hoped that the Government might be induced to increase his pension to six hundred pounds a year, but this hope was disappointed, and he resolved to stand one English winter more. That winter was his last. His legs grew weaker; his breath grew shorter; the fatal water gathered fast, in spite of incisions which he, courageous against pain but timid against death, urged his surgeons to make deeper and deeper. Though the tender care which had mitigated his sufferings during months of sickness at Streatham was withdrawn, he was not left desolate. The ablest physicians and surgeons attended him, and refused to accept fees from him. Burke parted from him with deep emotion. Windham sat much in the sick room, arranged the pillows, and sent his own servant to watch at night by the bed. Frances Burney, whom the old man had cherished with fatherly kindness, stood weeping at the door; while Langton, whose piety eminently qualified him to be an adviser and comforter at such a time, received the last pressure of his friend's hand within. When at length the moment, dreaded through so many years, came close, the dark cloud passed away from Johnson's mind. His temper became unusually patient and gentle; he ceased to think with terror of death, and of that which lies beyond death; and he spoke much of the mercy of God, and of the propitiation of Christ. In this serene frame of mind he died on the 13th of December 1784. He was laid, a week later, in Westminster Abbey, among the eminent men of whom he had been the historian,—Cowley and Denham, Dryden and Congreve, Gay, Prior, and Addison.
Since his death the popularity of his works—the Lives of the Poets, and perhaps the Vanity of Human Wishes, excepted—has greatly diminished. His Dictionary has been altered by editors till it can scarcely be called his. An allusion to his Rambler or his Idler is not readily apprehended in literary circles. The fame even of Rasselas has grown somewhat dim. But, though the celebrity of the writings may have declined, the celebrity of the writer, strange to say, is as great as ever. Boswell's book has done for him more than the best of his own books could do. The memory of other authors is kept alive by their works. But the memory of Johnson keeps many of his works alive. The old philosopher is still among us in the brown coat with the metal buttons and the shirt which ought to be at wash, blinking, puffing, rolling his head, drumming with his fingers, tearing his meat like a tiger, and swallowing his tea in oceans. No human being who has been more than seventy years in the grave is so well known to us. And it is but just to say that our intimate acquaintance with what he would, himself have called the anfractuosities of his intellect and of his temper serves only to strengthen our conviction that he was both a great and a good man. (m.)
JOHNSTON, Albert Sidney (1803-1862), American soldier, was born in Kentucky in 1803. After graduating at West Point in 1826 he served for eight years in the United States army, emigrated to Texas in 1834, and entered the Texan service as private in 1836. His promotion was so rapid that in 1838 he was appointed commander-in-chief, and till 1840 acted as secretary for war. From 1840 till 1846 he lived in retirement on his farm in Texas; but in the latter year he accepted the colonelcy of a regiment of Texan volunteers to serve against Mexico. As a staff-officer he was present at the battle of Monterey in September 1846. Texas joined the Union in 1846; and in 1849 Johnston received a major's commission in the United States army. After various services he won the rank of brevet brigadier-general by his skilful conduct of the expedition sent to Utah in 1857 to bring the Mormons to order. In January 1861 he was transferred from the command of the Texas department to that of the Pacific department; but in April he was superseded, probably on account of his secessionist sympathies. He resigned his national commission in May 1861, and accepted a command in the Confederate army. While acting as commander-in-chief at the battle of Shiloh, he was killed, April 6, 1862.
JOHNSTON, Alexander Keith (1804-1871), geographer, was born at Kirkhill near Edinburgh, in December 1804. After an education at the High School of Edinburgh he was apprenticed to an engraver; and about 1830 he joined his brother in a prosperous printing and engraving business. His passion for geography had early developed itself, but his first important work was the National Atlas of general geography, which gained for him in 1843 the appointment of geographer-royal for Scotland. Johnston was the first to bring the study of physical geography into competent notice in England. His attention had been called to the subject by Humboldt; and after years of labour he published his magnificent Physical Atlas in 1848, followed by a second and enlarged edition in 1856. This, by means of maps with descriptive letterpress, illustrates the geology, hydrography, meteorology, botany, zoology, and ethnology of the globe, and undoubtedly marks an epoch in the history of English geographical science. The rest of Johnston's life was equally given to geography, his later years to its educational aspects especially. His services were recognized by election to fellowships of the leading scientific societies of Europe, India, and America. For his chart of the geographical distribution of health and disease he received the diploma of the London Epidemiological Society; in 1865 he received the degree of LL.D. from Edinburgh University; and in 1871 the Royal Geographical Society awarded him its Victoria medal. He died July 9, 1871. His son of the same name (1844-1879) was also the author of various geographical works and papers.
Johnston published a Dictionary of Geography in 1850, with many later editions; The Royal Atlas of Modern Geography, begun in 1855; an atlas of military geography to accompany Alison's History of Europe; and a variety of other atlases and maps for educational or scientific purposes.
JOHNSTONE, a manufacturing town in the county of Renfrew, Scotland, is situated on the Black Cart river, about 10 miles west of Glasgow, with which it is connected by rail. First feued in 1781, it rose rapidly in prosperity owing to the introduction of the cotton-manufacture. The town contains several engineering works, a paper mill, and the largest flax mill in Scotland. About a mile to the east is Elderslie, the traditional birthplace of Wallace. The population in 1871 was 7538, and in 1881 9268.
JOHNSTOWN, a burgh of Cambria county, Pennsylvania, U.S., is situated on the Stony Creek and the Conemaugh river, 78 miles east of Pittsburg and 277 miles west of Philadelphia. It is the centre of nine contiguous boroughs constituting one town of 22,000 inhabitants, who are mainly employed by the Cambria Iron Company in the manufacture of iron, steel, railway bars, wire, &c. There are large woollen and flouring mills, numerous churches, and a public library. The library building was presented to the Library Association by the Cambria Iron Company. The population in 1870 was 6028, and in 1880 8380.
