[1234] Johnson wrote on Oct. 24, 1778:—­’My two clerical friends Darby and Worthington have both died this month.  I have known Worthington long, and to die is dreadful.  I believe he was a very good man.’ Piozzi Letters, ii. 26.

[1235] Thomas, the second Lord Lyttelton.  DUPPA.

[1236] Mr. Gwynn the architect was a native of Shrewsbury, and was at this time completing a bridge across the Severn, called the English Bridge:  besides this bridge, he built one at Acham, over the Severn, near to Shrewsbury; and the bridges at Worcester, Oxford [Magdalen Bridge], and Henley.  DUPPA.  He was also the architect of the Oxford Market, which was opened in 1774. Oxford during the Last Century, ed. 1859, p. 45.  Johnson and Boswell travelled to Oxford with him in March, 1776. Ante, ii. 438.  In 1778 he got into some difficulties, in which Johnson tried to help him, as is shewn by the following autograph letter in the possession of my friend Mr. M. M. Holloway:—­

’SIR,

’Poor Mr. Gwyn is in great distress under the weight of the late determination against him, and has still hopes that some mitigation may be obtained.  If it be true that whatever has by his negligence been amiss, may be redressed for a sum much less than has been awarded, the remaining part ought in equity to be returned, or, what is more desirable, abated.  When the money is once paid, there is little hope of getting it again.

’The load is, I believe, very hard upon him; he indulges some flattering opinions that by the influence of his academical friends it may be lightened, and will not be persuaded but that some testimony of my kindness may be beneficial.  I hope he has been guilty of nothing worse than credulity, and he then certainly deserves commiseration.  I never heard otherwise than that he was an honest man, and I hope that by your countenance and that of other gentlemen who favour or pity him some relief may be obtained.

’I am, Sir, ’Your most humble servant, ‘SAM.  JOHNSON.’  ’Bolt Court, Fleet-street, ‘Jan. 30, 1778.’

[1237] An ancestor of mine, a nursery-gardener, Thomas Wright by name, after whom my grandfather, Thomas Wright Hill, was called, planted this walk.  The tradition preserved in my family is that on his wedding-day he took six men with him and planted these trees.  When blamed for keeping the wedding-dinner waiting, he answered, that if what he had been doing turned out well, it would be of far more value than a wedding-dinner.

[1238] The Rector of St. Chad’s, in Shrewsbury.  He was appointed Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, in the following year.  See ante, ii. 441.

[1239] ’I have heard Dr. Johnson protest that he never had quite as much as he wished of wall-fruit except once in his life, and that was when we were all together at Ombersley.’  Piozzi’s Anec. p. 103.  Mrs. Thrale wrote to him in 1778:—­’Mr. Scrase gives us fine fruit; I wished you my pear yesterday; but then what would one pear have done for you?’ Piozzi Letters, ii. 36.  It seems unlikely that Johnson should not at Streatham have had all the wall-fruit that he wished.