Will of Dr. Samuel Johnson
Dr. Samuel Johnson is one of the foremost figures in English literature; his will, copied by Boswell, is an interesting document:
“In the name of God, Amen! I, Samuel Johnson, being in full possession of my faculties, but fearing this night may put an end to my life, do ordain this my last will and testament.”
This will was written the 8 day of December, 1784. Sir John Hawkins and the distinguished painter, Sir Joshua Reynolds, were executors. A codicil written on December 9, 1784, is several times the length of the will written the day before. Both in the will and in the codicil, Francis Barber, a negro man-servant, is made the chief beneficiary. It is said that the amount received by Barber under this will, exclusive of an annuity on the sum of $3750, was about ten thousand dollars. A copy of his great French dictionary, as well as a copy of his own dictionary, were given to Sir Joshua Reynolds. A striking provision in Johnson’s will, is the following clause:
“I bequeath to God, a soul polluted by many sins, but I hope purified by Jesus Christ.”
The celebrated letter written by Dr. Johnson to Lord Chesterfield, from a point of combined politeness, satire, and irony, has probably never been surpassed, and was doubtless a just resentment of the treatment he had received from his patron. The date of this letter is given by Boswell and other authorities, as February 7, 1775; the true date is 1755, for it was in that year that his Dictionary was completed. A brief history of this letter is as follows:
Boswell in his “Life of Johnson,” says the story was current that the great philosopher was kept waiting in Lord Chesterfield’s antechamber upon the occasion of a visit to him; that Dr. Johnson was violently provoked when the door finally opened, and out walked Colley Cibber, an English actor and dramatist. Johnson himself, however, told Boswell that there was no truth in this story, but that during his years of struggle, Lord Chesterfield had studiously neglected him. When the Dictionary was on the eve of publication, Lord Chesterfield attempted, in a courtly manner, to conciliate Dr. Johnson by writing two articles in The World, a leading London paper, in commendation of the work; the courtly device failed of its effect.
Johnson said to Boswell, “Sir, after making great professions, he had, for many years, taken no notice of me; but when my Dictionary was coming out, he fell a scribbling in The World about it. Upon which I wrote him a letter expressed in civil terms, but such as might show him that I did not mind what he said or wrote, and that I had done with him.” And, he added, “This man, I thought had been a lord among wits, but I find, he is only a wit among lords.” The letter follows:
“To the Right Honourable the Earl of Chesterfield
“February 7, 1755.