As Burns was made a gauger, so Johnson might have been made
a Lord, or at least a Groom of the Bedchamber. It is not certain that
Pitt heard of the application for an increased pension. Mr. Croker
quotes from Thurlow's letter to Reynolds of Nov. 18, 1784:--'It was
impossible for me to take the King's pleasure on the suggestion I
presumed to move. I am an untoward solicitor.' Whether he consulted Pitt
cannot be known. Mr. Croker notices a curious obliteration in this
letter. The Chancellor had written:--'It would have suited the purpose
better, if nobody had heard of it, except Dr. Johnson, you and J.
Boswell.' _Boswell_ has been erased--'artfully' too, says--Mr. Croker-so
that 'the sentence appears to run, "except Dr. Johnson, you, and I."'
Mr. Croker, with his usual suspiciousness, suspects 'an uncandid trick.'
But it is very likely that Thurlow himself made the obliteration,
regardless of grammar. He might easily have thought that it would have
been better still had Boswell not been in the secret.
[1083] See _ante_, iii. 176.
[1084] On June 11 Boswell and Johnson were together (_ante_, p.
Pages:
896
897
898
899
900
901
902
903
904
905
906
907
908
909
910
911
912
913
914
915
916
917
918
919
920