Boswelliana: The Commonplace Book of James Boswell, with a Memoir and AnnotationsBoswell, James
History
Boswelliana: The Commonplace Book of James Boswell, with a Memoir and Annotations
Boswell, James
Boswell, James, 1740-1795
“It is hereby,” he adds, “specially provided and declared That in case
any of the heirs male of my body who shall succeed to my said lands
and estate shall also succeed to a peerage or to any other estate
entailed under such conditions as may restrain the heir from carrying
my name and arms then and in every such case the person so succeeding
to the said peerage or other such entailed estate when he is possessed
of my said estate or succeeding to my estate when having right to
such peerage or possessed of such other entailed estate shall forfeit
all right and title to my said lands and estate and that not only
for himself but also for his apparent heir and for all the apparent
heirs of such an apparent heir in a direct line downwards whether in a
nearer or remoter degree and my said estate shall devolve and belong
to the next heir of Taillie though descending of the body of the
person excluded or of his apparent heir in the same manner as if the
person excluded and all the apparent heirs in the said peerage were
naturally dead.”
On Friday, the 15th March, 1776, Boswell arrived in London. Four days
thereafter he accompanied Dr. Johnson, first to Oxford and afterwards
to Lichfield. At Oxford they had agreeable intercourse with Dr.
Wetherell, Master of University College; Dr. Adams, Master of Pembroke
College; Dr. Bentham, Professor of Divinity; Mr. Thomas Warton, and
Dr. Horne, Bishop of Norwich. _En route_ for Lichfield they paused at
Birmingham, to visit Dr. Johnson’s schoolfellow, Mr. Hector. Boswell
improved the occasion by visiting, at Soho, Mr. Matthew Boulton, the
celebrated mechanician, and partner of James Watt. Finding Mr. Boulton
at the head of seven hundred mechanics, he describes him as “an iron
chief,” and a “father to his tribe.” At Lichfield he was introduced
to Mrs. Lucy Porter, Dr. Johnson’s step-daughter, “an old maid, of
simple manners,” living on a fortune of £10,000 bequeathed to her by
her brother, a captain in the navy. On Friday, the 29th March, the
travellers returned to London.
Good Friday, which fell on the 5th of April, Boswell spent with Dr.
Johnson. They worshipped together morning and evening in St. Clement’s
Church. On Easter Sunday Boswell attended morning service in St. Paul’s
Cathedral, and in the evening accompanied Dr. Johnson to his pew in St.
Clement’s.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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