In it he says: "The notice you have been pleased to take of my
labors, had it been early, had been kind; but it has been delayed till I
am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot impart
it; till I am known, and do not want it. I hope it is no very cynical
asperity not to confess obligation when no benefit has been received, or
to be unwilling that the public should consider me as owing that to a
patron which Providence has enabled me to do for myself." Living as he did
in an age when the patronage of the great was wearing out, and public
appreciation beginning to reward an author's toils, this manly letter gave
another stab to the former, and hastened the progress of the latter.
OTHER WORKS.--The fame of Johnson was now fully established, and his
labors were rewarded, in 1762, by the receipt of a pension of L300 from
the government, which made him quite independent. It was then, in the very
heyday of his reputation, that, in 1763, he became acquainted with James
Boswell, to whom he at once became a Grand Lama; who took down the words
as they dropped from his lips, and embalmed his fame.
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