r than any other man could do. He deserved a place in
Westminster-Abbey, and every year he lived, would have deserved
it better. He had, indeed, been at no pains to fill his mind with
knowledge. He transplanted it from one place to another; and it did not
settle in his mind; so he could not tell what was in his own books.'

We talked of living in the country. JOHNSON. 'No wise man will go to
live in the country, unless he has something to do which can be better
done in the country. For instance: if he is to shut himself up for a
year to study a science, it is better to look out to the fields, than
to an opposite wall. Then, if a man walks out in the country, there
is nobody to keep him from walking in again: but if a man walks out in
London, he is not sure when he shall walk in again. A great city is, to
be sure, the school for studying life; and "The proper study of mankind
is man," as Pope observes.' BOSWELL. 'I fancy London is the best place
for society; though I have heard that the very first society of Paris is
still beyond any thing that we have here.' JOHNSON. 'Sir, I question
if in Paris such a company as is sitting round this table could be got
together in less than half a year. They talk in France of the felicity
of men and women living together: the truth is, that there the men are
not higher than the women, they know no more than the women do, and they
are not held down in their conversation by the presence of women.'

We talked of old age. Johnson (now in his seventieth year,) said, 'It is
a man's own fault, it is from want of use, if his mind grows torpid in
old age.' The Bishop asked, if an old man does not lose faster than he
gets. JOHNSON. 'I think not, my Lord, if he exerts himself.' One of the
company rashly observed, that he thought it was happy for an old man
that insensibility comes upon him. JOHNSON. (with a noble elevation and
disdain,) 'No, Sir, I should never be happy by being less rational.'
BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH. 'Your wish then, Sir, is [Greek text omitted].'
JOHNSON. 'Yes, my Lord.'

This season there was a whimsical fashion in the newspapers of applying
Shakspeare's words to describe living persons well known in the world;
which was done under the title of Modern Characters from Shakspeare;
many of which were admirably adapted. The fancy took so much, that they
were afterwards collected into a pamphlet. Somebody said to Johnson,
across the table, that he had not been in those characters. 'Y