A Famous Lawyer Explains The well-known solicitor, Sir Charles Russell, has written. an interesting brochure on " Dr. Johnson and the Catholic Church," which is included in Johnson Club Papers," (Fisher Unwin, 10s. d.), in which he says:—
When Boswell appeared on the scene and met Johnson in Davis's shop in May of 1763, he found the Philosopher, then 54 years of age, with quite a long list of Catholic acquaintances. There was Thomas Hussey, the Catholic Bishop of Waterford, first President of Maynooth, and one of the few Catholic Fellows of the Royal Society. When Johnson met him he was Chaplain to the Spanish Chapel. There was Mrs. Strick-Jand, the lady from Cumberland whom Johnson described as "a very high lady;" there was Dr. Nugent, father-in-lay of Edmund Burke; Mrs. Edmund Burke, General Pooh, Joseph Baretti, whose life he helped to save by giving evidence as to his character when he was tried at the Old Bailey. Arthur Murphy, too, who introduced Johnson to' the Thrales in 1764, was a Catholic, educated at St. Omer's,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.