new of it by the ringing of a bell, or by
seeing it mentioned next day in a newspaper.'

[776] Six years later, when he was _Praeses_ of the Quarter-Sessions, he
carried up to London an address to be presented to the Prince of Wales.
'This,' he wrote, 'will add something to my _conspicuousness_. Will that
word do?' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 295.

[777] This part of this letter was written, as Johnson goes on to say, a
considerable time before the conclusion. The Coalition Ministry, which
was suddenly dismissed by the King on Dec. 19, was therefore still in
power. Among Boswell's 'friends' was Burke. See _ante_, p. 223.

[778] On Nov. 22 he wrote to Dr. Taylor:-'I feel the weight of solitude
very pressing; after a night of broken and uncomfortable slumber I rise
to a solitary breakfast, and sit down in the evening with no companion.
Sometimes, however, I try to read more and more.' _Notes and Queries_,
6th S. v. 482. On Dec. 27 he wrote to Mrs. Thrale:--'You have more than
once wondered at my complaint of solitude, when you hear that I am
crowded with visits. _Inopem me copia fecit_. Visitors are no proper
companions in the chamber of sickness. They come when I could sleep or
read, they stay till I am weary.... The amusements and consolations of
langour and depression are conferred by familiar and domestick
companions, which can be visited or called at will.... Such society I
had with Levett and Williams; such I had where I am never likely to have
it more.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 341.

[779] The confusion arising from the sudden dismissal of a Ministry
which commanded a large majority in the House of Commons had been
increased by the resignation, on Dec. 22, of Earl Temple, three days
after his appointment as Secretary of State. _Parl. Hist_. xxiv. 238.

[780] 'News I know none,' wrote Horace Walpole on Dec. 30, 1783
(_Letters_, viii. 447), 'but that they are crying Peerages about the
streets in barrows, and can get none off.' Thirty-three peerages were
made in the next three years. (_Whitaker's Almanac_, 1886, p. 463.)
Macaulay tells how this December 'a troop of Lords of the Bedchamber, of
Bishops who wished to be translated, and of Scotch peers who wished to
be reelected made haste to change sides.' Macaulay's _Writings and
Speeches_, ed. 1871, p. 407.

[781] See _ante_, ii. 182. He died Oct. 28, 1788.

[782]'Prince Henry was the first encourager of remote navigation. What
mankind has lost and gained by the geniu