191. Jargonnant… barbare: Babbling barbaric French.
192. cceteris paribus: Other things being equal.
193. a gentleman who was mentioned: George Dempster.
194. a noted infidel writer: David Hume.
195. plenum: A space completely filled with matter (OED).
196. a certain authour: William Robertson.
197. A writer of deserved eminence: Thomas Warton the elder.
198. The Tale of a Tub: Jonathan Swift, A Tale of a Tub (1704); now securely attributed to Swift.
199. —: Edmund Burke.
200. a young man: James Boswell.
201. Eblana… light of day: ‘An Ode to Eblana, on entering the Harbour of Dublin, after a long Absence’, in Samuel Derrick, A Collection of Original Poems (1755), p. 153.
202. bulk: A part of a building jutting out (Johnson).
203. Orpheus… the Argonauts: In Greek mythology Orpheus was a legendary poet, whose playing on the lyre could hold wild beasts spellbound. He accompanied Jason and the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece, and by his song he enabled them to resist the lure of the Sirens.
204. Formosam… silvas: ‘And the woods resound with the name of Amaryllis’ – Virgil, Eclogues, i.5.
205. a certain friend of his: Possibly Edmund Burke.
206. the Convocation: The principal provincial synod or assembly of the clergy of the Church of England, constituted by statute and called together to deliberate on ecclesiastical matters. The bitter controversy which attended the repeal of the Schism Act (1714) in 1719 caused Convocation to be adjourned indefinitely, and it did not meet again until 1854: see J. P. Kenyon, Revolution Principles: The Politics of Party 1689–1720 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977), p. 196.
207. Jean Bull philosophe: John Bull the philosopher. John Bull was the embodiment of Englishness, popularized in a series of pamphlets by John Arbuthnot published in 1712 in opposition to English involvement in the War of the Spanish Succession.
208. gulosity: Gluttony, greediness, voracity (OED).
209. a nobleman’s French cook: The nobleman was possibly Lord Elibank.
210. a lady: Probably Mrs Boswell.
211. turned him… aside: A misquotation of ll. 5-6 of Alexander Pope’s The Second Satire of the Second Book of Horace Paraphrased (1734): ‘Not when a gilt Buffet’s reflected pride | Turns you from sound Philosophy aside’. The reference is to Edmund Burke.
212. Who born… mankind: Oliver Goldsmith, Retaliation: A Poem (1774), ll. 31-2.
213. the Frisick language: The language of Friesland, or the northern Netherlands.
214. Unelbow’d… player: Pope, ‘Epistle to Bathurst’, l. 242.
215. That Davies… wife: Charles Churchill, The Rosciad, 2nd edn (1761), p. 10, l. 222.
216. poor Mrs. Macaulay: Catherine Macaulay (1731–91) had begun to publish her Whiggish History of England in 1763.
217. OMNIBUS… Kearney: To all who may read this, greeting. We, the Provost and senior fellows of Queen Elizabeth’s College of the holy and undivided Trinity at Dublin, declare that Samuel Johnson, gentleman, in recognition of the outstanding elegance and usefulness of his writings, was admitted to the degree of Doctor of Laws this eighth day of July 1765. In evidence thereof we attach the following signatures and the common seal; given on the twenty-third day of July 1765. William Clement Francis Andrews R. Murray Thomas Wilson Provost Robert Law Thomas Leland Michael Kearney
218. The Conscious Lovers: Richard Steele, The Conscious Lovers (first performed 1722).
219. Un gentilhomme… gentilhomme: ‘A gentleman is always a gentleman.’
220. Damien’s bed of steeclass="underline" Robert-Francois Damiens (1715–57) attempted to assassinate Louis XV on 5 January 1757, and was executed on 2 March in a protracted ceremony full of symbolic violence. It is described by Michel Foucault in the first chapter of Surveiller et punir: naissance de la prison (Paris, 1975; trans. as Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, 1977).
221. a foreign friend of his: Giuseppe Baretti.
222. a gay friend: John Wilkes.
223. Profession… Vicaire Savoyard: ‘A Savoyard Vicar’s Profession of Faith’, in Emile (1762).
224. multorum… urbes: ‘The cities and the customs of many men’ – Horace, Ars Poetica, l. 142.
225. a young gentleman: James Boswell.
226. The passage omitted… transaction: Boswell’s copy at Yale supplies the missing information. Johnson had asked Boswell why he had dedicated the work to Lord Mountstuart, a man for whom he had no regard.
227. V7.ro NOBiLissiMO… JACOBUS BOSWELL: ‘James Boswell dedicates the first fruits of his legal studies, as a token of devoted friendship and respect, to the honoured companion of his Italian travels, to the most noble John, Viscount Mountstuart, of kingly line, the second hope of the noble family of Bute: a man ever mindful of his ancient and illustrious blood in a degenerate age, when men of no origin strive to level birth with riches; who by his virtues enhances the splendour of his birthright; already a member of the House of Commons, but destined by hereditary right to the House of Lords; with an education that promotes his native talent, but does not display itself; of ancient faith, liberal understanding, and elegance of manners.’
228. Jurisprudentije… solemus: ‘No study is richer or more noble than jurisprudence; for in discussing laws we consider both the manners of peoples and the vicissitudes from which laws derive.’
229. Hcec sunt… age: ‘Such are the warnings I am able to give you. Go, then’ – Virgil, Aeneid, iii.461-2 (slightly misquoted).
230. modo… reliquit: ‘She dropped twin kids, hope of my flock, on the naked flint.’
231. Spemque… simuclass="underline" ‘At once the hope and the flock.’
232. prcesidium: Defence or protection. Cf. Horace, Odes, I.i.2.
233. Spes tu nunc una… Te penes: ‘You are now our only hope – the honour and sovereignty of Latinus are in your hands.’
234. Excelsce familice de Bute spes prima… spes altera: The first hope of the lofty family of Bute… the second hope.
235. Et juxta… RomiS: ‘And beside him Ascanius, the second hope of great Rome.’
236. Juris Civilis Fontes: The Sources of the Civil Law.
237. Nam huic… nescio: ‘I don’t know where this other girl comes from.’
238. hoc ipsa… audivi: ‘By chance I heard her tell that on the way to the other girl.’
239. xατ’ Σoχην: ‘Par excellence.’
240. Et genus… alga est: ‘Without substance, blood and valour are less than seaweed.’
241. Et genus… donat: ‘Even birth and beauty can be bestowed by Queen Money.’