Canon Beeching preached an admirable sermon in Lich- field Cathedral
on Sunday last in connexion with the Johnson bicentenary. Comparing Johnson with the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes, he noted a triple similarity in his gloomy view of the vanity and misery of human life, in his practical wisdom, and in his personal piety. For while Johnson agreed with the Preacher in thinking human life to be a mighty heap of human calamity, he was at one with him in thinking that much might be done by wisdom to alleviate the human lot. He had spent the strength of his manhood and all the vigour of his intellect in studying the great hook of mankind, and he was ever ready to put the wisdom which his experience brought him at the service of others. "Perhaps no one except Jowett in our own generation ever realised so keenly that his gift of wisdom implied a special mission to advise others to the best of his power. The practical lessons which he [Johnson] preached were curiously like those of his ancient predecessor. He saw the paramount need of three things to mitigate the vanity of the world,—the need of truth, the need of a strong will, the need of a tender heart And to these three medicines, which both the Jewish and the Christian preacher prescribed for the ills of a vain world, Johnson added one other, the greatest of all, the hope of the world to come."
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