"The ejection which you come hither to oppose, appears very cruel, unreasonable, and oppressive. I should think there could not be much doubt of your success. 66 My health grows better, yet I am not fully recovered. I believe it is held, that men do not recover very fast after threescore. I hope yet to see Beattie's college: and have not given up the western voyage. But however all this may be or not, let us try to make each other happy when we meet, and not refer our pleasure to distant times or distant places. "How comes it that you tell me nothing of your lady? I hope to see her some time, and till then shall be glad to hear of her. I am, dear Sir, &c., "SAM. JOHNSON." "DEAR SIR, TO BENNET LANGTON, ESQ. "March 14, 1772. "I congratulate you and Lady Rothes1 on your little man, and hope you will all be many years happy together. Poor Miss Langton can have little part in the joy of her family. She this day called her aunt Langton to receive the sacrament with her; and made me talk yesterday on such subjects as suit her condition. It will probably be her viaticum. I surely need not mention again that she wishes to see her mother. I am, Sir, your most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." 1 Mr. Langton married the Countess Dowager of Rothes. THE APPENDIX. HE Annals here reprinted form part of a small, but exceedingly scarce volume, published 1805, entitled: An Account of the Life of Dr. Samuel Johnson, from his Birth to his Eleventh Year, written by Himself. To which are added, Original Letters to Dr. Samuel Johnson, by Miss Hill Boothby From the MSS. preserved by the Doctor; and now in Possession of Richard Wright, Surgeon; Proprietor of the Museum of Antiquities, Natural and Artificial Curiosities, &c., Lichfield. Mr. Richard Wright, the editor of it, was the purchaser of what remained of Green's Museum at its final dispersion: see vol. ii., p. 280 (note). This little volume consists of two distinct parts: the Annals here reproduced, and a series of letters addressed by Miss Hill Boothby to Johnson, and by Johnson to this lady, which will be found in the volume entitled Johnsoniana. MR. WRIGHT'S PREFACE. It will be expected, that the Editor of the following curious and interesting pages should give an account of the manner in which the original MSS. came into his possession. Mr. Boswell, in his admirable Life of Dr. Johnson, thus observes:' "The consideration of the numerous papers of which he was possessed seems to have struck Johnson's mind with a sudden anxiety; and, as they were in great confusion, it is much to be lamented that he had not intrusted some faithful and discreet person with the care and selection of them; instead of which, he, in a precipitate manner, burnt masses of them, as I should apprehend, with little regard to discrimination. . . . . Two very valuable articles, I am sure, we have lost; which were two quarto volumes, containing a full, fair, and most particular account of his own life, from his earliest recollection." It does not appear, that the MS. from which the following short account of Dr. Johnson's early life is copied, was one of the two volumes to which Boswell alludes; although it is evident, from his enumeration of particular dates in the blank pages of the book, that he intended to have finished these Annals, according to this plan, with the same minuteness of description, in every circumstance and event. This Volume was among that mass of papers which were ordered to be committed to the flames a few days before his death, thirty-two pages of which were torn out by himself, and destroyed; the contents of those which remain are here given with fidelity and exactness. Francis Barber, his black servant, unwilling that all the MSS. of his illustrious master should be utterly lost, preserved these relicks from the flames. By purchase from Barber's widow they came into the possession of the Editor. ANNALS. I. 1709-10. SEPT. 7, 1709, I was born at Lichfield. My mother had a very difficult and dangerous labour, and was assisted by George Hector, a man-midwife of great reputation. I was born almost dead, and could not cry for some time. When he had me in his arms, he said, "Here is a brave boy." 2 In a few weeks an inflammation was discovered on my buttock, which was at first, I think, taken for a burn; but soon appeared to be a natural disorder. It swelled, broke, and healed. My Father being that year Sheriff of Lichfield, and to ride the circuit of the County next day, which was a ceremony then performed with great pomp; he was asked by my mother, "Whom he would invite to the Riding?" and answered, "All the town now." He feasted the citizens with uncommon magnificence, and was the last but one that maintained the splendour of the Riding. I was, by my father's persuasion, put to one Marclew, commonly called Bellison,3 the servant, or wife of a servant of my father, to be 1 18, of the present stile.—Orig. * This was written in January, 1765.—R. Wright. The name of Marklew, alias Bellison, is yet common in Lichfield, and is usually so distinguished.-R. Wright. nursed in George Lane, where I used to call when I was a bigger boy, and eat fruit in the garden, which was full of trees. Here it was discovered that my eyes were bad; and an issue was cut in my left arm,' of which I took no great notice, as I think my mother has told me, having my little hand in a custard. It is observable, that, having been told of this operation, I always imagined that I remembered it, but I laid the scene in the wrong house. Such confusions of memory I suspect to be common. My mother visited me every day, and used to go different ways, that her assiduity might not expose her to ridicule; and often left her fan or glove behind her, that she might have a pretence to come back unexpected; but she never discovered any token of neglect. Dr. Swinfen told me, that the scrofulous sores which afflicted me proceeded from the bad humours of the nurse, whose son had the same distemper, and was likewise short-sighted, but both in a less degree. My mother thought my diseases derived from her family. In ten weeks I was taken home, a poor, diseased infant, almost blind. I remember my aunt Nath. Ford told me, when I was about . . . years old, that she would not have picked such a poor creature up in the street. In ... 67, when I was at Lichfield, I went to look for my nurse's house; and, inquiring somewhat obscurely, was told "this is the house in which you were nursed." I saw my nurse's son, to whose milk I succeeded, reading a large Bible, which my nurse had bought, as I was then told, some time before her death. Dr. Swinfen used to say, that he never knew any child reared with so much difficulty. 2. 1710-11. In the second year I knew not what happened to me. I believe it was then that my mother carried me to Trysul,' to consult Dr. Atwood, an oculist of Worcester. My father and Mrs. Harriots, I think, never had much kindness for each other. She was my mother's relation; and he had none so high to whom he could send any of his family. He saw her seldom himself, and willingly disgusted her, by sending his horses from home on Sunday; which she 1 How long this issue was continued I do not remember. I believe it was suffered to dry when I was about six years old.—Orig. 2 Near Wolverhampton.-R. Wright. |