He thanked me for the hint, and, calling for paper, wrote on a slip, that I had in my hand and gave him, the following words :
- I humbly commit to the infinite and eternal goodness of
Almighty God, my soul polluted with many sins ; but, as I hope, purified by repentance, and redeemed, as I trust, by the death of Jesus Christ ; ' and, returning it to me, said, ' This I commit to your custody.'
Upon my calling on him for directions to proceed, he told me, that his father, in the course of his trade as a bookseller, had become bankrupt, and that Mr. William Innys had assisted him with' money or credit to continue his business ' This,' said he, ' I consider as an obligation on me to be grateful to his descendants, and I therefore mean to give 2oo/. to his repre sentative 1 .' He then meditated a devise of his house at Lichfield to the corporation of that city for a charitable use ; but, it being freehold, he said 'I cannot live a twelve-month, and the last statute of mortmain stands in the way : I must, therefore, think of some other disposition of it 2 .' His next consideration was a provision for Frank, concerning the amount whereof I found he had been consulting Dr. Brocklesby, to whom he had put
words, "In the name of God, Amen"; a Christian, as I suppose you to be,
and frequently to insert therein a do write something to make us sure
declaration of the testator's hope of of it." ' Kenyan MSS. Hist. MSS.
pardon in the merits of his Saviour ; Comm., I4th Report, iv. 540.
but, in these more refined times, such T .Life, iv. 402, n. 2, 440.
forms are deemed superfluous.' Roger North, after describing the
HAWKINS. degradation among the booksellers
Mr. Pepys told Hannah More that soon after the Restoration, speaking this request was made to Johnson of second-hand books continues : ' to counteract the poison of Hume's ' One that would go higher must take impious declaration of his opinions his fortune at blank walls and corners in his last moments.' H. More's of streets, or repair to the sign of Memoirs, i. 393. See Life, iii. 153, Bateman, Innys and one or two more, and Letters of Hume to Strahan, where are best choice and best penny- Preface, p. 38. worths.' Lives of the Norths, ed.
'The late Mr. Allen of Magdalen 1826, iii. 294.
Hall [Life, i. 336], who was a privi- 2 In his last will he directed it to
leged person, and could say what he be sold, the money arising therefrom
pleased to Johnson, addressed him to be distributed among some distant
once very freely upon the subject relations. Life, iv. 402, n. 2. It sold
[of chastising the vanity of scepti- for ^235. Hawkins, p. 599 ; Letters^
cism] : "Johnson, if you really are i. 19, n. i.
this
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