, toddle about, live mostly on milk, and be taken care of by
Mrs Boswell. She and I are good friends now, are we not?'

In 1783 Boswell appeared before the public with a _Letter to the People
of Scotland_. It was on Fox's proposed bill to regulate the affairs of
the East India Company. Against it he stands forth, 'as an ancient and
faithful Briton, holding an estate transmitted to him by charters from a
series of kings.' Guardedly Johnson admitted that 'your paper contains
very considerable knowledge of history and of the constitution: it will
certainly raise your character, though perhaps it may not make you a
minister of state.' A copy to Pitt elicited the formal acceptance of
thanks, but the exclusion of the bill Boswell took as proof of his own
advocacy. He stood for Ayrshire, turning back from York when the
dissolution was announced. 'Our Boswell,' wrote the doctor to Langton,
'is now said to stand for some place. Whether to wish him success his
best friends hesitate.'

May found him with the Rambler for the last time. 'I intend,' he writes
to Dr Percy, 'to be in London about the end of this month, chiefly to
attend upon Dr Johnson with respectful affection. He has for some time
been very ill with dropsical asthmatical complaints, which at his age
are very alarming. I wish to publish as a regale to him a neat little
volume--_The Praises of Doctor Samuel Johnson, by co-temporary writers_.
Will your lordship take the trouble to send me a note of the writers who
have praised our much respected friend?' The attentive Bozzy had written
to all the leading men in the Edinburgh School of Medicine--Cullen,
Hope, Monro, and others. With the expectation that an increase of
Johnson's pension would enable him to visit Italy, he consulted Sir
Joshua Reynolds, and, with his approval, wrote to Thurlow the
Chancellor. At the house of the painter they dined for the last time.

'I accompanied him in Sir Joshua Reynolds's coach, to the entry
of Bolt Court. He asked me whether I would not go with him to
his house; I declined it, from an apprehension that my spirits
would sink. We bade adieu to each other affectionately in the
carriage. When he had got down upon the foot-pavement he called
out, "Fare you well;" and, without looking back, sprung away
with a kind of pathetick briskness, if I may use that
expression, which seemed to indicate a struggle to conceal
uneasiness, and impressed me with a for