He wrote also The Convict’s Address to his unhappy Brethren, a sermon delivered by Dr. Dodd, in the chapel of Newgate.

The other pieces mentioned by Johnson in the above-mentioned collection, are two letters, one to the Lord Chancellor Bathurst, (not Lord North, as is erroneously supposed,) and one to Lord Mansfield;—­A Petition from Dr. Dodd to the King;—­A Petition from Mrs. Dodd to the Queen;—­Observations of some length inserted in the news-papers, on occasion of Earl Percy’s having presented to his Majesty a petition for mercy to Dodd, signed by twenty thousand people, but all in vain.  He told me that he had also written a petition from the city of London; ‘but (said he, with a significant smile) they mended it.’

The last of these articles which Johnson wrote is Dr. Dodd’s last solemn Declaration, which he left with the sheriff at the place of execution.

I found a letter to Dr. Johnson from Dr. Dodd, May 23, 1777, in which The Convict’s Address seems clearly to be meant.

’I am so penetrated, my ever dear Sir, with a sense of your extreme benevolence towards me, that I cannot find words equal to the sentiments of my heart. . . .’

On Sunday, June 22, he writes, begging Dr. Johnson’s assistance in framing a supplicatory letter to his Majesty.

This letter was brought to Dr. Johnson when in church.  He stooped down and read it, and wrote, when he went home, the following letter for Dr. Dodd to the King: 

’Sir,—­May it not offend your Majesty, that the most miserable of men applies himself to your clemency, as his last hope and his last refuge; that your mercy is most earnestly and humbly implored by a clergyman, whom your Laws and Judges have condemned to the horrour and ignominy of a publick execution. . . .’

Subjoined to it was written as follows:—­

’To Dr. Dodd.

’Sir,—­I most seriously enjoin you not to let it be at all known that I have written this letter, and to return the copy to Mr. Allen in a cover to me.  I hope I need not tell you, that I wish it success.—­But do not indulge hope.—­Tell nobody.’

It happened luckily that Mr. Allen was pitched on to assist in this melancholy office, for he was a great friend of Mr. Akerman, the keeper of Newgate.  Dr. Johnson never went to see Dr. Dodd.  He said to me, ’it would have done him more harm, than good to Dodd, who once expressed a desire to see him, but not earnestly.’

All applications for the Royal Mercy having failed, Dr. Dodd prepared himself for death; and, with a warmth of gratitude, wrote to Dr. Johnson as follows:—­

’June 25, Midnight.