Page:Johnsonian Miscellanies I.djvu/474

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��To that body of Dissenters his zeal for the Established Church made him in some degree an adversary ; and his attachment to a mixed and limited Monarchy led him to declare open war against what he called a sullen Republican x. He would rather praise a man of Oxford than of Cambridge 2. He disliked a Whig, and loved a Tory. These were the shades of his character, which it has been the business of certain party-writers to represent in the darkest colours 3.

Since virtue, or moral goodness, consists in a just conformity of our actions to the relations in which we stand to the Supreme Being and to our fellow-creatures, where shall we find a man who has been, or endeavoured to be, more diligent in the discharge of those essential duties? His first prayer was composed in 1738; he continued those fervent ejaculations of piety to the end of his life. In his meditations we see him scrutinizing himself with severity, and aiming at perfection unattainable by man. His duty to his neighbour consisted in universal benevolence, and a constant aim at the production of happiness. Who was more sincere and steady in his friend ships ? It has been said that there was no real affection between him and Garrick 4. On the part of the latter, there might be some corrosions of jealousy. The character of PROSPERO, in the Rambler, N. aoo, was, beyond all question, occasioned by Garrick's ostentatious display of furniture and Dresden china 5. It was surely fair to take from this incident a hint for a moral

��spect increased, that they had not been Presbyterians.' Works, ix. 102.

It was the Rev. Donald M'Queen whom he loved so much. Life, v. 257.

1 ' Milton's political notions were those of an acrimonious and surly republican.' Works, vii. 116.

2 Ante, p. 168.

3 ' Against his Life of Milton the hounds of Whiggism have opened in full cry.' Life, iv. 40.

4 Hawkins, p. 425 ; Hawkins adds (p. 426), that 'Johnson's behaviour

��to Garrick was ever austere, like that of a schoolmaster to one of his scholars.' Percy says that 'Johnson kept Garrick much in awe.' Life, i. 99, n. i. Boswell describes how one evening 'Garrick played round Johnson with a fond vivacity, taking hold of the breasts of his coat, and, looking up in his face with a lively archness, complimented him on the good health which he seemed then to enjoy ; while the sage, shaking his head, beheld him with a gentle complacency.' Ib. ii. 82. 5 Ib. i. 216.

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