JOHNSON.'
'December 27, 1777.'
'To DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON.
'Edinburgh, Jan. 8, 1778.
'DEAR SIR,
'Your congratulations upon a new year are mixed with complaint: mine
must be so too. My wife has for some time been very ill, having been
confined to the house these three months by a severe cold, attended with
alarming symptoms.
[Here I gave a particular account of the distress which the person, upon
every account most dear to me, suffered; and of the dismal state of
apprehension in which I now was: adding that I never stood more in need
of his consoling philosophy.]
'Did you ever look at a book written by Wilson, a Scotchman, under the
Latin name of _Volusenus_, according to the custom of literary men at a
certain period. It is entitled _De Animi Tranquillitate_[608]. I earnestly
desire tranquillity. _Bona res quies_: but I fear I shall never attain
it: for, when unoccupied, I grow gloomy, and occupation agitates me to
feverishness.
* * * * *
'I am, dear Sir,
'Your most affectionate humble servant,
'JAMES BOSWELL.'
'To JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.
'DEAR SIR,
'To a letter so interesting as your last, it is proper to return some
answer, however little I may be disposed to write.
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