Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.

hou01769 Burney, Charles, 1726-1814. Correspondence (MS Hyde 88): Guide. 03/25/2005 Rick Stattler 11/07/2013 Loaded into OASIS June 8, 2006 hou01769 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02.xsl (sy2006-06-08). 2008 March 10 Alison Harris added digital image links MS Hyde 88 Burney, Charles, 1726-1814. Correspondence: Guide. Houghton Library, Harvard College Library

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138

Last update 2008 March 20

Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University b MS Hyde 88 (shelved with bMS Hyde 89) Burney, Charles, 1726-1814 Correspondence, 1755-1811 1 box (.5 linear ft.) Letters to and from author and musician Charles Burney, including some which discuss Samuel Johnson's final days and James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. Processed by:

Rick Stattler

*2003JM-58 (part)

Bequest of Mary Hyde Eccles, Four Oaks Farm, Somerville, New Jersey; received: 2004.

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Charles Burney (1726-1814) established a reputation as an organist and composer before moving to London in 1760. There he became a central figure in the circle gathered around author Samuel Johnson. Burney published numerous works of music scholarship, most notably his four-volume A General History of Music (1776-1789). Eight of his children survived to adulthood, including novelist Frances d'Arblay, generally known as Fanny Burney (1752-1840); Susanna Elizabeth Phillips, generally known as Susanna Burney (1755-1800); and Charles Burney (1757-1817).

This collection consists of 13 letters by Burney, five letters received by him, and two poems. Of special importance is a portion of Burney's notes on Samuel Johnson sent to James Boswell, item (2), which were used in Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The collection also includes letters to Fanny Burney, item (3); and Samuel Johnson, item (8). Many of the letters discuss Samuel Johnson, including two that describe his final days in detail, items (10) and (12).

Several related items are also part of the Hyde Collection, including five letters from Samuel Johnson in MS Hyde 1, items (14) and (126); four letters from Hester Lynch Piozzi in MS Hyde 3, item (13); six letters to and from various parties in MS Hyde 57, pages 12 to 17 and 22; a letter to George Henry Glasse in MS Hyde 61, item (7.14); two letters to Thomas Cadell in MS Hyde 69, item (10); a letter from Bennet Langton in MS Hyde 77; and a letter from Hester Lynch Piozzi in MS Eng 1477, item (1).

Alvaro Ribeiro, ed., The Letters of Dr Charles Burney, Volume 1: 1751-1784 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991)

(1) [Banks, Joseph, Sir, 1743-1820, recipient] Autograph letter, signed, [no place] from Charles Burney, 1784 May 26. 1s. in 1 folder.

Concerning musical compositions by an unidentified friend of Banks.

Ribeiro, 416-417.

(2) Boswell, James, 1740-1795, recipient. Two letters from Charles Burney, 1787-1791. 2s. in 1 folder. Autograph manuscript fragment, [no place] [ca. 1787]

Pages 3 and 4 of a longer manuscript which Burney lent to Boswell, describing his relationship with Samuel Johnson and summarizing several letters from Johnson to Burney. The fragment also includes Burney's manuscript transcript of a letter from Johnson to Burney dated 1784 Aug. 2.

Annotated by Fanny Burney.

Discussed in Roger Lonsdale, Dr. Burney and the Integrity of Boswell's Quotations, Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, 53:4 (1959), 327-331. Portions of Burney's notes were used by James Boswell in his Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. See L.F. Powell's 1934 edition, 1, 329; 2, 406-407; and 4, 360 and 545.

Pages 5 and 6 of Burney's manuscript are at Yale University. The original 1784 Aug. 2 Johnson letter is at the Wellcome Historical Medical Library, and is published in Bruce Redford, The Letters of Samuel Johnson (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1994) IV, 357-358.

Autograph draft letter, signed, [no place] [1791 July 16]

Offers extended praise for The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., and discusses the Literary Club.

Annotated by Fanny Burney.

The final version of the letter is at Yale University, and was published in Charles N. Fifer, ed., The Correspondence of James Boswell with Certain Members of the Club (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976), 342-345.

(3) Burney, Fanny, 1752-1840, recipient. Autograph draft letter, [no place] from Charles Burney, [ca. 1782 July 22] 1s. in 1 folder.

Addressed to "Dear folks," which probably also included Fanny's sister Susanna Burney and her husband Molesworth Phillips. Passes on praise for Fanny Burney's Cecilia from Sir Joshua Reynolds, Edward Gibbon, and others.

Annotated by Fanny Burney.

Ribeiro, 342-345.

(4) Burney, Sarah Rose, 1759-1821, recipient. Autograph letter, signed, Chelsea College [Chelsea, London] from Charles Burney, 1791 Jan. 15. 1s. in 1 folder.

Offers his opinions of Joseph Priestley, Samuel Johnson, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Pope,and Laurence Sterne.

(5) Carter, Mary, b. ca. 1730? 3 letters to Charles Burney, 1810 and undated. 3s. in 1 folder.

The 1810 Aug. 3 letter consists mostly of an untitled poem beginning Tho all agree you've had good schooling, and expresses the wish that Fanny Burney would write more novels.

(6) Hague, Charles, 1769-1821, recipient. Autograph letter, signed, [no place] from Charles Burney, [1811] 1s. in 1 folder.

Has received Hague's ode on the 1811 installation of William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester, as chancellor of the University of Cambridge.

(7) Hoole, John, 1727-1803. Autograph letter, signed, 12 Nassau Street, Soho [London] to Charles Burney, [1802 June 24] Thursday. 1s. in 1 folder.

Concerning the health of the Hoole family and of Burney.

(8) Johnson, Samuel, 1709-1784, recipient. 2 letters from Charles Burney, 1755-1765. 2s. in 1 folder. Autograph draft letter, signed, King's Lynn [Norfolk, England] 1755 Apr. 14.

Eagerly anticipates Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language. Split at the fold.

Ribeiro, 18-20.

Click for color digital facsimile

Autograph draft letter, signed, Poland Street, Soho [London] 1765 Oct. 14.

Praises Johnson's preface to his edition of The Plays of William Shakespeare.

Ribeiro, 47-50.

Click for color digital facsimile

(9) Langton, Bennet, 1737-1801. Autograph letter, signed, Norwich (England), to Charles Burney, 1795 Sept. 4. 1s. in 1 folder.

Family news.

(10) Lonsdale, William Lowther, Earl of, 1757-1844, recipient. Autograph draft letter, [no place] from Charles Burney, [ca. 1807 Apr.] 1s. in 1 folder.

Discusses at length his final meeting with Samuel Johnson. Thanks Lonsdale for his patronage to Johann Christian Hüttner, and discusses the appointment of George Canning as foreign secretary.

(11) [Panton, Paul, 1727-1797, recipient?] Autograph letter, signed, St. Martin's Street [London] from Charles Burney, [1786 Jan. 31] Tuesday. 1s. in 1 folder.

Ready to return the early Welsh musical manuscript from the Richard Morris collection. Burney wrote a similar letter to Paul Panton concerning the same manuscript on 1779 June 21 (Ribeiro, 275-276).

(12) Phillips, Susanna Elizabeth, 1755-1800, recipient. 2 letters from Charles Burney, 1782-1784. 2s. in 1 folder.

The 1782 Nov. 11 letter discusses Sir Joshua Reynolds's recent stroke. The 1784 Dec. 26 letter discusses the death of Samuel Johnson, and predicts that James Boswell and his competing biographers will not be fit for the task.

Both letters annotated by Fanny Burney.

Ribeiro, 352-354 and 463-467.

(13) Reed, Isaac, 1742-1807, recipient. Autograph letter, signed, Hammersmith [and Fulham, England] from Charles Burney, 1787 Mar. 8. 1s. in 1 folder.

Postpones meeting.

(14) Burney, Charles, 1726-1814. To Mrs. Crewe, with the Bishop of Lincoln's introduction to the Bible : autograph manuscript poem, signed, 1802 Mar. 3. 2 leaves in 1 folder.

Sewn and glued to To Mrs. Kemble, on perusing, in consequence of her recommendations, Mrs. Inchbald's Simple Story, an autograph manuscript draft poem, signed, Greenwich (London), 1795 Mar. 11. Poems dedicated to Mrs. (Frances Ann) Crewe and [Priscilla?] Kemble.