might be a relation of Mrs Porter, whose maiden name was Jarvis *. After a suit, not "It was," he very tedious, he married her. And, judging from the description of their persons, we must suppose that the passion was not in! spired by the beauties of form, or graces of manner, but by a mutual admiration of each other's mind. Johnson's appearance is described as being very forbidding †." He was then lean and lank; so that his immense structure of bones was hideously striking to She had a son and daughter; the former a captain in the navy, from whom his sister inherited a handsome fortune, acquired in the course of a long service. The same, or another son, a merchant in Leghorn, was on the eve of forming a matrimonial connection with Miss Sarah Seward, a sister of the poetess, at the time of her death in 1764. See "Poetical Works of Anna Seward," vol. 1. p. 115. ↑ Johnson's countenance, when in a good humour, was not disagreeable. His face clear, his complexion good, and his features not ill formed, many ladies have thought they might not be unattractive when he was young. Much misrepresentation has prevailed on this subject among such as did not personally know him, BISHOP PERCY. D the eye,, and the scars of the scrophula were deeply visible. He also wore his hair, which was straight and stiff, and separated behind; and he often had seemingly convulsive starts and odd gesticulations, which tended at once. to excite surprise and ridicule." Mrs Porter was double the age of Johnson, and her person and manner, as described by Garrick *, were by no means pleasing to others. "She was very fat, with a bosom of more than ordinary protuberance. Her swelled cheeks were of a florid red, produced by thick painting, and increased by the liberal use of cordials; flaring and fantastic in her dress, and affected both in * There was no great cordiality between Garrick and Johnson; and as the latter kept him much in awe when present, Garrick, when his back was turned, repaid the restraint with ridicule of him and his dulcinea, which should be read with great abatement; for, though Garrick, at the moment, to indulge a spirit of drollery, and to entertain the company, gave distorted caricatures of Mrs Johnson and her spouse, it would certainly have shocked him, had he known that these sportive distortions were to be handed down to posterity as faithful pictures. BISHOP PERCY. her speech and in her general behaviour *." But Garrick, probably, as is the case in all such representations, considerably aggravated the picture. It is to be observed, that whatever her real charms may have been, Johnson thought her beautiful; for in her Epitaph he has recorded her as such; and in his Prayers and Meditations, we find very remarkable evidence, that his regard and fondness for her never ceased even after death. The marriage ceremony was performed July 9, 1735, at Derby; for which place the bride and bridegroom set out on horseback: and it must be allowed, that the capricious and fantastic behaviour of the bride, during the journey to church, upon the nuptial morn, as related by Mr Boswell, from his own account, was a singular beginning of connubial felicity. "She had read," said he," the old romances, and had got into her head the fantastical notion that a woman of spirit should use her lover * See Boswell's Life, &c. Vol. i. p. 47-8. like a dog. So, at first, she told me that I rode too fast, and she could not keep pace with me; and when I rode a little slower, she passed me, and complained that I lagged behind. I was not to be made the slave of caprice, and I resolved to begin as I meant to end. I therefore pushed on briskly, till I was fairly out of her sight. The road lay between two hedges, so I was sure she could not miss; and I contrived that she should soon come up When she did, I observed her to be with me. in tears*." She was worth about L.800; which, to a person in Johnson's circumstances, made it a desirable match. To turn this sum to the best advantage, he hired a large house at Edial, near Lichfield, and set up a private classical academy, in which he was encouraged by his friend Mr Walmsley. In the "Gentleman's Magazine" for 1736, there is the following ADVERTISEMENT: "At Edial, near Lichfield, in Staffordshire, young gentlemen are boarded and taught * See Boswell's Life, &c. Vol.-i. p. 68. the Latin and Greek languages, by SAMUEL JOHNSON." The plan, notwithstanding the exertions of his friends, and his own abilities, proved abortive. The only pupils that were put under his care, were Garrick, then eighteen years of age, and his brother George, and Mr Offely, a young gentleman, of an ancient and respectable family in the neighbourhood *. Whatever may have been his qualifications for communicating instruction by the regular gradations and patient industry, practised by men of inferior minds, his Scheme for the classes of a grammar school, given about this period to a relation, and preserved by Mr Boswellt, shews that he well knew the most Son of Mr Offely of Whichenoure Park in Staffordshire, the ancient manor of the Somervilles, held by the memorable service of giving a flitch of bacon as a reward to any husband and wife who could say, that they never had the least difference, nor contradicted one another, within the space of twelve months after marriage. Dunmow, in Essex, is held by a similar ser wice. + See Boswell's Life, &c. Vol. i. p. 71. |