Page:An Essay on the Life and Genius of Samuel Johnson.djvu/83

 he had finished his Dictionary, "not," as he says himself, "in the soft obscurities of retirement, or under the shelter of academic bowers, but amidst inconvenience and distraction, in sickness and in sorrow, and without the patronage of the great," was not likely to be caught by the lure, thrown out by lord Chesterfield. He had, in vain, sought the patronage of that nobleman; and his pride, exasperated by disappointment, drew from him the following letter, dated in the month of February, 1755.

"To the Right Honourable the Earl of.

,

"I have been lately informed, by the proprietors of The World, that two papers, in which my Dictionary is recommended to the publick, were written by your Lordship. To be so distinguished is an honour which, being very little accustomed to favours from the great, I know not well how to receive, or in what terms to acknowledge."

"When, upon some slight encouragement, I first visited your Lordship, I was overpowered, like the rest of mankind, by the  "chantment