His son, to whom Mr. Johnson spoke, was a great boy, of very singular
aspect. He had an intelligent face; but it was seamed and distorted by
a scrofulous humor, which affected his eyes so badly that sometimes he
was almost blind. Owing to the same cause his head would often shake
with a tremulous motion as if he were afflicted with the palsy. When
Sam was an infant, the famous Queen Anne had tried to cure him of this
disease by laying her royal hands upon his head. But though the touch
of a king or queen was supposed to be a certain remedy for scrofula, it
produced no good effect upon Sam Johnson.

At the time which we speak of the poor lad was not very well dressed,
and wore shoes from which his toes peeped out; for his old father had
barely the means of supporting his wife and children. But, poor as the
family were, young Sam Johnson had as much pride as any nobleman's son
in England. The fact was, he felt conscious of uncommon sense and
ability, which, in his own opinion, entitled him to great respect from
the world. Perhaps he would have been glad if grown people had treated
him as reverentially as his schoolfellows did. Three of them were
accustomed to come for him every morning; and while he sat upon the back
of one, the two others supported him on each side; and thus he rode to
school in triumph.

Being a personage of so much importance, Sam could not bear the idea of
standing all day in Uttoxeter market offering books to the rude and
ignorant country people. Doubtless he felt the more reluctant on
account of his shabby clothes, and the disorder of his eyes, and the
tremulous motion of his head.

When Mr. Michael Johnson spoke, Sam pouted and made an indistinct
grumbling in his throat; then he looked his old father in the face and