[769] 'Those that laugh at the portentous glare of a comet, and hear a crow with equal tranquillity from the right or left, will yet talk of times and situations proper for intellectual performances,' &c. The Idler, No. xi. See ante, i. 332.
[770] 'He did not see at all with one of his eyes' (ante, i. 41).
[771] Not six months before his death, he wished me to teach him the Scale of Musick:—'Dr. Burney, teach me at least the alphabet of your language.' BURNEY.
[772] Accurata Burdonum [i.e. Scaligerorum] Fabulæ Confutatio (auctore I. R). Lugduni Batavorum. Apud Ludovicum Elzevirium MDCXVII. BRIT. MUS. CATALOGUE.
[773] Mrs. Piozzi's Anecdotes of Johnson, p. 131. BOSWELL. Mrs. Piozzi (Anec. p. 129) describes her mother and Johnson as 'excellent, far beyond the excellence of any other man and woman I ever yet saw. As her conduct extorted his truest esteem, her cruel illness excited all his tenderness. He acknowledged himself improved by her piety, and over her bed with the affection of a parent, and the reverence of a son.' Baretti, in a MS. note on Piozzi Letters, i. 81, says that 'Johnson could not much near Mrs. Salusbury, nor Mrs. Salusbury him, when they first knew each other. But her cancer moved his compassion, and made them friends.' Johnson, recording her death, says:—'Yesterday, as I touched her hand and kissed it, she pressed my hand between her two hands, which she probably intended as the parting caress … This morning being called about nine to feel her pulse, I said at parting, "God bless you; for Jesus Christ's sake." She smiled as pleased.' Pr. and Med. p. 128.
[774] Johnson wrote to Dr. Taylor July 22, 1782:—'Sir Robert Chambers slipped this session through the fingers of revocation, but I am in doubt of his continuance. Shelburne seems to be his enemy. Mrs. Thrale says they will do him no harm. She perhaps thinks there is no harm without hanging. The mere act of recall strips him of eight thousand a year.' Notes and Queries, 6th S., v. 462.
[775] Beattie was Professor of Moral Philosophy. For some years his 'English friends had tried to procure for him a permanent provision beyond the very moderate emoluments arising from his office.' Just before Johnson wrote, Beattie had been privately informed that he was to have a pension of £200 a year. Forbes's Beattie, ed. 1824, pp. 145, 151. When Johnson heard of this 'he clapped his hands, and cried, "O brave we!"' Boswell's Hebrides, Oct. 26.
[776] Langton. See ante, p. 254, note 2.
[777] Langton—his native village.
[778] See ante, p. 261, note 2.