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May 19, 1795

 

James Boswell died on May 19, 1795. This Scottish writer did not like cats, but in his zeal to record the personal and "telling" details about certain famous men, he recounts Samuel Johnson's fondness for "Hodge." These details were innovative in biography at the time. His story that Johnson had to shop for Hodge's meals himself, least the servants get to dislike the cat, give us an glimpse into the world of servants in earlier centuries, a glimpse that is disquieting.

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