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dered his existence miserable. His distress became so intolerable, that, although such a complaint is always concealed, he was induced to write out in Latin a statement of his case, which he submitted to the consideration of his godfather, Dr Swinfen, physician in Lichfield. This gentleman admired so much the elegant and forcible Latin style in which Johnson described his unhappiness, that he imprudently communicated the case to several persons, an indiscretion which Johnson could never fully forgive. Indeed the injury was of a serious nature, on account of the contemptuous light in which mankind are apt to view this sort of distress, which is seldom experienced by those engaged in active life. During his attendance on the university, Dr Johnson also suddenly, on perusing the work, entitled "Law's Serious Call to the Un❤ "converted," became of a very pious disposition, a character which never afterwards forsook him.

Soon after the return of Johnson from the university, his father, Michael Johnson, died, in De cember, 1731, leaving to his eldest son, then twenty-two years of age, a patrimony of no more than twenty pounds sterling. His situation, as a young man educated to no professional employment, was now extremely discouraging. His first effort to support himself consisted of accepting the employment of usher of a grammar-school at Market Bosworth, in Leicestershire. He resided in the house of Sir Woolsten Dixie, the patron of the school, probably as a sort of domestic chap, lain; but he soon left the place in disgust, and afterwards spoke of it with abhorrence. Being now totally unoccupied, he was invited in 1733,

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by his former school-fellow, Mr Hector, surgeon in Birmingham, to reside as his guest at the house of Mr Warren, a bookseller there. In this situation, Johnson executed what may be considered as his first literary work, being a translation from the French of a Voyage to Abyssinia, written by Jerome Lobo, a Portuguese missionary, who travelled to the source of that branch of the Nile (the shortest branch) which Mr Bruce afterwards visited. Johnson received only five guineas for his translation, which appears to possess no peculiar merit. It is not unlikely, that the translation of this work may have suggested to Johnson the idea of fixing in Abyssinia the birth-place of his hero in the romance of Rasselas, which he afterwards wrote.

Johnson resided six months with Mr Hector at Birmingham, after which he continued some time in the house of a person named Jarvis, probably a relation of his future wife. He returned to Lichfield in 1734, and in August thereafter he publish ed proposals for printing by subscription the Latin poems of Politian, a work which, from want of encouragement, never appeared. During the same year, he addressed from Birmingham to Mr Edward Cave, the proprietor and editor of the Gentleman's Magazine, an offer to supply that work with original poems and dissertations; but it does not appear that any thing was done in consequence of his proposal.

There is every reason to believe, that Johnson never formed any criminal connection with the female sex. In the 28th year of his age, that is in the year 1734, he entered into the married state.

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The widow of Mr Porter, a mereer in Birmingham, admired his talents, and an intimacy between them ended in a marriage. She possessed the sum of 8001, sterling, which to a man entirely dependent, without prospects, and absolutely worth nothing, was undoubtedly of no small importance. She was in her 48th year at the date of the marriage. She had a daughter and two sons; but for the sake of a young husband, she was prevailed with to desert them. The marriage ceremony was performed at Derby, and the bride and bridegroom set out for Birmingham on horseback. Johnson gave to Mr Boswell the following account of their journey" She had read the old ro❝mances, and had got into her head the fantasti"cal notion that a woman of spirit should use her "lover like a dog. So, Sir, at first she told me "that I rode too fast, and she could not keep up "with me; and when I rode a little slower, she "passed me, and complained that I lagged be.

hind. I was not to be made the slave of caprice, "and I resolved to begin as I meant to end: Į "therefore pushed on briskly, till I was fairly out "of her sight. The road lay between two hedges,

so I was sure she could not mistake; and I con"trived that she should soon come up with me.

When she did, I observed her to be in tears.”

Johnson was aware that his wife's money could not render him independent; but to turn it to the best advantage, he resolved to become teacher of an academy. He was encouraged to this undertaking by Mr Gilbert Walmsley, register of the ecclesiastical court at Lichfield; and in the Gen tleman's Magazine for 1736 is the following adver

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tisement: "At Edial, near Lichfield, in Staf fordshire, young Gentlemen are boarded and "taught the Latin and Greek languages, by "Samuel Johnson."-At the place alluded to, Johnson had taken and furnished a house. Mr Walmsley had procured for him, as pupils, the celebrated Mr David Garrick and his brother George; but the utmost number of his pupils did not exceed seven or eight. Johnson persevered for some time in the plan of becoming master of an academy; and it seems probable, that he wasted his wife's property in that undertaking. Being at last convinced that it was unlikely to succeed, or possessing no means of persisting farther in the enterprize, he resolved to try his fortune in London. It is wor thy of notice, that his pupil David Garrick went thither at the same time, with an intention to follow the profession of the law. Johnson, while teacher of an academy, appears to have written great part of his tragedy of Irene; and the prospect of bringing it before the public seems to have been one object of his journey. He was recommended to Mr Colson, an eminent mathematician and master of an academy, by the following letter from Mr Walmsley :

"To the Rev. Mr COLSON.

"DEAR SIR,

Lichfield, March 2, 1737.

"I HAD the favour of yours, and am extremely obliged to you; but I cannot say I had a greater affection for you upon it than I had before, being long since so much endeared to you, as well by an

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early friendship, as by your many excellent and va◄ luable qualifications; and had I a son of my own, would be my ambition, instead of sending him to the university, to dispose of him as this young gentleman is. He and another neighbour of mine, one Mr Samuel Johnson, set out this morning for London together. Davy Garrick is to be with you early the next week, and Mr Johnson to try his fate with a tragedy, and to see to get himself employed in some translation either from the Latin or the French. Johnson is a very good scholar and poet, and I have great hopes will turn out a fine tragedy writer. If it should any way lie in your way, I doubt not but you would be ready to recommend and assist your countryman. "G. WALMSLEY."

To understand Johnson's chances of success in London, it is necessary to attend not merely to his literary talents, but to his personal appearance. He possessed such corporeal strength, that when a man at Lichfield sat down in a chair on the side of the stage, which Johnson had procured but had left for a moment, and refused to resign the seat, Johnson seized both the chair and the intruder, and furiously cast them together into the pit. But he was then lean and lank, so that his immense structure of bones was hideously striking to the eye, and the scars of the scrophula were deeply visible. He wore his own hair, which was straight and stiff, and separated bebind; and he often had seeming convulsive starts and odd gesticulations, which tended to excite at once surprize and ridicule. His admirer, Mr Boswell, remarks concerning him, at a later

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