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and her person and manner, as described to me by the late Mr. Garrick, were by no means pleasing to others,1 she must have had a superiority of understanding and talents, as she certainly inspired him with a more than ordinary passion; and she having signified her willingness to accept of his hand, he went to Lichfield to ask his mother's consent to the marriage, which he could not but be conscious was a very imprudent scheme, both on account of their disparity of years, and her want of fortune. But Mrs. Johnson knew too well the ardour of her son's temper, and was too tender a parent to oppose his inclinations.

obligingly made, at my request, by the Hon. and Rev. Mr. Ryder, Rector of Lutterworth, in that county:

'Anno Dom. 1688[-9], Elizabeth, the daughter of William Jervis, Esq., and Mrs. Anne his wife, born the fourth day of February and mane, baptized 16th day of the same month by Mr. Smith, Curate of Little Peatling. JOHN ALLEN, Vicar'

The family of Jervis, Mr. Ryder informs me, once possessed nearly the whole lordship of Great Peatling (about 2000 acres), and there are many monuments of them in the church; but the estate is now much reduced. The present representative of this ancient family is Mr. Charles Jervis, of Hinckley, Attorney-at-Law.-M.]

1 [That in Johnson's eyes she was handsome appears from the epitaph which he caused to be inscribed on her tombstone not long before his own death, and which may be found in a subsequent page, under the year 1752.-M.]

2 [The following account of Mrs. Johnson and her family is copied from a paper (chiefly relating to Mrs. Anna Williams) written by Lady Knight at Rome, and transmitted by her to the late John Hoole, Esq., the translator of Metastasio, etc., by whom it was inserted in the European Magazine for October 1799:

'Mrs. Williams's account of Mrs. Johnson was that she had a good understanding and great sensibility, but inclined to be satirical. Her first husband died insolvent; her sons were much disgusted with her for her second marriage, perhaps because they, being struggling to get advanced in life, were mortified to think she had allied herself to a man who had not any visible means of being useful to them: however, she always retained her affection for them. While they (Dr. and Mrs. Johnson) resided in Gough Square, her son, the officer, knocked at the door, and asked the maid if her mistress was at home. She answered, "Yes, sir; but she is sick in bed." "O," says he, "if it's so, tell her that her son Jervis called to know how she did"; and was going away. The maid begged she might run up to tell her mistress, and without attending his answer, left him. Mrs. Johnson, enraptured to hear that her son was below, desired the maid to tell him she longed to embrace

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own death, and which may be found in a subagios year 1792--M.]

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