Johnson was prone to superstition, but not to credulity. Though his imagination might incline him to a belief of the marvelous 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. He was hard to please, and easily offended; impetuous and irritable in his temper, but of a most humane and benevolent heart. 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. He loved praise, when it was brought to him; but was too proud to seek for it. He was somewhat susceptible of flattery. His superiority over other learned men consisted chiefly in what may be called the art of thinking, the art of using his mind. 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. Exulting in his intellectual strength and dexterity, he could, when he pleased, be the greatest sophist that ever contended in the lists 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 Johnson, 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.

NOTES

Page 19. 1. 19. N. S.: Pope Gregory XIII. in A. D. 1582 reformed the Julian calendar, introduced by Julius Cæsar. The vernal equinox had become displaced by ten days. In order to restore it, he suppressed ten days, ordering that Oct. 5, 1582, should be called Oct. 15, 1582. The difference between the two calendars was eleven days, from 1700 to 1800. The two methods of reckoning are Old Style (O. S.) and New Style (N. S.).

21. 1. 10. Dr. Sacheverel: Dr. Henry Sacheverel (16721724) was an English churchman and notorious partisan of Toryism.

22. 1. 31. black letter: a kind of ink, prepared from grape residue, used in copper plate printing.

28. 1. 27. The Whole Duty of Man: author unknown.

a

celebrated

30. 1. 11. Bentley, Richard (1662-1742): critic, regarded as the greatest classical scholar that England ever produced. Dr. Samuel Clarke (1675-1729): a celebrated

English philosopher, metaphysician, and divine.

31. 1. 34. res angusta domi: "difficult circumstances at home."

37. 1. 17. Ofellus, or Ofella: a rustic, "unusually wise," mentioned in Horace's Satire, II:2.3. In 1769 appeared a poem called The Art of Living in London, giving instructions to persons who live in a garret and spend their evenings in an alehouse.

39. 1. 20. Robert Dodsley (1709-1764): a noted English bookseller and author, and projector of literary enterprises. 39. 1. 26. General Oglethorpe (1689-1785): an English general, remembered chiefly for his efforts in colonizing Georgia. He served under Marlborough and Prince Eugene in Germany.

335

41. 1. 25. Respicere exemplar vitæ morumque jubebo: "I shall bid you to look at an example of life and morality." 45. 1. 20. Sir John Hawkins (1719-1789): a lawyer, a member of The Literary Club, an intimate friend of Johnson, and one of his executors. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.

56. 1. 7. Colley Cibber (1671-1757): a witty English dramatic author and actor.

59. 1. 3. Warburton, William (1698-1779): English writer and prelate; a friend of Pope's.

an eminent

60. 1. 17. Network: "anything reticulated or decussated, at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections. Tory: one who adheres to the ancient constitution of the state and the apostolical hierarchy of the Church of England; opposed to a Whig. Whig: the name of a faction. Pension: an allowance made to any one without an equivalent. In England it is generally understood to mean pay given to a state hireling for treason to his country. Pensioner: one who is supported by an allowance paid at the will of another; a dependent. Oats: a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people. Excise: a hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid."

65. 1. 13. Thomas Sheridan (1721-1788): the father of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, an actor, and manager of the Dublin Theatre.

72. 1. 27. un etourdi: a blunderer, a thoughtless person. 73. 1. 19. Mrs. Piozzi (1739-1821): Esther Lynch Salusbury became the wife of Mr. Thrale, a brewer of London. Having lost her husband, she was married to an Italian teacher of music, named Piozzi. She knew Dr. Johnson intimately, and published Anecdotes of Dr. Samuel Johnson and Letters to and from Dr. Samuel Johnson.

78. 1. 19. Rousseau, Jean Jacques (1712-1778): a celebrated Swiss philosopher and writer.

84. 1. 10. Orpheus; a Thracian poet and musician whose lyre could charm beasts and make trees and rocks move. Argonauts: a band of about fifty heroes who sailed with
Jason in the ship Argo to Colchis in search of the Golden
Fleece.

98. 1. 9. Voltaire, François Marie Arouet de (1694-1778):
a French philosopher.

103. 1. 33. Joseph Warton (1722-1800): headmaster of
Winchester and editor of Pope.

105. 1. 5. The Provoked Husband: a drama partly written
by Sir John Vanbrugh, and finished by Colley Cibber.

105. 1. 31. Νὺξ γὰρ ἔρχεται : See John IX:4. "For
the night cometh."