第46章

’DEARSIR，Icamehitherlastnight，andhope，butdonotabsolutelypromise，tobeinEdinburghonSaturday。Beattiewillnotcomesosoon。Iam，Sir，yourmosthumbleservant，’Mycomplimentstoyourlady。’

’SAM。JOHNSON。’

TOTHESAME。

’Mr。JohnsonsendshiscomplimentstoMr。Boswell，beingjustarrivedatBoyd’s——Saturdaynight。’

HisstayinScotlandwasfromthe18thofAugust，onwhichdayhearrived，tillthe22ndofNovember，whenhesetoutonhisreturntoLondon；andIbelieveninety-fourdayswereneverpassedbyanymaninamorevigorousexertion。*

*InhisJournalofaTourtotheHebrides，publishedtheyearafterJohnsondied，BoswellgivesadetailedaccountofJohnson’sconversationandadventureswithhimthroughoutthejourneyof1773。Partlyowingtotheiruninterruptedassociation，partlytothestrangenessandvariationofbackgroundandcircumstances，andpartlytoBoswell’slargerleisureduringthetourfortheelaborationofhisaccount，thejournalisevenmoreracy，picturesque，andinterestingthananyequalpartoftheLife。NoreaderwhoenjoystheLifeshouldfailtoreadtheTour——

unabridged!——ED。

HishumaneforgivingdispositionwasputtoaprettystrongtestonhisreturntoLondon，byalibertywhichMr。ThomasDavieshadtakenwithhiminhisabsence，whichwas，topublishtwovolumes，entitled，MiscellaneousandfugitivePieces，whichheadvertisedinthenews-papers，’BytheAuthouroftheRambler。’Inthiscollection，severalofDr。Johnson’sacknowledgedwritings，severalofhisanonymousperformances，andsomewhichhehadwrittenforothers，wereinserted；buttherewerealsosomeinwhichhehadnoconcernwhatever。Hewasatfirstveryangry，ashehadgoodreasontobe。But，uponconsiderationofhispoorfriend’snarrowcircumstances，andthathehadonlyalittleprofitinview，andmeantnoharm，hesoonrelented，andcontinuedhiskindnesstohimasformerly。

Inthecourseofhisself-examinationwithretrospecttothisyear，heseemstohavebeenmuchdejected；forhesays，January1，1774，’Thisyearhaspassedwithsolittleimprovement，thatIdoubtwhetherIhavenotratherimpairedthanincreasedmylearning’；andyetwehaveseenhowheREAD，andweknowhowheTALKEDduringthatperiod。

HewasnowseriouslyengagedinwritinganaccountofourtravelsintheHebrides，inconsequenceofwhichIhadthepleasureofamorefrequentcorrespondencewithhim。

’TOBENNETLANGTON，ESQ。，ATLANGTON，NEARSPILSBY，LINCOLNSHIRE。

’DEARSIR，——YouhavereasontoreproachmethatIhaveleftyourlastlettersolongunanswered，butIhadnothingparticulartosay。Chambers，youfind，isgonefar，andpoorGoldsmithisgonemuchfurther。Hediedofafever，exasperated，asIbelieve，bythefearofdistress。Hehadraisedmoneyandsquanderedit，byeveryartificeofacquisition，andfollyofexpence。Butletnothisfrailtiesberemembered；hewasaverygreatman。

’IhavejustbeguntoprintmyJourneytotheHebrides，andamleavingthepresstotakeanotherjourneyintoWales，whitherMr。

Thraleisgoing，totakepossessionof，atleast，fivehundredayear，fallentohislady。AllatStreatham，thatarealive，arewell。

’Ihaveneverrecoveredfromthelastdreadfulillness，butflattermyselfthatIgrow

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