discovered, notwithstanding, early symptoms of that wandering disposition of mind which adhered to him to the end of his life. His reading was by fits and starts, undirected to any particular science x . General philology, agreeably to his cousin Ford's advice, was the object of his ambition. He received, at that time, an early impression of piety 2 , and a taste for the best authors ancient and modern. It may, notwithstanding, be ques tioned whether, except his Bible, he ever read a book entirely through. Late in life, if any man praised a book in his pre sence, he was sure to ask, ' Did you read it through ? ' If the answer was in the affirmative, he did not seem willing to believe it 3 . He continued at the university till the want of pecuniary supplies obliged him to quit the place. He obtained, however, the assistance of a friend, and returning in a short time was able to complete a residence of three years 4 . The history of his exploits at Oxford, he used to say, was best known to Dr. Taylor and Dr. Adams 5 . Wonders are told of his memory, and, indeed, all who knew him late in life can witness that he retained that faculty in the greatest vigour 6 .
From the university Johnson returned to Lichfield. His father died soon after, December 1731 ; and the whole receipt out of his effects, as appeared by a memorandum in the son's hand-writing, dated i5th June, 1732, was no more than twenty pounds 7 . In
1 Hawkins, p. 12. which never took place, attributes
2 Hawkins (p. 18) fathers these Johnson's maintenance at college to ' sentiments of piety ' on ' the order ' the bounty, as it is supposed, of and discipline of a college life . . . some one or more of the members the early calls to prayers, the fre- of the Cathedral [of Lichfield].' quent instructions from the pulpit, Murphy goes a step further and with all the other means of religious speaks positively of a friend.
and moral improvement.' Johnson 5 Ante, p. 166.
told Boswell that it was reading 6 See Life, v. 368, for a singular
Law's Serious Call to a Holy Life proof of his memory at the age of
which { was the first occasion of his sixty-four, and ante, p. 437.
thinking in earnest of religion after 7 The entry of this is remarkable
he became capable of rational in- for his early resolution to preserve
quiry.' Life, i. 68. through life a fair and upright char-
3 Ante, p. 319. acter : '1732, Junii 15. Undecim
4 Hawkins (p. 16), in accounting aureos deposui, quo die, quidquid for this second period of residence, ante matris funus (quod serum sit
this
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