1729. The particular course of his reading while at Oxford, and during the time of vacation which he paffed at home, cannot be traced. Enough has been Etat. zo. faid of his irregular mode of study. He told me, that from his earliest years he loved to read poetry, but hardly ever read any poem to an end; that he read Shakspeare at a period fo early, that the fpeech of the Ghost in Hamlet terrified him when he was alone; that Horace's Odes were the compofitions in which he took most delight, and it was long before he liked his Epiftles and Satires. He told me what he read folidly at Oxford was Greek; not the Grecian hiftorians, but Homer and Euripides, and now and then a little Epigram; that the study of which he was most fond was Metaphyficks, but he had not read much, even in that way. I always thought that he did himself injuftice in his account of what he had read, and that he must have been fpeaking with reference to the vaft portion of study which is poffible, and to which a few scholars in the whole hiftory of literature have attained; for when I once asked him whether a person whofe name I have now forgotten, studied hard, he answered " No, Sir. I do not believe he studied hard. I never knew a man who studied hard. I conclude, indeed, from the effects, that fome men have studied hard, as Bentley and Clarke." Trying him by that criterion upon which he formed his judgement of others, we may be abfolutely certain, both from his writings and his converfation, that his reading was very extenfive. Dr. Adam Smith, than whom few are better judges on this fubject, once obferved to me that "Johnfon knew more books than any man alive." He had a peculiar facility in feizing at once what was valuable in any book, without fubmitting to the labour of perufing it from beginning to end. He had, from the irritability of his conftitution, at all times, an impatience and hurry when he either read or wrote. A certain apprehenfion, arifing from novelty, made him write his firft exercise at College twice over; but he never took that trouble with any other compofition; and we shall see that his most excellent works were ftruck off at a heat, with rapid exertion. Yet he appears, from his early notes or memorandums, in my poffeffion, to have at various times attempted, or at least planned, a methodical courfe of study, according to computation, of which he was all his life fond, as it fixed his attention fteadily upon fomething without, and prevented his mind from preying upon itself. Thus I find in his hand-writing the number of lines in each of two of Euripides's Tragedies, of the Georgicks of Virgil, of the first fix books of the Æneid, of Horace's Art of Poetry, of three of the books of Ovid's Metamorphofis, of fome parts of Theocritus, and of the tenth 1729. Etat. 20. Satire of Juvenal; and a table, fhewing at the rate of various numbers a day, (I suppose verses to be read) what would be, in each cafe, the total amount in a week, month, and year. No man had a more ardent love of literature, or a higher refpect for it, than Johnfon. His apartment in Pembroke College was that upon the second floor, over the gateway. The enthusiasts of learning will ever contemplate it with veneration. One day, while he was fitting in it quite alone, Dr. Panting, then mafter of the College, whom he called "a fine Jacobite fellow," overheard him uttering this foliloquy in his strong emphatick voice: " Well, I have a mind to see what is done in other places of learning. I'll go and vifit the Universities abroad. I'll go to France and Italy. I'll go to Padua.And I'll mind my business. For an Athenian blockhead is the worst of all blockheads "." Dr. Adams told me, that Johnson, while he was at Pembroke College, was careffed and loved by all about him, was a gay and frolicksome fellow, and paffed there the happiest part of his life." But this is a striking proof of the fallacy of appearances, and how little any of us know of the real internal state even of those whom we see most frequently; for the truth is, that he was then depreffed by poverty, and irritated by disease. When I mentioned to him this account as given me by Dr. Adams, he faid, "Ah, Sir, I was mad and violent. It was bitterness which they mistook for frolick. I was miferably poor, and I thought to fight my way by my literature and my wit; fo I difregarded all power and all authority." The Bishop of Dromore obferves in a letter to me, "The pleasure he took in vexing the tutors and fellows has been often mentioned. But I have heard him fay, what ought to be recorded to the honour of the prefent venerable master of that College, the Reverend William Adams, D. D. who was then very young, and one of the junior fellows; that the mild but judicious expoftulations of this worthy man, whofe virtue awed him, and whofe learning he revered, made him really afhamed of himself, though I fear (faid he) I was too proud to own it.' "I have heard from fome of his cotemporaries that he was generally seen lounging at the College gate, with a circle of young ftudents round him, whom he was entertaining with wit, and keeping from their ftudies, if not 5 I had this anecdote from Dr. Adams, and Dr. Johnson confirmed it. Bramfton, in his "Man of Tafte," has the fame thought: "Sure, of all blockheads, fcholars are the worst." spiriting fpiriting them up to rebellion against the College difcipline, which in his maturer years he fo much extolled." He very early began to attempt keeping notes or memorandums, by way of a diary of his life. I find, in a parcel of loofe leaves, the following fpirited refolution to contend against his natural indolence: "Oct. 1729. Defidiæ valedixi; fyrenis iftius cantibus furdam pofthac aurem obverfurus.-I bid farewell to Sloth, being refolved henceforth not to listen to her fyren strains." I have alfo in my poffeffion a few leaves of another Libellus, or little book, entitled ANNALES, in which fome of the early particulars of his hiftory are registered in Latin. I do not find that he formed any close intimacies with his fellow-collegians. But Dr. Adams told me, that he contracted a love and regard for Pembroke College, which he retained to the laft. A short time before his death he fent to that College a prefent of all his works, to be depofited in their library, and he had thoughts of leaving to it his house at Lichfield; but his friends who were about him very properly diffuaded him from it, and he bequeathed it to some poor relations. He took a pleasure in boasting of the many eminent men who had been educated at Pembroke. In this lift are found the names of Spenfer, Mr. Hawkins the Poetry Profeffor, Mr. Shenstone, Sir William Blackstone, and others', not forgetting the celebrated popular preacher, Mr. George Whitefield, of whom, though Dr. Johnson did not think very highly, it must be acknowledged that his eloquence was powerful, his views pious and charitable, his affiduity almoft incredible; and, that fince his death, the integrity of his character has been fully vindicated. Being himself a poet, Johnson was peculiarly happy in mentioning how many of the fons of Pembroke were poets; adding, with a smile of fportive triumph, "Sir, we are a neft of finging birds.' He was not, however, blind to what he thought the defects of his own College; and I have, from the information of Dr. Taylor, a very strong instance of that rigid honesty which he ever inflexibly preserved. Taylor had obtained his father's confent to be entered of Pembroke, that he might be with his schoolfellow Johnfon, with whom, though fome years older than himself, he was very intimate. This would have been a great comfort to Johnson. But he fairly told Taylor that he could not, in confcience, fuffer him to enter where he knew he could not have an able tutor. He then made inquiry all round the University, and having found that Mr. Bateman, of See Nafh's Hiftory of Worcestershire, Vol. I. p. 529. 1730. Etat. 21. 1731. Etat. 22. Chrift-Church, was the tutor of highest reputation, Taylor was entered of that College. Mr. Bateman's lectures were fo excellent, that Johnfon used to come and get them at second-hand from Taylor, till his poverty being fo extreme, that his fhoes were worn out, and his feet appeared through them, he saw that this humiliating circumftance was perceived by the Christ-churchmen, and he came no more. He was too proud to accept of money, and fomebody having fet a pair of new fhoes at his door, he threw them away with indignation. How muft we feel when we read fuch an anecdote of Samuel Johnfon! His fpirited refusal of an eleemofynary supply of fhoes, arofe, no doubt, from a proper pride. But, confidering his afcetick difpofition at times, as acknowledged by himself in his Meditations, and the exaggeration with which some have treated the peculiarities of his character, I should not wonder to hear it afcribed to a principle of fuperftitious mortification; as we are told by Turfellinus, in his Life of St. Ignatius Loyola, that this intrepid founder of the order of Jefuits, when he arrived at Goa, after having made a fevere pilgrimage through the eastern deserts, perfifted in wearing his miferable shattered fhoes, and when new ones were offered him, rejected them as an unfuitable indulgence. The res angufta domi prevented him from having the advantage of a complete academical education. The friend to whom he had trusted for support had deceived him. His debts in College, though not great, were increasing; and his fcanty remittances from Lichfield, which had all along been made with great difficulty, could be fupplied no longer, his father having fallen into a state of infolvency. Compelled, therefore, by irresistible neceffity, he left the College in autumn, 1731, without a degree, having been a member of it little more than three years. Dr. Adams, the worthy and refpectable master of Pembroke College, has generally had the reputation of being Johnfon's tutor. The fact, however, is, that in 1731 Mr. Jorden quitted the College, and his pupils were transferred to Dr. Adams; so that had Johnson returned, Dr. Adams would have been his tutor. It is to be wished, that this connection had taken place. His equal temper, mild difpofition, and politeness of manners, might have insenfibly foftened the harshness of Johnson, and infufed into him those more delicate charities, that petite morale, in which, it must be confeffed, our great moralift was more deficient than his best friends could fully justify. Dr. Adams paid Johnson this high compliment. He said to me at Oxford, in 1776, "I was his nominal tutor, but he was above my mark." When I repeated 4 repeated it to Johnson, his eyes flashed with grateful fatisfaction, and he exclaimed, "That was liberal and noble." And now (I had almost faid poor) Samuel Johnson returned to his native city, deftitute, and not knowing how he should gain even a decent livelihood. His father's misfortunes in trade rendered him unable to fupport his fon; and for fome time there appeared no means by which he could maintain himself. In the December of this year his father died. The state of poverty in which he died, appears from a note in one of Johnson's little diaries of the following year, which strongly displays his fpirit and virtuous dignity of mind. 1732, Julii 15. Undecim aureos depofui, quo die quicquid ante matris funus (quod ferum fit precor) de paternis bonis fperari licet, viginti fcilicet libras accepi. Ufque adeo mibi fortuna fingenda eft. Interea, ne paupertate vires animi languefcant, nec in flagitia egeftas abigat, cavendum.I layed by eleven guineas on this day, when I received twenty pounds, being all that I have reafon to hope for out of my father's effects, previous to the death of my mother; an event which I pray GOD may be very remote. I now, therefore, fee that I must make my own fortune. Meanwhile, let me take care that the powers of my mind may not be debilitated by poverty, and that indigence do not force me into any criminal act." Johnson was so far fortunate, that the respectable character of his parents, and his own merit, had, from his earliest years, fecured him a kind reception in the best families at Lichfield. Among these I can mention Mr. Howard, Dr. Swinfen, Mr. Simpfon, Mr. Levett, Captain Garrick, father of the great ornament of the British stage; but above all, Mr. Gilbert Walmsley”, Register of the Prerogative Court of Lichfield, whofe character, long after his decease, Dr. Johnson has, in his life of Edmund Smith, thus drawn in the glowing colours of gratitude: "Of Gilbert Walmsley, thus presented to my mind, let me indulge myself in the remembrance. I knew him very early; he was one of the first friends that literature procured me, and I hope that, at least, my gratitude made me worthy of his notice. "He was of an advanced age, and I was only not a boy; yet he never received my notions with contempt. He was a whig, with all the virulence 7 Mr. Warton informs me," that this early friend of Johnson was entered a Commoner of Trinity College, Oxford, aged 17, in 1698; and is the authour of many Latin verfe tranflations in the Gentleman's Magazine. One of them is a translation of 1731. Ætat. 22. |