lucky altercation with Adam Smith, to whom he had been. so rough that Strahan, after Smith was gone, had remonstrated with him, and told him that I was coming soon, and that he was uneasy to think that he might behave in the same manner to me. 'No, no, sir,' said Johnson, 'I warrant you, Robertson and I shall do very well.' Accordingly, he was gentle and good-humored and courteous with me the whole evening; and he has been so upon every occasion that we have met since. I have often said" (laughing) “that I have been in a great measure indebted to Smith for my good reception." No sooner did he of whom we had been thus talking so easily arrive, than we were all as quiet as a school upon the entrance of the head-master, and were very soon set down to a table covered with such a variety of good things as contributed not a little to dispose him to be pleased.—Boswell (abridged).

Dr. Johnson: "Come, come, have done with this now;* why should you overpower her? Let's have no more of it. I don't mean to dissent from what you say; I think well of it, and approve of it; but you have said enough of it." Mr. Murphy, who equally loves and reverences Dr. Johnson, instantly changed the subject.-Madame D'Arblay.

On the evening I have spoken of, at Mr. Vesey's, you would have been much gratified, as it exhibited an instance of the high importance in which Dr. Johnson's character is held, I think even beyond any I ever before was witness to. The company consisted chiefly of ladies, among whom were the Duchess-dowager of Portland and the Duchess of Beaufort, Lady Lucan, Lady Clermont, and others of note both for their station and understandings. Among the gentlemen

*Mrs. Thrale and Arthur Murphy had been urging Miss Burney to write a comedy; and Murphy had continued to talk about it till Johnson grew tired of the subject.

were Lord Althorpe-whom I have before named-Lord Macartney, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Lord Lucan, Mr. Wraxalwhose book you have probably seen, "The Tour to the Northern Parts of Europe;" a very agreeable, ingenious man—Dr. Warren, Mr. Pepys-the Master in Chancery, whom, I believe, you know—and Dr. Barnard, the Provost of Eton. As soon as Dr. Johnson was come in and had taken a chair, the company began to collect around him, till they became not less than four, if not five, deep; those behind standing, and listening over the heads of those that were sitting near him. The conversation for some time was chiefly between Dr. Johnson and the Provost of Eton, while the others contributed occasionally their remarks. Without attempting to detail the particulars of the conversationwhich, perhaps, if I did, I should spin my account to a tedious length-I thought, my dear sir, this general account of the respect with which our valued friend was attended to night be acceptable.- Bennet Langton (abridged, from a letter to Boswell).

Mrs. Thrale: "I am sure I have had my share of scolding from you!" Johnson: "It is true you have; but you have borne it like an angel, and you have been the better for it." Mrs. Thrale: "That I believe, sir; for I have received more instruction from you than from any man or any book; and the vanity that you should think me worth instructing always overcame the vanity of being found fault with. And so you had the scolding and I the improvement." Fanny Burney: "And I am sure both make for the honor of both!" Johnson: "I think so too. But Mrs. Thrale is a sweet creature, and never angry; she has a temper the most delightful of any which I ever knew." Mrs. Thrale: "This I can tell you, sir, and without any flattery-I not only bear your reproofs when present, but in almost everything I do in your absence I ask myself whether you would like it, and what you would say to it."-Madame D'Arblay.

Sir William Forbes writes to me thus:

"I enclose the Round-robin. This jeu d'esprit took its rise one day at dinner, at our friend Sir Joshua Reynolds's. All the company present, except myself, were friends and acquaintances of Dr. Goldsmith. The epitaph written for him by Dr. Johnson became the subject of conversation, and various emendations were suggested, which it was agreed should be submitted to the Doctor's consideration. But the question was, who should have the courage to propose them to him? At last it was hinted that there could be no way so good as that of a Round-robin, as the sailors call it, which they make use of when they enter into a conspiracy, so as not to let it be known who puts his name first or last to the paper. This proposition was instantly assented to; and Dr. Barnard, Dean of Derry, now Bishop of Killaloe, drew up an address to Dr. Johnson on the occasion, replete with wit and humor, but which it was feared the Doctor might think treated the subject with too much levity. Mr. Burke then proposed the address as it stands in the paper in writing, to which I had the honor to officiate as clerk.

"Sir Joshua agreed to carry it to Dr. Johnson, who received it with much good-humor, and desired Sir Joshua to tell the gentlemen that he would alter the epitaph in any manner they pleased as to the sense of it; but he would never consent to disgrace the walls of Westminster Abbey with an English inscription.

"I consider this Round-robin as a species of literary curiosity worth preserving, as it marks, in a certain degree, Dr. Johnson's character."

Sir William Forbes's observation is very just. The anecdote now related proves, in the strongest manner, the reverence and awe with which Johnson was regarded by some of the most eminent men of his time in various departments, and even by such of them as lived most with him; while it also confirms what I have again and again inculcated, that he was by no means of that ferocious and irascible character which has been ignorantly imagined.Boswell.

MISCELLANEOUS.

IN LONDON WHEN TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OLD.-He had a little money when he came to town, and he knew how he could live in the cheapest manner. His first lodgings were at the house of Mr. Norris, a stay-maker, in Exeter Street, adjoining Catharine Street, in the Strand. "I dined," said he, "very well for eightpence, with very good company, at the Pineapple, in New Street, just by. Several of them had travelled. They expected to meet every day; but did not know one another's names. It used to cost the rest a shilling, for they drank wine; but I had a cut of meat for sixpence, and bread for a penny, and gave the waiter a penny; so that I was quite well served, nay, better than the rest, for they gave the waiter nothing."— Boswell.

INCOME IN YOUTH.-Painful as it is to relate, I have heard Dr. Johnson assert that he subsisted for a considerable space of time upon the scanty pittance of fourpence - halfpenny per day.-Richard Cumberland.

NIGHT WANDERINGS.-It is melancholy to reflect, that Johnson and Savage were sometimes in such extreme indigence that they could not pay for a lodging; so that they have wandered together whole nights in the streets. Yet in these almost incredible scenes of distress, we may suppose that Savage mentioned many of the anecdotes with which Johnson afterward enriched the life of his unhappy companion, and those of other poets. He told Sir Joshua Reynolds that one night in particular, when Savage and he walked round St. James's Square for want of a lodging, they were not at all depressed by their situation, but in high spirits, and brimful of patriotism, traversed the square for several hours, inveighed against the minister, and "resolved they would stand by their country."-Boswell.

DINING BEHIND A SCREEN.-The following striking proof of Johnson's extreme indigence when he published the Life of Savage was communicated to Mr. Boswell by Mr. Richard Stowe, of Aspley, in Bedfordshire, from the information of Mr. Walter Harte, author of the Life of Gustavus Adolphus: "Soon after Savage's Life was published, Mr. Harte dined with Edward Cave, and occasionally praised it. Soon after, meeting him, Cave said, 'You made a man very happy t'other day.' 'How could that be?' says Harte; 'nobody was there but ourselves.' Cave answered by reminding him that a plate of victuals was sent behind a screen, which was to Johnson, dressed so shabbily that he did not choose to appear; but on hearing the conversation, he was highly delighted with the encomiums on his book.”—Malone.

BOSWELL'S FIRST MEETING WITH JOHNSON.-Mr. Thomas Davies, the actor, who then kept a bookseller's shop in Russell Street, Covent Garden, told me that Johnson was very much his friend, and came frequently to his house, where he more than once invited me to meet him; but by some unlucky accident or other he was prevented from coming to us. Mr. Thomas Davies was a man of good understanding and talents, with the advantage of a liberal education. Though somewhat pompous, he was an entertaining companion; and his literary performances have no inconsiderable share of merit. He was a friendly and very hospitable man; both he and his wife (who has been celebrated for her beauty), though upon the stage for many years, maintained a uniform decency of character, and Johnson esteemed them, and lived in as easy an intimacy with them as with any family which he used to visit. Mr. Davies recollected several of Johnson's remarkable sayings, and was one of the best of the many imitators of his voice and manner while relating them. He increased my impatience more and more to see the extraordinary man whose works I highly valued, and whose conversation was reported to