and prejudice were totally excluded, and truth alone presided in his tongue; a steadiness of conduct the more to be commended, as no man had stronger likings or aversions. His veracity was indeed, from the most trivial to the most solemn occasions, strict, even to severity; he scorned to embellish a story with fictious circumstances, which (he used to say) took off from its real value. "A story (says Johnson) should be specimens of life and manners; but if the surrounding circumstances be false, as it is no more a representation of reality, it is no longer worthy our attention."

"For the rest-That beneficence, which during his life increased the comforts of so many, may after his death be perhaps ungratefully forgotten; but that piety which dictated the serious. papers in the Rambler, will be for ever remembered, for ever, I think, revered! That ample repository of religious truth, moral wisdom, and accurate criticism, breathes indeed the genuine emanation of its great author's mind, expressed too in a style so natural to him, and so much like his common mode of conversing, that I was myself but little astonished when he told me, that he had scarcely read over one of those inimitable essays before they went to the press.

"I will add one or two peculiarities more, before I lay down my pen.-Though at an immeasurable distance from content in the contemplation of his own uncouth form and figure, he did not like another man, much the less for being a coxcomb. I mentioned two friends who were particularly fond of looking at themselves in a glass" They do not surprize me at all by so doing (says Johnson); they see reflected in that glass, men who have risen from almost the lowest situation in life; one to enormous riches; the other to every thing this world can give-rank, fame, and fortune. They see likewise men who have merited their advancement by the exertion and improvement of those talents, which God had given them; and I see not why they should avoid the mirror."

"The other singularity I promised to record is this :-That though a man of obscure birth himself, his pártiality to people of family was visible on every occasion; his zeal for subordination warm even to bigotry; his hatred to innovation, and reverence for

the old feudal times, apparent, whenever any possible manner of shewing them occurred. I have spoken of his piety, his charity, and of his truth, the enlargement of his heart, and the delicacy of his sentiments; and when I search for shadow to my portrait, none can I find but what was formed by pride, differently modified as different occasions shewed it; yet never was pride so purified as Johnson's, at once from meanness and from vanity.-The mind of this man was indeed expanded beyond the common limits of human nature, and stored with such variety of knowledge, that I used to think it resembled a royal pleasure-ground, where every plant of every name and nation flourished in the full perfection of their powers, and where, though lofty woods and falling cataracts first caught the eye, and fixed the earliest attention of beholders, yet neither the trim parterre nor the pleasing shrubbery, nor even the antiquated evergreens, were denied a place in some fit corner of the happy valley."

The following character has likewise been given of him by Dr. Towers, in his "Essay on the Life, Character, and Writings, of Dr. Samuel Johnson:"

"He possessed extraordinary powers of understanding, which were much cultivated by study, and still more by meditation and reflection. His memory was remarkably retentive, his imagination uncommonly vigorous, and his judgment keen and penetrating. He had a strong sense of the importance of religion: his piety was sincere, and sometimes ardent; and his zeal for the interest's of virtue was often manifested in his conversation and in his writings. The same energy, which was displayed in his literary productions, was exhibited also in his conversation, which was various, striking and instructive; and perhaps no man ever equalled him for nervous and pointed repartees.

"The great originality which sometimes appeared in his conceptions, and the perspicuity and force with which he delivered them, greatly enhanced the value of his conversation; and the remarks that he delivered, received additional weight from the strength of his voice, and the solemnity of his manner. He was conscious of his own superiority; and when in company with literary men, or with those with whom there was any possibility of rivalship, or competition, this consciousness was too apparent. With inferiors,

and those who readily admitted all his claims, he was often mild and gentle; but to others, such was often the arrogance of his manners, that the endurance of it required no ordinary degree of patience. He was very dexterous at argumentation; and when his reasons were not solid, they were at least artful and plausible. His retorts were so powerful, that his friends and acquaintances were generally cautious of entering the lists against him; and the ready acquiescence of those with whom he associated, in his opinions and assertions, probably rendered him more dogmatic than he might otherwise have been. With those, however, whom he loved, and with whom he was familiar, he was sometimes cheerful and sprightly, and sometimes indulged himself in sallies of wit and pleasantry. He spent much of his time, especially in his latter years, in conversation; and seems to have had such an aversion to being left without company, as was somewhat extraordinary in a man possessed of such intellectual powers, and whose understanding had been so highly cultivated.

"He sometimes discovered much impetuosity and irritability of temper, and was too ready to take offence at others; but when concessions were made, he was easily appeased. For those from whom he had received kindness in the earlier part of his life, he seemed ever to retain a particular regard, and manifested much gratitude towards those by whom he had at any time been benefited. He was soon offended with pertness, or ignorance: but he sometimes seemed to be conscious of having answered the questions of others with too much roughness; and was then desirous to discover more gentleness of temper, and to communicate information with more suavity of manners. When not under the influence of personal pique, of pride, or of religious or political prejudices, he seems to have had great ardour of benevolence; and on some occasions, he gave very signal proofs of generosity and humanity.

"He was naturally melancholy, and his views of human life appear to have been habitually gloomy. This appears in his "Rasselas," and in many passages of his writings. It was also a striking part of the character of Dr. Johnson, that with powers of mind that did honor to human nature, he had weaknesses and prejudices that seemed suited only to the lowest of the species. His

:

piety was strongly tinctured with superstition; and we are astonished to find the author of the Rambler expressing serious concern, because he had put milk into his tea on a Good Friday. His custom of praying for the dead, though unsupported by reason, or by scripture, was a less irrational superstition. Indeed, one of the great features of Johnson's character, was a degree of bigotry, both in politics and in religion, which is now seldom to be met with in persons of a cultivated understanding. Few other men could have been found, in the present age, whose political bigotry would have led them to style the celebrated John Hampden" the zealot of rebellion ;" and the religious bigotry of the man, who when at Edinburgh, would not go to hear Dr. Robertson preach, because he would not be present at a presbyterian assembly, is not easily to be paralleled in this age, and in this country. His habitual incredulity with respect to facts, of which there was no reasonable ground for doubt, as stated by Mrs. Piozzi, and which was remarked by Hogarth, was also a singular trait in his charac ter; and especially when contrasted with his superstitious credulity on other occasions. To the close of life, he was not only occupied in forming schemes of religious reformation, but even to a very late period of it, he seems to have been solicitous to apply himself to study with renewed diligence and vigour. It is remark able, that in his sixty-fourth year, he attempted to learn the Low, Dutch language; and in his sixty-seventh year, he made a resolu tion to apply himself vigorously to study, particularly of the Greek and Italian tongues.

The faults and foibles of Johnson, whatever they were, are now descended with him to the grave; but his virtues should be the object of our imitation. His works, with all their defects, are a most valuable and important accession to the literature of England. His political writings will probably be little read, on any other account than for the dignity and energy of his style but his Dictionary, his moral essays, and his productions in polite literature, will convey useful instruction, and elegant entertainment, as long as the language in which they are written shall be understood; and give him a just claim to a distinguished rank among the best and ablest writers that England has produced."

The Works of Dr. Johnson were published together in eleven? vols. 8vo. in 1787, and some additional volumes have since been added. Two volumes, in 8vo. of Letters to and from him have also been published by Mrs. Piozzi.

Authorities. Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D. two volumes, quarto, 1791. Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. Piozzi's Anecdotes of Johnson. Tower's Essay on the Life, Character, and Writings of Dr. Samuel Johnson, 8vo. 1786.

THE LIFE OF

LAURENCE STERNE.

[A. D. 1713, to -1768.]

LAURENCE STERNE was son to Roger Sterne, lieutenant of a re-. giment of foot, who was grandson to Dr. Sterne, archbishop of York. He was born on the 24th of November, 1713, at Clon-. mell, in the South of Ireland, where his father then happened to be quartered. After travelling with his parents in the military way, from one station to another, through various countries, he was sent to a school near Hallifax, in Yorkshire, in 1722. Here he continued till 1731, when he lost his father, of whom he says,

My father was a little, smart man, active to the last degree in all exercises; most patient of fatigue and disappointments, of which it pleased God to give him full measure. He was in his temper. somewhat rapid and hasty; but of a kindly, sweet disposition, void of all design; and so innocent in his own intentions, that he suspected no one; so that you might have cheated him ten times in a day, if nine had not been sufficient for your. pur

pose.

After the death of his father, he was taken care of by an uncle, Dr. Sterne, who sent him to Jesus-college, in Cambridge. He