>From Wednesday's Guardian, G2, p. 9, (1/9/99) Christopher Logue, Beckett's
first publisher, writes:
Beckett loved Samuel Johnson. He was always referring to Johnson. "Rasselas
is a grand book, He [sic] could be rude - but he had a kind heart. Towards
the end of his life he suffered from dropsy. Water was blowing him up. When
the doctors would not drain more of it off, he asked his servant, Barber - a
negro, they were together for years - for a knife and stabbed and stabbed
his own legs."
That's it as far as the C18th is concerned, but the rest of the article is
certainly worth a read.
Brycchan Carey
London
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