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posed it. I should have no trouble but that of dictation, which would be performed as speedily as an amanuensis could write."

It is to the mutual credit of Johnson and divines of different communions, that although he was a steady Church of England man, there was, nevertheless, much agreeable intercourse between him and them. Let me particularly name the late Mr. La Trobe, and Mr. Hutton, of the Moravian profession. His intimacy with the English Benedictines at Paris has been mentioned; and as an additional proof of the charity in which he lived with good men of the Romish Church, I am happy in this opportunity of recording his friendship with the Rev. Thomas Hussey, D.D., his Catholic Majesty's Chaplain of Embassy at the Court of London, that very respectable man, eminent not only for his powerful eloquence as a preacher, but for his various abilities and acquisitions. Nay, though Johnson loved a Presbyterian the least of all, this did not prevent his having a long and uninterrupted social connection with the Rev. Dr. James Fordyce, who, since his death, hath gratefully celebrated him in a warm strain of devotional composition.

Amidst the melancholy clouds which hung over the dying Johnson, his characteristical manner showed itself on different occasions.

When Dr. Warren, in his usual style, hoped that he was better, his answer was, 'No, sir; you cannot conceive with what acceleration I advance towards death.'

A man whom he had never seen before was employed one night to sit up with him. Being asked next morning how he liked his attendant, his answer was, 'Not at all, sir; the fellow's an idiot; he is as awkward as a turnspit when first put into the wheel, and as sleepy as a dormouse.' Mr. Windham having placed a pillow conveniently to support him, he thanked him for his kindness, and said, 'That will do-all that a pillow can do.'

He repeated with great spirit a poem, consisting of several stanzas, in four lines, in alternate rhyme, which he said he had composed some years before,' on occasion of a rich, extravagant young gentleman's coming of age, saying he had never repeated it but once since he composed it, and had given but one copy of it. That copy was given to Mrs. Thrale, now Piozzi, who has published it in a book which she entitles British Synonimy, but which is truly a collection of entertaining remarks and stories, no matter

1 In 1780. See his letter to Mrs. Thrale, dated August 8, 1780:- You have heard in the papers how [Lade] is come to age. I have enclosed a short song of congratulation, which you must not show to any

body. It is odd that it should come into anybody's head. I hope you will read it with candour; it is, I believe, one of the author's first essays in that way of writing, and a beginner is always to be treated with tenderness.'-MALONE.

whether accurate or not. Being a piece of exquisite satire, conveyed in a strain of pointed vivacity and humour, and in a manner of which no other instance is to be found in Johnson's writings, I shall here insert it :

Long-expected one-and-twenty,

Ling ring year, at length is flown;
Pride and pleasure, pomp and plenty.
Great [Sir John], are now your own,
Loosen'd from the minor's tether,
Free to mortgage or to sell,
Wild as wind, and light as feather,
Bid the sons of thrift farewell.
Call the Betseys, Kates, and Jennies,
All the names that banish care;
Lavish of your grandsire's guineas,
Show the spirit of an heir.

All that prey on vice and folly

Joy to see their quarry fly:
There the gamester, light and jolly,
There the lender, grave and sly.
Wealth, my lad, was made to wander,
Let it wander as it will;
Call the jockey, call the pander,

Bid them come and take their fill
When the bonny blade carouses,

Pockets full, and spirits high-
What are acres? what are houses?
Only dirt, or wet or dry.

Should the guardian friend or mother
Tell the woes of wilful waste;
Scorn their counsel, scorn their pother,

You can hang or drown at last.

As he opened a note which his servant brought to him, he said, 'An odd thought strikes mewe shall receive no letters in the grave.'

He requested three things of Sir Joshua Reynolds :-To forgive him thirty pounds which he had borrowed of him; to read the Bible; and never to use his pencil on a Sunday. Sir Joshua readily acquiesced.

Indeed, he showed the greatest anxiety for the religious improvement of his friends, to whom he discoursed of its infinite consequence. He begged of Mr. Hoole to think of what he had said, and to commit it to writing; and upon being afterwards assured that this was done, pressed his hands, and in an earnest tone thanked him. Dr. Brocklesby having attended him with the utmost assiduity and kindness as his physician and friend, he was peculiarly desirous that this gentleman should not entertain any loose, speculative notions, but be confirmed in the truths of Christianity, and insisted on his writing down in his presence, as nearly as he could collect it, the import of what passed on the subject; and Dr. Brocklesby having complied with the request, he made him sign the paper, and urged him to keep it in his own custody as long

as he lived.

Johnson, with that native fortitude which, amidst all his bodily distress and mental suffer

ings, never forsook him, asked Dr. Brocklesby, as a man in whom he had confidence, to tell him plainly whether he could recover. 'Give me,' said he, a direct answer.' The Doctor having first asked him if he could bear the whole truth, which way soever it might lead, and being answered that he could, declared that, in his opinion, he could not recover without a miracle. 'Then,' said Johnson, 'I will take no more physic, not even my opiates; for I have prayed that I may render up my soul to GOD unclouded.' In this resolution he persevered, and, at the same time, used only the weakest kinds of sustenance. Being pressed by Mr. Windham to take somewhat more generous nourishment, lest too low a diet should have the very effect which he dreaded, by debilitating his mind, he said, ‘I will take anything but inebriating sustenance.'

The Rev. Mr. Strahan, who was the son of his friend, and had been always one of his great favourites, had, during his last illness, the satisfaction of contributing to soothe and comfort him. That gentleman's house at Islington, of which he is vicar, afforded Johnson, occasionally and easily, an agreeable change of place and fresh air, and he attended also upon him in town in the discharge of the sacred offices of his profession.

Mr. Strahan has given me the agreeable assurance, that after being in much agitation, Johnson became quite composed, and continued so till his death.

Dr. Brocklesby, who will not be suspected of fanaticism, obliged me with the following accounts:

'For some time before his death, all his fears were calmed and absorbed by the prevalence of his faith, and his trust in the merits and propitiation of JESUS CHRIST.

'He talked often to me about the necessity of faith in the sacrifice of JESUS, as necessary beyond all good works whatever, for the salvation of mankind.

'He pressed me to study Dr. Clarke, and to read his sermons. I asked him why he pressed Dr. Clarke, an Arian. "Because," said he, "he is fullest on the propitiatory sacrifice."

The change of his sentiments with regard to Dr. Clarke is thus mentioned to me in a letter from the late Dr. Adams, Master of Pembroke College, Oxford: -The Doctor's prejudices were the strongest, and certainly in another sense the weakest, that ever possessed a sensible man. You know his extreme zeal for orthodoxy. But did you ever hear what he told me himself? That he had made it a rule not to admit Dr. Clarke's name in his Dictionary. This, however, wore off. At some distance of time he ad

vised with me what books he should read in defence of the Christian religion. I recommended Clarke's Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion, as the best of the kind; and I find in what is called his Prayers and Meditations, that he was frequently employed in the latter part of his time in reading Clarke's Sermons.' -BOSWELL.

Johnson having thus in his mind the true Christian scheme, at once rational and consolatory, uniting justice and mercy in the DIVINITY, with the improvement of human nature, previous to his receiving the Holy Sacrament in his apartment, composed and fervently uttered this prayer.1

'Almighty and most merciful Father, I am now, as to human eyes it seems, about to commemorate, for the last time, the death of thy SON JESUS CHRIST, our Saviour and Redeemer. Grant, O LORD, that my whole hope and confidence may be in his merits, and thy mercy; enforce and accept my imperfect repentance; make this commemoration available to the confirmation of my faith, the establishment of my hope, and the enlargement of my charity; and make the death of thy SON JESUS CHRIST effectual to my redemption. Have mercy upon me, and pardon the multitude of my offences. Bless my friends; have mercy upon all men. Support me by thy Holy Spirit, in the days of weakness, and at the hour of death; and receive me, at my death, to everlasting happiness, for the sake of JESUS CHRIST. Amen.'

Having, as has been already mentioned, made his will on the 8th and 9th of December, and settled all his worldly affairs, he languished till Monday, the 13th of that month, when he expired about seven o'clock in the evening, with so little apparent pain, that his attendants hardly perceived when his dissolution took place.

Of his last moments, my brother, Thomas David, has furnished me with the following particulars :

"The Doctor, from the time that he was certain his death was near, appeared to be perfectly resigned, was seldom or never fretful or out of temper, and often said to his faithful servant, who gave me this account, "Attend, Francis, to the salvation of your soul, which is the object of greatest importance:" he also explained to him passages in the Scripture, and seemed to have pleasure in talking upon religious subjects.

'On Monday, the 13th of December, the day on which he died, a Miss Morris, daughter to a particular friend of his, called, and said to Francis that she begged to be permitted to see the Doctor, that she might earnestly request him to give her his blessing. Francis went into the room, followed by the young lady, and delivered the message. The Doctor turned himself in the bed, and said, "GOD bless you, my dear!" These were the last words he

spoke. His difficulty of breathing increased till about seven o'clock in the evening, when

1 The Rev. Mr. Strahan took care to have it preserved, and has inserted it in Prayers and Meditations, p. 216.-BosWELL.

Mr. Barber and Mrs. Desmoulins, who were sitting in the room, observing that the noise he made in breathing had ceased, went to the bed, and found he was dead.'

His funeral was attended by a respectable number of his friends, particularly such of the members of the Literary Club as were in town; and was also honoured with the presence of

About two days after his death, the follow-several of the Reverend Chapter of Westminster. ing very agreeable account was communicated to Mr. Malone, in a letter by the Honourable John Byng, to whom I am much obliged for granting me permission to introduce it in my work.

1

'DEAR SIR,-Since I saw you, I have had a long conversation with Cawston, who sat up with Dr. Johnson, from nine o'clock on Sunday evening, till ten o'clock on Monday morning. And from what I can gather from him, it should seem that Dr. Johnson was perfectly composed, steady in hope, and resigned to death. At the interval of each hour, they assisted him to sit up in his bed, and move his legs, which were in much pain; when he regularly addressed himself to fervent prayer; and though, sometimes, his voice failed him, his sense never did, during that time. The only sustenance he received was cider and water.

He said his mind was prepared, and the time to his dissolution seemed long. At six in the morning he inquired the hour, and, on being informed, said that all went on regularly, and he felt he had but a few hours to live.

'At ten o'clock in the morning he parted from Cawston, saying, "You should not detain Mr. Windham's servant :-I thank you; bear my remembrance to your master." Cawston says, that no man could appear more collected, more devout, or less terrified at the thoughts of the approaching minute.

This account, which is so much more agreeable than, and somewhat different from, yours, has given us the satisfaction of thinking that that great man died as he lived, full of resignation, strengthened in faith, and joyful in hope.'

A few days before his death, he had asked Sir John Hawkins, as one of his executors, where he should be buried; and on being answered, 'Doubtless in Westminster Abbey,' seemed to feel a satisfaction very natural to a poet; and indeed, in my opinion, very natural to every man of any imagination, who has no family sepulchre in which he can be laid with his fathers. Accordingly, upon Monday, December 20, his remains (enclosed in a leaden coffin) were deposited in that noble and renowned edifice; and over his grave was placed a large blue flagstone, with this inscription :

:

SAMUEL JOHNSON LLD Obiit xiii die Decembris

Anno Domini

MDCCLXXXIV

Etatis suæ LXXV.

1 Servant to the Right Hon. William Windham.BOSWELL.

Mr. Burke, Sir Joseph Banks, Mr. Windham, Mr. Langton, Sir Charles Bunbury, and Mr. Colman, bore his pall. His schoolfellow, Dr. Taylor, performed the mournful office of reading the burial-service.

I trust I shall not be accused of affectation when I declare, that I find myself unable to express all that felt upon the loss of such a guide, philosopher, and friend." I shall therefore not say one word of my own, but adopt those of an eminent friend,2 which he uttered with an abrupt felicity superior to all studied compositions: 'He has made a chasm which not only nothing can fill up, but which nothing has a tendency to fill up. Johnson is dead. Let us go to the next best-there is nobody: no man can be said to put you in mind of Johnson.'

As Johnson had abundant homage paid to him during his life," so no writer in this nation ever had such an accumulation of literary honours after his death. A sermon upon that event was

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

2 The late Right Hon. William Gerard Hamilton, who had been intimately acquainted with Dr. Johnson near thirty years. He died in London, July 16, 1796, in his sixty-ninth or seventieth year.-MALONE.

3 Beside the dedications to him by Dr. Goldsmith, the Rev. Dr. Franklin, and the Rev. Mr. Wilson, which I have mentioned according to their dates, there was one by a lady, of a versification of Aningait and Ajut, and one by the ingenious Mr. Walker, of his Rhetorical Grammar. I have introduced into this work several compliments paid to him in the writings of his contemporaries; but the number of them is so great, that we may fairly say that there was almost a general tribute.

Let me not be forgetful of the honour done to him by Colonel Myddleton, of Gwaynynog, near Denbigh; who, on the banks of a rivulet in his park, where

preached in St. Mary's Church, Oxford, before the University, by the Rev. Mr. Agutter, of Magdalen College.' The Lives, the Memoirs,

Johnson delighted to stand and repeat verses, erected an urn with the following inscription:

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

As no inconsiderable circumstance of his fame, we must reckon the extraordinary zeal of the artists to extend and perpetuate his image. I can enumerate a bust by Mr. Nollekens, and the many casts which are made from it; several pictures by Sir Joshua Reynolds, from one of which, in the possession of the Duke of Dorset, Mr. Humphrey executed a beautiful miniature in enamel: one by Mrs. Frances Reynolds, Sir Joshua's

sister; one by Mr. Zoffanij; and one by Mr. Opie;

and the following engravings of his portrait: 1. One by Cooke, from Sir Joshua, for the Proprietor's edition of his folio Dictionary.-2. One from ditto by ditto, for their quarto edition.-3. One from Opie, by Heath, for Harrison's edition of his Dictionary.-4. One from Nolleken's bust of him, by Bartolozzi, for Fielding's quarto edition of his Dictionary.-5. One small, from Harding, by Trotter, for his Beauties.-6. One small, from Sir Joshua, by Trotter, for his Lives of the Poets. -7. One small, from Sir Joshua, by Hall, for the Rambler.-8. One small, from an original drawing, in the possession of Mr. John Simco, etched by Trotter, for another edition of his Lives of the Poets.-9. One small, no painter's name, etched by Taylor, for his Johnsoniana.-10. One folio whole-length, with his oak-stick, as described in Boswell's Tour, drawn and etched by Trotter.-11. One large mezzotinto, from Sir Johsua, by Doughty.-12. One large Roman head, from Sir Joshua, by Marchi.-13. One octavo, holding a book to his eye, from Sir Joshua, by Hall, for his works.-14. One small, from a drawing from the life, and engraved by Trotter, for his life, published by Kearsley.-15. One large, from Opie, by Mr. Townley (brother of Mr. Townley, of the Commons), an ingenious artist, who resided some time at Berlin, and has the honour of being engraver to his Majesty the King of Prussia. This is one of the finest mezzotintos that ever was executed; and what renders it of extraordinary value, the plate was destroyed after four or five impressions only were taken off. One of them is in the possession of Sir William Scott. Mr. Townley has lately been prevailed with to execute and publish another of the same, that it may be more generally circulated among the admirers of Dr. Johnson.-16. One large, from Sir Joshua's first picture of him, by Heath, for this work, in quarto.-17. One octavo, by Baker, for the octavo edition.-18. And one for Lavater's Essays on Physiognomy, in which Johnson's countenance is analyzed upon the principles of that fanciful writer.-There are also several seals with his head cut on them, particularly a very fine one by that eminent artist, Edward Burch, Esq., R. A., in the possession of the younger Dr. Charles Burney.

Let me add, as a proof of the popularity of his character, that there are copper pieces struck at Birmingham, with his head impressed on them, which pass current as halfpence there, and in the neighbouring parts of the country.-BOSWELL

It is not yet published.-In a letter to me, Mr. Agutter says, 'My sermon before the University was

the Essays, both in prose and verse, which have been published concerning him, would make many volumes. The numerous attacks, too, upon him, I consider as part of his consequence, upon the principle which he himself so well knew and asserted. Many who trembled at his presence, were forward in assault when they no longer apprehended danger. When one of his little pragmatical foes was invidiously snarling at his fame, at Sir Joshua Reynolds's table, the Rev. Dr. Parr exclaimed, with his usual bold animation, 'Ay, now that the old lion is dead, every ass thinks he may kick at him.'

A monument for him, in Westminster Abbey, was resolved upon soon after his death, and was supported by a most respectable contribution; but the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's having come to a resolution of admitting monuments there, upon a liberal and magnificent plan, that cathedral was afterwards fixed on, as the place in which a cenotaph should be erected to his memory; and in the cathedral of his native city of Lichfield, a smaller one is to be erected. compose his epitaph could not but excite the warmest competition of genius. If laudari a laudato viro be praise, which is highly estimable, I should not forgive myself were I to omit the following sepulchral verses on the author of

To

more engaged with Dr. Johnson's moral than his intellectual character. It particularly examined his fear of death, and suggested several reasons for the apprehensions of the good, and the indifference of the infidel, in their last hours; this was illustrated by contrasting the death of Dr. Johnson and Mr. Hume: the text was Job xxi. 22-26.'-BOSWELL.

1 This monument has been since erected. It consists of a medallion, with a tablet beneath, on which is this inscription:

"The friends of SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D.,
A native of Lichfield,

Erected this monument,

As a tribute of respect

To the memory of a man of extensive learning, A distinguished moral writer, and a sincere Christian. He died Dec. 18, 1784, aged 75.'

-MALONE.

2 The Rev. Dr. Parr, on being requested to undertake it, thus expressed himself in a letter to William Seward, Esq. :

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

But I understand that this great scholar, and warm admirer of Johnson, has yielded to repeated solicitations, and executed the very difficult undertaking.BOSWELL.

Dr. Johnson's monument, consisting of a colossal figure leaning against a column (but not very strongly resembling him), has since the death of our author been placed in St. Paul's Cathedral, having been first

The English Dictionary, written by the Right Hon. Henry Flood: 1

'No need of Latin or of Greek to grace

Our Johnson's memory or inscribe his grave; His native language claims this mournful space, To pay the immortality he gave.'

CONCLUSION.

THE character of Samuel Johnson has, I trust, been so developed in the course of this work, that they who have honoured it with a perusal, may be considered as well acquainted with him. As, however, it may be expected that I should collect into one view the capital and distinguishing features of this extraordinary man, I shall endeavour to acquit myself of that part of my biographical undertaking," however difficult it may be to do that which many of my readers will do better for themselves.

His figure was large and well formed, and his countenance of the cast of an ancient statue; yet his appearance was rendered strange and somewhat uncouth by convulsive cramps, by the

opened to public view, Feb. 23, 1796. The Epitaph was written by the Rev. Dr. Parr, and is as follows:

A

scars of that distemper which it was once imagined the royal touch could cure, and by a slovenly mode of dress. He had the use only of one eye; yet so much does mind govern and even supply the deficiency of organs, that his visual perceptions, as far as they extended, were uncommonly quick and accurate. So morbid was his temperament, that he never knew the natural joy of a free and vigorous use of his limbs: when he walked, it was like the struggling gait of one in fetters: when he rode, he had no command or direction of his horse, but was carried as if in a balloon. That, with his constitution and habits of life, he should have lived seventy five years, is a proof that an inherent vivida vis is a powerful preservative of the human frame.

Man is, in general, made up of contradictory qualities; and these will ever show themselves in strange succession where a consistency, in appearance at least, if not reality, has not been attained by long habits of philosophical discipline. In proportion to the native vigour of the mind, the contradictory qualities will be the more prominent, and more difficult to be adjusted; and therefore we are not to wonder that Johnson exhibited an eminent example of this remark

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

The Subscription for this monument, which cost eleven hundred guineas, was begun by the LITERARY CLUB, and completed by the aid of Dr. Johnson's other friends and admirers.-MALONE.

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

In justice to the late Mr. Flood, now himself wanting, and highly meriting, an epitaph from his country to which his transcendent talents did the highest honour as well as the most important service, it should be observed, that these lines were by no means intended as a regular monumental inscription for Dr. Johnson. Had he undertaken to write an appropriate and discriminative epitaph for that excellent and extraordinary man, those who knew Mr. Flood's vigour

of mind will have no doubt that he would have produced one worthy of his illustrious subject. But the fact was merely this: In Dec. 1789, after a large subscription had been made for Dr. Johnson's monument, to which Mr. Flood liberally contributed, Mr. Malone happened to call on him at his house, in Berners Street; and the conversation turning on the proposed monument, Mr. Malone maintained that the epitaph, by whomsoever it should be written, ought to be in Latin. Mr. Flood thought differently. The next morning, in the postscript to a note on another subject, he mentioned that he continued of the same opinion as on the preceding day, and subjoined the lines given above.'BOSWELL.

2 As I do not see any reason to give a different character of my illustrious friend now, from what I formerly gave, the greatest part of the sketch of him in my Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides is here adopted. -Boswell.

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