Life Of Johnson, Volume 4 (of 6) - Boswell
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[1231] Johnson wrote five years earlier to Mrs. Thrale about her
husband's will:--'Do not let those fears prevail which you know to be
unreasonable; a will brings the end of life no nearer.' _Piozzi
Letters_, ii. 72.
[1232] 'IN THE NAME OF GOD. AMEN. I, SAMUEL JOHNSON, being in full
possession of my faculties, but fearing this night may put an end to my
life, do ordain this my last Will and Testament. I bequeath to GOD, a
soul polluted with many sins, but I hope purified by JESUS CHRIST. I
leave seven hundred and fifty pounds in the hands of Bennet Langton,
Esq.; three hundred pounds in the hands of Mr. Barclay and Mr. Perkins,
brewers; one hundred and fifty pounds in the hands of Dr. Percy, Bishop
of Dromore; one thousand pounds, three _per cent._ annuities, in the
publick funds; and one hundred pounds now lying by me in ready money:
all these before-mentioned sums and property I leave, I say, to Sir
Joshua Reynolds, Sir John Hawkins, and Dr. William Scott, of Doctors
Commons, in trust for the following uses:--That is to say, to pay to the
representatives of the late William Innys, bookseller, in St, Paul's
Church-yard, the sum of two hundred pounds; to Mrs. White, my female
servant, one hundred pounds stock in the three _per cent_. annuitites
aforesaid. The rest of the aforesaid sums of money and property,
together with my books, plate, and household furniture, I leave to the
before-mentioned Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir John Hawkins, and Dr. William
Scott, also in trust, to the use of Francis Barber, my man-servant, a
negro, in such a manner as they shall judge most fit and available to
his benefit. And I appoint the aforesaid Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir John
Hawkins, and Dr. William Scott, sole executors of this my last will and
testament, hereby revoking all former wills and testaments whatever. In
witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name, and affix my seal, this
eighth day of December, 1784.
'Sam Johnson, (L.S.)
'Signed, scaled, published, declared,
and delivered, by the
said testator, as his last will
and testament, in the presence
of us, the word two being first
inserted in the opposite page.
'GEORGE STRAHAN
'JOHN DESMOULINS
'By way of Codicil to my last Will and Testament, I, SAMUEL JOHNSON,
give, devise, and bequeath, my messuage or tenement situate at
Litchfield, in the county of Stafford, with the appertenances, in the
tenure or occupation of Mrs. Bond, of Lichfield aforesaid, or of Mr.
Hinchman, her under-tenant, to my executors, in trust, to sell and
dispose of the same; and the money arising from such sale I give and
bequeath as follows, viz. to Thomas and Benjamin, the sons of Fisher
Johnson, late of Leicester, and ----- Whiting, daughter of Thomas
Johnson [F-1], late of Coventry, and the grand-daughter of the said
Thomas Johnson, one full and equal fourth part each; but in case there
shall be more grand-daughters than one of the said Thomas Johnson,
living at the time of my decease, I give and bequeath the part or share
of that one to and equally between such grand-daughters. I give and
bequeath to the Rev. Mr. Rogers, of Berkley, near Froom, in the county
of Somerset, the sum of one hundred pounds, requesting him to apply the
same towards the maintenance of Elizabeth Herne, a lunatick [F-2]. I also
give and bequeath to my god-children, the son and daughter of Mauritius
Lowe [F-3], painter, each of them, one hundred pounds of 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 Holinshed'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 poets. To Mr. Windham [F-4],
Poetae Graeci 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 [F-5], 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 [F-6], two hundred pounds consolidated
three _per cent_, annuities: and to Mr. Sastres, the Italian
master [F-7], 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 expences 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, his
Executors and Administrators. Witness my hand and seal, this ninth day
of December, 1784.
'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.
42[F-8]. The same word is used in the will of Dr. Sanderson, Bishop of
Lincoln [F-9], who was piety itself.
His legacy of two hundred pounds to the representatives of Mr. Innys,
bookseller, in St. Paul's Church-yard [F-10], 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 [F-11].'
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 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 [F-12].' 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 servant. 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 [F-13], 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 shewn 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
life-time, as appeared at her decease.
His enumerating several persons in one group, and leaving them 'each a
book at their 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 [F-14]; many people being desirous to have a book
which had belonged to Johnson. In many of them he had written little
notes: sometimes 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 (? quidem) videtur diligenter tractasse; spero
non inauditus (? inauditas).'_
In _The Rosicrucian infallible Axiomata_, by John Heydon, Gent.,
prefixed 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_.'--BOSWELL. [Note: See Appendix F for notes on
this footnote.]
[1233] 'He burned,' writes Mrs. Piozzi, 'many letters in the last week,
I am told, and those written by his mother drew from him a flood of
tears. Mr. Sastres saw him cast a melancholy look upon their ashes,
which he took up and examined to see if a word was still
legible.'--_Piozzi Letters_, ii. 383.
[1234] Boswell in his _Hebrides_ (_post_, v. 53) says that Johnson,
starting northwards on his tour, left in a drawer in Boswell's house
'one volume of a pretty full and curious _Diary of his Life_, of which I
have,' he continues, 'a few fragments.' The other volume, we may
conjecture, Johnson took with him, for Boswell had seen both, and
apparently seen them only once. He mentions (_ante_, i. 27) that these
'few fragments' had been transferred to him by the residuary legatee
(Francis Barber). One large fragment, which was published after Barber's
death, he could never have seen, for he never quotes from it (_ante_, i.
35, note 1).
[1235] One of these volumes, Sir John Hawkins informs us, he put into
his pocket; for which the excuse he states is, that he meant to preserve
it from falling into the hands of a person whom he describes so as to
make it sufficiently clear who is meant; 'having strong reasons (said
he,) to suspect that this man might find and make an ill use of the
book.' Why Sir John should suppose that the gentleman alluded to would
act in this manner, he has not thought fit to explain. But what he did
was not approved of by Johnson; who, upon being acquainted of it without
delay by a friend, expressed great indignation, and warmly insisted on
the book being delivered up; and, afterwards, in the supposition of his
missing it, without knowing by whom it had been taken, he said, 'Sir, I
should have gone out of the world distrusting half mankind.' Sir John
next day wrote a letter to Johnson, assigning reasons for his conduct;
upon which Johnson observed to Mr. Langton, 'Bishop Sanderson could not
have dictated a better letter. I could almost say, _Melius est sic
penituisse quam non errasse_.' The agitation into which Johnson was
thrown by this incident, probably made him hastily burn those precious
records which must ever be regretted. BOSWELL. According to Mr. Croker,
Steevens was the man whom Hawkins said that he suspected. Porson, in his
witty _Panegyrical Epistle on Hawkins v. Johnson_ (_Gent. Mag._ 1787,
pp. 751-3, and _Porson Tracts_, p. 341), says:--'I shall attempt a
translation [of _Melius est_, &c.] for the benefit of your mere English
readers:--_There is more joy over a sinner that repenteth than over a
just person that needeth no repentance_. And we know from an authority
not to be disputed (Hawkins's _Life_, p. 406) that _Johnson was a great
lover of penitents_.
"God put it in the mind to take it hence,
That thou might'st win the more thy [Johnson's] love,
Pleading so wisely in excuse of it."
[1236] _Henry IV_, act iv. sc. 5.
[1237] 'Tibullus addressed Cynthia in this manner:--
"_Te spectem, suprema, mihi cum venerit hora,
Te teneam moriens deficiente mamu.
Lib. i. El. I. 73.
Before my closing eyes dear Cynthia stand,
Held weakly by my fainting, trembling hand."'
Johnson's Works, iv. 35.
[1238] Windham was scarcely a statesman as yet, though for a few months
of the year before he had been Chief Secretary for Ireland (_ante_, p
200). He was in Parliament, but he had never spoken. His _Diary_ shews
that he had no 'important occupations.' On Dec. 12, for instance, he
records (p. 30):--'Came down about ten; read reviews, wrote to Mrs.
Siddons, and then went to the ice; came home only in time to dress and
go to my mother's to dinner.' See _ante_, p. 356, for his interest
in balloons.
[1239] 'My father,' writes Miss Burney, 'saw him once while I was away,
and carried Mr. Burke with him, who was desirous of paying his respects
to him once more in person. He rallied a little while they were there;
and Mr. Burke, when they left him, said to my father:--"His work is
almost done, and well has he done it."' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, ii.
333. Burke, in 1792, said in Parliament that 'Dr. Johnson's virtues were
equal to his transcendent talents, and his friendship he valued as the
greatest consolation and happiness of his life.' _Parl. Debates_,
xxx. 109.
[1240] On the same undoubted authority, I give a few articles, which
should have been inserted in chronological order; but which, now that
they are before me, I should be sorry to omit:--
'In 1736, Dr. Johnson had a particular inclination to have been engaged
as an assistant to the Reverend Mr. Budworth, then head master of the
Grammar-school, at Brewood, in Staffordshire, "an excellent person, who
possessed every talent of a perfect instructor of youth, in a degree
which, (to use the words of one of the brightest ornaments of
literature, the Reverend Dr. Hurd, Bishop of Worcester,) has been rarely
found in any of that profession since the days of Quintilian." Mr.
Budworth, "who was less known in his life-time, from that obscure
situation to which the caprice of fortune oft condemns the most
accomplished characters, than his highest merit deserved," had been bred
under Mr. Blackwell [Blackwall], at Market Bosworth, where Johnson was
some time an usher [_ante_, i. 84]; which might naturally lead to the
application. Mr. Budworth was certainly no stranger to the learning or
abilities of Johnson; as he more than once lamented his having been
under the necessity of declining the engagement, from an apprehension
that the paralytick affection, under which our great Philologist
laboured through life, might become the object of imitation or of
ridicule, among his pupils.' Captain Budworth, his grandson, has
confirmed to me this anecdote.
'Among the early associates of Johnson, at St. John's Gate, was Samuel
Boyse [G-1], well known by his ingenious productions; and not less noted
for his imprudence. It was not unusual for Boyse to be a customer to the
pawnbroker. On one of these occasions, Dr. Johnson collected a sum of
money to redeem his friend's clothes, which in two days after were
pawned again. "The sum, (said Johnson,) was collected by sixpences, at a
time when to me sixpence was a serious consideration [G-2]."
'Speaking one day of a person for whom he had a real friendship, but in
whom vanity was somewhat too predominant, he observed, that "Kelly [G-3]
was so fond of displaying on his side-board the plate which he possessed,
that he added to it his spurs. For my part, (said he,) I never was
master of a pair of spurs, but once; and they are now at the bottom of
the ocean. By the carelessness of Boswell's servant, they were dropped
from the end of the boat, on our return from the Isle of Sky [G-4]."'
The late Reverend Mr. Samuel Badcock [G-5], having been introduced to Dr.
Johnson, by Mr. Nichols, some years before his death, thus expressed
himself in a letter to that gentleman:--
'How much I am obliged to you for the favour you did me in introducing
me to Dr. Johnson! _Tantum vidi Virgilium_ [G-6]. But to have seen him,
and to have received a testimony of respect from him, was enough. I
recollect all the conversation, and shall never forget one of his
expressions. Speaking of Dr. P---- [Priestley], (whose writings, I
saw, he estimated at a low rate,) he said, "You have proved him as
deficient in _probity_ as he is in learning [G-7]." I called him an
"Index-scholar [G-8];" but he was not willing to allow him a claim even
to that merit. He said, that "he borrowed from those who had been
borrowers themselves, and did not know that the mistakes he adopted had
been answered by others." I often think of our short, but precious,
visit to this great man. I shall consider it as a kind of an _aera_ in
my life.' BOSWELL. [Note: See Appendix G for notes on this footnote.]
[1241] See _ante_, i. 152, 501.
[1242] He wrote to Dr. Taylor on Feb. 17, 1776:--'Keep yourself
cheerful. Lie in bed with a lamp, and when you cannot sleep and are
beginning to think, light your candle and read. At least light your
candle; a man is perhaps never so much harrassed (_sic_) by his own mind
in the light as in the dark.' _Notes and Queries_, 6th S. v. 423.
[1243] Mr. Croker records 'the following communication from Mr. Hoole
himself':--'I must mention an incident which shews how ready Johnson was
to make amends for any little incivility. When I called upon him, the
morning after he had pressed me rather roughly to read _louder_, he
said, "I was peevish yesterday; you must forgive me: when you are as old
and as sick as I am, perhaps you may be peevish too." I have heard him
make many apologies of this kind.'
[1244] 'To his friend Dr. Burney he said a few hours before he died,
taking the Doctor's hands within his, and casting his eyes towards
Heaven with a look of the most fervent piety, "My dear friend, while you
live do all the good you can." Seward's _Biographiana,_ p. 601
[1245] Mr. Hoole, senior, records of this day:--'Dr. Johnson exhorted me
to lead a better life than he had done. "A better life than you, my dear
Sir:" I repeated. He replied warmly, "Don't compliment not." Croker's
_Boswell_, p. 844
[1246] See _ ante_, p. 293
[1247] The French historian, Jacques-Auguste de Thou, 1553-1617, author
of _Historia sui Temporis_ in 138 books.
[1248] See _ante,_ ii. 42, note 2.
[1249] Mr. Hutton was occasionally admitted to the royal breakfast-table.
"Hutton," said the King to him one morning, "is it true that you
Moravians marry without any previous knowledge of each other?" "Yes, may
it please your majesty," returned Hutton; "our marriages are quite
royal" Hannah More's _Memoirs_, i. 318. One of his female-missionaries
for North American said to Dr. Johnson:--'Whether my Saviour's service
may be best carried on here, or on the coast of Labrador, 'tis Mr.
Hutton's business to settle. I will do my part either in a brick-house
or a snow-house with equal alacrity.' Piozzi's _Synonymy_, ii. 120. He
is described also in the _Memoirs of Dr. Burney_, i. 251, 291.
[1250] _Ante_, ii. 402.
[1251] Burke said of Hussey, who was his friend and correspondent, that
in his character he had made 'that very rare union of the enlightened
statesman with the ecclesiastic.' Burke's _Corres_. iv. 270.
[1252] Boswell refers, I believe, to Fordyce's epitaph on Johnson in the
_Gent. Mag._ 1785, p. 412, or possibly to an _Ode_ on p. 50 of
his poems.
[1253] 'Being become very weak and helpless it was thought necessary
that a man should watch with him all night; and one was found in the
neighbourhood for half a crown a night.' Hawkins's _Life of Johnson_,
p. 589.
[1254] It was on Nov. 30 that he repeated these lines. See Croker's
_Boswell_, p. 843.
[1255] _British Synonymy_, i. 359. Mrs. Piozzi, to add to the wonder,
says that these verses were 'improviso,' forgetting that Johnson wrote
to her on Aug 8, 1780 (_Piozzi Letters_, ii. 175):--'You have heard in
the papers how --- is come to age. I have enclosed a short song of
congratulation which you must not shew to anybody. It is odd that it
should come into anybody's head. I hope you will read it with candour;
it is, I believe, one of the author's first essays in that way of
writing, and a beginner is always to be treated with tenderness.' That
it was Sir John Lade who had come of age is shewn by the entry of his
birth, Aug. 1, 1759, in the _Gent. Mag._ 1759, p. 392. He was the nephew
and ward of Mr. Thrale, who seemed to think that Miss Burney would make
him a good wife. (Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, i. 79.) According to Mr.
Hayward (_Life of Piozzi_, i. 69) it was Lade who having asked Johnson
whether he advised him to marry, received as answer: 'I would advise no
man to marry, Sir, who is not likely to propagate understanding.' See
_ante_, ii. 109, note 2. Mr. Hayward adds that 'he married a woman of
the town, became a celebrated member of the Four-in-Hand Club, and
contrived to waste the whole of a fine fortune before he died.' In
Campbell's _Chancellors_ (ed. 1846, v. 628) a story is told of Sir John
Ladd, who is, I suppose, the same man. The Prince of Wales in 1805 asked
Lord Thurlow to dinner, and also Ladd. 'When "the old Lion" arrived the
Prince went into the ante-room to meet him, and apologised for the party
being larger than he had intended, but added, "that Sir John was an old
friend of his, and he could not avoid asking him to dinner," to which
Thurlow, in his growling voice, answered, "I have no objection, Sir, to
Sir John Ladd in his proper place, which I take to be your Royal
Highness's coach-box, and not your table."'
[1256] _British Synonymy_ was published in 1794, later therefore than
Boswell's first and second editions. In both these the latter half of
this paragraph ran as follows:--"From the specimen which Mrs. Piozzi has
exhibited of it (_Anecdotes_, p. 196) it is much to be wished that the
world could see the whole. Indeed I can speak from my own knowledge; for
having had the pleasure to read it, I found it to be a piece of
exquisite satire conveyed in a strain of pointed vivacity and humour,
and in a manner of which no other instance is to be found in Johnson's
writings. After describing the ridiculous and ruinous career of a wild
spendthrift he _consoles_ him with this reflection:--
"You may hang or drown at last."'
[1257] Sir John.
[1258]'"Les morts n'ecrivent point," says Madame de Maintenon.' Hannah
More's _Memoirs_, i. 233. The note that Johnson received 'was,' says Mr.
Hoole, 'from Mr. Davies, the bookseller, and mentioned a present of some
pork; upon which the Doctor said, in a manner that seemed as if he
thought it ill-timed, "too much of this," or some such expression.'
Croker's _Boswell_, p. 844.
[1259] Sir Walter Scott says that 'Reynolds observed the charge given
him by Johnson on his death-bed not to use his pencil of a Sunday for a
considerable time, but afterwards broke it, being persuaded by some
person who was impatient for a sitting that the Doctor had no title to
exact such a promise.' Croker's _Corres_. ii. 34. 'Reynolds used to say
that "the pupil in art who looks for the Sunday with pleasure as an idle
day will never make a painter."' Northcote's _Reynolds_, i. 119. 'Dr.
Johnson,' said Lord Eldon, 'sent me a message on his death-bed, to
request that I would attend public worship every Sunday.' Twiss's
_Eldon_, i. 168. The advice was not followed, for 'when a lawyer, a warm
partisan of the Chancellor, called him one of the pillars of the Church;
"No," said another lawyer, "he may be one of its buttresses; but
certainly not one of its pillars, for he is never found within it."'
_Ib_. iii. 488. Lord Campbell (_Lives of the Chancellors_, vii. 716)
says:--Lord Eldon was never present at public worship in London from one
year's end to the other. Pleading in mitigation before Lord Ellenborough
that he attended public worship in the country, he received the rebuke,
"as if there were no God in town.'"