第25章

Though The Rambler was not concluded till the year 1752,I shall,under this year,say all that I have to observe upon it.Some of the translations of the mottos by himself are admirably done.He acknowledges to have received 'elegant translations'of many of them from Mr.James Elphinston;and some are very happily translated by a Mr.F.Lewis,of whom I never heard more,except that Johnson thus described him to Mr.Malone:'Sir,he lived in London,and hung loose upon society.'

His just abhorrence of Milton's political notions was ever strong.

But this did not prevent his warm admiration of Milton's great poetical merit,to which he has done illustrious justice,beyond all who have written upon the subject.And this year he not only wrote a Prologue,which was spoken by Mr.Garrick before the acting of Comus at Drury-lane theatre,for the benefit of Milton's grand-daughter,but took a very zealous interest in the success of the charity.

1751:AETAT.42.]--In 1751we are to consider him as carrying on both his Dictionary and Rambler.

Though Johnson's circumstances were at this time far from being easy,his humane and charitable disposition was constantly exerting itself.Mrs.Anna Williams,daughter of a very ingenious Welsh physician,and a woman of more than ordinary talents and literature,having come to London in hopes of being cured of a cataract in both her eyes,which afterwards ended in total blindness,was kindly received as a constant visitor at his house while Mrs.Johnson lived;and after her death,having come under his roof in order to have an operation upon her eyes performed with more comfort to her than in lodgings,she had an apartment from him during the rest of her life,at all times when he had a house.

1752:AETAT.43.]--In 1752he was almost entirely occupied with his Dictionary.The last paper of his Rambler was published March 2,this year;after which,there was a cessation for some time of any exertion of his talents as an essayist.But,in the same year,Dr.

Hawkesworth,who was his warm admirer,and a studious imitator of his style,and then lived in great intimacy with him,began a periodical paper,entitled The Adventurer,in connection with other gentlemen,one of whom was Johnson's much-beloved friend,Dr.

Bathurst;and,without doubt,they received many valuable hints from his conversation,most of his friends having been so assisted in the course of their works.

That there should be a suspension of his literary labours during a part of the year 1752,will not seem strange,when it is considered that soon after closing his Rambler,he suffered a loss which,there can be no doubt,affected him with the deepest distress.For on the 17th of March,O.S.,his wife died.

The following very solemn and affecting prayer was found after Dr.

Johnson's decease,by his servant,Mr.Francis Barber,who delivered it to my worthy friend the Reverend Mr.Strahan,Vicar of Islington,who at my earnest request has obligingly favoured me with a copy of it,which he and I compared with the original:

'April 26,1752,being after 12at Night of the 25th.

'O Lord!Governour of heaven and earth,in whose hands are embodied and departed Spirits,if thou hast ordained the Souls of the Dead to minister to the Living,and appointed my departed Wife to have care of me,grant that I may enjoy the good effects of her attention and ministration,whether exercised by appearance,impulses,dreams or in any other manner agreeable to thy Government.Forgive my presumption,enlighten my ignorance,and however meaner agents are employed,grant me the blessed influences of thy holy Spirit,through Jesus Christ our Lord.Amen.'

That his love for his wife was of the most ardent kind,and,during the long period of fifty years,was unimpaired by the lapse of time,is evident from various passages in the series of his Prayers and Meditations,published by the Reverend Mr.Strahan,as well as from other memorials,two of which I select,as strongly marking the tenderness and sensibility of his mind.

'March 28,1753.I kept this day as the anniversary of my Tetty's death,with prayer and tears in the morning.In the evening Iprayed for her conditionally,if it were lawful.'

'April 23,1753.I know not whether I do not too much indulge the vain longings of affection;but I hope they intenerate my heart,and that when I die like my Tetty,this affection will be acknowledged in a happy interview,and that in the mean time I am incited by it to piety.I will,however,not deviate too much from common and received methods of devotion.'

Her wedding ring,when she became his wife,was,after her death,preserved by him,as long as he lived,with an affectionate care,in a little round wooden box,in the inside of which he pasted a slip of paper,thus inscribed by him in fair characters,as follows:

'Eheu!

Eliz.Johnson Nupta Jul.91736,Mortua,eheu!

Mart.171752.'

After his death,Mr.Francis Barber,his faithful servant and residuary legatee,offered this memorial of tenderness to Mrs.Lucy Porter,Mrs.Johnson's daughter;but she having declined to accept of it,he had it enamelled as a mourning ring for his old master,and presented it to his wife,Mrs.Barber,who now has it.