from his mother. So difficult is it to obtain an authentic relation of facts, and such authority may there be for error; for he assured me, that his father made the verses, and wished to pass them for his child's. He added, "My father was a foolish old man; that is to say, foolish in talking of his children." (1)

Young Johnson had the misfortune to be much afflicted with the scrofula, or king's evil, which disfigured a countenance naturally well formed, and hurt his visual nerves so much, that he did not see at all with one of his eyes, though its appearance was little different from that of the other. There is amongst his prayers, one inscribed "When my EYE was restored to its use(2)," which ascertains a defect

(1) This anecdote of the duck, though disproved by internal and external evidence, has, nevertheless, upon supposition of its truth, been made the foundation of the following ingenious and fanciful reflections of Miss Seward, amongst the communications concerning Dr. Johnson with which she has been pleased to favour me: "These infant numbers contain the seeds of those propensities which, through his life, so strongly marked his character, of that poetic talent which afterwards bore such rich and plentiful fruits; for, excepting his orthographic works, every thing which Dr. Johnson wrote was poetry, whose essence consists not in numbers, or in jingle, but in the strength and glow of a fancy, to which all the stores of nature and of art stand in prompt administration; and in an eloquence which conveys their blended illustrations in a language more tuneable than needs or rhyme or verse to add more harmony.' The above little verses also show that superstitious bias which I grew with his growth, and strengthened with his strength, and, of late years particularly, injured his happiness, y presenting to him the gloomy side of religion, rather than hat bright and cheering one which gilds the period of closing life with the light of pious hope." This is so beautifully imagined, that I would not suppress it. But, like many other theories, it is deduced from a supposed fact, which is, indeed, a fiction.

(2) Prayers and Meditations, p. 27.

6

that many of his friends knew he had, though I never perceived it. (1) I supposed him to be only near-sighted; and indeed I must observe, that in no other respect could I discern any defect in his vision; on the contrary, the force of his attention and perceptive quickness made him see and distinguish al manner of objects, whether of nature or of art, wit a nicety that is rarely to be found. When he and were travelling in the Highlands of Scotland, and I pointed out to him a mountain which I observed resembled a cone, he corrected my inaccuracy, by showing me that it was, indeed, pointed at the top, but that one side of it was larger than the other. And the ladies with whom he was acquainted agree, that no man was more nicely and minutely critical in the elegance of female dress. When I found that he saw the romantic beauties of Islam, in Derbyshire, much better than I did, I told him, that he resembled an able performer upon a bad instrument. How false and contemptible, then, are all the remarks which have been made to the prejudice either of his candour or of his philosophy, founded upon a supposition that he was almost blind. It has been said, that he contracted this grievous malady from his nurse. His mother, — yielding to the superstitious notion, which, it is wonderful to think, prevailed so long in this country, as to the virtue of the regal touch (*); a notion which our kings encouraged,

(1) Speaking himself of the imperfection of one of his eyes, he said, "The dog was never good for much."-Burney.

(2) [This healing gift is said to have been derived to our princes from Edward the Confessor. For much curious matter relating to the royal touch, see Barrington's "History of An

and to which a man of such inquiry and such judgment as Carte (1) could give credit; carried him to London, where he was actually touched by Queen Anne. (2) Mrs. Johnson, indeed, as Mr. Hector informed me, acted by the advice of the celebrated Sir John Floyer, then a physician in Lichfield. Johnson used to talk of this very frankly; and Mrs. Piozzi has preserved his very picturesque description of the scene, as it remained upon his fancy. Being asked, if he could remember Queen Anne,—“ He had," he said, "a confused, but somehow a sort of solemn recollection of a lady in diamonds, and a long black hood." This touch, however, was without any effect. I ventured to say to him, in allusion to the political principles in which he was educated, and of which he ever retained some odour, that "his mother had not carried him far enough; she should have taken him to ROME."

cient Statutes," p. 107. In the London Gazette, No. 2180., there is this advertisement: -"Whitehall, Oct. 8. 1686. His Majesty is graciously pleased to appoint to heal, weekly, for the evil, upon Fridays; and hath commanded his physicians and chirurgeons to attend at the office appointed for that purpose in the Meuse, upon Thursdays, in the afternoon, to give out tickets."]

(1) [In consequence of a note, in vindication of the efficacy of the royal touch, which Carte admitted into the first volume of his History of England, the corporation of London withdrew their subscription, and the work instantaneously fell into almost total, but certainly undeserved, neglect.-NICHOLS.

It would seem, that Swift might be included amongst the believers, as, in his Journal to Stella, he says, "I spoke to the Duchess of Ormond, to get a lad touched for the evil, the son of a grocer." Scott's Swift, vol. ii. p. 252. — MARKLAND.]

(2) [It appears, by the newspapers of the time, that on the 30th of March, 1712, two hundred persons were touched by Queen Anne.]

his boyish Days.

Removed to the School of StourSpecimens of his School Exercises and early He leaves Stourbridge, and passes two Years with his Father.

bridge.
Verses.

He was first taught to read English by Dame Oliver,
a widow, who kept a school for young children in
Lichfield. He told me she could read the black
letter, and asked him to borrow for her, from his
father, a bible in that character. When he was
going to Oxford, she came to take leave of him,
brought him, in the simplicity of her kindness, a
present of gingerbread, and said he was the best
scholar she ever had. He delighted in mentioning
this early compliment; adding, with a smile, that
"this was as high a proof of his merit as he could
conceive." His next instructor in English was a
master, whom, when he spoke of him to me, he
familiarly called Tom Brown, who, said he, "pub-
lished a spelling-book, and dedicated it to the UNI-
VERSE: but, I fear, no copy of it can now be had."
He began to learn Latin with Mr. Hawkins, usher
or under-master of Lichfield school, "a man," said
he, "
very skilful in his little way." With him he

continued two years, and then rose to be under the care of Mr. Hunter, the head master, who, according to his account, "was very severe, and wrongheadedly severe. He used," said he," to beat us unmercifully; and he did not distinguish between ignorance and negligence; for he would beat a boy equally for not knowing a thing, as for neglecting to know it. He would ask a boy a question, and if he did not answer it, he would beat him, without considering whether he had an opportunity of knowing how to answer it. For instance, he would call up a boy and ask him Latin for a candlestick, which the boy could not expect to be asked. Now, Sir, if a boy could answer every question, there would be no need of a master to teach him."

It is, however, but justice to the memory of Mr. Hunter to mention, that though he might err in being too severe, the school of Lichfield was very respectable in his time. The late Dr. Taylor, prebendary of Westminster, who was educated under him, told me, that "he was an excellent master, and that his ushers were most of them men of eminence ; that Holbrook, one of the most ingenious men, best scholars, and best preachers of his age, was usher during the greatest part of the time that Johnson was at school. Then came Hague, of whom as much might be said, with the addition that he was an elegant poet. Hague was succeeded by Green ('),

(1) [Dr. John Green was born in 1706, and died, Bishop of Lincoln, in 1779. He was one of the writers of the celebrated "Athenian Letters," published by the Earl of Hardwicke in