December 13, 1784.As Samuel Johnson prepared to die in his Lon- don residence at No. 8,Bolt Court, a number of people took an unusual interest in how he would meet his end. "The death of Johnson," accord- ing to Arthur Murphy, a contemporary writer and actor, "kept the pub- lic mind in agitation beyond all former example."
Several reasons may be offered for this keen and perhaps morbid state of excitement. To begin with, no English author had ever been more of a celebrity....