afterwards ended in total blindness, was kindly received as a constant
visitor at his house while Mrs. Johnson lived; and after her death,
having come under his roof in order to have an operation upon her
eyes performed with more comfort to her than in lodgings, she had an
apartment from him during the rest of her life, at all times when he had
a house.

1752: AETAT. 43.]--In 1752 he was almost entirely occupied with his
Dictionary. The last paper of his Rambler was published March 2, this
year; after which, there was a cessation for some time of any exertion
of his talents as an essayist. But, in the same year, Dr. Hawkesworth,
who was his warm admirer, and a studious imitator of his style, and then
lived in great intimacy with him, began a periodical paper, entitled
The Adventurer, in connection with other gentlemen, one of whom was
Johnson's much-beloved friend, Dr. Bathurst; and, without doubt, they
received many valuable hints from his conversation, most of his friends
having been so assisted in the course of their works.

That there should be a suspension of his literary labours during a part
of the year 1752, will not seem strange, when it is considered that soon
after closing his Rambler, he suffered a loss which, there can be no
doubt, affected him with the deepest distress. For on the 17th of March,
O.S., his wife died.

The following very solemn and affecting prayer was found after Dr.
Johnson's decease, by his servant, Mr. Francis Barber, who delivered it
to my worthy friend the Reverend Mr. Strahan, Vicar of Islington, who at
my earnest request has obligingly favoured me with a copy of it, which
he and I compared with the original: