"Madness frequently discovers itself merely by unnecessary deviation from the usual modes of the world. My poor friend Smart showed the disturbance of his mind by falling upon his knees, and saying his prayers, in the street, or in any other unusual place. Now although, rationally speaking, it is greater madness not to pray at all, than to pray as Smart did, I am afraid there are so many who do not pray, that their understanding is not called in question. Concerning this unfortunate poet, Christopher Smart, who was confined in a madhouse, he had, at another time, the following conversation with Dr. Burney: Burney--'How does poor Smart do, Sir? is he likely to recover?' Johnson--'It seems as if his mind had ceased to struggle with the disease; for he grows fat upon it.' Burney--'Perhaps, Sir, that may be from want of exercise?' Johnson--'No, Sir; he has partly as much exercise as he used to have; for he digs in the garden. Indeed, before his confinement, he used for exercise to walk to the alehouse; but he was carried back again. I did not think he ought to be shut up. His infirmities were not noxious to society. He insisted on people praying with him; and I'd as lief pray with Kit Smart as any one else.'"--_Boswell's Life of Johnson_, Page 349, vol. i., Edit. 1822, 8vo. After his recovery, which was, as it appears by his conduct, not quite complete, he joined with Rolt, to write for a Magazine published by Gardner,[A] which continued only two years. The contract was for ninety-nine years, and Smart and Rolt were to have a third of the profits. Dr. Johnson, with a friendly feeling, wrote some articles. [Footnote A: Mr. Henry Gardner, whom the writer of this note knew well, lived at the corner of Melford Lane, in the Strand. He was a shrewd man, and probably made the contract for ninety-nine years to bind the services of two irregular men.] Smart's madness, according to Dr. Johnson's account, discovered itself chiefly in unnecessary deviations from the usual modes of the world, in things that are not improper in themselves. He would fall upon his knees and say his prayers in the street, or in any unusual place, and insisted on people praying with him. These were regarded as the vagaries of an eccentric man, and not hallucinations of the mind arising from the effects of stimulating drinks; but some were wiser, and placed him in confinement, "to give his constitution a chance of recovering from the effects of intemperance." When his mind appeared to be in some measure restored, he took a pleasant lodging near St. James's Park, and conducted his affairs for some time with prudence. He was maintained partly by his literary occupations, and partly by the generosity of his friends, receiving, among other benefactions, £50 a year from the treasury, but by whose interest this favour was obtained is not known.