The Life of Samuel Johnson

Early in 1779, Garrick dies. The death occasions Boswell to recollect “with affection as well as admiration” (1009) how well Garrick treated him, both when he first arrived in London and afterward.

In April, Boswell falls ill with an inflamed foot; Johnson comes to visit him, bringing with him Sir Joshua Reynolds. Boswell welcomes the company as “the most pleasing opiate to pain that could have been administered” (1024). The incident illustrates the closeness of the three friends and Johnson’s kindliness toward friends in need. Boswell tells us that he reports this incident “as an antidote to the false and injurious notions of [Johnson’s] character” and to “infuse every drop of genuine sweetness into my biographical cup” (1023). He takes every opportunity to emphasize Johnson’s softer side.

For many months, Boswell and Johnson do not see each other; therefore, their friendship is carried on in letters. Boswell tests Johnson’s constancy as a friend and correspondent by not writing for a while and seeing how Johnson reacts. When Johnson writes back with an air of worry and affectionate regard—“What can possibly have happened, that keeps us two such strangers to each other?” (1027)—Boswell is satisfied of Johnson’s constancy and replies that they should write more often: “[t]he very sight of your hand-writing would comfort me” (1030). By carrying out this little test, Boswell shows that even at this stage of their friendship he has doubts about Johnson’s regard for him; the results of the “test” confirms for Boswell that Johnson really cares about him. At the same time, readers may well be put off by Boswell’s manipulative streak, as revealed here.

In April 1780, Topham Beauclerk dies; Johnson laments “[h]is with and his folly, his acuteness and maliciousness, his merriment and reasoning” (1047). Boswell reports the death of friends for the sake of accuracy, but also as an oblique way of indicating that Johnson himself is advancing in years, with the loneliness and sadness that old age sometimes brings.