The Life of Samuel Johnson - James Boswell [911]
11. Blackfriars Bridge: The project for the construction of a bridge at Black-friars had been discussed for many years by the City of London, a plan finally being accepted in 1760 (Nicolas Tindal, The Continuation of Mr. Rapin’s History of England, vol. XXI (1759), p. 581; Tobias Smollett, Continuation of the Complete History of England, vol. III (1765), p. 387). Construction of the first pier beganinJune 1761, thefirst stonehavingbeen laid by Sir Robert Ladbrooke on 23 May (General Magazine of Arts and Sciences, xii (1764), 682). The stonework of the sixth pier was completed inSeptember 1765(TheAnnual Register for the Year1765(1766), p.127), and the great arch was finally openedon1October 1765 (Thomas Salmon, A New Geographical and Historical Grammar (1766), p. 356).
12. the French Prisoners: These French soldiers had been taken prisoner in the course of the Seven Years War (1756–63), and were being held at Knowle, near Bristol, where their plight had stimulated widespread concern. The common people made generous contributions of money and clothing to relieve them.
13. the Cock-Lane Ghost: A celebrated imposture which in 1762 was widely believed in London. A man named Parsons had persuaded his daughter to act the part of a ghost in order to persecute a man who had sued him for debt. See the London Magazine, xxxi (1762), 50–52, 103, 112, 151– 3, 258–9, 395 and xxxii (1763), 102 and 164. Johnson’s detection of the fraud was published in the Gentleman’s Magazine, xxxii (1762), 81; cf. also xxxii, 43 and xxxiii (1763), 144.
14. Falkland’s Islands: In June 1770 the Falkland Islands, a small archipelago off the south-eastern coast of Argentina, were seized by the Spanish, in retaliation for British operations against their settlements in Havana and Manila during the Seven Years War. After firm diplomatic representations from Britain the Spanish eventually withdrew. Johnson wrote in support of the diplomatic line taken by Lord North, and against those who clamoured for a military response, whom he bitterly reproached as men without honour hoping to profit from the dangers and hardships suffered by others.
15. Resolutions… of the American Congress: The first session of the American Continental Congress had convened in Philadelphia on 5 September 1774, and had set itself to formulate the principles on which the thirteen colonies would take their stand against the measures for their government proposed by George III and his prime minister Lord North. It was to these so-called ‘Declarations of Rights’ that Johnson was invited by Lord North’s ministry to compose a reply, published in 1775 as Taxation No Tyranny.
16. After my death… Griffith: Henry VIII, IV.ii.69–72.
17. a lady… with him: Mrs Thrale.
18. a superannuated lord and lady: William, 3rd Earl of Jersey, and his wife.
19. N.S., 1709: N.S. stands for ‘New Style’, and refers to the consequences of the adoption of the Gregorian calendar. In England and Scotland the Gregorian calendar was established by the Act 24 Geo. II. c. 23 (1751), which provided that the year 1752 and all future years should begin on 1 January instead of 25 March, that the day after 2 September 1752 should be reckoned as 14 September, and that the reformed rule for leap year should in future be adopted. Ireland followed in 1788.
20. the unfortunate house of Stuart: The Stuarts were ‘unfortunate’ because James II had either abdicated or (depending on your point of view) been driven from the throne in 1688.
21. kennel: The surface drain of a street; a gutter (OED).
22. scrophula, or king’s evil: Scrophula, or scrofula, is a constitutional disease characterized by chronic enlargement and degeneration of the lymphatic glands. In England and France it was formerly supposed to be curable by the king’s (or queen’s) touch. The practice of touching for the