Nor can I omit a little instance of that jealous independence of spirit, and impetuosity of temper, which never forsook him. The fact was acknowledged to me by himself, upon the authority of his mother. One day, when the servant who used to be sent to school to conduct him home, had not come in time, he set out by himself, though he was then so near-sighted, that he was obliged to stoop down on his hands and knees to take a view of the kennel before he ventured to step over it. His schoolmistress, afraid that he might miss his way, or fall into the kennel, or be run over by a cart, followed him at some distance. He happened to turn about and perceive her. Feeling her careful attention as an insult to his manliness, he ran back to her in a rage, and beat her, as well as his strength would permit.

Of the power of his memory, for which he was all his life eminent to a degree almost incredible, the following early instance was told me in his presence at Lichfield, in 1776, by his step-daughter, Mrs. Lucy Porter, as related to her by his mother. When he was a child in petticoats, and had learnt to read, Mrs. Johnson one morning put the common prayer-book into his hands, pointed to the collect for the day, and said, "Sam, you must get this by heart." She went upstairs, leaving him to study it: but by the

ration "and a present of three dozen of wine," on the 16th of June, 1710: but then the " infant Hercules of toryism" was just nine months old.— Croker.

The story of Michael Johnson taking his boy to see Sacheverel does not rest altogether on the gossip of the ladies of Lichfield. In reply to my inquiries, Charles Simpson, Esq., Town Clerk, who is old enough to remember Miss Mary Adye as Mrs. Sneyd-she died in 1830-informs me that he knew also the Rev. Henry White, to whom we owe the account of Johnson's penance at Uttoxeter; from him Mr. Simpson heard the Sacheverel story, which came to him " from the Doctor himself," the story, that is, which lived in the family. The inconsistencies which Mr. Croker mentions are indisputable; but, these notwithstanding, the tradition would seem to have substantial foundation. A statue of Johnson, by Lucas, has been recently presented to the town by the late Rev. J. T. Law, Chancellor of the Diocese, and erected immediately opposite the house where Johnson was born. On the pedestal of the statue there are three bas-reliefs, one of which represents Michael Johnson, with young Samuel on his shoulder, listening to the renowned Sacheverel. It seems a pity to disturb a tradition so firmly rooted and so piously commemorated.-Editor.

time she had reached the second floor, she heard him following her. 'What's the matter?" said she. "I can say it," he replied; and repeated it distinctly, though he could not have read it more than twice.

But there has been another story of his infant precocity generally circulated, and generally believed, the truth of which I am to refute upon his own authority. It is told,' that, when a child of three years old, he chanced to tread upon a duckling, the eleventh of a brood, and killed it; upon which, it is said, he dictated to his mother the following epitaph:

"Here lies good master duck,

Whom Samuel Johnson trod on;
If it had lived, it had been good luck,
For then we'd had an odd one."

There is surely internal evidence that this little composition combines in it what no child of three years old could produce, without an extension of its faculties by immediate inspiration; yet Mrs. Lucy Porter, Dr. Johnson's stepdaughter, positively maintained to me, in his presence, that there could be no doubt of the truth of this anecdote, for she had heard it from his mother. So difficult is it to obtain an authentic relation of facts, and such authority may there be for error; for he assured me, that his father made the verses, and wished to pass them for his child's. He added, "My father was a foolish old man; that is to say, foolish in talking of his children.'

1 Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson, by Hester Lynch Piozzi, p. 11 [see Johnsoniana]; Life of Dr. Johnson, by Sir John Hawkins, p. 6.

2 This anecdote of the duck, though disproved by internal and external evidence, has, nevertheless, upon supposition of its truth, been made the foundation of the following ingenious and fanciful reflections of Miss Seward, amongst the communications concerning Dr. Johnson with which she has been pleased to favour me:-" These infant numbers contain the seeds of those propensities which, through his life, so strongly marked his character, of that poetic talent which afterwards bore such rich and plentiful fruits; for, excepting his orthographic works, everything which Dr. Johnson wrote was poetry, whose essence consists not in numbers, or in jingle, but in the strength and glow of a fancy, to which all the stores of nature and of art stand in prompt administration; in an eloquence which conveys their blended illustrations in a language more tuneable than needs or rhyme or verse to add more harmony.' "The above little verses also show that superstitious bias which 'grew

6

and

Young Johnson had the misfortune to be much afflicted with the scrofula, or king's evil, which disfigured a countenance naturally well formed, and hurt his visual nerves so much, that he did not see at all with one of his eyes, though its appearance was little different from that of the other. There is amongst his prayers, one inscribed "When my EYE was restored to its use,' "1 which ascertains a defect that many of his friends knew he had, though I never perceived it. I supposed him to be only near-sighted; and indeed I must observe, that in no other respect could I discern any defect in his vision; on the contrary, the force of his attention and perceptive quickness made him see and distinguish all manner of objects, whether of nature or of art, with a nicety that is rarely to be found. When he and I were travelling in the Highlands of Scotland, and I pointed out to him a mountain which I observed resembled a cone, he corrected my inaccuracy, by showing me that it was, indeed, pointed at the top, but that one side of it was larger than the other. And the ladies with whom he was acquainted agree, that no man was more nicely and minutely critical in the elegance of female dress. When I found that he saw the romantic beauties of Islam, in Derbyshire, much better than I did, I told him that he resembled an able performer upon a bad instrument. How false and contemptible, then, are all the remarks which have been made to the prejudice either of his candour or of his philosophy, founded upon a supposition that he was almost blind. It has been said, that he contracted this grievous malady from his nurse. His mother,

2

with his growth, and strengthened with his strength,' and, of late years particularly, injured his happiness, by presenting to him the gloomy side of religion, rather than that bright and cheering one which gilds the period of closing life with the light of pious hope."

This is so beautifully imagined, that I would not suppress it. But, like many other theories, it is deduced from a supposed fact, which is, indeed, a fiction.

1 66

Prayers and Meditations," p. 21. Speaking himself of the imperfection of one of his eyes, he said to Dr. Burney, "the dog was never good for much."-Burney. Note in third edition, vol. i., p. 18.

2" Dr. Swinfen told me "-so Johnson says in his own Account of his Early Life, p. 12-"that the scrofulous sores which afflicted me, proceeded from the bad humours of the nurse, whose son had the same

yielding to the superstitious notion, which, it is wonderful to think, prevailed so long in this country, as to the virtue of the regal touch; a notion which our kings encouraged, and to which a man of such inquiry and such judgment as Carte1 could give credit; carried him to London, where he was actually touched by Queen Anne." Mrs. Johnson, indeed, as Mr. Hector informed me, acted by the advice of the celebrated Sir John Floyer, then a physician in Lichfield. Johnson used to talk of this very frankly; and Mrs. Piozzi' has preserved his very picturesque description of the scene, as it remained upon his fancy. Being asked, if he could remember Queen Anne, "He had," he said, a confused, but somehow a sort of solemn recollection of a lady in diamonds, and a long black hood." This touch, however, was without any effect. I ventured to say to him, in allusion to the political principles in which he was educated, and of which he ever retained some odour, that "his mother had not carried him far enough; she should have taken him to ROME."

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He was first taught to read English by Dame Oliver, a widow, who kept a school for young children in Lichfield. He told me she could read the black letter, and asked him to borrow for her, from his father, a bible in that character. When he was going to Oxford, she came to take leave of him, brought him, in the simplicity of her kindness, a present of gingerbread, and said he was the best scholar she ever had. He delighted in mentioning this early compliment; adding, with a smile, that this was as high a proof of his merit as he could conceive." His next instructor in English was a master, whom, when he spoke of

distemper, and was likewise short-sighted, but both in a less degree. My mother thought my diseases derived from her family."-Editor.

1 In consequence of a note, in vindication of the efficacy of the royal touch, which Carte admitted into the first volume of his History of England, the corporation of London withdrew their subscription, and the work instantaneously fell into almost total, but certainly undeserved, neglect.-Nichols.

2 It appears, by the newspapers of the time, that on the 30th of March, 1712, two hundred persons were touched by Queen Anne.— Wright.

3 Anecdotes, p. 10. [See Johnsoniana.]

him to me, he familiarly called Tom Brown, who, said he, "published a spelling-book, and dedicated it to the UNIVERSE: but, I fear, no copy of it can now be had."

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He began to learn Latin with Mr. Hawkins, usher or under-master of Lichfield school, a man," said he, “very skilful in his little way." With him he continued two years, and then rose to be under the care of Mr. Hunter, the head master, who, according to his account, 66 was very severe, and wrongheadedly severe.' He used," said he, "to beat us unmercifully; and he did not distinguish between ignorance and negligence: for he would beat a boy equally for not knowing a thing, as for neglecting to know it. He would ask a boy a question, and if he did not answer it, he would beat him, without considering whether he had an opportunity of knowing how to answer it. For instance, he would call up a boy and ask him Latin for a candlestick, which the boy could not expect to be asked. Now, sir, if a boy could answer every question, there would be no need of a master to teach him."

It is, however, but justice to the memory of Mr. Hunter to mention, that though he might err in being too severe, the school of Lichfield was very respectable in his time. The late Dr. Taylor, prebendary of Westminster, who was educated under him, told me, that "he was an excellent master, and that his ushers were most of them men of eminence; that Holbrook, one of the most ingenious men, best scholars, and best preachers of his age, was usher during the greatest part of the time that Johnson was at school. Then came Hague, of whom as much might be

1 "Mr. Hunter was an odd mixture of the pedant and the sportsman; he was a very severe disciplinarian and a great setter of game. Happy was the boy who could inform his offended master where a covey of partridges was to be found; this notice was a certain pledge of his pardon." -Davies' Life of Garrick, vol. i. p. 3. He was a prebendary in the Cathedral of Lichfield, and grandfather to Miss Seward. One of this lady's complaints against Johnson was, that he, in all his works, never expressed any gratitude to his preceptor. It does not appear that he owed him much.--Croker.

2 Edward Holbrook, A.M., afterwards minister of Wittenhall, near Wolverhampton, and in 1744, at the request of the corporation of Lichfield, presented by the Dean and Chapter to the vicarage of St. Mary's in that city, ob. 1772.-Croker.