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Rh But Sir, said I, this is not ridiculous at all. 'Why no (replied he), why should I always write ridiculously?—perhaps because I made these verses to imitate such a one, naming him:

I could give another comical instance of caricatura imitation. Recollecting some day, when praising these verses of Lopez de Vega,

more than he thought they deserved, Mr. Johnson instantly observed 'that they were founded on a trivial conceit; and that conceit ill-explained, and ill-expressed beside.The lady, we all know, does not conquer in the same manner as the lion does: 'Tis a mere play of words (added he), and you might as well say, that

And this humour is of the same sort with which he answered the friend who commended the following line :

'To be sure (said Dr. Johnson),