1728. Etat. 19. account of what paffed on the night of Johnson's arrival at Oxford. On that evening, his father, who had anxiously accompanied him, found means to have him introduced to Mr. Jorden, who was to be his tutor. His being put under any tutor, reminds us of what Wood fays of Robert Burton, authour of the "Anatomy of Melancholy," when elected student of Chrift Church; "for form's fake, though he wanted not a tutor, he was put under the tuition of Dr. John Bancroft, afterwards Bishop of Oxon"." His father feemed very full of the merits of his fon, and told the company he was a good fcholar, and a poet, and wrote Latin verfes. His figure and manner appeared strange to them; but he behaved modeftly, and fat filent, till upon fomething which occurred in the course of converfation, he fuddenly struck in and quoted Macrobius; and thus he gave the first impreffion of that more extenfive reading in which he had indulged himself. His tutor, Mr. Jorden, fellow of Pembroke, was not, it seems, a man of fuch abilities as we fhould conceive requifite for the inftructor of Samuel Johnson, who gave me the following account of him. "He was a very worthy man, but a heavy man, and I did not profit much by his inftructions. Indeed, I did not attend him much. The first day after I came to college, I waited upon him, and then ftaid away four. On the fixth, Mr. Jorden afked me why I had not atsended. I anfwered, I had been fliding in Chrift 9 Athen, Cxon, edit, 1721. p. 628, Church I had Church meadow. And this I faid with as much The fifth of November was at that time kept, with great folemnity at Pembroke College, and exercises upon the subject of the day were required. Johnson neglected to perform his, which is much to be regretted; for his vivacity of imagination, and force of language, would probably have produced fomething fublime upon the gunpowder plot. To apologise for his neglect, he gave in a fhort copy of verses, entitled Somnium, containing a common thought; "that the Mufe had come to him in his fleep and whispered, that it did not become him to write on fuch fubjects as politicks; he fhould confine himself to humbler themes:" but the verfification was truly Virgilian. "Whenever He had a love and respect for Jorden, not for his literature, but for his worth. (said he) a young man becomes Jorden's pupil, he becomes his fon." Having given fuch a fpecimen of his poetical powers, he was afked by Mr. Jorden, to tranflate Pope's Meffiah into Latin verfe, as a Christmas exercise. He performed it with uncommon rapidity, and in fo masterly a manner, that he obtained Oxford, 20th March, 1776. 2 It ought to be remembered, that Dr. Johnfon was apt, in his literary as well as moral exercises, to overcharge his defects. Dr. Adams informed me, that he attended his tutor's lectures, and alfo the lectures in the College Hall, very regularly. 1728. Etat. 19. 1728. Etat. 19. great applause from it, which ever after kept him high in the estimation of his College, and, indeed, of all the University. It is faid, that Mr. Pope expreffed himself concerning it in terms of ftrong approbation. Dr. Taylor told me, that it was first printed for old Mr. Johnfon, without the knowledge of his fon, who was very angry when he heard of it. A mifcellany of Poems collected by a perfon of the name of Husbands, was published at Oxford in 1731. In that mifcellany Johnson's Translation of the Meffiah appeared, with this modeft motto from Scaliger's Poeticks, "Ex alieno ingenio Poeta, ex fuo tantum verfificator." I am not ignorant that critical objections have been made to this and other fpecimens of Johnson's Latin Poetry. I acknowledge myself not competent to decide on a question of fuch extreme nicety. But I am fatisfied with the just and difcriminative eulogy pronounced upon it by my friend Mr. Courtenay. "And with like ease his vivid lines affume cr Johnson adventur'd boldly to transfufe "His vigorous fenfe into the Latian muse; "Afpir'd "Afpir'd to fhine by unreflected light, "And with a Roman's ardour think and write. "He felt the tuneful nine his breast inspire, name. "Hefperia's plant, in fome lefs fkilful hands. By Johnfon's genial culture, art, and toil, The "morbid melancholy, which was lurking in his conftitution, and to which we may afcribe those particularities, and that averfion to regular life, which, at a very early period, marked his character, gathered fuch strength in his twentieth year, as to afflict him in a dreadful manner. While he was at Lichfield, in the College vacationof the year 1729, he felt himself overwhelmed with an horrible hypochondria, with perpetual irritation, fretfulness, and impatience; and with a dejection, gloom, and despair, which made exiftence mifery. From this difmal malady he never afterwards was perfectly relieved; and all his labours, and all his enjoyments, were but temporary interruptions of its baleful influence. How 3 Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral Character of Dr. Johnson, by John Courtenay, Efq. M. P. 6 wonderful 1729. ᄂ Etat. 20. 1729. Etat. 20. wonderful, how unfearchable are the ways of GOD! Johnfon, who was bleft with all the powers of genius and understanding in a degree far above the ordinary state of human nature, was at the fame time visited with a disorder fo afflictive, that they who know it by dire experience, will not envy his exalted endowments. That it was, in fome degree, occafioned by a defect in his nervous system, that inexplicable part of our frame, appears highly probable. He told Mr. Paradife that he was fometimes fo languid and inefficient, that he could not diftinguish the hour upon the town-clock. Johnfon, upon the firft violent attack of this diforder, ftrove to overcome it by forcible exertions. He frequently walked to Birmingham and back again, and tried many other expedients, but all in vain. His expreffion concerning it to me was, "I did not then know how to manage it." His distress became fo intolerable, that he applied to Dr. Swinfen, physician in Lichfield, his godfather, and put into his hands. into his hands a ftate of his cafe, written in Latin. Dr. Swinfen was fo much struck with the extraordinary acutenefs, research, and eloquence of this paper, that in his zeal for his godfon he fhewed it to feveral people. daughter, Mrs. Desmoulins, who was many years humanely fupported in Dr. Johnson's house in London, told me, that upon his discovering that Dr. Swinfen had communicated his cafe, he was fo much offended, that he was never afterwards fully reconciled to him. He indeed had good reason to be offended; for though Dr. Swinfen's motive was good, he inconfiderately betrayed a His matter |