Complete Works of Samuel Johnson

by Samuel Johnson

  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 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.’

  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, ‘was very severe, and wrong-headedly 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 said, with the addition that he was an elegant poet. Hague was succeeded by Green, afterwards Bishop of Lincoln, whose character in the learned world is well known. In the same form with Johnson was Congreve, who afterwards became chaplain to Archbishop Boulter, and by that connection obtained good preferment in Ireland. He was a younger son of the ancient family of Congreve, in Staffordshire, of which the poet was a branch. His brother sold the estate. There was also Lowe, afterwards Canon of Windsor.’

  Indeed Johnson was very sensible how much he owed to Mr. Hunter. Mr. Langton one day asked him how he had acquired so accurate a knowledge of Latin, in which, I believe, he was exceeded by no man of his time; he said, ‘My master whipt me very well. Without that, Sir, I should have done nothing.’ He told Mr. Langton, that while Hunter was flogging his boys unmercifully, he used to say, ‘And this I do to save you from the gallows.’ Johnson, upon all occasions, expressed his approbation of enforcing instruction by means of the rod. ‘I would rather (said he) have the rod to be the general terrour to all, to make them learn, than tell a child, if you do thus, or thus, you will be more esteemed than your brothers or sisters. The rod produces an effect which terminates in itself. A child is afraid of being whipped, and gets his task, and there’s an end on’t; whereas, by exciting emulation and comparisons of superiority, you lay the foundation of lasting mischief; you make brothers and sisters hate each other.’

  When Johnson saw some young ladies in Lincolnshire who were remarkably well behaved, owing to their mother’s strict discipline and severe correction, he exclaimed, in one of Shakspeare’s lines a little varied,

  ‘Rod, I will honour thee for this thy duty.’

  That superiority over his fellows, which he maintained with so much dignity in his march through life, was not assumed from vanity and ostentation, but was the natural and constant effect of those extraordinary powers of mind, of which he could not but be conscious by comparison; the intellectual difference, which in other cases of comparison of characters, is often a matter of undecided contest, being as clear in his case as the superiority of stature in some men above others. Johnson did not strut or stand on tip-toe: He only did not stoop. From his earliest years his superiority was perceived and acknowledged. He was from the beginning [Greek: anax andron], a king of men. His schoolfellow, Mr. Hector, has obligingly furnished me with many particulars of his boyish days: and assured me that he never knew him corrected at school, but for talking and diverting other boys from their business. He seemed to learn by intuition; for though indolence and procrastination were inherent in his constitution, whenever he made an exertion he did more than any one else. In short, he is a memorable instance of what has been often observed, that the boy is the man in miniature: and that the distinguishing characteristicks of each individual are the same, through the whole course of life. His favourites used to receive very liberal assistance from him; and such was the submission and deference with which he was treated, such the desire to obtain his regard, that three of the boys, of whom Mr. Hector was sometimes one, used to come in the morning as his humble attendants, and carry him to school. One in the middle stooped, while he sat upon his back, and one on each side supported him; and thus he was borne triumphant. Such a proof of the early predominance of intellectual vigour is very remarkable, and does honour to human nature. Talking to me once himself of his being much distinguished at school, he told me, ‘they never thought to raise me by comparing me to any one; they never said, Johnson is as good a scholar as such a one; but such a one is as good a scholar as Johnson; and this was said but of one, but of Lowe; and I do not think he was as good a scholar.’

  He discovered a great ambition to excel, which roused him to counteract his indolence. He was uncommonly inquisitive; and his memory was so tenacious, that he never forgot any thing that he either heard or read. Mr. Hector remembers having recited to him eighteen verses, which, after a little pause, he repeated verbatim, varying only one epithet, by which he improved the line.

  He never joined with the other boys in their ordinary diversions: his only amusement was in winter, when he took a pleasure in being drawn upon the ice by a boy barefooted, who pulled him along by a garter fixed round him; no very easy operation, as his size was remarkably large. His defective sight, indeed, prevented him from enjoying the common sports; and he once pleasantly remarked to me, ‘how wonderfully well he had contrived to be idle without them.’ Lord Chesterfield, however, has justly observed in one of his letters, when earnestly cautioning a friend against the pernicious effects of idleness, that active sports are not to be reckoned idleness in young people; and that the listless torpor of doing nothing, alone deserves that name. Of this dismal inertness of disposition, Johnson had all his life too great a share. Mr. Hector relates, that ‘he could not oblige him more than by sauntering away the hours of vacation in the fields, during which he was more engaged in talking to himself than to his companion.’

  Dr. Percy, the Bishop of Dromore, who was long intimately acquainted with him, and has preserved a few anecdotes concerning him, regretting that he was not a more diligent collector, informs me, that ‘when a boy he was immoderately fond of reading romances of chivalry, and he retained his fondness for them through life; so that (adds his Lordship) spending part of a summer at my parsonage-house in the country, he chose for his regular reading the old Spanish romance of Felixmarte of Hircania, in folio, which he read quite through. Yet I have heard him attribute to these extravagant fictions that unsettled turn of mind which prevented his ever fixing in any profession.’

  1725: ÆTAT. 16. — After having resided for some time at the house of his uncle, Cornelius Ford, Johnson was, at the age of fifteen, removed to the school of Stourbridge, in Worcestershire, of which Mr. Wentworth was then master. This step was taken by the advice of his cousin, the Reverend Mr. Ford, a man in whom both talents and good dispositions were disgraced by licentiousness, but who was a very able judge of what was right.

 
; At this school he did not receive so much benefit as was expected. It has been said, that he acted in the capacity of an assistant to Mr. Wentworth, in teaching the younger boys. ‘Mr. Wentworth (he told me) was a very able man, but an idle man, and to me very severe; but I cannot blame him much. I was then a big boy; he saw I did not reverence him; and that he should get no honour by me. I had brought enough with me, to carry me through; and all I should get at his school would be ascribed to my own labour, or to my former master. Yet he taught me a great deal.’

  He thus discriminated, to Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore, his progress at his two grammar-schools. ‘At one, I learnt much in the school, but little from the master; in the other, I learnt much from the master, but little in the school.’

  The Bishop also informs me, that ‘Dr. Johnson’s father, before he was received at Stourbridge, applied to have him admitted as a scholar and assistant to the Reverend Samuel Lea, M.A., head master of Newport school, in Shropshire (a very diligent, good teacher, at that time in high reputation, under whom Mr. Hollis is said, in the Memoirs of his Life, to have been also educated). This application to Mr. Lea was not successful; but Johnson had afterwards the gratification to hear that the old gentleman, who lived to a very advanced age, mentioned it as one of the most memorable events of his life, that ‘he was very near having that great man for his scholar.’

  He remained at Stourbridge little more than a year, and then returned home, where he may be said to have loitered, for two years, in a state very unworthy his uncommon abilities. He had already given several proofs of his poetical genius, both in his school-exercises and in other occasional compositions. Of these I have obtained a considerable collection, by the favour of Mr. Wentworth, son of one of his masters, and of Mr. Hector, his school-fellow and friend; from which I select the following specimens:

  Translation of VIRGIL. Pastoral I.

  MELIBOEUS.

  Now, Tityrus, you, supine and careless laid,

  Play on your pipe beneath this beechen shade;

  While wretched we about the world must roam,

  And leave our pleasing fields and native home,

  Here at your ease you sing your amorous flame,

  And the wood rings with Amarillis’ name.

  TITYRUS.

  Those blessings, friend, a deity bestow’d,

  For I shall never think him less than God;

  Oft on his altar shall my firstlings lie,

  Their blood the consecrated stones shall dye:

  He gave my flocks to graze the flowery meads,

  And me to tune at ease th’ unequal reeds.

  MELIBOEUS.

  My admiration only I exprest,

  (No spark of envy harbours in my breast)

  That, when confusion o’er the country reigns,

  To you alone this happy state remains.

  Here I, though faint myself, must drive my goats,

  Far from their ancient fields and humble cots.

  This scarce I lead, who left on yonder rock

  Two tender kids, the hopes of all the flock.

  Had we not been perverse and careless grown,

  This dire event by omens was foreshown;

  Our trees were blasted by the thunder stroke, )

  And left-hand crows, from an old hollow oak, )

  Foretold the coming evil by their dismal croak. )

  Translation of HORACE. Book I. Ode xxii.

  The man, my friend, whose conscious heart

  With virtue’s sacred ardour glows,

  Nor taints with death the envenom’d dart,

  Nor needs the guard of Moorish bows:

  Though Scythia’s icy cliffs he treads,

  Or horrid Africk’s faithless sands;

  Or where the fam’d Hydaspes spreads

  His liquid wealth o’er barbarous lands.

  For while by Chloe’s image charm’d,

  Too far in Sabine woods I stray’d;

  Me singing, careless and unarm’d,

  A grizly wolf surprised, and fled.

  No savage more portentous stain’d

  Apulia’s spacious wilds with gore;

  No fiercer Juba’s thirsty land,

  Dire nurse of raging lions, bore.

  Place me where no soft summer gale

  Among the quivering branches sighs;

  Where clouds condens’d for ever veil

  With horrid gloom the frowning skies:

  Place me beneath the burning line,

  A clime deny’d to human race;

  I’ll sing of Chloe’s charms divine,

  Her heav’nly voice, and beauteous face.

  Translation of HORACE. Book II. Ode ix.

  Clouds do not always veil the skies,

  Nor showers immerse the verdant plain;

  Nor do the billows always rise,

  Or storms afflict the ruffled main.

  Nor, Valgius, on th’ Armenian shores

  Do the chain’d waters always freeze;

  Not always furious Boreas roars,

  Or bends with violent force the trees.

  But you are ever drown’d in tears,

  For Mystes dead you ever mourn;

  No setting Sol can ease your care,

  But finds you sad at his return.

  The wise experienc’d Grecian sage

  Mourn’d not Antilochus so long;

  Nor did King Priam’s hoary age

  So much lament his slaughter’d son.

  Leave off, at length, these woman’s sighs,

  Augustus’ numerous trophies sing;

  Repeat that prince’s victories,

  To whom all nations tribute bring.

  Niphates rolls an humbler wave,

  At length the undaunted Scythian yields,

  Content to live the Roman’s slave,

  And scarce forsakes his native fields.

  Translation of part of the Dialogue between HECTOR and ANDROMACHE; from the Sixth Book of HOMER’S ILIAD.

  She ceas’d: then godlike Hector answer’d kind,

  (His various plumage sporting in the wind)

  That post, and all the rest, shall be my care;

  But shall I, then, forsake the unfinished war?

  How would the Trojans brand great Hector’s name!

  And one base action sully all my fame,

  Acquired by wounds and battles bravely fought!

  Oh! how my soul abhors so mean a thought.

  Long since I learn’d to slight this fleeting breath,

  And view with cheerful eyes approaching death

  The inexorable sisters have decreed

  That Priam’s house, and Priam’s self shall bleed:

  The day will come, in which proud Troy shall yield,

  And spread its smoking ruins o’er the field.

  Yet Hecuba’s, nor Priam’s hoary age,

  Whose blood shall quench some Grecian’s thirsty rage,

  Nor my brave brothers, that have bit the ground,

  Their souls dismiss’d through many a ghastly wound,

  Can in my bosom half that grief create,

  As the sad thought of your impending fate:

  When some proud Grecian dame shall tasks impose,

  Mimick your tears, and ridicule your woes;

  Beneath Hyperia’s waters shall you sweat,

  And, fainting, scarce support the liquid weight:

  Then shall some Argive loud insulting cry,

  Behold the wife of Hector, guard of Troy!

  Tears, at my name, shall drown those beauteous eyes,

  And that fair bosom heave with rising sighs!

  Before that day, by some brave hero’s hand

  May I lie slain, and spurn the bloody sand.

  To a YOUNG LADY on her BIRTH-DAY.

  This tributary verse receive my fair,

  Warm with an ardent lover’s fondest pray’r.

  May this returning day for ever find

  Thy form more lovely, more adorn’d thy mind;

&n
bsp; All pains, all cares, may favouring heav’n remove,

  All but the sweet solicitudes of love!

  May powerful nature join with grateful art,

  To point each glance, and force it to the heart!

  O then, when conquered crouds confess thy sway,

  When ev’n proud wealth and prouder wit obey,

  My fair, be mindful of the mighty trust,

  Alas! ’tis hard for beauty to be just.

  Those sovereign charms with strictest care employ;

  Nor give the generous pain, the worthless joy:

  With his own form acquaint the forward fool,

  Shewn in the faithful glass of ridicule;

  Teach mimick censure her own faults to find, )

  No more let coquettes to themselves be blind, )

  So shall Belinda’s charms improve mankind. )

  THE YOUNG AUTHOUR.

  When first the peasant, long inclin’d to roam,

  Forsakes his rural sports and peaceful home,

  Pleas’d with the scene the smiling ocean yields,

  He scorns the verdant meads and flow’ry fields:

  Then dances jocund o’er the watery way,

  While the breeze whispers, and the streamers play:

  Unbounded prospects in his bosom roll,

  And future millions lift his rising soul;

  In blissful dreams he digs the golden mine,

  And raptur’d sees the new-found ruby shine.

  Joys insincere! thick clouds invade the skies,

  Loud roar the billows, high the waves arise;

  Sick’ning with fear, he longs to view the shore,

  And vows to trust the faithless deep no more.

  So the young Authour, panting after fame,