He had another particularity,of which none of his friends ever ventured to ask an explanation.It appeared to me some superstitious habit,which he had contracted early,and from which he had never called upon his reason to disentangle him.This was his anxious care to go out or in at a door or passage by a certain number of steps from a certain point,or at least so as that either his right or his left foot,(I am not certain which,)should constantly make the first actual movement when he came close to the door or passage.Thus I conjecture:for I have,upon innumerable occasions,observed him suddenly stop,and then seem to count his steps with a deep earnestness;and when he had neglected or gone wrong in this sort of magical movement,I have seen him go back again,put himself in a proper posture to begin the ceremony,and,having gone through it,break from his abstraction,walk briskly on,and join his companion.A strange instance of something of this nature,even when on horseback,happened when he was in the isle of Sky.Sir Joshua Reynolds has observed him to go a good way about,rather than cross a particular alley in Leicester-fields;but this Sir Joshua imputed to his having had some disagreeable recollection associated with it.
That the most minute singularities which belonged to him,and made very observable parts of his appearance and manner,may not be omitted,it is requisite to mention,that while talking or even musing as he sat in his chair,he commonly held his head to one side towards his right shoulder,and shook it in a tremulous manner,moving his body backwards and forwards,and rubbing his left knee in the same direction,with the palm of his hand.In the intervals of articulating he made various sounds with his mouth,sometimes as if ruminating,or what is called chewing the cud,sometimes giving a half whistle,sometimes making his tongue play backwards from the roof of his mouth,as if clucking like a hen,and sometimes protruding it against his upper gums in front,as if pronouncing quickly under his breath,TOO,TOO,TOO:all this accompanied sometimes with a thoughtful look,but more frequently with a smile.Generally when he had concluded a period,in the course of a dispute,by which time he was a good deal exhausted by violence and vociferation,he used to blow out his breath like a Whale.This I supposed was a relief to his lungs;and seemed in him to be a contemptuous mode of expression,as if he had made the arguments of his opponent fly like chaff before the wind.
1765:AETAT.56.]--Trinity College,Dublin,at this time surprised Johnson with a spontaneous compliment of the highest academical honours,by creating him Doctor of Laws.
He appears this year to have been seized with a temporary fit of ambition,for he had thoughts both of studying law and of engaging in politics.His 'Prayer before the Study of Law'is truly admirable:--'Sept.26,1765.
'Almighty GOD,the giver of wisdom,without whose help resolutions are vain,without whose blessing study is ineffectual;enable me,if it be thy will,to attain such knowledge as may qualify me to direct the doubtful,and instruct the ignorant;to prevent wrongs and terminate contentions;and grant that I may use that knowledge which I shall attain,to thy glory and my own salvation,for JESUSCHRIST'S sake.Amen.'
This year was distinguished by his being introduced into the family of Mr.Thrale,one of the most eminent brewers in England,and Member of Parliament for the borough of Southwark.Foreigners are not a little amazed when they hear of brewers,distillers,and men in similar departments of trade,held forth as persons of considerable consequence.In this great commercial country it is natural that a situation which produces much wealth should be considered as very respectable;and,no doubt,honest industry is entitled to esteem.But,perhaps,the too rapid advance of men of low extraction tends to lessen the value of that distinction by birth and gentility,which has ever been found beneficial to the grand scheme of subordination.Johnson used to give this account of the rise of Mr.Thrale's father:'He worked at six shillings a week for twenty years in the great brewery,which afterwards was his own.The proprietor of it had an only daughter,who was married to a nobleman.It was not fit that a peer should continue the business.On the old man's death,therefore,the brewery was to be sold.To find a purchaser for so large a property was a difficult matter;and,after some time,it was suggested,that it would be adviseable to treat with Thrale,a sensible,active,honest man,who had been employed in the house,and to transfer the whole to him for thirty thousand pounds,security being taken upon the property.This was accordingly settled.In eleven years Thrale paid the purchase-money.He acquired a large fortune,and lived to be Member of Parliament for Southwark.But what was most remarkable was the liberality with which he used his riches.He gave his son and daughters the best education.The esteem which his good conduct procured him from the nobleman who had married his master's daughter,made him be treated with much attention;and his son,both at school and at the University of Oxford,associated with young men of the first rank.His allowance from his father,after he left college,was splendid;no less than a thousand a year.This,in a man who had risen as old Thrale did,was a very extraordinary instance of generosity.He used to say,"If this young dog does not find so much after I am gone as he expects,let him remember that he has had a great deal in my own time."'