"Make dear Mrs. Boswell, and all the young Boswells, the sincere compliments of, Sir, your affectionate humble servant, "London, March 30, 1784." "SAM. JOHNSON. To Mr. Langton he wrote with that cordiality which was suitable to the long friendship which had subsisted between him and that gentleman. March 27. "Since you left me, I have continued in my own opinion, and in Dr. Brocklesby's, to grow better with respect to all my formidable and dangerous distempers; though to a body battered and shaken as mine has lately been, it is to be feared that weak attacks may be sometimes mischievous. I have, indeed, by standing carelessly at an open window, got a very troublesome cough, which it has been necessary to appease by opium, in larger quantities than I like to take, and I have not found it give way so readily as I expected its obstinacy, however, seems at last disposed to submit to the remedy, and I know not whether I should then have a right to complain of any morbid sensation. My asthma is, I am afraid, constitutional and incurable; but it is only occasional, and unless it be excited by labour or by cold, gives me no molestation, nor does it lay very close siege to life: for Sir John Floyer, whom the physical race consider as author of one of the best books upon it, panted on to ninety, as was supposed; and why were we content with supposing a fact so interesting, of a man so conspicuous ? because he corrupted, at perhaps seventy or eighty, the register, that he might pass for younger than he was. He was not much less than eighty, when to a man of rank who modestly asked his age, he answered, “Go look; " though he was in general a man of civility and elegance. "The ladies, I find, are at your house all well, except Miss Langton, who will probably soon recover her health by light suppers. Let her eat at dinner as she will, but not take a full stomach to bed.-Pay my sincere respects to dear Miss Langton in Lincolnshire; let her know that I mean not to break our league of friendship, and that I have a set of 'Lives' for her when I have the means of sending it." April 8. "I am still disturbed by my cough; but what thanks have I not to pay, when my cough is the most painful sensation that I feel? and from that I expect hardly to be released, while winter continues to gripe us with so much pertinacity. The year has not advanced eighteen days beyond the equinox, and still there is very little remission of the cold. When warm weather comes, which surely must come at last, I hope it will help both me and your young lady. "The man so busy about addresses is neither more nor less than our own Boswell, who had come as far as York towards London, but turned back on the Dissolution, and is said now to stand for some place. Whether to wish him success, his best friends hesitate. "Let me have your prayers for the completion of my recovery: I am now better than I ever expected to have been. May GOD add to his mercies the grace that may enable me to use them according to his will. My compliments to all." April 13. "I had this evening a note from Lord Portmore,* desiring that I * To which Johnson returned this answer: "TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EARL OF PORTMore. "DR. JOHNSON acknowledges with great respect the honour of Lord Portmore's notice. He is better than he was; and will, as his Lordship directs, write to Mr. Langton. Etat. 75] OZIAS HUMPHRY 1047 would give you an account of my health. You might have had it with less circumduction. I am, by GoD's blessing, I believe free from all morbid sensations, except a cough, which is only troublesome. But I am still weak, and can have no great hope of strength till the weather shall be softer. The summer, if it be kindly, will, I hope, enable me to support the winter. GOD, who has so wonderfully restored me, can preserve me in all seasons. "Let me inquire in my turn after the state of your family, great and little. I hope Lady Rothes and Miss Langton are both well. That is a good basis of content. Then how goes George on with his studies? How does Miss Mary? And how does my own Jenny? I think I owe Jenny a letter, which I will take care to pay. In the mean time tell her that I acknowledge the debt. "Be pleased to make my compliments to the ladies. If Mrs. Langton comes to London, she will favour me with a visit, for I am not well enough to go out." From an engraving by R. Stanier after a painting by LORD MONBODDO (b. 1714, d. 1799) "The young man has perhaps good parts, but has been without a regular education. He is my godson, and therefore I interest myself in his progress and success, and shall think myself much favoured if I receive from you a permission to send him. "My health is, by GOD's blessing, much restored, but I am not yet allowed by my physicians to go abroad; nor, indeed, do I think myself yet able to endure the weather. "April 5, 1784." 66 "I am, Sir, "Your most humble servant, The eminent painter, representative of the ancient family of Homfrey (now Humphry) in the West of England; who, as appears from their arms which they have invariably used, have been (as I have seen authenticated by the best authority), one of those among the Knights and Esquires of honour who are represented by Holinshed as having issued from the Tower of London on coursers apparelled for the justes, accompanied by ladies of honour, leading everyone a Knight with a chain of gold, passing through the streets of London into Smithfield, on Sunday, at three o'clock in the afternoon, being the first Sunday after Michaelmas, in the fourteenth year of King Richard the Second. This family once enjoyed large possessions, but, like others, have lost them in the progress of ages. Their blood, however, remains to them well ascertained; and they may hope, in the revolution of events, to recover that rank in society for which, in modern times, fortune seems to be an indispensable requisite. † Son of Mr. Samuel Paterson, eminent for his knowledge of books. "TO THE SAME. << SIR, "THE bearer is my godson, whom I take the liberty of recommending to your kindness; which I hope he will deserve by his respect to your excellence, and his gratitude for your favours. "I AM very much obliged by your civilities to my godson, but must beg of you to add to them the favour of permitting him to see you paint, that he may know how a picture is begun, advanced, and completed. "If he may attend you in a few of your operations, I hope he will show that the benefit has been properly conferred, both by his proficiency and his gratitude. At least I shall consider you as enlarging your kindness to, Sir, your humble servant, "May 31, 1784." "SAM. JOHNSON. “TO THE REVEREND DR. TAYLOR, ASHBOURNE, DERBYSHIRE. "DEAR SIR, "WHAT can be the reason that I hear nothing from you? I hope nothing disables you from writing. What I have seen, and what I have felt, gives me reason to fear everything. Do not omit giving me the comfort of knowing that after all my losses I have yet a friend left. "I want every comfort. My life is very solitary and very cheerless. Though it has pleased GOD wonderfully to deliver me from the dropsy, I am yet very weak, and have not passed the door since the 13th of December. I hope for some help from warm weather, which will surely come in time. "I could not have the consent of the physicians to go to church yesterday; I therefore received the holy sacrament at home, in the room where I communicated with dear Mrs. Williams, a little before her death. Oh! my friend, the approach of death is very dreadful. I am afraid to think on that which I know I cannot avoid. It is vain to look round and round for that help which cannot be had. Yet we hope and hope, and fancy that he who has lived to-day may live to-morrow. But let us learn to derive our hope only from GOD. "In the mean time, let us be kind to one another. I have no friend now living but you* and Mr. Hector, that was the friend of my youth. Do not neglect, "I WRITE to you now, to tell you that I am so far recovered, that on the 21st I went to church, to return thanks, after a confinement of more than four long months. * [This friend of Johnson's youth survived him somewhat more than three years, having died Feb. 19, 1788. M.] From a mezzotint engraving by C. Turner, A.R.A., after a painting by E. Burney 1793. MADAME FRANCES D'ARBLAY (b. 1752, d. 1840) (Fanny Burney), the daughter of Dr. Charles Burney, and author of "Evelina" (published anonymously 1778) and other novels. She married General D'Arblay, a French refugee in England, She frequently met Dr. Johnson at her father's house in St. Martin's Street, Leicester Square (a house of which the history has been recently made the subject of a book by Miss Constance Hill,) and her delightful "Diary and Letters" contains many diverting reminiscences of Dr. Johnson and his circle. "My recovery is such as neither myself nor the physicians at all expected, and is such as that very few examples have been known of the like. Join with me, my dear love, in returning thanks to GOD. From an engraving by Mackenzie MRS. ELIZABETH CARTER (b. 1717, d. 1806) "Dr. Vyse has been with [me] this evening he tells me that you likewise have been much disordered, but that you are now better. I hope that we shall some time have a cheerful interview. In the mean time let us pray for one another. I am, Madam, "Your humble servant, "London, April 26, 1784."] What follows is a beautiful'specimen of his gentleness and complacency to a young lady his godchild, one of the daughters of his friend Mr. Langton, then I think in her seventh year. He took the trouble to write it in a large round hand, nearly resembling printed characters, that she might have the satisfaction of reading it herself. The original lies before me, but shall be faithfully restored to her; and I dare say will be preserved by her as a jewel, as long as she lives. 66 TO MISS JANE LANGTON, IN ROCHESTER, KENT. "MY DEAREST MISS JENNY,— "I AM Sorry that your pretty letter has been so long without being answered; but, when I am not pretty well, I do not always write plain enough for young ladies. I am glad, my dear, to see that you write so well, and hope that you mind your pen, your book, and your needle, for they are all necessary. Your books will give you knowledge, and make you respected; and your needle will find you useful employment when you do not care to read. When you are a little older, I hope you will be very diligent in learning arithmetic; and above all, that through your whole life you will carefully say your prayers, and read your Bible. On Wednesday, May 5, I arrived in London, and next morning had the pleasure to find Dr. Johnson greatly recovered. I but just saw him; for a coach was waiting to carry him to Islington, to the house of his friend the Reverend Mr. Strahan, where he went sometimes for the benefit of good air, which, notwithstanding |