Life and Conversations of Dr. Samuel Johnson: (founded Chiefly Upon Boswell).

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Preface

BoswELL's Life of Johnson not only holds an undisputed place among the classical achievements of English Literature, but belongs to that group within the classical group which may be distinguished as consisting of works both well-reputed and read, the other classics being well-reputed and unopened. No one who has this book is content to have it on his shelves, a mere respectability in calf-gilt — one of Charles Lamb's favourite

•

aversions, " a book which no gentleman's library should be without." If it is on his shelves, it is often on his table. It is handled with fond familiarity, and taken down from time to time to be dipped into or consulted. It belongs to the intimate circle : is neither a grand acquaintance, nor a poor relation. It is a book which he quotes in conversation ; and when sympathetic listeners are at hand he will now and then read from it passage after passage, laughing over and over again at the well-known quips and retorts, as if they were novelties. He is intolerant of people who do jiot share his admiration for the " dear old Doctor " — thin liberals who scorn Johnson' s tory ism, prim rationalists who despise his superstition, and literati reared under modern influences who are amazed at his want of poetic insight. From all such unsympathetic minds he turns impatiently viii PREFACE,

to the more agreeable listeners who have no opinion, whom . he regards as possible converts ; and with suasive eagerness urges them to lose no time in " forming a judgment for themselves" — the plain translation of this exhortation being, ** Read Boswell, and you will agree with-me."

I will not deny that I too am one of those who arc impatient of any lukewarraness on this point. BOSWELL'S Johnson is for me a sort of test-book : according to a man s judgment of it, I am apt to form my judgment of him. It may not always be a very good test, but it is never a very bad one. In spite, however, of its great reputation, the book is less read now-a-days than its admirers imagine ; and I have often been surprised to find ^ how many culti-: vated men and women, who would assuredly be able to do it full justice, were satisfied with vague second-hand knowledge of it, simply because they had allowed the idle trash of the hour to come between them and it — preferring to read what " every one " is reading to-day, and no one will read to-morrow. This neglect of a work which has delighted generations, and will continue to delight posterity, is partly due to the mental enervation produced by a constantly increasing solicitation of the attention to new works, mostly of the mushroom type, springing up in a night to disappear in a day ; and partly to the fact that Boswell's Life, besides its own defects resulting from the author's deficiencies, has the impersonal defect of belonging to a period of literary culture in many respects unlike, and even opposed to our own — so that what in his day would pass for literary graces, in our day pass as artificial flowers, and those faded. Many passages which had their interest then, are now remorselessly skipped. The size of the work is also an obstacle to its acceptance. Readers so

PREFACE. ix

tolerant of trash in the language of to-day yawn over the langueiirs et longiieurs tolerated by our fathers. Even the . • staunchest admirer of BOSWELL^S Life must admit that it • is three times as long as it need be.

On my observing that many were discouraged by its length, and that others found it too dull to be read through, the idea -occurred to me several years ago (in 1855 or 56) that it would be a feasible scheme to detach from these volumes all that gave them perennial interest and compress it into a single volume, without sacrificing anything but the thin soup of Boswellian narrative and comment, in which the solid meat of John3on was dished up. But on reflection this scheme of an abridgment of Boswell appeared less and less attractive. General experience has declared that abridgments, are rarely successful. And there are good reasons why this should be so. In making an abridgment we select only what is essential, expecting the reader to supply the rest from his own stores. Bat no reliance is more treacherous than reliance on the reader's co-operation : if he is not ignorant, he is probably indolent : very often he has not got the cement which will bind your bricks into a wall, or if he has got the cement he is too lazy to apply it.

Still, although I gave up my scheme of an abridgment, the original suggestion which prompted it recurred from time to time, under various aspects, and at length shaped itself into the scheme of a new Life of Johnson, founded on Boswell, but entirely rewritten. As a collection of data Boswell's narrative could be gratefully used, and his inimitable reports of the conversations, stripped of their superfluous garnish, might be preserved. The four volumes of the original might thus be essentially reproduced in one.

X PREFACE.

The charm and value of such a work must lie in the delightfully dramatic conversations, crowded with wit, humour, and wisdom, and in the moral significance of the picture thus presented of a noble soul struggling with difficulties, moral and^physical, a strong and affluent nature in which many infirmities were blended.

No one has ever reported conversations with a skill comparable to that of Boswell — a skill which appears marvellous when compared with the attempts of others ; and although there may have been talkers as good as Johnson, no man's reported talk has the variety and force of his. The conversations of Goethe, reported by Eckermann, are no doubt the outpourings of a much greater mind and a much wider culture ; but they are not properly to be accepted as conversations, they are incidental remarks and utterances intended for publication ; they are fragments of monologues, not flashes of talk. In Bos well's pages we have the animation, the abruptness, the wandering and liarkingback of conversation ; the shuttlecock flies from battledore to battledore, and often drops between them ; the mood, the whim, the prejudice of years suddenly gives place to the paradox of the moment ; the rising laughter at the passing jest is arrested by striking the chord of some solemn conviction ; the rising anger of contention disappears in some burst of laughter clearing the air. The very nonsense of these talks has its significance : it helps to paint the speakers and their time. And Johnson, though he towers above them all, is only the central figure of a remarkable group. We see him most distinctly ; but we also get delightful glimpses of Burke and Reynolds, Garrick and Goldsmith, Topham Beauclerk and Bennet Langton — with Boswell himself, a memorable figure, and pompous

PREFACE. xi

Sir John Hawkins, — ^worthy of immortality, if not as witty himself, yet as the cause of wit in others, the subject of Goldsmith's irresistible epitaph :

" Here lies Sir John Hawkins, In his shoes and stawkings. "

We hear these men talk, we hear them laugh, wc see them flushing with anger or struggling to "get a word in.'* Then leaving the Club or Tavern we step with Johnson into the streets, and are touched on seeing the rough, rude, overbearing talker, reckless of wounding the susceptibilities of his associates, now full of tenderness for the unfortunate — relieving the beggars, although he knows they will spend the money on gin (for why should not these miserable creatures have their moments of pleasure ?) — or raising a poor prostitute from the ground and carrying her on his back to his own home, there to have her tended. The man appears to us in so many aspects, and under all presents so much mind and so much heart, is so vigorous, massive, and tender that we learn to forget, or even love, his prejudices and asperities because they are his.

And this is the second source of inestimable value in such a picture as the life of Johnson presents. It helps to correct the vicious idealism of novelists and biographers, — an idealism which does not proceed by the selection and purification of typical truths, but by the suppression of the lasting facts of human nature and human life : an idealism which is afraid to paint goodness and g reatness blend ed with evil and weak ness, but will only pamt in black and white. We are not loving evil and weakness when we love the good and great in spite of their infirmities. But the distinct recognition of serious defects in a character otherxii PREFACE.

wise dear and venerable to us, will help us to feel charitably towards the defects of others. The majority of mankind are so accustomed to judge of a character by some one aspect of it, that they are puzzled and incredulous when they find a great name borne by some ill-favoured, wretchedlooking creature, "not in the least like their ideal" — or discover that some creative genius holds "very mistaken opinions" on a subject they profess to understand— or hear that the conduct of the hero has, on some particular occasion, been very unheroic — as if this blending of light and darkness were not the everyday experience of all of us ! Socrates is, and has been for twenty centuries, reverenced among the great teachers and martyrs. But of the thousands who delight to honour his name how many would have honoured the man ? how many would have seen any divine significance in that ugly, unimposing figure loafing about the Agora, and teaching new disreputable doctrines } again, how many of those who have a distinct vision of the contrast between the aspect presented by Socrates, and the " ideal " foolishly demanded, would distrust their impressions if another Socrates were now in their company t

It is Bosweirs eternal merit to have deeply reverenced the man whose littlenesses and asperities he could keenly discern, and has courageously depicted ; and his work stands almost alone in Biography because he had this vision and this courage. The image of Johnson is not defaced by these revelations, it only becomes more intelligible in becoming more human.

My notion of rewriting Boswell was, therefore, to preserve all that constitutes the essential merits of his work> and merely to adapt it to the more exigent tastes of our day. It was a notion caressed from time to time, but not

PREFACE.

xiu leading me to make any preparation for carrying it out. The truth is, that scientific pursuits absorbed all my energy, and left me neither time nor strength to turn to Literature. Year by year the probability of ever finding the requisite leisure grew less and less ; and finally the scheme was abandoned. It was, however, to be revived in another mind. In the course of correspondence with Mr. Main, I suggested the scheme to him as one he might possibly feel disposed to adopt. He at once saw it to be feasible — ^and the work which these few lines are meant to introduce was executed entirely by him, with no more help from me than the brief explanation of my notion conveyed to him in a single letter. The whole merit of the work, therefore, must be given to Mr. Main.

GEORGE HENRY LEWES.

Octobery 1873.

Chapter I. Page Parentage — School Days

(1709 — 1726.)

Birth— Parentage— Michael Johnson — Johnson's Mother — Samuel touched for the EvU — First School — Tom Brown and Mr. Hunter — Religious Instruction — Manly little Resolution — Young Johnson in Love — Leaves School — Picture of Johnson during School-days . . i — S

Chapter II. Repose— At College— On The World

(1726— 1734.)

"Waiting — At Pembroke Collie — Hypochondria — Johnson's Studies — ••Miserably Poor" — Story of the Shoes — Leaves College — ^Tries Teaching — Visions of London — His Birmingham Friend . . 9 — 16

Chapter III. Married — Off To London— Early Struggles

^ (1734—1740.)

Johnson's Wife— " Convulsive Starts and Odd Gesticulations"— First Meeting with Hogarth — A Novel Race — Tries Teaching Again — Sets out for London— Advised to ••Buy a Porter's Knot"— His Friend Hervey— ''The Senate of Lilliput "—•• London "—Self^lisclosures — Endeavours to obtain an M. A. — Fails — •• Yours, wiihottt a Dinner*' — A Real Tragedy 17 — 27

Chapter IV. Still Struggling— Literary Hack-work—" Life Of Savage."

(1740— 1744.)

*• Irene " cannot gti on to the Stage — 111 and Hungry— Mindful of others' Needs — •• Life of Savage " — Plea for Merciful Judgment — Fellowship in Suffering — Pride and Poverty • 28—33 xvi CONTENTS,

Chapter V. The Worst Over— Dictionary Begun—** Irene" On The Stage

(1745— 1749.)

PAGE

A Prologue — Dictionary Begun — At Work — Excureion to Tunbridge Wells — **Vi^nitv <^f ^iimnn WisTt^" — "Irene" on the Boards — Johnson in Full Dress — " Irene *'-^ts Moral Significance . . 34—40

Chapter VI. "the Rambler "—johnson's Style— His Wife's Death

(1750— 1752.)

**The Rambler"— Ai;/i?Wrt— Johnson's Style— His Wife's Death— Epitaph— ••/?/« Z?cyf«-/rtw"— Letter of Sympathy— Troubled Waters- Love, not Superstition — ** Can we belin'e that the dear Dead are Cone?'*'* . 41-51

CHAPTER VIL

JOHNSON'S HOUSEHOLD— HIS FRIENDS— VISIT TO OXFORD.

(1752-1754.)

A Queer Family — Sir Joshua Reynolds — Characteristic i\necdote — Bennet Langton — Topham Beauclerk — Beauclerk Rebuked — A Falstafflan Night — Striking Contrast — ** The Adventurer " — ** Prayers and Meditations " — Johnson's Tenderness of Heart — ** Poor dear Collins ! " — Visit to Oxford 52—62

CHAPTER VIIL

JOHNSON AND THE EARL OF CHESTERFIELD— M.A.— DICTIONARY

PUBLISHED.

Letter to Chesterfield — Brains versus Blood — Manifestation of Feeling — How the Letter affected Chesterfield — Johnson on the Earl — Another attempt to procure an M. A. — Successful this Time — Dictionary Announced — Letter to Bennet Langton — Note of Melancholy . 63 — 73

CHAPTER IX.

MORE ABOUT THE DICTIONARY— LETTERS— " THE IDLER."

Characteristic Definitions — Garrick's Critique on the Dictionary — Resolutions — Money all Gone — ••The Universal Review "—Offered a

CONTENTS. xvii

PAGE

Benefice— Letter to Bumey— Letter to Langton— Another Letter to Buraey- Bumey Visits otr Author at Home— "The Idler "—Letters to Warton and Langton— Letter of Sympathy .... 74 — 88

CHAPTER X.

HIS mother's death— "rasselas"— his negro servant.

(1759—1760.)

Letters to his Dying Mother— His Mother's Death— Johnson's Grief— **Rasselas" — Francis Barber — Resolutions— Dedications — Letter to Langton— Johnson not an Idle Man 89—97

CHAPTER XL

letters— JOHNSON A PENSIONER—BOSWELL INTRODUCED.

(1760— 1763.)

A Model Letter — Letter to Baretti— Pensioned — A Friendly Dispute — Letter of Thanks — Visit to Devonshire — Boswell Introduced — Scene Described— Second Meeting— Talk— Boswell— ** A Man's a Man "

98- 108

CHAPTER XII.

CONVERSATIONS — AT TEA WITH MRS. WILLIAMS.

Johnson's Talk — An Angry Irishman— On the Poet Gray — On Ghosts — Sale of the "Vicar of Wakefield"— A Tea-party— " The King can do no Wrong" — "Let us not talk of the Weather"— Evidences of Christianity — ^Johnson's Jacobitism — A Ferocious Scotchman — Boswell has a Headache 109— 118

CHAPTER XIIL

CONVERSATIONS — "ONE MORE UNFORTUNATE."

Johnson's Library — "Consecrated Lies" — Rousseau's Doctrines— Johnson on Constitutional Goodness — Johnson's Fondness for Young Men — On Subordination — Talk on Various Subjects — " One More Unfortunate" — Johnson's Humanity 119— 127

h xviii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XIV.

TRIP TO GREENWICH— THE DOCTOR AT SUPPERr-PARTING WITH

BOSWELL.

PAGE

On the Thames — At Greenwich— Greenwich Park "not equal to Fleet Street "— Boswell and Mrs. Williams — High-Church Zeal — ^Journey to Harwich — Johnson at Supper — Hatred of Sentimentality — A Parting 128—134

CHAPTER XV.

LITERARY CLUB FOUNDEI>— HYPOCHONDRIA— JOHNSON'S ** SHAKE- SPEARE " — INTRODUCl'ION IX) THE THRALES.

Visit to the Langtons — Club Founded— Johnson's Sacred Days — Hypochondria — " Good Lord, Deliver Mel" — ^Johnson's "Shakespeare" — Introduction to the Thrales — "Tetty!" 135 — 141

CHAPTER XVI.

THE DOCTOR AN ABSTAINER — CONVERSATIONS — INTERVIEW WITH

THE KING.

(1766— 1767.)

Change in the Doctor's way of Life— Johnson on Rousseau — Talk— Self-defence — Letters to Langton — Mrs. Williams's Miscellanies — A Burlesque — Interview with the King— Time's Revenges . . 142—152

CHAPTER XVII.

AT LICHFIELD— -A TENDER ADIEU— CONVERSATIONS— DR. PERCY

SNUBBED.

(1767-1768.)

An Everlasting Farewell — ** He has nothing of the Bear but his Skin " — An act of Charity — ** PressM with the Load of Life " — On the Practice of the Law — On Fielding and Richardson — A Home-letter — Negro Francis at School — Dr. Percy Snubbed — ** A fallible man will fail somewhere " 153— 161

CONTENTS. xix

CHAPTER XVIII.

CONVERSATIONS—GENERAL PAOLI INTRODUCED— BOSWELL AN OFFENDER— JOHNSON'S ** PECCAVI,"

PAGE

Johnson on Savage Life — On Marriage — On Scotch Gardeners — " Most Exquisite Fooling ! " — The Corsican Patriot Introduced — A true Johnsonian Retort — Genius in Undress — ^Johnson on Shakespeare and Congreve — ^Johnson versus Shakespeare — On Sentimentality — Talk about Death — The Doctor Enraged — Johnson's way of Apologizing

162—172

CHAPTER XIX,

NEGRO FRANCIS AT SCHOOL— PROPOSAL TO ENTER PARLIA- MENT — MEDITATIONS ON EARLY RISING.

(1769— 1771.)

" A Matrimonial Tliought "—Two little Letters— Proposal to enter Parliament — Failure not to be regretted — Letter to Boswell — More Letters— " Prayers and Meditations " '73—179

CHAPTER XX.

CONVERSATIONS— JOHNSON ON GOLDSMITH— SILENT SORROWS.

Boswell deputed to buy St Kilda— Johnson on Mimicry— On Hospitality — The Doctor's pistol misses fire— On Goldsmith — A Flea and a Lion — A Scotchman ra«^^ young — On Luxury — Silent Sorrows . 180—189

CHAPTER XXI.

BOSWELL DINES WITH THE DOCTOR AT HOME— CONVERSA- TIONS — GOLDSMITH — DE PROFUNDIS,

The Chann of Johnson^s Life— Goldsmith's Manifesto — Boswell is singularly honoured— Johnson's y5M>««j — On Garrick — Defence of Luxury — On Soicide — The Doctor snubs his host — Johnson on Fiddling — AflfecUtion Rehuked— Goldsmith's Talk— Plea for rough handling— "Out of the Depths I" 189 C99

XX , CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXIL

GARRICK A MEMBER OF THE CLUB— THE DOCTOR ON THE SCOTCH — DEBATE ON TOLERATION— EPISODE.

PAGE

Popalar passion ior ydknsoniana— On YXzMtry — In praise of Goldsmith — Johnson on the Scotch — Debate on Toleration — Quarrel- — Reconciliation — Truth finer than Fiction 200—210

CHAPTER XXni.

A MEMORABLE LAUGH— TOUR TO THE HEBRIDES— DEATH OF

GOLDSMITH— TOUR IN WALES.

(1773— 1774.)

The Doctor's ** Little Language " — Wakening the Echoes— -Tlje Doctor in a new Attitude — Johnson's passion for Knowledge — Tour to the Hebrides — Return to London — The Doctor and Mrs. Boswell— Letters to Boswell — Death of Goldsmith — Tour in Wales — A Home-letter — A Handsome Compliment 211—222

CHAPTER XXIV.

OSSIAN-MACPHERSON— THE DOCTOR'S COURAGE— " TAXATION

NO TYRANNY."

(1774— 1775.)

Letters to Boswell — ^The Ossian Controversy — A Letter of Defiance — Tlie Doctor's Courage — Scotch Indignation — Johnson surprised 4t their Wrath — A Witty Comparison— Boswell to Dr. Johnson — Dr. Johnson to Boswell — •* Taxation no Tyranny ** — The Roots of Johnson's Character . 223 — 233

CHAPTER XXV.

CONVERSATIONS— A FINE SCENE— JOHNSON AT THE THEATRE

— LL.D.

('7750

A little bit of Acting — ^Johnson on Sheridan — A fine little Scene — ^Johnson at the Theatre — A Heavy Blow — The Doctor and his Orange-peels — LL.D. — Faith wtV/ out— Johnson's horror of a Superannuated Life — Defence of Charles the Second — A Sheba-like Visit — "Pennant tells of Bears" — A heresy \ — Talk on Various Subjects — Johnson fit for all Conversational Emergencies 234—244

CONTENTS. xxi

CHAPTER XXVr.

A SACRED DAY— CONVERSATIONS— LETTERS.

PAGE

The Doctor's Fastings— A Holy Time— Talk— Johnson's Life of Life—K Good-humoured Fellow — A Pleasant Visit — ^Johnson's Extraordinary Conversational Readiness — A Finer Element — Letters to BosweU*— The Doctor "Chaffs" Mrs. Boswell 245—252

CHAPTER XXVII.

TOUR IN FRANCE— NOTES FROM THE DOCTOR'S DIARY— TABLEAU.

(Mil)

The Doctor in France — A Race in the Rain — Jottings from the Doctor's French Journal — Johnson's Peculiarities — His Return to England — Beautiful Home-letters — I^ist Words on the French Tour — A Pleasing Tableau , 253—262

CHAPTER XXVni.

VISIT TO OXFORD — THE DOCTOR AND HIS WIGS — CONVERSATIONS

— EULOGY ON INNS.

Boswell again in London — The Doctor's Truthfulness — Journey to Oxford — Talk — The Doctor and his Wigs — Visit to Dr. Adams — Jostling down — Talk — Eulogy on Inns — At Henley . . . . 263 — 271

CHAPTER XXIX.

JOHNSON VISITS HIS NATIVE DISTRICT — CONVERSATIONS— THE DOCTOR AND AN OLD SCHOOL-MATE.

The Doctor Revisits Old Scenes — At Birmingham — Literary Photographs — Bet Flint — ^Journey Continued— At Lichfield — An Alarming Letter — On Sympathy — ^Johnson at the Theatre — Visit to Dr. Taylor — Return to London 272—279 xxii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXX.

JOHNSON'S DELICACY— CONVERSATIONS— THE DOCTOR AND MADAME DE BOUFFLERS— ** ROWLEY'S POEMS."

PAGE

The Doctor's Delicacy — Plea for getting Angry — Talk — ^Johnson on Drinking — A fine Rebuke — The Doctor "doing the honours" of his House — ^Johnson a capital Story-teller— The Doctor and a Bristol Pewterer— Johnson on Chatterton 280—289

CHAPTER XXXI.

A MOMENTOUS NEGOTIATION— THE DOCTOR AND JOHN WILKES —

POLITICS ROUTED BY POLITENESS.

A Dangerous Experiment — A Momentous Negotiation — Johnson and Jack Wilkes— "Mr. Wilkes, Sir"— On Foote the Actor— A Capital Anecdote — Talk — The Doctor Ogling a Lady — Politics routed by Politeness . ■ 290 — 296

CHAPTER XXXII.

DR. BOSWELL*S EPIGRAM— ROUND ROBIN — LETTERS— HOURS OF

GLOOM.

(1776—1777.)

Johnson's Quickening Power — Letters — Round Robin — Epitaph on Goldsmith — The Doctor's Secret Work — The Doctor in the Water — Letters to Boswell — Mrs. Boswell makes Atonement — Letters — Hours of Gloom 297—308

CHAPTER XXXIII.

DR. JOHNSON AND DR. DODD—LEITERS —PROPOSED " LITTLE

ADVENTURE."

The Doctor and young Sheridan — Dr. Dodd — Petition to the King — Dr. Dodd's Gratitude — ^Johnson's Reflections on the Life of Dodd — Letters — Mrs. BoswelPs Marmalade — The Doctor at Ashbourne — Proposed " Little Adventure ' 309—3*8

CONTENTS. xxiii

CHAPTER XXXIV.

VISIT TO ASHBOURNE — TWO DOCTORS— CONVERSATIONS — JOHNSON*S

BIRTHDAY.

PAGE

Friendly Criticisms—** He's a Tremendous Companion" — A Musical Evening — The Doctor desires ** a New Sense " — The Doctor Burlesquing — Talk on Various Subjects — Dr. Rutty's Spiritual Diary — On Actors and Acting — '* Making Faces" — Boswell puts his foot in it — The 'Doctor particularly Combative — A Subject the Doctor Hates —An Awkward Compliment 319 — 328

CHAPTER XXXV.

AN ODD FAMILY — CONVERSATIONS— A DRAMATIC EVENING.

{1777— 1778.)

Letters — An Addition to the Doctor's Family — A Quaint Group — Good Advice — A Noble Judgment — The Doctor Silent and Sulky — ** Nobody is Content" — A Smart Quotation — In Praise of Goldsmith — Defence of Garrick — A Dramatic Evening — Quarrel and Reconciliation 329—340

CHAPTER XXXVI.

JOHNSON'S BEFORE-DINNER TALK — CONVERSATIONS— THE DOCTOR

AND AN OLD COLLEGE-MATE.

"Pretty Baby ! " — Woman's Rights — Assault on the Americans— Johnson meets a College-Mate — Capital Interview — ^Esthetic Quarrels -A Splendid Deliverance — Buying Buckles on principle — The Doctor harangues against Wine-drinking — Self- Ex position — Praise of Self justified 341—351

CHAPTER XXXVI I.

AN AMUSING FAREWELL— ** LIVES OF THE POETS"— A PARSON- POET— QUARREL AND RECONCILIATION.

(1778-1779-)

Wounded and Healed Again — An Amusing Farewell — A Doleful Letter — More Letters — ** Lives of the Poets" — Death of Garrick— Noble Praise — A Novel Scene — T oUnson's Scale of Liquor&— QuaiTcl w ith Beauclerk — Reconciliation— Flea for Imperfect Men . 352 — 362 xxiv CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

CONVERSATIONS— THE DOCTOR AND THE LADIES— DEATH OF

BEAUCLERK— SELF-ABASEMENT.

(1779—1780).

PAGE

Letters — **Let us breakfast in splendour" — The Doctor Hob-nobbing with a Lady — Delicious Complimenting — A Deferential Nobleman — ** The Ambassador says well — letters — Death of Beauclerk — Letter to Boswell — Letters on behalf of Needy Friends — Self-abasement 363 — 375

CHAPTER XXXIX.

** LIVES OF THE POETS '' CONCLUDED — CHARACTERISTIC LETTER— THE DOCTOR AN EXECUTOR— CONVERSATIONS.

A Great Work — ** Lives of the Poets " finished — A Characteristic Letter — The Doctor's Peculiarities — The Doctor's Charade— The Doctor decidedly Jocular — A Fine Rebuke— The Doctor an Executor — Letter to Lucy Porter — Two Ladies put to silence— Johnson's Candour — Fundamentally Sensible — Tender Memories .... 376 — 385

CHAPTER XL.

JOHNSON REVISITS SCENES OF YOUTH— DEATH OF MR. LEVETT—

ELEGY— SICK AT HEART.

(1781— 1782.)

At Luton Hoe — Resolutions — A Sad Letter — Death of Levett — An Elegy — Curious Entry in the Doctor's Diary — Letters 'to Lucy Porter — Another Sad Letter— Memories of the Dead — Letter to Hector — A Cheerful Note — Good Counsel — Letter to Mrs. Boswell — Farewell to Streatham 386 — 398

CHAPTER XLI.

ILL AND ILL-TEMPERED — CONVERSATIONS— STRUCK DUMB— DEATH

OF MRS. WILLIAMS.

An Unruly Patient — The Doctor in a Passion — Talk — The Doctor on Cant — Struck Dumb — Touching Account of his Stroke — Speechless, but Sound of Heart— Gradually Mending— Mrs. Williams ** making haste to die*'— Mrs. Williams's Death 399— 410

CONTENTS. XXV

CHAPTER XLII.

A DESOLATED HOME— NEW CLUB FOUNDED— ** A PIOUS NEGO- TIATION "—ANOTHER FAREWELL.

(1783-^1784.)

PAGE

Alone — "We that are left must cling closer"— A noble offer of Help — Johnson's Sociality — ** Death, my dear, is very dreadful" — " Let us De kind to one another " — Beautiful little Letter to a Child — On the way to Oxford — Visit to Dr. Adams — True Friendship — Tears of Gratitude — A Last Farewell — A ** Pious Negotiation " Fails — Faithful Ones — Brotherly Love 411 — 422

CHAPTER XLIII. .

CONVERSATIONS— MIND CLEAR TO THE LAST — VALLEY OF THE

SHADOW OF DEATH.

Talk Grand as Ever — Generous Estimate of Burke — Three Simple Words — " Let me alone, Let me alone " — The Shadow of Death — Visit to an Old Acquaintance — A Young Gentleman Snubbed — Johnson's Defence of his own Manner — Noble Deliverance of Burke's . 423 — 429

CHAPTER XLIV.

THE doctor's last VISIT TO HIS NATIVE DISTRICl'— RETURN TO LONDON— DEATH-BED— SCENE CLOSED.

A Mournful Duty Discharged— The Doctor's Last Visit to Lichfield—** I Struggle hard for Life"—** Who can Run the Race with Death ?"— ** A Narrative of Misery "— ** I Live on and Hope " — A Memorable Incident — Return to London— Thoughts of the Grave — On a Death- Bed — Resided — Half-jocular even — Partings — A Prayer — Lips Sealed for Ever — Closing Reflections 430 — 441

LIFE AND CONVERSATIONS

OF

DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON.

Chapter I. Parentage — School-days (1709 — 1726)

Samuel Johnson was bom at Lichfield, in Staffordshire, on the 1 8th of September, 1709. His parents were Michael Johnson, a native of Derbyshire, of obscure extraction, and Sarah Ford, descended from an ancient race of substantial yeomanry in Warwickshire. The following romantic but well-authenticated circumstance in Michael Johnson's early life is worth recording. WTiile he was serving his apprenticeship at Leek, in Staffordshire, a young woman fell passionately in love with him. Although the affection was not returned she followed him to Lichfield, where he had settled as a bookseller and stationer, and took lodgings opposite to the house in which he stayed. When told that the young woman's mind was beginning to give way under the weight of this unrequited affection, Michael generously went to her and made her an offer of marriage ; but it was too late. She aJualiy died of love. She was buried in the cathedral of Lichfield ; and he, with tender regard, placed a stone over her grave with this inscription : —

2 PARENTAGE,

HERE LIES THE BODY OF

Mrs. ELIZABETH BLANEY, a Stranger :

She departed this Life

20th of September, 1694.

What pathos, and how many sad and kindly regrets, would seem to have got crowded into the two simple words — "a stranger ! " Michael Johnson was a man of large and robust body, and of a mind to match ; but there must have been tender fibres in his heart as well ; for no one can call forth so much love as this without giving forth much that is loveable. Notwithstanding the tragic result in the young woman's case, it is pleasant to be able to record a little incident like that in the career of the father of a man who is mistakenly supposed to have had but few soft places in his own heart.

Michael, though he may be said to "have had his most fixed abode at Lichfield, made occasional visits, in the way of business, to several towns in the neighbourhood. In Birmingham, for example, he used to set up a stall on ever}' market-day ; for, out of London, booksellers* shops were few and far between in those (lays. Old Mr. Johnson thus became pretty widely known, and wherever he was known he was respected highly. Here is an extract from a letter written by Lord Gower's chaplain, and dated " TrcntJiam^ Si. Pder's Day, 1 7 1 6 " :—