DR. JOHNSON AND THE BOOKSELLER. [To the Editor of the
SPECTATOR.] Sin,—The reviewer of Knuckles and Gloves in your issue of November 25th appears to have a confused recollection of his Boswell. He states that Dr. Johnson had a " turn-up " with Tom Davis, the bookseller of Russell Street, Covent Garden. Poor Tom must have turned in his grave if the knowledge of such a charge could reach him. Boswell states Oat " It has been confidently related, with many embel- lishments, that Johnson one day knocked Osborne (Thomas Osborne, the bookseller) down in his shop, with a folio, and put his foot upon his neck. The simple truth I had from Johnson himself. ' Sir, he was impertinent to me, and I beat him. But it was not in his shop, it was in my own chamber.' " The reviewer's reference to Johnson's alleged " turn-up " with the brewer's servant in Fleet Street, I suppose, refers to Johnson's accidental collision with a porter who was carrying a heavy load, and who stopped, but after eyeing. earnestly the burly figure of the Doctor, decided it was better to proceed without showing active resentment. There was not much of a " turn-up " there, and the collision was entirely owing to Johnson's semi-blindness.—I arn. Sir, &c.
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