34 JOHNSON. 



Island Dispute/ works of little labour ; and the ' Lives 

 of the Poets/ including that of Savage, and several other 

 pieces long before printed by him, was the only work of 

 any consequence which his later years produced. 



He now indulged more than ever in desultory read- 

 ing, and in conversation, which appeared necessary to his 

 existence. Solitude oppressed him, by leaving him a 

 prey to his constitutional malady of low spirits. He was 

 especially afraid of being left alone in the evening, and 

 therefore loved to pass his time in one or other of the 

 clubs, which he founded for the purpose of having some 

 such resource on stated days. Of these, one attained 

 great eminence, from the number of distinguished men 

 who belonged to it ; and it exists at this day. Reynolds, 

 Goldsmith, Burke, Fox, Gibbon, Windham, Beauclerk, 

 Sir William Scott, Canning, were among its members. 

 But he had other weekly clubs of less fame, and he once 

 desired to have one established in the City, which was ac- 

 cordingly done. He somewhat enlarged the circle of his 

 acquaintance as his life became so much less laborious, 

 and he made more frequent excursions to the country, 

 beside going for a few weeks to Paris, and making the 

 tour of Scotland and the Hebrides. His acquaintance with 

 Mr. Boswell began in 1 763, and their intercourse was con- 

 tinued till his death, as often as that gentleman happened 

 to be in London. With Mr. Beauclerk and Mr. Langton, 

 his friendship had commenced ten years earlier, and with 

 Sir Joshua Reynolds nearly twenty; with Garrick he had 

 been on intimate terms when he was his pupil, and their 

 friendship had continued ever since his arrival in London. 

 It was one of his peculiarities that he never would say 

 much in favour of his old friend and pupil, but never 



