the assistance of thy Holy Spirit, I may improve the time which thou
shall grant me, to my eternal salvation. Make me to remember, to thy
glory, thy judgements and thy mercies. Make me so to consider the loss
of my wife, whom thou hast taken from me, that it may dispose me, by thy
grace, to lead the residue of my life in thy fear. Grant this, O LORD,
for JESUS CHRIST'S sake. Amen.'

He now relieved the drudgery of his _Dictionary_, and the melancholy of
his grief, by taking an active part in the composition of _The
Adventurer_, in which he began to write April 10[742], marking his essays
with the signature T[743], by which most of his papers in that collection
are distinguished: those, however, which have that signature and also
that of _Mysargyrus_, were not written by him, but, as I suppose, by Dr.
Bathurst. Indeed Johnson's energy of thought and richness of language,
are still more decisive marks than any signature. As a proof of this, my
readers, I imagine, will not doubt that Number 39, on sleep, is his; for
it not only has the general texture and colour of his style, but the
authours with whom he was peculiarly conversant are readily introduced
in it in cursory allusion. The translation of a passage in Statius[744]
quoted in that paper, and marked C. B. has been erroneously ascribed to
Dr. Bathurst, whose Christian name was Richard. How much this amiable
man actually contributed to _The Adventurer_, cannot be known. Let me
add, that Hawkesworth's imitations of Johnson are sometimes so happy,
that it is extremely difficult to distinguish them, with certainty, from
the compositions of his great archetype. Hawkesworth was his closest
imitator, a circumstance of which that writer would once have been proud
to be told; though, when he had become elated by having risen into some
degree of consequence, he, in a conversation with me, had the provoking
effrontery to say he was not sensible of it[745].