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of the University of Oxford, to all those who may read this, greeting. Know that the illustrious Samuel Johnson, a man learned in all humane letters and happy in his grasp of the sciences, long since became so famous for his writings, eminently calculated in form and matter to improve the manners of his countrymen, that the University thought him worthy of signal honour and so enrolled him among its honoured Masters. Now whereas this distinguished man has won such repute by his subsequent labours, notably in refining and fixing our language, that he is justly reckoned a chief and leader in the republic of letters, therefore we the Chancellor, Master, and Scholars of the University of Oxford, wishing at once to honour him as he deserves, and to record our own devotion to letters, have in our solemn Convocation of Doctors and Masters made the said Samuel Johnson a Doctor of Civil Law, and have by the present diploma made him free of all the rights and privileges that belong to that degree. Given in our Convocation House, 30 March 1775.’

447. un gentilhomme comme un autre: A gentleman like any other.

448. Viro… 1775: ‘To the Reverend Thomas Fothergill, Professor of Theology, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford. Dr Samuel Johnson. I need not use many words to tell you how I receive the commendation with which the University over which you preside has transmitted my name to posterity. Every man is glad to think well of himself; and that man must think well of himself, of whom you, the arbiters of letters, can think well. But the good you have done me has one drawback: henceforth any fault of mine, of commission or omission, will hurt your reputation; I must always fear that what is a signal honour to me may one day bring discredit upon you. 7 April 1775’

449. a gentleman: James Bruce.

450. a certain political lady: Catherine Macaulay.

451. The force… no farther go: John Dryden, ‘Lines on Milton’ (1688), l. 5.

452. Bouts rimé s: Rhymed endings.

453. a gentleman… who wrote for the Vase: Captain Constantine Phipps (later Baron Mulgrave).

454. Clarissa: Samuel Richardson, Clarissa (1748–9).

455. another King: George II.

456. bibliopole: A dealer in books, a bookseller (OED).

457. another Italian authour: G. C. Cappaccio.

458. the ballad of Lilliburlero: A popular Whig ballad, composed by Thomas, 1st Marquess of Wharton (1648–1715), which is said to have sung James II out of three kingdoms.

459. One of the company: Bishop Percy.

460. an eminent person: Edmund Burke.

461. May 8: Rather, 8 April.

462. a certain celebrated actor: Spranger Barry.

463. a certain authour: Arthur Murphy.

464. another… actor: David Garrick.

465. Or, driven… pole to pole: Alexander Pope, Imitations of Horace, Epistle II.ii.276–7 (1737).

466. Man… to be blest: Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man (1732-4), i.96.

467. mediocribus… columnce: ‘For poets to be second-rate is forbidden equally by gods, by men, and by booksellers’ – Horace, Ars Poetica, ll. 372-3. See above, n. 415.

468. as there is… exquisite in its kind: Untraced.

469. a gentleman: James Boswell.

470. a man very low in his profession: Dr W. Duncan.

471. ∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗: Alexander Wedderburne.

472. ∗∗∗∗: John Home, the dramatist.

473. two other gentlemen: Edward Dilly and Sir John Miller.

474. the preacher in the morning: The Revd John Burrows.

475. The preacher in the afternoon: The Revd S. Popham.

476. a distinguished gentleman of our acquaintance: Charles Fox.

477. a Deist: Dr Richard Brocklesby.

478. to communicate: That is to say, to take communion.

479. an acquaintance: Probably James Boswell.

480. Nil admirari: ‘Nothing is to be admired’ – Horace, Epistles, I.vi.i.

481. Amoret’s… sustain: Edmund Waller (1606–87), ‘To Amoret’ (‘Fair! that you may truly know’), ll. 39–46.

482. electuary: A medicinal conserve or paste, consisting of a powder or other ingredient mixed with honey, preserve, or syrup of some kind (OED).

483. bolus: A medicine of round shape adapted for swallowing, larger than an ordinary pill (OED).

484. quid tentasse nocebit: ‘It can do no