Page:Cousins's Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.djvu/226

 solace to him. In 1765 his ed. of came out, and his last great work was the Lives of the Poets, in 10 vols. (1779-81). He had in 1775 pub. his Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland, an account of a tour made in the company of Boswell. His last years were darkened by the loss of friends such as Goldsmith and Thrale, and by an estrangement from Mrs. T., on her marriage with Piozzi, an Italian musician. Notwithstanding a lifelong and morbid fear of death, his last illness was borne with fortitude and calmness, soothed by the pious attentions of Reynolds and Burke, and he d. peacefully on December 13, 1784. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, and a monument in St. Paul's was erected by the "club." Statues of him were also erected in Lichfield and Uttoxeter. He had received from Oxf. and Dublin the degree of LL.D.

Though of rough and domineering manners, J. had the tenderest of hearts, and his house was for years the home of several persons, such as Mrs. Williams and Levett, the surgeon, who had no claim upon him but their helplessness and friendlessness. As Goldsmith aptly said, he "had nothing of the bear but his skin." His outstanding qualities were honesty and courage, and these characterise all his works. Though disfigured by prejudice and, as regards matters of fact, in many parts superseded, they remain, as has been said, "some excellent, all worthy and genuine works;" and he will ever stand one of the greatest and most honourable figures in the history of English literature. Boswell's marvellous Life has made J.'s bodily appearance, dress, and manners more familiar to posterity than those of any other man—the large, unwieldy form, the face seamed with scrofula, the purblind eyes, the spasmodic movements, the sonorous voice, even the brown suit, metal buttons, black worsted stockings, and bushy wig, the conversation so full of matter, strength, sense, wit, and prejudice, superior in force and sparkle to the sounding, but often wearisome periods of his written style. Of his works the two most important are the Dictionary, which, long superseded from a philological point of view, made an epoch in the history of the language, and the Lives of the Poets, many of them deformed by prejudice and singularly inadequate criticism, others, almost perfect in their kind, and the whole written in a style less pompous and more natural and lively than his earlier works.

.—B. 1709, ed. Oxf., usher and hack writer, starts academy at Ediol, goes to London 1737, reports parliamentary debates, pub. London 1738, Life of Savage 1744, began Dictionary 1747, pub. Vanity of Human Wishes and Irene 1749, conducts Rambler 1750-52, pub. Dictionary 1755, Idler appears 1758-60, pub. Rasselas 1759, receives pension 1762, became acquainted with Boswell 1763, pub. ed. of Shakespeare 1765, and Lives of Poets 1779-81, d. 1784.

Recollections, etc., by Mrs. Piozzi, Reynolds, and others, also Johnsoniana (Mrs. Napier, 1884), Boswell's Life, various ed., including that of Napier, 1884, and Birkbeck Hill, 1889.

 Author:Arthur Johnston (c. 1587-1641).—Poet in Latin, b. near Aberdeen, studied medicine at Padua, where he graduated. After living for about 20 years in France, he returned to England, became physician to Charles I., and was afterwards Rector of King's Coll.,