haps, the very act of reading it, being more than half the bufinefs, and every period being at every reading better understood; while a mind more active or more fkilful to comprehend its meaning is made fincerely fick at the fecond perufal; fo a foul like his, acute to difcern the truth, vigorous to embrace, and powerful to retain it, foon fees enough of the world's dull profpect, which at first, like that of the fea, pleafes by its extent, but foon, like that too, fatigues from its uniformity; a calm and a storm being the only variations that the nature of either will admit.

Of Mr. Johnson's erudition the world has been the judge, and we who produce each a fcore of his fayings, as proofs of that wit which in him was inexhaustible, refemble travellers who having visited Delhi or Golconda, bring home each a handful of Oriental pearl to evince the riches of the Great Mogul. May the public condefcend to accept my ill-firung felection with patience at leaft, remembering only that they are relics of him who was great on all occafions, and, like a cube in architecture, you beheld him on each fide, and his fize ftill appeared undiminished.

to

As his purfe was ever open alms-giving, fo was his heart tender to those who wanted relief, and his foul fufceptible of gratitude, and of every kind impreffion: yet though he had refined his fenfibility, he had not endangered his quiet, by encouraging in himself a folicitude about trifles, which he treated with the contempt they deserve.

It was well enough known before these sheets were published, that Mr. Johnfon had a roughness in his manner which fubdued the faucy, and terrified the meek: this was, when

I knew him, the prominent part of a character which few durft venture to approach fo nearly; and which was for that reafon in many respects grofsly and frequently mistaken, and it was perhaps peculiar to him, that the lofty confcipufnefs of his own fuperiority, which animated his looks, and raifed his voice in conversation, caft likewife an impenetrable veil over him when he faid nothing. His talk therefore had commonly the complexion of arrogance, his filence of fupercilioufnefs. He was however feldom inclined to be filent when any moral or literary question was ftarted: and it was on fuch occafions, that, like the fage in Raffelas, he fpoke, and attention watched his lips; he reafoned, and conviction clofed his periods: if poetry was talked of, his quotations were the readieft; and had he not been eminent for more folid and brilliant qualities, mankind would have united to extol his extraordinary memory. His manner of repeating deferves to be defcribed, though at the fame time it defeats all power of defcription; but whoever once heard him repeat an ode of Horace, would be long before they could endure to hear it repeated by another.

His equity in giving the character of living acquaintance ought not undoubtedly to be omitted in his own, whence partiality and prejudice were totally excluded, and truth alone prefided in his tongue: a fteadiness of conduct the more to be commended, as no man had stronger likings or averfions. His veracity was indeed, from the most trivial to the most folemn occafions, ftri&t, even to feverity; he fcorned to embellish a story with fictitious circumftances, which (he used to fay) took off from its real value. "A ftory

(fays

(fays Johnson) fhould be a specimen of life and manners; but if the furrounding circumstances are false, as it is no more a reprefentation of reality, it is no longer worthy our attention."

For the reft-That beneficence which during his life increased the comforts of fo many, may after his death be perhaps ungratefully forgotten; but that piety which dictated the ferious papers in the Rambler, will be for ever remembered; for ever, I think, revered. That ample repofitory of religious truth, moral wisdom, and accurate criticism, breathes indeed the genuine emanations of its great author's mind, expreffed too in a ftyle fo natural to him, and fo much like his common mode of converfing, that I was myself but little aftonithed when he told me, that he had fcarcely read over one of those inimitable effays before they went to the prefs.

I will add one or two peculiarities more, before I lay down my pen.Though at an immeafurable distance from content in the contemplation of his own uncouth form and figure, he did not like another man much the less for being a coxcomb. I mentioned two friends who were particularly fond of looking at themfelves in a glafs" They do not furprise me at all by fo doing (faid Johnson): they fee, reflected in that glafs, men who have rifen from almost the lowest fituations in life;

one to enormous riches, the other to every thing this world can giverank, fame, and fortune. They fee likewise, men who have merited their advancement by the exertion and improvement of those talents which God had given them; and I fee not why they fhould avoid the mirror."

The other fingularity I promised to record, is this. That though a man of obscure birth himself, his partiality to people of family was visible on every occafion; his zeal for fubordination warm even to bigotry; his hatred to innovation, and reverence for the old feudal times, apparent, whenever any poffible manner of fhewing them occurred. I have fpoken of his piety, his charity, and his truth, the enlargement of his heart, and the delicacy of his fentiments; and when I fearch for fhadow to my portrait, none can I find but what was formed by pride, differently modified as different occafions fhewed it; yet never was pride fo purified as Johnson's, at once from meannefs and from vanity.The mind of this man was indeed expanded beyond the common limits of human nature, and stored with fuch variety of knowledge, that I ufed to think it resembled a royal pleafure-ground, where every plant of every name and nation, flourished in the full perfection of their powers, and where, though lofty woods and falling cataracts first caught the eye, and fixed the earlieft attention of beholders, yet neither the trim parterre nor the pleafing fhrubbery, nor even the antiquated ever-greens, were denied a place in fome fit corner of the happy valley.

rather a handfome face, and, I fancy a fine complexion; but tanned like a mulatto. He has a very grave look; if I were not speaking of a monarch, I fhould fay, a furly one; fo much fo, that even the bloom of youth lofes its pleafingnefs by it. He is, they fay, very referved, and does not chufe to make himself matter of any language but his own. He was doatingly fond of his fifter*, and she could perfuade him to almoft any thing. One anecdote, I think, I can be fure, is true. One of his valet de chambres, a Frenchman, was cutting the princefs's hair, and the talking to him in French, when the emperor came into her apartment, and faid, "Sifter, why do you talk French to him? he speaks better Ruffian than you do French." She answered, "That is the very reafon, brother, why I do it; for would it not be fhameful, that he, who has fo few helps, fhould learn our language better than we learn his who have helps to it?" He patted her cheek, and kiffed her, and faid, "I will apply for the future ;" and to the man, "Do you always fpeak French to me when you are about me." This princess promifed fair to have inherited her grandfather's genius. Count Ofterman made ufe of her influence over his pupil to do, or prevent his doing, any thing he liked or difliked. The day fhe died, the worthlefs young favourite + that this young monarch has unhappily taken a fancy to, finding Count Ofterman in the next room to that where her corpfe lay, with the greateft grief painted in his face, with a freer faid to him, There lies your princefs. Now go, and complain of me to her." Every worthy perfon agrees that the

* Princess Nathalia.

empire had the greateft lofs by her death, that it has had fince that of her grandfather, and no lovers of the country speak of her without tears. She died of a confumption, and behaved through a tedious illnefs like a heroine."

Character of the Mogul Emperor, Shaw Aulum, eldest fon and fucceffor to the famous Aulumgeer Aurengzebe.

This account is taken from a tranflation of the memoirs, in the Perfic language, of Eradut Khan, a nobleman of Indoftan, by Jonathan Scott, Captain in the fervice of the Eaft India Company, and private Perfian Tranflator to Governor Haftings. Eradut Khan was contemporary with, and held high offices under Aurengzebe, and under kis fons, and his memoirs are held as highly authentic in Hindoftan.

66

SHAY

HAW AULUM was generous and merciful, of a great foul tempered with affability, difcerning of merit. He had feen the ftrict exercife of power during the reigns of his grandfather and father, and been used to authority himself for the laft fifty years. Time received a new luftre from his acceffion, and all ranks of people obtained favours equal, if not fuperior, to their merits; fo that the public forgot the excellencies and great 'qualities of Aulumgeer, which became abforbed in the bounties of his fucceffor. Some narrow-hearted perfons, however, out of ingratitude and envy, attributed his general liberality to ill-placed extravagance and profufion; but it is a fact, that the deferving of every profeffion, and worthy of all degrees, whether + Prince Dolghorucki,

among

among the learned or the eloquent, the noble or the ignoble, received an attention from the throne, which the eye of time prior to this had never feen, nor had fuch been heard of before by the ears of fame. His perfonal qualities and perfections, fpeech is unequal to relate. His valour was fuch, that he had refolved on meeting Azim Shaw, whofe bravery was celebrated, in fingle combat. His four fons, poffeffed of great power and confiderable force, he fuffered conftantly to be near his perfon, never giving himself a moment's fufpicion regarding them, nor preventing their forming connections with the prime nobility; upon which fubject I, the humbleft of his flaves, once ventured to prefent him a petition of a cautionary nature, thinking it my duty, as I had often done fo to Aulumgeer. To what I reprefented, he wrote a wife and just reply, which, by God's permiffion, I will one time or other relate. He permitted the fons of thofe princes, who had fallen in battle against him, to appear at all times completely armed in his prefence. The infant children he let remain unmolefted with their mothers, while those arrived at manhood daily accompanied him in the chace, unguarded, and

* Anglicè, Of high descent.

vernor.

fhared in all his diverfions. His court was magnificent to a degree beyond that of Shaw Jehaun. Seventeen princes, his fons, grandfons, and nephews, fat generally round his throne, in the manner following:

Op his right hand, Jehaundaur Shaw, his eldeft fon, with his three fons, his third fon Ruffeh Ooshawn with his three fons, and Bedar Dil; fon to his nephew Bedar Bukht. On his left, Mahummud Azeem Oofhawn with his two fons, and Jehaún Shaw with his fon. * Ali Tibbar, the only furviving fon of Azim Shaw, fat on the right hand of Azeem Oofhawn, and a little to the right, fomewhat advanced, the two fons of Mahummud Kaum Bukh. Behind the royal princes on the right, ftood the fons of conquered fovereigns, as of Secunder Adil Shaw of Beejapore, and Koottub Shaw, king of Golconda; alfo a vaft croud of the nobility, from the rank of feven to three thoufand, fuch as were allowed to be on the platform between the filver rails. How can I mention every particular of the fplendid fcene? On the feeds, and other feftivals, his majefty, with his own hands, gave the betel and perfumes to all in his prefence, according to their ranks. His gifts of jewels, dreffes, and other favours, were

truly