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78 Literary Artifacts Samuel Johnson’s gallstone was “about the size of a pigeon’s egg.” (Compare the size of Pepys’s!) —Richard Altick, The Scholar Adventurers Samuel Pepys suffered from a grand gallstone. Some claim it was fat as a tennis ball. He had it removed and placed on display For visitors, and would freely postpone A tale of war, plague, or great fire to tell Readers that he had wet himself that day. Years kept his keepsake but left the journals. We may never discover Shakespeare’s notes For Hamlet, or Byron’s burned memoir, But an orb so solid, perhaps eternal, Would be a great find.Though missing, one hopes Something so large can’t have gotten too far, That if we can’t name the man from Porlock, We may still unearth Pepys’s famous rock. ...

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