a better heart. He has nothing of the bear but the skin.-OLIVER GOLDSMITH. If it be asked who first, in England, at this period, breasted the waves and stemmed the tide of infidelity-who, enlisting wit and eloquence, together with argument and learning, on the side of revealed religion, first turned the literary current in its favor and mainly prepared the reaction which succeeded-that praise seems most justly to belong to Dr. Samuel Johnson.-LORD MAHON: History of England. A mass of genuine manhood. - THOMAS CARLYLE. A sage by all allowed, Whom to have bred may well make England proud; Whose verse may claim, grave, masculine, and strong, WILLIAM COWPER. TOPICAL STUDY OF JOHNSON'S LIFE. Birth and Parentage. - Samuel Johnson was born in Lichfield (1709). His father was a well-to-do bookseller, a stanch High-Churchman and Tory, a town magistrate, and at one time county sheriff. From him his son inherited those hypochondriacal tendencies which harassed him through life. His mother, a woman of remarkable character, is called by Johnson, in his "Vanity of Human Wishes," "The general favorite as the general friend." He was early afflicted with the scrofula, and was taken to London by his mother to be touched by Queen Anne, according to the popular superstition of the time which regarded the royal touch as a cure for that disease. In this case it was ineffectual, and Johnson was subject to the disease during his entire life. It disfigured his face, injured his eyes, and was probably the cause of those strange convulsions, gesticulations, and queer performances which rendered him an oddity to beholders. Education. Having learned to read under Dame Oliver, who kept a primary school in Lichfield, and through the instruction of a certain Tom Brown, he was sent to the grammar-school, where he mastered some Latin. He was afterwards, for about a year, an assistant in a school at Stourbridge, and then returned home, where he remained till his entrance to Oxford, in 1728. These two years at home were an important period in his education. His father's shop surrounded him with books, which he devoured with incredible rapidity. Of these books he himself said, they were "not voyages and travels, but all literature, sir, all ancient writers, all manly, though but little Greekonly some of Anacreon and Hesiod; but in this irregular manner I had looked into a great many books which were not commonly known at the universities, where they seldom read any books but what are put into their hands by their tutors; so that when I came to Oxford, Dr. Adams, now master of Pembroke College, told me I was the best qualified for the university that he had ever known come there." His prodigious memory enabled him to lay up a vast stock of information, but he never became an exact scholar. He remained three years at Pembroke College, leaving before the time for taking his degree. In 1731 his father died, leaving him without fortune and means of support. Johnson now looked around for employment, and resolved to try teaching. In the Gentleman's Magazine (1736) appeared the following advertisement: "At Edial, near Lichfield, in Staffordshire, young gentlemen are boarded and taught the Latin and Greek languages by Samuel Johnson." In this occupation, however, he was not very successful, and he resolved to seek his fortune in London. Thither he went in March, 1737, accompanied by one of his pupils-David Garrick-who was to complete his education at the metropolis. Marriage. In 1735 Johnson married a widow nearly twice as old as himself, and possessed of attractions visible to himself alone. Garrick described her as very fleshy, with cheeks colored by thick painting, arrayed in a fantastic manner, and affected in her speech and behavior. Though Johnson's assertion that "it was a love-match on both sides" provoked the laughter and ridicule of his friends, its truth is attested by their mutual devotion during life, and his constancy for thirty years after her death. He called her Tetty or Tetsey-a provincial contraction for Elizabeth-and in many of his books were found such words as "this was dear Tetty's book." Literary Drudgery (1737-1762). - These were years of want and misery. His arrival in London was at an inauspicious time for literary aspirants. A few authors had succeeded in making their profession profitable, but by far the larger number inhabited the burrows of Grub Street and the booksellers' garrets. His first literary employment in London was in connection with the Gentleman's Magazine, which had been established by Edward Cave, in 1731. For this periodical Johnson furnished essays, criticisms, and translations which much extended its popularity. During these years he wrote poems, a biography, a dictionary, edited periodical papers, composed a romance, and thus made for himself a name in literature. As early as 1738 Pope was attracted by his genius, and his publications drew the attention of the cultivated and polite society of the metropolis. But his labors procured him nothing more substantial than a reputation, and against poverty he had a long and constant struggle. His mother died in 1759, and he was obliged to compose a tale that he might defray her funeral expenses. The accession of George III. was hailed with delight by the literati, who anticipated better times through that monarch's taste and generosity. Nor were they disappointed; men of literary merit were sought out and rewarded, and among the first to profit by the change was Johnson, who, in 1762, was granted a pension of £300. Literary Dictatorship (1762-1784). - The addition of his pension to the income derived from his literary labors placed him above want and pecuniary cares. He now entered upon a glorious existence: his society was sought by the learned and the noble; his opinion in literary matters was regarded infallible; and his conversation was admired and heard with reverence. He became acquainted with the Thrale family, whose home afforded him a quiet refuge, where he was always welcome. In 1773 he made a journey to the Hebrides with Boswell; in 1774 he accompanied the Thrales to Wales; and in 1775 visited Paris with the same friends. The remainder of the time during these years, with the exception of occasional visits to friends, was passed in London. His personal habits are thus described by Dr. Maxwell, one of Johnson's friends: "His general mode of life during my acquaintance seemed to be pretty uniform. About twelve o'clock I commonly visited him, and frequently found him in bed, or declaiming over his tea, which he drank very plentifully. He generally had a levee of morning visitors, chiefly men of letters-Hawkesworth, Goldsmith, Murphy, Langton, Steevens, Beauclerk, etc. and sometimes learned ladies; particularly I remember a French lady of wit and fashion doing him the honor of a visit. He seemed to me to be considered as a kind of public oracle, whom everybody thought they had a right to visit and consult; and doubtless they were well rewarded. I never could discover how he found time for his compositions. He declaimed all the morning, then went to dinner at a tavern, where he commonly stayed late, and then drank his tea at some friend's house, over which he loitered a great while, but seldom took supper.... He frequently gave all the silver in his pocket to the poor, who watched him between his house and the tavern where he dined. He walked the streets all hours, and said he was never robbed, for the rogues knew he had little money, nor had the appearance of having much." Thus Johnson passed the last twenty years of his life in affluence and ease the most eminent man of his age. Death and Burial. - Johnson died December, 1784. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, by the side of Goldsmith, and in 1796 a colossal statue was erected to his memory in St. Paul's Cathedral, being the first monument ever placed in that building. JOHNSON'S HOMES. : Birthplace at Lichfield. - His father built the corner house in the market-place, the two fronts of which, towards Market and Broad-market Streets, stood upon waste land of the corporation, under a forty years' lease, which was then expired. On the 15th of August, 1767, at a common hall of the bailiffs and citizens, it was ordered (and that without any solicitation) that a lease should be granted to Samuel Johnson, Doctor of Laws, of the encroachments at his house for the term of ninety-nine years, at the old rent, which was five shillings, of which, as townclerk, Mr. Simpson had the honor and pleasure of informing him, and that he was desired to accept it without paying any fine on the occasion; which lease was afterwards granted, and the Doctor died possessed of this property.-BOSWELL. London Residences. - The following list of the houses which Johnson occupied in London, with the dates at which he first appeared in them, is given in Croker's edition of Boswell's "Life of Johnson," p. 42: 11. Holborn again [at the Golden Anchor, Holborn Bars] 1748 12. Gough Square. 13. Staple Inn.. 1758 Gough Square. We ourselves, not without labor and risk, lately discovered Gough Square, between Fleet Street |