BIB_ID
107637
Accession number
MA 981.95
Creator
Boswell, James, 1740-1795.
Display Date
ca. 1795 Apr. 8.
Credit line
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, before 1906.
Description
1 item (3 p., with address) ; 22.7 cm
Notes
Addressed to "Revd. W. Temple / St. Gluvias / Penryn / Cornwall."
Part of a large collection of letters from James Boswell to William Johnson Temple and related correspondence. Letters have been described in individual records; see MA 981 for details.
The elder James Boswell died on May 19, 1795.
This letter contains multiple parts. At the top of p. [2], James Boswell the elder has tried to write to Temple on his own: "My dear Temple, I would fain write to you with my own hand but really canot [sic]." This sentence is followed by a letter dicated and signed by Boswell and written down by his son, James Boswell, Jr. The sheet also includes two autograph letters signed from James Boswell, Jr., one on p. [1] and one following the dictated letter on p. [3].
With postmark and trace of a seal.
Part of a large collection of letters from James Boswell to William Johnson Temple and related correspondence. Letters have been described in individual records; see MA 981 for details.
The elder James Boswell died on May 19, 1795.
This letter contains multiple parts. At the top of p. [2], James Boswell the elder has tried to write to Temple on his own: "My dear Temple, I would fain write to you with my own hand but really canot [sic]." This sentence is followed by a letter dicated and signed by Boswell and written down by his son, James Boswell, Jr. The sheet also includes two autograph letters signed from James Boswell, Jr., one on p. [1] and one following the dictated letter on p. [3].
With postmark and trace of a seal.
Provenance
Major William Stone; purchased by Pierpont Morgan from the London dealer J. Pearson & Co. before 1906.
Summary
The dictated letter (which is undated) includes Boswell's account of his illness: "the pain which continued for so many weeks was very severe indeed, and when it went off I thought myself quite well; but I soon felt a conviction that I was by no means as I should be -- so exceedingly weak...." He also writes that he feels "a good deal stronger today" and asks Temple to write frequently. James Boswell, Jr. appends a postscript: "you will find by the foregoing ... that [my father] is ignorant of the dangerous situation in which he was, and ... still continues to be ... we trust that the nourishment which he is now able to take, and his strong constitution, will support him through." A second note from James Boswell, Jr., dated Apr. 8, 1795, gives an update on Boswell's improving health and lists the doctors who have been attending him.
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