He sent a message to acquaint Mrs. Thrale that I was arrived.  I had not seen her since her husband’s death.  She soon appeared, and favoured me with an invitation to stay to dinner, which I accepted.  There was no other company but herself and three of her daughters, Dr. Johnson, and I. She too said, she was very glad I was come, for she was going to Bath, and should have been sorry to leave Dr. Johnson before I came.  This seemed to be attentive and kind; and I who had not been informed of any change, imagined all to be as well as formerly.  He was little inclined to talk at dinner, and went to sleep after it; but when he joined us in the drawing-room, he seemed revived, and was again himself.

Talking of conversation, he said, ’There must, in the first place, be knowledge, there must be materials; in the second place, there must be a command of words; in the third place, there must be imagination, to place things in such views as they are not commonly seen in; and in the fourth place, there must be presence of mind, and a resolution that is not to be overcome by failures:  this last is an essential requisite; for want of it many people do not excel in conversation.  Now I want it:  I throw up the game upon losing a trick.’  I wondered to hear him talk thus of himself, and said, ’I don’t know, Sir, how this may be; but I am sure you beat other people’s cards out of their hands.’  I doubt whether he heard this remark.  While he went on talking triumphantly, I was fixed in admiration, and said to Mrs. Thrale, ’O, for short-hand to take this down!’ ’You’ll carry it all in your head; (said she;) a long head is as good as short-hand.’

It has been observed and wondered at, that Mr. Charles Fox never talked with any freedom in the presence of Dr. Johnson[515], though it is well known, and I myself can witness, that his conversation is various, fluent, and exceedingly agreeable.  Johnson’s own experience, however, of that gentleman’s reserve was a sufficient reason for his going on thus:  ’Fox never talks in private company; not from any determination not to talk, but because he has not the first motion[516].  A man who is used to the applause of the House of Commons, has no wish for that of a private company.  A man accustomed to throw for a thousand pounds, if set down to throw for sixpence, would not be at the pains to count his dice.  Burke’s talk is the ebullition of his mind; he does not talk from a desire of distinction, but because his mind is full[517].

He thus curiously characterised one of our old acquaintance:  ’——­[518] is a good man, Sir; but he is a vain man and a liar.  He, however, only tells lies of vanity; of victories, for instance, in conversation, which never happened.’  This alluded to a story which I had repeated from that gentleman, to entertain Johnson with its wild bravado:  ’This Johnson, Sir, (said he,) whom you are all afraid of will shrink, if you come close to him in argument and roar as loud as he.  He once maintained