"It is now become so much the fashion to publish letters, that in order to avoid it, I put as little into mine as I can," Samuel Johnson declared, according to Boswell. And Boswell answered, "Do what you will, Sir, you cannot avoid it. Should you even write as ill as you can, your letters would be published as curiosities." But Johnson's letters are far more than that. Even at their most cursory and casual, they are never less than precious biographical documents, and many of them mirror, define, and re-create a vivid likeness of the most versatile writer of eighteenth-century England. With these three volumes Princeton University Press inaugurates the first scholarly edition of this remarkable material to appear in forty years--the planned five-volume series The Letters of Samuel Johnson. Known as the Hyde Edition, the project will be completed with the fourth volume, covering the years 1782 through 1784, and the fifth, containing the comprehensive index and appendices. The series as a whole will present fifty-two previously unknown letters or parts of letters that have come to light since the publication of R. W. Chapman's three-volume set (Oxford, 1952). Such "new" letters, however, are scarcely more important than those for which only inferior printed texts or copies of varying reliability had previously been recovered. The Hyde Edition offers scores of texts transcribed for the first time from the original documents--a feature of special importance in the case of Johnson's revealing letters to Hester Thrale, many of which have been available only in expurgated form. The Hyde Edition is also the first systematically to record substantive deletions, which can yield intimate knowledge of Johnson's stylistic procedures, mental habits, and chains of association. Furthermore, its ownership credits document the current disposition of the manuscripts, hundreds of which have changed hands during the last four decades. Finally, the annotation of the letters incorporates the many significant discoveries of postwar Johnsonian scholarship, as well as decoding references that had previously resisted explanation. The result is a far richer understanding of Samuel Johnson's life, work, and milieu.

Originally published in 1992.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

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The Letters of Samuel Johnson

Volume I ? 1731–1772

By Samuel Johnson, BRUCE REDFORD

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, vii, 
PREFACE, ix, 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, xv, 
EDITORIAL PROCEDURES, xix, 
IMPORTANT EDITIONS OF JOHNSON'S LETTERS, xxiii, 
CHRONOLOGY, xxv, 
CUE TITLES AND ABBREVIATIONS, xxvii, 
LETTERS, 1731–1772, 3, 
INDEX, 419,

CHAPTER 1

Gregory Hickman

SATURDAY 30 OCTOBER 1731

MS: Hyde Collection.

Sir: Lichfield, Oct. 30, 1731

I have so long neglected to return You thanks for the favours and Assistance I received from you at Stourbridge that I am afraid You have now done expecting it. I can indeed make no apology but by assuring You that this delay, whatever was the cause of it, proceeded neither from forgetfulness, disrespect, nor ingratitude; Time has not made the Sense of the Obligation less warm, nor the thanks I return less sincere. But while I am acknowledging one Favour I must beg another, that You would excuse the omon of the Verses You desired. Be pleas'd to consider that versifying against ones inclination is the most disagreable thing in the World, and that ones own disappointment is no inviting Subject, and that though the desire of gratifying You might have prevaild over my dislike of it, yet it proves upon reflection so barren that to attempt to write upon it, is to undertake to build without materials.

As I am yet unemploy'd, I hope You will, if anything should offer, remember and recommend, Sir, Your humble servant,

SAM. JOHNSON

John Taylor

THURSDAY 27 JULY 1732

MS: Hyde Collection.

ADDRESS: To Mr. Taylor, Present.

ENDORSEMENTS: 1732, 27 July 1732.

Dear Sir: Lichfield, July 27, 1732

I received a Letter last Night from Mr. Corbett, who informs me of a Vacancy at Ashburne, I have no suspicion of any endeavours being wanting on Your Part to contribute to my success, and therefore do not ask for Your interest with the exactest Ceremony. I have sent this Messenger with letters to Mr. Vernon, and Mr. Corbett. Be pleas'd to favour me with You[r] Opinion of the means most proper to be used in this Matter, If there be any reason for my coming to Ashburne, I shall readily do it. Mr. Corbett has, I suppose, given You an account of my leaving Sir was really e Carcere exire. I am, Dear Sir, Your humble servant,

SAM JOHNSON

Unidentified Correspondent

WEDNESDAY l8 SEPTEMBER 1734

MS: Hyde Collection.

Sir: [Lichfield] Septr. 18th 1734

I hope You will excuse the liberty I have taken of troubling You with twelve of my Proposals. I doubt not of Your willingness to encourage any undertaking in the way of letters, and am satisfied that my success may be much promoted by Your recommendation. I am, Sir, Your most humble servant,

SAM. JOHNSON

Edward Cave

MONDAY 25 NOVEMBER 1734

MS: Hyde Collection.

ADDRESS: To Mr. Cave at St. John's Gate, London.

POSTMARK: 27 NO.

ENDORSEMENTS: answer'd, Answerd Dec. 2.

To EDWARD CAVE, 25 November 1734

Sir: [Lichfield] Novr. 25th 1734

As You appear no less sensible than Your Readers of the defects of your Poetical Article, You will not be displeased, if, in order to the improvement of it, I communicate to You the sentiments of a person, who will undertake on reasonable terms sometimes to fill a column.

His opinion is, that the Publick would not give You a bad reception, if beside the current Wit of the Month, which a critical examination would generally reduce to a narrow Compass, You admitted not only Poems, Inscriptions etc. never printed before, which he will sometimes supply You with; but likewise short literary Dissertations in Latin or English, Critical Remarks on Authors Ancient or Modern, forgotten Poems that deserve Revival, or loose pieces, like Floyers, worth preserving. By this Method your Literary Article, for so it might be call'd, will, he thinks, be better recommended to the Publick, than by low Jests, awkward Buffoonery, or the dull Scurrilities of either Party.

If such a Correspondence will be agreable to You, be pleased to inform me in two posts, what the Conditions are on which You shall expect it. Your late offer gives me no reason to distrust your Generosity. If You engage in any Literary projects besides this Paper, I have other designs to impart if I could be secure from having others reap the advantage of what I should hint.

Your letter, by being directed to S. Smith to be left at the Castle in Birmingham, Warwackshire, will reach Your humble Servant.

Gilbert Repington

SUNDAY 18 MAY 1735

MS: Bodleian Library.

ADDRESS: TO Mr. Gilbt. Repington in Peckwater, Christchurch, Oxford, by London.

POSTMARKS: LITCHFIELD, 21 MA.

ENDORSEMENT: Sam. Johnson 1735.

Sir: Lichfield, May 18th 1735

I hope You will not imagine from my Silence, that I neglected the kind offer which You[r] Brother was pleased to make, that You would take some care about my Books; I had wrote much sooner, but that I did not know till to day whither to direct.

The Books, (of which I have written a Catalogue on the other side) were left with Mr. Taylor, from whom I had some reason to expect a regard to my Affairs. There were in the same box, which I left lock'd, some papers of a very private Nature, which I hope fell into good hands. The Books are now, I hear, with Mr. Spicer of Christ Church. I beg You, Dear Sir, that you will be pleased to collect them with what care you can, and transmit them directed to me at the Castle in Birmingham Warwickshire, to which a Carrier goes weekly from Oxford. I will very thankfully repay the expences of Boxes, Porters, and Letters to your Brother, or whoever else You shall think fit to receive 'em. I am sorry to give You this trouble which I hope You'll excuse from a former Schoolfellow. Be pleased to answer this by the next post, for I long to know in what condition my affairs stand. If Mr. Congreve be in college pray pay my compliments to him, and let him know I should think his correspondence a pleasure, and would gladly write to him, if I was inform'd what college he is of. I have many other Acquaintance in the University whom I remember with Pleasure, but shall not trouble You with messages, for I shall esteem You sufficiently kind if You manage this Affair for, Dear Sir, Your humble Servant, SAM. JOHNSON

My humble Service to Mr. Spicer.

Richard Congreve

WEDNESDAY 25 JUNE 1735

MS: Bodleian Library.

ADDRESS: TO Mr. Congreve of Ch. Church, Oxford, by London.

POSTMARKS: LITCHFIELD, 27 iv.

ENDORSEMENT: Sam. Johnson 1735.

Dear Sir: Great Haywood, June 25th 1735

The Excess of Ceremony with which You are pleas'd to address an old Acquaintance I should fear would have portended no great Sincerity to our future Correspondence, had You not taken care by a very important kindness to obviate the omen. Our former familiarity which you show in so agreeable a Light was embarrass'd with no forms, and we were content to love without complimenting each other. It was such as well became our rural Retreats, shades unpolluted by Flattery and falsehood, thickets where Interest and Artifice never lay conceal'd! To such an acquaintance I again invite you, and if in your early Life you received any pleasure from my conversation shall now expect You to...

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