446 Essay on
��myself, gave the account which I now transmit to you in his own hand, being willing that of so great a work the history should be known, and that each writer should receive his due proportion of praise from posterity.
' I recommend to you to preserve this scrap of literary intelli gence in Mr. Swinton's own hand, or to deposit it in the Museum x , that the veracity of this account may never be doubted.
' I am, Sir,
' Your most humble servant, Dec. 6, 1784. ' SAM. JOHNSON V
On the morning of Dec. 7, Dr. Johnson requested to see Mr. Nichols 3 . A few days before, he had borrowed some of the early volumes of the Magazine, with a professed intention to point out the pieces which he had written in that collection. The books lay on the table, with many leaves doubled down, and in particular those which contained his share in the Parlia mentary Debates. Such was the goodness of Johnson's heart, that he then declared, that ' those debates were the only parts of his writings which gave him any compunction ; but that at the time he wrote them he had no conception that he was imposing upon the world, though they were frequently written from very slender materials, and often from none at all, the mere coinage of his own imagination 4 .' He added, 'that he never wrote any part of his work with equal velocity. Three columns of the Magazine in an hour,' he said, ' was no uncommon effort ; which was faster than most persons could have transcribed that quantity.
1 It is there deposited. J.N. [Note he inserts particulars which Murphy by Murphy.] has omitted. Life, iv. 407.
2 Life, iv. 381. In note I on Let- 4 Ib. i. 501. Nichols, in the Pre- ters, ii. 431, I wrongly state that this face to the Gentleman's Magazine letter was first published in Malone's for 1784, says : ' It must indeed be Bo swell. It appeared earlier in owned that the Debates in Parliament, Murphy's Essay. since they have been retailed genuine
The list of authors which I omit day after day in the newspapers,
will be found in Letters, ii. 432. have become much less interesting
3 Boswell gives part of what fol- than when formerly fabricated by lows but not all ; on the other hand " Dr. Johnson in his garret." '
In
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