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park, repeating a book of Virgil. "Bless me, sir!" cried Mrs. T., "how can all these vagabonds contrive to get at you, of all people ?" "Oh, the dear creatures!" cried he, laughing heartily, "I can't but be glad to see them!" He gave it all with so droll a solemnity, and it was all so unexpected, that Mrs. Thrale and I were almost equally diverted.-Madame D'Arblay.

At night, Mrs. Thrale asked if I would have anything? I answered "No;" but Dr. Johnson said, "Yes; she is used, madam, to suppers; she would like an egg or two, and a few slices of ham, or a rasher-a rasher, I believe, would please her better." How ridiculous! However, nothing could persuade Mrs. Thrale not to have the cloth laid; and Dr. Johnson was so facetious that he challenged Mr. Thrale to get drunk. "I wish," said he, "my master would say to me, 'Johnson, if you will oblige me, you will call for a bottle of Toulon, and then we will set to it, glass for glass, till it is done;' and after that, I will say, 'Thrale, if you will oblige me, you will call for another bottle of Toulon, and then we will set to it, glass for glass, till that is done;' and by the time we should have drunk the two bottles, we should be so happy and such good friends, that we should fly into each other's arms, and both together call for the third !"

Now for this morning's breakfast. Dr. Johnson, as usual, came last into the library; he was in high spirits, and full of mirth and sport. I had the honor of sitting next to him; and now, all at once, he flung aside his reserve, thinking, perhaps, that it was time I should fling aside mine. Mrs. Thrale told him that she intended taking me to Mr. T―'s. "So you ought, madam," cried he; "it is your business to be cicerone to her." Then suddenly he snatched my hand, and kissing it, "Ah," he added, "they will little think what a Tartar you carry to them!" "No, that they won't!” cried Mrs. Thrale; "Miss Burney looks so meek and so quiet, nobody would suspect what a comical girl she is; but I be

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lieve she has a great deal of malice at heart." Oh, she's a toad!" cried the Doctor, laughing-"a sly young rogue! with her Smiths and her Branghtons." "Why, Dr. Johnson," said Mrs. T., "I hope you are very well this morning! If one may judge by your spirits and good-humor, the fever you threatened us with is gone off." He had complained that he was going to be ill last night. "Why, no, madam, no," answered he. "I am not yet well; I could not sleep at all; there I lay, restless and uneasy, and thinking all the time of Miss Burney. Perhaps I have offended her, thought I; perhaps she is angry; I have seen her but once, and I talked to her of a rasher- Were you angry?" I think I need not tell you my answer. "I have been endeavoring to find some excuse," continued he, "and, as I could not sleep, I got up and looked for some authority for the word; and I find, madam, it is used by Dryden: in one of his prologues he says, 'And snatch a homely rasher from the coals.' So you must not mind me, madam: I say strange things, but I mean no harm."-Madame D'Arblay.

Mrs. Thrale: "To-morrow, sir, Mrs. Montagu dines here, and then you will have talk enough." Dr. Johnson began to seesaw, with a countenance strongly expressive of inward fun; and after enjoying it some time in silence, he suddenly, and with great animation, turned to me and cried, "Down with her, Burney! Down with her! Spare her not! Attack her, fight her, and down with her at once! You are a rising wit, and she is at the top; and when I was beginning the world, and was nothing and nobody, the joy of all my life was to fire at all the established wits; and then everybody loved to halloo me on. But there is no game now; everybody would be glad to see me conquered: but then, when I was new, to vanquish the great ones was all the delight of my poor, little, dear soul! So at her, Burney! at her, and down with her!" Some time after, when we had all been a few minutes silent, he turned to me and

said, "Come, Burney, shall you and I study our parts against Mrs. Montagu comes ?" "Miss Burney," cried Mrs. Thrale, "you must get up your courage for this encounter. I think you should begin with Miss Gregory, and down with her first." Johnson: "No, no; always fly at the eagle! Down with Mrs. Montagu herself!"-Madame D'Arblay.

Among those who were so intimate with Dr. Johnson as to have him occasionally an intimate in their families, it is a well-known fact that he would frequently descend from the contemplation of subjects the most profound imaginable to the most childish playfulness. It was no uncommon thing to see him hop, step, and jump. He would often seat himself on the back of his chair; and more than once he has been known to propose a race on some grass-plot adapted to the purpose. He was very intimate with and much attached to Mr. John Payne, once a bookseller in Paternoster Row, and afterward chief accountant of the Bank. Mr. Payne was of a very diminutive appearance; and once when they were together on a visit with a friend at some distance from town, Johnson, in a gayety of humor, proposed to run a race with Mr. Payne. The proposal was accepted; but before they had proceeded more than half of the intended distance, Johnson caught his little adversary up in his arms, and without any ceremony placed him upon the arm of a tree which was near, and then continued running as if he had met with a hard match. He afterward returned with much exultation to release his friend from the no very pleasant situation in which he had left him.-Anonymous (from the European Magazine).

GALLANTRY.

He particularly piqued himself upon his nice observance of ceremonious punctilios toward ladies. A remarkable instance of this was his never suffering any lady to walk from his house to her carriage, through Bolt Court, unattended by himself to hand her into it (at least I have reason to suppose it to be his general custom, from his constant performance of it to those with whom he was most intimately acquainted); and if any obstacle prevented it from driving off, there he would stand by the door of it, and gather a mob around him; indeed, they would begin to gather the moment he appeared handing the lady down the steps into Fleet Street. But to describe his appearance-his important air-that, indeed, cannot be described; and his morning habiliments would excite the utmost astonishment in my reader that a man in his senses could think of stepping outside his door in them, or even to be seen at home. Sometimes he exhibited himself at the distance of eight or ten doors from Bolt Court, to get at the carriage, to the no small diversion of the populace.-Miss Reynolds.

Here let me not forget a curious anecdote, as related to me by Mr. Beauclerk, which I shall endeavor to exhibit as well as I can in that gentleman's lively manner; and in justice to him it is proper to add that Dr. Johnson told me I might rely both on the correctness of his memory and the fidelity of his narrative. "When Madame de Boufflers was first in England," said Beauclerk, "she was desirous to see Johnson. I accordingly went with her to his chambers in the Temple, where she was entertained with his conversation for some time. When our visit was over, she and I left him, and were got into Inner Temple Lane, when all at once I heard a noise like thunder. This was occasioned by Johnson, who, it seems, upon a little recollection, had taken it into his head that he ought to have done the honors of his

literary residence to a foreign lady of quality, and, eager to show himself a man of gallantry, was hurrying down the staircase in violent agitation. He overtook us before we reached the Temple gate, and, brushing in between me and Madame de Boufflers, seized her hand and conducted her to her coach. His dress was a rusty-brown morning suit, a pair of old shoes by way of slippers, a little shrivelled wig sticking on the top of his head, and the sleeves of his shirt and the knees of his breeches hanging loose. A considerable crowd of people gathered round, and were not a little struck by this singular appearance.”—Boswell.

Mrs. Percy told me that Johnson once stayed near a month at their parsonage; that Dr. Percy looked out all sorts of books to be ready for his amusement after breakfast; and that Johnson was so attentive and polite to her that, when Dr. Percy mentioned the literature prepared in the study, he said, “No, sir, I shall first wait upon Mrs. Percy, to feed the ducks."- Cradock (abridged).

When Mrs. Siddons came into the room, there happened to be no chair ready for her, which he observing, said, with a smile, "Madam, you who so often occasion a want of seats to other people will the more easily excuse the want of one yourself."-J. P. Kemble.

On Tuesday, October 12th, I dined with him at Mr. Ramsay's, with Lord Newhaven and some other company, none of whom I recollect, but a beautiful Miss Graham, a relation of his lordship's, who asked Dr. Johnson to hob or nob with her. He was flattered by such pleasing attention, and politely told her he never drank wine: but if she would drink a glass of water, he was much at her service. She accepted. "Oh, sir," said Lord Newhaven, "you are caught." Johnson: "Nay, I do not see how I am caught; but if I am caught, I don't want to get free again. If I am caught, I

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