Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Autograph letter signed with initials : London, to [William Johnson] Temple, 1789 Jan. 10.

BIB_ID
379912
Accession number
MA 981.67
Creator
Boswell, James, 1740-1795.
Display Date
1789 Jan. 10.
Credit line
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan before 1906.
Description
1 item (8 p.) ; 23.1 cm
Notes
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.
Provenance
Major William Stone; purchased by Pierpont Morgan from the London dealer J. Pearson & Co. before 1906.
Summary
Discussing his troubles in finding a suitable house for his family in London; noting that his current residence is "in a most illegal situation" and "for appearance [he] should have cheap chambers in the Temple"; writing that he is "sadly discouraged by having no practice, nor probably prospect of it"; remarking that "the delusion of Westmister Hall, of brilliant reputation and splendid fortune as a barrister, still weighs on [his] imagination"; telling him that he is "hop[ing] for some happy openings in causes of importance" in the Courts; discussing his sons; mentioning that he is "very near [his] rough draft of [Samuel] Johnson's Life" and hopes it will be out by the end of May; apologizing because he has not been able to get Temple's nephew into Christ's Hospital: "I am very sorry to find that it is the most difficult thing you can imagine, to get a boy, not the son of a citizen, into Christ's Hospital ... and I am sure I have not a tenth part of that kind of interest which is required"; talking about his visit to the Archbishop of York [William Markham]; discussing his political efforts in Scotland and the question of a Regency during a severe illness of George III; adding, "[William] Pitt has behaved very ill in his neglect of me."