JOHNSON, Samuel (1709-1784). Autograph letter signed ('Sam: Johnson') to [Frances (Fanny) Burney], Bolt Court, Fleet Street, 7 June 1782 , asking her to intervene with Captain Burney (her brother) in favour of an unemployed young man named Mara who wished to go to sea, 'His behaviour is without reproach, he is of pleasing manners, and regular contact ... I have taken an interest in his success ... Do for us what you can', 2 pages, 4to , endorsed 'No. 3', integral blank. According to the muster rolls of Captain James Burney's ship, HMS Bristol, a 'John Mara' enlisted on 10 June 1782 (see Bruce Redford ed. The Letters of Samuel Johnson , 1992, pp.48-9). Fanny Burney's Streatham Journals of 1778-82 are rich in Johnsoniana: his conversation, his bon mots and his great kindness to her. Johnson said of Evelina , 'No writer so young and inexperienced had ever seen so deeply into character, or copied the manners of the time with more accuracy' (see Joyce Hemlow, The History of Fanny Burney , 1958, pp.96, 111).
JOHNSON, Samuel (1709-1784). Autograph letter signed ('Sam: Johnson') to [Frances (Fanny) Burney], Bolt Court, Fleet Street, 7 June 1782 , asking her to intervene with Captain Burney (her brother) in favour of an unemployed young man named Mara who wished to go to sea, 'His behaviour is without reproach, he is of pleasing manners, and regular contact ... I have taken an interest in his success ... Do for us what you can', 2 pages, 4to , endorsed 'No. 3', integral blank. According to the muster rolls of Captain James Burney's ship, HMS Bristol, a 'John Mara' enlisted on 10 June 1782 (see Bruce Redford ed. The Letters of Samuel Johnson , 1992, pp.48-9). Fanny Burney's Streatham Journals of 1778-82 are rich in Johnsoniana: his conversation, his bon mots and his great kindness to her. Johnson said of Evelina , 'No writer so young and inexperienced had ever seen so deeply into character, or copied the manners of the time with more accuracy' (see Joyce Hemlow, The History of Fanny Burney , 1958, pp.96, 111).
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
