till I am indifferent,
4 and cannot enjoy it ; till I am folitary, and
4 cannot impart it ; till I am known, and do
* not want it. I hope it is no very cynical alpe-
4 rity not to confefs obligations where no be-
4 nefit has been received ; or to be unwilling
4 that the publick mould coniider me as owing
* that to a patron, which Providence has ena-
4 bled me to do for myfelf.
44 Having carried on my work thus far with
' fo little obligation to any favourer of learn-
4 ing, I mall not be difappointed, though I
4 mould conclude it, if lefs be poffible, with
4 lefs ; for, I have been long wakened from
4 that dream of hope, in which I once boafced
4 myfelf with fo much exultation.
44 My Lord,
44 Your Lordfhip's mod humble
44 and moil obedient fervant,
14 Samuel Johnson."
It
fS AN ESSAV ON THE LIFE AND
It is faid, upon good authority, that Johnfon
once received from Lord Chefterfield the fum
of ten pounds. It were to be wifhed that the
fecret had never tranfpired. ft 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 foundation in his
finances ; and, as his Dictionary was brought
to a conclufion, that money was now to flow
in upon him. The reverfe was the cafe. For
his fubfiftence, during the progrefs of the
work, he had received at d liferent times the
amount of his con tract ; 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 pounds and upwards
more than his due. The author of a book,
called Lexiphaiies, written by a Mr. Campbell,
a Scotchman, and purfer of a man of war,
endeavoured to blaft his laurels, but in vain.
The world applauded, and Johnfon never re-
plied. " Abufe," he faid, " is often of fer-
" vice : there is nothing fo dangerous to an
" author as filcnce ; his name, like a fhuttle-
" cock, muft be beat backward and forward,
" or it falls to the ground." Lexiphanes pro-
feffed
Genius of dr. Johnson. 79
feiTed to be an imitation of the pleafant man*
ner of Lucian j but humour was not the talent
of the writer of Lexiphanes. As Dryden fays,
He had too much horfe-play in his raillery. '*
t<.
It was in the fummer 1754, that the prefent?
writer became acquainted with Dr. Johnibn.
The caufe of his firir. vifit is related by Mrs.
Piozzi nearly in the following manner. " Mr.
** Murphy being engaged in a periodical paper,
*' the Gray's-Inii Journal, was at a friend's
*' houfe in the country, and, not being difpofed
*' to lofe pleafure for bufinefs, wifhed to con-
" tent his bookfeller by fome unftudied eiTay.
" He therefore took up a French Journal Liti-
" raire, and, tranilating fomething he liked,
** fent it away to town. Time, however, dif-
** covered that he tranflated from the French a
*' Rambler, which had been taken from the
" Englifh without acknowledgement. Upon
*' this difcovery, Mr. Murphy thought it right
' to make his excufes to Dr. Johnfon. He
*' went next day, and found him covered with
*' foot, like a chimney- fweeper, in a little room,
" as if he had been acting Lungs in the Al~
*' chymift, making cetber. This being told by
*' Mr. Murphy in company, ' Come, come,*
6 " faid
80 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
u faid Dr. Johnfon, ' the (lory is black
*' enough ; but it was a happy day that brought
" you firft to my houfeY' 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, was in a
few days after the publication of Lord Boling-
broke's pofthumous works. Mr. Garrick afked
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 fcouil-
" drel, who fpent his life in charging a gun
" again ft Chriftiauity ; 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 trigger after his
u death." His mind, at this time ft rained
and over-laboured by conftant exertion, called
for an interval of repoie and indolence. But
indolence was the time of danger : it was then
that his fpirits, not employed abroad, turned
with inward hoftility againft himfelf. His
reflections on his own life and conducl: were
always fevere ; and, wifhing to be immaculate,
he
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 8l
he deftroyed his own peace by unnecefiary fcru-
ples. He tells us, that, when he furveyed his paft
life, he difcovered nothing but a barren wafte of
time, with fome diforders of body, and diftur-
bancesof mind, very near to madnefs. His life,
he fays, from his earlieit youth, was wafted in a
morning bed; and his reigning fin was a gene-
ral fluggiihnefs, to which he was always in-
clined, and, in part of his life, almoff. 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
Stafrordfhire ; and received an anfwer to his
letter, importing, that the fymptoms indicated
a future privation of reafon ; who can wonder
that he was troubled with melancholy and de-
jection of fpirit ? An apprehenfion of the worft
calamity that can befal human nature hung
over him all the reft of his life, like the fword
of the tyrant fufpended over his gneft. In his
fixtieth year he had a mind to write the hiftory
of his melancholy ; but he defided, not know-
f ing
82 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
ing whether it would not too much difturb
him. In a Latin poem, however, to which
he has prefixed as a title, TNX10I SEATTON,
he has left a picture of himfelf, drawn with
as much truth, and as firm a hand, as can be
feen in the portraits of Hogarth or Sir Jofhua
Reynolds. The learned reader will find the
original poem in this volume, p. 178 ; and it
is hoped, that a trailflation, or rather imitation,
of fo curious a piece will not be improper
in this place.
KNOW YOURSELF.
(AFTER REVISING AND ENLARGING THE ENGLISH
LEXICON, OR DICTIONARY.)
When Scaliger, whole years of labour paft,
Beheld his Lexicon complete at lad,
And weary of his tafk, with wond'ring eyes,
Saw from words pil'd on words a fabric rife,
He curs'd the induiiry, inertly ftrong,
In creeping toil that could perfift fo long,
And if, enrag'd he cried, Heav'n meant to flicd
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 Scalper's Epigram on this fubjec>, communicated
without doubt by Dr. johnfon, Gent. Mag, 1748, p. 8.
Yes,
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 83
Yes, you had caufe, great Genius ! to repent ;
" You loft good days, that might be better fpent;"
You well might grudge the hours of ling'ring 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 amidfb rolling worlds the Great Firft Caufe
explore !
To fix the asras 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 eftablifh'd Laws ;
To learn whate'er the Sage with virtue fraught,
What'er the Mufe of moral wifdom taught.
Thefe were your quarry; thefe to you were known j
And the world's ample volume was your own.
Yet warn'd by me, ye pigmy Wits, beware,
Nor with immortal Scaliger compare.
For me, though his example ftrike my view,
Oh ! not for me his footfteps to purfue.
Whether firft 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;
Whate'er the caufe, from me no numbers fla v v,
No vifions warm me, and no raptures glow.
f 2 A mini
84 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
A mind like Scaliger's, fuperior ftill,
No grief could conquer, no misfortune chill.
Though for the maze of words his native fkies
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' aerherial way.
The love of Fame his gen'rous bofom fir'd ;
Each Science hail'd 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'd, and all my labours o'er,
For me what lot has Fortune now in ftore ?
The liftlefs will fucceeds, that worft difeafe,
The rack of indolence, the iluggifh eafe.
Care grows on care, and o'er my aching brain
Black Melancholy pours her morbid train.
No kind relief, no lenitive at hand,
I feek at midnight clubs the focial Band ;
But midnight clubs, where wit with 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 fkes far away ;
I mourn all night, and dread the coming day.
Exhaufted, tir'd, I throw my eyes around,
To find fome vacant fpot on claffic ground ;
And foon, vain hope ! I form a grand defign ;
Languor fucceeds, and all my povv'rs decline.
If
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 85
If Science open not her richeft vein,
Without materials all our toil is vain.
A form to ruggid {tone when Phidias gives,
Beneath his touch a new creation lives.
Remove his marble, and his genius dies;
With Nature then no breathing ftatue vies.
Whate'er I plan, I feel my pow'rs confin'd
By Fortune's frown and penury of mind.
I boaftno knowledge glean 'd with toil and ftrife,
That bright reward of a well-a&ed life.
I view myfelf, while Reafon's feeble light
Shoots a pale glimmer through the gloom of night,
While paffions, error, phantoms of the brain,
And vain opinions, fill the dark domain j
A dreary void, where fears with grief combin'd
Wafle all within, and defolate the mind.
What then remains ? Mull I in flow decline
To mute inglorious eafe old age refio;n ?
Or, bold ambition kindling in my breaft,
Attempt fome arduous talk ? Or, were it belt
Brooding o'er Lexicons to pafs the day,
And in that labour drudge my life away ?
Such is the picture for which Dr. Jolvnioti
fat to himfelf. He gives the prominent fea-
tures of his character ; his laffitude, his mor-
f 3 bid
86 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
bid melancholy, his love of fame, his dejeo
tion, his tavern- parties, and his wandering
reveries, Vacua mala Jamnia 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 more
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 Dictionary, and, as appears by the
receipts in his pofTeflion, was paid his price
for feveral meets ; but he foon relinquifhed the
undertaking. It is probable, that he found
himfelf not fufficiently veried in that branch
of knowledge.
He was again reduced to the expedient of
fhort compositions for the fupply of the day.
The writer of this narrative has now before
him a letter in Dr. Johnfon's hand -writing,
which fhews the diilrefs and melancholy fitua-
tion of the man, who had written the Rambler,
and fm'ilheu the great work of his Dictionary.
The letter is directed to Mr. Richardfon (the
author of CiarilTa), and is as follows :
4 S i R,
genius of dr. johnson. 87
"Sir,
*' I am obliged to entreat your affiftance. I
" am now under an arreft for five pounds
" eighteen millings. Mr. Strahan, from whom
" I mould have received the neceflary help in
" this cafe, is not at home ; and I 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 moll obedient
*' and mod humble fervant,
*' Samuel Johnson.
" Gough-lquare, 16 March."
In the margin of this letter there is a memo-
randum in thefe words: " March 16, 1756.
" 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 diftrefs
he fent eight millings more than was wanted,
Had an incident of this kind occurred in one
of his Romances, Richardfon would have
known how to grace his hero ; but in ficti-
tious lcenes generofity cofts the writer no-
thing.
f 4 About
88 AN ESSA^ ON THE LIFE AND
About this time Johnfon contributed fe-
veral papers to a periodical Mifcellany, called
The Visitor, from motives which are
highly honourable to him, a companionate re-
gard for the late Mr. Chriftopher Smart. The
criticifm on Pope's Epitaphs appeared in that
work. In a fhort time after, he became a re-
viewer in the Literary Magazine, under the
aufpices of the late Mr. Newbery, a man of
a projecting head, good tafte, and great in-
duftry. This employment engrofled but little
of Johnfon's time. He reiigned himfelf to
indolence, took no exercife, rofe about two,
and then received the vifits of his friends. Au-
thors, long fince forgotten, waited on him as
their oracle, and he gave refponfes in the chair
of criticifm. He lifrened to the complaints,
the fchemes, and the hopes and fears, of a
crowd of inferior writers, " who," he faid,
in the words of Roger Afcham, " lived, men
** knew not how, and died ohjcure, men marked
" n r J when" He believed, that he could give
a better hiftory of Grub-ftreet than any man
living. His houfe was filled with a fucceffion
pf viiitors till four or five in the evening.
During the whole time he prefided at his tea-
table.
GENIUS OP DR. JOHNSON. 89
table. Tea was his favourite beverage ; and
when the late Jonas Hanway ponounced his
anathema againft the ufe of tea, Johnfon rofe
in defence of his habitual practice, declaring
himfelf " in that article a hardened finner,
* 6 who had for years diluted his meals with
" the infufion of that fafcinating plant ; whofe
m tea-kettle had no time to cool ; who with
u tea folaced the midnight hour, and with tea
" welcomed the morning."
The propofal for a new edition of Shak-
fpeare, which had formerly mifcarried, was
refumed in the year 1756. The book-
fellers readily agreed to his terms, and fub-
icription- tickets were ifTued out. For under-
taking this work, money, he confefied, was
the inciting motive. His friends exerted them-
felves to promote his intereft,; and, in the
mean time, he engaged in a new periodical
production called The Idler. The firft num-
ber appeared on Saturday, April 14, 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
rears.
gO AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
years. In 1759 was published RafFelas, Prince
of Abyflinia. His tranflation of Lobo's Voyage
to Abyflinia feems to have pointed out that
country for the fcene of action ; and Rnjjila
Chrijlos, the General of Sultan Segued, men-
tioned in that work, raoft probably fuggefted
the name 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
diffolution ; but money was necefTary. Mr.
Johnfton, a bookfeller, who has long fince left
offbufinefs, 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 necefTary to retrench
his expences. He gave up his houfe in Gough-
fquare.* Mr. Williams went into lodgings.
He retired to Gray's- Inn, and foon removed to
chambers in the Inner Temple-lane, where he
lived in poverty, total idlenefs, and the pride of
literature.
GENItJS OF DR. JOHNSON. 9 1
literature. Magni fiat nominh umbra. Mr.
Fitzherbert (the father of Lord St. Helen's,
the prefent minifter at Madrid) a man
diftinguifhed through iife for his benevo-
lence and other amiable qualities, ufed
to fay, that he paid a morning vifit to John-
fbn, intending from his chambers to fend a
letter into the city; but, to his great fur^
prife, he found an author by profeffion 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 afflicled
with gloomy appreheniions. At one of the
parties made at his houfe, Bofcovich, the Je-
ll uit, who had then lately introduced the New-
tonian philofbphy at Rome, and, after pub-
liuYmg an elegant Latin poem on the fubjecT:,
was made a Fellow of the Royal Society, was
one of the company invited to meet Dr. John-
fon. The converfation at fir ft was moftly in
French. Johnfon, though thoroughly verfed
in that language, and a profefTed admirer of
Boileau and La Bruyere, did not underftand
its pronunciation, nor could he fpeak it him-
felf with propriety. For the reft of the even-
ing the talk was, in Latin. Eofcovich had a
ready
92 AN ESSAY ON THE LTFE AND
ready current flow of that flimfy phrafeology
with which a prieft may travel through Italy,
Spain, and Germany. Johnfon fcorned what
he called colloquial barbarifms. It was his
pride to fpeak his beft. He went on, after a
little practice, with as much facility as if it
was his native tongue. One fentence this wri-
ter well remembers. Obferving that Fontinelle
at firft oppofed the Newtonian philofophy, and
embraced it afterwards, his words were : FontU
nellus, n't fallor, in extremd feneffiute, Juit trans-
juga ad caflra Nezvtoniana.
We have now traveled through that part of
Dr. Johnfon's life which was a perpetual itrug-
gle with difficulties. Halcyon days are now to
open upon him. In the month of May, 1762,
his Majefty, to reward literary merit, fignified
his pleafure to grant to johnfon a penfion of
three hundred pounds a year. The Earl of
Bute was minifler. Lord Loughborough, who,
perhaps, was originally a mover in the buii-
nefs, had authority to mention it. He was
well acquainted with Johnfon ; but, having
heard much of his independent fpirit, and of
the dovynfal of Ofborne the bookfelier, he did
not
GENIUS OF DR. jOHNSOtf. 93
not know but his benevolence might be re-
warded with a folio on his head. He defired
the author of thefe memoirs to undertake the
talk. This writer thought the opportunity of
doing fb much good the mod happy incident in
his life. He went, without delay, to the
chambers in the Inner Temple-lane, which,
in fact, were the abode of wretchednefs. By
flow and fludied approaches the meffage was
difclofed. Johnfon made a long paufe : he
alked if it was ferioufly intended ? He fell
into a profound meditation, and his own defi-
nition of a penlioner occurred to him. He
was told, " That he, at leaft, did not come
" within the definition," He defired to meet
next day, and dine at the Mitre Ta-
vern. At that meeting he gave up all
his fcruples. On the following day Lord
Loughborough conducted him to the Earl of
Bute. The converfation that parTed was in the
evening related to this writer by Dr. Johnfon.
He exprefied 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 faction.
'* No, Sir," faid Lord Bute, it is not offered
" to
94 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE A N &
" to you for having dipped your pen in faclion,
" nor with a defign that you ever mould."
Sir John Hawkins will have it, that, after this
interview, Johnfon was often preffed to wait on
Lord Bute, but with a fullen fpirit refufed to
comply. However that be, Johnfon was ne-
ver heard to utter a difrefpectful word of that
nobleman. The writer of this eflay remem-
bers a circumftance which may throw fome
light on this fubject. The late Dr. Rofe, of
Chifwick, whom Johnfon loved and refpected,
contended for the pre-eminence of the Scotch
writers ; and Fergufon's book on Civil Society,
then on the eve of publication, he faid, would
give the laurel to North Britain. " Alas !
*' what can he do upon that fubjecl: ?" faid John-
fon : " Ariftotle, Polybius, Grotius, Puffen-
" dorf, and Burlemaqui, have reaped in that
" field before him." " He will treat it," faid
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
" new manner of writing !" Dr. Rofe re-
plied, " If that will not fatisfy you, I will
' name a writer, whom you muft allow to be
" the
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 95
" the beft in the kingdom." " Who is that?"
*' The Earl of Bute, when he wrote an order
" for your penfion." " There, Sir," faid John-
fon, " you have me in the toil : to Lord Bute
" I mufl: allow whatever praife you may claim
' for him." Ingratitude was no part of John-
ion's character.
Being now in the pofieilion of a regular in-
come, Johnfon left his chambers in the Tem-
ple, and once more became mafler of a houfe
in Johnfon's court, Fleet-irreer. Dr. Lever,
his friend and phyfician in ordinary, paid his
daily viiits with affiduity ; made tea all the
morning, talked what he had to fay, and did
not expect an anfwer. Mrs. Williams had hec
apartment in the houfe, and entertained her
beuefactor with more enlarged converfation.
Chemiftry was part of Johnfon's amufement.
For this love of experimental philofophy Sir
John Hawkins thinks an apology neceifary.
He tells us, with great gravity, that curiofity
was the only object in view ; not an intention
to grow fuddenly rich by the philoiopher's
{tone, or the tranfmutation of metals. To en-
large his circle, Johnfon once more had re-
courfe
96 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
courfe to a literary club. This was at the
Turk's Head, in Gerrard-ftreet, Soho, on every
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 affection for Sir Jofhua was found-
ed on a long acquaintance, and a thorough
knowledge of the 'Virtues and amiable quali-
ties of that excellent artift. He delighted in
the converfation of Mr. Burke. He met him
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-
u 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 fhowcr, without being
' convinced that he was the flrft man in Eng-
u 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 DR. JOHNSON. 97
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 character, Johnfon gave a remark-
able inftance. It happened that he went with
Sir Jofhua 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 actions with fuch dex-
terity, that though Nature's journeymen made
the men, they imitated humanity to the aftonifh-
ment of the fpectator. The entertainment
being over, the three friends retired to a ta-
vern. Johnfon and Sir Jofhua talked with
pleafure of what they had feen ; and favs
Johnfon, in a tone of admiration, " How the
' little fellow brandifhed his fpontoon !"
" There is nothing in it," replied Goldfmith,
darting up with impatience ; " give me a fpon-
44 toon ; I can do it as well myfelf."
g Enjoying
98 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
Enjoying his amufements at his weekly club,
and happy in a fhte of independence, John-
fon gained in the year 1765 another refource,
which contributed more than any thing elfe to
exempt him from the folicitudes of life. He
was introduced to the late Mr. Thrale and his
family. Mrs. Piozzi has related the fact, 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-congratu-
lation,fince he knpws 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 October, 1765, Shakfpeare was pub-
limed ; and, in a (hort time after, the Uni-
verfitv of Dublin fent over a diploma, in ho-
nourable terms, creating him a Doctor of
Laws. Oxford in eight or ten years afterwards
followed the example ; and till then Johnfon
never afiumed trie title of Doctor. In 1766,
his couflitution teemed to be in a rapid decline ;
and
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 99
and that morbid melancholy, which often
clouded his underftanding, came upon him
with a deeper gloom than ever. Mr. and Mrs.
Thrale paid him a vifit in this fituation, and
found him on his knees, with Dr. Delap, the
rector of Lewes, in SufTex, befeeching God
to continue to him the ufe of his underftand-
ing. Mr. Thrale took him to his houfe at
Streatham ; and Johnfon from that time be-
came a conflant refident in the family. He
went occafionally to the club in Gerard-ftreet ;
but his head quarters were fixed at Streatham.
An apartment was fitted up for him, and the
library was greatly enlarged. Parties were
conftantly invited from town; and Johnfon was
every day at an elegant table, with felect and
polifhed company. Whatever could be devifed
by Mr. and Mrs. Thrale to promote the happi-
nefs, and eftablim the health, of their guefr,
was ftudioufly performed from that time to the
end of Mr. Thrale's life. Johnfon accompa-
nied the family in all their fummer excursions,
to Brighthelmftone, to Wales, and to Paris.
It is but juftice to Mr. Thrale to fay, that a
more ingenuous frame of mind no man pof-
fcfled* His education at Oxford gave him the
g 2 habits
I0O AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
habits of a gentleman ; his amiable 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 the wits of the age, Johnfon was fel-
dom entangled. A llngle incident of that
kind may not be unworthy of notice, (ince it
happened 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 modern
Ariftophanes (fo Foote was called) had been
horfe- whipped by a Dublin apothecary, for
mimicking him on the flage. " I wonder,"
faid Garrick, " that any man mould mew fo
"much refentment to Foote; h$ has a pa-
c * 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 man is rifwg in the world" The
expreffion was afterwards reported to Foote ;
who, in return, gave out, that he would pro-
duce
GENIUS OP DR. JOHNSON. IOI
duce the Caliban of literature on the ftage.
Being informed of this defign, Johnibn fent
word toFoote, "That, the theatre being in tended
c for the reformation of vice, he would ftep from
'* the boxes on the itage, and correct him be-
*'. fore the audience." Foote knew the intre-
pidity of his antagonift, and abandoned the
defign. No ill-will enfued. Johnibn 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 exprefled 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, aiked the
author, " If he meant to give the world
" any more of his compofitions ?" Johnfon
anfwered, " That he thought he had writ-
46 ten enough." " And I fhould think fa
" 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 writteu
enough, his genius, even in fpite of bodily
iluggifhnefs, could not lie ftill. In 1770, we
find him entering the lifts as a political writer.
The flame of difcord that blazed throughout
the nation on the expulfion of Mr. Wilkes,
and the final determination of the Houfe of
Commons, that Mr. Luttrell was duly elected
by 206 votas againft 1143, fpread a general
fpirit of difcontent. To allay the tumult, Dr.
Johnfon published The Falfe Alarm. Mrs.
Piozzi informs us, " That this pamphlet was
" written at her houfe, between eight o'clock
" on Wednefday 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 within
the bounds of probability. Johnfon has ob-
ferved that there are different methods of com-
position. Virgil was uied to pour out a great
number of verfes in the morning, and pafs the
day in retrenching the exuberances, and cor-
recting inaccuracies; and it was Pope's cuftom
to write his firft thoughts in his firft words,
and gradually to amplify, decorate, rectify, and
refine,
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. IO3
refine, them. Others employ at once memory
and invention, and, with little intermediate
ufe of the pen, form and polifh large maflfes by
continued meditation, and write their produc-
tions only when, in their opinion, they have
completed them. This laft was Johnfon's
method. He never took his pen in hand till
he had well weighed his fubjec"t, 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 meets to the prefs, without be-
ing at the trouble of a fair copy. Whatever
may be the logic or eloquence of The Falfe
Alarm, the Houfe of Commons have fince
erafed the refolution from the Journals. But
whether they have not left materials for a fu-
ture controverfy may be made a queilion.
In 1771* he published another trat, on the
fubject of Falkland Islands. The defigri
was to fhew the impropriety of going to war
with Spain for an ifland thrown afide from
human ufe, ftormy in winter, and bar:
g 4 fi ..-.._,.-.,
104 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
fummer. For this work it is apparent that
materials were furnifhed by direction of the
minifter.
At the approach of the general elec-
tion in 1774? he wrote a fhort difcourfe, called
The Patriot, not with any vifible applica-
tion to Mr. Wilkes, but to teach the people to
reject the leaders of oppofition, who called
themfelves patriots. In 1775, he undertook a
pamphlet of more importance, namely, Taxa-
tion no Tyranny, in anfwer to the Refolutions
and Addrefs of the American Congrefs. The
fcope of the argument was, that diftant colo-
nies, which had, in their afTemblies, a legifla-
ture of their own, were, notwithftanding, lia-
ble to be taxed in a Britifh Parliament, where
they had neither peers in one houfe nor repre-
ientatives in the other. He was of opinion,
that this country was ftrong enough to enforce
obedience. " When an Englishman," he fays,
" is told that the Americans fhoot up like the
" hydra, he naturally coniiders how the hydra
" was deftroyed." The event has (hewn how
much he and the minifter of that day were
miftaken.
The
GE NIUS OF DR. JO H N SON. IO5
The Account of the Tour to the Weftern
Iflands of Scotland, which was undertaken in
the autumn of 1773, in company with Mr.
Bofwell, was not publifhed till fome time in
the year 1 775. 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 Johnfbn entertained fome prejudices
againfr. the Scotch mud: not be diflembled. It
is true, as Mr. Bofwell fays, " that he thought
ts their fuccefs in England exceeded their pro-
li portion of real merit ; and he could not but
ii Jee in them that nationality which no liberal-
il minded Scotfman will deny." The author of
thefe memoirs well remembers, that Johnfbn
one day alked him, " Have you cbferved the
*' difference between your own country impu-
" dence and Scotch impudence ?" The an-
fwer being in the negative : " Then I will tell
<s you," faid Johnfon. " The impudence of
" an
106 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
u 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 mop of Davies, the
bookfeller, in Runell-itreet, Coven t -garden. Da-
vies came running to him almofr, out of breath
with joy : " The Scots gentleman is come,
* Sir ; his principal wifh is to fee you ; he is
" now in the back-parlour." a Well, well,
*' I'll fee the gentleman," faid Johnfon. He
walked towards the room. Mr. Bofwell was
the perfon. This writer followed with no
fmall curiofity. " I find," faid Mr. Bofwell,
" that I am come to London at a bad time,
u 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 cannot
" help coming from Scotland" ' Sir," faid
Johnfon, " no more can the reft of your coun-
trymen."
He
44
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. IO7
He had other reafons that helped to alienate
him from the natives of Scotland. Being a
cordial well-wi(her to the conftitution 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 Diflenters of Scotland and
the Separatifts of England. To the former he
imputed no difafFe&ion, no want of loyalty.
Their foldiers 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 ellablifhed, modes
of worfhip, without wifhing, in the prefent
age, to give any diflurbance 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-
lishman was as a Scotchman, that Scotchman
mould be as an Englifhman to him. In this,
furely, there was no rancour, no malevolence.
The Diflenters on this fide the Tweed appeared
to him in a different light. Their religion, he
frequently faid, was too worldly, too political,
too refllefs and ambitious. The doctrine of
ca/Jjiering
108 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
Ca/hiering kings, and erecting on the ruins of the
conftitution a new form of government, which
lately ifTued from their pulpits, lie always
thought was, under a calm difguife, the principle
that lay 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 pofleffion of all the livings
and all the parifhes 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 diflike of Cal-
vinifm mingled fometiiries with his reflections
on the natives of that country. The affbeia-
tion of ideas could not be eafily broken ; but
it is well known that he loved and refpecled
many gentlemen from that part of the illand.
Dr* Robertfon*s Hiftory of Scotland, and Dr.
Beattfe's EfTays, were fubjects of his conflant
pra'tfe. Mr. Bofwell, Dr. Rofe of Chifwick,
Andrew Millar, Mr. Hamilton the printer, and
the. late Mr. Strahan, were among his mod inti-
mate friends. Many others might be added to
the lift. He fcorned to enter Scotland as a
fpy;
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON, IO
fpy ; though Hawkins, his biographer, and the
profefling defender of his fame, allowed him-
felf leave to reprefent him in that ignoble cha-
racter. He went into Scotland to furvey men
and manners. Antiquities, foflils, and mine-
rals, were not within his province. He did
not vifit that country to fettle the ftation of
Roman camps, or the fpot where Galgacus
fought the laft battle for public liberty. The
people, their cuftoms, and the progrefs of
literature, were his objects. The civilities
which he received in the courfe of his tour
have been repaid with grateful acknowledge-
ment, and, generally, with great elegance of
exprefiion. His crime is, that he found the
country bare of trees, and he has dated the
fact. This, Mr. Bofwell, in his Tour to
the Hebrides, has told us, was refented by his
countrymen with anger inflamed to rancour ;
but he admits that there are few trees on the
eaft fide of Scotland. Mr. Pennant, in his
Tour, fays, that, in fome parts of the eafrern
fide of the country, he favv feveral large plan-
tations of pine planted by gentlemen near their
feats ; and in this refpect fuch a laudable fpirit
prevails, that, in another half-century, it never
(hall
110 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
fhall be faid, " To fpy the nakednefs of the land
* c are you come" Johnfon could not wait for
that half-century, and therefore mentioned
things as he found them. If in any thing he
has been miftaken, he has made a fair apology
in the lafl paragraph of his book, avowing
with candour, " That he may have been fur-
" prized by modes of life, and appearances of
*' nature, that are familiar to men of wider
** furvey, and more varied converfation. No-
" velty and ignorance mud always be recipro-
" cal ; and he is confeious that his thoughts
" on national manners are the thoughts of one
*' who has feen but little."
The Poems of Offian made a part of John-
fon's enquiry during his refidence in Scotland
and the Hebrides. On his return to England,
November, 1773, a ^ orm kerned to be gather-
ing over his head ; but the cloud never burft,
and the thunder never fell. Offian, it is well
known, was prefented to the publick as a tranf-
iation from the Earfe : but that this was a
fraud, Johnfon declared without hesitation.
46 The Earfe" he fays, " was always oral
" only, and never a written language. The
" Welch
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. Ill
Welch and the Irifh 'were more cultivated.
In Earfe there was not in the world a fingle
manufcript a hundred years old. Martin,
who in the lad: century published an Ac-
count of the Weflern Iflands, mentions
Irijh, but never Earfe manufcripts, to be
found in the iflands in his time. The bards
could not read ; if they could, they might
probably have written. But the bard was a
barbarian among barbarians, and, knowing
nothing himfelf, lived with others that knew
no more. If there is a manufcript from
which the tranflation was made, in what
age was it written, and where is it ? If it
was collected from oral recitation, it could
only be in detached parts and fcattered frag-
ments : the whole is too long to be remem-
bered." Who put it together in its prefent
form ? For thefe, and fuch like reafons,
John fon calls the whole an impofture. He adds,
The editor, or author, never could mew the
original, nor can it be fhewn by any other.
To revenge reafonable incredulity, by re-
fufing evidence, is a degree of infolence
with which the world is not yet acquainted ;
6 *' and
112 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
" and ftubborn audacity is the laft 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
action.
In the year 1777, the misfortunes of Dr.
Dodd excited his compaffion. He wrote a
ipeech 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 iermon to be preached by Dodd
to the convicts 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, iome years before, had been damned by
a party on the fir ft night. It was revived for
the benefit of the author's widow. Airs.
Piozzi relates, that when Johnfon was rallied
for thcle exertions, fo clofe to one another, his
anfwer was, V/hsn they come to me loith a dying
Par/on
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. IIJ
Par/on , and a dead Stay -maker, what can a man
do? We come now to the laft of his literary-
labours. At the requeir. of the Bookfellers he
undertook the Lives of the Poets. The firfb
publication was in 1779, and the whole was
completed in 1781. In a memorandum of that
year he fays, fome time in March he finiihed
the Lives of the Poets, which he wrote in his
ufual way, dilatorily and hafrily, unwilling to
work, yet working with vigour and hafle. In
another place, he hopes they are written in fuch
a manner as may tend to the promotion of
piety. That the hiftory of fo many men, who,
in their different degrees, made themfelves con-
fpicuous in their time, was not written recently
after their deaths, feems to be an omifTion that
does no honour to the Republic of Letters.
Their contemporaries in general looked on with
calm indifference, and fufFered Wit and Genius
to vanifh out of the world in total filence, un-
regarded, and unlamented. Was there no
friend to pay the tribute of a tear r No juft ob-
ferver of life, 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
h moral
114 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
moral leflfon to after-ages. If tradition told us
that Ben Jonson. went to the Devil Tavern ;
that Shakspeare flole deer, and held the ftir-
fup at playhoufe doors ; that Dryden fre-
quented Button's Coffee-houfe ; curiofity was
lulled afleep, and Biography forgot the beft part
of her function, which is to inftruct mankind
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 mod part, choaked
up, and little remained befides doubtful anec-
dote, uncertain tradition, and vague report.
" Nunc fitus infomiis premit ct deferta Vetuftas."
The value of Biography has been better \m~
derftood in other ages, and in other countries.
Tacitus informs us, that to record the lives and
characters- of illuftrious men was the practice
of the Roman authors, in the early periods of
the Republic* In France the example has been
followed. Fontine/le, D'Alembert^ and Monjieur
Thomas^ have left models in this kind of com-
petition. They have embalmed the dead. But
it is true, that they had incitements and ad-
vantages.
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 115
Vantages, even at a diftant day, which could
not, by any diligence, be obtained by Dr.
Johnfon. The wits of France had ample ma-
terials. They lived in 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
Belles Lettrcs, where Genius was cultivated, re-
fined, and encouraged. They had the tracts,
the eflays, and diflertations, which remain in
the memories of the Academy, and they had
the fpeeches of the feveral members, delivered
at their firft admiffion to a feat in that learned
AfTembly. In thofe fpeeches the new Acade-
mician did ample juftice to the memory of his
predeceflbr ; and though his harangue was de-
corated with the colours of eloquence, and was,
for that reafon, called panegyric, yet being
pronounced before qualified judges, who knew
the talents, the conduct, and morals of the
deceafed, the fpeaker could not, with pro-
priety, wander into the regions of fiction.
The truth was known, before it was adorned.
The Academy faw the marble, before the artifl
polimed it. But this country has had no Aca-
demy of Literature. The public mind, for cen-
h 2 turies,
Il6 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE ANO
turies, has been engrofTed by party and faction 5
by the madnefs of many for the gain of a few ; by
civil wars, religious difTentions, trade and com-
merce, and the arts of accumulating wealth.
Amidft fuch attentions, who can wonder that
cold praife has been often the only reward of
merit ? In this country Doctor Nathaniel
Hodges, who, like the good bihhop of Mar-
feilles, drew purer breath amidft the contagion
of the plague in London, and, during the whole
time, continued in the city, adminifteriug me-
dical afliftance, was furTered, 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 project ; and, in this country, Otway died
for want on Tower- Hill ; Butler, the great
author of Hudibras, whole name can only die
with the Englifh language, was left to languifh
in poverty, the particulars of his life almoft
unknown, and fcarce a veftige of him left ex-
cept his immortal poem. Had there been an
Academy of Literature, the lives, at leaft, of
thofe celebrated perfons would have been writ-
ten for the benefit of pofterity. Swift, it feems,
had the idea of fuch an inftitution, and pro-
poied
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON, I 1 7
pofed k to Lord Oxford ; but Whig and Tory
were more important objects. It is needlefs to
diffemble, that Dr. Johnfon, in the Life of
Rofcommon, talks of the inutility of fuch a
project. " In this country," he fays, " an
'-' Academy could be expected to do but little.
*' If an academician's place were profitable, it
c * would be given by intereft ; if attendance
* { were gratuitous, it would be rarely paid, and
a no man would endure the lead: difguft. Una-
** nimity is impoffible, and debate would fepa-
" rate the atTembly. ,, To this it may be fuf*
flcient to anfwer, that the Royal Society has
not been diffolved by fullen difgufl ; and the
modern Academy at Somerfet-houfe has already
performed much, and promifes more. Una*
nimity is not neceflfary to fuch an aiTembly.
On the contrary, by difference of opinion and
collifion of lentiment, the caufe of Literature
would thrive and flourifh. The true principles
ofcriticifm, the fecret of fine writing, the in-
vestigation of antiquities, and other interesting
fubjects, might occafion a clafh of opinions ;
but in that contention truth would receive il-
luftration, and the efTays of the feveral mem-
bers would fupply the Memoirs of the Academy,
h 3 Bur,
Xl8 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
But, fays Dr. Johnfon, ' fuppofe the philo'-
*' logical decree made and promulgated, what
" would be its authority ? In abfolute govern-
" ment there is fometimes a general reverence
" paid to all that has the fanction of power,
" the countenance of gfeatnefs. How little
* 4 this is the ftate of our country needs not to
" be told. The edicts of an fcnglifh academy
*' would probably be read by many, only that
" they may be fure to difobey them. The pre-
w fent manners of the nation would deride au-
'* thority, and therefore nothing is left, but that
'* every writer mould criticize himfelf." This
furely is not conclufive. It is by the ftandard of
the beft writers that every man fettles for himfelf
his plan of legitimate composition ; and iince
the authority of mperior genius is acknow-
ledged, that authority, which the individual
obtains, would not be lefiened by an adbciation
with others of diftinguifhed ability. It may,
therefore, be inferred, that an Academy of Li-
terature would be an eftablifhment highly ufe-
ful, and an honour to Literature. In luch an
inftitution profitable places would not be wanted.
Vatis avarus baud facile eft animus ; and the
minifter, who fliall find lejfure from party
and
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. I 19
and faction to carry fuch a fcheme into execu-
tion, will, in all probability, be refpe&ed 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 publifhed in 1778, and the work was
completed in 1781. Should Biography fall
again into difufe, there will not always be a
Johnfon to look back through a century, and
give a body of critical and moral inftruction.
In April 1781, he loft his friend Mr. Thrale.
His own words, in his Diary, will beft tell that
melancholy event. " On Wednefday the 1 ith
** of April, was buried my dear friend Mr.
" Thrale, who died on Wednefday the 4th,
*' and with him were buried many of my hopes
" and pleafures. About five, I think, on Wed-
" nefday morning he expired. I felt almoft
" the laft flutter of his pulfe, and looked for
the laft time upon the face, that, for fifteen
" years before, had never been turned upon me
< but with refpect and benignity. Farewel :
" may God, that delighteth in mercy, have
" had mercy on thee. I had conftantly prayed
" for him before his death. The deceafeof him,
h 4 " fro .11
120 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
*' from whofe friendfhip I had obtained many
" opportunities of amufement, and to whom I
*' turned my thoughts as to a refuge from mif-
fortunes, has left me heavy. But my bufi-
" 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.
In 1782, his old friend Level expired without
warning, and without a groan. Events like
thefe reminded Johnfon of his own mortality.
He continued his viiits to Mrs. Thrale at
Streatham, to the 7th day of October, 1782,
when, having firft compofed a prayer for the
happinefs of a family, with whom he had for
many years enjoyed the pleaiures 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 ufe 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
cafts a lingering look behind.
Ti
le
GENIUS OF D B . JOHNSON. 121
The few remaining occurrences may be foort
difpatched. In the month of June, 1783,
Johnfon had a paralytic ftroke, which afTe&ed 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 fhort 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. Wat-
fon's Chemiftry. Articulating with' difficulty,
he laid, " From this book, he who knows
** nothing may learn a great deal ; and he
" who knows will be pleaicd 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 viiit to Mrs. Lucy
Porter, the daughter of his wife by her firft
hufband; and in his way back paid his refpects
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
(hock to a mind like his, ever agitated by the
thoughts of futurity. The contemplation of
his now-approaching end was conftantly before
his eyes; and the profpcct 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 converfation
going forward, whoever fat near his chair,
might hear him repeating, from Shakfpeare,
Ay, but to die and go we know not where ;
To He in cold obftru&ion and to rot ;
This fenfible warm motion .0 become
A kneaded clod, and the delighted fpirit
To bathe in fiery floods.
And from Milton,
Who would lofe,
For fear of pain, this intellectual being !
By the death of Mr. Williams he was left
in a ftate of deftitution, 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.
Brocklefby, with that benevolence with which
he always affifts his friends, paid his vifits
with afliduity. The medicines prefcribed were
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. I23
Johnfon, being eafed of his dropfy, began to
entertain hopes that the vigour of his confti-
tution was not entirely broken. For the fake
of converting with his friends, he eftablifhed
a converfation-club, to meet on every Wed-
nefday evening ; and, to ferve a man whom
he had known in Mr. Thrale's houfehold for
many years, the place was fixed at his houfe
in EfTex-ftreet near the Temple. To anfwer
the malignant remarks of Sir John Hawkins,
on this fubject, were a wretched wafte of time.
Profeffing to be Johnfon's friend, that bio-
grapher has raifed more objections to his charac-
ter than all the enemies to that excellent man.
Sir John had a root of bitternefs that put rancours
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 horfe or a dog. He mould have known
that kind affections are the effence 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 lefs necefTary than a fenfe of duty.
Good affections are an ornament not only to an
author but to his writings. He who fhews
him-
124 AN ESSAV ON THE LIFE AND
himfelf upon a cold fcent for opportunities to
bark and fharl throughout a volume of fix
hundred pages, may, if he will, pretend to
moralize; but Goodness of Heart, or, to
ufe that politer phrafe, the virtue of a horje 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 re-
sectable for their rank, their talents, and their
literature. They attended with pun&uality
till. about Midfummer, 1784, when, with fome
appearance of health, Johnfon went into Der-
byshire, 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
might prolong a valuable life. But a penfioii
f *3 a y ear was a lender fund for a travel-
ing valetudinarian, and it was not then known
that he had faved a moderate fum of money,
Mr. Bofvvell and Sir Jofhua Reynolds under-
took to folicit the patronage of the Chancellor,
With Lord Thurlow, while he was at the bar,
Johnfon was well acquainted. He was often
heard to fay, " Thurlow is a man of fuch
" vigour of mind, that I never knew I was to
* 6 meet;
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 125
*' 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 protract if pof-
fible the days of a man, whom he refpec"ted,
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-
<e tion of mankind, the generofity of your
*' Lordfhip's offer raifes in me not lefs wonder
** than gratitude. Bounty, fo liberally beftow-
*' ed, I fhould gladly receive if my condition
" made it neceflary ; for, to fuch a mind who
" would not be proud to own his obligations ?
" But it has pleafed God to reftore me to fo
' great a meafure of heath, that, if I fhould
*' 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
<f thought it neceflary, was never much eii-'
" couraged by my phyficians ; and I was very
" defirous that your Lordfhip mould be told it'
" by Sir Jofhua Reynolds as an event very un-
* certain ; for, if I grew much better, I mould
" not be willing, if much worfe, I mould not
" be able, to migrate. Your Lord (hip was firfr.
" folicited without my knowledge ; but, when
" I was told that you were pleafed to honour
* me with your patronage, I did not expect to
" hear of a refufal ; yet, as I have had no long
c< time to brood hopes, and have not rioted in
" imaginary opulence, this cold reception has
** been fcarce a difappointment; and from your
' Lordfhip' s kindnefs'I have received a benefit
*' which only men like you are able to beftow*
*' I (hall now live mihi carior, with a higher
" opinion of my own merit.
* c I am, my Lord,
*' your Lordfhip's moil obliged,
"mod: grateful,
" and mod humble, fervanr,
*' Samuel Johnson/'
"September, 1784."
We
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 12,J
We have in this inftance the exertion of two
Congenial minds ; one, with a generous impulfe
relieving merit in diftrefs ; and the other, by
gratitude and dignity of fentiment, rifing to an
equal elevation.
It feems, however, that greatnefs of mind is
not confined to greatnefs of rank. Dr. Brock-
leiby was not content to affift with his medical
art ; he refolved to mlnifler to . his patient's
mind) and pluck from his memory the for row
which the late refufal from a high quarter
might occafion. To enable him to vifit the
iouth of France in purfuit of health, he offered
from his own funds an annuity of one hundred
pounds, payable quarterly. This was a fivect
oblivious antidote ; but it was not accepted, for
the reafbns afiigned to the Chancellor. The
propofal, however, will do honour to Dr,
Brocklefby, as long as liberal fentiment fhall
be ranked among the focial virtues.
In the month of October, 17S4, we find
Dr. Johnfon correfponding with Mr. Nichols,
the intelligent compiler of the Gentleman's
Magazine, and, in the langour of ficknefs, {till
deiirous
128 AN 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
iMichfield, October 20, that he mould be glad
to give io ikilful a lover of Antiquities any in-
formation. He adds, " At Afhburne, where I
" had very little company, I had the luck to
' borrow Mr. Bowyer's Life, a book fo full of
V contemporary hiilory, that a literary man
46 muft find fome of his old friends. I thought
" that I could now and then have told you
" fome hints worth your notice : We perhaps
" may talk a life over. I hope we mall be
" much together. You mull: now be to mc
" what you were before, and what dear Mr.
" Allen was betides. He was taken unexpecl:-
* e edly awav, but I think he was a very good
" man. 1 have made very little progrefs in re-
" covery. I am very weak, and very ileeplefs ;
" 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. Brocklefby,
j Dp
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 120
Dr. Butter, and Mr. Cruikfhank, the eminent
furgeon. Eternity prefented to his mind an
avveful profpecl:, and, with as much virtue as
perhaps ever is the lot of man, he fhuddered
at the thought of his diiiblution. His friends
awakened the comfortable reflection of a well-
fpent life ; and, as his end drew near, they
had the fatisfa&ion of feeing him com-
pofed, and even chearful, infomnch that he
was able, in the courfe of his reftlefs nights,
to make tranilations 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
1 time, a Latin infcription to the memory of
Garrick, but his vigour was exhausted.
His love of Literature was a paffion that
(tuck 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 man, mean-
ing, i fuppofe, no man but himfelf, could
aftign all the parts of the Ancient Univerfai
i Iliftcry
I3O AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
Hifrory to their proper authors, at the requef!
of Sir Robert Chambers, or myfelf, gave the
account which I now tranfmit to you in
his own hand, being willing that of fo great a
work the hiftory mould be known, and that
each writer fhould receive his due proportion of
praife from poflerity.
" I recommend to you to preferve this fcrap of
literary intelligence in Mr. Swinton*s own hand,
or to depofit it in the Mufcum *, that the ve-
racity of this account may never be doubted.
" I am, Sir,
" Your moft humble fervant,
Dec, 6, 1684. " Sam. Johnson/ 1
Mr. Swinton.
The Hiftory of the Carthaginians.
Numidians.
Mauritanians.
. ' Gzetulians.
, Garamantes.
Melano Gaetulians.
Nigrita?.
- Cyrenaica.
1 1 1 Marmarica.
* It is there depofited. J. N.
* The
GENltJS OP DR. JOHNSON. 1 3!
The Hiitory of the Regio Syrtica.
T inks, Tartars, and Moguls*
Indians.
Chinefe.
' DiiTertation on the peopling
of America.
The Biftory of the DiiTertation on the Inde*
pendency of the Arabs.
The Cofmogony, and a fmall part of the hiftory
immediately following. By Mr. Sale.
To the Birth of Abraham. Chiefly by Mr.
Shelvock.
Hiitory of the Jews, Gauls, and Spaniards. By
Mr. Pfalmanazar.
Xenophon's Retreat. By the fame.
Hiftory of the Perfians, and the Conftantino-
politan Empire. By Dr. Campbell.
Hiftory of the Romans. By Mr. Bower *.
On
* Before this authentic coaimunication, Mr. Nichols had
given, in the volume of the Magazine for 1781, p. 37c,
the following account of the Universal Hiftory. The pro-
Dofals were pubhfhed October 6, 1729 ; and the authors of
the firfc feven volumes were,
Vol. I. Mr. Sale, tranflator of the Koran.
II. George Pfalmanazar.
III. George Pf?.lmi:nazar.
12 III. Arch-
1$2 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
On the morning of Dec. 7, Dr. Johnfon re-
quefted to fee Mr. Nichols. A few days
before, he had borrowed fome of the early vo-
lumes of the Magazine, with a profeffed inten-
tion to point out the pieces which he had writ-
ten in that collection. The books lay on the
table, with many leaves doubled down, and in
particular thofe which contained his ihare in
the Parliamentary Debates. Such was the good-
nefs of Johnfon's heart, that he then declared,
that " thofe debates were the only parts
' of his writings which gave him any com-
" pundtion j 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 (lender materials, and often
64 from none at all, the mere coinage of his
III. Archibald Bower.
Captain Shelvock.
Dr. Campbell.
IV. The fame as vol. III.
V. Mr. Bower.
VI. Mr. Bower.
Rev. John Swinton.
VII. Mr. Swinton.
Mr. Bower.
" own
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 1 33
" own imagination." 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 fafrer than mod perfons could
" have tranfcribed that quantity. In one day
*' in particular, and that nor 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 octavo were the production of one
" long day, including a part of the night."
In the courfe of the converfation, he afked,
whether any of the family of Faden the printer
were living. Heing told that the geographer
near Charing-crofs was Faden's fon, he faid,
after a fhort paufe, " I borrowed a guinea of
" his father near thirty years ago ; be fo good
" as to take this, and pay it for me."
Wiming to difcharge every duty, and e very-
obligation, Johnfon recollected 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-
i q miltoa
I4 A N ESSAY ON THE LIVE AND
miltou at his houfe in Bedford Row, with an
apology for the length of time. The Reverend
Mr. Strahan was the hearer of the melTage,
about four or five days before Johnfon breathed
his laft.
Mr. Saftres (whom Dr. Johnfon eftecmed
and mentioned in his will) entered the room
during his illnefs. Dr. Johnfon, as foon as he
faw him, ftretched forth his hand, and, in a
tone of lamentation, called out, Jam mori-
turus ! But the love of life was (till an aclive
principle. Feeling himfelf fwelled with the
dropfy, he conceived that, by incifions in his
legs, the water might be diicharged, Mr.
Cruikftiank apprehended that a mortification
might be the confequence ; but, to appeafe a
diftempered fancy, he gently lanced the iurface.
Johnion 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 reiidue, amounting to about fifteen
hundred pounds, was bequeathed to Frank, the
Black
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 10,$
Black fervant, formerly configned to the tef-
tator by his friend Dr. Bathurft.
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
fubfided into a pious truft and humble hope of
mercy at the Throne of Grace. On Monday
the 13th day of December (the lad: of his ex-
igence on this fide the grave), the defire of
life returned with all its former vehemence.
He ftill imagined, that, by puncturing 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 two after, he fell into a
doze, and about ieven in the evening expired
without a groan.
On the 20th of the month his remains, with
due folemnities, and a numerous attendance of
his friends, were buried in Wcftminfler 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 infeription
i 4 Samuel
I56 AN ESSAY ON TH'E LIFE AND
Samuel Johnson, LL. D.
obiit xiii die Decembris,
Anno Domini
MDCCLXXXIV.
./^Etatis fuas lxxv.
If we now look back, as from an eminence,
to view the fcenes of life, and the literary la-
bours in which 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 flands difplayed in
open day-light. Nothing remains undifcovered.
Whatever he faid is known ; and without al-
lowing h;m the ufual privilege of hazarding
fentiments, and advancing pohtions, for mere
amufement, or the pleafure of difcuffion, Cri-
ticifm has endeavoured to make him anfwerable
for what, perhaps, he never ferioufly thought.
I lis diary, which has been printed, difcovers
flill more. We have before us the very heart
of the man, with all his inward confcioufnefs.
And yet neither in the open paths or life, nor in
his fecret recedes, has any one vice been dis-
covered. We fee him reviewing every year of
his life, and feverely cenfuring himfelf, tor not
keeping refolutioiii, which morbid melancholy,
and
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. I37
and other bodily infirmities, rendered imprac-
ticable. We fee him for every little defect im-
peding on himfelf voluntary penance, going
through the day with only one cup of tea with-
out miik, anci to the laft, amidft.paroxyfms and
remiiFions of illnefs, forming plans of ftudy
and resolutions to amend his life*. Many of
his lcruples may be called weaknefTes; but they
are the weaknefles of a good, a pious, and moft
excellent man.
His perfon, it is well known, was large and
unwieldy. His nerves were atfecled by that
diforder, for which, at two years of age, he
was preiented to the royal touch. His head
fhook, and involuntary motions made it uncer-
tain that his legs and arms would, even at a
tea-table, remain in their proper place. A
perfon of Lord Cbefterfirid's delicacy might in
his company be in a fever. He would tome-
times of his own accord do things inconfiftent
with the tftabliihed" modes of behaviour. Sit-
ting at table with the celebrated Mrs. Chol-
mondeley, who exerted herfelf to circulate the
* On the fubjet of voluntary penance fee the Rambler,
N CX.
fab-
I3S AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
fubfcription for Shakfpeare. he took bold of her
hand in the middle of dinner, and held it dole
to his eye, wondering at the delicacy and the
whitenefs, till with a fmile (he alked, Will he'
give it to me again when he has done with it f
The exteriors of politenefs did not belong to
Johnfon. Even that civility which proceeds,
or ought to proceed, from the mind, was fome-
times violated. His morbid melancholy had
an effect on his temper ; his paffions were ir-
ritable ; and the pride of fcience, as well as of
a fierce independent fpirit, inflamed him on
fome occafions above all bounds of moderation.
Though not in the (hade of academic bowers,
he led a fcholaftic life ; and the habit of pro-
nouncing decifions to his friends and vifitors
gave him a dictatorial manner, winch was
much enforced by a voice naturally loud, and
often over ft retched. Metaphyseal difcuffion,
moral theory, fvftems of religion, and anec-
dotes of literature, were his favourite topics.
General hiflorv had little of his regard. Bib-
graphy was his delight. The proper ftudy of
mankind is man. Sooner than hear of the Punic
war, he would be rude to the perfon that in-
troduced the fubjec*t.
John-
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. I39
Johnfon was born a logician ; one of thofe,
to whom only books of logic are faid to be of
tile. In confequence Qf his (kill in that art, he
loved argumentation. No man thought more
profoundly, nor with fuch acute difcernment.
A fallacy could not ftand before him : it was
fure to be refuted by ftrength of reafoning, and
a preciiion both in idea and exprerlion almoft
unequalled. When he chofe by apt illuftration
to place the argument of his adverfary in a lu-
dicrous light, one was almoft inclined to think
ridicule the teji of truth. He was furprized to
be told, but it is certainly true, that, with great
powers of mind, wit and humour were his
(hiiiing talents. That he often argued for the
fake of triumph over his adverfary, cannot be
dif embled. Dr. Rofe, of Chifwick, has been.
heard to tell a friend of his, who thanked him
for introducing him to Dr. Johnfon, as he had
been convinced, in the courfe of a long difpute,
that an opinion, which he had embraced as a
fettled truth, was no better than a vulgar error.
This being reported to Johnfon, " Nay," faid
he, fc ' do not let him be thankful, for he was
' right, and I was wrong." Like his uncle
Andrew, in the ring at Smithfield, Johnfon,
in
I40 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
in a circle of difputants, was determined neither
to be thrown nor conquered. Notwithftanding
all his piety, felf-government, or the command
of his pafvions 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 meamres, took care
that no animofity mould be left rankling in the
bread of his antagonift. Of this defect he
feems to have been confeious. In a letter to
Mrs. Thrale, he fays, " Poor Baretti ! do not
44 quarrel with him ; to neglec~l 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 hide*
" pendent, is to be rude. Forgive him, dearefr.
" lady, the rather, becaufe of his mifbehaviour
I am afraid he learned part of me. I hope
*' to ftt him hereafter a better example.'*
For his own intolerant and overbearing fpirit
he apologized by obferving, that it had done
fome good ; obfeenity and impiety were re-
pre ill d in his company.
It
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 1 45
It was late in life before he had the habit of
mixing, otherwife than occafionally, with po-
lite company. At Mr. Thrale's he faw a con-
usant fuccefnon of well-accomplifhed vifitors.
In that fociety he began to wear off the rugged
points of his own character. He 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 lejjer mo-
rals 9 and by Cicero minor es 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 communicative on
equal terms and reciprocal complacence. The
time was then expected when he was to
ceafe being what George Garrick, brother to
the celebrated actor, called him the firli time
he heard him converfe, " A tremendous
Companion." He certainly wifhed to be po-
lite, and even thought himfelf fo ; but his
civility {till retained fomething uncouth and>
harm. His manners took a milder tone, but
the endeavour was too palpably feen. He la-
boured even in trifles. He was a giant" gaining:
o o a
a furchafe 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 oppoiite nature.
In Dr. Johnfbn 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 infcances, bordered on fu-
perftition. He was willing to believe in pre-
ternatural agency, and thought it not more
ftrange that there mould be evil fpirits than
evil men. Even the queftion about fecond
iight held him in fufpence. " Second fight,"
Mr. Pennant tells ns, " is a power of feeing
" images impreffed on the organs of fight by
" the power of fancy, or on the fancy by the
" difordered fpirits operating on the mind. It
61 is the faculty of feeing fpetres, or viiions,
" which reprefent an event, actually paffing at
" a distance, or likely to happen at a future
' day. In 1 77 1, a gentleman, the laft who
' was fuppofed to be pofTeffed 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 had feen them pafs before
him
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 143
" him with wet garments and dropping locks.
" The event correfponded with his difordered
<s fancy. And thus," continues Mr. Pennant,
" a diftempered imagination, clouded with
" anxiety, may make an impreflion on the
*? fpirits; as perfons, reftlefs and troubled with
*' indignation, fee various forms and figures
Cl while they lie awake in bed." This is what
Dr. Johnfon was not willing to reject. He
wifhed for fome pofitive proof of communi-
cations with another world. His benevolence
embraced the whole race of man, and yet was
tinctured with particular prejudices. He was
pleafed with the minifter in the Ifle of Sky,
and loved him fo much that he began to wifh
him not a Prefbyterian. To that body of Dif-
fenters his zeal for the Eftabiimed Church made
him in fome degree an adverfary ; and his at-
tachment to a mixed and limited Monarchy led
him to declare open war againfr. what he called
a fullen Republican. He would rather praife a
man of Oxford than of Cambridge. He dif-
liked a Whig, and loved a Tory. Thefe were
the (hades of his character, which it has been
the bufinefs of certain party -writers to repre-
fent in the darkefi: colours.
Since
144 AN ESSAY ON TUB LIFE AND
Since virtue, or moral goodnefs, confifts in a
juft conformity of our actions to the relations
in which we ftand to the Supreme Being and
to our fellow creatures, where fhall we find a
man who has been, or endeavoured to be, more
diligent in the difcharge of thofe effential
duties ? His fir ft prayer was compofed in
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 perfection unattainable
by man. His duty to his neighbour confifted
in univerfal benevolence, and a conftant aim at
the production of happinefs. Who was more
fiucere and fteady in his friendfhips ? 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 character of Prospero, in tho
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 eflTay; and, though no more was in-
tended, Garrick, we are told, remembered it
with uneafinefs. He was alio hurt that his
Lichfield
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 1 45
Lichfield friend did not think fo highly of
his dramatic art as the reft of the world.
The fact was, Johnfon could not fee paf-
fions as they rofe and chafed one another in
the varied features of that expreflive 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 tragedy of King Lear: when Gar-
rick came off the ftage, he faid, 6< You two
" talk fo loud you deftroy all my feelings."
" Prithee," replied Johnfon, " do not talk of
" feelings, Punch has no feelings." 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
mimickry. Yet it is certain that he efleemed
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 gav more than was
afked. After Garrick's death, he never talked
k of
I46 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
of him without a tear in his eye. He offered,
if Mrs. Garrick would defire it of him, to be
the editor of his works, and the hiftorian 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
ltill living who know thefe facts, and flill re-
member with gratitude the friendship which
he (hewed to them with unaltered affection
for a number of years. His humanity and
generofity, in proportion to his {lender income,
were unbounded. It has been truly laid, that
the lame, the blind, and the forrowful, found
in his houfe a fure retreat. A Ariel: adherence
to truth he confidered as a facred obligation,
infomuch that, in relating the moft minute
anecdote, he would not allow himfelf the lmall-
eft addition to embellifh his ilory. The late
Mr. Tyers, who knew 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
retrofpect to his whole conduct, fuch is the
light in which lie appears to the writer of this
eflay. The following lines of Horace may be
deemed his picture in miniature :
Iracundior
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 1 47
Iracundior eft paulo, minus aptus acutis
Naribus horum hominum, rideri poffit, eo quod
Rufticius tonfo toga defluit, & male laxus
In pcde calceus hasret ; at eft bonus, ut melior vir
Non alius quifquam ; at tibi amicus, at ingenium
ingens,
Inculto latet hoc fub corpore *.
It remains to give a review of Johnfbn's
works ; and tliis, 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-
petitions mew that he was an early fcholar;
but his verfes 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 paffionate, perhaps unfit
For the bride petulance of modern wit.
His hair ill-cut, his robe that aukward flows,
Or his large fhoes to raillery expofe
The man you love \ yet is lie not poffefs'd
Of virtues, with which very few are bleft ?
While underneath this rude uncouth difguife
A genius of exteniive knowledge lies.
Francis's Hor. Book i. Sat. 3.
k 2 two
148 AN ESSAY ON ?HE LIFE AND
two difadvantages ; it is fir ft to be compared
with Pope's inimitable performance, and after-
wards with the Pollio of Virgil. It may ap-
pear trifling to remark, that he has made the
letter 0, in the word Virgo, long and (hort in
the fame line; Virgo, Virgo Paiut. But
the tranflation has great merit, and fome ad-
mirable lines. In the odes, there is a fweet
flexibility, particularly, To his worthy friend
Dr. Lawrence ; on himfelf at the theatre,
March 8, 1 771 ; the Ode in the Ifle of Sky ;
and that to Mrs Thrale from the fame place.
His Engliih poetry is fuch as leaves room
to think, if he had devoted himfelf to the
Mufes, that he would have been the rival of
Pope. His firft production in this kind was
London, a poem in imitation of the third fa-
tire of Juvenal. The vices of the metropolis
are placed in the room of ancient manners.
The author had heated his mind with the
ardour of Juvenal; and, having the fkill to po-
lifli his numbers, he became a fharp accufer
of the times. The Vanity of Human-
Wishes is an imitation of the tenth fatire
of the fame author. Though it is tranflated
bv
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. I49
by Dryden, Johnfon's imitation approaches
nearefr. to the fpirit of the original. The fub-
jecl: is taken from the Alcibiades of Plato,
and has an intermixture of the fentiments of
Socrates concerning the object of prayers
offered up to the Deity. The general propo-
rtion is, that good and evil are fo little under-
ftood by mankind, that their vvimes when
granted are always destructive. This is exem-
plified in a variety of inftances, fuch as riches,
ftate-preferment, eloquence, military glory,
long life, and the advantages of form and
beauty. Juvenal's conclunon is worthy of a
ChrifKan poet, and fuch a pen as Johnfon's.
" Let us," he fays, " leave it to the Gods to
" judge what is fitted: for us. Man is dearer
" to his Creator than to himfelf. If we muft
" pray for fpecial favour, let it be for a found
" mind in a found body. Let us pray for
f i fortitude, that we may think the labours of
" Hercules and all his fufFerings preferable
" to a life of luxury and the foft repofe of
cl Sardanapalus. This is a bleiling within
Ci the reach of every man ; this we can give
6t ourfelves. It is virtue, and virtue only,
? that can make us happy." In the tranfla-
k 3 tion,
I^O AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
tion, the zeal of the Chriftian confpired with
the warmth and energy of the poet ; but Juve-
nal is not eclipfed. For the various characters
in the original the reader is pleafed, in the
Engliih poem, to meet with Cardinal Wolfey,
Buckingham flabbed by Felton, Lord Straf-
ford, Clarendon, Charles XII. of Sweden ; and
for Tully and Demofrhenes, Lydiat, Galileo,
and Archbifhop Laud. It is owing to John-
fon's delight in biography that the name of
Lydiat is called forth from obfeurity. It
may, therefore, not be ufeleis to tell, that
Lydiat was a learned divine and mathema-
tician in the beginning of the lad: century.
He attacked the doctrine of Ariftotle and Sea-
liper, and wrote a number of fermons on the
harmony of the Evangelifts. With all his
merit, he lay in the prifon of Bocardo at Ox-
ford, till bimopUiher, Laud, and others, paid
his debts. He petitioned Charles I. to be fent
to Ethiopia to procure manufcripts. Having
fpoken in favour of monarchy and bifhops,
he was plundered by the Puritans, and twice
carried away a prifoner from his rectory, lie
died very poor in 1646.
The
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 151
The Tragedy of Irene is founded on a pafTage
in Knolles's Hiftory of the Turks; an author
highly commended in the Rambler, N 122.
Au incident in the Life of Mahomet the Great,
frrfr. emperor of the Turks, is the hinge on
which the fable is made to move. The fub-
ftance of the ftory is fhortly this. In 1453,
Mahomet laid Siege to Ccnftantinople, and,
having reduced the place, became enamoured
of a fair Greek, whofe name was Irene. The
fultan invited her to embrace the law of
the Prophet, and to grace his throne. En-
raged at this intended marriage, the Janizaries
formed a confpiracy to dethrone the emperor.
To avert the impending danger, Mahomet, in
a full afiTembly of the grandees, " Catching
" with one hand," as Knolles relates it, <; the
" fair Greek by the hair of her head, and
*< drawing his falchion with the other, he, at
* one blow, ftruck off her head, to the great
c terror of them all ; and, having fo done,
' faid unto them, Now, by this, judge whether
your emperor is able to bridle his affections
< { or not." The (lory is fimple, and it re-,
jnained for the author to amplify it with pro-
k 4 per;
I52 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
per epifodes, and give it complication and va-
riety. The cataftrophe is changed, and horror
gives place to terror and pity. But, after all,
the fable is cold and languid. There is not,
throughout the piece, a fmgle fituation to ex-
cite curiolity, and raife a conflict of paflions.
The diction is nervous, rich, and elegant ; but
lplendid language, and melodious numbers,
will make a fine poem, not a tragedy. The
fentiments are beautiful, always happily ex-
prefTed, but feldom appropriated to the cha-
racter, and generally too philofophic. What
Johnfon has faid of the Tragedy of Caio may
be applied to Irene : " it is rather a poem in
" dialogue than a drama; rather a fucceffion
" of juft fentiments, in elegant language, than
" a reprefentation of natural affections. Nothing
" excites or afluages emotion. The events are
" expected without folitude, and are remem-
" bered without joy or for row. Of the agents
'we have no care; we confider not what
" they are doing, nor what they are fullering ;
" we wifii only to know what they have to
" fay. It is unarTecting elegance, and chili
" philofophy." The following fpeech, in the
mouth of a Turk, who is fuppofed to have
heard
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. I53
heard of the Britifh conftitution, has been often
feleted from the numberlefs beauties with
which Irene abounds:
" If there be any land, as fame reports,
Where common laws reftrain the prince and fubjedtj
A happy land, where circulating pow'r
Flows through each member of th' embodied (late;
Sure, not unconfcious of the mighty bleffing,
Her grateful fons (hine bright with ev'ry virtue;
Untainted with the Lust of Innovation;
Sure all unite to hold her league of rule,
Unbroken as the facred chain of Nature,
That links the jarring elements in peace."
Thefe are Britifh fentiments. Above forty
years ago, they found an echo in the breaft of
applauding audiences, and, to this hour, they
are the voice of the people, in defiance of the
metaphyjics and the new lights of certain poli-
ticians, who would gladly find their private
advantage in the difafters of their country ; a
race of men, quihus nulla ex honejlo /pes.
The Prologue to Irene is written with ele-
gance, and, in a peculiar ityle, (hews the li-
terary pride and lofty fpirit of the author. The
Epi-
154 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
Epilogue, we are told in a late publication, was
written by Sir William Young. This is a new
difcovery, but by no means probable. When
the appendages to a Dramatic Performance are
iipt aiTigned to a friend, or an unknown hand,
or a perfon of famion, they are always fup-
pofed to be written by the author of the Play.
It is to be wifhed, however, that the Epilogue
in queition could be transferred to any other
writer. It is the worft Jeu d 1 Ejprit that ever
fell from Johnfon's pen.
An account of the various pieces contained
in this edition, fuch as mifcellaneous tracts
and philological differtations, would lead be-
yond the intended limits of this effay. It will
fuffice to fay, that they are the productions of
a man who never wanted decorations of lan-
guage, and always taught his reader to think.
The life of the late king of Pruffia, as far as it
extends, is a model of the biographical fryle.
The Review of The Origin of Evil was,
perhaps, written with afperity ; but the angry
epitaph, which it provoked from Soame Je-
nyns, was an ill-timed refentment, unworthy
of the genius of that amiable author.
The
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. I 55
The Rambler may be confidered as Johnfon's
great work. It was the bafts of that hi?h re-
putation which went on increafing to the end
of his days. The circulation of thofe periodi-
cal eiTays was not, at firfr, equal to their
merit. They had not, like the Spectators, the
art of charming by variety ; and indeed how
could it be expected ? The wits of queen
Anne's reign fent their contributions to the
Spectator; and Johrjfon freed alone. A ftnge-
coach, fays Sir Richard Steele, muft go for-
ward on ftated days, whether there are paiTen-
gers or not. So it was with the Rambler,
every Tuefday and Saturday, for two years, hi
this collection, Johnfon is the great moral
teacher of his countrymen; his eiTays form a
body of ethics ; the obfervations on life and
manners are acute and infrrudlive ; and the
papers, profefledly critical, ferve to promote the
caufe of literature. It mud, however, be ac-
knowledged, that a fettled srloom fianirs over
the author's mind ; and all the eflays, except
eight or ten, coming from the fame fountain-
;, no wonder that they have the racinefs of
the foil from which they fprang. Of this uni-
formity
I56 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
formity Johnfon was fenfible. He ufed to fay,
that if he had joined a friend or two, who
would have been able to intermix papers of a
fprightjy turn, the collection would have been
more miicellaneous, and, by coufequence, more
agreeable to the generality of readers. This
he ufed to illuftrate by repeating two beautiful
ftanzas from his own Ode to Cave, or Sylvanus
Vrban :
Non ulla Mufis pagina gratior,
Quam qua? feveris ludicra jungere
Novit, fatigatamque nugis
Utilibus recreare mentem.
Texente nymphis ferta Lycoride^
Rofa? ruborem fie viola adjuvat
Immifta, lie Iris refulget
JEthcreis variata fuels.
It is remarkable, that the pomp of diction,
which has been objected to Johnfon, was firft
ailumed in the Rambler. His Dictionary was
going on at the fame time, and, in the courfe
of that work, as he grew familiar with technical
and fcholaftic words, he thought that the bulk
of his readers were equally learned ; or at leaft
would admire the fplendour and dignity of the
7 % Ie -
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON, 157
ftyle. And yet it is well known, that he
praifed in Cowley the eafy and unaffected
ftructure of the fentences. Cowley may be
placed at the head of thofe who cultivated a
clear and natural ftyle. Dryden, Tillotfon,
and Sir William Temple, followed. Addifon,
Swift, and Pope, with more correctnefs, carried
our language well nigh to perfection. Of Ad-
difon, Johnfon was ufed to fay, He is the Ra-
phael of EJfay Writers. How he differed (o
widely from fuch elegant models is a problem
not to be folved, unlefs it be true that he
took an early tincture from the writers of the
laft century, particularly Sir Thomas Browne.
Hence the peculiarities of the ftyle, new com-
binations, fentences of an unufual ftru&ure,
\*nd words derived from the learned languages.
IJis own account of the matter is, " When
JMfcommon words were lefs pleafing to the ear,
*' tir lefs diftinct in their fignitication, I fa-
' miliarized the terms of philofophy, by ap
" plyiug them to popular ideas." But he for-
got the obfervation of Dryden : If too many fo-
reign words are poured in upon us, it looks as if
they were defgned, not to afjifl the natives, but
to conquer them. There is, it mull be admitted,
a fwell
1 58 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
a fwell cf language, often out of all proportion
to the fentiment ; but there is, in general, a
fullnefs of mind, and the thought feems to
expand with the found of the words. Deter-
mined to difcard colloquial barbarifms and li-
centious idioms, he forgot the elegant fimplicity
that dillinguifhes the writings of Addifon. He
had what Locke calls a round-about view of his
fubjecl ; and, though he was never tainted,
like many modern wits, with the ambition of
fhining in paradox, he may be fairly called an
Original Thinker. His reading was ex-
tenlive. He treafured in his mind whatever
was worthy of notice, but he added to it from
his own meditation. He collected, quce recon-
deret, auciaque promeret, Addifon was not fo
profound a thinker. He was born to write, cc?i-
verje, and Jive, with eafe ; and he found an early
patron in Lord Somers. He depended, how-
ever, more upon a fine taife than the vigour
of his mind. His Latin Poetry fhews, that he
relifhed, with a juft felecYion, all the refined
and delicate beauties of the Roman clafiics; and
when he cultivated his native language, no
wonder that he formed that graceful flyle,
which has been fo juftly admired ; fimple, yet
elegant ;
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. I $$
elegant ; adorned, yet never over-wrought ;
rich in allufion, yet pure and perfpicuous ; cor-
rect, without labour, and, though fometimes
deficient in ftrength, yet always mufical. His
eflays, in general, are on the furface of life; if
ever original, it was in pieces of humour. Sir
Rop-er de Coverley, and the Tory Fox- hunter,
need not be mentioned. Johnfon had a fund
of humour, but he did not know it, nor was
he willing to defcend to the familiar idiom and
the variety ofdicYion which that mode of com-
pofition required. The letter, in the Rambler,
N 12, from a young girl that wants a place,
will illuftrate this obfervation. Addifon pof-
fefled an unclouded imagination, alive to the
firft objects of nature and of art. He reaches
the fublime without any apparent art. When
he tells us, " If we confider the fixed ftars as
" fo many oceans of flame, that are each of
" them attended with a different fet of planets;
*' if we ftill difcover new firmaments and new
" lights, that are funk farther in thofe un-
' fathomable depths of a j ther, we are lofl in a
" labyrinth of funs and worlds, and con-
" founded with the magnificence and immen-
" fity of nature ;" the eafe, with which this
p adage
*6o AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
palTage rifes to unaffected grandeur, is the
fecret charm that captivates the reader. John-
fon is always lofty ; he feems, to ufe Dryden's
phrafe, to be o'er-inform'd with meaning, and
his words do not appear to himfelf adequate to
his conception. He moves in ftate, and his
periods are always harmonious. His Oriental
Tales are in the true fryle of Eaftern magnifi-
cence, and yet none of them are fo much ad-
mired as the Vifions of Mirza. In matters of
criticifm, Johnlbn is never the echo of prece-
ding writers. He thinks and decides for himfelf.
If we except theEiTays on the Pleafures of Ima-
gination, Addifon cannot be called a philofo-
phlcal critic. His moral EfTays are beautiful ;
but in that province nothing can exceed the
Rambler, though Johnfon ufed to fay, that
the Efifay on The burthens of mankind (in the
Spectator, N 558) was the moil exquifite he
had ever read. Talking of himfelf, Johnfon faid,
44 Topham Beauclerk has wit, and every thing
" comes from him with eafe; but, when I lay a
" good thing, I feem to labour." When we
compare him with Addifon, the contrail: is ftill
ftronger. Addifon lends grace and ornament to
truth; Johnfon gives it force and energy. Addi-
fon
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. l6l
fdn makes virtue amiable; Johnfon reprefents it
as an awful duty. Addifon insinuates himfelf
with an air of modefty ; Johnfon commands
like a dictator ; but a dictator in his fplendid
robes, not labouring at the plough. Addifon
is the Jupiter of Virgil, with placid ferenity
talking to Venus :
" Vultu, quo cbslum tempeftatefque ferenat."
Johnfon is Jupiter tonans : he darts his
lightning, and roils his thunder, in the caufe
of virtue and piety. The language feems to
fall fhort of his ideas; he pours along, familiari-
zing the times of philofophy, with bold inver-
fions, and fonorous periods; but we may apply
to him what Pope has faid of Homer: " It is
" the fentiment that fwells and fills out the
46 diclion, which rifes with it, and forms itfelf
44 about it; like glafs in the furnace, which
" grows to a greater magnitude, as the breath
*' within is more powerful, and the heat more
" intenfe."
It is not the defign of this comparifon to de-
cide betweei) thofe two eminent wi iters. In
1 mat-
l6z AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
matters of tafte every reader will chufe for
himfelf. Johnfon is always profound, and of
courfe gives the fatigue of thinking. Addifon
charms while he inftructs ; and writing, as he
always does, a pure, an elegant, and idiomatic,
ftyle, he may be pronounced the fafeft model
for imitation.
The effays written by Johnfon in the Ad-
venturer may be called a continuation of the
Rambler. The Idler, in order to be con-
fiftent with the aflumed character, is written
with abated vigour, in a flyle of eafe and unla-
boured elegance. It is the OdyfTey after the
Iliad. Intenfe thinking would not become the
Idler. The flrft number prefents a well-
drawn portrait of an Idler, and from that cha-
racter no deviation could be made. Accord-
ingly, Johnfon forgets his auftere manner, and
plays us into fenfe. He ftill continues his
lectures on human life, but he adverts to com-
mon occurrences, and is often content with
the topic of the day. An advertifement in the
beginning of the firffc volume informs us, that
twelve entire EfTays were a contribution from
different hands. One of thefe, N 33, is the
journal
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 1 63
journal of a Senior Fellow at Cambridge, but,
as Johnfon, being himfelf an original thinker,
always revolted from fervile imitation, he has
printed the piece, with an apology, importing
that the journal of a citizen in the Speffiator
almoft precluded the attempt of any fubfequent
writer. This account of the Idler may be
clofed, after obferving, that the author's mo-
ther being buried on the 23d of January, 1759,
there is an admirable paper, occafioned by that
event, on Saturday the 27th of the fame month,
N4i. The reader, if he pleafes, may com-
pare it with another fine paper in the Rambler,
N 54, on the conviction that rufhes on the
mind at the bed of a dying friend.
"RafTelas," fays Sir John Hawkins, "is a fpe-
cimen of our language fcarcely to be paralleled ;
it is written in a ftyle refined to a degree of
immaculate purity, and difplays the whole force
of turgid eloquence." One cannot but fmile at
this encomium. RafTelas is undoubtedly both
elegant and fublime. It is a view of human
life, difplayed, it muft be owned, in gloomy
colours. The author's natural melancholy,
deprefled, at the time, by the approaching dif-
1 2 folutioti
164 AN ESSAV ON THE LIFE AND
folution of his mother, darkened the picture.
A tale, that mould keep curiofity awake by the
artifice of unexpected incidents, was not the
defign of a mind pregnant with bitter 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 difcuflion of intereit-
ing queftions ; Reflections on Human Life ;
the Hiftory of Imiac, the Man of Learning ; a
DifFertation upon Poetry ; the Character 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-
ing to the ftroke of affliction with all the ve-
hemence of the bit^erefl anguifh. It is by pic-
tures of life, and profound moral reflection, that
expectation is engaged and gratified throughout
the work. The Hiftory of the Mad Aftronomer,
who imagines that, for five years, he pofTtfTed
the regulation of the weather, and that the
fun pafled from tropic to tropic by his direc-
tion, reprefents in frriking colours the fad
effect of a diitempered imagination. It be-
comes the more affecting, when we recollect
that
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 1 65
that it proceeds from one, who lived in fear of
the fame dreadful vititation ; 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 confrantly to the favourite conception, is
carried on in a train of acute obfervation ; but
it leaves us room to think, that the author was
tranfcribing from his own apprehenfions. The
difcourfe on the nature of the foul gives us all
that philofbphy knows, not without a tincture
of fuperftition. It is remarkable that the va-
nity of human purfuits was, about the fime
time, the fubjecl: that employed both Johnfon
and Voltaire ; but Candide is the work of a
lively imagination ; and Raflelas, with all its
iplendour of eloquence, exhibits a gloomy pic-
ture. It mould, however, be remembered, that
the world has known the weeping as well as
the laughing pnilofopher.
1 2 The
l66 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
The Dictionary does not properly fall with*
in the province of this eflay. The preface,
however, will be found in this edition. He
who reads the clofe of it, without acknow-
ledging the force of the pathetic and fublime,
mufr. have more infenfibility in his compofition
than ufually falls to the fhare of man. The
work itfelf, though in fome inftances abufe
has been loud, and in others malice has en-
deavoured to undermine its fame, (till remains
the Mount Atlas of Engliffi Literature.
Though ftorms and tempefts thunder on its brow,
And oceans break their billows at its feet,
It ftands unmov'd, and glories in its height.
That Johnfon was eminently qualified for
the office of a commentator on Shaklpeare, no
man can doubt ; but it was an office which
he never cordially embraced. The publick ex-
pected more than he had diligence to perform ;
and yet his edition has been the ground on
which every fubfequent commentator has chofen
to build. One note, for its fingularity, may
be thought worthy of notice in this place.
Hamlet fays, For if the fun breed maggots in a
dead dog, being a God-kiffing carrion. In this
War-
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 167
Warburton difcovered the origin of eviL Ham-
let, he fays, breaks off in the middle of the
fentence ; but the learned commentator knows
what he was going to fay, and, being unwil-
ling to keep the fecret, he goes on in a train of
philofophical reafoning that leaves the reader
in aftonifhment. Johnfon, with true piety,
adopts the fanciful hypothefis, declaring it to
be a noble emendation, which almofr. fets the
critic on a level with the author. The general
obfervations at the end of the feveral plays,
and the preface, will be found in this edition.
The former, with great elegance and precifion,
give a fummary view of each drama. The
preface is a tract of great erudition and philo-
fophical criticifm.
Johnfon's political pamphlets, whatever was
his motive for writing them, whether grati-
tude for his penfion, or the folicitation of men
in power, did not fupport the caufe for which
they were undertaken. They are written in
a ftyle truly harmonious, and with his ufual
dignity of language. When it is faid that he
advanced pofitions repugnant to the common
rights of mankind, the virulence of party may
1 4 be
l68 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
be fufpected. It is, perhaps, true, that, in the cla-
mour raifed throughout the kingdom, Johnfon
over-heated his mind; but he was a friend to the
rights of man, and he was greatly fuperior to
the littlenefs of fpirit that might incline him
to advance what he did not think and firmly
believe. In the Falfe Alarm, though many of
the mod eminent men in the kingdom con-
curred in petitions to the throne, yet Johnfon,
having ivell furveyed the mafs of the people,
has given, with great humour and no lefs
truth, what mny be called, the birth, -parent-
age, and education, of a remcnjlrance. On the
fubjecr. of Falkland's ifland?, the fine diiTuafive,
from too haftily involving the world in the
calamities of war, mud extort applaufe even
from the party that wimed, at that time, for
fcenes of tumult and commotion. It was in
the fame pamphlet that Johnfon offered bat-
tle to Junius ; a writer, who, by the uncom-
mon elegance of his ftyle, charmed every rea-
der, though his object was to inflame the na-
tion in favour of a faction. Junius fought in
the dark ; he faw his enemy, and had his full
blow, while lie himfelf remained iafe in ob-
fcurity. But let us not, faid Johnfon, miftake
the
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON, 169
the venom of the (haft for the vigour of the
bow. The keen invective which he publifhed
on that occafion promifed a paper- war between
two combatants, who knew the uie of their
weapons. A battle between them was as ea-
gerly expected as between Mendoza and Big
Ben. But Junius, whatever was his reafon,
never returned to the field. He laid down
his 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 character of an Antiquary, to amufe
us with wonders taken from the dark and fa-
bulous ages ; nor, as a Mathematician, to mea-
fure a degree, and fettle the longitude and lati-
tude of the feveral iflands. Thofe, who ex-
pected fuch information, expected what was
never intended. In every work regard the writer's
end. John fon went to fee men and manners,
modes of life, and the progrefs of civilization.
His remarks are fo artfully blended with the
rapidity
I/O AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
rapidity and elegance of his narrative, that the
reader is inclined to wifh, as Johnfon did with
regard to Gray, that to travel, and to tell his
travels, had been more of his employment.
As to Johnfon's Parliamentary Debates, no-
thing with propriety can be faid in this place.
They are collected in two volumes by Mr. Stock-
dale, and the flow of eloquence which runs
through thefeveral ipeechesis fufficiently known.
It will not be ufelefs to mention two more vo-
lumes, which may form a proper fupplement
to this edition. They contain a fet of Sermons
left for publication by John Taylor, LL. D.
The Reverend Mr. Hayes, who umered thefe
Difcourfes into the world, has not given them
as the compofition of Dr. Taylor. All he
could fay for his departed friend was, that he
left them in filence among his papers. Mr.
Hayes knew them to be the production of a
fuperior mind; and the writer of thefe Memoirs
owes it to the candour of that elegant fcholar,
that he is now warranted to give an additional
proof of Johnfon's ardour in the caufe of piety
and every moral duty. The laft difcourfe in the
collection was intended to be delivered by Dr.
Taylor
GENIUS 01 DR. JOHNSON. 171
Taylor at the funeral of Johnfon's wife ; but
that Reverend gentleman declined the office,
becaufe, as he told Mr. Hayes, the praife of
the deceafed was too much amplified. He,
who reads the piece, will find it a beautiful
moral leflbn, written with temper, and no
where overcharged with ambitious ornaments.
The reft of the Difcourfes were the fund,
which Dr. Taylor, from time to time, carried
with him to his pulpit. He had the largest
Bull* in England, and fomeofthebeft Sermons.
We come now to the Lives of the Poets, 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 perfor-
mance he needed little preparation. Attentive
always to the hiflory of letters, and by his own
natural bias fond of Biography, he was the
more willing to embrace the proportion of the
Bookfellers. He was verfed in the whole body
of Enghfh Poetry ; and his rules of criticifm
were fettled with precifion. The diflertation,
in the Life of Cowley, on the metaphyseal
Poets of the laft century, has the attraction of
* Sec Johnfon's Letters from xA.fhbournc in Vol. XII.
of this edition.
novelty
I72 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
novelty as well as found obfervation. The
writers, who, followed Dr. Donne, went in quell
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. In
Johnfon's review of Cowley's works, falfe wit
is dete&ed in all its (hapes, 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 published his obferva-
tions on the Life and Writings of Dr. John-
fon, fpeaking of the Lives of the Poets, fays,
* Thefe compositions, abounding in ftrong and
<s acute remarks, and with many fine and even
u fublime paflages, have unqueflionably great
48 merit ; but, if they be regarded merely as
" containing narrations of the Lives, delinea-
* tions of the characters, and irric"tures 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 much malignity of mif-
" reprefentation,
GENIUS OFDR. JOHNSON. If*
<x reprefentation, to which, perhaps, may be
** joined no inconfiderable portion of erroneous
" criticifm." The feveral claufes of this cen-
fure deferve to be anfvvered as fully as the limits
of this eflay will permit.
In the firft place, the facts are related upon
the beft 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 religioufly
an obferver of truth. If his Hiftory is any
where defective, it muft be imputed to the
want of better information, and the errors of
uncertain tradition.
Ad nos vix tenuis famas perlabitur aura.
If the ftri&ures on the works of the various
authors are not always fatisfactory, and if er-
roneous criticifms may fometimes be fufpe&ed,
who can hope that in matters of tafte all mail
agree r The inftances, in which the public
mind has differed from the pofiticns advanced
by the author, are few in number. It has
been
174 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AN
been faid, that juftice has not been done to
Swift ; that Gay and Prior are undervalued ;
and that Gray has been harfhly treated. This
charge, perhaps, ought not to be difputed.
Johnfon, it is well known, had conceived a
prejudice againft Swift. His friends trembled
for him when he was writiug that life, but
were pleafed, at lafl, 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 con-
demns the apoftrophe, in which Father Thames
is defired to tell who drives the hoop, or toffes
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 fhnza 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 wifli to blot out both the
paflages. It may be queftioned whether the
remarks on Pope's Eflay on Man can be re-
ceived without great caution. It has been al-
ready mentioned, that Croufaz, a profeflbr in
Switzerland, eminent for his Treatife of Logic,
ftarted
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 175
darted up a profefTed enemy to that poenu
Johnfon fays, *i his mind was one of thofe, in
*' which philofophy and piety are happily
44 united. He looked with diftruft upon all
" metaphyfical fyftems of theology, and was
" perfuaded, that the portions of Pope were
" intended to draw mankind away from Reve-
" lation, and to reprefent the whole courfe of
* things as a neceffary concatenation of in-
" ditloluble fatality." This is not the place
for a controverfy about the Leibnitzian fyflem.
Warburton, with all the powers of his large
and comprehenfive mind, publimed a Vindica-
tion of Pope ; and yet Johnfon fays, that " in
*' many parages a religious eye may eafily dii-
f* cover expreffions not very favourable to mo-
" rals or to liberty." This fentence is fevere,
and, perhaps, 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 (huddered at the idea of irreligion.
5 Hence
I76 AN ESSAY ON TI*E LIFE AND
Hence we are told in the Life of Pope, " Never
** were penury of knowledge and vulgarity of
cc fentiment fo happily difguifed ; Pope, in the
** chair of wifdom, tells much that every mari
" knows, and much that he did not know him-
* felf ; and gives us comfort in the pofition,
u that, though man's afool^ yet God is wife ; that
" human advantages are unliable ; tliat our
true honour is, not to have a great part, but
" to act 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 muft or ought to ter-
minate in plain and general maxims for the ufe of
life? and, though in fuch axioms, no difcovery is
made, dees 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 John foil himfelf fays, be conveyed to
the wind by a new train of intermediate images ?
Pope's doctrine about the ruling paflion does
not feem to be refuted, though it is called, in
harm terms, pernicious as well as falfe, tend-
ing to eflablim a kind of moral predefiination,
or
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. iff
or over-ruling principle, which cannot be re-
filled. But John fbn 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 different
fenfations of pleafure and pain.
All fpread their charms, but charm not all alike^
On different fenfes different objects ftrike ; .
Hence different palTions more cr lefs inflame*
As ftrong or weak the organs of the frame*
And hence one mafter-paffion in the bread,
Like Aaron's ferpent, fwallows up the reft.
Brumoy fays, Pafcal from his infancy felt hitil-
felf a geometrician ; and Vandyke, in like
manner, was a painter. Shakfpeare, who of
all poets had the deepefr. infight into human
nature, was aware of a prevailing bias in the
operations of every mind. By him we are told t
" Mafierlefs Pafjionfivays us to the m-.od of what
It likes or loxtbs"
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 alleged, that Johnfon has
mifreprefented the circumfhnces relative to the
m Irauf-
iy& AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
tranflation of the firft Iliad, and malicioufly
afcribed that performance to Addifon, inftead
of Tickell, with too much reliance on the tes-
timony 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 Biographia Britannica,
written by the late Judge BlackJlone 9 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
lays, in a ftyle of anger and refentment, " If
" that gentleman (Mr. Tickell) thinks himfelf
" injured, I will allow 1 have wronged him
" upon this iflue, that (if the reputed tranflator
"of the firft book of Homer mall pleafe to
" give us another book) there (hall appear
" another
GENItJS OF DR. JOHNSON. IJ<)
'" another good judge in poetry, befides Mr.
44 Alexander Pope, who mall like it." The
authority of Steele outweighs all opinions
founded on vain conjecture, and, indeed, feems
to be decifive, fince 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-
racter and conduct of Milton. To enforce this
charge has wearied fophiftry and exhaufted the
invention of a party. What they cannot deny,
they palliate; what 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 varnifn o'er the guilt of faithlefs men 1
And had not Johnfon an equal right to avow his
fentiments ? Do his enemies claim a privilege
to abufe whatever is valuable to Englishmen,
either in Church or State? and muft the liberty
of unlicensed printing be denied to the
friends of the Britifh con flit ution ?
m 2 It
l8o AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
It is unnecessary 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 reafon,than that a popular government
" was the mod. frugal ; for the trappings of a
" monarchy would let up an ordinary common-
'* wealth." Johnfon knew that Milton talked
aloud " of the danger of readmitting king-
kt ship in this nation;" and when Milton adds,
Ci that a commonwealth was commended, or
" rather enjoined, by our Saviour himfelf, to
* 4 all Chr'utians, not without a remarkable dii-
" allowance, and the brand of Gentilifm upon
" kingship, " Johnfon thought him no better
than a wild enthufiaft. He knew, as well
as Milton, li that the happinefs of a nation
1C rauft needs be firmed: and certaineif 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. iSl
to hope that reason only would be heard.
He knew that the republican form of govern-
ment, having little or no complication, and
no confonance of parts by a nice mechanifm
forming a regular whole, was too (imple to be
beautiful even in theory. In practice it, perhaps,
never exifted. In its moil: 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 word ariftocracy fatally includes the
boldeft and moft turbulent citizens, who riie
by their crimes, and call themfelves the bed:
men in the ftate. By intrigue, by cabal, and
faction, a pernicious oligarchy is fure to fuc-
ceed, and end at laft in the tyranny of a fin-
gle ruler. Tacitus, the great matter 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-
ipaired of enjoying, John fori faw eftablifhed 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,
182 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
tion, the constitution was once more reftored to
its firfr. principles. Monarchy was eftablifhed,
and this country was regenerated. It was re
generated a fecond time at the Revolution ; the
rights of men were then defined, and the bleflings
of good order and civil liberty have been ever
fince diffufed through the whole community.
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 glofTed and varnifhed, 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-
duel, that the public good infpired their ac-
tions, the end might have given fome fanclion
to the means; but ufurpation and flavery fol-
lowed. Milton undertook the office of fecre-
tary under the defpotic power of Cromwell,
offering the incenfe of adulation to his matter,
with the titles of Director of public Councils,
the Leader cj unconquered Armies, the Father
*>f his Country. Milton declared, at the fame
time, that nothing is more pleajing to God, or
more
.GENIUS OP DR. JOHNSON. l8j
more agreeable to reafon, than that the highejt
mind Jbould have the fovereign power. In this
{train 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 fhould himfelf
" act the part of a tyrant, and betray the caufe
u that he had defended." This defertion of
every honeft principle the advocate for liberty
lived to fee. Cromwell acted 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 faw his country enflaved ; he
:ftruck the blow for freedom, and he died with
honour in the caufe. Had he lived to be a fe-
cretary under Tiberius, what would now be faid
of his memory ?
But (till, it feems, the proftitution with which
Milton is charged, fince it cannot be defended,
is to be retorted on the character of Johnfon.
For
184 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
For this purpofe a book has been published,
called Remarks on Dr. fohnfons Life of Milton,
to which are added Milton" 's Traftateof Education,
and Areopagitica. In this laboured tract we
are told, " There is one performance afcribed to
" the pen of the Doctor, where the proftitution
" is of fo lingular a nature, that it would be
" difficult to lelecl: an adequate motive for it
** out of the mountainous heap of conjectural
e< caufes of human paflions 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
M him, in confequence of an indictment for
" forgery. The voice of the publick has given
Ci the honour of manufacturing this fpeech to
" Dr. Johnfon ; and the ityle and configuration of
< 6 the fpeech itfeif confirm the imputation. But
" it is hardly poflible to divine what could be
" his motive for accepting the office. A man,
u to exprefs the precife itate of mind of another,
" about to be declined to an ignominious death
" for a capital crime, lhorlc, one would ima-
** ginc, have fome conicioufnefs, that lie 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 r In the whole quiver of
Malice is there fo envenomed a fhaft ?
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 acted according to his principles*
But Johnfon thought thofe principles detefta-
ble ; pernicious to the conftitution in Church
and State, deftru&ive of the peace of fociety,
and hoftile to the great fabric of civil policy,
which the w r ifdom of ages has taught every
Briton to revere, to love, and cherifh. He
reckoned Milton in that clafs of men, of whom
the Roman hiflorian fays, when they want, by
a fudden, convulfion, to overturn the govern-
ment, they roar and clamour for liberty ; if
they fucceed, they deflroy liberty itfelf. TJt hn-
ferium evertant, Libertatem prceferunt ; Ji per-
verterint, libertatem ipfam aggredientur. Such
were the fentiments of Dr. Johnfon ; and it may
be afked, in the language of Bolingbroke, "Are
" thefe ientiment!-, which any man, who is
5i born a Briton, in any circumdances, in. any
" fitua-
3
l86 AN" ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND
" fituation, ought to be afhamed or afraid to
" avow ?" Johnfon has done ample juftice to
Milton's poetry : the Criticifm on Paradife Loft
is a fublime compofition. Had he thought the
author as good and pious a citizen as Dr.
Watts, he would have been ready, notwith-
itanding his non- conformity, to do equal ho-
nour to the memory of the man.
It is now time to clofe this effay, 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 faltera accumulem donis, et fungar inani
Munere.
The author of thefe Memoirs has been anxious
to give the features of the man, and the true
character of the author. He has not fufFered the
hand of partiality to colour his excellences with
too much warmth ; nor has he endeavoured to
throw his fingularities tpo m uch in tot he (hade. Dr.
Johnfon's failings may well be forgiven for the
fake of his virtues. His defects were fpots in the
fun. His piety, his kind affections, and the good-
nefs
GENIUS OF DR. JOHNSON. 187
nefs of his heart, prefent an example worthy of
imitation. His works ftill remain a monument
of genius and of learning. Had he written
nothing but what is contained in this edition,
the quantity fhews a life fpent in fludy and
meditation. If to this we added the labour of
his Dictionary and other various productions,
it may be fairly allowed, as he ufed to fay of
himfelf, that he has written his mare. In
the volumes here prefented to the publick, the
reader will find a perpetual fource of pleafure
and inftruction. With due precautions, authors
may learn to grace their flyle 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.
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kn essay on the
life and genius
of Samuel
Johnson