[The following Prayer was composed and used by Doctor Johnson previous to his receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, on Sunday December 5, 1784.
LMIGHTY and most merciful Father, I am now, as to human eyes it seems, about to commemorate, for the last time, the death of thy Son Jesus Christ our Saviour and Redeemer. Grant, O Lord, that my whole hope and confidence may be in his merits and thy mercy; enforce and accept my imperfect repentance; make this commemoration. available to the confirmation of my faith, the establishment of my hope, and the enlargement of my charity; and make the death of thy Son Jesus Christ effectual to my redemption. Have mercy upon me, and pardon the multitude of my offences. Bless my friends; have mercy upon all men. Support me, by thy Holy Spirit, in the days of weakness, and at the hour of death; and receive me, át my death, to everlasting happiness, for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen.
*He died the 13th following
The Roman Numerals refer to the Volume, and the
Figures to the Page.
ABERBROTHICK, account of the town of, viii. 212. Of the
ruins of the monastery there, 214.
Aberdeen, account of, viii. 217. Dr. Johnson meets with an old
acquaintance, Sir Alexander Gordon, there, 217. Account of
the King's College, 219. Account of the Marischal College,
220. Account of the Library, 220. The course of education
there, 221. Account of the English chapel, 222.
Abilities, the reward of, to be accepted when offered, and not
sought for in another place, exemplified in the story of Gelaled-
din of Bassora, vii. 300.
Abouzaid, the dying advice of Morad his father to him, vi. 239.
Absence, a destroyer of friendship, vii. 89.
Abyssinia, preface to the translation of Father Lobo's voyage to,
ii. 265.
Academical education, one of Milton's objections to it, ix. 89.
Acastus, an instance of the commanding influence of curiosity,
vi. 60.
Achilles, his address to a Grecian prince supplicating life, improper
for a picture, vii. 180.
Action (dramatick), the laws of it stated and remarked, vi. 97.
Action (exercise), necessary to the health of the body, and the
vigour of the mind, v. 81. 87. The source of cheerfulness and
vivacity, 86.
Action (in oratory), the want of, considered, vii. 361. Tends to
no good in any part of oratory, 362.
Actions, every man the best relater of his own, vii. 259. The in-
justice of judging of them by the event, iii. 218.
Adam unparadised, a MS. supposed to be the embryo of Para-
dise Lost, viii. 3.
Adams, Parson, of Fielding, not Edward, but William Young,
xi. 339.
Addison, Joseph, supposed to have taken the plan of his Dialogues
on Medals from Dryden's Essay on Dramatick Poetry, ix. 322.
GG 2
His life, x. 73. Born at Milston, in Wiltshire, May 1, 1672, 73,
The various schools at which he received instruction, 73. Cul-
tivates an early friendship with Steele, 74. Lends 100l. to
Steele, and reclaims it by an execution, 75. Entered at Oxford,
1687, 75. Account of his Latin poems, 76. Account of his
English poems, 76. On being introduced by Congreve to Mr.
Montague, becomes a courtier, 78. Obtains a pension of 300 1.
a year, that he might be enabled to travel, 78. Publishes his
travels, 79. Succeeds Mr. Locke as Commissioner of Appeals,
as a reward for his poem The Battle of Blenheim, 81. Went to
Hanover with Lord Halifax, 81. Made Under-secretary of State,
81. Writes the opera of Rosamond, 81. Assists Steele in writ-
ing the Tender Husband, 81. Goes to Ireland with Lord
Wharton as Secretary, 81. Made Keeper of the Records in
Birmingham's Tower, 82. The opposite characters of him and
Wharton, 82. His reason for resolving not to remit any fees to
his friends, 82. Wrote in the Tatler, 83. Wrote in the Spec-
tators, 83. His tragedy of Cato brought on the stage, and sup-
ported both by the Whigs and Tories, 89. 91. Cato warmly
attacked by Dennis, 92. Other honours and enmities shewed to
Cato, 93. Cato translated both into Italian and Latin, 93. -
Writes in the Guardian, 94. His signature in the Spectator and
Guardian, 95. Declared by Steele to have been the author of
the Drummer, with the story on which that comedy is founded,
95. Wrote several political pamphlets, 96. Appointed Secre-
tary to the Regency, 98. In 1715 publishes the Freeholder, 98.
Marries the Countess of Warwick, Aug. 2, 1716, 99. Secretary
of State, 1717, but unfit for the place, and therefore resigns
it, 100. Sir J. Hawkins's Defence of the Character he had
given of Addison in his History of Musick against the author of
the Biog. Brit. 104. Purposes writing a tragedy on the death
of Socrates, 100. Engages in his Defence of the Christian reli-
gion, 101. Had a design of writing an English dictionary, 101.
His controversy with Steele on the Peerage Bill, 102. During
his last illness sends for Gay, informs him that he had injured
him, and promises, if he recovered, to recompence him, 105.
Sends for the young Earl of Warwick, that he might see how a
Christian ought to die, 105. Died June 17, 1719, 106. His
character, 106. The course of his familiar day, 109. His lite-
rary character, 112. Account of his works, 113. Extracts
from Dennis's Observations on Cato, 119. Considered as a
critick, 137. Commended as a teacher of wisdom, 140. Cha-
racter of his prose works, 140. Example of his disinterested
conduct in disposing of places, 141. A conversation with Pope
on Ti kell's translation of Homer, 233. Becomes a rival of
Pope, xi. 95. Supposed to have been the translator of the
Iliad, published under the name of Tickell, 99. His critical
capacity remarked, v. 91. 140. 143. Observations on his tra-
gedy of Cato, xi. 99.
Admiration, and ignorance, their mutual and reciprocal operation,
v. 25.
Adventurer, No. xxxiv. iii. 109.
No. xlv. 129. No. 1. 135.
No. xxxix. 116. No. xli. 123.
No. liii. 141. No. lviii. 147.
No. lxii. 155. No. Ixvii. 162. No. lxix. 170. No. lxxiv.
177. No. lxxxi. 183. No. lxxxiv. 190. No. lxxxv. 197.
No. xcii. 203.
No. cvii. 232.
No. cxi. 244.
No. cxxvi. 269.
No. cii. 225.
No. cxv. 250.
No. cxxxi. 282. No. cxxxvii. 288.
No. cxix. 257.
275.
Adversaries, the advantage of contending with illustrious ones,
xii. 194.
Adversity, a season fitted to convey the most salutary and useful
instruction to the mind, vi. 58. The appointed instrument of
promoting our virtue and happiness, 60.
Advertisements, on pompous and remarkable, vii. 160.
Advice, good, too often disregarded, v. 97. The causes of this
assigned, 98. Vanity often the apparent motive of giving it, 99.
When most offensive and ineffectual, vi. 90.
Affability, the extensive influence of this amiable quality, vi. 2:
Affectation, the vanity and folly of indulging it, iv. 131. 133.
Wherein it properly differs from hypocrisy, 134. The great
absurdity of it exposed in the character of Gelasimus, vi. 228.
Afflictions, proper methods of obtaining consolation under them,
iv. 113. 332. Inseparable from human life, vi. 268. The
benefits of, 270.
Africa, progress of the discoveries made on that coast by the Por-
tuguese, ii. 273.
Age, the present an age of authors, iii. 251.
Agriculture, its extensive usefulness considered, vi. 28. Thoughts
on, both ancient and modern, ii. 440. Productions of, alone
sufficient for the support of an industrious people, 440. In
high consideration in Egypt, 441. The many antient writers
on that subject, 444. The enrichment of England, 445. A
proper subject for honorary rewards, 447. Superior to trade
and manufactures, 448. Danger to be apprehended from the
neglect of, 453. An art which government ought to protect,
every proprietor of lands to practise, and every enquirer into
nature to improve, 453. Account of, at Raasay, one of the
Hebrides, ix. 283. Bad state of, at Ostig, in Sky, 305. The
raising of the rents of estates in Scotland considered, 326.
Ajut, his history, vi. 267. 276.
Akenside, Dr. Mark, his opinion of Dyer's Fleece, xi. 275. His
life, 335. Son of a butcher at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, born 1721.
Designed for a dissenting minister, but turns his mind to phy-
sick, 335. Pleasures of Imagination published, 1744, 356.
Studies at Leyden, and becomes M. D. 1744, 356. An enthu
siastick friend to liberty, and a lover of contradiction, 357.
Practises physick at Northampton and Hampstead, 358. Setties
at London, 358. Allowed 300 l, a year by Mr. Dyson, 358..
By his writings obtains the name both of a wit and scholar, 359.
Died 1770, 359. Character of his works, 359.
Alabaster, Roxana, commended, ix. 87.
Alacrity, the cultivation of it the source of personal and social
pleasure, v. 18, 19.
Albion, in lat. 3o, account of the friendly inhabitants found there
by Drake, xii. 137.
Alexandrian Library, its loss lamented, vii. 263.
Aliger, his character, vi. 354.
Allen, Mr. of Bath, praised by Pope in his Satires, xi. 135.
All's Well that Ends Well, observations on Shakspeare's, ii.
147.
Almamolin, the dying speech of Nouradin, his father, to him, v.
314. His thoughtless extravagance, 316. The excellent ad-
vice which the sage gave him, 318.
Altilia, her coquetry described, vi. 246.
Amazons, observations on the history of the, vii. 351. Old maids
in England most like Amazons, 352.
Amazons, of the Pen, iii. 252.
Ambition, generally proportioned to capacity, xii. 17. A quality
natural to youth, iv. 97. The peculiar vanity of it in the lower
stations of life, 420, 421. A destroyer of friendship, vii. 90.
Characterized, viii. 268.
America, Taxation no Tyranny, or, an answer to the Resolutions
and Address of the American Congress [1775], x, 155. Mo-
tives urged by patriots against the taxation of, 157. Examina-
tion into our claim to the right of taxing it, and of their ob-
jections to be taxed, 162. The plea of want of representation
examined, 172. Their claims of exemption from taxation from
their charters examined, 179. Objection to taxation made by
an old member, examined, 181. Proceedings of the congress of
Philadelphia examined, 185. Pleas of the Bostonians exposed,
188. Their resolutions and address exposed, in a supposed ad-
dress from the Cornish men, 194. Some of the arguments
made use of against our taxing it examined, 199. First incited
to rebellion from European intelligence, 202. Considerations
on the Indians granting their lands to foreign nations, 211.
Difficulty of ascertaining boundaries, 282. The power of the
French there, 1756, 287. Colonies first settled there in the
time of Elizabeth, 294. Continued in the reign of James I,
299. Colony first sent to Canada by the French, 301. The
first discovery of Newfoundland by Cabot, and the settlement
from thence to Georgia considered, 314. The encroachment
of the French on our back settlements examined, 315.
Amicus, his reflections on the deplorable case of prostitutes, v.
Amoret, Lady Sophia Murray celebrated by Waller under that
name, ix. 233.
Amusements, by what regulations they may be rendered useful, v.
Anacreon, Ode ix. translated, i. 351.
Anatomy, cruelty in anatomical researches reprobated, vii. 66.
Andrew's, St. account of the city of, viii. 207. The ruins of the
cathedral, 209. Account of the university, 210, Expence of
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