JOHNSON, SAMUEL, an eminent English author, was born at Litchfield, in Staffordshire, on the 18th of Septem ber, (sr. s.) 1709. His mother, Sarah Ford, was descended of an ancient race of substantial yeomanry in 'Warwick shire. His father, Michael Johnson, was a bookseller and stationer in Litchfield. He was a man of a large robust body, and of considerable mental attainments ; but not with out that morbid taint of melancholy which his son inherit ed. It seems to have been from him, and not from his nurse, as has been elswhere stated, that our author re ceived the tinge of scrophula, which disfigured a coun tenance naturally well-formed, and hurt his visual nerves so much, that he did not see with one of his eyes, al though its appearance was little different from that of the other. His mother, yielding to the superstitious notion which so long prevailed as to the virtue of the royal touch, carried him to London in his childhood, where he was actually touched by Queen Anne. The faint remem brance of this circumstance always remained in John son's mind. Being asked, if he could remember Queen Anne ? He said, he had a confused, but sort of solemn recollection, of a lady in diamonds, and a long black hood.
He was first taught to read English by a woman, who kept a school for young children in Litchfield. When he was going to Oxford, this humble instructress of his child hood came to take leave of him ; and, in the simplicity of ter kindness, brought him a present of gingerbread, say lig that he was the best scholar she had ever had. He delighted in mentioning this little compliment ; adding, vith a smile, " that this was as high a proof of his merit Ls he could receive." His next instructor in English was me Brown, who had published a spelling-book, which he dedicated to the universe, but ol which Dr. Johnson was di aid that no copy was to be found. He learned Latin at school at Litchfield under a Mr. Hunter, a severe dis :iplinarian, but an attentive teacher. Johnson owned, that to had himself required th. rod ; and to that instrument of tuition, it was a part ol his principles to pay the most irotound delerence. Once, when he saw some young la lies who had been remarkably well brought up by a severe mother, he exclaimed, " Rod, 1 will honour thee for this Lily duty !"The mind tlia can dwell with satisfaction on the associated ideas of a rod anti the tender frame of a young virgin, must have its sei:sibilities oddly constituted. At school, though he was too short-sighted to join in the generality of boyish amusements, he maintained the same ascendancy over his playmates that he kept up, in alter life, in the circles ol literature. His proficiency was also then, as in every other period ol life, much beyond his apparent diligence. He was impatient of stated tasks, but could rouse himself to great exertions. His memory was prodigiously tenacious. When a boy, Inc was immoderate ly fond ol reading romances. To those extravagant fic tions he was once heard to attribute the unsettled turn of mind which prevented him from ever fixing in any settled profession. The circumstance of his reading many roman ces in his youth is not wonderful, for that species of read ing was much more common in the last than in the present age. Romance reading is now revived as a species of black-letter learning ; it was then the ordinary food of young minds, before they encountered more serious eru dition.
After having resided for some time at the house of his uncle Cornelius Ford, Johnson was, at the age of 15, re moved to the School of Stowbridge in Worcestershire, of which Mr. Wentworth was then master. Here, accord ing to his own account, he was rather irreverent towards a severe master, whom he did not on the whole esteem, but in after life disposed to make allowance for his castiga tions of him, and to reflect on how much he had taught hint. He remained at Stowbridge about a year, and then
returned home, where he staid for two years, reading in a very desultory manner, but with such ultimate advantage, as to go exceedingly well qualified to the university. He might perhaps, as Mr. Boswell justly remarks, have studi ed more assiduously, but it may be doubted whether such a mind as his was not more enriched by roaming at large in the fields ol literature. The analogy between the body and mind is very general, and the parallel will hold as much as to their food as to any other particular. The flesh of animals who feed excursively, is allowed to have a higher flavour than that of those who are cooped up. Nay there not be the same difference between men who read as their taste prompts, and men who are confined, in cells and colleges, to stated tasks ? By what means his father was enabled to undertake the expellee of sending him to the university, has not been very accurately told. He had once realized a good deal of money in trade, but had afterwards lost it, by embarking in a ruinous specula tion, and was at this time in narrow circumstances. It is believed that one of his schoolfellows undertook to support Johnson at Oxford, in the quality of his companion, though he failed in rendering him the promised assistance. He went, however, to Oxford, and was entered a commoner of Pem broke college on the 31st of October, being then in his 19th year. His tutor was a Mr. Jordan, whom John son respected for his personal worth, but not tor his abili ties. Having absented himself from this preceptor for several days, Mr. Jordan asked him the reason of his ab sence. Johnson told him he had been sliding in Christ Church meadows. Mr. Boswell, to whom he related this answer, remarked, that it sheaved great fortitude of mind. " No, Sir," said Johnson, " stark insensibility." In his 20th year, while he was at Litchfield during the college vacation, his constitutional melancholy assumed a peculiarly gloomy aspect, and on his return to the univer sity, the unequal state of his spirits, and probably too real causes for depression about his future prospects, seem to have made him an irregular, and by no means an exempla ry student. He was often seen lounging at the college gates with the younger students, whom he amused by his wit, and spirited up to contempt of their superiors by his satire. Dr Adams, his nominal tutor, after Norden, at Pembroke college, said, that while he was there, he was a gay and frolicksome fellow. When the remark was im parted to him by Boswell, " Ah, Sir," he said, " I was mad and violent ; I was miserably poor, and thought to fight my way by my literature and my wit." Poverty at length compelled him to quit the university without a degree. He returned to Litchfield, in 1751, with very gloomy pros pects. His father died a few months after his return, and the li!tle he left was barely sufficient for the tempora ry support of his widow. In the following year, he accept ed the place of usher of the school of Market Bosworth in Leicestershire, an employment which the insolence of the patron of the school. Sir Wolstan Dixie, with whom he was obliged to live, made him speedily resign, and always remember with a sort of horror. Alter this he resided for six months at Birmingham, as the guest of his old school fellow, Mr. Hector, an eminent surgeon, in whose house he translated and abridged Father Lobo's Voyage to Abyssi nia. For this task he received five guineas. The body of the work is written with no remarkable elegance or power, but the preface has some passages that are full of his charac teristic manner.