lest, in flying from superstition, he fall into irreligion and profaneness.

That persons of eminent talents and attainments in literature have been often complained of asdogmatical, boisterous, and inattentive to the rules of good breeding, is well known. But let us not expect every thing from every man. There was no occasion that Johnson should teach us to dance, to make bows, or turn compliments. He could teach us better things. To reject wisdom, because the person of him who communicates it is uncouth, and his manners are inelegant-what is it, but to throw away a pine-apple, and assign for a reason the roughness of its coat? Who quarrels with a botanist for not being an astronomer, or with a moralist for not being a mathematician? As it is said in concerns of a much higher nature, every man hath his gift, one after this manner, and another after that;" it is our business to profit by all, and to learn of each that in which each is best qualified to instruct us.

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That Johnson was generous and charitable, none can deny. But he was not always judicious in the selection of his objects; distress was a sufficient recommendation, and he did not scrutinize into the failings of the distressed. May it be always my lot to have such a benefactor! Some are so nice in a scrutiny of this kind, that they can never find any proper objects of their benevolence, and are necessitated to save their money. It should doubtless be distributed in the best manner we are able to distribute it; but what would become of us all, if he, on whose bounty all depend, should be " extreme to mark that which is done amiss?"

It is hard to judge any man, without a due consideration of all circumstances. Here were stupendous abilities, and suitable attainments; but then here were hereditary disorders of body and mind reciprocally aggravating each other; a scrophulous frame, and a melancholy temper; here was a life, the greater part of which passed in making provision for the day, under the pressure of poverty and sickness, sorrow and anguish. So far to gain the ascendant over these, as to do what Johnson did, required very great strength of mind indeed. Who can say, that, in a like situation, he should long have possessed, or been able to exert it?

From the mixture of power and weakness in the composition of this wonderful man, the scholar should learn humility. It was designed to correct that pride which great parts and great learning are apt to produce in their possessor. In him it had the desired effect. For though consciousness of superiority might sometimes induce him to carry it high with man (and even this was much abated in the latter part of life), his devotions have shown to the whole world, how humbly he walked at all times with his God.

His example may likewise encourage those of timid and gloomy dispositions not to despond, when they reflect, that the vigour of such an intellect could not preserve its possessor from the depredations of melancholy. They will cease to be surprised and alarmed at the degree of their own sufferings they will resolve to bear, with patience and resignation, the malady to which they find a

:

Johnson subject, as well as themselves and if they want words, in which to ask relief from him who alone can give it, the God of mercy, and Father of all comfort, language affords no finer than those in which his prayers are conceived. Child of sorrow, whoever thou art, use them; and be thankful, that the man existed, by whose means thou hast them to use.

His eminence and his fame must of course have excited envy and malice: but let envy and malice look at his infirmities and his charities, and they will quickly melt into pity and love.

That he should not be conscious of the abilities with which Providence had blessed him, was impossible. He felt his own powers; he felt what he was capable of having performed; and he saw how little, comparatively speaking, he had performed. Hence his apprehensions on the near prospect of the account to be made, viewed through the medium of constitutional and morbid melancholy, which often excluded from his sight the bright beams of divine mercy. May those beams ever shine upon us! But let them not cause us to forget, that talents have been bestowed, of which an account must be rendered; and that the fate of the "unprofitable servant may justly beget apprehensions in the stoutest mind. The indolent man, who is without such apprehensions, has never yet considered the subject as he ought. For one person who fears death too much, there are a thousand who do not fear it enough, nor have thought in earnest about it. Let us only put in practice the duty of self-examination; let us inquire into the

success we have experienced in our war against the passions, or even against undue indulgence of the common appetites, eating, drinking, and sleeping; we shall soon perceive how much more easy it is to form resolutions, than to execute them; and shall no longer find occasion, perhaps, to wonder at the weakness of Johnson.

On the whole-In the memoirs of him that have been published, there are so many witty sayings, and so many wise ones, by which the world, if it so please, may be at once entertained and improved, that I do not regret their publication. In this, as in all other instances, we are to adopt the good and reject the evil. The little stories of his oddi ties and his infirmities in common life will, after a while, be overlooked and forgotten; but his writings will live for ever, still more and more studied and admired, while Britons shall continue to be characterized by a love of elegance and sublimity, of good sense and virtue. The sincerity of his repentance, the steadfastness of his faith, and the fervour of his charity, forbid us to doubt that his sun set in clouds, to rise without them: and of this let us always be mindful, that every one who is made better by his books, will add a wreath to his crown.

Z.

BISHOP HORne.

VOL. I.

F

No. XIV.

SATURDAY, JUNE 16, 1787,

BETWEEN the sloven and the coxcomb there is generally a competition which shall be the more contemptible, the one in the total neglect of every thing which might make his appearance in public supportable; and the other in the cultivation of every superfluous ornament. The former offends by his negligence and dirt, the latter by his airs and perfumery. Each entertains a proper contempt for the other; and while both are right in their opinion, both are wrong in their practice. The dress of a man is almost invariably an indication of his habit of mind: I do not mean to assert, that by a red coat you can positively swear to his valour, or by a black one to his integrity; but from his general manner of adorning his person, you may discover the general train of his thinking. He who has never been seen in deshabille but by his hairdresser or his valet de chambre, I am inclined to suppose has never known the luxury of mental relaxation. Not that his mind is occupied in abstruse speculations; but, being ever solicitous for the welfare and ornament of his person, he cannot descend to take a share in those concerns of the world, which, if they gained possession of his mind, might discompose the features of his face.