[ ii ]
the Contents of the Eſſay itſelf, and your particular political Connections at this Time, may be of infinite Service, if not in augmenting your well-earned Penſion, (if that Word give not Offence) yet in preventing any Diminution, or total Abolition of it.
So extraordinary a Performance as the following is, could not fail to excite a very eager Deſire of knowing the Author; when, to my great Surprize, it was poſitively aſſerted to be the Production of the maflerly Pen of Dr. Samuel Johnson.—I remonſtrated again and again with my Friend upon the Abſurdity of the Surmiſe; and pointed out innumerable Paſſages which I thought ſerved to deſtroy his poſitive Aſſertions. This only tended to increaſe his Prejudices in favour of his own Preconceptions, and confirm me in the Reſolution of republiſhing the Eſſay, with ſuch Remarks, as ſhould invalidate every Argument, and remove every Suſpicion that favoured of its being the Production of your Pen: And
