��not supposed by his friend to be that of his family, but all enquiries were vain ; his reasons for concealing his original were penitentiary J ; he deserved no other name than that of the which was written by him, does not seem to me to be composed with peculiar spirit, but all traces of the wit and the wanderer were probably worn out before he undertook the work. His pious and patient endurance of a tedious illness, ending in an exemplary death, confirmed the strong impression his merit had made upon the mind of Mr. Johnson. ' It is so very difficult (said he. always) for a sick man not to be a scoundrel 3 . Oh ! set the pillows soft, here is Mr. Grumbler o'coming : Ah ! let no air in for the world, Mr. Grumbler will be here presently.'
This perpetual preference is so offensive where the privileges of sickness are besides supported by wealth, and nourished by dependence, that one cannot much wonder that a rough mind is revolted by them. It was however at once comical and touchant* (as the French call it), to observe Mr. Johnson so habitually watchful against this sort of behaviour, that he was often ready to suspect himself of it ; and when one asked him gently, how he did ? ' Ready to become a scoundrel, Madam (would com monly be the answer): with a little more spoiling you will, I think, make me a complete rascal V
His desire of doing good was not however lessened by his aversion to a sick chamber : he would have made an ill man well
1 Mrs. Piozzi means, I suppose, have been dead very many years by
' penitential.' To his concealment he the time his Memoirs were given to
thought himself obliged, he says, ' out the world. Life, iii. 446.
of respect to his country and family.' 2 Letters, ii. 432.
The excuse seems unsatisfactory, for 3 ' He that contents a sick man,'
he tells enough to shew that he he wrote, * a man whom it is impos-
came from the South of France, sible to please, has surely done his
while for his family there was no part well.' Ib. ii. 400.
need of care. It was, he writes, 4 This use of touchant seems to
'ancient but decayed,' and he was show that touching was not yet in
the only surviving child. Of his common use. Johnson gives it in
father and mother he had heard his Dictionary, but without any au-
nothing since he started on the thority.
career of a pious rogue. They must 5 Quoted in the Life, iii. i.
by
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