JOHNSON. 231 
cn.mftances now enabled him to indulge it in a higher 
ftyle; and he became member of a weekly club in Ge- 
rard-llreet, compofed of perfons eminent for various ta¬ 
lents, and occupying diltinguilhed fituations in fociely. 
fie acquired an additional refource for enjoyment, both 
corporeal and intellectual, by his introduction, in 1765, 
to the acquaintance of Mr. Thrale, an opulent brewer, 
whofe lady poffeffed lively parts improved by an enlarged 
education. In their hofpitable retreat at Streatham, John¬ 
fon was for a confiderable time domefticated, receiving 
every attention that could flatter his pride, and accom¬ 
modated with every convenience and gratification that 
wealth could bellow. His fhattered fpirits were recruited, 
and his habits of life rendered more regular, in this agree¬ 
able refidence ; yet it may be queftioned, whether either 
his mind or body derived permanent advantage from the 
luxurious indolence in which he was led to indulge. His 
long-promifed edition of Shakefpeare appeared in 1765, and 
\va3 ulhered in by a preface written with all the powers 
of his mafterly pen, and certainly among the molt valu¬ 
able of his critical difquifitions. But the edition itfelf 
difappointed thofe who had conceived high expectations 
of his ability to elucidate the obfcurities of the great dra- 
mafift. Sound fenfe was frequently difplayed in com¬ 
paring the different readings fuggefted by different critics ; 
but little felicity of original conjedlure, and none of that 
knowledge of the language and writings of the age in and 
near which Shakefpeare flourilhed, which has fince been 
found the only genuine fource of illuftration. 
Although the penfion conferred upon Johnfon was bur- 
thened with no condition of literary fervice to the court 
or minifter, yet it cannot be doubted that it was felt by 
him in fome meafure as a demand upon his gratitude. 
His innate principles of loyalty, too, after they had been 
reconciled with prefent power, would naturally difpofe 
him to lean to the monarchical fide in political Cornells. 
This loyalty, moreover, was enhanced by the uncom¬ 
mon honour he received of a perfonal interview with 
his majefly at the library of Buckingham-houfe, in 
which a juft and handfome compliment was paid to his 
literary merit. The temporary application of his pen to 
the fupport of minifterial politics was not, therefore, ex¬ 
traordinary, nor can juftly be accounted mercenary or 
profligate. The firft of his productions in this depart¬ 
ment was the Falfe Alarm, publilhed in 1770, when the 
conftitution was fuppofed to have received a violent in¬ 
jury from the refolution of the houfe of commons, in the 
cafe of Wilkes, that expulfion implied incapacitation. It 
was followed in 1771 by Thoughts on the late Tranl'ac- 
tions refpedting Falkland’s Ifland, defigned to fhow the 
unreafonablenel's of going to war on account of the con¬ 
duct of Spain relative to that barren polfeflion. The Pa¬ 
triot, in 1774, was compofed on the eve of a general elec¬ 
tion, in order to indifpofe the people againft the oppoli- 
tionifts. His Taxation no Tyranny, in 1775, was a more 
confiderable effort, directed againft the arguments of the 
American congrefs relative to the claim of the mother- 
country to tax the colonies at pleafure. All thefe are 
written, with his charaCteriilic vigour of conception and 
ftrength of ftyle, but direCled rather to malignant larcafm, 
and dictatorial affumption, than to fair and conclufive ar¬ 
gumentation. They were more irritating than convincing, 
and did little fervice to the caufe they efpoufed. john¬ 
fon himfelf, however, feems to have thought highly of his 
powers for political warfare, and longed to try his force 
in fenatorial debate; fome of his friends entertained an 
idea of complying with his wifli by bringing him into 
parliament; but the fcheme met with no encouragement 
from above, and his reputation was probably no fufterer 
from its defeat. 
A tour to the Weftern Iflands of Scotland in 1773, in 
which he was accompanied by his enthufiaftic admirer 
and obfequious friend James Bofwell, was a remarkable 
incident in the life of a man fo little addiCled to locomo¬ 
tion. Among his prejudices, a ftrong antipathy to the 
natives of Scotland in general had long been confpicuous; 
and this journey exhibited many inftances of his con¬ 
tempt for their learning and abhorrence of their religion. 
When, however, he publilhed, two years afterwards, the 
account of his tour, under the title of A Journey to the 
Weftern Iflands of Scotland, more candour and impar¬ 
tiality was found in it than had been expected; and the 
work was'much admired for the juft and philofophical 
views of fociety it contained, and the elegance and viva¬ 
city of its defcriptions. The greateft offence it gave to 
nationality was by the author’s deciiive fentence againft 
the authenticity* of the poems afcribed to Oflian. The 
alleged tranflator, Mr. Macpherfon, was fo much irritated 
by the charge of impofture, that he fent a menacing let¬ 
ter to Johnfon, which was anfwered in the tone of ftern 
defiance; but nothing enfued from this declared hoftilitj\ 
In 1775 our author was gratified, through the intereft 
of lord North, with the literary honour which he greatly 
valued, that of the degree of dodlorof laws from the uni- 
verfity of Oxford. He had fome years before received 
the lame honour from Dublin, but did not then choofe to 
affume the title. A fliort vifit to France, in company 
with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale and Barretti, occupied part of 
the fame year; he kept a journal of his tour, but it pro¬ 
duced nothing for the public. When the unhappy Dr. 
Dodd lay under the fentence of an ignominious death, 
Johnfon, either moved by compaflion for the man, or de- 
lire to refcue his cloth from public difgrace, wrote two 
petitions to royalty in his name, and fupplied him with a 
ipeech at the bar, and a fermon to be preached to his bro- 
ther-convicls. 
His laft literary tindertaking was the confequence of a- 
requeft from the London bookiellers, a body of men which 
he much efteemed, who had engaged in an edition of the 
works of the principal Englilh poets, and wilhed to pre¬ 
fix to each a biographical and critical preface from his 
hand. Dr. Johnl'on executed this with all the fpirit and 
vigour of his belt days. The publication of his Lives of 
the Poets began in 1779, and was completed in 1781. In 
a feparate form they compofe four volumes odlavo; and 
have made a molt valuable addition to Englilh biography 
and criticifm, though in both thefe departments he will 
generally be thought to have laboured under ftrong pre¬ 
judices. The ftyle of this performance is in great mea¬ 
fure free from the ltiffnefs and turgidity of his earlier, 
compofitions. 
Fie had hardly begun to reap the laurels gained by this 
performance, when death deprived him of Mr, Thrale, in 
whofe houfe he had enjoyed the moll comfortable hours 
of his life; but it abated not in Johnfon that care for the 
interefts of thofe whom his friend had left behind him, 
which he thought himfelf bound to cherifli, both in duty 
as one of the executors of his will, and from the nobler 
principle of gratitude. On this account, his vifits to 
Streatham, Mr. Thrale’s villa, were for fome time after his 
death regularly made on Monday and protrafted till Sa¬ 
turday, as they had been during his life ; but they foon 
became lei's and lefs frequent, and he ftudioufly avoided 
the mention of the place or the family. Mrs. Thrale, now 
Piozzi, fays indeed, that “it grew extremely perplexing 
and difficult to live in the houle with him when the maf- 
ter of it was no more ; becaufe his dillikes grew capri¬ 
cious, and he could fcarcely bear to have any body come 
to the houfe whom it was abfolutely necelfary for her to 
fee.” The perfon whom file thought it molt necelfary 
for her to fee may perhaps be gueffed at without any fu- 
perior lhare of fagacity; and, if thefe were the vilits w-hich 
Johnfon could fcarcely bear, we are fo far from thinking 
his dillikes capricious, though they may have been per¬ 
plexing, that, if he had adted otherwife, we (hould have 
blamed him for want of gratitude to the friend whole 
“ face for fifteen years had never been turned upon him 
but with refpedl or benignity.” 
About the middle of June 1713 his conftitution fuf- 
tained a feverer Ihock than it had ever before felt, by a 
ftroke 
