On the 13th of the same month he wrote in his Journal the following scheme of life, for Sunday: "Having lived," as he with tenderness of conscience expresses himself, "not without an habitual reverence for the Sabbath, yet without that attention to its religious duties which Christianity requires ; ร "1. To rise early, and in order to it, to go to sleep early on Saturday. "2. To use some extraordinary devotion in the morning. "3. To examine the tenor of my life, and particularly the last week; and to mark my advances in religion, or recession from it. "4. To read the Scripture methodically with such helps as are at hand. "5. To go to church twice. "6. To read books of Divinity, either speculative or practical. "7. To instruct my family. "8. To wear off by meditation any worldly soil contracted in the week." 1 JOHNSON'S FAVOURABLE JUDGMENT OF BOOKSELLERS-WRITES IN "UNIVERSAL VISITER AND "LITERARY MAGAZINE"-DEFENCE OF TEA, AGAINST JONAS HANWAY-DEFENCE OF ADMIRAL BYNG-ANSWER TO SOAME JENYNS-ISSUE OF PROPOSALS FOR EDITION OF SHAKSPEARE-DECLINES OFFER OF PREFERMENT IN THE CHURCH--LETTERS TO WARTON LANGTON, &C.-BURNEY'S INTERVIEW WITH JOHNSON IN GOUGH SQUARE. IN 1756 Johnson found that the great fame of his Dictionary had not set him above the necessity of "making provision for the day that was passing over him."1 No royal or noble patron extended a munificent hand to give independence to the man who had conferred stability on the language of his country. We may feel indignant that there should have been such unworthy neglect; but we must, at the same time, congratulate ourselves, when we consider, that to this very neglect, operating to rouse the natural indolence of his constitution, we owe many valuable productions, which otherwise, perhaps, might never have appeared. 1 He was so far from being "set above the necessity of making provision for the day that was passing over him," that he appears to have been in this year in great pecuniary distress, having been arrested for debt; on which occasion his friend, Samuel Richardson, became his surety. See a letter from Johnson to him, on that subject, dated Feb. 19, 1756. Richardson's Correspondence," vol. v. p. 283.-MALONE. He had spent, during the progress of the work, the money for which he had contracted to write his Dictionary. We have seen that the reward of his labour was only fifteen hundred and seventy-five pounds; and when the expense of amanuenses and paper, and other articles, are deducted, his clear profit was very inconsiderable. I once said to him, "I am sorry, Sir, you did not get more for your Dictionary." His answer was, "I am sorry too. But it was very well. The booksellers are generous liberal-minded men." He, upon all occasions, did ample justice to their character in this respect. He considered them as the patrons of literature; and, indeed, although they have eventually been considerable gainers by his Dictionary, it is to them that we owe its having been undertaken and carried through at the risk of great expense, for they were not absolutely sure of being indemnified. On the first day of this year1 we find from his private devotions, that he had then recovered from sickness [Pr. and Med.], and in February, that his eye was restored to its use [Pr. and Med. p. 27]. The pious gratitude with which he acknowledges mercies upon every occasion is very edifying; as is the humble submission which he breathes, when it is the will of his heavenly Father to try him with afflictions. As such dispositions become the state of man here, and are the true effects of religious discipline, we cannot but venerate in Johnson one of the most exercised minds that our holy religion hath ever formed. If there be any thoughtless enough to suppose such exercise the weakness of a great understanding, let them look up to Johnson, and be convinced that what he so earnestly practised must have a rational foundation. His works this year were, an abstract or epitome, in octavo, of his folio Dictionary, and a few essays in a monthly publication, entitled "The Universal Visiter." Christopher Smart, with whose unhappy vacillation of mind he sincerely sympathised, was one of the stated undertakers of this miscellany; and it was to assist him that Johnson sometimes employed his pen. All the essays marked with two asterisks have been ascribed to him; but I am confident, from internal evidence, that of these, neither "The Life of Chaucer," "Reflections on the State of Portugal," nor an "Essay on Architecture," were written by him. I am equally confident, upon the same evidence, that he wrote "Further Thoughts on Agriculture ;"+ being the sequel of a very inferior essay on the same subject, and which, though carried on as if by the same hand, In April in this year, Johnson wrote a letter to Dr. Joseph Warton, in consequence of having read a few pages of that gentleman's newly published "Essay on the Genius and Writings of Pope." The only paragraph in it that respects Johnson's personal history is this: "For my part, I have not lately done much. I have been ill in the winter, and my eye has been inflamed; but I please myself with the hopes of doing many things, with which I have long pleased and deceived myself!" Memoirs of Dr. J. Warton, &c. 4to. 1806.MALONE. is both in thinking and expression so far above it, and so strikingly peculiar, as to leave no doubt of its true parent; and that he also wrote, "A Dissertation on the State of Literature and Authors,”+ and "A Dissertation on the Epitaphs written by Pope."* The last of these, indeed, he afterwards added to his “Idler.” Why the essays truly written by him are marked in the same manner with some which he did not write, I cannot explain: but with deference to those who have ascribed to him the three essays which I have rejected, they want all the characteristical marks of Johnsonian composition. He engaged also to superintend and contribute largely to another monthly publication, entitled "The Literary Magazine, or Universal Review ;"* the first number of which came out in May this year. What were his emoluments from this undertaking, and what other writers were employed in it, I have not discovered. He continued to write in it, with intermissions, till the fifteenth number; and I think that he never gave better proofs of the force, acuteness, and vivacity of his mind, than in this miscellany, whether we consider his original essays, or his reviews of the works of others. The "Preliminary Address" to the public, is a proof how this great man could embellish, with the graces of superior composition, even so trite a thing as the plan of a magazine. 66 His original essays are, "An Introduction to the Political State of Great Britain; "+"Remarks on the Militia Bill;"+ "Observations on his Britannic Majesty's Treaties with the Empress of Russia and the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel; "+ "Observations on the Present State of Affairs; "+" and, "Memoirs of Frederick III., King of Prussia.” † In all these he displays extensive political knowledge and sagacity, expressed with uncommon energy and perspicuity; without any of those words which he sometimes took a pleasure in adopting, in imitation of Sir Thomas Brown; of whose "Christian Morals" he this year gave an edition, with his "Life"* prefixed to it, which is one of Johnson's best biographical performances. In one instance only in these essays has he indulged his Brownism. Dr. Robertson, the historian, mentioned it to me, as having at once convinced him that Johnson was the author of the "Memoirs of the King of Prussia." Speaking of the pride which the old king, the father of his hero, took in being master of the tallest regiment in Europe, he says, "To review this towering regiment was his daily pleasure; and to perpetuate it was so much his care, that when he met a tall woman he immediately commanded one of his Titanian retinue to marry her, that they might propagate procerity." For this Anglo-Latin word procerity, Johnson had, however, the authority of Addison. His reviews are of the following books: "Birch's History of the Royal Society;"+ "Murphy's Gray's-Inn Journal; "+ "Warton's 66 * י Essay on the Writings and Genius of Pope," vol. i.;† “Hampton's It is worthy of remark, in justice to Johnson's political character, which has been misrepresented as abjectly submissive to power, that his "Observations on the present State of Affairs" glow with as animated a spirit of constitutional liberty as can be found anywhere. Thus he begins: "The time is now come, in which every Englishman expects to be informed of the national affairs; and in which he has a right to have that expectation gratified. For, whatever may be urged by Ministers, or those whom vanity or interest make the followers of Ministers, concerning the necessity of confidence in our governors, and the presumption of prying with profane eyes into the recesses of policy, it is evident that this reverence can be claimed only by counsels yet unexecuted, and projects suspended in deliberation. But when a design has ended in miscarriage or success, when every eye and every ear is witness to general discontent, or general satisfaction, it is then a proper time to disentangle confusion and illustrate obscurity; to show by what causes every event was produced, and in what effects it is likely to terminate; to lay down with distinct particularity what rumour always huddles in general exclamation, or perplexes by indigested narratives; to show whence happiness or calamity is derived, and whence it may be |