felicity, appears, I think, unquestionably from his devotions[705]: 'And,
O LORD, so far as it may be lawful in me[706], 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_[707].' But this state has not been looked upon with
horrour, but only as less gracious.

[Page 241: The funeral sermon on Mrs. Johnson. AEtat 43.]

He deposited the remains of Mrs. Johnson in the church of Bromley, in
Kent[708], to which he was probably led by the residence of his friend
Hawkesworth at that place. The funeral sermon which he composed for her,
which was never preached, but having been given to Dr. Taylor, has been
published since his death[709], is a performance of uncommon excellence,
and full of rational and pious comfort to such as are depressed by that
severe affliction which Johnson felt when he wrote it. When it is
considered that it was written in such an agitation of mind, and in the
short interval between her death and burial, it cannot be read without
wonder[710].

From Mr. Francis Barber I have had the following authentick and artless
account of the situation in which he found him recently after his wife's
death:

[Page 242: Johnson's friends in 1752.]

He was in great affliction. Mrs. Williams was then living in his house,
which was in Gough-square. He was busy with the Dictionary. Mr. Shiels,
and some others of the gentlemen who had formerly written for him, used
to come about him. He had then little for himself, but frequently sent