254 Recollections of Dr. Johnson
Dr. Johnson commonly read with amazing rapidity, glancing his eye from the top to the bottom of the page in an instant *. If he made any pause, it was a compliment to the work ; and, after seesawing over it 2 a few minutes, generally repeated the passage, especially if it was poetry. One day, on taking up Pope's Essay on Man, a particular passage seem'd more than ordinarily to engage his attention ; and so much, indeed, that, contrary to his usual custom, after he had left the Book and the place where he was sitting, he return'd to revise it, turning over the pages with anxiety to find it, and then repeated
Passions, tho' selfish, if their means be fair List under Reason, and deserve her care ; Those that, imparted, court a nobler aim, Exalt their kind, and take some virtue's name 3 .
His task, probably, was the whole paragraph, but these lines only were audible.
He seemed much to delight in reciting verses, particularly from Pope. Among the many I have had the pleasure of hearing him recite, the conclusion of the Dunciad and his Epistle to Jervas, seemed to clairn his highest admiration :
Led by some rule that guides, but not constrains, And finish'd more through happiness than pains 4 ,
he used to remark, was a union that constituted the ultimate degree of excellence in the fine arts.
Two lines from Pope's Universal Prayer I have heard him quote, in very serious conversation, as his theological creed :
And binding Nature fast in fate, Left free the human will 5 .
Mr. Baretti used to remark, with a smile, that Dr. Johnson
most fortunate (said Goethe) who seizing at once what was valuable in
live in tents, or who, like some Eng- any book without submitting to the
lishmen, are always going from one labour of perusing it from beginning
city and one inn to another, and find to end.' Life, i. 71.
everywhere a good table ready." ' 2 Ante, ii. 142.
Eckermann's Conversations of 3 Essay on Man, ii. 97.
Goethe, 1850, ii. 360. 4 Epistle to Mr.Jervas, 1. 67.
1 ' He had a peculiar facility in 5 Ante, ii. 233.
always
�� �
