y ever spoke of him without
tears in his eyes. It was from him, who was a native of Jamaica, that
Johnson received into his service Frank[n], the black servant, whom, on
account of his master, he valued to the end of his life. At the time of
instituting the club in Ivy lane, Johnson had projected the Rambler. The
title was most probably suggested by the Wanderer; a poem which he
mentions, with the warmest praise, in the life of Savage. With the same
spirit of independence with which he wished to live, it was now his
pride to write. He communicated his plan to none of his friends: he
desired no assistance, relying entirely on his own fund, and the
protection of the divine being, which he implored in a solemn form of
prayer, composed by himself for the occasion. Having formed a resolution
to undertake a work that might be of use and honour to his country, he
thought, with Milton, that this was not to be obtained "but by devout
prayer to that eternal spirit, that can enrich with all utterance and
knowledge, and send out his seraphim with the hallowed fire of his
altar, to touch and purify the lips of whom he pleases."

Having invoked the special protection of heaven, and by that act of
piety fortified his mind, he began the great work of the Rambler. The
first number was published on Tuesday, March the 20th, 1750; and from
that time was continued regularly every Tuesday and Saturday, for the
space of two years, when it finally closed on Saturday, March 14, 1752.
As it began with motives of piety, so it appears that the same religious
spirit glowed, with unabating ardour, to the last. His conclusion is:
"The essays professedly serious, if I have been able to execute my own
intentions, will be found exactly conformable to the precepts of
christianity, without any accommodation to the licentiousness and levity
of the present age. I, therefore, look back on this part of my work with
pleasure, which no man shall diminish or augment. I shall never envy the
honours which wit and learning obtain in any other cause, if I can be
numbered among the writers who have given ardour to virtue, and
confidence to truth." The whole number of essays amounted to two hundred
and eight. Addison's, in the Spectator, are more in number, but not half
in point of quantity: Addison was not bound to publish on stated days;
he could watch the ebb and flow of his genius, and send his paper to the
press, when his own taste was satisfied. Johnson's case wa