his leisure hours he was unbending himself with a few friends in the most playful and frolicksome manner, he observed Beau Nash approaching; upon which he suddenly stopped:—'My boy's. (said he,) let us be grave: here comes a fool.' The world, my friend, I have found to be a great fool, as to that particular. on which it has become necessary to speak very plainly. I have, therefore, in this Work been more reserved[1], and though I tell nothing but the truth, I have still kept in my mind that the whole truth is not always to be exposed. This, however, I have managed so as to occasion no diminution of the pleasure which my book should afford; though malignity may sometimes be disappointed of its gratifications.
I am,
My dear Sir,
Your much obliged friend,
And faithful humble servant,
JAMES BOSWELL.
London,
April 20, 1791.
- ↑ See Post, Oct, 16, 1769, note.
doctor, looking from the window, saw Nash's chariot stop at the door. "Boys, boys," cried the philosopher, "let us now be wise, for here is a fool coming,"' Cunningham's Goldsmith's Works, iv. 96. Dr. Warton in his criticism on Pope's line
'Unthought of frailties cheat us in the wise,'
says:—'For who could imagine that Dr. Clarke valued himself for his agility, and frequently amused himself in a private room of his house in leaping over the tables and chairs.' Warton's Essay on Pope. ii. 125. 'It is a good remark of Montaigne's,' wrote Goldsmith, 'that the wisest men often have friends with whom they do not care how much they play the fool.' Forster's Goldsmith, i. 166. Mr. Seward says in his Anecdotes, ii. 320, that 'in the opinion of Dr. Johnson, Dr. Clarke was the most complete literary' character that England ever produced.' For Dr. Clarke's sermons stc post, April 7, 1778.
