[1468] Six of these twelve guineas Johnson appears to have borrowed from Mr. Allen, the printer. See Hawkins's Life of Johnson, p. 366 n. MALONE.
[1469] Written by mistake for 1759. On the outside of the letter of the 13th was written by another hand—'Pray acknowledge the receipt of this by return of post, without fail.' MALONE.
[1470] Catherine Chambers, Mrs. Johnson's maid-servant. She died in October, 1767. MALONE. See post, ii. 43.
[1471] This letter was written on the second leaf of the preceding, addressed to Miss Porter. MALONE.
[1472] Mrs. Johnson probably died on the 20th or 21st January, and was buried on the day this letter was written. MALONE. On the day on which his mother was buried Johnson composed a prayer, as being 'now about to return to the common comforts and business of the world.' Pr. and Med. p. 38. After his wife''s death he had allowed forty days to pass before his 'return to life.' See ante, p. 234, note 2.
[1473] See ante, p. 80.
[1474] Barnaby Greene had just published The Laureat, a Poem, in which Johnson is abused. It is in the February list of books in the Gent. Mag. for 1765.
[1475] Sir Cloudesly Shovel's monument is thus mentioned by Addison in The Spectator, No. 26:—'It has very often given me great offence; instead of the brave rough English Admiral, which was the distinguishing character of that plain gallant man, he is represented on his tomb by the figure of a beau, dressed in a long periwig, and reposing himself upon velvet cushions under a canopy of state.'
[1476]
'That live-long wig, which Gorgon's self might own,
Eternal buckle takes in Parian stone.'