I rose at five and went out at six, and having
reached Salisbury about nine[724], went forward a few miles in my
friend's chariot. I was no more wearied with the journey, though it was
a high-hung, rough coach, than I should have been forty years ago. We
shall now see what air will do. The country is all a plain; and the
house in which I am, so far as I can judge from my window, for I write
before I have left my chamber, is sufficiently pleasant.
Be so kind as to continue your attention to Mrs. Williams; it is great
consolation to the well, and still greater to the sick, that they find
themselves not neglected; and I know that you will be desirous of giving
comfort even where you have no great hope of giving help.
Since I wrote the former part of the letter, I find that by the course
of the post I cannot send it before the thirty-first.
I am, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.'
While he was here he had a letter from Dr. Brocklesby, acquainting him
of the death of Mrs. Williams, which affected him a good deal[725].
Though for several years her temper had not been complacent, she had
valuable qualities, and her departure left a blank in his house[726].
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