JOHNSON TO REYNOLDS.

"December 4. 1783. "DEAR SIR, It is inconvenient to me to come out; I should else have waited on you with an account of a little evening club which we are establishing in Essex Street, in the Strand, and of which you are desired to be one. It will be held at the Essex Head, now kept by an old servant of Thrale's. The company is numerous, and, as you will see by the list, miscellaneous. The terms are lax, and the

"With this invitation," says Hawkins, "I cheerfully complied, and met, at the time and place appointed, all who could be mustered of our society, namely, Johnson, Mr. Ryland, and Mr. Payne of the Bank. When we were collected, the thought that we were so few occasioned some melancholy reflections, and I could not but compare our meeting, at such an advanced period of life as it was to us all, to that of the four old men in the Senile Colloquium' of Erasmus. We dined, and in the evening regaled with coffee. At ten we broke up, much to the regret of Johnson, who proposed staying but finding us inclined to separate, he left us, with a sigh that seemed to come from his heart, lamenting that he was retiring to solitude and cheerless meditation.

"Johnson had proposed a meeting like this once a month, and we had one more; but, the time approaching for a third, he began to feel a return of some of his complaints, and signified a wish that we would dine with him at his own house; and accordingly we met there, and were very cheerfully entertained by him."-Life, p. 562. - CROKER.

2 Johnson himself, by the mention of Barry the painter, seems to have anticipated (as he very naturally might) some reluctance on the part of Sir Joshua. Indeed, the violence of Barry's temper, and the absurdity of his conduct, rendered him no very agreeable companion: but towards Sir Joshua, his behaviour had been particularly offensive. - CROKER.

3 A biographical notice of Mr. Cooke, who died April 3. 1824. will be found in the Gentleman's Magazine for that month; and some account of Mr.Joddrell is given in Nichols's Lit. Anec, vol. viii. — CROKER.

I was in Scotland when this club was founded, and during all the winter. Johnson, however, declared I should be a member, and invented a word upon the occasion: "Boswell," said he, "is a very clubable man." When I came to town I was proposed by Mr. Barrington, and chosen. I believe there are few societies where there is better conversation or more decorum. Several of us resolved to continue it after our great founder was removed by death. Other members were added; and now, about eight years since that loss, we go on happily. BOSWELL. Johnson had already invented unclubable for Sir J. Hawkins. See antè, p. 164. n. 1.- CROKER, 1847.

5 Miss Hawkins candidly says, " Boswell was well justified in his resentment of my father's designation of this as a sirpenny club at an alehouse. I am sorry my father permitted himself to be so pettish on the subject. Honestly speaking, I dare say he did not like being passed over."- Mem. vol. ii. p. 104. CROKER.

expenses light. Mr. Barry was adopted by Dr. Brocklesby, who joined with me in forming the plan. We meet thrice a week, and he who misses forfeits twopence If you are willing to become a member, draw a line under your name. Return the list. We meet for the first time on Monday, at eight. I am, &c., SAM. JOHNSON.

It did not suit Sir Joshua to be one of this club. But when I mention only Mr. Daines Barrington, Dr. Brocklesby, Mr. Murphy, Mr. John Nichols, Mr. Cooke, Mr. Joddrell, Mr. Paradise, Dr. Horseley, Mr. Windham, I shal: sufficiently obviate the misrepresentation of it by Sir John Hawkins, as if it had been a low

alehouse association, by which Johnson wa degraded. Johnson himself, like his namesake Old Ben, composed the rules of his club.

In the end of this year he was seized with a spasmodic asthma of such violence, that he was confined to the house in great pain, being sometimes obliged to sit all night in his chair, a recumbent posture being so hurtful to his respiration, that he could not endure lying bed; and there came upon him at the same time that oppressive and fatal disease, a dropsy. It was a very severe winter, which probably aggravated his complaints; and the solitude in which Mr. Levett and Mrs. Williams ha left him rendered his life very gloomy. Mrs. Desmoulins, who still lived, was herself so

"To-day deep thoughts with me resolve to drench In mirth, which after no repenting draws." - MATE "The club shall consist of four and twenty. "The meetings shall be on the Monday, Thursday, and Saturday of every week; but in the week before Easter the shall be no meeting.

Every member is at liberty to introduce a friend omer a week, but not oftener.

"Two members shall oblige themselves to attend a thru turn every night from eight to ten, or procure two to attend in their room.

sixpence; and every member who stays away shall from Every member present at the club shall spend at least threepence. (sic.)

"The master of the house shall keep an accourt or the absent members; and deliver to the president of the i-git a list of the forfeits incurred.

"When any member returns after absence, he shal mediately lay down his forfeits; which if he omits to do, the president shall require.

"There shall be no general reckoning, but every man skal adjust his own expenses.

"The night of indispensable attendance will come to gream member once a month. Whoever shall for three maha together omit to attend himself, or by substitution, rar sta make any apology in the fourth month, shall be considered as having abdicated the club.

"When a vacancy is to be filled, the name of the cunčālum and of the member recommending him, shall stand m club-room three nights. On the fourth he may be chosen be ballot six members at least being present, and two-t: m/ the ballot being in his favour; or the majority, shochd numbers not be divisible by three.

"The master of the house shall give notice sx des de fore, to each of those members whose turn of SÁRTY attendance is come.

"The notice may be in these words:-Sir, On - of. will be your turn of presiding at the T'asen Head. Your company is therefore earnestly requested " "One penny shall be left by each member for the waŽUT Johnson's definition of a club, in this sense, in bi Detionary, is, "An assembly of good fellows, meeting certain conditions."- BOSWELL.

ne.

JOHNSON TO MR. DILLY, Bookseller, in the Poultry.

"Jan 6. 1784.

SIR, There is in the world a set of books which used to be sold by the booksellers on the ridge, and which I must entreat you to procure They are called Burton's Books: the title of one is Admirable Curiosities, Rarities, and Wonlers in England.' I believe there are about five or ix of them; they seem very proper to allure backward readers; be so kind as to get them for me, and send me them with the best printed edition of Baxter's Call to the Unconverted.' I am, &c., "SAM. JOHNSON."

JOHNSON TO PERKINS.

"Jan. 21. 1784.

"DEAR SIR,- I was very sorry not to see you *hen you were so kind as to call on me; but to dis

On the 30th Dec., Dr. and Miss Fanny Burney visited him. On parting he grasped her hand and said, “ The blister I have red for my breath has betrayed some very bad tokens, but will not terrify myself by talking of them. Ah, priez Dieu our moi." This was the only time he ever addressed her in French, and she thought he did so that some other persons ho were in the room might not hear this injunction.- Life of Burney, 1. 363. — CROKER, 1847.

Old London Bridge, once covered on both hands with hops and houses over them. - CROKER, 1847.

"DEAR SIR, You will receive a requisition, according to the rules of the club, to be at the house as president of the night. This turn comes once a month, and the member is obliged to attend, or send another in his place. You were inrolled in the club by my invitation, and I ought to introduce you; but as I am hindered by sickness, Mr. Hoole will very properly supply my place as introductor, or yours as president. I hope in milder weather to be a very constant attendant. I am, Sir, &c., SAM. JOHNSON.

began with the year, and that every night of non"You ought to be informed that the forfeits attendance incurs the mulet of threepence, that is, ninepence a-week."

On the 8th of January I wrote to him, anxiously inquiring as to his health, and enclosing my "Letter to the People of Scotland on the Present State of the Nation." "I trust," said I, "that you will be liberal enough to make allowance for my differing from you on two points, [the Middlesex election and the American war,] when my general principles of government are according to your own heart, and when, at a crisis of doubtful event, I stand forth with honest zeal as an ancient and faith

ful Briton. My reason for introducing those two points was, that as my opinions with regard to them had been declared at the periods when they were least favourable, I might have the credit of a man who is not a worshipper of ministerial power."

I had a letter from him within these six weeks, written with his usual acuteness and vigour of mind. But he complained sadly of the state of his health; and I have been informed since that he is worse. I intend to be in London next month, chiefly to attend upon him with respectful affection. But, in the mean time, it will be a great favour done me, if you, who know him so well, will be kind enough to let me know particularly how he is.

I

"I hope Mr. Dilly conveyed to you my Letter on the State of the Nation, from the Author. know your political principles, and indeed your settled system of thinking upon civil society and subordination, to be according to my own heart; and therefore I doubt not you will approve of my honest zeal. But what monstrous effects of party do we now see! I am really vexed at the conduct of some of our friends.'

66

· Amidst the conflict our friend of Port Eliot is

with much propriety created a peer. But why, O why did he not obtain the title of Baron Mahogany? (p. 680.) Genealogists and heralds would have had curious work of it to explain and illustrate that title. I ever am, with sincere regard, my dear Sir, your affectionate humble servant, - Reynolds MSS.

"JAMES BOSWELL."]

JOHNSON TO BOSWELL.

"Feb. 11. 1784.

"DEAR SIR, I hear of many inquiries which your kindness has disposed you to make after me. I have long intended you a long letter, which perhaps the imagination of its length hindered me from beginning. I will, therefore, content myself

with a shorter.

"Having promoted the institution of a new club in the neighbourhood, at the house of an old servant of Thrale's, I went thither to meet the company, and was seized with a spasmodic asthma, so violent, that with difficulty I got to my own house, in which I have been confined eight or nine weeks, and from which I know not when I shall be able to go even to church. The asthma, however, is not the worst. A dropsy gains ground upon me: my legs and thighs are very much swollen with water, which I should be content if I could keep there; but I am afraid that it will soon be higher. My nights are very sleepless and very tedious, and yet I am extremely afraid of dying.

"My physicians try to make me hope that much of my malady is the effect of cold, and that some degree at least of recovery is to be expected from vernal breezes and summer suns. If my life is prolonged to autumn, I should be glad to try a warmer climate; though how to travel with a diseased body, without a companion to conduct me, and with very little money, I do not well see. Ramsay has recovered his limbs in Italy; and

Fielding was sent to Lisbon, where, indeed, he died; but he was, I believe, past hope when he went. Think for me what I can do.

"I received your pamphlet, and when I write again may perhaps tell you some opinion about it; but you will forgive a man struggling with disease his neglect of disputes, politics, and pamphlets. Let me have your prayers. My compliments to your lady and young ones. Ask your physicians about my case: and desire Sir Alexander Dick to write me his opinion. I am, dear Sir, &c., SAM. JOHNSON."

JOHNSON TO MRS. PORTER.

**Feb. 23, 1784.

"MY DEAREST LOVE, I have been extremely ill of an asthma and dropsy, but received by the mercy of God sudden and unexpected relief last Thursday, by the discharge of twenty pints of water. Whether I shall continue free, or shall fill Death, my

again, cannot be told. Pray for me. dear, is very dreadful; let us think nothing worth our care but how to prepare for it: what we know amiss in ourselves let us make haste to amend, and put our trust in the mercy of God and the intercession of our Saviour. I am, &c.,

"SAM. JOHNSON."

JOHNSON TO BOSWELL.

London, Feb. 27. 1784. "DEAR SIR, I have just advanced so far towards recovery as to read a pamphlet; and you may reasonably suppose that the first pamphlet which I read was yours. I am very much of your opinion, and, like you, feel great indignation at t indecency with which the king is every day treated. Your paper contains very considerable knowledge of history and of the constitution, very properly produced and applied. It will certainly raise your character, though perhaps it may not make you a minister of state.

I desire you to see Mrs. Stewart once again, and tell her, that in the letter-case was a letter relating to me, for which I will give her, if she is willing to give it me, another guinea. The letter is of cosI am, dear Sir, &c., sequence only to me.

"SAM. JOHNSON "

In consequence of Johnson's request that I should ask our physicians about his case, and desire Sir Alexander Dick to send his opinion. I transmitted him a letter from that very amiable baronet, then in his eighty-first year. with his faculties as entire as ever, and NDtioned his expressions to me in the note socnapanying it,"With my most affectionate wishes for Dr. Johnson's recovery, in which his friends, his country, and all mankind have # deep a stake;" and at the same time a ful

sovereign to maintain the rights of the crown, as well as thm of the people, against a violent faction. As such, pru entitled to the warmest support of every good subject it every department." He answered, "I am extremely obliged və mik for the sentiments you do me the honour to express, and fare observed with great pleasure the zealous and alle sepert given to the cause of the public in the work you were so gossi to transmit to me."- BOSWELL.

4 See antè, p. 641., and the Appendix. — CROKER.

opinion upon his case by Dr. Gillespie, who, like Dr. Cullen, had the advantage of having passed through the gradations of surgery and pharmacy, and by study and practice had attained to such skill, that my father settled on him two hundred pounds a year for five years, and fifty pounds a year during his life, as an honorarium to secure his particular attendance. The opinion was conveyed in a letter to me, beginning, "I am sincerely sorry for the bad state of health your very learned and illustrious friend, Dr. Johnson, labours under at present."

JOHNSON TO BOSWELL.

"London, March 2. 1784.

"DEAR SIR, — Presently after I had sent away my last letter, I received your kind medical packet. I am very much obliged both to you and to your physicians for your kind attention to my disease. Dr. Gillespie has sent me an excellent consilium medicum, all solid practical experimental knowledge. I am at present, in the opinion of my physicians (Dr. Heberden and Dr. Brocklesby), as well as my own, going on very hopefully. I have just begun to take vinegar of squills. The powder hurt my stomach so much that it could not be continued.

"Return Sir Alexander Dick my sincere thanks

for his kind letter; and bring with you the rhubarb which he so tenderly offers me. I hope dear Mrs. Boswell is now quite well, and that no evil, either real or imaginary, now disturbs you. I am, &c., SAM. JOHNSON."

I also applied to three of the eminent physicians who had chairs in our celebrated school of medicine at Edinburgh, Doctors Cullen, Hope, and Monro, to each of whom I sent the following letter: —

"March 7. 1784.

"DEAR SIR, - Dr. Johnson has been very ill for some time; and in a letter of anxious apprehension he writes to me, Ask your physicians about my case.'

"This, you see, is not authority for a regular consultation: but I have no doubt of your readiness to give your advice to a man so eminent, and who in his Life of Garth, has paid your profession just and elegant compliment: 'I believe every nan has found in physicians great liberality and lignity of sentiment, very prompt effusions of beeficence, and willingness to exert a lucrative art where there is no hope of lucre.'

Last sum

"Dr. Johnson is aged seventy-four. ner he had a stroke of the palsy, from which he recovered almost entirely. He had, before that, been troubled with a catarrhous cough. This winter he was seized with a spasmodic asthma, by which e has been confined to his house for about three nonths. Dr. Brocklesby writes to me, that upon the least admission of cold, there is such a constriction upon his breast, that he cannot lie down in bis bed, but is obliged to sit up all night, and gets rest, and sometimes sleep, only by means of lau

From his garden at Prestonfield, where he cultivated hat plant with such success, that he was presented with a

danum and syrup of poppies; and that there are cedematous tumours in his legs and thighs. Dr. Brocklesby trusts a good deal to the return of mild

weather.

Dr. Johnson says that a dropsy gains ground upon him; and he seems to think that a he is now rather better, and is using vinegar of warmer climate would do him good. I understand squills. I am, &c.,

JAMES BOSWELL."

All of them paid the most polite attention to my letter and its venerable object. Dr. Cullen's words concerning him were, "It would give me the greatest pleasure to be of any service to a man whom the public properly esteem, and whom I esteem and respect as much as I do Dr. Johnson." Dr. Hope's, "Few people have a better claim on me than your friend, as hardly a day passes that I do not ask his opinion about this or that word." Dr. Monro's, "I most sincerely join you in sympathising with that very worthy and ingenious character, from whom his country has derived much instruction and entertainment."

Dr. Hope corresponded with his friend Dr. Brocklesby. Doctors Cullen and Monro wrote their opinions and prescriptions to me, which I afterwards carried with me to London, and, so far as they were encouraging, communicated to Johnson. The liberality on one hand, and grateful sense of it on the other, I have great satisfaction in recording.

[JOHNSON TO MRS. PORTER.

"Bolt-court, 10th March, 1784. "MY DEAREST LOVE, I will not suppose that it is for want of kindness that you did not answer my last letter; and I therefore write again to tell you that I have, by God's great mercy, still continued to grow better. My asthma is seldom troublesome, and my dropsy has ran itself almost away, in a manner which my physician says is very

uncommon.

I have been confined from the 14th of December, and shall not soon venture abroad; but I have this day dressed myself as I was before my sickness.

"If it be inconvenient to you to write, desire Mr. Pearson to let me know how you do, and how I am now not you have passed this long winter. without hopes that we shall once more see one another.

"Make my compliments to Mrs. Cobb and Miss Adey, and to all my friends, particularly to Mr. Pearson. I am, my dear, your most humble ser