Samuel Johnson (1709-84) with his friend James Boswell (1740-95) laying his arm on the back of Johnson’s chair, detail of a painting showing the circle of Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Boswell wrote a Life of Johnson in 1784, in which he records Johnson’s opinions on London.

When a man is tired of London he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.

(Samuel Johnson to Boswell, 20 September 1777)

• Johnson’s poem London (1738)

• Johnson on London in Society (1753)

• Johnson on London lanes (1763)

• Boswell on Johnson