p. 565.

any one to him, and, the better to enforce the charge, Hawk. 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, in 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

[I have given Sir John Hawkins's account of this extraordinary circumstance, although Mr. Boswell relates it also (post, sub 5th May), both because Hawkins tells it rather more distinctly, and that it is desirable to produce all possible confirmation of such a fact.-ED.]

Reyn.

MSS.

worse. I intend to be in London next month, chiefly to attend upon him with respectful affection. But, in the mean time, it will be a great favour done me, if you, who know him so well, will be kind enough to let me know particularly how he is.

"I hope Mr. Dilly conveyed to you my Letter on the State of the Nation, from the Authour. I know your political principles, and indeed your settled system of thinking upon civil society and subordination, to be according to my own heart, and therefore I doubt not you will approve of my honest zeal. But what monstrous effects of party do we now see! I am really vexed at the conduct of some of our friends'.

"Amidst the conflict our friend of Port Elliot is with much propriety created a peer. But why, O why did he not obtain the title of Baron Mahogany? Genealogists and heralds would have had curious work of it to explain and illustrate that title. I ever am, with sincere regard, my dear sir, your affectionate humble servant, "JAMES BOSWELL."]

"DR. JOHNSON TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

"11th February, 1784.

"DEAR SIR,—I hear of many inquiries which your kindness has disposed you to make after me. I have long intended you a long letter, which perhaps the imagination of its length hindered me from beginning. I will, therefore, content myself with a shorter.

Having promoted the institution of a new club in the neighbourhood, at the house of an old servant of Thrale's, I went thither to meet the company, and was seized with a spasmodick asthma, so violent, that with difficulty I got to my own house, in which I have been confined eight or nine weeks, and from which I know not when I shall be able to go even to church. The asthma, however, is not the worst. A dropsy gains ground upon me: my legs and thighs are very much swollen with water, which I should be content if I could keep there; but I am afraid that it will soon be higher. My nights are very sleepless and very tedious. And yet I am extremely afraid of dying.

My physicians try to make me hope, that much of my malady is the effect of cold, and that some degree at least of recovery is to be expected from vernal breezes and summer suns. If my life is prolonged to autumn, I should be glad to try a warmer climate; though how to travel with a diseased body,

[Messrs. Fox and Burke-ED.]

Sce ante, vol. iv. p. 449.-ED.]

without a companion to conduct me, and with very little money, I do not well see. Ramsay has recovered his limbs in Italy; and Fielding was sent to Lisbon, where, indeed, he died; but he was, I believe, past hope when he went. Think for me what I can do.

"I received your pamphlet, and when I write again may perhaps tell you some opinion about it; but you will forgive a man struggling with disease his neglect of disputes, politicks, and pamphlets. Let me have your prayers. My compliments to your lady, and young ones. Ask your physicians about my case and desire Sir Alexander Dick to write me his opinion. I am, dear sir, &c. "SAM. JOHNSON."

["A few days after the remnant of the Ivy-lane Hawk. Club had dined with him," says Sir John Hawkins, p. 563. "he sent for me, and informed me, that he had discovered in himself the symptoms of a dropsy, which, indeed, his very much increased bulk, and the swollen appearance of his legs, seemed to indicate. 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 70l. a year for life, and concerted with me a plan for investing a sum sufficient for the purpose: at the same time he stated 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 death before him, and that he dreaded to meet his Saviour. 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

p. 566.

Hawk. not have prompted a really superstitious man to some more passionate exclamation than that it was "wonderful.""]

"TO MRS. LUCY PORTER, IN LICHFIELD.

"23d February, 1784. "MY DEAREST LOVE,-I have been extremely ill of an asthma and dropsy, but received by the mercy of God sudden and unexpected relief last Thursday, by the discharge of twenty pints of water. Whether I shall continue free, or shall fill again, cannot be told. Pray for me.

"Death, my dear, is very dreadful; let us think nothing worth our care but how to prepare for it: what we know amiss in ourselves let us make haste to amend, and put our trust in the mercy of God and the intercession of our Saviour. I am, dear madam, your most humble servant,

"SAM. JOHNSON."

"TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

"London, 27th Feb. 1784.

"DEAR SIR,—I have just advanced so far towards recovery as to read a pamphlet; and you may reasonably suppose that the first pamphlet which I read was yours. I am very much of your opinion, and, like you, feel great indignation at the indecency with which the king is every day treated. Your paper contains very considerable knowledge of history and of the constitution, very properly produced and applied. It will certainly raise your character', though perhaps it may not make you a minister of state.

"I desire you to see Mrs. Stewart once again, and tell her,

["Letter to the People of Scotland on the present State of the Nation."] I sent it to Mr. Pitt, with a letter, in which I thus expressed myself: "My principles may appear to you too monarchical; but I know and am persuaded they are not inconsistent with the true principles of liberty. Be this as it may, you, sir, are now the prime minister, called by the sovereign to maintain the rights of the crown, as well as those of the people, against a violent faction. As such, you are entitled to the warmest support of every good subject in every department." He answered, "I am extremely obliged to you for the sentiments you do me the honour to express, and have observed with great pleasure the zealous and able support given to the cause of the publick in the work you were so good to transmit to me."-BOSWELL. [One cannot but smile at Mr. Boswell's apology to Mr. Pitt for appearing too monarchical. Mr. Pitt, it will be recollected, had (after a short parliamentary life, in which he had shown a disposition to whig principles) lately become prime minister, on the dismissal of the celebrated Coalition administration.-ED.]

that in the letter-case was a letter relating to me, for which I will give her, if she is willing to give it me, another guinea. The letter is of consequence only to me. I am, dear sir, &c. "SAM. JOHNSON."

In consequence of Johnson's request that I should ask our physicians about his case, and desire Sir Alexander Dick to send his opinion, I transmitted him a letter from that very amiable baronet, then in his eighty-first year, with his faculties as entire as ever, and mentioned his expressions to me in the note accompanying it," With my most affectionate wishes for Dr. Johnson's recovery, in which his friends, his country, and all mankind have so deep a stake;" and at the same time a full opinion upon his case by Dr. Gillespie, who, like Dr. Cullen, had the advantage of having passed through the gradations of surgery and pharmacy, and by study and practice had attained to such skill, that my father settled on him two hundred pounds a year for five years, and fifty pounds a year during his life, as an honorarium to secure his particular attendance. The opinion was conveyed in a letter to me, beginning, "I am sincerely sorry for the bad state of health your very learned and illustrious friend, Dr. Johnson, labours under at present."

"TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

"London, 2d March, 1784. "DEAR SIR,-Presently after I had sent away my last letter, I received your kind medical packet. I am very much obliged both to you and to your physicians for your kind attention to my disease. Dr. Gillespie has sent me an excellent consilium medicum, all solid practical experimental knowledge. I am at present, in the opinion of my physicians (Dr. Heberden and

[The letter was probably lost. Mr. Boswell could else have hardly failed to inform us what it related to. It is clear that Johnson set a good deal of value upon it, for he mentions it again yet more earnestly in another letter, 18th March, 1784.-Er.]