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The company laughed heartily, but Goldsmith grew thoughtful, and declined to produce his epitaph. When he returned home he set to work upon his poem, which, however, is unfinished, and did not appear until after his death. So far as it goes, the portraits of his friends are sketched with wonderful spirit and humour, and the characters of Garrick and Burke have been much admired.

The commencement of the year 1774 found Goldsmith declining in health and spirits. The state of his affairs affected him much-for he was deeply in debt-and produced an almost habitual despondency. In the spring he was attacked by a nervous fever, and neglected to undergo proper treatment. He relied too much on his own medical knowledge; and when at length he allowed two physicians to attend him, it was too late. He died on the 4th of April, in the forty-sixth year of his age. His friends were much affected by his death, for with all his faults and foibles, there was something about him which inspired the warmest affection. When Burke was told the sad news he burst into tears; and Sir Joshua Reynolds was so much affected that he threw aside his brush and did not touch the canvas that day — an extraordinary circumstance for him, for he scarcely let a day pass without a line.

Goldsmith was interred privately in the Temple buryingground, but his friends subscribed for a monument, which was erected in Westminster Abbey. The Latin inscription, by Dr. Johnson, is well known, and is much admired for its clear delineation of Goldsmith's literary character. One line describes so aptly the charm of his elegant style that it is often quoted: "Nullum quod tetigit non ornavit" -he touched nothing which he did not adorn.

The personal appearance of Goldsmith was not prepossessing. In stature he was under the middle size; his body was strongly built, and he was more sturdy than elegant. His manner also was awkward, and his convergation disappointing. He was too apt to speak without reflection, or without a sufficient knowledge of the subject

in hand. He knew his weakness, and once said humourously of himself, "That he always argued best when alone." The couplet which Garrick extemporised was therefore in substance quite true; and Dr. Johnson spoke to the same effect when he observed of him, “That no man was more foolish when he had not a pen in his hand, nor more wise when he had."

Thackeray, in his lectures on English Humourists, thus closes his notice of Goldsmith::

"Think of him reckless, thriftless, vain, if you like - but merciful, gentle, generous, full of love and pity. He passes out of our life, and goes to rend his account beyond it. Think of the poor pensioners weeping at his grave; think of the noble spirits that admired and deplored him; think of the righteous pen that wrote his epitaph-and of the wonderful and unanimous response of affection with which the world has paid back the love he gave it. His humour delighting us still; his song fresh and beautiful as when first he charmed with it; his words in all our mouths; his very weaknesses beloved and familiar-his benevolent spirit seems still to shine upon us; to do gentle kindnesses; to succour with sweet charity; to soothe, caress, and forgive; to plead with the fortunate for the unhappy and the poor."

DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON.-1709-1784.

SAMUEL JOHNSON was born in Lichfield, on the 18th Sept. 1709. His father, Michael Johnson, was a bookseller and stationer. In those days booksellers' shops were very rare in provincial towns: there was not one in Birmingham, and old Mr. Johnson used to attend there every market-day. Young Johnson inherited from his father a robust frame and a strong and vigorous mind; but from him also he derived a morbid melancholy, which embittered his whole life. Afflicted in early life with scrofula, or king's evil, he was taken to London, when about three years of age, to be touched by Queen Anne. Being asked later in life if he could remember the incident, he said he had "a confused, but somehow a sort of solemn, recollection of a lady in diamonds and a long

black hood." As he grew up his countenance was disfigured by his complaint; his sight and hearing also were affected, and his general appearance awkward in the extreme; yet in spite of all these disadvantages he succeeded, by sheer force of genius, in placing himself at the head of the literary world, and in being courted and sought after by the proudest and most cultivated men of his time.

Johnson attended school first at Lichfield, then at Stourbridge, and afterwards entered Pembroke College, Oxford. He was constitutionally indolent, but his love of knowledge kept him from being idle; and he had a remarkably retentive memory. The tutor under whom he was placed was kind-hearted, but not clever; and Johnson respected him for his worth, not for his learning. He seems to have been allowed to follow pretty much his own inclination in his studies, but there was one exercise which he did for his tutor which displayed very great merit. He was required to translate Pope's "Messiah" into Latin, and he did it so well that Pope is said to have declared that posterity would doubt which was the original, and which the translation. His father had never been very successful in business, and at length became insolvent -the consequence was that, like his friend Goldsmith, his career at college was a constant struggle with poverty. His shoes became so worn out that his feet appeared through them. Some kind friend placed a pair of new shoes at his door, but he threw them away with indignation. He was too proud to accept alms. At length compelled by irresistible necessity, he left college in the autumn of 1731, without a degree, after a residence of little more than three years.

Shortly after Johnson's return home his father died, and he endeavoured to earn a livelihood by acting as usher at Market Bosworth, in Leicestershire. The drudgery of the occupation, however, was irksome, and he accepted the invitation of a friend to visit Birmingham, where he tried to earn a subsistence by translating for a bookseller, the first who had been established in that

town. While at Birmingham he became acquainted with the family of a mercer named Porter, whose widow he married in 1736. Mrs. Porter was more than twenty years his senior, but Johnson was fondly attached to her, and she appears to have had great respect for him. When first introduced to the family, his odd appearance and convulsive manner excited surprise and ridicule, but Mrs. Porter was struck by his conversation, and she said to her daughter, "This is the most sensible man that I ever saw in my life."

Johnson's wife brought him a small fortune of £800, and he determined to turn this to profit by opening a school. The following advertisement therefore appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine:-" At Edial, near Lichfield, in Staffordshire, young gentlemen are boarded and taught the Latin and Greek Languages by Samuel Johnson." But the only pupils that were put under his care were the celebrated David Garrick and his brother George, and a Mr. Offely, a young gentleman of good fortune, who died early. At the end of eighteen months Johnson gave up the school, and determined to try his fortune in London. He was accompanied to the metropolis by his pupil David Garrick, who intended to complete his education and follow the profession of the law, from which he was soon diverted by his preference for the stage. He had a little money when he reached London, but he practised the most rigid economy. His dinner, each day, cost him eightpence. "I had," said he, "a cut of meat for sixpence, and bread for a penny, and gave the waiter a penny, so that I was quite well served, nay, better than the rest, for they gave the waiter nothing."

In the course of the summer he returned to Lichfield for three months, where he finished his tragedy of Irene, though it was not brought on the stage until twelve years later. He then removed to London with Mrs. Johnson, and obtained employment as a contributor to the Gentleman's Magazine. His first contribution was a copy of Latin verses, which appeared in March 1738. Two months later was published his London, a poem, in imita

tion of the third satire of Juvenal. It is remarkable that it appeared on the same morning as Pope's satire, entitled "1738;" the public was thus in a position to compare the production of an unknown writer with that of him who filled the poetical throne. The poem attracted great attention, and a second edition was called for in the course of a week. We are told that when Pope read it, he said, "The author, whoever he may be, will not be long concealed."

Johnson received ten guineas for his poem; but still his prospects from literature were not very bright, and he was therefore willing to resume the occupation of schoolmaster, in order that he might secure a sure, though moderate, income for life. The mastership of a schoolsupposed to have been that of Appleby, in Leicestershire -was offered to him, provided he could obtain the degree of Master of Arts. The university of Oxford was applied to but without effect; and Swift's influence with Dublin University was tried with the like result. He was obliged therefore to depend entirely upon literature. One great feature in the Gentleman's Magazine was the report of proceedings in Parliament. But as it was at that time contrary to the law to publish the debates, the law was evaded by the Parliamentary speeches being designated as those of the "Senate of Lilliput." Even at the present day, it is only by a kind of legal fiction that reporters are allowed in the House of Commons, and whenever a member chooses to draw the attention of the Speaker to the fact that there are strangers in the House, the reporters must withdraw. In Johnson's time reporters were not allowed to be present during the debates; and, in preparing the speeches for publication, Johnson-to whom this department was assigned-had to rely upon the scanty notes furnished by persons employed to attend in both Houses of Parliament. Sometimes indeed he had nothing more communicated to him than the names of the several speakers, and the part which they took in the debate.

It has been remarked that Johnson lived at a time

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