Langton comes to see him; and Reynolds comes bringing more cheer, though the ear trumpet is awkward for the sick man; Burke comes and shows all the melting tenderness of a woman; Boswell, too--before he goes north--bounces in and out, his conceit and assurance mollified and decently draped by the sorrow that hung over him. Little Miss Burney rushes in to the ante-room and stays there hours, hoping some shortest last interview with the great man who had said kindly things to her--never thinking that he could not relish her gossippy prattle about the court, and the royal George, now that a great, swift tide was lifting him into the presence of another king. [Sidenote: Death of Johnson.] The old superstitious awe and dread of death, which had belonged to him throughout life, disappeared in these latter days, and the gloom--with its teasing vampires--was rarefied into a certain celestial haze that hung over him tenderly. He did not excitedly wrestle with the awful possibilities the change might bring, nor work himself {143} into any craze of pious exhilaration to bridge the gap; but was restful as a babe at last, and so was led away tranquilly, by his own child-like trust, over the threshold of the mysteries we must all confront. [1] See note, Hill's Boswell, p. 304, vol. i. [2] Blackfriars was not built until 1769, and the old Westminster in 1750. [3] Pension granted, 1762: _Rasselas_ published, 1759. [4] Joshua Reynolds, b. 1723; d. 1792. His _Discourses_ published, 1771. Life by Leslie, 1867. [5] It is from this latter gentleman--whom I had the good fortune to meet in the course of his visit to this country--that my information in regard to the latter _status_ of the club is derived. [6] Edmund Burke, b. 1729; d. 1797. Editions of his works are various. Best life of him is by John Morley (1867). [7] B. 1740; d. 1795. [8] There is, to be sure, a great deal of what the natural reserve of most men would lead them to withhold. But if this "free-telling" does add some of the finer lights and most artistic touches to his picture, and if he perceives this to be so (and have we any right to assume the contrary?) shall we not credit it rightly to his book-making art and commend it accordingly? That his gentlemanly reserves are not of a pronounced sort may count against the delicacy of his nature, but not necessarily against his capacity as a literary artist. [9] Edward Gibbon, b. 1737; d. 1794. Dr. Milman's is the standard edition of his History. Bowdler's edition (1825) is noticeable for its expurgations. The work, through its translations, holds as large a place in the historic _curriculum_ of French, Italian, and German students, as in that of English-speaking nations. [10] _Biographie Universale_; Article Necker (Mme. Necker, _née Susanne Curchod_). [11] Hume's first volume of English History appeared in 1754--just twenty-two years before the _Decline and Fall_. Hume was about twenty-six years Gibbon's senior.