In 1756, he became a reviewer in the Literary Magazine; but this employment engrossed but little of his time. He resigned himself to indolence, took no exercise, rose about two, and then received the visits of his friends: till four or five in the evening he presided at his tea-table. Tea was his favourite beverage......In this year the proposal for a new edition of Shakspeare was resumed; and in April, 1758, he began the Idler. In 1759, he published the Prince of Abyssinia. Johnson wanted to go to Litchfield, to pay the last offices of filial duty to his mother, who, at the age of ninety, was then near her dissolution; but money was necessary.... Mr. Johnston the bookseller gave 1001. for the copy. With this supply Johnson set out; but did not arrive in time to close the eyes of a parent whom he loved.

He now found it necessary to retrench his expences. He first retired to Gray's-Inn, and then to Inner Temple-lane, where he lived in poverty, total idleness, and the pride of literature. Halcyon days, however, were now to open upon him. In May, 1762, his majesty, to reward literary merit, granted him a pension of 3001. a year. Being thus possessed of a regular income, he left the Temple, and once more became master of a house in Johnson's court, Fleet-street. To enlarge his circle, het had again recourse to a weekly literary club. The members were, Mr. Edm. Burke, Sir J. Reynolds, &c. Enjoying his amusements in this society, and happy in a state of independence, Johnson gained in 1765, another resource, which contributed more than any thing else to exempt him from the solicitudes of life....he was introduced to the late Mr. Thrale and his family.

In October, 1765, Shakspeare was published, and shortly after, the University of Dublin created Johnson a doctor of laws: Oxford in eight or ten years followed the example; and till then he never assumed the title of Doctor. In 1766, his constitution seemed to be in a rapid decline, and that morbid melancholy which often clouded his understanding, came upon him with a deeper gloom than ever. Mr. and Mrs. Thrale paid him a visit in this situation, and found him on his knees, with Dr. 'Delap, beseeching God to continue to him the use of his understanding. Mr. Thrale took him to his house at Streatham: and Johnson from that time became a constant resident in the family.

In 1770, he published the False Alarm; and in 1771, Falkland Islands. In August 1773, he set out on a journey to Scotland, in company with Mr. Boswell, and returned to London about November. In 1774 was published the Patriot; and in 1775, Taxation no Tyranny, and the Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland......The first publication of the Lives of the Poets was in 1779; and the whole was completed in 1781.

We now take leave of Dr. Johnson as an author. From the close of his last work, the malady which persecuted him through life, came upon him with alarming severity, and his constitution declined apace. In June, 1783, he had a paralytic stroke, which affected his speech only. The contemplation of his approaching end was constantly before his eyes; and the prospect of death, he declared, was terrible. In November, 1783, he was swelled from head to foot with a dropsy; but being eased of this complaint, he began to entertain hopes that his constitution was not entirely broken. About Midsum

mer, 1784, with some appearance of health, he went into Derbyshire. In his absence his friends thought a warmer air might prolong his life; but a pension of 3001. a year, was a fund too slender for a travelling valetudinarian. The patronage of the chancellor [Lord Thurlow] was solicited; he undertook to recommend Johnson's case, but without success; he offered to advance 500l. from his own purse : Dr. Brockelsby also offered an annuity of 1001; but both these generous proposals Dr. Johnson declined. He returned to London in November, labouring with the dropsy and an asthma.

The history of a death-bed is painful. The strength of religion prevailed against the infirmity of nature and his foreboding dread of the divine justice subsided into a pious trust and humble hope of mercy at the throne of grace. He expired without a groan, at seven in the evening of Monday, Dec. 13, 1784. On the 20th of the same month his remains were buried in Westminster-Abbey, near the foot of Shakspeare's monument, and near the grave of Garrick. A black marble over his grave, has the following inscription: "Samuel Johnson, "L.L.D. obiit 13 die Decembris, Anno Domini, "1784, ætatis suæ 75."

Dr. Johnson's person was large and unwieldy.... His nerves were affected by the scrophula. His head shook, and involuntary motions made it uncertain that his legs and arms would, even at a teatable, remain in their proper place. The exteriors of politeness did not belong to Johnson. His morbid melancholy had an effect on his temper; his passions were irritable; and the pride of science, as well as of a fierce independent spirit, inflamed him on some occasions above all bounds of moder

ation. Though not in the "shade of academic "bowers," he led a scholastic life: and the habit of pronouncing decisions to his friends and visitors, gave him a dictatorial manner, which was much enforced by a voice naturally loud, and often overstretched. Metaphysical anecdotes of literature, were his favourite topics. General history had little of his regard. Biography was his delight. "The proper study of mankind is man." "Sooner than hear of the Punic war, he would be rude to the per◄ son who introduced the subject. Chymistry was part of his amusement.

Johnson was born a logician. In consequence of his skill in that art, he loved argumentation. No man thought more profoundly, nor with such acute discernment. A fallacy could not stand before him; it was sure to be refuted by strength of reasoning, and a precision both in idea and expression, almost unequalled. He was surprised to be told, but it was certainly true, that, with great powers of mind, wit and humour were his shining talents. Notwithstanding his piety, self-government, or the command of his passions in conversation, does not seem to have been one of his attainments. For his intolerant and overbearing spirit he apologized, by observing, that it had done some good: obscenity and impiety were repressed in his company. In the society at Mr. Thrale's he began to wear off the rugged points of his own character. He saw the advantages of mutual civility, and endeavoured to profit by the models before him. He felt not only kindness, but zeal and ardour for his friends. His piety was fervid, but in some instances bordered on superstition. His benevolence embraced the whole race of man, and yet was tinctured with particular

VOL. I.

14

LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON.

prejudices. He was pleased with the minister in the Isle of Sky, and loved him so much, that he began to wish him not a Presbyterian. To that body of dissenters, his zeal for the established church made him in some degree an adversary.... and his attachment to a mixed and limited monarchy led him to declare open war against what he called a sullen republican. He would rather praise a man of Oxford than of Cambridge. He disliked a whig, and loved a tory. These were the shades of his character, which it has been the business of certain party-writers to represent in the darkest colours. His humanity and generosity, in proportion to his slender income, were unbounded. It has been truly said, that the lame, the blind, and the sorrowful, found in his house a sure retreat.... A strict adherence to truth he considered as a sacred obligation, insomuch, that, in relating the most minute anecdote, he would not allow himself the smallest addition to embellish his story. The late Mr. Tyers, who knew Dr. Johnson intimately, observed, "that he always talked as if he was talk"ing upon oath."

Dr. Johnson's failings may well be forgiven for the sake of his virtues....his defects were spots in the sun.... His piety, his kind affections, and the goodness of his heart, present an example worthy of imitation....His works will remain a monument of genius and of learning: and by a diligent attention to them, all may advance in virtue.