Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 192, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 August 1913 — Johnson on Melancholy. [ARTICLE]

Johnson on Melancholy.

Talking of constitutional melancholy, he observed: “A man so afflicted, sir, must divert distressing thoughts, and not combat with them.’*. Boswell —“May not he think them down, sir?” Johnson—“No, sir. To attempt to think them down is madness. He should have a lamp constantly burning in his bedchamber during the night and, if wakefully disturbed, should take a book and read and compose himself to rest. To have the management' of the mind is a great art, and it may be attained in a considerable degree by experience and habitual exercise.” Boswell —“Should not he provide amusements for hlm» self? Would it not, for instance, be right for him to take a course of chemistry?” Johnson —"Let him take a course of chemistry, or a course of rope dancing, or a course of anything to which he is Inclined at the time. Let him contrive to have as many retreats for his mind as he can, as many things to which it can fly from itsqlf.”—Boswell (Life of Johnson).