Page:Johnsonian Miscellanies II.djvu/406

 ��Minor Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson.

��thought of building a man of war as of collecting such a museum/ Life, ii. 465. There is a view of it in Shaw's History of Staffordshire, p. 332. See also Letters, i. 161, n. 5.]

Dr. Brocklesby, a few days before the death of Dr. Johnson, found on the table Dr. Kippis's account of the Disputes of the Royal Society 1. Dr. Johnson inquired of his physician if he had read it, who answered in the negative. c You have sustained no loss, Sir. It is poor stuff, indeed, a sad unscholar-like per formance. I could not have believed that that man would have written so ill.'

Being desired to call in Dr. Warren 2, he said they might call

��1 Dr. Andrew Kippis was the editor of a new edition of the Biographia Britannica. ' My friend, Dr. Kippis,' wrote Boswell, 'has hitherto dis charged the task with more im partiality than might have been ex pected from a Separatist.' Life, iii. 174. In 1784 he published Observa tions on the late Contests in the Royal Society. The contests had been about the Foreign Secretary and the Presi dent.

2 ' When Dr. Warren, in the usual style, hoped that he was better, his answer was, " No, Sir ; you cannot conceive with what acceleration I advance towards death.'" Life, iv. 411. See also ib. p. 399 ; ante, ii. 136 n. Warren was a member of the Literary Club. In the debate in the House of Commons on the King's illness on Jan. 6, 1789, Burke, alluding probably to the Club, said : ' He knew Dr. Warren, he belonged to a society where the Doctor frequently came, had always found him an instructive companion, and had ever heard him considered as a man of learning, great integrity and honour.' Parl. Hist, xxvii. 919. Miss Burney de scribes a curious scene one night, where ' the poor Queen in a torrent of tears prepared herself for seeing

��Dr. Warren,' after 'he had quitted his post of watching ' the King. Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, iv. 292. ' He is said to have received in the course of one day fees to the amount of ninety- a year ever since the Regency.' Annual Register, 1797, ii. 36.

Charles Darwin quotes the follow ing anecdote in his Life of Erasmus Darwin (ed. 1887, p. 105) : ' A gentleman in the last stage of con sumption came to Dr. Darwin at Derby, and expressed himself to this effect : " I am come from London to consult you as the greatest phy sician in the world. ... I know that my life hangs upon a thread. ... I trust that you will not deceive me, but tell me without hesitation your candid opinion." Dr. Darwin mi nutely examined him, and said he was sorry to say there was no hope. After a pause of a few minutes the gentleman said, "How long can I live ? " The answer was, " Perhaps a fortnight." The gentleman seized his hand and said, " Thank you, Doctor ; I thank you ; my mind is satisfied ; I now know there is no hope for me." Dr. Darwin then said, " But as you come from London, why did you not consult Dr. Warren ?"

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