JOHNSON.
"July 2, 1784.
"I will come down, if you permit it."
[Footnote 1: The four words which I have printed in italics are
indistinctly written, and cannot be satisfactorily made out.]
No. 4.
"July 4, 1784.
"SIR,--I have this morning received from you so rough a letter in
reply to one which was both tenderly and respectfully written, that I
am forced to desire the conclusion of a correspondence which I can
bear to continue no longer. The birth of my second husband is not
meaner than that of my first; his sentiments are not meaner; his
profession is not meaner, and his superiority in what he professes
acknowledged by all mankind. It is want of fortune, then, that is
ignominious; the character of the man I have chosen has no other
claim to such an epithet. The religion to which he has been always a
zealous adherent will, I hope, teach him to forgive insults he has
not deserved; mine will, I hope, enable me to bear them at once with
dignity and patience. To hear that I have forfeited my fame is indeed
the greatest insult I ever yet received. My fame is as unsullied as
snow, or I should think it unworthy of him who must henceforth
protect it.
"I write by the coach the more speedily and effectually to prevent
your coming hither. Perhaps by my fame (and I hope it is so) you mean
only that celebrity which is a consideration of a much lower kind. I
care for that only as it may give pleasure to my husband and his
friends.
"Farewell, dear Sir, and accept my best wishes.
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