On this occasion he mentioned a circumstance as characteristick of the Scotch."One of that nation,(said he,)who had been a candidate,against whom I had voted,came up to me with a civil salutation.Now,Sir,this is their way.An Englishman would have stomached it,and been sulky,and never have taken further notice of you;but a Scotchman,Sir,though you vote nineteen times against him,will accost you with equal complaisance after each time,and the twentieth time,Sir,he will get your vote."'
'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 Bramin 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."'
'Goldsmith one day brought to THE CLUB a printed Ode,which he,with others,had been hearing read by its authour in a publick room at the rate of five shillings each for admission.One of the company having read it aloud,Dr.Johnson said,"Bolder words and more timorous meaning,I think never were brought together."'Talking of Gray's Odes,he said,"They are forced plants raised in a hot-bed;and they are poor plants;they are but cucumbers after all."A gentleman present,who had been running down Ode-writing in general,as a bad species of poetry,unluckily said,"Had they been literally cucumbers,they had been better things than Odes."--"Yes,Sir,(said Johnson,)for a HOG."'
'It is very remarkable,that he retained in his memory very slight and trivial,as well as important things.As an instance of this,it seems that an inferiour domestick of the Duke of Leeds had attempted to celebrate his Grace's marriage in such homely rhimes as he could make;and this curious composition having been sung to Dr.Johnson he got it by heart,and used to repeat it in a very pleasant manner.Two of the stanzas were these:--"When the Duke of Leeds shall married be To a fine young lady of high quality,How happy will that gentlewoman be In his Grace of Leeds's good company.
She shall have all that's fine and fair,And the best of silk and satin shall wear;And ride in a coach to take the air,And have a house in St.James's-square."To hear a man,of the weight and dignity of Johnson,repeating such humble attempts at poetry,had a very amusing effect.He,however,seriously observed of the last stanza repeated by him,that it nearly comprized all the advantages that wealth can give.
'An eminent foreigner,when he was shewn the British Museum,was very troublesome with many absurd inquiries."Now there,Sir,(said he,)is the difference between an Englishman and a Frenchman.
A Frenchman must be always talking,whether he knows any thing of the matter or not;an Englishman is content to say nothing,when he has nothing to say."'His unjust contempt for foreigners was,indeed,extreme.One evening,at old Slaughter's coffee-house,when a number of them were talking loud about little matters,he said,"Does not this confirm old Meynell's observation--For any thing I see,foreigners are fools."'
'He said,that once,when he had a violent tooth-ache,a Frenchman accosted him thus:--"Ah,Monsieur vous etudiez trop."'
'Colman,in a note on his translation of Terence,talking of Shakspeare's learning,asks,"What says Farmer to this?What says Johnson?"Upon this he observed,"Sir,let Farmer answer for himself:I never engaged in this controversy.I always said,Shakspeare had Latin enough to grammaticise his English."'
'A clergyman,whom he characterised as one who loved to say little oddities,was affecting one day,at a Bishop's table,a sort of slyness and freedom not in character,and repeated,as if part of The Old Man's Wish,a song by Dr.Walter Pope,a verse bordering on licentiousness.Johnson rebuked him in the finest manner,by first shewing him that he did not know the passage he was aiming at,and thus humbling him:
"Sir,that is not the song:it is thus."And he gave it right.
Then looking stedfastly on him,"Sir,there is a part of that song which I should wish to exemplify in my own life:--"May I govern my passions with absolute sway!"'
'He used frequently to observe,that men might be very eminent in a profession,without our perceiving any particular power of mind in them in conversation."It seems strange (said he,)that a man should see so far to the right,who sees so short a way to the left.Burke is the only man whose common conversation corresponds with the general fame which he has in the world.Take up whatever topick you please,he is ready to meet you."'
'Mr.Langton,when a very young man,read Dodsley's Cleone,a Tragedy,to him,not aware of his extreme impatience to be read to.
As it went on he turned his face to the back of his chair,and put himself into various attitudes,which marked his uneasiness.At the end of an act,however,he said,"Come let's have some more,let's go into the slaughter-house again,Lanky.But I am afraid there is more blood than brains."'Snatches of reading (said he,)will not make a Bentley or a Clarke.They are,however,in a certain degree advantageous.Iwould put a child into a library (where no unfit books are)and let him read at his choice.A child should not be discouraged from reading any thing that he takes a liking to,from a notion that it is above his reach.If that be the ease,the child will soon find it out and desist;if not,he of course gains the instruction;which is so much the more likely to come,from the inclination with which he takes up the study.'