town is my element*;
there are my friends, there are my books, to which I have not yet bid
farewell, and there are my amusements. Sir Joshua told me long ago that
my vocation was to publick life, and I hope still to keep my station,
till God shall bid me Go in peace.'

* His love of London continually appears. In a letter from
him to Mrs. Smart, wife of his friend the Poet, which is
published in a well-written life of him, prefixed to an
edition of his Poems, in 1791, there is the following
sentence:--'To one that has passed so many years in the
pleasures and opulence of London, there are few places that
can give much delight.'

Once, upon reading that line in the curious epitaph quoted
in The Spectator,

'Born in New-England, did in London die;'

he laughed and said, 'I do not wonder at this. It would
have been strange, if born in London, he had died in
New-England.'--BOSWELL.

TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS:--

Ashbourne, Sept. 2. '. . . I still continue by God's mercy to mend. My
breath is easier, my nights are quieter, and my legs are less in bulk,
and stronger in use. I have, however, yet a great deal to overcome,
before I can yet attain even an old man's health. Write, do write to me
now and then; we are now old acquaintance, and perhaps few people have
lived so much and so long together, with less cause of complaint on
either side. The retrospection of this is very pleasant, and I hope we
shall never think on each other with less kindness.'

Sept. 9. 'I could not answer your letter before this day, because I
went on the sixth to Chatsworth, and did not come back till the post
was gone. Many words, I hope, are not necessary between you and me, to
convince you what gratitude is excited in my heart, by the Chancellor's
liberality and your kind offices. I did not indeed expect that what was
asked by the Chancellor would have been refused, but since it has, we
will not tell that any thing has been asked. I have enclosed a letter to
the Chancellor which, when you have read it, you will be pleased to seal
with a head, or other general seal, and convey it to him; had I sent
it directly to him, I should have seemed to overlook the favour of
your intervention. I do not despair of supporting an English winter.
At Chatsworth, I met young Mr. Burke, who led me very commodiously into
conversation with the Duke and Duchess. We had a very good morning. The
din