And here is the proper place to give an account of Johnson's humane and zealous interference in behalf of the Reverend Dr.William Dodd,formerly Prebendary of Brecon,and chaplain in ordinary to his Majesty;celebrated as a very popular preacher,an encourager of charitable institutions,and authour of a variety of works,chiefly theological.Having unhappily contracted expensive habits of living,partly occasioned by licentiousness of manners,he in an evil hour,when pressed by want of money,and dreading an exposure of his circumstances,forged a bond of which he attempted to avail himself to support his credit,flattering himself with hopes that he might be able to repay its amount without being detected.The person,whose name he thus rashly and criminally presumed to falsify,was the Earl of Chesterfield,to whom he had been tutor,and who,he perhaps,in the warmth of his feelings,flattered himself would have generously paid the money in case of an alarm being taken,rather than suffer him to fall a victim to the dreadful consequences of violating the law against forgery,the most dangerous crime in a commercial country;but the unfortunate divine had the mortification to find that he was mistaken.His noble pupil appeared against him,and he was capitally convicted.
Johnson told me that Dr.Dodd was very little acquainted with him,having been but once in his company,many years previous to this period (which was precisely the state of my own acquaintance with Dodd);but in his distress he bethought himself of Johnson's persuasive power of writing,if haply it might avail to obtain for him the Royal Mercy.He did not apply to him directly,but,extraordinary as it may seem,through the late Countess of Harrington,who wrote a letter to Johnson,asking him to employ his pen in favour of Dodd.Mr.Allen,the printer,who was Johnson's landlord and next neighbour in Bolt-court,and for whom he had much kindness,was one of Dodd's friends,of whom to the credit of humanity be it recorded,that he had many who did not desert him,even after his infringement of the law had reduced him to the state of a man under sentence of death.Mr.Allen told me that he carried Lady Harrington's letter to Johnson,that Johnson read it walking up and down his chamber,and seemed much agitated,after which he said,'I will do what I can;'--and certainly he did make extraordinary exertions.
He this evening,as he had obligingly promised in one of his letters,put into my hands the whole series of his writings upon this melancholy occasion.
Dr.Johnson wrote in the first place,Dr.Dodd's Speech to the Recorder of London,at the Old-Bailey,when sentence of death was about to be pronounced upon him.
He wrote also The Convict's Address to his unhappy Brethren,a sermon delivered by Dr.Dodd,in the chapel of Newgate.
The other pieces mentioned by Johnson in the above-mentioned collection,are two letters,one to the Lord Chancellor Bathurst,(not Lord North,as is erroneously supposed,)and one to Lord Mansfield;--A Petition from Dr.Dodd to the King;--A Petition from Mrs.Dodd to the Queen;--Observations of some length inserted in the news-papers,on occasion of Earl Percy's having presented to his Majesty a petition for mercy to Dodd,signed by twenty thousand people,but all in vain.He told me that he had also written a petition from the city of London;'but (said he,with a significant smile)they MENDED it.'
The last of these articles which Johnson wrote is Dr.Dodd's last solemn Declaration,which he left with the sheriff at the place of execution.
I found a letter to Dr.Johnson from Dr.Dodd,May 23,1777,in which The Convict's Address seems clearly to be meant.
'I am so penetrated,my ever dear Sir,with a sense of your extreme benevolence towards me,that I cannot find words equal to the sentiments of my heart....'
On Sunday,June 22,he writes,begging Dr.Johnson's assistance in framing a supplicatory letter to his Majesty.
This letter was brought to Dr.Johnson when in church.He stooped down and read it,and wrote,when he went home,the following letter for Dr.Dodd to the King:
'SIR,--May it not offend your Majesty,that the most miserable of men applies himself to your clemency,as his last hope and his last refuge;that your mercy is most earnestly and humbly implored by a clergyman,whom your Laws and Judges have condemned to the horrour and ignominy of a publick execution....'
Subjoined to it was written as follows:--
'TO DR.DODD.
'SIR,--I most seriously enjoin you not to let it be at all known that I have written this letter,and to return the copy to Mr.
Allen in a cover to me.I hope I need not tell you,that I wish it success.--But do not indulge hope.--Tell nobody.'
It happened luckily that Mr.Allen was pitched on to assist in this melancholy office,for he was a great friend of Mr.Akerman,the keeper of Newgate.Dr.Johnson never went to see Dr.Dodd.He said to me,'it would have done HIM more harm,than good to Dodd,who once expressed a desire to see him,but not earnestly.'
All applications for the Royal Mercy having failed,Dr.Dodd prepared himself for death;and,with a warmth of gratitude,wrote to Dr.Johnson as follows:--'June 25,Midnight.
'Accept,thou GREAT and GOOD heart,my earnest and fervent thanks and prayers for all thy benevolent and kind efforts in my behalf--Oh!Dr.Johnson!as I sought your knowledge at an early hour in life,would to heaven I had cultivated the love and acquaintance of so excellent a man!--I pray GOD most sincerely to bless you with the highest transports--the infelt satisfaction of HUMANE and benevolent exertions!--And admitted,as I trust I shall be,to the realms of bliss before you,I shall hail YOUR arrival there with transports,and rejoice to acknowledge that you was my Comforter,my Advocate and my FRIEND!GOD BE EVER WITH YOU!'
Dr.Johnson lastly wrote to Dr.Dodd this solemn and soothing letter:--'TO THE REVEREND DR.DODD.
