ABSTRACT
Conversation between Dr Samuel Johnson and William Weller Pepys on 29 October 1782, reported by Fanny Burney, Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay … edited by her Niece, ii. (1842), 164–5. Johnson, who was visiting Brighton at the same time as Mrs Thrale, had already argued with Pepys (1740–1825) in June 1781. Ailing and discouraged, Johnson's ill-temper was only too evident to others. Further, see J. L. Clifford, Hester Lynch Piozzi (1941), pp. 197, 212, and Boswell's Life, ed. L. F. Powell (1934–50), iv. 65n., 487–8.
