1778-At. 69

"Williams hates everybody; Levett hates Desmoulins, and does not love Williams: Desmoulins hates them both; Poll1 loves none of them." 2

1779 Æt. 70

Vol. V, p. 70.

Johnson: "Garrick was a very good man, the cheerfullest man of his age; a decent liver in a profession which is supposed to give indulgence to licentiousness; and a man who gave away, freely, money acquired by himself. He began the world with a great hunger for money; the son of a halfpay officer, bred in a family whose study was to make fourpence do as much as others would make fourpence halfpenny do. But when he had got money, he was very liberal." I presumed to animadvert on his eulogy on Garrick, in his Lives of the Poets. "You say, sir, his death eclipsed the gayety of nations." Johnson: "I could not have said more nor less. It is the truth: eclipsed, not extinguished; and his death did eclipse; it was like a storm." Boswell: "But why nations? Did his gayety extend farther than his own nation?" Johnson: "Why, sir, some exaggeration must be allowed. Besides, nations may be said-if we allow the Scotch

1 Miss Carmichael.

2 From a letter to Mrs. Thrale about the occupants of the Fleet Street house,

He said, "Dodsley first mentioned to me the scheme of an English Dictionary; but I had long thought of it." Boswell: "You did not know what you were undertaking." Johnson: "Yes, sir, I knew very well what I was undertaking- and very well how to do it." - Vol. V, p. 104.

1780-t. 71

Talking on the subject of toleration one day when some friends were with him in his study, he made his usual remark, that the State has a right to regulate the religion of the people, who are the children of the State. A clergyman having readily acquiesced in this, Johnson, who loved discussion, observed, "But, sir, you must go round to other states than your own. You do not know what a Brahmin has to say for himself. In short, sir, I have got no further than this: every man has a right to utter what he thinks truth, and every, other man has a right to knock him down for it. Martyrdom is the test." Vol. V, p. 150.

"Of Dr. Goldsmith he said, 'No man was more foolish when he had not a pen in his hand, or more wise when he had."" - Vol. V, p. 168.

1781 Æt. 72

"When he walked the streets, what with the constant roll of his head, and the concomitant motion of his body, he appeared to make his way by that motion, independent of his feet." That he was often much stared at while he advanced in this manner, may easily be believed; but it was not safe to make sport of one so robust as he was. Mr. Langton saw him one day, in a fit of absence, by a sudden start, drive the load off a porter's back, and walk forward briskly, without being conscious of what he had done. The porter was very angry, but stood still, and eyed the huge figure with much earnestness, till he was satisfied that his wisest course was to be quiet, and take up his burden again. Vol. V, p. 209.

1781 Et. 72

Everything about his character and manners was forcible and violent; there was never any moderation; many a day did he fast; many a year did he refrain from wine; but when he did eat, it was voraciously; when he did drink wine, it was copiously. He could practice abstinence, but not temperance. Vol. V, p. 210.

Wilkes: "I have been thinking, Dr. Johnson, that there should be a Bill brought into Parliament that 1Quoted from a short Life published by Kearsley.

the controverted elections for Scotland should be tried in that country, at their own Abbey of Holyrood House, and not here; for the consequence of trying them here is, that we have an inundation of Scotchmen, who come up and never go back again. Now here is Boswell, who is come upon the election for his own county, which will not last a fortnight." Johnson: "Nay, sir, I see no reason why they should be tried at all; for, you know, one Scotchman is as good as another." Wilkes: "Pray, Boswell, how much may be got in a year by an advocate at the Scotch bar?" Boswell: "I believe, two thousand pounds." Wilkes: "How can it be possible to spend that money in Scotland?" Johnson: "Why, sir, the money may be spent in England; but there is a harder question. If one man in Scotland gets possession of two thousand pounds, what remains. for all the rest of the nation?" Wilkes: "You know, in the last war, the immense booty Thurot carried off by the complete plunder of seven Scotch isles; he re-embarked with three and sixpence." Here again Johnson and Wilkes joined in extravagant sportive raillery upon the supposed poverty of Scotland, which Dr. Beattie and I did not think it worth our while to dispute. Vol. V, p. 237.

1781 Æt. 72

One day, when I told him that I was a zealous Tory, but not enough "according to knowledge," and should be obliged to him for "a reason," he

was so candid, and expressed himself so well, that I begged of him to repeat what he had said, and I wrote it down as follows:

OF TORY AND WHIG

"A wise Tory and a wise Whig, I believe, will agree. Their principles are the same, though their modes of thinking are different. A high Tory makes government unintelligible: it is lost in the clouds. A violent Whig makes it impracticable: he is for allowing so much liberty to every man, that there is not power enough to govern any man. The prejudice of the Tory is for establishment; the prejudice of the Whig is for innovation. A Tory does not wish to give more real power to Government, but that Government should have more reverence. Then they differ as to the Church. The Tory is not for giving more legal power to the clergy, but wishes they should have a considerable influence founded upon the opinion of mankind: the Whig is for limiting and watching them with a narrow jealousy." - Vol. V, p. 251.

1782-At. 73

TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

"Dear Sir, I have struggled through this year with so much infirmity of body, and such strong impressions of the fragility of life, that death, when