Etat. 69. 1778. where he appeared to be very well pleased with his entertainment, and the civilities he received on the part of the General;3 the attention likewise of the General's aid-de-camp, Captain Smith, seemed to be very welcome to him, as appeared by their engaging in a great deal of discourse together. The gentlemen of the East-York regiment likewise, on being informed of his coming, solicited his company at dinner, but by that time he had fixed his departure, so that he could not comply with the invitation." ' SIR, 66 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. "I HAVE received two letters from you, of which the second complains of the neglect shown to the first. You must not tie your friends to such punctual correspondence. You have all possible assurances of my affection and esteem; and there ought to be no need of reiterated professions. When it may happen that I can give you either counsel or comfort, I hope it will never happen to me that I should neglect you; but you must not think me criminal or cold, if I say nothing when I have nothing to say. Mrs. Boswell is "You are now happy enough. recovered; and I congratulate you upon the probability of her long life. If general approbation will add any thing to your enjoyment, I can tell you that I have heard you mentioned as a man whom every body likes. I think life has little more to give. has gone to his regiment. He has laid 3 When I one day at Court expressed to General Hall my sense of the Honour he had done my friend, he politely answered, "Sir, I did myself honour." it Ætat. 69. down his coach, and talks of making more contrac- 1778. tions of his expence: how he will succeed, I know not. It is difficult to reform a household gradually; may be better done by a system totally new. I am afraid he has always something to hide. When we pressed him to go to he objected the necessity of attending his navigation; yet he could talk of going to Aberdeen, a place not much nearer his navigation. I believe he cannot bear the thought of living at - in a state of diminution; and of appearing among the gentlemen of the neighbourhood shorn of his beams. This is natural, but it is cowardly. What I told him of the increasing expence of a growing family, seems to have struck him. He certainly had gone on with very confused views, and we have, I think, shown him that he is wrong; though, with the common deficience of advisers, we have not shown him how to do right. 4 "I wish you would a little correct or restrain your imagination, and imagine that happiness, such as life admits, may be had at other places as well as London. Without asserting Stoicism, it may be said, that it is our business to exempt ourselves as much as we can from the power of external things. There is but one solid basis of happiness: and that is, the reasonable hope of a happy futurity. This may be had every where. "I do not blame your preference to London to other places, for it is really to be preferred, if the [I suspect that this is a misprint, and that Johnson wrote "without affecting Stoicism;"-but the original letter being burned in a mass of papers in Scotland, I have not been able to ascertain whether my conjecture is well founded or not. The expression in the text, however, may be justified. MALONE.] 1778. choice is free; but few have the choice of their place, or their manner of life; and mere pleasure ought not to be the prime motive of action. Ætat. 69. Mrs. "Mrs. Thrale, poor thing, has a daughter. Mr. Thrale dislikes the times, like the rest of us. Williams is sick; Mrs. Desmoulins is poor. miserable nights. I have Nobody is well but Mr. Levett. "I am, dear Sir, "London, July 3, 1778. "Your most, &c. "SAM. JOHNSON." In the course of this year there was a difference between him and his friend Mr. Strahan; the particulars of which it is unnecessary to relate. Their reconciliation was communicated to me in a letter from Mr. Strahan in the following words: "The notes I shewed you that past between him and me were dated in March last. The matter lay dormant till July 27, when he wrote to me as follows: ency SIR, TO WILLIAM STRAHAN, ESQ. OTH 'It would be very foolish for us to continue strangers any longer. You can never by persistmake wrong right. If I resented too acrimoniously, I resented only to yourself. Nobody ever saw or heard what I wrote. You saw that my anger was over, for in a day or two I came to your house. I have given you a longer time; and I hope you have made so good use of it, as to be no longer on evil terms with, Sir, 'Your, &c. 'SAM. JOHNSON. "On this I called upon him: and he has since 1778. dined with me." After this time, the same friendship as formerly continued between Dr. Johnson and Mr. Strahan. My friend mentioned to me a little circumstance of his attention, which, though we may smile at it, must be allowed to have its foundation in a nice and true knowledge of human life. "When I write to Scotland (said he,) I employ Strahan to frank my letters, that he may have the consequence of appearing a Parliament-man among his countrymen." 66 5 TO CAPTAIN LANGTON, WARLEY-CAMP. DEAR SIR, " WHEN I recollect how long ago I was received with so much kindness at Warley Common, I am ashamed that I have not made some enquiries after my friends. "Pray how many sheep-stealers did you convict? and how did you punish them? When are you to be cantoned in better habitations? The air grows cold, and the ground damp. Longer stay in the camp cannot be without much danger to the health of the common men, if even the officers can escape. Etat. 69. "You see that Dr. Percy is now Dean of Carlisle; about five hundred a year, with a power of presenting himself to some good living. He is pro vided for. "The Session of the CLUB is to commence with that of the parliament. Mr. Banks desires s Dr. Johnson here addresses his worthy friend, Bennet Langton, Esq. by his title as Captain of the Lincolnshire militia, in which he has since been most deservedly raised to the rank of Major. 1778. Ætat. 69. to be admitted; he will be a very honourable accession. "Did the King please you? The Coxheath men, I think, have some reason to complain: Reynolds says your camp is better than theirs. "I hope you find yourself able to encounter this weather. Take care of your own health: and, as you can, of your men. Be pleased to make my compliments to all the gentlemen whose notice I have had, and whose kindness I have experienced. "I am, dear Sir, "October 31, 1778. "Your most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." I wrote to him on the 18th of August, the 18th of September, and the 6th of November; informing him of my having had another son born, whom I had called James; that I had passed some time at Auchinleck; that the Countess of Loudoun, now in her ninety-ninth year, was as fresh as when he saw her, and remembered him with respect; and that his mother by adoption, the Countess of Eglintoune, had said to me, "Tell Mr. Johnson I love him exceedingly;" that I had again suffered much from bad spirits; and that as it was very long since I heard from him, I was not a little uneasy. The continuance of his regard for his friend Dr. Burney, appears from the following letters: TO THE REVEREND DR. WHEELER, oxford. DEAR SIR, "DR. BURNEY, who brings this paper, is engaged in a History of Musick; and having been told by Dr. Markham of some MSS. relating to his |