ts, Manufactures, and
Commerce. BOSWELL.

[816] In the original _effusion_. Johnson's _Works_, vii. 402.

[817] Who had written him a very kind letter. BOSWELL.

[818] On Jan. 12 the Ministry had been in a minority of 39 in a House of
425; on March 8 the minority was reduced to one in a House of 381.
Parliament was dissolved on the 25th. In the first division in the new
Parliament the Ministry were in a majority of 97 in a House of 369.
_Parl. Hist._ xxiv. 299, 744, 829.

[819] See _ante_, p. 241.

[820] 'In old Aberdeen stands the King's College, of which the first
president was Hector Boece, or Boethius, who may be justly reverenced as
one of the revivers of elegant learning.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 11.

[821] See _ante_, iii. 104.

[822] In his dining-room, no doubt, among 'the very respectable people'
whose portraits hung there. _Ante_, p. 203, note.

[823] Horace Walpole (_Letters_, viii. 466) wrote on March 30:--'The
nation is intoxicated, and has poured in Addresses of Thanks to the
Crown for exerting the prerogative _against_ the palladium of
the people.'

[824] The election lasted from April 1 to May 16. Fox was returned
second on the poll. _Ann. Reg._ xxvii. 190.

[825] He was returned also for Kirkwall, for which place he sat for
nearly a year, while the scrutiny of the Westminster election was
dragging on. _Parl. Hist_. xxiv. 799.

[826] Hannah More wrote on March 8 (_Memoirs_, i. 310):--'I am sure you
will honour Mr. Langton, when I tell you he is come on purpose to stay
with Dr. Johnson, and that during his illness. He has taken a little
lodging in Fleet-street in order to be near, to devote himself to him.
He has as much goodness as learning, and that is saying a bold thing of
one of the first Greek scholars we have.'

[827] Floyer was the Lichfield physician on whose advice Johnson was
'_touched_' by Queen Anne. _Ante_, i. 42, 91, and _post_, July 20, 1784.

[828] To which Johnson returned this answer:--

'TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EARL OF PORTMORE.

'Dr. Johnson acknowledges with great respect the honour of Lord
Portmore's notice. He is better than he was; and will, as his Lordship
directs, write to Mr. Langton.

'Bolt-court, Fleet-street,

April 13, 1784.'

BOSWELL. Johnson here assumes his title of Doctor, which Boswell says
(_ante_, ii. 332, note 1), so far as he knew, he never did. Perhaps the
letter has been wrongly copied, or perhaps Johnson thought that, in
writing to a man