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Article ANECDOTES OF DR. JOHNSON, &c. ← Page 5 of 8 →
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Anecdotes Of Dr. Johnson, &C.
Reynolds , who was much amused by this procedure , which seemed a kind of reversing of what might have been expected from the two men , took notice of it to Dr . Johnson as they walked away by themselves . Johnson said , that " it was continually the case ; and that he was always obliged to translate the justice ' s swelling diction ( smiling ) , so has that his meaning might be understood by the vulgar , from -whom information was to be obtained . "
Sir Joshua once observed to him , " that he talked above the capacity of some people with whom they had been in company together . " " No matter , Sir , " said Johnson , " they consider it as a compliment to be talked to as if they were wiser than they are . So true is this ,- Sir , that Baxter made it a rule in every sermon that he preached , to say something that was above the capacity of his
audience * . " Johnson ' s dexterity in retort , when he seemed to be driven to an extremity by his adversary , was very remarkable . Of his power in this respect , our common friend , Mr . Windham , of Norfolk , has been pleased to furnish me with an eminent instance . However unfavourable to Scotland , he uniformly gave liberal praise
to-George Buchanan as a writer . In a conversation concerning the literary merits of the two countries , in which Buchanan was introduced , a Scotchman , imagining that on this ground he should have an undoubted triumph over him , exclaimed , " Ah , Dr . Johnson , what would you have said of Buchanan , had he been an Englishman ? " "Why , Sir , " said Johnson , after a little pause , " 1 should not have said of Buchanan had he been an Englishman , what I will now say of him as a Scotchman—that he was the only man of genius his country ever produced . "
Though his usual term for conversation was talk , yet he made a distinction ; for when he once told me that he dined the day before at a friend ' s house with " a very pretty company , " and I asked him if there was good conversation , he answered , "No , Sir , we had talk enough , but no conversation ; there was nothing discussed . " Talking of the success of the Scotch in London , he imputed it in a considerable degree to their spirit of nationality . "You know , Sir
, " said he , " that no Scotchman publishes a book , or has a play brought upon the stage , but there are five hundred people ready to applaud him . " He said to Sir "William Scott , " The age is running mad after innovation ; all the business of the world is-to be done in the new way ; men are to be hanged in a new way ; Tyburn itself is not safe from the fury of innovation . " It having been argued that this was an improvement . — " No , Sir , " said he eagerly , " it is not an
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Anecdotes Of Dr. Johnson, &C.
Reynolds , who was much amused by this procedure , which seemed a kind of reversing of what might have been expected from the two men , took notice of it to Dr . Johnson as they walked away by themselves . Johnson said , that " it was continually the case ; and that he was always obliged to translate the justice ' s swelling diction ( smiling ) , so has that his meaning might be understood by the vulgar , from -whom information was to be obtained . "
Sir Joshua once observed to him , " that he talked above the capacity of some people with whom they had been in company together . " " No matter , Sir , " said Johnson , " they consider it as a compliment to be talked to as if they were wiser than they are . So true is this ,- Sir , that Baxter made it a rule in every sermon that he preached , to say something that was above the capacity of his
audience * . " Johnson ' s dexterity in retort , when he seemed to be driven to an extremity by his adversary , was very remarkable . Of his power in this respect , our common friend , Mr . Windham , of Norfolk , has been pleased to furnish me with an eminent instance . However unfavourable to Scotland , he uniformly gave liberal praise
to-George Buchanan as a writer . In a conversation concerning the literary merits of the two countries , in which Buchanan was introduced , a Scotchman , imagining that on this ground he should have an undoubted triumph over him , exclaimed , " Ah , Dr . Johnson , what would you have said of Buchanan , had he been an Englishman ? " "Why , Sir , " said Johnson , after a little pause , " 1 should not have said of Buchanan had he been an Englishman , what I will now say of him as a Scotchman—that he was the only man of genius his country ever produced . "
Though his usual term for conversation was talk , yet he made a distinction ; for when he once told me that he dined the day before at a friend ' s house with " a very pretty company , " and I asked him if there was good conversation , he answered , "No , Sir , we had talk enough , but no conversation ; there was nothing discussed . " Talking of the success of the Scotch in London , he imputed it in a considerable degree to their spirit of nationality . "You know , Sir
, " said he , " that no Scotchman publishes a book , or has a play brought upon the stage , but there are five hundred people ready to applaud him . " He said to Sir "William Scott , " The age is running mad after innovation ; all the business of the world is-to be done in the new way ; men are to be hanged in a new way ; Tyburn itself is not safe from the fury of innovation . " It having been argued that this was an improvement . — " No , Sir , " said he eagerly , " it is not an