DR JOHNSON'S WIFE.

Evening Star, Issue 14214, 13 November 1909, Page 9

DR JOHNSON'S WIFE.

.Mr Percy Fitzgerald wiite.s to ‘The 'liiimD under the above heading in the in!lowing terms; —It would ho pleasant if the Jonnsonian Tc?t;vo] were to bring with it a reversal o: the ui.jivJ, unfavorable opinion held of tin* worthy kulv. t-fie j., a fill mod to have been very 'plain' -painted, full of a fleet at ions, without tortunc or connect i<m c> Thin legend was out on loot bv Garrick, who went to Johnson's .school', and. with other mischievous lads, used to listen at the bedroom key-hole to the odd talk -ot tho pair. Tor Boswell he would mimic the while stone ; though he did nut think lit to icproduce it in" his book. He described it, however, to Ins* friend Ci'.iduck, whose MS account 1 have now b. lor? mo : Johus.ni, it seems, began to work on lu.s play ‘lrene’ when his hw.lv was in bed, and. to her many requests that hj i v,uuld leave oil, he would, answer in sonorous recitations of choice passages. In In.', growing excitement he would draw av.ay the tovering sheets till the poor laoy wa? left bare and shivering. Ganick .'untended that Johnson thought that it ”■’? ht* ishirt that was cocapiug, and so sin find the sheets into his pocket. -Mis Johnson was a woman of good family, ,as her husband took care- to infierilia on her tomb. f-hc was nearly double her husband's ago, and was burdental with thiee grown-up children, while Johnson had his aged mother to support. An improvident marriage, if ever there was one ; but the robust, heroic soul of Jamison compelled it to be a happy one. As to her looks, wo have her portrait presc:ved at a mansion in Wales. Mrs Thrale m,w it. and pronounced that it was the due of a pretty woman. The blind Mrs Rilliams, who knew her well, gave her the hig’.io.U character, and spoke to .Miss Enigli!, oi her wiwlom and goodness and general capacity. Her daughter, Lucy Roller, is alto depicted as a fair, attractive girl; while hor father —Porter, the silk mercer-—actually sat to Hogarth. A careful search through the various memoirs—such as those of Hawkins and Iris daughter—will show that all are agreed as to her merits, the host tribute to which is that the doctor literally doted on hio Tetty. A surprise for thi* jubilee year is the discovery by that ‘‘Dungeon of' Learn • ing,” Mr Lyall Reado, of a vast and ever ramifying pedigree of Johnson, proving ibat ho was not of low extraction, but well born and connected with many important families. We could call him a gentleman. This explains his taste for good society and genteel folk, whom he sought from the very beginning. i