Note 136 — Chapter II · PROMULGATION OF MY PLAN.

“A curious incident happened to-day while Mr. Thrale and I sat with Dr. Johnson. Francis announced that a large packet was brought to him from the post office, said to have come from Lisbon, and it was charged seven pounds ten shillings. He would not receive it, supposing it to be some trick, nor did he even look at it. But upon inquiry afterwards he found that it was a real packet for him, from that very friend in the East Indies of whom he had been speaking; and the ship which carried it having come to Portugal, this packet, with others, had been put into the post office at Lisbon.”—Boswell’s Life of Dr. Johnson (8vo edition), p. 501.—Ed.