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 pocket. Then he wrote rather a long letter, addressed to his brother in Liverpool

"Really," said Jasper, "one can't grieve. There seemed no possibility of his ever earning enough to live decently upon. But why the deuce did he go all the way out there? Consideration for the people in whose house he lived, I dare say; Biffen had a good deal of native delicacy"

"Was he still so very poor?" asked Amy, compassionately.

"I'm afraid so. His book failed utterly."

"Oh, if I had imagined him still in such distress, surely I might have done something to help him!"—So often the regretful remark of one's friends, when one has been permitted to perish.

Letter to the Earl of Chesterfield

(English man of letters, 1709-1784; maker of a celebrated English dictionary, and the subject of one of the world's most famous biographies. Dr. Johnson might be called the first professional literary man; the first who lived by his trade and was respected for it. So the present letter, addressed to one of the most powerful personages of the time, may be said to mark the end of the age of patronage in the literary world: the system whereby authors dedicated their works to noblemen, and received food and favors in return)

My Lord, I have been lately informed, by the proprietor 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