Page:Johnsonian Miscellanies II.djvu/14

 Apophthegms, Sentiments

��Johnson said he was better pleased with the commendations bestowed on his account of the Hebrides than on any book he had ever written. Burke, says he, thought well of the philosophy of it ; Sir William Jones of the observations on language ; and Mr. Jackson of those on trade x.

Of Foote's wit and readiness of repartee he thought very highly ; * He was/ says he, * the readiest dog at an escape I ever knew ; if you thought you had him on the ground fairly down, he was upon his legs and over your shoulders again in an instant V

When some one asked him, whether they should introduce Hugh Kelly, the author, to him ; ' No, Sir,' says he, ' I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read.' Yet when his play was acted for the benefit of his widow, Johnson furnished a prologue 3.

He repeated poetry with wonderful energy and feeling. He was seen to weep whilst he repeated Goldsmith's character of the English in his Traveller, beginning thus :

��1 ' Dr. Johnson observed, that every body commended such parts of his Journey to the Western Islands, as were in their own way. "For in stance, (said he,) Mr. Jackson (the all-knowing) told me there was more good sense upon trade in it, than he should hear in the House of Com mons in a year, except from Burke. Jones commended the part which treats of language ; Burke that which describes the inhabitants of moun tainous countries." ' Life, iii. 137. It was in the reflections on the life and economy of the Highlanders, and on the changes rapidly taking place in the clan system, that 'the philosophy' was found.

For Jackson see ib. iii. 19; Let- ters, ii. 349.

' One species of wit Foote has in an eminent degree, that of escape. You drive him into a corner with

��both hands ; but he's gone, Sir, when you think you have got him like an Life, iii. 69. * Foote is the most in compressible fellow that I ever knew ; when you have driven him into a corner, and think you are sure of him, he runs through between your legs, or jumps over your head, and makes his escape.' Ib. v. 391.

3 Id. iii. 113 ; ante, i. 181, 432.

' On reading over this Prologue to Dr. Johnson the morning after it was spoken, the Doctor told me that instead of renewed hostilities he wrote revengeful petulance, and did not seem pleased with the alteration.' MS. note by Rev. J. Hussey.

The couplet as altered, stands : 'Let no renewed hostilities invade Th' oblivious grave's inviolable shade.'

4 It was at Oban that this hap-

He

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