places his moral character even above his literary elevation. It vindicates him much more effectually than words can do, from the charge of vanity and hypocrisy, which some of the miserable advocates of scepticism and infidelity have, with the accustomed impudence of the party, brought against him. After fixing the standard of the English language, advancing the interests of morality, and enriching the stores of literature, this great man entered upon immortality December 13, 1784; and on the 20th of the same month his remains were interred near his friend Garrick, in Westminster Abbey. In Mr. Pennington's memoirs of Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, the translator of Epictetus, is the following letter from Johnson to that lady: "MADAM, "From the liberty of writing to you, if I have hitherto been deterred by the fear of your understanding, I am now encouraged to it by the confidence of your goodness. "I am soliciting a benefit for Miss Williams, and beg that if you can by letters influence any in her favour, and who is there whom you cannot influence? you will be pleased to patronize her on this occasion. Yet, for the time is short, and as you were not in town, I did not till this day remember that you might help us, and recollect how widely and how rapidly light is diffused. The name of Miss "To every joy is appended a sorrow. Carter introduces the memory of Cave. Poor dear Cave! I owed him much; for to him I owe that I have known you. He died, I am afraid, unexpectedly to himself, yet surely unburthened unburthened with any great crine; and for the positive duties of religion, I have yet no right to condemn him for neglect. I am, with respect, which I neither owe nor pay to any other, "Madam, "Your most obedient and most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." In the, same entertaining work is the following anecdote : "For Dr. Johnson Mrs. Carter had to the last: a very great esteem, and always spoke in high terms of his constant attention to religious duties, and the soundness of his moral principles. In one of their latest conversations, she was expressing this opinion of him to himself; he took her by the hand and said with much earnestness, "You know this to be true, and testify it to the world when I am gone!" She lost no opportunity of complying with his request; and always reprobated severely the conduct of some of his biographers, who published, as the genuine dictates of his heart, opinions broached in the warmth of argument, and maintained for the sake of victory in it.". THE END. INDEX. ADDISON, Joseph, his defence of Sir Thomas More, 20. Pope's ill-treatment of, 444. Alphonsus of Arragon, a saying of, 205. Andrews, bishop, character and anecdote of, 35. . account of the death of, 340. Apparitions, instances of, 319, 248. Arbuthnot's, Dr. epigram on the Kit-Kat Club, 358. - Astrology, remarkable instance of faith in, 307. Atterbury, bishop, his opinion of the Tale of a Tub, 471. Ayscough, Samuel, related to Newton, 400. BACON, Sir Nicholas, anecdotes of, 25. Barnes, Josline, anecdote of, 91. BARROW, Isaac, memoirs of, 254. Bathurst, Dr., anecdote of, 323. Betterton, the player, anecdote of, 338. Biography, on the abuse of, 228. Bishops sent to the Tower, 166. Waller's speech in favour of, 286. Blackstone, judge, his defence of Addison, 374. Pope's treatment of, 451. Bolton, the antiquary, his letter to Camden, 121. Burgess, Daniel, anecdote of, 158. Burleigh, Ford, his treatment of Spenser, 62. CAMDEN, William, character of, 113. Case, Dr., account of, 347. Cato, character of the tragedy of, 364. the second, anecdotes of, 223, 239, 291. Clarendon, lord, anecdotes of, 238, 270. Collier, Jeremy, his attack on the immorality of the stage, 303. his pun on Rowe, 353. Coram, Thomas, humility of, 189. Covenant, account of the solemn league and, 255. Crashaw, the poet, a latin verse by, 293. Cromwell, Oliver, anedotes of, 151, 237. D'Avenant, Sir W., anecdotes of, 93, 218. Dort, account of the synod of, 184. DRYDEN, John, memoir of, 293. his opinion of Congreve, 421. D'Urfey, Thomas, character of, 314. Eachard, Dr., character of, 271. Egerton, chancellor, remarkable origin of, 29. Elizabeth, queen, anecdotes of, 44, 50, 74, 95. Elliot, Sir Gilbert, patronizes Thomson, 496. Elwares, Sir Gervas, his remarkable vow and end, 130. Epitaph, origin of Prior's, 397. paraphrase on, 485. Erasmus, anecdotes of, 12. Eugene, prince, entertained by Dr. Radcliffe, 347. Examiner, account of the paper called, 390. Extemporaneous preaching, observations on, 155. Falstaff, origin of the character of, 96. Farquhar, his account of Dryden's funeral, 306. Fenton, Fenton, his connection with Pope, 448. Fitzsymonds, the jesuit, his conference with Usher, 141. Fuller, the historian, character of, 64. Galileo, imprisoned for asserting the earth's motion, 204. GARRICK, David, Anecdotes of, 529. Garth, Dr., his oration at Dryden's funeral, 306. Gip-room, meaning of, 386. Glanville, serjeant, his generosity to his brother, 231. Glasgow, remarkable preservation of the cathedral of, 171. Grevil, Fulke, account of the death of, 72. HALE, Sir Matthew, memoir of, 229. his opinion of Shakspeare, 96. -Halifax, lord, patronizes Addison, 359. rise of, 389. HALL, bishop, memoirs of, 161. Halley, Dr. anecdote of, 415. Hannes, Sir Edward, stratagem of, 329. Handel, anecdote of, 476. HARRINGTON, Sir John, anecdotes of, 73. Harvey, Gabriel, letter of, 58. Hayward's Henry the fourth, anecdote concerning, 31. Henry VIII., anecdotes of, 5, 16. Henry, prince of Wales, a saying of, 51. Hoadley, bishop, his political connexions, 431, HOBBES, Thomas, his opinion of Milton, 214. ... memoirs of, 269. Holland, Dr., anecdote of, 115. Holt, chief justice, remarkable anecdote concerning, 337. Hopital, M. de, his opinion of Newton, 408. Horne, bishop, anecdote by, 417. Hour glasses in churches, account of, 158. 202 Hudibras, |