Francis Barber,whom he looked upon as particularly under his protection,and whom he had all along treated truly as an humble friend.Having asked Dr.Brocklesby what would be a proper annuity to a favourite servant,and being answered that it must depend on the circumstances of the master;and,that in the case of a nobleman,fifty pounds a year was considered as an adequate reward for many years'faithful service;'Then,(said Johnson,)shall I be nobilissimus,for I mean to leave Frank seventy pounds a year,and I desire you to tell him so.'It is strange,however,to think,that Johnson was not free from that general weakness of being averse to execute a will,so that he delayed it from time to time;and had it not been for Sir John Hawkins's repeatedly urging it,Ithink it is probable that his kind resolution would not have been fulfilled.After making one,which,as Sir John Hawkins informs us,extended no further than the promised annuity,Johnson's final disposition of his property was established by a Will and Codicil.
The consideration of numerous papers of which he was possessed,seems to have struck Johnson's mind,with a sudden anxiety,and as they were in great confusion,it is much to be lamented that he had not entrusted some faithful and discreet person with the care and selection of them;instead of which,he in a precipitate manner,burnt large masses of them,with little regard,as I apprehend,to discrimination.Not that I suppose we have thus been deprived of any compositions which he had ever intended for the publick eye;but,from what escaped the flames,I judge that many curious circumstances relating both to himself and other literary characters have perished.
Two very valuable articles,I am sure,we have lost,which were two quarto volumes,containing a full,fair,and most particular account of his own life,from his earliest recollection.I owned to him,that having accidentally seen them,I had read a great deal in them;and apologizing for the liberty I had taken,asked him if I could help it.He placidly answered,'Why,Sir,I do not think you could have helped it.'I said that I had,for once in my life,felt half an inclination to commit theft.It had come into my mind to carry off those two volumes,and never see him more.Upon my inquiring how this would have affected him,'Sir,(said he,)Ibelieve I should have gone mad.'
During his last illness,Johnson experienced the steady and kind attachment of his numerous friends.Mr.Hoole has drawn up a narrative of what passed in the visits which he paid him during that time,from the 10th of November to the 13th of December,the day of his death,inclusive,and has favoured me with a perusal of it,with permission to make extracts,which I have done.Nobody was more attentive to him than Mr.Langton,to whom he tenderly said,Te teneam moriens deficiente manu.And I think it highly to the honour of Mr.Windham,that his important occupations as an active statesman did not prevent him from paying assiduous respect to the dying Sage whom he revered,Mr.Langton informs me,that,'one day he found Mr.Burke and four or five more friends sitting with Johnson.Mr.Burke said to him,"I am afraid,Sir,such a number of us may be oppressive to you.""No,Sir,(said Johnson,)it is not so;and I must be in a wretched state,indeed,when your company would not be a delight to me."Mr.Burke,in a tremulous voice,expressive of being very tenderly affected,replied,"My dear Sir,you have always been too good to me."Immediately afterwards he went away.This was the last circumstance in the acquaintance of these two eminent men.'
The following particulars of his conversation within a few days of his death,I give on the authority of Mr.John Nichols:--'He said,that the Parliamentary Debates were the only part of his writings which then gave him any compunction:but that at the time he wrote them,he had no conception he was imposing upon the world,though they were frequently written from very slender materials,and often from none at all,--the mere coinage of his own imagination.He never wrote any part of his works with equal velocity.Three columns of the Magazine,in an hour,was no uncommon effort,which was faster than most persons could have transcribed that quantity.
