“It is a Drama not dramatized; his Melpomene is too chaste, too cold for the theatre. She is a very modest virgin, pure in sentiment and diction and void of passion; her sober ornaments are a Greek veil and some Druidical Hieroglyphicks, all which I mightily respect and do not like at all.... Lord Northampton had a fine suit for the birthday, the wastecoat silver and gold, the coat gold and silver.” [Page heading: DR. JOHNSON] On June 9 occurs the first letter of Dr. Johnson[246] to Mrs. Montagu. [246] Dr. Samuel Johnson, born 1709, died 1784; the famous lexicographer and critic. “MADAM, “I am desired by Mrs. Williams to sign receipts with her name for the subscribers which you have been pleased to procure, and to return her humble thanks for your favour, which was conferred with all the grace that elegance can add to Beneficence. “I am, “Your most obedient and humble servant, “SAM. JOHNSON. “June 9, 1759.” This letter is printed in Boswell’s “Life of Johnson,”[247] vol. ii. p. 113; but who introduced him first to her I have not yet been able to discover, but I fancy it might be through Mrs. Carter. His mother had died at the age of ninety in January of this year. His “Rasselas,” published in the following April, is said to have been written to pay the expenses of the funeral of his beloved parent. Mrs. Williams was one of Dr. Johnson’s _protégées_, a woman of talent and literary attainments, who had been a constant companion of his late wife. Her eyes being affected with an incurable cataract, she became blind, and Dr. Johnson was trying to raise money enough to buy an annuity for her. In 1766 she became a permanent inmate of Johnson’s house, and on Mr. Montagu’s death in 1775, Mrs. Montagu settled £10 per annum on her. [247] By John Wilson Croker revised, and by John Wright published, 1880. Dr. Johnson’s writing is singularly clear, and, once seen, is unmistakable, from his peculiar long _s_’s. On June 9 also, Emin wrote on board the _Prince Edward_, from the Mole of Genoa, where they were in quarantine. The letter begins, “To the most learned and most magnanimous Mrs. Montagu.” He was on his way to see Prince Heraclius with letters of recommendation from his father and all the principal Armenians of Calcutta and India to the Prince and the Archbishop of Armenia. At last his transcendent merit as a leader had been acknowledged by his own countrymen, who now designated him “their chief, their Shepherd and Protector.” Emin’s affectionate heart was rent at the thought of parting with his kind English protectors, and in this letter he says he was almost glad when he found most of them out or away from home when he called to bid adieu. He was to cross Turkey by land to get to Armenia, a most dangerous Journey, and on the way out two ships had chased them for four or five hours off Spain. [Page heading: LADY ESSEX’S DEATH]