mother's death, and he had met with many
disappointments.' Dr. Johnson observed to me afterwards, 'That this was
no favourable account of Dr. Young; for it is not becoming in a man to
have so little acquiescence in the ways of Providence, as to be gloomy
because he has not obtained as much preferment as he expected[389]; nor
to continue gloomy for the loss of his wife. Grief has its time[390].'
The last part of this censure was theoretically made. Practically, we
know that grief for the loss of a wife may be continued very long, in
proportion as affection has been sincere. No man knew this better than
Dr. Johnson.

We went into the church, and looked at the monument erected by Mr. Young
to his father. Mr. Young mentioned an anecdote, that his father had
received several thousand pounds of subscription-money for his
_Universal Passion_, but had lost it in the South-Sea[391]. Dr. Johnson
thought this must be a mistake; for he had never seen a
subscription-book.

Upon the road we talked of the uncertainty of profit with which authours
and booksellers engage in the publication of literary works. JOHNSON.
'My judgement I have found is no certain rule as to the sale of a book.'
BOSWELL. 'Pray, Sir, have you been much plagued with authours sending
you their works to revise?' JOHNSON. 'No, Sir; I have been thought a
sour, surly fellow.' BOSWELL. 'Very lucky for you, Sir,--in that
respect.' I must however observe, that notwithstanding what he now said,
which he no doubt imagined at the time to be the fact, there was,
perhaps, no man who more frequently yielded to the solicitations even of
very obscure authours, to read their manuscripts, or more liberally
assisted them with advice and correction[392].

He found himself very happy at 'Squire Dilly's, where there is always
abundance of excellent fare, and hearty welcome.

On Sunday, June 3, we all went to Southill church, which is very near to
Mr. Dilly's house. It being the first Sunday of the month, the holy
sacrament was administered, and I staid to partake of it. When I came
afterwards into Dr. Johnson's room, he said, 'You did right to stay and
receive the communion; I had not thought of it.' This seemed to imply
that he did not choose to approach the altar without a previous
preparation, as to which good men entertain different opinions, some
holding that it is irreverent to partake of that ordinance without
considerable premeditation; others, that whoever is a sincere C