In 1756 he issued proposals for an edition of Shakspeare, a scheme which he had contemplated as long back as 1745, when he published Miscellaneous Observations on the Tragedy of Macbeth. He promised to complete it before Christmas, 1757, but it did not appear until October, 1765. Imperfectly versed in the antiquities, literature, and language of the Elizabethan era, the source from which almost all valuable comment on our early dramatists has been drawn, he has done little to elucidate difficulties or correct errors. His preface has been esteemed among the most valuable of his critical essays. But the perusal of his notes, and especially of his summary criticisms on the several plays, will confirm Garrick’s judgment as to his sensibility, and show that he wanted that delicate perception and deep knowledge of the workings of the passions which were necessary to the adequate fulfilment of his most difficult task.
From April 15, 1758, to April 5, 1760, Johnson wrote a second periodical paper, called the Idler. Twelve only, out of one hundred and three essays, were contributed by his friends; the rest were generally written with as much haste, and are of slighter texture, than those of the Rambler. Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia, he wrote in the beginning of 1759, to defray the expenses of his mother’s funeral, and pay some trifling debts which she had left. He told Sir Joshua Reynolds, that it was composed in the evenings of one week, and sent to the press in portions as it was written. This anecdote affords a good instance of Johnson’s facility and power, when an adequate stimulus was applied: from the rich imagery, and the varied, powerful strain of reflection which pervade it, and the elaborated pomp of its style, it would assuredly be taken for the product of mature consideration, labour, and frequent revision. For this he received one hundred pounds, and twenty-five pounds more at a second edition. It has been translated into most European languages.
In 1762 Johnson accepted a pension of 300l., for which he underwent considerable obloquy. This was entirely undeserved, though in some sort he had brought it on himself by indulging his satirical bias and political predilections in a wayward definition of the words pension and pensioner, in his Dictionary; where other instances occur of his indulging the humour of the moment, whether it prompted him to spleen or merriment. Why he should not have accepted the pension, no sound reason can be given: his Jacobitical predilections, never probably so strong as he used to represent them in the heat of argument, were lost, like those of others, in the hopelessness of the cause; and his Toryism naturally led him to transfer his full respect and allegiance to the reigning king, who never was suspected of an undue bias towards Whiggism. The sum bestowed was no more than an honourable testimony to his literary eminence, and a comfortable provision for his declining age: and as far as it is possible to form an opinion on such matters, the gift was unstained by any compact, expressed or understood, for political support.
Among the more important events of Johnson’s life, we are bound to mention his acquaintance with Mr. Boswell, which commenced in 1763, not only because it formed an important article among the pleasures of the philosopher’s declining years, but because it led to the composition and publication of the most lively and vivid picture ever given by one man of another, the Life of Johnson. By Boswell, Johnson was induced, in compliance with a wish that he had long before entertained, to undertake a journey to the Scottish Highlands and the Hebrides: and it is remarkable that the first English book of travels (as we believe,) into what to the English was then almost a terra incognita, should have been composed by a man so careless of natural beauty, and so little disposed to sacrifice his ease and habits to the cravings of curiosity, as Johnson. His desire to visit that country seems to have arisen rather from a wish to study society in a simple form, than from any taste for the wild beauties of our Northern regions, of which he saw not the most favourable specimen, and has given not a flattering account. His Journey to the Western Islands will be read with pleasure, abounding in acute observation, passages of lofty eloquence, and grateful acknowledgment of the kindness and hospitality which he received; kindness which his snappish railings against the Scotch in general never led him to undervalue or forget. His companion and disciple’s account of their expedition will, however, be read with more amusement, from presenting such vivid pictures of the author himself, as well as of the subject which he painted, and of the varied characters to which they were introduced, and scenes in which they intermingled. We may here add that Johnson was a resolute unbeliever in the authenticity of Macpherson’s Ossian, against which, in his book, he pronounced a decided judgment. He thus gave considerable offence to national vanity. To the claims of second-sight he was more favourable. Throughout life he was influenced by a belief, not only in the possibility, but in the occasional exertion of supernatural agencies, beyond the regular operation of the laws of nature.
In 1775, Johnson received from the University of Oxford the honorary degree of D.C.L. The same degree had been conferred on him some time before by the University of Dublin; but he did not then assume the title of doctor. His only subsequent work which requires notice is the Lives of the English Poets, written for a collective edition of them, which the booksellers were about to publish. To the selection of the authors, praise cannot be given: many ornaments to our literature are omitted, and many obscure persons have found a place in the collection: this however, probably, was not Johnson’s fault. The publication began in 1779, and was not completed till 1781: the lives have gone through many editions by themselves. Though strongly coloured by personal and political predilections, they contain much sound criticism, and form a valuable article in British biography.
Many incidents connected with Johnson’s life, his places of residence, his domestication in Mr. Thrale’s family, his connexion with The Club, and the like, have been made generally known by the amusing works of Boswell, Mrs. Piozzi, and others. Perhaps public curiosity was never so strongly directed towards the person, habits, and conversation of any man known only as an author; and certainly it never has been so amply gratified. Boswell’s Life of Johnson is unique in its kind.
His powers of conversation were very great, and not only commanded the admiration and deference of his contemporaries, but have contributed in a principal degree to the upholding of his traditionary fame. They were deformed by an assumption of superiority, and an intolerance of contradiction or opposition, which often betrayed him into offensive rudeness. Yet his temper was at bottom affectionate and humane, his attachments strong, and his charity only bounded, and scarcely bounded, by his means.
The latter years of Dr. Johnson’s life were overshadowed by much gloom. Many of his old and most valued friends sank into the grave before him; his bodily frame was much shattered by disease; his spirits became more liable to depression; and his sincere and ardent piety was too deeply tinged by constitutional despondency to afford him steady comfort and support under his sufferings. He was struck by palsy in 1783, but recovered to the use both of his bodily and mental faculties. A complication of asthma and dropsy put an end to his existence, December 13, 1785. During his illness, his anxiety for a protracted life was painfully intense: but his last hours are described by the bystanders to have been calm, happy, and confident. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. A statue to his memory is erected in St. Paul’s Cathedral.
[Monument to Dr. Johnson in St. Paul’s Cathedral.]