Mrs. Burney, wife of his friend Dr. Burney, came in, and he seemed to be entertained with her conversation.

Garrick’s funeral was talked of as extravagantly expensive.  Johnson, from his dislike to exaggeration, would not allow that it was distinguished by any extraordinary pomp.  ’Were there not six horses to each coach?’ said Mrs. Burney.  JOHNSON.  ’Madam, there were no more six horses than six phoenixes[644].’

Mrs. Burney wondered that some very beautiful new buildings should be erected in Moorfields, in so shocking a situation as between Bedlam and St. Luke’s Hospital; and said she could not live there.  JOHNSON.  ’Nay, Madam, you see nothing there to hurt you.  You no more think of madness by having windows that look to Bedlam, than you think of death by having windows that look to a church-yard.’  MRS. BURNEY.  ’We may look to a church-yard, Sir; for it is right that we should be kept in mind of death.’  JOHNSON.  ’Nay, Madam, if you go to that, it is right that we should be kept in mind of madness, which is occasioned by too much indulgence of imagination.  I think a very moral use may be made of these new buildings:  I would have those who have heated imaginations live there, and take warning.’  MRS. BURNEY.  ’But, Sir, many of the poor people that are mad, have become so from disease, or from distressing events.  It is, therefore, not their fault, but their misfortune; and, therefore, to think of them is a melancholy consideration.’

Time passed on in conversation till it was too late for the service of the church at three o’clock.  I took a walk, and left him alone for some time; then returned, and we had coffee and conversation again by ourselves.

I stated the character of a noble friend of mine, as a curious case for his opinion:—­’He is the most inexplicable man to me that I ever knew.  Can you explain him, Sir?  He is, I really believe, noble-minded, generous, and princely.  But his most intimate friends may be separated from him for years, without his ever asking a question concerning them.  He will meet them with a formality, a coldness, a stately indifference; but when they come close to him, and fairly engage him in conversation, they find him as easy, pleasant, and kind, as they could wish.  One then supposes that what is so agreeable will soon be renewed; but stay away from him for half a year, and he will neither call on you, nor send to inquire about you.’  JOHNSON.  ’Why, Sir, I cannot ascertain his character exactly, as I do not know him; but I should not like to have such a man for my friend.  He may love study, and wish not to be interrupted by his friends; Amici fures temporis.  He may be a frivolous man, and be so much occupied with petty pursuits, that he may not want friends.  Or he may have a notion that there is a dignity in appearing indifferent, while he in fact may not be more indifferent at his heart than another.’

We went to evening prayers at St. Clement’s, at seven, and then parted.