1 William Dodd, whom Boswell describes as “formerly Prebendary of Brecon, and chaplain in ordinary to his Majesty; celebrated as a very popular preacher, an encourager of charitable institutions, and authour of a variety of works, chiefly theological” (Life, III. 139-40), forged a bond for €4,200 in the name of the fifth Earl of Chesterfield (the successor of the celebrated Lord Chesterfield), whose tutor he had been. Dodd was convicted on 22 Feb 1777 and executed on 27 June 1777. This sermon (called “The Convict’s Address” on its printed title page) was written by Samuel Johnson and delivered by Dodd “to his unhappy brethren” in the chapel of Newgate prison on Friday, 6 June 1777. It went through eds. that have been recorded as being printed in London, Newcastle, Salisbury, Gainsborough, Taunton, Whitehaven, and Dublin (R. W. Chapman and Allen T. Hazen, “Johnsonian Bibliography,” Oxford Bibliographical Society Proceedings & Papers, v, 1936-39, 154). The sermon is here printed from the copy of the 1st ed. (now in the Yale University Library) which bears the following note in Boswell’s hand: “This Copy Dr. Samuel Johnson who composed the Address, revised for me, & marked Dr. Dodd’s additions with a D. on the margin. James Boswell.” These additions by Dodd have been retained; but they have been printed in a smaller type face and clearly marked as by Dodd. The Morning Post and the Morning Chronicle record the appearance of the 1st ed. on 19 June and of the 2d on 26 June (R. W. Chapman, ed., Papers Written by Dr. Johnson and Dr. Dodd in 1777, Oxford, 1926, p. 30). The pamphlet that called itself the 2d ed., bearing a new title page that ascribed the sermon to Dodd and containing the addition of “his genuine speech to the court previous to his receiving sentence of death,” is in fact only a re-issue made from the typesetting of the 1st ed.

In content this sermon resembles Sermons 2 and 3, where, in the concluding par., a comparable plea for immediate repentance is made, though with a little less urgency of tone and simplicity of style.

2 At this point, according to the markings in Boswell’s copy, Dodd’s “short introduction” (Life, III. 142) ends.

3 Acts xvi.30. On 18 Sept 1769, just before he begins the prayer for his sixtieth birthday, SJ writes in his journal: “But though I feel all these decays of body, I have made no preparation for the grave. What shall I do to be saved?” (Yale I.123). Compare SJ’s paraphrase of Acts xvi.29 with the original: “Then he [the jailer] called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas.”

4 In the 1st ed. this quotation is printed, as was customary, in italics; but the same words quoted immediately before it are printed in small capitals.

5 This sentence is an insertion by Dodd, marked by SJ with a D. Boswell confirms this fact in Life, III. 142.

6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him” (Hebrews xi.6).

7 “And he went out, and wept bitterly” (Matthew xxvi.75).

8 “And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness” (Matthew xxv.30).

9 “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians ii.12).

1 The quotation marks appear to have been inserted for emphasis only.

2 See preceding note.

3 “For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently?” (I Peter ii.20).

4 “And where is now my hope?” (Job xvii.15).

5 “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found” (Isaiah lv.6).

6 proscription 77. “Proscription” makes little sense; the editors have therefore followed the Salisbury printing of 1777 and substituted “prescription,” which is surely what was intended. The following definition of prescription appears in SJ’s Dictionary: “Rules produced and authorized by long custom; custom continued till it has the force of law.” The only definition of proscription is “Doom to death or confiscation.”

7 “Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

8 But compare what SJ is reported to have said on a very solemn and disturbing occasion: “A man cannot be sure himself that he has divine intimation of acceptance” (Life, III.295).

9 Once more (see pp. 304, 305, 308) quotation marks are used, to emphasize the third point.

1 “Let him that stole steal no more” (Ephesians iv.28).

2 “But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby” (Ezekiel xxxiii.19).

3 SJ has marked this footnote as Dodd’s. The “idea” Dodd refers to is found in Ezekiel xviii.27: “Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness ... he shall save his soul alive.”

4 On death-bed repentance, see Sermon 2, p. 24.

5 Perhaps another example of quotation marks for emphasis.

6 In this passage St. Paul pleads that men, for whom Christ died, “should not henceforth live unto themselves.”

7 This footnote is marked by SJ as Dodd’s.

8 These verses invoke the death of Christ for sinners.

9 “You know, (says he,) I never thought confidence with respect to futurity any part of the character of a brave, a wise, or a good man. Bravery has no place where it can avail nothing” (Life, IV.395).

1 After confessing to Boswell that “he never had a moment in which death was not terrible to him,” SJ refers to public executions, saying that “it had been observed, that scarce any man dies in publick, but with apparent resolution; from that desire of praise which never quits us. I said, Dr. Dodd seemed to be willing to die, and full of hopes of happiness. ‘Sir, (said he,) Dr. Dodd would have given both his hands and both his legs to have lived’” (Life, III.153-54). This discussion, which ended with Dodd, had begun with Hume, whose lack of fear of death SJ thought “a vanity,” the assumption of “an appearance of ease.”

2 This passage, in which SJ defends public justice and has Dodd “admit the justice” of his sentence, should be compared with Rambler 114 (Yale IV.241-247) and Sermon 26, where SJ argues against capital punishment for certain offences.

3 See Matthew xx.1-16.

4 Luke xxiii.39-43. Everything that follows, from here to the end of the sermon, including the final footnote, is by Dodd. SJ clearly marked only the first five pars. But Boswell’s comment in the Life is decisive: “Johnson’s writing ends at the words, ’the thief whom he pardoned on the cross.’ What follows was supplied by Dr. Dodd himself” (Life, III.142).