to be learnt, he used to mention his own comparative acquisitions. When Mr. Cumberland' talked to him of the Greek fragments which are so well illustrated in "The Observer," and of the Greek dramatists in general, he candidly acknowledged his insufficiency in that particular branch of Greek literature. Yet it may be said, that though not a great, he was a good Greek scholar. Dr. Charles Burney, the younger, who is universally acknowledged by the best judges to be one of the few men of this age who are very eminent for their skill in that noble language, has assured me, that Johnson could give a Greek word for almost every English one; and that, although not sufficiently conversant in the niceties of the language, he, upon some occasions, discovered, even in these, a considerable degree of critical acumen. Mr. Dalzel, professor of Greek at Edinburgh, whose skill is unquestionable, mentioned to me, in very liberal terms, the impression which was made upon him by Johnson, in a conversation which they had in London concerning that language. As Johnson, therefore, was undoubtedly one of the first Latin scholars in modern times, let us not deny to his fame some additional splendour from Greek.2

I shall now fulfil my promise of exhibiting specimens of various sorts of imitation of Johnson's style.

In the "Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, 1787," there is an "Essay on the Style of Dr. Samuel Johnson," by the Reverend Robert Burrowes, whose respect for the great object of his criticism3 is thus evinced in the concluding paragraph: "I have singled him out from the whole body of English writers, because his universally-acknowledged beauties would be most apt to induce imitation: and I have treated rather on his faults, than his perfections, because an essay might comprise all the observations I could make upon his faults, while volumes would not be sufficient for a treatise on his perfections."

Mr. Burrowes has analysed the composition of Johnson, and pointed out its peculiarities with much acuteness; and I would recommend a careful perusal of his Essay to those who being captivated by the union of perspicuity and splendour which the writings of Johnson contain, without having a sufficient portion of his vigour of mind, may be in danger of becoming bad copyists of his manner. I, however, cannot but observe, and I observe it to his credit, that this learned gentleman has himself caught no mean degree of the expansion and harmony which, independent of all other circumstances, characThus, in the terise the sentences of Johnson. preface to the volume in which the Essay appears, we find,

"If it be said, that in societies of this sort too much attention is frequently bestowed on subjects barren and speculative, it may be answered, that no one science is so little connected with the rest as not to afford many principles whose use may extend considerably beyond the science to which they primarily belong, and that no proposition is so purely theoretical as to be totally incapable of being applied to practical purposes. There is no

apparent connection between duration and the cycloidal arch, the properties of which duly attended to have furnished us with our best regulated methods of measuring time: and he

who had made himself master of the nature and affections of the logarithmic curve is not aware that he has advanced considerably towards ascertaining the proportionable density of the air at its various distances from the surface of the earth."

The ludicrous imitators of Johnson's style are innumerable. Their general method is to accumulate hard words, without considering, that, although he was fond of introducing them occasionally, there is not a single sentence in all his writings where they are crowded together, as in the first verse of the following imaginary Ode by him to Mrs. Thrale, which appeared in the newspapers:

Greek! Oh no! he knows nothing of Greek!" with a loud burst of laughter. It has been said that Dr. Johnson never exerted such steady application as he did for the last ten years of his life in the study of Greek; but frequent passages in his diary and letters contradict this statement. -CROKER.

3 We must smile at a little inaccuracy of metaphor in the preface to the Transactions, which is written by Mr. Burrowes. The critic of the style of Johnson having, with a just zeal for literature, observed, that the whole nation are called on to exert themselves, afterwards says, "They are called on by every tye which can have laudable influence on the heart of man." BoS WELL. See antè, p. 69. n. 1.- CROKER.

4 Johnson's wishing to unite himself with this rich widow was much talked of, but I believe without foundation. The report, however, gave occasion to a poem, not without characteristical merit, entitled "Ode to Mrs. Thrale, by Samuel Johnson, LL.D., on their supposed approaching Nuptials:' printed for Mr. Faulder in Bond Street. I shall quote as a specimen the first three stanzas:

"If e'er my fingers touch'd the lyre,
In satire fierce, in pleasure gay,
Shall not my Thralia's smiles inspire?
Shall Sam refuse the sportive lay?
"My dearest lady! view your slave,

Behold him as your very Scrub;
Eager to write as author grave,
Ör govern well- the brewing-tub.

"Cervisial coctor's viduate dame,
Opins't thou this gigantic frame,
Procumbing at thy shrine,
Shall, catenated by thy charms,
A captive in thy ambient arms,
Perennially be thine?"

This and a thousand other such attempts are totally unlike the original, which the writers imagined they were turning into ridicule. There is not similarity enough for burlesque, or even for caricature.

Mr. Colman, in his "Prose on several Occasions," has "A Letter from Lexiphanes, containing proposals for a Glossary, or Vocabulary of the Vulgar Tongue; intended as a Supplement to a larger Dictionary." It is evidently meant as a sportive sally of ridicule on Johnson, whose style is thus imitated, without being grossly overcharged: —

"It is easy to foresee that the idle and illiterate will complain that I have increased their labours by endeavouring to diminish them; and that I have explained what is more easy by what is more difficult ignotum per ignotius. I expect, on the other hand, the liberal acknowledgments of the learned. He who is buried in scholastic retirement, secluded from the assemblies of the gay, and remote from the circles of the polite, will at once comprehend the definitions, and be grateful for such a seasonable and necessary elucidation of his mother-tongue."

Annexed to this letter is the following short specimen of the work, thrown together in a vague and desultory manner, not even adhering to alphabetical concatenation.

HIGGLEDY PIGGLEDY,-Conglomeration and

To rich felicity thus raised,

My bosom glows with amorous fire,
Porter no longer shall be praised;

'Tis I myself am Thrale's Entire." - BOSWELL.

Mrs. Carter, in one of her letters to Mrs. Montagu, says, "I once saw him (Dr. Johnson) very indigné when somebody jested about Mrs. Thrale's marrying himself. The choice would, no doubt, have been singular, but much less exceptionable than that which she has made." Letters, vol. iii. p. 221. Mr. Alexander Chalmers, who knew all the parties, says that the report was certainly unfounded. -CROKER,

that I might introduce quotations from a numerous body of writers in our language, since he appeared in the literary world. I shall point out the following:

WILLIAM ROBERTSON, D.D.

state, appears as lord of the creation, giving law to various tribes of animals which he has tamed and | reduced to subjection. The Tartar follows his prey on the horse which he has reared, or tends his numerous herds which furnish him both with food and clothing; the Arab has rendered the camel docile, and avails himself of its persevering strength; the Laplander has formed the reindeer to be subservient to his will; and even the people of Kamschatka have trained their dogs to labour. This command over the inferior creatures is one of the noblest prerogatives of man, and among the greatest efforts of his wisdom and power. Without this, his dominion is incomplete. He is a monarch who has no subjects; a master without servants; and must perform every operation by the strength of his own arm.". History of America, vol. 4to, p. 332.

"In other parts of the globe, man, in his rudest

EDWARD GIBBON, ESQ.

"Of all our passions and appetites, the love of power is of the most imperious and unsociable nature, since the pride of one man requires the submission of the multitude. In the tumult of civil discord the laws of society lose their force, and their place is seldom supplied by those of humanity. The ardour of contention, the pride of victory, the despair of success, the memory past injuries, and the fear of future dangers, all contribute to inflame the mind, and to silence the voice of pity."- Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. i. chap. 4.

MISS BURNEY.

of

"My family, mistaking ambition for honour. and rank for dignity, have long planned a splendid connection for me, to which, though my invariable and their views immovably adhere. I am but too repugnance has stopped any advances, their wishes certain they will now listen to no other. I dread, therefore, to make a trial where I despair of success; I know not how to risk a prayer with those who may silence me by a command."Cecilia, book vii. chap. 1.

REVEREND MR. NARES

"In an enlightened and improving age, much perhaps is not to be apprehended from the inroads

1 On the original publication of Mr. Boswell's own wark the press teemed with parodies, or imitations of his style of reporting Dr. Johnson's conversation: but they are now a deservedly forgotten, except one by Mr. Alexander Chaimers, which is executed with so much liveliness and patte santry, and is, in fact, so just a criticism on the lighter port: 13 of this work, that the reader will be, I believe, much pleased to find it preserved. See Appendix, “Lesson in Biography, 1 or, How to write the Life of one's Friend."— CROKER.

2 The passage which I quote is taken from that gentleman' "Elements of Orthoëpy; containing a distinct View of the whole Analogy of the English Language, so far as relates to Pronunciation, Accent, and Quantity," London, 1784. I beg

of mere caprice; at such a period it will generally be perceived that needless irregularity is the worst of all deformities, and that nothing is so truly elegant in language as the simplicity of unviolated analogy. Rules will, therefore, be observed, so far as they are known and acknowledged: but at the same time, the desire of improvement having been once excited will not remain inactive; and its efforts, unless assisted by knowledge as much as they are prompted by zeal, will not unfrequently be found pernicious; so that the very persons whose intention it is to perfect the instrument of reason will deprave and disorder it unknowingly. At such a time, then, it becomes peculiarly necessary that the analogy of language should be fully examined and understood; that its rules should be carefully laid down; and that it should be clearly known how much it contains which, being already right, should be defended from change and violation; how much it has that demands amendment; and how much that, for fear of greater inconveniences, must, perhaps, be left unaltered, though irregular."

"The effects of the return of spring have been frequently remarked, as well in relation to the human mind as to the animal and vegetable world. The reviving power of this season has been traced from the fields to the herds that inhabit them, and from the lower classes of beings up to man. Gladness and joy are described as prevailing through universal nature, animating the low of the cattle, the carol of the birds, and the pipe of the shepherd."

The Reverend Dr. Knox, master of Tunbridge school, appears to have the imitari aveo of Johnson's style perpetually in his mind; and to his assiduous, though not servile, study of it, we may partly ascribe the extensive popularity of his writings.

"The polish of external grace may indeed be When deferred till the approach of manhood. solidity is obtained by pursuing the modes prescribed by our forefathers, then may the file be used. The firm substance will bear attrition, and the lustre then acquired will be durable."

There is, however, one in No. 11. which is blown up into such tumidity as to be truly ludicrous. The writer means to tell us, that members of Parliament who have run in debt by extravagance will sell their votes to avoid an arrest3, which he thus expresses:

"They who build houses and collect costly pictures and furniture with the money of an honest artisan or mechanic will be very glad of emancipation from the hands of a bailiff by a sale of their senatorial suffrage."

But I think the most perfect imitation of Johnson is a professed one, entitled “A Criticism on Gray's Elegy in a Country Churchyard," said to be written by Mr. Young, professor of Greek, at Glasgow, and of which let him have the credit, unless a better title can be shown. It has not only the particularities of Johnson's style, but that very species of literary discussion and illustration for which he was eminent. Having already quoted so much from others, I shall refer the curious to this performance, with an assurance of much entertainment.4

Yet, whatever merit there may be in any imitations of Johnson's style, every good judge must see that they are obviously different from the original; for all of them are either deficient in its force, or overloaded with its peculiarities; and the powerful sentiment to which it is suited is not to be found.

Johnson's affection for his departed relations seemed to grow warmer as he approached nearer to the time when he might hope to see

leave to offer my particular acknowledgments to the author of a work of uncommon merit and great utility. I know no book which contains, in the same compass, more learning, polite literature, sound sense, accuracy of arrangement, and perspicuity of expression. - BOSWELL.

1 That collection was presented to Dr. Johnson, I believe, by its authors; and I heard him speak very well of it.— BOSWELL.

It were to be wished that he had imitated that great man in every respect, and had not followed the example of Dr. Adam Smith, in ungraciously attacking his venerable Alma Mater, Oxford. It must, however, be observed, that he is much less to blame than Smith: he only objects to certain particulars; Smith, to the whole institution; though indebted for much of his learning to an exhibition which he enjoyed for many years at Baliol College. Neither of them, however, will do any hurt to the noblest university in the world. While I animadvert on what appears to me exceptionable in some of the works of Dr. Knox, I cannot refuse due praise to others of his productions; particularly his sermons, and to the spirit with which he maintains, against presumptuous heretics, the consolatory doctrines peculiar to the Christian Revelation. This he has done in a manner equally strenuous and conciliating. Neither ought I to omit mentioning a remarkable instance of his candour. Notwithstanding the wide difference of our opinions upon the important subject of university education, in a letter to me concerning this work he thus expresses himself: “ I thank you for the very great enter.

tainment your Life of Johnson gives me. It is a most valuable work. Yours is a new species of biography. Happy for Johnson that he had so able a recorder of his wit and wisdom." BOSWELL.

3 Dr. Knox, in his "Moral and Literary" abstraction, may be excused for not knowing the political regulations of his country. No senator can be in the hands of a bailiff. BOSWELL. Their houses and goods might be seized under an execution. It was said, and I believe truly, that Sheridan once (or more than once) gave a dinner under those circumstances, and that the bailiffs waited at table. — CROKER, 1847.

4 It seems to me to be one of the most insipid and unmeaning volumes ever published. I cannot make out whether it was meant for jest or earnest; but it fails either way, for it has neither pleasantry nor sense. Johnson saw this work, and thus writes of it:-"Of the imitation of my style, in a criticism on Gray's Churchyard, I forgot to make mention. The author is, I believe, utterly unknown, for Mr. Steevens cannot hunt him out. I know little of it, for though it was sent me, I never cut the leaves open. I had a letter with it, representing it to me as my own work; in such an account to the public there may be humour, but to myself it was neither serious nor comical. I suspect the writer to be wrongheaded. As to the noise which it makes, I never heard it, and am inclined to believe that few attacks either of ridicule or invective make much noise but by the help of those that they provoke."- Letters, July 5. 1783.- CHOKER.

them again. It probably appeared to him that he should upbraid himself with unkind inattention, were he to leave the world without having paid a tribute of respect to their me mory.

DR. JOHNSON TO MR. GREEN,
Apothecary, at Lichfield.'

"December 2. 1784.

"DEAR SIR, I have enclosed the epitaph for my father, mother, and brother, to be all engraven on the large size, and laid in the middle aisle in St. Michael's church, which I request the clergyman and churchwardens to permit.

"The first care must be to find the exact place of interment, that the stone may protect the bodies. Then let the stone be deep, massy, and hard; and do not let the difference of ten pounds, or more, defeat our purpose.

"I have enclosed ten pounds, and Mrs. Porter will pay you ten more, which I gave her for the same purpose. What more is wanted shall be sent; and I beg that all possible haste may be made, for I wish to have it done while I am yet alive." Let me know, dear Sir, that you receive this. I am, &c., SAM. JOHNSON."

JOHNSON TO LUCY PORTER.

"December 2, 1784.

"DEAR MADAM, I am very ill, and desire your prayers. I have sent Mr. Green the epitaph, and a power to call on you for ten pounds.

"I laid this summer a stone over Tetty, in the chapel of Bromley in Kent. The inscription is in Latin [p. 78.], of which this is the English. (Here a translation.) That this is done, I thought it fit that you should know. What care will be taken of us, who can tell? May God pardon and bless us, for Jesus Christ's sake. I am, &c.,

CHAPTER LXXXII.

1784.

Last Illness, and Death. - His Will, Funeral, and Burial.

My readers are now, at last, to behold SAMUEL JOHNSON preparing himself for that doom, from which the most exalted powers afford no exemption to man. Death had always been to him an object of terror: so that, though by no means happy, he still clung to life with an eagerness at which many have wondered. At any time when he was ill, he was very much pleased to be told that he looked better. An ingenious member of the Eumelian Club' informs me, that upon one occasion, when he said to him that he saw health returning to his cheek, Johnson seized him by the hand and exclaimed, "Sir, you are one of the kindest friends I ever had."

His own statement of his views of futurity will appear truly rational; and may, perhaps, impress the unthinking with seriousness.

"You know," says he to Mrs. Thrale, *1 never thought confidence with respect to futurity any part of the character of a brave, a wise, or a good man. Bravery has no place where it can avail nothing; wisdom impresses strongly the consciousness of those faults, of which it is, perhaps, itself an aggravation; and goodness, always wishing to be better, and imputing every deficience to criminal negligence, and every fault to voluntary corruption, never dares to suppose the condition of forgiveness fulfilled, nor what is wanting in the crime supplied by penitence.

"This is the state of the best; but what must be the condition of him whose heart will not suffer him to rank himself among the best, or among the good? Such must be his dread of the approaching trial, as will leave him little attention to the opinion of those whom he is leaving for ever; and the serenity that is not felt, it can be no virtue to feign." His great fear of death, and the strange dark

3 This lady survived Dr. Johnson just thirteen months, She died at Lichfield, in her seventy-first year, January 13 1786, and bequeathed the principal part of her fortune to the Rev. Mr. Pearson, of Lichfield. - MALONE.

4 A club in London, founded by the learned and ingenious physician, Dr. Ash, in honour of whose name it was called Eumelian, from the Greek Evμthias: though it was warmly contended, and even put to a vote, that it should have the more obvious appellation of Frazincan, from the Latin.BOSWELL.

5 Mrs. Carter, in one of her letters to Mrs. Montagu. says, "I see by the papers that Dr. Johnson is dead. In extent of learning, and exquisite purity of moral writing, he has left no superior, and I fear very few equals. His virtues and his piety were founded on the steadiest of Christian principles and faith. His faults, I firmly believe, arose from the irritations of a most suffering state of nervous cat stitution, which scarcely ever allowed him a moment's ease."

To this passage the editor of Mrs. Carter's Letters subjoins the following note:

"Mrs. Carter told the editor, that in one of the last conversations which she had with this eminent moralist, she told him that she had never known him say any thing cla trary to the principles of the Christian religion. He sead her hand with great emotion, exclaiming, You know this, and bear witness to it when I am gone!"- Letters, vol. p. 234 CHALMERS. "You wonder," she says in another place," that an undoubted believer and a man of piety shid be afraid of death;' but it is such characters who have ever!

1

manner in which Sir John Hawkins' imparts the uneasiness which he expressed on account of offences with which he charged himself, may give occasion to injurious suspicions, as if there had been something of more than ordinary criminality weighing upon his conscience. On that account, therefore, as well as from the regard to truth which he inculcated, I am to mention (with all possible respect and delicacy, however), that his conduct, after he came to London, and had associated with Savage and others, was not so strictly virtuous, in one respect, as when he was a younger man. It was well known that his amorous inclinations were uncommonly strong and impetuous. He owned to many of his friends, that he used to take women of the town to taverns, and hear them relate their history. In short, it must not be concealed, that like many other good and pious men, among whom we may place the apostle Paul upon his own authority, Johnson was not free from propensities which were ever "warring against the law of his mind," and that in his combats with them, he was sometimes

Overcome.

Here let the profane and licentious pause; let them not thoughtlessly say that Johnson was an hypocrite, or that his principles were not firm, because his practice was not uniformly conformable to what he professed.

Let the question be considered independent of moral and religious associations; and no man will deny that thousands, in many instances, act against conviction. Is a prodigal, for example, an hypocrite, when he owns he is satisfied that his extravagance will bring him to ruin and misery? We are sure he believes it; but immediate inclination, strengthened by indulgence, prevails over that belief in influencing his conduct. Why then shall credit be refused to the sincerity of those who acknowledge their persuasion of moral and religious duty, yet sometimes fail of living as it requires? I heard Dr. Johnson once observe, "There is something noble in publishing truth, though it condemns one's self." And one who said in his presence, "he had no notion of people being in earnest in their good professions, whose practice was not suitable to them," was thus reprimanded by him:- "Sir, are you so grossly ignorant of human nature as not to know that a man may be very sincere in

the deepest sense of their imperfections and deviations from the rule of duty, of which the very best must be conscious; and such a temper of mind as is struck with awe and humility at the prospect of the last solemn sentence appears much better suited to the wretched deficiencies of the best human performances than the thoughtless security that rushes undisturbed into eternity."- Miss Carter's Life, vol. ii. p. 166. CROKER.

I must say, that I can see nothing more strange or dark in Hawkins's expressions than in some of Johnson's own; and nothing half so bad as the (I was about to say malignant) observations which Boswell proceeds to make. CHOKER.

See what he said to Mr. Malone, antè, p. 671.- Boswell. But surely Mr. Boswell might have been forgiven if he had not revived these stories, which, whether true or false originally, were near fifty years old. He had already said

good principles, without having good practice ?" [p. 390.]

But let no man encourage or soothe himself in " presumptuous sin," from knowing that Johnson was sometimes hurried into indulgences which he thought criminal. I have exhibited this circumstance as a shade in so great a character, both from my sacred love of truth, and to show that he was not so weakly scrupulous as he has been represented by those who imagine that the sins, of which a deep sense was upon his mind, were merely such little venial trifles as pouring milk into his tea on Good-Friday. His understanding will be defended by my statement, if his consistency of conduct be in some degree impaired. But what wise man would, for momentary gratifications, deliberately subject himself to suffer such uneasiness as we find was experienced by Johnson in reviewing his conduct as compared with his notion of the ethics of the Gospel? Let the following passages be kept in remembrance:

[1762.] O God, giver and preserver of all life, vidence I am sustained, look down upon me with by whose power I was created, and by whose protenderness and mercy; grant that I may not have been created to be finally destroyed; that I may not be preserved to add wickedness to wickedness." (Pr. and Med., p. 47.)

[1766.] "O Lord, let me not sink into total depravity; look down upon me, and rescue me at last from the captivity of sin." (p. 68.)

[1769.] "Almighty and most merciful Father, who hath continued my life from year to year, grant that by longer life I may becoine less desirous of sinful pleasures, and more careful of eternal happiness." (p. 84.)

increase my guilt; but as my age advances, let me [1773.] Let not my years be multiplied to become more pure in my thoughts, more regular in my desires, and more obedient to thy laws." (p. 120.)

66

[No date.] Forgive, O merciful Lord, whatever I have done contrary to thy laws. Give me such a sense of my wickedness as may produce true contrition and effectual repentance: so that when I shall be called into another state, I may be received among the sinners to whom sorrow and reformation have obtained pardon, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen." (p. 130.)

Such was the distress of mind, such the penitence of Johnson, in his hours of privacy, and

(ante, p. 50.) quite enough, and perhaps more than he was justified in saying on this topic. The reader will recollect that it has been shown (ante, p. 35. n. 5, and p. 49. n. 3) that the duration, and probably the intensity, of Dr. Johnson's intimacy with Savage have been greatly exaggerated, and so, no doubt, have been the supposed consequences of that intimacy. CROKER.

On

3 Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (ante, p. 335.). the same subject, in his letter to Mrs. Thrale, dated November 29. 1783, he makes the following just observation:" Life, to be worthy of a rational being, must be always in progression; we must always purpose to do more or better than in time past. The mind is enlarged and elevated by mere purposes, though they end as they began, by airy contemplation. We compare and judge, though we do not practise."

BOSWELL.