'Sir,

'I return thanks to you and to Dr. Solander for the pleasure which I
received in yesterday's conversation. I could not recollect a motto for
your Goat, but have given her one. You, Sir, may perhaps have an epick
poem from some happier pen than, Sir,

'Your most humble servant,
'SAM. JOHNSON.'

'Johnson's-court, Fleet-street,
February 27, 1772.'

'To DR. JOHNSON.

'MY DEAR SIR,

'It is hard that I cannot prevail on you to write to me oftener. But I
am convinced that it is in vain to expect from you a private
correspondence with any regularity. I must, therefore, look upon you as
a fountain of wisdom, from whence few rills are communicated to a
distance, and which must be approached at its source, to partake fully
of its virtues.

* * * * *

'I am coming to London soon, and am to appear in an appeal from the
Court of Session in the House of Lords. A schoolmaster in Scotland was,