Page:Boswell - Life of Johnson.djvu/48

14 When the great Duke of Marlborough, accompanied by Lord Cadogan,'' was one day reconnoitering the army in Flanders, a heavy rain came on, and they both called for their cloaks. Lord Cadogan's servant, a good humoured alert lad, brought his Lordship's in a minute. The Duke's servant, a lazy sulky dog, was so sluggish, that his Grace being wet to the skin, reproved him, and had for answer with a grunt, 'I came as fast as I could' upon which the Duke calmly said, 'Cadogan, I would not for a thousand pounds have that fellow's temper.'' ''There are some men, I believe, who have, or think they have, a very small share of vanity. Such may speak of their literary fame in a decorous style of diffidence. But I confess, that I am so formed by nature and by habit, that to restrain the effusion of delight, on having obtained such fame, to me would be truly painfid. Why then should I suppress it? Why 'out of the abundance of the heart' should I not speak ? Let me then mention with a warm, but no insolent exultation, that I have been regaled with spontaneous praise of my work by viany and various persons eminent for their rank, learning, talents and accomplishments; much of which praise I have under their hands to be reposited in my archives at'' Auchinleck. An honourable and reverend friend speaking of the favourable reception of my volumes, even in the circles of fashion and elegance, said to me, 'you have made them all talk Johnson'—Yes, I may add, I have Johnsonised the land; and I trust they will not only talk, but think, Johnson. ''To enumerate those to whom I have been thus indebted, would be tediously ostentatious. I cannot however but name one whose praise is truly valuable, not only on account of his knowledge and abilities, but on account of the magnificent, yet'' dangerous