He d rary biography of this country ably executed, and Johnson proposed to Dr. Johnson to undertake it. Johnson on the signified his readiness to comply with his Majesty's King's wishes. During the whole of this interview, Johnson talked to his Majesty with profound respect, but still in his firm manly manner, with a sonorous voice, and never in that subdued tone which is commonly used at the levee and in the drawing room. After the King withdrew, Johnson shewed himself highly pleased with his Majesty's conversation, and gracious behaviour. He said to Mr. Barnard, "Sir, they may talk of the King as they will; but he is the finest gentleman I have ever seen." And he afterwards observed to Mr. Langton, "Sir, his manners are those of as fine a gentleman as we may suppose Lewis the Fourteenth or Charles the Second." At Sir Joshua Reynolds's, where a circle of Johnson's friends was collected round him to hear his account of this memorable conversation, Dr. Joseph Warton, in his frank and lively manner, was very active in pressing him to mention the particulars.e "Come now, Sir, this is an interesting matter; do favour us with it." Johnson, with great good humour, complied. He told them, "I found his Majesty wished I should talk, and I made it my business to talk. I find it does a man good to be talked to by his sovereign. In the first place, a man cannot be in a passion-." Here some question interrupted him, which is to be regretted, as he certainly would have pointed out and illustrated many circumstances of advantage, from being in a situation, where the manners Gold- powers of the mind are at once excited to vigorous smith's exertion, and tempered by reverential awe. envy During all the time in which Dr. Johnson was employed in relating to the circle at Sir Joshua Reynolds's the particulars of what passed between the King and him, Dr. Goldsmith remained unmoved upon a sopha at some distance, affecting not to join in the least in the eager curiosity of the company. He assigned as a reason for his gloom and seeming inattention, that he apprehended Johnson had relinquished his purpose of furnishing him with a Prologue to his play, with the hopes of which he had been flattered; but it was strongly suspected that he was fretting with chagrin and envy at the singular honour Dr. Johnson had lately enjoyed. At length, the frankness, and simplicity of his natural character prevailed. He sprung from the sopha, advanced to Johnson, and in a kind of flutter, from imagining himself in the situation which he had just been hearing described, exclaimed, "Well, you acquitted yourself in this conversation better than I should have done; for I should have bowed and stammered through the whole of it." I received no letter from Johnson this year; nor have I discovered any of the correspondence1 he had, except the two letters to Mr. Drummond, which have been inserted, for the sake of connection, with that to the same gentleman in 1766. His 1 It is proper here to mention, that when I speak of his correspondence, I consider it independent of the voluminous collection of letters which, in the course of many years, he wrote to Mrs. Thrale, which forms a separate part of his works; and as a proof of the high estimation set on any thing which came from his pen, was sold by that lady for the sum of five hundred pounds. diary affords no light as to his employment at this Death of time. He passed three months at Lichfield: 1 and Catharine I cannot omit an affecting and solemn scene there, bers as related by himself: "Sunday, Oct. 18, 1767. Yesterday, Oct. 17, at about ten in the morning, I took my leave for ever of my dear old friend, Catharine Chambers, who came to live with my mother about 1724, and has been but little parted from us since. She buried my father, my brother, and my mother. She is now fifty-eight years old. "I desired all to withdraw, then told her that we were to part for ever; that as Christians, we should part with prayer; and that I would, if she was willing, say a short prayer beside her. She expressed great desire to hear me; and held up her poor hands, as she lay in bed, with great fervour, while I prayed, kneeling by her, nearly in the following words : "Almighty and most merciful Father, whose loving kindness is over all thy works, behold, visit, and relieve this thy servant, who is grieved with sickness. Grant that the sense of her weakness may add strength to her faith, and seriousness to her repentance. And grant that by the help of thy Holy Spirit, after the pains and labours of this short life, we may all obtain everlasting happiness, through JESUS CHRIST our Lord, for whose sake hear our prayers. Amen. Our father, &c. X "I then kissed her. She told me, that to part 1 [In his letter to Mr. Drummond dated Oct. 24, 1767, he mentions that he had arrived in London, after an absence, of nearly six months, in the country. Probably part of that time was spent at Oxford.-M.] Cham Lexi- was the greatest pain that she had ever felt, and phanes that she hoped we should meet again in a better place. I expressed, with swelled eyes, and great emotion of tenderness, the same hopes. kissed, and parted. I humbly hope to meet again, and to part no more. "1 We By those who have been taught to look upon Johnson as a man of a harsh and stern character, let this tender and affectionate scene be candidly read; and let them then judge whether more warmth of heart, and grateful kindness, is often found in human nature. We have the following notice in his devotional record: "August 2, 1767. I have been disturbed and unsettled for a long time, and have been without resolution to apply to study or to business, being hindered by sudden snatches." 2 He, however, furnished Mr. Adams with a Dedication * to the King of that ingenious gentleman's "Treatise on the Globes," conceived and expressed in such a manner as could not fail to be very grateful to a Monarch, distinguished for his love of the sciences. This year was published a ridicule of his style, under the title of " Lexiphanes." Sir John Hawkins ascribes it to Dr. Kenrick; but its authour was one Campbell, a Scotch purser in the navy. The ridicule consisted in applying Johnson's "words of large meaning," to insignificant matters, as if one should put the armour of Goliath upon a dwarf. The contrast might 1 Prayers and Meditations, p. 77 and 78. be laughable; but the dignity of the armour must Prologue remain the same in all considerate minds. This to "The Good malicious drollery, therefore, it may easily be natured supposed, could do no harm to its illustrious Man" object. "ΤΟ BENNET LANGTON, ESQ. AT MR. ROTHWELL'S, PERFUMER, IN NEW Bond-street, LONDON. " DEAR SIR, "THAT you have been all summer in London is one more reason for which I regret my long stay in the country. I hope that you will not leave the town before my return. We have here only the chance of vacancies, in the passing carriages, and I have bespoken one that may, if it happens, bring me to town on the fourteenth of this month: but this is not certain. "It will be a favour if you communicate this to Mrs. Williams: I long to see all my friends. " I am, dear Sir, "Your most humble servant, "Lichfield, Oct. 10, 1767." "SAM. JOHNSON." It appears from his notes of the state of his mind,1 that he suffered great perturbation and distraction in 1768. Nothing of his writings was given to the publick this year, except the Prologue* to his friend Goldsmith's comedy of "The Goodnatured Man." The first lines of this Prologue are strongly characteristical of the dismal gloom 1 Prayers and Meditations, p. 81. |