(_Notes on Boswell's note on pages 421-422_.)
[H-1] The last lines of the inscription on this urn are borrowed, with a
slight change, from the last paragraph of the last _Rambler/_.
(Johnson's _Works_, iii. 465, and _ante_, i. 226.) Johnson visited
Colonel Myddelton on August 29, 1774, in his Tour to Wales. See
_post_, v. 453.
[H-2] Johnson, writing to Dr. Taylor on Sept. 3, 1783, said:--'I sat to
Opey (sic) as long as he desired, and I think the head is finished, but
it is not much admired.' _Notes and Queries_, 6th S. v. 481. Hawkins
(_Life of Johnson_, p. 569) says that in 1784 'Johnson resumed sitting
to Opie, but,' he adds, 'I believe the picture was never finished.'
[H-3] Of this picture, which was the one painted for Beauclerk (_ante_,
p. 180), it is stated in Johnson's _Work_, ed. 1787, xi. 204, that
'there is in it that appearance of a labouring working mind, of an
indolent reposing body, which he had to a very great degree.'
[H-4] It seems almost certain that the portrait of Johnson in the Common
Room of University College, Oxford, is this very mezzotinto. It was
given to the College by Sir William Scott, and it is a mezzotinto from
Opie's portrait. It has been reproduced for this work, and will be found
facing page 244 of volume iii. Scott's inscription on the back of the
frame is given on page 245, note 3, of the same volume.