Boswell's Life of Johnson
Of the power of his memory, for which he was all his life eminent to a
degree almost incredible, the following early instance was told me in
his presence at Lichfield, in 1776, by his step-daughter, Mrs. Lucy
Porter, as related to her by his mother. When he was a child in
petticoats, and had learnt to read, Mrs. Johnson one morning put the
common prayer-book into his hands, pointed to the collect for the day,
and said, 'Sam, you must get this by heart.' She went up stairs, leaving
him to study it: But by the time she had reached the second floor, she
heard him following her. 'What's the matter?' said she. 'I can say it,'
he replied; and repeated it distinctly, though he could not have read it
more than twice.
But there has been another story of his infant precocity generally
circulated, and generally believed, the truth of which I am to refute
upon his own authority. It is told, that, when a child of three years
old, he chanced to tread upon a duckling, the eleventh of a brood,
and killed it; upon which, it is said, he dictated to his mother the
following epitaph:
'Here lies good master duck,
Whom Samuel Johnson trod on;
If it had liv'd, it had been GOOD LUCK,
For then we'd had an ODD ONE.'
There is surely internal evidence that this little composition combines
in it, what no child of three years old could produce, without an
extension of its faculties by immediate inspiration; yet Mrs. Lucy
Porter, Dr. Johnson's stepdaughter, positively maintained to me, in his
presence, that there could be no doubt of the truth of this anecdote,
for she had heard it from his mother. So difficult is it to obtain
an authentick relation of facts, and such authority may there be for
errour; for he assured me, that his father made the verses, and wished
to pass them for his child's. He added, 'my father was a foolish old
man; that is to say, foolish in talking of his children.'
Young Johnson had the misfortune to be much afflicted with the
scrophula, or king's evil, which disfigured a countenance naturally well
formed, and hurt his visual nerves so much, that he did not see at all
with one of his eyes, though its appearance was little different from
that of the other. There is amongst his prayers, one inscribed 'When, my
EYE was restored to its use,' which ascertains a defect that many of his
friends knew he had, though I never perceived it. I supposed him to be
only near-sighted; and indeed I must observe, that in no other respect
could I discern any defect in his vision; on the contrary, the force of
his attention and perceptive quickness made him see and distinguish all
manner of objects, whether of nature or of art, with a nicety that is
rarely to be found. When he and I were travelling in the Highlands of
Scotland, and I pointed out to him a mountain which I observed resembled
a cone, he corrected my inaccuracy, by shewing me, that it was indeed
pointed at the top, but that one side of it was larger than the other.
And the ladies with whom he was acquainted agree, that no man was more
nicely and minutely critical in the elegance of female dress. When I
found that he saw the romantick beauties of Islam, in Derbyshire, much
better than I did, I told him that he resembled an able performer upon
a bad instrument. It has been said, that he contracted this grievous
malady from his nurse. His mother yielding to the superstitious notion,
which, it is wonderful to think, prevailed so long in this country, as
to the virtue of the regal touch; a notion, which our kings encouraged,
and to which a man of such inquiry and such judgement as Carte could
give credit; carried him to London, where he was actually touched by
Queen Anne. Mrs. Johnson indeed, as Mr. Hector informed me, acted by the
advice of the celebrated Sir John Floyer, then a physician in Lichfield.
Johnson used to talk of this very frankly; and Mrs. Piozzi has preserved
his very picturesque description of the scene, as it remained upon his
fancy. Being asked if he could remember Queen Anne, 'He had (he said)
a confused, but somehow a sort of solemn recollection of a lady in
diamonds, and a long black hood.' This touch, however, was without
any effect. I ventured to say to him, in allusion to the political
principles in which he was educated, and of which he ever retained some
odour, that 'his mother had not carried him far enough; she should have
taken him to ROME.'
He was first taught to read English by Dame Oliver, a widow, who kept
a school for young children in Lichfield. He told me she could read the
black letter, and asked him to borrow for her, from his father, a bible
in that character. When he was going to Oxford, she came to take leave
of him, brought him, in the simplicity of her kindness, a present
of gingerbread, and said, he was the best scholar she ever had. He
delighted in mentioning this early compliment: adding, with a smile,
that 'this was as high a proof of his merit as he could conceive.' His
next instructor in English was a master, whom, when he spoke of him
to me, he familiarly called Tom Brown, who, said he, 'published a
spelling-book, and dedicated it to the UNIVERSE; but, I fear, no copy of
it can now be had.'
He began to learn Latin with Mr. Hawkins, usher, or under-master of
Lichfield school, 'a man (said he) very skilful in his little way.' With
him he continued two years, and then rose to be under the care of Mr.
Hunter, the headmaster, who, according to his account, 'was very severe,
and wrong-headedly severe. He used (said he) to beat us unmercifully;
and he did not distinguish between ignorance and negligence; for he
would beat a boy equally for not knowing a thing, as for neglecting to
know it. He would ask a boy a question; and if he did not answer it,
he would beat him, without considering whether he had an opportunity of
knowing how to answer it. For instance, he would call up a boy and ask
him Latin for a candlestick, which the boy could not expect to be asked.
Now, Sir, if a boy could answer every question, there would be no need
of a master to teach him.'
It is, however, but justice to the memory of Mr. Hunter to mention, that
though he might err in being too severe, the school of Lichfield
was very respectable in his time. The late Dr. Taylor, Prebendary
of Westminster, who was educated under him, told me, that 'he was an
excellent master, and that his ushers were most of them men of eminence;
that Holbrook, one of the most ingenious men, best scholars, and best
preachers of his age, was usher during the greatest part of the time
that Johnson was at school. Then came Hague, of whom as much might be
said, with the addition that he was an elegant poet. Hague was succeeded
by Green, afterwards Bishop of Lincoln, whose character in the learned
world is well known.'
Indeed Johnson was very sensible how much he owed to Mr. Hunter. Mr.
Langton one day asked him how he had acquired so accurate a knowledge
of Latin, in which, I believe, he was exceeded by no man of his time;
he said, 'My master whipt me very well. Without that, Sir, I should have
done nothing.' He told Mr. Langton, that while Hunter was flogging his
boys unmercifully, he used to say, 'And this I do to save you from the
gallows.' Johnson, upon all occasions, expressed his approbation of
enforcing instruction by means of the rod. 'I would rather (said he)
have the rod to be the general terrour to all, to make them learn, than
tell a child, if you do thus, or thus, you will be more esteemed than
your brothers or sisters. The rod produces an effect which terminates
in itself. A child is afraid of being whipped, and gets his task, and
there's an end on't; whereas, by exciting emulation and comparisons
of superiority, you lay the foundation of lasting mischief; you make
brothers and sisters hate each other.'
That superiority over his fellows, which he maintained with so much
dignity in his march through life, was not assumed from vanity
and ostentation, but was the natural and constant effect of those
extraordinary powers of mind, of which he could not but be conscious
by comparison; the intellectual difference, which in other cases of
comparison of characters, is often a matter of undecided contest, being
as clear in his case as the superiority of stature in some men above
others. Johnson did not strut or stand on tiptoe; He only did not stoop.
From his earliest years his superiority was perceived and acknowledged.
He was from the beginning [Greek text omitted], a king of men. His
school-fellow, Mr. Hector, has obligingly furnished me with many
particulars of his boyish days: and assured me that he never knew him
corrected at school, but for talking and diverting other boys from their
business. He seemed to learn by intuition; for though indolence and
procrastination were inherent in his constitution, whenever he made an
exertion he did more than any one else. His favourites used to receive
very liberal assistance from him; and such was the submission and
deference with which he was treated, such the desire to obtain his
regard, that three of the boys, of whom Mr. Hector was sometimes one,
used to come in the morning as his humble attendants, and carry him to
school. One in the middle stooped, while he sat upon his back, and one
on each side supported him; and thus he was borne triumphant. Such
a proof of the early predominance of intellectual vigour is very
remarkable, and does honour to human nature. Talking to me once himself
of his being much distinguished at school, he told me, 'they never
thought to raise me by comparing me to any one; they never said, Johnson
is as good a scholar as such a one; but such a one is as good a scholar
as Johnson; and this was said but of one, but of Lowe; and I do not
think he was as good a scholar.'
He discovered a great ambition to excel, which roused him to counteract
his indolence. He was uncommonly inquisitive; and his memory was so
tenacious, that he never forgot any thing that he either heard or read.
Mr. Hector remembers having recited to him eighteen verses, which, after
a little pause, he repeated verbatim, varying only one epithet, by which
he improved the line.
He never joined with the other boys in their ordinary diversions: his
only amusement was in winter, when he took a pleasure in being drawn
upon the ice by a boy barefooted, who pulled him along by a garter fixed
round him; no very easy operation, as his size was remarkably large. His
defective sight, indeed, prevented him from enjoying the common sports;
and he once pleasantly remarked to me, 'how wonderfully well he had
contrived to be idle without them.' Mr. Hector relates, that 'he could
not oblige him more than by sauntering away the hours of vacation in the
fields, during which he was more engaged in talking to himself than to
his companion.'
Dr. Percy, the Bishop of Dromore, who was long intimately acquainted
with him, and has preserved a few anecdotes concerning him, regretting
that he was not a more diligent collector, informs me, that 'when a
boy he was immoderately fond of reading romances of chivalry, and he
retained his fondness for them through life; so that (adds his Lordship)
spending part of a summer at my parsonage house in the country, he
chose for his regular reading the old Spanish romance of Felixmarte of
Hircania, in folio, which he read quite through. Yet I have heard him
attribute to these extravagant fictions that unsettled turn of mind
which prevented his ever fixing in any profession.'
1725: AETAT. 16.--After having resided for some time at the house of his
uncle, Cornelius Ford, Johnson was, at the age of fifteen, removed to
the school of Stourbridge, in Worcestershire, of which Mr. Wentworth
was then master. This step was taken by the advice of his cousin, the