11, 1784.'

'TO MRS. LUCY PORTER, IN LICHFIELD.

'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[812]. Whether I shall continue free,
or shall fill again, cannot be told. Pray for me.

'Death, my 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, dear Madam,

'Your most humble servant,

'SAM. JOHNSON.'

'Feb. 23, 1784.'

TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

'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 the 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[813], 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[814]. The letter is of
consequence only to me.

'I am, dear Sir, &c. 'SAM. JOHNSON.' 'London, Feb. 27, 1784.'

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 mentioned
his expressions to me in the note accompanying it: 'With my most
affectionate wishes for Dr. Johnson's recovery, in which his friends,
his country, and all mankind have so deep a stake:' and at the same time
a full 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