Boswells Life of Johnson | Page 9

LUCK, For then we'd had an ODD ONE.'
There is surely internal evidence that this little composition combines
in it, what no child of three years old could produce, without an
extension of its faculties by immediate inspiration; yet Mrs. Lucy
Porter, Dr. Johnson's stepdaughter, positively maintained to me, in his
presence, that there could be no doubt of the truth of this anecdote, for
she had heard it from his mother. So difficult is it to obtain an
authentick relation of facts, and such authority may there be for errour;
for he assured me, that his father made the verses, and wished to pass
them for his child's. He added, 'my father was a foolish old man; that is
to say, foolish in talking of his children.'
Young Johnson had the misfortune to be much afflicted with the
scrophula, or king's evil, which disfigured a countenance naturally well
formed, and hurt his visual nerves so much, that he did not see at all
with one of his eyes, though its appearance was little different from that
of the other. There is amongst his prayers, one inscribed 'When, my
EYE was restored to its use,' which ascertains a defect that many of his
friends knew he had, though I never perceived it. I supposed him to be
only near-sighted; and indeed I must observe, that in no other respect
could I discern any defect in his vision; on the contrary, the force of his
attention and perceptive quickness made him see and distinguish all
manner of objects, whether of nature or of art, with a nicety that is
rarely to be found. When he and I were travelling in the Highlands of
Scotland, and I pointed out to him a mountain which I observed
resembled a cone, he corrected my inaccuracy, by shewing me, that it
was indeed pointed at the top, but that one side of it was larger than the
other. And the ladies with whom he was acquainted agree, that no man
was more nicely and minutely critical in the elegance of female dress.
When I found that he saw the romantick beauties of Islam, in
Derbyshire, much better than I did, I told him that he resembled an able

performer upon a bad instrument. It has been said, that he contracted
this grievous malady from his nurse. His mother yielding to the
superstitious notion, which, it is wonderful to think, prevailed so long
in this country, as to the virtue of the regal touch; a notion, which our
kings encouraged, and to which a man of such inquiry and such
judgement as Carte could give credit; carried him to London, where he
was actually touched by Queen Anne. Mrs. Johnson indeed, as Mr.
Hector informed me, acted by the advice of the celebrated Sir John
Floyer, then a physician in Lichfield. Johnson used to talk of this very
frankly; and Mrs. Piozzi has preserved his very picturesque description
of the scene, as it remained upon his fancy. Being asked if he could
remember Queen Anne, 'He had (he said) a confused, but somehow a
sort of solemn recollection of a lady in diamonds, and a long black
hood.' This touch, however, was without any effect. I ventured to say to
him, in allusion to the political principles in which he was educated,
and of which he ever retained some odour, that 'his mother had not
carried him far enough; she should have taken him to ROME.'
He was first taught to read English by Dame Oliver, a widow, who kept
a school for young children in Lichfield. He told me she could read the
black letter, and asked him to borrow for her, from his father, a bible in
that character. When he was going to Oxford, she came to take leave of
him, brought him, in the simplicity of her kindness, a present of
gingerbread, and said, he was the best scholar she ever had. He
delighted in mentioning this early compliment: adding, with a smile,
that 'this was as high a proof of his merit as he could conceive.' His
next instructor in English was a master, whom, when he spoke of him
to me, he familiarly called Tom Brown, who, said he, 'published a
spelling-book, and dedicated it to the UNIVERSE; but, I fear, no copy
of it can now be had.'
He began to learn Latin with Mr. Hawkins, usher, or under-master of
Lichfield school, 'a man (said he) very skilful in his little way.' With
him he continued two years, and then rose to be under the care of Mr.
Hunter, the headmaster, who, according to his account, 'was very
severe, and wrong-headedly severe. He used (said he) to beat us
unmercifully; and he did not distinguish between ignorance and

negligence; for he