and, for improvement, attended the hofpitals in that city. At the end of five years he returned to England, and taking lodgings in the house of an attorney. in Northumberland court, near Charing crofs, he be came a practicer of phyfic. The letter adds, that he was about feventy-eight at the time of his death. The account of Levett in the Gentleman's Magazine is anonymous; I nevertheless infert it verbatim, together with a letter of Johnson's to Dr. Lawrence notifying his death. Mr. Levett, though an Englishman by birth, became early in life a waiter at a coffee-houfe in Paris. The furgeons who frequented it, finding him of an inquifitive turn, and attentive to their conversation, 'made a purfe for him, and gave him fome inftruc<tions in their art. They afterwards furnished him with the means of other knowledge, by procuring him free admiffion to fuch lectures in pharmacy ' and anatomy as were read by the ableft profeffors ⚫ of that period. Hence his introduction to a bufi nefs, which afforded him a continual, though flen‹ der maintenance. Where the middle part of his life ⚫ was spent, is uncertain. He refided, however, above twenty years under the roof of Johnson, who never wifhed him to be regarded as an inferior, or treated ⚫ him like a dependent *. He breakfafted with the doctor every morning, and perhaps was feen no more by him till mid-night. Much of the day was employed in attendance on his patients, who were Dr. Johnfon has frequently obferved, that Levett was indebted to him for nothing more than houfe-room, his fhare in a penny loaf at breakfaft, and now and then a dinner on a Sunday. chiefly of the lowest rank of tradefmen. The remainder of his hours he dedicated to Hunter's < lectures, and to as many different opportunities of improvement as he could meet with on the fame gratuitous conditions. "All his medical knowledge," faid Johnson, "and it is not inconfiderable*, "was obtained through the ear. Though he buys "books, he feldom looks into them, or difcovers any "c power by which he can be supposed to judge of an "author's merit." • Before he became a conftant inmate of the doctor's house, he married, when he was near fixty, a woman ' of the town, who had perfuaded him (notwithstanding their place of congrefs was a fmall-coal fhed in Fetter lane) that fhe was nearly related to a man of 'fortune, but was injuriously kept by him out of large poffeffions. It is almost needless to add, that both parties were disappointed in their views. If <Levett took her for an heirefs, who in time might be rich, fhe regarded him as a phyfician already in ⚫ confiderable practice.-Compared with the marvels of this tranfaction, as Johnson himself declared when relating them, the tales in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments feem familiar occurrences. • Never was infant more completely duped than our hero. He had not been married four months, be'fore a writ was taken out against him, for debts incurred by his wife. He was fecreted, and his friend then procured him a protection from a foreign minifter. In a fhort time afterwards, fhe ran away He had acted for many years in the capacity of furgeon and apothecary to Johnson, under the direction of Dr. Lawrence. ⚫ from from him, and was tried, providentially, in his opinion, for picking pockets at the Old Bailey. Her husband was, with difficulty, prevented from attending the court, in the hope fhe would be hanged. She pleaded her own cause, and was acquitted; a fepara<tion between this ill-ftarred couple took place; and Dr. Johnson then took Levett home, where he con<tinued till his death, which happened fuddenly, with' out pain, Jan. 17, 1782. His vanity in fuppofing, 'that a young woman of family and fortune should be <enamoured of him, Dr. Johnson thought, deserved fome check.-As no relations of his were known to • Dr. Johnson, he advertised for them. In the course of a few weeks an heir at law appeared, and afcer⚫tained his title to what effects the deceased had left behind him. Levett's character was rendered valuable by re'peated proof of honefty, tenderness, and gratitude to ⚫his benefactor, as well as by an unwearied diligence in his profeffion.-His fingle failing was, an occafi⚫onal departure from fobriety. Johnson would obferve, he was, perhaps, the only man who ever became intoxicated through motives of prudence. He reflected, that if he refused the gin or brandy ' offered him by fome of his patients, he could have been no gainer by their cure, as they might have ⚫ had nothing else to beftow on him. This habit of taking a fee, in whatever fhape it was exhibited, 'could not be put off by advice or admonition of any kind. He would fwallow what he did not like, nay, what he knew would injure him, rather than go home with an idea, that his fkill had been exerted without recompence. "Had (faid Johnson) Johnson) all his patients maliciously combined "to reward him with meat and ftrong liquors inftead "of money, he would either have burst, like the dragon in the Apocrypha, through repletion, or "been scorched up, like Portia, by fwallowing fire." But let not from hence an imputation of rapacioufnefs be fixed upon him. Though he took all that was offered him, he demanded nothing from the poor, C nor was known in any inftance to have enforced the payment of even what was juftly his due. His perfon was middle-fized and thin; his visage · fwarthy, aduft and corrugated. His conversation, except on profeffional subjects, barren. When in defhabille, he might have been mistaken for ah alchemist, whofe complexion had been hurt by the fumes of the crucible, and whose clothes had suffered from the fparks of the furnace. Such was Levett, whofe whimfical frailty, if weighed against his good and useful qualities, was "A floating atom, duft that falls unheeded IRENE. To this character I here add as a fupplement to it, a dictum of Johnson respecting Levett, viz. that his external appearance and behaviour were fuch, that he difgufted the rich, and terrified the poor. But notwithstanding all these offensive particulars, Johnson, whofe credulity in fome inftances was as great as his incredulity in others, conceived of him as of a skilful medical profeffor, and thought himfelf happy happy in having fo near his perfon one who was to him, not folely a physician, a furgeon, or an apothecary, but all. In extraordinary cafes he, however, availed himself of the affiftance of his valued friend Dr. Lawrence, a man of whom, in respect of his piety, learning, and fkill in his profeflion, it may almost be faid, the world was not worthy, inafmuch as it fuffered his talents, for the whole of his life, to remain, in a great measure, unemployed, and himself to end his days in forrow and obfcurity. Of this person, with whom I was for many years acquainted, but who is now no more, gratitude for the benefits which myself and one moft dear to me have derived from his fkill and attention, obliges me to speak with reverence and respect. He was a native of Hampshire, and having ended his ftudies at Oxford, came to London about the year 1737, at which time Dr. Frank Nicholls had attained great reputation for skill in anatomy. To complete them, he became a pupil of his, in that branch of medical science, and upon Nicholls's difcontinuing to read lectures therein, which he had for several years done with great applause, Dr. Lawrence took them up, and had many hearers, till Hunter, a furgeon, arrived from Scotland, who, fettling in London, became his rival in the fame practice, and having the advantage of Dr. Lawrence, in his manner of enunciating, together with the affiftance and fupport of all his countrymen in this kingdom, and moreover, being a man whofe fkill in his art was equal to his pretenfions, he became a favourite with the leading men in the practice of phyfic, and in a few winters drew to him fuch a refort of pupils, as inVOL. I. Dd duced |