on hearing of a criminal's prayer for mercy, said in a solemn fervid tone, "I hope he shall find mercy." And let us hope that Dr. Johnson himself, the learned, the great, and the religious, has found that mercy with God which he desired so earnestly for an unfortunate fellow-creature. Surely, when we contemplate his last hours, we are not mistaken in putting into his mouth the lines of Sir Henry Wotton : "Now have I done; now are my thoughts at peace; I feel those comforts that shall never cease, Future in hope, but present in belief. Thy words are true, Thy promises are just, And Thou wilt find Thy dearly bought-in dust." And now, gentle reader, we must come to a close. Adam Clarke, in speaking of a small town in the Land's End in Cornwall, tells us, that on the sign of an inn, as you come from the Land's End, are these words,"The first Inn in England ;" and on the reverse are the following,-"The last Inn in England." Reader! you will soon have come from first to last in this my book, wherein I trust you have not been wearily detained; at all events, let me hope that your duty hath pardoned any want of entertainment in my efforts; for, as has been said,*- Personal gratitude, and personal affection to the good and great who have closed their scene upon earth, are elevated sentiments. They are debts of honour to the departed spirit." But, reader, you will soon have passed from first to last in your mortal career: and while you derive, throughout your *George Hardinge. course on earth, much instruction from Dr. Johnson's life and writings, may you have a fair hope of the mercy of God in your entrance upon eternity! : Let me conclude with Dr. Johnson's own words. "There are few things," he writes in the last number of his IDLER,* "not purely evil, of which we can say, without some emotion of uneasiness, this is the last. Those who never could agree together, shed tears when mutual discontent has determined them to final separation of a place which has been frequently visited, though without pleasure, the last look is taken with heaviness of heart. . . . The termination of any period of life reminds us that life itself has likewise its termination: when we have done anything for the last time, we involuntarily reflect that a part of the days allotted us is past, and that as more is past there is less remaining." So is it with the author in writing a book-so is it with the reader in reading it! And to all men there is a time when it must be said—then cometh the end. * Vol. ii. p. 281. INDEX. ADAM CLARKE, Mother of, 11. Adams, Parson, 131. his belief in spirits, 432. present, not to be decried, ib. American Prayer Book, 137. son, 1, 509, 513. Arnold, Rev. Dr., on assurance of calmness in death, 488. Assurance, doctrine of, 463. Athenæum, illiterate letter to Dr. unpublished letter of Dr. Atonement, grand doctrine of, 27. 28. B. Bramhall, on predestination, 225. Dr. Johnson asks for the Dr. Johnson's prayer for, 499. Browne, Sir Thomas, his excellent Bull, Bishop, death-bed of, 526. Burgess, Bishop, original letter Burial Service of the Church, 144. his golden advice to the Cler- Byron, Lord, mother of, 12. on real religion, 410. --on Doctor Johnson, 503. Cheynell, Dr. Francis, observation Church and King, 101. and State, discipline, 141. Dr. Johnson wrote not in support of, 154. touchstone of, 515. Chrysostom, St., on Christmas, 136. Clergy, poverty of a portion, 155. a farmer's opinion of, 122. Coke, Lord, saying of, 311. 52. Communion, poor man at, 63. Conscience, case of, 400. Conversions, sudden, 272. Conviction of the truth, 26. Convocation of Church of England, E. Economy in charity discounte- Edial, school at, 9. 295. Elliott, H. M., on Indian intole- Elphinstone, Mr., letter to, 13. Enemies, Doctor Johnson's, 509. most in Church of Rome, 247. 234. Episcopal Church of Scotland, Epitaphs, Dr. Johnson's Essay on, agreeable to the doctrines of on Hogarth and others, by on a stage-coachman, 439. in St. Weonard's and East- in Stoke Newington, and on in Brading, Isle of Wight, on Rousseau, and from "The on Raphael and Molière, 445. 446. in Llangawen, Tretire, Ross, in Compton Beauchamp new species of, 436. |