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my stock in the three per cent. consolidated annuities, to be applied and disposed of by and at the discretion of my executors, in the education or settlement in the world of them my said legatees. Also I give and bequeath to Sir John Hawkins, one of my executors, the Annales Ecclesiastici of Baronius, and Holinshead's and Stowe's Chronicles, and also an octavo Common Prayer-Book. To Bennet Langton, Esq. I give and bequeath my Polyglot Bible. To Sir Joshua Reynolds, my great French Dictionary, by Martiniere, and my own copy of my folio English Dictionary, of the last revision. To Dr. William Scott, one of my executors, the Dictionnaire de Commerce, and Lectius's edition of the Greek Poets1. To Mr. Windham, Poetæ Græci Heroici per Henricum Stephanum. To the Rev. Mr. Strahan, vicar of Islington, in Middlesex, Mill's Greek Testament, Beza's Greek Testament, by Stephens, all my Latin Bibles, and my Greek Bible, by Wechelius. To Dr. Heberden, Dr. Brocklesby, Dr. Butter, and Mr. Cruikshank, the surgeon who attended me, Mr. Holder, my apothecary, Gerard Hamilton, Esq. Mrs. Gardiner, of Snow-hill, Mrs Frances Reynolds, Mr, Hoole, and the Reverend Mr. Hoole, his son, each a book at their election, to keep as a token of remembrance. I also give and bequeath to Mr. John Desmoulins, two hundred pounds consolidated three per cent. annuities; and to Mr. Sastres, the Italian master, the sum of five pounds, to be laid out in books of piety for his own use. And whereas the said Bennet Langton hath agreed, in consideration of the sum of seven hundred and fifty pounds, mentioned in my will to be in his hands, to grant and secure an annuity of seventy pounds payable during the life of me and my servant, Francis Barber, and the life of the survivor of us, to Mr. George Stubbs, in trust for us; my mind and will is, that in case of my decease before the said agreement shall be perfected, the said sum of seven hundred and fifty pounds, and the bond for securing the said sum, shall go to the said Francis Barber; and I hereby give and bequeath to him the same, in lieu of the bequest in his favour, contained in my said will. And I hereby empower my executors to deduct and retain all expenses that shall or may be incurred in the execution of my said, will, or of this codicil thereto, out of such estate and effects as I shall die possessed of. All the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate and effects I give and bequeath to my said executors, in trust for the said Francis Barber,

[Poeta Greci Veteres carminis historici Scriptores qui extant omnes. Gr. Lat. curâ et recensione Jac. Lectii. fol. 1606.-ED.]

his executors, and administrators. this ninth day of December, 1784.

Witness my hand and seal,

"SAM. JOHNSON, (L.S.)

"Signed, sealed, published, declared, and delivered, by. the said Samuel Johnson, as, and for a codicil to his last will and testament, in the presence of us, who, in his presence, and at his request, and also in the presence of each other, have hereto subscribed our names as witnesses.

"JOHN COPLEY.
"WILLIAM GIBSON.
" HENRY COLE."

Upon these testamentary deeds it is proper to make a few observations. His express declaration with his dying breath as a Christian, as it had been often practised in such solemn writings, was of real consequence from this great man, for the conviction of a mind equally acute and strong might well overbalance the doubts of others who were his contemporaries. The expression polluted may, to some, convey an impression of more than ordinary contamination; but that is not warranted by its genuine meaning, as appears from "The Rambler," No. 421. The same word is used in the will of Dr. Sanderson, bishop of Lincoln, who was piety itself. His legacy of two hundred pounds to the representatives of Mr. Innys, bookseller, in St. Paul's Churchyard, proceeded from a very worthy motive. He told Sir John Hawkins that his father having become a bankrupt, Mr. Innys had assisted him with money or credit to continue his business. "This," said he, "I consider as an obligation on me to be grateful to his descendants." The amount of his property proved to be considerably more than he had supposed it to be. Sir John Hawkins estimates the bequest to Francis Barber at a sum little

[The quotations from the scriptures in Johnson's Dictionary sufficiently justify the use of this word; but it does not occur in No. 42 of the Rambler. In the Journey to the Hebrides he uses the word familiarly, and talks of "polluting the breakfast table with slices of cheese."-ED.]

servant.

short of fifteen hundred pounds, including an annuity of seventy pounds to be paid to him by Mr. Langton, in consideration of seven hundred and fifty pounds, which Johnson had lent to that gentleman. Sir John seems not a little angry at this bequest, and mutters "a caveat against ostentatious bounty and favour to negroes." But surely, when a man has money entirely of his own acquisition, especially when he has no near relations, he may, without blame, dispose of it as he pleases, and with great propriety to a faithful Mr. Barber, by the recommendation of his master, retired to Lichfield, where he might pass the rest of his days in comfort'. It has been objected that Johnson has omitted many of his best friends, when leaving books to several as tokens of his last remembrance. The names of Dr. Adams, Dr. Taylor, Dr. Burney, Mr. Hector, Mr. Murphy, the authour of this work, and others who were intimate with him, are not to be found in his will. This may be accounted for by considering, that as he was very near his dissolution at the time, he probably mentioned such as happened to occur to him; and that he may have recollected, that he had formerly shown others such proofs of his regard, that it was not necessary to crowd his will with their names. Mrs. Lucy Porter was much displeased that nothing was left to her; but besides what I have now stated, she should have considered that she had left nothing to Johnson by her will, which was made during his lifetime, as appeared at her decease. His enumerating several persons in one group, and leaving them "each a book at their

1 Francis Barber, Dr. Johnson's principal legatee, died in the infirmary at Stafford, after undergoing a painful operation, February 13, 1801.-MALONE. [In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1793, p. 619, there are some anecdotes of Barber, in which it is said that he was then forty-eight years old. Mr. Chalmers thinks that he was about fifty-six when he died; but as he entered Johnson's service in 1752, and could scarcely have been then under twelve or fourteen years of age, it is probable that he was somewhat older. See ante, vol. ii. p. 63.-ED.]

election," might possibly have given occasion to a
curious question as to the order of choice, had they
not luckily fixed on different books.
His library,
though by no means handsome in its appearance,
was sold by Mr. Christie for two hundred and forty-
seven pounds, nine shillings: many people being de-
sirous to have a book which had belonged to Johnson1.
In many of them he had written little notes: some-
times tender memorials of his departed wife; as "This
was dear Tetty's book:" sometimes occasional remarks
of different sorts. Mr. Lysons, of Clifford's-inn, has
favoured me with the two following: "In Holy
Rules and Helps to Devotion, by Bryan Duppa, Lord
Bishop of Winton, Preces quidam videtur diligenter
tractasse; spero non inauditus.' In The Rosicrucian
infallible Axiomata, by John Heydon, Gent.,' pre-
fixed to which are some verses addressed to the
authour, signed Ambr. Waters, A. M. Coll. Ex. Oxon.
These Latin verses were written to Hobbes by
Bathurst, upon his Treatise on Human Nature, and
have no relation to the book.-An odd fraud.""

6

6

A few days before his death, he had asked Sir John Hawkins, as one of his executors, where he should be buried; and on being answered, "Doubtless, in Westminster-Abbey," seemed to feel a satisfaction, very natural to a poet; and indeed in my opinion very natural to every man of any imagination, who has no family sepulchre in which he can be laid with his fathers. Accordingly, upon Mon- Hawk. day, December 20, his remains, [enclosed in a leaden P. 564. coffin,] were deposited in that noble and renowned edifice, [in the south transept, near the foot of Shak

1 [Mr. Windham bought Markland's Statius, and wrote in the first page, "Fuit e libris clarissimi Samuelis Johnson." It now, by the favour of Mr. Jesse, who bought it at Mr. Windham's sale, belongs to the editor.-ED.]

speare's monument, and close to the coffin of his friend Garrick;] and over his grave was placed a large blue flag-stone, with this inscription:

"SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D.
Obiit XIII. die Decembris,

Anno Domini

M. DCC. LXXXIV.

Etatis suæ LXXV."

His funeral was attended by a respectable number of his friends, particularly such of the members of The Literary Club as were in town; and was also honoured with the presence of several of the Reverend Chapter of Westminster1. Mr. Burke, Sir Joseph Banks, Mr. Windham, Mr. Langton, Sir Charles Bunbury, and Mr. Colman, bore his pall. His school-fellow, Dr. Taylor, performed the mournful office of reading the burial service.

I trust I shall not be accused of affectation, when I declare, that I find myself unable to express all that I felt upon the loss of such a "guide, philosopher, and friend." I shall, therefore, not say one

["It must be told, that a dissatisfaction was expressed in the public papers that he was not buried with all possible funeral rites and honours. In all processions and solemnities something will be forgotten or omitted. Here no disrespect was intended. The executors did not think themselves justified in doing more than they did; for only a little cathedral service, accompanied with lights and music, would have raised the price of interment. In this matter fees ran high; they could not be excused; and the expenses were to be paid from the property of the deceased. His funeral expenses amounted to more than two hundred pounds. Future monumental charges may be defrayed by the generosity of subscription.”—Gentleman's Magazine, 1785, p. 911, probably by Mr. Tyers.-ED.]

"" 66

2 On the subject of Johnson I may adopt the words of Sir John Harrington concerning his venerable tutor and diocesan, Dr. John Still, Bishop of Bath and Wells: "who hath given me some helps, more hopes, all encouragements in my best studies: to whom I never came but I grew more religious; from whom I never went, but I parted better instructed. Of him, therefore, my acquaintance, my friend, my instructor, if I speak much, it were not to be marvelled; if I speak frankly, it is not to be blamed; and though I speak partially, it were to be pardoned. Nuga Antiquæ," vol. i. p. 136. There is one circumstance in Sir John's character of Bishop Still, which is peculiarly applicable to Johnson: "He became so famous a disputer, that the learnedest were even afraid to dispute with him; and he, finding his own strength, could not stick to warn them in their arguments to take heed to their answers, like a perfect fencer that will tell aforehand in which button he will give the venew, or like a cunning chess-player that will appoint aforehand with which pawn and in what place he will give the mate.' Ibid.-Boswell.

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