and then he would have talk enough, when

"Dr. Johnson began to see-saw, with a countenance strongly expressive of inward fun, and after enjoying it some time in silence, he suddenly, and with great animation, turned to me and cried,

"Down with her, Burney!--down with her!-spare her not!-attack her, fight her, and down with her at once! You are a rising wit, and she is at the top; and when I was beginning the world, and was nothing and nobody, the joy of all my life was to fire at the established wits! and then everybody loved to halloo me on. But there is no game now; everybody would be glad to see me conquered: but then, when I was new, to vanquish the great ones was all the delight of my poor little dear soul! So at her, Burney

at her, and down with her."

"O how we were all amused! By the way I must tell you that Mrs. Montagu is in very great estimation here, even with Dr. Johnson himself, when others do not praise her improperly. Mrs. Thrale ranks her as the first of women in the literary way."

In these passages we have exhibit ed "the old lion" roaring you as gently as any sucking dove. But there are plenty of instances at hand in which he gives some very cross growls, and shows his teeth and claws in a manner which would tempt any one to protest against so disagreeable a brute being suffered to go at large throughout so ciety. Poor Miss Hannah More gets a very savage pat of his paw-though she deserved it for her habit of adulation to the great and grand. And, by the way, that was a habit which she never entirely cured herself of; and if half the stories are true which are yet told of her by those who knew her, she was a much more agreeable acquaintance to that class of her friends, than to the humbler ones whom she could very unceremoniously thrust behind the screen to make way for a statelier visiter. A few such rebuffs as the following, however, might probably have sufficed to cure the worst degree of such a habit :

with that quietness which a long use of praise has given him: she then redoubled her strokes, and, as Mr. Seward calls it, peppered still more highly; till, at length, he turned suddenly to her, with a stern and angry countenance, and said, 'Madam, before you flatter a man so grossly to his face, you should consider whether or not your flattery is worth his having.""

On Johnson's part this was abominable enough, there being no point of wit to sharpen the blunt roughness of its incivility. He must have had at the moment a very sharp twinge of his malady to afford a palliation for it. Nor is the next instance much better, which was addressed to a gay, good, and good-humored girl, to whom it the ears as the following: was cruel to administer such a box on

"Mr. Seward then told another instance of his determination not to mince the matter, when he thought reproof at all deserved. During a visit of Miss Brown's to Streatham, he was inquiring of her several things that she could not answer; and, as he held her so cheap in regard to books, he began to question her pies, plain work, and so forth. Miss concerning domestic affairs,-puddings, Brown, not at all more able to give a good account of herself in these articles than in the others, began all her answers with Why, sir, one need not be obliged to do so, or so,' whatever was the thing in question. When he had finished his interrogatories, and she had finished her 'need nots,' he ended the discourse with saying, 'As to your needs, my dear, they are so very many, that you would be frightened yourself if you knew half of them.""

And was there ever anything more unbearable than the following?

She

She

her over with Mrs. Thrale, who has a very proper regard for her, but who, I am sure, cannot be blind to her faults, she gave me another proof to those I have already had, of the uncontrolled freedom of speech which Dr. Johnson exercises to everybody, and which everybody receives quietly from him. Lady Ladd has been very handsome, but is now, I think, quite ugly at least she has a sort of face I like not. Well, she was a little while ago dressed in so showy a manner as to attract the doctor's notice, and when he had looked at her some time he broke out aloud into this quotation:

"With patches, paint, and jewels on, Sure Phillis is not twenty-one! But if at night you Phillis see.

The dame at least is forty-three!

I don't recollect the verses exactly, but such was their purport.

"However,' said Mrs. Thrale, Lady Ladd took it very good-naturedly and only said,

"I know enough of that forty-three -I don't desire to hear any more of it!'"

However, he sometimes got from Mrs. Thrale, though in a very nice and ladylike way, almost as good as he gave:

"I have had a thousand delightful conversations with Dr. Johnson, who, whether he loves me or not, I am sure seems to have some opinion of my discretion, for he speaks of all this house to me with unbounded confidence, neither diminishing faults, nor exaggerating praise. Whenever he is below stairs he keeps me a prisoner, for he does not like I should quit the room a moment; if I rise he constantly calls out Don't you go, little Burney!'

"Last night, when we were talking of compliments and of gross speeches, Mrs. Thrale most justly said, that nobody could make either like Dr. Johnson. 'Your compliments, sir, are made seldom, but when they are made they have an elegance unequalled; but then when you are angry, who dares make speeches so bitter and so cruel ?

"Dr. J.-Madam, I am always sorry when I make bitter speeches, and I never do it, but when I am insufferably vexed.

"Mrs. T.-Yes, sir; but you suffer things to vex you that nobody else would vex at. I am sure I have had my share of scolding from you!

"Dr. J.-It is true you have; but you have borne it like an angel, and you have been the better for it.

"Mrs. T.-That I believe, sir: for I

have received more instruction from you than from any man, or any book: and the vanity that you should think me worth instructing, always overcame the vanity of being found fault with. And so you had the scolding, and I the improve

ment.

"Fanny Burney. And I am sure both made for the honor of both!

"Dr. J.-I think so too. But Mrs. Thrale is a sweet creature, and never angry; she has a temper the most delightful of any woman I ever knew.

"Mrs. T.-This I can tell you, sir, and without any flattery-I not only bear your reproofs when present, but in almost everything I do in your absence, I ask myself whether you would like it, and what you would say to it. Yet I believe there is nobody you dispute with oftener than me.

"F. B.-But you two are so well established with one another, that you can bear a rebuff that would kill a stranger.

"Dr. J.-Yes; but we disputed the same before we were so well established with one another.

"Mrs. T.-Oh, sometimes, I think I shall die no other death than hearing the bitter things he says to others. What he says to myself I can bear, because I know how sincerely he is my friend, and that he means to mend me; but to others it is cruel.

"Dr. J.-Why, madam, you often provoke me to say severe things, by unreasonable commendation. If you would not call for my praise, I would not give you my censure; but it constantly moves my indignation to be applied to, to speak well of a thing which I think contemptible.

"F. B.-Well, this I know, whoever I may hear complain of Dr. Johnson's severity, I shall always vouch for his kindness, as far as regards myself, and his indulgence.

"Mrs. T.-Ay, but I hope he will trim you yet, too!

"Dr. J.-I hope not: I should be very sorry to say anything that should vex my dear little Burney.

"F. B.-If you did, sir, it would vex me more than you can imagine. I should sink in a minute.

"Mrs. T.-I remember, sir, when we were travelling in Wales, how you called me to account for my civility to the people; Madam,' you said, 'let me have no more of this idle commendation of nothing. Why is it, that whatever you see, and whoever you see, you are to be so indiscriminately lavish of praise? Why, I'll tell you, sir,' said I, when I

am with you and Mr. Thrale, and Queeny, I am obliged to be civil for four!'

"There was a cutter for you! But this I must say, for the honor of both---Mrs. Thrale speaks with as much sincerity, (though with greater softness,) as he does to her."

One more specimen of Johnson in his real wrath. The following scene takes place at a dinner at Mrs. Thrale's:

"The long war which has been proclaimed among the wits concerning Lord Lyttleton's Life,' by Dr. Johnson, and which a whole tribe of blues, with Mrs. Montagu at their head, have vowed to execrate and revenge, now broke out with all the fury of the first actual hostilities, stimulated by long-concerted schemes and much spiteful information. Mr. Pepys, Dr. Johnson well knew, was one of Mrs. Montagu's steadiest abettors; and, therefore, as he had sometime determined to defend himself with the first of them he met, this day he fell the sacrifice to his wrath.

"In a long tête-à-tête which I accidentally had with Mr. Pepys before the company was assembled, he told me his apprehensions of an attack, and entreated me earnestly to endeavor to prevent it; modestly avowing he was no antagonist for Dr. Johnson; and yet declaring his personal friendship for Lord Lyttleton made him so much hurt by the Life,' that he feared he could not discuss the matter without a quarrel, which, especially in the house of Mrs. Thrale, he wished to avoid.

"It was, however, utterly impossible for me to serve him. I could have stopped Mrs. Thrale with ease, and Mr. Seward with a hint, had either of them begun the subject; but, unfortunately, in the middle of dinner it was begun by Dr. Johnson himself, to oppose whom, especially as he spoke with great anger, would have been madness and folly.

"Never before have I seen Dr. Johnson speak with so much passion.

"Mr. Pepys,' he cried, in a voice the most enraged, I understand you are offended by my "Life of Lord Lyttleton." What is it you have to say against it? Come forth, man! Here am I, ready to answer any charge you can bring!'

"No, sir,' cried Mr. Pepys, not at present; I must beg leave to decline the subject. I told Miss Burney before dinner that I hoped it would not be started.' "I was quite frightened to hear my own name mentioned in a debate which began so seriously; but Dr. Johnson

made not to this any answer: he repeated his attack and his challenge, and a violent disputation ensued, in which this great but mortal man did, to own the truth, appear unreasonably furious and grossly severe. I never saw him so before, and I heartily hope I never shall again. He has been long provoked, and justly enough, at the sneaking complaints and murmurs of the Lyttletonians; and, therefore, his long-excited wrath, which hitherto had met no object, now burst forth with a vehemence and bitterness almost incredible.

"Mr. Pepys meantime never appeared to so much advantage; he preserved his temper, uttered all that belonged merely to himself with modesty, and all that more immediately related to Lord Lyttleton with spirit. Indeed, Dr. Johnson, in the very midst of the dispute, had the candor and liberality to make him a personal compliment, by saying

"Sir, all that you say, while you are vindicating one who cannot thank you, makes me only think better of you than I ever did before. Yet still I think you do me wrong,' &c. &c.

"Some time after this, in the heat of argument, he called out

"The more my "Lord Lyttleton" is inquired after, the worse he will appear; Mr. Seward has just heard two stories of him, which corroborate all I have related.'

"He then desired Mr. Seward to repeat them. Poor Mr. Seward looked almost as frightened as myself at the very mention of his name; but he quietly and immediately told the stories, which consisted of fresh instances, from good authorities, of Lord Lyttleton's illiberal behavior to Shenstone; and then he flung himself back in his chair, and spoke no more during the whole debate, which I am sure he was ready to vote a bore.

"One happy circumstance, however, attended the quarrel, which was the presence of Mr. Cator, who would by no means be prevented talking himself, either by reverence for Dr. Johnson, or ignorance of the subject in question; on the contrary, he gave his opinion, quite uncalled, upon everything that was said by either party, and that with an importance and pomposity, yet with an emptiness and verbosity, that rendered the whole dispute, when in his hands, nothing more than ridiculous, and compelled even the disputants themselves, all inflamed as they were, to laugh. To give a specimen-one speech will do for a thousand.

"As to this here question of Lord Lyttleton I can't speak to it to the purpose, as I have not read his "Life," for

I have only read the "Life of Pope;" I have got the books though, for I sent for them last week, and they came to me on Wednesday, and then I began them; but I have not yet read "Lord Lyttleton." "Pope" I have begun, and that is what I am now reading. But what I have to say about Lord Lyttleton is this here: Mr. Seward says that Lord Lyttleton's steward dunned Mr. Shenstone for his rent, by which I understand he was a tenant of Lord Lyttleton's. Well, if he was a tenant of Lord Lyttleton's, why should he not pay his rent?'

"Who could contradict this?

"When dinner was quite over, and we left the men to their wine, we hoped they would finish the affair; but Dr. Johnson was determined to talk it through, and make a battle of it, though Mr. Pepys tried to be off continually.

"When they were all summoned to tea, they entered still warm and violent. Mr. Cator had the book in his hand, and was reading the Life of Lyttleton,' that he might better, he said, understand the cause, though not a creature cared if he

had never heard of it.

"Mr. Pepys came up to me and said,--"Just what I had so much wished to avoid! I have been crushed in the very onset.'

"I could make him no answer, for Dr. Johnson immediately called him off and harangued and attacked him with a vehemence and continuity that quite concerned both Mrs. Thrale and myself, and that made Mr. Pepys, at last, resolutely silent, however called upon.

"This now grew more unpleasant than ever; till Mr. Cator, having some time studied his book, exclaimed,--

"What I am now going to say, as I have not yet read the "Life of Lord Lyttleton" quite through, must be considered as being only said aside, because what I am going to say

"I wish, sir,' cried Mrs. Thrale, it had been all said aside; here is too much about it, indeed, and I should be very glad

to hear no more of it.'

"This speech, which she made with great spirit and dignity, had an admirable effect. Everybody was silenced. Mr. Cator, thus interrupted in the midst of his proposition, looked quite amazed; Mr. Pepys was much gratified by the interference; and Dr. Johnson, after a pause, said,-

"Well, madam, you shall hear no more of it; yet I will defend myself in every part and in every atom!'

"And from this time the subject was wholly dropped. This dear violent doctor was conscious he had been wrong, and

therefore he most candidly bore the reproof."

Johnson afterwards behaved much better in relation to this matter-making the advances and the amende honorable with great magnanimity the next time he met poor Mr. Pepys. On a subsequent occasion, meeting Mrs. Montagu herself, he had great difficulty in refraining from a similar scene with her, being held in check only by a promise to Mrs. Thrale not to quarrel any more in her house. We are not surprised to learn that society in return could punish him back, in some degree, for the habit of rude and unmerciful domineering in which he used thus to indulge-for we find the following entries in Miss Burney's Diary, close to each other, together with other occasional intimations of the same kind. All the world was not so servilely grateful for the conversational kicks and cuffs which he used to dispense right and left, as his own Boswell:

"Thursday, October 31, (1782.)—A note came this morning to invite us all, except Dr. Johnson, to Lady Rothe's. Dr. Johnson has tortured poor Mr. Pepys so much, that I fancy her ladyship omitted him in compliment to her brother-inlaw. She mentions me in the civilest terms, &c."

"Saturday, November 2.-We went to Lady Shelly's. Dr. Johnson again excepted in the invitation. He is almost constantly omitted, either from too much respect or too much fear. I am sorry for it, as he hates being alone, and as, though he scolds the others, he is well enough satisfied himself; and, having given vent to all his occasional anger or ill-humor, he is ready to begin again, and is never aware that those who have so been

downed' by him, never can much covet so triumphant a visiter. In contests of wit, the victor is as ill off in future consequences as the vanquished in present ridicule."

But enough of the glorious old lexicographer-or rather as much of him as we can find room for now. His name runs like a thread of gold through the varied web of Miss Burney's diary down to the period of his death, on the 12th of December, 1784, of which she gives a very impressive and touching ac

count.

Her first meeting with Sheridan, accompanied by his beautiful wife, was at a party at Mrs. Cholmondeley's(pronounced, by the way, Chumly.) The lady of the house had just been scattering her guests about into little parties, or cabals, of three or four each,

"Just then the door opened, and Mr. Sheridan entered.

"Was I not in luck? Not that I believe the meeting was accidental; but I had more wished to meet him and his wife than any people I know not.

"I could not endure my ridiculous situation, but replaced myself in an orderly manner immediately. Mr. Sheridan stared at them all, and Mrs. Cholmondeley said she intended it as a hint for a comedy.

"Mr. Sheridan has a very fine figure, and a good though I don't think a handsome face. He is tall, and very upright, and his appearance and address are at once manly and fashionable, without the smallest tincture of foppery or modish graces. In short, I like him vastly, and think him every way worthy his beautiful companion.

"And let me tell you what I know will give you as much pleasure as it gave me, that, by all I could observe in the course of the evening, and we stayed very late, they are extremely happy in each other; he evidently adores her, and she as evidently idolizes him. The world has by no means done him justice."

"About this time Mrs. Cholmondeley was making much sport, by wishing for

an acrostic on her name. She said she had several times begged for one in vain, and began to entertain thoughts of writing one herself.

"For,' said she, I am very famous for my rhymes, though I never made a line of poetry in my life.'

"An acrostic on your name,' said Mr. Sheridan, 'would be a formidable task: it must be so long that I think it should be divided into cantos.'

pray, sir, what may you mean by this insinuation; did I not say I writ verses? "Mr. Sheridan.-Oh, but you"Mrs. Chol.-Say no more, sir! You have made your meaning but too plain There now, I think that's a already.

speech for a tragedy !"

The following extract introduces a name which will be welcome to the American eye, though it shows that the good old gentleman did not know much about "Evelina." He had other things on hand to think of at that time (1779):

"On Thursday, I had another adventure, and one that has made me grin ever since. A gentleman inquiring for my father, was asked into the parlor. The then inhabitants were only my mother and me. In entered a square old gentleman, well wigged, formal, grave, and important. He seated himself. My mother asked if he had any message for my father? 'No, none.'

66 6

"Then he regarded me with a certain dry kind of attention for some time; after which, turning suddenly to my mother, he demanded,

"Pray, ma'am, is this your daughter?' "Yes, sir.'

"O! this is Evelina, is it?'

"No, sir,' cried I, staring at him, and glad none of you were in the way to say Yes.

"No?' repeated he, incredulous; 'is not your name Evelina, ma'am?"

"Dear, no, sir,' again quoth I, staring harder.

She is introduced to another of her great admirers, at a dinner at Sir Joshua Reynolds's:

"Miss Palmer soon joined us; and, in a short time, entered more company, three gentlemen and one lady; but there was no more ceremony used of introductions. The lady, I concluded, was Mrs. Burke, wife of the Mr. Burke, and was not mistaken. One of the gentlemen I recollected to be young Burke, her son, whom I once met at Sir Joshua's in town, and another of them I knew for Mr. Gibbon: but the third I had never seen before. I had been told that the Burke was not expected; yet I could conclude this gentleman to be no