, and next day sent to Dr.
Burney the following note, which I insert as the last token of his
remembrance of that ingenious and amiable man, and as another of the
many proofs of the tenderness and benignity of his heart:--

'MR. JOHNSON, who came home last night, sends his respects to dear Dr.
Burney, and all the dear Burneys, little and great[1164].'

'TO MR. HECTOR, IN BIRMINGHAM.

'DEAR SIR,

'I did not reach Oxford until Friday morning, and then I sent Francis to
see the balloon fly, but could not go myself. I staid at Oxford till
Tuesday, and then came in the common vehicle easily to London. I am as I
was, and having seen Dr. Brocklesby, am to ply the squills; but,
whatever be their efficacy, this world must soon pass away. Let us think
seriously on our duty. I send my kindest respects to dear Mrs.
Careless[1165]: let me have the prayers of both. We have all lived long,
and must soon part. GOD have mercy on us, for the sake of our Lord JESUS
CHRIST. Amen.

'I am, &c.

'SAM. JOHNSON.'

'London, Nov. 17, 1784.'

His correspondence with me, after his letter on the subject of my
settling in London, shall now, so far as is proper, be produced in
one series:--

July 26, he wrote to me from Ashbourne:--

'On the 14th I came to Lichfield, and found every body glad enough to
see me. On the 20th, I came hither, and found a house half-built, of
very uncomfortable appearance; but my own room has not been altered.
That a man worn with diseases, in his seventy-second or third year,
should condemn part of his remaining life to pass among ruins and
rubbish, and that no inconsiderable part, appears to me very strange. I
know that your kindness makes you impatient to know the state of my
health, in which I cannot boast of much improvement. I came through the
journey without much inconvenience, but when I attempt self-motion I
find my legs weak, and my breath very short; this day I have been much
disordered. I have no company; the Doctor[1166] is busy in his fields,
and goes to bed at nine, and his whole system is so different from mine,
that we seem formed for different elements[1167]; I have, therefore,
all my amusement to seek within myself.'

Having written to him, in bad spirits, a letter filled with dejection
and fretfulness, and at the same time expressing anxious apprehensions
concerning him, on account of a dream which had disturbed me; his answer
was chiefly in terms of reproach, for a supposed charge of 'aff