Catalogue of the very select and interesting collection of autograph letters, formed with great taste and judgment by George Linnecar, esq., of Liverpool ... : which will be sold by auction, by Messrs. Puttick and Simpson ... at their Great Room, 191, Piccadilly, on Tuesday, March 19th, 1850, and following day, at one o'clock most punctually.

  • Puttick and Simpson
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Catalogue of the very select and interesting collection of autograph letters, formed with great taste and judgment by George Linnecar, esq., of Liverpool ... : which will be sold by auction, by Messrs. Puttick and Simpson ... at their Great Room, 191, Piccadilly, on Tuesday, March 19th, 1850, and following day, at one o'clock most punctually. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    36/62 (page 34)
    / / 2G3 Jekyll (Dr. Joseph), lawyer and wit b. 1750 Frank ; short note ; and poem, entitled “ Tears of the Cruet.” “ Two sulky salt-cellars contrive to meet A pensive pepper-box in Downing Street.” Etc. 264 Johnson (Dr. Samuel), lexicographer and moralist &8-8..0- b. 1709, d 1784 A.L.s., 2 pages 4to, to David Garrick, Streatham, Dec. 12, 1771. Excessively rare. With'printed memoir “ I have thought upon your Epitaph, but without much effect; an epi- taph is no easy thing. Of your three Stanzas, the third is utterly unworthy of you. The first and third together give no discriminative character. If the first alone were to stand, Hogarth would not be distinguished from any other man of intellectual eminence. Suppose you worked upon something like this— “ The hand of Art here torpid lies, That traced th’ essential form of grace, Here death has clos’d the curious eyes That saw the manners in the face. If genius warm thee, Reader, stay, If merit touch thee, shed a tear, Be Vice and Dulness far away, Great Hogarth’s honour’d dust is here.” Dr. Johnson’s share in the Epitaph for Hogarth cannot be correctly understood without this letter, which has been most incorrectly printed. 265 Johnson (Dr. Samuel). A.L.s., 1 page 4to., to James Macpherson. [Jan. 20, 1775.] /2..b Excessively rare, and curious This is the celebrated Letter by which Dr. Johnson silenced the editor (or author) of Ossian’s Poems. “What w'ords were used by Mr. Macpherson, in his letter to the venerable sage, I have never heard ; but they are generally said to have been of a nature very different from the language of literary contest. Dr. Johnson’s answer appeared in the newspapers of the day, and has since been frequently republished ; but not with perfect accuracy. I give it as dictated to me by himself, written down in his presence, and authenticated by a note in his own handwriting.” (Boswell’s Johnson.) The present is the origi- nal of the letter thus referred to, and differs in some re- spects from Boswell’s copy ; the expressions are more forcible. This is a letter of great literary interest, apart from its autographic value. 266 Johnson (Dr. Samuel). £ J..3..0 A.L.s., If- page 4to. to Dr. Farmer, Bolt Court, July 22, 17 77. Excessively rare, with portrait, etc. “ The booksellers of London have undertaken a kind of body of English Poetry, excluding generally the dramas, afld I have undertaken to put before each Author’s works a sketch of his life, and a character of his writings. Of some however I know very little, and am afraid I shall not easily supply my deficiencies. Be pleased to inform me whether among Mr. Burke’s manuscripts, or any where else at Cambridge any materials are to be found.” These “Sketches,” published in a sepa- rate form, constitute his celebrated Lives of the Poets.