Samuel Johnson's conversation and wit were so powerful that his physical untidiness was easily overlooked by those who knew him.

“But all these sllovenly particularities were forgotten the moment that he began to talk.”

Dominic Sandbrook believes that Samuel Johnson's depression was rooted in a profound fear of losing his sanity.

“I think in private he is worried that he might be going mad to the extent that he worries that he will end up in an asylum chained up which is what happens to lunatics as they're called in this period.”