I have lived so long in London, that I did
not remember the difference of seasons.
'Your health, when I saw you, was much improved. You will be prudent
enough not to put it in danger. I hope, when we meet again, we shall all
congratulate each other upon fair prospects of longer life; though what
are the pleasures of the longest life, when placed in comparison with a
happy death?
'I am, dear Sir,
'Yours most affectionately,
'SAM. JOHNSON.'
'London, March 21, 1782.'
To THE SAME.
[Without a date, but supposed to be about this time.][463]
'DEAR SIR,
'That you and dear Mrs. Careless should have care or curiosity about my
health, gives me that pleasure which every man feels from finding
himself not forgotten. In age we feel again that love of our native
place and our early friends, which in the bustle or amusements of middle
life were overborne and suspended. You and I should now naturally cling
to one another: we have outlived most of those who could pretend to
rival us in each other's kindness. In our walk through life we have
dropped our companions, and are now to pick up such as chance may offer
us, or to travel on alone[464].
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