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."
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