Our new President, Paul Brown has written this introductory message to readers of The Southern Johnsonian
Neighbour of the near domain,
Stay awhile your passing main!
Though to give is more your way,
Take a gift from me today!
Beware psychiatrists bearing gifts!
My gifts today are those of thanks. First, thanks to John Wiltshire, who
introduced me to the Society and who, in giving me his copy of Samuel Johnson:
A Personality in Conflict", ameliorated my own.
The quote above is from Austin Dobson, written to his friend Edmund Gosse.
I wish to thank John Byrne, who introduced me to Dobson, and the many other
Johnsonians, yourselves warmly included, who now populate the cosy inner
recesses of my mind.
Like Gosse, I spent part of my early years in Tottenham, North London.
Some years before, he had made the acquaintance of Dob when walking from
Tottenham to Wood Green railway station on his way to work at the British
Museum.
Gosse might well have mused on Johnson's: "If a man does not make
a new acquaintance as he advances in life, he will soon find himself alone.
A man, Sir, should keep his friendship in constant repair."
Bryan Reid, who tapped out this offering, and Clive Probyn, who presented
me with my Johnson tie, are two such friends. Suffice it to say that my
sortie into your circle, the world of Johnson and Johnsonians, has enriched
my life beyond my wildest expectations.
Johnson's Antipodean aspirations never came to fruition. He never made
C. Below's Vedgymight History of Australia. However, he was able
to make do with his imagination, as John Spooner splendidly reminded us
in his engraving of the Great Cham imitating Sir Joseph Banks' kangaroo.
His spirit is with us today, and I wholeheartedly intend to serve both
him and you all as your incoming President.