and to which a man of such inquiry and such judgment as Carte (1) could give credit; carried him to London, where he was actually touched by Queen Anne. (2) Mrs. Johnson, indeed, as Mr. Hector informed me, acted by the advice of the celebrated Sir John Floyer, then a physician in Lichfield. Johnson used to talk of this very frankly; and Mrs. Piozzi has preserved his very picturesque description of the scene, as it remained upon his fancy. Being asked, if he could remember Queen Anne,"He had," he said, 66 a confused, but somehow a sort of solemn recollection of a lady in diamonds, and a long black hood." This touch, however, was without any effect. I ventured to say to him, in allusion to the political principles in which he was educated, and of which he ever retained some odour, that "his mother had not carried him far enough; she should have taken him to ROME."

cient Statutes," p. 107. In the London Gazette, No. 2180., there is this advertisement: "Whitehall, Oct. 8. 1686. His Majesty is graciously pleased to appoint to heal, weekly, for the evil, upon Fridays; and hath commanded his physicians and chirurgeons to attend at the office appointed for that purpose in the Meuse, upon Thursdays, in the afternoon, to give out tickets."]

(1) [In consequence of a note, in vindication of the efficacy of the royal touch, which Carte admitted into the first volume of his History of England, the corporation of London withdrew their subscription, and the work instantaneously fell into almost total, but certainly undeserved, neglect. - NICHOLS.

It would seem, that Swift might be included amongst the believers, as, in his Journal to Stella, he says, "I spoke to the Duchess of Ormond, to get a lad touched for the evil, the son of a grocer." Scott's Swift, vol. ii. p. 252. — MARKLAND.]

(2) It appears, by the newspapers of the time, that on the 30th of March, 1712, two hundred persons were touched by Queen Anne.]

CHAPTER II.

1716-1728.

Johnson goes to School at Lichfield.

bridge.

his boyish Days. Removed to the School of StourSpecimens of his School Exercises and early Verses. He leaves Stourbridge, and passes two Years with his Father.

He was first taught to read English by Dame Oliver, a widow, who kept a school for young children in Lichfield. He told me she could read the black letter, and asked him to borrow for her, from his father, a bible in that character. When he was going to Oxford, she came to take leave of him, brought him, in the simplicity of her kindness, a present of gingerbread, and said he was the best scholar she ever had. He delighted in mentioning this early compliment; adding, with a smile, that "this was as high a proof of his merit as he could conceive." His next instructor in English was a master, whom, when he spoke of him to me, he familiarly called Tom Brown, who, said he, "published a spelling-book, and dedicated it to the UNIVERSE: but, I fear, no copy of it can now be had." He began to learn Latin with Mr. Hawkins, usher or under-master of Lichfield school, "a man," said he, " very skilful in his little way." With him he

66

continued two years, and then rose to be under the care of Mr. Hunter, the head master, who, according to his account, was very severe, and wrongheadedly severe. He used," said he, "to beat us unmercifully; and he did not distinguish between ignorance and negligence; for he would beat a boy equally for not knowing a thing, as for neglecting to know it. He would ask a boy a question, and if he did not answer it, he would beat him, without considering whether he had an opportunity of knowing how to answer it. For instance, he would call up a boy and ask him Latin for a candlestick, which the boy could not expect to be asked. Now, Sir, if a boy could answer every question, there would be no need of a master to teach him."

It is, however, but justice to the memory of Mr. Hunter to mention, that though he might err in being too severe, the school of Lichfield was very respectable in his time. The late Dr. Taylor, prebendary of Westminster, who was educated under him, told me, that "he was an excellent master, and that his ushers were most of them men of eminence ; that Holbrook, one of the most ingenious men, best scholars, and best preachers of his age, was usher during the greatest part of the time that Johnson was at school. Then came Hague, of whom as much might be said, with the addition that he was an elegant poet. Hague was succeeded by Green (1),

(1) [Dr. John Green was born in 1706, and died, Bishop of Lincoln, in 1779. He was one of the writers of the celebrated "Athenian Letters," published by the Earl of Hardwicke in

afterwards Bishop of Lincoln, whose character in the learned world is well known. In the same form with Johnson was Congreve, who afterwards became chaplain to Archbishop Boulter, and by that connection obtained good preferment in Ireland. He was a younger son of the ancient family of Congreve, in Staffordshire, of which the poet was a branch. His brother sold the estate. There was also Lowe, afterwards canon of Windsor." (1)

Indeed, Johnson was very sensible how much he owed to Mr. Hunter. Mr. Langton one day asked him, how he had acquired so accurate a knowledge of Latin, in which, I believe, he was exceeded by no man of his time; he said, "My master whipt me very well. Without that, Sir, I should have done nothing." He told Mr. Langton, that while Hunter was flogging his boys unmercifully, he used to say, "And this I do to save you from the gallows." Johnson, upon all occasions, expressed his approbation of enforcing instruction by means of the rod (2): "I would rather," said he, "have the rod to be the general terror to all, to make them learn, than tell a child, if you do thus, or thus, you will be more esteemed than your brothers or sisters. The rod produces an effect which terminates in itself. A child is afraid of being whipped, and gets his task,

(1) [Among other eminent men, Addison, Wollaston, Garrick, Bishop Newton, Chief-Justice Willes, Chief-Baron Parker, and Chief-Justice Wilmot were educated at this seminary.]

(2) [In a conversation with Dr. Burney, in the year 1775, Johnson said, "There is now less flogging in our great schools than formerly, but then less is learned there; so that what the boys get at one end they lose at the other."]

and there's an end on't; whereas, by exciting emulation and comparisons of superiority, you lay the foundation of lasting mischief; you make brothers and sisters hate each other."

When Johnson saw some young ladies in Lincolnshire who were remarkably well behaved, owing to their mother's strict discipline and severe correction, he exclaimed, in one of Shakspeare's lines a little varied (1),

66 Rod, I will honour thee for this thy duty."

That superiority over his fellows, which he maintained with so much dignity in his march through life, was not assumed from vanity and ostentation, but was the natural and constant effect of those extraordinary powers of mind, of which he could not but be conscious by comparison; the intellectual difference, which in other cases of comparison of characters is often a matter of undecided contest, being as clear in his case as the superiority of stature in some men above others. Johnson did not strut or stand on tip-toe : he only did not stoop. From his earliest years, his superiority was perceived and acknowledged. He was from the beginning Avaš avopov, a king of men. His schoolfellow, Mr. Hector, has obligingly furnished me with many particulars of his boyish days; and assured me that he never knew him corrected at school, but for talking and diverting other boys from their business. He seemed to

(1) More than a little. The line is in King Henry VI., Part II. act iv. sc. last:

"Sword, I will hallow thee for this thy deed.".
"-MALONE.