nd that Johnson was to accompany them, but a subsequent entry states
that the doctors condemned the plan; and "therefore," she adds, "it
is settled that a great meeting of his friends is to take place
before he actually prepares for the journey, and they are to encircle
him in a body, and endeavour, by representations and entreaties, 'to
prevail with him to give it up; and I have little doubt myself but,
amongst us, we shall be able to succeed." This is one of the oddest
schemes ever projected by a set of learned and accomplished gentlemen
and ladies for the benefit of a hypochondriac patient. Its execution
was prevented by his death. A hurried note from Mrs. Thrale
announcing the event, beginning, "Write to me, pray for me," is
endorsed by Madame D'Arblay: "Written a few hours after the death of
Mr. Thrale, which happened by a sudden stroke of apoplexy, on the
morning of a day on which half the fashion of London had been invited
to an intended assembly at his house in Grosvenor Square." These
invitations had been sent out by his own express desire: so little
was he aware of his danger.

Letters and messages of condolence poured in from all sides. Johnson
(in a letter dated April 5th) said all that could be said in the way
of counsel or consolation:

"I do not exhort you to reason yourself into tranquillity. We must
first pray, and then labour; first implore the blessing of God, and
those means which He puts into our hands. Cultivated ground, has few
weeds; a mind occupied by lawful business, has little room for
useless regret.

"We read the will to-day; but I will not fill my first letter with
any other account than that, with all my zeal for your advantage, I
am satisfied; and that the other executors, more used to consider
property than I, commended it for wisdom and equity. Yet, why should
I not tell you that you have five hundred pounds for your immediate
expenses, and two thousand pounds a-year, with both the houses and
all the goods?

"Let us pray for one another, that the time, whether long or short,
that shall yet be granted us, may be well spent; and that when this
life, which at the longest is very short, shall come to an end, a
better may begin which shall never end."

On April 9th he writes:

"DEAREST MADAM,--That you are gradually recovering your tranquillity,
is the effect to be humbly expected from trust in God. Do not
represent life as darker than it is. Your loss has been very great,
but you r