1159. The Journey to London: See n. 247.
1160. Nor think… and pills: Jonathan Swift, ‘Stella’s Birth-day. March 13. 1726/7’, ll. 5-6.
1161. Parenetick Divinity: Divinity composed in order to give exhortation or advice.
1162. seven Bishops… arbitrary power: A reference to the seven bishops of the Church of England who in 1687 had opposed James II’s Declaration of Indulgence – a measure which proposed to remove the disabilities attaching to Dissenters, but only in order to do the same for Roman Catholics.
1163. Here Learning… Fancy wild: Richard Savage, The Wanderer (1729), canto ii, p. 40 (where however it reads ‘Frenzy’, not ‘Fancy’).
1164. Epigram… t’other: ‘Timothy Silence’, The Foundling Hospital for Wit (1749), pp. 87-8.
1165. spoiled… deceit: Cf. Colossians 2:8.
1166. Multis… occidit: ‘He died mourned by many good men’ – Horace, Odes, I.xxiv.9.
1167. Every man… in others: William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (1729), pp. 474-5.
1168. of whom I am the chief: 1 Timothy 1:15.
1169. True as the dial… shone upon: Butler, Hudibras, III.ii.175-6.
1170. a certain clergyman: The Revd Sir Henry Bate.
1171. As the soft plume… to the heart: Edward Young, Two Epistles to Mr. Pope, concerning the Authors of the Age (1730), ep. ii, p. 27.
1172. my Redeemer has said… on his left: Matthew 20:21-3.
1173. St. Paul’s thorn in the flesh: 2 Corinthians 12:7.
1174. sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof: Matthew 6:34.
1175. considering… his Rambler and his Rasselas: See pp. 119–22 and 182-4.
1176. Valeant… possunt: May they have all the weight they can.
1177. ex dono authoris: Given by the author.
1178. Condemn’d… mine: ‘On the Death of Dr. Robert Levet’ (1783), l. 1.
1179. Aurungzebe: Dryden, Aureng-Zebe, IV.i.33–42.
1180. Sun, how I hate thy beams: Milton, Paradise Lost, iv.37.
1181. While malice…to see: Alexander Pope, The Dunciad Variorum (1729), note to ii.134.
1182. Grongar Hilclass="underline" John Dyer, Grongar Hill (1726).
1183. Voyages to the South Sea: James Cook, A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean (1784).
1184. mollia… fandi: ‘The most promising time to address him’ – Virgil, Aeneid, iv.293.
1185. The wits… to fame: Johnson, ‘Prologue Spoken by Mr. Garrick at the Opening of the Theatre in Drury-Lane, 1747’, l. 17.
1186. Wednesday, June 19: In fact it was the 16th.
1187. a gentleman: Dr John Taylor.
1188. A dull country magistrate: The mayor of Windsor.
1189. Who rules… be free: Henry Brooke, The Earl of Essex. A Tragedy (1761), p. 13.
1190. a gentleman: Possibly Boswell himself.
1191. I deny your Major: 1 Henry IV, II.v.452.
1192. De Claris Oratoribus: ‘Of famous orators’.
1193. take up thy bed and walk: Mark 2:9.
1194. Though fraught… a vote: Oliver Goldsmith, Retaliation: A Poem (1774), p. 8.
1195. An authour… vanity: Possibly Richard Cumberland.
1196. The wife of one of his acquaintance: Mrs Cave.
1197. A foppish physician: Sir Lucas Pepys.
1198. Pactolus: A river in Lydia whose sands contained gold.
1199. a writer of entertaining Travels: Dr John Moore.
1200. a little Miss: Jeanie Campbell, the step-daughter of Mrs Boswell’s sister.
1201. this lively conceit: Whitefoord, under the pseudonym ‘Papirius Cursor’, proposed a ‘new and humourous method of reading the News-papers’, namely reading across the two columns of a page of newsprint to produce paradoxical conjunctions, such as ‘This day his Majesty will go in state to | fifteen notorious common prostitutes.’
1202. a gentleman: Sir Richard Musgrave.
1203. another gentleman: Dr Joseph Warton.
1204. An authour: Possibly Dr James Beattie.
1205. a young man: John Lawrie, Boswell’s former clerk.
1206. A young gentleman: Richard Burke, son of Edmund Burke.
1207. In my mind’s eye, Horatio: Hamlet, I.ii.184.
1208. it lends deception… to fly: Cf. Pope, ‘Epistle to Bathurst’, ll. 69–70: ‘Blest paper-credit! last and best supply! | That lends Corruption lighter wings to fly!’
1209. an eminent critick: Edmond Malone.
1210. a very celebrated lady: Hannah More.
1211. the master of the house: Richard Pottinger, Clerk to the Privy Seal.
1212. a gentleman: Hon. Thomas Fitzmaurice.
1213. bien trouvee: Happily invented if untrue (cf. the Italian ben trovato).
1214. With thee… all time: Milton, Paradise Lost, iv.639.
1215. on July 6: In fact on 8 July.
1216. one of whom: Perhaps Lady Lucan.
1217. mihi carior: Endeared to myself.
1218. virtus… fugere: ‘To flee vice is the beginning of virtue’ – Horace, Epistles, I.i.41.
1219. Que les vers… vos amis: ‘Don’t let verse be your sole occupation; cultivate your friends’ – Nicolas Boileau, Art poetique (1674), ‘chant iv’, ll. 121-2.
1220. Ciceronianus: Possibly a speech by Bulephorus, ‘Dialogus Ciceronianus’, in Erasmi opera omnia (Amsterdam: North Holland Publishing Company, 1969-), II, 618–19.
1221. abite curce: ‘Begone, dull cares’ – Martial, XI.vi.6.
1222. nocitura petuntur: ‘We crave what will harm us’ – Juvenal, Satires, x.8.
1223. vis vitce: Living force.
1224. vis inertice: Power of inertia.
1225. Quid… una: ‘What relief is there in plucking out one thorn from many?’ – Horace, Epistles, II.ii.212.
1226. the balloon… so long expected: Ballooning was a popular craze at this time.
1227. inter stellas Luna minores: ‘The moon among the lesser stars’ – Horace, Odes, I.xii.46.