1751. Etat. 42. fragments of Hog's Latin tranflation of that poem, alledging that the mals thus fabricated was the archetype from which Milton copied. These fabrications he published from time to time in the Gentleman's Magazine; and, exulting in his fancied fuccefs, he in 1750 ventured to collect them into a pamphlet, entitled "An Effay on Milton's Ufe and Imitation of the Moderns in his Paradise Loft." To this pamphlet Johnson wrote a Preface, in full perfuafion of Lauder's honefty, and a Poftfcript recommending, in the most persuasive terms, a fubfcription for the relief of a grand-daughter of Milton, of whom he thus fpeaks: "It is yet in the power of a great people to reward the poet whofe name they boast, and from their alliance to whose genius, they claim fome kind of fuperiority to every other nation of the earth; that poet, whose works may poffibly be read when every other monument of British greatness fhall be obliterated; to reward him, not with pictures or with medals, which, if he sees, he sees with contempt, but with tokens of gratitude, which he, perhaps, may even now confider as not unworthy the regard of an immortal fpirit." Surely this is inconfiftent with "enmity towards Milton," which Sir John Hawkins imputes to Johnson upon this occafion, adding, "I could all along obferve that Johnson seemed to approve not only of the defign, but of the argument; and feemed to exult in a perfuafion, that the reputation of Milton was likely to suffer by this discovery. That he was not privy to the impofture, I am well perfuaded; but that he wished well to the argument, may be inferred from the Preface, which indubitably was written by Johnfon." Is it poffible for any man of clear judgement to suppose that Johnson, who fo nobly praised the poetical excellence of Milton in a Poftfcript to this very "difcovery," as he then fuppofed it, could, at the fame time, exult in a perfuafion that the great poet's reputation was likely to fuffer by it? This is an inconfiftency of which Johnson was incapable; nor can any thing more be fairly inferred from the Preface, than that Johnson, who was alike diftinguifhed for ardent curiofity and love of truth, was pleased with an investigation by which both were gratified. That he was actuated by these motives, and certainly by no unworthy defire to depreciate our great epick poet, is evident from his own words; for, after mentioning the general zeal of men of genius and literature " to advance the honour, and diftinguish the beauties of Paradife Loft," he fays, "Among the inquiries to which this ardour of criticism has naturally given occafion, none is more obscure in itself, or more worthy of rational curiosity, than a retrospection of the progress of this mighty genius in the construction of his work; a view of the fabrick gradually rifing, perhaps, from fmall beginnings, till its foundation refts in the centre, and its turrets fparkle in the skies; to trace back the structure through all its varieties, to the fimplicity of its first plan; to find what was first projected, whence the scheme was taken, how it was improved, by what affiftance it was executed, and from what stores the materials were collected; whether its founder dug them from the quarries of Nature, or demolished other buildings to embellish his own."-Is this the language of one who wished to blast the laurels of Milton? Though Johnson's circumstances were at this time far from being easy, his humane and charitable difpofition was conftantly exerting itself. Mrs. Anna Williams, daughter of a very ingenious Welsh physician, and a woman of more than ordinary talents and literature, having come to London in hopes of being cured of a cataract in both her eyes, which afterwards ended in total blindness, was kindly received as a conftant vifitor at his house while Mrs. Johnson lived; and after her death having come under his roof in order to have an operation upon her eyes performed with more comfort to her than in lodgings, fhe had an apartment from him during the rest of her life, at all times when he had a house. In 1752 he was almoft entirely occupied with his Dictionary. The last paper of his Rambler was published March 2, this year; after which, there was a cessation for some time of any exertion of his talents as an essayist. But, in the fame year, Dr. Hawkefworth, who was his warm admirer, and a studious imitator of his style, and then lived in great intimacy with him, began a periodical paper, entitled "THE ADVENTURER," in connection with other gentlemen, one of whom was Johnfon's much-loved friend, Dr. Bathurst; and, without doubt, they received many valuable hints from his converfation, most of his friends having been fo affifted in the course of their works. 1751. Etat. 42. That there fhould be a fufpenfion of his literary labours during a part of the year 1752, will not feem ftrange, when it is confidered that foon after clofing his Rambler, he suffered a lofs which, there there can be no doubt, affected him with the deepest diftrefs. For on the 17th of March, O. S. his wife died. Why Sir John Hawkins should unwarrantably take upon him even to suppose that Johnson's fondness for her was dissembled [meaning simulated or affumed], and to affert, that if it was not the cafe," it was a leffon he had learned by rote," I cannot conceive; unless it proceeded from a want of similar feelings in his own breast. To argue from her being much older than Johnson, or any other circumstances, that he could not really love her, is abfurd; for love is not a fubject of reasoning, but of feeling, and therefore there are no common principles upon which one can perfuade another con cerning 1752. 1752. cerning it. Every man feels for himself, and knows how he is affected by Etat. 43. particular qualities in the perfon he admires, the impreffions of which are too minute and delicate to be fubftantiated in language. That his love for her was of the most ardent kind, and, during the long period of fifty years, was unimpaired by the lapse of time, is evident from various paffages in the feries of his Prayers and Meditations, published by the Reverend Mr. Strahan, as well as from other memorials, one of which I felect, as ftrongly marking the tenderness and fenfibility of his mind. April 23, 1753. I know not whether I do not too much indulge the vain longings of affection; but I hope they intenerate my heart, and that when I die like my Tetty, this affection will be acknowledged in a happy interview, and that in the mean time I am incited by it to piety. I will, however, not deviate too much from common and received methods of devotion." Her wedding-ring, when she became his wife, was, after her death, preserved by him as long as he lived with an affectionate care, in a little round wooden box, in the infide of which he pasted a flip of paper, thus inscribed by him in fair characters, as follows: "Ebeu! « Eliz. Johnson, "Mortua, ebeu! After his death, Mr. Francis Barber, his faithful fervant and refiduary legatee, offered this memorial of tenderness to Mrs. Lucy Porter, Mrs. Johnson's daughter; but she having declined to accept of it, he had it enamelled as a mourning-ring for his old master, and presented it to his wife, Mrs. Barber, who now has it. The state of mind in which a man must be upon the death of a woman whom he fincerely loves, had been in his contemplation many years before. In his IRENE, we find the following fervent and tender fpeech of Demetrius, addreffed to his Afpafia: "From those bright regions of eternal day, "Where now thou fhin'ft amongst thy fellow faints, "O! footh my foul, and teach me how to lose thee." I have, indeed, been told by Mrs. Defmoulins, who, before her marriage, lived for fome time with Mrs. Johnson at Hampstead, that she indulged herself in country air and nice living, at an unfuitable expence, while her husband was drudging in the smoke of London, and that fhe by no means treated him with that complacency which is the most engaging quality in a wife. But all this is perfectly compatible with his fondnefs for her, efpecially when it is remembered that he had a high opinion of her understanding, and that the impreffion which her beauty, real or imaginary, had originally made upon his fancy, being continued by habit, had not been effaced, though fhe herself was doubtless much altered for the worse. The dreadful fhock of feparation took place in the night; and he immediately dispatched a letter to his friend, the Reverend Dr. Taylor, which, as Taylor told me, expreffed grief in the strongest manner he had ever read; fo that it is much to be regretted it has not been preserved. The letter was brought to Dr. Taylor, at his house in the Cloysters, Westminster, about three in the morning; and as it fignified an earnest desire to fee him, he got up, and went to Johnson as foon as he was dreffed, and found him in tears and in extreme agitation. After being a little while together, Johnson requested him to join with him in prayer. He then prayed extempore, as did Dr. Taylor; and thus, by means of that piety which was ever his primary object, his troubled mind was, in fome degree, foothed and compofed. "LET me have your company and inftruction. Do not live away from me. My diftrefs is great. "Pray defire Mrs. Taylor to inform me what mourning I should buy for my mother and Miss Porter, and bring a note in writing with you. "Remember me in your prayers, for vain is the help of man. 1752. Etat. 43. March 18, 1752. "I am, dear Sir, &c. SAM. JOHNSON." That his fufferings upon the death of his wife were fevere, beyond what are commonly endured, I have no doubt, from the information of many who were then about him, to none of whom I give more credit than to Mr. L 1752. Atat. 43. Francis Barber, his faithful negro fervant, who came into his family about a fortnight after the dismal event. Thefe fufferings were aggravated by the melancholy inherent in his conftitution; and although he probably was not oftener in the wrong than fhe was, in the little difagreements which sometimes troubled his married state, during which, he owned to me, that the gloomy irritability of his existence was more painful to him than ever, he might very naturally, after her death, be tenderly disposed to charge himself with flight omiffions and offences, the fenfe of which would give him much uneafinefs. Accordingly we find, about a year after her decease, that he thus addreffed the Supreme Being: "O LORD, who giveft the grace of repentance, and hearest the prayers of the penitent, grant that by true contrition I may obtain forgivenefs of all the fins committed, and of all duties neglected in my union with the wife whom thou haft taken from me; for the neglect of joint devotion, patient exhortation, and mild instruction"." The kindness of his heart, notwithstanding the impetuofity of his temper, is well known to his friends; and I cannot trace the fmalleft foundation for the following dark and uncharitable affertion by Sir John Hawkins: "The apparition of his departed wife was altogether of the terrifick kind, and hardly afforded him a hope that she was in a state of happiness "." That he, in conformity with the opinion of many of the most able, learned, and pious Chriftians in all ages, fuppofed that there was a middle state after death, previous to the time at which departed fouls are finally received to eternal felicity, appears, I think, unquestionably from his devotions: " And, O LORD, so far as it may be lawful in me, I commend to thy fatherly goodnefs the foul of my departed wife; befeeching thee to grant her whatever is best in her present state, and finally to receive her to eternal happinefs"." But this ftate has not been looked upon with horrour, but only as lefs gracious. 4 Francis Barber was born in Jamaica, and was brought to England in 1750 by Colonel Batharft, father of Johnson's very intimate friend, Dr. Bathurft. He was fent, for fome time, to the Reverend Mr. Jackson's school, at Barton in Yorkshire. The Colonel by his will left him his freedom, and Dr. Bathurst was willing that he should enter into Johnson's service, in which he continued from 1752 till Johnson's death, with the exception of two intervals; in one of which, upon fome difference with his mafter, he went and ferved an apothecary in Cheapfide, but ftill vifited Dr. Johnson occafionally; in another, when he took a fancy to go to fea. Part of the time, indeed, he was, by the kindnefs of his mafter, at a fchool in Northamptonshire, that he might have the advantage of fome learning. So early and fo lafting a connection was there between Dr. Johnfon and this humble friend. s Prayers and Meditations, p. 19. Hawkins's Life of Johnfon, p. 316. He |