Crowns. The family likeness of the Garricks was very striking; and
Johnson thought that David's vivacity was not so peculiar to himself as
was supposed. 'Sir, (said he,) I don't know but if Peter had cultivated
all the arts of gaiety as much as David has done, he might have been
as brisk and lively. Depend upon it, Sir, vivacity is much an art, and
depends greatly on habit.' I believe there is a good deal of truth in
this, notwithstanding a ludicrous story told me by a lady abroad, of a
heavy German baron, who had lived much with the young English at Geneva,
and was ambitious to be as lively as they; with which view, he, with
assiduous exertion, was jumping over the tables and chairs in his
lodgings; and when the people of the house ran in and asked, with
surprize, what was the matter, he answered, 'Sh' apprens t'etre fif.'

We dined at our inn, and had with us a Mr. Jackson, one of Johnson's
schoolfellows, whom he treated with much kindness, though he seemed
to be a low man, dull and untaught. He had a coarse grey coat, black
waistcoat, greasy leather breeches, and a yellow uncurled wig; and his
countenance had the ruddiness which betokens one who is in no haste
to 'leave his can.' He drank only ale. He had tried to be a cutler at
Birmingham, but had not succeeded; and now he lived poorly at home, and
had some scheme of dressing leather in a better manner than common;
to his indistinct account of which, Dr. Johnson listened with patient
attention, that he might assist him with his advice. Here was an
instance of genuine humanity and real kindness in this great man, who
has been most unjustly represented as altogether harsh and destitute of
tenderness. A thousand such instances might have been recorded in the
course of his long life; though that his temper was warm and hasty, and
his manner often rough, cannot be denied.

I saw here, for the first time, oat ale; and oat cakes not hard as in
Scotland, but soft like a Yorkshire cake, were served at breakfast. It
was pleasant to me to find, that Oats, the food of horses, were so much
used as the food of the people in Dr. Johnson's own town. He expatiated
in praise of Lichfield and its inhabitants, who, he said, were 'the most
sober, decent people in England, the genteelest in proportion to their
wealth, and spoke the purest English.' I doubted as to the last article
of this eulogy: for they had several provincial sounds; as THERE,
pronounced like FEAR, instead of like FAIR