[11] His step-daughter.
[12] Boswell afterwards found he was mistaken. Mrs Williams "had
acquired such a niceness of touch, as to know, by the feeling on the
outside of the cup, how near it was to being full."
[13] She was the daughter of Johnson's godfather.
[14] Poll was Miss Carmichael. See page 49.
_His daily Life_
Johnson could tolerate the quarrels of his household and the anarchy
of his kitchen better than most men, for the simple reason that he
generally dined out at about 2 o'clock and stayed in a club or a tavern
or a friend's house until bedtime. A tavern chair was for him "the
throne of human felicity" and we shall shortly see him as he loved best
to be--"folding his legs and having his talk out" with his friends.
First, let us see something of his daily habits and manner of life.
Here is Boswell's description of him in later years:
"His person was large, robust, I may say approaching to the gigantick,
and grown unwieldy from corpulency. His countenance was naturally of
the cast of an ancient statue, but somewhat disfigured by the scars of
that _evil_, which, it was formerly imagined, the _royal touch_ could
cure. He was now ... become a little dull of hearing. His sight had
always been somewhat weak; yet, so much does mind govern, and even
supply the deficiency of organs, that his perceptions were uncommonly
quick and accurate. His head, and sometime also his body shook with a
kind of motion like the effect of a palsy: he appeared to be frequently
disturbed by cramps, or convulsive contractions, of the nature of that
distemper called _St Vitus's dance_. He wore a full suit of plain
brown clothes, with twisted hair-buttons of the same colour, a large
bushy greyish wig, a plain shirt, black worsted stockings, and silver
buckles."
His day began late with a breakfast consisting of a penny-loaf and a
large pot of tea. It was not usually a very tidy meal, for Johnson
often appeared "in deshabille, as just risen from bed"; Levet poured
out the tea, while Johnson clumsily divided the bread.
When there was a guest, however, his "tea and rolls and butter, and
whole breakfast apparatus were all in such decorum, and his behaviour
was so courteous" that the visitor "was quite surprised, and wondered
at his having heard so much said of Johnson's slovenliness and
roughness."
Once, when Boswell called unexpectedly before he was up, he called
briskly "Frank, go and get coffee, and let us breakfast _in splendour_."
But these splendid occasions were exceptional.
"About twelve o'clock" wrote Dr Maxwell, a 'social friend' of Johnson,
"I commonly visited him, and frequently found him in bed, or declaiming
over his tea, which he drank very plentifully. He generally had a levee
of morning visitors, chiefly men of letters; Hawkesworth, Goldsmith,
Murphy, Langton, Steevens, Beauclerk &c. &c., and sometimes learned
ladies, particularly I remember a French lady of wit and fashion doing
him the honour of a visit. He seemed to be considered as a kind of
publick oracle, whom every body thought they had a right to visit and
consult; and doubtless they were well rewarded. I never could discover
how he found time for his compositions. He declaimed all the morning,
then went to dinner at a tavern, where he commonly staid late, and
then drank his tea at some friend's house, over which he loitered a
great while, but seldom took supper. I fancy he must have read and
wrote chiefly in the night, for I can scarcely recollect that he ever
refused going with me to a tavern, and he often went to Ranelagh, which
he deemed a place of innocent recreation. He frequently gave all the
silver in his pocket to the poor, who watched him, between his house
and the tavern where he dined. He walked the streets at all hours and
said he was never robbed, for the rogues knew he had little money, nor
had the appearance of having much."
Such was Johnson's week-day life. Sunday was another matter.
"It should be different (he observed) from another day. People may
walk, but not throw stones at birds. There may be relaxation, but there
should be no levity."
He made some good resolutions accordingly:
"To rise early, and in order to it, to go to sleep early on Saturday....
To read the Scripture methodically....
To go to church twice.
To read books of Divinity....