DOCTOR JOHNSON'S REMEDY

Doctor Johnson

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THE GOOD DOCTOR
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Samuel Johnson famously compiled a Dictionary of the English Language, described as "one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship". Johnson was a robust and earthy man who enjoyed his wine and food as vigorously as he did his academic pursuits. A devout Anglican his life was immortalised in James Boswell’s biography, and this story of his prodigious childhood genius is recorded in his account - “ When he was a child in petticoats, and had learned to read, Mrs Johnson one morning put the common prayer-book into his hands, pointed to the collect for the day, and said, 'Sam, you must get this by heart.' She went up stairs, leaving him to study it: But by the time she had reached the second floor, she heard him following her. 'What's the matter?' said she. 'I can say it,' he replied; and repeated it distinctly, though he could not have read it over more than twice.” - All his life he battled with the ‘black dog’ the name he gave to his depression, near the end he wrote, “After dinner, what remains but to count the clock, and hope for that sleep which I can scarce expect. Night comes at last, and some hours of restlessness and confusion bring me again to a day of solitude. What shall exclude the black dog from an habitation like this? “ Despite his inner struggles Johnson was a man who bent his knee before his Lord as evidenced by this prayer… ~ GOSh.~

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Almighty God, the Giver of Wisdom,
without whose help resolutions are vain,
without whose blessing study is ineffectual,
enable me, if it be Thy will,
to attain such knowledge as may qualify me
to direct the doubtful and instruct the ignorant,
to prevent wrongs, and terminate contentions;
and grant that I may use that knowledge which I shall attain,
to Thy glory and my own salvation.

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Samuel Johnson