Mr. Nairn, the optician T , and Mr. Leoni, the singer : at another, Dr. Johnson, &c., and a young dashing officer, who determined, he whispered, to attack the old bear that we seemed all to stand in awe of. There was a good dinner, and during that important time Johnson was deaf to all impertinence. However, after the wine had passed rather freely, the young gentleman was resolved to bait him, and venture out a little further. ' Now, Dr. John son, do not look so glum, but be a little gay and lively, like others : what would you give, old gentleman, to be as young and sprightly as I am ? ' ' Why, Sir,' said he, * I think I would almost be content to be as foolish V
Johnson, it is well known, professed to recruit his acquaintance with younger persons 3 , and, in his latter days, I, with a few others, were \sic\ more frequently honoured by his notice. At times he was very gloomy, and would exclaim, ' Stay with me, for it is a comfort to me' a comfort that any feeling mind would wish to administer to a man so kind, though at times so boisterous, when he seized your hand, and repeated, 'Ay, Sir, but to die and go we know not where 4 ,' &c. here his morbid melan choly prevailed, and Garrick never spoke so impressively to the heart. Yet, to see him in the evening (though he took nothing stronger than lemonade 5 ), a stranger would have concluded that our morning account was a fabrication. No hour was too late
the Duke of Newcastle. Life, iv. 63. curious to electricians, are painful to
Neither Boswell nor any of Johnson's the humane.'
biographers knew of his second inter- 2 In a book entitled Lord Chester-
view with the king. Ib. ii. 42, n. 2. field's Witticisms, 1774, p. 53, this
The Admiral must, indeed, have story is assigned to Quin.
been happy in his son, for Mr. Croker 3 ' He said to Sir Joshua Reynolds,
says : ' I have heard George IV " If a man does not make new ac-
speak most highly of this young quaintance as he advances through
Boyle Walsingham.' Walpole's Z<?/- life, he will soon find himself left
ters, viii. 502 n. alone. A man, Sir, should keep his
1 In the Gentleman's Magazine, friendship in constant repair" ' Life,
1774, p. 472, is an account of ' Elec- i. 300.
trical Experiments by Mr. Edward 4 Ante, i 439.
Nairne, made with a Machine of his 5 See post, p. 100, where 'about five
own Workmanship.' The writer says, in the morning Johnson's face shone
'the discharges of an electrical battery with meridian splendour, though his
at ducks, cocks, and turkeys, however drink had been only lemonade.'
to
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