The Life of Samuel Johnson - James Boswell [936]
868. —: Topham Beauclerk.
869. Lord—: Frederick St John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke.
870. an Earl’s brother: A brother of Lord Rothes.
871. ––––––: Lord Clive.
872. weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable: Hamlet, I.ii.133.
873. a Baronet: Sir Nicholas Bayley.
874. Lord—: Lord Charlemont.
875. Eπα πτζoντα: Winged words.
876. bulse: A package of diamonds or gold-dust (OED).
877. piling their arms: Placing muskets or rifles (usually in threes) with their butts on the ground and their muzzles meeting to support one another in an upright position, either at the cessation of fighting or as part of an act of surrender (OED).
878. Il y a… dans la guerre: There is much childishness in warfare.
879. In ccelum jusseris ibit: ‘And bid him go to heaven, to heaven he will go’ – Juvenal, Satires, iii.78. Cf. Samuel Johnson, London: A Poem (1738), l.116.
880. The slip… hand-writing: Presented to the Bodleian Library in 1947 by Col. Ralph H. Isham.
881. —: Bennet Langton.
882. —: Langton, in Lincolnshire.
883. shorn of his beams: With his brightness removed or diminished – cf. Milton, Paradise Lost, i.596; John Dryden, Aeneis (1697), xii.887 (quoted by Johnson in his Dictionary under ‘shorn’).
884. to frank my letters: Members of Parliament, such as Strahan, were entitled to free postage, and it was a fairly common practice during the eighteenth century for the friends of MPs to ask them to supply them with ‘franks’, that is to say, a letter or envelope bearing their superscription.
885. The Coxheath men: George III had visited Warley Camp on 20 October 1778, and Coxheath Camp on 23 November 1778.
886. Pour le Chevalier Reynolds… la peinture: ‘For Sir Joshua Reynolds, as evidence of the pleasure I felt in reading his excellent discourse on painting.’
887. in the year 1780: In fact in 1781.
888. conge d’elire: Royal permission to a monastic body or cathedral chapter to fill up a vacant see or abbacy by election (OED).
889. a clergyman: The Revd William Tasker.
890. Bayes: See n. 328.
891. a friend of ours: Perhaps Sir Joshua Reynolds.
892. one of his old acquaintances: James Elphinston.
893. the drunken Helot: The helots were the slave caste of ancient Sparta. Plutarch in his ‘Life of Lycurgus’ (xxviii) records that the Spartans would display drunken helots to their children, to instil in them a contempt for intoxication.
894. A gentleman: William Strahan.
895. one of our friends: Bennet Langton.
896. The Government of the Tongue: Richard Allestree, The Government of the Tongue (1 667); cf. also William Perkins, A Direction for the Government of the Tongue (1632).
897. and one: Mauritius Lowe.
898. an eminent physician: Dr William Heberden.
899. no man… his windows: The reference is to notorious disturbances in London on 23 April 1715, the anniversary of the accession of Queen Anne, when a Tory mob, intent on disruptive celebration, went about ‘imperiously commanding the People to illuminate their Windows, and contribute to their Bonefires. They were so intent upon Mischief, that they not only threw Stones, &c. at such Windows as were not illuminated, but at such People as were setting up Candles to prevent their Windows being broke; and threw Flint-Stones of such a Size and Weight, as were enough to have kill’d any Person they had hit. They likewise stopt Coaches, to extort Money from the Passengers; insulted those that were passing the Streets about their lawful Occasions, robb’d them of their Hats, Wigs, &c. buffeted them, and threatn’d farther Mischief if they would not Huzza, God bless the Queen and High Church’ (The annals of King George, year the first (1716), p. 405).
900. a nobleman: John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich.
901. Lord––––––: Lord Charles Spencer.
902. Mr. —: Mr Delmis.
903. a young Lord and an eminent traveller: Viscount Althorp and Sir Joseph Banks.
904. another gentleman: George Steevens.
905. se’nnight: A period of seven days and nights; a week (OED).
906. to make… go down: Lord Rochester, A Letter from Artemiza in the Towne to Chloe in the