00000369.htm

OLIYEE GOLDSMITH'S LIFE AND TIMES,

1762. what the claim of that insignificant Robert Levett could be,
Jit. 34. on the great object of his own veneration. " He is poor and
¹¹ honest," was Goldsmith's answer, " which is recomraenda-
" tion enough for Johnson."* Discovery of another object of
the great man's charity, however, seemed difficult to be
reconciled with this; for here was a man of whom Mr. James
Boswell had heard a very bad and shameful character,! and,
in almost the same breath, that Johnson had been kind to
him also. " He is now become miserable," was Goldsmith's
quiet explanation, " and that ensures the protection of

* ii. 194. See notices of him in Boswell, Life, i. 289-90 ; ii. 138-9 ; vii. 45;
viii, 121, &c. Johnson's letters on the death of his thirty years' companion are
most affecting. "He was not unprepared, for he was very good to the poor.
" How much soever I valued him, I now wish I had valued him more." Boswell
describes him as an obscure practiser of physic amongst the lower people, his
fees being sometimes such provisions as his patients could afford him; and his
popularity in this was so great, that "his walk was from Houndsditch to
" Marylebone." He began life as a waiter in a coffee-house in Paris frequented by
medical men, whose attention he attracted, and thus qualified himself ultimately.
George Steevens, who relates this, describes also the other great event of his life.
When past middle life, he married a woman of the town, who had persuaded him
(notwithstanding their place of congress was a small coal-shed in Fetter Lane) that
she was nearly related to a man of fortune, but was kept by him out of large pos-
sessions. Johnson used to say, that, compared with the marvels of this transaction,
the stories of the Arabian Nights were familiar occurrences. He had not been
married four months before a writ was taken out against him, for debts contracted
by his wife. Afterwards she ran away from him, and was tried for picking pockets
at the Old Bailey. She pleaded her own cause, and was acquitted ; a separation
took place; and Johnson then took Levett home, where he continued till his death.
His name wiH always be remembered in connection with Johnson's noble verse :

" In Misery's darkest caverns known,

" His useful care was ever nigh,
" Where hopeless Anguish pour'd his groan,

" And lonely Want retir'd to die."

t It has been supposed that this was the wretched Bickerstaff, but it was not
till ten years later that his shame came upon him.

J Ibidii. 194. "Levett had admired Johnson because others admired him ;
"Johnson in pity loved Levett, because few others could find anything in Mm to
" love." Hawkins, 404. The malicious knight may here perhaps be believed.



	OLIYEE GOLDSMITH'S LIFE AND TIMES, 1762. what the claim of that insignificant Robert Levett could be, Jit. 34. on the great object of his own veneration. " He is poor and ¹¹ honest," was Goldsmith's answer, " which is recomraenda- " tion enough for Johnson."* Discovery of another object of the great man's charity, however, seemed difficult to be reconciled with this; for here was a man of whom Mr. James Boswell had heard a very bad and shameful character,! and, in almost the same breath, that Johnson had been kind to him also. " He is now become miserable," was Goldsmith's quiet explanation, " and that ensures the protection of

	* ii. 194. See notices of him in Boswell, Life, i. 289-90 ; ii. 138-9 ; vii. 45; viii, 121, &c. Johnson's letters on the death of his thirty years' companion are most affecting. "He was not unprepared, for he was very good to the poor. " How much soever I valued him, I now wish I had valued him more." Boswell describes him as an obscure practiser of physic amongst the lower people, his fees being sometimes such provisions as his patients could afford him; and his popularity in this was so great, that "his walk was from Houndsditch to " Marylebone." He began life as a waiter in a coffee-house in Paris frequented by medical men, whose attention he attracted, and thus qualified himself ultimately. George Steevens, who relates this, describes also the other great event of his life. When past middle life, he married a woman of the town, who had persuaded him (notwithstanding their place of congress was a small coal-shed in Fetter Lane) that she was nearly related to a man of fortune, but was kept by him out of large pos- sessions. Johnson used to say, that, compared with the marvels of this transaction, the stories of the Arabian Nights were familiar occurrences. He had not been married four months before a writ was taken out against him, for debts contracted by his wife. Afterwards she ran away from him, and was tried for picking pockets at the Old Bailey. She pleaded her own cause, and was acquitted ; a separation took place; and Johnson then took Levett home, where he continued till his death. His name wiH always be remembered in connection with Johnson's noble verse : " In Misery's darkest caverns known, " His useful care was ever nigh, " Where hopeless Anguish pour'd his groan, " And lonely Want retir'd to die." t It has been supposed that this was the wretched Bickerstaff, but it was not till ten years later that his shame came upon him. J Ibidii. 194. "Levett had admired Johnson because others admired him ; "Johnson in pity loved Levett, because few others could find anything in Mm to " love." Hawkins, 404. The malicious knight may here perhaps be believed.