in my power to write to my illustrious friend as formerly, or without expressing such complaints as offended him. Having conjured him not to do me the injustice of charging me with affectation, I was with much regret long silent. His last letter to me then came, and affected me very tenderly :

LETTER 470.

TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

"Lichfield, Nov. 5, 1784. "DEAR SIR,-I have this summer sometimes amended, and sometimes relapsed, but, upon the whole, have lost ground very much. My legs are extremely weak, and my breath very short, and the water is now increasing apon me. In this uncomfortable state your letters used to relieve; what is the reason that I have them no longer? Are you sick, or are you sullen? Whatever be the reason, if it be less than necessity, drive it away; and of the short life that we have, make the best use for yourself and for your friends. I am sometimes afraid that your omission to write has some real cause, and shall be glad to know that you are not sick, and that nothing ill has befallen dear Mrs. Boswell, or any of your family. I am, etc. SAM. JOHNSON."

Yet it was not a little painful to me to find, that in a paragraph of this letter, which I have omitted, he still persevered in arraigning me as before, which was strange in him who had so much experience of what I suffered. I, however, wrote to him two as kind letters as I could; the last of which came too late to be read by him, for his illness increased more rapidly upon him than I had apprehended; but I had the consolation of being informed that he spoke of me on his death-bed with affection, and I look forward with humble hope of renewing our friendship in a better world.

I now relieve the readers of this work from any farther personal notice of its author; who, if he should be thought to have obtruded himself too much upon their attention, requests them to consider the peculiar plan of his biographical undertaking

Soon after Johnson's return to the metropolis, both the asthma and dropsy became more violent and distressful. He had for some time kept a journal in Latin of the state of his illness, and the remedies which he used, under the title of Egri Ephemeris, which he began on the 6th of July, but continued it no longer than the 8th of November; finding, I suppose, that it was a mournful and

ATAT. TO.

UNIVERSAL HISTORY.

423

unavailing register. It is in my possession; and is written with great care and accuracy.

Still his love of literature' did not fail. A very few days before his death he transmitted to his friend, Mr. John Nichols, a list of the authors of the Universal History, mentioning their several shares in that work. It has, according to his direction, been deposited in the British Museum, and is printed in the Gentleman's Magazine for December, 1784.'

1 It is truly wonderful to consider the extent and constancy of Johnson's literary ardour, notwithstanding the melancholy which clouded and embittered his existence. Besides the numerous and various works which he executed, he had, at different times, formed schemes of a great many more, of which the following catalogue was given by him to Mr. Langton, and by that gentleman presented to his Majesty.-B.-This catalogue, as Mr. Boswell calls it, is, by Dr. Johnson himself, intitled "DESIGNS," and is written in a few pages of a small duodecimo note-book bound in rough calf. It seems, from the hand, that it was written early in life: from the marginal dates it appears that some portions were added in 1752 and 1758. In the first page of this little volume, his late Majesty King George III. wrote with his own hand :-" Original Manuscripts of Dr. Samuel Johnson, presented by his friend, Langton, Esq. April 16th, 1785. G. R."-0.

2 As the letter accompanying this list (which fully supports the observation in the text) was written but a week before Dr. Johnson's death, the reader may not be displeased to find It here preserved :

LETTER 471.

TO MR. NICHOLS.

"December 6, 1784.

"The late learned Mr. Swinton, having one day remarked that one man, meaning, I suppose, no man but himself, could assign all the parts of the Ancient Universal History to their proper authors, at the request of Sir Robert Chambers, or of myself, gave the account which I now transmit to you in his own hand; being willing that of so great a work the history should be known, and that each writer should receive his due proportion of praise from posterity.

"I recommend you to preserve this scrap of literary intelligence in Mr. Swinton's ow hand, or to deposit it in the Museum, that the veracity of this account may never be doubted. I am, Sír, your most humble servant,

SAM. JOHNSON.”

The Cosmogony, and a small part of the History immediately following; by Mr. Safa.

To the birth of Abraham; chiefly by Mr. Shelvock.

History of the Jews, Gauls, and Spaniards, by Mr. Psalmanazar.

Xenophon's Retreat; by the same.

History of the Persians and the Constantinopolitan Empire; by Dr. Campbell.
History of the Romans; by Mr. Bower.

During his sleepless nights he amused himself by translating into Latin verse, from the Greek, many of the epigrams in the "Anthologia." These translations, with some other poems by him in Latin, he gave to his friend Mr. Langton, who, having added a few notes, sold them to the booksellers for a small sum to be given to some Johnson's relations, which was accordingly done; and they are printed in the collection of his works.

2

A very erroneous notion had circulated as to Johnson's deficiency in the knowledge of the Greek language, partly owing to the modesty' with which, from knowing how much there was to be learnt, he used to mention his own comparative acquisitions. When Mr. Cumberland talked to him of the Greek fragments which are so well illustrated in "The Observer," and of the Greek dramatists in general, he candidly acknowledged his insufficiency in that particu lar branch of Greek literature. Yet it may be said, that though not a great, he was a good Greek scholar. Dr. Charles Burney, the younger, who is universally acknowledged by the best judges to be one of the few men of this age who are very eminent for their skill in that noble language, has assured me, that Johnson could give a Greek word for almost every English one; and that, although not sufficiently conversant in the niceties of the language, he, upon some occasions, discovered, even in these, a considerable degree of critical acumen. Mr. Dalzel, professor of Greek at Edinburgh, whose skill is unquestionable, mentioned to me, in very liberal terms, the impression which was made upon him by Johnson, in a conversation which they had in London concerning that language. As Johnson,

On the subject of Dr. Johnson's skill in Greek, I have great pleasure in quoting an aneodote told by my dear and lamented friend, the late Mr. Gifford, in his Life of Ford :"My friend the late Lord Grosvenor had a house at Salt Hill, where I usually spent a part of the summer, and thus became acquainted with that great and good man, Jacob Bryant. Here the conversation turned one morning on a Greek criticism by Dr. Johnson in some volume lying on the table, which I ventured [for I was then young] to deem incorrect, and pointed it out to him. I could not help thinking that he was something of my opinion, but he was cautious and reserved. But, Sir,' said I, willing to overcome his scruples, ‘Dr. Johnson himself admitted that he was not a good Greek scholar.' 'Sir,' he replied, with a serious and impressive air, it is not easy for us to say what such a man as Johnson would call a good Greek scholar.' I hope that I profited by that lesson-certainly I never forgot it."-Gifford's Works of Ford, vol. i. p. lxii.-C.

"Mr. Cumberland assures me that he was always treated with great courtesy by Dr. JohnSon, who, in his "Letters to Mrs. Thrale," Vol. II. p. 68, thus speaks of that learned, ingenious, and accomplished gentleman: "The want of company is an inconvenience, but Mr. Cumber land is a million."

ÆTAT. 75.

CORRESPONDENCE.

425

therefore, was undoubtedly one of the first Latin scholars in modern times, let us not deny to his fame some additional splendour from Greek.'

Johnson's affection for his departed relations seemed to grow warmer as he approached nearer to the time when he might hope to see them again. It probably appeared to him that he should upbraid himself with unkind inattention, were he to leave the world without having paid a tribute of respect to their memory.

LETTER 472.

TO MR. GREEN, APOTHECARY,

At Lichfield.

"Dec. 8, 1784

"DEAR SIR,-I have enclosed the epitaph for my father, mother, and bro ther, to be all engraven on the large size, and laid in the middle aisle in St. Michael's church, which I request the clergyman and churchwardens to permit.

"The first care must be to find the exact place of interment, that the stone may protect the bodies. Then let the stone be deep, massy, and hard; and do not let the difference of ten pounds, or more, defeat our purpose.

"I have enclosed ten pounds, and Mrs. Porter will pay you ten more, which I gave her for the same purpose. What more is wanted shall be sent; and I beg that all possible haste may be made, for I wish to have it done while I am yet alive. Let me know, dear Sir, that you receive this.

I am, &c.

LETTER 478.

TO MRS. LUCY PORTER,

"SAM. JOHNSON."

At Lichfield.

"DEAR MADAM,-I am very ill, and desire your prayers. Green the epitaph, and a power to call on you for ten pounds.

"Dec. 9, 1784

I have sent Mr

"I laid this summer a stone over Tetty, in the chapel of Bromley in Kent. The inscription is in Latin, of which this is the English. (Here a translation.) That this is done, I thought it fit that you should know. What care will be taken of us, who can tell? May God pardon and bless us, for Jesus Christ's sake. I am, &c. SAM. JOHNSON."

In this place Mr. Boswell had introduced extracts from contemporary writers whom he supposed to have imitated Johnson's style, which it has been thought convenient to trangpose to the end of the life.-C.

? A relation of Dr. Johnson.

This lady survived Dr. Johnson just thirteen months. She died at Lichfield in her 71st year, JaLuary 18, 1786, and bequeathed the principal part of her fortune to the Rev. Ma Tearson, of Lichfield.—M.

CHAPTER XVIII.

1784.

Last Illness, and Death,

My readers are now, at last, to behold SAMUEL JOHNSON preparing himself for that doom, from which the most exalted powers afford no exemption to man. Death had always been to him an object of terror; so that, though by no means happy, he still clung to life with an eagerness at which many have wondered. At any time when he was ill, he was very much pleased to be told that he looked better. An ingenious member of the Eumelian Club' informs me, that upon one occasion, when he said to him that he saw health returning to his cheek, Johnson seized him by the hand and exclaimed, "Sir, you are one of the kindest friends I ever had."

His own statement of his views of futurity will appear truly rational; and may, perhaps, impress the unthinking with seriousness.

"You know," says he to Mrs. Thrale, "I never thought confidence with respect to futurity any part of the character of a brave, a wise, or a good man, Bravery has no place where it can avail nothing; wisdom impresses strongly the consciousness of those faults, of which it is, perhaps, itself an aggravation; and goodness, always wishing to be better, and imputing every deficience to criminal negligence, and every fault to voluntary corruption, never dares to suppose the condition of forgiveness fulfilled, nor what is wanting in the crime supplied by penitence.

"This is the state of the best; but what must be the condition of him whose heart will not suffer him to rank himself among the best, or among the good? Such must be his dread of the approaching trial, as will leave him little atten.

• A club in London, founded by the learned and ingenious physician, Dr. Ash, in honour whose name it was called Eumelian [literally, well-ashed], from the Greek Evμedias . though it was warmly contended, and even put to a vote, that it should have the more obvious appellation of Fraxinean, from the Latin.