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 beft.-There is nobody.-No man can be faid to put you in mind of Johnfon." As Johnfon had abundant homage paid to him during his life 7, fo no writer in this nation ever had fuch an accumulation of literary honours after his death. A fermon upon that event was preached in St. Mary's church, Oxford, before the University, by the Reverend Mr. Agutter, of Magdalen College. The Lives, the Memoirs, the Effays, both in profe and verfe, 7 Befides the Dedications to him by Dr. Goldfmith, the Reverend Dr. Franklin, and the Reverend Mr. Wilfon, which I have mentioned according to their dates, there was one by a lady, of a verfification of "Aningait and Ajut," and one by the ingenious Mr. Walker, of his "Rhetorical Grammar." I have introduced into this work feveral compliments paid to him in the writings of his contemporaries; but the number of them is so great, that we may fairly fay that there was almost a general tribute. Let me not be forgetful of the honour done to him by Colonel Myddelton, of Gwaynynog, near Denbigh; who, on the banks of a rivulet in his Park, where Johnson delighted to stand and repeat verses, erected an urn with the following infcription: "This fpot was often dignified by the prefence of SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL..D.. "Whofe moral writings, exactly conformable to the precepts of Chriftianity, As no inconfiderable circumftance of his fame, we must reckon the extraordinary zeal of the artists to extend and perpetuate his image. I can enumerate a buft by Mr. Nollekens, and the many cafts which are made from it; feveral pictures by Sir Jofhua Reynolds; one by Mr. Zoffani; and one by Mr. Opie; and the following engravings of his portrait: 1. One 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 Harrifon's edition of his Dictionary.-4. One from Nollekens's buft of him, by Bartolozzi, for Fielding's quarto edition of his Dictionary.-5. One fmall from Harding, by Trotter, for his "Beauties."-6. One small from Sir Joshua, by Trotter, for his "Lives of the Pocts."-7. One small one from Sir Joshua, by Hall, for " The Rambler."-8. One fmall from an original drawing in the poffeffion 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 Johnfoniana.-10. One folio whole length, with his oak flick, as defcribed in Bofwell'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 fmall from a drawing from the life, and engraved by Trotter, for his Life published by Kearsley.15. One large from Opie, by Mr. Townley, an ingenious engraver now at Berlin. 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 impreffions only were taken of. One of them is in the poffeffion of Sir William Scott.-16. One large from Sir Joshua's first picture of him, by Heath, for this work.-17. And one for Lavater's Effay on Phyfiognomy, in which Johnson's countenance is analyfed upon the principles of that fanciful writer. which have been published concerning him, would make many volumes. The numerous attacks too upon him, I confider as making part of his confequence, upon the principle which he himself fo well knew and afferted. Many who trembled at his prefence were forward in affault when they no longer apprehended danger. When one of his little pragmatical foes was invidiously fnarling at his fame, the Reverend Dr. Parr exclaimed, with his usual bold animation, "Aye, now that the old lion is dead, every afs thinks he may kick at him." A monument for him in Westminster-Abbey was refolved upon foon after his death, and has been fupported by a most respectable contribution; and in the cathedral of his native city of Lichfield a smaller one is to be erected. To compose his epitaph has excited the warmest competition of genius. If laudari à laudato viro be praife which is highly eftimable, I fhould not forgive myself were I to omit the following fepulchral verfes on the authour of THE ENGLISH DICTIONARY, Wwritten by the Right Honourable Henry Flood: "No need of Latin or of Greek to grace "Our JOHNSON's mem'ry, and infcribe his grave; The character of SAMUEL JOHNSON has, I trust, been fo developed in the courfe of this work, that they who have honoured it with a perufal, may be confidered as well acquainted with him. As, however, it may be expected that I should collect into one view the capital and distinguishing features of this extraordinary man, I shall endeavour to acquit myself of that part of my biographical undertaking, 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 caft of an ancient statue; yet his appearance was rendered strange and fomewhat uncouth, by convulfive cramps, by the fears of that diftemper which it was once imagined the royal touch could cure, and by a flovenly mode of dress. He had the use only of one eye; yet fo much does mind govern and even fupply the deficiency of organs, that his vifual perceptions, as far as they As I certainly do not fee any reason to give a different character of my illuftrious 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. 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 ftruggling gait of one in fetters; when he rode, he had no command or direction of his horfe, but was carried as if in a balloon. That with his conftitution and habits of life he fhould have lived seventy-five years, is a proof that an inherent vivida vis is a powerful preservative of the human frame. Man is in general made up of contradictory qualities, and these will ever fhew themselves in ftrange fucceffion, where a confiftency in appearance at leaft, if not in reality, has not been attained by long habits of philofophical 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 fome refpects; not, however, in any great or effential article, upon which he had fully employed his mind and fettled certain principles of duty, but only in his manners, and in displays of argument and fancy in his talk. He was prone to fuperftition, but not to credulity.. Though his imagination might incline him to a belief of the marvellous and the mysterious, his vigorous reafon examined the evidence with jealoufy. He was a fincere and zealous Chriftian, of high Church-of-England and monarchical principles, which he would not tamely fuffer to be queftioned; and had perhaps, at an early period, narrowed his mind somewhat too much,, both as to religion and politicks. His being impressed with the danger of extreme latitude in either, though he was of a very independent spirit, occafioned his appearing fomewhat unfavourable to the prevalence of that noble freedom of sentiment which is the best poffeffion of man. Nor can it be denied, that he had many prejudices; which, however, frequently suggested many of his pointed fayings, that rather fhew a playfulness of fancy than any fettled malignity. He was fteady and inflexible in maintaining the obligations of religion and morality, both from a regard for the order of fociety, and from a veneration for the Great Source of all order; correct, nay ftern in his taste; hard to please, and eafily offended; impetuous and irritable in his temper, but of a most humane and benevolent heart, which fhewed itself not only In the Olla Podrida, a collection of Effays published at Oxford, there is an excellent paper upon the character of Johnson, faid to be written by the Reverend Dr. Horne, now Bishop of Norwich. The following paffage is eminently happy :-" To reject wisdom, because the perfon of him who communicates it is uncouth, and his manners are inelegant ;-what is it, but to throw away a pine-apple, and affign for a reason the roughness of its coat?” in in a moft liberal charity, as far as his circumftances would allow, but in a thousand inftances of active benevolence. He was afflicted with a bodily difeafe which made him reftlefs and fretful, and with a conftitutional melancholy, the clouds of which darkened the brightness of his fancy, and gave a gloomy caft to his whole courfe of thinking: we therefore ought not to wonder at his fallies of impatience and paffion at any time, especially when provoked by obtrufive ignorance or prefuming petulance; and allowance -must be made for his uttering hafty and fatirical fallies, even against his best friends. And furely, when it is confidered that "amidst sickness and forrow" he exerted his faculties in fo many works for the benefit of mankind, and particularly that he achieved the great and admirable Dictionary of our language, we must be aftonished at his refolution. The folemn text of "him to whom much is given, much will be required," feems to have been ever present to his mind in a rigorous fenfe, and to have made him diffatisfied with his labours and acts of goodness, however comparatively great; fo that the unavoidable consciousness of his fuperiority was in that refpet a caufe of difquiet. He fuffered so much from this, and from the gloom which perpetually haunted him, and made folitude frightful, that it may be faid 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 feek for it. He was somewhat susceptible of flattery. As he was general and unconfined in his ftudies, he cannot be confidered as mafter of any one particular fcience; but he had accumulated a vast and various collection of learning and knowledge, which was fo arranged in his mind, as to be ever in readiness to be brought forth. But his fuperiority over other learned men confifted chiefly in what may be called the art of thinking, the art of ufing his mind; a certain continual power of feizing the useful fubftance of all that he knew, and exhibiting it in a clear and forcible manner; fo that knowledge which we often fee 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 bafis of common fenfe. His mind was fo full of imagery, that he might have been perpetually a poet; yet it is remarkable, that however rich his profe is in that respect, the poetical pieces which he wrote were in general not fo, but rather strong fentiment and acute obfervation, conveyed in good verfe, particularly in heroick couplets. Though ufually grave and even aweful in his deportment, he poffeffed uncommon and peculiar powers of wit and humour; he frequently indulged 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, impiety, it was falutary to those who shared in it. He had accustomed himself to such accuracy in his common converfation', that he at all times delivered himself with a force, and elegant choice of expreffion, the effect of which was aided by his having a loud voice, and a flow deliberate utterance. He united a moft logical head with a most fertile imagination, which gave him an extraordinary advantage in arguing; for he could reafon clofe or wide, as he saw best for the moment. Exulting in his intellectual strength and dexterity, he could, when he pleased, be the greatest fophift that ever contended in the lifts of declamation; and from a fpirit of contradiction, and a delight in fhewing his powers, he would often maintain the wrong fide with equal warmth and Though a perfect resemblance of Johnson is not to be found in any age, parts of his character are admirably expreffed by Clarendon, in drawing that of Lord Falkland, whom the noble and masterly historian describes at his feat near Oxford :-" Such an immenseness of wit, fuch a folidity of judgement, fo infinite a fancy, bound in by a moft logical ratiocination.-His acquaintance was cultivated by the most polite and accurate men, so that his house was a Univerfity in less volume, whither they came not fo much for repofe as study, and to examine and refine those groffer propofitions, which laziness and confent made current in converfation." Bayle's account of Menage may also be quoted as exceedingly applicable to the great subject of this work." His illuftrious friends erected a very glorious monument to him in the collection entitled Menagiana. Thofe, who judge of things aright, will confefs that this collection is very proper to fhew the extent of genius and learning which was the character of Menage. And I may be bold to fay, that the excellent works he published will not distinguish him from other learned men fo 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 an hundred ways. How many authours 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. Thofe, who know Menage only by his books, might think he resembled those learned men: but if you fhew the MENAGIANA, you diftinguish 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 ferious and things jocose; in a word, to a thousand sorts of fubjects. That which appeared a trifle to fome readers of the Menagiana, who did not confider circumftances, caused admiration in other readers, who minded the difference between what a man speaks without preparation, and that which he prepares for the prefs. And therefore we cannot fufficiently commend the care which his illuftrious friends took to erect to him a monument fo capable of giving him immortal glory. They were not obliged to rectify what they had heard him fay; for in fo doing they had not been faithful hiftorians of his converfations." VOL. II. 4 F ingenuity; |