on her when I am alone; hope we shall be
very happy together and mind our books.' _Ib_. p. 173.

[1233] See _ante_, iv. 421, for the inscription on an urn erected by Mr.
Myddelton 'on the banks of a rivulet where Johnson delighted to stand
and repeat verses.' On Sept. 18, 1777, Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale:
--'Mr. ----'s erection of an urn looks like an intention to bury me
alive; I would as willingly see my friend, however benevolent and
hospitable, quietly inurned. Let him think for the present of some more
acceptable memorial.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 371.

[1234] Johnson wrote on Oct. 24, 1778:--'My two clerical friends Darby
and Worthington have both died this month. I have known Worthington
long, and to die is dreadful. I believe he was a very good man.' _Piozzi
Letters_, ii. 26.

[1235] Thomas, the second Lord Lyttelton. DUPPA.

[1236] Mr. Gwynn the architect was a native of Shrewsbury, and was at
this time completing a bridge across the Severn, called the English
Bridge: besides this bridge, he built one at Acham, over the Severn,
near to Shrewsbury; and the bridges at Worcester, Oxford [Magdalen
Bridge], and Henley. DUPPA. He was also the architect of the Oxford
Market, which was opened in 1774. _Oxford during the Last Century_, ed.
1859, p. 45. Johnson and Boswell travelled to Oxford with him in March,
1776. _Ante_, ii. 438. In 1778 he got into some difficulties, in which
Johnson tried to help him, as is shewn by the following autograph letter
in the possession of my friend Mr. M. M. Holloway:--

'SIR,

'Poor Mr. Gwyn is in great distress under the weight of the late
determination against him, and has still hopes that some mitigation may
be obtained. If it be true that whatever has by his negligence been
amiss, may be redressed for a sum much less than has been awarded, the
remaining part ought in equity to be returned, or, what is more
desirable, abated. When the money is once paid, there is little hope of
getting it again.

'The load is, I believe, very hard upon him; he indulges some flattering
opinions that by the influence of his academical friends it may be
lightened, and will not be persuaded but that some testimony of my
kindness may be beneficial. I hope he has been guilty of nothing worse
than credulity, and he then certainly deserves commiseration. I never
heard otherwise than that he was an honest man, and I hope that by your
countenance and that of other gentlemen who favour or pity him some