in his death.'" JOHNSON." Yes, madam; that is, he shall not have despair. But, consider, his hope of salvation must be founded on the terms on which it is promised that the mediation of our Saviour shall be applied to us-namely, obedience; and where obedience has failed, then, as suppletory to it, repentance. But what man can say, that his obedience has been such, as he would approve of in another, or even in himself, upon close examination; or that his repentance has not been such as to require being repented of? No man can be sure that his obedience and repentance will obtain salvation." MRS. KNOWLES. "But divine intimation of acceptance may be made to the soul." JOHNSON. "Madam, it may; but I should not think the better of a man, who should tell me, on his death-bed, he was sure of salvation. A man cannot be sure himself, that he has divine intimation of acceptance; much less can he make others sure that he has it." BosWELL. Then, sir, we must be contented to acknowledge, that death is a terrible thing."

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JOHNSON. Yes, sir: I have made no approaches to a state, which can look on it as not terrible." MRS. KNOWLES (seeming to enjoy a pleasing serenity in the persuasion of benignant divine light.) “Does not St. Paul say, 'I have fought the good fight of faith, I have finished my course; henceforth is laid up for me a crown of life?' JOHNSON." Yes, madam; but here was a man inspired, a man who had been converted by supernatural interposition." BOSWELL." In prospect death is dreadful; but in fact we find that people die easy." JOHNSON. 66 Why, sir, most people have not thought much of the matter, so cannot say much; and it is supposed

they die easy. Few believe it certain they are then to die; and those who do, set themselves to behave with resolution, as a man does who is going to be hanged he is not the less unwilling to be hanged." MISS SEWARD. "There is one mode of the fear of death, which is certainly absurd; and that is the dread of annihilation, which is only a pleasing sleep without a dream." JOHNSON. "It is neither pleasing, nor sleep: it is nothing. Now mere existence is so much better than nothing, that one would rather exist, even in pain, than not exist." BOSWELL. "If aunihilation be nothing, then existing in pain is not a comparative state, but is a positive evil, which I cannot think we should choose. I must be allowed to differ here; and it would lessen the hope of a future state, founded on the argument, that the Supreme Being, who is good as he is great, will hereafter compensate for our present sufferings in this life for if existence, such as we have it here, be comparatively a good, we have no reason to complain, though no more of it should be given But if our only state of existence were in this world, then we might, with some reason, complain that we are so dissatisfied with our enjoyments, compared with our desires." JOHNSON. "The lady confounds annihilation, which is nothing, with the apprehension of it, which is dreadful: it is in the apprehension of it, that the horror of annihilation consists."

to us.

Johnson, with that native fortitude, which, amidst all his bodily distress and inental sufferings, never forsook him, asked Dr. Brocklesby, as a man in whom he had confidence, to tell him plainly whether he would recover. "Give me," said he, a direct answer." The doctor, having first asked him

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if he could bear the whole truth, which way soever it might lead, and being answered, that he could, declared, that, in his opinion, he could not recover without a miracle. "Then," said Johnson, “I will take no more physic, not even my opiates; for I have prayed that I may render up my soul to God unclouded." In this resolution he persevered, and, at the same time, used only the weakest kind of sustenance. Being pressed by Mr. Windham to take somewhat more generous nourishment, lest too low a diet should have the very effect which he dreaded, by debilitating his mind, he said, "I will take any thing but inebriating sustenance."

As he opened a note which his servant brought to him, he said, "An odd thought strikes me :-we shall receive no letters in the grave."

While Johnson and Boswell were at Lichfield, as they sat at breakfast one day, the doctor received a letter by the post, which seemed to agitate him very much. When he had read it, he exclaimed, "One of the most dreadful things that has happened in my time." The phrase, my time, like the word age, is usually understood to refer to an event of a public or general nature. Boswell imagined something like an assassination of the king-like a gunpowder plot carried into execution or like another fire of London. When asked, "What is it, sir?" he answered, “Mr. Thrale has lost his only son!" This was, no doubt, a very great affliction to Mr. and Mrs. Thrale, which their friends would consider accordingly; but from the manner in which the intelligence of it was communicated by Johnson, it appeared for the moment to be comparatively small. Boswell, however, soon felt a sincere concern, and was curious to observe how Dr. John

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son would be affected. He said, "This is a total extinction to their family, as much as if they were sold into captivity." Upon mentioning, that Mr. Thrale had daughters, who might inherit his wealth "Daughters!" said Johnson, warmly, "he'll no more value his daughters than Boswell was going to speak. "Sir," said he, " don't you know how you yourself think? Sir, he wishes to propagate his name." In short, male succession was strong in his mind, even where there was no name, no family, of any long standing. Boswell said, it was lucky he was not present when this misfortune happened. JOHNSON. "It is lucky for me people in distress never think that you feel enough." BoSWELL. "And, sir, they will have the hope of seeing you, which will be a relief, in the mean time; and when you get to them, the pain will be so far abated, that they will be capable of being consoled by you, which, in the first violence of it, I believe, would not be the case." JOHNSON. "No, sir; violent pain of mind, like violent pain of body, must be severely felt." BOSWELL. "I own, sir, I have not so much feeling for the distress of others, as some people have, or pretend to have; but I know this, that I would do all in my power to relieve them." JOHNSON. "Sir, it is affectation to pretend to feel the distress of others as much as they do themselves: it is equally so, as if one should pretend to feel as much pain while a friend's leg is cutting off, as he does. No, sir; you have expressed the rational and just nature of sympathy. I would have gone to the extremity of the earth to have preserved this boy."

He was soon quite calm. The letter was from. Mr. Thrale's clerk, and concluded, "I need not say

how much they wish to see you in London." He said, "We shall hasten back to Taylor's."

Boswell adds, "After dinner, Dr. Johnson wrote a letter to Mrs. Thrale, on the death of her son. I said, it would be very distressing to Thrale, but she would soon forget it, as she had so many things to think of. JOHNSON. 'No, sir,Thrale will forget it first: she has many things that she may think of; he has many things that he must think of.' This was a very just remark upon the different effects of those light pursuits, which occupy a vacant and easy mind, anḍ those serious engagements, which arrest attention, and keep us from brooding over grief.

"In the evening, we went to the Town-hall, which was converted into a temporary theatre, and saw Theodosius, with The Stratford Jubilee. I was happy to see Dr. Johnson sitting in a conspicuous part of the pit, and receiving affectionate homage from all his acquaintance. We were quite gay and merry. I afterwards mentioned to him, that I condemned myself for being so, when poor Mr. and Mrs. Thrale were in such distress. JOHNSON. 'You are wrong, sir; twenty years hence Mr. and Mrs. Thrale will not suffer much pain from the death of their son. Now, sir, you are to consider, that distance of place, as well as distance of time, operates upon the human feelings: I would not have you be gay in the presence of the distressed, because it would shock them; but you may be gay at a distance. Pain for the loss of a friend, or of a relation whom we love, is occasioned by the want which we feel in time, the vacuity is filled with something else; or sometimes the vacuity closes up of itself,'"