Autograph letter signed : "Inner Temple" [London], to [William Johnson] Temple, 1763 July 14-15.

Commenting on the experience of returning to the country after being in the city: "the Animal spirits accustomed to be put in motion by the variety of bustling life, must be flat and torpid in the stillness of Retirement"; noting that life in London is excellent because "in London you can either have or want Company just as you please; so that you enjoy perfect freedom, and if any stile of living you may be in, is disagreeable to You, you have the comfort to think that it will not be long e'er you get rid of it, and pursue any other plan which you may find to be most agreable" [sic]; wondering about a supposed meeting between Mr. Ogilvie and [Thomas] Gray; reporting that he read "[James] Harris on Happiness, which is very sensible and accurate"; mentioning a letter from his father, who is "anxious for fear that [Boswell] should fall off from [his] prudent System and return to [his] dissipated unsettled way of thinking"; adding that he thinks he will promise his father "that [he] shall from this time study propriety of conduct and to be a Man of knowledge and Prudence as far as [he] can"; speculating that his father will send him to Europe soon; stating, "I find that London must be the place where I shall pass a great part of my life, if I wish to pass it with satisfaction"; informing him that he "had the honour of supping tete á tete with Mr. [Samuel] Johnson last night," who "took [him] by the hand cordialy, and said 'My Dear Boswell! I love you very much!'"; quoting Sir David Dalrymple's words about Johnson and comparing Johnson and [Jonathan] Swift; giving details of his conversation with Johnson, including Johnson's belief that "Idleness [is] a distemper which [Boswell] ought to combat against" and Johnson's promise to give Boswell advice "as to what Books [he] should take with [him] from England."