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Mr. Strahan has given me the agreeable assurance, that after being in much agitation, Johnson became quite composed, and continued so till his death.

Dr. Brocklesby, who will not be suspected of fanaticism, obliged me with the following

accounts:

"For some time before his death, all his fears were calmed and absorbed by the prevalence of his faith, and his trust in the merits and propitiation of Jesus Christ.

"He talked often to me about the necessity of faith in the sacrifice of Jesus, as necessary beyond all good works whatever for the salvation of mankind. "He pressed me to study Dr. Clarke and to read his sermons. I asked him why he pressed Dr. 'Because,' said he, he is Clarke, an Arian.1 fullest on the propitiatory sacrifice.'"

Of his last moments, my brother, Thomas David, has furnished me with the following particulars :

"The Doctor, from the time that he was certain his death was near, appeared to be perfectly resigned, was seldom or never fretful or out of temper, and often said to his faithful servant, who gave

me this account, Attend, Francis, to the salvation

tance:

of your soul, which is the object of greatest imporhe also explained to him passages in the Scripture, and seemed to have pleasure in talking upon religious subjects.

The

"On Monday, the 18th of December, the day on which he died, a Miss Morris, daughter to a particular friend of his, called, and said to Francis, that she begged to be permitted to see the Doctor, that she might earnestly request him to give her his blessing. Francis went into the room, followed by the young lady, and delivered the message. Doctor turned himself in the bed, and said, God bless you, my dear!' he spoke. His difficulty of breathing increased till about seven o'clock in the evening, when Mr. Barber and Mrs. Desmoulins, who were sitting in the room, observing that the noise he had made in breathing had ceased, went to the bed, and found he was dead."3

These were the last words

About two days after his death, the following very agreeable account was communicated to Mr. Malone, in a letter by the Honourable John Byng, to whom I am much obliged for granting me permission to introduce it in my work:

1 The change of his sentiments with regard to Dr. Clarke is thus mentioned to me in a letter from the late Dr. Adams, master of Pembroke College, Oxford." The Doctor's prejudices were the strongest, and certainly in another sense You know the weakest, that ever possessed a sensible man. his extreme zeal for orthodoxy. But did you ever hear what he told me himself- that he had made it a rule not to admit Dr. Clarke's name in his Dictionary? This, however, wore off. At some distance of time he advised with me what books he should read in defence of the Christian religion. I recommended Clarke's Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion,' as the best of the kind; and I find in what is called his Prayers and Meditations,' that he was frequently employed in the latter part of his time in reading Clarke's BOSWELL. But as early as 1763, he recomSermons." mended Dr. Clarke, antè, p. 135. CROKER.

2 She was the sister of a lady of the same name who appeared on the stage at Covent Garden as Juliet, in 1768, and died next year. She was a relation of Mr. Corbyn Morris, commissioner of the customs. CROKER.

3 The following letter, now in my possession, written with

"DEAR SIR,-Since I saw you, I have had a long_conversation with Cawston, who sat up with Dr. Johnson, from nine o'clock on Sunday evening, till ten o'clock on Monday morning. And, from what I can gather from him, it should seem that At the interval of Dr. Johnson was perfectly composed, steady in hope, and resigned to death. each hour, they assisted him to sit up in his bed, and move his legs, which were in much pain; when he regularly addressed himself to fervent prayer; and though, sometimes, his voice failed him, his The only sus sense never did, during that time. He said tenance he received was cider and water. his mind was prepared, and the time to his dissolution seemed long. At six in the morning, he inquired the hour, and, on being informed, said, that all went on regularly, and he felt that he had but

a few hours to live.

"At ten o'clock in the morning, he parted from Cawston, saying, 'You should not detain Mr. WindCawston says, that no ham's servant:-I thank you; bear my remembrance to your master.'

man could appear more collected, more devout, or less terrified at the thoughts of the approaching minute.

"This account, which is so much more agreeable than, and somewhat different from, yours, has given

us the satisfaction of thinking that that great man died as he lived, full of resignation, strengthened in faith, and joyful in hope."

A few days before his death, he had asked Sir John Hawkins, as one of his executors, where he should be buried; and on being answered, "Doubtless, in Westminster Abbey," seemed to feel a satisfaction, very natural to a poet; and indeed in my opinion very natural to every man of any imagination, who has no his fathers. Accordingly, upon Monday, Defamily sepulchre in which he can be laid with cember 20., his remains [enclosed in a leaden coffin] were deposited in that noble and renowned edifice [in the south transept, near the foot of Shakspeare's monument, and close to the coffin of his friend Garrick]; and over his grave was placed a large blue flag-stone, with this inscription:

"SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL. D.
Obiit XII. die Decembris,
Anno Domini

M. DCC. LXXXIV.

Etatis suæ LXXV."

an agitated hand, from the very chamber of death, by the amiable Mr. Langton, and obviously interrupted by his feelings, will not unaptly close the story of so long a friendship. The letter is not addressed, but Mr. Langton's family believe it was intended for Mr. Boswell.

MY DEAR SIR,- After many conflicting hopes and fears respecting the event of this heavy return of illness which has assailed our honoured friend, Dr. Johnson, since his arrival from Lichfield, about four days ago the appearances grew more and more awful, and this afternoon at eight o'clock, when I arrived at his house to see how he should be going on, I was acquainted at the door, that about three quarters of an hour before, he breathed his last. I am now writing in the room where his venerable remains exhibit a spectacle, the interesting solemnity of which, difficult as it would be in any sort to find terms to express, so to you, my dear Sir, whose own sensations will paint it so strongly, it would be of CROKER. all men the most superfluous to attempt to.

4 Servant to the Right Hon. William Windham. BOSWELL.

3 F 4

His funeral was attended by a respectable number of his friends, particularly such of the members of The Literary Club as were in town; and was also honoured with the presence of several of the Reverend Chapter of Westminster. Mr. Burke, Sir Joseph Banks, Mr. Windham, Mr. Langton, Sir Charles Bunbury, and Mr. Colman bore his pall. His schoolfellow, Dr. Taylor, performed the mournful office of reading the burial service.1

I trust I shall not be accused of affectation, when I declare, that I find myself unable to express all that I felt upon the loss of such a "guide, philosopher, and friend."2 I shall, therefore, not say one word of my own, but adopt those of an eminent friend 3, which he uttered with an abrupt felicity, superior to all studied compositions:-"He has made a chasm, which not only nothing can fill up, but which nothing has a tendency to fill up. Johnson is dead. Let us go to the next best: there is nobody; no man can be said to put you in mind of Johnson."

As Johnson had abundant homage paid to him during his life, so no writer in this nation ever had such an accumulation of literary honours after his death. A sermon upon that event was preached in St. Mary's Church, Oxford, before the University, by the Rev. Mr. Agutter, of Magdalen College,5 The

"It must be told, that a dissatisfaction was expressed in the public papers that he was not buried with all possible funeral rites and honours. In all processions and solemnities something will be forgotten or omitted. Here no disrespect was intended. The executors did not think themselves justified in doing more than they did; for only a little cathedral service, accompanied with lights and music, would have raised the price of interment. In this matter fees ran high; they could not be excused; and the expenses were to be paid from the property of the deceased. His funeral expenses amounted to more than two hundred pounds. Future monumental charges may be defrayed by the generosity of subscription."-Gentleman's Magazine, 1785, p. 911., probably by Mr. Tyers.

There was some hope that the fees would have been refunded, and Steevens made a suggestion to that effect in the Gent. Mag., but they were not; and it is to be added, that all Dr. Johnson's friends, but especially Malone and Steevens, were indignant at the mean and selfish spirit which the dean and chapter exhibited on this occasion; but they were especially so against Dr. Taylor, not only for not having prevailed on his colleagues to show more respect to his old friend, but for the unfeeling manner in which he himself performed the burial service. CROKER.

2 On the subject of Johnson I may adopt the words of Sir John Harrington concerning his venerable tutor and diocesan, Dr. John Still, Bishop of Bath and Wells: "who hath given me some helps, more hopes, all encouragements in my best studies: to whom I never came but I grew more religious; from whom I never went, but I parted better instructed. Of him, therefore, my acquaintance, my friend, my instructor, if I speak much, it were not to be marvelled; if I speak frankly, it is not to be blamed; and though I speak partially, it were to be pardoned."- Nuge Antiquæ, vol. i. p. 136. There is one circumstance in Sir John's character of Bishop Still, which is peculiarly applicable to Johnson: "He became so famous a dísputer, that the learnedest were even afraid to dispute with him; and he, finding his own strength, could not stick to warn them in their arguments to take heed to their answers, like a perfect fencer that will tell aforehand in which button he will give the venew, or like a cunning chess-player that will appoint aforehand with which pawn and in what place he will give the mate. Ibid. BoSWELL.

3 The late Right Hon. William Gerrard Hamilton, who had been intimately acquainted with Dr. Johnson near thirty years. He died in London, July 16. 1796, in his sixty-eighth year. MALONE.

Lives, the Memoirs, the Essays, both in prose and verse, which have been published concerning him, would make many volumes. The numerous attacks too upon him I consider as part of his consequence, upon the principle which he himself so well knew and asserted. Many who trembled at his presence were forward in assault, when they no longer apprehended danger. When one of his little pragmatical foes was invidiously snarling at his fame at Sir Joshua Reynolds's table, the Reverend Dr. Parr exclaimed, with his usual bold animation, “Ay, now that the old lion is dead, every ass thinks he may kick at him."

A monument for him, in Westminster Abbey, was resolved upon soon after his death, and was supported by a most respectable contribution; but the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's having come to a resolution of admitting monuments there upon a liberal and magnificent plan, that cathedral was afterwards fixed on, as a place in which a cenotaph should be erected to his memory: and in the cathedral of his native city of Lichfield a smaller one is to be erected. 6 To compose his epitaph, could not but excite the warmest competition of genius. If laudari è laudato viro be praise which is highly estimable, I should not forgive myself were I to omit the following sepulchral verses on the author of THE ENGLISH DICTIONARY, written by the Right Honourable Henry Flood":

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4 Beside the Dedications to him by Dr. Goldsmith, the Rev. Dr. Franklin, and the Rev. Mr. Wilson, which I have mentioned according to their dates, there was one by a lady, of a versification of "Aningait and Ajut," and one by the ingenious Mr. Walker, of his "Rhetorical Grammar." I have introduced into this work several compliments paid to him in the writings of his contemporaries; but the number of them is so great, that we may fairly say that there was almost a general tribute. Let me not be forgetful of the honour done to him by Colonel Myddleton, of Gwaynynog, near Denbigh; who, on the banks of a rivulet in his park, where Johnson delighted to stand and repeat verses, erected an uru with the inscription given antè, p. 423. n. 4. BOSWELL. Here followed an account of the various portraits of Dr. Johnson, which will be found at the end of the chapter. — CROKER.

5 It is not yet published. In a letter to me, Mr. Agutter says, "My sermon before the University was more engaged with Dr. Johnson's moral than his intellectual character. It particularly examined his fear of death, and suggested several reasons for the apprehensions of the good, and the indifference of the infidel, in their last hours; this was illustrated by contrasting the death of Dr. Johnson and Mr. Hume: the text was, Job, xxi. 22—26."— BOSWELL.

6 This monument has been since erected. It consists of a medallion, with a tablet beneath, on which is this inscription:

The friends of SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL. D.
A native of Lichfield,
Erected this Monument,

As a tribute of respect

To the Memory of a man of extensive learning.

A distinguished moral writer, and a sincere Christian.
He died Dec. 13. 1784, aged 75. — MALONE.

7 To prevent any misconception on this subject, Mr. Malone, by whom these lines were obligingly communicated, requests me to add the following remark:

"In justice to the late Mr. Flood, now himself wanting, and highly meriting, an epitaph from his country, to which his transcendent talents did the highest honour, as well as the most important service, it should be observed, that these lines were by no means intended as a regular monumental inscription for Dr. Johnson. Had he undertaken to write an appropriate and discriminative epitaph for that excellent and

"No need of Latin or of Greek to grace

Our JOHNSON's memory, or inscribe his grave; His native language claims this mournful space, To pay the immortality he gave."

The Rev. Dr. Parr, on being requested to undertake Johnson's epitaph, thus expressed himself in a letter to William Seward, Esq.:

CONCLUSION.

THE character of SAMUEL JOHNSON has, I trust, been so developed in the course of this work, that they who have honoured it with a perusal may be considered as well acquainted with him. As, however, it may be expected "I leave this mighty task to some hardier and that I should collect into one view the capital some abler writer. The variety and splendour of and distinguishing features of this extraordiJohnson's attainments, the peculiarities of his cha-nary man, I shall endeavour to acquit myself racter, his private virtues, and his literary publications, fill me with confusion and dismay, when I reflect upon the confined and difficult species of composition, in which alone they can be expressed with propriety, upon this monument."

But I understand that this great scholar, and warm admirer of Johnson, has yielded to repeated solicitations, and executed the very difficult undertaking.

extraordinary man, those who knew Mr. Flood's vigour of mind will have no doubt that he would have produced one worthy of his illustrious subject. But the fact was merely this: In December, 1789, after a large subscription had been made for Dr. Johnson's monument, to which Mr. Flood liberally contributed, Mr. Malone happened to call on him at his house in Berners Street, and the conversation turning on the proposed monument, Mr. Malone maintained that the epitaph, by whomsoever it should be written, ought to be in Latin. Mr. Flood thought differently. The next morning, in a postscript to a note on another subject, he mentioned that he continued of the same opinion as on the preceding and subjoined the lines above given."- BOSWELL.

day Dr. Johnson's monument, consisting of a colossal figure

leaning against a column (but not very strongly resembling him), has since the death of Mr. Boswell been placed in St. Paul's Cathedral, having been first opened to public view, February 23. 1796. The epitaph was written by the Rev. Dr. Parr, and is as follows:

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It is to be regretted that the committee for erecting this monument did not adhere to the principles of the Round Robin, on the subject of Goldsmith's epitaplı, (antė, p. 521.), and insist on having the epitaph to Johnson written in the language to which he had been so great and so very peculiar a benefactor. The committee of subscribers, called curators, were Lord Stowell, Mr. Burke, Mr. Windham, Sir Joseph Banks, Mr. Metcalf, Mr. Boswell, and Mr. Malone; of whom, Mr. Metcalf, Mr. Burke, and Sir Joseph had signed the Round Robin; but it may be presumed that Dr. Johnson's pre

of that part of my biographical undertaking 2, however difficult it may be to do that which many of my readers will do better for themselves.

His figure was large and well formed, and his countenance of the cast of an ancient statue; yet his appearance was rendered strange and somewhat uncouth, by convulsive cramps, by the scars of that distemper which it was once

ference of a Latin epitaph, so positively pronounced on that occasion, operated on their minds as an expression of what his wishes would have been as to his own. It seems, however, to me, the height of bad taste and absurdity to exhibit Dr. Johnson in St. Paul's cathedral in the masquerade of a half-naked Roman, with such pedantic, and, to the passing public, unintelligible inscriptions as the above: of which the following is a close translation:

Alpha Omega.

To SAMUEL JOHNSON,

A grammarian and critic

Of great skill in English literature;

A poet admirable for the light of his sentences
And the weight of his words;

A most effective teacher of virtue;
An excellent man, and of singular example,
Who lived 75 years, 2 months, 14 days.

He died in the ides of December, in the year of Christ,

MDCCLXXXIV.

Was buried in the church of St. Peter's, Westminster, The 13th of the kalends of January, in the year of Christ

MDCCLXXXIV.

His literary friends and companions,
By a collection of money,

Caused this monument to be made.

The reader will not of course attribute to the original all the awkwardness of this nearly literal version; but he will not fail to observe the tedious and confused mode of marking the numerals, the unnecessary repetition of them, and the introduction of nones and ides, all of which are, even on the principles of the Lapidarian scholars themselves, clumsy, and on the principles of common sense, contemptible. Thirty-four letters and numerals (nearly a tenth part of the whole inscription) are, for instance, expended in letting' posterity know that Dr. Johnson was buried in about a week after his death.

The Greek words, so pedantically jumbled together on the scroll, are an alteration by Dr. Parr of the concluding line of Dionysius, the geographer, with which Johnson had closed the Rambler. See antè, p. 71. It seems, that in deference to some apprehensions that the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's might think the Αὐτῶν ἐκ μακάρων ἀντάξιος εἴη duaßn-from the blessed [gods] may he receive his merited reward somewhat heathenish, Dr. Parr was persuaded to convert the line into Εν μακάρεσσι πονῶν ἀντάξιος εἴη auß- may he receive amongst the blessed the merited reward of his labours. The reader who is curious about the pompous inanities of literature will find at the end of the fourth volume of Dr. Parr's works, ed. 1828, a long correspondence between Parr, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Malone, and other friends of Dr. Johnson, on the subject of this epitaph. He will be amused at the burlesque importance which Parr attaches to epitaph-writing, the tenacity with which he endeavoured to describe Dr. Johnson, with reference to his poetical character, as pocta probabilis, and his candid avowal, that in the composition he was thinking more of his own character than Dr. Johnson's. - CROKER.

As I do not see any reason to give a different character of my illustrious friend now from what I formerly gave, the greatest part of the sketch of him in my "Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides" is here adopted. - BOSWELL.

imagined the royal touch could cure, and by a slovenly mode of dress. He had the use only of one eye; yet so much does mind govern, and even supply the deficiency of organs, that his visual perceptions, as far as they extended, were uncommonly quick and accurate. So morbid was his temperament, that he never knew the natural joy of a free and vigorous use of his limbs: when he walked, it was like the struggling gait of one in fetters; when he rode, he had no command or direction of his horse, but was carried as if in a balloon. That with his constitution and habits of life he should have lived seventy-five years, is a proof that an inherent vivida vis is a powerful preservative of the human frame.

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showed itself not only in a most liberal charity,
as far as his circumstances would allow, but in
a thousand instances of active benevolence.
He was afflicted with a bodily disease, which
made him often restless and fretful, and with
a constitutional melancholy, the clouds of which
darkened the brightness of his fancy, and gave
a gloomy cast to his whole course of thinking;
we, therefore, ought not to wonder at his sallies
of impatience and passion at any time, espe-
cially when provoked by obtrusive ignorance
or presuming petulance; and allowance must
be made for his uttering hasty and satirical
sallies even against his best friends. And,
surely, when it is considered, that "amidst
sickness and sorrow he exerted his faculties
in so many works for the benefit of man-
kind, and particularly that he achieved the
great and admirable Dictionary of our language,
we must be astonished at his resolution.
solemn text, "Of him to whom much is given
much will be required," seems to have been
ever present to his mind, in a rigorous sense,
and to have made him dissatisfied with his
labours and acts of goodness, however compara-
tively great; so that the unavoidable conscious-
ness of his superiority was, in that respect, a
cause of disquiet. He suffered so much from this,
and from the gloom which perpetually haunted
him, and made solitude frightful, that it may
be said of him, "If in this life only he had hope,
he was of all men most miserable." He loved
praise when it was brought to him; but
was too proud to seek for it. He was some-
what susceptible of flattery. As he was general
and unconfined in his studies, he cannot be
considered as master of any one particular
science; but he had accumulated a vast and
various collection of learning and knowledge,
which was so arranged in his mind as to be
ever in readiness to be brought forth. But
his superiority over other learned men consisted
chiefly in what may be called the art of think-

Man is, in general, made up of contradictory qualities; and these will ever show themselves in strange succession, where a consistency in appearance at least, if not reality, has not been attained by long habits of philosophical discipline. In proportion to the native vigour of the mind, the contradictory qualities will be the more prominent, and more difficult to be adjusted; and, therefore, we are not to wonder that Johnson exhibited an eminent example of this remark which I have made upon human nature. At different times he seemed a different man in some respects; not, however, in any great or essential article, upon which he had fully employed his mind, and settled certain principles of duty, but only in his manners, and in the display of argument and fancy in his talk. He was prone to superstition, but not to credulity. Though his imagination might incline him to a belief of the marvellous and the mysterious, his vigorous reason examined the evidence with jealousy. He was a sincere and zealous Christian, of high Church of England and monarchical principles, which he would not tamely suffer to be questioned; and had, perhaps, at an early period, narrowed his mind somewhat too much, both as to religion and politics. His being im-ing, the art of using his mind; a certain conpressed with the danger of extreme latitude in either, though he was of a very independent spirit, occasioned his appearing somewhat unfavourable to the prevalence of that noble freedom of sentiment which is the best possession of man. Nor can it be denied that he had many prejudices; which, however, frequently suggested many of his pointed sayings, that rather show a playfulness of fancy than any settled malignity. He was steady and inflexible in maintaining the obligations of religion and morality, both from a regard for the order of society and from a veneration for the Great Source of all order; correct, nay stern, in his taste; hard to please, and easily offended; impetuous and irritable in his temper, but of a most humane and benevolent heart', which

1 In the "Olla Podrida," a collection of essays published at Oxford, there is an admirable paper upon the character of Johnson, written by the Rev. Dr. Horne, the late excellent Bishop of Norwich. The following passage is eminently

tinual power of seizing the useful substance of all that he knew, and exhibiting it in a clear and forcible manner; so that knowledge, which we often see to be no better than lumber in men of dull understanding, was in him true, evident, and actual wisdom. His moral precepts are practical, for they are drawn from an intimate acquaintance with human nature. His maxims carry conviction; for they are founded on the basis of common sense, and a very attentive and minute survey of real life. His mind was so full of imagery that he might have been perpetually a poet; yet it is remarkable, that however rich his prose is in this respect, his poetical pieces in general have not much of that splendour, but are rather distinguished by strong sentiment and acute obser

happy:-" 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?"- BOSWELL.

vation, conveyed in harmonious and energetic verse, particularly in heroic couplets. Though usually grave, and even awful in his deportment, he possessed uncommon and peculiar powers of wit and humour; he frequently indulged himself in colloquial pleasantry; and the heartiest merriment was often enjoyed in his company; with this great advantage, that, as it was entirely free from any poisonous tincture of vice or impiety, it was salutary to those who shared in it. He had accustomed himself to such accuracy in his common conversation', that he at all times expressed his thoughts with great force, and an elegant choice of language, the effect of which was aided by his having a loud voice, and a slow deliberate utterance. In him were united a most logical head with a most fertile imagination, which gave him an extraordinary advantage in arguing: for he could reason close or wide, as he saw best for the moment. Exulting in his intellectual strength and dexterity, he could,

Though a perfect resemblance of Johnson is not to be found in any age, parts of his character are admirably expressed by Clarendon, in drawing that of Lord Falkland, whom the noble and masterly historian describes at his seat near Oxford: "Such an immenseness of wit, such a solidity of judgment, so infinite a fancy, bound in by a most logical ratiocination. His acquaintance was cultivated by the most polite and accurate men; so that his house was an university in less volume, whither they came, not so much for repose as study, and to examine and refine those grosser propositions which laziness and consent made current in conversation." Bayle's account of Menage may also be quoted as exceedingly applicable to the great subject of this work:

Those

"His illustrious friends erected a very glorious monument to him in the collection entitled 'Menagiana.' Those who judge of things right will confess that this collection is very proper to show the extent of genius and learning which was the character of Menage. And I may be bold to say, that the excellent works he published will not distinguish him from other learned men so advantageously as this. To publish books of great learning, to make Greek and Latin verses exceedingly well turned, is not a common talent, I own; neither is it extremely rare. It is incomparably more difficult to find men who can furnish discourse about an infinite number of things, and who can diversify them a hundred ways. How many authors are there who are admired for their works, on account of the vast learning that is displayed in them, who are not able to sustain a conversation. who know Menage only by his books might think he resembled those learned men; but if you show the 'Menagiana,' you distinguish him from them, and make him known by a talent which is given to very few learned men. There it appears that he was a man who spoke off-hand a thousand good things. His memory extended to what was ancient and modern; to the court and to the city; to the dead and to the living languages; to things serious and things jocose; in a word, to a thousand sorts of subjects. That which appeared a trifle to some readers of the Menagiana,' who did not consider circumstances, caused admiration in other readers, who minded the difference between what a man speaks without preparation and that which he prepares for the press. And, therefore, we cannot sufficiently commend the care which his illustrious friends took to erect a monument so capable of giving him immortal glory. They were not obliged to rectify what they had heard him say; for, in so doing, they had not been faithful historians of his conversa. tion. BOSWELL.

2 As no inconsiderable circumstance of his fame, we must reckon the extraordinary zeal of the artists to extend and perpetuate his image. I can enumerate a bust by Mr. Nollekens, and the many casts which were made from it; (p. 568. n. 2.), several pictures by Sir Joshua Reynolds, from one of which, in the possession of the Duke of Dorset, Mr. Humphrey executed a beautiful miniature in enamel; one by Mrs. Frances Reynolds, Sir Joshua's sister; one by Mr. Zoffanij; and one

when he pleased, be the greatest sophist that ever contended in the list of declamation; and, from a spirit of contradiction, and a delight in showing his powers, he would often maintain the wrong side with equal warmth and ingenuity; so that, when there was an audience, his real opinions could seldom be gathered from his talk; though when he was in company with a single friend, he would discuss a subject with genuine fairness; but he was too conscientious to make error permanent and pernicious, by deliberately writing it; and, in all his numerous works, he earnestly inculcated what appeared to him to be the truth; his piety being constant, and the ruling principle of all his conduct.

Such was SAMUEL JOHNSON2; a man whose talents, acquirements, and virtues, were so extraordinary, that the more his character is considered, the more he will be regarded by the present age, and by posterity, with admiration and reverence.

by Mr. Opie; and the following engravings of his portrait : 1. By Cooke, from Sir Joshua, for the proprietors' edition of his folio Dictionary.-2. One from ditto, by ditto, for their quarto edition. 3. One from Opie, by Heath, for Harrison's edition of his Dictionary.-4. One from Nollekens' bust of him, by Bartolozzi, for Fielding's quarto edition of his Dictionary.-5. One small, from Sir Joshua, by Trotter, for his "Beauties."-6. One small, from Sir Joshua, by Trotter, for his "Lives of the Poets."-7. One small from Sir Joshua, by Hall, for "The Rambler."-8. One small from an original drawing, in the possession of Mr. John Simco, etched by Trotter, for another edition of his "Lives of the Poets."-9. One small, no painter's name, etched by Taylor, for his " Johnsoniana."-10. One folio, whole length, with his oak stick, as described in Boswell's "Tour," drawn and etched by Trotter.-11. One large Mezzotinto, from Sir Joshua, by Doughty.-12. One large Roman head, from Sir Joshua, by Marchi.-13. One octavo, holding a book to his eye, from Sir Joshua, by Hall, for his works. 14. One small, from a drawing from the life, and engraved by Trotter, for his life published by Kearsley. 15. One large, from Opie, by Mr. Townley (brother of Mr. Townley of the Commons), an ingenious artist, who resided some time at Berlin, and has the honour of being engraver to His Majesty the King of Prussia. This is one of the finest mezzotintos that ever was executed; and what renders it of extraordinary value, the plate was destroyed after four or five impressions only were taken off. One of them is in the possession of Sir William Scott. Mr. Townley has lately been prevailed with to execute and publish another of the same, that it may be more generally circulated amongst the admirers of Dr. Johnson.-16. One large, from Sir Joshua's first picture of him, by Heath, for this work, in quarto.-17. One octavo, by Baker, for the octavo edition.-18. And one for "Lavater's Essays on Physiognomy," in which Johnson's counte. nance is analysed upon the principles of that fanciful writer. There are also several seals with his head cut on them, particularly a very fine one by that eminent artist, Edward Burch, Esq., R.A., in the possession of the younger Dr. Charles Burney.

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Let me add, as a proof of the popularity of his character, that there are copper pieces struck at Birmingham, with his head impressed on them, which pass current as halfpence there, and in the neighbouring parts of the country.BOSWELL.

I had in my first edition, with the assistance of Mr. John Murray, enlarged Mr. Boswell's catalogue of pictures and engravings, but the latter have become too many for enumeration. I am, therefore, obliged to abide by Mr. Boswell's list, which comprises the best and most remarkable: adding only, that Dr. Harwood allowed me to engrave for my first edition a miniature (painter unknown), which had belonged to Mrs. Johnson, and was no doubt very like when he was about 30.- CROKER, 1847.

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