��to say a man was sick, was very near wishing him so ; and few things offended him more, than prognosticating even the death of an ordinary acquaintance. 'Ay, ay (said he), Swift knew the world pretty well, when he said, that
Some dire misfortune to portend, No enemy can match a friend *.'
The danger then of Mr. Garrick, or of Mr. Thrale, whom he loved better, was an image which no one durst present before his view 2 ; he always persisted in the possibility and hope of their recovering [from] disorders from which no human creatures by human means alone ever did recover. His distress for their loss was for that very reason poignant to excess 3 ; but his fears of "his own salvation were excessive : his truly tolerant spirit, and Christian charity, which hopeth all things, and believe th all things, made him rely securely on the safety of his friends, while his earnest aspiration after a blessed immortality made him cautious of his own steps, and timorous concerning their consequences. He knew how much had been given, and filled his mind with fancies of how much would be required, till his impressed imagination was often disturbed by them, and his health suffered from the sensibility of his too tender conscience : a real Christian is so apt to find his task above his power of performance 4 !
1 'Some great misfortune to por- phy' 's Johnson, p. 145. For his grief
tend, for Mr. Thrale see ante, p. 205, n. 3.
No enemy can match a friend.' 4 In the last year of his life he wrote
2 He wrote to Mrs. Thrale the au- . . . Goodness, always wishing to be tumn before Mr. Thrale's death : better, and imputing every deficience ' The chief wish that I form is, that to criminal indulgence and every Mr. Thrale could be made to under- fault to voluntary corruption, never stand his true state ; to know that he dares to suppose the condition of is tottering upon a point, &c.' Letters, forgiveness fulfilled, nor what is ii. 200. See ante, p. 96, where he wanting in the crime supplied by the records: 'I had constantly prayed penitence.' Letters, ii. 380. 'March for him some time before his death,' 20, 1784 . . . Write to me no more and ib. for the warnings he had given about dying with a grace ; when you him. feel what I have felt in approaching
3 Murphy says, though certainly eternity in fear of soon hearing the with exaggeration, that 'after Gar- sentence of which there is no revo- rick's death Johnson never talked of cation, you will know the folly.' Id. him without a tear in his eye.' Mur- p. 384.
Mr.
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