ll him, that I had been,
for moments in my life, not afraid of death; therefore I could suppose
another man in that state of mind for a considerable space of time. He
said, 'he never had a moment in which death was not terrible to him.' He
added, that it had been observed, that scarce any man dies in publick,
but with apparent resolution; from that desire of praise which never
quits us. I said, Dr. Dodd seemed to be willing to die, and full of
hopes of happiness. 'Sir, (said he,) Dr. Dodd would have given both his
hands and both his legs to have lived. The better a man is, the more
afraid he is of death, having a clearer view of infinite purity.' He
owned, that our being in an unhappy uncertainty as to our salvation, was
mysterious; and said, 'Ah! we must wait till we are in another state of
being, to have many things explained to us.' Even the powerful mind of
Johnson seemed foiled by futurity.

On Wednesday, September 17, Dr. Butter, physician at Derby, drank tea
with us; and it was settled that Dr. Johnson and I should go on Friday
and dine with him. Johnson said, 'I'm glad of this.' He seemed weary of
the uniformity of life at Dr. Taylor's.

Talking of biography, I said, in writing a life, a man's peculiarities
should be mentioned, because they mark his character. JOHNSON. 'Sir,
there is no doubt as to peculiarities: the question is, whether a man's
vices should be mentioned; for instance, whether it should be mentioned
that Addison and Parnell drank too freely: for people will probably more
easily indulge in drinking from knowing this; so that more ill may be
done by the example, than good by telling the whole truth.' Here was an
instance of his varying from himself in talk; for when Lord Hailes and
he sat one morning calmly conversing in my house at Edinburgh, I well
remember that Dr. Johnson maintained, that 'If a man is to write A
Panegyrick, he may keep vices out of sight; but if he professes to write
A Life, he must represent it really as it was:' and when I objected to
the danger of telling that Parnell drank to excess, he said, that 'it
would produce an instructive caution to avoid drinking, when it was
seen, that even the learning and genius of Parnell could be debased by
it.' And in the Hebrides he maintained, as appears from my Journal,
that a man's intimate friend should mention his faults, if he writes his
life.

Thursday, September 18. Last night Dr. Johnson had proposed that the
crystal lustre, or