I have tried too in my time to be a philosopher; but, I don't know how, cheerfulness was always breaking in.

- Dr Samuel Johnson

The destination of my short walk, beside a shallow stream, surrounded by cow poo: Doctor Johnson's Monument. it was erected by local bigwig John Myddleton to memorialize a visit by the famous thinker. Johnson was bemused when he heard of it: "Mr Myddleton's erection of an urn looks like an invention to by me alive..."

it is a little odd. Presumably Myddleton had already determined to place a picturesque folly at the spot, and dedicating it to his new friend was in reality an afterthought.

Dr Johnson’s House

“When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.” So wrote Dr Samuel Johnson, famed compiler of A Dictionary of the English Language. Most of the work was completed at 17 Gough Square, which today is a museum of sorts to the life and work of Johnson.

The house is not presented as a replica of how it was in Johnson’s day, as no details of how it looked back then exist. Rather, it is in most places an approximation of a Georgian townhouse. Visitors are free to wander through the rooms, consulting guides to learn more about the uses of each room, the various objects of interest in each, and to read more about Dr Johnson and his friends. The library contains facsimiles of the two volumes of the Dictionary that can be browsed through – and, yes, he did miss out “aardvark”.