 But he had worked hard, battling against the wolf without, and the black dog withinâpoverty and hypochondria.  He was still poor, though his personal wants did not exceed a hundred pounds a year.  His wife had been seven years dead, and he missed her sorely.  His old mother, who lived to the age of ninety, died poor in January of this year, 1759.  In her old age, Johnson had sought to help her from his earnings