Dr. Johnson’s account of a paralytic stroke, 17 June 1783

            Boswell writes in his Life of Samuel Johnson, ch. 53 (1783):

            He embraced me, and gave me his blessing, as usual when I was leaving him for any length of time. I walked from his door to-day, with a fearful apprehension of what might happen before I returned.

            My anxious apprehensions at parting with him this year proved to be but too well founded; for not long afterwards he had a dreadful stroke of the palsy, of which there are very full and accurate accounts in letters written by himself to show with what composure of mind, and resignation to the Divine Will, his steady piety enabled him to behave.

“TO MR. EDMUND ALLEN.

“DEAR SIR,—

“It has pleased God, this morning, to deprive me of the powers of speech; and as I do not know but that it may be his farther good pleasure to deprive me soon of my senses, I request you will, on the receipt of this note, come to me, and act for me, as the exigencies of my case may require.

                                                                              “I am, sincerely yours,

                                                                                                      “SAM. JOHNSON.

“June 17, 1783.”

“TO THE REVEREND DR. JOHN TAYLOR.

“DEAR SIR,—

“It has pleased God, by a paralytic stroke in the night, to deprive me of speech.

“I am very desirous of Dr. Heberden’s assistance, as I think my case is not past remedy. Let me see you as soon as it is possible. Bring Dr. Heberden with you, if you can; but come yourself at all events. I am glad you are so well, when I am so dreadfully attacked.

“I think that by a speedy application of stimulants much may be done. I question if a vomit, vigorous and rough, would not rouse the organs of speech to action. As it is too early to send, I will try to recollect what I can, that can be suspected to have brought on this dreadful distress.

“I have been accustomed to bleed frequently for an asthmatic complaint; but have forborne for some time by Dr. Pepys’s persuasion, who perceived my legs beginning to swell. I sometimes alleviate a painful, or more properly an oppressive constriction of my chest, by opiates; and have lately taken opium frequently, but the last, or two last times, in smaller quantities. My largest dose is three grains, and last night I took but two. You will suggest these things (and they are all that I can call to mind) to Dr. Heberden.

                                                                              “I am, etc.,

                                                                                                      “SAM. JOHNSON.

“June 17, 1783.”

Two days after he wrote thus to Mrs. Thrale:

“On Monday, the 16^th, I sat for my picture, and walked a considerable way with little inconvenience. In the afternoon and evening I felt myself light and easy, and began to plan schemes of life. Thus I went to bed, and in a short time waked and sat up, as has been long my custom, when I felt a confusion and indistinctness in my head, which lasted, I suppose, about half a minute. I was alarmed, and prayed God that however he might afflict my body, he would spare my understanding. This prayer, that I might try the integrity of my faculties, I made in Latin verse. The lines were not very good, but I knew them not to be very good: I made them easily, and concluded myself to be unimpaired in my faculties.

“Soon after I perceived that I had suffered a paralytic stroke, and that my speech was taken from me. I had no pain, and so little dejection in this dreadful state, that I wondered at my own apathy, and considered that perhaps death itself, when it should come, would excite less horror than seems now to attend it.

“In order to rouse the vocal organs, I took two drams. Wine has been celebrated for the production of eloquence. I put myself into violent motion, and I think repeated it; but all was vain. I then went to bed, and strange as it may seem, I think slept. When I saw light, it was time to contrive what I should do. Though God stopped my speech, He left me my hand... My first note was necessarily to my servant, who came in talking, and could not immediately comprehend why he should read what I put into his hands.

“I then wrote a card to Mr. Allen, that I might have a discreet friend at hand, to act as occasion should require. In penning this note, I had some difficulty; my hand, I knew not how or why, made wrong letters. I then wrote to Dr. Taylor to come to me, and bring Dr. Heberden: and I sent to Dr. Brocklesby, who is my neighbour. My physicians are very friendly, and give me great hopes; but you may imagine my situation. I have so far recovered my vocal powers, as to repeat the Lord’s Prayer with no very imperfect articulation. My memory, I hope, yet remains as it was; but such an attack produces solicitude for the safety of every faculty.”

“TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

“DEAR SIR,—

“Your anxiety about my health is very friendly, and very agreeable with your general kindness. I have, indeed, had a frightful blow. On the 17^th of last month, about three in the morning, as near as I can guess, I perceived myself almost totally deprived of speech. I had no pain. My organs were so obstructed that I could say no, but could scarcely say yes. I wrote the necessary directions, for it pleased God to spare my head, and sent for Dr. Heberden and Dr. Brocklesby... They came and gave the directions which the disease required, and from that time I have been continually improving in articulation. I can now speak, but the nerves are weak, and I cannot continue discourse long; but strength, I hope, will return. The physicians consider me as cured. I was last Sunday at church...

“London, July 3, 1783.”

Such was the general vigour of his constitution, that he recovered from this alarming and severe attack with wonderful quickness.

We must be judgemental

Dr Charlton has written perceptively on this subject before:

http://charltonteaching.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/christians-must-exercise-discernment.html

Christians must be judgemental. We must make judgements about the goodness and honesty of people, places, and situations.

Steve Skojec recently wrote a long article about the dangerous state of the Church, and how it got that way: http://blog.steveskojec.com/2014/03/28/something-wicked/

The chief lesson I take away from it is that Christians must be judgemental. We’ve been taught so much nonsense about how wicked it is to judge others; and though we may know that a lot of it is nonsense, we’ve still internalized the instinct to feel bad when we judge people—and to avoid doing it. Perhaps most of all, we try to avoid judging people in positions of authority in the Church. Pushed by our scruples to ‘be charitable’ or ‘give the benefit of the doubt’, we give second chances, we postpone judgement, we wait as long as possible before we say ‘this man is not to be trusted’ or ‘this man has bad intentions’—long past the time when we’ve had every reason to make this conclusion.  

This is a bad habit. We have the tools to form judgements about other people’s character—use them! The neglect of them is simply the decision to willfully put yourself in harm’s way. Or at least, to do nothing to protect yourself or others.

If you have a family, the responsibility is even greater. Fathers of families, our job is to guard our wife and children. That means knowing the evil in the world, and spotting the bad men in advance. It means training your spidey sense to detect dangerous places, people, situations. When you walk with your family through a bad part of town, don’t you go on alert? Start attending to your surroundings, pricking up your senses, forming snap judgements about the people who approach you? Don’t you take up a posture of guard over your wife and children?

Well, we live in a very bad part of town. The West has become a dangerous, ugly, drug-ridden neighbourhood. The West is a crack house full of addicts, and addicts are dangerous.

We cannot be on alert all the time—but we should let our guard down with people whom we have come to know and judged to be trustworthy. And these groups will necessarily be small. Families, small groups of trusted friends, perhaps a circle of families; these will tend to be the limit on where we can really let our guard down, because these are the people we can know well enough.

The situation within the Church is especially dangerous. We know, as Skojec pointed out, that communists and other wicked men have deliberately infiltrated the Church in order to destroy her. Yet within the Church is where we are most invited to let our guard down. And rightly—that is the torturous paradox for Christians today—we ought to be receptive and docile, like little children, to what we receive in Church, to what our Apostles teach. But knowing what we know, we also must be wise as serpents. St Paul said (Galatians 1:8): “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” There are men within the Church, and not a small number—priests, bishops, cardinals—who are preaching another gospel. We cannot afford to take what they say innocently. We cannot go on imputing good intentions and trying to be charitable when once they reveal themselves as false Apostles, preaching another gospel.

We know also about uglier things, within the Church and without—sexual abuse by family, priests, coaches, teachers. Grooming of children by perverts. Things are bad enough already, and as pornography addiction becomes nearly universal among men, this will certainly get worse. Since one cannot simply avoid everyone, nor avoid (one day) leaving one’s children alone with others, one must exercise judgement about this, too. And this is where one needs very sharp senses and a real willingness to jump to conclusions in the absence of certainty. You can spot the addicts—but you must be willing to listen to your sensations, to your wife’s sensations. Do not try to suppress those feelings that tell you ‘there’s something up with this man’ ‘this man is a liar,’ out of scruples or a guilty conscience. Those are your warning signals, and they may be the only warning you get.

Dare to judge. Jump to conclusions. “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” We’ve been working on the harmless for a long time—better get to work on the wise.