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He was a great friend to books like the French Efprits d'un tel; for example, Beauties of Watts, &c. &c. at which, faid he, a man will often look and be tempted to go on, when he would have been frightened at books of a larger fize, and of a more erudite appearance.

Being once asked if he ever embellished a storyNo, faid he; a story is to lead either to the knowledge of a fact or character, and is good for nothing if it be not strictly and literally true.

Round numbers, faid he, are always false.

Watts's Improvement of the Mind was a very favourite book with him; he used to recommend it, as he alfo did Le Dictionnaire portatif of the Abbé

L'Avocat.

He has been accufed of treating lord Lyttelton roughly in his life of him; he affured a friend, however, that he kept back a very ridiculous anecdote of him, relative to a question he put to a great divine of his time.

Johnson's account of lord Lyttelton's envy to Shenstone for his improvements in his grounds, &c. was confirmed by an ingenious writer. Spence was in the house for a fortnight with the Lytteltons, before they offered to fhew him Shenftone's place.

When accused of mentioning ridiculous anecdotes in the lives of the poets, he faid, he should not have been an exact biographer if he had omitted them. The business of fuch a one, faid he, is to give a complete account of the person whofe life he is writing, and to difcriminate him from all other perfons

perfons by any peculiarities of character or fentiment he may happen to have.

He spoke Latin with great fluency and elegance. He faid, indeed, he had taken great pains about it.

A very famous fchoolmafter faid, he had rather take Johnson's opinion about any Latin compofition, than that of any other perfon in England.

Dr. Sumner, of Harrow, used to tell this ftory of Johnson they were dining one day, with many other perfons, at Mrs. Macaulay's; fhe had talked a long time at dinner about the natural equality of mankind; Johnson, when she had finished her harangue, rofe up from the table, and with great folemnity of countenance, and a bow to the ground, faid to the fervant, who was waiting behind his chair, Mr. John, pray be feated in my place, and permit me to wait upon you in my turn; your mistress says, you hear, that we are all equal.

When some one was lamenting Foote's unlucky 7 fate in being kicked in Dublin, Johnson said he was glad of it; he is rifing in the world, faid he; when he was in England, no one thought it worth while to kick him.

He was much pleased with the following repartee: Fiat experimentum in corpore vili, faid a French phyfician to his colleague, in speaking of the dif order of a poor man that understood Latin, and who was brought into an hospital; corpus non tam vile eft, fays the patient, pro quo Chriftus ipfe non dedignatus eft mori.

Johnson used to fay, a man was a fcoundrel that was afraid of any thing.

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After having difufed fwimming for many years, he went into the river at Oxford, and fwam away to a part of it that he had been told of as a dangerous place, and where fome one had been drowned.

He waited on lord Marchmont, to make some enquiries after particulars of Mr. Pope's life; his first question was,-What kind of a man was Mr. Pope in his converfation? his lordship answered, that if the converfation did not take fomething of a lively or epigrammatick turn, he fell asleep, or perhaps pretended to do fo.

Talking one day of the patronage the great fome. times affect to give to literature, and literary men, -Andrew Millar, fays he, is the Mecænas of the age.

Of the state of learning amongst the Scots, he faid, It is with their learning as with provifions in a befieged town, every one has a mouthful, and no one a bellyfull.

Of Sir Joshua Reynolds he requested three things; that he would not work on a Sunday; that he would read a portion of Scripture on that day; and that he would forgive him a debt which he had incurred for fome benevolent purpose.

When he first felt the ftroke of the palfy, he prayed to God that he would fpare his mind, whatever he thought fit to do with his body.

To fome lady who was praifing Shenstone's poems very much, and who had an Italian greyhound lying by the fire, he faid, Shenstone holds amongst poets the fame rank your dog holds amongst dogs;

he

he has not the fagacity of the hound, the docility of the spaniel, nor the courage of the bull-dog, yet he is ftill a pretty fellow.

Johnfon faid he was better pleafed with the commendations beftowed on his account of the Hebrides than on any book he had ever written. Burke, fays he, thought well of the philofophy of it; Sir William Jones of the obfervations on language; and Mr. Jackson of thofe on trade.

he

Of Foote's wit and readiness of repartee thought very highly;-He was, fays he, the readiest dog at an escape I ever knew; if you thought you had him on the ground fairly down, he was upon his legs and over your shoulders again in an inftant.

When some one asked him, whether they should introduce Hugh Kelly, the author, to him ;—No,Sir, fays he, I never defire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read:-yet when his play was acted for the benefit of his widow, Johnson furnished a prologue.

He repeated poetry with wonderful energy and feeling. He was feen to weep whilft he repeated Goldsmith's character of the English in his Traveller, beginning thus:

Stern o'er each bofom, &c.

He was supposed to have affifted Goldsmith very much in that poem, but has been heard to say, he might have contributed three or four lines, taking together all he had done.

He

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He held all authors very cheap, that were not fatisfied with the opinion of the publick about them. He used to say, that every man who writes, thinks he can amufe or inform mankind, and they must be the best judges of his pretenfions.

Of Warburton he always fpoke well. He gave me, fays he, his good word when it was of ufe to me. Warburton, in the Preface to his Shakespeare, has commended Johnfon's Obfervations on Macbeth.

Two days before he died, he faid, with fome pleafantry,-Poor Johnfon is dying; **** will fay, he dies of taking a few grains more of fquills than were ordered him; ***** will fay, he dies of the scarifications made by the furgeon in his leg.-His laft act of understanding is faid to have been exerted in giving his bleffing to a young lady that requested it of him.

He was always ready to affift any authors in correcting their works, and felling them to bookfellers. -I have done writing, faid he, myself, and should affift thofe that do write.

Johnson always advised his friends, when they were about to marry, to unite themselves to a woman of a pious and religious frame of mind.-Fear of the world, and a sense of honour, faid he, may have an effect upon a man's conduct and behaviour; a woman without religion is without the only motive that in general can incite her to do well.

When fome one asked him for what he should marry, he replied, first, for virtue; fecondly, for wit; thirdly, for beauty; and fourthly, for money.

He