From the time of the doctor's decease, myself, and my colleagues the other executors, anfwered all the calls of Francis for money. On the 6th day of September 1785, we had advanced him 1061. By the 13th of December following, he had received of Mr. Langton for his annuity, and of Meff. Barclay and Perkins for intereft, as much as made that fum 1831. and on the 15th of the fame month, a year and two days after his mafter's death, he came to me, faying, that he wanted more money, for that a few halfpence was all that he had left. Upon my fettling with him in August 1786, it appeared that, exclufive of his annuity, he had received 3371. and, after delivering to him the bond for 150l. mentioned in the will*, I paid him a balance of 1961. 15 s. 4d. §.

I had no fooner clofed my account, than I fent for Heely, who appeared to be an old man and lame, having one leg much shorter than the other, but of an excellent understanding. The ftyle of his difcourfe was fo correct and grammatical, that it called to my remembrance that of Johnfon, The account he gave me of himfelf and his fortunes was to the following effect:

That he was born in the year 1714, and that his relation to Johnson was by marriage, his firft wife being a Ford, and the daughter of Johnson's mother's brother. That himfelf had been a wholefale ironmonger, and the owner of an eftate in Warwickshire, which he farmed himself, but that loffes, and fome indiscretions on his part, had driven him to Scotland; and that, in his return on foot, with his wife, from

• He had before received 45 1. for interest thereon.

3

Newcastle,

Newcastle, fhe died on the road in his arms;-that, fome years after, he was, by Sir Thomas Robinfon, made keeper of the Tap at Ranelagh house, and that he married again; but that not being able to endure the capricious infolence with which he was treated, Mr. Garrick took him under his protection, and would have found a place for him in his theatre, but lived not to be able to do it; and that these, and other misfortunes and difappointments, had brought him to the condition, as he defcribed it, of a poor, reduced old man.--He added, that Dr. Johnson had been very liberal to him; and, as one inftance of his kindness, mentioned, that, about three weeks before his decease, he had applied to him for affistance; and, upon stating his reasons for troubling him, was bid, rather harshly, to be filent;-For,' faid the doctor,

it is enough to fay that you are in want; I enquire not into the causes of it: here is money for your relief*'-but that, immediately recollecting him

felf,

* We have here an inftance of that afperity of temper with which Johnson has been frequently charged, but without any allowance for natural infirmity, or any confideration of his endea vours to correct it, or his readiness to atone for the pain it might fometimes give, by a kind and gentle treatment of the person offended. The truth of the matter is, that his whole life was a conflict with his paffions and humours, and that few perfons bore reprehenfion with more patience than himself. After his decease, I found among his papers an anonymous letter, that seemed to have been written by a person who had long had his eye on him, and remarked the offenfive particulars in his behaviour, his propenfity to contradiction, his want of deference to the opinions of others, his contention for victory over thofe with whom he disputed, his local prejudices and averfions, and other his evil habits in converfation, which made his acquaintance fhunned by many, who, as a

man

felf, he changed his tone, and mildly faid,- If I have

fpoken roughly to you, impute it to the diftraction ⚫ of my mind, and the petulance of a fick man.'Defcribing his prefent condition, he faid, that he and his wife were in want of every neceffary, and that neither of them had a change of any one article of rai

ment.

To be better informed of his circumstances, I vifited this person in the alms-house, and was there a witnefs to fuch a fcene of diftrefs as I had never till then beheld. A forry bed, with fcarce any covering on it, two or three old trunks and boxes, a few broken chairs, and an old table, were all the furniture of the room. I found him smoking, and, while I was talking with him, a ragged boy, about ten years of age, came in from the garden, and upon my enquiring who he was, the old man faid- This is a child whom a < worthlefs father has left on our hands: I took him to keep at four fhillings a week, and for four years maintenance have not been able to get more than five pounds four fhillings: the poor child is an idiot, he cannot repeat the Lord's Prayer, and is ⚫ unable to count five: we know not how to dispose

man of genius and worth, highly esteemed him. It was written with great temper, in a spirit of charity, and with a due acknowledgment of those great talents with which he was endowed, but contained in it several home truths. In fhort, it was fuch a letter as many a one, on the receipt of it would have destroyed. On the contrary, Johnfon preferved it, and placed it in his bureau, in a fituation fo obvious, that, whenever he opened that repofitory of his papers, it might look him in the face; and I have not the leaft doubt, that he frequently perufed and reflected on its contents, and endeavoured to correct his behaviour by an addrefs which he could not but confider as a friendly admonition. 8

· of

of him, and, if we did, we could hardly prevail on ourselves to part with him; for it is a harmless, loving creature: we divide our morfel with him, and are just able to keep him from starving.'

Upon enquiring into the means of this poor man's fubfiftence, he informed me, that the endowment of the alms-houses, in one of which he lived, yielded him an allowance of half a crown a week, and half a chaldron of coals at Christmas. That his wife bought milk and fold it again, and thereby was able to get about a fhilling a day. The fcantiness of his income, he faid, had obliged him and his wife to study the art of cheap living, and he felicitated himself that they were become fuch proficients therein, as to be able to abstain from drinking, except at their fupper-meal, when, as he said, they each indulged in a pint of beer, which fufficed them for four-andtwenty hours. He told me all this in a tremulous tone of voice that indicated a mind that had long struggled with affliction, but without the least murmur at his hard fortune, or complaint of the doctor's neglect of him in fhort, he appeared to me fuch an exem-plar of meekness and patience in adversity, as the best of men, in fimilar circumftances, might wish to imi

tate.

Johnson had also a first coufin, Elizabeth Herne, a lunatic, whom, upon her discharge from Bethlem hofpital as incurable, he had placed in a mad-house at Bethnal green. A lady of the name of Prowse, had bequeathed to her an annuity of iol. and Johnfon constantly paid the bills for her keeping, which, amounting to 251. a year, made him a benefactor to her of the difference between those two fums.

who the detrable of It's first

The

The doctor, by his will, bequeathed to the reverend Mr. Rogers, who had married the daughter of Mrs. Prowfe, 100l. towards the maintenance of the lunatic; but he, probably confidering that the interest of that fum would fall far fhort of what Johnfon had been used to contribute, and that the burthen of supporting her would lie on himself, renounced the legacy. Had the doctor left her, for her life, the dividends of 500l. part of his ftock, fhe had fuftained no lofs at his death as the matter now ftands, I must apply the 100l. for her maintenance, and, if the lives to exhaust it, must seek out the place of her laft legal fettlement, and remit her to the care of a parish *.

That the name of the poor man Heely occurs not in the will, and that no better a provifion is therein made for the lunatic Herne, than a legacy which may fail to fupport her through life, can no otherwise be accounted for, than by the doctor's postponing that laft folemn act of his life, and his making a difpofition of what he had to leave, under circumstances that dif abled him from recollecting either their relation to

Of the craft and felfishness of the doctor's negro-fervant, the following is a notable inftance. At the time of his master's death, Mrs. Herne's maintenance was about 301. in arrear. I was applied to for the money, and fhewed the bill to him, upon which he immediately went to the mad-house, and infifted with the keeper thereof, that it should be charged on the legacy; but he refused to do it, faying, that the lunatic was placed there by Dr. Johnson, and that it was a debt incurred in his life-time, and, by confequence, payable out of his effects. When this would not do, this artful fellow came to me, and pretended that he could bring a woman to swear that there was nothing due; and, upon my telling him, that I should, notwithstanding, pay the bill, he said, he saw there was no good intended for him, and in anger left me.

him,