'DR. JOHNSON TO MR. BOSWELL.
'Dear Sir,
'These black fits, of which you complain, perhaps hurt your memory as well as your imagination. When did I complain that your letters were too long[250]? Your last letter, after a very long delay, brought very bad news. [Here a series of reflections upon melancholy, and—what I could not help thinking strangely unreasonable in him who had suffered so much from it himself,—a good deal of severity and reproof, as if it were owing to my own fault, or that I was, perhaps, affecting it from a desire of distinction.]
'Read Cheyne's English Malady;[251] but do not let him teach you a foolish notion that melancholy is a proof of acuteness.
'To hear that you have not opened your boxes of books is very offensive. The examination and arrangement of so many volumes might have afforded you an amusement very seasonable at present, and useful for the whole of life. I am, I confess, very angry that you manage yourself so ill.[252]
'I do not now say any more, than that I am, with great kindness, and sincerity, dear Sir,
'Your humble servant,
'SAM. JOHNSON.'
'July 2, 1776.'
'It was last year[253] determined by Lord Mansfield, in the Court of King's Bench, that a negro cannot be taken out of the kingdom without his own consent.'