Mathematics and phyfics he had but little relish for, from whence it may be inferred, that his natural powers had received comparatively but small improvement from an academical education. An habitual difpofition to thought and reflection enabled him however upon his leaving it, to attain to that degree of improvement which, in many minds, is not effected without intense application and labour; and the fentiments of piety which he had imbibed in his youth, directed him to those studies, which, without attending to fecular rewards, he thought of greatest importance to his future happiness. In conformity to this motive, he applied himself to the study of the Holy Scriptures, and the evidences of religion, to the writings of the fathers and of the Greek moralifts, to ecclefiaftical and civil history, and to claffical literature and philology. The refult of thefe his mental exercises was a thorough conviction of the truth of the Chriftian religion, an adherence to the doctrine and discipline of our established church, and to that form of civil government which we number among the bleffings derived to us from the wisdom and bravery of our ancestors, with this farther advantage, that they rooted in his mind those principles of religion, morality, and, I will add, loyalty, that influenced his conduct during the remainder of his life. To speak of the first, his religion, it had a tincture of enthufiafm, arifing, as is conjectured, from the fervour of his imagination, and the perufal of St. Auguftine and other of the fathers, and the writings of Kempis and the afcetics, which prompted him to the employment of compofing meditations and devotional exer cifes. It farther produced in him an habitual reverence for the name of God, which he was never known to utter but on proper occasions and with due refpect, and operated on thofe that were admitted to his converfation as a powerful reftraint of all profane discourse, and idle difcuffions of theological questions; and, laftly, it inspired him with that charity, meaning thereby a general concern for the welfare of all mankind, without which we are told that all pretenfions to religion are vain. To enable him at times to review his progrefs in life, and to estimate his improvement in religion, he, in the year 1734, began to note down the tranfactions of each day, recollecting, as well as he was able, those of his youth, and interfperfing fuch reflections and refolutions as, under particular circumstances, he was induced to make. This regifter, which he intitled 'Annales,' does not form an entire volume, but is contained in a variety of little books folded and ftitched together by himself, and which were found mixed with his papers. Some fpecimens of thefe notanda have been lately printed with his prayers; but to warrant what I have faid, refpecting his religious character, I have selected from the Annales,' and infert in the margin below, an earlier extract than any contained in that collection*. His • Friday, August 27th,' [1734] 10 at night. This day I have 'trifled away, except that I have attended the school in the morning. I read to night in Rogers's fermons. To night I began the breakfast law anew. Sept. 7th, 1736. I have this day entered upon my 28th year. Mayeft thou, O God, enable me for Jefus Chrift's fake, to spend < this M 2 His moral character displayed itself in the fincerity of his friendships, his love of justice and of truth, and his placability; of all which qualities, the testimonies in his favour are innumerable. But as the character here propofed to be given him is not intended to palliate his errors in behaviour, truth obliges me to fay, that his outward deportment was in many inftances a just subject of cenfure. Before his arrival in town, he was but little accuftomed to free converfation with his fuperiors, fo that that kind of submission he had been used to pay them he seemed to exact from others, and when it was refufed him he was petulant, captious, and dogged. His difcourfe, which through life was of the didactic kind, was replete with original fentiments expreffed in the strongest and moft correct terms, and in fuch language, that whoever could have heard and not feen him, would have thought him reading. For the pleasure he communicated to his hearers, he expected not the tribute of filence on the contrary, he encouraged others, particularly young men, to speak, and paid a due attention to what they faid; but his prejudices were fo strong and deeply rooted, more efpecially againft Scotchmen and whigs, that whoever thwarted him ran the rifque of a fevere rebuke, or at best became entangled in an unpleasant altercation. He was scarce fettled in town before this dogmatical behaviour, and his impatience of contradiction, became this in fuch a manner that I may receive comfort from it at the • hour of death, and in the day of judgment. Amen. • I intend to-morrow to review the rules I have at any time lald down, in order to practife them.' a part. a part of his character, and deterred many perfons of learning, who wished to enjoy the delight of his conversation, from seeking his acquaintance. There were not wanting those among his friends who would fometimes hint to him, that the conditions of free converfation imply an equality among thofe engaged in it, which are violated whenever fuperiority is affumed: their reproofs he took kindly, and would in excufe for what they called the pride of learning, fay, that it was of the defenfive kind. The repetition of thefe had, however, a great effect on him; they abated his prejudices, and produced a change in his temper and manners that rendered him at length a defirable companion in the most polite circles. : In the leffer duties of morality he was remifs he flept when he should have ftudied, and watched when he fhould have been at reft: his habits were flovenly, and the neglect of his perfon and garb fo great as to render his appearance difgufting. He was an ill husband of his time, and fo regardless of the hours of refection, that at two he might be found at breakfaft, and at dinner at eight. In his studies, and I may add, in his devotional exercises, he was both intense and remifs, and in the prosecution of his literary employments, dilatory and hafty, unwilling, as himself confeffed, to work, and working with vigour and hafte *. His indolence, or rather the delight he took in reading and reflection, rendered him averfe to bodily exertions. He was ill made for riding, and took fo * See his prayers page 184. M 3 little little pleasure in it, that, as he once told me, he has fallen asleep on his horse. Walking he feldom practifed, perhaps for no better reason, than that it required the previous labour of dreffing. In a word, mental occupation was his fole pleasure, and the knowledge he acquired in the pursuit of it he was ever ready to communicate: in which faculty he was not only excellent but expert; for, as it is related of lord Bacon by one who knew him*, that in all companies he appeared a good proficient, if not a master, in those arts entertained for the subject of every one's discourse,' and that his 'moft cafual talk deferved to be written,' fo it may be faid of Johnson, that his converfation was ever fuited to the profeffion, condition, and capacity of those with whom he talked. Of a mind thus ftored it is furely not too much to fay, that it qualified the poffeffor of it for many more important employments than the inftruction of non-adults in the elements of literature; yet fo humbly did he feem to think of himself when he published the advertisement of his little academy at Edial, that to be able to establish it, was the utmost of his ambition; but that hope failing, his neceffities drove him to London, and placed him in the ftation of life in which we are now to contemplate him. It has been mentioned in a preceding page, that in the course of his ftudies he had formed a lift of literary undertakings, on which, when time fhould ferve or occafion invite, he meant to exercise his pen: but fuch was the versatility of his temper, that of forty-nine articles which he had fixed * Works of Francis Ofborn, Efq; 8vo. 1673, page 151. ор |