The Life of Samuel Johnson, vol 2 | Page 7

to spare, he chose to lay in a provision of linen or clothes, or
any other necessaries; as then, he said, he could afford it, which he
might not be so well able to do when the actual want came; in
consequence of which method, he had a considerable supply of
necessary articles lying by him, beside what was in use.
'But the main particular that seems to have enabled him to do so much
with his income, was, that he paid for every thing as soon as he had it,
except, alone, what were current accounts, such as rent for his house
and servants' wages; and these he paid at the stated times with the
utmost exactness. He gave notice to the tradesmen of the neighbouring
market-towns that they should no longer have his custom, if they let
any of his servants have anything without their paying for it. Thus he
put it out of his power to commit those imprudences to which those are
liable that defer their payments by using their money some other way
than where it ought to go. And whatever money he had by him, he
knew that it was not demanded elsewhere, but that he might safely
employ it as he pleased.
'His example was confined, by the sequestered place of his abode, to
the observation of few, though his prudence and virtue would have
made it valuable to all who could have known it.--These few particulars,
which I knew myself, or have obtained from those who lived with him,
may afford instruction, and be an incentive to that wise art of living,
which he so successfully practised.' BOSWELL.
'THE CLUB holds very well together. Monday is my night[58]. I
continue to rise tolerably well, and read more than I did. I hope
something will yet come on it[59]. I am, Sir,
'Your most affectionate servant, 'SAM JOHNSON'
'May 10, 1766, Johnson's-court, Fleet-street.'

After I had been some time in Scotland, I mentioned to him in a letter
that 'On my first return to my native country, after some years of
absence, I was told of a vast number of my acquaintance who were all
gone to the land of forgetfulness, and I found myself like a man
stalking over a field of battle, who every moment perceives some one
lying dead.' I complained of irresolution, and mentioned my having
made a vow as a security for good conduct. I wrote to him again,
without being able to move his indolence; nor did I hear from him till
he had received a copy of my inaugural Exercise, or Thesis in Civil
Law, which I published at my admission as an Advocate, as is the
custom in Scotland. He then wrote to me as follows:
'To JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.
'DEAR SIR,
'The reception of your Thesis put me in mind of my debt to you Why
did you ----[60]. I will punish you for it, by telling you that your Latin
wants correction[61]. In the beginning, Spei alterae, not to urge that it
should be prima, is not grammatical: alterae should be alteri. In the
next line you seem to use genus absolutely, for what we call family,
that is, for illustrious extraction, I doubt without authority. Homines
nullius originis, for Nullis orti majoribus, or, Nullo loco nati, is, I am
afraid, barbarous.--Ruddiman is dead[62].
'I have now vexed you enough, and will try to please you. Your
resolution to obey your father I sincerely approve; but do not accustom
yourself to enchain your volatility by vows: they will sometime leave a
thorn in your mind, which you will, perhaps, never be able to extract or
eject. Take this warning, it is of great importance[63].
'The study of the law is what you very justly term it, copious and
generous[64]; and in adding your name to its professors, you have done
exactly what I always wished, when I wished you best. I hope that you
will continue to pursue it vigorously and constantly[65]. You gain, at
least, what is no small advantage, security from those troublesome and
wearisome discontents, which are always obtruding themselves upon a
mind vacant, unemployed, and undetermined.

'You ought to think it no small inducement to diligence and
perseverance, that they will please your father. We all live upon the
hope of pleasing somebody; and the pleasure of pleasing ought to be
greatest, and at last always will be greatest, when our endeavours are
exerted in consequence of our duty.
'Life is not long, and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation
how it shall be spent; deliberation, which those who begin it by
prudence, and continue it with subtilty, must, after long expence of
thought, conclude by chance[66]. To prefer one future mode of life to
another, upon