A very erroneous notion has circulated as to Johnson's deficiency in the knowledge of the Greek language,partly owing to the modesty with which,from knowing how much there was to be learnt,he used to mention his own comparative acquisitions.When Mr.Cumberland talked to him of the Greek fragments which are so well illustrated in The Observer,and of the Greek dramatists in general,he candidly acknowledged his insufficiency in that particular branch of Greek literature.Yet it may be said,that though not a great,he was a good Greek scholar.Dr.Charles Burney,the younger,who is universally acknowledged by the best judges to be one of the few men of this age who are very eminent for their skill in that noble language,has assured me,that Johnson could give a Greek word for almost every English one;and that although not sufficiently conversant in the niceties of the language,he upon some occasions discovered,even in these,a considerable degree of critical acumen.Mr.Dalzel,Professor of Greek at Edinburgh,whose skill in it is unquestionable,mentioned to me,in very liberal terms,the impression which was made upon him by Johnson,in a conversation which they had in London concerning that language.As Johnson,therefore,was undoubtedly one of the first Latin scholars in modern times,let us not deny to his fame some additional splendour from Greek.
The ludicrous imitators of Johnson's style are innumerable.Their general method is to accumulate hard words,without considering,that,although he was fond of introducing them occasionally,there is not a single sentence in all his writings where they are crowded together,as in the first verse of the following imaginary Ode by him to Mrs.Thrale,which appeared in the newspapers:--'Cervisial coctor's viduate dame,Opin'st thou this gigantick frame,Procumbing at thy shrine:
Shall,catenated by thy charms,A captive in thy ambient arms,Perennially be thine?'
This,and a thousand other such attempts,are totally unlike the original,which the writers imagined they were turning into ridicule.There is not similarity enough for burlesque,or even for caricature.
'TO MR.GREEN,APOTHECARY,AT LICHFIELD.
'DEAR SIR,--I have enclosed the Epitaph for my Father,Mother,and Brother,to be all engraved on the large size,and laid in the middle aisle in St.Michael's church,which I request the clergyman and churchwardens to permit.
'The first care must be to find the exact place of interment,that the stone may protect the bodies.Then let the stone be deep,massy,and hard;and do not let the difference of ten pounds,or more,defeat our purpose.
'I have enclosed ten pounds,and Mrs.Porter will pay you ten more,which I gave her for the same purpose.What more is wanted shall be sent;and I beg that all possible haste may be made,for I wish to have it done while I am yet alive.Let me know,dear Sir,that you receive this.I am,Sir,your most humble servant,'Dec.2,1784.'
'SAM.JOHNSON.'
Death had always been to him an object of terrour;so that,though by no means happy,he still clung to life with an eagerness at which many have wondered.At any time when he was ill,he was very much pleased to be told that he looked better.An ingenious member of the Eumelian Club,informs me,that upon one occasion when he said to him that he saw health returning to his cheek,Johnson seized him by the hand and exclaimed,'Sir,you are one of the kindest friends I ever had.'
Dr.Heberden,Dr.Brocklesby,Dr.Warren,and Dr.Butter,physicians,generously attended him,without accepting any fees,as did Mr.Cruikshank,surgeon;and all that could be done from professional skill and ability,was tried,to prolong a life so truly valuable.He himself,indeed,having,on account of his very bad constitution,been perpetually applying himself to medical inquiries,united his own efforts with those of the gentlemen who attended him;and imagining that the dropsical collection of water which oppressed him might be drawn off by making incisions in his body,he,with his usual resolute defiance of pain,cut deep,when he thought that his surgeon had done it too tenderly.This bold experiment,Sir John Hawkins has related in such a manner as to suggest a charge against Johnson of intentionally hastening his end;a charge so very inconsistent with his character in every respect,that it is injurious even to refute it,as Sir John has thought it necessary to do.It is evident,that what Johnson did in hopes of relief,indicated an extraordinary eagerness to retard his dissolution.--BOSWELL.
About eight or ten days before his death,when Dr.Brocklesby paid him his morning visit,he seemed very low and desponding,and said,'I have been as a dying man all night.'He then emphatically broke out in the words of Shakspeare:--'Can'st thou not minister to a mind diseas'd;Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow;
Raze out the written troubles of the brain;
And,with some sweet oblivious antidote,Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff,Which weighs upon the heart?'
To which Dr.Brocklesby readily answered,from the same great poet:--'--therein the patient Must minister to himself.'
Johnson expressed himself much satisfied with the application.
On another day after this,when talking on the subject of prayer,Dr.Brocklesby repeated from Juvenal,--'Orandum est,ut sit mens sana in corpore sano,'
and so on to the end of the tenth satire;but in running it quickly over,he happened,in the line,'Qui spatium vitae extremum inter munera ponat,'
to pronounce supremum for extremum;at which Johnson's critical ear instantly took offence,and discoursing vehemently on the unmetrical effect of such a lapse,he shewed himself as full as ever of the spirit of the grammarian.
Having no near relations,it had been for some time Johnson's intention to make a liberal provision for his faithful servant,Mr.
