Many are,no doubt,omitted in this catalogue of his friends,and,in particular,his humble friend Mr.Robert Levet,an obscure practiser in physick amongst the lower people,his fees being sometimes very small sums,sometimes whatever provisions his patients could afford him;but of such extensive practice in that way,that Mrs.Williams has told me,his walk was from Hounsditch to Marybone.It appears from Johnson's diary that their acquaintance commenced about the year 1746;and such was Johnson's predilection for him,and fanciful estimation of his moderate abilities,that I have heard him say he should not be satisfied,though attended by all the College of Physicians,unless he had Mr.
Levet with him.Ever since I was acquainted with Dr.Johnson,and many years before,as I have been assured by those who knew him earlier,Mr.Levet had an apartment in his house,or his chambers,and waited upon him every morning,through the whole course of his late and tedious breakfast.He was of a strange grotesque appearance,stiff and formal in his manner,and seldom said a word while any company was present.
The circle of his friends,indeed,at this time was extensive and various,far beyond what has been generally imagined.To trace his acquaintance with each particular person,if it could be done,would be a task,of which the labour would not be repaid by the advantage.But exceptions are to be made;one of which must be a friend so eminent as Sir Joshua Reynolds,who was truly his dulce decus,and with whom he maintained an uninterrupted intimacy to the last hour of his life.When Johnson lived in Castle-street,Cavendish-square,he used frequently to visit two ladies,who lived opposite to him,Miss Cotterells,daughters of Admiral Cotterell.
Reynolds used also to visit there,and thus they met.Mr.
Reynolds,as I have observed above,had,from the first reading of his Life of Savage,conceived a very high admiration of Johnson's powers of writing.His conversation no less delighted him;and he cultivated his acquaintance with the laudable zeal of one who was ambitious of general improvement.Sir Joshua,indeed,was lucky enough at their very first meeting to make a remark,which was so much above the common-place style of conversation,that Johnson at once perceived that Reynolds had the habit of thinking for himself.
The ladies were regretting the death of a friend,to whom they owed great obligations;upon which Reynolds observed,'You have,however,the comfort of being relieved from a burthen of gratitude.'They were shocked a little at this alleviating suggestion,as too selfish;but Johnson defended it in his clear and forcible manner,and was much pleased with the MIND,the fair view of human nature,which it exhibited,like some of the reflections of Rochefaucault.The consequence was,that he went home with Reynolds,and supped with him.
Sir Joshua told me a pleasant characteristical anecdote of Johnson about the time of their first acquaintance.When they were one evening together at the Miss Cotterells',the then Duchess of Argyle and another lady of high rank came in.Johnson thinking that the Miss Cotterells were too much engrossed by them,and that he and his friend were neglected,as low company of whom they were somewhat ashamed,grew angry;and resolving to shock their supposed pride,by making their great visitors imagine that his friend and he were low indeed,he addressed himself in a loud tone to Mr.
Reynolds,saying,'How much do you think you and I could get in a week,if we were to WORK AS HARD as we could?'--as if they had been common mechanicks.
His acquaintance with Bennet Langton,Esq.of Langton,in Lincolnshire,another much valued friend,commenced soon after the conclusion of his Rambler;which that gentleman,then a youth,had read with so much admiration,that he came to London chiefly with the view of endeavouring to be introduced to its authour.By a fortunate chance he happened to take lodgings in a house where Mr.
Levet frequently visited;and having mentioned his wish to his landlady,she introduced him to Mr.Levet,who readily obtained Johnson's permission to bring Mr.Langton to him;as,indeed,Johnson,during the whole course of his life,had no shyness,real or affected,but was easy of access to all who were properly recommended,and even wished to see numbers at his levee,as his morning circle of company might,with strict propriety,be called.
Mr.Langton was exceedingly surprised when the sage first appeared.
He had not received the smallest intimation of his figure,dress,or manner.From perusing his writings,he fancied he should see a decent,well-drest,in short,remarkably decorous philosopher.
Instead of which,down from his bed-chamber,about noon,came,as newly risen,a huge uncouth figure,with a little dark wig which scarcely covered his head,and his clothes hanging loose about him.
But his conversation was so rich,so animated,and so forcible,and his religious and political notions so congenial with those in which Langton had been educated,that he conceived for him that veneration and attachment which he ever preserved.Johnson was not the less ready to love Mr.Langton,for his being of a very ancient family;for I have heard him say,with pleasure,'Langton,Sir,has a grant of free warren from Henry the Second;and Cardinal Stephen Langton,in King John's reign,was of this family.'