that when I do not write to you I forget you. Put all such useless jealousies out of your head, and disdain to regulate your own practice by the practice of another, or by any other principle than the desire of doing right.

"Your economy, I suppose, begins now to be settled; your expenses are adjusted to your revenue, and all your people in their proper places. Resolve not to be poor. Whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness it certainly destroys liberty; and it makes some virtues impracticable, and others extremely difficult.

"Let me know the history of your life since your accession to your estate;-how many houses, how many cows, how much land in your own hand, and what bargains you make with

your

"Of my 'Lives of the Poets' they have printed a new edition in octavo, I hear, of three thousand. Did I give a set to Lord Hailes? If I did not, I will do it out of these. What did you make of all your copy?

"Mrs. Thrale and the three misses are now, for the winter, in Argyll-street. Sir Joshua Reynolds has been out of order, but is well again; and I am, dear sir, your affectionate humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON."

"TO DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON.

"Edinburgh, 20th Dec. 1782. "DEAR SIR,—I was made happy by your kind letter, which gave us the agreeable hopes of seeing you in Scotland again.

"I am much flattered by the concern you are pleased to take in my recovery. I am better, and hope to have it in my power to convince you by my attention, of how much consequence I esteem your health to the world and to myself. I remain, sir, with grateful respect, your obliged and obedient servant, "MARGARET BOSWELL."

The death of Mr. Thrale had made a very material alteration with respect to Johnson's reception in that family. The manly authority of the husband no longer curbed the lively exuberance of the lady; and as her vanity had been fully gratified, by having the Colossus of Literature attached to her for many years, she gradually became less assiduous to please

him. Whether her attachment to him was already divided by another object, I am unable to ascertain; but it is plain that Johnson's penetration was alive to her neglect or forced attention; for on the 6th of October this year we find him making a "parting use of the library" at Streatham, and pronouncing a prayer which he composed on leaving Mr. Thrale's family.

p. 214.

"Almighty God, Father of all mercy, help me by thy grace, Prayers that I may, with humble and sincere thankfulness, remember & Med. the comforts and conveniences which I have enjoyed at this place; and that I may resign them with holy submission, equally trusting in thy protection when thou givest and when thou takest

away.

Have mercy upon me, O Lord! have mercy upon me! "To thy fatherly protection, O Lord, I commend this family. Bless, guide, and defend them, that they may so pass through this world, as finally to enjoy in thy presence everlasting happiness, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen."

One cannot read this prayer without some emotions not very favourable to the lady whose conduct occasioned it1.

The next day, October 7, he made the following memorandum:

"7th October.

p. 212.

Prayers "I was called early. I packed up my bundles, and used the & Med. foregoing prayer, with my morning devotions somewhat, I think, enlarged. Being earlier than the family, I read St. Paul's farewell in the Acts, and then read fortuitously in the Gospels, which was my parting use of the library."

And in one of his memorandum-books I find, "Sunday, went to church at Streatham. Templo valedixi cum osculo."

[Mr. Boswell's dislike of Mrs. Thrale has led him here into a series of blunders and misrepresentations. Dr. Johnson meant nothing of what Mr. Boswell attributes to him he makes a parting use of the library-makes a valediction to the church, and pronounces a prayer on quitting "a place where he had enjoyed so much comfort," not because Mrs. Thrale made him less welcome there, but because she, and he with her, were leaving Streatham We shall see by and by, that when Mr. Boswell came to town, six months after this, he found his friend domiciliated in Mrs. Thrale's new residence in Argyll-street.-ED.]

He met Mr. Philip Metcalfe often at Sir Joshua Reynolds's and other places, and was a good deal with him at Brighthelmstone this autumn, being pleased at once with his excellent table and animated conversation. Mr. Metcalfe showed him great respect, and sent him a note that he might have the use of his carriage whenever he pleased. Johnson (3d October, 1782) returned this polite answer: "Mr. Johnson is very much obliged by the kind offer of the carriage, but he has no desire of using Mr. Metcalfe's carriage, except when he can have the pleasure of Mr. Metcalfe's company." Mr. Metcalfe could not but be highly pleased that his company was thus valued by Johnson, and he frequently attended him in airings. They also went together to Chichester, and they visited Petworth, and Cowdry, the venerable seat of the Lords Montacute1. "Sir," said Johnson," I should like to stay here four-and-twenty hours. We see here how our ancestors lived."

That his curiosity was still unabated appears from two letters to Mr. John Nichols, of the 10th and 20th of October this year. In one he says, "I have looked into your Anecdotes,' and you will hardly thank a lover of literary history for telling you that he has been much informed and gratified. I wish

6

This venerable mansion has since [Sept. 1793] been totally destroyed by fire. MALONE. [There is a popular superstition that this inheritance is accursed, for having been part of the plunder of the church at the Dissolution; and some lamentable accidents have given countenance to the vulgar prejudice. When the Editor visited the ruins of Cowdray twenty years ago, he was reminded (in addition to older stories) that the curse of fire and water had recently fallen on Cowdray; its noble owner, Viscount Montague, the last male of his ancient race, having been drowned in the Rhine at Schaffausen, within a few days of the destruction of Cowdray: and the good folks of the neighbourhood did not scruple to prophesy that it would turn out a fatal inheritance. At that period the present possessor, Mr. Poyntz, who had married Lord Montague's sister and heiress, had two sons, who seemed destined to inherit Cowdray; but, on the 7th July, 1815, these young gentlemen boating off Bognor with their father on a very fine day, the boat was unaccountably upset, and the two youths perished; and thus were once more fulfilled the forebodings of superstition. See some curious observations on the subject of the fatality attending the inheritance of confiscated church property in Sir Henry Spelman's Treatise on the "History and Fall of Sacrilege." ED.]

you would add your own discoveries and intelligence to those of Dr. Rawlinson', and undertake the Supplement to Wood. Think of it." In the other," I wish, sir, you could obtain some fuller information of Jortin 2, Markland 3, and Thirlby. They were three contemporaries of great eminence."

"TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.

"Brighthelmstone, 14th Nov. 1782.

"DEAR SIR,-I heard yesterday of your late disorder, and should think ill of myself if I had heard of it without alarm. I heard likewise of your recovery, which I sincerely wish to be complete and permanent. Your country has been in danger of losing one of its brightest ornaments, and I of losing one of my oldest and kindest friends; but I hope you will still live long, for the honour of the nation; and that more enjoyment of your elegance, your intelligence, and your benevolence is still reserved for, dear sir, your most affectionate, &c.

5

"SAM. JOHNSON."

The Reverend Mr. Wilson having dedicated to

1 [Dr. Richard Rawlinson, an eminent antiquary, and a great benefactor to the University of Oxford. He founded the Anglo-Saxon professorship there, and bequeathed to it all his collection of MSS., medals, antiquities, and curiosities, and amongst them large collections for a supplement to Wood's Athena Oxonienses, to which Dr. Johnson refers. He died in 1754, æt. 65.—Ed.]

2 [Dr. John Jortin, a voluminous and respectable writer on general subjects, as well as an eminent divine. He died in August, 1770, Archdeacon of London and Vicar of Kensington; where his piety and charity, greater even than his great learning and talents, are still remembered. His laconic epitaph in Kensington churchyard, dictated by himself, contains a new turn of that thought which must be common to all epitaphs," Johannes Jortin mortalis esse desiit, A.S. 1770, æt. 72." John Jortin ceased to be mortal, &c.-ED.]

3 [Jeremiah Markland was an eminent critic, particularly in Greek literature; but the shyness of his disposition and the almost ascetic scclusion of his long life limited at once his utility and his fame.-See ante, vol. iv. p. 377. He died in 1776, æt. 83.-ED.]

4 [Styan Thirlby; a critic of at least as much reputation as he deserves. He studied successively divinity, medicine, and law. He seems to have been of a temper at once perverse and indolent, and to have dimmed and disgraced his talents by habits of intoxication. He complains, in a strain of self-satisfaction, that "when a man (meaning himself) thus towers by intellectual exaltation above his cotemporaries, he is represented as drunken, or lazy, or capricious." He died in 1753, æt. 61.-ED.]

5 [A just and concise character of Mr. Wilson is given by Dr. Whitaker in the dedication of a plate, in the History of Whalley. "Viro Reverendo Thomæ Wilson STB ecclesiæ de Clitheroe, ministro-sodali jucundissimo-axa do zw insigni-felici juvenum institutori." Mr. Wilson died in 1813, aged sixty.

sever.-J. H. MARKLAND.]

him his "Archæological Dictionary," that mark of respect was thus acknowledged:

"TO THE REVEREND MR. WILSON,

CLITHEROE, LANCASHIRE.

"31st December, 1782.

"REVEREND SIR,-That I have long omitted to return you thanks for the honour conferred upon me by your dedication, I entreat you with great earnestness not to consider as more faulty than it is. A very importunate and oppressive disorder has for some time debarred me from the pleasures and obstructed me in the duties of life. The esteem and kindness of wise and good men is one of the last pleasures which I can be content to lose; and gratitude to those from whom this pleasure is received is a duty of which I hope never to be reproached with the final neglect. I therefore now return you thanks for the notice which I have received from you, and which I consider as giving to my name not only more bulk, but more weight; not only as extending its superficies, but as increasing its value. Your book was evidently wanted, and will, I hope, find its way into the school; to which, however, I do not mean to confine it; for no man has so much skill in ancient rites and practices as not to want it. As I suppose myself to owe part of your kindness to my excellent friend, Dr. Patten', he has likewise a just claim to my acknowledg

[A letter from Dr. Patten 2, and Dr. Johnson's answer, have appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine: the latter is subjoined.-ED.]

DR. JOHNSON'S ANSWER.

"24th September, 1781.

"DEAR SIR,It is so long since we passed any time together, that you may be allowed to have forgotten some part of my character; and I know not upon what other supposition I can pass without censure or complaint the ceremony of your address. Let me not trifle time in words, to which while we speak or write them we assign little meaning. Whenever you favour me with a letter, treat me as one that is glad of your kindness and proud of your esteem.

"The papers which have been sent for my perusal I am ready to inspect, if you judge my inspection necessary or useful: but, indeed, I do not; for what advantage can arise from it? A dictionary consists of independent parts, and therefore one page is not much a specimen of the rest. It does not occur to me that I can give any assistance to the authour, and for my own interest I resign it into your hands, and do not suppose that I shall ever see my name with regret where you shall think it proper to be put.

"I think it, however, my duty to inform a writer who intends me so great an honour, that in my opinion he would have consulted his interest by dedicating his work to some powerful and popular neighbour, who can give him more than

[Dr. Thomas Patten had been a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, A. M. 1736, D. D. 1754. He was afterwards Rector of Childry, Berks, where he died 28th February, 1790.—Ep.]