ted the Lord Chancellor Thurlow, to have
him admitted into the Charterhouse. I take the liberty to insert his
Lordship's answer, as I am eager to embrace every occasion of
augmenting the respectable notion which should ever be entertained of my
illustrious friend:--

'TO DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON.

'London, October 24, 1780.

'SIR,

'I have this moment received your letter, dated the 19th, and returned
from Bath.

'In the beginning of the summer I placed one in the Chartreux, without
the sanction of a recommendation so distinct and so authoritative as
yours of Macbean; and I am afraid, that according to the establishment
of the House, the opportunity of making the charity so good amends will
not soon recur. But whenever a vacancy shall happen, if you'll favour me
with notice of it, I will try to recommend him to the place, even though
it should not be my turn to nominate. I am, Sir, with great regard, your
most faithful and obedient servant,

'THURLOW.'

Being disappointed in my hopes of meeting Johnson this year, so that I
could hear none of his admirable sayings, I shall compensate for this
want by inserting a collection of them, for which I am indebted to
my worthy friend Mr. Langton, whose kind communications have been
separately interwoven in many parts of this work. Very few articles of
this collection were committed to writing by himself, he not having
that habit; which he regrets, and which those who know the numerous
opportunities he had of gathering the rich fruits of Johnsonian wit and
wisdom, must ever regret. I however found, in conversations with him,
that a good store of Johnsoniana was treasured in his mind; and I
compared it to Herculaneum, or some old Roman field, which when dug,
fully rewards the labour employed. The authenticity of every article
is unquestionable. For the expression, I, who wrote them down in his
presence, am partly answerable.

'There is nothing more likely to betray a man into absurdity than
CONDESCENSION; when he seems to suppose his understanding too powerful
for his company.'

'Having asked Mr. Langton if his father and mother had sat for their
pictures, which he thought it right for each generation of a family
to do, and being told they had opposed it, he said, "Sir, among the
anfractuosities of the human mind, I know not if it may not be one, that
there is a superstitious reluctance to sit for a picture."'

'John Gilbert Cooper related, that soon after the publicati