cording to his direction, been deposited in the British Museum, and is printed in the Gentleman's Magazine for December 1784.1

During his sleepless nights he amused himself by translating into Latin verse, from the Greek,

of them, published since his death, are sufficiently ascertained. I have before me, in his handwriting, a fragment of twenty quarto leaves, of a translation into English of Sallust, De Bello Catilinario. When it was done I have no notion; but it seems to have no very superior merit to mark it as his. Besides the publications heretofore mentioned, I am satisfied, from internal evidence, to admit also as genuine the following, which, notwithstanding all my chrono

logical care, escaped me in the course of this work:Considerations on the Case of Dr. Trapp's Sermons, published in 1739, in the Gentleman's Magazine. It is a very ingenious defence of the right of abridging an author's work, without being held as infringing his property. This is one of the nicest questions in the Law of Literature; and I cannot help thinking that the indulgence of abridging is often exceedingly injurious to authors and booksellers, and should in very few cases be permitted. At any rate, to prevent difficult and uncertain discussion, and give an absolute security to authors in the property of their labours, no abridgment whatever should be permitted, till after the expiration of such a number of years as the Legislature may be pleased to fix.

But, though it has been confidently ascribed to him, I cannot allow that he wrote a Dedication to both Houses of Parliament of a book entitled The Evangelical History Harmonized. He was no croaker; no declaimer against the times. He would not have written, That we are fallen upon an age in which corruption is not barely universal, is universally confessed.' Nor, 'Rapine preys on the public without opposition, and perjury betrays it without inquiry.' Nor would he, to excite a speedy reformation, have conjured up such phantoms of terror as these:-'A few years longer, and perhaps all endeavours will be in vain. We may be swallowed by an earthquake; we may be delivered to our enemies.' This is not Johnsonian.

There are, indeed, in this Dedication several sentences constructed upon the model of those of Johnson. But the imitation of the form, without the spirit of his style, has been so general, that this of itself is not sufficient evidence. Even our newspaper writers aspire to it. In an account of the funeral of Edwin, the comedian, in the Diary of Nov. 9, 1790, that son of drollery is thus described: A man who had so often cheered the sullenness of vacancy, and suspended the approaches of sorrow.' And in the Dublin Evening Post, August 16, 1791, there is the following paragraph: 'It is a singular circumstance, that in a city like this, containing 200,000 people, there are three months in the year during which no place of public amusement is open. Long vacation is here a vacation from pleasure as well as business; nor is there any mode of passing the listless evenings of declining summer, but in the riots of a tavern, or the stupidity of a coffeehouse.'

I have not thought it necessary to specify every copy of verses written by Johnson, it being my intention to publish an authentic edition of all his poetry, with notes.-BOSWELL.

1 As the letter accompanying this list (which fully supports the observation in the text) was written but

many of the epigrams in The Anthologia. These translations, with some other poems by him in Latin, he gave to his friend Mr. Langton, who, having added a few notes, sold them to the booksellers for a small sum to be given to some of Johnson's relations, which was accordingly done; and they are printed in the collection of his works.

A very erroneous notion has circulated as to Johnson's deficiency in the knowledge of the Greek language, partly owing to the modesty with which, from knowing how much there was to be learnt, he used to mention his own comparative acquisitions. When Mr. Cumberland' talked to him of the Greek fragments which are so well illustrated in the Observer, and of the Greek dramatists in general, he candidly

a week before Dr. Johnson's death, the reader may not be displeased to find it here preserved :

'TO MR. NICHOLS.

'Dec. 6, 1784.

The late learned Mr. Swinton, having one day remarked that one man, meaning, I suppose, no man but himself, could assign all the parts of the Ancient Universal History to their proper authors, at the request of Sir Robert Chambers or of myself, gave the account which I now transmit to you in his own hand; being willing that of so great a work the history should be known, and that each writer should receive his due proportion of praise from posterity.

'I recommend to you to preserve this scrap of literary intelligence in Mr. Swinton's own hand, or to deposit it in the Museum, that the veracity of this account may never be doubted.-I am, sir, your most humble servant, 'SAM. JOHNSON.'

Dissertation on the people of America.

independency of the Arabs. The Cosmogony, and a small part of the History immediately following; by Mr. Sale.

To the birth of Abraham; chiefly by Mr. Shelvock. History of the Jews, Gauls, and Spaniards; by Mr. Psalmanazar.

Xenophon's Retreat; by the same.

History of the Persians and the Constantinopolitan Empire; by Dr. Campbell.

History of the Romans; by Mr. Bower.-BOSWELL. 1 Mr. Cumberland assures me that he was always treated with great courtesy by Dr. Johnson, who, in his Letters to Mrs. Thrale, vol. ii. p. 68, thus speaks of that learned, ingenious, and accomplished gentleman: 'The want of company is an inconvenience, but Mr. Cumberland is a million.'-BoSWELL.

that I have explained what is more easy by what is more difficult-ignotum per ignotius. I expect, on the other hand, the liberal acknowledgments of the learned. He who is buried in scholastic retirement, secluded from the assemblies of the gay, and remote from the circles of the polite, will at once comprehend the definitions, and be grateful for such a seasonable and necessary elucidation of his mother-tongue.'

Annexed to this letter is the following specimen of the work, thrown together in a vague and desultory manner, not even adhering to alpha

betical concatenation :

‘Higgledy - piggledy - Conglomeration and

confusion.

'Hodge-podge—A culinary mixture of heterogeneous ingredients; applied metaphorically to

all discordant combinations.

'Tit for Tat-Adequate retaliation.

"Shilly Shally-Hesitation and irresolution. 'Fee! fa! fum !-Gigantic intonations. 'Rigmarole-Discourse, incoherent and rhap

'Ding dong-Tintinabulary chimes, used metaphorically to signify despatch and vehemence.'

The serious imitators of Johnson's style, whether intentionally or by the imperceptible effect of its strength and animation, are, as I have had already occasion to observe, so many, that I might introduce quotations from a numerous body of writers in our language, since he

'In an enlightened and improving age, much perhaps is not to be apprehended from the

inroads of mere caprice; at such a period it will generally be perceived, that needless irregularity is the worst of all deformities, and that nothing is so truly elegant in language as the therefore be observed, so far as they are known simplicity of unviolated analogy.-Rules will and acknowledged: but at the same time, the desire of improvement, having been once excited, will not remain inactive; and its efforts, unless assisted by knowledge, as much as they are

out the following :

WILLIAM ROBERTSON, D.D.

'In other parts of the globe, man, in his rudest state, appears as lord of the creation, giving law to various tribes of animals which he has tamed and reduced to subjection. The Tartar follows his prey on the horse which he has reared, or tends his numerous herds which furnish him both with food and clothing; the Arab has rendered the camel docile, and avails himself of its persevering strength; the Lap

lander has formed the reindeer to be subservient

to his will; and even the people of Kamschatka have trained their dogs to labour. This command over the inferior creatures is one of the noblest prerogatives of man, and among the greatest efforts of his wisdom and power. Without this his dominion is incomplete. He is a monarch who has no subjects; a master without servants; and must perform every operation by the strength of his own arm.'1

EDWARD GIBBON, ESQ.

1 History of America, vol. i. 4to, p. 332.-BOSWELL.

pernicious, so that the very persons whose intention it is to perfect the instrument of reason, will deprave and disorder it unknowingly. At such a time, then, it becomes peculiarly necessary that the analogy of language should be fully examined and understood; that its rules should be carefully laid down; and that it should be clearly known how much it contains, which being already right, should be defended from change and violation; how much much that, for fear of greater inconveniences, it has that demands amendment; and how must, perhaps, be left unaltered though irregular.'

A distinguished author in the Mirror, a periodical paper, published at Edinburgh, has

1 Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. i. chap. iv.-BOSWELL.

2 Cecilia, book vii. chap. i.-BOSWELL.

3 The passage which I quote is taken from that gentleman's Elements of Orthoepy; containing a distinct View of the whole Analogy of the English Language, so far as relates to Pronunciation, Accent, and Quantity. London, 1784.—Boswell.

4 That collection was presented to Dr. Johnson, I believe, by its authors; and I heard him speak very well of it.-BOSWELL

imitated Johnson very closely. Thus, in No. 16:

'The effects of the return of spring have been frequently remarked as well in relation to the human mind as to the animal and vegetable world. The reviving power of this season has been traced from the fields to the herds that inhabit them, and from the lower class of beings up to man. Gladness and joy are described as prevailing through universal Nature, animating the low of the cattle, the carol of the birds, and the pipe of the shepherd.'

The Rev. Dr. Knox, master of Tunbridge School, appears to have the imitari aveo of Johnson's style perpetually in his mind; and to his assiduous, though not servile, study of it, we may partly ascribe the extensive popularity of his writings.

In his Essays, Moral and Literary, No. 3, we find the following passage:

to the time when he might hope to see them again. It probably appeared to him that he should upbraid himself with unkind inattention, were he to leave the world without having paid a tribute of respect to their memory.

'TO MR. GREEN, APOTHECARY, AT LICHFIELD. 'Dec. 2, 1784.

'DEAR SIR,-I have enclosed the epitaph for my father, mother, and brother, to be all engraved on the large size, and laid in the middle aisle in St. Michael's Church, which I request the clergyman and churchwardens to permit.

"The first care must be to find the exact place of interment, that the stone may protect the bodies. Then let the stone be deep, massy, and hard; and do not let the difference of ten pounds, or more, defeat our purpose.

'I have enclosed ten pounds, and Mrs. Porter will pay you ten more, which I gave her for the same purpose. What more is wanted shall be sent; and I beg that all possible haste may be

There is, however, one in No. 11, which is blown up into such tumidity, as to be truly ludicrous. The writer means to tell us, that members of Paliament, who have run in debt by extravagance, will sell their votes to avoid an arrest,' which he thus expresses

'They who build houses and collect costly pictures and furniture, with the money of an honest artisan or mechanic, will be very glad of emancipation from the hands of a bailiff, by a sale of their senatorial suffrage.'

But I think the most perfect imitation of Johnson is a professed one, entitled A Criticism on Gray's Elegy in a Country Churchyard, said to be written by Mr. Young, professor of Greek at Glasgow, and of which let him have the credit, unless a better title can be shown. It has not only the particularities of Johnson's style, but that very species of literary discussion and illustration for which he was eminent.Having already quoted so much from others, I shall refer the curious to this performance, with an assurance of much entertainment.

Yet, whatever merit there may be in any imitations of Johnson's style, every good judge must see that they are obviously different from the original; for all of them are either deficient in its force, or overloaded with its peculiarities; and the powerful sentiment to which it is suited is not to be found.

Johnson's affection for his departed relations seemed to grow warmer as he approached nearer

1 Dr. Knox, in his Moral and Literary abstraction, may be excused for not knowing the political regulations of his country. No senator can be in the hands of a bailiff.-BoSWELL.

TO MRS. LUCY PORTER, AT LICHFIELD.1

'Dec. 2, 1784.

'DEAR MADAM,-I am very ill, and desire your prayers. I have sent Mr. Green the epitaph, and a power to call on you for ten pounds.

'I laid this summer a stone over Tetty, in the chapel of Bromley, in Kent. The inscription is in Latin, of which this is the English. [Here a translation.]

'That this is done, I thought it fit that you should know. What care will be taken of us, who can tell? May GOD pardon and bless us, for JESUS CHRIST's sake.—I am, etc., 'SAM. JOHNSON,"

CHAPTER LXIIL

1784.

My readers are now, at last, to behold SAMUEL JOHNSON preparing himself for that doom, from which the most exalted powers afford no exemption to man. Death had always been to him an object of terror; so that, though by no means happy, he still clung to life with an eagerness at which many have wondered. At any time when he was ill, he was very much pleased to be told that he looked better. An

1 This lady, whose name so frequently occurs in the course of this work, survived Dr. Johnson just thirteen months. She died at Lichfield, in her seventy-first year, January 13, 1786, and bequeathed the principal part of her fortune to the Rev. Mr. Pearson, of Lichfield.-MALONE.

His own state of his views of futurity will appear truly rational; and may, perhaps, impress the unthinking with seriousness.

'You know,' says he to Mrs. Thrale, 'I never thought confidence with respect to futurity any part of the character of a brave, a wise, or a good man. Bravery has no place where it can avail nothing; wisdom impresses strongly the consciousness of those faults, of which it is perhaps itself an aggravation; and goodness, always wishing to be better, and imputing every deficiency to criminal negligence, and every fault to voluntary corruption, never dares to suppose the condition of forgiveness fulfilled, nor what is wanting in the crime supplied by penitence.

'This is the state of the best; but what must be the condition of him whose heart will not suffer him to rank himself among the best, or among the good?-Such must be his dread of the approaching trial, as will leave him little attention to the opinion of those whom he is leaving for ever; and the serenity that is not felt, it can be no virtue to feign.'

His great fear of death, and the strange dark manner in which Sir John Hawkins imparts the uneasiness which he expressed on account of offences with which he charged himself, may give occasion to injurious suspicions, as if there had been something of more than ordinary criminality weighing upon his conscience. On that account, therefore, as well as from the regard to truth which he inculcated, I am to mention (with all possible respect and delicacy, however) that his conduct, after he came to London, and had associated with Savage and others, was not so strictly virtuous, in one respect, as when he was a younger man. well known that his amorous inclinations were uncommonly strong and impetuous. He owned to many of his friends, that he used to take women of the town to taverns, and hear them relate their history. In short, it must not be concealed, that, like many other good and pious men, among whom we may place the apostle Paul upon his own authority, Johnson was not free from propensities which were ever warring against the law of his mind,' and that in his combats with them he was sometimes overcome.

It was

A Club in London, founded by the learned and ingenious physician, Dr. Ash, in honour of whose name it was called Eumelian, from the Greek Eduxías: though it was warmly contended, and even put to a vote, that it should have the more obvious appellation of Fraxinean, from the Latin.-BOSWELL.

2 See what he said to Mr. Malone.-BoSWELL.

Here let the profane and licentious pause; let them not thoughtlessly say that Johnson was an hypocrite, or that his principles were not firm, because his practice was not uniformly conformable to what he professed.

Let the question be considered independent of moral and religious associations; and no man will deny that thousands, in many instances, act against conviction. Is a prodigal, for example, an hypocrite, when he owns he is satisfied that his extravagance will bring him to ruin and misery? We are sure he believes it; but immediate inclination, strengthened by indulgence, prevails over that belief in influencing his conduct. Why, then, shall credit be refused to the sincerity of those who acknowledge their persuasion of moral and religious duty, yet sometimes fail of living as it requires? I heard Dr. Johnson once observe, "There is something noble in publishing truth, though it condemns one's self." And one who said in his presence, 'he had no notion of people being in earnest in their good professions, whose practice was not suitable to them,' was thus reprimanded by him: 'Sir, are you so grossly ignorant of human nature as not to know that a man may be very sincere in good principles without having good practice?' 2

1

But let no man encourage or soothe himself in 'presumptuous sin,' from knowing that Johnson was sometimes hurried into indulgences which he thought criminal. I have exhibited this circumstance as a shade in so great a character, both from my sacred love of truth, and to show that he was not so weakly scrupulous as he had been represented by those who imagine that the sins, of which a deep sense was upon his mind, were merely such little venial trifles as pouring milk into his tea on Good Friday. His understanding will be defended by my statement, if his consistency of conduct be in some degree impaired. But what wise man would, for momentary gratifications, deliberately subject himself to suffer such uneasiness as we find was experienced by Johnson in reviewing his conduct as compared with his notion of the ethics of the gospel? Let the following passages be kept in remembrance :

'O GOD, giver and preserver of all life, by whose power I was created, and by whose providence I am sustained, look down upon me with tenderness and mercy; grant that I may not have been created to be finally destroyed; that

1 Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. On the same subject, in his letter to Mrs. Thrale, dated Nov. 29, 1783, he makes the following just observation: 'Life, to be worthy of a rational being, must be always in progression: we must always purpose to do more or better than in time past. The mind is enlarged and elevated by mere purposes, though they end as they began, by airy contemplation. We compare and judge, though we do not practise.'-BOSWELL.

2 Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides.-BoswELL.