Johnson's Life and Genius.
��nerves were affected by that disorder, for which, at two years of age, he was presented to the royal touch 1 . His head shook, and involuntary motions made it uncertain that his legs and arms would, even at a tea-table, remain in their proper place 2 . A person of Lord Chesterfield's delicacy might in his company be in a fever 3 . He would sometimes of his own accord do things inconsistent with the established modes of behaviour. Sitting at table with the celebrated Mrs. Cholmondeley, who exerted herself to circulate the subscription for Shakspeare 4 , he took hold of her hand in the middle of dinner, and held it close to his eye, wondering at the delicacy and the whiteness, till with a smile she asked, Will he give it to me again when he has done with it? /The exteriors of politeness did not belong to Johnson. Even /that civility which proceeds, or ought to proceed, from the mind, / was sometimes violated. His morbid melancholy had an effect I on his temper ; his passions were irritable ; and the pride of I science, as well as of a fierce independent spirit, inflamed him on \some occasions above all bounds of moderation. Though not in 4he shade of academic bowers 5 , he led a scholastic life ; and the habit of pronouncing decisions to his friends and visitors gave a dictatorial manner, which was much enforced by a voice iturally loud, and often overstretched 6 . Metaphysical discus- r sion, moral theory, systems of religion, and anecdotes of literature, were his favourite topics 7 . General history had little of his regard, biography was his delight 8 . The proper study of mankind is
��sluggish, yet awful and contemplative. ... His face however was capable of great expression both in respect to intelligence and mildness, as all those can witness who have seen him in the flow of conversation or under the influence of grateful feelings.'
1 Ante, pp. 133, 152.
2 Life, I. 144; v. 18.
3 Chesterfield, in the passage wrongly applied to Johnson (ante, p. 384), describing Lord Lyttelton, had said : * I am almost in a fever whenever I am in his company.' Chesterfield's Letters to his Son, iii. 129.
G
��4 To get subscribers, that is to say, for his edition of Shakespeare. Letters, i. 68. For Mrs. Cholmondely, see ib. ii. 186, n. 3 ; Life, iii. 318.
5 * Under the shelter of academic bowers.' Works, v. 51. Ante, p. 405.
6 Boswell mentions 'his deliberate and strong utterance.' Life, ii. 326 ; 'his loud voice and slow deliberate utterance.' Ib. iv. 429.
7 Ante, p. 201.
8 'MONBODDO. "The history of manners is the most valuable. I never set a high value on any other history." JOHNSON. " Nor I ; and
man.
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