��Anecdotes.
��both spoke fluently x , and Mr. Johnson pronounced a long eulo- gium upon Milton 2 with so much ardour, eloquence, and ingenuity, that the Abbe rose from his seat and embraced him. My husband seeing them apparently so charmed with the com pany of each other, politely invited the Abbe to England, intending to oblige his friend ; who, instead of thanking, repri manded him severely before the man, for such a sudden burst of tenderness towards a person he could know nothing at all of; and thus put a sudden finish to all his own and Mr. Thrale's entertainment from the company of the Abbe Roffette.
When at Versailles the people shewed us the theatre. As we stood on the stage looking at some machinery for playhouse purposes : Now we are here, what shall we act, Mr. Johnson, The Englishman at Paris 3 ? ' No, no (replied he), we will try to act Harry the Fifth.' His dislike of the French 4 was well known to both nations, I believe ; but he applauded the number of their books and the graces of their style 5 . * They have few sentiments (said he), but they express them neatly ; they have little meat too, but they dress it well 6 .' Johnson's own
��1 'While Johnson was in France, he was generally very resolute in speaking Latin. It was a maxim with him that a man should not let himself down, by speaking a lan guage which he speaks imperfectly.' Life, ii. 404. For instances of his colloquial Latin see ib. ii. 125, n. 5, 406.
2 For Johnson's lofty praise of Milton see ib. i. 230.
3 A comedy by Foote.
4 In a note on The Merry Wives of Windsor he says : ' To be a foreigner was always in England, and I suppose everywhere else, a reason of dislike.' Johnson's Shake speare^ ii. 479. But according to Reynolds 'the prejudices he had to countries did not extend to indi viduals.' Life, iv. 169, n. i. See also ib. iv. 15.
��5 'He admitted that the French, though not the highest perhaps in any department of literature, yet in every department were very high.' Ib. ii. 125. ' He spoke often in praise of French literature. " The French are excellent in this, (he would say,) they have a book on every subject." ' Ib. iv. 237. 'There is,' he said, ' perhaps, more knowledge circulated in the French literature than in any other. There is more original know ledge in English.' Ib. v. 310. In Macaulay's Essay on Horace Wai- pole (Essays, ed. 1843, ii. 107), there is an interesting expansion of the last passage.
6 During his visit to Paris he says : ' Mr. Thrale keeps us a very fine table; but I think our cookery very bad.' Life, ii. 385. 'Their meals are gross.' Ib. p. 389. ' Mr.
notions
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