August. 'The tenderness with which you have been pleased to treat me,
through my long illness, neither health nor sickness can, I hope, make
me forget; and you are not to suppose, that after we parted you were no
longer in my mind. But what can a sick man say, but that he is sick? His
thoughts are necessarily concentered in himself; he neither receives nor
can give delight; his enquiries are after alleviations of pain, and his
efforts are to catch some momentary comfort. Though I am now in the
neighbourhood of the Peak, you must expect no account of its wonders, of
its hills, its waters, its caverns, or its mines; but I will tell you,
dear Sir, what I hope you will not hear with less satisfaction, that,
for about a week past, my asthma has been less afflictive.'
Lichfield. October 2[1123]. 'I believe you have been long enough
acquainted with the _phoenomena_ of sickness, not to be surprised that a
sick man wishes to be where he is not, and where it appears to every
body but himself that he might easily be, without having the resolution
to remove. I thought Ashbourne a solitary place, but did not come hither
till last Monday. I have here more company, but my health has for this
last week not advanced; and in the languor of disease how little can be
done? Whither or when I shall make my next remove I cannot tell; but I
entreat you, dear Sir, to let me know, from time to time, where you may
be found, for your residence is a very powerful attractive to, Sir, your
most humble servant.'
'To MR. PERKINS. 'DEAR SIR,
'I cannot but flatter myself that your kindness for me will make you
glad to know where I am, and in what state.
'I have been struggling very hard with my diseases. My breath has been
very much obstructed, and the water has attempted to encroach upon me
again. I past the first part of the summer at Oxford, afterwards I went
to Lichfield, thence to Ashbourne, in Derbyshire, and a week ago I
returned to Lichfield.
'My breath is now much easier, and the water is in a great measure run
away, so that I hope to see you again before winter.
'Please to make my compliments to Mrs. Perkins, and to Mr. and Mrs.
Barclay.
'I am, dear Sir, 'Your most humble servant, 'SAM. JOHNSON.' 'Lichfield,
Oct. 4, 1784.'
'To THE RIGHT HON. WILLIAM GERARD HAMILTON. 'DEAR SIR,
'Considering what reason[1124] you gave me in the spring to conclude
that you took part in whatever good or evil might befal me, I ought not
to have omitted so long the account which I am now about to give you. My
diseases are an asthma and a dropsy, and, what is less curable,
seventy-five. Of the dropsy, in the beginning of the summer, or in the
spring, I recovered to a degree which struck with wonder both me and my
physicians: the asthma now is likewise, for a time, very much relieved.
I went to Oxford, where the asthma was very tyrannical, and the dropsy
began again to threaten me; but seasonable physick stopped the
inundation: I then returned to London, and in July took a resolution to
visit Staffordshire and Derbyshire, where I am yet struggling with my
diseases. The dropsy made another attack, and was not easily ejected,
but at last gave way. The asthma suddenly remitted in bed, on the 13th
of August, and, though now very oppressive, is, I think, still something
gentler than it was before the remission. My limbs are miserably
debilitated, and my nights are sleepless and tedious. When you read
this, dear Sir, you are not sorry that I wrote no sooner. I will not
prolong my complaints. I hope still to see you _in a happier
hour_[1125], to talk over what we have often talked, and perhaps to find
new topicks of merriment, or new incitements to curiosity. I am, dear
Sir, &c. SAM. JOHNSON. Lichfield, Oct. 20, 1784.'
'TO JOHN PARADISE, ESQ.[1126]