CHAPTER X 1782. Death of Robert Levett-Verses to his Memory-Chatterton-Dr Lawrence-Death of Friendship-"Beauties" and "Deformities" of Johnson-Misery :f being in Debt-Sig Rules for Travellers-Death of Lord Auchinleck-" Kindness and Fondness "-Life-Old Age-Evils of Poverty-Prayer on leaving Streatham-Visit to Cowdry-Nichols's "Aneodotes"-Wilson's "Archeological Dictionary "-Dr. Patten. IN 1782 his complaints increased, and the history of his life this year is little more than a mournful recital of the variations of his illness, in the midst of which, however, it will appear from his letters, that the powers of his mind were in no degree impaired. LETTER 405. TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. “January 5, 1782. "DEAR SIR,I sit down to answer your letter on the same day in which I received it, and am pleased that my first letter of the year is to you. No man ought to be at ease while he knows himself in the wrong; and I have not satisfied myself with my long silence. The letter relating to Mr. Sinclair, however, was, I believe, never brought. 'My health has been tottering this last year; and I can give no very laudable account of my time. I am always hoping to do better than I have ever hitherto done. My journey to Ashbourne and Staffordshire was not pleasant; for what enjoyment has a sick man visiting the sick? Shall we ever have another frolic like our journey to the Hebrides ? "I hope that dear Mrs. Boswell will surmount her complaints: in losing her you will lose your anchor, and be tossed, without stability, by the waves of fe. I wish both you and her very many years, and very happy. "For some months past I have been so withdrawn from the world, that I can send you nothing particular. All your friends, however, are well, and will be glad of your return to London. I am, dear Sir, etc., SAM. JOHNSON." At a time when he was less able than he had once been to sus The truth of this has been proved by sad experience.-B. Mrs. Boswell died June 4, 1789.-M. PAT. 18. DEATH OF LEVETT. 248 tain a shock, he was suddenly deprived of Mr. Levett, which event he thus communicated to Dr. Lawrence : LETTER 406. TO DR. LAWRENCE. * Jan. 17, 1782. "SIR,—Our old friend, Mr. Levett, who was last night eminently cheerful, died this morning. The man who lay in the same room, hearing an uncommon noise, got up and tried to make him speak, but without effect. He then called Mr. Holder, the apothecary, who, though when he came he thought him dead, opened a vein, but could draw no blood. So has ended the long life of a very useful and very blameless man. I am, Sir, your most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." In one of his memorandum-books in my possession is the following entry : "January 20, Sunday, Robert Levett was buried in the churchyard of Bridewell, between one and two in the afternoon. He died on Thursday, 17, about seven in the morning, by an instantaneous death. He was an old and faithful friend: I have known him from about [17]46. Commendavi. May God have mercy on him! May he have mercy on me!" Such was Johnson's affectionate regard for Levett,' that honoured his memory with the following pathetic verses: "Condemn'd to Hope's delusive mine, As on we toil from day to day, By sudden blast or slow decline "Well try'd through many a varying year, Of every friendless name the friend. "Yet still he fills affection's eye, Obscurely wise and coarsely kind; "When fainting Nature call'd for aid, And hovering death prepared the blow His vigorous remedy display'd The power of art without the show. 7 1 See an account of him, antè, Vol. L LETTER 407. "In misery's darkest caverns known, No summons mock'd by chill delay, His virtues walk'd their narrow round, "The busy day, the peaceful night, Unfelt, uncounted, glided by; His frame was firm, his powers were bright, "Then, with no throbs of fiery pain, Death broke at once the vital chain, TO MRS. STRAHAN. "Feb. 4, 1789. "DEAR MADAM,-Mrs. Williams showed me your kind letter. This attle habitation is now but a melancholy place, clouded with the gloom of disease and death. Of the four inmates, one has been suddenly snatched away; two are oppressed by very afflictive and dangerous illness; and I tried yesterday to gain some relief by a third bleeding from a disorder which has for some time distressed me, and I think myself to-day much better. "I am glad, dear Madam, to hear that you are so far recovered as to go to Bath. Let me once more entreat you to stay till your health is not only obtained, but confirmed. Your fortune is such as that no moderate expense deserves your care; and you have a husband who, I believe, does not regard it. Stay, therefore, till you are quite well. I am, for my part, very much deserted; but complaint is useless. I hope God will bless you, and I desire you to form the same wish for me. I am, dear Madam, etc. "SAM JOHNSO"," Johnson repeated this line to me thus: "And labour steals an hour to dia. But he afterwards altered it to the presont reading. “SIR,—I have for many weeks been so much out of order, that I have gone out only in a coach to Mrs. Thrale's, where I can use all the freedom that sickness requires. Do not, therefore, take it amiss, that I am not with you and Dr. Farmer. I hope hereafter to see you often. I am, Sir, etc. LETTER 409. TO THE SAME. "SAM. JOHNSON." "March 2, 1782. "DEAR SIR,-I hope I grow better, and shall soon be able to enjoy the kindness of my friends. I think this wild adherence to Chatterton' more unaccountable than the obstinate defence of Ossian. In Ossian there is a national pride, which may be forgiven, though it cannot be applauded. In Chatterton there is nothing but the resolution to say again what has once been said. I am, Sir, etc. SAM. JOHNSON." These short letters show the regard which Dr. Johnson entertained for Mr. Malone, who the more he is known is the more highly valued. It is much to be regretted that Johnson was prevented from sharing the elegant hospitality of that gentleman's table, at which he would in every respect have been fully gratified. Mr. Malone, who has so ably succeeded him as an editor of Shakspeare, has, in his Preface, done great and just honour to Johnson's memory. LETTER 410. TO MRS. LUCY PORTER. "London, March 2, 1782. "Dear Madam,-I went away from Lichfield ill, and have had a trouble. rome time with my breath. For some weeks I have been disordered by a cold, of which I could not get the violence abated till I had been let blood three times. I have not, however, been so bad but that I could have written, and am sorry that I neglected it. This note was in answer to one which accompanied one of the earliest pamphlets on the subject of Chatterton's forgery, entitled "Cursory Observations on the Poems attributed to Thomas Rowley," &c. Mr. Thomas Warton's very able "Inquiry" appeared about three months afterwards; and Mr. Tyrwhitt's admirable "Vindication of his Appendix," in the sum. mer of the same year, left the believers in this daring imposture nothing but "the resolution to say again what had been said before." Daring, however, as this fiction was, and wild as was the adherence to Chatterton, both were greatly exceeded in 1795 and the following year, by a still more audacious imposture, and the pertinacity of one of its adherents, who has immortalised his name by publishing a bulky volume, of which the direct and manifest object was, to prove the authenticity of certain papers attributed to Shakspeare, after the fabrk sator of the spurious trash had publicly acknowledged the imposture.-M. BIOG.-Vol. 26-11 "My dwelling is but melancholy. Both Williams, and Desmoulins, and myself, are very sickly; Frank is not well; and poor Levett died in his bed the other day by a sudden stroke. I suppose not one minute passed between health and death. So uncertain are human things. hope your scenes are wise to be serious, it is Let us, therefore, keep "Such is the appearance of the world about me; I more cheerful. But whatever befalls us, though it is useless and foolish, and perhaps sinful, to be gloomy. ourselves as easy as we can; though the loss of friends will be felt and poor Levett had been a faithful adherent for thirty years. Forgive me, my dear love, the omission of writing; I hope to mend that and my other faults. Let me have your prayers. Make my compliments to "DEAR MADAM,-My last was but a dull letter, and I know not that this will be much more cheerful: I am, however, willing to write, because you are desirous to hear from me. My disorder has now begun its ninth week, for it is not yet over. I was last Thursday blooded for the fourth time, and have since found myself much relieved, but I am very tender and easily hurt; so that since we parted I have had but little comfort. But I hope that the spring will recover me, and that in the summer I shall see Lichfield again, for I will not delay my visit another year to the end of autumn. "I have, by advertising, found poor Mr. Levett's brothers, in Yorkshire, who will take the little he has left: it is but little, yet it will be welcome, for I believe they are of very low condition. "To be sick, and to see nothing but sickness and death, is but a gloomy state but I hope better times, even in this world, will come, and whatever this world may withhold or give, we shall be happy in a better state. Pray for me, my dear Lucy. Make my compliments to Mrs Cobb, and Miss Adey, and my old friend, Hetty Bailey, and to all the Lichfield ladies. I am, &c. "SAM. JOHNSON." On the day on which this letter was written, he thus feelingly mentions his respected friend and physician, Dr. Lawrence :-" Poor Lawrence has almost lost the sense of hearing; and I have lost the conversation of a learned, intelligent, and communicative companion, and a friend whom long familiarity has much endeared. Lawrence is one of the best men whom I have known.-Nostrum omnium mise rere Deus." (Pr. and Med. p. 203.) It was Dr. Johnson's custom, when he wrote to Dr. Lawrence |