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Ibid. p. 425.

accurate; for the fact was, that he one evening attacked Mr. Burke in so rude a manner, that all the company testified their displeasure; and at their next meeting his reception was such that he never came again1. He is equally inaccurate with respect to Mr. Garrick, of whom he says, "he trusted that the least intimation of a desire to come among us would procure him a ready admission:" but in this he was mistaken. Johnson consulted me upon it; and when I could find no objection to receiving him, exclaimed, "He will disturb us by his buffoonery;"-and afterwards so managed matters, that he was never formally proposed, and, by consequence, never admitted?.

In justice both to Mr. Garrick and Dr. Johnson, I think it necessary to rectify this mis-statement. The truth is, that not very long after the institution of our club, Sir Joshua Reynolds was speaking of it to Garrick. "I like it much," said he; "I think I shall be of you." When Sir Joshua mentioned this to Dr. Johnson, he was much displeased with the actor's conceit. "He'll be of us," said Johnson; "how does he know we will permit him? the first duke in England has no right to hold such language." However, when Garrick was regularly proposed some time afterwards, Johnson, though he had taken a momentary offence at his arrogance, warmly and kindly supported him, and he was accordingly elected, was a most agreeable member, and continued to attend our meetings to the time of his death.

Mrs. Piozzi has also given a similar misrepresentation of Johnson's treatment of Garrick, in this particular, as if he had avowed it [to Mr. Thrale] in these contemptuous expressions: "If Garrick does apply, I'll black-ball him." ["Who, Letters, sir? Mr. Garrick? Your friend, your companion-black-ball him!" Why, sir, I love my little David

v. 2.

p. 387.

1 From Sir Joshua Reynolds.-BosWELL. The knight having refused to pay his portion of the reckoning for supper, because he usually eat no supper at home, Johnson observed, "Sir John, sir, is a very unclubable man."-BURNEY. [Here is some mistake. Hawkins was not knighted till long after he had left the club.-ED.]

2 [Hawkins probably meant "never" while he himself belonged to the Club. But surely Mr. Boswell must have been conscious that his own words-" when Garrick was regularly proposed some time after, Johnson, though he had taken a momentary offence," &c.-do not give a fair account of the matter; for it was not till near ten years after the foundation of the Club that Garrick was admitted, and, as he died in the beginning of 1779, the Club enjoyed but for five years that agreeable society which, but for Johnson's opposition, they would probably have enjoyed for fourteen or fifteen.-ED.]

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dearly, better than all or any of his flatterers do;] but, surely, one ought to sit in a society like ours,

Unelbow'd by a gamester, pimp, or player.'"

I am happy to be enabled by such unquestionable authority as that of Sir Joshua Reynolds3, as well as from my own knowledge, to vindicate at once the heart of Johnson and the social merit of Garrick.

In this year, except what he may have done in revising Shakspeare, we do not find that he laboured much in literature. He wrote a review of Granger's "Sugar Cane," a poem, in the London Chronicle. He told me, that Dr. Percy wrote the greatest part of this review; but, I imagine, he did not recollect it distinctly, for it appears to be mostly, if not altogether, his own. He also wrote in the Critical Review an account † of Goldsmith's excellent poem, "The Traveller."

The ease and independence to which he had at last attained by royal munificence increased his natural indolence. In his Meditations, he thus accuses himself:

"Good Friday, April 20, 1764. I have made no reformation; I have lived totally useless, more sensual in thought, and more addicted to wine and meat."

And next morning he thus feelingly complains:

"My indolence, since my last reception of the sacrament, has sunk into grosser sluggishness, and my dissipation spread into wilder negligence. My thoughts have been clouded with sensuality; and, except that from the beginning of this year I have, in some measure, forborne excess of strong drink, my appetites have predominated over my reason. A kind of strange oblivion has overspread me, so that I know not what has become of the last year; and perceive that incidents and intelligence pass over me without leaving any impression." He then solemnly says,

"This is not the life to which heaven is promised." And he earnestly resolves an amendment.

before I went to bed, composed the forego[Easter-day, 22d April, 1764.—“Having, ing meditation, and the following prayer; I tried to compose myself, but slept unquietly. I rose, took tea, and prayed for resolution and perseverance. Thought on Tetty, dear poor Tetty, with my eyes full.

3 [It does not appear how Sir Joshua Reynolds' authority can be made available in this case. The expression is stated to have been used to Mr. Thrale; and the fact, that Garrick was for near ten years excluded from the club, and the numberless occasions in which, according to Mr. Boswell's own account, Johnson spoke in the most contemptuous manner of Garrick, seem to give but too much colour to this sad story.—ED.]

"I went to church; came in at the first of the Psalms, and endeavored to attend the service, which I went through without perturbation. After sermon, I recommended Tetty in a prayer by herself; and my father, mother, brother, and Bathurst, in another. I did it only once, so far as it might be lawful for me.

"I then prayed for resolution and perseverance to amend my life. I received soon: the communicants were many. At the altar, it occurred to me that I ought to form some resolutions. I resolved, in the presence of God, but without a vow, to repel sinful thoughts, to study eight hours daily, and, I think, to go to church every Sunday, and read the Scriptures. I gave a shilling; and seeing a poor girl at the sacrament in a bedgown, gave her privately a crown, though I saw Hart's Hymns in her hand. I prayed earnestly for amendment, and repeated my prayer at home. Dined with Miss [Williams]; went to prayers at church; went to -1, spent the evening not pleasantly. Avoided wine, and tempered a very few glasses with sherbet. Came home and prayed.

I saw at the sacrament a man meanly dressed, whom I have always seen there at Easter."]

It was his custom to observe certain days with a pious abstraction: viz. New-year's day, the day of his wife's death, Good Friday, Easter-day, and his own birthday. He this year [on his birthday] says,

"I have now spent fifty-five years in resolving: having, from the earliest time almost that I can remember, been forming schemes of a better life. I have done nothing. The need of doing, therefore, is pressing, since the time of doing is short. O God, grant me to resolve aright, and to keep my resolutions, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen."

Such a tenderness of conscience, such a fervent desire of improvement, will rarely be found. It is, surely, not decent in those who are hardened in indifference to spiritual improvement, to treat this pious anxiety of Johnson with contempt.

About this time he was afflicted with a very severe return of the hypochondriack disorder, which was ever lurking about him. He was so ill, as, notwithstanding his remarkable love of company, to be entirely averse to society, the most fatal symptom of that malady. Dr. Adams told me, that as an old friend he was admitted to visit him, and that he found him in a deplorable state, sighing, groaning, talking to himself,

In the original MS., instead of this blank are the letters Davi, followed by some other letters, which are illegible. They, no doubt, meant either Davies the bookseller, or David Garrick; most likely the former.-HALL.

and restlessly walking from room to room. He then used this emphatical expression of the misery which he felt: "I would consent to have a limb amputated to recover my spirits."

Talking to himself was, indeed, one of his singularities ever since I knew him 2. I was certain that he was frequently uttering pious ejaculations; for fragments of the Lord's prayer have been distinctly overheard3. His friend, Mr. Thomas Davies, of whom Churchill says,

"That Davies has a very pretty wife,—" when Dr. Johnson muttered, "lead us not into temptation," used with waggish and gallant humour to whisper Mrs. Davies, You, my dear, are the cause of this."

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He had another particularity, of which none of his friends ever ventured to ask an explanation. It appeared to me some superstitious habit which he had contracted early, and from which he had never called upon his reason to disentangle him. This was his anxious care to go out or in at a door or passage, by a certain number of steps from a certain point, or at least so as that either his right or his left foot (I am not certain which), should constantly make the first actual movement when he came close to the door or passage. Thus I conjecture: for I have, upon innumerable occasions, observed him suddenly stop, and then seem to count his steps with a deep earnestness; and when he had neglected or gone wrong in this sort of magical movement, I have seen him go back again, put himself in a proper posture to begin the ceremony, and, having gone through it, break from his abstraction, walk briskly on, and join his companion4. A strange instance of some

2 [See post, 12th Oct. 1773.-ED.]

3 It used to be imagined at Mr. Thrale's, when Johnson retired to a window or corner of the room, by perceiving his lips in motion, and hearing a praying; but this was not always the case, for I murmur without audible articulation, that he was was once, perhaps unperceived by him, writing at a table, so near the place of his retreat, that heard him repeating some lines in an ode of Horace, over and over again, as if by iteration to exercise the organs of speech, and fix the ode in his memory:

"Audiet cives accuisse ferrum

Quo graves Perso melius perirent,

Audiet pugnas

It was during the American war.—BURNEY.

[The following anecdote, related by Mr. Whyte, affords another curious instance of this peculiarity:

"Mr. Sheridan at one time lived in Bedfordstreet, opposite Henrietta-street, which ranges with the south side of Covent-garden, so that the prospect lies open the whole way free of interruption. We were standing together at the drawing-room, expecting Johnson, who was to dine there. Mr.

thing of this nature, even when on horseback, happened when he was in the Isle of Sky [12th Oct. 1773]. Sir Joshua Reynolds has observed him to go a good way about, rather than cross a particular alley in Leicester-field; but this Sir Joshua imputed to his having had some disagreeable recollection associated with it.

likeness; which, to render complete, he who draws it must not disdain the slightest strokes. But if witlings should be inclined to attack this account, let them have the candour to quote what I have offered in my defence.

["DR JOHNSON TO MRS. LUCY PORTER.

"London 10 Jan. 1764.

Pearson
MSS.

"MY DEAR, I was in hopes that you would have written to me before this time, to tell me that your house was finished, and that you were happy in it. I am sure I wish you happy.

"By the carrier of this week you will receive a box, in which I have put some books, most of which were your poor dear mamma's, and a diamond ring, which I hope you will wear as my new year's gift. If you receive it with as much kindness as I send it, you will not slight it; you will be very fond of it.

That the most minute singularities which belonged to him, and made very observable parts of his appearance and manner, may not be omitted, it is requisite to mention, that while talking or even musing as he sat in his chair, he commonly held his head to one side towards his right shoulder, and shook it in a tremulous manner, moving his body backwards and forwards, and rubbing his left knee in the same direction with the palm of his hand. In the intervals of articulating he made various sounds with his mouth; sometimes as if ruminating, or what is called chewing the cud, sometimes giving a half whistle, sometimes making his tongue play backwards from the roof of his mouth as if clucking like a hen, and sometimes protruding it against his upper gums in front, as if pronouncing quickly under his breath, too, too, too; all this accompanied some- "I wish you, my dearest, many happy times with a thoughtful look, but more fre- | years; take what care you can of your health. quently with a smile. Generally when he I am, my dear, your affectionate humble had concluded a period, in the course of a servant, dispute, by which time he was a good deal exhausted by violence and vociferation, he used to blow out his breath like a whale. This I suppose was a relief to his lungs; and seemed in him to be a contemptuous mode of expression, as if he had made the arguments of his opponent fly like chaff before the wind.

I am fully aware how very obvious an occasion I here give for the sneering jocularity of such as have no relish of an exact

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"Pray give my service to Kitty, who, I hope, keeps pretty well. I know not now when I shall come down; I believe it will not be very soon. But I shall be glad to hear of you from time to time.

"SAM. JOHNSON."

He was for some time in the summer at Easton Maudit Northamptonshire, on a visit to the Reverend Dr. Percy, now Bishop of Dromore. Whatever dissatisfaction he felt at what he considered as a slow progress in intellectual improvement, we find that his heart was tender, and his affections warm, as appears from the following very kind letter:

TO JOSHUA REYNOLDS, ESQ. IN LEICES-
TER-FIELDS.

you are known, as you are known to me.

Sheridan asked me, could I see the length of the garden? No, sir.' [Mr. Whyte was short-sighted.] Take out your opera-glass, Johnson is "DEAR SIR,—I did not hear of your coming; you may know him by his gait.' I per- sickness till I heard likewise of your recoveceived him at a good distance, working along with ry, and therefore escaped that part of your a peculiar solemnity of deportment, and an awk-pain which every man must feel to whom ward sort of measured step. At that time the broad flagging at each side the streets was not universally adopted, and stone posts were in fashion, to prevent the annoyance of carriages. Upon every post as he passed along, I could observe, he deliberately laid his hand; but missing one of them when he had got at some distance, he seemed suddenly to recollect himself, and immediately returning back, carefully performed the accustomed ceremony, and resumed his former course, not omitting one till he gained the cross ing. This, Mr. Sheridan assured me, however odd it might appear, was his constant practice; but why or wherefore he could not inform me." Miscell. Nova. p. 49. See (ante, p. 56) his conduct at Mr. Banke's, which seems something of the same kind.—ED.]

"Having had no particular account of your disorder, I know not in what state it has left you. If the amusement of my com pany can exhilarate the languor of a slow recovery, I will not delay a day to come to you; for I know not how I can so effectual ly promote my own pleasure as by pleasing you, or my own interest as by preserving you, in whom, if I should lose you, I should lose almost the only man whom I call a friend.

Pray let me hear of you from yourself,

[This ring is now in the possession of Mrs. Pearson.-HARWOOD.]

or from dear Miss Reynolds'. Make my compliments to Mr. Mudge. I am, dear sir, your most affectionate and most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON.

At the Rev. Mr. Percy's, at Easton Maudit, Northamptonshire (by Castle Ashby),. 19 Aug. 1764."

Early in the year 1765 he paid a short visit to the university of Cambridge, with his friend Mr. Beauclerk. There is a lively picturesque account of his behaviour on this visit, in the Gentleman's Magazine for March, 1785, being an extract of a letter from the late Dr. John Sharp3.

Gent. Mag. Vol. 55. p. 173.

"Cambridge, 1 March, 1765.

["As to Johnson, you will be surprised to hear that I have had him in the chair in which I am now writing. He has ascended my aërial citadel. He came down on a Saturday evening, with a Mr. Beauclerk, who has a friend at Trinity Caliban, you may be sure, was not roused from his lair before next day noon, and his breakfast probably kept him till night. I saw nothing of him, nor was he heard of by any one, till Monday afternoon, when I was sent for home to two gentlemen unknown. In conversation I made a strange faux pas about Burnaby Greene's poems, in which Johnson is drawn at full length]. He drank his large potation of tea with me, interrupted by many an indignant contradiction, and many a noble sentiment. [He had on a better wig than usual, but one whose curls were not, like Sir Cloudesley's, formed for eternal

1 Sir Joshua's sister, for whom Johnson had a

particular affection, and to whom he wrote many letters which I have seen, and which I am sorry her too nice delicacy will not permit to be published.-BOSWELL. [One will be found added by Mr. Malone, post, 21st July, 1781.—Of Miss Reynolds Johnson thought so highly, that he once said to Mrs. Piozzi, "I never knew but one mind which would bear a microscopical examination, and that is dear Miss Reynolds's, and hers is very near to purity itself." Piozzi, p. 68. Several others have reached the editor since this note was written- ED.]

2 [Of this letter Mr. Boswell quotes only two short paragraphs, adding that "they are very characteristical," but surely the rest is equally so. -ED.]

3 [No doubt Dr. John Sharp, grandson of Sharp, Archbishop of York, and son of the Archdeacon of Durham, in which preferment he succeeded his father. He was a member of Trinity College, Cambridge. He died in 1792, aged 69. -ED.]

4 Mr. Lister.-BOSWELL.

5 [Edward Burnaby, who took the name of Greene, published, in 1756, an imitation of the 10th Ep. of the first book of Horace. He died in 1788.-ED.]

buckle 6. Our conversation was chiefly on books, you may be sure. He was much pleased with a small Milton of mine, published in the author's lifetime, and with the Greek epigram on his own effigy, of its being the picture, not of him, but of a bad painter. There are many manuscript stanzas, for aught I know, in Milton's own handwriting, and several interlined hints and fragments. We were puzzled about one of the sonnets, which we thought was not to be found in Newton's edition, and differed from all the printed ones. But Johnson cried, "No! no! repeated the whole sonnet instantly, memoriter, and showed it us in Newton's book. After which he learnedly harangued on sonnet-writing, and its different numbers. He tells me he will come hither again quickly, and is promised an habitation in Emanuel college.' He went back to town next morning; but as it began to be known that he was in the university,] several persons got into his company the last evening at Trinity, where, about twelve, he began to be very great; stripped poor Mrs. Macaulay to the very skin, then gave her for his toast, and drank her in two bumpers."

The strictness of his self-examination, and scrupulous Christian humility, appear in his pious meditation on Easter-day this year.

"I purpose again to partake of the blessed sacrament; yet when I consider how vainly I have hitherto resolved at this annual commemoration of my Saviour's death, to regulate my life by his laws, I am almost afraid to renew my resolutions."

"Since the last Easter I have reformed bly spent, and seems as a dream that has no evil habit; my time has been unprofitaleft nothing behind. My memory grows confused, and I know not how the days pass over me. Good Lord, deliver me!"

The concluding words [of the last sentence] are very remarkable, and show that he laboured under a severe depression of spirits. [He proceeds:]

["I purpose to rise at eight, because, though I shall not yet rise early, it will be much earlier than I now rise, for I often lie till two, and will gain me much time, and tend to a conquest over idleness, and give time for other duties. I hope to rise yet earlier."

"I invited home with me the man whose

pious behaviour I had for several years observed on this day, and found him a kind of Methodist, full of texts, but ill-instructed. I talked to him with temper, and offered him twice wine, which he refused. I suf

6 "Eternal buckle take in Parian stone."POPE.

7 [See ante, p. 214.-ED.]

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July 16th, I received seventy-five pounds 2. Lent Mr. Davies twenty-five." Trinity college, Dublin, at this time, surprised Johnson with a spontaneous compliment of the highest academical honours, by creating him doctor of laws. The diploma, which is in my possession, is as follows:

fered him to go without the dinner which I | remarkable. The next article in his dairy had purposed to give him. I thought this is, day that there was something irregular and particular in his look and gesture; but having intended to invite him to acquaintance, and having a fit opportunity by finding him near my own seat after I had missed him, I did what I at first designed, and am sorry to have been so much disappointed. Let me not be prejudiced hereafter against the appearance of piety in mean persons, who, with indeterminate notions, and perverse or inelegant conversation, perhaps are doing all they can."]

ED.

[The following letter was addressed to the son of his friend Mr. Strahan, afterwards prebendary to Rochester, and the Editor of Johnson's Prayers and Meditations.

TO MR. G. STRAHAN, UNIVER. COLL. OX.' "25 May, 1765. "DEAR SIR, That I have answered neither of your letters you must not impute to any declension of good will, but merely to the want of something to say. I suppose you pursue your studies diligently, and diligence will seldom fail of success. Do not tire yourself so much with Greek one day as to be afraid of looking on it the next; but give it a certain portion of time, suppose four hours, and pass the rest of the day in Latin or English. I would have you learn French, and take in a literary journal once a month, which will accustom you to various subjects, and inform you what learning is going forward in the world. Do not omit to mingle some lighter books with those of more importance; that which is read remisso animo is often of great use, and takes great hold of the remembrance. However, take what course you will, if you be diligent you will be a scholar. I am, dear sir, yours affectionately,

"SAM. JOHNSON."]

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"OMNIBUS ad quos præsentes literæ pervenerint, salutem. Nos Præpositus et Soci nitatis Regina Elizabethæ juxta Dublin, tesSeniores Collegii sacrosanctæ et individuæ Tritamur, Samueli Johnson, Armigero, ob egregratiam concessam fruisse pro gradu Doctogiam scriptorum elegantiam et utilitatem, ratus in utroque Jure, octavo die Julii, Anno Domini millesimo septingentesimo sexagesi mo-quinto. In cujus rei testimonium singulorum manus et sigillum quo in hisce utimur apposuimus, vicesimo tertio die Julii, Anno Domini millesimo septingentesimo sexagesi mo-quinto. FRAN. ANDREWS. Præps. R. MURRAY. ROBtus LAW.

GUL. CLEMENT.
THO. WILSON.

THO. LELAND. 3 MICH. KEARNEY."

This unsolicited mark of distinction, conferred on so great a literary character, did much honour to the judgment and liberal spirit of that learned body. Johnson acknowledged the favour in a letter to Dr. Leland, one of their number; but I have not been able to obtain a copy of it.

[After the publication of the Malone. edition in 1804, a copy of this letter was communicated to Mr. Malone by John Leland, esq. son to the learned historian, to whom it is addressed.

66

TO THE REV. DR. LELAND. "Johnson's-court, Fleet-street, London, 17 Oct. 1765 4. "SIR,-Among the names subscribed to the degree which I have had the honour of receiving from the University of Dublin, I find none of which I have any personal knowledge but those of Dr. Andrews and yourself.

"Men can be estimated by those who know them not, only as they are represented by those who knew them; and therefore I flatter myself that I owe much of the

2 [Probably a quarter's pension.-ED.]

3 [The same who has contributed some notes to the late editions of this work. He was the elder brother of the late Bishop of Ossory.-ED.] 4 [Hawkins and Murphy seem to think that the degree followed the publication of Shakspeare, but the former was, we see, in July (the annual Commencement), and the latter in October: Johnson's acknowledgment of the honour was perhaps postponed to the end of the academic vacation.-ED.]

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