which I have a very great terror."* His fears of death, or rather of the consequences which might result from it, appear to have been morbidly great; "he never," he told Mr. Boswell, “had a moment in which death was not terrible to him." To be confident of acceptance hereafter, would certainly be presumption; but such a horror of futurity as Johnson entertained, was, let us hope, never, in a state of perfect sanity, known to haunt the mind but of enormous guilt; and was, assuredly, in our great moralist, not the consequence of moral turpitude, but of organic infirmity.

The idea of preserving a mysterious communication with, and exerting some influence over the destiny of the departed, was cherished by Johnson with a species of awful delight. Hence his inclination to the doctrine of purgatory, and his belief in the utility of prayers for the dead. It was highly consolatory to him, to suppose that a kind of spiritual intercourse might be permitted between the beings of this world and its former inhabitants; and it is evident, from his devotions, and occasional conversation, that he conceived a mutual influence to exist between himself and the spirit of his departed wife. Shortly after the Boswell's Life, vol. 4, p. 304.

Boswell's Life, vol. 3, p. 167.

death of Mrs. Johnson, he commenced the habit of recommending her to mercy in his prayers; but always with a clause, which exhibits proof of doubt in the propriety of the custom. Lord, so far as it may be lawful for me, I commend to thy fatherly goodness, the soul of my departed wife; beseeching thee to grant her whatever is best in her present state, and finally to receive her to eternal happiness."* That he believed the benefit of intercession might be mutual, appears from the following memorandum in his diary. "This is the day on which, in 1752, dear Tetty died. I have now uttered a prayer of repentance and contrition; perhaps Tetty knows that I prayed for her. Perhaps Tetty is now praying for me. God help me."

From these passages, it would seem that an intermediate state, a state appropriated to amelioration between death and final judgement, formed part of the creed of Johnson; a quotation from his Life by Boswell, will place his opinion of this doctrine in a clearer light. BosWELL. "What do you think, Sir, of purgatory, as believed by the Roman Catholicks?" JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, it is a very harmless doctrine. They are of opinion, that the generality of mankind are neither so obstinately wicked as to deserve ever

Prayers and Meditations, p. 14, 15, edition of 1806.

lasting punishment, nor so good as to merit being admitted into the society of blessed spirits; and therefore that God is graciously pleased to allow of a middle state, where they may be purified by certain degrees of suffering. You see, Sir, there is nothing unreasonable in this." BOSWELL. "But then, Sir, their masses for the dead.” JOHNSON. " Why, Sir, if it be once established, that there are souls in purgatory, it is as proper to pray for them, as for our brethren of mankind who are yet in this life.”*

It

The same turn of mind which led him to the adoption of a belief in purgatory, induced him to give too much credence, perhaps, to the probability of the re-appearance of the departed. was his earnest wish to see, and to commune with, some being who had passed the limits of terrestrial life, who was granted to re-visit the light of day, and to dissipate some portion of that hitherto impenetrable gloom, which shrouds the secrets of the world to come. In his Rasselas, he first explicitly gave his opinion on this mysterious subject: "that the dead are seen no more,” he remarks, “ I will not undertake to maintain, against the concurrent and unvaried testimony of all ages, and of all nations. There is no people, rude or unlearned, among whom

* Vol. 2, p. 98.

apparitions of the dead are not related and believed. This opinion, which perhaps prevails as far as human nature is diffused, could become universal only by its truth: those that never heard of one another, would not have agreed in a tale, which nothing but experience can make credible. That it is doubted by single cavillers, can very little weaken the general evidence; and some who deny it with their tongues, confess it by their fears." This bias towards a belief in supernatural agency, he indulged to the latest period of his life; in 1778, when talking with Miss Seward on the supposed appearance of a spectre to Mr. John Wesley, he exclaimed, "Madam, this is a question, which, after five thousand years, is yet undecided; a question, whether in theology or philosophy, one of the most important that can come before the human understanding :"+ and in 1781, he observed to Mrs. Hall, that “ a total disbelief of apparitions, is adverse to the opinion of the existence of the soul between death and the last day."

The comprehensive creed of Johnson, with regard to spiritual agency, embraced likewise the doctrine of demoniacal influence, and the now

Rasselas, chap. 30.

Boswell's Life of Johnson, vol. 3, p. 318.

Boswell's Life, vol. 4, p. 96.

obsolete superstition of Witchcraft. In addition to the passage on Johnson's belief of the existence of witches, quoted from Mr. Boswell in page 291. of this volume, we have to relate, that at a party in Edinburgh, where witchcraft was again introduced, "Mr. Crosbie said, he thought it the greatest blasphemy to suppose evil spirits counteracting the Deity, and raising storms, for instance, to destroy his creatures.-Johnson. "Why, sir, if moral evil be consistent with the government of the Deity, why may not physical evil be also consistent with it? It is not more strange that there should be evil spirits, than evil men: evil unembodied spirits, than evil embodied spirits. And as to storms, we know there are such things; and it is no worse that evil spirits raise them, than that they rise."-Crosbie. "But it is not credible, that witches should have effected what they are said in stories to have done."-Johnson. "Sir, I am not defending their credibility. I am only saying, that your arguments are not good, and will not overturn the belief of witchcraft.-(Dr. Ferguson said to me, (Mr. Boswell) aside, He is right.') And then, sir, you have all mankind, rude and civilized, agreeing in the belief of the agency of preternatural powers. You must take evidence: you

must consider, that wise and great men have

VOL. IV.

H H