which he had to a very great degree.

Indeed, the common operations of dressing, shaving, &c. were a toil to him he held the care of the body very cheap. He used to say, that a man who rode out for an appetite consulted but little the dignity of human nature.

285. Johnson's last Illness.

A few days after the remnant of the Ivy-lane Club had dined with him, [Feb. 1784.] Dr. Johnson sent for me, and informed me that he had discovered in himself the symptoms of a dropsy; and, indeed, his very much increased bulk, and the swollen appearance of his legs, seemed to indicate no less. He told me, that he was desirous of making a will, and requested me to be one of his executors: upon my consenting, he gave me to understand that he meant to make a provision for his servant, Frank, of about 70%. a year for his life, and concerted with me a plan for investing a sum sufficient for the purpose: at the same time he opened to me the state of his circumstances, and the amount of what he had to dispose of.

In a visit which I made him in a few days, in consequence of a very pressing request to see me, I found him labouring under great dejection of mind. He bade me draw near him, and said he wanted to enter into a serious conversation with me; and, upon my expressing a willingness to join in it, he, with a look that cut me to the heart, told me that he had the prospect of deat before him, and that he dreaded to meet his Saviour. (1) I could not but be astonished at such a declaration, and advised him, as I had done once before, to reflect on the course of his life, and the services he had rendered to the cause of religion and virtue, as well by his example as his writings; to which he answered, that he had

(1) This, and other expressions of the like kind, which he uttered to me, should put to silence the idle reports that he dreaded annihilation H.

written as a philosopher, but had not lived like one. In the estimation of his offences, he reasoned thus: Every man knows his own sins, and also what grace he has resisted. But, to those of others, and the circumstances under which they were committed, he is a stranger: he is, therefore, to look on himself as the greatest sinner that he knows of."(1) At the conclusion of this argument, which he strongly enforced, he uttered this passionate exclamation, "Shail I, who have been a teacher of others, myself be a castaway?"

Much to the same purpose passed between us in this and other conversations that I had with him; in all which I could not but wonder, as much at the freedom with which he opened his mind, and the compunction he seemed to feel for the errors of his past life, as I did at his making choice of me for his confessor, knowing full well how meanly qualified I was for such an office.

It was on a Thursday (2) that I had this conversation with him; and here, let not the supercilious lip of scorn protrude itself, while I relate that, he declared his intention to devote the whole of the next day to fasting, humiliation, and such other devotional exercises as became a man in his situation. On the Saturday following I made him a visit, and, upon entering his room, observed in his countenance such a serenity, as indicated that some remarkable crisis of his disorder had produced a change in his feelings. He told me that, pursuant to the resolution he had mentioned, he had spent the preceding day in an abstraction from all worldly concerns; that, to prevent interruption, he had,

(1) I find the above sentiment in "Law's Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life," a book which Johnson was very conversant with, and often commended.-H.

(2) It appears from Johnson's own letters, that the event itself took place on Thursday, 19tb February. See antè, Vol. VIII. p. 255.-C.

in the morning, ordered Frank not to admit any one to Lim; and, the better to enforce the charge, had added these awful words, "For your master is preparing himself to die." He then mentioned to me, that, in the course of this exercise, he found himself relieved from that disorder which had been growing on him, and was become very oppressing, the dropsy, by a gradual evacuation of water to the amount of twenty pints, a like instance whereof he had never before experienced; and asked me what I thought of it.

I was well aware of the lengths that superstition and enthusiasm will lead men, and how ready some are to attribute favourable events to supernatural causes, and said, that it might savour of presumption to say that, ir. this instance, God had wrought a miracle; yet, as divines recognise certain dispensations of his providence, recorded in the Scripture by the denomination of returns of prayer, and his omnipotence is now the same as ever, I thought it would be little less than criminal to ascribe his late relief to causes merely natural, and that the safer opinion was, that he had not in vain humbled himself before his Maker. He seemed to acquiesce in all that I said on this important subject; and, several times, while I was discoursing with him, cried out, "It is wonderful, very wonderful!"

His zeal for religion, as manifested in his writings and conversation, and the accounts extant that attest his piety, have induced the enemies to his memory to tax him with superstition. To that charge I oppose his behaviour on this occasion, and leave it to the judgment of sober and rational persons, whether such an unexpected event as that above mentioned would not have prompted a really superstitious man to some more passionate exclamation than that it was "wonderful."(

(1) Doubtless there are men who look upon all religious exercises as superstition, and upon prayer and other acts of devotion as evidences of a weak mind. These say, that reason is a

After the declaration he had made of his intention to provide for his servant Frank, and before his going into the country, I had frequently pressed him to make a will, and had gone so far as to make a draft of one, with blanks for the names of the executors and residuary legatee, and directing in what manner it was to be executed and attested; but he was exceedingly averse to this business; and, while he was in Derbyshire, I repeated my solicitations, for this purpose, by letters. When he arrived in town, he had done nothing in it, and, to what I formerly said, I now added, that he had never mentioned the disposal of the residue of his estate, which, after the purchase of an annuity for Frank, would be something considerable, and that he would do well to bequeath it to his relations. His answer was, "I care not what becomes of the residue." A few days after, it appeared that he had executed the draft, the blanks remaining, with all the solemnities of a real will. I could get him no farther; and thus, for some time, the matter rested.

His complaints still increasing, I continued pressing him to make a will; but he still procrastinated that business. On the 27th of November, in the morning, I went to his house, with a purpose still farther to urge him not to give occasion, by dying intestate, for litigation among his relations; but finding that he was gone to pass the day with the Rev. Mr. Strahan, at Islington, I followed him thither, and found there our old friend Mr. Ryland, and Mr. Hoole. Upon my sitting

sufficient rule of action, and that God needs not to be supplicated, nor requires our thanks. Of this class of individuals I take Annet to have been one: he who wrote against the miracles, and was some years ago convicted of blasphemy, and sentenced to imprisonment. The wife of Jackson, the bookseller, in Clare Court, Drury Lane, once told me, that this man would often call in at their shop; and if he happened to see a Bible lying on the connter, would entreat her to take it away, for that he could not bear the sight of it.—H,

down, he said, that the prospect of the change he was about to undergo, and the thought of meeting his Saviour, troubled him, but that he had hope that he would not reject him.

66

I then began to discourse with him about his will, and the provision for Frank, till he grew angry. He told me, that he had signed and sealed the paper I left him; but that, said I, had blanks in it, which, as it seems, you have not filled up with the names of the executors. "You should have filled them up yourself," answered he. I replied, that such an act would have looked as if I meant to prevent his choice of a fitter person. Sir," said he, "these minor virtues are not to be exercised in matters of such importance as this." At length he said, that on his return home he would send for a clerk, and dictate a will to him. "You will then," said I, "be inops consilii ; rather do it now. With Mr. Strahan's permission, I will be his guest at dinner; and, if Mr. Hoole will please to hold the pen, I will, in a few words, make such a disposition of your estate as you shall direct." To this he assented; but such a paroxysm of the asthma seized him, as prevented our going As the fire burned up, he found himself relieved, and grew cheerful. "The fit," said he, 6< was very sharp; but I am now easy."

on.

After I had dictated a few lines, I told him, that the ancient form of wills contained a profession of the faith of the testator; and that he being a man of eminence for learning and parts, it would afford an illustrious example, and well become him, to make such an explicit declaration of his belief, as might obviate all suspicions that he was any other than a Christian. He thanked me for the hint, and, calling for paper, wrote on a slip, that I had in my hand and gave him, the following words: "I humbly commit to the infinite and eternal goodness of Almighty God, my soul polluted with many sins; but, a: I hope, purified by repentance, and