Life Of Johnson, Vol. 1 by Boswell, Edited by Birkbeck Hill

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His friend, Dr. Birch, being now engaged in preparing an edition of
Ralegh's smaller pieces, Dr. Johnson wrote the following letter to that
gentleman:

'To DR. BIRCH.

'Gough-square, May 12, 1750.

'SIR,

'Knowing that you are now preparing to favour the publick with a new
edition of Ralegh's[669] miscellaneous pieces, I have taken the liberty to
send you a Manuscript, which fell by chance within my notice. I perceive
no proofs of forgery in my examination of it; and the owner tells me,
that as _he_[670] has heard, the handwriting is Sir Walter's. If you
should find reason to conclude it genuine, it will be a kindness to the
owner, a blind person[671], to recommend it to the booksellers. I am, Sir,

'Your most humble servant,

'SAM. JOHNSON.'

[Page 227: Milton's grand-daughter. AEtat 41.]

[Page 228: Lauder's imposition. A.D. 1751.]

His just abhorrence of Milton's political notions was ever strong. But
this did not prevent his warm admiration of Milton's great poetical
merit, to which he has done illustrious justice, beyond all who have
written upon the subject. And this year he not only wrote a Prologue,
which was spoken by Mr. Garrick before the acting of _Comus_ at
Drury-lane theatre, for the benefit of Milton's grand-daughter, but took
a very zealous interest in the success of the charity[672]. On the day
preceding the performance, he published the following letter in the
'General Advertiser,' addressed to the printer of that paper:

'SIR,

'That a certain degree of reputation is acquired merely by approving the
works of genius, and testifying a regard to the memory of authours, is a
truth too evident to be denied; and therefore to ensure a participation
of fame with a celebrated poet, many who would, perhaps, have
contributed to starve him when alive, have heaped expensive pageants
upon his grave[673].

'It must, indeed, be confessed, that this method of becoming known to
posterity with honour, is peculiar to the great, or at least to the
wealthy; but an opportunity now offers for almost every individual to
secure the praise of paying a just regard to the illustrious dead,
united with the pleasure of doing good to the living. To assist
industrious indigence, struggling with distress and debilitated by age,
is a display of virtue, and an acquisition of happiness and honour.

'Whoever, then, would be thought capable of pleasure in reading the
works of our incomparable Milton, and not so destitute of gratitude as
to refuse to lay out a trifle in rational and elegant entertainment, for
the benefit of his living remains, for the exercise of their own virtue,
the increase of their reputation, and the pleasing consciousness of
doing good, should appear at Drury-lane theatre to-morrow, April 5, when
_Comus_ will be performed for the benefit of Mrs. Elizabeth Foster,
grand-daughter to the author, and the only surviving branch of his
family.

'N.B. There will be a new prologue on the occasion, written by the
author of _Irene[674], and spoken by Mr. Garrick; and, by particular
desire, there will be added to the Masque a dramatick satire, called
_Lethe_, in which Mr. Garrick will perform.'

[Page 229: Douglas's MILTON NO PLAGIARY. AEtat 42.]

1751: AETAT. 42.--In 1751[675] we are to consider him as carrying on both
his _Dictionary_ and _Rambler_. But he also wrote _The Life of
Cheynel_[676],[*] in the miscellany called _The Student_; and the Reverend
Dr. Douglas having, with uncommon acuteness, clearly detected a gross
forgery and imposition upon the publick by William Lauder, a Scotch
schoolmaster, who had, with equal impudence and ingenuity, represented
Milton as a plagiary from certain modern Latin poets, Johnson, who had
been so far imposed upon as to furnish a Preface and Postscript to his
work, now dictated a letter for Lauder, addressed to Dr. Douglas,
acknowledging his fraud in terms of suitable contrition.[677]

[Page 230: Johnson tricked by Lander. A.D. 1751.]

This extraordinary attempt of Lauder was no sudden effort. He had
brooded over it for many years: and to this hour it is uncertain what
his principal motive was, unless it were a vain notion of his
superiority, in being able, by whatever means, to deceive mankind. To
effect this, he produced certain passages from Grotius, Masenius, and
others, which had a faint resemblance to some parts of the _Paradise
Lost_. In these he interpolated some fragments of Hog's Latin
translation of that poem, alledging that the mass thus fabricated was
the archetype from which Milton copied.[678] These fabrications he
published from time to time in the _Gentleman s Magazine_; and, exulting
in his fancied success, he in 1750 ventured to collect them into a
pamphlet, entitled _An Essay on Milton's Use and Imitation of the
Moderns in his Paradise Lost_. To this pamphlet Johnson wrote a
Preface[679], in full persuasion of Lauder's honesty, and a Postscript
recommending, in the most persuasive terms[680], a subscription for the
relief of a grand-daughter of Milton, of whom he thus speaks:

'It is yet in the power of a great people to reward the poet whose name
they boast, and from their alliance to whose genius, they claim some
kind of superiority to every other nation of the earth; that poet, whose
works may possibly be read when every other monument of British
greatness shall be obliterated; to reward him, not with pictures or with
medals, which, if he sees, he sees with contempt, but with tokens of
gratitude, which he, perhaps, may even now consider as not unworthy the
regard of an immortal spirit.'

[Page 231: Johnson's admiration of Milton. AEtat 42.]

Surely this is inconsistent with 'enmity towards Milton,' which Sir John
Hawkins[681] imputes to Johnson upon this occasion, adding,

'I could all along observe that Johnson seemed to approve not only of
the design, but of the argument; and seemed to exult in a persuasion,
that the reputation of Milton was likely to suffer by this discovery.
That he was not privy to the imposture, I am well persuaded; but that he
wished well to the argument, may be inferred from the Preface, which
indubitably was written by Johnson.'

Is it possible for any man of clear judgement to suppose that Johnson,
who so nobly praised the poetical excellence of Milton in a Postscript
to this very 'discovery,' as he then supposed it, could, at the same
time, exult in a persuasion that the great poet's reputation was likely
to suffer by it? This is an inconsistency of which Johnson was
incapable; nor can any thing more be fairly inferred from the Preface,
than that Johnson, who was alike distinguished for ardent curiosity and
love of truth, was pleased with an investigation by which both were
gratified. That he was actuated by these motives, and certainly by no
unworthy desire to depreciate our great epick poet, is evident from his
own words; for, after mentioning the general zeal of men of genius and
literature 'to advance the honour, and distinguish the beauties of
_Paradise Lost_', he says,

'Among the inquiries to which this ardour of criticism has naturally
given occasion, none is more obscure in itself, or more worthy of
rational curiosity, than a retrospect[682] of the progress of this mighty
genius in the construction of his work; a view of the fabrick gradually
rising, perhaps, from small beginnings, till its foundation rests in the
centre, and its turrets sparkle in the skies; to trace back the
structure through all its varieties, to the simplicity of its first
plan; to find what was first projected, whence the scheme was taken, how
it was improved, by what assistance it was executed, and from what
stores the materials were collected; whether its founder dug them from
the quarries of Nature, or demolished other buildings to embellish his
own.'

Is this the language of one who wished to blast the laurels of
Milton[683]?

[Page 232: Mrs. Anna Williams. A.D. 1751.]

Though Johnson's circumstances were at this time far from being easy,
his humane and charitable disposition was constantly exerting itself.
Mrs. Anna Williams, daughter of a very ingenious Welsh physician, and a
woman of more than ordinary talents and literature, having come to
London in hopes of being cured of a cataract in both her eyes, which
afterwards ended in total blindness, was kindly received as a constant
visitor at his house while Mrs. Johnson lived; and after her death,
having come under his roof in order to have an operation upon her eyes
performed with more comfort to her than in lodgings, she had an
apartment from him during the rest of her life, at all times when he had
a house[684].

[Page 233: Johnson's pleasure in her company. AEtat 43.]

[Page 234: Death of Johnson's wife. A.D. 1752.]

1752: AETAT. 43.--In 1752 he was almost entirely occupied with his
_Dictionary_. The last paper of his _Rambler_ was published March 2[685],
this year; after which, there was a cessation for some time of any
exertion of his talents as an essayist. But, in the same year, Dr.
Hawkesworth, who was his warm admirer, and a studious imitator of his
style[686], and then lived in great intimacy with him, began a periodical
paper, entitled _The Adventurer_, in connection with other gentlemen,
one of whom was Johnson's much-loved friend, Dr. Bathurst; and, without
doubt, they received many valuable hints from his conversation, most of
his friends having been so assisted in the course of their works.

[Page 235: Communications by dreams. AEtat 43.]

That there should be a suspension of his literary labours during a part
of the year 1752, will not seem strange, when it is considered that soon
after closing his _Rambler_, he suffered a loss which, there can be no
doubt, affected him with the deepest distress[687]. For on the 17th of
March, O.S., his wife died. Why Sir John Hawkins should unwarrantably
take upon him even to _suppose_ that Johnson's fondness for her was
_dissembled_ (meaning simulated or assumed,) and to assert, that if it
was not the case, 'it was a lesson he had learned by rote[688],' I cannot
conceive; unless it proceeded from a want of similar feelings in his own
breast. To argue from her being much older than Johnson, or any other
circumstances, that he could not really love her, is absurd; for love is
not a subject of reasoning, but of feeling, and therefore there are no
common principles upon which one can persuade another concerning it.
Every man feels for himself, and knows how he is affected by particular
qualities in the person he admires, the impressions of which are too
minute and delicate to be substantiated in language.

The following very solemn and affecting prayer was found after Dr.
Johnson's decease, by his servant, Mr. Francis Barber, who delivered it
to my worthy friend the Reverend Mr. Strahan[689], Vicar of Islington, who
at my earnest request has obligingly favoured me with a copy of it,
which he and I compared with the original. I present it to the world as
an undoubted proof of a circumstance in the character of my illustrious
friend, which though some whose hard minds I never shall envy, may
attack as superstitious, will I am sure endear him more to numbers of
good men[690]. I have an additional, and that a personal motive for
presenting it, because it sanctions what I myself have always maintained
and am fond to indulge.

'April 26, 1752, being after 12 at Night of the 25th.

'O Lord! Governour of heaven and earth, in whose hands are embodied and
departed Spirits, if thou hast ordained the Souls of the Dead to
minister to the Living, and appointed my departed Wife to have care of
me, grant that I may enjoy the good effects of her attention and
ministration, whether exercised by appearance, impulses, dreams[691] or in
any other manner agreeable to thy Government. Forgive my presumption,
enlighten my ignorance, and however meaner agents are employed, grant me
the blessed influences of thy holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Amen.'

[Page 236: Johnson's love for his wife. A.D. 1752.]

What actually followed upon this most interesting piece of devotion by
Johnson, we are not informed; but I, whom it has pleased GOD to afflict
in a similar manner to that which occasioned it, have certain experience
of benignant communication by dreams[692].

That his love for his wife was of the most ardent kind, and, during the
long period of fifty years, was unimpaired by the lapse of time, is
evident from various passages in the series of his _Prayers and
Meditations_, published by the Reverend Mr. Strahan, as well as from
other memorials, two of which I select, as strongly marking the
tenderness and sensibility of his mind.

'March 28, 1753. I kept this day[693] as the anniversary of my Tetty's
death[694], with prayer and tears in the morning. In the evening I prayed
for her conditionally, if it were lawful.'

[Page 237: Her wedding-ring. AEtat 43.]

'April 23, 1753. I know not whether I do not too much indulge the vain
longings of affection; but I hope they intenerate my heart, and that
when I die like my Tetty, this affection will be acknowledged in a happy
interview, and that in the mean time I am incited by it to piety. I
will, however, not deviate too much from common and received methods of
devotion.'

Her wedding-ring, when she became his wife, was, after her death,
preserved by him, as long as he lived, with an affectionate care, in a
little round wooden box, in the inside of which he pasted a slip of
paper, thus inscribed by him in fair characters, as follows:

'Eheu!
Eliz. Johnson,
Nupta Jul. 9 deg. 1736,
Mortua, eheu!
Mart. 17 deg. 1752[695].

After his death, Mr. Francis Barber, his faithful servant and residuary
legatee, offered this memorial of tenderness to Mrs. Lucy Porter, Mrs.
Johnson's daughter; but she having declined to accept of it, he had it
enamelled as a mourning ring for his old master, and presented it to his
wife, Mrs. Barber, who now has it.

The state of mind in which a man must be upon the death of a woman whom
he sincerely loves, had been in his contemplation many years before. In
his _Irene_, we find the following fervent and tender speech of
Demetrius, addressed to his Aspasia:

'From those bright regions of eternal day,
Where now thou shin'st amongst thy fellow saints,
Array'd in purer light, look down on me!
In pleasing visions and delusive dreams,
O! sooth my soul, and teach me how to lose thee[696].'

[Page 238: The shock of separation. A.D. 1752.]

I have, indeed, been told by Mrs. Desmoulins, who, before her marriage,
lived for some time with Mrs. Johnson at Hampstead[697], that she indulged
herself in country air and nice living, at an unsuitable expense[698],
while her husband was drudging in the smoke of London, and that she by
no means treated him with that complacency which is the most engaging
quality in a wife. But all this is perfectly compatible with his
fondness for her, especially when it is remembered that he had a high
opinion of her understanding, and that the impressions which her beauty,
real or imaginary, had originally made upon his fancy, being continued
by habit, had not been effaced, though she herself was doubtless much
altered for the worse. The dreadful shock of separation took place in
the night; and he immediately dispatched a letter to his friend, the
Reverend Dr. Taylor, which, as Taylor told me, expressed grief in the
strongest manner he had ever read; so that it is much to be regretted it
has not been preserved[699]. The letter was brought to Dr. Taylor, at his
house in the Cloisters, Westminster, about three in the morning; and as
it signified an earnest desire to see him, he got up, and went to
Johnson as soon as he was dressed, and found him in tears and in extreme
agitation. After being a little while together, Johnson requested him to
join with him in prayer. He then prayed extempore, as did Dr. Taylor;
and thus, by means of that piety which was ever his primary object, his
troubled mind was, in some degree, soothed and composed.

The next day he wrote as follows:

'To The Revernd Dr. Taylor.

Dear Sir,

'Let me have your company and instruction. Do not live away from me. My
distress is great.

'Pray desire Mrs. Taylor to inform me what mourning I should buy for my
mother and Miss Porter, and bring a note in writing with you.

'Remember me in your prayers, for vain is the help of man.

'I am, dear Sir, &c.

'SAM. JOHNSON.'

'March 18, 1752.'

[Page 239: Francis Barber. AEtat 43.]

[Page 240: Prayers for the dead. A.D. 1752.]

That his sufferings upon the death of his wife were severe, beyond what
are commonly endured, I have no doubt, from the information of many who
were then about him, to none of whom I give more credit than to Mr.
Francis Barber, his faithful negro servant[700], who came into his family
about a fortnight after the dismal event. These sufferings were
aggravated by the melancholy inherent in his constitution; and although
he probably was not oftener in the wrong than she was, in the little
disagreements which sometimes troubled his married state[701], during
which, he owned to me, that the gloomy irritability of his existence was
more painful to him than ever, he might very naturally, after her death,
be tenderly disposed to charge himself with slight omissions and
offences, the sense of which would give him much uneasiness[702].
Accordingly we find, about a year after her decease, that he thus
addressed the Supreme Being: 'O LORD, who givest the grace of
repentance, and hearest the prayers of the penitent, grant that by true
contrition I may obtain forgiveness of all the sins committed, and of
all duties neglected in my union with the wife whom thou hast taken from
me; for the neglect of joint devotion, patient exhortation, and mild
instruction[703].' The kindness of his heart, notwithstanding the
impetuosity of his temper, is well known to his friends; and I cannot
trace the smallest foundation for the following dark and uncharitable
assertion by Sir John Hawkins: 'The apparition of his departed wife was
altogether of the terrifick kind, and hardly afforded him a hope that
she was in a state of happiness[704].' That he, in conformity with the
opinion of many of the most able, learned, and pious Christians in all
ages, supposed that there was a middle state after death, previous to
the time at which departed souls are finally received to eternal
felicity, appears, I think, unquestionably from his devotions[705]: 'And,
O LORD, so far as it may be lawful in me[706], I commend to thy fatherly
goodness _the soul of my departed wife_; beseeching thee to grant her
whatever is best in her _present state_, and _finally to receive her to
eternal happiness_[707].' But this state has not been looked upon with
horrour, but only as less gracious.

[Page 241: The funeral sermon on Mrs. Johnson. AEtat 43.]

He deposited the remains of Mrs. Johnson in the church of Bromley, in
Kent[708], to which he was probably led by the residence of his friend
Hawkesworth at that place. The funeral sermon which he composed for her,
which was never preached, but having been given to Dr. Taylor, has been
published since his death[709], is a performance of uncommon excellence,
and full of rational and pious comfort to such as are depressed by that
severe affliction which Johnson felt when he wrote it. When it is
considered that it was written in such an agitation of mind, and in the
short interval between her death and burial, it cannot be read without
wonder[710].

From Mr. Francis Barber I have had the following authentick and artless
account of the situation in which he found him recently after his wife's
death:

[Page 242: Johnson's friends in 1752.]

He was in great affliction. Mrs. Williams was then living in his house,
which was in Gough-square. He was busy with the Dictionary. Mr. Shiels,
and some others of the gentlemen who had formerly written for him, used
to come about him. He had then little for himself, but frequently sent
money to Mr. Shiels when in distress[711]. The friends who visited him at
that time, were chiefly Dr. Bathurst[712], and Mr. Diamond, an apothecary
in Cork-street, Burlington-gardens, with whom he and Mrs. Williams
generally dined every Sunday. There was a talk of his going to Iceland
with him, which would probably have happened had he lived. There were
also Mr. Cave, Dr. Hawkesworth, Mr. Ryland[713], merchant on Tower Hill,
Mrs. Masters, the poetess[714], who lived with Mr. Cave, Mrs. Carter, and
sometimes Mrs. Macaulay[715], also Mrs. Gardiner, wife of a
tallow-chandler on Snow-hill, not in the learned way, but a worthy good
woman[716]; Mr. (now Sir Joshua) Reynolds[717]; Mr. Millar, Mr. Dodsley,
Mr. Bouquet, Mr. Payne of Paternoster-row, booksellers; Mr. Strahan, the
printer; the Earl of Orrery[718], Lord Southwell[719], Mr. Garrick.

[Page 243: Robert Levet. AEtat 43.]

Many are, no doubt, omitted in this catalogue of his friends, and, in
particular, his humble friend Mr. Robert Levet, an obscure practiser in
physick amongst the lower people, his fees being sometimes very small
sums, sometimes whatever provisions his patients could afford him; but
of such extensive practice in that way, that Mrs. Williams has told me,
his walk was from Hounsditch to Marybone. It appears from Johnson's
diary that their acquaintance commenced about the year 1746; and such
was Johnson's predilection for him, and fanciful estimation of his
moderate abilities, that I have heard him say he should not be
satisfied, though attended by all the College of Physicians, unless he
had Mr. Levet with him. Ever since I was acquainted with Dr. Johnson,
and many years before, as I have been assured by those who knew him
earlier, Mr. Levet had an apartment in his house, or his chambers, and
waited upon him every morning, through the whole course of his late and
tedious breakfast. He was of a strange grotesque appearance, stiff and
formal in his manner, and seldom said a word while any company was
present[720].

[Page 244: Sir Joshua Reynolds. A.D. 1752.]

[Page 245: One of 'Dr. Johnson's school.' AEtat 43.]

The circle of his friends, indeed, at this time was extensive and
various, far beyond what has been generally imagined. To trace his
acquaintance with each particular person, if it could be done, would be
a task, of which the labour would not be repaid by the advantage. But
exceptions are to be made; one of which must be a friend so eminent as
Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was truly his _dulce decus_[721], and with whom
he maintained an uninterrupted intimacy to the last hour of his life.
When Johnson lived in Castle-street, Cavendish-square, he used
frequently to visit two ladies, who lived opposite to him, Miss
Cotterells, daughters of Admiral Cotterell. Reynolds used also to visit
there, and thus they met[722]. Mr. Reynolds, as I have observed above[723],
had, from the first reading of his _Life of Savage_, conceived a very
high admiration of Johnson's powers of writing. His conversation no less
delighted him; and he cultivated his acquaintance with the laudable zeal
of one who was ambitious of general improvement[724]. Sir Joshua, indeed,
was lucky enough at their very first meeting to make a remark, which was
so much above the common-place style of conversation, that Johnson at
once perceived that Reynolds had the habit of thinking for himself. The
ladies were regretting the death of a friend, to whom they owed great
obligations; upon which Reynolds observed, 'You have, however, the
comfort of being relieved from a burthen of gratitude[725].' They were
shocked a little at this alleviating suggestion, as too selfish; but
Johnson defended it in his clear and forcible manner, and was much
pleased with the _mind_, the fair view of human nature, which it
exhibited, like some of the reflections of Rochefaucault. The
consequence was, that he went home with Reynolds, and supped with him.

[Page 246: The Miss Cotterells. A.D. 1752.]

Sir Joshua told me a pleasant characteristical anecdote of Johnson about
the time of their first acquaintance. When they were one evening
together at the Miss Cotterells', the then Duchess of Argyle and another
lady of high rank came in. Johnson thinking that the Miss Cotterells
were too much engrossed by them, and that he and his friend were
neglected, as low company of whom they were somewhat ashamed, grew
angry; and resolving to shock their supposed pride, by making their
great visitors imagine that his friend and he were low indeed, he
addressed himself in a loud tone to Mr. Reynolds, saying, 'How much do
you think you and I could get in a week, if we were to _work as hard_ as
we could?'--as if they had been common mechanicks[726].

[Page 247: Bennet Langton. AEtat 43.]

His acquaintance with Bennet Langton, Esq. of Langton, in Lincolnshire,
another much valued friend, commenced soon after the conclusion of his
_Rambler_; which that gentleman, then a youth, had read with so much
admiration, that he came to London chiefly with the view of endeavouring
to be introduced to its authour[727]. By a fortunate chance he happened to
take lodgings in a house where Mr. Levet frequently visited; and having
mentioned his wish to his landlady, she introduced him to Mr. Levet, who
readily obtained Johnson's permission to bring Mr. Langton to him[728];
as, indeed, Johnson, during the whole course of his life, had no
shyness, real or affected, but was easy of access to all who were
properly recommended, and even wished to see numbers at his _levee_[729],
as his morning circle of company might, with strict propriety, be
called. Mr. Langton was exceedingly surprised when the sage first
appeared. He had not received the smallest intimation of his figure,
dress, or manner. From perusing his writings, he fancied he should see a
decent, well-drest, in short, a remarkably decorous philosopher. Instead
of which, down from his bedchamber, about noon, came, as newly risen, a
huge uncouth figure, with a little dark wig which scarcely covered his
head, and his clothes hanging loose about him. But his conversation was
so rich, so animated, and so forcible, and his religious and political
notions so congenial with those in which Langton had been educated, that
he conceived for him that veneration and attachment which he ever
preserved. Johnson was not the less ready to love Mr. Langton, for his
being of a very ancient family; for I have heard him say, with pleasure,
'Langton, Sir, has a grant of free warren from Henry the Second; and
Cardinal Stephen Langton, in King John's reign, was of this family[730].'