Life of Johnson Volume IV Part 79

[1255] _British Synonymy_, i. 359. Mrs. Piozzi, to add to the wonder, says that these verses were 'improviso,' forgetting that Johnson wrote to her on Aug 8, 1780 (_Piozzi Letters_, ii. 175):--'You have heard in the papers how --- is come to age. I have enclosed a short song of congratulation which you must not shew to anybody. 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.' That it was Sir John Lade who had come of age is shewn by the entry of his birth, Aug. 1, 1759, in the _Gent. Mag._ 1759, p. 392. He was the nephew and ward of Mr. Thrale, who seemed to think that Miss Burney would make him a good wife. (Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, i. 79.) According to Mr.

Hayward (_Life of Piozzi_, i. 69) it was Lade who having asked Johnson whether he advised him to marry, received as answer: 'I would advise no man to marry, Sir, who is not likely to propagate understanding.' See _ante_, ii. 109, note 2. Mr. Hayward adds that 'he married a woman of the town, became a celebrated member of the Four-in-Hand Club, and contrived to waste the whole of a fine fortune before he died.' In Campbell's _Chancellors_ (ed. 1846, v. 628) a story is told of Sir John Ladd, who is, I suppose, the same man. The Prince of Wales in 1805 asked Lord Thurlow to dinner, and also Ladd. 'When "the old Lion" arrived the Prince went into the ante-room to meet him, and apologised for the party being larger than he had intended, but added, "that Sir John was an old friend of his, and he could not avoid asking him to dinner," to which Thurlow, in his growling voice, answered, "I have no objection, Sir, to Sir John Ladd in his proper place, which I take to be your Royal Highness's coach-box, and not your table."'

[1256] _British Synonymy_ was published in 1794, later therefore than Boswell's first and second editions. In both these the latter half of this paragraph ran as follows:--"From the specimen which Mrs. Piozzi has exhibited of it (_Anecdotes_, p. 196) it is much to be wished that the world could see the whole. Indeed I can speak from my own knowledge; for having had the pleasure to read it, I found it to be 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. After describing the ridiculous and ruinous career of a wild spendthrift he _consoles_ him with this reflection:--

"You may hang or drown at last."'

[1257] Sir John.

[1258]'"Les morts n'ecrivent point," says Madame de Maintenon.' Hannah More's _Memoirs_, i. 233. The note that Johnson received 'was,' says Mr.

Hoole, 'from Mr. Davies, the bookseller, and mentioned a present of some pork; upon which the Doctor said, in a manner that seemed as if he thought it ill-timed, "too much of this," or some such expression.'

Croker's _Boswell_, p. 844.

[1259] Sir Walter Scott says that 'Reynolds observed the charge given him by Johnson on his death-bed not to use his pencil of a Sunday for a considerable time, but afterwards broke it, being persuaded by some person who was impatient for a sitting that the Doctor had no t.i.tle to exact such a promise.' Croker's _Corres_. ii. 34. 'Reynolds used to say that "the pupil in art who looks for the Sunday with pleasure as an idle day will never make a painter."' Northcote's _Reynolds_, i. 119. 'Dr.

Johnson,' said Lord Eldon, 'sent me a message on his death-bed, to request that I would attend public wors.h.i.+p every Sunday.' Twiss's _Eldon_, i. 168. The advice was not followed, for 'when a lawyer, a warm partisan of the Chancellor, called him one of the pillars of the Church; "No," said another lawyer, "he may be one of its b.u.t.tresses; but certainly not one of its pillars, for he is never found within it."'

_Ib_. iii. 488. Lord Campbell (_Lives of the Chancellors_, vii. 716) says:--Lord Eldon was never present at public wors.h.i.+p in London from one year's end to the other. Pleading in mitigation before Lord Ellenborough that he attended public wors.h.i.+p in the country, he received the rebuke, "as if there were no G.o.d in town.'"

[1260] Reynolds records:--'During his last illness, when all hope was at an end, he appeared to be quieter and more resigned. His approaching dissolution was always present to his mind. A few days before he died, Mr. Langton and myself only present, he said he had been a great sinner, but he hoped he had given no bad example to his friends; that he had some consolation in reflecting that he had never denied Christ, and repeated the text, "Whoever denies me, &c." [_St. Matthew_ x. 33.] We were both very ready to a.s.sure him that we were conscious that we were better and wiser from his life and conversation; and that so far from denying Christ, he had been, in this age, his greatest champion.'

Taylor's _Reynolds_, ii. 459.

[1261] Hannah More (_Memoirs_ i. 393) says that Johnson, having put up a fervent prayer that Brocklesby might become a sincere Christian, 'caught hold of his hand with great earnestness, and cried, "Doctor, you do not say _Amen_." The Doctor looked foolishly, but after a pause cried "_Amen_"' Her account, however, is often not accurate.

[1262] Windham records (_Diary_, p. 30) that on the night of the 12th he urged him to take some sustenance, 'and desisted only upon his exclaiming, "It is all very childish; let us hear no more of it."' On his pressing him a second time, he answered that 'he refused no sustenance but inebriating sustenance.' Windham thereupon asked him to take some milk, but 'he recurred to his general refusal, and begged that there might be an end of it. I then said that I hoped he would forgive my earnestness; when he replied eagerly, "that from me nothing would be necessary by way of apology;" adding with great fervour, in words which I shall (I hope) never forget--"G.o.d bless you, my dear Windham, through Jesus Christ;" and concluding with a wish that we might meet in some humble portion of that happiness which G.o.d might finally vouchsafe to repentant sinners. These were the last words I ever heard him speak. I hurried out of the room with tears in my eyes, and more affected than I had been on any former occasion.' It was at a later hour in this same night that Johnson 'scarified himself in three places. On Mr. Desmoulins making a difficulty of giving him the lancet he said, "Don't you, if you have any scruples; but I will compel Frank," and on Mr. Desmoulins attempting to prevent Frank from giving it to him, and at last to restrain his hands, he grew very outrageous, so much so as to call Frank "scoundrel" and to threaten Mr. Desmoulins that he would stab him.'

_Ib_. p. 32.

[1263] Mr. Strahan, mentioning 'the anxious fear', which seized Johnson, says, that 'his friends who knew his integrity observed it with equal astonishment and concern.' He adds that 'his foreboding dread of the Divine justice by degrees subsided into a pious trust and humble hope in the Divine mercy.' _Pr. and Med._ preface, p. xv.

[1264] 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 advised 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. See _ante_, i. 398.

[1265] The Reverend Mr. Strahan took care to have it preserved, and has inserted it in _Prayers and Meditations_, p. 216. BOSWELL.

[1266] See _ante_, iii. 433.

[1267] The counterpart of Johnson's end and of one striking part of his character may be found in Mr. Fearing in _The Pilgrim's Progress_, part ii. '"Mr. Fearing was," said Honesty, "a very zealous man. Difficulty, lions, or Vanity Fair he feared not at all; it was only sin, death, and h.e.l.l that were to him a terror, because he had some doubts about his interest in that celestial country." "I dare believe," Greatheart replied, "that, as the proverb is, he could have bit a firebrand, had it stood in his way; but the things with which he was oppressed no man ever yet could shake off with ease."' See _ante_, ii. 298, note 4.

[1268] Her sister's likeness as Hope nursing Love was painted by Reynolds. Northcote's _Reynolds_, i. 185.

[1269] The following letter, written with an agitated hand, from the very chamber of death, by Mr. Langton, and obviously interrupted by his feelings, will not unaptly close the story of so long a friends.h.i.+p. The letter is not addressed, but Mr. Langton's family believe it was intended for Mr. Boswell.

'MY DEAR SIR,--After many conflicting hopes and fears respecting the event of this heavy return of illness which has a.s.sailed our honoured friend, Dr. Johnson, since his arrival from Lichfield, about four days ago the appearances grew more and more awful, and this afternoon at eight o'clock, when I arrived at his house to see how he should be going on, I was acquainted at the door, that about three quarters of an hour before, he breathed his last. I am now writing in the room where his venerable remains exhibit a spectacle, the interesting solemnity of which, difficult as it would be in any sort to find terms to express, so to you, my dear Sir, whose own sensations will paint it so strongly, it would be of all men the most superfluous to attempt to--.'--CROKER.

The interruption of the note was perhaps due to a discovery made by Langton. Hawkins says, 'at eleven, the evening of Johnson's death, Mr.

Langton came to me, and in an agony of mind gave me to understand that our friend had wounded himself in several parts of the body.' Hawkins's _Life_, p. 590. To the dying man, 'on the last day of his existence on this side the grave the desire of life,' to use Murphy's words (_Life_, p. 135), 'had returned with all its former vehemence.' In the hope of drawing off the dropsical water he gave himself these wounds (see _ante_, p. 399). He lost a good deal of blood, and no doubt hastened his end. Langton must have suspected that Johnson intentionally shortened his life.

[1270] Servant to the Right Honourable William Windham. BOSWELL.

[1271] Sir Joshua Reynolds and Paoli were among the mourners. Among the Nichols papers in the British Museum is preserved an invitation card to the funeral.

[1272] Dr. Burney wrote to the Rev. T. Twining on Christmas Day, 1784:--'The Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey lay all the blame on Sir John Hawkins for suffering Johnson to be so unworthily interred. The Knight's first inquiry at the Abbey in giving orders, as the most acting executor, was--"What would be the difference in the expense between a public and private funeral?" and was told only a few pounds to the prebendaries, and about ninety pairs of gloves to the choir and attendants; and he then determined that, "as Dr. Johnson had no music in him, he should choose the cheapest manner of interment." And for this reason there was no organ heard, or burial service sung; for which he suffers the Dean and Chapter to be abused in all the newspapers, and joins in their abuse when the subject is mentioned in conversation.'

Burney mentions a report that Hawkins had been slandering Johnson.

_Recreations and Studies of a Country Clergyman of the XVIII Century_, p. 129. Dr. Charles Burney, jun., had written the day after the funeral:--'The executor, Sir John Hawkins, did not manage things well, for there was no anthem or choir service performed--no lesson--but merely what is read over every old woman that is buried by the parish.

Dr. Taylor read the service but so-so.' Johnstone's _Parr_, i. 535.

[1273] Pope's _Essay on Man_, iv. 390. See _ante_, iii. 6, and iv. 122.

[1274] 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.' _Nugoe Antiquoe_, vol. i. p. 136. There is one circ.u.mstance 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 b.u.t.ton he will give the venew, or like a cunning chess-player that will appoint aforehand with which p.a.w.n and in what place he will give the mate.' _Ibid_. BOSWELL.

[1275] The late Right Hon. William Gerard Hamilton. MALONE.

[1276] 'His death,' writes Hannah More (_Memoirs_, i. 394), 'makes a kind of era in literature.' 'One who had long known him said of him:--'In general you may tell what the man to whom you are speaking will say next. This you can never do of Johnson.' Johnson's _Works_ (1787), xi. 211.

[1277] Beside the Dedications to him by Dr. Goldsmith [_ante_, ii. 216], the Reverend Dr. Francklin [_ante_, iv. 34], and the Reverend Mr. Wilson [_ante_, iv. 162], 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 [_ante_, iv. 206], 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 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 [H-1].'

As no inconsiderable circ.u.mstance 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. Humphry executed a beautiful miniature in enamel; one by Mrs. Frances Reynolds, Sir Joshua's sister; one by Mr. Zoffani; and one by Mr. Opie [H-2]; and the following engravings of his portrait: 1. One by Cooke, from Sir Joshua, for the Proprietors' 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 Nollekens' 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 Joshua, by Doughty [H-3].--l2. 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 [H-4]. 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 _Essay on Physiognomy_, in which Johnson's countenance is a.n.a.lysed 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 pa.s.s current as half-pence there, and in the neighbouring parts of the country. BOSWELL. [Note: See Appendix H for notes on this footnote.]

[1278] It is not yet published.--In a letter to me, Mr. Agutter says, 'My sermon before the University was more engaged with Dr. Johnson's _moral_ than his _intellectual_ character. It particularly examined his fear of death, and suggested several reasons for the apprehension of the good, and the indifference of the infidel in their last hours; this was ill.u.s.trated by contrasting the death of Dr. Johnson and Mr. Hume: the text was Job xxi. 22-26.' BOSWELL. It was preached on July 23, 1786, and not at Johnson's death. It is ent.i.tled _On the Difference between the Deaths of the Righteous and the Wicked. Ill.u.s.trated in the Instance of Dr. Samuel Johnson and David Hume, Esq._ The text is from Job xxi. 23 (not 22)-26. It was published in 1800. Neither Johnson nor Hume is mentioned in the sermon itself by name. Its chief, perhaps its sole, merit is its brevity.

[1279] See _ante_, ii. 335, and iii. 375.

[1280] 'May 26, 1791. After the Doctor's death, Burke, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Boswell sent an ambling circular-letter to me begging subscriptions for a monument for him. I would not deign to write an answer; but sent down word by my footman, as I would have done to parish officers, with a brief, that I would not subscribe.' Horace Walpole's _Letters_, ix. 319. In Malone's correspondence are complaints of the backwardness of the members of the Literary Club 'to pay the amounts nominally subscribed by them.' Prior's _Goldsmith_, ii. 226.

[1281] It was, says Malone, owing to Reynolds that the monument was erected in St. Paul's. In his _Journey to Flanders_he had lamented that sculpture languished in England, and was almost confined to monuments to eminent men. But even in these it had not fair play, for Westminster Abbey was so full, that the recent monuments appeared ridiculous being stuck up in odd holes and corners. On the other hand St. Paul's looked forlorn and desolate. Here monuments should be erected, under the direction of the Royal Academy. He took advantage of Johnson's death to make a beginning with the plan which he had here sketched, and induced his friends to give up their intention of setting up the monument in the Abbey. Reynolds's _Works_, ed. 1824, ii. 248. 'He asked Dr. Parr--but in vain--to include in the epitaph Johnson's t.i.tle of Professor of Ancient Literature to the Royal Academy; as it was on this pretext that he persuaded the Academicians to subscribe a hundred guineas.' Johnstone's _Parr_, iv. 686. See _ante_, ii. 239, where the question was raised whose monument should be first erected in St. Paul's, and Johnson proposed Milton's.

[1282] The Reverend 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 his 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, has since the death of our authour been placed in St. Paul's Cathedral. The Epitaph was written by the Rev. Dr.

Parr, and is as follows:

SAMVELI IOHNSON GRAMMATICO ET CRITICO SCRIPTORVM ANGLICORVM LITTERATE PERITO POETAE LVMINIBVS SENTENTIARVM ET PONDERIBVS VERBORVM ADMIRABILI MAGISTRO VIRTVTIS GRAVISSIMO HOMINI OPTIMO ET SINGVLARIS EXEMPLI QVI VIXIT ANN LXXV MENS IL. DIEB XIII DECESSIT IDIB DECEMBR ANN CHRIST cIo Iocc Lx.x.xIIII SEPVLT IN AED SANCT PETR WESTMONASTERIENS XIII KAL IANVAR ANN CHRIST cIo Iocc Lx.x.xV AMICI ET SODALES LITTERARII PECVNIA CONLATA H M FACIVND CVRAVER.

On a scroll in his hand are the following words: [Greek: ENMAKARESSIPONONANTAXIOSEIHAMOIBH].

On one side of the Monument--- FACIEBAT JOHANNES BACON SCVLPTOR ANN.

CHRIST. M.DCC.-Lx.x.xXV.

The Subscription for this monument, which cost eleven hundred guineas, was begun by the LITERARY CLUB. MALONE. See Appendix I.

[1283] '"Laetus sum laudari me," inquit Hector, opinor apud Naevium, "abs te, pater, a laudato viro."' Cicero, _Ep. ad Fam_. xv. 6.

[1284] To prevent any misconception on this subject, Mr. Malone, by whom these lines were obligingly communicated, requests me to add the following remark:--