'Your most affectionate, and
'Most humble servant,
'SAM. JOHNSON.'

'August 29, 1771.'

In October I again wrote to him, thanking him for his last letter, and
his obliging reception of Mr. Beattie; informing him that I had been at
Alnwick lately, and had good accounts of him from Dr. Percy.

In his religious record of this year, we observe that he was better than
usual, both in body and mind, and better satisfied with the regularity
of his conduct[421]. But he is still 'trying his ways'[422] too rigorously.
He charges himself with not rising early enough; yet he mentions what
was surely a sufficient excuse for this, supposing it to be a duty
seriously required, as he all his life appears to have thought it. 'One
great hindrance is want of rest; my nocturnal complaints grow less
troublesome towards morning; and I am tempted to repair the deficiencies
of the night[423].' Alas! how hard would it be if this indulgence were to
be imputed to a sick man as a crime. In his retrospect on the following
Easter-Eve, he says, 'When I review the last year, I am able to
recollect so little done, that shame and sorrow, though perhaps too
weakly, come upon me.' Had he been judging of any one else in the same
circumstances, how clear would he have been on the favourable side. How
very difficult, and in my opinion almost constitutionally impossible it
was for him to be raised early, even by the strongest resolutions,
appears from a note in one of his little paper-books, (containing words
arranged for his _Dictionary_,) written, I suppose, about 1753: 'I do
not remember that since I left Oxford I ever rose early by mere choice,