may be
found out. But, Sir, little aberrations are of no disadvantage. I never
catched Mallet in a Scotch accent; and yet Mallet, I suppose, was past
five-and-twenty before he came to London.'

I again visited him at night. Finding him in a very good humour, I
ventured to lead him to the subject of our situation in a future state,
having much curiosity to know his notions on that point. . . .

BOSWELL. 'I do not know whether there are any well-attested stories
of the appearance of ghosts. You know there is a famous story of the
appearance of Mrs. Veal, prefixed to Drelincourt on Death.' JOHNSON. 'I
believe, Sir, that is given up. I believe the woman declared upon her
death-bed that it was a lie.' BOSWELL. 'This objection is made against
the truth of ghosts appearing: that if they are in a state of happiness,
it would be a punishment to them to return to this world; and if they
are in a state of misery, it would be giving them a respite.' JOHNSON.
'Why, Sir, as the happiness or misery of embodied spirits does not
depend upon place, but is intellectual, we cannot say that they are less
happy or less miserable by appearing upon earth.'

We went down between twelve and one to Mrs. Williams's room, and drank
tea. I mentioned that we were to have the remains of Mr. Gray, in prose
and verse, published by Mr. Mason. JOHNSON. 'I think we have had enough
of Gray. I see they have published a splendid edition of Akenside's
works. One bad ode may be suffered; but a number of them together makes
one sick.' BOSWELL. 'Akenside's distinguished poem is his Pleasures of
Imagination; but for my part, I never could admire it so much as most
people do.' JOHNSON. 'Sir, I could not read it through.' BOSWELL. 'I
have read it through; but I did not find any great power in it.'

On Tuesday, March 31, he and I dined at General Paoli's.

Dr. Johnson went home with me to my lodgings in Conduit-street and drank
tea, previous to our going to the Pantheon, which neither of us had seen
before.

He said, 'Goldsmith's Life of Parnell is poor; not that it is poorly
written, but that he had poor materials; for nobody can write the
life of a man, but those who have eat and drunk and lived in social
intercourse with him.'

I said, that if it was not troublesome and presuming too much, I would
request him to tell me all the little circumstances of his life; what
schools he attended, when he came to Oxford, when he came to London, &c.
&c. He did not dis