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some
irritation that Miss Williams seemed to care little that
Francis appeared to have exchanged the relative comforts
of Gough Square for a life of adventuring, and Johnson's
agitation with regard to his servant's new choice of 'career'
was further fuelled by the fact that the literary man
possessed a particular loathing towards seafaring, being
sure that long confinement in a ship served only to narrow
the mind as opposed to opening up possibilities of seeing
the world anew. He was often quoted as having declared
that, 'No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough
to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in
a jail, with the chance of being drowned.'
    For sixteen long months, Johnson suffered daily anxiety
about the moral and spiritual well-being of Francis, who
he knew was not a hardy youngster. Information reached
him that the boy had transferred to HMS Stag and, unable
to endure any further torment, Johnson decided to contact
a Dr Hay at the Admiralty and request that an order for
the boy's discharge be issued. Months passed by without
the order being acted upon, for apparently HMS Stag was
spending a great deal of time at sea, albeit in English
waters, but finally, on 8 August, 1760, Francis Barber received
the unwelcome news that he had been discharged. Unhappy
to be so quickly deprived of his new and independent life,
Francis loitered about the ship for two whole months before
regretfully disembarking on 22 October at Sheerness.
    On returning to London, the eighteen-year-old young
man discovered that his master had taken slightly more
spacious lodgings at 1 Inner Temple Lane, where he had
been joined by a strange widow named Mrs Desmoulins,
who appeared to be a person of little merriment, and a
Dr Levett, a shabby and silent physician to the lower orders.
Francis reluctantly reassumed his previous role, busying
himself answering the door, running trifling errands,
attending at table whenever company happened to call, and
fetching an occasional dinner from a local tavern. In addition,
Francis was entrusted with the power of purchasing
provisions. The greatest joy for the young man was his
discovery that Miss Williams had remained behind at
Gough Square, where she now occupied herself running a
small boarding school. Her blessed absence afforded Francis
considerable time to enjoy leisure about the house without
being hounded by this wretched woman. However,
concerned that the boy's general level of education remained
in dire need of improvement, Johnson insisted that Francis
keep pace with his studies, and to this end he eventually
dispatched his Francis to a modest grammar school at
Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire that was willing to take
him in and attempt to enhance his literacy and speech,
and familiarise him with Latin and Greek. Francis was
placed in the charge of the late headmaster's widow, who
rose to the challenge of this experiment, but the reports
that his master received of Francis' 'progress' were, at least
initially, discouraging. Johnson soon found himself in the
embarrassing position of being the recipient of written
complaints about his servant's ineptitude, but he continued
to send money and in the end he expended nearly £300.
When the young Francis returned to London, Johnson was gratified that his servant could read and write English with
improved ease, although not with great fluency, and in
addition the negro had indeed been able to add Latin and
Greek to his learning. While it pleased Johnson to now
have the company of the negro to relax with him by the
fire in the evenings, it frustrated him that the young man
chose not to ask any questions or put his new education
to the service of spirited conversation. But it was enough
for Johnson, who described himself as 'a hardened and
shameless tea drinker', that he had somebody to sit with him
late into the night as he pursued his vice.
    It was during this period that sooty Francis began to
fraternise with others of his own race