Dead paleness Boswell’s cheek o’erspread,
His limbs with horror shook;
With trembling haste he left his bed,
And burnt his fatal book.
And thrice he called on Johnson’s name,
Forgiveness to implore!
Then thrice repeated—“Injured fame!”
And word—wrote never more.
The following ballad, which was once very popular among the lower orders, is said to be founded on “William and Margaret”:—