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69:, unless he had Mr. Levet with him. Ever since I was acquainted with Dr. Johnson, and many years before, as I have been assured by those who knew him earlier, Mr. Levet had an apartment in his house, or his chambers, and waited upon him every morning, through the whole course of his late and tedious breakfast."
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One can get some sense of
Johnson's genuine feeling for his boarder—whom the renowned poet and author had taken in after Levet made a bad marriage in which he was hoodwinked—in the encomium that Johnson wrote eulogising his old friend. Levet's death of a heart attack in 1782 came when Johnson himself
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study, as well as the occasional attendance at medical lectures. Nevertheless, Levet apparently conducted an extensive medical practice among the denizens of London's seedier neighbourhoods, where besides taking in modest fees, Levet was embraced by what contemporaneous writers sometimes referred to
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Johnson himself spoke of his friend's coarse manners. Levet, he wrote, "is a brutal fellow; but I have a good regard for him, for his brutality is in his manners and not in his mind." Added
Boswell: "His character was rendered valuable by repeated proof of honesty, tenderness, and gratitude to his
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Whatever relationship grew between Levet and
Johnson, it lasted many years. The two often supped together, and despite their different backgrounds seemed to enjoy each other's company. When Johnson travelled abroad, he was in the habit of writing his lodger Levet. Johnson knew little of Levet's
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of 24 January 1782, carried this item: "Last week died at the house of his friend, Dr. Samuel
Johnson, Dr. Levet, a practitioner in physic." After Levet died, Johnson posted notice of his death in the London newspapers, hoping to find the Yorkshire heirs to the meager estate Levet left behind.
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Like most observers, Boswell noted Levet's singularly odd appearance: "He was of a strange grotesque appearance," Boswell wrote, "stiff and formal in his manner, and seldom said a word while any company was present."
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benefactor, as well as an unwearied diligence in his profession." Levet's only real failure, aside from his odd appearance and unpolished manners, was his occasional tendency to overindulge in spirits.
132:(Feb. 1785), "A Few Particulars Concerning Mr. Levet." It was based mostly on the testimony of Johnson himself, and appears to be the work of the literary editor and scholar,
65:: "Such was Johnson's predilection for him, and fanciful estimation of his moderate abilities, that I have heard him say he should not be satisfied, though attended by all the
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Levet occupied an apartment within Samuel
Johnson's home, where he waited on Johnson "every morning." The two became acquainted in 1746, according to Johnson's biographer
88:'s habit of eavesdropping on conversations of physicians had been noted, and some had taken a collection to get Levet some training. That training consisted mostly of
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The Life of Samuel
Johnson, LL.D.: Comprehending an Account of His Studies and Numerous Works, Vol. III, James Boswell Esq., J. Richardson and Co., London, 1821
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In
Johnson's tribute to the departed Levet, one can sense what might have drawn the learned man of letters to the rough unlettered apothecary from Hull:
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A Selection of
Curious Articles from the Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. III, John Walker, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, London, 1814
261:"On the Death of Dr. Robert Levet," Samuel Johnson, The Harvard Classics, Charles William Eliot, P.F. Collier & Son, New York, 1910
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Although some described Levet as a quack, Johnson and his biographer observed that while working as a waiter in a
Parisian
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A Selection of
Curious Articles from the Gentleman's Magazine, John Walker, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, 1814
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27:, with whom Levet shared a friendship of thirty-six years, in Johnson's poem "On the Death of Dr. Robert Levet."
54:. Levet moved to Paris, where he found work as a waiter. Along the way, he picked up some training as an
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42:) was described as "an obscure practiser in physick amongst the lower people." Levet was born in
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19:(1705–1782), a Yorkshireman who became a Parisian waiter, then garnered some training as an
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Boswell's Life of Johnson, edited by George Birkbeck Hill, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1887
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After Johnson's death, curiosity about his lodger was gratified by an article in the
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background, but he seemed to cherish the awkward, unpolished man nonetheless.
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as "the lower classes." Perhaps that was because Levet was one of them.
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Johnson ultimately located Levet's two brothers in Yorkshire's
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The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D. together with his life
272:Tankard, Paul (March 2012). "Levet Intelligence".
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23:and moved to London, was eulogised by the poet
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34:Samuel Johnson, friend to Robert Levet
121:And hov'ring death prepar'd the blow,
117:"When fainting nature call'd for aid,
323:18th-century English medical doctors
125:The power of art without the show."
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250:. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
247:Dictionary of National Biography
183:. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
180:Dictionary of National Biography
313:Medical doctors from Yorkshire
308:People from Kingston upon Hull
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238:Seccombe, Thomas (1885–1900).
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123:His vig'rous remedy display'd
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38:Levet (sometimes spelled
274:Johnsonian News Letter
241:"Levett, Robert"
174:"Levett, Robert"
154:Hawkins, John (1787),
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82:coffeehouse
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141:References
90:apothecary
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52:Yorkshire
44:Kirk Ella
280:: 58–62.
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48:Hull
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