Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-29

We are told of a time VIXEN he and David
Garrick were wandering the streets of
London, the ex-schoolmaster with q tup-
pence in. his pocket and his eX-pupil with
three ha pennies. He tells us how he used
to live in garnet on Is pence week;
how he got a dinner for sixpence arG
gave the waiter penny. Those who
were kind to him in his dinnerless days
he never forgot. The Hon. Henry Her
vey was one of them, and many years
la ter DIR. Johnson said:
Harry Hervey was very kind to me.
If you called dog Hervey l should love
him."
Better times came when Garrick pro-
duced Johnson's play Irene at Drury
Lane Theater, and his royalties amounted
to 81 800. which very large sum
In those days. The Rambler followed.
which was profitable, and "Raselas
brought him $50, with which he was
able to pay the expenses of his mothers
funeral.
In those days authors were usually de-.
pendent upon rich patronS-StateSmen
and members of the nobility. But John
son refused to be the advocate or de-
fender of any person or any interest, and
in his dictionary he gave the definition
as follows: I'm England pension IS
generally understood to mean pay given
to state hireling for treason to his
country"
In 1855 he terminated the literary PEN
sion system by denouncing it in a letter
to Lord Chesterfield. The latter had Of
fered Johnson his patronage. but Johnson
declined it in such terms that the con-
tinuance of the practice was impossible.
Thereafter writer's were compelled to de-
pend upon the public rather instead of in
dividuals for their support. Thomas Car
lyle described this letter as the far
famed blast of doom, prOclaiming into
the ear of Lord Chesterfield and through
him to the listening world that patron
age should be no mere
Eight Years Writing Dictionary.
Johnson began his dictionary IN 1147
and completed it in 1850. He realized
1,5GO guineas. which is equivalent to
about $500, but he had to pay con-
siderable part of it to the hacks who
had assisted him. Nevertheless. the work
made his reputation, and he never needed
money after it appeared. He became the
foremost literary authority in the king
dom, the hero of the taverns of Fleet
street and the clubs, the talker of the
time and the dictator of the English Ian
guage His Lives OF the Poets" his edi-
ton of Shakespeare and other works
brought him large revenue, and he was
liable TO worship the god OF his 1dolatry
and luXuriate in the castle of indolence
en- an income varying from 81, 500 to $1,000
a year.
Boswell was not introduced to Johnson
until 1853, after his fame was assured.
and all references to his early life by his
biographer were therefore based upon
hearSay.
Johnson was a man of kindly DISPOSE
ton notwithstanding his rude and i'm
perious manner. He had a muscular
frame and great physical strength and
endurance. but was the victim of scrofula,
inherited from his father, which not only
made him miserable but distorted MS
features deprived him of the sight of one
eye and almost destroyed the other He
was subject to violent outbursts of tenn
per and fits of melancholy, which he con-
sidered a form of insanity He used to
say that he had been mad all his life,
and once Queen Anne touched him. for
the evil. but it did not cure him. 1t re-
uuired more than a royal touch to re-
move hereditary and deep-rooted diseases
which grew more and more acute with
age He used to make grimaces and ges
lures and mutter to himself in low tones,
which Macaulay says sometimes terri
fled peop'e who did not know him" When
somebody remarked that he was bear.
the faithful Boswell answered: Yes. the
great bear:
His Eccentric Manners.
In his early years the iron of poverty
sank deep INTO his soul, and made him
positively ferocious against many of the
courtesies and usages of polite society
At a dinner table he would, IN a fit of
Observation-Disclosures, stoop down and
snatch off lady's shoe. He would amaze
whole drawing room by calculating
clause of the Lords Prayer. He had no
passion for clean linen,' says the vera
cious Boswell. During thirty years of
hard battle with poverty and disease.
perjury and neglect. he became shabby,
sloyenly and dirty.
HE ate with ravenous greediness
whenever he was fortunate as 70
have near him hare that had been kept
too long a meat pie made with rancid
butter. he gorged himself with such yo!-
ume that his veins swelled and the mois-
ture stood on his forehead" Small won
der that Lord Chesterfield the polished
gentleman, the man of the finest manner