The few remaining occurrences may be soon despatched. In the month of
June, 1783, Johnson had a paralytic stroke, which affected his speech
only. He wrote to Dr. Taylor, of Westminster; and to his friend Mr.
Allen, the printer, who lived at the next door. Dr. Brocklesby arrived
in a short time, and by his care, and that of Dr. Heberden, Johnson soon
recovered. During his illness, the writer of this narrative visited him,
and found him reading Dr. Watson's Chymistry. Articulating with
difficulty, he said, "From this book, he who knows nothing may learn a
great deal; and he who knows, will be pleased to find his knowledge
recalled to his mind in a manner highly pleasing." In the month of
August he set out for Lichfield, on a visit to Mrs. Lucy Porter, the
daughter of his wife by her first husband; and, in his way back, paid
his respects to Dr. Adams, at Oxford. Mrs. Williams died, at his house
in Bolt court, in the month of September, during his absence. This was
another shock to a mind like his, ever agitated by the thoughts of
futurity. The contemplation of his own approaching end was constantly
before his eyes; and the prospect of death, he declared, was terrible.
For many years, when he was not disposed to enter into the conversation
going forward, whoever sat near his chair, might hear him repeating,
from Shakespeare,
"Aye, but to die, and go we know not where;
To lie in cold obstruction and to rot;
This sensible warm motion to become
A kneaded clod, and the delighted spirit
To bathe in fiery floods"--
And from Milton,
--"Who would lose,
For fear of pain, this intellectual being?"
By the death of Mrs. Williams he was left in a state of destitution,
with nobody but Frank, his black servant, to sooth his anxious moments.
In November, 1783, he was swelled from head to foot with a dropsy. Dr.
Brocklesby, with that benevolence with which he always assists his
friends, paid his visits with assiduity. The medicines prescribed were
so efficacious, that, in a few days, Johnson, while he was offering up
his prayers, was suddenly obliged to rise, and, in the course of the
day, discharged twenty pints of water.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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