Johnson, in August, 1738, went, with
all the fame of his poetry, to offer himself a candidate for the
mastership of the school at Appleby, in Leicestershire. The statutes of
the place required, that the person chosen should be a master of arts.
To remove this objection, the then lord Gower was induced to write to a
friend, in order to obtain for Johnson a master's degree in the
university of Dublin, by the recommendation of Dr. Swift. The letter was
printed in one of the magazines, and was as follows:
SIR,--Mr. Samuel Johnson, author of London, a satire, and some other
poetical pieces, is a native of this county, and much respected by some
worthy gentlemen in the neighbourhood, who are trustees of a
charity-school, now vacant; the certain salary of which is sixty pounds
per year, of which they are desirous to make him master; but,
unfortunately, he is not capable of receiving their bounty, which would
make him happy for life, by not being a master of arts, which, by the
statutes of the school, the master of it must be.
Now these gentlemen do me the honour to think, that I have interest
enough in you, to prevail upon you to write to dean Swift, to persuade
the university of Dublin to send a diploma to me, constituting this poor
man master of arts in their university. They highly extol the man's
learning and probity; and will not be persuaded, that the university
will make any difficulty of conferring such a favour upon a stranger, if
he is recommended by the dean.
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