commentator, who lived about five hundred | to record, and Nathanael, who died in his years ago, explains that passage in the first twenty-fifth year.+ Palm. His leaf also shall not wither, from Rabbins yet older than himself, thus; That even the idle talk, so he expresses it, of a good man ought to be regarded; the most superfluous things he saith are always of some value. And other ancient authors have the same phrase, nearly in the same sense." Mr. Michael Johnson was a man of a large and robust body, and of a strong and active mind; yet, as in the most solid rocks veins of unsound substance are often discovered, there was in him a mixture of that disease, the nature of which eludes the most minute inquiry, though the effects are well known to be a weariness of life, an unconcern about those things which agitate the greater part of mankind, and a general sensation his son inherited, with some other qualities, "a vile melancholy," which in his too strong expression of any disturbance of the mind, Of one thing I am certain, that considering how highly the small portion which we have of the table-talk and other anecdotes of our celebrated writers is valued, and how earn-of gloomy wretchedness. From him, then, estly it is to be regretted that we have not more, I am justified in preserving rather too many of Johnson's sayings, than too few; especially as from the diversity of disposi-"made him mad all his life, at least not tions it cannot be known with certainty beforehand, whether what may seem trifling to some, and perhaps to the collector himself, may not be most agreeable to many; and the greater number that an author can please in any degree, the more pleasure does there arise to a benevolent mind. sober." Michael was, however, forced by the narrowness of his circumstances to be very diligent in business, not only in his shop, but by occasionally resorting to several towns in the neighbourhood, § some of which were at a considerable distance from Lichfield. At that time booksellers' shops, in the proTo those who are weak enough to think vincial towns of England, were very rare; this a degrading task, and the time and labour so that there was not one even in Birming which have been devoted to it misemployed, | ham, in which town old Mr. Johnson used I shall content myself with opposing the to open a shop every market-day. He was authority of the greatest man of any age, a pretty good Latin scholar, and a citizen so Julius Caesar, of whom Bacon observes, creditable as to be made one of the magis that "in his book of Apophthegms which he trates of Lichfield; and being a man of good collected, we see that he esteemed it more sense, and skill in his trade, he acquired a honour to make himself but a pair of tables, reasonable share of wealth, of which, how. to take the wise and pithy words of others. ever, he afterward lost the greatest part, by than to have every word of his own to be engaging unsuccessfully in a manufacture of made an apophthegm or an oracle." parchment. He was a zealous high-churchman and royalist, and retained his attachment to the unfortunate house of Stuart, though he reconciled himself, by casuistical argu ments of expediency and necessity, to take the oaths imposed by the prevailing power. Having said thus much by way of introduction, I commit the following pages to the candour of the public. There is a circumstance in his life somewhat romantic, but so well authenticated, that I shall not omit it. A young woman of Leek, in Staffordshire, while he served his apprenticeship there, conceived a violent passion for him; and though it met with no [Nathanael was born in 1712, and died in 1737. Their father, Michael Johnson, was born at Cubley in Derby shire, in 1656, and died at Lichfield in 1731, at the age of seventy-six. Sarah Ford, his wife, was born at King's Norton, (a) in the county of Warwick, in 1669, and died at Lichfield, in January 1759, in her ninetieth year. M.] SAMUEL JOHNSON was born at Lichfield, in Staffordshire, on the 18th of September, N.S. 1709; and his initiation into the Christian church was not delayed; for his baptism is recorded, in the register of St. Mary's parish in that city, to have been performed on the day of his birth: his father is there styled Gentleman, a circumstance of which an ignorant panegyrist has praised him for not being proud; when the truth is, that the appellation of Gentleman, though now lost in the indiscriminate assumption of Esquire, was commonly taken by those who could not Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3d. edit. p. 213 § Extract of a letter, dated "Trentham, St. Peter's boast of gentility. His father was Michael day, 1716," written by the Rev. George Plaxton, ChapJohnson, a native of Derbyshire, of obscure lain at that time to Lord Gower, which may serve to extraction, who settled in Lichfield as a shew the high estimation in which the father of our great moralist was held:-"Johnson, the Lichfield librarian, bookseller and stationer. His mother was is now here; he propagates learning all over this diocess. Sarah Ford, descended from an ancient race and advanceth knowledge to its just height; all the of substantial yeomanry in Warwickshire. clergy here are his pupils, and suck all they have from him; Allen cannot make a warrant without his precedent, They were well advanced in years when they nor our quondam John Evans draw a recognizance sine married, and never had more than two chil-directione Michaelis."-Gentleman's Magazine, October 1791. dren, both sous; Samuel, their first-born, who lived to be the illustrious character whose various excellence I am to endeavour Bacon's Advancement of Learning, Book 1. (a) King's Norton is here stated to be in Warwickshire, on the authority of Dr. Johnson (see his inscription for his mother's tomb) but it is in Worcestershire, probably on the confines of the county of Warwick. favourable return, followed him to Lichfield, where she took lodgings opposite to the house in which he lived, and indulged her hopeless flame. When he was informed that it so preyed upon her mind that her life was in danger, he with a generous humanity went to her and offered to marry her, but it was then too late: her vital power was exhausted; and she actually exhibited one of the very rare instances of dying for love. She was buried in the cathedral of Lichfield; and he, with a tender regard, placed a stone over her grave, with this inscription: Here lies the body of Mrs. ELIZABETH BLANEY, a stranger: . | might have been remarked from his infancy, by a diligent observer, there is no reason to doubt: for there is no instance of any man, whose history has been minutely related, that did not in every part of life discover the same proportion of intellectual vigour." In all such investigations it is certainly unwise to pay too much attention to incidents which the credulous relate with eager satisfaction, and the more scrupulous or witty inquirer considers only as topics of ridicule: yet there is a traditional story of the infant Hercules of toryism, so curiously characteristic, that I shall not withhold it. It was communicated to me in a letter from Miss Mary Adye, of Lichfield. "When Dr. Sacheverel was at Lichfield, Johnson was not quite three years old. My grandfather Hammond observed him at the cathedral perched upon his father's shoulders, listening and gaping at the much-celebrated preacher. Mr. Hammond asked Mr. Johnson how he could possibly think of bringing such an infant to church, and in the midst of so great a crowd. He answered, because it was impossible to keep him at home; for, young as he was, he believed he had caught the public spirit and zeal for Sacheverel, and Johnson's mother was a woman of distinguished understanding. I asked his old schoolfellow, Mr. Hector, surgeon, of Birmingham, if she was not vain of her son. He said, "she had too much good sense to be vain, but she knew her son's value." Her piety was not inferior to her understanding; and to her must be ascribed those early im pressions of religion upon the mind of her son, from which the world afterward derived so much benefit. He told me, that he remembered distinctly having had the first notice of Heaven," a place to which good people went," and Hell, "a place to which bad people went," communicated to him by her, when a little child in bed with her; and, jealous independence of spirit, and impetuthat it might be the better fixed in his me- osity of temper, which never forsook him. mory, she sent him to repeat it to Thomas The fact was acknowledged to me by himself, Jackson, their man-servant: he not being when the servant, who used to be sent to upon the authority of his mother. One day in the way, this was not done; but there was no occasion for any artificial aid for its pre-in time, he set out by himself, though he school to conduct him home, had not come servation. In following so very eminent a man from his cradle to his grave, every minute particular, which can throw light on the progress of his mind, is interesting. That he was remarkable, even in his earliest years, may easily be supposed; for, to use his own words in his Life of Sydenham, "That the strength of his understanding, the accuracy of his discernment, and the ardour of his curiosity, [It was not, however, much cultivated, as we may collect from Dr. Johnson's own account of his early years, published by R. Phillips, 8vo. 1805, a work undoubtedly authentic, and which, though short, is curious, and well worthy of perusal. "My father and mother (says Johnson) had not much happiness from each other. They seldom conversed; for my father could not bear to talk of his affairs; and my mother, being unacquainted with books, cared not to talk of any thing else. mother been more literate, they had been better companions. She might have sometimes introduced her unwelcome topic with more success, if she could have diversified her conversation. Of business she had no distinct conception; and therefore her discourse was composed only of complaint, fear, and suspicion. Neither of them ever tried to calculate the profits of trade, or the expenses of living. My mother concluded that we Had my were poor, because we lost by some of our trades; but the truth was, that my father, having in the early part of his life contracted debts, never had trade sufficient to enable him to pay them, and to maintain his family: he got something, but not enough. It was not till about 1768, that I thought to calculate the returns of my father's trade, and by that estimate his probable profits. This, I believe, my parents never did." M.] would have stayed for ever in the church, satisfied with beholding him." Nor can I omit a little instance of that was then so near-sighted, that he was obliged of the kennel, before he ventured to step over to stoop on his hands and knees to take a view it. His schoolmistress, afraid that he might miss his way or fall into the kennel, or be run over by a cart, followed him at some distance. He happened to turn about and perceive her. Feeling her careful attention as an insult to his manliness, he ran back to her in a rage, and beat her, as well as his strength would permit. Of the power of his memory, for which he was all his life eminent to a degree almost incredible, the following early instance was told me in his presence at Lichfield, in 1776, by his step-daughter, Mrs. Lucy Porter, as related to her by his mother. When he was a child in petticoats, and had learnt to read, Mrs. Johnson one morning put the Common Prayer Book into his hands, pointed to the collect for the day, and said, "Sam, you must get this by heart." She went up stairs leaving him to study it: but by the time she had reached the second floor, she heard him following her. "What's the matter?" said she. I can say it," he replied; and repeated it distinctly, though he could not have read it more than twice. 66 But there has been another story of his | I supposed him to be only near-sighted: and indeed I must observe, that in no other infant precocity generally circulated, and generally believed, the truth of which I am to refute upon his own authority. It is told, that, when a child of three years old, he chanced to tread upon a duckling, the eleventh of a brood, and killed it; upon which, it is said, he dictated to his mother the following epitaph: "Here lies good master duck, Whom Samuel Johnson trod on; There is surely internal evidence that this Young Johnson had the misfortune to be much afflicted with the scrofula, or king's evil, which disfigured a countenance naturally well formed, and hurt his visual nerves so much, that he did not see at all with one of his eyes, though its appearance was little different from that of the other. There is amongst his prayers one inscribed "When my EYE was restored to its use," which ascertains a defect that many of his friends knew he had, though I never perceived it.§ * Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson by Hester Lynch Piozzi, p. 11. Life of Dr. Johnson by Sir John Hawkins, p. 6. This anecdote of the duck, though disproved by internal and external evidence, has nevertheless, upon supposition of its truth, been made the foundation of the following ingenious and, fanciful reflections of Miss Seward, amongst the communications concerning Dr. Johnson with which she has been pleased to favour me: "These infant numbers contain the seeds of those propensities which, through his life, so strongly marked his character, of that poetic talent which afterwards bore such rich and plentiful fruits; for, excepting his orthographic works, every thing which Dr. Johnson wrote was poetry, whose essence consists, not in numbers, or in jingle, but in the strength and glow of a fancy, to which all the stores of nature and of art stand in prompt administration; and in an eloquence which conveys their blended illustrations in a language 'more tuneable than needs or rhyme or verse to add more harmony.' "The above little verses also shew that superstitious bias which grew with his growth, and strengthened with his strength,' and, of late years particularly, injured his happiness, by presenting to him the gloomy side of religion, rather than that bright and cheering one which gilds the period of closing life with the light of pious hope." This is so beautifully imagined, that I would not suppress it. But, like many other theories, it is deduced from a supposed fact, which is, indeed, a fiction. Prayers and Meditations, p. 27. [Speaking himself of the imperfection of one of his eyes, he said to Doctor Burney, "the dog was never good for much." B.] It has respect could I discern any defect in his [Such was the opinion of Dr. Swinfen. Johnson's eyes were very soon discovered to be bad, and to relieve them, an issue was cut in his left arm. At the end of ten weeks from his birth, he was taken home from his nurse, a poor diseased infant, almost blind." See a work, already quoted, entitled "An Account of the Life of Dr. Samuel Johnson, from his birth to his eleventh year; written by himself." 8vo. 1805. M] [He was only thirty months old, when he was taken to London to be touched for the evil. During this visit, he tells us, his mother purchased for him a small silver cup and spoon. "The cup," he affectingly adds, "was one of the last pieces of plate which dear Tetty sold in our distress. I have now the spoon. She bought at the same time two tea-spoons, and, till my manhood, she had no more." Ibid. M.] * Anecdotes, p. 10. He was first taught to read English by Dame Oliver, a widow, who kept a school for young children in Lichfield. He told me she could read the black letter, and asked him to borrow for her, from his father, a Bible in that character. When he was going to Oxford, she came to take leave of him, brought him, in the simplicity of her kindness, a present of gingerbread, and said he was the best scholar she ever had. He delighted in mentioning this early compliment adding, with a smile, that "this was as high a proof of his merit as he could conceive." His next instructor in English was a master, whom, when he spoke of him to me, he familiarly called Tom Brown, who, said he," published a spelling-book, and dedicated it to the UNIVERSE; but I fear no copy of it can now be had." Indeed, Johnson was very sensible how much he owed to Mr. Hunter. Mr. Langton one day asked him how he had acquired so accurate a knowledge of Latin, in which, I believe, he was exceeded by no man of his time; he said, "My master whipt me very well. Without that, Sir, I should have done nothing." He told Mr. Langton, that while Hunter was flogging his boys unmercifully, he used to say, "And this I do to save you from the gallows." Johnson, upon all occasions, expressed his approbation of enforcing instruction by means of the rod. "I would rather (said he) have the rod to be the general terror to all, to make them learn, than tell a child, if you do thus, or thus, you will be more esteemed than your brothers or sisters. The rod produces an effect which terminates in itself. A child is afraid of being whipped, and gets his task, and there's an end on't; whereas, by exciting emulation and comparisons of superiority, you lay the foundation of lasting mischief; you make brothers and sisters hate each other." When Johnson saw some young ladies in Lincolnshire who were remarkably well behaved, owing to their mother's strict discipline and severe correction, he exclaimed, in one of Shakspeare's lines, a little varied,t He began to learn Latin with Mr. Hawkins, usher, or under-master, of Lichfield school," a man (said he), very skilful in his little way." With him he continued two years, and then rose to be under the care of Mr. Hunter, the head-master, who, according to his account," was very severe, and wrong-headedly severe. He used (said he) to beat us unmercifully; and he did not distinguish between ignorance and negligence; for he would beat a boy equally for not knowing a thing, as for neglecting to "Rod, I will honour thee for this thy duty." know it. He would ask a boy a question, That superiority over his fellows, which and if he did not answer it, he would beat he maintained with so much dignity in his him, without considering whether he had march through life, was not assumed from an opportunity of knowing how to answer vanity and ostentation, but was the natural it. For instance, he would call up a boy and constant effect of those extraordinary and ask him Latin for a candlestick, which the powers of mind, of which he could not but boy could not expect to be asked. Now, Sir, be conscious by comparison; the intellecif a boy could answer every question, there tual difference, which, in other cases of would be no need of a master to teach him." comparison of characters, is often a matter It is, however, but justice to the memory of undecided contest, being as clear in his of Mr. Hunter to mention, that though he case as the superiority of stature in some might err in being too severe, the school of men above others. Johnson did not strut Lichfield was very respectable in his time. or stand on tiptoe; he only did not stoop. The late Dr. Taylor, Prebendary of West- From his earliest years, his superiority was minster, who was educated under him, told perceived and acknowledged. He was, from me, that "he was an excellent master, and the beginning, ȧvat avugav, a king of men. that his ushers were most of them men of His schoolfellow, Mr. Hector, has obligingly eminence; that Holbrook, one of the most furnished me with many particulars of his ingenious men, best scholars, and best preach- boyish days; and assured me that he never ers of his age, was usher during the greatest knew him corrected at school, but for talkpart of the time that Johnson was at school. ing and diverting other boys from their Then came Hague, of whom, as much business. He seemed to learn by intuimight be said, with the addition that he was tion; for though indolence and procrasan elegant poet. Hague was succeeded by tination were inherent in his constitution, Green, afterwards Bishop of Lincoln, whose whenever he made an exertion, he did more character in the learned world is well known. than any one else. In short, he is a meIn the same form with Johnson was Con-morable instance of what has been often greve, who afterwards became chaplain to Archbishop Boulter, and by that connexion obtained good preferment in Ireland. He was a younger son of the ancient family of Congreve, in Staffordshire, of which the poet was a branch. His brother sold the estate. There was also Lowe, afterwards Canon of Windsor." observed, that the boy is the man in miniature; and that the distinguishing characteristics of each individual are the [Johnson's observations to Dr. Rose, on this subject, may be found in a subsequent part of this work. See vol. ii. near the end of the year 1775. B.) More than a little. The line is in KING HENRY VI. Part ii. Act iv. Sc. last: "Sword, I will hallow thee for this thy deed." M.] same, through the whole course of life. His favourites used to receive very liberal assistance from him; and such was the submission and deference with which he was treated, such the desire to obtain his regard, that three of the boys, of whom Mr. Hector was sometimes one, used to come in the morning as his humble attendants, and carry him to school. One in the middle stooped, while he sat upon his back, and one on each side supported him; and thus he was borne triumphant. Such a proof of the early predominance of intellectual vigour is very remarkable, and does honour to human nature.-Talking to me once himself of his being much distinguished at school, he told me, " they never thought to raise me by comparing me to any one; they never said, Johnson is as good a scholar as such a one; but such a one is as good a scholar as Johnson; and this was said but of one, but of Lowe; and I do not think he was as good a scholar." He discovered a great ambition to excel, which roused him to counteract his indolence. He was uncommonly inquisitive; and his memory was so tenacious, that he never forgot any thing that he either heard Mr. Hector remembers having recited to him eighteen verses, which, after a little pause, he repeated verbatim, varying only one epithet, by which he improved the or read. line. He never joined with the other boys in their ordinary diversions; his only amusement was in winter, when he took a pleasure in being drawn upon the ice by a boy barefooted, who pulled him along by a garter fixed round him: no very easy operation, as his size was remarkably large. His defective sight, indeed, prevented him from enjoying the common sports; and he once pleasantly remarked to me," how wonderfully well he had contrived to be idle without them." Lord Chesterfield, however, has justly observed in one of his letters, when earnestly cautioning a friend against the pernicious effects of idleness, that active sports are not to be reckoned idleness in young people; and that the listless torpor of doing nothing, alone deserves that name. Of this dismal inertness of disposition, Johnson had all his life too great a share. Mr. Hector relates, that he could not oblige him more than by sauntering away the hours of vacation in the fields, during which he was more engaged in talking to himself than to his companion." Dr. Percy, the Bishop of Dromore, who was long intimately acquainted with him, and has preserved a few anecdotes concerning him, regretting that he was not a more diligent collector, informs me, that, "when a boy, he was immoderately fond of reading romances of chivalry, and he retained his fondness for them through life; so that (adds his lordship) spending part of a sum. mer at my parsonage-house in the country, he chose for his regular reading the old Spanish romance of FELIXMARTE OF HIRCANIA, in folio, which he read quite through. Yet I have heard him attribute to these extravagant fictions that unsettled turn of mind which prevented his ever fixing in any profession." After having resided for some time at the house of his uncle, Cornelius Ford, Johnson was, at the age of fifteen, removed to the school of Stourbridge, in Worcester. shire, of which Mr. Wentworth was then master. This step was taken by the advice of his cousin, the Rev. Mr. Ford, a man in whom both talents and good dispositions were disgraced by licentiousness, but who was a very able judge of what was right At this school, he did not receive so much benefit as was expected. It has been said, that he acted in the capacity of an assistant to Mr. Wentworth, in teaching the younger boys. "Mr. Wentworth, (he told me) was a very able man, but an idle man, and to me very severe; but I cannot blame him much. I was then a big boy: he saw I did not reverence him; and that he should get no honour by me. I had brought enough with me to carry me through; and all I should get at his school would be ascribed to my own labour, or to my former master. Yet he taught me a great deal." He thus discriminated to Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore, his progress at his two grammar-schools. "At one, I learned much in the school, but little from the master: in the other, I learned much from the mas ter, but little in the school." The Bishop also informs me, that " Dr. Johnson's father, before he was received at Stourbridge, applied to have him admitted as a scholar and assistant to the Rev. Sa mue! Lea, M.A. head master of Newport school, in Shropshire (a very diligent good teacher, at that time in high reputation, under whom, Mr. Hollis is said, in the Memoirs of his life, to have been also educated.) This application to Mr. Lea was not successful; but Johnson had afterwards the gratification to hear that the old gentle. man, who lived to a very advanced age, mentioned it as one of the most memorable events of his life, that "he was very near having that great man for his scholar." He remained at Stourbridge little more than a year, and then he returned home, where he may be said to have loitered, for two years, in a state very unworthy his un [Cornelius Ford, according to Sir John Hawkins, was his cousin german, being the son of Dr. Joseph (Q. Nathanael) Ford, an eminent Physician, who was brother to Johnson's mother. M.j He is said to be the original of the parson in Hogarth's Modern Midnight Conversation. As was likewise the Bishop of Dromore, many years afterward. |