The labours of this illustrious man have conferred more moral benefit upon his countrymen, than perhaps those of any other author not directly employed in the service of religion. At the time he appeared, literature was debased by a licentiousness of sentiment and indelicacy of expression, which we now wonder could ever have been endured. The most distinguished writers were not exempt from this grossness; nay, many of the most able and popular writers were the greatest offenders against moral decency; and as books doubtless took their tone from the language of conversation, we can estimate the degree of laxity which prevailed in what was then considered polite society. It is scarcely possible to take up any book written between the period of the Restoration and the publication of the "Rambler," without falling upon some passages which cannot now be read without a blush. Even the "Spectator," which was in other respects calculated to improve the morals of the age, abounds with blemishes of this kind.

The influence of Johnson's pen at once effected a moral reformation in the literary world, which none of his predecessors could accomplish. While his critical knowledge eminently qualified him to erect a standard of grammatical purity for the improvement of our language, his inflexible morality placed a barrier against the licentiousness of thought and expression which had so long polluted the works of our most distinguished writers. The publication of the "Rambler" formed an era in the morals of this nation, not more honourable to the taste than to the virtue of his countrymen. Johnson, from the commencement of his public career, refused to tolerate wit when seasoned with obscenity, or to pay respect to philosophy if allied to impiety. We can mention the name of no author whose writings are more entirely free from indelicacy, or who so systematically directed his attention to the exclusion of every thing which might injure the morals of his readers.

Samuel Johnson was the son of a bookseller in

humble circumstances at Litchfield; he was born in 1709, and educated first at that city, and afterwards at Stourbridge; from whence, with the help of some private friend, his father sent him to complete his studies at Pembroke College, Oxford. Here he long struggled with poverty; and was obliged at length to quit the University without waiting for his degree, after a residence of little more than two years. Having now lost his father, he endeavoured to maintain himself as an usher at a school; an office for which he was but ill qualified, notwithstanding that his abilities and learning already gave promise of the fame which he afterwards acquired. Having married the widow of a mercer of Birmingham, with a fortune of a few hundred pounds, he opened a school at Edial, near Litchfield; which, after a short trial, he found it prudent to relinquish and, in company with the celebrated David Garrick, who was then his pupil, proceeded on foot to London to try his fortune in that great mart of talent. His companion soon chose the stage for his profession, and rose rapidly to reputation; while Johnson, who was a giant in abilities compared with Garrick, was destined to labour for a large portion of his life oppressed by poverty, and opened to himself a path to success by long and painful exertion. He became a contributor to the "Gentleman's Magazine," soon after his arrival in the Metropolis; the emoluments which he thus obtained supplying him with a scanty pittance, scarce sufficient to maintain him. In 1738 he published "London,” a poem, which suddenly brought him into notice, and attracted the admiration of Pope, who prophesied that the anonymous author would not long remain undistinguished. This was followed in 1749 by the Vanity of Human Wishes," which raised his reputation still higher, and gave so much promise of his success as a poet, that it is to be regretted, with the exception of a few trifling pieces, he never afterwards resumed poetical composition, in which he would undoubtedly have attained a high rank.

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Garrick being now patentee of Drury-lane Theatre,

Johnson's Tragedy of " Irene " was brought forth on that stage, but without any distinguished success. In 1750 he commenced the " Rambler," a periodical paper, devoted to the service of morality, which raised his reputation to great eminence, and is the work upon which posterity_will probably found his highest claim to honour. In 1758 he published a similar work, called the "Idler;" and afterwards contributed largely to the "Adventurer," conducted by Dr. Hawkesworth. Meanwhile he was for many years anxiously employed in compiling the great work of the English Dictionary, which appeared in 1755, and is certainly one of the most extraordinary efforts of a single mind which the world has witnessed.

His next work was an edition of Shakspeare, distinguished by a Preface, which is esteemed one of the most splendid pieces of writing in our language. His last, and perhaps his most popular work, the "Lives of the British Poets," appeared in 1781. It was received with universal delight, being replete with delicate criticism, and abounding in a variety and extent of information truly astonishing ; especially when it is considered that the author was then in his 70th year, and in very precarious health.

While these noble proofs of the vigour of his understanding obtained for Johnson the general esteem and honour of his countrymen, they were not unobserved by his patriotic Sovereign, who was ever ready to mark his approbation of individual merit by the liberality of his patronage. In 1762 the King settled on him a pension of 300l. per annum; and a few years afterwards graciously expressed to him, at a long interview in the Royal Library, the high respect which he entertained for his character and abilities. In acknowledgment of the eminent services he had rendered to literature, the Universities of Oxford and Dublin each presented to him the diploma of Doctor of Laws.

Dr. Johnson, though possessing great muscular strength, inherited a diseased constitution, which affected his temper, and rendered him fretful and im

patient under the impertinence of those who often, invaded his retirement, from no other motive than curiosity, or who combated his opinions to provoke him to display his great conversational powers; but as Goldsmith once happily observed, he had nothing of the bear but his skin; and the integrity and kindness which lay beneath a rugged exterior, amply compensated for the occasional rudeness of his expressions. His filial piety, his steady friendship, his active benevolence, were abundantly conspicuous to those who had the best means of knowing his character. His house was the receptacle of the indigent and afflicted, with whom he shared the profits of all his laborious undertakings. He was subject to frequent fits of an hereditary melancholy, accompanied by bodily ailments which gave him great uneasiness. Towards the close of his life he was afflicted with asthma and dropsy, which at length put a period to his valuable existence, in December, 1784. His remains were buried in Westminster Abbey, attended by a crowd of his friends, amongst whom were numbered the most distinguished men of his time. A fine statue, executed by Bacon, was afterwards erected to him in St. Paul's as a further mark of the public gratitude; and another monument was placed in the Cathedral Church, at Litchfield.

The distinguished abilities and learning of Dr. Johnson were exalted by a practical faith in Christianity which was the steady guide of his conduct. He was in the habit of frequent self-examination, the essence of true piety; and though the frailty of human nature sometimes led him to set an undue value upon worldly distinctions, yet of these he was ever ready to acknowledge the emptiness in his hours of retirement, and strove by frequent acts of voluntary mortification to subdue this appetite for fame.

He had an habitual dread of death, which he overcame only in the last days of his existence. When some ill-judging friends, who affectionately hung over his dying bed, strove to calm his anxious views of futurity by diverting his thoughts to the retrospect of

a well-spent life, he turned away from such shallow comfort to the true source of comfort and confidence; he abandoned all presumptuous hopes of self-righteousness, placing his sole dependence on the merits of his Redeemer; from Him he sought in earnest prayer a remedy for all his apprehensions, and thus found peace and consolation at the last-(that peace which the world cannot give) when all human help was vain.

L.

JOHN HOWARD.

It is the great boast of Christianity that the virtue of charity was first taught and practised under its dispensation; that the doctrines of our Redeemer first prescribed the duty of assisting the unfortunate, and encouraged to the performance of this duty by the highest promises. It is also amongst the noblest distinctions of the country in which we have the happiness to be born, that she has given to the world some of the most remarkable benefactors of the human race; and that she can claim a more honoured list of those who have sacrificed riches, health, ease, and distinctions, for the cause of disinterested benevolence, than perhaps any other nation of the Christian world.

Amongst the most distinguished of these exalted men is John Howard. This philanthropist (to use the words of one of his most celebrated contemporaries), "visited all Europe-not to survey the sumptuousness of palaces, or the stateliness of temples; not to make accurate measurements of the remains of ancient grandeur, nor to form a scale of the curiosity of modern art; not to collect medals or collate manuscripts; but to dive into the depths of dungeons; to plunge into the infection of hospitals; to survey the mansions of sorrow and pain; to take the gauge and dimensions of misery, depression, and contempt; to remember the forgotten, to attend to the neglected, to visit the forsaken, and to compare and collate the distresses of all men in all countries."