neglecting their ftudies for cards, preaching the fermons of others, and affecting, in many particulars of their dress, the garb of the laity, in disobedience to the canon which enjoins decency of apparel to minifters I fay, not having been a witness to thefe late refinements in manners, he, notwithstanding the ferocity of his temper, reverenced the clergy as a body of men, who have been the greatest improvers of learning, and to whom mankind have the highest obligations; but lamented that the race was nearly extinct.

As Johnson's stay at the university was not long enough for him to complete his ftudies, it is natural to suppose, that at his return to Lichfield, he devoted his time to the improvement of them, and that having no call from thence, he continued there till the death of his father, which, as he has noted it, was in the month of December, 1731.

Being thus bereft of the little support his father was able to afford him, and having, not only a profeffion, but the means of fubfiftence to feek, he, in the month of March 1732, accepted of an invitation to the office of under-mafter or usher of a free grammar-fchool, at Market-Bosworth in Leicestershire, founded and endowed by Sir Wolftan Dixie, lord mayor of London in 1586, the upper mafter whereof had been the reverend Anthony Blackwall, the author of a wellknown book on the facred claffics, but was now a Mr. Crompton, a man of far inferior abilities. The patron of this feminary was Sir Wolftan Dixie, baronet, a defcendant of the original founder; and the endowment being very fmall, Johnfon's refidence was in the manfion-houfe of Sir Wolftan adjacent

The 74th, of 1603.

thereto;

thereto; but the treatment he received from this perfon, who, in the pride of wealth, fhewed no regard for learning or parts, nor refpected any man for his mental endowments, was fuch that, preferring the chance of the wide world to his patronage, Johnson, in the month of July, in the fame year in which he went to Bofworth, refigned his office, and took leave of a place, which he could never after speak of but in terms of the utmost diflike, and even of abhorrence.

By the middle of June, in the year 1732, he was able to estimate that flender pittance which devolved to him upon the decease of his father, the amount whereof I find afcertained by a memorandum in his diary, which, as it is descriptive of his circumstances at the time, I here tranflate, and at the bottom of the page have inferted verbatim.

1732, June 15, I laid by eleven guineas; on which day I received all of my father's effects which I can hope for till the death of my mother, (which I pray may be late), that is to fay, twenty pounds; fo that I have my fortune to make, and care must be taken,

that in the mean time, the powers of my mind may

not grow languid through poverty, nor want drive me into wickednefs *.

In the month of June in the following year, 1733, I find him refident in the house of a perfon named Jarvis, at Birmingham, where, as he has noted in his diary, he rendered into English from the French, a

1732, Junii 15, Undecim aureos depofui, quo die quicquid ante matris funus, (quod ferum fit precor), de paternis • bonis fperare licet, viginti fcilicet libras, accepi. Ufque adeo mihi mea fortuna fingenda eft interea, ne paupertate vires animi languefcant, ne in flagitia egeftas adigat, cavendum.

voyage to Abyffinia, which has fince appeared to be that of Padre Jerome Lobo, a Portuguese Jefuit, with the additions of Monf. l'Abbé Le Grand, very curious and entertaining, of which the following is a character:

It contains a narration of the endeavours of a company of miffionaries of the author's country to unite the Abyffins to the church of Rome. It was translated from the original Portuguese into French by l'Abbé Le Grand, who, as Lobo had extended it no farther than his own concern in the miffion, continued it down to the time when the Jefuits were finally driven out of Æthiopia, with the addition of fifteen differtations on fubjects relating to the hiftory, antiquities, government, religion, manners, and natural hiftory of Abyffinia, and other countries mentioned by the original author.

The preface, which bears ftronger marks of Johnfon's hand than any part of the work, is calculated to attract attention and credit: it commends the unaffected fimplicity of the original narrative, and the learning of M. Le Grand; it acknowledges the omiffions and deviations which the tranflator thought it prudent to make, and it apologizes for any defects that may be difcovered. Johnfon's difquifitive propenfity just dawns in an obfervation on the erroneous method of the Roman church, in making converts; but there is nothing ftriking in the compofition.

Were we to reft our judgment on internal evidence, Johnfon's claim to the title of tranflator of this work would be difputable; it has fcarce a feature refembling him: the language is as fimple and unornamented as John Bunyan's; the ftyle is far from elegant, and fometimes it is not even correct. Thefe circumftan

ces,

ces, together with frequent miftakes and various orthography, would almoft ftagger our belief, but that we have the authority of Johnson himself to rely on, who often acknowledged it for his own.

As this voyage to Abyffinia, notwithstanding the country and manners it defcribes are wonderful and interesting, has not been fo much noticed as Johnson's later and original productions, it may not be thought impertinent to give the outline of the relation.

About the beginning of the feventeenth century, the then reigning emperor of Abyffinia, for confiderations that favoured more of good policy than of religion, became a convert to the church of Rome: many of his fubjects had followed his example; and the miffionaries already in the country were in want of co-adjutors to extend their progrefs. Padre Jerome Lobo, who was then employed in the EaftIndian miffion at Goa, was one deputed to this enterprife, which, at length, proved too much for Romish zeal and Jefuitical dexterity.

With much difficulty he and his companions reached and got footing in the empire, where they had to endure a climate rendered by exceffive heats and rains peftiferous, and to engage in perilous journies across defarts infested by banditti, in perpetual fear of them and of wild beafts, the tokens of whofe depredations marked their way. When they arrived at the habitations of the people, their dangers were changed, but not diminished; fometimes they could not obtain provifions, and at others, were confined to their houses by the dread of affaffination. Those who were to be their difciples, profeffed, it is true, a fuperftitious religion, in fome parts Judaical, in many others refembling that of the church of Rome; but it had had

little effect on their minds: moral virtues they had fcarcely any; in focial affections they were miferably deficient, and their approaches to civilization and elegance were on a level with thofe of their fouthern neighbours at the Cape of Good Hope.

But labour and patience produced in time, a hope that the miffion would not be fruitlefs: the number of their profelytes was, at one period, fo great, that the corporal strength of the fathers was exhaufted in the exhortations previous to baptifin. We erected our tent,' fays Lobo, ' and placed our altar under fome great trees, for the benefit of the fhade; and

every day before fun-rifing, my companion and I began to catechife and inftruct these new catholics, and used our utmost endeavours to make them

abjure their errors. When we were weary with fpeaking, we placed in ranks those who were fufficiently inftructed, and paffing through them with great veffels of water, baptized them according to the form prefcribed by the church. As their number was very great, we cried aloud-those of this rank are named Anthony-thofe of that rank Peter;and did the fame among the women, whom we separated from among the men. We then confeffed

them, and admitted them to the communion. After • mass we applied ourselves again to catechife, to instruct, and receive the renunciation of their errors, fcarce allowing ourselves time to make a scanty meal, which we never did more than once a day.'

Zeal equal to this, and rifing in proportion to the oppofition it met with, did thefe pious fathers exercise during nine years that they remained in Abyffinia. Their fuccefs was various and fluctuating; fometimes it gave them ground to hope that all would be converted,