black seal, my mind foreboded what had happened. I made an attempt to read it to my wife and daughters; but it would not do I got no further than the first sentence; burst into a flood of tears, and was obliged to retreat into the solitude of my study, unfit for any thing, but to think on what had happened; then to fall upon my knees, and pray, that GOD would pour down his choicest blessings on the children of my departed friend, and, as their father and their mother had forsaken them," that HE would take them up," and support them in time and eternity.

You ask comfort of me: but your truly excellent letter has suggested comfort to me, from all the proper topics and I can only reflect it back to you. All things consi dered, the circumstance which first marked the disorder may be termed a gracious dispensation. It at once ren dered the event, one may say, desirable, which other wise carried, in the face of it, so much terror and sorrow. Nothing else in the world could so soon, and so effectually, have blunted the edge of the approaching calamity, and reconciled to it minds full of the tenderest love and affection. To complete the only consolation that remained, which we all know to be the fact, Mr.

stood always so prepared, so firm in his faith, so constant in his Christian practice of every duty, that he could not be taken by surprise, or off his guard: the stroke must be to himself a blessing, whenever, or however, it came. His death was his birthday; and, like the primitive Christians, we should keep it as such, as à day of joy and triumph. Bury his body; but embalm his example, and let it diffuse its fragrance among you from generation to generation. Call him blessed, and 1 endeavour to be like him; like him, in piety, in charity,

in friendship, in courteousness, in temper, in conduct, in word, and in deed. His virtues compose a little volume, which your brother should carry in his bosom; and he will need no other, if that be well studied, to make him the gentleman and the Christian. You, my dear madam, will, I am sure, go on with diligence to finish the fair transcript you have begun.

Do not apologize for writing; but let me hear what you do, and what plan of life your brother thinks of pursuing. With kindest compliments from the sympathizing folks here, believe me ever, my dear madam,

Your faithful friend and servant,

George Horne.

CHAPTER XII.

LETTERS OF DR. JOHNSON.

Dear sir,

LETTER I.

To Mr. Elphinston.

September 25, 1750.

You have, as I find by every kind of evidence, lost an excellent mother; and I hope you will not think me incapable of partaking of your grief. I have a mother now eighty two years of age; whom, therefore, I must soon lose, unless it please God that she rather should mourn for me. I read the letters in which you relate your mother's death to Mrs. Strahan; and think I do myself honour when I tell you that I read them with tears: but tears are neither to you nor to me of any farther use, when the tribute of nature has been paid. The business of life summons us away from uséless grief, and calls us to the exercise of those virtues of which we are lamenting our deprivation. The greatest benefit which one friend can confer upon another, is to guard, and excite, and elevate his virtues. This, your mother will still perform, if you diligently preserve the memory of her life, and of her death: a life, so far as I can learn, useful and wise; and a death resigned, peaceful, and holy. I cannot forbear to mention, that neither reason nor revelation denies you to hope, that you may increase her happiness by obeying her precepts; and that she may, in her present state, look with pleasure

upon every act of virtue to which her instructions or example have contributed. Whether this is more than a pleasing dream, or a just opinion of separate spirits, is, indeed, of no great importance to us, when we consider ourselves as acting under the eye of God: yet surely there is something pleasing in the belief, that our separation from those whom we love is merely corporeal.

There is one expedient, by which you may, in some degree, continue your mother's presence. If you write down minutely what you remember of her from your earliest years, you will read it with great pleasure, and receive from it. many hints of soothing recollection, when time shall remove her yet farther from you, and your grief shall be matured to veneration. To this, however painful for the present, I cannot but advise you, as to a source of comfort and satisfaction in the time to come: for all comfort and all satisfaction are sincerely wished you by, dear sir,

Your most obliged,

And most obedient servant,

Samuel Johnson.

LETTER II.

To Bennet Langton, esq.`

May 6, 1755,

Sir,

It has been long, observed, that men do not suspect faults which they do not commit: your own ele gance of manners, and punctuality of complaisance, did not suffer you to impute to me that negligence of which I was guilty, and which I have not since atoned. I received both your letters: and I received them with pleasure proportionate to the esteem which so short an

acquaintance strongly impressed; and which I hope to confirm by nearer knowledge, though I am afraid that gratification will be for a time withheld.

I have, indeed, published my book*, of which I beg to know your father's judgment, and yours; and I have now staid long enough to watch its progress into the world. It has, you see, no patrons; and, I think, it has yet had no opponents, except the critics of the coffeehouse, whose outcries are soon dispersed into the air, and are thought on no more: from this, therefore, I am at liberty, and I think of taking the opportunity to make an excursion; and why not then into Lincolnshire? or, to mention a stronger attraction, why not to dear Mr. Langton? I will give the true reason, which I know you will approve :-I have a mother more than eighty years old, who has counted the days to the publication of my book, in hopes of seeing me; and to her, if I can disengage myself here, I resolve to go.

it

As I know, dear sir, that to delay my visit for a reason like this, will not deprive me of your esteem, I beg may not lessen your kindness. I have very seldom received an offer of friendship which I so earnestly desire to cultivate and mature. I shall rejoice to hear from you, till I can see you, and I will see you as soon as I can; for when the duty that calls me to Lichfield, is discharged, my inclination will carry me to Langton. I shall delight to hear the ocean roar, or see the stars twinkle, in the company of men to whom Nature does not spread her volumes, or utter her voice, in vain.

Do not, dear sir, make the slowness of this letter a precedent for delay, or imagine that I approved the in

His Dictionary.