as
'very well.' These, we may be sure, were not Johnson's; for he was above
little arts, or tricks of deception.

I mentioned to Johnson a respectable person of a very strong mind, who
had little of that tenderness which is common to human nature; as an
instance of which, when I suggested to him that he should invite his
son, who had been settled ten years in foreign parts, to come home and
pay him a visit, his answer was, 'No, no, let him mind his business.
JOHNSON. 'I do not agree with him, Sir, in this. Getting money is not
all a man's business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the
business of life.'

In the evening, Johnson, being in very good spirits, entertained us with
several characteristical portraits. I regret that any of them escaped
my retention and diligence. I found, from experience, that to collect
my friend's conversation so as to exhibit it with any degree of its
original flavour, it was necessary to write it down without delay. To
record his sayings, after some distance of time, was like preserving or
pickling long-kept and faded fruits, or other vegetables, which, when in
that state, have little or nothing of their taste when fresh.

I shall present my readers with a series of what I gathered this evening
from the Johnsonian garden.

'Did we not hear so much said of Jack Wilkes, we should think more
highly of his conversation. Jack has great variety of talk, Jack is a
scholar, and Jack has the manners of a gentleman. But after hearing his
name sounded from pole to pole, as the phoenix of convivial felicity, we
are disappointed in his company. He has always been AT ME: but I would
do Jack a kindness, rather than not. The contest is now over.'

'Colley Cibber once consulted me as to one of his birthday Odes, a long
time before it was wanted. I objected very freely to several passages.
Cibber lost patience, and would not read his Ode to an end. When we
had done with criticism, we walked over to Richardson's, the authour of
Clarissa and I wondered to find Richardson displeased that I "did not
treat Cibber with more RESPECT." Now, Sir, to talk of RESPECT for a
PLAYER!' (smiling disdainfully.) BOSWELL. 'There, Sir, you are always
heretical: you never will allow merit to a player.' JOHNSON. 'Merit,
Sir! what merit? Do you respect a rope-dancer, or a ballad-singer?'
BOSWELL. 'No, Sir: but we respect a great player, as a man who can
conceive lofty sentiments, and can express them gracefully.' J