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  • Audiet Pugnas vitio Parentum / Rara Juventus. Hor: Young men—the few who are left after the crimes of their fathers—will hear of battles. [School and College Latin Exercises]
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  • The Petition of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons of the City of London, in Common Council Assembled, Friday 6 June 1777
  • Letter to Lord Bathurst, the Lord Chancellor, 8 June 1777
  • Letter to William Murray, First Earl of Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice, Wednesday, 11 June 1777
  • Petition of Mrs. Mary Dodd to the Queen
  • Dodd’s Letter to the King, Sunday, 22 June 1777
  • Petition of William Dodd to the King, Monday, 23 June 1777
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© 2023
Letter to Lord Bathurst, the Lord Chancellor, 8 June 1777
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By Johnson, Samuel

Samuel Johnson: Johnson on Demand

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Letter to Lord Bathurst, the Lord Chancellor, 8 June 1777
[Editorial Introduction]
As A. D. Barker remarks, “Dodd was truly unfortunate in the composition of the Privy Council,” who were to decide on a pardon or commutation of his sentence. Dodd had satirized the Earl of Sandwich in his novel, The Sisters, and later married his former mistress. Bathurst was the Lord Chancellor whom Dodd tried unsuccessfully to bribe in 1774. In addition to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was pledged to uphold the dignity of the church, there was the notoriously stern Chief Justice, Lord Mansfield. Johnson was deputed to write to Bathurst and Mansfield.1 A manuscript of Johnson’s letter to Bathurst, in his own hand, survives in the Hyde Collection (MS Hyde 37 [9]). Our copy-text is the version in Occasional Papers, but we note differences in the manuscript, and we present two clauses of the manuscript omitted in the printed version.


Page 559

[Letter]
My Lord
I have committed a capital crime,a for which the sentence of the law has passed upon me;b and whether that sentence shall be executed in its full rigour,c may perhaps depend upon the suffrage of your lordship, from whom I have less claim to mercy than from any other.d
Thee shame and self-reproach with whichf I now solicite your commiseration, I hope no man will ever feel, who has not deserved to feel them like myself. But I will not despair of being heard with pity when under the terrours of a speedy and disgraceful death, I most humbly implore your lordship’s forgiveness both of my former and my late offence.g,1
Myh life has not been wholly useless;i I have laboured in my calling diligently and successfully;j but success inflamed my vanity, and my heart betrayed me.k Violent passions have exposed mel to violent temptations, but I am not the first whom temptation has overthrown. I have,m inn all my deviations, kept right always in view, and have invariably resolved to return to it. Whether,o in a prosperous state,p I should have kept my resolution,q publicr justice has not suffered me to know.


Page 560

My crime has been indeed atrocious, but my punishment has not been light. From a heighths of reputation which perhapst raised envy in others, and certainly produced pride in myself, I have fallen to theu lowest and grossest infamy; from an income which prudence might have made plentiful,v I am reduced to live on those remains of charityw which infamy has left me.
Whenx so much has been given to justice, I humbly intreaty that life, such as it must now be, mayz be given to mercy;a and that your lordship’sb influence mayc be employed in disposing our sovereign to look with compassion, on
My Lord, Your Lordship’s Most humble supplicant,
June 11, 1777
William Dodd.
Editorial Notes
1 This paragraph draws mainly on Barker, “Samuel Johnson and the Campaign to Save William Dodd,” 164.
a crime^ MS
b me, MS
c rigour^ MS
d lordship . . . other. MS] lordship. OP
e [With what]<The> MS
f <with which> MS
g lordship’s forgiveness . . . offence. MS] lordship’s intercession. OP
1 Occasional Papers omits this reference to Dodd’s earlier crime, an attempt to bribe the Lord Chancellor.
h open square bracket before My MS
i useless, MS
j successfully, MS
k me.————Violent MS
l <me>
m have^ MS
n [amidst]<in> MS
o Whether^ MS
p <in a prosperous state^> MS
q resolution^ MS
r publick MS
s height MS
t <perhaps> MS
u <the> MS
v plentiful^ MS
w charity, MS
x no new paragraph MS
y entreat MS
z must <now> be, [will] <may> MS
a mercy, MS
b <will?> MS
c [will] <may> MS
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Document Details
Document TitleLetter to Lord Bathurst, the Lord Chancellor, 8 June 1777
AuthorJohnson, Samuel
Creation Date1777 Jun 8
Publ. DateN/A
Alt. TitleN/A
Contrib. AuthorN/A
ClassificationSubject: Dodd; Subject: Crime; Subject: Forgery; Subject: Penance; Subject: Charity; Genre: Appeal; Genre: Petition
PrinterN/A
PublisherKearsley
Publ. PlaceN/A
VolumeSamuel Johnson: Johnson on Demand
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