Kings MS 13

LETTER to Samuel Johnson, LL.D., on the subject of a future state; by John Taylor, LL.D., of Ashbourne, Prebendary of Westminster (d. 1788). Preceded (f. 1) by twelve lines of verse 'to the Reverend Dr. Taylor On his Letter to Dr. Johnson', by Brooke Boothby [6th Bart., 1789]; and followed (ff 38, 39) by copies of two letters from Johnson to Taylor (a) on the death of his wife, 18 Mar. 1752, and (b) 'on being struck with the Palsy', 17 June, 1783. Published in 1787, with dedicatory letter to the Duke of Devonshire, preface, and a third letter from Johnson to Taylor, on his dying condition, 12 Apr. 1784 (see Gentleman's Magazine, lvii, 1787, P. 521); and reprinted by T. Taylor, Life of John Taylor [1911], P. 27. The citation of 'Dr. Vincent's Sermon, Good Friday, 1786' (f. 25), omitted in the printed text, confirms the author's statement in his preface that 'the arguments ... have, since the Doctor's death [13 Dec. 1784] been enlarged'. Johnson's three letters are all in Boswell's Life, vol. i, P. 238, vol. iv, pp. 228, 270, of G. B. Hill's edition, 1887. Paper; ff. 41. Quarto. 9 in. x 7 in. Late XVIII cent. Monogram of George III stamped on the covers.