moved."-WILKES (naming a celebrated orator). "Amidst all the brilliancy of 's imagination, and the exuberance of his wit, there is a strange want of taste. It was observed of Apelles's Venus, that her flesh seemed as if she had been nourished by roses: his oratory would sometimes make one suspect that he eats potatoes and drinks whisky."

"A celebrated wit being mentioned, Johnson said, "One may say of him as was said of a French wit, Il n'a de l'esprit que contre Dieu. I have been several times in company with him, but never perceived any strong power of wit. He produces a general effect by various means; he has a cheerful countenance, and a gay voice. Besides, his trade is wit. It would be as wild in him to come into company without merriment, as for a highwayman to take the road without his pistols."-"Has not ――― a great deal of wit, Sir?". JOHNSON. "I do not think so, Sir. He is, indeed, continually attempting wit, but he fails. And I have no more pleasure in hearing a man attempting wit and failing, than in seeing a man trying to leap over a ditch and tumbling into it *."

Garrick once remarked of the Doctor himself, "Rabelais and all other wits are nothing compared with him.-You may be diverted by them; but Johnson gives you a forcible hug, and shakes laughter out of you, whether you will or no." Mrs. Thrale justly and wittily said, that "Johnson's conversation was

A writer of deserved eminence being mentioned, Johnson said, “Why, Sir, he is a man of good parts; but being originally poor, he has got a love of mean company and low jocularity; a very bad thing, Sir. To laugh is good, as to talk is good. But you ought no more to think it enough if you laugh, than you are to think it enough if you talk. You may laugh in as many ways as you talk; and surely every way of talking that is practised cannot be esteemed."

One being named as a very learned man"Yes, Sir (said Johnson), he has a great deal of learning; but it never lies straight. There is never one idea by the side of another; 'tis all entangled; and then he drives it awkwardly upon conversation."

"People (he remarked) may be taken in once, who imagine that an author is greater in private life than other men. Uncommon parts require uncommon opportunities for their exertion. In barbarous society, superiority of parts is of real consequence. Great strength or great wisdom is of much value to an individual. But in more polished times there are people to do every thing for money: and then there are a number of other superiorities, such as those of birth and fortune,

much too strong for a person accustomed to obsequiousness and flattery; it was mustard in a young child's mouth."

and rank, that dissipate mens' attention, and leave no extraordinary share of respect for personal and intellectual superiority. This is wisely ordered by Providence, to preserve some equality among mankind."

When Mr. B. one day complained of having dined at a splendid table without hearing one sentence of conversation worthy of being remembered, he said, "Sir, there seldom is any such conversation."-BOSWELL. "Why then meet at table?"-JOHNSON. "Why to eat and drink together, and promote kindness; and, Sir, this is better done when there is no solid conversation; for when there is, people differ in opinion, and get into bad humour, or some of the company, who are not capable of such conversation, are left out, and feel themselves uneasy."

An author of considerable eminence having engrossed a good share of a conversation, and having said nothing but what was trifling and insignificant, Johnson, when he was gone, observed, "It is wonderful what a difference there sometimes is between a man's powers of writing and of talking. ******* writes with great spirit, but is a poor talker; had he held his tongue we might have supposed him to have been restrained by modesty; but he has spoken a great deal to-day, and you have heard what stuff it was."

Talking of an acquaintance distinguished for knowing an uncommon variety of miscellaneous articles both in antiquities and polite literature, he observed, "You know, Sir, he runs about with little weight upon his mind." And talking of another very ingenious gentleman, who from the warmth of his temper was at variance with many of his acquaintance, and wished to avoid them, he said, "Sir, he leads the life of an outlaw."

Being irritated by hearing a gentleman ask Mr. Levett a variety of questions concerning him when he was sitting by, he broke out, "Sir, you have but two topics, yourself and me. I am sick of both.”—“A man (said he) should not talk of himself, nor much of any particular person. He should take care not to be made a proverb; and therefore should avoid having any one topick of which people can say, We shall hear him upon it. There was a Dr. Oldfield, who was always talking of the Duke of Marlborough; he came into a coffee-house, one day, and told that his Grace had spoken in the House of Lords for half an hour. ، Did he indeed speak for half an hour ? (said Belchier, the surgeon;) 'Yes.' And what did he say of Dr. Oldfield?' 'Nothing.' 'Why then, Sir, he was very ungrateful; for Dr. Oldfield could not have spoken for a quarter of an hour without saying something of him.'

One evening, in company, an ingenious and learned gentleman read a letter of compliment which he had received from one of the Professors of a Foreign University. Johnson, in an irritable fit, thinking there was too much ostentation, said, "I never receive any of these tributes of applause from abroad. One instance I recollect of a foreign publication, in which mention is made of l'illustre Lockman."

A learned gentleman, who in the course of conversation wished to inform the company of this simple fact, that the Counsel upon the circuit at Shrewsbury were much bitten by fleas, took seven or eight minutes in relating it circumstantially. He in a plentitude of phrase told, that large bales of woollen cloth were lodged in the town-hall; that, by reason of this, fleas nestled there in prodigious numbers; that the lodgings of the Counsel were near the town-hall; and that those little animals moved from place to place with wonderful agility.-Johnson sat in great impatience till the gentleman had finished his te dious narrative, and then burst out (playfully however), "It is a pity, Sir, that you have not seen a lion; for a flea has taken you such a time, that a lion must have served you a twelvemonth."

A dull country magistrate once gave Johnson a long tedious account of his exercising his cri