BIB_ID
379592
Accession number
MA 981.19
Creator
Boswell, James, 1740-1795.
Display Date
1767 July 29.
Credit line
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan before 1906.
Description
1 item (4 p., with address) ; 23.6 cm
Notes
Addressed to "The Reverend Mr. Temple / Berwic / upon Tweed."
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.
With postmark and 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.
With postmark and seal.
Provenance
Major William Stone; purchased by Pierpont Morgan from the London dealer J. Pearson & Co. before 1906.
Summary
Telling him that he is suffering from a severe bout of venereal disease: "The consequences of my debauch are now fatal; for I have got a disease from which I suffer severely. It has been long of appearing and is a heavy one ... I am patient under it, as a just retribution for my licentiousness"; worrying that he has exposed his pregnant mistress to the disease; discussing a letter he wrote to [Catherine] Blair, the woman he is interested in marrying; remarking that [Adam] Smith is "here just now" and "his jurisprudence will be out in a year & a half" [The Wealth of Nations].
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